We’ll continue the 2023 fund drive until September 15. 

Please contribute today.  Make donations online for The Historians Podcast at our Go Fund Me page https://gofund.me/777777e9   Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  We have raised $5305, 75% of our 2023 goal.  Thanks very much to all who contributed. 

Tuesday on The Historians, now that we have snow!!

Bobsledding on Amsterdam city streets
Coasting carnivals for bobsled teams were popular winter sporting events in the late 1800s in Amsterdam and other area cities with steep hills. 

A woodsman’s son from Sweden

By Bob Cudmore

   He got up early to deliver newspapers on his way to school three miles away, sometimes in 50 below zero weather. He read the papers before delivering them and picked up grocery orders to deliver on his way home.

   His mother died. When he was 15, Karl and his sister Kristina set sail for America.

   Over here he became Carl August Johnson. According to his granddaughter, Diane Hale Smith of Amsterdam, “He wrote his new name over and over again in a journal to begin the transformation.  I treasure that journal.”

   When Johnson arrived in Amsterdam, he worked at Inman Manufacturing on Guy Park Avenue in Amsterdam, a factory that turned out machinery for paper box making. Johnson was trained as a machinist, tool maker, coppersmith and electrician. Today the Inman building is a senior center.

   Smith wrote, “When he turned twenty six he joined the Army, trained at the local armory and was sent to fight in the Spanish American War in 1898.  He stepped on a scorpion and was sent home to recuperate.  He reenlisted on September 6th 1899.”

   Back in Amsterdam Johnson was a chauffeur for the Greens and Warnicks, prominent families.  He drove one of the first motor cars in the city.

   Smith wrote, “He spent any free time he had at the local YMCA on Division Street. It has been said that he initiated basketball at the YMCA by hanging a coal scuttle on the wall, the way they often played in Sweden.”

   In 1905 he married Mina Kaiser at Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church. They raised four daughters, including Smith’s mother, Dorothy.

   Johnson became partners with Clarence Birch, operating a small garage at 78 Stewart Street.  Johnson and George Calhoun later became partners and opened a large garage at 12-14 Market Street, behind the then Barnes Hotel.

   Smith said, “They sold and serviced Case, Marmon and Huppmobile cars and parked over one hundred cars a night at the rate of $1.00 each.  They were well on their way to becoming wealthy businessmen when the stock market crashed. Due to a great amount of outstanding credit they had given to their customers, the business closed.”

   Johnson found work at Fownes Glove in Amsterdam and retired at age 79 in 1951. Smith wrote, “He was known for his honesty.  Once when I was a teen I met an elderly man who remembered his generosity in accepting a Bible in exchange for mechanical work. He read that Bible completely four times and took it to heart applying it to his everyday life. 

   “My mother told me that when she wanted to be liked when meeting new people she would always say that she was Carl Johnson's daughter. Years later I did that myself mentioning I was Dorothy Johnson Hale's daughter.”

   Carl Johnson never returned to Sweden and lost touch with his Swedish friends. He enjoyed listening to records by Harry Stewart who performed as Yogi Yorgesson, with an exaggerated Swedish accent. His daughter Dorothy secured him the records while working at Morrison and Putman’s music store.    

   Johnson died of a heart attack in 1955 shortly after his 50th wedding anniversary and after receiving his 60 year Masonic pin.

   Smith said, “He would stay up until three in the morning reading National Geographic and dreaming of the day that we would walk on the moon. Sadly, he passed away before they did but I imagine he was watching from somewhere else with that twinkle in his eye.  He never wanted to miss anything!

Episode 506

Gary Hoyle is author of Mystery Tusk, the story of a 12,000 year old woolly mammoth tusk found in a manmade pond in Maine in 1959. Plus the chronicle of an African elephant, Old Bet, shot and killed in the early 1800s in Maine.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, January 8, 2023

27 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:20AM

When Johnson arrived in Amsterdam, he worked at Inman Manufacturing on Guy Park Avenue in Amsterdam, a factory that turned out machinery for paper box making. Johnson was trained as a machinist, tool maker, coppersmith and electrician. Today the Inman building is a senior center.

A woodsman’s son from Sweden

By Bob Cudmore

   He got up early to deliver newspapers on his way to school three miles away, sometimes in 50 below zero weather. He read the papers before delivering them and picked up grocery orders to deliver on his way home.

