LOCAL HISTORY: Tarring S. Davis, History of Blair County, Volume I, 1931, Blair County, PA - Chapter 18 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ html file: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/1picts/davis/tdavis1.htm _______________________________________________ A HISTORY OF BLAIR COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA UNDER EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF TARRING S. DAVIS LUCILE SHENK, ASSOCIATE EDITOR HARRISBURG: NATIONAL HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION, INC., 1931 VOLUME I CHAPTER XVIII THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 252 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY THE Pennsylvania Railroad Company has been the main source of economic development of our county. It is true that there were other worthy transportation systems effectively working here for several decades before the organization of this great company. But only after the plans of this system got under way did the great centers of Altoona and Tyrone develop. It was then that the population increased, and correspondingly the number of houses, amount of food and clothing, and the many luxuries that citizens of our country have adopted as necessities. A remarkable account of the forerunners of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the attitude of local residents toward the development of this new institution is portrayed by U. J. Jones, our able, broad-minded citizen of the 19th Century in one of the latter chapters of his volume, "A History of the Early Settlement of the Juniata Valley." In reading the following extracts from this account it must be remembered that the aforementioned book was published in 1856. "When the early settlers were appraised of the fact that some of the more enterprising contemplated cutting a pack-horse road over the Allegheny Mountains, through Blair's Gap, they shook their heads ominously, and declared that the task was one which could not be accomplished. But it was accomplished; and after its completion, it was not many years until the pack-horse track was transformed into a wagon-road. People were well satisfied with this arrangement; for no sooner was there a good road along the river than some daring men commenced taking produce to the East, by the use of arks, from the Frankstown Branch, the Raystown Branch, and the Little Juniata. With these advantages, a majority of the inhabitants labored under the impression that they were keeping pace with the age; but others, endowed with a fair share of that progressive spirit which characterizes the American people, commenced agitating the project of making a turnpike between Huntingdon and Blairsville. The old fogies of the day gave this innovation the cold shoulder, spoke of the immense cost, and did not fail to count the expense of traveling upon such a road. But little were their murmurings heeded by the enterprising men of the valley. The fast friend of the turnpike was Mr. Blair, of Blair's Gap, west of Hollidaysburg. His influence was used in the halls of the Legislature until he injured his political standing; nevertheless, he persevered until the company was chartered, and he soon had the satisfaction of seeing the turnpike road completed. Once built, it was found to be rather a desirable institution, and its value soon removed all opposition to it. "Anon came the startling proposition of building a canal along the Juniata, and a railroad over the Allegheny Mountains, to connect the waters of the Juniata and the Conemaugh. To men of limited information the project seemed vague and ill-defined; while knowing old fogies shook their heads, and declared that a canal and turnpike both could not be sustained, and that, if the former THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 253 could accomplish the wonders claimed for it, the teams that carried goods between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the short space of from fifteen to twenty days would be compelled to suspend operations! But the opposition to the canal was too insignificant to claim notice; and when the building of it was once commenced an improvement mania raged. The stately and learned engineer, Moncure Robinson, was brought all the way from England to survey the route for the Portage Road. Like a very colossus of roads, he strode about the mountain, and his nod and beck, like that of imperial Caesar upon his throne, was the law, from which there was no appeal. By dint of long labor, and at a vast expense to the commonwealth, he demonstrated clearly that a road could be built across the mountain, and rendered practicable by the use of ten inclined planes. Alas! for the perishable nature of glory! Moncure Robinson had hardly time to reach his home, and boast of the honor and fame he achieved in the New