History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 68

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended > Part 68

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At the meeting of the directors referred to, a resolution was adopted to put the road un- der contract. Theophilus Sickels was em-

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ployed as engineer, and negotiations resulted in making a contract with Joseph Gonder for completing the road according to specifica- tions. The agreement was closed March 1, 1851, by Jacob Forney, president pro-tem, Jacob Young, Jacob Dellone, Samuel Diller, Philip Kohler and Jesse Frysinger, as direc- tors, on the part of the Company, with Jo- seph Gonder, Jr. Ground was broken at Jefferson on the 20th of the same month, and October 22, 1852-about 19 months there- after-the road was formally opened for bus- iness, notwithstanding that some delay was occasioned by the death of the contractor and the loss at sea of a cargo of iron ordered for laying that portion of the track between the York Road and Hanover. The location of the terminus or depot at the latter place gave rise to an animated contest, which was finally decided by a vote of the stock- holders May 13, 1851.

The first train after completion of the road arrived in Hanover on Wednesday evening, September 29, 1852, with a large number of passengers. Jacob Forney was elected pres- ident, in 1851, to succeed Jacob Wirt, who resigned. He served until 1853, when Capt. A. W. Eichelberger was elected. He has occupied the same position. continuously, ever since, and is, therefore, the oldest rail- road president, in number of years of service, in the United States. Until April 1, 1855, the road was operated, for a proportion of the earnings, by the Baltimore and Susquehanna (now N. C. R. W.) Railroad Company. The present officers are A. W. Eichelberger, president; R. M. Wirt, secretary; Rufus Eichelberger, treasurer; directors, Stephen Keefer, William Grumbine, Peter Flickinger and Reuben Young of Hanover; C. W. Slagle and William Buehler of Baltimore; Matthew Eichelberger and David Wills of Gettysburg; general superintendent, Hugh D. Scott; general freight and ticket agent, Joseph Leib.

THE BACHMAN VALLEY RAILROAD.

The Bachman Valley Railroad was char- tered May 13,1871, and road opened Decem- ber 2, 1872. It extends from Valley Junction on the Hanover Branch Railroad, in Codorus Township, across Manheim Township to Ebb- vale, Md., a distance of thirteen miles, and joins the Hanover & Baltimore Rail- road near Summit station, near the Maryland line. From Valley Junction to Summit station it forms a part of the main line from Hanover to Baltimore. This road is operated by the Hanover Junction, Hanover and Gettysburg Railroad Company, which sup- plies the rolling stock. The main office is at

Hanover, Penn. Its officers are as follows: president, A. W. Eichelberger; secretary and treasurer, C. W. Forney; directors, Stephen Keefer, H. C. Schriver, Henry Young, Jo- seph Althoff, J. W. Gitt, of Hanover, Levi Dubs, of Summit; A. W. Boyd and Jerome L. Boyer, of Columbia, Penn .; P. R. Pyne, of New York City; Samuel Thomas, of Hoken- daugua, Lehigh Co., Penn .: J. A. Klinefelter and Adam Newcomer, of Glenville, York County.

That part of the road from the State line to Ebbvale in Carroll County, Md., a dis- tance of five miles, is controlled by a different list of directors, with Jerome L. Boyer of Columbia as president. The entire route of this road passes through a country abounding in a good quality of iron ore; immense quan- tities have been taken out and shipped over the road to Hanover Junction, thence to Col- umbia and Danville, Penn.

A company had been formed in 1835, and a board of directors elected to build a rail- road from Wrightsville to Gettysburg, and from thence through to Hagerstown, Md. An act of the legislature was passed May, 1836, incorporating it as the Wrightsville & Gettysburg Railroad Company. Hon. Thad- deus Stevens, one of the chief incorporators, became president of the company. The York &Wrightsville and Wrightsville & Gettysburg companies combined in one company to ex- tend the road from York westward, through Abbottstown and New Oxford, to Gettysburg. A survey was made over a part of this route, and a State appropriation granted to the amount of $200,000. The work came to an end after an expenditure of $800,000, mostly for that portion of the route west of Gettys- burg known as the "Tape Worm Road." A resolution, passed by both houses of the legis- lature, ordered further work to discontinue after March, 1839. It was never afterward revived.

That portion of the road lying south of Gettysburg, and which was controlled by the State, was subsequently transferred by the legislature to the Gettysburg Railroad Com- pany. A few years ago, all the rights and interests of this road were merged into the Hanover Junction, Hanover & Gettysburg Railroad.

