USA > New York > Tioga County > Owego > Owego. Some account of the early settlement of the village in Tioga County, N.Y., called Ah-wa-ga by the Indians, which name was corrupted by gradual evolution into Owago, Owego, Owegy and finally Owego > Part 27
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Mr. Roy was at this time a hotel keeper at Jersey City, and Mr. Luce was afterward his business partner. Mr. Bray lived at Newton, N. J. Mr. Phinney was the owner of a glass fac- tory at Dundaff, Pa. Mr. Heminway afterward became an extensive stage proprietor at Buffalo, and had five or six lines through the state, where the New York Central railroad now runs. Jacob Willsey lived at Willseyville, in this county, of which place he was one of the earliest settlers. Major Morgan, who was also a proprietor in the Newburgh and Geneva line, was first a printer, afterward a hotel keeper, and lived in Binghamton. Mr. Post kept a tavern at Montrose, Pa. Mr. Mott also kept a tavern one and one-half miles east of New Milford, Pa. Miller Horton lived at Wilkes- Barre, Pa., and was also one of the proprietors of the Newburgh and Geneva line of stages.
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The company put a new line of stage coaches on the road. The route was from New York to Owego. Here it intersected the Newburgh and Geneva line for Buffalo. Stages from New York occupied two days and a half in their journey to Owego, and one day more from Owego on to Geneva. Trips were made three times a week. The route was through the villages of Newark, Morristown, and Newton, N. J., to Milford, Pa .; thence it followed the new turnpike, via Dundaff and Montrose, to Owego. The stages on this route left Patton's, 71 Cortlandt street, New York, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, reaching Owego the third day at 10 a. m. This was then the most expe- ditious route, the distance to Owego being but 170 miles, whereas by the way of Newburgh it was 210 miles. The line was intersected at Montrose by the Philadelphia and Baltimore lines, and at Owego by the Bath and Olean line.
In the spring of 1825, the line was extended west to Geneva, by the way of Ithaca and Ovid, and coaches left New York every day, Sundays ex- cepted. At Geneva the line inter- sected the daily lines to Rochester, Buffalo, Lewiston, etc. It had now be- come an important route, as it opened another, and the most direct, com- inunication between New York and the western part of the state. At Newton, N. J., it intersected a tri- weekly line to Philadelphia; at Mont- rose, the line to Wilkes-Barre, Harris- burg, etc .; at Chenango Point, a line which ran north through Greene, Ox- ford. etc., to Utica; and at Owego, a line which ran through Tioga Point
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and Elmira to Bath. The latter line was afterward extended to Olean.
The stage offices were at Patton's, in New York; Joseph I. Roy's, Jersey City; Bolle's tavern, Newark; the pub- lie houses at Newton and Dundaff; Buckingham's, at Montrose; Dr. Tracy Robinson's hotel at Chenango Point; Goodman's and Manning's taverns, in Owego; the Ithaca hotel and Grant's coffee house, at Ithaca, and Faulkner's hotel, at Geneva.
The coaches were drawn by four horses, the horses being usually changed at the end of each twelve or eighteen miles. Nine passengers were carried inside each coach, and as many outside as could ride comforta- bly-generally from three to six.
It was at about this time that there were two rival stage lines from Owe- go to Ithaca. One was conducted by Stephen B. Leonard, and the other by Lewis Manning. Mr. Leonard's stages carried the mails, and the rivalry was so sharp that he charged but fifty cents each way for passengers. In some instances passengers were car- ried free of charge and a free break- fast was given to them, to prevent their going by the rival line. Mr. Leonard had a contract for carrying the mails, which gave him a great ad- vantage over his competitor, who was finally compelled to withdraw his stages from the line.
The Newburgh and Geneva line was owned by R. Manning, C. Pratt, D. Dunning, Lewis Manning, Augustus Morgan, E. Hathaway, and others. This route was originally from Owego to Binghamton, from Binghamton to Great Bend, Great Bend to Sweet's tavern, Sweet's to Mount Pleasant,
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Mount Pleasant to Lukens's farnr. Lukens's to Bloomingburg, Blooming- burgh to Newburgh, and thence by boat to New York. The stages left Owego three times each week, at three o'clock in the afternoon, and were two days and two nights in making the journey.
The proprietors, in September, 1828, established another line from the head of Seneca lake to Owego, in connec- tion with the steamboat "Seneca Chief." Trips over this line were made three times a week, and inter- sected the Newburgh line at Owego. The trip from New York to Geneva was made in three days. The first 40 and the last 65 miles were by water.
