The Harvey's Lake Steamboat Men - Extra

Introduction

The earliest steamboat serving the public at the Lake was the Wingohocking, which was based at the Lake House Hotel at Sunset. It operated at the Lake in 1860-1864. The next steamboat was the Emma in 1875, followed by a few others, public and private, in the late 1880s.

The small public craft principally served the Rhoades Hotel (formerly the Lake House) at Sunset. The best known of these roughly 30 feet long steamboats were the Mistletoe in 1888 and the City Charter in 1889, and both were, in time, either built or owned by Capt. William E. Bond (1820-1904). They served to haul passenger traffic from the LVRR railroad station at Alderson to hotels at Sunset.

The Mistletoe was originally a privately-owned craft operating on the Susquehanna River in Pittston. It was sold to another party in 1888 to serve as a passenger service at the Lake and it was later sold to Capt. Bond. The Mistletoe was then acquired in 1890 by George B. Rhoades to serve the Rhoades Hotel but accounts of it disappeared after the 1892 season. Bond built another public steamboat at the Lake called the City Charter, launched in 1889. He would eventually transfer the City Charter in 1895 to Lake Carey.

The Lake's steamboat history is covered in detail in the Harvey's Lake history book which is available on this website. This article may generally retrace portions of this earlier history. But the article will also reveal new research since the publication of the book and also develop more fully the lives of key figures who created the Lake's steamboat companies and the men who operated the steamboats and their essential role in sustaining the Lake's role as a major recreational and tourism destination in an earlier and now dim past.

 

The Big Boat/Shawanese

The Lake's most significant steamboat history began in 1891 with the first of a series of large steamboats for the growing emergence of the Lake as a summer resort.

In January 1891, William E. Bond began construction of his "Big Boat" at the North Corner (Alderson) but he would later headquarter his steamboat operation at Warden Place. The Big Boat was launched on May 30, 1891, but its trial trip did not occur until June 8, 1891. Bond was in a rowboat inspecting it when he fell into the Lake and had to be rescued.

The Big Boat was described earlier in The Evening Leader on April 16, 1891:

The new steamer is nearing completion and bids fair to be a beautiful boat. Her dimensions are as follows: Length over all, 70 feet; breadth of beam, 12 feet. She will not draw more than 3 1/2 or 4 feet in the water. The motive power will be a screw propeller, with a 35-horse power engine of the latest improved marine type. There will be two decks, giving a passenger capacity of 250. She is a staunch craft and ensures safety and comfort. The constructor is Walter Burling, of Ithaca, N.Y., and her owner, Capt. Bond, may feel justly proud of his new boat.

The Big Boat conducted its first major business on June 9, 1891, when 20 railroad cars of Odd Fellows from Pittston and Wilkes-Barre came to the Lake. At the same time, the LVRR Picnic Ground (later amusement park) had just opened.

Bond had a monopoly on Lake steamboat travel in 1891-1892 with the Big Boat, Mistletoe and City Charter. He also owned the Kahler House, a hotel at Warden Place.

In October 1891, Moyer D. Rosser, Kingston, took his son, Gomer, to the Lake for a week's break. The father had recently suffered severe injuries and burns from a gas explosion at the Kingston Coal Company and he had little use of his hands while recovering. They were fishing from one of Bond's boats, likely the Big Boat, when the son fell overboard and drowned. He would have had his tenth birthday the following day.

In 1892 Bond's Big Boat was described as "well patronized" with a capacity of 200 passengers. Its success drew the attention of Theodore Renshaw, Plymouth, captain of the Marshland, a Susquehanna River steamboat operating on the river in the Wyoming Valley. Renshaw planned to ship the Marshland to Harvey's Lake. He also wished to build a new 110-foot long, twin propeller, double-decker steamboat for the Lake. But Renshaw never concluded either plan.

Bond, too, planned to build another steamboat, 53 feet long by 10 feet wide, with a twin propeller, for the lake, but this plan also failed. In October 1894, Bond's City Charter, with five male passengers, had an accident approaching its Alderson dock. The steamboat stoved into the pier and crushed its bow. The steamboat was taking on water and threatening to sink. An elderly man saw the plight from shore and hurriedly found a rowboat and rowed to the steamer to gather the pilot and passengers. A rope was attached to the City Charter and the men were able to both row themselves and pull the City Charter to the shore to prevent its sinking.

In June 1895 two Dallas men were riding horses in shallow water at Alderson. One man was thrown in the Lake by his horse. The other man sought to rescue his friend. The horses were now in panic and in the ensuing melee both men drowned. The horses waded to shore. When the victims could not be recovered, a call went out to Bond and the Big Boat steamed to the site. From the boat two sticks of fused and lighted dynamite were dropped into the Lake. An explosion followed and the bodies of the two men rose to the surface. One of the men was 19. The other was 20.

 

Rosalind

In early November 1892, the Lake Transit Company was created. It became the dominant steamboat operation at the Lake for the next four decades. It was incorporated by S.H. Sturdevant, President; George R. Wright, Treasurer; S.J. Fogel, Secretary; and other directors, E.C. Snyder and George R. Rhoades. Wright was the de facto general manager of the company.

