The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-06-16

10 Cue measure, MT. W0e6l0T was
not informed of the bill or the use
made of his name. After the act
had passed the Legislature Mr.. Free
man wrote to Mr.. Wheeler that the
Jefferson railroad bill had passed,
and that the tax must be paid. Mr..
Wheeler, knowing nothing of what
had been done, called on Mr.. Penni-
man, who, being then the editor of
this paper under it's original name,
he naturally supposed would un-
derstand what had been done in the
Legislature. Mr. Penniman eX-
planned the business to him and
found him friendly to the measure.
1t now became necessary to raise
the money for the tax. AS there
was some doubt as to whether or
not the charter was worth what it
would cost, Mr.. Penniman aad Mr..
Minor on consultation agreed to
lay the whole matter before Judge
Thomas II. R. Tracy, one of the To-
cal officers of the Del. 4 hud. Canal
Co. For this purpose Mr.. Pennl-
man called on Judge Tracy, and af-
ed whether it was advisable to pay
the tax.
by all means" said Judge
Tracy, land if the amount of the
tax is any consideration, we will
pay it, for we shall have occasion
to use the road to send off coal.
The coal business is changing;
form, coocup,orc uoro nop+apt
to buy six months supply in the
fall, but since other companies are
running off coal all winter, consum-
ers buy from month to month. We
must adopt our business to this
changed condition. We were never
opposed to a railroad. When the
Erie road proposed in 1914 to come
into the State we were afraid the
idea would go forth that would put
up the price of coal lands; we want
ed one year to buy coal lands; we
fought off the measure the first
year; we had one year to buy coal
lands, and withdrew all opposition.
We are now in favor of the road.
Mr., Tracy paid the tax for the Del.
posed, and from that time the d.
& H. Co. were heartily friendly to
the enterprise. The Act of incor-
poration passed April 23, 1851.
Soon after obtaining the charter
Messrs. Penniman, Minor and Smith
employed Edward Weston to make
survey of the route from Homes
n hn IL 10
a. written report setting forth that
he had found grade eX-
ceeding fifty feet to the mile; that
the distance saved between Lacka-
waXen and Susquehanna depended
somewhat upon the route taken,
but was not not less than twenty
miles.
The report was sent to the Presi-
dent of the Erie road. In 1S49 the
road had been opened up the Della
ware and on to Owego. Soon after
getting Mr.. Weston's report the Erie
company sent on engineers to take
Che elevation from Susquehanna up
20 the Summit in Wayne county, and
found that Weston's report was cor
rect.
Hearing nothing more from the
Erie company, Messrs. Penniman
and Minor called upon the President
of the Erie road to ascertain from
him whether the advantages of this
route did not offer sufficient induce
ment for the Erie company to build
the road. The president replied
that if his company could have gone
through Wayne county originally it
would have been greatly to their
advantage; but their road was now
built along the Delaware and they
had no money then to build another
through Wayne county At some
time in the future, it would prob
ably be desirable to build a road on
that route.
Nothing more was done till 1868.
Meanwhile the Pennsylvania Coal
Company had built a road from
IIaWley to LackawaXen, there con-
Meeting with the Erie. The people,
of Honesdale felt the necessity of
a continuation of the road to this
place. March Is, 1868, the Jeffer-
son charter was revived the neces-
sary stock was subscribed; a COM
pany was organized and a contract
was subsequently made with John
Gently, but it was not until June %,
1868, that locomotives passed over
the road, and July 13 the passen-
ger trains commenced running reg
nlarly. 1t was originally contem-
plated that the Jefferson road would
run up the Dyberry to the summit,
near Tallmansville, then follow the
! Starrucca creek down to Lanesboro
and there connect with the Erie
road.
The Act of 1853 reviving the
charter authorizes the construction
of branch not to exceed twenty
miles in length. The branch con-
templated was to run from the head
waters of the Lackawanna, in
Wayne county, down to Carbondale
AS, however, the point of connec-
tion with the main line was not