USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol II > Part 17
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the tremendous business done on Lake Champlain. Over the years the large steamers have become an integral part of the two lakes, and the waterways can never be the same without them.
On the other hand, the navigation of Lake George and Lake Champlain will never cease, regardless of the fate of the large steam- boats. In recent years there has been an important development of other kinds of craft, particularly the gasoline launch. This will
(Courtesy Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce)
OLYMPIC STADIUM AT LAKE PLACID, WITH OLYMPIC ARENA IN BACKGROUND
doubtless continue because the most famous beauty spots cannot be seen otherwise. This is particularly true of Lake George, where the Narrows are remote from the average automobile tourist's gaze. Even if a road were built along the adjacent shore, the scenes of greatest charm would still be hidden from the mainland.
There is a tendency to fail to appreciate properly the importance of the steamboats in the development of the two lakes. Until the
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construction of railroads and even afterward, the economic life of the Champlain Valley was to a large extent dependent upon them. Without the cheap transportation of products of this area which they provided, growth could not have been as great. As for Lake George, up until fairly recent times, the resort communities depended almost entirely upon the boats for they were the only means of seeing it from one end to the other. Great credit also belongs particularly to the Champlain Transportation Company. On Lake Champlain it created order out of chaos, and placed navigation on an efficient basis. On both lakes it provided graceful, up-to-date vessels that captivated such exacting critics as Charles Dickens. It won the gratitude of the popu- lace because of its high standards of public service.
Following closely on the heels of the steamboats and the building of canals next came the iron horse, which was to revolutionize the development of this area as thoroughly as its predecessors. Just as the building of canals had become a mania, so now everyone seemed to have caught the railroad fever. Small local roads were built every- where, many of them not even surviving completion, while others became segments of our present systems. Grandiose and visionary schemes seem to have been thought up hourly.
The first penetration of this area by the railroads occurred in Saratoga County in the 1830s, whereas as late as 1841 there was not one in the entire State of Vermont. It is with the New York lines, therefore, that we shall be at first concerned. They developed out of the rivalry existing between Troy, Albany and Schenectady. Before any railroads were built Troy had the advantage over its competi- tors because of its location directly opposite the mouth of the Erie Canal. The other two cities finally joined hands to build the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, and in 1831 they secured the incorporation of the Saratoga and Schenectady road in order to extend their system northward. This northern branch was completed in 1833. Its equip- ment consisted of two locomotives of English manufacture, fourteen passenger coaches with eighteen and twenty-four seats in them, and twenty-four freight and baggage wagons. Most of the business was in the summer months and centered around the transportation of tour- ists to Saratoga Springs. Much of the freight was building mate- rials, firewood, coal and gypsum. During the winter, traffic was so light that regular trains were abandoned altogether, and passengers
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were carried by horse and cutter. The rate from Schenectady to Sara- toga at one time was $1.25. Because of the scarcity of business this line did not pay well until after the construction of connecting routes.
Of more historical importance, however, in the development of the New York railroads was the Rensselaer and Saratoga. Its growth will be related in more or less detail because its story is one of typical railroad expansion and because, in time, it became an important seg- ment of the Delaware and Hudson system, which ultimately pro- vided a direct route from New York to Montreal. Sometimes known as the Troy-Ballston road, the Rensselaer and Saratoga was char- tered in 1833 and was built for the express purpose of competing with the Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad. Perhaps its most important feature was that it crossed the line of the Champlain Canal at Water- ford, thus joining the Hudson River traffic by a railroad with the northern water route. It was opened to Ballston Spa in 1835 and in the same year purchased control of its rival, the Saratoga and Schenectady.
