Kaatskill Life Summer 2023 : simplebooklet.com

2CONSULTANT:Nina A.M. Lawford-JuvilerPUBLISHER: Delaware County Times, Inc.EDITOR: Donald F. Bishop, IIFAX #: 607-746-3135CONTRIBUTORS: Peter Senterman, Robert Titus, Johanna Titus, Michael Kudish, Justin Askins, John Rowan, Ryan Trapani, Larry Gambon, Lawrence C. Swayne, Lillian Browne, Rebecca Andre, LaVerne Black, Francis X. DriscollART DIRECTOR/LAYOUT:John Stys and Cathy RolosonPHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR:Donald F. Bishop, IICOPY EDITOR:Bertha K. RogersCALENDAR OF EVENTS & WEB MASTER:Cathy RolosonFAX #: 607-746-3135SUBSCRIPTIONS: Cathy RolosonBOOKEEPER: Sherri TelianPUBLISHER: The Delaware County Times, Inc.web site: ww.kaatslife.com e-mail: info@kaatskilife.comDigital Subscriptions $20. To get your Kaatskill Life digital subscription: Visit www.kaatskill.com and click on button for subscriptions. You can pay with PayPal or you can send check or money order to: Kaatskill Life, 56 Main Street, Delhi, NY 13753Please be sure to include your name, address, phone number and email so we can process your order.Back issues of Kaatskill Life available at $10 each ppd. Write your name and full street address or call 607-746-2176.Allow 6-8 weeks for processing.Kaatskill Life, established in 1986 is published four times yearly by The Delaware County Times, Inc., Delhi, NY. Editorial and sales ofﬁce located at 56 Main Street, Delhi, NY 13753; phone 607-746-2176, FAX 607-746-3135. Copyright 2023 by The Delaware County Times, Inc. All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Kaatskill Life cannot be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, drawings, photographs or transparencies. PLEASE ALLOW 2 TO 8 WEEKS for responses to submitted material. ISSN 1073-9076.Kaatskill Life reserves the right to accept or reject all submissions, advertising or editorial, and to edit manuscripts for length, clarity and style. We accept original manuscripts double-spaced and clean-typed without corrections or insertions.FAXES AND COLUMN FORMATS NOT ACCEPTED.front cover: Katskill Life staffinside front cover: Katskill Life staffinside back cover: Katskill Life staffback cover: Katskill Life staff➺NDELAWARERIVERSULLIVANULSTEROTSEGOI-88GREENE1797172091452810102828233030422323Rt. 209W21323-AHUDSONRIVERDELAWARENY STATE THRUWAY (87)23I-8810SCHOHARIELocations are approximate.14920621497• Mel’s and 22 Cooks Up ConneCtion in Cooperstown By: allison Collins• Cooperstowns railroad inn CondUCts itself UniqUely By: allison Collins• Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley railroad 1869 - 2019 By: BrUCe J. hodges, JiM loUdon, rUssell a. grills• ashley falls By roBert and Johanna titUs• MoUntains & their trees By: ryan trapaniDear Readers,Progress is slow on rebuilding the ofﬁce. The contractor is better at tearing down than building backThen a case of cover developed, even with months of masks and hand sanitizers that pushed back the timeline for construction and magazine production.Finally, some progress with this issue.photography Katskill Life staff

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360 Degrees446th Annual East Durham Irish FestivalMay 27 - 28Come and enjoy the biggest Irish American Event in the Catskill Mountains, located in the valley of East Durham. For the last 46 years, The Michael J Quill Irish Cultural & Sports Centre has celebrated the East Durham Irish Festival. Some of our performers in the 2023 line-up include The Narrowbacks, Screaming Orphans, Ronan Tynan, Andy Cooney & His Band, The Young Wolfe Tones, Tom Comerford, Darren Kiely, The 19th Street Band, Sheridan Ruitin, Kitty Kelly, Dee Reilly, The Diddley Idols, McLean Avenue Band, Nine Mile House and many more! Kids 13 And Under Are Free! Bring the whole family!Dustbowl Rivival, Gangstagrass, Stillhouse Junkies, Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley, Compton & Newberry, Mark Schatz & Bryan McDowell, Grain Thief, Fireside Collective, country Current, Charm city Junction, Jim Baudet & The Railroad Boys, the Wildmans, Barbaro, Circus No. 9, Giri & Uma Peters, Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, Serene Green, Quickstep featuring John Kirk & Trish Miller and more!Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural & Sports Centre 2267 Route 145 East Durham, 518-634-2286Cherry Valley Spring into Summer FestivalMay 26 - May 29 The businesses of historic Cherry Valley invite you to join us in celebrating our Spring into Summer Festival. Details at: cherryvalley.com A weekend long celebration beginning Friday, May 26 with an opening night party. Saturday and Sunday May 27 & 28 businesses open at 10 am, and throughout the day enjoy live music at the gazebo, artist- led workshops, vendors, food trucks, town-wide garage sales and more! Monday May 29 the parade starts at 10 AM followed by a memorial service at the Cemetery, and chicken BBQ. Events will be located throughout the village and town. Come celebrate the end of Winter and the beauty of Spring with us!#cherryvalleyny Contact Noelle Adamoschek for more info at 518-231-3093Kody Norris ShowJune 4, 4pm Outdoor concert Deeply rooted in North American folk music, Norris has crafted a performance that harkens back and tips a hat to the traditions created by Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin’s showmanship, the Stanley Brothers’ harmonies, performances of the Grand Ole Opry and a bit of Vaudeville. Top notch picking is center stage, but humor and visual ash are part of the entertaining package. Always clad in colorful, tailored suits adorned with rhinestones, ties, classic hats and ornate boots, the band earns its moniker as a“show”. The brand is traditional, clean cut, acoustic and always entertaining. The Kody Norris Show was honored with seven SPBGMA nominations in 2018 and four nominations in 2022. In addition to winning Fiddler performer of the year, The Kody Norris Show was also named the 2022 Entertainer of the Year!West Kortright Centre, 49 West Kortright Church Road, East Meredith, 607-278-5454The West Kortright Centre stands on land that is part of the unceded, ancestral homeland of the Haudenosaunee people.Delaware Countyotsego Countygreene County

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360 DegreesMayy Film FestivalSaturday May 13th, 6pmShowcasing stories of sustainability, stewardship, and the environment.The Schoharie River Center presents the rst annual Mayy Film Festival, an inspiring & urgent program of diverse lms that are focused on the environment and our relationship with it. Featuring documentaries, narratives, animations, and experimental lms centered on different environmental issues.The Mayy is an insect that is very susceptible to pollutants. When researching water quality, the presence of Mayies can indicate that the water is clean or getting better. They have existed since before the dinosaurs, and we hope that our actions will lead to seeing them around well into the future.We believe that this sensitive and ancient species is a perfect mascot for our delicate environment and all the issues surrounding its survival.Wayward Lane Brewing, Schoharie, https://www.facebook.com events/917115152775095Teddy Bear PicnicMay 20, 10AM Bring Your Picnic Basket & Join Us for a Terric Teddy Bear Picnic at the Blenheim-Gilboa Visitors CenterEvent Activities: Teddy Bears Galore & Fun for All Ages, with Arts, Crafts, a Bubble Station & Bounce Houses for the kids.Storytelling, Songs & Photos with Wonderland Favorite’s - Alice & the Mad Hatter!Play Lawn Games, like Corn Hole, Badminton, Giant Connect 4 & More. Enjoy Live Music & Local Food Trucks.Blenheim-Gilboa Visitor Center, 1378 State Route 30, North BlenheimA Lovely Day to Kill Your SpouseJune 9, 10, 16, 17 at 8 pmJune 11 and 18 at 2 pmThe open water, a small row boat and a marriage on the brink. Just how far would you trust your spouse? Or their family? Wealthy couple Graham and Gloria embark on a seemingly romantic getaway but instead plan to kill each other, ever so politely. A love quadrangle is created when his brother and her sister arrive to save them–or murder the pair themselves. Written by New Zealand’s Lindsay Brown (“The Last Deck Chair in the Resort” from the 2022 10 Minute Play Festival), 5sChoharie Countysullivan Countythis award-winning playwright’s work will have you falling out of the rowboat with laughter.Open Hours subject to change. Please check our online calendar. Kadampa Meditation Center New York, 47 Sweeney Rd, Glen Spey, https://www.kadampanewyork.org/

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360 DegreesDAMSELS & DRAGONS: The Odonates of Sanctuary PondJuly 9, 9:00 amFrom the itting gleam of a bluet’s wing to a speeding darner relentlessly hunting prey, summer at Sanctuary Pond is alive with diverse, colorful, and intriguing insects: the Odonata (dragonies and damselies).Join local aquatic ecologist and nature photographer Frank Beres to explore this fascinating group of insects. Learn about the natural history of one of the most ancient lineages and pick up tips to discover, identify, and photograph a diverse variety of striking and colorful species. Those shown here are just a few of what we might see. All the photographs were taken at the Nature Sanctuary by Frank. It is at the Nature Sanctuary that Frank saw his rst Uhler’s Sundragon in Ulster County, up from Black Creek, and is pointing to it below.We will also explore the edges of the pond for more biodiversity, including summer residents such as butteries, aquatic insects, painted turtles, and snapping turtles.Space is limited. Register early at info@johnburroughsassociation.org for meeting location.Slabsides will be open for tours Noon to 4:00 pm. BONUS: English Dance music at Slabsides beginning at noon, July 9. Enjoy music from the days of Jane Austen. The “Greenwood” will perform on concertina, clarinet, cello, and violin.ulster CountyJohn Burroughs Nature Sanctuary, WoodstockEmail info@johnburroughsassociation.org.Register at info@johnburroughsassociation.org for meeting locationThe Ulster County SPCA is now accepting vendors for our annual outdoor Garden Party on May 6, 2023 from 9am-2pm.Spots are limited to 30 crafts and/or pet products vendors, ve bakers, and two food vendors. As we draw closer to the event, we will be able to provide more information about booth size, arrival time, etc.To become a Garden Party & Flea Market vendor, the vending fee is $30, purchasable at https://app.donorview.com/bp3On. Please ll out the required information and you will receive update emails closer to the event. Any questions can be directed to our Marketing Coordinator at marketingcoordinator@ucspca.org.6

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she said. “I just had an interest in food (because) I grew up around it. So, I came in very green, and my father and I went in on this with my sister and husband. We’ve kind of played into American cuisine and, because my family is from New England, my dad is really big on seafood. Our baked haddock and New England clam chowder are probably two of our staples.” While Mel’s draws heavily on its founders’ roots, Gunther said, the menu also reﬂects a passion for variety.“We do everything from seafood to some different fusion cuisines, and we have a butter chicken dish, so there’s Indian on there and some Asian-inspired stuff,” she said. “We like to kind of play with everything.“You can sit down and have a burger or have a lobster risotto,” she said. “We give you that wide range, where you don’t have to be stuck to one proﬁle. Our burgers are really popular, and we hand-form our patties in-house, so they’re an item people really go for, and any of our seafood dishes are really great. Because we’re bringing that fresh seafood in, that’s a big pull. And people come for our specials; we’re always changing them. We wanted to be that kind of environment where you can have a drink and hang out with friends, because my mom was a very vibrant person, so we just wanted to keep that welcome feeling going.”above: Owner Alex Gunther and her father and Mel’s founder, Brian Wrubleski, stand in front of a framed picture of their late mother and wife, Maryellen, the business’ namesake.right: Owner Alex Gunther is pictured in the Mel’s kitchen in this October photo.9

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In one half of the restaurant, Mel’s features a full bar and high-top table seating.“We’re open year-round and, currently, I have maybe 20 (employees),” she said in late October, noting stafﬁng shortages. “We decided to cut down to ﬁve days a week after COVID, just because we couldn’t keep up with the volume of people and the stafﬁng we had.“The employees are family to us,” Gunther continued. “They have our back, and we have theirs, so it’s nice to have that connection. I look at our place as family, and I love food. I like the idea of continuing to bring different dishes and ﬂavors to the area. We’re always … trying to ﬁnd a different theme night or a wine and dinner pairing that can keep people feeling like there’s something exciting and new, especially where it’s a small town.”Given that recipe for success, Gunther said, she hopes to keep serving more of the same. “I think Mel’s has become our little baby,” she said. “We never want to stray away from what we have. We’ve looked at other opportunities in the past, but, as everyone knows, the restaurant business is hard, so I think (we plan to) just continue to grow that Mel’s story and keep perfecting and improving what we’ve got going on.”Mel’s at 22 is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Friday; 11 to 10, Saturday; and closed Sunday and Monday.For more information, follow @melsat22 on Instagram, ﬁnd “Mel’s at 22” on Facebook or visit melsat22.com. For reservations, call 607-332-4012.12

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Make a DonationOur operations are funded entirely from grants from local stakeholders, ticket sales, memberships and through generous donations from supporters like you. Your donations help keep railroad history alive in the Western Catskills and Delaware County. Our railroad supports the local economy by providing employment for the maintenance of track, locomotives and rolling stock. Donations can be easily made online using the form on our website or by mail Donations to help with our many track and train restoration projectsDonating Items & ArtifactsWe also accept donations of a variety of materials such as:ToolsRailroad partsHistorical artifacts and antiquesEstate and personal collectionsPhotographs or historical documents about railroading in the Catskill Mountains and New York StateYour donations of historical materials will help support our future goal of building an interpretive center on railroad history in the Catskill Mountains.Donations can be easily made online at:www.durr.orgor mailing payment to:Delaware & Ulster RailroadPost Ofce Box 355Arkville, New York 12406(800) 225-4132(845) 586-DURRThe Delaware & Ulster Railroad is not currently running while the organization is restoring the tracks and updating other equipment. We hope to be back up and running shortly. We are currently not hosting any events at this moment. Please check back soon.

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The Railroad Inn has guests on track for a distinctive, boutique-style stay in Cooperstown.According to railroadinn.com, the 28 Railroad Ave. hotel dovetails local history with state-of-the-art spaces, seamlessly “blending the integrity and character of a prestigious landmark building with a contemporary, sophisticated design sensibility.” The 22-room, railroad-themed inn, built in 1890, is on the National Register of Historic Places in the Glimmerglass Historic District, the site notes, and Cooperstown’s Railroad Inn Conducts Itself Uniquelyby Allison Collins“steps away from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Main Street attractions.”Hotel manager Megan Strong said owner Perry Ferrara purchased the building in 2017.“He actually bought it in 2017 and it was an Agway feed store, but it was empty at that point, and he and his wife did all the remodeling and redecorating,” she said. “He owns a couple other businesses in Cooperstown, on Main Street, but is actually from the city. Summertime, he is very hands-on … and it’s not abnormal for guests to be sitting in the lobby and he just comes and picks up a cup of coffee and starts talking to you.“Originally, it was part of the railroad and the tracks used to come right through here,” Strong continued. “There are still tracks on the left side that are original, and we’re not sure how it went from (being used by) the railroad to Agway feed, but it was Agway for many, many years.”Agway, Strong noted, claimed bankruptcy in 2002, at which time the store closed, remaining vacant KaatskillLodgingsRailroad Inn, seen decorated for Halloween, is at 28 Railroad Ave., Cooperstown14

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“Each one has a spiral staircase, so it’s like a two-ﬂoor, little condo-type thing,” she said.The Railroad Inn offers what Strong called a “light cold breakfast” daily.Though bookings follow the baseball tourism season, Strong said, the Railroad Inn is open and patronized year round.“Usually, we are pretty sold out from May to September,” she said. “From Memorial Day to Labor Day is usually our baseball teams. We get a lot of Dreams Park people and All-Star Village people, then after September all the way through winter we do get people coming up to visit – usually baseball fans or … people here to enjoy the fall foliage – but we do house a lot of Cooperstown Center travel nurses.”Though Strong said the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily derailed hospitality in Cooperstown, the Railroad Inn, which employs six to eight people annually, kept chugging along.“The Dreams Park completely shut down the one year, and the following year they didn’t do as many teams as they always had,” she said. “We still had a lot of people that wanted to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame, but it was kind of funny, because the summer of 2020 when the pandemic really hit, it was literally a ghost town. Then, summer 2021 it picked back up and 2022 how conveniently located we are, but that we’re still kind of tucked away from Main Street, especially in summertime when it’s super busy. It will be so quiet here at night, then Main Street will be crazy. We have the ﬁre pit and the Adirondack chairs by the creek, bocce ball and there’s the grill and patio section out there.”Of the 22 rooms, Strong noted, four are loft rooms, which she called “super unique.”The two-story, loft-style suites are the Railroad Inn’s largest.16

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As far back as 1827, talks and plans to bring a railroad to Cooperstown had been discussed and debated. Numerous plans were developed only to become nothing but “paper railroads” in Otsego County’s Courthouse. One driving force always kept the dream alive - if Oneonta, a rival village, were to have a railroad, Cooperstown would have to build one in order to maintain its prominent position in the county. On November 10, 1863, the ﬁ rst meeting when minutes were taken of the “Committee for the Railroad” consisting of seven townspeople was held to discuss the possibility of constructing a railroad for Cooperstown. The results of their work were not made public until February 22, 1865, when “a large meeting of those interested in the construction of a railroad from Cooperstown to intersect the Albany & Susquehanna road near Colliersville” convened at the Keyes Hotel. Calvin Graves, a local businessman, chaired the meeting. The editor of the Freeman’s Journal noted that the Hon. Luther I. Burditt stated the importance of immediately effecting an organization of a company, in order that special legislation, deemed necessary, might be obtained at the present session of the legislature. The right spirit was manifested, and the requisite amount to organize a company with $250,000 capital was subscribed and ten percent of the subscription paid in. Three days later on February 25th, the new Cooperstown & Susquehanna Valley Railroad Company ﬁ led its Articles of Association in Albany.On May 5, 1865, the Committee adopted its corporate bylaws and elected its ﬁ rst group of ofﬁ cers. Luther Burditt was elected the Railroad’s ﬁ rst CHAPTER 1railroad from Cooperstown to intersect the Albany & Susquehanna road near Colliersville” convened at the Keyes Hotel. Calvin Graves, a local businessman, chaired the meeting. The editor of the Freeman’s Journal Susquehanna Valley Railroad Company ﬁ led its Articles of Association in Albany.The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadSesquicentennial Celebration1869-2019above: The ﬁ rst President of the Cooperstown & Susquehanna Valley Railroad, Luther Burdittright, top: C&SVRR Stock Certiﬁ cateright, bottom: C&SVRR BondOrganization & Planningpresident. The ﬂ edgling company was capitalized for $250,000 and was directed by a board of thirteen business and professional men from Cooperstown, Hartwick, Middleﬁ eld and Springﬁ eld.Photos amd images courtesy of The Fenimore ArtMuseum, Cooperstown, NYThis is a series of articles chronicling the history of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad. Source material includes Leatherstocking Rails by LRHS Member, Founder & Historian Jim Loudon, Cooperstown And Its Railroad, a thesis by Rus-sell A. Grills, and the C&SVRR/ C&CVRR Corporate Minute Books.20by Bruce J. Hodges, Jim Loudon, Russell A. Grills

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On June 3, 1865 the New York State Legislature passed a law authorizing the towns of Otsego, Hartwick, and Middleﬁ eld to issue bonds and subscribe and take stock in the Cooperstown Railroad. All three towns purchased shares in the new company although Hartwick disposed of its stock in 1871. The remaining shares held by Otsego and Middleﬁ eld, however, were sufﬁ cient to keep the railroad under public control until its sale in 1903.On October 28, 1865 F. W. Spencer was hired to make preliminary survey of the Railroad. He was replaced on October 14, 1867 by Erastus Edgerton who became the Railroad’s Chief Engineer at a salary of $1,800 per year.The Railroad appointed a committee to procure contracts for right of way between Cooperstown and Clintonville on March 24, 1866. Throughout 1866 and 1867 committees were created to procure stock subscriptions from the various towns the Railroad was to traverse.On April 24, 1866 the New York State Legislature authorized the construction of the C&SVRR using iron rail not less than 48 pounds per lineal yard, and to collect compensation for transporting passengers not to exceed six cents per mile.Two years had passed without a railroad materializing. On March 23, 1867, the capitalization was increased to $350,000, approved by the State Legislature on April 18, 1867.On October 5, 1867 the Railroad created a committee to consult with the Directors of the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad Co. to ascertain what arrangements could be made to facilitate construction of the C&SVRR. On November 3, 1867 President Burditt reported to the Board that after meeting with the Executive Committee of the A&S Railroad a location at or near Colliers would be the interchange point between the two railroads.On December 14, 1867 the report of the engineers on the survey of the route of the Railroad was presented to the Board. A week later the Board met again to discuss and adopt the survey on December 21st. A Mr. Snow from Oneonta was granted the privilege of making a statement and offer of aid on behalf of Colliers if the connection with the A&S Railroad was located there. Several citizens of the Towns of Milford & Maryland were also afforded the privilege of addressing the Board and made their own offer of aid if the Railroad agreed to locate the connection with the A&S at or near what was known as Burnsides Hotel on the farm of Alonzo Erny in the Town of Milford, present day Cooperstown Junction. Motions were passed to accept several sections of the survey with some modiﬁ cations, including changes made above Clinton Factory. Another motion was passed to locate the interchange with the A&S Railroad at Burnsides if the citizens of the Towns of Milford and Maryland made a legal subscription of $6,000 to the capital stock of the C&SVRR. The attorney representing those towns asked for more time to acquire those funds at the Railroad’s December 28, 1867 Board Meeting, but by the January 4, 1868 Board Meeting the full amount had been raised and authorization to purchase the necessary property at Burnsides was approved.21

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The Board discussed the Railroad’s ﬁ nal routing over the course of several meetings starting May 30, 1868. A committee was created on June 3, 1868 to confer with the President of the Utica, Chenango & Susquehanna Railroad in regards to locating a terminus in Richﬁ eld Springs as the Railroad struggled to determine what its northern terminus would be. On May 3, 1869, the State Legislature had even passed legislation for the Railroad to extend north through the towns of Otsego, Springﬁ eld and Warren in Herkimer County, to a point at our near Richﬁ eld Springs.ConstructionFebruary, 1868 brought some activity in the direction of building the road when a contract for construction was let to James Keenholtz. Ironically, Mr. Keenholtz asked to be let out of his contract at the Railroad’s April 21, 1868 Board Meeting, but was denied. On August 14, 1868 the Board decided the line was to be built to a six-foot gauge to match that of the connecting Albany & Susquehanna Railroad. By October, the construction of the roadbed was under way and 1,070 tons of rails, plates, and spikes were purchased by the directors for $90,000 cash. Winter storms in December brought a suspension of track laying after only three miles had been completed. Grading of the roadbed, however, was continued.On November 7, 1868 the Board approved the purchase of a locomotive suitable for the new Railroad’s needs. Also, at the November 14th meeting the Board approved further changes to the routing previously approved at the May 30th meeting.Possibly dismayed by the lack of progress, the Railroad’s directors, at their annual stockholders meeting in February, 1869, replaced President Burditt with John F. Scott of Woodside Hall, a successful hop dealer. With a new president and the coming of the spring thaw, work on building the railroad was again commenced.On May 21, 1869, the Freeman’s Journal reported that the railroad line had been extended eight miles from Colliers, with President Scott heading the track layers. By June 18, the Journal noted that track had been laid to the County House about four miles south of Cooperstown. In addition, it was announced that the steam locomotive, The Ellery Cory, would leave the factory on July 6. In its eagerness to see the Railroad completed, the Journal editorially hoped that President Scott would “by July 25, run a passenger train with the present engine as far as possible to put a stop to the tedious staging over rough roads.”With the Railroad nearing completion, Cooperstown bubbled with excitement, if the Journal’s editor can be taken as an example in his following comments: Next month the Cooperstown Railroad will be completed - - passenger trains will be run about the 12th of July -- and then we shall have something to exhibit which cannot be found in the vast empire of China, all Western and Central Asia and the whole of Africa except Egypt and the French and English colonies; for those countries, inhabited by more than half the human beings of the earth have no railroads at all.The second President of theCooperstown & Susquehanna Valley Railroad, John F. Scott22

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadSesquicentennial Celebration1869-2019CHAPTER 2As the opening day of the railroad approached, the Journal’s editor whipped up enthusiasm with the following editorial: ”The opening of Railroad Communication to the Village of Cooperstown is an event which should not be allowed to pass without some appropriate public demonstration. The 4th comes on Sunday this year, and there will be no celebration; therefore, the greater reason for celebrating the one grand event of local interest of the year. Shall it be done? With a committee composed of such men as George B. Ernst, E.P. Sill, A A. Jarvis, G. Pomeroy CooperstownCelebrationKeese, Elihu Phinney, H.M. Hooker, John Worthington, Wm. E. Cory, and Chas. A. Watkins. There could be no failure, unless it should rain! Who seconds the Motion? The Rev. Beach of New York, is here on his summer vacation, and might be induced to make an address on the occasion--and it would be a good one. Governor Hoffman told the Editor of the Journal he should endeavor to visit Cooperstown sometime this summer; perhaps he might make it convenient to come at that time. Shall we have the celebration? If so, it is high time to commence the necessary preparations.”On July 14, 1869, with all the appropriate decorations, demonstrations of joy, ﬁring of a cannon, and the ringing of church bells from Colliers to Cooperstown, the Village was ofﬁcially brought into railroad contact with the rest of the country, marking the beginning of a new era. At the same time, an older era came to a close as the “Colliersville The only “known” Grand Opening photo, the John F. Scott all decorated for the ﬁrst revenue train in Cooperstown on July 14, 1869.Photo courtesy of the Ward Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY23

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Stage” retired from service on the opening day of the railroad. There’s no record as to whether the Governor of NewYork ever came to Cooperstown that summer. Ironically, all issues of the weekly local newspapers immediately following the opening of the railroad are not to be found, and the corporate minute books make no reference whatsoever to the “grand opening”, so an actual accounting of everything that transpired on July 14, 1869 is not available, and there is no record of any formal ceremony taking place.Financial DifﬁcultiesWith the completion of a railroad from Cooperstown to the Albany & Susquehanna line, changes, both physical and ﬁnancial, continued to occur. As early as September 1, 1869 the Board approved the borrowing of $30,000 to complete construction and for the acquisition of equipment. Perhaps the earliest ﬁnancial crisis to affect the railroad was the announcement in 1871 that the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad was about to narrow the gauge of its line from six feet to the standard four feet eight and one half inches. Such a move would either force the Cooperstown Railroad to follow suit or be cut off from all through trafﬁc. Although warning of the coming gauge change was given well in advance, seemingly nothing was done about the problem until, in 1875, the Journal announced that unless the railroad was leased in its present condition, $12,000 would be required to narrow the gauge of the track and the rolling stock.The necessity for narrowing the gauge of the entire railroad, declining receipts, preexisting loans, and the obligation to pay a $44,243.30 judgment brought against the line by construction contractor James Keenholtz, who went all the way to the NYS Supreme Court (receiving the judgment on June 24, 1872), plunged the Cooperstown Railroad into its ﬁrst grave ﬁnancial crisis. Having been saddled with a large ﬂoating debt because of the lawsuit prosecuted by the railroad’s building contractor, the railroad had been able to do little more than meet operating expenses and interest payments on its debts. With declining revenues and large construction costs, the limit was ﬁnally reached. In December, 1875, the railroad was put up for a sheriff’s sale.The prospect of Cooperstown losing control of its railroad raised a furor in the Village, led by the Freeman’s Journal Editor Samuel Shaw. In a column dated January 6, 1876, the newspaper emphasized that the individuals of Middleﬁeld and Otsego had invested more than $380,000 in the road; that the stock was selling for 30 to 50 cents on the dollar; that the line had always paid its operating expenses; that it had The Cooperstown Yard, looking north towards what’s now Bruce Hall. The multiple rails indicated this photo was taken during the transition from 6 foot to standard gauge.Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY.24

