Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-04-27
A NEW PHASE or THE RAILROAD
QUESTION:

ed, within the last week or two, to hear that
the controversy between the two great riyaI
railroad interests ii Pennsylvania the At.
lantic and Great Western and PennsyIva.
MIA Central, has terminated in coalition.
or in other words, in a formidable alliance
between these two powerful monopolies.
twill be reeolected by our readers that
the Atlantic and Great Western, in the out.
set Of the railroad controversy last year.
proposed securing route through Pcnnsyl
vania to New York without deviating to
the right or e the left. giving Philadelphia
and Pittsburgh the GO BY. This, as Penn
sylranians, we could not eountenauce, nor
did the project meet with favor any where
as far as ewere able to learn The Allan
tic anu Great Western finding itself serious
" pressed, entered into negotiations with
the CataWissa Company for a perpetual
lease of their road, which lease was con
summated; sometime thereafter similar
lease was entered into between the same
parties and the Reading railroad The
PENNSYLVANIA Central issued an injunction
against the Catawissa lease, to which the
Reading railroad became party, and on
hearing of the merits Of the case before his
honor Judge Read. that distinguished iur-
ist decided that the lease was null and void,
on the ground, principally, that roads ofdif
ferent gauges are not connecting roads-the
Atlantic and Great Western being broad
gauge and the CataWissa and Reading mar
row gauge roads 1t is now apparent that
the Atlantic and Great Western has accept
ed the decision of Judge Read as finality.
and to avoid further litigation and difficulty,
has sought an alliance with the Pennsylva-
nia Central
The arrangement between these high con
tracing parties obyiatcs the necessity of an
extension Of the Atlantic and Great West
ern through Pennsylvania for the present.
Al the freight Of the Atlantic and Great
Western heretofore transported ever the
New York and Erie Railroad to New York,
is hereafter to be conveyed over the Phila-
delphia aud Erie Railroad to Philadelphia.
Il will be recollected that the Pennsylvania
Central railroad owns the Philadelphia and
Erie. The advantages Of this contract viii
benefit Philadelphia aud the PENNSYLVANIA
Central, while the great central portion of
Pennsylvania, lying north and out of reach
of the Central railroad, viii be thrown back
for many years, when all the world thought
they had railroad, to develope their bound
less resources, within their grasp. Thus the |
exclusive, selfish policy of the Central rail- |
road operates against the best interest Of
section of the State teemiug with inhabi-
tants and second to none in resources.
The Reading railroad, which entered the
Atlantic and Great Western arrangement to
secure an outlet to the Great West, by
this master stroke of railroad policy. is e7..
tirely left out in the cold 7 '1ef -.
sacked y Our obieel '-ss'o p''OlO Oh dlid
.lo "a IN seaei+ip5t1fiJJS t1fJi in writing this art-
olo. Is to draw the attention of the parties
who control this thriving improvement to
what is generally known as the Sherman
Valley and Broad Top railroad route. This
road was incorporated on the 5th of May,
1854, under the title of the 'Duneannon,
Landisburg, and Broad Top railroad Com
pany, with a capital stock of eight hun
dred thousand dollars (See appendix to
Pamphlet Laws, 1856, page COS. Up to
this time no effort has been made by the
Company to make the road. A survey of
the route into the Broad Top coal region
has been made, but here it stopped off and
nothing has been done since. For the pur-
pose of showing the condition of the Legis-
lation upon this route, we will run down
the various supplements to the above act,
and we think that the route is almost, if
not quite as well, covered with mantle
of Legislative enactments' Gas the Southern
Pennsylvania.
A supplement, approved on the fifth Of
May, 1855, (see appendix TO P. L. for 1856,
page 676,) changes the name from Dun
cannon, Landisburg, and Broad Top Com
pany' to ''Sherman's Valley and Broad
Top railroad company, and fixes the east
ern terminus of said road at the mouth of
Fishing creek in Juniata county. A fur
ther supplement to the act of incorporation
was approved the 26th day of February,
1856, appendix to p /. for 1856, page ia,
legalizing the issuing of bonds, the payment
of interest to stockholders, extending the
time for the construction of the road and
validating the subscription of stock to said
road. A further supplement was approved
on the 18th day of May, 1857, (see appendix
to P. L., page 5s3, the first section of which
reads as follows:
That the Sheman's S Valley and Broad
Top railroad company be authorized to ex-
tend their road by the most practicable
route, and to connect with the Connellsville
and Pittsburgh railroad and with the Ale
gheny Portage railroad
The same supplement empowers the COM
pany to hold in their corporate capacity, |
within the counties of Bedford, Fulton and !
Huntingdon, two thousand acres of mineral
lands, and to mine and transport coal. iron,
or other products of coal lands, and to use
and dispose of the same for the best inter
est of said corporation. 1t also empowers
said corporation to construct lateral rail- |
roads, from the main line of their railroad
TO such conyenient point or points in either |
or any of the counties into or through |
which the main line of the railroad may |
pass, and to connect the same with any 9TH