Meanwhile, farther north another railroad project was slowly developing. In 1833, the Saratoga and Fort Edward Railroad was chartered to extend railroad facilities between those two communi- ties. Nothing was done, however, and its plans were merged into those of the Saratoga and Washington Railroad, which was chartered in 1834 to connect Saratoga with Whitehall at the southern end of Lake Champlain. Ground was first broken for this road in 1836, but operations were suspended as a result of the financial crash of the following year. This line was not opened to the public until 1848. It was one of the thirty railroads in operation in New York State in 1850, and constituted an important segment in the main travel route from New York City to Montreal, which went by way of the Hudson, Saratoga, Whitehall, Rutland and Burlington. Finally, in 1865, this link between Saratoga and Whitehall was absorbed by our ambitious friend, the Rensselaer and Saratoga. Thus, on that date, one railroad dominated transportation between Lake Champlain and the Hudson. In its entire system, the Rensselaer and Saratoga Rail- road had about one hundred and eighty miles of rails in 1866. But not even then was it content. It reached out in various directions, biting off one of its large mouthfuls when, in 1868, it acquired control of the Champlain Transportation Company which, as we have seen.
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had at that time complete control of steam navigation on both Lake Champlain and Lake George. It is accordingly not surprising to find it taking over the operation of the railroad which, in 1869, connected Fort Edward and Glens Falls; and then becoming interested in the project of extending this branch to connect with the Lake George steamboats at the head of that waterway, although this last idea was not realized until 1882.
In 1850 a Plattsburgh and Montreal Railroad was incorporated, but it was not until 1866 that a company was chartered to build a line segment was opened in 1875, exactly forty years after the Rensse- laer and Saratoga Railroad system came into the hands of the Dela- ware and Hudson Canal Company. To this latter corporation went the honor and distinction of completing the trunk line to Canada. After the solution of difficult engineering problems the last important segment was opened up in 1875, exactly forty years after the Rensse- laer and Saratoga line was completed. Prior to that date the rail- road history of the Champlain Valley was as complicated as it was farther south. The Central Vermont Railroad, of which we shall hear more presently, had a branch across Lake Champlain from Orwell, and this connected with a railroad between Port Henry and Ticonderoga. In 1871 the Vermont corporation leased the New York road, only to surrender the lease to the New York and Canada Railroad in 1873. This company in turn sold it to the Delaware and Hudson in that same year. This is but another sample of railroad development, such as took place everywhere in that period, and no need exists for further repetition in other areas.
Among other railroads was the Whitehall and Rutland, which was chartered in 1833, but which was held up by the panic of 1837. Another was the Troy Macadam and Railroad Company, which was chartered in 1834 to connect Troy with Pownal and Bennington, where it was to meet another road to go to Brattleboro and Boston. This was finally absorbed by the Troy and Boston Railroad, organ- ized in 1848. In the north, the Lake Champlain and Ogdensburg Railroad was chartered in 1833, but nothing was done at that time. In 1847, however, the State Legislature received a favorable report on the building of a railroad in that section, and a line was built from Ogdensburg to Rouses Point by way of Malone. This was opened in 1851. Other railroads built were of a more local character, sup-
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plementary to the main systems. An example of these was the line of the Adirondack Railway Company connecting Saratoga Springs with North Creek, completed in 1871. Other lines like the one con- necting Plattsburgh with Utica, although of importance to the Adiron- dack region, are primarily located outside the geographical boundaries covered by this research, and are therefore beyond the scope of my work. One plan that never materialized was the building of a rail- road from Oswego, New York, eastward across our northern gate- way to Portland, Maine, on the Atlantic coast.
Whereas the New York railroads of this area tended in general to develop into systems radiating from Troy, Albany and Schenectady, the Vermont roads were inclined to head towards Boston. This was not always so, particularly in the southwestern section of Vermont, but at least it paints a fairly accurate picture of the situation. The railroads of the two States, therefore, had few interests in common. In fact they were competitors for the traffic of the Champlain Valley.
As we have already indicated, railroad building in Vermont devel- oped later than in New York. The first two railroads chartered were the Bennington and Brattleboro and the Rutland and Whitehall in the 1830s. The former was abandoned, but the latter was finally built in 1850. As a rule the early roads in Vermont, as in New York, were constructed for primarily local purposes.
