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5 Joseph Jackson and the Warping Tug

Joseph Jackson was a native of Norfolk County, having been born in Houghton Township in 1831. By the age of thirty he was very much involved in lumbering operations in the county, an involvement that continued until 1880 when the sources of good pine timber were so depleted that it was no longer profitable for Jackson to operate there. Like many others he followed the big pine across the border into Michigan, or northward, where he continued his timber operations for a few more years.¹

A formal photograph of Joseph Jackson (1831–1908), date not identified.

Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, PA-33816.

In the 1882 federal election, Joseph Jackson ran as the Liberal candidate for South Norfolk and was successful. His political career was short-lived, however, as he lost his seat in the 1887 election and turned his energies back to his interests in lumbering. That same year, he purchased the Canadian timber holdings of William F. Whitney of Bay City, Michigan. These timber limits, covering over 41 square miles, cost Jackson $130,000, and were located 60 miles inland from Georgian Bay in the south part of Patterson Township in Nipissing District in the area of Restoule Lake. Jackson wasted no time; in 1888 he harvested 3 million cubic feet of long timber in rough country.

His plan to move these logs to Georgian Bay via the French River proved much more difficult than he first thought, as the river was in essence a chain of many small lakes separated by numerous hazardous rapids. The log drive to Georgian Bay, where the timber would be rafted and towed to Tonawanda on the Niagara River, proved to be very time-consuming and expensive. Fortunately, there was a great demand for long timber in the New York market, but the experience was a very frustrating one.

On his return to Simcoe, Joseph Jackson turned to his friend John West for help. Explaining the difficulties he had experienced in his new logging enterprise, Jackson suggested to West that what was needed was a steam-powered warping tug that was not only capable of warping booms of logs through the many lakes, but also of moving overland readily from lake to lake to do it. West was immediately interested, and not only agreed to design such a craft, but promised to have it ready for operation on the Jackson timber limits by spring, in time for the 1889 season.

John West first made a trip to the Mississippi River in the United States to study the use of steamboats in rafting barges and all manner of produce up and down the river. He returned with his head full of ideas for solving his client’s problem, and set to work in his drafting room in the attic of the West & Peachey foundry. With his firm already having built equipment for steam-powered boats, he had some expertise already in place. Although there is little in the way of records to mark their progress, it is known that in the winter of 1888–89, John West, James Peachey, and their chief engineer, Jonathan Awde, formerly of Cumberland, England, along with a small staff, designed and built their first steam warping tug.²

Already experienced in building boilers and steam engines, they had only to adapt the size of this machinery to the accommodation available in the scow, or tug. This was perhaps the least of their worries when one considers the many other technical and mechanical problems that had to be dealt with before a successful spring launch of the new vessel could be made. Since space was limited in the factory, the tug was assembled in the yard to the rear of the buildings in the late winter and early spring. The March 27, 1889, issue of Norfolk’s newspaper, the British Canadian, announced: “Messrs West and Peachey have on the stocks a rather novel steam tug, which they are making for Joseph Jackson, Esq. For use in the lumber woods. It will be completed in about ten days.”

Early reports of this novel West & Peachey tug referred to it as an amphibious craft, when it first appeared and crawled over the portages. Even before it left Simcoe for the north woods, it was being referred to as an “Alligator.” With this descriptive name being deemed so suitable, the name Alligator was applied to all that followed. The success of the first warping tug set the trend for the many more that were to be built by West & Peachey.

The hull of the tug was 32 feet long and 4 feet deep with a beam of 10 feet. The tug was scow-shaped with the bottom formed from 3-inch white-oak planking.³ A steel boiler plate protected part of the bottom of the craft and all of the bow. The chines, the reinforced sections where the sides of the vessel are joined to the bottom of the boat, were also protected by boiler plate. On the flat underside of the tug, two white-oak runners, 6 inches by 8 inches, were secured, being 6 feet apart. They were shod with iron. The sides of the hull were built up using 2-inch by 6-inch white-pine plank laid flat in white lead as a sealer. At intervals of 12 inches, bolts were run through these pine planks from top to bottom and then tightened securely.

This sturdy scow was propelled by a 20-horsepower steam engine that drove the two side-paddlewheels. This same engine also operated a heavy winch, geared 6 to 1, which translated to a pull or strain on the cable of 100-horsepower. The Clyde⁴ marine-design boiler was hung horizontally on a pivot or axle in the centre. A screw arrangement on the front of the boiler enabled the fireman to tip the boiler forward or backward, so that it would always remain level as the tug was winched up and down hillsides. The boiler, if kept supplied with three-quarters of a standard cord of 4-foot wood, could supply enough steam to warp for 10 hours.

