USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 81
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 81
USA > Pennsylvania > Union County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 81
USA > Pennsylvania > Juniata County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 81
USA > Pennsylvania > Snyder County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 81
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" DET-The passenger trains ran through to Hunting- den on Friday evening last, where, for some time, they will connect with the packet boatand stage lines -making the trip from Philadelphia to Pittsburg by railroad and boats in 53 hours, and by railroad and stages in forty hours."
The principal event connected with the regu- lar opening of the road took place on the 18th of October, 1850. On that day a large party arrived in Lewistown from Philadelphia, and remained over-night at the various hotels, " where they were sumptuously entertained." The party comprised the president and directors of the railroad company, the municipal anthor- ities and members of the Legislature from the city and county of Philadelphia, Morton McMichael, Esq., of the North American; A.
Boyd Hamilton, Esq., of the Messenger and Gleaner ; George Lippard, of the Quaker City; Major Freas, of the Germantown Telegraph ; Henry S. Evans, Esq., of the West Chester Record ; C. MeCurdy, Esq., of the Harrisburg Intelligencer, and others of the corps editorial. Hon. James Buchanan, Hon. William M. Mere- dith, Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll, Brigadier-Gen- cral Riley, Major-General Patterson, Adjutant- General Irwin, A. L. Russell, Esq., Secretary of State, Judge Kelley, S. W. Roberts, Esq., chief engineer of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad, ex-Governor Porter, William D. Lewis, collector, J. P. White, postmaster, P. C. Ellmaker, naval officer, etc., and Beck's Philadelphia Brass Band. On the following day, which was Friday, the party went west- ward to the foot of the Alleghenies, and, re- turning to Lewistown in the afternoon, partook of a substantial dinner at the depot. The Ga- zette, in its issue of October 25, 1850, says,-
" Grace having been pronounced by Rev. Dr. Sud- dards, the clatter of knives and forks, interspersed with the sharp cracks of the sparkling champagne, showed that a general onslaught was being made on the friendly fare before us, and great was the slaugh- ter thereof. These preliminaries having been con- cluded, Colonel W. C. Patterson, afterwards president of the company, arose and opened the proceedings by an admirable speech in relation to the great work entrusted to their construction and management by the stockholders. He concluded by proposing as a sentiment, -- ' Pennsylvania, rich in everything but a knowledge of her own strength.' Mr. Buchanan, yield- ing to repeated calls, responded to this sentiment in a most effective and eloquent speech, which was listened to with the deepest interest. He was followed by Messrs. Meredith, Roberts, J. R. Ingersoll, Generals Riley and Patterson, Morton MeMichael, Esq., and Judge Kelly, after which the party again took their seats in the cars and returned to Harrisburg and thence to Philadelphia."
The celebration took place in the Junction building, now occupied as a ticket-office, wait- ing-rooms, telegraph-office, and by the superin- tendent of Lewistown Division. It had been erected as a freight depot, and was then all in one room. The supper was provided by the railroad company, and was a sumptuous affair, with champagne and other choice liquors as plenty as water, if not a little more so ; but, not- withstanding the dense crowd, everything passed
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off pleasantly, although it was with difficulty or- der enough could be preserved to hear the dis- tinguished speakers. Everybody seemed to be happy, and felt as if a great work had been ac- complished.
From that time the road was rapidly pushed east from Pittsburgh and west from Johns- town, and on the 10th_ of December, 1852, the
This railroad is now recognized as one of the best managed corporations in the world.
WILLIAM M. PHILLIPS, superintendent of the Lewistown Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, is a descendant of Welsh ancestry. His grandfather, William Phillips, whose an- cestors were large land-owners in England and Wales, emigrated to America early in life, and
cars ran to Pittsburgh via the Portage, with its ten inclined planes. On the 15th of February, 1854, the Mountain Division, the Horse-Shoe Bend and Gallitzin tunnel, (about three-fourths of a mile in length) were completed. The Pennsylvania Railroad, thus finished, formed a connecting link between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and was afterwards arranged into divisions, each of which has a superintendent.
soon after married a Quakeress by the name of Clifford, whose ancestors came to America at the time of the Penns. She was blind during forty-five years of her life; yet, notwithstand- ing this misfortune, she was lively in spirit and greatly enjoyed society life. Several children were born to her after she became blind. John S. Phillips, the eldest son, in association with Levering, invented the process of refining white
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sugar. Ile built the Annex to the Academy of | paring for the reception of goods for the Cen- Fine Arts in Philadelphia and bequeathed the most valuable set of engravings in this country to that Institution.
