USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > The Wyoming Valley, upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the Lackawanna coal-region : including views of the natural scenery of northern Pennsylvania : from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875 > Part 27
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Susquehanna > The Wyoming Valley, upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the Lackawanna coal-region : including views of the natural scenery of northern Pennsylvania : from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875 > Part 27
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The first meeting of the Commissioners of the Delaware and Cobb's Gap Railroad, was held at the house of Jacob Knecht, in Stroudsburg, November 28th, 1850, at which time the whole number of shares authorized by Act of Incorpo- ration were subscribed for by twenty-seven differ- ent individuals, and the first installment paid thereon. Date of Letters Patent, December 4th, 1850. The first meeting of stockholders for the election of officers was held at the house of Stroud J. Holinshead, in Stroudsburg, Decem- ber 26th, 1850. The officers chosen were : Col. George W. Scranton, President; Directors- John J. Phelps, Wm. E. Dodge, Thomas W. Gale, L. L. Sturges, John I. Blair, Selden T. Scranton, Joseph H. Scranton, Jos. C. Platt, Horatio W. Nicholson, James M. Porter, James M. Stroud and Franklin Starburd. These Di- rectors held a mecting on the same date, and elected John I. Blair, Treasurer, and Charles F. Mattes, Secretary.
With a view to derive an income from the road at the earliest day, some small sections of the Northern Division were passed by temporary structures the most important of which, were the switch over Tunkhannock Mountain, and the trestles across Factoryville and Humphrey's Hollows. The switch was afterward abandoned by constructing a passage through the Tunnel, saving two miles of distance. The total cost of the Northern Division up to January, 1854, in- cluding engineering, land for depots, right of way, grading, bridging, superstructure, station houses, machine and car-shops, car-houses, con- tingent and office expenses, &c. &c., and the amount expended to that time towards the con- struction of the Tunnel, was $2, 162,048.75.
It was during the summer of 1853 that this company set about constructing a model engine of " great power " for burning Anthracite coal ; and, as was expressed in the report of that year, " should the anticipations in this respect, be realized, we design at once to order several more of the same character. Coal burning engines are 17
now in successful operation on the Reading and other roads, and it is believed that they will soon come into very general use, thereby causing a large increase in the consumption of anthracite coal, and at the same time effecting a vast saving in the cost of fuel, no small item in the running expenses of all railroads."
The cost of the equipment of the road, com- . prising the following, viz :
13 Locomotive Engines, 10 Passenger and Baggage cars, 60 Horse and Platform Freight cars, 854 Coal cars ; machinery and tools in the machine and car shops, at Scranton, and other smaller items, amounted to $395,724.64.
For the more convenient management of the business of the company, on the line of the works, the several branches were divided into four distinct departments, each of which was placed under a Head, subject to the President and Board of Managers. These departments and the names and titles of the officers respectively, . were as follows : Construction, Edwin McNeil, Chief Engineer ; Transportation, D. H. Dotterer, Superintendent; Coal Department, J. J. Al- bright, General Coal Agent; Machine and Car Shops, under the supervision of D. H. Dotterer, Superintendent.
Besides the work done on the Southern Divi- sion, and in constructing the great tunnel, and filling in the high trestles over the hollows in the Northern Division, there had been erected during that year (1853), a commodious passenger car- house at Scranton, a station house at Oakley's Sta- tion, two large wood-sheds, one at Clark's Summit and the other at Tunkhannock, and about five miles of second track laid, for turn-outs, sid- ings, &c.
Besides making provision for all the ordinary repairs of the locomotives and cars in use on the Railroad, and the machinery and mine cars in the use of the Coal Department, in view of the very favorable location of the village of Scranton for such purposes, and the facilities afforded for procuring ample supplies of iron, and the various kinds of' lumber and other materials necessary, the Board of Managers early made arrangements for the erection of capacious buildings for shops, and supplying them with the necessary tools and
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machinery for the manufacture of cars, of which it was forcseen that a large additional number would soon be required.
In the year 1854 the shops consisted of one brick building on Washington avenue in the form of an E, the main building being 210 feet long by 75 feet in width, the two wings being each 200 feet long by 55 feet wide. The main building was used for a smith and pattern shop, office, engine and boiler room, the west wing for repairs and building of cars, and the east wing for the repairs of engines and engine house.
