Dana Cudmore is a retired communications professional with 50+ years of experience as a writer, editor, graphic designer and consultant. As a teenager, he worked summers as at tour guide at Howe Caverns, where he developed a lifelong fascination in caves, their histories, and the stone quarries that dot NY's "Cave Country."
Two employees of the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad died in the Jan. 18, 1872, fire that destroyed the Cave House hotel at Howe’s Cave. A newspaper the following week suggested it may have been caused by an “incendiary”– the imprecise term meaning something—or someone—ignited combustible materials in the basement of the hotel.
At the time, the Cave House was one of the few remnants of the Howe family’s underground empire built around their patriarch’s 1842 discovery.
This Cave House was the second hotel that the Howes—Lester, Lucinda and their children Huldah, Harriet, and Halsey—opened to welcome visitors to the cave Lester made famous. The first hotel, built as early as 1843, was also destroyed by fire in 1847.
The second Cave House was a plain, three-story wooden building with about 40 rooms, unadorned with porches, columns, or other fashionable Victorian-era home décor. Built over the entrance to the cave, guests readied in the basement for their day-long underground adventure. There, they donned well-worn clothes, hats, and boots, and were provided with oil lanterns. From there, they entered the cave.
A photo, taken some time between 1865-1872, entitled “Scenes from The Albany and Susquehanna Railroad,” shows the hotel in desperate need of painting. In fact, it looks as if half of the building’s paint had been scraped to prepare it for a new coat.
At the time of the fire, the Cave House was owned by the Howes Cave Association. The Howes sold the property as early as 1869 to the association, created by Joseph H. Ramsey, the president of the Albany & Susquehanna. History records Ramsey’s purchase of the property as being of dubious ethics; Howe accepted stock in the new association valued (by Ramsey) at $12,000 after rejecting a $10,000 cash offer.
The blaze must have been a frightening affair. According to the Jan. 27, 1872, Cobleskill Index, the proprietor, a Mr. Eldredge, was awakened in his room around 1 a.m. by smoke so dense he was “obligated to escape through a window.”
There were 10 employees of the railroad staying at the hotel while they constructed a water tank at the Howes Cave Depot, just a short distance from the cave and hotel. All were in their rooms at the time the fire broke out.
After Eldredge sounded the alarm, all but two of the men made their escape through their windows, the Cobleskill Index noting “leaving behind most if not all of their clothing.”
Construction of the third Cave House, above, began after the fire and used limestone from the Howes Cave Association’s quarry. It still stands.
Killed in the fire were Edward Kelly, a mason from Albany and D. W. Hare, a carpenter from Richmondville. The charred remains of the two men were found the next morning in the ruins.
According to the Index, the fire “is supposed to have originated in the oil room at the entrance to the cave, in the basement of the building, and is supposed to have been the work of an incendiary.” No other details were provided.
The Cave House was valued at $5,000, the paper reported, or about $118,000 today. There was insurance on the building for about one-half of that. Eldrege lost about $7,000 in personal property but was fully insured.
Finally, said the Index, “We learn that a new building is to be erected immediately.”
The third Cave House, built of limestone from the expanding Howes Cave Association’s adjacent quarry, still stands, despite going through numerous renovations and owners. Today, it is a museum-in-the-making, The Cave House Museum of Mining and Geology.
Special thanks to Kevin Berner, a vice-president of the museum, for finding and sharing this gem from the old news reports. Have something to contribute? Contact me here.
By CHARLES J. HANOR, National Speleological Society
Without a doubt, one of the prettiest and wilder caves of Schoharie County is Clark’s Cave or Veen Fliet’s Cavern. It is owned by Richard Veen Fliet and has been in his hands since he and friends started exploration and opening during the early 1930s.
During this time, Mr. Veen Fliet found the tooth of a tapir and several newspaper accounts were published. It was one of the most amazing finds of the century. Mr. Veen Fliet has the tooth and several other interesting pieces of formation from the cave at his home. The newspaper articles are also in his hands. His home is the old Gebhard estate on the west side of Schoharie bridge.
An interesting by-line, not pertaining to caves, is the most unusual and fine collection of fossils rock and mineral specimens, and Indian relics, all from the vicinity of Schoharie county, that I have ever been permitted to see. This collection is by far, better than any in New York state museum that deals with the geological and paleontological eras of the county. Mr. Veen Fliet goes out of his way to explain and tell the visitor the history of each and every specimen. This collection should be labeled and on file so that in the future it is not broken up or separated but kept in the fine state that it now is.
Our attention was directed to Veen Fliet’s cavern by John Wilbur, now residing in Chatham. We arrived at the home of Mr. Veen Fliet and upon asking about the existence of a cavern were welcomed and personally conducted to the entrance. Mr. Veen Fliet has not been into the far extent of the cavern for a number of years.
