Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I, Part 21

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers
Number of Pages: 650

USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I > Part 21

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Had I obeyed the counsels My parents gave to me,

I would not have had to suffer Upon this shameful tree.

I hope you will remember James Monks-such is my name;

This day I do confess, To my sorrow and my shame,

That I shot Reuben Giles Whom I never saw before,

And left his body weltering In its purple gore.

I hunted in Clearfield In Eighteen Seventeen,

From the head of Stump creek, Where I had often been,

And while on my way homeward On Anderson Creek hill,

I stopped to drink and gamble, As many men do still.

I left the stone tavern In anger at its men For cheating me in gambling. At least I thought so then ;

And walked off in the evening With evil thoughts astir,

And soon I met a stranger, Who said, "Good evening, sir."

Just after I had passed him The thought occurred to me, To kill him for his money; There was no one to see ;

And without further thinking, As if from hell inspired,

I turned-drew up my rifle, And in a moment fired.

now caught his horse And tied it to a tree, Then hastened to my victim, Who faintly said to me,

"My friend, why have you killed me?" But all I would reply

Was quickly to go to him, Resolved that he must die.

The devil so possessed me, Before he was quite dead, With tomahawk I gave him Two blows upon the head,

Then dragged him off a distance, And stripped him of his clothes, And like a savage left him

To beasts and brutes exposed.

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In trying on his shoes I found they were too small,

I cut them in the instep, And let my penknife fall; This knife and an okl songbook, Left here as by design, When with a piece of clothing, Betrayed this deed of mine.

Ilis horse and his saddlebags Now became my prey; His watch and his pocketbook I also took away; Then covered up his body With leaves and rotten wood Some distance from the roadside, Where once a tree had stood.

1 threw his hat away Before I'd rode a mile, Then went on toward Karthaus, Pursuers to beguile, And carly the next morning 1 viewed all my store

And thought I could conceal This my guilt forevermore.

I hid his bloody shirt In the hollow of a trec, But this, too, was found

And produced against me;

To show that private murder Would never be concealed A dog told the secret, And the whole was revealed.

I tried to plead "not guilty," My lawyers did their best, But proof on proof appeared, Guilt rankled in my breast ;

His bones, too, were produced, Presented at my trial, And this shocking proof of guilt Admitted no denial.

One more thing I will mention Before I'm done with time, Some blamed Andrew Allison For this my cruel crime,

But since I am to suffer, I say a lie has come- He's as innocent as the infant Or child yet unborn.

CHAPTER VII RAILROADS-COAL MINING

INTRODUCTION-ALLEGHENY VALLEY RAILROAD-BONDS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY - BUFFALO, ROCHESTER & PITTSBURGH RAILWAY COMPANY-OTHER COAL ROADS-PITTSBURGH, SUMMER- VILLE & CLARION RAILROAD COMPANY --- LAKE ERIE, FRANKLIN & CLARION RAH.ROAD COM- PANY-COAL MINING-COAL BEDS-SOME INTERESTING DATA

The pioneer steam railway in the world was opened in England in September, 1825, and was called the Stockdale & Darlington road. It was thirty-eight miles long. It is claimed that the Baltimore & Ohio is the pioneer steam railroad in the United States. I was built

bined is over three million dollars per day. In 1830 we traveled at high speed, as railroad passengers, going six to ten miles an hour. but now we glide along at the rate of forty or sixty miles an hour as smoothly as our fathers did with their skates on ice or sleds

PIONEER RAILROAD TRAIN IN THE UNITED STATES

in 1830. In any event, our railroads are now the wonder of the world.

In 1830 the railway trackage in the United States did not exceed sixty miles. To-day we have fifty-two railroads, with some two hun- dred and fifty-seven thousand miles of track. and the gross earnings of our railroads com-

of snow. To-day we telegraph around the world in nine minutes. What next?

In 1850 we had only seven thousand, three hundred miles of railway, owned and oper- ated by one hundred and fifty-one companies, and with a few exceptions cach road was less than one hundred miles in length. The New

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York & Erie was the only "trunk line," with a trackage of three hundred and one miles.

The journey from Philadelphia to Pitts- burgh in 1834 was made as follows: Over the Columbia railroad, eighty-two miles; canal from Columbia to Hollidaysburg, one hundred and seventy-two miles ; Portage railroad from Hollidaysburg to Johnstown, thirty-six miles ; and on canal from Johnstown to Pittsburgh, one hundred and four miles ; total, three hun- dred and ninety-four miles. The frequent transfers made the journey long and tedious and the cost of freightage high. Summit tunnel was used January 21. 1854, but was not completed until February 17, 1855. On De- cember 10. 1852, an all-rail line was opened from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh.

