Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 18

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036

USA > Pennsylvania > Blair County > Altoona > Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 18

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

per minute were pumped and discharged at the mouth of the shaft. The tunnel was made ready January 21, 1854, so as to enable the entire road to be opened, and the port- age disused February 15, 1854, although the road was brought into use before it was entirely completed. The tunnel was put into use without arching, its roof being sup- ported by heavy timbers. Arching, how- ever, was provided for, and almost wholly completed on Feb. 17, 1855. The passage of trains through the tunnel whilst the work progressed caused many interruptions and delayed completion. An additional cost of construction of $45,000 was entailed by ne- cessity for the arching. The work com- pleted at that time arched the whole of the tunnel with the exception of 800 feet, which was in sandstone, and a part of that, about 200 feet, was considered doubtful, and se- cured by timbering. This timber gave way after some severe freezing weather during March, 1856, and that part of the roof fell in. It was immediately secured by arching. 1869. Freezing in the tunnel during cold The balance of the 800 feet was arched in weather caused heavy expense for the re- moval of snow and ice which gathered there to the detriment of train movement. To overcome this, in the season of 1857-58 the west end was closed with doors that were only opened for the passage of trains. Thomas Seabrook was the engineer in charge of the construction of the tunnel and Thomas Rutter the contractor.

From the conception of the road the Alle- gheny mountain was a formidable barrier, but a barrier that American pluck and American energy overcame. By utilizing the resources of nature the genius of man reclaimed the mountain wilderness, subdued the wild and fierce obstacles in mountain fastnesses, overcame mountain heights, bridged valleys and streams, and, supplant- ing the silence of solitude, made the glens and gullies and hilltops resound with the hum of industry and the notes of moving traffic, and created in the Pittsburg division

126

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

of the Pennsylvania railroad a powerful agent in the development of the common- wealth. That division is today a type and model, "the greatest division of the greatest railroad in the world," having reached the highest state of efficiency in maintenance of way, care of equipment, and conducting transportation, through the unsurpassed in- telligence, efficiency and faithfulness of the employes operating it. It is as difficult to operate as it was to construct, and yet, with the most extreme disasters which ever vis- ited any portion of a railroad, has exhibited wonderful ability for rapid recuperation. It has come through fire and flood improved by its experiences. The very difficulties that the men have to encounter in their daily work on the division make their breasts swell with greater pride whenever they refer to it, and they always glory in its triumphs. Among the great men who have served as superin- tendents of the Pittsburg division were Thomas A. Scott, Andrew Carnegie and Rob- ert Pitcairn.

Through the passage by the legislature of an act on the 16th of May, 1857, the Penn- sylvania railroad company purchased from the state the canal, portage railroad, etc., it being transferred to the company on Aug- ust Ist of that year. Bp the purchase of these interests the company was enabled greatly to improve its facilities and add to the com- fort of passengers.

In 1858 Colonel Thomas A. Scott-a gen- tleman whose name is perhaps as familiar to the American people as that of any other man connected with railroads-was ap- pointed general superintendent of the road. Colonel Scott had entered the service of the company as station agent at Duncansville, Blair county, in 1850, Duncansville being then the western terminus of the road, from whence he was transferred to the western division as its superintendent. It was there he displayed that wonderful executive abil- ity and indomitable energy which have made him famous wherever American rail- roads are known. During Colonel Scott's

management of the road, as general super- intendent, many improvements were intro- duced, and the transportation facilities of the company greatly increased. Sleeping cars were put upon the road, and connec- tions were perfected at Pittsburg by which the use of omnibuses and drays in the trans- fer of passengers and freight was avoided. In 1861 the Harrisburg and Lancaster rail- road was leased by the Pennsylvania rail- road company for the period of 999 years, thus giving the latter company the owner- ship of the entire through line between Phil- adelphia and Pittsburg. Previous to this that road had been operated under a con- tract made in 1849, for twenty years, which, by the new arrangement, was annulled. Colonel Scott succeeded Mr. Thompson to the presidency on the latter's death on the 27th of May, 1874. The presidents of the company in the order of their service have been J. V. Merrick, William C. Patterson, J. Edgar Thompson, Thomas A. Scott, George B. Roberts, Frank Thomson, Alex. J. Cassatt and James McCrea.

THE RAILROAD IN WAR TIMES.

