History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 102

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 102

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On the 30th of March, 1831, Mr. De Hass made his report and presented plans, maps, and draft of the route, cuts, masonry, etc., with estimate of cost. Thomas H. Baird, T. M. T. McKennan, James Ruple, John K. Wilson, Isaac Leet, John Watson, and John K. Ewing, of Washington County, and Charles Cowan, William Lea, James Herriot, John McKee, Francis Bailey, and Ross Wilkins, of Allegheny County, were appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions. Books were opened in Washington at the house of David Morris, and in Pittsburgh at the hotel of Nicholas Griffith. The amount of subscrip- tions obtained is not known, but it seems probable that they were not large, as Judge Baird paid for the survey out of his private funds. Alexander Reed addressed a letter to Jonathan Knight, then chief engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com- pany, asking him to lay the matter before that com- pany (who were at that time intending to run the main line of their road through Washington County to the Ohio) and induce them to build or aid in build- ing the proposed road from Washington to Pittsburgh. Mr. Knight, in his reply, said the proposition could not be entertained, as the company had use for all their funds and more, but that they would be glad to connect with the proposed road and use it as an auxiliary. The result was that the road was not com- menced, and at the expiration of the specified time the charter was forfeited. On the 1st of April, 1837, another act was passed incorporating the Washington and Pittsburgh Railroad Company, by which Daniel Moore, William Hunter, Alexander Reed, James Ruple, John K. Wilson, John H. Ewing, John Cook, John Dagg, Dr. John Wishart, William Smith, Dr. Samuel Murdoch, Robert Officer, John Watson, Daniel Huston, Joshua Emery, and Samuel Hazlett, of Washington County, and eighteen gentlemen of Allegheny County were appointed commissioners to burg, and Pittsburgh. The location of the road was

A committee was appointed to circulate a petition, i open books of subscription at Washington, Canons- to explore a route, ascertain its practicability, ex-

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

described in the act as "beginning at some point | a consolidation was formed of the Pittsburgh and within the borough of Washington, in the county . Steubenville, the "Panhandle," the Holliday's Cove aforesaid, and terminating at some suitable point at (West Virginia), and Steubenville and Indiana Rail- or near Allison's Run, in the township of Chartiers;" | roads, all being placed under one management and known as the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway, making a line of one hundred and ninety- three miles in length, from Pittsburgh to Columbus, Ohio. The same arrangement and name and style of the road still continues. The stations on the main line within the county of Washington are McDonald, Midway, Bulger, Cardville or Burgettstown, Dins- more, and Hanlan's.

and it was provided also " that the said company shall have power, and they are hereby authorized to con- struct, continue, and extend in a northerly direction the line of their said railroad from the said point at or near Allison's Run to a point at or near the city of Pittsburgh." Nothing was done under this incorpor- ating act. A supplemental act was passed April 22, 1846, reviving a part of the original act and appoint- ing commissioners to open books for subscriptions to the stock on or before the 1st of December following the passage of the supplement. Books were opened, but this attempt was no more successful than those which had preceded it, and the result was failure to construct the road.

The Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railroad Company was incorporated under an act of Legislature, ap- proved March 24, 1849, which conferred " power to construct a railroad commencing on the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh, and running in the direction of Steubenville, on the Ohio River, to a point on the Virginia State line," the work of construction to be commenced within three years and completed within eight years from the passage of the act. In 1852 a supplemental act was passed (which became a law April 21st in that year) authorizing the company to connect its line with that of the Pennsylvania Rail- road and with any other railroad at the Virginia line, also to construct branches as deemed expedient. An- other supplement was passed Feb. 24, 1853, authoriz- ing the commissioners of Allegheny County, under a recommendation by the grand jury, to subscribe ten thousand dollars to the stock. of the road. On the 20th of April, in the same year, the Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railroad Company was authorized to borrow not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars, and issue its bonds therefor, and the city of Philadel- phia was authorized to subscribe four thousand shares of the stock of the company.

