the cudgel for Newburgh in the matter of securing a railroad for her did not surrender when defeated in their efforts to get the Erie terminus on her docks. If the New York and Erie Railroad would not come to them, they would go to the New York and Erie Railroad, and trust to future circumstances to adjust matters advantageously. Consequently, on April Consequently, on April 21, 1836, the charter of the Hudson and Delaware Railroad Company was renewed by the Legislature, with David Crawford, Thomas Powell, Christopher Reeve, Oliver Davis, John Forsyth, Joshua Conger, David Ruggles, and Benjamin Carpenter as incorporators of the company, which was organized June 15, 1836, by the election of the following Board of Directors: Thomas Powell, John Forsyth, David Crawford, Benjamin Carpenter, John P. DeWint, John Ledyard, Christopher Reeve, Gilbert O. Fowler, James G. Clinton, Nathaniel Dubois, Samuel G. Sweden, David W. Bate, and Oliver Davis. Thomas Powell was made President; David W. Bate, VicePresident; John Ledyard, Treasurer; and James G. Clinton, Secretary. A route for the proposed railroad was surveyed by John M. Sargeant. tended from the Newburgh water front southwest thirty-eight miles to the New Jersey State line. Money sufficient being raised, a section of the roadbed between Newburgh and Washingtonville was put under contract, and ground was broken November 3, 1836, amid great public rejoicing. Newburgh village, through its trustees, subscribed to $150,000 worth of the company's stock in 1838, and paid in $10,000 of the amount. This amount and all the rest of the funds the company had raised were exhausted before the grading on the first contract was completed, and work was discontinued. It ex In 1840, what might be called the anti-Newburgh influence in the New York and Erie Railroad project having come into entire control of that Company, through the miscarriage of the efforts of those previously at the head of its affairs to make any material progress with the work, the people of Newburgh came forward again with an effort to save their chances for connection with that railroad. Contracts had been let and work begun on the Eastern section of the road between Piermont and Goshen, but the financial management of the Company had not served to inspire the investing public with a degree of confidence sufficient to command further contributions from it, and the State was to be again. asked to extend a helping hand. In this crisis Newburgh thought she saw her opportunity. A public meeting of her citizens was held on March 4, 1840, and significant resolutions, to be presented to the consideration of the Legislature, were adopted. In substance, these resolutions declared that if any further aid was to be extended to the New York and Erie Railroad Company, the expenditure of the money should be made under the more immediate supervision of the State, and upon the Middle and Western sections of the road, where connection could be made with existing internal improvements and yield immediate profit, which could not be effected by constructing the Eastern end of the road first, as was then being done; and, further, that no more aid be given the Company by the State unless it be accompanied by the legislative requirement that a branch of the railroad, to terminate at Newburgh, should be constructed as part of the work then in hand. But this effort also failed of its purpose, and Newburgh was obliged to see additional large and profitable sources of her trade turned into another direction by the opening of the railroad between Piermont and Goshen in September, 1841. Circumstances did not again offer opportunity for Newburgh to move with any show of success toward securing her coveted railroad connection until 1845, when the New York and Erie Railroad Company came forward again as a supplicant for State aid in the Legislature, as we have seen. The Erie question was complicated by the fact that, besides the relief applied for, the matter of a change of the route of the railroad in Sullivan County and between Deposit and Binghamton was one to be considered and acted upon by the Legislature at the same time. The opposition to this in the localities to be affected by the proposed change was led by influential men in the politics of the State, and the manner and methods of the representatives of the Company at Albany in efforts to bring about favorable action thereon by the Legislature had not popularized the measure in that body. Then, again, a United States. Senator was to be chosen, and a leading candidate (This map is interesting as showing the idea of the Erie's management of that day, as to what territory the railroad was tribute with the Erie. expected to draw its patronage from, as if there were never to be another railroad to come into all that country and divide its were contemplated. The sections in red indicate completed railroad. The yellow portions show where changes in the route The blue lines mark portions of the railroad where work had been under contract, but was suspended in 1842. The small isolated section of the railroad about midway of the route, shown in red, was completed to secure valuable right of way and concessions of land free through the Erwin farm, near Painted Post, N. Y.) MAINE for the office was from a part of the State particularly interested in the affairs of Erie then under discussion. enter into an agreement with them, or rather with the Hudson and Delaware Railroad Company (the Newburgh corporation whose charter had been so often revived), by which the New York and Erie Railroad Company bound itself to take a transfer of all the rights, franchises, and possessions of the Hudson and Delaware Railroad Company, to pay not less than $40,000" for the same, and to build a branch railroad," the condition of the building of the branch road being the passage in the Legislature of the Erie relief bill and a bill incorporating the Newburgh Branch Railroad, and the subscribing by the Hudson and Delaware Railroad Company of $140,000 to the capital stock of the New York and Erie Railroad Company, the work on the branch to progress as rapidly as, and simultaneously with, the work on the main line, until $300,000 had been expended on the branch. If that sum was not sufficient to complete it, the Hudson and Delaware Company should provide the balance necessary to finish the work." This agreement was prepared at the instigation of Thomas Powell, Homer Ramsdell, and others of Newburgh, and was signed March 19, 1845. An act authorizing the Erie to construct the Newburgh Branch became a law April 8, 1845, and an act granting relief to the Erie, so that work on the main line might be carried forward, became a law May 14th. The Erie was reorganized, and the Newburgh Branch was the first work put under contract under the new order of things. But before this new order of things came to pass, the Company was to experience much more of trial and tribulation. This was Daniel S. Dickinson of Binghamton. The interests of those demanding a change of the Erie route were in the hands of Alexander S. Diven and Maj. Thompson S. Brown, the latter the Chief Engineer of the Company. The President of the Company, Eleazar