USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Bridgeport > Hart's history and directory of the three towns, Brownsville, Bridgeport, West Brownsville also abridged history of Fayette county & western Pennsylvania > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > West Brownsville > Hart's history and directory of the three towns, Brownsville, Bridgeport, West Brownsville also abridged history of Fayette county & western Pennsylvania > Part 11
USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Brownsville > Hart's history and directory of the three towns, Brownsville, Bridgeport, West Brownsville also abridged history of Fayette county & western Pennsylvania > Part 11
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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
T. A. Jefferies, burgess of Bridgeport, was introduced. He welcomed the visitors in the name of the towns. He said:
"Representatives of the various railroads and my fellow-citizens: It has been said that we are met to celebrate what ought to have been done 50 years ago. We feel joyful and with cause. The railways have given an impulse to business, and property which a few years ago went begging, now is locked up at most prohibitive prices. Why should we not celebrate? The day is passed when it was considered no hardship to straddle a horse and ride miles over the country. Gentlemen of the railroads. we recognize your difficulties and are grateful to you. We are also pleased that the river route was chosen rather than one farther inland that would have damaged the place even more. We recognize the work of the right-of-way man and his difficulties. Our
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Progress of Opening of Monongahela Railroad
Great Curve on Monongahela Railroad
troubles are over and we welcome and congratulate you. The town is yours. We are sorry the president of the M. R. R. cannot be here but we are pleased over his personal interests and glad of the choice of such courteous men in charge of the road's interests. We are especially suited with Mr. Ermire and are ready to join hands with him."
Mr. Jefferies mentioned J. C. Grooms, C. S. Pringle and other townsmen who have been chosen for railway positions as specially fitted for the places.
J. B. Yohe, general superintendent of the Lake Erie then replied for his road. He said:
"I am unaccustomed to public speaking and were it not for the fact that I am among so many old friends, I would hesitate to address you. Inasmuch, however, as on the banks of this river I first saw steamboats as they plie:1 the Monongahela river, and note the improved methods of transportation and the wonderful development of your community, why should 1 not feel at home?
"As one of President Schoonmaker's lieutenants and as an official of the Pittsburg and Lake Erie railroad company, I acknowledge with grateful thanks the hearty welcome and splendid ovation tendered us here today. I know that it will be a difficult task indeed for us to meet or even approach the
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Superintendent J. B. Yohe's Speech
splendid service afforded you by our friends and neighbors, the Pennsyl- vania railroad. I would ask for no prouder distinction for the Pittsburg and Lake Erie Railroad Company than to have you say for us that our service measured up to that of the Pennsylvania railroad. It is largely due to the personal efforts of my friend Colonel Crawford and his able assistant, Mr. Taylor, that you are today enjoying the facilities afforded by two great railroads.
"The work of extending our lines from Fayette City to your territory has been a difficult task, but through the pluck and energy of our management our hopes are today fully realized and we bring to your commercial world, a modern railroad, one fully equipped to meet all conditions, furnishing you 13,630 miles of railroad, having formed a connection with our system, under a working arrangement, whereby your products may be speedily and safely transported.
"This new railroad whose completion you are welcoming today will be an important factor in your industrial development. Coal, which for years has remained undeveloped, will be opened up and on what are now pasture fields there will soon be built great rows of coke ovens. Towns will be built, industries encouraged and your towns will enjoy and reap the benefits and advantages of the great improvements thus made.
"The operations of this road will be supervised by Mr. John Ermire, one of your own fellow-townsmen and well known to you all. He is one of the best known transportation men in the country thoroughly familiar with your local conditions, courteous and kind and understanding all the wants of your people. He will endeavor to see that they are fully met.
"We extend to you our hand in grateful acknowledgment of the broad- minded spirit of co-operation with which you have received us."
Colonel Crawford, chief engineer of construction of the P. R. R. replied for that line. He said :
"When the New York Central interests met Mr. Cassatt the question for a route for the railway extension here was quickly settled. As a mark of progress, I note that 52 years ago $20 would buy an acre of coal. Now $600 is the lowest price Mr. Grooms can get it for from our best friends. Every- thing comes to him who waits. There is no telling what may be accomplished. 1 hope to come back in twenty years and find even greater surprises. You are surrounded by about 30 coal and coke plants with thirty million of dollars invested and a pay roll of a million a month. Now is the time to plan sanitary sewerage and a pure water supply for the future so you can reach out and take care of the industries."