The entrance to the cavern is in a small, wooded gully that empties into the Schoharie river. Through years of work and efforts by Mr. Veen Fliet and his group a walking entrance has been blasted out of solid limestone. Armed with equipment and mapping facilities we started our journey into another underground paradise. The first 151 [feet] follows the natural stream bed that flows from the entrance. This passage is of typical New York state cave variety. Here the water has found the most soluble rock and for past ages has worn a walkable passage into a mountain of solid limestone.
At the far end of the walkable passage a real obstacle is encountered. The height of the passage lowers to about 2.5 feet and water covers the floor for as far as the eye can see. This is the lake. At this point the explorer must lie on his stomach and crawl along with his head and shoulders above water for a distance of 30 feet. Suddenly the passage opens cup again where the explorer can walk upright with plenty of room.
The first sign of formation is now to the right of the explorer. Here a small alcove of pin stalactites, 3 to 10 inches in length, white as alabaster, coral shaped and lacy are found and directly opposite this alcove is a beautiful bank of blue-grey flowstone. The base of this bank flows out into the floor of the main passage like a huge river of molten lava. At the top of this mass is a small column, stretching upward until it joins the ceiling. Continuing on the explorer can hear the sound of splashing water. Two bends are made in the passage and two rooms are penetrated when at last one finds himself standing in a large size room.
The walls of this room are coated with flowstone of all hues. Beehives and frozen cascades of every description, and the most amazing sight of all, a waterfall pouring out of a passage at a level 10 ft. higher than that on which the explorer is standing. Directly in the center of this waterfall and hanging from the upper level is one of the most amazing formations I have ever seen. It is a huge heart, complete with both sections. As the beamsfrom our light shone on this formation the colors shone with all their grandeur. We immediately named this formation “The Bleeding Heart” because the water from the falls splashed onto this formation and then gracefully dropped to the floor of the cavern.
It was not an easy matter to scale this waterfall in order to negotiate the upper level. After 15 minutes of boosting and standing on the shoulders of our companions we were all setting in the passage directly over the falls. The water from the falls did not dampen our spirits as they had already taken a solid dunking when we crawled through the lake. I will say that we were very cold and our speech was rather shaky when we conversed with each other.
The passage went on and after a short distance a branch passage came into the main from the left. Two of our party entered this and shortly word came back that a huge stalactite came down to almost five inches of the floor blocking their entrance. The smaller of the group squeezed under this obstacle and entered another small room. Here nature really went to work. Stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone and the very rare formation called “Tripe” was seen. This cave tripe has been found in only one other cave in New York state, Howe Caverns. Probably most of the readers will be familiar with this formation. Further exploration of this passage is impossible as it is what cavers called a passage killed by formations.
Continuing on in the main passage the explorers found themselves in a long slender fault. Over their heads, under their feet, and on both sides of them was formation upon formation. After 200 feet of walking and crawling through narrow passage way the remainder of the path was water. Philip Johnson, one of the slimmest of our party entered this water passage. Soon he disappeared from sight and I shouted to him what lay ahead.
His response came back that he was in a passage about the same width as when he started but that he was standing about knee deep in cave mud beneath the water. There was a huge formation that had dropped from the ceiling or that someone had tried to remove. This was a flow-stone block resembling an organ. He said it was very beautiful. After climbing over this obstacle the passage widened somewhat and made a right angle run. Going on Johnson made three more right angle turns. I again called frantically to him. My words came back in echoes. Three times I shouted and finally a voice was heard coming back to me from far away. After about 15 minutes of shouting we were able to understand each other. As Johnson had no companion with him I advised him to return to where I had remained. I knew he had gotten into something very interesting as I could hear him cussing me off for making him come back.
When I finally saw his light through the darkness, I breathed normal again as cave exploring alone has very dangerous possibilities. When he joined me he told that he had gotten through the toughest part of the passage and that when I called he had started into a larger part of the passage for parts unknown. It continued on for as far as his beam would carry with a stream running towards him. He reported the same beautiful formation lined passage all the way.
As we were thoroughly soaked we started our return trip to the entrance knowing we had to crawl through the lake again. We started out but to our amazement when we reached the lake we couldn’t get through. There was only three inches of air space. Our thought went back to Floyd Collins and we wondered where our companions were and how they had gotten out.
Neither of us was alarmed and we started checking the floor and walls of the passage. Soon it became evident that we had never been in this part of the cave before.
We had found a new lake. Retracing our steps we suddenly came to a right hand passage of considerable width and height. We took this and then sighted the first formations that I described earlier. Next came the lake leading to the entrance. After getting out we told our companions our mistake and found that they also had fate play the same trick to them.
