USA > Pennsylvania > Pennsylvania, colonial and federal : a history, 1608-1903, Volume Three > Part 21
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According to accepted authority the locomotive on rails was first used in Wales, in 1804, but its weight and strength were not sufficient to draw loaded trains up grade. In 1822, after eight years of experimental work, George Stephenson overcame the difficulties formerly experienced and invented an engine with power enough to surmount moderate (what now would be called slight ) grades and draw a limited number of cars. But America could not await the slow process of English experiment and bought one of the locomotives in 1829. It was put in operation on the railroad connecting the Delaware and Hudson canal with the mines at Carbondale. This road was begun in 1826 and was completed in 1829. The locomotive was built in Stourbridge. England, and was called "Stourbridge Lion." It proved too heavy for the road, hence was used only a short time, the fault being not with the machine itself, but with the road, which was light in construction and not calculated to withstand the heavy pressure to which it. was subjected.
Notwithstanding the doubtful success which attended the ex- perimental use of the Stourbridge Lion, that result did not dis-
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courage further attempts in the same direction, but it did have the effect to stimulate American genius in the work of building loco- motives on this side of the Atlantic. In 1829 the South Carolina Railroad company determined to equip its road with engines of American build, and to that end procured a locomotive to be con-
William Freame Johnston
District attorney Armstrong County; member both branches State Legislature; speaker State Senate 1847; governor 1848-1852
structed in New York city. It was put in service in the fall of 1830, and was the first locomotive built in this country for regular transportation purposes. It was appropriately named "Best Friend of Charleston." The second American engine was built in West Point, after plans of Horatio Allen, and was put into commission in 1831. The third engine, the famous old "DeWitt Clinton" of historic memory, was the product of the same shop, an improve- ment upon the model of its predecessor, and was put into service August 9, 1831, by the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad company.
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and was run between Albany and Schenectady, in New York State. It weighed three and one-half tons and could run thirty miles per hour under favorable conditions.
Although Pennsylvania was the first State in which a locomo- tive was used, the physical characteristics of the land surface were such that the free use of locomotive power was for the time con- sidered impracticable ; but it was not long before our enterprising capitalists set about the work of devising means to overcome the apparently insurmountable obstacles and prepare the way for open- ing lines of transportation and travel by rail across the Alleghanies and the great rivers. At that time, too, the men of energy who were willing to invest in railroad enterprises were embarrassed and in a measure opposed by the influences that most favored the construction of the system of canals which the State itself was then building. The legislative mind seemed bent upon the ac- complishment of this work, and as almost every legislator hoped for an extension of the canal into his own district, and was labor- ing to that end, neither the legislative body nor its individual members were much inclined to favor railroad building by incor- porated companies, and still less inclined to aid such undertakings with appropriations from the public funds.
In connection with the principal work of constructing the Pennsylvania canal it became necessary to build two lines of rail- road, one from Philadelphia to Columbia on the Susquehanna river, and another across the Alleghany mountains. This great highway of traffic was designed to cross the State from east to west and traversed its richest and most thickly populated region. Naturally a railroad would have followed the same general course, hence would have been regarded as a competing enterprise and one which, if carried into operation, would have taken business from the State system of canals. Thus it was that railroad enter- prises were compelled to await the time when it became necessary to sell the system of public works and supersede the old slow highways of traffic with the modern and more efficient railroad.
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In neo trodll xd du may not bedosH
1
WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK
Etched for this work by Albert Rosenthal From the photograph by Gutekunst
Hum, Thata kry Gutekunst.
byAlbert, Rosenthal.
