USA > New York > Orange County > Newburgh > Newburgh; her institutions, industries and leading citizens, historical, descriptive and biographical > Part 44
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THE NEWBURGH BRANCH OF THE NEW YORK, LAKE ERIE AND WESTERN RAILWAY extends from Newburgh to a junction with the main line at Greycourt, eighteen miles distant. It is a direct route to the Pennsylvania coal fields, Binghamton, Elmira, Buffalo, Dunkirk, Cleveland, Springfield, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis. The Branch passes through a rich dairy section of Orange
NEW YORK, LAKE ERIE & WESTERN RAILROAD DEPOT.
THE WEST SHORE RAILROAD extends from Weehawken, opposite New York City, along the west shore of the Hudson, through the business section of Newburgh, to Albany, and west across the State to Buffalo. At Weehawken it connects with the Pennsylvania Railroad system, at Newburgh with the Erie and the New York and New England systems, and at Buffalo with the Grand Trunk and the Lake Shore for the West. At Newburgh the West Shore has, besides its passenger station, a large freight yard at the south end, on the
County, and through several villages contributary to Newburgh. It is also the connecting link to a number of other roads in the immedi- ate vicinity of Newburgh, namely: the Lehigh and Hudson, the Cen- tral New England and Western, the Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie and Boston, the Montgomery and Erie and the Wallkill Valley. Orange County is literally covered with a network of rails, so that every one of the large number of villages in the county has railroad connection with Newburgh. An immense freight traffic passes over
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NEWBURGH.
the Newburgh Branch. It carries most of the western freight that reaches New England over the New York and New England system, and brings to the Hudson coal from all the coal fields of Pennsylvania. The Erie Railroad Company's facilities in Newburgh are very ex- tensive. On the river-front they have their freight and passenger depots, a large switch-yard and the New England transfer; at the west end they have another switch-yard, a round-house, etc., and at the south end another yard for handling coal trains in connection with the Pennsylvania Coal Company. Eight passenger trains arrive and depart daily over the Branch.
THE NEWBURGH AND NEW YORK RAILROAD extends from Newburgh to a junction with the main line of the New York, Lake Erie and Western at Newburgh Junction, distance fifteen miles. This road passes through a number of Orange County villages con- tributary to Newburgh. Through trains run between Newburgh, Tuxedo, Paterson, Passaic and Jersey City. Twelve passenger trains arrive at and depart from Newburgh daily.
THE NEW YORK CENTRAL AND HUDSON RIVER RAIL- ROAD. This is one of the great Vanderbilt system of roads, and extends from New York City, along the east shore of the Hudson, to Albany, and thence across the State to Buffalo. A fer- ry from the foot of Second Street, Newburgh, runs directly to the station on the opposite side of the river, so that passengers are under cover from the moment they enter the station till they reach Front Street in this city. The ferry makes close connections with all trains. The railroad has an agent and offices in Newburgh, and a freight house for receiving and delivering freight. There are twenty-one passenger trains daily.
WEST SHORE RAILROAD DEPOT.
THE NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND RAILROAD extends from Newburgh (railroad ferry across the river) to Danbury, Waterbury, Hartford, Willimantic, Springfield, Worcester, New London, Provi- dence and Boston. This road connects with the New York Central, the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut, the Harlem, the New York and Northern, the Housatonic, and for all points in the New England States. The company has large terminal facilities on the opposite side of the river. Six passenger trains arrive and depart daily, except Sundays.
THE NEWBURGH, DUTCHESS AND CONNECTICUT RAILROAD extends from Newburgh (railroad ferry across the river) to Millerton, and connects with the New York Central, the New York and New England, the Clove Branch, the New York and Massa- chusetts, and the Central New England and Western. It has terminal facilities, repair shops, etc., at Dutchess Junction, opposite Newburgh. Eleven trains arrive and depart daily.
THE NEW YORK. ONTARIO AND WESTERN RAILWAY (via Cornwall-on-Hudson), for Campbell Hall, Middletown, the coal fields, Summer resorts in Sullivan and Delaware Counties, Norwich,
Oneida, Oswego, and the North and West. This line extends from a junction with the West Shore Railroad, four miles south of Newburgh station, to Oswego on Lake Ontario, with branches to Ellenville, Car- bondale and Scranton, Delhi, Edmeston, Utica and Rome. Between Weehawken and Cornwall it uses the same tracks as the West Shore. Ten passenger trains arrive at and depart from Cornwall daily.