   His mother died. When he was 15, Karl and his sister Kristina set sail for America.

   Over here he became Carl August Johnson. According to his granddaughter, Diane Hale Smith of Amsterdam, “He wrote his new name over and over again in a journal to begin the transformation.  I treasure that journal.”

   When Johnson arrived in Amsterdam, he worked at Inman Manufacturing on Guy Park Avenue in Amsterdam, a factory that turned out machinery for paper box making. Johnson was trained as a machinist, tool maker, coppersmith and electrician. Today the Inman building is a senior center.

   Smith wrote, “When he turned twenty six he joined the Army, trained at the local armory and was sent to fight in the Spanish American War in 1898.  He stepped on a scorpion and was sent home to recuperate.  He reenlisted on September 6th 1899.”

   Back in Amsterdam Johnson was a chauffeur for the Greens and Warnicks, prominent families.  He drove one of the first motor cars in the city.

   Smith wrote, “He spent any free time he had at the local YMCA on Division Street. It has been said that he initiated basketball at the YMCA by hanging a coal scuttle on the wall, the way they often played in Sweden.”

   In 1905 he married Mina Kaiser at Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church. They raised four daughters, including Smith’s mother, Dorothy.

   Johnson became partners with Clarence Birch, operating a small garage at 78 Stewart Street.  Johnson and George Calhoun later became partners and opened a large garage at 12-14 Market Street, behind the then Barnes Hotel.

   Smith said, “They sold and serviced Case, Marmon and Huppmobile cars and parked over one hundred cars a night at the rate of $1.00 each.  They were well on their way to becoming wealthy businessmen when the stock market crashed. Due to a great amount of outstanding credit they had given to their customers, the business closed.”

   Johnson found work at Fownes Glove in Amsterdam and retired at age 79 in 1951. Smith wrote, “He was known for his honesty.  Once when I was a teen I met an elderly man who remembered his generosity in accepting a Bible in exchange for mechanical work. He read that Bible completely four times and took it to heart applying it to his everyday life. 

   “My mother told me that when she wanted to be liked when meeting new people she would always say that she was Carl Johnson's daughter. Years later I did that myself mentioning I was Dorothy Johnson Hale's daughter.”

   Carl Johnson never returned to Sweden and lost touch with his Swedish friends. He enjoyed listening to records by Harry Stewart who performed as Yogi Yorgesson, with an exaggerated Swedish accent. His daughter Dorothy secured him the records while working at Morrison and Putman’s music store.    

   Johnson died of a heart attack in 1955 shortly after his 50th wedding anniversary and after receiving his 60 year Masonic pin.

   Smith said, “He would stay up until three in the morning reading National Geographic and dreaming of the day that we would walk on the moon. Sadly, he passed away before they did but I imagine he was watching from somewhere else with that twinkle in his eye.  He never wanted to miss anything!

Listen to bobcudmore.com Monday for an audio version of this column on The Story Behind the Story Podcast.

Friday, January 12, 2024 on The Historians

Mighty Bad Land: A Perilous Expedition to Antarctica Reveals Clues to an Eighth Continent

What does it take to prevail in Antarctica?

Four geologists and two mountain guides face the brutal beauty of West Antarctica eight hundred miles from the US main base. Their search reaches far into the treacherous mountains of Marie Byrd Land. During six weeks of living in tents and traveling by snowmobile, the team endures endless cold and furious blizzards. They cross ice fields and hidden crevasses, which one member of the team learns about the hard way.

We’ll continue the 2023 fund drive until September 15. 

Please contribute today.  Make donations online for The Historians Podcast at our Go Fund Me page https://gofund.me/777777e9   Or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore to 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.  We have raised $5305, 75% of our 2023 goal.  Thanks very much to all who contributed.  

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, January 7, 2024

29 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:05AM

Second day, forth year, third decade, always moving on

We have produced over 500 episodes since the podcast began in 2014.  Help us continue The Historians Podcast by making a donation.  Please contribute at https://gofund.me/777777e9  or send a check made out to Bob Cudmore, 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

This Friday, January 5, 2024-Episode 506-Gary Hoyle is author of Mystery Tusk, the story of a 12,000 year old woolly mammoth tusk found while digging a manmade pond in Maine in 1959.  Plus the tale of an African elephant, Old Bet, shot and killed in the early 1800s in Maine.

