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The Erie Canal crosses the Irondequoit creek east of Rochester. The gully created by that creek had to be built up with fill because it was impractical to use locks there. The canal's tendency to leak in filled-in stretches like this prompted the use of a concrete liner along this entire section; but it wasn't enough to prevent a major blowout in 1911 during the Erie's modern "Barge Canal" enlargement (1905-1918). Photos courtesy Town of Perinton historian
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Great
Embankment
Erie
Canal
historical
marker
Added: 16th August 2007
Views: 290
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Posted By: Lowbridge |
 
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This postal depicts a fire alarm tower located where Main Street in Lockport, NY crosses the Erie Canal. The fire station is across the canal to the cameraman's left. The large bell no doubt was used to summon help in the event of a fire; but was the tower also used to detect smoke from fires before telephones were widespread? Incidentally, the bridge under the cameraman's feet was for many years the widest bridge in the world
See also Flight of Five for a reverse view looking instead up the canal gorge and note the position of the tower.
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postal
lockport
flight
tower
fire
traffic
erie
canal
Added: 28th October 2007
Views: 178
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Posted By: USPSam |
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This bridge over the Erie Canal in upstate New York may not seem unusual at first glance; but the small object at the man's feet - which looks like a bowl sitting upside down - is really a permanent part of the roadway of the bridge. The man appears to be watching for a cue from the canal boat that's just out of view to our left that it's time to open the bridge. The pole in the man's hand will be inserted in the object, and as he walks around in a circle a gear mechanism under the wooden deck will rotate the bridge on the masonry support that's built in the middle of the canal under the center of the bridge.
Why did the State choose a swing bridge for this location? The width of the canal is no greater here than it is elsewhere. There are masonry buildings close to the canal here that made raised approaches difficult. One other possible explanation can be found on this historical marker that stands just a few feet west of the modern lift bridge that replaced this structure during the modern Barge Canal enlargement of 1905-1918.
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erie
canal
swing
bridge
albion
Added: 19th November 2007
Views: 191
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Posted By: USPSam |
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This arch at Medina, NY carries the Erie Canal over the Oak Orchard Creek. The Oak Orchard served as one of many "feeders" to the Erie before the modern Barge Canal was built in 1905-1918, but as you can see here, the creek is well below the level of the Erie. The early designers had to go several miles to the south (creeks flow north to Lake Ontario in this region) in order to tap the Oak Orchard at a level that could flow gradually downhill into the canal.
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erie
canal
arch
medina
embankment
Added: 24th November 2007
Views: 151
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Posted By: Lowbridge |
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Before there was refrigeration, salt was important for its food-preservation qualities. In America's early years, Syracuse in Central New York State - aka "Salt City" - was the nation's largest producer of salt. The postcard above shows rows of shallow evaporating pans. The sloped covers on the extreme left and right of this picture would be slid to cover the pans if it rained. See salt - very possibly from Syracuse - being used at the Fulton Fish Market in NYC in the mid-thirties at the 3:18 mark on Manhattan Waterfront. Also see the film White Wonder for an overview of the salt industry today (modern evaporating at 5:17).
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Salt City and The Erie Canal
The original Erie Canal was deliberately routed to pass through what today is Syracuse, NY because of the large salt deposits that were already being harvested there by 1825 when the canal was completed. Syracuse's salt trade benefitted from the canal for two reasons: Low transportation costs, and the Erie made it more profitable for farmers all along the canal corridor to raise hogs than to grow wheat, which had been their principal crop before the canal was built. Pork required large amounts of salt for preservation. See video
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salt
shed
evaporator
syracuse
1905
Added: 1st December 2007
Views: 373
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Posted By: USPSam |
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Culvert Road, just east of Medina, NY
is the only place where a road goes UNDER the Erie Canal. The black and white image (below) of this structure's reconstruction for the modern NYS Barge Canal (1905-1918) shows stones that had been marked and removed from the previous culvert (on the "enlarged" Erie: ca 1830-1862) for reinstallation after the wider Barge Canal was completed (the concrete wall in the black and white is the liner of the Barge Canal used to prevent leaks across this stretch).
