History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 41

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1474

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > Washington > History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century > Part 41

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One runs from Midway north to the Shaw mine of the Pittsburg Coal Company. At Burgettstown two branches, constructed in 1903-4, leave the main tracks. One runs through the borough of Burgettstown up the "Burgett 's Branch" of Raccoon Creek to the Armedi mine. The

other road is the "Cherry Valley Branch," which runs to mines Nos. 1, 2 and 3 of the Pittsburg and Eastern Coal Company.

The P., C., C. & St. L. R. R., known as the Panhandle because it crosses that part of West Virginia called the Panhandle, carries an immense tonnage, more than 100 trains passing over it daily, 36 of these being pas- senger trains.

CHARTIERS VALLEY RAILWAY.

The Chartiers Valley Railway, one of the best-paying roads of its length in the United States, was first sur- veyed in 1831 by Charles De Hass, who was backed in the enterprise by Judge Baird, of Washington, one of the most enterprising citizens of the county in his day, by Hon. John H. Ewing, of Ewings Mills, and a few other men of progressive ideas. At that time there were but a few short stretches of railroad in operation in the entire world; so that Washington County made its first push for a steam road almost as early as the best of them.

It was not, however, until 1853, or 22 years after the first survey, that the Chartiers Valley Railroad Company was chartered by the Pennsylvania Legislature. The act, which was approved on the 7th of February, 1853, conferred on the company the right to construct a rail- road "from the city of Pittsburg, in the county of Alle- gheny, by way of Canonsburg, to the borough of Wash- ington, in Washington County"; also to connect with the Pittsburg and Steubenville Railroad at a suitable point, and with the Hempfield Railroad at or near the borough of Washington.

The authorized capital was placed at $500,000. The incorporating act authorized public subscriptions to the stock as follows: By the city of Pittsburg, 5,000 shares; Birmingham, East Birmingham and South Pittsburg, each 500 shares; the borough of Canonsburg, 500 shares; the borough of Washington, 500 shares. The commis- sioners of Allegheny and Washington Counties were also authorized to subscribe on behalf of their respective counties upon recommendation of the grand jury. The construction of the road was required to be com- menced within three years, and completed within seven years from the date of the enactment of the act of in- corporation.

The route of the road was surveyed and permanently located to connect with the Pittsburg and Steubenville Railroad at Mansfield in Allegheny County. The road was laid off in one mile sections and the work of grading begun all along the line. Up to the beginning of 1857 some $250,000 had been expended, and the work of grad- ing was progressing when the "panic of 1857" struck the country; money became hard to obtain, and many weak companies and corporations went to the wall,

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

among them the Chartiers Valley Railroad Company. After efforts to get the company on its feet had been made and failed, the road was finally sold to William H. Howard of the Pennsylvania Company for the sum of $45,000.

Work on the road had stopped some time before the sale, and was not soon resumed. The war came, disar- ranging almost everything, making it impossible to secure capital for additional enterprises, and nothing more was done on the road until late in the sixties, when the Pennsylvania Railroad, proposed to those interested in its construction in Pittsburg, in the Chartiers Valley and in Washington that if they would take stock in the re- organized company to the amount of $250,000, the Pennsylvania Company would build the road. Public meetings were held in Washington, Canonsburg and other points, and it was decided to try to secure the stock. Committees were appointed to solicit subscriptions of stock, and these committees labored perseveringly and earnestly, and finally the required amount was taken and the work of construction begun some time later. In the meantime the road originally known as the Pitts- burg and Steubenville Railway had been built from Steubenville to Pittsburg; so that Mansefild (now Car- negie) was the point at which the work of the construc- tion of the Chartiers began. The work once begun by the strong Pennsylvania Company was pushed forward rapidly, and about the middle of December, 1870, the first train, a gravel train, steamed into Canonsburg and created more interest and excitement than would the arrival of an airship in the town today. Passenger trains began to run from Pittsburg as far as Canonsburg on the 15th of December, and the stage coaches from Washington connected with the train at this place.

But the work of completing the road to Washington was steadily going forward, and early in May in the spring of 1871, it was completed, and on the 18th of May, 1871, the road was formally opened.

