More information on Waters paper boats:

The firm of Elisha Waters and Sons manufactured paper boats in Troy
from 1869 to 1876, and then in Lansingburgh from 1876 to ca. 1902.
They also manufactured paper domes for observatories, as well as
other experimental items such as rafts and life preservers!

For details on the paper boats, consult the following sources:

Forest & Stream, Feb. 15, 1877,  p. 25

Robert Johnson, A History of Rowing in America (1871)  pp. 249-256+

Letters patent granted to Elisha Waters, #79421, June 30, 1868

a ca. 1878 catalog of the firm in the Library of the Adirondack Museum


There are Waters paper boats in the collections of the Adirondack
Museum and the Rensselaer County Historical Society.  This information
is from  the files of the Lansingburgh, NY Historian.