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ISBN 0894-8135
Volume 36 Numbers 1+2
Spring & Summer 2012
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Daniel Drew, shown here in an engraving from the Library of Congress,
represented the American romantic ideal of the self-made man, rising from humble
beginnings to a position of great wealth and power. He worked in a number of
fields over the years, ranging from cattle-driving to the stock market to steamboats
and railroads. Over the years Drew frequently found himself involved with
Cornelius Vanderbilt, and in 1864 a joint railroad venture between them would
bring Drew to the town of Athens in Greene County. This venture, officially
known as the Saratoga & Hudson River Railroad, would become known
colloquially as the "White Elephant Railroad."
Drew was a prime example of the larger-than-life Romantic hero (or anti-hero),
who would do whatever was necessary to get ahead, while the "White Elephant"
represented the grand dreams of one particular community. Its dramatic end
served as a fitting symbol of the end of its era.
continued on page 02
'RXEOH(GLWLRQ6SULQJ6XPPHUWRJHWKHU
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 01
FROM BOY TO MAN
Daniel Drew was born on a farm in Carmel,
New York, in what became Putnam County on
July 29th, 1797, the first child of his sixty-fiveyear-old father's second marriage.1 His father
died in 1812 at the age of eighty, leaving
fourteen-year-old Drew and his brother Thomas
eighty dollars each; his estate was to be kept and
improved to provide for the education of Daniel
and Thomas until the age of twenty-one.2 This
apparently proved insufficient, however, as the
brothers had both left school soon afterward, to
work full time on the farm.3
In 1814 Drew and his brother hired
themselves out as militia substitutes for the
ongoing War of 1812. Drew became a private in
published quarterly by the
Greene County Historical Society, Inc.
Robert A. D'Agostino, Journal editor
Members of the Publications Committee:
Robert D'Agostino, chairman
Jennifer Barnhart
Harvey Durham
Robert Hallock
Thomas Satterlee
Subscription to The Greene County Historical Journal is
only one of the member benefits of the Greene County
Historical Society. The Society is headquartered at the
Bronck Museum Complex, Route 9W, Coxsackie, New
York 12051. Memberships are available as follows:
student membership $15 per year; library membership
$25 per year; individual membership $20 to $29 per
year; dual/family membership $30 to $59 per year;
supporting membership $60 to $109 per year; patron
$110 to $249 per year; benefactor $250 to $499 per
year; silver benefactor $500 to $999 per year; gold
benefactor $1,000 and up per year; business basic
membership $25 per year; business friend $50 per
year; business supporter $100 per year. Membership
inquiries and change of address should be directed to
Thomas Satterlee, Financial Secretary of the Greene
County Historical Society, at 164 High Hill Road,
Catskill, New York 12414.
&RS\ULJKW ‹ *UHHQH &RXQW\ +LVWRULFDO 6RFLHW\ ,QF
the Sixty-First New York State Militia
Regiment. Although he never saw
action in battle, his short military career
brought him to New York City for the
first time. When his three-month term
in the militia came to an end, Drew was
honorably discharged and returned
home to Putnam County with his
military career earnings of $9.33.4
He would not stay long, however:
soon after, he would return to New
York City with the money he earned as
a militia substitute. His intention was to
enter the cattle business, selling cattle
he brought from upstate to slaughterhouses in Manhattan.5
Drew's business as a cattle drover
got off to a slow start, but soon he was
enjoying a degree of success. Entering
business with Henry Astor, butcher and
older brother of fur magnate John Jacob
Astor, Drew supposedly swindled Astor
by "watering the stock."
According to Drew's "memoir," The
Book of Daniel Drew by Bouck White,
Drew gorged his cows on large
quantities of salt before selling them to
Astor. This caused them to drink
excessively. And that in turn led the
animals to gains of large amounts of
water weight – perhaps fifty pounds per
animal – before sale. The temporarilycontinued on page 03
01. Clifford Browder, The
Money Game in Old New York.,
Daniel Drew and His Times
(Lexington, Kentucky:
University Press of Kentucky,
1986): p 05.
02. Ibid, p 09.
03. Ibid.
04. Ibid, pp 09-12.
05. Ibid, pp 13-17; Edwin G.
Burrows & Mike Wallace,
Gotham: A History of New
York to 1898 (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1999): p 659.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 02
increased weight of the animals translated
to increased value at market.
As the story goes, Drew was able to
elude the angry Astor after his ruse was
discovered; yet, despite this, Astor later
referred him to a competitor. Working the
same scheme on him, Drew continued
repeating the process as he was passed
along from butcher to butcher!6
(It should be noted here that White’s
Book of Daniel Drew is a complete
fabrication and – like most of its contents –
the well-known story of Drew's swindling
of Astor likely has little basis in fact. 7)
Clifford Browder spends a number of
pages debunking White's book in his own
work on Drew, pointing out that, in the case
of the Astor story, Drew would certainly
have been too shrewd a businessman to
jeopardize his reputation amongst the New
York butchers with such a scheme.
In fact, his reputation indeed had to be
excellent. The proof is that within a few
years he had been made the proprietor of the
Bull's Head Tavern on the Bowery, owned
by an association of butchers.8
Though apocryphal, this Astor chestnut
is worth mentioning – both as
foreshadowing Drew's later dealings that
brought him his greatest fortune, and to
show how his later reputation led to his
casting as a classic Romantic-era
“confidence man” even in his early years: if
he sold watered paper stock on Wall Street
in his later career, White's book suggests,
surely he must have done the same with
cattle stock in his early days on the Bowery.
As previously noted, Drew's next
venture was as the manager of the Bull's
Head Tavern, a post he took in 1830. Here
he became a private banker, cashing notes
and extending credit for butchers and
drovers who made up the Bull Head's
patronage – and charging an interest of
1%.9 He also served as a banker, taking
deposits from patrons and storing them in a
vault in the tavern's taproom. 10
As Clifford Browder writes, “Money
management came natural to Drew, [sic]
who became the banker of more than half
the drovers in the city, one of several
circumstances that led directly to his Wall
Street career.”11 Drew would leave the
Bull's Head in 1839, following the death of
h i s s o n - i n - l a w R o s w e l l W i l l co x
Chamberlain. At that point he and his family
took up residence on Bleecker Street and he
had an office on Wall Street.12
But how did this banker become
involved with the financing of railroads?