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Steam-powered Cranes
(This picture can be enlarged after you click on the thumbnail). Notice the "ice-tong" device used for gripping and lifting heavy stones into place. The shallow holes cut to receive those tongs can still be seen to this day. We wish this camera had captured more detail on the steam-powered cranes being used here, as they look very much like the wooden cranes powered by animals used a hundred years earlier at the deep cut on the original Erie Canal. Photo courtesy Town of Perinton historian. Learn more.
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erie
canal
culvert
medina
Added: 29th December 2007
Views: 199
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Posted By: Lowbridge |
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A Treacherous Towpath
The two images are both of the same stretch of the Erie Canal. One is a recent shot of the modern NYS Barge Canal and the other is a postcard published about 100 years ago before the Barge Canal widening was done. They both show Lockport's famous Deep Cut; and the arrows point to the towpath that was a shelf cut into the solid rock on one side of the channel in this section.
Richard Garrity was born the son of a canal boat operator at just about the turn of the century, and in 1971 his recollections of the Erie were published. In them, he recounts the following incident that happened in the area shown above.
"When mother called me one morning for breakfast, she did not seem her usual cheerful self. I sensed that something had gone wrong. On inquiring, I was told that our team of mules had fallen into the canal just before midnight and had drowned about a mile above the [Lockport] locks. The current had carried the boats along the canal, and were lying at the head of the locks tied up. Nearby I could see the two drowned mules floating in the canal with their collars and harness still on. The current had also carried them down to the locks during the night. The driver was safe, but I could sense the general air of gloom that was felt by everyone on the boats.
When I asked how it had happened, I was told that the wind had picked up during the night and a sudden gust had blown a piece of paper along the towpath towards the mules. This caused the outside mule to shy and crowd the other mule off the towpath into the canal. Being hitched together, one mule had dragged the other into the water with him. The towpath, in the rock cut at this point, was six or seven feet above the water's edge, and the night being very dark, the mules soon became entangled in their harnesses and drowned. Had it been daylight, they might have been saved. In this particular place, along the towpath, nothing could have been done to save them in the darkness."
Mr. Garrity goes on to point out that the towpath remained in the rock cut even after the canal was widened for diesel traffic in 1905-1918 because mules were still needed while work was underway. Only the south side (the left side in the top right photo) had material removed. In the lower photo, trees have long since taken root in the soil that was washed by rains down to this ledge from above.
(Recollections of the Erie Canal, by Richard Garrity. Published by Historical Society of the Tonawandas, Inc. Tonawanda, NY April 1971 Pg 13).
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Added: 16th February 2008
Views: 360
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Posted By: Lowbridge |
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Schoharie Junction, NY
Site of
SCHOHARIE JUNCTION
Schoharie Valley Railroad
Reg. Run 1-4-1867 - Last Run 9-17-19-1942
Length of Railroad - 4.2 Miles
Middleburgh & Schoharie Railroad
Firs Run 10-19-1868 - Last Run 9-24-1936
Length of Railroad - 5.7 Miles
Schoharie County Bicentennial 1995
Schoharie Junction was the point where the Schoharie Valley Railroad intersected with the main line railroad, Albany and Susquehanna (and later the Delaware & Hudson), near Central Bridge in Schoharie County, New York.
A little History of the
Schoharie Valley Railroad and Middleburgh & Schoharie Railroad
Schoharie is a Mohawk word meaning "Drift-wood." The settlement of Schoharie by white-Europeans began about 1712 by Palatine Germans. The farmlands of the Schoharie Valley were very rich and fertile. Valley agriculture prospered to the point where the Valley was known as "the Bread Basket of the American Revolution". In the fall of 1780 British forces with Tories (Johnson) and Indians (Brant) raided the Schoharie and Mohawk Valleys from Canada. The raiders fought skirmishes and battles, took hundreds of prisoners, burned forts, farms, and mills and destroyed one of the finest grain harvests in living memory.
