News of the year 1912 of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad is presented here as reported in area newspapers.
For all previous articles on this doomed project, see: Midland Pennsylvania Railroad.
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From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, 5 January 1912:
BOOSTERS WILL MET AT GRATZ
Further Development of Lykens Valley Will Be Agitated
Special to Star-Independent
Gratz, 5 January 1912 – Preparations are being made for a big booster meeting of the residents of the Lykens Valley to be held here on Friday, January 19, in connection with the monthly meeting of the Lykens Valley Board of Trade and the meeting of the Dauphin County Farmers’ Institute, which will be held jointly. The plans for the big meeting are in charge of a committee of the Gratz Board of Trade, one of the subsidiary boards of the Lykens Valley board.
It is expected that some of the leading spirits in the building of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad and the development of the Lykens Valley will make addresses at the meetings. The program for the farmers’ institute is being prepared and will also be announced within the next few days.
It is being planned to make this meeting the beginning of the activities throughout the valley for the year, after a lapse in the development for the past six months, due to the withdrawal of the Pinkerton Construction Company in the building of the railroad through from Millersburg to Gratz.
The meeting will probably be attended by W. E. Harrington, president of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad; Finley Acker, of Philadelphia, who is largely interested in both the building of the road and the development of the adjacent country, and a number of other capitalists. It is expected that some important announcements concerning the progress expected this year will be made at this time.
“The railroad will be pushed forward in the spring,” said Joseph F. Romberger, second vice president, to-day. “It is the intention of the management and the Lykens Valley Syndicate to put the road through to Gratz at once and put it into service. It will then be pushed vigorously east from Gratz to Ashland, after trains are running as far as Gratz.”
The road from Millersburg to Gratz is ready for the laying of the rails, which, it is said, will take but a short time to get it ready for service.
Mr. Romberger said it would be impossible for the contractors to do any work under the present weather conditions.
“We are receiving applicants daily for building sites,” he said, “and as soon as the railroad starts to move and confidence restored again the valley will be booming.”
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From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, 17 January 1912:
LYKENS VALLEY BOARD OF TRADE
Will Hold Important Two-Day Meeting This Week
Special to Star-Independent
Gratz, 17 January 1912 – Arrangements have been completed for the monthly meeting of the Lykens Valley Board of Trade, and the sessions of the Dauphin County Farmer’s Institute, to be held here Friday and Saturday. The sessions of the institute will be started at 2 o’clock on Friday afternoon, and at 5 o’clock in the evening the business meeting of the Board of Trade will be held. Five sessions of the institute will be held, the one on Friday evening being substituted for the regular Board of Trade pubilc meeting.
The address of welcome will be made by George W. Guise, an attorney of the Schuylkill County bar, and the response will be made by Prof. Franklin Menges, of York, one of the institute speakers. The musical part of the program has been prepared by Harry Zerfing. Each of the sessions will have a number of musical features.
Besides Mr. Menges, the speakers will be M. H. McCallum, Wernersville; Leon Otice VanNoy, of Troy; and Sheldon W. Fund, of Boyerstown. Mr. Funk will talk on modern peach culture, which is being urged throughout the Lykens Valley in connection with the building of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad and the development of the adjacent territory.
U.H. Daniel is president of the institute, and Darius J. Weist is secretary….
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From the Elizabethville Echo, 25 January 1912
Farmer’s Institute at Gratz
About nine hundred persons attended the Saturday evening session of the Farmer’s Institute held in Smith’s Hall, Gratz, last Saturday evening. Daniel Coleman presided at all of the sessions and George W. Gise, an attorney of the Schuylkill County Bar delivered the address of welcome. Prof. Franklin Menges of York responded. The schools took part in the daily programs, the children singing and reciting. An orchestra furnished music, this part of the program being in charge of Prof. Harry Zerfing.
Prof. Menges urged the completion of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad. Mr. Funk spoke on peach culture.
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From the Elizabethville Echo, 14 March 1912:
Two civil engineers and a prospective Contractor went over the right-of-way of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad last week and announced that the work will be resumed as soon as the frost is out of the ground.
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From the Harrisburg Patriot, 20 April 1912:
Judge Gordon, a stockholder in the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad, from Philadelphia and a half dozen other prominent men stopped at the Bowman Hotel [Berrysburg] on Thursday and gave encouraging remarks as to the opening of the road and saying it should be completed as soon as labor can make it so. Another party from New York City, a contractor, accompanies with his surveyors, took a full inspection of the road from Millersburg to Gratz on Tuesday, also saying that he was in the field with a reasonable proposition to finish the road.
