History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents, Part 23

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 664

USA > New York > Fulton County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 23
USA > New York > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents > Part 23

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* At ten o'clock the 'Seneca Chief ' with the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, the Buffalo, wes- tern and New York committees on board came down in fine style, and the thunders of cannon proclaimed that the work was done. and the assem- bled multitudes made the welkin ring with shouts of gladness." Sketches of canal scenery were stamped upon earthenware and various implements in commemoration of the great achievement.

As at first constructed, the canal ran through, instead of over the streams which it had to cross, especially in the Mohawk valley, their waters being raised to its level, as near as possible, by dams. This gave a surplus of water in certain localities, and afforded some fine milling privileges. One of this sort was furnished below Canajoharie creek, where John A. Ehle built a saw-mill to avail himself of it. To carry the canal through a stream of any size required upon both shores of the latter, guard locks, with gates, which could be closed during freshets. Considerable difficulty was frequently experienced at such places by a long string of boats accumu- lating on each side of the stream where, at times, they were delayed for several days, during which their crews came to be on familiar, and not al- ways friendly terms. Such delays were sometimes caused by a freshet in the creek injuring the dam. The passage of the first boat across a creek on the subsidence of high water, was a marked event, sometimes drawing a large crowd of people together to witness it. The first thing was to get the boat within the guard lock and close the gate behind it. Then, with a strong team-sometimes doubled-the feat was undertaken. It was always attended with excitement and more or less peril. The greatest difficulty was experienced at Schohaire creek, that being so large ; and on the part- ing of a towline midway of the stream, in several instances, boats were borne by an aggravated current over the dam and into the river-occasionally with loss of life. In such cases, the boats had to go to Schenectady before they could get back into the canal. The passenger packet boats had the precedence in passing locks, and it was readily conceded at creek crossings in freshet times.

This leads us to remark that the canal at the outset, far from being ex- clusively an artery of commerce, as at present, was the fashionable avenue of western travel. The packets were elegantly furnished, set excellent tables, and outstripped the freight boats in speed by their comparative lightness and their three horse teams. The canal. accordingly, furnished the natural route of Lafayette in his grand tour through this part of the country in 1825. In connection with this event occurred an interesting in- cident not hitherto published : While the Marquis was at Johnstown, dur- ing the Revolution, he was entertained at Johnson Hall by Jacob Sammons, who, for about four years of the war, leased the Johnson farm from the Committee of Sequestration. There Thomas Sammons repeatedly met the French nobleman. In the early days of the canal, Thomas Sammons was engaged in boating on the great highway. He occasionally accom- panied one of his hoats to Albany, returning, sometimes, on the canal,

though oftener by land. Arriving one day at Schenectady with a boat from Albany, accompanied by his boy Simeon-now for many years so widely and well known as Colonel Sammons-he was surprised to find the main street of the town streaming with flags, gay with flowers, and lined and carpeted with evergreens. Mr. Sammons was not long in learning that the staid old place had put on this holiday attire for the fitting reception of Lafayette, who was expected to reach Schenectady that day in his journey through the grateful country which so well honored its illustrious visitor. It need hardly be said that Mr. Sammons resolved to await his coming, confident that he could obtain not only the sight of the great Frenchman that would be vouchsafed to the crowd, but audience with him.

Information arrived, however, that Lafayette would not reach Schenectady until the next day and the disappointed patriot resumed his voyage, consol- ing himself and his son with the assurance that they would see the Mar- quis at Fultonville. Their opportunity was not so long deferred. The Sammons craft, in due time, came to the point of crossing Schoharie creek. Where boats now sail high, if not dry above that stream, over a mas- sive aqueduct, they then ran through it as above described, the team cross- ing on a narrow towing bridge. Mr. Sammons' boat was at the crossing when the packet conveying the illustrious Frenchman bore down upon it, decked with streamers and evergreens, even the harness of the horses brist- ling with flags. A jubilant crowd upon the tow-path, horseback and on foot, kept abreast of the coming boat. Sammons was exhorted to hurry across the creek and out of the way, that there might be no unnecessary delay to the progress of nobility. He, seeing his opportunity, hastened to comply, and landing with his son, came back to the towing bridge from which he was able to board the packet as it arrived.

