The Washington herald., 1907-03-31

played In the last lew years. Di5Bei games,
no doubt. than any of the earlier ones IN
the history of railroad development and
finance.
Yet none Of the Hartman games has
been more stubbornly contested or more
closely followed by the public than the
great game played and lost by A. A. Nc
Le0d a dozen years ago or more.
In this game which WAS blocked by the
Pennsylvania, the New York. New Haven
and Hartford. and J. P Morgan, the
stakes were the control OF the Lehigh Val
ley the Central of New Jersey, and the
Philadelphia and Reading, three of the
seven so-caIled hard-coal lines, and, sec
ond. control Of New England's anthracite
trade through control of several New Eng
land lines.
Once these things were accomplished it
was ''ia the air to bring in the Baltimore
and Ohio and thus rear on the foundation
already lRld a vast East and West trunk
line system. equaling any then in exist
ence, extending from Portland on the
cosat TO St. Louis on the Mississippi, and
covering the Middle and New England
States the most thickly settled part of the
country. with a veritable net of rails
So far as the game was actually played,
the East was affected chiefly. but the
chance that the Baltimore and Ohio would
be a part of the proposed big trunk line
attracted the close attention of the West
as we'll. The game was so well played for
a while that success seemed assured, but
The collapse was complete when it came.
OF the three coal roads involved the
Philadelphia and Reading IS the oldest,
its charter having been issued in 1893
when steam iOcomotion was new, The
Central of New Jersey was formed by the
consolidation of several small lines in 1873
The Lehigh Valley, chartered in 1916, is a
monument to Asa Packer, a noteworthy
leader among railroad men of his day.
Packer was a Yankee by birth. IN
1Sz3. at Is be left Groton, Conn, and
started West 10 seek his fortune. He
stopped in the mountains of Northeastern
Pennsylvania, in the heart of the anthra-
cite region, near what is now Mauch
Chunk. No one then fOresaw the future
OF hard coal or that young Packer was to
be a great factor In its development
Yet that turned out to be his work in
the world. He did not take up coal
transportation at once. however. He had
worked in a lanyard back East" he now
learned the less OdOrOus trade of the car
penter. After mastering it he tried New
York for a while but soon returned to
Mauch Chunk and went 10 building canal
boats for coal transportation. The Lehigh
Valley Coal and Transportation Company
was incorporated in 1892 nine years after
the Delaware and Hudson Canal Com
pany and one year before the Phila-
delphia and Reading Railroad Company
The canals dug by these two companies
were the first artificial lines of water
transportation for hard coal and the fore
runners of the entire list of haTd-cOal
canals and railroads.
When the Lehigh Canal was opened Asa
Packer. then not FAR from thirty. was
the joint owner with his brother Of a
boat which they put into the coal trade
on the new canal and the Delaware River
between the Lehigh region and Philsdel-
phia. In 1888 Asa established himself at
Pottsviile, where he combined boat build
ing with mine working
BY 1914 he had become quite a figure
both locally and in his State serving
both in the legislature and as county
Judge. But the problem that year by year
absorbed more of his thought was the
transportation of anthracite 10 the sea
board. He saw that the canal must ulti-
nately give way to the railroad. The al
most immediate success Of the PhiIadel-
phia and Reading-it was in partial op-
Grafton by 1S3S-had taught him that les
son and he took advantage Of it.
To-day coal can be transported by rail
from the Lehigh region 10 the sea in i've
hours. It takes as many days 10 carry
1t by canal.
Beginnings of the Lehigh Valley.
Packer began the agitation for an cut
let by ran from the Lehigh mines, which
took form in the charter Of the Delaware.
Lehigh Schuylkin and Susquehanna Rail
road Company In 1886. He was then forty
one and, although he had been the hard
est kind of a hard worker physically in
his youth and young manhood, his period
of greatest, most effective activity began
at that time
He had not only to lay out the road so
as to insure its commercial success. but
he had to finance II as well. This could
be accomplished only In the securing OF
subscriptions for stock. in small blocks
mostly, In the region which the line was
to serve; this he did by personal soIicita-
ton. He also undertook to obtain free
right Of way wherever he could, and for
the next nine years practically all his
time was devoted 10 those things and the
building of the line.
lie had a hard fight since there were
many VINO could not see with his pro-
pheuc eyes. Some were simply passive in
their opposition others fought him ac-
lively. and still others laughed at him.
but Packer beat them all In 1853 the name
of his organization was changed to the
Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and
two years later when hew as fifty, the
line from Mauch Chunk to Easton, with
branches to Hazleton and Mahanoy. was
completed For years afterward the
roads coal traffic was carried from Eas-
ton 10 tide water by canal and the Cen
tral Railroad OF New Jersey
Facker was now made president the
road grew. branch at a time, from year
20 year, and gradually the enterprise
which so many had derided became an
established institution in its region and
famous everywhere. At the same time
Asa Packer grew In the respect of the
people and in wealth, until he was con-
cededly one of Pennsylvania most i'm
pOrtant citizens and beyond all doubt the
richest man IN the State
His reputation became national and. IN
ls6s, the Pennsylvania delegation put him
forward for the Presidential nomination
on the Republican ticket. He was almost
a world figure then. but the world had
only Just begun 10 hear of Rockefeller.
J. J. Eitll had already run away from
home 10 become a mud clerk, at st.
Paul, but the Great Northern was still
unbuit; Hartman and his amazing career
were yet undreamed of, and Grenville NJ.
Dodge was still struggling with the con
sJTuction Of the Union Pacific.
Planned Great University.
Packer had been obliged to get along
without college training. and for that
reason. perhaps. he valued education. At
al events he decided that the valley OF
the Lehigh ought to have a great insti-
tlscOn of learning. and forthwith he