Dennis Found It!

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Researching local history relies on a combination of luck, deduction, hours of following leads, the memories of strangers, searching old newspaper archives, luck, travel to places that might yield a clue, dogged determination and more luck. For example, it was by chance that I discovered a long-forgotten envelope of photos of the last community ice harvest at Stillwater Reservoir complete with a letter describing the scene. It included a list of some of the people in the photos, but no way to match the names with the faces. I proceeded to show the photos to anyone who might conceivably recognize someone. This long process gave me about half the identities, but half remained a mystery.


I had concluded that I would probably never identify the others. As it happened, however, a year ago I gave a talk at the Stillwater Hotel about the hotel’s one-hundred-year history. After my talk a woman I didn’t previously know named Michelle Kelly approached me. She identified herself as the grand-daughter of Emmitt Hill, who owned the hotel from 1950 - 1972. 

 

Since the ice harvesting photos were from the winter of 1953, it struck me at once that she might be able to identify some of the people shown in the photos. I was right. Michelle was able to positively identify her grandfather and a few more family members. As she looked through the photos, she casually mentioned that she believed that the ice saw shown in the photos still existed, possibly abandoned in the woods somewhere outside Lowville. Supposedly, after being retired as an ice saw, it was sometimes used to cut up large logs.

 

Later that same day, I passed this tidbit on to Dennis Buckley, a summer resident of Stillwater, who is a local history expert. Dennis sat down with Michelle and gathered what information she had about the possible whereabouts of the old saw. Since her story seemed plausible to him, Dennis decided to try to find the saw. 

 

All during last summer Dennis engaged in a convoluted search for the saw. He told me he made “many inquiries, phone calls, and personal visits with Watson residents, Lowville residents, a member of the Rap-Shaw Club, the Lewis County Historical Society and the volunteer fire chief of New Bremen.” He eventually came to believe that the saw had ended up at the Lewis County Fairgrounds. Unfortunately, the summer season was ending at the time and he was unable to get access to the saw to verify its identity.

 

Dennis does not give up easily. This spring he went to the fairgrounds. The supervisor confirmed that they have an ice saw in their possession, but because an event was underway, Dennis couldn’t get in to see it that day. So, he made an appointment and about a week later he was taken to the fair’s historical room and, lo and behold, there it was.




The above photos of Dennis with the saw, credit Dennis Buckley. Dennis extends his sincere thanks to all who helped locate the machine, especially Rachell Lisk at the fairgrounds who provided him with access to the machine.

 

My article “Stillwater on Ice” about the last community ice harvest at Stillwater can be found here: https://beaverriverhistory.blogspot.com/2026/01/stillwater-on-ice.html

 

 

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