In the year 1855, the addition of an Iron Foundry was made to the foregoing, on the same street, also an engine house, the whole being covered with a dome 98 feet high, and capable of holding 30 engines. The building was located on the north ends of the cast and west wings, and was not completed until the year 1856, at which time the wing heretofore used in part as an engine-house, was vacated for that purpose, and thereafter used wholly for repairing engines.
During the years 1857 to 1860, no material change was made, but as the business of the shops increased in consequence of an increasing business of the road, a like increase of shop-room was found to be neecssary, and an addition in size 100 by 100 feet was made between the two wings adjoining the engine house. .
In the year 1862, the ever increasing business of the Company required yet more shop capacity, and a smith-shop was erected on the south side of Washington Avenue, adjacent to the before- mentioned buildings, in which was put a steam hammer and some thirty-two forges, to which, all the smiths were removed from the main building, which thereafter was used for repairing engines and cars.
In the further progress of events, the additions named being yet too small, and as room was not to be found for further additions in the immedi- ate vicinity of the shops, it was concluded by the Company to purchase the ground remaining bc- tween Washington Avenue and Cliff strect, and north of the other shops named, and erect addi- tional buildings thereon. These buildings were commenced in 1865. The Round House build- ing was completed and used in July, 1866.
The present Machine Shops were commenced at the same time as the Round House.
In the year 1865 the large dome ou the first Round House built by the Company, which added somewhat to the looks of the city, was found to be settling, and on examination proved to be unsafe, and was taken down. The build- ing was altered, so that at present it is used for an engine house. The Company finding the Iron Foundry too small for their large increase of business, built one 100 x 100 feet with facili- ties for making about 10 tons of engine and car castings per day.
With these few statisties in outline, the read- er's attention will be recalled to the more general history of the road which was broken to give way to the shops. The first printed annual report of the Company, dating 1854, shows that during the year 1853, 43,726 passengers, and about 100,000 tons of anthracite coal, 10,000 tons of iron, and 34,000 tons of other freight were transported over the road. In the Coal Department, great activity was displayed by the corporation at the outset. Care was taken at an early day, to secure some of the choicest tracts in the valley, lying in the immediate vicinity of their principal depot, at Seranton.
The Diamond mines were commenced in 1852, and in the year following the steam power coal breaker was completed and put in operation. Contracts were also made for sinking two slopes and a shaft near the openings at the Diamond mines, for the purpose of reaching the lower and larger veins. At the commencement of their coal operations, and until about January, 1853, the Company worked their own mines, but it was subsequently deemed expedient to have this work done by contract. Accordingly an agree- ment was entered into on the drst of April, 1853, with Mr. Thompson Peckens, and his associates, for working the mines of the Company, for the term of five years ; the Company paying him stipulated prices per ton, for coal mined, prepar- ed and loaded into the transportation cars.
. As is common to all new enterprises of this nature, some embarrassment arose from want of experience ; and in the commencement of the Company's operations, not having the necessary
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apparatus for preparing their coal in a proper manner, they were under the necessity ot for- warding it to market in the condition in which it came from the mines. In consequence of this a prejudice was created in the minds of some consumers against the quality of the coal ; the managers, therefore, removed the difficulties which they had encountered in this branch of their operations, and they not only reached the best veins of coal, but by the ercction of steam coal breakers, and revolving screens, for prepar- ing it, and extensive pockets and shutes for load- ing it into the cars, they soon possessed every facility for shipping it in the best possible order. During the year 1854, the Company procecded to the erection of works on the Griffin farm.
In view of the large prospective demand for their coal, and the necessity of making timely arrangements for supplying the same, and in order not only to ascertain the quantity of coal upon their lands, but also to establish its quality, the whole was thoroughly surveyed, both by Mr. Needham, Mining Engineer, and Prof. H. D. Rogers, State Geologist of Pennsylvania, the re- sults of which were, in all respects, highly satis- factory. From the very elaborate and interest- ing report of Professor Rogers, which was pub- lished in Boston, and from the very careful sur- veys, borings and other minute examinations of - Mr. Needham, it appeared that the quantity of minable coal on the Company's lands would ex- ceed FIFTY MILLIONS OF TONS; that the differ- ent veins were adapted, respectively, to the vari- ous purposes of generating steam, smelting and manufacturing iron, and for all other manufac- turing and domestic purposes ; and that the quality for all these various purposes was fully equal to any other coal produced.
