Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad proved, as many short-lines do, short in life as well as in length. In one historian's words:

"Horse cars
Horsecar
A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...

were used upon this road for two seasons, principally to bring flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...

and plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...

from the mills upon its line to Scottsville
Scottsville, New York
Scottsville is a village in southwestern Monroe County, New York, United States, and is in the northeastern part of the Town of Wheatland. The population was 2,128 at the 2000 census. The village is named after an early settler, Isaac Scott...

for shipment. Forty thousand dollars was expended and lost in this venture. This road was exclusively a Wheatland
Wheatland, New York
Wheatland is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 4,775 at the 2010 census. The town is home to Genesee Country Village and Museum.The Town of Wheatland is located in the southwest part of the county....

undertaking; its corporators and stockholders were residents of this town. In its inception the building of this road was no visionary scheme. It was intended by its projectors to push on to Batavia and the west, and to connect at Canandaigua with the road then in process of construction from Auburn
Auburn, New York
Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States of America. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 27,687...

to that village. Those engaged in this project were men of enterprise and broad views, and were eminently worthy of if they did not achieve success."

The following text (uncorrected and with several notes) comes from History of the Town of Wheatland, by Carl F Schmidt, 1953.

The transportation fever struck the inhabitants of the Town of Wheatland, as it did nearly every community. The farmers were raising large crops, and more and more land was being cultivated. They wanted better means to get their products to the growing eastern markets. Hauling their products to the river warehouses or to Rochester

Rochester, New York

Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...

by ox teams had taxed them almost to the limit of their endurance. A letter written by Donald McKenzie of Caledonia

Caledonia (village), New York

Caledonia is a village in Livingston County, New York, USA. The population was 2,327 at the 2000 census. The name refers to Scotland.The Village of Caledonia is located inside the Town of Caledonia and is southwest of Rochester, Monroe County....

to the "Genesee Farmer" in 1832, suggested a railroad from LeRoy, through Caledonia

Caledonia (village), New York

, Mumford

Mumford, New York

The hamlet of Mumford lies on the west side of the Town of Wheatland, south of Oatka Creek on NY 36 and south of the terminus of NY 383.-History:The story of Mumford has been written by several local historians...

, and Scottsville to Rochester

Rochester, New York

"After a long and general acquaintance with the western part of this state, I am convinced that a railroad from LeRoy to Rochester, along the valley of Allen's Creek (Oatka

Oatka Creek

Oatka Creek is the third longest tributary of the Genesee River, located entirely in the Western New York region of the U.S. state of New York. From southern Wyoming County, it flows to the Genesee near Scottsville, draining an area of that includes all or part of 23 towns and villages in...

) and the Genesee River

Genesee River

The Genesee River is a North American river flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hydroelectric power for downtown Rochester....

, would be a public benefit, were it to serve no other purpose than to facilitate the forwarding of materials for the building of other railroads in the western district. The inexhaustible quarries of building stone of the first quality on the banks of Allen's Creek and adjacent region, the abundant supplies of gravel for horse paths, of water lime

Lime plaster

Lime plaster is type of plaster composed of hydrated lime, sand and water. Lime plaster is similar to Lime mortar, the main difference is the based on use rather than composition. Traditional lime plaster contains also horse hair to reinforce plaster....

, of bog lime, plaster

Plaster

Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...

of paris, oak, pine, and cedar are found in various parts of Caledonia, LeRoy and Wheatland would then be easily conveyed to other sections of the State where other railroads were being built.

The consequences of which would be a great reduction in the price of these necessary materials for constructing railroads. It is worthy of remark that there are strong indications of coal and other minerals in this region, and that the oak timber is of superior quality. There are also an abundance of water privileges, where plaster, water, lime, etc., can be prepared.

D. McKENZIE."

Note: This period in local history saw the Tonawanda Railroad

Tonawanda Railroad

Yet another of the bewildering array of small and impermanent rail companies of the nineteenth century, the Tonawanda Railroad was Rochester's first...

built from Rochester to Batavia. Talk of routing it through Scottsville, Caledonia, and Le Roy on its way to Batavia came to nothing when the decision fell in favour of a more direct route. The local dissatisfaction with this outcome increased the support accorded the Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad proposal.