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reduced the ﬂoating debt each year; and that it was likely to be sold for only about $7,000. The editor pleaded that the directors resist such an outcome and install a reform management who could liquidate the road’s debts and pay dividends on the stock. Shaw’s clinching argument was that it would be only a matter of time until the road became an important link in a through north and south line which would greatly enhance the value of the stock.There were probably numerous schemes aﬂoat in Cooperstown which would reputedly save the railroad; some such proposals were reported in the Journal. A letter from William Brooks, who had recently resigned from the board of directors, suggested the company “Keep everything in good condition after the track and rolling stock have been narrowed, and pay from $3,000 to $5,000 a year on the debt; this increasing as year by year the interest account decreases.”Another individual suggested that the solution was to do away with ofﬁcial passes except for directors and employees. He noted that on a recent trip, of the twenty to thirty passengers in one car, fully one fourth either showed a pass or rode free as a customary privilege. The Board had authorized President Burditt to issue annual passes at its July 31, 1869 meeting to all the railroad’s ofﬁcers, as well as the publishers of the two Cooperstown newspapers (in exchange for publishing the railroad’s timetables in their publications). Apparently the issuance of passes went beyond that mandate.At the height of the bankruptcy crisis, the Journal seemed to ﬁnd all the problems of the railroad bound up in the person of one Judge Edick who had presided over the bankruptcy hearing. In the January 20, 1876 issue, the editor consumed nearly two columns attacking Edick for allegedly trying to force the sale of the railroad.After repeatedly urging the citizens of Cooperstown not to allow the railroad to be sold out from community control, the necessary funds to underwrite the system’s recovery were pledged. On October 21, 1875 President Scott resigned as President, and shorty thereafter Andrew Shaw, a wool and hops dealer in the Village, became the railroad’s 3rd President. Under his guidance $40,000 in bonds were issued, as were numerous loans and mortgages secured, to settle the contractor’s, and other, claims against the railroad. The Board had been trying since its February 18, 1875 meeting to reach an amicable settlement with the Keenholtz Estate on the construction claims against the railroad, as James Keenholtz had passed away in 1870. It wasn’t until October 21, 1875 that the Board and the Keenholtz Estate ﬁnally settled on the amount of $30,000, six years after the railroad’s construction was completed. On February 10, 1876, the Journal announced that the stockholders and taxpayers were to be congratulated on saving the railroad Top photo The original 1869 Cooperstown Depot, looking south. This building is now the NYS&W head quarters. Photo courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY25

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and for defeating the party which sought to gain control of a piece of property worth nearly a half a million dollars for a fraction of that amount.Technical AdvancesWith the settlement of the bankruptcy crisis by President Andrew Shaw, worries about a take over by outside interests were set aside and efforts made to improve the physical condition of the railroad. Damaged cars were repaired and all of the rolling stock standard-gauged for use on the new line. The year 1877 saw the beginning of a project to relay the entire line with steel-capped rails, an improvement not ﬁnished until 1882. In order to hold the roadbed against the erosion of the Susquehanna River, willows were planted in certain areas.The ﬁrst C&SV Station in Cooperstown Junction, at the interchange point with the A&S Railroad, which is on the left. The hotel in the background is now the site of Austin’s Auction Barn. Photos in this chapter were taken before the gauge was reduced.Photo courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYImprovements were also made in areas other than track and roadbed. Some equipment, that the company could not afford to acquire elsewhere, was fabricated in its shops in Cooperstown. In 1881, a new baggage and express car, which the Journal described as 35 feet long and a substantial and convenient car, was built at the local shops. The newspaper estimated that the cost of the car would be only 65% of a factory-built one.As trafﬁc grew heavier and more emphasis was placed on safety, improvements took account of these factors. A Journal report of 1886 announced that “a new turntable has been put in at the Junction, and a new and stronger one is being built at this end of the line.” To facilitate the movement of heavier shipments, especially coal, a scale was purchased and placed at the Junction. The company began talking about building a steel bridge at Phoenix, although that task was not accomplished until 1896. An advance toward safer operation occurred when the road installed patented air brakes on its passenger equipment in 1885.A second project to strengthen and improve the trackage of the Cooperstown Railroad began in 1887, when heavy steel rails were laid over the ﬁrst mile from the Junction, where the trafﬁc was heavy. The second relaying of the line’s trackage continued through 1892. According to the Journal, the line was again re-laid because the steel-capped rails employed only ten years earlier proved to be a bad investment.26

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadSesquicentennial Celebration1869-2019CHAPTER 3The completion of a railroad into Cooperstown proved to be only a partial realization of the Village’s railroad dream. While its location at the terminus or a feeder line insured communication with the outside world, having Cooperstown located on a through mainline or serve as a junction of two lines would be inﬁnitely better. The dream of expanding the Cooperstown Railroad was born before the line was ﬁnished, was partially fulﬁlled, and died well after the absorption of the line by the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company made a through line in Cooperstown a virtual impossibility. Proposed Extension to Richﬁeld Springs One of the earliest indications that Cooperstown would not be satisﬁed as the terminus of a feeder line came during the dispute over the location of the village depot. Commenting on the ﬁnal settlement, the Freeman’s Journal noted that “if the railroad is to pass through the village, the best route has probably been selected.” The article went on to speculate whether or not the line would be extended to Richﬁeld Springs. The Cooperstown Railroad Company was legally empowered to build beyond the village in a bill passed by the State Legislature on May 3, 1869. The ﬁrst section of the law stated that, “The Cooperstown & Susquehanna Valley Railroad Company are hereby authorized and empowered to continue and extend the route of their railroad from the northern terminus of said road, in the village of Cooperstown, in the town and county of Otsego, northerly by the most practical course through the towns of Otsego, and Springﬁeld and Expansion Plansthe town of Warren in the County of Herkimer to a point at or near Richﬁeld Springs.” Proposed Extension to Ilion While the plan to extend the Cooperstown Railroad to Richﬁeld Springs languished, other proposals drew the attention and enthusiasm of the villagers. In its October 30, 1870, edition, the Journal announced that a railroad meeting held in Ilion, a village on the Mohawk River, brought closer to fruition plans to make the Cooperstown railroad part of a north-south route. Nothing further was mentioned in the Journal until the April 20, 1871, edition, in which it was noted that the ﬁrst section of the new line, now known as the New York, Utica & Ogdensburg Railroad, running from Utica to Cooperstown, had been let out on contract. On June 15, 1871, the Journal reported that Jedediah Sill, one of the Cooperstown Railroad directors, had received a telegram announcing that work on the Utica-Cooperstown line had begun. It was estimated, on July 20, that the Cooperstown-Ilion section would be completed by 1872. That optimistic estimate was the last ever reported by the Journal relative to the New York, Utica & Ogdensburg Railroad. It simply disappeared from the public eye. An early photo of the C&SVRR in Cooperstown.Photo courtesy of the Ward Collection, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY27

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Proposed Extension to Fort Plain Current to the activity aimed at construction of a railroad to Ilion, speculation arose concerning a rail line to run from Cooperstown to Fort Plain, on the Mohawk River. The line would cross a proposed extension of the Albany, Sharon & Richﬁeld Springs line at Springﬁeld Center, at the head of Otsego Lake. The line was estimated to cost $10,000 a mile, a total of $80,000 for the town of Otsego. Talk of the Fort Plain proposal continued intermittently through the remainder of the 1870’s. Increased Momentum Toward Expansion In the early years of the 1880’s speculation on a line to Fort Plain well as one to Richﬁeld Springs increased. With growing rapidity a variety of proposals and reasons for expanding Cooperstown’s rail system appeared. The Journal seemed to pick the proposal to expand the Richﬁeld Springs as its favorite because “it has been impossible for the coal merchants of this village to meet the demand for certain kinds of coal this winter. The fault is with the D&H Canal Co. Push the C.& S.V.R.R. through to Richﬁeld.” If the Cooperstown railroad built a line to Richﬁeld Springs, it could receive coal from the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western as well as from the Delaware & Hudson, thus no longer falling prey to the whims of the little railroad’s sole connecting company. Finally, in 1889, a survey for such a line was conducted by the new Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad. The line would connect the two summer spas via the village of Pierstown. During the same period, attention to the proposed Cooperstown-Fort Plain route increased. On May 13, 1882, the Journal reported that an agent for the Honorable Thomas Cornell, president of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad, a line running from Stamford, in Delaware County, to Kingston, on the Hudson River, passed with George Brooks, a director of the Cooperstown railroad, over a proposed line to the north. The route extended from Springﬁeld Center through Van Hornesville and Herkimer to Trenton Falls. It was considered to be the most favorable route for a through line over the C & S V and U & D to the Hudson. Proposal of the VanderbiltInterests The end of the year 1882 saw a new element enter into the mix for a Cooperstown-Fort Plain line. An article from the Albany Argus reprinted in the Journal announced the formation of a new company. “The New York, Richﬁeld Springs, and Cooperstown Railroad Company ﬁled articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State yesterday (December 15, 1882). The capital is $600,000. The road is to be constructed and maintained from Fort Plain in a south westerly direction to Richﬁeld Springs, with a branch to Cooperstown, the entire distance being estimated at thirty-two miles… It is generally believed that this road is to be a branch of the West Shore Road, which, like the “Nickel Plate” Road, will undoubtedly pass into hands or the Vanderbilt interests when completed.” By the end or 1882, NY,RS & C engineers had completed their preliminary survey into Cooperstown. The reaction of the Journal to the intrusion of supposedly Vanderbilt interests was low-keyed. In the December 30, 1882, issue, the editor commented that the proposed line would probably increase summer travel and draw off some freight from the Cooperstown railroad. On January 13, 1883, the Journal reported that the president and two or three others from the Cornell-backed Cooperstown-Fort Plain Railroad visited Cooperstown for a conference with C & S V ofﬁcials. They were reported to possess the necessary capital to build the railroad if the right-of-way would be gotten without cost. The Journal urged that the U & D and C & S V should join so that they might not be “gobbled” by the New York Central or the Delaware & Hudson (the two did not join and the Ulster & Delaware became a branch of the New York Central and the Cooperstown Railroad became a branch of the Delaware & Hudson). As with previous proposals both the “Vanderbilt and the Cornell plans suffered from too much talk and too little action. To further the complexity of Cooperstown-Fort Plain proposals, a third group advocated that the location of the northern terminus of the proposed line be changed to Canajoharie. However, like the others, the idea was never acted upon. Fears of Takeover With so many proposals being advanced for continuation of’ railroad service from the terminals of’ the Cooperstown Railroad, the Journal’s editor, Samuel Shaw, seemed to become worried about the possibility of losing home control of the company. In an editorial dated September 16, 1887, he wrote that “the little Cooperstown railroad is not to be gobbled by any interest--is not to be sold out to any railroad builders or speculators as a plant for them to bank on in behalf of other schemes--its management is not to be coaxed or scared into taking any steps against the interests of the trust committed to them, and the people of this community. The road was built, mainly by Cooperstown men and capital, to hold this county together and to promote the interests of this village and surrounding locality--and it will be ﬁrmly held for those purposes.” Fort Plain Proposal Revived The year 1887, saw one ﬁnal attempt to build a railroad south from Fort Plain. On July 6, the proprietors of the Fort Plain & Richﬁeld Springs Railroad 28

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Company ﬁled a map of their proposed route at the county clerk’s ofﬁce. While not chartered to run to Cooperstown, it would pass through Springﬁeld Center. There were doubtless plans afoot to connect the proposed line to the Cooperstown Railroad. By 1894, the Fort Plain & Richﬁeld Springs Railroad actually showed signs of becoming an operating entity as the Journal issued reports of grading and emplacement of iron bridges. But, before it could open, the company ran out of capital and work on the line ceased. Later Proposals for a Northern ExtensionEven with the sale of the Cooperstown Railroad to the Delaware & Hudson, allegedly to prevent the construction of a competing short route to the Mohawk Valley, hope for a northern extension did not cease. Littell, in his section of the History of Cooperstown, reported that in 1905 yet another line, the Cooperstown & Northern, was chartered to Springﬁeld Center to meet a revived Fort Plain & Richﬁeld Springs line. The roadbed was built, but no track was ever laid. Traces of the roadbed are easily seen in a meadow just south of Springﬁeld Center. To this day, the only steam railroad power to operate north of Cooperstown is the tiny Leatherstocking Line which ironically operated its amusement rides on or very near the roadbed of the Cooperstown & Northern.Three early photos of the C&SVRR facilities in Phoenix Mills, NY. In the Railroad’s early years this town was a very busy place with a creamery, bank, saw and textile mills powered by a dam across the Susquehanna River. The Phoenix Mills Station, seen only in the bottom photo, was built at a later date. Photos courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY.29

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadSesquicentennial Celebration1869-2019CHAPTER 4On the southern end of the Cooperstown Railroad, expansion speculation was as fervent as it was at the line’s terminal. The earliest plan for extending the line south recorded in the Freeman’s Journal was reprinted from an article in a Delaware County newspaper which stated that the Ulster & Delaware Railroad, the terminal of which was located in Stamford, some twenty miles south of Cooperstown Junction, would extend its line to the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad and join the Cooperstown line at the Junction. The report also noted that the Ulster & Delaware would appropriate the Cooperstown Railroad and extend it through Sharon to Earlville. The Journal refuted the idea, saying that the Cooperstown & Susquehanna Valley was a paying road and the hills were too high for a line to Sharon. The editor did, however, encourage the company to extend its line to the Junction. As public enthusiasm over the idea of joining the Ulster & Delaware and the Cooperstown Railroad increased, a public meeting was held early in 1882 at which a paper was read enumerating the advantages to trafﬁc arising from joining the two lines, since the Ulster & Delaware was soon to gain entry into New York via the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad. The Stony Clove Proposal The year 1883 saw some ﬂirtation with the idea of joining another Catskill railroad. In the January 20th issue, the Journal reported that “the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railway carried during its ﬁrst season 32,000 The Ulster & Delaware Proposalpassengers, and it is probable that this number will be doubled the coming season. That is one of the little roads with which the C. & S. V. R. R. desires to become better acquainted.” Little more, however, was said about the idea and the speculation was not mentioned in the press again. Ulster & Delaware Maneuvers As the months passed it became obvious that President Cornell of the Ulster & Delaware was dragging his heels in a verbal agreement to extend his railroad to Cooperstown Junction. Gradually, an idea gained currency that the C & S V should extend its own trackage to meet the U & D at some halfway point. By 1885, a bill was introduced in the State Senate authorizing the Cooperstown Railroad Company to extend its line from the Junction to Harpersﬁeld, in Delaware County. The question remained, however, whether the Ulster & Delaware would build to such a point or perhaps build to Delhi, the terminal of a New York & Oswego Midland Railroad branch. By 1886, the Ulster & Delaware extended its trackage to Hobart, about ﬁfteen miles from Cooperstown Junction. For reasons not fully disclosed, President Cornell suggested that another railroad be chartered to run from Hobart to Track inspection on the trestle in Cooperstown Junction in 1889.Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY30

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Oneonta. The Journal thought the idea was unnecessary if Cornell would keep his promise to connect with the Cooperstown Railroad. Despite the Journal’s objections, a connecting railroad was chartered in 1887 to run from the end of the Ulster & Delaware line to a point to which the Cooperstown Railroad was to extend its track, known locally as the “Hemlocks.” Also, a banch was projected from West Davenport to Oneonta. The name of the line was to be the Delaware & Otsego Railroad. By the middle of the year, building contracts were let out and the new line was scheduled to be completed by June 1, 1888. The Davenport Extension In the meantime, construction of the Cooperstown Railroad’s own extension had begun and was proceeding well despite some opposition from parties in Cooperstown and Oneonta. The major expense of the line to the “Hemlocks” would be a bridge to carry the Cooperstown track over the Delaware & Hudson’s line at the Junction. The cost of the project was estimated at $22,000. While the addition was only to extend to the “Hemlocks,” the proposed line grew longer as time passed. By September, 1888, the railroad was planning to build to West Davenport. However, there was speculation in the air to the effect that if the Cooperstown Railroad were to build its line to Davenport Center, a newly formed company would build a railroad from that village to Davenport, a distance of ﬁve miles. The proposed line would be operated by the Cooperstown Railroad, making a total thirteen miles of track to be operated by the company south of Cooperstown Junction. Work continued on the Davenport Extension, and neared completion with the arrival of the iron bridge to cross the Delaware & Hudson at the Junction in June, 1889. It was hoped to have the track ﬁnished to West Davenport by September 1, as the Journal reported that a considerable amount of heavy freight was awaiting the railroad’s completion. After some delay, the ﬁrst section of the new line was opened on September 24, 1889, with the operation of a special excursion train over the route. Connection with the Ulster & Delaware With part of the new extension in operation, attention turned toward achieving a connection with the Ulster & Delaware road. That railroad, however continued to balk at the idea. As the controversy continued, work on the line to Davenport Center ground on intermittently, with the two companies actually building parallel lines for a short distance. The village was eventually reached and the line set into operation in May of 1893. After several more years of dispute, connection with the Ulster & Delaware Railroad was ﬁnally achieved in July of 1896, and the way opened for a short route to New York. First revenue train on Davenport Extension September 24, 1889 crossing Albany & Susquehanna Railroad (D&H) in Cooperstown Junction, NY. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY31

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The Catskill Railroad Proposal In the midst of the Cooperstown Railroad’s attempts to achieve a connection with the Ulster & Delaware, another proposal for southward expansion arose and gained favor. The new promotion advocated that a line be built from Cooperstown to Catskill, on the Hudson River. In the autumn of 1889, the ﬁrst of several surveys for the new line to run from Davenport Center to Catskill was completed. A total of three different routes for the line were surveyed through the Catskill Mountains; the ﬁrst via Jefferson, Blenheim, Middleburg, and Cairo; the second via Jefferson, Gilboa, East Windham, and Cairo; and the third via Jefferson, Gilboa, Potter’s Hollow, and Cairo. Upon the completion of the surveys, a company was formed to build the railroad, but like so many other speculations discussed, it talked itself to death. In order to complete the discussion of Cooperstown’s dream of becoming a railroad center, one other scheme should be mentioned. For a time, in the early 1890’s, there was talk of building a railroad from Middleburgh, in Schoharie County, to meet the Cooperstown Railroad at Davenport Center. Like the other, however, the plan was never acted upon and was soon forgotten. For more than thirty years speculators both from within the Cooperstown Community and from without sought ways to extend the village’s inﬂuence by extending its railroad. But as Cooperstown and the rest of the nation discovered during the fever of railway construction, it required something far more substantial than easy talk to build and maintain a railroad and to make it prosper. That substance rarely found its way to the promoters of Cooperstown’s railroad expansion.From a D&H Valuation Map the connection to the Ulster & Delaware Railroad can be seen at the Otsego and Delaware County Border.From another D&H Valuation Map, the facilities in West Davenport can be seen, including a creamery and the turntable shown on the next page of this chapter.32

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadSesquicentennial Celebration1869-2019CHAPTER 5The C&SV prospered under the Presidency of Andrew Shaw, who was aided in his efforts by fellow director David Wilber. Things continued to run along relatively smoothly until the early 1880’s, when a sinister force appeared on the Board of Directors in the person of Judge Edwin Harris. He served as Board member and Vice President for several years, and beat Andrew Shaw 4-7 in an election to become the Railroads 4th President on March 1, 1884. Once elected, Harris immediately set about replacing the existing directors with his business associates and cronies. He justiﬁed his purge on the grounds that the existing Board had shown favoritism to the Directors, in particular David Wilber who had been given special rates on hop shipments. The management countered this charge by stating that the special rates were justiﬁed by the quantity of the shipments, but that argument failed to sway Judge Harris.The Judge concentrated on consolidating his power by controlling the town meetings, where railroad commissioners were chosen to elect the directors. The town meeting became a battleground where each side accused the other of vote buying, a charge that was not without basis in reality. Votes were sold for as much as $15.00 each, and “ﬂoaters” would vote for whoever was paying the highest price. Enterprising individuals would sell votes in blocks of 25 to the highest bidder, making a comfortable proﬁt for themselves. In 1885 the C&SV received the resignations of Andrew Shaw and David Wilber, the two most vocal opponents of Harris’ policies. Mr. Wilber, determined The Great Cooperstown Railroad Warnot to give Harris an easy victory, established a horse and wagon line called the “West Shore Road” which operated between Cooperstown and the Junction at lower rates than those charged by the Railway. In 1886 James Bunyon resigned and the election of 1887 resulted in the expulsion of all Judge Edwin M. HarrisPhoto courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY34

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that remained of the prior Board of Directors, thereby putting Judge Harris in complete control of the Company. After completing his takeover of the line, Harris put in motion a series of events that would engage the Village of Cooperstown in a wrenching dispute, pitting neighbor against neighbor in what would become known as Cooperstown’s “Railroad War”. After the 1887 election Judge Harris joined forces with Dr. Datus E. Siver and George Brooks to administer the road, and the three would become unaffectionately known by such names as the “Triumvirate” and the “Unholy Three”. The popular sentiment at this time maintained that the road was being operated in deﬁance of its real owners, the Towns of Otsego and Middleﬁeld. However, even the worst enemies of this trio had to acknowledge the skill and resourcefulness of the “Big Three”. Brooks was the most cunning of lawyers, Siver a dentist with steel-willed determination, and Harris was an expert in courtroom battles. Early in 1888 the new management proposed constructing an extension of the C&SV to run south from Cooperstown Junction to a point in the Town of Davenport in Delaware County where it would connect with the Ulster and Delaware which was under construction between Kingston and Stamford. Although the U&D would eventually change its ﬁnal destination to Oneonta, at this time the C&SV Directors were assured of a connection with the U&D at the “Hemlocks” near West Davenport. An editorial in the Oneonta Herald of January 14, 1888 suggesting that it would be more proﬁtable for the U&D to connect at Oneonta was vigorously rejected by George Brooks.The proposed extension was bitterly opposed by the former directors of the C&SV and their associates, who contended that the hope of gaining business through the southern extension was purely illusory, and that the new directors had no right to commit the stockholders in Otsego and Middleﬁeld to a visionary railway enterprise in Delaware County. They further maintained that if any money was to be spent on the road, it should be used to either construct an extension north to Richﬁeld Springs or improve the existing line.In spite of all opposition Judge Harris was determined to see his plan implemented and in February, 1888 he appointed Datus Siver to a committee entrusted with the responsibility of purchasing right-of-way for the proposed extension. The opposition, led by David Wilber, responded by having the Newton Bill pushed through the State Legislature. This bill would have removed the authority to appoint commissioners from the towns of Otsego and Middleﬁeld and placed it under the jurisdiction of the County Judge. Harris and his cronies saw this move by the former management as a call for drastic actin.Undaunted by the impending legislation, Judge Harris convened a hastily organized meeting with his cohorts on April 29, 1888 to deal with the current crisis. The managers decided to dispatch Edward H. Lake, the young attorney who served as Secretary-Treasurer of the C&SV, to Albany via a special train from Cooperstown Junction. On his mysterious journey to the State Capitol, Lake carried papers of incorporation for a new company whose prospective existence was known only to the small group of men whose conference he had just left in Cooperstown. The new corporation was to be known as “The Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad”.When the secretary o State’s ofﬁce opened Monday morning, its ﬁrst visitor was the young Mr. Lake. After the formalities had been complied with, Lake went to the telegraph ofﬁce and sent a coded message to Cooperstown. At the same hour the Directors of the Cooperstown and Susquehanna Railroad, along with a few trusted intimates, were assembled in Judge Harris’ ofﬁce anxiously awaiting Lake’s telegram.The telegram soon arrived announcing, as the opposition would later call it, the birth of the “Little Charlotte”. The Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad Company had been incorporated with a proposed capital of $15,000, although the Company as yet had no capital and the Railroad itself had no actual existence. It was designed to span the distance of 1 1/2 miles south of Cooperstown Junction, beyond the chartered limits of the C&SV, to make the proposed connection with the Ulster and Delaware Railroad. This questionable maneuvering posed no problem for Judge Harris, as the majority of directors named in the new corporation were already directors of the C&SV. Without leaving the ofﬁce it was therefore possible to take the next step in the development of the proposed railroad, which was accomplished by a simple and ingenious method. A contract effective April 30, 1888 was executed whereby the new company leased the whole property of the old company for a period of 99 years. It was agreed that the old road would be mortgaged for $100,000 to pay for the new road and the two roads were to be operated as one. The new company guaranteed 6% on its investments, but no dividends were to be allowed on the stock of the old company until all expenses had been paid, including interest on money expended by the new company. Thus the same men in both companies were able to pass a 16 mile railroad into the control of a new company which proposed to build a mile-and-a-half of railroad, a classic example of the tail wagging the dog before the tail had any tangible existence. The lease was voted on by stockholders at a special May 9, 1888 Stockholders Meeting, with 2,072 shares voting yes, and 597 voting no. When news of this manipulation leaked out the public was outraged, and opponents of the management declared that the Directors of the C&SV had stolen it from its rightful owners, the citizens of Otsego and Middleﬁeld. In the midst of this public outcry Harris and Company was hit with a major setback when the Ulster and Delaware let it be known that they had decided to locate their northern terminus at Oneonta rather than connecting with the C&CV at the Hemlocks. The iron-willed Judge 35

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Harris was undaunted by this dire turn of events, however, proclaiming that if the U&D refused to make the promised connection then the Cooperstown Company would build its own line to the Hudson Valley. Once this lofty goal had been set, the management concentrated its efforts on pushing the C&CV toward Catskill, but ran out of funds by the time it reached Davenport Center. While crews were busy grading on the extension, battle lines were being drawn at the town meetings. In 1888, Sanders Jones, an opponent of the Harris management, received a majority of votes but was not allowed to serve because of a technicality related to his bond. At the meeting in 1889, D. Jefferson McGown, another opponent of the management, was elected by a majority of 395 votes but because of an objection to the form of his ballot he was not allowed to take ofﬁce. Following this, the election of ofﬁcers to both railroad companies proved favorable to Harris’ interests, although the election was honored with the appearance of Jones and McGown along with their counsel, Judge Albert C. Tennant. Both gentlemen attempted to vote, but their ballots were rejected by the election commissioner. By this time the battle had left the town meeting halls and engulfed the entire Village of Cooperstown, pitting neighbor against neighbor and drew the Village’s newspapers into a war of words. The rival candidates for election as railway directors, chosen and not chosen, represented scores of friends who championed their cause. The wives and families also became involved, so that no corner of life in the Village escaped the general agitation. There were tiffs in social life that grew out of disagreements about the railway management, and sewing circles were thrown out of gear.The railroad was discussed at the ﬁreside, haggled over by little knots of people on the street, and brawled over in the grocery. Old friends who had taken different sides in the dispute took opposite sides of the street or, if they met, wagged their heads and passed without speaking. Boycotts were instituted, with partisanship in the Railroad War determining the choice of shops for the purchase of groceries and banks for the deposit of savings. The divided sentiment even appeared in the sanctuaries of religion where the test that decided the sheep from the goats, to the view of many, appeared not in faith or morals but in the attitude toward the Railroad War. It had gotten to the point where neither side could believe that any of sound faith and pure morals could espouse the cause of the other side. Throughout this turmoil one individual managed to remain neutral: Edgar H. Lake, the Secretary-Treasurer of the C&CV Railroad. Lake enjoyed the unquestioning trust of his superiors, in addition to the sympathy of the opposition who considered him to be an innocent victim in the hands of a corrupt administration. The three Village newspapers, however, did not remain above the controversy. The Otsego Republican, edited by Civil War Veteran Colonel Andrew Davidson, championed the cause of the railway management. Harvey J. Russell, Davidson’s former partner, had established the Otsego Farmer in 1885 and became the standard bearer for “the people’s cause against the railway”. The oldest Village newspaper, The Freeman’s Journal, had normally avoided controversy; however Editor Samuel M. Shaw eventually joined the fray and aligned himself with the Republican. Soon all three papers were engaged in a vigorous barrage of editorializing and name-calling. The Farmer referred to the Journal as “The Freeman’s Wart”, while giving G. Pomeroy Keese, opposition leader in the Cooperstown Railroad WarPhoto courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY36