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But in the face of these embarrassments Pennsylvania was not slow in following the example of other States in railroad building. The first effective act to incorporate a railroad company was passed March 31, 1823, and authorized John Stevens and his associates to build and operate a line of railroad from Philadelphia to Co- lumbia. The company, however, did little toward the construction of its road, and the work ultimately was completed by the State and was operated as a part of its system of public works. At the end of the year 1830 charters had been granted to twenty-eight railroad companies, and in 1831 eleven others were incorporated and authorized to build railroads. One of the more prominent of these was the old Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown rail- road, of which five miles were completed in 1832. In 1836, according to the Canal Commissioners' report, the following rail- roads were completed and in operation : Mauch Chunk, nine miles ; West Chester, nine miles; Room Run, five and one-fourth miles; Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown, twenty-one miles ; Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven, twenty miles; Mount Carbon, seven miles; Lykens Valley, sixteen and one-half miles; Little Schuylkill, twenty-one and one-half miles; Schuylkill Valley, ten miles ; Mill Creek, four miles; Pine Grove, four miles; Carbon- dale, sixteen and one-fourth miles; Philadelphia and Trenton, twenty-six and one-fourth miles; Beaver Meadow, twenty-six and one-half miles.
It is doubtful if a single one of these roads is now in operation under its original name and charter, yet many of them are still in existence and form parts of the great systems of railroad enter- prises for which Pennsylvania is noted. In the year mentioned, according to the Commissioners' reports, the State railroads then completed were as follows : The Philadelphia and Columbia, eighty- two miles; and the Portage railroad, thirty-six miles. In the same year the railroads in course of construction by incorporated companies were : The Reading and Port Clinton, twenty miles ; Philadelphia and Reading, fifty-four miles; Philadelphia and Wil-
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mington, seventeen miles; Catawissa and Tamaqua, thirty-eight and one-half miles; Sunbury and Pottsville (including branch road), fifty-one and one-half miles; Williamsport and Elmira, seventy-three and one-half miles (six and three-fourths miles be- ing in New York State) ; Lancaster and Harrisburg, thirty-six miles; Harrisburg and Chambersburg, fifty miles; Downington and Norristown, twenty miles; Marietta and Columbia, three miles; and the Strasburg road, five miles.
It will be seen from what is stated above that in 1836 there were completed and in operation within the State three hundred and fourteen and one-fourth miles of railroad, of which one hun- dred and ninety-six and one-fourth miles were owned by incor- porated companies and one hundred and eighteen miles by the State ; and that at the same time there were in course of construc- tion by eleven distinct companies three hundred and sixty-eight and one-half miles of road. The entire mileage of road at that time, finished and in course of construction, aggregated six hun- dred and eighty-two and three-fourths miles, and represented the interests of the State and twenty-five separate companies.
It may be said, however, that far more companies were incor- porated than in fact built the roads they intended to operate, and many of them fell by the wayside after the preliminary surveys were made and their directors had ascertained the actual cost of construction. Many charters also were granted to companies whose managing officers never intended to build roads, but who interested themselves in such enterprises for purposes of specula- tion, hoping to dispose of their franchises to other corporations at good profit. The tendency in this direction at one time became alarmingly great and at last created a feeling of prejudice against all enterprises of that character, to the injury of several whose purposes were wholly commendable. Frequently the State ex- tended aid to railroad corporations and made generous subscrip- tions to their capital stock. Little benefit ever accrued to the Commonwealth through this practice, although by it many com-
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panies were enabled to complete a work which otherwise would have ended in disaster. But at length this practice led to abuses of legislative power and resulted in an amendment to the consti- tution in 1857, forbidding the State from having any interest whatever in any canal or railroad. This was after the sale of the State public works, in which there had been expended about thirty- five millions of public moneys, while there was realized from the sale of the entire system hardly one-third of that sum.
The pamphlet laws of Pennsylvania from about 1826 to 1860, a period of about thirty-five years, show the granting of charters to hundreds of railroad companies, and of the entire number of corporations thus created about half actually built their projected roads and carried them into operation. Governor Porter, whose administration began in 1838 and ended in 1845, was the warm friend of railroad enterprises, and recommended State aid to such of them as he deemed worthy of assistance. He advocated the construction of a railroad from Pittsburg west to the Mississippi river, thus forming a continuous route of transportation from Philadelphia to Pittsburg by way of the main line of combined State canals and railroads, and from the city last mentioned west- ward across the great States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. His suggestions at the time (in his first message in 1838) were ridi- culed in certain quarters, yet he lived to witness the realization of his hopes and expectation, for he was even then confident that the great work would be carried out.
