Year-round trail from abandoned rail in the works
LITTLE VALLEY - Members of the Southern Tier Rails to Trail Association (START) Steering committee have chosen “ The Iroquois Recreation Trail” as the moniker for the pathway that will run along the 12.1 mile former rail bed.
“The name for the trail was chosen as much for its ability to invoke a mysticism for the trail and the region, as well as its historical and geographical importance,” said START member Tim Jackson Sr.
The Seneca Indians, who continue to live in the region through which the trail runs, were one of five nations, along with Cayugas, Mohawk, Oneida and Onondaga, which formed the Iroquois Confederacy.
The Erie Railroad operated the line from 1881 to 1992, when the 12-mile stretch became the property of the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency.
The line was last used by the New York and Lake Erie Railroad for excursion train runs into Salamanca before the rail and ties were salvaged.
CCIDA turned the property over to CLDC in the spring after a series of public meetings.
The Southern Tier Area Rails to Trail Committee (S.T.A.R.T.) is working with the CLDC on the conversion project. S.T.A.R.T. hopes to use volunteer labor for clean-up efforts and the resurfacing of the trail. The organization formed a steering committee in March to seek grant funds, coordinate fund raising efforts, manage the volunteer work force, and evaluate project costs.
Committee members said the trail is designed to provide a dedicated, safe, alternative route for hikers, bicyclists, horseback riding, sleigh riders, rollerbladers, snowshoe users, snowmobilers, and cross country skiers. The project is expected to involve Allegany State Park, the Seneca Nation of Indians, the City of Salamanca, the towns of Salamanca, Little Valley, Mansfield and New Albion, and the villages of Little Valley and Cattaraugus.
Recreation Trail Program Grant funds totaling $80,000 be used for planning, safety equipment, picnic tables, self-contained bathrooms, and maintenance equipment, as well as beautification projects scheduled for the demonstration project in Little Valley.
No date has yet been set for the completion of the project.
Two of these beautification projects are the Friendship Arch to be located at the end of Main Street in the Village of Little Valley and the placement of a refurbished caboose near the arch to be used for an information/tourist center, similar to the Salamanca Area Chamber of commerce tourist information center on Broad Street Extension.
Leaders from Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties have teamed up to promote their rails-to-trails projects to tourists.
In an effort to increase cooperation across county lines and link major tourism assets in the Southern Tier, rails-to-trails association in both counties are working together on sister projects.
“Our cooperative activities have helped coordinate an effort to acquire much-needed maintenance and development tools that ensure our projects’ success,’ said Southern Tier Association for Rails-to-Trails START Chairman Brad Walters. “The Teaching Center in Falconer has helped immensely with this effort.”
The Rails-to Trails associations are also currently involved in an extensive mapping project for the tree counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua. The project will culminate in a coordinated map for recreational trail users and tourism within those counties.
Committee members include Project Coordinator and CLDC Executive Director Rick LeFeber, Walters of the Southern Tier Builders Association, Wayne Reed of the Cattaraugus County Snowmobile Club, Tammy Buchhardt of Little Valley Revitalization and Economic Development (LVRED) Jim Toner of the New York State Snowmobile Association and Jackson.
