USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume I > Part 28
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At the January sessions in 1772, the Bedford county court appointed viewers for a road "leading from the Standing Stone or Hart's Log,
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by Boquet's spring and up Woodcock valley to the crossing of Yellow creek, and from thence to join the great road near Bloody Run." No report was made by the viewers and new ones were appointed, who like- wise failed to report. A third set of viewers also failed to report and, in April, 1774, John Piper, Richard Long, John Mitchell, Samuel Ander- son, and James Little were appointed. They laid out a road and made report the following July. One branch of this road ran from a point near the mouth of the Standing Stone creek to Boquet's spring ( Mc- Connellstown) and the other from Water Street narrows, on the Franks- town branch of the Juniata, to intersect the first at Boquet's spring. This was one of the first roads in Huntingdon county.
Another early road in that county was one built in 1774 from Silver's ford, on the Juniata river, to intersect the road at Burnt Cabins. It was thirty-three feet wide and started from the Juniata about a mile above the mouth of Aughwick creek, ran past Robert Cluggage's mill and crossed Aughwick creek north of old Fort Shirley.
During the Revolution little attention was paid to road building, but upon the return of peace a number of highways were projected and some of them opened into roads which are still in use. Among these were roads from the Raystown branch to Fort Littleton and Garard's mill, below McConnellstown; one known as the "Graffius road," which left the Hart's Log road near Pulpit Rocks and led to the settlements on the river above Petersburg; and "Thompson's road" in the Plank valley. A public road from Huntingdon to Three Springs, via Cassville, was laid out in 1790, and one from Huntingdon to McCormick's mill the same year.
Farther down the Juniata valley roads were built "from Hamilton's mill, on Lost creek, to Miller's tavern, near the ferry that leads to Carlisle from Juniata"; from Enoch Anderson's mill on the Juniata to Robert Nelson's and thence to George Pyle's, on the line of Northum- berland county ; from David Miller's ferry on the Juniata to John Gra- bill's mill on Mahantango creek, and one from Lewistown to intersect the one running from Beaver Dam township to the Northumberland county line. A road was laid out in September, 1890, from Lewistown to Drake's ferry, via Brightfield's run and Holliday's mill. The same year a road was laid out from "Run Gap in the Tuscarora mountain, thence by Thomas Turbutt's tan-yard, the nearest and best way to
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Joseph McClelland's ferry." McClelland's ferry was where Mifflintown now stands. Many more roads were petitioned for, but the records do not show that they were built until years afterward, and some of them never.
Early in the nineteenth century agitation was started in favor of turnpikes. In March, 1807, the legislature passed an act incorporating a company to build a turnpike from Harrisburg to Lewistown. The act was passed in response to a petition asking for a charter to construct a turnpike from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh along the Juniata river. Among the incorporators of the Harrisburg and Lewistown section were John Norris, David Davidson, John Bratton, William Thompson, Ezra Doty, James Knox, George McClelland, and John Brown, of Mif- flin county. Under the same act the Lewistown & Huntingdon Turnpike Company was organized and the road between those two points was completed in 1818. The east end was not completed until 1825.
In 1808 a company was organized to run a line of stages from Harrisburg to Alexandria. A circular was issued on April 14, 1808, announcing that the first stage would start on May 3d from Berryhill's tavern, in Harrisburg, and run via Clark's ferry, Millerstown, Thompson- town, Mifflintown, Lewistown, Waynesburg, and Huntingdon, to Alex- andria. Stages on this line ran once a week, leaving Harrisburg on Tuesdays and Alexandria on Saturdays. The fare was six cents a mile, fourteen pounds of baggage free, 150 pounds of baggage to be equal to a passenger. The first stage-coach, called the "Experiment." arrived at Huntingdon on the evening of May 5, 1808, and at Alexandria the day following. In 1828 the line was extended to Pittsburgh and the mails were carried by the company three times a week. The next year the proprietors made arrangements with the government to carry mails daily. Upon the completion of the canal the stages were discontinued.