Clifford S. Phillips, son of William Phillips and father of the subject of this biography, was married to Eliza C. Morgan. Her ancestors came to America during the seventeenth century. The first representative of the Morgan family in this country was an English colonel of reg- ulars. General Morgan, of Revolutionary fame at the battle of Cowpens, was a member of the branch from which the present family of Morgans is directly descended. Thomas A. Morgan, the father of Mrs. Phillips, owned a large sugar plantation along the Mississippi River, fifteen miles south of New Orleans. Clif- ford S. Phillips was accidentally shot while gun- ning and died December 3, 1868. His widow survives him. Their son, William M. Phillips, was born in Philadelphia, April 19, 1847 ; ac- quired a preliminary education in private schools ; at the age of fourteen entered the Polytechnic College of his native city and re- ceived his diploma as mechanical engineer in 1866. Then he became an apprentice in car- works at Harrisburg, and completed his term of apprenticeship in the iron works of I. P. Morris & Co., at Port Richmond and was draughtsman for the company.
In 1869 he became superintendent of a sugar plantation at Washington, La., and contin- ued in that business until 1871, when he ac- cepted the position of rodman with the Newport and Cincinnati Bridge Company, located in the last-named city. He was soon promoted to the place of assistant engineer, being indirectly em- ployed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany. Being called to Pennsylvania, he was sent to locate the Williamsburg Branch Rail- road, and next was ordered to assume the direction of the superstructure and bridge- building of the Bennett's Branch Railroad, and served as superintendent until July, 1875, when he was appointed assistant supervisor of the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In January, 1876, he was trans- ferred to Philadelphia to make changes in the United States Navy Yard, with a view of pre-
tennial sent by the French government. In May, of the same year, was ordered to Union- town to dircet the building of the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, and was next assistant engineer of the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1877 was trans- forred as assistant engineer Middle Division. In 1880, Mr. Phillips was appointed assistant engineer of the Philadelphia Division, and on July 1, 1881, was elevated to the position which he now holds. The college from which he graduated conferred upon him the title of Civil Engineer. Mr. Phillips originated and carried into execution the plan of the first gene- ral encampment of the National Guards of Pennsylvania at Lewistown, in 1882; and as a special compliment he was appointed to the position of aid-de-camp, with the rank of major, on the staff of General Hartranft. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Phillips was married, June 5, 1873, to Miss Rebecca C., daughter of Joseph S. Lewis, a merchant of Philadelphia, whose ancestors came from England with the early Quaker settlers to Pennsylvania. On the maternal side of Mrs. Phillips she is descended, generations back, from the Thompsons, a family of considerable estate and influence, who were also among the first Quaker settlers of the Keystone State. Her mother's maiden name was Martha Lewis, daughter of Samuel Lewis, the founder of the white-lead works owned at present by John T. Lewis & Bros., of Philadelphia. Joseph Lewis, her father, was the original partner of William Shaw (now a director of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad and vice-president of the Penn- sylvania Company) in the transportation business in the first days of railroads in America. His wife died in 1877, and he yet survives her. The children of Mr. William M. and Rebecca C. Phillips are Clifford S., born March 11, 1874; Martha L., born February 14, 1876; and Jo- seph L., born March 31, 1879. Mr. Phillips and family are connected with the Protestant Episcopal Church.
