Editor's Note: The following text is a verbatim transcription of an article written by George W. Murdock, for the Kingston (NY) Daily Freeman newspaper in the 1930s. Murdock, a veteran marine engineer, wrote a regular column. Articles transcribed by HRMM volunteer Adam Kaplan. ​

Built originally for a local concern, Romer & Tremper, with offices in Rondout, the steamboat “Jacob H. Tremper” was a familiar sight sailing in and out of the Rondout creek a few years ago. Today, the “Jacob H. Tremper” is no more as she was broken up in 1928, but memories of this graceful steamboat are not very dim in the minds of local residents, and the tone of her whistle still haunts the hillsides along the banks of the Rondout creek.
               
The wooden hull of the “Jacob H. Tremper” was built by Herbert Lawrence at Greenpoint, New York, in 1885, and her engine was constructed by W.A. Fletcher & Company of New York. She was 180 feet long, breadth of beam 30 feet, two inches. Her tonnage was listed as gross 572 and net 432, and her vertical beam engine had a cylinder diameter of 44 inches with a 10 foot stroke.
               
The “Jacob H. Tremper” was built for the firm of Romer & Tremper of Rondout to be used as a freight and passenger vessel on a daytime run between Newburgh and Albany. She ran in line with the steamboat “M. Martin.” In August of 1884 the steamboat “Eagle,” which had been running on the Newburgh route since 1856 and for several years before 1884 in line with the “M. Martin,” was destroyed by fire, and the “Jacob H. Tremper” was built to replace the “Eagle.”
               
The new steamboat proved to be an exceptionally fine vessel for the purpose for which she was built. She had a large freight capacity and fine accommodations for passengers, and these advantages soon made themselves evident by the appearance of the “Jacob H. Tremper” as one of the first vessels placed in service in the spring of the year and the last steamboat to be laid up in the fall.
               
In the winter of 1899 the Romer & Tremper fleet of river steamboats was purchased by the Central Hudson Steamboat Company of Newburgh. This transaction included the steamboats “Jacob H. Tremper, “M. Martin,” “James W. Baldwin,” and “William F. Romer.”
               
Another distinction which places the “Jacob H. Tremper” apart from many of the other Hudson river steamboats was her exceptionally clear record. In fact, only one accident to the “Jacob H. Tremper” was demed worthy of note in her history. This accident occurred on Monday morning, July 21, 1913. On this morning, the “Jacob H. Tremper” left Newburgh at her usual time for Albany. On her way up the river she struck an uncharted rock off Esopus Island. The captain immediately ordered her course set for the mud flats off Staatsburgh on the east side of the river, and at this place she sunk rapidly.
               
Following this experience, the “Jacob H. Tremper” was raised and repaired and again placed in service, and in 1916 she was plying her regular route under the command of Captain John Dearstyne.
               
The “Jacob H. Tremper” was also one of the last of the sidewheel steamboats of her class to continue in service on the waters of the Hudson river as a freight and passenger vessel. In the fall of 1928 the “Jacob H. Tremper” was deemed unfit for further service and was laid up at Newburgh, and in July of the following year she was sold to a junk dealer and broken up at Newburgh

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Human nature being what It is, we all have an odd quirk or two.  Boatmen were no exception. 

The foibles of two boatmen that come to mind were those of Staats Winnie and Ira Cooper, two of the better old time boatmen on the Hudson.  Staats Winnie's Whim was that he wore red flannel underwear the year round — Ira Cooper’s was a dislike for uniforms. 

Staats Winnie was an old time pilot for the Hudson River Day line and at the turn of the century was second pilot of the “Albany.”  When the “Hendrick Hudson” came out in 1906 he was to become her first pilot and served as her head helmsman during that steamboat’s early years on the Hudson.  Like many old time boatmen, he had previously been a pilot on towboats and tugboats of the Cornell Steamboat Company. 

With an impressive mustache and a stern gaze, Staats Winnie was a formidable looking man.  As my good friend Donald C. Ringwald observed in his book “Hudson River Day Line,” Pilot Winnie looked as if he could steer anything afloat. 

Like a number of old boatmen in his era, Staats Winnie wore red flannel underwear.  Only he wore his year round, summer and winter.  During the hot days in July and August, Pilot Winnie would frequently doff his uniform jacket and roll up his shirt jacket [sleeves?], exposing a pair of bright red shod forearms.

Steamboatmen were always known as great arm wavers.  Whenever two steamers passed each other, it was rare indeed if several crew members were not observed vigorously waving in the direction of the passing steamboat.  One would have thought the crew members of the two steamers hadn’t seen each other in months. 

As a matter of fact, in some instances this situation would have been true — as when a line had two steamers running between New York and Albany in daily service.  The two steamboats would leave New York and Albany on alternate days and the only time crew members would see each other for months on end would be on their daily passing in the middle part of the river.  Many crew members of a particular steamboat line came from the same community and were neighbors.  During the season they would get but a fleeting glance of each other as their steamboats passed in mid-Hudson and this, perhaps, was the probable reason for the vigorous arm waving. 

Staats Winnie was well known as one of the arm wavers.  During July and August in his years of piloting the Day Liners, boatmen on passing steamers became accustomed to seeing a red shod arm waving a greeting from his pilot house window.  It was said that passengers, however were frequently startled by the sight. 

Ira Cooper was captain of the steamer “Onteora” of the Catskill Evening Line.  During the early years of steamboating, officers of the steamers wore their usual civilian clothes in carrying out their jobs afloat.  During the 1880’s and 1890’s, the larger steamboat companies began to introduce the use of uniforms for their steamer's personnel, particularly the officers. 