After the Revolution farming continued, though transportation remained difficult. A farmer's 40 mile trip to Albany by horse and wagon was a three day affair at that time. The Erie Canal and its prosperity by-passed the Schoharie Valley by about 25 miles when it opened in 1825, and the Schoharie Creek did not lend itself to navigation. A number of early railroads were charted, including the Catskill & Canajoharie, the Schoharie & Otsego, the Unadilla & Schoharie; however they never came to fruition or reached the Schoharie Valley. Residents of the valley were probably a bit anxious by 1851 when the Albany & Susquehanna was chartered to build a line south from Albany to Binghamton. Towns of Schoharie County, including the Town of Schoharie, Bonded themselves to aid the Albany and Susquehanna with $225,000 by 1864. With the arrival of the A&S railroad in Central Bridge in 1863 the opportunity for a branch line from Schoharie to economic prosperity had presented itself.
In March of 1866 the Schoharie Valley Railroad received a charter to facilitate the construction of a 4.38 mile long railroad between the village of Schoharie and the Albany & Susquehanna railroad at Schoharie Junction. In May of 1867 the Middleburgh and Schoharie Railroad received a charter to build a 5.75 mile long rail line between the village of Middleburgh and the Schoharie Valley Railroad in the village of Schoharie. The two towns again bonded themselves and bought stock to support the two ventures.
By early January of 1867 the SVRR was making scheduled trips, and by the end of October 1868 the first M&S RR timetable had been published. The early years of these railroads were a little rough, but once the wrinkles got ironed out there were prosperous years which lasted mainly between 1870 and 1909. Ticket sales show that in 1868 it cost $1.65 to go to Albany from Schoharie. Both railroads were very small branch lines, so for many years they shared the engine house at the end-of-the-line turntable in Middleburgh. For six months of the year the Schoharie Valley engine was used, and then the next six months the Middleburgh engine was used. One crew worked for both railroads. Both the SV and the M&S were originally built to a 6-foot gauge to interchange with the Albany & Susquehanna. This was converted to standard gauge, 4'- 8.5" (four feet, eight and one half inches), in May of 1874.
Spanning the SVRR, the "hump-back bridge" was a local landmark on NY Route 7 located one mile north of Central Bridge where the road passed over the railroad tracks of the SVRR. In 1867 when the contractor building the SVRR through that spot refused to lower the roadbed the state was forced to build the bridge high over the railroad. In subsequent years the bridge was built even higher to accommodate the height of taller railroad cars. The narrow wooden bridge was built with steep approaches on either side and a flat section on top above the railroad tracks. The bridge was not a problem for horses and wagons, but a scene of accidents and even fatalities for motorists. Due to growth of automobile traffic it was finally torn down because it was an increasing menace to public safety and replaced with a safer design of concrete in December of 1930.
The SVRR had to cross the Fox creek before coming to the Village of Schoharie. There was a wooden Howe Truss covered bridge built in 1866 which lasted until 1910 when it was washed out and destroyed. The new steel bridge not only served the railroad, but a whole generation of youth who used it as a diving platform at the old swimmin' hole in the creek below.
Railroad shipping records point out the following interesting information:
- November 1878 - 1,600 barrels of apples shipped; average price paid, 75 cents a barrel,
- August 1880 - 200 hop pickers arrive by train,
- June 1882 - Shipped 1,318 bales of hops,
- November - 1883 shipped 237 cases of honey.
- September 1898 - 500 fruit baskets are being made daily at the Middleburgh Manufacturing Co. They have sold 31,000 baskets so far this season.
- July 1903 - One train shipped seventy tubs of butter, each at 60 pounds, totaling 4,200 pounds.
- June 1905 - Again several car loads of flagstone shipped from a new Schoharie Valley quarry in West Fulton.
- March 1914 - 2 to 3 tons of casine shipped monthly from Borden Creamery. Casine used in piano keys, buttons, and toilet articles.
