USA > New York > Franklin County > Historical sketches of Franklin county and its several towns > Part 7
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With ownership of automobiles increasing, and farm tractors coming into almost common use, what future is there for the horse ?
50
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
STRIVING FOR TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES
From about 1836 or 1838 publie interest was concentrated for a number of years on agitation and effort to secure the construction of a railroad. Everything else was subordinate in the minds of the people. Publie meetings, attended by thousands representing not simply our own county, but Clinton and St. Lawrence, were held at Malone, and there were like meetings at Ogdensburg attended by many from Frank- lin county. Solicitation was energetic and earnest for subscriptions to the capital stock of the proposed company, an act was almost won through the Legislature committing the State itself to construction of the road. with operation also to be by the State on a toll basis, similar to the plan in effect on the canals, and finally, when at length a charter was obtained, to the enlistment of New England capital for prosecuting the enterprise. With success assured the tenseness of hopeful and expectant waiting was broken. a feeling of inexpressible relief and gratification succeeded. and the actual opening of the line for trathie in 1850 brought great rejoicing and the conviction that emancipation had come from the handicap of isolation that had so long fettered the section. Still. there remained a seven years' struggle to be waged for legislative authorization to bridge Lake Champlain and to establish the railroad machine shops at Malone. The fight was a brave one all through. with complete success crowning it in the end. Other railroads have followed. and the particulars relative to them, as well as to those that were sought but not gained. appear in the chapter on Transportation Development. The improvement in road-bed. bridges, rails and equipment generally that time and larger traffic demands have brought are not more striking than some of the administrative changes. From an old book of rules of the Ogdensburgh and Lake Champlain Railroad Company it is noted that conductors were permitted to pass without exacting fares from people of manifest poverty and disability; that all baggage in excess of eighty pounds was chargeable, and that " no work will be permitted in any of the stations on Sunday, nor in any of the shops where it can possibly be avoided. Persons in charge of the offices on the road will see that they are kept closed invariably on that day." Something of the spirit of the rule last quoted continued for a good many years, and as late as 1885. when excursions were run often to Lake Champlain or to the Thousand Islands, and when other lines were making a particular point of conducting Sunday excursions, the management of this line declined absolutely to do business of that sort on Sunday.
51
FRANKLIN COUNTY
BASKING
Though the county was still in large part a wilderness in the forties, and the people continued poor, progress was get evidently making, and business affairs began to loom larger. For many years following the first settlement no banking facilities at all had been enjoyed, nor was there need for any. No one had money to deposit, few had credit entitling them to loans, and remittances to cover adverse city balances were of produce and livestock rather than in money. But by-and-by a merchant came to have occasion now and then to remit cash or its equivalent, and for the convenience of these the banks at Ogdensburg and Plattsburgh had a local agent at Malone for a dozen year- or more before any home bank was established in the county. In 1844 Samuel C. Wead and New York city associates organized the Franklin County Bank at Malone, capitalized at $10,000. It was a good deal more of an institution for issuing notes to circulate as money than for trans- acting a deposit and discount business. Under the law of that time a bank or banker could deposit State bonds or real estate mortgages with the State comptroller as security for the redemption of the bills or notes that might be issued, and as the interest on the securities so deposited continued to be payable to the owner there was no loss by the process, but, on the other hand, the bank acquired without cost a fund substantially equal to its original investment, with which to "shave " commercial paper or to loan on new mortgages. No reports are extant showing the items of this bank's business except that it had at one time $85,100 in notes outstanding as money; but knowledge of the then gen- eral conditions in the locality, together with the absence in reports of items showing deposits, warrants the conclusion that it had no deposits, or at the best few of them and in small amounts. Undoubtedly its transactions had little resemblance to modern banking operations. Even after this private or individual enterprise had given way in 1850 to the Bank of Malone, "a really, truly " bank, there were years and years prior to the civil war when its deposits ranged only between $20,000 and $75,000. The State bank continued operations until 1864, when it closed for the organization of a second national bank, a first institution of that character having come into existence a few months earlier. Since 1864 other national banks have been organized at Tupper Lake, St. Regis Falls, Brushton, Chateaugay and Saranac Lake-eight in all -having a combined capital of $575,000, a combined surplus of $859,104, and deposits aggregating $3,910,850. Besides, there is a small private bank at Fort Covington, capitalized at $10,000, which
52
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
keeps its condition to itself, but whose resources are believed to be about $100,000. The banking resources of the county have thus multiplied nearly sixtyfold in seventy years, or from a beggarly hundred thousand dollars, employed almost exclusively for the benefit of three or four persons, to almost six million dollars, which, while still advantaging stockholders, is continually accommodating the entire business public, and contributing inestimably to the vitalizing of general business and to the fostering and development of prosperity. It is a marvelous record, and reflects perhaps more impressively than any other one item the growth in county well being and wealth.
