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Book chronicles steamboat company's river empire

Review of
THOMAS CORNELL AND THE CORNELL STEAMBOAT COMPANY
by John Rowan in Schenectady Gazette

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Stuart Murray's latest book is about a corporation that was a giant in the Hudson Valley.

The corporation was masterly at finding and exploiting technological innovation. It used technology to diversify and dominate the market for its services.

If this sounds like a history of IBM, you have made a good--but wrong--guess. Instead of computers, Murray's book is about shipping, specifically the Cornell Steamboat Corporation and its founder, Thomas Cornell.

A resident of Chatham, Murray is an award-winning historian and novelist. He and Wray Rominger, Purple Mountain Press' publisher, spoke at great length with C.W. Spangenberger, the last president of Cornell, whose insights add to the book.

The introduction is by Roger Mabie, president of the Hudson River Maritime Museum. William duBarry Thomas, a Hudson River mariner and director of the museum, contributed essays in the appendix on tugboat technology and towing operations. There is also a detailed fleet list.

Murray's text has a nice pace and is generally clear. In some places, he uses specialized towing and shipping terms without explaining them. Readers can get around these by going first to Thomas' essays in the appendix on technology and tug operations.

The book is noteworthy for its sharp, clear black-and-white illustrations. These are mostly photographs with a few etchings and engravings.

The illustrations vividly support the story line. One center-fold photograph shows the Thomas Cornell, a 300-foot side-wheel steamerl, wrecked on Danskammer Point in 1882. To see a large, well-built ship riding over a six-foot point of land, broken in half, reinforces Murray's descriptions of the hazards of river navigation, hazards that persisted into the 20th century.

The Cornell steamboat empire was built on coal. In the 1820s, the Delaware and Hudson Canal opened, connecting Pennsylvania coal country with the Hudson at the village of Rondout, now present-day Kingston.

Thomas Cornell came to Rondout with his father, after his uncle arrived in the village and opened a general store by the canal.

At age 23, Thomas Cornell bought a sloop and began transporting cargo, including coal, Cornell learned the steamboat business by watching steamboat owners and serving as an agent. In 1847, he became part owner of a steamboat.

In 1848, Technological innovation helped Cornell advance his business. He bought the steamer Norwich, whose hull was designed in such a way that if could buck ice. The boat could operate earlier and later on the river and make money when rival fleets were inactive.

As cargo traffic on the Hudson expanded, Cornell bought more boats, including the passenger steamboat Mary Powell. A beautiful floating palace, the Mary Powell carried Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman and European royalty. It was seen in many views of the Hudson, a key part of the river's working landscape.

The larger fleet increased cash flow and Cornell began to diversify. To avoid losing market share to the railroads, he opened a ferry service between Kingston and a heavily used railroad station at Rhinecliff.

Cornell established four small railroads, including the narrow guage Kaatskill Railroad serving the Catskill Mountain House in northern Greene County. These railroads opened the Catskills to tourists and, in turn, gave Cornell the chance to open massive hotels - like the Grand Hotel above Pine Hill or the Laurel House near the Catskill Mountain House.

According to Murray, Cornell was instrumental in creating the Catskill dairy industry. His Ulster and Delaware Railroad made it feasible to collect milk from Catskill farmers, whisk it to Kingston on trains and then move the milk by steamer to New York City.

Cornell's son-in-law, S.D. Coykendall, built on Cornell's success. Under Coykendall, Cornell developed a controlling interest in all towing from Albany to New York City. SOme of the liveliest, most nerve-wracking operations occurred in the shallow Hudson near Albany, before a deep draft channel was dredged.

Coykendall converted the Cornell fleet from paddle-wheel steamers to propeller-powered tugboats. He acquired the City of Kingston, one of the first liners with electric lights. He positioned the fleet to carry the growing volume of bricks, Rosendale concrete, produce, coal, hay and other goods that the Hudson valley supplied to New York City.

S.D. Coykendall's sons directed the company in the 20th century. However, they faced new challenges. Railroads, including the Delaware and Hudson and New York Central cut into the shipping business. Shipping coal and hay was less lucrative with the arrival of heating oil and automobiles. The Coykendalls did not get into the oil barge business soon enought; family stubbornness delayed conversion of the fleet's steam tugs to diesels.

Murray is not a sensationalist but he takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster: excitement as the company grows, sadnessas it declines, scraps its boats and lays off loyal employees.

In 1958, New York Trap Rock bought out Cornell. Trap Rock began to modernize the Cornell fleet. But by 1963, cutthroat shipping and quarrying competition forced Trap Rock to sell its tugs and barges - ending nearly 130 years of Cornell's presence on the Hudson.