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•
RAILROADS IN CANDOR
A History
of
Candor, New York
1
•
1 8 3 4 -1 9 5 7
by
' Donald F. Weber, Historian
and
Howard J. Scharf, Researcher
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Collection
Copyright 2015 by Donald F. Weber
II
INTODUCTION
"Railroads in Candor" first appeared
from December 2008 to July 2011 as a series
of columns in the Candor Statement, a monthly
newspaper published by Larry and Joan Beebe
Meddaugh of Candor, N.Y. The columns, here
with new headings , were based on previously
published material ( some sources credited in
the text ) and official records found (by
Howard J. Scharf ) in the Tioga County Clerk' s
Office.
Other sources :
Candor Courier: Weekly newspaper
Ithaca Journal : Daily newspaper
Palmer, Richard F. : I & O RR (The Inclined Planes )
ibid: (Old Puff—A Tempest in a Teapot)
Peirce & Hurd: History of Tioga Co. ,etal ( 1878)
Tioga Co. Gazette & Times : weekly newspaper
Weber, Donald F. : A Chronological History of Candor
New York (unpublished)
III
SALT PIONEERS A RAILROAD
The Ithaca & Owego Railroad ,(.I & O, et al.) that passed through the Town
of Candor had a long and interesting history. It was unique in a number of
ways. It was known as the second chartered railroad in New York State; when
it opened in 1834, it was the longest (29.6 miles). in the United States and
supposed to be the first to carry both freight and passengers.
It can easily be said that the I & O was the railroad that salt built.
In 1656 French Jesuits established a mission on "Onondaga Lake," but the
Indians proved too hostile and the good Fathers retreated. Decades (?)
later, Father Simon Le Moyne reestablished the outpost and "discovered" the
salt springs (the Indians had probably known of them for centuries) that
led to the development of Syracuse and its salt industry.
Salt was, of course, a vital commodity. Besides being essential for
human health, salt was used to preserve meat, especially pork, and animal
hides, that were used as rawhide and in the making of leather. But getting
the stuff to distant markets was slow and difficult.
It was discovered that a water route (mostly) was available along the
streams that drained the "Finger Lakes," especially "Cayuga Lake," whose
head or south end was thirty-odd miles from the "Susquehanna River" at
"Owego." Salt could be put on small barges equipped with tow lines and sails
and be floated to and "down" Cayuga Lake to "Ithaca. " There it was loaded
onto wagons or sleds and hauled by oxen and later horses and mules to
Owego over a rough trail that was gradually improved.
(We have a record from circa 1797-3 years after the first settlers
arrived in "Candor"—of one William Goodwin making the "first" trip over
this trail from Owego to Ithaca; he later lived in Ludlowville. . .Captain
Abel Hart who came to Candor in 1796 and built a one room house for his
family and later in 1808 or 09 built the present Masonic Lodge Hall as
an inn or " halfway house " also ". . .went to Ithaca to supply himself with
a barrel of salt, which he brought from that place on a cart, run on two
low wagon wheels, and drawn by oxen. The road was located upon an Indian •
trail all the way from the Susquehanna to Cayuga Lake. . .Ithaca. . .contained
but one frame house, and between that point and his [Hart' s] residence
[near the Masonic Hall] there were but few log cabins. . . " )
The "salt road" was gradually improved and in 1807 the Ithaca-Owego
Turnpike Company was chartered, and constructed a substantial highway.
". . .It was [to provide] a way to move the grain, lumber, salt, gypsum
[plaster] and other products of the north to southern markets in
Philadelphia, Baltimore and the world [ ! ] . "
1
The hauling of salt over the Turnpike increased dramatically and in
1810 Ithaca exported some 3500 barrels. The price at Ithaca was 20 shillings
( 1 shilling 12 cents) or $2.50per bbl. It cost another 6 shillings or $.75
to get it to Owego and 8 more—$1 .00-- to float it down to Baltimore where
it sold for $5/bbl or a profit of 75cents. (If the barrel was "standard"
i.e. 3.28 bushels, the salt would weigh about 200 pounds and wholesale for
about 2icents per pound. The retail price would probably have been about
5 cents per pound or one tenth of a day's wage of 50 cents. ) The salt was
In Baltimore the ark,I , which held
loaded on arks built in Owego g for $
250 bbls of salt, could be sold for about half its cost, making the total
return on one bark load of salt about $225. (Perhaps some of the older
buildings in Baltimore contain lumber from trees that grew in Candor. )
This lucrative trade was barely established when war with England in
1812 caused another commodity to be brought in large quantities down the
"salt road." This was "plaster," gypsum that had been coming to the states
by ship from Nova Scotia or processed limestone from central New York.
This greatly increased the traffic over the Turnpike and on the Susquehanna
for a couple of years. (It was reported that at times 600 to 800 teams a
day traveled from Ithaca to Owego. That would translate into 75 to 100
heavy wagons pulled by six or eight horses or mules. )
Even though the plaster trade declined after the war and sea shipments
of gypsum from Nova Scotia resumed, there was still a goodly traffic in
salt, lumber, wheat, flour,. (salt) pork, whiskey, etc. When short horse-
drawn railroads began to be built in the western U.S. and New England
(mining and quarrying purposes) , the merchants in Ithaca and Owego looked
to build a railroad to connect Cayuga Lake with the Susquehanna River. The
Turnpike had fallen into disrepair and the talk was that one horse could
pull the same weight on a railroad as six could on the ' Pike, even when it
was in good condition.
It was a tremendous undertaking, given that most of the 29-plus miles
would be through forest and, most importantly, the freight would have to
be raised about 600 feet up Ithaca' s South Hill to the end of the
railroad track! The latter would be accomplished by building two inclined
planes, a great engineering feat which worked more or less, but was an
inefficient bottleneck and was proven to be extremely dangerous for
passengers. Also it used up so much of the original $150, 000 in
capitalization that the stockholders asked for $150, 000 more and were
granted an extension from six years to eight years for completion. Finally,
in August of 1832, contracts for grading were let and building commenced.
2
LAYOUT & BUILDING BEGINS
The Ithaca & Owego Railroad right of way finally established,entered the
Town of Candor from the north, near the present intersection of White
Church Rd. and Coddington Rd. It then curved southward for about 3/4 mile,
following Willseyville Creek, straightened out for 2 miles just west of
south to Willseyville, crossing the creek twice. From there, it continued
due south for 3 miles to Gridleyville, crossing Willseyville Creek twice
more, and also Prospect Valley Brook. It then curved southeastward, crossing
the Catatonk Creek at Booth' s Bridge and straightened for 2 miles to Candor
Centre, (the "upper" of two settlements 3/4 mile apart that comprised the
"village" of Candor) , and crossed the Catatonk just north of Candor Corners
(the "lower" settlement) . The route then ran straight south-southeast for
3 miles, crossing the Catatonk twice more (near the northern end of the
present Kelsey Rd. and again just north of "South Candor, " now Hubbardtown) .
Curving southward, it crossed the Catatonk twice more within a mile, curved
southeastward and exited the Town a quarter mile south of the hamlet of
Catatunk (sic) P.O. , totaling about 12z miles within the Town.
The right of way was of course purchased from the landowners it crossed
and the payment varied. Most were paid $1 .00, but some received more,
probably due to damage to buildings, orchards, or other valuable trees, or
the inconvenience of having to cross the track to get to fields or pastures .
(Some examples: )
Jacob Willsey of Willseyville received $1 . each for 4 . 12 acres and 2. 28
acres, as did his sons, William and Warren Willsey who were located near
the present junction of Prospect Valley Rd. and Rte. 96B for 2.63 acres.
The Willseys were in the lumber business, among other enterprises, and
later sold large quantities of lumber to the railroad company and sent
thousands of board feet to Ithaca, where some no doubt resides today within
some of the older wooden buildings.
Stirling Barber (or perhaps Seth-404 Ithaca Rd. ; now Joe Huizinga)
received $25. for 1 . 79 acres. Orange T. Booth, a farmer (whose home was
adjacent to the RR on the Gridleyville Cross Rd. ) received $1 . for two
pieces totaling 9. 25 acres, the most acreage of any landowner listed. His
father, Orange F. Booth (Old Ithaca Rd. ) and older brother Lorin were in
the lumber business, having built a sawmill on the Catatonk a short
distance upstream from the now removed Foote Crossing bridge. They too
would benefit greatly from the railroad in marketing their wood products .
3
Harvey Potter (the Kellogg Farm-Side Hill Acres Goat Farm, 73-79
Spencer Rd. ) received $300.00 for 5.66 acres, which may have included some
buildings that had to be moved or torn down.
Joel Smith (301 Owego Rd.- presently Shirley Telford) , who had surveyed
part of the town-to-be for Watkins and Flint in 1793, received $125. for
4.0 acres. Caleb Hubbard of "South Candor," now Hubbardtown, received $180.
for 2.17 acres, which may have included some of his outbuildings or lumber
storage in connection with his sawmill at that place.
Nathaniel Sackett (5 Catatonk Lane—Shirley and Gary Hollenbeck's Feed
and Coal Yard) , who built an early sawmill at "Catatunk P.O. " (now Catatonk) ,
received $1 . for 3.08 acres. (He also stood to gain from the railroad going
right by his mill, allowing him to ship lumber to Owego for the Baltimore
via Susquehanna trade. (Gary's grandfather, Arthur Hollenbeck, later owned
this sawmill, that was probably one of the last in New York State and
perhaps the Northeast to be run by water power.
Jacob Willsey's diary (1831-1860) , as copied by Carol Willsey Bell from
the original in the possession of Gaylord Mead Willsey, ' is perhaps the only
first hand description we have of the early proceedings in the surveying
and construction of the I & 0. (There probably were articles published in
the Owego and Ithaca papers at the time, but we do not have access to them. )
The follwing are quotes and paraphrasings taken in chronological order from
Mr. Willsey's journal. )
1831 -J.W. noted in early October that a ". . .Mr. Leach came to survey
the R. Road. . .10/4—commenced surveying. . .10/5-10 men came to survey on
rail road. . .10/6-4 more came in the morning and Gaylord [one of J.W. ' s
sons] commenced with them. . . [appar.ently they finished their work near
Willseyville and on the 12th he noted: ] . . .Railroad men went down below
[to the south] . . ." (Some of these men were probably trained surveyors.
The others would have helped open up the lines-of-sight, put up markings,
etc. Most of them would probably have stayed at the local inns, including the
Willsey Tavern. Reportedly there were twenty-some of these along the
Ithaca-Owego Turnpike that catered to teamsters hauling goods on the APike
and other travelers. )
Gaylord Willsey continued to work at surveying and on 12/14 J.W. noted:
"Warren [another son] married this day to Julia Jennings of Danby. . . "
(Benjamin Jennings was one of three men appointed by the state to determine
damages to landowners for right of way. ) In mid-December J.W. noted:
" . . .Gaylord and Mr. Watkins commenced surveying the cross lines [where
property boundaries crossed the right of way] and boarded at home. . . "
4
Early in January 1832 the cross-line surveying team was working near
Woodbridge's (975 Owego Rd.—presently Thomas Cavataio) . "I /9 . . .Gaylord
finished surveying to Owego & came home at night. . . " (That would suggest
that G.W. had been boarding near their work site for a few days. We can
guess that these men reached their work location by horse y orse buggy or
light wagon or perhaps even on horseback. )
(Richard Palmer has recorded that, "contracts for grading the first
nine miles of the railroad were signed in February, 1832 and work
immediately started on the two [ inclined] planes [at Ithaca] . . . " By July
the clearing crews had reached the Willseyville vicinity and some of the
locals were working for the company. Trees had to be cut and stumps and
roots removed before the grading crews could do their work. )
(In mid-July things were not going well . The company was running out of
money because the inclined planes at Ithaca were proving very expensive
to build. Sound familiar? Never one to mince words, J.W. noted on 7/11 : )
". . .Rail road lags; meeting of directors at Ithaca, Pumpelly dissatisfied
[James Pumpelly, one of the instigators at Owego) . . .7/15—Sunday all hands
at home [meaning his sons and hired men] ; the rail road looks squally. . . "
(The inclined planes at Ithaca used up most of the original $150, 000.
of capitalization. The state loaned $150,000 . more and J.W. noted that a
fellow named: ) ". . .Randel arrived from the South; perhaps the rail will go
with more energy. . .7/19—all hands at the office [ location ?) , doing little
or nothing, looks like an extra ordinary expensive job to lay out a rail
road. Some Dandies that could not pitch a load of hay in 2 days are
tipping about and say they are under paid; If so, God bless the Co. for
all such fellows can do, will never make a r road. . . "
By the end of July work on the right of way was progressing. On the
27th J.W. says, "Gaylord finished opening the line of RR above [this was
a wet swampy area] and has gone below [ south of Willseyville] . . ."
Meanwhile, the Ithaca end was being completed from the pier on Cayuga
Lake,where barges were loaded or unloaded,to the foot of the inclined
planes. J.W. recorded that " . . .Wm went to Ithaca to move our lumber out
of the way of the R.R. . . "
In August J.W. mentions carrying " . . .rail road men to Hollertus [ 7] . . . "
(This was apparently possessive of somebody' s name that Ms. Bell couldn' t
decipher. Jacob apparently had a large passenger vehicle such as a surrey
and was hired to shuttle some of the men to their work sites. )
5
•
UNIQUE RAILWAY TAKES SHAPE
(About the only details we have concerning the building of the I & O RR
road bed are the comments Jacob Willsey recorded in his diary. On
Aug. 12, 1832 he says: ) ". . .RR Contractors on as thick as bed bugs, to take
jobs. . . [8/13] . . .Gaylord [Willsey] went to Ithaca to come down the line to
show them the line. . . [8/14] . . .contractors examining the line; G. Willsey
went to Owego at night [apparently to stay overnight] . . . [8/15] . . .all road
men [contractors, etc. ] towards Owego; The directors all went to Ithaca to
let out grading contracts. . . [8/16] . . .Engineers and all hands went to Ithaca
[where construction had begun] ; Gaylord went to the Summit level [a few miles
southeast of Ithaca where the road reached its P
highest point] with his hands
g
[perhaps to work on the numerous culverts required in that area] . . .Warren
[Willsey] to Ithaca with a load of railroad hands. . . [It would appear that
many of the out-of-town railroad men who worked on site, stayed at Willsey' s
inn, as it was more or less centrally located on the line. There were other
inns in or near Willseyville. There may have been a few beds for the bosses,
but most of the "hands" would have slept on the floor in the big upstairs
"sleeping room'common to the inns of that time, along with teamsters and
drovers who happened to join them off the Turnpike. As mentioned, the
Willseys probably had large rigs like shays and could haul a number of men
in either direction. Locally-hired workers would have stayed at home. ] . . .
[ 1 /10] . . .Judson [a RR man] examining stone quarry [on J.W. ' s land
apparrently] . . . [ 1 /14/33] . . .Randel [head engineer] at Smiths [ in Willseyville]
receiving proposals for land [for turnouts, etc. ] and materials for
Railroad. . . [ 1 /15—J.W. ] . . .put in proposals for land, timber clearing [a big
job] , fencing, etc. on Railroad. . . [2/4] . . .Went to look at Graham' s logs;
should buy them but have doubts of the railroad going on. . . [Willsey was
still skeptical about the whole project. He was especially leery of the
company paying its debts. ] . . .Green the railroad contractor has come back &
says he will pay what he owes & gone to work on the road; Mr. Adriance quit
the road. . . ( 11 /12] . . .Good weather; railroad men busily engaged. . . [11 /29] . . .
The Co. paid off the men, they had a drunking [sic] , fighting scrape; old
Stevens [inn owner] considerably hurt; Green gone & don' t return. . .
[ 12/8] . . .did [ finished?] 6 days work on the road yesterday and 11 before,
making 17 days this season [just J.W. ?] . . . [ 1 /2/1834] . . .Mr. Rood killed by
a [railroad] car at Lane' s hill [ location?] . . . [ 1 /7] . . .Mr. Mott killed on
the rail road near M. Merrels by having a load of timber turn over on him
[probably cross-ties or rail stringers, perhaps loaded on a set of "bob
sleds"] . . . [ 1 /9] . . .Mathew Obrine [O'Brien? ] killed on the R/road [he didn' t
say how] . . .
6
[ 1 /11-12] . . .Hands a framing ties at the store [perhaps cutting them to
length and auguring holes for the wooden pins that fastened the rail
stringers? Willsey' s "store" was probably housed in his large sawmill
building which also had living quarters for hired help. ] . . . [1 /14] . . .
commenced drawing stone [apparently from J.W. ' s quarry] for the rail road. . .
[ 1 /15-16] . . .drawing stone for RR. . . [ 1 /17] . . .warm, rainy weather; stopt
drawing stone. . . [2/12] . . .the railroad men all centering here; the business
[of building the r.r. ] looks squally [doubtful monetarily from J.W. ' s point
of view] . . .my stone job stopped after. hauling 156 loads; they are putting
in wooden bridges. . . [ 2/13-14] . . .driving [pushing it forward] the railroad. . .
[ 14th] . . .rail road hands worked all night. . . [2/17] ... .dashing on the rail road.
[2/18]. . .Got it laid to the Gate [referring to the Middle Gate on the
Turnpike which was at or near Willseyville] that cars can run from Ithaca to
the Gate. . . [2/20] . . .driving [pushing] on the R Road; the cars have been
drawing iron [the strap-iron rails] to the Gate some days. . ."
(In spite of Jacob Willsey' s doubts, the I & O was finished, more or less,
and in April the first train traveled over it from Ithaca to Owego. More
about that momentous event later. Now for some details of the general
construction. )
The I & 0 track. construction was much different than in later years.
Pits, two and one half feet in depth and three feet square were supposed to
be dug at eight-foot intervals and partially filled with broken stone. Then
larger flat stones (mostly from quarries such as Jacob Willsey's) were to
be placed to form the base for the 10" X 10" X 7A' oak sills (or ties) that
were laid crosswise every eight feet. Lt. Swift (Corps of Engineers) had
recommended that stone supports be used instead of crosspieces, but this
was not done owing to a lack of large stone. The sills were placed so as to
come within three inches of the grade surface. Then oak "sleepers" 6" X 12"
X 16' or 24' were laid, lengthwise of the track, six feet apart on centers
and fastened to the sills with wooden pins. (Likely, the sill foundations
were seldom done to specifications and the flat stones, if such were
available, were simply positioned in holes in the gravel fill, so as to
bring the top of the sills to the required height. ) Swift had recommended
a standard gauge of four feet eight and one half inches, but the broad,
six foot gauge was used (probably in anticipation of connecting to railroads
of that gauge being constructed in Pennsylvania) .
After the stringers were fastened to the crossties, fill was put around
and over the sills to the level of the grade, a covering of about 3 inches.
Thus about 3" of each sleeper was exposed, with its rail on top.
It was then ready for the horse or tandem horses to walk or trot between
the rails.
7
The rails were straps of rolled wrought iron 24 inches wide and 3/4" thick
(some said 5/8" ) . They were laid along the center of the "sleepers" and held
down with four-inch "screws," driven through oblong holes punched through
the straps every 18 inches. The ends of the 12' to 16 ' straps were cut
diagonally and laid close together. (The lack of "fish plates" to secure
these strap-ends was to create a big problem for many years. If such plates
were used, they would have had to be inlet by their thickness into the oak
stringers, which would have required a lot of chisel work and slowed the
construction considerably. )
Y )
There were no switches or sidings. "Turnouts" were constructed at
appropriate places. These were apparently widened areas of the road bed
where empty freight cars and passenger cars or coaches could be put aside _
to allow loaded freight cars free passage in the opposite direction. They
were no doubt placed where longer stretches of track were visible, so that
the relinquishers could reach a turnout well in advance of the close
approach of laden freight cars.
The carrying of passengers was to be something new in railroading,
England included. The Ithaca newspaper of July 10, 1833 showed that "a single
horse may convey from 25 to 60 persons on a railroad 40 miles in four and
a half hours." (In theory,,maybe; in reality, no way. ' A mean of 40 people
averaging 150 pounds would be three tons plus the weight of two freight cars
fitted with benches, about a half ton more. To go 40 miles in 42 hours
would require an average speed of 8.88 mph when moving over flat terrain.
A large horse might accomplish that, but the I & 0 was not flat, especially
from Owego to Ithaca, with an overall rise of about 200 feet. )
8
HORSE-DRAWN TRAINS
On April 7, 1834 the Ithaca & Owego Rail Road was finished enough that a
grand, official opening and first trip over its nearly thirty-mile length
took place. A train of "49" cars was in place at the Ithaca end of the track
on South Hill. (Apparently it consisted of 24 pairs of freight cars and one
single car, each pair to be drawn by two horses hitched in tandem. Four of
the "freight" cars were for passengers—reportedly 30 on each—and were
probably fitted with benches. ) The freight cars had been loaded with barrels
of salt and loose "plaster" (gypsum or limestone) the day before and hauled
up the (famous?) Inclined Planes to the end of the road. The passengers were
hauled up from Ithaca in coaches on the morning of the 7th (not adapted to
run on the track) and after the appropriate speeches were made the historic
train got underway about 9:30, some six years after the road was chartered.
(We can imagine the excitement, cheers by onlookers and joviality of the
group as the teams fell into their trotting stride and the train rumbled,
clanked, rattled and jingled along at 6 or 7 miles per hour. We have no
passenger list, but it wouldn' t surprise us if a few interested Owegoans
and Candorites were among the celebrants. )
Leaving Ithaca on about the 850 foot contour, the road climbed slightly
until, at the watershed, it reached the 1000 foot contour near "Brookton. "
From there the grade averaged slightly downhill all the way to Owego, except
for "The Hill" near Booth' s sawmill, (just upstream from the present
abandoned Foote Crossing) . No doubt people were gathered at points along the
route to cheer on the big event, especially, at places such as White Church
and Willse yv ille.
The settlement of Gridleyville, about two miles northwest of Candor
village, was later the horse-changing station on the road, as it was roughly
halfway between Ithaca and Owego. It was recorded that on this first trip
the horses were changed at "Smith' s Gate, " the Middle Gate on the Turnpike
located at or near Willseyville. (It is possible that some of the 50 or so
horses involved were rested and watered before moving on to Candor Centre,
Candor Corners, Hubbardtown, Catatonk and Owego. )
Nearing Owego, the tracks were only "temporarily laid, " however passengers
were assured that the track was safe, and would be made permanent without
interrupting the use of the road. The train was met a "few miles" out of
Owego by "four passenger cars" and escorted into the village. "Pandemonium
reigned, bells were rung and artillery discharged. " The passengers left the
cars at "one of the public houses" and were entertained with a "sumptuous
meal" and some speeches. "They returned to Ithaca in the afternoon. "
9
(Some writers have said that it took about three hours to complete this
first trip and that it was assumed that when the horses became accustomed to
the track the trip would take much less time. This is quite unrealistic.
Ordinary mid-weight horses trot at about 8 or 9 mph with a light load and
more like 6 or 7 with a few tons dragging behind. At an average of 72 mph
the thirty-mile trip would have taken about 4 hours, with no allowance for
stops or returning derailed cars to the track, something that happened
rather frequently. An average of six mph would be reasonable and that would
have put the gala entourage in Owego about 2:00 or 2:30 p.m. or in 5 hours.
