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strong possibility that some were ship carpenters for one of the already- mentioned ship contractors. The most prominent of these was Charles Hinman, who later went to Algonac, Michigan, to build vessels, and Daniel Fox. The maiden name of James Day's wife, Hannah, was Hinman, but whether there is any connection here is not known. Fox came from an old Black River family. Benjamin Flint was a captain on the Lakes, and it is entirely possible that some "tape-cutting" was involved where he signed master carpenter certificates. Later in life he moved to Illinois. Lester Smith was in the grocery business in Black River after building vessels. Joseph M. Keating built vessels at Toledo, Huron, and Sandusky. Dave F. Edwards is best remembered for his vessel building in the Milan area. John F. Squires had a shipyard at Huron. Diodat Rogers ran a shipyard at Rochester, New York. Others were William Wilson, Joseph Hamblin, David Clayton, S. F. Drake, Samuel Hubbard, Tom More, H. Sheldon, L. W. Buck, H. Adams, A. Lumm (who also was a vessel captain), C. Johnson, H. S. Smith, S. Fields, Thomas Wilson, and A. Bullock. The last prominent wooden shipbuilder in Black River was Henry Dutton Root. He was born in Black River Township in 1833, the son of Oreste and Julia Ann Root, who had migrated from Farmington, Connecticut in 1830. Oreste was connected directly with marine matters as he owned interests in the schooners President and Vincennes, and owned the schooner Equator entirely. He was drowned in 1851 in the loss of the propeller Henry Clay. Henry's brother, Samuel J. Root, was lost with the steam yacht Leo in 1889. Henry was apprenticed to Augustus Jones, after which he spent two winters at the Buffalo shipyard in charge of a gang planking and ceiling vessels. He was known there as "Little Boss Henry."85 In 1853 Henry and his brother built the scow Cousin Mary. This was followed by several other scows and a few schooners. Then, in 1872, Root purchased the tools and facilities of William A. Jones. He moved the yard to the foot of Sixth Street, across the river from the present American Shipbuilding Company yard. The schooner Our Son, built at a cost of $55,000, was the first vessel built at this site. Root recalled in later years, "Wages were good in those days. I was paid $9.00 a day when I built the Our Son (1872), an allowance of $6.50 for my personal labor and $2.50 for my mill and tools. A good workman earned $4.00."86 Root further reminisced in 1873: …Then the frames were all worked out of natural crooks. Men would go into the woods and cut down trees, no matter whether great or small, for one or more crooked limbs; and the classes (sic.) were two to one they would break in falling, or perhaps, if the tree was felled without any perceptible damage to the piece you had your eye on, an hour or more of hard work 51