Park House Apt. B-6, Norwich, New York 13815
In the last half of the nineteenth century, Wood Taber &
Morse manufactured steam engines in a small town of 450 inhabitants
of upstate New York. They manufactured stationary, portable and
agricultural engines, and in the early ’80s started making a
four-wheel drive steam traction engine, said to be the first
The entire process was done here, including the casting of
parts. The iron ore was obtained from the Clinton area and brought
in on the Chenango Canal until 1868, when the railroad came to
town.
Pictures #1 and #2 are of the factory and employees, taken about
1875. In picture #1 the small arrow at the bottom points to Peg Leg
Wooten. He held a battering iron on the inside of the boilers as
they were riveted. It was said he was absolutely deaf. Picture #3
is of a portable engine in the street, just skidded out of the
shop. Picture #4 is of the left hand side of the four-wheel drive
traction engine. Picture #5 is the right hand side of that engine
showing the way the power was transferred from the rear axle to the
front wheels.
