USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Altoona > History of the city of Altoona and Blair County : including sketches of the shops of the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. > Part 1
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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08044225 8
94
Presented by altoona Mechanics Library to the New York Public Library Jan- 24-1895.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/historyofcityofa00ewin
W YORK
ZAUDERBACH
1
A GLIMPSE OF ALTOONA.
HISTORY
-OF THE -
CITY OF ALTOONA
-- AND -
BLAIR COUNTY.
INCLUDING
SKETCHES OF THE SHOPS
OF THE
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD CO.
EDITED BY JAS. H. EWING AND HARRY SLEF.
ALTOONA, PA. HARRY SLEP'S MIRROR PRINTING HOUSE, 1880.
L .-
EW YORK
THE NEW YORK PUBLICLIBRARY 93928 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1808.
.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year Isso. by Harry Slep, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
PREFACE.
A book without a preface is considered incomplete. So is a ship without a figure-head. In either case the affixture is more orna- mental than useful. A book without a preface is nevertheless a hook. and a ship without a figure-head is nevertheless a ship. Notwith- standing this, in conformity to a custom which has existed from time immemorial, and remembering that custom makes law, and that law must be obeyed, we submit the following preliminary remarks :
Before commencing the preparation of a history of any particular locality, a city or county for instance, the custom has been to call upon leading.citizens, and particularly property owners, for contribu- tions of money to aid the project, the presumption being that the publication cannot fail to result in benefit to the community. No one designing to assume the position of publisher, unless he has more wealth than he knows how, otherwise, to dispose of, or is a literary gentleman of "elegant leisure," fond of seeing his name in print, feels like solely depending upon the income derived from the sale of the book as remuneration for the expenditure of time, money and labor to which he would subject himself: for it must be remembered that the sale of such a book, with but trifling exceptions, is confined to the immediate locality in which it is published, and, consequently but a limited number is demanded. When contributions have been oh- tained, unless very liberal, the price of the book is generally fixed at double the amount charged for publications of corresponding size, quality of paper, binding, etc., and thus placed beyond the reach of many of the poorer classes.
In order to avoid the necessity of calling upon citizens for contri- butions in money, and, at the same time to enable us to place the book within the reach of all, as well as to secure for ourselves a rea-
4
PREFACE.
onable remuneration for labor and outlay of capital, we adopted the plan of calling upon merchants and other business men for advertis- ing patronage, believing that to them, by publicity given, we could render an equivalent for the amount expended. They liberally re- sponded, as will be seen by the number of announcements, and we take this occasion to return our thanks.
As will be observed the advertisements do not interfere with the text of the book. It is true that the arrangement of matter is some- what different from the course usually pursued by publishers, but the history is just as complete in itself as it would have been had not a single advertisement made its appearance. Indeed the business an- nouncements make the book more interesting, for, by this means, if no other, the reader is enabled to discern who the wide-awake busi- ness men are, and such as are possessed of sufficient public spirit, as citizens, to aid in enterprises which result in good to the community.
This book is not perfect-no man ever saw one that was-but we console ourselves with the reflection that we did the best we could under the circumstances, sparing neither labor, time nor expense in getting at the facts underlying the subjects treated.
As members of this community, and feeling a deep and abiding interest in its prosperity and future advancement, we hope the facts and statements we have given will be well received by the public, and will serve to abridge the labor of future historians.
We are under many obligations to Mr. L. P. Farmer, the efficient and polite General Passenger Agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad company, for favors extended to us.
PUBLISHERS.
ALTOONA AND BLAIR·COUNTY.
INTRODUCTION.
In a restricted sense, leaving out the disparity of years, the life of a city is like the life of a man. There is infancy, puberty, adol- escence, manhood, old age, and death. Were the lives of cities co- extensive with the lives of men, we might appropriately say that Al- toona has passed through the period of infancy, with its imbecility, helplessness and perils. It has not only reached the age of puberty, but, from that point has passed through the entire period of adoles- cence. It has arrived at the age of thirty-one years, adolescence, in man, according to Dunglison, closing at five-and twenty, and, there- fore, has fully entered upon a career of vigorous manhood. What a triumph to commence with !
THE PATERNAL PARENT OF AALTOONA.
Cities, like men, have fathers or founders. Previous to 1849 Al- toona existed, figuratively speaking, only in an embryotie condi- tion. It was conceived by the Pennsylvania railroad, and, in the vear just mentioned, was brought forth a living child.
As we have adopted the allegorical style of writing, we will con- tinue it a little further by giving a laconie sketch of the birth and life of the Pennsylvania railroad, the father of Altoona. In doing so we preface it with some general railroad and steam memoranda. the appositeness of which, in this connection, will be readily per- ceived and appreciated :
PRIMARY ATTEMPTS AND SUCCESSES.
