Lumber Vessels in the Gratwick Channel, photos (1920).gal

Exhibit E — Loaded Steam Lumber Barge in the Gratwick Channel

A loaded, self-propelled steam lumber barge occupies the narrow channel between White, Gratwick & Mitchell’s Dock No. 3 and the southern end of Dock No. 1, directly opposite the waterfront later acquired by Empire Engineering. The vessel is shown facing upstream in approximately the position used by lumber carriers entering or leaving Dock No. 1.

The timber posts in the foreground are remnants of an older water dock on the Empire property. Before about 1910, a railroad track reportedly ran diagonally from shore onto that dock; by the time of the photograph, the track and dock superstructure had disappeared, leaving rows of decaying pilings. Material visible along the right side was identified in testimony as dredged spoil deposited behind those pilings, where it could wash or collapse back into the navigable channel. Stacked lumber can also be seen near the southern end of Dock No. 1. Apparently photographed July 20, 1920.

Exhibit F — Tug and Loaded Tow-Barge Approaching Dock No. 1

A tug guides a large, loaded lumber barge through the channel in front of the Empire Engineering property toward White, Gratwick & Mitchell’s Dock No. 1. Unlike the self-propelled vessel in Exhibit E, this barge depended on the smaller tug for steering and propulsion.

The photograph demonstrates how completely a working lumber tow occupied the available passage. The tug and barge had to move through a corridor bounded by dock frontage, shallow water, old pilings and the river’s deeper channel. White, Gratwick & Mitchell used the image to show that this was not vacant water available for new construction, but an active approach regularly used to bring Great Lakes lumber cargoes to the dock. Apparently photographed July 21, 1920.

Exhibit G — Loaded Lumber Barge Turning Beside the Empire Property

The loaded tow-barge shown in Exhibit F is photographed during its turning maneuver in front of the Empire Engineering property. The vessel is swinging back toward the open Niagara River while occupying much of the water between the established docks and the deeper river channel.

The view illustrates why the disputed area was important even where vessels did not travel in a straight line. Long steamers and tow-barges needed room to angle away from the dock, swing their bows or sterns across the adjoining frontage and reposition themselves for Dock No. 1, Dock No. 3 or the open river. Witnesses identified Exhibits E and G as accurate representations of vessels dropping down and turning in this channel. Empire’s proposed piers would have projected into the space required for that maneuver. Apparently photographed July 21, 1920.

Provenance

The three photographs were first used by White, Gratwick & Mitchell in 1920 proceedings before the New York Commissioners of the Land Office, when the company opposed a proposed state grant of underwater land along the channel. They were later admitted as Plaintiff’s Exhibits E, F and G in White, Gratwick & Mitchell, Inc. v. Empire Engineering Company, Inc. and reproduced in the subsequent U.S. Supreme Court transcript of record.