Local History: Chapter VIII - INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. Bell's History of Northumberland Co PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Tony Rebuck Tar2@psu.edu USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. Transcribed from Bell's History of Northumberland County Pennsylvania CHAPTER VIII. Pages 297 - 328. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. RELATION OF HIGHWAYS OF TRAVEL TO CIVILIZATION - PUBLIC ROADS - THE TULPEHOCKEN ROAD - THE OLD READING ROAD - EARLY COUNTY ROADS - TURNPIKES - RIVER NAVIGATION - CANALS - RAILROADS - PENNSYLVANIA - DANVILLE AND POTTSVILLE - PHILADELPHIA AND ERIE - NORTHERN CENTRAL - SUNBURY, HAZELTON AND WILKESBARRE - SUNBURY AND LEWISTOWN - LEWISBURG AND TYRONE - PHILADELPHIA AND READING - MINE HILL AND SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - MAHANOY AND SHAMOKIN - ENTERPRISE - SHAMOKIN AND TREVORTON - TREVORTON, MAHANOY AND SUSQUEHANNA - CATAWISSA - SHAMOKIN, SUNBURY AND LEWISBURG - DELAWARE, LACKAWANNA AND WESTERN - LEHIGH VALLEY - WILKESBARRE AND WESTERN. THE relation that highways of travel sustain to material and intellectual progress has been frequently discussed in learned dissertations upon the philosophy of civilization. It has been shown that maritime nations were the first to advance in the arts; that every great river is a highway by which civilizing influences penetrate to the interior of continents, and that national insulation, as illustrated in the case of certain Oriental peoples, results in a condition of utter stagnation. The various agencies by which intercommunication is usually facilitated in an inland community - public roads, navigable rivers, canals, and railroads - the result as well as the cause of internal development and progress, are properly comprehended under the generalization which appears at the head of this chapter. PUBLIC ROADS. Two well defined routes of travel lead from the frontier settlements to the Indian town at the forks of Susquehanna. That pursued by the Indian traders and early explorers followed the course of the river; the other, which may with some degree of propriety be called the overland route, began at the settlements on the Tulpehocken, crossed the various mountains and streams in a northwesterly direction, and probably intersected the river some distance below Shamokin. Internal improvements in Northumberland county first received attention during the construction of Fort Augusta. The following entry appears in Major Burd's diary of January 15, 1757: "This day I went with Captain Shippen and a party and laid out a straight road round Shamokin Hill for the benefit of transporting our provisions hither, finding it impracticable to pass over the mountain." On the 17th he went himself with a party and began END OF PAGE 297 to open the road. On the 20th instant he wrote: "This day I sent Captain Shippen and the adjutant with a small party to extend the road from the first rise over the gut to the forks of the road on the top of the mountain, with orders to blaze it............Captain Shippen returns and reports he had found a very good road with an easy ascent over the mountain that could be traveled at all times, and had blazed it well. This day the party clearing the road to the first rise and making the bridge over the gut reports the same finished." This was the first road regularly laid out in the county.* While a regularly opened highway would doubtless have greatly facilitated military operations, the first effort to open a road through the present territory of the county resulted principally from commercial considerations. At a meeting of the provincial Council on the 30th of January, 1768,† a petition was presented from "a very considerable number of the inhabitants of Berks county," setting forth that if a road were opened from Reading to Fort Augusta "it would greatly tend to advance the trade and commerce with the Indians who are settled at the heads of the Susquehanna river, and to preserve the friendship and peace with them, and would also save great charge and expense in transporting skins and firs from thence, as the distance from that fort to Philadelphia by way of Reading is much shorter than any other." Upon taking the matter into consideration the board coincided with the petitioners regarding the public utility of the road, but, as part of the country through which it would pass to Fort Augusta had not yet been relinquished by the Indians, it was not deemed advisable to open it beyond the line of the purchase of 1749. An order was forthwith issued directing Jonas Seely, John Patton, Henry Christ, James Scull, Frederick Weiser, Benjamin Spycker, Mark Bird, Christian Laur, and Thomas Jones, Jr. to lay out a road by the most direct course from Reading toward Fort Augusta as far as the line of the purchase of 1749 or to some point on the Susquehanna river between the mouth of Mahanoy creek and Mahanoy mountain. The road was accordingly laid out and a return thereof made to Council.‡ Beginning at Reading it extended in a general northwesterly course fourteen miles ninety-one perches, to the Tulpehocken; thence eight miles ninety-four perches, to the Swatara; thence twenty-eight miles two hundred forty perches, to the Spread Eagle in the forks of Mahantango; thence four miles two hundred fifty-seven perches, to Schwaben creek; thence five miles one hundred sixty-four perches, "to a white-oak on the bank of Susquehanna river and south side of the Mahanoy mountain" - a total length of sixty-one miles two hundred six perches. As thus returned the road was confirmed by Council on the 19th of January, 1769, and an order forthwith issued that _____________________________________________________________________ *Pennsylvania Archives Second Series), Vol. II. pp. 754-755. †Colonial Records, Vol. IX. p.440. ‡Colonial Records, Vol. Ix. pp. 556-561. END OF PAGE 298 it should be opened and cleared, "and rendered commodious for public service." Its course had evidently been a traveled route before, as mention is made of "the lower end of the dug road," "the old feeding place," "the old path to Lykens' valley," "a noted spring by the old path," etc. This was the old Tulpehocken road, the first public highway legally opened in Northumberland county. On the 16th of January, 1770, a petition* was prepared, setting forth the advantages to be derived from the opening of a road "from Fort Augusta to Ellis Hughes's saw mill, on the navigable part of Schuylkill about thirty miles above Reading." It was considered by Council on the 9th of February, when George Webb, Jonathan Lodge, Henry Miller, Henry Shoemaker, John Webb, Isaac Willits, and Job Hughes were appointed to lay out the road, in which service all of them participated except Henry Miller. The report was returned to Council under date of April 14, 1770; it received the consideration of that body on the 23d of the same month, when an order was issued confirming the road as laid out and directing that it should be "opened and rendered commodious for public service." It was declared to be a "King's highway." From a point on the Schuylkill three fourths of a mile below Hughes's saw mill to "the bark of the river Susquehanna by the northwest corner of Fort Augusta" the length was "thirty-nine miles and one quarter and nineteen perches." The general course coincided with that of the Centre turnpike, crossing Broad mountain, Mahanoy creek and mountain, and Shamokin creek This highway has been popularly known in Northumberland county as the old Reading road,† and, with the Tulpehocken road, constituted the facilities of overland communication in this part of the State at the organization of the county. Public roads became a subject of judicial consideration in May, 1772, at the first court of quarter sessions after the formation of the county, when "sundry the inhabitants of the West Branch of Susquehanna and parts adjacent" petitioned for the opening of a public road from Fort Augusta up the east side of the West Branch to Lycoming. Richard Malone, Marcus Hulings, Jr., John Robb, Alexander Stephens, Daniel Layton, and Amariah Sutton, to whom the petition was referred, submitted their report at August sessions, 1772; it was forthwith confirmed and an order of court issued declaring the road "a public highway of the breadth of thirty-three feet, to be cleared, maintained, and remain free and open for the public or persons using the same agreeably to the laws of this Province forever." As thus laid out it crossed the North Branch half a mile above Fort Augusta "to a marked hickory near the bank in the main point," thence passing the houses of John Alexander, William Plunket (above Chillisquaque), John Dougherty, and Marcus Hulings between the North Branch and the gap in Muncy Hill. ____________________________________________________________________ *Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. IV. pp. 362-363. †Colonial Records, Vol. IX. pp. 651-666. END OF PAGE 299 Although this road was thus nominally established, it does not appear that the order of court requiring it to be opened was fully complied with as subsequent proceedings abundantly testify. "The petition of sundry inhabitants of the North Branch of Susquehanna and of the waters of Mahoning creek in Turbut township" was also considered at May sessions, 1772. They asked the "worshipful justices" to take measures for the opening of a road from Fort Augusta to the narrows of Mahoning, urging as reasons for immediate action that "the earlier such a road is laid out and opened, the fewer inconveniences will arise to the inhabitants, as they will then know better how to regulate their fences and carry on their improvements." Thomas Hewitt, Robert McCulley, John Black, Hugh McWilliams, Robert McBride, and John Clark, Jr., were appointed as viewers; their report was returned and confirmed at May sessions, 1773. The road thus laid out crossed the North Branch a half-mile above Fort Augusta, coincided with Water street in Northumberland, crossed McCulley's run, Miller's run at the forks, and continued, at no great distance from the river, to Mahoning creek. It was the first public road in the valley of the North Branch. The first road down the Susquehanna was confirmed in May, 1773. The petition was presented at August sessions, 1772, and referred to William Patterson, Samuel Hunter, Sr., George Wolf, Peter Hosterman, Casper Reed, and Sebastian Kerstetter. They laid out a road "beginning at the end of Market street in the town of Sunbury, thence down the Broadway and along the bank of the river south twenty-five degrees west ninety- four perches and nine feet, thence across the river," following the bank on the western side "to a stone in the middle of Mahantango creek," where the road to Carlisle was intersected. A road from Mahantango to Sunbury on the east side of the Susquehanna was petitioned for at August sessions, 1774. John Clark, Peter