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A lightly edited transcription of a page 4 article in the 24 Feb 1921 Waterford Star newspaper.

Simcoe Alligator
Simcoe Reformer

Last week the Reformer visited the plant of West-Peachey & Sons, to view the work that is being done to the tugs used extensively in logging operations throughout very part of Canada's timber industry.

Mr. Peachey stated that this tug had proved its worth in every way, and that he has had so many orders on hand that he had to refuse a contract to build a large one.

As is well known to Reformer readers, the boats are equipped and geared so that they can travel either by land or water. 

On the bottom are heavy oak runners shoed with 5/8-inch steel, and the engine is so equipped that it may be thrown out of gear from the propellers or paddle wheel, to a gear which is connected to a drum and cable. To travel over the ground all that is necessary is to run out the cable (of which there is 5,000 feet) and fasten it to a tree stump or rock, turn the steam on, and behold! up comes the alligator.

The great scarcity of oak is the only vital point in the building of these boats. The boat itself is built in the form of a flat bottom scow, and the propellers are arranged that they may be raised by a lever, thus eliminating all danger of their being damaged when the tug is portaging.

It is equipped with a West-Peachey & Sons engine, which generates about 20 horsepower on the water, but when the gearing is thrown in to the drum arrangement, it raises the horsepower to over 100.

The boiler is set on a pivot in the centre, and can be raised or lowered as occasion may demand. This always keeps the water in the boiler on an even level. If this was not there, when the tug would be climbing a hill or going down a hill, the water would all run to one end of the boiler and the steam to the other. If the hill was steep enough this would stop the engine.

The hull is made out of white oak, 50 feet with 10-foot beam, and 43 feet with 9 foot beam. The baby alligator is not used as extensively, and is 37 feet in length.

It is a great satisfaction to know that there is such demand for these useful machines. The factory is a perfect hive of industry and is doing a lot to reduce unemployment in Simcoe.


Enlargement

 

 

Also see:
Norfolk's
Alligator

 
Copyright 2018 John Cardiff