History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 32

Author: Durant, Samuel W; Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.)
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 862


USA > New York > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 32


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EXTENSIONS AND CONSOLIDATIONS.


In April, 1852, as before stated, the railway was com- pleted and put in operation from Watertown to Cape Vin- cent, twenty-five miles. The total length of the entire line was ninety-seven and a half miles, and its total cost $1,957,992.


On the 8th of January, 1852, a company was organized to construct a road from Watertown to Potsdam Junetion, a point on the Vermont Central Railroad, which latter ex- tends from Ogdensburgh to Rouse's Point, at the foot of Lake Champlain. The Potsdam branch, seventy-six miles in lengthi, was completed in 1854, and up to 1860 was called the " Potsdam and Watertown Railroad." In the last-mentioned year it came into the possession of the Watertown and Rome Railroad Company. In 1861-62 the latter company put down a track from De Kalb June- tion, a point on the Potsdam and Watertown road, to Og- densburglı, a distance of nineteen miles, and the roads were consolidated and the names changed by the legislature to the " Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh Railroad Com- pany."


In 1866 the "Oswego and Rome Railroad," extending from Oswego eastward twenty-nine miles to Richland, on the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh Railroad, was put in operation and leased to the last-named road.


" The Syracuse Northern Railroad," extending from that city forty-five miles to Sandy Creek Junetion, on the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh Railroad, was completed in 1870, and in 1875 was consolidated with the main line.


" The Lake Ontario Shore Railroad," running from Os- wego west to Charlotte (Roeliester's port of entry) to its western terminus at Lewiston, on the Niagara river, one hundred and fifty miles, was also merged in the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh Railroad, in January, 1875.


The consolidated lines make up an aggregate of four hundred and seventeen miles now under the control of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh Railroad Company, and forming one of the three most important lines of busi- ness in the State, and one of great value to the people of the northern and western counties.


It taps the great mining regions of this section, which it has aided very materially in developing, traverses one of the finest agricultural portions of the State, accommodates extensive lumber districts, draws largely from Canada on


120


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


the north, and reaches into the coal regions of Pennsyl- vania.


The country through which it passes is generally well settled and comparatively prosperous. It serves directly the cities of Watertown, Rome, Oswego, Syracuse, and Ogdensburgh, and many thriving towns and villages along its lines. Since 1852 it has paid in dividends nearly three million dollars. Its capital stock is $3,147,500. The annual report for 1875 shows the following classes and amounts of transportation :


Tons.


Forest products.


77,734


Animals.


18,780


Vegetable food ..


74,640


Other agricultural products


11,796


Manufactures


47,927


Merchandise.


30,364


Other articles


115,392


Total


376,633


Among the important items were 45,989 tons of lumber, 7608 tons of cheese, and 4169 tons of butter. In 1873 there were 81,509 tons of iron ore transported over the road. The number of passengers in 1875 was 564,200.


During the summer season the road maintains a line of steamers from Cape Vincent down the St. Lawrence river, among the Thousand Islands, to Clayton, Fisher's Landing, and Alexandria Bay. The travel in this direction in the warm scason is extensive, and annually increasing.


For the fiscal ycar,-October 1, 1876, to September 30, 1877,-number of tons (of 2000 pounds) of freight carried in cars, classified, were as follows :


Products of the forest.


75,879 tons.


Products of animals


24,112


Vegetable food


82,999


Other agricultural products


19,583


Manufactures


25,573


Merchandise.


31,312


Other articles


107,390


366,848


Total movement of freight, or number of tons carried one mile, 26,732,738.


OFFICERS.


The first President and Superintendent was Orville Hun- gerford, who died before the completion of the road. The succeeding Presidents have been, Hon. William C. Pierre- pont, Marcellus Massey, and Samuel Sloan. The Superin- tendents succeeding Mr. Hungerford have been, Robert Doxtater, Job Collamer, Carlos Dutton, Addison Day, C. C. Case, and J. W. Moak.