Almaug, Leonard Kerstetter, Jonas Yocum, Michael Shaver, and John Shaver were appointed viewers. Their report was confirmed at the corresponding term of court in the following year; it provided for a bridle road twenty-one feet wide, "beginning at John Heckert's on Mahantango creek," thence passing in order Peter Yocum, Casper Snively, Fiddler's run, Anthony Fiddler, Peter Weiser, Samuel Weiser, Mahanoy creek, Hugh McKinley, William Biles at Biles's creek, Auchmuty's, Adam Christ, Christian Ferst, Hollowing run, and Shamokin creek, "to William Baker's house on the road already laid out and confirmed from Sunbury to Reading." This was the first road leading from Sunbury to the southern part of the county. It was twenty miles one hundred thirty-nine perches in length, and did not deviate from the bank of the river to any extent in any part of its course. At February sessions, 1774, a petition was presented for a road "from the town of Sunbury, betwixt the East Branch of Susquehanna and END OF PAGE 300 Shamokin creek, to where it may fall on said branch a little above the mouth of Mahoning creek, where a ferry will be erected." It was represented that such a road would be of great advantage, not only to the inhabitants of Augusta township, but also to those of Wyoming and Fishing creek; and that "from the heads of Chillisquaque and Mahoning a level road can be had through Montour's hill down Mahoning creek the best and nearest way to the proposed ferry, and about two miles nearer from the said ferry to the town of Sunbury than any other way can be found." As viewers David McKinney, William Clark, David Fowler, Robert McBride, Samuel Crooks, and John Teitsworth were appointed. At November sessions, 1774, they reported having laid out a road "beginning at a black oak on the bank of the East Branch of Susquehanna opposite to John Simpson's," thence by various courses to "the Sunbury road at the bridge east of the said town." It was forthwith confirmed, and was the first road opened south of the North Branch from Sunbury to the site of Danville. The course was evidently quite direct, as the distance between the termini was reported as ten miles one hundred fifty-one perches. An unsuccessful effort was made to have this road extended to Catawissa in 1778, but this was not accomplished until 1784. How tardy was the development of the country at this period is shown by the fact that at the latter date, ten years after this road from Sunbury to Danville had been laid out, it was opened but five miles from Sunbury. The first proceedings for the opening of a road from Sunbury up Shamokin creek were instituted at February sessions, 1775. Geiger's mill was the only one in the valley at that date; and the petitioners state that "to come to the only mill in their neighborhood, as well as to the town of Sunbury" they were obliged to pass through "low or level lands" upon which "a number of people" were "daily making improvements and fencing in the level lands." They therefore prayed the court to have a road laid out "from William Winter's land the most convenient way to Geiger's mill and from thence to the town of Sunbury." Aaron Wilkerson, Robert Fitzrandolph, William Baker, Thomas Runyon, Valentine Geiger, and Anthony Hinkle were appointed as viewers; at May sessions they reported having laid out a road "beginning at a white-oak marked N. B. on William Winter's land," thence by Geiger's mill to Sunbury, which was ordered to be opened the breadth of fifty feet. As the usual breadth was thirty- three feet, this was evidently regarded as an important highway. As previously stated, a road from Sunbury to Lycoming was ordered laid out at the second court of general quarter sessions after the organization of the county. A considerable period lapsed before the order of court was carried into execution, however. Under date of May 29, 1776, Samuel Wallis, an early settler at Muncy and one of the most prominent and influential citizens of the West Branch valley, informed the court that "the inhabitants END OF PAGE 301 of this county in general have for a long time past labored under great inconveniences by having the common way frequently stopped up at the will and pleasure of those who are settled along it;" and at February sessions, 1778, a petition was read, stating that "by accidents and other delays no road has yet been opened, to the manifest and great inconvenience of the inhabitants." Joseph Wallis, George Silverthorn, Andrew Russell, James Harrison, John Scott, and James McMahan were appointed as viewers, but there is no record of their proceedings. The "Great Runaway" and the harassing experiences of the following years obviated any necessity for public highways in the West Branch valley for some time afterward. At August sessions, 1785, a petition numerously signed was submitted to the court, praying that a road might be laid out from Samuel Wallis's by Henry Shoemaker's mills to Northumberland; it was referred to James McMahan, James Carscaddon, William McWilliams, Jacob Follmer, Jacob Hill, and John Robb, who reported at February sessions, 1786, that "notwithstanding the many advantages the said road would be to the inhabitants in the forks, yet the same was retarded at the first by the order not being issued until the November court following, since which time the inclemency of the weather and other incumbrances disabled us to fully comply with the said order." There was evidently some lack of harmony (perhaps this was one of the "incumbrances"), and Henry Billeigh and John Alexander were substituted for John Robb and James McMahan, respectively. But this did not entirely obviate disagreements; their order was continued and they proceeded thereon "unanimously from the place of beginning to Mr. James Harrison's, but disputes there arising which was the nearest and best way to proceed, and much time being spent in determining the same without coming to any conclusion, the viewers declined proceeding to finish the business." A new board, composed of William Fisher, Daniel Montgomery, Richard Martin, Robert Reynolds, William Reed, and James McClung, was thereupon appointed. Under date of August 19, 1786, they presented a report, showing the courses and distances from Wolf's run near Wallis's to Northumberland, a distance of twenty-two and three fourths mile. That part between Wolf's run and James Harrison's and from Chillisquaque meeting house to Northumberland was forthwith confirmed; for the remainder a review was ordered, but not acted upon, and the whole was confirmed at November sessions, 1788. In course of time the northern end of this highway acquired the name of "Harrison's road," and its southern end that of "Strawbridge's road,"* _______________________________________________________________________ *John Smith, John Allen, John Fruit, Samuel Russell, and Thomas Pollock, appointed by the court to lay out a road from the county line to Chillisquaque through Harrison's gap (actually a review of "Harrison's road"), made report at August sessions, 1812, "That the old road from the county line to the house of James Logan will answer, and thence running from the house of said Logan south forty-nine degrees east forty perches to a small branch of Chillisquaque creek through lands of said Logan; thence south twenty-nine degrees east twenty perches through lands of said Logan and to the line of the widow Watts' land; thence south three degrees east fifty-two perches through lands of the said Widow Watts to her house, thence due south one hundred perches to the line of Widow Harrison's land through the lands of Widow Watts; from thence the old road to Chillisquaque creek." The court approved the report, and on the 15th of January, 1811, issued an order to open the road. This road throughout a large part of its course became the eastern boundary of the county by the set of January 22, 1816, the particulars of which are given in the charter on Organization and Administration in this work. END OF PAGE 302 A propensity to obstruct the highways was not confined to the West Branch, as is evident from a petition from Mahanoy township considered at March sessions, 1779. In the informal manner with which the necessities of public conveniences were provided, a road had been opened from Stonebraker's mill to the Gap church, which, the petition recites, "John Chob hath fenced up ....... so that the neighbors can not go to the mills or to the church, which is no advantage to him but a great disadvantage to many of the neighbors." Martin Kerstetter, Dietrick Rough, Michael Lenker, John Wolf, Martin Thomas, and Michael Shaffer were appointed to lay out a road for public use, "upon condition that the petitioners open, fence, clear, survey, and support said road at their own expense." Under date of April 6, 1779, they reported having laid out a road from the month of Mahantango to Stonebraker's mill, which was confirmed, June 21, 1779. This was the first road in the valley of that creek on the Northumberland county side. As opened in 1769, the Tulpehocken road extended to the Susquehanna at Samuel Weiser's near the mouth of Mahanoy creek. No effort appears to have been made to continue it to Sunbury until 1782; in a petition presented to the court at February sessions in that year the following interesting paragraph occurs:- We are informed by good authority that Robert Martin, of Northumberland-Town, and Ennion Williams, of the city of Philadelphia, have lately set on foot subscriptions in said city and other places in order to raise a sum of money to be applied toward opening said road; which subscriptions have met the approbation of a great number of gentlemen, who have generously subscribed thereto to the amount of two hundred pounds. Among those who indorsed this petition were Matthew Smith, prothonotary of the county; Stephen Chambers and John Vannost, attorneys; Samuel Hunter, William Cooke, Daniel Montgomery, Robert Martin, Joseph Lorentz, William Gray, George Wolf, and Abraham Dewitt. They suggested a highway to intersect the Tulpehocken road four or five miles above its terminus on the Susquehanna and continue thence to Mahantango creek. As viewers were appointed John Eckert, Peter Ferst, Henry Crips, George Wolf, Peter Hall, Jacob Conrad, and Matthew Smith, with Jonathan Lodge as surveyor. Their report, dated March 14, 1782, was confirmed at May sessions following, so far as the road from Sunbury to the Tulpehocken road was concerned; against that part between the Tulpehocken road and Mahantango creek the inhabitants of Mahanoy township remonstrated, and it was not confirmed until May sessions, 1785. The road thus opened became the principal route of travel between Sunbury and the southern part of the county, Lancaster, and END OF PAGE 303 Harrisburg. The name of the old Tulpehocken road was gradually transferred to it and at the present day it almost monopolizes that designation. The road originally laid out from Sunbury