Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1853-07-01
The two Railroads.

! The -H.HOntdR, OF the l 'th ult., copies
the "Chronicle, Extra" of the 7th, in ref
erence to the extension of the Susquehanna
Railroad above Sunbury, and comments as
follows:
"The paragraph relative to the Sunbury &
Erie Road, comes with i'll grace from our
Lew isburg neighbors, who, we know to a GER
tain,y, were using all their e,rts to induce that
company to build their road through that town.
The Borough subscription Of $4,000, the indl-
vidual subscriptions of : 5 900, aud the County
subscription OF $500 900, we're offered to the
! Sunbury & Erie Company If they would build
their road through Lew isburg. bu, the Company
took notice OF the proposition, and continue to
make their road upon the most suitable location
: 1T is true that great deal Of time has been
I spen. in getting the Sunbury & E'ie under way.
/ but If we take into considc alion the magnitude
of the improvement and the depression in the
money market since the charter was obtained
! there don't appear to have been so much time
lost. The road is now in a fair way OF being
completed within q few years. Every foot OF it
is now under contract from Erie to SunbuIy a
portion of which is already graded, which don't
look much as if the Company was without
available subscriptions"
The Miltonian is mistaken in its state
ment that the people of Lewisburg used
all their efforts" to induce the Sudbury 4
Erie Company to build their road on this
side of the West Branch, and offered their
subscriptions as an inducement. On the
contrary, ex-Prcsidcnt Miller sent word
from Sunbury, in advance of his arrival,
to have our County Commissioners brought
here to meet him-which was not done,
however, much to his disappointment and
chagrin-and when he came hc favored
our citizens with harangue upon the
well-known general benefits of railroads,
&c, &c, and made anxious and persistent
efforts to get our subscriptions. But his
visit had not inspired confidence in either
his Company or himself, and he was at
once informed that an indispensable con-
dition must be the construction of the
road on this side the river, and that our
subscriptions could not be had on any other
terms. Finding this determination to be
unalterable, he took his departure from
" Robin Hoods barn"-as he was pleased
afterwards to designate our town-and did
not return. The subscriptions were then
given to the Susquehanna Company, and
time has verified the wisdom of the choice
1t is proper to add here, tbat many of our
citizens from the first opposed giving
any subscriptions to the S. T. Z. Company
on any terms, and that no individual or
individuals were ever vested with any au-
Moyiiy uhoterer for the transfer Of orr
County, Borough, or Individual subscrip-
tions to that Company.
The untoward rivalry existing between
these Companies, is certainly to be depre-
Gated, but is clearly the fault of the S 4
+. Company. 1t had been virtually dead
for twenty years when the Susquehanna
Company was chartered to construct road
from Bridgeport to Williamsport-onc of
natures grea: avenues that should have
been occupied by a road long ago, altho'
it is true that it neither began nor ended
in Market street, Philadelphia, and would
materially benefit the people of the interior
of the State. The S. & E. suddenly woke
up in paroxysm Of alarm, not to a just
sense of its own interests and true line Of
policy, hOwever-not to work the line FROM
Williamsport to Erie, first, as was then
promised to the Western Counties-but,
under the animus of a blind, implacablc
hostility, attempted to chcckmatc and de-
molish the Susquehanna Co., and usurp
its line below Sunbury. Failing in that,
it has ever since manGuvred and intrigued
with dog-iE-the-manger pertinacity wor
thy of better cause, to prevent the Sus-
quehanna extension from Sunbury to Viii
Transport; but thus far without success.
The only result has been a fixed dc.ermi-
nation on the part of the SusqueLanna
Company to pay no farther attention to
the vascillating managers of the S.SE. but
steadily push their road on to Williams
port without regard to rival movements
from any quarter.
We refer to these things as matters of
fact, and not from any invidious motives.
There is no hostile feeling on this side Of
the river towards the S. l. +. Company,
except what has been created by its own
unjust and impolitic local intrigues. Our
citizens regard the construction of the
road from Williamsport to Erie, as mat
ter of great public Importance, and would
rejoice NEST heartily at its completion
But they see no reliable prospect Of that
result at present, and believe, with the
city councils of Philadelphia, that instead
of a great public enterprise, it is, under
its late and present management, only
gigantic private spcculation-thc gentle
disclaimer Of the Ml.oniian to the contrary
Notwithstanding.
We chcerfully admit that the road is said
to be under contracts, privately made with
n fnw irdiriluals from Sunhury to Eric