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/80

 COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES (rack laid. I 1 i c company was then reorgan­ ized as (lie Bloomsburg^ Millville & Northern R ailw ay Company and preparations were made to equip the line with storage battery cars* but nothing dclinite w*as accomplished. The officiaU and promoters of this road in 1 9 13 w ere: D. O. Coughlin» president^ W ilkes-Barre; W aller Hughes^ treasurer. West B erw ick; W. P. Zehner, secretary, Bloom sburg; directors, W illiam M asters and E llis E ves, M illville; W alter Hughes, C W. M iller, J. C Brow n, Jam e s Magcc, W. P. Zehncr, Bloom sburg; J. B. K estcr, M ainville; L. E. W aller, WilkesBarre. Ill passing it seems well to observe that in all of the foregoing enterprises, which have con­ tributed so much to the development o f Colum­ bia county, M r C. W. Miller, a member of the Columbia county bar, w as the pioneer, and to his indefatigable energy and farsightedness the community is largely indebted for the prog­ ress w'hich it has made, not only in the de­ velopment o f public service corporations, but many manufacturing industries as well. In (he fall o f 19W, at a time w*hcn the de­ velopment of the electrical industry in the nation w as beginning to assume that position in the economic scheme which it is one day destined to attain; and when science had dem­ onstrated the fact that electrical e n e r ^ might be profitably transmitted for long distances, certain gcmlemcn affiliated with the Pardee coal interests, at Hazleton, conceived the idea o f establishing a gigantic electric power pbnt adjacent to (he vast culm banks at the H arMines, and a corporation was formed known as the Harwood Electric Company, who there erected a modem electric plant at a cost o f over a million dollars, with capacity to furnish electric energy and distribute it for hundreds o f miles. Recognizing the possibilities which this en­ terprise o ffc r ^, M r. A. W. Duy, o f Blooms­ burg. at that time counsel for the electric rail­ w ay company and the gas and electric com­ panies, togetWr wiih Mr. E. R. Sponslcr. of H arrisburg, Pa., (he president of the Colum­ bia an<l Montour Electric R ailw ay Company, conceived the idea o f amalgamating all of the electric light, gas and electric rail wav com­ panies in Columbia and Montour counties, and a corporation w as formcrl by them under the laws o f l)elaware, known as the Columbia Pow er, Light ami R ailw ays Company, with on authorized capitalization o f $850,000. and an authorized bond issue o f like amount. The incorporators o f this company w*erc E. R. Sponslef, H arrisburg: A. W. Duy. Blooms­

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b u rg; F. Low ry, B erw ick; Myron I. Low, Lim e R idge; C. M. Creveling, A lm edia; K, H. Koch, Pottsville; W. C Billman, Reading; P. K. Bevan, W ilkes-B arre; M. E. U. Scanlon, St. D avid s; B. F. M eyers, H arrisburg; W. M. Pyle, Wilmuigton, D el.; R. Scott Ammcrman, Danville, Pennsylvania. T his company acquired by purchase a con­ trolling interest and in some instances all of (he capital stock, a m ajority of the bonds, and in some cases all of the bonds, of the follow*ing com panies: Berw ick Electric Light Com­ pany o f B erw ick; W est Berwick Electric i-ight, Heat and Power Company, o f West B erw ick; United Gas and Electric Company o f Bloom sburg; Irondale Electric Light. Heat and Pow er Company o f Dloomshurg; Standard G as Light Company o f D anville; Danville Electric Light Company o f D anville; Ncsco­ pcck Light. Heat and Pow er Company of Ncscopeck; Columbia and Montour Electric R ailw ay, and Danville and Bloomsburg Street R ailw ay Companies. In order that the territoiy o f operation of the comjiany might he legally oiganized and the light, heat and power turnishcd by any one of the subsidiary or operated companies man­ aged by the company and as rectuircd by the statutes of the Commonw*ealth, the company procured to be organized and purchased all of the capital stock of the following named light, heat and power com panies: B riar Creek Elec­ tric Company, Catawissa Electric Company, Centre Township Electric Company, Cooper Electric Company, Gearhart Electric Company, Hemlock Electric Company, Mahoning nicetrie Company. Mifflin Township Electric Com­ pany. Montour Electric Company, Riverside Electric Company. Salem Electric Company, Scott Township fvlectric Company, Shickshin­ ny Electric Company. Valley Township Elec­ tric Company, West Hemlock Electric Comp an y^ $5,0 0 0 each, the total being $75,000. It w as the ultimate purpose of the company, as the sole or principal stockholder of the re­ spective subsidiary or operated companies, to cause the merger of the railway companies into one company and all of the light, heat and pow'cr companies into one company, so that the subsidiary or operated companies should consist o f one transportation company and one light, heal and power company. T his was accomplished by agreements o f merger and consolidation dated Feb. 7. 1 9 1 1. forming the Columbia and Montour Electric R ailw ay Com­ pany and the Columbia G as and Electric Com­ pany, and all the tcrritor>* operated by the company through its subsidiary companies in