Dayton, New York is a village in Cattaraugus County on the original main line of the Erie Railroad, approximately half way between Salamanca and Dunkirk. On May 15, 1851 passengers on the first train to traverse the entire length of the Erie caught their first glimpse of Lake Erie in the distance from Dayton. On that historic day a local citizen, Ebenezer A. Henry (also reported as Ebenezer G. Atwater), fired a War of 1812-vintage cannon which exploded, blowing off both his arms and blinding him in one eye.
This line was operated by the New York and Erie Rail Road (1851 – 1861), the Erie Railway (1861 – 1878), the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad (1878 – 1895), the Erie Railroad (1895 – 1960), and the Erie Lackawanna Railroad (1960 – 1976). The line between Dunkirk and Dayton, NY was abandoned in 1976 with the creation of the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail). The line between Salamanca and Dayton was operated by Conrail until 1978 when it was transferred to the New York & Lake Erie Railroad, which operated it until it was abandoned in 1990.
The Dayton Tunnel
The Buffalo & Southwestern Railroad line from Buffalo to Jamestown crossed under the tracks of the Erie at Dayton. For some unknown reason, the B&SW chose to tunnel through the fill supporting the Erie tracks rather than build a bridge for the Erie rails.
The 1901 book “Historical and biographical history of the township of Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York” by Charles Shults has the following account of the building of the fill through which the tunnel was built:
When the railroad was put through in 1851, the center of activity and settlement changed from the summit to the present location on the railroad. The putting through of the railroad did much for the town. The farmers who were the ones to be benefitted not only bonded themselves but gave time and labor to aid the road. The government had promised a bonus to the road if the work should be completed so that trains could be run from New York to Dunkirk by a certain time. The work of making the fill where the Buffalo and Southwestern crosses the Erie was the part which was delaying the work. The time drew near when the work was to be completed and that the road might not lose the bonus, the farmers around the village of Dayton took their teams and drew logs with which they built a trestle where the fill now is and the rails were laid on that. In this way the work was completed on time and the dirt was put there afterwards.
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- Shults, Charles J. “Historical and biographical history of the township of Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York : comprising the villages of Cottage, Wesley, Markham, Dayton, South Dayton, and Fair Plain.” 1901. Found on the Internet Archive.