On December 3, 1835, an agreement was signed in which a number of people agreed to pay Powell Carpenter, Philip Garbutt, John McNaughton, and E. H. S. Mumford for the purpose of getting surveys and estimates for the route of a railroad along Oatka Creek

Oatka Creek

from Scottsville to Mumford

Mumford, New York

. The committee must have worked very quickly, because the next meeting by the people of Wheatland interested in such a railroad, was held in the home of Mr. Boughton December 24. Powell Carpenter was chairman and J. P. Sill was secretary of the meeting.

Mr. Alvin Savage, who made the survey of the contemplated route, reported that the building of the railroad was practicable. A new committee was elected, consisting of Powell Carpenter, Abraham Hanford, William Garbutt, E. H. S. Mumford, Philip Garbutt, and Clark Hall.

Another meeting was held January 9, 1836, at the house of George Ensign in Scottsville. A motion was passed "that the memorial in circulation to be presented to our Legislature

New York Legislature

The New York State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. The New York Constitution does not designate an official term for the two houses together...

for an Act on Incorporation

Incorporation (business)

Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...

in behalf of the contemplated Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad Company be so altered that Caledonia village

Caledonia (village), New York

be inserted and mentioned as one of the places by which said railroad shall pass."

A contract was made with William Wallace on March 5, 1836, to act as engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

and to begin work as soon as the weather permitted. He was to receive $3.50 per day for his services.

A charter was obtained in May for the construction of a railroad from Scottsville to LeRoy. Powell Carpenter, Abraham Hanford, Philip Garbutt, E. H. S. Mumford, Clark Hall, Ira Carpenter, Thomas Halsted, Nathaniel Clark, Donald McDonald and Thomas Brown were named as incorporators. The capital stock of the corporation was $200,000.00 which was divided into shares

Shares authorized

Shares authorized is the maximum number of shares that a company can issue. This number is specified in the company's articles of association but can be changed by shareholders' approval...

of fifty dollars each.

In April 1836, by Legislative enactment, a group of Wheatland men were authorized to form a company to construct a railroad from Scottsville to Canandaigua

Canandaigua (city), New York

Canandaigua is a city in Ontario County, New York, USA, of which it is the county seat. The population was 11,264 at the 2000 census...

. It was proposed to connect this railroad at that point with the road, then in process of construction, from Auburn

Auburn, New York

Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States of America. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 27,687...

to Canandaigua. The section of the railroad from Canandaigua to Rochester had been completed as far as the Pittsford

Pittsford (town), New York

Pittsford is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States and is an affluent suburb of Rochester. The population was 29,405 at the 2010 census....

hills, and according to an old letter, "Rochester folks had partly given up the Geneva and Canandaigua Railroad because they could not get over the Pittsford hills. They dreaded the consequence of exploring the route by Mendon

Mendon, New York

Mendon is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States, and an affluent suburb of Rochester, New York. The population was 9,152 at the 2010 census.The Town of Mendon is on the south border of the county...

and the Honeoye

Honeoye, New York

Honeoye is a hamlet in the town of Richmond, county of Ontario, New York, 33 miles south of downtown Rochester, New York. The community is at the north end of Honeoye Lake, one of the minor Finger Lakes. It is primarily situated along U.S. Route 20A between Ontario County Roads 33 and 37...

valley for fear of its branching across the Genesee River

Genesee River

to intersect the Caledonia and LeRoy Railroad to Batavia

Batavia (city), New York

Batavia is a city in Genesee County, Western New York, USA, located near the middle of Genesee County, entirely within the Town of Batavia. Its population as of the 2000 census was 16,256...