GRADUAL PROGRESS
There had been for a considerable number of years gradual improve- ment in the condition of the people generally, but with little change in their habits and manner of living until about the time of the civil war, though it is true that, having come to be somewhat better circumstanced financially, framed buildings had displaced most of the original log houses or huts ; household conveniences and utilities, originally unob- tainable, had improved and multiplied; and the hardships and priva- tions endured earlier had been greatly mitigated. Puritanic strictness and intolerance abated slowly, and individuals became less amenable to the censorship of the clergy and to the harsh discipline of the churches in respect to business practices and participation in amusements. But the latter remained of the simplest, and caused no great encroachment upon one's time or purse. They consisted for the most part in after- noon gatherings of the women of a church's ladies' aid society for sewing and gossip, with the men appearing sometimes at a later hour for refreshments and perhaps a bit of a frolic to follow ; lyceums or debat- ing societies, in the exercises of which business men as well as academic students participated ; lectures, usually by resident clergymen or attor- neys ; vocal concerts or entertainments by musical bell ringers ; singing schools and the old-fashioned spelling matches ; baseball (not the modern game), bowling, occasionally a dance, rarely a circus or minstrel show ; and, of course, after 1851, the agricultural fair once a year. Still there was no attempt at ostentation or affectation of "style," for few families had servants, and fewer yet were of independent means. The thought of the people broadened, there was a more acute interest in public affairs, and local enterprises commanded more and more interest and atten- tion. Manufactories sprang up, transportation facilities were provided,
53
FRANKLIN COUNTY
banking was instituted as previously shown, and progress generally was observable.
THE PRESENT AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
Upon a call signed by a hundred farmers and, others the Franklin County Agricultural Society was formed August 26, 1851, or just a quarter of a century after the death of the earlier similar organization. Sidney Lawrence of Moira was chosen president, Harry S. House of Malone, secretary, and Hiram H. Thompson of Malone, treasurer, with one vice-president from each town. The movement was too late in the season to make it practicable to hold a fair that year, and accordingly the first exhibition was given in October, 1852, on leased grounds, which were simply an open field on which grain had been raised, and the use of which William Andrus gave for five years without consideration other than that the premises be fenced and the stone removed. The work of improvement cost but little apart from $92.35 contributed by residents of Malone and also materials and labor donated. The exhibi- tion in 1852 continued through two days only, and, no race track having been laid out, of course there were no trials of speed. The offered list of premiums aggregated $467, but the amount actually paid was only $263, of which $44 was on crops. The receipts were $437.31 for admis- sions, $250 for membership fees, $50 from the State. The next year the offered premiums were $621, and increases continually made since then bring the total awards now to about $3,300. The earlier lists did not compare favorably even with those that had been offered by the first society twenty-five years before, as the amounts were smaller in almost every class, having been generally for only one or two dollars each, though three dollars was offered for some kinds of horses, and crop premiums ranged from one dollar to five dollars each. Many awards were of diplomas only. The attendance at the second fair, during which the weather was unfavorable, was estimated at between five and six' thousand during the two days, and the receipts were $871.88. By 1853 a race track a third of a mile in circumference had been built, and a trotting purse of twenty dollars was advertised, with special attrac- tions to consist of Indian foot-races and a game of lacrosse. The rail- road carried stock and other exhibits free at owners' risk, which con- cession was modified later to a charge for transportation one way. Special attractions in 1854 were music and a competition between lady equestrians for prizes, with two trotting events as a part of the fair proper (the purses having been $25 and $15 respectively), and two races to occur the day following the exhibition, but with emphasized
54
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
announcement that these were not to be deemed a part of the fair. The purses for these were $10 and $50 respectively; and all betting on the grounds was strictly prohibited. The offers of these purses, in so large (?) amounts, were roundly denounced as unwarrantable extravagance, and some of the pulpits thundered anathema against the fairs as a whole as "sinful amusements," and in particular as filching money from the poor. For a number of years it was a serious struggle to maintain the organization, but the earnest men of the time showed courage and reso- lute purpose, and conquered success. The grounds originally were seven acres in extent, but were enlarged about 1856 to ten acres, and a con- tract entered into for their purchase for $1,000. They have been fur- ther enlarged from time to time until they now embrace about twenty- five acres. In 1862 the fair was omitted because of the war, but with that exception an exhibition has been held every year. There was no recognition, however, in numbering the exhibition of 1863 that none had been held in 1862, which error has continued ever since. The fairs, therefore, have been one less in number than the annual announcements of the society suggest.