Mr. Veen Fliet has a beautiful cavern and the farthest extent has as yet been unseen and undiscovered. We hope to make a complete study of this cavern. It is our belief that this cavern will eventually be penetrated until it joins the famed Sitzer’s cavern at Central Bridge. It has been reported in the county that Tim Murphy and some of Morgan’s riflemen used an extensive cavern on Terrace mountain to baffle the Schoharie Indians during the Revolution. They were called the ghost men as Indians following their trail would come to the mouth of a cavern, where they were afraid to follow, and after a short length of time the same Indians would be surprised to find themselves in an ambush by Murphy and his scouts. They just appeared from nowhere.
If Veen Fliets cavern can be connected with Lasell hell-hole, Strontium Mine cave, and Sitzer’s cavern approximately seven miles of underground passageway will be discovered. At present writing neither of these caverns has been explored to the farthest extent. It is hard work and the nerves of a cave explorer must have their rest also. This particular area will again be very active the latter part of ’49 and the early part of 1950.
This article was originally published in Albany County Post 9 Sept. 1949
Editor’s Note: Jim Muller spent his formative years in the heart of NY’s Cave Country. Born in 1953, he grew up on his family’s dairy farm adjacent to the Howe Caverns estate and its well-manicured quarter-mile drive up the hill to its picturesque lodge overlooking the valley to the west.
Like other kids in the Howes Cave area, the cave’s history and tales of the lost Garden of Eden cave became part of their school-age play. Jim knew there were plenty of other caves in the area as well and explored several while attending Schoharie Central High School.
Jim lived adjacent to Howe Caverns during its heyday as a tourist attraction, when more than 2,000 visitors (often more) came daily during the summer months. Then open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. a steady stream of vehicles wound along the two-lane road from the main highway, past the Muller farm and up the hill to the cave entrance. (Jim wasn’t allowed to learn to ride a bike until into his late teens; his mother fearful of the out-of-town traffic.)
Dave Reynolds and Jim Muller riding “Nip” and “Tuck” in this slightly blurry photo from 1961. The photo at the top of the page is 13-year-old Jim atop “Duke,” at right. At left is an unidentified college friend of Jim’s older sister, seated on “Tuck” – during her first visit to a farm and to ride a horse.
Fortunately for the reader, Underground Empires: Two Centuries of Exploration, Adventure, and Enterprise in NY’s Cave Country brought back many fond memories for Jim, and he shared them with the author.
By JIM MULLER (From jimmuller.com, Oct. 29, 2021)
I just finished reading Underground Empires about Howe Caverns and I have enjoyed it immensely. I don’t know if the feeling of nostalgia is due to my recent 50th year Schoharie Central High School reunion or that I could relate to so many of the people and places described in the book.
It has been a splendid read and I wrote a letter to the author. Dana Cudmore, who was a year behind me at Schoharie Central and worked as a guide at Howe Caverns with my brother Robert. I wrote a letter to Dana about all my memories which Dana labelled as a “Cave Country Boyhood.”
From the early 1950s until the mid-1960s my family owned a dairy farm which abutted Howe Caverns’ property. Surrounding our farm was land owned by the Nethaway, VanNatten and Sagendorf families. As a pre-teen I drove a team of horses for the Nethaways; I learned to ice skate on Jimmy VanNatten’s pond, My sister Barbara was (and still is) best friends with Hope Sagendorf, and my other sister Jeanne, attended school prom with John Sagendorf.
My dad used to cut hay from Howe Caverns’ land. Each Spring, when my father would till new fields, we would pick rock and joke that moving the really big ones would lead us to the lost Garden of Eden cave. In 1958, the Caverns made a promotional film which used some of our family farm and four cows. [I have an old picture that] shows an actor and cameraman setting up along a stone fence line for some “farmer wisdom” describing the 1842 discovery of Howe’s Cave.
Locally, us kids had a horse posse that included Bobby Beavers, Joyce Nethaway, Hope Sagendorf and occasionally Carolyn Rehberg. When my ponies escaped, we would frequently find them at the Caverns. mooching treats and affection from the tourists. One of the reasons I didn’t learn to ride a bike until I was 18 was due to proximity to Howe Caverns. With no shoulders along the country roads, my parents were certain if I was riding a bike I would get hit by a tourist. So, from age 5 on they entrusted my fate to “Nip,” my pony. I guess they figured his sense of self-preservation would extend to me as well.
My parents played cards with ‘Bud’ Tillison, owner of the Luncheonette and Grocery Store in the Howes Cave hamlet. I recall it only having three small tables. I remember Bud giving me ice cream while he and my dad visited and as a youngster, I felt it couldn’t get any better. Carolyn (Rehberg) Schlegel says she could recall that Bud designated a spot to tie a horse while the kids went into the store to buy a treat.
