The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-11-11

L. a 1&A'At o-t-
1 Oh, what was ever begun for r?r-Hoo
Probably the firss surveys for a railroad
over the general line now occupied by the
Sonth Pennsylvania Railroad were made
about 1897 from Chambersburg to Pitts
burgh. under the direction of Hother Hage
In 1874. J l.. schia,tcr examined'a line from
Harrisburg for. and under the direction of,
the State. Under Mr. Hage there served. as
Division Engineer, Col. James worrali,
who at cnce recog ognized the importance and
advantages of following the crest lines, and
/ who made it the stndy of his life On the
same corps. Il may be mentioned incidental
! ly. that Col RoebIing. who afterwards con-
structed the Cincinnati and Niagara Suspen-
sion Bridges, and designed the Brooklyn
Bridge, was serving part of his engineering
apprenticeship.
The project of q short line through the
southern tier Of counties of Pennsylvania
seems to have lain dormant until 1851, when
/ the Duncannon, Landisburg and Broad Top
Railroad Company was chartered In 1855
Legislative act changed the name 20 The
Sherman's Valley and Broad Top Railroad
In 1853 the Legislature changed the name
/ TO the very comprehensive one Of tho Penn
sylvania Pacific Railroad. and again in 1868,
perhaps because as railroads are generally
conversationally called simply by their ini-
tials, those of the last name inclined to be
ridiculous. they changed the name TO the
South PENNSYLVANIA, under which name it
has been known ever since. except for a
short Interval when during a iaDsns nse,ltis of
the legal advisors, the company called them
selves the Harrisburg ard Western. The
several extensions of time and additional
rights and powers obtained from time to
time are undoubtedly largely creditable to
the watchful care and personal efforts of
Col. Worrall, who became President Of the
company in 1854, and to whom the scheme
had become a worthy and legitimate hobby.
From this date onwards be and the COM
pany have been worthily served and aided
| by F. J. Groteyent. who still holds the office
| of Secretary,
But little was done, beyond preliminary
work and the keeping ofthe charter alive
until 1881, when new life was instilled into
the enterprise, and surveys were begun I'M
der Oliver w Barnes as Chief Engineer,
and William F. Skunk, as the Assistant
Chief Engineer.
The early spring of 1852 found i large
corps in the field-numbering upwards of
| SoO-and the most exhaustive and complete
SURVEYS that the annals of Railroads can
produce, being vigorously prosecuted. In
the fall of 1854 the surveys had been so per-
| fected, that definite line was adopted and
contracts awarded for the construction of
the seven longest tunnels and for the ma
sonrv of the bridge across the Susquehanna
RIVER. At about this time changes were
made; Oliver W Barnes from being an act
i've executive officer, was appointed Con-
sulting Engineer Robert II. Sqyer, having
previously been elected President became
the Chief Engineer and VIM. f. Skunk was
appointed Associate Engineer Events of
importance began to follow rapidly on the
heels of the preceding one every one con-
nected with the road frightened up and
proudly looked forward to 4 glorious career
under the ablest trio of Railroad engineers
that the country has produced, and as in
struetiye an engineering experience as the
youngsters Of the profession have ever en-
loved. Contractors, men and plant began
to arrive on the ground shanties were
erected, miniature towns sprung up; in
vestments were made and improvements
projected and started; every one was on
the o,ti rjre,n aud ground was broken on
I November 10, 1888. at both approaches to
Sideling Hill Tunnel, only to be rapidly
followed by the opening up of work on the
other six long tunnels.
Through the winter of 1sS3-S5. the work
on the tunnel approaches was prosecuted as
ripidly as could well be expected in that
season, and early in the spring the tunnel
portals were reached and work was started
on about 81 miles OF the heaviest open
work. The work was advanced rapidly
through the summer and fall Of that year
but as the incement winter season aP-
preached, the company limited the con-
tractors on open work to a maximum month
| " amount of work and in January of the
present year-1ss5 reduced the sections OF
the tunnels to single track. In the spring of
this year the monthly limit of work was re-
moved. another contract was let and work
on it begun, and the spirits of all interested
revived = forces were increased, and July l.
1886. fixed for the completion of the road.
Alas, this revival was of short duration.
In August omiuous rtImors were ahoat /;
they crystalized work was agaln limited /;
then contractors began leaving the road
with their forces and plant, apparently un-
der soma over-mastering influence led as
lambs and then came the announcement
I" Engineers. pack up your services will not
be required after November lst.' Short,
sharp and decisive And here, for the time
being and probably for long time to come,
is smothered the best line of railroad between
the Ohio Valley ana the Atlantic that has
ever been or can be projected. built or op-
drafted This is not brsg it Is fact--fact
susceptible of demonstration and which
many of us will live to see verified.
I 1t may be interesting to many ofus to
know what tine Engineers have done during
the four years past towards the development
ard progress of the South Penn. No road in
the world was probably so thoroughly to-
pographized, if the expression may be used
AMI studied as ours-.he system was very
perfect and searching Under this system
we have surveyed and made ten-fo0t con-
toured maps of about over one thousand
square miles, and to do this have run by
preliminary aud location lines, and exclu-
sive of topographer's offsets. over 5C09
miles. We have in addition superintended,
staked and measured up about four millions
of dollars worth of contract work and when
weconsider this large amount We must re-
member the very low prices at which the
work was let and that for large proportion
of the time the contractors were held down
TO a monthly limit. There is probably no
doubt in anyone's nina that the engineers
would have had trains running to-day, if
they had = been let alone.'
The work done on tunnels to date is indi-
Gated by the following table of lineal pro-
gross
Length yh,n Total exe'v Length
eomplet- both head remain
Blue MIMI. $40 sosS III
kittstinuy, 49,. 20 457 563
sideiins pIsiro'f Hin 4 s5si ss:s s.ss Sc ssss
Rays Hill,..-.. 1884 2,l2 le22
! Aile eghtny,...--. s9i9 o9i5 1873