The return trip would have been quite a bit shorter, without the freight
cars. Averaging about 8 mph would have put the returnees in Ithaca about
8:00 p.m. ,assuming they left Owego about 4 :00. )
(Oddly enough, Jacob Willsey didn' t even mention the big event for the
I & O. He might have been busy with spring farm work, but more likely he
still had no faith in the success of the enterprise. He was far more
concerned with getting his money for all the work he did and materials he
supplied for the construction of the road. In the end he received very
little if any cash from the RR Company. His few entries for the rest of
1834 tell some of the story. )
". . . [5/13/34] . . .went to Ithaca to settle with the RR Co. . . [5/28] . . .Green
has been out [here] , gave us a RR note for 30$. . . [ 6/5] . . .Went to Ithaca. . .
settled with RR Co. , took their note for 301 .61 . . . [12/27] . . .Snow fell so
that the carrs stopt on the rail road. . . " (There goes the supposed advantage
of railroads over canals and you can just hear J.W. saying, "I told you so. "
In the spring of 1835, he tried to get rid of the Railroad paper. )
. . . ( 5/18/35] . . .Let J B Bacon have 450.69 railroad notes [probably his
sons added to his collection] and am to have a deed to his store or the
rail road notes returned. . ." The outcome of this proposal illustrates the
complexity of some of J.W. 's deals. Here is his entry for Sept. 10, 1835: )
". . .Took a deed of H Smith for the Hatch place at 250 and a note against
H & B Clark for 86$ and 114$ in RR notes which squares off with JB Bacon •
in lieu of his store. " (Translated—as best we can—that says Bacon owned
the "Hatch place, " having acquired it from Smith, and "sold"it to Willsey
for $250. Bacon also held a note from the Clark' s for $86. , which he signed
over to Willsey. Bacon returned $114. of J.W. ' s Railroad notes, making a
total of $450. and kept his store! )
10
(As has been mentioned, the I & 0 was considered the first railroad in
the U.S. to carry passengers as well as freight. Alvin Merrill was a nine-
year old living in Caroline in 1835 and he began his long career as a
railroad man on the Ithaca & Owego "branch" by driving his father's horse,
Granny Young, riding bareback, to haul a flatcar loaded with gravel for
grading up Lane' s Hill—location? Years later he wrote an article entitled
"The First Passenger Railway in America," in which he gave some insight into
the operation of the horse-drawn I & 0. )
"The first passenger coaches were built almost like the old stage coach,
hung on leather springs and carried 12 passengers. The driver drove one
horse, sat on 'the boot ' [compartment on the front for baggage, parcels, etc. ]
and carried the mails. We changed horses at Smith's Gate [apparently the
Turnpike gate at Willseyville] , Owego, and Ithaca. Some part of the train
jumped off the track from one to eight times every trip. When we met freight
trains we took our coaches off the track; with the aid of the horses and
passengers. They helped us put the coaches back on the track. Time was of no
account then to passengers. I have seen many travelers on horseback ride up
to the coaches, mount them and lead their horses behind. . . "
ti,,{�, st .r Traip on Ithaca-0 e 1 - . i
„,, .,NY i t
A r ?r.�" 1" y, `t'_i r" fir:•� _A. ,y, 4..;P ,ist.J "1 a t,, 1. '.1i�y'.
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. 5 i`ut-' S V� lid Y_tt} h 5 Y l k S '11 6 ' ct
�i 1 Z y '�t S 7�t, i ;f r.< j �;, r f,,s.: � tii y:, ? -,? f1 �H ia,r, $ .oii.
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~ �t l r •ky' La r��M �0". a(1� 3 + , f.4'" J( r . w J
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�.wr�qw� 4 t*I3�a' ri kK'all Cyr ,"a�"',�'x x x. :° " � f
{i�,' ^rlfi4)iPf A•.t}� x} Y '"ru hd l'Ce"'222'y�4'..4ar ✓t Gi '-1
K"='. ` 1-4,: , w e ,,,.;40,k1:':. :A . .'F.F �'.gf,n t '
" . s 4 4 ifs"+°l c 1 LA::� y ,4, 5
;t. �,c.._:t, e?f,r' L•a '� +:. ..�a s e a� °,~�;.-.. ".
A hors-drawn passenger train on the Ithaca and Owego R.R.in 1834:•[ ?1
11
PIONEER RR SHOWS ITS FLAWS
When daily operations settled in on the horse-drawn I & 0 RR in 1834,
it soon became apparent that the railroad was very inefficient and had
a number of problems. Probably the most serious was the bottleneck of the
famous Inclined Planes at Ithaca. Salt, plaster (gypsum or limestone) ,
grain/flour, etc. were off-loaded from Cayuga Lake barges onto freight cars
and hauled the two miles to the foot of the Planes. There, two loaded cars
were drawn up the inclines provided there were two loaded cars of lumber
(mostly) to balance going down, controlled by blindfolded horses turning a
windlass at the top of the Planes. It took about 20 minutes to get the cars
to the top on the two inclines and it was remarked that it was a "lucky day"
when 25 cars were hauled up to the end of the track. Thus it would be about
11 :00 a.m. before the spaced out cars, coupled in pairs were ready for the
tandem teams of horses to be hitched up and the "train" set out for Owego.
Another serious hold-up was a "hill" near Booth' s Crossing (presently
Foote' s Crossing) . A high gravel bank along the west side of Catatonk Creek,
extending for several hundred feet toward Candor Centre, could not be cut
down the required 10 or 12 feet. Thus a rather steep incline rose from the
fill in the creek flats to near the top of this bank. Loaded freight cars
had to be uncoupled and drawn up the hill one at a time and sometimes it
was almost more than the two horses could do. (When the road was "finished"
in later times, horse shovels and much hand work tamed "the hill" somewhat.
The cut is visible today where Foote Crossing ends beyond the AA Farm
buildings. Brush has almost filled it but there is room for ATVs to pass. )
Another inefficiency was that no sidings were available for loaded
freight cars going north to be passed by those going south. Most of the
freight going north was lumber and these cars were most likely loaded and
pulled to Ithaca after the southbound freight passed the sawmills at
Willseyville and Booth' s. Since the bulk of the freight traffic was north
to south and many of the cars returning to Ithaca would be empty, they too
would move north from such turnouts as Gridleyville and Willseyville after
southbound freight was clear. Being empty, three cars could probably be
managed by two horses, even though the road was slightly upgrade from those
settlements. As Mr. Merrill related, passenger coaches had to give way
to freight cars in either direction.
The State recognized these problems and authorized another increase in
capitalization of $150 , 000. to $450,000 . , but by then investors were
12
reluctant to put any more money into the enterprise. It was becoming
painfully evident that the road wouldn't pay for itself, let alone pay the
interest on the debt. Finally the depression and panic of 1837 made it
impossible for the stockholders to maintain the road. In 1838 the State
Legislature granted a mortgage loan to the company ( sound familiar?) ,
apparently encouraging them to build a second track. Two hundred fifty
thousand dollars of Ithaca and Owego Rail-Road State Stock was to be issued
for every $500, 000. expended by the company in " . . .construction and
completion of a single line track of •railroad" and all "bridges, culverts,
viaducts and inclined planes [ ! ! ] which may be necessary for a double track
of railroad." The maximum allowed was $300, 000 . of which "$288,000. " was
"taken up." If the interest payments were not paid, the comptroller could
sell the Company at public auction with power to buy it in for the State.
The double track was never built and what the money was used for is not
clear. However, reference is made to ". . .Finishing The Road" in a bill
dated July 20, 1838. (The bill shows a steam locomotive but horses were
still used at that time. )
ITI-IACA AND W T 9G0
le t'" _ 1-
.
•
RAIL .,? "5.,-,-
• NEW ARRANGEMENT WHILE rINI,S IING THE ROAD.
I
. .h The train or Tt°:amiuoa'A:aBeoto (Hart aci99 iraiye UQGa peat, . ..,�
:. every afternoon(Sundays excepted) at 4, and •arrive at 6ridlcy's at $ o'clock, .,
P.M.; will leave Gridley's at 4, and arrive at Ithaca at s o'clock,A. M.; stop.
ping, both in going and returning,at llut e s Turnout,Whitcomh's and Wilsey's .r
Mills,to take in and discharge loading,and receive Cars that may he in readiness
to join the train. N
.; The traits of Traa>vttygsmn'daaliass Carson lite Owego end
of the Road,will leave Owego every afternoon(Sundays excepted)at 8,and arrive
' 6 will leave Gridlo 's at 4, and arrive in Owego tae"
at Gridley'e at H o'clock,P.R1.; Y � R �'�_.
at 7 o'clock,A. M.; stopping both going and returning at Jones'Cross Roads, rtro:,
Sacket's and Chidscy's Mills, at Candor Corners, and at Booth's Cross Roads to
take in and discharge loading, and to receive such cars as cony be in readiness to ro
join the train. P -
... No bsardeta•Ca' are permitted to liana ta)�ola the goad sy:.-
_ except such as are registered in the Secretary's Office in Ithaca,and have a Certif. _
' icate of Fitness from the Engineer; and a way-bill of loading must accompany r,
each car not belonging to the Company's Train,and toll paid at the Gates, at the .t,
- . rate of 3 cents per tun per mile. oc
DANIEL L. BISHOP, Secretary. ;fir;_
•. • l!'
ITHACA,July 20,1838.
Mack,Andrus 4.1Yoodrvr',Printers. LL I
1 I't'r JJ��** I } w.: I 9 E ��.
. „ l .►, lk/L h.C.l.l: '.L: . .:
13
The reader will recall that Jacob Willsey had no enthusiasm for the
project, perhaps because he knew some of the above problems would arise.
Also he knew that another problem would come with the winter snows and all
shipment of goods would stop, whereas the Turnpike could at least carry
commodities to either terminus via bobsleighs. J.W. made no mention of the
railroad from September 1835 when he " . . .sold [his] right to the East half
of the RR [probably some land adjacent to it] to L. Whitcomb for 50$. . ." to
December 17, 1837 when his entry read, ". . .Began to Snow, carrs stopped
running on the RR. . ."
Apparently things did improve to some degree asWillsey had quite a little
to say about the "RR" during 1838. Apparently the snow that "stopped the ,
carrs" in December ' 37 had gone off, as he noted on 1 /8/38, " . . .Gaylord
drawing lumber to Ithaca on the carrs." His further entries note successes
and failures.
" , . . [1 /28] . . .The stage for a week has run on the railroad; no mail Tuesday,
Wednesday nor Thursday, mails Fryday & Saturday by r road; Sunday runs again
on the Turnpike. [Apparently the wheels on some of the passenger coaches had
been adapted for use on the railroad and the Turnpike stage no longer ran
regularly. Mail delivery was very important to J.W. as the post office was
either in his house or in a building he owned. ] . . . [ 3/15] . . .Cars first run
through on railroad [all the way from Owego to Ithaca] . . . [ 3/19] . . .We have
had but two mails since the cars run on the R Road; one on Thursday and one
on Sunday; sent a mail today to. Ithaca; . .,. [ 3/20] . . .had a mail from Owego. ..
[ 3/21 ] . . .Sent one [mail] to Owego. . . [ 5/2] . . .went to Owego on the carrs [he
actually used them! ! ] . . . [ 8/10 ] . . .Warren at Danby training [to drive on RR] ;
the company repairing the railroad. . . [9/20] . . . [Warren] driving on the
rail road. . . [10/1 ] . . .I had trusted John Williams, a hand on the railroad
about 8 dollars; report is that he has cleared out and I lose it. . . [ 10/4 ] . . .
finished [repairing and refurbishing] the railroad from Ithaca to the Gate
[Willseyville?] . . ."
On April 6th, 1839 J.W. " . . .went to Ithaca, settled up [his] rail road
business, took 260$ in rail road stock and 235 cash and account [ ?] of 25 . . . "
(One wonders if the stock he received ever had any value. )
14
STEAM POWER BRINGS NEW PROBLEMS
In 1839 the Ithaca & Owego Railroad was operating,but revenues were not
enough to cover the cost of operation and pay the interest on its
indebtedness. The momentous arrival of a steam locomotive in 1840 was a
big change, hopefully for the better, but it brought new problems.
"Old Puff," as it was dubbed, was built in Albany and shipped to Ithaca
via the Erie Canal and Cayuga Lake. Let' s let Alvin Merrill ( 14 years old
at the time) tell the story of this radical change in early railroading.
"In 1840 the first steam locomotive came to our relief. It came by
canal, weighed seven tons, and was drawn up the [South] hill by the company
horses.
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"Old Puff", built in 1840, It was the first locomotive in this
part of the state.
One morning Superintendent Bishop said to us, 'Boys, put your teams back
and we will hitch up the engine and have some fun trying her out today.
Couple the cars together. . . ' . . .Our coupling was white oak scantling
[perhaps a 2 X 4 ) from three to 16 feet long, often much longer than the
cars, for the cars were only [ about] 12 feet long. . .There was no bonnet
on the smokestack and when we started out the fire flew up, we thought to
the sky. . .exciting. . .
15
" . . .What a sight for the country people. . .horses quit their quiet
grazing. . .cattle bellowed. . .took to their heels. . .We traveled very fast
then—five miles an hour [? a horse trots about 7 or 8 miles an hour] . . .
arrived at Lucky' s [ ?] . . . [took on] water at a boiling [vigorous] spring. . .
filled tender [with wood] . . .moved on for two miles slowly. . .steam. . .down
to nearly zero. Before we stopped again, while going that two miles, an
old gentleman jumped off the train and exclaimed, 'Go to h--1 with your
locomotion, and I' ll go on, for I'm in a hurry. ' We thought him a lunatic
for not having patience. . . [This sounds like one of those stories that grow
with the telling and doesn't fit the time frame. This was supposedly the
engine' s first trial run yet the "old gentleman" sounds like a paying
passenger. ] . . .
"We fired up and got to Willseyville, where we were stalled completely.
Superintendent Bishop sent me for a barrel of tar and I got it from Dolly,
Hurd & Whitcomb, local merchants. It was poured on our [probably unseasoned]
wood and soon had steam enough to take us to Gridleyville, our horse
changing station. We hitched on a big team and it hauled our engine and
tender back to Ithaca, where we arrived at midnight, and where the
locomotive was laid up for repairs and improvements for three months.
[One of these "improvements" was the installation of a "bonnet" on the
stack that held in more heat to generate steam. ]
"When the three months had passed she was in fine shape and trim. A
gala day was announced, a free ride was offered to all the world from
Ithaca to Owego and return. It was called a grand celebration, and such
it was. Our train of 16 flatcars stopped at every crossing for passengers.
We made the round trip under Conductor Hatch with only one accident;
John Haviland was crowded off or fell off the train and was killed. "
(It is hard to accept Mr. Merrill' s casual mention of so serious an
accident. It must not have been very "gala" after that. )
The Ithaca Chronicle reported that on July 6, 1840 the locomotive made
the trip from Ithaca to Owego with its passenger train in an hour and a
half, including all "stoppages . " The regular time was three and a half
hours. This would appear to be an error. It would be a good time for
getting to Gridley' s with no "stoppages. " The speed of the engine was
probably about 10-12 miles per hour at best.
According to legend, on some of the early trips, steam pressure was not
kept up and the train stalled. While the steam was being built up again,
passengers sat on the banks beside the track and played cards or picked
berries.
16
A N.Y.C. newspaper offered a, few other bits of folklore. ". . . [It was]
not uncommon to see a horse trader sitting on the last car holding the
halter, as the horse trotted along behind. . . [ If true this gives us a good
idea of the speed of the locomotive-8 or 9 miles per hour] . . .engines had
no whistles—engineer could let off steam as a warning. . .trains [would]
stop along the track anywhere, just stand by the track and wave. . . [The train]
often slowed to let the fireman jump off and chase chickens or other
livestock off the track. . ."
(Alvin Merrill tells about the same problem. )
"There were no fences along the railroad. The cattle and horses became
accustomed to the fire, smoke, steam and noise. . .They grazed on the track
jump the rails. . .hands were obliged every little distance to ju p off,
run ahead and drive them off the track. . .Conductor Hatch' s genius arose to
the necessities of the occasion. He secured an old banded flintlock musket
and a bag of dried peas. One of us train hands always sat on the front and
shot- peas at the cattle. . ."
The "Pioneer, " as the "improved" engine was named, was still "ori the
whole, poorly designed and cheaply constructed." There were numerous steam
leaks and steam built up slowly and took a lot of fuel to maintain. There
were two tenders, one with a large barrel for water and some wood capacity
and the other for wood. (A large woodshed built at Willseyville seemed to
indicate that the engine got rather poor mileage for the fuel burned. ) It
was said to have poor traction. and its maximum load was eight cars
"aggregating about 30 tons." The locomotive did replace 8 horses, but if
more than 8 cars (4 pairs) were required, the horses did the job. The least
bit of snow put the Pioneer out of business and horses were again employed
until the snow depth was too much for them.
Not surprisingly, Jacob Willsey had nothing to say in his diary about all
the transitory activity with steam engine and horses . He broke the silence
with his entry for December 16 , 1841 . " . . .A storm comences and held three
days; snow fell 18 inches deep, blow [was ] hard, timber falls [trees
uprooted] and snow drifts very bad; hard times for stages ; stopt running on
the rail road & [Erie] canal closed. . . "
All of this did not alter the road' s financial difficulties. An
official report to the state legislature showed an average operating
profit of $8961 . 87 per year during the first seven years of operation, not
enough to cover the interest on indebtedness . The I & 0 RR was looking at
practical and financial failure.
17
THE I&O FAILS-BECOMES THE C&S
The Ithaca & Owego Rail Road was in financial difficulty, caused in part
by the Panic (depression) of 1837 and mostly from lack of capacity and thus
revenues. In 1841 the company failed to pay the interest due the State of
New York and on May 20, 1842 the Comptroller sold the road at auction to
Archibald McIntyre of Albany. Mr. McIntyre was the Comptroller, but since
the state could not assume ownership, he acted as a private citizen.
(From the deed: ) " . . .made. . . [6/22/1842] . . .between The President &
Directors of the Ithaca & Owego Rail road Company. . .& Archibald McIntyre
of the City of Albany. . .in consideration of the sum of. . . [$13 , 500. ] . . .
current money to them. . . [the company] . . .paid. . .do grant, bargain & sell. . .
all the goods, implements, furniture & all other goods & chattels. . .in the
[ following] schedule. . .remaining & being on or about the said Ithaca &
Owego Rail Road. . ."
There followed a long list of items, including "One Locomotive Engine,
60 Burthen [freight] cars including tender & wood cars, 2 Pleasure Cars
[passenger coaches?] . . ." Also included were the two long, heavy ropes from
the Inclined Planes (apparently replaced with steel cables) , weigh scales,
parts of cars and special tools for the locomotive and cars, numerous hand
tools, metal stock and blacksmith tools, etc. , etc. , even a piece of sail
cloth, presumably left over from the sailing barge days. Oddly no horses
were mentioned except the four that worked at the "wheel" at the head of
the lower Inclined Plane. (Perhaps the horses that pulled the cars were
hired. ) Of course the right-of-way, land titles, maps and surveys were
included, even the fences were 'mentioned.
Then on June 6, 1843 McIntyre deeded the railroad property to the
Cayuga and Susquehanah (sic) Rail Road company for $13, 500. Although it
is not mentioned in the deed, it is certain that the C & S assumed the
debt to the state. A list of stockholders in the C & S included George W.
Scranton, William E. Dodge and members of Phelps Dodge & Co. These men were
organized as the Liggett' s Gap Railroad and were building a railroad from
their anthracite coal mines to Wilkes-Barre, Penna, where they expected to
link up with the Erie Railroad. The plan was, obviously, to connect with
the C & S when the Erie reached Owego. Coal then could reach all of central
New York via Cayuga Lake and the Erie Canal.
The C & S set about repairing and improving the road. The horse-propelled
windlass (at the Inclined Planes) was replaced with a stationary steam
engine. Additional crossties (sills) were added under the strap-rail supports .
Some say that "Ol-d Puff" aka "Pioneer" was replaced with a heavier, more
efficient locomotive that could haul a longer, heavier train, but heavier
trains were to spell trouble.
18
LeRoy Kingman, in his book Early Owego, relates that ". . .in 1844
a Whig mass meeting was held in Ithaca. That day a load of Owego Whigs rode
over to Ithaca on the train to attend the meeting. At Candor the track was
so slippery with oil that the locomotive could not proceed until the rails
had been covered with sand. The story went abroad that the Democrats had
greased the track, but it afterward appeared that the trouble had been
caused by a leaky barrel of oil."
(Mr. Kingman gives us another interesting anecdote from that time. )
"The same day [as above] Philip Mosher. . .drove over to Ithaca on the
railroad track with his horse and the old passenger coach. In returning he
became tired of waiting for the train to leave, and swore that if it did not
start within ten minutes he would go on ahead of it with the coach, and he
did. He had hardly got out of sight when the train started. Some idea of the
speed of the train can be gathered from the fact that after Mr. Mosher had
reached the Half Way House [Gridley' s?] and had stopped to water his horse,
the locomotive came in sight just as he drove on. While the iron horse took
water Mr. Mosher obtained another good start. When he drove into [Owego] the
train was [not far] behind him. . He made the trip in a few minutes more than
three hours." (That would be an average speed of 9-10 mph, which a lanky
horse in good condition could do, especially since the road was slightly
downhill most of the way. )
With the use of the heavier "Pioneer" and heavier loads on the freight
cars, the inadequacies of the iron-strap-on-wood rails began to show. They
simply began to wear out and they had a serious defect. Kingman says,
" . . .having been in use for some time the screw heads [that held the iron
straps down] were apt to break off [especially near the joints] and the
pointed ends of the rails, or ' snake heads ' as they were called, would
spring up from the track and remain up. [This was caused by the weight on
the wheels tending to curl the straps as the wooden support bowed slightly
downward. ] The result was that serious injuries to passengers were caused
by the snake heads tearing through the floor of the passenger coaches. . . "
(This may have been an exaggeration. Alvin Merrill, who is quoted below on
the same subject, did not mention such severe happenings. )
"In 1845 I was appointed repairer of road on a five-mile section, from
Puddleville [ ?] to Smith' s Gate [Willseyville?] . My main duty was to follow
the locomotive and spike down ' snake heads ' and put in new ' ribbons ' [ the
long planks that held the rails ] wherever needed. Snake heads were the ends
of three quarter inch thick iron strap rail, turned up by the weight of the
locomotive. The ' ribbons? were made of oak, fastened with a wooden plug
19
three feet apart, one on a tie. . ." (This would indicate that two additional
crossties were put under the rail supports between the original crossties or
sills which were eight feet apart. )
All of this did not lessen the impact of the heavier equipment on the
aging, primitive structure of the road. It is said that one John Aldrich,
who had acted as engineer for some time, became apprehensive about the
strength of the bridges. His concerns were discounted and he refused to
take the train out. On the evening of May 21 , 1847, the train was chugging
north when the bridge on the Woodbridge farm (Tom Cavataio}near Double
Aught Lumber) gave way and the engine and tender plunged into the Catatonk
Creek, killing the engineer (actually the conductor) and fireman.
The Owego Gazette reported on May 28, 1847:
"We are pained to record a fatal accident which occured on Friday evening
last, about 6 o'clock while the locomotive and train was on her passage from
this place to Ithaca. The engine broke through a bridge about six miles
from here, called 'Woodbridges' and instantly killed D.C. Hatch, of this
village, engineer; and A. Dickinson [Willsey said Dikeman] , of Danby,
fireman. The bridge has been for some time in a tottering condition.
Mr. Hatch was on his last trip that he intended to go over the road. The
remains of Mr. H. were taken to Flemingville on Sunday for internment [sic] .
Mr. Dickinson [age 22 ] leaves a wife and two children to mourn his loss.
Mr. H. leaves a wife. "
Accounts vary, but it seems the engine rolled to one side a few feet,
while the tender fell straight down. In any event, both men were apparently
crushed. Samuel Parker of Ithaca recalled that the engine lay in the creek
for three weeks before it was taken apart, lifted up and put back on the
track. Alvin Merrill said, "We brought her to Ithaca and returned to
horsepower again." The ill-fated locomotive was never again used to haul
trains on the C & S. The annual report for 1847 recorded the engine as
"not in use" and listed 40 horses as locomotive power with 5 passenger cars
and 55 freight cars.
The accident spurred action by the state legislature. The iron-strap
rails were outlawed and railroads using them (there couldn' t have been many)
were required to re-lay with 56 lb. ( ?) rail. (Merrill said,after the Pioneer
had been taken back to Ithaca, ) " . . .Soon after I was hauling ties and iron
for the new T rail [similar to modern] , with my own team. " Thus a major
rebuilding of the old "I & 0" railroad got underway.
20
COAL TURNS THE TIDE OF COMMERCE
In 1848 the Ithaca to Owego railroad was under the management of the
Cayuga and Susquehanna (present spelling) Railroad Co. and was being
extensively repaired and rebuilt with more/ crossties, T-rails (actually
installed upside down) , and heavier culverts and bridges. A major
improvement was the construction of five miles of "switchbacks" at Ithaca
to replace the impractical Inclined Planes. Also, switches had been
invented, allowing cars to be put on sidings for loading and unloading
and trains to bypass each other enroute.
By the Fall of 1849 the "new" road was nearing completion and Jacob
Willse Y noted on October 10th that, " . . .The railroad goes on pretty rapid. . .
