The Cairo bulletin., 1908-08-10

2AM road, now 10, only oc
casionally travelled by vehicle. has
not been repaired for ten yea =: it's
condition is such that accidents upon
1t are very liable to happen, and the
township taxpayers desire it formal Y
abandoned before the township be
held responsible for damages.
A queer chapter of accidents. Fl p,
forsaken farms and an almost deser
| village has TO do with the history us
this old highway Ii was built ar I
state road nearly half century
at which time the business OF lumb
ing was Just opening the Pine Or, !.
| region with its wealth of pine lie 4.
lock TO the markets of the world
For 10 years the road was an ar
terry OF trade between the plateau set
! tiers on top OF the Alleghenies and the
| timber men, raftsmen and railroad.
ers in the valley far below The Cam.
mai and Black Forest Timber railroad
! was pushed back into the western
tracts for a dozen miles, and the big
Wood & Childs sawmill became one OF
the biggest and best "sawdust makers"
In all this section.
A large wooden pipe mill was built
at which 60 men found employment.
10 houses We're built with funds Dor.
rowed out of its building and loan as.
sociation OF this city and Cammal was
the busiest place of any along the Pine
Greek railroad between Jersey Shore
ard Wellsboro.
A great stretch of pitch pine forest
on the SUBMITS of the hills in the
Okome region 10 the east of Cammal
attracted Shenandoah mine timber
constructor. He built narrow gauge
railroad, known as the Texas and Ore
gon, from Cammal to Okome and for
eight years train load after train load
of prop timber came screeching and
rumbling down over the little tram.
way, behind the grinding cogwheel 10.
connective. Cammal just throbbed with
business.
But one night fire destroyed the pipe
mill; It was rebuilt on much small
or scale Then a forest fire. the worst
ever known In Pennsylvania lumber,
ing, swept a portion of the Wood a
Childs tract, destroying great
amount of timber, eating up two lum-
Der camps. sending the men, women
and children into creeks and swamps
for safety until the wall of fire had
passed Two Of the men, who for three
days and three nights had fought the
awful flames, met death In them, hav-
ing been caught in a circle of back
firing"
One evening the little locomotive
on the Texas and Oregon was coming
down from the summit of the grade
with five loaded cars behind IT, There
We're II men aboard, some of them
woodsmen from the cap and the 9TH
ers the trainmen. A rain had fallen
that afternoon, and, on steep grade.
the little 'lokie." though the wheels
were locked. began TO slip. In an in.
slant the weight OF the train behind
had pushed the train into a moment.
nm beyond control
Then the men began to jump. Two
niles down the hill, at a sharp curve
above 50-foot emhankment the train
eft the track and plunged Into the
iefile Dead and injured men lay
Itrewn along the track where they had
Jumped, and one was taken crushed
md lifeless from the cab OF the en-
zine.
The villagers. a mile below. heard
he awful roar of the runaway. and
hen the echo OF its crunching wreck.
lge as It plunged into the defle was
olowed by an ominous silence. A
lslf mile up the track the first scared
'illagers, in their mad run. met
bleeding man. As he gasped out:
They're all killed" the poor fellow
ell exhausted He was one of the
our who had survived the awful leap.
he seven others we're dead.
That night as the seven bodies each
nder cover Of white, lay on the hoor
I the Fall Brook depot. one of the
wners of the Texas and Oregon said:
That settles It; there shall never
heel turn on the Texas and Oregon
gain!" And that was true: three
lonths afterward the rails were ta-
en- up. Portions of the broken loco
otive lie at the foot OF the embank-
ent yet as memory of that awful
eptember day.
Six months ago, In single night,
wen houses in Cammal were de-
royed by fire. Two months previous
rec others had burned The Cam
al and Black Forest railroad was
IN up three years ago because the
nber was all cut. The sawmill was
IN down and removed to Tioga coun-
3. Nowadays only the way trains on
e Fall Brook stop at Cammal.
The abandonment of the old state
ad. now asked for by the citizens.
III close the story of the mushroom
ttlement that is now fast going back
to primitive condition.