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Administrative History

Mortgages to the state were required to be registered in the Secretary of State's office by Laws of 1807, Chap. 74. The last entry for an ordinary land sale mortgage is dated 1822. All mortgages registered between 1825 and 1842 were executed to the state by railroad companies and other corporations undertaking internal improvements. In each case the mortgage secured a loan or an issue of state stock to the corporation, authorized by a special act by the Legislature.

The companies aided were the Buffalo Harbour Company, the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, the Neversink Navigation Company, the Canajoharie and Catskill Rail Road Company, the Ithaca and Oswego Rail Road Company, the Auburn and Syracuse Rail Road Company, the New York and Erie Rail Road Company, the Tonawanda Rail Road Company, the Auburn and Rochester Rail Road Company, and the Schenectady and Troy Rail Road Company.