USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 64
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
By the first of October, 1834, the last spike was driven in the double track. The act of April 13, 1846, authorized the Pennsylvania Railroad to construct a road from Harrisburg to Pittsburg. This road was chartered February 25, 1847. The company was organized on March 31, 1847, with Samuel Vaughn Merrick, president, and eleven directors.
On April 9, 1847, John Edgar Thompson was chosen chief, and W. B. Foster, Jr., and Edward Miller, associate engineers. Grading commenced at Harrisburg July 7, 1847. This was the beginning of the Pennsylvania Road. In about two years trains were running to Lewistown. In 1850 the road was completed to the Allegheny Portage Railroad. On the 10th of December, 1852, cars were running from Philadelphia, over the Columbia Road, the Portage Road, and the Pennsylvania Road, into Pittsburg. The Portage Road was one of the wonders of America. Passenger changes were at Harrisburg and Dillersburg. Each passenger-car carried an eight-foot plank on which the passengers walked the plank to make these changes.
The pioneer restaurant in 1856 was the "pie-and-cake" stand on the railroad platform. From this was sold pies, " mint stick candy," sour balls, ju-ju-be paste, licorice balls, Baltimore plug, ginger bread, mead, root beer, and half-Spanish cigars.
On June 25, 1847, John Edgar Thompson, for seven and a half million dollars, bought the public works of Pennsylvania, and on August 1, 1857, the Pennsylvania took possession of the main line of public works of Pennsylvania, which embraced the Columbia Railroad to Philadelphia, and on July 18, 1858, the Pennsylvania Railroad ran the first passenger wide car train into Pitts- burg from Philadelphia without a change of cars. To this train was attached a Woodruff sleeper and a smoking-car, the first smoker ever used. Up to 1843 the cost of the public works to the State was $14,361,320.25. Horses were used more or less on the Portage Road up to 1850. In 1857 this road was abandoned.
Railroad agitation and experimentation date back to 1773. Oliver Evans then declared he could build and run a carriage with steam. In 1805 he did.
686
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
In 1809 Thomas Leiper constructed a tram-road in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a mile long. It was all wood, and a single horse drew the car. The second railway in Pennsylvania was built in 1827,-a horse-road nine miles long. The first locomotive was used in 1829. The pioneer railroad in Pennsylvania for passengers and freight was the Germantown Road, and the pioneer passenger train left Philadelphia June 6, 1832, drawn by horses. These horse-cars on the level ran about eight miles an hour, and had relays like the stages. The pioneer road into the interior of the State was the Columbia and Philadelphia. The State owned the road-bed, and any or every- body could use it by paying two cents a mile for each passenger he carried and four dollars and ninety-two cents for each coach sent over it, but the coaches were mostly owned and generally managed by old stage men. It was not until 1836 that locomotives were generally used on railroads. The fuel was coke and wood, twenty bushels of coke to one cord and a half of wood.
The first tunnel built in the United States was at Staple Bend, four miles east of Johnstown. It was built by the State.
William B. Sipes says,-
" The Columbia Railroad, being one of the first built in the United States, contained most of the defects of our primitive roads. It was very crooked,- some of the curves being of but six hundred and thirty-one feet radius. Its gradients, owing to the comparatively level country over which it was built and the care of the engineers who located it, were not heavy, in no place ex- ceeding forty-five feet per mile, and that for a very short distance, while the uniform grade was kept at thirty feet. An inclined plane was at each ter- minus,-that at Philadelphia being two thousand eight hundred and five feet in length, and one hundred and eighty-seven feet rise, while that at Columbia was eighteen hundred feet in length and ninety fect rise. These were at a subsequent period avoided without materially increasing the average gradient of the road. The track was of varied construction, consisting in part of granite or wooden sills, on which were secured flat rails; of edge rails on stone blocks and stone sills, and of edge rails on stone blocks and locust sills. These gradually gave place to modern improvements, and many of the sharper curves were straightened.
" The road having been constructed to be operated by horse-power. the track and turn-outs were adapted for that purpose. For several years these horse-cars were regularly run between Columbia and Philadelphia. They were built something like the old stage-coach, but larger. the entrance door being at the side, and the driver occupying an elevated seat in front. The time of these cars over the road-a distance of eighty-two miles-was about nine hours, the horses being changed every twelve miles.
