USA > New York > Greene County > Dear old Greene County; embracing facts and figures. Portraits and sketches of leading men who will live in her history, those at the front to-day and others who made good in the past > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28
The boats running between Catskill and Albany, have been the City of Hudson, a splendid boat, with shapely lines and very fast. This boat took the place of the Peter G. Coffin, and was des- troyed by fire in the SO :. Then came the General, and the Ursula will be remembered as a beautiful propeller, and very popular. This boat made her last trips in 1913, and in 1914 near the close of the season the Phillips came on the line.
Isabella, Rounding the Hop-O-Nose.
84
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
Among the men who have been connected with the company and who have always worked hard for the success of Catskill and Greene county as well, were Charles L. Rickerson, Edwin H. Snyder and George M. Snyder, the present head of the company being Charles M. Englis of Brooklyn. The Snyders and Mr. Rick- erson passing away within the recollection of the writer. William J. Hughes has been treasurer of the company for a long term of years, and is regarded as one of the ablest men in his line in the state. As treasurer of Greene County for a number of years his work was of the highest character.
Isabella, Leaving Creek Dock.
We have not space to refer to the boats of many other lines. The Steamer Livingston has for many years been doing business between Saugerties and Athens, stopping at Catskill each way. Capt. Winans has been at the head of that enterprise. The New- burgh line boats, Martin and Tremper make regular landings at Catskill
Among the old skippers who navigated the stormy waters of the deep sea were some of familiar name, though not of face. Capt. Van Loan, Barnet Du Bois, James Bogardus, Abram Post, Capt. Jacob Dunham, who had stories of adventure in the West Indies and capture by the pirates, for Catskill and Hudson were to be reckoned with, and Hudson in particular had her valiant tars chasing great whales in quest of that essential and useful commod-
85
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
ity whalebone and whale oil. The steel trust has wiped out the whale bone trust, and the Standard oil magnates have put one over on the blubbering whale. Whale oil and tallow candles have had to pass from their positions, and it's just touch the button for light There was old Admiral Drake, Captain Britton and Captam Hyde, who passed their log book tales of far off lands and terrible adventures, until they were looked upon as most remark- able men. Thurlow Weed, one of the great newspaper men of the state, and founder of the Albany Journal is said to have worked as a cabin boy on a Catskill sloop that belonged to Capt. Brommy Funda. In those days the Hudson furnished great sturgeon, and the fishermen frequently made hauls of thousands of herring and shad. Even down to the early 70s, it was not uncommon for great quantities of spoiled fish to be carried on the land as fertilizer.
4 č SWALLOW
The Wreck of the Swallow.
Among the early steamboat disasters and the worst of them was the wreck of the Swallow which happened on the night of April 17th, 1845, while on her way from Albany to New York. Opposite the village of Athens the boat struck a rock, since re- moved by the government, and broke in two. Over 40 persons were drowned.
86
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
HENRY CLAY.
The Wreck of the Henry Clay.
On Wednesday afternoon July 26, 1852 the Henry Clay was destroyed by fire near Yonkers, while making a regular trip. Nearly 100 persons are supposed to have perished. Some were burned and others drowned.
We are able to show two fairly good representations of these early disasters.
Last September a New York man with a 40 foot steamboat came into the Catskill creek and started to sail right on to Oak Hill. He was hailod at the bridge and replied that he had a map showing that he could go right on. He did, but just beyond the railroad bridge he went on the rocks.
Capt. Isaac Van Loan was owner of the sloop Delaware, which in 1818 was one of the speed boats on the Hudson between Cats . kill and New York city.
Of Captain Joseph Allen it is narrated that verging on 80 years of age, one day he had a heated argument with one Wm. Pullen, and Pullen was forcibly ejected from Allens' premises. Allen explained that Pullen called him a d- old liar and he threw him off the stoop.
87
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
The Railroads, Early and Modern
1G000
0000 6000
N.Y.C.
&HR
The New York Central's New High Speed 97 Ton Electric Engine.
In 1825 Wood in his article on railroads says:
"Nothing can do more harm to the adoption of railroads than the promulgation of such nonsense as that we shall see loco- motive engines traveling at the rate of 12 miles an hour."
Mr. Wood should see the Chicago through trains pass Cats- kill on their 20 hour schedule at 60 miles and more an hour, or some likely aeroplane like Glen Curtis's going down the Hudson river at 100 miles an hour.
So far as the early railroads were concerned, the Catskill and Ithaca road was simply projected.
