Living in Dryden

Individuals in the Civil War

Yesterday I posted Goodrich's general remembrances of the Civil War. Today's entry follows that one with his list of soldiers from Dryden who fought in the Civil War and, where possible, describes what happened to them. I've only included the first page of tables on the front page of the blog because this is such a long list, but it's well worth clicking the link to continue and reading the whole thing, including the brief story on women in the war at the end.

Chapter XVIII.

Personal Record of Dryden Soldiers

The preparation of this chapter has involved no small amount of labor, and great care has been taken to make it correct and complete. Still there are, doubtless, some errors and omissions; but the following data arranged in tabular form will, it is hoped, at least serve as a basis from which a more perfect record shall be made at some time in the future. If happily "grim visaged war" shall never again make its imperative demands upon the town of Dryden, its inhabitants of the rising and future generations will never fully realize what it is to have the lives of the father, brother, and sons of the people of the township exposed to the hazards of camp and of battle and sacrificed in the service of their country.

Thomas J. McElheny, one of the war committee of Dryden who gave his time very fully in those years to the details of filling the quotas of soldiers required by the government from this town, relates with pardonable pride the experiences which he had in performing his arduous duties in these matters and bears witness to the liberality and patriotism manifested by the people in sustaining his efforts.

No attempt is made in this chapter to complete the record of non-resident volunteers who were induced by the liberal bounties offered by the town of Dryden to help fill out her quota and when Dryden men had removed to other places before their enlistment their names will not be likely to be found in the following table:

Women, as well as men, gave their services to the country in this time of need, and Mrs. Julia A. Cook, whose husband, Enos, had already died in the service, and whose only son, James H., served throughout the war, volunteered as a nurse and was on duty in the hospitals at Washington in June, 1864, until her own sickness compelled her to return. As an inland town Dryden could not be expected to contribute much to the naval forces of the country, but an incident which interested the people of Dryden village and enlisted their deepest sympathy at the time, should be here mentioned. Jared Boorom, a relative of a Dryden family, had been a sailor and in his wanderings had married a little Spanish woman whom he had met in the West India Islands. Upon the breaking out of the war he brough her and their little daughter to Dryden, where he provided for them with his relatives while he enlisted as a gunner on the Galena, a gunboat of the U.S. Navy. Mrs. Boorom could speak but very little English, but with her peculiar Spanish ways she was a subject of great interest to Dryden people, among whom she made many friends. But suddenly there came news that Boorom was wounded by the explosion of a shell in an attack on Fort Fisher in the James River, May 16, 1862, and a day or two later that he was dead. The grief of the poor young widow knew no bounds and excited the deepest sympathy from all who had known and heard of her. The remains of her husband were brought to Dryden and laid in the Green Hills cemetery, where a monument to-day marks his grave. His wife soon after returned to her native country.

Goodrich, George B. The Centennial History of the Town of Dryden, 1797-1897. Dryden: Dryden Herald Steam Printing House, 1898. Reprinted 1993 by the Dryden Historical Society. Pages 55-67.

(The Dryden Historical Society, which sells this book, may be reached at 607-844-9209.)

Fire contract revisions

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the Town Board had authorized the Supervisor to revise contracts with the Fire Companies. I now have three of the contracts in their original and revised forms:

• Neptune Hose Company - original (618KB PDF) and revised (490 KB PDF)
• Varna Volunteer Fire Company - original (528KB PDF) and revised (560KB PDF)
• W. B. Strong Fire Company - original (637KB PDF) and revised (633KB PDF)

In the originals, clauses 16 and 17 read:

17. The Town may request an independent audit or review, no more than once per year, of the financial affairs of the Company for the present and/or prior years as the Town may determine. The form, content and Certified Public Accountant performing such audit or review shall be determined by the Town. The Town shall pay the direct costs of the Company related to such audit or review not to exceed $1,000.00, which costs are to be documented by the Company. The Company agrees to make diligent and reasonable efforts to fully, completely and timely comply with reasonable requests of the Certified Public Accountant performing such audit or review for the production of all records, receipts, bills, vouchers, contracts, bank statements, checks, financial statements and any other similar documents requested by such person.

18. The Company agrees to establish a capital equipment reserve account to purchase capital equipment. The Company agrees that $______ of the first payment made under this contract shall be deposited into said account and the use of such funds shall be restricted by the Company to capital equipment purchases.

At the April 8th meeting, Councilman Marty Christofferson requested changes to these clauses. The contracts were reissued to say:

17. The Town may request an independent audit or review, no more than once per year, of the financial affairs of the Company for the present and/or prior years as the Town may determine. The form, content and Certified Public Accountant performing such audit or review shall be determined by the Town. The Town shall pay for the services, costs and disbursements of the auditor and the Company shall have no responsibility for any such items. The Town shall pay the direct costs of the Company related to such audit or review not to exceed $1,000.00, which costs are to be documented by the Company. The Company agrees to make diligent and reasonable efforts to fully, completely and timely comply with reasonable requests of the Certified Public Accountant performing such audit or review for the production of all records, receipts, bills, vouchers, contracts, bank statements, checks, financial statements and any other similar documents requested by such person.

18. The Company agrees to establish a capital equipment reserve account to purchase capital equipment. The Company agrees that $______ of the first payment made under this contract shall be deposited into said account and the use of such funds shall be restricted by the Company to capital equipment purchases and to borrowing from for only unforeseen emergency major expenses.

Additions are in bold. The issue of repayment terms for the borrowing allowed in Clause 18, raised by Councilman Chris Michaels at the April meeting, seems to have been left unaddressed.

Dryden in the Civil War

There are no longer any Civil War veterans among us, but their sacrifices are no less worth remembering. George Goodrich examines the impact of the "War of the Rebellion" in the Town of Dryden, the units from Dryden, the support their community provided, and the battles they fought.

