Pennsylvania Railroad’s Reproduction of Early Transportation In connection with the Semi-Centennial of the Loyal War Governors’ Conference of September 24, 1862 o Altoona, Pennsylvania September 24-26, 1912 » CONESTOGA WAGON "5 o 6* 736 Pennsylvania Railroad’s Reproduction of Early Transportation In connection with the Semi-Centennial of the Loyal War Governors’ Conference of September 24, 1862 Altoona, Pennsylvania, September 24,25, 26, 1912 W HEN the Pennsylvania Railroad was invited to participate in the Semi-Centennial of the Loyal War Governors’ Conference, on Thursday, September twenty-sixth, it was decided that nothing more fitting could be presented to the public than a reproduction of early transportation methods. The reproductions on floats are preceded by a mounted herald bearing a banner emblazoned on which is the legend : — THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD PRESENTS EARLY TRANSPORTATION Following the herald, a band of thirty pieces, and, in succession, the floats: — 1. CONESTOGA WAGON. 2. CANAL PACKET-OLD PITTSBURGH LINE. 3. “JOHN BULL” TRAI N — CAM DEN AND AMBOY RAILROAD, 1831. 4. FIRST STEAM TRAIN TO THE WEST, 1834. 5. FIRST PASSENGER CAR WITH ELEVATED ROOF, 1836. Except the Conestoga Wagon, which is original (borrowed for the occasion from Mr. Nathaniel Groff, of East Petersburg, Lancaster County, Penn- sylvania), the exhibits are faithful reproductions, though somewhat reduced in size. Accompanying the floats, riding on the canal boat, in and on the old passenger coach, and walking alongside the floats are young men and young women costumed as trav- elers of the period of the scenes presented. Hanging from the sides of the floats are photo- graphic reproductions of old posters, such as were usually displayed in the early days of transportation. CONESTOGA WAGON This is an original Conestoga wagon and shows the type of conveyance used previous to the intro- duction of the railway to transport emigrants and merchandise from the east to the west, returning with such products as the western settler might have for disposition in eastern markets. Before the era of the railway the interior of the State was almost wholly supplied with merchandise by that vehicle of transportation. After transportation by pack horses came ox- carts, moving over a wagon road blazed along the Indian trails from the Delaware River to the north branch of the Susquehanna. As the roads were im- proved the ox-teams gave way to more pretentious wagons drawn by horses. On the completion of the turnpikes in the latter part of the eighteenth and the early years of the nineteenth century, large wagons carrying from two to three tons and drawn by from four to six horses became the carrying equipment of trade. These teams were known as the “Conestoga” and the “Pitt,” the former serving the trade of the interior of Pennsylvania and the latter that of Pittsburgh and beyond. The “Conestoga” wagon was constructed with its center bending down so that its contents could not pitch forward as a grade in the road was descended, nor backward as one was ascended. It derived its name from the thrifty region of Lancaster County, famous in the past, as it is in the present, for the quality of its live stock and vehicles. The splendid draft horses raised in Lancaster County were famous as “Conestogas,” and were in demand to haul the heavy wagons that increased trade demanded, and it was but natural that the trade name of the horse should attach itself to the wagon which it drew. As emigration advanced westward trade developed, and the thrifty farmer of the Conestoga became a common carrier and the Conestoga wagon a famous transportation vehicle. CANAL PASSENGER PACKET This boat is a faithful reproduction of the pas- senger boats used on the Pennsylvania Canal in 1836. CANAL PACKET-OLD PITTSBURGH LINE The first canal 4 6 Packet” in Pennsylvania was a small boat built in Lancaster in 1828 and named the 44 Red Rover.” It was run on the Conestoga Navigation or slack water canal between Lancaster and Safe Harbor until 1833, when it was taken up the Susquehanna to Columbia, put in the Pennsyl- vania Canal, and run as a passenger boat between Columbia and Middletown for some years. The 44 Red Rover” was the original out of which was evolved the 44 packet” of 1836. This latter was a boat 72 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 8 feet high. Its interior was divided into four sections, — a mule stable, kitchen, gentlemen’s cabin, and ladies’ cabin. Swinging sleeping berths were fastened along the sides of the cabins and were separated from one another by curtains. Skylights, with twenty win- dows on each side of the boat protected by green Venetian shutters, permitted the light to enter the interior. The boat would accommodate about one hun- dred and fifty