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Alive to any kind of means whereby the citizens of Tioga County, Pennsylvania could obtain a safe, reliable and effective mode of transportation for their products, the Tioga Navigation Co. caught the spirit of the hour and obtained from the legislature a supplement to its charter, allowing it to construct a railroad from Blossburg, Pennsylvania, to the state line at Lawrencevile, Pennsylvania, a distance of about twenty five miles, to run parallel with the Tioga River.
Bituminous coal had been discovered in great quantities at Blossburg and the surrounding country. Samples were conveyed to Albany, New York, and examined by the New York Legislature. Its usefulness for blacksmithing and steam generating had been demonstrated. This, in fact, was one of the great levers applied to the New York Legislature to influence it in the passage of the bill for the construction of the Chemung canal and now, when the people of Albany, New York, familiar with the use of coal, a company was formed, prominent among members of which were Erastus corning, to construct a railroad from the head of canal navigation near Painted Post, New York, to intersect the Blossburg Railroad at Lawrenceville. This step on the part of the capitalists of Albany was the initial one in the founding of the new enterprising city of Corning, New York.
The entire line from Corning to Blossburg was completed in 1840. In the year 1852, a railroad was completed from Blossburg to the coat mines at Morris Run, a distance of four miles. The Erie leased the Tioga R.R. in 1855.
Coal was being mined at 2,000 tons per day. The Blossburg Coal Co. was formed August 11, 1866 and almost immediately a contract was entered into by the company with Sherwood & McLean to build a railroad from Blossburg to the company's coal fields, on Johnson Creek, four miles southwest of Blossburg. The road was completed during the summer, a mining town founded and named Arnot.
A company was formed in 1881 named the Arnot and Pine Creek R. R. Co., which constructed a railroad from Arnot to Babbs Creek, fifteen miles distant. It was principally used for lumber, bark and freight. Babbs Creek was later named Hoytville and became the end of the Erie's Tioga Division.
The people of Elmira, New York, had long wished for direct railroad communication with the valley of the Tioga and on the 23rd of April 1872, the enterprise took definite shape. The Elmira and State Line Railroad Co. was incorporated to build a railroad from Elmira, New York, to a point about three miles south of Lawrenceville, Pa., which later became Tioga Junction. Enthusiastic meetings were held and speeches made to show the advantages to be derived from the proposed road. Subscriptions were solicited and surveys made. The Tioga Railroad Co. guaranteed the bonds and work, in due time, was commenced. The road was finished in October 1876 and the officers invited a company to celebrate its opening by an excursion from Elmira to Arnot and return. Crowds cheered at all stations. The entire Tioga Railroad systems, together with the Arnot mine was eventually purchased by the Erie R.R. and it became the Erie's Tioga Division.
Taken from the Erie Magazine of November 1927, page 20
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Joyce,
You might like to add this to the website on the Tioga
Division. One other historical note is that the line was changed from six
foot broad gauge
to standard four feet- eight and one half inches, in 1876. I also have
an article I am in the process of typing on the opening of the Elmira and
State
Line Railroad that ran from Lawrenceville to Elmira. Richard Palmer
Chenango Weekly Telegraph, Norwich, N.Y., Sat., July 14, 1877
THE COAL REGIONS
Tioga, Tioga Co., Pa., July 4.
Editors Telegraph: - Thinking that
a brief description of this country by a resident of Chenango county
might be of interest to the readers of the Telegraph, I take the liberty
of addressing this communication to you. This is a town of about eight
hundred inhabitants, and for a place the size has many public spirited
men. the greatest feature of the place is Bush's Park, fitted up by Mr.
A.C. Bush, formerly of Bainbridge, N.Y., and a brother of Hon. Joseph Bush
of that place.
Mr. Bush has erected many buildings in the park,
notably among which is a large dining hall and kitchen well stocked with
dishes, &c., for the accommodation of picnic parties from abroad, and
a dancing hall at least 30x100 feet. There is hardly a week passes but
what there are parties from abroad here to enjoy the pleasures of this
park.
There is a very large hotel called the Park House which
cost $40,000. built by a stock company, also many fine brick blocks.
The largest business interests of the place are the tanneries which are
located here and give employment to many workmen; they consume large quantities
of hemlock bark for which they pay five dollars per cord. There is a lively
newspaper published here with a circulation of 1,000 copies weekly, edited
and published by A.H. Bunnell, formerly of Bainbridge. There are many Chenango
county people settled here.