" The first locomotive put on the road was built in England and named the 'Black Hawk,' after the celebrated Indian chief. As the eastern end of the road was not then completed, this engine was handed over the turnpike to
687
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
Lancaster, where her trips were to commence, and she was to be used between that city and Columbia. The day for her trial trip was a beautiful one, and thousands of people had gathered from the surrounding country to witness the novel performance. Governor Wolf and the State officials were all in Lancaster to participate, and the excitement ran high. Men were stationed along the track to keep the too venturesome boys out of danger, and among these guardians was an Irishman, who made himself particularly officious. Armed with a club, he paraded along the road, shouting to the eager urchins, ' Get out of the track! When she starts she'll go like a bird, and ye'll all be kilt.' The important moment came,-the engineer pulled the lever, but the locomotive would not go. At length, by pushing, the train was got under way; but the wonderful machine did not 'go like a bird.' She proved a failure, in fact, and her history is lost in oblivion.
"Soon after, three smaller engines were imported and put on the road. These did better than their predecessor, and about 1836 locomotives were regularly put to work, to the exclusion of horse-power. From this time on the State furnished the motive power, while all cars used for the transpor- tation of passengers and freight were the property of individuals. A regular rate of toll was charged for the use of the road and for motive power."
Rebates, discrimination, and the pass system originated with the State management in 1834, continued during the public ownership of the works for twenty-one years. So frightful were these abuses under the State manage- ment that the State became bankrupt. Now, under private or corporate use the management is healthy and profitable.
The chair-car was introduced on night lines in 1847. The pioneer sleep- ing-car (Woodruff's) was used in 1837-38; the Pullman sleeper in 1871.
Uniforms were introduced in the Harrisburg division about 1856. The uniform was a blue coat with brass buttons, buff vest, and black trousers. This uniform was so unpopular with the employees and the people that they were abandoned, but the Civil War popularized the uniforms, and the present uniform was adopted in 1876. Up to that period the word " conductor" was worn on the left lapel of the coat. It is now on the cap.
On July 6, 1837, two coal-burning locomotives were tried, but they proved useless.
Travel from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, in 1834, was as follows: Over the Columbia Railroad, eighty-two miles; canal from Columbia to Holidays- burg, one hundred and seventy-two miles; Portage Railroad from Holidays- burg to Johnstown, thirty-six miles; and on canal from Johnstown to Pitts- burg, one hundred and four miles; total, three hundred and ninety-four miles. The frequent transfers made the journey long and tedious and the cost of freightage high. Summit tunnel was used January 21, 1854, but was not completed until February 17, 1855. December 10, 1852, an all-rail line was opened from Harrisburg to Pittsburg.
688
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
A writer, in 1903, has the following to say of the Pennsylvania system :
" For fifty years the Pennsylvania has been the foremost railroad of the United States. Its operating system and equipment have become the standards toward which practical railroad men strive from year to year. From the beginning a genius in management has built up and strengthened its position, not only deriving from the public unnumbered privileges, which have made expansion and improvement possible, but gaining and holding public endorse- ment and admiration. To-day it is the undisputed leader among railroads, its far-flung lines drawing power and wealth from the whole eastern half of the continent. Westward to the Mississippi, northward to the lakes, eastward to the seaboard, southward to the Gulf, the Pennsylvania and its systems have an unshaken grip upon the illimitable enterprise of transportation.
"The richest territory between the oceans yields its tribute. The road drives straight through the great manufacturing districts. Its main line and branches reach the coal-mines, the oil regions, the natural gas-fields, and through its connections it extends to the granaries of the West and the steel- mines of the North. More than this, the company is absolute master of the bituminous mining interests, gets a generous share of the anthracite business. and virtually owns two of the largest independent steel plants in the country.
" In transportation the Pennsylvania has a monopoly in effect, if not in fact. By purchase or agreement it controls the Baltimore and Ohio, the Phila- delphia and Reading, the Norfolk and Western, the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Western New York and Pennsylvania, the Hocking Valley, and a score of less important lines. It is the master railroad.
" Translate these generalities to cold figures, and the magnitude of the corporation becomes more striking. The Pennsylvania operates directly three thousand seven hundred and six miles of track, and, by control or affiliation, a total of ten thousand seven hundred and eighty-four miles. Its capital stock is more than two hundred and four million dollars, and the authorized issue is four hundred million dollars. When it is understood that every dollar rep- resents, or will represent, cash investment, the swollen bulk of the Steel Trust shrinks in comparison, and the Pennsylvania Railroad stands forth as the greatest industrial institution in the country.