World, before a Yankee engineer discovered that a railroad could be built across the Allegheny Mountain without the use of a single plane! Of course, then he was thought a visionary, and that not a quarter of a century ago; yet now we have two railroads crossing the mountain without the use of a plane, and the circumstance appears to attract no other remark than that of ineffable disgust at the old fogies who could not make a road to cross the Appalachian chain without the tedious operation of being hoisted up and lowered down by stationary engines. "The era of 'flush times' in the valley must have been when the canal was building. Splendid fortunes were made, and vast sums of money sunk, by the wild speculations which followed the advent of the contractors and the sudden rise of property lying along the river. As an instance of the briskness of the times in the valley when the canal was building, an old settler informs us that Frankstown at that time contained fourteen stores, five taverns, and four roulette tables. At present, we believe, it contains but two or three stores, one tavern, and no gambling apparatus to relieve the reckless of their surplus change. "The completion of the canal was the great event of the day, and the enthusiasm of the people could scarcely be kept within bounds when the ponderous boats commenced ploughing the ditch. This will be readily believed by any one who will read the papers published at the time. From a paper printed at Lewistown on the 5th of November, 1829, we learn that a packet-boat arrived at that place from Mifflin on the Thursday previous, and departed again the next day, having on board a number of members of the Legislature, as well as citizens and strangers. The editor, in speaking of the departure, enthusiastically says: 'The boat was drawn by two white horses, when she set off in fine style, with the Star Spangled Banner flying at her head, and amid the roar of cannon, the shouts of the populace, and the cheering music of the band which was on board!' Reader, this was a little over twenty-six years ago; and the jubilee over a packet capable of accomplishing the mighty task of carrying some forty or fifty passengers at the rate of about four miles an hour. "The climax of joy, however, appears to have been reached by the editor of the 'Huntingdon Gazette,' on the 15th of July, 1831, when he became jubilant 254 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY over the launch of a canal-boat, and gave vent to the following outburst: 'What! a canal-boat launched in the vicinity of Huntingdon! Had any one predicted an event of this kind some years back, he, in all probability, would have been yclept a wizard, or set down as beside himself!' "These gushings of intensified joy, although they serve to amuse now, do not fail to convey a useful lesson. Let us not glory too much over the demon scream of the locomotive as it comes rattling through the valley, belching forth fire and smoke, or the miraculous telegraph which conveys messages from one end of the Union to the other with the rapidity with which a lover's sigh would be wafted from the Indies to the Pole; for who knows but that the succeeding generation, following in the footsteps made by the universal law of progress, will astonish the world with inventions not dreamed of in our philosophy, which will throw our electric-telegraphs and railroads forever in the shade? "For eighteen years, with the exception of the winter months, the canal packet held sway in the Juniata Valley, carrying its average of about thirty passengers a day from the East to the West, and vice versa. When hoar old winter placed an embargo upon the canal craft, travel used to dwindle down to such a mere circumstance that a rickety old two-horse coach could easily carry all the passengers that offered. Who among us that has arrived at the age of manhood does not recollect the packet-boat, with its motley group of passengers, its snail pace, its consequential captain, and its non-communicative steersman, who used to wake the echoes with the 'to-to-to-to-toit' of his everlasting horn and his hoarse cry of 'lock ready?' The canal-packet was unquestionably a great institution in its day and generation, and we remember it with emotions almost akin to veneration. Right well do we remember, too, how contentedly people sat beneath the scorching rays of a broiling sun upon the packet, as it dragged its slow length along the sinuous windings of the canal at an average speed of three and a half or four miles an hour; and yet the echo of the last packet-horn has scarcely died away when we see the self-same people standing upon a stationhouse platform, on the verge of despair because the cars happen to be ten minutes behind time, or hear them calling down maledictions dire upon the head of some offending conductor who refuses