USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 32
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"Notice is hereby given that an application will be made to the next Legislature of the State of New York, for an act of incorporation for a bank, with the usual privileges of banking by the name and style of the Livingston County Bank, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, to be located in the village of Geneseo."
The notice is signed by William H. Spencer and Homer Sherwood and is dated December 20th, 1824. This movement was probably also unsuccessful, for a similar notice subsequently appeared in the Register dated November 15, 1825, and signed by John H. Jones, Moses Hayden, Edward Bissell and Philo C. Fuller. It asked for a charter for a bank with a capital of $250,000, "and with liberty to increase the stock to $400,000." All these efforts however, proved alike futile and it was .not until 1830, as will subsequently appear, that the citizens of the county succeeded in securing the measure they so much desired.
In 1823 P. R. Bowman was running a line of stages from Canandai- gua to Warsaw by way of Moscow. In the Livingston Gazette of July 3d of that year he gave notice that thereafter he "would continue his line once in each week. He will leave Moscow on Saturday afternoon immediately after his arrival from Canandaigua, and return from Warsaw on Monday evening, and on Tuesday morning start again for Canandaigua." Between Moscow and Canandaigua the stages were run twice each week, passing through Geneseo, Livonia, Richmond and Bristol. In connection with this line stages were run from Can-
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
andaigua to Palmyra and (via Geneva) to Lyons, connecting with the Erie canal.
The same paper contains the notice of Jedediah Richardson, Hiram Jones and Nehemiah Westbrook, announcing that their new boat "Independence" would commence running on the river, between Bab- cock's Ferry and Rochester, and make regular trips once in two weeks. carrying freight down or up "on the most reasonable terms."
Notwithstanding such enterprises, the greatest drawback to the growth and prosperity of the county, as of nearly all Western New York, was the lack of prompt, reliable and cheap transportation for the products of its rich fields. The nearest remunerative mar- kets were Baltimore and Montreal, and from this county the only routes were navigable streams and the broad expanse of Lake Ontario: the former tortuous ways, full of impediments, sub- ject to floods and drouth, and incapable of being navigated except by flat boats and rafts, floating with the current if passing down, labor- iously poled1 along if passing up the streams. Added to these dif- ficulties were numerous portages or carrying places, to avoid water- falls and rapids or in passing from one stream to another. The open- ing of the Erie canal somewhat improved this state of affairs, as it brought nearer the markets of Albany and New York, yet it only did so to a moderate degree, for the nearest point on that great artificial waterway was comparatively a long distance from the farming com- munities of Livingston. It can be readily imagined, therefore, that transportation charges were excessively great, and that the produce of the fertile lands of the settlers found a slow and unremunerative mar- ket. Some prices have already been given in this work, and instances showing the result of attempts to carry the surplus grain to market. attempts which generally left the margin on the wrong side of the ledger. The attention of the people was thus carly directed toward measures for improving communication with the eastern markets. and the Erie canal having just been completed, and having already given promise of fulfilling the highest anticipations of its wise projec-
1. Not very many years ago a colored man named Schuyler occupied a cabin on the east bank of the river just below the Markham homestead, at Avon. He had a large swelling or bunch on the side of his neck caused by polling. The process consisted in the use of long poles, one end resting against the bank or bottom of the stream the other against the breast or shoulder of the boatman: thus fixed the poller would walk from how to stern of the boat forcing it up stream.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
tors, it was natural that a similar work should be proposed to meet the necessities of commerce in this and adjoining counties.
A call appeared in the Livingston Register of June 15, 1825, for a public meeting to be held at the house of Col. John Pierce, in the village of Geneseo, on the 28th of June, of the citizens of Monroe, Livingston, Allegany, Cattaraugus and Steuben counties "who feel interested in the formation of a canal from Rochester along the valley of the Genesee and Canaseraga, and of a canal from Genesee river to some point of the Allegany river." The meeting was "for the pur- pose of devising means to colleet and convey to the Canal Commission- ers and to the State government the necessary information as to the practicability and vast importance of the above canal routes." The call was signed by Philip Church, Daniel H. Fitzhugh, William H. Spencer, Ira West, Jonathan Child and Heman Norton.
