In Pennsylvania, a new railroad extension further connects the coalfields with Philadelphia and beyond
The opening of the extension of the Big Mine Run branch railroad, over difficult terrain to join with the Shamokin Valley and Pottsville Railroad, directly connected large areas of the Pennsylvania coalfields with Philadelphia and so on to the West and the South for the first time. Notable engineering on the line included the traversing of a three hundred foot ascent over the hills by means of a long switchback. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
History of Schuylkill County, Pa: with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches ... (New York: W.W. Munsell and Co., 1881), 87.