The era of railroad building in Pennsylvania began in earnest soon after 1835 and was prosecuted with vigor for a period of about thirty-five years, until nearly every accessible locality in the State which promised some return to the operating company was given the benefits of ready transportation for freight and passen- gers. The accomplishment of this great work cost many millions of dollars, and not infrequently townships, municipalities and counties helped to bear the expense of construction, for which they received no direct return, but it is doubtful if any railroad
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ever was built in this State that did not directly benefit the people of the locality along its route. It proved the great factor in developing the latent resources of the State, in opening new agri- cultural districts and affording an outlet for marketable products of the farm, in promoting mining and manufacturing enterprises, in setting in motion the machinery of hundreds of factories, in increasing municipal importance, population and mercantile inter- ests, and in gaining for our Commonwealth the enviable promi- nence it has since enjoyed in being among the most progressive States in the whole country.
In January, 1833, there was turned out from the shop of M. W. Baldwin in Philadelphia the first locomotive constructed within the State, and one of the best and most serviceable engines of its kind in the United States. So gratifying indeed were the results of this first product of the shop that other orders taxed its capacity for manufacture and necessitated an enlargement of the works and the formation of a stock company, which took the name now known throughout the industrial world as the Baldwin Loco- motive Works, one of Philadelphia's largest manufacturing enter- prises. In the course of time railroad construction shops were started in other cities, and to-day Pennsylvania produces every- thing necessary for use in the construction and equipment of rail- roads, from the steel rail to the final completion of the most costly parlor car; and the factories of the State do produce them and send them to railroads throughout the United States and also to foreign countries.
During the last quarter of a century many and wonderful changes have been made in the method of operating railroads, and of the hundreds of short-line roads once in existence few indeed retain their identity and appear by name in the reports of the Sec- retary of Internal Affairs. The work of consolidation began more than forty years ago and was prosecuted energetically until almost a multitude of short lines were brought under a single manage- ment. The great Pennsylvania Railroad company operates more
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Independence Hall as it appeared in 1840
From an old print
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than 3,750 miles of track, exclusive of that of its auxiliary the Pennsylvania Company, and represents more than one hundred lesser lines, which it controls either by ownership, lease, contract or trackage rights. The Philadelphia and Reading Railway com- pany operates more than one thousand miles of track, and its system represents more than thirty lesser lines of road. The Pennsylvania Company operates about fourteen hundred miles of track, and comprises the consolidation of thirty lesser roads. The Lehigh Valley system includes more than fifty minor lines and branches, and operates nearly fourteen hundred miles of track.
During the current year 1900-01 more than three hundred separate railroad corporations doing business within this State made reports to the Secretary of Internal Affairs, but that number by no means represents the total number of railroad companies whose charters are still in force, nor does it correctly represent the total of all the companies that actually operate lines of road. Under the requirements reports are received from companies whose lines are leased to some one of the great systems or are operated by them under contract or have trackage rights over them. Many companies also make reports and are foreign cor- porations whose lines of road touch and cross some part of this State.
The last quarter of a century has witnessed a complete revo- lution of the railroad systems of this State and of the whole United States, and the modern equipment of the twentieth century road bears no resemblance whatever to that of forty years ago. The consolidation of lesser lines into one continuous line, and the asso- ciation of all of them under a single management, led to the estab- lishment of the trunk lines, and the gradual extension of the latter in all directions, both within and outside the State, with the com- pletion of harmonious running schedules on main and branch lines, led to the establishment of what now is known as the railroad system, of which Pennsylvania has one of the most extensive and perfectly operated on the American continent, and also one of the
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best in the world. The accomplishment of this grand result has been the work of many years and has called for the untiring effort of men of brains, courage and perseverance.
