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| Looking across what remains of Miller's Spring Trestle |
Safety and progress are forever in a race against each other. However, when progress outdistances safety, only disaster awaits at the finish line. On June 11, 1878, that is exactly what awaited a train bound for Bellefonte.
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| The railroad's famous switchbacks up the mountain at Gum Stump Image Retrieved From: Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Photo Archives |
The Bellefonte and Snow Shoe Railroad has the distinction of being the first railroad in Centre County. Its completion in 1859 revolutionized transportation in the region, as previously passengers and goods could only move as fast as canal boats or turnpike roads would allow. The railroad's primary purpose was to transport coal from the mines around the mountaintop community of Snow Shoe to Bellefonte, the western terminus of the Bald Eagle and Spring Creek Canal whose boats would transport the coal to markets across the state. Constructing a railroad up the precipitous Allegheny Front was a feat unto itself. Over 750 feet of elevation change stood between the base of the mountain at Gum Stump and the summit. Engineers conquered this by utilizing a series of switchbacks that zig-zagged up the mountainside. Though an impressive feat of engineering, the route would test the limits of the iron horse and their crews.
Even as rapid advances in technology were made, railroading was still very much in its infancy. Wood was the material of choice for both infrastructure and equipment, being both economical, and for the time, adequate for the relatively lightweight engines and cars. By 1878, all of the Bellefonte & Snow Shoe's 21 bridges and trestles were wooden structures. The most prominent was the trestle at Miller's Spring Hollow, located 3.5 miles from Snow Shoe. It stretched 575 feet long and towered 65 feet above the ground, the tallest along the entire line. It was constructed in 1857 by Robert Lipton of Milesburg who had the contract to build all of the railroad's bridges and trestles.
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| The railroad's trestle over the South Fork of Beech Creek which was slightly longer than the Miller's Spring Trestle Image Retrieved From: Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Photo Archive |
In July 1865, an article in Bellefonte's Democratic Watchman published an article that outlined the author's trip over the railroad from Milesburg to the coal mines around Snow Shoe. Conductor Ed Nolan provided riveting details regarding the bridges and trestles the train crossed. The author described the following scene from Miller's Spring Trestle, "Here, too, we behold beauty and grandeur in the landscape. The' tall pines, the giant oaks, and the dense hemlocks, free as the air, together lift their heads high into the sky, adding much to the appearance of the rolling and broken surface."
On June 11, 1878, a mixed train comprised of 27-ton Engine No. 4, three freight cars, and a passenger car departed Snow Shoe for the trip to Bellefonte. Three passengers and four crewmen, including Conductor Ed Nolan, were onboard. As the train reached the mid-point of Miller's Spring Trestle, the spans suddenly lurched forward from under it, collapsing the piers like dominos and dropping the train and most of the trestle into the hollow in a thunderous crash of splintering wood.
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| Engine No. 4 and the passenger car are the only recognizable pieces of equipment Image Retrieved From: wikipedia.com |
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| A view of the destruction from the north abutment Photo Retrieved From: Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania Photo Archives |
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| A close up of the damaged passenger car. The engine and freight cars can be seen in the background Image Retrieved From: wikipedia.com |
Once the daze of what had just transpired wore off, the less injured set about rescuing and caring for those trapped under debris. Doctors and first responders soon reached the scene. Everyone onboard had sustained injuries of various severity. All were taken back to Snow Shoe for further medical treatment.
Passenger William Holt of nearby Moshannon was the most grievously injured. A wooden beam had ripped through the floor of the passenger car, injuring both of his legs, breaking his nose and striking his face. William succumbed to his wounds around 8:00 PM that evening. He was the only fatality of the disaster. A suit for the loss of her husband was initiated by Mrs. Holt against the railroad with James A. Beaver as council. Initially filed for $25,000, the suit was later settled with the railroad agreeing to pay $8,000.
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| Juniata Sentinel and Republican., June 19, 1878 Retrieved From: Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive |
Local photographer John Moore, visited the scene of the disaster on the day of William Holt's funeral to photograph the destruction. Four photos were taken. He then sold copies of the photos for $.25 a piece or $1.00 for the entire set. Reportedly, the photos sold quit well.
A second unofficial death may also be attributed to the disaster. Conductor Ed Nolan had suffered wounds to his head and shoulders during the train's fall into the hollow. He continued to serve the railroad as a conductor for several years afterwards, however spouts of illness continued to plague him throughout his life. According to newspapers, it was believed that he never fully recovered from the shock of what he experienced that tragic day. A final attack of illness in 1886, finally proved too much to bear; Nolan passed away on May 29, 1886. Burial was made in Bellefonte's St. John's Cemetery.
A definitive cause for the collapse was never ascertained or if it was, never made publicly known. It was surmised that the bridge had been weakened by a heavy freight train that had crossed just an hour before. No documentation has been found to ascertain what the trestle was initially designed to bear or how heavy the freight train was that supposedly weakened the bridge. According to an article in the Bellefonte Republican, published the day after the incident, "important work" had been done on the trestle just a week before the incident, however there were no specifics mentioned.
