A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 46

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 46

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

Next to the post roads, the exigencies of travel by stage was the next factor in forc- ing attention to the necessity of having good roads and keeping them in more or less thor- ough repair. Even before the Revolution was inaugurated and while order prevailed throughout Long Island, we read of stage coaches running into and out of Brooklyn. On March 5, 1772, for instance, it was ad- vertised that "a stage will run from Brook- lyn to Sag Harbor once a week as follows: From Brooklyn Ferry to Samuel Nicholl's on Hempstead Plains, where passengers will stay all night: fare, four shillings. To Epenetus Smith's at Smithtown, four shillings. To Benjamin Haven's in St. George's Manor, four shillings and stay all night. To Nathan Fordham's, Sag Harbor, six shillings." Prob- ably few stages ran with any degree of reg- ularity during the British occupation. Soon after the Easthampton road was completed a stage seems to have been put on the route, but the service was miserable, the patronage poor and the modern methods of building up traffic such as promptness in starting and in arriv- ing, were neglected, while none of the schemes to promote the comfort of passengers, so well understood in our day, were ever dreamed of. One great drawback to the pop- ularity of the stage-coach system was that the people, living mainly in the early times on the coast or near it, did most of their business with the outer world by boat. Thus all along the Sound were vessels ready to convey pas- sengers and goods to points in Connecticut, while even for parts of the south shore that was the quickest way of reaching markets and for having business of any kind transacted. Besides, in the east end the people preferred to deal with New England. The stage coaclı, under even the best weather and road con- ditions, was decidedly slow. In 1830, or thereabout, Prime tells us, the journey from Easthampton or Oysterponds to Brooklyn oc- cupied three days. In 1840 a stage left Gravesend for Brooklyn in the morning and returned some time at night, the exact time

depending on a wide variety of causes,-no two exactly alike.

A capital sketch of a journey about 1835 from Brooklyn to Easthampton is given in Gabriel Furman's "Antiquities of Long Island ;" and as that work is now rather scarce it may be fitting to reprint the passage here:

The practice was to leave Brooklyn about nine o'clock in the morning,-they were not, however, particular to half an hour,-travel on to Hempstead, where they dined ; and after that jog on to Babylon, where they put up for the night. A most delightful way this was to take a jaunt; there was no hurry, no fuss and bustle about it: no one was in a hurry to get to his journey's end, and if he was and intended going the whole route he soon be- came effectually cured of it. Everything went on soberly and judiciously and you could see what was to be seen and hear all that was to be heard, and have time enough to do it all in ; no mode of traveling ever suited our taste better; it was the very acme of enjoyment. The next morning you left Babylon just after daylight, which in the summer was itself worth living for, journeyed on to Patchogue, where you got your breakfast between nine and ten o'clock, with a good appetite for it, we warrant you. You would get no dinner this day, nor would you feel the want of it after your late and hearty breakfast; but travel along slowly and pleasantly until you reached the rural post-office at Fire Place, standing on the edge of a wood. Here, if you had a taste for the beautiful in nature, you would well walk down the garden to look at the trout stream filled with the speckled beauties. Here you need give yourself no uneasiness about being left by the stage, as is the case in some of the go-ahead parts of our coun- try. In this particular region the middle of the road is sandy and the driver, like a con- siderate man, gives his horses an opportunity to rest, so that they may the better travel through this piece of heavy road. You might, therefore, after enjoying yourself at this spot, walk on leisurely ahead of the stage, with a friend and some one who is conversant with the country and its legends, and this walk would prove by no means the least pleasant part of your excursion, for many are the tales you would hear of awful shipwrecks, of pirates and their buried wealth, of treasures cast up by the sea, of all those horrors and

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wonders of which the ocean is the prolific parent. After walking for some two or three miles upon the green sward at the edge of the road, gathering and eating the berries as you strolled along until you were tired, you would find the stage a short distance behind you, the driver ever complaisant, for you have eased his horses in their journey through the heavy sand, and the passengers are pleased to see you back in your seat again, that is, if you have done as every traveller ought to do, studied the comfort and convenience of your fellow passengers as well as your own.

