AN ACCOUNT
OF TIIE
PORTAGE RAIL ROAD,
OVER THE
ALLEGHENY MOUNTAIN,
Xu ^enusgltoanta.
BY S. W. ROBERTS,
PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT ENGINEER THEREON.
PHILADELPHIA:
NATHAN KITE.—50 N. FOURTH STREET.
1836.
THE
PORTAGE RAIL ROAD.
The commencement of the construction of the
Allegheny Portage Rail-foad, was authorised by an
act of the legislature of Pennsylvania, passed the 21st
of March, 1831. Previous to that time, surveys of the
Allegheny Mountain had been made by several emi¬
nent engineers; and these surveys had thrown much
light on the topography of the country through which
the Rail-road was to pass.
Sylvester Welch, Esq. was appointed principal en¬
gineer of the work, by the board of Canal Commis¬
sioners ; and he organized his locating party, and had
the tents pitched near Lilley's Mill, at the head of the
mountain branch of the Conemaugh, on the 12th day
of April, 1831.
The locating party at the beginning, consiste^ of—
Sylvester Welch, principal engineer; Solomon W.
Roberts, principal assistant engineer ; Patrick Griffin,
surveyor, and twelve assistants and axe-men, and a
cook.
( 4 )
The line was commenced at the head of the Little
Conemaugh, and continued down the valley of that
stream to Johnstown, a distance of 21 miles, where it
connects with the western division of the Pennsylvania
Canal. The western end of the Rail-road was located
on the 14th of May. In the month of May, Mr. W.
Milnor Roberts joined the corps as principal assist¬
ant engineer, and traced the line from the turnpike
crossing, near the summit of the mountain, to Lilley's
Mill, a distance of five miles.
The grading and masonry of the twenty-six miles ,
thus located, were contracted for at Ebensburg, on the
25th of May, and the work was commenced by clear¬
ing a track, 120 feet wide, through the forest,—
most of which consisted of heavy spruce or hemlock
timber. The location of the line from the turnpike
crossing, near the summit, at Blair's Gap, eastward to
Haliidaysburg, a distance of ten miles and two-thirds,
was immediately proceeded with. This part of the
work was let to contractors on the 29th of July, 1831 ;
and thus the grading and masonry of the whole Rail¬
road, being thirty-six and two-third miles in length,
were put under contract. The laying of the first
track, and the necessary turn-outs of edge rails, and
of a double track of plate railway on the inclined
planes, was contracted for on the 11th of April, 1832.
The work upon the Rail-road was prosecuted vigor¬
ously, at one time a force equal to two thousand men
being employed upon it ; and on the 26th of Novem-
( 5 )
her, 1833, the first track was so far advanced as to
permit the passage of the first car over its whole
length.
On the 18th of March, 1834, the road was opened
as a public highway ; the state furnishing the power
on the inclined planes only; and it continued in use
until the 31st of December, when the navigation of
the canals of Pennsylvania, which this road connects,
was closed for the season. The Railway was again
opened on the 20th of March, 1835; shortly after
which, the second track of edge rails was completed.
On the 11th of May, the state began to furnish the
whole motive power, locomotive engines being used on
the " long level ;" and this continued until about the
middle of December, when the canals were closed by
ice.
The Portage Rail-road consists of eleven " levels"
or grade lines, and ten inclined planes. The ascent
from Johnstown to the summit is 1171fVo feet in a dis¬
tance of 26t5/t miles ; and the descent from the sum*
mit to Hallidaysburg is 1398foV feet in a distance of
10TVV miles. There are five inclined planes on each
side of the mountain varying in inclination from 4° 9'
to 5° 51', or from 7t2/ö feet to lOfyV feet elevation, to
100 feet base ; they are numbered eastwardly, the one
nearest Johnstown being No. 1, that nearest Halli¬
daysburg, No. 10. The following table shows the
length, and rise or fall of each " level" or grade line,
and of each inclined plane.
1*
Level
No.
I. f
Plane
No.
1.
Level
No.
2.
Plane
No.
2.
Level
No.
3.
Plane
No.
3.
Level
No.
4.
Plane
No.