The practice of wearing uniforms soon spread to all steamboat lines.  First, it was just a uniform cap.  Then it became a full fledged uniform with brass buttons and gold braid.  On some lines, the uniforms were provided by the companies outright, others granted a uniform allowance and the officers purchased their own uniforms, while on others a partial reimbursement for uniforms was given to officer personnel. 

Captain Cooper was an individualist of the old school.  He would have no truck [sic] with the new fangled idea of uniforms.  For him, what was good enough to wear ashore was good enough to wear afloat.  To the very end, he steadfastly refused to don either a uniform or even the traditional steamboatman's cap.  He undoubtedly was the last captain of one of the larger Hudson River passenger steamboats to command his steamer dressed in civilian garb. 
​
It was said Captain Cooper's ideas as to dress did not particularly please the owners and operators of the Catskill Evening Line.  It is my understanding, as a matter of fact, that a clash of wills ensued — and, since the owners held the trump cards, Captain Cooper left the “Onteora.”  He was later captain for many years of the big tugboat “J. C. Hartt” of the Cornell Steamboat Company — where he had no trouble dressing as he pleased.  The Catskill Evening Line’s loss, however, was the Cornell Steamboat Company's gain — for Captain Cooper was one of the best boatmen on the river.  

Editor's Note: This series of monthly blog posts by Justin Wexler recounts the dramatic story of the Esopus Indian Nation’s Revolutionary War exodus. The original inhabitants of Ulster County, the Esopus Indians successfully maintained their sovereignty and traditional way of life in the face of overwhelming odds for over a century.. These blog posts are summaries of a much fuller story that will be published in 2027.

Post 1: Setting the Scene (1770)
Five centuries ago, the hazy-blue peaks of the Catskill Mountains towered over a vast expanse of fertile, grassy flats and cornfields that stretched in swathes from Saugerties to Kingston and far to the westward. On these flats lay a mosaic of cornfields, lush bottoms of tall bluestem grass, and dense thickets of hazelnuts, blackberries and wild plums. Clusters of dome-shaped, bark-shingled houses were found here and there on the edges of the floodplains. The shimmering rivers that wound through these flats – the Esopus, the Rondout and others – were periodically crisscrossed with fence-like weirs and fish traps. The surrounding rocky uplands were cloaked in a forests of oaks and pitch pines and, in many cases, were barren at their tops due to frequent fires. This idyllic, park-like landscape was the result of centuries of careful management by the region’s human inhabitants: the Esopus Indians.

The Esopus Indians appear in the earliest colonial records under variations of the name Waranawankong, perhaps meaning ‘The Cove People.’ They spoke a dialect of what linguists today call the Munsee language.[1] The Esopus dialect survives today in the dozens of place names that still grace their ancestral homeland, including Ponckhockie, Ashokan, Shandaken, Wawarsing and, of course, Esopus. The Esopus Nation’s territory was divided among four matrilineal clans, and included the valleys of the Esopus, the Rondout, the Shawangunk, and the lower Wallkill Rivers as well as the headwaters of the Delaware River and lands across the Hudson River in the current towns of Red Hook and Rhinebeck. A chief sachem was elected to represent the four clans.

In the decades before and after the arrival of Dutch colonists in the early 17th century, the Esopus Indians lived in dispersed settlements that stretched along the terraces of land that border the fertile floodplain bottomlands. There, they grew their crops of maize, pole beans, squash, sunflowers and tobacco. They built stockaded strongholds in select elevated locations to retreat to during times of war. Theirs was a life built around the seasons: in the springtime, when the women were busy preparing their maize fields, most of the men could be found downstream in fishing camps where they took advantage of successive visits of spawning fish including alewives, shad, striped bass, sea lampreys, sturgeon, and eels. Summers were spent close to their cornfields. After the autumn crop harvest, younger and more mobile families visited hunting cabins in the uplands of the Shawangunk Ridge and in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains. There, they hunted numbers of white-tailed deer, Eastern elk, black bears and beavers in massive collective hunts. By early springtime, everyone returned to their villages in the bottomlands.

The 1660s were a time of major upheaval in the region. The Esopus Indians controlled the largest stretch of contiguous cleared arable farmland in the entire Hudson Valley. This was extremely attractive to settlers, creating friction that eventually led to the devastating First and Second Esopus Wars with the Dutch settlers. Concurrently, the Esopus Indians were involved in a massive intertribal war with the Five Nations or Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Between 1664 and 1669, the Esopus Indians had little other recourse than to make peace with the Haudenosaunee, with the Dutch and with the British. They would renew these treaties of peace regularly over the entire following century.

Over the 17th and 18th centuries, the Esopus Indians and other regional Native Peoples faced catastrophic population declines, largely due to Old World viruses to which they had little immunity. They soon found themselves to be a minority in their own land. And yet, the New York colonial government continued to treat with them as the sovereign indigenous nation that they were. As a strategy of survival, between the mid-17th century and the mid-18th century the Esopus Indians sold the vast majority of their territory in dozens of land sales, many preserved in deeds to this day. The deeds occasionally reserved their right to reside in or to use select areas. They soon held legal title to very little of their traditional territory.

Land sales, the growing colonial population, and environmental degradation made a traditional life difficult. By the 1750s, the majority of the Esopus Indian People had moved to the other side of the Catskill Mountains. There, they dwelled in communities along Delaware River’s East Branch, where they preserved the traditional spring fish camps for American shad and striped bass and the tradition of winter hunting camps. Over the preceding century, many had gained some level of fluency in the Dutch language. They had also adopted many customs from their colonial neighbors, including keeping of dairy cows, horses, hogs and chickens and growing of new crops including apples, peaches, cucumbers and turnips. Records from this period reveal Esopus Indian individuals who had adopted colonial skills including cider production, violin making, and blacksmithing. And yet, they tenaciously maintained their traditional religion: the Esopus Indians are the only Native group in the Hudson Valley who refused to join the Christian mission at Stockbridge, and only a handful of members joined the Moravian Missions.