to the mouth of Mahantango was merely a bridle road, and little more than a legalized path. At February sessions, 1782, the court was petitioned to open a public highway of the regular width, and viewers were accordingly appointed. Nothing whatever was done under this order, and at February term, 1785, John White, Casper Snider, Adam Miller, Sebastian Brosius, Samuel Moodie, and Samuel Weiser were substituted for the persons originally selected, and Samuel Auchmuty seems to have officiated in place of Moodie. Their report was confirmed at May sessions, 1785, and the road ordered opened thirty-three feet wide. At a later date this road was widened at various places at considerable expense, and was a much traveled route until the construction of the railroad. The road opened in 1786-88 from Northumberland to Wolf's run was too far distant from the river to confer much substantial benefit upon the inhabitants in the immediate vicinity of the West Branch. This was early anticipated, and at February sessions, 1786, three petitions were presented for a road from Sunbury to Lycoming, in which the citizens of Turbut, Mahoning, and Muncy appear to have given a general concurrence. A view was ordered, but no proceeding under it are known to have occurred. A year later the case was reopened; John Boyd, Abraham Scott, Thomas Palmer, Samuel Harris, Henry Shoemaker, and William Hepburn, viewers appointed, made return at May term, 1787, which was confirmed and the road ordered to be "maintained, deemed, and taken thenceforth for an open highway of the breadth of fifty feet forever." As thus described the road began "at a post on the westerly side of the East Branch of Susquehanna river in the middle of Market street in the town of Northumberland " continuing at no great distance from the channel of the West Branch to "a post in the end of Amariah Sutton's lane and on the easterly bank of Lycoming creek." A road crossing diagonally from Muncy creek to the mouth of Mahoning creek and thence in a southeasterly direction to the Reading and Sunbury road was projected at an early period in the history of the county, and probably originated with the Montgomerys, the enterprising founders of Danville. That part from the West Branch of Susquehanna to the North Branch was confirmed at August term, 1785. At February sessions, 1786, the court was petitioned to continue it to the Reading road, but the persons appointed to that service "through hurry of business" neglected to attend to it, and the petition was again presented at May term. John Irwin, William McLees, John Teitsworth, Michael Weaver, Alexander Ewing, and Richard Robinson were appointed as viewers; they reported at August term following the courses and distances from the Reading road to the top of Shamokin Hill near Robert Randolph's plantation, a distance of five miles, which was con- END OF PAGE 304 firmed; regarding the remaining distance they were not fully agreed, and evidently failed to agree, for at the same term of court a different set of viewers was constituted. In August, 1790, another effort was made to have this road opened, from the top of Shamokin Hill to the North Branch, but, owing to irregularities in the proceedings of the viewers, their report was set aside. The object desired was finally attained at November sessions, 1791, when the report of James Finney, John Bogart, Isaac Coldron, Thomas Willits, Nehemiah Hutton, and Jacob Faust, Jr., providing for a road from General Montgomery's house at the site of Danville to "a pine tree in the end of the old road on the top of Shamokin Hill" received confirmation at the hands of the court. This was the most important road opened in the eastern part of the county at an early date. The first public road in the valley of Little Shamokin creek was petitioned for at August term, 1787. The projectors represented "that a number of people who have settled, and others who are wanting to settle, in Little Shamokin creek valley labor under many inconveniences for want of a road to begin at the Reading road at Lewis's run and to extend up said run through Lightfoot's and Starr's land, [in] the said valley, Jacob Miller's land, and to meet the Reading road at John Miller's tavern," and, with commendable public spirit, expressed their willingness to "open and maintain such a road at their own expense, providing the court will empower them to do so." As viewers the court appointed Jacob Conrad, Adam Miller, William Gray, Thomas Reece, John Weitzel, and John Miller, who made report at the following term. A legally authorized highway was first opened through the valley of Greenbrier or Schwaben creek in 1788. It was laid out by Andrew Reitz, John Nicholas Hettrick, John Nicholas Snyder, George Pfeiffer, Michael Roth, and Frederick Kobel, and extended from the Sunbury and Paxtang (Tulpehocken) road ten miles in a general easterly direction. The viewers were appointed at November sessions, 1787, and their report was confirmed at May term, 1788. TURNPIKES In 1799 Jacob D. Breyvogel collected certain sums of money aggregating two hundred sixty-seven dollars, forty-nine cents, for the improvement of the Reading road between John Teitsworth's and Jeremiah Reed's. Thomas Grant was treasurer of the fund, and colonel John Bull superintended its expenditure. The labor bestowed upon the road was entirely inadequate, however, and it presented a favorable opportunity for improvement under corporate auspices. The Centre Turnpike Company was incorporated by act of the legislature, March 25, 1805, the corporators being Joseph Priestley and John Cowden, of Northumberland; Charles Hall, of Sunbury; Dr. James Dougal, END OF PAGE 305 of Milton; Daniel Montgomery, of Danville; Jacob Toppel, of Hamburg; Joseph Heister and James May, of Reading; Samuel Morris, Thomas Leiper, William Tilghman, and James Gibson, of Philadelphia, and William Hepburn, of Lycoming county, who were authorized to construct a road by the nearest and best way from Sunbury to Reading, the road to be opened sixty feet wide and the width of the part artificially constructed to be eighteen feet. Milestones were to be erected, and bridges were authorized wherever the company should deem necessary or expedient. As with the majority of internal improvements in progress at that date, the work of construction did not advance rapidly. A supplement to the act of incorporation was secured on the 17th of March, 1806, by which John Dorsey, Samuel Meeker, Thomas Fitzsimmons, and Peter Robison were added to the corporators, and the company was granted the privilege of constructing a section thirty miles in length beginning at Teitsworth's tavern, thirteen miles east of Sunbury. By the act of March 21, 1808, the Governor was authorized to subscribe for six hundred shares of stock in the company, which amount was increased to nine hundred in 1812. Under this appropriation the road was at length completed; but the company had secured advances from the Bank of Pennsylvania, the adjudication of which involved protracted and expensive litigation, and in 1821 an appropriation of thirty thousand dollars was made by the legislature to be applied by the managers towards paying the judgment obtained at the suit of the bank against the former managers, Daniel De B. Keim, John Adams, and others. The aggregate capitalization was one hundred forty thousand dollars; the road was seventy-six miles in length, extending from Sunbury in a general easterly direction to Bear Gap, on the extreme eastern limit of the county, and thence southeast across the mountains to Reading. It was never a paying property; on the other hand, it proved to be a drain upon the treasury of the State, which ultimately sold its interest at much less than the par value. It was purchased principally by. the Messrs. Taggart and Priestley, of Northumberland, and their families had a controlling interest in the property for many years. That part of the road between Sunbury and Pottsville was very unprofitable to the stockholders; consequently it received but little improvement, and public sentiment at length compelled its abandonment The section between Pottsville and Reading was operated until a few years since; when the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley railroad was constructed it became necessary to use the road bed of the pike as the line of that railroad, and a controlling interest was accordingly purchased by J. C. Bright, of Pottsville, for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The turnpike thus ceased to be a Northumberland county institution in proprietary control, as it had ceased to be in fact some years previously. Originally projected by residents of this county principally, the turnpike was an enterprise in every way creditable to local financiering. Aside from business considerations, its man- END OF PAGE 306 Page 307 contains a portrait of Conrad Graeber Page 308 is blank. agement was distinguished by certain social features well worthy of mention. Semi-annual banquets were regularly held, usually at Pottsville or Reading, but sometimes in Philadelphia or elsewhere. These were attended by the officers and managers, many of the stockholders, and invited guests, among whom were ex-Governors Curtin and Pollock on one occasion, with other prominent public men. These will be remembered when the turnpike itself - the difficulties of its early history, the perplexities of its management, and the circumstances of its final abandonment - have passed out of the traditions of the community. The Danville Turnpike Road Company was incorporated by act of the legislature, January 21, 1813, with the following corporators: Lewis Reese and James May, of Reading; Daniel Montgomery, Jr., and William Montgomery, Jr., of Danville; Jacob Gearhart and John Jones, of Shamokin township; Bethuel Vincent and Seth Iredell, of Milton; John Funston and John Fruit, of Derry; Jacob Shoemaker and George Webb, of Pennsborough; and Joseph Eves and Richard Demott, of Fishing Creek. The course of the road led from Danville to Bear Gap by way of Elysburg. It was intended by this to render the trade of Danville tributary to the Centre turnpike, as well as to deflect a share of the travel over that thoroughfare to Danville, and both objects were subserved to an equal extent. But it does not appear that a great amount of money was ever expended on the improvement of the road, while the tolls, which were the same as those charged on the Centre turnpike, were deemed excessive and exorbitant in proportion to the benefits conferred. This at length resulted in the forfeiture of the charter, which was repealed by act of the legislature, April 8, 1848. The road thus reverted to the townships through which it passes, and has since received only the amount of attention usually bestowed upon public roads. RIVER NAVIGATION - CANALS. The Susquehanna river was declared a public highway by act of Assembly, March 9, 1771, and James Wright, George