A Century of Sail and Steam on the Niagara River

by Barlow Cumberland

First Railways at Lewiston—expansion Required—The Renown of the "Let Her B"—A Critic of Plimsoll.

The original terminus of the Lewiston branch, after it had emerged from the cuttings in the Gorge, was at the upper end of the town, about a mile and a half from the steamboat dock at the shore of the river. During the season of 1886 the New York Central began again to consider the advisability of extending their rails so that the trains might be brought to the steamer's side.

This location had been a relic from the earliest travelling days. The rills of travel from all parts of the West converged at Niagara Falls and then passed on to join the steamboats for Lake Ontario.

Davison's "Travellers' Guide," published at Saratoga Springs in 1834, says:—"A stage leaves Buffalo every morning at 6 o'clock, passing through the village of Black Rock, 3 miles; Tonawanda, 9 miles; Niagara Falls, 11 miles. Fare $1.60. This line, after giving passengers an opportunity of witnessing the Falls for two or three hours, proceeds to Youngstown, or Fort Niagara, passing through Lewiston."

The Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad had been organized and surveyed, and the first steam trains commenced running in 1836 with a speed of 15 miles per hour, a rate which was considered notable. The track was laid on wooden sills faced with scrap iron, and during the first winter was so heaved by the frost, that the steam engines had to be taken off, and horses used to haul the cars, these being only little ones with four wheels each, modeled largely after the stage coaches of the period. In 1839, this railway having been equipped with all-iron rails, had grown to two steam trains per day each way, between Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

A further extension followed when another small railway company, the Niagara Falls and Ontario R.R. was organized in 1852 to build a railway of 14 miles from the Falls to the shores of the Lake at Youngstown, where the steamers would be joined. Benj. Pringle, president; John Porter, vice president; Bradley B. Davis, secretary. The company, at an expense relatively much greater in those days than at the present, excavated the rock cuttings and cut the shelf in the side of the cliff upon which the New York Central Railway now runs through the Gorge, alongside the courses of the Niagara River, and the railway was graded and opened to Lewiston in 1854. Construction was continued further to Youngstown and the track laid in 1855, but only one train was run down to the lower port. It has been said that this was necessary in order to complete the terms of the charter, and appears to have been a final effort. The means of the company were no doubt impaired, so that shortly afterward all further work on this extension was suspended, the track taken up, and thus in 1855 the balance of the line being leased to the New York Central, the Lewiston station had become the terminus of the railroad, where it had ever since remained. As the transfer to the steamers was originally intended to be made at Youngstown, there had been no need, at that time, for the station at Lewiston being constructed any nearer to the River bank.

From the very first the break in connection between train and boat had been found inconvenient, and in the fall of 1855, Mr. Gordon, of the steamer Peerless wrote to the superintendent of the New York Central Railway, saying:—"You must get the road down alongside the water at once."

This unpleasant transfer of passengers and their baggage in both directions by road and bus had existed all these years. The extension now proposed, would, it was expected, certainly be of advantage both to railway and to steamboat, as facilitating travel. It would mean a considerable expenditure to the New York Central Railway, yet they stated that if we would undertake to put on another boat, they would build the extension. The Michigan Central at Niagara-on-the-Lake, which had now become one of the New York Central lines, had had quite enough trial of their "any boat" arrangement and now desired a permanent service, which the putting on of another boat would supply.

Decisions had, therefore, to be come to by both parties. "The first thing for us to decide," said the Hon. Frank, "is whether Chicora is good enough to build a partner for her. This settled, we will then do our share on the water, for advancing the traffic of the route while the railways do theirs on the land."