The construction of the road was put under contract in June, 1852, and work was commenced on it soon afterwards, but did not progress rapidly. On the 26th of January, 1854, it was announced that " the tunnel at Dinsmore Summit is progressing at a rate that will complete it by June next," but the work was sus- pended soon afterwards, and eleven years elapsed before it was completed. In September, 1857, it was announced that arrangements had been made with King & Thompson, by which the work would be pushed to a speedy completion. Finally, after many discouraging delays, the road was finished, the trains running for the first time over the entire length on the permanent track in October, 1865. But the affairs of the company were not prosperous, and the road was sold under foreclosure Nov. 6, 1867. In May, 1868,

The Hempfield Railroad Company was incorporated under an act (passed May 15, 1850) conferring authority " to locate and construct a railroad with one or more tracks from Greensburg, in Westmoreland County, to some point or place at or near West Newton, in said county, or to some point or place not more than three miles from West Newton, by the nearest and best route; and the said company shall have authority to extend said road or a branch thereof by the nearest and best route to some point or place on the western boundary line of Donegal township, in Washington County, and to make and erect such warehouses, toll- houses, carriages, cars, and all other works and ap- pendages necessary for the convenience of said com- pany in the use of said road." The company was required by the terms of the act to commence the construction of the road within three years, and to complete it within ten years from the passage of the act under penalty of forfeiture of charter. The com- missioners appointed by the act to open the subscrip- tion-books of the company were S. L. Carpenter, Henry Welty, H. T. Brady, H. D. Foster, J. M. Bur- rell, John C. Plumer, David Fullwood, Joseph H. Kuhns, John Morrison, A. T. King, William Jack, and H. C. Marchand.

An act passed April 12, 1851, authorized the com- pany to construct branches with single or double tracks from any points in Washington or Allegheny County to such points as they deemed expedient, with such rights and franchises as were conferred in the act of May 15, 1850 ; and it also authorized the com- pany to borrow money in amount not exceeding the capital stock, and to issue therefor bonds bearing interest not exceeding six per cent. An act passed July 24, 1852, authorized the boroughs of Washington and Monongahela City to subscribe for stock of the Hempfield Railroad Company not exceeding $50,000 each, to borrow money for the purpose, and provide for its payment by tax. The commissioners of Wash- ington County were also authorized by the same act to subscribe for four thousand shares (at $50 per share) on behalf of the county, and borrow money and issue bonds for the amount, redeemable in not less than ten years, and payable in not exceeding twenty-five years, at a rate of interest not exceeding six per cent., pay- able semi-annually. The borough of Greensburg,

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INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

Westmoreland Co., was authorized by act of May 6, ! the road between Wheeling and Washington would 1852, to subscribe to the company's stock not exceed- ing five hundred shares.

Application was made by the company to the Leg- islature of Virginia for incorporation in that State for the purpose of extending the proposed road through its territory from the west line of Washington County, Pa., to the Ohio River. Accordingly, on the 14th of March, 1851, an act was passed incorporating the com- pany in Virginia.

The company organized under the Pennsylvania act in January, 1851, T. M. T. McKennan being its first president. The eminent engineer, Jonathan Knight, of Washington County, was employed to examine the country with a view to selection of the most practicable route. Five different routes were surveyed, and the one selected (from Washington to Wheeling) upon which the road was afterwards built. Charles Ellet, Jr., was appointed chief engineer of the company, Mr. Knight being unable at the time to accept the position.

The resources of the company, as reported Nov. 17, 1851, were: Subscription by Ohio County, Va., $300,- 000; individual subscriptions in same county, $154,000; subscription by Washington County, $200,000; indi- vidual subscriptions in Washington County, $100,000; total, $754,000. The Washington Review of March 25, 1852, mentioned that "the Directors of the Hempfield Railroad Company met in this borough on Tuesday last and agreed to put the heavy portion of the road immediately under contract ;" and on the 13th of May following it was announced in the same paper that "the western end of the road has been sold to con- tractors."

