Valley Girl Views: Sunbury's First Automobile, Built by Silas Thurston in 1903

Silas Thurston, a blacksmith by trade, is shown with the first automobile built in Sunbury.

Although later newspapers report that Silas first built his car in 1906, the Horseless Age Automobile Magazine reported receiving a photo of it in 1903.

"We have received a photo from Silas Thurston, Sunbury Pa, showing a three wheeled, light gasoline car he built for his own use" The Horseless Age Automobile Magazine, June 3 1903

Automobiles were not unheard of in 1903, after all, there was already a publication named "The Horseless Age" in which to publish mention of Thurston's vehicle. The Horseless Age began publication in 1895. Thurston had a question published in the 1901 edition of the publication Still, Silas built his vehicle in Sunbury nearly a decade before automobiles would became somewhat common to the area.

It is apparently hard for the experts to decide who exactly invented the first car, and when. Much depends on exactly what you classify as an automobile. Leonardo Davinci drew a design in 1495, that when built in 2004, proved feasible and working. He had never built it himself however, and the contraption was based on a spring, not an engine. His plans also completely lacked seats of any kind.

In 1795 a Frenchman invented what was essentially a steam powered tractor, for military use. Robert Anderson made a self propelled car in Scotland in the 1830s, an "electric carriage", that is also not widely considered the first automobile, because it did not have an internal-combustion engine. The first recorded plans for an internal combustion engine are attributed to a Dutch physicist by the name of Christian Huygens. He never actually built his invention, which was to be powered by gunpowder.

In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler designed the first modern engine, with a single, vertical cylinder and petrol injected through a carburetor.

The first automobile is widely credited to Karl Benz, primarily because he was the first to file a patent.

Benz's first design, patented on January 29 1886, was a three wheeled conveyance that looked exactly like a horse buggy at the time, but with the horse replaced by a font wheel. The first four wheel car was patented by Benz in 1891.

In France, the Puegeot was the worlds first proper car manufacturer, making and selling cars as early as 1891. The first mass produced car was the 1901 Dash Oldsmobile, built in Detroit, yet Henry Ford is credited with the first assembly line mass production of automobiles, which used conveyor belts, to make his Model T in 1908.

Automobiles begin to appear more regularly in photos of the Susquehanna Valley around 1911.

"The car he made was equipped with wheels similar to those now used on a motorcycle. It had room for only one passenger and the single front wheel was steered by a long bar extending back over the engine to the seat. The assembling of the machinery was all done by Mr. Thurston, and his researched led to important developments in construction and operation of automobiles. - The History Of Motoring by Rev. L.G. Shannon

"It was a three-wheeled vehicle which back in 1906 brought people running from their homes into the streets for a glimpse of the strange horseless carriage."

Silas's son William recalled his father obtaining speeds of up to 12 miles and hour.

"The principle of the motor was a big bore and a big stroke. It had one cylinder and every time it fired it gave off a sound that closely resembled a gun shot Accompanying one of these shots every four or five revolutions was a 15-inch stroke of fire from the exhaust."

In June of 1906, Silas Thurston & his automobile were hit by an oncoming train. Silas escaped with few injuries, and no broken bones.

" Every time Mr. Thurston met a team of horses on the same road, he had to park the car, stop the motor and help the driver of the horses maneuver his team past the new fangled gadget which was typical of the machines that in the early days .gave rise to the good-natured jibe of "buy a horse" while the hapless motorist stood embarrassed by his cantankerous horseless carriage. It probably was a matter of opinion as to whether the horse or car was safer. But the car was undoubtedly faster. . when it worked. " - Recollections of Bill Thurston, son of Silas, in 1950.

Silas Thurston at the 1914 Bucktail Brigade Reunion

Silas was the son of Israel & Abigail Thurston. Israel was one of the early blacksmiths of the community, and his five sons trained in the trade. He married Mary Alice Slough, and they had three children.

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"For it was in 'the early 1900's that a number of Sunburians after working long hours came up with inventions and improvements that figure in the smooth operation and convenience of the modern automobile. The late Ralph Shipman, father of Ralph and Kenneth Shipman, of this city, is a good example. He patented a carburetor' and his method of air control ' and heating gasoline is still in use. He left the manufacture of his invention to other concerns. Mr. Shipman also constructed an early car, as did the late Silas Thurston, who worked with him in the construction of the carburetor. "