to jeopardize the lives of his passengers by running faster than thirty miles an hour! "At length, after the canal had enjoyed a sixteen years' triumph, people began to consider it a 'slow coach'; and, without much debate, the businessmen of Philadelphia resolved upon a railroad between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. The project had hardly been fairly determined upon before the picks and shovels of the 'Corkonians' and 'Fardowns' were brought into requisition; but, strange to say, this giant undertaking struck no one as being anything extraordinary. It was looked upon as a matter of course, and the most frequent remarks it gave rise to were complaints that the making of the road did not progress rapidly enough to keep pace with the progress of the age. And, at length, when it was completed, the citizens of Lewistown did not greet the arrival of the first train with drums, trumpets, and the roar of cannon; neither did any Huntingdon THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 255 editor exclaim, 'What! nine railroad cars, with six hundred passengers, drawn through Huntingdon by a locomotive! If any person had predicted such a result some years ago, he would have been yclept a wizard, or set down as one beside himself.' "The Pennsylvania Railroad once finished, although it failed to create the surprise and enthusiasm excited by the canal, did not fail to open up the valley and its vast resources. Independent of the great advantage of the road itself, let us see what followed in the wake of this laudable enterprise. The railroad created the towns of Altoona, Fostoria, Tipton and Tyrone; its presence caused the building of three plank roads, and the opening of extensive coal and lumber operations in the valley, and kindred enterprises that might never have been thought of. Nor is this all. A rage for travel by railroad has been produced by the Pennsylvania Company; and there is good reason to believe that it will increase until at least three more roads tap the main artery in the Juniata Valley - the railroad from Tyrone to Clearfield, from the same place to Lock Haven, and from Spruce Creek to Lewisburg. These roads will unquestionably be built, and at no remote period. The Pennsylvania Road has now facilities for doing business equal to those of any road of the same length in the world; and, when a second track is completed, it is destined, for some years at least, to enjoy a monopoly of the carrying trade between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Much as we regret it, for the sake of the Commonwealth which expended her millions without anything like an adequate return, the canal is rapidly falling into disuse, and we see, with deep regret, that it has become entirely too slow for the age in which we live. With all the vitality forced into it that can be, we confess we can see no opposition in it to the road but such as is of the most feeble kind; yet all will agree that this opposition, trifling as it is, should continue to exist until such a time as other routes shall be opened between these points, and healthy competition established. But let us not dwell too much upon our modes of transit through the valley, lest the historian of a hundred years hence will find our remarks a fitting theme for ridicule, and laugh at us because we speak in glowing terms of a single railroad, and that road with but a single track for more than half its distance! * * * * * "Less than eight years ago the author of these pages, while on a gunning expedition, traveled over the ground where Altoona now stands. It was then almost a barren waste. A few fields, a solitary log farm-house and its outbuildings, and a school-house, alone relieved the monotony of the scene; yet now upon this ground stands a town with between three and four thousand inhabitants, where the scream of the engine is heard at all hours of the day and night - where the roar of fires, the clang of machinery, and the busy hum of industry, never cease from the rising to the setting of the sun, and where real estate commands a price that would almost seem fabulous to those not acquainted with the facts. * * * * *" Altoona was chosen to be the site for the Pennsylvania Railroad Shops because of its location at a point where the means of transportation had to be changed. 