ANGRY WATERS, continued ...
BY TRUDY E. BELL
The typhoid outbreak “constitutes one of the most interesting and striking examples of an explosive epidemic due to a sudden…infection of a water supply,” wrote Theodore Horton, chief engineer of Albany’s State Department of Health, in the weekly newspaper Engineering News.
Horton illustrated this with a graph that plotted the rise and fall of the Hudson River, the times of the infection of the water supply, the sterilization of Prospect Reservoir, and the corresponding rapid rise and fall of the number of typhoid cases several weeks later.
Horton’s graph was widely reprinted in national engineering journals, medical and public health journals, and reference textbooks to demonstrate the effectiveness of chlorinating drinking water to prevent typhoid.
Disaster Spurs Political Will
In November 1913, less than eight months after the Easter flood, the state legislature passed the Burd Amendment to the New York State Constitution, which allowed up to 3% of state forest preserve land in the Adirondacks to be flooded for state-owned reservoirs that would be constructed to regulate stream flow, provide for the water supply, and generate water for canals.
In 1915, the Machold Storage Law allowed for the creation of river regulating districts, subject to review and approval by the Conservation Department’s Water Power and Control Commission.
In 1922, the Hudson River Regulating District was formed and a plan was outlined for controlling the flow of the Hudson through sixteen storage reservoirs on the Cedar, Hudson, Indian, Sacandaga, and Schroon Rivers and other tributaries, with a total capacity of more than 80 billion cubic feet and an estimated $30+ million cost.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
THE POT BELLY STOVE ROOM
Re: THE POT BELLY STOVE ROOM
ANGRY WATERS, concluded ...
BY TRUDY E. BELL
A modified plan was approved in June 1923.
The largest reservoir — to be created by damming the Sacandaga at Conklingville — would occupy 42.3 square miles (about the same area as Lake George) and would store nearly half the water for the district.
It included a 400-foot concrete spillway, the largest siphon spillway built to date, with the capacity for handling a flow 50% greater than the 1913 flood, even if the reservoir were full at flood’s start.
On March 27, 1930, the seventeenth anniversary of high water during the 1913 flood, the gates were closed on the new Conklingville Dam and the Sacandaga Reservoir (later renamed Great Sacandaga Lake) began to fill.
Had the storage capacity of Great Sacandaga Lake existed in 1913, the Hudson’s flood height at Albany could have been lowered by three feet, and the city’s water treatment plant would have been spared.
Since then, there have been other floods on the Hudson due to ice dams, but not even the flood of 1996 equaled the results — both negative and positive — of the Great Flood of 1913.
BY TRUDY E. BELL
A modified plan was approved in June 1923.
The largest reservoir — to be created by damming the Sacandaga at Conklingville — would occupy 42.3 square miles (about the same area as Lake George) and would store nearly half the water for the district.
It included a 400-foot concrete spillway, the largest siphon spillway built to date, with the capacity for handling a flow 50% greater than the 1913 flood, even if the reservoir were full at flood’s start.
On March 27, 1930, the seventeenth anniversary of high water during the 1913 flood, the gates were closed on the new Conklingville Dam and the Sacandaga Reservoir (later renamed Great Sacandaga Lake) began to fill.
Had the storage capacity of Great Sacandaga Lake existed in 1913, the Hudson’s flood height at Albany could have been lowered by three feet, and the city’s water treatment plant would have been spared.
Since then, there have been other floods on the Hudson due to ice dams, but not even the flood of 1996 equaled the results — both negative and positive — of the Great Flood of 1913.
Re: THE POT BELLY STOVE ROOM
Schaghticoke in the Late 19th. Century
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
It’s been over seven years since I began to research and write the history of the town of Schaghticoke.
The most recent articles here have been about the town in World War I.
This is because we were in the midst of the centennial of the U.S. participation in that conflict.
Before that, I had been writing chronologically about the history of the town and had reached 1850.
I will pick up the story about the town about 1870.
I have used the same sources of information as before: census, Sylvester’s “History of Rensselaer County”, newspaper articles found through use of http://www.fultonhistory.com; maps; church, town, cemetery, and surrogate records; and records available through http://www.ancestry.com.
Since Sylvester’s book was written in 1880, it has particular relevance to this period.
And Beer’s “Atlas of Rensselaer County” was published in 1876, so is very timely, as is the “Rensselaer County Directory” of 1870.
The censuses for 1855, 1860, 1865, and 1870 provide more and different kinds of information than that of 1850, including how long people have been living in town, and how many children women have had.
The occupation of women is also included, as it was not in 1850.
Newspaper articles become more and more detailed about people and events.
On the one hand I am able to write a lot more about a lot more folks, but on the other hand, the task of writing becomes more daunting.
I have had a hard time knowing when to stop, frankly.
And I keep finding more interesting people to research and write about.
By my calculations, the total town population in 1870 was about 3,100 - this is without the portion south of Grant Hollow, that is today’s Speigletown and Pleasantdale.
This is about 100 less than in 1850 - the only statistic that makes me wonder about the town’s relative prosperity.
570 people, or 18% of the population, was foreign born.
70% of that number were born in Ireland.
The next largest group was from the British Isles: England Wales, Scotland, and the Isle of Man; then Canada, then Germany.
There was an average of 5.4 people per household.
The village of Schaghticoke had 1120 people, about 40% under 16 years of age.
Of those 448, 148 were in school and 100 were working.