By the early 1770s, it became clear that an influx of settlers was coming to the isolated valleys of the western Catskills and upper Susquehanna River, where they had a village called Ahlapeeng. Between the sales of the Hardenbergh Patent and the 1768 Fort Stanwix Treaty, land speculators and settlers were ready to pour over the mountains. Early in 1770, the Esopus Indians even met with British Indian Superintendent Sir William Johnson to try to find a solution. Ultimately, their destiny lay with that of the Haudenosaunee, now the Six Nations, whose lead they had followed since 1669. With the coming of the American Revolution, the consequences would be disastrous.
 
[1] The Munsee language, which belongs to the Eastern Algonquian language subfamily, is still spoken by a handful of descendants on the Moraviantown Reserve in Ontario, Canada.

TERRIBLE DISASTER!!
Steamer BERKSHIRE Burned. Many Lives Lost. Intrepidity of of the Pilot. Incidents of the Conflagration. Full Particulars. (BY OUR OWN REPORTER.)
​
The conflagration which was seen by our citizens illumining the horizon to northward, on Wednesday evening, proves to have been another of those awful steamboat disasters which now and then startle the community and plunge multitudes of men, woman and children unprepared into eternity. Our reporter went to the spot Thursday morning and he has furnished us thus far the following communication:
​
SCENE OF THE WRECK, TWO MILES ABOVE HYDE PARK, JUNE 9, 1864.
The steamer BERKSHIRE caught fire at a quarter before ten o'clock, P. M. on Wednesday, off Esopus Island, and was burned to the waters edge in a very few minutes, the flames spreading with such rapidity that many lives, and every article of property on board were lost.

The fire is supposed to have started in the lamp room, caused by the bursting of a kerosene lamp.

One of the owners, who was on board, when he discovered the fire ordered the pilot to run her ashore immediately, which was done. The BALDWIN passed, bound up a few minutes after, and rescued about 60 people, who were floating on chairs, life preservers, &c. A number who had escaped were distributed among the houses along shore.

The following are known to be lost thus far:
Wife and two children of Capt. Bullet, of a Harlem boat.
Three children of a lady named Mrs. Hanford, of Delaware county.
The manifest of the passengers was unfortunately lost, the clerk not being able to save his papers on account of the rapidity of the flames.

This morning Joel Beam of Hyde Park, had his leg and thigh broken by the falling of a smoke-stack. Also, a man named Andrew Soper was probably fatally injured by the same cause.  They were digging about the boat, endeavoring to find bodies.

The body of a female, name unknown, apparently about 30 years of age lies upon the shore.

The shore in front of the wreck is lined with people, and the water in the vicinity of the ill-fated steamer is filled with boats and men fishing for bodies. 

It is thought that between 25 and 30 lives were lost, although the facts cannot yet be ascertained. 

Coroner Norris, of Rhinebeck, is on the ground, attending to his duties. It is raining very hard and the work of finding bodies is slightly retarded thereby.

The appearance of the remains of the vessel from the shore is sad. Nothing is left of her but a small part of one wheel house, one smoke stack and the skeleton of her machinery. At this time (low water) her hull lies out of the water, five or six feet. Her guards are entirely destroyed and the smoke of the ruins still continues to ascend. 

The wind at present, not blowing very hard, the search for bodies will be continued with, probably, better success.

A passenger thinks that hardly one escaped from the ladies cabin. The statement of course needs confirmation.

Although the exact number of passengers on board at the time is unknown, yet Capt. Frederick Power, her commander, states that as near as he can estimate, there were about 130 all told.

The conduct of the pilot of the boat is spoken of in the highest terms. It is said that be did not leave his post until the vessel was run ashore, and nearly everything about him was consumed by the flames.

SECOND DISPATCH.   12 o'clock.
The body of a little boy, apparently about eight years of age, supposed to be the son of Mrs. Hanford, has just been picked up. His face and head are badly burned. The mother of this little boy jumped overboard with her two other children in her arms, leaving him standing on the stern of the boat awaiting her return. Her two children were drowned, and she was rescued by a gentleman, who in turn lost his own child while rescuing her.

The steamer W. CRANE, from Rondout, having on board Capt. Tremper, of the BALDWIN, and Capt. Cornell, of the THOMAS CORNELL, arrived here early this morning, and they are doing everything in their power. It is utterly impossible, as yet, to give a detained account of the loss of life.  All sorts of rumors are afloat.

Four bodies have been found thus far.

FURTHER PARTICULARS.
The BERKSHIRE was a new steamer, this being her first season, commanded by Capt. Frederick Power. She plied between Hudson and New York and was on her down trip when the fire broke out. The flames spread with inconceivable rapidity and in half an hour nothing was left but the smoking hull and the skeleton of her machinery.

We were unable to find either of the officers of the boat, or anyone who was on board of her at the time, as the former had gone to Hudson when we arrived at the scene of the disaster, and the passengers who were saved had all departed for their homes. We, however, conversed with the captain and other officers of the BALDWIN which reached the wreck just after she ran ashore, and from them obtained such of the particulars as they could give.

