The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1853-05-26
BY REQUEST.
CHEAP FUEL.
Delaware. LehiGh and wyoming
Valley Railroad.
To the Editor of N. Y. Tribune.

of the 29th of April speaking SO very dis
paringly of this enterprise and of all its
friends at this place, makes it necessary
for me, but with some reluctance, to ask
your insertion of this avowal of all the
facts in connection Herewith. That we
of Wilkesbarre have so far borne with the
many Misrepresentation respecting this
valuable Improvement is evidence that we
detest strife and have no sympathy with
those who are so ready to engage in it.
For period of twenty-five years at
different times it has been agitated to o.
pen an outlet from our rich and easy
working Coal beds to the Delaware Wa
ter Gap. Various diverse interests, be-
lieying that such an outlet would materi-
ally mar their prosperity, have had a
tendency to retard our hopes and endeav-
ors. These are now beginning to yield
to the we'll known and desirable fact that
there is sufficient demand for our staple
to give business to all the projected lines.
With one exception we think we have the
good wishes ofall. This exception it is ne
cessary to mention comes from those who
have the control ofthe Legget's Gap Rail-
road, and are the proprietors of the village
call ed Scranton. That this should be so is
to US quite unexpected, as in all their re-
quirements for legislative action they have
hitherto had our hearty cooperation
That, after having expended four milljons
of dollars without much success) in their
laudable endeavors to find iron ore and
as good anthracite coal as We have in
our valley, is not our fault, and the fol-
lowing well known fact in this valley
will fully establish what it is actually ne
cessary the New Y ork people should know.
When the Pennsylvania Coal Compa-
ny commenced its operations, it purchas-
ed large bodies of lands in the immedi-
ate proximity to Scranton, That Com
pany built Railroad from Hawley to
these lands. 1t expended vast sums in
searching for coal and endeavoring to
develop the coal that it was believed these
lands contained. After all their outlays
of time and money, it found the lands SO
purchased utterly Valueless and worthless.
Operations upon them were discontinued, g,
and they we're abandoned. The alterna-
tive was then presented to the Company
of extending its railroad s miles further,
which would lead them into the Wyoming
Valley, four miles above our town, or "a
bandoning their works; it was therefore so
determined, and that decision has made
the Pennsylvania Coal Company what
it now is, a thriving and prosperous con-
Germ. The foregoing speaks volumes, as
far as the purity and abundance of our
coal deposits over that in the Lackawana
Valley.
Now the Cobb's Gap Railroad, which
is to be used for the purpose of building
up Scranton and connect with that Won
derful achievement, known as the Leg
gett's Gap Road, is placed before the New
York public, as the only practicable mode
of connecting us with New York, expec-
ting to make us tributary to Scranton,
and travel Is miles out of our 20 feet
veins to take railroad with much steep
er grades, and passing through the thous-
ands of acres of rough timber-land, which
has been recently purchased by this thri-
wing Company and who have taken all
the Stock, without paying much for the
same, with the expectation of issuing
Bonds, to carry out their private specula-
ton. The distance from Wilkesbarre to
the Delaware Water Gap, is no greater
than from Stranton, the grades easier and
right of way open without money or price,
in fact the timber also Look closely in
to this magnificent project. There are
over six Coal Companies in Wyoming
Valley who would use this wood, and
hence it would be a common road, and
not used for the promotion of one coal
bed, as would be the case at Scranton,
where the land for some four miles square
is owned by one set of proprietors, having
but one interest, namely, the building up
of that place and making all others tribu-
taries to it,
Let us examine this subject further
In the article alluded to, the grade of the
Cobb's Gap Road is held up as being
more easy than ours. One simple fact
will put this all right. The Cobb's Gap
is compelled to overcome precisely the
same elevation from the same basis as the
Delaware, Lehigh and Wyoming Valley
Road, but the difference in the facilities
to do this are greatly in our favor. The
Lackawana Valley is l9 miles, while the
Wyoming Valley is 80 miles in length
Scranton is situated l3 miles from the
eastern termination of the Lackawana
Valley, and six miles from it's western
verge, which it connects with the Wyo-
ming Valley. 1t is on the outer rim of
the Lackawana and at the base of the ell
walton which it is compelled to overcome
with its Cobb's Gap Road the elevation
| Gas before remarked) to overcome is the
same in both routes, and is LOO feet
The distance from Scranton to this sum-
mit-the only distance it can employ to as
| cend it's six miles all told, because it is
placed in the very jaws of the gorge it is
compelled to employ, and cannot move a
mile to the right or left to obtain distance.