Name of interviewee: Walter David May
Date of birth/age at interview: October 1896/75
Interviewer: Lance Metz, Leon Dreyer
Interview date: unknown (possible mid 1970s)
Interview location: Weissport, Pa.
Interview length: 50 minutes
Time span discussed: 1922 until 1940s
Summary: Building the canal boats involved teams of men who learned on the job. The company did not buy their tools, each had to have his own. Walter May provides us with a good number of unique facts about boat building and repairs, which he did from 1922 until he was laid off around 1948.
Time markers:
00:00 – introduction; father worked at boatyard mill, Walter started working on canal 1926
01:09 – first job as laborer, learned boatbuilding, materials oak for ribs, long-leaf white pine for sides
02:53 – 6 men crews and a blacksmith and helper, one boatyard boss
03:30 – move from Weissport to Laury’s, more modern yard; machinery steam operated
04:55 – story of one boss at Laury’s
05:42 – starting pay 40 cents an hour; worked as carpenter for company after boatyard closed
07:12 – most common repairs; flood of 1942
09:00 – wood planks brought in from the west by railroad
10:00 – step-by-step process to build a boat, get into water; building scows and mud diggers
13:05 – caulking a boat
13:58 – work day 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.; laying-off of workers
16:00 – each man supplied own tools
16:45 – 3-4 new boats built a year, many repaired; no plans, boats build from memory
17:39 – used spikes, 4 to 6 inches, did not rust
19:15 – company tugs steam paddlewheels
19:50 – winter also worked building boats
20:20 – leaks most common repairs;
21:20 – sinking old, rotten boats in quarry; salvaged iron
23:00 – bosses Bill Green, Asa Planck
27:38 – railroad in boatyard, siding for raw materials
28:24 – $600 to build a boat, the lumber good quality
29:00 – winter boat storage
29:43 – last years about 15 to 30 boats, early years 1200
31:30 – laid off after 28 years, worked as carpenter
31:59 – dam repair rough, built coffer dam, wet and cold
35:01 – repairing and reinstalling locks and drop gates
36:30 – same work occasionally on the Delaware canal
39:51 – after 1942 contractors made decisions
40:48 – father pensioned after accident; Walter started 1922 at 26 years old
42:35 – a sense of pride working for the Company; engine house burned down
43:39 – tearing down Coalport after move to Mauch Chunk, huge trestle