As is elsewhere stated, in 1836 the total mileage of all the rail- roads within this State was 31414 miles, or about one-fourth of the aggregate mileage of all the roads in the United States. In 1846 the total length of all the railroads in the State had increased to 840 miles, or a little less than one-sixth of the aggregate mileage of the country. The next thirty years, from 1846 to 1876, consti- tuted an era of remarkable progress in railroad extension through- out the land, and the close of the last mentioned year found the aggregate mileage of the railroads in the United States to be 77,470 miles, and in Pennsylvania 5,983 miles. In 1901 the aggregate mileage of all railroads in the United States, according to the most recent data, was 193,345.78, the State of Illinois standing first and Pennsylvania second. The total mileage of roads operated by corporations doing business in Pennsylvania was 26,975.86, of which total 10.697.68 miles of road were within the limits of the State. In 1901 there was laid in the State IO1.67 miles of new track; the aggregate of all tracks, including yard tracks, sidings, spurs, etc., was 50,464.87 miles.
Few persons other than those intimately acquainted with methods and management of steam railroads have any adequate understanding of the extent and magnitude of the principal trunk lines which now cross our State in every direction, reaching through their main or connecting roads into every county except Fulton. But among the hundreds of separate railroad corpora- tions doing business within the State, comparatively few are to be denominated trunk lines, and a still less number are entitled to the higher designation of systems. In the early history of railroading trunk lines and systems were unknown expressions, and may be regarded as products of the last twenty-five years; the results of consolidations, mergers, long leases, processes of law, and the ac- quisition and union of lesser lines and interests into the manage-
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ment of a single greater corporation. Of some of the principal of these roads it is proposed to make mention, with the object of showing something of their history and generally their extent in length. volume of business, cost, capital, and whatever may be of interest to the reader, as information concerning them is disclosed in published records.
Of the five great systems of railroad now in operation in Pennsylvania three are distinctively domestic corporations, and
Public Square in Wilkes-Barre
From a print issued about 1840
the others organizations under the laws of other States. Nat- urally, the State corporations are entitled to first mention in these pages, and in the order of seniority.
The Philadelphia and Reading Railway company was organ- ized under a charter dated April 4, 1833, and was authorized to construct and operate a line of railroad from Philadelphia to Reading, a distance of fifty-four miles. Soon after the comple- tion of the road the company began to extend its line by the con- struction of branches and the acquisition of franchises of other and less prosperous corporations, and it eventually became recog- nized as the leading road of the eastern part of the State, and one
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of the most extensive coal carrying roads in the country. As years passed the company continued to extend its operations, draw- ing within its management other lines, and establishing itself among the important railroad systems of the East. It now oper- ates 1,002.90 miles of track, of which 951.21 miles are within this State. The total capitalization under the reorganization of 1896 amounts to $96,945, 115, of which $20,000,000 represents the cap- ital stock, and $67,683,952 the bonded indebtedness. Its assets aggregate $98,513,290, of which $80,582,838 represents the cost of the road and equipment, $4, 198,959 current assets and cash, and $13,731,493 all other assets. In the transaction of its busi- ness the company employs 878 locomotives, 803 passenger cars, 34,189 freight cars, and 951 cars devoted to its own service, a total of 35,943 cars. The number of employees during the year 1900-01 was 17,884, and the compensation paid them amounted to $10,529,795 ; number of passengers carried, 22,697,295; total revenue from passenger service, $4,561,393; tons of freight transported, 30,077,465; total revenue from freight service, $22,470,735; total earnings from all sources, including income, $28,379,179; operating expenses, $15,742,920; other expenses, $12,069,638; total expenses, $27,812,558. The business man- agement of the company is conducted in principal offices in Phila- delphia, in which city the directors and officers are nearly all resident. The stock is owned largely in the same city and in New York, with blocks of less amounts in various other localities.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad company was incorporated April 23, 1846, under the name of Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad company, and was reincoroprated under its present name January 7, 1853. Its original purpose was to build and operate a steam railroad from Phillipsburg, N. J., to Wilkes- Barre. in this State, a distance of one hundred and one miles, and that part of the road was completed in October, 1855. The work of extension and absorption of other lines was begun in 1872 and has since been carried forward with such energy that the present