Beaumont, an English miner, in the early period of the Seven- teenth century, invented the first railroad (wood tracks), on which coal wagons were drawn by horses. It was built at Newcastle-on- the-Tyne. The first rails wholly made of iron were cast in England, in 1776. In 1754 iron wheels were introduced. A steam engine was completed by Newcomen and Cawley, in 1710. A Cornish
HISTORY OF ALTOONA AND BLAIR COUNTY.
miner, by the name of Savary, constructed one in 1718. In 1770 James Watt made an improved engine. In 1804, Richard Trovithick, of Cornwall, constructed a locomotive to run upon the Merthyr- Tydvil railroad, in Wales. It drew, at the rate of five miles an hour, several wagons laden with ten tons of bar iron. In 1814, George Stephenson, of England, completed the first effective locomotive, and that was not very effective. The "Rocket," which he constructed in 1829, succeeding other locomotives he had built, took a premium of 4500, offered by the Liverpool & Manchester Railroad company. Shortly after, Mr. Seguin, a French engineer, introduced locomotives in France. In September, 1809, the first experimental railroad track in the United States was laid by John Thomson, a civil engineer, of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, and constructed under his direction by Somerville, a Scotch millwright, for Thos. Leiper, of Philadelphia. It was sixty yards in length, and graded to one and one-half inch to the yard. The gauge was four feet, and the sleepers were right foot apart. The experiment with a loaded ear was so successful that Lei- per had the first practical railroad built in the United States, con- structed for the transportation of stone from his quarries on Crum creek to his landing on Ridley creek, Delaware county, Pennsylva- nia, a distance of about one mile. It continued in use for about nine- teen years. The first railroad in America over which a locomotive was run was that of the Delaware & Hudson Canal company, at Honesdale, Pennsylvania, to connect their mines with the canal. The locomotive was called "The Stowbridge Lion." It was tried on the road on the 8th day of August, 1829-found too heavy for success- ful use on the roadway, was housed up, and finally taken to pieces and destroyed. The first stone on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad was laid on the 4th July, 1828, by Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, Mary- land. At first the cars were propelled by sails, afterwards by steam. The first locomotive regularly run on that road was made by Phineas Davis, at York, Pennsylvania, in 1831. The first gauge of railroads (as in England) was four feet eight and one-half inches, correspond- ing with the width of ordinary English wagons.
Content with general railway memoranda we will now speak of the
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD.
On the 13th day of April, 1846, an act was passed to incorporate the Pennsylvania Railroad company. The capital was fixed at $7,- 500,000, with the privilege of increasing the same to $10,000,000. On June 22, 1846, books were opened for subscriptions to the stock
.
4
HISTORY OF ALTOONA AND BLAIR COUNTY.
in various places in the State. Mr. John Edgar Thomson entered upon his duties as chief engineer of the road in the early part of 1847. The grading of the first twenty miles of the road west of Harrisburg was let on July 16, 1847, and on the 22d of the same month fifteen miles cast of Pittsburg were but under contract. On December 10, 1852, vars were run through from Philadelphia to Pitt -- burg, connections between the eastern and western divisions being formed by the use of the Portage road over the mountains, the road of the Pennsylvania company not being finished there natil Febru- ary 15, 1854, when it was formally opened, and the first trains passed through Pennsylvania without use of the incline planes, of which the Portage consisted.
PORTAGE RAILROAD.
The commencement of the construction of the Allegheny Portage railroad was authorized by an act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, passed the 21st day of March, 1-31. Previous to that time surveys of the Allegheny mountains had been made by several eminent engi- neers, and these surveys had thrown much light on the topography of the country through which the railroad was to pass. Sylvester Welch was appointed principal engineer of the work by the Board of Canal Commissioners, and he organized his locating party. and had the tents pitched near Lilly's mill, at the head of the mountain branch of the Conemaugh, on the 12th day of April, 1831. The locating party, at the beginning, consisted of Sylvester Welch, principal engi- neer; Solomon W. Roberts principal assistant engineer: Patrick Griffin, surveyor; and twelve assistants, axe men and cook. The line commenced at the head of the Little Conemaugh and continued down the valley of that stream to Johnstown, a distance of twenty-one miles, where it connected with the western division of the Pennsylva- nia canal. The western end of the railroad was located on the 14th day of May, 1831. In the month of May, Mr. W. M.Inor Roberts
joined the corps as principal assistant engineer, and traced the line from the turnpike crossing, near the summit of the mountain, to Lilly's mill, a distance of five miles. The grading and masonry of the twenty-six miles were contracted for at Eben-burg on the 25th of May, and the work commenced by clearing a track one hundred and twenty feet wide through the forest most of which consisted of heavy spruce or hemlock timber. The location of the line from the turnpike crossing, near the summit of Blair's Gap, eastward to Hol- lidaysburg, a distance of ton and two-thirds miles, was immediately
S
HISTORY OF ALTOONA AND BLAIR COUNTY.