At a meeting of stockholders held at Washington, on Monday, Nov. 19, 1855, James C. Clarke, of West- moreland County, C. M. Reed, A. W. Acheson, and William McKennan, of Washington, and Thomas Sweeney, J. C. Acheson, and Sobieski Brady, of Wheeling, were elected directors of the company, and the report of George Smith, chief engineer, was sub- mitted, showing as follows : The first nine miles east of Wheeling was ready for laying the rails; the first rail on the line had been laid on the 23d of the pre- ceding month. In the grading of the road-bed a maxi- mum grade of sixty-six feet to the mile had been pre- served. A locomotive had been purchased of the Norristown Railroad Company, and was in use in the construction of the road. The cost of work done up to the 1st of November, 1855, was as follows: Total expended on graduation, masonry, bridges, and rail- way supplies between Wheeling and Greensburg, $1,247,200. This amount included fencing, land dam- ages, etc., but not engineers' salaries and expenses, which amounted to $58,600. The estimated cost of road between Wheeling and Washington, including stations and equipment, was placed at $1,434,000, of which the amount then expended was $983,500. Finally the chief engineer gave it as his opinion that

be completed and in running order within six months from the date of his report. The prediction, how- ever, was not verified; the road was not completed ready for business until the spring of 1857, when freight trains commenced running between Washing- ton and Wheeling. The first passenger trains ran over the entire length of the road between these termini on the 30th of September in the same year.

A considerable amount of work had been done on the eastern end of the route (between Washington and Greensburg), but this was abandoned or sus- pended about 1854. In 1855 the company issued bonds and mortgaged the road. In 1861 proceedings were commenced in foreclosure, and the road placed in charge of trustees. In the spring of 1871 the Su- preme Court decreed the sale of the road, and in June of that year it was sold with all the franchises of the company to John King, Jr., of Baltimore (vice-president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad), for $131,000. The purchaser (or the persons whom he represented) held bonds of the road to the amount of about $80,000, many of which had been purchased below fifteen per cent. of their face. The trustees of the road, Joseph H. Seal, William Workman, and William O. Hughart, transferred the entire property to the purchaser, John King, Jr., and he to the Wheeling, Pittsburgh and Baltimore Railroad Com- pany, which was the name and style adopted under the reorganization, though the road was then and still is under the control of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road Company.

It was the intention of the new management to make the road between Wheeling and Washington a part of a new through line from the Ohio to Balti- more and Washington, and under this plan to con- nect it with the Pittsburgh Division of the Baltimore and Ohio Road, instead of extending it from Wash- ington to Greensburg as had been projected by the original company, and on which route a large amount had been done. This made it necessary to locate a new route for the road east of Washington, and the change of route required a new act of incorporation, which was obtained, and under it the "Ohio and Baltimore Short Line Railway Company" was or- ganized in February, 1872. A new route for the eastern extension was adopted, leaving the original route (from Washington to Greensburg) at a point about four miles east of Washington; thence cross- ing the Monongahela at Belle Vernon, Fayette Co. (instead of at Monongahela City as by the original route of the Hempfield Road) ; thence to the Youghio- gheny, crossing that stream at Dawson Station, where the connection was to be made with the Pittsburgh and Connellsville (or Pittsburgh Division of the Bal- timore and Ohio) Road. Work on the extension was commenced by the company in 1873, and prosecuted with vigor until the commencement of the great finan- cial panic of that year, when it was suspended. The

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

suspension continued for so great a length of time that it was thought best to permit the charter to lapse and reorganize under the same title. Accord- ingly, new articles of association were executed May 5, 1881, by the following-named corporators: Wil- liam H. Smith, Andrew H. Happer, William Work- man, William S. Bryson, John M. Stockdale, A. Todd Baird, Henry M. Dougan, and William C. King, all of Washington, Pa., and James B. Washington, of Al- legheny, Pa. The capital stock is $1,000,000; com- pany to continue five hundred years. The object of the new "Ohio and Baltimore Short Line Railway Company" is nearly the same as that of the earlier company of the same name, except that the crossing of the Monongahela is proposed to be made at Green- field, and instead of connecting with the Pittsburgh Division of the Baltimore and Ohio Road at Dawson's Station, the connection is to be made farther up the line, at a point between Dawson and Connellsville. Immediately after the organization of the new com- pany in 1881, operations were commenced on the extension, and were pushed with energy during the season, and for some time in the spring of 1882; but as they have since been suspended, the early comple- tion of the road does not seem to be yet assured.