Ross, Thomas Minshall, John Lowdon, Alexander Lowry, William Maclay, Samuel Hunter, Jr., William Patterson, Robert Callender, Charles Steward, Reuben Haines, Thomas Holt, and William Richardson were appointed commissioners to expend any moneys that might be subscribed or appropriated for the improvement of that river or of the Juniata, Conestoga, Bald Eagle, Mahanoy, Penn's creek, the Swatara, Conodoguinet, and Kiskiminetas. It is not probable that the duties of the commission were onerous, although their labors were doubtless attended with beneficial results. While the varieties of river craft used in the transportation of the products of the upper Susquehanna valley included rafts, arks, flatboats, etc., the Durham boat was most widely and generally known. This craft derived its name from Durham, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, not far below END OF PAGE 309 Easton, where it was first made, and used by the proprietors of the furnace at that place in shipping their product to Philadelphia, Sixty feet in length, eight feet wide, and two feet deep, a Durham boat drew twenty inches of water under fifteen tons burthen, and was therefore peculiarly adapted to the navigation of shallow streams. It floated with the current on the downward voyage; when a swift riffle was reached, a light cable attached to a windlass in the stern or prow was made fast to a tree or rock on shore, thus assisting in steadying the boat and restraining its progress. When manned by four men with "setting" poles, the boat progressed at the rate of two miles an hour against the current; this method of locomotion was called "poling" or "cordelling," and was extremely laborious. It frequently occurred, however, that the boat was sold with its cargo when the destination was reached, in which case the boatmen returned on foot. The introduction of sails occurred in 1805-06, when the first experiments in utilizing the force of the winds in river navigation were made by Captains Jordan and Blair; the innovation was at once received with favor, and generally adopted. A further improvement was the introduction of horse-power in ascending the stream in a calm. The horse was hitched to the boat by a light tow line, and was usually driven near the bank by a boy; when not needed the animal was taken on board. Steamboat navigation on the Susquehanna was first attempted in 1826. Largely through the instrumentality of Peter A. Karthaus; who owned a large body of land on the headwaters of the West Branch, and Tunison Coryell, of Williamsport, two steamboats, the Codorus and Susquehanna, were built, the former under Baltimore and the latter under Philadelphia auspices. The Codorus was commanded by Captain Elger, who experienced great difficulty in ascending the river, but Williamsport and Farrandsville were at length reached, after which the boat returned to Northumberland and ascended the North Branch as far as Wilkesbarre and Binghampton. The Susquehanna was a boat of larger dimensions than the Codorus, and in attempting to pass the Nescopec rapids in the North Branch on the 3d of May, 1826, the boiler exploded, resulting in the complete wreck of the boat and injury or death to many of the passengers and crew. This disaster conclusively demonstrated the impracticability of navigating the river by steam. After the construction of the Shamokin dam at Sunbury a sufficient depth of water was created to permit the use of small steamers between Shamokin Dam, Sunbury, Northumberland, and adjacent points. The construction of canals was at once agitated as the only feasible means of transporting the increasing products of the interior of the State to the seaboard. On the 24th of March, 1828, an act was passed by the legislature by which the board of canal commissioners was "authorized and required, on behalf of this Commonwealth, as speedily as may be, to locate and contract for making canals, locks, and other works necessary thereto," from North- END OF PAGE 310 umberland to Bald Eagle on the West Branch, and from Northumberland to the State line on the North Branch. A survey and exploration by an engineer was directed to be made on the west side of the West Branch, and, after taking into consideration "the relative advantages, facility, cost of construction, and interests of the Commonwealth," the board was to decide which side of the river was the more eligible. Contracts were to be let in that year for the construction of not more than twenty-five nor less than twenty miles on the West Branch, and of not more than forty-five nor less than fifteen on the North Branch. It is needless to state that the eastern side of the West Branch was selected by the commissioners; and, if the injunction of the legislature was fully carried out, nearly the entire length of both canals in this county was placed under construction in 1828. Delays occurred to interfere with the progress of the work, however, and it was not until 1830 that the North and West Branch canals were opened a sufficient distance to secure an appreciable amount of traffic. The construction of the Lewisburg crosscut was authorized by act of May 27, 1830. Two packet boats, the George Denison and Gertrude, were launched by Miller Horton and A. O. Calhoon, respectively, in 1835, for the transportation of passengers between Northumberland and Wilkesbarre. Similar facilities were provided on the West Branch, and also on the division between Northumberland and Harrisburg, and during the season of navigation they were a great public convenience, partially taking the place of the stage coach. During the prosperous days of the canal, Northumberland was an important point upon this system of internal communication. Here the outlet lock of both the North and West Branch divisions was located; several hundred thousand dollars were collected annually from tolls, and the amount of traffic was considerable. But the public works of the State were never remunerative; a heavy indebtedness was incurred in their construction, and when a comparison of receipts with operating expenses revealed an annual deficit to increase the original indebtedness, with the prospect of decreasing revenue as the result of railway competition, popular sentiment and public policy alike demanded such a disposition of the property as would relieve the State from further expense in connection with it. The "main line," between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in 1857; the West Branch division is now the property of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company, but has been abandoned above Muncy dam and is used to a very limited extent between that point and Northumberland; the North Branch division is owned by the Pennsylvania Canal Company, and is principally used in the transportation of coal from the Wyoming basin. RAILROADS. While canals or slackwater navigation entered almost exclusively into the system of internal improvements designed by the State, and the discussion END OF PAGE 311 of projects for the construction of artificial waterways received a large share of public attention, there were also those who regarded railroads as most likely to confer permanent advantages and result in benefits commensurate with their cost. This was attributable in some measure to the natural features of the State. It had not yet been demonstrated that canal construction was feasible except in immediate proximity to a river or other source of water supply, and hence railroads received consideration as a means of communication between the valleys of the Schuylkill and Susquehanna. Legislative provision was made for the incorporation of three companies in 1826, one of which was the Danville and Pottsville Railroad Company. As ultimately constructed, the line of this road is located entirely in Northumberland county, of which it was for some years the only railroad. It is now a part of the Pennsylvania railroad system, a brief history of which may properly precede that of its lines in this county. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was chartered, April 13, 1846; the original line of its road extended from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, a distance of two hundred forty-eight miles, and was opened throughout its entire length on the 15th of February, 1854. The line from Harrisburg to Philadelphia is made up of the old Philadelphia and Columbia railroad, originally a State work, and the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mt. Joy and Lancaster railroad, chartered in 1832, opened in 1838, and leased in 1849. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company has a large if not a controlling interest in the Northern Central railway, and is the lessee of the Philadelphia and Erie, the Sunbury, Hazelton and Wilkesbarre, the Sunbury and Lewistown, and the Lewisburg and Tyrone railroads, all of which are partly situated in Northumberland county. The Danville and Pottsville Railroad Company was authorized by act of the legislature approved on the 8th of April, 1826, by which the following persons were appointed as commissioners for its organization: Daniel Montgomery and George A. Frick, of Danville; Andrew McReynolds, of Columbia county; John C. Boyd, of Northumberland county; Benjamin Potts, Francis B. Nichols, George Taylor, and John C. Offerman, of Schuylkill county; Daniel Graeff and Edward B. Hubley, of Berks county, and George W. Smith and Mark Richards, of Philadelphia. A capital of one hundred thousand dollars was authorized, in shares of fifty dollars each. The route of the proposed road was described as follows: "Beginning at or near the ferry house on the south side of the Susquehanna, opposite the town of Danville, in the township of Rush in Northumberland county, and extending to the Schuylkill canal at Pottsville." Over this line a railroad was to be constructed, with a grade not to exceed an inch to the foot. Causeways were to be erected over the railway wherever it was intersected by a public road or turnpike, and also for the convenience of private owners through whose lands it passed. It was declared END OF PAGE 312 to be a public highway upon completion of any section five miles in length; persons using it were required to provide such vehicles as should be prescribed by the company, and in the transportation of commodities the following rates of toll were established: coal, salt, gypsum, and lime, one and one half cents per ton per mile; lumber, squared or round, two cents per mile per hundred feet solid; boards, plank, scantling, or other sawed stuff reduced to inch stuff, two cents per mile per thousand feet; staves and headings for pipes and hogsheads, two cents per thousand per mile; all other articles not enumerated, four cents per ton per mile; and twenty per cent. additional for single and detached articles weighing less than a ton. The character of these provisions is sufficient evidence that the railroad industry was