Major G. W. Neff, the Tenth Regiment veteran, was called upon. He paid tribute to the Three Towns' history. The first engine and boat that plied the waters to New Orleans took a Brownsville cargo and was built in Bridgeport in 1814. He said:
"If I owned the Monongahela Valley I wouldn't trade it for any kingdom in Europe. Untold millions lie dormant here. Your people have always been ingenious and enterprising."
At night the first annual Board of Trade dinner in honor of the visiting
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Three Towns Board of Trade Banquet
T T
Monongahela Railroad Crane No. 1
railway men was given. Landlord Risbeck served a fine menu. More than one hundred persons sat down to the banquet in the elegant dining room of the new hotel. President Moore of the Board introduced the toastmaster of the evening, Judge Umble, who announced the formal speeches between courses. The judge is a tactful master of ceremonies and each theme was enriched with a good story. Mr. L. A. Robison, general passenger agent of the P. & L. E., was the first speaker. He admitted that he represented the spectacular element of railroading but took the credit of first placing Browns- ville on the railway map. His department fights the people's battles and he asks for cordial co-operation to make the local station and service the best possible.
J. B. Yohe expressed the thanks of the railway men for the dinner tendered them and voiced their admiration for the beautiful, new hotel. At 11 p.m. the special train was scheduled to leave and the railroaders had to go without enjoying the greater part of the dinner. Attorney Wooda N. Carr, of Union- town spoke humorously and eloquently of the "Past, present and future of Fayette County." He said nothing was dearer to him than the Monongahela valley. He considered Fayette the greatest county in the greatest state.
T. Jeff Duncan of Washington, Pa., spoke of "The boys of Brownsville." He held that events rather than men make history and he related some of the notable events of his boyhood here.
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Three Towns Board of Trade Banquet
Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge at Point
Fon. L. F. Arensberg responded to the toast "The greatest state in the Union." He told of the state's marvelous strength in resources.
W. E. Crow spoke of " Things I saw at Atlantic City."
Major Neff spoke on the Tenth Regiment.
Chas. F. Kefover, Esq., and Attorney George Jefferies of Uniontown spoke of county and local themes and the mellowed words flowed like honey from the lips of these well-known orators.
The Pennsylvania Hotel, though not in complete order nor fully furnished, was in splendid array for the banquet and Mr. Risbeck, proprietor, and R. L. Aubrey, owner, received many compliments on the success achieved.
The P. & L. E. officials and representatives included J. B. Yohe, general superintendent of transportation; C. H. Bronson, L. A. Robison, L. H. Turnier, R. Evans, W. A. Terry, J. A. Atwood, C. L. Gist, J. C. Grooms, Myron Wood and R. M. Fulton. Colonel Crawford and Engineer Taylor represented the P. R. R., and John Ermire, superintendent of the M. R. R. also was present.
Among those present from down the river, were noted, from Belle Vernon, C. F. Eggers, E. L. Sears, R. J. Linton, Samuel Jones, M, J. Clifford, C. L. Donahoe, T. O. Nichols, J. B. Biles, Dr. J. S. Van Voorhis, John Irons, J. A.
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Along the Monongahela Line
Cook and L. M. Truxall, of the Enterprise; President Noss of the California Normal and Editor Moses of the "Sentinel;" from Charleroi, Sam Todd: from Monessen, P. E. Donner and W. C. Fishburn.
ALONG THE MONONGAHELA LINE.
The following are the names of the stations along the Monongahela line from Brownsville Junction to Redstone Junction near Uniontown, a distance of about 72 miles including the spurs that run out from a number of places:
Brownsville Junction Gates
Huron
Brownsville
Lambert
Lardin
Bridgeport
Gates
Moser Run Junction
Lock No. 5
Huron
Edenborn
Rush Run
Ronco
Moser Run Junction
Big Meadow Run
Masontown
Leckrone
Maxwell
Grays Landing
Ache Junction
LaBelle
Martin
Footedale
Fredericktown
Grays Landing
New Salem
East Millsboro
Infield
Footedale
Rices Landing
Grays Landing
Ache Junction
Arensberg
Masontown
Redstone Junction
East Riverside
Ronco
It will be observed that several of the stations are repeated. These are points where the train leaves the main line running out branches and re- turning to the Junction station. Ache Junction on the Coal Lick end of the line is under the Monongahela jurisdiction.