MYSTERY TUSK-Searching for Elephants in the Maine Woods is the true story of author Gary Hoyle's search for a mysterious tusk that seems to have two conflicting histories-one ancient and one modern. His search for the truth led him to direct the first excavation of a mammoth in Maine and to uncover historical facts about an elephant that inspired P. T. Barnum.

The good old days?
By Bob Cudmore

The Chamber of Commerce published a booklet of essays submitted by local people for a city improvement contest in 1946 called "What I Don't Like About Amsterdam."

Few of us today actually remember 1946, but many who grew up in Amsterdam after World War II would probably regard that postwar year of 1946 as part of the good old days.

The carpet mills, other Amsterdam factories and businesses were still thriving. Downtown was busy. People enjoyed bowling, softball and other amateur sports. The war had ended.

Nonetheless Charles H. Schenck, Chamber Executive Secretary, said the essays submitted in the contest cited multiple complaints.

Lack of recreational facilities was mentioned in 230 essays. The poor condition of streets was cited in 177 entries. There were 139 ash and garbage collection complaints. Seventy nine people wrote Amsterdam had too many bars and deplored the sale of alcohol to minors. Some essays called for more hotel accommodations, transportation and theatrical facilities.

A numbering system enabled the Chamber judges to anonymously award cash prizes to individuals whose essays were deemed the best among the 850 entries. The judges were also anonymous.

"We are quick to criticize those who make an honest effort to do something," wrote the first prize winner, who was awarded $40.

Forty dollars in 1946 would translate into over $500 today because of inflation, making it a rather substantial prize.

The winning writer continued, "Misguided leadership has done a lot to put nationalism above civic responsibility and has tended to build up group interest with selfish motives. We are all Americans and we should work together."

The second place essay was awarded $20 and called for Sunday evening services in the churches and an end to competition among local veterans groups. The writer suggested city employees only get 10 days in sick leave each year, that the city buy sidewalk snow plows and that the proposed athletic field near the Lynch School be designated a World War II memorial.

The Recorder announced the conclusion of the contest on March 26, "The project to secure a self-portrait of Amsterdam by her own residents was started about one month ago when blanks were distributed through the public schools and mercantile establishments of the city.

"In expression of approximately 100 words, men, women and children were invited to say what they think about the city and its weak points."

The third place finisher, who was awarded $10, suggested a waste disposal system so that sewage would no longer be dumped into the Mohawk River. The writer also called for beautification of the riverfront.

Here are more critiques from 1946:

"I don't like the taste of city water. It has too much chlorine in it. They admit the water looks bad and tastes bad but say it's harmless. It should be "the way it's been drugged."

"Amsterdam should have a curfew law for children up to 16 years, and it should be enforced, even if it means bringing parents into court."

"The streets are a hodge-podge of houses, dinky little stores (often empty), gas stations, vacant lots (used as dumping grounds) and unoccupied buildings with broken windows."

"The characters that clutter up the streets in front of some of the downtown cigar stores are no ad for the police department."

"Amsterdam needs a sort of night club just for us kids, with special attractions by kids who can sing, dance, play an instrument or perform."

And a final complaint from over 75 years ago, "Have another contest entitled 'What I do like about Amsterdam' and limit the answers to one word. Mine would be 'Nothing!'"

Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, January 2, 2024

27 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:36AM

This Friday, January 5, 2024-Episode 506-Gary Hoyle is author of Mystery Tusk, the story of a 12,000 year old woolly mammoth tusk found while digging a manmade pond in Maine in 1959.  Plus the tale of an African elephant, Old Bet, shot and killed in the early 1800s in Maine.

MYSTERY TUSK-Searching for Elephants in the Maine Woods is the true story of author Gary Hoyle's search for a mysterious tusk that seems to have two conflicting histories-one ancient and one modern. His search for the truth led him to direct the first excavation of a mammoth in Maine and to uncover historical facts about an elephant that inspired P. T. Barnum.

01/01/2024 and a Monday

Highlights of Focus on History columns in 2023

                  By Bob Cudmore                     

Navy nuclear submarine captain John Donlon was a native of Amsterdam.

