Arbor Day at Quarry Farm

by Erin Doane, Senior Curator

On May 7, 1909, 225 boys descended upon East Hill overlooking Elmira. Over the course of the morning, they planted some 3,000 pine and spruce trees at Quarry Farm. The Star-Gazette called it the most substantial observance of Arbor Day ever conducted in this city.

Susan Crane and the corps of tree planting boys at Quarry Farm

Arbor Day was the brainchild of J. Sterling Morton, a newspaper editor in Nebraska City, Nebraska and secretary of the Nebraska Territory. In 1872, at a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture, he proposed a tree planting holiday to be called Arbor Day. The first celebration took place on April 10, 1872 and more than 1 million trees were planted in Nebraska that day. Arbor Day became a legal state holiday in Nebraska in 1885 and by 1920 more than 45 states and territories celebrated. Today, National Arbor Day is celebrated in all 50 states. The most common date for observance is the last Friday in April, but some states pick a different date for when the weather is best locally to plant trees.

The tradition of planting trees on Arbor Day became widespread in school in 1882. In 1909, trees were planted in school yards throughout Elmira and Chemung County. A group of over 200 boys chosen from the seventh and eighth grades of the local grammar schools was also invited to participate in tree planting on three acres of land set aside by Susan Crane at Quarry Farm. It was the first time this type of reforestation project had been done in Chemung County.

Students planting trees at Quarry Farm, 1910s

Dr. Arthur Booth, president of the Chemung County Forest, Fish and Game Protective Association, led the project. The Association purchased 4-year-old saplings from the New York State Nursery in Saranac Lake and had furrows plowed to the right depth so that everything was ready when the boys arrived. Susan Crane planted the first tree and Rev. S.E. Eastman planted the second. Then the boys went to work. One boy deposited moist earth and water on the spot where the tree was to be planted. The next boy placed a young tree in position. Then a third boy tamped the earth down around the seedlings. This efficient method allowed the boys to plant 3,000 trees by lunchtime.

Statistics at the time showed that a large percentage of trees planted by school children on Arbor Day died fairly quickly. Youngsters and their supervising adults either failed to plant the saplings properly in the first place or neglected them after they were in the ground. Following the May 1909 tree planting at Quarry Farm, a drought hit the region. Many were concerned that the new seedlings would not survive. That summer, a state forestry inspector went to Quarry Farm. He discovered that the percentage of trees living from the Arbor Day planting was even higher than that of the trees planted in the Adirondacks by trained forestry men. Of the thousands of trees planted at Quarry Farm, the loss was only 8 percent.

Tree planting at Quarry Farm, 1910s

Dr. Booth was rightly proud of the results. He was one of the prominent speakers at the annual Forest, Fish and Game Association convention in Syracuse that December. His topic was “An Arbor Day Tree Planting in Chemung County.” He also ordered 5,000 more young white pines from the state nursery to be set out by the school children of Elmira the next Arbor Day.

These tree plantings continued for the next few years. In addition to Quarry Farm, they expanded to other locations around Elmira including plots of land at the tuberculosis hospital on Underwood Avenue, near Bulkhead on the Southside, and by the reservoir on West Hill. In 1911, 30 grammar school girls joined the planting crew.

Students planting trees northwest of Elmira, 1926

After 1913, reports in the newspaper become sporadic, so it’s unclear if the Arbor Day tree plantings had truly become a yearly tradition. On May 2, 1924, the Star-Gazette reported that a large delegation of seventh and eighth grade students attended the Arbor Day tree planting on East Hill. On May 3, 1934, some 15,000 trees were planted by public school children around Elmira. In that same article, the reporter expressed doubt that the custom would continue the following year. Over the previous two years, so many trees had been planted by paid workers as part of the Civil Works Administration (a New Deal program created during the Great Depression) that there wasn’t much clear land left for new trees. 

Star-Gazette, May 4, 1934

In 1918, nine years after the first tree were planted at Quarry Farm, a forest fire destroyed about 1,500 of the young trees. The trees were about eight feet tall and were a source of pride for the Chemung County Fish and Game Protection Association. It was thought that the fire had been started by some boys.

 

Cleaning Up Cleaners

by Monica Groth, curator

Brownfields are defined by the EPA as areas “complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.” The term was coined in 1978 as part of a growing government effort to identify and remediate highly polluted property. Pollution, often the result of industrial development, can linger in soil and groundwater decades after businesses close and properties change hands. Dangerous contaminants can affect the health of future residents.

Because of Elmira’s long history of supporting heavy industry, the county is home to many brownfields. Some, identified by New York State on the map below, are well-known. They include factory sites like Kennedy Valve and Westinghouse Co. as well as old oil fields and landfills. One of the most famous brownfield sites in the county is Elmira High School, on the city’s Southside, where the former Sperry/Remington Rand factory once sat. Most recently, efforts to remove contamination from the Old Elmira Gasworks has been ongoing on East Water Street.