The Catskill and Canajoharie was built to Cooksburgh in 1838. . It was a failure, as the engine wouldn't work. The state pledged $200,000 toward the construction. The Catskill Bank bought it for $11,000 and sold to Hiram VanSteenburgh who took up the iron for junk and made some money out of it.
Coxsackie and Schenectady-never built. Schenectady and Catskill-never built.
The Saratoga and Hudson River Road was built and some of its grade may be seen today. It had a terminal at Athens and great promise. Daniel Drew the steamboat man sold it in 1867 to the Central and they abandoned it .
The West Shore railroad opened for business in 1882.
The Stony Clove road was opened in 1882.
The Catskill Mountain Railroad also in 1882.
88
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
The Kaaterskill Railroad in 1883.
The Tannersville railroad in 1892.
The Otis Elevated Railroad August 4th, 1892.
The South Cairo and East Durham road-never built.
Several trolley roads were projected but never built, though work was started on one from Coxsackie to Greenville, and some work was done on the Catskill to Oneonta line.
The Catskill street railroad was built in 1890 and finished to Leeds in 1892. At the present it is being operated by a receiver for the second time Among the men who have spent large sums to make the road a success are F. N. Du Bois, H C. Cowan, and William P. Fiero, former senator, now deceased.
CATSKILL
The First Railroad Train in Greene County.
It may be interesting to note that the Catskill Canajoharie railroad was along with a number of other roads an expensive proposition for the state. The state loaned $3,478,000 to the building of six railroads, and the Catskill road got $100,000. The roads were all failures and the state lost $1,000,000 in the enter- prises. The capital stock of the Catskill road was $1,000,000 and no one knows what it cost. The Albany-Schenectady road built about the same time, 17 miles, cost $1,711,412 and the Catskill road was built to Cooksburgh, 26 miles. It is a fact that the first 300 miles of railroad cost over $15,000,000. And nobody ever said the stock was watered. Even the Erie railroad was unable to pay its interest and had to be advertised for sale. The Ithaca road brought $4500. The Catskill road, as we have stated, $11,000.
89
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
We are indebted to Mrs. Benjamin Wiltse for the illustra- tion of the locomotive and the coach passenger cars that ran on the Catskill-Canajoharie road in 1838. The train had a very busy time and every coach was loaded. This train passed the foundry of Benjamin Wiltse every day during the time the road was in operation, and Mr. Wiltse who is remembered by many persons in Catskill as one of the pioneers of early business enterprise of Catskill, was the inventor of an arrangement whereby sand was spilled on the track of the road ahead of the wheels of the coaches for the purpose of preventing their slipping. The locomotive burned wood and this was carried in a tender with a couple of barrels that supplied water, and stops were made along the line to get water or wood when needed. The cars were modeled after the old stage coach of the wild west pattern, and the wheels were flanged to keep them from leaving the tracks. From 12 to 18 peo- ple could be accommodated in each coach. William Layman of Catskill one of the old time Methodists was the engineer of this road and Wm. Layman not only managed to get all the speed pos- sible out of the locomotive, but he was also the owner of one of the fast equines that have been known to have been the undoing of good Methodists. And he was not altogether adverse to per- permitting his horse to show heels even on the Sabbath, daring to indulge in a horse race on Main street.
Early one Sunday morning he had the temerity to get the best of another nag that had been known to travel fast, and good Brother Humphrey, whom some will remember, promptly rose up, and admonished Layman on the error of his ways, and the sin of horse trotting.
But this only served to stir up Brother Layman, and with the result that Brother Humphrey declared that he would have him churched, and made a complaint, which resulted in a trial before that august body of early ecclesiasts. Brother Layman won out. It was the vote of Benjamin Wiltse which turned the scale, and when he argued that he was a great lover of a horse, and that even a trustee of a church wasn't to blame if his horse chirked up a bit when some old plug tried to pass him, it was an argument that was irresistible. Alfred Foote is said to have been
90
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
on the side on Mr. Wiltse. Mr. Wiltse was during most of his life a class leader and official of the church, and to his last day treasured the tickets of early members of his class. In no other way than by these tickets could members of the church get into the love feasts of the church.
The Otis Elevating Railroad.
