The Whitehall and Plattsburgh Railroad was incorporated on March 20, 1868. The company planned a line linking Plattsburgh, New York, the southern terminus of the Montreal and Plattsburgh Railroad, with Whitehall, New York, the northern terminus of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad. The planned route ran north from Whitehall to Port Henry, New York, on Lake Champlain, then turned inland to follow the Ausable River. An early champion of the company was Smith Mead Weed, member of the New York State Assembly for Clinton County, but he was unable to secure public funding for the railroad.