SUNBURY AND LEWISTOWN RAILROAD .-- This road was incorporated as the Middle Creek Railroad March 23, 1865, with the "right to
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construct a road from a point on the Mifflin & Centre Railroad, at or near Freedom Forge, or on the Pennsylvania Railroad at or near Lewis- town, in the county of Mifflin, to run cast- ward at or along the Beaver Furnace, and at or through Selinsgrove, terminating at some point on the east bank of the Susquehanna Riv- er at or between Port 'Freverton and Northum- berland, and connect with any railroad at or between these points. The road was to be begun within three years and completed within ten years. By act of Assembly February 17, 1870, the name was changed to Sunbury and Lewis- town Railroad Company, and authority grant- ed to connect not only above Selinsgrove, but also to terminate at Port Treverton. The road was built through Mifflin and Snyder Counties and around the Susquehanna River at the Isle of Que, and connected with the track of the. Philadelphia and Erie Railroad at what is now called Selinsgrove Junction. It was in opera- tion in 1868, and is now connected at the cast- ern termination with the Philadelphia and Erie, and at the western at Lewistown with the Penn- sylvania road, of which latter it is now a branch.
SELINSGROVE AND NORTH BRANCH RAIL- ROAD,-An effort was made in 1838 to bring about the construction of a railroad from Mif- flintown to Sunbury, and on the 15th of De- cember in that year a meeting was held at the house of John F. Saeger (Juniata Hotel), in Mifflintown, to consider the expediency of memorializing Legislature to incorporate a com- pany for the construction of a road-bed from the Juniata River, at or near Mifflintown, to Sunbury, in Northumberland County. The HIon. Daniel Christy was chairman, and An- drew Parker was secretary. Resolutions were drawn and a committee appointed to procure signers. No further information is obtained concerning this movement except that it did reach a passage by Logislature.
On the 3d of May, 1871, an act was passed by the Legislature authorizing the incorporation of the Selinsgrove and North Branch Railroad Company, with power to construct a railroad from Selinsgrove to Sunbury or Northumber- land, and to Port Treverton or other points of
connection which would be advantageous. The commissioners authorized to open books for subscriptions met on June 21, 1871, and attend- ed to their duties. On the 8th of August, 1871, an election of officers took place and Colonel A. C. Simpson was elected president of the board of directors. At this meeting the board ordered a corps of engineers to survey a route from Se- linsgrove to Northumberland, intersecting with the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg road, and from Selinsgrove to Port Treverton, through Liver- pool, in Perry County, and thence down the Susquehanna River and across the Juniata Riv- er and intersecting with the Pennsylvania Rail- road. In 1872 a committee was authorized to negotiate a loan of one million dollars to enable the company to construct and equip the road.
The project of building the road by the route mentioned above was abandoned in 1873, and in October of that year a survey was ordered made from Selinsgrove, through Freeburg, Fre- mont, Richfield, Avondale, Cocolamus, MeAlis- terville and Oakland Mills, to Mifflintown, a distance of thirty-five miles.
A public meeting was held at Mifflintown December 3, 1873, at which William A. Meeker, the president of the road, made a long address, touching upon all the reasons why the road should be built, and also stating that he had assurance from the Reading Railroad Company that if a line was graded and ballasted, they would lay track and equip the road. This ad- dress gave the people hope that a road might be obtained. Another meeting was held Decem- ber 17th, and Mr. Mecker again addressed them, and asked of them thirty thousand dollars. This amount was raised in a few days, Mifflin Coun- ty subscribing ten thousand dollars, of which Patterson raised three thousand dollars, Fer- managh township seven thousand dollars, and the castern part of the county the balance. The survey was at once begun, and on March 12, 1874, the company awarded the contract for grading the entire line and building the masonry to Colonel J. W. Gaugler, of Selinsgrove, for one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars.
In the last week of June the terminus was located at Mifflintown. The grading was let to J. W. Gaugler, of Selinsgrove, who sub-let it in
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sections, and by the fall of 1874 the grading and most of the masonry was completed, at a cost of one hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars. Money gave out, however, and there scoming to be no movement on the part of the Reading Company to take any action towards pushing the work to completion, the people became disheartened and it was abandoned.
