The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-05-12
North and West Branch Railroad.

porato the North and West Branch
Railroad Company" was reached in its
order upon the private calender. The
bill was upon its second reading, the
question pending being upon an amend.
ment that the road should be construct
ed by way of the borough of Muncy.
The following debate occurred;
Mr.. BUCKALEW. Mr.. Speaker, /
desire to call the attention of Senators
for few moments TO the only local bill
in which have felt much interest at
this session--the only one in which the
people of my county feel any consider.
able degree of interest. This bill Is to
authorize the construction of aTailroad
between the valley Of Wyoming and
the valley of the West Branch--in other
words, between Wilkesbarre and Will
Transport. The road follows the south
side of the river to point opposite or
near the town of Bloomsbury, crosses
the river, and following the valley of
Little Fishing creek, extends into the
valley of the West Branch. In other
words, it crosses the dividing ridge be-
tween the two rivers at the only point
at which arairoad can be conveniently
constructed. 1t Is road some seventy
or eighty miles in length, and it will
require, of course, an effort to obtain
the capital necessary to its construction.
Now, what is the object of this road =?
1t is to shorten the line between the
North and West Branch about four
teen miles. The road will be built only
because it shortens that line of commu.
nication between the Wyoming and
West Branch valleys. The Senator
from Huntington Mr.. PETRIKIN !
moves to amend to compel this railroad
to be constructed by the town of Muncy,
because he says he has some town lots
there l have made inquiry, and it is
my conviction that this would take the
railroad out ofits proper line distance
of not less than three miles, and tako
away the very object of making this
road, to wit: to get the shortest posi-
bic line between Bloomsbury and
Williamsport. The Senator says that
is the best route. All l desire is TO have
the road run where the engineers will
put it, where the interests of the road
require that it shall be constructed. /
am under The impression that this
amendment will throttle this bill and
defeat the enterprise altogether. l was
told in the former debate that we might
come back next year and get u supple
ment; l would rather let the whole
project fall until next year. IF the Sen
ate are willing to give the people Of that
region an opportunity to construct their
road, let them vote for this bill, which
allows the road to be laid over the very
best ground that the engineers may find
practicable. The road must cross the
river through what is technically the
town of Bloomsburg, which extends
two or three miles along the river. 1t
must cross at that point in order to get
into the valley of Little Fishing Creek.
l introduced this bill on the twenty.
fourth day Of January. 1t went to the
Comm mittoe on Railroads, and slumbered
there some time. I waited and waited,
expecting my bill to come back. When
l inquired about it, was told by the
Senator from Huntington that his
brother had written TO him to SKILL that
bill"
Mr.. PETRIKIN. / am not on the
committee.
Mr.. DUCKALEW. began to get q
little importunate, and finally l was
told that the bill was lost, and it has
never been heard of from that day to
this. L then had new bill prepared,
introduced it, and on motion made the
Senate instructed the committee to re-
port it. Under that instruction it was re-
ported. 1t came up and the SEN
ator from Huntingdon objected it
OIL the calendar. And so, from the
9th of January TO the beginning of
May, this proper, laudable, important
bill has been throttled and choked here,
because there are some town lots in
Muncy. L hope the Senate, under this
statement Of facts, will conclude that it
is about time this bill should pass, and
that this amendment should not be put
upon it. If the amendment is put upon
it, shall drop the bill.
Mr.. PETRIKIN. Mr.. Speaker, the
zeal which the Senator shows for the
passage Of the bill, shows that perhaps
he, citizen Of Bloomsburg, may have
some town lots there that he is as much
interested in as l am in my town lots
at Muncy. Certainly he has displayed
little more energy and zeal upon this
bill than even upon public bills. Even
when he gets his measure of cumulative
voting before the Senate, he does moi
display as much zeal as upon this bill
He says the object Of this bill is tC
shorten the route in bringing coal from
the Luzerne region to the West Brancl
of the Susquehanna river, and thence
North. He has stated to you that by
going to Muncy it will be deviatinl
from straight line by about three
miles, when the contrary is the exac
fact, as their own map, made by them
selves and brought here into this cham
ber, shows.
Mr.. BUCKALEW. The-e has beer
no map made by this company, or any
| body concerned in it.
Mr.. PETRIKIN. Two gentlemen
here representing this n. and w. Brancl
railroad came to me, and one of then
gave me this map, and it has been ii
my possession ever since. BY lookini
at it you will discover that the road, a
laid out, devates four miles from
straight line, in order to get rid of III
town of Muncy. 1t is said that the oh
ject OF this bill is to make a short route
and that it will cucumber the bill to pu
another point in it. BY reading tn
bill you will see that instead of askin
for q charter to make a road frou
Wilkesbarre to Willamsport, the
carefully put in provision that it shaI