A Tale of Two Railroads -- Part II 

 

Like the earlier Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, the Canojoharie and Catskill Rail Road owed its creation to the Erie Canal, but in a much different way. The little town of Catskill and the larger town of Hudson, across the River had seen an unexpected surge of business as the result of the turnpike building mania that occurred in the first two decades of the 19^th century. Turnpikes funneled a steady stream of wheat and other produce t0 the port of Catskill for shipment to the New York City and Southern New England markets from the fertile Schoharie, Cherry and Genessee valleys.  In the other direction, a steady stream of settlers left New England to begin their treks to new farmlands in western New York and the “Western Reserve” of Ohio. The coming of the Canal changed all that. As the turnpikes struggled to maintain their roads and remain solvent, the Ports of Albany and West Troy (Watervliet) thrived while Catskill and Hudson saw cargoes that used to be shipped from their ports sail by their front doors, coming from, or going to the ports at the end of the Canal.

The people of Catskill and Hudson, then, were excited when Thomas Cooke, a Catskill resident, and a group of entrepreneurs put forward a scheme to bring a railroad to Catskill following the route of the Susquehanna Turnpike to link Catskill to Ithaca and parts north, and to the navigable sections of the Susquehanna River, and parts south.  This plan for a Catskill and Ithaca Rail Road garnered a lot of enthusiasm for a while, but was overly ambitious for its time, and fizzled within a couple years. But Cooke returned in 1830 with a more modest plan to create a railroad connecting Catskill with the Schoharie Valley and linking up with the Erie Canal port of Canajoharie. Cooke and his backers outlined the advantages of such a route, citing the long delays that inevitably occurred at the eastern end of the canal with boats required to go through some thirty seven locks, and the long period during which the canal was shut down due to ice, from the narrows below Amsterdam, through the Port of Albany.

On October 27, 1831 ground was broken for the construction of the new Canajoharie and Catskill Railroad, accompanied by thirteen gun salutes at dawn, a large parade through Catskill, and a day of celebration. But actual construction was slow to begin. First, surveying a suitable route proved difficult. Early locomotive engines could operate only on the smallest grades. The first plans called for two inclined planes to be incorporated with stationary steam engines pulling cars with cables up to their summits. Also, the wandering flood plane along the Catskill Creek made route planning difficult-- necessitating at least five crossings of that creek as well as several feeder streams.

The engineering difficulties, however, were dwarfed by financial difficulties. The financial laws of the day placed few restrictions on speculating in stocks. Large amounts of C.and C. R.R. stocks were bought up by investors with promissory notes, instead of cash. When asked to pay up, many  investors were evasive. (Rumors circulated that Albany interests had bought into the company, delaying payment to insure the company would fail.) In 1837 a stock market panic sent the country into a depression that would make money tight and retard payments for years to come. The shortage of cash delayed construction on the road and resulted in much of the management's time being occupied with disputes with contractors and lawsuits arising from the non-payment of bills. 

The railroad's  promoters sought relief from New York State.  In 1838 a bill was debated in the Legislature guaranteeing $100,000 for every $100,000 the railroad put into the line.  In its final form, the legislature guaranteed $100,000 for every $150,000 spent. When the bill was printed, however, someone changed the figure back to the original proposal.  The newspapers and the bill's opponents screamed fraud.  A lengthy investigation of the company's officers was undertaken but proved inconclusive. But the railroad's reputation was irrevocably damaged.

The shortage of funds forced the company  to cut back on the quality of materials that went into the line. Original engineering spec's had called for  a ballasted roadbed of  crushed rock, the whole length of the roadway with strap iron rails laid over cut stone stingers, (something like curbing along a city street.) The line, as it was actually built was in most places a graded dirt or gravel roadway with sawed wood ties,  laid over a bed of logs. The rails would be wooden with 5/8" strap iron fastened to them.  This type of rail had already proven to be unsatisfactory because as the wood rails wore, the ends of the strap iron would tend to come loose and curl up forming dangerous "snake heads". ( The Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad, which came into existence shortly after the Mohawk and Hudson R.R., had experienced a horrific accident. A snake head that had curled up from the rail, burst through the flooring of a coach traveling over it, ripped through the coat of a passenger in the coach and pinned the terrified traveler to the ceiling of the coach by his coattails.) The first bridges built  by the railroad over the Catskill Creek were iron trapezoidal  bridges anchored to cut stone piers. (One, that was later used by the Catskill Mt. Railway still stands, a short distance from the Catskill High School.) When later bridges were built, farther up the line,  the company was forced to use  lighter wooden lattice spans.

The original engineering report also warned that the Catskill creek, due to the steep hills on either side of it in the spring and after heavy rains was prone to flooding.  "It will be necessary for the preservation of the road to make ample drainage and culverts to carry off the water which at times descends in torrents and astounding violence from the hills."  In this too, it appears the railroad was inadequately built.  Over the winter of 1838-39 the line suffered severe damage. Embankments were seriously eroded,  bridge abutments were undermined, and bridges collapsed.  The management tried  to suppress the news of the problems but only succeeded in increasing the speculation about the extent of the damage, and undermining the public's confidence further.

In the spring of 1839 the repaired and partially completed railroad  began operation hauling goods back and forth between Catskill and Winansville (Durham) using teams of horses to pull coaches and freight cars. After the line was extended, the forge at Malleable Iron Company, at Oak Hill and a hay press beyond Winansville became regular customers.  But as an early rate chart from the railroad indicates, the railroad was carrying all sorts of commodities. From coal and cotton, apples and ashes, cheese and candles to liquor, rakes and snuff, some 60 items were priced to ride the line.  Passengers could save $0. 50 if they elected to ride among the freight in the open cars, instead of in coaches.

Early in March 1840 the little engine -- the "Mountaineer" arrived.  Light and underpowered, for its tasks, it often needed teams of horses, to get it underway, to help it overcome the inertia of its loads. For several months it operated between Catskill and Cooksburg where a round house had been built to facilitate the turn around of the engine.

Then in May 4, 1840 disaster struck.  In a heavy rainstorm the little train crossed the lattice bridge at High Rock, north west of Winansville.  The bridge swayed, timbers cracked and the second span over the rain swollen Catskill creek collapsed,  just as the engine reached the other side. Freight cars and passenger coaches plummeted into the creek. Only the failure of the chain coupling between the engine and the rest of the train prevented the engine from being dragged back into the chasm. Freight and the wreckage of cars were swept down the stream.  Passengers swam for their lives. A  black man (unnamed in reports) was severely injured with a broken leg and two broken thighs and a railway worker, Jehiel Tyler was killed.

After the calamity the little railroad struggled to survive.  For weeks the Mountaineer was stranded on upper end of the track with no access to the rest of the line, unable to produce income for the railroad. The railroad struggled to buy replacement cars and build another bridge. Eventually, it returned to service, but by this time public confidence had evaporated. Two years later the little railroad skirting the Catskills, unable to make payments to its stockholders, or the State of New York was broken up and sold piecemeal at auction.

 

Marker of the Week

From early colonial decades, through the generation of the revolution and the generation that built the Erie and other canals; through the generation that left to escape the famine and arrived  in time to fuel the industrial revolution and send its sons to fight on both sides of the civil war, Immigrants from Ireland have played major roles in New York and American history.

E-Mail Me: If you have comments about this blog or any other thing having to do with NYSHM's I would be delighted to hear from you. I would be especially interested if you know of any new or interesting markers or can report on any efforts to restore old markers. My email is tba998@gmail.com I look forward to hearing and sharing your thoughts on this blog.