Shortly after sunset you would stop for the night, the second of your journey, at a place called Quagg or Quogue. The follow- ing morning you would breakfast at South- ampton, after passing through a pine forest in a portion of which from the early hour and blindness of the road you would prob- ably require a guide to go ahead of the horses with a lighted lantern. You would also this morning, before arriving at Southampton. cross the remains of the first canal constructe:1 in what is now the United States by Mongo- tucksee, the chief of the Montauk Indians, long before the white settlement of the coun- try, and also traverse a region of hills known as the Shinecoc Hills, on which not a tree has grown since they were known to man,- certainly not since the European settlement of this island. Sag Harbor would be reached in time for dinner, after which the mail stage would travel on to its final destination at East- hampton, arriving there just before sunset on Saturday afternoon, thus occupying nearly three days to traverse a distance of 110 miles.

In the internal development of the re- sources of the island the most important part has been done by the railroads. In 1832 the first railroad company of Long Island-the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad-was chartered, but the road itself, over a distance of twelve miles from South Ferry to Jamaica, was not put in operation until April 18, 1833. It proved financially a failure from the start. In 1834 the Long Island Railroad was char- tered. The history of this road is one of the most remarkable in the record of railroad achievement in the United States. It has had a more than ordinary share of difficulties to contend with, and in some instances the story

of its progress reads rather like passages from a romance than details of actual fact, in which common sense and judicious use of capital alone accomplish results which seem wonder- ful even to the casual observer. In order to present the story of this great Long Island institution and benefactor to the reader with the utmost correctness, even to the most iminute details, we here present a sketch. printed in 1898 by Judge E. B. Hinsdale, of New York, who for many years was general counsel of the system, and possibly better ac- quainted with the actual facts of its history than any living man :

HISTORY OF THE LONG ISLAND RAILROAD.

The history of the Long Island Railroad presents features of considerable interest to. those who have studied the growth and de- velopment of railroads in this country.

Its position is unique in this-that it does- not form any part of the great trunk lines, nor does it feed one of them. It is exclusively a local road, serving a population on an island adjacent to the great city of New York. The Long Island Railroad of to-day is the devel- opment and outgrowth of many fiercely con- flicting interests, and a study of them will explain many things that to the observer of to-day seem inexplicable.

The first railroad chartered on Long Island was the Brookln & Jamaica Railroad, This road started from the then village of Brooklyn, running to Jamaica, a distance of about ten miles. Its charter is dated 1832. The projectors of that railroad started at once to construct the same, and seem to have pushed its construction with commendable vigor. Short as it is, this road played an im- portant part in the system of railroads on Long Island, some of the time dominating the Long Island Railroad, and finally at one time being reduced to the position of a mere spur or branch, and later on in its history be- coming again a very important factor.

The Long Island Railroad proper was chartered in 1834, by a special act of the Leg- islature. At that early day there was no gen- eral railroad law, so-called. The Long Island Railroad Company is the only railroad cor- poration existing in the State of New York

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that has preserved its name and corporate franchises from its original charter intact. It is perhaps without a peer in the United States in length of life and preservation of name and charter. Its act of mcorporation pro- vided for a railroad to be built from a point in or near the village of Greenport, in the county of Suffolk, and extending from this along the most practicable route through or near the middle of Long Island to a point on the water's edge in the village of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and to a point on the water's edge in the village of Williamsburg, in the last named county. Its charter provided a scheme for absorbing the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad, which had been chartered only two years before. The dominant idea of the incor- porators seems to have been to adopt the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad either by pur- chase, or in some other way, as a part of its line of railroad, running the entire length of Long Island. One of the first acts of the Long Island Railroad Company was to lease the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad in 1835, at a rental of $33,000 per annum for forty-five years, being ten per cent. on the cost of the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad. In 1836 they adopted the location of a line from Jamaica eastward as far as what was then called a point on the Jericho road, now Hicksville, and at the same time adopted a map of location from Bedford to Williamsburg, on the water's edge.

