The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1884-10-15

the Sonth Pennsylvania Railroad
From the Engineering News and American Con-
tract Journal.
Fifty years ago, a drive of two
hundred miles, or more, from the
Cumberland Valley to Pittsburgh,
would hardly have been considered
as worthy. of mention in fact, it
was too much OF an every day occur
renee. But in this day of steam, in
the hurry and dash of our present
mode of life, such a trip is an en-
joyable novelty, and forcibly recalls
the leisurely methods of past gener-
ations, before railroads were, and the
telegraph and other electric wonders
more than the dreams of a few wise
men. We have made this journey
as our fathers made it, and propose
to tell what we saw.
The southern tier of Pennsylvania
counties covers region famed tor
its beauty of scenery, and filled with
the traditions of colonial days sto-
ries OF Indian raids and massacres,
of the exploits of the sturdy from
tiersman, of the French and Indian
wars of the middle of the last centu-
ry, of Washington, Braddock, Forbes
and Bouquet. But OF all this only
memory remains, and the suggestive
local names of villages and streams
and mountain tops. To the un-
thinking stranger Forts Littleton,
Leudon, Ligonier, Cumberland and
Bedford mean nothing but empty
names of modern towns. But they
cover the sites Of actual fortresses,
christened in honor of old-world he
roes, and forming links in chain
of similar works extending from
Fort Lowther, in Carlisle, in fact,
from Easton on the Delaware, to
Fort Pitt on the then remote Ohio.
They were barriers against Indian
raids, and in part against French
aggression, and served as rallying
points for settlers harrassed by a
savage foe now long driven from
this region. Burnt Cabins, Standing
IStone and Bloody Run have each
their story to tell, and Braddock's s
Road is still a travelled high
way.
But through this land of story and
directly along the path we followed,
another army is making its way,
greater in numbers than Braddock's s
and better generated (; yet like the
forces of that unfortunate comman-
der, this modern host is also cutting
a road to the site of Fort Pitt. But
the new highway is on grander
scale; it pierces the very bowels CT
the mountains and leaps the deep
gorges in a manner typical of the
advance of humanity in the years
that have interyened.
1t is through this country that the
South Pennsylvania Railroad is be-
ling built, and a general tour of in
spection over its line was really the
purpose of our visit and forms
the text proper of our re-
marks.
The new railroad commences in
Harrisburg, and crosses the Susque-
hanna river on the very ferry site
established by John Harris in 1705.
| The piers of the bridge, substantial
and handsome in appearance, are
Just being completed, and from the
southern end of this structure the
Iline follows down the Cumberland
Valley to a point below Carlisle,
and gradually climbing the eastern
slope of the Blue Mt, pierces this
mountain and the Kittatinny by a
pair of tunnels so close together as
to be called the Twins From
this point westward to Pittsburgh
the road pursues its way through
mountain ranges and along noun
tain crest.
As prospective route for great
railroad to the West the line now
being built is no new thing save in
the very important feature of actual
construction. As long ago as 1887
Hother Hage made survey for a
railroad from Chambersburg to
Pittsburgh, by order of the Legisla-
ture of Pennsylvania. His location
in part occupied the ground being
built upon to-day, but in his effort
to serve too many masters and meet
widely scattered local demands, his
route was too crooked to suit even
the men who in preference selected
the present devious line of the
Pennsylvania Railroad through the
mountains.
The old Hage report to the Legis-
lature still exists and from it we
find that he made the distance from
Chambersburg to Pittsburgh 24O
miles. That the maximum gradi-
, ent was 60 IT. per mile and only
half of the line exceeded 40 #. pei
Z mile. He estimated for three tun.
! nels, and the total cost was to be
{ sl1, ,305, 1889. His prices were
low enough +; he figured excavation
: at IL to 129 cts. per. Gu. yd., en-
bankment, 10 to IA cts. loose rock,
As to 30 cts, solid rock 55 to S0cts.,
and culvert masonry $50 to $780,
His superstructure was to be an HI
rail IS lbs..per yd., laid on 3x9 in
: locust longitudinal sills, with 6xf
in locust cross-ties spaced 20 in. be.
tween centers, with in. of broken
stone ballast beneath. This track
was to cost s9,755.55 per mile.
subsequently, about the year
1874, the State employed J. L
Schlatter to make surveys for a rail.
road from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh
Extensive operations were conduct.
ed il the field by him and his assist,
ants over the then called Southern
Route" from Chambersburg across
Cowan's Gap into the waters of The
Little Aughwick Creek, thence along
Aughwick Creek and Sideling Hill
!. Creek passing by Wishart's Gap into
! Sherman's Valley. the waters ol