John’s father Hugh Donlon was a Recorder newspaper columnist, author of a landmark 1980 Amsterdam history book, "Annals of a Milltown.

John's mother had tuberculosis.  Anna Frances Nadler Donlon died in 1938.

Hugh Donlon died in Amsterdam at age 93 in 1989. Theur son John died at his Connecticut home at age 95 on December 26, 2022.

Hugh Donlon had started work on a history book called "The Mohawk Valley" in 1932. He typed the manuscript in a second floor office at the family home.

Donlon credited his four sons, "Whose contribution to this book was undisturbed slumber through night hours while their father worked."

John Donlon preserved his father's Mohawk Valley manuscript.

Many publishers were approached but the manuscript remained unpublished until 2015. Writer Dave Northrup edited the manuscript that year with John's help and oversaw its publication.

# "Your article on the Luxuray brought back old memories," wrote Charles Gehring, who lived in Nelliston as a child.

Luxuray manufactured women's underwear, mainly panties, in a factory on Willett Street in Fort Plain.

Gehring said, "My mother worked (at Luxuray) for 27 years from 1934 to 1962. She sewed gussets in women's underwear for 35 cents an hour."

According to the Cambridge Dictionary. a gusset is "a second layer of cloth that is sewn into a piece of clothing to make it larger, stronger, or more comfortable."

Gehring continued, "My father worked at the Beech-Nut (in Canajoharie) in Strained Foods. One of his jobs was to turn the boilers on, which meant he had to be in very early. So, he was always home when I returned from Nelliston grade school.

"Around 4:30 we would go 'over street' (you always used this expression when going from Nelliston to Fort Plain) to pick up my mother. He always parked right in front of Bruschetti's Eternal City bar, which was across the street from the Luxuray.

"He always had just enough time for one beer. Sometimes he would set me up on the bar. Thanks for stimulating some fond memories."

The Eternal City Bar was operated by Romolo and Josephine Bruschetti, natives of Italy who married in Fort Plain in 1915.

Gehring’s career has been as director of the New Netherland Research Center in Albany translating Old Dutch documents from the New Netherland Colony which existed in the 1600s. In 1994 Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred a knighthood on Gehring.

#The USS Amsterdam sailed back to America from Japan when World War II ended, picking up Seabees in Guam.

The passengers brought a different perspective on war to the Amsterdam's sailors.

"We had a laundry, hot food, a ship's newspaper and ice cream almost every day," said former Seaman Steve Fitz. "One of the crew in line for dinner shouted out there was no ice cream today. One of the Seabees said, 'Isn't that a shame. We haven't seen ice cream in two years!'"

Fitz became a popular local talk radio host.

A model of USS Amsterdam was handmade by the late Albert M. Swager of Pennsylvania, a former crewman, who donated the model to Walter Elwood Museum in Amsterdam in 1995. The eight foot replica was loaned for a crew reunion in central New York. The model ended up at Sampson Memorial Museum in Romulus.

It was located through the efforts of Amsterdam’s Stanley Krolikowski and returned to Elwood museum.

Anyone who wishes to contribute time or money to the USS Amsterdam exhibit may contact Mike Parillo at the museum. With artifacts, documents, and photos contact City Historian Robert von Hasseln.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Monday, January 1, 2024

31 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:45AM

Today in The Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder Bob Cudmore with Highlight Stories 2023 "Focus on History" 

https://www.dailygazette.com/the_recorder/life_and_arts/history/cudmore/amsterdam--focus-on-history/article_beebd92c-a393-11ee-96ce-7f1728bb0108.html

Navy nuclear submarine captain John Donlon was a native of Amsterdam. John’s father Hugh Donlon was a Recorder newspaper columnist, author of a landmark 1980 Amsterdam history book, "Annals of a Milltown.”

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Only today and Tomorrow

to the end of the 2023 Go Fund Me Drive to keep Amsterdam and Mohawk Valley History on The Internet and Public Radio. $1695.00 is needed. https://gofund.me/777777e9

U.S. Mail A check made out to Bob Cudmore, 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

2024

Friday, January 5, 2024-Episode 506-Gary Hoyle is author of Mystery Tusk, the story of a 12,000 year old woolly mammoth tusk found while digging a manmade pond in Maine in 1959.  Plus the tale of an African elephant, Old Bet, shot and killed in the early 1800s in Maine.

