On May 6, 1836 an act was passed in New York authorizing the construction of the Genesee Valley Canal, running from the Erie Canal in Rochester southwest along the Genesee River valley to Mount Morris, Portageville, and Belfast, and then cross-country to the Allegheny River at Olean, with a branch from Mount Morris paralleling the Canaseraga Creek to Dansville.

Instead, the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad, connecting to the river at Carrollton, west of Olean, was used as a reason to continue building the canal.

At Hinsdale it connected to the Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia Railway, and the rest of the canal south to and through Olean was not used as it closely paralleled the BNY&P.

In 1881 the part north of Nunda was abandoned, and on July 11 of that year, the company was consolidated into the Rochester, New York and Pennsylvania Railroad.

This project is to transform the abandoned canal and railroad routes into a recreational pathway.