" Its growth has been enormous. Forty years ago, with a mileage of eight hundred and fifty-six miles, its gross earnings were $19.500,000: in 1902 its gross earnings were $112,663,000. Including affiliated lines, this corporation earned during that year a little less than $220,000,000. The com- bined system carried nearly two hundred and seventy million tons of freight. and nearly one hundred and sixteen million passengers. The company owns in stocks and bonds of various roads $318.000,000. During the next two or three years it purposes to spend $67,000,000 in improvement east of Pittsburg. aside from the gigantic operation of tunnelling under the North River to reach the heart of New York city."
44
680
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
William Augustus Patton, now (1905) first assistant to President Cas- satt, entered the service of the General Superintendent's office when a boy of sixteen, January 1, 1865, and was promoted to chief clerk of Alexander Johnston Cassatt on August 1, 1872, when Mr. Cassatt was general manager of the road. On October 1, 1882, Mr. Patton was transferred to the presi- dent's department, and on April 1, 1884, was appointed general assistant in that department. On May 4, 1884, he was elected vice-president of the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad, and on June 14, 1899, he was elected president of that company, and is still serving in that capacity. Mr. Patton is a veteran in the service of the road, having been connected with it continuously for more than forty years. His service has been long, faithful, intelligent, wise, and efficient. He has been a success in every department he has served. He is a natural-born gentleman. His warm heart and genial deportment have made the road a host of friends.
Alexander Johnston Cassatt was elected president of the Pennsylvania system June 9, 1899. He is a Northwestern Pennsylvania product. He was born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, in 1839. This city lies within the purchase of 1784. In 1861 Cassatt was appointed rodman on the Philadel- phia division. In two years from that date he was made an assistant engineer. In 1864 he was assistant engineer, at Renovo, of the middle division of the Philadelphia and Erie Road. In 1867 he was transferred to Altoona. On April 1, 1870, he was made general superintendent of the Pennsylvania Road. In 1871 he was manager of all lines east of Pittsburg and Erie. On July I, 1874, he was chosen third vice-president ; on June 1, 1880, he was promoted to first vice-president. I am proud of him as a Western Pennsylvanian. I am proud of his courage, skill, enterprise, and prudence. I am proud of the Pennsylvania Road, and under Cassatt and staff's management it is to-day, as a success, a marvel and wonder of the world. (See page 661.)
PIONEER RAILROADS IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA-ACT TO INCORPORATE SUNBURY AND ERIE-CONSTRUCTION COMMENCED-LENGTH OF ROAD- OPENING OF ROAD-WHEN COMPLETED-PIONEER INCORPORATORS-PRESI- DENT, ENGINEER, MEETINGS, ETC.
In 1835 the pioneer locomotive railroad cars were running in Pennsylva- nia. These were three in number, and in this year the public began the agita- tion of a railroad from Philadelphia to Erie. In 1834 this project was com- pleted from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. In 1837 forty locomotives were in use.
An act to incorporate the Sunbury and Erie, and Pittsburg and Susque. hanna Railroad Companies was passed April 3, 1837, and approved by Gov- ernor Joseph Ritner. This formed the last link. Under the act commissioners were appointed from different counties of the State to open books and receive
690
William Augustus Patton
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
subscriptions to the stock of the company. Those from Northwestern Penn- sylvania were as follows:
Erie County, R. S. Reed, P. S. V. Hamot, John A. Tracy, Daniel Dob- bins, Josiah Kellogg, Edwin J. Kelso, William Fleming, Isaac G. Williams, John H. Walker, Joseph S. Colt, Thomas H. Sill, Gillis Sanford, William Kelly.
Lycoming County, Joseph B. Anthony, William F. Parker, Dr. W. R. Power, Henry Hughes, Dr. Arthur Davidson, John H. Cowden, William Wilson, Tunison Coryell, Nicholas Funston, William A. Petrikin, Joshua Bowman, Peter Shoemaker, Isaac Bruner, James Wilson, James Gamble. Alexander Hamilton, William Johnson, Jr., Robert Carson, Benjamin Hays.
Warren County, Robert Falconer, Josiah Hall, Stephen Littlefield, Obed Edson, Thomas Struthers, Archibald Tanner, N. B. Eldred. G. C. Irwin. G. A. Irvine, F. W. Brigham.
Pioneer railroad train in the United States
Mckean County, Solomon Sartwell, H. Payne, John King, Jonathan Colegrove, Asa Sartwell, Orlo J. Hamlin.