proceeded with. This part of the work was let to contractors on the 29th day of July, 1831, and thus the, grading and masonry of the whole railroad being thirty-six and two-thirds miles in length, were put under contract. The laying of the first track, and the necessary turnouts of edge rails, and of a double track of plate railway on in- cline planes, were contracted for on the 11th day of April, 1832. The work upon the road was prosecuted vigorously ; at one time a force equal to two thousand men being employed upon it, and on the 26th November, 1833, the first track was so advanced as to permit the passage of the first car over its entire length. On the 18th of March, 1834, the road was opened as a public highway, the State fur- nishing the power on the incline plane only, and it continued in use until the 31st of December, when the navigation of the canals of Pennsylvania, which this road connected, was closed for the season. The railway was again opened on the 20th March, 1835, shortly after which the second track of edge rails was completed. On the 11th of May the State began to furnish the whole motive power, locomotive engines being used on the "long level, " and this continued until about the middle of December, when the canals wore closed by ice.
The Portage road consisted of eleven "levels" or grade lines, and ten incline planes. The ascent from Johnstown to the summit is 1,1715% feet in a distance of 265 miles. The descent from the sun- mit to Hollidaysburg is 1,3985 feet in a distance of 1010 miles.
There were live ineline planes on each side of the mountain, vary- ing in inclination from 4- 9' to 5º 51', or from 7,5% feet elevation to the 100 feet base. They were numbered eastwardly, the one nearest Johnstown being No. 1, and that being nearest Hollidaysburg being No. 10. A part of the railway, generally 300 feet long at the head and foot of each plane, was made exactly level. The planes are all straight in plan, and also in profile, except that the angles of eleva- tion at the lower ends were rounded off by curves. There are some minor variations in the grades on the "levels" made to suit the ground. From the lengths and heights given in the following table the average grade of each plane may be obtained correctly.
NO. OF PLANE.
LENGTH IN FEET.
RISE IN FEET.
Plane No. 1
1,607.74 ..
150.00
Plane No. 2
1.760.13.
132.40
Plane No. 3.
118.25.
130.50
Plane No. 4.
2.195.91.
187.86
Plane No. 5.
2,628,60.
201.64
Plane No. 6.
2.713.85
266.50
Plane No. 7.
2.655.01
260.50
Plane No. 8.
3.116.92 307.60
Plane No. 9.
1.720.80
18,950
Plano No. 10.
2,205.6]
180.52
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HISTORY OF ALTOONA AND BLAIR COUNTY.
The embankments were made 25 feet wide on top, and the bed of the road in excavations was 25 feet with side ditches. Sixty-eight cul- verts of masonry, the sum of the spans of which is 494 feet, passed under the road, besides eighty-five drains of dry masonry of from two to five feet span. There were four viaduets of hammer dressed stone ; the first and larger was over the Conemaugh, at " Horse-shoe Bend," about eight miles from Johnstown. This had a single semi-circular arch of 80 feet span, and the top of the masonry was 70 feet above the surface of the water. The whole cost of this work was $54,562.24, and by building it a lateral bend of about two miles was avoided. There were two viaducts over the branches of the Conemaugh, cach of 40 feet span, one over the Juniata at Holli- dlaysburg having two arehes of 33 feet span, which vary 35 degrees from a right angle with the abutments. There was a tunnel through a spur of the mountain, at the head of plane No. 1, about four miles from Johnstown. This tunnel was 901 feet long and 20 feet wide by 19 feet high within the arch. It was arched for 150 feet at each end, and the entrance furnished with facades of ent stone. The whole cost of the tunnel was $37,498.85. The edge rails used were parallel rails of rolled iron, weighing 40 pounds per lineal yard. They were supported by cast-iron chairs, which weighed on an average 13 pounds each. The rail was secured in each chair by one iron wedge. The stone blocks which support the chairs contained 33 cubic feet ach, and were imbedded in broken stone, at a distance of 3 feet from contre to centre. On part of the road the chairs were laid upon a timber foundation, and on the incline plane and along the canal basins, at the termination of the road, flat rails upon timber were used. At the head of each incline plane there were 2 stationary steam en- gines, of 35 horse-power each, which gave motion to the endless rope to which the cars were attached. Only one engine was used at a time, but two were provided to prevent delay from accidents. Four cars, each loaded with 7,000 pounds, could be drawn up, and four be let down at the same time, and from six to ten such trips made in an hour. The machinery was simple and effective in its construction, and was superintended by Edward Miller, as principal assistant engi- neer. A safety car attended the other cars, both ascending and do- scending, and stopped them in case of accident to the rope. The credit of this contrivance was due to Mr. Welch, principal engineer. The grubbing and clearing of the road, a difficult piece of workman- ship, cost $30,524. The grading of the road, including grubbing, and cleaning, and all other work done under contracts for grading cost
10)
HISTORY OF ALTOONA AND BLAIR COUNTY.
