USA > New York > Tioga County > Owego > Early Owego, N.Y.; some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego > Part 28
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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 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
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The capital stock. was fixed at $150,000 in shares of $50 each. Lu- ther Gere and Andrew D. W. Bruyn, of Ithaca, and Charles Pumpelly, of Owego, were appointed commissioners to open books and receive subscrip- tions to stock. December 20 it was announced that all the stock had been taken.
A meeting of stockholders was held Feb. 10, 1829, at the store of Jesse Grant & Son at Ithaca, when nine directors. were chosen. These direc- tors were Francis A. Bloodgood, S. De- Witt Bloodgood, Richard V. De Witt, A. D. W. Bruyn, Mynderse VanSchaick. Cornelius P. Heermans, James Pun- pelly, Alvah Beebe, and Ebenezer Mack. Francis A. Bloodgood, was chosen president, Mr. DeWitt treas- urer, and Mr. Mack secretary.
Two routes ' were surveyed. One was by the valley of the inlet of Cay- uga lake and the west branch of Cata- tonk creek, through the town of Spen- cer. The distance by this route from the Inlet bridge to Owego was 36.6 miles. The other route, which was subsequently adopted, was by the val- ley of the Six Mile creek, Beaver Meadow creek, one of its branches, and the east branch of the Catatonk creek. The distance from the inlet to Owego by this route was 29.6 miles.
John Randal, Jr., was apppointed. engineer of the road. . He had con- structed the New Castle and French- town railroad in Pennsylvania, which was at that time one of the finest pieces of engineering in the United States. Ephraim Leach, the builder of Leach's mills on the Owego creek. in the town of Tioga, was appointed
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superintendent of structure and engi- neering at the south end of the road,
When the survey of the road had been completed it was found that the original capital of $150,000, which had all been taken, was insufficient to con- struct it, although at first, for want of correct information of the nature and expense of railroads, it was supposed to be adequate to the purpose.
March 3, 1831, a meeting of dele- gates from the several parts of the country adjacent to and interested in the projected railroad, with delegates from the coal regions of Pennsylva- nia, was held at Philip Goodman's tavern in this village. . James Pum- pelly was chairman and David Wood- cock, of Ithaca, secretary. The ·meet- ing appointed a committee, consisting of Luther Gere, Jeremiah: S. Beebe, and Horace Mack, of Ithaca, and James Pumpelly, Jonathan Platt, and John R. Drake, of Owego, to confer with those who held the stock of the road, with a view to a more general distribution of such stock. A commit- tee was appointed to examine as to. the practicability ' and probable ex- pense of building the road.
Several subsequent meetings were held. . At one of them, on Feb. 17, 1831, at Ithaca, a committee reported that the average tonnage in 1830, con- veyed by team from Ithaca to Owego was 4,000 tons of plaster, 10,000 pounds of salt, 450 tons of merchan- dise, 4,000,000 feet (or 4,000 'tons) of lumber, and 250 tons of miscellaneous articles.
In 1832 the charter of the company was amended by act of the legislature;
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increasing the . capital stock to. $300.000.
The builders of the railroad were Jeremiah S.and Alvah Beebe, brothers, who were sons of Col. Jedidiah Beebe, of Lynn, Conn., who distinguished himself in the battle of New London, in 1812. They built the Clinton house at Ithaca, and the Fall creek tunnel. and also put the first steamboat on Cayuga lake.
The road was constructed in 1833, and opened for traffic in April, 1834. The track was. altogether different from the tracks of the railroads of the present day. The proposed mode of construction, as detailed by W. A. Swift, United States engineer, in the "Report and Survey of the Route of the Ithaca and . Owego Railroad," printed in pamphlet form at Ithaca, . in 1828, was in brief as follows:
Pits two and one-half feet in depth and three feet square were to be dug at intervals and filled with broken stone. Within three inches of the surface of the ground flat stones were placed. Across the head of the track . and resting on these stones were placed oak sills, ten inches square and seven and one-half feet. in : length. These sills were placed eight feet apart. Oak sleepers for the rails, six by twelve inches and from 16 to 24 feet in length, were laid lengthwise with the track and fastened to the sills with wooden pins.
The rails were straps of rolled wrought iron, two and one-fourth inches wide and one-half of an inch thick. Holes of oblong shape were punched in the rails eighteen inches apart, through which four-inch screws
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were driven, to hold them to the sleepers beneath. No "fish-plates" were used, as at the present day to connect. the ends of the rails, but . they were cut at the ends diagonally and the ends laid close together.