Crawford County, Henry Shippen, David Dick, Stephen Barlow, Andrew Smith, Joseph Douglass, J. Stewart Riddle, David McFaddin.
Venango County, Rowletten Power, Alexander McCalmont, James Kin- near, John Evans, James Thompson, Joseph M. Fox, Christian Myers, David Phipp, Myran Parks, William Raymond, Arnold Plumer. Andrew Bowman. John W. Howe.
Tioga County, Benjamin B. Smith, Robert G. White, Joseph W. Guern- sey, Josiah Emery, Samuel Dickinson, Samuel W. Morris.
Potter County, Timothy Ives, John H. Rose, Charles Leyman.
Mercer County, John Findley, Benjamin Stokely, Bevan Pearson, John Hoge, William Maxwell, Samuel Thompson, William F. Clark, James Bredin. Joseph Smith, David T. Porter, Robert Stewart, Abraham Pell. Samuel Holstein, John Ferker, James McKean, Joseph T. Boyd. John Fisher, Robert W. Stuart, Ezekiel Sankey, Thomas Wilson, and Daniel Means.
In this act it is said, "or any three of them, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to do and perform the several things hereinafter mentioned, that is to say, they shall, on or before the first day of November next, procure books, one of which shall be opened at Northumberland, Sun-
603
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
bury, Milton, Williamsport, Warren, Wellsborough, Clearfield, Meadville, Erie, Franklin, Harrisburg, Bellefonte, in the city of Philadelphia."
Shares of stock to be one hundred dollars each.
The stock necessary to secure the charter was taken by the United States Bank. Nicholas Biddle, of Philadelphia, was the pioneer president, from 1837 to 1840; Daniel L. Miller, 1851-52. In 1856 Samuel V. Merrick was elected. During the years 1838 and 1839 Edward Miller, the pioneer chief engineer, made exploratory surveys of the different routes suggested, and on March 1, 1840, made a full report to the board of directors, recommending a route two hundred and eighty-six and one-half miles long. In 1838 the time was extended by the Legislature to 1840 for commencement of work. It might be well to state here that the road originally, in 1835, was designed to pass by way of West Branch, Clarion River, and Franklin, in Venango County. The pioneer cars for the Western division were built in Erie.
The only town of importance between the two charter points was Wil- liamsport. Clinton, Cameron, and Elk Counties had not been created. War- ren was a small village sustained by lumber-mills and camps, but Erie had great business prominence at that time on account of her canals and pros- pective extensions. As a city she had an international fame. It was on her lake that Commodore Perry, in 1813, wiped a whole English fleet from the waters of the earth,-the first time such a thing had been done. We whipped
England on the ocean in 1776 and in 1812, and now she has for fifty years been trying, annually, to outsail us for a silver cup, and cannot win. The United States has never been defeated on land or sea. American manhood triumphs on land and waters. "Don't give up the ship!" was the cry. And the same American manhood was behind this railroad in the northwest, for thirty years, with the cry, "Don't give up the road!" and it won, as we Americans always have won, in war as well as in industrial and commercial enterprise.
In the speculative times of 1836 non-residents of this wilderness bought largely of the wild lands along the route, which, of course, when railroad and other bubbles burst, was left on their hands. This land had been advertised to contain valuable iron ore and bituminous coal, and much of it could have been bought as late as 1851 at fifty cents an acre.
To build a railroad through a dense wilderness of worthless hemlock, ferocious beasts, gnats, and wintergreen berries, required a large purse and great courage. Of course, there was no subject talked about in the cabin homes of that locality so dear to the hearts of the pioneers as this railroad. Living, as they were, in the backwoods, they were perfectly excusable when the subject of railroads was broached, even if they did cut all kinds of fan- tastic tricks at celebrations and meetings.
The first railroad meeting held in Ridgway, Elk County, was in the fall of 1845. Gentlemen were present from Erie, Warren, McKean, Centre, Phila-
694
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
delphia, and other counties. The deliberations were held in the old school- house, and there the road was constructed in words, as it was all through the seasons for years afterward.
In any event, I suppose those railroad barons enjoyed themselves in Ridgway, and were fed on elk-steak for breakfast, blackberry-pie for dinner, speckled trout and bear meat for supper, with nothing stronger to drink than sassafras tea. This generous diet, in sleep at least, would build railroads.
In 1837 there was not a cabin on the line of this proposed road from Shippen (Emporium) to Ridgway, and but one at Johnsonburg from Ridg- way to Tionesta Creek.