Prosperity started to diminish for both the railroads about the time of the First World War, especially when the federal government took over all the railroads in the country and forced them to operate under regulations and mismanagement from which they never seemed to recover. To make matters worst, about that same time the Middleburgh Plum was stricken by the Black Knot. New York had been the third largest grower of Hops to be used in brewing. After the hop plants were hit by the blue mold in the Schoharie valley that large industry began to fade away and dairy farming gradually took its place. Also at that time feed dealers and creameries began shipping by truck.
In 1906 the D&H bought all of the stock of the Schoharie Valley Rail road, but the Middleburgh and Schoharie remained in local hands. This probably contributed to the SVRR outlasting the M&SRR by a number of years.
By 1935 the Middleburgh & Schoharie had not been paying its taxes, and the absolute minimum maintenance had been performed on the roadbed and equipment. The tracks were in terrible shape and the Schoharie Valley Railroad wouldn't even risk running its engine on the M&S line. On September 24th, 1936 the Public Service Commission had ordered the M&SRR to stop operation until repairs were made. It had been estimated that it would cost $7,000 to $8,000 to return the track, crossings, and locomotive to good repair. The railroad would never be open again for business. In March of 1937 the railroad was auctioned off for $11,000 as scrap metal, with the 5.7 miles of rails bringing $18.65 a ton. A junk dealer, E.O. Friedman, of Albany outbid 13 others. The Right of Way of the M&SRR was purchased by the New York Power and Light Corp which had leased the right of way from the railroad to run its power lines 35 years earlier.
By 1942 the little Schoharie Valley Railroad no longer had enough traffic to justify continued operation. Application was filed with the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) to abandon the 76-year-old, 4.3 mile rural line and on September 16, 1942 its infrequent operation ceased.
Reference: J. Harra, Director, Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum
Reference: Pride of the Valley - Railroading in Schoharie County 1828 - 1942 , E.A.Hagan, 1973
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Schoharie Junction in 2008
CPRail Engine 4651, an EMD model GP40-2, and CP7307 a GP38-2 (a former D&H Lighting Stripe Unit ) head train 515, a local freight between Binghamton, NY and Mohawk Yard in Glenville, NY through Schoharie Junction on June 12, 2008. The Schoharie Junction Historic Marker stands beside Junction Road in the foreground. CPRail currently has a MOW (Maintenance of Way) facility located here.
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Schoharie Junction in Early 1930s
This is an early 1930's era valuation photo of the Schoharie Junction depot. The view is from across the main D&H tracks, with the Schoharie Valley tracks on the far side of the building. The sign on the station identifies the location as "Schoharie Junction Station". The small lettering on the left tells us the mileage to Albany, NY is 35.34 miles, and on the right, 107.25 miles to Binghamton, NY. On the building we can see a Western Union Telegraph and Cable Office sign and an oil lamp with a fanciful bracket on the corner of the building near the platform and canopy area. A photo similar to this one was published in the Delaware & Hudson Company Board of Managers Inspection of Lines :: June 7th to June 10th, 1928, however a note beside the photo stated that, 'The A.T.O. Committee on Roadway and Structures Report reads -- "Understand that this building is property of Schoharie Valley R.R." ' Photo courtesy of Bridge Line Historical Society
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Schoharie Junction Station Plan-View Drawing
A 1931 plan-view drawing of the first floor of the Schoharie Junction Station shows that the station had an unusual shape with few right angles. This was due to its location on a triangular plot at the junction of two converging rail lines. One thing that makes this station unique is the placement of station agent's bay window on the second floor rather than the first floor. A later revision of this drawing dated 9-15-33 indicates that the single story addition on the left labeled "Office" and "Storage" in this drawing had been removed. Drawing courtesy of the Bridge Line Historical Society.
