The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-07
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
BOLIVAR, N. Y, Jan. pa pictur-
eSQue feature Of the northern oil fields,
the narrow guage railroads, will soon
be a thing Of the past. One after an
other, in the wake of the oil boom, they
have been ripped up and sent to the
junk pile, after serving a very useful
purpose. There are left to represent
the millions once invested in these en-
terprises only long stretches of right
Of way, almost hidden by underbruSh,
weather. beaten stations, solitary and
alone, with broken platforms, doors
wrenched from hinges and open win
dOws through the winter winds blow
great piles of snow; dismantled treStleS
rotten and here and there stone pillars
of pretentious bridges, the timbers of
which have been pulled apart and car
ried away to serve a useful purpose.
Nearly all the roads were built over
mountains where the standard guage
would be impracticabIe. There was no
filling in done. Every gully was trest-
led with hemlock and the space be-
tween the ties was ballasted with the
dirt shovelled out of the bitches. Many
of the farms cut up by the narrow
guages show no traces of roads now;
the land has been reclaimed by the Or
isinal owners, many of whom received
a fancy price for right of way. The
engineers who staked out the narrow
guageS heSitated at nothing; in some
places the grade was 265 feet to the
mile and there was a string Of high
trestles over the succession of gulleys.
Today there are only two short spurs
of narrow guage railroad left in the
northern oil fields, the Central New
York and Westerns eighteen mile
branch that runs from Bolivar to OLE
an and the Bradford. Borden and
Kirzua, which climbs over the hills
between Bradford and Smethport, a
distance of twenty-eight miles
The changes that have taken place
In this section of the country in fifteen
years are marvellous. In 1882, in the
flush of the oil bOam, the Allegany
Central was completed from Clean to
Angelica, and it cid an immense bust
ness. Bolivar and Richburg were as
full Of life as new mining camps, and
there were other lively towns along the
line of the road. Richburg had more
than 5000 population and the reouta-
ton of being the hottest oil town on
the map.
The Allegany Centrars freight
receipts at Richburg for the first
completed footed up S21, 900, and that
was before a station was built A box
car answered 70. freight and ticket Of
flee as we'll as waiting room, and the
telegraph instrument was screwed on
the top of dry goods box in one cor
ner of the car. The passenger traffic
was enormous. Ten passenger and
four freight trains were run over the
road every day, and when there were
extra attractions at the Richburg the
aters- special trains were run from the
towns along the line. The passenger
rates were cents a mile and the
freight rates stiff, but no one kicked.
for the air was full of greenbacks.
That was when Richburg boosted of
morning and an evening newspaper.
two banks. hundred hotels. a dozen
doctors, an equal number of LAWYERS.
eighty public bars. dance houses and
everything else that went to make up
a boom city in the oil country One of
the young lawyers who drifted in with
the oil boom earned s., 600 in fees in the
first three months he was there Bolt
var, with 5000 popula ton, was not far
behind Richburg in the amount of
business transacted or in a show down
of wickedness.
With the waning of the oil boon,
came the gradual death of the narrow
gauges in this field. Richburg has de-
clined from a city of 5000 to a village
Of 400. as the census taken a few DAYS
ago showed, giving it the distinction
of being the smallest Incorporated vii
lage in the state. All its push and
glory have departed. though it still has
twice the population it had before the
boom came. Five years ago the last
narrow gauge rail that connected il
with the outside world was pulled un
and now daily stage is the only pub
lie conveyance that passes through the
once prosperous city. Bolivar's 00(
population has dwindled down to 200
1t has settled into a stea dy-going coun-
try town. and Is the business center OF
the oil development
After the oil boom subsidized the
Bradford. Eldred and Cuba road throve
for a short time on the lumber in
terests along tie lire. hut as soon as
these were exhausted the rood began
TO lose money. Then T. C. Plats was