passengers. It was painted white, with stripes of red and black above the water-line. The crew of the boat consisted of the captain, two drivers, two deck hands, one cook, and one scullion. It was drawn by three mules. Three mules were always in the stable. Mules were changed every eight miles. Charles Dickens, in traveling over the Pennsyl- vania Canal, had this to say in his American Notes on the 44 packet” and 44 packet” travel: — “Nor was the sight of this canal boat in which we were to spend three or four days by any means a cheerful one, as it involved some uneasy speculations concerning the disposal of the passengers nt night, and opened up a wide field of in- quiry touching the other domestic arrangements of the estab- lishment, which was sufficiently disconcerting. However, there it was, a barge with a little house on it, viewed from the outside ; and a caravan at a fair, viewed from within • the gentlemen being accommodated as the spectators usually are in one of those locomotive museums of penny wonders ; and the ladies being partitioned off by a red curtain after the manner of the dwarfs and giants in the same establishments, whose private lives are passed in rather close exclusiveness.” After describing the scenes and incidents of canal boat traveling, he continues: — “And yet despite these oddities — and even they had for me at least a humor of their own — there was much in this mode of traveling which I heartily enjoyed at the time, and look back upon with great pleasure. Even the running up, bare-necked, at five o’clock in the morning, from the tainted cabin to the dirty deck ; scooping up the icy water, plunging one’s head into it, and drawing it out, all fresh and glowing with the cold, was a good thing. The quick walk along the towing path between that time and breakfast, when every vein and artery seemed to tingle with health; the exquisite beauty of the opening day, when the light came gleaming off from everything; the lazy motion of the boat, when one lay idly on the deck, looking through, rather than at, the deep blue sky; the gliding on at night, so noiselessly, past frown- ing hills, sullen with dark trees, and sometimes angry in one red burning spot high up, where unseen men lay crouching round a fire ; the shining out of the bright stars undisturbed by the noise of wheels or steam or any other sound than the limpid rippling of the water as the boat went on ; all these were pure delights.” “JOHN BULL” TRAIN This reproduction shows the original locomotive “John Bull,” as constructed for the Camden and Amboy Railroad Company. It was made from the original drawings from Stevenson’s Shops, which accompanied the engine from England, as attested by Isaac Dripps, who put the original together upon its arrival in America. The locomo- tive, with the two passenger cars of the stage body pattern, comprises the first steam train in the State of New Jersey, November 12, 1831. After the locomotive had been run for some little time, considerable trouble was experienced from its running off the tracks when rounding curves. A pilot and a pair of wheels were then added to the locomotive, and the increased wheel base thus ob- tained eliminated the trouble. Many changes were also made to the tender. The locomotive was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, and again at the Chicago Ex- position of Railway Appliances in 1883. It was then taken to the United States National Museum, Washington, D. C., where it remained until the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. Upon this occasion it hauled a train of two cars, without assistance, from New York to Chicago, meeting a continued ovation over the entire route. There it was one of the greatest attractions at the World’s Fair, carrying over fifty thousand passen- LOCOMOTIVE ‘ ‘ LANCASTER ” — FI R ST STEAM TRAIN TO THE WEST gers over the exhibition tracks in the Terminal Sta- tion yard. The locomotive left Chicago again under steam at the close of the Fair, coming east over the Penn- sylvania lines, via the Southwest System, to Pitts- burgh, and through Altoona, Harrisburg, and Balti- more to Washington, arriving there December 13, 1893. Having made its last trip under steam, it was returned to the United States National Museum, to remain there permanently. The “John Bull” is the oldest complete locomotive in America. FIRST STEAM TRAIN TO THE WEST-1834 This is a reproduction of the locomotive “Lan- caster” and train. The locomotive was built by M. W. Baldwin of Philadelphia for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, and the first practical loco- motive put in use on that road. The two stage body cars are reproductions of the original cars which were constructed to be drawn by horses, but modified to adapt them to the locomotive. The “Lancaster” was the third