One 6-year-old child was working in a mill.
So Schaghticoke was young, and spoke with an Irish accent!
The 2010 population of our larger town was about 7,000, the village about 600.
Of course, right after 1850, there was a major improvement in transportation for Schaghticoke - the Troy and Boston Railroad came through town.
As I have written before, I haven’t been able to discover why the railroad station ended up on the other side of the Hoosic River from the village of Schaghticoke, but it did - it was at the junction of today’s Meadowview Drive and East Schaghticoke Road.
I think it was a matter of cost - another bridge across the river was expensive.
It was still handy to the Schaghticoke Powder Mill, which was relocating from the north side of the Tomhannock Creek at Schaghticoke Hill to the south side of the Hoosic River, more easily accessible from Valley Falls.
The location was certainly awkward for the mills in the gorge of the Hoosic River.
I do know that when the Troy and Boston Railroad was planned, the station was to be on the village side of the river.
An article in the Troy “Times” in September 1859 about supporting the Albany and Northern Railroad after a horrible accident records that the citizens of the village were duped by the Troy and Boston.
“A most shameful piece of deception was practiced on us by the Directors of the Troy and Boston Railroad in changing the site of the road after it was located, after the stock was taken, and the first ten per cent installment paid in.”
This must have been particularly galling to local entrepreneur Amos Briggs, co-owner of most of the mills, heavy investor in the railroad, and its first President.
As it ended up, the railroad ran directly north from Troy, roughly paralleling Route 40, running on the west side of that road until just north of the little hamlet of Melrose, then crossing over the road - you see the abutments just south of where Pinewoods Road goes to the west of Route 40 - then running east of route 40, heading to the station at East Schaghticoke and on to Valley Falls.
The tracks south of Valley Falls were taken up in 1973.
I don’t know why, but the 1856 wall map of the town of Schaghticoke shows the Albany Northern Railroad (see below) but not the Troy and Boston, and the 1876 Beers Atlas shows the Troy and Boston, but not the Albany Northern.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
It’s been over seven years since I began to research and write the history of the town of Schaghticoke.
The most recent articles here have been about the town in World War I.
This is because we were in the midst of the centennial of the U.S. participation in that conflict.
Before that, I had been writing chronologically about the history of the town and had reached 1850.
I will pick up the story about the town about 1870.
I have used the same sources of information as before: census, Sylvester’s “History of Rensselaer County”, newspaper articles found through use of http://www.fultonhistory.com; maps; church, town, cemetery, and surrogate records; and records available through http://www.ancestry.com.
Since Sylvester’s book was written in 1880, it has particular relevance to this period.
And Beer’s “Atlas of Rensselaer County” was published in 1876, so is very timely, as is the “Rensselaer County Directory” of 1870.
The censuses for 1855, 1860, 1865, and 1870 provide more and different kinds of information than that of 1850, including how long people have been living in town, and how many children women have had.
The occupation of women is also included, as it was not in 1850.
Newspaper articles become more and more detailed about people and events.
On the one hand I am able to write a lot more about a lot more folks, but on the other hand, the task of writing becomes more daunting.
I have had a hard time knowing when to stop, frankly.
And I keep finding more interesting people to research and write about.
By my calculations, the total town population in 1870 was about 3,100 - this is without the portion south of Grant Hollow, that is today’s Speigletown and Pleasantdale.
This is about 100 less than in 1850 - the only statistic that makes me wonder about the town’s relative prosperity.
570 people, or 18% of the population, was foreign born.
70% of that number were born in Ireland.
The next largest group was from the British Isles: England Wales, Scotland, and the Isle of Man; then Canada, then Germany.
There was an average of 5.4 people per household.
The village of Schaghticoke had 1120 people, about 40% under 16 years of age.
Of those 448, 148 were in school and 100 were working.
One 6-year-old child was working in a mill.
So Schaghticoke was young, and spoke with an Irish accent!
The 2010 population of our larger town was about 7,000, the village about 600.
Of course, right after 1850, there was a major improvement in transportation for Schaghticoke - the Troy and Boston Railroad came through town.
As I have written before, I haven’t been able to discover why the railroad station ended up on the other side of the Hoosic River from the village of Schaghticoke, but it did - it was at the junction of today’s Meadowview Drive and East Schaghticoke Road.
I think it was a matter of cost - another bridge across the river was expensive.
It was still handy to the Schaghticoke Powder Mill, which was relocating from the north side of the Tomhannock Creek at Schaghticoke Hill to the south side of the Hoosic River, more easily accessible from Valley Falls.
The location was certainly awkward for the mills in the gorge of the Hoosic River.
I do know that when the Troy and Boston Railroad was planned, the station was to be on the village side of the river.
An article in the Troy “Times” in September 1859 about supporting the Albany and Northern Railroad after a horrible accident records that the citizens of the village were duped by the Troy and Boston.
“A most shameful piece of deception was practiced on us by the Directors of the Troy and Boston Railroad in changing the site of the road after it was located, after the stock was taken, and the first ten per cent installment paid in.”
This must have been particularly galling to local entrepreneur Amos Briggs, co-owner of most of the mills, heavy investor in the railroad, and its first President.
As it ended up, the railroad ran directly north from Troy, roughly paralleling Route 40, running on the west side of that road until just north of the little hamlet of Melrose, then crossing over the road - you see the abutments just south of where Pinewoods Road goes to the west of Route 40 - then running east of route 40, heading to the station at East Schaghticoke and on to Valley Falls.
