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| View Of Pottsville Pa, 1854. Note the coal cars to the left. |
" The Danville and Pottsville railroad was a practical failure, affording no outlet to Philadelphia and the Atlantic seaboard, and westward a very uncertain way to the Susquehanna and its incomplete water communications." - Bells History Of Northumberland County
Chartered on April 8, 1826, the Danville and Pottsville Railroad (D & P) was one of Pennsylvania's earliest railroads. However, it never connected the towns listed in its name. Built in two separate sections, there was an 18 mile long gap in the middle that was never closed.
"Transportation of Anthracite Coal was the principal business of the rail road. Coal was brought from the mines in two ton dump cars pulled by horses or mules. The road entered Sunbury through Raspberry Alley, out to the river front to wharves, where the coal was dumped into canal boats to be taken across the river to the canal and then to market. However, with the collapse of the Canal System, the line was never extended to Pottsville."
In the 1820s a group of prominent Pennsylvania businessmen including Stephen Girard of Philadelphia, Burd Patterson of Pottsville, Judge Alexander Jordan of Sunbury, John Boyd of Northumberland, and Daniel Montgomery of Danville, joined together to build a rail line. The railroad was intended to link the Susquehanna and Schuylkill rivers allowing anthracite coal, iron, and timber to be transported in larger quantities to established and growing markets. An 18 mile stretch in the middle of the route was never completed.
Engineers deemed tunneling through the Shamokin Hill impractical so an 1828 supplement to the original charter designated Sunbury as the western section's terminus.
In early 1831, public subscriptions of stock in the railroad were made available. As the projected route would traverse lands held by Philadelphia banker and philanthropist Stephen Girard, he became "very much interested in this project, and on March 6 1831, subscribed $200,000 towards its construction."
Civil engineer Moncure Robinson, who had previously laid out the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the Allegheny Portage Railroad, was challenged with the task of laying out this new line through rugged Schuylkill County. The route required the construction of an 800-foot tunnel between Wadesville and Girardville as well as six inclined planes to descend into the Schuylkill River Valley. The company grossly underestimated construction costs.
The tunnel took two years to complete, and was only the second railroad tunnel in America when it opened in 1833. (The Wadesville Tunnel was destroyed by strip mining)
Late in the year of 1831, Girard and Montgomery died just days apart, which seriously compromised the organization's leadership and the progress of the railroad. The company, which had vastly underestimated expenses, was in financial trouble and had lost two of it's biggest investors.
It is estimated that approximately 1,000 tons of anthracite were mines during 1834, with 290 tons being transported to market by the railroad.
The portion of the line between Sunbury and Paxinos took 16 months to build and opened in November 1835. Horses pulled coal cars which hauled two and a half tons and two cars resembling large stagecoaches accommodated passengers.
Two 4-2-0 locomotives, the "Mountaineer", and the "Pioneer", arrived at Sunbury from Philadelphia via the canal. They hauled coal for a short time between 1838 and 1839, but "proved too heavy for the wooden track". After their retirement, three or four horses hitched in tandem handled six to seven coal cars.
In the midst of tough economic times in 1842, the railroad declared bankruptcy.
When it's locomotives and rolling stock were sold at Sheriffs sale in 1850, William and Reuben Fagely leased the line for ten yeas. Using 100 horses with teams of 4-5 pulling a ten car train, they made the round trip in two days. Four or five horses pulled 10 dump cars hauling about 45 tons of coal per trip.
The company reorganized in April (July?) of 1852 and became known as the Philadelphia and Sunbury Railroad Company.
In 1852 the line became the first rail line in the world to use iron T rails made by the nearby Danville Iron Company, and the line secured six more steam engines. The iron rails enabled the use of a larger steam locomotive which brought as many as 110 cars carrying 495 tons of coal into Sunbury at one time.
The Lower Anthracite Railroad Club has an incredible model train display depicting the line from Northumberland To Mt Caramel. See photos from our visit in 2024 here:
It was over these tracks, that in 1861, the first troops from this area left for service in the Civil War. The Line went through several name changes before becoming the Shamokin Valley Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Passenger service on this line continued until 1938
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An Index Of Railroading Incidents In The Susquehanna Valley
The Planes:
The D&P planes were steeper than those of the Allegheny Portage Railroad.