During the war of the rebellion the cor- porations were invaluable factors in main- taining the inviolability of the union. The patriotic sentiments and movements of the people were ably supplemented by the pa- triotic endeavors of the corporations. It is almost superfluous to say that the unstinted assistance given by the financial and carry- ing corporations to the government in the hour of its trials made possible the rehabili- tation of the republic, which has enabled it to speed its beneficent influences throughout the world and to rapidly advance the de- velopment and prosperity of its citizens.

None did more, and few. as much, in ac- complishing the results achieved as the Pennsylvania railroad company, and this, too, whilst it was confronted with the fact that its line was greatly exposed to border raids, and that the war rendered the serv-

127

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

ice it was called upon to perform one of great embarrassment.

In operating the road the supreme diffi- culty encountered by the management was in keeping up its effective and efficient force. The constant and indiscriminate drain from it of men to aid in filling up the armies in the field, and in building up and working military railways, was something beyond the company's control, although, stragetic- ally, the road was of the highest import- ance as a line of communication not to be broken, and one which the government should not have crippled in its working force.

Carrying demands daily increased- troops and munition movement, added to a restless population ever on the go, and in extending traffic, stretched the power of the men and the facilities to the utmost limit of endurance. As the demands in- creased there was a corresponding decrease in experienced men to handle the business. For a time it was impossible to procure a sufficient number of raw recruits even to run trains. The use of such material, when it was obtained, was an element of destruc- tion to the machinery of the road, and at the best worked as a strain upon the officers and the few trained men who still remained at their posts. It was not only in the matter of men to man trains that the difficulties of the situation were encountered, but loco- motives, cars, rails-in fact all supplies of an inferior quality had to be used, because the skilled labor of the country was in the field fighting for the preservation of the union. As long as the state of war existed the line was menaced, and never in a state of defense by local measures. A few rifle pits and a few inferior works were thrown up on por- tions of the line, but no comprehensive work, able to sustain an attack, was erected.

The only work of any consequence was a line of entrenchments thrown up upon a high hill on the right bank of the Susque- hanna, immediately opposite Harrisburg. And this work would, no doubt, have proved

in action more disastrous to its defenders than to the approaching foe. Immediately in its rear was a stony, perpendicular preci- pice of some seventy-four feet in height, made by the Northern Central railway cut- ting through the hill. The only life lost on the Susquehanna at the time of the inva- sions was that of a private emergency soldier named Lewis Drexler, who fell over this precipice while engaged in building the entrenchments. The vigilance of the road's managers was exceedingly sensitive, and the policing of the road so perfect, though expensive, that the advance of the enemy became known- immediately. During the year 1861 alone, the additional cost of guarding bridges amounted to $28,897.18. Elaborate works for the road's defense were not required whilst the army of the Potomac was active and could intervene, as it did in 1862 at Antietam, and at Gettysburg in 1863.

In June and July of the latter year, the road's operations were seriously interrupted by Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania. At Co- lumbia, Harrisburg, Mifflin and Altoona labor was entirely suspended, and the whole attention of the forces at those places given to the protection of property. A large por- tion of the movable property was loaded up and carried to places of safety, whilst the balance was in readiness to be moved when the danger came closer. The maintenance of way department suspended for several weeks all work upon the roadbed, and de- voted itself to measures for defense and se- curity of property. The danger was not imaginary, for the advance of General Lee's right wing touched Wrightville, whilst that of his left reached Cyster's point in the Cum- berland valley, three miles from Harris- burg. A delay of twenty-four hours by General Meade in his march would have placed the road at Columbia and Harrisburg in the hands of General Lee. William Hasell Wilson, at the time chief engineer of the Pennsylvania railroad company, through his professional abilities and knowledge of

. 128

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

the topography of the country, and Enock Lewis, superintendent at Altoona, by keep- ing the road in operation under the most adverse circumstances, rendered the gov- ernment invaluable services. Samuel D. Young, who during the war, was superin- tendent of the middle division at Harris- burg, carried through successfully the intri- cate interchanges and transfers of troops and war munitions and looked after all the terminal arrangements for the mobilization at that point. His sleepless vigilance and untiring energy devoted to the cause of the union shortened his life. He looked upon the cause as his own, and no general in the field rendered the government more val- uable services.

