Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-04-20


The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company
will celebrate its iiftieth anniversary to-
morrow, but no official notice of this
golden jubilee will be taken by the com
pany. This railroad, says the PhiladeI
phia Press has grown from small
beginning to a position of Importance
and now has branches extending east,
west and north from the line which was
originally laid out. The company has
now direct line of its own from Jersey
City to Buffalo, besides numerous extern
sons into the anthracite coal fields.
Recently the company has acquired sew
eral lines in New York state, which
gives it an outlet to Lake Ontario.
The charter for the construction of
railroad from Easton to Mahoning Creek,
near Mauch Chunk, was granted by the
legislature April 21, 1916, to the Della
ware, Lehigh and Schuylkill Railroad
Company. At this time it was the in
tention of the projectors of the road to
extend the line virtually into the Schuyl-
kill coal region. The company also had
a right to build across the river at Easton
to Phllipsburg. For some reason the
name seemed inappropriate and about
1850 it was changed to the Lehigh Valley
Railroad Company. Although the
charter was granted in 1916, the road
was not opened until September, 1855.
During this interval there were several
stretches of the road built, but for some
reason the road remained unconstructed
considerably longer than it was the in
tention of the projectors.
The building of this road created con-
siderable discussion in and around
Mauch Chunk, Easton and Bethlehem.
The projectors were men of prominence,
and while Judge Asa Packer was the
father of the operation of the road,
James NJ. Porter, a prominent citizen of
Easton, was the first president.
For several years most of the work
was confined to the operation of the road
between tho points set out in the char
ter, but as the business increased and a
larger field was opened to the company,
the first steps towards branching out
and making the road the system it now
is was begun in 1862, when it subscribed
to all the stock of and practically built
the Penn Haven and White Haven Rail
road, which extended from Penn Haven
to White Haven, a distance of about eight
miles.
This construction made connecting
link with the Beaver Meadow Railroad
and Coal Company, which extended from
Mauch Chunk to Audenried, twenty-four
miles. In 1864 the Beaver Meadow road
was merged into the Lehigh Valley, and
in 1866, the Lehigh and Mahanoy, ex-
tending from Black Creek junction to
Mt. Carmel about 100 miles, was merged,
into the Lehigh Valley system.
The road now began to assume large
proportions and it was considered one of
the ideal lines of the state. Its earning
powers were great and its business was
constantly increasing and in 1868 the
Hazleton Railroad and the Lehigh and
Luzerne Railroad, which branched from
Penn Haven to the Hazlcton and Black
Creek coal fields, were merged. This
gave the company quite an extensive
system of lines in the Lehigh coal field
and made it one of the big coal carriers
at that time.
Previous to 1865 the North Branch
Canal Company, which extended from
Wilkesbarre to the New York state line,
along the Susquehanna river, distance
of p,ilnc hnpnht nd bn I a
high Valley, on the property thus ac
quired, constructed the road which is
now known as the Pennsylvania and
New York Canal and Railroad Company.
In 1871 the Lehigh Valley leased the
Morris Canal and Banking Company, at
that time doing not only a canal busi
ness, but a large banking one as well.
The canal extended from Phillipsburg
to Jersey City, a distance of about 101
miles. About one year afterward the
construction of the Easton and Amboy
Railroad from Phillipsburg to Perth Am
boy, was commenced. The Lehigh Val
ley at that time, as well as now, owned
considerable property at Perth Amboy,
and had built large wharves at that
place. For some time this extension
answered the purpose, but later the line
was extended from South Plainiield, on
the Easton and Amboy division, to Jer-
sey City, where the company has valu-
able water front.
For number of years the Lehigh
Valley Company's only method of reach
ing Buffalo was by a connection with
the then New York, Lake Erie and
Western, at Sayre, but a few years ago
it began the operation of its own line in
the state of New York from the state
line to Buffalo. The company has also
under lease the Lehigh and New York,
in New York, which is the old Southern
Central, extending from the state line
at Sayre, through owego to Fair Haven,
on Lake Ontario, a distance of about
10 miles.
A. 7 IL; ;rL N,