Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-27
The Great Good the South Penn Rail-
road Would Accomplish in
Some Interior Counties.
STARTLING FACTS ABOUT FARMING
In q Remote but Fertile Part of Penn
sylvania That Ought to Grow and
Blossom Like the Rose.
ONLY RUINOUS PRIcESF OF PRODUCE.
Agricultural Land Goes for a Mere Song and the
People Sec Very Little Money.
rrEox A srArr CORRESPONDENCE

BEDFORD, July pa farmer over in
the neighborhoOd of Siding Hill once got
no worked up about the South Penn Rail-
road that he dreamt about it. In his visions
he pictured it as two shining lines Of solid
silver rails thrown across his farm. He told
his neighbor that it just seemed as though
the brightness of the tracks touched every
thing else on the old farm with wealth.
Fsnciful as such dream was, it forcibly
illustrates the TEMPER and sentiment of the
people in the counties of Bedford, Fulton
and Franklin. They believe that railroad
through Southern Pennsylvania would
make their primitive country grow and
blossom like the rose. So few of them see
money in any quantity that they yearn for
some enterprise that will bring them up
with the times, and fill their purses with
coin.
A DEPLoRABLE CONDITION.
Agriculture in the three counties named
is in a deplOrable condition. From my tour
among farmers the other day find that all
they can get for their butter now-and no
finer butter can be found in the world than
theirs-is and 10 cents per pound. They
have received as low as cents this season.
In Pittsburg the Allegheny county farmer
who brings his butter to your door gets 80
cents pound for it; or, buy it at the cor
ner grocery and you pay about % cents.
The farmer down here has to sell his eggs
for to II cents per dozen. In Allegheny
county rural towns % cents per dozen is the
price paid. At Everett, in this county, you
can buy spring chickens at any time for
from S1.75 to 81 per dozen. Could the AL
legheny county farmer, or the Westmore-
land county granger, live at such ruinous
prices as these?
MONEY is SCARCE.
But the farmer does not receive or 10 |
cents in money when he hands over pound |
Of his pure butter to the Bedford county |
shopkeeper in the town of Bedford. He is
given simply that much credit on an ac- |
count, in which he trades his produce for
clothing, farm supplies or other merchan- |
disc. And even this merchandise is given |
him at higher prices than you pay for it in |
Pittsburg, because the merchant claims that |
the lack of railroad facilities makes the |
freight on that merchandise in bringing it |
In from the wholesale cities cost more.
II doubt whether the average farmer in |
the Eastern half of this county handles more |
than $500 actual cash in a year." said John |
Snyder to me on the old pike the other day. |
George FELTON,, a farmer of East Provi- |
dence township, subsequently supplemented |
this remsrk with: Eyes, and doubt if |
one-tenth of the farmers of either Bedford or |
Fulton county see that much real money! |
One hundred dollars would be more like it.
LAND AT A MERE SONG.
1.-THE general custom among the farmers
here is to accent merchandise as pay for
their produce. The shopkeepers say it is all |
they can give us. They complain that on
account of no railroad facilities their goods
cost high to get them here, and that they
have no money TO pay"
1t is remarkably poor farm in any of the
counties adjacent to WestmorelanG or ALLIE
ghenY which will not sell for at least S45 an
acre. A better average would indeed be
$40, or even 500.
Farm land around here can be bought
for $40 an acre, said Henry FELTON,, the
miller of East Providence township, and the
father of George FELTON,. "And they are
good farms, too. Yes, $40 is a mighty good
price. Perhaps So might be nearer the
mark. 1t is next to impossible down here
for farmer to paw his taxes
u. Z. Masters, the merchant at Everett, |
SAYS: Between here and the town of Bed
ford we have a small railroad, and the
farms being Limestone land will bring prob
ably SO an acre. But between Everett and
McCOnnellsburg, in Fulton county, where
there is no railroad, the farms will not
bring more than SO or S25 an acre. They
are only slate lands, but they would be
WORTH A GOOD DEAL MORE
than that II a railroad only made them
accessible. have farm below Everett of
20 acres, Tor which L was offered $1,000
when the work was going forward on the
South Penn Railroad. Now l cannot get
5000 for 1t. The figures you have on the
prices for country produce are correct
Their marketable value would be increased
% per cent if the South Penn Railroad were
built"
Farmer Weaverling said: s'we had to |
sell butter this season as low as cents, be-
cause we have no market for it outside of
Bedford and Everett. Once tried to ship
some butter and eggs to a man in McKees-
port, near PIttsburg. But I never tried it
after that. 1t was too costly. This Broad
Top Railroad shipped them first to Hunting
don, then to Pitisburg and then to Nc
keesport. The frei ght was enormous Farm !
lands sell here for a mere song. / would !
call $40 an acre a remarkably good price |
Il we only had a railroad directly east and
west through our country these farms, which
have good soil, would increase in value, for
then we would have market opened up to 6
u.s." !
PROFIT FOR PITTsBURG. {
John Q. Nyeum. a storekeeper at Rays
Hill, said: ''If there was direct line of
railroad through this country from east to
west, Pittgburg merchants would profit by
It. Now we are as near Philadelphia rs we 1
are PittSburg by rail, although less than 100
miles from Pittsburg overland. So we do
our buying in Philadelphia. We prefer
if we could only reach your
merchants"
George FELTON, said be had once tried to
ship machinery for a sawmill from Hunt
ingdon to Everett His experience taught
him that the Pennsylvania Railroad and
Broad Top Railroad together charge as
much freight from Huntingdon to Everett.
some 40 or 80 miles, as they do from Chi
cago to Huntingdon, nearly 500 miles. He
thinks that is proof enough that direct
east and west line is needed through South
ern Pennsylvania.
WHAT WILL MAKE ENTERPRISE.
John Hafer, the welLknown hotel man of
Bedford town, said: "Our merchants have
TO pay the farmers for their produce bv the
exchange of merchandise because OF the
want of transportation facilities. The
highest prices that are paid for farm prod
uce in the town are 15 cents for butter, the
same for eggs, and from s. 90 to So per
dozen for spfing chickens. We have no en- {
terprise here at all and will not have until
we get railroad east and west.
And now do not wonder that n Pitts