4th . . .goes on very well. . ." On the 18th of December he ". . .attended
[the 1 ] . . g y
celebration of the R Road [opening] . . . (It was reported that J.W. spoke
at the festivities! Obviously he could see the worth of the vast improve-
ments.)
The designs of locomotives had also been greatly improved in the interim
and when the Erie R.R. reached Owego a new engine was brought to the line.
Some say it was named the "G.W. Scranton" after the general agent of the
Leggett's Gap Rail Road Co. and principal stockholder in the C & S. Others
said it was called the "R.W. Humphrey" after the superintendent of the
"new" road. There is an indication' that t wo• locomotives were in service
•. l . } 6I,'7:4::t t1U u �r kgi •t) . tl}'7 t,- ( `+ • . )771
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The "Scranton" and/or "Humphrey" may have been similar to this
engine, built in Manchester, N.H. ,given that rebuilding the C & S was
done by contractors Jones & Stearns and a crew of about 80 from N.H.
21
(Old Puff the pioneer or Pioneer was reportedly put on a raft at Owego and
floated down to Pittston, PA where it was refitted for use in constructing
the Leggett's Gap line from Scranton to Great Bend where it would connect
with the Erie, which in turn was on its way to Owego. The Pioneer appeared
on an 1854 list of Locomotive Engines owned by the Delaware, Lackawana &
Western R.R. in the "fourth class" category as "worthless. " It had been
used as a construction engine for four years and seven months and was then
relegated to pumping water from a new well at Scranton.)
Legend has it that the first "free" run over the new road was plagued
by the same problem as the very first promotional run that gave everybody
a free ride from Ithaca to Owego on the I & O. The tender didn't hold
enough wood to take the train to. Owego. Somewhere along the line passengers
and bystanders helped saw up some of the old crossties and "filled the
tender to overflowing."
In time the C & S settled into the much more efficient transport of
freight (much of which was lumber) and passengers, who could now travel by
rail, stage and boat to far and exotic places.
The clearing of the land was accelerating as the population increased
and the output of Candor' s sawmills increased as well. The new railroad
was busy getting the resultant wood products to market. In February 1850
Jacob Willsey was ". . .counting & drawing [White' s lumber—custom sawed by
J.W.?] to RailRoad. . . [and on March 1st] . . .finished counting lumber &
drawing to R.R. . . " Some of the mills were converting to steam power which
meant year-round production.
With the improved locomotive and track, the speed of the trains picked
up and consequently accidents became more likely. Apparently there were
still some bumpy places on the line (probably where fill had settled or
track joints didn' t quite match) . Alvin Merrill, who was "baggage master"
related, ". . .I had an accident occasionally when the car bounded off the
tracks but was not hurt much. . ." Livestock was at greater risk and
Jacob Willsey recorded on May 14th, 1850 that ". . .the cars killed 2 oxen
for Warren [Willsey] , worth 80$. . ." The new road also became more vulnerable
to the elements. On the 18th and 19th of July 1850, heavy rains swept the
area and Willsey reported, " . . .morning of the 20th; water very high. It
swept off bridges, mill dams, fences, crops & everything that obstructed
its course; the damage [was] immense, both to the inhabitants & RR Co. . . "
22
It must have been a big treat for Candor folks to be able to ride the
train to Ithaca or Owego. Of course it worked the other way too, as shown
in Willsey's diary entry for July 30, 1850. ". . .SMO [son-in-law Osgood who
lived in Ithaca] visited us this morning by the carrs. . . " Then as now,
traveling had its hazards, as J.W. noted in 1851 . ". . .Esqr Barager [Samuel—
school teacher, supervisor, member of the state assembly, justice of the
peace, and father of Charles Barager who later built the Candor (Horse)
Blanket Factory] lost his pocket book with 250 dollars in it on the cars
going to Owego. . ."
Hotels were beginning to be built in Candor to accommodate visitors
and travelers. The first one seems to have been the "American Hotel, "
located near the intersection of the old Turnpike (Route 96 ) and the
present Main St. at what was called Candor Corners, the lower of Candor
village's two settlements. It appears that there was no train station as
such for some years after 1850 (1864) but apparently some sort of shelter
was built at both Candor Corners (near Quick-Crete off Delray Ave. ) and
at Candor Centre ("upper end"Il off the present Smith St. , where visitors
could be picked up by their hosts or liveries could meet the trains for
possible hotel patrons.
An industry that the railroad brought to Candor and many other upstate
towns was the tanning of leather, an essential commodity used in the
manufacture of footwear and especially horse harness. The forests of the
region held a great many hemlock trees and hemlock bark was rich in tannin
and was basically a waste product of the lumber industry. Enter the railroad,
on which raw skins could be shipped from slaughter houses and hide buyers
to hundreds of small tanneries located where the bark was cheap to get.
The first tannery of commercial size was probably built by Hiram Smith
who owned the "upper" dam and millpond around 1850. Bark was easily obtained
and the water for the tanning, washing and leaching vats was taken from
Catatonk Creek. The leather not used locally was shipped out to markets
near or far. (Eventually there were two tanneries in Candor—again upper.
and lower—and one at Catatonk. )
A large proportion of the traffic over the C & S in the early 1850s
was of course the anthracite coal that Phelps Dodge, G.W. Scranton, et al,
dug out of the Pennsyvania mountains. It was literally a turning of the
tide of. commerce that saw hundreds of wagons loaded with salt and plaster
turning to hundreds of cars of coal going in the opposite direction. At
Ithaca the coal was loaded into barges that took it to central New York.
23
REBUILT C&S & CANDOR PROSPER
In the mid-1800s, Candor was growing apace. The Commissioners of
Highways laid out two new village streets, i.e. the present Foundry St. and
Church St. These were connected by "Railroad St: (Delray Ave. ) on the west
and the old Turnpike (Rte 96—Owego St. ) on the east. There seems to have
been a street laid out just south of the Methodist Church which lined up
with "Humiston St. ," but apparently was never developed as Humiston was.
A new hotel was built at the "upper end" in 1851 , as indicated by a
resolution at the Town Meeting that year to hold the 1852 Town Meeting at
the Candor Centre Hotel (1 -5 Spencer Ave.—former restaurant) . The Candor
Centre "train station" (most likely a rough shelter) would have been nearby,
just off the bend in the present Smith St. In fact the hotel was built by
Hiram Smith.
More and more land was being cleared, and lumber, chiefly hemlock, pine,
chestnut, and oak, was being used to construct houses in the studded wall
style, rather than the post and beam and overlapping plank construction of
earlier. Thanks to the railroad, the local economy was bolstered by the
shipping out of wood products such as hemlock shingles and clapboard siding.
The cleared land was -supporting increasing numbers of sheep and the wool
industry was growing, much to the benefit of sheep farmers. A large wooden
store building was built at Candor Centre on the corner of the present
Mill St. and Spencer Ave. by Jerome Thompson who came from Catherine
(MOntour Falls) and partnered with his brother-in-law John W. McCarty. The
firm was to ship out tons of raw wool for more than 50 years.
The Candor Iron Works, built on the new "Foundry St. , " was "wooding"
various farm implements, such as plows that were cast at Montrose, Penna.
About 1854 the company erected a "cupola and started making castings of
all kinds." The required "pig iron" would have come in by rail and finished
goods that didn' t sell locally were shipped out.
On January 1 , 1855 the Cayuga & Susquehanah (sic) Rail Road Co. leased
the Ithaca to Owego line to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Rail Road
Company. The initial lease was for 45 years at an annual rent of $70,000. ,
payable semiannually. For one dollar, the C & S sold all the " . . .Rolling
Stock, Locomotives, passenger and freight cars, Steamboats and All other
personal property. . . " Also, the DL & W was to " . . .have the Right during the
Continuance of said Lease to mine and vend [sell] Coal to its own use
from the lands Now belonging to the [C&S] situate in the County of Luzerne
and State of Pennsylvania, without making any payment therefor. . . [to the
C&S] . . .except the said annual rent. . ."
24
There were two mortgages (to secure bonds) against the C&S; one for
$300,000. and the other for $100,000. and also an unsecured mortgage of
$100,000. Obviously these debts were to be paid off from the rent and the
DL&W retained the right to apply the rent to them if the C&S didn't.
(James Archibald of Carbondale, PA and William R. Humphrey of Ithaca
appraised the 'Superstructure" of the C&S and while the list contains little
pertaining to the Town of Candor, it is quite interesting. )
"Trestleing used for Dumping Coal & Loading Boats at Ithaca-600 ft. $1200. ;
3438 tons of Rails @ $55 per gross ton on line is $189, 090. Less: 71 tons
worn out Rails @ $35. 2485. Less: 388 tons partly worn [rails] @ 27.50
[net value] 175935. ; 347092 lbs. of chairs [heavy plates with holes for the
spikes that held the track/rails to the ties] at 2 cts (1 of 1ct per pound
allowed for depreciation) 6941 . ; 188750 lbs of spikes at 4cts 7550. ; Castings
and rigging for 31 Switches 2000. ; Cross ties on 37 35/100 miles 77387 at
10cts 7738.70; 2143 feet small Bridges @ $4 per foot 8572. ; 296 feet
Trestleing at Coddingtons 500. ; 528 feet do At Turners Bridge across Owego
Creek near Owego 528. ; 1200 ft Truss Bridges [open framed] @ 5. per foot 6000
Brick Store on Owego Street Ithaca 261 ft front 1200. ; One Hotel, One Eating
Saloon, One ware house & large Stable all at Cayuga Bridge [near the north
end of the lake?] 1800. ; Buildings at Ithaca, one frame dwelling House,
Store House & Woodshed at old Steam Boat Landing $500. Small warehouse 15X20
for ground Plaster [gypsum or limestone] 30. 530. ; One Car House 200 X 36
feet 2000. ; One Wood Shed 360 X 24 feet 1800 . ; One Pass[enger] & Freight
Depot 132 X 24 ft. 3000. ; One Depot at upper Switch [top of the switchbacks?
60 X 30 ft. 1800. ; One Engine House 100 X 100 feet; one Repair Shop 120 X 50
connected therewith. and Blacksmith Shop do 50 X 30 ft. 8500. ; Building for
Coal Office 50. ; 2 Water Tanks + 160 rod [2640 ft. ] 1 in. [lead?] Pipe 600. ;
One Turn Table [for turning locomotives] ? 600. ; 1 Water Station at ?
Depot & about 20 Rods Lead pipe [ 330 ft. ] 375. ; 1 Water Station at Willseyviih
20 X 20 feet and 200 Rods [3300 ft. ] do 1200 . ; Wood Shed at Willseyville
200 X 60 ft. 400. ; Water Station at Tinkhams [location?] 400. ; Engine House
at Owego about 60 X 30 ft. 350. ; Total Amount $241 ,439.70 [we get 240519 .70]
(As mentioned before, no buildings were listed for Candor, so the upper
and lower "stations" were probably put up by local businesses. )
25
•
When coal reached Candor a new business was born, that of storing and
selling the new commodity. At first there probably were only a couple of
sizes. The first coal shed may have been built around 1855, possibly by
Henry Heath, whose descendents ran the business well into the 1900s. It was
located just south of the intersection of present Stowell Ave. and Main St.
and was a low tech arrangement. The loaded coal cars were drawn up into the
elevated shed with a cable attached to a windlass powered probably by one
heavy horse. (The horse was hitched to the long lever seen at the right in
the illustration. ) The coal was then unloaded by gravity into bins at
ground level. Delivery wagons were drawn through the leanto (roof seen at
right) , where the coal was loaded and weighed on a wagon scales.__
j
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1
The use of coal for fuel to replace wood would have been a gradual process
as stoves were redesigned and furnaces arrived on the scene. Also steam
boilers had to be redesigned to utilize the new fuel.
(Jacob Willsey made no comments on the railroad for over three years. On
12/4/1854 he noted, " . . .Snow 2 ft deep and very drifted. . . (and the next day] . .
Breaking open the roads; cars ploughed through on the railroad. . ." This
sounds as though some sort of snow plow was attached to the front of the
locomotive. ) '
On June 20, 1855 Willsey recorded ". . .Quite a wet time. The railroad
washed away at Ithaca so that cars couldn' t run for 3 or 4 days. . . "
On August 5, 1856 J.W. recorded a sad occurrence. " . . .Sam! [Samuel)
Williams a hand on the R Road was killed at Candor Center while coupling
the cars together. . ."
26
The Owego Times reported the tragic incident under the heading,
"Melancholy and Fatal Accident—On the 5th inst. some lumber cars were being
-- annexed to the train on the Cayuga and Susquehanna R.R. at Candor. One of the
brakemen, Samuel Williams, of Ithaca, was in the act of coupling two cars,
when a piece of lumber with which they were loaded extended some length
farther than usual; this struck him on the side of the. head, and to avoid it
he suddenly stooped down, and his head was caught between the timbers that
support the coupling iron, crushing his forehead to pieces and producing
instant death. Mr. Williams was highly esteemed by all who knew him. He had
been in the employ of this railroad company for the past 17 years. We do not
know what family, if any, he has left to mourn his untimely end."
On November 19, 1856, Willsey recorded another, more gruesome, incident
involving death on the railroad.
. . .A man by the name of Miles, about 49 years old, and of rather intemperanc
habit, was found in the morning all smashed up by the cars, so that he could
hardly be recognized but for his clothes. It is supposed he was drunk & fell
down on RR & stunned himself so he could not get up, but before the cars
came along, about 8 `O' clk PM; the evening was dark & the man was not
discovered by the Engineer at all. . ."
•
27
RR BENEFITS BUSINESS & AGRICULTURE
It has been said that railroads built this country and it could be said
that the I & O Railroad et al. built Candor. Following the rebuilding of the
C & S and the leasing of the road to the D L & W, Candor became a growing,
thriving ivin community.
However, the economics of the town depended heavily on agriculture, both
as a business and especially as a means of subsistence. Ever the pragmatist,
Jacob Willsey recorded examples of those times when nature dictates and man
copes as best he can.
". . . [4/20/1857] . . .snow fell 20 inches deep; hay scarce, cattle suffering,
money scarce. RR don' t pay for wood [firewood for the locomotives] ;
hard times. . ."
(Again o n J une 17t h ) ". . .Had a very heavy rain [cloudburst] , raised
•.
streams very high, swept all the mill dams [see below] and Fullers Mill
[location ?] and all the bridges in the neighborhood which is a great
destruction of property. Ithaca suffered very much, it flooded through the
whole village, took off all their mill dams, bridges and many buildings,
filled their cellars with mud and water, did much damage which they estimate
between 250,000 and 500,000 dollars damage. & three men drowned. . ." (He
doesn't mention the railroad in particular, but it must have suffered a
good deal of damage. )
*(Here might be a good place to describe the construction of mill dams
at that time and why they were so vulnerable in floods. These dams were
built at the downstream end of a fairly flat reach of streambed so as to
create as large a pond as possible. A series of cribs were built across the
stream, using small logs the men could handle. These were filled with stones
from the streambed or nearby fields. Then smaller logs and poles were placed
along the upstream side of the dam at an angle and anchored at the bottom
with more stones. It was not meant to be a tight barrier. Its purpose was
to raise the water level a few inches and divert the water flow to a flume
or race where the undershot waterwheel was located and attached to the
mill. It is easy to see how a heavy flood of water could "sweep" the whole
affair away or at least part of it and even threaten the mill as recorded
by Mr. Willsey. )
In 1858 Cyrenus Elmendorf reportedly bought the foundry and in the name
of S. Horton & Co. (?) manufactured stoves and agricultural machinery. Also
Mr. Elmendorf partnered with John Sackett (lower gristmill) to build the
Candor Humboldt Tannery just
downstream from Sackett' s gristmill and
operated as C. Elmendorf & Co. It had the capacity of turning out
28
•
25,000 hides per annum, contained 120 vats, 4 leaches (?) and
employed 30 men. More business for the DL&W. Eventually this tannery was
using "five thousand cords of bark a year, representing 28,000 trees
[mostly hemlock] . . ."
One of the most important benefits for merchants like Jacob Willseylof
having a railroad connection to such places as New York City)was the great
reduction in the time it took for goods to travel from NYC to Willseyville
for example. Going back to 1839 we can get a good idea of the procedure
before the railroad was a practical reality.
On the 1st of November 1839, J.W. ". . .sent a bill [order—via stage coach
we suppose] for goods to Field and Thompson [in NYC we suppose] and 200$ in
a letter. . ." Three weeks later on the 22nd he says, ". . .My dry goods has
got to Ithaca; cold, frozen weather. . ." On the 23rd J.W. , or someone for
him, went to Ithaca (he didn't say how) and ". . .got our goods. . .the canal
[Erie] closed. . . [close call!—on the 26th: ] . . .weather colder, canal keeps
closed. . ."
Obviously his goods were shipped by boat up the Hudson River and via
the Mohawk River to. the Erie Canal and down Cayuga Lake, taking 3 weeks
from the time he sent his order on the stage. Incidentally, he noted on
December 13, ". . .Moderate weather for the season; the canal opened again
and the boats that froze in have all got to their places of destination. . ."
(One supposes that had their boat become frozen in, the Willseys would
have had to make a long trip with wagon or sleigh to get their goods off
the boat. )
The railroad not only obviated that long, slow trip; it also cut the
time to perhaps 5 or 6 days for the order to go down and the goods to come
back. Back on October 30th, J.W. recorded that he " . . .had [previously] sent
one hundred dollars to H. Wyckoff in New York, which balanced my old account,
and got some molasses, box of sugar and chest of tea which leaves due him
eighty dollars." (He doesn't say if those items came with the order from
Field and Thompson, but quite possibly they did. )
In the spring of. 1858, the Willseyville Baptist Meeting House (as they
called it), that had been built in the Fall of 1839, needed painting so
J.W. ". . .sent to N York by B. Sanford [and] got 401 gal. [1 barrel] . oil
[linseed] & 200 lb. white lead, cost 45$ [about $1 .00 per gal. of mixed
paint—probably donated by Willsey who was a founder and stalwart member
of the church] , and N. Ferris commenced painting the Baptist meeting
house [outside] 2 coats for $10.00 [about one dollar a day] . . ."
29
1
The operation of the railroad continued to be hazardous to the
workers, the free-roaming livestock and combustibles near the road.
Toward the end of his life, Jacob Willsey' s diary entries were quite sparse.
On the 11th of July 1859 he recorded, "Morgan Whites Mill [sawmill] burnt
by fire from the cars [locomotive spewing sparks apparently] . . .He estimates
his loss 3000$. . . [In August] . . .Warren had 4 cows killed & one ox by the
cars. . . ," (Uncharacteristicly he did not give a value for them. )
By 1860, some 90,000 tons of coal per year were being shipped from
Pennsylvania mines to Owego and then Ithaca and on by barge to
Central New York.
The town produced in 1864: 3423 bushels of winter wheat (planted in the
late summer) , 44,616 bushels of oats, 40734 bu. of potatos, 1600 pounds
of hops, 26,693 bushels of apples, 24,724 pounds of butter. How much of
that produce was used locally and how much was shipped out by rail is
unknown.
The big event of 1864 was the building of a proper train station about
halfway between the two Candors. An Owego paper ran a small item taken from
the Binghamton Republican.
". . .The D.L.&W. R R Co. have recently [before December] completed a new
depot at Candor, Tioga county, securing the people of Candor, Candor Corners, 1
and Candor Centre, a freight agent, freight and passenger depot and a
telegraph office. This station now takes the place of the old depots at
Candor Corners and Candor Centre. The mew depot is about midway between the
old depots and is about 11 miles from Owego. . ."
r ti ; 11. ti 7y
rf fr. r4 �It �t f ap ci1 i j •I 1 �I iii
I I,1 • F ,-� ,PtIY Al I f r i ___ if, _.. CN �.•,,,, �rc.,,
>3 . �• n.'.
.. %
(The old depot was one year shy of 100 when it was torn down in 1963
to make way for the Tioga State Bank building and parking lot. )
30
The 1865 census showed that Candor's population had grown to
4103 people; 2046 milch cows ( 1 cow for every 2 people) ; 910 horses,
2 years old and older, and 7822 sheep (almost 2 sheep for every person) .
Agriculture was shifting from predominately sheep farming to more and
more dairy farming. The excess cream was being made into butter in farm
homes and in several small creameries. Some of the skim milk that was not
fed to livestock or poultry was made into cheese. Both excess butter and
cheese were shipped to outside markets on the railroad. As the cities and
larger towns grew, the demand for these basic dairy products made dairy
farming a growing industry in the town of Candor.
31
RAIL DEPENDENT ENTERPRISES
• We have little information about the effects the Civil War had on Candor.
We do know that a number of Candor men enlisted under the first call for
troops, May 21 , 1861 , including Charles Barager (later built the Blanket
Factory) who was chosen first lieutenant of Co.K, assigned to the 26th
N.Y. Volunteers. Barager resigned that post after a few months and returned
to Candor where he raised Co.H, 137th Regiment and again some Candorites
joined him. They mustered at Binghamton, no doubt riding the Lackawana to
Owego and the Erie to Binghamton. The town records list 51 men who received
( incentive—$600. ) bonds under the last call for 500, 000 men September 5, 1864 .
We have no record of where they mustered and trained, but they no doubt rode
trains to get there.
Following the war, in 1867, it was reported that much building was going
on, ". . .the two Candors coming together. There were 6 or 7 houses [built] on
the unnamed street back of the depot [some called it Railroad St.—now it is
Stowell Ave. ] . Look in any direction; buildings were going up. The old
prejudices and jealousies, if any left, will be forever swept away. . . " (This
referred to the many years of not-so-friendly rivalry between Candor Center—
the "upper end"—and Candor Corners—the "lower end.")
The Estey-Humboldt Tannery at Candor Corners (site of Quick-Crete) was
putting out 30,000 "hides of sole" (boot and shoe leather) per year. The
Smith & Bush Tannery at Candor Center was making upper leather only. (At least
some of these tanneries that were scattered all over the Southern Tier must
have benefited from the military demand for leather goods during the war. )
The Candor Iron Works, run by S.A.& H.F. Booth and George Tubbs, was
manufacturing ". . .iron work of every description. . ," including circular saws,
mills for grinding coffee, etc. , Smith turbine water wheels, lath mills,
mowing machines, straw cutters, corn shellers, cultivators, plows, etc.
(As mentioned before, the raw iron came in by rail and much of the production
went out by rail. )
In the late 1860s and early 1870s a number of railroads were being
organized and built in the region. In 1869 a road was laid out to run from
Ithaca to Cortland. The next year the Utica, Horseheads & Elmira Railroad
was organized with a route that paralleled the I & E for 23 miles. Both
companies recognized the wasteful expense and merged to form the Utica,
Ithaca &Elmira Railroad. The Ithaca to Cortland section began operation in
1872, enabling Candor folks to travel by the D.L. & W. to Ithaca and change
to the U.I.& E. on to Cortland and vicinity and of course conversely.
32
In 1872 the production and export of lumber continued to be an
important industry in Candor.
Booth' s water-powered sawmill was located on the Catatunk (spelling of the
day) Creek about 2 miles north of Candor village. It contained one "large"
circular saw, a "mully" saw (muley saw; ". . .a long, stiff rip saw not mounted
in a gate but guided in its motion by clamps at both ends."—Reader' s Digest
Dictionary—sort of like a huge jigsaw) , a lath saw, a cross-cut saw, and one
for cutting thin clapboard siding. The mill was "capable of sawing one
million board feet of lumber per annum. . . " A planing and tongue and groove
matching machine were attached.
George Strait' s steam-powered circular sawmill was located on the (former)
Ithaca & Owego Turnpike and the Cayuga Division of the D.L.& W. RR (near the
present junction of Route 96B and Prospect Valley Rd.—most of the logs for
this mill probably came out of "Shindagin") . Mr. Strait employed about 20 men
to operate ". . .one saw five feet [60"] in diameter and four smaller ones. . .
capable of. sawing 5,000,000 board feet of lumber and the same [linear]
quantity of lath per annum. . ."
W.H.& J.F. Hubbard• also operated a large, water—powered sawmill on the
Catatunk Creek near the railroad bridge at South Candor (now known as
Hubbard Town) . They too could ship lumber on the handy-by D.L.& W.
The Ithaca to Elmira section of the U.I.& E. was built from "East Ithaca"
near Cornell University, southeast to Besemer and then more southerly to near
Brookton (now Brooktondale) and. on to Caroline Depot and Cortland Junction.