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system includes fifty-four lines, covering a total of 1,387.38 miles of track. The company always has maintained a progressive policy and its business has been conducted on an elaborate although not extravagant scale. Its officers, past and present, have been men of known integrity and excellent capacity for the work en- trusted to their charge. The cities of New York and Philadelphia are well represented in the officiary, and in those cities large blocks of the stock are owned. From the reports of 1900-01 these inter- esting facts relating to the business of the company are taken : Total capitalization, $100,140,403 (capital stock outstanding, $40,411, 100; bonded indebtedness. $46,975,000; other liabilities, $12,724,303) ; total assets, $98,962,144 (cost of road, $18,639,- 292 ; equipment, $19,018,420; other assets, $16,913,617). In conducting its business the company employs 763 locomotives, 473 passenger cars, 34,889 freight cais, and 1,087 cars in its own serv- ice ; total, 36,449 cars. During the year there were employed 17,576 persons, to whom wages were paid amounting to $9,338,- 924 ; total number of passengers carried, 4,456,732 ; revenues from passenger traffic, $3,460,528; tons of freight carried, 3,540,600 from products of agriculture, 540,323 from products of animals, 10,541,980 from products of the mines, 703,245 from products of the forests, 1,849,225 from products of the manufactories, 232, 185 of merchandise, and 1, 103.505 tons of miscellaneous shipments ; total tonnage carried, 18,511.063; revenue from freight service, $19,729,363; other earnings from operation, $1,082,423; total earnings from all sources, including income, $25,454,050. From these receipts there was disbursed for operating expenses $19,- 383,846, classified as follows: $4,241,717 for maintenance and construction, $4,448,244 for equipment, $9,958,739 for transpor- tation, and $735,146 for general expenses. In addition there was paid out for other expenses $7.210,019, making the total expendi- tures $26,593,865, an amount exceeding the total revenues by $1, 139,815. During the year there were thirteen accidents to passengers, none of which were fatal. Of the employes, forty-
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five were killed and one hundred and forty-two injured; of other persons, sixty-eight were killed and seventy-three were injured; total, 113 fatal and 228 non-fatal accidents.
The Pennsylvania Railroad company, the most important car- rier system in Pennsylvania and in the East, and one of the most extensive in the entire country, was brought into existence by an act of the legislature of Pennsylvania, passed and approved April 13, 1846, and was organized March 20, 1847, letters patent having been issued February 15 of that year. The first election of direct- ors was held March 30, 1847. Under its charter the company was authorized to construct, equip and operate a line of steam railroad to connect with the then known Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy and Lancaster railroad, and to run to Pittsburg or to any other point in Allegheny county, or to Erie, in Erie county, as its man- agement might deem expedient. But the incorporation and charter for the proposed Pennsylvania railroad were not secured without opposition, as it was understood that the operation thereof would in a measure draw from the revenues upon which the State system of public works largely depended for support. This was undoubtedly true, but the charter was granted and the work of construction was carried forward with such vigor that in 1850 portions of the line were completed and ready for operation. The leading capitalists of Philadelphia and Pittsburg had subscribed liberally to the stock of the company and from the beginning the enterprise was well backed with ample funds and equally valuable influence. Hardly had the original road been opened for traffic before the company began to extend its lines and enlarge the field of its operations. A detail of each of the subsequent acquisitions is not necessary (it would require a volume to fully narrate all of them ) to this chapter, but that which proved of the greatest benefit to the public, and to the company itself, was the purchase of the main line of public works, which vested ownership of that part of the combined State canal and railroad in the corporation, thus re- lieving the State of a burdensome property, and at the same time
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