." Another letter written by Eliphalet Murdock dated January 29, 1837, we quote partially as follows: "The ground for a railroad from Buffalo

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

to Batavia is all bought in and building will commence next summer, and I learn that the road from Auburn

Auburn, New York

Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States of America. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 27,687...

to Geneva

Geneva, New York

Geneva is a city in Ontario and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 13,617 at the 2000 census. Some claim it is named after the city and canton of Geneva in Switzerland. Others believe the name came from confusion over the letters in the word "Seneca" written in cursive...

and Canandaigua

Canandaigua (city), New York

Canandaigua is a city in Ontario County, New York, USA, of which it is the county seat. The population was 11,264 at the 2000 census...

and Rochester

Rochester, New York

is to come down the valley of the Honeoye outlet and if so we shall only have to cross the Genesee River

Genesee River

to open the communication from Buffalo to Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

if these improvements go into effect of which I think we have a fair prospect. The great thoroughfare of the state by railroad will pass through this place and if so here will be a chance for speculation

Speculation

In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...

."

A preliminary survey

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

of the route was made by Wallace, but no further action toward any construction was even taken.

Note: Financial difficulties, an ever-present risk in railroad-building, intervened, delaying completion of the Scottsville to Caledonia link until September of 1838.

The Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad was, most likely, completed as far as Mumford in 1837 and extended as far as Caledonia late in 1838. Steven's survey of the village of Scottsville indicates that the railroad started in front of E. T. Miller's warehouse and continued across the "millyard," in front of the mills, about one hundred and fifty feet south of Main Street. It then gently curved and ran southwest through Scott Crescent; crossed Caledonia Avenue and followed the embankment near the south line of the Catholic cemetery. It continued through farms and fields until it reached the highway just east of the McVean house. The railroad continued on the highway to the store of Philip Garbutt, where it passed in a depression under the platform in front of the store. The railroad tracks were on about the level of the basement floor, thus permitting the loading and unloading directly into the basement store room. The railroad curved southward across the fields, on an embankment, and rounded a hill almost parallel with the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

. At Wheatland Center it met the highway and then ran on the south side and parallel to the highway to Mumford

Mumford, New York

. At a point about due north of Smith Street it turned sharply south, crossed the creek on a bridge, and continued south in a straight line through Smith Street. It then followed the east bank of Spring Creek, passed Donald McKenzie's saw mill, to the grounds of the old Caledonia school.

Ties

Railroad tie

A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...

were laid with grooves cut into the top surfaces, to hold the oak timbers or stringers to keep them from spreading. On the stringers were spiked the narrow strips of oak, about one inch by three inches, which served for the tracks. No iron was used except at the highway crossings

Level crossing

A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...

. It was the rails that eventually caused the most trouble and many accidents. The rails were never completely covered with iron and wore out rapidly, causing many derailment

Derailment

A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....

s. Since the wood rails could not be securely spiked down, heavy loads forced the ends to spring up with such force as to penetrate the floors of the cars.

Agreements were made with George Sheffer, Clark Hall, and William McKenzie, son of Donald McKenzie, to furnish the four by six green white oak timbers. (For estimate of the building of the railroad see Appendix No. 15.)

Ebenezer Beck was one of the principle contractors on the road. William Cook was one of the grading contractors, and Jefferson Edmunds was the contractor for building the bridge over Oatka Creek

Oatka Creek

at Mumford

Mumford, New York

Note: The rail line from Scottsville to Caledonia ran approximately eight miles, with the tightest curve having a radius of 1,200 feet. Grades were mild, with the severest between Caledonia and Mumford at 36 feet per mile, or 1 in 147 (0.68%).

The roadbed for the line was fairly easy to build and had neither high embankments nor deep cuts through rock, an excellent fortuity, given the lack of blasting materials. The bed averaged twelve feet in width, with cross-ties set at what is by today's standards an extraordinary interval of four feet. The bridge across Oatka Creek was one hundred feet long and rested atop two masonry abutments and three piers.

By one accounting, the total cost, including land, labour, and rolling stock (eight freight cars), was around $4,000 a mile, for a total of eight miles and $32,000.

Horse cars

Horsecar

A horsecar or horse-drawn tram is an animal-powered streetcar or tram.These early forms of public transport developed out of industrial haulage routes that had long been in existence, and from the omnibus routes that first ran on public streets in the 1820s, using the newly improved iron or steel...

were used on this railroad, and the horses were hitched to thills. The cars had no brakes and the wheels were made of pieces of planks bolted together. The axles were of iron similar to the axles used on wagons. Thomas Kane of Scottsville is said to have run the Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad, and he was the engineer, conductor, train-starter and brakeman.