The Vermont Central was chartered in 1843. Its builders regarded it, not so much as a Vermont project, as a segment in a trunk line connecting Boston with the Great Lakes. In fact the route used was the one surveyed in 1824 for the canal which was expected to join Boston with Ogdensburg, New York. The construction of this railroad illustrates vividly many characteristics typical of Amer- can lines. In the first place it was made a political football. Both Barre and Montpelier should unquestionably have been served by the main line of the Vermont Central, but both were left off because of Governor Paine's selfish determination to have it pass through his home town of Northfield, where he caused the erection of an elab- orate depot and the company's headquarters. Burlington, of all places, was also left off the main line, purely because of the selfish- ness of those people of that city who were primarily interested in Lake Champlain shipping, and who realized that the railroad would trans- port to Boston products that had hitherto been carried by water transportation southward.
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Ground was broken at Northfield in 1846, and the first passenger train ran from White River Junction to Bethel in 1848. Finally, on December 31, 1849, the Vermont Central was opened over its whole route from Burlington to Windsor on the Connecticut River. As a result there was now a direct contact by rail between Lake Champlain and Boston. In the meantime, another company had been chartered to connect Essex Junction and Rouses Point, a project which would provide the necessary link between the Vermont Central and the road to Montreal. In August, 1849, while in process of construction, it was leased to the Vermont Central at an annual rental. The latter then raised the necessary money and completed the line. This ven- ture was unsuccessful, however, and the lease was surrendered in 1852. A long legal controversy then took place between the two roads. The Vermont Central was a fairly successful road in that it earned four hundred dollars per mile annually, but because of gross financial mismanagement it was classified as a disastrous enterprise. It paid neither interest on its bonds nor dividends on stock, being run primarily to the advantage of other railroads rather than of its own stockholders. It swiftly went into receivership and was united with the Vermont and Canada for many years. At present it operates under the title of Central Vermont Railways, Inc., a subsidiary of Canadian National Railways. Since 1860, the headquarters of the company have been at St. Albans rather than Northfield as at first.
The history of the Rutland Railroad also dates from 1843. In that year it was chartered under the name of the Champlain and Con- necticut River Road, but in 1847 it became known as the Rutland and Burlington. Twenty years later it was reorganized as the Rut- land Railroad Company. Construction was begun in 1847, and com- pleted in 1849. The Burlington shipping interests, which had so bit- terly opposed the Vermont Central, supported the Rutland road because it seemed more likely to help them by opening up new terri- tory than to hurt them by competition. As was to be expected there was bitter rivalry between the two railroads. At one time the Rutland almost succeeded in obtaining control of the stock of the Vermont Central, but it never paid dividends and went into receivership in 1853. Since then it has had a complicated financial history.
Another line called the Western Vermont was chartered in 1847 to run from Rutland to the New York State line near North Benning- ton, a distance of fifty-four miles. It was commenced in 1850, opened
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in 1852, but did not pay beyond expenses and was forced into the hands of trustees, after which it was leased by the Troy and Boston. It is evident that the railroads of Vermont have had a rather stormy his- tory. Population has been rather sparse and the cost of operation relatively heavy, averaging seventy-four per cent of receipts at one time. This cost has not been so much due to Vermont factors, how- ever, as to the position of these railroads in relation to connecting lines. The latter were, as a rule, large lines, with the result that the Vermont roads meeting them were forced to maintain greater and faster service than local traffic warranted.
Although there are today various railroads of local importance, the Rutland remains the chief system in western Vermont, while the Central Vermont occupies a similar position in the central section. The chief system today in the western half of the Champlain Valley is, of course, the Delaware and Hudson. These three railroads have all been injured by the competition from automobiles, buses and trucks in recent years, and the tendency has been to curtail service in certain localities because of lack of patronage, meanwhile hoping and look- ing for new sources of income. This situation is not peculiar to the Champlain Valley, but is true of most railroads everywhere. What- ever the future of this industry may be-and it should be remem- bered that railroads possess a value not measurable in dollars and cents, as in the case of national defense-in the past they have been of tremendous importance in the development of the Champlain and Hudson valleys. This was especially true in certain specific districts. The influence of the Rutland Railroad on the growth of the marble industry and the city of Rutland itself was truly revolutionary. That the railroads had a similar effect on Burlington is obvious when we note that in 1863, 65,000,000 feet of lumber was shipped from it by rail. St. Albans would have been a far different community with- out the Central Vermont. On the New York side the results were nearly as far-reaching. Many Adirondack resort centers came into prominence as such when railroads made it possible for tourists and vacationists to penetrate to Lake George and the Adirondacks easily. Certainly Lake George steamers would not have carried 6,000,000 passengers without connecting rails. All the way up the Champlain Valley, the Delaware and Hudson, and its connecting links, stimulated industrial growth as far north as Rouses Point and the Canadian line.