Previous to about the year 1830, the stages on the various lines running from and through Owego were usually two horse affairs. After making a dis- tance of about fifteen miles, the dri- vers and horses were changed and sometimes the stages. The stages were run usually about thirty miles each day. After 1830, heavy Troy coaches were put upon the road, which were drawn by four horses each, with about the same changes. These coaches weighed from 1,800 to 2,000 pounds and carried nine pas- sengers inside and two outside, al- though more were crowded on the top when it was necessary. The body of one of these stages was hung on two strong leather straps, composed of many thicknesses of leather. With five or more passengersthe riding was com- fortable; with only one or two passen- gers the stage rolled and jumped on a rough road. These stages were like the modern omnibus-they would al- ways hold one more passenger. The
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fare from Owego to Newburgh was $7.25, and to Jersey City over the Montrose route $S.00.
All the villagers knew the time of the arrival and departure of the dif- ferent stages, and when the sound of the stage driver's horn was heard an- nouncing his coming, there was usu- ally a considerable number of sight. seers to witness their going and com- ing.
At the stage houses the passengers stopped for their meals, and this tra- fic was a large source of profit. Usu- ally these hotel keepers were the es- sence of politeness, and in assisting their guests to and from the stages and entertaining them in the house they had no equals.
In the old stage days in every vil- lage in the Susquehanna valley was a tavern designated as "the stage house," or honse where the stages stopped. The old Owego hotel, which stood where the present Ahwaga house is now, was the stage house in this village for the old lines until the New York and Erie railroad was built to Owego in 1849. The hotel was burned in the fall of that year.
The old stage companies had the contracts for carrying the mails and were consequently able to drive off any opposition lines that might be started. In October, 1840, N. Randall & Co. started an opposition line be- tween Owego and Morristown, N. J., running by the way of Montrose, Din- daff, Carbondale, Clark's Corners, Ca- naan, Honesdale, and Milford. At Morristown, passengers for New York and Philadelphia were transferred to the cars.
Nathan Randall, previous to estab-
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lishing this stage line-from 1828 to 1837- was the publisher of the Ithaca Journal and Advertiser at Ithaca. His Owego office was at L. Manning & Son's Owego hotel and his agent was J. C. Bogardus. Bogardus was from Rhinebeck. He died a few years af- terward, a victim of intemperance.
The New York agency was at 73 Cortlandt street. The agent, Jonathan Hill, was a bachelor and had been a stage driver. At the time of his death he had not a relative living, and he left all his property to John Patton, Jr., a nephew of James Patton, who was agent for the old stage line at 71 Cortlandt street, and himself a stage agent. John Patton, Jr., was after- ward engaged in the ocean steamship business, and became very wealthy. At the time of his death a few years ago, he was the owner of the Pacific hotel in Greenwich street.
William G. Thompson, who was a son of Henry Thompson, the first tav- ern keeper and postmaster at Camp- ville, lived nearly all of his life at Owego and died here. He was agent for the old lines at 73 Cortlandt street about the year 1846. and two years af- terward went on the line to look after the passengers.
Mr. Randall was finally driven off the road by the old companies, to whom he sold his coaches and stock. In every instance where opposition lines were afterward started they were also compelled to leave the road and sell out to the old proprietors. The office of the old lines was at Man- ning & Son's Owego hotel, while the opposition established their agencies at the Franklin house and Tioga house. The duty of these agents was
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simply to receipt fare for the com- pany.
Another of the opposition lines was the "Eagle Line" of Field, Cox & Co., which was established in October, 1843, after the N. Y. & E. railroad was completed to Middletown. The head- quarters of the proprietors were at Binghamton. Coaches were run daily from Middletown by the way of Nar- rowsburg, Honesdale, Mount Pleasant. New Milford, Great Bend, and Bing- hamton to Owego. At this time the offices of both the regular and oppo- sition lines were at the old Owego hotel.
Charles Cox was from Carbondale, Pa., He afterward kept a hotel four miles west of Honesdale. He died at Scranton. Mr. Field was a brother of Maj. Almerin Field, who was proprie- tor at various times of hotels at Corn- ing, Elmira, Owego, and Waverly. The brothers kept a hotel at Narrows- burg and were both engaged in stage coaching.
As the New York and Erie railroad was constructed the stages running east from Owego changed their routes and ran in connection with its last western terminus. The road was ex- tended to Goshen, in September, 1841; to Middletown, in June, 1843; to Port Jervis, in January, 1848; to Bingham- ton, in December of the same year; and to Owego October 1, 1849. When the road reached Elmira the days of the old stage lines were at an end so far as this part of the state was con- cerned.