Stepping to the door of the forward cabin they were met by the captain who sternly demanded their object. Learning it, he stoutly forbade their entering, saying that the Marquis was resting, and could be disturbed. Mr. Sammons, who was a resolute man and far too intent upon his errand to allow himself to be balked in it at that stage, promptly convinced the cap- tain that he was going in ; but young Simeon was so overawed by the doorkeeper's menacing attitude, that he would have remained without, and the event would have had no narrator, had not his father turned back, taken him by the hand and led him into the cabin.

Lafayette was reclining on a couch with his head upon his hand. As his visitors stepped up to him, he looked Mr. Sammons in the face for an instant, and then springing to his feet, grasped both his hands in his own, and with bis eyes sparkling with animation, eagerly asked : " Where have I seen you before ? I have met you somewhere." "At Johnson Hall," re- plied Mr. Sammons ; and as the Marquis with the rapidity of thought re- called his sojourn at the old Johnstown mansion, his next question was : "Is your brother Jacob living ?" and his next, when told that that much tried patriot had passed away : "Is that good woman his wife, alive ?" Being told that she was, and was living in Onondaga county, the Marquis made a hasty note of the fact.

Here the captain had the pleasure of warning Mr. Sammons that if he did not leave the boat, he would not have another chance. "Hold the boat !" cried Lafayette, and the packet was actually stopped until the in- terview was ended, when Mr. Sammons stepped ashore, as may well be sup- posed, a proud and happy man, and his son a proud and happy boy, no doubt, or he would never have told the story with such readiness and spirit when on the down hill side of life. On arriving at Syracuse, Lafay- ette had the committee of reception bring Mrs. Sammons before him, and gave her a purse containing ten guineas, telling her not to open it until she reached home.

The canal early became taxed beyond its capacity, and the necessity of enlarging it was made apparent. By an act passed in May, 1835, the canal commissioners were authorized to have this work performed, including the construction of double locks, as fast as they should judge advisable. Un- der this act, the enlargement was begun and carried on with more or less activity for more than a quarter of a century before it was completed throughont. In its re-construction, the canal, instead of passing through streams, was carried over them by aqueducts, thus obviating the trouble that had occurred in times of high water. It was reduced in length to 350 1-2 miles, and increased in breadth to seventy feet at the surface, and fifty-two and a half at the bottom, while the depth of water was increased to seven feet. The cost of the enlargement was over $30,000,000. The results of the canal in facilitating communication and commerce, and stimulating

THE UTICA AND SCHENECTADY RAILROAD.

the growth of towns along its line, are before the people and need not be commented upon.

CHAPTER XX.

EARLY RAILROADING IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY-THE UTICA AND SCHENEC- TADY AND NEW YORK CENTRAL LINES.

Scarcely was the Erie Canal completed throughout its whole extent, and equipped with boats for the transportation of passengers and merchandise, when its splendors, which had aroused so much enthusiasm, were threat- ened with eclipse by the institution of railroads. The first charter granted by the Legislature of New York, for the building of a railroad, was given to the Mohawk and Hudson River Railroad Company, which proposed to build a road from Albany to Schenectady. This, the pioneer railway of the State, and the second of any importance in the Union, was finished in 1831. It was rudely built and equipped. The rails were like those of a horse railroad, and at first indeed horses were the motor, except that at the summits of the higher hills, stationary engines were planted to draw up and let down the cars by ropes. The passenger cars were modeled after the stage coach of the day, being hung on leather thorough-braces and having seats both inside and out. A lever attached to the truck, was operated by downward pressure as a brake.

Steam came into use on the road in its first year. The first locomotive was one imported from England, called " John Bull," weighing but four tons. The advantages of this mode of transit even in its infantile stage were apparent, and other railroads were projected. Their charters pro- vided for the appraisement of property taken for the use of a railroad com- pany, named the commissioners for receiving subscriptions, and sometimes those for surveying and locating the line.