On January 3, 1813, in response to a petition of Judge William Brown and other citizens of Mifflin county, an act was passed incorpo- rating a company to build a turnpike from the court-house in Lewistown to Alexander Reed's house in the Kishacoquillas valley. Books were opened in October of that year, the stock was subscribed, the road built and is still in use.
Before the introduction of the turnpike and stage-coach the mails were carried by post-riders to all the pioneer postoffices in the interior.
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In fair weather post-riders made the trip from Harrisburg to Hunting- don in four days. In 1853 Zachariah Rice established a daily stage from Landisburg to Newport, via Loysville, Greenpark, and Bloom- field, and a tri-weekly stage to Germantown. His sons, Samuel, Jesse, James, Henry, William, Joseph and Zachariah, all became stage drivers on these lines and, after the death of the founder in 1880, succeeded to the business. A line had been started from Clark's ferry to Landis- burg by Robert Clark, about 1829, but after a short time it was aban- doned.
Before the construction of roads in the Juniata valley at public ex- pense, the larger streams were utilized as highways. By the act of March 9, 1771, the Juniata was declared a public highway as far as Bedford and Frankstown and a number of other streams were declared to be open for the purposes of navigation, etc. James Wright, George Ross, Thomas Minshall, John Louden, Alexander Lowrey, William Mc- Clay, Samuel Hunter, Jr., William Patterson, Robert Callender, Charles Steward, Reuben Haines, Thomas Holt and William Richardson were appointed commissioners for clearing the streams and making them navigable. No appropriations were made to defray expenses, but the commissioners were authorized to receive any sums "given, granted or subscribed," etc. Besides the Juniata, the Susquehanna, Bald Eagle, and Penn's creeks, and a few other streams were included in the pro- visions of the act. While the people would have no doubt been pleased to have seen the streams improved at the public expense, they were unwilling to donate any considerable amount for the purpose, hence the benefits derived from the law were comparatively slight.
Nevertheless, the Juniata came to be a thoroughfare for navigation in 1796, when the first "ark" went down that stream to the Susquehanna. It was built by a German named Kryder, at his mill above Huntingdon, and loaded with 300 barrels of flour. The ark has been described as "a large, strongly-built and high-sided flatboat in almost universal use on the rivers of Pennsylvania-particularly the Susquehanna and its tribu- taries-for the transportation of all kinds of produce down the streams to market." The arks were never brought back up the river, but were sold for whatever they would bring at the point where the cargo was discharged. The descent of the Juniata was always made at a time when there was a good stage of water in the river. Each ark was managed
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by a crew of from three to five men and some of them were large enough to carry twenty or twenty-five tons of freight. Some days they would float down the river at the rate of six or eight miles an hour and they continued in use until superseded by the canal boat.
During the administration of Governor Hiester, from 1820 to 1823, the great question before the people of central and western Pennsyl- vania was the construction of some channel of communication to the West. The legislature of 1821 chartered numerous canal and turnpike companies and authorized the state to subscribe for stock in the same, but little real good was accomplished by such companies. On March 27, 1824, the legislature passed an act providing for the appointment of commissioners to promote the internal improvement of the state. Three commissioners were instructed to explore a route for a canal from Har- risburg to Pittsburgh, via the Juniata and Conemaugh rivers. A survey was made and, after several laws had been enacted and repealed, the act of February 25, 1826, authorized the board of commissioners "to locate and contract for making a canal and locks, and other works necessary thereto, from the river Swatara, at or near Middletown, to or near a point on the east side of the river Susquehanna, opposite the mouth of the river Juniata, and from Pittsburgh to the mouth of the Kiskimin- etas."
This arrangement left a wide gap between the Susquehanna and Allegheny rivers without artificial means of transportation and was not satisfactory to the people of the Juniata valley. Consequently the act of February 25, 1826, was repealed and that of April II, 1825, re- enacted. This act provided for five commissioners who were authorized "to examine routes from Philadelphia through Chester and Lancaster counties, then by the West Branch of the Susquehanna and from the mouth of the Juniata to Pittsburgh."