Concrete culverts wide enough for two tracks have been constructed all along the line and the hundred-foot right of way traverses one of the prettiest and most promising valleys on earth. Cokes is the thing and it is no longer Peaceful Valley. Already thousands of ovens are smoking and in other places the long rows of furnaces are in place or being started. The develop- ment is on a scale that is almost beyond comprehension.
LaBelle is making coke and extensions go busily forward.
At Millsboro a water tank has been placed with a windmill and 8 II. P. Morse gasoline pumping engine.
The Hustead-Semans Coke company has started digging a slope at this point and has a force of surveyors and laborers on the ground.
McLane's Ferry is the site of a new brewery. Two coke plants appear near that point. The Riverview company is on the right with 400 ovens and the Masontown Coal and Coke company on the left of the track going up. The Cats Run branch of the Pennsylvania meets the Monongahela line at that point. The Coal Lick and Lambert branches, still further above, also join the valley route.
Gates is the location of the American Steel and Wire company's coal plant with a great, modern equipment for shaft mining and loading by rail or river.
Last Car Entering Old Tunnel at Point.
H
Moving
Steam Shovel
along High Street, Bridge- port.
-
S
-
Cut Through Market Street, Connells ville Central R. R.
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Along the Monongahela Line
-
Connellsville Central Railroad Bridge Across Dunlap's Creek
No. 2 is located at Martin. From that point Greensbore lies across the river and New Geneva is in sight. Bessemer No. 1 lies back a short distance and has 400 ovens; No. 2 has over 500 planned in all. The Griffin Coke Works lie just over the hill. The task of building a stone power house, sinking a shaft and laying a coal line at Martin, is now under way. The Geneva Coke Company is another factor there. From Cats Run the smoke from Griffin can be seen. The Jacobs Creek Coal company's location is just below No. 7 and there is also a Riverview No. 2. No. 3 is planned but not started.
The new road is not a mistake; it has been admirably planned; it is in the hands of men who have experience and skill with the enthusiasm of youth; it has found a mountain of business, much of which will benefit the Three Towns and their business men if they are alive to opportunity.
Many old homesteads in the valley are quiet places no longer. The resi- dents must seek other homes and country seats or become a part of the new order. Yet the smoke and bustle will be a benefit, not a curse, for it will make one of the finest home markets and develop the resources of the hills as long as coal lasts and there is a demand for it.
THE CONNELLSVILLE CENTRAL.
The Connellsville Central, now building, will connect with the Monongahela railroad at Brownsville and penetrates a field rich in coal that is being rapidly
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The Connellsville Central
developed. It will only be about nine miles long when completed, but will be one of the best feeders of the Monongahela road that it has. It will have no adverse grades the maximum grade for two miles out of Brownsville being only .75 per cent. and the balance of the road is practically level. The maximum curvature is seven per cent., and the roadbed will be as solid as adamant.
There are six immense coal and coke plants along the line now ready for op- eration or in course of construction. They are the Buffington which is the property of the Frick Coke Co .; the Low Phos. Coal and Coke Works, the Orient Coal and Coke Co., the Brier Hill Coke Co., the Connellsville Coke Co., and the Union Coke Co., the last two named being the property of the Re- public Iron Works.
Robert W. Taylor, assistant engineer of the P, R. R. and engineer in charge of the construction of the Connellsville Central expects the road to be com- pleted by the first of January, 1905. He has certainly donc a lot of fine work on this road and the Monongahela railroad and is one of the most valued men the P. R. R. has.
As soon as the road is open to traffic it will take at the least calculation 400 cars per day to carry the coal and coke out of the region tapped by this short branch.
THE MAN WHO FIRST PROPOSED THE UNION PACIFIC.
Many public men bask in borrowed light, and in no instance is this proposi- tion more signally illustrated than in the case of Hon. Thos. H. Benton, who as history records, is the accredited father of the Pacific Railroad. Men of true moral and intellectual worth, are more often modest and unassuming, and while deserving the gratitude of their fellow-men live in obscurity, and go to their reward, hardly known outside the village in which fortune cast their lot. Such a man was John Wilgus (grandfather of T. B. Wilgus of Morgantown, W. Va.) the man who above all others, is entitled to the credit and honor, of originating the idea of a railroad to the Pacific Ocean.