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From the Harrisburg Patriot, 21 June 1912:
MIDLAND RAILROAD TO BE COMPLETED SOON
Berrysburg, 20 June [1912] – Dr. L. C. Hairce and Joseph F. Romberger attended a Midland Pennsylvania Railroad meeting at Gratz on Wednesday. On Thursday, Mr. Romberger attended a directors’ meeting at Philadelphia. We are told by good authority that the time is only a few days distant when the work on the unfinished road will be begun.
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From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, 3 July 1912:
TO RESUME WORK ON MIDLAND ROAD
Operations Will Be Started Next Week On New Railroad
Special to Star-Independent.
Gratz, 3 July [1912] – Arrangements are being made for a resumption in the construction of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad at this point next week. The work will probably be started on Monday morning.
This will be the first work done on the railroad since early last fall, when the work was stopped at a point near here. During the past few weeks the officers of the railroad have been holding a number of meetings at the general headquarters in Philadelphia in an effort to get the work started again.
The roadbed has been completed from Millersburg to a point near this place, and it is hoped by residents of this section that the officers can carry out their plans of putting the road between here and Millersburg in operation by early fall. The laying of the rails and some grading are all that is necessary to be done.
The failure to get the railroad completed last summer greatly delayed a number of large improvements that had been mapped out for the Lykens Valley. Plans had been made by a number of Philadelphia and New York capitalists for the investing of several million dollars in this section of the county.
Contractors are now getting things in shape for construction work and will push it through to completion as rapidly as possible. The road will then be built through to Ashland, Schuylkill County.
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From the Harrisburg Patriot, 6 July 1912:
PLAN TO RESUME WORK ON MIDLAND
Philadelphia Capitalists Will Not Surrender Millersburg-Ashland Road
CONTRACTS OUT SOON
Special Dispatch to the Patriot
Philadelphia, 5 July [1912] -With a view to shortly resuming work on the construction of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad which is to extend from Millersburg to Ashland, Pennsylvania, the directors of the company are holding meetings here two and three times a week to map out a plan of campaign for the year. While the management is not yet prepared to state just what day work will be started, it is hopeful of beginning operations in the very near future in order to benefit as much as possible by the open weather. There are still important matters to be cleared up before work can go ahead, and the director are making herculean efforts to meet these contingencies.
The road as projected will be forty-four miles long and to date about fifteen miles of the right of way have been graded, from Millersburg to Gratz. The work was completed last year when operations stopped due to some hitch. At that time the old construction withdrew from the field and the directors are now looking for another contracting company to take up the work where the first one left off. As yet the directors have failed to settle upon any construction company although many inquiries have been made and proposals are being considered.
The work of selecting a contractor is not the only problem which the directors have to solve at this time. It is understood that the company is about out of funds, and that additional money must be raised before the road can be completed. Of the issue of $2,000,000 first mortgage fifty-year 5 per cent sinking fund bonds authorized between $700,000 and $800,000 have been issued and are outstanding and it is now proposed to sell the balance of the issue. Negotiations are pending for the sale of these bonds. A definite order for the issue has been made by one banking house and a second proposal is expected in a few days. With its treasury once more replenished and a new contractor in the field the management expects to make considerable headway before the close of the year. The directors are anxious to get the road completed and in operation and are devoting much of their efforts to the fulfillment of his task.
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From the Harrisburg Daily Independent, 12 Jul 1912:
SAY MIDLAND WILL GO THROUGH
Failure of Construction Company Will Not Interfere, It Is Said
ROAD WITHOUT A PRESIDENT
According to men interested in the building of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad lines through the Lykens Valley Construction Company will not interfere with the building of the road. The construction company was organized for the building of the railroad, being a guarantor of the railroad bonds. The railroad was to have been completed a year ago, and earning dividends at this date, hence the failure of the construction company. It defaulted in the payment of interest on its five per cent bonds due on July 1.
It was expected that the work on the building of the road would be started this week, but it has again been delayed.
It is known on good authority that $242,000 of the bonds of the railroad company have been sold, and it is said in financial circles that a total of $800,000 worth of the securities has been disposed of to date.
An officer of the company and various men closely concerned in it said yesterday that steps were already taken for securing the interest due July 1, and added that despite the defaulting of payment, the company is now in a more flourishing condition than it has ever been before.
“This company is on the square and is going to build its road right through,” said Assistant Secretary J. B. Lear yesterday, when seen in his office in Philadelphia. “We no longer have any connection with the construction company and are not concerned in its downfall.”