At this meeting a committee was appointed "to obtain information respecting the practicability of making a canal" as proposed ; and sub- sequently this committee was notified to meet at Geneseo on the first Tuesday of September, to commence the active discharge of its duties. A bill had been introduced in the Assembly the previous spring, auth- orizing a survey for this proposed canal, but it failed to become a law. Five years later the question was still being agitated by the people of the valley, their efforts thus far having met with but little success. A large and enthusiastic meeting of citizens of Sparta and adjoining towns, friendly to the Genesee Valley Canal, was held in Dansville July 24th, 1830. Resolutions were adopted claiming that the region through which it was proposed to run the canal was "equal if not su- perior to any which for a length of time have been presented to the public, and especially so as it has been satisfactorily ascertained that by a canal connecting the waters of the Allegany river with the great Erie canal, a complete water communication will be effected between the two great commercial cities of New York and New Orleans." A meeting of like character had been previously held at Angelica, and subsequently, on the 26th of August, 1830, a delegate convention of conspicuous men from all the counties affected by the proposed meas- ure was held at Geneseo for the purpose of securing a survey of the route. Again, in 1833 we find a call for a meeting to be held in Gen- eseo November 20th, of "the inhabitants of the counties more directly interested in the construction of a canal from Rochester to Olean, with
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
a branch to Dansville village, * * for the purpose of taking into consideration the proper measures to be adopted in relation to that object." The call was signed by H. D Mason, William Finley, Allen Ayrault, Daniel H. Fitzhugh, Robert Dixon, D. H. Bissell, Rus- sell Austin, S. G. Grover, John Cutler, Donald McDonald, Charles Colt, Leman Gibbs, James Wadsworth. P. C. Fuller, J. Young, William HI. Stanley, Donald Fraser, Jr., William A. Mills, James McCurdy, Tabor Ward, Jotham Clark, E. Hill, C. R. Bond and James S. Wads- worth.
Other meetings were held in various places, but it was not until 1834 that the preliminary surveys for the canal were made, although the subject was constantly discussed in the public prints and by individ- uals. Meanwhile the necessity of some better means of transportation had yearly become greater, and the people were clamorous for this improvement. The trade with Rochester, which had become thus early an important commercial center, was carried on principally by the river. Lumber was floated down during the spring and fall fresh- ets, and the passage was considered short if made in two days. The inerchants brought their goods by the same channel, the trip up requiring from four to five days. Such means of transportation, while answering the needs of the country when first settled, were wholly inadequate to the then present demands of their inland commerce, and no effort was spared to enforce this fact upon the attention of the Canal Commissioners and the Legislature. This demand of the people of the valley was, at length heeded and a survey made, as stated, in 1834.
The total cost of the canal, as estimated by the chief engineer, F. C. Mills, after making this survey, was $2,002,285. Subsequent surveys and examinations, together with a change in the plans of many of the structures, increased this estimate to $4,750, 125.79, and reviewing this estimate again, he made it $4,900,122.44, but included in this was $197,099 for reservoirs for supplying the summit level with water. Its actual cost when completed, however, was about $6,000,000, or more than three times the first estimate of the engineer.
So expeditiously was the project pushed, after the preliminary steps had been taken by the State authorities, that about 30 miles of the line had been put under contract in 1837, and 50 miles in 1838. The remainder of the work was let in the following year. It was originally
1.
endence. 38.
CELEBRATION! OFFICERS OF THE DAY. Marshal .- Surranus Britton, assisted by t'ley Spencer. President .- Hon. Charles H. Carroll. Vice Presidents-Azel Fitch. Hon, Micah Brooks. Miph- alet Tyler, Esq .. Hon. Daniel Ashley, Col. Crowner Jonathan Barron.
| 1' .....
111
Chp
Program of Celebration at Nunda in 1838 on Account of Progress in Canal Construction.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
intended to be 123 miles long, including "navigable and unnavigable feeders," but the canal itself was only 118 miles in length. Its gener- al course was a southwesterly one from Rochester, through Monroe, Livingston, Wyoming, Allegany and Cattaraugus counties (passing through the towns of York, Leicester, Mount Morris, Nunda and Port- age), following the valley of the Genesee river to Squakie Hill, at Mount Morris, where it crossed the river and followed the Cashaqua valley to a point beyond Nunda, when it again sought the river, which it recrossed at Portageville. Thence it descended to Olean. The peculiar character of some parts of the country traversed by this artificial waterway necessitated some very expensive work. The plans first proposed included 115 locks besides several guard locks, one tunnel of 1082 feet in length near Portageville, 15 aqueducts, S dams, 134 culverts, 103 highway bridges, several towpath bridges, 130 farm bridges and a number of bulkheads, wasteweirs, etc. Alterations in the plans changed these figures somewhat, but not materially, ex- cept in the abandonment of the tunnel project.