STATEMENT OF J. B. VAN ERTEN.
I am pilot of the steamboat JAMES W. BALDWIN. On the night in question Mr. Mosher, the other pilot, and myself, were in the pilot house of the BALDWIN we being bound up. When opposite the stone quarry two miles above New Paltz on the west side of the river saw a bright light and supposed it to be the reflection of the head light of a locomotive. It growing brighter and larger, supposed it to be the railroad depot at Hyde Park, knew the BERKSHIRE was behind time. On rounding Crum Elbow saw that the flames came from the burning of the BERKSHIRE as we could distinctly see the vessel from that point. Put on all steam and hurried to the spot, arriving there after the BERKSHIRE was ashore. At the same time the river was filled with human beings. We succeeded in rescuing a large number. The whole vessel was completely enveloped in flames. We laid by her about two hours doing all in our power to aid the passengers. We landed 60 or 70 at Rhinebeck, together with the body of a boy.

STATEMENT OF CHARLES D. JOHNSON, 1st mate of the Baldwin.
On arriving at the scene lowered a boat and shoved out towards the fire. Hadn't gone but a short distance before I picked up two men. Went on little further towards shore and took a woman off an island. —  (This was afterwards ascertained to be Mrs. Hanford, spoken of above.) Her little boy, when she jumped off stood on the stern of the burning steamer crying out “mother! save me!” The last seen of the little fellow, he was enveloped in flames. We rescued three from the river and proceeding to the shore took there from a large number who had reached the beach in safety. While looking for persons in the river, one man whom I picked up stated that just before I got him the river about him was filled with human beings, hanging to chairs, &c., but before I got to them they all disappeared. Everything that laid in our power was done to rescue the unfortunates.

THE DEAD BODIES.
The little steamer WALTER B. CRANE, of Rondout, having a number of steamboat men on board, including Capt. Tremper of the BALDWIN, and Capt. Cornell of the steamer CORNELL, left the wreck just before noon for Rondout, having on board six bodies, which, with the one left by the BALDWIN at Rhinebeck the night previous, made seven found up to that time.

The following is a list:
Miss Catharine Niles, Spencertown, Columbia County, drowned.
Three children belonging to Mrs. Hanford, of Davenport, Delaware County. One of them a little girl five years of age, and a baby about seven months old were found on the beach between Kelly's dock and the wreck. The other child, a beautiful little boy about eight years old, was found at the stern of the wreck, lying in the water with his head burned slightly.
A colored man, name unknown, supposed to be one of the waiters of the BERKSHIRE, was found on the beach about five hundred feet south of Kelly's dock. He had on a life preserver, but it was adjusted on his back, which was probably the cause of his losing his life.

SCENES AND INCIDENTS.
An eye witness describes the scene in the vicinity of the burning vessel as awful. As soon as it was ascertained that she was on fire, the pilot immediately headed her for shore, the engine at the time working at full speed, but before she struck the mud, all-the wood work was one vast sheet of flame. The scene that followed beggars [sic] description. Men frantic with fear, children crying, (and it in said that there were quite a number of little ones on board,) men shouting, the flames crackling, and the passengers jumping overboard, formed a sight terrible to behold. Furniture of every description was floating in the water, some of the pieces upholding a few of the unfortunate beings.

One little boy with his grandmother was in a state room, and when he heard the alarm he endeavored to open the door of his room, but could not. He then managed to get out of the window and tried to save his relative, but so close were the flames that he had to jump overboard to save his own life. The lady was probably suffocated.

One of the most heart-rending scenes in this terrible disaster was the case of Mrs. Hanford. On ascertaining her danger she seized her babe and her daughter, spoken of above, and jumped overboard, leaving her little son standing on the stern of the vessel. After she got in the water she was compelled to relinquish her hold on her little ones and they both went down. A man with his child-in his arms who was in the water close by her, seeing that the mother was in the act of sinking, seized hold of her and buoyed her up; but alas! in doing so he lost his own child.

The pilot of the BERKSHIRE, (we are sorry we could not learn his name. [Capt. Frederick Power]) receives the highest praise for his heroic bravery and endurance. With the prospect of almost certain death before him he remained at his post until nearly everything about him was consumed by fire and the boat was brought to land. The officers of the BERKSHIRE and her crew are said to have conducted themselves in the best possible manner.

Too much praise cannot be awarded to Capt. Tremper and all the attachees of the JAMES W. BALDWIN, for their untiring exertions in behalf of the sufferers. It will be impossible to ascertain full particulars of the loss short of three or four day, or  perhaps a week's time.
Whether anyone was to blame  at the commencement of  the conflagration we could not learn, nor can we, in view of the terrible result, hint at such a thing.

STILL LATER.
We learn that a Mr. French, of Saugerties, together with his two children, a boy and a girl, jumped from the promenade deck of the steamer into the river, and reached the shore in safety.

After the vessel ran on the mud, and in consequence of no one being able to reach the engine room to stop the engine, the wheels of the burning steamer continued to revolve, thereby washing those who had jumped overboard from the stern out into the river. Many persons undoubtedly lost their lives in this way.

It is supposed that were about 130 or 140 passengers on board the boat at the time. Probably about 30 or 40 of these were lost. The vessel had on board at the time a large quantity of butter, hay, stock and country produce generally. Her original cost was about $100,000. A vessel like her could not be built now short of $200,000.

Mrs. Hanford, who is at present stopping at the house of Capt. Tremper in Rondout, yesterday proceeded to the steamer WALTER B. CRANE in Rondout Creek, and identified the bodies of her three children. Her feelings can better be imagined than described.

