History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 37

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 37
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 37
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 37

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).

To furnish food and other accommodations for all this vast throng of travelers, brute and human, a great number of public-houses were needed, and these sprang up immediately along the road. The large stage-houses were located in the towns, and at stated points between the villages where these were distant from each other. Then there were houses which did scarcely any business other than the selling of whisky to thirsty wayfarers. . And there were along the route numerous taverns which made no specialty other than entertainment for man and beast. These had no patronage either from the stage passengers or wagoners upon the road. The latter, with the drovers, always clustered together at houses having large wagon-yards and kept especially for that class of customers. In fact the number of public-houses of all kinds, which the National road brought into existence, was fully equal to one for each two miles of its entire length. It was said that in the mountain portion of the route the average was one to every mile. The keepers * of these houses, like the wagoners and drivers of stages, and, in fact, like the greater part of the people living along the route, looked upon the Cumber- land road as being among the chiefest of earthly blessings, and would have regarded with

. The keepers of many of these houses likewise gained many ill-gotten dollars by apprehending and returning to slavery negroes fleeing northward from cruel masters.

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD, SOMERSET AND FULTON COUNTIES.

affright the idea that it would ever be abandoned or superseded by other avenues and modes of travel.

However, after only about five years of the ceaseless beating of hoofs and the never- ending roll and crunch of heavy wheels, the solid road-bed, in many places, became well- nigh impassable. Particularly was this the case in the vicinity of the Monongahela river, and in the mountain region of the route, where much of the road had been formed of soft sand- stone. Repairs were imperatively demanded, and it at once became evident that the road would be a perpetual and ever-increasing expense to the general government without producing any in- come to pay for repairs. Hence, under Jackson's administration, it was proposed that the road should be surrendered to the three states through whose domains it passed. Finally the state authorities of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Vir- ginia agreed to accept the road providing the United States authorities should place it in good condition by macadamizing the roadway in nearly its entire length from Cumberland to Wheeling. On the 4th of April, 1831, an act of the Pennsylvania legislature, entitled " An Act for the Preservation and Repair of the Cumber- land Road," was approved, and similar acts were passed by the legislatures of Maryland and Vir- ginia, respectively, on the 23d of January and 7th of February, 1832. These acts of the three states caused a decision by the government in July, 1832, to repair the road effectually from end to end, and then to cede it to the states mentioned, after which the repairs were to be met by the tolls collected upon it. After the government had expended about half a million dollars in repairs, that part of the road passing through Pennsylvania was accepted by the lat- ter state, by the approval of an act (April 1, 1835), the third section of which declared that " the surrender by the United States of so much of the Cumberland road as lies within the State of Pennsylvania is hereby accepted by this state, and the commissioners to be appointed under this act are authorized to erect toll-gates on the whole or any part of said road, at such time as they may deem it expedient and proper to do 80."

The erection of toll-gates in 1835, by the state commissioners, had the effect to clear the road almost entirely of the immense droves of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs which had passed

over it while it was a free thoroughfare. But through the mountains there was no other route, and so the drovers were compelled to use that part of the road and pay the tolls. The new system also brought into use upon this road very heavily built wagons, with wheels nine inches broad, drawn by six and sometimes by eight horses. Wagons having wheels of this breadth of tire or rim, and carrying loads not exceeding five tons weight, were allowed to pass on a much less (proportionate) rate of toll than was charged for narrow-wheeled wagons, which were far more destructive to the road-bed. "I have frequently seen," says a former resident* on the line of the Cumberland road, "from forty to fifty great Conestoga six-horse teams, carrying from five to six tons cach, picketed around over night in the yards and on the com- mons, and all the other taverns about equally full at the same time. There were often two men with a team, who carried their own bedding, but all these men and horses had to be fed and cared for."

