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8 Alligator-Operated Portable Sawmills and Other Ventures

By 1897, West & Peachey was offering a portable sawmill for use with the Alligator Warping Tug. The complete mill weighed 4,500 pounds and was offered for $350 f.o.b. (free on board), Simcoe. The saw carriage was mounted on three bunks and operated with a rope feed. The Alligator would be set up on shore where needed and the tug’s steam engine provided the power to drive the saw. A 75-foot-long rubber drive belt from the tug drove a 54-inch circular saw. A pair of idlers were mounted on the bow of the Alligator, which the drive belt passed over. The saw was able to cut mill timber up to 30 feet in length. The portable sawmill was of interest to lumbermen wishing to square timber or saw logs into lumber on site, particularly in remote areas, for the construction of camps and other buildings. They were also in demand on inland locations for the construction of dams and flumes to expedite the movement of logs through a network of small lakes and connecting streams. West & Peachey had sold four Alligator sawmills to the following lumber companies, R.H. Klock and Company in Mattawa, Ontario; Gilmour and Company in Trenton; J.R. Booth of Ottawa; and to Robert Hurdman, also of Ottawa, by the end of 1905.

A sketch by artist L.A. Dool illustrates the operation of portable sawmill using an Alligator tug’s steam engine to supply the power.

Courtesy of Clarence F. Coons Collection.

FEATURES OF PADDLEWHEEL ALLIGATORS, 1889–1900

Normally all Alligators were painted red and white. Although the colour combinations varied over the years, these colours were used throughout the entire production of the popular tugs. The name of each Alligator was usually painted on the circumference of the paddlewheel box, with a sea horse painted at each end of the name.

There were several distinctive features of the early paddlewheel Alligators manufactured between 1889 and the turn of the century. The tugs could be purchased in two sizes. The first one built, Alligator #1, was only 32 feet in length. The standard after that was an Alligator with a length overall of 37 feet and a beam of 10 feet. The standard drew 30 inches of water. A larger Alligator could be supplied having a length of 45 feet and a beam of 11 feet, with a draught of only 26 inches.

Each Alligator was equipped with two 7-foot-diameter paddlewheels consisting of eight 26-inch-wide paddles. The paddle-drive gear, the largest gear in the tug, was 46 inches in diameter and 4 inches wide. When travelling without a load or boom in tow the Alligator moved at a speed of 5 to 6 miles per hour. A gantry, a curved metal arm mounted on the bow of a tug that swung inboard or outboard for raising or lowering the anchor, mounted on the foredeck, was used to lift the warping anchor aboard and swing it behind the cable-guiding device for storage when not in use. All the early Alligators had the paddlewheel box supported on the outside by three struts. Those built after 1900 used four and often five struts to support this box.

Alligator #26, Weslemkoon, was built in 1896 for use in the timber limits of John Ferguson, the MPP for South Renfrew. The tug is shown on Lake Weslemkoon with a full cargo of picnickers, circa 1896.

Courtesy of the Clarence F. Coons Collection.

The factory equipped early Alligator tugs with a small wheelhouse large enough to accommodate the wheel and the captain. Sleeping facilities were provided in the bow of the vessel for four men. Many lumbermen extended the wheelhouse to the rear to provide room for additional bunks.

All Alligators were built with a large, hinged rudder that could be lifted clear of booms, logs, and other obstructions the tug might pass over. The rudder was controlled from the wheelhouse by the steering wheel and attached cables. The tugs were all equipped with a standard steam engine with a 9-inch bore and a 9-inch stroke. The best production years prior to the turn of the century were 1893 and 1894, when a total of fifteen Alligators were manufactured.

John West continued to work on an improved rudder on the Alligator tugs to alleviate damage often suffered because of their rigid installation. He was also experimenting with the design of the bow davit to increase its efficiency. On October 31, 1895, a patent was issued to West for a rudder that tilted, allowing it to ride over obstructions without damage. The patent also covered a combined winch and davit so that one man could lift and carry a load with this new and much improved arrangement.

ALLIGATOR WARPING TUG SHIPPING METHODS AND PROBLEMS

Many Alligator tugs were required to be delivered to locations miles from any railway lines, which meant that early in the building of them they had to be shipped in sections. John West’s solution to this problem was to load the sections on a railway flatcar to be shipped to the station nearest to their final delivery point. They were then unloaded and placed on several sleighs to be drawn by horses over winter logging roads to their final destination.

The shipping of Alligators in sections required much more work and expense for the builder. West had a template or matrix installed on the main floor of the large machine shop of the factory. Here the boilers and engines, together with all their connections, were fitted exactly as if in the tug. The parts were then all numbered, disassembled, and placed ready for packing and shipment. The second floor of the factory was used for the manufacture of the pilot houses, steering gear, paddlewheels, boxes, and the like.

The hull of the tug was treated in the same way. Every bolt, spike, and nail was packed in cases. Packed, uncrated, were six pieces of oak 26 feet long for runners and ninety-five pieces of 2-inch by 6-inch pine, 18 feet to 24 feet long, to be used in the construction of the hull on site. Also uncrated was the boiler weighing 3,200 pounds, and a mile of steel warping cable weighing almost 3,300 pounds.

The weight of other major parts of an Alligator tug were as follows: the steam engine, 1,500 pounds; the winch, 1,500 pounds; the steel shoes, sheeting, and rudder, 1,600 pounds; and the paddlewheels, 1,200 pounds. When all these individual parts were assembled as a finished standard Alligator Warping Tug they represented a total weight of 13 tons. The moving of a knocked-down tug from a railhead up to 100 miles and more over rough logging roads, or tote roads as they were called, with teams of horses drawing the loaded sleighs was no mean feat.

