USA > New York > Schenectady County > History of the County of Schenectady, N. Y., from 1662 to 1886... > Part 11
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It is a fact not generally known that the route of the canal through this city is entirely different from the course as first laid out by the projectors. The original route was along the Binnekill, near the business portion of the city. Work had even been commenced upon it when, mainly through the personal efforts of Resolved Givens, proprietor of a hotel which stood near or on the site of the present Givens Hotel, the canal commissioners were per- suaded to change the course to the present route. Resolved Givens was the father of William C. Givens, of this city, and a man of considerable in- fluence at this date. The construction of the canal through the central part of the city, together with the destructive fires already mentioned, decided the fate of the lower part of the city as a business center, and this section lost forever the commer- cial importance it had enjoyed for so many years.
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Navigation on the canal has not undergone much change since the early part of its history. The boats of to-day are very similar in appearance, al- though much larger than those used in the early days of canal navigation. As first constructed, the canal was about forty feet wide and four feet deep, but in 1835 the work of enlargement began, which was not completed until 1862, costing over $36, - 000,000. The present dimensions of the canal are seventy feet in width and seven feet in depth. These improvements in the channel of the canal have permitted the use of boats at the present day of the carrying capacity of 300 tons, while the original boats were only able to carry about ninety tons.
The motive power remains substantially the same as when the canal was first opened, most of the boats being propelled by the use of horses. Steam power has only been used since a compara- tively recent period, and although it is a sub- ject of much discussion among canal men, and great improvements have been made, it is a system of canal navigation not generally used.
The completion and successful operation of the Erie Canal gave rise to similar ones elsewhere, and was of vast benefit to the whole country, and to- day, notwithstanding the rapid transportation of merchandise by our great systems of railroads, it continues to be the channel of a wonderful outflow of the agricultural products of the West to the sea- board, and the inflow of the merchandise from the Atlantic ports to the interior.
Until the completion of the railroad the Erie Canal was much used for carrying passengers. Boats used for this purpose were called packets. Even before the entire canal was finished portions of it, as completed, were used. As early as May 31, 1824, a boat named Schenectady commenced to make trips from Albany to Schenectady; leaving Albany in the morning at nine o'clock, it reached Schenectady about noon, and then would start on a return trip on the following morning.
The traveling done on the packet boats was an important feature of the early navigation of the canal, and a great number of boats were used ex- clusively for this purpose along its entire length, yielding a large income. Up to the year 1857 these boats were built and used upon the canal for this purpose, but since this date they have been entirely discarded, having been completely super- seded by the railroads.
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Since 1857 the canal has been used exclusively for carrying merchandise, and during the year 1872 (the year before the great depression in the busi- ness of the country began) the value of the prop- erty that was transported on the canal was $168, -. 000,000, notwithstanding a two-track railway carrying an immense amount of freight was laid parallel to it in its entire length.
The future of this great thoroughfare, of such untold benefit to the early development of this country, cannot be foretold in this period of rapid growth of our vast western territory. But it would seem that the slow method of canal transportation must be improved by new and more rapid meth- ods of locomotion or ultimately give way to the demands for a more speedy transportation.
STAGE LINES.
In the early history of this country, means of communication and facilities for traveling from one place to another were attended not only with great expense, but with difficulty and danger. Until the completion of the Erie Canal, and the limited facilities the Mohawk offered, traveling to and from Schenectady was done by the slow, te- dious and wearisome stage coach.
Communication from New York to the interior prior to the revolution was a matter of the greatest difficulty, and only attempted in cases of most urg-
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NAVIGATION.
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ent necessity, usually taking three weeks to make the round trip. So slender were the facilities and resources of the country that the first mail ever re- ceived at Schenectady was on the 3d day of April, 1763, more than one hundred years after the pat- ent was granted.
Probably the first regular stage started by a Schenectadian was run by Moses Beal in May, 1793. It ran from Albany to Schenectady, Johns- town and Canajoharie once a week. The fare was three cents a mile. The success of this enterprise was so great, that John Hudson, keeping the Schenectady Coffee House, on the southwest cor- ner of Union and Ferry streets, now the property of Madison Vedder, Esq., soon afterward estab- lished a line of stages to run from Albany to Sche- nectady three times a week. John Rogers, of Ballston, ran a line from that place to connect with it, by which a regular communication was first established for the convenience of those who visited the springs. The fare was one shilling to Schenectady; those that continued through were charged three-pence per mile.