The company proceeded at once, with such vigor as they could command, to construct the road from Jamaica to Hicksville, but owing to the hard times that were then reaching the culmination in the great disaster of 1837, the progress of the work was slow, and they found great difficulty in collecting their as- sessments and raising the means to pay the necessary expenses. They also found the burthen of the lease of the Brooklyn & Ja- maica Railroad to be very great, and that it was sapping their resources in ready cash to their very serious embarrassment. There soon broke out a controversy between the Long Island Railroad Company and the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad Company, touching the onerous terms of this lease, the Long Island Railroad Company sometimes pleading with the directors of the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad, and sometimes threaten- ing. They were often behind in paying their rent, until finally there was a substantial modi- fication of the same, and no abandonment of

the leased line by the Long Island Railroad Company ever occurred.

A few words with reference to the loca- tion from Bedford to Williamsburg will dis- pose of that contemplated line. It seems that a little work was done on the line, and ac- cording to the minutes of the Company, it was occasionally referred to by the directors, but it was never completed, and whatever was done on it seems to have disappeared from the history of the Long Island Railroad, and the whole scheme was abandoned.

The Long Island Railroad Company was engaged in a struggle to build the line from Jamaica to Greenport. By March, 1837, they had succeeded in constructing a single track from Jamaica to Hicksville, a distance of about fifteen miles. This work was completed in the very crisis of the financial embarrass- ments of that time, and on April 5th of that year all work was suspended on the line east of Hicksville, and also on the Williamsburg branch.

The following time table appears in the minutes of the railroad, and the same, in this exact form, was issued on a card :

LEAVE

HICKSVILLE. JAMAICA.

BROOKLYN.

814 -1. M. 9 A. M. 13/4 P. M. I P. M.

IO12 A. M. 312 P. M.

This time table is recorded here as a curiosity, illustrating the crude ideas of rail- roading and railroad time tables that pre- vailed at that time. It will be observed that the time of the trains is given at only one in- termediate station between the terminals. The fair presumption is that whoever wished to board a train at any other station could drive there and guess at the time when the train should arrive, guided only by the time of de- parting and arriving at the terminals.

According to the engineer's report at this time, there were only three engines on the road, named, respectively, Ariel, Postboy and Hicksville. The first collision referred to on the island was between the Ariel and Post- boy, which the engineer reports as a case where they "came in contact" and were con- siderably damaged. He recommended that another engine he purchased. If, however, an- other engine should not be purchased, he then recommended that the number of passages per diem be reduced. In 1838 the subject was taken up by the board, and a committee was

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appointed to report on the purchase of a new engine. The company seems then to have been in the very depths of its financial troub- les. In May, 1838, the committee on purchas- ing an engine reported against making the purchase, but stated that they could "borrow a crank axle and wheel for temporary use" until new ones could be made for one of the disabled engines. If this record of the ex- pedients of that date provokes a smile, we can only say that it marks the great advance that has been made in railroad methods and railroad ideas up to the present day.

At this time the position of the company was exceedingly unsatisfactory. It was em- barrassed by constantly accumulating rents of the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad, and its line was not completed so that the company could avail itself of the supposed advantages of its charter to run to Greenport, as a part of a through line to Boston. The men of those days set to work earnestly to find the ways and means to complete the road. There were fierce contests between the stockholders at elections for directors, and on two occasions elections were set aside by the courts for ir- regularities. At almost every meeting of the board resolutions were passed forfeiting the stock of stockholders for non-payment of as- sessments ; but through all this turmoil the corporation lived on, and finally fell into the hands of a class of men of more financial ability, who succeeded ultimately in complet- ing the road.