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the Republican the moniker “Otsego Skunk”. The Journal returned the favor by naming the Farmer “The Otsego Chestnut” while the Republican referred to it as “The Squash Advocate”. During the heat of battle Mr. Russell of The Farmer received a letter from Datus Siver canceling his pass on the C&CV, and Russell replied in kind by canceling his employees’ dental appointments with Mr. Siver.In the autumn of 1889 Judge Harris made a powerful enemy who would eventually be instrumental in orchestrating his downfall. It seems that Mr. Alfred Corning Clark was returning from a business trip to Albany and his train was running two hours late. Mr. Clark arrived at the Junction too late for a connection to Cooperstown so he telegraphed Judge Harris to request that a special train be dispatched to pick him up. Judge Harris inquired how much he would be willing to pay for this service, and when Clark replied $100, Harris said that the roads were good and he could walk. Alfred Clark never forgot the lonely hours he spent sitting in the station waiting for transport to Cooperstown, and he vowed never to use the C&CV again. Thereafter he always used Richﬁeld Springs or Fort Plain as a junction point for his travels, and most. citizens were convinced that Mr. Clark ﬁnanced the lawsuits that eventually led to the undoing of Harris and Company.On January 4, 1890, Horace Lathrop was voted by the Board to be the 5th President of the Railroad. The ﬁrst suit against the Company was initiated on January 29,1890 on behalf of G. Pomeroy Keese, President of the Second National Bank of Cooperstown and a former Railroad director, and others, claiming to be legally elected directors of the C&CV. The suit requested the latest election of directors be set aside, and the acting directors be named as defendants. Papers were ﬁled in Utica on February 8th requesting that the petitioners be declared elected to ofﬁce, or that a new election be ordered. Judge Merwin decided in favor of ordering a new election.The election was held, pursuant to the order of the court, on Friday afternoon, March 21, 1890. To make things interesting, a rumor reached the managers of the road on election eve alluding to the possibility that the opposition had obtained an injunction to prevent the holding of the election, and that the injunction was to arrive in the next mail. In order to forestall any such inconvenience, George Brooks took the early train to Cooperstown Junction on election day, and on the return journey, which was due in Cooperstown at noon with the mail, a well-planned scenario began to unfold. It seemed that the locomotive developed problems with its eccentric at Portlandville Bridge, and attempts to repair the defect only made matters worse. The train crew was relieved of their duties and went to the local hotel where, by some strange coincidence, an elegant banquet was awaiting their arrival. This well-planned chain of events resulted in the train arriving four hours late in Cooperstown. However, Mr. Brooks efforts had proven to be in vain, as the much feared injunction in the Cooperstown Railroad War was not in the mail shipment The management’s candidate was Herbert Wedderspoon, who was opposed by Everett A. Potter. Both parties agreed to end the practice of buying votes by setting up a bipartisan committee of six people, three from each side, to record any irregularities in the voting process. The oppositions’ fear of this happening again was most likely the reason they sought an injunction to halt the election. Never at a loss for cunning, the Railroad Management chose from the ranks of the opposition the three men best known to be energetic and zealous workers at the polls. Needless to say, the polls had hardly opened before reports of vote buying had circulated, and the bipartisan committee was immediately called into conference, with the dedicated members of the opposition being tied up in session examining evidence until well after the election was over. When the ballots were counted, it appeared that in a vote of 1,100, Wedderspoon, the management’s candidate, had defeated Potter by just three votes. There were three double votes which were folded together which were not counted, the number of ballots equaled the tally of the poll list of voters. Thus setting aside the election had little effect on the management of the railroad, and control was left in the hands of Judge Harris and his partners, with Horace Lathrop once again retaining the position of President by the Board at its March 21, 1890 Meeting.The new Directors of the C&CV, all aligned with Harris, decided to negotiate a new lease of the C&SV on the same terms as the original document, a move which they believed would remove any questions of illegality. Their troubles were not over, however, and one week after the election a new suit was ﬁled in Supreme Court against the directors of the two roads, requesting that the two leases be set aside and a receiver be appointed for the property. The plaintiffs, G. Pomery Keese and the other aspiring directors, charged that the defendant, the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railway Company was “a sham corporation, and was devised and created for the sole purpose of becoming the sole lessee for the plaintiff, the Cooperstown and Susquehanna Railway, and as a means and cloak through which the individual defendants might possess themselves of the property of the lessor company for fraudulent purposes”. This complaint was promptly published in the Farmer, and a new wave of rage swept over the Village. In addition to the “Big Three”, twenty-three other directors were now accused of fraud, theft, corruption and bribery. Twenty-six families and their circles of friends were now embroiled in the bitter controversy.During the next six months rumors were circulating that the anti-management suit had the ﬁnancial support of large outside interests including the Delaware and Hudson Railroad which desired to gain control of the road. There were also a great many people who were convinced that Alfred Corning Clark was ﬁnancing the attack. Acting on these rumors, George Brooks instituted proceedings to ascertain who, if anyone, was 37

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furnishing money for litigation against the Railway Management. One of the witnesses summoned to testify was Mr. J.A. Melrose Johnson, agent for Alfred Corning Clark. When questioned as to his superior’s possible ﬁnancial involvement in the litigation, Mr. Johnson refused to answer any questions presented by the plaintiff, which resulted in Judge Cook sentencing him to thirty days in County Jail for contempt of court. Johnson was immediately released on a writ of Habeas Corpus, and although the jailing was merely a formality, the fact that an agent of the millionaire Clark had been committed to jail added new excitement to a situation that was already tense.The excitement was escalated a few days later when George Brooks brought a suit against Alfred Corning Clark charging him with common barratry (inciting groundless judicial proceedings). Carlton B. Pierce, attorney for the plaintiffs, made no attempt to conceal the fact that Mr. Clark had agreed to indemnify certain members of the opposition against possible losses in the bringing of such a suit. Clark believed that the demoralizing effect that this struggle had wrought upon the Village was much more important than any ﬁnancial consideration. Numerous skirmishes occurred between the two parties during the next few months, during which time work on the southern extension was halted, with the management blaming this move on poor credit brought about by the protracted litigation.At the town meeting in February, 1891 the contest for election of railroad commissioners differed little from its predecessors, with funds readily available to purchase votes, and free whiskey in abundance at a nearby bar to cement the deals. Toward the middle of May the stage was set for the long-awaited trial of the case against the Railway. Six years of controversy and turmoil had ﬁnally come to rest at the County Court House and it was hoped that justice would ﬁnally be done. Both sides in the impending trial realized that the books of the two companies, the C&SV and the C&CV, would be of tremendous importance in the proceedings, and the plaintiffs convinced Judge Parker to order them opened for inspection. In response to this demand, Judge Harris informed the court that Edgar H. Lake, Secretary-Treasurer for the Railway, was conﬁned to his hotel room with illness and that the books would be produced at the trial. However, at the insistence of Judge Parker, Harris wrote a note to Lake directing him to give the attorneys for the plaintiffs access to the books. Lake gave a verbal message to the bearer of the note, saying that he would be ready to show the books in the evening of the following day, which would be the 13th of May. At the end of the court session on Wednesday the plaintiffs’ attorney, Carlton B. Pierce, informed the Judge that he had still not been able to see the books and asked for an order to have them deposited with the County Clerk, and for an attachment against Lake as a non-appearing witness. The Judge agreed to the attachment the next day, but Lake could not be found and the attachment was not served.In the evening Judge Harris tried in vain to ﬁnd Lake, waiting until midnight for him to appear, to no avail. At 7AM the next morning he went to Lake’s room and found that the bed had not been occupied during the night. After Lake failed to appear at breakfast, Harris ordered a thorough search for the missing Secretary- Treasurer and returned to the courthouse. A search of Lake’s room uncovered the following note from Lake to Harris:“Judge - you will have to put the case over the term as it is impossible for me to be in attendance. You will ﬁnd great disarray in my affairs, but there is no money missing. When I took the position I thought I could ﬁll it but was incompetent. I have always intended to hire an expert to write the books, but have neglected it. This is the only way I can see whereby I can leave the world even. You will now have time to have the books written up, and when they are in proper shape, you are sure to win. If I should stay and go on the stand you would be embarrassed, to! - May God pity them”.Lake was found on the top ﬂoor of the hotel in an unused room, lying on a mattress with his throat cut. Physicians were summoned but it was too late; in a few minutes Lake was dead.This tragedy proved to be too much for Harris, who had weathered six years of controversy, and Lake’s death caused him to break down completely and leave the Railroad’s management. Upon investigation, Lake’s ofﬁce proved to be in a state of chaos, with packages of money, uncashed checks and unopened mail strewn about in confusion. Lake’s death had effectively halted the court proceedings, fulﬁlling his promise of putting the case “over the term”. After an expert accountant had taken the time to make order out of the confusion in Lake’s books, it was evident that Lake had been truthful in stating that there was no money missing in spite of the disorder.Judge Parker decided that the lease was valid, but with Harris and his cronies out of the picture, the “Railroad War” came to an end and peace One of the more interesting features of the trial was the constant attendance of Alfred Corning Clark. Although he had no desire to be further involved in the matter, Judge Harris had him followed by detectives in New York City, and spent several hundred dollars to have him subpoenaed into court. Although he was never called on to testify, Mr. Clark was paid the customary ﬁfty cents per day witness fee which assured his attendance the following day. With Harris and company ﬁnally gone, Alfred Corning Clark resumes his use of the railway between Cooperstown and the Junction.38

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadPassenger Facilities1869-2019CHAPTER 6Passenger travel on Cooperstown & Susquehanna Valley Railroad was very important segment of company’s business. After the completion of the Cooperstown railroad, seven station stops were established, at Cooperstown, Phoenix, Hartwick, Clinton’s, Milford, Portlandville, and Cooperstown Junction. In later years, four more stops were instituted: at County Farm, a little south of Phoenix; at Cliffside, between Portlandville and the Junction; and at West Davenport and Davenport Center, both on the Davenport/Charlotte Valley extension. Two of the stops, Clinton’s and Cliffside, appear to have never acquired a depot. Very little information is available concerning the stations on the Cooperstown road. Apparently, at least three of the major stations, Cooperstown, Portlandville, and the Junction were built in 1869 or shortly thereafter. The stations were frequently changed and occasionally rebuilt. For example, a Freeman’s Journal article in 1891 announced that a new depot would be built at Phoenix. There is no available evidence, written or pictorial, to suggest whether the depot was the ﬁrst one built or a replacement. The second largest village on the line, Milford, does not seem to have had a depot until seven years after the completion of the railroad. The village was not listed in the Gazetteer of Railway Stations in the United States and Canada published about 1874. The lack of a depot was possibly the result of the refusal of the Town of Milford to buy railroad bonds. The facility was ﬁnally acquired in 1876 following an announcement in the Journal that the citizens of Milford were raising money by subscription to aid in putting up a substantial depot at that village. First C&SV Station in Cooperstown Junction, at the interchange point with A&S Railroad, which is on left. The hotel in background is now site of Austin’s Auction Barn. Photo courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYThe Milford Depot, built in 1876, circa 1900.Photo courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY39

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Because they were constructed at periods and by different interests, the stations of the Cooperstown Railroad did not acquire a family resemblance to one another as did those of other lines, such as the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad. While each of the buildings had most of the features ascribed to a typical country depot, each was distinctly different. The most obvious difference was in the roof line. On the original Cooperstown station, the freight house was surmounted by a low-pitched roof with extremely broad extended eaves which continued across the passenger station end of the building. The two story passenger station was capped by a low Italianate hipped roof. The Phoenix station possessed an even lower-pitched roof with the rooﬂine extending much further on the south side of the building than on the other three sides. The Milford Depot had an extremely low-pitched roof with extended eaves on the long sides only. The depot at Portlandville, in contrast, had a relatively steep-pitched roof with ﬂaring eaves, extending the farthest on the track side, giving the building the appearance of a lopsided pagoda. Finally, the structure at the Junction was an unassuming barnlike two story building with a roof pitch similar to that of the Cooperstown Station. Connected to the main bulk of the building was a nearly ﬂat roofed wing, half open, and half enclosed. Thus, each station on the Cooperstown Railroad attained its own character and style. Station Activities In addition to being the business agency of the railroad and a place to await trains, the local depot was also the center of a number of other activities such as the telegraph ofﬁce or community telephone. The depot was the logical place for such facilities. They were frequently adjuncts to the operation of the railroad. Also, since the depot was frequently the center of business and social activity, it would be only logical to establish an operation where it would receive the most use. The stations on the Cooperstown line were host to a number of other enterprises. The 1874 edition of the Gazetteer of Railway Stations revealed that in addition to representing a telegraph company and several express companies, the Cooperstown depot served as a money-order post ofﬁce. Other stations on the line also operated telegraph and express agencies. At the Junction, the depot doubled as the local post ofﬁce. It is not known what, if any, other functions centered about the stations of the Cooperstown line, but they were, clearly, bustling places.The original Cooperstown Station, now corporate headquarters for the NYS&W Railway.Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY.The Phoenix Mills Depot with its deck overhanging the Susquehanna River, which at the time was dammed up at this location. Unfortunately, no trace of this beautiful building remains.Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY.The Depot in Portlandville, NY, now a private residence.Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY.40

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadFrequency of Passenger Service1869-2019CHAPTER 7The timetables of the Cooperstown line, during the period of local control, revealed a trend of constantly broadening service and increasing train speeds. From the original one-train-a-day schedule at the inauguration of railroad operation, service continued to expand at a constant, if somewhat uneven pace. By 1873, there were but four trains per day operating on the Cooperstown line. The trains took one hour to traverse the sixteen miles between Cooperstown and the Junction. Several years of steadily increasing patronage saw the schedule expand to eight trains per day during the summer of 1884. Summer service continued to grow through the end of the century. There were ten trains in 1893, twelve in 1894, and fourteen trains per day in 1895. By the time the railroad was sold, sixteen trains carried passengers to and from Cooperstown on every summer day. Winter schedules were quite a different matter. In 1889, for example, eight or more trains operated each day during the summer months. During the Photo courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYwinter, however, the schedule dwindled to only four trains per day. Thus it is obvious that tourist trafﬁ c was probably the life-blood of the Cooperstown Railroad and the main reason why a sixteen-mile long country railroad would operate such a large schedule of passenger trains. A ticket from September, 1869 for Milford to Cooperstown, on display in Milford, NY. This original ticket was found under a carriage house in Cooperstown belonging to member Bill Rigby.41

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Passengers Throughout the period of local control and operation, passengers were a major part of the life-blood of the Cooperstown Railroad Company. Passenger fares frequently totaled more than one-half of the gross receipts of the railroad. From a low of 12,245 fares in 1869, during the line’s ﬁrst half-year of operation, to a high of 97,100 passages in 1903, yearly totals generally seemed to mirror the rise and decline of the national economy. This was probably due to the dependence of the company upon summer travelers for a large portion of the total passenger revenue. Trafﬁc climbed steadily from the ﬁrst year’s operation, reaching a peak of 37,931 fares in 1872. The yearly totals began to slide in 1873, falling to a nadir of 24,931 fares in 1879. This slump was perhaps inﬂuenced by the Panic of 1873. Trafﬁc recovered, however, and by 1883, a new high mark of 45,563 fares was recorded. After a brief leveling of trafﬁc, business slumped to a total of 31,104 fares in 1887. The next several years witnessed an unsteady advance in trafﬁc to a high of 54,960 passages in 1894. Host of the increased business occurred after the Cooperstown Railroad accomplished its connection with the Ulster & Delaware Railroad, affording visitors a direct route from New York. In 1895, business again dropped off, the slump probably being caused by the Panic of 1893 and the ensuing depression. By the turn of the century, the decline in passenger revenues had ceased and visitors once more began to ﬂood into Cooperstown at steadily increasing rates, until, in 1903, the last year of local operation, the passenger high point of the line’s thirty-four year history was reached. When control of the Cooperstown Railroad was handed over to the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, over a million and a half passengers had taken the sixteen mile trip to Cooperstown. Special Trains In addition to running regular scheduled passenger trains, the Cooperstown Railroad also operated numerous excursion and other special passenger trains. During the summer months, it was common for groups of people to charter an entire train to visit a resort such as Cooperstown. The earliest excursion over Cooperstown rails mentioned in the Freeman’s Journal was in August of 1870, when a six-coach train of visitors from Schoharie visited Cooperstown. A typical excursion was described by the Journal in 1882: “An excursion party from Richmondville, East Worcester, and other stations on the D.&H.C.C. Road, arrived in this village about 11 o’clock on Tuesday last. There were eight well-ﬁlled coaches in the train which left here on the return trip at ﬁve o’clock”. The greatest number of excursion trains were probably operated for the purpose of bringing visitors to see Otsego Lake. However, a large number was scheduled for the beneﬁt of on-line residents. The most frequent and perhaps most popular were the annual half-price excursions during the week of the County Fair in Cooperstown. For ﬁfty cents a person could ride non-stop from the Junction to Cooperstown and return. Almost any event seemed to be a good excuse to organize an excursion. In January, 1870, a train was scheduled to transport delegates to a teachers’ association meeting in Cooperstown. The laying of the cornerstone for the new County Courthouse was the reason for operating an excursion on June 15, 1880. Travelling entertainers playing in Cooperstown were another to schedule an extra train so that people in outlying communities might be afforded a chance to witness the spectacles passing through the County seat. The Journal reported in 1885 that an extra train brought about one hundred people to hear a concert given by Mrs. H. E. H. Carter and her company. Like the County Fair, circuses drew large crowds into Cooperstown and the Cooperstown Railroad operated extra trains to performances of such spectacles as Frank A. Robbins’ Circus and Ringling Brothers’ Circus. Passes for free travel on both the Cooperstown & Susquehanna Valley Railroad from 1879 (left) and the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad from 1900 (right). These passes were issued to employees or anyone else the Railroad thought might beneﬁt the company. Editors of the local papers received passes, as long as their coverage was positive.Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY42

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A steady ﬂow of lecturers and entertainers came over the rails to give their performances in Bowne Hall, on the third ﬂoor of the Ironclad Building in Cooperstown. But far more diverting than lecturers and theater troops were the strings of gaudily painted cars which made up the circus train. Circuses were not uncommon in a village which occasionally hosted as many as three different shows in a week’s time. A railroad show, however, was likely to be larger and grander than the small wagon circuses that wandered from village to hamlet and usually warranted more notice from the newspapers. Sometimes the sheer size of a show was a cause for wonderment. In 1887, for example, the Journal stated simply that: “Among the heavy trains that passed over the C.&S.V.RR. last week, was that of Robbins’ Circus, 18 cars, when loaded, it is represented, weighs 380,000 pounds.” Perhaps the most fascinating spectacle to come to Cooperstown were the trains of Ringling Brothers’ Circus. On August 2, 1894, the Journal reported that: “The ﬁrst of two special trains that brought the Ringling Bros.’ World’s Greatest Shows, arrived at the station in this village at noon on Sunday last, followed soon by train number two – and what a crowd welcomed them! There was something that interested that crowd for the next two or three hours, in observing the systematic way the show people had in unloading their thirty-six car train…” If the citizens were impressed by the spectacle of the Ringling Show, it appeared that the performers were equally awed by the attractions of the village. A long entry in the Ringling “Route Book” for 1894 summed up the feeling of one circus ofﬁcial: “COOPERSTOWN, N. Y., Monday, July 30th - - - D. & H. and C. & C. V. Rys., 134 miles. Hotel Ballard. Weather cool, owing to the heavy rains yesterday. The show grounds previously secured were unﬁt for use, and the show was moved on Monday morning to the Fair Grounds. Many of our people took a ride on beautiful Lake Otsego. In the little Episcopal church-yard here lie the remains of the famous American writer of marine and Indian stories, James Fenimore Cooper. Cooperstown is an indescribably beautiful village. Its people are cultured and reﬁned, truly hospitable and open-hearted. There is a home-like tranquility about the place and a touch of nature, that makes one wonder if indeed it is not Nature’s birthplace for poets. The pretty homes of the inhabitants, the magniﬁcent shade trees, the surrounding hills and Otsego Lake, called ‘The Glimmer Glass’, all combine to impress the stranger with a feeling of enchantment. But most fascinating of all is beautiful Otsego Lake. Mr. Shaw, the editor of the ‘Freeman’s Journal’ to whom the author is indebted for a most interesting book entitled “History of Cooperstown… The show did a splendid business in Cooperstown, both afternoon and night. The side-show band took another drop from their elevated perch, and Nelson’s slide trombone was smashed. There was no ﬁne for smashing this time.” Special trains were used for commercial purposes, being chartered by store-keepers in order to entice residents of Portlandville and other villages on the line to do their Christmas shopping in Cooperstown. An example of such a shoppers’ special was found in the December 19, 1890, issue of the Journal: “On the request of merchants in Cooperstown, the C. & C. V. Railroad Co. will run excursion trains from West Davenport and intermediate points to Cooperstown, Thursday of this week and on Tuesday of next week, leaving the former place at 10:55 A.M., at reduced rates. The excursionists will have ﬁve hours in which to do their holiday trading in Cooperstown. The hotel keepers will be prepared to dine any number of extra customers on those days.” As it happened, a heavy snow fell on the day of the ﬁrst excursion and only one passenger took advantage of the offer. Ringling Bros. advertising car which often arrived week before circus itself to promote the upcoming performancesPhoto courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY43

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From the above examples, it may be concluded that railroad passenger service was of untold value to the residents of Cooperstown and the Upper Susquehanna Valley because it provided convenient transportation, attracted visitors and capital, and brought the area into closer touch with the outside world. Special Passenger Accommodations For the accommodation of summer visitors to Cooperstown, the Cooperstown Railroad often made arrangements with the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company and the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad to operate through service on sleeping cars and parlor cars over those railroads to Cooperstown. The ﬁrst evidence of such service appeared in a Freeman’s Journal article in 1872. It stated that “a ‘palace car’ will next summer be run between Albany and Cooperstown, for the convenience of through passengers”. Nothing further appeared on the subject until a brief paragraph from an 1880 copy of the Journal noted that “drawing room cars now run direct to Cooperstown.” During the 1880’s, ﬁrst class summer service through to Cooperstown improved. By 1884, the Journal noted that a drawing room car left New York and went to Cooperstown without change. The paper further stated that a second drawing room car from Albany was included in the same morning train. In the 1886 summer season, the Journal mentioned that the New York Central Sleeping Car Company would run one of its cars from Albany to Cooperstown on a once weekly basis. By 1900, the Cooperstown Railroad joined the Ulster & Delaware Railroad at its southern terminal and New York sleeping car trafﬁc traveled to Cooperstown via the West Shore line of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, the Ulster & Delaware, and the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley line. Three years later, the purchase of the Cooperstown road by the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company resulted in all passenger trafﬁc of the Ulster & Delaware and on the Delaware & Hudson being diverted to Oneonta, with local service from that city to Cooperstown. Private Passenger Cars Occasionally, private cars were seen on the Cooperstown Railroad. In 1881, the Journal noted that Delaware & Hudson Superintendent Hammond and several other ofﬁcials visited Cooperstown in a private car. Perhaps the most spectacular rolling palace to burnish the rails of the Cooperstown Road was that of brewing magnate Adolphus Busch. The Journal described the car as “comprising a handsome dining-room, drawing-room, kitchen, and sleeper…”. The car modestly bore the name Adolphus. Other private cars were probably seen on the Cooperstown line on occasion while still under local ownership.Adolphus Busch, who ran the St. Louis Anheuser-Busch Brewing Co. for more than 30 years, owned numerous properties (including a castle in Germany), but also a large country estate and hops farm in Cooperstown which he visited often, arriving in his private rail car Adolphus on the Cooperstown Line until his death in 1913. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY44

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadFreight1869-2019CHAPTER 8During the ﬁrst twenty-one years of the operation of the Cooperstown Railroad, freight and passenger revenues on the line were roughly equal, with passenger income frequently holding a slight edge. By 1890, however, freight receipts began to rise steadily until, by 1903, income from freight represented about 60% of the Railroad’s gross revenues. Perhaps the reason for the gain was the additional freight produced on the Davenport Extension without a corresponding increase in passengers. Whatever the reason, the statistics dramatize the importance of freight as the backbone of a railroad venture, even in a period innocent of competition from more ﬂexible modes of transportation. Local Industry The industries along the Upper Susquehanna provided a wide variety of freight shipments for the Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad. Aside from coal, which accounted for 43% of the tonnage hauled by the C&CV, the bulk of the Company’s revenue was generated by the conveyance of two commodities: hops and textiles. The hop industry began in Madison County in the ﬁrst decade of the 19th Century, and by the 1820’s had moved east to Oneida and Otsego Counties. By the 1850’s Otsego County had become the center of the nation’s foremost hop growing region. In addition to its primary function as a ﬂavoring and preservative for beer, hops were also used in tonics and bitters for digestive problems. Many fortunes were made in the hop business, and one of the County’s most prosperous hop merchants was David Wilber of Milford. In addition to his hop exchange, Mr. Wilber operated a banking business which he relocated to Oneonta in 1874. He was also actively involved in the promotion and ﬁnancing of the Albany and Susquehanna and the Cooperstown and Susquehanna Valley Railroads, and in 1888 he and his sons organized the Oneonta Street Railway which would evolve into the Oneonta, Cooperstown and Richﬁeld Springs interurban line. Between 1850 and 1900 the hop was the dominant economic factor in Upstate New York agriculture. Situated in the heart of hop country, the C&CV provided the means of getting the hops to market. From 1880 to 1890 the line averaged 15,000 bales carried per year. The hop industry was also a boon to the Company’s passenger business, as hundreds of pickers from down state would be brought in to work through the season. Long known as a boom or bust crop, variations in hop volume apparently visibly effected the railroad’s income also. In 1879, the Journal reported a downturn in railway receipts and expenses noting that, “Not as many hops were shipped over the road as during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.” In the 1880’s the Journal frequently published monthly and yearly totals of hop shipments as the subject of hops was likely to be an often discussed one in village conversations. The following list is a summary of seven years’ hop shipments compiled from Journal reports: 1882 11,792 bales1883 8,268 bales1884 15,268 bales1885 11,202 bales1886 17,935 bales1887 2,387 bales1888 12,894 balesWhile the Cooperstown Railroad was perhaps one of the country’s largest carriers of hops, it also did a brisk business in the fruit of the hop culture. In its September 25, 1879, edition, the Journal reported that, “During the four months ending September 15th, 622 barrels of lager beer were brought to LRHS Archives45 46

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this place over the C.&S.V.RR, in half barrels and kegs. Most of it is bottled in this village…” By the 1890’s the price paid for hops had begun a steady decline, while at the same time hop growing had taken a ﬁrm foothold in the western states. By 1900 hop prices were being set by the farms in California, Washington and Oregon, which signaled the beginning of the end for New York State growers. To make matters worse, the hop ﬁelds were besieged by both Blue Mold and Hop Aphids during the second decade of the 20th Century. Various treatments were employed to curtail the blight, but the hop industry never fully recovered and by 1920 the hop culture in New York was ﬁnished. Otsego County’s textile industry had its beginnings in 1806, when a group of Cooperstown businessmen combined to construct the area’s ﬁrst knitting mill. The group included Rufus Steere, Thomas Fuller, James Averill Sr. and Lemuel Todd. The group hired Charles W. Smith of New England to construct the mill and the new Company was incorporated as the Union Cotton Manufacturing Company. The site chosen for the mill was along Oaks Creek in the Village of Toddsville, which was already a thriving community at the time. The corporation was capitalized at $100,000 with shares selling at $25.00 each. The mill opened in 1808, and the venture was so successful that by 1812 the Company began work on a second factory two miles away in “Hopeville” (now Index). The opening of this mill was delayed until 1819, however, due to a glut of imported textiles after the war of 1812. The new facility was named Hope Factory after Hope, Rhode Island. In 1811 another group of prosperous Cooperstown merchants, including several of the Union Mill investors, created a new corporation, The Otsego Cotton Manufactory. The trustees of the new company included James Averill Jr., James Averill III, Thomas Fuller, Oliver Corey and Billie Williams Jr. The Company was capitalized at $100,000 with shares selling at $100.00 each. A site for the new factory was chosen in the Town of Middleﬁeld three miles below Cooperstown, and a dam was built on the Susquehanna shortly thereafter. The Company also constructed a wooden bridge at the site, in order to connect both sides of the valley with the mill. The new mill, of wood frame construction, was opened in 1815. The new venture did not prove successful and operations were terminated in 1816. The mill sat dormant until 1822, when the trustees conveyed the property to a new owner, The Phoenix Company. Initially the new owners prospered, and by 1830 the mill was producing 300,000 yards of fabric per year. In 1828 a grist mill was built on the west side of the river and by 1830 the tiny settlement boasted one general store, one inn and ﬁfteen dwellings. In 1823 the Phoenix Company provided a detailed description of the original mill for insurance purposes: “The building is four stories high, with a shingle roof. It Second knitting mill, opened in 1819, by the Union Cotton Manufacturing Company was located at Hopeville, present day Index, NY. The road in front of the building is today’s NYS Rte 28. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYA close up view of the Mill Complex at Phoenix Mills. The tall building is the mill itself, and the one story building in the foreground was the Dye house. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY46

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stonemason Captain Lorenzo Bates, who also built the mill at Hope Factory. The new building was 100 feet long, 50 feet wide and stood 4 stories high with an attic on top. The Phoenix factory was initially equipped only to manufacture thread and did not possess power looms until after 1820, although a great deal of the plant’s output was still woven by hand. At this time Phoenix owned 20 power looms, and aside from Hope Factory, was the only mill in the County so equipped. In addition to the knitting company, Phoenix Mills was home to a grist mill and cheese factory. The opening of the Cooperstown and Susquehanna Valley Railroad in 1869 brought new life to the community, and shortly thereafter John Robinson moved from Milford to Phoenix Mill and built a sawmill next to the dam. Mr. Robinson also erected a stately two-story residence next to the Susquehanna which later served as the Village Post Ofﬁce. The Robinson Saw Mill prospered for several decades, but was shut down in the late 1890’s and the dormant building was lost in the ﬂood of Spring, 1917. Phoenix Mills was truly a “Company Town “, and was operated as such. Each mill worker had an account with the Company and was paid 1/3 in cash and 2/3 in credit. The credit was applied toward rent in the tenement house or items purchased in the Company Store. Families paid an average of $5.00 per month to rent a tenement; single men paid $1.25 per week for board, and single women and children paid $1.00 per week. Working conditions in the mill were harsh. The mill ran year round, closing only for repairs. Workers averaged 12 hours per day, some times longer. During dark hours the mill was lit by oil lamps. The Phoenix Mill was heated by ﬁve “common box stoves “ during the winter, two on the ﬁrst ﬂoor, two on the second and one on the third. Workers spent long hours conﬁned to a small A close up view of the Mill Complex at Phoenix Mills. The tall building is the mill itself, and the one story building in the foreground was the Dye house. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYThe Mill Complex at Phoenix Mills looking west. The building in the distance behind the Mill on the other side of the Susquehanna River and the C.&S.V.RR is a cheese factory. The remains of the cheese factory’s foundation are still visible from the train. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYmeasures 81 feet in length, 40 feet in depth and 41 feet in height exclusive of the roof. The ﬁrst ﬂoor consists of one room, plastered on sides and ceiling, the second ﬂoor is also one room plastered on all sides. A wood partition splits the third ﬂoor into east and west halves, although the partition is quite open, with boards not matching and in some instances several inches apart. The fourth ﬂoor of the mill is one room, plastered on walls and ceiling”. In 1835 the mill was replaced by a stone building, apparently as a result of a ﬁre consuming the wooden structure. The original bridge was probably lost at this time, and a second wooden span was erected further upriver. The common belief is that the new building was constructed by well-known local 47 48

