The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-08
TRANSPORTATION CHANCES
Approaching Half Centennial Of the
PENNSYLVANIA Railroad.
TRAVEL IN THE DAYS OF YORE
An Interesting Review Of the History OF
Transportation in Pennsylvania from
tho Earliest Times Down to
tho Present.
From the Philadelphia Times.

flftteth anniversary OI tne IounuinS VI
the Pennsylvania railroad, that day
being the day on which the act to In
corporate the company was passed. In
these fifty years the growth Of the rail-
road has been one Of the marvels Of
the country.
The history of transportation in Penn
sylvania has yet to be written In an ex-
tended form. If 1t We're given its widest
scope 1t could be expanded to almost
any extent, for no state in the union
has had more Interesting beginnings
has had a more difficult problem to
solve, or undergo more trials in reaching
an ultimate and only solution.
1t was not until after the war of Isl.
that the connections of Philadelphia
with the interior and the West We're
taken uD in earnest The rivers ana
mountains that lay across the line or
communication from East to West were
not such formidable obstacles at first
in the way of thorough traffic. for they
could both be crossed by roads, anu
the rivers could be linked together by
q canal system. So soon as the rivers
were improved natural navigation be-
gan to open up the coal regions, and
when the value of anthracite coal was
discovered the canals sprang into being.
The Schuylkill canal was chartered In
1915, and the Lehigh Coal and Naviga-
tion company In 1922. The Union canal,
connecting the Susquehanna with the
Schuylkill, and the Chesapeake and
Delaware followed. and the movement
Of trade East and West had begun.
In the ten years from 1920 to 1880 the
affections Of the people catered them
selves wholly on canals. True. John
Stevens had proposed a railroad from
Philadelphia to Columbia, and had
memoiralized the legislature, which by
the act Of March 81, 1923, granted his
company Incorporation, but the Penn
sylvanians disregarded the project and
only debated State system Of canals
to compete with the Erie canal, in New
York, finished in 1925. and at once per-
Qeived to threaten the commercial SUI
premacy which Philadelphia then still
enjoyed. Public agitation led the legis-
lature to action, and in 1926 the first
step was taken In the system Of public
works. which afterwards proved such
stumbling block when the time came
to recognize the inevitable superiority
Of the Pennsylvania railroad. A Board
Of Canal Commissioners was appointed,
and ground was broken for the Penn
sylvania canal to be constructed ut the
expense of the state. The state system
Of canals was in affective operation by
1884 on the Susquehanna, and up
the Juniata to the mountains, and west
of them. Traffic, both passenger and
freight, was lively, and the rates Of
freight were lower from Cincinnati to
Philadelphia than from Cincinnati to
New York.
ruD pAcL,Er
but inns result was only reacned py
enpioying me ald OF the railroad. Ihe
proJect OF tne ROAD petween Coiumpia
anu anu rnilaueipnia was revived again IN
1nso, put al lei! tnrougn as private
enterprise, ana IN 1873 the Canal COM
mlssloners We're ordered by the legisla- :
ture 10 take II IN hahd. The same act
required them 10 examine route Tor
What was aIterward known as the FOR
tase raliroao' ana Which' ran from Hun
tihgoon 10 Johnstown over the Al
lesnenies. Inc columbia railroad was
Lnlshed with a double track and the
portage with single track; and In 1854
communication TO Pittsburg, was OPEN
ed Dy this, now the shortest and easiest
route,
What journey 1t was! The passen-
ger for Pittsburg left Broad and Vine
streets In the morning-was carried up
Broad street by the inclined plane to
the Columbia bridge. where the Penn
sylvania railroad was reached, the first
part OF the way being the part con-
structed by the city. Thence he was
ratified on to COlumbia-later, Harris
burg-where he arrived during the aft
ernoon, about 3 or 4 o'clock, and took
the canalboat, the packet, as 1t was
styled, advertised to be equal to any
on the Erie canal. The packet Pitts
burg, first run in 1885, was 72 feet long.
ii feet wide and feet high. The inte-
rior was divided into three compart-
and the gentlemen's cabin. Swinging
berths shut off by curtains were ras-
tened along the sides. The crew con-
sisted Of nine men, with a driver and
three mules, and 1t could accommo-
date $50 passengers. But this packet
ran on the other side Of the mountains,
frcm Pittsburg to Johnstown, making
the trip of 104 miles in % hours, The
passenger who left Harrisburg on Mon
day evening reached the Portage on
Wednesday, morning and Pittsburg on
Thursday afternoon or evening. Charles
remembered. he motes o ' tha 'sP ab,,ndnt 10 Mert
fare at the supper. the "tiers of hang
ing book shelves" for hunks. the ladle
for dipping washing water out of the
canal and the Jack towel!
1t must be remembered that MT at
once was the passenger on the Col
umbia railroad drawn by locomotive
power. In 1885 there were only three
locomotives on the road. In 1897 forty
were in use. These forty all belonRed
to the state; the cars which they hauled
belonged to private firms which under
took to run them for the benefit Of the
public over the public works. Until the
locomotives were put on the cars were
run by horses provided by the pronrie-
tors Of the lines. The toll charged NV
the state after the Introduction of The
locomotives was two cents a mile for
the individual car-owners % cut 81 tbinas tnms
very close when they made their own
charge three cents q mile for eacj,
passenger. During the regime Of horse