THE HANOVER & LITTLESTOWN RAILROAD.

The first survey of this road was made by civil engineer J. S. Gitt, in November, 1855. A charter was soon after received. On the 4th of July, 1857, the work of construction was begun at Littlestown. A speech was first made by William McSherry, the presi-

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY.

dent of the railroad, and two bands discoursed fine music. After a bounteous repast in a grove near by, other speeches were made and the work started. The completion of the road was celebratedjust oue year from the time of beginning. It joined the Hanover Branch at Hanover, and the first trains were run on July 1, 1858. This road was operated for a number of years after its completion by the Hanover Branch Railroad until its lease by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It now forms a part of the Frederick Division of that rail- road.

THE BERLIN BRANCH RAILROAD.

This line is under the control of H. B. H. & G. R. R. Co., with the central office at Hanover. The entire line from Hanover to East Berlin is twelve miles. The first five miles of the route is over & part of the H. & G. R. R. to Berlin Junction. The line from there to East Berlin is seven miles. The Company, with a capital stock of 75,000, organized March 30, 1876, with the follow- ing board of officers and directors; A. W. Eichelberger, president ; A. W. Storm of East Berlin, secretary ; Jacob Resser, treas- urer. Directors : William Grumbine, P. Flickinger, S. Keefer, R. M. Wirt and Will- iam Bittinger, Dr. Samuel Meisenhelder, and Joseph Dellone. Joseph Gitt was civil engineer, and Cyrus Diller, Gonder & Sons, Fleegle & Bittinger, and A. Favorite, con- tractors. The road was completed and opened in August, 1877. The same persons are still the officers of the company. Joseph Wolf, of Abbottstown, Dr. R. N. Meisenhel- der and G. W. Diebl of East Berlin are at present directors, having taken the places of some of the original directors.

BALTIMORE & HANOVER RAILROAD.

The company which controls and operates this road was organized in the year 1877. It connects the Western Maryland Railroad at Emory Grove with the Bachman Valley Railroad near Black Rock Station, in York County, and these constitute, with the Han- over Junction, Hanover & Gettysburg Rail- roads, a continuous line from Baltimore to Gettysburg. These lines of roads pass through a well cultivated, rich and produc- tive agricultural country. After leaving Emory Grove on the line of the Western Maryland Railroad, seventeen miles from Baltimore, the road gradually ascends, run- ning parallel with and in close proximity to the Hanover & Baltimore Turnpike. One great point gained to the southwestern end of York County, by the building of the Bal-

timore & Hanover and the Bachman Valley Railroads, was that they opened up a section of country, in which the soil is susceptible of being highly improved by the application of fertilizers, especially lime and phosphates. The facilities thus offered for their introduc- tion at a moderate cost, were promptly availed of by the industrious and enterprising farm- ers, the results of which are now shown in crops which compare favorably with those raised in limestone land.

THE YORK & PEACH BOTTOM RAILWAY COMPANY.

For many years the central and western parts of York County had derived im- portant results from being traversed by rail- roads. There was yet a large section of country in the southeastern portion of the county which for 120 years was called the " York Barrens." It is true, Susquehanna Canal had wonderfully helped to improve the river districts, after its completion, in 1839, by furnishing easy means of transportation, But what the sturdy descendants of the Scotch-Irish needed still further to help them develop that now fertile and product- ive region was the means for rapid trans- portation. This has been abundantly sup- plied by the York & Peach Bottom Rail- way Company, an organization that has had many struggles and trials, but is yet destined to triumph and be still more highly appreci- ated by the enterprising merchants of York and the business men and the hardy sons of toil of the now prosperous lower end. Stephen G. Boyd, in 1867, a representative in the Pennsylvania legislature from York County, took an active interest in developing a favorable sentiment toward the construction of a road through his native section, and worked with great zeal and earnestness, until the much coveted road was built.

At a railroad mass meeting held in the village of Fawn Grove, so much interest was manifested by the people of the lower eud, that a company was soon after organized and plans laid for constructing the road. The purpose of this meeting was to endorse the efforts of Mr. Boyd in securing the pass- age of the bill incorporating the company. The bill passed the Legislature, was approved March 24, 1868, and a supplement to this bill was passed March 29, 1872, which em- powered the new company to construct and operate a railroad from any point on Northern Central Railway, between York and the Mary- land line, eastward through the lower end of York,and Lancaster Counties into Chester County, joining any road leading to Philadel- phia, and to extend its main line west, from

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York to East Berlin, Adams County, further west connecting with other roads.