So, too, Robert Pitcairn, through his mas- terful movement of trains bearing troops and munitions of war which made possible important combinations and concentrations that entered into the success of the cam- paigns. Similar work on the Northern Cen- tral by Joseph N. DuBarry and Samuel S. Blair and on the Cumberland Valley by Col. O. N. Lull, emphasized the important part the railroad officials were taking in the conduct of the war.

William Hasell Wilson, in his interesting, instructive and valuable little work entitled "Reminiscences of a Railroad Engineer," has this to say on page 46 :

"When the invasion of Pennsylvania be- gan to assume definite shape, it was con- sidered very important that the railroad au- thorities should be kept informed promptly in regard to hostile movements. The in- formation communicated from Harrisburg, the headquarters of the state and military departments, being often dilatory and un- certain, Mr. Enock Lewis, general superin- tendent of the Pennsylvania railroad, or- ganized a company of scouts under the im- mediate direction of Mr. Alexander Lloyd of Hollidaysburg, for service along the southern border of the state. This com- pany consisted of about a dozen picked men, selected with care in regard to their loyalty,

integrity, activity and knowledge of the country. There was a line of telegraph along the turnpike between Chambersburg and Bedford, very near the state border, but the stations were few and far between and the operators unreliable. Two or three opera- tors, selected from the regular railroad force, were stationed at convenient point. along the above-mentioned telegraph lille. with which connections were made, under orders to communicate frequently with the general superintendent at Altoona. The scouts were directed to report at least once in the course of each day, and more fre- quently when they had important informa- tion. The telegraph line being about seventy miles south of the railroad, notice of any hostile movement could be received in time for precautions to be taken. The Altoona office was enabled by this arrange- ment to keep the Harrisburg authorities ad- vised of anything going on along the south- ern border. Confederate foraging parties were frequently in the vicinity of McCon- nellsburg, where one. of the operators was stationed. On more than one occasion he reported that 'the rebels are entering the town;' he would then pick up his instrument and hide himself; in the course of an hour he would report 'they are gone.'"

The foregoing is a good illustration of the responsibilities laid upon railroad officials during the war, but needs some qualification and correction. The headquarters of tlie Pennsylvania railroad company for defen- sive purposes were really in Governor Cur- tin's office at Harrisburg, with Colonel Thomas A. Scott in charge, and if "dilatory and uncertain" information was sent from Harrisburg to Altoona it was because Col- onel Scott for diplomatic reasons willed it so. The Lloyd scouting party did good service, but it must not be inferred that it was the only party on the southern border, or that it did more efficient service than oth- ers what were in the midst of large bodies of the enemy. The organization of that party was part of a general plan originating in

129

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

Governor Curtin's office to cover the south- ern border with scouts. William Bender Wilson and Colonel Alex. K. McClure were also in command of scouting parties that rendered great service along the border.

The Pennsylvania railroad company was not only active in its practical assistance to the government, but it gave indirect assistance by its many and frequent charities through the Christian and Sanitary commissions, hospitals, soup-houses and other similar mediums, amounting in the aggregate to over $270,000. Its largest single donation was $50,000 given to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and used in founding the soldiers' orphan schools.

The telegraph department of the company was also called upon to do its full share in the crisis. Prior to 1855 the company used the wires of the Atlantic and Ohio telegraph com- pany, but on the first of January of that year it had constructed and put in operation the first division of its independent line between Pittsburg and Altoona. The second division, between Altoona and Harrisburg, was com- pleted by January I, and the last, from Harris- burg to Philadelphia, April 1, 1856. It con- sisted of a line of poles with double crossarms, and iron-bound paraffine-covered glass insula- tor and a single No. 9 galvanized wire. Its total coat was $45,198.03, or about $128 per mile.

From its school of the telegraph the com- pany has drawn some of its most thorough and efficient officials ; and out from that school, at the outbreak of the rebellion, went the first military telegraph operators at the call of the government. On April 17, 1861, William Bender Wilson went with Thomas A. Scott to Governor Curtin's office at Harrisburg, and there, with a relay magnet and key placed on a window sill, opened the first military tele- graph office on this continent. In the same office, on the 23d of April, 1861, on the call of Mr. Scott, there reported for orders David Strouse from Mifflin; D. Homer Bates, from Altoona; Richard O'Brien, chief operator, from Harrisburg, and Samuel M. Brown, from Pittsburg, four of the best operators on the