In 1794 there were five great post routes cen- tering in Albany-the first to New York, the second to Burlington, Vermont; the third to Brook- field, Massachusetts; the fourth to Springfield, Massachusetts; the fifth route was by the way of Schenectady, Johnstown, Canajoharie, German Flats, Whitestown, Old Fort Schuyler, Onondaga, Aurora, Scipio, Geneva, Canandaigua, and subse- quently extended to Buffalo. The mail on this route was carried once in two weeks. Thomas Powell, Aaron Thorpe and Asa Sprague, of Sche- nectady, were leading proprietors of this last route, under whose management its business grew to im- mense proportions, "so much so," says John San- ders, "that during the war of 1812, it was no un- common sight to witness from eight to twelve stages on the Scotia dyke, leaving or entering Sche- nectady at one time; and in one instance the writer counted fourteen in a continuous line."
The fare from Schenectady to Canajoharie was fourteen shillings, returning twelve shillings, av- eraging four cents per mile. Four cents was the average fare per mile on this route.
In 1795 John Hudson ran two stages, one of four horses and the other of two, daily between Albany and Schenectady, and in March of the next year Ananias Platt went upon the same line, mak- ing four trips a day. At this time there were four public places on the stage line between Schenectady - and Albany: Truax's, four miles from Schenecta- dy; Down's, nine miles; Mckown's, eleven miles; and Humphrey's, fourteen miles.
In 1823, Thomas Powell, of this city, com- menced running daily stages from Schenectady to Troy, fare seventy-five cents each way. From a Schenectady newspaper of May 1, 1823, we find at the close of the advertisement announcing the new enterprise, the following quaint notice:
"N. B .- As this is an establishment entirely new, it is not likely to be very profitable at first; but the proprietor hopes in time, with the assist- ance of his friends, to make it a great accommo-
dation to the public, and merely asks a remunera- tion for necessary expenses."
In 1825 another daily line was started between Schenectady and Troy, and the fare reduced to 6} cents. This includes all the stage lines of impor- tance which had headquarters at Schenectady of which we have any authentic account. The open- ing of the canal in 1825 did away with a greater part of this business in Schenectady, while the completion of railroads closely following sup- planted it entirely. Its tired horses and tired men have been superseded by the iron horse that never tires.
RAILWAYS.
No event in the history of Schenectady has done more to give this ancient city renown abroad than its connection with the enterprise which result- ed in building the first steam passenger railway in the world. True, in 1783 a railroad was construct- ed in France, but it was a crude affair and used only for the transportation of coal. The era of successful operations for the transportation of pas- sengers upon railroads by locomotives propelled by steam dawned a little more than half a century ago, and the fine plain between Schenectady and Albany was the theater of the first genuine passen- ger railroad ever built in the world.
Mr. George W. Featherstonhaugh, an honored and influential citizen of Schenectady, and the father of Geo. W. Featherstonhaugh of this city, was one of the first projectors of this enterprise. As early as 1812 a pamphlet was published explaining the superior advantages of railways and steam car- riages over canal navigation. In 1825, a writer in the Albany Argus urged upon capitalists the abso- lute necessity of their building a railroad from Albany to Schenectady, under the questionable plea that it was the only course to take to prevent Albany going to decay through the rivalry of Troy.
Mr. Featherstonhaugh, in a letter to the Mayor of Albany, said the transportation of prop- erty from Albany to Schenectady was seldom effected in less than two, and sometimes three, days. By railroad, he argued, the communication between the same points could be made, in winter and summer, in three hours, at no greater cost than by canal, paying for sixteen instead of twenty-eight miles. He regarded this experiment, which he believed to be practical, as a test whether this economical mode of transportation would suc- ceed in this country.
The project was brought before the Legislature early in the session of 1826, and a bill to incorpo- rate the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad introduced. On the 10th of March the bill was discussed in the Assembly. It is amusing to read the novel argu- ment, advanced by the men of that day, both pro and con, in regard to the project.
