Trolley Trips / Hudson-Mohawk Valleys / Schenectady Railway Company, circa 1909

Item Details

Buffalo, NY, Schenectady Railway Company, circa 1909, paper wraps

Fine

[TRANSPORTATION – INTERURBAN]  [TROLLEYS]  [STREET CARS]  [NEW YORK]  [MAPS]  [PROMOTION]  Schenectady Railway Company.  Illustrated brochure with the cover title Trolley Trips / Hudson-Mohawk Valleys / Schenectady Railway Company with a colored two-page map of the Schenectady Railway and Connections (Buffalo, NY: Schenectady Railway Company, circa 1909). 

Brochure measures 9 x 8 inches, folded in half vertically; color pictorial wraps; [20] pp; 2-page centerfold map in color plus two smaller maps; heavily illustrated from photos.  Fine condition.  [25-926]

The circa date comes from a colored illustration of the DeWitt Clinton on its historic trip from the Hudson to the Mohawk Valley that was copyrighted in 1909 by Geo. E. Matthews, Buffalo, NY.  The large 2-page map and the two smaller ones all bear the imprint of The Matthews-Northrup Works, Buffalo, New York. 

The brochure was designed to attract tourists to the region to sight-see while riding on the Schenectady Railway Company’s interurban system of electric trolley and streetcars powered by GE electrical apparatus.  By 1901 this system covered over 140 miles of track with over 160 trolley cars.  The system connected Schenectady with Scotia, Rotterdam, Ballston Spa, Saratoga, Albany and Troy.  Highlighting the scenes, communities and history along the various routes, the railway company states, concerning The Valley of the Mohawks, “The grandeur of the scenery throughout the Mohawk Valley, with its “bowlands”, its “hocks” and graceful sweeps, its encompassing hills and nestling islands, is unsurpassed.  Its beauties have entranced a continuing army of tourists, who for three centuries have felt its charm.  Those who have visited this fairyland of hill and dale, who have seen its glorious sunrises and golden sunsets, who have climbed it hills and descended into its gorges with their hidden falls, cascades, and tumbling streams, know their power of fascination.”  Other sections give bits of history about the region; highlight Union University, the City Beautiful (Schenectady, of course!) along with other communities, various significant public buildings, churches and residences; describe the natural scenery and the resort at Saratoga; and provide the reader with rates of fare between various points along the Schenectady Railway.