Fourth of July through the years

By Bob Cudmore

   Horses owned by carpet maker Stephen Sanford of Amsterdam became fixtures at the nearby Saratoga racetrack in the late 1800s. 

   From 1903 through 1907, the Sanfords invited the people of Amsterdam to the Matinee Races at the family’s Hurricana Farm on the Sunday closest to Fourth of July.  Some 15,000 attended the event during its last year.

   “I read in the papers about General Sanford, the sporting man,” Sanford said in 1906. “I never presumed to be a sporting man, but I am proud of it. Call me a sporting man if you like.”

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FOURTH OF JULY TRAGEDY

   A steep grade, human error and a wet night contributed to an appalling accident on the Mountain Lake Electric Railroad near Gloversville on July 4, 1902. 

   Fourteen people died and sixty were injured.  Most victims were Gloversville excursionists who had traveled up Bleecker Mountain to Mountain Lake for a day of fun capped by fireworks.  The lake had a resort hotel. 

   Two trolleys collided and both hurtled down the tracks on the steep hill.  Brakes were applied to no avail.  One car was put into reverse.  That blew circuit breakers plunging both cars into darkness.

   People jumped from one trolley car as it left the tracks.  Others were thrown beneath the car as it landed on its side.  As the rails separated the other trolley also left the tracks but remained upright.

   Thrown from one of the cars, 17-year old F. Willi  Berghoff stopped the next car by shouting and waving his hat.

   It took two hours before power was restored and help arrived.  Victims were taken to the old Nathan Littauer Hospital by trolley car.  

   The Mountain Lake Electric Railroad had opened in 1901.  After the accident, lawsuits bankrupted the company and it was reorganized as The Adirondack Lakes Traction Company.  The Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Railroad then bought the company. 

   The hotel at the lake was destroyed by fire in 1908.  The trolley line closed in 1918. 

   According to historian Jerry Snyder, a railroad history group went up the route a few years ago.  Snyder said some members found brackets used to hold overhead wire supports after all these years.

   According to Amsterdam historian Jerry Snyder, a railroad history group went up the old trolley line route years ago.  Snyder said some members found brackets used to hold overhead wire supports after all these years.

CONEY ISLAND NORTH

   The Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Railroad’s Sacandaga Park lasted much longer than Mountain Lake,

   The heyday of that amusement facility was 1902 to 1920. Nicknamed Coney Island North, the park featured a golf course, bowling alleys, midway, donkey and pony rides, roller coaster, Kinescope Theater, water rides, miniature train rides, boats, swimming and a classic carousel. 

   John Philip Sousa played Sacandaga Park as did Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and W.C. Fields.  Baseball teams from Johnstown, Amsterdam and Gloversville drew big crowds to the park’s Sport sland.

   The amusement park was torn down in 1930, when the area was flooded to create the flood control reservoir today called Great Sacandaga Lake.

MUSIC AND TRAINS

   Summertime in the 1940s in Amsterdam meant concerts by Mohawk Mills Band, formed mainly from employees of the carpet mill and directed by Frank or his brother Harry Musolff. 

   The band played the overture to “Oklahoma” one year and had the tune down pat.  A long freight train rumbled by making it impossible for the musicians to hear each other.  When the train passed, the trumpets had finished but the trombones were still playing.

   The rumble of passing trains continues to affect concerts at today’s Riverlink Park in Amsterdam.

Tomorrow Bob Cudmores conversation with Kimberly Collins

Wednesday, July 5, 2023-Episode 289-Kimberly Collins focuses on women’s involvement in the 1912 Appalachian Coal Mine Wars in her native West Virginia in her historical novel “Blood Creek.”  

“She always wanted more than she had. Would it ever be enough?”

In 1912 West Virginia, starving coal miners are arming themselves and threatening to strike. Wealthy coal operators have hired the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to protect their fortunes and crush the rebellious miners by whatever means necessary—no matter how violent. Long-smoldering resentments are about to erupt into one of the largest armed insurrections in US history: The West Virginia Coal Mine Wars.

Thursday, July 6, 2023-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette-Memories of the class of 1949 

Friday, July 7, 2023-Episode 482-American Revolution Stories.  Eric Schnitzer and Nina Sankovich, spoke at last month’s Revolutionary War conference sponsored by Fort Plain Museum.  Schnitzer has written the text to artist Don Troiani’s Campaign to Saratoga 1777.  Sankovich discusses how the Hancock, Adams, and Quincy families of Braintree, Massachusetts fanned the flames of America’s revolution.

Mohawk Valley  Weather, Tuesday, July 4, 2023

71 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 7:01AM

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