The railroad had two passenger coaches, nearly square in shape, and painted a lead color. The passenger coaches were seldom used except by Clark Hall, of Halls Comers (now Wheatland Center) on Sundays, when he, his family, and friends would ride to Scottsville

Scottsville, New York

Scottsville is a village in southwestern Monroe County, New York, United States, and is in the northeastern part of the Town of Wheatland. The population was 2,128 at the 2000 census. The village is named after an early settler, Isaac Scott...

to attend church.

A story is told that during the Harrison

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...

campaign in 1840 the passenger coaches were used to carry a group of men from Caledonia, Mumford, and Wheatland Center to attend a Whig

Whig Party (United States)

The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...

rally in Scottsville. Through some tinkering with the switch

Railroad switch

A railroad switch, turnout or [set of] points is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another at a railway junction....

and rails, the cars and their occupants were thrown into the millrace

Sluice

A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at its head by a gate . For example, a millrace is a sluice that channels water toward a water mill...

, when the cars passed over the bridge of the raceway. Their Democratic friends were accused of this misdeed, but the only satisfaction that the Whigs

Whig Party (United States)

achieved was at the polls in November.

The people of LeRoy had several meetings to consider building the railroad from the town line to their village. A survey was made, but the people refused to act. Mr. Tomlinson tried to interest the people in extending the railroad from Caledonia to Tomlinson's Mills, south of LeRoy and thence to Batavia, but that also failed to materialize.

The railroad was a success for several years. It carried flour from the mills at Caledonia, Mumford, Wheatland Center, and Garbutt

Garbutt, New York

Garbutt, New York is a hamlet located between the village of Scottsville and the hamlet of Mumford. It sits at the intersection of Scottsville-Mumford Road and Union Street in the Town of Wheatland in Monroe County...

to Scottsville. Here the cargo was transferred to the boats in Oatka Creek, behind the mills. The boats then passed through the creek to the Scottsville-Genesee River Canal and then into the river.

James R. Clark of Caledonia was an enthusiastic supporter of the rail road. So confident was he that it would be continued to LeRoy that he named his tavern (now the home of Mrs. F. F. Keith) the Railroad House. A year after the railroad's completion, Clark approached William Garbutt, who was president at the time, with a proposition to take over the railroad. Garbutt laid the petition before the board at its next meeting in Mumford, and Clark was given a lease of the road and rolling stock for a term of years.
The building of the railroad, from Scottsville to Caledonia, would not alone have solved their transportation problem. The other half of the problem was to be able to load the boats at Scottsville and to navigate them to the river, and thence to Rochester and the Erie Canal

Erie Canal

The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...

.

The success of the Scottsville-LeRoy Railroad was of short duration. As long as it operated in conjunction with the Scottsville-Genesee River Canal it was a success; the railroad cars could then be unloaded in the "millyard," and the products transferred to the canal boats in the creek back of the mills. But with the completion of the Genesee Valley Canal

Genesee Valley Canal Railroad

The Genesee Valley Canal Railroad was a part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system in central New York. It was built on the former Genesee Valley Canal alignment.-Genesee Valley Canal: 1836-1878:...

in 1840, that section of Oatka Creek between the feeder gates and the flour mills, which was a part of the old Scottsville-Genesee River Canal, became obsolete and could no longer be used by canal boats. It became necessary to build new warehouses along the bank of the Genesee Valley Canal and on "the island." The island was that triangular shaped piece of land enclosed by the Genesee Valley Canal, the feeder, and Oatka Creek. The Scottsville-LeRoy Railroad could not be extended to the new warehouses on "the island" because the grade from Rochester Street down to the warehouses was too steep. The cost of trucking the goods from the end of the railroad line in the "millyard" to the boats or warehouses on the canal was too costly.