Chapter XVIII.

The War of the Rebellion.

It is now easy to see in the light of history that in their efforts to preserve and perpetuate the institution of slavery, the Southern States by their attempted secession hastened its doom to speedy abolition. Slavery might have been one of the perplexing subjects of politics today had not the crisis been precipitated by the commencement of hostilities in April, 1861.

It will be difficult for succeeding generations to realize with what anxiety and interest the investment and capture of Fort Sumpter and the subsequent progress of the war were watched by the people of Dryden in common with the inhabitants of all of the states of the North. No railroads or telegraph then served to deliver the war news within the town of Dryden. The only mail which was then received was brought by the daily stages from Ithaca and Cortland, meeting at Dryden village at noon. The New York daily papers of the morning would in this way reach Dryden the next day at noon, when the first news was obtained, unless, as was frequently the case, a messenger was dispatched by private contributors to Cortland, the nearest railroad and telegraph station in those times, to bring back the latest news late in the evening. Those who remember how anxiously the tidings of war were watched for, will call to mind with what feelings of disappointment the frequent stereotyped response was received, "All quiet on the Potomac."

The capture of Fort Sumpter by the Confederates served immediately to strengthen and unite the people of the North in their determination to preserve the Union with or without slavery at first, but finally only with the complete abolition of that troublesome institution. For that purpose a large part of the Democratic party, known as "War Democrats," united with the government in its effort to preserve the Union and with that determination stood by it until the termination of the war, while the remaining Democrats, who opposed the war, or professed to be indifferent on the subject, were openly denounced and branded as "Copper-heads."

The first volunteers to go into the military service from our town joined some companies organized in Ithaca, which were afterward united at New York with others to form the 32nd Infantry, with which they went to the front in June, 1861. Among these volunteers was Captain Sylvester H. Brown, who was killed at City Point, Va. This regiment enlisted for only two years, but saw severe service, participating in the battles of West Point, Gaines Mills, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Crompton Gap, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. After their term of two years had expired many of the survivors re-enlisted in other regiments. In the fall and winter of that year the 76th regiment was organized, of which companies F. and C. were largely recruited from the town of Dryden. This organization had an unfortunate beginning, growing out of a personal quarrel between Col. Green and one of his subordinate officers, resulting in the shooting and wounding of the latter, while they were encamped at Cortland. Afterwards the 76th, under Col. Wainwright, did valiant service and took part in the battles of Rappahannock Station, Warrenton, Gainesville, Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Upperville, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and Mine Run.

The early campaigns of the Union forces in Virginia were not successful. Such disasters as the battle of Bull Run served to convince the people of the North that greater efforts had to be made. War meetings were held in all parts of the county, attended with bands of music and patriotic speakers. At these meetings liberal contributions were made for the aid of the families of such as should go to the front. A senatorial war committee was appointed, of which our late townsman, Jeremiah W. Dwight, was the member from this county, and a local town committee was selected, consisting of Luther Griswold, Smith Robertson, Charles Givens, Thomas J. McElheny, and W. W. Snyder.

In the summer of 1862 the 109th regiment was organized, Company F. being largely made up of Dryden volunteers. It was mustered into Service August 28, 1862, but was kept on guard duty for the first year and more. Its first fight was in the terrible battle of the Wilderness when more than one hundred of its men were left upon the field of battle. Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor and the battles before Petersburg followed in quick succession, in all of which this regiment made a gallant record, but suffered severely, so that when they came to be mustered out of the service in June, 1865, there were only two hundred and fifty men left of the twelve hundred which first went into the Wilderness.

In October, 1862, the 143d regiment, of which one company was made up mostly of Dryden men under Capt. Harrison Marvin, was mustered into service. Although this regiment did not see such severe service it had an honorable record and its roll of honor bore the following inscriptions: Nansemond, Wanhatchie, Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Culpepper Farm, Peach Tree Ridge, Atlanta and Savannah.

Capt. Geo. L. Truesdell with quite a number of other Dryden men joined early in 1864 the 15th New York Cavarly, which was organized from August 8, 1863, to January 14, 1864, to serve for three years. Nine companies were recruited at Syracuse, one at Elmira, one at Cavalry Depot, Washington, D. C., and one in the state of New York at large. It was consolidated with the Sixth New York Cavalry June 17th, 1865, and the consolidated force designated the Second Provisional New York Cavalry. Col. Robert M. Richardson resigned Jan. 19, 1865, leaving in command Col. John J. Coppinger. The regiment lost by death during its service in killed during action, three officers and eighteen men; of wounds received in action, nineteen men; of disease and other causes, four officers and 129 men; a grand total of one hundred seventy men. It was at Hillsboro, Upperville, Franklin, Romney, New Market, Front Royal, Newton, Mount Jackson, Piedmont, Stanton, Waynesboro, Lexington, New London, Diamond Hill, Lynchburg, Snicker's Gap, Ashby's Gap, Winchester, Green Spring, and the Appomattox campaign.

The early enlistments were all volunteers aided and encouraged at first by liberal provisions for the families of those who should enlist, and afterwards by large bounties in addition, to the soldier himself. Only one draft was made in the town, which was executed in July, 1863, according to the terms of which the drafted man himself could hire a substitute to go in his place or, by paying three hundred dollars, the government would provide the substitute. A second and third draft was ordered but the supervisors of the county here came to the rescue and hired, at the expense of the county, enough non-resident soldiers to make up, with those who had volunteered, the full quota of the towns of Tompkins county.

We regret that we are not able to make our military record more complete, having given only a brief reference to the companies which were made up almost wholly of Dryden men. Many others were scattered through different regiments and in all branches of the service, and we supplement this brief record by the following chapter, which aims to give a complete list of the Dryden soldiers, specifying those who died or were severely wounded in the service.