On the 8th of December of 1871, the Chartiers Valley road was leased to the Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway Company, and the impression went abroad that the stock in the Chartiers Company would never be worth much if anything, and that the best thing that the holders could do was to sell it for whatever they could get for it; many did so-some selling as low at $2.50 a share, the par value being $50. As late as 1883 the price was $5. Everything possible was done to keep from declaring dividends even to the running of weakening cars and engines onto the Chartiers branch from the main line, that they might be condemned and charged to the Chartiers branch. Later as the business increased the company began to pay dividends and today stock sells for more than $100 per share.

During the first year of the road's existence only three

trains each way were run, and one of these was a "mixed train," i. e., carried both freight and passengers, and the "mixed trains" would sometimes stop long enough at the Canonsburg station to have allowed the passengers to go uptown and get a lunch.

As time passed, however, the business on the road became heavier and heavier; and finally, in the spring of 1883, the last of the "mixed trains" was dropped and later additional passenger trains, including the ex- press, were put on. At present the train service is good. Nine regular passenger trains each way pass over the road, the run from Washington to Pittsburg being made in 55 minutes.

When the oil and gas boom came to Washington County it brought a great increase of business to the Chartiers road. Oil trains from a quarter to a half mile in length were seen winding up and down the valley, and talk began to be heard of double-tracking the road. This work was soon after begun at Carnegie, and inside of two or three years was completed as far west as Boyce station. Then as the oil and gas business decreased the work was allowed to lag for a time, but when the coal boom set in about the year 1900, the man- agers saw that there was a necessity for quick work, and in the autumn, of 1902, the contract for putting down the double track from Boyce station to a point between Houston and Shingiss station was let to the Columbia Construction Company, and the work was be- gun with all the improved machinery, including steam shovels and patent drills. It was only about 18 months until the contract was completed and the double track put in operation, beginning at a point a short distance east of Houston station.

WESTLAND BRANCH, ETC.

The work was completed none too soon, for the Mid- land Coal Company had opened mines on Plum Run, in the Little Chartiers Valley; extensive mines had also been opened at or near Meadow Lands; and the single track road would have been unable to handle the busi- ness.

A few years earlier, or in 1901, the Midland Coal Company built the Western Washington Railroad from Houston on the Chartiers Valley road to Westland, in the Little Chartiers Valley, a distance of about four miles, to a point about two and one-half miles east of Hickory, with a branch a mile long to the Midland coal mines in the Plum Run Valley. This road a little later was sold to the Pennsylvania Company and became a branch of the Chartiers.

Other branches have been built recently. One runs from the County Home to No. 2 mine of the Meadow- lands Coal Company. Another branches off from the Chartiers Valley Railroad at Meadowlands and extends

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

to the Manifold mines 1 and 2 of the Y. & O. Coal Com- pany.

Another of the recently constructed branches opening up coal territory is that running from the main line of the Chartiers Valley Railroad at Bridgeville, Allegheny County, to Cecil in Washington County. The spur there divides into two branches, one running north to Reissing and the other west to Bishop. It was built about 1890. The branch is sometimes called the Bridgeville and Mc- Donald and sometimes the Millers Run branch.

The Washington Connecting Railroad was chartered December 17, 1895, to cover the extension from the Chest- nut street depot to the main street in Washington, a distance of about half a mile, and to permit of obtaining switch room and certain rights of way.

TYLERDALE CONNECTING ROAD.

The Tylerdale Connecting Railroad Company was in- corporated June 8, 1899, by William P. Tyler and cer- tain associates to run a line about one and a half miles from Tylerdale station to the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road at or near the McGovern farm. The purpose was to connect with the Pennsylvania lines at Tylerdale and following up the Chartiers Creek, make connection with the Baltimore and Ohio, near Hazel No. 2 factory of the Atlas Glass Works. It is a very valuable road for the community by forcing the two large companies to receive shipments from each other, thus placing Washing- ton on two trunk line systems and giving the shipper the advantage of shipping on either road, although his factory may be located on only one.

PITTSBURG, VIRGINIA AND CHARLESTON RAILWAY.