A few comments are interesting regarding the directors of the Lake Transit Company. Samuel H. Sturdevant died at age 42 in July 1903. He was considered one of the most prominent business men in the Valley. He owned the H. S. Sturdevant Lumber Company which was started by his father, Col. S. H. Sturdevant. The company had roots in lumbering at the Outlet at the Lake and the son was born at Harvey's Lake. L. J. Fogel (1844-1905) was a graduate of Wyoming Seminary and along with Clinton Sturdevant, Fogel created the firm of Sturdevant, Fogel and Company, meat packers and wholesale dealers in Wilkes-Barre. He retired at age 61, seven months before his death.

George R. Wright was a lawyer and founder of the Dallas Bank. He spent his summers at the Rhoades Hotel at the Lake. His father was H. B. Wright, a congressman who shared ownership of the patents to the bottom of Harvey's Lake. A member of the anthracite aristocracy, he considered himself as Lord of the Lake. George R. Rhoades was a member of the Rhoades Hotel family line.

Wright engaged the W.R. Osborne Company in Peekskill, N.Y., to build the 60-foot Rosalind near the Lake's Picnic Ground in the early spring of 1893. Its earliest captain was George B. Rhoades who was associated with the Rhoades Hotel. Its engineer was Amos Flower.

The trial run of the Rosalind on May 13, 1893, was described on that date in the Wilkes-Barre Times:

The new steamer of the Lake Transit Company, "The Rosalind,' made its trial trip on Harvey Lake to-day, there being aboard, in addition to its builders, William Osborne & Sons. a number of the lake cottagers and numerous residents of this city, who left on a special car on the Reading railroad at 10:15. The initial trip was a success in every particular, and the pleasure of the occasion was not marred by the slightest incident that would in any way detract from its enjoyment.

The "Rosalind" is certainly a beauty and rode the beautiful body of water with the majesty of a queen. It is sixty feet long, fourteen feet over all in width, and has a seating capacity of 125, but will carry 200 passengers. It is provided with a vertical steel boiler 50x84 inches in dimension, and a 9x9 vertical engine which drives a four-flange four-inch propeller. It is painted in modest though attractive colors. The inside is hard wood finish and presents a wonderfully inviting appearance. The boat was originally built at Peekskill, N.Y., by William Osborne & Sons, but was afterward taken apart, shipped to its destination by rail and rebuilt. Especial attention has been paid to providing every known contrivance that will serve to save life in case of accident, such as life boat, life preservers, etc. The new boat will add materially to the enjoyment of visitors at this popular resort.

The Big Boat and the Rosalind were now rivals for business at the Lake and occasionally were engaged in reckless conduct, racing or challenging each other to be first to meet docks to board passengers. To end the dangerous conduct the Lake Transit sought to buy Bond's Big Boat, but at first his price was excessive. Finally, Bond agreed to sell the Big Boat in March 1895 for $3,500.

In 1894-95 there was a campaign by George R. Wright, a founding board member of the Lake Transit Company, to change the name of the Lake to Shawanese. He managed, for a time, to have the LVRR change the Alderson train station name to Shawanese, and the Lake post office name near the Rhoades Hotel to Shawanese. He also had the Big Boat renamed the Shawanese.

When the Lake Transit Company purchased Bond's Big Boat in March 1895, E.J. Carpenter was named the captain of the now renamed Shawanese. In late June 1900, Carpenter was appointed captain of the newly-launched Natoma steamboat.

From 1895 to 1902 the Lake Transit Company held a monopoly on steamboat services at the Lake. In 1903 another steamboat company was formed, the Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company, with its steamboats the Wilkes-Barre and Kingston.

In 1895 Capt. Bond moved to Dallas, his original hometown, where he had purchased some buildings and lots in a real estate venture. He was also planning to build a foundry and machine shop. For a time, he operated his City Charter at Lake Carey where he had relocated the steamboat. Bond, who was born in Lancashire, England, died in July 1904. His wife, Ellen, had died in April 1904. There were no children.

In 1909 the Lake Transit Company acquired the Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company and its steamboats Wilkes-Barre and Kingston. The old Shawanese (Big Boat) was retired and offered for sale. No buyer was interested and the Shawanese rested at a West Corner dock and was later dismantled.

 

Capt. E.J. Carpenter

Elihu J. Carpenter was a colorful character who was the face of the Lake Transit Company in its early decades. He was born in 1844 in New Lebanon, New York. He enlisted in the Union Army in January 1863 and was assigned to the 1st Sharpshooters Regiment. His three brothers also served in the Union cause. Carpenter was a descendant of Ebenezer Carpenter, a Revolutionary War veteran. His grandfather served in the War of 1812, and his son, E.J. Carpenter, Jr., was a sergeant in the U.S. Marines during the Philippine insurrection from 1889-1902.

When he was discharged from Union service, Carpenter joined Troop C, 2d U.S. Calvary, in 1866 and fought in the Indian Wars in Nebraska and Wyoming. He was a first sergeant for eight years before his retirement in 1894. He relocated to Wilkes-Barre with his wife, Clara Randall. The city was Clara's hometown. Her father, William Randall, was associated with a masonic banking institution.

E. J. Carpenter was appointed captain of the Rosalind steamboat by the Lake Transit Company in May 1899. He later was named captain of the company's Natoma when it was launched in 1900, and later appointed captain of the Acoma steamboat at its launch in 1905. A photograph accompanying this section circa 1900 shows a group of unidentified Lake steamboat men. The first figure from the left may be steamboat engineer Arthur Kocher. The fourth figure from the left is possibly E. J. Carpenter. A similar unidentified figure appears center-stage on a photo postcard of the crowd-filled deck of the Acoma immediately after its launching. This photo is not available for publication.