Friday, January 12-2024-Episode 507 –Bruce Luyendyk is a geologist and author of Mighty Bad Land, the story of his explorations of Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica in the 1990s, These explorations led to the discovery of a new continent, named Zealandia.

The company was among the first to come up with a way to sew baseballs by machine to keep the cost down. According to a 1940 article by newspaperman Earl O. Stowitts, "The balls which the company sews by machine are not flat-stitched, but have a slightly raised seam."

Collette's-makers of mendets, paper clips and sporting goods
By Bob Cudmore

Collette Manufacturing Company in Amsterdam was famous for making Mendets, paper clips and juvenile sporting goods. Mendets are bolt-like contraptions to plug holes in pots and pans.

Marjorie Eckler of Hagaman was 15 in 1925 when a girlfriend of hers was working at Collette's, packaging Mendets.

Marjorie's daughter, Arlyn (Lynn) Smith of West Galway, said, "My mother and her friend thought it would be fun to put their names and addresses in the boxes of Mendets, hoping someone would write to them."

A year or two later, Marjorie received a letter from Maggie Arnold who worked at a hardware store in Wilmot, Tasmania, and found Marjorie's name and address in a box of Mendets.

Marjorie and Maggie became lifelong pen pals. In the late 1970s, Maggie Arnold from Tasmania, a large island south of Australia, came to America and visited Marjorie and her family. By then Marjorie had married town of Amsterdam farmer Leland Johnson. In 1980 Marjorie and her family visited Maggie in Tasmania.

Cobleskill native Clarence C. Collette, born in 1876, moved to Amsterdam as a young man and began manufacturing Mendets on the third floor of the Recorder building on Railroad Street downtown.

Mendets illustrated the philosophy, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

Collette's was incorporated in 1907 and in 1916 moved to the former Eighth Ward School on Clizbe Avenue near the Rockton Wye. It subsequently had other manufacturing sites in Amsterdam, Hagaman and other cities.

In 1921 Clarence Collette patented an improvement to the paper clip to make it hold papers more securely by notching ridges in the clip, which was then called a gripper clip.

Dave Gordon, who bought Collette's in later years, said the patent protected only one size of gripper clips. The patent did not prevent other manufacturers from making gripper clips of different sizes.

By the 1930s, Collette's was making juvenile sporting goods"baseballs, footballs and basketballs. Many local women and men worked at Collette's at some point in their lives.

The company was among the first to come up with a way to sew baseballs by machine to keep the cost down. According to a 1940 article by newspaperman Earl O. Stowitts, "The balls which the company sews by machine are not flat-stitched, but have a slightly raised seam."

The balls were covered with inexpensive leather and the cores were made from cotton or felt scraps.

Collette's turned from making a million baseballs a year to products that helped the Allied cause during World War II such as canteen covers, cot covers and foul weather clothing. Mendets continued to be made to preserve cooking utensils in the face of wartime metal shortages.

Collette's received government contracts for some years after the war for canteen covers and the like. In the 1950s, employment ranged from 150 to 300 people.

Clarence and his wife Edna Collette had two daughters, Edna and Shirley. They owned a house on Locust Avenue and later built a home on Golf Course Road.

Clarence Collette was still president of the company when he died in 1965 at the age of 88 at his winter home in St. Petersburg, Florida. Executive vice president Eli Robinson became head of the firm.

Collette's moved to a former Mohasco carpet mill on De Graff Street in Amsterdam's East End in 1976.

Dave Gordon, whose parents had operated the Toy Tent store in downtown Amsterdam, bought Collette's in 1978. Gordon sold it to a Boston investment group in 1983 and left the company in 1984. The investment firm operated Collette's until closing the business in 1989.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather for the New Year, Saturday, December 30, 2023

40 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:35AM

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Highlights of Focus on History columns in 2023

                  By Bob Cudmore                     

Navy nuclear submarine captain John Donlon was a native of Amsterdam.

John’s father Hugh Donlon was a Recorder newspaper columnist, author of a landmark 1980 Amsterdam history book, "Annals of a Milltown.