Goodrich, George B. The Centennial History of the Town of Dryden, 1797-1897. Dryden: Dryden Herald Steam Printing House, 1898. Reprinted 1993 by the Dryden Historical Society. Pages 52-55.

(The Dryden Historical Society, which sells this book, may be reached at 607-844-9209.)

Superintendent retirement, county legislation

Yesterday's Ithaca Journal has an article on Dryden Superintendent Patricia Archambault's upcoming retirement, looking over her last five years in Dryden as well as a career that went from South Seneca to Newfield through BOCES and around the state to Dryden. The Dryden Elementary PTA will be hosting a farewell reception for her on Wednesday, June 16th, from 7pm-8:30pm at the Dryden Elementary School cafeteria.

Dryden County Legislator Mike Lane will be introducing a resolution to shift re-assessment from its current annual cycle to a cycle of three years. It didn't get moved on in the Government Operations Committee. There will also be a vote on putting the Republicans' County Executive proposal on the ballot in November. (I still don't see the point in that one.)

In less pleasant news, a 14-year boy from Freeville was killed when he ran a stop sign on an ATV, while a Dryden woman has been charged with second-degree forgery.

In Laurels and Darts, Dryden resident Murray Cohen sends presidential candidate Ralph Nader a dart for "making it easier for George Bush to continue as the most powerful person in the world."

The Journal has a lot of articles on Tompkins County World War II veterans in honor of the World War II memorial's dedication. None of them explicitly mention Dryden, but the stories of Bill Alford, Hugh Corrigan, Charles Hurlbut, John Belcher, Sr., and Roy Bair are well worth reading.

Solar school

I saw this poster at the McDonalds/Mobil station in the Village of Dryden on Thursday:

Poster advertising Tompkins County's first solar-powered school

Following the web link in the poster took me to a description of how this works. Like other state-funded energy programs I've mentioned previously, this comes from NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

The 2-kilowatt solar collector, which connects to the grid and the school's regular electrical system, cost about $24,000, of which $1500 came from the school district. It won't power the whole school - normally it would cover a quarter of the energy usage of a house - but it will contribute some power as well as educational opportunities for students. The Ithaca, Lansing, McGraw, and Spencer-VanEtten districts are also participating in the program.

The dedication will be on Friday, June 11th, from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at the Dryden High School.

Parade tomorrow

The Dryden Veterans Memorial Home's Memorial Day parade will be held tomorrow, Saturday, May 29th at 10:30am in the Village of Dryden, with a memorial service at 11am in tribute to World War II veterans.

Looks like a perfect day for it.

Indictments and opinions

The Ithaca Journal reports on the indictments of two Dryden residents, one for rape and another for second-degree criminal possession of a weapon tied to an incident in Ithaca's Stewart Park.

There's a story on Alan Chaffee, who's visited cemeteries and recorded names "from Dryden to Horseheads." An article on a prescription discount card in Chemung County sounds much like a proposal County Legislator Martha Robertson is working on for Tompkins.

On the opinion page, Nancy Morgan of Dryden points out that liberal and conservative labels don't mean what they used to, and a guest column by Fred Antil on Cornell and Ithaca College talks about George C. Williams, a Dryden resident and IC president who did a lot to build IC up, and also accepted a Cornell student's challenge of a fencing match.

New Town Hall news

This week's Dryden Courier features an article on prospects for a new Town Hall, a project that's been in the works for a while but which was deferred to executive session at the May Town Board meeting. It seems there's a problem: the recent annexation of a parcel to the Village has increased the price of land in that parcel from $38,000/acre to $65,000/acre - and the Town had been hoping to build its new Town Hall there. Other possible buyers are now waiting for the town to make an offer, if it decides to do so.

The town has eliminated the Boy Scouts building on Route 13 (until recently the Dryden School District offices), the Prudential Insurance building on Routes 13 and 366, the old Boxcar restaurant, and the former West Dryden Community Center, now owned by Hobasco Masonic Lodge.

The town is considering the Aramark building (formerly Fine Host), along Route 13, though that has some problems, most notably no public water. Councilman Steve Stelick notes that municipal buildings are required to have sprinkler systems, which could mean large insulated tanks if public water is not available.

(I wonder if the town might consider the old State Police building or the current location of F & T Distributing, which they're leaving to move to Royal Road. Both have water and sewer available.)

The Courier also takes a look at Freeville Girl Scout Troop 864's "Cell Phones for Soldiers" campaign and tells of Daniel Armitage's presentation this month at the Dryden Historical Society. There's also a piece on "Primitive Pursuits Day," to be held at 4-H acres this Saturday, May 29th. There's also a "Summer Between the Lakes" supplement, with stories and listings of things to do this summer.

The Courier's sister paper, the Ithaca Times, has an article on Nicholas Patte, the Dryden fourth-grader who is a goodwill ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, as well as an extended piece on the state of Tompkins County Airport.

Work in progress at Freese Road

While the Freese Road bridge is open again, there's still work being done on the sewer pump on the south side of the bridge.

Sewer work gets closer to completion at Freese Road bridge.

There was mention at a Town Board meeting this spring that they'll have to replace insulation on the pipe along the Freese Road bridge that carries water from Sapsucker Woods to Varna. I can see why.

Insulation missing from the water pipe that crosses Freese Road bridge.

Journal on fire company finances, superintendents

Today's Ithaca Journal catches up on the long-running story of audits of fire companies in the Dryden Fire Protection District. They report that the Etna audit, the last to be done, is in progress, while the Varna, Neptune, and W. B. Strong audits are complete. (I posted the audit report (2.6MB PDF) for the companies completed so far in March.)

