For a number of years, during the time the Ramsdell Line at Newburgh were operating passenger barges to New York, these boats conveyed the barges "Susquehanna" and "Chas. Spear," towing the barges alongside.

While there were many other noted boats on the Hudson River in the early days, and down to the present generation, the few recalled here will give a good idea of what steam boating was from the time of the "Isaac Newton" and the "New World" down to the time of the "Mary Powell," which formed the connecting link between the past and the present generation. Many of the famous steamboats of that exciting period are still in existence; some doing service as towboats: some having been dismantled and converted into barges, while others are rotting away in the marine graveyards.

The old "Oswego" and the "Norwich" still survive, but they have about reached the limit of their usefulness, and not many days will pass before all traces of them will have disappeared, and nothing but a memory of those interesting days will remain.

In sheltered coves along the shore,
The rotting hulks are buried deep,
And many a proud and one-time queen
Is now at rest in her long sleep.

Their whells no more the waters churn'
The throbbing engine's pulse is still'
The helm no longer guides their course,
In answer to the pilot's will.

Passenger Barges on the Hudson

                                                                                                                                         Phila., Dec. 25, 1921

Mr. Henry Collins Brown,
15 East 40 th Street
New York City.

Dear Sir:

Noting in the VALENTINE'S MANUAL a reference to passenger barges on the Hudson River, brings to my mind personal recollections of these barges as late as 1879, when I was a clerk on the Barge "Chas. Spear" of the Ramsdell Line, operating between Newburgh and New York, on a daily line, the running mate to the "Spear" being the "Susquehanna."

These boats were exactly similar to the two screw propeller steamers "John L. Hasbrouck" and Daniel S. Miller, " then running on the Poughkeepsie Line, these boats convoying the barges on their regular trips.

Up to a few years previous to this there were three regular lines of passenger barges from Newburgh to New York, operated respectively by Wm. O. Mailler & Co., Alsdorf & Skidmore, and Homer Ramsdell & Co. The Alsdorf firm operated the "Wallkill" twice a week, and the Mailler firm ran the "Minisink" on a similar schedule alternating in their dates with each other, while the Ramsdell Company operated a daily line with their two barges.

The business done by these barges, outside of the passenger traffic, was in the nature of a farmers' produce market, the farmers shipping their butter, cheese, eggs, dressed hogs and calves, hay and straw on consignment, the barge operators selling the produce in New York, charging the farmers freight and commission. The landing places in New York were regular markets, the Captains and Clerks of the barges acting as salesmen for the produce, most of which especially butter and cheese, was sold to such firms as Acker, Merrall & Condit, and Park & Tilford.

While the business of the barges became more and more unprofitable with the advent of the large and finely appointed steamers, and the barges gradually dropped out of the service, the Ramsdell boats continued to operate until 1886, when this company placed the steamboat "Newburgh" on the line, followed the next year by the "Homer Ramsdell."

The pursers and freight clerks of the modern steamboats have an easy life of it compared to the work the clerks of the old passenger and produce barges had to do. These barges usually arrived in New York around four o'clock in the morning, and the captains and clerks were busily engaged in selling the produce until around noon, and during the afternoon they were engaged in either collecting freight bills around Washington Market or standing on an open dock receiving freight until leaving time around six o'clock. This did not end the work of the clerks, as they had to manifest and bill all the freight on the way up the river, sometimes being at work after the boats arrived at Newburgh. This line, in addition to freight for local delivery, carried west-bound freight for Newburgh and Delaware divisions of the Erie Railroad, which had to be transferred to the cars on the wharf.

Altogether, the life of the early steamboat men did not allow of much time to enjoy home life, and many of the captains and clerks never saw their homes from the time of their first trip in the spring until the boats were tied up for the winter. But that it was a healthy occupation is fully attested by the long years of active service many of the veterans put in on the river, and many of them, though out of service, are still enjoying good health.

There certainly is a fascination in the river business, and I look back today on the years I spent on the river from 1877 to 1914 as an experience worth all the hard work involved, and today enjoy a trip up the river on one of the present-day steamers as much as if I were a part of the river itself.

Probably in the revision of the Hudson River notes, which you propose to publish in a separate publication, the above references to the old barge lines may be of interest to you. The first passenger barges were put on the river from Albany in 1825, the boats being the "Lady Van Rensselaer" and "Lady Clinton," being convoyed by the steamboats "Commerce" and "Swiftsure."

Yours very truly,

FLETCHER DuBOIS

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