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Saturday, January 18, 2020

WANT A TOWN DOCK AT BYRAM: "NO TRESSPASING" SIGNS CONSPICUOUS ALONG SHORE (1903)



Source: Greenwich Graphic. Saturday, May 9, 1903. Page 1.

No Place to Land from the Islands Off East Port Chester-A Town Dock Would be of Great Benefit to that Section and People Could Get to the Water Without Going Over Private Property-Could be Built for $1000.

At the special town meeting to-day the question of a public dock on Byram Shore at East Port Chester is to be considered. 

The dock which will be asked for is to be built out from the sore straight off Huckleberry Island where Dr. Naigel has just built a splendid cottage. It is to be built of stone, and to extend out at least 100 feet from the shore line, and to be 50 feet wide. The bottom for  fully 100 feet out is hard and would need very little work to set up a solid foundation. It is estimated that the cost of such a dock would be only about $1000.

The point where the dock would be built is beside the road leading down to the houses owned by Mrs. Waterman, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Gardner and Mr. Lyons. This roadway which leads off the Byram Shore road to the water has never been accepted by the town, but has for over 50 years bee used by the public without complaint from anyone. No one now claims the road, so that it is thought that the road has become the property of the town. 

About 50 or 60 years ago bars were put up across the road, but since that time there has been no obstruction and the public has used it constantly. At one point it runs directly alongside the shore at the high water mark. The roadway averages about 22 feet in width and can with very little work be made into a good thoroughfare.

To the south of the road just after it leads off from the Byram Shore road, is an old graveyard. No one claims this cemetery and no lots have been sold there for many years. Further down toward the shore is another burying ground where a number of colored people were buried, but this has long been obliterated, nothing remaining now to suggest the fact.

The people of Byram Shore are earnest in their request that the dock be built by the town as they claim that it would be a great public convenience. One of the most prominent men of that section and a man who has always stood for everything that would be a public benefit, is Mr. Milo Mead, who for some time has been trying to get the town to build the dock. Mr. Mead thinks that as the dock would be used by the public the town should be the sole owner of the property and should build it.

If such a dock were built Mr. Mead says it would be used freely by the people of that section. As it is now there is no public doc from Byram Point to Greenwich village and one is very much needed. At no place along the shore can vessels of medium depth make a landing, so that all material needed there must come from overland. 

The people of Byram Shore have been accustomed to go to the shore by crossing the property of the stone company, which is nearby, but that has been prevented recently, and no recurse to the water is allowed except over private property, as the water in shore near the roadway is not deep.

The people who have built cottages on the islands just off the shore there, are in straits to find a landing place when they wish to come off, unless it be on some one's private property, and where no good landing has yet been made. 

The new dock, if built, will furnish this landing place, where vessels of two or three hundred tons burden could be tied up, and where the inhabitants of that section would be able to have their merchandise come by water. They say it could give them an opportunity to reach the water, whether for business or pleasure, without encroaching or trespassing. Moreover, it would probably help the growth of the place, and thus increase the revenue of the town through it's taxes.

At the meeting the plan of the dock and its purposes will be clearly laid before the taxpayers by a representative of the people of that section, and it is hoped by them that there is little opposition to the town taking charge of the property and erecting a dock. 












Why Not Build It (Milo Mead, 1903)



Source: Greenwich Graphic. March 21, 1903. Page 3.


Editor of the Graphic:

There is to be another application by the Ridgefield and Port Chester railroad company to the legislature of the State of Connecticut. It allows more time to finish the building of the road. It is said by some persons that the New York and New Haven Company, owns the road that has been de__d. 

If that company does not own it, who does own it? Does a man in this town own it, if he does perhaps it would be a wise plan for him to toss up a penny to decide whether it should be finished or not. He might say, heads finish the road, tails wait two years longer, before the work is begun. Those who advocate an extension of the time, at least it is not publicly stated, is it because it is such an immense work.

The road is only thirty-one miles long, there are men in this town, who would have the work done in ___ months if they had a clear course. There has been enough work done in New Lebanon in that time to nearly half ___ the road. For instance Church ____ one thousand cubic yards, Richard _____ hundred and sixty cubic yards, Oak Street about eight hundred cubic yards of excavation and the blasting of the ledge of about fifteen hundred cubic yards. It seems as if men of business would be ashamed to make the proposition, so many times without doing anything. They would, only there is supposed to be a ___at under the meal. 

This plan of extension of time, might be compared to "a dog in a manger," he won't eat the ha_ himself nor let the oxen eat it. Take a pitch fork and rout him out, let this child's play of "make believe" and tomfoolery be stopped. If the Ridgefield and Port Chester railroad company means business, let them go to work now, the f___ is out of the ground thirty-one miles ____ railroad ought to be finished by the fourth of July without any extension of time. Here is an example in what is called the rule of three, they talk of building a railroad the whole length of the two American continents. North and South America, if it takes twenty years to propose to build thirty one miles of a railroad in Connecticut, how long would it take to build a road the whole length of North and South America.

MILO MEAD
New Lebanon. March 17th, 1603*

*In the published text the year is mistakenly stated as 1603, whereas it should be 1903.