The Otis Elevating Railroad was considered one of the most remarkable pieces of engineering in the world at the time it was built. By means of a cable over one mile in length the cars are drawn to the summit of the mountain, an elevation of 1600 feet in ten minutes. The hoisting being by means of a great stationary engine at Otis Summit. The cars pass over a tramway with several very high trestles. There are stations at Otis Junction and also at Otis Summit. The cars are equipped with automatic clutches which operate in case of a break in the cable. Charles L. Ricker- son was the first superintendent of this road and also of the
91
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
Tannersville Railroad, opened the year following the completion of the Otis Ry. Allen Banks was the engineer, being succeeded by William Driscoll, who is the present engineer. This road cost about 8275,000 and has been practically rebuilt.
The Catskill Mountain Railroad was built to open up the Mountain section and operates to Palenville, Cairo, Leeds, South Cairo, Lawrenceville, and the Mountain House or Otis Summit, Haines Falls and Tannersville, in connection with the Otis and Tannersville Rys. John L. Driscoll was the first Superintendent for many years. Charles A. Beach followed, up to the time of his death, when Thomas E. Jones was elected to the vacancy. John T. Mann and the Beaches were the projectors of the road.
AUSTINS GLEN
View on Catskill Mountain Railroad, in Austin's, Nature's Greatest Glen.
92
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
The West Shore Railroad Company has valuable property at Catskill and spent a large amount two years ago in order to obviate the crossing the tracks to get to the depot. Probably more than $100,000. The new depot is a beautiful structure and cost about $25,000. This replaced the old depot that was destroyed by fire. In making these improvements the store house of Salisbury and Austin was torn down and moved to another location. Forty feet of embankment was cut away for a quarter of a mile and new tracks laid. The bridge at Catskill is 90 feet above tide water and 1300 feet long. It was a marvel of engineering skill. It was re- built without the loss of a single trip by any train.
West Shore Depot, Catskill.
The first station and freight agent at Catskill was W. E. Toriey. He was succeeded by O. A. Freer who after 16 years is still at the head of the freight department.
The several passenger agents have been Robert Welsh, F.R. Gallagher, J. N. Bell, John Garrigan and E. E. Woodruff, who is still selling tickets, after 14 years of service. James Mc Nee has been in the baggage department over 8 years. The old depot was burned Dec. 6, 1909, and the new depot was opened June 6, 1912. After the fire in 2 days time a temporary depot was built.
93
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
County High ways
The original roads in Greene county were simply trails over which Indian tribes traced their way. With Catskill, Athens and Coxsackie as starting points the early settlers found their way into the interior and made settlements reaching as far as the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. Later on came the wagon roads and turnpike roads and still later the state and county built roads. Even at the present time these roads are in process of perfection, as to methods and materials to make them lasting.
Great progress in the right direction is being made by the highway department of the state, and a second installment of $50,- 000,000 is being used, of which Greene county, thanks to her efficient boards of supervisors, and other officials, is getting a very considerable portion.
Old Toll Gate, Entrance to Clove Road.
With the active co-operation of Hon. John B. Riley, State Superintendent of Prisons, the experiment is being tried of utiliz- ing convict labor in the building and maintenance of this and other county highways, and a convict camp has been established
94
Convicts' Camp at Palenville, Showing Men at Work on the New Clove Road.
-
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
at Palenville. This road runs to the top of the ('atskill mountains, is a very heavy piece of construction, and very careful cost data is being kept to determine the value and feasibility of utilizing convict labor on our roads. It is believed that a large saving can be made to the State, particularly in the construction of some roads in the less thickly settled parts of the State, and that some of the roads can be completed which otherwise would be impossible unless a saving were made by the use of such labor.
The first road was from Catskill to South Cairo, and since that time there has been constructed an extension of this road through South Cairo, Cairo, Acra, and to South Durham, this last being completed in 1914. The river road from Saugerties to Albany county extending through Alsen, Catskill, Athens, Cox- sackie and New Baltimore was completed in 1914. There is also a road from Coxsackie to Greenville, Windham to Prattsville, and the state is constructing a road from Palenville to Haines Falls, about 4 miles, using prison labor from Sing Sing prison and Dan- nemora prison. The prisoners are housed and taken care of at Palenville in structures built by the state. This road will be of an S per cent grade, and will open the west end of the county to the Hudson river towns. Assemblyman J. Lewis Patrie introduced the bill for this road and secured the appropriation, in 1913, and in 1914 Assemblyman Geo. H. Chase secured the passage of the bill for the construction of the road under convict labor. George B Van Valkenburgh, Clerk of Greene county, was the originator of the project. It is expected that the road will be completed in 1915 or 1916.