line. They received their instructions and started via Philadelphia, Perryville and An- napolis for Washington, which they reached on the 25th, and became the first telegraph opera- tors to be regularly employed in the United States government telegraph organization. These four were immediately followed by Jesse W. Crouse, William E. Tinney and A. C. Snyder. Numbers of others from off the line followed from time to time and aided in forming a military telegraph corps such as had never before followed the fortunes of war. The corps rendered honorable, efficient and important services. Its members did not plan campaigns, nor fight battles, but amidst the roar of conflict they were found advising the commanding general of the battle's progress. They were the very nerves of the army, and so considered by all in authority. Their position in the army was a peculiar one; they were not subject to the orders of the active officers, but came under the immediate direction of President Lincoln, as commander in chief, through the secretary of war. They were, in effect, field couriers, with enlarged responsi- bilities. The secrets of the nation were en- trusted to them, and the countersign of the army was often in their possession a week or more in advance of its promulgation. All the movements of the army, all the confidence of the commanders were intrusted to them, and yet not one was ever known to betray that knowledge and confidence in the most remote degree.

They came under the rules of war, and whilst independent of the commanding officers in the field, could not leave their posts with- out running a great risk of being shot.

In the advance when the army was advanc- ing, in the midst of battle, and bringing up the enemy's retreat, the corps left upon the battlefields, in the hospitals and war prisons, hundreds of its members who were never re- stored to family, home or friends.

Beginning at Yorktown, where poor Lath- rop was killed by one of Magruder's buried torpedoes, from east to west and north to south, as our armies marched and fought, until

130

HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY

the nation's cause was won at Appomattox, almost every field, almost every march, num- bered one of the telegraph boys among the fallen. A hundred nameless graves through- out the battlefields of the Union attest their devotion unto death to the sublime cause in which they were engaged.

Every nation now has a military telegraph corps as an integral part of its army, and yet before the civil war in the United States such an arm of the service was practically unknown. It was reserved for mere boys-American boys-Pennsylvania railroad boys-to inaugu- rate that arm of the service and demonstrate its value in actual warfare.

MARTINSBURG BRANCH.

The Martinsburg branch railroad, formerly known as the Hollidaysburg and Morrison's Cove branch, was built by the Pennsylvania railroad company in 1871-72, being opened for traffic on May 6, 1872. It extends from Al- toona to Henrietta, a distance of twenty-eight miles. It connects with the main line at Al- toona and passes through Eldorado, Hollidays- burg, McKee, Roaring Spring and Martins- burg, tapping a thickly settled manufacturing and agricultural country.

The following article describing the open- ing of this road appeared in an unidentified newspaper, published in Hollidaysburg (pre- sumably the Standard), early in May, 1872:

Railroad excursion .- Opening of the M. C. R. R. from McKee's Gap to Martinsburg. The completion of the Morrison's Cove rail- road from the Gap to Martinsburg was cele- brated by an excursion on the part of the citizens of Martinsburg, together with some few others from this place and Altoona, who were invited to participate. The remaining portion of the Morrison's Cove railroad be- tween the Gap and Martinsburg was put under contract last spring and was completed on the Ist inst. Thomas and Philip Collins, the well known railroad contractors, with their clever assistant, Colonel John A. Lemon, have laid

down a first class road and have given both the people and the railroad company a road that must always prove satisfactory. The engineer of this part of the road was James McCrea, of Philadelphia, and more recently of the Bennett's branch road. This gentleman has proven himself a masterly officer, and besides is as courteous and kind hearted a gentleman as it has been our pleasure to meet in many a day.

Monday morning, 6th inst., broke bright and beautiful, and at 8 o'clock a. m. a train of ten cars left Martinsburg, well filled with excur- sionists, and arrived at Hollidaysburg at 9 a. m. After remaining here a while the train pro- ceeded to Altoona and returned at II o'clock. At this place the party was joined by a number of our citizens who had been invited to par- ticipate. A splendid car, magnificently fur- nished, was supplied for their use and also the Altoona guests. At half past II the train rolled out of the depot at this place and pro- ceeded to the Gap. This new portion of the road commences at this point. The grade from here to what is called the Summit, on Erb's farm, is very heavy, averaging eighty- five feet to the mile. The road takes the eastern side of the mountain and rapidly ascends until it reaches Upper Maria Forge. As the slope is very declivitous, great difficulty must have been experienced in getting a good bed. But there it is, and solid as the eternal hill it skirts. At Upper Maria the road by a bold span, by a trestle bridge, forty-seven feet high, across the turnpike and the hollow, leaves the rocky ridge and takes the limestone bluff on the south side of the turnpike. This it pur- sues, with still ascending grade, till it reaches the paper mill, where leaving the Martinsburg turnpike and passing between the paper mill and the grist mill, it meets the Woodbury turn- pike, and leaving it to the west it makes up into that magnificent plateau of limestone land called Morrison's Cove. Farm after farm of the richest soil is passed and away in the dis- tant plain are seen the spires of Martinsburg glistening in the morning sun. The summit is gained, and then down, by easy grade, and