The answer is steamboats.
ENTER THE COMMODORE,
CORNELIUS VANDERBILT
In 1832, while still at the Bull's Head,
Drew invested a thousand dollars into a
steamboat called the Water Witch, which ran
between New York and Peekskill. This led
to the first contact between Drew and
Cornelius Vanderbilt.13
Vanderbilt, originally of Staten Island
and, like Drew, the son of a farmer, had first
risen to prominence as captain of a ferry.
During the War of 1812 Vanderbilt had
garnered considerable profits delivering
supplies to the blockaded Manhattan and to
the forts of New York Harbor.14
After the war Vanderbilt got into the
steamboat business, and by the 1830s had
already amassed a fortune of half a million
continued on page 04
06. Bouck White, The Book
of Daniel Drew (New York:
George H. Doran Company,
1910): pp 53-60.
07. Browder, pp 279-286.
08 Ibid, p 21.
09. Burrows & Wallace, p 658.
10. Browder, p 26.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid, p 31.
13. Ibid, pp 34-35.
14. Burrows & Wallace, p 432.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 03
fleeced the public but also fleeced each
other,” writes Browder.
This was a game Drew could play
well.20 He soon became interested in "fancy
stocks." These were volatile stocks that
promised great risk but potentially great
profit – and in particular, his interest was
piqued by "fancy" stocks in mismanaged
railroads:21 “We fellows in Wall Street had
the fortunes of war to speculate about and
that always makes great doings on a stock
exchange... It's good fishing in troubled
waters,” Drew stated.22
It is worth noting at this point that
Drew, despite already showing the stock
market ruthlessness for which he ultimately
became famous, was a religious man
throughout most of his life. As a boy he had
witnessed a Methodist revival, which had
made a huge impression on him. Browder
writes, “Placed between Satan and the fiery
pit on one side and the merciful Savior on
the other, young Daniel knew which way to
jump.... It marked him for life.”23
Drew moved away from religion during
his days as a drover and tavern keeper,
saying that “the cares of this world had
choked the Word [in him],” but with those
days behind him he was leading a more
settled existence and drifted back to
Methodism.24 He attended another revival
in 184l and returned to the fold. The
Methodist church he entered was one which
forbade profanity, drinking, breaking of the
Sabbath, the wearing of riches and the
laying up of treasure on earth: “[It was] still
a serious commitment.”25
It is certainly interesting to attempt to
reconcile Drew the churchgoer with Drew
dollars, becoming one of New York's
wealthiest citizens – and earning him the
nickname Commodore.15 When Drew
invested in the Water Witch, he found
himself in direct competition with
Vanderbilt‘s enterprise: Drew’s boat left
New York for Peekskill and returned to
New York daily, following the same route
as Vanderbilt's boat, the Flushing (later
replaced by the smaller Cinderella).
In fact, Drew had scheduled the Water
Witch for the same departure times as
Vanderbilt’s boat, leading to a rate war in
which Drew continually dropped ticket
prices on his boat, forcing Vanderbilt to do
the same to match him. Additionally,
Drew's advertising depicted Vanderbilt as a
monopolist, and touted the Water Witch's
accommodations over those available on
Vanderbilt's smaller vessel. 16
By the end of the season, Drew's vessel
had enjoyed higher patronage, but the low
fares Drew had been charging ran the boat
ten thousand dollars into debt. At that point,
most of the boat’s other investors sold out...
to Vanderbilt, who thereby gained a
controlling interest in the Water Witch. 17
So Drew's first challenge to Vanderbilt
ended in Drew’s defeat. Despite this, the
two would remain rivals – and, oddly,
occasionally friends and allies – for nearly
the next half-century.18 A few years later, in
1835, Drew established his People's Line of
steamboats, which would become one of his
most lasting successes.19
In 1839 Drew, along with Nelson
Robinson, established Drew, Robinson &
Company, banking house and stock traders.
“Using false tips, planted rumors, and
fictitious wash sales to inflate or depress a
stock as desired, insiders not only routinely
continued on page 05
20. Ibid, p 61.
21. Ibid, pp 60-62.
22. Quoted in Burrows &
Wallace, p 900.
23. Ibid, p 8.
24. Ibid, p 63.
25. Browder, p 64.
15. Ibid, p 433.
16. Browder, pp 35-37.
17. Ibid, pp 37-39.
18. Ibid, p 35.
19. Ibid, p 43.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 04
the robber baron. “Back in his Wall Street
office on a weekday morning, Drew made
no pretense of being sweet and Christlike, or
humble or remorseful either; he was
confident, astute, energetic.”26
Despite the contradiction, Daniel Drew
was serious about his religion. One of his
most lasting acts of philanthropy was the
founding of Drew Theological Seminary in
New Jersey, which eventually evolved into
the present-day Drew University.
Drew became more directly involved in
railroads in 1846, when he teamed up with
none other than his former rival,
Commodore Vanderbilt, to buy a controlling
interest in the Stonington Railroad to
Boston. The Stonington had been denied a
connection to the Boston & Providence
Railroad due to the city of Providence's
refusal to allow the Stonington to take
business away from it.
After Drew and Vanderbilt took over,
the port at Providence was receiving a
steady stream of passengers from Drew's
steamboat Oregon and Vanderbilt's C.
Vanderbilt. This maneuver was designed to
pressure Providence, into allowing the
Stonington a direct link to the Boston &
Providence Railroad, which would allow
passengers to ride uninterrupted from
Stonington to Boston.