We left the wreck at twelve o'clock yesterday morning and proceeded to Rondout by railroad and ferryboat. The excitement there was great. Returning for Poughkeepsie we left Rondout at 8 o'clock on board the steamer EAGLE, which vessel on her way down passed close to the wreck of the BERKSHIRE. Persons were yet engaged in dredging for bodies, but the distance from us to them was so great that we were unable to find out whether any more had been found.

Most of the passengers on the BERKSHIRE had retired or were about retiring for the night when the fire broke out, consequently those that were saved were shoeless, coatless and some of them almost entirely naked. Their wants were partially supplied by the country people in the vicinity of the disaster and by the proprietor of the Rhinecliff House at Rhinebeck. The calamity has cast a gloom over every community hearing of it.

Early yesterday morning one of the passengers, an elderly lady, was found roaming in the woods near where the calamity happened, in a state of mind  bordering on insanity.

The only possible way to get anything like a true statement of the number lost is to take the number already accounted for, and subtract it from what was thought to be the number on board at the time of the accident, which, as is stated above, was in the neighborhood of one hundred and thirty. The JAMES W. BALDWIN landed about seventy at Rhinebeck, who took the cars from thence to their respective homes up the river. The pilot of the boat left Hyde Park at 10 A. M. yesterday having two ladies in charge. It is also stated that a number walked to Staatsburgh and Hyde Park and took conveyance from there. The loss in drowned and burned will probably reach forty. A large number of the passengers were from Catskill and vicinity, and Hudson.

During the forenoon of yesterday a great ma[n]y country people visited the spot and remained nearly all day watching with in tense interest every movement made by parties engaged in dredging the river.

Both smoke pipes attached to the hulk of the vessel are now down, the last one having fallen yesterday afternoon.

The WALTER B. CRANE sailed some distance up and down the river yesterday close to the shore, each side of the wreck, in search of more dead bodies, arriving at Rondout about 3 P. M., without finding any.

STATEMENTS OF PASSENGERS.
Since writing the above we have been furnished by Mr. Shurter, our collector, with the statement of two passengers who were on board the BERKSHIRE at the time of the conflagration. One of them, Mr. Niles, who lost his wife and daughter, says when he first was made aware of the true state of things, he in company with his wife and daughter started to save themselves. By some means or other his wife got away, leaving his daughter with him, and with whom he jumped overboard. After reaching the water a woman seized his daughter, breaking his hold of her and both sank together. He was picked up by the BALDWIN's boat and landed on a ledge of rocks. He believes his wife was burned to death.

Another passenger, whose name we could not learn, states that he left Catskill in company with a friend and took passage on the BERKSHIRE for New York; after retiring to their berths in the cabin, he suddenly heard a cry of fire. Jumping from his berth he ran to the companion way and ascended the the steps, intending to go out on deck, but on opening the door, the smoke rushed through the aperture with such density and fury as to drive him back. Concluding in an instant that he had to get out of the cabin or be suffocated, he made another attempt to reach the deck and succeeded this time in getting one foot out, when he observed a huge wall of flame directly in his pathway, utterly doing away with all possibility of escape. He again retreated to the cabin, which by this time was so filled with smoke as to make it an imperative necessity for him to make another attempt to get out or die. Groping his way along he entered an ante room in which was a window through which he could see a dim sky light. Rushing to it he broke the sash, when he jostled against a boy who was also endeavoring to escape. Seizing him, the two crawled through the window and dropped into the water. His friend, he believes, was burned to death or suffocated in the cabin. He further more says that he was the first one that made any attempt to escape from the cabin; and he is positive that after he retreated from the companion way the second time nothing could get out of the cabin alive. There being quite a number in their berths in the cabin, it is feared that this gentleman’s statement is too true. 

We will probably get further reports today. 

Looks as If It Would Make an Exception This Year, However — Last Season’s Record Recalls the Great Flood of 1857, When Much Damage Was Caused in Albany.
If the Hudson river should skip a year in its record of spring freshets, Albanians would be agreeably surprised, for the years in which it has not overflowed its banks at this point when the ice went out or soon after have been few and far between. Forecaster Todd has compiled a record from many sources of the floods that have occurred at Albany extending back to 1645. Many early years since then are omitted, of course, no records
being available, but it makes a telling argument for the deepening of the upper Hudson and the clearing out of sandbars that facilitate the formation of ice gorges that serve as dams and back up the water until it overflows the docks and inundates a considerable section of the city.

Highest on Record.
The flood of last year is still fresh in the minds of Albanians. The water at this point reached the highest mark on record, 23 feet above mean low water level, even exceeding that of the great flood of 1857, which was until last year the greatest flood in the history of the Hudson. In 1867 the highest point reached was 21.25 feet above mean low water. There is no absolute surety that a freshet will not occur after the ice has passed out of the river. Last year the river began to rise rapidly on March 26, after the steamers of the Hudson River
Navigation company had resumed navigation and had been running some time. The flood was caused by heavy rains, helped by ice that came down from the Mohawk. The water continued to rise on the 27th and on the 30th reached its maximum height of 23 feet above mean low water. At midnight the river began slowly to recede and by March 31 had reached nearly normal conditions. In this flood bridges were washed away, barns, lumber and all sorts of debris floated past Albany and nearly every industry in this city. Rensselaer and Troy was suspended, about 100,000 in the three cities being temporarily thrown out of employment. There was great suffering in the South End, but perhaps the worst effect of this flood was the putting out of commission of the filtration plant and the pollution of the drinking water, which caused a good many cases of typhoid fever.