In 1907 Carpenter accepted a new position as manager of the recently opened Lehigh Valley Railroad Picnic Ground, Lake Carey. However, the park failed to engender much success and closed after the 1910 season.

Prior to Carpenter's death in October 1915, he had been serving as the night watchman of the Fowler, Dick and Walker store in downtown Wilkes-Barre. The store was later known as The Boston Store, and now Boscov's.

In the summer of 1899, the Lake Transit Company built a dry dock near Pole 265 at the Outlet as a steamboat repair facility. The dry dock is 80-feet long, 20-feet wide and 7-feet deep. It still rests on the bottom of the Lake. Other Lake Transit Company facilities included the home of the company's general manager, soon to be Clarence Shaver, near Pole 268. The company's large boathouses for two of the large steamboats, and a smaller boathouse for its launches, were in the area of Poles 266-268.

In 1900 the President of the Lake Transit Company was Philip R. Raife, Wyoming Valley's best known building contractor. He was born in Ransom, Pa., and was originally a carpenter. He moved to Chicago and did construction work for the Chicago, Montreal and St. Paul Railroad. In 1878 Raife returned to Wilkes-Barre and was responsible for constructing City Hall and the Union Street school building. He also supervised construction of the Irem Temple and the Elks building on South River Street (recently renovated into apartments). He was the driving force for the Lake Transit Company. He died on August 17, 1924.

 

Natoma

On June 9, 1900, the Natoma was launched and Carpenter was named its captain, assisted by Reuban L. Shaver, whose brother Clarence Shaver would soon become the company's general manager for the balance of the company's life. Another brother R. Bruce Shaver would later become a company captain. G.M. Anderson was a deck hand on the new Natoma, but by 1905 he was a captain of the fleet and the public face of the Lake Transit Company until the end of the company's life on the Lake.

In February 1900 the Lake Transit Company constructed two large boat houses at its Outlet headquarters to accommodate at least two of its large steamboats. The company was also planning to build a new steamboat. In April 1900, C.E. Butler, Wilkes-Barre, won a prize from the company for advancing the name Natoma for the new steamboat. It was supposedly a Native American name for "Queen of the Waters."

The Natoma was launched on June 9, 1900. The Natoma was described in the Wilkes-Barre Weekly Times on June 30, 1900:

The Na-to-ma was built by William R. Osborne, of Peekskill, N.Y., and cost $9,000. She is pronounced the finest inland water craft of her size east of the Mississippi, everything being strictly modern and first class. She is eighty feet long over all, with eighteen feet breadth of beam over guards, cabins fore and aft of the main deck and an upper deck the whole length of the craft, having seats with awning protection and has a capacity to seat 350 persons. The vertical tubular marine boiler is of eighty-horse power, good for 150 pounds pressure, built by the Pennsylvania Boiler Works of Erie. The engine is a fore and aft compound condensing one of seventy-five horse power, with cylinders of 8x14x10, and was built by the Morris Machine Works of Baldwinsville, N.Y. The builder, W.R. Osborne is proud of the craft. The trial trip was run by his son, Charles Osborne, who is a licensed government engineer and pilot. The regular engineer of the Na-to-ma will be Warren Steel who was an engineer for several years on the cruiser Mohegan in the United States Navy. The captain is E.J. Carpenter and the pilot A.E. Marcy, with G.M. Anderson acting as deck hand.

 

The Public Nuisance Lawsuit

In early 1901 the Lake Transit Company was sued in court to enjoin the company from dumping coal ashes, fecal matter and other garbage from its steamboats into the Lake. The lawsuit was filed by the descendants of Hendrick B. Wright, who held an ownership interest in State patents granted to Wright in 1871 to the bottom of the Lake. (See "Who owns Harvey's Lake ? " - an article on this website.)

On February 18, 1901, Judge G.L. Halsey, a member of the Luzerne County Court, in a lengthy opinion decided in favor of the Lake Transit Company. He noted the state legislature, also in 1871, declared Harvey's Lake and Harvey's Creek to be navigable water bodies, and therefore public highways.

Consequently, while the Lake bottom may be privately owned, as a public highway the Lake's surface may be used by the public or private company.

The Court stated a public nuisance or abuse of a public highway may be enjoined. But the descendants of the Lake's patent owners had to show an injury, harm or damages specific to their interests, not a general injury to the public in general. Ashes or filth on the Lake bottom were not a legally recognized harm to the patent representatives. Therefore, the plaintiffs had no legal standing to bring the case. The Court suggested standing to sue could apply to owners of shoreline interests if concrete harm could be proven A governmental body or agency representing the public interest could also have the authority to seek judicial relief. The opinion may appear exotic to a present-day audience, and in current-day circumstances with its environmental law attention, the outcome would likely be different.

There are "dead-zones" on the Lake bottom which were created when decades of coal ashes were routinely dumped into the Lake by the steamboats. These are now large piles of ashes barren of any growth or aquatic life. One area is near the steamboat company headquarters. Another is at the West Corner out from the extreme left end of Old Sandy Bottom. The latter may be from the time period when the Natoma was based at Sandy Beach.

 

Wilkes-Barre and Kingston

In late October 1902, the Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company was chartered in Harrisburg by Wyoming Valley investors. The directors were T.L. Newell and Calvin Dymond of Kingston and E.T. Payne and Ephram Troxell of Wilkes-Barre.