Here, the tracks crossed the D.L.& W. and ran tightly parallel with it for
about six miles, through White Church and Willseyville. Just south of
Willseyville the .U.I.& E. track left the D.L.& W. roadbed and hugged the
bottom of the steep hillside to the west for about 3 miles, crossed Dry Brook
and curved westward to North Candor (later known as Snyder Station) . The
route then led west-southwest for about ten miles through West Candor and
Spencer to Van Etten, where it turned south to Waverly. This section of the
line began operations in 1875. (West Candor had a small hotel, a cheese
factory, tin shop, and a small railroad station. Thus Candor people could
travel to Cortland or Elmira by getting on the train at North Candor,
West Candor, or Willseyville. )
(A couple of businesses that had ads in Child' s 1872 Directory of Broome
and Tioga Counties made mention of their proximity to the D.L.& W.)
33
"Candor Hardware Store—H.D. Heath—Near the Depot [site adjacent to Spencer
Agency—building burned]—Dealer in Heavy and Shelf Hardware, Stoves of all
desirable kinds, Tin, Sheet Iron and Copper Ware; Agricultural tools, Pumps,
Saws, cutlery etc. , etc. All Job Work promptly attended to." (Obviously,the
items Mr. Heath stocked that were not locally made, came in on the rails. )
"Central House above the Depot (site recently of the Loft Restaurant]—
Wm. Murray prop[rietor] . This House is on the line of the D.L.&W. RR, Cayuga
Division. No pains will be spared that will contribute to the comfort of
Guests. There is a good Livery connected with the house. Trusty horses, fine
carriages and a careful driver always in readiness to convey people to any
part of the County." (Trains with possible passengers would have been met
by a Central House rig, especially if someone was expected. The hotel was
destroyed by fire in 1875. )
There were a number of businesses that probably benefited from access to
the railroad.
Willseyville had two general stores, run by A.R.Bush and A.A. Haskin;
a shoemaker, George Clover; two blacksmith shops, Hubert Harding and
Benjamin & John Lawrence; two sawmills (one with a gristmill) run by Marlin
Merrill and Warren Willsey; and one hotel, Morgan White, keeper.
Candor had the Wm. Ward Woolen Mill (site of the Candor Family Care Center)
that employed 10 .people and was ". . .capable of manufacturing 30,000 yards of
cloth per annum . . ." (probably from local wool) ; the Sackett Flouring Mill
("lower mill") , leased by Urban Spaulding that had 4 runs of stones (2 sets)
and was capable of ". . .grinding 300 bushels of wheat per day."
Even the Maple Grove Cemetery benefited, or should we say the "residents"
did, as more costly and elaborate monuments could be shipped in.
"Catatunk" had one tannery operated by G. Truman & Co. ; one blacksmith
shop; and two sawmills—Beers' , and Sackett's. Most of the houses were
" , . .occupied by the tannery employees. . ."
34
FIRES & ATTEMPTS AT MUTUAL AID
In the 1870s Candor was struck by a series of destructive fires that some
thought to be the work of an incendiary or arsonist, involving several hotels
and other businesses.
"An Uncompleted Hotel is Burned - That Candor' s arsonist must have carried
a deep hatred in his heart against hotel owners was evident in the setting
on fire of W. [illiam] H. Young' s three-story brick hotel which had been nearly
completed, at about 4 o'clock on Friday morning, Nov. 5, 1875. The hotel had
been erected in Main St. [site of Candor Market] opposite the railroad
station and alongside another three-story building [Firehouse Diner] , which
was also owned by Mr. Young.
"The firemen made a valiant effort to extinguish the fire, but found
themselves short of fire hose [and limited by the use of a hand pumper] , after
they had pumped dry a cistern near the [railroad] Station, as the only
available water left was in the Catatonk Creek a considerable distance [about
300 yards] away. A telegram was dispatched to Chief Engineer A.H, Keeler, in
Owego, requesting hose be sent to Candor. Within half an hour after having
received the dispatch., Chief Keeler, George B. Purple, foreman of Eagle Hose
Company, No. 4; Richard Loader, foreman of Wave hose company, No. 2 and
Timothy Robertson left for Candor on the morning train with 1000 feet of hose.
The hose was rapidly laid to the creek near the woolen mills [site of Candor
Family Care] . . continuous stream of water was then thrown into the rear of
the Young block [building—the rear wall had collapsed] until the fire was
drowned out. . ." •
(The fire lasted so long because green lumber had been used in the
hotel 's construction. )
"After the time of the fire a newspaper commented as follows: 'The hotel
[to be] was located midway between Candor Centre and Candor Corners, and when
completed, would have undoubtedly secured a large proportion of the business
on account of its contiguity to the railroad depot [about 50 yards across
Main St. ] . Cosequently, it is freely asserted by many that its destruction mu:
have been the work of some friend of one of the other hotels. [There couldn ' t
have been many—see below] It would hardly seem possible that such could have
been the case, but it is beleived by many, as Mr. Young has no enemies and ha:
done much to increase the prosperity of the village. . .
"The burning of the hotel so aroused the citizens of Candor that a mass
meeting was called on the night following the fire ' for the purpose of taking
measures to secure the arrest of the incendiary or incendiaries, if possible. '
35
"The citizens subscribed $1500 . , upon which sum an assessment of $1000 .
was made, which was offered as a reward to 'any person who will furnish
evidence that will result in the arrest and conviction of the incendiaries
who destroyed the [Young] hotel or of those who burned Murray's hotel [Candor
Centre] in April last and the Willard hotel [Candor Corners] in May. . : "
(The latter two fires were originally thought to be accidental)
At 3:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning, August 23, 1876, the latest in a series
of fires, allegedly set by an arsonist and aimed at destroying hotels,
"broke out in the rear of Holmes' tin shop which was located [at Candor
Corners—"lower end" ] just east of the Eagle Hotel (Quick' s Laundromat parking
area] . The fire then spread east and west until about eight buildings,
including the two hotels [the Willard Hotel—"only recently completed"—was at
the east end, about where Mrs. Moyer's garage is now] were razed to the
ground. . ."
The J.L. Jennings house (no longer there) which stood to the east of the
Willard Hotel was saved (and consequently the Episcopal Church as well)
" . . .from destruction by an unique way. The roof of the house was covered
with a layer of salt and the sides were covered with carpets, which were kept
soaked with water. . ."
Besides the two hotels and Holmes' tin shop, the other businesses
destroyed were: " . . .Walker's cigar store; . . .Hedges' shoe .shop; . . .Chidsey' s
meat market; . . .Frost' s furniture store; and C.F. Doyle' s dwelling house. . .
Stores on the north side of the street fortunately did not take fire, but
they were scorched by the heat. Jesse Smith' s wagon shop and James Slawson' s
blacksmith shop, which stood in the rear of the Eagle Hotel, were partially
burned. . ."
The telegraph operator at the D.L.&W. station was roused, ". . .but he was
unable to contact the operator at the Erie railroad station in Owego. . .for a
considerable length of time before he could ask for assistance in combatting
the fire. . . [the alarm sounded in Owego at 4:45 a.m. ] . ..Ahwaga steamer company
No. 6 with its steam fire engine [all Candor had was a hand pumper] and
Eagle hose company No. 4, with its hose carriage, . . .were loaded on a train
and rushed to Candor. When the firemen reached [here] , their services were
not needed, because the fire had completed its ravages. . ."
36
EXPANSION OF BUSINESSES
In 1875 the Utica, Ithaca & Elmira Rairoad began operating from Ithaca to
Elmira, and consequently through the Town of Candor, with stops at Willseyvil]
North Candor (Snyder Station) , and West Candor. It apparently wasn't
profitable and in 1878 went into receivership, was sold, and reorganized as
the Elmira, Cortland & Northern R.R. (The EC&N was later sold to the Lehigh
Valley Railway Co. and leased to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Co. It served the
West Candor area and connected the town to Elmira, Cortland and Utica until
1935, when it was abandoned and torn up. )
The DL&W rails made a connection to the New York, Lake Erie & Western
Railway at Owego. The world was literally opening up to would-be travelers
in small-town America.
In the fall of 1878 the gauge of the DL&W was changed from 6 feet to
4 feet 8 inches (standard gauge—probably done without interrupting service
by laying one rail between the originals) .
According, to historians Peirce and Hurd, Candor was a "thriving
manufacturing g
village" in 1878. Most of the businesses and farming
enterprises relied heavily if not exclusively on the railroad. Candor village
had a population of 1100 and contained: " . . .four churches—Congregational,
Baptist, Methodist, and Episcopalian—, Union School and Academy, bank [First
National] , post office, three public halls, two tanneries [Humboldt at lower
end and Ryan at upper end] , steam saw-mill [ location?] , planing and moulding
mill, two grist-mills, two shoe stores, three shoe shops, two tin shops, two
hotels [hard to locate as so many had burned] , two clothing stores, two
tailors, two cooper shops [mfg barrels and other wooden containers] , produce
dealer [potatoes, butter, hops, grain, apples, etc. ] , two drug stores, two
cabinet shops [furniture making, coffins, etc. ] , foundry and machine shop,
four carriage shops [mfg. , repair, painting, etc. ] , dealer in agricultural
implements, five physicians, four lawyers, express-and-telegraph-office, coal
yard, three milliners [making and selling of ladies hats and accessories] ,
livery stable, etc. .-. "
"The settlement [of Willseyville] is at the junction of the Delaware,
Lackawanna and Western Railroad, and Utica, Ithaca and Elmira Railroad, and
contains two depots [probably unique for a hamlet of its size] , one church
[Baptist] , post office, four groceries, two blacksmith shops, school house,
and one sawmill. . ."
37
"West Candor. . .is a station on the [UI&E RR] and contains a depot, post
office, hotel, school house, steam-and water-power [ed] saw-mill and is about
three and a half miles west of Candor Village. . ."
"Catatonk is situated on the Catatonk creek [and old Turnpike] near the
south line of the town [the boundary runs through the hamlet, about 52 miles
from Candor Village] and is a station on the D.L.& W. Railroad and contains a
depot [of sorts] , post office, church [Union?) , blacksmith shop, two
sawmills [both probably water-powered] and the Humboldt Tannery, which
employs 30 men and has 130 vats and 10 leaches and a capacity to turn out
25,000 hides [50, 000 "sides"] per annum. . ."
A new business came to Candor circa 1878 When Charles F. Barager (Civil
War Veteran) built a "horse" blanket factory on the north side of Catatonk
Creek (site of Candor Family Care Center) . It ran on steam power and
superseded the old water-powered woolen mill nearby. (This became one of the
largest manufacturing industries in the Town and flourished for some 35 years
until the automobile replaced horses. ) They sold several sizes and styles of
"horse blankets" and robes for use in the open conveyances of the day. and
shipped, near and far, tons of finished goods. (In 1886, the factory employed
"50 hands" and was turning out some "50,000 blankets per year." )
Cdr- '
* F kb. 17—"
I F r�IrA 4 ♦ r 1 I '4: t lil ty
g rn f t I "C ,,-,,2, L w 1 ," S �I! ,ft...
}�1'! I a ' sltlr1y511111 i,I '�� 11 ri i � , tin ' 1 , '.,
il,' ? .i1 ( 1.111. 114 1r1;1ll �..�.•, ... 4 : • . " �141
1 i.:- .N.' �r
� /r
• t••• IAlIrg sT..YtACTQIiY r I 1 �tNN7)?k4i•Yr. .i�.,.:.W::`•..•41r„
A view of the "C.F. Barager" Blanket Factory (Hart &
Fiebig at the time—circa 1908) taken from the "Sackett"
grist mill. The "lower bridge" is at the left, next to the
"old woolen mill, " probably built by John J. Sackett
about 1820.
38
A business that was importantly connected to the railroad was the "livery
stable." In 1885 Nehemiah W. Griffin and his son Fred (the late Ruth Griffin
Warne' s father) were running a livery in connection with their hotel
(at 90 Main St.—Bob and Cheryll Berg; Ruth preserved some of their daybooks
that give a rough sketch of the role horses played in the business of the day)
(In the book beginning January 2, 1885—the scribe wrote 1884; some things
don't change!—we find some interesting entries. )
"W H Andrews ctg frt. 25" William H. Andrews was a general merchant whose
store was on Front St. (now Main) at Candor Corners. Thus the Griffins would
have left their stable, drove a short distance to the depot (Tioga State Bank
parking lot) , picked up Mr. Andrews' freight and drove down across the bridge
to the Andrews store (about where the Village Chapel is now) . The charge of
twenty-five cents would have, been one third of a laborer' s daily wage.
"Lewis Hoff & Co. ctg coal 25" Lewis R. Hoff was a fairly recent arrival
in town and ran the "lower" grist mill and lived on'Owego St. We suppose this
coal was delivered to his home, as a few days later he was charged .25 for.
freight and .25 for coal that probably went to the mill to heat the office.
(As a youngster we were well acquainted with the big pot-bellied stove there,
as our father, Albert Weber, worked for Ward & Van Scoy, owners at the time. )
"H.D. Heath frt 2 loads 15" Henry D. Heath ran a hardware store (next to
Spencer Agency—building burned) and sold farm implements. The small charge
reflects the short hauling distance, only about 50 or 60 yards along a
driveway to the back of the store by the tracks.
"W.L. Fessingden [Fessenden] Funeral $2. 50" This "haul" had nothing to do
with the railroad (unless the body came in on the train, which sometimes was
the case) , but is included for its interest. The Griffins would have had a
matched team of black horses—probably Morgans—and no doubt some fancier
harness for such occasions. The undertaker, Mr. Fessenden, no doubt had a
hearse. We get no indication of where the burial was or if it was done, being
winter. At any rate the team and driver would have stood by during the
funeral, perhaps all three protected by Mr. Barager' s blankets, and have
taken the body to the cemetery or to winter storage.
39
"C.F. Barager pass, to E.C.N. 75" As mentioned, Mr. Barager was the owner
of the Candor Blanket Factory. (Here we have one of those challenges for an
historian: to have a small bit of information and try to make a reasonable
anecdote from it. ) Since Barager was selling large quantities of blankets
we can surmise that this "haul" was for one of his customers and the EC&N
would take him home or make the connections he needed. Whatever, it was
about a five-mile round trip to "Snyder Station" at North Candor. Depending
on conditions, the conveyance would have been a carriage or a sleigh.
��
"January rd. F.L. Heath Nine cars $1 .35" This was followed by a list of
Y y
eight people who each had a ton of coal delivered for .35, making a total
charge to Mr. Heath of $4.15. Frank L. Heath was a coal dealer and also
worked for the railroad as station and express agent. The charge of 15 cents
per car was for hitching a horse to the windlass that pulled the coal cars
up into the coal shed where they were unloaded by gravity into bins below.
Griffin' s man had to wait while the coal was shoveled into the wagon (perhaps
wielding a shovel himself) , drive to the customers house or business and
wait while someone (again probably helping) shoveled the coal into a bin.
A ton is' a lot of coal by the shovelful (maybe 25 lb/per or 80 passes)
and a delivery probably took from half to three quarters of an hour.
Apparently all the customers were village residents. (The reader will recall
that bringing coal to central New York was the main purpose in rebuilding
the failed I & 0. )
40
VARIETY & CULTURE VIA THE "CARRS"
In February 1886 the White Bros. Chair Factory was established at
Willseyville. They manufactured White' s Patent bent chairs and folding tables.
The large factory was three stories high, 85 feet long and 35 feet wide.
It was powered by a sixty-horsepower steam engine and employed about 30 men.
Some 30,000 chairs and 10,000 tables were turned out annually. A. Frank White
and Edward M. White ran the factory and Charles O. White was traveling
salesman. (Probably both railroads—D.L.&W. and E.C.&N—were used
( y by the
company. )
In 1888 the demand for lumber continued high and the Hubbard sawmill at
South Candor (Hubbardtown) , the Van Deuser mill at Catatonk and the Pumpelly
mill near W ill sey ville, w ere all shipping out large quantities of dimension
lumber, shingles, and lath (for holding plaster on walls and ceilings) .
Also that year the Owego Dramatic Ameteur (sic) Troupe performed
"Married Life" (probably at Young' s Hall—site of Candor Market) to benefit
the Sayre (PA) Hospital construction funds. The players came up to Candor on
the 4:15 train and were taken back to Owego after the performance on a
"special train". . .
(On March 26, 1889, Young' s Hall was destroyed by yet another allegedly
set fire. Later in the year a group of Candor businessmen organized the
Candor Hall Company and built the wooden building now containing the
Candor Market. It was to be Candor' s cultural center for over 20 years. )
In 1890 a barn near the Lehigh Valley RR tracks at West Candor was
destroyed by fire set by embers from a passing locomotive.
Also that year, a traveling show ,performed in Candor village and then
moved on to Newark Valley. Their elephant, that, rode into Candor on the
train, was driven over Anderson Hill and excited a lot of rural folks
along the route!
The 1890 Fourth of. July was marked by a "grand" celebration in Owego and
the unveiling of the Soldier' s Monument at the Court House. Fifty members of
the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic lodge) from Candor joined the large
crowd of Veterans. An estimated 6000 heard the addresses (or tried to) . The
early trains through Candor from Ithaca were so crowded that many had to
wait for later trains and the conductor could not get through the cars to
take tickets.
41
•
(Miscellany from 1892. )
The First National Bank (Village Hall) was burglarized. The vault door
was blown open and the safe badly damaged in an attempt to blast it open.
The thieves escaped with a bag containing $50 to $75 in pennies, ran to the
depot and s-tole a hand car (a small, hand-powered rail car used by section
crews in the maintenance of the railroad) after cutting the telegraph wires.
The car was seen passing through Catatonk with four men furiously working the
handles (shades of the Keystone Kops) and was later found in Owego. A New
York City locksmith worked nearly two days to open the damaged safe, which
had to be replaced. . .
A new iron bridge was built over the West Branch of Owego Creek at Park
Settlement. The expense was shared by Tioga County (after they were sued)
and the Towns of Candor and Owego (the town line runs through the middle) .
• The Owego Bridge Co. contracted for the iron work at $4175. All the iron and
other materials would have been brought the short distance from the
Bridge Works (now the Mission) on the Auburn Division of the Lehigh Valley RR
to the nearby Park Settlement Road crossing.
(A number of iron bridges were built about this time throughout the region,
six of them in the Town of Candor (counting the two halves on Owego Creek as
one) . The materials for all would have been brought from the factories to the
point on the railroad nearest the site. Upper Kelsey Rd. would have been the
closest at maybe 30 feet! Lower Kelsey Rd. (still there but closed) was
about 400 feet from the DL&W track; West Candor bridge was about 200 feet
from the Lehigh Valley track (also still .there but closed) ; lower Candor
village, about 200 feet and upper Candor village about 1000 feet. )
Twenty-five thousand pounds (12k tons) of wool were bought and shipped out
by McCarty & Payne (1 -3 Mill St.—apartments) .
Potatoes brought 50 cents per bushel from Charles Teeter at the rail car
in Willseyville. (Which RR?—Potatoes grew well on the valley gravel, upland
Lordstown and shale soils and many hundreds of tons were shipped over many
decades from the town to distant markets. )
The Congregational Church took down their old bell and put up a new
1000-pound bell, brought in by rail of course.
A prominent couple were married. The bride was Louise H. Potter, only
daughter of successful farmer Henry P. Potter (Kellogg Farm) and the groom
was William J. Payne, partner in McCarty & Payne, general merchants. "The
happy couple took the evening train for a tour to New York City. . ."
42
"A car load of apple barrels came to the depot. . .judging from the number
of barrels used, the crop must be abundant. . ." (Nearly every farm had an
orchard of various fruit trees. Like potatoes, apples did well in the climate
and most families had more than they could use and cashed in on the surplus.
There were a number of commercial orchardists as well. )
Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Masten, Mrs. W.E. Roper and Mrs. Sarah E. Brown
traveled to New York City ". . .to attend the [400th] Columbus celebration. . ."
(Miscellany from 1893)
The faculty of the Ithaca Conservatory of Music (predecessor to Ithaca
College—came down by train and) gave an "excellent" concert at Young' s
Public Hall.
The Gridley Bros. , owners of the "upper" grist mill brought in machinery
using the new "roller process" for making wheat flour (as opposed to using
millstones) .
" . . .One of the worst storms of the season (February.) is raging. . .trains
on the main line of the D.L.& W. have been greatly delayed by the snow
blockade and severe storms. . .The Cayuga division trains [through Candor] have
been likewise delayed for they are compelled to wait for the main line trains
We [the Candor Gleaner] are informed that. . .the running of the trains on the
E.C.& N. road was practically abandoned on account of the seeming impossibilit
of getting through the drifts. . .In many parts of the country hereabouts the
snow drifts obliterate the fences, and those farmers who are brave enough to
start for town strike a beeline [go through the fields rather than follow
the drifted-in roads] . . ."
Dr. R.W. St Clair and Charles Baylor set out 2100 currant bushes (no doubt
brought in by rail—this would be a precursor of our blueberry farms.
Unfortunately currant bushes became the spreaders of white pine blister rust
and were "outlawed." Apparently currant jelly was the main indirect product
of this enterprise. )
(In May a "severe storm" caused much damage. )
" . . .The wind blew Cad[well] Bolton' s new blacksmith shop [about at
Dandy Mart' s lower parking lot] over and a chimney off of Henry Potter's
[Kellogg's] house. It also blew down two telegraph poles and stopped the
afternoon train [Lackawanna] . . .The lightning struck the Bostwick Bros' hay
barn [Rich St. ] and completely consumed it. It [the fire] also burned a
freight car. . .standing on the switch [siding] near the barn. The barn
contained several ton of hay and the freight car was about two-thirds full
of baled hay. (The hay barn was rebuilt and later bought by Ward & Van Scoy
and incorporated in their much larger grist mill. )
43
Mr. Dugan, proprietor of the Dugan House in Owego, came to Candor and
sold tickets for the world' s fair in Chicago "at greatly reduced rates. "
Candorites Dr. and Mrs. W.E. Roper, Mr. and Mrs. Orange Booth, Jesse
Henderson and son, G.H. Lewis, E.G. Woodford, A.H. Woodford, L.P . Tuttle,
M. Douglass, and Fred Easton "took in the excursion. " They rode the local
D.L.& W. to Owego and the main line train to Buffalo, where they changed to
the Nickle Plate to Chicago. ( If you couldn' t afford the trip to the fair,
you could send fifteen cents in postage stamps to H. Bucklen & Co. , •
Chicago, I11. and receive a Souvenir Portfolio o f the W orlds Columbian
Exposition. )
There were six D.L.& W. trains on weekdays passing through Candor.
Going north: 5:27 A.M. ; 12 :33 P.M. ; and 4 :12 P.M.
Going south: 9:42 A.M. ; 1 :02 P.M. ; and 7:57 P.M.
Sunday: North at 5:32 A.M. and South at 7:57 P.M.
dr . .
I
i ` \
�h0 � .SI� ik.
N ?
IA k li9A -.!n`hh3 77.g'E_ Mt
". 1 „7 » ! L1 N'"''!`;'"�y ft -S,'! i+l --f'A's+ f
ti
I
i
,
The "Delaware" was probably one of the last
wood-burning locomotives to be used on the
Lehigh Valley RR through the Town of Candor
in the 1890s.
The workers on the Lehigh Valley RR staged a strike and the public was
outraged. The Gleaner declared that state authorities should look into the
affair. "Not only has traffic been impeded and business crippled, but lives
have been sacrificed and the reasonable security of the traveling public
Jeo
' ardized through the employment of "green" hands. . .The men do not
jeopardized
of their wages, or of the hours of labor; they simply ask to be
dealt with as a body. . .to have their order recognized by the company.
44
NEW & OLD BUSINESS & CULTURE
In 1894 dairy farming in Candor was in its infancy, but it was growing
quickly due to the rail connections farmers had with distant markets,
especially the New York City metropolitan area. Some farmers still maintained
a herd of sheep along with their growing dairy herds. Where a family may
have had three or four cows and sold or kept the cream for making butter,
herds g rew to 10 to 15 milkers. The excess milk was shipped from the local
milk station which was located in the large elevator building that stood near
the depot (site of the old Fountain Inn et al-79 Main St. ) .
