LAKE GEORGE STEAMBOAT COMPANY - Key Persons

The James Caldwell was built in 1817 at a cost of only $12,000. She was the first steamship on Lake George. Approximately 80 feet long and 20 feet wide, she was constructed of wood and weighed 120 tons. She had a maximum speed of 4 mph. Constructed in the same shape as the canal-boats of the time, she had two long boilers and a brick smokestack. Her engines were salvaged off a steamship that had sunk in Lake Champlain just two years before. Her job was to ferry people and supplies around the various towns around the lake. In 1817, this was the only real mode of transportation around the lake, as there were no roads at the time. Then in 1821, after just 4 seasons of operating on Lake George, the James Caldwell burned down mysteriously while at dock.

The John Jay was launched in the spring of 1850. She was another side-wheel steamship. She was 145 feet long and 20 feet wide and she drafted 8 feet while weighing 250 tons. Her wooden hull was made completely out of oak. She had a 75 horsepower wood-fired steam engine which moved the boat at a steady 13 mph. She made daily 7am trips from Caldwell to Cook's Landing in Ticonderoga where she was met by stage coaches which would then take passengers to and from a landing on Lake Champlain. But the John Jay's life was tragically cut short. On Tuesday July 29th, 1856 a fire broke out on the ship and burnt through the steering cables. The Captain (E.S. Harris) braved the flames to reach the emergency steering system in the stern of the ship. He was blinded by smoke and he steered the ship into a large exposed rock which sent the boat to careen out into the lake. As the fire spread the passengers jumped into the lake to escape the flames. The ship then sank into the depths of Lake George to the south of the Cook's Island at Temple Knolls. The only deadly accident in the company's long history had claimed the lives of 6 people. The John Jay's remains, although badly decayed, can still be seen today.

The William Caldwell was built at the northern end of Lake George in Ticonderoga in the spring of 1838. She was 140 feet long and 17 feet wide, she weighed about 150 tons and had an 8 foot draft. She was another side-wheel steamship operated by a Fulton type of "steeple-engine" which operated a horizontal cross beam up and down. This engine and her design helped her to achieve speeds of 12 mph. She operated daily round trips from the Lake House Dock in Lake George Village to Ticonderoga. She would leave every day from Lake George at 8 am and journey up the lake to Ticonderoga. In Ticonderoga, she would remain at the dock for 3.5 hours so her passengers could take a horse and carriage to the old ruins of Fort Ticonderoga where they would get out to walk around and view the ruins. They were then transported back to the boat which would leave Ticonderoga at 3 pm and steam back south to Caldwell. After only 10 years of service, the William Caldwell was already showing signs of deterioration. In 1848 she was retired and abandoned in the bay north of what is today's Shepard Park Beach. Shepard Park Beach is in the middle of Lake George Village, so the ship was probably abandoned right out in front of the Georgian Motel or Lakeside Motel. She eventually sank and disintegrated in that bay.