The present officers are as follows : President, Samuel Sloan ; Vice-President, Marcellus Massey ; Superintendent R. W. & O. Division, J. W. Moak ; Superintendent L. O. & S. N. Division, E. A. Van Horne; General Freight Agent, E. M. Moore; General Tiekct Agent, H. T. Frary; Treasurer, J. A. Lawyer ; Directors, Marcellus Massey, Moses Taylor, Samuel Sloan, C. Zabriskie, William E. Dodge, P. R. Pyne, John S. Barnes, G. Colby, J. S. Far- low, T. H. Camp, S. D. Hungerford, William M. White, Theodore Irwin.


The general offices of the company are located in Water- town, where, also, the road has large workshops, which give


employment to over one hundred men. The total employees on the whole line number about twelve hundred men.


The equipment of the road consists of 55 locomotives, 50 passenger-eoaches, 24 baggage and express, and 1200 freight-cars.


The Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburgh Railway, as now operated, with all its combinations, offers advantages and facilities for shipment which are unsurpassed. It reaches the New York Central road at two important points, Rome and Syracuse. At the former city extensive docks have been constructed on the Erie canal. It has two termini on the St. Lawrence river,-Cape Vincent and Ogdensburgh, -at both of which points it owns superior and well- arranged docks, and has close ferry connections with Kings- ton and Prescott. The former is the terminus of the Kings- ton and Pembroke railway, which, when completed, will bring from one of the finest lumber regions of the conti- nent the productions of that section. Prescott is the southern terminus of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rail- road, from which vast quantities of freight are received. It touches two important points on Lake Ontario, viz., Oswego and Charlotte, near Rochester; and Lewiston, on the Niagara river. At Oswego the road owns valuable dock privileges. Here is also a bridge over the Oswego river, completed April 6, 1876. The completion of this bridge, with the opening of the road to Suspension Bridge, June 12, 1876, and the completion of the few remaining miles of the Portland and Ogdensburgh Railroad, will open a direct line from Portland, Maine, to San Francisco, accom- modating with immense advantages a large and productive territory in the northern part of the Union heretofore un- supplied, and not wholly developed.


The following statistical table gives the principal data concerning this road. It is derived from the official map deposited in the State engineer's office :


Length in Miles of Grades.


TOWNS.


Miles of Main Track.


Total Acres.


Level.


Ascent South.


Descent South.


Cape Vincent ..


5.9826


65.856


.9585


3.1582


1.8659


Lyme


7.2674


68.205


1.9928


2.3356


2.9390


Brownville.


8.6799


77.475


2.0114


4.5242


2.1443


Pamelia ...


1.7879


26.120


.7218!


.8765


,1896


Watertown.


6.8843


84 590


1.8875


4.2754


.7214


Adams ..


7.1212


83.890


1.1811


4.5329


1.4072


Ellisburg


9.4591


87.240|


1.0991


3.5837


4.7763


Sandy Creek


5.2793


45.160


1.2905


.7538


3.5360


Richland ..


2.5818


25.490


.0922


1.4292


1.0604


Albion


7.5227


77.610


1.0112


3.868S


2.6427


Williamstown


7.6720


75.816


.1360


2.8831


4.6529


Amboy


.4839


4.895


.4839


Camden.


11.1428


96.120


2.7678


1.6706


6.7044


Annsville.


5.3244


65.566


1.0252


1.6010


2.6982


Rome ...


8.5360


100.965


3.4259


2.7974


2.3127


Total


95.7253


1188.997 19.6012


38.2904 37.8339


Elevation above tide .- Rome, 442 feet : Annsville, 430.24; Fish Creek (bridge), Taberg Station, 416.44; MeConnellsville, 482; Cam- den, 523.5; West Camden, 538; Williamstown, 682.86; Kassoag, 625.36 ; Sand Banks, 580; Pineville, 546; Centreville, 552.2; Rich- land Depot, 524.3; Sandy Creek, 556.9; Pierrepont Manor, 587.8; Adams, 596; Centre, 600; Watertown, 409.8 ; Black River Bridge, 401; Brownville, 327.5; Limerick, 322.3; Chaumont, 289.2; Chau- mont Bridge, 269; Three-Mile Bay, 306.3; St. Lawrence river, at Cape Vineent, 250 feet. Upon Burr's State map the elevation of


121


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


Lake Ontario, above tide, is stated to be 234 feet, while the recent Canadian railroad surveys make 238} feet.


