USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and its centennial celebration, Volume I > Part 32
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It is of interest to know that the promoters of this road wished to have it water grade, and that a bill was presented in Congress asking for permission to construct a drawbridge at Beaver, which would be almost below high-water mark. The rivermen were opposed to the building of such a bridge, and secured the defeat of the bill, and the railroad people were compelled to erect a bridge ninety feet above the water. In the end this effected a great saving to the company, since it gave them a practically level route from Pittsburg to Youngs- town, and consequently much less motive power was required in the moving of trains, with greater economy in the expenditure of fuel. In 1877 contracts were made between the Pittsburg & Lake Erie Railway Company and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and the Atlantic & Great Western Railway companies
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to accept freight originating with that road for all northern shipments, the delivery to be made at Youngstown.
The necessity for an eastern outlet to the coal and coke field of the Connellsville region was felt strongly in 1878, but the company was at this time too weak financially to make the extension without aid. Efforts were made to secure the co- operation of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company for the construction of such an extension, but they did not succeed. Finally, William H. Vanderbilt's interest was enlisted in the matter, and the company was assisted by him to make this much-needed improvement. From this time on the road pros- pered wonderfully. Reaching the coal and coke fields on both rivers, and touching all the important steel plants, it became at once a paying concern, and its stock was gradually bought up by the Vanderbilts, until now they own the majority. The road is now rapidly being four-tracked, and the management is in all respects one of the most enterprising and progressive in the country. One evidence of this is the character of the station buildings which they are erecting; the one at Beaver, as will be seen from the half-tone on the opposite page, being a per- fectly ideal specimen of railway architecture.
The wisdom of placing this line where it now is, is amply shown in these later days, since direct connection is made with two of the greatest systems in America, viz., the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and Erie railroads. With through cars and Pullman accommodations to Chicago, Boston, Buffalo, Cleve- land, Jamestown, and various other traffic centres, the road to all intents and purposes fills exactly the same place in the pub- lic needs as does a great trunk line. The mileage of the Pitts- burg & Lake Erie and its operated lines is 185 miles.
The management at the present time is under the control of Col. J. M. Schoonmaker, Vice-President and General Manager, one of the staunchest of the band of capitalists who first pro- moted the enterprise.
The Pittsburg, Youngstown & Ashtabula Railroad was formed by a consolidation and merger of the Ashtabula, Niles & Youngs- town Railroad and the Lawrence & Pittsburg Railroad, the Lawrence & Pittsburg Railroad having been formed by a con- solidation and merger of the New Brighton & New Castle Rail-
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Beaver Station, P. & L. E. R. R.
1
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road Company and the Lawrence Railroad Company; the articles of consolidation in both cases being duly filed at Harris- burg. The New Brighton & New Castle Railroad was chartered on March 24, 1881, under the Act of April 14, 1868, and supple- ments thereto, and authorized to construct, operate, and maintain a railroad between New Brighton, in Beaver County, Pennsyl- vania, and New Castle, in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. The Pittsburg, Youngstown & Ashtabula Railroad leased its constructed railroad, which extends from Kenwood Station to Ashtabula Harbor, a distance of one hundred six (106) miles, by article of agreement dated December 12, 1887, to the Pennsyl- vania Company, and since that date has been operated by the Pennsylvania Company. On the 8th of August, 1898, a survey was made under the direction of the chief engineer of said com- pany for an extension or branch line on the eastern shore of the Beaver River, from Kenwood southward through the towns of New Brighton, Bolesville, Rochester, and Freedom to a point in the main line of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Rail- way, just east of Remington station, and this line is now being built.
RAILWAY CONTRASTS
One main object that is kept in view, both in the text and illustrations of this work, is to exhibit contrasts between the earlier and later times, showing the advancement made along all mechanical, industrial, and social lines. Nowhere, perhaps, is the contrast greater than in the direction of the subject which we are now considering. All of the roads first built were only slight modifications of the ordinary earth roadways. Wooden rails were laid to overcome friction and the inequalities of the surface of the ground. Then the rails of timber were covered with straps of iron, and nearly all of these roads were built for, and operated by, horse-power.I From these primitive
1 Peter Parley (Samuel Griswold Goodrich), writing nearly seventy years ago, said in his first book of history:
"But the most curious thing at Baltimore is the railroad. I must tell you there is a great trade between Baltimore and the states west of the Allegheny Mountains. The western people buy great quantities of goods at Baltimore and in return send large amounts of western produce. There is, therefore, a great deal of traveling back and forth and hundreds of teams are constantly transporting goods to and from market. Now in order to carry on this business more easily the people are building what is called a railroad. This consists of iron bars laid along the ground and made fast, so that carriages with small wheels may run along them with facility. In this way one horse will be able to draw as much as ten horses on a common road. A part of this railroad is already done, and if you choose to take a ride upon it you can do so. You will mount a car something like a stage, and then you will be drawn along by two horses at a rate of twelve miles an hour."