in its incipiency. The erection of causeways at every intersection with a public road indicates an exaggerated idea of the danger of a railroad crossing to public travel; the articles enumerated, coal and lumber, show from what sources the revenue was expected to be derived; and the railroad was popularly regarded as differing from the turnpike principally in construction and motive power, individuals furnishing their own vehicles for transportation on one as well as the other. It was not until 1831 that the company was authorized "to purchase, with the funds of the said company, and place on the railroad constructed by them under this act, all machines, wagons, vehicles, carriages, and teams, of any kind whatsoever that they may deem necessary or proper for the purposes of transportation," the rates charged to be twice as great as those originally provided for, and the goods to be transported in the order of receipt at the depot. This marks an important advance in the ideas of railroad management at that period. It does not appear that any definite progress was made under the original act of incorporation. A supplement, which received executive sanction on the 14th of April, 1828, authorized an increase of the capital stock to one million dollars and the construction of branches to Catawissa and Sunbury; the number of commissioners was increased, among the additional names being those of Joseph R. Priestley, William A. Lloyd, and John Taggart, of Northumberland, and Hugh Bellas, Ebenezer Greenough, Martin Weaver, and Alexander Jordan, of Sunbury, with others from Catawissa, Philadelphia, and Pottsville. New vitality was infused into the enterprise; it obtained the active support of Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia, and Burd Patterson, of Pottsville, while General Daniel Montgomery, of Danville, had been an active promoter from its first inception. A survey was made, the route was determined upon, and twelve miles of the eastern division had been completed, when the death of Girard deprived the project of its principal financial supporter. In this emergency recourse was had to the State legislature, and on the 8th of April, 1834, an act, pledging the faith of the State to the payment annually of five per cent. interest for twenty-seven years upon the bonds of END OF PAGE 313 the company to any individuals or corporations that should advance the sum of three hundred thousand dollars or any part of it to the Danville and Pottsville Railroad Company, became a law. Bonds were sold at auction in Philadelphia, and the entire amount authorized by the bill was placed without difficulty. In July, 1834, construction was begun on the section between Sunbury and Shamokin, the grading of which for a distance of twenty miles was completed in the summer of 1835. The formal opening to Stambach's tavern (Paxinos), a point thirteen and one half miles from Sunbury, occurred on Thursday, the 26th of November, 1835; the Sunbury Workingmen's Advocate gives the following account of this event:- The two elegant and commodious passenger cars lately built at Pottsville [the "Shamokin" and "Mahanoy"], large enough to convey, inside and outside, about thirty persons each, having been placed on the road upon the bank of the Susquehanna, the ringing of bells at twelve o'clock and the joyful cheers of the traveling party and spectators announced their departure for the engineers' quarters at the eastern end of this completed division. Two of Mr. Weaver's mail-coach horses drew each car, if drawing it can be called, when drawing there was none. The party in the cars were met by other citizens at the eastern end, where a dinner had been prepared in such profusion and excellence as showed that various modes of internal improvement were perfectly understood. The oldest citizen of Sunbury, and oldest member of the bar attending, Daniel Levy, was appointed president of the festivity, Lewis Dewart and Charles G. Donnel, vice-presidents, Peter Lazarus and Daniel Brautigam, secretaries, and Hugh Bellas was requested to deliver an address. Toasts were proposed and drank, to the memory of Girard and Montgomery, "the founders of the railroad," and in honor of its president and managers, Moncure Robinson, chief engineer, William S. Campbell and G. M. Totten, first assistant engineers, and their corps of assistants, Hugh Bellas, the orator of the occasion, Mr. and Mrs. Day, the host and hostess, etc. Many interesting circumstances in the history of the enterprise up to that time are embraced in the following extracts from Mr. Bellas's address:- The origin and honor of the project of connecting the Susquehanna and Schuylkill by railway are due to General Daniel Montgomery. During the summer of 1828, General Montgomery, then a canal commissioner, obtained the services of Moncure Robinson in running various experimental lines and exploring the woods and waters between Danville and Sunbury, and Pottsville, to ascertain whether it were practicable to connect the rivers by railroad. Together they traversed the woods and climbed the hills, and searched the valleys for favorable routes. With great labor and exposure and with greater ardor and resolution, they persevered, until finally satisfied that a superior road to that at first contemplated ought to be constructed; and that a location could be made, saving a rise and fall of three hundred fifty-four feet from the first proposed route in passing the Broad mountain, beside shortening the road and dispensing with three inclined planes. These important facts were stated in Mr. Robinson's report in October, 1831, with an estimate of the cost at six hundred seventy-five thousand dollars. This was predicated upon grading the road from Sunbury to Pottsville for a double track, with a single track and the necessary turnouts laid down, until increasing business should render the second track necessary. This report was adopted and sanctioned by the company; but the great loss sustained in the falling of the two main pillars of the structure, Girard and Montgomery, chilled the ardent hopes of our END OF PAGE 314 friends. It is well known that the sudden illness and death of Mr. Girard prevented his appropriation of three hundred thousand dollars to the completion of this work, besides his original subscription of two hundred thousand dollars. In the summer of 1832 the road formation of the eastern division of the road was commenced, in conformity to the desire of Mr. Girard and to the decision of a general meeting of the stockholders, and more than half was done before the close of the year. In his desire to prosecute the work vigorously, he ordered at once from England the iron to plate the rails for the whole road. More fully to enjoy its advantages, he effected arrangements and compromises with those who held conflicting claims to his large estate in the Mahanoy coal field. This portion of the road, extending from the Mount Carbon road, north of Pottsville, to Girardville, was completed about the close of the year 1883, with all its superstructure, machinery, planes, fixtures, and tunnel of eight hundred feet, at the estimated expense of one hundred ninety thousand dollars, forming a railway from Girardville to Mount Carbon of about twelve miles. The formation of the road has been extended westward from Girardville two miles and a half. In 1834 the formation of this western portion was commenced, and finished early last summer; in August last, contracts were made for laying down the superstructure of thirteen miles and three eighths from the margin of the river at Sunbury to this place; and now, at the end of three months, it is finished and traveled, and refinished. Eastward of this point, running into the coal field some distance, six and a half miles of road are formed and ready for the superstructure. The sills and rails are all on the spot, and will be laid whenever the coal harbor is completed at Sunbury, with its lock to pass the coal boats into the great basin of the Pennsylvania canal. The proceeds arising from the sale of the bonds appear to have been exhausted with the finishing of the road to Paxinos. No facilities had yet been completed at Sunbury for transshipment to the canal, and Mr. Robinson, the engineer, suggested a cessation of active construction until connection should be established with the Susquehanna river and Pennsylvania canal. This was duly granted; and in the general appropriation for internal improvements in 1838, the Danville and Pottsville Railroad Company received fifty thousand dollars, to be expended in making the necessary improvements upon the western section and in extending it to a point twenty and one half miles east of Sunbury. It was the evident purpose of this latter provision to insure the completion of the western section in order that it might prove a feeder to the canal, a State work, and also place the road in a position to yield a revenue for the payment of the interest upon its bonded debt. In August, 1838, the road was opened to Shamokin. This event was duly celebrated by a dinner at Kram's Hotel, at which Burd Patterson, Hugh Bellas, John C. Boyd, and others were present and delivered addresses. On this occasion the locomotive was first introduced; it was the "North Star," built by Eastwick & Harrison, of Philadelphia, transported thence by canal to Sunbury, and engineered by Mr. Eastwick himself. The first passenger train from Shamokin to Sunbury consisted of the "North Star," the "Shamokin" and "Mahanoy" - the cars previously mentioned - and a few other cars. The road was now regularly opened for traffic and travel between Sunbury and Shamokin. A second engine, the "Mountaineer," was added shortly END OF PAGE 315 afterward; Charles Gill and Lewis Garretson were the first engineers of the "North Star" and "Mountaineer," respectively, but retained their positions only about five months, when the former was succeeded by Benjamin Katerman and the latter by George Shipe. Two trips were regularly made each day during the season of navigation on the canal, the trains consisting of forty loaded coal cars containing two and one half tons, while the empty cars constituted the train on the return trip from Sunbury. But the operation of the road was attended with many difficulties and discouragements. The track consisted of wooden cross- ties laid upon the ground at intervals of several feet; on these oak stringers were fastened with wooden wedges, and the stringers, or rails, were covered with bar iron two and one half inches wide and one half of an inch thick. The weight of the engines was disproportionate to the strength of this structure, and as a consequence the train was frequently off the track, and the track was frequently off the rail, causing vexatious and expensive delays and ultimately resulting in the substitution of horse-power for the locomotives. Then the revenue from the road was insufficient to enable the company to meet the interest