On the 5th of December, 1884, the property was seized by the sheriff of Snyder County and sold to Colonel James W. Gaugler, of Selinsgrove. A reorganization was effected January 20, 1885, under the name of the Middle Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and with the Hon. A. II. Dill, president, and the Hon. S. P. Wolverton, William H. Dill, J. W. Gaugler, E. B. Mc- Crum, Miles Wetzel and Erwin M. Beale, di- rectors.
The road has its eastern terminus at the west bank of the Susquehanna River, oppo- site Sunbury, where connection is made with the Shamokin, Sunbury and Lewisburgh Railroad, operated by the Philadelphia and Reading Rail- road, thus giving direct and close connection with the anthracite coal-fields and with the cities of Philadelphia and New York. It is proposed by the company to continue the line southeast through Tuscarora Valley, in Juniata County, and Path Valley, in Franklin County, forty-five miles, to a connection with the Har- risburg and Western Railroad.
THE SUSQUEHANNA RAILROAD COMPANY (now Northern Central) was incorporated April 14, 1851, with authority to construct a railroad connecting with the York and Cumberland or the Pennsylvania Railroad, on either side of the Susquehanna River or on the Juniata, with the right to run to Sunbury. A supplement was granted, permitting the road to be continued to Williamsport. A railroad convention was held at Baltimore March 13, 1852, which was at- tended largely by delegates from Union County, then embracing Snyder. Public sym- pathy was aroused, and the commissioners of Union County subscribed two hundred thou- cf che Sasquecanna ria ..- road, provided the road was built on the west side of the river. Much opposition was made to this action of the commissioners. The road
was surveyed, graded and built to Sunbury, and survey made and grading partially done from opposite Sunbury to Lewisburgh, on the west side of the river. The Susquehanna Com- pany and the Sunbury and Erie Company be- came involved in a lawsuit, and, as a result, the road on the west side was abandoned. A
proposition was made to Union County by the Sunbury and Erie Company to subscribe two
hundred thousand dollars, with the understand- ing that the road should be continued through Union County. This the county refused to do, and the agitation concerning it was one of the causes that operated to bring about the division of Union County in 1855.
THE LEWISBURGH AND TYRONE RAILROAD. -Nearly forty years of talk on the subject of a railroad through the Buffalo Valley and on west- ward were passed before anything substantial was accomplished.
In the mean time railroads had been built across the entire continent and in almost all conceivable directions, until it really seemed that the denizens of Buffalo Valley would never awake from their Rip Van Winkle sleep.
As early as June 1, 1836, an act was passed incorporating the Lewisburgh, Penn's Valley and Hollidaysburg Railroad Company, and in the same year a survey of a route through the Penn's Valley Narrows and of another along Penn's Creek to the same point in l'enn's Val- ley, was made by Mr. Charles De Haas, but nothing more was done in the matter.
In 1853 the Lewisburgh, Centre and Spruce Creek Railroad Company was incorporated, and a partial survey made by Thomas A. Em- mett. In 1856 a very careful and elaborate survey was made by Major Shunk, which was published in pamphlet form, but no other work done. At length, in 1869, after many supple- mentary acts had been passed extending the time for commencing and completing the work and changing the terminus from Spruce Creek to Tyrone, or leaving it optional with the com- For which one 16 ad Jem, the good we agreed to Lewis. argh on Friday, July 20. 1868. Io was extended to Mifflinburg in 1871, and, after resting there a few years, in 1875 it was ex- | tended to Laurelton and completed as far as
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Spring Mills, in Centre County, in July, 1877, and during the present year (1885) it has been finished to Lemont, where it connects with a railroad to Bellefonte, and thence, by the Lock Haven and Tyrone Railroad, with Tyrone. In 1880 the corporate name of the company was changed to Lewisburgh and Tyrone Railroad. A svetion of the road from Tyrone to Pennsyl- vania Furnace, a distance of about seventeen miles, has also been in operation since the fall of 1880.