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constructions to the modern lines with their ponderous steel rails and bridges and solid roadbeds is a vast advance.
But the progress made in motive power is still more re- markable. The illustrations which accompany this chapter will exhibit this in a striking manner. Look at the John Stevens locomotive-which was the first engine to draw passengers in the United States-and then at the great E2 Pennsylvania Rail- road engine. We have not been able to secure a picture of the first type of locomotive in use on the lines in Beaver County, but the illustrations given are instructive, nevertheless. Com- pare the pigmy and the monster in the small cut. The little engine was built in 1872, not so very long ago, and it was then considered a wonder in its way. But contrast the dimen- sions of the two : the small engine has cylinders 4 x 16 inches, the modern one's cylinders measure 22 X 28 inches; the driving-wheel base of the former is 6 feet 22 inches, that of the latter 14 feet 8 inches; the former has a boiler 343 inches in diameter, the latter has one 70 inches in diameter; and the tank of the small engine is a mere pail compared with that of the large one, for it holds 450 gallons, while the capacity of the other is 6000 gallons. And the weight-the little fellow weighs only 123 tons, the big one 90 tons! A similar advance is noted in the locomotives of this date over those exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, which were supposed to be, par excellence, the highest type possible to the science of engine- building. And every part of railroad construction has kept the same pace. The cars used fifty years ago held but ten tons, while those of to-day carry fifty-five tons. Thirty years ago the maximum train capacity was about 300 tons, or 10,000 bushels of wheat; to-day, with improved roadbed, heavy steel rails, en- larged cars, and mogul engines, the maximum capacity is 2700 tons, or 90,000 bushels of wheat. In 1835 the maximum speed was about twelve miles an hour, to-day trains have maintained an average speed of forty-five miles an hour from New York to Chicago; and the Pennsylvania or Pittsburg & Lake Erie Rail- way trains, such as the "Limited" or the "Cleveland Flyer," are often rushing through the Beaver valley at the rate of seventy- five or eighty miles an hour. It would be an interesting sight if we could see that first train that went through in 1851 stand- ing alongside of one of these trains de luxe.
M
R
E 2 Pennsylvania Railroad Engine.
1902
1872
Types of Engines of 1872 and 1902 Contrasted,
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John Stevens Locomotive.
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In 1835 there were in the State of Pennsylvania only a few score miles of railway; to-day there are 10,000 miles, and along these 10,000 miles of railway are located the greatest interests that can be found anywhere in the commercial world. The closing year of the century we are commemorating showed in the United States a total of nearly 200,000 miles of railway, with 300,000 railway employees (an army equal to Lincoln's call for volunteers in '63), to whom was paid more than $176, 000,000. In the same year there were carried by these roads over 205,000,000 passengers, and their employees handled more than 600,000,000 tons of freight.
STREET RAILWAYS
In the great modern development of "rapid transit" by street railways, and in the application of electricity as the motive-power and for other uses, Beaver County has had her part. September 17, 1884, the Beaver Valley Street Railway Company was organized, and obtained its charter on the 23d of that month in the same year. Ground was broken for this road, May 6, 1885, and it was opened for travel, July 4th of that year. The capital stock of the company was $30,000. Horse cars were used, which ran from the station of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway in New Brighton, through that town and Beaver Falls, to the foot of College Hill.
The first officers of this company were: M. L. Knight, Presi- dent; Colonel Jacob Weyand, Vice-President; J. F. Merriman, Secretary and Treasurer; Hon. Henry Hice, John Reeves, Jacob Weyand, J. C. Whitla, H. W. Reeves, Joseph Snellenburg, and M. L. Knight, Directors; and Lycurgus Richardson, Superin- tendent. On the resignation of J. C. Whitla and Joseph Snel- lenburg their places were taken by George W. Coates and James M. May.