The tracks south of Valley Falls were taken up in 1973.
I don’t know why, but the 1856 wall map of the town of Schaghticoke shows the Albany Northern Railroad (see below) but not the Troy and Boston, and the 1876 Beers Atlas shows the Troy and Boston, but not the Albany Northern.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: THE POT BELLY STOVE ROOM
Schaghticoke in the Late 19th. Century, continued ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
A second railroad, the Albany Northern, organized in 1851, also ran through the town of Schaghticoke.
Its first train ran from Eagle Bridge to Albany in July 1853.
Its station was actually in the village of Schaghticoke, near the current Agway.
This railroad always suffered financially, and was reorganized as the Albany, Vermont, and Canada Railroad in 1856.
This was the era of explosive railroad construction, with many of the roads either failing or consolidating with other companies.
According to an article in “The History of Railroads” by Henry Varnum Poor, p. 234, the Albany Northern directors were all men from Albany.
The railroad went from Albany to Cohoes and crossed the Hudson River just north of where the Deepkill empties into the Hudson River.
This is just south of the junction of Calhoun Drive and River Road- where River Road now comes to a dead end.
It curved north through town, crossing the Tomhannock Creek just west of Route 40, then crossing the little peninsula where Agway is, then crossing the Hoosic River just south of Valley Falls and heading to Eagle Bridge.
The Troy and Boston and the Albany Northern rails were just feet apart from Valley Falls to Eagle Bridge, and of course in direct competition.
In Eagle Bridge, passengers could connect to trains to Vermont and Massachusetts.
According to Sylvester’s “History of Rensselaer County”, published in 1880, William Pitt Button and Abram Myers of Schaghticoke, “compelled” the railroad to build three bridges over their tracks in the town.
William lived on what is now the Denison Farm on Buttermilk Falls Road.
Abram lived on what is now the Brock Farm.
At the time, the railroad crossed Pinewoods Road as it goes down the hill to River Road, Hansen Road, Buttermilk Falls Road where the railroad crosses now, Farm to Market Road on a section which no longer exists, and Route 40 where the railroad crosses now.
There is a bridge at the latter crossing today, of course.
I am not sure where the other two bridges were.
The railroad worked to make itself attractive - for example, the Troy “Daily Times” of September 26, 1856 reported that passengers of the Albany Northern would receive free transport on an “omnibus” from the Troy House and the Mansion House in Troy to the Watervliet landing for the day boat to New York City, and all points in between on the Hudson.
The boat, the fast steamer “Alida”, departed every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7 a.m.
In 1853, a branch of the railroad connected with the Rensselaer and Saratoga, enabling passengers to go to Saratoga, and on to Lake Champlain and Montreal.
An ad in the Troy “Times” in 1858 listed 5 departures a day from Albany for the north - from 7 in the a.m. until 5:30 in the evening.
On the other hand, a letter to the editor of the Troy “Times” June 1, 1858 stated “the cars on the ABVC Railroad are the meanest we ever rode in."
"The one in which we were put (and it was the only one of the train) was so leaky in the roof and on both sides, that it was like being caught out in a shower of rain without an umbrella."
"Such rickety cars are worse than a rotten bridge, and the directors ought to be censured for having them on the Road.”
Well, as we shall see, a rotten bridge is worse.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
A second railroad, the Albany Northern, organized in 1851, also ran through the town of Schaghticoke.
Its first train ran from Eagle Bridge to Albany in July 1853.
Its station was actually in the village of Schaghticoke, near the current Agway.
This railroad always suffered financially, and was reorganized as the Albany, Vermont, and Canada Railroad in 1856.
This was the era of explosive railroad construction, with many of the roads either failing or consolidating with other companies.
According to an article in “The History of Railroads” by Henry Varnum Poor, p. 234, the Albany Northern directors were all men from Albany.
The railroad went from Albany to Cohoes and crossed the Hudson River just north of where the Deepkill empties into the Hudson River.
This is just south of the junction of Calhoun Drive and River Road- where River Road now comes to a dead end.
It curved north through town, crossing the Tomhannock Creek just west of Route 40, then crossing the little peninsula where Agway is, then crossing the Hoosic River just south of Valley Falls and heading to Eagle Bridge.
The Troy and Boston and the Albany Northern rails were just feet apart from Valley Falls to Eagle Bridge, and of course in direct competition.
In Eagle Bridge, passengers could connect to trains to Vermont and Massachusetts.
According to Sylvester’s “History of Rensselaer County”, published in 1880, William Pitt Button and Abram Myers of Schaghticoke, “compelled” the railroad to build three bridges over their tracks in the town.
William lived on what is now the Denison Farm on Buttermilk Falls Road.
Abram lived on what is now the Brock Farm.
At the time, the railroad crossed Pinewoods Road as it goes down the hill to River Road, Hansen Road, Buttermilk Falls Road where the railroad crosses now, Farm to Market Road on a section which no longer exists, and Route 40 where the railroad crosses now.
There is a bridge at the latter crossing today, of course.
I am not sure where the other two bridges were.
The railroad worked to make itself attractive - for example, the Troy “Daily Times” of September 26, 1856 reported that passengers of the Albany Northern would receive free transport on an “omnibus” from the Troy House and the Mansion House in Troy to the Watervliet landing for the day boat to New York City, and all points in between on the Hudson.