Last Saturday we visited the coal mines at
Arnot, twenty-two miles above here up the Tioga River, which we reached
by the Tioga Railroad. This is where is mined the celebrated Blossburg
coal, semi-bituminous it is called, such as our blacksmiths use. The Tioga
R.R. was the third railroad in the U.S., and was built by the Blossburg
Coal Company for transporting their coal, which at that time was found
at Blossburg; but these mines have been abandoned and mines are now worked
at Fall Brook, Morris Run and Arnot, the most extensively at the latter
place, where we inspected them.
Arnot is a place of about 3,000 inhabitants, built
on a hill or numerous knolls. There are 500 houses, all built by the company
and rented by them to the miners. There is also the company's store and
one other store, and we believe two or three churches. We understand the
minders are mostly Welshmen and Protestants. We entered the principal
mine which goes into the side of the hill, as the coal is in drifts or
mines, being carried in by a mule drawing numerous small cars through a
subterraneous passage about five or six feet high and about the same width
for one-fourth to one-half a mile, and from which there are many passages
leading to other mines or workings.
Arriving near the place where the men were at work,
and where the motive power was left, (the mule) we walked along or nearly
crawled through a small passage, and were surprised to find that the miners
were getting out coal where the space was not over three feet high, and
where they have to almost lay down to pick it down.
The coal is in thin layers or drifts of from 18 inches
to four feet deep. Four tons is an average day's work for a man working
10 hours, and the price paid for mining is 55 cents per ton. The temperature
of the atmosphere in the mines is about 45 degrees, and they are well ventilated,
as there are openings clear through the hill.
The coal is drawn outside the mines by the mules,
where the cars are taken by a small locomotive about a quarter of a mile
to the dump house\par where they are wheeled in by hand, weighed and dumped,
when part of the coal is passed through a sifter and the fine loaded into
cars for blacksmiths' use and the coarser for locomotive and other uses.
It is four miles from Arnot down to Blossburg and the grade
is about 85\par feet to the mile. We rode down in a coach without an engine
at a rapid rate. The regular passenger trains, of the Tioga
R.R., do not run farther than Blossburg, which is a town of about 1,500
inhabitants and as the company's shops are located here and the miners
from the mining towns come down here to trade there is considerable business
done.
Yours truly, K.E.B.
The Elmira State Line and Tioga R.R.
This important narrow and broad gauge road, connecting
Elmira city with the Blossburg coal fields of Tioga, Pa., was formally
opened on the 24th ult., and the event was duly celebrated in a very enthusiastic
manner by a large excursion party consisting of directors, officers, railroad
men, editors, capitalists and other invited guests, who were more than
pleased with the entertainment afforded, and, with the road and its equipments,
and lastly the visit to the extensive coal regions of Pennsylvania.
Too much credit cannot be awarded to Messrs. F.N. Drake, President and
L.H. Shattuck, Supt., and other officers, for the most thorough and
efficient manner in which the enterprise has been carried through to a
successful completion.
The total distance, by this new route, from Elmira
to the coal fields is about 50 miles, and, when we assert that the road
bed, iron bridges, structures, equipment and rolling stock are remarkably
excellent, we would also add we never saw better.
The traffic of this new road, banding the rich and populous
commercial, manufacturing and agricultural region, of Southern New York,
with the mountains of mineral fuel in pennsylvania, must assuredly be immense.
A glance at the map will lead the eye to the allied connection of
this important route, the Utica, Ithaca and Elmira R.R., whose central
position betokens a degree of prosperity, resulting from such connections
that will more than meet the sanguine expectations of the most hopeful.
This connection now being perfected, the long trains of black diamonds
brought to Elmira daily over the State Line, will make their passage
over the summit heights of the U., I.& E. thence to central, eastern
and northern N.Y., the Great Lakes and the New England states where
unequaled markets are for all time assured. Indeed the capacity of both
the State Line and the U., I.& E. must in future be taxed to the fullest
extent to accommodate the developed and growing wants which they
will be required to meet.
If railroad success can be achieved in America, we know
of no more inviting field upon which to base a prediction of success than
the region of country with its varied resources, traversed by the Elmira
& State Line and Tioga, and U., I. & E. Railroads.
For coal traffic they cannot be excelled, and we
firmly believe our prophecy will be fully verified.
Monday, Aug. 10, 1942
Erie Closing Tioga Line Tonight
The last train to serve residents of Pine City, Seeley Creek,
Millerton, Trowbridge and Jackson Summit along the Tioga Division, Erie
Railroad will leave the Erie freight station, Elmira, at 11:30 p.m. today.