Coming from New Jersey in 1806, he located in the comparatively obscure town of Perryopolis, Fayette County, Pa. He very carly gave promise of having a more than ordinarily bright intellect. Poverty and a lack of schools stood in his pathway, but his insatiable desire for learning was only limited by insurmountable obstacles, incident to a new settlement on the border. The Bible was his companion from his youth, and in his manhood and de- clining years, he who sought controversy on religious dogmas, must come fully armed and equipped. He had examined in detail all controverted points, read all the standard authors on Bible lore, memorized whole chapters and books of the Bible, and from studies and researches in various departments, calling here and there, logic and analogy, and with a memory never at fault, when a topic was once scanned, he was a formidable opponent.
In the '40's, while yet a young man, he conceived the idea of a railroad to the Pacific, and this, when railroads were not out of their swaddling clothes
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The Man Who First Proposed the Union Pacific
but in their infancy; before mountains had been scaled and rivers spanned. He contemplated and suggested congressional aid by suggesting that the government give a ten-mile-wide strip of public land along each line of the surveyed route; laying the road out, so as to run through the county seats of successive counties; the eastern terminus to be the western shore of Lake Superior, near the present site of Duluth. Also that it should cross the Rockies where the present road crosses, and its western terminus be the Bay of San Francisco.
Drawing a map and plan of his proposed railroad, he wrote a letter detailing the plans and methods, the reasons for the same, and forwarded the whole to Hon. Andrew Stewart who was then a member of Congress from Uniontown, Pa. The plans and details were shown to a number of Congressmen, who were favorably impressed, but thought it advisable to have any proposition relating thereto, come from a western man. Accordingly Senator Benton who was nearing the zenith of his glory, was selected. He arose in his place in the Senate on the following day and proposed the building of a road to the Pacific.
In the later years of Mr. Stewart's life he wrote a letter to Mr. Wilgus rec- ognizing him as the first to propose the road, and complimenting him upon the grand consummation of his carly hopes, as the road was, at the time Mr. Stewart wrote, nearly completed.
It is related of Mr. Wilgus, that he used to sit in his office, in the then littel village of Perryopolis, and entertain a score or more of young men, who had learned to love and respect him for his ready and profound answers to all kinds of questions. He was a very entertaining conversationalist and his character for integrity was unimpeachable. "Why," the reader may ask. "did he not make himself known?" Simply because he was modest. Com- plimented on his great learning and intellectual grasp, by the learned of his time, urging him to preach, practice medicine or the law, from time to time, he preferred to keep on attaining the highest of knowledge, and then, as if despising the dross and empty honors of earthly success, he sought the com- panionship of children who were delighted to call him "Grand-pap." Such a man proposed the building of the Pacific Railroad.
LETTER OF "TARIFF" ANDY STEWART.
The Wilgus family have the original letter above referred to, written by Hon. A. Stewart. We present a part of it :
Uniontown, Pa., June 25, 1869. John Wilgus, Esqr., Brownsville, Pa.
DEAR SIR: I have just recd. your letter of yesterday, inclosing com- munication to the "Commercial" of Pittsburg, in reference to a corre- spondence between us relative to the "Pacific Railroad" between 20 and 30 years ago. I have a perfect recollection of having numerous letters from you urging me as a member of the committee on railroads and canals, to call the attention of Congress to this subject in which you took so much interest.
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Letter of "Tariff" Andy Stewart
Your first route was from Lake Michigan, by the Columbia River, to the Pacific, but after the acquisition of California, you changed it from St. Louis to San Francisco. Of this route, you sent me a very handsome map, following, according to my recollection, very nearly the route on which the road has lately been built, which map I had suspended in the Hall of the House of Representatives, for the inspection of members.
I drew up a resolution authorizing the President to employ a corps of engineers of the U. S. Army, to examine and report the practicability of the proposed project, which resolution I submitted to a number of members of Congress, especially to those of the west, who were most favorably disposed. Upon consideration and reflection, however, I concluded that the resolution had better be first offered in the Senate, that being a smaller body, and where smaller western states were comparatively much stronger than in the House. I therefore took the resolution, with your map to the Senate where I was advised by those friendly to the project, to hand the papers to Senator Benton of Missouri. I did so and he promised to attend to the matter.
1 advised you of this arrangement with which you expressed yourself satisfied and said you would write Benton on the subject. He afterwards informed me that you had done so.
Should I find anything further material to your inquiry, I will let you know.
Very respectfully your friend, ANDREW STEWART.
Biographies of Some of the Railroad Officials.
COL. JAMES M. SCHOONMAKER, though a native and resident of Pittsburg, was once largely interested in the development of the vast coal and coke interests in Fayette County, and his popularity here, and prominent position in the management of the railroads, that have done so much for Fayette County and are still advancing her interests, makes special mention of him in this work, most appropriate.
