The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1866-07-31
THE BUFFALO e. WASHINGTON RAILROAD

7 On the last day of this month, a vote is
to be taken by the citizens Of Butfalo,to de-
/ eide the question whether the city shall, in
its corporate capacity, subscribe 100000
to the Buffalo and Washington r. R. 1t
/ is generally understood that if the vote re
suits in favor of making the subscription,
the foregoing sum is but small amount in
comparison to what the city will do towards
building this road. 1t is believed by those
who are familiar with the affairs Of the
Buffalo and Washington r. R. Co. that if
the election results favorably to the road.
work will be ecommenced Immediately along
the line Of the road in the State of New
York. 1t was the original intention of the
Company to build the road to Emporium
via tie Allegheny river and the Portage
creeks. A very earnest and persistent ef-
fort is being made by parties in the interest
/ of other routes to divert the attention of
! the company from Their original purpose,
/ and make some other points on the line Of
the P. d Z. R. R., their southern terminus.
The arguments used against the route
originally intended, are that the road does
not touch coal basins anywhere on its line,
that no dependence can be placed upon the
Cameron coIiiery, on account of a very
limited supply at that point and that if the
object Is to reach coal, the shortest and most
direct route to the coal basins of Elk county
should be adopted We know it has be
come quite fashionable of Iate,for those who
are operating IN Coal In Elk county to
r:dleule the idea Of there being any coal de-
posts in either M'Kean or Cameron coun-
ties. Now We are just as confident as we
can be of the reality Of any one thing, that
if the Buffalo and Washington r. R. Co.
should finally adopt the Potatoe Greek,
Red Mill brook and Driftwood route TO En-
porium, they would traverse coal fields
enough, and reach them by the easiest of
grades, to supply a dozen markets like Buff
talo with the choicest bituminous coal for a
thousand years. All this could be done
without crossing the Elk county line. But
we have no disposition to change the COM
pany from their original purpose, nor to
detract one iota from the merits of the old
route. The Portage creek summit has
always been estimated as one of the easiest
in this country to cross, which is a great
desideratum in the binding of railroads.
This route traverses one Of the most popu-
lous and thriving regions of this county,and
would be the outlet for a large portion of
the citizens of Potter county, including
Coudersport, the County seat. AS to the
coal it would reach, we have every reason
to believe the supply ample for ages to
come. Besides the immense operations
now being carried on BY the Cameron Coal
Company, other companies are developing
their lands, and in several instances have
found splendid deposits of coal. A very
rich vein has recently been found on the
headwaters of Hunts Run, where coal was
never before supposed to exist. Another
strong argument in favor of this route IS
that 1t is OF great importance to Buffalo to
make the distance to the Anthracite Coal
fields Of this State as short as possible,and
the Shamokin Coal can be reached via the
Portage Greeks and the P. & E. r. r.
many miles less than by any other route.
As before stated,we can see no good reason
why the original purposes of the Company
should not be carried out-1NcKean M5nar.
A committee Of the Common Council