As early as 1835, Alvin Adams (founder of the "Adams Express Company"), together with one or two other oyster dealers, of Baltimore, Maryland, began running over this road a line of wagons. They were started with the chief purpose of supplying the western country with fresh oysters. Soon afterward it became a reg- ular express, not only continuing the oyster traffic, but carrying packages, and prosecuting a business similar to that of the express lines of the present day. They ran express wagons, each drawn by four horses, and having relays of teams at stations ten or twelve miles apart, and the business was continued in this way on the road until the opening of the Pennsylvania rail- road.

In 1844, when the Baltimore & Ohio rail- road was completed as far west as Cumberland, the business of the National road, great as it had previously been, was largely increased on account of the easy eastern connections thus formed. During the succeeding period of eight years it was frequently the case that twenty-five stages, each containing its full complement of nine in- side and a number of outside passengers, "pulled out" at the same time from Wheeling, and the same was true of the eastern terminus at Cumberland. The lines ran daily each way,

*A. L. Littell, Esq., formerly of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, but now of Cleveland, Ohio.

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and it was sometimes the case that thirty stages, all fully loaded with passengers, stopped at one hotel in a single day.

During the year 1850 (the Monongahela Navi- gation Company having completed its slack- water improvements to Brownsville in 1844) the stage-lines on the National road carried over eighteen thousand passengers to and from the Monongahela river steamboats and Cumber- land, and the number so carried had been con- siderably larger than this in each of the three preceding years. But the glory of the great thoroughfare was then nearing its close. Another year of prosperity followed, but from the opening of the Pennsylvania railroad to Pittsburgh, in 1852, and the completion of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad to Wheeling, in December of the same year, the business of the National road suddenly and rapidly declined; travelers to and from the West were diverted to the new routes and easier mode of conveyance, and extra passenger coaches were no longer needed ; finally, the western mails were sent by the other routes, and the stages were withdrawn from this, the rumble of the broad-wheeled freight wagons was gradually silenced along the rock-laid road-bed, and by rapid degrees the famous National highway lost its importance and became, as it is today, merely and only an avenue of local travel.

TURNPIKES AND STAGE-COACHES.

On April 9, 1792, the first turnpike company was incorporated in the State of Pennsylvania. It was known as the "Philadelphia and Lan- caster Company." Others followed during sub- sequent years, but it was not until about 1814-21 that turnpike-building became general, or largely engaged the attention of the public mind. The "Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike Road Company," the " Bedford and Stoystown Turn- pike Road Company," the "Stoystown and Greensburg Turnpike Road Company," and the "Bedford and Hollidaysburg Turnpike Road Company," were the corporate titles of com- panies in which the people of these counties were most deeply interested, although the latter was not authorized until April 14, 1838. During the early years the state became a large sub- scriber to the stock of various turnpike compa- nies, for the reason that the impression prevailed that the public treasury should aid in making improvements designed for the public benefit.

Thus the Chambersburg and Bedford road re- ceived from the state the sum of $175,000. The commonwealth received in return but few and very small dividends on its investments, and a little more than thirty years ago these stocks were sold by the state treasurer at from fifty cents to a dollar per share. The roads, however, remain. They have been of vast benefit to the people and materially assisted to develop the re- gions through which they passed.

What has been said regarding the traffic and travel carried on over the National road can with equal propriety be applied to the great interstate route of which the Chambersburg and Bedford, and Bedford and Stoystown cor- porations formed a part. Taverns and inns stood at frequent intervals, and daily lines of stage- coaches afforded traveling facilities for thou- sands yearly. About 1830, the route from Bed- ford, westward by way of Somerset over the Glade Road,* became a favorite one with many travelers. The journey between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh was accomplished in less time ; besides, Somerset, even then, was widely known for its excellent hotels. On December 31, 1830, the following editorial notice appeared in the columns of the Bedford Enquirer: "In the course of a few days a line of stages will be placed on the route from Philadelphia to Pitts- burgh by way of Somerset, to run through in three days. The proprietors are Messrs. Reeside (A. J.) & Slaymaker. Ten of their stages, which

. This road was improved and called the "Glade Road Turn- pike " as early as 1820, as witness the following copy of a notice which was published in "The Somerset Whig " at the time indi- cated.