James Schoonmaker, the father of Colonel Schoonmaker, moved to Pitts- burg from Ulster County, New York, in 1836, where he entered the drug business when but twenty-three years of age. In 1841, he married Miss Mary Stockton, a daughter of Rev. Joseph Stockton of Pittsburg. To this union there were born nine children, five sons and four daughters, James M. being the oldest.
In 1862 Mr. Schoonmaker received his commission as colonel being then only a little over twenty years of age and believed to be the youngest officer of his rank in the Federal army. Colonel Schoonmaker was conspicuous for his activity and bravery throughout the war, taking part in the campaign in the Shenandoah Valley with the army of the Shenandoah under Phil. Sheridan (luring the fall of 1864.
After the war Colonel Schoonmaker returned to civil life and was for a number of years actively engaged in the coal and coke business with his father-in-law, William H. Brown, but of late years has devoted himself almost exclusively to railroad business, more extended mention of which is made under the head of "Railroads and Transportation," in connection with the Pittsburg & Lake Erie.
Colonel Schoonmaker is Vice President of the P. & L. E., President of the Mckeesport & Youghiogheny, and also President of the Monongahela Railroad, the new line just opened up into the Klondike. He is a man of remarkable executive ability, phenomenal energy and is very popular in railroad circles and there is perhaps not a man among the army of his sub- ordinates who is not an enthusiastic admirer of the Colonel. There is no discord or dissension in the ranks of his men and it is to this as well as to Colonel Schoonmaker's unquestioned ability, that the P. & L. E. and the other roads with which he is connected, owe their popularity and success.
Colonel Schoonmaker is a director of the Union Trust Company and also a director of a number of other like financial institutions of Pittsburg. He has a palatial residence at the corner of Ellsworth and Morewood avenues, East End, Pittsburg, where he and his family reside. He also has a fine cottage in Spring Lake, N. J., where they usually spend the summer.
JOSEPH U. CRAWFORD was born at Ury Farm, Philadelphia, August 25, 1842, and educated at John W. Faires' school, from which he went to the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1862.
He enlisted and went out with the Washington Grays of Philadelphia in
5
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Robert W. Taylor, Jr.
April, 1861; was appointed Second Lieutenant of Company B, Sixth New Jersey, September, 1861; was made First Lieutenant of the same company at the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862; Captain Company A, Sixth New Jersey, at the battle of Seven Pines, June, 1862; engineer officer, field fortifica- tions, General Hooker's staff, at Fair Oaks, upon the Peninsula, in 1862; served with his company as captain through the Pope and Gettysburg campaigns; engineer officer on Major-General Gershom Mott's staff through the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, and Petersburg campaigns, and was honorably mentioned in United States Army Reports for good conduct at Seven Pines, 1862, and Morton's Ford in 1863.
He followed engineering since the war, and was first identified with the Pennsylvania railroad system as Senior Assistant Engineer of the Alex- andria & Fredericksburg railroad during 1871 and 1872. He was Principal Assistant Engineer, and afterwards Engineer, of the California Division of the Texas & Pacific railroad under Col. Thomas A. Scott, and on his recom- mendation Mr. Crawford was appointed consulting engineer to the govern- ment of Japan in 1878, at the close of which engagement he was decorated by the Emperor of Japan with the Order of the Rising Sun.
After his return to America he was employed by the late Jay Gould to make transcontinental examinations and surveys between the Pacific coast and Salt Lake City, as well as in Wyoming and Nebraska Territories.
In the fall of 1882 he again entered the service of the Pennsylvania railroad company as Chief Engineer of the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley railroad, and built the Piedmont and Cumberland railroad in 1886 and 1887. He was appointed assistant to Mr. J. N. DuBarry, Second Vice President of the Pennsylvania railroad company, in August, 1889, and, upon the death of that officer, was appointed Engineer of Branch Lines.
In addition to the above positions he is a director of various companies associated with the Pennsylvania system.
He was appointed Chief Engineer of the Southwestern and Atlantic rail- road company, now the Norfolk and Porstmouth Belt Line railroad company, and the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad company, on the 28th of July, 1897.
Upon the recommendation of Mr. Frank Thomson, then President of the Pennsylvania railroad company, he was appointed by the Secretary of War, Consulting Engineer for the United States Government to examine into and report upon the transportation facilities in Cuba, which position he held from October, 1898, to May, 1899.
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