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

ne round that the engineers had laid
the road on the proposed route up
to saltwater, and from that point
the engineers had left the Lacka-
wanna, deveying to the west and
were steering for Ararat summit.
Mr.. Minor ordered them to stop, and
follow the Lackawanna into Wayne
county. The engineers said that
they were employed by Fonda and
were working under his direction
Mr.. Minor returned to Honesdale,
and called a meeting of the Jeffes-
son directors who sent positive ord
ers to Fonda to change his course
and adhere to the contemplated
route. 1t appears that he owned
land on the route he was running.
and was determined to go through
his land.
When the orders from the direct
ors reached Fonda, Thomas Dickson,
then President of the Del. Il Hud.
Canal Co. through whose hands the
construction money passed, inter
, fered, and urged that Fonda should
be left to his own course. 1t ap-
pears that Fonda was an intimate
friend of President Dickson.
The Jefferson directors urged that
they wanted the road constructed
! into Wayne county, so that the
connection could be more easily
made with the Honesdale road. Mr..
Dickson replied: THAT connection
will be made any way-let Fonda
! go on" So Fonda went on, en-
countering the first sink-hold this
side of the summit; then Aronat
Mountain, which he cut through at
great expense, then running three
miles to get down to Thompson Cen
ter, which was only three-quarters
of a mile from the summit next en-
countering the deep cut this side of
Starrucca village, over which
long bridge was constructed 100
feet high, and finally getting down
to the Susquehanna connection on a
grade as steep as to require two To-
comotives to draw up an empty train
of cars.
All of these difficulties would have
been avoided if the road had been
built as the jefferson directors con-
templated, and then connection
with Honesdale would have been
short and easy.
Until the road reached this stage
the whole was under the control of
the Del. & Hud. Canal Co. 1t was
finally arranged that the road
should pass into the hands of the
Erie company, which was to pay in
| transportation the Del. & Hudson
company for the advances. Accord
ingly all of the stock of the .Jeffer-
son Company was sold to the Erie
road. At the time Of the sale, how
ever, the Erie Company entered in
to contract to put the road up to
Honesdale and to build proper
depot. But as the Jefferson fran
chise Immediately passed into their
hands they doubtless considered it
as a contract under with themselves
which they We're at liberty to keep
or not as they see fit
When the Jefferson road was
opened up to Honesdale the Erie
road was under the management of
| Jay Gould. Mr.. Gould was we'll ac-
quainted with this county and un-
derstood the good advantages to the
Erie road to be gained by running
through Wayne county. He sent on
a company of engineers under Van
Frank who made careful and Ella
borate survey from llonesdale up the
Dyberry to the summit and down
the Starrucca to the junction with
| the Erie at LaneSbOrO
In making the survey Mr.. Van
Frank consulted mainly with the
late Judge C. p. Waller and G. S.
Minor. While they were making the
map of the road as surveyed, Mr..
Minor asked Mr.. Van Frank about
the goods. The latter said that the
heaviest grade between Lanesboro
and Honesdale was in getting up the
Starrucca to the summit; and that
he there encountered a grade of
sixty feet to the mile. Mr.. Miner
| said to him I'VE must have found
a lower pass at the summit than
you did, for in our survey, (the
Weston) we reached the summit on
a grade fifty feet to the mile
NO. said Mr.. Van Frank, Il passed
the summit where you did; but
sixty feet to the mile is not an OBJ
jectionable grade, and | straighten-
ed and shortened the route of your
survey.
After Mr.. Van Frank had return
ed his survey with the map to the
Erie office, Mr.. Gould, in a confer
ence with the late Col. F. Young,
said that if the people of Wayne
county would raise $4,000, or do
what was equivalent to that in pro-
curing the right of way, he would,
as soon as spring opened COM
mence operations and push the road
through to the Erie road. Mr..
Young reported the proposition and
offered to give the right of way
through all of his lands, now the
Rieher property. c. p. Tallman
agreed to procure the right of way
or releases through the section