The chair car was introduced on night lines in 1847. The pioneer sleeping car ( Wood- ruff's) was used in 1837-38; the Pullman sleeper in 1871.

Uniforms were introduced in the Harris- burg division about 1856. The uniform was a blue coat with brass buttons, buff vest and black trousers. It was so unpopular with the employes and the people that it was abandoned. but the Civil war popularized it, and the pres- ent uniform was adopted in 1876. Up to that period the word "conductor" was worn on the left lapel of the coat. It is now on the cap.

On July 6, 1837, two coal-burning locomo- tives were tried, but they proved useless. Horses were used more or less on the Portage road up to 1850. In 1857 this road was aban- doned.

On June 25, 1847. John Edgar Thomson, for seven and a half million dollars, bought the public works of Pennsylvania, and on August 1, 1857. the Pennsylvania took posses- sion of the main line of public works of Penn- sylvania, which embraced the Columbia rail- road to Philadelphia. On July 18. 1858, the Pennsylvania railroad ran the first passenger wide car train into Pittsburgh from Philadel- phia without a change of cars. To this train was attached a Woodruff sleeper and a smok- ing car, the first smoker ever used. Up to 1843 the cost of the public works to the State was $14.361.320.25.

The amount of money now invested in rail- way property is over fifteen thousand million dollars, and the number of employes about two million.

The service rendered by the railroads of the United States, and the gigantic extent of their business transactions, can only be expressed in billions. In 1915 the service rendered by their passenger trains was equivalent to carrying

one passenger thirty-two billions of miles. The freight service was the equivalent of carrying one ton two hundred and seventy-seven bil- lions of miles. The railroads were paid for their various services, including mail and express transportation, the great sum of three billions of dollars, yet they carried a ton of freight one mile to earn three-quarters of a cent and a passenger one mile to earn two cents. The service given by American rail- roads is not only the best in the world, but is also the cheapest.

As facilities for serving the public, the rail- roads of this country operate fifty-four thou- sand passenger cars, two million four hundred thousand freight cars, having a capacity of ninety-five million tons, and sixty-five thou- sand locomotives, having a combined pulling force of more than two billions of pounds.

The figures of growth in our railroads and their business are amazing. In ten years, the freight traffic, the total capacity of the freight cars and the tractive power of locomotives have practically doubled. Taking a twenty- year period they have more than trebled. Yet the receipts of the railroads for the service rendered in 1915 were not much more than a third larger than in 1905, and only one and three quarters times as large as in 1895.

The railroads are great taxpayers. Last year they contributed one hundred and thirty- nine million dollars in taxes and this item had much more than doubled in ten years. In twenty years it had grown to three and a half times its former amount.

Now. in 1915. as a Pennsylvanian. I am proud to say that our own Pennsylvania rail- road, seventy years old in 1915. is the greatest. the best, the most perfect in management and construction of any railroad in the world. We have smoking cars, with bathroom, barber shop. writing desks and library; we have dining cars in which are served refreshments that a Delmonico cannot surpass; we have parlor cars with bay windows and luxurious furniture ; and we have cars with beds for sleeping soft as the "eiderdown."

The Pennsylvania railroad is a Pennsylvania product and has always remained a Pennsyl- vania institution, under home management, although it has grown to be the largest trans- portation system in the world. It is more than twelve thousand miles long and has altogether nearly twenty-seven thousand miles of track. or enough to go around the world. It has six hundred and thirty-six miles of four-track railroad, eight hundred and twenty-eight miles of three-track railroad and three thousand

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seven hundred and sixty-two miles of double- track railroad. It employs nearly a quarter of a million men. It has seven thousand four hundred locomotives, six thousand seven hun- dred passenger cars and two hundred and seventy-six thousand six hundred and nineteen freight cars, operates three thousand passenger and four thousand freight trains a day, carries a half-million passengers and one million tons of freight a day. The passenger system is operated under block signals, and not a single passenger has been killed in a train accident on any of its lines in nearly two and a half years. Meals for ten thousand six hundred passengers are served every day in its dining cars and restaurants. It buys one hundred million dollars' worth of material in a year. It pays five hundred thousand dollars per day in wages. It is owned by one hundred thousand stockholders, of whom forty-six thousand are women. It has three thousand all-steel pas- senger cars, or a third of all that there are in the United States, and was the first to build all-steel box cars and install steel passenger equipment. It has pensioned nearly ten thousand employes in the last sixteen years and has spent upward of thirteen million dol- lars in pensions. It operates one twenty-fifth of the entire railroad mileage of the United States and does one-eighth of all the business.