256 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY Trains from the east needed additional locomotive power to cross the mountains to the west. On the other hand, trains from Pittsburgh put extra engines in use as far as Altoona, but here the descent of the mountains to the east made extra engines unnecessary. So Altoona was chosen as the best point at which to make shifts and changes in the make-up of the trains. This situation made repair shops for engines and cars essential. With the development of these shops, the advisability of making Altoona the center for manufacturing additional parts and new apparatus, became obvious. In 1850, the first shops were under construction in Altoona. The sites had been chosen in the previous years. A two-thirds round-house containing eight tracks for locomotive storage was erected. Parts of it were used for freight car repairs and for a painting shop. In addition, a machine shop, car shop, locomotive repair shop and a foundry were all located in a long building one story in height. Since that day the plant has been extended until it covers more than 75 acres of the present city of Altoona. The shops in which locomotive building and repairing is done extend over a frontage of more than three miles. Several machine shops take the place of the original one. Other innovations that have been made in the eighty years of railroad development here are the many different types of shops, each to care for one phase of the work. There are locomotive testing plants, a gas producer building, oil house, sand shed, lead lining room, brass foundry, hammer shop, bolt shop, storage building, engine house, coal wharf, blacksmith shop, frame shop, spring shop, boiler houses, power plant, tank shop, wheel shop, flange shop, flue shop, cab and pilot shop, paint shop, storehouses, laboratories, test rooms, fire engine houses and offices. All of the modern improvements in sanitation and rest room facilities have been installed for the use of the employees. The round-house, construction and repair car shops are located in the southern section of Altoona. The departments here are: the paint stock room, passenger car paint shop, electric transfer table and pit, buffing-room, planing mills, bolt shop, storage building, freight car paint shop, power plant, boiler houses, lumber sheds, lumber yards, blacksmith shop, machine shop, cabinet shop, upholstering and trimming shop, passenger car shop, fire engine house, freight car shop, truck shop, oil house, steel car shops, crossarm building, dry kilns and offices. At Juniata, now the eastern section of the city, the locomotive shops were erected in 1889 and 1890. Engines have been constructed here since then, and at first it was estimated that 150 of them could be produced annually. With the increased traffic this production quickly doubled, and during the World War period these shops were the scene of unprecedented activity. Here are the paint shop, paint storehouse, electric and hydraulic building, boiler house, blacksmith shop, machine shop, boiler shops, erecting shop, store rooms, carpenter shop, scale shop and offices. Several hundred locomotives are shifted daily about the round house yards in East Altoona. This round house was provided in 1902 and 1903 when the east THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 257 and west bound classification were constructed. Freight engines of the Middle and Pittsburgh Divisions are cared for here. In South Altoona the foundries, originally located with the machine shops, were placed after 1904. Wheels and other locomotive parts are constructed in the following buildings: pattern storehouse and shop, boiler room, engine room, scale houses, wheel foundry, wheel breakers, annealing pits, material building, iron foundry, core rooms, cupola rooms, coke trestles, machine shop, smith shop, storehouse and offices. Labor difficulties have been few in the history of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. This is evidenced by the long years of service rendered by men in every phase of the company's work. The most noteworthy period of unrest was in July, 1877, when freight conductors and brakemen began striking at Pittsburgh. At first only these two groups of employees were involved, but in a short time freight engineers and firemen joined in the strike. In this manner the men sought to protest against an increase in the number of cars to a freight train to twice the number they were accustomed to direct, that was announced by the superintendent of the division. They opposed the change, because there was no accompanying increase in man power, and the responsibilities were doubled, although in the previous month their wages had been cut 10%. The conditions in Pittsburgh affected the Altoona yards, when, on July 21st, three trains filled with soldiers passed through Altoona on the way to Pittsburgh to restore order. At the local station several hundred employees gathered. Taunts were cast at the soldiers. Slight signs of the feeling of unrest were expressed by throwing stones, etc., at the departing trains. All passenger trains were unmolested, but attempts were made to detain freights. Engines were held in the yards for all but passenger service. Freight cars were cut from trains and put on sidings on the branch line to Hollidaysburg. In the late afternoon of July 21st, another