The bill passed the Assembly on the 27th of March, 1826, incorporating the company, with a capital of $300,000, with liberty to increase it to $500,000, and a duration of fifty years, limiting the time for construction to six years. Stephen Van Rensselaer, known as the old patroon, of Albany, and George W. Featherstonhaugh, of this
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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.
city, were the only persons named as directors in the charter.
On the 26th day of June of this year books were offered for subscription to the stock of this road, and the stock was eagerly taken up by capitalists ; but for some cause the company moved slowly, for more than four years elapsed before the road was begun.
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On the 29th of July, 1830, the ceremony of breaking ground for the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad took place near Schenectady with a silver spade by Stephen Van Rensselaer. In September it was announced the stock had risen ten per cent., and the editor of the Albany Daily Advertiser pre- dicted that trains would run from Albany to Sche- nectady in a quarter of an hour, and reach Utica from Albany in four hours. The latter was a somewhat startling prediction at this time, when we consider that the utmost exertions of the stages barely overcame the distance in twelve hours.
By the 25th of July, 1831, twelve months from the time when the ceremony of breaking ground was performed, the road was completed from the junction of the Western turnpike and Lydius street, Albany, to the brow of the hill at Schenec- tady, a distance of twelve and a half miles. Some defects in the first locomotive used, called the De Witt Clinton, prevented a trial before the 3d of August. On this day a trip was made in one hour and forty-five minutes, and on the 10th they ran two trains each way, with coke as fuel, making a part of the trip at the rate of thirty miles an hour.
The passenger cars were simply stage coach bodies placed upon trucks for temporary use, affording seats for fifteen or eighteen persons. August 13 a large company assembled to take a trip on the railroad, but the De Witt Clinton engine, built at the West Point foundry, in New York, proved de- fective in her boiler, and was returned for repairs. At this trial, and in previous ones, coal or coke had been used for fuel, but wood was finally adopted. On the 9th of September the De Witt Clinton was again put upon the rail, and succeed- ed in drawing a train over the road in forty-five minutes. It was not till the 22d of September that the directors advertised to take passengers, although city officials and other dignitaries had passed over the road both by steam and horse power early in August. The road was still uncom- pleted and used only from the junction, as it was called, two miles from the foot of State street, in Albany, from where passengers were taken to the train by stage coaches. The other terminus of the road was still at the bluff overlooking Schenectady, where passengers were again transferred to stages. The distance traversed was less than thirteen miles.
The precise time when the directors of the road felt prepared to crown the success of their labors by a grand excursion, was the 24th of September, 1831. To this demonstration, by invitation, came the State and city officials and a number of emi- nent citizens of New York. The train, drawn by the De Witt Clinton, started off with three cars and returned with five cars, making the return trip in thirty-five minutes.
In January, 1832, the company reported to the Legislature that the amount actually paid and dis- bursed in the construction of the road was $483,- 215, and that $156,693 would be required to com- plete it.
In the spring of 1832 the road was completed throughout its whole line, and the inclined plane being in working order, another grand excursion was given on the 14th of May, extending from the foot of Gansevoort street, Albany, into the heart of Schenectady. The cars were drawn up the in- clined plane by means of a long rope attached to them and to a stationary engine at the top, the whole steadied and balanced by a car loaded with stone descending on the opposite track. This same ceremony was observed at both terminations of the road, occupying much time. The same style of coaches were still used. In the fall of this year a new pattern of car was built at Schenectady, more nearly like those now in use, the architecture of which was modeled from Dr. Nott's parlor stove, and was called the Gothic car.
In 1841 the inclined planes at both ends of the roads were done away with, and locomotives were used on the whole length of the road. The suc- cess of this road, and the advantages of this means of communication, although rudely constructed at great and much needless expense, became so ap- parent, that within three years railroads, duly char- tered by law, were projected in every part of the State.
. The next railroad built in this section was called the Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad, and ran from Schenectady to Saratoga. This company was formed February 16, 1831, and the road was com- pleted and in operation in 1832. This road is now leased and operated by the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad.