The greatest engineering difficulties were encountered, and the heaviest proportionate expense was incurred on that portion between Nunda and Portageville. Here there was a cutting through the ridge dividing the valley of the Cashaqua from the Genesee valley 73 feet deep, and a series of locks, about 17 in number, which were required to reach the summit level 982 feet above the level of the Erie canal. Besides these extensive works the highest skill of the engineers was needed to carry the canal around the high, mountainous hills over- hanging the river, and the attempt to do this seemed several times a futile one. The canal, having been brought from the deep cut across the Cashaqua ridge almost to the verge of the perpendicular cliffs im- pending over the river, took thence the ascending course of the stream. Approaching to within about two miles of Portageville, the mountain increased rapidly in height, and the excavation became very deep, in some places 50 or 60 feet through solid rock. £ Here it was proposed to cut a tunnel through the mountain, and work was commenced upon it and continued until the most stupendous difficulties compelled the engineers to abandon it. The length of the tunnel was to have been 1,082 feet, its height 27 feet, and width 20 feet, piercing the towering mountain from side to side. This work was deemed necessary on account of the treacherous character of the sliding shelves of the hill,
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
but the same canse which led to the tunneling of the hill finally forced the engineers to abandon this project and construct the canal around the side of the hill. A writer on an Eastern paper1 who visited the work while it was in progress describes it as follows: "Great embar- rassment has already been experienced and heavy expenses incurred in consequence of these slides, both above and below the tunnel;" and, speaking of the tunnel itself, "since the excavation has been com- menced, such is the character of the rock, thrown together apparent- ly by Nature in loose masses and blocks, that it now appears that the entire roof and sides of the tunnel will require arching with solid ma- son work. Indeed, temporary arches of wood have been found nec- essary during the progress of almost every successive yard of the work. It is by far the greatest undertaking of the kind that has been attempt- ed in our country." Of the engineering he says: "If he shall at last accomplish the work of pinning, as it were, the canal to the slippery shelf of sand which overhangs the gult, we shall have something worth while to show to engineers of the old world."
After nearly a quarter of a million of dollars had been expended on the tunnel it was abandoned. It can be seen in passing over the line of the canal, a dark, half ruined cavern in the crumbling rock, and the lasting depository of the people's money, squandered in a vain struggle with Nature. But though baffled here, the engineer did succeed in pinning the canal to the treacherous side of the towering mountain, and his work was well worth a long visit to see. The hill rises quite abruptly to the height of several hundred feet. A long distance below, in a chasm with almost perpen- dicular sides, is the Genesee encircling the base of the hill and hurry- ing along over the rapids or madly leaping down the upper and middle falls. Half way up the precipitous side of the mountain was the canal cut into its side and overhanging the raging torrent below. A narrow strip of land alone served as a towpath, from which the descent was almost perpendicular to the river. The canal wound around the hill in this manner, passed under the famous Portage Bridge and a short distance above crossed the river by means of a wooden aqueduct. Work upon the canal was prosecuted vigorously, except on the upper sections, and in 1840 thirty-seven miles, from Rochester to Mount Morris, were completed." The line from Mount Morris to the Shaker
1. William I .. Stone.
2. (See note on following page.)
ARRANGEMENTS
Pit 1111
Genesee Valley Canal CELEBRATION, September 1st, 1840.
The pluce of meeting will be at the junction of the Canal and the State Rond frading through Von to C'uledonia.
Boats will be provided for carrying the Military Companies and Bands of Musle free of expense.
Major Bassett's Company of Artillery, with their Ordnance, will be at the place of meeting on the evening preceding, prepared to fire a National Salute at sunrise on the morning of the day of celebration, and Sulutes will be fired at sunrise and sunset on that dny, at the promheut points on the line of the Canol, from Rochester in Olean.