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area, tending constantly to spinning or pounding machines. Mills had to pay higher than average wages to attract workers to such undesirable conditions, and there never seemed to be enough applicants to ﬁll the needs of all the County’s mills. Over the years three bridges crossed the Susquehanna at Phoenix Mill. The ﬁrst wooden bridge was built in 1815, slightly downriver from the existing span. This bridge was probably consumed during the mill ﬁre of 1835 and was replaced by a second wooden span further upstream. On June 21, 1895 the second bridge was replaced by an ornate wrought-iron structure. This bridge still stands, although closed to vehicle trafﬁc, and is an outstanding example of the Whipple Truss design. As time passed, the railroad that energized the Upper Susquehanna Valley fell victim to newer modes of transportation, and by the second decade of the Twentieth Century the Phoenix Mills Station had been abandoned. It was purchased in the late 1920’s by a relative of the Robinson family for $350 and dismantled. Sections of the building were salvaged for a storage shed, along with several tons of coal. After the tum of the century production steadily declined at the knitting mill, and eventually the building was dismantled and the stones were transported to Cooperstown for use in the construction of Bassett Hospital. The hotels also closed and the tenement houses were sold off to private individuals. In 1939 a second sawmill was opened at Phoenix Mills on the west side of the river, and operated as the Otsego Forest Products Co-operative. One of the plant’s primary products was stock for baseball bats. This factory closed in the 1950’s, but part of the building still stands as the only remaining evidence of Phoenix Mills’ industrial past. A few miles downriver from Phoenix Mills stands the remains of Clintonville, Aerial view of Otsego Forest Products Co-operative’s facility in Phoenix Mills looking north. A siding for lumber loading used to come off the CACV in a southward facing switch. Building closest to the track is all that’s left of facility, and can still be seen on west side of the train. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYGrist Mill on left and Depot on right. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY48

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the remaining structure was converted into an electric generating plant for the purpose of providing power to the Village of Cooperstown and the trolley line. The plant had three turbines with a combined output of 400 horsepower. The company also developed Lakefront Park in Cooperstown, which included a dance pavilion, row boats, motor boats and a picnic area. The plant lost most of its income when the new generating station opened at Colliers in 1907. There was also a wrought iron bridge spanning the Susquehanna at Clintonville, but a ﬂood in 1913 washed out the bridge and the dam, forcing the power plant to cease operations permanently. Another major shipper on the C&CV was the Pineapple Cheese Company of Milford. The Company was founded in 1896 by A.O. Weatherly of Norwich, and the plant was relocated to a building directly across the tracks from the Milford Depot in 1901. The Company’s product was so named because the cheese was molded in the shape of a pineapple. The cheese soon became famous worldwide and the plant’s output ﬁlled the void in freight that the C&CV had seen after the decline of the hop industry. For nearly 50 years the factory produced 500 Pineapple Cheeses a day, in addition to numerous wheels of cheddar. Production at the plant was terminated in 1955, and today the remaining building houses the Cooperstown Brewing Company. Retail Merchandise In addition to the industries mentioned, there were two other important groups of freight customers on the Cooperstown Railroad. One group was the retail merchants. The large volume of goods required by the merchants of Cooperstown and surrounding communities constantly made retail merchandise one of the most important commodities carried by the railroad. The Pineapple Cheese Factory next to the Milford Yard in Milford, NY. The only portion of the facility still standing is the section in the background, now houses the Cooperstown Brewing Company. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYThe Mill at Clintonville, looking west from the east side of the Susquehanna River. Nothing is left of what was a sizeable infrastructure. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYwhich also was once a prosperous mill town. The site had its beginnings in 1813 when Samuel Crafts dammed the river just north of Milford, and in 1815 a Mr. Cockett built a cotton mill and the place became known as Cockettville. On June 10, 1840 the mill was purchased by William Clinton, who was descended from a family of New England weavers. Cyrus Short joined with Mr. Clinton to start Clintonville Mills, and a Mr. Short donated land for the building of the mills and necessary housing sites, in addition to mortgaging his four farms to provide the needed capital. The Clintonville Mill prospered, as evidenced by the 1860 census at which time the factory employed 35 people and averaged 624,000 yards of printed cotton per year. By the 1870’s, however, the plant’s fortunes had changed and it ceased operations in 1875. In 1896 the mill was dismantled except for the foundation walls, and 49 50

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Apparently, the relationship between the railroad and a large variety of goods offered for retail sale was ﬁxed in the minds of the townspeople, because the two were frequently mentioned in context by both the newspaper editor and the merchants through their advertisements. The Journal’s editor would occasionally put in a word for the merchants by announcing that, “Our merchants generally are in daily receipt of installments of new goods, brought for the spring trade.” With seeming pride the editor would announce that: “The Singer Manufacturing Company’s ofﬁce at this place received the largest number of machines Friday, that ever came into the place at once. Forty came by the noon train.” The merchants, however, were frequently more imaginative in the promotion of their new goods. One dealer would announce the availability of a “car load of choice lime just received,” while another merchant assured his customers that, “The C.&C.V. RR. Co. is doing a large business. Every train is loaded with Carpets, Mattings, Wall Papers, Clocks, and Dry Goods. Bundy Bro’s have been to New York and are now receiving their spring stock.” Such advertising was another indication of the degree to which the Cooperstown Railroad was involved in the lives of the people of Cooperstown. Coal While merchandise was important, a single commodity, coal, accounted for a large percentage of the tonnage hauled on the Cooperstown Railroad. Constantly growing in volume, the Cooperstown Railroad, by 1901, carried a yearly total of some 18,125 tons of coal, about 43% of the total annual freight tonnage of the line. In addition to being the greatest single commodity carried by the company, coal was also the greatest single source of complaint by the villagers. Cooperstown’s only source of coal was the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company. Since the price of coal in surrounding communities, such as Richﬁeld Springs, served by other coal-hauling railroads was frequently substantially lower than that in Cooperstown, the Freeman’s Journal concluded in 1872 that the village was the victim of discriminatory prices, because the Cooperstown Railroad was an independent company. The quest for lower priced coal compelled the local railroad to make improvements and seek other sources of the fuel. The Journal noted in 1875 that the price of coal was twenty-ﬁve cents per ton higher than before, because of the necessity of reloading from the cars of the recently standard gauged Delaware & Hudson to the broad gauge cars that could travel on the Cooperstown Railroad. Within a year the line was narrowed to standard gauge to eliminate the necessity of such re-loadings. A second such example of the pressures on the railroad caused by the coal issue occurred in 1881 when the Journal noted that, “It has been impossible for the coal merchants of this village to meet the demand for certain kinds of coal this winter. The fault is with the D.&H. Canal Co. Push the C.&S.V.RR. through to Richﬁeld.” Thus, coal was not only a great producer of revenue, but also served as an impetus toward expansion. Other Types of Freight Occasionally, the Journal published reports of commodities being shipped from Cooperstown. With the aid of these reports, it is possible to develop an idea of the kinds of material that were produced in the Cooperstown area. A notable shipment was made by the Pioneer Mills in 1886, when the manufacturer ﬁlled an order for 1,000 doors and 2,000 window sashes for a project in New York. The feat seems to have been unusual , because no similar report was ever published. While manufacturers were a surprisingly important factor in Cooperstown’s economy, agricultural products made up the bulk of the Cooperstown Railroad’s outbound shipments. In 1877, the Journal reported that, “About 3,000 bushels of apples will be shipped this season from the R.R. Depot at Cooperstown.” Cheese was an important dairy commodity before refrigeration enabled farmers to ship fresh milk. Tens of thousands of boxes of cheese were shipped from points on the Cooperstown line in the 1870’s and 80’s. However, by 1893, a milk train to New York was established and production of cheese dropped off, with the exception being the Pineapple Cheese Factory in Milford. The late 1880’s saw the development of yet another agricultural market. In the May 18, 1888, edition, the Journal announced the departure of the ﬁrst large shipments of hay from Cooperstown. Twenty carloads, representing some 400 tons, were destined for Boston, Albany, and Jersey City markets, and the coal mines of Pennsylvania. It is interesting to note that on a day in May, 1880, the Journal reported that 50 freight cars were at the depot in Cooperstown. A similar report noted that during a four month period in the winter of 1885-86, 590 loaded cars were received and 230 shipped out. Even greater was the monthly total for June, 1888. During that thirty day period, 456 cars were handled over the Cooperstown line. Freight hauled by the railroad was not merely a convenience or a luxury; it was the life blood of the community. By broadening its markets and increasing the variety of merchandise available, the railroad brought Cooperstown close to the greater community of New York and the East Coast, as well as Buffalo and the Great Lakes region. But perhaps more signiﬁcantly, the railroad also made Cooperstown more completely dependent on the outside world.50

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadEarly Motive Power1869-2019CHAPTER 9To draw the trains of the Cooperstown & Susquehanna Valley Railroad, the company eventually acquired a total of ﬁve locomotives before being taken over by the Delaware & Hudson Railway in 1903. These ﬁve engines discharged both freight and passenger assignments, as well as the switching duties at the terminals and along the line.Engine Number 1The Ellery CoryC&SV Engine Number 1, the Ellery Cory, was named for a prominent Cooperstown citizen and member of the Board of Directors of the railroad. It was built in 1869 by the ﬁrm of Danforth & Cooke Locomotive Works of Paterson, New Jersey. When the Railroad ofﬁcially opened for operation on July 14, 1869, the inaugural train was pulled by C&SV Number 1, the Ellery Corey. Piloting the locomotive on this momentous occasion was Engineer William Smith, while the ﬁring was done by his son Albert Smith. Typical of the period, the locomotive was a 4-4-0 American Standard type, built at 6 foot gauge and having a four-wheel leading truck and four driving wheels sixty inches in diameter. Fueled with cord-wood, the machine possessed driving cylinders measuring 14in x 22in. Although the gauge of the Cooperstown Railroad was narrowed to the standard 4 foot, 8 inch width in 1876, the Cory was not overhauled to ﬁt the new standard until 1879, because of shortage of funds. It was probably during the 1879 rebuilding of the locomotive, which cost $3,500, that its name was changed to Middleﬁeld, in honor of one of the towns holding substantial stock in the company.The year of 1880 proved to be a year of substantial loss for the Company and its motive power. On the night of Aftermath of the Cooperstown Roundhouse ﬁre, June 5, 1880. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYC&SV RR Number 1, The Ellery Corey at Cooperstown Junction in 1869. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY51 52

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Saturday, June 5, at about 11:30 PM, a light was seen in the roundhouse by two men walking up Main Street. The men thought nothing of it, as employee often worked late into the night. About the same time the night watchman at the Pioneer Mills plant saw the same light and at ﬁrst ignored it, but decided to investigate after the light grew brighter. Looking in the window, he discovered that a pile of pine boards was on ﬁre near the workbench and the baggage car near that corner was also on ﬁre. Two locomotive stood on the other side of the building.The watchman awakened two men who were sleeping in a nearby building and sent them into the village to give the alarm. This was at 12:10 AM. By the time the two arrived at Carr’s Hotel it was 12:30AM and ﬂames had already ﬁlled the building and were bursting out of the windows. The ﬁre bell was sounded at 12:40AM, but by the time the hose carts arrived there was little they could do. Two streams of water were trained on the blaze, but the effort was useless. The weather had been rainy and there were practically no people in the street, a situation which diminished the possibility of the ﬁre being discovered early-on.The Company had no insurance on the property so the loss of about $6,000 had to be absorbed by the railroad. The building was completely destroyed and the baggage car and engines were seriously damaged. The watchman stated he had put out the locomotive boiler ﬁres and let the water out of the boilers before he went home, about 10:00, as he does every Saturday night, and the cause of the ﬁre remains unknown. An engine was sent up from the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad in Oneonta, Sunday evening, to be used until a new one could be procured or the old ones repaired. The building was rebuilt almost immediately and the Company resumed normal operations. The roundhouse would burn to the ground again in 1912, after which it was rebuilt a second time using brick and steel.The Number 1 was rebuilt in Scranton, Pennsylvania, possibly by Dickson Manufacturing Company, a locomotive builder in that city. After the lease of the Cooperstown Railroad to the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad, Number 1 was again renamed this time it was christened the E. M. Harris, in honor of the Vice President of the new company. Finally, in 1890, after twenty-one years of service, Number 1 was scrapped and replaced by a more powerful locomotive.C&CV RR Number 2 one mile south of Cooperstown in 1889. The crew from left to right is Peter Brady, Conductor, Oscar “Deke” Whitaker, Engineer and Fred Mumford, Fireman. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYC&CV RR Number 2 in Cooperstown in 1882. The name on the cab now reads Otsego, after the Town holding the greatest amount of stock in the Company. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY52

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Engine Number 2 The John F. ScottThe second of the two original locomotives on the Cooperstown Railroad was purchased on September 4, 1869. It was christened the John F. Scott, after the company’s second president and builder of the railroad. Mechanically, C&SV Number 2 was identical to Number 1, having also been built by Danforth & Cooke. With the narrowing of the Railroad’s track gauge in 1876, the wheels of the Number 2 were reset to match. At this time the locomotive was re-designated the Otsego, after the town holding the greatest amount of stock in the company Suffering damage in the Cooperstown Engine house ﬁre of 1880, Number 2 accompanied her sister locomotive to Scranton, Pennsylvania, for rebuilding. In 1883, the engine was converted to soft coal. The overhauled locomotive continued to operate on the Cooperstown Railroad as the Otsego, until 1888, when it was renamed the D. E. Siver, in honor of the chief ofﬁcer of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad.In 1893, the locomotive was again rebuilt and modernized with the ﬁtting of new steam and sand domes, straight exhaust stack, and a more efﬁcient headlight. In its new appearance, Engine Number 2 continued to work on the Cooperstown line until the railroad was sold in 1903. The locomotive was said to have been transferred to work on the Ausable Branch of the Delaware & Hudson, where it was retired in 1925, after ﬁfty-six years of service.Engine Number 3 The CooperstownWith Engine Number 1 nearing the end of its usefulness, and because of the increasing trafﬁc, a new locomotive was sought by the Cooperstown Railroad. On January 3, 1890, the Journal reported that “the Cooperstown R. R. Co. has ordered a new locomotive from Number 3, The Cooperstown. Most photos show the locomotive with a 3 under the cab window, but the photo on the bottom taken shortly after it arrived shows the word Cooperstown on the cab. Both photos courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYC&CV RR Number 2 in Cooperstown in the late 1890’s. The 1893 changes to its steam domes, smoke stack and headlight can be seen. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY53 54

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the Baldwin Works in Philadelphia, PA, to be on the road early in April. The two old locomotives have done long service, and are still in good condition, but have not the requisite power for heavy trains.”Engine Number 3, dubbed the Cooperstown, made its trial run on the Cooperstown line on May 9, 1890. Like the other locomotives on the road, Number 3 was an American Standard type. A bigger, heavier machine boasted 17 inch by 24 inch cylinders and driving wheels that were 62 inches in diameter. Unlike the original locomotives, Number 3 was fueled by soft coal rather than wood. The locomotive served as the mainstay of the railroad’s motive power until the beginning of the Delaware & Hudson era. The engine was renumbered D&H 415 on August 15, 1903. In July, 1905 it was sold to Killey Locomotive and Machine Works.Engine Number 4The ﬁrst Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Number 4 was purchased from the Fonda, Johnston and Gloversville Railroad in 1888. This locomotive was nicknamed Bessiek, and was scrapped in 1901. In 1900 the Company purchased a second Number 4 from the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad in Norwich. This engine was O&W Number 34, the “Hackensack”, built by Baldwin in 1871, their number 2614. As part of the sales agreement, the O&W replaced the diamond stack with a stovepipe and extended the front end. This engine was renumbered D&H 416 on September 19, 1903 and was completely rebuilt at the Oneonta Shops in 1905. The second C&CV RR Number 4 ﬁghting snow in Cooperstown in February, 1903, with the assistance of C&CV RRNumber 3. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYC&CV Number 3 sitting in Cooperstown, NY. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYThe ﬁrst C&CV RR Number 4 heading north bound on the long trestle at Cooperstown Junction seen on September 24, 1889. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY54

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadEarly Life on the Line1869-2019CHAPTER 10The substance of any discourse on railroad history is largely information pertaining to motive power, routes, tonnages, and ﬁnancial transactions. Frequently lost among the masses of statistical information is an important facet of railroad operation, the public. The railway was created by people to serve them by transporting their goods, as well as themselves, from one point to another. Admittedly, there were a number of “Vanderbilts” who envisioned public service as secondary to personal economic interests. In the case of a publicly controlled short line such as the Cooperstown Railroad, however, the relationships between the operator and customer were far more personal than could have ever been expected on the great trunk lines. Occasionally, a minor incident of human interest pertaining to the railroad would ﬁnd its way into the local newspaper or be recorded elsewhere. The following collection of vignettes provide a glimpse into the intimate relationship between the railroad and the citizens of Cooperstown.On the Cooperstown Railroad, few things seemed to be missed by the local newspapers eager to ﬁll their columns. Thus, if an employee was well-liked or had done something special, the fact was likely to appear in print. One such report appeared in the May 14, 1874, edition, which noted that, “Mr. W. B. Smith, Assistant Superintendent and Conductor on the RR wins the good opinion especially of all the Cooperstown Railroad Employees taken in 1882, L to R, Standing: Elfert Wicks, Fireman; Charles Allen, Station Baggage & Freight Man; Lewis Wasserbach, Engineer; Lawrence A. Kaple, Conductor; Seated: Albert VanHorne, Station Agent; Wm. Harter, Agent, Eric and New England Express Co.; George Salisbury, Brakeman; Wm. Stoking, Brakeman; Wm. Adams, Agent, National Express Co. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY55

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ladies traveling that road by his polite attention and kindly ofﬁces, always freely tendered, and as we know from their remarks, fully appreciated”.Not only were the citizens of Cooperstown happy about the personal service, they also seemed to approve of the visitors brought to the village by the railroad. In a letter to the editor during the summer of 1870, a resident noted that one of the pleasant results of the railroad was the increased number of people of “high character and reﬁnement”.One of the problems of operating a business, then as now, was that of thievery. While there was hardly a crime wave raging, reports of robberies did occasionally reach the columns of the Freeman’s Journal. A humorous example of such an occurrence appeared in the Journal’s November 11, 1879, issue:“Parties who have recently been engaged in stealing railroad ties are known to the president of the road, who will prosecute them if they do not immediately return the property. We are also informed that a lad who stole from a package left in the depot building is known. An example made of such, and a general clearing out of loafers who gather about the depot would be good”. It was never revealed whether the culprits were apprehended.In the early days of operation, accidents were quite common, usually in the form of a derailment. In most cases, the only notable consequence was the delay in the arrival of the mail. However, one mishap reported by the Journal in 1876 resulted in a most unusual feat. According to Mr. Shaw’s report,“On Friday last, as the train on the C.&S.V. RR. was approaching the station at Milford, a man whose name we did not learn, was walking on the track. Hearing the approaching train, and supposing he was on the main track, stepped off on the adjoining one, taking it to be a switch, and which proved to be the main one that on which the train was running. So close upon him was the engine that he was struck by the pilot and thrown over in the air. An instant more found him rather uncomfortably seated on the steam-chest of the locomotive, which position he maintained until the train was stopped at the station”.An engraving of the farmlands along the Cooperstown Railroad right of way Courtesy the History of Otsego CountyPhoto courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY56

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developments which arose during the Civil War. The businessmen of Cooperstown, eager to keep abreast of the times, built a railroad. The results were more goods shipped in, and more goods and commodities shipped out, with a bonus in the form of a developing summer tourism. In this light, the impact of the railroad was positive.At the same time, the national economy began to shift more completely from dependence on small local mills to vast industrial complexes because of steam power and cheap rail transportation. The inevitable result was the closing of factories and the decline of Cooperstown as a commercial center. In this light, the impact of the railroad was negative, in that it helped to accelerate the trend of industrial centralization.It would seem that the one completely positive impact which the railroad produced was the inauguration of the hotel and tourist era of Cooperstown’s history. The completion of the railway turned Cooperstown into one of the fashionable spas of the East during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. That period was the beginning phase of Cooperstown’s present relative prosperity based on summer tourism.In conclusion, it can be said that the Cooperstown Railroad was inﬂuential in destroying the early economy of the area while it helped to open the way for a new economic base. In the meantime, it helped thousands of patrons live an easier life by taking them where they wished to go, selling their goods, and bringing them what could not be had locally.The Cooperstown Railroad seemed to offer something for everyone. It appears that a trip down the line even served as a source of literary inspiration. A number of pieces describing trips on the railroad appeared in the Journal. One such piece entitled “Along the Rail, appearing in the May 27, 1880, issue, provides a view of the area during the latter part of the nineteenth century:“The broad expanse of green clothed ﬁelds and the upturned rich soil to be seen from the car window as you pass down the Susquehanna, unmistakably proves to passengers the value of farm lands in this lovely valley. The cottages and outbuildings are, generally speaking, in good repair, and the fences and pasture lands are growing daily more attractive.The little stations between this Village and Milford are not without some enterprise. At Phoenix and Clinton’s are the Knitting Mills and Cotton Factory, which give employment to a large number of people, and manufacture thousands of dollars’ worth of goods yearly. At Hartwick is located an excellent institution of learning, which is yearly preparing many young men and women to ﬁll useful positions in life.Arriving at Milford, we stopped off to look over this enterprising little village. Handling products of the dairy is among the active business pursuits, S. T. Pratt and B. L. Bates being the principal dealers; the former, we are credibly informed, ships on the average each day in the year 10 packages of butter, equal to 500 pounds, nearly all of which ﬁnds a southern market”.On at least one occasion, a ride on the Cooperstown Railroad prompted a passenger to try his hand at poetry. Writing of a girl he had noticed on the train, the gentleman concluded his ode to the young lady as she was leaving the coach:“The vision vanishes, she leaves the train, I long to follow, but perforce remain;I mark the spot, blessing with silent unction, Her changing place, Cooperstown’s lonesome Junction”.For thirty four years, the Cooperstown Railroad Company was the product of Cooperstown’s ambitions, controlled for the beneﬁt of Cooperstown’s businesses, and an important part of the everyday life of Cooperstown’s citizens. It was their railroad, built for their use, convenience, and proﬁt, to be protected from outside interests. When it was ﬁnally taken over by a larger trunk line and challenged by the competition of the automobile age, it was quite likely never again the same in the eyes of the railroad’s creators.Early Impact of the RailroadThe coming of a new form of technological progress to a new area will inevitably create an impact upon it, either for good or ill. In the view of the Freeman’s Journal, frequently covering the Railroad’s doings, the impact of the railroad upon the Cooperstown area was decidedly a good thing for the community. On the other hand, a man who had lived during the period was quoted by Robert Howard, in his study of steam power in Otsego County, to the effect that the coming of steam power to the county caused the entire area to “go to hell.”In order to resolve the differences of opinion, it is necessary to look beyond the immediate issue of the value of steam power to the shifting economy of the United States during the period in question. In 1865, Cooperstown was still living in the rosy afterglow of the “age of homespun.” Its position as a market town and seat of county government made it a prominent center in the region. Its industries had moved out of the cottage and into the mill. They showed further promise of expansion with the introduction of cheaper transportation. The nation was just beginning to apply the technological 57

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadThe Delaware & Hudson Railway Takes Over1869-2019CHAPTER 11More than ten years after the Great Cooperstown Railroad War, on July 1, 1903, the Delaware and Hudson Railroad took over control of the Cooperstown line. The Oneonta Herald noted the change of ownership in an article appearing in their July 9, 1903 edition: “The entire stock of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad Company, amounting to $45,000 has been transferred by George Brooks, D.E. Siver and Mrs. E.M. Harris, the former owners, to the Delaware & Hudson Company. This purchase of course carries with it the long-term lease of the Cooperstown & Susquehanna Valley road, from Junction to Cooperstown. A change in management resulting from the purchase was affected at the Junction Tuesday morning, when all the old directors and ofﬁcers of the CACV handed in their resignations. Following their resignations the following new board of directors was elected: F. Murray Olyphant and David Wilcox of New York; George I. Wilber, Oneonta; Abel I. Culver, Albany; Robert M. Olyphant, W.S. Opdike, Charles Peabody, R. Sudam Grant, New York City; D.E. Siver, Cooperstown. At a subsequent meeting of the directors the following ofﬁcers were chosen: President – David Wilcox; Vice Pres. – Abel I. Culver; and Treasurer – F. Murray Olyphant. Of the directors Messrs. Olyphant, Wilcox, Wilber, Culver, Olyphant, Peabody and Grant are members of the Board of Directors of the Delaware & Hudson Company. For the present, at least the same operating staff will be employed and the train schedule will remain in force. The change it is generally believed will be beneﬁcial to Cooperstown and Oneonta. Cooperstown will beneﬁt in reduced freight rates, and its village and numerous attractions will no doubt be found as other D&H summer resorts are, in the advertisements of that company. It is also rumored that the company contemplates placing a wye at the Junction and running its more important trains to Oneonta. This change, if brought about, will beneﬁt both towns. The physical condition of the railroad is also to be improved, new iron bridges will take the place of wooden ones, and better rolling stock will no doubt be placed upon the rails. Considerable speculation is being indulged in as to the purpose of the D&H in making the purchase, and it has been suggested that possibly the company will extend the line along Otsego Lake to meet the old Fort Plain & Richﬁeld survey, when it would go over the abandoned grade to a junction with the NY Central at Fort Plain.” The article went on to note the total cost of the road was $70,144, consisting of 19.98 miles (including the extension to Davenport). The article stated the lease of the C&SV to the CACV would expire in January, 1990. The July 16, 1903 Oneonta Herald contained the following article: “The wye at the Cooperstown Junction has been staked out and soon as it is constructed it is believed that most if not all CACV trains will run to Oneonta. Construction of the new Cooperstown Depot in 1915.Photo courtesy the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY58 59

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The D&H now accepts mileage books over the Cooperstown track the same as over its main lines”. After the takeover passenger rates were reduced to conform with those on the main line, but freight rates continued to remain high until October 1913. It was at this time that the D&H purchased all of the Town of Otsego’s controlling interest in the capital stock of the old Cooperstown and Susquehanna Railroad, and shortly thereafter purchased the Town of Middleﬁeld’s Stock. In order to convince the towns to sell, the D&H agreed to pay $7,500 for 200,000 shares of stock and reduce freight rates. In addition, Company President Leonore F. Loree personally promised to construct a new station, one that would be in keeping with the picturesque charm of the Village of Cooperstown. The promise made by the D&H was not a contractual agreement, but President Loree was a man of his word, and plans to install a new depot were set in motion immediately. In March of 1915 the Company began purchasing property near the old C&CV depot to be used as a site for the new building. The new station would be located on the Wicks property, with a right-of-way through the McNamee lot on Main Street. The planners also anticipated installing a second entrance through the Houck property on Nelson Avenue. The Cooperstown Board of Trade worked very closely with President Loree in securing title to the needed properties. Acquisition of the McNamee property was not originally part of the Company’s plans, but when Village ofﬁcials requested a point of access directly from Main Street, the Company willingly obliged. After securing titles to the properties, the houses of Elbert Wicks and Joseph Wicks were removed and plans were drawn up to completely re-landscape the lot. The Company announced its commitment to erect a building that would conform to the general surroundings and maintain the historical and literary traditions of the Village. On Friday, April 23, D&H Private Car #200 brought a party of ofﬁcials to Cooperstown for the purpose of inspecting the proposed depot site. The party included General Passenger A great areal view of the new Cooperstown D&H Depot looking north showing the track layout at the building.Photo courtesy the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYCrowds gather at the dedication of the new Depot on June 29, 1916.Photo courtesy the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYThe new Depot’s interior.Photo courtesy the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY59