The Journal reports on various post-audit changes at the departments, including formalizing procedures and a lease at Neptune, changes in the Varna investments and their hiring of an accountant, and Freeville's hiring an accountant to file tax returns, something they hadn't done previously. (As a non-profit, they don't owe taxes, but they are obligated to file.)

The main objection to the audit in the article (from Councilman Steve Stelick, Neptune President Dan Tier, and Neptune Chief Ron Flynn) seems to be cost, which feels strange after the years of conflict and last year's 31.8% fire tax levy increase, relatively little of which was audit-related. I certainly don't object to spending money on fire protection, and thought Varna's spending this year reasonable, but this is worth questioning. Audits are certainly an inconvenience for all involved, but they let people see where their tax dollars go, and provide a foundation for figuring out where to put the next round of tax dollars.

Hopefully the new Town Board and the companies, free of the rancor of past years, can use the full picture provided by the audit information to make plans for the fire protection district that keep both the companies and the taxpayers happy.

The Journal's editorial today looks back over the careers of Dryden Superintendent Pat Archambault and Trumansburg Superintendent John Delaney, both of whom are retiring this summer. The story of Archambault's working her way up through education is impressive. Delaney has a quote worth consideration beyond the Trumansburg School District:

"I can tell you that using property tax to fund public agencies has got to be revamped," he said. "I think that land as a measure of wealth isn't the indicator that it was 50 years ago. Today, you can own a lot of land and not have much income -- or you can have a very high income without owning much property."

There's also a letter from Natasha Suter of Dryden, urging people to follow the news and providing "Web sites that contain news stories either poorly covered by the mainstream media or not covered at all." Republicans, of course, may not like her choices of sites.

Upcoming hearings

Today's Ithaca Journal legal notices include:

• a hearing of the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency on June 28th at 10am at the Dryden Town Hall (map) to consider assisting Ithaca Produce's move to new facilities at 150 Johnson Road (map).
• a public hearing at 7pm on June 10th by the Dryden Town Board for a new 83' telecommunications tower and associated 10'x20' shed at 1387 Dryden Road (map). Crown Castle Atlantic Co., LLC. is the applicant.
• a public hearing at 7:15pm on June 10th by the Dryden Town Board for amendments to a site plan approved back in July 2000 for 1495 Dryden Road (map), for an automotive sales and detailing facility. Stewart and Jeffery Marrotte are the applicants.

Gas prices and Dryden

When I was at Town Hall a couple of weeks ago, there was talk that local gas stations had been told to order '3' signs to be ready just in case gas went over $3.00 a gallon. That thought has been echoing for me for a while, and I think it's worth considering what that might mean here.

Today's gas prices at the Exxon at Routes 13 and 366.

Dryden in its current state depends quite thoroughly on cars, trucks, and the gasoline they consume. As I noted a long time ago, my own house, even though it was built in 1929, really only makes sense if you expect to have a car. According to a recent table in the Ithaca Journal, 48.87% of the town's employed residents have a 15-30 minute commute. That's a lot of gasoline every day. (The 3.81% with an hour or more commute must be especially unhappy with prices right now.)

My first question is how much impact higher prices will have on people's driving habits, even if the prices stay high for a long time. These prices are still (if adjusted for inflation) lower than they were in 1980, though that doesn't make people happy when the notice the price has climbed by a third or more in six months. Despite the unhappiness, a lot of the driving here isn't particularly optional - it's commuting to work and grocery shopping. While those activities may get more expensive, I don't expect them to change by much, at least for a while.

In the longer run, I'm guessing that people will be more likely to change their car - if they can - than their house. More efficient cars are available, though whether people will change types of cars is a bigger question. More people may work at home (I already do that), which is another way to cut gas bills substantially. It's also possible to combine trips, carpool, ride the bus, mow the lawn less often...

If this lasts - which sounds possible, given generally rising demand for oil worldwide - I suspect Dryden may see some changes in housing patterns. There may be more opportunities for smaller grocery and other stores that carry fewer items but take less driving, and people may find it more convenient to live nearer centers of employment. The strategy of encouraging development at transportation nodes seems a lot more likely to work when car-based transportation is more expensive.

The Town Draft Comprehensive Plan looks forward "to 2020 and beyond". I don't think its creators can make predictions about transportation trends or their impacts on development, but it does make me wonder if future development might be less scattered than the New Home Construction map for 1985-2000 (256KB PDF).

All kinds of Dryden news

Today's Ithaca Journal has lots and lots of Dryden-related news.

The lead story is on the Dryden School Board's efforts to develop a new budget after the tie vote on the previous one. Developing that budget seemed difficult to start with. The board will take action June 2nd, and the second budget vote is June 22nd.

In the Our Towns section, there's a profile of 11-year-old Nick Patte, a goodwill ambassador for for the Central New York Muscular Dystrophy Association, who has had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy since he was 22 months old.

This week's Dryden Town Talk looks at work being done at Willow Glen Cemetery, financed by an anonymous donor, and notes Saturday's Memorial Day parade.

Briefly in Dryden includes a Dryden alumni dinner June 12th, a "Support Our Troops!" motorcycle ride June 6th, the Varna United Methodist Church's chicken barbecue on June 5th, and Dryden Dairy Day on June 12th.

The print edition also includes a Community Profile of Adam Pamel, an Eagle Scout candidate raising funds and donations to provide K-2 students with school supplies.

The Auburn Citizen also has more news on the 24th Congressional District race, looking more closely at letters to the editor falsified by a volunteer for the Walrath campaign. (David Walrath is challenging incumbent Sherwood Boehlert in the Republican primary for the district, which includes Dryden.)

