History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men, Part 46

Author: Hain, Harry Harrison, 1873- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Harrisburg, Pa., Hain-Moore company
Number of Pages: 1102

USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men > Part 46

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While the state was pushing through the main line, individuals and firms were constructing railroads within its borders. Among these were the Harrisburg and Portsmouth, and the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroads, both of which are now a part of the main line of the Pennsylvania system. In 1833 the canal commissioners were directed by the State Legislature to complete the Columbia Railroad with double tracks, and the Portage Railroad with a sin- gle track, and to complete the main line of the canal. It was promptly done, and in 1834 the entire line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was opened to trade and travel. As finished it con- sisted of the following sections :

I. Columbia Railroad, from Philadelphia to Columbia, eighty-two miles in length.

2. Eastern division of canal, from Columbia to Hollidaysburg, one hun- dred and seventy-two miles.

3. Portage Railroad, from Hollidaysburg to Johnstown, thirty-six miles.

4. Western division of canal, from Johnstown to Pittsburgh, one hun- dred and four miles, making a total of three hundred and ninety-four miles.

Being thus broken and requiring reshipping of freight, which was both tedious and expensive, it never proved remunerative to the state, but to the country through which it passed it was a mar- vel of development, and our inland counties-including Perry- owe to it much of their early development.

The first railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia was operated by horses, instead of locomotives. The "cars" were something larger than the later stagecoaches, and horses were changed every twelve miles. About 1836 locomotives replaced the horses. The cars were the property of individuals and a freight toll was charged

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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

THE LONGEST STONE ARCH BRIDGE IN THE WORLD-THE P. R. R. BRIDGE AT MARYSVILLE.

for their passage. At first the cars were drawn by horses or mules, out Market Street, Philadelphia, across what was described as the "Schuylkill Permanent Bridge," at the west end of which the locomo- tives were attached. An early guide told of the first stop being at Hestonville, a distance of three miles. Haverford was then called White Hall. A stop was made at Paoli for refreshments. Harris- burg had then 9,000 people.

The first Susquehanna bridge, 3.670 feet in length, crossing the river at Rockville, was let and commenced in 1847. The contrac- tor abandoned the job and the masonry was relet to Helman & Simons, of Harrisburg, through whose energy, aided by Robert McAllister, of Juniata County, the bridge was completed in 1848. At the same place now is located the famous stone arch bridge, the west half of which was begun March 13. 1900, by H. S. Kerbaugh, Inc., and the east half at the same time by the Drake & Stratton Company, contractors. The bridge is 3,830 feet long, and 52 feet wide, accom- modating four tracks. It was com- pleted March 30, 1902, train No. 20 being the first to cross it.

The Portage road was a series of ten inclined planes, with inter- vening levels. The ascent from Johnstown to the mountain's crest was one hundred and seventeen and one-half feet in a distance of twenty-six and one-half miles, and the descent from the crest to Hol- lidaysburg was thirteen hundred and ninety-nine feet in a distance of ten miles. By means of wire cables the cars were operated over

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BUILDING OF PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD

these planes, and during the twenty years it was in use no serious accident occurred. Boats carrying through freight were later built in sections, which were placed upon trucks and thus transported over the Alleghenies.

A general convention was assembled at Harrisburg, March 6, 1838, to urge the building of a continuous railroad across the state. A southern route, via Bedford and Somerset, was considered and pronounced practicable, with the exception of about fifty miles over the Alleghenies between Bedford and Franklin Counties, where it was suggested that the turnpike be resorted to. A second route was the one up the Susquehanna to Northumberland, thence via the headwaters of Bald Eagle Creek to the headwaters west of the mountains. It was deemed a feasible route, but too circuitous. The third or middle route suggested was the one that is practically the route of the Pennsylvania Railroad of to-day. It was via the Juniata and the Conemaugh Rivers, crossing the Alleghenies by a series of curves, among which is the famous horseshoe curve. Great as was the need it was not until 1846 that the project assumed tangible shape. On April 13th of that year, the act to incorporate the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company passed the Pennsylvania Legislature. Its capital was made seven and one-half millions, with the privilege of in- creasing to ten millions. This act also provided that in case the company should have three millions actually subscribed and one million actually paid into the treasury, and fifteen miles under con- struction at each end of the line prior to July 30, 1847, the law granting the right of way to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from Cumberland, Maryland, to Pittsburgh, should be null and void. These conditions were complied with, and Governor Shunk granted a charter to the company, and on August 2d issued a proclamation declaring the privileges which had been granted to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company abrogated.