THE UTICA AND BLACK RIVER RAILWAY.


The history of the preliminary operations looking to the construction of a road from a point on the Erie canal to Ogdensburgh via the Black River valley is so interesting that we make the following extraets from Dr. Hough's well- written account, as given in his history of Jefferson County :


In December, 1852, the plan of a railroad, from some point on the central line through the Black River valley to the St. Lawrence, began to be discussed, and a meeting was held at Lowville, January 8, 1853. A comuittee of five persons in each county interested was appointed to collect statisties and faets to report to future meetings, of which one was appointed at Theresa on the 20th and another at Boonville on the 26th of the same month.


The meeting at Boonville was attended by those repre- senting the elaims of Herkimer, Utica, and Rome, for the southern terminus, but the weight of interests represented was in favor of the first of these, and a company was formed under the name of the " Black River Railroad Company," with a capital of $1,200,000, for the purpose of building a road from Clayton, on the St. Lawrence, by way of Car- thage and the west side of the Black river, to the valley of West Canada ereek to Herkimer, a distance of about one hundred and twenty miles. The directors named were Benjamin Carver, Harvey Doolittle, and Linus Yale, of Her- kimer county ; Jonah Howe, Matthew Beecher, and Philip M. Sehuyler, of Oneida county ; Ela Merriam, Seth Miller, Moses M. Smith, Wm. L. Easton, and John Benediet, of Lewis county ; and Samuel J. Davis and Lewis T. Ford, of Jefferson County.


It may be here noticed that, seventeen years previous (May 21, 1836), a company of the same name had been chartered by a special act to build a road from Clayton to Carthage. A preliminary survey was made the same year by R. F. Livingston ; the route passed through Evan's Mills and La Fargeville, was thirty-one miles in length, and was estimated to eost $226,015.62. Nothing but a survey was attempted. This effort on the part of Herkimer im- mediately exeited a spirit of rivalry at Utiea and Rome, and three days after the Boonville meeting the " Blaek River and Utiea Railroad Company" was organized, with a capital of $1,000,000, for the purpose of building a road from that eity to Clayton, a distance of about one hundred miles. The directors named were T. S. Faxton, Spencer Kellogg, John Butterfield, Martin Hart, Alfred Churchill, James V. P. Gardiner, Benjamin F. Ray, James S. Lynch, Wm. H. Terry, Hugh Crocker, Harvey Barnard, Jonathan R. Warner, and John D. Leland, all of Utiea, except the last-named, who is of Deerfield. T. S. Faxton was chosen president, and J. S. Lynch secretary. Daniel C. Jenne was employed to survey a route, and report the proper estimates of cost.


On the 8th of March a meeting was held at Lowville, at which a committee of three from each town, interested in the line from Boonville to the St. Lawrence, was appointed to examine the elaims of the three southern points. Mr. Jeune reported the results of a survey from Utiea to Boon-


ville, and estimated the cost, with equipment, at $20,000 per mile ; and Mr. Octave Blane, who had been engaged on a preliminary survey for Rome, also reported the result of his operation south of Boonville; and Mr. Wooster, of Herkimer, read the survey made by Mr. Jervis, in 1837, for the Herkimer and Trenton railway.