Under the provisions of this the "Pennsylvania Canal" was con- structed. Ground was broken at Harrisburg on July 4, 1826. An office was opened at Millerstown and James Clarke was made superintendent of the Juniata division. In May. 1828, Colonel Clinton was engaged in taking levels and locating the canal near Huntingdon. In September of that year the canal commissioners met at Harrisburg, heard the re- ports of the engineers, selected the route, and directed that contracts be made for the construction of the canal from Lewistown to Huntingdon,
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a distance of forty-five miles. On August 27, 1829, the first boat went up the canal from Harrisburg and on September 22nd the water was let into the first level at Lewistown. The first packet-boat-the Juniata- arrived at Lewistown on October 29, 1829, having on board a number of ladies and gentlemen from down the river. The boat was met at the Narrows by a large number of people from Lewistown, accompanied by a band, who got aboard and returned to Lewistown, where a dinner was served. The next year the canal was completed to Huntingdon, regular packet lines for both freight and passengers were established and the canal continued in successful operation for twenty years. In round numbers the cost of this canal was $8,325,000, the cost of the Juniata division being $3,521,000. John A. Shulze, who was elected governor in 1823, opposed the loan of $1,000,000, but he yielded to the popular clamor for public improvement and before the close of his administra- tion in 1829 about $6,000,000 had been borrowed.
In 1831 the entire line of public works from Philadelphia to Pitts- burgh-126 miles of railroad and about 290 miles of canal-had been completed and several branch canals constructed at a cost of something like $35,000,000. The Pennsylvania Canal, which was heralded as the greatest public improvement of its day, and which was for twenty years the chief avenue of transportation for the rich Juniata valley, is now only a memory. It served its purpose well, but an age of progress de- manded something better and it gave way to the railroad.
In May, 1827. a railroad nine miles in length was completed and put in operation between Mauch Chunk and the coal mines. At that time this was the longest railroad in America and the only one in Pennsyl- vania, with the exception of a short wooden track railway at some stone quarries in Delaware county. The general plan of internal improvements inaugurated during the administration of Governor Shulze was to make the main canals constitute the great arteries of a transportation system, with branches to all parts of the state. Communication by water was not always feasible and several lines of railroad were proposed to run northward and southward from points on the Pennsylvania canal to interior cities.
The first railroad to be projected within the territory included in this history was the Philipsburg & Juniata, which was incorporated by act of March 16, 1830, to run "from the Pennsylvania canal, at or
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near the mouth of the Little Juniata, below Alexandria, in Hunting- don county, thence up the Little Juniata and Little Bald Eagle creeks and through Emigh's Gap, to the coal mines in the neighborhood of Philipsburg, in Centre county." A survey of the route was made in 1833, but the road was never built. The region it was designed to bene- fit is now supplied by branches of the great Pennsylvania railway sys- tem. The Huntingdon & Chambersburg Railroad Company was in- corporated on June 16, 1836, and the Huntingdon & Hollidaysburg Rail- road Company was granted a charter by the legislature on July 2, 1839, though neither of the lines contemplated were ever built.
In the meantime several projects for the construction of a continuous line of railroad from the Delaware river to the Ohio were put forward, but nothing definite was accomplished in that direction until April 13, 1846, when Governor Shunk approved an act incorporating the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company. Some years before that the legislature had granted the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company a right of way through Pennsylvania from Cumberland, Maryland, to Pittsburgh, but the company had not done anything toward the construction of a road, and in the act incorporating the Pennsylvania Company was a provision that, if $3.000,000 stock should be subscribed. $1,000,000 paid in and fifteen miles of road at each terminus put under contract by July 30, 1847, the privilege granted to the Baltimore & Ohio Company should become null and void. This provision served as a stimulus to the new company. A board of directors was elected on March 30, 1847, when Samuel V. Merrick was chosen president of the company, and before the required time eighteen miles were under contract at the eastern end and fifteen at the western. On August 23, 1849, the first train (a lum- ber train) arrived at Lewistown and a week later a large party of rail- road men and prominent citizens came up to that town from Harrisburg. Regular trains began running on the first of September. On November 3d an advertisement appeared in the Lewistown Gazette announcing that "Freight trains now run twice a week between Lewistown and Philadel- phia, as follows, viz .: Leaving Lewistown on Wednesdays and Satur- days, and Philadelphia on Mondays and Thursdays."