On April 8, 1867, the Monongahela Valley Railroad Company was organized. This company was authorized to build a railroad from Pittsburg to or near Rice's Landing, Greene County. The name of the company was changed to the Pittsburg, Virginia and Charleston Railway Com- pany February 4, 1870. Construction of the road com- menced in 1870 and in 1873 the road was put in oper- ation between Pittsburg and Monongahela City. The construction of the road was slow after this and it was not until May, 1881, that it was completed to West Brownsville. The road was surveyed to Rice's Landing, but not constructed. The Pennsylvania Railroad pur- chased the franchises of the company in May, 1879, and began operating it under the name of the Monongahela division, which is still held. On the 11th of January, 1905, the Pittsburg, Virginia and Charleston Railroad was merged with the Pennsylvania. In January, 1881, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had begun the con- struction of the Uniontown branch. This branch crossed the Monongahela River at West Brownsville Junction and ran to Hogsett's cut, a short distance north of

Uniontown, where it joined the Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad.

October 27, 1902, the Pennsylvania, Monongahela and Southern Railroad Company was organized with the intention of building a railroad along the west bank of the Monongahela River from West Brownsville to Rice's Landing over the same course as that surveyed by the Pennsylvania Railroad many years before. Immediately a contest arose between this newly incorporated com- pany and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as to who should have the right to build a railroad on the west bank. It was decided by the court that the Pennsyl- vania Railroad company had forfeited its right to the west bank by building on the east bank. The Pennsyl- vania, Monongahela and Southern Railroad was soon built between West Brownsville and Rice's Landing with a branch from Millsboro's mill up Ten-Mile Creek to the Bessemer Coke Company's works at Besco. Not long after the completion of the road it was taken over by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, who now operates it as agent.

ELLSWORTH BRANCH OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD.

The Monongahela and Washington Railroad Company was organized July 20, 1899. The road was built from a connection with the Monongahela division of the Penn- sylvania Railroad at Monongahela City to Ellsworth about the year 1900 and later extended to Cokeburg. It soon passed under the operation of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and became known as the Ellsworth branch. In 1903 an extension of the road was surveyed and in 1907-8 it was constructed from Ellsworth to Marianna and Zollarsville, crossing the National Pike just east of Hillsboro Scenery Hill.

WAYNESBURG AND WASHINGTON RAILROAD.

The Waynesburg and Washington Railroad Company was organized May 18, 1875, to build the only narrow gauge railroad ever in the county. Work on the con- struction of the road commenced and in October, 1877, the railroad was completed to Waynesburg. It is now under the control of the P., C., C. & St. L. R. R. Co. and it is the expectation to make it standard gauge shortly and the roadbed changed somewhat. Proceedings recently in Washington County courts failed to compeľ this company to reduce its rates for transportation.

WABASH RAILROAD PITTSBURG TERMINAL.

Engineers surveyed the line of the Wabash Railroad through Cecil, Mt. Pleasant, Cross Creek and Jefferson Townships, Washington County, in 1903. Work on the construction of the road was begun shortly afterward and in July, 1904, it was completed. The road was built. to open up the undeveloped coal territory along Millers

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

Run and Cross Creek, and runs across the county from the West Virginia State line through Avella, to Bishop and on to Pittsburg. Some of the coal along this road sold as high as $275 per acre as soon as the road was completed.

The ties and tracks were spiked and laid by modern methods and at the most rapid rate ever known in this county.

The Pittsburg and Cross Creek is a coal road running from the main line of the Wabash at Avella to the coal works of the Washington County Coal Company on the Studa farm in Cross Creek Township. It was built in 1906.

STREET RAILWAYS.

PITTSBURG RAILWAY COMPANY'S LINES-WASHINGTON ELECTRIC STREET RAILWAY.

The Washington Electric Street Railway Company was organized in 1889. James B. Wilson was president of the company. The line originally ran from Main street depot of the Chartiers Valley Railroad up Main street to Walnut, thence by way of Highland and Locust avenues to Wilson and thence to the western end of Wil- son avenue. A branch line started down West Chestnut street and branched off that street and crossed the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at grade at the east end of the railroad cut and ran around the front of the Bellevue plot along Baltimore avenue to near its southern end. The company did not flourish and the road was taken over by the contractor for its erection. The part of the line between the Main street depot and Maiden street and the portion west of Jefferson avenue and that north of Chestnut street were all abandoned and torn up and the line extended out Maiden street and Jefferson avenue.