GLADE ROAD TURNPIKE. CHEAP AND PLEASANT TRAVELLING.

Waggoners, travellers and the Publick in general, are now in- formed, that the two mountains, the Allegheny and Laurel-Hill are now completely turnpiked, five miles at the Allegheny and seven miles at the Laurel-Hill, the latter is the best road, without exception, of any road yet made over that mountain. This road branches off to the left, four miles west of Bedford, where five miles are now nearly completed, from thence for fourteen miles along the Dry-ridge is superior to any Turnpike for Waggons, Horse-men or Carriages, and the road on to Somerset and west- ward to Pittsburg and Washington, is now so well improved that it can be travelled with more ease both to the horse and to the rider, than any other road across the Mountains. - There are many good houses on this road, among which are the following, where a good and plentiful accommodation can at all times be had, viz .:

Miles.

From the forks of the road to ) 4 the two taverns.

to Somerset

to Metzger's.

to Musgrave's

to Statler's

to Brugh's ..

to Job's.

to Grindle's.

to Imhoff's

to Big Spring.

to White horse

to Beymer's ..

to Gebhart's

to Berkey's ...

to Cooper's

to Jones's Mill

4 6

to Will's ..

3 to Thompson's

A TURNPIKE MANAGER.

Somerset, 24th Aug., 1820:

The Editors of the Newspapers in Bedford and Chambers- burg, are requested to give the above one or two insertions.

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to Heiple's

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD, SOMERSET AND FULTON COUNTIES.

are very splendid and do great credit to the pro- prietors, have already passed through this place to their several stations." However, with the completion of the Pennsylvania railroad on the north and the Baltimore & Ohio railroad on the south, the business of the stage proprietors was abruptly terminated. Hence, generations now frequent the scenes of former triumphs and de- feats in the way of Concord stage coaching who have never witnessed, nor can they form an ade- quate idea of, the commotion which was caused in all stage towns on this route forty years ago by the arrival or departure of half a dozen coaches of rival lines, with horns blowing, stream- ers flying, and horses on the full run.

RAILROADS.

The railroad companies now operating lines within these counties are the Baltimore & Ohio, the Pennsylvania and the Huntingdon & Broad Top, though the first and last named are controlling roads which were constructed by other corporations under various names.

Of the companies mentioned, the Baltimore & Ohio was the first corporation to make an actual movement toward the construction of a railway line through this region. That com- pany having been incorporated by the legislature of Maryland, in December, 1826, applied to the general assembly of Pennsylvania for authority to construct their road through this state to or toward a terminus on the Ohio. To this peti- tion the assembly responded by the passage of "An Act to Authorize the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company to Construct a Railroad through Pennsylvania, in a Direction from Balti- more to the Ohio River." The company was re- quired to complete its road in Pennsylvania within fifteen years from the passage of the act, otherwise the act to be void and of no ef- fect.

The time when the company commenced making surveys in Pennsylvania under author- ity of this act is not known, but the fact that the engineers of the Baltimore & Ohio com- pany were engaged in preliminary surveys in the region embraced by Somerset county as early as 1835, for the purpose of securing a line of communication through to Pittsburgh, or other points on the Ohio, is substantiated by the newspapers of that day. Enthusiastic rail- road meetings were held at various points, and the chief engineer of the company reported that

a railroad could be built from Cumberland to Brownsville, and thence to Wheeling and Pitts- burgh, "without the use of any inclined plane." Other accounts also show that the preparations of the Baltimore & Ohio Company for the con- struction of a railroad through Somerset and other counties to the westward embraced not only the making of elaborate surveys, but also the purchase of the right of way from a great num- ber of land-owners in the year 1838. At that time, however, the attention of the company was almost wholly engaged, and their funds ab- sorbed, in the construction of their road between Baltimore and Cumberland, and as it had be- come apparent that they could not complete the Pennsylvania part of the road within the re- quired time of fifteen years from the passage of the act of 1828, they asked an extension, which was granted by the legislature of Pennsylvania in a supplemental act, approved June 20, 1839, by the provisions of which the time in which the company were required to finish their road or roads in Pennsylvania was extended four years, or to February 27, 1847.