on its obligations, and after several years of unprofitable operation the property was placed in the hands of Samuel R. Wood as sequestrator. Mr. Wood was the second superintendent; he was preceded by Thomas Sharp'e, with whom were associated Patrick Reilly as master mechanic and Messrs. Robinson, Totten, and Cleaver, civil engineers. Mr. Wood had charge of the property as sequestrator for some years. The rolling stock was sold at sheriff's sale. The road was leased to William and Reuben Fagely in 1842, and during the ten years following they used it for the transportation of coal to Sunbury by horsepower. For this purpose one hundred horses were required; the round trip to Sunbury was made in two days, four or five horses hauling a train of ten cars. During all this time, the annual interest on three hundred thousand dollars at five per cent was regularly paid by appropriations from the State treasury; and, as the company seemed to have abandoned all hope of improving the earning power of their road, strenuous efforts were made in the legislature to secure some disposition of the property that would obviate the payment of the annual interest, or at least reduce it in amount. Overtures were several times made to the holders of the bonds, but without arriving at any basis of adjustment; at length, on the 2d of April, 1850, an act was passed, the preamble of which defined the position of the State in the following language:- WHEREAS, By an act of Assembly passed the 8th day of March, 1834, the faith of the State was pledged for the payment of the interest at the rate of five per cent per annum for twenty-seven years upon a loan of three hundred thousand dollars to the Danville and Pottsville Railroad Company; and the said railroad, with other property of the said company, was mortgaged for the re-payment of the said loan; and the said Company, having constructed a portion of their road extending ten miles from the END OF PAGE 316 eastern terminus, and another portion, twenty miles in length, extending from Sunbury into the Shamokin coal fields, have permitted the former to go to ruin, and have practically abandoned all care of the latter portion; and the said company are insolvent, and there is no reasonable prospect that they will ever complete the said railroad, and relieve the State from the annual drain of fifteen thousand dollars from her treasury; and WHEREAS, The State has already paid the sum of two hundred twenty- five thousand dollars and will be called upon to pay the further sum of one hundred eighty thousand dollars interest to the holders of the said loan daring the next twelve years; and the said railroad is yearly decreasing in value, and will in a year or two become useless for all purposes of transportation; and it is manifest that the holders of the said loan will realize a much greater sum towards the repayment thereof by an immediate sale of the said railroad, and the State will be relieved from the payment of the interest on the sum thus realized by the sale thereof. The auditor general was thereupon instructed to obtain, if possible, the assent of the holders of the loan to a sale of the property under the provisions of the acts of April 21, 1846, and March 16, 1847, the proceeds to be applied to extinguishing the loan, any part thereof remaining unpaid to bear interest until the termination of the period of twenty-seven years originally specified. This consent was accordingly obtained, and, agreeably to the wishes of the legislature, the property of the company, its franchises, appurtenances, etc. were sold at sheriff's sale on the 16th of January, 1851, and purchased on behalf of the holders of the loan for the sum of one hundred thirty thousand and fifty dollars, fifty dollars more than the minimum amount required by the legislature. Deducting the fees of the sheriff, amounting to four hundred dollars, there remained the sum of one hundred seventy thousand three hundred fifty dollars for the interest upon which the State was still liable under the act of 1834. The new purchasers proceeded to reorganize the company, electing Nathaniel Chauncey president, and at a meeting held on the fourth Monday of April, 1851, at the Franklin House, Philadelphia, the name was changed to the Philadelphia and Sunbury Railroad Company. The rehabilitation of the property was an immediate and imperative necessity. In 1853 the track between Sunbury and Shamokin was relaid with iron rails; new locomotives, known, respectively, as the "David Longenecker," "A. R. Fiske," "Green Ridge," "Carbon Run," "Thomas Baumgardner," and "Lancaster," were procured; and on the 25th of August, 1853, the formal reopening occurred. In the following year the road was extended to Mt. Carmel, and under the superintendency of A. R. Fiske the company's prospects improved. But in 1858, the line of the road from Sunbury to its intersection with the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven railroad having been sold under foreclosure, a second reorganization occurred under the name of the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville Railroad Company, which was invested with all the franchises of the former companies by an act of the legislature approved, March 25, 1858. The road was operated by the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company and END OF PAGE 317 independently until the 27th of February, 1863, when it was leased for nine hundred ninety-nine years to the Northern Central Railway Company; it may thus be regarded as a part of the great Pennsylvania system, and, after having experienced many of the vicissitudes incident to railroad construction in the experimental stage, this line has been, since its lease to the Northern Central, a valuable and productive property. The Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company, was chartered as the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company on the 3d of April, 1837, and received its present name by act of Assembly, March 7, 1861. Among the original corporators were Henry Reader, David Watson, Montgomery Sweney, R. H. Hammond, Samuel Hepburn, Henry Frick, James Hepburn, Joseph R. Priestley, Hugh Bellas, Charles G. Donnel, Alexander Jordan, E. Greenough, Edward Gobin, John C. Boyd, Daniel Levy, Henry Yoxtheimer, Henry Masser, William Forsyth, James Dougal, and Frederick Lazarus, of Northumberland county. The period allotted for its completion was extended from time to time, and finally, on the 12th of February, 1846, the company was allowed until the 1st of June, 1851, to begin construction. The road was opened between Williamsport and Milton, December 18, 1854, and between Milton and Northumberland, September 24, 1855. It was at first operated by the Catawissa Railroad Company, which ran its rolling stock over the line for some time, paying to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company a percentage of the net receipts as rental for the use of the roadway. The railway bridges over the North Branch at Northumberland were completed in December, 1855, and on the 7th of January, 1856, the road was opened to Sunbury, its eastern terminus. The length of the line, extending from this point to Erie, is two hundred eighty-seven and fifty-six hundredths miles, and it was opened the entire distance, October 17, 1864, having been previously leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for nine hundred ninety-nine years from the 1st of January, 1862. The line in Northumberland county begins at the northeast corner of Market square and Third street in Sunbury, crosses the North Branch to Northumberland, and continues on the east bank of the West Branch through the townships of Point, Chillisquaque, Turbut, and Delaware, with stations at Sunbury, Northumberland, Kapp's, Montandon, Milton, Watsontown, and Dewart. The Northern Central Railway Company was formed on the 9th of December, 1854, by the consolidation of the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad Company, the York and Maryland Line Railroad Company, the York and Cumberland Railroad Company, and the Susquehanna Railroad Company. The main line extends from Baltimore, Maryland, to Sunbury, Pennsylvania, a distance of one hundred thirty-six and eighty-two hundredths miles. The line through this county formed part of the Susquehanna Railroad Company's authorized route prior to the consolidation. A railroad from Harrisburg to Sunbury was first projected in 1837, and END OF PAGE 318 on the 3d of April in that year an act was passed by the legislature providing for the incorporation of the Harrisburg and Sunbury Railroad Company, the line to extend from the terminus of the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mt. Joy, and Lancaster railroad at Harrisburg to the terminus of the Danville and Pottsville railroad at Sunbury. Among the commissioners were Alexander Jordan, Charles G. Donnel, E. Greenough, Hugh Bellas, Edward Gobin, John C. Boyd, Mr. Backhouse, Peter Lazarus, George Brosius, and James Hepburn, of Northumberland county. Ten years' time was granted for the completion of the road, in default of which the charter was forfeited. The Susquehanna Railroad Company was incorporated on the 14th of April, 1851, with power to construct a railroad connecting with the York and Cumberland, or with the Pennsylvania railroad on either side of the Susquehanna or on the Juniata, thence extending through Halifax and Millersburg to Sunbury, with the privilege of continuing the line to Williamsport. John B. Packer, Charles W. Hegins, Alexander Jordan, H. B. Masser, George B. Youngman, William L. Dewart, Edward Y. Bright, Joseph R. Priestley, William Forsyth, Amos E. Kapp, James Pollock, Robert M. Frick, and Reuben Fagely, of Northumberland county, were among the projectors. On the 24th of November, 1852, a contract for the grading and masonry of the entire line between Sunbury and Bridgeport was awarded to Dougherty & Lauman; under this contract construction was begun, but not completed until after the formation of the Northern Central Railway Company. The formal opening of a part of the line occurred on the 24th of July, 1857, when the first passenger train from Harrisburg arrived at Trevorton bridge, proceeding thence to Trevorton, where the company partook of a sumptuous banquet at the hotel of Henry B. Weaver, Mr. Beebe, of New York, president of the Trevorton Coal and Railroad Company, presiding addresses were made by President Barnum, of the Northern Central, J. Pinckney Whyte, a prominent member of the Baltimore bar, David Taggart, of Northumberland, John B. Packer, of Sunbury, and others. On the 26th of August, 1857, Messrs. Faries and Morrison and Warford and Wright, chief engineer and assistant of the Sunbury and Erie and Northern Central railroads, respectively, were engaged in making a preliminary survey for the purpose of establishing the connection of their respective roads in Sunbury. The council of that borough, at