In the event that the supply of coal from the Company's mines at any time should prove in- adequate to the capacity of the road, ample quantities would be offered by the proprietors of other collieries in the vicinity. In addition, the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad was soon to be built, which would open to market every coal field in the Wyoming Valley, including the valuable red ash coal of Plymouth, by the short- est and most favorable route to tide water.
The Southern Division had not, as yet been completed, and when that was opened to traffic, with the connections which were then in pro- gress, coal could be transported from the mines at Scranton and Wilkes-Barre to Elizabeth Port. or Jersey City, opposite New York, in ten hours time. As announced by the President, "an order may be given by telegraph in the morning, and the coal delivered at tide water the same evening-and at all seasons of the year."
The contract for the construction of the Southern Division was put under way in June, 1853. This section of the road, as before ex- plancd, extend from Scranton through Cobb's Gap and the Delaware Water Gap to a point on the Delaware River, five miles below the Water Gap, a distance of 61 miles, where it connects with the Warren Railroad of New Jersey.
Anticipating a very large business on this division, the Board of Managers resolved to grade, bridge and do the masonry for a double track, all in the most substantial and permanent manner; consequently, no trestles or other tem- porary structures were to be erected. In order to secure a satisfactory grade, and to avoid high and long bridges, it was deemed expedient to pass two small sections by tunnels. In reference to the very favorable line and grades secured. it is due to the indefatigable Chief Engineer. McNeill, to state, that he devoted many months of almost incessant labor in obtaining crest-line and other preliminary surveys of the whole re- gion, before the present route was adopted, which for the company was the best, if not the only practicable one, for a road of heavy traffic, from the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys, to tide water, in the direction of New York. Who, that has ever ridden over the barren wastes of the Pocono, has given a thought to these arduous researches of the Chief Engineer ?- to the great obstacles to a rapid prosecution of the work, coupled with a scarcity of men at that time, and the almost interminable forests traversed by the line ?
As to the connecting lines, the direct route to New York from the south-easteru terminus of the Southern Division would be by the Warreu Railroad, 18 miles to New Hampton Sumuit,
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and thence by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, via. Elizabeth Port ; or via. Elizabeth- town and New Jersey Railroad to Jersey City. Favorable contracts for doing the business of this Company had been entered into with these two companies (the Warren and Central) ; the latter company agreeing to lay an extra rail con- forming to the guage of this road. It was further provided that a second six foot track should be laid whenever the freight from this company should amount to 400,000 tons per annum. As the Warren Railroad crossed the Morris Canal at a favorable point for the transhipment of coal, it was expected that a considerable portion of the coal business would be done through this chan- nel.
The company also entertained hopes of sup- plying the Morris and Essex Railroad Company with coal for the Eastern market, and to meet the large demand for the manufacture of iron and for other purposes upon the line of that road. It was further anticipated that the Trenton and Belvidere Railroad Company would extend their road from Belvidere to the south-eastern termin- us of the road, a distance of four miles, and thus open a direct communication between Northern New York, the Lakes and Canada, and Trenton, Philadelphia and the South. The addition of a single rail to the point of its junction with the Feeder of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, would open another great avenue by a descend- ing grade to tide water; whence coal, lumber, &c., might be shipped by the large Propellers and Barges of that Company to the eastern mar- kets.
Still another, and very important connection was anticipated from the continuation of the Philadelphia, Easton and Water Gap Railroad, from Easton to the Water Gap, the privilege of doing which, with a six foot guage, was granted to that Company during the session of the Pennsylvania Legislature of 1853-4. This would open a six foot guage road from Philadelphia, by the most direct route, aud easiest grades, to every section of Western New York and the Northern Lakes.
In addition to the foregoing, the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, extending from Newburg to
the Water Gap, had been located, and the section between Chester and Newburg had been con- structed as a branch of the Erie road. The construction of the Providence, Hartford and Fishkill road then in progress, rendered this connection of vast importance, and the managers looked forward to no distant period when it would be made.