ALLEGHENY VALLEY RAILROAD LOW GRADE DIVISION

In 1853 Jefferson county subscribed ninety thousand dollars to the stock of the Allegheny Valley Railroad Company. To enable them lo pay this money the commissioners of the county issued bonds of one thousand dollars each, for stock in said road. payable in thirty years from date. These bonds read as fol- lows :

Know all men by these presents, that the county of Jefferson, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is indebted to the Allegheny Valley Railroad Com- pany in the full and just sum of one thousand dol- lars, which sum of money the said county agrees and promises to pay, thirty years after the date hereof, to the said Allegheny Valley Railroad Com- pany, or bearer, with interest, at the rate of six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually on the first Monday of May and November, at the office of the said railroad company, in the city of New York, upon the delivery of the coupons severally, hereto annexed, for which payments of principal and interest will, and truly, be made. The faith, credit and property of said county of Jefferson are hereby solemnly pledged, under the authority of an act of Assembly of this Commonwealth, entitled a fur- ther supplement to an act entitled an act for the incorporation of the Pittsburgh, Kittanning and

Warren Railroad Company, approved the fourth day of April, A. D. eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, and the supplement, which became a law on the fourteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.

In testimony whereof and pursuant to said act and supplement of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and resolutions of the county commissioners, in their official capacity, passed the fifteenth day of September, 1852, the commissioners of said county have signed, and the clerk of said commissioners has countersigned, these presents, and have hereto caused the seal of said county to be affixed, this thirteenth day of June, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.

THOMAS HALL, J. S. STECK,

(Scal ) Commissioners of Jefferson County. JOHN J. Y. THOMPSON, Clerk of Commissioners.

To each of these bonds were attached sixty coupons, the first one of which, attached to bond No. Seven, reads as follows :

30.

County of Jefferson.

Warrant No. 60 for thirty dollars. Being for six months interest on bond No. 7, payable on the first Monday of May. 1883, at the office of the Allegheny Railroad Company, in the city of New York. $30.

JOHN J. Y. THOMPSON, Clerk.

The project lay dormant from 1837 till in the sixties, when J. Edgar Thomson com- menced agitation for and brought abotit the construction of the road. He was then president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- panv.

The road not being finished in the time specified, the bonds were not paid, but were still held by the railroad company until 1869. when a compromise was effected between the commissioners of the county and the officers of the road, whereby the former paid to the latter the sum of forty-five thousand dollars, in lieu of the aforesaid bonds. the railroad company agreeing to run their road through the limits of the borough of Brookville.

"By an act of the Legislature the commis- sioners of Jefferson county were authorized to borrow any sum or sums of money not exceeding forty-five thousand dollars, and to issue the bonds of said county. with or with- out1 coupons, or other evidences of indebted- ness therefor, at a rate not exceeding eight per cent. per annum; and the said bonds or other indebtedness shall be exempted from taxation, provided that the money arising from the negotiation or sale of said or other evidences of indebtedness, shall be appro- priated to the payment of certain articles of settlement and compromise made by and be- tween the county of Jefferson and the Alle-

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gheny Valley Railroad Company, dated July 29. 1869, for the redemption of ninety thou- sand dollars, bonds of said county issued to the said railroad company on the 24th day of June, 1853.'

This act was approved February 19, 1870. Grading began on the low grade in 1872. The division was opened for passenger service eastward from Redbank to New Bethlehem, a distance of twenty-one miles, on the 6th of May, 1873. On the 23d of June trains com- menced running regularly to Brookville, a dis- tance of forty miles from Redbank, and on November 5th a further section of sixteen miles was opened, extending to Reynoldsville, fifty-six miles from Redbank. On the eastern end of the road a section of nineteen miles from Driftwood to Barr's Station was thrown open for business on August 4th, and on May 4. 1874, the entire Low Grade Division, from Redbank to Driftwood, was open through for business.

