The Chenango Canal ran for 45 miles through the spine of its namesake county from 1837 to 1878. It provided the transportation that drove the local economies and shaped much of the infrastructure that remains today.
When the canal expired, it was considered a nuisance by residents who lived near it. They clamored for the government to fill in that foul smelling, mosquito infested ditch. Unfortunately, the people got their way and today most of the canal has been filled in or is being filled in. Tracing its path is sometimes an exercise in faith. (Although, I am getting pretty good at it.)
Fortunately, we have some current landowners who treasure their stretch of the canal and strive to protect it.
In the photo is proud canal owner, Kathy Sweet. Her grandson, Matt, is pointing to the something. Behind them is Kathy’s canal. The water is under all that lush green duckweed and is home to fish and turtles. Kathy’s favorite flower is the iris and she has several vigorous clumps thriving along the shore. Her piece of the canal is only 0.07 mile long but is still 40 feet wide. Kathy and Matt are seated on what used to be the tow path. Not seen in the photo, because it was behind me, is what the previous owner claimed to be an original hitching post for mules and/or horses. Kathy’s canal is about midway between canal locks 85 and 86.
The railroad put the canal out of business and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western tracks are just a stone’s throw west of the canal. In fact, Kathy’s house rests on the very spot where the Baldwin Station once stood. It was a milk station; farmers brought their milk here to ship. Some of its concrete remains were dumped in Kathy’s canal. Some still stand in place. I had never heard of the Baldwin Station. It is not mentioned in Louis Langone’s 2006 book, “Railroad Days.” His schedule on page 70 lists just Sherburne and Earlville. Baldwin Station is about midway between.
Whereas this station was destroyed, the road leading to it testifies to its existence. Baldwin Station Road is a short L-shaped thoroughfare running from State Route 12B to Fletcher Road, where it returns to 12B. A sign identifies it and the current county map depicts it.
Rose Wellman, Town Historian for Sherburne, says that Baldwin Station also served the railroad. In fact, she has old photos of it. This station probably deserves an article of its own. Rose has evidence that there were two buildings here. One burned down.
Preserving historical remains is an beneficial endeavor in its own right. However, with the ominous threat of a huge power line coming through, such historical remains afford us more obstacles to drop in front of the NYRI attempt to overpower us. If NYRI is successful, its dreaded power line will run right over Kathy’s house.
The railroad beat out the canal, but both of them together helped build our communities up and down this valley. The power line could beat out everything that the canal and railroad built. A tragic, perverse fate indeed.
I encourage other residents who own historical remains to invite me over to write about them. Keeping them a secret will not be helpful to our unified attempts to derail the power line. We should document every historical and pre-historical site along the proposed routes of the despised power line.