In 1838 they began an agitation to secure a loan on the credit of the State to assist the company, and in 1840 the State did loan its credit for $100,000 of State stocks. In 1838 the company also succeeded in getting a re- duction of the rent of the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad from a ten per cent. basis to a six per cent. basis. It is curious to note in pass- ing that prior to the State loan the Morris Canal & Banking Company, of New Jersey, had recovered a judgment of about $60,000 against the corporation, on account of loans it had made. This judgment was assigned to the commissioner of certain funds of the State of Indiana, supposed to be school funds, so that at this early date the State of Indiana was a creditor of the Long Island Railroad Company for the large sum of $60,000. After the State loan was obtained, this judgment was liquidated about the year 1840.

In 1836 the Legislature authorized the Long Island Railroad Company to build a

branch from some convenient point on its main line of railroad to some proper place or point in the village of Hempstead. In 1838 they surveyed a branch line in pursu- ance of this act of the Legislature, which was subsequently built, and known as the Hemp- stead branch, running from what is now Mineola to the village of Hempstead, a part of which track is still in use, as will be here- after more fully explained.

In the year 1840 the resumption of the work of construction was commenced from Hicksville to Greenport, and after various struggles and disappointments the road was finally completed and opened to Greenport on the 27th day of July, 1844. It is plain that there was new life and greater financial ability infused into the direction of the road, as new members appeared in the board of directors. Among the directors who were then or have since become famous in the affairs of the country were the names of Jacob Little, George Law and Cornelius Vanderbilt.

When the road was completed to Green- port a line of steamers was run from Green- port to the coast of New England, connecting chiefly with the Old Colony Railroad, and by that connection making a through line from New York to Boston. At that time the con- nections between New York and Boston through the New England States were mainly by steamboat or stage lines. There was no such thing known as a through railroad from New York to Boston, or any other method of transportation at all comparable with the line of the Long Island Railroad, via steam- boat line and the Old Colony Railroad. This line, for a short time, was the principal pas- senger and mail route between New York and Boston, but very soon the opening of direct railroad communication by land from New York to Boston seems to have, so far, cut into the profits of the business done by the Long Island Railroad as to again put the corpora- tion in great financial straits, and on March 4, 1850, a receiver was appointed. So far as- the Long Island Railroad Company was in- terested in the steamboats, they were sold and the Boston connection practically given up. The railroad now became. for all practical purposes, a local road on Long Island.

The subject of building branches and ex- tending its facilities on the island seems to have now engaged the attention of the man- agement. They were also greatly aided in this by the citizens in communities who were

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not, as they conceived, sufficiently served by the line of the Long Island Railroad, as then located and constructed. One of the first ef- forts in this direction was the Hicksville & Cold Spring Railroad. This corporation was organized for building a railroad from Hicks- ville in a northeasterly direction to Cold Spring. An enabling act was passed on June 28, 1851, authorizing the formation of a rail- road corporation under the general railroad act but with relief from some of the provisions of that act. Subsequently the corporation was organized and the construction of the railroad entered upon. It seems to have progressed very slowly. At some time before 1859, the date of which does not appear in the minutes of the company, the road was constructed and put under operation as far as Syosset. I 1859 an act was passed extending, among other things, the time for completing this road. It is well known that a considerable part of the right-of-way from Syosset to Cold Spring was purchased and graded and made nearly ready for laying the track before 1862. but no rails were ever laid on this portion of the line, and it now belongs to one of the numerous abandoned lines. The portion of the road between Hicksville and Syosset now forms an important part of the present Long Island Railroad. For many years Syosset was an important terminal station. The in- habitants from the surrounding country on the north side of Long Island would drive there by private conveyance or stage to take the trains.

