Courtesy of Archives of Ontario, #S 4854.
West & Peachey considered this first request, and as they did not feel that it violated their patents, they agreed to co-operate. The machinery was shipped to Arnprior, and the McLachlins built their own hull in which the machinery was installed. They next installed their own superstructure and named the resultant Alligator the Madawaska. She was Alligator #6.
As other such arrangements were requested, West & Peachey found they were at times supplying machinery only, while others would request all machinery plus the lumber and other materials for the buyer to assemble their own tug. If requested, West & Peachey would also supply the plans for construction and assembly of an Alligator tug. By 1897, they were offering all machinery for building an Alligator Warping Tug for $2,300.
The Alligator, paddlewheeler #13, built in 1893, is shown warping herself up Union Street in Simcoe en route to the Georgian Bay and Lake Erie Railway siding at Metcalfe Street to be shipped to Gilmour & Company in Trenton, Ontario. This is the oldest known surviving photograph of an Alligator taken in Simcoe.
Courtesy of Norfolk Historical Society Archives, West & Peachey Collection, L 11191.
During the Alligator’s heyday, West & Peachey filled many contracts to supply machinery only. The chief buyers of machinery for tugs, in addition to the McLachlin Bros., were the Upper Ottawa Improvement Company of Ottawa, Ontario, and W.C. Edwards, also of Ottawa. Later on, during the production of twin-screw Alligators, West & Peachey would supply owners with the machinery to convert the tug with a paddlewheel drive to a twin-screw drive.
One is left to wonder if the attempt by McLachlin Bros. to build their own hull and install the machinery, bought from West & Peachey, did not save them as much as expected? Did they find building the hull and superstructure was a more difficult undertaking than they anticipated? We may never know the answer, but we do know that later the same year, 1892, two orders for complete Alligator tugs were received from the McLachlin Bros. These were Alligator #7, the Bonnechére, and Alligator #8, the Amable du Fond.
The first order for a complete tug in 1893 was for Alligator #9, the Ballantyne, also from the McLachlin Bros. Three 1893 orders for Alligator tugs were received from Gilmour and Company of Trenton, Ontario. In fact, Alligator tug #13 through to Alligator tug #18 were all built for this large lumbering firm. Those constructed in 1893 were tug #13, the Alligator; tug #14, the Trent; and tug #15, the Muskoka. In 1894, the orders from Gilmour and Company continued, with Alligator tug #16, the Hunter; tug #17, the Peck; and tug #18, the Nipissing. These Alligator Warping Tugs were all destined for use in the harvest of the timber limits of the lucrative Trent River and Trent Canal territory.
By March 1893, twenty men were working at the West & Peachey factory, and six Alligator tugs were under construction. Business had never been better, enabling the retirement of the factory mortgage. Both John West and his partner, James Peachey, were able to pay off their respective mortgages on their homes, as well. In that same year John West attended the Chicago World Fair where he picked up many good ideas from exhibits of the latest technology. He also purchased a new iron shaper, which was on display in the Canadian Machinery Hall, for use in their factory. And, from an American firm, he purchased a jacksaw used for cutting iron bars to their desired lengths. These he would use at his home base, but West was very adept at designing and manufacturing his own equipment, which he would then install in their company facilities. One such piece of equipment was a mill head with which they could cut threads on bolts and iron rods with automatic dies. At this time he also designed a piece of machinery for cutting key sets in wheels, gears, and the like.
In September 1893, due to the lack of space for the increased workload the firm was experiencing, West and Peachey decided to build a large, brick building adjacent to their foundry. It was put to good use immediately. By the spring of 1894, they had received orders for eleven more Alligator tugs. The firm was now operating day and night with forty men working in their shops. The weekly payroll had risen to $300. The previous year they had operated the shops on a ten-hour day with a weekly payroll of less than $75 to their employees. By the mid-1890s, an Alligator Warping Tug brought the firm $2,800 apiece. With the increase in demand for Alligator tugs came an increase need for lumber and other construction materials. As a result, during July and August of 1894, West & Peachey built a new steam-driven portable sawmill on the property. With their own sawmill, the firm now was able to saw up to 10,000 board feet of lumber daily.
ALLIGATOR TUG PORTAGING.
The ability to portage overland was an essential feature in the success of the Alligator Warping Tug, which was also the reason for their name. The tug could safely move up an incline of 1:3 (or a rise of 1 foot for every 3 feet of movement forward) and over very rough terrain. Much of the work required of it involved moving between lakes when no navigable stream existed between them. It was also essential for getting around dams, waterfalls, and flumes that provided for the passage of logs, but not for boats.
A level, graded road was not required, only the placing of logs under the heavy oak steel-shod runners, set about 6 to 8 feet apart, to keep the runners from grinding over the rocks. A heavy block pulley was attached to a chain near the bottom of the bow of the Alligator. Another single block pulley was attached to a tree on the side of the portage road. The cable was run out, passed through the block at the tree and returned to the tug to be passed through the pulley block attached to the chain on the bow of the tug. From there the cable was run forward and anchored to a tree on the opposite side of the portage road and across from the first pulley block. When the winch was put in operation, the cable rewinding on the drum pulled the Alligator forward on a straight course between the two anchors. In this way the Alligator could be moved at least a mile a day, and, if conditions were good, as much as three miles a day. In one case, an Alligator was known to haul itself overland for 40 miles, taking almost a month to accomplish the feat.
Portaging proved very hard on the wooden hulls of the tugs and a hull’s life span was dependent on the amount of portaging it was subjected to. Some tugs required new hulls within a year or two of their building and many Alligators had several new replacement hulls during their lifetime.
8 Alligator-Operated Portable Sawmills and Other Ventures
By 1897, West & Peachey was offering a portable sawmill for use with the Alligator Warping Tug. The complete mill weighed 4,500 pounds and was offered for $350 f.o.b. (free on board), Simcoe. The saw carriage was mounted on three bunks and operated with a rope feed. The Alligator would be set up on shore where needed and the tug’s steam engine provided the power to drive the saw. A 75-foot-long rubber drive belt from the tug drove a 54-inch circular saw. A pair of idlers were mounted on the bow of the Alligator, which the drive belt passed over. The saw was able to cut mill timber up to 30 feet in length. The portable sawmill was of interest to lumbermen wishing to square timber or saw logs into lumber on site, particularly in remote areas, for the construction of camps and other buildings. They were also in demand on inland locations for the construction of dams and flumes to expedite the movement of logs through a network of small lakes and connecting streams. West & Peachey had sold four Alligator sawmills to the following lumber companies, R.H. Klock and Company in Mattawa, Ontario; Gilmour and Company in Trenton; J.R. Booth of Ottawa; and to Robert Hurdman, also of Ottawa, by the end of 1905.
A sketch by artist L.A. Dool illustrates the operation of portable sawmill using an Alligator tug’s steam engine to supply the power.
Courtesy