The Shamokin Valley and Pottsville had been commenced in 1835 to transport coal from the mines to the Susquehanna Canal at Sunbury and was extended to Mt. Carmel in 1854. Its entire length of 27 miles lay through anthracite deposits, and it owned substantial holdings itself, which went with the lease.
The Shamokin lands were jointly owned by the Pennsylvania and the Northern Central through the Mineral Railroad and
Mining Company which also operated the property. The ownership of this company’s stock was two-thirds by the Pennsylvania and one-third by the Northern Central so the Northern Central’s investment is indicated as about $546,000, which is included in the tabulation above.*
This region was reached by the “Shamokin Valley and Pottsville railroad company” which extended from Sunbury to Mount Carmel, with branches, a main line distance of 27 miles. The collieries, of which there were eight in 1873, were from 18 to 27 miles east of the Northern Central at Sunbury. The coal was considered of good quality and was mostly found in shallow
veins, eight to ten feet thick,
Ihe antecedents of the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville go back to the early days of railroads in the United States. Its first predecessor, the Danville and Pottsville Rail Road, was incorporated by Act of legislature dated April 8, 1826, after meetings held at various towns had endorsed the project. The Act provided that letters patent should be issued when $50,000 stock had been subscribed and $5,000 actually paid in, and that construction should be started by 1829 and finished by 1833. The line was to run from Pottsville, on the Schuylkill Canal, to Danville, on the Susquehanna above Sunbury. Authority was later granted to make Sunbury the terminus. The line was surveyed in 1828 by Moncure Robinson.* |
It was not until 1831 that paid-in subscriptions were enough to secure the Letters Patent, which were issued on February 18. The work proceeded slowly, and in 1835 the railroad was finished on the west end from Sunbury to Shamokin, 19.8 miles, and on the east end from Pottsville to Ashland, 11 miles.
‘Two small locomotives were placed in service in 1838, but were too heavy to be borne by the track structure, and their use was discontinued. Operations were then resumed with horse power until 1852, when the primitive track was replaced with iron T-rails laid on crossties. :
The two ends of the road were never connected to form a through route, and under this method of operation they failed
to produce the income necessary to support the unexpectedly heavy fixed charges. The road was sold at foreclosure in 1851 for $135,000 and conveyed to the Philadelphia and Sunbury Rail Road Company on September 11 of the same year. This company reconstructed the track and extended the western section to Mount Carmel, 7 miles, in 1854. The Philadelphia and Sunbury was sold at foreclosure in 1857 and 1858 and reorganized as the “Shamokin Valley and Pottsville railroad company” by conveyance of its property on April 9, 1858. The disconnected eastern section on which there were six inclined planes, was sold to the Philadelphia and Reading in 1862.