In Huntingdon county the first surveys were made in the summer of 1847 and contracts for the grading and masonry were let in the spring of 1848. The first train arrived at Huntingdon on June 6, 1850. The
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event is thus described by Lytle: "It consisted of five or six trucks drawn by the locomotive 'Henry Clay.' In a few days afterwards it proceeded westward, the road being in running order to the Allegheny mountains. The excitement with which it was greeted probably ex- ceeded that on the arrival of the first canal boat. Its approach had been heralded throughout the country for miles on both sides of the railroad, and as it was a trial trip, the train necessarily running slowly, the people had time to reach the railroad and witness the novel sight. In fact, the engine announced itself by shrill whistles that surprised even the moun- tains through which they echoed. But there was disappointment. The idea had become general that trains never ran with less speed than lightning, and to see that one coming at the rate of three or four miles per hour was not what had been expected. It was not yet time for the express or the limited mail."
On June 7, 1850, regular trains commenced running between Hunt- ingdon and Philadelphia. An extra freight train had been added in the preceding December between Lewistown and Philadelphia and the first passenger time schedule was published at that time. In April, 1850, two daily passenger trains were announced and freight trains daily, ex- cept Sunday.
Late in the year 1852 trains ran all the way from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh via the portage, with its ten inclined planes, and on February 15, 1854, the road was finished. Let the reader's imagination carry him back three score or more years. to a time when the Pennsylvania railroad consisted of a single track ; with freight trains running three times a week and two passenger trains a day; with locomotives of the old wood-burning type, having huge funnel-shaped smokestacks, and compare that road with the Pennsylvania railroad of the present, when monster locomotives haul trains of from fifty to eighty loaded cars over the great four-track system every few minutes, and from fifteen to twenty passenger trains daily rush with the speed of the wind across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Then he will realize that progress has been made in the transportation facilities of the country.
On January 11, 1847, David Blair, then representative from Hunt- ingdon county, introduced a bill entitled "An Act to incorporate the Huntingdon & Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company." It passed both branches of the legislature, but was vetoed by Governor Shunk,
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who objected to the provision allowing the company to hold 5,000 acres of land and also that it did not make the stockholders individually liable for the debts of the company. At the session of 1848 Alexander King, of Bedford county, presented a bill in the state senate to incorporate a company under the same name as that proposed by Mr. Blair, but the house struck out the words "and coal" and the bill became a law. No organization was effected under that act and, on May 6, 1852, another was passed incorporating the Huntingdon & Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company. Contracts for the grading of the road-bed were made in July, 1853, and on August 13, 1855, trains commenced running be- tween Huntingdon and Marklesburg. Bedford was designated as the southern terminus of the road, but when the line was completed to Mount Dallas, eight miles from Bedford, the company became financially embarrassed, work was suspended, and the remaining eight miles were not finished until the building of the Bedford & Bridgeport railroad some years later. It was by means of this road that the supply of coal in the Broad Top field was brought in touch with the market. The road is now operated in connection with the Pennsylvania.
As early as 1848 a movement was started for the building of a rail- road from Mount Union to the Broad Top coal district, and on February 28th of that year a meeting was held at Scottsville, at which a committee of sixteen citizens was appointed to present the matter to the legislature. This committee performed its work so well that on March 28, 1848, an act was passed incorporating the Drake's Ferry & East Broad Top Rail- road Company. No effort was made to build a road under the charter thus obtained and, on April 16, 1856, an act was passed under which the East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company was organized. For some reason work was not commenced until the fall of 1872 and the road was completed to Robertsdale in November, 1874. Robertsdale remained the southern terminus of the road for some time, when it was extended to Woodvale, near the Bedford county line. This road has been an important factor in the development of the coal and iron deposits in the southern part of Huntingdon county.