In these days, however, we are better able to cope with flood conditions and bring relief to those who are marooned in their houses than Albanians were in 1857. Although the water last spring rose to a higher point than it did in 1857, the flood of the latter year caused greater suffering and greater destruction of property. We have had floods as late as the first part of May, but this of 1857 occurred early in February and was succeeded by a smaller one in May, when the river was swollen by heavy rains and melting snow in the north and west, and the pier and docks were inundated.

Flood of 1857.
The flood of 1857 started on Monday, February 9, early in the morning. The mild weather which had prevailed all the previous week caused the great quantities of snow which had accumulated in the streets and upon the adjacent hills to melt with surprising rapidity. This was the case in the Mohawk as well as in the Hudson valley, the result being to pour down into the rivers an immense volume of water, the effect of which was first seen on the Hudson about noon on Saturday, February 7. Then it was first noticed that the heavy, solid mass of ice which had bridged the Hudson for upwards of two months was being gradually pressed upward by the swelling stream. In the course of the next 24 hours the river had raised six feet. Throughout the afternoon the pier, the docks and portions of the streets leading from the latter presented a scene of activity that was suggestive of a very busy day during the fall season. By sunset most of the merchants who had in previous years been visited by floods had removed all their goods from the first to the second floors, and retired feeling perfectly satisfied that they had saved their property and that it was beyond the reach of the rising water. Early Sunday morning, February 8, the ice in the Mohawk river broke up and came down, forcing its way into the Hudson, carrying away everything within its reach on the banks and producing a very disastrous flood at East and West Troy. It was this ice, together with a change of wind from southeast to northwest, which caused the fluctuations of the Hudson noticeable during Sunday afternoon and evening, the water at times advancing to the thresholds of some of the stores, and then receding suddenly off the docks. This fluctuation continued until about 11 p. m., when the heavy ice in front of the city was raised up in a moment, as quickly broke into millions of pieces and then went crashing along in the wildest and most terrific confusion, impelled by a torrent hitherto unknown to the ‘‘placid Hudson.”

Ice Gorge Formed.
The course of the ice was checked this side of Van Wie's Point, not more than three miles below the city, and to the fact that it blocked up there suddenly was due the rapid rise of the water that followed. The rapidity with which the water came up may be judged from the fact, that shortly after the ice broke up the rise was four feet in 10 minutes. Between 10:30 p. m. Sunday and 3:30 a. m. Monday, a period of six hours, the rise was about 11 feet. The rise continued until 8 o’clock, when it reached its highest point, being three feet higher than at any other period of which there then existed a record. A little after 10 o'clock Monday night, February 9, the water commenced falling and continued going down at the rate of an inch and a half an hour during the night and throughout Tuesday. The weather turned extremely cold and the river froze over so firmly that on Wednesday several teams crossed on the ice from Albany to Greenbush.

Great Damage.
The damage to property caused by this flood was estimated at not less than $1,500,000. The merchants on the docks and piers supposed that their property, having been removed from the first to the second floors, was entirely out of danger. Such, however, was not the case. The icy and muddy water entered on the second floors to the depth of from one to three feet. On these floors merchants had stored flour, grain and groceries and most of it was rendered useless. A man who had 278 head of cattle at East Albany (now Rensselaer)
awaiting shipment lost all but 28 of them in the flood. He visited them at 10 o’clock and found water in the yard, but was assured that it would not rise higher. He went again at 1 o’clock in the morning and found the animals in immediate danger of drowning. He begged the use of a boat from a person he saw near by and offered $50 for the favor, explaining that he wanted to go to the yard and open the gate, so as to let the animals out to swim ashore. He was refused, and the pent up creatures were nearly all drowned. Snowden & Charles, butchers, had upwards of 250 head of cattle at the distillery of Edson & Co., and 100 of them were drowned by daylight and some of the few that were saved died from cold and exhaustion shortly after being driven out of the water.

The greater part of the fleet wintering in the upper basin was sunk when the heavy ice crossed the pier into the basin, cutting the boats from their moorings. Columbia street bridge was carried away Sunday night upon the first moving of the ice, and upon the pier were stranded eight or 10 canal boats. The steam tug H. N. Dowd was sunk in the basin, and the R. J. Grant was turned keel up and lay with a lumber office on it. A sloop passed down the river soon after the ice started, was capsized and sank by the weight of the ice. The propeller Western World was on fire several times and was extinguished through the exertions of Assistant Engineer Coburn and some citizens with water thrown from buckets, but finally got beyond control and the boat was scuttled. Two Boston vessels loaded with merchandise were caught in the ice below the city in the fall. One was the packet Victor, which for 20 years had plied between Boston and this city, and the other was the John C. Calhoun. Both were lost. State street bridge was raised several feet above the iron columns and the east end of it broken off from the supports.

Fire Adds to Terror.
While this dreadful destruction was going on, the citizens were thrown into great excitement by repeated fire alarms. Some one was so frightened that he sent word to East and West Troy that what was left of Albany after the flood was being destroyed by fire, and towards noon of Monday fire engine companies from those places came to Albany to render assistance, which was not needed. There were five fires which started within a short
time of one another, the first one starting long before daylight in the lime kiln and plaster works of E. C. Warner & Son on South Broadway. The water reached the lime, slacking it, which set fire to whatever was combustible about the premises, and as all the streets for blocks around were inundated to a depth of two or or three feet, the fire engines could not reach the fire. Soon after a second alarm called the firemen to Gibson & Dalton’s plaster and planing mill in the north part of the city. This fire originated in the same way as that at Warner & Son’s, and as the premises were surrounded by water to a depth of six or seven feet, the engine companies were helpless until boats could be procured in which to extend their hose, and by that time nothing was left of the main building but its walls. All the costly machinery and finished material were destroyed, entailing a loss of about $100,000. The warehouse of W. R. Barrett, on the pier, also caught fire from the igniting of lime in the
second story, and the building and its contents were partially destroyed, among the latter being 4,000 bushels of corn. Two other fires followed, but were put out before much damage was done.