Map of Chemung County brownfields being remediated under
New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation

However, in looking at this map, we were interested to discover that a large number of sites containing hazardous wastes fell into another category entirely. Seven are dry cleaners.

Before individual homes had machines, industrial laundries and dry cleaners handled community laundry at large facilities like Perfect Laundry, pictured below.

Workers wash clothes at Perfect Laundry in Elmira, c. 1920s

The process of “dry” cleaning utilized petro-chemical based solvents to remove stains without the use of water. Dry cleaning advertisements begin to appear in the Elmira Gazette & Free Press in 1896. In the 19th century, dry cleaners washed clothes in open vats filled with gasoline, kerosene, or turpentine. However, such chemicals are highly flammable. By the 1900s, especially as machines began to be used in the dry cleaning business, less-flammable chemicals were experimented with as cleaners.

Ledger Book from Ruddick's Dry Cleaning, Elmira, c. 1915

By the 1940s, tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene - or “perc” for short - was the most popular solvent. An estimated 1 million metric tons of perc was produced worldwide in 1985.

Ad for C & K dry cleaning, 1953

C & K Laundry and Dry Cleaning in the old Robinson building, c. 1970

Perc has been listed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a “potential occupational carcinogen.” The process of legally listing substances as carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, is complicated and requires long-term studies and tested scientific data. Different agencies with different interests assess carcinogenicity differently. The National Toxicology Program deemed perc “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.” The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) designated perc as a “probable human carcinogen.” The EPA assessed perc to “likely be carcinogenic to humans” and updated its assessment of the chemical in 2022 by determining it “presents unreasonable risk to human health.” Today, perc dip tanks and transfer equipment is prohibited at dry cleaning facilities, and no perc is allowed to be used in residential buildings. However, the chemical is still legal and pollution from previous decades lingers in soil and water long after businesses close or regulations change.

Sites listed on the above map are undergoing remediation so they can be cleaned and available for future development. In a 2008 survey in the Star-Gazette, 67% of the surveyed thought safely remediating brownfields would help economic growth in the area. In 2017, there were 8 sites in Chemung County listed by the DEC as “Class 2” meaning they posed a “present foreseeable, significant threat” to the environment. Two Elmira dry cleaners were classified as Class 2 sites. The site of the former Diamond Cleaners, which was occupied by multiple dry cleaner businesses from 1950 to 2001, was remediated in the early 2000s by the removal of 600 tons of perc-contaminated soil. A plume of perc-contaminated water was identified heading toward the Chemung River from Castle Cleaners around 2017, and $2.1 million was proposed to treat it.

Invoice from Diamond Cleaners, 1994

Eel Fishing in the Chemung

By Kelli Huggins, Education Coordinator

I’ve been thinking a lot about eels lately. Weird, I know, but let me explain: I’m researching river industry for our summer exhibit about the Chemung River and for a long period before the early 1900s, eel fishing was a big business locally. As it turns out, these kind of creepy, slimy creatures (I’m betraying my bias here), were an important food source and commercial venture for folks along the Chemung.

Advertisement for the Mohican Co. grocery, 1910. Choice eels were 14 cents per pound.

The meat and fish counters at the Mohican c. 1890s likely would have also stocked eels.

Or people could have also purchased eels from their local fishmonger.

For much of history, the Chemung River was practically overflowing with eel. Despite their abundance, eels were always a bit of a mystery to locals. For example, Lakes Lamoka and Waneta on the Steuben/Schuyler County border, were full of eels which migrated from the lakes to the Chemung River. However, locals noted that the eels’ migratory patterns did not match what scientist said was normal. Instead of heading towards the brackish tide waters in the Fall and coming back to fresh water in June, local eels were said to return to the fresh water lakes as early as April and could often be caught earlier by ice fishing. I’m not sure whether or not local eels really were distinct in their migratory habits or if this is just bad science, but it does indicate that eels could be a part of the local economy year-round.

Eel weirs were probably the most popular method of large-scale eel fishing. Weirs are human-made obstructions in a river used to trap fish. 

An eel weir in the Chemung River, 1925.

The weirs, however, were not without controversy. In 1886, John B. Stanchfield, a Chemung County representative in the New York State Assembly, introduced a bill that, when passed, banned the use of eel weirs on the Chemung River. Local fishermen balked at the new restriction. There were some supporters, however. The Elmira Star-Gazette printed, “Every countryman who sets an outline in the spring knows that Stanchfield is his friend. The devices for capturing Chemung river eels by the ton should be forbidden by law and the law should be enforced.”