The boat, the fast steamer “Alida”, departed every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7 a.m.
In 1853, a branch of the railroad connected with the Rensselaer and Saratoga, enabling passengers to go to Saratoga, and on to Lake Champlain and Montreal.
An ad in the Troy “Times” in 1858 listed 5 departures a day from Albany for the north - from 7 in the a.m. until 5:30 in the evening.
On the other hand, a letter to the editor of the Troy “Times” June 1, 1858 stated “the cars on the ABVC Railroad are the meanest we ever rode in."
"The one in which we were put (and it was the only one of the train) was so leaky in the roof and on both sides, that it was like being caught out in a shower of rain without an umbrella."
"Such rickety cars are worse than a rotten bridge, and the directors ought to be censured for having them on the Road.”
Well, as we shall see, a rotten bridge is worse.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: THE POT BELLY STOVE ROOM
Schaghticoke in the Late 19th. Century, continued ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
So for about 30 years, the village of Schaghticoke was served by two railroads.
The Albany Northern had a couple of accidents previously, one resulting in a fatality, but on August 2, 1859, there was what is still the county’s worst train disaster.
It was widely reported in the newspapers of the time all over the country.
The mail train, headed south around 7 p.m., was passing over the Tomhannock Creek when the trestle collapsed. (“Centinel of Freedom”, Kingston Aug 9, 1859)
“The accident took place about one mile this side (south) of Schaghticoke."
"The moment the train, which was running very rapid, struck the bridge, the structure gave way."
"The locomotive, however, got across, and became uncoupled from the tender."
"The latter went down, and the baggage car and two passenger cars followed."
"The first passenger car went down endwise on the top of the tender, while the second passenger car ran into it, and keeled it over.”
The article reports that the cars fell almost 40 feet, landing in eight feet of water - I am surprised at the report of the depth of the creek, though one of the passengers testified that the cars fell 25 or 30 feet into 3 feet of water, which seems more likely.
At the Coroner’s Inquest in Albany, the engineer, Charles Jones, reported that the train had been going 10 miles per hour - “running very rapid”?? – but that the brakeman had failed to slow the train to cross the bridge.
He also said that the bridge had been reported unsafe about a year ago, but that it had been repaired.
As the bridge was only eight years old, it must not have been much of a bridge to begin with!
The President of the Railroad, William White, testified to the Coroner that maybe the bridge was unsafe, but that the engineer was known for going too fast - that 10 miles per hour was considered too fast.
The Coroner held the owners of the railroad responsible for the deaths in the accident.
In fact, there was an attempt to indict Mr White for manslaughter in an appellate court, which failed by two votes.
The indictment charged that he knew very well that the bridge was unsafe. (Kingston Daily Chronicle, Sept 3, 1859)
The first report was that eight people had been killed in the wreck, including all but one of those in the baggage car, which was reduced to splinters.
There were 45-50 passengers in the first car, including the wife of the Cashier of the railroad, Mrs. John Cuyler, who was killed, along with her daughter, Lucinda Cooley, wife of the conductor.
Other dead included Charles Plimpton, the mail agent; Charles Bethelon, the brakeman; Patrick Connolly and Dennis Cahill, machinists who worked for the railroad; David Russell, the express messenger, a baggage man, and Howard Wright, a merchant who lived on Hudson Street in Albany.
A number of others were badly injured, including the conductor, Mr Cooley, and passengers from Quebec, New Hampshire, New York City, Dayton, Ohio, and Whitewater, Wisconsin.
Just one resident of Schaghticoke, Hiram Buel, was injured.
The inhabitants of Schaghticoke turned out to help the wounded.
It was the practice of the railroad to send another engine down the line after the final train of the day, and according to an article by Joseph Smith in the Troy Record (Aug 3, 1968), the engineer and fireman of the wrecked train ran up the track and stopped that engine just before it came around the curve and went off the collapsed trestle itself.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
So for about 30 years, the village of Schaghticoke was served by two railroads.
The Albany Northern had a couple of accidents previously, one resulting in a fatality, but on August 2, 1859, there was what is still the county’s worst train disaster.
It was widely reported in the newspapers of the time all over the country.
The mail train, headed south around 7 p.m., was passing over the Tomhannock Creek when the trestle collapsed. (“Centinel of Freedom”, Kingston Aug 9, 1859)
“The accident took place about one mile this side (south) of Schaghticoke."
"The moment the train, which was running very rapid, struck the bridge, the structure gave way."
"The locomotive, however, got across, and became uncoupled from the tender."
"The latter went down, and the baggage car and two passenger cars followed."
"The first passenger car went down endwise on the top of the tender, while the second passenger car ran into it, and keeled it over.”
The article reports that the cars fell almost 40 feet, landing in eight feet of water - I am surprised at the report of the depth of the creek, though one of the passengers testified that the cars fell 25 or 30 feet into 3 feet of water, which seems more likely.
At the Coroner’s Inquest in Albany, the engineer, Charles Jones, reported that the train had been going 10 miles per hour - “running very rapid”?? – but that the brakeman had failed to slow the train to cross the bridge.
He also said that the bridge had been reported unsafe about a year ago, but that it had been repaired.
As the bridge was only eight years old, it must not have been much of a bridge to begin with!
The President of the Railroad, William White, testified to the Coroner that maybe the bridge was unsafe, but that the engineer was known for going too fast - that 10 miles per hour was considered too fast.
