boatingonthehudson.com HOLIDAY 2013 29
The 4-5’ lowering of the water
level allowed one to see the old
road that crossed the lake. Amap
of the mid 1800’s show a planned
Union Avenue running parallel
to Westchester Avenue right up
the middle of Lake Meahagh.
Some 100 plus years ago, Kings
Ferry Road was extended with
fill and the floodgate put in
place. The lake froze over so
solid bch then that the Knicker-
bocker Ice Co. gained rights to
ship ice to New York City during
the winter months
When I was growing up in the
30’s and 40’s, the lake was a
place for adventure. Awalk from
my house to either of the wind-
ing paths through the woods and
tall pine trees to the north cove
took five minutes, in the summer,
we would find a row boat along
the shore and row out past the
small island and look for turtles
and other creatures. In the winter
the lake really froze up solid. I
remember learning to ice skate
with clamp on skates that
hooked onto the front of hour
shoes like the old roller skates. In
the 40’s, we would go to the lake
at night through those same
paths by the light of the moon,
build a fire and sometimes skate
to Verplanckand back. We would
get home by 9:00p.m with frozen
feet and we would thaw them on
the radiators.
Bap Mitchell and John Vargo, Sr.
and sons had large iceboats that
would sail the lake on weekends.
My brother Bob, who became
an accomplished carpenter,
was a clever builder back then.
We decided to build our own
iceboats but on a smaller scale-
complete with three runners, a
jib, a full sail and a reclining area.
Let me tell you that those tow
“little” iceboats went “like sixty”.
What a thrill to catch the wind
and travel so fast-but keep your
head down! In the spring we
built and airplane with pontoons
and “sailed” it on the lake. Us-
ing 5-gallons cans encased in a
wooden frame to float the plane
and a bicycle sprocket and chain
hooking to a paddle wheel, the
plane moved along-slowly. In
our late teens, we revived Harry
Kasch’s 3-runner open propeller
driven iceboat that carried two
people. Motorcycles engine that
speed the lake like a torpedo
powered the iceboat. Bob then
made his 4=runner two seater
“slo-poke” that was anything
but slow. It had a “Piper Cub”
airplane engine and a prop that
would pull it down the lake with
a half dozen skates hanging on to
the rear towrope. The two seater
held six people. My model “A”
1930 Ford convertible also trav-
eled the lake on weekends. We
were very fortunate no serious
accidents happened with these
open propellers because iceboat
and hundreds of skaters were
also on the lake.
Bob and I were fortunate that our
father was a carpenter. We had
all kinds of tools an machines at
our disposal not to mention all
kinds of wood, metal, wheels,
angle irons, nails, screws, paint
and “stuff” from Standard Coat-
ed Products Co. Our backyard
was a Huckleberry Finn Factory-
we made monster kites 6’ foot
high and wagons that were 50’
long used on Henry Street hill.
The gang in the neighborhood
also joined in the fun. I must say
that our mother and Father just
let us go to it-and have fun build-
ing things and exploring. Danger
never really was a serious con-
cern. We had our own horseshoe
pits, night basketball court and
our own baseball field amongst
grape vines, a chicken coop and
a garden.
Close by was our own amuse-
ment park, Lake Meahagh!
Bob Stein and another one of his powered iceboats
Bob Stein and his airplane iceboat
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