T.L. Newell (1855-1933), who had homes at the Lake and in Kingston, Honolulu, and California, was the President of the Kingston Bank and Trust Company, and a director of the Kingston Coal Company. In 1907 he would donate a farm he owned near the Lake to a boys club called "Rex Mere for Boys." It operated for several summers until it relocated to Lily Lake.

Calvin Dymond (1837-1920), was the President of the new company. He had operated a very successful meat market in Kingston from 1869 to 1894. He was one of the oldest residents of Kingston when he died in early November 1920. Dymond was in effect the general manager of the Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company.

Ephram Troxell (1823-1903) died six months after the incorporation of the new steamboat company. He was a lumberman at the Outlet and he owned a huge swath of acreage around the Lake. He also had a business interest in the Lake's trolley line. At the time of Troxell's death, he with Calvin Dymond, T.L. Newell, and Albert Lewis, the Alderson lumberman, were financing a new macadam road around the Lake.

In September 1904, the Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company stated it planned to build a new steamboat eight feet longer than the Natoma, built by the Lake Transit Company in 1900.

But the boat construction plans soon changed.

The Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company decided to build a pair of steamboats at the Lake, which were identical, the Wilkes-Barre and the Kingston. Oddly, the company engaged William Osborne and Company from New York to build the steamboats, the same company which had built steamboats for the Lake Transit Company.

The new steamboats were built at Warden Place. They were ready by May 1903 and the Wilkes-Barre was launched early in May with no ceremony. The Kingston launch was a week later on May 13, 1903, with Calvin Dymond in general charge and Capt. John Pettebone operating the boat. The Kingston launch was noted in the Wilkes-Barre Leader on May 14, 1903:

The seventy-foot steamer Kingston, one of the new boats of the Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company, was successfully launched at the lake yesterday afternoon. Miss Faith Bullard, of this city, acting as sponsor, broke the time-honored bottle of wine across the bow, as the pretty craft slid from the ways to the bosom of the water.

A large party from this city witnessed the launching, being domiciled on the Wilkes-Barre, a sister boat, which was launched a couple of weeks ago. A trial trip was also made on the latter boat. It is a fast craft, 70 feet long and 12 wide, and will easily accommodate two hundred people.

During the afternoon the Forty Fort band, which accompanied the party, discoursed lively music for the entertainment of the guests.

Competition between the two companies quickly escalated. Both were especially aggressive in deceiving and soliciting trolley passengers at the trolley station at Oneonta hill. Passengers were misdirected by signs and fences to favor one steamer line over the other. In early August 1903, Calvin Dymond was arrested for assaulting Thomas Ford, a constable for the Lake Transit Company, who was mis-informing trolley passengers away from the path to the Wilkes-Barre and Kingston and on to a path to the Lake Transit's Oneonta landing.

The Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company also had engaged a Black swing orchestra to draw traffic to its boat line. The Lake Transit Company retaliated with a band composed of a bass drum, horn, snare drum and fife, to drown out the Black band.

There is very little information about the Wilkes-Barre and Kingston in news accounts between 1903 and the dissolution of the new steamboat company in 1909.

In 1903, the Pennsylvania state legislature passed legislation requiring all captains, pilots and engineers to pass an examination and to obtain a state license to operate a passenger-carrying steamboat on state waters. It was similar to federal marine law covering federal waters.

The Kingston was, at times, captained by 25-year-old C. Murray Turpin, a Kingston native who served in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War and later in the PA National Guard. He was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Dental School. He served as a Lake captain during his summer school breaks. Turpin was later elected a Wyoming Valley congressman for four terms between 1929 and 1937. He sought unsuccessfully to make Ricketts Glen a national park.

The Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company had a successful 1904 season declaring a 30 percent dividend to its stockholders for the year.

The company had two principal landings, one at the Picnic Ground, and a second near the Rhoades Hotel at Sunset. The latter would be replaced by a pier jutting out from the middle of an iron bridge which once spanned the inlet at Sunset.

The new company had decided disadvantages compared to the Lake Transit Company which had many more landings to accommodate passengers. It also had the Natoma, the Lake's most majestic boat, and in 1905 the Acoma, which could cruise at 15 miles per hour, the fastest steamboat on the inland waters of Pennsylvania.

In 1905, too, the Lake Transit Company added the Wyoming to its fleet, a small, gasoline powered launch for taxi service around the Lake. In 1914 the Transit Company also brought into service the 30-passenger Emily, a larger launch for summer taxi service. It became a beloved sight on the Lake, and was later captained by George Anderson. The launches also operated in the early spring and in the fall when regular steamboat service was not available.

The two steamboat companies were "at war" in 1903-1905 as they fiercely, and at times, recklessly raced to landings to garner anxious passengers. In June 1906 they declared a truce and agreed to maintain their current passenger rates, lessening their competition.

However, in late 1906, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Picnic Ground was destroyed in a fire, and the park was closed in 1907-1908. The steamboat run to the park was a principal income source for both steamboat companies, and the Lake Transit Company was in a better position to withstand the loss.

In June 1909, the Lake Transit Company purchased the assets of the Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company which included the Wilkes-Barre and Kingston. The 19-year-old Shawanese (Big Boat) was removed from service and dismantled.

The Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company was formally dissolved on December 6, 1909, by the local court upon request by the company officers. Calvin Dymond, former present of the company, became a director of the Lake Transit Company, in March 1910.

