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Elba, New York Mucklands

The swamps, from which the Elba mucklands were created, were the Tonawanda and Oak Orchard Marsh. When investors moved in, starting in 1910, past plans were being seriously considered to drain the swamp. The earliest plans to drain the swamp though began in 1902. Mr. Landers of Alabama, NY and Mr. Peter Belson of Oakfield, NY early promoters of the draining. Hearings were held so all towns affected by the draining could have a voice in the process. Most of which were all for it, citing the localized water damage and illnesses caused by the swamps.

Representatives involved in the hearings were the towns affected by the future drainage. These towns were the towns of Barre, Clarendon, Alabama, Shelby, Oakfield, and Elba. Elba's hearing was held on May 13, 1902 and was one that garnered the most interest. The arguments made for draining the swamps were like those made in other towns. The majority view that the swamps caused disease and flood damage. Spectators were in support of the idea too. So as long as the project wouldn't be too costly. It is after these hearings, in August of 1903, that the plans were created to drain the swamp. In the Commission's findings it was declared that a main drainage channel would be started in the eastern area of the swamp and continued in westerly direction and following a path to connect to the Oak Orchard Creek. The plans included widening and deepening the Oak Orchard Creek. Later surveying of the land was used to plan where the lateral channel would be dug. These lateral channels which are still clearly visible in Elba. Specifically within numerous areas of the woods between the eastern segment of Ridge Road and West Muck Road to the North.

Elba, NY

In April and May of 1904, the plans were further declared and the Commission said that all 25,760 acres to be drained could be reclaimed. It was on May, the 4th, that $5,000 would cover the costs of surveying and other initial work prior to drainage. In 1906, the surveyors began working on the early planning stages to drain the swamp. In the spring of 1909, the swamp experienced large scale flooding and looked like a lake at the time. Many roads were flooded under by the rise in water.

The opposite was happening by the fall. A drought over the summer had created conditions that were financially harming farms. Many farmers' properties, including hay and straw crops, were burned in an uncontrolled wildfire. Part of the swamp also ignited after drying out.

In 1910, Professor Carr, from Washington DC, came in to analyze the soil for its viability and quality. By 1911, local newspapers were reporting on the developments. An article in the Daily News, on February 27, 1911, reported that the Big Swamp was soon to be drained. After this, a lot of planning, land dealings, and business dealings occurred. Also, interest in the future mucklands increased. Deals which included companies who'd clear out timber from the drained swamp areas.

Of the acres reclaimed in the draining, 5,721 went to the Town of Alabama, 4,044 to Oakfield, 3,511 to Elba, 524 to Byron, 3,482 to Shelby, 6,117 to Barre, and 2,361 to Clarendon. The contract bidding for the drainage began in January of 1913. The contract was awarded to R.H. and G.A. McWilliams of Chicago. The contract was worth $110,000 and work was to start within 60 days.

Preparations began in April after the arrival of equipment via the West Shore Railroad. The railroad, which existed a short distance past ECS up until the latter 1980s. The dredge, once assembled, would only travel about a 1/2 mile a day. While its destination, at Transit Road, was roughly 6 miles away. The dredge, being so large, telephone wires had to be temporarily removed by telephone linemen. This was done as the machine passed through the Village of Elba. At one point, the dredge broke down at South Main Street. It needed replacement parts, from Evansville, Indiana, that took a week to arrive. After being repaired, the dredge took ten days to reach its Transit Road destination.

Work began on June 6, 1913. The dredges (Bucyrus dredges, i believe) were put into position at Transit Road, at the Oak Orchard Creek. The wooden dredge scow, constructed on the Oak Orchard Creek, that followed the dredges was 20 feet wide and 82 feet long. As the work commenced and the machine moved along many came to Elba to view the machine at work. So many visitors came to see the dredging operations that traffic, on Sundays, was non-stop. At this time, purchasing of land and properties increased in Elba in preparation for the new farmland. By August of 1913, the dredge work was going well and they were progressing by around 600 feet per day. New business kept coming into Elba throughout the rest of 1913 and throughout 1914. Which also brought new families into the area.