A company known as the Lewisburg, Centre & Spruce Creek Rail- road Company was incorporated on April 12, 1853. Three years later a survey was made, but nothing further was done for some time. In the original charter Spruce Creek was named as the southern terminus,
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where the road would connect with the main line of the Pennsylvania. By a supplementary act the company was given the privilege of changing it to Tyrone. The latter place was selected and grading through Hunt- ingdon county was done in 1873. Work was then suspended for want of funds, owing to the panic of that year, and in 1880 the name was changed to Lewisburg & Tyrone railroad. A section of the road from Tyrone to Pennsylvania Furnace was finished in the fall of that year and the entire line was opened about five years later. It is now operated by the Pennsylvania Company.
The Mifflin & Centre County Railroad Company was incorporated on April 2, 1860, with a capital stock of $250,000 and authority to build a railroad from Lewistown to Milesburg, or some point near the latter place. The following March the Pennsylvania Company was given the power to assist railroads auxiliary to its own and through this means funds were obtained for the construction of the road. In 1864 it was completed to Milroy, twelve miles north of Lewistown, where it ter- minates. It is now a part of the Pennsylvania system.
What is now the Sunbury division of the Pennsylvania railroad had its origin in a company called the Middle Creek Railroad Company, which was incorporated on March 23, 1865, with the right to build a railroad from some point on the Pennsylvania railroad, at or near Lewis- town, to the Susquehanna river at or between Port Treverton and North- umberland. The road was in operation in 1868. It runs northeast from Lewistown, up the Jack's creek valley, and connects with the Erie divi- sion of the Pennsylvania at Selingsgrove Junction. in Northumberland county. By an act of the legislature, approved February 17, 1870, the name was changed to the Sunbury & Lewistown Railroad Company, under which it continued until taken over by the Pennsylvania.
Several companies have formed and incorporated at various times for the construction of short lines of railroad, but most of them ended in failure. The Duncannon, Bloomfield & Broad Top Railroad Company was incorporated in April, 1866, with an authorized capital of $1,000,000, for the purpose of constructing a road from some point on the Pennsyl- vania, near Duncannon, to the Broad Top mountain, in Bedford county passing through New Bloomfield, the county seat of Perry county. A supplementary act reduced the capital stock to $750,000, only about one-tenth of which was subscribed and the project was abandoned.
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On April 3, 1872, the Duncannon, Bloomfield & Loysville Railroad Company received a charter to build a line of railway between the points named. The capital stock was fixed at 2,000 shares of fifty dollars each. A survey was made some years later and about 1887 a new company was formed to which the charter rights were transferred. Some grading was done that year, but the floods wrought so much damage that work was suspended for about two years, when it was resumed and the road completed about 1892. It is now known as the Susquehanna River & Western. At Duncannon it connects with the Pennsylvania railroad and the western terminus is about two and a half miles west of New Bloomfield, where it connects with the Newport & Sherman's Valley railroad.
By an act of the legislature, approved April 10, 1873, a charter was granted to a company of Perry county citizens to build a narrow gauge railroad from Newport up the Sherman's valley. The authorized capital stock was $25,000, but the company was given the privilege of borrow- ing money with which to construct the road, issuing bonds therefor. Several years elapsed before the road was constructed and it was not until about 1892 that trains were running regularly between Newport and New Germantown, which is the western terminus.
The Tuscarora Valley Railroad Company was incorporated by act of the general assembly on March 5, 1872, with a capital stock of 400,- 000 shares of fifty dollars each. Under the charter the company was authorized to construct a line of railway from any point on the Penn- sylvania railroad in Juniata county through the Tuscarora valley to the line of either Huntingdon or Franklin county, with lateral branches, etc. After numerous delays and drawbacks the road was completed about 1891, from Port Royal, up the Tuscarora creek, to Blair's Mills, in Huntingdon county.
Another short line of railroad built by local capital is the Kishaco- quillas Valley railroad, which connects with the Pennsylvania railroad and extends southward up the Kishacoquillas valley to Belleville, a dis- tance of ten miles. Right of way for this line was obtained in 1892-93 and the road was completed a few years later. Compared with some of the great trunk lines, these local roads would be considered insignifi- cant, but each one of them has been of great importance to the farmers in the fertile valley through which they pass by giving them an outlet to
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