The continuation of this railroad has entirely changed the course of travel and business. Formerly the turnpike road through the Penn's Valley Narrows was thronged with teams conveying the products of the rich lime- stone valleys of Centre County to Lewisburgh. The wagons were strong and heavy, with a large bed usually painted blue, with a canvas covering stretched over bows and drawn by four or six horses, which, in size and sleekness, rivaled the far-famed Conestoga teams.
THE MIFFLIN AND CENTRE COUNTY RAIL- ROAD COMPANY was incorporated April 2, 1860, with an authorized capital of two hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars, and having authority to construct a road from a point at or near Lewistown, Mifflin County, by the nearest practicable route, to a point at or near Milesburg, Centre County, with right to use any five miles of the road when completed, and to equip the road with engines and rolling- stock. On March 7, 1861, the Pennsylvania Railroad was authorized to assist railroads auxiliary to their own to the amount of eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and aid was furnished for the construction of the road. It was begun in 1864, at Lewistown, and constructed to Milroy, where it terminates, and after a few years it passed to the manage- ment of. the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and became one of its branches.
THE SHAMOKIN, SUNBURY AND LEWIS- BURGH RAILROAD, extending from Shamokin to West. Milton, a distance of thirty-two miles, is operated under a lease for a long term to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company. It extends along the west side of the West. Branch, along Blue Hill, through Monroe town-
ship, in Snyder County, and through East Buf- falo township and the borough of Lewisburgh and Kelly township, in Union County at West Milton. At this point it connects with the Catawissa branch of the Philadelphia and Read- ing Railroad, which passes through White Deer and Gregg townships, and on to Williamsport. The first train from Williamsport, via Lewis- burgh, Sunbury and Shamokin to Philadelphia, passed over the road in July, 1883.
PROJECTED RAILROADS. - Several efforts have been made to construct a railroad through Sherman's Valley, but without success. The account of the incorporation of these com- panies is here given. On the 5th of May, 1854, an act of Legislature was passed incor- porating the Duncannon, Landisburg and Broad Top Railroad, authorizing a capital stock of eight hundred thousand dollars, and with power to construct a railroad from a point at or near Duncannon, in Perry County, to a point on Broad Top Mountain, in Bedford County, pass- ing through Sherman's Valley by way of Sher- mansdale, Landisburg and Bixler's Mills, in Perry County, and Waterford, in Juniata County. In 1855 the name of the company was changed to the Sherman's Valley and Broad Top Rail- road Company, with power to change the castern terminus to the mouth of Fishing Creek and to pass in their route Burnt Cabins, in Fulton County. The road was not begun within the time specified, and on the 18th of February, 1868, the time for building was extended five years from March 31, 1869.
On the 17th of April, 1866, the Duncannon, Bloomfield and Broad Top Railroad Company was incorporated, with an authorized capital of one million dollars and with power to construct a railroad from a point at the Pennsylvania Rail- road at or near Duncannon, in Perry County, to a point at Broad Top Mountain, in Bedford County, passing by the way of Bloomfield, Perry County ; also right to connect with any road at the eastern or western terminus. By a supplement, February 27, 1868, the capital stock was changed to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and Loysville was to be made a point on the route. Benjamin F. Junkin, John R. Shuler, William A. Sponsler, Griffith
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Jones, John Wistar and Henry D. Egolf were appointed commissioners to solicit subscriptions towards the Bloomfield route. Twenty-four thousand dollars was subscribed in two days at Bloomfield and Duncannon, and two thousand dollars at Loysville.
On April 3, 1872, the Duncannon, Bloom- field and Loysville Railroad Company was in- corporated, with power to construct a railroad from Duncannon, by way of Bloomfield, to Loys- ville, in Tyrone township, Perry County.
Surveys were made for these roads, but de- lays and discouragements resulted in final aban- donment of all of them. The name of the Sherman's Valley and Broad Top Railroad was changed to the Pacific Railway, and again to the South Penn. On account of the changes the line through Perry County was abandoned, and the South Penn road, if completed, will have had its origin in the attempt to obtain a road through Sherman's Valley.
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