Marten River Provincial Park are restoring this old logging boat, for inclusion in their replica early 20th-century logging camp. It was likely built in the mid 1920's, as she has some Fort Frances markings, and also Owen Sound marked Russel equipment, likely from servicing after 1945. 43 feet long, 11 feet high, 10 feet wide; engine plate: "Cummins Engine Company, Indiana",another plate reads "This equipment sold and serviced by Russel-Hipwell Engines Ltd. Owen Sound, Ontario"; engine block number: 61645 H100 78NCi11. The MG126 plate: pat.# 2077663, 2127713, and 2164135 as well as serial #77914, also "Forward Ratio 2.04 to 1, Reverse Ratio 1.96 to 1". There really is nothing left in the pilot house except the pulley, which has hack saw marks (we assume the steering wheel was stolen from the boat after it was left in the bush).

 

Diane Wayda of Marten River Park notes (Sept. 25, 2007): here are photos of the Alligator, from the first time we saw it in the bush under a shed on the shore of the Frederick House River near Connaught, to its transportation more than 200km to Marten River Prov. Park (56km north of North Bay). On July 8th, 2007, Mr. Bob Watt attended one of my tours of the Logging Camp Exhibit and mentioned he remembered playing on the alligator when he was about 13 in 1963. The boat was owned by Woollings Mill, which had then recently burned down. Bob recalled seeing the boat working when he was about 5 years old, toting logs to the mill. Three weeks later, he led us to the boat itself. The Gator sat on crown land and was classed as salvage. It arrived at Marten River Sept. 6th, 2007. We are trying to determine the boat's name, and more of its history. We plan a roofed structure to house the alligator in our Logging Camp Exhibit. There is some evidence the engine is not the original. There is an adaptor labelled R-H Owen Sound between the engine and the MG126 transmission. We also found the maintenance manual authored by Twin Disc Clutch Co. of Racine, WI in the bow of the boat. After faxing the serial numberws to Twin Disc, they replied the unit was built in early 1945 intended for boats to be used in invading Japan. The units ended up as surplus and this particular one was sold to "Navy Surplus" which could have been the Canadian Navy. The trails stops there.

800 pix   ENLARGE   600 DPI Fort Frances Museum Collection

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