Candor's milk business was started about 1891 by William Lubeck of New
York City with a Mr. Tupper employed as the local agent. Tupper was
responsible for inspecting the milk and seeing that the refrigerator cars
were properly supplied with ice and of course keeping records. By 1894 a
considerable quantity of milk was being shipped from the Candor station, on
average about 35 cans holding 40 quarts each. Farmers received between 2
and 24 per quart at the time or .80 to 1 .00 for a full can.
In the spring of 1893 Mr. Lubeck died and his widow attempted to carry
on the business. By the end of the year she had fallen behind on payments
and owed Candor farmers about $1500. for some 50-days production plus
Mr. Tupper' s wages. (The Gleaner reported: ) " . . .Everything went straight up
to Wednesday [December 13, 1893 ] when Mrs. Lubeck' s checks were dishonored
at the bank in Candor. . .Most of the patrons were inclined to extend further
credit to Mrs. Lubeck but Mr. Tupper the agent thought it better not to do
so, consequently most of the patrons took their milk back home. . .Mrs. Lubeck
said she thought she would be able to meet all her obligations in a few
days. The creditors have sent Mr. L.A. Hart to New York to investigate. . . "
(Lewis A. Hart was a "dealer in produce, agricultural implements and
phosphates [fertilizer] ; also [a] farmer [with] 370 [acres] . " Unfortunately
we have no record of how this story ended. However, it is a good example of
the growing pains of an industry that was to become paramount in Candor.
In May the elevator building burned in what some said was a set fire. )
Also in 1894 Nehemiah Griffin opened his "new" hotel ( 90 Main St.—his
house added-to and remodeled) . Some of his early guests were teacher
candidates who came to Candor ( some no doubt by train) from around Tioga
County for two days of examinations at Candor Free Academy.
45
•
The strike on the Lehigh RR ended with (the Gleaner reporting: )
". . .nothing gained by the strikers. . .Although they claim to have scored a
victory, it is all in their eye for the very thing that prompted the strike
they failed to secure: The Company will not recognize their organization;
they are to be dealt with as individuals only. . ."
John L. Taylor built a new 40' X 116' milk station just north of
Catatonk. It was nearing completion when it burned, "doubtless" the work of
an "incendiary. . ." The station was rebuilt and served the Catatonk area
farmers for a number of years.
Later that year the Standard Oil Company pipeline was being built through
the town and the hamlet of Catatonk, where a large pumping station was
built (now the Tioga County Highway Dept. headquarters) . Local farmers with
heavy wagons were hired at $2. per load to haul 8 le n gths (?) of pipe
(diameter?) , each weighing 400 pounds, to the proper spot in the line. The
pipe and the heavy machinery and building materials for the pumping station
all came on the adjacent D.L.&W. track.
In 1895 Edward H. Wands of Fayettville, N.Y. came to Candor and with
local capital organized the Wands Glove Company (later, Candor Glove Co.).
A 20' X 60' two-story building was put up (on McCarty St. ) and 15 men
commenced making men' s, boy' s and youth' s gloves and mittens from calf, pig
and sheep skins. and horsehide. Mr. Wands knew his glove-making and traveled
extensively by train to sell his products and the company shipped in leather
and finished goods out by rail..
In 1896 potatoes brought only 180 per bushel at the rail cars in
Willseyville. The next year buckwheat brought 300 per bushel in the same place,
apples brought 200 per bu. at the cars in Catatonk and dairymen sold milk
for 2n0 per quart at Taylor' s Creamery in Catatonk.
Candor village got a new milk station in 1898 when a Farmer' s Milk
Supply Association was incorporated with capital stock of $3700. and the
Candor Elgin Creamery was built by a company from Toledo, Ohio (after a
design in Elgin, Ohio) on the old tannery lot (2-6 De1Ray Ave.—Quick Crete) .
Farmers could sell their milk and cream to make butter and cheese or as
fluid milk.
46
I.•
M IIi
4 .. � . , )
The Candor Elgin Creamery circa 1910. The tall
building behind was the ice house and the roof seen at
the far right was probably the old Candor Corners RR
station and most likely was used for loading milk products
into the -refrigerator cars.
In 1899 Hiram A. Beebe and his son, Will L. Beebe (Joan Beebe Meddaugh' s
grandfather) came to Candor and instituted the Candor Courier weekly
newspaper. (It was to be the town's newspaper for some 67 years and is the
source for most of the information in this column henceforth. )
That year (the Courier reported) Sam Eastham of West Candor ". . .sold to
Ithaca parties: 10 fat steers for the snug little sum of $600. [$60. per
head] , an average of 5¢ per pound live weight. . ." (These animals probably
were driven from Eastham' s -farm a half mile or so to the West Candor station
and loaded into a cattle car. on the Lehigh and taken to Ithaca. )
Nathan Ellis and Willson Moore, who had come to Candor from Harford Mills
and purchased the "Lower Grist Mill", were buying large quantities of
buckwheat. They shipped a 4-ton order of buckwheat flour to Iowa and a
"car load" to New York City. (Buckwheat flour was popular for making
pancakes and buckwheat honey was a favorite with many. )
Barnes and Kuykendall of Catatonk(?) shipped 5 flatcar-loads of telephone
poles. (These were probably sucker growths that came up from chestnut stumps.
Chestnut trees were very common and the lumber was sought after for window
and door casings, wainscoting, cabinet work, moldings, etc. This was well
before the chestnut blight was widespread. )
47
•
"Several thousand" (2—maybe several hundred) signs ready for shipment
were destroyed when the building housing the Candor Sign Works burned.
The owner, J.H. Jennings, had $300. insurance on the building and
W.G. Cone, prop. , had $750. on the contents. In about 3 weeks the sign
works was back in production and had "large piles of signs"apparently
mostly small signs such as "For Rent" or "For Sale" or "Help Wanted", etc.
that sold for 50cP or $1 .00) at the railroad station for shipment.
The Candor Hall (Candor Market) was the scene of numerous cultural
events and entertainments. These were mostly traveling shows that used the
railroads to transport the troupes and all their stage props, costumes, etc.
One such, the Merrick Comedy Co. of ?, played in Candor for a weekend,
starting on Thursday evening and staging a. "new play every night."
Three weeks later the company came to grief. They left Freeville without
paying a $30 board bill and at Richford where they were to play, J.B. Merrick
was arrested, taken to Freeville and sentenced to 60 days in jail. At
Spencer various members of the troupe had to put up their personal effects
to get out of town. Reportedly they also skipped a_ board bill at Groton and
they had had trouble at Candor. The manager was arrested on assault charges
and fined $10 by Justice LeRoy Coursen.
(Most of these groups Were reputable and provided a lot of entertainment
for small-town people, albeit their admission fees were a bit high for
laboring folks, usually being 25(P for regular seats and 35c for reserved.
Authorities in Owego set up. a "stone yard" where prisoners got lots of
exercise breaking up (probably shale) 'rock. Candor was the first to order
a gondola carload, paying the freight charge and using the stone on village
streets and roads.
The Lackawana RR offered an excursion to NYC, going down on Wed. , Thurs .
and Fri. and returning on Sunday, for $5.80 round trip (very expensive
when compared to wages of 1 .50 or 2.0,0 per day) .
In December 1901 a deluge on frozen ground caused extensive flood
damage. Some 50 bridges and culverts in the town were severely damaged or
destroyed as were all' of the mill dams. Near the Booth Bros. sawmill dam
(just upstream from Foote' s Crossing) the D.L.&W. roadbed suffered a
washout 70 feet long and 10 feet deep. No trains ran for several days.
48
•
RAILS "BRING" CITY WATER & TELEPHONES!
In 1902 F.L. Heath (coal and station agent) , F.H. Dewey (furniture and
undertaking), John W. McCarty (general merchant) , John Ryan (lumber dealer) ,
and the Methodist Church ordered in carloads of flagstones to replace the
plank sidewalks at businesses, residences, and the church. The stone was
considered a great improvement over the old plank walks that could become
quite hazardous with age.
Some farmers grew quantities of pumpkins that were shipped to a new
canning factory in Newark Valley. They were paid $5. per ton.
Because of a strike (?) , hard coal was in short supply in the fall.
Courier. editor Beebe joked that, ". . .a few shovelsful were thrown off for
use at the depot." Dansville dealers claimed they had plenty at 5. 50 per
ton (it was a long way to Dansville) .
John Ryan received the fifth car of (the season—probably western cedar)
shingles and " . . .people came from miles around. .", to buy them.
J.H. Dimon, the jeweler (Spencer Agency) , took the train to Corning,
where he purchased cut glass selections for the Christmas Holiday trade.
The Newark Valley Canning Co. was not doing well. They sold three cars
of pumpkin in NYC, Rochester, and Troy, but had 6000 cans still on hand.
The stockholders would not back the canning of apples. Bean, corn, and
tomato crops were failures and Candor farmers had losses in all these,
especially tomatoes.
One of the benefits the railroads brought to Upstate New York was the
avaiability of fresh oysters. Jerome' Richardson advertised, "Standard and
Select Oysters Always fresh and sweet. Buy them here for your Thanksgiving
Day Feast. Fresh Crackers- always on hand. Open for sale of oysters on
Sundays from 12 to 1 and from 4 to 5." H. Haab also sold oysters: "Oysters
Highgrade Baltimore—Try our Big Oyster Stew only 15(r."
Frank Williams of Catatonk dealt in poultry and wanted "1200 dressed
turkeys. . .by Nov 21 . . . (and later] . . .500 live Geese, Ducks & Turkeys. . ." for
the holiday market (no doubt in the Metropolitan Area.
Passengers and crew on the 4 o' clock (DL&W) train Monday afternoon
November 24th were spared a bad accident near Hubbardtown Bridge. The
"inside guard rails" (to keep the engine aligned if it jumped the rails as
it entered the bridge) " . . .were bent and caught the pilot of the engine
[a truck of four small wheels at the front of the engine] . The pilot was
wrecked but luckily there was no other damage and the train went on
"a bit late."
49
In April 1903 general merchant E.S. Williams advertised, "Salt of all
kinds—Full Car just received." Salt was used extensively for a variety of
purposes including: preserving pork and animal hides, making pickles,
"fertilizing" asparagus, "curing" loose hay, especially clover,i.e. to
absorb moisture and prevent spontaneous combustion, etc.
One of the major events of 1903 was the arrival on a flatcar of John
Snover's electric car he had purchased at the Madison Square Garden Auto
Show in January. It was quite the sensation, being the "first" auto in
Candor. (The first auto, that didn't stay long, was a "Deckermobile" built
for Snover at the Decker Automatic Telephone Exchange Co. in Owego. It was
brought to Candor in the fall of 1902, but apparently it was too complicated
for the 73-year old Snover and Mr. Decker, who had said he liked it so well
he was going to build one for himself, took it back to Owego. No mention
was made of how Mr. Snover charged his car' s batteries. )
Snover' s car caused a lot of cries of endangerment to pedestrians.
"Snover has got an automobile, now someone will get killed. . .Well if no one
else is hurt, it won' t matter much if Snover is smashed up. . .Three months
will see Snover' s finish [almost prophetic] . . ." In spite of the flap, the
state granted John a permit to operate his car.
The Eureka Gas Co. organized and shipped in pipe for a double line to
service both street lights and domestic lighting. They set up a generating
plant near the Blanket Factory (present PO parking lot) . Of course the
generating equipment and the calcium carbide that was combined with water to
produce the acetylene gas was brought in by rail.
The DL & W (popularly called the "Lackawanna" ) played a big role in
bringing "city water" to the Village of Candor in 1903 (it had been
incorporated in 1900) . Tons of cement came in to pour the walls and floor
of a 500,000-gallon reservoir on a hill east of the village. Then there was
5300 feet of 8" cast iron pipe, 4900 feet of 6" iron pipe, 4000 feet of
asphalted wooden pipe (for carrying water from a number of springs to
catch basins) , 12,800 feet of 4" iron pipe, 33 double-nozzled hydrants,
3 8" gate valves, 4 6" valves, 27 4" valves, as well as thousands of pounds
of lead and coils of hemp to seal the bell-joints in the pipe, etc. When
completed the system gave the Village an effective fire-fighting ability
(90 pounds pressure) and a liberal supply of very clean water.
50
Eda Wentworth made a "Millinery Announcement—I hereby announce to the
ladies of Candor and vicinity. that I have returned from the city [New York]
with a fine assortment of the latest novelties in Millinery. . ."
The Lackawanna offered excursions to Buffalo and Niagara Falls on a
Sunday for $2.00 round trip.
Moore & Chidsey wanted "good hand picked apples" and were paying 654
per cwt ( 100 pounds) at the car; Loading Dec. 15, 16 and 17 (1903) .
In April 1904 the Lackawanna offered an excursion to the St. Louis
World' s Fair on May 11th for $17.00 round trip (return at your leisure) .
This included all train changes to Wayland, MO where travelers took passage
on a Mississippi River boat to the fair grounds (quite an adventure) .
Courier editor Will Beebe reported that "strangers. [wondered] at the
great unloaded. . ."g amount of freight unloaded. . . at Candor
station. He explained p ained that
Candor was the "liveliest" village in the state for its size, one of the
best trade centers in seven counties, and that the glove factory, blanket
factory, lumber mills and flour mills were very busy.
The Lackawanna put in a cement sidewalk along their station property.
Harry Dumond quit the glove factory and worked for station agent Delbert
LaGrange, who was "hard pressed."
The RR offered an excursion rate of 704 round trip to a Penn-Cornell
baseball game and the Harvard—Cornell rowing race.
An unusually delicate shipment came to Candor station in the form of
new stained glass windows for the Methodist Church.
July 4th 1904 was the first time Candor celebrated with a ala day y that
was highly publicized. Great plans were made and the weather cooperated.
There was no direct mention of the railroad's part in the festivities but
it is quite certain that two figures arrived in town via the trains and
probably many others from away. Mr. F.L. Howard Esq. of Waverly spoke for
about an hour to a large crowd gathered by the bank and the Congregational
Church. He talked on, ". . .regardless of small boys blowing off dynamite in
close proximity to the speakers stand."
This was followed by a "big dinner" at the Congregational Church; about
300 were served in shifts of 100. Berkshire and Candor engaged in a
"red hot" baseball game, won by Candor 9 to 8. In the evening a standing
room only crowd enjoyed "In the Toils, " put on by local talent at Candor
Hall (Candor Market) . The day culminated with an "excellent assortment of
fireworks. . .shot off. . ." by Mr. F.A. Miller of Binghamton, ". . .from the
island in the lower pond. . . " (now Moyer Park?) In spite of the great amount
of fireworks "shot off" by locals, no one was injured.
51
•
Lackawanna fares to• various fairs (all round trip) : 40(P to the Tioga
County Fair Sept. 6-9; 1 .90 to Elmira—Chemung County Fair; 1 .20 to the
Industrial Exposition (location?) Sept. 29-30; 2.50 to Syracuse and the
New York State Fair Sept. 3 to 10.
Tons of plaster of paris came into town in early 1905. It was declared
far superior to regular plaster and L.J. Hollister gave the particulars in
his ad. "Elastic Pulp Plaster--A full car just in. . .contains no lime, sand .
or hair, hence it can be sawed like aboard. It is fire-proof, a non-
conductor of heat, cold and sound. It is light and smooth working. . .The most
suitable plaster on earth for new and repair work. . . " (The main component
was calcined—burned--gypsum. It was to be followed in a short time by
gypsum wallboard. )
Nineteen hundred five saw another modern convenience come to Candor in
local phone lines put up by what began as The Farmers Telephone Co. and soon
became Candor Tele. (Larry Meddaugh' s great grandfather, Preston Meddaugh,
was the first president and one of the main organizers of the service.
New York Tele. had put "long distance" phones in the village a few years
before by arrangement with the railroads to use their telegraph poles. ) By
summer's end about 100. phones were in and some merchants were advertising
that they had "both phones."
H.J. Merritt, who ran the Hotel Woolever (90 Main—the Bergs) , was
"flimflammed" by a "slick young rooster/If in town for dinner (lunch) at the
hotel. At the desk, the con man asked 'for change for a $2. bill. Mr. Merritt
obliged and the artist quickly handed back 504 with, "that squares us,
right?" and pocketed the bill. He was seen leaving on the train but was
not apprehended by Sheriff Parmelee in Owego.
52
•
CONSTRUCTION "MOONSHINE" & TRAVEL
In 1906 Almerion A. Johnsoh ordered in about 800 concrete building blocks
to construct a "magnificent new store" on the corner of McCarty and Mill
Sts. (Punk' s Place) . .
The lower floor was to house his modern up-to-the-minute general store,
while the upper floor (removed circa 1995) contained an apartment and large
hall (that threatened to take over some of Candor Hall' s business) . When '
completed the store was to have a "fine" cement walk all around and the first
(and probably only) concrete curbing in the town. (The landmark became known
as Johnson' s "Stone Hall" and was never a threat to Candor Hall as it
catered mostly to dances. Candor Hall, presumably to separate itself from
a common "dance hall" became known as the Candor Opera House. )
In the fall, the Lackawanna reduced their rates from 34 per mile to 21(r,
making a 1000-mile ticket book cost $25. instead of $30. A round trip to
Owego cost 50 cents.
W.G. Bostwick .was carring potatoes at his "hay barn" on Rich St. (part
of the Ward & Van Scoy/Home Central building) and was paying 40 cents per
bushel or 2/3 of a cent per pound.
Business was booming at the Candor Blanket Factory and they worked
until 9:00 p.m. to keep up with out-of-town orders.
Late in 1906 the Lackawanna remodeled their station by building a new
freight platform on the north end (part of which was roofed) and lowering
the building by two feet.
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Candor station as it was built, before it was lowered.
At the left: the old Heath coal shed.
53
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r I ,dt I ti '' ■ '� ..If l il'i I"i��L `lid.-' r „ �4
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The DL & W station after it was lowered and
the new platform was added.
In March 1907 "much looked for" iron (I beams) came in on the rails
and "pushed along" the remodeling at the Opera House (Candor Market) . A new
stage was installed (outline still visible in the deli/meat department)
with dressing rooms underneath as part of an addition (now mostly stock
storage) destined to become a movie theatre.
Tioga County Sheriff Parmelee rode the train up to Candor on a Saturday
morning and with bench warrants issued on indictments arrested three
Candor businessmen on three, two and one (counts) for violation of the
excise law (probably for selling hard•cider or other illegal alcoholic
drinks) . They all rode back to Owego and the charged appeared before Tioga
County Judge Andrews who fixed bail at $2000. each for the higher counts
and $1000. for the lesser. All posted bail ( 1 ) and were released.
The millers Ellis & Moore got in a car of seed oats. (Practically every
farmer planted oats to feed his livestock, especially horses. )
The Wands Glove Factory (McCarty St. ) was employing "about 175" people
and turning out "375 dozen pairs of gloves and mittens each day" that were
shipped to many points in the country.
In/May 1907 the Lehigh RR Co. applied to the State Board of Railroad
Commissioners to discontinue freight and passenger service at the West
Candor station. A public hearing was held at the Alpha Hose Rooms
( 29 Main St. ) on the 20th. The commissioners decided in "favor of local
sentiment" and ordered the company to maintain services.
54
SOCIAL CONTACTS & ELECTRICITY
(The first decade of the Twentieth Century saw the railroads at the peak
of their roles in connecting rural towns such as Candor to the modern world.
One of those roles was the carrying in of outsiders. to entertain and
educate. Here are some examples from 1907-08 of this vital link to the
outside world. )
The Binghamton School of Music opened the "Candor Branch, " with Prof.
Herbert E. Hilliard, Director and Miss R. Mae Holmes, Principal and
Manager. Diplomas and Teacher's Certificates and credits were granted for
Piano, Voice, Violin, Harmony, Composition, Ear Training, Theory and
Counterpoint. Later a recital of piano,violin, voice and elecution selections
was given at Candor Opera House by members of the BSM faculty assisted by
Candor pupils. Admission was . 10 for children, . 15 for "regular" seats and
.25 for reserved.
Cook and Harris, ". . .conceded to [have] the finest exhibition of moving
pictures in America" came to town and played at Candor Opera House for two
evenings. Sharing the bill was M.F. Rittenhouse, Philadelphia' s "famous"
tenor soloist, singing the "latest ballads and children' s songs. . . [the] . . .
entire program was changed for each evening. . . "
Miss Emily Bushay, the French designer and fitter of E.S. Goodall & Co.
(of?) makers of custom fitted corsets., came to Candor. . .to "meet all our
ladies interested in up-to-date, tailored, rustproof corsets. . ."
Prof. Hemstreet, mind reader and hypnotist, performed at Candor Opera
House. Two ladies or a couple were admitted on one ticket which sold for
. 15, .25 if "reserved."
A Farmer' s Institute was held at Johnson' s Stone Hall, conducted by
F.E. Gott. One topic was Growing Alfalfa in This Region, given by Cornell
University Prof. Paul J. White. Another was What Kind of Horse Should We
Find on the Farm? by Dr. Smead, DVM. (Of course many Cornell students rode
the trains through Candor. )
The DeRue Bros. Ideal Minstrels played at Candor Opera House. They
advertised, ". . .seven big vaudeville acts. . .Europeon Acrobatic Novelties. . .
4 dancing marvels. . .wire cyclist. . .The Ideal Quartette. . .Master Lambert,
phenomenal Juvenile Soprano. . ." Editor Beebe reported that they ". . .played
to a large house. . .some liked it some did not. . .the music was good but the
jokes were the same old grey-haired fellows. . .the costumes are well known
in Candor. . .once more and we will know the program without a sheet. . ."
57
(Sometimes the outsiders were not interested in entertaining or
educating although they might have done so inadvertantly and painfully
in some cases. )
In June 1907 some 200 assembled at Candor Hall for the fifth anniversary
of the Candor National Protective Legion. After selections by the Mandolin
Club, little Miss Roe (My Puppy and I) , and the Candor Glee Club, National
Treasurer H.C. Bruster explained the plan of the order (what we would call
a Ponzi or pyramid scheme where new money pays big dividends on old and
attracts more new) and distributed checks totaling $3143.75 to 14 five-
year members, all of whom remained for five more years. It was hoped that
many more would sign up.
In February of ' 08 the NPL cut their dividends more than 50%, affecting
some 250,000 throughout the U.S. and executive officers cut their pay a
whopping 10%. They were under scrutiny of the NYS Insurance Dept. (it was
apparently some kind of fire insurance) and the U.S. Postal Dept. had
stopped them from using the mails (carried by the railroads) . A federal
judge told them they could no longer use the plan as a means of increasing
membership. say. (Needless to sa NPL certificates became worthless and some
Candorites learned an expensive lesson, or did they?)
Another time one "Morg" Slocum ". . .struck town. . .with an extra heavy
load of poor Owego whiskey. . ." (inside we presume) . He "monopolized" the
walk on Main St. until Officer (Constable) Herrick " . . .gathered him i n"
and Justice Parmelee gave him 30 days.
It was pointed out that livestock driven into the village (sometimes for
quite a distance) and loaded into stock cars for shipment, had no water
available at the loading pens. Mr. & Mrs. J.W. Mc Carty and Mr. & Mrs.
J.P. Fiebig responded immediately and had two wells driven and four
concrete watering troughs installed, two large ones for cattle and two
lower ones for sheep, pigs and calves.
brought in a crew of workmen to put new concrete abutments
The D.L.& W. g p
and piers under the bridge in the village and at Smith' s Corners (upper
Kelsey Rd. ) In tearing out the old stone abutments in the village, the
workers found several old hemlock timbers about a foot square and fifty
feet long that older residents said were put there in 1848 when the
railroad bridges were rebuilt. They were water-soaked but still sound.
The line also converted some of their locomotives to burn soft coal
instead of anthracite.
58
(The BIG event of 1908 was •the coming of electricity to Candor, courtesy
of S. Alfred Seely and his Spencer Electric Company. The Lehigh Valley
trains played a major role in this momentous time as they brought the heavy
equipment and materials for the generating plant and lines to Spencer.
The list included two large steam engines—one of "100 h.p." and a
"larger one for backup,"—a steam boiler with a capacity of up to "300 h.p."
and a generator that put out "2300 volts, stepped up to 6900." Also there
were coils of uninsulated number six wire for the main line—power loss
factor of only 4%—and lighter, insulated wire for the lead-ins and open
street wiring and we presume, transformers, poles, insulators and misc.
hardware.
