The Railway Library, 1909. Various
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received by the government from the United States bank. This bill, which was drawn up by Clay, passed through Congress in 1817, but it was vetoed by Madison, who, though favorably disposed toward public works, had inherited from Jefferson a doubt as to the rights of Congress to participate in their construction without a constitutional amendment specifically granting the authority. And Monroe, holding the same opinion, vetoed a bill for the repair of the Cumberland road, and submitted to Congress a long statement of the principles involved in his decision. In the meantime, weary of waiting, New York had succeeded in building the Erie canal. Its success shifted the whole plan of promotion. With credit established abroad, internal improvements were taken up by the states, and for the next two decades transportation interest centers in state funding.
It was during this period of struggle for means of transportation facilities adequate to meet the demands of those whose fortunes had been cast in the remote interior that the railroad became the subject of serious economic interest.
(In subsequent chapters, Messrs. Cleveland & Powell trace the beginnings of the railroad, the physical and financial difficulties that beset them at every turn; the indomitable spirit with which they were projected, promoted and built into every quarter of the Union, until through the investment of billions of private capital the United States has been furnished with the best system of internal transportation in the world. To their pages the reader is referred for the continuation of this most interesting narrative.)
FIRST ANNUAL REPORT of The Chief Engineer of the PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY
June 12, 1848.
By J. Edgar Thomson.
Chief Engineer.
Engineer Department, Pennsylvania R. R. Co.
Philadelphia, June 12, 1848.
To the President and Directors of the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company:
Gentlemen—I have the honor to communicate to you the following Report of the operations of this Department since it was committed to my charge, now something more than a year.
Under the organization of the Engineer Department, as adopted previous to my acceptance of the office you have conferred upon me, the Road was to be divided into three divisions, Eastern, Western and Middle: Edward Miller, Esq., as associate engineer, was assigned to the Western, and W. B. Foster, Jr., to the Eastern division. These gentlemen had entered upon the survey of their respective lines, previous to my arrival, under instructions from the president, each with two full corps of assistants. The middle, or mountain division, not having been provided for, I concluded after a full consideration of the subject that the interest of the Company would be best promoted by so altering the organization as to abolish it altogether, and extend the eastern and western divisions to the summit of the Allegheny mountains, the natural boundary between them. Under this arrangement, the surveys have since been prosecuted.
The Board having directed me to cause a location of the whole line, from Harrisburg to Pittsburg, to be made at the earliest practicable period, I at once commenced a reconnoissance of that portion of the intervening country, over which it seemed—from an inspection of a map of the State—that the Road would probably pass, for the purpose of determining the best plan of operations to carry out their views.
The Legislature, in their grant to the Company, wisely left the choice of a route for the Road, between its termini, entirely free, throwing upon the Board the responsibility of selecting, upon the wide field that was opened to them, a line for their great work, which would offer the cheapest railroad conveyance for the transportation of freight and the most expeditious for travel that could be selected between the west and the northern Atlantic cities.
Such a route, it was believed from previous surveys, lay within the borders of Pennsylvania, an expectation which has been fully justified by the results obtained from our examinations.
Of the several routes proposed, I found no difficulty—after a careful inspection of the plans of the various surveys, made under the authority of the Commonwealth, and my reconnoissance of the country—in coming to the conclusion that the valley of the Juniata offered advantages for a line which, whether we consider the low gradients that may be obtained along it or its general directness, the desiderata required, is without a rival.
This stream has its source in the Alleghenies, and consequently severs, as it flows towards the Atlantic, all the secondary mountain ranges that lie east of them, and it heads opposite to the Black Lick and Conemaugh rivers, both of which sever those on the west, leaving the main Allegheny only to be surmounted, which would have to be encountered upon any other direct route, in addition to many of the inferior mountain ranges. A more northern route, by the west branch of the Susquehanna (which has its source beyond the Allegheny mountains), would have encountered less elevation at the principal summit, but its great increased length precluded its adoption; while, on the other hand, a southern route, though not indirect, was equally objectionable on account of the rugged character of the country, and the high gradients necessary to overcome the numerous summits upon it. A partial examination of one of the proposed southern routes was made, which followed the Cumberland Valley Railroad to near Shippensburg, and thence, crossing to the west side of the valley at Roxbury, it passed through the Blue Mountain, by a long tunnel, into Path valley; thence, following around the point of Dividing mountain, it crossed this valley and passed through Tuscarora, by another tunnel, to the valley of Augwick creek. Thence it would have been traced between Broad Top and Sideling mountains, and up Dunning and Bob's creeks to the summit of the Alleghenies at Bob's Creek gap; or, turning west by Bedford, crossed the Alleghenies at the head waters of the tributaries of Castleman's river, where the mountain is still much more elevated.
A line leaving the Cumberland Valley Railroad at Chambersburg, and turning the end of Blue mountain, thence seeking the low depression at Cowan's gap in Tuscarora, would be too circuitous to compare favorably with the bolder line from Shippensburg, already described.
But that line would encounter engineering difficulties of the most formidable character; leaving out of view its objectionable gradients, and considering it in reference to its cost, and the local accommodations it would extend to a large portion of the State—at present in a great measure deprived of the advantages of the State improvements—(the strongest argument in favor of the route), it will be found that equal accommodations could be extended to that region with a less expenditure of capital by placing the main stem of the road on the Juniata, and running a branch along one of the comparatively level valleys that lie between most of the parallel mountain ranges that we pass.
The facilities that railroads offer for extending their benefits to remote districts by means of lateral lines constitute one of their chief advantages over canals, and should prevent the error, too frequently committed in locating leading routes, of turning from a direct course to accommodate local interests to the injury of the great object intended to be accomplished.
Other modifications of the Juniata route have been suggested, and their merits fully considered, but, upon examination, all of them tended to confirm our preference in favor of the river line.
These conclusions were communicated to the Board, and the general route recommended having been adopted by them, I proceeded at once to make arrangements to have the line surveyed throughout. For this purpose three additional corps of engineers were organized—one for Mr. Miller's division, under the immediate direction of Mr. G. W. Leuffer, to operate on the summit and western slope of the mountain, and two upon Mr. Foster's, the first of which was placed in charge of Edward Tilghman, Esq., to whom was assigned the district between Lewistown and the confluence of the Raystown branch and main Juniata rivers.
The other corps was given in charge to S. W. Mifflin, Esq., a gentleman of well-known professional skill and experience, to whom we committed the surveys of the region from the Raystown branch to the summit of the Alleghenies, embracing