These rails had one serious defect. After having been in use some time, the screw heads were apt to break off and the pointed ends of the rails, or snake heads, as they were called would spring up from the track and remain up. The result was that serious accidents to passengers were . caused by the. "snake heads tearing through the floor of passenger coaches and injuring passengers.
The road had but one track, and had frequent turn-out or passing places, at the present day called switches.
The board of trustees of Owego vil- lage, at a special meeting on Sept. 27, 1833, authorized the railroad company to lay its tracks through the public park and such parts of the streets to and from the public square as might be necessary for the purposes of the company. Three days later, at a meeting of the railroad directors at Ithaca, a committee was appointed to come to Owego to arrange for a final location for the southern terminus of the road. Oct. 5, two members of the committee, William N. Collins, and Julius Ackles, met the engineer-in- chief at this place, who submitted the various surveys.
It was decided to enter the village through lands of Elizur Talcott, David P. Tinkham, and Mrs. Mary A. Lan- ing and the village park. Mr. Talcott gave the company a right of way sixty
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feet wide through his farm. The road was accordingly extended into this village between 'his dwelling "house and the public highway (now North avenue.) It ran from Ithaca. to Owe- go over the line of what is now the Cayuga division of the Delaware, Lackawana & Western railroad, and followed its present course down through where the centre of Central .avenue now is and through the lands of Mr. Tinkham and Mrs. Laning to the park.
At this time Temple street had not been extended from: North . avenue west. Fox street west of North avenue was opened only to the rail- .road. track. . Between the present Temple street and extending nearly ' up to Fox street was a pond known for many years as the Dodd pond and as . "Lake Dodd.". To cross the low. ground on the west side of this pond a high embankment was built to a level with the ground at each end, . over which the railroad trains were run, The tracks extended down along what is now about the centre of Cen- tral avenue:
Previous to the coming of the com- mittee from Ithaca to Owego, eleven business men of his . village, Latham. A. Burrows, .. Charles Pumpelly, Stephen B. Leonard, . William Pum- pelly, Jonathan Platt, Gurdon Hewitt, Amos Martin, George Bacon, William A. Ely, Francis Armstrong, and James Ely, had signed an agreement (dated Sept. 28, 1833) to procure conveyances to the railroad company, or to pay the damages that might be assessed by commissioners, for such land as the company should need for depot
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purposes. £ . no depot was ever built.
It was arranged that the road should . enter the north end of the park, a little east of the centre there- of. At the southeast corner of the park the road turned into Front street on a curve and ran up that street a little south of its centre to the old Owego hotel, which stood where the Ahwaga house now stands.
. A switch was placed in the track a little east of Church street, so that freight cars could be run on another track. This track extended down un- der the long row of wooden stores which then occupied the site of the present brick ones, and was about twelve feet below the level of Front street. Cars were thus enabled to discharge their contents of salt, plas- ter, grain, etc., into arks and upon rafts, to be floated thence down the river.
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Previous to the building of this railroad teams could be driven with their loads down to the river through two lanes, or alleys, one of which was between the stores of Dr. Jedediah bay and Gurdon Hewitt, and the other between the Laning storehouse and Ely s hat store. Upon the road along the river under the stores the railroad tracks were laid.
Another switch at the south end of the park allowed cars to be turned on to another track which crossed Front street just below the bridge into Wil- liam H. Platt's storehouse.
The first passenger conveyances used on this railroad were similar to the old stage coaches, the driver sit- ting on the box and driving one horse. Freight was carried on small flat cars
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about twenty feet in length, with sides about four feet high, drawn by two horses. The horses were driven tan- dem, for the reason that they had to walk between the two rails and there was not room for them to go side by side. A "train" consisted of two cars. Coming south from Ithaca these flat cars were loaded with merchandise; . returning north they were usually empty. .. Each freight car had four wheels, which were made open, with spokes. Later, when a locomotive was used to draw freight cars the passen- ger coach was usually attached to the rear of the freight cars.
A reproduction of the time table of the Ithaca and Owego railroad, issued in circular form in 1838, is here re- produced. It was originally used to illustrate an article in the Railway Gazette a few years ago, written by Herbert T. Walker. The "burden cars" mentioned in the circular and which were required to pay toll at the rate of three cents a ton a mile, were owned by individuals, who under the provisions of the charter of the road, could have them added to the com- pany's trains at certain points along the route.