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was estimated that about 15,000 cubic yards of earth would be required to bring the grade up to the desired level. Meanwhile, the Company began soliciting bids from local contractors, setting a budget of $100,000 for the entire project. Construction of the new station ﬁnally got underway in the fall of 1915, and progressed into the next year. The building was completed in June of 1916, and a massive celebration was held on the 29th of that month. The entire Village took a holiday and most businesses were closed. The main thoroughfares were draped with ﬂags, as over 1,000 people assembled along Main Street to partake of the festivities. On the night before the dedication a special train from New York City arrived carrying President Loree, along with several dignitaries including former Pennsylvania Governor John K., Tener, who was at the time the President of the National Baseball League and H.M. Hempstead, President of the New York Giants. Another special train from Albany brought General Agent C.S. Sims, John S. Finley, President of New York State University and George I . Wither of Oneonta. After a parade through the Village, the citizens gathered at the depot grounds to enjoy speeches given by the notables on hand, led by D&H President Loree. Mr. Loree went to great lengths outlining the challenges that railroads were facing in a constantly changing world. Following President Loree was John Finley of the State University who gave the audience a brief history of the Delaware and Hudson Company, especially in terms of its relationship with the Village of Cooperstown. National League President Tener even went so far as to speculate that the day might come when a national league team would play in Cooperstown. Following the round of oratories, there were banquets and sight-seeing tours of the Village to entertain the honored guests. The new Cooperstown depot was a striking piece of architecture, as can be seen from the following description in The Knickerbocker Press: “The station itself is a modest building. It is so fashioned as to be an intimate part and parcel of the Village and its personality. It rests under a great sweeping roof supported on two sides by colonial pillars, and harks back to the days of1800. With its distinctive masonry of rough stone slabs placed in herringbone fashion, it is suggestive of the old house known here as “Deacon Pomeroy’s Place’’, built by William Cooper, the founder of Cooperstown, as a wedding present for his daughter. The large waiting room within holds a series of surprises for the visitor, whose thoughts are still vibrating to the work-a-day world which he has just left behind. Here he looks upon a scene as if set by the cunning skill of a stage director-an assembly of furnishings, wall decorations, and a great stone ﬁreplace, all within an architectural monument to the ways and fashions of the days in which Cooperstown feels that her men lived their lives at the very best. Here are chairs, including rockers, mind you, and settees designed to recall quaint, old living rooms. One almost expects to see a spinning wheel in the corner. On the walls are numerous paintings. At one glance one can see those panels depicting stirring adventures of early settlers in the wilds, which are taken from the thrilling tales of the novelist Cooper: Leatherstocking, the beautiful Judith, Chingachgook and images of other immortals stand before you. Then there are four large portraits of Cooperstown men around whose memories the romantic glamor of tradition and history lingers. The four portraits are: William Cooper, founder of the Village; James Fenimore Cooper, famous novelist; Major General Abner Doubleday, inventor of baseball and Erastus Beadle, famous publisher of dime novels”. Once the new depot was opened, passenger service thrived on the line. The building became known as the “Leatherstocking Station”, and trafﬁc was so brisk that the old C&CV depot was converted into a freight facility in order to provide more passenger area at the new station. The new depot served the Village faithfully for two D&H Steam engine 423 with three car train at Cooperstown station awaiting passengers. Photo courtesy of The Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY61

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decades, but a combination of the depression and the growing popularity of the automobile caused passenger service to decline dramatically by the 1930’s. The Company found that trafﬁc dropped to the point where it was not practical to keep the station open, so passenger business was moved back to the freight station. For several years the Leatherstocking Station remained closed, used by the D&H as a storage and catch-all building. In 1939, Alva Welch, a recently discharged U.S. Army captain, relocated to Cooperstown and shortly thereafter opened his Welch Chevrolet dealership which later became Sperry Chevrolet. The dealership at the time was located across the street from the old C&CV freight station on Railroad Avenue, and over a period of time Mr. Welch became acquainted with the trainmaster, who joined him for coffee every day. Eventually the two men became good friends, and when Mr. Welch revealed that he was house hunting for a place to bring his new wife, the trainmaster sensed an opportunity for his struggling company. “Well, when he ﬁrst took me up to see the old station I was ﬂabbergasted”, Mr. Welch was quoted as saying in a later interview. The agent got the key and showed Alva the inside of the depot. At ﬁrst Mr. Welch didn’t see the potential of the building, but the persistent trainmaster eventually convinced him that the station could be turned into a home. Finally Mildred Welch, the car dealer’s wife, solicited the opinion of her father, a building contractor in Sherburne. Mr. Welch’s father-in-law looked the building over thoroughly and said “buy it”! The Welches took the advice and bought the station, living there for many years after it was refurbished. It is still in use as a private residence. Cooperstown Village was not the only location where the Delaware and Hudson found it necessary to construct new facilities following its takeover of the C&CV. On October 4, 1903 the D&H had instituted a new timetable on the Susquehanna Division which increased passenger trains between Oneonta and Cooperstown to seven a day in each direction. The improved service was welcome news to residents and businessmen in both villages, but there was one point of contention in the new arrangement: only two of the seven daily’s stopped at Cooperstown Junction. This schedule created a great deal of inconvenience for local residents, and the citizens became even more upset when rumors began circulating that the D&H was planning to abandon the Junction station completely and utilize Colliers as the sole transfer point for the Cooperstown Branch. By this time the station at the Junction 62 63

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had fallen into a state of disrepair and the D&H decided that it would be more prudent to upgrade the depot at Colliers than invest money in the old C&CV building. The depot in Colliers had been constructed in 1867, but had seen little use over the years, since the Junction was designated as the transfer point for Cooperstown. The Albany and Susquehanna had originally planned a large station for Colliers, where connections could be made with the C&SV, but the necessary real estate could not be purchased at the time of construction so the project was abandoned. By the time the D&H chose Colliers as its Cooperstown transfer point in 1903, the Village had lost much of the prosperity it had enjoyed prior to the turn of the century. Colliersville had been built up by Jared Goodyear and Peter Collier, who together operated a tavern, sawmill, grist mill and various other businesses in the Village. Jared Goodyear had been very instrumental in promoting construction of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, and he fought hard to have the shops located in Colliers before Harvey Baker succeeded in convincing the Company to locate their facilities in Oneonta. Taking advantage of the trafﬁc on the A&S, in 1867 Jared constructed a new hotel in the Village, aptly named the “Hotel Goodyear”. The structure was very impressive, three stories high with verandas on two sides and a large grove of hardwoods adjacent to the building. The hotel became one of the main social centers of the County, with passengers from Oneonta and Cooperstown taking the Sunday train to the “Goodyear” to enjoy a gourmet dinner, then rock on one of the verandas or stroll along the tree-studded lawn. By 1903, however, the once famous hostelry stood vacant, and was “unaffectionately” labelled by the local residents as the “White Elephant”. The hotel had been inherited by Jared Goodyear’s grand-daughter, Ellie Lyman, who had seen business decline to the point where it was no longer feasible to keep it open. A local reporter lamented that hungry travelers waiting in Colliers to make connections were required to fall back on cheese and crackers at the local grocery store, as there was not a hotel with a suitable restaurant in the Village. By the middle of October 1903, trains were totally bypassing the Junction Depot, and the residents were ready to ﬁght back. A petition was presented to Company Directors requesting that if a new station was to be constructed, it should be located as near the old one as possible, or at least half-way between the Junction and Colliers, as they felt it unfair to be suddenly over a mile removed the station. The “Junctionites” were further antagonized when it was reported that the D&H planned to purchase and refurbish the old Hotel Goodyear, in conjunction with the relocation of the depot to Colliers. By December of 1903 the railroad’s plans became clear to everyone, when it was announced that the D&H had petitioned the State Railroad Commission for permission to abandon the Cooperstown Junction Depot, with the intention of constructing a new building about 1,000 feet south of the old station, near the signal tower. The Commission held a hearing on the matter on Monday, December 21, and granted the D&H their request for abandonment, with the understanding that the new building would be constructed as soon as possible. Mr. Louis Carr, representing the D&H, informed the Commission that the new station would not have an agent on duty, or provide ticket sales, thereby relegating the Junction to “whistle stop” status. It was later learned that the D&H had originally intended to consolidate their operations entirely in Colliers with no facilities at the Junction, but the opposition on the part of Junction residents was so strong that the Company, along with former C&CV ofﬁcials, canvassed the area and ﬁnally bowed to public sentiment in their decision to build another depot in the Village. The residents also expressed concern over scheduling, as there was fear that eastbound travelers would be required to ride to Oneonta and back on the way to Albany, if proper connections could not be made at the Junction. By the spring of 1904 it was obvious that Colliers would be the main transfer point for the Cooperstown Branch. The D&H announced plans to expend considerable money and manpower in remodeling the station in that Village. The plans included installation of Georgia pine ﬂooring, new bathrooms, and an extension on the waiting room. There would be changes outside also: on the east an arcade 100 feet long would be added to shelter passengers and baggage from the elements. Also, a 40 foot arcade was to be added on the west side, which would join the milk station. Construction was soon underway, and a passenger coach was brought up from Unadilla to serve as a waiting room while the depot was being remodeled. In addition to exciting news about improvements to the station, Mrs. Lyman announced that she planned to reopen the Goodyear, investing $5,000 to refurbish the old building. Improvements were to include central heating, a new dining room and a billiard parlor. For a time, at least, Colliers enjoyed a boom it had not seen since the days of Jared Goodyear. As for Cooperstown Junction, they won the battle but lost the war. The Company ﬁnally agreed to construct a 14’ X 25’ waiting room on the south leg of the wye, which served residents until passenger service was terminated on the line in 1936, at which time the building was moved to Goodyear Lake for use as a summer camp, where it still stands today as an appendage to a larger structure on Lakeside Drive South.63

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadThe Delaware & Hudson Railway - Continued Operations1869-2019CHAPTER 12The history of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad during the D&H years is a difﬁcult time to chronical. Very little documentation exists after the initial purchase time of 1903, up to its sale to the Delaware Otsego Corporation in 1971. Many of the records of this time period were destroyed when the Susquehanna Division Bridge & Building Department’s ﬁles, which had been stored upstairs in the Oneonta Roundhouse, were destroyed after several small ﬁres prompted the City of Oneonta to take what was left to a local scrap yard for disposal. Numerous documents from the old D&H headquarters in Albany reside at the New York State Library in Albany, but only a small fraction have been inventoried and the remaining documents are off limits to anyone other than staff. Aside from occasional mentions in local newspapers, the only other readily available source of information is the Delaware & Hudson Railway Valuation Maps, which contain limited notes of changes to the line after it was purchased, and changes instituted, by the D&H. One of the ﬁrst things the D&H did after taking over the line was to add the south leg of the wye in Cooperstown Junction, creating the track structure we know today. Not only would this allow for trains and locomotives to be “turned” without a turntable, it allowed trains to travel directly towards Oneonta without having to do switching in the Junction. The map [top this page] shows the Junction before the D&H purchase. A small turntable appears on the property now occupied by Austin’s Auction Barn. The E. Chase property, which we now own, is seen to the left before the west (or south) wye track had been installed. The track to the right of the Chase property was the mainline to Davenport Center, Cooperstown Junction after D&H take over.Cooperstown Junction before D&H purchase.65

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with the bridge over the D&H Railroad. Two of the abutments of that bridge can still be seen in the Junction, albeit covered in vegetation. The third by the bank of the Schenevus Creek is gone. The D&H Valuation Map bottom previous page shows the Junction after the D&H purchase. As a “living document”, it was changed numerous times over the years as the D&H made changes to the properties it owned in the Junction. According to the Valuation Map notes, the station building was sold on August 18, 1932, even though the station, which was located right across Route 7 from the Chase property, would last until passenger service ended in 1936. It was moved and incorporated into a camp on Goodyear Lake that still exists, although it is hardly recognizable today. On June 30, 1937 Track “A”, the mainline to Davenport Center, was removed. The branch had been formally abandoned on February 16, 1929. This track had been relegated to storing surplus rail cars for years before its removal. On July 16, 1937, the second “B” Track on the north leg of the wye, next to what is now Austin’s Auction Barn was removed leaving one track. The C&SV Railroad had purchased a large tract of land in Cooperstown Junction for their operations from Alonzo Every on April 1, 1868. The C&SV and the CACV Railroads sold off several parcels as their operational needs changed, and over the course of the 1930’s and 1940’s, the D&H sold off numerous properties in the Junction they no longer needed for their operations, including our property in the Junction which was sold to a Guy Barnes on January 8, 1941. After several owners Leatherstocking Railway would purchase the property in 1985 from the New York State Department of Transportation. More on that in a future edition. The photo above (courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY) shows another view of the last Cooperstown Junction Passenger Station, with our house in the background. What is now NYS Route 7 runs between the two buildings. One of the other early changes completed by the D&H was the replacement of the three main bridges on the line crossing the Susquehanna River. The longest bridge, at 183 feet, was originally a wooden covered bridge just north of Portlandville (as seen on the photo on the next page from the LRHS Archives), was replaced by an iron bridge in 1904, the year after the Railroad was purchased. I always thought it was “odd” that a railroad operating wood burning steam locomotives would construct a wooden, COVERED, bridge. It obviously worked well, as the bridge survived over 30 years of such operations. It is unknown if the other two smaller spans were also of similar construction. The story we were told by the line’s previous owners was that these three bridges were actually dismantled on the D&H’s Saratoga Branch when that line’s bridges were being upgraded, and View of 2nd station at Cooperstown Junction looking north. Photo courtesy of Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY65 66

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were then moved to and reconstructed on the Cooperstown Branch. We have never been able to verify this claim. The “new” Portlandville Bridge was slightly longer than the old covered one, and the remains of the old bridge abutments can still be seen underneath. The 110 foot long bridge at Hartwick Seminary, and the 94 foot long bridge south of Phoenix Mills, were not replaced until 1916 according to the D&H’s Cooperstown Branch Bridge Schedule (below). A 41 foot long wood trestle north of Milford was replaced by a ﬁve foot in diameter concrete culvert on June 18, 1923. This is the same culvert beavers frequently try to plug up today. The waiting room, or “shelter” as the D&H referred to it, at Cliffside, just north of Cooperstown Junction was built in 1913, right next to what today is Lakeside Drive North Crossing. According to the D&H Valuation Map, it was moved to Sidney on January 7, 1926, and on February 10, 1926 the Yardmaster’s Ofﬁce from Central Bridge was put in its place to serve as the station. That only lasted until May 31, 1929 when it was removed, and never replaced with another structure. It is unknown whether the photo shown on next page is the ﬁrst, or second structure to serve passengers at Cliffside (photo courtesy Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY). Wooden covered bridge north of Portlandville, replaced by an iron bridge in 1904. Photo of courtesy of LHRS archivesCooperstown Branch bridge schedule. Courtesy of LRHS archives67

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The map doesn’t show the Portlandville Depot, which still exists, and is located across the highway from the sawmill. It’s been both a business and private residence since being sold by the D&H on August 16, 1966, with its appearance being somewhat altered over the years, including the removal of the ﬂared customary roof overhangs that are typical of small country depots. According to the D&H Valuation Map, the following changes were completed by the Delaware & Hudson Railway in Portlandville: March 31, 1931 - the County Highway 35A was paved. July 11, 1933 - a toilet building in the rear of the Portlandville Depot was removed. January 31, 1935 - a section tool house was removed and transferred to Milford. April 9, 1935 - the cattle pens were removed. above right; A pre-D&H map of Portlandville, showing the track structure through the village. This map was created before the sawmill and milk station were built, and it appears the mainline was realigned a some time to accommodate the two additional tracks which used to be in the village.Several photos of the Portlandville Depot as seen over the years. Middle shows the back of the Depot facing south, with the milk station to the left in the background. The mainline is seen running next to the Depot, with Track “A” to the left, and Track “B” on the other side of the building. The cattle pens can be seen at the north end of the Depot. Top right shows the front of the Depot.Photos courtesy of Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY70

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July 19, 1937 - the side track “A” on the east side of the mainline was removed, although the section next to the milk station, south of the highway, was left in place and is still in existence with a switch to the mainline. October 14, 1946 - a small bridge south of the milk station was replaced by a large concrete pipe. April 27, 1965 - The 770.6 foot long “Team Track B” was removed. As with any small town, the Portlandville Depot was a gateway for visitors to the Village, as highlighted by the following article from the February 14, 1907 issue of The Oneonta Herald: “Just half a hundred residents of Oneonta attended the annual chicken pie dinner given at the home of O.B. Morris at Milford Center last Friday for the beneﬁt of the Baptist Church at that place. The party was met at the Portlandville Depot and swiftly conveyed in sleighs to the Morris Mansion, where an excellent dinner was served. The ladies of the church netted about $44 for the new furnace fund.” Although a small village, Portlandville was not impervious to the perils of big cities, as seen in this article in the August 29, 1907 issue of the Freeman’s Journal: “The D&H Depot at Portlandville was burglarized again Saturday night. The thieves gained entrance by removing a pane of glass and breaking the lock on the ofﬁce door. About a dollar in pennies and some property belonging to Station Agent Burdick was taken. An effort was also made to break open two trunks”. No mention was found as to whether the culprits were ever caught. The D&H ﬁled with the Public Service Commission to abandon the Portlandville Depot in 1934. The May 9, 1934 edition of The Freeman’s Journal stated: “The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad, operated by the Delaware & Hudson Company, has ﬁled with the Public Service Commission a petition for authority to discontinue its station at Portlandville except for handling freight. The Commission announces that a public hearing on this matter will be held in the Courthouse in Cooperstown on Wednesday, May 16, 1934, at 10 a.m., EST.” The August 24, 1934 issue of Rural Times had the following article: “The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad, known as the Cooperstown Branch of the D&H, has been authorized 72

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadThe Delaware & Hudson Railway - Continued Operations (Milford)1869-2019CHAPTER 14There is surprisingly little information available regarding facilities in Milford, odd considering it’s the second largest village that the Railroad ran through. It appears the current station wasn’t built until 1876, seven years after the Railroad opened, with speculation that the delay was caused by the Village and/or Town of Milford’s reluctance to buy bonds and/or stock in the company during the 1860’s. The size of the village eventually resulted in the Railroad having no choice but to construct a suitable passenger facility. The February 7, 1885 edition of The Freeman Journal printed the following statement from the Railroad: “It is stated that the depot building at Milford is to be moved to higher ground, near where it now stands, and put in better condition, in the spring”. It is not known if this actually occurred or not, as no further mention of moving the depot could be found. We do know the D&H installed wainscoting over the original wallpaper to “modernize” the structure. According to the D&H Valuation Map, the following changes were completed by the Delaware & Hudson Railway in Milford: January 7, 1926 - a tool house in Milford was moved to Sidney, NY. March 31, 1931 - East Main Street is paved through the crossing in Milford. March 31, 1931 - the freight house track was extended. June 11, 1949 - cattle pens in Milford were removed. May 27, 1952 - a tool house, originally moved from Portlandville to Milford, is moved to Oneonta. October 23, 1958 - 85 feet of Track “B” removed. May 26, 1958 - land parcels, including the Depot itself, is sold to S.S. Harrison & Sons Coal & Feed. A map of the Milford facilities prior to the D&H Railway acquisition.A very rare photo of a D&H steam locomotive crossing the rebuilt Portlandville Bridge, heading north towards Milford, date unknown. Photo courtesy the Fenimore Art Museum.74

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S.S. Harrison Feed, which had opened in 1904, used the Depot for storage, as did its successor on the property, Agway who purchased the feed business on August 7, 1967. Luckily, neither company did much to alter the building from its original construction, inside or out. It remained in Agway ownership until 1996, when it was purchased by a neighboring property owner who then sold the Depot property to Leatherstocking Railway, while tearing down the old feed mill facility. For several years the local Ford and Dodge car dealership, also owned by the Harrison family, received automobiles by rail in boxcars at Milford, and an auto dock where they were unloaded can be seen on the Val Map just south of the Depot itself. It is unknown when this dock was actually constructed, or removed. The D&H delivered feed for both the Harrison and Agway companies, and also delivered molasses, using a north Classic view of D&H train heading south, entering Milford Yard, date unknown, seen from front of the Milford Depot. S.S. Harrison Feed can be seen on the left, the warehouse on the right is still in existence. The siding into the feed mill can been seen running through East Main Street.Photo courtesy the Fenimore Art Museum.75

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facing switch that ran through East Main Street to the feed mill facility. The tank car in our collection was actually used by the D&H to bring molasses from the Port of Albany to Milford, which was mixed with feed. The O.A. Weatherly Company produced Pine Apple Cheese in Milford, next to the Milford Yard, for many years. Oscar A. Weatherly started the business in Norwich, NY in 1896, and moved production to Milford in 1903, in what was a butter factory. The cheese was named, not because it was made with or tasted like pineapple, but because it was made in the shape and appearance of a pineapple, created by iron molds. On October 29, 1922, the entire facility burnt to the ground. It was soon rebuilt and operated until 1950 when the business was sold to a Wisconsin cheese company. The D&H delivered milk to the facility from the several Milk Stations along the line, as well as shipping out the ﬁnished cheese products. Like the Portlandville Station, the Milford Depot was a focal point of the community. The April 20, 1921 edition of The Freeman’s Journal ran an article that highlighted this in a very somber way: “A large delegation of citizens were present at the D&H Railroad Station last Wednesday evening, when the bodies of two of Milford’s young heroes - Asa G. Strong and Leon E. Three views of the Pine Apple Cheese Factory. Left top is looking south from the Milford Yard, Middle is looking north from the Yard. The bottom photo was taken years later, and the only remaining building which is now the Cooperstown Brewing Company can be seen in the background. Photos Milford Historical Association.76

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Eckler, were returned home. Both were members of Company G of the 107th Infantry and both were killed in action, September 29, 1918, in the battle of the Hindenburg line”. An article appeared in the February 22, 1928 edition of The Freeman’s Journal noting: “The Delaware & Hudson Railroad is required to operate trains over the Milford County highway crossing in Milford at a speed not to exceed ten miles per hour”, stating: “Evidence before the commission showed that the crossing views are such that unless care is exercised crossing accidents may occur if trains are operated at high speed”. As with the rest of the Cooperstown Branch, Milford lost its passenger service Left the original D&H Telegram to Milford’s last Station Agent, J.H. Barnes, dated January 8, 1958, informing him that his job was being abolished effective Friday, January 10, 1958 is on the left, and his job log entry on the right showing the last day the Milford Depot was open. Mr. Barnes bumped to a job at GB (Glens Bridge) Cabin, about two miles south of the Oneonta Yard Ofﬁce, at the south end of the Southbound Departure Yard. Both documents from the LRHS Archives. The photos below were taken a few years after the D&H takeover of the CACV, both views looking south. Photo courtesy the Fenimore Art Museum.77

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in 1934 due to declining ridership and revenues. The December 25, 1957 edition of The Freeman’s Journal ran the following article: “The Public Service Commission Monday authorized the Delaware & Hudson Railroad to discontinue its agency station at Milford. The railroad is required, however, to continue the handling of carload freight on team agent is the local representative, was also allowed to discontinue service at Milford. The express company said it would be without a local employee after the station is closed. In a report to the Commission, Examiner Thomas J. Brady notes that while carload freight shipments to and from Milford are relatively heavy, only 140 less-than-carload freight shipments were made to and from that point last year. Station revenues from other than carload shipments amounted to only $279 in 1956 as compared with station operating costs of almost $5,200. Noting that one local business man who receives considerable freight at Milford has opposed the railroad’s plan to close the station, Mr. Brady says that on the basis of hearing testimony it appears that “public convenience and necessity no longer requires the services of a local agent” to take care of the railroad shipments there and that paper work in connection with such shipments “could be handled expeditiously from Cooperstown”. The small amount of less-than carload and express business does not warrant the expense of maintaining the station and the agent.” tracks at Milford and to retain its docks there for the unloading of automobiles shipped by rail. All such shipments will be handled under the jurisdiction of the railroad’s agent at Cooperstown. Milford is served by the railroad’s freight-only Cooperstown Branch of its Pennsylvania-Susquehanna Division. In a companion action, Railway Express Agency, for which the railroad Another photo of the D&H’s Milford Depot, date unknown. The photo is dated to the D&H era by the station sign, which shows distances from major D&H Terminals, most likely Albany and/or Binghamton. Based on this and other earlier photos of the Depot it would appear that the building was altered at some point in time. Vintage photo courtesy Fenimore Art Museum.As there are now three windows between the front of the building and the side door on the track side of the structure, and the door is now under the station sign, as seen in this 2003 photo by Mabel Hodges. It is unknown when these changes were made. 78

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadThe Delaware & Hudson Railway - Continued Operations North of Milford1869-2019CHAPTER 15Like any other Railroad, the CACV was not immune to accidents and incidents. The October 29, 1869 edition of Cooperstown’s The Freeman’s Journal noted the following incident: “On the Cooperstown Railroad, on Saturday last, Train No. 2 bound north left the track about a mile north of Milford Station, and one freight and the baggage car were considered injured and disabled. Cause of run off, unevenness of the track, causing the wheels to mount the rails. No one hurt, and the train was only detained one hour. The disabled and broken cars were brought here on Sunday, giving RR employees an all-day’s job.” One of the most spectacular incidents occurred just north of Milford, at the bottom of Clintonville Hill. The June 27, 1912 edition of The Oneonta Herald described the incident in graphic detail: “Conductor Clark Couse (56), for a third of a century in the employ of the D&H Company and for 28 years one of its most valued conductors, met a shocking death Monday (June 24th) at 11:45 o’clock, when two cars of Train 368 which was running between Cooperstown and Oneonta, left the track about a mile north of Milford Station on the Jay Colburn ﬂats and the combination coach and baggage car in which he was riding went over the side of a 12-foot trestle and landing upon its side pinned him beneath it, crushing out his life instantly. The news could scarcely be credited about the city for he was known The combination coach baggage car was thrown to the east and is lying on its side.Photos courtesy of Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYJune 24, 1912 Anheuser Busch large steel frame freight car left the rails swerving to the west.80

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to be a very careful man and only when it was conﬁrmed and the circumstances were known would it be accepted. The news reached his home about the time he should have arrived for the midday meal which was in readiness and Mrs. Couse, while bearing bravely the ordeal is well nigh prostrated by the severity and suddenness of the blow. None others of the crew were seriously injured. Superintendent Rosenstock and the wrecking crew hurriedly departed for the scene and the combination car that pinioned his body was lifted quickly and the body removed to a coach and accompanied by other members of the crew was brought to this city on a special train and taken to Mr. McCrum’s undertaking rooms, where it was prepared for burial and will be taken to the family home on the Emmons state road just off the city limits, this morning. The body was quite badly mutilated. Train 368 does not carry passengers and is known as a combination milk and freight train, picking up the milk along the branch and delivering at Colliers to the “short milk” leaving here about 12 o’clock. It was composed of engine 123 in charge of F.E. Beach and six cars. Only two cars, the third and ﬁfth behind the engine, left the tracks. The third car was a large freight steel underframe of the Anheuser Busch Company, one just from the builders and when it reached a point about six rods north of the wooden trestle it left the rails, swerving to the west and when it reached the trestle one end dropped to the ground beneath, the other end extending up over the track. The fourth car, a small Erie freight, had its side next to the Busch car ripped out but its trucks remained on the rails. The combination coach and baggage car was next and was thrown to the east and fell over the trestle on that side, landing on its side. Mr. Couse was seated in a chair in the baggage compartment looking out the door on the east side and was thrown out of the car, which fell upon him, killing him as stated. Charles Kenyon was seated on the opposite side of the compartment looking out of the other door, but he managed to grasp the hand rail above the door and hold himself and escaped with only a slight scalp wound and some bruises. Charles Couse, the second trainmen, a nephew of the conductor, was in the passenger section but he also escaped with an injured ankle and some bruises not of a serious character. The milk was last in the train and it remained on the rails, stopping close to the trestle. The wrecking crew quickly cleared the track and when one of the series of three timbers or distance posts which had been forced out of position by the heavy freight car had been replaced and the track repaired, which was accomplished shortly before 3 o’clock, trafﬁc resumed. Superintendent Rosenstock is conducting an inquiry as to the cause of the derailment and Mr. Burgess of the track department, accompanied by a representative of the State Public Service Commission, visited the scene late Monday afternoon for an examination. No ofﬁcial would express an opinion as to the exact cause, the prevalent belief among spectators being that ties in the locality where the trucks ﬁrst left the rails were old and somewhat rotten, although this may not have been the cause of the derailment.” Other incidents were far less catastrophic. The March 4, 1914 edition of The Freeman’s Journal recounted the results of a blizzard on the Railroad: “Cooperstown is just now emerging from the worst storm of many years and it will be several days before things are again normal. Sunday a few ﬂakes drifted down and by noon a good sized storm was in progress. By Monday between 20 and 25 inches of snow had landed. The Delaware & Hudson train due [in Cooperstown] Sunday evening was stalled at Clintonville and the twenty two passengers were obliged to spend the night in the cars. When it was seen that it would be impossible for the train to proceed further, Lewis Meyers, the trainman, volunteered to walk back to Milford, a distance of over three miles, and notify Oneonta to send a relief train. The snow had drifted waist high but Meyers pluckily started out and half frozen ﬁnally reached his destination. A purse of $5 was made up and presented to him by the passengers. A train was made up at Oneonta, and despite every effort on the part of the crew was unable to reach the stalled passenger train until well along towards morning. The passengers meanwhile cooperated with the crew of the stalled train and succeeded in keeping the steam up so that the cars were fairly warm. About 7:30 o’clock the train backed to Milford where the passengers enjoyed a warm breakfast at the Central Hotel. The track meanwhile having been partially cleared the train once more started out and ﬁnally reached Cooperstown a few minutes before the International whistle announced midday.” At the top of Clintonville Hill sat the town of Clintonville. It’s just a shell of what it once was, when there was a dam across the Susquehanna River for generating electricity. Oddly, there is no record of Clintonville having a passenger station, especially considering the size of the textile mill that used to be there. A 438 foot long northward facing siding was removed on July 19, 1937. There was a wrought iron bridge spanning the Susquehanna River at Clintonville, but a ﬂood in 1913 washed out the bridge, as noted in the April 2, 1913 edition of 81