The "Chartiers Valley Railroad Company" was incorporated under an act of Legislature (approved Feb. 7, 1853) conferring the right "to construct a railroad from the city of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny, by way of Canonsburg to the borough of Washington, in Washington County ;" also to connect with the Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railroad at a suitable point, and with the Hempfield Railroad at or near the borough of Washington. John H. Ewing, John Bausman, L. P. Hitchcock, Jacob Morgan, Wil- liam S. Calahan, George S. Hayes, John Boyce, Thomas Watson, John Weaver, Daniel Houston, Robert McKnight, David P. Morgan, James O'Hara Denny, Thomas Bakewell, Henry Graff, James K. Moorhead, Frederick Lorenz, William Larimer, Jr., George Ledlie, Lecky Harper, Mansfield Brown, William M. Daniel, and Charles Paulson were ap- pointed to receive subscriptions to the stock of the company, which was authorized to the amount of $500,000. The incorporating act authorized public subscriptions to the stock, as follows : By the city of Pittsburgh, 5000 shares; Birmingham, East Birming- ham, and South Pittsburgh, each 500 shares; the bor- ough of Canonsburg, 550 shares; the borough of Washington, 500 shares.1 The commissioners of Al- legheny and Washington were also authorized to sub- scribe on behalf of their respective counties upon rec- ommendation of the grand jury. The construction of the road was required to be commenced within three

years, and completed within seven years from the passage of the act of incorporation.

The route of the road was surveyed and perma- nently located to connect with the Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railroad at Mansfield, Allegheny Co. It was laid off in one-mile sections, placed under contract, and the work of grading commenced on all parts of the line. Reports of the chief engineer (D. Mitchell, Jr.) showed that up to Jan. 1, 1856, the sum of $162,525.26 had been expended; that from that time to Jan. 1, 1857, the further amount of $88,139.45 was expended, making a total of $250, 664.71; and it was believed that the grading of the road would be completed in four months from the latter date, at an estimated cost of $86,309.40, exclu- sive of ballasting, which, with superstructure, bridg- ing, right of way, and incidentals, would require an additional amount of $263,525.89. Total amount re- quired to complete the road and pay indebtedness already incurred, $382,292.62.

The usual embarrassments and delays experienced in the building of railroads were encountered in this. Finally the unfinished road was sold to William J. Howard, solicitor for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, for $45,100. A mortgage of $500,000 was placed upon the road, with the proceeds of which it was pushed to completion. In December, 1870, the announcement was published that on and after the 19th of that month trains would run regularly be- tween Pittsburgh and Canonsburg. On the 15th of the following May trains commenced running to Wash- ington, and on Thursday, the 18th of the same month, the road was formally opened in its entire length by the running of excursion trains and a celebration of the event in the town hall at Washington; the ad- dress of welcome being delivered by the Hon. George S. Hart, who made reference to the long and dis- heartening struggle which had been made to secure the construction of the railway which had that day been formally opened; a struggle which had been commenced forty years before by Judge Baird, Charles De Hass, Maj. John H. Ewing, and others. Maj. Ewing, who was present, made some remarks in response, and Judge Hart's address of welcome was replied to by John H. Hampton on behalf of the visitors from Pittsburgh and Allegheny City.

On the 8th of December, 1871, the Chartiers Val- ley Railroad was leased to the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway Company, and is still run in connection with that line as the Chartiers or Wash- ington Branch.

The Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railway was first projected by a company which was incorpo- rated by an act of Assembly approved April 8, 1867, as the Monongahela Valley Railroad Company, with power to construct and equip a railroad from a point at or near Pittsburgh, along the Monongahela River, to a point at or near Rice's Landing, in Greene County,

1 At a meeting of citizens of Washington borough, held at the court- house Dec. 31, 1853, a resolution that the borough subscribe "500 shares of the capital stock of the Chartiers Railroad Company" was adopted by a vote of 84 to 3.

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INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

Pa., and thence to Waynesburg, with the right to con- struct any branch or lateral road, not exceeding ten miles in length, to the coal-fields of Allegheny, Wash- ington, Westmoreland, Fayette, and Greene Counties ; the capital stock not to exceed twenty thousand dol- lars per mile of road constructed and equipped.