a meeting on the following day, authorized the Northern Central to locate its road "in or through any street, lane, or alley in said borough the said company may deem expedient," which action was unanimously ratified at a public meeting held in the court house on the 2d of September. Third street was accordingly selected, and on the 8th of February, 1858, the work of grading through the borough was begun. The formal opening of the road to Sunbury occurred on the 28th of June, 1858. At nine A. M. a train left Sunbury for Harrisburg, and among the passengers was Governor William F. Packer, one of the earliest and END OF PAGE 319 most persistent promoters of the enterprise. The first train north arrived at half past three in the afternoon, bringing Mr. Barnum, the president of the company, Mr. Magraw, one of the directors, A. B. Warford, chief engineer, and other prominent railroad magnates. The Sunbury, Hazelton and Wilkesbarre Railroad extends from Sunbury to Tomhicken, Pennsylvania, a distance of forty-three and forty-four hundredths miles. The company was originally chartered as the Wilkesbarre and Pittston, April 15, 1859, for the construction of a railroad along the Susquehanna river from Pittston to Danville or Sunbury. April 10, 1807, the name was changed to the Danville, Hazelton and Wilkesbarre Railroad Company. The survey of the route was begun by F. C. Arms on the 22d of April, 1867. On the 10th of October following the contract for its construction was awarded J. V. Creswell and W. M. Wiley, and the grading of three miles between Sunbury and Danville was finished in the same year. The progress of construction was attended with protracted interruptions, and it was not until March, 1869, that the laying of the track was begun. The line was formally opened from Sunbury to Danville on Thursday, November 4, 1869. A train left Sunbury for Danville in the morning, returning with a numerous company, who joined those already assembled for the occasion at that point. The officers at that date were as follows: president, Thomas Woods, of Philadelphia; vice-president and superintendent, Simon P. Kase, of Danville; treasurer, S. P. Wolverton, of Sunbury; secretary, George Hill, of Sunbury; directors: Robert B. Sterling, S. P. Wolverton, George Hill, Benjamin Hendricks, Simon P. Kase, A. F. Russell, and H. W. McReynolds. The road was sold under foreclosure, March 20, 1878, and the company reorganized under its present title, May 1, 1878; it was leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for fifty years from the latter date, and has since been operated as a branch of the Philadelphia and Erie railroad. The line in this county passes through Upper Augusta, Gearhart, and Rush townships, with stations at Sunbury, Klinesgrove, Wolverton, Kipp's Run, Riverside, and Boyd. The Sunbury and Lewistown Railway has its eastern terminus at Selinsgrove Junction, upon the east bank of the Susquehanna river in Lower Augusta township, Northumberland county, where it forms a connection with the Northern Central railway; thence it crosses the Susquehanna river to Selinsgrove, and extends through Snyder and Mifflin counties to Lewistown, upon the Juniata river, where it forms a connection with the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad. The line is forty-three and fifty-seven hundredths miles in length. It was opened in 1871, sold under foreclosure in 1874, and leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad was originally chartered, April 12, 1853, as the Lewisburg, Centre and Spence Creek, and reorganized under existing title, December 31, 1879. It has its eastern terminus at Montan- END OF PAGE 320 don, on the east bank of the West Branch in Chillisquaque township, Northumberland county, where it forms a connection with the Philadelphia and Erie railroad; thence the line crosses the West Branch to Lewisburg and extends to Tyrone, upon the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad. It was opened in 1872, and is operated as a branch of the Philadelphia and Erie railroad under lease to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company was chartered, April 4, 1833, and the first through trains between Philadelphia and Pottsville were run in January, 1842. The chief business of the company is the transportation of coal from the first and second anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania to Port Richmond, Philadelphia; it owns all the stock in the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, and thus controls the production as well as the transportation of coal from the properties with which the railroad is connected, of which several of considerable importance are located in Northumberland county. The Reading lines in this county are the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven, Mahanoy and Shamokin, Catawissa, and Shamokin, Sunbury and Lewisburg railroads. The Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad was chartered, March 24, 1828, and opened on the 8th of October, 1831, but not extended to Locust Gap until some years later. The main line extends from Schuylkill Haven to Locust Gap. On the 18th of October, 1860, an excursion train of six coaches formally opened a through route from Philadelphia to Sunbury by way of the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven road. It was confidently expected that the Philadelphia and Erie would bring to Philadelphia an immense and valuable lake trade, to accommodate which two routes were in operation - the Philadelphia and Reading railroad to Port Clinton, and the Catawissa railroad thence to Williamsport; and the Northern Central to Harrisburg, with the Pennsylvania railroad thence to Philadelphia. A favorable opportunity for the opening of a third route was presented when the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven railroad was constructed to a point within four miles of the terminus of the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville railroad. In the autumn of 1860 this link was supplied, thus placing the Shamokin coal region in direct rail communication with Philadelphia. The excursion by which this route was formally opened was arranged by J. Dutton Steele and G. A. Nicholls, vice-president and superintendent, respectively, of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad. At the junction with the Shamokin Valley railroad the train was taken in charge by A. R. Fiske, superintendent of that line. Sunbury was reached in the evening; a band of music escorted the party to the Central Hotel, where a banquet was held and addresses were delivered by Frederick Frailey, president of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, ex-Chief Justice Ellis Lewis, Philip F. Price, a director in the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company, and others. Among the four hundred members of the party was END OF PAGE 321 A. M. Eastwick, of Philadelphia, a member of the firm that built the first locomotive used on the Danville and Pottsville railroad twenty-two years previously. This excursion gave rise to a variety of newspaper discussion, in which the possibility of a through line to Erie via Sunbury, composed of the Philadelphia and Reading, Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven, Shamokin Valley and Pottsville, and Sunbury and Erie, was regarded as a highly probable consummation. The Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven railroad was leased by the Reading on the 12th of May, 1864, for a period of nine hundred ninety-nine years, but beyond this the apparent indications of railroad consolidation in 1860 have not been realized. The Mahanoy and Shamokin Railroad, formed by the merger and consolidation of the Mahanoy and Broad Mountain, the Mahanoy Valley, the Enterprise, the Shamokin and Trevorton, and the Zerbe Valley railroads, was merged into the Philadelphia and Reading system on the 25th of March, 1871, in pursuance of an act of Assembly passed on the 18th of February previously. Of these various roads the Enterprise, the Shamokin and Trevorton, and Zerbe Valley are in this county. The Enterprise Railroad Company was incorporated, March 21, 1865, for the construction of a road not to exceed nine miles in length, with its termini equal distances east and west of the lands of the Fulton Coal Company, intersecting with the Locust Gap, or the Mahanoy and Broad Mountain, or any other railroad on the east, and the Carbon Run railroad on the west. The corporators were Thomas Baumgardner, John B. Douty, John W. Hubley, Henry Baumgardner, David M. Lebkichler, Benjamin F. Shenk, and William H. Douty. Construction was begun in 1866; on the 3d of August, 1868, the road was opened for passenger travel from Locust Gap Junction to Greenback colliery, and thence to Shamokin later in the same year. It is now operated as part of the Williamsport division of the Reading system, with stations at Locust Gap, Alaska, Enterprise, Excelsior, Greenback, and Shamokin, and a branch from Alaska to Mt. Carmel. The Shamokin and Trevorton Railroad, extending from Shamokin to Trevorton, a distance of eight miles, was opened to travel on the 2d of August, 1869, when the running of through trains from Shamokin to Herndon was inaugurated. It is now operated as part of the Herndon branch of the Williamsport division, with stations at Shamokin, Water Station, Kulp's, and Trevorton. The Trevorton, Mahanoy, and Susquehanna Railroad Company was incorporated on the 22d of March, 1850, by act of Assembly, for the construction of a railroad from the mouth of Zerbe's run, in Northumberland county, to the Susquehanna river at the mouth of Mahanoy creek. The corporators were Felix Lerch, William Deppen, Jacob Raker, D. M. Boyd, Alexander Jordan, Joseph W. Cake, Robert M. Ludlow, John P. Hobart, Henry Donnel, Bertram H. Howell, Charles W. Hegins, Simon Cameron, William L. Helf- END OF PAGE 322 enstein, and Kimber Cleaver. On the 30th of April, 1850, Christian Albert, Peter Bixler, Edward Y. Bright, Alexander Jordan, Jacob Raker, D. M. Boyd, William H. Marshall, William L. Dewart, John B. Trevor, William L. Helfenstein, and Bertram H. Howell were authorized to organize the Susquehanna and Union Bridge Company, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars, for the erection of a bridge across the Susquehanna river at any point within five miles below the month of Mahanoy creek. These two companies - the Trevorton, Mahanoy, and Susquehanna Railroad Company and the Susquehanna and Union Bridge Company - were consolidated under the name of the Trevorton and Susquehanna Railroad Company on the 25th of April, 1854. A railroad fourteen and one half miles in length was constructed from Trevorton to the Susquehanna river; a wooden bridge thirty-six hundred feet in length, with approaches fourteen hundred feet in length, connected the terminus of the railroad with the Pennsylvania canal on the opposite side of the river, where