I see Carolyn often, playing senior’s volleyball and was telling her of Dana’s Underground Empires. The Rehberg family was active in Yo-Sco-Haro Riding Club and served as 4-H leaders, The Rehberg farm was located at (or near) the site of Lester Howe’s farm and the suspected Garden of Eden. Carolyn relayed a story told by her father Albert (Al), that when blasting was done for I-88, one of the blasts sounded a different ‘thump’ associated with settling earth. [Could it have been collapsing into a large cave? – ed.]
When I was 13 my family sold the farm to Lester Hay and built a house across the Schoharie Creek from Terrace Mountain. Bill Dodge, the Schoharie biology teacher, sponsored our informal outing club, –the Schoharie Pit-Plunging and Cliff-Climbing Club. We undertook activities on Terrace Mountain and Partridge Run and canoed Schoharie Creek and raced canoes on the Susquehanna.
Lester Hay later married my sister, Jeanne and fathered Mark and Matthew Hay who worked as tour guides at the caverns. In fact, many of us worked at the cavern. My sisters, Barbara and Jeanne worked at the snack bar. My cousin Karen Muller worked there as well. It was during my sophomore year in high school that I joined the largest guides’ class ever assembled at the caverns and was trained by Don Reynolds.
As a junior and senior (SCS Class of 1971) I went caving with Bill Dodge and other friends, exploring Ball’s, Knox, Veen Fliet’s, Spider, Benson, and Przysiecki caves.
Underground Empires has been a real joy to read. I feel blessed that I was able to grow up in the prosperous heydays of Howe Caverns and the book enabled many pleasant memories for me.
Jim Muller retired in 2021 after careers in GIS management and in information technology systems and management. He holds a bachelor’s degree in geography from SUNY Oneonta and a master’s degree in planning from the University of Washington in Seattle.
He and his wife, Kathryn, raised three children and reside in Holland Patent, New York, just outside the boundaries of the Adirondack Park. They have three grandchildren.
Jim has several lifelong interests and now shares them with his family. They include “back country” canoeing, winter camping, and raising Quarter horses. He also enjoys basketball, volleyball, and pickleball.
Until the late Spring of 1888, an aging Lester Howe and wife Lucinda lived on his beloved “Garden of Eden” property across the valley of the Cobleskill Creek from the cave he made famous. Their children, all of whom had been married in the family’s cave, had moved on.
Huldah Ann, the oldest, became Mrs. Henry Northrup, and Harriet Elgiva married a surveyor for the railroad, Hiram Dewey. Both daughters moved to Jefferson City in central Missouri and raised families there. The Howes’ son, Halsey John, married Julia Redfield, and moved to Dunkirk in western New York, where he practiced dentistry.
The date Howe sold his interest in the cave is uncertain; it may have been as early as April 1869.
Howe would have been 59 at the time—a suitable age for retirement in that era—and he and Lucinda settled into the lush Garden of Eden property1 to spend their final years together. Now retired, he assumed the role of a “gentleman farmer,” raising a few Jersey cows and experimenting with the types of fruits (some exotic to the area) that he could raise on the hillside.
Another view of the Howe Family plot in the Cobleskill Rural Cemetery. The marker front right, is Lester’s, next is Lucinda’s.
It may have been an idyllic lifestyle for several years, but maintaining a farm, even a gentleman’s farm, is a challenge for men and women in their 60s and 70s. In early 1888, the Howes sold property after about 15 years there and moved to Florence Street in the Village of Cobleskill in mid-May 1888. Lester was 78; his wife was two years older. (Their Florence Street home is today the southwestern-most parcel on the block.)
Lester Howe died there on Wednesday July 18, 1888. According to his obituary in the July 19 Cobleskill Index, he suffered “five weeks of paralysis,” apparently the result of a stroke.
Howe’s obituary was succinct. After all, it was nearly a half-century since his famous discovery and his years of some celebrity and news-making were long past.
The Cobleskill paper’s obituary, in part, reads: “Lester Howe is widely known as the person who discovered Howe’s Cave. A strong current of air was known to issue from the mountainside where in 1840, Lester Howe moved to the vicinity of the cave.
Lester Howe Jan. 10, 1810 – July 18, 1888
“Alone, he made investigations and with patient toil—prompted by courage—he affected an entrance into the bowels of the earth and penetrated a great distance or until he reached the lake.
“The [now] deceased erected a hotel at the mouth of the cave and opened the underground cavern to the world. . .
“The discovery of the cave which bears his name fixes Mr. Howe’s name indelibly in our local history,” the writer predicted, accurately.
The funeral service was “solemnized” at the Florence Street home, two days after Howe’s death, on Friday July 20, with a Rev. Buckelew officiating.
