Finger Lakes history · regional story
An old engine in a new Canandaigua steamboat
A 1911 history describes the Ogarita taking over more than an older boat’s place: it received the Canandaigua’s engine.
A new boat did not necessarily mean a new engine. In his 1911 history of Ontario County, Charles F. Milliken describes the Ogarita replacing an older Canandaigua Lake steamboat—and taking its machinery along. Charles F. Milliken’s 1911 county history.
The older boat was the Canandaigua, which the history says the Warner brothers built in 1865. J. & A. McKechnie later owned and operated it for a number of years. By the time it needed replacing, the account calls the vessel worn out. Charles F. Milliken’s 1911 county history.
Milliken places the Ogarita after the Onnalinda, launched May 19, 1888. In the following year, he writes, the smaller Ogarita took the Canandaigua’s place. The old engine was transferred into the new boat and used again. Charles F. Milliken’s 1911 county history.
That detail links two vessels that might otherwise occupy separate entries in a fleet list. Milliken names the Ogarita alongside the Onnalinda and Oriana in the fleet of his own writing period. His account preserves a piece of the older boat inside its replacement, though not the names or working days of the people who moved the engine. Charles F. Milliken’s 1911 county history.
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 1911 vessel passage explicitly describes the older boat, its replacement and the engine transfer. This is an attributed historical account, not an approved reconstruction from original machinery records.
- What remains uncertain
- No builder invoice, engine plan, serial number, transfer date or mechanic’s account has been inspected. Other early-lake chronology disagreements remain private and unresolved; they are not silently settled by this narrow story.
- What we are researching next
- Locate enrollment documents, builder accounts, repair records and dated newspaper notices. Identify the workers involved before expanding this into a labor biography; do not assign another boat’s engine specifications to the Ogarita.
Sources
- A History of Ontario County, New York, and Its People, Volume I (1911) — Charles F. Milliken; 1911 on the Volume I title and copyright leaves; no month or day inferred. Locator: Printed pp. 301–302 / PDF pp. 317–318; Printed p. 302 / PDF p. 318; Printed p. 301 / PDF p. 317. Exact sub-passages registered separately; dates, attribution, methods and units checked against the retained source. Accessed October 23, 2026.