"Traversing rugged country, the line's eastern section used six inclined planes to descend into the Schuylkill River Valley. At first, all planes operated on the passive counterbalancing principle, with ballasted cars (filled with water) on the downward track being used to raise the loaded cars on the upward track. This section opened in late September 1834 after a successful demonstration of D & P's 1,625-foot-long Mahanoy Plane, which used a steam-powered hoist to pull loaded coal cars up the plane.
Soon after the D & P opened, Robinson installed a stationary ninety-horsepower steam engine to hoist cars up the planes. On the gentler stretches between the planes, D & P used horses to pull its trains. Very quickly, however, the D & P closed the eastern section of line. By 1844, the eastern section, according to Rupp's History of Schuylkill County, was "rotting in the sun."
The western section, which contained no inclined planes, offered a different story. Stretching about 20 miles from Sunbury to Shamokin, its operation began smoothly on November 26, 1835, when four mail-coach horses pulled passenger cars named Pottsville and Mahanoy from Sunbury to Paxinos. The entire western segment opened in 1838, the same year that steam locomotives replaced horses.
On August 15, 1838, the North Star, a 4-2-0 steam engine built by Garrett and Eastwick (also known as Eastwick and Harrison) of Philadelphia, moved forty cars loaded with 100 tons of coal from Shamokin to the canal dock at Sunbury, and returned the empty cars the same day.
Time Line Of The Danville & Pottsville Railroad
1833, Jan 9 - Danville & Pottsville Railroad Board authorizes application to Girard
Estate to lease up to 500 acres of Girard coal lands
1833, Jan 28 - Danville & Pottsville Railroad Board authorizes application to Legislature
for subscription of $300,000
1833, May 6 - Thomas M. Pettit declines reelection as Pres. of Danville & Pottsviille
Railroad, citing other business; salary was also cut to $500 a year effective
May 1; Benjamin W. Richards elected.
1833, May 20 - Danville & Pottsville Railroad Board authorizes sale of 200 tons of iron
beyond that already sold.
1833, June 21 - A committee of the Philadelphia City Council, including Richard D.
Wood, arrives at Mount Carbon en route to inspect the Girard Estate coal
lands at Girardville and the Danville & Pottsville Railroad.
1833, Oct 9 - Danville & Pottsville Railroad Board requests Moncure Robinson to
provide estimates to extend railroads 1) to Girardville, 2) to the Centre
Turnpike near Greens Tavern, and 3) cost of wagons, etc, needed for coal
business; reports sale of 50 tons of iron
1833, Oct 26 - Plane No. 2 of Danville & Pottsville Railroad tested
1833, Oct 30 - Danville & Pottsville Railroad reports sale of 50 tons of iron to Mine Hill
& Mill Creek Railroad
1833, Dec 2 - Danville & Pottsville Railroad Board asks City of Philadelphia for aid in
opening mines on Girard Estate land
1833, Dec 17 Wadesville Tunnel of the Danville & Pottsville Railroad holed through.
1833 - Girard Estate authorizes coal mining on its lands at Bear Ridge, Schuylkill
County; begins driving a tunnel laid out by Moncure Robinson, but hits
solid rock after 100 feet; means Danville & Pottsville Railroad has no coal
available when it open
1844
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"The purpose of the proposed Danville and Pottsville Railroad was to open both the Shenandoah and Mahanoy valleys, connect them by a tunnel and mine the coal from the lands encompassed. On April 8 1826, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed an act which incorporated the Danville and Pottsville Railroad Company and granted it the right to hole not more than 1,000 acres of coal lands"
- Laws and By-Laws of the Danville and Pottsville Railroad Company (Philadelphia: L. R. Bailey, 1832) , p. 19.
- Stephen Simpson, Biography of Stephen Girard (Philadelphia: Thomas L. Bonsai, 1832) , p. 199.
- Engineer's Report of the Danville and Pottsville Railroad Company (Philadelphia: Clark & Raser, 1831) , pp. 12 and 27.