Lester Howe’s moment in the spotlight had passed, but his death still made the news. Small notices appeared in many newspapers across the country, including even those on the West Coast. His obituary has been found in papers in both Sacramento, Calif., and in Oregon.
About two months after Lester’s death, his widow Lucinda transferred three pieces of property from her husband’s estate to their son, Halsey. Legally, she may have had to transfer them first through an attorney; a “property transfers” section in the Aug. 8, 1888, Cobleskill Index, gives some details.
For “a nominal consideration,” Mrs. Howe transferred to John H. Shultes 45 acres in the Town of Cobleskill, likely the East Cobleskill/Garden of Eden property; one acre in Cobleskill, possibly the Florence Street home; and two acres in Howes Cave. Shultes then transferred the property to Halsey John Howe.
Lucinda Howe died a little more than a year later at a daughter’s home in Jefferson City, on Dec 18, 1889. She was 81.
The Fredonia Censor, a Chautauqua County newspaper in western New York, carried a small notice, probably placed by her son.
The Christmas Day, 1889 paper carried this: “Mrs. Lucinda Howe, mother of Dr. H. J. Howe of Dunkirk, who recently died in Jefferson [City], Mo2., was the wife of the discoverer of the wonderful Howe’s cave in Schoharie County, and her daughters were married in a part of the cave called the chapel. Her remains will be taken to Cobleskill for interment.”
Lester and Lucinda were married for 60 years. She was born April 28, 1808, in Albany, to Elijah Rowley, 32, and Sally Morgan Rowley, 33. She and Lester were married on Nov. 10, 1828, in Cherry Valley, Otsego County.
Lester and Lucinda, along with Halsey John Howe and his wife, Julia, are buried in the Cobleskill Rural Cemetery. Huldah Howe Northrup is buried in Pittsfield, IL; Harriet Howe Dewey is buried in Jefferson City.
PHOTO of the Howe monument in the Cobleskill Rural Cemetery by Bob Holt
# # #
1The address would have been considered East Cobleskill.
2 Halsey John Howe also moved to Jefferson City after retiring. He apparently suffered from Alzheimer’s—unrecognized at that time—and in late June 1913, Halsey walked away from his nephew’s house where he’d been staying. He was found drowned a few days later in the Missouri River there.
How Two Early Show Cave Promoters Pitched Potential Investors
Two of Schoharie County’s hardest-working cave entrepreneurs had bigger dreams than they were able to realize in the early days of the area’s show cave boom.
SHhhhhh, , , ,It’s a Secret! The Elves promoted Secret Caverns in the 1930s on billboards and in brochures. There were three caves open to the public until the 1950s, and compeition was tough.
Roger H. Mallery, Sr., the owner of Secret Caverns, and Delevan Clarke—”D.C.” or “Dellie” — Robinson, owner of Knox Cave, both boldly announced plans that, if brought to fruition, would have changed forever the business of touring caves in upstate New York.
Competition was tough. They faced Howe Caverns, famous for almost a century, and a bigger, more decorative cave, run by a well-heeled corporation with a big advertising budget.
The opening of Secret Caverns in August 1929 (late in the tourist season) wasn’t greeted with a lot of fanfare. About 100 people toured the cave, most likely family, and friends of the owner.
Mallery’s operating budget for Secret Caverns for the following season was probably as strained as any first-year business. Undaunted, he wrote “In spite of the fact that lack of capital has permitted little advertising, ground improvements, building construction, or conveniences for public comfort, Secret Caverns were visited during the season of 1930 by several thousands of people who were astonished to find that there existed in this section of the county such a truly merited natural wonder.”
That was the opening pitch in a sizeable ad that ran in January 1931 to announce the sale of $200,000 worth of stock in Secret Caverns. The ad ran several times in the Schoharie Republican and Cobleskill Index, the two local weekly newspapers.
In comparison, Howe Caverns, Inc. (in which Mallery owned about five percent of the stock) was capitalized at $225,000.
Mallery offered 5,000 shares of stock in Secret Caverns to raise funds for ambitious plans that included:
Creating a second entrance at the end of the cave, “so that several thousands of people can be handled orderly and efficiently each day”
Enlarging and completing the entrance lodge, including a “large new pavilion.” (An artist’s sketch of the “Cavern Cabin” is included in a 1930 brochure.)
Landscaping the grounds to “made as attractive as possible.”
“But by far the biggest undertaking,” Mallery continued, “will be an advertising campaign handled by experts that is certain to attract many tens of thousands of visitors annually.”
It is easy to admire some of the bravado of a show cave showman. Mallery adds: “It was the general opinion among those familiar with the more important caverns of the country, that Secret Caverns is without exception one of the finest and most interesting attractions of its kind in the north.