And it was; local game enforcement agents destroyed any eel weirs they found and made arrests. In 1896, Eugene Berthod was arrested for violating the law. It was alleged that he had taken at least 2,000 pounds of eels and sold to wholesale meat markets. The charges were eventually dropped when a key witness for the prosecution failed to materialize.

Eels were still a hot commodity- I love this help wanted ad that uses a free meal of "eels eels eels" as a job perk!

Despite protections (some of the laws eventually loosened), eel populations decreased significantly in the early 1900s. An article lamenting these changes noted that many of the long-standing fish species had been replaced by animals like “the contemptible, miserable, good for nothing, would-be fish, the carp.” Eels likely fell victim to over fishing and changes to the infrastructure of the river, like the building of dams.

Read more about the history and biology of Chemung River eels in this blog post by Town of Chemung Historian, Mary Ellen Kunst: http://historicalechoes.weebly.com/american-eel.html

The Fascinating History of Garbage in Chemung County

By Kelli Huggins, Education Coordinator

While doing research for our new exhibit “Clean,” to my surprise, I became very invested in learning about the history of garbage and sewage disposal in the county (I’ll save sewage for another time).  These aren’t my usual types of topics, but these histories are full of drama and conflict, and I was hooked.  So even though it might sound boring, stay with me.  I’ll try to make you a trash history convert as well. 

In the 1800s, there was very little municipal garbage removal, so most people threw their unwanted refuse into the streets.  Pigs roamed the streets eating trash and rag pickers and bone collectors gather unwanted scraps from residents.   In 1905, Elmira councilmen began to look for a better solution and sought a site to build an $18,000 garbage incinerator. Local protests stopped the city from doing this and the Bennett Incinerating Co., a private company, took on garbage collection.  Their services, however, were expensive and limited.

A pig in Elmira, 1860s

A more novel solution was offered up in 1918: a piggery.   The Murphy Process Co. of Buffalo proposed a piggery in Elmira to feed trash to pigs, claiming the city could then sell fattened pigs for a profit.  Elmira officials signed the contract but quickly gathered more garbage than the pigs could eat.  As smelly trash piled up on the Southside by the piggery, people protested and company went bankrupt.   The city tried to take over the piggery but it was too expensive.  Instead, they began burying garbage on a farm, City Farm, purchased just outside of the city limits.

A 1926 fire at the City Farm dump sent clouds of smelly smoke over city and reignited calls for a garbage incinerator. Residents of 8^th ward complained the garbage dump at City Farm depreciated their property values and supported an incinerator.  The incinerator was built in 1929 and was estimated to cost the city $150,000.  Its two brick-lined furnaces burned trash at a temperature of 1,600-1,900 degrees, processed 10,000 tons of refuse in 1931 at cost of $1.05 per ton, and employed 12 people.

The original garbage incinerator

In November 1968, Elmira terminated operations at its refuse incinerator and an open burning site. The old incinerator layout was not conducive to mechanization and there was too much air pollution with open burns. The city switched to landfills.  The 1969 Chemung County Solid Waste Disposal Study estimated that Chemung County residents would discard 175 million pounds of garbage that year alone.  They also estimated the following trash production figures: 

- Ashland, Baldwin, Catlin, Chemung, Erin, Van Etten, and Veteran- 900 lbs per capita in 1970
-City and Town of Elmira- 1,500 lbs per capita in 1970
- Horseheads- 2,500 lbs (because of industrial waste) per capita in 1970
-Big Flats- 1,200 lbs per capita in 1970
-Projected that County would need 792.3 acres of landfills by 2020

In December 1973, The Chemung County Solid Waste Facility opened to shred and compact refuse to transport to landfill. The landfill was set on 139 acres in Town of Chemung and was given an estimated 20 year lifespan.  That changed on January 22, 1979 when an explosion in the shredders extensively damaged the facility.  It took three years to get the shredders operating again.  In the meantime, the County dumped unshredded trash into the landfill, significantly lessening its lifespan.  In August 1981 the shredders at the Waste Facility went back in action and gas detectors were installed to prevent future issues.  The county then had to look for space to expand the landfill.

In 1991, Chemung County Solid Waste opened a 22,000 square foot recycling center off Lake Road as a part of a $5.5 million commitment to recycling. 75 tons of 27 types of recyclables could be processed each day.  By 1994, Chemung County recycled 29% of its trash, not including bottles (the New York State average was only 16%).  It was estimated that by 2001, the recycling efforts had already removed 85,000 tons of materials that would have been put in the landfill.

Garbage is still a hot button issue for people in the county.  In 2012, Elmira got garbage trucks that have separate compactors for trash and recyclables on one truck.  Recently, Elmira mandated that all trash be put out in only clear bags, causing ire amongst some residents.  Still, Chemung County’s long trash history reminds us that there are no easy solutions to trash removal, particularly as we produce more and more each year.

The new garbage trucks