USA > New York > Jefferson County > A history of Jefferson County in the state of New York, from the earliest period to the present time > Part 37
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The Potsdam and Watertown Rail Road, now in course of grading, is to be about seventy-six miles in length, and is to ex- tend from the Watertown and Rome Rail Road, in the village of Watertown, through to Evans' Mills, Philadelphia, Antwerp, Gouverneur, Canton and Potsdam Villages, to the North- ern Railroad at North Potsdam, or Raquetteville.
The location of the Northern Rail Road, from Ogdensburgh to Rouse's Point, gave great dissatisfaction to citizens of Pots-
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Potsdam and Watertown Rail Road.
dam and Canton, who imagined that their villages had claims which had been entirely neglected. That rail road was built, and has been controlled by parties interested in New England roads, and forming a part of the gigantic system of which Boston has made itself a centre, and the principle object of its builders was to get a direct route from Lake Champlain to the foot of naviga- tion on the St. Lawrence.
The project of a branch to Potsdam was first discussed not long after the final location of the Northern Road; but nothing was done until July, 1851, when a convention of citizens along the proposed linė met at Watertown, at which a committee was ap- pointed to raise the funds necessary for a survey, and Edward H. Brodhead was employed to examine and report the feasibility and expense of the road. This gentleman had been previously engaged in canal surveys for the state through the same section, and was well acquainted with the natural features of the country, and the route best adapted for the road. The survey was com- pleted the same fall, and on the 8th of January, 1852, a meeting was held at Gouverneur to receive the report and decide upon an organization. There had been found no point where the depth of filling would exceed thirty feet, or of cutting twenty feet, nor would the line in any place deviate from a straight line more than three miles. The grades were found not to ex- ceed thirty-seven feet, and with one exception, the shortest radius of curve was 2000 feet.
The statistics which had been collected by the committee, gave the following number of tons, of freight, which several of the towns on the route would afford annually:
Canton, 14,000; Hermon, 2,917; Gouverneur, 15,016; Pots- dam, 54,506; Hermon and Russell, 4,000; Jefferson County, 63,- 058. Making an aggregate of 103,497 tons.
A company was formed the same day (January 8, 1852), un- der the general act, to continue 150 years, with a capital of $780,000, and the following persons were designated as first direc- tors, viz: Eli Farewell, Orville V. Brainard and Hiram Holcomb, of Watertown; William McAllaster, of Antwerp; Edwin Dodge and William E. Sterling, of Gouverneur; Orville Page and Bar- zillai Hodskin, of Canton; Zenas Clark, Joseph H. Sanford, Samuel Partridge and William W. Goulding, of Potsdam.
The record in the secretary's office shows the following num- ber of shares of $100 each, originally taken in the several towns to organize: Watertown 31, Antwerp 33, Rossie 14, Gouverneur 120, Herman 2, Edward 1, Canton 150, Potsdam 268, Ogdens- burgh 1. These subscriptions were not secured without strenu- ous efforts; and on the 7th of April, 1851, an act was procured, -
allowing the company to exercise the powers of the general act,
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Sackets Harbor and Saratoga Rail Road.
whenever $5000 per mile should be subscribed. In October, 1852, the company contracted with Phelps, Matoon and Barnes, the builders of the other two roads in the county, by whom the labor is. to be completed in 1854. The present directors, elected February 2, 1853, are A. M. Adșit, of Colton; J. H. Sanford, Z. Clark, S. Partridge and W. W. Goulding, of Potsdam; E. Miner and B. Hodskin, of Canton; W. E. Stirling and E. Dodge, of Gouverneur; Hiram B. Reen, of Antwerp; H. Holcomb, O. V. Brainard and H. Cooper, of Watertown. The Hon. Edwin Dodge, of Gouverneur, has been the president of the company since its organization. Henry L. Knowles, of Potsdam, is the present secretary, and Daniel Lee, of Watertown, the treasurer. The Sackets Harbor and Saratoga Rail Road Company was in- corporated by an act of April 10, 1848, by which Elisha Camp, Jesse C. Dann, Augustus Ford, Thomas S. Hall, Samuel T. Hooker and Dyer N. Burnham, of Sackets Harbor; Francis Seger and Dean S. Howard, of Lewis County; Edward Edwards, Thomas J. Marvin, Gideon M. Davidson and Lebbeus Booth, of Saratoga County; Hiram McCollom and Patrick S. Stewart, of Carthage; John Felt, of Felt's Mills, and Charles E. Clarke, of Great Bend, were empowered, with their associates, to con- struct a rail road from Sackets Harbor, by way of Carthage, and through from thence, in the most direct and eligible route, to Saratoga County. Upon paying into the state treasury the sum of $5,000, the company was to have for three years the pre-emp- tion right of 250,000 acres of state lands, in tracts of not more than 2000, nor less than 1000 acres, not adjacent, but with intervals of at least 1000 acres, for which, so often as $25,000 was expended east of Carthage, and five cents per acre paid into the treasury, the comptroller was to issue deeds of 25,000 acres, and for like amounts for similar expenditures until the whole amount of 250,000 acres should have been conveyed. The $5,000 to be first paid was to be credited on the lands. By an act passed March 29, 1851, the provisions of the general rail road act were applied to this, and the limitation of the organiza- tion extended one year.