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Schoharie Valley Station 2008
This is the Schoharie Valley Depot which is now part of the Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum. The two-story station was built in 1875 of brick to replace the original station that burned that year. A residence is maintained on the 2nd floor still. The light green object in the foreground is a cast iron "Man-Horse-Dog Fountain" which featured three drinking levels. Manufactured by the J. L. Mott Iron Works in an area called Motthaven in the Bronx, New York City, it once stood at the corner of Prospect and Main Street in the Village of Schoharie.
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Schoharie Valley Station c. 1900
SV Railroad President Jacob Vrooman over-built this station after the previous station burned down along with the adjacent engine house in April of 1875. Here we see the station, and a SVRR Engine with a passenger car. A carriage is at the ready waiting to shuttle passengers to one of the nearby hotels, the Parrot House, whose name appears on the side of the carriage. This photo is on the wall inside the station house.
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Schoharie Valley Depot in HO Scale
This is a view of a model railroad on display inside the boxcar at the Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum. These buildings were scratch-built by George Elston.
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Schoharie Valley Engine House
This is D&H Caboose # 35842 which was restored and placed on display in the Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum's combination Engine House and Freight House. George Elston was instrumental in getting this project accomplished with the Bridge Line Historical Society. In the far end of the building beyond the caboose a cone-shaped sheet metal funnel still hangs from the ceiling. This was used to channel the smoke from the steam engine smokestack out of the building while parked in the engine stall. The caboose is open and used to display related memorabilia.
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Middleburgh & Schoharie Yard
The Middleburgh & Schoharie Yard circa 1900-10; everything a small town needed: The Farmers Hotel and Cottage Hotel, a Flour and feed mill, a cement and salt business and coal business, lumber and ice, a wagon shop, and the Borst building for Hop Storage. The railroad had a hand-operated turntable, an engine house, a car shed, an old coach shed, and both a Passenger and a Freight house. This map is on display in the Old Stone Fort Museum.
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The Middleburgh & Schoharie Yard in HO Scale
The Middleburgh & Schoharie Yard in HO Scale. We see the likeness of M&S #2 at the Middleburgh station. Engine #2 was built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works as #4281 in 1895 with 13" cylinders, and 56" drivers. This model railroad is on display in the Old Stone Fort Museum in Schoharie.
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Middleburgh & Schoharie Station c. 1900
The Middleburgh & Schoharie Station in the Middleburgh yard. The first station was originally built circa 1868. A new station was built in 1880 but it did not have the larger canopy as shown here. The platform was improved and the canopy was extended and the ornamental wooden brackets were added through the private donations of a local Middleburgh resident in August of 1889. This postcard is from a private collection.
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Middleburgh & Schoharie Station 2008
The Middleburgh & Schoharie Station was moved a short distance from where it was built to the corner of Wells St. and Maple Ave., and has been used as a private residence for many years. In 2003, the Village of Middleburgh was awarded a grant for $370,438 to restore its historic train station and develop it as a museum of railroad history.
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Middleburgh & Schoharie Engine
The M&S Engine, "Middleburgh" and a combine, i.e. combination passenger / freight car. On November 21, 1872 this engine was damaged in a serious collision with an Albany & Susquehanna engine at Schoharie Junction. This photo originally appeared on a calendar distributed by The First National Bank of Middleburgh. This copy of the photo is on display at the Old Stone Fort Museum in Schoharie.
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The "Schoharie Valley Railroad Complex" was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The Schoharie Valley Railroads Museum is located in the Village of Schoharie on Depot Lane. The Museum encompasses a restored railroad yard consisting of a Station House, Freight/Engine House, Mill Bldg. and Weigh Station. There is D&H box car, flat car and restored D&H Caboose. The last Passenger Car, known as a Combine, was restored and displays artifacts from both the Schoharie Valley Railroad and the Middleburgh & Schoharie R.R. A scale diorama of the entire railroad from Middleburgh to Schoharie Junction is in the boxcar.
Google Maps Location of the museum, below:
View Larger Map
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Schoharie
Valley
Railroads
Museum
Middleburgh
and
Schoharie
Railroad
Added: 26th July 2008
Views: 676
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Posted By: Ohlhous |
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