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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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A Legend of the the Exodus of the Wenrohronon Tribe

Early Settlements in the Region of Elba, New York

The Wenrohronon, also known as the Wenro, were a tribe that had settlements all across Western New York. Ultimately, they were conquered and absorbed following disagreements and a split with the Neutrals. This split led to their downfall, as they were on their own and had no allies amongst other tribes. Ultimately, they were decimated by the Iroquois (specifically, the Senecas) during and after the Beaver Wars. From then, the Seneca took over territories of the Wenro, including those around Buffalo Creek.

Tribal territory of Wenro tribe about 1630
Tribal territory of Wenro about 1630 - User:Nikater [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
It was either during the time of the Beaver Wars, or after, that remnants of the Wenro elsewhere in Western New York began to flee their former settlements. Legends, or rather unclear historical recollections, say that separated pockets of the Wenro, post-defeat, settled in more heavily wooded areas around modern-day Elba, New York and elsewhere in Western New York.  One such area in Elba was the Northwestern region of the town, around what is Ridge Road. Of course, Ridge Road didn't exist back then, neither did Elba, as the road began development some time in the 1700s.

The Wenro though, they found refuge from the attacks of the Iroquois in this uninhabited area, as they hadn't yet joined up with other pockets of their tribe, who'd found refuge with the Huron (Wyandotte). They made their way through the forests and found a natural clearing somewhere near the Ridge Road to set up a temporary camp. The year of this temporary settlement is unknown, but was likely around the late 1630s, very early 1640s.

The Wenro, they made their way to this area under the cover of the early evening, in the twilight, of an unknown winter month. Perhaps even during late autumn, as the ground was very sparsely covered with snow and frost. Their movements were particularly made during moonlit evenings, which made for cold nights, but they had no choice to travel during these times and not get lost. The tenseness of the situation, with a warring Iroquois seemingly everywhere, made the Wenro fearful at many moments and they went out of their way to avoid well-known areas in the wilderness. Their image, the looks on their faces, was one of being broken and saddened. Yet they were resilient and carried on for the survival of those left amongst them.

It's not known what happened to these people, these remnants of the Wenro that looked to join up with the rest, but the land in this part of Elba, around today's "dead end" of Ridge Road has long been thought to be 'cursed'. Though that curse may have been known to the Iroquois back in the 1600s, legends handed down through generations, and may have been a reason the Iroquois were hesitant to enter that area. A 'curse' which, in modern words, is just called haunted.

There are stories that the people, these few dozen or so isolated Wenro, never made it out of the Ridge Road area and were killed. Some recollections say they were found by the Iroquois, which could be likely, or confronted the curse of the woods and succumbed to the elements or something paranormal. Either way, it's said that they still haunt the area and people have had numerous paranormal experiences in this part of Elba, far away from the village. Experiences which include the sound of disembodied crying from the woods, strange lights seen at ground level, and many other peculiar events. It's definitely a great place for paranormal investigators to investigate, given the history alone. Like most places, there are many secrets and histories that we'll never know. Yet the feeling, the emotion, is still in the winds of these places. You can still sense the wars and battle that once were.
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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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Elba, New York History, Early Years, and its Founding

Elba, New York, a town best known for its mucklands, onion-growing, and farms, was developed by an act of NYS to divide Batavia. The act was passed on March 14th, 1820 and Elba became a town comprised of 38,000 acres. Back then, and before the second division on April 11th, 1842, Elba included what is now Oakfield. and today the town is 22,631 acres in size.

Old Photos of Elba, NY

On April 14th, 1820, a town meeting was held at Nehemiah Ingersoll's tavern on Oak Orchard Road.

Elected as the town's government were:

Lemuel Foster - Supervisor
Mason Turner - Town Clerk and Collector
Isaac Benedict, Erastus Wolcott - Overseers of the Poor
George Will, Charles Woodworth, John Underhill - Assessors
Dudley Sawyer, Mark Turner, Jeremiah Wilford - Commissioners of Highways
Lemuel Foster, Isaac Higley, Jeremiah Wilford - Commissioners of Schools
Eleazur D. Davis, Samuel White, Martin Wilson - School Inspectors
Nehemiah Ingersoll - Poundmaster (caretaker of seized or lost livestock and other farm animals)
Eleazur D. Davis, Ichabod Hinckley, Jessemin Drake - Constables

Elba's Earliest Businesses

In December of 1829, Samuel Laing had a blacksmith shop built (on a 7/10 acre lot)  and began the business of shoeing horses, making tools and various hardware, repairing plows and wagons, and building, repairing wagon wheels. Next to his blacksmith shop, he built a brick building to house a store where he sold merchandise. The business, and later the building, was passed around until the last owner John Benton used it for onion storage. In 1974, the Genesee Country Museum gained ownership of the building and relocated it to Mumford, NY.

