Riverside to go

Riverside Map - September 1918

Riverside Map – September 1918

The Canal Society of New York State Winter Symposium at Rochester, New York, on Saturday, March 1, is going to feature my work on Riverside and the McDougall-Duluth Company. I get the pole position – 8:30 a.m. – so I’ll need to be sharp and ready first thing! The Society is also a driving force behind the preservation of the last existing McDougall-Duluth Company boat, the Day Peckinpaugh, originally the I.L.I. 101. It is a great honor to be asked for a return presentation and I am looking forward to it – here’s to good weather so my plane isn’t delayed.

I.L.I 105 – A Ghost of Arthur Kill, Staten Island

Of the many creations of Alexander McDougall, only a few of them remain for viewing in one form or another. The the Meteor (originally the Frank Rockefeller), the tugboat Islay, and though not fully McDougall’s design, the Day Peckinpaugh., formerly the I.L.I. 101 (the initials stood for “Interwaterways Line Incorporated”), and the Michigan, formerly the I.L.I. 105. The latter boats were a series of designs intended to operate both on the Great Lakes and the New York State Barge Canal. McDougall’s major backer for the McDougall-Duluth Company, Julius Barnes, went forward from the company’s original vessel the Robert L. Barnes to create these vessels. Constructed from 1920-1922 at the Duluth yards, they were the last vessels built there during its first phase of operation.

The final vessel built, the I.L.I. 105 was renamed the Michigan in the 1930s and vanished from documentation during the 1970s. From some contacts, I am pretty certain that the remnants of the vessel are lying partially scrapped in the famous ship graveyard of the Arthur Kill near Staten Island, directly behind the Fresh Kills landfill. The company the last owners had sold the hull to for scrapping went out of business before it completed the scrapping process.

I have heard that the remains left at this site are either going to be or are currently being disposed of to clear the waterway. What the impact of Superstorm Sandy has been on these hulls is unknown at this time. The ghosts of the Arthur Kill will not last forever.ILI105aThe I.L.I. 105 as originally configured – sometime in the 1920s.
ILI105dAnd then later on after being renamed and reconfigured.
Michigan-ILI105-ArthurKill2011Aerial view from Bing maps in 2011.
Michigan-ILI105And then sent to me from a blogger from closer up. Fresh Kills Landfill in the background where the 9/11 debris was examined.

Link

http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/WRECKS/CARIBSEA/CARIBSEA.HTML

During my tour of Riverside this past Saturday, I remarked that there were only two remaining complete McDougall vessels and one being scrapped. However, those of a diving persuasion can find another of the McDougall-Duluth Company vessels: theLake Flattery (later the Caribsea). Completed in 1919, the vessels sank in March 1942 when torpedoed off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
She is in pretty fragile shape, but good to know where she is. I’m writing to the dive shop where her original builder’s plate is and hopefully they will send me a photo. Having at least that for a McD-D boat would be great.