Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/77

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COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES

E L E C T R I C R A I L W A Y S — L IC iH T lN C w ay w as secured through the efforts o f Capt. H. J. Conner and S ilas M cH enry. Jo h n Bush F o r the follow ing concise and correct his­ (G iovanni B u cci), o f Bloomsburg. was the contractor. T h e road is twenty-nine miles tory of the development o f gas and electricity lung, its route being through the beautiful and in the counties o f Columbia and Montour wc historic Fishingereek valley, where at many arc indebted to A. W. D uy, a prominent attor­ points are located the camps and cottages of ney o f Uloomsbuig, who is personally associ­ the summer residents from Bloumsburg. Cata­ ated with these companies. w issa. Berw ick and the adjoining towns in the O'ar L igfitittg county. There arc many highly productive farm s along the line, which pa.sscs through 'I'he first gas company to be incorporated and Light Street, O rangeville, F orks. Stillw ater. bcginopcrationsin Bloomsburg w as the Blooms­ Benton, Coles C rcck, Central and Jam ison City. Connection is ma<lc at Bloom sburg with the burg G as Company, which corporation received Lackaw anna and the Reading, and at Paper its charter from the court o f Common Heas M ill with the Susquehanna, Bloom sburg & o f Columbia county on M ay 9, 1874. The au­ Berw ick roads. T he road operates six pas­ thorized capitalization w as $30,000 (Deed Book 27, page 4 3 3 ), and the promoters of this senger trains each day, and several freights, enterprise were as follow s: H. J. Clark, John although the trade ha.s fallen o ff since the re­ L a W all, F reas Brow n, D. A. Uccklcy, Samuel moval of the sawm ills at Jam ison C ity. A n K n o rr, If. H. Grotz, K. K. Ikeler, Enos Jacoby, extension was projected northward to connect A. L. T u rn er, J. C. Brow n, J. K. Grotz, A. C with the Lehigh V alley road, and a route was Sm ith, C. Bittcnbcndcr, C. F. Knapp, J. H. once survcyetl, but nothing further has cul­ Maize, Ed. M. W arden, Jaco b Schuyler, C. G. minated. Barkley, D. J. W aller, W illiam Peacock, J. J. T he present officers of the road a r c : Samuel B row er, I. W. H artm an, Robert F. Clark, W igfall. president: H. T. Dcchcrt, vice presi­ John A. Funslon, C. W. N eal, Joshu a Felierd en t; V. C. Snyder, superintendent and treas­ man, W. M. R cbcr, D. I-owcnbcrg, M. C. u rer; George A. Ritter, secretary and auditor; W oodw ard, J. S. Sterner, E. H. Little, Louis W. C. Fortune, supervisor. About fifty men Bernhard, W m. B. K oons, Isaiah Hagenbueh, W. F. Sloan, H. L. Dicffenbach, C W. Miller. arc employed by the company. These gentlemen a fte r receiving their char­ The W ilkes-B arre & W estern railroad was ter purchased the tract o f land at the intersec­ commenced in 1885, ran the first train from tion o f Seventh and M arket streets in the town W atsontown to M illville in 1887, and in 1891 o f Bloomsburg, there constructed a g a s plant w as completed to O rangeville. .Subsequently and laid mains throughout the main portion the management changed hands, the name w as of the town, and con<lucted a very prosperous changed to the Susquehanna. Bloom sburg & business until Sept. 2 .18 9 9, when the company Berw ick R ailroad Company, the line lo O range­ leased its property, rights and franchises for ville abandoned, the route made through Light a period o f nine hundred and ninety-nine years Street and the line completed to Berw ick in (M isc. Book 6, page 454) to the Am erican Gas 1903. O ver this road most of the cars manu­ Light Company o f Bloomsburg, a corporation factured by the Am erican C ar & Foundrj- Com­ formed under the act o f 1874. for the purpose pany, o f Bcnvick, are forw arded to their o f taking over the property, rights and fran­ chises of the old Bloomsburg G as Company. owners. T he Am erican G as Ligh t Com pany of T he line traverses a picturesque region o f Bloom sburg received its charter A u g. 2 5, 1899 hills and deep valleys, passing through Light Street, Paper M ill, Jerseytow n, E y c r ’s Grove (M isc. Book 8. page 6 6 5 ). its authorized capi­ and M ordansvilic. with a branch to M illville. talization l>cing $40,000, together ivith an issue T he terminus of the road is at W atsontown, on o f bonds o f equal amount, and the incorpora­ tors of the company w e re : W illiam D. Boyer, the west branch of the Susquehanna. Samuel Jo h n B. Russel. Grant Pciton. George W. R ey­ B. Haupt. president of the road, died in Sep ­ nolds. P. R. B cvan, all o f W ilkes-B arre, Pa. tember, 19 13, from injuries received when his It continued in business until N ov. 16, 1906, private car was struck by a switch engine in when by virtue o f an agreement o f m erger and the Berw ick yards. Since his death the ro-id consolidation between it and the American has come into the control of the Pennsylvania Electric Light Company, the property, rights system. and franchises of the company b ^ m e vested