Thirty-five years later the Wilkes-Barre steamboat was remembered as WWII concluded. In late October 1945 the Kiwanis Club of Wilkes-Barre scheduled an event featuring Capt. Robert Lee Porter, commander of the USS Wilkes-Barre, a light battle cruiser during WWII. Dr. C. Murray Turpin was asked to comment by the Wilkes-Barre Record on October 30, 1945, about his service as skipper of the steamboat Wilkes-Barre at Harvey's Lake:

"Why, even in those days we had battles, but no casualties, and in those days we could do a lot with a half- ton of coal.

"You must remember," said Cap'n Turpin, "that there were five boats on the lake at that time, three, the Natoma, Shawnee and Rosalind, were owned by the other company, while my good ship Wilkes-Barre and the Kingston were operated by my company.

"Battles, did you say. Why sure, we had battles galore, for patronage. And we fought hard for that patronage, too. We used to get the good boat Wilkes-Barre moving about 6 in the morning, and we plowed the waters of Harvey's Lake until 10 that night. You see, we couldn't quit before our opposition did.

"We used to load them to the gunwhales. The nearest thing to armament we had were the fire shovels and rakers.

Collectors Walked Rails

"Anyway, we loaded them in. And we would have to walk the rails to collect the fares, 15 cents one-way. Not expensive, was it?

"Well, sir, we would put aboard a half ton of coal every morning and that was enough fuel for the whole day. Bet that wouldn't even blow the whistle of the Cruiser Wilkes-Barre.

"Our crew was the captain, the pilot, the engineer and one deck hand, an easy crew for one to control, except that sometimes we couldn't find them because of the passengers blocking the decks.

"It took us from 30 to 45 minutes to go from the Oneonta Hotel to the Picnic Ground, depending on the number of docks we stopped at. The Cruiser Wilkes-Barre would only have to move a few feet to span the whole distance.

"As for rations, I know that our sailors have the best. We used to pack our pails and grab our lunch when we had the chance. We never went hungry either.

"My first job as a Harvey's Lake seaman was deckhand. But I got promoted once in a while, and when the Wilkes-Barre was christened in 1903, they made me her captain.

"In those days the Lehigh Valley Railroad used to run excursions from Philadelphia and Easton from 90 to 100 coaches. And then, we'd load them in for a trip around the lake.

"Where's the Wilkes-Barre now? The natives of Harvey's Lake have long since dismantled her and used her for firewood. I certainly was proud of that ship."

The USS Wilkes-Barre was launched on December 24, 1943. The 610 foot Cleveland-Class light cruiser had 1,285 officers and enlisted men. The ship served in the Pacific theatre, including the South China Sea and supported the Iwo Jima and Okinawa invasions. She was decommissioned on October 9, 1947. In May 1972, off the Florida Keys, she was split in half and sunk during underwater weapons tests, and now serves as an artificial reef supporting sea life in its 320-foot depth. It also is a popular, but risky, deep wreck diving site.

 

Acoma

In April 1905 the Lake Transit Company announced plans to build the Acoma, the last of the steamboats on the Lake. The Wilkes-Barre Record ran the following on April 11, 1905:

Mrs. John A. Schmitt won the prize offered by the directors of the Lake Transit Co. for naming the new boat to be put in service at Harvey's Lake on June 15. The name suggested was "A'coma," and Indian name, meaning "Big Waters." The name was selected from a list of over 2,000 submitted.

The boat is being built by W.R. Osborne Co. of Catskill, N.Y. It's length over all is to be seventy-two feet, beam over guards (width) sixteen feet, depth of hull, four and a half feet. The keel is to be of white oak. The planking is to be inch and a half cedar and the main deck is to be of cypress.

The machinery is to consist of a tubular boiler, sixty inches in diameter, ninety-six inches high with 250 tubes two inches in diameter with a pressure of 150 pounds. The rest of the equipment is to be the best. This boat must pass the government inspection. It is to be one of the fastest and best inland steamers in the State.

The president of the company is P.R. Raife; secretary and treasurer, J. Lucas Williams; directors, P.R. Raife, C.E. Stegmaier, J.R. Jones, W.R. Goff and Peter Forve.

There is no evidence the Acoma was named for the Acoma Native Americans once prominent in New Mexico and the Southwest United States. The quoted article states the Acoma was 72 feet long. A quote to follow states it was 75 feet long which is more accurate.

The Lake Transit Company also had new directors on its board at this time. Peter Forve was a German native who came to the U. S. with his parents in the 1860s. He was a "breaker boy" and later learned the plumbing trade and developed a very successful plumbing business in Wilkes-Barre. He was also a director of the Oneonta Hotel company at the Lake.

Charles E. (Carl) Stegmaier was a descendant of the Stegmaier brewery dynasty. He was a graduate of Wyoming Seminary and the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation he joined his father's Stegmaier Brewery Company firm. In 1930 he and his twin brother, Fred, formed the Stegmaier Brewery Brothers Company in Hanover Township, later renamed the Wyoming Valley Brewing Company, Inc., in 1933. He died the same year.

The Wilkes-Barre Times described the Acoma's launching on June 29, 1905, and an excerpt follows:

At 3 o'clock this afternoon the Lake Transit company launched its new boat, the "Acoma," the ceremony being witnessed by a large and enthusiastic crowd, composed principally of citizens of the city and cottagers residing at the lake.