- The Girard Estate Coal Lands 1801-1884
At a public meeting held in Sunbury on November 22 1830, the course was described as 42.5 or 49.5 miles, from Danville to Pottsville, at a cost of $626,611.
Public meeting of men engaged in the coal and iron trade. At a meeting of the citizens of Schuylkill County, interested in the iron and coal trade, held at the Pennsylvania Hall on Monday evening, the 31st of January
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The predecessors of our Shamokin Valley Railroad date back to the Danville & Pottsville Railroad, which was incorporated in 1826, and finished construction between Sunbury and Shamokin in 1838. This company became the Philadelphia & Sunbury Railroad in 1851, and in 1858 the line became the Shamokin Valley & Pottsville Railroad (SV&P).
For years after the est end of the D&P was abandoned, maps of Pennsylvania showed it as a completed road.
From Bell's History Of Northumberland County
The period from 1824 to 1829 in Schuylkill county was noted for the great
speculation in coal lands. Coal tracts changed hands quite rapidly, and prices
advanced enormously. Pottsville became the great Mecca for speculators and every
one expected to grow rich in a very short time. The excitement gradually
extended to the Middle coal field, but never reached so high a pitch as at
Pottsville. Large tracts of land, heavily timbered and abounding with the best
grades of coal, heretofore regarded as of little or no value, passed into the
hands of certain parties who knew their worth and foresaw the great future of
the coal trade.
Stephen Girard made large purchases in the Mahanoy region and Burd
Patterson, of Pottsville, one of the greatest men of his day, bought up large
tracts in the Shamokin coal field extending from Mt. Carmel to Trevorton. On
these tracts he employed a number of men to prove and open coal veins. Other
parties from Sunbury and Danville became interested in the enterprise and bought
up some of the most valuable tracts.
What further stimulated this movement was the prospect of a great railroad
being opened through the Middle coal field to connect the Delaware and
Susquehanna at Sunbury and thus divert the trade from Baltimore to Philadelphia.
This movement was headed by such able men as Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia,
Burd Patterson, of Pottsville, Daniel Montgomery, of Danville, and Samuel J.
Packer, of Sunbury. The road was chartered in 1826 under the title of the
Danville and Pottsville railroad, and afterwards amended with many supplements.
This was the greatest and most formidable enterprise that had to that time been
undertaken in our county, and with all the energy and ability that supported it,
it required some seven years before the road was commenced. Some of the parties
in the Shamokin region, thinking this enterprise was too great to be carried
out, secured a charter for the Shamokin Canal Company with powers to construct a
canal, build a railroad, or deepen the channel of the Shamokin creek. This work
was never commenced.
During the year 1832, through the strenuous efforts of Stephen Girard, who
had ordered all the iron from England, the eastern end of the railroad was
commenced and twelve miles of it, extending to Girardville, with numerous
inclined planes, were completed in 1833 at a cost of one hundred ninety
thousand dollars. Coal shipments were made over this portion of the road for two
or three years, but it was abandoned on account of the planes failing to do
their work. In 1834 twenty miles of the Danville and Pottsville railroad between
Sunbury and John Boyd's coal mine (Shamokin) were placed under contract for
grading, which was all completed the next year. The track between Sunbury and
Paxinos was all laid and completed in 1835, and the opening ceremonies in honor
of this great event were held at Paxinos on November 26th of this year. The
principal feature of this meeting was the able address of Hugh Bellas, who gave
a full history of this great undertaking, and predicted the wonderful future
that awaited our coal trade.
Mr. Moncure Robinson, the famous engineer, in his report to the board of
directors at this time, suggested "that it seems almost unnecessary to lay down
the superstructure between the crossing of the Centre turnpike (Paxinos) and the
coal mines (Shamokin) until accommodations shall be obtained for the coal trade
at Sunbury." As there was no communication with the Pennsylvania canal at
Sunbury by means of basins or guard locks, no shipments of coal could be made.
The board acted on this suggestion and postponed laying the track between
Paxinos and Shamokin for the present.
The town of Shamokin was laid out this year (1835) by John C. Boyd and
three houses were erected. Coal drifts continued to be opened at several places
and the veins were proved. About this time John and Thomas English opened a
drift near the turnpike at Mt. Carmel for the use of farmers. In 1836 coal was
mined at several drifts at Shamokin in small quantities, hauled in wagons to
Paxinos, dumped in coal cars, and taken to Sunbury by horse-power for local use.
