Railroad Rumblings

    During the Civil War there was talk about building a railroad from Port Trevorton to Mifflintown connecting the Susquehanna River with the Juniata River. Iron ore was being mined in Trevorton, PA on the east side of the Susquehanna River. Why not build a railroad - the most modern form of transportation of their day? Canals business was fading and trains were becoming a thriving business. Canals were too expensive to maintain with the frequent flooding along the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers.
    By the early 1870's the idea became a plan, then a contract, then a project. How exciting!  Wealthy businessmen in Selinsgrove supplied funds and dreamed of prosperous times ahead. The costly war was behind them. Times looked promising as the United States moved forward as one nation again. The Reading Railroad jumped on the band wagon and supplied additional funding for the new narrow gauge Selinsgrove-North Branch Railroad. All along the route from the Susquehanna to the Juniata River, men worked with picks and shovels to create a raised bed for the proposed railway. A bridge was built across the creek near Freeburg, PA. The work continued near the villages of Mt Pleasant Mills, Richfield, Evendale, Bunkertown, McAlisterville and on to Mifflintown. By May 1874, six miles of the railroad bed had been already graded.
    One man who lived in Evendale built a large three-story-building with intentions to be able to open a hotel just in time for the opening of the new railroad. He probably dreamed of the bustle and business he would enjoy. This would surely put the tiny hamlet of Evendale on the map! A railroad station house was built in Heister Valley near Richfield, PA.
    But before the railroad bed was completed, things began to go south! For one thing the wooden railroad bridge across the Susquehanna River at Port Trevorton was declared to be unsafe. The project would need to find additional funding for a new bridge across the nearly mile wide Susquehanna River. Then in October 1874 the "great fire" in Selinsgrove gutted more than 50 buildings in the heart of town and ruined several wealthy business men who were great supporters of the new railroad. This fire was a lot more devastating than the fire of 1872 in their town. The final blow came when the Reading Railroad withdrew their support.
   What can I learn from the unfinished story of the railroad?
1. Jesus said, " For which of you, intending to build a tower (or a railroad- paraphrased) sitteth not down first , and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?" Luke 14:28
2. Don't count your chicks before they hatch!
3. Careful planning does not guarantee success.  Our course may be changed by the unexpected- fire, flood, eathquake, cancer, job loss, illness or handicap, financial loss or death can bring life-changing circumstances beyond our control.
    Today you can drive through Snyder and Juniata County and see the "hump" at various places where the "stillborn railroad" was intended to rumble.  The unfinished railroad stands as a monument to unfufilled dreams. Only God can write the final chapter of our unfinished stories.