locomotive built by Mr. Baldwin. It was contracted for with the “Columbia” and “Philadelphia” under authority of April 22, 1834; completed, delivered, and put in running on the road June 28, 1834. It weighed eight tons, had a capacity of drawing fifty-six gross tons inclusive of the weight of the cars, and moved its train seventy-seven miles in eight hours. It was used in hauling material for the completion of the road, and on October 7, 1834, drew the leading passenger train from Columbia to Philadelphia on the formal opening of the road. There were two trains, one drawn by the “ Lancaster” and the other by its twin, the “Columbia,” each drawing seven- teen four-wheel cars. The trains left Columbia at eight o’clock in the morning and arrived at Lan- caster at nine o’clock. Among those on board were Governor Wolf; Henry Buehler; Daniel Sturgeon, Auditor General; Alexander Mahon, State Treasurer; General Samuel Workman, Secre- tary of the Land Office; General Spangler, Sur- veyor General; James Clarke and Generals Mitchell and McCoy, Canal Commissioners; General Simon Cameron; S. D. Patterson, editor of the “Penn- sylvania Reporter”; Major Forster, Colonel Forney, Captain McAllister, and many others of more or less importance; also a brass band. After an hour spent at Lancaster, exchanging felicitations with the citizens of that ancient burg, the party, increased by a local committee composed of Thomas E. Franklin, C. Forry, John Gray, Emanuel Shaffer, Henry Keffer, and R. W. Harrison, boarded the train which left for Philadelphia at ten o’clock. The movement of the trains was greeted with a continuous ovation from the people, and Governor Wolf entered Philadelphia at half-past four o’clock in the afternoon, enjoying a triumph such as BV THE OF RAIL ROAD CARS AN1) la (m&aa&a* THE WESTERN TRANSPORTATION COMPANY (LEECH, HOB.1RTS 4- TOL.I.VB'S Respectfully inform the Public, they have made arrangements with Messrs. Slaymakcr, Peters A Coiner, «f the Inion Kail Road Company to convey passengers to’ Columbia in their Pars, which leave the Corner of Broad and line Stmt at 7 «VWi, and S o’clock, every morning; arriving at Pol tint bia in time for the Packets, which leave at 6 o’clock in tht evening, for Holiday sbur2.—*Pa.ssengers there toke the Western Transportation Company’s Pars across the Mountain*. and proceed to Johnstown.. from whence they will be conveyed by Packets to Pittsburg, .making the journey with trifling fatigue,- in t» days, t i 'rite Root* leave each a Ladies and tUeutlemen’s Cabin, with 25 berths and appropriate conveniences. The Tables are rdentifully provided, and the accommodations such as to insure comfort and render the tour most in terestiur ‘be traveller and invalid ■wc niter information, apply to IV J Steel, Red Lion Hotel, Market Street, above Sixth Street, and for f»r v- t.eorgc W Morgan, Ag i , at the W hite Swan. Race Street, between 3d A fth Streets, or at the Pompon*-" -g orchouxe. North Store. Pbesuul Street, Sdiuyfkil). Frifrii to Xs\4vCW V ,J ”SsV H iUHISKl IU., *4,0©4 * BAIL KOUl* PI1 |{(. *9 COLUMBIA AM) TIAMIIINIH IUL THROUGH 1\ * DAIS. \i oo 5 -’5 3 50 MILLS MILL'S Pare to Harrisburg, tn 03 oo Alexandria, ^ $ do NewPort 08 s so Williamsburg s« do Mexico »« "s»i Hollidaysburg «•< do Lewis town t? 1 < w Johnstown *90 « u do Huntingdon ’ a«» * s; Pittsburg 324 ? «> Passengers by ibis line will be .carried through to Pittsburg, as soon as any line now running by the above route, passing our the Bail-Roads with day light. I he Cars on the Philadelphia, Columbia, and Portage Bail-Bonds are ot the best description and the accommodations in the Packet Boats, are eejuai i« mu; cfleh having a Gentlemen's and Ladies’ Cabin, lifted up with comfortable berths, exclusively for the accoimnudahon of Passengers. £C0ont mistake the office I.'iChesuut St . third door below Second, north side JOHN nMKKO\ Agent tor the Propio-tto s . Ph«UM,.W. M,<> sia. 1455 FACSIMILE OF ORIGINAL POSTER PHILADELPHIA TO PITTSBURGH, 4 V, DAYS 6 6 bogie” was fitted. Imlay had constructed a car as early as 1830 which was capable of accommodat- ing twelve persons inside; six persons, including the driver, on outside seats at either end, and twelve persons on a double seat running lengthwise on the top of the car. These pictures of early transportation methods form a sharp contrast with the huge steam and elec- tric locomotives, the all-steel passenger coaches, and the steel underframe fifty-ton capacity freight cars in use on the Pennsylvania Railroad to-day. Illustrative of the growth of the Pennsylvania Railroad since the Conference of the Loyal Govern- ors, the following statistics are given : — 1862 1912 Miles of single track 882 3,810 Locomotives, all classes . 255 3,621 Passenger equipment cars 158 2,502 Freight equipment cars . . 4,016 146,989 !□: 3