John's mother had tuberculosis.  Anna Frances Nadler Donlon died in 1938.

Hugh Donlon died in Amsterdam at age 93 in 1989. Theur son John died at his Connecticut home at age 95 on December 26, 2022.

Hugh Donlon had started work on a history book called "The Mohawk Valley" in 1932. He typed the manuscript in a second floor office at the family home.

Donlon credited his four sons, "Whose contribution to this book was undisturbed slumber through night hours while their father worked."

John Donlon preserved his father's Mohawk Valley manuscript.

Many publishers were approached but the manuscript remained unpublished until 2015. Writer Dave Northrup edited the manuscript that year with John's help and oversaw its publication.

# "Your article on the Luxuray brought back old memories," wrote Charles Gehring, who lived in Nelliston as a child.

Luxuray manufactured women's underwear, mainly panties, in a factory on Willett Street in Fort Plain.

Gehring said, "My mother worked (at Luxuray) for 27 years from 1934 to 1962. She sewed gussets in women's underwear for 35 cents an hour."

According to the Cambridge Dictionary. a gusset is "a second layer of cloth that is sewn into a piece of clothing to make it larger, stronger, or more comfortable."

Gehring continued, "My father worked at the Beech-Nut (in Canajoharie) in Strained Foods. One of his jobs was to turn the boilers on, which meant he had to be in very early. So, he was always home when I returned from Nelliston grade school.

"Around 4:30 we would go 'over street' (you always used this expression when going from Nelliston to Fort Plain) to pick up my mother. He always parked right in front of Bruschetti's Eternal City bar, which was across the street from the Luxuray.

"He always had just enough time for one beer. Sometimes he would set me up on the bar. Thanks for stimulating some fond memories."

The Eternal City Bar was operated by Romolo and Josephine Bruschetti, natives of Italy who married in Fort Plain in 1915.

Gehring’s career has been as director of the New Netherland Research Center in Albany translating Old Dutch documents from the New Netherland Colony which existed in the 1600s. In 1994 Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred a knighthood on Gehring.

#The USS Amsterdam sailed back to America from Japan when World War II ended, picking up Seabees in Guam.

The passengers brought a different perspective on war to the Amsterdam's sailors.

"We had a laundry, hot food, a ship's newspaper and ice cream almost every day," said former Seaman Steve Fitz. "One of the crew in line for dinner shouted out there was no ice cream today. One of the Seabees said, 'Isn't that a shame. We haven't seen ice cream in two years!'"

Fitz became a popular local talk radio host.

A model of USS Amsterdam was handmade by the late Albert M. Swager of Pennsylvania, a former crewman, who donated the model to Walter Elwood Museum in Amsterdam in 1995. The eight foot replica was loaned for a crew reunion in central New York. The model ended up at Sampson Memorial Museum in Romulus.

It was located through the efforts of Amsterdam’s Stanley Krolikowski and returned to Elwood museum.

Anyone who wishes to contribute time or money to the USS Amsterdam exhibit may contact Mike Parillo at the museum. With artifacts, documents, and photos contact City Historian Robert von Hasseln.

Tomorrow the audio version of this column on The Story Behind the Story Podcast.

 $1695.00 is needed today. https://gofund.me/777777e9

U.S. Mail A check made out to Bob Cudmore, 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Bob Cudmore and Chris Carola "The 77th"

Friday, January 5, 2024-Episode 506-Gary Hoyle is author of Mystery Tusk, the story of a 12,000 year old woolly mammoth tusk found while digging a manmade pond in Maine in 1959.  Plus the tale of an African elephant, Old Bet, shot and killed in the early 1800s in Maine.

MYSTERY TUSK-Searching for Elephants in the Maine Woods is the true story of author Gary Hoyle's search for a mysterious tusk that seems to have two conflicting histories-one ancient and one modern. His search for the truth led him to direct the first excavation of a mammoth in Maine and to uncover historical facts about an elephant that inspired P. T. Barnum.

Friday, January 12-2024-Episode 507 –Bruce Luyendyk is a geologist and author of Mighty Bad Land, the story of his explorations of Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica in the 1990s, These explorations led to the discovery of a new continent, named Zealandia.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, December 31, 2023

34 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:28AM

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Not looking good with only 4 days to the end of the 2023 Go Fund Me Drive to keep Amsterdam and Mohawk Valley History on The Internet and Public Radio. $1695.00 is needed.

https://gofund.me/777777e9

U.S. Mail

A check made out to Bob Cudmore, 125 Horstman Drive, Scotia, NY 12302.