The original name was Peace Bottom Railway Company. The line from Oxford, Chester County, to the Susquehanna, was completed first, a distance of twenty miles, and called the eastern division. The line from York to Peach Bottom, forty miles, was termed the middle division.

For the construction of this, bonds amount- ing to $500,000 were issued, and Samuel Felton and David E. Small were made tras- tees for the bondholders. The company or- ganized by electing Stephen G. Boyd, presi- dent; Samuel Dickey, of Oxford, vice-presi- dent; William Wallace, secretary; A. C. Manifold, treasurer; and Stephen Mckinley, Benjaman Tyson, Henry Neff, Rufus Wiley, of York County; John Alexander, Slater B. Russell, Nathaniel Morgan, of Lancaster County; Robert Patterson and John T. Wadell, of Chester County, directors. It was then de- termined to construct a narrow guage road of three feet. Work was soon begun by con- tractors, James Freeland, Samuel Smith, D. W. Grove and John T. Wallace. The cost was $12,000 per mile. On July 4, 1874, seven miles of the road was opened as far as Dallastown Station, by an excursion party from York. By December, 1874, it was completed to the forks of Muddy Creek, and the next summer to Woodbine. A pub- lic meeting was held at Woodbine July, 1875, in order to raise funds to complete the road to Delta. It was extended from Delta to Peach Bottom in 1883.

John M. Hood, who was president of the Western Maryland road, was first civil en- gineer in constructing the road. He was followed by J. E. Matthews, and by the present one S. M. Manifold.

L. J. Dodson has been a conductor on the road since it was first operated. W. C. Lick- ing, now a conductor, has been an employe of the company since organization.

Stephen G. Boyd was president of the company from January, 1871, to January, 1877, when he was succeeded by Charles R. McConkey, of Peach Bottom, who is now the efficient president. The secretaries in order of succession have been, William Wallace, J. V. Geesey, E. C. Bender and F. G. Metzgar.

The road is now under excellent manage- ment, and is considered a deeply felt neces- sity.

STEWARTSTOWN RAILROAD.

A line is now (1885) being constructed from the borough of Stewartstown to join the Northern Central.

THE TELEGRAPH.

The electric magnetic telegraph was in- vented by Prof. Samuel B. Morse of New York. The first line ever built was stretched from Washington to Baltimore, and the first news message transmitted was the result of President Polk's election in November, 1844. This line was extended to York in 1850, and from thence to Columbia and Philadelphia, and also a line from York to Harrisburg. The line to Columbia followed the turnpike. It was soon afterward removed, and now a line follows the railroad. The wires from Balti- more through York were first called the American line. A few years later, this line came into possession of the Independent & In- land Telegraph Company, and subsequently was purchased by the United States Telegraph Company.

The Western Union Company purchased all interests about the time of the Civil War, and now own them. There are also private wires on these lines owned by the railroad company, and there are a great many offices at the different railway stations in York County. George W. Schock has been the efficient manager of the Western Union office at York for many years. There are now in the United States nearly 200,000 miles of telegraph wire in operation.

TELEGRAPH AT HANOVER.

In 1858 a private telegraph company was organized at Hanover, with a capital stock of $800, to run a line from the Junction, on the Northern Central Railway, to Hanover, and a line was completed in the spring of 1860. The first despatch, received April 10th, of that year, was a congratulatory one from Hanover Junction which was replied to by Geo Thomas, president of the Hanover Com . pany. The interest of the local company was soon purchased by the Inland & Inde- pendent Line, and by them transferred to the United States Telegraph Company, and soon after the last-named company sold their interest to the Western Union. The first operator was W. H. Shock. He taught Daniel E. Trone of Hanover, who soon took charge of the office. For a time Mary Harris was operator. During the time of the Battle of Gettysburg all the important dispatches to President Lin- coln and war department at Washington, and to the New York and Philadelphia journals were sent from this office by the late Daniel E. Trone, as operator. -

OTHER LINES.

The Bankers & Merchants' Line, of two

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wires, was run from Harrisburg to Baltimore in 1883, extending across Fairview, New- berry, Conewago and Manchester Townships to York. It extends from York to Baltimore, via York & Maryland Line Turnpike. The line is now owned by the Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Company. In 1884 two more wires were added.

