McKelvey’s 1827 Railroad in Pennsylvania

 William McKelvey was involved in financing the  building Pennsylvania’s first railroad.

 

This short insert is from The Reading Railroad Magazine Vol. VII, Page 10, November, 1931 -
“The First Railroad in Pennsylvania was completed in 1827, from Mauch to Summit Hill; but Christian Brobst, of Catawissa, had, five years earlier, in 1822, taken a broader view of the usefulness of the railroad. Nature had endowed him with rare foresight and reasoning power of a high order.
 

“It is said the number of rafts floating down the river first attracted his attention and, anxious to build up the place of his residence, he began to reckon the advantage which would accrue if all this traffic could be made to pass through Catawissa to its final destination. He took accurate account of the river traffic and compiled statistics and arguments which commanded the attention of capitalists such as Stephen Girard and others of Philadelphia. His energy did not cease with this.
 

“Once assured of the advantage of a railroad, he proceeded to demonstrate its practicability. He could not secure the necessary instruments for making the survey, but by his own ingenuity he equipped himself for the work and ran out a practical line for the proposed road.
 

“With his crude instruments, he located and leveled a line which was consider by engineers subsequently employed a marvel of accuracy. The projected road extended from Catawissa to Tamaqua.
 

“In 1825 Brobst got certain capitalists, among them Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia, to accompany him on horseback over the proposed route. Moncure Robinson, the great engineer, was one of the party. The party was favorably impressed with the proposed enterprise, and finally, on March 21, 1831, a company for the construction of the road was chartered. Christian Brobst, Joseph Paxton, William McKelvey, Ebenezer Daniel and others were authorized by act of the Legislature to solicit subscriptions to the capital stock of the Little Schuykill & Susquehanna Railroad, which was finally built, later became the Catawissa Railroad Company and is now an important part of the Reading System.”

Drawing at  http://www.trackman.com/railroad/