Then humbly, and without mentioning the competition by name, Mallery closes the pitch: “We have faith in and believe that the people of this community are broadminded and big enough to give their support to more than one of their caverns, providing they are satisfied that it is worthy.”
History doesn’t publicly record how well stock in Secret Caverns sold. The cave today is still a Mallery-family company, now it its third generation.
Mallery also tried to open Schoharie Caverns, off Shutters Corners Road between Schoharie and Gallupville. He announced the opening in September 1935, but a severe storm and flooding closed the cave almost immediately after and the project was abandoned. The story is told in my book, “Underground Empires: Two Centuries of Exploration, Adventure, and Enterprise in NY’s Cave Country.”
Gambler Wanted
“Wanted – A Gambler,” announced Dellie Robinson in late January 1947 in the Cobleskill Index.
Robinson had run Knox Cave nearby in Albany County for the dozen years prior and must have felt it was time to expand his empire. He too had his eyes on Schoharie Caverns.
/A young DELEVAN CLARKE ROBINSON, developer of Knox Cave, Albany County
Robinson started by convincing the owner to sell the cave, cave [surface] rights and 20 surrounding acres. The owners (likely the Cook Family at that time), agreed to the sale for $3,500 cash. That’s about $46,500 today.
“I have studied this cave and its floods for 17 years and believe that I can develop it.” Robinson’s ad read.
He described the deal: “I will give any person, or group, who will buy and own and permit me to develop and operate, a royalty of 10 cents each on the first 100,000 admissions,” adding a caveat: “if they will agree to deed the property to me when they receive the $10,000 [the total of royalties on 100,000 admissions] in full.”
In exchange, Robinson would develop the cave, and pay all operating and advertising costs. He didn’t provide an estimate of what those costs might be.
Royalties would be paid monthly, Robinson stipulated, and closed, “Your only gamble is in time it takes to draw 100,000 paid admissions to that cave.”
Robinson never found his gambler. About eight years later Attorney James Gage purchased the well-known wild cave, developed it, and may have opened it in July 1958. It closed almost immediately. That story is also told in “Underground Empires.”
Today the property is the Schoharie Caverns Nature Preserve of the National Speleological Society.”
In 1865, the A & S Brought Change —for Better or Worse
“It chanced that the writer, while in a half somnolent condition, induced by a long night’s ride in a railroad car, overheard snatches of conversation which ran somewhat thus:
‘Yes sir: three miles right into the bowels of the earth—nothing like it in the whole country, sir, aside from Mammoth Cave.’
‘Pooh! A mere dripping crevice in the rocks, I presume, or a dirty hole in the ground.’
‘No sir, wide and high, with waterfalls, galleries, and halls for three miles and the end not reached yet’.”
While the account above is imagined, taken from an old advertising pamphlet1, the conversation is probably not unlike other idle chit-chat that took place among passengers on the railroads of New York in the second half of the 19th century.
The Albany & Susquehanna Railroad, from the Hudson River at Albany to Binghamton.
The cave in the conversation is Howe’s Cave, long promoted in that era as a rival of Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. The train was certainly the Albany and Susquehanna, the Albany-to-Binghamton line that first reached the tiny community adjacent to the cave in 1865.
Things were never the same after that. The histories of the cave and the railroad are inextricably, and forever, linked.
The cave Lester Howe discovered in 1842 was a popular, well-known destination decades before the A&S arrived. The cave, one of the few opened to visitors at that time, attracted guests—mostly educated and well-to-do—who were thrilled by the novel, muddy, daylong underground adventure by torchlight. At the cave entrance, Howe built his “Cave House,” a rather plain three-story hotel of about 26 rooms. Guests were attended to by the Howe family: Lester and his wife, Lucinda; daughters Huldah and Harriet, and son Halsey, the youngest.
LESTER HOWE, 1810-1888
Construction of the A&S began on April 19, 1851, from what is today downtown Albany (near Pearl Street) to Schoharie Junction2. This initial effort, a 35-mile stretch along a mostly flat grade, took the train south, then west through communities that are today, Delmar, Slingerlands, and New Scotland before heading south-westerly along a gradual, miles-long easy bend towards the picturesque Schoharie Valley.
Surveyors spread out through the countryside west and southwest of Albany to plot a rail line that served communities, manufacturers, farms, and travel destinations along the route that, of necessity for the steam locomotives that pulled the train, had to be over relatively level ground.
Marking their route along the picturesque valley carved by the Cobleskill Creek, the surveying team likely stayed at the Howe family’s Cave House. They would have made note of the limestone hillside and documented the limestone outcroppings that would need to be removed from the proposed route of the train.
And at least one A&S surveyor made note of Lester Howe’s teenage daughter, Harriet.