After hearing these several reports, the general commit- tee found themselves unable to decide the question, and appointed a sub-committee of eight, consisting of A. H. Barnes, of Martinsburgh ; A. Joy, of Clayton ; H. Dewey, of Orleans ; Win. L. Easton, of Lowville; Ela Merriam, of Leyden ; N. Ingersoll, of Le Ray ; S. Sylvester, of Copen- hagen ; and A. A. Goodale, of West Turin, to visit these several places proposed as points of junction with the cen- tral road, and report at the meeting to be adjourned to Car- thage on the 22d instant. . . . The committee of eight reported that, having met and organized at Rome on the 14th, they resolved upon a series of questions to be pro- posed to the railroad committees of Rome, Utiea, and Her- kimer, to ascertain the cost per aere of fifteen or twenty aeres for a depot, and the amount of stock that would be pledged for each by persons south of Boonville. It was found that a connection could readily be obtained with the eentral road, and a spirit of liberality and accommodation was evineed by the officers of that line.


At Rome a delegation presented the elaims and prefer- enees of that place; stated that the requisite amount of land could be bought at a price not exceeding $250 per acre, and pledged at least $300,000 in private subscriptions, besides what might be obtained from the village corpora- tion, which it was supposed would amount to $150,000 more.


At Utiea, the committee found that a sufficient quantity of depot ground could be purchased on the eanal at $200 per aere. The sum of $250,000 was guaranteed by indi- viduals of Utica, and $100,000 was expected to be raised between that eity and Boonville. A further sum from pri- vate means of $50,000, and $250,000 muore from city bonds, was also expected, making $650,000.


The eonnnittee also visited Herkimer, but, as it was un- derstood that that place had withdrawn its elaims for the terminus, and that the company had been disbanded, no report was made upon that station. These faets the sub- committee submitted without expressing their preference of the claims of either. The general committee was in ses- sion two days at Carthage, engaged in discussing the merits of the rival stations, but the two-third rule which they had imposed upon themselves prevented the requisite majority from being obtained. The first ballot was 22 for Utica, 22 for Rome, and 2 for Herkimer ; and Rome afterwards gained a stuall majority; but finding it impossible to agree the eom- mittee was discharged, and an association, styled the "Og- densburgh, Clayton, and Rome Railroad Company," was immediately announced as in the field, and pledged to build a road from Rome to Denmark, and thenee to the St. Law- renee, at Morristown and Ogdensburgh, with a branch to Clayton. The Ogdensburgh and Clayton Railroad Com- pany was formed February 19, 1853, with a capital of $2,000,000, and the following dircetors, viz. : Henry A. Foster, John Stryker, Edward Huntington, and Alva


9


122


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


Mudge, of Rome; Elijah B. Allen and Henry Van Rens- selaer, of Ogdensburgh; Augustus Chapman, of Mor- ristown ; Wm. L. Easton, of Lowville; Seth Miller, of West Turin ; Alanson H. Barnes, of Martinsburg ; Sidney Sylvester, of Denmark ; Samuel J. Davis, of Wilna ; and Jason Clark, of Plessis. Henry A. Foster was chosen president ; Elijah B. Allen, vice-president ; James L. Leo- nard, of Lowville, treasurer ; Roland S. Doty, of Rome, secretary ; and Octave Blanc, engineer.


At a meeting held at Watertown, April 21, a code of by-laws was adopted, and the following resolutions passed :


" Resolved, That it is our intention to construct a railroad, from the central line of railroad and Eric canal, in the village of Rome, to the river St. Lawrence, in the village of Clayton, and also to said river St. Lawrence, in the village of Ogdensburgh, and touching the river at Morristown, so as to connect with the Northern Ogdensburgh Rail- road, and the Grand Trunk Railroad, the By Town and Prescott Railroad, and the proposed Pembroke and Broekville Railroad in Canada.


" Resolved, That in lowness of summit, easy grade, cheapness in cost of construction, facility of connection with the eentral line of railroad, and tho Erie canal, and in having its termination at sueh points as to command the business of the country, and of Canada, this road has decided advantages over any other proposed line of railroad from the St. Lawrence river to the said central line and canal, and can and will be built ; and that we unanimously pledge ourselves to the stockholders and to each other to push forward the enterprise to completion and without delay."