extensive wharves, a basin sufficient to accommodate the canal boats used in transportation to distant points, and other necessary appliances and facilities were provided. This was the nucleus of a village of some proportions, to which the name of Port Trevorton was applied. An affiliated corporation, the Mahanoy and Shamokin Improvement Company, was incorporated on the 25th of February, 1850; the original constituent members were Kimber Cleaver, D. M. Boyd, David Thompson, William L. Helfenstein, and William H. Marshall. This company and the Trevorton and Susquehanna Railroad Company were consolidated in pursuance of an act of the legislature which became a law on the 24th of March, 1856, and the resulting corporation received the name of the Trevorton Coal and Railroad Company. For several years its affairs were prosperous, and the development of the Trevorton coal region effected through its agency was justly regarded as most beneficial to the county. But like many other enterprises of this character it had been floated principally on credit, and on the 8th of December, 1860, the property was sold under foreclosure of mortgage at sheriff's sale. Litigation enters largely into the history of the railroad from this time until it became part of the Reading system. The purchasers in 1860 were Hezron A. Johnson, Matthew Morgan, and James I. Day, who were constituted the Trevorton Coal Company by act of the legislature approved on the 28th of March, 1860. May 7, 1861, a mortgage for nine hundred thousand dollars was executed by the company in favor of William C. Pickersgill, an Englishman. Suit was brought by Robert G. Reiman in 1867 on unpaid coupons of bonds secured by this mortgage under an act of Assembly then in force; judgment was obtained, and on the 3d of August, 1867, the railroad, coal lands, and other property of the company were sold at sheriff's sale to John B. Packer and W. I. Greenough for one thousand dollars. A con- END OF PAGE 323 test was had in the Supreme court over the validity of this sale, ultimately resulting in a compromise. Messrs. Packer and Greenough conveyed to Robert G. Reiman, John W. Hall, and Henry Thomas; they conveyed to the Zerbe Valley Railroad Company, the organization of which was confirmed by the legislature, April 13, 1868. It was at this time that the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company acquired control, and began its administration by the erection of new bridges along the entire line. It was the original idea of the Reading management to construct a line from Port Trevorton through Snyder county to the bituminous coal regions of Clearfield county, and had this project materialized the Trevorton railroad would have become a link in a through line from that locality to Philadelphia. It was relinquished, however, and the importance of the line is principally of a local character. The Zerbe Valley Railroad Company was merged into the Mahanoy and Shamokin Railroad Company, September 7, 1870, and, with the latter company, was formally consolidated with the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, March 25, 1871. What was originally the Trevorton, Mahanoy and Susquehanna railroad thus became an integral part of the great Reading system, and forms part of the Herndon branch, with its western terminus at Herndon, on the line of the Northern Central railway, and stations at Trevorton, Zerbe, Dunkelberger's, Hunter, Dornsife, Otto, Kneass, and Herndon. The river bridge, which was adapted to wagon traffic as well as railway uses, became unsafe for travel through decay and was removed about ten years ago. The Catawissa Railroad Company was originally incorporated on the 21st of March, 1831, under the name of the Little Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company, with authority to construct a road from the termination of the Little Schuylkill Navigation Railroad and Coal Company's railroad to the North Branch of the Susquehanna at Catawissa. Portions of the road were constructed within a few years thereafter, but financial embarrassments ensued and operations were abandoned. The project was at length revived, however, and on the 20th of March, 1849, legislative authority having been granted for an extension to Williamsport, the name was changed to the Catawissa, Williamsport and Erie railroad. It was opened to Milton in 1834. The company having defaulted in the payment of interest on its bonds, its property was sold at judicial sale, and the purchasers reorganized with the name of the Catawissa Railroad Company under legislative authority secured on the 21st of March, 1860. The line enters Chillisquaque township a short distance east of Pottsgrove and passes through the county to Milton, where the West Branch is crossed; thence the route continues through Union and Lycoming counties to Williamsport, to which it was opened in 1871. This road has been operated by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company since the 1st of November, 1872. The Shamokin, Sunbury and Lewisburg Railroad Company was END OF PAGE 324 Page 325 contains a portrait of David Llewellyn. Page 326 is blank. chartered, February 16, 1882; the corporators were S. P. Wolverton, H. E. Davis, Ira T. Clement, John Haas, Levi Rook, A. H. Dill, and John Smith, of whom S. P. Wolverton was the first president and has filled that position continuously from the organization of the company. On the 4th of February, 1882, an agreement was entered into between the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, the Fall Brook Coal Company, the Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railroad Company, and other companies, on the one part, and the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company on the other, to build a railroad from Shamokin to some point on the Catawissa railroad at or near Danville. April 1, 1882, through the influence of S. P. Wolverton, a supplemental contract was made by the companies at interest, by which West Milton, on the line of the Catawissa railroad, was substituted for Danville as the northern or western terminus. The route was surveyed in the spring of 1882, construction was immediately begun, and in July, 1883, the line was opened. Its course coincides in general with that of Shamokin creek from Shamokin to Sunbury; at the latter point the Susquehanna is crossed by a substantial iron bridge, and from its western terminus to West Milton the west bank of the Susquehanna through Union and Snyder counties is followed, Lewisburg being the principal intermediate point. The entire length is thirty-one and one tenth miles, of which distance nearly two thirds are in Northumberland county, with stations at Arter's, Snydertown, Deibler's, Vastine, Reed, Paxinos and Weigh Scales between Sunbury and Shamokin. The road was leased to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company for nine hundred ninety-nine years from July 2, 1883, and is operated by that company as part of its Williamsport division, which extends from Newberry Junction to Port Clinton, the Catawissa railroad forming its western section, from West Milton to Newberry, and the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven and Mahanoy and Shamokin the eastern section, from Shamokin to Port Clinton. It is thus apparent that the construction of the Shamokin, Sunbury and Lewisburg railroad supplies an important link in the Reading system, placing the mines and railroads of that company in the Mahanoy and Shamokin regions in direct communication with its northern and western connections. It also forms part of the Reading's line to the bituminous coal regions of Clearfield county, through its connection with the Beech Creek road. This branch of the Reading gives to a large part of Northumberland county the advantage of a competing line to the seaboard, and has therefore been productive of great local benefit. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was formed, December 10, 1853, by the consolidation of the Lackawanna and Western (chartered, March 14, 1849) and the Delaware and Cobb's Gap (chartered, December 22, 1850), and has since, by lease and consolidation, become one of the great trunk lines of the country. What is known as the Bloomsburg branch extends from Scranton to Northumberland, Pennsylvania, a distance END OF PAGE 327 of eighty miles, and was originally chartered as the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg railroad, April 5, 1852. It was the design of the projectors to establish a line from the Wyoming and Lackawanna coal fields to Philadelphia by connecting this road with the Catawissa, Williamsport and Erie, and this object was satisfactorily accomplished by its construction from Scranton to Rupert. March 3, 1853, the company was authorized to extend its road to a connection with the Sunbury and Erie or Northern Central, with a wide latitude in the choice of routes. The north bank of the North Branch was finally selected, and on the 31st of May, 1860, the formal opening of the road to passenger travel from Danville to Northumberland occurred. The consolidation of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western and Lackawanna and Bloomsburg railroad companies was effected in 1873. The line in this county passes through Point township a distance of about nine miles. The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company was chartered as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company, September 20, 1847, and under existing title, January 7, 1853. The main line in Pennsylvania was completed in October, 1855. The Mahanoy branch, extending from Black Creek Junction to Mt. Carmel, Pennsylvania, and originally known as the Lehigh and Mahanoy railroad, was acquired in June, 1866. Under traffic agreement with the Northern Central Railway Company, the passenger trains of the Lehigh Valley enter Shamokin over the tracks of the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville railroad. The Wilkesbarre and Western Railway Company was chartered, January 22, 1886; the Milton and North Mountain Railroad Company, chartered in November, 1885, and the Millville and North Mountain Railroad Company, chartered in January, 1886, were merged into this company, December 25, 1886. The projected road extends from Watsontown to Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, a distance of forty-six miles. The main line is constructed as far as Eyer's Grove, a distance of twenty-one and one tenth miles, and from that point a branch extends to Millville, one and one tenth miles. Twenty-two miles of this road were opened to travel, December 13, 1886; the Millville extension was opened, April 7, 1887. Seven and six tenths miles are in this county, with stations at Watsontown, McEwensville, Warrior Run, and Turbutville. The road passes through a rich agricultural region in the northern part of Northumberland, Montour, and Columbia counties. END OF PAGE 328 and Chapter VIII.