A new difficulty began to confront the Long Island Railroad Company between 1850 and 1860 in another direction. Notwithstand- ing they had secured a reduction of the rent of the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad, the city of Brooklyn had grown to such an extent that it was believed by the citizens that the operation of a steam railroad through the city down to the water's edge was a detriment to the city and a menace to the lives of its citizens, and they commenced an agitation to have steam power removed from within the city limits. At this time the pressure was very hard upon the Long Island Railroad Company to compel it to surrender the franchise to use steam power in the city of Brooklyn, and, on the other hand, it would be a practical ruin to the company not to have a terminus at the water's edge. When originally built the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad ran in Atlantic avenue from South Ferry to Flatbush avenue,

and at Flatbush avenue its right-of-way had been secured through farming lands without any regard to city streets, and ran pretty gen- erally north of the present Atlantic avenue from Flatbush avenue to East New York, so- called at that time. In laying out the streets of the city, the corporations interested were induced to surrender their right-of-way that they had secured north of Atlantic avenue, and to have the rails placed in the present Atlantic avenue as laid out by the city author- ities. Another object of this scheme also was to have the use of steam power on the Brook- lyn & Jamaica Railroad surrendered within the city limits, but, before these rights were surrendered the interests of the Long Island Railroad Company were safeguarded by pro- visions for opening a new line to the East River from Jamaica to what was then called Hunter's Point, now Long Island City. To effect this purpose the New York & Jamaica Railroad Company was organized about 1857, and constructed a railroad from the terminus of the Long Island Railroad in Jamaica to the water's edge at Hunter's Point, and when ready for opening the trains of the Long Island Railroad, instead of running over the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad into the city of Brooklyn, turned off at Jamaica and were brought to Hunter's Point. This diverted the main line of travel on Long Island from the city of Brooklyn to the new terminus. This new line was opened in 1860. About the same time its property, corporate rights and tranchises were acquired by the Long Island Railroad Company. From that time the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad was run as a branch road between Jamaica and East New York. The effect of this readjustment was to take the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad out of the main line of travel, and reduce it to a road of very insignificant importance, so far as its steam traffic was concerned. The Long Island Railroad Company continued to op- erate this road as a branch until it was again made to assume an importance which will be hereafter noted.

On April 14, 1863, there was another change in the management of the Long Island Railroad. Oliver Charlick* and his associates

*Oliver Charlick, for many years a most potent figure in the stormy sea of New York City's politics, was born near Hempstead in 1813. He received his business training in the establishment of Gardiner & Howell, wholesale grocers, New York, and when that firm failed he went into business on his own account. The great

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were elected directors. They were a new set of directors, with new ideas and new policy. Their policy was characterized with consider- able vigor, but they seemed to be actuated solely by the desire to make money, rather than to conserve the convenience of the citi- . zens of the island, or to promote their inter- ests. This policy nearly ruined the Long Island Railroad Company. In a very short time there sprang up between the railroad cor- poration and the citizens antagonistic feel- ings, which resulted in great changes in the railroad map of Long Island.

It may not be amiss at this time to take an account of stock, and for those who are interested, to look at the map of Long Island and see the exact position of the railroads at that date. The Long Island Railroad Com- pany had a main line running from Greenport to Hunter's Point on the East River. It also had a branch from Mineola to Hempstead, and a branch from Hicksville to Syosset. It was also operating that part of the old Brook- lyn & Jamaica Railroad between Jamaica and East New York by steam power. This was the entire mileage of the Long Island Rail- road in 1863.

Prior to 1863 the scheme of building a

fire of 1835 wiped out his store, but he soon re-established himself, and as a grocer and shipchandler built up a large and profitable business.

In 1843 he made his first prominent entry into poli- tics, when he was nominated and elected Assistant Alder- man of New York's First Ward, on an independent ticket, and he afterward become Alderman. As presi- dent of the board during the latter part of his term he . frequently acted as Mayor of the city, during the absence of Mayor Havemeyer. In 1849 he went to California and engaged in business there for some eighteen months.

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 46

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188