50 convicts are at work on this road and some of the grades are 175 feet above the gorge of the creek bed. The buildings oc- cupied by the convicts have been erected by the state and are located near the camp of District Attorney Howard C. Wilbur and we are able to show views of these through the courtesy of the State department.
The need for this road may be seen when it is shown that during the year 1914 there were a dozen bad accidents in which heavy vehicles crashed into the gorges and passengers were injured. Wrecking crews were in constant demand all summer. In winter
96
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
the old road is barely passable at the best, and part of the time not at all.
In connection with roads it is appropriate to refer to some of the covered bridges. There is one of these at High Falls, and one at Cauterskill, which are at least 100 years old. There was one at Woodstock, (See picture on page 55) that was taken down a few years ago, and others have disappeared. In 1802, a 556 foot bridge was constructed across the Catskill Creek at what is now Bridge street. When this was torn down in 1882, Hiram Van Steenburgh built a pontoon bridge of oil barrels which was used until the completion of the present bridge. Part of this bridge was carried out by high water in the fall of 1903 and two men were drowned. The body of Captain Michael Moran, and Wm. Dwyer who was on the bridge and jumped to his boat, was not recovered until the following spring. Patsy Williams, Jack McNary and Fred Bigelow were carried down with the bridge but managed to get ashore.
The upper town bridge in Catskill was condemned in 1906 and the beautiful concrete structure was erected in 1907. This was during the term of Supervisor Henry S. Van Orden.
The old toll gates have been almost forgotten. They were scattered all over the county, and were a considerable drain on the travelers. The toll ranging from 5 cents to 25, and the gates were pretty close together. The Susquehanna, Coxsackie, Albany and Greene, Little Delaware, Schoharie, Athens, Hunter, Cairo and East Kill, Catskill and Ulster, Blue Mountain, Cauterskill were the principal turnpike roads that were chartered by the state and most of these roads paid the stockholders. The supervisors pur- chased those that were not abandoned and they are now maintain- ed by the state and taxes raised in the several towns. In Greene county under the appropriation of two sums of $50,000,000 and under a special appropriation of $190,000 many state roads are being constructed and maintained.
History has honored and pictured the famous old stone arch bridge at Leeds, probably the oldest in the county. We do not know who built it or the date It was in the 1700'%.
97
The Beautiful Concrete Bridge at Catskill.
1
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
We are indebted to Clerk Van Valkenburgh for the following figures of roads built and under process of construction in Greene county.
Completed Roads
Name of Road
Miles
Total Cost.
Cost Mile.
Catskill-South Cairo
5.6
$58,721.30
$10,486
Greenville-Coxsackie No 2
5.56
67,298.02
12,103
Greenville-Coxsackie No. 1
4.63
57,436.19 12,432
Hunter-Windham No. 2
3.39
37,390.96
13,980
Lexington-Prattsville
4.19
55,847.00 13,300
South Cairo-Cairo
3.15
35,911.91
11,401
Cairo Hamlet
0.46
5,600.00
12,180
Saugerties-Catskill No. 3
1.94
31,876.07
16,603
Saugerties-Catskill No. 2
3.87
54,950.00
14,190
Hunter-Jewett Center
6.13
102,888.30
16,780
Hunter - Windham
6.27
83,644.15
13,340
Cairo-Windham No. 1
3.39
42,556.00
12,550
Catskill Village
1.97
15,555.00
7,980
Paving West Bridge Street
0.23
13,500
Catskill-Athens
5.97
78,452.50
13,140
Athens-Coxsackie
4.06
46,000.00
11,330
Coxsackie Village
2.21
15.100.00
6,830
Coxsackie-Ravena No. 1
4.62
54,359.60
11,760
Coxsackie-Ravena No. 2
2.7
31,254.62
11,570
Palenville-Haines Falls
4.
190,000.00
Ashland road under construction, also road between Athens, Prattsville and Grand Gorge.
Greene County's share of second bond issue $565,000
Two-fifths for State Highways 226,000
Steamer Clermont of the Catskill Evening Line.