The Midland Company and the bankrupt construction company were linked up by a working agreement, by which the construction company carried on the actual operation for the railroad company and paid the interest on the bonds from the money received to carry on the work.
The Midland Pennsylvania Railroad Company is one of a group of corporations operating in the Lykens Valley, which are controlled by a group of prominent Philadelphia capitalists, who are interested in the development of the section.
The railroad company was organized with an authorized stock issue of two million dollars, par value fifty dollars. A bond issue of two million dollars was then authorized to take care of half the cost of construction the railroad.
The Lykens Valley Construction Company secured the contract for building the railroad in September, 1910, and held it until June 26 when the railroad company officials annulled the contract with a resulting large forfeit of securities by the construction company. A few days afterward the suit of the Franklin Trust Company was heard in court for the recovery of interest on $60,000 worth of notes of the Schuylkill and Dauphin Traction Company, payment on which had been guaranteed by the construction company.
The construction company acknowledged itself bankrupt and is now awaiting the judgment of the court.
The construction company also was the guarantor of the railroad bonds and was responsible in the same way, but the latter corporation evaded the issue by abrogating its contract with the construction company in time, absolving it of responsibility for paying the bond interest on July 1.
Among the shareholders of the construction company were the following:
E. Harrington, Dimner Beeber, S. F. Houston, Philadelphia; G. Genge Browning, Devon; C. Henry Stinson, Norristown; J. K. Griffith, Pittston; Finley Acker, William Burnham, Winthrop Sargent, Walter Penn Shipley, William J. Dickson, Edwin S. Dickerson, Clayton F. Shoemaker, J. A. McKee, George B. Wells, W. W. Pinterton, Frank S. Evans, Jonas Steelton, Hazeltine Smith, Charles Gibbons Davis, Harry Dietsch, Thomas D. Richardson, William McLean, Edward W. Mercer, Henry Mercer & Company, Edward H. Cloud, B. F. Wickersham, S. K. Reeves, William G. Polleck Jr., all of Philadelphia.
I. Sillman, R. H. Harris, John M. Harris, James Tinkley, Tamaqua; L. T. Brandon, John H. Williams, J. W. Moyer. Charles E. Skeen, William S. Leib, Pottsville; Edgar D. Rank, Williamstown; Daniel Coolridge, Johnstown; Alvin Jones, Newport.
Joseph F. Romberger, Berrysburg; Richard W. Bellfield, Ardmore; Charles G. Shade, J. J. Buffington, Gratz; M. M. Gibson, Norristown; William O. Heinley, E. R. Schollenberger, A. B. Heller, Hamburg; N. D. Yoder, Hegins; John A. Keppleman, Reading; Frank E. Campbell, New York; J. G. McMichael, Chicago; Malcolm G. Stewart, Washington, D.C.; and George Evans Reading, Woodbury, New Jersey.
The bonds are secured by fifty-one per cent, of the railroad company’s stock, which is in the vaults of the Commonwealth Trust Company, of which Dimner Beeber, a director of the railroad corporation, is president. Mr. Beeber is at present on his way to Europe.
Officers of the railroad company say that the issue of the bonds is confined to a few “gentlemen of prominence and distinction” and that the stockholders and bondholders were “just like a big family.”
“The matter is within the family,” said Assistant Secretary Lear, “and we don’t feel that it is of any interest to the public. I can say, however, that negotiations are now being completed for securing interest from the bonds already out, while preparations have been competed for the sale of another million dollars’ worth of bonds through a bond issue. With this money we will complete the railroad and make it an earning operation.”
Walter E. Harrington, who is the general manager of the insolvent Schuylkill and Dauphin Traction Company, was formerly president of the railroad company, but he resigned last November. The office has been vacant since then, but it is said that the stock holders are looking around for a suitable head at the present time and may elect a president shortly.
Other officers of the corporation are Finley Acker, vice president; Samuel F. Houston, treasurer; John H. Williams, of Pottsville, secretary, and John B. Lear, assistant secretary. The directors, besides the officers, are Dimner Beeber, George B. Wells, of Philadelphia, and Joseph F. Romberger, of Berrysburg.
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From the West Schuylkill Herald, 26 July 1912:
Promotion Companies Are In Trouble
As a result of a bill in equity, filed by the Franklin Trust Company of Philadelphia, as trustee of the Schuylkill and Dauphin Traction Company, Judge Holland, of the United States District Court, appointed John M. Scott, of Philadelphia, receiver of the Lykens Valley Construction Company. The receiver’s bond is fixed at $2,500. The construction company formerly operated street railways in Schuylkill and Dauphin Counties, but has leased its entire business to the Schuylkill and Dauphin Traction Company.