Storm water report

Most of my Town Board reporting this month has been late because I've been too busy to get to it. Today's story is a little different, in that I'm lucky to have waited for the final draft of the Town of Dryden Storm Water Management Program Annual Report (747KB PDF, or 16KB executive summary).

Town Environmental Planning Debbie Gross gave a presentation on the plan at the May Town Board meeting as part of a required public hearing on the plan. Because the Town of Dryden contains parts of the Ithaca-Tompkins County Urbanized area - running roughly from Etna to Varna and the airport, as well as along the south side of Route 79 in Bethel Grove, the town is required by New York State to develop a stormwater plan for those areas. (The state is now providing funding for work on these plans.) Except for "illicit discharge detection and elimination," the town is implementing the plan for the whole town, not just the area considered urban.

Environmental Planner Debbie Gross presents the draft storm water plan.

Gross explained that the increased interest in storm water as an issue that needs to be address was tied to increasing development, as paved and otherwise built surfaces can have a dramatic impact on runoff, increasing it up to 45%. The runoff can cause erosion and carry pollution, spreading problems across a wide area.

The project itself covers five years, starting with last year, 2003. In year 1, most of the activity was data collection, hiring an environmental planner, and promoting public awareness. Year 2 will focus on required ordinances for controlling runoff, as well as further public outreach, on topics like septic system maintenance, post-construction stormwater management, and lawn care. It also includes discussion of watershed management and flood mitigation. The Town of Caroline is also paying for some of the Dryden Environmental Planner's work in this area.

The full report (747KB PDF) has an incredible amount of detail if you have the time to explore it.

Assessment hearings today; power outages

The Ithaca Journal reports that the Tompkins County Board of Assessment Review is meeting today to review 290 scheduled grievances plus walk-ins. Scheduled sessions are from 10am to 2pm, while unscheduled sessions are from 4pm to 8pm. Both will be held at the Department of Assessment's offices in the second floor of 128 East Buffalo Street (map).

Yesterday's storms also knocked out power in some parts of Dryden, though fortunately we didn't have the tornados or lightning strikes on gas lines seen elsewhere in the state.

May infrastructure issues

The May Town Board meeting opened with a hearing on amendments to the local law on siting telecommunications towers, changing the rules to encourage the shared use of existing towers. No one spoke on the matter, and eventually it passed 5-0.

During Citizens' Privilege, Peggy Walbridge asked about the upcoming work on Hunt Hill and Genung roads. Highway Superintendent Jack Bush wasn't at this meeting, but engineer Dave Putnam reported that he's done some pencil sketches, and they are assembling the information to share with citizens. Councilman Marty Christofferson asked if they could have it done by the next board meeting, as it was "time to get this thing squared away."

Putnam also discussed plans for extending the highway department garage another 80 feet back from the existing structure. The money is in the highway budget, so the Town Board will only need to approve it if it goes over budget.

Putnam also discussed ongoing work around the F & T Distributing relocation from its current site to Royal Road, which is currently tied up in water and sewer issues. The area where they're building is not in a water or sewer district, and a parcel away from the existing system. There had been discussion of creating a new set of districts there, and surrounding users seemed interested, but actually creating a district will take longer than F & T has.

The current proposal is to have F & T build its own connections, and have the town buy the connections (at a depreciated price) as part of the district when that happens. The previous Town Board had budgeted for a study to determine how to do this and what it would cost. The board was hearing a preliminary report on that, though time is running out.

F & T was wishing that the preliminary survey they had now was more of a comprehensive survey. "From a businessowner's perspective, building water and sewer and having the town buy it at some point, that's somewhat acceptable, though I'd ask for a dollar-for-dollar reimbursement on it because that will hold the town to some sort of schedule. If we don't have some sort of committed timeline, and the town puts it off, and takes over in year 11..." and at this point the town doesn't know how much it will cost.

F & T needs its hookup by July to move, and negotiations and surveys will continue.

Later in the meeting, something that may have an effect on future infrastructure needs, the board appointed Thomas Quinn to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Quinn had applied last year, after Zoning Officer Henry Slater had given him an application. Slater had talked to Quinn over the course of his moving to the community and building a house, and thought he was an excellent candidate. The board approved the appointment 5-0.

New Dryden school offices

Today's Ithaca Journal has a brief article on the Dryden school district offices' move to the High School/Middle School, as well as a report on a state BOCES championship in which two Dryden High School students, Daniel Carpenter and Bert Barned, won awards.

On the opinion page, there's a duplicate of a letter that was published Saturday supporting Sherwood Boehlert in the primary for the 24th Congressional District, which includes Dryden.

Youth and Recreation at May Town Board meeting

Dryden Youth Commission Chair Tracey Kurtz presented the Commission's 2003 Annual Report to the Town Board.

Tracey Kurtz presents the Dryden Youth Commission Annual Report

Kurtz came back later in the meeting to propose that the board remove the Dryden Schools Athletic Director from the Dryden Recreation Commission, where the position has a permanent seat. Councilman Marty Christofferson was concerned that this would reduce the connections between the schools and the Recreation Commission, but Councilman Stelick said that the decision to include the Athletic Director was made before there was a Recreation Coordinator, and that the Athletic Director now works more with the coordinator than the commission. Because the Athletic Director doesn't come to meetings, the commission has difficulty reaching a quorum. The school district and Athletic Director have been involved in discussions of the bylaw changes. There were concerns about the difficulty of reading the bylaw changes required and sorting them out, so the board held the issue for future discussion.

Kurtz also recommended hiring Eric Hoffman to be Recreation Assistant, using funds already within the recreation budget.

As Recreation Coordinator Jennifer Glaab couldn't make the meeting, Steve Stelick read the recreation report. Councilman Christofferson gave a brief report on Dryden modified lacrosse's 2-1 win in a scrimmage against Bath and their 8-3 loss to Horseheads.

