The New York and Oswego Midland, now the New York, Ontario and Western, was completed on its present location in 1873, It strikes into Sullivan county near the south-east corner of the extreme eastern part and passes diagonally across the county through the towns of Mamakating, Fallsburgh, Liberty and Rockland, passing into Delaware county at the junction of the Willewemoc with the Beaver kill, thence across the southern end of Delaware county it passes into Chenango county at Sidney.

The New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railroad enters Ulster county at the south-east corner of the town of Marlborough and follows the river through those towns adjacent to it, through Ulster and Greene counties, connecting with the Wallkill valley and the Ulster and Delaware railroads at Kingston, and with the Catskil. Mountain Railroad at Catskill. The West Shore and Midland unite at Cornwall in Orange county. The Wallkill Valley Railroad connects Kingston in Ulster county on the line of the West Shore Railroad with Campbell Hall in Orange county on the line of the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad. It passes through the cement burning region. The Ulster and Delaware Railroad starts at Kingston at the junction of the West Shore with the Wallkill Valley Railroad, and follows the course of the Esopus creek across the northern towns of the county, and thence inte Delaware county near the north-east corner of the town of Middletown, thence across this town and the town of Roxbury, and finds a terminus at Hobart, near the center of the town of Stamford. It is a road of heavy grades and sharp curves, but serves as an avenue of approach to those wishing to reach the heart of the Catskills.

From Phoenicia, a station on the Ulster and Delaware Railroad, situated near the north-east corner of the town of Shandaken in Ulster county, a narrow gauge road has been built through the Stony clove across to the valley of the Schoharie creek giving access to the numerous summer resorts at Hunter, Tannersville and landing guests at the Laurel House, Hotel Kaaterskill and the Catskill Mountain House, at an elevation of over 2,200 feet above the Hudson river. This road is operated only from Phoenicia to Hunter during the winter, there being two or three wood working concerns of considerable importance along this portion of the route. The portion not operated through the winter is called the Kaaterskill Railroad.

The Catskill Mountain Railroad connects Catskill village on the line of the West Shore Railroad with Palenville. lying at the foot of the mountain, on the top of which is the Catskill Mountain House. It is a narrow guage road. There is also a branch to the village of Cairo. The main road was opened in 1882 and the branch in 1885. The main road is entirely within the town of Catskill in Greene county; the branch starts from near the north-west bounds of Catskill, thence to near the center of the town of Cairo.

The Albany and Susquehanna branch of the Delaware and IIud. son Canal Company Railroad, follows along the valley of the Susquehanna from its headwaters, skirting the western bounds of Delaware county. In Delaware county there is a branch railroad. from Walton, a station on the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad to Delhi; in Sullivan county a branch from Summitville in said county to Ellenville in Ulster county, and another branch from Port Jervis in Orange county, on the line of the New York Lake Erie and Western Railroad to Monticello, the county seat.

The following table, compiled from the "Report of the Railroad Commission," will give a fair idea of the magnitude of the railroad interest in the counties embracing the Catskill forest preserve.

The above table shows a large mileage in these four counties. The majority of the railroads run directly through heavily timbered sections, and into these sections particularly are the greatest number of trains run, and in consequence there must be a greater exposure of the woods and waste places to the liability to catch and carry fire from the numerous engines passing over the road. The summer traffic comes in the four driest months of the year, June, July, August and September, when the woods are in the driest condition, and it is at this season that disastrous fires have occurred in the past. During July and August these pleasure roads in the mountains run from five to eight trains a day each way. This becomes necessary when the vast number of people who visit this region every year is taken into consideration. The New York, Ontario and Western railroad distributes about 25,000 people from their railroad through Sullivan Ulster and Delaware counties. The Catskill Mountain Railroad distributes among the mountain resorts of Greene county about 35,000 people. The Ulster and Delaware Railroad carries into the same section and among the resorts of Ulster and Delaware counties about 35,000 more. Stages and private conveyances carry perhaps 5,000 more, and the New York, Lake Erie and Western leaves 20,000 people to admire the beauties of the Delaware. The total of 120,000 people does not over-estimate the amount of travel to this Catskill region. It is but a hundred miles from New York, Brooklyn and Jersey City, teeming with their millions of population.