On Thursday, April 4, 1889, as black smoke rose from the stack of the tug in the factory yard, the first Alligator tug sat ready for launch. The mayor of Simcoe had declared that the occasion warranted a school holiday and an expectant horde of school children lined the riverbank. A large crowd of local citizens had joined them as the final preparations were being made. Rollers were placed under the runners of the Alligator tug, and as the cable, anchored to a tree on the opposite stream bank, tightened on the revolving winch, she moved majestically across the yard and splashed into the waters of Crystal Lake, (now Lake George) to the cheers of the onlookers. The next issue of the British Canadian, printed the next day, reported that: “the novel sight of the steamboat hunting for water attracted hundreds of people on Thursday, who witnessed the launch. It was a banner day for the West & Peachey firm, the people of Simcoe, and ultimately the lumber interests the Alligator was designed to serve.”

The tug passed its tests as to operation of its machinery and manoeuvrability with flying colours. Joseph Jackson, proud owner of the first Alligator, was on hand on Saturday, April 13, 1889, as she winched herself out of Crystal Lake to move out onto Union Street and head west to the station of the Georgian Bay and Lake Erie Railway. Deadbolts had been previously buried at strategic locations along the route for this very purpose. Here, to the applause of the assembled spectators, the Alligator winched herself slowly up the street and into place on the bed of a waiting flatcar, to be secured for her long journey north. In reporting the event the Norfolk Reformer, on Friday, April 19, 1889, announced: “Mr. Jackson is greatly delighted with the success of his idea in tug building and anticipates that the unique craft will be of immense service to him in his woods handling round timber.”

John West and Joseph Jackson accompanied the Alligator Warping Tug to North Bay where it was unloaded and steamed through the French and Restoule rivers to the Jackson timber limits. Here they carried out rigorous tests of the tug’s capabilities. Jackson was delighted with the Alligator’s performance. He penned the following testimonial at a later date:

The Alligator far exceeds my most sanguine expectations, it having transported itself over hills and hollows any and all distances between lakes or streams and is capable of surmounting almost any difficulty in its way and I have no hesitation in saying that the equal of these boats made by Messrs. West and Peachey for the purpose they are intended for is not on the globe today and I recommend them to one and all requiring such steam power.⁵

A detailed drawing by John West showing the placement of all machinery in the Alligator Warping Tug, which accompanied his application for patents submitted on September 10, 1890.

Courtesy of Eva Brook Donly Museum, Norfolk Historical Society Archives, West & Peachey Collection.

Joseph Jackson continued to operate a successful timber operation until 1892, when he returned to Simcoe, to be appointed sheriff of Norfolk County. In the meantime the Alligator Warping Tugs were about to revolutionize the inland logging industry. They would not only save time and labour for the lumber barons of Ontario and Quebec, but they would reduce costs of harvest and extend the areas that were economically available for the harvest of pine.

On September 11th, 1889, John West wrote the following description of his warping tug, Alligator #1:

The invention is a warping tugboat which is arranged to propel itself overland from one lake to another by means of a steel wire cable or chain or rope anchored to a tree, rock or warping anchor. This hull may be constructed either round or square at the bow and stern, with a flat bottom having two runners or keels shod with iron. It has two rudders and two side paddle- wheels which are hung on an A-frame and are raised or lowered by two screws. The boiler is hung on an axle and is kept level by a screw located at the front end of the boiler. The engine is double geared to a steel drum, 3 feet in diameter by 30 inches long, on which the cable winds when crossing portages or warping. The paddle-wheels are driven by a chain which is thrown in or out of gear at will.⁶

From this description it would appear that Alligator #1 differed in some respects from later warping tugs produced by the firm. West notes that the paddles are driven by a chain rather than by gears, as is shown in the official patent of September 10, 1890. Also the two side paddlewheels are hung in an A-frame and can be raised or lowered by two screws. (See Appendix B.)

It was soon obvious, after the completion of trials, that a strong market for the Alligator existed, and John West applied for patents for the warping tug. He obtained a Canadian patent in 1890, and in 1891 received American patents for the warping tug, as well. On November 29, 1890, John West sold a half interest in his new improved Alligator Steam Warping Tug patent for $1.00 to his partner James Peachey, making them joint owners of the patent.⁷

Optimistic estimates were made in 1894 that a thousand Alligators would be required to fill the demand for the warping tugs in inland lake areas. Although this estimate was too high, nevertheless the Alligator was soon to become a household word both in Simcoe and the vast pine forests of Ontario, Quebec, and beyond.