Lord, and his friends in the Board, were not in favor of the change in route, but were eager for some measure that would rescue Erie from the difficulties that threatened to overwhelm it. Taken all in all, the situation in the New York Legislature for the session of 1845 was peculiarly one for log-rolling and the making of combinations dear to the heart of the legislator and the politician. Robert Denniston of Salisbury Mills, Orange County, on the line of the long-sought-for railroad from Newburgh toward the Pennsylvania coal fields, represented that district in the State Senate. Thornton M. Niven of Newburgh was a member of the Assembly. They were Democrats, and the Legislature was Democratic. They were not only astute and influential politicians, but they were alert, and watchful of the interests of Newburgh. They were not committed in favor of or against a change of the Erie route, for or against measures for the Company's relief, nor to any particular candidate for United States Senator. But they were solid and determined in the matter of enhancing Newburgh's welfare, and no opportunity escaped them. The situation in the Legislature was their great opportunity. Assemblyman Niven was one of the ablest and most popular men in the lower house, and he wielded great influence there. He was able to either hinder or forward the plans of the Erie in the matter of a bill giving it its desired relief, for the feeling in the Legislature toward the Erie was far from friendly. The Company was not asking at Albany authority to construct a branch railroad from its main line to Newburgh, as it had more on its hands then than it could see its way entirely clear to accomplish, even if reënforced by the legislation it was seeking, but the Newburgh legislators were resolved that the Company should have such authority and agree to build such a railroad or fail in its appeal for relief. The result was that the Company was obliged to This relief bill released the Company from all liability to the State, provided it should construct a railroad with a single track from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, within six years from the date of the act. It authorized the issue of $3,000,000 of bonds in liquidation of the State lien, on condition that a subscription to the Company's capital stock of $3,000,000 should be obtained within a year and a half, and twenty-five per cent. be collected thereon and expended in construction of the railroad, and the real estate of the Company be discharged from all incumbrances, the bonds to have priority over all other liens, and the annual interest upon them from the date of their issue to the time fixed for the com pletion of the road to be deposited with the State Comptroller. The act provided for an agent to be nominated by the Railroad Company, with the approval of the Governor, and to give a bond of $50,000, and whose duty it would be to assure faithful appropriation of the bonds. The State reserved the privilege of purchasing the railroad within one year after completion, on repayment of its cost and fourteen per cent. additional. The existing stockholders were not to be subject to the law unless they should within six months from its passage exchange two shares of old for one of new stock. The Company was required to pay to the State dividends that might accrue on any unexchanged stock, until such dividends should be sufficient to pay off a proportionate amount of the State lien, or the whole amount of outstanding stock on that lien, which lien was equal to about double the stock. The act also provided for the examination into the merits of the case regarding a change of route. This was really the most consistent and business-like provision that had been devised for the advancement of the New York and Erie Railroad since the Company was formed more than ten years before. Hon. Ausburn Birdsall, in his "Reminiscences of Binghamton," published in the Binghamton Democrat, contributes an interesting chapter on the inside history of the Erie Relief Bill: "On the first day of March, 1845," he writes, "I received a letter from Alexander S. Diven, from Albany, requesting me to come to Albany, at once, to aid in securing favorable legislation in behalf of the Erie Railroad. Mr. Diven, as the agent of the Company, and Major Brown, its Chief Engineer, had been in Albany during the session thus far, but had been unable to make any progress in their efforts to secure the legislation they desired. They knew I had spent the earlier part of the session at Albany as the confidential friend of Mr. Dickinson, who had been elected United States Senator, for the full term of six years from the 4th of March, and they hoped that my acquaintance and influence with members, obtained during the Senatorial contest, would enable me to render important aid in securing favorable legislation. * * * The State had loaned the Company three millions of dollars, and taken a first mortgage on the whole property of the Company. The relief sought to be obtained, was the release and discharge of this first mortgage, * * * and although the loan was obtained on the report and assurance of the Company and its engineers, after a full and careful survey, that a practicable route was found through the Southern Tier of counties, from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, the Company now asked, not only a release and cancelment of the three million mortgage, but that it should be allowed to construct a portion of the road in the State of Pennsylvania. As the road and the loan of the three million was intended to benefit the Southern Tier and the adjacent territory in New York, Mr. Diven and Major Brown found their efforts blocked by those opposed to allowing any portion of the road being taken out of the State. 66 When I reached Albany I soon ascertained the exact situation. George Noble of Unadilla, a man of uncommon intelligence and a wonderfully persuasive tongue and manner, with his wife, a daughter of the Hon. Sherman Page, had taken quarters at the Bement Hotel on State Street, for the winter, to fight against any legislation that should authorize the road to leave the State. All the other counties interested, besides their members of the Legislature, were represented in force at Albany to oppose Diven and Brown. This opposition extended from Orange County to Binghamton. After a canvass of these opposing forces I told Mr. Diven and Major Brown that unless this local opposition along the line of the road could be conciliated, there could be no hope of obtaining the legislation they desired. They insisted that the Company must have not only a release and discharge of the three million mortgage, but also the right to cross into Pennsylvania on certain portions of the line, or the Company would not undertake the further construction of the road. The great question was, whether such legislation as they desired could be obtained under such discouraging circumstances. All this local opposition to Diven and Brown wanted the road built and they wanted it desperately, but they wanted it built within the State, where it had been surveyed and declared feasible, for the benefit of our own people for whom it was |