In 1835 the Utica and Schenectady road was constructed, and in 1843 the Schenectady and Troy branch was built.
It will be seen at this early date in the history of railroads in this country that Schenectady enjoyed facilities for communication by rail equal to, if not surpassing, any place in the State.
In 1853 a company was formed by consolidating all the railroads then in operation, and some pro- jected roads between Albany and Buffalo, called the New York Central Railroad. This consolida- tion included the Mohawk and Hudson, the Sche- nectady and Troy, and the Utica and Schenectady Railroads. The act allowing the consolidation was passed April 2, 1853, and carried into effect May 17, 1854. This road runs from Albany to Buffalo. It was finished and in operation in 1855.
In 1869 this company consolidated with the Hudson River road, running from Albany to New York, under the corporation name of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, thus opening a road, under the management of one company, extending from the great lakes to the Atlantic seaport.
In 1874 this road from Albany to Buffalo was increased from two tracks to four, making it the only four-track road in the United States.
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FERRIES.
In 1869 the Schenectady and Duanesburgh road was incorporated, with a capital of $150,000, and completed 1873. It runs from Schenectady to Quaker Street, and connects at the latter place with the Albany and Susquehanna road.
In 1866 a road called the Athens Branch was constructed. It runs from Athens to Schenectady, and is now owned and operated by the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad.
In 1883 the New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad was constructed, and runs through the western portion of Schenectady County, having a station at "South Schenectady," about two and a half miles from the city.
This completes but a necessarily brief account of the railroads in Schenectady County, which to- day form the most important business interest of this city, which can almost lay claim to the proud distinction of having been the birth-place of the great railway system of the world.
REUBEN S. ALLEN.
REUBEN S. ALLEN, the hale and hearty old gen- tleman whose features are shown in the accom- panying engraving, was born in Burlington, Vt., in 1823. When a young boy he was apprenticed to Gay & Edwards, of Winouski Falls, to learn the machinist's trade, and readily grasped the details of the business. When he was about seventeen, he was sent by Mr. Gay to Canada, to ride for a month on a locomotive engine plying on a rail- road from St. John to La Prarie, to study its work- ings. This attracted his attention to locomotive engineering, which he was destined to make his life work. At the time Mr. Allen began learning his trade, the science of steam motive power had progressed so little, that there was scarcely a steam engine in the State of Vermont, and during suc- ceeding years, Mr. Allen set up many stationary engines in Vermont, New York State and else- where, in the meantime spending one year on the steamer "Dodger," then plying on Lake Cham- plain. On March 11, 1846, he became a locomo- tive engineer, running an engine on the Whitehall and Saratoga railway. In 1850 he relinquished his place for a similar one on the N. Y. Central road, which he has kept ever since. During this time he has run engines named after every president of the road, beginning with Erastus Corning. In this long period Mr. Allen has never been injured, nor has a brakeman or passenger on his train re- ceived a scratch. Many notable persons have been carried by him, both on his regular trips and spe- cials. About twenty-five years ago he took the Russian fleet from Albany to Niagara in six and a half hours, the first time an engine ever ran so long a distance without long stops. In 1881, he ran William H. Vanderbilt's special train from Syracuse to Albany in the remarkable time of two hours and fifty minutes. Mr. Allen now runs the "flyer," which leaves Albany daily for the West at 12:15 P. M. In 1844, Mr. Allen married Miss Irene Taylor, and their union has been blessed with six children-five of them daughters. All these have
married, and twenty-three little ones say " grand- father " to the subject of our sketch. Mr. Allen has always had good health, and still possesses an iron constitution. His present home is in Sche- nectady. When he retires, as he expects to do March 11, 1886, the fortieth anniversary of the be- ginning of his life on the locomotive, he intends to publish a book relating his varied experiences among railroad men and others. After that is finished, Mr. Allen says he "will go fishing ten years," after which he will be ready to go "over the river." The veteran often receives letters from young engineers asking for advice, which he is al- ways ready to impart in his genial, whole-hearted way.
THOMAS Cox, son of Hugh Cox and Elizabeth Muir, was born in Schenectady, December 14, 1818, his parents having come from Scotland two years previously. He is one of the oldest locomo- tive engineers in the State.