S. Alfred Seely was one of those progressive, enterprising men who
spurred the building of our country. He was listed as a farmer with 140
acres, and as running a general store, a saw and grist mill, a creamery,
and a blacksmith shop. His electric company was a great culmination to
an ambitious career. )
The Village of Candor had previously contracted with Spencer Electric
for street lighting using 40 candlepower incandescent bulbs "of the new
and improved pattern." The lamps were to be suspended over the middle of
the streets and the contract called for them to be on from dark until
midnight no more than 25 nights a month except they would be lit on dark
nights that were supposed to be moonlit. In winter the lights would be on
from 5 a.m. to daylight. •
In July the lines reached Candor village and some residents along the
way had already been hooked up. The company offered all night street
lighting for $375. additional per year but village voters turned down the
proposition two to one. It was called an unnecessary expense. Later the
company provided all night domestic lighting as a promotion.
(Another, more subtle role of the railroads in this decade was the
delivering of "horseless carriages," better known as automobiles, from
distant factories. Ironically this was the beginning of the end for rural
rail service, but it would be another forty years, with two world wars,
a crash and a depression before railroads would fade from the picture. )
59
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Simeon Sawyer of West Candor taking delivery
of his new 1908 Oldsmobile (perhaps?) at the
Lehigh Valley station.
•
•
60
NEW HIGH SCHOOL & OTHER THINGS
In the early morning of March 30th, 1909, the Candor Free Academy was
discovered on fire. The blaze had a good start by the time Alpha (lower end)
and Alert (upper end) hose companies reached the scene and then, tragically,
no water would come out of the nearby hydrant for 20 or 25 minutes due to
slush and ice in the main.
The fire was apparently set in an upstairs closet by the man whose
tracks led to and from a window. By the time the firemen had two streams
of water, the original brick part (built in 1868) was gutted and the
wooden addition ( 1906) was ablaze. Of small consolation, the building had
been condemned by the State and would have had to be replaced.
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Union Free School District,-Candor Free Academy built in
1868 (brick part) and 1906 (wooden addition). Burned, allegedly
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The new Candor High School (same site as CFA) built 1909-10
(dedicated April 29, 1910). Presently-2,43/1.-all but the facade
is concealed in.the Candor Central School complex. The front
entry was walled up in 1969 and the hallways converted
to classrooms. _- ----------
61
In May voters approved a bond issue of $18,000. to build a new high
school. Martin E. Bauer of Owego won the bidding with $21 , 150. for pressed
brick construction (probably from the Binghamton Brick Co. via the D.L.& W. ) .
Mr. Bauer also bought a timber tract near West Candor containing "many fine
hemlock trees" where he obtained most of the heavy timbers and interior
framing lumber. (This lumber was sawn at Sam Eastham' s West Candor mill and
was probably loaded on Lehigh Valley flatcars that went to Willseyville
and were switched to the Lackawanna. )
Other building materials that came in by rail included slate roofing,
southern yellow pine for floors, casings and trimmings, doors and windows,
figured pressed steel for ceilings, plumbing and heating fixtures, limestone
for window lintels and sills and other trimmings, and cut bluestone for
the foundation.
E. Jerome Woodford's farm equipment business illustrated the importance
of the railroad in bringing in a great variety of heavy merchandise. His
stock included asphalt and tin roofing, pumps, piping and plumbing supplies,
heating fixtures—hot air and steam, eave troughs and spouting, barbed wire
and woven wire fencing,. fence staples, ladders, wagons, mowers, reapers,
rakes, plows and extras, grindstones, stove pipe, portland cement, plaster,
cream separators and barrel churns.
In the fall of 1909 farmers harvested a "bumper crop" of potatoes. One
week in October "20 or 25" cars of spuds were shipped from Candor station
alone. The price was a respectable 45 tents per .bushel but buyers soon
realized the abundance and a week later were paying 40 cents or 2/3 cent
per pound.
Another wonderful benefit of the railroad was the availability of exotic
fresh fruit. Grocer and general merchant W.H. Andrews advertised in Nov.
1909: ". . .grapefruit .06 apiece, oranges .30 and .45 per dozen, lemons
.24 per doz. , grapes [possibly local] 2 baskets .25 [size?] , bananas
.20 per doz. , figs . 15 [per string?] , and cranberries . 10 per quart. (These
prices sound cheap but remember wages were 1 .50 or 2.00 per day. Thus a
dozen better oranges would cost around 20% of a day' s wage which would be
about $20. now, based on $100. take home pay. )
The Wands Glove Co. received the "largest single shipment of Glove
Leather" in the history of the Chicago Tanning Co. , "3 full cars. . .60 tons
. . .500,000 sq. feet. . ." and other cars were coming. Mr. Wands returned from
a four-week selling trip and after two days was off again, commenting
that ". . .business was never as good. . ."
62
About 50 residents of Catatonk petitioned the Public Service Commission
for a proper passenger station on the D.L.& W. with facilities for freight
and express. A 20' by 28' building with two windows and planks for seats had
been the "station." Freight and express had been stored in Chrestien' s
store a short distance away, but he wanted the space for himself.
Catatonk had "120 residents within a 3-mile radius." Ticket sales
averaged about $35. per month and freight for a year totaled about $2500.
The actual sale of tickets for the year ending July 31 , 1'909 was
1570 with
revenue of $502. Total trains for that period, 1992 or less than one
passenger per train. Louis Kuykendall, the miller, received about 12 to 15
cars of feedstuffs per year. T.C. Duff, Straits Corners merchant, said his
bills ran $25. or $30. per year. He had lost a bag of clover seed and
couldn' t get any satisfaction as all goods to Catatonk were "at consignees
risk." Philip E. Quick, farmer and produce dealer ( 1011 Owego Rd—Quinn) ,
said his express charges ran about $900. per year. PSC Commissioner Decker
said a "final" hearing would take place in Owego (at which the Commission
decided in favor of the petitioners) .
Early in 1910 a .carload of horses arrived in Candor; 4 for Milton
Van Der Mark, 14 for George Rogers, and 9 for Willis Bostwick. (Rogers was
usurping Bostwick's role as Candor' s horse trader. )
Main Street, from McCarty' s (upper end) to the central business section,
became "disgraceful. " The Village .secured the use of Owego' s "big road
roller" (via the Lackawanna) to roll the street once it was "dug up and
remade."
The Candor Blanket Factory shipped in a carload
Pp of new machinery that
would increase their output by one third to meet the demand for their goods.
Merchants McCarty and Payne were buying substantial quantities of eggs
and shipping them out almost daily. One evening 70 cases left the depot.
The importance of the Wands Glove Co. to Candor was reflected in the
amount of freight they shipped in and out. With 175 people on their payroll,
they were buying liner material in lots of 500,000 yards (about 3 carloads) ;
paper boxes for each dozen came by the carload; 3000 to 4000 wood packing
cases a year came in. Mr. Wands said he could have sold $100, 000.more
product the previous year if the plant had had the capacity.
63
M.W. Van De Bogart (meat and groceries—upper end) received a new
five-passenger Model T Ford car. (He later was a Ford dealer for many
years. These cars came from the Ford plant via boat to Buffalo where they
were loaded into D.L.& W. .rail cars. )
In the Fall of 1911 building materials and machinery arrived in
Willseyville to build a new milk plant.
F.L. Heath said " . . .If it is cheap.washery coal you want—taken from
refuse that has been dumped out in the open air for 5 to 100 years—sold
only on advance orders—taken from cars—not put into bins with good coal—
Pea 3.00 [per ton] Chestnut 4.25 Stove 4.00. . ."
Among the more delicate items brought in by rail in 1911. were the
"New Columbia Disc Hornless Graphophones" ordered in by Candor's progressive
jeweler Dennis Dimon (Spencer Agency—then two stories) . Dimon said " . . .We
have the exclusive agency—territory. . .beginning a new era in sound-
reproducing instruments—Genuine Mahogany and Quartered Oak cabinets—
Grafonla Favorite [model] $50. [G. ] Lyric $25. Columbia Double Disc
records—music on both sides [ 1 ] 10 inch .65 12 inch 1 .00. . ." (The records
were very expensive at half a day' s wage. Then as now, the most profit was
in the records. )
•
64
MONUMENTS-JAIL CELLS-BOOKS & HIGHWAYS
If you visit Maple Grove Cemetery in the Village of Candor and wander
through the "old" section, you will see a rather large number of impressive
monuments, many of them topped by a hefty obelisk, either four or eight-
sided. These are mostly of white marble until the late 1800s when some of
polished granite were erected. There are other styles of large monuments,
but they all have one thing in common. They are heavy! Although most of
the larger ones no doubt came by train, there are some early ones that
would have been brought by heavy-duty wagons.
There are a number of unique monuments. One of them is a carved marble( ?)
oak tree trunk with curling limbs, leaves, and ferns at the base. The
engraving is on a "scroll" hung on "heavy rope." It is a remarkably
realistic work of art. Another is simply a lovely rose quartz boulder.
Surely the most famous monument in Maple Grove is the one for John Snover
that he commissioned for himself. The prize for the most massive goes to
- -a-
the Kinney mausoleum, erected by George Romanta Kinney, the 98 cents p air
shoe king and Candor boy made good. More about the latter two later.
In the so-called "middle section" where stones were generally placed in
the 1900 to 1950 era, the style of the monumentsis quite different. Many of
them are very massive and are of polished granite. These of course had a
long train ride from quarries in New England to a monument-maker such as
the present Binghamton-Johnson City Monument Co. which was established in
1895. From there, some could have come by wagon or truck but others
definitely came "by the cars," as' Jacob Willsey would say.
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65
Around 1910 some rather unusual freight arrived at the Candor Station.
It consisted of two "steel cages" .that were installed in a "small wooden
building" (behind the Country Cafe) and, when fitted with cots and blankets
were to serve as the "village lock-up." County Sheriff Young inspected them
and was concerned about the danger of fire and the difficulty of heating
the space in winter and ventilating it in summer. He recommended putting
the cells in the Alpha Hose Station (next to Quick' s Laundromat-Belodeau)
where there was running water and lighting.
The Campbell Creamery Co. of Brooklyn purchased the Elgin Creamery and
made extensive repairs and improvements, including a cement floor. Later
the company received mixed comments on making farmers comply with
NYS Dept. of Health rulings regarding inspection, and rules for sanitary
conditions in stables sending milk to New York City. Most "found the new
ways superior to the .old."
The 1912 Senior Class of Candor High School, with chaperones and friends,
trip."
the trains to Niagara Falls for a three-day "senior tr p."
F.L. Heath & Son, hardware merchants, shipped a stove all the way to
Natal, South Africa. It went to missionary Rev. LeRoy who had been on a
year's leave in Candor. F.E. Dewey also shipped a "large consignment of
furniture and sewing machines" to the same place.
Colonial Moving Pictures, shown by a Mr. Howard, rode the rails into
town and played two nights at the Candor Opera House (Hall-Candor Market) .
The films were "fine," but the "light -was not just right." Mr. Howard
vowed to use electric light after that (apparently his machine still used
lamp oil) .
A surprise shipment came to Candor Station in the form of about
"400 volumes of reference and textbooks" donated to Candor High School by
Miss Alice Morton of Scranton (PA) , a friend and cousin of Charles Perkins
of Candor.
In early September ( 1912) , L.H. Kuykendall, the miller in Catatonk,
shipped in and installed a stationary threshing machine and was "ready to
thresh. . .g rain.
On October 1st (do) , the Candor Blanket Factory shipped out "65 bales
of blankets. . .their largest shipment ever." The total weight was "between
10 and 12 tons." (Remember, there were still a lot of real horses around. )
Some later, Fred Smith (bank pres. ) , Dennis Dimon (jeweler) , and
Dr. Eugene Holly (MD) took the train to New York to attend the New York-
Boston World Series. Smith and Dimon returned in a few days while Dr. Holly
stayed the week. (There were several other physicians in town. )
66
Still later, a "special train" brought Job E. Hedges, Republican
candidate for governor, to town. The Candor Band played and he spoke to
"several hundred" and attended an "enthusiastic meeting" of the Republican
Club, which was scheduled for Johnson's Stone Hall• but had to be moved to
the larger G.A.R. Lodge Hall.
Dr. M.N. Roe, the dentist, with offices in Candor and Owego, did not like
changes in the Lackawanna schedule that made the "night trains too late."
So he purchased a Brush Runabout automobile.
The long anticipated monument to John Snover, expert joiner (cabinet
maker) and farmer, rolled (and no doubt creaked) into the Candor Station.
Mr. Snover died in 1904 at the age of 75. Apparently his cabinet-making and
sheep farming had been very successful as he had accumulated a considerable
sum of money. The second provision of his will was for "The erection of a
monument after a signed plan. The monument will cost $4500. or $5000."
The elaborate memorial was erected in- early November 1912 by Haywood &
Baldwin of Owego at a "contract price of $3050." (One cannot imagine what
it would cost today! ) It is of "highly polished [gray] granite" and weighed
"over 40 tons." A "life size image of Snover in white Italian marble" is
surrounded by four polished granite columns and protected by a "richly
designed cap weighing over 5 tons" and topped by a shiny ball about 30 inches
in diameter. The whole is surrounded by a fence of ornate brass pipes
supported by granite posts. (Villagers must have flocked to see it unloaded,
trundled to the cemetery—perhaps on heavy skids—and erected by a steam
crane or what??)
In the summer of 1913, Eugene Heiffel came up by train from NYC and
spent the season on the farm of Mr. & Mrs. Calvin Rockwell (80 Kelsey Rd. )
as a "fresh air child."
Firemen' s Conventions were very popular and the one for 1913 was held
in Cortland and all concerned took the day off to attend.
Courier editor Beebe (Joan Meddaugh' s granddad) wanted copy early
so he could get the paper out. A special Lackawanna train ran from Ithaca
to Binghamton where participants and spectators could transfer to the
Cortland Branch of the New York & Erie RR. Both Hose Companies, Alpha and
Alert, the Candor Band and supporters took part and the Hose Companies
and Band were quite "natty" in their respective uniforms, "light brown
with dark brown trimmings, dark green, and brown."
67
The rail cars brought in heavy drilling equipment and pipe for a "test
well" near Willseyville. Local residents put up the capital and the drilling
reached 1500 feet without any sign of oil or gas. (Little did they know what
lay another mile and a half down! )
Early in 1914, the Peter F. Connolly Co. of Waverly won the bidding on
"9.08 miles of water-bound macadam highway" from "Turner' s Bridge" to the
Village of Candor line near the "upper" bridge. Connolly' s bid was $74,746.
(Presumably the gravel was mined and crushed near Waverly, loaded into
"coal" cars and taken by rail to various points along the route where
farmers with heavy wagons were hired to haul it to the work sites. There
it was spread two or three inches thick, leveled, wetted and rolled. In
later years tar was used as a "binder" instead of water. ) Later a large
steam-powered roller, that was unloaded from a rail rar at Catatonk for use
on the highway, sank into an accumulation of old bark (for the tannery) and
had to be pulled free by a hawser (heavy rope) fastened to the locomotive.
(The road was finished in 1915. )
68
DEPENDENCY ON RR INCREASES
In early March 1914, a blizzard with very high winds caused much damage
and piled up snow. The Lackawanna trains could not get through from Sunday
night to Tuesday morning.
In April, businessman W.G. Bostwick received a car each of ". . .young,
fresh western horses—weight from 1100 to 1300 lbs. ; ages from 4 to 7 years. . .
plaster [for walls] , plasterboard, land plaster [limestone?] . . .fertilizer
[phosphate?] . . .Buckeye [wovenwire] fencing. . ." Also a car of cement arrived
in Willseyville for use in building sidewalks.
M.W. VanDeBogart got in a car of Fords. His prices were: Runabout-$500. ;
Touring Car-$550. ; Town Car-$750. . (very expensive when compared to $2. per
day for labor; 250 days, 275 days, and 375 days respectively. Using $100.
a day take-home pay for today, the comparable models would cost $25,000. ,
$27,500. , and $37, 500 . respectively. )
The Lackawanna attempted spruce attem ted to s ruce up the grounds near the station by
planting flowers and shrubs.
(The merchants overlapped then as now. )
McCarty & Payne (general merchants—upper end) advertised wood fiber plaster,
Sackett' s plasterboard, Portland cement, white cement, yellow (southern) pine
matched flooring, standing seam galvanized roofing (eventually replaced by
over-lapping seam) , eaves trough and accessories, all sizes and styles of
doors, sashes (windows) and blinds, a full line of farm machinery, including
International Harvester' s "extensive" line of LeRoy plows, a carload of
fresh-ground feed "every few days" (obviously from out-of-town) , and "fancy"
cracked corn for poultry.
Candor's sidewalk supervisors must have had:a field day (probably several)
in the summer of 1914 when another spectacular assortment of heavy, grey
granite pieces came rolling into the Lackawanna station on four open freight
cars. The collection of rough blocks and highly polished columns and "coping"
( 200 feet of it! ) weighed in at tons," with 3 tons of Italian marble for
the interior construction. The "$10,000" mausoleum was to house the remains
of George Romanta Kinney and other family members. One of the rail cars was
a "special well car" and held the nearly 12-foot wide, one piece roof-stone,
which had to be loaded on end to clear bridges, etc. (We presume a steam-
powered crane accompanied the stone for erection. )
69
Mr. Kinney was born in Candor June 5, 1866. It is recorded that he worked
for a time for McCarty & Payne, general merchants. He couldn't see much of
a future there so he went to Binghamton and worked for a shoe store that had
a branch in Waverly. The company failed and Kinney got some money together
and bought the Waverly store and, as they say, the rest is history.
His policy was to sell good, inexpensive shoes in volume. The idea paid
off and when he died in 1919 at 53, the G.R. Kinney Shoe Co. owned or
controlled 44 stores with reported sales that year of some four million
dollars. It was declared the biggest shoe company in the world!
In 1915 M.W. Van De Bogart took the agency for Chevrolet cars instead of
Fords. He hired the cars driven up from New York City as it was quicker and
cheaper than shipping them in by rail. (Apparently it didn't work out because
the next year he went back to Fords and received a car of "new pattern" models
O.E. Meservey, successor to Willson E. Moore (upper and lower mills)
received a full car (25.0 barrels—a bbl equaled 4 24# pound sacks or 1000
sacks) of Gold Medal Flour and offered it "off the car" for $7.60 per bbl.
(A sack of flour was labeled 24/ lbs. to allow for the shrinkage of "green"
flour sacked at 25 lbs. )
A.B. Jackson, the Lackawanna station agent, announced that the RR was
offering round-trip fares to the Expositions in San Francisco and San Diego
for $89.60, return within three months.
Vorhis & Munroe, who had purchased the Bostwick Hay Barn on Rich St. , set
up their hay press at Willseyville to "press hay [that was] for sale."
They placed rail cars to load for shipping to metropolitan areas. They said
there was a "large demand" there were still a lot of horses) , but they needed
to see the hay before it was brought in to determine its grade.
70
In August ( 1915) the trains brought to Candor Miss Helen N. Eacker of
Lawrence, Kansas, formerly the Executive Secretary of the Kansas State Equal
Suffrage Assoc. She addressed Candorites in front of Candor Hall (Candor
Market) on the push for Women' s Suffrage. Later, a' "suffrage headquarters"
was opened in the Candor Hall block, Miss Pauline Angell of Waverly
in charge.
On October 1st, 1916 the Dairymen' s League, with chapters in Candor,
Catatonk, and West Candor, staged a milk strike. ". . .Not a drop left
[Catatonk] on Sunday morning [the 1st] , nor will any go until the strike is
settled and the milk purchased from the Dairymen' s League. . .Only three
recalcitrant [Candor] dairymen [not members] took any milk to the [Campbell]
station. . .a total of 386 pounds. . ." The held milk was made into butter, went
to cheese factories or was fed to livestock. The Campbell Co. sent theirs
to H.W. Edgett' s Fairfield Cheese Factory (near the junction of Candor Hill
and Fairfield roads) . A co-operative skimming operation was set up in the
old Catatonk Cheese Factory and the cream was sent to the Sayre Cold
Storage Co.
The strike proved the bargaining power of a co-operative in that NYC
received about 55% of the normal supply. Someone penned a ditty that was
reported sung in New York. "It' s a long way to the up-state dairy/ It's a lon
way to go. / It' s a long way to the up-state dairy/ And the milk I used to
know./Then goodbye cream and custard./Farewell pumpkin pie. /It's a long way
to the up-state dairy, /When Borden' s cans go dry." The strike was soon
settled and later a new milk plant built by Campbell was bought by Borden.
One Sunday morning in late October ( 1916). "Two passenger cars on the
nine o'clock train. . . left the rails on the lower switch, while backing up
the milk car [to place it at the creamery] . The passengers and milk were
transferred to the forward cars and taken to Owego. A wreck train arrived
about noon and placed the cars on the track."
A little later Jacob Delong was driving near the Barber farm
(Joe Huizinga—the railroad tracks were near the road) and the train
frightened his horse into running away into an adjacent field. Mr. Delong
was thrown from his wagon, hurting light wa hurtin his head and shoulders. Leo Maxwell
g g
(later ran the Maxwell Dairy) happened along and helped Jacob home.
71
The Wands Glove Co. was doing very well and Mr. Wands rewarded his workers
in Candor and the Newark Valley Branch at holiday time ( 1919) by treating
them to a banquet of " . . .several courses served in grand style at the Owego
Hotel, " accompanied by a 4 piece orchestra. He probably paid the train fares
of all the 125 who attended.
The May 1920 milk price was set by the Dairymen's League at $2.55/cwt for
3% butterfat content (a very good price compared to feed and labor costs) .
This for the 200-210 mile freight zone, which included Candor (to NYC) .
The price at other shipping points varied according to distance and all
prices varied according to percent of butterfat.
A railroad strike in 1920 greatly affected Oswald J. Ward, Candor's well
known livestock dealer. He circumvented the stoppage by sending ". . .several
truck loads of calves to New York by motor truck. It was rather an expensive
mode of transportation, but New York had to be fed. . ." (Or was it the calves
had to get to market?)
Horses weren' t the only animals frightened by the hissing, chuffing,
clanking locomotives and their rattling, creaking trains. A newcomer to
Candor drove his oxen into town (early July 1921 ) just in time to have the
team spooked into running away. The two-wheeled cart upset, throwing the
occupants out. No one was seriously hurt.
Once again (summer 1921 ) rail cars of crushed stone came to unloading
points along the Candor-Owego road. This time the binding agent was
something called "Tarvia. . .a brand of road-surfacing material made with
asphalt." (Webster' s Dict. )
72
A NEW HIGHWAYS& A NEW FACTORY?
In 1921 , great quantities of bulk cement, sand and crushed stone were
brought by rail to the northern part of Tioga County to build a concrete
highway from near the southern end of Honeypot Road to Wiilseyville and on
to the Tompkins County line. (The cement probably came from clay and
limestone-burning kilns in Central New York via the Lehigh Valley RR and
was perhaps unloaded at Willseyville, which was about the midpoint in the
project. The sand and crushed stone probably came from the gravel mines
near Waverly via the D.L.&W. ) Movable elevators were erected at various
points adjacent to sidings near the road, which mostly followed the old
Ithaca-Owego Turnpike. (One site that was mentioned was behind W.G. Bostwick' s
house at 99 Main St.-recently the Henry' s. ) The rails also brought in several
large cement mixers that were powered by heavy, one-cylinder gas engines.
When work shut down for the winter, several stretches of road had been
poured and were in use. The unpaved stretches were rough and it was
suggested that the best way to get to Ithaca from Candor was to detour via
the Coddington Road and from Owego to go through Newark Valley and Berkshire
to Richford and the present Rte 79.
(Then as now the farmer received small pay for produce that brought
generous profits to the wholesaler and retailer. ) In the Fall of 1921 ,
potatoes were bringing $1 .00 per bushel at the cars locally. Seventeen cents
freight per bu. got them to Newark N.J. where they sold for $2.60 per bu.
Coal dealers Heath & La Grange put new concrete piers under the trestle
that carried cars up into the coal shed for unloading. (They are still there
but crumbling. )
A quite different-appearing building went up on the corner of Mc Carty
and Mill Streets when M.W. Van De Bogart ordered in a car or two of ceramic
tile building blocks. The new building was to house his Ford dealership and
repair garage, with hand-operated gas pumps in the front. An "old fashioned
dance" was held to christen the building.