Stelick noted a proposal to lease space from the Baden-Powell Council of Boy Scouts to cover the time before a new town hall is available. The council authorized the supervisor to negotiate a lease.

A proposal for canoes on Dryden Lake met less approval. TC3 is offering canoes, which will Stelick hoped would be an improvement on "less than quality" boats the town offered through a contractor in the past. There was discussion of a $2000 canoe rack - and whether that would be a permanent structure needing Conservation Board approval. Councilman Mike Hattery, noting that personnel costs were a lot of the proposal, wondered if a more limited program was appropriate. Councilman Chris Michaels felt that people who were into canoeing would likely be going to other venues, while people learning about canoeing would probably want more guidance than this proposal offered. The proposal was held for further consideration.

Opening the road to Dryden

In this chapter near the start of his Centennial History, George Goodrich tells of the early surveying and naming of Dryden, its passage from county to county, its sale to soldiers of the Revolutionary War, and the challenge of building the Bridle Road, which many of us drive in considerably widened form today.

Chapter III.

The Approach of Civilization.

The War of the Revolution was practically ended in 1781, two years after Sullivan's Campaign was carried out against the Indians of Western New York. Within the next ten years the remnants of the Iroquois confederacy ceded their lands, by various treaties, to the State. Conditions favorable to the settlement of this locality were thus rapidly developed. Other sections of the country, both north and south of us, more readily reached by means of navigable lakes and rivers, were already occupied by the pioneer settlers, while the ridge separating the head waters of the St. Lawrence from those of the Susquehanna, of which our town forms a part, were still largely uninhabited. In February, 1789, the N. Y. State Legislature passed a law for surveying and setting apart for the use of its soldiers of the Revolution who then survived, a large section of land between Seneca and Oneida lakes afterwards known as the "Military Tract", comprising nearly two million acres, and including the town of Dryden, which was designated in the survey as Township No. 23. This tract was surveyed in the years 1789 and 1790, and divided into twenty-six townships, to which two more were afterwards added, making twenty-eight in all, each being about ten miles square and containing one hundred lots of about one mile square each. Dryden is one of the few to retain nearly its original dimensions. The little notch which formerly existed in the southeast corner of the town before the seven lots were set off to Caroline, was caused by the overlapping of the territory known as the Massachusetts Ten Townships upon the Military Tract, the West Owego Creek, which rises in Dryden near the southwest corner, being the west boundary of the former. The lots of Dryden were surveyed in the year 1790, by John Konkle, of Schoharie. In the southeast corner of each lot was set apart one hundred acres, known and frequently referred to in old descriptions, which are brought down into deeds of even this date, as the "State's Hundred Acres," which the owner had the option of exchanging for an equal number of acres of U. S. lands in Ohio; and out of each lot was reserved a piece of fifty acres, known as the "Survey Fifty Acres," which was retained by the surveyor for his services, unless redeemed by the owner at eight dollars. So poor were the early inhabitants in those days, and so scarce was money, that many of them were unable to raise the eight dollars necessary to save the Survey Fifty Acres of their lots even on those terms.

Out of each township one lot was reserved for gospel and school purposes and another for promoting literature, the gospel and school lot in Dryden being No. 29 and the literature lot No. 63. The other lots were drawn by ballot in the year 1791 by the New York soldiers of the Revolution, each private and non-commissioned officer being entitled to draw one lot. A copy of the "Balloting Book" containing the names of the soldiers of the Revolution by whom the lots of the Town of Dryden were originally drawn, can now be found in the Tompkins county clerk's office. This method of distribution of the land of the township by ballot, accounts for the fact that the early settlers of the town did not come in large colonies from any particular part of the older settlements, but came singly or in small groups from localities widely separated.

Prior to this time all of the western part of the state was embraced in the old county of Montgomery, but in the year 1791 Herkimer and Tioga counties, the latter including Dryden, were set off from Montgomery and in 1794 Onondaga county, then made to include all of the Military Tract, was formed and set off from Tioga and Herkimer. Thus our Township No. 23 was, from 1791 to 1794, a part of Tioga county, becoming in 1794 a part of Onondaga county, and so remained until it was appropriated to form a part of the new county of Cayuga in 1799, and was afterwards set off to form a part of the present county of Tompkins upon its organization in the year 1817.

It is thus seen how it happens that all of the records of land titles of the town of Dryden, prior to 1817 and subsequent to 1799, are found in the clerk's office of the county of Cayuga, the records of our own county commencing with its formation in 1817. Township No. 23, while in Montgomery county, was included in the political subdivision of Whitestown; upon its incorporation into Tioga county in 1791 it became a part of the old town of Owego; but when it was absorbed by Onondaga county it was at first included, in its political existence, with the present townships of Enfield and Ithaca in the original town of Ulysses, the organization of which dates back to the formation of Onondaga county in 1794. On Feb. 22, 1803, Township No. 23 was set off by itself, having been previously named Dryden by the commissioners of the land office, in honor of John Dryden, the English poet. The townships of Ithaca and Enfield remained a part of Ulysses, in their political organization, until four years later.

But few of the soldiers of the Revolution came and settled upon the lots which fell to them. The old veterans of those days, like some of later times, cared more for their present comfort than for an opportunity of finding new homes in the wilderness of the Military Tract. Nor can the old Revolutionary soldiers, after having passed through the hardships involved in the seven years' war with England, be blamed for shrinking from the privation and suffering incident to pioneer life in a new country. Many of them disposed of their titles for a mere trifle. For instance, it is said that the original owner of the lot of 640 acres upon which the Dryden Center House now stands, sold it for a coat, hat, one drink of rum, and one dollar in money, and that the soldier who drew Lot No. 9 sold it for "one great coat." "Land sharks" existed even in those days and a great many of the soldiers' claims to the territory of Dryden were bought up for a trifling consideration by speculators in the East, who held them for advanced prices, at which time they were sold to those who became actual settlers.