On the 10th of January, 1852, a company was formed at Al- bany, accordingly, with a capital of $2,500,000, of which the trustees first named, in the articles of association were P. S. Stewart, of Carthage; C. E. Clarke, of Great Bend; Anson Blake, of Brooklyn; Lyman R. Lyon, of Greig; T. P. Ballou, of Utica; Robert Spicer, of West Milton; Otis Clapp and Francis Tukey, of Boston; Alva Crocker and Ivers Philips, of Fitch- burgh. Mr. Clapp was chosen president. Thirteen individuals of Boston subscribed fifty shares each; at Fitchburgh one hun- dred, and at Georgetown fifty shares; and in Saratoga, Lewis
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Sackets Harbor and Saratoga Rail Road.
and Jefferson Counties sums of less amount. On the 15th of April, 1853, an act was passed confirming the validity of the or- ganization.
In the summer of 1851, a preliminary survey was made by Bryant P. Tilden, Jr., which gave the length of the route 160 miles, and the probable cost of the construction, with equipments, as $3,669,045, and during the last season surveying parties have been engaged in exploring new routes, in hopes of finding im- proved grades, and the location of the road has not yet been made. It is said, that no grade will exceed thirty-five feet per mile, and that there are no deep rock cuttings or expensive gradings and bridges on the entire line. By a circular, dated February 7, 1853, a committee, consisting of Messrs. Clarke, Stewart, and Lyon, called upon the proprietors of lands in the wil- derness through which this road will pass, to contribute one-third of these lands to effect this object, assuming that the remaining two-thirds will become far more valuable in consequence. This has been done to a great extent, and the donation from the state was based on the same principle.
This road may also be considered a Boston project, and should the proposed tunnel through the Hoosic Mountain be constructed, it will form a more direct communication between the great lakes and the sea board, than any now existing. The vast amount of timber and mineral products which it will open to market, with the directness of its route for through freight, and the immense landed estate upon which the company is based, are features which render the friends of this road confident, that it will be soon built, and become an object of profit to them- selves, as it will assuredly be of immense benefit to the country.
In December, 1852, the plan of a railroad, from some point on the central line, through the Black River valley to the St. Law- rence, began to be discussed, and a meeting to be held at Low- ville, January 8, 1853, signed by thirty-four prominent citizens of Lewis County, appeared in the Northern Journal of Lowville, the week previous. This meeting was accordingly held. A com- mittee of five persons in each county interested was appointed to collect statistics and facts to report to future meetings, of which one was appointed at Theresa, on the 20th, and another at Boonville, on the 26th of the same month.
The meeting at Boonville was attended by those representing the claims of Herkimer, Utica, and Rome, for the southern ter- minus, but the weight of interests represented was in favor.of the first of these, and a company was formed under the name of the Black River Rail Road Company, with a capital of $1,200,000, for the purpose of building a road from Clayton, on the St. Lawrence, by way of Carthage and the west side of the
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Rail Roads through the Black River Valley.
Black River, to the valley of West Canada Creek, to Herkimer, a distance of about 120 miles. The directors named were Benja- min Carver, Harvey Doolittle and Linus Yale, of Herkimer Coun- ty; Jonah Howe, Matthew Beecher, and Philip M. Schuyler, of Oneida County; Ela Merriam, Seth Miller, Moses M. Smith, Wm. L. Easton, and John Benedict, of Lewis County; and Sa- muel J. Davis, and Lewis T. Ford, of Jefferson County.