Early in 1922 the Heath & LaGrange hardware store was burglarized on a
Thursday night. On Monday next two women asked Lackawanna station agent
Abram Jackson to express a small suitcase to Hoboken, N.J. Mr. Jackson was
immediately suspicious and called District Attorney Nathan Turk who took
the next train to Owego (as did the women) . Jackson and Officer Frost
opened the case, found stolen goods and notified Turk who arrested the
women in Owego and jailed them. Turk and sheriff Hunt returned to Candor
and arrested one woman' s husband. The suspects ' house yielded " . . .48 fountain
pens, 7 flashlights, 4 pairs of scissors, 2 Winchester guns, 8 watches,
7 safety razors, 12 ordinary [ "straight" ] razors, and other articles. . ."
73
The man admitted the crime and "stated" for three burglaries at
M.W. Van De Bogart' s store "during the [preceding] few months. . ."
Also in January, the millers, Holmes & Haight, "shipped from [Candor]
station one of the largest carloads of York State Buckwheat Flour ever sent
from this place. The car which was sold for export to Holland, contained
thirty-three tons of this well known and celebrated flour. . ."
One of the more interesting characters to arrive in Candor via the rails
was James "Jim" Butler, reportedly the grandson of Claude Monet. Like his
grandfather, Jim was an artist and he probably learned about the
picturesqueness of the Candor area from his friend Eugene Heiffel who, the
reader may remember, was the "first" Fresh Air Child from NYC to spend a
summer on a farm in Candor. For a few years, Butler and Heiffel summered at
a small farm house on Hubbard Hill owned by Sam Gridley (now by Doug
Fessenden) . Later Mr. Butler camped out for many summers on the Marion
Kelsey farm (corner of Kelsey and Williams Roads) .
Among the cars and light truck chassis that came on the Lackawanna to
M.W. Van De Bogart, the farmers got a look at what, with other makes, would
eventually replace their horses, the Fordson gasolene (sic) powered tractor.
The price in 1921 was $395. plus freight from Detroit.
The Village received a car of two-inch pipe to replace the old original
wooden pump logs that carried water from the springs to the catch-basins
that fed the reservoir. With the pipe in place, the flow from the springs
was restored and the reservoir refilled.
In the summer of 1922, "John Kraeski" and "Frank Stugenski" of Anderson
Hill, ordered in a "10-20 Kerosine tractor" with plows, a threshing outfit,
wood-sawing outfit and silo-filling machinery, that cost them $1900. Their
first customers for threshing oats were their neighbors, "John Luberic and
Michael Kaidon."
In the Fall ( 1922) the Lackawanna rails brought a most unusual load of
freight to Town in the form of a 1500-pipe, organ, removed from Trinity
Church in Elmira and given to St. Marks Episcopal Church in Candor. The
original church building received an addition to accommodate the wonderful
gift.
A Lackawanna engine killed a large doe deer, one of three that had neen
seen near Willseyville for a time. (The white-tailed deer had been almost
or completely exterminated from Tioga County around 1900. They very slowly
migrated in from Pennsylvania and eventually a hunting season was opened
in 1940. )
74
M. W. Van De Bogart, James Hollenbeck, and Richard Jordan took the train
to Buffalo and drove back three Ford cars for Van De Bogart's Candor Auto Co.
(Apparently rail freight charges were being raised as more and more autos
sold. ) Ford prices were down from 1914. The Runabout listed for $325, down
from 500; the Touring Car was 355, down from 550; the Sedan-Town Car at
750 in 1914, listed for 660. Ford' s manufacturing innovations and locally
higher wages made owning an automobile more afFORDable (yuk,yuk) .
Oswald J. Ward and son Kenneth O. went to the West (Midwest?) where they
purchased and shipped home 200 breeding sheep.
The concrete highway from Candor to the Danby/Tompkins County line was
finished and proved to be "too hard and slippery" for horses, several of
which fell and had to be "slaughtered. "
The D.L.& W. installed a "swinging signal" at Potter's Crossing (near the
Kellogg farm and Candor Elderly Housing) . The newly-formed Candor Board of
Trade had labeled the crossing dangerous several months before and took it
up with the RR. (Trains coming south were traveling under a bank and passed
behind a house near the crossing. Motorists coming from the west might miss
hearing the train' s ,whistle and not see the engine until it was quite close
to the crossing. )
In 1922 a Mr. O. and a Mr. R. from Binghamton came to Candor with a
proposition. If Candor could raise enough capital, these "shoe experts"
would convert the obsolete blanket factory into a shoe factory and Candor
would prosper greatly! The capital was raised and the Candor Shoe Mfg. Co.
was incorporated. Cars of bricks (for a new 50 ' by 50 ' "cutting building") ,
shoe-making machinery, leather, and other supplies rolled into town and
the prospects for a new industry that would employ "150" looked great.
By year ' s end the shoe factory was almost ready to go and on January 13,
1923 a "grand opening" of the plant was held. It was proclaimed ". . .one of
the greatest social functions of the season, in fact several seasons. . . "
Between "700 and 800" people visited the plant and it was estimated that
500 were on hand at any one time, enjoying the festivities. The roads were
"heavy" and the orchestra was late ( from?) , but Elmer Kilpatrick "filled
in nicely" on the piano. George F. Johnson (shoe giant of Endicott) sent a
"letter of congratulations and best wishes. " It was explained that due to
"nonarrival of needed freight, " there would be "some little delay" in the
"active production of shoes. " In early February the first cases of "Candor
made" children's shoes, sandals, and men' s slippers, left the Lackawanna station.
75
RAILROAD A MIXED BLESSING
In the spring of 1923, the Candor Shoe Mfg. Co. was employing about 50 in
what appeared to be a great addition to Candor' s business enterprises. The
stockholders met June 6th and received a "most encouraging report, far beyond"
expectations. A dividend of 3% was declared and previously the company had
raised the wages of their workers by 10%. It appears that this was all for
show and the company was "adjudicated a bankrupt" on December 13th.
The creditors of Candor Shoe held their first meeting at the Tioga County
Court House early in 1924. A Mr. B. , the company secretary, was the only
witness heard. It was reported that Mr. 0. was missing and was thought to be
in NYC. Mr. B. said that Mr. O. was married to his (Mr. B. ' s) sister and that
they were separated and "unfriendly." He also said that Mr. O. had told him to
"stay out of the office" and that Mr. 0., had changed the safe combination.
Mr. B. said there had been repeated arguments on the operation of the plant.
On March 17, 1924 the Shoe Co. property was sold at auction to the S. Bros.
Stitchdown Shoe Company of 692 Broadway, NYC for $8800. The S. Bros. were
reported to be operating two factories in New York that were "turning out
5000 pairs of shoes per day." They expected to be "running to capacity" in a
week or so;.:and turning out "150 dozen [ 1800] pairs of shoes per day!' The
company was composed of five S. brothers and a brother-in-law, Mr. G.
With the Candor Glove Co. operating at "capacity" and the Wands' Glove Co.
Candor Branch "using several operators," and the S. Bros. shipping large
numbers of shoes, the prospects for employment in Candor were looking great.
Word was received that Mr. 0. was arrested in NYC on a bench warrant issued
by Dist. Atty Nathan Turk of Candor. He had some difficulty raising the
$500. bail and $2000. bond to ensure his appearance in Tioga County Court.
l he was found guilty of obtaining a loan of $500. . .on a written
At his tria e a g y g
misrepresentation. He was sentenced to six months in Tioga County Jail and
an additional $500. fine.
In June 1924 the S. Bros. Shoe Co. was giving employment to "about 100. . .and
. . .shipping about 150 dozen pairs a day." A little later in June, E.S. was
reported as having returned from New York and "the shoe factory again started
operation." In latter July the factory was closed again and on August 5th the
New York Times reported that a receiver had been appointed for the company.
76
In late November the S. Bros. "emerged from their recent financial
difficulties" and moved the equipment from their "two New York factories" to
Candor. ( ! ) They expected to resume production and increase their output.
On December 4 (1924) M.S. and brother-in-law S.G. "arrived in town" (via the
- Lackawanna of course) in the morning and the noon freight "brought two carloads
of leather and some other merchandise." Later in December the company was
employing about 50 people and making daily shipments. They advertised for
"experienced shoe operators. . .and seamers. . ." A Mr. K. came up from Brooklyn
and "contracted for several carloads of Stitchdown shoes with the S. Bros. . .
himself looking after the production and shipping. . .to his Brooklyn factory. . . "
Christmas Eve 1924 saw a Community Tree installed just south of the Candor
Station. Despite "severe cold" a large crowd gathered for the "exercises" led
- by the Congregational Minister, Rev. E.P. Boyden. Dr. D.G. Van Ostrand led the
opening chorus and Rev. Boyden offered prayer and introduced Santa who gave
out "little tokens to a large number of children. (With a few interruptions,
the tradition of a community tree has continued to recent times. )
In early February. 4925, "one of the worst snowstorms in years" caused big
travel problems. The new Ithaca Road was "more or less" closed. The Owego to
Candor road was "passable" to near Catatonk. The rest required much hand work
and caused the Town a large amount of extra expense. Donations were solicited
to help out. The Lackawanna passenger trains got through "every day although
very late. " No freights ran for two days.
In early 1925, sixteen students from the Willseyville area were riding
the Lackawanna train to attend Candor High School. Some, like Russell Manning
from the top end of Roe Road, had to walk several miles to commute. A month' s
pass cost about $1 .30.
In April the S. Bros. Shoe Co. unloaded a large steam boiler at Candor
Station to replace the smaller one that couldn' t handle the additional
machinery brought up from their NYC plants. The factory shut down for 3 months
to install the new boiler and make "other improvements."
In the summer of 1925 some unusual freight rolled into town in the form
of several cars of .colorful cobblestones and red tile roofing. The Maple Grove
Cemetery Association erected a stone-faced, tile-roofed chapel and winter
storage vault, using money left to them in 1906 by Jdhn Snover, plus the
accumulated interest.
77
•
In the fall, Mildred Heath, the lady coal dealer, was forced by a coal
strike to get in a "limited quantity of coke the cost of which [had] rapidly
advanced." (Coke was soft coal that had been heated to drive off its volatile
Darts so it would burn clean. )
In late February 1926. . ."A car of anthracite [coal] , chestnut size, was
delivered to Mrs. Heath. . .It proved quite a curiosity to our people, many of
whom wandered to the switch to ' take a look' before it was dumped into the
bin. It was the first anthracite received. . .since the big strike, Sept. 1 ."
After January 1 , 1926 the S. Bros. Stitchdown Shoe Mfg. Co. was known as
the S.B. Shoe Mfg. Co. when more ( t ) local capital was put into the company
and Candorites took officer positions. The First National Bank of Owego was
their depository. (The Candor First National had nothing to do with the shoe
business after they received a very negative letter of credit from their
correspondent bank in New York when Mr. 0. first hit town with his scheme. )
The company's production was the "same general line of ladies and childrens
Stitchdown shoes." In May they offered "2000 pairs shoes for sale-80 cents
a pair at the factory."
On July 29th at 12:15 a.m. , the shoe factory was discovered on fire. Judge
Turk and Dr. Holly had passed by around 12:00 and noticed nothing. The flames
spread rapidly and the two hose companies could not do much. The complex,
except the brick walls of the "cutting room" and the power house, was
totally destroyed.
The loss was " . . .hard to estimate, maybe $50, 000. or $60,000. , including
the United Shoe Machine Co. ' s machines which were on lease. . ." The amount of
insurance was not obtainable as all the principals of the company were absent.
The fire' s origin was called "a deep mystery" but some weeks later a different
Mr. G. that had been seen around town a few days before the fire, was arrested,
tried and convicted of arson, making any insurance null and void.
(Railroads were a boon to many an upstate town but they also provided an
easy way for dishonest people to set up shop in those towns, smooth talk the
townsfolk into investing their savings from hard, honest work in the stranger' s
scheme, and steal away in the night. )
78
AUTOS THREATEN THE RR
In November 1928 the Lehigh Valley Railroad Co. , as lessee of the Lehigh
Valley Railway Co. , petitioned the Public Service Commission in Albany for
" . . .consent to the discontinuance of the services of an agent at its
West Candor ("Snyder" ] station in the towns of Candor and Spencer [?] ,
Tioga County. . ." A public hearing was held at the Binghamton city Court
House on the 27th. (We have no results but assume the petition was granted. )
Two of the S. Brothers, who were involved in the burning of the Candor
Shoe Factory and were serving a year in Tioga County Jail, were granted
permission by County Judge Nathan Turk of Candor to take the train to NYC
to attend their father's funeral. They were accompanied by a deputy sheriff.
Businessman W.G. Bostwick rebuilt the shoe factory brick cutting room as
a garage and got in a large 12,000 gallon tank for gasoline. He anticipated
buying gasoline in tank car lots. (According to Jacob "Jake" Haag, who ran
the garage for a number of years, the tank was never filled as it cost too
much. We have no documentation of what happened to the big tank, but in 1930
Ward & Van Scoy installed a large tank at their "upper" mill for storing
carloads of molasses. The feed additive—that cattle loved—was unloaded at
a siding near the "lower" mill into a Brockway tank truck that had hard
rubber tires, was chain driven, and transferred the molasses to the upper
mill. This may have been Mr. Bostwick' s big tank. )
The Candor Glove Co. had two salesmen on the road (railroads that is) ,
Raymond Steele (son-in-law of principal Willson S. Moore) and Elmer
Kilpatrick, and were producing large quantities of their well known high
quality work gloves that were used in a large variety of heavy industry and
mining. One shipment of several thousand pounds was bound for the Argentine.
In 1929 the Candor G.L.F. (Grange League Federation) , under the management
of Edgar Raish began shipping in Wallis tractors and the Massey-Harris line
of farm machinery. The business was housed in the old Bostwick "Hay Barn"
on Rich St. (part of Home Central) that was later sold to Ward & Van Scoy
so they could have a siding handy to storage for grain and feedstuffs
unloaded from boxcars. (Neither of the two mills, upper and lower, had
direct access to rails. )
Later the G.L.F. moved to buildings on railroad property off Jackson St.
Still later the old Sam Eastham grist mill at West Candor, owned by Henry
Forsythe, was dismantled and moved piecemeal to a site on R.R. land just off
Jackson St. , reassembled and became the G.L.F. mill, with M.C. Meservey
79
( former owner of the upper and lower mills) in charge. (It is quite
likely that the heavy framing timbers of the mill were brought to Candor on
railroad flatcars. )
The milling partners, Haight & Ward (successors to Holmes & Haight, et al) ,
continued to ship out large quantities of the popular York State buckwheat
flour to " . . .all sections of this country and some abroad. . ."
Merritt W. Van De Bogart, general merchant and dealer in Ford vehicles,
sent Mrs. Henry Galpin to Buffalo on the train to drive back a Ford car.
After two years of this practice, he went back to having Fords shipped by
rail. (Apparently freight rates became more favorable. ) Some later ( 1932) ,
M.W.V. himself rode the trains to Buffalo to see the new V8-powered Fords.
(In 1930 Merritt had off-loaded the latest in electric refrigeration for
his "big brick store"—corner Mill St. and Spencer Ave.--a case with separate
compartments for meat and fresh vegetables. )
Mrs. John Craig (Helen) , elocutionist/reader extraordinaire, rode the
trains to Martinsburg, West Virginia to "fill a few engagements" for the
Pittsburg branch of the Ithaca-based Redpath Lyceum Bureau. (Helen was
raised in the South and had complete command of accents, dialects, and
character portrayals through change of voice. )
(The railroads saw the gradual gnawing away by motor vehicles at their
monopoly on travel and shipping; a few examples. )
Raymond Scharf purchased a Ford truck and started the business of trucking
eggs and live poultry to his uncle Ed Scharf who had a store in New Jersey.
Charles Marshall bought a 29-passenger •"Grey Hound" type bus and offered
round trips to the World Series in NYC for $5.00, to Syracuse for the
NY State Fair, $1 .50, and to Century of Progress at Chicago for $13.00,
9 days, 1800 miles.
Harry Whitcomb and Fred Estelle began trucking in anthracite coal, but
the capacity of their truck (probably five or six tons) and the long, time-
consuming trip to the Pennsylvania mines could not compete with rail cars.
Estelle soon withdrew from the partnership and some time later, the business
was taken over by Edward Whitcomb. Ed eventually equipped himself with a
tractor trailer for a more efficient operation.
Periodically the Railway Express brought entertainment to Candor in the
form of reels of silent movies. Courier Editor Will Beebe also managed the
Candor Theatre (Candor Market's stock room) and was apparently persuaded
to try the latest thing in movies, the "talkies." After the special show,
Beebe issued this apology.
80
. . .It was absolutely one of the worst shows ever presented in the
house. The feature was bad enough, but the five acts of talking movie
vaudville was simply an outrage on the public. The equipment used was one of
the very best and highest priced portable machines shade and it was highly
recommended, but that' s all that could be said about it. In future those who
wish good, clean, restful and entertaining silent pictures will be able to
see them, but the talkies, nit!"
In 1931 the Town Board authorized the purchase and shipping in of 5000
feet of snow fence. The new fencing of wooden slats closely-spaced on wires
was proving to be very effective in protecting upland roads from drifting snow
Ward & Van Scoy, feed and farm supplies, offered bagged lime off the car:
Mohawk or Solvay lime and Michigan Improved Heat Treated lime at $5.25
per ton and Hydrated lime at $12. per ton.
The Town Highway Dept. shipped in a "Caterpiller 30 tractor" to try out.
Editor Beebe was invited to see it perform and was impressed by its ability
to pull a 10-foot-bladed scraper up Catatonk Hill. It was accepted at a
subsequent Town Board meeting and was used to build and widen ditches and
install sluice pipes as well as grade roads.
George Manley, the ice man, was getting his ice shipped in by refrigerator
car on the Lackawanna from Binghamton. He was obliged to raise his price
to 60 cents for 100 pounds.
That dairy farming was a major factor in Candor' s economy was reflected
in the Borden Co. ' s payments of "$14,000." to Candor and Catatonk patrons
for raw milk delivered in October.
In December 1931 several carloads of steel were unloaded at Candor for use
in building a new "upper" bridge. The old iron bridge had been condemned
by the state in 1930. Scott Bros. Construction Co. of Rome, N.Y. won the
bidding with $31 , 772. for a two-span truss type bridge 175 feet by 30 feet
with a pedestrian walk.
In November 1932 the Borden Milk Company, with plants in Owego and
Catatonk began trucking their total intake of 500 cans a day to Candor where
it was loaded into a tank car. The company eventually arranged for loading
in Owego and the Catatonk plant was later closed.
The Lackawanna cut two passenger trains out of its schedule in 1933 and
the early morning mail was shifted to truck from Binghamton.
81
In 1935 the Lehigh Valley R.R. was granted the right to abandon 22 miles
of track from Spencer through West Candor and Willseyville to Ithaca (much
of which was paralleled by the Lackawanna line). The assessed valuation in the
Town of Candor was $101 ,000. , resulting in a loss of about $1300. in Town
revenues plus school taxes.
About the same time, the Lackawanna's Willseyville station was closed
except for freight service two hours a day. (Students who' had been riding
the train to Candor were being "bussed" by various hired residents, where
Districts were closing their one-room schools in anticipation of
centralization. )
82
THE RAILS AID THEIR OWN DEMISE
(With automobiles crossing railroad tracks, it was inevitable that cars
and trains would tragically collide sooner or later. The first record we
have found of such an encounter in Candor was tragic indeed. )
In the Fall of 1935, Mrs. Lena (Hollenbeck) Whitmarsh of Germany Hill,
accompanied by her 3-year-old daughter, Adeline, a 1-year-old baby (name not
recorded) , and her sister-in-law Mrs. Clarence Hollenbeck, was driving home
after shopping in Catatonk at Frank Duff' s general store.
The 4:00 p.m. Lackawanna passenger train had just pulled away from the
station and was not moving very fast when it approached the Catatonk Hill Rd.
crossing where the Whitmarsh car was stalled. Mrs. Whitmarsh apparently
didn't realize that the engineer was stopping the train and jumped out, only
to be pinned against the car. In the confusion, the baby fell out of the car,
but rolled out of harm' s way. Mrs. Hollenbeck and young Adeline Whitmarsh
remained in the car and were "unhurt" and the car suffered "little damage."
Dr. W.A. Moulton of Candor responded and treated Mrs. Whitmarsh at the
scene, but she died on the way to Tioga General Hospital in Waverly in the
Miller ambulance.
(In those early days there were all too many instances of cars stalling
right on the railroad tracks. The main reason was probably that a stop and
shift-down was not made before crossing the tracks, which were often on a
hump with the rails higher than the dirt of the roadway. )
In late December 1935 the Public Service Commission allowed the D.L.& W.
to discontinue having an agent at the Willseyville station, but it was to
be under the Candor station and a caretaker was to be employed and provision
made for freight.
In 1936 the Lackawanna cars brought in loads of steel, bricks, hardwood
flooring, etc. for building a large addition onto Candor High School. On
Christmas Eve some 250 citizens and 200 students attended the dedication
of the large gym/auditorium and two large classrooms for the added subjects
of Agriculture and Homemaking. About half of the $81 ,000. project was
funded by the federal Public Works Administration and half by school district
bonds. (It was the first of many additions to the 1910 building. )
In the Summer of 1937 the rail cars were once again employed to bring in
large quantities of crushed stone to reconstruct most of Route 15 (Rte. 96)
from Owego to Candor. This time the oil-bound macadam was to see something
new over it, something called "black top."
83
The stone was crushed finer than for macadam and was cemented down with
hot asphalt. (This writer can attest to the fineness of the stone and the
disagreeable nature of asphalt. At the age of five, he went barefoot and
strayed too close to the edge of the 20-foot-wide pavement and a tiny, sharp,
blackened stone pierced his "tough" sole. After much howling and limping to
the house about 50 or 60 feet away, a long-suffering mother extracted the
offending stone chip that probably came from a crusher at the Waverly area
gravel mines. )
Fifteen bids for the construction were received and Harry I. Suits of
Watkins Glen won with $222 ,273.15 for the 7.56 miles or $29 ,401 . per mile.
The engineer's estimate was $303 ,080.10. The original macadam (water-bound
crushed stone) cost $8200. per mile in 1914.
In 1939 Daylight Saving Time was instituted and the Village Board voted
to adopt it. This solved some confusion, but created more, because most
farmers and residents outside the Village chose to stay on "old time."
Candor Central School changed back to Standard after about a month of
confusion, especially since the Lackawanna stayed on regular time and there
were stilla number of students riding the trains to school.
Early in 1940 Ward & Van Scoy, the millers, expanded their operation by
taking on the Allis-Chalmers line of tractors and farm machinery (that of
course came in by rail) . They later got in a flatcar load of 8 tractors.
Haag & Manning, who ran the Public Service Garage (site Family Health Care) ,
competed by taking the agency for International Harvester. (Both partnerships
saw greatly reduced rail shipments in the coming war and were in the business
of helping the farmer to repair and make do. )
Later in the year the railroad cars once again brought in several miles
of steel pipe, this time for the Socony Vacuum Oil Co. to build a 6" gasoline
pipeline (from Buffalo to Binghamton) that angled across the northerly part of
town, passing near the reservoir. The clearing of the right-of-way and
building of fence gates commenced in May. Later an auto truck derrick was
unloading pipe (probably at a road crossing) and moved off the track to let
the morning milk train pass, but not quite far enough. The engine hit and
tipped it over causing a lot of damage.
Later in 1941 the D.L.& W. announced that passenger service from Owego
to Ithaca would be discontinued. The Candor Board of Trade adopted a
-Resolution of Protest and sent a letter to the Public Service Commission
demanding a public hearing. At the hearing, held in early 1942, the CBT
presented a petition containing some 250 signatures.
84
". . .First the service is required by: 1 . Students attending colleges
[in Ithaca] and local schools. 2. Employees of industries in the vicinity
of Ithaca. 3. Other residents who use the service for shopping and other
business purposes, particularly in view of the gasoline shortage. Second:
the proposed substitution of buses will result in a less reliable and more
hazardous service. Third: the route of the proposed bus line will deprive
the residents of Caroline and vicinity of all access to passenger service.
Fourth: the proposed new schedule [bus] provides but one southbound trip each
day, instead of two as at present, and eliminates all morning service in
that direction. Fifth: the proposed reduction of express to three trips each
week will virtually deprive residents of all effective service and will
impose great hardship on shippers of perishables. Sixth: the substitution
of trucks for carrying the mails will result in less reliable and less
frequent service."