The fact deserves emphasizing that the plan of the organization neither contemplates nor permits any distribution whatever of receipts in excess of expenses to the benefit of any individual. The society is distinctively and exclusively a people's enterprise, and all of the profits earned must go to the erection of buildings and improvement of the grounds, or be applied to increasing the premiums for exhibits or to extending the list of attractions. Under the operation of this policy grounds valued at many thousands of dollars have been acquired, one of the best half-mile tracks in the State provided, and a grand-stand, cattle sheds, barns and exhibition halls have been erected which, with possibly one or two exceptions, serve all needs admirably, and would be a credit to a much richer organization.
The premiums distributed annually for exhibits have mounted from paltry hundreds to between three and four thousand dollars, the purses offered for speed contests are now $10,500 annually, and the total receipts for the four days of the fair in 1917 were $28,352.82, while the initial attendance of 5,000 or 6,000 in two days has been multiplied - as many as 25,000 people having been on the grounds in a single day in some of the best years. Besides the benefits which the work of the society has accomplished in stimulating improvement in stock and better methods of farming, the exhibitions have grown to constitute something of an " old-home week," with former residents returning regularly even from
55
FRANKLIN COUNTY
distant points, alike for enjoyment of the show and for the pleasure of greeting old-time friends. Men from far-away places who are strangers to the locality also attend year after year simply because our fairs are so attractive and the welcome of the people so cordial; and not a few of these make no reservation in pronouncing the Franklin county fairs to be unequaled in New York except by the State fair.
Other agricultural societies existed at one time at Fort Covington and Brushton, and later there was one at Chateaugay. But the county is not large enough for more than one prosperous organization, and the other societies had but a brief life.
CIVIL WAR CONDITIONS
There were great changes during the civil war. The conditions prevalent in that period are almost impossible of realization by the present generation, for the people stepped to measures not merely differ- ent from any they had ever before trod, but of cadences other than have since been known. Prices skyrocketed, but without the average touching present levels, and, though self-denial and pinching were practiced in many families, extravagance seized upon many, with a prodigality of expenditure never before appproached, and speculative operations which would have amazed and shocked the staid leaders in business of an earlier age became common. As wealth was accumulated by the shrewder and more daring, these bettered their dress, many began the erection of showy and costly houses, and all except the poorer adopted more pretentious habits and living customs. Millions of men were called to arms, and, though of course there was a scarcity of many commodities, little was heard of impossibility of procuring labor, there was no governmental fixing of prices, nor did food have to be rationed as now notwithstanding nearly half of the country had not been devel- oped or settled, so that our productive area was then comparatively small; but the making of war munitions and armaments was on no such stupendous scale as now, nor were we then obliged to feed starving people across the sea lest they perish. To-day we see only occasionally a uniformed man, whereas during the civil war recruiting was prose- cuted continuously for years with driving energy, and at times hun- dreds of soldiers were quartered here for weeks or months, an ines- capable reminder of war. Moreover, there was apprehension in 1864 and 1865 that confederates might raid our villages from Canada, as upon one occasion they did invade St. Albans, Vt. Money was in
56
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
abundant circulation, though of a depreciated valne, and there was no such restraint as obtains in the present upon the individual soldier with regard to habits and practices. The consequence was a reign of immorality and vice not paralleled for half a century previously, nor equaled since. Drinking, gambling, brawling and licentiousness were common. War meetings were of frequent occurrence, and appeals and inducements were constant for volunteers to save the Union and avert drafts. Bounties to encourage enlistments were voted lavishly by the county and by each of the separate towns until in some cases men received as much as a thousand dollars each, additional to their pay, for a few months' service, and the total local payments of this character, all met by taxation, aggregated a half million dollars. Franklin comprised with St. Lawrence one draft district, and Malone was headquarters for both counties for all drafts, with General S. C. F. Thorndike provost marshal. Medical examinations for all of the two counties were made here, where claims for exemptions were heard also and determined. The procedure made the town a busy place at times. None of the drafts except that ordered in 1863 netted any Franklin county men to the army, except as they incited men who feared being drawn to find sub- stitutes. Nevertheless a number were drawn to fill the quotas of four or five of the towns, but none of them could be held because they were physically disabled or had fled to Canada. In one of the towns only a single able-bodied man was left, and he was so recent a comer that his name had not been listed. The 1863 draft conscripted abont 75 men, some of whom were released upon payment of a money commutation of $300 each, but most of whom accepted service. Censorship of cor- respondence and news was unthought of, and accounts of army move- ments and battles were full and minute - thrilling the loyal when a victory was chronicled, and causing despondency and gloom if there were a defeat, while the fathers, mothers, wives and children of the men in service waited always in poignant anxiety for the lists of the missing, wounded and killed. And it shames me to write that in that stressful time all sentiment in our county was not patriotic and loyal, but that there was an element in comparison with which to-day's " slackers " and pacifists are eminently respectable. These persisted in villifying the President and the Union generals, exulted when there were Union reverses, and in a hundred ways sought to embarrass the government and impede its work. As the present is a war of cold but resolute pur- pose, that was a conflict in which the accumulated differences and
57
FRANKLIN COUNTY
resentments developed through a generation of contention on moral issues found vent in action, with hot, fierce passion so swaying the people that business proscription, social ostracism and personal enmities, if not actual physical collisions, were engendered between neighbors who otherwise would have been associates and friends. This bitterness was intense, almost venomous in some cases; but for those who would neither volunteer nor hold themselves subject to the drafts, sneaking into Canada while the war continued, there was utter contempt. When the surrender had been made at Appomattox, and those who had worn the blue came marching home, too many with empty sleeves or with amputated legs, or with health permanently broken by hardship in camp and field or in the Confederate hells that were called prisons, then the men who had helped to save the Union were welcomed with glad acclaim and reverent honor.