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The Freeman’s Journal which stated: “The high water of the river lifted the big iron bridge at Clinton’s from its foundations and dropped it in the river, with the piers apparently intact. The big guy wire of the power house smoke stack was attached to the west end of the bridge and that has partially held that end from sinking. The water cut a channel around the east end of the power plant dam and this morning it is reported that at least two acres of the adjacent ﬂat has been washed away. The dam itself seems to be alright.” The bridge and dam were not ﬁxed, and the power plant closed. North of Clintonville there were two small communities served by the D&H Cooperstown Branch, Hartwick Seminary and County Farm Crossing. Hartwick Seminary was named after the Reverend John Christopher Hartwick, who in 1752 purchased 21,500 acres of land in this vicinity from local Indians. The school named Hartwick Seminary was opened in 1815. The ﬁrst station at Hartwick Seminary was built in the 1870’s. No photos of the original station are known to exist. A small waiting room that replaced the original station was built in 1915. According to the D&H Valuation Map, it was removed on January 30, 1934. A northward facing siding was located here in the vicinity The pre-D&H map top right shows the location of the Hartwick Seminary Station south of the Hartwick Seminary Bridge. The photos below show the Hartwick Seminary Waiting Room, and the siding. The Hartwick Seminary Bridge can be seen in the background.Photos courtesy Fenimore Art Museum.82

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foot area ﬁnished off under the freight room for storage purposes. There was also a 31 foot by 32 foot stock pen located next to the station according to the ICC Inventory Report. According to the D&H Valuation Map it was removed by the D&H on April 8, 1927. The June 5, 1929 edition of The Freeman’s Journal carried the following article: ‘The Delaware & Hudson Company on Tuesday petitioned the Public Service Commission for permission to close its station at Phoenix Mills, Otsego County, on the Cooperstown Branch. The petition showed that the station was but 2.4 miles from Cooperstown, the next nearest agency station. The Phoenix Mills station is operated as a non-agency station under order of the Commission, dated October 23, 1917. Freight receipts for the year 1928 amounted to $139.15; passenger business from January 1, 1925, to March of this year totaled $978.48 for the incoming business and $1,057.08 for outgoing business. For the same period it has cost $993.13 for operating the station”. A public hearing was held in Albany on August 2, 1929, and shortly thereafter the station was closed. According to the Valuation Map, the D&H removed this station on April 3, 1931. The building was dismantled , and sections of the building were salvaged for a storage shed. Unfortunately, there is no trace of this beautiful station remaining today. The Max Blum Creamery in Phoenix Mills was built in 1897, and operated until 1921, its closing noted in the February 9, 1921 edition of The Freeman’s Journal. The concrete remains of the creamery’s foundation are still visible today. The April 9, 1913 edition of The Freeman’s Journal noted the following interesting article: “FOUGHT FIRE WITH MILK… The milk shipping station at Phoenix Mills caught ﬁre last Wednesday forenoon A view of the Phoenix Mills Station from the west hill, looking east. The old grist mill is on the right, and the bridge over the Susquehanna River is seen behind the station. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum.A classic view of the Phoenix Mills Station from the east shore of the Susquehanna River. LRHS Collection.85

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while the workmen were preparing the day’s supply of milk for shipment to New York. The ﬂames broke out in the small annex of the main building, in which the engine room is located and that portion of the building was destroyed. The ﬂames communicated to the upright portion of the building and it is said that the large part of the 200 cans of milk, which were being prepared for shipment, was used in putting out the ﬁre. It is believed that the milk was well used for without it the entire building, it is thought, would have been destroyed. The station is located just south of the D&H Station and the building and contents are valued at several thousand dollars. The loss will not be large.” The Otsego Forest Products Cooperative Association built a 17-acre sawmill just south of Phoenix Mills, with construction starting in 1937, and completed in 1940. The D&H built a 518 foot siding into the facility in June and July, 1940. It was extended by 30 feet on January 16, 1942. The only building remaining of this once vast facility is the warehouse where the siding once stood where lumber would be loaded onto railcars. The sawmill closed in the 1950’s, and according to the D&H Valuation Map, the siding was removed on June 28, 1966. The crossing at Phoenix Mills Road was paved on March 31, 1931. Prior to the paving, the following article appeared in the May 26, 1920 edition of The Freeman’s Journal: “Dr. C. V. S. Evans with Mrs. Evans, had a narrow escape from injury and possible death on Sunday afternoon when the engine in his Ford car stalled on the D&H railroad crossing at Phoenix Mills just as the southbound afternoon train was pulling into the station. Dr. Evans was coming down the sharp curving hill to the right of the Phoenix Mills station at about the time the train was 200 feet down the track. He endeavored to cross the track before the train, which was preparing to stop, reached the crossing. On reaching the track the auto stopped, and an effort was made to back the car away from the track. This was only partially successful, leaving one wheel exposed to the train. When the locomotive struck the wheel, it demolished the spokes, but did not injure the tire or the front axle. The occupants of the car were unhurt.” Exquisite drawings of the Phoenix Mills Station were done as part of the Interstate Commerce Commissions nation-wide inventory of railroads conducted in 1918. The drawing on the left shows how the building was built into the bank of the Susquehanna River, with its beautiful balcony overhanging the River itself. What a great place to wait for a train! The drawing on the right shows the internal layout of the structure. Drawings courtesy of the U.S. National Archives.86 87

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The Phoenix Mills Crossing made the news once again when in the January 8, 1947 edition of The Freeman’s Journal it was noted that a “D&H “900” type locomotive was derailed at Phoenix Mills last week. The wreck was caused by an ice ﬁlled ﬂangeway at the crossing.” A northward facing siding on the west side of the mainline at Phoenix Mills was removed on April 3, 1931, according to the D&H Valuation Map. According the LRHS Founder Jim Loudon’s book, Leatherstocking Railways, over the years three automobile bridges crossed the Susquehanna River at Phoenix Mills. The ﬁrst wooden bridge was built in 1815, slightly down river from the existing span. This bridge was probably consumed during the mill ﬁre of 1835 and was replaced by a second wooden span further upstream. On June 21, 1895 the second bridge was replaced by an ornate wrought-iron structure. This bridge still stands, although closed to vehicle trafﬁc, and is an outstanding and very rare example of a Whipple Truss Design. The road bridge, jointly owned by the Towns of Otsego and Middleﬁeld, was originally closed in November, 1973 by the Otsego County Highway Department who stated it was structurally unsafe. In 1974, Standard Bridge Corporation refurbished the bridge, with ﬁnancing coming from both Towns, and it was reopened for vehicular trafﬁc until the State of New York ordered its closure again in late 1988. Discussions on removing and/or replacing the bridge dragged on for a couple of years, but neither Town wanted to bear the expense of either option and the decision was made to close Phoenix Mills Road at the bridge where it now serves as a pedestrian bridge for local residents, and as a viewing deck for the annual Memorial Day General Clinton Canoe Regatta’s 70-mile endurance race that starts on Otsego Lake in Cooperstown.Two great photos of the Otsego Forest Products Co-op facilities in its heyday. The photo on the top shows the facility looking south, with the Railroad right-of-way and Phoenix Mills Railroad bridge clearly seen on the left side of the photo. The building closest to the tracks is all that remains of the facility. The photo on the bottom shows the facilities looking north towards what was left of Phoenix Mills.Photos courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum.87

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Thursday authorized the Delaware & Hudson Railroad to discontinue resident agency service at its freight station in Cooperstown. The railroad is required, however, to continue the handling of carload freight on sidings at Cooperstown but under jurisdiction of its agent at Oneonta, and to accept collect telephone calls made by area patrons to the Oneonta agent. Evidence submitted at a public hearing here in November, at which the railroad’s petition was unopposed, showed that only four less-than-carload freight shipments, the only service for which a resident agent would be required, had been handled at Cooperstown during the 30-month period ended last June 30, and that total revenues from such shipments were less than $100 compared to an annual station operating cost of about $9,000. In collateral action, the Commission also reassigned to the Oneonta agent jurisdiction over the non-agency carload freight station at Milford.” The roundhouse in Cooperstown was also removed by the D&H during the month of April, 1940, having been severally damaged by ﬁre and rebuilt twice, once in 1880, and a second time under D&H ownership on July 6, 1912. The 1912 ﬁre also destroyed the D&H’s lumber shed and ice house in Cooperstown, causing an estimated $25,000 in damages. After passenger service was discontinued in 1933 the roundhouse was no longer used, as trains no longer stayed overnight, although its turntable still was. In the fall of 1939 the D&H put the building up for sale, and Albany Wrecking Company acquired it for salvage, demolishing the building in April, 1940. Another casualty to progress also occurred on the D&H’s watch with the removal of the 50,000 gallon capacity Cooperstown Water Tower, as noted in the August 30, 1950 edition of The Freeman’s Journal: “One of the marks of early railroading The D&H’s Cooperstown Roundhouse, after being rebuilt in 1912 following a ﬁre.Photo courtesy the Fenimore Art Museum.88 89

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in Cooperstown has disappeared with the tearing down of the water tower which formally stood on the south side of Main Street between Railroad Avenue and Grove Street. Built around 1906, just after the Delaware & Hudson had bought out the old Cooperstown and Charlotte Valley Railroad in 1903, the tower at one time in its early history serviced passenger and freight trains which arrived in Cooperstown every hour. Now, according to R.J. Shepard, freight agent, the trains are running “one freight every other day”. The dismantling of the local water tower, he says, is only one of the many towers which are being torn down all along the route. From now on, trains coming here will receive water direct from the village’s water main, a slower process, according to the railroad men, but just as practical because of the present day engines which do not require water as often as they used to in earlier days. When it became known that extensive and expensive repairs would be necessary to keep the 44-year old Cooperstown tower in operation, railroad ofﬁcials decided to economize, tear the old tower down and take their water direct from the water main, even if it did involve a little more time in “watering-up” the comparatively few trains that now use the local branch.” 12/22/25 - land purchased for additional driveway to “new” second station. 10/8/26 - Iron picket and woven fence built around second station grounds. 3/7/27 - Track and pit in Roundhouse removed. 3/31/31 - Gasoline storage tank added north of Roundhouse. 3/31/31 - Bituminus paving added to Chestnut, Walnut and Beaver Streets. 5/18/32 - 238.2 feet of side track Interstate Commerce Commission drawing from May, 1919, of the Cooperstown Water Tower. Drawing courtesy of the U.S. National Archives.As per the D&H Railroad’s Valuation Maps, the following additional changes were made in Cooperstown during its ownership of the branch: 90

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removed (between Chestnut and Beaver Streets) (former Trolley line trackage running along Grove Street). 9/3/35 - Section tool house removed (north of Main Street). 7/20/37 - Side track “F” removed (north of Main Street to second station). 1/25/38 - Former station building retired to non-carrier. 6/2/38 - Track “E” moved (spur track north of Freight House). 1/8/40 - One track in Roundhouse removed. 2/9/40 - 41.5 feet of Track “A” abandoned (to Shefﬁeld Farms Creamery at Walnut Street) (completely removed 11/25/55). 6/3/42 - Track “E” extended 22.7 feet. 7/25/42 - Cattle pen just north of Glen Avenue removed. 7/27/42 - Part of former station platform removed. 4/8/41 - Electric Railway Crossing Frogs at Chestnut Street removed. 6/6/47 - Track “E” extended another 14.5 feet. 11/13/52 - 267.8 feet of Track “D” and crossover between Main Track and Track “D” removed (between Glen Avenue and Main Street). 1/7/55 - Turntable and track removed. 11/25/55 - Middle Track “D” removed. 4/8/60 - Main track removed (north of Main Street to end of track - trackage to second station). 5/23/60 - Property north of Main Street sold to G. Murdock Hall (now Bruce Hall). 9/7/61 - Spur Track “A” removed (former Trolley line trackage running along Grove Street). 8/30/66 - Former Hops Storehouse sold (now the Railroad Inn).D&H Valuation Maps on this and previous pages, showing track and other infrastructure from Village line (Walnut Street) north to the site of the Village’s second station. Courtesy of LRHS Archives.92 93

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadThe Delaware & Hudson Railway - Continued Operations Cooperstown Part 21869-2019CHAPTER 18Like the other villages on the line, the Railroad was a major part of Cooperstown life, for many years after it was acquired by the Delaware & Hudson Railway. From bringing in a cannon for display in the Village in 1920, to accepting wool to be marketed by the New York State Sheep Grower’s Association in 1951, the D&H continued the tradition of being the Village’s gateway to the world, although that inﬂuence diminished greatly after passenger service ended. As early as August, 1915, the highway that would become New York State Route 28, had been completed between Cooperstown and Clintonville, diverting both freight and passenger trafﬁc off the Railroad. Efforts to lower freight rates, and to reduce and then eventually drop passenger service dragged on for decades, with numerous public hearings being held. And yet, the D&H continued servicing the remaining customers, even as the number of customers dwindled away, right up to their sale of the Railroad. And on rare occasions, a passenger train would still traverse over the line. On Saturday and Sunday, September 10-11, 1949, The New York State Freedom Train, conceived by Albany Knickerbocker News Managing Editor Gerald Salisbury after visiting the 1947-1949 American Freedom Train during its stop in Albany, visited Cooperstown, as noted in the September 14, 1949 edition of The Freeman’s Journal: D&H Camelback #423 sits next to the Cooperstown Station ready to head south out of town. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum.New York State Freedom Train sits next to Cooperstown Freight House on September 10, 1949. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum.94

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“Nearly 4,000 residents of Cooperstown and vicinity visited the New York State Freedom Train during its two-day stop here Saturday and Sunday. The train, which came in from Syracuse where it had been open during the New York State Fair, stood on a siding of the D&H Railroad in front of the freight house on Railroad Avenue. It left after the local showing for Sidney where it was open Monday. The train was in charge of Lt. Col. Frank B. Corry of the 27th Infantry Division of the New York National Guard in Buffalo, who with his security staff are housed in a special coach attached to the rear of the train. On Saturday a total of 1,800 persons, including many school children, went through the train, and over 2,000 visited it Sunday, according to ofﬁcials. Many schools in this area brought children in by bus to go through the train, and pupils in Grades 4 through 8 at Cooperstown Central School were taken on a guided tour of the train.” The September 7, 1949 edition of The Freeman’s Journal described the train in great detail: “The New York State Freedom Train consisted of four cars, diesel powered, which included three exhibit cars. The Train is an effort to bring the story of America’s heritage, and especially New York’s, down to the grassroots. Simply stated, the train is a “classroom on wheels” carrying 89 related documents showing the establishment and growth of the principles of freedom in the State. Documents have been selected to carry a coherent exhibit of the State’s milestones of liberty to the people of the State. The associated railroads of the State of New York contributed for construction and operation of the train, an estimated $650,000. The interior of the exhibit cars were completely stripped of conventional furnishings, and a protective steel sheeting installed. Four display bays have been constructed in each car for the showing of the documents. These are vertical extending from ﬂoor to ceiling. The latest type air-conditioning cools and heats the interiors. The entire train is equipped with a conﬁdential alarm system. The interiors of the cars are also equipped with a public address system to permit lectures on documents while visitors pass through the train. Exhibits on the Freedom Train are displayed as follows: Car No. 1 - “Freedom of Expression” (Religion; Press & Speech; Representative Government; Labor) Car No. 2 - “Liberty Under Law” (Personal Liberty; Suffrage & Property Rights; Military Security; Our Federal Constitution) A D&H Alco RS-3 gets ready to lead a freight out of Cooperstown, sitting next to the original station, in this 1968 photo by Russell A. Grills.95

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of Albany will operate a Fall Foliage excursion special train from that city to Cooperstown and return on Sunday, October 9. It will mark the ﬁrst appearance of a passenger train in Cooperstown in 20 years. Coaches will make up most of the train, but an open gondola car and two open-door baggage cars will be hooked on to the rear in which passengers may ride to view and take pictures of the colorful foliage which will be at its peak in this area. The train will leave Albany’s Union Station at 9 a.m. Stops will be made along the Delaware and Hudson line from Albany to Cooperstown Junction, and on its branch line from Cooperstown Junction to Cooperstown, all for the purpose of photographing and enjoying the fall scenery. Two hours will be available in Cooperstown for visits to the Baseball Hall of Fame and other attractions. The train will return to Albany via Schenectady and Mechanicville, arriving in Albany at 7 p.m. Adult fare for the trip is $6.75, and for children, aged 5 through 11, the tariff is $3.50. Children four years old and under will be carried free.” The D&H wasn’t immune to derailments on the line, one of which was documented in the October 21, 1915 edition of The Oneonta Herald: “Special Train With Company Ofﬁcials Goes Over Embankment - Much excitement prevailed in railroad circles yesterday morning when it was learned that the train in which the Delaware & Hudson ofﬁcials were making their trip of inspection over the road was wrecked at Milford. The train was made up of locomotive No. 503 and one passenger coach. It had left the Oneonta Station at 8:30 o’clock and had reached a point about one-half mile north of Milford Station when the rails spread and the engine and coach toppled over an embankment. The locomotive and tender lay at the bottom Car No. 3 - “Freedom of Self-Development” (Mobility; Education; Science; State Service) “Among the documents to be shown on the train is one drawn up by Benjamin Franklin, known as the Albany Convention of 1754, which, although it failed, was the most important federal measure in the Colonies before the Revolution.” Another special passenger train visited Cooperstown on Sunday, October 9, 1960, as described in the September 14, 1960 edition of The Freeman’s Journal: “The Capitol District Railroad Club Wreck crane moves into position to lift locomotive. October 21, 1915 Locomotive No. 503. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art MuseumMission accomplished locomotive again upright. October 21, 1915 Locomotive No. 503. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum96

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of the embankment while the coach was thrown off its trucks and slid down the incline. Fortunately but one of the crew was seriously injured, Daniel Sullivan, a brakeman, who was standing on the rear of the tank was thrown some distance and landed in a pool of water. He was picked up unconscious and hurried to Fox Memorial Hospital where the nature of his injuries could not be learned at this writing. Several of the ofﬁcials were bruised and cut by ﬂying glass. The wrecking crew from this city was soon at the scene and trains were running regularly this afternoon”. The Cooperstown & Susquehanna Valley Railroad and the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad continued as corporate entities under the D&H, having regular Board of Director and stockholder meetings, ﬁrst in the Cooperstown Depot, and, according to the Corporate Minute Books, starting January 27, 1915 at the D&H’s ofﬁces at 32 Nassau Street in New York City, and, starting on June 22, 1939, at 230 Park Avenue. Both Cooperstown and New York City alternated as meeting locations for ﬁrst few years. The Board of Directors was a mix of old CACV Ofﬁcers and D&H Board Members. The Railroad had been acquired originally under a 100 year lease agreement, but slowly through the ﬁrst and second decade of the 1900’s the D&H acquired the outstanding stock from the Towns and other stockholders who had originally bankrolled the Railroad in the 1860’s and 1870’s. According to the Corporate Minute Books, on November 9, 1956, the Ticonderoga Railroad Company, the Chateaugay & Lake Placid Railway Company, the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Company, and the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad were merged into the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Corporation. The last documented meeting of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad took place at 230 Park Avenue, New York, NY on December 18, 1956.Delaware & Hudson Railroad President L.F. Loree’s private car sits at the new Cooperstown Station in the early 1900’s. President Loree made several trips to Cooperstown over his tenure as President, as did his son, Colonel J.T. Loree, the D&H’s General Manager. Photo courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum97

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadThe Delaware - Otsego Years1869-2019CHAPTER 19As with every other major railroad in the U.S., the Delaware & Hudson was constantly looking for ways to cut costs, and one favorite way for any railroad was to divest themselves of branch lines which they felt were no longer proﬁtable. The Cooperstown Branch of the Delaware & Hudson was a prime example. With passenger service gone for decades and freight customers dwindling in the 1960’s, the D&H started the process of abandoning the line in 1970. At the same time, a few miles away in Oneonta, the newly created DO Line Tourist Railroad was facing its own dilemma. On August 3, 1966 the DO Line started operating out of the former Ulster & Delaware Railroad’s Station in the East End of Oneonta, running east 2 1/2 miles to Mickle Bridge, using an ex-Army 0-6-0 steam locomotive as power and two SOO Line coaches. The operation proved somewhat successful, but as early as July, 1967, the DO Line was informed by the New York State Department of Transportation that it might be losing the majority of its right-of-way to the construction of what was then called the Oneonta Route 7 Bypass, later the Susquehanna Expressway, now known as Interstate 88. The State baulked at the idea of constructing a bridge for the tourist railroad, estimated to cost up to $900,000, and as a result the ride would have been reduced to about a half mile. The DO Line had hoped to buy another 20 miles of former U&D, New York Central, and by that time Penn Central had removed rail to Bloomville, NY. Now they were facing losing almost the entire 2 1/2 mile railroad they were operating. The idea of the DO Line acquiring the Cooperstown Branch of the Delaware & Hudson surfaced as early as 1966 when a D&H ofﬁcial, speaking in Oneonta, predicted that the Railroad would abandon the line, and expressed the hope that the DO Line would take it over, noting it would make a great excursion route for DO Line customers. The July 8, 1968, edition of The Oneonta Star contained the following editorial: “The new Route 7 Expressway - now in planning stages - will deal a death blow to that ﬂedging railroad, the DO line. This is unfortunate. If priorities had to be picked, most rational men would vote for the highway which has long been needed in this area. But why does the DO Line have to die? Why couldn’t the Delaware & Hudson Railroad allow the short-line excursion a right of way to go to Cooperstown? The D&H line to Cooperstown is little used, but it could be of tremendous value to the DO Line. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Cooperstown each year. And they should visit the excellent New York State Historical Museum, Baseball Hall of Fame, and Woodland Museum in addition to the many beautiful natural facilities the lakefront village has. Many sure would be willing to take a ride on an old-time steam train like the DO Line. Such an excursion would greatly beneﬁt the economics of both Cooperstown and Oneonta. And think of all the fun the tourists would have. It seems that Oneonta as a community should not bemoan the fact that the Expressway is going to kill the DO Line. What the City should do is to keep it alive on a better run than the short two-mile run to Mickle Bridge.” The DO Line received a brief reprieve in early 1969 when the New York State Power Authority considered reusing the line to transport material for the Blenheim-Gilboa Power Project. After some confusing comments from the various State agencies, it was ﬁnally announced the DO Line would not be used. The August 19, 1970 edition of The Freeman’s Journal contained the following article: The iconic postcard view of the DO Line Steam Locomotive #2 facing east next to the former Ulster & Delaware Station in Oneonta, NY. After the DO Line and its associated museum moved to Cooperstown, the Station became the Depot Restaurant, and still is today. Postcard from LRHS Archives.98

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“The Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company has ﬁled an application with the Interstate Commerce Commission for abandonment of its 101-year-old, 16.39-mile Cooperstown - Cooperstown Junction branch line. The application was sent to the ICC on August 7, and ﬁve days later the railroad staged an “information” luncheon for industry, government and civic leaders at the Hotel Otesaga at which Paul F. Robinson, D&H Vice President, and other company ofﬁcials outlined the reasons for the proposed abandonment. 38 persons attended the luncheon. Mr. Robinson cited a steady decline in business and ﬁnancial losses the principal reasons for wishing to abandon the branch line. Last year, he claimed the line lost an estimated $23,596, and since 1951 the movement of cars along the line dropped from 1,054 to 355 last year (1969). Indications this week were that the D&H would meet opposition in its bid to give up the branch line. County Rep Deane G. Winsor of Milford said he would oppose now in order to gain time to work out arrangements so that customers would not be subjected to hardships. He indicated, too, that efforts had been underway for some time to make arrangements for Oneonta’s DO Line railroad to take over the branch. He said that time was needed here to make the necessary arrangements. The Bruce Hall Corporation (in Cooperstown), one of the two biggest customers of the railroad here, also said it would oppose the abandonment “as a matter of dollars and cents.” Richard A. White, head of the Hall ﬁrm, said this week that the branch line’s abandonment would place an added burden on the company in maintaining its competitive position on lumber and building supplies which come in from the west coast by rail. He said that handling coal shipments could wind up being more costly without the convenience of rail shipment and the related unloading facilities on the ﬁrm’s siding. No time schedule for abandonment of the branch line was announced, but Robinson indicated it would take at least six months before it could cease operations on the line, and considerably longer too, he added. He explained that the ICC would determine whether or not a public hearing on the matter would be called. Utilizing charts, Mr. Robinson said movement of freight cars over the branch dropped from 1,054 in 1951, to 691 in 1962, and to 355 in 1969. The freight car movements in recent years have been bound for either Milford or Cooperstown. “This averages out to about one car a day over 20 miles of railroad, which we have to maintain and pay taxes on,” Mr. Robinson declared. Of the 1,54 cars moved in 1951, he said, 722 were for Cooperstown and 332 for Milford, he said. Last year, the total of 355 included 155 for Cooperstown and 200 for Milford, Mr. Robinson pointed out. Mr. Robinson noted that unlike most northeast railroads, the D&H is not in bankruptcy and they’d like to keep it that way. Over the 16-mile spur, it was pointed out, are ﬁve bridges which William Lloyd, ofﬁcer engineer, contended would cost $250,000 to rebuild. “It’s absurd to rebuild bridges that don’t handle any trafﬁc,” commented Robinson. He said that last year the D&H received $11,497 in revenue from operations on the branch, with branch expenses of $35,043. “We could save $48,850 annually if the branch were abandoned,” Mr. Robinson said. “Our net loss for last year was $23,596.” In its report to the ICC, Mr. Robinson said the D&H lists salvage value of the Cooperstown Branch at “roughly $130,000,” which involved some 250 acres of right-of-way. “We want to minimize the hardship on the communities,” he continued. “We propose a team track at Cooperstown Junction to cut down the distances trucks must haul.” he also noted the D&H is prepared to adjust rates on coal cars to Oneonta, whose ultimate destination is Cooperstown. At it’s regular monthly meeting a week ago, the Cooperstown Board of Trustees indicated an interest in a portion of the railroad’s right-of-way in the Village should the line be abandoned, particularly the part which borders Grove Street from Walnut Street north.” The DO Line had competition for the Cooperstown Branch in late 1970, when the December 1, 1970 edition of The Oneonta Star announced Ludwig Benner, a business consultant of Lufred Industries, Inc., of Oakton, VA, visited the Railroad and informed local ofﬁcials that he represented a client, Byron Andrews, who was interested in possibly purchasing the line if the Interstate Commerce Commission granted the D&H’s abandonment petition, and if the local tax authorities granted relief that would make the operation proﬁtable for both freight and tourist passenger operations. It was estimated that revenues from the line are about $18,000 per year, with local taxes totaling nearly that much. Mr. Andrews had been involved at one time with the DO Line in Oneonta. This offer apparently never came to fruition. The December 16, 1970 edition of The Freeman’s Journal noted “The Cooperstown Village Board authorized Mayor Herman to write the Interstate Commerce Commission asking that its protest of abandonment of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad branch line from Cooperstown to Cooperstown Junction be suspended pending negotiations between the D&H and DO Line Railroad of Oneonta which is attempting to buy the line and operate both freight and excursion passenger service.” To pursue the Cooperstown branch, a new for-proﬁt corporation called the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railway Corporation was created in December, 1970, with long time Milford resident and Otsego County Board Rep Deane Winsor named Chairman, and former DO Line General Manager Walter Rich named President. $10 per share stock in the new railroad company was sold to raise $20,000 for the purchase of the line from the D&H, which had set a purchase price of $50,000 for the line. An additional $30,000 in stock was authorized In March, 1970, while $50,000 in stock was offered to existing DO Line stockholders. Interestingly enough, in those days stock in new companies could quite literally be purchased from the back of station wagon, and that’s exactly how my father purchased one share of stock so that I could say I 99