By the late summer of 1914, many new farms were in operation and growing crops on the rich mucklands. Others had planted orchards on their new acreage. After a little more than two years of dredging, in December of 1915, the drainage work was done. Dredging equipment returned to its 'home', being taken back along the West Shore Railroad. The efforts of the draining of the swamp contributed greatly to Elba's growth in those earlier days. Those efforts still contribute to the success of Elba's farms still in operation today.

Elba, NY

The downside is that, with every passing season, the Elba mucklands reduce in viability. Fires have occurred on the mucklands during times of drought going back to the 1930s. The Soil Conservation Service, since 1954, has done annual checks on the soil to measure how much has been lost, year-by-year.

Only time will tell how long the Elba mucklands will last before extensive muckland restoration is needed.
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Photos from around Elba, Genesee County, New York.

For those that don't know, Elba is a small town in Western New York that's about halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. It's also a short distance away from Batavia, New York and a section of the NYS thruway. Elba is best known for its agriculture, its mucklands, and its well-developed community atmosphere. Find out more about the town by visiting this link here.



Crates
Smokestack and old, abandoned storage facility.

Elba, NY
Different shot of abandoned food processing and storage facilty, with smokestack.

Elba, NY
Old train depot that's now a pizza place. The tracks were removed in the late '80s.

Elba, NY
Elba Central School - Built in 1938

Elba, NY
Barn currently housing a business called, "The Mill".

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Serene field landscape at sunset

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History of Ridge Road in Elba, Genesee County, New York

Elba, NY
Following the mapping of Genesee County by the Holland Land Company, an area south of what was called the "Great  Swamp" back then, around 1800, would become the future site of part of the Town of Elba. This square mile of land was bordered by early roads. The northern road of this square-mile area was Ridge Road. It was also known as Bulgaria Ridge and Bulgary Ridge at various times throughout Elba's history. Bulgary Ridge is still seen labeled on USGS maps from the 1970s. I still have one such map that we've had since the 1980s.

The description of Ridge Road has changed little since the time it was originally created. The older road heads westward and uphill, flattens out for a short while, and then there's a gradual downward sloping hill, still heading west, until you reach a dead end. Early on, those who lived on the Ridge were English families from the New England region but, in time, German families moved in and began to own the homes and farms on the road. They made great success and were comfortable in the community. Some of the homes of these German families still stand on Ridge Road, though the acres of farmland that used to accompany many of them have long been sold to other farms and farmers.

During the times of widespread farming though, farmers grew all sorts of crops. Which included corn, apples, potatoes, buckwheat, beans, wheat, barley, and oats, among other crops. Some even raised chickens and two families ran small dairy farms. When the mucks were drained in 1915, it provided even more land, and rich soil, for other crops. Including one that Elba is best known for, onions. When the 1920s came around, Polish families began to buy up a few of the farms on Ridge Road and they too became a part of the community. Italians also moved into the town in the 1920s and although most of them enjoyed living in the village, a small number of the families also bought farms.

Even today, families move to Elba and some of their family members work on the farms and add to the richness of the town's culture and history.

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Lost Objects and Found Memories

Ridge Road Elba New York

Long-forgotten memories can be found again at the most unexpected times.

The photo above may not look like anything special but it's the place where i grew up. Many of my memories were made in that little town in Western New York. Our house was on a dead end road that transitioned into a field path. To the right is the driveway that led to our former home and little has changed since i was last there in the late 90s. Even the posted sign seems on one of the poles seems to be the same one. The little 'garden bed' is new, having replaced the bushes that used to be there. But the maple tree and the blue spruce tree are the same ones that were there back in the 90s. At one time there was a tall paper birch tree near the spruce tree, to the left of the garden bed, but it died from an insect infestation around the year 1996. The road itself still looks as beat up as it always has. They paved it in the early 90s, when it was nearly worn to gravel by then, and i'm sure they've paved it within the past few years though.