The stage proprietors in the later days of stage coaching were as fol- lows: C. L. Grant & Co., Ithaca: I. Ringe. Geneva; L. Manning & Son,
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Owego: T. J. Magee, Bath; Lorenzo Seymour, Corning: Cooley & Maxwell, Elmira: Stephen B. Leonard, Owego; Augustus Morgan, Binghamton; Ithi- mer Mott, New Milford; Wm. Riley, Rileyville, Pa .; Hamilton & Son, Monticello; O. Sweet, Bloomingburg; S. Hathaway, Newburgh; Leonard Searle & Bro., Montrose; Wm. Bron- son, Carbondale; Major McClary. Honesdale; Sam Dimmock, Milford: the Cassidy brothers, Port Jervis: Charles Beach, Catskill; H. Curtis, Greene; and Miller Horton, Wilkes- barre.
The Searleses came to Montrose, Pa., at an early day from the Wyom- ing valley, and were the first to estab- lish stage routes and post offices in Susquehanna county. For many years they ran two lines from Milford to New York-one by the way of Sussex, N. J., and the other via Deckertown.
The stage proprietors here named were all combined in one large stock company and owned all the large routes running through southern New York. Each one put into the company as many coaches and as much live stock as was necessary for the num- ber of miles he ran over, and each drew mileage in proportion to the number of miles run by his stages. Settlements were made once every three months at meetings of the pro- prietors, which were held at various points previously designated. Owego was a central point, and the meetings were frequently held here.
As the N. Y. and E. railroad ex- tended its tracks westward and the stage routes were consequently gradually shortened,many of the stage drivers became brakemen on the road.
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were rapidly pushed forward, and be- came conductors. The old coaches disappeared, most of them being re- moved to parts of the country not yet occupied by the railroads.
The last of the old coaches in Owe- go was lying for several years in the old lane, which ran about where Cen- tral avenue now extends, and through which the old Owego and Ithaca horse railroad had run down into the vil- lage. The coach was minus its wheels and everything else that could be car- ried away. One night, on a third of July, the boys made a great bonfire in the street at the north end of the park. The old coach was dragged out into the street and surrounded by wooden boxes and other inflammable stuff. A light was applied, and the whole was soon a heap of ashes and scrap iron.
Stage coaching was not unattended by accidents. The roads were some- times rough, the hills precipitous, the nights dark, and there was danger in times of ice and flood. The only ac- cident worthyof any mention that ever happened in Owego was on the 26th of March, 1846. There was a great flood in the Owego creek, and all the low land between the two bridges in Cana- wana was overflowed. At four o'clock in the morning, the mail coach from Elmira containing five passengers was coming Into Owego. It passed over the creek bridge and entered the swift current, which was flowing over the highway. The water at once swept away both coaches and horses. One of the horses was drowned. The dri- ver and three of the passengers were drowned. All passengers were young
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men under twenty-five years of age and one of them was a negro.
The Second Railroad Chartered in the State of New York Is Built between Ithaca and Owego, to Lessen the Expense of Transporting Merchan- dise to Owego and thence by the Susquehanna River to a Market, with Capital Stock of $150,000, Which Is Subsequently Increased to $450,000.
The old Ithaca and Owego railroad was built in 1833 to make easier and cheaper transportation for merchan- dise brought down Cayuga lake to Ithaca by boat and drawn thence to Owego by teams for shipment down the Susquehanna river to the Philadel- phia and Baltimore markets.
At that time the chief products con- sisted of salt from Syracuse, plaster from Auburn, and flour, grain, and lumber from every direction in cen- tral New York. At first all the mer- chandise was drawn the entire dis- tance from the point of production to Owego by teams. Finally a ditch was dug from the head of Cayuga lake to connect with the Erie canal. When this water connection was com- pleted boats were run down to Ithaca, and merchandise brought thence to Owego by teams.
The proposition to build a railroad from Syracuse to Owego was first con- sidered. Public meetings were held at Newark Valley, Berkshire, Rich- ford, Dryden and other places to cre- ate a sentiment in favor of such road. But when the water connection was made between the Erie canal and Cay- uga lake the plan was changed.
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The first railroad constructed in the United States was built only six years previous, in 1827, and that was a horse railroad from the granite quarries of Quincy, Mass., to the Neponset river, a distance of three miles. And the Ith+ aea and Owego railroad was incorpor- porated only a year later.