Some of the other blacksmith shops that operated in Elba:

John Weber's blacksmith and wagon shop on Maple Avenue - opened December 1896.
James Gourley's blacksmith shop at Lancton Corners - opened in the 1850s.

There were about 10 blacksmith shops operating in Elba in the 1850s. Some of the blacksmiths were William Bradley, Caleb Wells, Ezeriah Wilson, Joshua Wicks, James Emery, Chauncey Hollister, William Dean, Gurley Dean, William Buckingham, Sylvanus Perry, Richard Carl, and Solomon Hill.

Solomon Hill was the most notable, as he was a Revolutionary War veteran that lived to be 104 years old. He moved to Elba some time after the war and died in 1857. Since he had no known relatives in the region, he was buried in an unmarked grave, That is, until 1880 when Sunday School children started a collection to give the Revolutionary War veteran a proper tombstone. He is buried in the Pine Hill Cemetery in Elba.

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The earliest cobbler and bootmaker in the area was J. Emery, who opened his business around 1824 at Daw's Corners. By 1850, there were 13 shoemakers in Elba.

Some of the earliest cooperage shops in Elba were those owned by the Staples family, Genesee Manufacturing Company, A.A. Grinnell, and French & Rugg Company.

Benson B. French and William Rugg also owned a lumber company and had operated since before 1871. Their business was located north of the village of Elba.

Staples & Butterworth owned a lumber company that began operation before 1870.

A.A. Grinnell purchased Staples' business in 1902.

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Some early mercantile shops and stores in Elba include:

A man named Mr. Raymond opened one in 1831 on 1 North Main Street. The original building was destroyed by fire in 1869 and was rebuilt. The rebuilt building still stands today.

The building on 3 North Main Street was a mercantile starting sometime in the 1880s and under the ownership of Milton Conner and William Brailey. This building also still stands today.

The 5th Main Street mercantile was owned by a man named Hundredmark and was built in 1881. The building burned down in 1931.

At 7th Main Street, this mercantile had its roots in a millinery run by Mrs. Emma Brown and Miss Mary A. Caple. They opened their business in 1880 and other business also began to operate in the building Which included a drug store, grocery store, and a bakery. This building still stands.

10 Main Street also got its start as a millinery and was a grocery store by the 1890s. The building was damaged in a fire on September 15th, 1903. Around 2 a.m., the fire was seen by a girl working at the Hotel Swartz and she set off the fire alarm. The Batavia Fire Department made their way to Elba after being told about the fire by telephone. The building was a complete loss and the lot was left empty until 1915 when the Elba Grange Meeting Hall was built.

11 North Main Street  began operation under Tristam Brown as a hardware shop in January of 1878. It was also a grocery store and a restaurant at one time. Also, it may still be a restaurant.

Barton's Store, at 15 North Main Street, was owned by Elliot P. Barton. By 1969, he was in partnership with Stephen L. Maltby and they sold groceries at the store. The building, with various businesses housed in it, changed hands throughout the years. The building still stands today.

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Elba's first hotel, the Pine Hill Hotel, opened in 1815 and was owned by Steve Harmon. The Hotel was destroyed by fire in September of 1874. A new hotel was built and was in operation by July 23, 1875. It was passed down through the years and in 1979, after being acquired by Jim and Steve Goff, it became the Stumblin' Inn. More about the history of the Stumblin' Inn on the Facebook page of the Historical Society of Elba and on the Historical Society of Elba website

The Tornado Windmill Company was opened in 1874 by twenty-something year old brothers Frank E. Barr and Orin C. Barr. The business was quite successful but the Orin Barr's health problems, caused by his inflammatory rheumatism, caused him to 'retire' from the business. He died from complications from his rheumatism on December 22nd, 1880, at around the age of his early thirties. After the loss, Frank closed down their windmill business and found employment elsewhere. Frank caught mumps in 1889 and died on September 13th of that year, around age 40.

The Elba Creamery was opened in July of 1895 and began operations. The first day was very successful for the creamery but a drought soon hit the area and hurt the business. They survived though and the business successful for a while but they began to have more financial troubles over the few years. By 1910 the building was abandoned and sat vacant until a sawdust fire burned the building down. It was the fourth fire flare-up that was too much for the firemen to put out.

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