Across the road is the field where my siblings and cousins used to play in as children. We'd wait for the corn to get high enough and play a game that we called "ghost". We'd attach a piece of window plastic to a tall stick (the ghost) and run through the rows of corn chasing someone until we caught them. Then they'd become the "ghost". Everyone would have ten seconds to get away and hide and/or keep moving before the "ghost" started chasing while holding the stick of plastic and making ghost sounds. Sometimes, if we had enough sticks and plastic, we'd continue until everyone was a caught and became a ghost. I remember we'd usually play a little before sunset too. It was a game of tag, more or less.

Beyond the field, on the edge of the woods, my brother and i made a small, partial tree house in an old tree that leaned at an extreme angle. It was a large, healthy tree with a massive trunk that just grew strange. Given its size, the tree was at least 100 years old. Near that tree were remnants of what was probably a small building of some sort. The old, crumbling bricks and stones were hidden in the grass and in the dirt, along with remnants of a foundation. On old maps there is no evidence of anything ever being there. So we never knew what it actually was in the past. Further in the woods was old fence wire likely left over from when there were no trees there. Near that were two names carved in a tree that were at least ten feet up. The carving was kind of elaborate and definitely looked like it took a while to carve. I cannot remember the names but they'd certainly still be there.

One of the biggest memories i have though, from when i was around eight, involves the field path. We had neighbors around our age that'd we play with all the time. One summer the neighbor girl, who was my age, and i were running down the path. We ran all the way to the end and she'd realized that she dropped her necklace somewhere along the path. It was one of those colorful plastic bead snap-together necklaces. We searched the path and couldn't find her necklace anywhere. We gave up after a while and headed back to my house. This would've been around 1988. Years later, in 1997, and years after her family moved away, i was walking that path and randomly spotted the plastic necklace in the tall dry grass. It was along the path and about halfway up it. The necklace was worn and its colors had been faded by the sun over the decade. This was long after i'd forgotten about that day but picking it up triggered my childhood memories of that summer day. Almost like the memories themselves were locked up in that faded, worn, and dusty toy necklace.

Though we only lived there for around twelve years, my memories of that place are endless. I have so many memories of the people there, in the town. And they of I. I remember so much that i could probably write a short book on the years spent living there. Despite being a small town, it was definitely a lively and interesting town that i was glad to have lived in.

The Daily Post Prompt: The Things We Leave Behind
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Elba, New York's Role in the Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad in New York State played a big part in helping slaves escape and throughout NYS, many smaller towns served as stops for escaped slaves to make the way on to Canada. The Town of Elba's involvement isn't well-documented and that's somewhat due to the secrecy of its participation at the time.

Small Town !

The route in Western New York passed through Rochester from Farmington. From Rochester, they would either continue on to Gaines and on to Lockport or to Elba on to LeRoy. These escaped slaves would make their way to stop points under the cover of night. Marking these stops, one such stop being in Elba, were tree branches. The branch markers would be around 2 feet in height and inconspicuously stuck in the ground near a fence near a roadway. They were also stuck on a street corner in such a way to also tell the direction for them to turn and head to find their stop.

In Elba, three buildings were used to shelter and hide escaped slaves before they continued on to LeRoy. These buildings are on North Main Street and were the Warren Shamp house, the home of Colonel Elias Pettibone, and the Willis Tavern. In the Pettibone home, a dutch oven hid a tunnel in the cellar that connected under the street to the Willis Tavern. There was also a second tunnel in the Pettibone home that led to a long torn down barn that stood behind the Presbyterian Church. The tunnel at the former Pettibone home was covered over by solid flooring but still exists. As the tunnel was likely never filled in.


At the tavern, the was a trap door where the escaped slaves would have been hidden. As for the Shamp home, its history wasn't discovered until 1993. This was after a pre-sale inspection of the home lead to the discovery of a small area under one of the rooms. This small was was also walled off in the basement by a stone wall.

As i said, the Underground Railroad in Elba isn't all that well documented. Yet, it played a crucial part as slaves made their way to Canada or tried to shake slave catchers on their trail. To this day, the town takes pride in playing their part in aiding slaves in escaping their captors. When i was younger, elementary school aged, our class took a history tour through the town in the early 90s. We didn't get to see inside the buildings where the tunnels were but the history of Elba's Underground Railroad has stuck with me since then. It's the town i grew up in and its rich history makes me proud to have experienced living there.


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