group of soldiers passed through Altoona. The engineers of the trains were asked by local leaders to relinquish their posts. Then, when one of them refused, a scuffle followed, that resulted in slight injuries to several men. Eventually the train pulled out of Altoona amid firing and flying stones. Meanwhile, James M. Stiffler, the local sheriff, asked the men, in public, to disband quietly with regard for the property of the company. The mayor of Altoona, David A. Gilland, announced that unlawful assemblies would be dealt with according to law, and ordered that bars in public houses be closed temporarily. Prominent citizens, among whom were Colonel David Jones, Colonel James F. Milliken, Frank P. Tierney and Thomas H. Greevy, met in the Brant House in the evening of the day when the aforementioned events took place. Although they expressed sympathy for the principles upheld by the railroaders, they voiced definite opposition to the use of violent and illegal measures for gaining the desired ends. The night that followed was not distinguished by anything serious in the nature of riots, although crowds of excited citizens filled the streets. July 22nd fell on Sunday, and ten carloads of troops under General James A. Beaver arrived in Altoona. The soldiers were unable to get the rail- 258 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY roaders to man engines so that the rest of the journey to Pittsburgh could be completed. Colonel Stead, Captain Foresman and Sergeant Gifford were repulsed in their efforts to reach the round house with their men. Foresman and Gifford were injured by flying stones. The strikers disabled the engines so that the troops who were coming to the city could not put them to use. These events gave the strike a serious mien. Before the day ended some of the troops returned to the east. At a meeting that convened on Monday morning the railroaders agreed to protect private and public property, and George W. Stratton, then the master mechanic of the machine shops, was urged to close them. He acquiesced, and the car shops were also closed. Mayor Gilland called a meeting of citizens in the Opera House for the afternoon of the same day. Men who assisted him in his plan to increase police facilities and maintain order were: David K. Ramey, Samuel S. Goodman, J. W. Curry, A. F. Kerr, G. S. Hamlin, N. C. Barclay, Henry H. Herr, George J. Akers, Major Richard J. Crozier, William B. Blake, Simon Hawk, Andrew Kipple and Thomas I. McKiernan. The mayor was authorized to deputize 500 temporary policemen who were to be supervised by Mr. Kipple and Mr. McKiernan. The shop men met on Monday evening in the Opera House, and drew up resolutions asking that the wage scale that had been effective before June 1st, be reestablished. The request was made that no one who had participated in the opposition at Altoona be discharged or suspended. Captain J. W. Dougherty, Captain E. M. Warren, William Fortenbaugh, M. J. McCoy, W. B. Blake and J. B. Harkins, were among the leaders at this meeting, and the resolutions made were presented to G. Clinton Gardner, general superintendent. Mr. Gardner's reply was received and returned to the group on July 24th. In it he explained his position, namely, that he could not promise any of the things asked for by the men, without consulting his superiors, and that he would do so at his earliest convenience. He gave no assurances, but the group expressed confidence in his willingness and ability to do all in his power for them and for the company. Governor Hartranft and his secretary, the future United States Senator, Matthew Stanley Quay, came to Altoona on July 25th. The governor expressed his purpose to restore order, maintain law, and obtain justice for everyone. Soldiers were stationed near Altoona in two sections all the while. On July 27th, forty engineers and the same number of firemen, refused to take out engines that had been prepared for them. Immediately after that ten soldiers and a lieutenant cleared loiterers and strikers from the station, and all freight trains in the yards were moved east. Monday, July 30th, saw the end of the strike and all men returned to work. Under the superintendency of John K. Johnston, of the Tyrone Division, a national shop strike of railroad employees was effected. At Tyrone, Mr. Johnston's territory, the men employed were the only ones in the country to continue the discharge of their duties. That is proof of the high regard in which their superintendent was held, and amply justified his faith in his subordinates. Oscar N. Edmundson is the present master mechanic here. After completing a mechanical engineering course at Purdue University he became a special appren- THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 259 tice in the engineering department of the shops. In succession he served as inspector, motor