When Vanderbilt and Drew withdrew
from the Stonington railroad in 1850, the
line was thriving.27
The Stonington railroad escapade
showed that Drew and Vanderbilt, working
together, could have a great deal of success
in the railroad field. A decade and a half
later, they would have another opportunity
to work together in the rail business. It is at
that point, that the story of Saratoga &
Hudson River Railroad, aka the “White
Elephant,” begins.
PLANNING
THE SARATOGA & HUDSON RIVER
RAILROAD
In 1864 Drew began planning a new rail
line between the city of Schenectady on the
north end and the Greene County town of
Athens at the south end. The line would
establish a terminus for Drew's People's
Line of steamboats that was further south
than the city of Albany itself. Thus it would
be free of ice longer in the winter, and
would also avoid the shoals, dangerous at
low tide, that sat in the river near Albany.28
Drew would also be able to run the
tracks all the way to the water's edge at
Athens for unloading freight, thus avoiding
delays.29 Using Albany these delays were
inevitable, as he had not been allowed to
build tracks from the city’s Quay Street to
Steamboat Landing. The new rail line
between Athens and Schenectady would
allow him to bypass Albany entirely.30
Vanderbilt was having troubles of his
own at this time. While his ultimate goal
was to control all rail travel between New
York and Chicago, to that point he had been
unable to gain a controlling share in the
New York Central line, which would have
made that possible.31 Perhaps he realized –
correctly – that when the Athens railroad
was completed, the New York Central
would be interested in picking up the line.
The route of the Saratoga & Hudson
River began a mile north of the town of
Athens, just north of the mouth of
Murderer's Creek. From Athens the railroad
continued on page 06
28. Ibid, p 137.
29. Ibid, pp 137-138.
30. Raymond Beecher, "A
Right-of-Way and Two Streaks
of Rust," Greene County
Historical Journal (Greene
County Historical Society, Inc.,
Volume 13 #2, Summer 1989):
pp 11-12.
31. Ibid, p 12.
26. Ibid, p 65.
27. Ibid, p 67.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 05
traveled north to a station in West
Coxsackie, then to stations in New
Baltimore, Coeymans, Jayne's Comers,
Feurabush, New Scotland, Guilderland, and
finally Schenectady. The total length of the
line as actually built? About 38½ miles.32
Athens, the southern terminus of the
new line, was described in the Catskill
Examiner as follows: “Across the river lies
Athens, just awakening to the spirit of
speculation, and feeling the impetus which
has been given to it by the completion of a
road to Schenectady, which is to attract
thither much of the freight which now
finds its way to New York via Albany.
There is a little friction as regards the
passenger trains. Albanians are slow to
give up their long extortions from Western
travelers, detained in that city by
overslaughed boats and laggard trains. The
new road must, however, in time come to
be the great route of travel. It cuts off
several miles of road, and is accessible by
the largest ships at all stages of the tide.
Here ought to have been the outlet of the
canal, at the head of ship navigation.* But
Albany interests prevailed over those of
the State and of commerce. This new link
of road to the Hudson is a break in upon
their monopoly which may be followed by
others still more important.”33
That the Examiner mentions the
possibility of the passenger trains having
difficulty as Albany residents were
reluctant to change their customary modes
of travel certainly foreshadowed events to
come, when one certain powerful person
would use this very point to gain support
in Albany for the closure of the line.
Drew, as president of the Saratoga and
Hudson River line, took 3,700 shares in
continued on page 07
32. Catskill Examiner April 7,
1866: p 03.
33. Catskill Examiner August 11,
1866: p 03.
Above: From the 1867 Beers Atlas of Greene
County, this is the northeast corner of the
Township of Athens. Here, north of the HudsonAthens ferryslip, the Athens shipyard, and two
major icehouses, sits the southern terminus of
the Saratoga & Hudson River Railroad,
hugging close to the western shore of the
Hudson, as it begins to wend its way north.
Collections of the Vedder Research Library.
*Editor’s Note: The story of the nearly 50year effort to make New Baltimore the
southern terminus of a canal that would run
north to Albany, thereby avoiding the
treacherous shoals that lurked in the Hudson
north of New Baltimore, is recounted in
“The Canal to New Baltimore” by Dr.
Clesson Bush, which appeared in the
Greene County Historical Journal, Volume
29 #2, Summer 2005.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 06
the Saratoga and Athens railroad, while
Vanderbilt took 3,200.34 The legal papers
and maps were filed on April 13th, 1864.
The Articles of Association stated: “A group
of thirteen investors do associate themselves
to build and operate a railroad from some
point near the Town of Athens, County of
Greene, to some point in Saratoga Springs,
continued on page 08
34. Arthur C. Mack, "Ghosts of
the White Elephant," 1955.
Reprinted in Athens: Its People
and Industry, 1776-1976
(Athens, NY: Athens
Bicentennial Committee,
1976): pp 188-190.
Above: From the same Atlas, this is the
eastern side of the Coxsackie Township. This
map picks up from the northern edge of the
Athens map segment shown on page 06, and
we can see the line of the Saratoga & Hudson
River Railroad on its way . Problem is, if you
look closely, that here the line is identified as
the “Athens and Schenecta” [sic] Railroad.
Wrong name – though it is understandable
that locals would call it that – but they didn’t
even spell “Schenectady” correctly!
Collections of the Vedder Research Library.
Above: Again from the same Atlas, this is the
eastern side of New Baltimore Township,
picking up from the northern edge of the
Coxsackie segment at left. Again we can
easily spot the Railroad, here as it heads
north out of Greene County. And while the
line is again mis-identified, at least here they
got “Schenectady” right. Collections of the
Vedder Research Library.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 07
domain, but this still required landowners
to be justly compensated.
In May of 1864 a notice of a "large
purchase" appeared in the Catskill
Examiner: “It is reported that Daniel Drew
has purchased five hundred acres of land in
the northern part of the village of Athens.