Patriotic activities by civilians during the civil war bear no com- parison with those now observable. True, the women worked devotedly to prepare sanitary supplies and delicacies for the soldier sick; indi- viduals in many districts contributed Thanksgiving and Christmas remembrances to be forwarded to the men at the front; there was gen- eral and earnest importuning of men to enlist; and the towns and the county offers of bounties for volunteers were more than generous. But little of the activity and effort was systematized, and except that a fund, amounting to several thousand dollars, was pledged for the relief of needy families of soldiers, no war contributions of consequence were made by individuals, nor were government bonds bought to any extent. There were no calls by the Red Cross, the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, the Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, or the Young Women's Christian Association to enable these or similar organizations to render a benign service to the men in the field or on the battle linc. And even though there had been, the response must have been slight, for most of the people had little money that they could spare.
The record of the county in the present war will bear the most searching tests, and is highly creditable. Subscriptions running into the tens of thousands of dollars have been made for philanthropic work, especially for the Red Cross : women and children by the hundreds are knitting and sewing assiduously on Red Cross supplies; committees numbering scores of busy men and women have given of their time generously for a year to the various forms of organized war effort; and of the first and second Liberty loans the banks and individuals in the
58
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
county purchased bonds to the amount of a million and a third dollars, and of the third loan more than another million, or, say, two millions and a half in all - an amazing showing for a county that is small and not rich. Every subscription district in the county took largely in excess of its apportioned allotment, and one more than doubled it - the county as a whole oversubscribing its quota by fifty per cent. We have, besides, put into the army in a year a thousand men or more of an average intelligence and character that has never been surpassed in any war. Hundreds of these have been volunteers, and include young men who have taken courses in the training camps, and earned com- missions. In other words, Franklin county's contribution of men to the army and navy in a single year has been nearly half the number that it enlisted in four years during the civil war.
THE COUNTY'S CIVIL WAR RECORD
It is impossible to compile a complete list and the individual records of the men from Franklin county who served in the army during the civil war, or even to ascertain their number accurately. As complete a list for New York as it has been found possible to assemble has been prepared by regiments and published by the State adjutant-general, but it does not show residences. It totals about 325,000, whereas General Phisterer, formerly adjutant-general, declared the opinion some years ago that the actual number exceeded 400,000, adding that it was "impossible to obtain any accurate figures of the number of men fur- nished during the war by each county, town and village." It was attempted in 1865 to have the census of that year include the names of all volunteers and of all drafted men who accepted service, but the total so obtained was only 139,481, or about one-third of what General Phisterer believed to have been the actual number. From the best information that I have been able to gather I am satisfied that, includ- ing re-enlistments, Franklin county had in the service, from first to last, well over 2,000 men. If the same proportion between the census figures and the adjutant-general's list for the entire State obtained for Franklin county, then the number would be about 3,160, or if we take the estimate of 400,000 and supply the resultant percentage it would be about 3,860; but both of these latter totals seem improbable. The town clerks were required in 1866 to prepare complete lists of those who had served in the army from their respective towns, and I have counted as many of these lists for Franklin county as I have been able to locate. The number shown by the census returns of 1865 and also
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FRANKLIN COUNTY
by the obtainable town clerks' reports in 1866 appear in the following table :
Towns
Census Figures
Town Clerks' Reports
Bangor .
89
89*
Bellmont
82
165
Bombay
48
48*
Brandon
64
69
Brighton
9
18
Burke
65
158
Chateaugay
82
82*
Constable.
77
102
Dickinson
124
204
Duane
32
37
Fort Covington
80
80*
Franklin
90
123
Harrietstown
17
30
Malone.
316
410
Moira
64
97
Westville.
110
110*
Totals
1,349
1,822
The draft ages during the civil war were between twenty and forty- five years, with the volunteer ages between eighteen and forty-five years; and yet there were hundreds of mere boys, not yet fifteen, and of men well over fifty (some of them from Franklin county) who entered the ranks - the former bearing the strain and hardships better than the latter, nearly all of whom had to be discharged for disability after a few weeks or months in the field.
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