This claim of superiority is, of course, contested by the rival route, as well as that now finished. The plan of con- necting Ogdensburgh with some other road, by a line south- west from that place, had come up for discussion while the Potsdam and Watertown Railroad was in course of organi- zation, but notliing was then effected. It was next pro- posed to connect that place with the road last namned, in the town of DeKalb, but the present project has superseded there.


Both the Utica and the Rome routes have been surveyed and located, and the most active efforts have been made to secure subscriptions along the lines of each, which, from Boonville to Theresa, a distance of about sixty miles, nearly coincide, and repeatedly cross each other. Both routes have been let to responsible parties, and subscriptions suffi- cient to warrant the undertaking have been secured by each.


An act was passed May 27, 1853, making it lawful for the common council of the city of Utica to borrow, on the faith and credit of that city, any sum of money not exceed- ing $250,000, for a term not exceeding twenty years, for the purpose of aiding the construction of this road. A similar power was granted to the trustces of the village of Rome, to the extent of raising $150,000, for the Ogdens- burgh, Carthage and Rome Railroad, the bonds to bear the corporate seal of the village, and their management to be intrusted to Roland S. Doty, Harvey Brayton, William L. Howland, Gordon L. Bissell, and Eri Seymour, who were styled the " Commissioners of the Railroad Fund of Rome." Both of these acts have since been confirmed by large majorities at elections held for that purpose .*


The ceremony of breaking ground for the Black River


and Utica Railroad took place at Utiea, August 27, at which addresses were delivered by Governor Seymour, ex- Governor Hunt, and other distinguished gentlemen, and the occasion was celebrated by military parade and general festivities. This road was contracted August 10, to be graded in 1854. The Rome road was let November 7, to be graded and ready for the superstructure September 1, 1854.


The Utica and Black River Railway was opened to Booneville, Oneida county, a distance of thirty-five miles, in 1855. In 1868 the line was put in operation to Lowville, the present county-seat of Lewis county, a farther distance of twenty-four miles. In 1872 it reached Carthage, six- teen miles farther. The original plan to construet a line to Clayton, Morristown, and Ogdensburgh, on the St. Law- rence river, was not immediately carried out. While the division between Lowville and Carthage was in course of construction, a company was organized in Watertown, under the title of " Carthage, Watertown and Sacket's Harbor Railroad Company," and a road constructed in 1872, from Watertown to Carthage, eighteen miles, which was com- pleted about the time the Utica and Black River Com- pany reached the same point. Upon the completion of the road from Watertown to Carthage, it was leased to the Utica and Black River Company. In 1873 the latter company extended a line to Clayton, and in 1874 the Car- thage, Watertown and Sacket's Harbor Company com- pleted a road from Watertown to Sacket's Harbor, which was in the same year leased to the main line.


BLACK RIVER AND MORRISTOWN RAILWAY.


The first step in this important line of road was taken on the 29th of January, 1870, when a public meeting was called at Morristown to take the matter into consideration. Other meetings were held soon after at Hammond Corners, Redwood, and Theresa, to feel the public pulse, and test the feasibility of procuring aid in the way of private subscrip- tions, and by means of corporation bonds.


On March 22, 1870, articles of association were filed with the secretary of State. The capital stock was fixed at $600,000, and Philadelphia, in Jefferson County, and Mor- ristown, in St. Lawrence county, were made the termini of the road. The length of the proposed line was thirty-seven miles.


Individual subscriptions to the amount of $40,000 were soon raised, and all of the towns on the line executed and exchanged their bonds for stock in the company. The various amounts were as follows : Philadelphia, $15,000 ; Theresa, $60,000; Alexandria, $60,000; Hammond, $60,000; Morristown, $20,000.