The purchase includes ‘the Titus farm,’ at a
cost of $45,000, although it was offered for
$20,000 a few months since. There has
been an advance of full 100 per cent for
vacant building lots in Athens, since the
railroad project from Schenectady to that
place was first agitated.”39
The cost of actual construction, which
was undertaken by Irish laborers using
picks and shovels, was estimated at $100
per mile; to raise funds, 15,000 shares of
stock were sold at $100 each, as stated in
the Articles of Association.40
From the beginning there were high
hopes for this new railroad. When ground
was broken on May 24th, 1864, John
Sanderson, Esq.* gave an eloquent speech
which was printed in the Catskill Examiner.
His speech shows exactly how the railroad
fit within the Romantic era: “The
undertaking and building of a Rail Road in
any part of this country is a matter of public
interest everywhere. We know from the
history of the immediate past, that no cause
County of Saratoga, length of road to be
approximately 60 miles, capital stock,
fifteen hundred thousand dollars in 15,000
shares of $100 each.”35
In April 1866 a lengthy article appeared
in the Catskill Examiner which spelled out
the aim of constructing the road:
“In the matter of freight the principal
business of the road will consist in the
transportation of pressed hay, apples, and
produce generally, from the surrounding
country, and in the carrying of New York
freight to the merchants of the West, and
western freight to the merchants of the East.
The passenger traffic on the road will
undoubtedly be large in the summer season,
especially if the company succeed in their
negotiations for the purchase of the
Schenectady and Saratoga Railroad.
“In fact that result will not make much
difference after all as we are informed that
if the latter named do not feel disposed to
sell, the Saratoga & Hudson River Company
will build a railroad of their own from
Schenectady to Saratoga, the track running
parallel with the one already constructed. It
is highly probable, however, that the road
mentioned will be purchased.”36
As noted, the route would connect with
the Saratoga & Schenectady Railroad,
which had been running since the mid1830s,37 though in fact Drew’s company
never sought to buy out the Saratoga and
Schenectady road.38
continued on page 09
39. Catskill Examiner May 21,
1864: p 03.
40. Beecher, pp 12-13.
BUILDING THE RAILROAD
Construction of the line proved quite
costly. Drew had already purchased acres of
brickyards north of Athens for constructing
the terminal. Land for the railroad's right-ofway was acquired by right of eminent
*Editor’s Note: Born in Athens, John
Sanderson studied law in Hudson and
Albany. Practicing law first elsewhere, he
returned to Athens in 1863, a year before
his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony.
In the early 1880s he took Greene County
to court over inaccurate election results.
That case is recounted in “At the Bench:
Greene County on Trial,” Part Two, which
appeared in the Greene County Historical
Journal, Volume 18 #4, Winter 1994.
35. Quoted in Mack, p 188.
36. Catskill Examiner April 7,
1866: p 03.
37. Mack, p 188.
38. Beecher, p 12.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 08
has contributed in a greater degree to
develop the resources of this nation, to
increase its population, and to build up
civilization and empire in this Western
World, than the system of Rail Roads which
net and span the country from the East to
the West. Rail Roads mean commerce,
enterprise, wealth, national power and
prosperity with the civilization and
refinement that flow from long continued
intercourse, and the exchange of products
and ideas with distant parts of the land.
“New channels for thought and industry
are open before us; and what before seemed
distant and inaccessible, becomes part and
parcel of a common neighborhood. The
panorama which we continually witness, of
splendid steamers and argosies that bear the
products of the Western States to their
distant havens, have long familiarized
sentiments and ideas of this kind, to those
of us who dwell upon the banks of this
beautiful river.”41
In the era of the Hudson River School’s
celebration of an idealized nature,
Sanderson's remarks show how railroads
were seen not only as practical
conveniences, but as a method of improving
civilization itself. Though they lived in a
place of great beauty, the “noble savages” of
upstate could still be seen as benefiting
from the “civilizing effects” that increased
communication would bring to them.
Sanderson's speech, presenting the idea of
the sublime wilderness being tamed by the
advance of civilization, ties very nicely into
the romanticism of the time.
Of course, ground was broken for the
Athens road in the midst of the Civil War,
itself a symbol of the end of the
romanticism of the earlier nineteenth
century. This fact did not go unnoticed by
Sanderson: “The fact that the building of
this Rail Road is commenced in the midst of
a gigantic civil war is also worthy of our
notice,” he stated. “Capital, ever timid of
loss or depreciation, would not now seek to
invest itself in this permanent form, did it
not feel assured of the safety of our
Government and then indivisibility of this
Republic. This Rail Road is therefore like
the rainbow of promise, which speaks to us
of a brighter future as well as of the
permanence of those Democratic
institutions, which we hold so dear; it is
another link in the chain which binds every
part of this Union, each to the other.”42 So
Sanderson saw the railroad serving as a
symbol of the nation's preservation.
At another point, the papers even
theorized that the project in Athens was
only the beginning of something much
bigger. “Judging from the character of the
men engaged in the enterprise, and their
promptness in taking the initiatory
measures, it seems highly probable that the
north section of a West Shore Railroad on
the Hudson is being commenced. For who
can doubt that in years to come, it will be
extended to Catskill, Saugerties, Kingston,
Newburgh, and thence to Jersey City,
through the thriving villages under the
shadow of the Catskills.”43
Work on the line continued through
1865. In January of 1866 an engine with a
single car was run over the entire length of
the road, and “direct communication from
Athens to Saratoga Springs may now be
considered complete.”44 The February 20,
1866 edition of the Catskill Examiner
remarked that the railroad itself as well as
the depot buildings, docks, etc. were
complete and “erected on a scale to
continued on page 10
42. Ibid.
43. Catskill Examiner July 9,
1864: p 02.
44. Catskill Examiner January
13, 1866: p 03.
45. Catskill Examiner
February 24, 1866: p 03.
41. Catskill Examiner June 4,
1864: p 02.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 09
45
sum of $120,000 a year.46 This placed Drew
and the Saratoga & Hudson River Railroad,
by way of the New York Central, directly
into competition with Vanderbilt's own rail
lines – much to the latter’s chagrin, as he
had in part financed Drew's line himself.47
Freight soon began running on the
Athens line. As the Catskill Examiner
accommodate a large business.”