This road was sold to the Beaver Valley Traction Company in July, 1891. By them the line was extended and opened through for traffic to Beaver, December 5, 1891, the motive- power being changed to electricity.
The People's Electric Street Railway Company .- On August 13, 1891, a charter for this company was applied for by the
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following gentlemen: Dan H. Stone, J. C. Whitla, H. W. Reeves, J. P. Stone, C. H. Bentel, John Conway, T. P. Simpson, and Hon. H. P. Brown, all of Beaver County. The incorporators were elected directors, who in turn elected Hon. H. P. Brown, Presi- dent; H. W. Reeves, Vice-President; C. H. Bentel, Treasurer and J. P. Stone, Secretary. John M. Buchanan, Esq., was the solicitor for the company, and procured for it its charter and right of way. Before the complete organization of the company, John Conway withdrew from the Board of Directors and was succeeded by Henry M. Camp. The capital stock of the com- pany was $150,000.
The first survey was made in September of the same year, and was from the Bridgewater end of the Big Beaver bridge, following the present location through Rochester borough, Rochester township, Freedom borough, St. Clair borough, and New Sewickley township to Crow's Run. This location was afterwards changed by terminating the road in St. Clair bor- ough and extending the western terminus to a point in Rochester township, at the intersection of the Beaver Valley Traction Company's tracks, at what is now called Junction Park.
The contract for the building and equipping of the road was awarded to Joseph Cross of Rochester, Pa., who sublet the same to Simon Harrold of Beaver Falls, Pa.
Work was begun May 15, 1892, and the road was completed and opened for travel, August 13, 1892.
The road was equipped with 45 1b. girder and T rail. The rolling stock consisted of four Laclede 16-foot closed cars, each having two W. P. 30 general electric motors.
The power-house was located on Railroad Street, Rochester, Pa., being built in a substantial manner of stone and brick; the offices and car barn were located on the same lot adjoining the power-house. The rolling stock and general equipment were added to each year to care for the increasing business of the company.
The company was always free from strikes and disagree- ments among its employees. Cyrus A. Danals of Rochester was the first superintendent, occupying the position for two years. Philip Bentel was superintendent for two years, and was suc- ceeded in 1895 by James G. Mitchell, who in that year was elected a director and general manager, and remained in charge
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of the company until it was leased to the Beaver Valley Trac- tion Company for 999 years.
On August 13, 1892, one year from the date of the first meeting, a jollification meeting was held by the citizens of the valley on the public square of Rochester, when Hon. H. P. Brown, the president of the company, formally declared the road open to public travel. These public exercises were par- ticipated in by prominent members of the various professions and business men, and occupied the entire afternoon and evening.
The Beaver Valley Traction Company was organized in the spring of 1891 by a number of prominent citizens of the Beaver Valley; and on June 29, 1891, a charter was issued under the provisions of the Act of March 22, 1887. In July, 1891, the Traction Company absorbed by contract and purchase of stock, the Central Electric Street Railway Company; and in August, 1891, the Beaver Valley Street Railway Company was absorbed by similar process. Later the College & Grandview Electric Street Railway Company became a part of the B. V. T. Co. system, and a working agreement was established about 1898 with the Beaver & Vanport Electric Street Railway Co.
The property in the spring of 1900 was thus represented by tracks extending from Morado Park on the Beaver River, through College Hill, Beaver Falls, New Brighton, Rochester town- ship to the Junction, across the Sharon Bridge through Bridge- water to and through Beaver and part of Borough township to the top of the bluff just east of Two Mile Run. The total mile- age, counted as single track, was about seventeen miles. Most of the construction was very light and poor, being either T rails or 46-pound girder rails set on chairs; the joints of the rails were in bad shape, the ties were old and spaced too far apart, and the overhead work was light and inefficient. The car equipment was antiquated and of several patterns and styles.
There was another system, about three and three quarter miles in length, called the People's Electric Street Railway Com- pany, which extended from St. Clair, through Rochester town- ship, Rochester, and Bolesville to the Junction, where it stopped a few feet short of connecting with the B. V. T. Co.'s tracks. The fares charged from Morado or from St. Clair to Vanport were 15 cents.