So great a length of time elapsed between the drawing of the lots and the actual occupation of them, and so many loose and fraudulent transfers were made of them in the meantime, that the uncertainty of titles resulting was one of the troubles which vexed and disappointed the early settlers, much more than we of the present day can realize. Some, however, of the original owners retained their lots and occupied the lands which the government has given them as a bounty for their services. As an example, Elias Larabee, who drew Lot No. 49, including the southeast quarter of Dryden village, came and lived for a long time upon his lot, and one of his descendants, Daniel Lawson, a pensioner of the War of the Rebellion, still owns and occupies a small part of it.

The town having been surveyed in 1790 and the lots being drawn in 1791, the next question was how were these possessions in the wilderness of the Military Tract to be reached. The first settlers had already arrived at Owego and Elmira by way of the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers, while others had come to Syracuse and Auburn by way of the Mohawk and Seneca rivers and the lakes, and settlements had been commenced in and about Ithaca and Lansing, on the banks of Cayuga Lake, by parties who had taken these routes, but there was no direct practicable way to reach from the east the elevated watershed lying between the two, until a road was cut through the woods from Oxford on the Chenango River to Ithaca at the head of Cayuga Lake, which was done in the years 1793, 1794 and 1795 by Joseph Chaplin under a contract from the State. Mr. Chaplin was the first settler in the town of Virgil and we quote from Bouton's History of that town, pages 9 and 10, concerning him and his work as follows :

"To facilitate the settlement of this section of the country, a road was projected connecting Oxford with the Cayuga Lake, to pass through this town [Virgil.] Joseph Chaplin, the first inhabitant, was intrusted with this work. The instrument by which he was authorized to engage in it was authenticated on the fifth of May, 1792. He spent that season in exploring and surveying the route, the length of which is about sixty miles. He came to Lot No. 50 [of Virgil], which he owned and afterward settled, erected a house and prosecuted his work, having a woman to keep the house and cook for workmen. The work of cutting and clearing the road was done in 1793-4; so that he moved his family from Oxford over it in the winter of 1794-5, employing six or seven sleighs freighted with family, furniture, provisions, etc."

But it seems that when he had complete the road as far as Virgil he was persuaded by some settlers from Kidder's Ferry (near Ludlowville) to continue the road from Virgil through to that point, as it then contained more inhabitants than Ithaca. Having done so he presented his bill to the Legislature, which rejected it on the ground that he had not complied with the terms of his contract, which required the road to be built to Ithaca. He then returned and in the year 1795 cut the road through from Virgil to Ithaca known as the "Bridle Road," and thus became entitled to his pay, the first road opened by him being now known as the old State Road, extending between the towns of Dryden and Groton and through Lansing to the Lake.

The foregoing is the version of this matter which has appeared in the local histories previously published, but it is now claimed, with better reason as it seems to us and more consistently with the conditions which are known to have existed, that the Bridle Road was the trial route first partly opened by Chaplin, and which the state government refused to accept because it did not terminate as required by the contract at a point on Cayuga Lake, the early Ithaca settlement being at least a mile from the nearest shore; and that he then fulfilled the letter of his contract by afterwards opening the old State Road to Kidder's Ferry, leaving the first route only a bridle path which Capt. Robertson, as we shall see hereafter, was obliged to widen in order to reach with ox teams by way of Ithaca his site on Lot 53 of Dryden.

We are told that in this work of cutting these new roads through the wilderness, Mr. Chaplin was assisted by his step-son, then a young man, Gideon Messenger by name, who is the ancestor of the present Messenger family of Dryden and the uncle of H. J. Messenger, of Cortland. From Bouton's History we learn that this same Gideon Messenger was the first town clerk of Virgil in 1795, afterwards its supervisor, and that he passed over the State Road from State Bridge, in the eastern part of Virgil, to Cayuga Lake, before there was a single habitation in the whole distance. (Bouton's Supplement, page 39.)

Goodrich, George B. The Centennial History of the Town of Dryden, 1797-1897. Dryden: Dryden Herald Steam Printing House, 1898. Reprinted 1993 by the Dryden Historical Society. Pages 6-10.

(The Dryden Historical Society, which sells this book, may be reached at 607-844-9209.)

West of the Varna Community Center

These three houses appear as you go west from the Varna Community Center.

940 Dryden Road (map)

939 Dryden Road (map)

936 Dryden Road (map)

Robertson seeks county prescription card

The Ithaca Times reports that County Legislator Martha Robertson is working on creating a prescription discount card program for Tompkins County, "aimed mostly at county residents with no health insurance or no prescription drug insurance program options."

For $15 or $26 per year, card users would be able to get discounts at pharmacies, through a mail order system, or possibly through Canadian pharmacies.

Town insurance policies

I'm way behind in covering last week's Town Board meeting. One of the briefer topics they discussed was insurance for the town, with John Bailey of George B. Bailey Insurance presenting their current insurance and the prospects for the future.

Because insurance is in a "hard market", with investments producing very little cushioning, insurance premiums are up. The full report (501KB PDF) shows that the town's premiums, without changes, will likely grow from $65,389 to $69,928 (without terrorism coverage), a 6.9% increase. (Premiums had declined in the late 1990s because of the stock market boom, but rose again when that ended.) Bailey did suggest increasing the uninsured motorist coverage.

There were some discussions about terrorism insurance, which the federal government requires be provided as an option. Bailey explained that it would cost $2013 for 2003-4, and only applies in cases where the federal government declares that a terrorist attack has occurred and the total damages of the incident - not just in Dryden - are greater than $5 million.