WASHINGTON AND CANONSBURG RAILWAY COMPANY.

On June 2, 1902, the Washington Electric Street Rail- way Company had its charter amended and the name of Canonsburg incorporated in the title. The line be- tween Washington and Canonsburg was first surveyed to Canonsburg in 1900, and the final surveys made the following year. W. C. Wiley, of Washington, was the engineer in charge of the work.

Grading for the road was commenced early in 1902, and was pushed with considerable vigor. The company had a number of difficulties to overcome; much trouble was encountered at different points over securing rights of way at various places; the financing was no small task. But gradually all these were overcome, and the construction of the road was carried on through the entire year of 1902 and the spring and summer of 1903. Litigation over securing the right of way through the county home property and through other farms delayed the work for a time, but the company always managed

to gain the question in contention, so that the com- pletion of the seven-mile line from Tylerdale to Canons- burg became merely a question of time.

The steel viaduct 700 or 800 feet long was necessary at Houston in order to carry the railway over the two railroad lines, a public highway and the west branch of Chartiers Creek. The contract for the construction of this piece of work, including the erection of the viaduct, was awarded to the Fort Pitt Bridge Works of Canonsburg, which completed the structure in August of 1903.

The first car to enter Canonsburg was run over the line early in September, 1903, before the road had been entirely completed. Within a short time the cars began running regularly between Washington and the East End of Canonsburg. From the first the service was largely patronized, and business on the steam railroad diminished correspondingly.

In 1905 the service was improved by placing on the Canonsburg end of the line a local car, which ran be- tween the East End of Canonsburg and Houston.

A franchise has been granted the Washington and Canonsburg Railway Company on May 20, 1901, by Canonsburg Borough, with the provision that the road be completed and cars running within one year from that date. The company, later, asked for an extension of six months, alleging that it was impossible to complete the road within the year. The extension was granted by the town council. By terms of the ordinance the railway company agreed to pave Pike street between the rails and one foot on either side. During 1902, after the railway company had begun to lay its rails in Pike street, the town council objected to the use of the T- shaped rails which the company was using. The rails were ordered removed, on the ground that they would prove a great detriment to vehicles in turning out of the railway tracks. The railway company complied with the order of council and hauled the rails to a point near the railroad station.

However, the differences between council and the borough were adjusted August 12, 1902, the railway com- pany agreeing to pay the borough $3,000 for the privi- lege of using these rails. This was only one of many delays encountered by the railway in completing its line.

At first cars left Canonsburg and Washington at in- tervals of one hour and twenty minutes, but later the service was made an hourly one, and has since been so maintained.

November 1, 1906, the cars began running as far east as East College street. The work was completed in 1908, and the service extended as far as East Canonsburg. At Washington much work was done during 1907. The Washington and Canonsburg Railway Company extended

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

its line out West Chestnut street to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crossing under a charter granted to the Washington and Claysville Street Railway Company Sep- tember 26, 1905. Another extension was made out East Beau street to the terminus of the paving, and up North College street and out Locust avenue to the end of the street. These lines contain over four miles of new track and cost $130,000.

In 1906 the Washington and Canonsburg Railway Com- pany changed ownership, the Pittsburg Railways Com- pany securing a controlling interest in the local com- pany. The purchasing company soon made it known that plans for extending the line to Pittsburg, or rather to Castle Shannon, there connecting with the Charleroi line, would be carried out. The work of securing rights of way was commenced, and by the end of 1907 nearly all of these had been secured.

The construction of the line through to Castle Shannon was begun in the latter part of 1907 on the eastern end of the line, but on the western end no work was done until January, 1908, when W. H. Murdoch, who secured the contract of grading the Canonsburg section, put a force of men at work. Everywhere along the line work was begun in earnest in the spring of 1908, and the grading was practically completed at every point by the first of October. However, there were numerous delays, and the service did not begin until February 15, 1909.

The building of the 12-mile link between Canonsburg and Castle Shannon puts Canonsburg into direct com- munication with Pittsburg, and brings, also, the Monon- gahela Valley into much closer connection.