Such an appliance as a brake for car wheels was at this time unknown; and it was somewhat difficult to regu- late the speed of trains on a down grade. Sometimes an iron bar, simi- lar to a handspike, would be placed in the spokes of a wheel and pressing up against the front of the car. This would block the motion of the wheel, causing it to slide on the track and acting as a brake.
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ITHACA AND OWEGO
RAIL ROAD.
NEW ARRANGEMENT WHILE FINISHING THE ROAD.
TRANSPORTATION TRALN.
The train of Transportation Cars will leave Ithaca every afternoon (Sundays excepted) at 4, and arrive at Gridley's at 8 o'clock, P. M., will leave Gridley's af 4, and arrive at libuca at 8 o'clock,"A. M., stop prog. both in going and returning, at Ilowe's Turnout, Whitcomb's and Wilsey's Mills, to take in and discharge loading, and receive Care that may be in readines to join the train.
The train of Transportation Cars on the Owego end of the Road, will leave Owego every afternoon (Sundays excepted) at 5. and arrivo at Gridley's at 8 o'clock, P. M., will leave Gridley's at 4. and arrive in Owego at 7 o'clock, A. M., stopping both going and returning at ones' Cross Roads, Sacket's and Chidrey's Mille, at Candor Corners, and at Booth's Cross Roads, to take in and discharge loading, and to receive such cars as may be in readiucss to join the train.
No burden Cars are permitted to run upon the Road except such as are registered in the Secretary's Office in Ithaca. and have a Certif. wake of Fitness from the Engineer , and a way.bill of loading must accompany each car not belonging to the Company's Train, and toll paid at the Gates, at the rate of 3 cents per tun per mile.
DANIEL L. BISHOP, Secretary ..
ITHACA. July 20, 1838.
Mack, Andrus & Woodruf, Printers.
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The first locomotive was used on this railroad in 1844. It is said to have been built at Auburn and was so constructed as to consume its own smoke. It was called the "Pioneer" and was manufactured in the state prison by convict labor. Its smoke stack was similar in shape to a piece of stove pipe. Its frame was of wood. Its boiler was covered with a coating of wood, painted drab. The boiler was supplied with water by a hand . pump through a hose. The water was kept in a large hogshead on a flat car.
The engine was a failure. The steam chamber was too large for the boiler, and steani could not be made fast enough. The chamber was sub- sequently altered. The . locomotive was afterward reconstructed and the · wooden frame was replaced with an iron one.
The locomotive was a slow affair. It ran only about as fast as a horse could trot. On its first trip from Ith- aca it ran all right until it reached a point a little north of Candor, when it could be run no further, as the engi- neer could not obtain sufficient steam. It had to be finally hauled back to Ithaca by - horses. Frequently the steam would run down, causing the train to stop running entirely. Then, while the fireman was getting up more steam the passengers would sit- on the bank at the side of the track . and pass away the time playing cards . or pick. berries along he way. This is said to have been the origin of the term, "huckleberry train." . Later a more competent engineer was found and no further difficulty was exper- ienced.
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The locomotive made one trip with freight each day to Ithaca and re- turn and the horse car one trip at night. The time between Ithaca and Owego was six hours, or about seven miles an hour, but on one occasion the trip was made in four and one- half hours.
It is related that in 1844 a Whig mass meeting was held in Ithaca. That day a load of Owego Whigs rode over to Ithaca on the train to attend the meeting. At Candor the track was so slippery with oil that the locomo- tive could not proceed until the rails had been covered with sand .. The story went abroad that the Democrats had greased the track.but it afterward appeared' that the trouble had been caused by a leaky barrel of oil.
The same day Philip Mosher, son of Seth Mosher, who for many years kept the Central house in Owego, drove over to Ithaca on the railroad track . with his horse and the old passenger coach. In returning he became tired of waiting for the train to leave, and swore that if it did not start within ten minutes hewould go on ahead of it with the coach, and he did. He had hardly got out of sight when the train started. Some idea of the speed of the train can be gathered from the fact that after Mr. Mosher had reached the Half Way house and had stopped to water his horse, the locomotive came in sight just as he drove on. While the iron horse took water Mr. Mosher obtained another good start. When he drove into the park in this village, the train was behind him,about where Temple street is now. . He made the trip in a few minutes more than three hours.