It may be here noticed, that seventeen years' previous (May : 21, 1836), a company of the same name had been chartered by a special act to build a road from Clayton to Carthage. A pre- liminary survey was made the same year by R. F. Livingston, and the route passed through Evan's Mills, and La Fargeville, was thirty-one miles in length, and was estimated to cost $226,015.62. Nothing but a survey was attempted. Carthage was found by these measurements to be 473 feet above the St. Lawrence, at Clayton. This effort on the part of Herkimer im- mediately excited a spirit of rivalry at Utica and Rome, and three days after the Boonville meeting, viz: January 29, 1853, the Black River and Utica Rail Road Company was organized with a capital of $1,000,000, for the purpose of building a road from that city to Clayton, a distance of about one hundred miles. The directors named were T. S. Faxton, Spencer Kellogg, John Butterfield, Martin Hart, Alfred Churchill, James. V. P. Gardi- ner, Benjamin F. Ray, James S. Lynch, Wm. H. Terry, Hugh Crocker, Harvey Barnard, Jonathan R. Warner, and John D. Leland, all of Utica, except the last named, who is of Deerfield. T. S. Faxton was chosen president, and J. S. Lynch secretary. Daniel C. Jenne was employed to survey a route, and report the proper estimates of cost.
On the 8th of March, a meeting was held at Lowville, at which a committee of three from each town, interested in the line from Boonville to the St. Lawrence, was appointed to exa- mine the claims of the three southern points. Mr. Jenne re- ported the results of a survey from Utica to Boonville, and esti- mated the cost, with equipment, at $20,000 per mile; and Mr. Octave Blanc, who had been engaged on a preliminary survey for Rome, also reported the result of his operation south of Boonville; and Mr. Wooster, of Herkimer, read the survey made by Mr. Jervis, in 1837, for the Herkimer and Trenton Railway.
After hearing these several reports, the general committee found themselves unable to decide the question, and having ap- pointed a sub-committee of eight, consisting of A. H. Barnes, of Martinsburgh; A. Joy, of Clayton; H. Dewey, of Orleans; Wm. L. Easton, of Lowville; Ela Merriam, of Leyden; N: Inger- soll, of Le Ray ; S. Sylvester, of Copenhagen; and A. A. Goodale, of West Turin, to visit these several places proposed, as points
340
Rail Roads through the Black River Valley.
of junction with the central road, and report at the meeting to be adjourned to Carthage, on the 22d instant. This meeting at Lowville was continued two days, and a most active spirit of rivalry was exibited by the delegates from the southern sections. At the Carthage meeting, great anxiety was felt in the expected report of the sub-committee, and nearly every member of the general committee was preserit. A resolution was adopted by them, that a majority of two-thirds should be required to decide upon the termination of the road. The committee of eight re- ported, that, having met and organized at Rome on the 14th, they resolved upon a series of questions to be proposed to the rail road committees of Rome, Utica, and Herkimer, to ascertain the cost per acre of fifteen or twenty acres for a depot, on the heel path side of the canal, and at least one half mile long, and the amount of stock that would be pledged for each, by persons south of Boonville. It was found that a connection could readily be obtained with the central road, and spirit of liberality and accommodation was evinced by the officers of that line.
At Rome, a delegation, consisting of Messrs. Foster, Stryker, Doty, Comstock, Hopkins, and others, presented the claims and preferences of that place; stated that the requisite amount of land could be bought at a price not exceeding $250 per acre, and pledged at least $300,000, in private subscriptions, besides what might be obtained from the village corporation, which it was supposed would amount to $150,000 more. The survey of Mr. Blanc had been continued since the meeting at Lowville, on the 8th, down the valley of the Lansing Kill, as far as Stringer's Creek Aqueduct, and it was found that the 48 feet grade did not exceed 7.91 miles, in reaching the flats, instead of 8} miles, as stated in a former report. The distance to Boonville was found to be 23 miles.
At Utica, the committee was received by Messrs. Kellogg, Ferry, Churchill, and others. It was found that a sufficient quantity of depot ground could be purchased on the· berme side and tow path side, at $200 per acre. The sum of $250,000 was guaranteed by individuals of Utica, and $100,000 was expected to be raised between that city and Boonville. A further sum from private means, of $50,000, and $250,000 more from city bonds was also expected, making $650,000. A detailed report was received from Mr. Jenne, the engineer, on the subject of forming a connection with the canal, and several plans were pointed out by which that object could be effected.
