History of Bloomsburg & Sullivan Railroad

During the 1870s and 1880s the economy in the upper Fishing Creek valley of Columbia County was dependent on limited farming and small lumbering operations. From Bloomsburg, railroads traveled to markets where the industry of the upper valley could market timber products and the thinking was that as the timber was harvested the agricultural lands and other industry would take their place. A railroad from Bloomsburg to North Mountain and then on to Bernice was granted a charter December 21, 1883 to construct a railroad up Fishing Creek Valley.

The honorable Charles Robin Buckalew received the charter and organized the company. The Bloomsburg and Sullivan Railroad Company constructed a twenty-nine mile railroad up Fishing Creek valley under a company organized at Williamsport with Buckalew its first president and Morton McMichael of Philadelphia its vice president. The treasurer was L. E. Waller, Bloomsburg; H. C. Conner, Bloomsburg, was secretary. The contractor was James Jameson and the general manager was F. M. Leader. Financial support largely came from Philadelphia bankers and attorneys, including Benton K. Jamison whose name the town of Jamison City took. Shares were $50 each with an initial capitalization of $500,000. The railroad route and resultant rights-or-way were secured from property owners through the skills of Cyrus McHenry and Cap Connor. Rights were obtained by direct purchase and by agreements by which the land would revert to the owner if and when the railroad was abandoned.

It was August of 1886 before ground was broken above Orangeville and the laying of tracks up the rocky valley began. Many Italian workmen worked on the roadbed and on laying the actual track. Estimates were that about fifty ethnic workers were employed. Most of these workers were boarded on the Zaner farm in an area now called Zaners.

In early Spring of 1887, the first rail and the first spike was driven at Railroad Street, Bloomsburg. On good days, three quarters of a mile of track could be laid.

On July 4, 1887, a huge celebration took place in Orangeville to welcome the first train. The train had just four borrowed gondola-type freight cars, outfitted with plank seats. Several hundred riders made the trip from Bloomsburg to Orangeville at a cost of thirty-five cents a person.

By August, 1887, the track was completed to Benton. Work on the extension to Jamison City began in the spring of 1888 and railroad service was inaugurated November 30, 1888.

During its prime, passenger trains made three round trips each weekday, the first one leaving Jamison City around 5:30 AM and the last one ending there at 8:00 PM. The third and last trip south left Jamison City around 5:00 PM.

The Bloomsburg and Sullivan Railroad tracks ran parallel to Fourth Street and Railroad Street (now Fifth Street). When service north of Benton was discontinued, the train would park on the tracks between Everett and Church streets at night, and Harry Bittenbender, night watchman and fireman, would stand guard. When the early morning run from Benton was discontinued, this practice stopped. The passenger station was located on Market Street with a freight station north of the passenger station. Scott Laubach delivered the mail from the railroad station to the post office and delivered freight to area businesses until the early 1920's. The passenger station was moved north to Everett Street and is now the home of Lee and Carolyn Remley. A telegram service was operated from the station. F. L. Klase and D. E. Hartman were station agents.

The late Ted Fenstermacher reported that the road connected with two other railroads, the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg and Berwick at Paper Mill, and the Lackawanna and Reading at Bloomsburg. The' telegraph was installed in the fall of 1889, and in 1905 the Northern Central Telephone Company completed its lines from Benton to Jamison City. Jamison City was almost completely dependent on the train from late 1888 until 1892.

Many local people were involved with the railroad. Frank Klase retired from the Reading R. R. company after 57 years of service. Frank came to Stillwater when in his teens as a telegrapher for the B & S R. R., Co. in 1889 and he stayed there for sometime until he was sent to Jamison City as Station Agent. From there he was sent to Bloomsburg where he worked in the B & S office for three years. On April 1, 1900, he accepted the position as agent in Benton and was with the B & S until it was purchased by the Reading Company in 1929. He remained with the Reading Company until October 1945 when he retired on account of illness.

The railroad never was profitable, but it did open the way for growth and development throughout the Fishing Creek Valley. Goods carried included logs and lumber from and animal hides to Jamison City, mine ties and props from Forks and paper products from two paper mills along the route. Col. Jameson was president of the Bloomsburg and Sullivan Railroad until 1886 and was the chief contractor for the project. Benton K. Jamison of Philadelphia, a financier in coal mines and railroads, determined management policy and direction and was "the ultimate authority on railroad operation, personnel and financing."

There was a train station called Laubach's Station, while the post office was called Guava. We have not found out what Guava meant. After the mill closed, the tannery remained in operation until it closed in 1925. From then on, Jamison City no longer played a vital role in the local economy. By 1926, it was economically necessary to curtail all railroad service to Jamison City and gangs tore up the track to Benton in 1927. On October 13, 1928, the Bloomsburg and Sullivan Railroad Company was sold at a sheriffs sale to the Reading Railroad Company.

The McHenry distillery operated farms where hogs were fattened with the residue from the whisky manufacture and then shipped by railroad to slaughter houses. Whole cattle carloads of young pigs were received by freight on the railroad. Young boys in Benton had a field day driving the herds of pigs from the railroad siding in town, up "Distillery Hill" to the farm near the plant.

The last time that the railroad carried any significant number of passengers was on a special train for the ox roast at Benton celebrating the 1934 election of George Earl as Pennsylvania's first Democratic governor in forty-four years. The last scheduled passenger train from Benton ended its trip in Bloomsburg Saturday, November 15, 1930. Freight service continued until 1969. The "B and S" railroad tracks to Bloomsburg were taken up in 1971.

By Nathan F. McKenzie (1975 Research Paper - Bloomsburg University)