THE LINE IN OPERATION
Oddly, the steamboats did not stop in
Athens during 1866, the Saratoga & Hudson
River Railroad’s first season of operation.
No official explanation was ever given, but
speculation was, that it was Vanderbilt who
was ultimately behind the delay.
By June of 1866 it was announced that
arrangements had been completed for the
Saratoga & Hudson River Railroad to be
leased by the New York Central, for the
continued on page 11
46. Catskill Examiner June 2,
1866: p 03.
47. Browder, p 139.
Above: This final map segment from the Atlas shows the Saratoga & Hudson River Railroad
property in detail. Referring to the wider view of the area on page 06, we can see where the railyard
fits in. Despite the fact that Drew purchased brickyard properties for the railroad, Athens still
sported operating brickyards, shown here south of the Murderer’s Creek inlet. Note the tremendous
size of the freight depot versus the passenger depot (though the passenger “shed” area is large).
Note also the identifications west of the railyard: not only the repair shop, but also the “tenant
houses.“ Collections of the Vedder Research Library.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 10
reported in November 1866: “During the
past two weeks the receipt of freight at the
new depot, in Athens, has averaged from
ninety to one hundred car loads a day,
consisting mainly of flour direct from
Buffalo. By the aid of some five barges and
two propellers, this vast quantity has been
promptly forwarded to its destination [sic]
in New York and Boston.”48
Though the line seemed to be doing
well, Vanderbilt had already begun working
against it behind the scenes. He claimed that
the line was impractical and would never
open, enlisting the support of the citizens of
Albany and Troy, who were fearful of
losing business to Athens.49
With the Commodore now standing on
the other side of the tracks, so to speak, the
future of the Saratoga and Hudson River
line was anything but certain.
And so it began: “Conflicting rumors are
again rife as to the Athens and Schenectady
[sic] Railroad – one report predicting a
great freight and passenger traffic over it
continued on page 12
48. Catskill Examiner
November 17, 1866: p 03.
49. Browder, p 140.
Above: We see the Athens terminal of the Saratoga & Hudson River Railroad, as it looked in 1870.
The view looks to the southeast: the Hudson lies beyond the other side of the complex. At the left of
the image, behind the passenger cars, we can catch a glimpse of the Passenger Shed. This sat at the
north end. The two-story section sporting the four chimneys (and jutting out behind the cars), is the
formal Passenger Depot. The remaining structure, stretching [south] almost to the right-hand edge
of the image, was the massive Freight Depot. The Freight Depot segment, on its own, sat 600 feet
long and 100 feet wide – a massive structure indeed! Collections of the Vedder Research Library
(photograph donated by John Ham).
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 11
By the time Hancox appeared on the
scene, it was clear to Drew that he would
not able to operate his steamboat at such a
low rate direct to Albany while also
providing service to the Athens railway.
One had to go. And by September 25th of
1867 Drew's People's Line had resumed
service exclusively to Albany.54
That decision, in the end, turned out to
be the wiser choice.
the coming season, and another declaring
that it will be ‘closed up.’ Com. Vanderbilt
is reported to have said before the railroad
investigating committee, at Albany, that the
building of the Athens road was the greatest
mistake of his life,” reported the Catskill
Examiner.50 A variation of the “greatest
mistake” quote appears in Clifford
Browder's book on Drew: “[The railroad]
was one of the foolish acts of my life, but I
don't cry about it.”51
Vanderbilt was supremely confident: no
matter how much trouble the Saratoga and
Hudson River line might cause him in the
short run, he felt that in the end it would
prove only a minor annoyance. Why? He
believed that sooner or later the railroad
would fall under his control.
Drew and the White Elephant faced
another problem in the form of Captain
Joseph W. Hancox, who had started a
steamboat line from New York to Albany
and Troy. The Hancox venture operated at a
rate of one dollar, and it may or may not
have been financed by Vanderbilt.52
To compete, the steamboat Daniel Drew
of the People's Line – which Drew had
already switched back to service direct to
Albany rather than stopping in Athens to
allow boarding of the trains – also had to
drop its rate to a dollar.
So at that point Drew already seemed
unsure of the practicality of operating two
separate steamboat services: as mentioned
above, just as the White Elephant’s first
season was starting in May of 1866, he had
already pulled two of his People's Line
ships, the Dean Richmond and the St. John,
from the Athens stop and continued running
them direct to Albany.53
HEADING FOR THE END OF THE LINE
On June 27th, 1867, the board of the
New York Central voted to exchange
Central stock for that of the heretofore
leased Saratoga & Hudson River Railroad.
The exchange would give Drew and
Vanderbilt each about half a million
dollars' profit, but would leave the White
Elephant with a less-than-certain future.
Remember that Vanderbilt had been
continuing to acquire stock in the New
York Central. As a result of the infusion of
New York Central stock in the stock swap,
finally, in August of 1867, he had procured
enough to gain a controlling interest.
That same month, in a rather florid
article, the Catskill Examiner reported the
monetary details: “The Railroad king,
Commodore Vanderbilt, who has controlled
the Hudson River and Harlem railroads for
some time, has at last got that for which he
has been a long time striving, namely
sufficient stock in the New York Central to
give him a controlling interest in this
powerful corporation.
“He has been defeated in various
attempts to be elected president or to get
the upper-hand in some way of this road. It
appears that Vanderbilt and Drew were the
owners of the Athens and Schenectady
road, and when they sold it to the Central
for $2,000,000 they took Central stock in
payment, which, with the stock that
Vanderbilt already possessed, gave him a
50. Catskill Examiner February 9,
1867: p 03.