The other Military Compaules, with their Music, will be at the place of meeting at 9 n'elock in the morning of the day of celebration, where they will be met by Gen. Stevens, Marshal of the day, with his AAnds and Deputy Mar- shal4.
Boaf- provided lor carrying thr Citizens generally, will leave Rochester at 6 o'clock, A. M. on that day, und touching at Spoftes Ille, and other intermedi- ate places, to rrerive persons on board, will arrive at the place of meeting at 12 o'clock, M .; and boats provided for the Name purpose will trave Mount Morris, C'uy ler, Livligston t'ity, nt such hours ns to ensure their rvaet arrival at the place of meeting at 12 o'clock, M .: the line of Boats from each dirce- lion to be accompanied with fdf Bands of Music, and each Boat to hear the National Flag. 23-The Ladies throughout the whole there of the Canal and its Trinity, arr respectfully invited to attend and join in the festivities of the day. Carriages will be la readlinees at the place of meeting to take the Ladies and those persons who do not wish to juin the procession, to the village of Want Avon Immediately after the meeting of the Beatvand dir interchange of greet- Ings and aslutatious between the Northand the South.
As the Boots from the north and the south are approaching each other, n Salute of 26 guns will be fired by Major Baisseit's Artillery at the place of meeting; the several milltary companies being there drawn up in line, on the cast bank of the Canal, under the direction of the Marshal of the day.
An moon as the ceremony of the merting af thr boats in cloud, the Ladies will be conducted to the carriages and conveyed to the village.
The proccasion will then be formed under the direction of the Marshal and hle Deputien, and march to the village of West Avun, under military escort, where on Address will be delivered by Fletcher W. Huight, Esq. of Rochester, and a Dinner provided for all persons who wish to partake.
The festis Itles of the day will conclude with a Ball at Mr. Comstock.'s An seaibly Room.
Announcement of celebration of completion of canal to Mount Morris.
4
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
settlement, four miles, and the Dansville branch, eleven miles, was completed in 1841; from the Shakers to Oramel, thirty-six miles, in 1851; from Oramel to Belfast, two miles, in 1853; from Belfast to Rockville, three miles, in 1854; and from Rockville to Olean basin, twenty-four miles, in 1856.
The completion of the canal to Mount Morris in 1840 and to Dansville in 1841, was hailed with demonstrations of the greatest joy by the people of the valley. Early in the summer of 1840 a meeting was held in Rochester to make arrangements for a suitable celebration, and in the fall of that year, in accordance with the previous arrange- ments, the letting of the water into the canal was observed with ap- propriate ceremonies. In 1841, when the canal was opened to Dans- ville, the State scow went through from Rochester with a numerous delegation on board, and a six pounder cannon from which a salute was fired at every village on the route.
In 1857 the Legislature authorized the extension of the Genesee Valley canal from Olean to Mill Grove pond (which connects with the Allegheny river), a distance of six and one-half miles. The engineer's estimate of the cost of this work was $88,500.
