Doug Taylor (of Taylor Industries) recalls:    

    "My wife is from an off-shoot of the Miller Family, her maiden name being Forbes. Her Forbes ancestors bought land on Niagara Falls Boulevard directly from Col. Sweeney and built a log cabin which still is standing and in use on Forbes Street. When they sold the old homestead, the purchaser was shocked by the basement. The foundation was 4 huge tree stumps; they had found 4 trees with the proper spacing and these became the footers for the cabin. The basement walls were simply stones piled up between the tree stumps. The house had not shifted in some 130 years just sitting on the old stumps.
    We have a fair number of artifacts from the house, although we aren't interested in giving them up. Just had the 1880's vintage mantle clock oiled up at Walker Brothers. It still has the label on the back from a local store but it's no longer readable. The clock, however, just keeps ticking away, accurate to 1 minute per week.
    As a child, I remember that there still was a hitching post for your horse at Scribners feed and grain and hardware store about where the Canalside restaurant is today.  Although I was only 3 years old at the time, I thought the hitching post was neat- just like cowboys used.

    Glad you liked the old archival items, feel free to use the memories at your web site. Also, I claim to be the last ferry boat operator in the Tonawandas. When the old railroad bridge to Tonawanda Island was damaged by fire in 1964 or so, there was no way to get workers to the island. At that time between the International Paper Mill, International Filler, R.T. Jones and Taylor Devices you were looking at around 700 workers; so the companies set up a ferry service. We ran from River Road Lumber ( later known as the Blue Dolphin Marina and now Smith Boys) just downstream from the current Durkee Bridge to the docks at Taylor and the Outboard Boating Club( now T.I.L.C.).  We pressed 3-4 boats into service, the biggest being a steel work boat from the paper mill . We ran the service at no charge for several months while they fixed the bridge. I was 16 at the time and had my card from the Erie County Sheriff to be a boat operator (12 being the minimum age). No one asked if I had a Captain's license!  Somewhere I've got a picture from the Tonawanda News showing me and the other ferrymen.

Doug Taylor

For more information on Taylor Devices, Inc., please click HERE. You can also find another of his letters in our Tonawanda Island section HERE.