The Coroner held the owners of the railroad responsible for the deaths in the accident.
In fact, there was an attempt to indict Mr White for manslaughter in an appellate court, which failed by two votes.
The indictment charged that he knew very well that the bridge was unsafe. (Kingston Daily Chronicle, Sept 3, 1859)
The first report was that eight people had been killed in the wreck, including all but one of those in the baggage car, which was reduced to splinters.
There were 45-50 passengers in the first car, including the wife of the Cashier of the railroad, Mrs. John Cuyler, who was killed, along with her daughter, Lucinda Cooley, wife of the conductor.
Other dead included Charles Plimpton, the mail agent; Charles Bethelon, the brakeman; Patrick Connolly and Dennis Cahill, machinists who worked for the railroad; David Russell, the express messenger, a baggage man, and Howard Wright, a merchant who lived on Hudson Street in Albany.
A number of others were badly injured, including the conductor, Mr Cooley, and passengers from Quebec, New Hampshire, New York City, Dayton, Ohio, and Whitewater, Wisconsin.
Just one resident of Schaghticoke, Hiram Buel, was injured.
The inhabitants of Schaghticoke turned out to help the wounded.
It was the practice of the railroad to send another engine down the line after the final train of the day, and according to an article by Joseph Smith in the Troy Record (Aug 3, 1968), the engineer and fireman of the wrecked train ran up the track and stopped that engine just before it came around the curve and went off the collapsed trestle itself.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: THE POT BELLY STOVE ROOM
Schaghticoke in the Late 19th. Century, continued ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
The Albany, Vermont, and Canada, already in financial trouble, was forced into foreclosure almost immediately after the accident.
On October 20, its stock was sold to the Rensselaer and Saratoga and Troy and Boston Railroads.
The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad leased the rails from Albany to Waterford, but the Troy and Boston clearly had no use for most of the tracks it had leased in the town of Schaghticoke.
It took up at least some rails and ties and sold or used them elsewhere.
It is unclear how long the bridge across the Hudson River survived, unused.
The roadbed remained ready for reuse.
A long and litigious battle ensued between the Troy and Boston and its rival, the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railroad over the roadbed from Valley Falls to Eagle Bridge, with suits and countersuits working through the courts and the New York State Legislature from 1860 through the 1880’s.
The Hoosac Tunnel had finally opened in 1875, giving direct access to Boston.
One of the conditions of the lease of the roadbed was that the Troy and Boston would maintain several bridges in the town of Schaghticoke.
This was not done at first, and the town of Schaghticoke sued the railroad.
It then complied and fixed and/or built bridges.
So did the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway, which in 1879 erected a stone and iron bridge at the site of the fatal accident.
Its rails went west, then north, to cross the Hudson River at Stillwater in 1879 (“Saratoga County Heritage, p. 532) and connect with existing rails north and south.
Though that company went bankrupt in 1882, the rails continued in use.
Arthur Weise’s “History of Troy and Vicinity” in 1886 reported that the village of Schaghticoke was a station on the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway, with a station on the Troy and Boston Railroad across the river in East Schaghticoke.
The Bird’s Eye View map of the village made in 1889 shows a train on a track right on the edge of the village, puffing into a station on the village side of the river, then headed for the trestle across Electric Lake.
The Troy and Boston Railroad was not immune from fatal accidents.
An article in the Troy “Daily Times” on October 5, 1869 reported that the 5 o’clock passenger train going north ran into a freight train between Lansingburgh and Speigletown.
Cars were derailed and three people were injured.
Fortunately the trains were going slowly.
The freight train should have stopped in Schaghticoke to let the passenger train pass.
The track was quickly cleared and the passenger train went on.
At 10 o’clock the same day the rails gave way between Hoosick Junction and Hoosick Falls and the same engine, tender, and one car went down an embankment in the Hoosick River.
Three people were killed.
Talk about a cursed train!
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
The Albany, Vermont, and Canada, already in financial trouble, was forced into foreclosure almost immediately after the accident.
On October 20, its stock was sold to the Rensselaer and Saratoga and Troy and Boston Railroads.
The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad leased the rails from Albany to Waterford, but the Troy and Boston clearly had no use for most of the tracks it had leased in the town of Schaghticoke.
It took up at least some rails and ties and sold or used them elsewhere.
It is unclear how long the bridge across the Hudson River survived, unused.
The roadbed remained ready for reuse.
A long and litigious battle ensued between the Troy and Boston and its rival, the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railroad over the roadbed from Valley Falls to Eagle Bridge, with suits and countersuits working through the courts and the New York State Legislature from 1860 through the 1880’s.
The Hoosac Tunnel had finally opened in 1875, giving direct access to Boston.
One of the conditions of the lease of the roadbed was that the Troy and Boston would maintain several bridges in the town of Schaghticoke.
This was not done at first, and the town of Schaghticoke sued the railroad.
It then complied and fixed and/or built bridges.
So did the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway, which in 1879 erected a stone and iron bridge at the site of the fatal accident.
Its rails went west, then north, to cross the Hudson River at Stillwater in 1879 (“Saratoga County Heritage, p. 532) and connect with existing rails north and south.
Though that company went bankrupt in 1882, the rails continued in use.
Arthur Weise’s “History of Troy and Vicinity” in 1886 reported that the village of Schaghticoke was a station on the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railway, with a station on the Troy and Boston Railroad across the river in East Schaghticoke.