The electric road to Pittsburg traverses a rich farm- ing country. It nearly parellels the old "clay road," which was the highway most generally used in the days preceding the construction of the Chartiers railway. The line leaves the main Chartiers Valley beyond Murray Hill, and goes by way of Thompsonville and Upper St. Clair, passing within sight of the latter village. The road has opened up a section of country which was n:ore or less remote from a railroad, and affords the people an easy and cheap outlet to neighboring cities and towns. Time from the center of Washington to the center of Pittsburg is one hour and fifty minutes; to Monongahela City two hours.

PITTSBURG AND CHARLEROI STREET RAILWAY.

The Pittsburg and Charleroi Street Railway Company was organized April 14, 1901. The line, although con- templated for many years, was not built and completed for running cars until 1903. The line was built by the Flinn and Mellon interests, but after its completion was taken over by the Pittsburg Railways Company. The line extends 14 miles from North Charleroi through

Monongahela City and numerous other smaller towns by way of Finleyville to Pittsburg.

CHARLEROI AND ALLENPORT STREET RAILWAY.

The Charleroi and Allenport Street Railway was built by the Mellons in 1899 and later taken over into the control of the Pittsburg Railways Company.

This road is five miles in length and connecting with the Pittsburg and Charleroi line at North Charleroi ex- tends to Allenport. This has been said to be the best paying short line in the State.

Before the opening of the line it was necessary for the residents of along the river, in order to reach Wash- ington by rail, to go around by way of Pittsburg. Now they can either go to Washington Junction and change from the Pittsburg and Charleroi line to the Washing- ton and Canonsburg trolley line or go to Finleyville by street car and on to Washington over the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

ALLENPORT AND ROSCOE ELECTRIC STREET RAILWAY.

The Allenport and Roscoe Electric Street Railway Company was chartered December 8, 1903, and built during the summer of 1906. It is three miles long. It is operated by the Pittsburg Railways Company. This company now operates the three railways between Pitts- burg and Roscoe, making a continuous trolley line of 37 miles, which is one of the longest continuous trolley lines out of Pittsburg. A street railway was built in the town of Donora and is in operation there, but has not yet been connected with the lines of the Pittsburg Railways Company.

MONONGAHELA RIVER.

The Monongahela River is one of the great commercial arteries of the United States. Along its shores mills, mines and factories furnish a tonnage equaled in no other territory in the world. The great bulk of this freight is bituminous coal, the hills on either side of the river its entire length being underlaid with the famous Pittsburg vein of gas and steam coal, while at a lower depth, and which some day will come upon the market, the Freeport vein lies dormant and ready to be placed before the consumer.

The mining of coal by the drift system has been in vogue along the Monongahela Valley for many years, operations beginning near Pittsburg, and conducted with such persistence that the supply in that vicinity and in close proximity to the river is practically exhausted.

As we proceed up the river the unmined deposits be- come greater in extent, at some points the virgin coal even yet awaiting the miner and his machine. For years the great industry of the valley was coal mining, but

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY

gradually as the manufacturer realized the importance of being near his supply of steam coal, mills began to be erected which brought here diversified industries, until today mills and furnaces of almost every description supplement the immense tonnage of coal that is an- nually produced from the wealth-laden hills.

The Monongahela River is 128.5 miles in length. It is formed by the junction of the Tygarts Valley and West Fork Rivers in West Virginia, and flows in a northerly direction, through one of the most beautiful valleys in the world, to Pittsburg, where it unites with the Alle- gheny, the two rivers forming the Ohio, which flows in a southwesterly direction and empties into the Missis- sippi at Cairo. At its source the Monongahela is 420 feet in width, gradually assuming larger proportions as it flows on its way, reaching 550 feet in width at the Cheat River junction, 750 feet at a point further north, and reaching its maximum at Mckeesport, 900 feet, where the Youghiogheny contributes its quota of water from the hills of the Blue Ridge range of mountains. The Monongahela drains an area of 7,391 square miles of territory, this being its water shed, and which contrib- utes the water to bring on the periodical freshets during the fall, winter and spring months, and which are har- bingers of prosperity to the coal mining industry of this great valley. The length of the river, via the Tygarts Valley is 235 miles, and by the Cheat River 240 miles. Its source on the Cheat River is exactly two degrees south of Pittsburg.

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History of the city of Washington and Washington County, Pennsylvania and representative citizens 20th century, Part 41

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1474

Author: McFarland, Joseph Fulton; Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1474