Chris Carola and Bob Cudmore talk WW2 History

Episode 348-Chris Carola, a veteran Associated Press reporter, is writing a book about Jack Wilpers, who grew up in Saratoga Springs, and the key role Wilpers played in the capture of former Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo in 1945.

Advertising Beech Nut chewing gum with an aviation pioneer
By Bob Cudmore

Famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart once went on a national tour piloting an unusual aircraft to help Beech Nut sell chewing gum.

Beech Nut was then in Canajoharie. In 2010 the company, best known today for baby food, left Canajoharie and moved to the Town of Florida near Thruway Exit 27.

Earhart had visited the region in 1929 to read letters to Admiral Richard Byrd's Antarctic expedition on WGY shortwave station W2XAF,

Beech Nut sponsored Earhart's 1931 cross-country flights in the Pitcairn Auto Gyro. The craft combined features of an airplane and a helicopter.

Historian Carl Johnson's Website Hoxie reported the autogiro is "an odd hybrid craft that uses an unpowered rotor to develop lift, and an engine-powered propeller to develop thrust."

In the 1930s some thought the autogiro, with its ability to fly slowly and land in small places, would be the future of personal aviation. Others feared the autogiro was dangerous.

Bruce H. Charnov of Hofstra University wrote. "The autogiro was invented by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva in an attempt to create an aircraft that could fly safely at low speeds." He flew the first one in 1923 in Madrid.

Earhart was born in 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. In 1931 she had established one record for the autogiro, piloting it to an altitude of 18,500 feet.

Charnov wrote Earhart had ordered her own autogiro when Beech Nut made an offer, "Seeing a publicity bonanza, the Beech Nut Packing Company, offered Earhart the use of its previously ordered (autogiro) if she would fly it coast-to-coast with the company logo painted on its side and accompanying promotion efforts related to its chewing gum. Brokered by her husband (George Palmer Putnam), who was known for his acumen at garnering publicity, she promptly canceled her order in favor of the Beech Nut Autogiro."

"I'm delighted to have the opportunity of making extensive tests with this plane through the helpfulness of Bartlett Arkell, president of Beech Nut," Earhart commented to the Canajoharie Courier. Earhart is pictured in the cockpit of the autogiro which had Beech Nut logos in several places.

There was one mishap which damaged an autogiro during a landing on a field n Canajoharie. Earhart was not the pilot in that incident.

After much preparation and orchestrated publicity, Earhart took off from Newark, New Jersey in May 1931 on her first transcontinental autogiro tour.

The editor of the Fort Plain Standard newspaper, Mohawk Valley historian Nelson Greene, longtime friend of Bartlett Arkell, did advance publicity for Earhart's autogiro tour through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.

Charnov wrote, "At each stop (Earhart) lifted children to see the cockpit, shook hands with spectators, gave interviews, and often gave out samples of the Beech Nut chewing gum."

However another aviator, John Miller, was also trying to set the autogiro record for the first transcontinental trip. Charnov wrote, "Arriving on June 6, 1931, in Oakland, California, (Earhart) discovered much to her amazement and her husband's mercurial anger that John M. Miller had arrived in San Diego on May 28th."

Deprived of the westbound transcontinental record, Earhart tried to claim a record flying the autogiro back to the East Coast. This didn't happen as she had the first of three autogiro crashes in Abilene, Kansas. She ended up returning by train.

Some police agencies today use autogiros as they are less expensive to buy and maintain than helicopters.

Amelia Earhart was to come to a sudden, mysterious and tragic end in 1937. While on a round-the-world flight she and navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the Pacific Ocean enroute from New Guinea to tiny Howland Island.