The Interstate Commerce Commission a few weeks ago directed that the line
between Elmira and Tioga Junction be discontinued, effective today.
No special observance of the last trip had been planned, it was stated
at the office of the Division Superintendent in Hornell. The rolling stock
will be continued in service, operating between Corning, over the New York
Central Railroad, to Lawrenceville and Tioga Junction, then over Erie right
of way to Tioga, Mansfield, Blossburg, Morris Run and Hoytville.
C. C. Mosher has been the agent at the Seeley Creek and Jackson
Summit stations for several years, commuting by auto. Only two freight
trains-one in each direction-have served patrons of the road several years.
Agent Mosher will be given employment by the company elsewhere, it was
said today.
Removal of the rails, bridges and trestles at Alder Run and
Trowbridge will be started within a few days. The metal will be sold for
scrap. The division once had excellent patronage. That was
back in the horse and buggy days. The coming of the automobile and improved
roads cut passenger patronage until this service was discontinued.
The crews operating the two freight trains will be transferred.
Some of the men may return to the Susquehanna Division.
Freight from Elmira bond for Tioga Junction and other points
south on the Tioga Division will be shipped to Corning, then south via
Lawrenceville to
its destination.
The application to discontinue the line between Hoytville and
Blossburg was not allowed by the ICC.
Now that the last train has run over the Erie Railroad between Elmira and Tioga Junction and the line has been discontinued the following which is taken from an early history may be of interest to Gazette readers.
The people of Elmira had long wished for direct railroad communication with the valley of the Tioga and on the 23rd day of April 1872 the enterprise took a definite shape. At that date the Elmira and State Line Railroad Company was incorporated to build a railroad from Elmira to a point at or near Lawrenceville. Enthusiastic meetings were held in the courthouse in Elmira, speeches were made by General A.S. Diven and others. A committee was appointed to solicit subscriptions, made a survey, etc. The citizens of Elmira responded with alacrity. All necessary steps were finally taken and in due time the work commenced.
The road was finished in October 1876 and the officers invited a company to celebrate its opening by an excursion from Elmira to Arnot and back. The train provided for the accommodation of the excursionists consisted of seven cars.
The road proved to be substantially built well ballast at every point and the cars ran as smoothly over it as on an old road. It is about 19 miles in length. From Elmira it rises by a grade of about 70 feet to the mile to the summit and the descent of 6 miles to Tioga Junction is about 100 feet to the mile. There are two notable iron trestles on the road, one at Alder Run, 732 feet long and 70 feet high and the Stony Fork trestle which is 480 feet long and 50 feet high.
At the various stations along the road there were large assemblages of people and additions to the party. At Arnot coal mines the southwest terminus of the road the whole population turned out to welcome the train, the Arnot Cornet band playing Hail Columbia and other national airs. After spending a short time in examining the coalmines and appliances the excursionists prepared to return.
At Bush?s Park in Tioga the party of 400 left the train to partake of the hospitalities which had been provided by A.C. Bush in the park. This park is on the hillside overlooking the beautiful village and the view of the winding waters of the Tioga and the level and fertile lands of the valley was in the soft Autumn sunlight Very beautiful tables were spread in the large dining hall and theatre hall. After dinner the company assembled in a meeting. Hon. A.S. Diven presided and made a short speech. Resolutions were passed complimentary to Mr. Bush who modestly acknowledged the honor. Then followed congratulatory speeches by Fred E. Smith of Tioga, F.N. Drake, president of the Tioga Railroad, Judge Williams of Wellsboro and W.H. Bogart of Aurora, N.Y. The company then adjourned to the cars and were safely returned to their several localities well pleased with the excursion and with the prospects of benefits to be served from the new road by the people of Chemung county, N.Y. and Tioga county, Pa.
The length of the road from State Line Junction, N.Y. to Arnot, Pa.,
is about 50 miles aggregate length of main line branches leased roads sidings
and other track 68 ½ miles. Could the members of the old Tioga Navigation
Company from which the railroad company derived its origin arise and see
the great coal lumber and passenger trains that daily pass over this road
they would be as much astonished as poor Rip Van Winkle after his long
sleep.
______________________
The days of heavy traffic over this road are past and part of the line
abandoned.