Relief Measures.
Both the the city officials and a committee of citizens took immediate steps to relieve the poor who were sufferers from the flood. The city hall was thrown open to those who had been driven from their homes and had no places to sleep. Food was distributed to those in the South End who were prisoners in their houses, and Very Rev. J. J. Conroy, pastor of St. Joseph’s church, opened the house at 798 Broadway for the distribution of soup and provisions for the poor of his parish, under the charge of Sisters of Charity. The poor of the northern part of the city of all creeds and sects were invited to apply for relief here.

Great Suffering.
The greatest suffering was in the First and Second wards. There more than 150 families were driven out of homes so suddenly that they had only time to dress and run for their lives. Most of these families were poor, but had managed to lay in their winter’s supply of provisions, which were ruined by the water. Officials and police went to their assistance. Some of those in the South End were still in their half submerged houses. Officers Clinton and Keefe, for instance, discovered a family in the second story of a dwelling unable to reach dry land and suffering severely from the cold. Near at hand was a man in a rowboat who refused to go to their succor unless paid an exorbitant price. The family had not as much as he asked and he was about to desert them when the officers seized the boat, ejected him and relieved the unfortunates.

In portions of the Sixth and Seventh wards the premises of many poor families were flooded and they lost nearly everything. An interesting anomaly was that in the inundated district in the North End, where many families were imprisoned in the second stories of their homes, one of their pressing wants was water. They had too much of it of a certain kind all around them, but none fit to drink, the water in the pipes being frozen.

Thrilling Escapes.
There were many thrilling escapes. A man named Moore who lived on the island just below the city (then called the & Vegetable Garden”) became aware that it was threatened with speedy inundation and removed his family and horses Sunday night, returning to the island to watch his property. In the morning he found, his house completely hemmed in, nearly up to the roof, and no possible chance of his escape at that time. He suffered much from exposure, but managed to survive until the waters receded and he could be rescued. A
man was carried down from somewhere up the river on a pile of lumber about noon on Monday. As it was nearing Greenbush the current carried it toward the ferry slip, when some persons on the dock threw a line, which he caught and tied around his body and he was drawn safely ashore. The bookkeeper of Gibson & Dalton, a Mr. Wetmore, also had a narrow escape. He, with two other men, remained in the building over night.

About 3 a. m. the water was rising so rapidly that he sent his companions to apprise his employers of that fact. While alone he thought it best to remove the books of the firm from the first to the second floor. After doing so he attempted to go down stairs again, when he discovered that the building was on fire and his course impeded by the smoke. He had no means of egree [sic, egress], and, wet to the skin, he was compelled to remain in the building. He was finally rescued by firemen, who found him completely exhausted. Three men went in a boat from near the house of Archibald Dunlop on the Troy road to bring off a family occupying a house on the island at that point, when the boat was capsized by a cake of ice and the three men were thrown into the water. Two of them managed to clamber into a tree, but the third was so cold that he could not raise himself from the water and was taken out in a dying state. The men on the island were rescued in a cart which was backed up to their relief.

Lola Montez’s Adventure.
An adventure in which Lola Montez, the famous (or infamous) dancer who later captivated the King of Belgium, figured at this time was chronicled by the Atlas and Argus of Feb. 11, 1857, as follows: "LOLA MONTEZ PLAYING THE DEUCE AGAIN. — Yesterday afternoon this notorious woman, who has had rooms at the Stanwix Hall during her engagement at the Green Street theatre, came to the conclusion that she could not remain in the city another day. She must go. The nearest, and the most perilous way for her to reach the other side of the river and take the cars was to cross over in a small skiff. No one had yet ventured to cross since the breaking up of the ice. Here was an adventure just suited to her daring spirit, and of course she was on nettles to embark.

“Ferrymen were procured and off they started, Lola accompanied by her sister, her agent (who was so unfortunate as to fall upon the ice and become damaged by water, thereby exciting the loud laughter of the danseuse) and another gentleman. They were ferried over in safety. The ferrymen then came back for Lola’s baggage, two heavy trunks. With that precious load they again shoved off for the opposite shore. The wind from the northwest was very strong and piercing cold. The men were somewhat exhausted by their previous
exertions and when in the centre of the stream the wind and rapid current drove their little boat into some drifting ice, and before they could extricate themselves their craft was firmly frozen to the moving mass.

“In this situation they were discovered by many of our citizens. Their peril was soon communicated throughout the city and much excitement ensued. All who could procured positions on the roofs of the higher buildings to obtain a view of the poor fellows. Away they floated, and when opposite Westerlo street the bell of the South Dutch church rang out an alarm. But it was impossible for anyone on this side to go to their assistance. Happily
the current tended to the Greenbush shore, and when they had nearly reached the ferry slip on that side they were floated against the solid ice.

"A dozen or more men out of Greenbush started for their relief and reached them by means of planks. Just then the ice gave way and the rescuers were compelled to retreat. They again essayed, and this time with more success, saving not only the men, but the trunks. The ferrymen have undoubtedly been severely frost bitten in return for indulging their adventurous spirit."