This explanation seems to be collaborated by an article published in the Pennsylvania Grit in November 1925, when brakeman R.O. Hinton was the last surviving member of the train crew. It reported that the "general accepted theory" was that a repair crew that had been working on the bridge a short time before its collapse had neglected to replace several bolts that were critical in holding the trestle to its stone abutments.
Absent human error, the age of the structure could also have been a factor. According to A Treatise on Wooden Trestle Bridges According to the Present Practice on American Railroads published in 1900, the average lifespan of a wooden trestle in the United States was 10-15 years. Miller's Spring Trestle was 20 years old when it failed in 1878. Two decades of exposure to the elements combined with increasingly heavier and frequent freight trains may have played a role in the structure's demise. Looking at the tonnage hauled by the railroad over the years helps to illustrate this point. In 1862, the railroad hauled 13,000 tons of freight. Tonnage had peaked at 107,000 tons in 1870 and had dropped to 54,500 tons the year of the disaster.
Rather quickly, the railroad decided to not rebuild the trestle, but rather lay a new track around the hollow. Perhaps questioning the integrity of their other trestles, the railroad began to either fill in or bypass the remaining large trestles. By October 1879, the line's longest trestle over the South Fork of Beech Creek was rebuilt and partially filled in. The 550 ft. long Wolf's Trestle just east of Snow Shoe was also bypassed by a new track.
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| A LIDAR image of Miller's Spring Trestle showing the original site and the track that was built to bypass it. Imaged Retrieved From: USGS Lidar Explorer |
By that November, Engine No. 4 and the coach that had been involved in the wreck were brought out from the repair shop. A test run from Bellefonte up to Snow Shoe was made with Engineer William Temple back at throttle of the iron horse he had taken the plunge with just a year prior. Thankfully, this run was uneventful.
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| William Holt's final resting place in Snow Shoe's Askey Cemetery Author's Photo |
The collapse of the Miller's Spring Trestle resulted in the first and only railroad passenger fatality in Centre County. Safety was catching up with progress as the railroad sought to improve its infrastructure so that a disaster such as this would never happen again. When the Pennsylvania Railroad assumed control of the Bellefonte & Snow Shoe in 1881, it continued to make improvements to the track and replace outdated equipment. No such disaster ever occurred on the line up through when the last train left Snow Shoe in 1959.
Information Retrieved From:
(Under construction)
Bezilla, M (2017). Branch line empires: the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads. Indiana University Press.
Clearfield Republican (1878, June 19). Terrible railroad accident. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive.https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83032199/1878-06-19/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=01%2F01%2F1875&city=&date2=12%2F31%2F1880&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&index=12&words=Miller+Miller's+Spring&county=&frequency=&ortext=&proxtext=Miller's+Spring&phrasetext=&andtext=&rows=20&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
Democratic Watchman (1929, December 13). Fifty years ago in Centre County. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive. https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83031981/1929-12-13/ed-1/seq-4/#city=&rows=20&proxtext=miller+spring+trestle&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=4&words=Miller+Springs+trestle&page=1
Centre Reporter (1875, June 10). Snow Shoe saved by rain- a bridge burned. Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive.https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83032058/1875-06-10/ed-1/seq-3/#words=Miller+Spring+trestle
Legislative documents, comprising the department and other reports made to the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania during the session of 1879. (1879). Bellefonte and Snow Shoe. Retrieved from:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Legislative_Documents_Comprising_the_Dep/26YrAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
Miscellaneous documents read in the legislature of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. (1864). Bellefonte and Snow Shoe. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/TTg1AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
1870
https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/fu01AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=bellefonte
https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn84009409/1886-06-03/ed-1/seq-8/#words=Miller%27s+Spring+Trestle
https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83031987/1878-11-20/ed-1/seq-8/#words=engine+engineer+Shoe+Snow
Moore Photos
https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83031981/1878-06-21/ed-1/seq-8/#words=Shoe+Snow+trestle
1879 Rebuilding
https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83031987/1879-10-29/ed-1/seq-4/#words=Shoe+Snow+trestle
1865 Trip
Work on Bridge
https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83031987/1878-06-12/ed-1/seq-4/#words=SHOE+SNOW+TRESTLE
Whites Trestle Reroute
https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83031981/1879-10-10/ed-1/seq-4/#words=Shoe+Snow+trestle
https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83031981/1865-07-21/ed-1/seq-3/#words=Little+Trestle
More about the big wreck
https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn83031987/1878-06-19/ed-1/seq-8/#words=Beech+Creek+trestle
(1925 November 29). Spectacular wreck. Pennsylvania Grit. James V. Brown Library. Retrieved from: https://jvbrownpublic.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?i=f&d=01011778-12311990&e=spectacular%20wreck&m=between&ord=e1&fn=grit_usa_pennsylvania_williamsport_19251129_english_45&df=1&dt=6&cid=2885
1862
https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/Kj41AQAAMAAJ?gbpv=1&bsq=bellefonte
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