A Brief History of the Railroads of Sullivan County
Written by Wilmer Sipple
The improvement of the transportation system of New York began in the time of Queen Ann when the Assembly of the Colony of New York appropriated 500 pounds to construct a road from Nyack to Sterling Iron Works. After this, there was a lapse of 130years before improvement of the transportation began again with the opening of the Erie Barge Canal in 1824. This was such a boon to the people along the Hudson and Mohawk River valleys, that the Legislature of New York in their 1925 session directed a survey of a "State Road" to be constructed at public expense, through the southern tier of counties, from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The unfavorable profile exhibited in the survey and the discordant views and interests resulted in the abandonment of the project. However, the growing benefits of the canal further increased the conviction in the southern tier of the importance of an equivalent thoroughfare. Thurs, on April 24, 1832, the New York and Erie Railroad Company was incorporated by the New York State Legislature, with the power to construct a railroad from the City of New York to a point on Lake Erie. In 1833, $1,000,000 was subscribed to the capital stock and the company organized in August for operations by the election of directors and officers
In 1834, the Legislature made an appropriation to conduct a survey under the authority of the state government and Governor Marcy appointed Benjamin Wright to make the survey for the New York and Erie Railroad, the first to enter Sullivan County. He proposed a line that would descend from the gap in the Shawangunk Mountains west of Otisville to the Neversink River valley and follow the river to a point near Monticello. From Monticello, the line would travel across the top of the plateau to the cliffs on the south side of the Delaware River below Callicoon. In Monticello, there was a lot of rejoicing with the prospect of the coming of the Erie but this was premature. To cross the slopes of the Shawangunk his survey proposed installing a series of planes and cables to raise and lower the cars, similar to the Gravity Railroad at Honesdale, Pennsylvania. The New York and Oswego RR found that the Zigzag method at Northfield made the run between Walton and Sidney very slow and costly so the Northfield tunnel replaced the Zigzag in 1890. Thus, with foresight, the Erie Directors promptly rejected the plan in favor of the route it follows today. Never the less, it is mind-boggling to think what Sullivan County would look like today had Benjamin Wright submitted a feasible plan with a tunnel such as the O&W did later. The biggest advantage would be that the Conrail stack trains would still be running near Monticello. However, the seed was planted in the minds of the Monticello businessmen so it was only a question of time before it sprouted.
Work began on the Erie Railroad in 1838. Since the State of New York would not allow it to enter Jersey City, it started in the village of Piermont on the Hudson. The railroad reached Goshen by 1841, Port Jervis in 1848. Narrowsburg became and acquired much fame by the fact that the grand excursion over the railroad, May 14, 1851 on the opening of the line to Dunkirk, dined at Narrowsburg enroute. Present at the dinner was the President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, members of his cabinet, Daniel Webster and scores of notables made the dining hall echo with their eloquence. The trip continued with Daniel Webster sitting in a rocking chair fastened to a flat car so as not to miss the scenery on one of the first long distance railroad trips in the United States. The last spike ceremony was held near Cuba, New York and was such a success that New Jersey welcomed the main line into the City in 1852. The impact on the towns along the railroad was soon obvious. Port Jervis became a great Erie Railroad Center.
When the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad was organized 1866 to build a railroad between New York City and Oswego on Lake Ontario preliminary surveys showed it would pass close to Monticello but when the final route was announced, the NY&OM was to pass five miles north of Monticello. A great deal of pressure was brought on the builders of the Midland but they would not change the route. The whole story can be known by reading Helmer's book on the history of the O&W.
Finally, a group of determined citizens met to plan the 24-mile, Monticello & Port Jervis railroad. Jay Gould, president of the Erie expressed great interest in the proposed feeder line to his railroad and offered to help in any way possible. The cost was estimated at one million dollars and work started in 1869 with the formal opening in 1871. The line was 6-foot gauge to match the Erie gauge. Like many railroads, it went into bankruptcy in 1875. If they had decided to build the 5-mile line to Fallsburg it would have only cost Monticello $200,000, but they would have been completely dependent on the "Midland" which was still in the planning stage.
Most of the promoters were in favor of a railroad to Port Jervis because it was already a railroad center and the Erie was becoming a successful railroad. Interest in the proposed M&PJ RR quickly fanned to a fever pitch and even Port Jervis was as anxious to build the railroad as Monticello. Ground was broken at Oakland in April 1869 by President Wheeler and 150 men started the back-breaking work to Roses Point. This was a time before bull-dozers and heavy equipment so the work of digging cuts and filling ravines was done by pick and shovel, blasting rock when necessary and hauling the material by horse-drawn carts making it very slow and costly. The official opening of the railroad was January 23, 1871 over 2 years before the completion of the "Midland." By agreement with the Erie, the actual operation was handled by the Erie crews and equipment. The railroad quickly became a part of community life and at the end of the first month of operations, the Port Jervis Union reported-good passenger and freight revenues. The 1871 annual Report told the true story with only $11,000 available to cover the interest on the outstanding bonds of $45,500. It would not take a CPA to realize that this was another case of a railroad that should not have been built and by 1875, it was bankrupt. It would be sold and an attempt would be made to operate it in the black but the passenger and freight revenues were never adequate. By 1900, the O&W had acquired controlling stock of the PJM& NY and took over the operation.
Sources: Helmer's Book, Minisink Valley Express & Erie History.