The new boat, which is to augment the fleet at present in use, was built upon the spot from which she was launched by Wm. R. Osborne, a reliable and competent boatbuilder of Croton-on-the-Hudson. The boat, which is constructed along the lines of modern ideas will have a safe carrying capacity of 250 passengers. Her dimensions are as follows: Length over all, 75 feet; beam, 13 feet; beam over guards, 16 feet; depth of hold, 4 feet, 6 inches; keel, white oak, 5x6 inches. Her machinery and engine are the best obtainable; the boat is supplied with an eighty-horse power boiler, with a working pressure of 160 pounds, and it is expected she will prove to be one of the fastest boats in use on any inland waters in the State. The name "Acoma" is an Indian derivation and signifies large water.

After the launching, the boat was towed back to the wharf, where she was tied up and the trial trip for the testing the engine and machinery will take place on either Saturday or Sunday, as it is the desire of the Lake Transit company to place the boat in commission for use on July 4.

The ceremonies incident to the launching were simple, but impressive.

More of the Acoma's details appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times on June 29, 1905:

This boat [Acoma] was built upon the spot from which she is about to be launched [Sunset]. Some of her specifications are:

Length over all, 75 feet,
Beam 13 feet,
Beam over guards, 16 feet,
Depth of hold, 4 feet 6 inches,
Keel, white oak, 5x6 inches.

Her machinery and engine are the best made: an eighty-horse power boiler, with a working pressure of 160 pounds steam, this certified to by a United States inspector. She is supposed to be the swiftest boat on any inland waters in this State, although safety will not be sacrificed for speed. The boat is, or will be, supplied with all appliances necessary for the saving of life in case of accident, and all other appliances for the convenience and comfort of her patrons. She has a safe carrying capacity of 250 passengers. Her captain will be E.J. Carpenter, a retired United States marine officer, whose nine years of experience on the lake, whose intimate knowledge of the code of signals, and whose thorough discipline and courtesy will make a combination of which his company may look upon with pardonable pride. Thus will be added in the fleet of the Lake Transit company another boat well equipped for the safety, convenience and rapid transit so necessary to the public, making three boats in all.

Mr. P.R. Raife, with the assistance of Captains Carpenter and Anderson and the sailors under them intend to give to their patrons, conservative, careful and courteous attention, and give to them, as far as possible, rapid and safe transit over the waters of this beautiful lake.

 

The Lake Carey Picnic Ground

Soon, however, significant events would occur affecting the Lake Transit Company. In May 1904 a group of investors, including John A. Redington, who leased and managed the Harvey's Lake Picnic Ground, and Reuben L. Shaver, a steamboat captain at the Lake, created two corporations to operate a new Picnic Ground developed by the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Lake Carey. They would also operate the Rosalind steamboat which Redington purchased from the Lake Transit Company (Basically, the Acoma was replacing the older Rosalind). In 1905, Redington had the Rosalind shipped on gondola cars by the LVRR to Lake Carey. Reuben L. Shaver moved to Lake Carey to captain the Rosalind. Then in 1907 E.J. Carpenter left the Lake Transit Company to manage the Lake Carey Picnic Ground.

The Lake Carey Picnic Ground company also had a financial interest in the Hotel Ferncliff at Lake Carey. The hotel guests were patrons of the Picnic Ground and the Rosalind. But the Ferncliff was totally destroyed in a March 1906 fire.

The Lake Carey Picnic Ground was not a success and closed after its 1910 season. E.J. Carpenter moved to Wilkes-Barre and Reuben L. Shaver moved to Dallas and worked for 20 years with the American Stores chain.

 

The Shaver-Anderson Steamboat Connections

With the loss of R.L. Shaver and E.J. Carpenter it is very likely that it was at this time Clarence Shaver became the general manager of the Lake Transit Company and George M. Anderson became the captain of the new Acoma steamboat, and in time captain of the general fleet at the Lake. Joining George Anderson on the steamboat line was his brother Charles H. Anderson who spent his life on general duties with the steamboats. In the off-seasons he was a lumberman in the Lake region. He died at age 90 in March 1970. George Anderson is buried in the Perrego Cemetery at the West Corner over- looking his beloved Lake.

Clarence E. Shaver (1876-1957), the general manager of the Lake Transit Company, for 36 years, helped build the Natoma and was on the boat when it was launched in 1900. Prior to his work for the steamboat company, Shaver was a mine shaft engineer for the Hudson Coal Company. In 1949 he recalled that the best single day in the company's history was July 4, 1919, when it collected 15, 876 fares at 15 cents each. This July 4 was seven months after the end of WWI. As general manager he was the only full-time, year-around company employee with a company home at the company's Outlet base. He also was a company boat captain and pilot. On the hill top behind the company house was Capt. George Anderson's 1897 privately-owned farm and home which over-looked the company boat-houses.

Clarence Shaver's brother, Reuben L. Shaver, was married into the Anderson line. His wife, Lydia, was a sister of Capt. George M. Anderson. The Anderson line was married into the Kocher line and all three family lines worked for the Lake Transit Company. R. L. Shaver left steamboat work in 1910 after his stint with the Rosalind steamboat at Lake Carey. Another brother was R. Bruce Shaver (1880-1961), the last surviving steamboat captain from the Lake. He had also operated a drilling company since 1909. (Except for Clarence Shaver, steamboat employees only had summer work and needed alternative work the balance of the year. Anderson was a school-bus driver for Lake Township and also a trucker hauling lumber to mines in the Luzerne area. He and his wife Martha were also raising three nearly infant grand-children after their mother, Mable Anderson, died at age 23 in the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918.) After steam-boating ceased, R. Bruce Shaver continued his drilling business until his death.