It was not to be supposed that Schenectady would long remain the ter- minus of a road pointing up the Mohawk valley toward the growing west. Enterprising men very soon resolved on its extension among the thriving villages created by the tide of westward emigration ; and in 1833, a charter was granted for the construction of the Utica and Schenectady Railroad. The original capital of the company, $2,000,000, more than sufficed for the building and equipment of the road, and the enterprise proved conspicu- ously successful. The first board of directors consisted of Erastus Corn- ing, John Townsend, Lewis Benedict, James Porter, Alonzo C. Paige, Tobias A. Stoughtenburgh, Nathaniel S. Benton, Nicholas Devereaux, Henry Seymour, Alfred Munson, James Hooker, John Mason and Churchill C. Cambreling. Corning was first President; Porter, Secretary ; Win. C. Young, Chief Engineer, and on the completion of the road Superintendent, and Gidcon Davidson, Commissioner. One of the provisions of the charter was, that each county through which the road passed, must be represented by one or more of its citizens in the board of directors ; under this regula- tion, Tobias A. Stoutenburgh was chosen from Montgomery county. The original charter also fixed the maximum fare at four cents per mile, and re- quired the company to sell out to the State after ten and within fifteen years if the State desired to purchase.

The work of construction went on with rapidity, and on the ist of August, 1836, the road was opened for the conveyance of passengers. That August day was an event in the valley, both in itself, and in its foreshadowings. The long excursion train was packed with delighted passengers, and each station furnished yet other crowds seeking places in the overflowing cars. The train made slow progress, but eager and curious eyes watched the iron monster that puffed its murky breath, and hissed through its brazen throat. A. indicting the deep interest felt in the occasion, we may mention that a lady confined to her bed by illness, near the route of the road in the village of Amsterdam, by an ingenious arrangement of looking glasses was enabled to see the train move past.

At this time the idea of carrying freight was not entertained. The char- ter forhade it, consequently no preparations for the transmission of mer- chandise had been made by the company. The desire of the superinten- dent seemed to be to confine the business of the road to carrying passen- Kers. The occasion for handling freight, however, of course arose on the « losing of the canal in 1836. On the very day that the frost stopped nav- gation, in that year, a German family wishing to convey their effects from Palatine Bridge to Schenectady, were permitted to ship them on a car, and

this, it may be said, was the beginning of the way freight business of the Central Railroad. The conductor in this case having no tariff of rates to guide him, made the rather exorbitant charge of fourteen dollars. The Legislature in 1837 authorized the company to carry freight, and subse- quently made the regulation, allowing passengers to have a specified amount of baggage carried free of charge. The first freight cars were called " stage wagons."

Improvements were made in track and rolling-stock at an early day in the history of the Utica and Schenectady road. We have said that the rails were originally like those of the present street railroads-namely, sticks of timber with bands of iron spiked upon them, called "strap rails." The irons had a tendency to work loose at the ends and turn up, forming what were called "snake-heads," which were ready, on catching the bot- tom of a car, to spear the passengers or throw the train from the track. The first improvement in passenger cars consisted in building frame bodies, somewhat ornamented, and placing them on four-wheeled trucks. Each car was divided by partitions into three compartments, seating eight persons apiece, and entered by a door on either side. The conductor traversed a plank tunning along the side of the car, and holding on to an iron over the door of each section reached in for the fares.

At first no time tables governed the running of the trains. One would leave Utica at a specified hour each week-day morning, and get to Sche- nectady when it could, returning on the same plan. For a long time after the completion of the road there were few station agents, and freight con- ductors had to hunt up patrons at each stopping place where merchandise was to be left, and collect the charges. Freight trains ran about eight miles an hour; passenger trains about twenty, or less. Time and expe- rience gradually brought order and exactness into every department of business on this line, and it enjoyed almost unexampled prosperity.