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Cooperstown or Milford, or both, and it is hoped the National Railroad Museum now in Oneonta will move to the branch.” The National Railroad Museum was a collection of railroad artifacts belonging to a Jeff Keenan, who moved his collection from Portland, Oregon to Oneonta shortly after the DO Line started operations. Much of that collection, it is believed, ended up on display in the original passenger and freight station in Cooperstown for a short time before being placed in storage indeﬁnitely. The March 10, 1971 edition of The Freeman’s Journal noted the CACV had purchased 1,400 railroad ties for repairs and its ﬁrst carload of coal for the steam locomotive. The March 31, 1971 edition noted “that work on refurbishing the old freight station in Cooperstown for use as a terminal here by the CACV would start within the next few days. The CACV will take over the station with the branch line. It is now negotiating with Agway for use of the old Milford station in that village.” Those negotiations were not successful, as the CACV under this ownership never used the Milford Depot for its operations. Final approval from the ICC for the transfer of ownership of the line delayed the start of operations until Saturday, April 17, 1971, when shortly after noon the DO Line’s steam locomotive pulling seven railway cars left the Oneonta U&D Station for the last time, arriving three hours later in Cooperstown. 500 passengers were on board this “invitation only” train, including stockholders, D&H ofﬁcials and other invited guests. A large crowd of about 200 in Oneonta were on hand to watch the train depart once last time, heading up the D&H mainline for Cooperstown Junction. Newspaper accounts noted every crossing was packed with photographers documenting the move. D&H pilot crew consisted of R.G. Fink, Engineer and Frank Tessatore, Conductor. At the throttle was long time DO Line Engineer, retired from the Pennsy, Charlie Blazer of Stamford and on the train Conductor William Galpin of Norwich, who, at 86 years old, had been with the DO Line since its inception in 1966. A crowd of about 150 were also on hand in Cooperstown for the train’s arrival, with the Cooperstown Central owned stock in a railroad. That $10 stock purchase turned into a payoff of over $700 several decades later when the company liquidated its public stock shares. Once it became clear that the DO Line was intent on acquiring the line, the D&H requested an “expedited” abandonment proceeding from the Interstate Commerce Commission to clear the way for the new CACV to take over the line and take over operations April 1, 1971. The February 27, 1971 edition of The Oneonta Star noted that the CACV had made a $5,000 down payment to the D&H, toward the negotiated price of $50,000. On February 26, 1971 a public hearing was held at the ofﬁces of the New York State Public Service Commission in Albany to grant the new CACV a certiﬁcate of public convenience and necessity to operate both freight and passenger trains. The CACV had already requested the same from the Interstate Commerce Commission in Washington, DC, on January 18, 1971. Both agencies promptly granted the requested certiﬁcates. By March of 1971, the new CACV was close to reaching its goal of raising $20,000. The new Railroad had already ﬁnalized a lease agreement with the DO Line in Oneonta to use all its equipment. Plans were to start twice-a-week freight service starting April 1, 1971, with passenger service to follow in the summer. The February 10, 1971 edition of The Freeman’s Journal noted: “Present plans call for using the steam locomotive in moving freight between Cooperstown and Cooperstown Junction. The locomotive is now owned by the DO Line, an excursion line in Oneonta which is now in the process of dissolution, and most of whose major stockholders are expected to join in the CACV enterprise. Most of those active in the revival of the CACV have been active in the DO Line operation. The D&H has applied for an expedited abandonment proceeding on it branch so that the new road can commence operations this spring. The CACV expects to move about 450 cars of freight per year between Cooperstown and Cooperstown Junction, and haul an estimated 25,000 tourists on an hourly excursion run between Cooperstown and Milford during the summer months. A museum will be located at either The DO Line’s special train from Oneonta to Cooperstown passes over NYS Route 7 in Cooperstown Junction over the west leg of the wye on April 17, 1971. Newspaper photo from LRHS Archives.100

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School band playing a rousing march to welcome the new CACV to Cooperstown. After a short stay in Cooperstown the train returned to Cooperstown Junction, where buses awaited to take passengers back to their cars in Oneonta. Automobile trafﬁc in Cooperstown Junction was so heavy when the train returned that D&H ofﬁcials had to direct cars to insure safety. The new CACV made its ﬁrst ofﬁcial passenger run on Thursday, May 13, 1971, when a group of 50 senior citizens from Long Island boarded in Cooperstown. The following Saturday a double run was operated, the ﬁrst carrying 110 Cub Scouts from Westmoreland and Gloversville, the second a chartered bus load of railroad people from Wilkes Barre, PA. Regular operations started on Memorial Day Weekend. The December 1, 1971 edition of The Freeman’s Journal noted that a new engine house for the line’s steam locomotive was nearing completion in Milford. This is the engine house we currently use in Milford. The January 29, 1972 issue of The Oneonta Star contained an article which noted a diesel locomotive was purchased in August, 1971, by the new CACV from the D&H Railroad, former D&H Alco RS2 #4022, renumbered CACV #100, primarily to service an increase in freight trafﬁc to the Milford Agway facility, which had extended their siding and installed a new unloading facility enabling them to unload 100 tons of feed in less than an hour. Milford Agway Manager Bob Goodwin also noted a bulk fertilizer tank would be erected next to the tracks in Milford to be able to receive tank cars of fertilizer. The Railroad also noted they had carried about 20,000 passengers in 1971. 1971 wasn’t without incident, when on September 15, 1971, the CACV #100 diesel locomotive was moving six freight cars in Cooperstown Junction and derailed. Ironically, the steam locomotive was called on to rerail the diesel locomotive two days later, to the delight of the local papers. On October 15, 1971, a parked car was hit by a freight car while CACV #100 was switching out cars at the Milford Agway. Luckily there were no injuries in either incident. The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad’s ﬁrst year of operations schedule.DO Line’s ﬁrst train to Cooperstown approaches crossing at Portlandville on April 17, 1971. Newspaper photo from LRHS Archives. The same train approaches Clintonville Crossing. Photo from LRHS Archives101

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Over the 1971-1972 winter the steam locomotive was switched over from coal to oil to make operations more efﬁcient, as well as reducing complaints about smoke in Cooperstown, which had plagued the line down in Oneonta. This conversion was somewhat problematic, and never really allowed the locomotive to build up the same amount of steam as it did using coal. Freight operations continued through the winter, and passenger operations resumed on Memorial Day Weekend, 1972, with all trains originating from Cooperstown. It was also noted that over the winter a coin-operated train display had been installed in the Cooperstown Station. This is the same display we currently have in the Milford Depot. 1972 saw growing pains for the new CACV. On August 9, 1972, a vandalized switch in Cooperstown caused the derailment of CACV #100 at 9:50PM, which was returning to Cooperstown with a dinner train, and also hauling four freight cars. The 33 passengers on board were uninjured and in “good spirits”, and walked the 1,000 feet back to the Cooperstown Station where their cars were parked. A far more spectacular derailment took place on the morning of Wednesday, October 18, 1972, when a broken rail about 200 yards south of the Happy Valley Road Crossing caused the derailment of the CACV #100, and three other cars of the ﬁve car train. A B&O covered hopper carrying 100-tons of corn rolled down the steep 50 foot embankment into the Susquehanna River, knocking down any trees that got in its way. The locomotive itself almost went over the bank, but got hung up on a small berm next to the embankment. Estimated damage was $60,000. The sound of the crash led some local residents to believe a plane had crashed, and one resident said he rushed out to his backyard to see a “tidal wave” rolling across the river. The crew bailed out of the cab as a precaution, including Walter Rich who was the engineer, but no one was hurt in the incident. The ﬁrst priority was to siphon the wet corn from the car before it could swell and burst open the hopper. Another of the derailed cars, a boxcar, was carrying grain and had slid on its side part way down the embankment, but did not go in the River. The grain car in the river was returned to the tracks on Friday evening. As a result of this incident the Railroad began an “all-out assault”, as the paper described it, on track defects, which included the installation of several hundred ties and 209 gauge rods where unsafe gauge conditions existed. Also completed in 1972 was a siding for Wightman’s Lumber in Portlandville, just south of the Portlandville Crossing, and the Glen Avenue Crossing in Cooperstown was rebuilt. Even so the Railroad claimed it made a $20,000 proﬁt in 1972 due to increased freight trafﬁc. 1973 started out with a bang on January 30, 1973, as CACV #100 collided with an Otsego County Highway Department Truck which rounded the curve heading towards Route 28, and could not stop due to icy conditions. The truck actually struck the locomotive’s mid-section, and was dragged a short distance. The incident shattered the rail in the crossing and CACV Crews worked through the night to make repairs. There were no injuries or serious The new CACV operation’s only power to begin with was the DO Line’s 0-6-0 #2 steam locomotive, which handled both freight and passenger operations before a diesel was purchased in the August, 1971. The #2 is seen here backing over East Main Street in Milford. Photo from LRHS Archives.D&O covered hopper with 100 tons of corn in the Susquehanna River. Photo from LRHS Archives.102

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damage to the locomotive. The truck received extensive damage. 1973 also saw a glass recycling operation start in Cooperstown using two dedicated CACV boxcars. Once loaded the cars were shipped to Thatcher Glass Company in Elmira and returned to Cooperstown. Barrels in the boxcars were used for sorting different colors of glass. 1973 was the beginning of the end for the new CACV, as the parent company, Delaware Otsego Corporation, began purchasing other branch lines being shed by Class 1 railroads. Passenger trains started on Memorial Day Weekend, as in past years, but the writing was on the wall for their future operations. 1974 saw the last season of passenger operations on the new CACV. The emphasis towards more lucrative and less labor intensive freight operations, coupled with the acquisition of other rail lines, made passenger operations no longer economical as the company moved from being in the museum business into being a short-line operation. The April 3, 1974 edition of The Oneonta Star carried a story which created great excitement on the CACV. Miller Brewing Company was searching for a location to build a new $70 million brewery, and the Cooperstown-Milford area was one of six locations being considered by the Milwaukee-based brewer. The company stated it needed 500 acres of land and at least six million gallons of water per day. It was estimated the brewery would generate 10,000 carloads of freight per year. Unfortunately, it was later decided that the Milford area, while having a sufﬁcient quality of water, didn’t have the daily quantity needed, and the new brewery was built in Fulton, NY, which opened in 1976, and closed in 1994. On September 5, 1974, the company made a move towards its past, when it petitioned the ICC to build a 2-mile spur line from Cooperstown Junction, back over the D&H mainline to Hemlock Road to service a proposed lumber ﬁrm named Aero Timber Company, which used giant helicopters to remove lumber from areas in the Catskills and Adirondacks inaccessible by trucks. The spur would be built on the former CACV right-of-way they used to go to West Davenport, and was expected to generate up to 1,000 carloads per year. Unfortunately, this little trip down memory lane never came to fruition. 1975 saw the purchase of 6 new all-door Thrall Company Boxcars, at a cost of $40,000 each. They were purchased to service Treadwell Lumber in Portlandville and Bailey & Sons in Honesdale. 240 standard boxcars were also purchased from Penn Central for their Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Railroad The June 28, 1975 edition of The Oneonta Star noted the CACV had received $600,000 from the State, primarily for repairs to the Portlandville Bridge and for track and crossing repairs. On April 5, 1976 a SOO Line boxcar loaded with charcoal briquettes caught ﬁre while parked on the old wooden trestle by Bruce Hall Corporation. Luckily, it was quickly extinguished, keeping it from spreading to the lumber company’s merchandise. The August 8, 1976 issue of the Binghamton Press noted several northeast railroad companies, including the D&H, N&W, B&M, and the G&W, would be sending business cars with their ofﬁcials to Cooperstown to enjoy the Baseball Hall of Fame Game. This practice went all the way back to 1939, when it is said D&H ofﬁcials in Albany would pick a particular summer day to inspect the railroad’s turntable in Cooperstown, coincidently, it was always the day of the Hall of Fame Game. The business cars were parked next to the station on Railroad Avenue in Cooperstown, and guests would wander from car to car before and after the game. By 1980, the CACV’s freight trafﬁc had decreased to a point where the Railroad started storing surplus St. Lawrence boxcars on the line, mostly north of Milford. On Monday, February 1, 1982, vandals released hand brakes on a cut of cars on Clintonville Hill, which rolled down and hit another cut of cars at the bottom of Clintonville Hill, causing a 10 car derailment. Damage was estimated at $50,000. The CACV continued to operate limited freight on the southern end of the Railroad through the 1980’s, although little is mentioned in local papers. An article did appear in the January 21, 1985 edition of The Daily Star which noted a locomotive and one covered hopper had derailed near Cliffside and Sunikrest Roads on the afternoon of Friday, January 18, 1985, due to ice in the tracks. The derailment was cleaned up by the following day. It was noted in the article that the line was now being switched “as needed”, usually about once a week to service Milford Agway, and that the line was just a “small part” of the company’s operations.Derailed St. Lawrence Railroad cars at the bottom of Clintonville Hill thanks to vandals releasing hand brakes on a cut of cars. Photo from LRHS Archives.103

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The Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley RailroadLeatherstocking Railway Takes Over... A New Beginning1869-2019CHAPTER 21When Jim Loudon founded the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society in 1982, it was inconceivable that the organization he started would eventually own a railroad. The organization was founded with two objectives, the ﬁrst being to protect and preserve the “Little Red Caboose” in Oneonta’s Neahwa Park, which we achieved in 1983. The second objective was to build a railroad museum in Oneonta to preserve the area’s rich railroad history. That objective proved to be far more elusive, as we were rejected time and time again in our efforts to build a facility at various locations in Oneonta. The Oneonta Roundhouse would have been an outstanding location, having been, at one time, the largest roundhouse in the world. Unfortunately, that and the numerous other locations we tried to acquire were not available for a variety of reasons. From an operations standpoint, however, getting rejected in Oneonta was fortuitous, and drove us to look at a location in Cooperstown Junction. Honorary member, the late Jim Catella, informed us that a one and a half acre property in Cooperstown Junction might be available, having been purchased by the New York State Department of Transportation to realign NYS Route 7 through the Junction as part of the Interstate 88 Cooperstown Exit 17 project. That project was eventually cancelled and the property became surplus to the State. The property was ideal as a museum site as it was at the junction of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad and the Delaware & Hudson Railway, and operating trains on part of the CACV to attract visitors was a possibility. Working with then NYS Senator Riford’s ofﬁce the State was made aware of our interest in acquiring the property in May, 1983. On September 10, 1983, we received a ﬁrst option on the Cooperstown Junction property. On October 15, 1983, the ﬁrst work party was held at the property, which included clearing brush and removing old lath and plaster from the inside of the house. With the ﬁnancial assistance of member, the late Joseph Judd, we ﬁnally purchased the Cooperstown Junction property on February 6, 1987. Even before we actually owned the Junction property, we were interested in acquiring a mile or two of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad to offer train rides as part of the museum. Our ﬁrst piece of rolling stock, D&H Railway Post Ofﬁce Car #703, had even been purchased by member Bruce Hodges on October 24, 1984. We had several meetings to discuss leasing or buying tracks in and north of the Junction. At the time, Delaware Otsego Corporation, owner of the CACV, was not interested in a lease, and would only sell the entire Railroad, not just a portion. The asking price of $500,000 was far beyond our fund raising capabilities, which in the 1980’s involved rafﬂes, bake LRHS President Bruce Hodges receives deed for the Society’s Cooperstown Junction Museum Site from Gordon Peaslee of the NYS Department of Transportation on February 6, 1987. Photo by member M.A. Bettiol110

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sales and small train shows. We even started selling souvenir stock certiﬁcates in April, 1985, to raise funds, but after initially strong sales, that funding source too ﬁzzled out. In July, 1988, a 20-page formal museum proposal was printed up to promote our efforts to build a museum and acquire the CACV. That summer, LRHS President Bruce Hodges met with Cooperstown resident, the late Louis Busch Hager, Sr. (a member of the Anheuser-Busch family), who had expressed interest in the project, having owned the Woodland Museum and Train Ride on the west shore of Otsego Lake just north of Cooperstown, and having been a major ﬁnancial supporter of Delaware Otsego’s original attempts to operate the CACV as a tourist railroad. After reviewing our formal museum proposal, Mr. Hager stated he deﬁnitely wanted to be a part of the project. Mr. Hager’s tremendous ﬁnancial stature in the Cooperstown community gave the project legitimacy, and he even paid for a consulting company named Centennial Rail Limited to perform a preliminary feasibility study, which gave the project high marks. In September, 1988, a meeting was held with Delaware Otsego CEO Walter Rich, LRHS President Bruce Hodges, and Louis Hager, Sr. to discuss leasing the CACV. By December, 1988, a rough draft of a lease was prepared by Delaware Otsego. Unfortunately, Louis Hager, Sr., who had been so instrumental in opening doors to get the project moving forward, passed away from cancer on December 16, 1988, having been diagnosed just 6 months previously, leaving the project with no major benefactor, and putting everything on hold for years to come. In April, 1991, the formal museum proposal was reprinted and by November of 1991 over 100 copies had been mailed out to perspective interested parties and foundations, to no avail. In August, 1991, the organization launched a $300,000 fund raising campaign, with very little success. On November 4, 1991, the organization’s ofﬁces were moved from 140 Main Street in Oneonta to D&H Caboose #35794, which had been placed on a panel track on our property in Cooperstown Junction, giving us a full time physical presence on the property for the ﬁrst time. In May, 1992 we hired a professional fund raising consultant to handle our $300,000 fund drive, which unfortunately saw virtually no results. In 1991, Congress enacted the Intermodal Surface Transportation Enhancement Act (ISTEA). This grant program was created to fund freight and passenger operations, including tourist railroads, nationwide, to be administered by each state’s department of transportation. The program had three requirements that proved to be very problematic for our organization. The ﬁrst was that not-for-proﬁt organizations needed a governmental agency willing to sponsor their project. Otsego County and villages along the line were totally uninterested in being sponsors, although the Otsego County Planning Ofﬁce, under the auspices of Director Terry Bliss, were supportive of our efforts. Luckily, after being turned down by every other local government agency, the Otsego County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), under the leadership of Jim Bazan, stepped up and agreed to be our sponsor. An important decision was made at this time. Initially, the IDA wanted to take ownership of the Railroad in exchange for their participation in the project, with Leatherstocking Railway the designated operator. LRHS President Bruce Hodges vehemently opposed this concept, concerned that the County could, down the road, replace Leatherstocking Railway as the operator of the CACV. The IDA dropped this requirement, and the CACV would be owned completely by Leatherstocking Railway. The ISTEA Program’s second requirement was that applicants had to provide a 20% match, which in our case was a major issue. To even purchase the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad would require a $100,000 match, completely out of our funding raising abilities. After being turned down by two local banks, an outside funding source who chose to remain anonymous was secured to ﬁnance the $140,000 match needed for the $700,000 in funding we were requesting. The third requirement involved the fact that the ISTEA Program was a reimbursement program, meaning the funds had to be expended before the State would reimburse the organization. This would require a signiﬁcant amount of cash on hand (which we didn’t have) or a signiﬁcant funding source. Having this funding in place was not a prerequisite to applying for the grant, and as such no provision were made in advance, the thought being that once the grant was approved this funding would be easier to acquire. On December 28, 1993, LRHS President Bruce Hodges and Jim Loudon met with Delaware Otsego CEO Walter Rich once again. At that meeting Mr. Rich formally offered the CACV for sale to Leatherstocking Railway for $500,000. He also stated that his company was in the process of formally abandoning the line, and that there was a ﬁnite time to ﬁnalize a purchase before the rail would be removed. We were not prepared to apply for the ﬁrst round of funding, but the deadline for applications for the second round of funding in New York State for the ISTEA Program was June 6, 1994. After four months and countless hours of work on the application and its required components by LRHS President Hodges and LRHS Founder Jim Loudon, it was hand delivered to NYSDOT Region 9 Ofﬁces in Binghamton, NY. President Hodges literally drove about 90 miles per hour down Interstate 88 to Binghamton to hand deliver the application and supporting documentation, using his 110 111

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and we are still saddled with several of these loans, which are now our greatest single source of debt. Our big break ﬁnally occurred on Friday, June 2, 1995, when we were notiﬁed by Senator Seward’s ofﬁce that he, working with NYS Assemblyman Bill Magee, had arranged to have a $225,000 line item attached to the New York State Budget for our project. This was by far the biggest break we had ever received towards acquiring the CACV. The news prompted Delaware Otsego Corporation to start drawing up the purchase agreement, and our efforts were even touted by CEO Walter Rich at the company’s annual stockholders meeting held June 3, 1995. We were even allowed to set up a table at that stockholders’ meeting, held at the Cooperstown High School, and 126 informational packages about our project were given out. It was determined that the $225,000 could and would be used as the required 20% match for the next round of ISTEA Funding, allowing us to request $900,000. The total $1,125.000 package would allow us to purchase the CACV for $500,000, and spend $625,000 in track renovations on the northern end of the line. On July 13, 1995 we met with NYS Department of Transportation representatives in Albany to discuss our rejected ISTEA proposal and get ideas on how to improve on our next application. The State noted that we had given them insufﬁcient documentation to approve our ﬁrst funding request, stating we could not submit too much information. On August 18, 1995, Northwest Engineering visited to CACV to inspect our three largest bridges for any defects, funding for which would need to be included in our ISTEA Grant. Aside from required bridge timber replacement on all three thru-truss bridges, the structures were found to be in good shape. The company returned during the week of mother’s car (the late Millie Hodges), after his car wouldn’t start, arriving slightly later than the 5:00pm deadline, but nonetheless accepted by the State. It was a well researched, well documented application, and we thought we had an excellent chance at success. Unfortunately, our project was not chosen for funding. As a result, we lost the $140,000, 20% private matching funds needed for future attempts at funding, and the fate of the CACV hung in the balance, as it was unknown whether Delaware Otsego would start dismantling it or wait longer for us to secure the $500,000 purchase price. The fact that our project was rejected was bad enough, but looking at the projects that were accepted made the decision even more bewildering and disappointing. Initially, State ofﬁcials were unwilling to meet to discuss why our project wasn’t chosen, so our State Senator, James L. Seward, interceded and a meeting was held at his Albany ofﬁces on March 7, 1995, with the Senator, LRHS President Bruce Hodges, LRHS Founder Jim Loudon, and State ofﬁcials. Ofﬁcials stated they were “unclear” what we were trying to accomplish with the funding, even though acquiring and operating the CACV Railroad as a tourist railroad operation was clearly spelled out in our application. When asked at that meeting how the Shaker Barn Preservation Project, which had nothing to do with transportation in New York State, had received $159,500, the answer was that it was funded because it was at the intersection of two county roads and was located next to the Albany Airport, so it was all part of the transportation “thing” going on in Albany County. President Hodges questioned whether that type of rationale was even in keeping with the original intent of the Federal legislation. The State did agree to relook at our application and make recommendations, something they routinely do now, but was unheard of back in 1995. Undeterred by the loss of the ISTEA Grant, in April, 1995, we purchased the Milford Depot. This purchase was made possible by ﬁnancing provided by the seller, and it included the Milford Engine House, which was built by Delaware Otsego Corporation, who ultimately determined it belonged to Leatherstocking Railway as the new property owners. After clearing out equipment they had stored in the building, we ofﬁcially took possession of the Milford Engine House on July 5, 1995. On April 18, 1995, the New York State Department of Historic Preservation toured the CACV with LRHS President Bruce Hodges and Founder Jim Loudon, and they determined it was eligible for listing on the historic register, stating, “based on the information provided by the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad Corporation and the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society, the 16-mile long Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad satisﬁes Criteria C for its signiﬁcance as an intact and representative example of a late nineteenth and early twentieth century short line railroad.” The reason for seeking out this determination was to open possible new funding sources, but ultimately it was decided not to pursue the designation due to the layers of regulations which would have been involved in changing any of the Railroad’s facilities, including the track structure itself. In May, 1995, we launched our Leatherstocking Loan Program to raise money for our proposed museum and train operations. While this program became our most successful fund raiser to date, and although many of our members who participated ended up donating their loans and interest back to the organization, to this day we still bear the burden of this debt which has grown astronomically over the years due to our inability to make even interest payments for more than ﬁfteen years, 112

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October 16, 1995, to inspect the entire Railroad, including the smaller bridges, to give us a professional estimate on the work needed to reopen the Railroad for our latest ISTEA Grant application. Their report became part of the grant application. They found the track south of Milford to be in better shape than north of Milford, due primarily to the fact that Delaware Otsego Corporation had put most of their resources on the line south of Milford where the bulk of their freight trafﬁc ran. Their inspections showed an estimated $600,000 in repairs needed to start operations north of Milford. We replaced our ﬁrst tie on the CACV on Saturday, October 7, 1995, when we replaced a bad switch timber next to the Milford Depot. It would be the ﬁrst of thousands to come! Negotiations proceeded throughout the summer and fall of 1995 with Delaware Otsego Corporation on the purchase of the CACV. Two contingency plans were drafted. One would have us buy the entire line if our second ISTEA Grant application was successful. The other would have us use the $225,000 in the New York State budget to buy half the line, and we would lease the other half. The contracts for sale were signed by LRHS President Bruce Hodges in December, 1995, ﬁnally putting to an end the fears of the CACV Railroad being scrapped. After postponing the due date several times, the State decided the deadline for the third and ﬁnal round of ISTEA applications would be December 11, 1995, with winning projects scheduled to be announced on April 1, 1996. Our second application was worked on by President Hodges, Jim Loudon, and a ﬁve hour marathon meeting of the LRHS Board of Directors. While our ﬁrst application was about a quarter of an inch thick, this second attempt was about an inch and a half thick, with maps, petitions with 2,000 signatures of support, letters of support from dozens of politicians and businesses, engineering reports from Northwest Engineering, and photos taken along the entire length of the Railroad. Ironically, at a seminar for a later grant cycle, the State held up this application as an example of providing too much information. It was delivered to the NYSDOT in Binghamton on December 7, 1995, four days before the deadline. Once again the Otsego County Industrial Development Agency served as our sponsor. On January 19, 1996, the Cooperstown Junction Museum site was ﬂooded, causing little damage, but highlighting the need to build up the grade of the property. The basement of the house on the site was also ﬂooded. Finally, on May 23, 1996, a press release from then NYS Governor George Pataki’s ofﬁce announced the successful applications for the latest round of ISTEA Funding, which included the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society and the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad. NYS Senator Jim Seward was instrumental in pushing for this funding to be approved. After more than a decade of frustrating efforts to acquire the CACV, we ﬁnally had the ﬁnancial resources to do so. It would be more than a year before the actual purchase could take place due to the complex process of completing the contractual agreements for the funding with the State. The announcement of having a successful ISTEA Grant application was followed the next month on June 8, 1996, with the Grand Opening of the beautifully restored Milford Depot, culminating many months of work restoring the structure to its former glory. Speeches were made, a ribbon cutting was held, and the Milford Depot was opened to the public for the ﬁrst time in over 60 years. The Milford facilities continued to grow on September 13, 1996, when the organization purchased the Milford Auction Barn property, adjacent to the Milford Depot. In addition to the large barn itself, the property consisted of 12 acres, giving more room for parking and equipment storage. On September 19, 1996, a second railroad came to Milford, when the 18” gauge Lindee Park Railway, later LRHS President Bruce Hodges presents NYS&W President Walter Rich with a $500,000 check for the purchase of the CACV on September 15, 1997. Photo LRHS Archives112 113

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renamed the Milford Park Railway, came to the property. This train, with numerous accessories, was built over 30 years by Otego, NY resident, the late Donnell Sullivan. Mr. Sullivan passed away in March, 1991, and his train was purchased at auction by the late Gene Bettiol, who in turn donated it to us. Month after month went by as the ISTEA contracts were drawn up by the State, and reviewed by both Industrial Development Agency and Leatherstocking Railway representatives. A sticking point in negotiations for acquisition of the Railroad resulted from the fact that easements, for telephone and electrical utility cables running along or crossing the Railroad, were not included in the original purchase price, with Delaware Otsego Corporation wanting to retain them and their annual revenue. This jeopardized our tax exempt status on the Railroad, and Delaware Otsego refused to limit the possibility of future easements on the property. Discussions on these easements dragged negotiations into the ﬁrst quarter of 1997. Finally, on May 14, 1997 an agreement was reached to purchase the easements from Delaware Otsego for an additional $150,000, and a rider on the existing contract of sale was signed on that day. The terms of the rider gave Leatherstocking Railway until October, 1998, to exercise their option to purchase the easements. Because the ISTEA Grant was a reimbursement program, we closed on the Railroad in escrow. We then had to ﬁle a Form 421 with the New York State Department of Transportation for reimbursement. The entire process had to wait for the NYSDOT Region 9 Regional Director in Binghamton to sign the Project Design Memo. A Master Superseding Implementation Agreement was signed on May 2, 1997, between Leatherstocking Railway, the County of Otsego Industrial Development From left to right, IDA Director Jim Bazan, Senator James Seward, County Rep Deane Winsor, Walter Rich, Bruce Hodges, LRHS Attorney Martin Winsor, and NYS&W Attorney Nathan Fenno talk to members of the press before the presentation of the check. Photo LRHS ArchivesBangor & Aroostook Snowplow sits in different looking Milford Yard in photo taken July 13, 1997. Photo by member Jim Gale114