131

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

Martinsburg, "this loveliest village of. the plain," is reached in a few minutes.

A large multitude of people were assembled at the station to meet the excursionists, and headed by the Social band, of this place, the crowd formed into procession and marched up to the public square.

Here the large assembly was called to order by S. B. Lysinger, Esq., who introduced Pro- fessor Lucian Cort, of the Martinsburg seminary, who, as one of the railroad com- mittee, gave an informal report of the opera- tions of the committee and announced the com- pletion of the great enterprise upon which the people had embarked. He was followed by S. B. Lysinger, Esq., and A. S. Landis, Esq., and Hon. S. Calvin, of Hollidaysburg, who were respectively called upon. These gentle- men congratulated the people of the Cove upon the arrival of the iron horse in their midst, and with complimentary tributes to the energy of the committee and the enterprise of the people, predicted a bright future for Martins- burg and Morrison's Cove.

At twenty minutes before 4 o'clock p. m. the train returned to Hollidaysburg and thence to Altoona. All were delighted with the excur- sion. The citizens of Martinsburg received their friends with great kindness and hos- pitality, and the thanks of one and all are due to Major Theopholis Snyder, Colonel J. C. Everhart, Jacob S. Nicodemus, A. J. Ander- son, Dr. Bloom, H. S. Crawford, Fred Hyle, and Professor Cort, members of the commit- tee, for their untiring efforts from the begin- ning to the conclusion of the whole railroad project and also to John A. McFadden, Esq. Zuck, L. A. Oellig and others for their cour- tesies and kind attentions extended to the guests and strangers present on this occasion.

The railroad from this place to Martins- burg is about fourteen miles long and for picturesque and diversified scenery will be con- sidered unsurpassed by any of the same length owned by the Pennsylvania railroad company. The departure from this place into the Loop is pleasing and attractive; the crossing of the

river to the mountain affords, in an instant, an entire change of scenery. The route along Short mountain, with the reservoir stretching out like a beautiful lake on the right, fringed on the north side with the shadows of Mc- Closkey's ridge, is beautiful in the extreme. This view is now greatly impaired by the low stage of water. The road then enters the Gap between Dunning's and Short mountains. This is a very narrow defile-wide enough for the old pike, the Roaring Spring Run, the rail- road and Martha Furnace. This furnace is located just at the point of Dunning's moun- tain. It belongs to the Hollidaysburg Iron company, but is now being run by our worthy fellow citizen, B. M. Johnston, Esq., under the management of our whilom genial townsman, Major J. R. Crawford. It is an adjunct of Mr. Johnston's rolling mills at this place. The road then passes Lower Maria Forge, owned by Essington Hammond, Esq., proprietor of Sarah Furnace and Franklin Forge; then past Rodman Furnace, owned by the Duncan heirs, but lately leased by Charles Knapp, Esq., of Pittsburg; then past Middle and Upper Maria Forges, also owned by the Duncans; then by the paper and grist mills of Morrison, Bare and company, and then over and through as beautiful a belt of farms as can be found any- where in Pennsylvania, to Martinsburg-the present terminus. It is being rapidly pushed six miles further on, and will be completed by the last of December to the Cambria Iron company's ore mines, known as Henrietto, but commonly called "Leather Cracker." We pro- test against this rietta, but commonly called "Leather Cracker" may be sonorous, but it is neither sweet nor beautiful. We hope the Cambria iron syndicate will abolish it.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Twentieth century history of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens, Part 18

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872- Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Number of Pages: 1036

Author: Sell, Jesse C 1872-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Richmond-Arnold Publishing
Number of Pages: 1036