By a supplemental act, approved March 31, 1868, the company was " authorized to construct its railroad with single or double tracks from a point at or near the city of Pittsburgh, by such route as the board of directors may determine, to a point at or near Monon- gahela City, in Washington County, and thence up either bank of the Monongahela River to a point at or near Rice's Landing, with power to construct such branches as the directors may deem necessary, and to connect all or either of them with any railroad or railroads now constructed, and that may be hereafter constructed ;" and the company was further author- ized to extend its road or branches to the boundary line of West Virginia. On the 4th of February, 1870, an act was passed changing the corporate name of the company to that of the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railway Company, which from that time became also the name of the line of road.

The survey of the route of the Monongahela Val- ley Railroad was commenced in the spring of 1869, and completed during that season ; but no part of the work of construction was done until after the name of the company had been changed by the act of Feb- ruary, 1870. Operations were commenced soon after- wards and prosecuted without much of the delay which is usual in the building of railways; and in the fall of 1873 the road was completed and opened to Monongahela City, and trains commenced running regularly between that place and Pittsburgh. The great financial panic which began in that year caused serious delays and embarrassments in the construction of the road south of Monongahela City, so that it was not until May, 1881, that the line was opened to West Brownsville, giving to that borough and to the two towns on the opposite side of the Monongahela the first railroad communication they had ever enjoyed.

In May, 1879, this road and its franchises passed to the control and management of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, by which it is now operated as the " Monongahela Division" of its lines. The Union- town extension or branch of the Pittsburgh, Vir- ginia and Charleston Railroad is now in process of construction, having been commenced by the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company in January, 1881. Start- ing from the completed road west of the Monongahela at Huntsville, it crosses that river by a bridge at the mouth of Redstone Creek, below West Brownsville, and runs from that point to Hogsett's Cut, about one mile north of Uniontown, where it joins the South- west Pennsylvania Railroad./ It is now very near completion, the announcement being made that it will be opened in its entire length (sixteen miles) in August, 1882.

The Pittsburgh Southern Railroad (narrow-gauge) connects Washington borough with Pittsburgh, its route being from Washington through the northeast part of Washington County, and thence through Allegheny County to Temperanceville, on the south side of the Monongahela opposite the city. The project of building this road was originated by A. C. Hays and John H. Miller in 1876. With them were afterwards associated in the enterprise M. D. Hays, T. P. Roberts, Dr. Kerr, Colin M. Reed, Sr., Joshua Wright, W. W. Smith, and George P. Hays. A company was formed to build the road, and incor- porated as the "Pittsburgh, Castle Shannon and Washington Railroad Company." An amendment to the charter and a reorganization succeeded, the corporators under the amended charter being J. H. Miller, M. D. Hays, Joshua Wright, Joseph Phillips, John Rogers, West Fry, Thomas McClelland, Josiah Reamer, Dr. Kerr, and A. C. Hays.

The work of construction was commenced in July, 1877, at Finleyville and other points nearer Pittsburgh, and was carried forward so rapidly that in January, 1878, the track was completed from Pittsburgh to Fin- leyville, Washington Co., and the grading was finished from there to Munntown, in Nottingham township. In the following spring the name of the road was changed to " Pittsburgh Southern Railroad," and at the same time the plan was changed so as to make the northern terminus of the road at Temperance- ville. Work was continued during 1878, and in the succeeding winter the road was completed to Wash- ington, this making a third railway line connecting the county-seat with the Ohio River. The first reg- ular train ran through over the entire length of the road Feb. 24, 1879. The road soon became so much embarrassed that it was sold at sheriff's sale, the pur- chaser being James H. Hopkins, of Pittsburgh, who, as is understood, still holds a controlling interest, and is president of the road. The stations of the Pittsburgh Southern in Washington County are Boyer's, Finleyville, Peters Creek, Anderson's, Mc- Comb's, Virginia Junction, Thomas', Gilkeson's, Brownlee's, Wyland's, Clokeyville, Zeideker, Vance's, and Washington. The length of the road is thirty- four miles. It is in contemplation by the manage- ment of the Pittsburgh Southern to build a southern extension of the road, commencing at Virginia Junc- tion, and passing thence by way of Bentleyville, Hills- borough, and other points to Morgantown, W. Va. A part of that line was placed under contract in June, 1878, and the grading was completed ready for the iron to Hillsborough, but operations were suspended, and nothing has since been done towards carrying through the extension.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 102

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216