In the spring of 1853, the Legislature passed an act for the consolida- tion of roads then in operation, and some only projected, between Albany and Buffalo, to form the New York Central. This was effected a few weeks later. The new company had a capital of $23,085,600. The Utica and Schenectady was, of course, one of the companies absorbed by it. One of its original directors, who remained such up to the time of the consolidation, states, that at that time "the stock capital of the company was $4.500,000, on which the shareholders received fifty per cent. premium in six per cent. bonds of the consolidated company, equal, at par, to $2,475,000; and how much of the two and a-half millions of increase to the original two millions was made up by extra dividends in the old com- pany, and how much of surplus has been and will be paid by the trustees to the stockholders of the company, I need not name to make good the assertion that the Utica and Schenectady Company has turned out the most successful of modern railway enterprises." The growth of business on this road is evidenced by the fact that its second track was laid before it became part nf the New York Central.

The ambition of each railway magnate as the actual and prospective greatness of the West became apparent, was the control of a through line from the seaboard which could make sure of its share of the transport- ation for the great grain regions and populous cities so rapidly developing. Cornelius Vanderbilt's first step in this direction was the consolidation for five hundred years of the Hudson River Railroad with the New York Central, which took place under an act passed by the Legislature in May, 1869, the line taking the name of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. The immense business in the transportation of freight commanded by this road required that its freight trains should have tracks to themselves, and made it at once necessary and profitable to double the already large capacity of the line from Buffalo to Albany, where much of its traffic is diverted toward New England. This was accomplished by the construction of third and fourth tracks between those cities, which were completed in the autumn of 1874, giving this portion of the line a greater capacity than is possessed by any road in the country

The almost incalculable advantages to be derived from railroad facilities are offered at their best to the inhabitants of the Mohawk valley. The creation of points of sale and shipment for agricultural produce increases the value of farm property, and Montgomery county everywhere shows, in its rich, well cultivated farms and fine buildings, the benefits of home mar- kets and the highest facilities for transportation. The villages which by the Central Railroad are placed within an hour and a-half of Albany and six or seven of New York, are far more nearly equal to those cities in their advantages as homes than they could be without it, while possessing their

THE HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

own class of attractions, and thus are assured of a solid growth and development. To arrest or seriously delay the conveyance of what now comes and goes so promptly by mail and express would be to take away much of what constitutes civilization, and remand the community thus afflicted to comparative barbarism.

CHAPTER XXI.

AGRICULTURE IN SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON'S TIME-HISTORY OF THE MONT- . GOMERY COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

The earliest stage of agriculture in the Mohawk valley was that in which the squaws cultivated corn, beans and squashes, or pumpkins, on the river flats adjacent to the Mohawk castles. The interests of agricul- ture, however, received very early attention from the Dutch colonists. Though the very first of them who penetrated the wildernesses along the rivers were traders, the majority of the pioneers were, of course, farmers. There is record of a fair or cattle show at the settlement on Manhattan Island as early as 1641. Agriculture received legislative notice and encouragement in 1692, by the passage of an ordinance providing for hold- ing fairs and markets in each county of the province, which remained unrepealed until after the organization of the State government. These early markets were competitions for custom rather than for premiums. The various farm products were arranged in close proximity, so that their comparative excellence could be readily decided by the purchaser, and thus a very effective spur to the efforts of producers was afforded. The expenses incurred in such displays and sales were defrayed by a tax on the commodities, equally shared by the buyer and seller. Efforts for the improvement of agriculture in the colony during a century of English con- trol would seem to have been none too successful, judging from the fol- lowing picture of the state of that great industry, which is part of a letter from Sir William Johnson to the English Society for the Promotion of the Arts, dated Johnson Hall, February 27, 1765:

"The state of Agriculture in this country is very low, and in short likely to remain so to the great Detriment of the Province, which might otherwise draw many resources from so extensive and valuable a Country, but the turn of the old settlers here is not much calculated for improvement, con- tent with the meer necessaries of Life, they don't chuse to purchase its su- perfluities at the expence of Labour neither will they hazard the smallest matter for the most reasonable prospect of gain, and this principle will probably subsist as long as that of their equality, which is at present at such a pitch that the conduct of one neighbor can but little influence that of another.