The line, which crosses the Susquehanna at McCall's ferry and passes diagonally through Lower Chanceford and Fawn Townships, via Bridgeton and Gatchelville, was originally constructed by the Insulated Telegraph Com- pany in 1871. It contained four wires on plug insulators, which were soon after re- placed by brackets and glass insulators, and at this time the line passed into the hands of the Franklin Telegraph Company, and was operated by it until November 1, 1874, when the Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Company leased it, rebuilt in the summer of 1880, and added two new wires. The line was then com- posed of six wires. The two new wires are No. 6 gauge, the other four No. 9 gauge. Four of the wires are put on cross arms, with screw pins and screw glass, considered the best insulator made. The Atlantic & Pacific Company was consolidated with the Western Union in the spring of 1881, and this line has been worked by that system ever since.

There is one office along this line near the village of Centreville. It is, however, known as the Airville office, with John M. Easton as the efficient operator ..

THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

This company built a line across York County during the winter of 1883-84. It crosses the Susquehanna River at McCall's ferry, and passes through Lower Chanceford and Fawn Townships about half a mile south of the line above described. It was at first composed of two compound wires on four wire cross arms. Two more wires, one com- pound and one of solid copper, were run in the spring of 1884. This is known as the Mackey-Bennet system. It is a main line from the East to the West. There are no offices connected with it in this county. It passes from McCall's ferry through Nailer's fording on the Muddy Creek, into Maryland at a place on Mason and Dixon's line known as Constitution Postoffice.

NATIONAL TRANSIT LINES.

The National Transit Telegraph Company constructed a single wire line from Millway, Lancaster County, crossing the Susque- hanna at York Furnace, thence via Woodbine to Canton, near Baltimore. It is a private

line in connection with the National Transit Oil Company's Pipe Lines and was built during the months of May and June, 1883. There is a test office near Airville of which Mr. Easton is operator.

OIL PIPE LINE.

There is an oil pipe line from Millway near Litiz, Lancaster County, crossing the Susque- hanna River at York Furnace, extending from thence through Airville and Woodbine in a direct line to Canton near the city of Baltimore. At Millway there are two im- mense oil tanks, each one hundred feet in diameter, and eleven feet high, together with engines and aparatus for forcing the oil to other stations which are located on the lines branching out from this central one. The Jine from Millway to Baltimore, crossing this county, was laid in 1883. The pipe used, is made of wrought iron five inches in diameter. The oil is pumped from Millway, by means of the engines mentioned, to Canton. The company paid land owners in York County 25 cents per rod for right of way. Being laid in the early summer, all destruction to the growing crops, caused by laying the pipe, was also paid for. This is called the Balti- more line, being a branch of the Pennsyl- vania line from Millway. From the great oil region in northwestern Pennsylvania, there are a number of lines directing toward the large cities. There is one from Bradford to New York, one from near the same place via Millway to Philadelphia, under the man- agement of the National Transit Company. The Standard Oil Company, which possibly controls them all, has lines extending south and west.

THE TELEPHONE. .

There have been many new inventions and discoveries during the past half century, but none that startled the world more than the invention and successful use of the telephone, which, like the invention of the electrical telegraph and steam navigation, is the product of American genius. They are all now intimately related to each other, and have an important bearing in the economy of mankind. It is impossible in a short article to show the relations of the telegraph to the telephone, and of the various forms of electrical or magnetic communication which led to scientific research resulting in these wonderful inventions. The telephone is marvelous for its simplicity, and can be put to so much practical use that it is now a necessity.

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AGRICULTURE.

The practicability of the telephone in York was clearly established, and soon the "Exchange System" was adopted. This system consists of a number of circuits run- ning first to offices, stores, factories and private residences of subscribers to a central office, where they are joined to a switching apparatus by means of which the operator can answer calls and place any two subscrib- ers in communication with each other.

J. K. Gross, general freight agent of the Northern Central Railway, in 1882, put the telephone on the exchange system into effect- ive use in York. W. Latimer Small built the first wire from his residence to the Cod- orus Mills, three miles from York. Soon after, a number of instruments were put in position in various business establishments and offices of York.