car inspector, assistant master mechanic at the Juniata Shops, general foreman of erection and machine shops in Juniata, and on May 1, 1927, became master mechanic at Altoona. Frederick G. Grimshaw is the works manager. He also was employed as a special apprentice after his graduation from the engineering school of Cornell University in 1910. Since then he has risen from one position to another. He was assistant yard clerk at Youngwood; assistant master mechanic of the Monongahela Division; master mechanic of the West Jersey Sea Shore at Camden, New Jersey; assistant engineer of motive power of the Eastern Pennsylvania Division; assistant engineer of electric equipment at Philadelphia; superintendent of motive power, New York; assistant to the general manager of the entire Pennsylvania System, at Philadelphia; superintendent of the Eastern Division; superintendent of motive power of the Eastern Ohio Division, at Pittsburgh; general superintendent of motive power of the Southwestern Division, at St. Louis, Missouri; and in April, 1925, was made the works manager of the entire system at Altoona. The number of men whose work he supervises varies from 14,000 to 20,000. Dr. M. E. McDonnell, of Hollidaysburg, is chief chemist for the company at Altoona. He was first engaged in work for this system in 1898, when he served as a bacteriologist in the chemical department. Eventually he became assistant chief chemist, and since 1921 has held the post of chief chemist. O. V. Daniels, works storekeeper for the company at Altoona, was employed in 1899, after completing his formal education, as a stenographer. He was general material agent at Pittsburgh from 1907 to 1919, and was then transferred to Philadelphia to take the post of assistant general storekeeper. Mr. Daniels continued in that capacity until 1926 when he was appointed works storekeeper for the company at Altoona. William F. Kiesel, mechanical engineer, was employed as chief draughtsman by the company at Altoona in April, 1888. Twelve years later he was made assistant engineer, and in 1902 became assistant mechanic engineer. On February 1, 1919, he assumed the duties of mechanical engineer at Altoona. On June 1, 1930, John K. Johnston, of Tyrone, retired from a half century of service with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. From the time of his first association with the work of the company in 1879, until his retirement a year ago, Mr. Johnston filled one position of responsibility after another until he became assistant general superintendent of the Eastern Pennsylvania Division with headquarters at Tyrone. Mr. Johnston's activities on behalf of this great organization were always characterized by his loyalty to the company, his faith in the men who held subordinate positions, his remarkable executive ability, and his thorough knowledge of the work. The various positions he has held include that of assistant engineer of the Schuylkill Division; assistant engineer of maintenance of way at Altoona; assistant supervisor of the Tyrone Division; assistant supervisor of the Middle Division at Mifflin; supervisor of the Monongahela Division at Brownsville and Monongahela City; supervisor of the Schuylkill 260 BLAIR COUNTY HISTORY Division at Norristown; supervisor of the Philadelphia Division at Paoli; assistant engineer of the Middle Division engaged in construction work between Johnsonburg and Kane; principal assistant engineer at Altoona; and superintendent of the Tyrone Division. In the latter capacity he served from November 1, 1903, to May 1, 1929. At that time the Tyrone Division was absorbed by the Middle and Williamsport Divisions, and Mr. Johnston became assistant general superintendent of the Eastern Pennsylvania Division with offices at Tyrone, and continued there until he retired in the following year. The Tyrone Division, under his direction, attained a point when it moved the greatest annual tonnage of any single track railroad in the world. He instituted safety measures that received national recognition at a meeting of the Safety First Convention of the American Railway Association at Chicago in 1923. At present he is a consulting engineer and maintains offices in the Pennsylvania Railroad Station at Tyrone. Men who have held responsible positions in the offices and shops of the company in Blair County include: George Wisehart Creighton, Robert Pitcairn, Cecil A. Preston, Samuel S. Blair, I. B. Thomas, George W. Stratton, W. B. Norris, Fred A. Bell, W. B. Eberle, Andrew Kipple, Levi Geesey, John L. Burley, James Sharp, C. C. Mason, Harry S. Folk, Walter K. Beatty, George L. Freet, Fred S. Ball, Simon H. Walker, Daniel S. Houseman, William E. McKee, Colonel John Piper, Alexander Smith, Andrew Vauclain, George Hawkesworth, Thomas Myers, David A. Little, H. H. Riggin, William Cook, Harry E. Gamble, Arthur