51. Quoted in Browder, p 140.
52. Browder, p 141.
53. Catskill Examiner March 17,
1866: p 03.
continued on page 13
54 Browder, p 141.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 12
controlling authority, which he immediately
used by compelling the president to resign
so as to have one of his own selected. So
this powerful railroad king has the Hudson
River, Harlem, N.Y. Central, and several
Western roads under his thumb.”55
After the end of the 1867 season, there
was no effort to begin running trains on the
Saratoga & Hudson River rail line, and it
seemed that Vanderbilt had perhaps
succeeded in his goal of shutting the White
Elephant down. Then, in the spring of 1868,
citizens of Coxsackie circulated a petition
calling for the restoration of freight and
passenger service on the Athens to
Schenectady line.56
In October 1868, the Coxsackie News
reported, "The Schenectady papers are
rejoicing at the fact that the Athens and
Schenectady road is being put in order with
the intention of running passenger and
freight trains hereafter – whether this is for
local travel and traffic, or to connect with
boats at Athens is not known."57
A few weeks later, the Catskill
Examiner reported that "trains commenced
running on the Athens and Schenectady
road on Monday. Only one train a day will
run for the present leaving Schenectady at
2:30 and arriving at Athens at 5:30 p.m. and
leaving Athens at 5:45 [a.m.] and arriving
in Schenectady at 8:30 a.m."
According to the article, however, this
one train was no cause for celebration: "...
The running of the train has been of little
practical account, and the movement was
not inaugurated for the convenience of the
public, but for the interests of the road," the
paper reported,58 explaining that the New
York Central was running the train because
if it did not, the line would be considered
abandoned. And if that were the case, then
the land taken for the right of way could be
taken back over by its original landowners
to use for their own purposes.
Singling out Vanderbilt as the culprit,
the Examiner gave readers little hope for
the line to ever legitimately be reopened:
“So long as Vanderbilt has a controlling
interest in the [New York] Central Railroad,
and also in the Hudson River and Harlem
Roads, there is no probability that the
continued on page 14
Above, from the era: This political
cartoon on the subject points to the
problem: as long as Vanderbilt was in
control the New York Central, the
Saratoga & Hudson River Railroad was
truly a White Elephant. (Note that the
elephant’s trunk is hugging the engine.)
55. Catskill Examiner August 10,
1867: p 03.
56. Beecher, p 14.
57. Quoted in Beecher, p 14.
58. Catskill Examiner December
12, 1868: p 03.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 13
for business in September 1874, the line
saw booming business for the rest of the
season. Starin barges docked at Athens
unloaded ninety-six freight cars' worth of
merchandise, including containers of steel
rails, which were destined for the Lake
Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. For
the trip back down to New York City, the
barges were loaded with over two hundred
cars' worth of goods, including oil and
processed flour.61 The railroad closed for
the season in December 1874, and was
reportedly just as busy in 1875.62
At this point it had been a full decade
since Drew had enlisted the help of
Vanderbilt and had the Saratoga & Hudson
River road built, but now the White
Elephant was finally starting to thrive!
Railroad historian Arthur C. Mack
questioned how much profit was actually
being made, however: while a large amount
of freight was definitely passing through
Athens at this point, price slashings
intended to keep the line competitive
against other railroads “brought [the
freight] through at absurdly low rates.”63
Whatever success the Saratoga &
Hudson River Railroad might have been
having at this point, however, it was not to
last. While the White Elephant had
survived both Vanderbilt's attempts to shut
it down and a lengthy period of inactivity,
what Vanderbilt had not been able to
accomplish, natural forces would complete
in a spectacular manner.
‘Athens Branch’ will amount to much. He
does not favor any transportation by water,
so long as he has two railroads at Albany to
transport freight to New York.”59
Even during the time when he was still
involved in the railroad as an investor,
Vanderbilt had seen the Saratoga & Hudson
River Railroad as a mistake. When Drew
sold it to the New York Central, it became
competition. Now that Vanderbilt was in
control of the New York Central, this
"White Elephant" was simply superfluous.
REPRIEVE!
By 1869 a glimmer of hope for the
White Elephant appeared. The New York
Central had decided to divert all heavy
freight that had been transported on the east
side of the river over to the Saratoga &
Hudson River line in Athens. New York
Central contracted the Starin barge line to
ship freight from the Athens depot down to
New York City. The editor of an
unidentified newspaper quipped, “This will
make Athens a little more lively and put
into use the vast amount of capital invested
in the depot and buildings of this Road,
which has laid idle for a long time.”60
What could have caused this sudden
change of heart? Not so much a change of
heart, it turned out, as the need for a change
in tactics. The West Shore Railroad was at
that point creating competition for through
freight service; this may be why the New
York Central pressed the White Elephant
back into service. By early spring 1870 all
through freight except livestock on the New
York Central, was being handled at Athens.
The line was closed in the winter months
due to severe weather, but otherwise was
doing well in the early 1870s.
The Saratoga & Hudson River line was
shut down for repairs in the summer of
1874. When the White Elephant reopened
DISASTER
Just before midnight on June 17th, 1876,
a fire broke out in the engine room of the
steamboat John Taylor, which was docked
at the Athens terminal.
The Taylor and two other boats, the
barge Hercules and the canal boat Stephen
continued on page 15
61. Beecher, p 14.
62. Ibid, p 15.
63. Mack, p 189.
59. Ibid.
60. Quoted in Beecher, p 14.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 14
Warren, both loaded with freight, were all
burned to the water line.
Then the fire spread to the Athens depot
itself. The Examiner described the scene in
detail: “From the propeller the fire
communicated directly to the immense
depot, sixteen hundred feet in length, and
before an adequate assistance could be
rendered the whole elegant structure was in
ruins... From the Depot the flames swept to
the long lines of loaded cars standing on the
track, and speedily consumed about four
hundred, according to first reports, with
their valuable contents. These cars, it is
said, belonged to the N.Y. Central and
Hudson River Railroad."64
According to an unidentified news
clipping of the time, “The fire illuminated
the entire county hereabouts, the light
extending as far east as Chatham [north of
Hudson, across the river], where it was so
light you could see a pin on the sidewalk.” 65
A dramatic engraving entitled “Burning
of the White Elephant” appeared in the New
York Daily Graphic a few days later. It
depicts the smoldering ruin of the once-
grand riverside terminal in Athens, with
throngs of people gathered around
surveying the destruction.66
The entire loss was estimated at about
one million dollars. William H. Vanderbilt,
the Commodore's son – and now the vicepresident of the New York Central – made a
conciliatory statement assuring people that
“the fire will not interfere with the business
of the road and freight will be received and
forwarded as heretofore.”67
The younger Vanderbilt's promise
proved empty, however, for by that point in
time there were many other Hudson Valley
rail lines available. The New York, West
Shore & Buffalo Railway was soon
available as an alternate through route.