Hiram Shipman Dewey won the heart of 18-year-old Harriet Elgiva Howe, described by an heir as “small and retiring with blue eyes and (an) abundance of light brown hair.” Hiram, then in his mid-20s, was described as a good-looking, fun-loving young man, six feet tall, with dark brown hair and blue eyes.
Hiram and Harriet were married in the Bridal Chamber of the Howe family’s cave on Sept. 11, 1854 (There were several weddings in the cave around that time; they made for great publicity). Later settling in Jefferson City, Mo., the couple had five children.
As money was raised, the rail line moved forward west from Albany. It took 12 years to complete the first phase of the A&S, the line reaching Schoharie Junction in 1863. Three years later, a separate 4.2-mile line, the Schoharie Valley Railroad, connected Schoharie village to the A&S at Schoharie Junction.
There was a change of management of the A&S in 1863 as well. Joseph H. Ramsey, a state senator from Lawyersville, Schoharie County, was named president of the railroad. He had been the railroad board’s vice president since 1856 and was instrumental in raising cash and selling railroad bonds.
Continuing west from Schoharie Junction, the lowest spot on the line was the crossing of Schoharie Creek at Central Bridge. As the line climbed out of the valley, the tracks followed the north bank of Cobleskill Creek up to a point around West Richmondville, and then started a down grade that continued to Oneonta and beyond.
An uphill grade and sharp curve are an unwanted combination in railroad construction, not always avoided. One railroad afficianado3 explained: “If you were going to stall a train on the A&S line, it would either happen at Howes Cave or behind (north) of what’s now the Cobleskill-Richmondville High School on Route 7 west of Warnerville. That’s where the combination of grade and curvature are the worst.” Accidents at both locations have proved the point.
On an 1854 map intended to show the relation of the A&S with other trains in New York at that time, Howes Cave is not marked. There were manufacturing concerns in Central Bridge and Cobleskill worthy of a depot for freight and passengers. While the cave and Cave House were well-known, there just wasn’t much else there.
But that would soon change. The railroad’s progress was closely watched by its stockholders, property owners along the line, and investors looking to profit from the train’s arrival. Speculators saw potential in the limestone that had been exposed around the cave; samples of it found their way to the office of the state geologist in Albany. After testing, it was found comparable to the limestone in Rosendale, Ulster County, that was then being used to profitably make natural cement.
It was not by coincidence that three members of the Albany & Susquehanna’s board of directors were the first to learn of the money-making opportunity from Howes Cave limestone. (This would have been before 1863, as plans were being made for the second half of the A&S, from Central Bridge/Schoharie Junction to Binghamton.)
Construction of a depot in Howes Cave began in 1864, it opened the following year. It would be needed to ship stone and cement—should such an enterprise be created nearby.
Richmondville Town Justice John Westover—later founder of the Band of Richmondville—and Jared Goodyear of Oneonta both sat on the A&S board. Along with two others from Otsego County, they were the first to profit from the natural resources around the rail line near the cave. They formed the Howes Cave Lime and Cement Company in 1867.
Two years later, on Dec. 31, 1868, the A&S line’s 142 miles to Binghamton were completed and a gala excursion train from Albany officially opened the new railroad on Jan. 12, 18694.
And later that year, A&S President Ramsey created the second company to exploit the limestone of Howes Cave. His plans for the Howes Cave Association included much more than just making cement.
Ramsey eventually took control of the famous cave itself, in a transaction that history records as being of dubious ethics. The date (it’s not definitive) may have been as early as April 1869 and the exact method is not clear, but Howe accepted $12,000 of stock in the Howes Cave Association after turning down a $10,000 cash offer. Ramsey had declared the Association’s stock to be worth $100,000 – a meaningless amount to everyone but Howe, who became a minority shareholder with little to say about company affairs.
Regardless, Ramsey added to the property, and expanded both the quarry and the caverns’ tour business. In 1872-73, he completed a new version of the Cave House, made of limestone from his quarry. To that, he added the huge, three-story Pavilion Hotel, completed in 1881, envisioned as a summer resort with amenities to rival those of the famous Catskills’ resorts of that era. The imaginary conversation that leads this article was taken from the Pavilion Hotel’s advertising material.
The Pavilion Hotel was destroyed by fire in February 1900.
Working together in 1866, the A&S and Delaware & Hudson extended the A&S rails south of Binghamton to the Pennsylvania rail lines freighting coal. Then, in February 1870. the D&H perpetually leased the A&S for $490,000 per year. Passengers and others continued using “Albany & Susquehanna” as the line’s name for many years.