C & G-38
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It is difficult to describe the railroads of this area without going into considerable detail because there has been every type of train imaginable. Instances have been recorded where cars were at first drawn with horses at a speed of nine miles per hour. Some of the cars consisted of three compartments, and a platform ran the entire length on the outside. This was used by the conductor in collecting fares when the train was in motion. Tickets were not used at first on some lines. Locomotives were often more substantial than they looked. One of the best known was the "Abagail Adams," a small wood-burning affair, which hauled the first Central Vermont train from Montpelier to St. Albans, in 1850. The burning of wood was an unsatisfactory practice, not only because of the difficulty of keeping an adequate supply of fuel on hand, but also because of the sparks that were belched forth at every exhaust. These not only set fire to wooden cars and bridges, but at times were a decided annoyance to passengers as well. Men were placed at bridges with fire-fighting equipment. Many of the earlier bridges collapsed of their own weight. "Harper's Weekly," in 1859, published a cartoon which was intended to be humorous on this subject, but there was an element of realism in the conversation it recorded between two railway employees whom a timid passenger overheard.
Brakeman : "Jim, do you think the Millcreek Bridge safe tonight ?"
Conductor : "If Joe cracks on the steam I guess we'll get the Engine and Tender over all right. I'm going forward."
There was once a bridge across Bulwagga Bay, on Lake Cham- plain near Port Henry, which was built on wooden piling. When the ice formed, the route had to be abandoned, while it was all pulled up when the ice went out. A bridge at Fort Edward was inclosed with wood, but had a tin roof. In 1876 it burned, and it is said that the flames were drawn through it as by a chimney. As a result, traffic was delayed for three or four days.
Some of the first rails were formed from blocks of stone fitted together, but they were entirely too inelastic. Most common among the early rails were those made from timber, to which were nailed long strips of iron, mortised together at the ends to form a fair joint. Often the wheels of the trains would rip these up at the joints, driv- ing the rails through the delicate flooring of the wooden cars, to the great danger of passengers' lives. These dismembered rails were
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very appropriately known as "snake-heads," or "Black-Snake Rails." In the words of Hurd this rail was so named because of "its propen- sity to peel up from the wooden bed-piece to which it was nailed, and glide up through the bottom of the car, propelled by the car-wheel, which would sometimes take a notion to run under instead of over it. So, in those days, it was no uncommon occurrence for a passenger to find this playful 'Black-Snake Rail' crawling up his trouser's leg as he sat in his seat in the car, or to feel it shooting through him longi- tudinally, impaling him like a fly upon a pin." Every train carried along a sledge hammer to pound the rails back into place on their timbers. When this method failed to loosen the "snake-head," the entire train had to be delayed until the iron could be sawed off. From this crude beginning, rails slowly passed through various changes. Some of them were shaped like an inverted "U," but more of them approximated a "T." Thanks to the discovery of the Bessemer process of making steel in the 186os, steel rails replaced those of iron. This not only made rails cheaper in the long run, but made possible the use of heavier and better-built cars.