THE LEHIGH AND HUDSON RIVER RAILWAY (via New- burgh Branch). This road, extending from a junction with the Newburgh Branch and the Erie main line at Greycourt to Belvidere, N. J., is operated as a part of the system controlled by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Control of the Lehigh & Hudson was ob- tained for the purpose of furnishing the New Jersey Central Road and its allied lines, the Philadelphia and Reading Road and the Le- high Coal and Navigation Company, with a short and direct route to New England by the railroad ferry at Newburgh, or by the bridge at Poughkeepsie. As a part of the programme for opening up a new short-cut line for railroad traffic between Philadelphia and Harris- burgh and the adjacent regions and New England, the parties in- terested in the New Jersey Central combination have built the Orange County Railroad, the seven-mile link which connects the Lehigh and Hudson Road at Grey- court with the Central New England Road near Campbell Hall, and the Poughkeepsie bridge.
There are several other railroads that, while not strictly Newburgh roads, are within the immediate vicinity, centering at Campbell Hall, and pass- ing through a district contributary to New- burgh in a commercial way. These are the Pennsylvania, Pough- keepsie and Boston, the Central New England and Western, the Mont- gomery and Erie and the Wallkill Valley railways.
With so many rail- roads Newburgh has every desirable conveni- ence for freighting and traveling. The railroad traffic across the Hudson is heavy. The mammoth iron steamer William T. Hart is constantly engaged in transferring trains from shore to shore. Besides this boat there is the regular line of ferries, carrying both passengers and freight. The New York Central brings thousands of tons of merchandise yearly by this route. A large traffic is carried on with the Newburgh, Dutchess and Connecticut, partly by the transfer steamer and partly in barges. Important items in this traffic are iron ore from the mines in Dutchess County, and coal and pig iron from Penn- sylvania. Going East between the Erie and the New York and New England the bulk of the traffic is grain and dressed meat from the West, coal from Pennsylvania and fruit and canned goods from the Pacific coast. Westward between the two roads goes a great deal of sugar, as well as general merchandise and manufactures from eastern factories. In Sum- mer and Fall fruit is shipped from the Hudson Valley to Boston and other cities. A great amount of freight is changed from cars to boats, and vice versa, coal, lumber and ores being the principal commodities.
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NEWBURGH.
NAVIGATION.
The Hudson River, notwithstanding the advent of the railroads, is still an important auxiliary to the commerce of the city. One of the most useful purposes served by the river, in addition to the share it bears in the actual business of transportation, is the effect which it has in maintaining freight rates on the railroads at a reasonable figure.
The Hudson is one of the most-if not the most-important rivers in the United States. It is a broad, deep, sluggish stream. Its hanks are elevated and picturesque throughont nearly its whole course. It is one of the principal channels of communication between the East and the West. Upon its broad bosom float the products of the great grain fields of the West, of the deep mines of the Alleghanies, and of the dark forests of Canada. It is connected with the Great Lakes by the Erie Canal, with Lake Champlain by the Champlain Canal, with the Delaware and the coal regions by the Delaware and Hudson Canal. It is an everlasting competitor for almost every important rail route east of the Mississippi.
The river holds on its banks many towns, some great, some small, between which there is a large interchange of merchandise. Within
made with all trains. This ferry was established in 1743. Sail and row-boats were used till 1816, when a horse-boat was built. Since 1828 steamboats have been used. The Union, the last wooden boat, was burned at the foot of Washington Street, October 1, 1878. The City of Newburgh was then built at Ward, Stanton & Co.'s, in this city, and a few years later the Fishkill-on-Hudson, at the same yard. Mrs. Frances E. L. Ramsdell has owned the ferry since 1850, when her father, Thomas Powell, made a deed of gift to her. The ferry has always been maintainedi in an excellent manner.
THE HOMER RAMSDELL TRANSPORTATION COM-
PANY. Nightly line of steamers to New York, carrying passengers and freight. The iron propellers Newburgh and Homer Ramsdell are used on this line, with the side-wheel steamer James T. Brett as a spare boat. A boat leaves Newburgh every evening at 7, and an- other leaves New York at 5. Up to 1886 the barges Susquehanna and Charles Spear were used on this line. In 1881 Mr. Ramsdell pur- chased the propeller Andrew Harder, which had been running as a freight boat between Newburgh and New York; rebuilt it, changed the name to the Philip D. Lefever, and ran it for several years as a Saturday night boat to New York. In 1886 the Lefever replaced
THE "ERIE RAILROAD YARD."
a few miles north and south of Newburgh are twelve or fifteen vil- lages, for which our city is the natural mart. The local traffic of the Hudson is represented mainly by the lines of steamboats. Some of the steamboats carry both freight and passengers, others only passen- gers. The through freight traffic is carried mostly in canal boats which are towed in long "strings " by powerful steamers. Boats are dropped off or taken on, usually without stopping, by the aid of independent tug-boats. In addition to these tows, two are made up each evening at Newburgh, one going north and the other south. Extra large coasting vessels are towed separately.