(We don' t have the results of that hearing but obviously the subsequent
decisions favored the Railroad. The last regular passenger train-specials
might run—made its run on Sunday, March 29, 1942. Most of the passengers—
including a number of Candorites—took the ride for its historical aspect. )
The L.D. Dickinson buses were to maintain "about the same schedule" and
the mail and express trucks operated by Tom Randolph of Owego had "liberal
schedules, actually better than trains." (Thus the old Ithaca & Owego
Railroad took one more step toward its demise, 108 years after the first
horse-drawn train to carry passengers—in New York State and possibly the
United States—ran in 1834. )
The usual freight, leaving Candor station (many cases of gloves, about
60% going to Uncle Sam; flour, milk, and other farm produce) was joined by
about 33 tons of scrap metal.
A "Junk Rally" was held in mid-September ( 1942) . Chief of Police Jacob
Haag served as marshal and rode a horse at the head of a parade of about
40 teams pulling floats and wagonloads of "junk." The line of march included
a color guard of Paul Haag, home on furlough and World War I Veterans
Werter Quick and Carl Baker. An "Honor Float" created by the Candor Central
School faculty displayed the names of 74 men and women from Candor who were
serving their country. (The scrap collected sold for $9. per ton. )
It was 1944 before hardware merchant Delbert LaGrange was able to get in
a carload of barbed wire, woven wire fencing, staples and nails.
85
Heating with coal was difficult in the winter of record-breaking snow,
1944-45. The war-caused shortage made it impossible to get a railcar load
in. The Village purchased about 10 tons from trucker John Czarniecki. George
Cowles loaned a truck and Lloyd Galpin drove it to and from the mines,
adding another ten tons. Edward Whitcomb also supplied what he could spare
from his regular customers. The coal was stored in Jacob Haag' s barn where
volunteers weighed and bagged it for delivery to some 50 families that were
in "dire need."
In May 1945 the CCS Senior Class was able to take a trip for the first
in several years. They rode Lackawanna trains to Buffalo and there boarded
a "steamer" that took them by water to Detroit.
86
BUSINESSES EXPAND-THE RR FADES
In August 1945 a broadcast message from Japan (by Tokyo Rose?) was most
welcome in Candor, especially for the Claude Butterfield family. Son
George Bronson Butterfield, who had been away from' home over six years and
of that three and a half years in a POW camp, was reported in good health
and his "patience still holding out." In October he called home from
Oakland (Calif. ) Naval Hospital and later arrived in Candor in time to see
Ward & Van Scoy' s new hollow-tile machinery garage to the rear of the
upper mill finished. Bronson was soon in charge of the Allis-Chalmers and
later New Idea farm machinery business.
In 1947 Ralph Sumner, doing business as Sumner' s Hatchery and Poultry
Farm (opposite Extra Mart) , was shipping day-old chicks and started pullets
to distant points such as Mississippi and the Buffalo area. They offered
Rhode Island Red, Red Rock, Sex Link, and Rock Red Cross breeds.
Oswald J. Ward died April 23, 1947 at age 92. "Oh Jay" as he was known,
and later with his son Kenneth, shipped literally thousands of cattle, sheep
lambs, and hogs from the stock pens near Candor Station.
In the summer of ' 47 millers Ward & Van Scoy built large additions onto
their "hay barn" on Rich St. Then in 1948 another large addition took shape.
Heavy, stacked oak planks from local forests were used to build a cluster
of tall storage bins ( 10) that could each hold one and a half cars of
feedstuffs. The finished lumber (for bin hoppers, spouting, etc. ) , like
all of the sized lumber, siding, plywood, and cedar shingles they had been
selling for years, came in on the rails from the West. Of course the heavy
machinery (grinder, mixer, elevator, etc. ) and the large electric motors
for power and the very important molasses ( "maple syrup" to cattle) tank
all came via the cars.
Dairy farming in the town was heading for its peak and the new mill
increased the firm' s ability to meet the greater demand and was much more
efficient. Now they could unload cars of feedstuffs such as corn, hominy,
gluten, soy bean meal, bran, distiller's grains (mostly from Canada) ,
molasses, etc. on site instead of having to truck the ingredients to the
antiquated upper and lower mills as before.
Ilso in 1948 the Bero Engineering & Construction Co. of Buffalo came
to town with contracts to construct a 24-foot concrete highway from the
south Candor Village line to the Tompkins County line above Willseyville.
Much of the route bypassed the old original concrete road and included
87
the last unpaved section of the old Ithaca-Owego Turnpike from the Village
line by Maple Grove Cemetery to the Honeypot Rd. intersection. It also
required the removal of many of the old maple trees along Owego St. and
Miss Helen Sackett (Bert and Mary White' s) for one wrote a letter to
Governor Thomas Dewey urging that the route be shifted east to the rear of
the house lots. Construction went forward as planned with the exciting use
of Le Tourneau earthmover pans. Another large piece of equipment that came
in on the rails was a self-propelled concrete mixer. This very heavy
machine was later abandoned a "short way from the county line. Also the cars
brought in "miles" of concrete forms.
A complex of bins and elevators for cement and washed sand and crushed
stone (that again probably came from the Barton-Waverly gravel mines) was
built behind Lewis Lane's place (Alan and Jean Ahart) on a special
Lackawanna siding. From there the blending of stone,sand and cement was
trucked to the cement mixer as it crawled northward.
A casualty of "progress," the original Candor Coal Co. (etal) , after
getting in rail cars of coal for over 80 years, closed out business on
October 20th, 1948. (Trucker Norman Galpin later did business under the
same name.)
In 1949 the Postal Service instituted the Highway Post Office, a
"greyhound" type bus fitted out like the formerly used rail cars.
(Theoretically a letter mailed in Owego could reach Candor in 20 minutes
or so. )
In April 1950 Candor' s sidewalk superintendents had a busy time when 18
big steel girders came in on Lackawanna flatcars for the new lower bridge.
The previous summer H.E. Bunce (of ?) won the job for $204,717. (engineer' s
est. 239,000. ). In September the old "horse and buggy" bridge that had
served for so long and well was dropped into the creek, cut up, and loaded
into gondola cars for a trip to the scrap yard. A temporary foot bridge
was built and concrete abutments and piers went in. The 3-span bridge was
to be 240 feet long by 24 feet wide with a concrete deck. The 80-foot-long
I beams, weighing some 9 tons each, were brought in on 6 flatcars, 6 beams
on each tandem pair of cars.
A momentous change took place in 1951 when the Lackawanna retired their
steam engines and put a diesel "yard" engine on the Cayuga Branch.
88
In January 1953 the D.L.& W. applied to the NYS Public Service Commission
for permission to close the Candor station, 'Only carload lots, freight
prepaid would be delivered or picked up along the line and in Ithaca. A public
hearing was set for February 27 at the County Court House in Owego.
The hearing was attended by about 50 people from the Candor area including
representatives from 11 businesses and institutions. Among those testifying
were principals from Ward & Van Scoy, Candor Coop G.L.F. , Arthur Hollenbeck
& Son, Borden Milk Co. , Crowley Milk Co. , Candor Glove Co. , Candor Better
Business Bureau and Town Supervisor and Attorney. A petition bearing 501
signatures was also presented.
In May the PSC recommended that Candor Station be open two hours per day
with a caretaker to handle pickup and delivery of express and small freight.
On Friday the 21st of August the station was closed except for 2 hours a day
( 10-12) and Floyd Doty was employed as caretaker. Abram "Abe" Jackson
retired after 39 years as station agent and 55 years with the Lackawanna.
Western Union services were transferred to Ellis' Drug Store (Spencer Agency-
then 2 stories) . In January of ' 54 the Candor Town Clerk' s office was moved
from the Candor Couier print shop where it had been for 45 years (Will Beebe
for 25 and son Arthur since) to the Lackawanna Station. Art Beebe acted as
caretaker.
Anticipating the end of rail service to their Candor milk plant, the
Borden Co. built on an addition to shelter a loading station for tank trucks.
It was obvious that the D.L.& W. was aiming to cease operating the hi
day
Ithaca & Owego Rail Road. By the Fall. of 1955 only one freight train per
from Owego to Ithaca and back. The principal users of the line were
Morse Chain Co. , Ithaca (where a goodl y number of Candorites worked) ; Ward &
Van Scoy and Candor G.L.F. ; Arthur Hollenbeck and son Gerald, Catatonk; and
a few industries in Owego. The R.R. Co. claimed to be operating at a loss
and probably were. R.R. officials notified the users on Nov. 15th that they
were applying to the Interstate Commerce Comm. and the New York Public
Service Comm. for authorization to discontinue freight service on the
Cayuga Division, essentially shutting down the operation. The only railroad
building along the line still open at all was the Candor station for a
couple hours a day.
The R.R. brass proposed that Morse Chain could be serviced by the Lehigh
Valley out of Sayre, PA and Candor and Catatonk merchants could be serviced
by trucks from Owego and Binghamton.
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LAST PLEAS FAIL-AN ERA ENDS
On March 29 and 30, 1956, additional hearings were held by the Interstate
Commerce Commission (ICC) on the closing of the 122-year-old Owego to
Ithaca branch of the D.L.& W. Railroad. In June, based on testimony at the
March hearings, the ICC examiners recommended that the railroad company be
allowed to abandon the line. On October 25, 1956 the ICC filed its full
report and an order was entered permitting the abandonment of the branch.
The gist of the report was contained' in one paragraph.
" In the light of the foregoing [evidence] , we conclude that continued
operation of the branch or of the portion of the branch between Owego and
Candor as urged by the protestants would impose an undue and unnecessary
burden upon the applicant and upon interstate commerce. "
Petitions subsequently filed for reconsideration and further hearings
were denied by ICC Orders of 1 /28/57 and 3/5/57. March 15th was set as the
date a certification of abandonment would take effect.
On March 12, 1957 C. Paul Ward, president of Ward & Van Scoy Inc. ,
acting for the following plaintiffs: Village of Candor, (W.& V.S. ) , Candor
Cooperative G.L.F. Service, Inc. , Philip M. King, president of Candor
Business Bureau, Arthur Hollenbeck and Gerald Hollenbeck, co-partners,
doing business under the firm name and style of Arthur Hollenbeck & Son,
and Town of Candor (Winston S. Ives, Atty) , filed an affidavit with the
U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York, supporting an action
brought by the plaintiffs against the U.S. of A. and the D.L.& W. Railroad
Co. , defendants with the ICC as "Intervening Defendant."
The plaintiffs were represented by attorneys George Coughlin and
Bertram W. Isenberg from a Binghamton law firm. The U.S. was defended by
Assistant Attorney General, Victor R. Hansen, U.S. Attorney Theodore F.
Bowes (Syracuse) and Charles R. Esherick from the U.S. Dept. of Justice.
The court issued a temporary restraining order, pending a trial.
A second affidavit was filed by Mr. Ward on April 23, 1957 and was
heard by the court at the trial in Albany. C. P. as he was known, questioned
the claim that the RR was losing about $100 a day in operating the branch.
He countered the RR' s contention that feedstuffs could be trucked from
Owego with, ". . . it would take eight trips [to W&VS and AH&Son] of a five
ton truck to unload a car of feed at Owego. At a minimum, that would
involve an extra cost of from $3.00 to $4.00 a ton. It is misleading to
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J.H. Jennings escorted his wife to NYC where she joined her brother,
Dr. Amos Canfield and his wife .Rosa (owners of Canfield Gardens—Edge of
Thyme B&B) for a trip to Liverpool and on to France and Switzerland. They
were to tour in the Canfield' s automobile (shipped over with them) and be
gone about three months. (Mr. Jennings didn' t get to go, probably because
of his druggist business in Candor and his responsibilities at the Candor
Opera House—Candor Hall. )
R. Drew Van Scoy, (Richard Van Scoy' s grandfather) , rode the train to
Ithaca and purchased nine two-year old Holstein heifers. Drew was one of
Candor' s most successful young farmers and was convinced that if anything
was to be made from his dairy, it must be with the "best kind of
thorobred [sic] stock. . ." (No doubt the cattle rode the train to Candor. )
(The Van Scoy farm was unique in several ways. The buildings were located
between the Ithaca Millpond not far from Mill St. The
p
Rd. and the Upper
farmland lay either side of Honeypot Rd. In summer the dairy cattle were
pastured in the general area of what was known as the Punch Bowls, a group
of glacial "kettles" formed when blocks of ice buried in gravel finally
melted. The cows were milked and fed grain at a "milking shed," located at
about 79 Honeypot Rd.—the Craig residence. )
In the fall, F.L. Heath hired contractor C.J. Hoyt (builder of many of
Candor's larger homes) to construct a new coal shed and office (now a
dwelling) off Water St. The old shed near the depot was considered
an "eyesore" . As the new shed neared completion the Lackawanna laid a new
switch and rails to it. Where the cars of coal had been winched up into
the old coal shed (torn down) , the cars were pushed up into the new shed
by the locomotive (done well into the 1940s) .
•
Pi
AYN'SCVALOFFICE if-YARP80044(itkj dY, /
Note the cleared hillside beyond the new coal shed.
55
i
In February 1908 a "serious" wreck occurred on the Lehigh Valley RR near
North Candor (Snyder) station. A "spring frog" was not working properly,
resulting in a "pile up" (derailment?) of "seven or eight freight cars and
the engine in the cut at that place." The train was back on the track by
the next afternoon. (This would have been a short distance south of •
Dry Brook Rd. where the tracks coming down from Willseyville curved around
to the west near the base of the hill. The "cut" was later enlarged into
a gravel pit, used for a number of years by the Town Highway Dept. )
W.G. Bostwick (Hay Barn owner) brought in from Scranton PA "another car
of mules. . ." He offered forty head of mules and horses for sale or trade,
advertising that he was " . . .always at home to all comers who desire to make
a deal in horse flesh. . ."
In mid-April the Lackawanna offered an Easter excursion to New York City
for a one-way fare plus $2. (about $7.00)—return by April 30.
On Tuesday, May 19th, the train brought Al Wheeler' s Circus to town.
They set up in McCarty' s Athletic Field (present Lane-Collyer Field) for
one day of shows and acts. Their bills advertised, "Modern Arenic Spectacle—
The Queen of Nations, A. Magnificent Glittering Historical Pageant—
Two Superb Bands—Wheeler' s Dancing Horses—Capt Snyder, King of the
Jungle World—A Host of Mirth-provoking Clowns-100 other New, Novel,
Sensational Acts. . ." They performed at 2 and 8 p.m. , with the required
Street Parade at noon. A "Grand Free Outside Exhibition" preceded each
performance. Admission was 15(P for children, 25(P for adults.
56
say that that cost could be passed on to consumers. Consumers just won' t
pay [it] . Competition won' t support it and it would mean that we would
just lose business. On the basis of the tonnage involved, [W&VS and AH&Son]
would have lost at least $11 ,000 for the first three months of 1957, if
the Branch line had been discontinued. That would mean that we as shippers
would lose an estimated $127 a day against the unsupported estimate of the
Railroad of $100. a day. We do not know whether the $100 a day is based on
depreciation in the cost of scrap iron or what it is based on."
Data showing the traffic to Candor from Jan. 1 , 1957 listed 49 cars to
W.& V.S. , 5 cars to Candor G.L.F. , and 27 cars to Hollenbeck' s for a total
freight charge of $17, 891 . The RR Co. had no figures for costs charged
against that revenue.
At the trial it was shown that the plaintiffs were not objecting to the
abandonment of the whole branch, just the 10.7 miles from Owego to Candor.
Further they argued that the Owego to Candor segment should be considered
an industrial spur and not a branch, in which case the ICC would have no
jurisdiction. They also objected to the Commission' s denial of presenting
evidence relating to a proposed tax reduction for the 0 to C segment.
(It was commonly known that taxation was killing many of the less
profitable railroads. It can also be easily seen that our home town
"plaintiffs' were grasping at straws. )
The court ruled that the Village and Town of Candor and the Candor
Better Business Bureau were "improper. parties plaintiff" and that their
position was "unimportant" to the court's decision. The court concluded
that the three principals (the feed manufacturers) were the only parties
hurt by the closing and that there was "no evidence of damage to the public
interest. . ."
The RR Co. had claimed that at least $25,000. per year for five years
would be required to repair and bring the line to a safe level. Furthers
its records showed a decrease overall in freight traffic over the year
previous to the hearings. (Some of that was due to the decline of the
Candor Glove Co. Willson E. "Sam" Moore, manager of the company for 24 years
died Jan. 2, 1957 at age 53. They were down to ten employees as they
filled their last orders and turned down a few, including one from a
Venezuelan mining company. The plant was closed February 1st. ) It was
shown that "more than one-half of the branch traffic" originated or
terminated at Ithaca.
91
0
The court' s opinion dated May 21 , 1957 and signed by Charles E. Clark,
Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit and U.S. District
judges Stephen W. Brenan and James T. Foley, found in favor of the
defendants.
In the fall of 1956, when it became apparent that the Lackawanna was
going to be history, Ward & Van Scoy negotiated with Holmes and Relyea to
purchase their feed mill operation off North Avenue in Owego and served
by the Erie Railroad. The ownership changed in April 1957. Ward & Van Scoy
now had access to a main line RR even though they still had to truck all
the feedstuffs to Candor to serve their home town patrons.
The Lackawanna lost no time in acting on the court decision. There is a
note written on the pine elevator casing in the old mill on Rich St.
"Chesapeake & Ohio No. 282595 [contents not noted] last car unloaded
at Ward & Van Scoy 5/25/57 By E. [Edgar] Hammond W. [Wesley] Van Skiver
D. [David] Thomas"
Two days later the car was removed by the last freight train to run
over the historic Ithaca & Owego Rail Road.
In a last gasp the locals appealed to the Public Service Commission
to force the D.L.& W. to treat the Owego to Candor tracks as a switch.
A hearing was set for Sept. 4 and the line remained open although no
trains ran. The local merchants had asked the RR what the price would be
to buy the road and were told $250,000. It later came out that the line
had already been sold to the Merchant- Steel & Supply Co. of Chicago.
(The results of those hearings were not reported but obviously the PSC
agreed with the ICC and the U.S. Court.)
The salvage company began dismantling the tracks in August with a
wedge-shaped "sled" that slid under the rails and pulled the spikes. The
scrap was loaded into gondola cars and each day's salvage was hauled to
Owego in the afternoon. Later the bridges were cut up, loaded into trucks
and hauled to Owego. The cross ties were more or less abandoned and were
salvaged by anyone who wanted them for retaining walls, etc.
Thus the second chartered railroad in New York State, the longest in
the United States when it opened in 1834, and the first to carry both
freight and passengers, faded into history.
92
POSTSCRIPT-A LOOK BACK-ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Postscript (For this we need to go back a ways and relate part of the long
and interesting history of the Candor Free Library. )
In 1953 the Candor Free Library, that had been housed in part of the
F.G. Miller & Son Funeral Home, was advised that it would have to move. -
Art "Stub" Beebe, who would soon move his Town Clerk' s office to the
Lackawanna' s office and become station caretaker, suggested to Ross Galpin,
chairman of the Library Board, that the RR Co. might rent the large,
station waiting room. In August Mr. Galpin wrote to Lackawanna Superintendent
R.W. Jones at Buffalo about the possibility. No reply was received so
Atty Winston S. Ives wrote again in January of 1954.
In May Mr. Ives wrote again, indicating that the Library was being
pressed to move. Mr. Jones was vague and somewhat evasive, but finally sent
a lease agreement. The Board held their August meeting in the new quarters
and the Library' s books and materials were moved to the waiting room. A few
more legal issues were resolved and the Library settled into its new, much
larger and brighter home.
(This was the Library' s home for nearly ten years. In 1963 when the
Tioga State Bank became owners of the station property, the Library was
moved again to temporary quarters in the old La Grange hardware block. The
old First National Bank building was remodeled inside, adding a second
floor for the Village offices and the -Library moved into the first floor,
prompting the quip, "You can still get a loan at the old bank!")
In July 1960 the Village of Candor voters approved a proposition to
purchase the Railroad property within the Village limits for $6500. The
vote was 135 to -25. The balance of railroad property within the town was
sold to New York State Electric & Gas Corp. (They subsequently built a
high-voltage transmission line along part of the road and returned the land
to the concerned property owners, keeping a right-of-way. )
The Village then sold some land to the owners along the west side of
Main St. where the lot lines were only a few feet from the back of the
buildings. One of these was pharmacist Seward Ellis who then was able to
build a garage behind his store property (Spencer Agency) and have room
for a driveway.
93
•
In 1960 Robert F. Wells, president and principal stockholder of the
First National Bank, retired and the Bank was sold to the Farmers & Merchants
Bank of Spencer. The next year the two banks merged and became Tioga State
Bank.
Then in 1962 the Bank swopped the bank property to the Village for the
Lackawanna Station property. Also the Village constructed a drainage ditch
along the line of the main railroad track to alleviate the perennial
flooding problem along Stowel Ave. After the Library was moved out, the.
nearly one hundred-year-old station was torn down and the new Tioga State
Bank built. After TSB' s removal, the old bank building was remodeled. The
1864 architecture with its sixteen-foot ceiling made it possible to add a
second floor for Village offices. The Library moved into the first floor.
(Thus almost all traces of the I & 0 Railroad were removed from the
Village of Candor. Parts of the abutments and pier for the bridge close by
the "lower" auto bridge remain but they are mostly hidden by brush and
trees. )
•
A Look Back
•
It could easily be said that the Ithaca & Owego Rail Road should never
have been built. But the geographical, political, and economic factors, plus
human ambition dictated that it would be built and it was. It is fun to
look back and picture the overall scene in 1834 when the first horse-drawn
trains rumbled and jingled over the road. If we compress the elements of
the enterprise into a composite, we see that Candor' s history was very much
a part of the railroads history. That has been the theme and purpose of
these columns.
Our picture begins with the thriving salt industry near Syracuse. We
can visualize the busy cooper shops making the sturdy barrels that would
contain the salt. A fairly short wagon ride took the barrels (each
containing about 200 pounds of salt) to the Erie Canal, that had opened in
1825. There they were loaded on barges that were towed by horses or mules
to the drainage from the foot (north end) of Cayuga Lake, where they were
transferred to much larger, sailing barges (later steam-powered) . Then with
a northwest wind (the prevailing wind that usually followed a cold front)
the cargo was floated "down" the lake to its head at Ithaca.
94
At that young town, built largely in a swamp, the barrels were loaded
onto "burden cars" and hauled to the foot of the two famous Inclined Planes
that scaled 600 feet of rise up South Hill. The loaded cars were hitched
singly to a long rope that went to the first .windlass, powered by blind-
folded horses and two empty cars that were lowered while the full car went
up. The second Plane was shorter and not as steep and put the loaded cars
near the end of the main tracks.
The loaded cars (two it is said) , each containing about a ton of salt,
were hitched to two sturdy horses who worked in tandem, trotting between the
rails to pull the "train." Once under motion the team could maintain a
trotting pace of about 8 miles per hour, especially after about three miles
when they reached the height of land and started down (mostly) the long,
gentle grade to Owego.
At Gridleyville about two miles north of Candor, the horses were changed
and fresh ones drew the load on to Owego, passing through Candor Centre,
Candor Corners and Catatonk settlements, often dropping off a barrel or
two of salt in these places.
At Owego the salt was either stored or, if water conditions in the
Susquehanna River' were favorable, loaded onto shallow-draft arks that
would float the vital and valuable commodity down to Pennsylvania towns
perhaps or on down to Baltimore at the head of Chesapeake Bay. (If you
have walked the River Walk in Owego, you no doubt have seen the heavy iron
rings where the arks tied up to be loaded. )
That was the picture the merchants in Ithaca and Owego had in their minds
when they launched into this remarkable pioneering project and it turned
out to be the best and likely the only way to get commodities to the river
towns until railroads came into their own.
Candor then was "just" a stop on the I & 0, but that fact was to
influence the Town' s history in ,a great many ways. We sincerely hope you
have enjoyed reading about some of them.
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank the Candor Free Library for letting me search through
their file of Candor Couriers (years ago as Town Historian) and special
thanks to Howard Scharf for searching out and obtaining copies of official
documents and of course to Larry and Joan "The Beeb" Meddaugh for
publishing the story in their Candor Statement. Don Weber
95
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