The Bird’s Eye View map of the village made in 1889 shows a train on a track right on the edge of the village, puffing into a station on the village side of the river, then headed for the trestle across Electric Lake.
The Troy and Boston Railroad was not immune from fatal accidents.
An article in the Troy “Daily Times” on October 5, 1869 reported that the 5 o’clock passenger train going north ran into a freight train between Lansingburgh and Speigletown.
Cars were derailed and three people were injured.
Fortunately the trains were going slowly.
The freight train should have stopped in Schaghticoke to let the passenger train pass.
The track was quickly cleared and the passenger train went on.
At 10 o’clock the same day the rails gave way between Hoosick Junction and Hoosick Falls and the same engine, tender, and one car went down an embankment in the Hoosick River.
Three people were killed.
Talk about a cursed train!
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: THE POT BELLY STOVE ROOM
Schaghticoke in the Late 19th. Century, continued ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
The Troy “Daily Times” of May 2, 1887 reported the consolidation of the Troy and Boston Railroad with the Fitchburgh and Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railroads.
I think that this move would have finally resulted in the track conformation that we became used to - with the station at Melrose, the railroad crossing route 40 just north of that, then crossing the town to a small bridge over the Tomhannock on Madigan Road.
And the rails went west, with a stop at Reynolds, near the junction of Howland Avenue and Route 67, then on over the Hudson to Mechanicville.
So by 1870, people in Schaghticoke could travel easily to Troy or Hoosick Falls, or indeed to many other places by train.
There was a daily stage connection from the express train at 1:30 from Troy at Schaghticoke to Easton, and north (Troy Daily Times April 10, 1867).
I have found a few mill operators, for example Edwin Hartshorn, G.P. Mealey, and Sydney Spicer, who commuted to town, but most people still worked near where they lived.
The town, which had the same northern, western, and eastern boundaries as today, ended at the DeepKill in Grant Hollow, as it had since 1819.
So Speigletown and Pleasantdale - which were not really built up - were part of Lansingburgh politically.
The centers of population in the town were almost as they had been for many years: Grant Hollow, Schaghticoke Hill, the portion of Valley Falls in Schaghticoke, and the village of Schaghticoke.
Grant Hollow, also called Junction, was the site of the agricultural machinery factory, begun about 1830, and its associated store.
There was also the Methodist Church, and a school, up Mineral Springs Road, and a post office.
The Methodist minister served this church and the one at Schaghticoke Hill.
The new competition for Grant Hollow was Melrose, where by 1877 there were a new railroad depot, a post office, a hotel, and a store.
This was where the Troy and Boston Railroad crossed the main road, a better place for a train depot than Grant Hollow.
An article in the Troy “Times on March 31, 1874 reported “The Troy and Boston Railroad Company will build a new station here."
"GW Sinsabaugh of Troy is putting up an elegant summer dwelling."
"Melrose is growing rapidly and eligible villa sites are much sought after.”
Mr Sinsabaugh was a very successful confectioner in Troy.
The Sinsabaugh home is now the home of Denise Hegarty, at the base of Church Street.
And Avenue A was the street of “villas”, built after his.
The convenient railroad depot made it easy for wealthy Trojans to travel to the “country”.
Looking at the map in Beers Atlas of 1876, there were high hopes for Melrose.
61 building plots were laid out on both sides of Avenue A, plus a parallel Avenue B.
There was just one home built on Avenue A, about midway along the west side.
Of course, most of these plots were never developed.
The map shows a wagon shop on the east side of the main road, just south of where Valley Falls road veers north, a store and post office next to that, and the Park Hotel in the vee of Route 40 and Valley Falls Road.
The historical pamphlet written about Melrose by Patricia Crandall for the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976 reports that Mr Schoonmaker, a resident, decided that Melrose, which had been called “Checkered Shed”, should have a nicer name and called it Melrose after Melrose Abbey in Scotland about 1870.
I can find no mention of Melrose before 1874 in the newspaper, but it is definitely called that in Beers 1876 atlas.
C.C. Schoonmaker owned the land at the corner of Church Street and Route 40, where the Esquire Pharmacy, now the Ercswma warehouse, is.
Christopher C. Schoonmaker appears in the 1875 NY census for town, age 43.
He was a photographer, born in Albany, and lived with his wife Eleanor, 44, plus a farm laborer named Daniel Gardener, age 21 and a servant named Mary Piper, 18, born in Germany.
Christopher may have only lived in town a short time.
He appeared in city directories in Troy as a photographer almost until his death in 1906.
Of course, he could have maintained a summer home in Melrose.
This short-term or part-time resident had a long-term effect on our town, for sure, if the name Melrose did come from him.
Schaghticoke Hill, where the Tomhannock Creek crosses Route 40, continued to be the site of the keg mill, associated with the Powder Mill, plus the Evans Grist Mill, several other mills, a Methodist Church, school, and Hurley’s blacksmith shop.
The Powder Mill was now on the Hoosic River across from the village of Schaghticoke.
The “Rensselaer County Directory” for 1870 notes it had “a Methodist Church, two stores, a saw mill, a grist mill, and twine and cordage mill, a scutching mill, the Schaghticoke Powder Keg Mill and about 150 inhabitants.”
Scutching is part of processing flax.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
The Troy “Daily Times” of May 2, 1887 reported the consolidation of the Troy and Boston Railroad with the Fitchburgh and Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railroads.
