Financially speaking, you're doing just fine when you go on vacation, find getting there to be burdensome, and then build a better way to arrive at that destination.
Frederick Searing did just that after a vacation in 1904, as he enjoyed the area around the Delaware River's east branch, boarding at a house in Andes. Searing, like so many others, enjoyed getting out of the hot New York City summers to the much cooler Catskills and its fresh air.
Searing was president of a New York industrial bank and dealt in railroad securities. He often brought friends to Andes. Back then they rode the train, using the New York, Ontario & Western Railroad. The O&W brought them to East Branch, but then the easy, pleasant part of the trip ended. From there the only transportation to Andes was by horse and carriage. On a good day it could take four or five hours just to get as far as Downsville, followed by the slow, bumpy ride to Andes.
One day one of Searing's friends remarked, "You really ought to build a railroad from East Branch to Andes." Searing apparently agreed and began looking into the feasibility of such a line.
What he found was the idea for a railroad through the area had been thought about before. Searing actually found some railroad diggings and grading. Back in 1871 a railroad called the Delhi & Middletown had gotten started but did not survive the economic panic of 1873. Another railroad was tried and failed in 1898.
Searing didn't give up, and aside from giving easy access to his favorite vacation place, he saw economic opportunities for this rather isolated area. Later in 1904 Searing brought in two experts, Joseph Jermyn and Russell B. Williams. They determined a path of the line that would connect with the Ulster & Delaware Railroad in Arkville and the O&W in East Branch. They decided this new line would be called the Delaware & Eastern, or D&E.
Williams had been working with the O&W and then quit to become the general manager of the D&E. It was Sept. 14, 1905, when Williams drove in the first spike near Arkville, and drove in the last spike at Downsville on Nov. 17, 1906. The cost to build the line was nearly $2 million. No local people or towns were asked to help pay for the railroad, as had been the case with other area railroads. Regular service began on a branch to Andes in March 1907, so Searing could finally take a train directly to his favorite vacation destination.
Also in 1906, Frederick Searing announced ambitious plans for a new railroad from Wilkes Barre, Pa., to Schenectady, with the D&E utilized between. Searing sought permits to build a northern line to be called the Schenectady & Margaretville, and a southern road to be called the Hancock & Wilkes Barre. He wanted fast and efficient coal deliveries to New England and Eastern Canada, claiming that existing freight rates on the Delaware & Hudson, U&D and O&W were exorbitant, and that competition would help the public.
The New York Railroad Commission granted both permits, but the three other railroads filed a joint suit to cancel the permits. Searing eventually was victorious, and work began on the northern section in 1907.
A series of construction mishaps, horrible winter weather followed by a January thaw in 1910 that carried away bridges and equipment, brought construction to a halt in February. Hastening the halt was the fact that no money was coming in from the D&E, confirming rumors that Searing and company were in deep financial trouble.
Foreclosure proceedings began in August 1911, and the railway was sold to William Seif for $150,000. The working road was reorganized and incorporated as the Delaware & Northern Railroad Co. on Oct. 14, 1911.
The D&N began hitting financial hard times in the 1920s, as the growing popularity of the automobile was killing passenger service, concrete was hurting the area's bluestone industry, and the hillsides were stripped of timber, resulting in the closing of the area's acid factories, which needed the wood to run the plants.
Ever since 1907, New York City had been looking for a new source for their water supply. The D&N was abandoned in 1942, with the forthcoming Pepacton Reservoir project taking over most of the railroad's right-of-way.
On Monday: A couple converted a barn near Cooperstown into a summer theater.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.
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