While interest in the cave waned in the early 1900s, the quarry business boomed. Historical photos from the early-to mid-20th century show six or more railroad sidings going into the cement works, and old news articles document from 15 to 20 freight cars being loaded with barrels and bags of cement each day. With each car having a capacity of from 160 to 300 barrels, each weighing about 365 pounds, a fully loaded freight car would have been carrying 55 tons of Howes Cave cement.
In about 1910, new owners of the cement quarry accidentally blasted into Howe’s Cave, eventually destroying about three hundred feet of it. The cave was closed for nearly 20 years after that. New owners, Howe Caverns, Inc. opened in 1929.
Lester Howe died in 1888. Railroad President Joseph H. Ramsey died in 1894, and the train freight shipped to and from the Howes Cave quarry declined after the second half of the 20th Century and the quarry went to a smaller, bagged system, and shipped by tractor-trailer in the 1970s. Cement manufacturing in Howes Cave ended in 1976.
The A&S played an important role in the success of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad in the second half of the 19th Century. In a commemorative publication, “A Century of Progress, 1823-1923,” prepared by the D&H, the authors noted: “This progress in building the Albany and Susquehanna was by far the most important that affected the later history of the company during this period.
“[The A&S was] part of a larger general plan of affecting rail communication between Albany and the coal fields of northern Pennsylvania.”
The D&H ran independently from 1823 to 1991, when it was purchased by Canadian-Pacific Railway.
Riding the A&S Line to Old Howe’s Cave
The jostling, 39-mile train ride from downtown Albany to Howe’s Cave5 took a little more than two hours, including 10 stops along the way to pick up passengers or make water stops for the steam locomotive. (The water stops were strategically located about every 10 miles through what are now the suburbs of Albany. There were stations with water stops in Central Bridge and Cobleskill.)
According to a January 1868 schedule in Jim Shaughnessy’s 1967 book, Delaware & Hudson, an A&S train left the Albany station about every four hours.
From the other end of the line, Howe’s Cave was 81 miles east of Harpersville, near Binghamton, with 17 stops along the way. If you left on the first A&S train at 5 a.m., you’d arrive at the cave just before noon.
In either direction, it is unlikely the noisy steam locomotive ever reached its top speed of about 50 mph, or if it did, it wasn’t for long.
The ride from Albany—one way—likely cost between three and four cents per mile; affordable to the upper and middle class of that period, but a luxury reserved for special occasions for the tradesmen and other working class New Yorkers. From Albany, then, a round-trip ticket to Howe’s Cave on the A&S likely cost between $1.50 and $2.25. That’s around $30 today. “Parlor Cars” for those needing more luxurious amenities and/or privacy were available at an additional cost.
The Howes Cave depot was built following a common design used during that Civil War-era and was about 200 yards south of the hotel(s) that welcomed visitors to the famous cave. A small country station like Howes Cave would have a station agent living in the building itself, or at least close by. It was not uncommon for married couples to live and work together at a station serving a small population.
The station agent’s responsibilities were many. He served as a dispatcher for trains coming and going, taking, giving, and sharing traffic and freight guidance from the central station. The agent would also handle the paperwork for incoming and outgoing baggage, freight, and mail. Passenger trains often carried the “Railway Post Office,” or RPO designation. Such cars picked up and dropped mail enroute and sorted it inside the car while the train was moving.
The train arrived in Howes Cave before a Post Office did and the few residents there relied on the A&S Depot for their postal needs until the PO was established Nov. 18, 1867.
Passenger traffic on the line increased steadily and by the early 1890s, as many as three passenger trains ran daily to and from the Albany area from Cobleskill, according to the 1895 Grips’ Historical Souvenir of Cobleskill, NY.” Trains also left daily for New York City and Boston.
Also, by that time, between 800 and 1,000 freight cars were leaving each month from the busy cement plant in Howes Cave and the stone quarries in Cobleskill, which produced cut stone blocks for projects such as the Brooklyn Bridge and New York Barge Canal system.
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1 From “Nature’s Wonder: Howe’s Cave,” the second chapter of the Howes Cave Association’s 1885 promotional brochure, “A Summer Home: The Pavilion Hotel, Howe’s Cave, Schoharie County, N.Y.”
2 This is today the intersection of Route 7 and Junction Road, Central Bridge. A Historical Marker indicates the location.
3 Personal e-mail from Gardner Cross, July 20, 2022
4 “The Rail in the Trail” by Susan E. Leath, Bethlehem Town Historian, 2012. Railroad buffs will appreciate that the historian included this: “The line was built with 60-pound iron, and a six-foot gauge enabling it to connect freely with the Erie Railroad in Binghamton. One of the goals was to connect to the southern-tier trains serving Pennsylvania coal country.”
5 “A Summer Home: The Pavilion Hotel, Howe’s Cave, Schoharie County, N.Y.” ibid.