A letter written by James R. Clark states that it was expensive to purchase horses, equipment, and harness. After loading eighty barrels of flour on four freight cars, the load caused the sharp flanges on the wheels to cut the wooden rails and the cars would be derailed. It would then require half a day to get the cars back on the tracks. The various difficulties forced the Scottsville-LeRoy Railroad to cease operation soon after 1840.

Charter

Charter of Scottsville and LeRoy Railroad

CHAPTER 420

AN ACT to provide for the construction of 3 railroad from Scottsville to LeRoy.

Passed May 21, 1836

Sec. 1. All persons who shall become stockholders pursuant to this act, shall be and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate for the term of fifty years by the name of "The Scottsville & LeRoy Rail-Road Company." for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a rail-road between the village of Scottsville in the County of Monroe and the town of LeRoy in the county of Genesee, commencing in or near the village of Scottsville, and running thence through Mumford and Caledonia to such point in the town of LeRoy, and on such roads as a majority of the directors of said company shall determine to be best adapted to the public accommodations, and may take, transport, carry and convey property and persons upon the same, by the power and force of steam, or animals, or any mechanical power, or of any combination of them.

Sec. 2. If the said corporation shall not, within two years from the passage of this act, commence the construction of the said road, and expend at least the sum of five thousand dollars thereon, and shall not, within four year from the passage of this act, finish the said road, and put the same in operation, then the said corporation shall henceforth forever cease, and this act shall be null and void.

Sec. 3. The capital stock of said corporation shall be two hundred thousand dollars, which shall be divided into shares of fifty dollars each, which shares shall be deemed personal property, and be transferred in such manner as the said corporation shall in its by-laws direct; and Powell Carpenter, Abraham Hanford, Philip Garbutt, Elihu H. S. Mumford, Clark Hall, Ira Carpenter, Thomas Halsted, Nathaniel Clark, Donald McDonald, and Thomas Brown, shall be commissioners or receive subscriptions and distribute the stock.

Sec. 4. The corporation hereby created, shall possess and enjoy all the privileges and provisions which are granted to, and made in favor of, the corporation created by the act "AN ACT to provide for the construction of a railroad from Attica to Buffalo." passed May 3, 1836, and shall be subject to all the conditions and restrictions which by the act aforesaid, are imposed upon the corporation therein referred to, except as herein provided.

Sec. 5. Any application to be made to a vice-chancellor under this act, shall be made to the vice-chancellor of the circuit in which the land proposed to be taken, shall be situated: All notices and meetings required in the act above referred to, shall be published and held in one of the counties through which the said rail-road hereby authorized, is to be made.

Sec. 6. The said corporation may receive a sum not exceeding five cents per mile for the transportation of any passenger and his ordinary baggage.

Estimated construction cost

ESTIMATE FOR THE BUILDING OF THE RAILROAD

The commissioners to make estimates were Powell Carpenter, Philip Garbutt, William Garbutt, John McNaughion, and E. H. S. Mumford.
Ties 8,366 pieces...................................... $ 1,300.00
Rails 133,848 feet..................................... 1,400.00
Laying Timber-6.34 miles............................... 1,300.00
Bridge at Mumford...................................... 850.00
Grading from Hanford's to Scottsville.................. 1,044.00
Two bridges across canal............................... 100.00
Grading from Hanford's to H. C. McVean's............... 200.00
Grading and passways................................... 200.00
Grading Reed's ridge................................... 240.00
Timber and Planking bridge at P. Garbutt's store....... 40.00
McKenzie and Laidlaw's job at grading.................. 1,600.00
Grading at McNaughton's ............................... 800.00
Grading at McArthur's.................................. 400.00
Grading at Blakeslee & Wells........................... 1,450.00
Grading John A. McVean's hill.......................... 654.00
Grading from sawmill to plaster mill in Mumford........ 500.00
Mason work and culverts west of Reed's................. 300.00
Balance of engineering................................. 500.00
Amount paid by Philip Garbutt.......................... 4,132.00
$19,870.00
Monies advanced on contracts included in this estimate ...1,363.00
One and one-quarter timber laid........................... 453.00
Digging plaster........................................... 230.00
S 2,046.00
$17,814.00
Making 6.3 miles of road at $2,815.00 per mile..........$17,818.33

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