Trimm, John Gorrity, W. H. Bennett, William T. McConnell, Thomas McKerihan, T. R. Brown, William D. McKelvey, Edward McClain, Charles T. Witherow, Charles B. Dudley, Max Riebenack, Josiah D. Hicks, John R. Fraser, J. T. Brown, Dr. John Fay, William E. Graffius, Albert A. Witter, R. B. Freeman, Edwin A. Stine, William B. Ward, Frank Igo, Alfred W. Gibbs, Harry M. Sausser, and Richard N. Durborow. Among the men who were connected with the work of the company, particularly as passenger and freight engineers, as well as in other capacities, from a decade to half a century are: Richard H. Siegel, Charles W. Bohn, Joe F. Neff, Peter B. Kling, Otto Eger, John D. O'Brien, Henry F. Bowers, Jacob S. Dressler, Charles A. Burk, Edward C. Snyder, Zephaniah R. Berry, Harry H. Hazen, John Justice, William Sanderson, Isaac N. Myers, Charles A. Kelley, Michael G. Collins, William S. Banard, Jacob K. Lathero, William Emigh, William Prunkard, William I. Keckler, John W. Clark, Harry A. Brubaker, Alexander L. Ayers, Peter W. Adams, Joseph W. Maus, James E. Decker, Frank M. Fleck, James E. Pennington, John A. Martin, Clement Mauch, William H. Ritter, Herbert D. Bowman, Elmer A. Tobias, William J. Dunmire, Steward B. Kinch, Harry Eugene Smith, John M. Haas, William F. Merryman, John L. Gonder, Robert H. Hamilton, William H. Kinsel, Joseph S. Killinger, James M. Fitzpatrick, Joseph P. Raible, Elmer H. Friedly, John Geisler, Jr., Thomas N. Mangus and David M. Temple. The Pennsylvania Railroad had become one of the largest and most important systems in the United States. The traffic density enjoyed by this system is THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 261 greater than that of any of its competitors. About 40% of its entire traffic is in coal. In 1929, the company transported 88,157,225 tons of bituminous coal. Manufactured goods and miscellaneous freight are next in importance, totalling from 25% to 30% of the entire traffic. Its passenger business is large, and the revenues accrued in this field are greater than in any other railroad system. The leaders of this organization have been quick to apprehend and take advantage of changes in transportation methods. In June, 1929, the company acquired an interest in, and entered into a contract with the Greyhound Lines, Inc., for the purpose of rendering bus service between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Hollidaysburg and Altoona are two of the important stations on this route in Blair County. In April, 1930, rail-bus service was inaugurated between the Atlantic Seaboard, Chicago and St. Louis. Before this, however, the advantages of air travel were recognized, and in May, 1928, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company, Wright Aeronautical Corporation and the National Air Transport Company, provided 48-hour trans-continental passenger service between New York and Los Angeles. Approximately, 12,500 men are employed in the various fields of the company's work at Altoona, Bellwood, Hollidaysburg and Tyrone. That is by far the greatest number of persons employed by one company in the county. A comparison of transportation conditions between the Portage Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad is given in the pamphlet on the Allegheny Portage Railroad, issued by the publicity bureau of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in February, 1930. This comparison is as follows: "The Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad today performs much the same transportation functions - though on a far larger scale - as did the Portage Railroad and the Western Division of the Pennsylvania Canal during the period 1834 to 1853. That is, the Pittsburgh Division carries passengers and freight up the eastern slope of the Allegheny Mountains and down the western slope to the Pittsburgh gateway, and vice versa. "The Pittsburgh Division, with certain branch and alternate routes, gives the Pennsylvania Railroad a six-track line, with the exception of one comparatively short stretch, all the way from the foot of the eastern slope to Pittsburgh. Nowhere are fewer than four tracks available. "The Portage Railroad provided a double-track line over the mountains to Johnstown and a canal from the latter point to Pittsburgh. "Statistical records of the Portage Railroad which have been preserved show that in 1836 the freight handled amounted to 52,700 tons. Ten years later it had increased to nearly 146,000 tons and, in 1852, reached a total of about a quarter of a million tons. The number of passengers carried was 25,000 in 1836, but this decreased to an average of 11,300 annually by the middle of the next decade. "The Pennsylvania Railroad at present handles more traffic over the Allegheny Mountains in one day than the Portage Railroad, at the height of its usefulness, carried in a year."