4.
Level
No.
5.
Plane
No.
5.
Level
No.
6.
Plane
No.
6.
Level
No.
7.
Plane
No.
7.
Level
No.
8.
Plane
No.
8.
Level
No.
9.
Plane
No.
9.
Level
No.
10.
Plane
No.
10.
Level
No.
11.
ascending,
" Long level,"
Summit level at Blair's Gap,
descending,
to Hallidaysburg
Length.
Rise.
4.13 miles.
101.46 feet.
1007.74 feet.
150.00
13.06 miles.
189.58
1760.43 feet.
132.40
1.49 miles.
14.50
1480.25 feet.
130.50
1.90 miles.
18.80
2195.94 feet.
187.86
2.56 miles.
25.80
2628.60 feet.
201.64
1.62 miles.
19.04—
■1171.58
FaH.
2713.85 feet.
266.50
.15 miles.
0.00
2655.01 feet.
260.50
.66 miles.
5.80
3116.92 feet.
307.60
1.25 miles.
12.00
2720.80 feet.
189.50
1.76 miles.
29.58
2295.61 feet.
180.52
3.72 miles.
146.71—
■1398.71
( 7 )
A part of the railway, generally 300 feet long, at
the head and foot of each plane, is made exactly level.
The planes are all straight in plan and also in profile,
excepting that the angles of elevation at the lower ends
are rounded off by curves. There are some minor
variations in the grades on the " levels," made to suit
the ground, which arc omitted in the preceding table.
From the lengths and heights given above, the average
grade of each " level" may be obtained correctly.
The embankments were made 25 feet wide on the top,
and the bed of the road in excavations is 25 feet wide,
with large side ditches. Where the line follows the bed
of the Conemaugh, it is protected by substantial slope
walls. As the rail-road is generally constructed along
the steep slopes of hills, often of a clayey soil, and as
it crosses many small streams, great care in drainage
was necessary. Sixty-eight culverts of masonry laid
in mortar, the sum of the spans of which is 494 feet, pass
under the rail-road, besides 85 drains of dry masonry,
of from 2 to 3 feet span. There are four viaducts of
hammer-dressed sand-stone, to carry the line over
streams. The first and largest is over the Conemaugh
at the " horse shoe bend," about eight miles from Johns¬
town. This magnificent viaduct has a single semicir¬
cular arch of 80 feet span, and the top of the masonry
is 70 feet above the surface of the water. The whole
cost of this work was $54,562 24 cts, and by building
it, a lateral bend of about 2 miles was avoided. There
are two viaducts over branches of the Conemaugh,
( 8 )
each of 40 feet span, and one over a branch of the
Juniata at Hallidaysburg, having two arches of 33 feet
span, which vary 35 degrees from a right angle with
their abutments. There is a tunnel through a spur of
the Allegheny, at the head of inclined plane No. 1,
about four miles from Johnstown, near which the
Conemaugh makes a bend of two miles and a half.
This tunnel is 901 feet long, and 20 feet wide by 19
feet high within the arch. It is arched for 150 feet in
length at each end, and the entrances are finished off
with ornamental facades of cut stone. The whole
cost of the tunnel, including arching, was $37,498 85 cts.
The edge rails used on the Allegheny Portage, are
" parallel" rails of rolled iron, weighing about 40
pounds per lineal yard. They are supported by cast
iron chairs, which weigh on an average about 13
pounds each. The rail is secured in every chair by
one iron wedge. The stone blocks which support the
chairs, contain three and a half cubic feet each, and
they are imbedded in broken stone, at a distance of
three feet from centre to centre. On a part of the
railway, the chairs are laid upon a timber foundation,
and on'the inclined planes and along the canal basins,
at the two terminations of the road, flat rails upon tim¬
ber are used. At the head of each inclined plane, there
are two stationary steam-engines of about 35 horse
power each, which give motion to the endless rope to
which the cars are attached. Only one engine is used
at a time, but two are provided to prevent delay from
( 9 )
accidents. Four cars, each loaded with 7000 lbs. can
be drawn up, and four may be let down at the same
time ; and from six to ten such trips can be made in
an hour. The machinery is very simple and effective.