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Agency, and the NYS Department of Transportation, which resolved all remaining concerns the State had with the transaction. Finally, on July 1, 1997, the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society ofﬁcially became the third owner of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad, culminating almost a decade and a half of efforts to acquire the line. The actual transfer of funds took place two months later, when on September 5, 1997, we received a check for $500,000 from the NYSDOT. On September 15, 1997, a press conference was held with the representatives of all the parties involved behind the Milford Depot, and LRHS President Bruce Hodges presented a check to Delaware Otsego Corporation CEO Walter Rich, completing a ﬁnancial process which had begun four years prior. After the press conference, many of those attending were treated to a track car ride north of Milford. Senator Seward stated the track car ride made it the most interesting press conference he had attended in years. We were also notiﬁed in July, 1997, that NYS Senator James L. Seward had come through for us again with another grant for $150,000 under the NYSDOT’s new Multi-Modal Program. These ﬁnds were designated to be used for acquiring locomotives and passenger cars for the project. On July 5, 1997 the ﬁrst piece of rail equipment moved on the CACV under Leatherstocking ownership was the Bangor & Aroostook Snowplow, which was moved by bucket loader across the Milford Crossing to the area by the Milford Enginehouse. In the Fall of 1997, CP Rail removed the frog from our interchange switch with their railroad in Cooperstown Junction, thus blocking equipment from being delivered by rail to the CACV. Thanks to the efforts of State Senator Jim Seward, that switch was placed back in service in February, 1998. Member Bill Markowski (2nd from right)) and others clear brush south of Milford. Photo by member Jim Gale taken August 9, 1997A typical scene along Railroad showing extent of foliage which had overtaken the line before we acquired it. Members, the late John Clapp (left) and the late Tom Eklund (right) come up against a “wall of green” where work left off the previous weekend. Photo LRHS ArchivesThe washout just south of the Cooperstown Dreams Park which had to be repaired by the outside contractor ﬁrst during the CACV’s 1999 rehabilitations. The damage was caused by beavers completely plugging up a culvert. Photo by member Jim Loudon, April, 1998114 115

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The remainder of 1997 saw extensive work to clear the line of vegetation, which had grown considerably over its years of disuse. This work got into high gear on Saturday, August 9, 1997, when a large crew of volunteers started work on the line, which included the use of a Mercury Tracer converted to hi-rail use by member Tex Gorden. This work was completed on Sunday, October 26, 1997, when a hole was ﬁnally punched through the Railroad to Cooperstown Junction, so that our engineering ﬁrm, Clough-Harbour, could inspect the line. Clearing the track north of Milford was completed the previous day, having had to be done in two sections due to a large washout just south of what is now the Cooperstown Dreams Park. The engineering ﬁrm, who’s responsibility it was to create the speciﬁcations for bids for the rehabilitation of the line, was charging more than the customary amount for such work to be completed, so several weeks of negotiations went by as the State negotiated a lower fee of $54,000, nearly half the original quote. Early snowstorms prevented the engineering ﬁrm from getting out on the line until mid-January, 1998. Unfortunately, winter weather set in once again and prevented ﬁnal inspections to be completed until April 20, 1998. The ﬁnal bridge inspections, which required divers to inspect the Hartwick Seminary Bridge abutments, were completed in May, 1998. In June, 1998, severe storms with at least two tornadoes hit the area knocking down numerous trees on the line. It took until August, 1998 to completely reopen the line, again, after it had been reopened the previous year. While we had hoped to start train operations in 1998, Clough-Harbour did not complete the ﬁnal design plans to put the track rehabilitation work out to bid until August, 1998. A mandatory pre-bid meeting for interested contractors was held on Thursday, August 6, 1998 at 10:00AM. Unfortunately, due to miscommunications between the engineering ﬁrm and the NYSDOT, a second pre-bid meeting was required and was scheduled for Tuesday, November 24, 1998. In December, 1998, Tartaglia Railroad Services of Syracuse, NY, was chosen as the successful bidder to rehabilitate the 8-miles of track from Milford to Cooperstown. While we were able to close on the purchase of the Railroad in escrow, we didn’t have that luxury when it came to rehabilitating the line. A line of credit was required to pay bills, then get reimbursed by the State. We tried securing this line of credit from banking institutions in Oneonta, with whom we had done business since 1982. None of those banks would help, stating it was “too risky”, even though our acquisition of the grant money had been well publicized. A new bank in the area, Central National Bank (now owned by NBT Bank), of Canajoharie, with an ofﬁce in Hartwick Seminary, expressed an interest in November, 1997. Negotiations for this ﬁnancing would eventually take almost a year to complete, with a $775,000 line of credit agreement being signed on September 10, 1998. Work on the Railroad by Tartaglia started in April, 1999, with repairing a large washout caused by beavers plugging up a stone-box culvert south of what is now the Cooperstown Dreams Park, being the ﬁrst order of business. Tie replacement and other repairs, including a complete new deck on the Hartwick Seminary Bridge, followed. In May, 1999, a 32-car ballast train arrived on the CACV using CP ballast cars, and 3,200 tons of ballast was distributed along the Railroad. Power was leased from the Green Mountain Railroad, and member M.A. Bettiol operated this ﬁrst actual train on the CACV under Leatherstocking ownership. Finally, on June 6, 1999, the newest incarnation of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad opened for passenger service between Milford and Cooperstown, NY. Three former Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad coaches pulled by a former Ontario & Western Railroad NW-2, leased from the NYS&W Railroad, was NYS Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Boardman addresses attendees at the CACV’s Grand Opening and 130th Anniversary Celebration Ceremony on July 10, 1999. Photo by member Jim Gale116

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the original train consist. We would have to lease power from the Vermont Railway before the Railroad ﬁnally purchased its own motive power, two Montreal built Alco S-4 locomotives, acquired from a steel mill in Welland, Ontario, originally built for and operated by the Canadian National Railway. On July 10, 1999, a Grand Opening Celebration was held in Milford, also commemorating the 130th Anniversary of the original opening of the Railroad. Among the speakers at the event were LRHS President Bruce Hodges, LRHS Founder Jim Loudon, New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joseph Boardman, NYS Senator James l. Seward, NYS Assemblyman Clifford Crouch, NYS&W President Walter Rich, National Railway Historical Society President Gregory Molloy, and former Delaware Otsego Corporation Chairman and County Rep Deane Winsor. A special train followed the speeches carrying dignitaries and members of the press. A Brooks Chicken Barbecue awaited passengers when the train returned to Milford. On Sunday, August 22, 1999, a run-around track in Cooperstown was placed into service, constructed by Tartaglia Rail Services. This allowed locomotives to move from the north to south end of trains for the return trip to Milford. This $53,000 project was not covered by any grants, and the organization would spend almost two decades paying off this debt. The ISTEA Grant Program was replaced by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) Grant Program in June, 1998. While we tried to access more funds for the CACV under this program, we were not successful. Luckily, more funds were secured, thanks to NYS Senator Jim Seward, under the Multi-Modal Program, and in more recent years, the Passenger & Freight Rail Assistance Program (PFRAP). These funds allowed us to purchase equipment, and to continue maintenance on the Railroad that just couldn’t be covered by ticket sales alone. The schedule for our ﬁrst year of operations was grossly optimistic, with ﬁve trains a day operating six days a week between Milford and Cooperstown, and over the years the schedule was reﬁned down to better suit the actual demand. Numerous “special event” trains were tested, reﬁned or rejected, based on ridership numbers. Special events like our Christmas Trains were expanded to meet demand, and preparation for these types of trains increased as we continued to try to “up our game” for our passengers. While we never even remotely approached the ridership ﬁgures we had anticipated when we ﬁrst envisioned the reopening of the CACV, we kept plugging along. It took almost 15 years until we started To further illustrate the tremendous physical effort that went into reopening the CACV, members Larry and Marilyn Nienart work to clear brush south of Milford.Photo by member Jim Gale, in the summer of 1997Member, the late John Clapp, is seen clearing brush just north of County Route 11C, The Phoenix Mills bridge can barely be seen behind him, as he chainsaws his way north towards Cooperstown. Members like John, Larry and Marilyn put in a herculean effort to open the CACV back up with chainsaws and hand tools.Photo by member Jim Gale on September 27, 1997.116 117

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turning a proﬁt, which severely limited our ability to expand railroad operations south of Milford, and to enhance the existing operations. But we persevered, and continued operating and working on the Railroad, against all the odds, as the founders and previous owners of the CACV had done. We have survived low ridership, severe ﬁnancial constraints, ﬂoods in 2006 and 2011, partial washouts, beavers, constant track maintenance, a lack of volunteers, a pandemic… a host of issues that would have stopped a less determined group in their tracks years ago. On Saturday, July 13, 2019 the Railroad celebrated its 150th Anniversary. An operating 0-4-0 steam locomotive was brought in to mark this major milestone in the CACV’s history, the ﬁrst time an operating steam locomotive had been on the property in over 30 years. And in a nod to the 150th Celebration of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad held two months prior at Promontory Summit, Utah, a “golden spike” ceremony was held after speeches commemorating the Railroad’s continued operations, with NYS Senator James Seward and LRHS Founder Jim Loudon doing the honors in recognition of their tremendous contributions to the preservation of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad. Even with the tremendous extra expenses of our Sesquicentennial Celebration in 2019, we had our most ﬁnancially successful operating season to date. And then 2020 hit, and while the COVID-19 Pandemic halted operations in 2020 and 2021, we have continued work on the Railroad and its equipment. After 20 years of train operations the break was a bit of a relief, although that relief soon turned into a longing to do what we have done for more than two decades - run passenger trains. In May, 2021, Rail Explorers USA starting operating rail bikes on the CACV, opening up a whole new avenue for people to enjoy the Railroad and the beautiful scenery it traverses. As I conclude this 21 part series on the history of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad, I want to thank several people. First and foremost, Jim Loudon, our founder and the reason we are all together. If Jim hadn’t created the organization in 1982, the CACV would be nothing but a memory today. Jim spent countless hours working on promotions and grant applications with me which eventually allowed us to purchase the CACV. Jim also did a lot of the early history research, as well as organizing early newsletters which were instrumental in documenting the Railroad’s history under our ownership. Next I would like to thank Russell Grills, who’s research as a graduate student back in the 1960’s created a thesis that documented a tremendous amount of early CACV history. I want to thank retired New York State Senator James L. Seward, for without his unwavering support on our behalf in Albany, we would never have come up with the funding to get us to where we are today. Member Richard Anderson, for allowing the use of his collection of CACV photos from the 1970’s - 1990’s. Member Jeff Hagan, for the use of his late father, Al Kallfelz’s, collection of Delaware Otsego passenger operations in the early 1970’s. And ﬁnally, I’d like to thank all our members, past, present and future, who in their own numerous ways, have and will continue to make contributions to the preservation of the Cooperstown & Charlotte Valley Railroad. It’s been a long and colorful 150 year history, with lots of ups and downs, but we can all take great pride in the fact that our efforts have saved this piece of local railroad history for generations to come.Back in business again! Members Robert & Jane Caffee, with Robert’s brother Brian (left), stand in front of the Milford Depot after enjoying their Caboose Charter on May 15, 2021. Conductor for the day, Jim Loudon, can be seen in the background. Several Caboose Charters and Guest Engineers have been operated since we resumed those services for 2021 on May 1st.Photo by member Marie Iannotti118

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Milford Track Fireside TourMilford Track tour on a round trip to the Riverside Turnaround warmed by campres. Bring your own marshmallows (or purchase at check-in) to enjoy twilight along the Susquehanna River. This tour may return in the dark, riders will have lighting on their rail-bikes for safety.The Milford Track is a 12 mile round trip from Milford to the River-side Turnaround picnic area and back. Tour duration: 2 hours.Charlotte Valley ExpressOur 8 mile Southern round trip meanders alongside the Susquehan-na River, past elds and lakes and over the majestic 200 foot long Portlandville Trestle. A shorter ride than the "Milford Track" tour and heads south towards Portlandville.Bring a light refreshment to enjoy at the 20 minute break at the For-est Glen Turnaround picnic area.Tour duration: 1.5 hours.The Milford TrackSpectacular 12 mile round trip that journeys north through the farm lands and forests alongside of the Susquehanna River. You'll glide past working farms, magnicent woodlands and rumble across historic trestle bridges.Bring a light refreshment to enjoy at the 20 minute break at the the Riverside Turnaround picnic area.Tour duration: 2 hours.The Rail Explorers are tted with the ‘REX Propulsion System’ - custom built electricmotors that make the trip journey truly effortless.

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Mary’s Glen is one of those many picturesque locations in the North Lake vicinity. It’s just what it sounds like; it is a forested lowland lying far below the top of North Mountain and just north of North Lake. See the map (ﬁg. 1). You can park at the small lot along North Lake Road and hike up the Red Trail all the way to the top of North Mountain. From up there you can view one of the best panoramas in all the Catskills (ﬁg. 2). You would guess that there is a geologic story here and you would be right. That’s our subject in this column.But the North Mountain view is not the only good scenery along the way. There is also one of those many little waterfalls that are so common in the Catskills: This one is named Ashley Falls (ﬁg. 3). It’s nice but we really did not pay much attention to it until we clambered up to the ledge that makes up its top. There we saw something that we see a lot of in the Catskills: some glacial striations (ﬁg. 4). Those are straight-line scratches left in the bedrock by a passing ice age glaciers. The moving ice picked up a lot of sand and dragged it across the bedrock surface. That polished the rock, giving it a sheen when wet. The ice also picked up anddragged along many cobbles and boulders. They gouged the bedrock as they passed across it and that typically left behind many scratches, properly called glacial striations (ﬁg. 4).We have long been most fond of striations and have even based some of our Kaatskill Life articles on the stories they tell. And that is the case here; we found something surprising at Ashley Falls; the striations went in two directions (ﬁg. 4). One set of themwas oriented to the southwest (see the pen in the photo), the other to the southeast (see the small twig). How could that be; don’t glaciers travel in a single direction? Well, we are experienced with Catskill glaciers, and we recognized immediately that this was evidence of two glaciers and, in fact, two chapters of glaciation. We had known there was a story here, but now it was getting very interesting. Glacial geology can be like that.Fig. 2: View from top of NorthPoint.120 121

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One of those glaciations had to have come ﬁrst and the other must have come later. How do you tell? The answer is that the second and youngest advance of the ice appears to have been the southeast set. These striations had a fresher look to them. The older southwest set had nearly been worn down by the younger one. That’s typical with ice age geology. Younger glaciations do their best to erase evidence of older glaciations.We had the sequence nailed down but there must have been more to the story, perhaps a lot more. We looked at our map for clues. We saw that the older southwest set could be traced back to a small canyon up at the Catskill Front. That location is sometimes called Bad Man’s Cave (ﬁg. 5). We had studied it a long ago and we knew that it took us back about 14,000 years to a time when the Hudson Valley had been ﬁlled with glacial ice. Atongue of ice had once poured out of the Hudson Valley glacier and advanced down this canyon. Let’s call it the Bad Man’s glacier. When it got to what is now Ashley Falls, it left those striations. The climate soon warmed up and that ice melted away.But, what about that other glacier; when did it form? What was its history? We had a lot of knowledge about this one that we had already worked out. This was an individual Alpine glacier that had descended from North Point in the absolute ﬁnal stages of the Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago. This was a time when the Catskills resembled today’s Alps. Our mountain’s lower and middle elevations were too warm for glaciers. But the highest peaks were still cold and Alpine glaciers formed up there and their ice descended Fig. 5: View of North Point from shore of North Lake.124

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those slopes. It left a steep rounded slope behind (ﬁgs.1& 6). Below that wereMary’s Glen and Ashley Falls.So, let’s call this one the Mary’s Glen glacier. See our second map (ﬁg. 5) and ﬁgure 6.We stood atop Ashley Falls and saw it anew. We looked to the northeast and saw a glacier advancing toward us. Then we turned and looked to the northwest and saw another. They each reached where we stood, but at different moments in time. We were standing at an ice age crossroads. It was a marvelous experience.And now we climbed down and looked at the falls from the side (ﬁg. 7). Suddenly we could see something new. That wall of rock has a smooth ﬂat, vertical surface. It is a special type of rock fracture called a joint. We saw that the Mary’s Glen glacial had dragged across it and yanked a lot of rock off of the joint and out of the ground and then dragged it off. Thet left a small vertical cliff behind. And that cliff became the falls as soon as water began ﬂowing here. We had actually now discovered the origins of Ashley Falls. We also had ﬁgured out just about how old the falls were, perhaps about 12,000 years.That’s not commonly done.Contact the authors at randjtitus@prodigy.net Join their facebook page “The Catskill Geologist.” Read their blogs at “thecatskillgeologist.com.”Fig. 7: Ashley Falls viewed from side.126

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Mountains & Their TreesKaatskillTreesSugar maple, eastern hemlock, red oak, and apple. I’ll get back to them. The Adirondacks are higher and some of their summits reach above tree line, the highest in the state. These mountains also boast beautiful lakes that lend well to the idyllic Adirondack canoe or lakeside Adirondack chair. The lofty Rocky Mountains resemble a painting; One need not climb a tree-less summit to gain a view. Instead, these mountains reach out at one from a car window. Their rugged topography is what most probably think about when mountains are dreamed of. The Great Smoky Mountains are the “crown jewel” of the eastern Appalachian Mountains, of which the Catskills are a part of. Elevations reach their highest point in this part of the mountain chain and diversity of trees is immense. They also claim one of America’s most famous outdoorsman Davy Crockett as well as a National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. While the Adirondacks have higher peaks and many lakes, it is at the expense of trees that prefer well-drained soil and more fertile land; Sugar maple are present, but better soils are located outside the area. Hemlock does grow there abundantly in places. Oak seems to be constricted to its fringes and along the Hudson River where more human disturbances occurred. Apples are mainly lacking due to by Ryan Trapani, Director of Forest Serviceslimited agriculture in the past and perhaps poor soils and limited growing seasons. Black spruce and black ash are two trees the Adirondacks have abundantly that the Catskills does not; They can tolerate these wetter sites far more. The higher elevations are home to many boreal species like balsam ﬁ r, mountain paper birch, mountain ash, balsam poplar, red and white spruce. Where the Rocky Mountains gain in rocky prominence, they fall short on trees. The easily gained view is at the expense of trees thirsty for adequate rainfall. They do have Ponderosa pine, Douglas ﬁ r, and Colorado blue spruce all trees that can tolerate drier weather but hemlock, maple, oak, and apple are scarce in this elevated desert. The Rockies are home to one shrubby little guy called the gambel oak. The southern Appalachians include both northern hardwoods (maple, beech, birch, hemlock), and central hardwoods (oak, hickory, tulip poplar, chestnut, etc.).They even have boreal species at their upper limits that resemble what you might ﬁ nd in the Adirondacks or topping out on some Catskill high peak. Hemlock and oak are happy in these hills (barring the woolly adelgid), but apple and sugar maple seem to prefer our cooler northern weather. Sugar maple remains tight-lipped about its sweet secret down in these southern parts.The Catskills may not have Davy Crockett, but we do have Naturalist John Burroughs who celebrated its “wild” portions or where “the works of man dwindle” as well as those donning the cow, honeybee, and bird outside his window. The Catskills are not as extroverted as the above-mentioned ranges. Instead, our mountain’s jagged edges have been buffed and rounded off by time and dense forests, interspersed with land once farmed commercially. Forests are quiet, introverted places, and their trunks make for good “Adirondack Chairs” anywhere. The hills are about trees and streams, but mostly trees for me, and the right combination thereof. Few of our mountains offer views without deliberate clearing of them. Its geology too lends itself to well-drained soils, good for a variety of long-lived hardwoods like sugar maple, red oak, and apple. Hemlock can tolerate moister soils, but it too doesn’t like its feet too damp either.In other words, I think it’s ﬁ tting to summarize these mountains by these four trees. They mean a lot to me and have inﬂ uenced much of my time and activities throughout the “seasons” of the forest. Some other mountains or areas may have one, two, or three of these species, but few have all four, or in such abundance and health, growing in proximity to each other. Some like to trade baseball cards or talk about their favorite quarterback; It’s all good and fun. I like to compare trees.127

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Hemlock Bark & BrookieFirst is hemlock. It is neck and neck with sugar maple if I had to choose a tree to be the ofﬁcial one for these mountains. I choose it because of its fame. It used to be more abundant before the tanning industry. It is most patient and efﬁcient at using limited sunshine. In other words, its deal is waiting for overhead trees to die and gain access to sunlight. It can wait 50 or 100 years. Imagine solar panels as efﬁcient as a hemlock needle? The lack of disturbance from humans in the Catskills perhaps in part made this tree so successful in the ﬁrst place. If the forest is left alone, it feeds right into hemlock’s dainty little needles, and cones. It also grows in large abundant stands making it easy to harvest in one place, for say bark-peelers or as a deer wintering yard to avoid heavy snowfall. The use of its bark for tanning cowhides in the early 19th century literally created many of our mountain hamlets today: Hunter, Tannersville, Prattsville, Samsonville, Cochecton, Debruce, Claryville, to name a few. After tanning blazed the way, agriculture, bluestone quarrying, acid wood, etc. used these narrow bark roads and “improved” the landscape to feed a hungry population.One more thing about hemlock’s claim to fame is its relationship to brook trout. When I think of trout ﬁshing, I think of cold streams and hemlock-rimmed stream banks. The Catskills are the birthplace of American ﬂy-ﬁshing, and we owe it in part to its geology. We also owe it to hemlock for keeping its waters nice and cold for oxygen-dependent brookies. I love seeing a healthy tea-colored stream full of little brookies darting beneath roots, rocks, and rifts, owing its color to water ﬁltering through miles of tannic hemlock needles. That stream is surely “troutable.”It is sad to see hemlock falling to exotic pests today like the hemlock woolly adelgid and elongate hemlock scale. Each year from about Memorial Day to August I peel the bark from these dying trees and use them to tan deer hides. It makes a beautiful reddish leather like those tea-colored streams, and something I ﬁnd to be as important to our Catskill heritage as the next tree.There is something special about a stand of hemlock, especially an “old growth” one like this found deep in the heart of Slide Mt. Wilderness area. These trees never saw the axe from the hemlock tanning industry. Hemlocks represent the Catskill’s oldest trees. They also help to shade nearby trout streams and keep them cool and oxygenated for native brook trout.128

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The Stately Maple Sugar maple may be the ofﬁcial tree of New York State, but it is most at home in these mountains. Did you know that New York State has the most potential maple taps in the world? Even more speciﬁcally, Delaware County smack dab in the heart of these hills has the most in New York State. The Catskills are just perfect for this tree. We have well-drained soils that are calcium rich. The lack of disturbance may not be good for the next mentioned tree but is good for this shade-tolerant perennial hardwood. The less humans cut or burn, the more maple seems to do well due to its shade-tolerant nature. Even more amazing is that it grows in thick stands making it easy for sap gatherers wishing to make maple syrup. Imagine if it grew as sporadically as basswood? That would be some pain. Here is a truly American sugar that Thomas Jefferson once praised should be used to replace the “slavery sugar” from the Caribbean.“Make your own sugar, and send not to the Indies for it. Feast not on the toil, pain, and misery of the wretched,” a Farmer’s Almanac of 1803 said.Adding to this tree’s fame is its autumnal golden foliage. In a good year, it really lights up the landscape. Its wood is beautiful and is used to make some of the best-looking and longest-lasting ﬂooring. Apparently the best baseball bats are made from maple if made correctly, according to Leatherstocking Hand-Split Billet Company located in the Catskills near Oneonta who supplies Major League Baseball.The bright yellow or gold of maple’s fall foliage is impressive and representative of the northeast forest’s beauty. Sugar maple is New York State’s ofﬁcial state tree. It is also lives up to its name by producing sugary sap that can be made into maple syrup. This tree is most at home in the Catskills; the heart of its range129

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Trees from Human InuenceThe remaining two trees are somewhat more dependent upon humans. They don’t necessary like being near hemlock and maple since the former can “swallow them up” or outcompete them for sunlight. Instead, they thrive after some sort of human disturbance: Cutting, farm abandonment, ﬁre, etc. The Catskills being mountains may have less historical human disturbance at their higher elevations and interior locations but nonetheless were disturbed, far more than perhaps the colder or less habitable Adirondacks. At ﬁrst glance, this might seem great for forests, but not necessarily for all trees. The land was mostly cleared up to around 2,500 fee according to Catskill Forest Historian Dr. Michael Kudish. “Clearing” or cutting so that trees don’t grow back was mostly from agriculture. Many believe this to be a bad area to farm and perhaps that is truer for growing crops. However, for grazing animals it offers abundant spring water and grass, once cleared. In addition, it is debatable how much of it was inﬂuenced by Native Americans. These people may not have cleared the slopes, but the larger river-bottoms contain deep, rich soil (i.e. Margaretville) where anything could be grown. Instead of clearing the adjacent ridges, they may have been burned instead. Ridges are “safer” to burn since they normally burn uphill. Burning improves conditions for fruit and nut-bearing trees and shrubs and better habitat for deer, among others. Clearing for agriculture by settlers and prior burning by Natives is what may have given us these other two trees.130

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Oak – One Edible & Useful TreeWherever ﬁres have been historically abundant i.e. Long Island, New Jersey, Hudson Valley, portions of the Catskills, southern US oak, hickory and chestnut have thrived. They have deeper root systems to escape ground ﬁres and if top-killed are good at sprouting. Their drier leaves compared to maple, beech, birch tend to promote ground ﬁres, perhaps to reduce competition. It is too bad we lost chestnut; this tree would surely be mentioned above oak for its beauty and utility. So, we are left with red oak that replaced it. Of the predominantly found oaks red oak, white oak, and chestnut oak red is the most shade tolerant. It grows on well-drained sites and perhaps more south or west-facing slopes that were once more easily ﬁred, farmed, or disturbed by humans. Oak makes my list because it adds blood or life to the landscape. It directly beneﬁts wildlife (acorns), and indirectly humans seeking wildlife. Bear, deer, turkey, raccoon, birds, even amphibians are supposedly more abundant in oak forests. To me, it also can mean seeing and killing deer and taking venison home. Oak has become even more attractive to me since I’ve gotten into tree climbing. Its smooth wide branch unions lend well to hanging a line and climbing about like a squirrel. Its architecture and strength are second to none. Ever notice how long a dead oak branch will remain attached? Branch and trunk are so tightly inter-woven you could string a few cars from them. If you like your oak, it does ask you remove or cut out competitors. It just might reward you with venison and more.Red oak can live for hundreds of years producing highly sought after acorns for a variety of wildlife. This large red oak is a relic of “sunnier days” when this forest was once a hay ﬁeld. If the forest is left to grow, red oak will eventually be “swallowed up” by trees more tolerant of shade.131

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AppleWhat is more American than apple pie? There was a time when cider was the most abundantly consumed liquid in the US, perhaps in the 18th Century. Unlike oak which might be a pyrogenic legacy from Native American burning apple is an agricultural one from the 18th and 19th Centuries. If given ample sunlight and protection from pests, deer, and bear, its fruit rewards more than any other. My little apple press will crank out a gallon-and-a-half of cider in no time. One medium-sized tree can make 30 gallons of cider, and a ‘Standard’ tree can last a lifetime or more. Apple in my opinion might be the Catskills’ most under-rated tree. I got thinking about the Wallkill Valley (elevation <300 feet) where I grew up. There were orchards nearby, but rarely did I ever ﬁnd a wild or “volunteer” tree. It seemed once an orchard was abandoned, it disintegrated fast, maybe due to hotter and more humid weather conducive to pests? In the Catskill Mountains, there are wild apple trees growing anywhere ﬁelds have been recently abandoned or forests are young. Since seed-grown apples are random, you might just ﬁnd the next best tasting apple. These volunteers are tough, acclimated to the site, and may last a hundred years. They too add character to the landscape by all the characters that frequent them. Humans and animals all love them. Its bark is an interesting ﬂaky camouﬂage; its wood is gnarly and tough, but fragrant; and its architecture as variable as its fruit. I welcome this non-native to these hills. It is the bridge of the “Old World” to the “New World” and has made it its own. It can stay and whenever I can, I cut around it to preserve it in the landscape. They too surely represent our agricultural heritage more than any other tree. More than any of the four, it does ask the most from humans for its reward; It needs sunlight, often some pruning, and sometimes protection from “pests.” But, if happy, it can reward for a long time.SummaryRecreationally speaking, humans are most attracted to areas that offer bodies of water (i.e. lake, ocean) and high peaks with grand views. The Catskills have few bodies of water in comparison to other regions and our high peaks offer fewer views due to heavily forested summits. Instead, the Catskills seem most attractive to more introverted types seeking forests and small streams meandering through them. For me, it is the abundance and combination of the fore mentioned trees that I ﬁnd unique to these mountains. The Catskills offer a great combination of trees species due to its geology and soil, but also prior land use history and lack thereof, making it hospitable for both disturbance-dependent and independent trees. Like its trees, it is a place for “wilderness” and for humans in the landscape; of wild summit and dairy barn; of ancient hemlock, and post-agricultural apple tree; all located in a relatively short distance from each other.www.catskillforest.orgWild growing apple trees can be found abundantly throughout the Catskills; A legacy of its agricultural heritage. If given enough sunlight and well-pruned, they can reward both humans and wildlife with heavy crops of fruit, more so than any other tree.132