The Trust Company, with others, furnished financial aid to the new owner for which it received the promissory notes of the company. The Lykens Company, which is the defendant in the present suit, guaranteed the punctual payment of the principal and interest of the notes. The obligation matured on July 1st and the debtor defaulted in payment. The Trust Company and others looked to the Construction Company for the payment of the notes. The company cannot live up to its promise. In the answer filed it admits its insolvency and is satisfied to accept the court’s decree.
Following closely upon the application of the Lykens Valley Construction Company for a receiver came the announcement that the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which was projected by the Lykens Valley Construction Company, has defaulted on the July interest of its bonds. The company has a bond issue of $800,000.
The Midland Pennsylvania was organized in 1910 and a little later started work on construction of a forty-four mile railroad from Millersburg to Ashland. About one-third of the line has been graded. The stock and bonds of Schuylkill County and Philadelphia the company are held principally by people.
Following close in the trail of the receivership for the Lykens’ Construction Company comes the appointment by Judge R. H. Koch, of A. B. Greenshields of Philadelphia, as receiver for the Schuylkill and Dauphin Traction Company, the lessee of the Lykens and Williams Valley Street Railroad. The appointment is the sequence of a bill in equity against the Schuylkill and Dauphin Traction Company, which was brought by G. VonPaul Jones, of Philadelphia, the receiver for the Lykens’ Construction Company. The bill of complaint was heard before Judge Koch in chambers after which the appointment of Receiver Greenshields was made, who gave in bond the sum of $3,000 for the faithful performance of the receivership.
It is complained that the line of railway of the defendant company is operated at a loss and hence the necessity of the appointment of a receiver as prayed for, so that the financial interest of all of the creditors may be legally and equitably adjusted.
The receiver directed to ascertain the financial standing of the defendant company by marshaling its debts and credits.
Furthermore, that the property of the company and that leased by the company be kept intact and saved from loss, that he be unhampered by the creditors in the performance of his duties and to appear in court to report the conditions as he finds them.
The petition of Receiver Jones, of the Lykens Construction Company, further sets forth that the defendant company forfeited upon the interest upon notes amounting to $60,000 given to the Franklin Trust Company, of Philadelphia, trustee, falling due on the first of July last; that the petitioner is ready to prove that a demand note was given by the company covering $1,000 to Winthrope Sergent, of Philadelphia, upon which payment is to be taken within a few days.
The appointment of a receiver for the above concern does not effect the operation of the road between Lykens and Tower City. This road is only leased to the Schuylkill and Dauphin Traction Company and has been operated by them. About the only effect the receivership will have will be to cancel all debts against the three companies without paying any money.
As far as can be learned none of the banking institutions of the valley hold any bonds, stock or paper on any of the above mentioned companies, although repeated efforts were made to sell some of it through here. It is said that some of the stock is held by people in the Hegins Valley, through which the railroad is to run.
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From the Allentown Leader, 25 September 1912:
HERE ON A SAD ERRAND
PROF. HARRY SMITH, POPULAR ATHLETE,
DOING WELL AT GRATZ, PENNSYLVANIA
Many old Allentown friends yesterday greeted Prof. Harry Smith, formerly of Allentown and Bethlehem, and one of the most noted and popular athletes of the Lehigh Valley, now of Gratz, Pennsylvania, who came here on a sad errand. Mr. Smith, who is now one of the leading citizens of Gratz and president of the Gratz Fair, which will be held October 15 to October 18, had sent word to old friends, he was coming here [Allentown] for the Fair. Instead, he came here to bury his brother, Charles Smith, who died last Saturday at Bethlehem, at the early age of 30, leaving a wife and two children.
While the errand of Mr. Smith was a sad one, the many old friends of Harry smith will nevertheless rejoice to learn of his success and prosperity in Dauphin County. He was always square, and cheerful besides and gave honest value as an athlete or any other service he performed. It didn’t take the Dauphin County people long to learn that when he settled among them. Besides being proprietor of a store and an annual show, he runs a bowling alley and an ice cream plant, and that he is president of the Gratz Fair indicates his standing. His business spirit is revealed by the fact that he is a promoter of the Midland Pennsylvania Railroad, in the building of which he has been of much assistance to Finley Acker, the Philadelphia capitalist at the head of the enterprise.
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News stories from Newspapers.com and from on-line resources of the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.