This trade was continued in this manner until the road was completed to Shamokin
and locomotives placed on the track. During 1838, the track having been laid
some months before to Shamokin, two small locomotives, built by Eastwick &
Harrison, were placed on the road with some small cars brought from Girardville
that held from two and a half to three tons each. No regular shipments took
place this year, but great preparations were made for the coming season. Sidings
and laterals were put down and the mines were put in order to do a large
business for that time.
The year 1839 begins the Shamokin coal trade. The tonnage for this season
was eleven thousand nine hundred thirty tons, which was mined from some four
different operations, which, being pioneer mines, we will briefly describe.
About 1835 George Heckert, an attorney from Lancaster, in company with another
lawyer of that place, visited the coal regions with a view of making an
investment. They commenced their investigations at Trevorton and examined the
mines there, then under the charge of James Renney, who had succeeded Mr. Weiss.
>From Trevorton they came to Shamokin and spent several days in this vicinity
looking at the coal lands, when they proceeded on to Mt. Carmel and finally to
Pottsville. At the latter place they met Burd Patterson, the Nestor of the coal business, who urged them to invest in Schuylkill county. But their observations at Shamokin led them to
prefer our region and they purchased the celebrated Buck Ridge tract, containing
eight hundred forty-eight acres - one of the best coal tracts in the entire coal
field. A company was soon afterwards formed, consisting of Heckert, Lane, and
Park, called the "Lancaster Company." They proceeded in 1836 to improve their
lands. In 1837 they employed Jacob Mowry of our town to open a drift, near where
the Big Mountain breaker afterwards stood. They erected several tenement houses,
and at considerable expense built a lateral railroad of over a quarter of a
mile, connecting their mines with the Danville and Pottsville railroad. They
leased their works to Cowan, Brannigan & Company, who were one of the first
shippers of coal. A few years afterwards these mines were worked by Samuel John
& Company.
Messrs. Dewart & Donnel were the owners of valuable coal lands on the east
side of the water gap. They opened up several drifts in the gap on the line of
the railroad and leased them to Yoxtheimer & Snyder of Sunbury, who carried on
these mines for a year or so until they failed. These mines were destined in
after years to become one of the most famous collieries in the State, known as
the Cameron colliery. They have been worked continuously for over fifty years
and promise to be a productive colliery for fifty years to come.
On the west side of the gap, the lands were held by J. K. Purdy & Company,
who opened up their coal works at about the same time and carried on mining in
their own name. They were among the heaviest shippers in these early times and
produced a very fine coal for the market. Their mines eventually were united to
those of the east side to form part of the Cameron colliery. Purdy & Company
were the first party to advertise their coal. Their advertisement appears in the
Sunbury American under date of September, 1840, and reads as follows:-
SHAMOKIN COAL.
Shamokin coal of a very superior quality can be had at any time, by
application through the subscribers, in lots to suit purchaser. They have large
egg and broken and fine coal fit for burning lime.
J. H. Purdy & Company.
The fourth operation was that of John C. Boyd, who had a drift driven on
the Primrose vein at his stone coal quarry, and built a lateral road to connect
with the main line. These mines were known as the "Sauer Kraut Works," and were
first operated by William Fagely and afterward by William Thomas and others.
Their shipments were light, as the vein was supposed to run into a fault. These
were the four pioneer operations that mined and shipped coal in 1839.
In 1840 the fifth mine was added to the list in the Shamokin Coal Company.
This corporation composed of Philadelphia capitalists with John C.
Boyd, was chartered in 1826, and in 1840 commenced mining coal. They owned a
large number of tracts of valuable coal land and opened up several drifts
opposite the furnace. During the years of 1840 and 1841 they shipped over three
thousand tons from these mines, which ended their shipments. Most of the coal
mined here afterward was consumed by their furnace. The shipments of coal during
1840 were only fifteen thousand five hundred five tons. The tonnage would have
been much larger, had the canal continued in good order and been properly
supplied with boats. But continued breaks of the canal banks during the shipping
season disarranged the plans of the operators and curtailed their business to a
few months work. An order for ten thousand tons to Danville, to be delivered by
boats from Sunbury, had to be cancelled on account of a break in the North
Branch canal.