The Western and South-western connection is by the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad, which is now the property of the Delaware, Lackawanna and - Western Company. It was commenced in 1854, E. McNeill, engineer, and was finished in 1857. It extends from North- umberland on the Philadelphia and Erie Rail- road, by way of Rupert, Bloomsburg and Ber- wick in Columbia country, and along the length of the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys. The grade is easy as it follows the course of the Sus- quehanna and Lackawanna rivers, being about three and a half feet per mile. The irresistible inference that was drawn from this connection was, that the Sunbury and Erie, the Allegheny Valley, and the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroads, connecting at Scranton, would secure to New York her nearest and best channel of communication with the West and Southwest, and to this road, the many positive advantages claimed for it, among which might be named as worthy of especial attention, the great facili- ties which its construction would furnish the company for extending indefinitely their coal business, and for its safe and economical man- agement.
Of the northern and northwestern connections, the first report exhibited sanguine expectations. At Great Bend, 186 miles from New York by this route, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western road connects with the New York and Erie, over which, by a perpetual contract, its freight and coal trains, and passengers are conveyed ou favor- able terms both east and west.
Leaving out of view the fact, that the Dela- ware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, and its branches, is a great channel for the transporta- tion of coal, its importance as a general freight and passenger road should not be overlooked. Passengers have an opportunity of visiting that
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great natural curiosity, the Delaware Water Gap, from which point the road ascends the "Pocono" by easy grades ; across the high table-lands of which it passes for about twenty miles, and from which point the view is of extraordinary extent and beauty. Further on, the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys possess great attractions for tourists, and the route generally, is a favorite one for pleasure travel.
Of the branches and connections, the follow- ing brief summary will convey to the reader some idea of the magnitude of this corporation :
Great Bend, Pa., to Delaware river, 115 miles.
The company operate the following branch lines :
Morris & Essex R. R .- Hoboken to Phillips- burg, N. J., and Boonton Branch, 118 miles.
Newark & Bloomfield R. R .- Newark, N. J. to Montclair, N. J., 6 miles.
Chester R. R .- Dover, N. J., to Chester, N. J., 13 miles.
Warren R. R .- Delaware River to New Hamp- ton Junction, N. J., 18.30 miles.
Valley R. R .- Great Bend, Pa., to Bingham- ton, N. Y., 11.50 miles.
Greene R. R .- Chenango Forks, N. Y., to Greene, N. Y., 8 miles.
Utica, Chenango & Susquehanna Valley R. R. -Utica to Chenango Forks, N. Y., and Richfield Branch, 98 miles.
Oswego & Syracuse R. R .- Oswego, N. Y., to Syracuse, N. Y., 35 miles.
Cayuga & Susquehanna R. R .- Owego, N. Y., to Ithica, N. Y., 34.60 miles.
Syracuse, Binghamton & New York R. R .- Syracuse to Binghamton, N. Y., 81 miles.
Lackawanna & Bloomsburg R. R .- Scranton to Northumberland, Pa., 80 miles.
Total length of trunk line owned and operated, 608.40 miles.
At the beginning of the year 1873, the com- pany was running upon the road as their own property :
Locomotive Engines, 128; Passerger cars, 20; Baggage cars, 9; Freight cars, 873; Coal cars, 9,516.
The tonnage moved during the year 1872, was 3,347,671, of which 2,914,265 was anthracite coal.
The Directors elected February 25th, 1873, were William E. Dodge and Moses Taylor, of New York city ; George Buckley, Southport. Ct .; John I. Blair, Blairstown, N. J .; Rufus R. Graves, S. B. Chittenden, George Bliss, Percy R. Pyne, and W. W. Phelps, New York city ; John Brisbin, Newark, N. J .; James Blair, Scranton, Pa .; Denning Duer, Wilson G. Hunt, and H. A. Kent, New York city.
President-Samuel Sloan, New York city.
Vice-President-Percy R. Pyne, New York city.
Treasurer-Andrew J. Odell, New York city.
Secretary-Fred. F. Chambers, New York city.
Chief Engineer-J. Archbald, Scranton, Pa.
Master Machinist-Walter Dawson, Scranton, Pa.
Gen. Ticket Agent-W. F. Holwill, New York city.
Gen. Freight Agent-B. A. Hegeman, New York city.
Purchasing Agent-G. W. B. Cushing, New York city.
The following are the Division Superinten- dents :
Main Line, and Syracuse, Binghamton & N. Y. R. R .- Wm. F. Hallstead, Scranton, Pa.
Morris & Essex Div .- A. Reasoner, Hoboken, N. J.
Oswego & Syracuse Div .- W. B. Phelps, Oswego, N. Y.