Not many years ago a large proportion of the freight on the river was carried by white-winged sloops and schooners. While a con- siderable number are still in the service, they are but a remnant com- pared with the great number that once sailed the river.
The following regular lines of steamboats are engaged in the Newburgh trade:
THE NEWBURGH AND FISHKILL FERRY. The iron steam- ers City of Newburgh and Fishkill-on-Hudson are engaged on this route. They are not run at the same time, except when there is a rush of travel. There is a large ferry-house on either side of the river. Both freight (in trucks) and passengers are carried. Close connections are
the barge Charles Spear, which had been put on the line in 1870, and on June 14 of the same year the new iron propeller New- burgh was put on the route in place of the barge Susquehanna, which was built by Powell, Ramsdell & Co. in 1851. The Newburgh was built by Neafie & Levy, on the Delaware. In 1887 the iron pro- peller Homer Ramsdell replaced the Lefever. The Ramsdell was built at T. S. Marvel & Co.'s shipyard at Newburgh.
THE NEWBURGH AND ALBANY LINE. The steamers M. Martin and Jacob H. Tremper leave Newburgh alternately every morning, except Sunday, at 7.30, carrying freight and passengers. This line of steamboats was established in 1835. The Martin has been on this line since 1866. In 1885 the new steamer Jacob H. Tremper took the place of the steamer Eagle, which was burned at Milton, August 2, 1884. Captain Henry Fairbanks, for twenty-eiglit years connected with the line, died July 3, 1884. Captain Rogers, also for many years on the line, died a few months afterward.
THE NEWBURGH AND HAVERSTRAW LINE, steamer Emeline, Captain D. C. Woolsey, leaves Newburgh every afternoon at 3 o'clock (except Sunday) for Haverstraw and intermediate points, car- rying freight and passengers. This line dates from 1844, when Cap-
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NEWBURGH.
tain Samnel Beard, of Caldwells, put the little steamer Isabella on the route. Captain Woolsey's connection with the line began in 1874, when he purchased the steamer L. Boardman, then in the service, from Captain Stark Lewis, of Sing Sing. In 1881 the Boardman was rebuilt and rechristened the River Belle, and the following year the Emeline was purchased. The River Belle was kept as a substitute till 1887, when it was sold.
THE TRANS-HUDSON RAILROAD FERRY, steamer Wil- liam T. Hart, Captain Oliver H. Clark. Railroad cars only.
THE NEW YORK AND ALBANY DAY LINE, steamers New York and Albany. Leave Newburgh for Albany at 12.25 p. m., and for New York at 2.15 p. m., carrying passengers only.
THE MARY POWELL STEAMBOAT COMPANY, steamer Mary Powell, for New York, every morning (except Sunday) at 7.30. returning in the evening. Passengers only.
THE NEW YORK AND RONDOUT NIGHT LINE, steamers James W. Baldwin and William F. Romer, carrying freight and pas- sengers.
THE NEWBURGH AND POUGHKEEPSIE LINE, steamer Hudson Taylor, landing at all intermediate points.
Besides the above named there are various craft engaged in freight- ing or towing exclusively-sail vessels, barges and tugboats. The
our wholesalers and manufacturers cargoes from any part of the coun- try without breaking bulk.
It would seem that Newburgh has every desirable facility as a re- ceiving and distributing point. It has great advantages both for com- merce and manufacturing. Our wholesalers can receive their supplies as cheaply as those in New York-in fact cheaper, because most of them can unload from the cars or boats directly into their storehouses, thus saving cartage and lighterage. Our manufacturers have also the benefit of cheap coal, and both have low rents and low taxation.
CHEAP FREIGHT RATES.
Shippers will understand what is meant when we say that New- burgh is a New York-rate point. That is, it is given the same rates on through freights by the railroads that New York City obtains. Freight can be shipped from Newburgh to any competing point as cheaply as from New York City. Generally large shippers obtain special rates from the railroads. Between local points, the water craft compete with the railroads and make the rates very reasonable to all points along the river.