99
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
LEEDE BRI
The Famous Old Iceds Bridge. Erected in the Early 1700's. Date Very Uncertain,
100
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
Threads of the History Fabric
The publishers of this work might well be accused of slight- ing the subject if they failed to mention as concisely as possible some of the well worn threads that have formed a part of history- fabric concerning the very remote period. Some of these have come to be regarded in the light of fable possibly, but they can be be had at your estimation of them. A gun, two shirts which ap- pear to have been a valuable commodity, an iron kettle and whiskey and rum - not so much rum, but just enough-appears to have formed the good and sufficient collateral for which a large part of the land adjoining the Hudson river was acquired. Men of today and some Indians would still be willing to take on some of the rum if not the second hand shirts, at times for something that is worth more. And Gysbert unt der Bogert, a forerunner of many well trained Bogarts and Vandebogarts is said to have made this first purchase. One of these men Jean unten Bogart is said to have been a minister. So it took the Dutch to beat the Indians, even as now the Dutch have faculty of getting in first.
It was the Dutch settlers who left us the pleasentries of Bomptje Hook, Hans Vossen Kill, Embocght, which to say the least are far easier to handle than the many keeks that the Indians bequeathed to them and of which we still have some. There was the Wachachkeek, the Wichquanchtekak, the Patchquaik and the Assiskowachkeek, and the Potikeek, and we are reminded that the latter is the source from which illustrious Catskillians will get the aqua that will quench thirst as well as the Dutch rum did.
Bogart got rid of his lands in 1703 to his son-in-law Helmer Janse and after that John Lindsey got them and they became the Lindsey patent. There were five houses in that patent. The inn of Peter Schutt, grandfather of L. P. Schutt, below Catskill, the house of Egbert Bogardus, near what is now head of Main street, Catskill, a house near what is now the DuBois drug store, the residence of the historical Madam Dise, 1768, near the continuous kiln of the brick company. This brave old structure was very sightly and regarded as a mansion. Johannes Van Gorden had a
101
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
house at Femmen Hook, now the headquarters of the brave fire laddies of Bomptje Hook, now known as the Point.
Joseph Reilly Custodian of Bomptje Hook.
The Fitzsimmons, Gavigans, O'Briens, Delmores, Quinns, and others not so Dutch, have taken sway at the Point however, and the region along Water street lack in characters of great note. Joseph Reilly, the custodian of the fortunes of that section and greater Catskill being the most notable.
Through the courtesy of Paul R. Morrison we are able to present a splendid half tone of the Old Stone Jug, so that we have views of the first five houses in Greene county. Madam Dise, the owner of this old land mark, passed away within its walls in 1768 at the age of 78 years. She was regarded as a most remarkable woman, benevolent and very pious, though she was married to a man who was shiftless, and dissolute, being addicted to the use of strong drink. The old house was regarded with reverence by the earlier natives, and when it was torn down it was supposed that
102
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
all sorts of valuables would be found stored away in hidden places, but beyond a few coins nothing was discovered. The old crock- ery and old furnishings were scattered among relic hunters. Madam Dise was the daughter of one Gillett, a Hollander, and related to one of the early governors of the State of New York. We believe that she was also related to F. N. DuBois, tracing back on his mother's side of the family.
The last resident of the place was Kitty Hopkins.
The Van Vechten House, Catskill.
On the Van Vechten patent, Indians, Van Schaacks, Van Vechtens, Van Bremens, Spiegels, and other Dutchmen tilled the soil,
103
DEAR OLD GREENE COUNTY.
The Corlaers Kill Patent had more Van Vechtens, Bronks, Salisburys, and Van Bergens, whose generations remain There were some five houses on this patent of which one building be- longing to the Van Vechtens was a grist mill, the Rushmore mill.
Another of the famous old houses of Greene county is loca- ted on Jefferson Heights, on what is known as the Prindle Place. The house is a combination of brick and stone, and was erected by the Rev. Schueman in 1768. The bricks in the structure were made by slaves employed on the place, and most of the bricks came from the pond which forms a part of the cemetery. The house still contains the old brick bake oven, and this has been in use by the Prindles since they have occupied the place, which has been in the possession of William Prindle since 1856. One of the rooms was known as the spinning room, and here the darkies made the cloth used in making sheets and clothing. For a time Addison P. Jones owned the property. It was occupied by Peter Carl for 21 years, and William Salisbury lived there for 6 years.
The Old Mill in the Glen.
Going on towards Leeds at the foot of the Hill is the Abner Austin House, and this house was patterned after the Old Stone Jug. Old in appearance it was built in 1855. It was built on the property which comprised the mill in the glen. The old mill was erected in 1808 byAbner Austin, and was torn down in 1903, because it was a menace to those who visited it. The store house was transformed by Carleton Austin into two fine little cottages.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.