Transcription
Harper's New York and Erie rail-road guide book: containing a description of the scenery, rivers, towns, villages, and most important works on the road ; with one hundred and thirty-six engravings by Lossing and Barritt, from original sketches made expressly for this work by William Macleod (Google eBook)
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OXFORD (from New York 52 miles, from Dunkirk 408 miles), three miles beyond Monroe, is a neat, thriving place, situated in a part of the country where the surface is more broken into hill and dale. Looking south from the
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station, the very choicest specimen of the Orange county scenery may be had here, combining all the elements of a fine pastoral landscape, the cultivated hills receding in the distance, that is closed up by the conical summit of Sugar-loaf. The great charm about an Orange landscape is the fact of its being a grazing region. In summer, of course, it does not wear the rich flush which fields of grain lend the prospect; but then, again, instead of unsightly stubble-fields, we see successive pastures, where the cattle wander undisturbed over their rich velvet meadows. Two miles beyond Oxford the road emerges from this rolling country upon a range of marshy, level fields, extending miles in length and one mile in breadth.
At this point (from New York 64 miles, from Dunkirk 406 miles) the branch rail-road to Newburgh starts from the parent stem, and is 19 miles in length. This beautiful road was built by the New York and Erie Rail-road Company, and forms a part of their road. It was opened formally on the 8th of January, 1850. Since then, all the anticipated advantages it held out are in the way of being realized, that is, bringing the west river counties into rapid connection with the southern tier. Its width of track is the same as the main road, and cost about half a million of dollars.
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The marshy flat extending between this point of junction and the town of Chester, one mile distant, is called Gray Court Meadows and have evidently been the been the basin of some great sheet of water. The road crosses these meadows by a long, curved embankment, the visible portion of which is the least part of its expense or labor, for, in running the track across, the soil was soft to such a depth as to render it necessary to build the road upon a foundation of huge piles, driven nearly ninety feet into the earth, and six feet apart. A most formidable difficulty was thus overcome, and the bog is passed by a high bridge of an enduring foundation. The track is a considerable height above the meadows, and is filled in solidly with earth. These singular meadows are very fertile, and are principally planted with corn. A more extraordinary product, however, has been found in them. Near Cheater, a few years since, was found a very fine specimen of the Mastodon, the strange animal whose bones so long puzzled naturalists. Many specimens have been found in Orange county, and in Eager's History the reader will find a highly interesting account of the various discoveries. The first mastodon ever discovered in this country was found near Albany in 1705. The next was in Ohio, in 1739. In 1740, large quantities were found near the Big Bone Lick in Kentucky, and carried to France, where it was called the Animal of the Ohio. The next locality richest in these relics is Orange county. The first of these was discovered near Montgomery in 1782. Twelve more were found in that vicinity up to 1845. The finest of these was found seven miles east of Montgomery, and had all the bones perfect. It was 33 feet long, and six feet below the surface of a peat formation, that extended several feet below the bones, thus preserving the natural standing position of the animal, as though it had been mired. Many are the theories of how these monsters met their fate, and we will refer the curious reader to Mr. Eager's compiled
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explanations, as they will be found very entertaining. As a specimen of the author's mode of treating the subject, hear the following points of difference between the mastodon and elephant: "The elephant's toes are built up compactly under his feet, while the mastodon has long, projecting toes. The spinal process of the latter is also longer, thus giving to his neck more upright action, making him carry a higher head than the elephant, and giving him a gay and comparatively sprightly appearance!" To those who have not "seen" this lively species of the antediluvian" elephant," the author's hints are quite suggestive of the animal's animated bearing! We will also refer to the same book for a copy of a letter written by Governor Dudley to the Reverend Cotton Mather in 1705, concerning the specimens found near Albany. The governor suspected the bones "to be those of a human being whom the flood alone could wash away," and during which, for a while, he might have "carried his head above the clouds" (of course, like the mastodon, with a "gay and sprightly appearance!"), though at last obliged to "give way!" He also thinks this giant must have been "the product of one of those unequaled matches between heaven and earth, of which he had read in the traditions of the Jewish rabbins." But we will not wade deeper into this subject, for fear of being mired ourselves; and with this notice of the fossil products of Orange (quite as remarkable as the statistics of milk and butter), we will hurry across the meadows to the prettily situated town of
CHESTER (from New York 66 miles, from Dunkirk 405 miles). This is the largest village we have met going from Piermont, from which it is distant 41 miles, and from its station presents a business-like appearance. The village is divided into two parts, East and West Cheater, seperated by a high hill, topped with neat dwellings, surrounded by gardens. East Cheater, that lies near the station, possesses numerous large store-houses, showing the
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amount of business done here. The population is about 1600. The view from the station, looking east, affords a fine view of the "meadow," we have crossed, and to the
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southward the cone of Sugar-loaf Mountain towers up in bold relief. Chester is, another stopping-place for travelers bound for Greenwood Lake, eight miles distant.
At Chester the road passes through the hill above the village by a deep cut, and bring us to the very heart of the county, every inch of soil being mapped out into sheets of smooth-shaven slopes, that look like the oldest part of Old England. The farm-houses look neat and substantial, and, after an interesting run of four miles and a half, we enter the far-famed town of Goshen…
