The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-10-29


offices in Carbondale and IIonesdalc:
Ohicc of the Second Vice President ot the
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company
Albany. y. y:
Beginning January /, lS9N, no passenger
freight or coal trains will be run over thg
Delaware and Hudson Canal company =
gravity road until further notice.
". G.. Young. Second Vice Pr, sid"l,.
Mr.. Young, General Passenger Agent
j. w. Burdick ana Division Supcrin-
tcndcnt g. Il. Manvile were i'm this
city yesterday consulting over the pro-
posed change. Mr.. Young stated that
the notice meant all that it Inferred.
the abandonment of the gravity road
between Carbondale and Hunesdalo and
the canal, reaching from Honcsdale
To Itundout. y. Y. The company has
Deon able to make arrangements
whereby it can have its coal carried
10 New York cheaper by another COM
pany that it can carry it over its own
udcWater connection. This other com
pahy is the Erie and ii will be reached
through the Erie ana Wyoming road.
over winch ii has trackagc rights The
Erie and Wyoming connects with the
Delaware and Hudson at Eatesville,
scranton and Jcssup. These three
hectlons converge at Winners sum
init. The Delaware and Hudson COM
pany by its new arrangement can
deliver its coal at any of the three
functions, have it taken To WINNERS
ana from there dispatched to New
York
SOME OF THE BENEFITS.
In addition to making a saving i'm
haulage. Mr. Young said, il will sayc
the breaking of bulk and consequent
extra cost of handlingand deterioration
in quality. that the Delaware and lud-
son road now experiences. first at
Honesdale, where it is transferred from
the ears to canal boats and then al
Rondout, where il is transferred from,
the Doats to Hudson river barges. The
new arrangement will permit of the
coal being sent direct from the mines
TO the New York market Without being
disturbed, the cars being shipped from
lhe colllery along the Delaware and
hudson To the most convenient June
tloh, thence via the Erie ana WYOMING
10 HaWley ana thence over the Erie
to New York.
among the many Coniccturps starto,I !
by the announcement of the change was
one to the effect that the Eric and
wyoming was To assume control of tho
canal, make Hawley the terminus nnJ
secure an Independent outlet to tide
water. With its own and the Della
ware and Hudson coal it was figured
II would be able To operate the canal
AT proiit. Mr.. NOung's statements. Of
course, show this conjecture to be with
out weight. No company whatever has
even negotiated for the canal. he
further said, and it will. i'm all Iikeli-
mood, be entirely abandoned.
AS to whether or not the famous
summer resort, Farvlew, will he no
more, Mr.. Young could not positively
say. The chances, though, are that the
road viii be not only not operated, but
the tracks torn up and the other prom
erty taken down from the mountains.
The extension of the road between Car
bondale and Olyphant is already being
torn uo ari in the course of a couple
OF weeks will no longer exist.
The company. it appears, has con
templated this move for some time anl
has only been delayed from CARRYING
it into effect by it's inability to make
satisfactory arrangements such as have
been consummated.
\ LOSING VENTURE,
For number of years the canal has
been Il losing venture. OF itself il is
cheap mode Of carrying coal. but. as
1t was operated by the Delaware and
Hudson, the extra handling in trans
ferring the coal from the cars to the
boats ana from the boats to the harges
made ii unable to comuete with the
steam roads.
In the prosperous days of the canal
there We're over 1,400 boats Dlving its
waters and the boatmpn made bis
money. Gradually the number lessened
until last summer only go boats were
operated and they We're making such
n poor profit that the owners were dis
posed to abandon them, and the com
pany only retained them by buying
them outright and paying the captains
on percentage for running them.
The fact that thu gravity road was
great expense during the winter by
reason of the heavy snow drifts on the
mountains also made ii grow less CAP
able of holding mp its end against the
constantly chcapening steam roads.
As may b. imagined the greatest
CONSERVATION was caused il the towns
at the terminus and along the route
of the gravity by Yesterdays an
nounccment. 1t is the only connecting
link HOnesdale and the Intervening
1, 1,
in lOnesdalo it was virtually the life
of the village. Unless the Erie goes
to the expense of moving its tracks the
5000 people of Honesdale and vicinity
viii be compelled to travel nearly a
mile to the Insignificant cross roads
station i'm Texas in order to get aboard
railroad train. Prompton. Way.
mart and the other good sized hamletS
that have sprung up along the gravity
road are completely cut off from the
world.
Carbondale, too, will suffer to no
small extent OF The thousand men,
who will be thrown out of employment,
the majority are either residents of
! or contributors to CaTbondale. 1t is
estimated that the employees OF the
gravity road and shops who do con
tribute to Carbondale's commercial eX-
istence draw in salary S35, 1000 a month.
The canal and gravity road have
been in operation seventy years. Up
TO 1870 the canal had cost S6,GO9, 95i. 81
according TO a report at that time
made, and the road up TO the same
time represented an expenditure of
over $4,000, ,OOO The money invested in
the two routes Is now probably twice