But if the members of the old Tioga Navigation Company could arise now they would find paved highways in place of the old dusty or muddy roads. They would see many automobiles and trucks of every description passing by. Large trucks hauling 20 tons over our mountain roads. How astonished they would be - as much so as if they could have seen the long passenger and freight trains of 50 years ago.
Elmira Sunday Telegram
November 16, 1941
Travel Thrill Days of Long Ago: Adaline Dartt Marvin
Blossburg-Elmira Ride on Tioga Division
Is Unforgettable Memory to Woman Writer
Mrs. Kimble G. Marvin, writer of this Sunday Telegram article,
is a graduate of Elmira College. Her husband is on the faculty of Mansfield
State Teachers College, health education department. The Marvins reside
at 48 Sherwood St., Mansfield Perhaps some other readers have memories
of the Division. Let's hear about them. - The Editor.
By
Adeline Dartt Marvin [1897-1980]
Though you have travelled continents and sailed the seven
seas, you have not known the thrill of travel unless you were once a small
child in a small town located on a branch railroad with the nearest shopping
center 40 miles away.
Were you ever put to bed early on a fall night with
the chilly, creepy feeling up your spine and the breathless sensation in
your middle that told you something unusual was going to happen? You tossed
from one fretful dream to another to be awakened from a final exhausted
sleep in a cold lamp lit dawn by your mother;s "Six o'clock! You must get
up if you want to go to Elmira with me."
Did you want to go? You were out of bed, hair combed,
face washed, best winter dress and shoes on before you could say Jack Robinson.
Breakfast wasn't breakfast but a strange ceremonial meal with cereal and
eggs under the lighted chandelier that ordinarily meant the sociable dinner
hour.
There was a short cold walk to the station, that
in one sense was no station at all but a dingy room in the corner of Blossburg's
main hotel - The Seymour House. Your entrance into the small waiting room,
with its red hot stove, was greeted with the aroma of coal smoke and the
bananas of long-consumed lunches. Mother purchased two tickets for Elm
ira, one full and one half fare and sat down on the iron armed bench, with
a watchful eye on the door to see if a freight might arrive to provide
conversational relief during the three hour train ride.
You needed no relief. The engine, spouting
steam out on the track with its trailer of baggage car and two coaches,
was glory enough. You could hardly wait for the trainman's signal to climb
aboard and find the red plush seat that just suited you, whee you could
view the Blossburg State Hospital and the Mansfield Normal School, two
buildings whose size and beauty inspired you.
Mother nodded to the half dozen passengers
who straggled in but there were no intimate friends this morning. You were
glad, for it meant that mother settled to her crocheting, leaving you free
to press your forehead tight to the cold window pane and live vicariously
in every farm house and village you passed. You were going to Elmira to
shop and I repeat, though you have sailed the seven seas, you have not
tasted to the full, the joys of travel, if you have not gone from Blossburg
to Elmira on the Tioga Division of the Erie.
The joys of travel, with speed and the multiplicity
of tourists, has vanished from many once far-off places. So, too, the trip
from Blossburg to Elmira has tone to be traversed no more. I have grown
up and returned from far wanderings to Tioga County. The Tioga Division
still makes its daily journey but I no longer use it. When, like my mother
of old, I go to Elmira ti shop, I go by bus or in our own small car.
I arrive in one hour against the old three of the Tioga Division. I ride
more comfortably but the glory has departed. I am moved to meditate, if
perhaps in this day of convenience and speed, when we started any old time
and arrive anywhere, anyhow, with no goal nor purpose, have we not lost
something of the romance of living?
There comes back to me the memory of the return
trip from Elmira to Blossburg. Late afternoon and I am weary. In the last
hour of standing by my mother's side at counter after counter, the joys
of shopping have palled. To this day, I cannot look up upon figured silk
or polka dotted foulard without a sense of nausea. Mother always chose
the hour before train time to visit Sheehan and Dean's silk counter with
one eye peeled for a bargain. I had eaten at my favorite chocolate shop;
been not an unwilling model in Flanagan's Department Store for my fall
coat and hat, been allowed to purchase a new book in Miss Adams' musty
shop where books were piled on the floor and tables in dusty, angular masses.
I had partaken of the glories of this day of days and my cup of fulfillment
was running over in a dizzy whirl of spots and figures on dark, shimmering
silk.
The noisy Erie depot was a relief. The bronze
Indian that stood guard before its front entrance wore the air of an old
friend. I was only to glad to see the two cars of the Tioga Division drawn
up on the track behind the puffing engine. We climbed aboard. The dusty,
plush seats seemed infinitely soft as my small bones sank gratefully into
them while our accumulation of parcels spilled over the plush. Mother reversed
the seat in front. I braced my feet on the supports and opened my new book.