NEWBURGH'S COAL TRAFFIC.
Newburgh has become the principal gateway for the great traffic between the Pennsylvania coal fields and the New England States,
NEWBURGH-FROM THE RIVER OPPOSITE THE LONG DOCK.
Pennsylvania Coal Company have a great number of boats in their service. In the Summer season many excursion boats come here, us- ually two steamers from New York every Sunday, and many others from other points during the season.
"Thus favored," says a Board of Trade publication, " through natural lines of water communication with Albany, New York and the Atlantic coast by the Hudson River, Buffalo, Detroit and Chica- go via the Erie Canal and the lakes, with Lake Champlain, Montreal and St. Lawrence by the Champlain Canal, and with the iron mines and coal fields of Pennsylvania by the Delaware and Hudson Canal, we can summon by an electric impulse on a short notification a cargo of lumber from Canada, of flour and grain of any description from the West, of coal, slate, and iron from Pennsylvania, of brick, cement and flagstones from nearer points, to be delivered without breaking bulk at one of the wharves on the eastern front of our city at almost nominal rates for transportation." Likewise, the railroads can bring
which consumes over six million tons annually. Previous to the ex- tension of the New York and New England Railroad to Newburgh there had long been an effort by certain interests to get coal into New England cities and towns by rail, without having to tranship it from cars into boats, and then again into cars at certain of the ports along the Sound, or on the Atlantic coast. Coal was sent all the way around via Troy and Albany into Springfield and many of the towns of Massachusetts. It was like going around three sides of a barn to get there in that fashion; still there was quite a trade, at high cost, developed. Then coal was handled at Dutchess Junction, opposite Newburgh, from boats into cars in a small way. Not till the estab- lishment of the railroad ferry at Newburgh was a direct all-rail route secured.
This direct line is a connecting link between the producer and the consumer. Every coal field in the State of Pennsylvania has railway outlets, more or less direct, to Newburgh. From the Wyoming field there are the Pennsylvania Coal Company's road (the Erie and
NEWBURGH.
225
Wyoming) and the New York, Lake Erie and Western, which is also a producer on its own account. Both of these roads ship direct to Newburgh.
The Lehigh coal field is served by the Pennsylvania Rail- road, by the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and by the New Jersey Central Railroad. The coal destined for New England comes over the roads of these several companies to Phillipsburgh, N. J., and thence over the Lehigh and Hudson to the Newburgh Branch.
The Schuylkill coal field is served by the Philadelphia and Reading, by the Lehigh Valley and the Pennsylvania Railroad companies. These lines all have connections leading to Phillips- burgh, as stated above.
On arriving at the river-front the cars are at once run upon the transfer-boat and quickly ferried across. The river is only about a mile wide, and the boat runs day and night, so that trains are changed from side to side of the river without any appreciable delay. Then the roads coming in to Fishkill dis- tribute it throughout the Eastern States. The Newburgh ferry now transfers the cars as fast as the railroads can handle them. 'There is of course no limit to the number of steamers that could be put on here, if the railroads should be increased.
It is beyond all question the most economical all-rail route between the coal fields and the East. Coal pays toll wherever handled, and therefore the fewer handlings the less expense. Freights are the main item in the cost of coal. Coal sent east via Newburgh passes over but two roads from the time it is received from the producer till it is laid down in Hartford, Springfield, Worcester, Providence, Waterbury, Norwich or Boston.
But that which we have outlined above is only one part of the traffic. Newburgh is one of the largest depots for coal in the country. It is the nearest tide-water point to the coal mines. It has been the principal distributing point for the Pennsylvania Coal Company since 1863. They have a very large plant, including great piers, basins, switch-yard, storage- pockets, stationary engines and locomotives for hanling cars, boat yard, offices, etc. About three hundred men are employ- ed. The mines are at Dunmore, whence the coal is hauled over the coal company's road (the Erie and Wyoming) to the Erie tracks at Hawley, whence it is brought straight to New- burgh.
On arriving here the cars are run out on the high piers, and the coal is dumped directly into boats lying alongside of the piers. The company owns a great number of canal boats, as well as railroad cars. Coal is shipped from here to various parts of the northern country. "Whalebacks " and other great barges and vessels carry coal to all ports on the Long Island Sound and the New England coast. Long strings of canal boats leave daily, going north and south. Some of the boats are dropped off at towns along the river. At Hudson, Troy and Albany considerable is put into cars for eastern towns. Other boats go west on the Erie canal to Buffalo, and from there coal is re-shipped to Lake points. Boats from the West with grain and lumber carry coal on their return trip through the canal. All coal shipped from Newburgh is screened as it is delivered on the vessels, and from the screenings several thousand tons of coal dust is sold annually to brickmakers in the vicinity.