Breaking Ice Gorges.
Bars in the river have frequently afforded lodgment for the great cakes of ice piled one on top of the other as they floated down the stream and ice gorges have formed which rendered navigation impossible while other parts of the river were open. This was the case in 1857. On February 21 a committee of the Albany Board of Trade visited the ice barrier below the city and found it extend from Van Wie’s Point to Castleton, and so thick and solid as to defy any attempt to open a channel. As at this time river traffic was of large proportions, the ice embargo was severely felt by the commercial interests of this city. A man named Smith proposed to fill a box from four to six feet long with powder, to place this at an advantageous point in the ice gorge and to set off the powder by means of electricity. This plan, however, was rejected. The powder would probably have had about as much effect on the gorge as the kick of a grasshopper. However, late in the evening of the 21st the lower end of the barrier broke away and went down the river, and on the 25th the rest of the ice dam disappeared and the entire channel was found to be unobstructed except by floating masses of ice. The retiring water disclosed the unshapen mass which remained of the State street bridge. Navigation was at once resumed.

It was not until December, 1902, that the idea of smashing ice gorges on the Hudson by means of ramming them with powerful tugs was adopted. On the 22d of that month Captain Ulster Davis took the tug GEORGE C. VAN TUYL and attacked a gorge at the Livingston avenue bridge. The ice was jammed to the bottom of the river and piled up 10 feet high. The attempt was successful, after six days of “bucking.” Early in March, 1903, the
lower part of this city and Rensselaer was flooded by backwater from a gorge at Roah Hook. The old side- wheeler NORWICH and the tug BARIER [sic, BAVIER] were brought up from Rondout and attacked the gorge. The BARIER was a new steel hull steamer, and as it backed up 500 feet and then went at full speed into the gorge, it penetrated 25 or 30 feet. After several days the obstructions were cleared. Since then steamers have been employed with more or less success to break up the ice gorges in the river. In 1907 the powerful tug HERCULES got stuck hard and fast in an ice pack near Coxsackie and the big steamer POCAHONTAS and the tender HERCULES were sent to her rescue. The POCAHONTAS stove a plank in her bow and had to be beached at Catskill. 

The ROB got stuck in the ice alongside the Hercules, but after many hours, was pried loose. Then the ROB cut the HERCULES out of the floe and pulled her away with a stout hawser.

One of the greatest achievements of Captain Davis in breaking an ice gorge on the Hudson was in March, 1907. when he brought up the powerful tug CORNELL and the tender ROB from Rondout, a good part of the way cutting through ice two feet thick, and smashed upon the great barrier near Coeymans. It took four hours to make the trip of about two miles from Saugerties Light to Malden. Even after the gorge had been broken the immense cakes of floating ice jammed and formed other barriers, but were in turn rammed and dislodged, and after four days of strenuous work Captain Davis and his crews had the satisfaction of seeing the ice flowing freely and knew that the river was open to the ocean. The State now makes preparations for attacking ice gorges in the Hudson with steamers whenever necessary.

First Flood Record.
From the records compiled by Forecaster Todd we learn that in 1645 “a very high freshet, unequalled since 1639,” occurred, "which destroyed a number of horses in their stables, nearly carried away the fort and inflicted considerable other damage in the colonie.’’ In 1648 freshets nearly destroyed Fort Orange and in 1661 the country around Fort Orange for miles was under water and a few days later the heaviest flood the colonists had experienced up to that time forced them to quit their dwellings and flee with their cattle for safety to the woods on the adjoining hills. The “woods” at that time were where some of the finest residences of Albany are located now.

In 1818 the greatest freshet known in Albany in 40 years occurred. The river froze over that winter on December 7, 1817, and remained frozen until March 3, 1818, when the ice moved out in a body for some distance south and then remained stationary. On the night of March 3 the water rose to a great height in the river, so that several families in Church street would have perished if they had not been rescued. The water was two feet deep in the barroom of the Eagle tavern, at the southwest corner of South Market and Hamilton streets. Sloops were thrown upon the wharf and the horse ferry boat was driven about half way up to Pearl
street. A family that occupied a house on the island opposite the city were rescued by the people of Bath. The river was not clear this year until March 25.

Open Three Times.
The river was open to navigation three times between December, 1823, and February 11, 1824. On the latter date the breaking up was so sudden that sloops and other vessels moored for the season were carried away.

The worst freshet recorded before 1857 was on January 26, 1839, when the water at Albany rose to 17.28 feet above mean low water mark. Many citizens were driven from their houses and a soup house was opened at the city hall for their benefit. A late spring freshet was that of 1833, when the river began to rise on May 14 and two days later had reached its greatest height, causing much damage. South Market street was impassable below Hamilton street. Another was on May 2, 1841. The ice had gone out without making any trouble on March 24, but later heavy rains swelled the stream and when a great snow storm set in on May 2 the water overflowed the docks.

Freshets Not Only in Spring.
Occasionally the Hudson river goes on the rampage in the fall. In 1823, it even cut up on Christmas day, when the rain and mild weather conspired to break up the ice and considerable damage was done. The pier, which was nearly completed, was exposed for the first time to such a freshet. There was such a heavy rain during the first four days of September, 1828, when nearly as much fell as in the months of July and August, that the river rose and submerged the docks and pier. Heavy rain sent the water over the docks on September 3, 1849, and on October 28 of the same year heavy rain that had fallen for 36 hours caused the island at the lower end of the city to be inundated for the eighth time that season, entailing great damage to crops. On November 14, 1853, heavy rain of the previous two days caused a rise in the river, which overflowed the docks. A great freshet caused by rain of the previous 36 hours on August 21, 1856, carried away the bridge over the Normanskill on the Bethlehem turnpike and damaged several mills. On October 8, 1903, the river began to rise rapidly and by the 10th reached 16.3 feet above mean low water mark at Albany. The greatest rainfall ever recorded for 24 hours at Albany was on the 9th, when 4.75 inches fell.