In 1841, Fagely, Cleaver & Company commenced coal business at the gap,
taking charge of the mines on the east side. They opened the Tape vein or
Skidmore, and worked it to great advantage. They soon became the principal
shippers from this section. This firm was composed of William and Reuben Fagely,
Kimber Cleaver, and William H. Kase, of Rush township. Mr. Kase did not remain
in the firm long and in 1844 Kimber Cleaver withdrew to resume the duties of his
profession. William and Reuben Fagely remained in the firm and for a number of
years were the only coal operators in the entire Shamokin coal field.
The year 1842 was a disastrous one for Shamokin, and its evil effects were
felt for a long time afterward, and checked the growing progress of all the
mining enterprises of the region The anthracite furnace, the fourth or fifth one
erected in the State, and in operation for a little over a year, burnt down, and
the Shamokin Coal and Iron Company, the largest mining concern in the place,
suspended. The Danville and Pottsville Railroad Company failed and appointed
Samuel R. Wood, the manager, as sequestrator, a position he held for several
years. The two locomotives were removed, and horse-power was substituted to move
the cars. The track was in a wretched condition, and required constant repairs
to keep it passable. The Fagelys then took charge of the road, kept gangs of men
on the repairs, and were about the only shippers of coal from 1842 to 1852,
except Samuel John & Company, who shipped some coal from Buck Ridge, and John
Rosser, who opened coal works at Luke Fidler in 1850 and shipped some coal.
During this interim of ten years a number of the people of Shamokin moved
to other parts and many of the houses were tenantless. Property depreciated in
value and could he purchased for little or nothing. But those who remained had
the heroism of Spartans and possessed an abiding faith in the future of the
place. They, with the land owners, were looking forward for a better outlet for
our dusky diamonds. The Danville and Pottsville railroad was a practical
failure, affording no outlet to Philadelphia and the Atlantic seaboard, and
westward a very uncertain way to the Susquehanna
and its incomplete water communications. Danville with its many anthracite
furnaces was a great consumer of coal, and Philadelphia and the towns along the
sea coast would, it was supposed, open up a great market for Shamokin coal. A
new and better outlet was needed and demanded. Meetings were held for this
purpose, in which the citizens of our town, prominently among whom may be named
William Fagely, Samuel John, and S. S. Bird, and parties from Sunbury, Danville,
and Pottsville, took a prominent part. Kimber Cleaver, the great engineer of the
coal regions, was the leading spirit in all these movements, and sacrificed much
time and labor to put them into execution. He surveyed a route for a railroad
from Shamokin to Pottsville, without inclined planes, and made full estimates of
its costs. His report was so satisfactory that efforts were made to place the
construction under contract, but the stringency of the times prevented the
measure being carried out. His route was afterward largely adopted by the
Reading railroad, which had purchased his notes. Mr. Cleaver also surveyed a
route for a railroad to Danville which met with general approval, but failed in
being carried out from the same cause.
About 1850 there was a general revival in the Shamokin coal regions, and
coal lands and improvements that had long lain dormant were brought into notice
again. Judge William L. Helfenstein, one of the most remarkable and energetic
men of the times, who had been in the West some years, in 1849 returned to his
native State. In looking around for investments in the anthracite coal fields,
he came in contact with John C. Boyd and Burd Patterson, who still continued
interested in coal lands of our section. They at once recognized the great
abilities and organizing power of Mr. Helfenstein and induced him to come here
and assist them in developing the great mineral wealth of our coal region. His
earnest and untiring effort showed the wisdom of their choice. He went into the
work with a will, and in a few years performed the results of a life time. With
a comprehensive mind and wonderful executive ability -suave and winning in his
conversation and manners - he soon interested capitalists of New York,
Philadelphia, Lancaster, and other places to invest their money in this coal
field. He formed numerous coal syndicates, bought up a large portion of the coal
lands between Trevorton and Mt. Carmel, organized improvement companies, laid
out towns, and had various railroads chartered and put into process of
construction. He soon came into possession of the Danville and Pottsville
railroad, changed the name to the Philadelphia and Sunbury railroad, rebuilt it
with an iron track, and extended the line to Mt. Carmel, so as to touch on most
of the great coal tracts. He had several able officials to assist him in the
work. Burd Patterson sent him William H. Marshall, then of Schuylkill county, to
prove coal veins and open up mines, and the valuable services of Kimber Cleaver
were secured on commencing the work who, through all the years of development
and improvement, was Mr. Helfenstein's chief engineer and
trusted adviser. In this work he was associated with Bertram H. Howell, of
Virginia, a gentleman of considerable means, who continued with him for several
years.