But there was still much to excite and distract me. The other passengers
climbed in as weary and bundle laden as ourselves. The Tioga Division might
easily been called the Shopping Special. Thee was much discussion of respective
values at Sullivan's and Roesnbaum's, proud showing of bargains, the usual
banter with the conductor, then his loud "All Aboard."
The train puffed slowly out of the little city.
Once more, I pressed my face tight to the pane that I might register firmly
in my mind the lights of Elmira, for well I knew it would be many weeks
before I saw them again. Not a pawn shop or boarding house on its dirty
Railroad Ave. escaped me and when through a street intersection, I caught
glimpses of the two parallel business avenues with the street lamps pricking
the dust. I almost dislocated my neck in an effort to carry a bit of the
city with me. I saw the sun set over the river in its glow of rose and
silver, watched the outskirts dwindle into open country and only then did
I settle back to enjoy my sensation of fatigue for enjoy it I did. It was
grown up to be tired from shopping.
But even yet, one could not settle down too completely.
There were experiences ahead. I knew every one of them and none of them
were to be missed. First, came the thrill of the high bridge at Jackson
Summit, to hold one's breath as the train clattered slowly across to sigh
with relief when you felt the last wheel pass on solid ground, the boys
selling popcorn at Lawrenceville where the Erie connected with the New
York Central, the weird ride to take in Tioga Junction when the train backed
down; all the little towns priced mysteriously out of the dark; then suddenly
like one of Hans Andersen's fairy palaces, the lighted buildings of the
Mansfield State Normal School high on the hill above the puffing train.
Now I was nearing home. The joy of fatigue had passed. I was just a tired
little girl, fretful of the long delays but reviving to the last experience
but one, the lights of the Blossburg State Hospital, gleaming awesomely
at me from the hill as we rounded into Blossburg.
We were home, the last and nicest experience of
all, the lights of the old Seymour House and depot, the crowd waiting for
the train, father standing quietly waiting to relieve his wife and little
girl of their bundles, joking them as to the number and content; the short
walk home, the hired girl smiling with a late dinner piping hot on the
table;l the final excitement of opening bundles, trying the new piece of
music, reading somewhat distractedly a few pages from the new book, parading
before father in the new coat and hat, watching his quiet pleasure at the
purchases mother made for him, subsiding at last into utter weariness -
it's good to be in bed again.
That is the memory vivid and poignant from out of
my childhood. I cannot relive it nor would I if I could. A ride on the
same Tioga Division in recent years brought only discomfort and cinders.
Yet there was a thrill which is absent in today's hap hazard mode of travel.
Will your children hold precious in their maturity, the memory of your
casual Sunday journey of three times the length of the trip from Blossburg
to Elmira? Are they thrilled at the sight of the family motor waiting at
the curb? Do they sleep in restless dreaming over the anticipated 600 mile
drive to grandmother's in Indiana? I doubt it. Will they, grown to an age
of better sense, bore their contemporaries with reminiscences of filling
stations, hot dogs and one dollar tourist rooms? I doubt it.
I am hearing you say, what does the woman want,
stuffy local trains, isolated towns and bad roads back again? By all the
heavens, No! But I do want tradition, sentiment and the magnifying of the
simple things in the eyes of a child so that he may have subsequent
background for dreams, moralizing or what you will. I repeat, in conclusion,
though you have sailed the seven seas, if you have not known the glory
of anticipation, the thrill of discomfort to achieve your journey - you
have not travelled!*
*An Erie timetable dated April 27, 1924 shows one
round trip daily between Elmira and Blossburg, and another between Elmira
and Arnot. There was also service to Hoytville and Morris run at this time.
At Tioga Junction, trains backed to Lawrenceville, where connection was
made with the New York Central. Regular passenger service ended in December,
1931 and mixed train service in 1935.
In 1941, the Erie asked permission to abandon the
line, through Pine City, Webb Mills, Millerton and Jackson Summit to Tioga
Junction. This was granted by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The final
train left Elmira at 11:30 p.m. Aug. 9, 1942. At 4:30 p.m., Monday, Aug.
10, 1942, a 12-car freight train pulled into the Erie yard in Elmira, ending
service. Seeley G. Powell was engineer and John W. Canfield was conductor
on these final runs.
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