The Low Grade Division of the Allegheny Valley railroad enters Jefferson county twenty- eight miles westward from its junction with the main line at the mouth of Red Bank creek, and continues in the same county for a distance of thirty-four and a half miles, leav- ing Jefferson county and entering Clearfield county at a point immediately westward of the station called Falls Creek. The principal stations located in this county are Summer- ville, Brookville and Reynoldsville, with four- teen other stations of minor importance.

William M. Phillips, Esq., was the first assistant superintendent of the Low Grade road. He resigned in 1875 to accept the ap- pointment of supervisor of the Middle Divi- sion of the Pennsylvania Central railroad. Mr. Phillips was succeeded by Dr. A. A. Jackson, who continued in charge of the road until .April, 1887, when he resigned to accept the appointment of general superintendent of the New York & New England railroad, with his headquarters in Boston.

S. B. Rumsey, formerly special agent of the Allegheny Valley railroad at Oil City, succeeded Dr. Jackson as assistant superin- tendent of the Low Grade Division. The other officers of the road in Jefferson county were G. E. Armor, dispatcher, and M. D. Dean, assistant. The general offices of the 1.ow Grade road were moved from Brookville to Reynoldsville in May, 1885. The passen- ger and freight agents in the county were : Patton's Station, Walker Smith; Heathville, L. G. Guthrie; Summerville, J. H. Haven ; Brookville, 1 .. S. Hooper ; Fuller, J. S. Mc-

Masters ; Reynoldsville, M. D. Farrell; Falls Creek, F. E. Dixon.

The first agent at Brookville was Daniel Smith, who was succeeded by H. C. Watson in March, 1875. He was in turn succeeded by Robert V. McBain in April, 1886, and he in June, 1887, by L. S. Hooper. L. C. Smith was the baggage agent at the Brookville Sta- tion when the road was completed, and re- ceived and put on the train the first pieces of baggage brought to or dispatched by rail in Jefferson county. He is now retired, on a pension.

The first wreck on the Low Grade road occurred near Iowa Mills on November 16, 1873. While going around a curve at high speed the engine struck a stone, causing the whole gravel train to jump the track. John McHugh, the brakeman, was thrown in the air, and when the other employes found him he was lying under the wreck, his left arm terribly mangled, a deep cut in his head, sever- ing an artery, and an ugly gash on the back of his head. McHugh was taken to Reynolds- ville, where Dr. W. J. McKnight, in the brick tavern, assisted by Dr. B. Sweeney, amputated the arm and dressed his wounds. This was the pioneer major surgical operation on the Low Grade division and in what is now Rey- noldsville.

On August 1. 1900, the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company leased the entire Allegheny Valley railway for twenty years. Charles Corbet, Esq., of Brookville, Pa., was attorney for this road for thirty-one years, and up to 1915 the legal representative of the Pennsyl- vania system in its thirty-fifth district. When he became judge, however, Raymond L. Brown was appointed to succeed him. in 1916.

The presidents of the Allegheny Valley road have been : Governor William F. Johnston, in 1859; F. R. Bruno, 1860; R. F. Morley, 1861; T. J. Brereton, 1862; F. R. Bruno, 1863-64; succeeded by Col. William Phillips, who was in turn succeeded in 1874 by John Scott, who continued in the presidency until his death, March 23, 1889. Mr. Ilenry D. Welsh suc- ceeded him as president, and served until the reorganization of the company in 1892.

BUFFALO, ROCHESTER & PITTSBURGH RAILWAY COMPANY

To my personal knowledge, agitation by the people and the newspapers for this railway commenced as early as 1854. For a number of years it was known as the Rochester & State Line road. It was reorganized in 1881

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as the Rochester & Pittsburgh, the pioneer officers of this reorganization being: P'resi- dent, Walston H. Brown, of New York; treasurer, F. A. Brown, of New York; sec- retary, Thomas F. Wentworth, of New York; general manager. George E. Merchant, Roch- ester. N. Y .; chief engineer, William E. Iloyt; counsel, C. Il. McCanley, Ridgway, Pennsylvania.

On Oct. 24, 1885, the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway Company was organized in New York and acquired the property in that State. The Pittsburgh & State Line Rail- road Company was organized and acquired the property in Pennsylvania. They were finally consolidated March 11, 1887.

The extension of the line from Ashford to Buffalo was completed for freight about June 1. 1883. but regular passenger and mail trains were not run into Buffalo until June 15, 1883. Freight trains carrying coal, with a caboose attached for passengers, were run from DuBois north about May 1. 1883. Reg- ular passenger and mail trains north from DuBois were not run until June 16. 1883. The road was completed to Punxsutawney and through passenger trains were running. one to Buffalo and one from Buffalo to that point. Sept. 1, 1883.

