Finger Lakes history · regional story
The flags that called Canandaigua’s steamboats
A written recollection links summer commuters, dockside signals and autumn fruit moving from the lake to the railway.
A flag on a dock could change the trip down Canandaigua Lake. James S. Lee recalled white flags calling boats to landings. With enough stops ahead, a passenger hoping to catch a Rochester train had reason to worry. James S. Lee’s steamboat account, reprinted in 1995.
Lee described summer commuters watching the boats from their cabins. A crossing toward Whiskey Point or Vine Valley meant a little more time over breakfast. His account also remembered a competing line introducing red flags—and boats from both lines answering either color. James S. Lee’s steamboat account, reprinted in 1995.
Autumn brought another kind of traffic. Fruit filled space aboard the boats, and crews helped move the loads into iced railway cars at the basin. Lee named Boston and Philadelphia as destinations. His recollection connects hillside farms, lake crews and a wider rail journey. James S. Lee’s steamboat account, reprinted in 1995.
This is a recollection preserved in an October 1995 reprint. Its header and issue note disagree about the original August 1922 installment dates. Those newspaper pages, exact schedules and cargo totals remain to be checked. James S. Lee’s steamboat account, reprinted in 1995; The reprint issue’s editorial note.
Sources & research notes
Review status: Developing history. Human editorial review is pending.
Written and source-checked with AI assistance under an owner-authorized editorial process. This is not a personal review by Riley or an independent historian. Sources and unresolved questions are listed below; corrections are welcome.
- What the records establish
- The inspected reprint contains these specific recollections of commuters, signals and freight handling. Each is attributed to its writer; the original newspaper page and operating records have not yet been inspected. The installment-date discrepancy is retained.
- What remains uncertain
- A memoir-like account cannot establish how often boats raced, which particular shipments reached which city or whether every landing followed the same rules. The reprint and the original newspaper are not counted as two independent witnesses.
- What we are researching next
- Retrieve the identified newspaper issue and exact page, then compare timetables, landing lists, freight bills and rail-transfer records. Keep colorful recollection separate from measured traffic and verified operating practice.
Sources
- The Story of the Canandaigua Lake Steamboats: What They Were and Who Captained Them, Part II (1922 account reprinted October 1995) — James S. Lee; reprint supplied by Richard F. Palmer; Reprint issue October 1995. Header says August 9, 1922; the same issue’s editorial note says the second/third installments ran August 16 and 23, 1922. Original issues and pages remain uninspected; exact installment dates unresolved. Locator: Article header; copyright footer; Cabins up the Lake, paragraphs 1–3; A Heavy Freight Business, paragraphs 1–2; Small Screw Steamers, white/red flag paragraph; Small Screw Steamers, Canandaigua engine paragraph. Exact sub-passages registered separately; dates, attribution, methods and units checked against the retained source. Accessed October 23, 2026.
- About the October 1995 Issue: Note from the Editors — Editors of The Crooked Lake Review; no individual byline shown; October 1995 issue; no exact publication day inferred. Locator: Note from the Editors, steamboat paragraph. Exact sub-passages registered separately; dates, attribution, methods and units checked against the retained source. Accessed October 23, 2026.