That piece of legislation is of peculiar importance to Perry Countians, for it was a native of Perry County who proposed it. William Bigler, then speaker of the Senate, who later became gov- ernor, was the man. He represented Armstrong, Indiana, Cam- bria and Clearfield Counties-a district that was divided upon this question-yet manfully made a plea for the road through the cen- tral part of the state. He ardently supported the friends of the Pennsylvania Railroad in procuring the charter, and in passing the act which gave municipal and other corporations the power to sub- scribe to its capital stock, without which it could not have been built and which was fiercely opposed in the legislature. (See chap- ter in this book devoted to Governor Bigler.) For a time this action met - with much opposition in Allegheny County and the southwestern counties of the state, but when they saw the resource-

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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

fulness of its projectors and the energetic manner in which con- struction was pursued their antagonism was changed to friendship. and to-day Allegheny County and Pittsburgh are zealous of its very reputation, for there is located its greatest junction, and rail- road and city interests are interwoven to a remarkable degree.

On June 22, 1846, books were opened throughout the state for the sale of the stock of the company. Public meetings were held. a house-to-house canvass was made in Philadelphia, and the news- papers were untiring in endorsing the project. The grading of the first twenty miles of the road west of Harrisburg was let on May 16, 1847. (According to President Rea the date would be July roth.) Over half of this stretch was within the limits of Perry County. The railroad was then called the Pennsylvania Cen- tral Railroad. During that summer a city daily contained the following: "The great central railroad-that imperishable chain. destined to more closely unite the interests of the East and the West of this continent-is rapidly progressing along the banks of the Juniata. Day by day the engineers and workmen may be seen surveying, arranging, digging and blasting away, by which the highest, most rugged and rocky bluffs bordering the river crumble and are subdued, forming the foundation for this life-artery of Pennsylvania." On November 26th of the same year, forty addi- tional miles were let, carrying the part under contract to the east- ern end of Lewistown. About the same time the company let a contract for fifteen thousand tons of rails, with the stipulation that they were to be manufactured in Pennsylvania. The City of Phila- delphia subscribed two and a half millions that year, and Allegheny County followed the next year with a subscription of a million.

On September 1. 1849, the first section, from Harrisburg to Lewistown, a distance of sixty-one miles, was opened for travel. During 1849, what was virtually a "fleet" of canal boats, were en- gaged in hauling to Hollidaysburg the rails with which to lay the tracks west of the mountains. On December 10, 1852, the line had been completed and the first through train run from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, using the Portage road as part of the route. On February 15, 1854, the new line had been completed entirely, and the first through train was run over it, not using the Portage route. The public works had cost the state a fortune and were unprofita- ble. A demand for their sale grew, and accordingly ou April 27. 1854, the legislature passed a bill providing for the sale of the main line. No buyer could be found under its provisions. An act of 1855 also proved ineffectual, but an act of May 16, 1857, finally consummated the sale. The price was $7.500,000. In 1864 the company turned its attention to the introduction of steel rails and stimulated their manufacture in America.

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BUILDING OF PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD

When the Pennsylvania Railroad was organized, eight directors were elected by the stockholders, of whom J. Edgar Thompson was one, and one by the City of Philadelphia. Allegheny County elected two directors, and one of them was Thomas Scott, so that the new board contained two of the greatest railroad men yet pro- duced in America. The board then elected an additional director. Mr. Thompson was made president. The State of Pennsylvania then owned the line to Dillerville ( west of Lancaster ), sixty-nine miles in length. There the tracks were joined to the Harrisburg, Portsmouth ( Middletown), Mt. Joy and Lancaster Railroad, thirty-six miles in length. At Harrisburg the 248 miles of the Pennsylvania Railroad started.

According to the diary of the late Jacob Young, the first Penn- sylvania locomotive steamed into Duncannon on July 16, 1849. No further notation is made. About that time John D. Crilly, who had published the Perry County Standard and kept a hotel at New Bloomfield, purchased a hotel at Newport and operated a stage line. His son, D. F. Crilly, now a retired and wealthy real estate operator and builder of Chicago, aged eighty-two, then a boy of eleven years, thus describes the entry of the first train into Newport :

"At this time the Pennsylvania Railroad was being built through Newport, which was the main line to the West. The scholars of the school there were given a recess to see the first train pass through the town, which was quite an event. The crew of the train allowed the townspeople to climb aboard to take their first railroad ride. On the return trip those so honored were obliged to jump from the train, as it did not stop in passing through the vil- lage. No one was hurt, however, in detraining."