Chapter 10 of the Harvey's Lake history book, reprinted on this website, provides a comprehensive history of the Lake's steamboat history and operational details. It also reprints an expansive article from the Sunday Independent newspaper dated June 6, 1939, regarding "Cap" George M. Anderson who operated the Acoma. The article is repeated as Appendix I to this article. Appendix 2 is a romantic Times-Leader article dated October 25, 1945, on the Emily launch.

 

Other Steamboat Men

Several of the steamboat men became well-known at the Lake and to the regular passengers on the boats. Lyman E. Williams was born in Loyalville and moved to the Lake in 1905. In these early years he worked on the steamboats before co-founding the Harvey's Lake Bottling Works at Alderson. The lanky Sherman Davis was a long-term seasonal steamboat engineer, usually on the Acoma. He also served for nearly two decades in maintenance work at Laketon High School. His daughter, Pauline, taught elementary school for the Lake school district.

Arthur C. Kocher was another long-term Lake Transit employee, also as an engineer on the Acoma. His grand-daughter, Carlene Kocher McCaffrey and her husband, James, created Old Sandy Bottom beach in 1955. When Arthur died in 1946, he had been working for R. B. Shaver and Sons, the well-drilling company. Another former steamboat employee, Jeffe E. Boice, worked for the Harveys Lake Steamboat Company. He, too, later worked for the Shaver drilling company.

Walter (Base) Sorber was born in Noxen but he later moved to the Lake where he resided for 57 years. He held various positions on the boats, but otherwise he was employed as a lumberman for 30 years for various companies.

There is no comprehensive list of steamboat employees. Except for Clarence Shaver, employment was only for the summer boating season. A partial list of steamboat employees, not otherwise named in this article, would include Ralph Ashburner, Earl Davis, Clarence Dean, Walter King, Alfred Martin, Howard Riley, Earl Sherman, Bruce Williams, James Williams and Everett Sherman.

Atlee S. Kocher (1894-1970) became a deck hand in 1918 for the Lake Transit Company. In March 1966, in Sweet Valley's Country Impressions newspaper, he offered a summary of his memories of working on the Lake steamboats. It is a singularly well-stated account of the steamboat days:

We talked with Mr. Atlee S. Kocher, Dallas, R.D. #4 recently about the steamboats which used to ply the scenic waters of Harvey's Lake. Mr. Kocher who will be 72 this month, reminisced with enthusiasm about the days when he used to work on the boats. It was in the year 1918 that he was first employed by the Lake Transit Co. as a deck hand. Four boats were in service at that time, the Acoma, Natoma, Kingston and Wilkes-Barre. Two earlier boats were named the Shawnee [sic] and the Roselyn [sic]. The Natoma was the largest, having a full second deck, while the others had only a partial upper deck. The Acoma, and Natoma were the older of the four vessels, and had compound steam engines. The compound engines had two cylinders and used the steam twice. The Wilkes-Barre and Kingston had single cylinder engines. The boats were built at the lake, with the engines being shipped in by rail.

A typical day started with the crew reporting to the boat houses at 7 A.M. The first task was to clean the boats and then take on board the necessary supply of coal. Coal was shipped in by train and stored in the coal house just above the landing at the picnic grounds. The coal was shoveled out of the railroad cars into chutes which carried the coal across the road into the coal house. The crew then carried the coal in buckets to the boats and filled the bunkers along both sides of the boiler. For the remainder of the day the boats would go from landing to landing, picking up and unloading passengers. On weekends and holidays the boats would meet the streetcars as they arrived every thirty minutes, and transport passengers to the picnic grounds. It was usually about midnight when the last trip across the lake would be made and the boats with kerosene running lights aglow, would then pull into the landings, and the big engine would come to rest for the boats.

The Acoma could be run with three men, the captain, pilot, and engineer. Mr. Kocher received his pilot's license and served part time in that capacity for several seasons. He recalled the names of some of the other men who also worked on the boats: Walter Sorber, Ralph Kocher, Walter King, Ralph Ashburner and Bruce Williams.

Whatever became of the boats? Well, one of them was moved to Lake Carey, and later sank. The others were dismantled as they became unsafe for use. Now they are all gone from view, but not from memory. Many are the people in this area who remember the thrill of their first ride, the powerful sound of the steam engine, the scenic view of the lake from the upper deck, and without a doubt many romances started with a moonlight steamboat ride on beautiful Harvey's Lake.

 

The End of the Steamboat Era

The early 1920s were boom times at the Lake, and the Lake Transit Company had relatively normal seasonal business. But the times were quickly changing.

The rapid increase of private automobile ownership was a major factor affecting the Lake after WWI. Passenger traffic on both the railroad and the trolley would steeply decline. There are no surviving records of the Lake Transit Company nor the Harvey's Lake Steamboat Company. It was estimated that in the peak years the Lake Transit Company carried 100,000 passengers annually, and in its best year around 1915 it had a passenger load of 120,000 passengers.

The company once stopped at 18 landings around the Lake. The company owned only very few of the landings. Most landings were private docks which owners allowed landing rights to the company for the convenience of cottagers and Lake visitors. By 1933 the landings were reduced to six or fewer.