Councilman Marty Christofferson asked where coaches and similar positions fall in insurance, and Bailey reassured him that they're covered for programs under the auspices of the town, complete with accident insurance.

No action was taken at the meeting to change the insurance, which is up for renewal June 1st. Bailey will be meeting with the Insurance Committee, composed of Councilmen Christofferson and Hattery.

Republican County Chair controversy in ICSD

Dryden news is quiet today in the Ithaca Journal, but the opinion page has some sparks which affect at least part of Dryden.

In today's letters from readers, Tompkins County Republican Committee Chairman Mark Finkelstein complains of criticism for his "decision to write a personal letter to local Republicans encouraging them to vote for a certain candidate for ICSD school board, to consider voting for only one candidate and to vote against the proposed school budget."

Finkelstein's letter, while it may have been paid for with private funds and is marked personal, nonetheless was written to Republicans, has a GOP elephant logo at its top, identifies him plainly as the Chairman of the Tompkins County Republican Committee twice, and cites "outgoing ICSD board member and good Republican Henry Kramer". Finkelstein appears to have forgotten that school board elections are non-partisan by design in New York State, and that endorsing a candidate and a budget position this way represents a large step into the race. (I have to wonder whether Finkelstein really wants party partisanship in school district races in the long run, as that would appear to be suicidal for Republicans in the Ithaca district at least.)

Finkelstein appears upset that Dryden County Legislator Martha Robertson had written a pair of letters criticizing his action and encouraging voters to support the budget. Once he opened the partisan battle, I don't think he has any right to be upset that he gets pushback from elected officials who don't happen to share his views or his party.

While I do cover schools here, I take the (supposedly) non-partisan nature of school elections seriously. I made a point of not endorsing candidates or budgets in the recent elections (though I don't think my opinion on that would sway anyone anyway). At the end of his letter to the editor, Finkelstein proclaims "Let a thousand flowers bloom!", but forgets that flowers in the wrong place are often called weeds.

If Finkelstein wanted to send messages about the school board election and not face these kinds of angry complaints that he's interfering inappropriately, he could have sent them on his own personal stationery to the Ithaca Journal, without his party title. He doesn't appear to have helped his candidate or his cause succeed in any event.

Also in letters, Kimberley Kathan writes to encourage Republican voters in New York's 24th Congressional District, which includes the Town of Dryden, to vote for Sherwood Boehlert rather than David Walrath in the upcoming primary. (The Auburn Citizen reports that an aide to the Walrath campaign has been sending out fake letters.)

Ithaca Journal Managing Editor Bruce Estes, who lives in Dryden, writes about the Journal's fight against a subpoena for their web site records, and Dryden Schools Superintendent Pat Archambault sends a laurel to Dryden Sertoma, Swan's Cycles, and Target for a bike rodeo and safety event.

Planning board on subdivisions, agriculture

Last night, the Planning Board approved a subdivision modification, scheduled a hearing for a subdivision, and had a sketch conference on yet another subdivision, before talking about the agricultural parts of the Draft Comprehensive Plan.

The first discussion dealt with a request by Anne Marie Card to change a 1989 subdivision on Annee Lane (map). The modification took one parcel and divided it between two other parcels. The Planning Board approved it.

The second subdivision discussion was a sharply modified version of an earlier proposal. The county rules for subdivisions would require the creation of topographic maps and other data, costing around $40,000. To avoid that, Joan Portzline and Daniel Armitage have changed plans, shifting to an approach that only creates four lots, parcels A-D on the map. The new plan creates three lots - two 1.5 acres, one 3 acres - on Sheldon Road, and one of 6 acres on Wood Road.

Planning Board member David Weinstein noted that the county's approach, by making them do the subdivision in smaller chunks, took control of the overall plan from the town as well. The details of how the subdivision process works and how the county process differs were intricate. Portzline, a long-time realtor, said that "this has been an education for me, after twenty-eight years in the business." The board scheduled a final hearing for this subdivision for the next meeting.

Joan Portzline explains details of the Barrett Farm subdivision to the Planning Board.

Portzline had a sketch for a second subdivision of the same original piece of property, called the Barrett Farm subdivision. This subdivision would create three 5 acre parcels at the corner of Wood and Etna Roads. The board scheduled a preliminary hearing for this subdivision for next month.

After the subdivision hearings and an approval (with modification) of the minutes, the meeting turned to discussion of the subject that dominated the comprehensive planning part of the previous meeting, agriculture. A map of agriculture districts was on the table, and Environmental Planner Debbie Gross had sent a list of smaller farms in the town.

Dryden agriculture districts, with proposed changes: additions in blue, removals in red.

Planner George Frantz, as requested, had created a draft description of how the fixed ratio zoning works, showing how using a ratio of land in agriculture to land available for residential development would create a way for farmers to sell lots while keeping good farmland in use. The example in the draft shows parcels fully built out, a scenario that isn't likely to happen quickly.

Frantz noted a current controversy in the Town of Ulysses, where some people want to change the rules for subdivision to rely on road frontage rather than area, something that would preserve vistas but not necessarily farms. He described how these had been used in Pennsylvania, notably in York and Lancaster Counties, and how they seemed to work, though some towns were moving toward 1:20 or 1:40 ratios rather than the 1:10 proposed here.

Ken Miller, a farmer from Richford who works land in Dryden, was there once again with questions. He didn't see the kind of development pressure that those places had faced appearing in Tompkins County any time soon, and was concerned that restricting development on agricultural land would affect the assessed value of the land and therefore the credit farmers could get to run their operations. He said that farmers at a recent Ag Board meeting Frantz and Planning Board Chair Barbara Caldwell had attended seemed rather disgruntled after they left