I think that this move would have finally resulted in the track conformation that we became used to - with the station at Melrose, the railroad crossing route 40 just north of that, then crossing the town to a small bridge over the Tomhannock on Madigan Road.
And the rails went west, with a stop at Reynolds, near the junction of Howland Avenue and Route 67, then on over the Hudson to Mechanicville.
So by 1870, people in Schaghticoke could travel easily to Troy or Hoosick Falls, or indeed to many other places by train.
There was a daily stage connection from the express train at 1:30 from Troy at Schaghticoke to Easton, and north (Troy Daily Times April 10, 1867).
I have found a few mill operators, for example Edwin Hartshorn, G.P. Mealey, and Sydney Spicer, who commuted to town, but most people still worked near where they lived.
The town, which had the same northern, western, and eastern boundaries as today, ended at the DeepKill in Grant Hollow, as it had since 1819.
So Speigletown and Pleasantdale - which were not really built up - were part of Lansingburgh politically.
The centers of population in the town were almost as they had been for many years: Grant Hollow, Schaghticoke Hill, the portion of Valley Falls in Schaghticoke, and the village of Schaghticoke.
Grant Hollow, also called Junction, was the site of the agricultural machinery factory, begun about 1830, and its associated store.
There was also the Methodist Church, and a school, up Mineral Springs Road, and a post office.
The Methodist minister served this church and the one at Schaghticoke Hill.
The new competition for Grant Hollow was Melrose, where by 1877 there were a new railroad depot, a post office, a hotel, and a store.
This was where the Troy and Boston Railroad crossed the main road, a better place for a train depot than Grant Hollow.
An article in the Troy “Times on March 31, 1874 reported “The Troy and Boston Railroad Company will build a new station here."
"GW Sinsabaugh of Troy is putting up an elegant summer dwelling."
"Melrose is growing rapidly and eligible villa sites are much sought after.”
Mr Sinsabaugh was a very successful confectioner in Troy.
The Sinsabaugh home is now the home of Denise Hegarty, at the base of Church Street.
And Avenue A was the street of “villas”, built after his.
The convenient railroad depot made it easy for wealthy Trojans to travel to the “country”.
Looking at the map in Beers Atlas of 1876, there were high hopes for Melrose.
61 building plots were laid out on both sides of Avenue A, plus a parallel Avenue B.
There was just one home built on Avenue A, about midway along the west side.
Of course, most of these plots were never developed.
The map shows a wagon shop on the east side of the main road, just south of where Valley Falls road veers north, a store and post office next to that, and the Park Hotel in the vee of Route 40 and Valley Falls Road.
The historical pamphlet written about Melrose by Patricia Crandall for the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976 reports that Mr Schoonmaker, a resident, decided that Melrose, which had been called “Checkered Shed”, should have a nicer name and called it Melrose after Melrose Abbey in Scotland about 1870.
I can find no mention of Melrose before 1874 in the newspaper, but it is definitely called that in Beers 1876 atlas.
C.C. Schoonmaker owned the land at the corner of Church Street and Route 40, where the Esquire Pharmacy, now the Ercswma warehouse, is.
Christopher C. Schoonmaker appears in the 1875 NY census for town, age 43.
He was a photographer, born in Albany, and lived with his wife Eleanor, 44, plus a farm laborer named Daniel Gardener, age 21 and a servant named Mary Piper, 18, born in Germany.
Christopher may have only lived in town a short time.
He appeared in city directories in Troy as a photographer almost until his death in 1906.
Of course, he could have maintained a summer home in Melrose.
This short-term or part-time resident had a long-term effect on our town, for sure, if the name Melrose did come from him.
Schaghticoke Hill, where the Tomhannock Creek crosses Route 40, continued to be the site of the keg mill, associated with the Powder Mill, plus the Evans Grist Mill, several other mills, a Methodist Church, school, and Hurley’s blacksmith shop.
The Powder Mill was now on the Hoosic River across from the village of Schaghticoke.
The “Rensselaer County Directory” for 1870 notes it had “a Methodist Church, two stores, a saw mill, a grist mill, and twine and cordage mill, a scutching mill, the Schaghticoke Powder Keg Mill and about 150 inhabitants.”
Scutching is part of processing flax.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Re: THE POT BELLY STOVE ROOM
Schaghticoke in the Late 19th. Century, continued ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
There was another small concentration of population along the Hudson River south of Hemstreet Park, at the junction with Allen Road, called Bryan’s Corners.
At this spot there were the WW Bryan Grain Cradle Factory, a Lutheran Church established in 1852, and a school.
Hiram C. Bryan originally had a farm in the area.
His father Elijah, born in Connecticut, had come to town after the Revolution.
He died in 1842.
Around 1850 Hiram and his sons William Ward and Amos began to dabble in making agricultural machinery.
Hiram helped to found a Lutheran Church there, and there were enough children for a school, which stood at the junction of River and Allen Roads.
While I think that Amos returned to farming, William W. continued as a manufacturer- and an inventor.
William had at least two patents.
One in 1856 was for an “improved mode of securing braces in the snath of a grain cradle.”
Another in 1870 was for grain fork improvements.
In 1876 he exhibited a “fanning mill of his own manufacture” at the NYS Fair in Albany (Troy “Times” September 14, 1876).
He also displayed barley forks and “one of his patent self-oiling axles, which can be used one month with one oiling.”
He had introduced the axle the year before.