An example of the extra charges involved were illustrated when, in 1895, the Gilmour and Hughson Lumber Company of Hull, Quebec, requested that Alligator #25, named the Baskatong, be shipped in sections. To pack and crate all parts at the factory triggered an immediate extra charge of $100. In addition, the buyer was responsible for providing transportation for West & Peachey’s men who accompanied the tug and assembled it at its final destination. The buyer was also responsible for all costs to team the parts to their point of assembly, as well. The West & Peachey assembly team, in such cases, consisted of either West himself or Peachey or a senior staff member, accompanied by two or three employees who travelled to the remote destination, assembled the tug, and ensured its satisfactory operation for the customer.

Upon arrival at the site, the West & Peachey team would pitch a tent and begin to assemble the tug. Once the tug’s cabin was completed, they would move into it, relying on the fired-up boiler to provide welcome warmth as they completed the assembly. The team carried their own supplies, much of their food being in canned and dried form. They were usually on site for about three weeks before the finished tug could be turned over to the company crew.

Members of the assembly crew found these excursions exciting, as they often travelled into remote wilderness that had never before been opened up. These trips were not for the faint-hearted, however, as the trip from the railhead was often long and fraught with unexpected hazards. For example, an order destined for a remote northern Quebec lake had to be hauled for nearly 100 miles by horses and sleighs. Twenty sleighs were needed, and each sleigh required one to three teams of horses to move it over the hazards of the rough tote road. In some of the worst places, up to six teams of horses struggled to keep the heavy sleighs moving. The trip involved several days of hard slugging for everyone involved. To have some ideas of costs involved, in 1895 the average monthly wage drawn by workers in the woods were as follows; loggers and teamsters, $20 to $35; sawyers, $22 to $26; swampers, $20.

Many amusing stories were told by the men upon their return from these excursions, all of which enhanced the camaraderie and friendly, good-humoured working conditions that existed between management and employees. Doug Stalker remembers a story that his father delighted in telling of being awakened on a remote site in northern Quebec by what he first thought was a bear attempting to break into their tent. Leaping up, intent on repelling the invader, he discovered that his father-in-law, John West, still half asleep, was thrashing around in a most peculiar manner. On closer examination he found that during the night West’s beard had frozen solidly to the wall of the tent and he was unable to free himself, despite all his considerable efforts to do so.

On another occasion West was returning with his crew from assembling an Alligator when his money ran out. He managed to find sufficient train fare to get all hands to Jarvis, 10 miles east of Simcoe, but that was it. As soon as they stopped in Jarvis, West made a beeline for the nearby American Hotel, where, being no stranger, he was able to borrow $10 from his friend the hotelkeeper, though they had no time for a leisurely drink. Rushing back to the station, he was just in time to get everyone aboard and safely home on the same train.

Although these unique tug boats that could swim in the water and crawl on land were known by everyone in the lumber industry as Alligators from the very beginning, they were also referred to as the “Bull of the Woods” by some and as “Slough Hogs” by others.

THE LAUNCH OF ALLIGATOR #24, THE VICTORIA

May 24, 1894, was a day long remembered by the County of Norfolk and the good people of the county town of Simcoe. The occasion marked the seventy-fifth birthday of the Commonwealth’s beloved sovereign, Queen Victoria, and the Queen’s birthday celebration committee were sparing no effort or expense in planning a celebration fitting for the occasion. Several major attractions were planned as part of the day’s activities.

Simcoe had its own bicycle club and the committee had invited two of the great bicycle riders of the day, Hyslop and Moore of Toronto, to attend. A special train from Toronto had been laid on for the occasion. Bicycle races were a feature attraction on the program and members of bicycle clubs from Toronto, Hamilton, Brantford, Ingersoll, Aylmer, Norwich, and Tillsonburg were in attendance.

Shortly after daybreak, the booming of a cannon heralded the beginning of the festivities, awakening the soundest sleepers from their slumbers. By 9:00 a.m., the banks of Crystal Lake were host to masses of holidaymakers, expectantly awaiting the feature attraction for the day. West & Peachey’s fame, as makers of the Alligator Warping Tug, had spread far and wide throughout the Dominion and beyond. Today the local citizens and their visitors could see one of these famous Alligators take to the water before their very eyes. The firm had been busy building the tugs the previous winter, and on this day, May 24, and at this hour, 9:00 a.m., the twenty-fourth Alligator to be ordered had been built and most appropriately named Victoria, the name proudly appearing in large letters. She now sat in all her splendour, puffing black smoke from her stack as she rested on her rollers, waiting to be launched.

The tug launched herself into Crystal Lake, as the small body of water north of the West & Peachey yard was called. The crowd stood in awe as she winched herself toward Norfolk Street, crept out of the water, crossed the road, and launched herself again into the river below the high school, where she was tied to the bank. During the launch into the river the 39th Battalion brass band belted out “Britannia Rules the Waves” as the enthusiastic crowd cheered. Mounting the deck of the Victoria, Mayor McCall addressed the crowd and officially opened the day’s celebrations. Rides aboard the Alligator tug were offered throughout the day and hundreds of spectators took advantage of the free trips on the river.

At 10:00 a.m. the next popular event took place with the launch of Professor Bartholomew’s hot-air balloon from Beaupre’s Square. The professor was well prepared and the airship quickly rose into the air to the collective gasps of amazement from the assembled crowd. Meanwhile, foot races, bicycle races, and horse races entertained many during the rest of the day. Dress balls and dances in the evening rounded out the day’s activities. The Queen’s birthday celebrations in Simcoe in 1894 would be remembered as a resounding success and fondly treasured for many years to come.