Some years later came a steamboat from Lake Champlain, named “Maggie Weed.” This was a better shaped boat using hard coal for fuel. I used to watch it as it went by pulling the barges, which we called scows. There were one large and two small ones to carry iron ore. We can see the skeletons of them yet, at one end of the sandbar near the channel at Bluff Point, and the other down at the west side of the Narrows nearly in front of the firemen’s camp. There were also three barges to draw wood, four foot wood to make charcoal. They had two sets of kilns to make charcoal near the Narrows, one back of Elisha McPherson’s camp, which was called the upper set and the other between the Prio camp and the Narrows near the water. There were eight kilns in a set. There was another set of kilns at the Forge. The charcoal from these kilns had to be taken down to the Forge on the scows. The Catalan forge was enlarged until it was the largest of its kind in the world. It had room for sixteen firest at last.

The Company built a plank road from Lyon Mountain to Chateaugay. The iron-ore was drawn by horses from the mines to the Upper Lake where a dock was located on the present site of Young’s garage, in front of the Morrison cottage. As the distance was too much for the horses to make two trips to the Forge from Lyon Mountain and return, they would make one trip to the Forge and one to the dock. In this way they kep the forge going full blast.

This boat, “Maggie Weed,” would pull four or five of those barges or scows. One of the wood scows was large enough to hold forty-five cords of wood and that was enough to fill a kiln. There were two places to pile the wood in winter near the shore. One was at the south end of the Upper Lake, somewhere near the Boomhower camp, and the other where the Saxe boathouse stands on the Narrows. This reserve of wood had to be loaded on those scows and taken to the Forge. The deck for the loading of charcoal was in front of Elisha McPherson’s camp. The scow for the charcoal was long enough for three wagons. Nine wagons could be loaded on the scows at one time. These nine wagson with large boxes would hold the content of one kiln. The charcoal was used to smelt the iron ore. the ore was made into billets, called pig iron.

Because the scows could not carry enough ore to supply the need, many teams of horses and wagons were used. These wagons had brakes arranged on the side of the box to help the horses hold back the heavy load. The steam boat would leave the empty scow on his trip up the lake. When it returned from towing the wood scow to the upper wood bank, the ore scow would be loaded and ready to be taken down to the Forge.

After some years there appeared another steam boat called the “Adirondack”. This was owned at first by Henry McPherson. It was a passenger boat and could accomodate many. It was used for excursions and sigh seeing trips around the lake. Such excursions were well patronized on the Fourth of July. A few years later, another boat called “Emma,” appeared. It was owned by Frank Nicholson. It was named afer his wife. It was finally owned by Paul Merrill. The “Maggie Weed” was pulled up on the shore and burned where Walter Coolidge’s camp now stands.

Dimensions and other information concerning some of the boats are as follows:

The “Maggie Weed,” named for the daughter of Hon. Smith M. Weed, was 28 1/2 feet by 11 fet, draft 4 feet. It was powered by a 25-horse power steam engine and had a speed of 10 miles per hour.

The “Iron Age” barge was 80 feet long, 17 feet wide and carried 150 tons of ore.

The “Adirondack” was 55 feet by 8 feet.

The “Emma” was 80 feet by 8 feet.

Since those days many of the campers have their own launches or power boats, therefore they are not dependent upon passenger service.