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Several attempts had been made to unite the People's Elec- tric Street Railway Company with the Beaver Valley Traction Company under one management, but without success prior to 1900, in which year fresh capital was interested, all the stock of the People's Electric Street Railway Company was purchased, and the property absorbed by the Beaver Valley Traction Com- pany. The capital stock of the Beaver Valley Traction Company was increased from $300,000 to $1,000,000, plans were imme- diately prepared to connect at the Junction and over the Big Beaver bridge, and to replace the old construction with new, up-to-date construction and equipment, and to double track the system wherever possible. A new park was planned and ground purchased at the Junction, where all the buildings of the com- pany should be concentrated for economy of power and super- vision. These plans have been carried out to a large extent, and are still being carried out as fast as local legislation has been obtained, and it is confidently believed by the management that when completed, they will both deserve and receive from the public a measure of patronage that will return to those who have invested their money in these public improvements a fair dividend upon their investment.
Officers: President, John M. Buchanan; Vice-President, Sydney L. Wright; Secretary and Treasurer, Walter T. Bilyou ; Assistant Secretary and Assistant Treasurer, J. C. Lightfoot, Jr .; General Manager, Henry S. Newton; Consulting Engineer, A. H. Engstrom. Directors: John M. Buchanan, Theodore P. Simp- son, Sydney L. Wright, W. Fred'k Snyder, Howard S. Graham, Wm. Henry Snyder, Harry W. Reeves, Wm. Redwood Wright, James P. Stone.
For Patterson Heights Street Railway, see chapter on Beaver Falls borough.
WATER-WORKS
The first water-works of Beaver Falls was built in 1863. It consisted of a small impounding dam built in a ravine a short distance north of the old Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway station, and west of their tracks. This dam was fed by several small springs, and water from this dam was piped to the town by a two-inch wrought pipe, supplying only a few hundred people. This supply soon became too small, and in 1865 a
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pump of about 350,000 gallons capacity was erected in the Cutlery building. This served the people until 1873, when a Holly pump of 700,000 gallons capacity was erected in a stone building between the race and the river bank, a short distance east of the Cutlery works; and during this period a consider- able amount of cast-iron pipe was laid through the town. In 1884 a reservoir of 4,000,000 gallons capacity was built on Col- lege Hill, and a steam pumping plant of 3,500,000 gallons was added and was located on the west bank of the river, a short distance south of the College grounds.
In 1893 the present pumping station, with a capacity of about 6,000,000 gallons, was erected on the east bank of the Beaver River, opposite the old paper mill by the Union Water Company. The plant has been increased from time to time, until it has now (1903) a capacity of 10,000,000 gallons, and in addition thereto it has a 6,000,000 gallon filtration system. This plant delivers water to about 30,000 inhabitants and nearly sixty factories and works, through fifty-five miles of pipe, varying in sizes from four to sixteen inches diameter.
The People's Water Company of Beaver Falls was incor- porated December 17, 1896, and organized by a number of the citizens of Beaver Falls for the purpose of providing a better water supply for the town, both in quality and quantity, than that furnished by the Union Water Company. It continued in existence until the spring of 1902, when its stock was all pur- chased by a syndicate, which had also arranged to purchase the Union Water Company plant, and the companies were, to all intents and purposes, merged in the company now known as the Beaver Valley Water Company.
During its existence the People's Water Company put in a pumping station and filters, and a reservoir on the hill back of Mt. Washington, and a complete system of pipes throughout the borough. The water furnished was derived partly from wells sunk in a gravel deposit, known as the old "Buried River" channel. The water obtained was very pure and absolutely free from nitrogenous matter, but held in solution a great deal of lime and salt, so that it was very hard. A part of the water supply was drawn from the Beaver River, filtered and mixed with the well water.
The capital stock of the company, actually paid in, was
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$95,000. The company had paid a six-per-cent. dividend during its entire existence, and in the merger the stock sold for $125 for each share. The sale was not made until the Union Water Company had entered into a ten years' contract with the bor- ough, in which that company agreed to furnish filtered water to the citizens of the borough at rates not exceeding those charged by the People's Water Company, and to furnish a definite pres- sure at all points in the borough for fire protection. This prac- tically accomplished the purpose for which the People's Water Company was organized, and it was therefore thought unwise to continue a useless competition longer.