An early description of the road about Duncannon is interesting :

"Passing the point of the rocks by a sharp curve to the west the traveler soon crosses the beautiful Sherman's Creek and his ears are saluted with the heavy reverberations of the forge, the roar of the waterfall and the busy noises of the rolling mills. The evidences of industry and thrift are conspicuous in this locality, and the enterprise of William Logan Fisher has erected there a montiment durable as brass. Pig, bar, rolled and ham- mered iron, nails and spikes, are products of these works. Anthracite coal is brought by canal from the Shamokin region, and various localities, some of which are very distant, are laid under contribution for the best varieties of ores.

"Dealers in lumber from the principal cities and from the various towns on the river below Harrisburg resort to the island to make their purchases and secure pick of the market.

"Passing along a rocky sidehill for a distance of nearly two miles the train usually stops at Aqueduct. Here passengers for the Susquehanna region are transferred to the packet boat, which, after receiving its cargo of human freight, crosses the Acqueduct and is towed by horses to Wil- liamsport, on the west branch of the Susquehanna.

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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

"Leaving our friends in the packet to the enjoyment of their bilge water and mosquitoes and to all the comforts of narrow berths, crying babies, and the chances of suffocation, enjoyments which a shower of rain is sure to greatly enhance, we will bid adieu to the blue hills of the Susquehanna and its broad, shining waters and wend our way to the sources of the gently flowing Juniata, where they gush forth in copious streams from the broad bosom of the Alleghenies."

When the turnpikes were built, often termed the national roads, they had tortuous grades reaching two hundred feet to the mile, on which the commerce of the nation was to be tediously and laboriously transported at an average of fifty miles in each twenty- four hours. For years those roads served, and then came the canal, a considerable improvement. Charles Dickens, the noted English author who used it, left evidence that it was a "vast im- provement in comfort over the dusty, lumbering stagecoach." Then came the railroad and, although slow and somewhat tedious at first, its projectors were real benefactors. Its successful com- pletion in the face of natural barriers and to the astonishment of . the world, worked a revolution in commerce, and to its builders the American people should ever be grateful.

Prior to the days of the railroads the stagecoach was the popular mode of travel, and various lines were operated from different points. John D. Crilly, who kept a hotel at New Bloomfield and also published the Perry County Standard, operated a line of stagecoaches from New Bloomfield, but later sold his hotel and paper there and opened a hotel in Newport, operating his line of stages from there. The advent of the railroad made the business unprofitable.

As a member of the House of Representatives, the late A. K. McClure, another native Perry Countian, figured in the sale of the public works, by proposing the abolishment of the canal board, a body that had attained an unsavory reputation. In his "Old-Time Notes of Pennsylvania," he says :

"The Pennsylvania Railroad Company took possession of the main line on the Ist of August, 1857, and in his annual message Governor Pollock congratulated the people of the state upon the consummation of the sale. He said: "The many approve; the few complain, those most who have gained an unenviable reputation by reckless disregard of the public inter- ests as exhibited in the extravagant, useless and fraudulent expenditure of the public money for selfish or partisan purposes.' The sale embraced only the main line, including the canals and railroads owned by the state between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, but one year later the legislature of 1858 sold all the remaining state canals to the Philadelphia & Erie Rail- road, and I felt a great pride in being able, as a member of the house, to propose and help pass unanimously an act of five lines abolishing the canal board that had been a fountain of debauchery and profligacy for many years. Governor Pollock exerted a powerful if not a controlling influence in accomplishing the sale of the main line, that became the first development of the progressive policy that has made the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany the greatest railway system in the world."

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BUILDING OF PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD

In 1838 there was published in London a book entitled "A Sketch of the Civil Engineering of North America," by David Steven- son, civil engineer, a son of the distinguished engineer of the fa- mous Bell Rock Lighthouse. Speaking of the Portage Railroad, he says that America "now numbers among its many wonderful artificial lines of communication, a mountain railway, which in boldness of design, and difficulty of execution, I can compare to no modern work I have ever seen, excepting perhaps the passes of the Simplon and Mont Cenis, in Sardinia; but even these re- markable passes, viewed as engineering works, did not strike me as being more wonderful than the Allegheny Railroad in the United States."