This region has not entirely been given over to the interests of the pleasure seeker, though it forms the natural picnic ground of the vast populations of New York and vicinity. For that reason alone, inasmuch as it brings health and vigor to replace wasted vitality to the thousands who seek the pure air of its mountains and the sparkling water of its living springs, part of this region at least should be left in as near a state of nature as at this late day is possible. It is many years ago (nearly half a century) since the Old Mountain House was sought out by the aristocracy of New York and Baltimore, long before railroads were thought of and when the stage coach was the only means of conveyance. Here the great merchants of the one and the wealthy planters of the other discussed the political issues of the day on its broad veranda and gathered new life and strength from the invigorating atmosphere, while

the wife of the merchant sought to arouse vexation and jealousy in the heart of the wife of the planter by the display of finer tissues of silk and laces and a more liberal supply of jewels. Much the same scenes are still enacted on the same old spot; but there came at times uneasy minds and roving spirits, who explored for the sake 'of finding something new. Gradually the beauties of this whole region became known, and were written about, till finally every valley, many of the mountains and the desirable places generally became more or less known and finally occupied by a people who make it their business to care for the multitudes who annually swarm to this region for three or four months and leave it desolate for nine.

The fine fishing afforded by the many mountain streams attracts another class of people who come to this region as early as the first of May, but whose stay is very brief. Its proximity to New York makes it an easy matter for the city sportsman to leave business for a few days to angle for the trout in the clear waters of the streams. So common became this practice that the natural increase of the fish could not keep pace with the rate they were taken out, so that artificial stocking of the streams had to be resorted to. Various parties, private individuals and railroad companies have brought thousands of young trout from the artificial hatching establishments through the State and have turned the young fry loose among the headwaters of the streams and into some of the lakes and ponds, so that in localities where somewhat protected they now enjoy fine sport, but in the streams where the public is allowed to fish even this liberal supply has proved anything but permanent. Hunting in this region is confined chiefly to grouse, rabbits, squirrels and such small game. Deer are rarely seen and much more rarely killed. The last of the deer were killed off some twelve years ago, when there was a great body of snow fell, on which a crust formed of sufficient strength to bear the weight of a man. Pot-hunters came into this region, presumably from Pennsylvania, and killed large numbers of deer, from which the hides were taken and the carcasses left to rot in the woods. Since that time the hunters have been able to keep pace with the natural increase of the few that were left from the wholesale slaughter. It is fair to suppose that there are not a dozen deer in this whole Catskill region, though the natural features are such as to provide all the requirements for an abundant increase if they were protected and left unmolested to

1

roam the woods at their own sweet will for a few years. In early times the Dutch settlers hunted wild turkeys along the beech ridges in the town of Callicoon in Sullivan county; indeed it is said that the name of the town is derived from the sound used by the early hunters in imitation of that bird's note of calling. Be that as it may, there have probably been no wild turkeys in this region or any other part of it for nearly a hundred years, and it is doubtful whether the conditions are such that they could ever be induced to thrive again in the thin, open woods that occupy the places of the then dense forests of that region along the Delaware. There are many miles of streams, the waters of which are leased from the owners by parties residing elsewhere. These waters are kept stocked and to the owners afford fine sport. The same is true of many ponds on whose banks can be seen the club-houses of the owners, who annually repair to the same to enjoy the benefits of out-door life. The cause of the decline in the supply of game and fish in this region is therefore manifest. The cupidity of a few men has caused the deer to become nearly extinct in this region, and the leasing of streams has diminished the amount of public waters; consequently those that are left free and open are "fished to death" the first week at the opening of the season and kept in that condition by the army of hungry sportsmen who come later.

It is a matter of great difficulty to tell when the first tanning business was started in this region. The construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal opened up communication through Sullivan county. This was in 1828, and in 1831 the historian says John Eldridge, Rufus Palen and one or two other large tanners commenced operations here and were followed by other men of their calling, as the bark of Greene, Schoharie and Ulster counties was exhausted. Then Sullivan county became the most important sole-leather manufacturing district in the world. From this it would appear that Greene and Ulster counties were the scenes of the earliest tanning operations.

At Prattsville, on the Schoharie creek, are rocks on which are carv. ings commemorating the doings of Hon. Zadoc Pratt in this region in years gone by. One is to the effect that 1,000,000 sides of leather were tanned in twenty years with the bark of hemlock cut on the neighboring mountains. Through the Kaaterskill Clove are