Appendix 3

STEAMBOAT CAPTAIN
REMEMBERS BOATS

By Walter (Base) Sorber

COUNTRY IMPRESSIONS
Sweet Valley, PA | January 26, 1968

 

Walter Sorber, known as "Base" by his many friends, has lived at Harvey's Lake all of 73 years. He remembers going to the picnic grounds as a little boy, when just about everything cost a nickel, and for ten cents you could get a good meal. The merry-go-round was the main attraction and it was run by a gas engine.

Walter started working on the lake in the year 1913. He was just 18 years old, and was employed by the Lake Transit Co. as a deck hand on the steam boats.

Mr. Sorber said that the first steam boat on the lake was a small one owned by a Captain Bond, and could only carry about 25 passengers. It later sank near the bridge at the Sunset end of the lake.

The next boats used on the lake were the Rosalind and the Shawnee. The Rosalind in later years was dismantled and sold. The Shawnee, was cut lengthwise, loaded on a flat car, and hauled to Lake Carey where it ran for a number of years. It later sank, and according to Mr. Sorber, if you go up to the lake on a clear day, when the wind is not blowing, you can see it where it rests on the bottom.

It was not long after the Harvey's Lake Transit Co. came into being, that another company was formed. The new company built the steamboats, Wilkes-Barre and Kingston, on a site near Warden Place. The Transit Co. built the Natoma, which was the largest of the boats, and the Acoma and constructed boat houses and landing dock near what is now Puterbaugh's Store.

The newer boat company (name unknown) was later purchased by the Lake Transit co. and added the Wilkes-Barre and Kingston to their fleet.

Mr. Sorber related that the area where the Casino and Grotto now are was once all water, and that the bridge was at one time much longer. He worked on the pile driver which drove the piles for both of the buildings. The piles were driven into the lake bottom by an 800 pound iron weight which was raised by a hand winch. A trip rope released the weight which dropped down on the pile. White oak was the best wood for piles, evidenced by the face that many still remain to this day.

The Transit Co. also operated an electric power plant which was situated near their boat houses. This plant supplied power to various places around the lake, and was in operation during the boating season. The steam powered generators were shut down at midnight.

Mr. Sorber remembers that sometimes they would be out on the lake with a "moonlite," a group of people who had chartered the boat for the evening, when at midnight the lights around the lake would go out, as the power plant shut down for the night. The oil lamp on the boat was not much help, especially on a foggy night. For later years, a carbide lamp was used which was much brighter than the oil lamps.

In his nineteen years of working on the lake, Mr. Sorber graduated from deck hand to engineer, pilot and captain, and was licensed for all three positions.

People think the crowds are big at the lake now! He remembers the year the Mercy Hospital held their picnic. The Lehigh Valley Railroad no longer brought in excursions to the picnic grounds so the crowds came in by trolley car, all day long, and were transported across the lake by the steam boats. When it came time to go home, all four boats were pressed into service to haul the mob back. The Natoma could carry 300 people at one time and the other boats could handle up to 150 people apiece. Before midnight the people were all transported across to the trollies. But it wasn't until 9:00 a.m. the next morning that the last trolley car lumbered into Wilkes-Barre with the remainder of the sleepy picnickers from the day before.

Mr. Sorber piloted the steam boats around the lake for many years, and knows every foot of it. He says that the deepest spot in the lake is off Willow Point, where it drops to 102 foot depth. (He points out that the Fish Commission does not think the lake is that deep).

He smiled as he said, "On a clear day, with one of the steamboats, I could run close enough to the drop-off that you could have jumped off the side of the boat, and you would have been in the shallow water!"

At one time he worked as engineer on the boats. The engineer tended the engine, shoveled on coal, and kept steam up. The Natoma was the hottest to work in. The engine room was below deck with small windows up near the ceiling at deck level.

The only ventilation was the air which came in through these windows. On summer days the temperature got as hot as 130 degrees and stayed that way all day. The engine would consume about a ton and a half of coal in a day. The ashes were dumped into the lake. Mr. Sorber recalls that the old Kingston was hard to keep fired up. The engine had become worn and the boat was only used on holidays. At times the coal bunkers and deck chairs would be chopped up and burned in order to raise enough steam to get the boat back to the landing at night.

Base was engineer on the last run the Kingston ever made. (About 1920). "The other men all had a bet up whether I would get it back to the boat house that night because it was very hard to steam up."

"Clarence Shaver was manager and also captain on the run that day. We knew we had to go in before dark because we had no lights. He came through the engine room and he said, "Now this is our last trip." "I said alright." So, when we got ready to run in to the picnic ground, I cleaned my fire so that I had a fresh low fire on the grates. Then we loaded up to take them in to the Oneonta. When we began back down the lake, I started to hook it up. My how that thing would run! The Captain came back in and made me shut it off. We went into the boat house and tied it up, and the steam blowed off, popped the valve. And that was the last trip the Kingston ever made!"

Mr. Sorber remembers the final voyage of the Natoma, the fastest and last steamboat to ply the lake.

The boats had not been running for sometime but on this particular day a group of people had chartered the Natoma. Raymond Smith was the pilot that day. Towards the evening the crowd decided they wanted to keep the boat later into the night.

"Ray could not pilot it after dark, and they had to land in an awful bad place. So they went into the picnic ground and called me and asked me if I would come up and pilot it til midnight. I could run it after dark cause I was licensed for it. I piloted the ship that night, and that was the last run it ever made." The boat was later secured between pilings at shore near the picnic grounds. When it became unsafe, it was dismantled.

Mr. and Mrs. Sorber still live near the lake on the Outlet Road. They not only raised one son of their own, but over the years have raised as their own, 34 foster children. Mr. Sorber says that there has never been a dull moment around their house! These children have been fortunate indeed to have heard, first hand from the captain himself, the many wonderful tales of the days when the steamboats used to ply the lake.

 

[Editor's Notes: There are errors in this account. The Oneonta Hotel, not the Lake Transit Company, had the electric power plant at Sunset. There is another vague account of a small unnamed steamboat sunk at Sunset but not owned by Capt. Bond. The Lake Transit Company's boat houses were in the Outlet area not near Puterbaugh's store at Sunset.]