In 1844, when the company had completed their road westward to Cumberland, there re- mained less than three years in which to con- struct the part lying in Pennsylvania, under the requirements of the supplemental act of 1889. A further extension of time was necessary, and was applied for to the Pennsylvania assembly ; but, meanwhile, the Pennsylvania railroad was being pushed westward to cross the Alleghenies and make Pittsburgh its western terminus, and now the business men, manufacturers and peo- ple of influence in that city, who in 1828 and 1839 were ready to do all in their power to se- cure a railroad, even if it were but a branch from a main line, from the seaboard to Wheel- ing, were now, in view of the prospective direct connection with Philadelphia by the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad, entirely favor- able to the latter road, and as wholly opposed to the support of a competing line, commencing at the Maryland metropolis, and to have its west- ern terminus, not at Pittsburgh, but at the rival city of Wheeling.

The Baltimore & Ohio company also had to encounter the determined opposition of the in- habitants of the country through which their railroad was to pass. This strong opposition arose chiefly from the belief that the proposed railroad would supersede and ruin the National

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road, and consequently ruin themselves and the country. Hence all this contrariety of opinion, added to the combined influence of the city of Pittsburgh and of the Pennsylvania railroad, proved too powerful for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company to overcome in the assembly of this state ; and so that company, after re- peated attempts to obtain a further extension of time for building their road through Penn- sylvania, found themselves compelled to aban- don the enterprise and complete their road from Cumberland to Wheeling through the State of Virginia. Years afterward, however, they accomplished one of the principal objects they then had in view (the extension of their line to Pittsburgh) by leasing roads already built by companies holding charters from Pennsylvania.

The Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad Com- pany was the first to open a line of railway within any part of Somerset county. It was incorporated by an act of the general assembly approved April 3, 1837. The company was duly organized, but `not having complied with the requirements of the act of incorporation - commencing the work of construction within five years from the passage of the act - their franchises were forfeited ; but on March 18, 1843, an act was passed, renewing, extending and continuing in force the charter of 1837, upon the same terms, conditions and limitations as were embraced in the original act, and also making the additional provision, "that the said company shall have power and discretion to select any route from Pittsburgh to Turtle Creek, which may be deemed most eligi- ble and advantageous, and may extend said road beyond Connellsville to Smithfield, or any other point on the waters of the Youghiogheny and within the limits of this commonwealth." The clause authorizing the extension of the road from Connellsville to the Maryland line was repealed the next day after its passage, but was re-enacted April 3, 1846.

The Maryland legislature, by an act approved April 21, 1853, granted the company authority to extend their road from the state line to Cum- berland. On April 6, 1854, another act was passed, authorizing the Uniontown & Waynes- burg Railroad Company (chartered April 18, 1853) to transfer all its rights, etc., to this com- pany, and they were accordingly so transferred.

Early in the spring of 1854, the chief engineer of the road, Oliver W. Barnes, submitted to the president and directors a report on the several

proposed routes, whereupon the board adopted "the line occupying the north bank of the Youghiogheny river from a point at or near the borough of West Newton, in Westmoreland county, to a point at or near the borough of Connellsville, in Fayette county, as the final location for the construction of that portion of the road." Southward from Connellsville the route adopted was on the same side of the Youghiogheny to Turkey-Foot, and thence along Castleman's river and Wills' creek (embracing a great tunnel at Sand Patch), through Somerset county to the Maryland line.

For purposes of construction and convenience the road was divided into five divisions as fol- lows :

Miles.