Probably the oldest Middle Division employee still living in Perry County is Lewis Messersmith, aged eighty-four, of Howe Township, who entered freight service in 1851, from Mifflin to

PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD ALONG THE JUNIATA. Showing the Four Tracks and the Signal System.

Columbia, then from Harrisburg to Altoona. He also ran one year on the Northern Central, one year on the road from Lewis- town to Sunbury, and two years on the Huntingdon-Bedford line, returning again to the main line. During the War between the States, at the time of the Battle of Antietam, upon Governor Cur- tin's orders, an ammunition train was sent from Harrisburg to Hagerstown-near the scene of the battle, and Mr. Messersmith was the conductor selected to man that important train. The time allowed to make the run was one hour and forty-five minutes, and the distance seventy-four miles. The train was in Hagerstown on the minute, a mighty good run for that period. Governor Curtin gave the engineer, John Keesbury, fifty dollars for getting through on time. Strangely enough, at Hagerstown, Mr. Messersmith, the conductor, turned over the ammunition to another Perry Countian, Capt. Crist, of Newport, in charge of the wagon train.

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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

While the railroad traffic was very slow at first, yet as early as 1854, on July 6th, a new train was put on which was scheduled to make the trip from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in thirteen hours- fast time, indeed, for the equipment then in use. The mail trains of the summer schedule of 1853 were designated as follows: Fast line at Newport-west at 5:19, east at 11: 38; Slow Line at Newport-west at 2: 01, east at 1: 35. The "slow line" was the local train.

The railroad at first was a single track, with two passenger trains cach way daily. The freight trains ran three times a week each way. All trains were drawn by very small engines in comparison with those now in use, but their huge funnel-shaped smokestacks were many times the size of those of to-day. Mixed trains ( freight and passenger ) were run over the main line as late as 1877, and are remembered by the older people of this generation. Market cars, owned by individuals, were run. E. B. Fleck, of Newport, and. B. F. Alexander, of Duncannon, were the owners of two of them.

To-day no railroad is more carefully managed than the Penn- sylvania System, and over its tracks daily pass hundreds of trains, instead of two or three each way, as in that early period. Its interlocking electric signal system, its trackwalkers and its corps of men trained in their especial lines so guard traffic that there have been whole years in which the life of a single passenger was not lost-a most remarkable occurrence. Its operations represent approximately one-eighth of all the railroad operations of the United States. Its lines penetrate Delaware, the District of Co- lumbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mis- souri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. In this territory live over 50,000,000 people, or over half the population of the United States.

Charles E. Pugh, who later rose to fame in railroad circles, was for a number of years the P. R. R. ticket agent at Newport.

CHLAPTER XXIIL.

PROJECTED AND OTHER RAILROADS.

S HOULD all the railroads have been built which were projected through the county, it would certainly have had the most ample facilities along that line of any county in the state. The first attempt to build a local road was made when, on May 5. 1854, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed an act incorporating the Duncannon, Landisburg & Broad Top Railroad Company, with a capital of $800,000, and authorizing the construction of a railroad from a point at or near Duncannon, Perry County, to a point on Broad Top Mountain, in Bedford County, passing through Sher- man's Valley via Shermansdale. Landisburg and Bixler's Mills, and through East Waterford, Juniata County. The act incorporating this line was signed by Governor William Bigler, himself a native Perry Countian, and the incorporators were Charles W. Fisher, John Souder, Abraham L. Bowman. David Mickey, Jacob Billow, Henry H. Etter. Christian Thudium, Dr. James Galbraith, Gen. Henry Fetter, David Kochenderfer, Jacob Bixler, George Ilench, Win. B. Anderson, Samuel Milligan, Arnold H. Fahs, George Johnston, Win. Kirk, Col. Geo. Noss, Alexander Blair, of Perry, Juniata and adjoining counties. A year later. May 5, 1855, the name was changed by an act of the legislature, to the Sherman's Valley & Broad Top Railroad, and the eastern terminus changed from Duncannon to "at or near the mouth of Fishing Creek" (now Marysville). Its route was also changed so as to touch Burnt Cabins, in Fulton County. Then, on May 12, 1857, another act authorized the management "to extend the road by the most prac- tical route to connect with the Connellsville & Portage Railroad and the Allegheny-Portage Railroad. Two years later, March 31. 1859, another act authorized the name of the line to be changed from the Sherman's Valley & Broad Top Railroad to the Penn .. sylvania-Pacific Railroad Company, with the power to extend the line westward to Maryland and Virginia (now West Virginia). On April 1, 1863, another act repealed all acts in so far as the change of name was concerned and named it the South Pacific Railroad Company. It was not begun within the time specified by the act, and on February 18, 1868, the time was extended for five years, dating from March 31, 1869. The road never was built, but grading was begun in 1857 at a point on the south side of Sherman's Creek, near Shermansdale, and extensive fills were . made. The part graded was almost two miles in length.