Improvements in the cars themselves were slow to take place, because no railroads had sufficient capital to spend on extravagances. For an incredible period crude couplers were used, consisting of links of chain or any one of a peculiar assortment of iron bars and pins. Brakes were just as unsatisfactory, or nearly so. As in other fields of transportation, the most interesting ideas were those not carried out. One of the most fantastic railroad dreams was connected with the proposed Boston and Ogdensburg road of 1837. The sponsors planned that it should be a covered railroad, probably in order to make travel in the north country more pleasant in the winter months than other- wise. Nor was the ice covering Lake Champlain to be an obstacle. To overcome this obstruction trains were to be hauled over the ice by horses, or, if this did not work out successfully, ice-cutters were to keep a chan- nel open all winter.
Electric trolley lines were late in developing and, comparatively speaking, did not remain long. As a rule they replaced horse rail- roads. The first horse railroad in the entire State of Vermont was chartered in 1872 by the Winooski and Burlington Horse Railroad Company, and was about three miles long. In 1893 this developed into the State's first electric railway. The trolley invaded Glens Falls
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in 1891, this also replacing a horse company. A similar development took place in other populated areas. In recent years, however, the trolleys have disappeared as completely as the red man. Their place has been taken by buses and taxis. Today not one trolley line main- tains operation in all of western Vermont, while if there is any on the New York side of the Champlain Valley it is being kept a profound secret. In fact, the only trolleys in the entire area covered by this research are to be found in Saratoga County. We should not close our discussion of trolleys, however, without pointing out that it was in the Rutland County town of Brandon that Thomas Davenport invented the first electric motor in history, and made a model of the first street car.
So far as transportation is concerned, this present era is predom- inantly the day of the automobile. Important highways penetrate every nook and corner of the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains. The railroads tended to cause a divergence of interests between New Yorkers and Vermonters, because one State, so far as the Champlain Valley was concerned, had its eyes on Albany and Troy, whereas the other looked toward Boston. The automobile, however, has had a contrary influence. To the average tourist, the Champlain Valley is a unit, just as it has generally been historically. To him, the Green Mountains, the Adirondacks, Lake George, Lake Champlain, the
upper Hudson, and the springs and race track at Saratoga constitute one great vacation land. Until the flood of 1927, Vermont was slow to build hard-surfaced roads, but since then this State has advanced a long way. Automobile ferries have done much to develop motor transportation from one shore to the other, while bridges have sur- mounted the watery barrier separating the two States. The Cham- plain Bridge, connecting Fort St. Frederic in New York with Chimney Point, Vermont, was opened to the public in 1929, after an expen- diture of one million dollars, New York paying sixty per cent of the cost and Vermont, forty per cent. Since then, two new bridges have been constructed near the Canadian border. One is an interstate proposition connecting Alburg and Rouses Point, while the other is a Vermont project connecting Alburg and Swanton. Both received considerable financial assistance from the Federal government. They are like hands clasped across the historical waterway dedicated to a common cause. In the day of the railroad, the two sides were some- what remote, but the automobile has changed all that. In 1928 when
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I traveled from Burlington to Lake George village by rail, I had a long and tortuous trip. There was first a train from Burlington to Rutland, then a second from Rutland to Whitehall, later a third from Whitehall to Fort Edward, and finally one from Fort Edward to Lake George. The ride on these four trains seemed to last forever, pri- marily because the lines were not constructed for east-west traffic, yet when the Champlain Bridge was opened the following year the same trip became a matter of less than one hundred miles, and less than a three-hour drive through a delightful country hallowed by history and clothed in beauty. The travel, which was primarily a north-south affair, now proceeds smoothly in all directions.
There is a tendency to connect traffic regulations with the auto- mobile, but while there is ample reason for doing so in this day and age, this was not always so. Long before the day of the gas buggy, there were problems relating to speed and parking. In Glens Falls in 1874, an ordinance was adopted which read: "Any person who shall be guilty of racing or immoderately riding or driving any horse or other animal in any of the streets of this village shall be liable to a penalty of not less than $5 nor more than $25 for each offense." Another provided that: "Any person who shall leave a team or horse in any of the streets of this village untied and unattended shall be liable to a penalty of not less than $I nor more than $25 for each offense." At least there were no red or green lights in those days, and no one apparently even thought of parking meters, so perhaps we are still entitled to have pride in our modernity.
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