The second railroad was laid out in January, 1827, from the coal mines of Manch Chunk, Pa., to the Lehigh river a distance of nine miles. In 1828 the Delaware & Hudson canal com- pany constructed a railroad from its coal mines to Honesdale, Pa., the ter- minus of its canal, and sent a commis- sion to England for the purchase of rail iron and locomotives. The loco- motives arrived in the spring of 1829. The third railroad constrneted was the Baltimore and Ohio line, commenced in 182S.
The first railroad chartered in the state of New York was the Hudson & Mohawk railroad from Albany to Sche- nectady, April 17, 1826, but its con- struction was not begun until 1830. The second railroad chartered in this state was the Ithaca & Owego rail- road.
In those days, as has already been related, Owego was the outlet from the north, by the Susquehanna river, for flour, grain, salt, lumber, plaster, etc., and for many years this part of the state was the source of supply for such merchandise. Much of it came by the way of Ithaca to Owego and was transported down the river in arks. The steamboat having proved a failure as a means of transporting freight, the next project was a rail- road.
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The Ithaca & Owego railroad was organized by capitalists living at Owe- go and Ithaca, prominent among whom was James Pumpelly. The mat- ter was first agitated in 1827.
It had at first been proposed to build a canal between Owego and Ith- aca, as a connecting link between the waters of the Erie canal and the Sus- quehanna river, but when it was found that there would be an elevation and corresponding depression of 600 feet to overcome by lockage, as well as the disadvantage of a doubtful supply of water. and also that a railroad could be built for at least one-third less than a canal and could be used at all sea- sons of the year while a canal would be frozen in the winter months, the railroad project was substituted.
No active measures. however, were taken to build the road until the build- ing of the Chemung canal from the head of Seneca lake to Elmira threat- ened to divert trade from Ithaca and Owego. Then Gen. Simeon De Witt. who owned a large tract of land at the head of Cayuga lake, and others inter- ested in the prosperity of Ithaca and Owego. set themselves at work to build this road.
Sept. 20, 1827, a meeting was held at Owego for the purpose of taking measures to procure from the state legislature a grant for a company to construct a railroad from Ithaca to Owego. At this meeting Mr. Pum- pelly was chairman and Stephen B. Leonard secretary. A committee com- posed of James Pumpelly, Eleazer Dana, John H. Avery, John R. Drake, and Stephen B. Leonard was ap- pointed to confer with a similar com- mittee of Ithaca men. On the 31st of
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October a similar meeting was held at Ithaca, when a committee com- posed of A. D. W. Bruyn, F A. Blood- good, Charles Humphrey, Henry Ack- ley, and Levi Leonard was appointed to confer with the Owego committee.
These committees met at Philip Goodman's tavern in Owego, where the Ahwaga house now stands, on November 20 and decided to petition the legislature to incorporate a com- pany to construct the proposed road.
The company was duly incorporated June 28, 1828, the corporation to con- tinue until January 1, 1878. The right was granted to construct a single or double track railroad from Cayuga lake, at or near Ithaca, to the Sus- quehanna river, in the village of Owego, and to erect and maintain toll houses and other buiklings along its line. The company was empowered "to transport, take, and carry prop- erty and persons, by the power and force of steam, of animals, or of any combination of them, which the said corporation may choose to employ."
The rate for transporting freight was fixed at three cents a ton a mile, and for every pleasure carriage, or carriage used for the transportation of passengers three cents a mile, in addi- tion to the toll by weight for loading. The act also provided that "all per- sons paying the toll aforesaid may. with suitable and proper carriages. use and travel upon the said railroad. subject to such rules and reg- ulations as the said corporation are authorized to make." The act was to be null and void if the railroad should not be built and put into oper- ation within three years from the pas- sage of this act.
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The capital stock was fixed at $150,000 in shares of $50 each. Lu- ther Gere and Andrew D. W. Bruyn. of Ithaca, and Charles Pumpelly, of Owego, were appointed commissioners to open books and receive subscrip- tions to stock. December 20 it was announced that all the stock had been taken.
A meeting of stockholders was held Feb. 10, 1829. at the store of Jesse Grant & Son at Ithaca, when nine directors were chosen. These direc- tors were Francis A. Bloodgood, S. De- Witt Bloodgood, Richard V. DeWitt. A. D. W. Bruyn, Mynderse VanSchaick. Cornelius P. Heermans, James Pum- pelly, Alvah Beebe, and Ebenezer Mack. Francis A. Bloodgood was chosen president, Mr. DeWitt treas- urer, and Mr. Mack secretary.