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About a year after the chamber of the locomotive had been altered a dis- astrous accident happened, which put an end to its usefulness, . At six o'clock in the evening of May 21, 1817, While it was hauling a train from Ithaca to Owego. it broke; through a bridge at Woodbridge's. about six miles north of Owego. The bridge had been for some time in an unsafe condition. : The engineer, D. H. Hatch, of Flemingville, . and the fireman, A. Dickinson, of Danby, were both instantly killed. This was the last trip that Mr. Hatch, had intended to make over the road. He fell under the locomotive, which crushed in his breast. .
The "Pioneer" was never afterward used to draw trains. It stood on a switch west of North avenue in this village for a time. When the D., L. & W. railroad was completed to . Scranton, Pa., about the year 1852, it .was taken to that city, where it was used for sawing wood, by blocking it ' up so that the wheels. did not touch the ground.
When the locomotive was put on the road larger passenger cars were used. The new ones were about . one- third the size of an ordinary passen- ger coach on railroads of the present day: About twenty-five passengers could be seated facing each other in a car on seats that ran lengthwise with the car, similar to the seats in the street cars of the present day. There were no stoves in the cars to keep passengers warm in the winter. After the accident at Woodbridge's all the cars were drawn by horses, and so continued until the road was rebuilt in 1850.
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One of the passenger cars that was put on the old horse railroad during its latter days, continued to be used after the railroad was reconstructed and larger and improved locomotives were used. It was built in Connecti- cut in 1848 and was put on the road the next year. It was not taken off the road until 1882.
While the locomotive was used it was allowed to run no further than the south end of the park. The stores on both sides of Front street were wooden ones-some of them old rook- eries-and it was feared that they might take fire from sparks.
. . The old locomotive house stood as late as 1850 on what is now the south- west corner of Central avenue and Temple street. It was of rectangular shape, weather-beaten and unpainted, and was large enough to house the locomotive and a car or two. A small turntable, which was worked by hand, stood just south of the engine house.
. The first agent at Owego of the Ith- aca and Owego railroad was Jonathan Platt, whose office was at his store on the south side of Front street, oppo- site the Owego hotel. When Mr. Platt sold his store to Taylors & Bell, W. C. Taylor became the agent. At the same time Allen Storrs & Ball were agents. for the People's line of insured boats, running between Ithaca and New York city, and another line running from Ithaca to Buffalo, and received freight here for all points beyond Ithaca.
The passenger cars started from in front of the Owego hotel at 4 o'clock in the morning of each day, and were met half way. between Ithaca and
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Owego by another train, which left Ithaca at about the same hour.
The capital stock of the railroad was increased to $450,000 by act of . the legislature, passed May 3, 1834, just after the completion of the road.
April 18, 1838, another act was · passed by the legislature, authorizing the comptroller to deliver to the rail- road company special certificates of stock of $1,000 each to the amount of $250,000, bearing annual interest of five and one-half per cent. For this' loan the state took a lien upon the road and its equipment.
May 14 1840, another act of the leg- islature authorized the comptroller of the state to issue and deliver to the railroad company certificates of stock of this state to the amount of $28,000, to bear interest at six per cent.
The state loan amounted to about $8,655 a mile, and the interest was to have been paid semi-annually. But the panic of 1837 proved fatal to the prospects of the road. When the first semi-annual interest became due its payment was not forthcoming, and when default was again made in the payment. of the second semi-annual interest the comptroller, Azariah C.
Flagg, advertised the road for sale at auction. After at least one postpone- ment, the sale was made May 20, 1842, and the property was struck off to Archibald McIntyre and others for $4,500. The rolling stock was subse- quently sold to the Cayuga & Susque- hanna railroad company for about $50,000.
April 18, 1843, the state legislature passed an act constituting McIntyrę and the several persons to whom he might assign any portion of the old
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Ithaca & Owego railroad a body cor- porate by the name of the Cayuga & Susquehanna railroad, such corpora- tion to continue until January 1, 1900. The capital stock was fixed at $18,000 and divided into shares of $15 each.
Three years later the road was re- built with heavy T shaped rails, as it isto-day. Thecontractors were Jones & Stearns, of New Hampshire. Wallace W. Barden, who had built railroads for these contractors in the eastern states, came here in September, 1849, and had charge of the reconstruction of the road as foreman. He brought about eighty men with him from New Hampshire. The road from the top of the hill at Ithaca to Owego was com- pleted Dec. 17, 1850. The road down the hill into Ithaca was finished a year later.