Historical Marker
40° 51.615′ N, 76° 47.893′ W
Opened Sunbury to Paxinos in 1835, operated on wood rails by horsepower. Steam locomotive first used in 1838; and iron rails, 1853. The terminal was nearby; here anthracite was loaded on canal boats for shipment to Philadelphia, Baltimore.
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By Mark Conrad:
The line was originally chartered on April 8, 1826 as the Danville and Pottsville Railroad, making it the third oldest line in the United States. It was to run from the Ferry House opposite Danville, Pa. to the Schuylkill Canal at Pottsville, Pa. Before construction began, the terminus was changed from Danville to Sunbury.
Construction began in July 1834 on the 20 mile section between Sunbury and Shamokin and was completed in the summer of 1835. The line was soon extended to Mt. Carmel, Pa.
The transportation of Anthracite Coal was the principal business of the rail road. Coal was brought from the mines in two ton dump cars pulled by horses or mules. The road entered Sunbury through Raspberry Alley, out to the river front to wharves, where the coal was dumped into canal boats to be taken across the river to the canal and then to market. However, with the collapse of the Canal System, the line was never extended to Pottsville.
The railroads of the day were very different from what we usually think. The rails were wooden stringers topped with flat iron bars, and the motive power was horses and mules! The first passenger cars were the "Shamokin" and the "Mahonoy" and were each pulled by two horses.
In 1837, 3 small steam engines, the "North Star", "the Mountaineer", and the "Pioneer", were purchased and put to work on the road. In 1839, the road went back to using 'Horse Power" because the weight of the steam engines proved to be too heavy for the track.
In 1852 the line became the first rail line in the world to use iron T rails made by the nearby Danville Iron Company, and the line secured six more steam engines. It was over these tracks, that in 1861, the first troops from this area left for service in the Civil War. The Line went through several name changes before becoming the Shamokin Valley Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Passenger service on this line continued until 1938.
The Shamokin, Sunbury, and Lewisburg Railroad was chartered in 1882, and was absorbed by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in 1883. This line was built on the opposite shore of the Susquehanna River and followed the route of the old canal system to Sunbury. It then crossed over the River and paralleled the Shamokin Valley Branch through our area.
In Shamokin, the two Railroad Stations were only one block apart and the tracks were within several yards of each other. Passenger service on this line continued until Friday, June 28, 1963, when No. 863, the "King Coal" made the final run of her daily passenger service between Shamokin and Philadelphia.
Completed on August 6, 1911, the Northumberland Classification Yard contained an area of 700 acres and 70 miles of track, round house, and shops. During it's 1950's, over 1500 railroad cars passed through the yard each day for receiving, dispatching, or reclassifying!
Before the opening of the Saint Lawrence Sea Way, the Shamokin Valley Branch was used to haul iron ore from the docks on Lake Erie to the Lehigh Valley Railroad interchange at Mt. Carmel on its way to the Bethlehem Steel Mills. During the 1950's the Shamokin Valley Branch was one of the last to give up her Steam engines.
The Pennsylvania Railroad used four I1's to pull and push 100 ore cars over the 2% grades of the line between Northumberland and Mt. Carmel.
Due to the weight of the iron ore, it could only be loaded directly over the trucks to prevent buckling of the hoppers. At the Lehigh Valley interchange, the train was broken into three sections and the Lehigh Valley used four "modern diesel engines" to haul each section! Twelve "modern diesels" to do what four of the mighty PRR I1 steam engines could do!
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