$472,162.594. This work included 337,220 cubic yards of common excavation ; 212,034 of slate or detached rock; 566,932 of hard pan or indurated clay; 210,724 of solid rock: 14.857 solid rock in tunnel. at $1.47 per yard ; 967,060 cubic yards of embankment carried over 100 feet ; 37,327 perches of slope wall, of 25 cubic feet ; 13,342 perches vertical slope wall in drains, the viaduets, culverts and bridges in- cluded. Plane No. 6 contained 28,368 perches of masonry. For the first track there were delivered 50,911 stone blocks, which cost $27,- 072.15 : 508,901 feet lineal of 6x8, and 2,842 feet 12x12 inch timber, which cost $17,184.50. The amount done under the contracts for "laying" railway amounted to $135, 776.26.
All of the iron rails were imported from Great Britain, by _1. & G. Ralston, Philadelphia, and also part of the chairs, spikes and wedges for the first track. The total cost of British iron at Phila- delphia, imported for the first track, was $118,888.36. The aggregate cost of all work done, and materials furnished under contract, for the first track complete, was $130,716.59}. For the second track, there were imported 16,976 bar- of edge rails, each 18 feet long, which weighed 1,803 tons and 1,400 pounds gross, and cost, at Philadelphia, $43.51 per ton. The aggregate cost of all work done and materials furnished, under contract, for the second track, was 8363,937.053. The aggregate cost of the ten stationary engines, houses, sheds. dwellings, water pipes, ropes, etc., was 8151,923.30}. The total cost of the Portage railroad was $1,634,357.69. But this does not inchide office expenses, engineering, or the extra allowance to contractors by the Legislature after the work was completed. Four locomotive en- gines were used on the "long level."
Fifty thousand tons of freight and twenty thousand passengers passed over the road during the season of 1835.
BOAT TAKEN OVER THE ALLEGHENY MOUNTAINS.
In his History of Cambria County, published nearly half a cen- tury ago, Mr. Sherman Day refers to the first boat taken over the Allegheny mountains, in October, 1834, on the Portage railroad. He says : "Josse Chrisman from the Lackawanna, a tributary of the north branch of the Susquehanna, loaded his boat, 'Hit or Miss,' with his wife, children, beds and family accommodations, with pigeons and other live stock, and started for Illinois. At Hollidaysburg, where he expected to sell his boat, it was suggested by John Dougherty, of the Reliance Transportation line, that the whole concern could be safely hoisted over the mountain, and set afloat again in the canal.
11
HISTORY OF ALTOONA AND BLAIR COUNTY.
Mr. Dougherty prepared a railroad car calculated to bear the novel burden. The boat was taken from its proper element, placed on wheels, and, under the superintendence of Major C. Williams, the boat and cargo at noon on the same day began their progress over the rugged Allegheny. All this was done without disturbing the family arrangements of cooking, sleeping, etc. They rested a night on the top of the mountain, like Noah's ark on Ararat, and descended next morning into the valley of the Mississippi, and sailed for St. Louis."
GRADUAL ASCENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD.
The road commences a gradual ascent at Harrisburg where it is 310 feet above tide, and rises regularly. At Lewistown it is 480 feet above tide; at Huntingdon, 610 feet : at Tyrone, 886 feet ; at Altoona, 1,168 feet. Up to this point the heaviest gradient per mile has not exceeded 21 feet. A short distance west of Altoona this gradient is increased to 95 feet per mile on straight lines, and 82 feet per mile on curves. Thus, ascending, it reaches its culminating point at the west end of the great tunnel. where its altitude above tide is 2,161 feet. The highest gradient west of the tunnel is 526 feet per mile, and the average gradient on that end is 204 feet per mile. At Johnstown the elevation above tide is 1,184 feet ; at Greensburg, 1,090 feet, and at Pittsburg 748 feet, being 438 foot higher at its western terminus than at Harrisburg, where it commences to over- come the barrier presented by the mountains.
