The various company logs were usually stamped with a hammer with a raised company logo that left an imprint on the end of the log, and sometimes had a dab of coloured paint added for identification while sorting. They were sorted at the mouth of the Sturgeon River and towed to their respective mills by various steam tugs. For eighteen years the Woodchuck hauled millions off logs on Cedar, Island and other lakes, and the Temagami and Sturgeon Rivers. 

After almost two decades of bull work she was replaced by a new steel-hulled alligator, and left to rot. 

A twist of fate gave the Woodchuck a second chance and a new lease on life. The Second World War made it impossible for the J. B. Smith Lumber Company to get a new alligator, so they decided to buy and rehabilitate the Woodchuck. They bought her for a song, put her on a raft and floated her down the rivers to Sturgeon Falls and on to Callander Bay. 

The Woodchuck was completely refurbished with a shortened hull and a rebuilt steam engine that now burned coal. Victor Darling was made Captain and ran the boat until her retired in 1953 when Michael "Mac" Masson, the second in command, became Captain. 

These two captains also ran the Seagull (II), which brought the logs from Sturgeon Falls and chained the booms to Smith Island in Callander Bay, to be handled later by the Woodchuck when the Smith mill started cutting in the spring. 

Mac Masson was something of a perfectionist and had several run-ins with Captain Darling. He apparently quit three times and was fired three times, only to be re-hired by the diplomatic Smith superintendent, Harold Bush. 

Masson went on to captain the first Chief Commanda. His career, and that of the Seagull (II) are remembered in a memorial in Memory Park on the Lakeshore in Callander. 

The marine registration for the Woodchuck indicates that it was fifty-three feet long, ten feet wide and weighed eighteen tons. The paddlewheels added an additional three feet to each side. She was powered by a twin, high-pressure, reciprocating steam engine. She travelled about 2-3 mph, depending on the wind and the current. 

In a recent interview Gilbert Turgeon, of Callander, reviewed his experiences as a deck hand on the Woodchuck in the mid-1950s, when he also worked on the Seagull (II) and the Siskin. Gilbert originally worked in the J.B. Smith mill before moving on to the boats, and in the boating off-season did a variety of other jobs for Smith. 

On one occasion, Smith arranged for him to work for one of their jobbers cutting logs to keep him available for his work on the boats.

Gilbert worked with another deck hand Gilbert Obie and, along with the captain and the engineer, were the four-man crew that operated the Woodchuck. The two Gilberts began working on the Woodchuck at the first sign of spring, painting and caulking, as required. Mac Masson used his old fargo truck to pull the Woodchuck's cable out to its full length so that the winch and cable could be examined and repaired. The boat was on the ways beside the coal pile, beside the main dock in Callander where she was left for the winter.

There were three booms of logs already at the mill each spring, and as soon as one was gone the Woodchuck would bring another from Smith Island. They towed a nineteen-foot cedar yawl to open the storm booms encircling the logs to move some logs out for towing. It took a half-day to get a boom organized and moved. 

The two Gilberts also worked overtime occasionally as security on the Woodchuck at the dock. 

Victor Darling, the long-time captain, would occasionally drop by to reminisce about the old days.

That summer, as the Woodchuck needed serious repairs to its hull its fate was sealed. The crew tore her apart and disposed of the material. The eleven-metre, diesel-powered Siskin took over whatever still needed to be towed, and an era ended on Lake Nipissing.

There were a few alligators elsewhere that lasted a bit longer, but today the only alligators remaining are in the logging displays of museums elsewhere in the province. There are a few alligator type boats still used that are small, powerful and operated by one man. 

The West and Peachey Company was honoured in 1982 by the Ontario Heritage Foundation by the installation of a heritage plaque on the site of their original factory in Simcoe.

In 1991 an alligator committee, sponsored by the local museum and the Norfolk Historical Society in Simcoe, started a search for a West and Peachey alligator for a community display. They found one near Antikoken and transported it 1700 Km to Simcoe on a flatbed truck for restoration. 

In this case, the engine was repairable and was included in the restoration. It is the only operating alligator left.

It took several years and a couple of employment grants to finish the job. In 1997 the boat was launched and is now a tourist attraction on the Lynn River in Simcoe.