The White Elephant, the erstwhile
Saratoga & Hudson River Railroad, never
continued on page 16
64. Catskill Examiner June 24,
1876: p 03.
65. Quoted in Mack, p 188.
66. Image from the New York
Daily Graphic, June 23, 1876.
67. Quoted in Beecher, p 15.
Above: This is the dramatic engraving from the New York Daily Graphic described in the text. This
depiction shows a wider angle, but the same general view, as the image of the terminal complex shown
on page 11. The long Passenger Shed on the north end is totally destroyed, and only the gutted ruin of
the two-story Passenger Depot is still stands – note that only the two eastern-end chimneys remain –
and smoke shrouds much of what remains of the Freight Depot section. Collections of the Vedder
Research Library; from the estate of Kate Loomis.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 15
To make matters worse for Drew, his
erstwhile “partner” Jay Gould eventually
betrayed him, and “fleeced [him] so
thoroughly that he was forever washed up
as a major Wall Street figure.”72
Drew lost most of what fortune he had
left, through the Panic of 1873 and several
lawsuits he faced at the same time. “All I
know about it is that it's a very bad affair
for the country, and one it won't recover
from soon,” Drew said of what would
become a six-year depression.73
Drew had vowed to his son Bill that he
would never declare himself bankrupt.74
However Drew, already in debt, was held
liable for $295,000 due to creditors of his
trading firm Kenyon, Cox and Company.
On top of that, the president of Drew
Theological Seminary at that point
produced a promissory note from Drew for
$250,000 – to be payable on demand.
At that point, Daniel Drew owed a total
of $1,093,534.82.75
“Blow fell upon blow. His fortune was
gone, his wife had died, and now men on
whom he had showered beneficence were
threatening to join the litigants already at
his heels,” Clifford Browder wrote. “His
life had become a vicious round of lawsuits
and mortgages, summonses and showclause orders, fresh due bills and decade
old complaints. By late February his will
caved in: he would declare bankruptcy.”76
Daniel Drew died on September 18th,
1879, aged eighty-two years. His estate was
worth a total of $148.22 at the time of his
death.77 Rival Cornelius Vanderbilt had
died two years prior, also aged eighty-two.
The Commodore’s estate was worth about
one hundred million dollars, and he is still
ran again. In November 1881 the West
Shore leased the line from the New York
Central for $400,000, but no trains ever ran.
In 1888 the rails and ties were taken up and
the right-of-way rented to the adjacent
property owners. Later the roadbed was sold
off at one dollar per foot.68
The White Elephant was dead. One
might argue that the hopes of Athens for
becoming one of the major Hudson River
communities went along with it.
THE DOWNFALL OF DANIEL DREW
While the Saratoga & Hudson River
Railroad burned out – literally as well as
figuratively – its creator Daniel Drew
merely faded away. In 1867 his old
sometimes-friend, often-rival Commodore
Vanderbilt was attempting to take control of
yet another railroad, the Erie. Drew was one
of the Erie's board members, along with Jim
Fisk and Jay Gould, and sought to prevent
this from happening. The proceedings
became known as the “Erie War.”
When Vanderbilt began buying up stock
in the Erie, Drew, Fisk and Gould secretly
threw millions at the Erie on the market.69
Stock certificates in the Erie were being
printed as fast as Vanderbilt could purchase
them! Fisk quipped, “If this printing-press
don't break down, I'll be damned if I don't
give the old hog all he wants of Erie.”70
Vanderbilt, despite discovering the ploy
of Drew and company, did not relent: he
continued buying the stock, thus driving up
the prices! Finally Drew met with
Vanderbilt, crafting a deal in which
Vanderbilt would drop lawsuits he had filed
against Drew, Gould and Fisk in return for
the Erie buying back most of the stock
Vanderbilt had purchased, despite it leaving
the company virtually bankrupt.71
continued on page 17
72. Ibid.
73. Quoted in Browder, p 236.
74. Browder, p 251.
75. Ibid, p 255.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid, p 274.
68. Mack, p 190.
69. Burrows & Wallace, p 912.
70. Quoted in Burrows & Wallace,
pp 912-913.
71. Burrows & Wallace, p 913.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 16
Above: A photo of Daniel Drew, late in
life. Compared to the man in the image
on the front page, the man here shows
none of the earlier strength or “vision“ –
rather, he looks unhappy, tired and worn.
It’s also worth noting that pictures of
Daniel Drew aren’t easy to find, whereas
pictures of the Commodore are much
easier to come across.
considered to have been one of the
wealthiest Americans in history.78
AFTERMATH
Compared to his great rival Vanderbilt,
Daniel Drew seems largely forgotten today.
78. T. J. Stiles, The First Tycoon:
The Epic Life of Cornelius
Vanderbilt (New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 2009): p 594.
Little has been written about him, and the
most commonly-cited among the few books
that have been written about him has been
revealed as a complete fraud.79
Chief among his lasting legacy is Drew
University in Madison, New Jersey, which
he had founded as Drew Theological
Seminary in 1867.
The term "watered stock" is popularly
credited to him (adopting a term from his
drover days for application on the stock
market), although little outside of Bouck
White's fictional memoir of Drew seems to
exist to confirm this.
Daniel Drew was a self-made man in the
classic American tradition of Benjamin
Franklin, having risen from a modest
background and poor education to become,
in his time, a “mover and shaker” as well as
one of the wealthiest men in the country.