After the completion of the New York and Erie railroad to Owego in 1849, the track of the Cayuga & Sus- quehanna railroad was built . on a curve from the main track near Mc- Master street to the New York & Erie station, east of North avenue, and the trains, which were drawn by heavy . locomotives of the modern type. were run to that station. An effort had been made in July, 1848, to induce the village trustees to use their influence to have the track through the park torn up and the railroad discontinued. This was not accomplished, however, until the summer of 1050, a year after the cars had been running to the New York & Erie station.
On the first of January, 1855, the Cayuga & Susquehanna road was leased to the Delaware, Lackawanna , & Western railroad company, and is still operated by that company.
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Mr. Barden was appointed roadmas- ter of the reconstructed Cayuga & Susquehanna road and continued as roadmaster thirty-six years until the main line of . the Delaware Lacka- wanna & Western railroad was built from Binghamton to Owego and the two roads were connected by building the iron bridge across the Susque- hanna river at the foot of William street. Then the tracks, connecting the road with the New York & Erie railroad station were removed and trains were run to the. D., L. & W. station, south of the river.
Some Account of the Early Inns in the Days when Travellers Were Enter- tained at Log Houses and Later at the Pixley, Bates, Deforest, and Laning Taverns, and Later at the Old Owego Hotel and the Central and Tioga Houses.
In the days of the early settlement of Owego the first settlers entertained the few travellers who came through the woods here at their houses. James McMaster, the first settler here, used his house on the south side of Front street, east of Academy street, as a tavern for the accomodation of travel- lers until public houses were built elsewhere. . As the number of settlers gradually increased along the roads which had been cut through the wil- derness, the taverns, many of them small ones and roughly constructed of logs, increased in number, and within a few miles of each other could be found some sort of a house where teamsters and the occasional traveller on foot or by stage could obtain lodg- ing and refreshment. Some of these
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were simply dwelling houses, with limited accomodations for guests, while later ones were more preten- tious in size, with a barroom attach- ment, but little less primitive in their appointments.
One of the first of these inns was the house long known as the Pixley tavern in Goodrich settlement in the town of Tioga. Others were the Bates and Deforest taverns at Owego. Abner Turner built a tavern north of Owego in the town of Tioga, near the red mills. Two miles distant on the old Ithaca and Owego turnpike was Wool- verton's tavern, a little log house. Woolverton later built a two-story tavern on' the opposite side of the road, under the bank. The next tav- ern was Daniel Bacon's, about a mile this side of Candor. The next ones on the turnpike were at Candor and Candor corners .. The turnpike gate nearest to Owego was just north of . Woolverton's tavern.
The house built by Col. David Pix- ley and occupied by him as a dwelling house and tavern still stands in the town of Tioga. It was built in 1791. It is at the right hand side of the high- way as one goes from Owego toward "Glenmary" and a few rods north of the road.
One unacquainted with its history would naturally wonder why it should stand at right angles with the high- way and with its rear toward the road. At the time it was built the old road ran along on the northeast or front side of the building, and ex- tended down the hill to the Indian spring, near which, on the Owego creek, Col. Pixley built a grist mill.
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Here the road crossed the creek and came through Owego.
Like all buildings constructed at that time, it was built of heavy timber and the nails and all the iron work were forged by a blacksmith. In 1802 Col. Pixley sold the house to judge Noah and Eliakim Goodrich, who bought also all of Col. Pixley's large tract of land there. Judge Goodrich lived and died in the tavern and his son, Ephraim, lived there afterward.
There was another small tavern in those days kept by Sam Stafford. It was a small one and stood on the west side of the Owego creek in the town .. of Tioga, on the north side of the highway leading from Main street out of this village. It stood about where the gateway to the "Vesper Cliff" property now is.
The first tavern built in this village was for many years known as the Bates tavern and stood on the north- west corner of Front and Church streets, where the Ahwaga house is now. Church street had not been opened as a street at that time, and the only highway through Owego was the river road, now known as Front . street. Capt. Luke Bates purchased the land of James McMaster Nov. 12, 1795, and erected thereon a tavern, in one part of which was a small country store. It was built of timber and planks, was two stories high, and was painted red. In front was a long por- tico, with benches thereon. The horse sheds were on the bank of the river on the opposite side of the road. - A red barn stood west of the tavern, with a small space of ground between the two buildings. June 17, 1800, Capt. Bates purchased of David
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