This 1874 letter to the editor suggests the construction of a railroad to connect the Cross-Cut Railroad (a reference to the Buffalo, Corry and Pittsburgh Rail Road Company) and the Buffalo and Jamestown Railroad. This planning does not appear to have gotten any further than this letter as there was no record of this route being surveyed or planned.
Stockton, N. Y., January 17, 1874
EDITORS BUFFALO COURIER: Not having railroad facilities adequate to the wants of the times, the citizens of this town, and of the towns lying between Mayville and Gowanda, are looking at the feasibility of a route connecting the Cross-cut road with the Buffalo & Jamestown road, by way of the villages of Delanti and Cassadaga, through the towns of Arkwright and Villenova, to Gowanda, or some point near there. The distance between the two points, by this route, is nearer than by way of Fredonia and Forestville, besides avoiding heavy cuts, fills and bridging consequent on the latter route. The route from Gowanda to Cassadaga has bean partially surveyed, and found entirely practical; while from Cassadaga, a route to connect with the Cross-cut at some point between Prospect and the head of Chautauqua lake is unusually good, the grades not exceeding, it is thought, 30 feet per mile at any point, and most of the distance not over 6 to 10 feet per mile. This line would open up and secure the traffic of a large and rich portion of country now isolated from railroad advantages; and while the distance, grades and cost of construction would be less than by any other line, substantial aid would be given by the different towns through which the road might pass.
A road running so nearly parallel with two already established lines (the Erie and the Lake Shore), as by way of Fredonia, could not hope to build up and hold the local trade which would be sure to be secured by the route through the towns before named. We do not know, of course, that the two roads will ever be connected; but if they are, would it not be for the interest of the parties making the connection to look at the route here suggested?
Source: Courier & Republic, Buffalo, NY, 19 January 1874, p. 2, NYS Historic Newspapers.