AN ELEVATOR PROJECT.
In February, 1887, a company was organized in this city, with a capital of $100,000, for the erection of a grain elevator. Nearly three-fourths of the capital was subscribed and ten per cent. paid in. The difficulty of obtaining a site was the great obstacle opposing the fulfilment of the company, and the cause of its temporary disbandment.
From data collected and presented it was esteemed an en- terprise important to the business attainments of the city, and
THE PENNSYLVANIA COAL COMPANY'S DEPOT.
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NEWBURGH.
it received encouraging support from the leading business men of the place. The design was to erect an elevator of the capacity of two hundred thousand bushels, with facilities for loading five thousand bushels an hour, to supply grain and mill-feed along the lines of railroads centering or connecting at this point. The desirability and almost certain success of a business of that nature were in- stantly perceived by business minds. Here is a location that com- bines water and rail routes more fully than any other outside of the City of New York, with an assured, unrivaled market. Here is water communication through the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes to the granaries of the West, whence would come the supply. A ready market could be found along the various railroads, and es- pecially throughout southern New England via the New York and New England Railroad. Any one can perceive at a glance the rami- fications of the great railroad system about Newburgh. There is a clear field with no competition be- tween New York and Schenectady. All these existing favorable condi- tions were and are well understood. The stumbling block was the ina- bility at that time to procure a suitable site for the elevator.
Homer Ramsdell has explained to the writer a plan he has devised to develop the water front north of Washington Street. Part of the work he has already undertaken, but the rest he leaves to those who shall come after him. He owns, north and south of Washington Street, a river frontage of about one thousand feet, which he intends to fill in to a distance six hundred feet east of the east line of Front Street. Within the past few years he has filled in a large portion of it. Mr. Ramsdell suggests this place as probably the best site that can be obtained for an elevator. He has even assumed the expense and trouble to have plans prepared, so that the merits of the project may be well understood. The ac- companying illustrations show the exact location suggested by Mr. Ramsdell, and the manner in which it may be developed for the busi- ness, together with all necessary dimensions, and the nature of the immediate rail and water facilities.
open cut diagonally under Washington and South Water Streets and the railroad tracks; thence through his property lying between Little Anu and Washington Streets, and then winding around east of the short cut till it reaches the surface at the corner of South Water and Washington Streets. This under-ground road will afford grades ac- ceptable to every one, and not interfere with any existing privilege. The extreme rise is only about one foot in a rod, or six feet in one hundred. Teamsters with heavy loads, after coming out of the cut, have the choice of several routes to various parts of the city, either through Front Street, South Water Street, or up the hill, via the short cut, to Lafayette Street.
HOMER RAMSDELL has been the foremost citizen of New- burgh of his time. For nearly fifty years he has been identified with the history of the place, and no one has wielded a greater in- fluence in its social and business life than he. His labors in connec- tion with the Erie Railroad as a long-time Director and as President, and with other forms of transpor- tation in eastern New York, and the impress which he has made upon the business and other inter- ests of Newburgh, mark him as one of the most successful men of the age, and grant him, in the evening of life, the pleasant thought that he has been one of the world's useful men and that his labors have been of a character that will live after him. Mr. Ramsdell was born at War- ren, Worcester County, Mass., August 12, 1810. His father was Joseph Ramsdell, the fourth of that name, who was descended from Joseph and Martha (Bowker) Rams- dell, who emigrated from England to Plymouth, Mass., in 1643. His mother was Ruth Stockbridge, of Hanover, Mass., a descendent of John Stockbridge, who emigrated from England in 1638. After their marriage at Hanover, February 3, 1800, they moved to Warren, and had (1) Joseph (who died in 1891,) (2) Mary, (3) Homer.
HOMER RAMSDELL.
With an ample depth of water and ample switching arrangements, there will be every known convenience for loading and unloading both boats and cars. Canal boats from the West, after discharging their grain into the elevator, may load again very readily, and with little or no expense, from the cars on the elevated track. Coal, for example, may be discharged from the cars, through chutes, direct- ly into the boats. The probability of getting return freights from the city is another element of advantage to be considered.
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