The officers of the People's Water Company during the whole term of its existence were Albert M. Jolly, President; John Warren, Secretary; Frank F. Brierly, Treasurer.
The Beaver Valley Water Company owns and operates the Union Water Company, College Hill Borough Water Company, New Brighton Water Company, Fallston Water Company, Val- ley Water Company, West Side Water Company, Freedom Water Company, North Rochester Water Company, and sup- plies the towns of College Hill, Beaver Falls, New Brighton, Rochester, West Bridgewater, Freedom, Conway, and North Rochester with filtered water. The Beaver Valley Water Company was incorporated in 1902, with a capital of $1,000,- 000. The officers are J. F. Grimes, President; J. P. Moore, Secretary; and John T. Taylor, Treasurer and General Man- ager.
FUEL AND LIGHTING COMPANIES-NATURAL GAS
In the following chapter some account of the natural gas development is given. The pioneer company to supply this product for purposes of fuel and light in Beaver County was the Bridgewater Gas Company, which received letters patent from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to Stephen P. Stone, Oscar Small, and others, November 19, 1883.
The Baden Gas Company received letters patent to J. Sharp McDonald and others, dated January 25, 1886.
The Citizens' Natural Gas Company received similar letters to John Barton, W. A. Mellon, and others, March 9, 1887.
The Rochester Heat & Light Company was chartered May
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17, 1887, by Perry Brown, John Conway, H. M. Camp, and others, and was later absorbed by the Fort Pitt Gas Company, chartered in Allegheny County by J. J. Vandergrift, J. I. Bu- chanan and others, who, on the 19th of November, 1889, filed an extension of their pipe lines into the county of Beaver.
All the above-named companies have since been absorbed by the Manufacturers' Light & Heat Company of Pittsburg, with a capital of $21,000,000.
ELECTRIC LIGHTING COMPANIES
The charter of the first company in the county organized to supply electric light was granted to H. W. Hartman, John Reeves, Henry C. Fry, Sherman D. Hubbard, John P. Sher- wood, and John M. Buchanan, each having twenty shares of stock in the Beaver Valley Electric Light and Power Company. The charter was granted by Governor Beaver the 19th day of November, 1888, under the Act of April 29, 1874, and the sev- eral supplements thereto, for the purpose of supplying light, heat, and power by means of electricity to the public at the borough of Beaver Falls and the territory adjacent, to wit, the boroughs of New Brighton, Fallston, Rochester, Bridgewater, and Beaver, and was to exist perpetually. The capital stock was $12,000, the par value of each share being $100.
The first plant belonging to this company was installed in the works of Mr. Hartman, located on the bank of the Beaver River; and the towns of Beaver Falls, New Brighton, and Falls- ton were shortly thereafter supplied with electric light furnished by them.
The Rochester Electric Company was chartered March 10, 1890, with H. C. Fry, President; W. S. Shallenberger, Secretary and Treasurer; and O. B. Shallenberger, General Manager; and H. C. Fry, John J. Hoffman, John M. Buchanan, O. B. Shallen- berger, and W. S. Shallenberger, Directors. Its capital stock was at the beginning $10,000, afterwards increased to $25,000. Its field was Rochester, Bridgewater, and Beaver.
The plant of this company at the out-start consisted of one 75-horse-power Westinghouse steam-engine and a 60-kilowatt dynamo, both of which were later duplicated. Afterwards an 80-kilowatt dynamo, a 150-horse-power engine, and four 100- horse-power boilers were added. Its field was not extended.
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The plant was installed on Delaware Avenue, near Madison Street, Rochester.
On the ninth day of December, 1897, Governor Hastings granted a charter to the Valley Electric Company, the capital stock thereof being the nominal sum of $1000, divided into ten shares of $100 each, and the directors thereof being Joseph F. Mitchell, John F. Miner, T. S. White, Samuel P. White, and George D. Douglass.
The capital stock was, on the 30th of December, 1897, in- creased to $300,000, and by purchase of the stock of the other two. companies named above, it became the owner thereof and united the electric light interests of the county under one man- agement. The company also bought eighty-four shares of water-power, and located its plant on the west bank of the Beaver River in the borough of Fallston, and shortly thereafter began the manufacture of electric light at that place. It extended its lines to the boroughs of Monaca, Freedom, and Conway.
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