The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-07

appointed receiver. About all that was
turned over to him was a vermont
roadbed and a lot of rolling stock fit
tor the junk pile. He kept the wheaIs
turning until he saw that the road
must e1ther be rebuilt or ripped m tn
outlook Tor business was not encoura o.
ing, and the road was knocked doUn
to New York broker in 1899 The
J 1uhk went to a Florida lumber road
me road earned $3.50, 600 the first wear
ouI a1tef that the earnings steadily de-
creased. o0
me little stub line Of the Alleeanv
central, now known as the CeotrtI
New YORK and Western, the last str:n
OF narrow gauge in Allegany county
Io!iNs INK in an interesting bit Of
railroad history. Soon after the AIe-
gany Central was completed fro,,,
Olean to Friendship, George D. Char
man. professional promoter, came IN
from New York and secured control ne
the road. and extended it to Angelica
Ihat was IN 1882, when the road was
lIIIaklhs money hand over fist. Then
Silapiiian quilt a standard gauge line
from Angelica to Wayland to connect
with the Delaware, Lackawann9 ard
western, and secured control of -
couple OF other short standard gaup4
INES ana coupled them I'D. He enl1in-
pea all his line with fine rolling stonk
MS narrow gauge division having the
largest and finest narrow gauge en-
g s, IN the world He operated his
lines on lavish scale, and when he.
ran short of money. he reorganized +l'a
road changed the name Of it. and had
a new issue of bonds printed.
On his standard gauge line he h,,il+
the Stony Brook Glen viaduct. tba hiphN
est structure in the state. II is hI,iIt
OF steel. is 700 feet long and 245 feet
nigh and cost $4,000. Over the Erie
tracks at SWANS he built a hernlock
horseshoe trestle, 1865 feet long, at a
cost of $4,000. Chapman maintained
an office in Wall street and put on
more style with his little ninety-ona
miles of railroad than the Prince of
wales would have a right to. When
the OIL boom weakened and the earn
lngs declined the employees went on
strike Tor wages overdue. The road
was SMUT Gown for several months. In
July, 1872, after a hard fight. Chanmar,
was ousted from the recefvershin of
the road. and the property was sold to
a company of New York men. of whom,
MaJ. John Byrne is a t the head TIE
narrow gauge line from Angelica to
Bolivar was ripped up and one of ti,a
standard gauge spurs was abandoned.
Inc other branches are in successful
operation still.
l.
ford oil fields. across the state line.
nave met the same rate The Kendall
d Eldred, one Of the best-paving
roads ever built While the boom lasted,
mas been torn up. There were half
dozen redhot towns along it's line early
IN the eighties. Duke Center and Rix-
ford were hummers. The conductOr's
cash fare collections averaged $4G0 p
day for several months. The Bradford
field was then on the top wave Of pros
perity. Every train that went over
the read was packed with passengers
and in some instances they sat on the
pilot of the engine and the platforms
and roofs Of the coaches. The freight
business was enormous. The rates
were high but they were never ques-
toned. The employees made big
money. Many time an oil producer
in hurry for a car tipped the conduc-
tor a $40 bill to hurry it along A stage
line has taken the place of the Kendall
& Eldred
The clean. Bradford & Warren mar
row gauge, which wound over the
mountains from Clean to Bradford,
lay idle for long time. and last year
was widened to q standard gauge and
converted into an electric line by Bos-
ton capitalists. who built a summer
resort on top of one Of the mountains
In some places the grade of this road Is
Ooo lSSt W the lnffS. 1t Is twenty-five
miles long. The other end of the old
line from Bradford TO Msrshburg is
still rusting and will no doubt soon
be ripped UP.
The main line of the Bradford, Ror-
dell & Kinzua, from Eldred to Kin
qua Junction has been abandoned, but
the line is still in operation from Brad
ford to Snethport. And it is due TO
Wilson S. Bissell, ex-postmaster gen.
eral, that this last bit of narrow gauge
is still In existence. The road was
originally built from Bradford to Ell
dred. When it was proposed to build
a branch line from Kinzua Junction TO
SmethDort the move was bitterly OPP
posed. It was finally decided by one
vote to build it there. and BisSeII cast
the deciding vote. Fifteen years ago
come of the liveliest little oil towns in
the state doomed along the line of this
read, for it traverses the richest pro-
ducing section of the Bradford field
After the first wild rush was over the
towns gradually began to go to seed
and where once stood prosperous VIII
lagos there is scarcely a habitation
today Tall oil derricks loom I'D in the
woods in every direction. and the ride
over the mountains is picturesque. In
getting out Of Bradford the road makes
detour of two and a half miles to get
up the noun tain side. Often a passen-
ger missing the train at the station had
followed a path up the face of the