And Drew was, as is everyone, a product of
his time. He was a larger-than-life figure.
It could be said that he was a
hypocritical man, a religious man who on
the one hand sought repentance and even
founded a seminary. But he was also a man
who also duped others on the path of
making money by any means necessary.
Put most simply, Drew was a man of
contradictions that are hard to reconcile. As
his legitimate biographer Clifford Browder
concludes, “He was not necessarily better
than his severest critics have depicted him,
but far subtler and more complex.”80
Drew’s business dealings, with his
“anything-goes” approach to making
money, paint him as a classic confidence
man: although he probably never sold
“watered stock” of the cattle variety to
Henry Astor (as Bouck White would have
us believe), he and his partners Jim Fisk
and Jay Gould certainly sold worthless
“watered stock” of the Wall Street variety to
continued on page 18
79. Browder, pp 279-286.
80. Browder, p 276.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 17
Drew’s “frenemy” Commodore Vanderbilt
during the Erie Railroad War.
One could also say that Drew sometimes
became the victim of the confidence game.
He certainly lost out in the Erie War when,
after conceding to Vanderbilt and having
the Erie buy back most of the watered stock
Drew and company had sold him, his own
partner Jay Gould's dealings to try to
continue milking money from the Erie led to
the start of Drew's financial downfall.
The White Elephant adventure, as well,
marks Drew coming out on the losing end of
things. Vanderbilt had joined him in
financing the venture in order to either
compete with or leverage against the New
York Central, after the Commodore had
been unable to take full control of the latter.
But once Vanderbilt did gain control of the
New York Central, he turned against the
venture and worked to shut it down.
It would take a decade after the Saratoga
& Hudson River Railroad was first
constructed, for the latter to be put to any
practical use. Drew's involvement with the
"White Elephant" came to a complete end
when Vanderbilt took full control of the
New York Central.
POSTSCRIPT
Today there is little visible evidence
that Drew's "White Elephant," the Saratoga
& Hudson River Railroad, ever existed.
Nor the dreams of Daniel Drew for its
financial success. Nor the dreams of the
residents of Athens a century and a half
ago, for the growth and prosperity the line
could have brought to the town. Athens
today is still the sleepy river town often
described in newspaper articles during the
months leading up to the railroad's
construction.
The depot and the rail yards are long
gone, destroyed in the spectacular fire of
1876. The tracks and ties were ripped out in
1888, and the right of way mostly long
since redeveloped. Yet some physical
evidence does still exist.
Driving northbound through Athens on
Route 385, just past the village itself you
continued on p 19
Below and far right: This is the land on which that railyard complex and three-part depot sat. This
image looks northeast: at approximate right would have loomed the northern piece, the Passenger
Shed, underfoot the numerous tracks feeding into the line north, the Repair Shop off beyond far left.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT... from page 18
Above: These houses on Brick Row today, is the only remaining physical evidence of the Saratoga &
Hudson River Railroad. They are the Tenant Houses R. R. Co. shown on the page 10 map.
will find a road on the right marked with a
street sign for "Brick Row." Following that
road, on the left you will soon come to the
Brick Row itself. Brick Row is exactly what
it sounds like: a street-long set of row
houses, still in use as a residential area.
Brick Row is one of the few remaining
artifacts of the White Elephant. The row of
brick houses was originally built as housing
for the families of railroad workers, situated
near the site of the old depot. The
construction of Brick Row was recorded in
article concludes on page 20
Below: Shot from the same vantage point but with a pivot to now face the southeast, this image looks to
the approximate location where the Passenger Depot once stood, with the Freight Depot leading off the
right side of the image and continuing much further down.
UNCLE DANIEL‘S WHITE ELEPHANT...
from page 19
the Catskill Examiner in 1866:
“Thirty brick houses have
been erected near by, only a
small portion of which,
however, are yet occupied.”81
The houses were saved
from the 1876 fire by Athens
volunteer firemen and their
hand pump, using the river as
an unlimited water source.82 If
not for their efforts, the houses
“would otherwise surely have
been sucked into the insatiable
maw of the fire fiend,” as one
unidentified newspaper
clipping dramatically put it.83
In the early twentieth
century the Brick Row became
an Italian section of Athens,
home to Italian immigrants
who worked in the brickyards
and ice houses.84 Today Brick
Row exists as a general
residential area, though few
modern residents seem to
know that thir homes represent
the last remnant of the railroad
that once held so much
promise for their town.
And just a bit further down
the road, a riverside restaurant
stands more or less where the
great Athens depot once stood.
The ghost of Daniel Drew's
White Elephant still stands
silently over Athens.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beecher, Raymond. "A Right-of-Way and Two Streaks of Rust."
Greene County Historical Journal, Volume 13 #2, Summer 1989.
Browder, Clifford. The Money Game in Old New York., Daniel
Drew and His Times. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of
Kentucky, 1986.
Burrows, Edwin G. & Mike Wallace. Gotham: A History of New
York to 1898. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Catskill Examiner, weekly newspaper. Issues 1864-1876.
Galusha, Diane. "Brick Row." In Athens: Its People and Industry,
1776-1976. Athens, NY: Athens Bicentennial Conunittee, 1976.
Mack, Arthur C. "Ghosts of the White Elephant." 1955. Reprinted
in Athens: Its People and Industry, 1776-1976. Athens, NY: Athens
Bicentennial Committee, 1976.
Stiles, T. J. The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius
Vanderbilt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.
White, Bouck. The Book of Daniel Drew. New York: George H.
Doran Company, 1910.
Access to the Catskill Examiner on microfilm and to several
clippings of unidentified period newspapers provided by the Vedder
Research Library of the Greene County Historical Society,
Coxsackie, New York.
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81. Catskill Examiner
November 17, 1966: p 03.
82. Beecher, p 15.
83. Unidentified Greene
County newspaper clipping,
1876.
84. Diane Galusha, "Brick
Row," in Athens: Its People
and Industry, 1776-1976: p 98.
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