The canal was not the only measure of relief proposed by the people of the valley. Other plans for providing suitable means of transportation were suggested, the most important of which was the im- provement of the Genesee river. There were those who believed this a better plan than that of constructing a canal, and until the latter measure was sanctioned by the Legislature and work upon it com- menced they urged their views with great zeal and pertinacity. In 1836 "the inhabitants of Livingston county friendly to improving the navigation of the Genessee river from Rochester to Geneseo or to some point above, as may be found practicable," were invited to meet at the Court House in Geneseo on the 16th of December. "A general attendance is requested, " said the call, "as it is wished to have an in- terchange of views in relation to applying to the Legislature for a mod- ification of the law for constructing the Genesee Valley canal, so far as to leave it discretionary with the Canal Commissioners to substitute
2. Work on these sections was suspended hy act of the Legislature March 29, 1842, hut was suhsequently resumed. The enormous cost of the canal above the original estimates of the engineer proved a great hindrance to the rapid progress of the work, and there is reason to sup- pose that had the State known how great the cost was really to be, it would never have authorized the construction of the canal.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
the river in place of a canal along its banks." The meeting was held and was largely attended by citizens of York, Avon and Geneseo, the southern towns being evidently opposed to the measure. Curtiss Hlaw- ley of Avon was made chairman, and Benjamin F. Angel of Geneseo secretary. George Hosmer presented a series of resolutions, which, after approving speeches by those present, were adopted. These resolutions commended the wise policy which had for years characterized State counsels, by which the benefits of legislation had been extended to all parts of the State, and especially the aid which had been given in opening avenues of trade and commerce, "a policy which had ad- vanced us to a proud and commanding eminence among our sister con- federates, and justly entitled New York to the appellation of the Em- pire State." It was also declared that those composing this gather- ing were in favor of a water communication between the Allegheny river and the Erie canal at Rochester, and that they were friendly to the proposed canal, but that they at the same time believed that if a portion of the Genesee river could be improved and used advantage- ously as a canal, "at a saving of more than a quarter of a million of dollars to the State, and at the same time render greater facilities to trade at a period of interrupted navigation in the spring and fall, when a canal, supplied with water from the summit level of the Genesee Valley canal, would be locked with ice," it should command the ser- ious and candid consideration of the public. The resolutions concluded by urging a modification of the act authorizing the construction of the canal so as to allow the Canal Commissioners to inquire into the expediency of substituting such portions of the river as might prove desirable, in place of the canal, and a committee consisting of Calvin H. Bryan, George Hosmer, Allen Ayrault, Charles Colt, Joseph B. Bloss and Elias Clark was appointed to present these views to the Legislature.
The project, however, does not seem to have had the support of the public, or at least of the people inhabiting the towns south of Geneseo on the proposed route of the canal. Ilence the movers in the enter- prise were unsuccessful, and it was early abandoned. 1
About this time also the question of improving the Allegheny river
1. At this early period railways were too much in their infancy to be regarded with much favor, but at this meeting Mr. Bryan and Mr. Hosmer, in their addresses, suggested that the time might come when a railway along the valley of the Genesee would supercede any other mode of transportation.
1849.
Genesee Valley Line.
The Largo nud Commodions Firight Facket Bouts
PRESIDENT AND HIBERNIA
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Capt. J. L. CLARK. : Mond . W Tt
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"This is "imga ys Satindaya ut,1.
THE HIBERNIA, Capt. IL. B. SHACKLETON,
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For Freight or Passage,
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Time-table of Genesee Valley Canal, 1849.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
from Olean to Pittsburg was seriously discussed, the object being to make a continuous water connection, by way of the Genesee Valley canal and the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, between the Erie canal at Rochester and the river towns on the Mississippi. A number of meetings in behalf of this object were held in the county and the subject was urged upon the attention of Congress.
In 1857 the Legislature authorized the extension of the canal to Mill Grove pond, about six miles beyond Olean, and a small amount of work was done on this improvement, when the work was suspended. In 1858 a new project was broached, that of extending the canal beyond the Allegheny river to certain creeks flowing through rich iron and coal regions. The estimated cost of this improvement was $110,000, while incalculable benefits were expected to be derived from it. It was an unfavorable time, however, to urge the State to engage in any new enterprises of this character, and when it had re- covered sufficiently from the financial crisis of 1857 to warrant it in making any such vast expenditure of public funds as this and other con- templated measures for internal improvement would have demanded, the war came on and monopolized its energies and resources.
With the advent of the railroad the canal had survived its useful- ness, and could not reasonably be sustained in navigable order. While the tolls received never paid the cost of the ordinary repairs and running expenses, much less any interest on the cost of its con- struction, yet it had been of inestimable value to the whole valley which it traversed, and paid indirectly many times its cost. It is scarcely possible to overestimate the influence it had in developing the resources of this part of the State, and it cannot be denied that to a very large degree our remarkable growth and prosperity are due to the facilities afforded by the Genesee Valley canal, and that the State was wise in constructing it. It was officially abandoned in September 1878. On the fifth day of November 1880 the State con- veyed to the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad Company all its right, title and interest in the canal property from Rochester to Mill Grove, with certain reservations, for a consideration of $11,400 (being at the rate of $100 per mile), in pursuance of the provisions of Chapter 326 of the Laws of 1880, the deed reciting that the grantee had given a bond in the sum of $700,000 conditioned for the construction of a railroad along the canal line, as required by the act.
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