Tomorrow

Chris Carola, a former Albany based Associated Press reporter who lives in Saratoga Springs, will discuss the Civil War’s 77th New York State Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Coming in January 2024: Gary Hoyle discusses his search for the identity of a tusk found in the collection of an old, dismantled museum in Maine.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, December 28, 2023

46 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:02AM

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Not looking good with only 4 days to the end of the 2023 Go Fund Me Drive to keep Amsterdam and Mohawk Valley History on The Internet and Public Radio. $1695.00 is needed.

https://gofund.me/777777e9

U.S. Mail

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Chris Carola and Bob Cudmore talk WW2 History

Episode 348-Chris Carola, a veteran Associated Press reporter, is writing a book about Jack Wilpers, who grew up in Saratoga Springs, and the key role Wilpers played in the capture of former Japanese prime minister Hideki Tojo in 1945.

Advertising Beech Nut chewing gum with an aviation pioneer
By Bob Cudmore

Famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart once went on a national tour piloting an unusual aircraft to help Beech Nut sell chewing gum.

Beech Nut was then in Canajoharie. In 2010 the company, best known today for baby food, left Canajoharie and moved to the Town of Florida near Thruway Exit 27.

Earhart had visited the region in 1929 to read letters to Admiral Richard Byrd's Antarctic expedition on WGY shortwave station W2XAF,

Beech Nut sponsored Earhart's 1931 cross-country flights in the Pitcairn Auto Gyro. The craft combined features of an airplane and a helicopter.

Historian Carl Johnson's Website Hoxie reported the autogiro is "an odd hybrid craft that uses an unpowered rotor to develop lift, and an engine-powered propeller to develop thrust."

In the 1930s some thought the autogiro, with its ability to fly slowly and land in small places, would be the future of personal aviation. Others feared the autogiro was dangerous.

Bruce H. Charnov of Hofstra University wrote. "The autogiro was invented by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva in an attempt to create an aircraft that could fly safely at low speeds." He flew the first one in 1923 in Madrid.

Earhart was born in 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. In 1931 she had established one record for the autogiro, piloting it to an altitude of 18,500 feet.

Charnov wrote Earhart had ordered her own autogiro when Beech Nut made an offer, "Seeing a publicity bonanza, the Beech Nut Packing Company, offered Earhart the use of its previously ordered (autogiro) if she would fly it coast-to-coast with the company logo painted on its side and accompanying promotion efforts related to its chewing gum. Brokered by her husband (George Palmer Putnam), who was known for his acumen at garnering publicity, she promptly canceled her order in favor of the Beech Nut Autogiro."

"I'm delighted to have the opportunity of making extensive tests with this plane through the helpfulness of Bartlett Arkell, president of Beech Nut," Earhart commented to the Canajoharie Courier. Earhart is pictured in the cockpit of the autogiro which had Beech Nut logos in several places.

There was one mishap which damaged an autogiro during a landing on a field n Canajoharie. Earhart was not the pilot in that incident.

After much preparation and orchestrated publicity, Earhart took off from Newark, New Jersey in May 1931 on her first transcontinental autogiro tour.

The editor of the Fort Plain Standard newspaper, Mohawk Valley historian Nelson Greene, longtime friend of Bartlett Arkell, did advance publicity for Earhart's autogiro tour through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.

Charnov wrote, "At each stop (Earhart) lifted children to see the cockpit, shook hands with spectators, gave interviews, and often gave out samples of the Beech Nut chewing gum."

However another aviator, John Miller, was also trying to set the autogiro record for the first transcontinental trip. Charnov wrote, "Arriving on June 6, 1931, in Oakland, California, (Earhart) discovered much to her amazement and her husband's mercurial anger that John M. Miller had arrived in San Diego on May 28th."

Deprived of the westbound transcontinental record, Earhart tried to claim a record flying the autogiro back to the East Coast. This didn't happen as she had the first of three autogiro crashes in Abilene, Kansas. She ended up returning by train.

Some police agencies today use autogiros as they are less expensive to buy and maintain than helicopters.

Amelia Earhart was to come to a sudden, mysterious and tragic end in 1937. While on a round-the-world flight she and navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the Pacific Ocean enroute from New Guinea to tiny Howland Island.

Tomorrow

Chris Carola, a former Albany based Associated Press reporter who lives in Saratoga Springs, will discuss the Civil War’s 77th New York State Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Coming in January 2024: Gary Hoyle discusses his search for the identity of a tusk found in the collection of an old, dismantled museum in Maine.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, December 28, 2023

46 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:02AM