Two routes were surveyed. One was by the valley of the inlet of Cay- uga lake and the west branch of Cata- tonk creek, through the town of Spen- cer. The distance by this route from the Inlet bridge to Owego was 36.6 miles. The other route, which was subsequently adopted, was by the val- ley of the Six Mile creek, Beaver Meadow creek, one of its branches. and the east branch of the Catatonk creek. The distance from the inlet to Owego by this route was 29.6 miles.
John Randal, Jr., was apppointed engineer of the road. He had con- structed the New Castle and French- town railroad in Pennsylvania, which was at that time one of the finest pieces of engineering in the United States. Ephraim Leach, the builder of Leach's mills on the Owego creek. in the town of Tioga, was appointed
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superintendent of structure and engi- neering at the south end of the road.
When the survey of the road had been completed it was found that the original capital of $150,000, which had all been taken, was insufficient to con- struct it, although at first, for want of correct information of the nature and expense of railroads, it was supposed to be adequate to the purpose.
March 3, 1831, a meeting of dele- gates from the several parts of the country adjacent to and interested in the projected railroad, with delegates from the coal regions of Pennsylva- nia, was held at Philip Goodman's tavern in this village. James Pum- pelly was chairman and David Wood- cock, of Ithaca, secretary. The meet- ing appointed a committee, consisting of Luther Gere, Jeremiah S. Beebe, and Horace Mack, of Ithaca, and James Pumpelly, Jonathan Platt, and John R. Drake, of Owego. to confer with those who held the stock of the road. with a view to a more general distribution of such stock. A commit- tee was appointed to examine as to the practicability and probable ex- pense of building the road.
Several subsequent meetings were held. At one of them, on Feb. 17. 1831. at Ithaca, a committee reported that the average tonnage in 1830, con- veyed by team from Ithaca to Owego , was 4,000 tons of plaster, 10,000 pounds of salt, 450 tons of merchan- dise, 4,000,000 feet (or 4,000 tons) of lumber, and 250 tons of miscellaneous articles.
In 1832 the charter of the company was amended by act of the legislature.
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increasing the capital stock to $300,000.
The builders of the railroad were Jeremiah S.and Alvah Beebe, brothers, who were sons of Col. Jedidiah Beebe, of Lynn, Conn., who distinguished himself in the battle of New London, in 1812. They built the Clinton house at Ithaca, and the Fall creek tunnel. and also put the first steamboat on Cayuga lake.
The road was constructed in 1833. and opened for traffic in April, 1834. The track was altogether different from the tracks of the railroads of the present day. The proposed mode of construction, as detailed by W. A. Swift, United States engineer, in the "Report and Survey of the Route of the Ithaca and Owego Railroad," printed in pamphlet form at Ithaca. in 1828, was in brief as follows:
Pits two and one-half feet in depth and three feet square were to be dug at intervals and filled with broken stone. Within three inches of the surface of the ground flat stones were placed. Across the head of the track and resting on these stones were placed oak sills, ten inches square and seven and one-half feet in length. These sills were placed eight feet apart. Oak sleepers for the rails, six by twelve inches and from 16 to 24 feet in length. were laid lengthwise with the track and fastened to the sills with wooden pins.
The rails were straps of rolled wrought iron, two and one-fourth inches wide and one-half of an inch thick. Holes of oblong shape were punched in the rails eighteen inches apart, through which four-inch screws
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were driven, to hold them to the sleepers beneath. No "fish-plates" were used, as at the present day to connect the ends of the rails, but they were cut at the ends diagonally and the ends laid elose together.
These rails had one serious defect. After having been in use some time, the serew heads were apt to break off and the pointed ends of the rails, or snake heads, as they were called would spring up from the track and remain up. The result was that serious accidents to passengers were caused by the "snake heads tearing through the floor of passenger coaches and injuring passengers.
The road had but one track, and had frequent turn-out or passing places, at the present day called switches.
The board of trustees of Owego vil- lage, at a special meeting on Sept. 27. 1833, authorized the railroad company to lay its tracks through the public park and such parts of the streets to and from the publie square as might be necessary for the purposes of the company. Three days later, at a meeting of the railroad directors at Ithaca, a committee was appointed to come to Owego to arrange for a final location for the southern terminus of the road. Oet. 5, two members of the committee, William N. Collins and Julius Ackles, met the engineer-in- chief at this place, who submitted the various surveys.
It was decided to enter the village through lands of Elizur Taleott, David P. Tinkham, and Mrs. Mary A. Lan- ing and the village park. Mr. Taleott gave the company a right of way sixty
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