SUMMARY OF ITS PROGRESS.
The rise and progress of the Pennsylvania railroad is wonderful. . At first but a link in the chain of intercommunication between Phil- adelphia and Pittsburg, it has become the greatest highway of travel and traffic on the face of the earth. The road and its connections permeate all sections of the country. To transact its extended and diversified business the company now owns and runs upon its own lines upwards of 1,000 locomotives, upwards of 1,000 passenger cars. and about 20,000 freight cars. It owns 2,000 miles of completed road, and controls about 5,000 miles more. Its workshops cover an area of more than 500 acres. It employs 25,000 men, many of whom are mechanics and experts of the highest skill. It has upwards of 200 foreign ticket offices and agents (independent of those at its own stations), established in thirteen different States. It has developed mines. created manufactories, established commerce, etc.
12
HISTORY OF ALTOONA AND BLAIR COUNTY.
AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT."
STOVES.
MOUSE FURNISHING GOODS
TIN, SHEET-IRON AND COPPER WARE,
ROOFING AND SPOUTING PROMPTLY ATTENDED TO.
Best Materials --- Lowest Prices.
M'NEVIN & YEAGER.
No. 110S Eleventh Avenue.
ALTOONA, P.A.
13
HISTORY OF ALTOONA AND BLAIR COUNTY.
On February 2, 1852, Mr. J. Edgar Thomson was elected Presi- dent of the Pennsylvania Railroad company. He died on May 27, 1874. The vacancy was filled by the election of Thomas A. Scott, who had been acting in the capacity of Vice President. since March 4, 1860. It is true, however, that the position Mr. Scott held as Vice President was, for a time, merely nominal, for, on August 1, 1861, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of War. On June 1, 1862, he resigned this position, and resumed his duties as an officer of the road. But, again, in 1863, he was recalled to the War depart- ment, by Secretary Stanton, and on the 24th September of that year was created Colonel and Assistant Quartermaster. After ren- dering efficient service to the Government for a short time he again resumed his railroad duties.
The prosperity of the Pennsylvania railroad, is mainly attributa- ble to its management under the direction of J. Edgar Thomson and Thomas A. Scott, the latter being justly recognized as the most * efficient railroad officer in the United States, and, probably, in the world.
From the thirty-third annual report of the board of directors to the stockholders, presented at the meeting held March 9, 1880, we learn that the gross earnings of the Pennsylvania railroad division, between Pittsburg and Philadelphia, were $21,743,628.31 ; expenses, $11,751,620.55 ; net earnings, $9,992,007.76 ; add interest for invest- ments, $2,513,198.21 ; deduet interest on bonded debt, etc., $5,022,- 725.49-leaving the net income $7,482,480,48. The earnings of the United railroads of New Jersey division were $9, 784,843.05, and the expenses, $6,500,861.53. After deducting payments on account of in- terest, etc., there is a loss of $939,889.00 for the year, against a loss of $,136, 775.16 for 1878. The Philadelphia and Eric division shows earnings of $3,091,807.81, and expenses of $2,130,258.07. In order to provide for the cancellation of $4,970,000 of first mortgage bonds, due December 31, 1880, the Board of Directors have caused to he issued $5,000,000 of 5 per cent. bonds, due in forty years.
Since the above was written Thomas A. Scott resigned the presi- deney of the company, His resignation took effect on the Ist June, (1880). George B. Roberts, First Vice President, was elected to fill the vacancy at a special meeting of the Board of Directors held ou the 5th May. This gentleman began his career of service with the Pennsylvania Railroad company in the spring of 1851 as a rodman in the engineer corps, and was, during the following summer, promoted to the position of assistant engineer in charge of the division on the
14
HISTORY OF ALTOONA AND BLAIR COUNTY.
summit of the AAllegheny mountain, which division included the great tunnel. In 1869 he was elected Fourth Vice President, in 1872 Second Vice President, and in 1874 First Vice President. When Col. Scott was made President, Mr. Roberts (as First Vice President) had charge of all engineering matters connected with the construe- tion or extension of any of the company's lines, and a general super- vision over the accounts of the company through the comptroller. Ho also aided the President in all matters connected with other roads leased or controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad company. On Feb- ruary 9, 1875, he was re-elected Secretary and Treasurer of the West Jersey railroad, a position he had hold for nine years, and in 1876 became President. Mr. Roberts is distinguished for his conscientious devotion to interests intrusted to his care. With him railroad ongi- neering is one of the exact sciences. His thorough training and great experience have rendered him perfectly familiar with every- thing connected with railway business.
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