No. 1 .- Pittsburgh to West Newton. 32

No. 2 .- West Newton to Connellsville 25

No. 3 .- Connellsville to Turkey-Foot. 30

No. 4 .- Turkey-Foot to Summit 29

No. 5 .- Summit to Cumberland. 31

During the year 1854, work was commenced upon division No. 2, and the Sand Patch tunnel. Upon division No. 2, because as a starting-point it was easy of access by river in furnishing men, material and provisions from the city of Pitts- burgh, and when completed would materially accelerate the extension of the work to its west- ern terminus ; upon the tunnel, for the reason that the heavy character of the work there de- manded that it should be put under contract simultaneously with the first work, to secure its completion within the period allotted for the entire line. The road was opened from West Newton to Connellsville in 1855, but beyond the latter place the amount of work done was small, only $9,674.22 having been expended on division No. 3 prior to December 1, 1854, and for a number of years after the opening of the road to Connello- ville very little was done on the line southward and eastward from that point. Strong opposi- tion to the road was developed among the people living along that part of the route, their princi- pal argument against it being that the opening of a railroad through that section would ruin the traffic on the old National road, which lat- ter appeared to be regarded by them as para- mount in importance to the securing of railroad facilities.

At last, on the 29th of April, 1864, the legie- lature of Pennsylvania, for various reasons set forth, passed an act revoking all the rights, pow- ers, franchises and privileges of the Pittsburgh

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& Connellsville Railroad Company, but pro- viding that all the outlay and expenditure already made by the company on the line south and east of Connellsville should be reimbursed by any other company which might be empow- ered to complete the construction of that por- tion of the line. On the same day on which this repeal was passed, the general assembly also passed an act incorporating the " Connells- ville & Southern Railway Company," with power to construct a railway from Connellsville to the Maryland state line.

The new company, however, did not comply with the requirements of the act as to the com- mencement and completion of the line. Mean- while, legal measures were taken on behalf of the old company to secure a restoration of their charter for the line south and east of Connells- ville, and this was finally accomplished by the passage of an act January 31, 1868, repealing the act of April 29, 1864. Thus was the com- pany reinstated in the possession of its original powers and franchises, as to the line from Con- nellsville to the Maryland boundary, but it was required to commence the work of construction within six months, and to complete it within three years from the passage of the act. An- other act was passed April 1, in the same year, authorizing the Pittsburgh & Connellsville Railroad Company to construct branch roads, for the development of contiguous regions of country, from any point or points on their main line.

The work of construction was now pushed vigorously to completion. In February, 1871, the road from Connellsville to Falls City was finished, and trains ran regularly between those points on and after the 20th of that month. As early as the 23d of the same month trains were announced to be running on schedule time from Sand Patch to Cumberland. At about three o'clock in the afternoon of Monday, April 10, 1871, the track was finished between Pitts- burgh and Cumberland, by the laying of the last rail, at a point where the track-layers from both directions met, near Forge Bridge, three miles west of Mineral Point in Somerset county. Immediately after, a passenger train from Pitts- burgh took aboard all present and started di- rectly to Cumberland, which place was reached about dark. The road is now operated as a part of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, having been leased by that company in December, 1875.

The Berlin Branch railroad, eight and one- fourth miles in length, extending from Garrett on the Baltimore & Ohio road to Berlin, was built in 1871 by the Buffalo Valley Railroad Company. The company was composed of citi- zens of Berlin and property-holders living along the route of the road. The branch is now owned and operated by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.

The Ursina Branch railroad, four and one- quarter miles in length, was built in 1871-2 by the Pittsburgh & Baltimore Coal, Coke and Iron Company, for the purpose of developing the coal and timber resources along its line. The road was in operation about three years. The panic caused it to be abandoned. It has since been sold, and the rails have been taken up.

The Salisbury railroad, twelve miles in length, from Salisbury Junction to Salisbury, was com- menced and graded by the Salisbury & Balti- more Railroad and Coal Company. In 1875 it was bought at sheriff's sale for $75,000 by Col. E. D. Yutzy and Noah Scott, of Ursina, who completed the greater portion of the road and operated it for two years under the name of the Salisbury Railroad Company. They then sold out to a private company of prominent railroad men, who in turn disposed of the road to the Baltimore & Ohio company. The busi- ness of the road is mainly dependent upon min- ing and lumbering.

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History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 37

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Number of Pages: 967

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967