The committee also visited Herkimer, but as it was understood that that place had withdrawn its claims for the terminus, and that the company had been disbanded, no report was made upon that station. These facts the sub-committee submitted without
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Ogdensburgh, Clayton and Rome Rail Road.
expressing their preference of the claims of either. The gene- ral committee was in session two days at Carthage, engaged in discussing the merits of the rival stations, but the two-third rule which they had imposed upon themselves, prevented the requi- site majority from being obtained. The first ballot was 22 for Utica, 22 for Rome, and 2 for Herkimer; and Rome afterwards gained a small majority, but finding it impossible to agree, the committee was discharged, and an association styled the Og- densburgh, Clayton, and Rome Rail Road Company was im- mediately announced as in the field, and pledged to build a road from Rome to Denmark, and thence to the St. Lawrence, at Mor-' ristown, and Ogdensburgh, with a branch to Clayton. The Og- densburgh and Clayton Rail Road Company was formed Febru- ary 19, 1853, with a capital of $2,000,000, and the following gentlemen as its directors, viz: Henry A. Foster, John Stryker, Edward Huntington, and Alva Mudge, of Rome; Elijah B. Al- . len, and Henry Van Rensselaer, of Ogdensburgh; Augustus Chapman, of Morristown; Wm. Wm. L. Easton, of Lowville; Seth Miller, of West Turin; Alanson H. Barnes, of Martins- burgh; Sidney Sylvester, of Denmark; Samuel J. Davis, of Wil- na; and Jason Clark, of Plessis. Henry A. Foster was chosen president; Elijah B. Allen, vice-president; James L. Leonard, of Lowville, treasurer; Roland S. Doty, of Rome, secretary; Bloomfield J. Beach, of Rome, attorney for the county of Onei- da; and Octave Blanc, engineer.
At a meeting held at Watertown, April 21, a code of by-laws was adopted, and the following resolutions passed:
" Resolved, That it is our intention to construct a rail road, from the central line of rail road, and Erie Canal, in the village of Rome, to the River St. Lawrence, in the village of Clayton, and also to said River St. Lawrence, in the village of Ogdens- burgh, and touching the river at Morristown, so as to con- nect with the Northern Ogdensburgh Rail Road, and the Grand Trunk Rail Road, the By Town and Prescott Rail Road, and the proposed Pembroke and Brockville Rail Road in Canada.
Resolved, That in lowness of summit, easy grade, cheapness in cost of construction, facility of connection with the central line of rail road, and the Erie Canal, and in having its termina- tion at such points, as to command the business of the country, and of Canada, this road has decided advantages over any other proposed line of rail road from the St. Lawrence River to the said central line, and canal, and can and will be built; and that we unanimously pledge ourselves to the stockholders and to each other, to push forward the enterprise to completion and without delay."
This claim of superiority is, of course, contested by the rival
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Black River and Utiea Rail Road.
route, as well as that now finished. The plan of connecting Og- densburgh with some other road, by a line south-west from that place, had come up for discussion, while the Potsdam and Wa- tertown Rail Road was in course of organization, but nothing was then effected. It was next proposed to connect that place with the road last named, in the town of De Kalb, but the present pro- ject has superceded there.
Both the Utica and the Rome routes have been surveyed and located, and the most active efforts have been made to secure subscriptions along the lines of each, which, from Boonville to Theresa, a distance of about sixty miles, nearly coincide, and repeatedly cross each other. Both routes have been let to res- ponsible parties, and subscriptions sufficient to warrant the un- dertaking have been secured by each.
An act was passed May 27, 1853, making it lawful for the common council of the city of Utica to borrow, on the faith and credit of that city, any sum of money not exceeding $250,000, for a term not exceeding twenty years, for the purpose of aiding the construction of this road. Before this act could take effect, it was to be submitted to the tax paying voters of the city, at a special meeting to be held for the purpose. On the same day, a similar power was granted to the trustees of the village of Rome, to the extent of raising $ 150,000, for the Ogdensburgh, Carthage and Rome Rail Road, the bonds to bear the corporate seal of the village, and their management to be entrusted to Roland S. Doty, Harvy Brayton, William L. Howland, Gordon L. Bissell and Eri Seymour, who were styled the " Commissioners of the Rail Road Fund of Rome." Both of these acts have since been confirmed by large majorities at elections held for that purpose.
Several prominent capitalists and citizens of the village of Og- densburgh have decided upon an application to the legislature for a similar power, to issue the bonds of their corporation for $100,000, and there is little doubt that such a measure would be sanctioned by the citizens, if submitted to their votes. There has long been a want of sympathy at that place, in the welfare of the Northern Rail Road, owing to the control which has been exercised by the Boston proprietors, and there seems to be a desire to secure a di- rect communication by rail road, independent of the one now con- structed.