The interest of Mr. Gross was purchased by the Southern Pennsylvania Telephone Com- pany. In January, 1883, this company was consolidated with the Pennsylvania Tele- phone Company, comprising in its territorysix- teen counties, with Hon. Francis Jordan of Harrisburg as president; William Kerr as general manager. At this time Isaac Rudi. sill was chosen general solicitor, and in the interest of the same commenced the publication of the Telephone, a monthly journal. The use of the telephone as a mode of communication soon became popular in York under its new management. Territorial lines were built to connect it with Harrisburg, Lancaster, Reading and other exchanges. In York County, lines were ex- tended to Spring Grove, Glen Rock, Logan- ville, Seitzland, Wrightsville, . Hanover, Railroad Borough, New Freedom, Hellam, Paradise, Emigsville, York Haven, Golds- boro, Dallastown and along the line of Peach Bottom Railroad to the river. There are now about 150 instruments in York County.

AGRICULTURE.

THE art of agriculture is older than his- tory, but the science of agriculture is comparatively modern, and understood by very few who are engaged in its honorable pursuit. Man, soon after his creation, learned to till the soil and raise crops. The art of agriculture and civilization have come down to us through the ages hand in hand, and their combined influences have helped to bless mankind. Even though agriculture

is yet conservative, it is the most productive of all industries and the most healthful of all pursuits. It will survive all social or political revolutions, and nothing but the ex- tinction of the human race would discon- tinue it. The methods of agriculture fre- quently have told the social and political history of nations in ancient and mediaeval times, but their growth, progress and develop- ment have not been parallel with that of civ- ilization. In the infaucy of civilization it was the most advanced of the industrial arts, but it did not grow as most other arts did. The human race has advanced enormously during the past 4,000 years in general culture, and some of the arts have, from rude beginnings, passed to the highest de- gree of development. Yet agriculture as a whole has not made the same commensurate progress. In foreign countries the system of land tenures, lack of political liberty, and the social condition of those who tilled the soil, have been the main causes. The enlightened condition of Egypt at an early day gave direction and tone to the agriculture of the Mediterranean region, and hence that coun- try was the cradle of civilization. As an abstract principle, in early times, labor was glorified. Religious rites were performed by the Greeks and Romans in the special honor of agriculture, but the laborer himself was socially despised. The feudal subjects of the British Isles and central Europe; the unlettered peasantry of France, and the ten- ure-bound serf of Russia, all tillers of the soil, were an inferior people, kept in a de- spised subjection. For centuries the agricul- ture of the world was so conducted that social and political repression seriously affected the vocation. The Elizabethian age of English history and the discovery and set- tlement of America gave a new era to it, and it then began to develop. But invention and improvements necessary were not yet fos- tered. Even the present great staples, In- dian corn and potatoes, native plants in America, were slowly and cautiously intro- puced into Europe. It is wonderful to re- late, that not until the early part of the pres- ent century did they gain sufficient foot-hold in Europe to be considered much of a pro- duct of cultivation, with the exception of maize in Portugal and potatoes in Ireland. Indian corn spread in cultivation more rap- idly at first, among the savages of Africa, and the half-barbarous peoples of Asia, than among the enlightened countries of Europe.

The peasantry of America to-day, as a class, are the most honorable of all her people; but it was not so across the Atlantic during the

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centuries of the past. As late as 1824, an eminent writer of England, showed by statis- ties, that the number of paupers and the amount of vice and crime were greater in that country among the farm laboring popu- lation than among the manufacturing popu- lation. A "villain" in the middle ages, was merely a feudal tenant, and Blackstone de- scribes in detail two kinds of them. A "heathen" was a peasant who lived on the heaths. The word "peasant" now has an enlightened signification, but originally of low social value. A "boor" was a plowman, and a "churl" a tenant-at-will. "Incivility" meant the awkward movements of the unpol- ished countryman. It was because the politi- cal and social conditions were the same down through the centuries, that the art of agri- culture did not progress, and it was partly the intention of this article, therefore, to show briefly that it was America that taught the world the art and science of agriculture; and in no way more successfully, than by giv- ing to the agricultural classes the political and social standing which they so richly deserve. From that source indeed have come nearly all the great men of our country. By that means, we have taught our mother country and all Europe a lesson which they cannot fail to recognize. From the farms of the United States have come fifteen of our presidents; from the farms of Pennsylvania, three-fourths of her governors have grown to manhood; and from the farms of York County have come most of the men who have been prominent in managing her material and political interests.

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History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 68

Author: Gibson, John, Editor Publication date: 1886 Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104