Utica, Chenango & Susquehanna Valley Div. -G. F. Thompson, Utica, N. Y.
Cayuga & Susquehanna Div .- W. R Hum. phrey, Ithica, N. Y.
Lackawanna & Bloomsburg R. R .- David T. Bound, Kingston, Pa.
Principal Office and Address-No. 26, Ex- change Place, New York city.
It is a feature worthy of note in the extensive management, that these zast and continuous ad- ditions have nearly all been accumulated to the company since the accession of Mr. Sloan to the Presidency. His eminent qualifications have been thoroughly tested during his administration, a more complete record of which will be given in the chapter succeeding, which presents a com- prehensive historical sketch of his busy life.
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It is thought proper to insert at this point a record of a few old familiar incidents which be- long to history, more valuable now because of the old associations which they may recall. Among these old souvenirs of the past may be noticed the old locomotive engines which have carried their greetings so constantly and faith- fuly during the early years of the company's transactions. Most of them now are things of the past-a few remain as dilapidated relics.
The first locomotive of the company was the Pioneer No. 1, and was numbered as a fourth class engine; the makers are unknown. In actual work it was supplanted by No. 2, the Spitfire, of English manufacture. The circumstances which gave the Spitfire the notoriety of being their first engine was from the fact that Mr. Dotterer, then in the employ of the Company as head of the Trausportation Department, was particularly jealous of the worth which he attached to the Spitfire as being a better engine than the Pioneer. He therefore used every exertion to put the Spitfire on the road before No. 1 which he succeeded in doing, thus giving No. 2 the fame of doing the first actual work. No. 1 was soon abandoned as worthless, and Spitfire con- tinued on the road for a time at an expense of running of 11.28 cents per mile.
Following these were those contained in the subjoined list :
3. Wyoming, built by Rogers, Ketchum & Grosenvor.
4. Capouse, built by Rogers, Ketchum & Gro- senvor.
5. Montrose, built by Rogers, Ketchum & Grosenvor.
6. Ithaca, built by Rogers, Ketchum & Gros- envor.
7. Keystone, built by William Swinburne.
8. Niagara, built by Rogers, Ketchum & Gros- envor.
9. Ontario, built by Rogers, Ketchum, & Grosenvor.
10. Genesee, built by Rogers, Ketchum & Grosenvor.
11. Buffalo, built by Rogers, Ketchum & Grosenvor.
12. Wyalusing, built by Danforth, Cooke & Co.
13. Pocono, built by Danforth, Cooke & Co.
14. Anthracite, built by Danforth, Cooke & Co.
15. Moosic, New Jersey Locomotive Works.
16. Lackawanna, built by Danforth, Cooke & Co.
17. Susquehanna, built by Danforth, Cooke & Co.
18. Tobyhanna, built by New Jersey Locomo- tive Works.
19. Carbon, built by Ross Winans.
The first coal burner on the road was the An- thracite No. 14. The second was Carbon, No. 19.
In 1853, this Company in conjunction with the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company, engaged the services of Prof. Henry D. Rogers, State Geologist, to explore and investigate the value and topography of their coal lands. The report was submitted from Prof. Rogers, bearing date, Boston, January 21st, 1854, and gave a full and comprenensive survey of the region under his consideration, which in the main is held as good authority yet, though in particulars and a more thorough research, the company rests upon its own force in exploring their possessions under the ground.
This Department is under the charge of the Mining Engineer, at present, Mr. J. F. Snyder, a gentlemanly and courteous officer, who exhibits qualifications worthy of his position. Under him are three assistants : Joseph J. Phillips, Rich- ard Evans and Jeremiah Phillips. The scope of work of this department includes everything pertaining to surveying in all its branches, and everything that properly comes under the head of construction. Working in conjunction and harmony with this department is Mr. Benjamin Hughes, the General Foreman of the mines of the Company, who has occupied the position of foreman for over (18) eighteen years, being nine years in his present capacity. He is a Welsh- man by birth, and ranks as one of their exem- plary citizens.
In a tabular statement given hereafter will be found the list of the collieries of the Company and all other necessary information for the statistician.
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The Company at present are building first class coaches for passenger travel which compare for elegance in design and workmanship to any- thing in the same line in any part of the globe. This branch of the business is under the immedi- ate supervision of Mr. R. H. McKenna, a Scotch- man of worth and ability, whose faithful official duties commend him as a model officer.
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