Ligonier Valley Rail Road Newspaper Articles
We have compiled over 1,400 newspaper articles that mention the Ligonier Valley Railroad, or related subjects. The articles were originally published starting in 1873 and our collection runs through 1995. Enjoy!
Ligonier Echo
Wednesday, May 21, 1902
Ligonier Valley Coal Has Been Sold
Consideration To 20 Farms Is $126,422
Number Of Acres 1,169
Hamil Tract Lying In Ligonier And Fairfield Townships Bought By The Shenango Furnace Company New Railroad Will Be Built And Coal Field Developed
The Pittsburgh Field of coal has finally been sold. The farmers of that section have made several trips to Greensburg this spring and last winter to receive their cash and have finally be rewarded for their trouble and paid their cash. They all came home very much pleased with the outcome.
The sale of the body of coal in Ligonier and Fairfield township, which has been talked of so much during the past two years, has been consummated, this time for a certainty, and the parties who transformed their black diamonds to the new possessors have received their pay in full, every dollar in the 20 transactions involved having been paid. This territory had been reported sold several times, but the reports were premature, simply a case of the wish being father to the thought, but in this instance it is a finish deal, the deeds having been passed between the parties and placed on record and the cash paid to the last penny for the purchase.
The purchaser is the Shenango Furnace company, of Pittsburgh, identical with the interests of the Oliver & Snyder Steel company of the same city. The body of coal is known as the Hamil tract, lying in Ligonier and Fairfield township, and embraces the Pittsburgh vein of coal underlying 20 tracts of land, but does not include the surface land nor any other coal or minerals than that mentioned. The whole territory aggregates 1, 169 acres and the total consideration is $126,422.
The tracts involved are as follows:
| Names | Acres | Amount |
| John Tallman | 74 | $7,500 |
| Samuel D. Murphy | 27 | $2,700 |
| John B. Sweeny | 52 | $5,158 |
| C. W. Wineland | 79 | $9.906 |
| H. H. Wineland | 118 | $16,650 |
| S. C. McClure | 11 | $1,055 |
| Wm. H. Edmundson And brothers | 66 | $6,616 |
| Robert Murphy | 60 | $5,734 |
| Edward Hartman | 83 | $8,396 |
| James M. Wallace | 6 | $630 |
| H. C. Hamil | 78 | $7,895 |
| Allan W. Lytle | 58 | $5,841 |
| James I. Ross | 94 | $9,400 |
| W. E. Brown | 57 | $4,317 |
| James P. McKelvey | 101 | $11,113 |
| Agnes B. Wells | 79 | $10,351 |
| Samuel C. Robb | 51 | $5,692 |
| Mary Ann Shrum | 3 | $266 |
| Shrum heirs | 48 | $4,800 |
| Edmund W. Shunk | 24 | $2,401 |
| Totals | 1,169 | $126,422 |
This coal territory being actually sold and paid for of course will next be developed by the company and shipped out of the valley. This will necessitate the building of a railroad for that purpose. There has been a great deal of surveying going on the past two months by different corps of engineers and people are very anxious to know for whom and by whom and what for but as yet little light is thrown on the subject. All kinds of stories have been circulated about the matter, but the object seems to be the building of a new railroad into this section to tap this new coal field.
The paying into the valley to these fortunate farmers the sum of $126,422 must of itself be of a great benefit to the valley and if the coal is developed and a railroad built to carry the coal to market by way of Ligonier we must of necessity be much benefited in a financial way. We are evidently at the beginning of a business activity that will develop and bring to market the many rich resources of Ligonier valley.