Elmira, Cortland & Northern books.

[lvrr325]

Recently picked up the 1982 "Mr. Cornell's Railroad And How it Grew: Elmira To Camden" which covers the EC&N/Lehigh Valley line including the NY&OM branch out of Norwich.

It amazed me to see two, $20 retail, softbound books cover the same line (more recently covered in "The Ups & Downs Of A Rural Line: The Elmira, Cortland & Northern") - and manage not to duplicate much of each other, there's only a few photos I noticed used in both books. (some of the NY&OM stuff is duplicated in Taibi's NYO&W Oswego to Sidney book).

The older book is mostly photographs, old letters, newspaper articles, timetables, and maps, often with hand-drawn additions. There's a few good 1972-era pictures of LV trains, and some good shots behind the Cornell steam plant. It was worth waiting two years for one to turn up for a reasonable price, at one point the only one I could find online a book seller wanted $150 on. Figured he was nuts when I caught an old eBay listing that closed for about $24. So I waited.

This book was published by a small outfit in Ithaca and a lot of the pictures are not top quality to start with; it's all B&W and some of the photos the focus is a tad soft, or they have bright spots in them, but for the most part they're reasonable if you're not spoiled by all of today's modern printed stuff. It shows a bunch of things I've yet to find covered anywhere else. Probably the most amazing thing is a shot of a Utica, Ithaca and Elmria inspection car, circa 1880s - it looks like a large trolley and is clearly self-propelled, but it's not an inspection engine with a coach body built over a small steam engine. If it were newer I'd suspect it to be a gas electric.

[K4Pacific]

Horseheads is celebrating it's 175th in June and there is interest in finding a copy of the UI&E timetable and EC&N. We gave the copy of the Engine named Horseheads. Any leads?

[scottychaos]

Horseheads is celebrating it's 175th in June and there is interest in finding a copy of the UI&E timetable and EC&N. We gave the copy of the Engine named Horseheads. Any leads?

1837?
hmm..seems like the origin of Horseheads should be much earlier than that..by three or four decades!
The name, "Horseheads" comes from General Sullivans campaign..which was in 1779..
the Army, after the campaign, as they were getting ready to head back down into PA from which they came,
killed many horses who were wounded or otherwise "worn out" from the rigors of a military campaign..
the first white settlers that came into the area 5-10 years later in the 1780's and 1790's found lines of bleached horse skulls,
hence the name Horseheads..

I would have thought that was the 1790's at the latest, probably 1780's..im surprised to see a date of 1837 for Horseheads..
over to google!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseheads ... ,_New_York

ah, ok..techncially Horseheads existed in the 1790's, but it wasnt formally incorporated until 1837..
it has always stuck me as odd when towns do this..the town is actually 50 years older than the age they give it..
Horseheads was 200 years old 25 years ago..but they are only saying its 175 years old this year..
I suppose you have to pick a date somehow, and I suppose the "incorporation date" makes sense..
but IMO saying Horseheads is 175 years old this year is quite historically innacurate, and does a diservice to the history of the town..
oh well, its not up to me!

Scot

[scottychaos]

hmm..this is very uncool..I think someone has taken it upon themselves to invent history:

http://www.horseheads.org/index.php?n=about.history

A few years later, the skulls of the horses were arrayed along the trail in defiant fashion by a few returning Native Americans, as a gesture that the same fate would be met by any settler, should he attempt to homestead on this location. The first settlers, reading these Native American signs, promptly built their homes on the spot. The Town and Village of Horseheads rose in tribute to glorify the event. This location, first known as “The Valley of Horses Heads” was later changed to Horseheads, New York.

I dont think there is any evidence that any of that is true..
every other recorded account, going back over 200 years, states the horse skulls were arranged by small bands of indians who had wandered back into the area..
arranged for reasons unknown, perhaps for ceremonial reasons, perhaps out of respect for the horses, perhaps "just because"..it could have even been Indian children or teenagers! just "playing"..no one really knows..it is known that there was no hostility between Indians and the settlers after the Sullivan campaign..the Indians were basically wiped out, there were no organized groups of "hostile" indians in the area after 1779..

So for whatever reasons, they arranged the skulls into piles, and/or lines..but I have never read anything to suggest it was any kind of "defiant message"..

(I grew up 20 miles from Horseheads..I have done a lot of reading and research on the history of the Horseheads name and the Sullivan Campaign, starting with a history report on Horseheads when I was in grade school! and I have a Great X6 Grandfather who was a soldier in the Sullivan campaign! and was one of the early settlers of the area (Elmira and Athens)..I have extinsively reserched him and his era, and the local history as it relates to settlers after the Sullivan campaign.)

These indians were stragglers..the main force of indians had been driven off by Sullivan..they were probably just back into the area to hunt..im fairly certain that the phrases "in defiant fashion", "gesture that the same fate would be met", "reading these signs, promptly built their homes on the spot" and "rose in tribute to glorify the event" is all pure fabrication..its giving thoughts and feelings to both the indians and the settlers that probably didnt exist..very irresponsible of historians to invent history..if you want to speculate, thats fine..just be sure its obvious you are just guessing..the paragraph above is written as if its known fact, not someones speculation or personal intrepretation..
its an interesting enough story as it is, tell what you know, and nothing more.

The only thing that is definately known as being historically accurate in that paragraph is:

"A few years later, the skulls of the horses were arrayed along the trail by a few returning Native Americans. This location, first known as “The Valley of Horses Heads” was later changed to Horseheads, New York."

the rest? no so much.

Scot

[charlie6017]

Good reading, Scot. As a history buff myself, I found that very interesting!

Charlie