The company commenced grading the railroad from Erie to Warren in 1852, and the pioneer regular passenger-train ran from Erie to Warren De- cember 21, 1859. A great celebration took place in Warren in honor of this event. The pioneer superintendent of the Western division at this time was S. A. Black, whose office was at Erie. The pioneer through regular train from the East was October 4, 1864.
I do not know that it is material to give the trials, failures, and hardships in raising money for the work. They were overcome, and that is sufficient. On March 7, 1861, the name was changed, by an act of Legislature, to the Philadelphia and Erie.
On April 23, 1861, an act was approved by the governor authorizing rail- road companies to lease and operate other roads ; and under this law the Phila- delphia and Erie leased to the Pennsylvania for a term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years from January, 1862, the Pennsylvania to pay a rental of thirty per cent. on all gross earnings. At the close of 1859 one hundred and fifty-eight miles had been completed ; and on the balance of the line, one hun- dred and forty miles, the grading and bridging were well along to completion. February 1, 1862, the Pennsylvania assumed control, and the management applied the same business habits, probity, and skill to the road that these officials have always exhibited. Joseph D. Potts was appointed general man- ager, and under his régime, on January 1, 1864, one hundred and sixty-four miles of track, from Sunbury to St. Marys, was laid, as also from Erie to Wilcox. The road was opened for business successively at the following points,-viz., May 2, 1864, Emporium to St. Marys; May 23. Sheffield to Kane; July 6, Kane to Wilcox; October 17, Wilcox to St. Marys ; and clear through, October 19, 1864.
For some of these dates I am indebted to local histories. I lived in Ridg- way a number of years while this road was in agitation and construction. My medical practice extended all over the county from March, 1859, to the sun- mer of 1863. I might say here that the original route was from Driftwood to where Du Bois now is, from there through Brockwayville to the Clarion River, and up Spring Creek to Warren; but Philadelphia land owners in Elk County forced the road from its natural channel.
695
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
ALLEGHENY VALLEY RAILROAD-ACT TO INCORPORATE, INCORPORATORS, STOCK, ROUTES SURVEYED, CONSTRUCTION, FIRST SCHEDULE, PRESIDENT OF THE ROAD
An Act for the incorporation of the " Pittsburg, Kittanning, and Warren Railroad Company" was passed April 4, 1837, and approved by Governor Joseph Ritner, which reads, in part, as follows :
"SECTION I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That Benjamin Darlington, Samuel Baird, Isaac Harris, John P. Bakewell, James Ross, Harmar Denny, Francis Kearns, William Robinson, Jr., Robert H. Douthell, George Ogden, George R. White, James Gray, Fourth Street; John Morrison, Samuel B. McKinzey, and John Shoenberger, of the County of Allegheny; Jacob Weaver, James Bole, Robert Lowry, William Coyle, James Green, Samuel Cooper, George Rip, John Michling, Robert Spars, Joseph Buffington, Alex- ander Colwell, Philip Michling, John Gilpin, David Reynolds, Robert Orr, Samuel Hutchison, Chambers Orr, James Waterson (Terry), William Tem- pleton, David Lawson, and Richard Reynolds, of the County of Armstrong ; James Kinnear, George R. Espy, James R. Snowden, Alexander McCalmont, Arnold Plumer, John Evans, Andrew Beaument, Edward Pierce, and R. Power, of the County of Venango; Thomas Struthers, Josiah Hall, Robert Faulkner, Archibald Sanner, Nathaniel B. Eldred, Guy C. Irvine, Galbraith A. Irvine, Thomas Martin, William A. Irvine, Lansing Wetmore, S. J. John- son, Abraham Hazelton, Henry Sargent, John King, Walter W. Hoges, and F. W. Brigham, of the county of Warren, are hereby appointed commissioners, and they, or any ten of them, are authorized to open books, at such times and places, and upon such notice as they may deem expedient, for the purpose of receiving subscriptions to the capital stock of the company hereinafter directed to be incorporated, and if any of said commissioners shall resign, neglect to act, be absent, or become legally incapacitated to act, during the continuance of the duties devolved upon them by this act, others may be appointed in their stead, by a majority of the persons named in this act."
Capital stock to be two million dollars, in shares of fifty dollars each.
Several routes were surveyed,-one through Brookville, up the North Fork to the Clarion River, and one up the Mahoning to Punxsutawney, through Reynoldsville, Warren, and Olean. These routes were found to be expensive on account of the tunnels, and were abandoned, and the route along the Allegheny River chosen. I here quote Wilson's History :
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.