Its construction was superintended by Mr. Edw. Mil¬
ler, as principal assistant engineer. A safety car at¬
tends the cars, both ascending and descending, and
stops them in case of accident to the rope, which adds
greatly to the security. The credit of this contri¬
vance is due to the principal engineer. The grubbing
and clearing of the Portage Rail-road cost $30,524.
This work was equal to cutting a road through a
dense forest, 120 feet wide and about 30 miles long.
The grading of the rail-road, including the grubbing
and clearing, and all work done under the contracts
for grading cost $472,162 59J cts. This work in¬
cludes,
337,220 cub. yds. of common excavation.
212,034 " " slate or detached rock.
566,932 " " hard-pan or indurated clay.
210,724 " " solid rock.
14,857 " " do. do. in tunnel, at $1 47.
967,060 " " embankments carried over 100 ft.
67,327 perches slope-wall of 25 c. feet.
13,342 " vert. do. and wall in drains.
The viaducts and culverts, and the skew-bridge for
carrying the turnpike over inclined plane No. 6, con¬
tain 28,368 perches masonry, and their total cost was
$116,402 64| cts. For the first track and the necessa-
( 10 )
ry turn-outs, including a double track upon the inclin¬
ed planes, there were delivered 50911 stone blocks, each
containing 3J cubic feet, cost $27,072 15 cts. ; and
508,901 feet lineal of 6 by 8 inch timber; 239,397 feet
of 10 by 10 inch, and 2842 feet of 12 by 12 inch tim¬
ber, of white oak and pine, which cost $47,184 50 cts.
The work done under the contracts for " laying" rail¬
way on the first track, including furnishing broken
stone, amounted to $135,776 26 cts. Ail of the iron
rails were imported from Great Britain, by Messrs. A.
& G. Ralston, Philadelphia, and also a part of the
chairs, spikes, and wedges for the first track. The
total cost of British iron at Philadelphia imported for
the first track, was $118,888 36. The aggregate
cost of all work done and materials furnished un¬
der contracts for the first track of railway, was
$430,716 59£ cts. For the second track there were
imported 16976 bars of edge rails, each 18 feet long,
which weighed 1803 tons, 14 cwt. gross, and cost at
Philadelphia $87,494 80 cts. or $48 51 cts. per ton.
The aggregate cost of all work done, and materials fur¬
nished under contracts for the second track of railway
was $362,987 05| cts. Aggregate cost of work done
and materials furnished under contracts for building
ten stationary engines and machinery at the inclined
planes, houses, sheds, dwelling-houses for enginemen,
wells, water-pipes and ropes, first set, was $151,923
30i cts.
( 11 )
General statement of the cost of the Portage Rail-road.
Cost of Grading . . $472,162 59^
Masonry . . 116,402 64^
First track of Railway 430,716 59£
Second track do. . 362,987 05^
Buildings, Machinery, &c. at
planes, first set, 151,923 30J
Ten stationary engines, second set, 37,779 25
Buildings, &c. for second set of
engines . . 21,049 59
Depots, machine shops, water
stations, weighing machines,
and^ various works . 41,336 66|
$1634,357 69i
The above sum is the cost of constructing the Por¬
tage Rail-road at the contract prices ; but it does not
include office expenses, or engineering, or the extra
allowances made to contractors, in a few instances,
by the Legislature after the work was completed, and
beyond the contract prices.
Four locomotive engines have been used upon the
" long level," but the expenses of them belong to ano¬
ther account.
About fifty thousand tons of freight, and twenty
thousand passengers passed over this road during the
season of 1835. This is but a beginning of the vast
trade destined to take this route, which was nearly an
( 12 )
untrodden wilderness five years ago. The state of
Pennsylvania has reason to be proud of her public im¬
provements, and the Allegheny Portage Rail-road is
one of the most important links in that great chain
which connects Philadelphia with Pittsburg.
The above statements were derived from official doc¬
uments in the rail-road office at Johnstown, and conse¬
quently may be depended upon.
Johnstown, January 1,1836.
Joseph & William Kite, Printers.
3 5556 041 292442