431

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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

In the meantime, on April 17, 1866, the Duncannon, Bloomfield & Broad Top Railroad Company was incorporated, with a capital of $1,000,000, and with power to construct a railroad from a point at or near Duncannon, Perry County, to a point at Broad Top Mountain, in Bedford County, via New Bloomfield, and with the authority to connect with any railroad at either end. On February 27, 1868, the amount of the capital was reduced to $750,000, and the route changed so as to pass through Loysville. The incorpo- rators interested in the building of this line and in the selling of its capital stock were Benjamin F. Junkin, Joseph R. Shuler, Wil- liam A. Sponsler, Griffith Jones, John Wister, and Heury D. Egolf. The bill empowered them to increase their number to twenty-five. At the end of forty-eight hours $24,000 was subscribed at Dun- cannon and New Bloomfield, and $2,000 at Loysville. Notwith- standing this auspicious start-for so it would have been consid- ered in those days-the road never was built.

On March 7, 1872, the Sherman's Valley Railroad Company was chartered with Henry Foulk, Henry Brown, B. F. Hall, Abram Bower, James Galbraith, John Stambaugh, D. B. Milliken, W. W. McClure, A. M. Egolf, Samuel Spotts, Samuel Shoemaker, A. Farnham, George Hench, John Bixler, John Martin, George M. Loy, George Johnston, E. A. Mclaughlin, and Jacob Espy. any five of them being authorized to start a railroad line at or near Marysville, via Shermansdale and Landisburg, to or near Loys- ville. There was an authorized capital of two thousand shares at $50 each. Like its predecessors, this road was never built, but its later projection seems strange indeed. A line had been projected in Adams County, March II, 1872, known as the Bendersville Rail- road Company, and on October 9, 1873, the Bendersville Extension Railroad Company was incorporated, "with authority to construct, equip, operate and maintain a railroad from a point on the Ben- dersville Railroad, near Bendersville, Adams County, to a point on the Sherman's Valley Railroad, near Landisburg, Perry County, a distance of about sixty miles. Just how the line was to cross the Kittatinny Mountain the reader must be left to conjecture. Never- theless, on November 17, 1873, the three lines merged, in con- formity with the act of April 26, 1870, under the name of the People's Freight Railway Company. The stockholders of the Adams County lines were to receive a share of common stock for each share of their holdings, and the Sherman's Valley stockholders were to receive one-tenth of a share of preferred stock for each of their shares. The capital was to have been 2,000,000 shares of the par value of $50. The directors were mostly from around Philadelphia, Joseph Bailey, of Baileysburg, having been the only Perry Countian. The Sherman's Valley stockholders met at Sher- man's Hotel, Landisburg, November 17, 1873, and unanimously

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PROJECTED AND OTHER RAILROADS

agreed to the merger, as signed by Abraham Bower, president, and Benj. F. Hall, secretary, After a lapse of almost ten years this road was again resurrected, and at a meeting held January 26, 1882, to elect officers, the name was changed from the People's Freight Railway Company to the Pennsylvania Midland Railway Company, and the capital stock was made $200,000, with 10,000 shares at $50 each. The officers then elected were: President, H. H. Bechtel ; directors, O. H. P. Rider and John M. Smith, New- port ; George F. Ensminger and J. L. Markel, New Bloomfield ; W. F. Sadler and I. H. Graham, Carlisle. February 14th follow- ing, Mr. Ensminger was made president, and Mr. Bechtel took his place as director, having resigned the presidency. This is the last public record of this line, which, like some of the others, was built only on paper.

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History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men, Part 46

Author: Hain, Harry Harrison, 1873- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Harrisburg, Pa., Hain-Moore company Number of Pages: 1102

Author: Hain, Harry Harrison, 1873- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Harrisburg, Pa., Hain-Moore company
Number of Pages: 1102