A portion of the tax-payers of the towns of Hammond and Morristown contested the legality of the acts bonding their respective towns, and upon a final submission of the matter to the court of appeals the acts as concerning these two towns were set aside. Subsequently, in the spring of 1872, the State legislature ratified the acts of these towns, and confirmed the validity of their bonds which had been issued and delivered to the company. This legislative ac- tion settled all questions as to the validity of the bonds, and put a stop to all further contention.


# The voto at Rome stood 450 to 1, in favor.


123


HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, NEW YORK.


On April 18, 1870, the directors named in the articles of association met at Redwood, and completed the organiza- tion of the company. David Bearup, of Theresa, was elected President, which offiec he still holds; and Hon. W. W. Butterfield, of Redwood, was elected Secretary and Treasurer. Henry S. White, of Redwood, subsequently succeeded Mr. Butterfield as Secretary and Treasurer, and was in turn succeeded by Alfred A. Holmes, the present incumbent.


The company proceeded at once to make a preliminary survey of the route, and in September, 1870, contracted with Harry Abbott and William Ellis for the entire con- struction of the road. The contractors entered upon the work about the 20th of September of the same year, but, after doing considerable grading and bridging, abandoned the work in the fall of 1871. The company proceeded with the construction, and on the 9th of December, 1872, the road was opened for traffic from Philadelphia to Theresa, a distance of eight miles, and by the last of October, 1873, the work was nearly completed. On the 29th of October of this year the company contracted with the Utica and Black River Railway Company to complete the road, giving that company the use of the road for eight years, and trans- ferring to them the unexpended balance of $500,000 in bonds issued by the Black River and Morristown Company. Under this contract the road was completed and opened to Redwood in November, 1874, and to Morristown in November, 1875. The bonded debt of the company is $500,000 ; the amount of stock, $371,000 ; and they have uo floating debt.


The total length of the road, including its branches, is one hundred and sixty-nine miles. It passes near the Shurtliff iron-ore beds and through a thickly-settled and prosperous region.


The business of this road for 1875, the last report wc have, is indicated by the following statement showing the tonnage :


Tons.


Products of the forest 14,802 Auimals


9,533 Vegetable food


11,939 Other agricultural products 11,840


Manufactures 22,216


Merchandise 12,288


Miscellaneous 22,456


Total


105,074


Passengers carried in 1875 245,847


This road connects at Utica with the New York Central Railway, the Midland Railway, the Utica, Clinton and Binghamton Railway, and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railway, giving direet communication with the anthracite coal-fields of Pennsylvania.


Its two termini on the St. Lawrence give it facilities for a large Canadian trade from Gananoque and Brockville, both located on the Grand Trunk Railway of the Dominion. Broekville is also the terminus of the Brockville and Ot- tawa Railway, and of the Rideau Canal, both connecting with extensive timber distriets.


At Sacket's Harbor the road has superior advantages for the transhipment of grain and lumber from the west. At all the northern termini it has excellent shipping advantages.


At Carthage and Utica it connects with the Black River Canal.


Officers .- The present officers of the company are : Pres- ident, De Witt C. West, of Lowville ; Vice-President, John Thorn ; Treasurer, Isaac Maynard ; Secretary, W. E. Hop- kins; General Superintendent, J. F. Maynard; General Ticket Agent, Theodore Butterfield; General Freight Agent, Charles Hackett ; Dircetors, James Sayre, T. S. Faxton, E. A. Graham, I. Maynard, R. Wheeler, John Thorn, William J. Bacon, L. Lawrence, A. J. Williams, A. G. Brower, all of Utica; D. C. West, Lowville; D. B. Goodwin, Waterville; and R. L. Kennedy, of New York.


An account of the old Sacket's Harbor and Ellisburg Railroad will be found in the history of the respective townships through which it passed. This road ran from Pierrepont Manor to Sacket's Harbor, a distance of eightecu miles, and was opened for traffic June 1, 1853, and con- tinued to be operated until 1862, when for various reasons it was abandoned, and the people of Sacket's Harbor were without railway facilities until the opening of the branch of the Utica and Black River Railway in 1875.




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