Through examination of the census over the years, it seems that Bryan always had a “mechanic” or two living with his family, or a blacksmith or a “cradle maker” (referring to grain cradles.)
In the 1880 US Census, William, 53, and wife Maria, 54, had their sons N. Visher, 23, and Eugene, 18, at home, working in the agricultural shop, plus two blacksmiths, George Brodt, 26, and John Buckley, 19.
When William W. Bryan died in 1898, the Mechanicville “Mercury” (September 10) reported he was “one of the best known residents of the town.”
He was the “manufacturer of the Bryan grain harvester machinery and of late employed by Westinghouse as an attorney, his territory covering the western states.”
This last phrase is a great surprise to me.
I can’t find how Bryan became a lawyer!
Around 1880, the focus of population and activity shifted from Bryan’s Corners to the junction of the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railroad and Allen Road, near Howland.
This was named “Reynolds“.
Newspaper articles of the era mentioning the Bryans were datelined “Reynolds.”
It first was a train stop, but there was briefly a post office there.
It also became a milk stop, where dairy farmers could bring their milk to be shipped.
I previously explained the source of the name “Reynolds” when I wrote about Schaghticoke in 1850.
William VanVechten, a farmer in the area of “Reynolds”, was town supervisor in 1850.
His daughter Deriah married a man named Noyes Reynolds, a merchant from Troy.
VanVeghtens were among the first settlers of the town, and always lived in what became known as Reynolds.
Noyes died in 1874 and Deriah in 1888.
Their son William VanVechten Reynolds, a graduate of Columbia Law School, inherited his grandfather’s property.
Though William was a member of the bar, he never practiced law.
He was aide to General Burt when he laid out the track of the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel Railroad, then managed the railroad for a number of years.
He also was the Postmaster at what was named Reynolds for him, a milk stop on the railroad.
He was prominent in Democratic politics, and, according to his obituary in the Schaghticoke Sun on January 15, 1897, a “Gold man”, who attended the National Sound Money Convention in 1896.
William was a prominent local club man, in a couple of Masonic Lodges and the Clover Club in Mechanicville.
He was also a director of the First National Bank in Mechanicville.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
Posted by schaghticokehistory on May 14, 2019
There was another small concentration of population along the Hudson River south of Hemstreet Park, at the junction with Allen Road, called Bryan’s Corners.
At this spot there were the WW Bryan Grain Cradle Factory, a Lutheran Church established in 1852, and a school.
Hiram C. Bryan originally had a farm in the area.
His father Elijah, born in Connecticut, had come to town after the Revolution.
He died in 1842.
Around 1850 Hiram and his sons William Ward and Amos began to dabble in making agricultural machinery.
Hiram helped to found a Lutheran Church there, and there were enough children for a school, which stood at the junction of River and Allen Roads.
While I think that Amos returned to farming, William W. continued as a manufacturer- and an inventor.
William had at least two patents.
One in 1856 was for an “improved mode of securing braces in the snath of a grain cradle.”
Another in 1870 was for grain fork improvements.
In 1876 he exhibited a “fanning mill of his own manufacture” at the NYS Fair in Albany (Troy “Times” September 14, 1876).
He also displayed barley forks and “one of his patent self-oiling axles, which can be used one month with one oiling.”
He had introduced the axle the year before.
Through examination of the census over the years, it seems that Bryan always had a “mechanic” or two living with his family, or a blacksmith or a “cradle maker” (referring to grain cradles.)
In the 1880 US Census, William, 53, and wife Maria, 54, had their sons N. Visher, 23, and Eugene, 18, at home, working in the agricultural shop, plus two blacksmiths, George Brodt, 26, and John Buckley, 19.
When William W. Bryan died in 1898, the Mechanicville “Mercury” (September 10) reported he was “one of the best known residents of the town.”
He was the “manufacturer of the Bryan grain harvester machinery and of late employed by Westinghouse as an attorney, his territory covering the western states.”
This last phrase is a great surprise to me.
I can’t find how Bryan became a lawyer!
Around 1880, the focus of population and activity shifted from Bryan’s Corners to the junction of the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel and Western Railroad and Allen Road, near Howland.
This was named “Reynolds“.
Newspaper articles of the era mentioning the Bryans were datelined “Reynolds.”
It first was a train stop, but there was briefly a post office there.
It also became a milk stop, where dairy farmers could bring their milk to be shipped.
I previously explained the source of the name “Reynolds” when I wrote about Schaghticoke in 1850.
William VanVechten, a farmer in the area of “Reynolds”, was town supervisor in 1850.
His daughter Deriah married a man named Noyes Reynolds, a merchant from Troy.
VanVeghtens were among the first settlers of the town, and always lived in what became known as Reynolds.
Noyes died in 1874 and Deriah in 1888.
Their son William VanVechten Reynolds, a graduate of Columbia Law School, inherited his grandfather’s property.
Though William was a member of the bar, he never practiced law.
He was aide to General Burt when he laid out the track of the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel Railroad, then managed the railroad for a number of years.
He also was the Postmaster at what was named Reynolds for him, a milk stop on the railroad.
He was prominent in Democratic politics, and, according to his obituary in the Schaghticoke Sun on January 15, 1897, a “Gold man”, who attended the National Sound Money Convention in 1896.
William was a prominent local club man, in a couple of Masonic Lodges and the Clover Club in Mechanicville.
He was also a director of the First National Bank in Mechanicville.
TO BE CONTINUED ...