EDWIN WEMPLE was for many years one of the most trusted and skillful engineers of the New York Central Railroad, and is now retired from active service with a competency.
FERRIES.
The first ferry was established, at a very early date in the history of Schenectady, at the north end of Washington street, and continued there to 1768. Some time after it was removed to the north end of Ferry street, which, at the first, terminated at the fort, but this street was afterward carried through to the river, and was called New street. This latter ferry was owned by the Borough of Schenectady, and, as far back as 1795, was leased to Abram Oathout for {50 per year.
In 1790 there was a ferry at the foot of Ferry street, then recently opened to the river, as appears by a mortgage given by Sybrant Van Schaick to Adam S. Vrooman.
In the year 1797 there were three ferries in Schenectady. The first, called the Upper Ferry, was at the foot of Washington street, and kept by Jan Bapt. Van Eps. The second was called the Middle Ferry, was one mile below the Upper Ferry, and kept by Volkert Veeder. The third was called the Lower Ferry, situated a few rods below the Middle Ferry, and was kept by John Bapt. Van Vorst.
The individuals who laid claims to the revenue received at the Upper Ferry were : Jan Bapt. Van Eps, who owned the land on both sides of Washington street ; John Sanders, who owned the opposite bank; and Joseph C. Yates, who owned the land below Van Eps on the same side.
A compromise was effected in this manner : Sanders collected all tolls from the country to the city, and Van Eps and Yates collected from the city to Glenville. There were two boats : one from foot of Washington street, owned by Van Eps, and the other from Governor's lane, owned by Yates. By compromise, the ferry rights of all persons were obtained by the Bridge Company,
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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.
when the Mohawk Bridge was constructed. In 1805 this ferry was called "Van Eps' Ferry."
The " Middle" ferry was discontinued about 1804, as the charter of the Mohawk Bridge Company passed the Legislature about this time, and provid- ed that no ferry should be within one mile of the bridge.
The "Lower Ferry," being without the limits pro- vided in the bridge charter, was continued in various
hands until some time in 185-, or until Volney Freeman built a bridge across the river at this point.
The most western ferry in Schenectady County was established by Harmanus Vedder, twelve miles west of the city. It was called Vedder's ferry until 1835, when it was bought by John Hoffman, and the name changed to Hoffman's ferry. It has borne this name ever since, and is still in operation.
OLD MOHAWK BRIDGE.
BRIDGES.
Probably the first bridge in Schenectady was the bridge over Mill (or Sand) Kil, on Water street. It was called the "Town Bridge" as early as 1701. It is doubtful if there was any bridge over this creek in Washington street until long after.
As early as 1716 there was a bridge across the Sparrebaugh (or Sand Kil), three miles south of Schenectady, at or near the Brandywine Mill, on the old road to Albany. It was known as the Sparrebaugh Bridge.
In 1736 there was a bridge over Poenties Kil, on the " Bouwland," about two miles west of the city, called Johannes Teller's Bridge. In some old deeds it was also called the "Third Bridge."
In 1767 there was a bridge across the Cowhorn Creek, on Albany (now State) street. This was called John Baptist's Bridge. About this same date there was a bridge over Hansen (or Simon Groot's) Kill, on Wart (now Romeyn) street.
But the first bridge of importance and worthy of much note was an elliptic or arched one, built at the foot of State street over the Mohawk. It was begun in 1797, and when nearly completed, the winter following, was upset by the wind, taken down, and rebuilt on piers in 1803.
In 1808 was erected the original Mohawk Bridge across the river at the foot of Washington street. This was a suspension bridge of elegant proportions, built of wood, 900 feet in length, It was designed by the celebrated bridge architect, Theodore Burr, and was pronounced his best effort. Its comple- tion December 6, 1808, was the occasion of a
grand celebration in honor of the event. Gov. Tompkins, State Comptroller, and many other prominent men participated.
This bridge, as remembered by most of our citi- zens, gives no idea of its early appearance of sym- metry and beauty. Its subsequent disfigurement by the addition of several piers, and an unsightly covering over the whole, may have added to its solidity and ultimate preservation, but certainly destroyed all its original elegance of design and execution.
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