told of one of them who was offered a million dollars for his farm; but he refused to take it, with the hope of getting two million. He afterwards sold it for forty thousand dollars. The same was the case with the price of oil. One day it would be up to eighty or ninety cents; and soon it went down to ten cents per gallon. This was a perplexing affair, as no man could tell whether he was rich or poor, no matter whether he had much oil or little. As land-owners and land-buyers were each astonished and wild with excitement, so was it with oil-sellers and oil-buyers. Although many men lost all they had in these operations, yet it was a fact that much oil was found, as above stated; and many were made rich by it. Men who had comparatively nothing, or next to nothing, soon found themselves possessed of millions. Petroleum became a great article of commerce; and the burning of kerosene, a purified form of this oil, superseded the use of whale oil, tallow candles, and spermaceti, and at the present time is more abundantly used for purposes of lighting than all the others combined. Once, within the recollection of the writer, whale-fishing for their oil was a vast business; and New Bedford, Nantucket, and many other places, became rich and flourishing by this means. Now little, comparatively, is done in this line; and these once great marts of commerce have gone into decay, so completely has coal-oil, or petroleum, taken the place of all others, both for lubricating and lighting purposes. CHAPTER XVIII. PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD AND POINTS OF INTEREST ALONG ITS ROUTE TO THE CAPITAL. Mr. Sipes's Book-Richard Trevithick — George Stephenson Road in Massachustts-Honesdale - Columbia Railroad-Portage Road-Act for Pennsylvania Railroad Road opened - Branches of New Jersey Division - Of Pennsylvania Railroad — Of Philadelphia and Erie Road-Mileage - Merion — Wynnewood — Eagle - Paoli — Malvern - Downington - Coatesville – Christiana - Gap - Kinzers - Lancaster-Mount Joy-Middletown-Columbia-Marietta - Harrisburg. MR. R. WILLIAM B. SIPES has recently written, and D. M. Boyd, jun., General Passenger Agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, published, a very valuable book, from which much information may be derived of this road and its connections. Mr. Sipes, in his Introduction, has the following: "The problem of transportation is one that has taxed the ingenuity and resources of mankind from the earliest recorded history. As man progressed in civilization, the interchange of commodities and products between different countries, and consequent intercommunication, became necessities which had to be met. ... During these early periods, roads were almost unknown, the tracks for trade being those of Nature alone; and it was left for chieftains of a later time-the Greeks, the Romans, the Carthaginians to prepare ways for the movement of their legions and supplies, which were the first steps in improvements that the nineteenth century has perfected. "The first introduction of any thing like the present railroad, and from which the latter was ultimately developed, was at the coal-mines in England, some time between the years 1602 and 1649. These consisted of wooden tracks, on which the coalwagons were drawn by horses. The first road of this kind was built at Newcastle-on-the-Tyne, and seems to have been the invention of a man named Beaumont. From there they gradually spread through the mining-districts of England, Scotland, and Wales; and improvements in their construction were from time to time made. Originally the roads were constructed entirely of wood. These were improved by having a plating or moulding of cast-iron placed upon them in the first half of the nineteenth century; and according to Mr. George Stephenson, the celebrated engineer, the first rails wholly made of iron were cast in 1766." At Quincy, Mass., a road from the Ledges to Neponset River was constructed in 1827, similar to those used in the miningdistricts of Great Britain. It was four miles in length, and was used solely for the purpose of transporting granite. The first effort to construct a locomotive to run upon a railroad was made by Richard Trevithick, in 1804; and, although but partially successful, it demonstrated that locomotives could be put to practical use on railroads. George Stephenson, in 1814, built a locomotive, but, not being wholly satisfactory, he continued experimenting, until one was completed which took a premium of five hundred pounds sterling offered by the Manchester and Liverpool Railroad Company, and which was tested on their road, October, 1829. The first road in this country upon which a locomotive was used was that of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, at Honesdale, Penn. One of the earliest efforts to build a road in America was made in Pennsylvania; but it went no farther than the incorporating a company, in 1823, to construct "a railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia, on the Susquehanna River, in Lancaster County, a distance of about eighty miles." She was not discouraged, however, at the failure of this enterprise; and, believing that it would succeed if it were made a public matter, she petitioned the Legislature to authorize the canal commissioners, who were about beginning "The Pennsylvania Canal," to examine the country for the road. In the following year (1828) the commissioners were directed to construct the road, via Lancaster; and two millions were appropriated for that purpose, and also to continue the work upon the canal. By this act the commissioners were also appointed to survey a route over the Alleghany Mountain from Huntingdon to Johnstown. "In 1833 the canal commissioners were directed by law to complete the Columbia Railroad with a double, and the Portage with a single track, and to finish the main line of canal. This was promptly done; and in 1834 the entire line between Pittsburg and Philadelphia was opened to trade and travel. The line, as finished, consisted of the Columbia Railroad, eighty-two miles in length, running from Philadelphia to Columbia, on the Susquehanna River; the eastern division of the canal, one hundred and seventy-two miles in length, extending from Columbia to Hollidaysburg; the Portage Railroad, from Hollidaysburg to Johnstown, a distance of thirty-six miles; and the western division of the canal, from Johnstown to Pittsburg, one hundred and four miles in length, making an aggregate length of three hundred and ninety-four miles. The main line was now in successful operation; but it was too slow, too expensive to operate, and too complicated; and public attention was soon directed to the necessity of building a through line of railroad; but it was not until 1846 that any project assumed a tangible shape. On the 13th of April of that year, the act to incorporate the Pennsylvania Railroad Company was passed. The capital of the company was fixed at $7,500,000, with the privilege of increasing the same to $10,000,000. The company was authorized to build a road to connect with the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy, and Lancaster Railroad, and to run to Pittsburg, or other place in the county of Alleghany, or to Erie, as might be deemed most expedient. The act also provided, that in case the company should have $3,000,000 subscribed, and $1,000,000 actually paid into its treasury, and have fifteen miles of its road under contract for construction at each terminus prior to the 30th of July, 1847, the law granting the right of way to the Baltimore and Ohio Road, from Cumberland, Md., to Pittsburg, should be null and void. All these conditions were complied with; and on the 25th of February, 1847, Gov. Shunk granted a charter to the company; and on the 2d of August he issued his proclamation declaring the privileges granted the Baltimore and Ohio abrogated. This action created considerable dissatisfaction in Alleghany and other south-western counties of Pennsylvania, and it required the lapse of time to satisfy those sections that it was for their advantage, as well as for the best interests of the State.1 The road was finally finished, and formally opened Feb. 15, 1854, thus completing a direct line over the Alleghany Mountains of three hundred and fifty-six miles. PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD BRANCHES. East Brandywine and Waynesburg Branch, Pennsylvania and Delaware Branch, York Branch, Mifflin and Centre County Branch, Bedford and Bridgeport Railroad, Bald Eagle Valley Branch, Hollidaysburg and Morrison's Cove Branch, Williamsburg Branch, Ebensburg Branch, Indiana Branch, Western Penn. Railroad, Butler Branch, South-west Pennsylvania. PHILADELPHIA AND ERIE RAILROAD BRANCHES. Lewisburg, Centre and Spruce Creek Branch, Danville and Hazleton Branch. 266.0 Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Alexandria and Fredericksburg Railroad Atlanta and Richmond Air-Line Railroad Total miles of railroad owned, operated, or 1 Sipes's Pennsylvania Railroad, p. 7. 1,715.4 238.0 6,615.92 2 Including all the roads and branches in and out of Pennsylvania. |