Remembering D. C. Littlejohn
by Richard Palmer
D.C. Littlejohn, founder of the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad, was always receiving “poetic justice” by newspapers for the way he was always trying to “pick the pockets” of local taxpayers in the late 1860s and early 1870s. The following was widely published in communities through which the railroad passed.
Littlejohn was born in the hamlet of Bridgewater in Oneida County in 1818. At one time her served in the New York State Assembly and Senate, was a Congressman, and even mayor of the city Oswego. Always an enterprising person, he was co-owner of a large fleet of Erie Canal boats and was involved in numerous business ventures.
During the Civil War he served as colonel of the 110th New York Volunteer Infantry. As a part-time military military man, he was brevetted brigadier general of Volunteers March 13, 1865. In 1866 he and a group of entrepreneurs organized the New York & Oswego Midland Railroad, of which eh served as president un til 1873 when the Midland declared bankruptcy. After that was heavily engaged in the shipping and lumber business. A huge forested area in northern Oswego County was known as the “Littlejohn Tract.” He died in Oswego, October 27, 1892. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Oswego.
Among the newspapers in which the poem appeared was the Syracuse Journal March 27, 1872:
LITTLEJOHN. - Some poet has been racking his brains to tell the story in verse of DeWitt C. Littlejohn’s exploits in building the Midland Railroad. The style in which it is done may be inferred from these verses:-
I will go from the lakes,” he said.
“From the lakes to the great sea shore.
“Right through the heart of the Empire State.
"You shall hear the engines' roar.”
“There are hills between," they said.
“I will bridge the deep ravine,
“You shall hear the tread of the iron horse
“Through your hills and valleys, I ween.”
“Oswego on Ontario's Lake
“Shall reach forth her hands and say,
"To Oxford and Norwich, 'Good morrow, friends
"Pray give a call some day.’ “
“New Berlin, DeRuyter and Delhi, too
“We will reach by the iron band.
“And to many a fair town on the way
"We will give a good right hand."
“And where will you get your cash,” they said.
“And where is your strongbox, pray.
“You can't expect to find the gold
"Scattered along the way?”
“We shall find the cash on the way," he said.
“The farmers good and true—
“Will give their cash and bond their towns
“To pull the railroad through.”
“And what will you call your pet?" they said
“And what shall its title be?
“Your wonderful railway that shall bring
“Oswego to the sea?"
"The Midland, sirs, for it shall take
“New York by a willing hand
“And wed her to Oswego fair
“By a mystic iron band.”
“Well, when we hear the engines’ puff
“And hear the roar of the coming train
“Theri we'll believe in your Midland road
"But your words seem idle and vain.”
“We have heard the puff of the iron horse
“We have heard the roar of the train.
“And we know the Midland is a fact
“And ours the words so vain."
Old Shawangunk may lift her head
And hurl her rocks in vain.
She shall hear the tread of the iron horse
And the roar of the coming train.
And proud New York, with open arms
In eighteen seventy-three;
Shall greet her sister from the lakes
With a welcome glad and free.
