Canajoharie and Catskill Railroad

The Canajoharie and Catskill Rail Road (C&C) ran from Catskill, NY to Potter's Hollow, NY. Originally it was intended to extend the railroad to Canajoharie, New York.

Chartered in 1830,[1] it never achieved its intended goal of connecting its namesake villages.[2] A ground breaking ceremony was held in 1831,[1] but construction did not begin in earnest until 1836 when the route was surveyed by George H. Cook.[3] By the end of construction a total of 26¼ miles of track had been laid.[2]

The track consisted of wooden rails topped with strap iron.[2] The track generally followed Catskill Creek, and the communities served included Cairo and Leeds. The first trains, consisting of cars hauled by horses, ran in 1839.[2] The line's only locomotive, Mountaineer, began operation in 1840.[2] It was never very satisfactory.[1] The C&C carried both passengers and freight.[2] Commodities carried included iron, brick, wood, various agricultural products, and household goods including such items as candles, tea, salt, snuff and raisins.[2]

The railroad operated until 1842, when the High Rock covered bridge over Catskill Creek collapsed under the weight of the train, killing one Jehiel Tyler. This disaster is marked by a New York State historic plaque on Route 145, about two and half miles west of East Durham. Following the bridge collapse, the line collapsed financially and was sold and scrapped.[2]

Starting in Catskill, NY, known mileposts along the route are:
Mile - Description
26.05 - Rail Road Office
25.73 - First bridge over the Catskill Creek
25.23 - Second bridge over the Catskill Creek
23.93 - Paper Mill
23.03 - Third bridge over the Catskill Creek
22.78 - Lime kiln
22.25 - Henry M. Vedder's residence
21.43 - Toll Gate
20.83 - Wolcott's Mills (Montgomeryville).[4]
19.35 - Scotch Rock
19.18 - South Cairo
18.90 - Depot
18.63 - Opposite Mr. Blackmar's (Inn run owned by Elisha Blackmar built in 1816)[4]
17.65 - rock excavations
15.15 - Cairo
14.63 - Samuel Bennett's
14.00 - opposite Woodstock (Polulated Place in Cairo, NY).
13.60 - Road
12.73 - Bridge, 26 ft. over small stream
9.15 - Hay Press
8.23 - Winansville, now (East Durham)
7.58 - Hedges
6.09 - Bridge over Catskill Creek
5.40 - Bridge over Catskill Creek
4.80 - Opposite Tremain's tannery
4.50 - Mr. Stanard's
3.93 - Oak Hill Station
3.43 - Richardson's Mill
1.93 - Brown's Fulling Mill
.90 - Hands Tannery
.75 - Road to Potters Hollow
.49 - Cooksburg Depot
0 - 26 Chains north of Cooksburg Depot

The only known depiction of the railroad is Thomas Cole's River in the Catskills at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.[2]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 Beers, J.B.(1884). History of Greene County, New York, With Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men. New York, NY: J.B. Beers & Co.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Helmer, William F., (1999). Rip Van Winkle Railroads. Hensonville, NY: Black Dome Press. ISBN 1-883789-20-6.
  3. ↑ Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, Vol. I (1890) New York
  4. 1 2 History of Greene County, rootsweb.ancestry.com
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