In the early 1920s the Lake Improvement Company developed Sunset into a major destination site which rivaled, and may have exceeded, the Picnic Ground. The steamboat runs to the Picnic Ground diminished. At times, the launch Emily was more active than a steamboat. Weekend "picnic trains" and Sunday passenger service to the Lake ended. The Kingston steamboat was basically out-of-service by the mid-1920s. Generally, the Acoma and Wilkes-Barre were carrying any steamboat traffic, with the Natoma available for weekends and holidays.

There were very few news notices about the Lake steamboats in the 1920s. In 1923 the Harvey's Lake police were deputized by the State Health Department to monitor the growing problem of Lake pollution. In July 1923 Clarence Shaver, manager of the Lake Transit Company, announced that the steamboats would eliminate its steamboats' lavatories which dumped human waste into the Lake. There were no later accounts whether the company fulfilled this plan and what alternative plan was in place for disposal of human waste from passengers using steamboat rides.

On Sunday, August 30, 1924, a significant number of bathers trespassing on Lake Transit Company docks were arrested by a county deputy sheriff. There were complaints of boisterous conduct and profane language.

To counter the loss of passengers the Lake Transit Company raised its fare rates for the 1926 season. A one-way passenger trip increased from 15 cents to 20 cents. A round-way trip increased from 30 cents to 40 cents. Excursion or group picnic tickets increased from $13.00 to $18.00 for 100 tickets. Cottagers' tickets increased from $6.25 to $8.25 for 50 tickets.

An August 6, 1928, a report in the Wilkes-Barre Record stated that Sunday, August 5, was the "biggest of the season" for the company. Lake clubs were also "noisy and boisterous" and one club was padlocked.

There are no accounts of steamboats operating in 1928. A report that the Natoma last ran in 1929 probably refers to a special trip for the Lake's Protective Association around the Lake on July 26, 1929, and to the LVRR Picnic Ground for a dinner-dance. Accounts in 1930 are also absent.

In 1930 the Lake Transit Company built a concrete and steel pier at Sandy Beach for its steamboats. Boats apparently ran from Sunset to Sandy Beach. In June 1931 the company leased its four steamboats to the Sandy Beach Amusement company to run to points around the Lake, or to host "steamer card parties" on board, or for Lake excursions around the Lake. But the lease was not renewed in 1932.

In July 1931 trolley service to the Lake terminated at Idetown not at Oneonta Hill. A bus service now ran from Idetown to the Lake. This action, too, now impacted the Lake Transit Company. In another year the trolley run from Dallas to Idetown would be closed. The Lehigh Valley Railroad was also ending Sunday passenger service to the Lake, and all passenger service to the Lake ended in March 1936 except for occasional picnic excursions.

In July 1933, the Lake Transit Company sold its Lake properties, steamboats and launches to John A. Griffiths, Forty Fort. He had no interest in the steamboats. He wanted the company's land holdings to sell housing lots. In May 1934 he offered the Natoma and Acoma for sale for a total price of $1,000.00.

Oscar Roth, a Dallas jeweler and a relative, Bob Roberts, bought the Natoma. They operated the Natoma usually on Sundays, for sightseeing trips, out of Sandy Beach, at least until 1938.

In June 1935, the Bethlehem Steel Corporation dismantled the Acoma, Wilkes-Barre and Kingston, along with the old launch Wyoming for their scrap metal value. Griffith sent the Emily to Lake Winola where it operated as a passenger launch for two seasons before vandalism rendered it inoperable.

On September 9, 1937, the directors of the Lake Transit Company formally dissolved the company.

Roth sold the Natoma to the brothers, William and Jack Farrell, in 1940. They had a plan to restore and operate it but WWII intervened and work on the Natoma was halted. At War's end the Natoma was a wreck due to vandalism. It was towed to the Alderson area, fastened to piles, and used as a dock. The Natoma and adjacent lot was sold to Art Badman who eventually had to dismantle the steamboat. Some of its wood siding was incorporated as paneling in the Badman cottage.

The last surviving employees of the Lake Transit Company were Walter (Base) Sorber and Ralph H. Kocher. Sorber died in October 1979. He was living in his home nearly opposite the Outlet one-room school. Appendix 3 is a newspaper article from 1968 reciting the memories of Base Sorber in his various roles on the steamboats. Ralph H. Kocher, 87, a WWI veteran, was married to Ethel Anderson, a daughter of Capt. George M. Anderson. He served in different capacities on the boats. Later, he was a trucker serving various lumber companies. He lived along Noxen Road near the Wyoming County line. He died on May 12, 1982. His brother, Earl Leroy (Roy) Kocher, likely worked on the steamboats too.

 

Remnants

In August 1979 a Lake Carey resident snorkeled out to the Rosalind wreck, lying in six feet of water, and attached a tow line to the steamboat's propeller. A tow truck pulled the propeller and its shaft to the shore. The propeller lay on the shore for a few years. It later disappeared.

In August 1996, the Lake Borough erected a Lake Steamboat Memorial featuring the propeller of the Natoma. It had been saved by a Lake resident and gifted to the Borough. But the propeller was then stolen. It was discovered on the Lake bottom near Warden Place, but was again missing when a dive team sought to recover it. It may have been moved to deeper water. A substitute propeller was acquired in Florida by the late Guy J. Giordano, a former President of the Harvey's Lake Protective Association. It is the propeller now in place at the memorial.

The bow lantern of the Emily was preserved by Walter (Base) Sorber, Outlet, a former employee of the Lake Transit Company. After his death the light was acquired at the Sorber estate auction by a private collector.

 

WebNote: The author of this article is the great grandson of Capt. George M. Anderson.