Back as the 20th century was a-borning, bicycles were rocking American society and technology. Rather than high-wheelers, riders now had the new “safety bicycle” – essentially our modern bikes, minus the gearshift and kickstand. They were cheap, they were easy to maintain, and almost anybody could learn to ride. For the first time in their history, Americans had independent transportation.
*They just needed someplace to go, for the roads were terrible. Auto drivers in a 1908 New York to Paris race said that American roads were the worst in the world, and that race included driving the entire length of Siberia. In 1901, Urbana had 71 highway supervisors… presumably farmers each assigned to a nearby stretch of road… which must have meant wildly uneven maintenance.
*Enter the sidepaths. Bicyclists and engineers worked together to create superb “best practice” designs that would let the cyclist whiz along at great speed and comfort, in an aesthetic setting. New York state required sidepaths, and for some reason put the county judges in charge of them. Even then results were uneven. Haverling’s bicycle-themed 1897 “yearbooks,” the Senior Rambler and the Junior Scorcher, complained that while Hammondsport had done a great job on its half of the route, Bath was idling.
*A 1901 League of American Wheelmen map shows that Steuben’s three largest communities (Hornell, Corning, Bath) each lay at the heart of a three-pointed star, with paths reaching out to nearby communities. (Avoca had made a start too, toward the northwest.) Robert L. McCullough from the University of Vermont identified 45 completed miles in Steuben. Hornell connected to Arkport, Almond, Canisteo; Bath to Kanona, Savona, Hammondsport; Corning to Addison, Horseheads, Coopers Plains.
*There was a simultaneous “good roads” movement, which might have seemed like a natural ally, but the “good roads” people HATED the sidepaths, feeling that the acreage and the funding could be put to better use on the highways themselves. Ironically, the well-kept sidepaths prompted angry demands by drivers to make the roads just as good. Along with the growing use of autos, that put an end to the sidepath movement. (I suspect that the county judges did not see them as worth a bureaucratic fight, since they had nothing to do with the mission of the courts.)
*While the law was in effect every bicycle in Steuben County required a sixty-cent annual tag, and the records we’ve found show annual income of a little over $2000. Young Glenn Curtiss collected the fees from his bike-shop customers as a sidepath deputy. It’s been pointed out to me, and I have verified, that you can find traces of the old sidepath along the Fish Hatchery Road between Hammondsport and Bath. If there are others still visible within Steuben, I’d love to know!