"Wheat which in my opinion must shortly prove a drug, is in fact what they principally concern themselves about and they are not easily to he convinced that the Culture of other articles will tend more to their advan- tage. If a few of the Machines made use of for the breaking of hemp was distributed amongst those who have Land proper for the purpose it might give rise to the culture of it-or if one only properly constructed was sent as a model, it might Stir up a spirit of Industry amongst them, but Seed is greatly wanted, & Cannot be procured in these parts, and the Germains who are the most Industrious people here) are in general in too low circumstances to concern themselves in anything attended with the smallest Expence, their l'lantations being as yet in their infancy, & with regard to the old Settlers amongst the Germans who live farther to the Westward, they have greatly adopted the sentiments of the rest of the in- habitants. The country Likewise labours under the disadvantage of nar- row, and (in many places) bad roads, which would be still worse did I not take care that the inhabitants, laboured to repair them according to law. The ill Condition of Public roads is a Great obstruction to husbandry, the high wages of labouring men, and the great number of tepling houses are likewise articles which very much want Regulation. These disagreeable circumstances must for some time retard the Progress of husbandry; I could heartily wish I had more leisure to attend to these necessary articles of improvements to promote which my Influence and Example should not he wanting. I have formerly had prase very well split at my mills, and 1 shall set the same forward amongst the people as far as I can, I have' Luke- wise sent for Collections of many Seeds, and usefull graisses which I shall Encourage them to raise, and from the great wants of stork. even for home use, & Consumption, I am doing all I can to turn the intention of the in-

habitants to raising these necessary articles, for the purchase of which, a good deal of cash has hither to been annually carried into the N. England Collonies.

. "Before I set the Examples, no farmer on the Mohock River ever raised so much as a single Load of Hay, at present some raise above one Hun- dred, the like was the case in regard to sheep, to which they were intire strangers until I introduced them, & I have the Satisfaction to see them at present possess many other articles, the result of my former Labors for promoting their welfare and interests. my own Tenants amounting to about 100 Families are not as yet in circumstances to do much, they were settled at great Expence and hazard during the heat of the [ French] War, and it was principally (I may venture to affirm, solely) owing to their resi- dence & mine, that the rest of the inhabitants did not all abandon their settlements at that Distressful Period; But tho' my Tennants are consider- ably in my Debt, I shall yet give them all the assistance I can for encour- aging any usefull Branches of Husbandry, which I shall contribute to pro- mote thro'out the rest of the country to the utmost of my power, and Communicate to you any material article which may occur upon that Sub- ject."

The Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, Arts and Manufactures was established in 1793 In 1801 this society, for convenience of action, divided the State into agricultural districts, each consisting of a county. A secretary was appointed in each district, whose duty it was to convene the members of the society within his county, learn the state of agriculture and manufactures therein, and report to the president of the society. Several years after this arrangement was made premiums were offered for the best specimens of home-made cloth, and were awarded partly by the general authority of the society, and partly by county judges ap- pointed by it.

By an act of the Legislature, in 1819, for the improvement of agricul- ture, a board of officers was created and an appropriation made for two years, which was to be distributed among the different counties of the State for the advancement of agriculture and domestic manufactures, on the condition that the counties themselves subscribed an equal sum. This advance on the part of the State was met with indifference generally, and no permanent results were secured by it. The present agricultural society of the State was formed in 1832, but not by Legislative action. No appropriation was made in its favor until its re-organization in 1841, when measures were taken for raising funds and holding annual fairs. In the spring of that year $40,000 was appropriated, partly to the State society, and partly for division among the counties in proportion to their repre- sentation in the Assembly.

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History of Montgomery and Fulton counties, N.Y. : with illustrations and portraits of old pioneers and prominent residents, Part 23

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 664

Author: Beers, F.W., & co., New York, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: New York : F.W. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 664