About July 25, 1883, there were two passen- ger trains running on the Beechtree branch, one to and one from Beechtree. Coal was shipped from Beechtree July 1, 1883.

An agreement was entered into on June 6, 1883, by George E. Merchant, of Rochester, and David McCargo, of Pittsburgh, superin- tendents of their respective roads, that a night express should be added by a joint service of the two lines, to wit, one from Rochester to Pittsburgh, and vice versa, one from Pitts- burgh to Rochester, this service to contain a Pullman and day car on each line; each road to exchange their sleepers at Falls Creek. The schedule for this service went into effect on the evening of Dec. 23, 1883, and on that evening the pioneer car of this service was so run. The conductor and engineer of the Valley train were M. J. MeEnteer and James Montgomery, respectively. The conductor and engineer on the Rochester I know not. The time-table for this joint service was as follows: The northbound train for Rochester, with sleeper, left Pittsburgh at eight-twenty p. m., passed through Brookville, a dag sta- tion, at one a. m., arrived at Falls Creek at two a. m., where the northbound cars were shifted to the Rochester road, and this train arrived at Rochester at seven-thirty a. m. The

southbound train from Rochester left Roches- ter about eight-twenty p. m., and shifted their Pullman and day coach at Falls Creek to the Allegheny Valley road, which, returning, passed through Brookville, a flag station, at three-thirty a. m., and arrived at Pittsburgh at seven-fifty a. m.

Sleeping cars were first used in the United States in 1856. The first Pullman was lighted by candles and heated by oil stoves. There was no carpet upon the floor. The back of the seat was hinged, and to make up the berth the porter simply dropped the back until it was level with the seats, and upon them were placed mattress and a blanket ; there were no sheets. The upper berth was suspended from the ceiling by ropes and pulleys and was kept raised during the day. On the maiden trip between Bloomington and Chicago patrons were charged one dollar and fifty cents.

Surveys for the extension of the road from Punxsutawney to Allegheny City were made in the fall of 1894. The actual construction of the railroad did not begin until March, 1808. The track from Punxsutawney to the Allegheny river bridge was finished in June. 1889. Track laying commenced at Butler in January, 1899, and was extended eastward to Mosgrove. The track was joined at Mosgrove Station in August, 1899, when the last spike, a silver one, was driven by Arthur G. Yates. president of the road.

The first regular train through to Allegheny City was run Sept. 4. 1899. and regular through passenger service from Buffalo and Rochester to Allegheny began Oct. 9, 1899.

That the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh is a good paying proposition needs no affirma- tion. Its coal territory with productiveness in both coal and coke is shown in the average daily handling of one thousand cars of coal and two hundred cars of coke. The value is also shown in the numerous spurs that have been built into rich coal regions. The largest of these spurs is the twenty-eight-mile extension to Ernest. From Ernest through Indiana county two lines are constructed, with a com- bined mileage of forty-two miles, one running to Slate Lick and the other to Elder's Ridge. The Slate Lick branch is operated from Indi- ana. Just outside of Ernest on the new line a tunnel is constructed. The tunnel and new branches are now completed.

At Ernest a fine steel coal tipple has been built by the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company, which is the controlled sub- sidiary company. The structural steel for the tipple alone cost fifty-five thousand dollars.

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The main locomotive works, at DuBois, Pa., were opened Nov. 4, 1901. They have facilities for making heavy repairs on twenty locomotives per month.

The traffic having reached the limit of economical operation on a single track. the construction of a second track was authorized. During the fall of 1903 the middle division of the main line from DuBois to East Sala- manca, a distance of one hundred and twenty- eight miles, or over one-third of the total mile- age, was double tracked. The Pittsburgh division is laid on one-hundred-pound steel rails.

The officers of the Buffalo. Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway Company for 1915 were : William T. Noonan, Rochester, N. Y., presi- dent ; Adrian Iselin, Jr., New York, vice presi- dent ; W. Emlen Roosevelt, New York, vice president ; Ernest Iselin, New York, secre- tary ; John F. Dinkey. Rochester, N. Y., treas- urer.

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Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I, Part 21

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918 Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers Number of Pages: 650

Author: McKnight, W. J. (William James), 1836-1918
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago : J.H. Beers
Number of Pages: 650