Explore Thomas Cole

A railroad line running from the town of Catskill to the Erie Canal and Erie Railroad. Major construction for the Canajoharie & Catskill Railroad line began in 1836, the same year that Thomas Cole permanently moved to Catskill. The line began running in 1839, but unreliable financing and a flood in 1840 caused New York State to sell the line in 1842. Cole was disturbed by the railroad's destruction of the Catskill landscape, and he depicted the Canajoharie & Catskill Railroad in his 1843 painting River in the Catskills.