The ceremony of breaking ground for the Black River and Utica Rail Road took place at Utica, August 27, at which ad- dresses were delivered by Governor Seymour, ex-Governor Hunt, and other distinguished gentlemen, and the occasion was cele- brated by military parade and general festivities. This road was contracted August 10, to be graded in 1854. The Rome road was let November 7, to be graded and ready for the super-
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Black River Company.
structure September 1, 1854, and work upon this has also been commenced.
The active spirit of rivalry that has characterized these two companies, and the determination which has been evinced by each, render it probable that one or both of them will be built; nor has it been determined, at the time of our writing, whether a union will not be effected from Boonville to Theresa, between which points the routes of the two roads nearly coincide.
A line has been surveyed by the Utica company, from near Philadelphia to Rossie, and south of Black Lake to Ogdens- burgh; and an eligible route is said to have been found. The prevailing direction of the valleys correspond with that of this route.
TELEGRAPHS .- In 1850, O'Reiley's Merchants' Line of tele- graph, operating on the Bain principle, was erected along the stage road, from Oswego, by way of Pulaski, Adams, Water- town, and Theresa, to Ogdensburgh, at each of which, offices were opened. It was subsequently purchased by the Morse line, and on the 1st of February, 1853, the principle patented by Professor Morse, was adopted. During the summer of 1853, a telegraph was built by citizens of Sackets Harbor, along the direct plank road from Watertown to that place.
Water Communication .- The incorporation of a company for improving the navigation of Black River to Brownville Village, has been noticed on page 99. The river was declared a public highway, from High Falls to Carthage, by an act passed March 16, 1821, which also authorized road commissioners to forbid the crossing of bridges faster than a walk, within fifty miles of its mouth. On the 28th of March, 1828, the Black River Canal Company was formed. This company organized, and caused a survey of a canal to be made, from Rome to the High Falls, by Alfred Cruger, but did nothing more. This may be considered the first step towards the Black River Canal. The route had been noticed in the governor's message, in 1825, among many others, and the first proposition was to construct a navigable com- munication from the Erie Canal, at Herkimer, to the head waters of Black River, and thence to Ogdensburgh. The former act having expired, another was passed, April 17, 1832, incorpora- ting the Black River Company for the purpose of connecting, by rail roads, or canals, the' Erie Canal, at Rome, or Herkimer, with Ogdensburgh, Cape Vincent, or Sackets Harbor, including the improvement of Black River, from the High Falls to Carthage for steam navigation. The capital was limited to $900,000, in shares of $50 each; and one or more of the following sections was to be completed within three years, viz: From the Erie Canal to High Falls; from the latter through Watertown to
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Black River Canal.
Sackets Harbor; from Carthage to Sackets Harbor; from the river at Carthage to Cape Vincent; from Carthage to Ogdens- burgh, or the improvement of the river above Carthage for steam boat navigation. The persons named in the act, were Vincent le Ray de Chaumont, Eli West, Samuel Allen, Ela Collins, John W. Martin, Jerre Carrier, Elisha Camp, John Brown, Abram Parish, Charles A. Mann, George Varigh, Ralph Clapp, John Felt, Isaac W. Bostwick, Homer Collins, James McVickar, Peter Schuyler, George Brayton, and Benjamin P. Johnson. This company was so far organized as to build a steam boat on Black River, at Carthage, which was called the Cornelia. It was built in 1832, by Paul Boynton, for the company, at a cost of $6,000, with a keel 90 feet long, and a breadth, across the guards, of 22 feet. She had two upright, high pressure engines, of ten horse power each, built by N. Starbuck & Son, of Troy. Being found to draw too much water, one engine was taken out. The first trip was September 22, 1832, to Lowville, where she grounded, and was got off with much difficulty. The boat continued to run, the ensuing season, to the High Falls, with an hourly speed of six and one half miles, frequently getting aground, and proving to be too large for the river, and, eventually, nearly a total loss to the proprietors, of whom, Mr. Le Ray was the prin- cipal. A thrilling incident occurred on the first trip of this boat to the Falls. The man at the tiller wishing to show the party on board, and the spectators on shore, the qualities of his craft, steered up so near under the falls, that, as he turned, the spray from the torrent deluged the deck, and the boat, itself, came within a few feet of being brought under the fall. Fortunately there was a heavy pressure of steam up at the moment, and they escaped with a thorough drenching. This attempt proved the practicability of navigating the river forty-two and a half miles; but no subsequent attempt was made until the summer of 1853, when the Enterprise, a canal boat, temporarily fitted up by G. H. Gould, for the purpose, with a stern wheel, was rigged out at the High Falls, and made a few trips.
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