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Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Reports, Volume 116

Northern Coal and Iron Company

Location and General Description of Property

Northern Coal and Iron Company is a partly double-track standard-gauge steam railroad, located in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania. The owned mileage extends southwestwardly from Scranton to Wilkes-Barre, a distance of 29.284 miles. The Northern Coal and Iron Company owns second main tracks aggregating 34.330 miles. It also owns yard and side tracks totaling 60.476 miles. Its road thus embraces 124.090 miles of all tracks owned.

Corporate History

The Northern Coal and Iron Company is a corporation of Pennsylvania with its principal office at New York City. It was incorporated April 27, 1864, by special act of Pennsylvania, and by letters patent dated April 20, 1865, by interests identified with the carrier. The purpose of incorporation was to acquire lands in Luzerne County (now Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties), mining and vending the minerals found in these lands, and for transporting such minerals. The Northern Coal and Iron Company was authorized to construct and operate "lateral railroads from their mines, not exceeding 20 miles in length, to connect with any railroad now constructed or to be hereafter constructed in the county of Luzerne." By a subsequent act of Pennsylvania it was authorized to "construct or extend their railroad (a single or double track) to any point on the Delaware or Susquehanna Rivers within the counties of Wayne or Susquehanna, provided said railroad and branches shall not exceed in the aggregate 60 miles in length." The Northern Coal and Iron Company was organized May 16, 1865. The lines acquired through consolidation and merger were operated until November 7, 1886, by the carrier, for the transportation of anthracite coal, and by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company for the transportation of all other freight and passengers. Since November 7, 1886, the entire property has been solely operated by the carrier.

The corporations whose franchises and properties have gone to make up the present company, and the dates of the changes in those several corporations, are shown in the following table.

No.	Corporate name	Date of incorporation	State	Date of acquisition by successor
1.	Northern Coal and Iron Company.	Apr. 27, 1854	Pennsylvania	Present company.
2.	The Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre Road and Bridge Company.	Apr. 12 , 1859, Apr. 14, 1863, Mar. 14, 1865, and letters patent of Nov. 30, 1859.	do.	Consolidated with 1, Nov. 20, 1873.
3.	Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company.	Apr. 8, 1868.	do.	Consolidated with 1, July 6, 1871.
4.	The Union Coal Company.	Apr. 26, 1864, and letters patent of May 30, 1864	do.	Sold to trustees, by deed dated Feb. 20, 1868, and conveyed by them to 3, Apr. 2, 1868.
5.	The Howard Coal and Iron Company.	Apr. 18, 1864	do.	Merged with 4, Feb. 13, 1867.

Development of Fixed Physical Property

The property owned by the Northern Coal and Iron Company on date of valuation was acquired as follows:

	Date acquired	Mileage
By consolidation and merger, Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company, Union Junction to Green Ridge	July 6, 1871	15.000
Constructed partially by The Howard Coal and Iron Company on date unknown, The Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre Rail Road and Bridge Company, Plymouth Junction to South Wilkes-Barre, construction completed by The Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre Rail Road and Bridge Company in 1868	Oct. 14, 1873	2.030
By purchase with coal properties:
Bull Run branch, Bull Run Junction to mines	......	1.250
Plymouth No. 3 branch, Kingston Mines to Plymouth Junction; date constructed and by whom unknown	......	2.150
By construction:
Wilkes-Barre to Hudson	Nov. 8, 1886	3.150
Hudson to Union Junction	1871	2.604
Buttonwood branch, Buttonwood to connection with Plymouth branch	1906	1.570
Plymouth No. 5 branch, Bull Run branch to Plymouth No. 3 branch	......	1.020
Scranton branch, Carbon Street Junction to Lackawanna Avenue, Scranton.	1894	.510
Total		29.284

Leased Railway Property

The property of the Northern Coal and Iron Company is operated by the carrier in perpetuity under an agreement dated December 1, 1873. The terms of the lease and the rental accrued for the year ending on date of valuation are given in the section on leased railway property in the report on the carrier.

Predecessor Companies

The Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre Rail Road and Bridge Company, Predecessor of the Northern Coal and Iron Company

Introductory

There are no accounting or other records obtainable, and the information here stated was secured from the returns of the carrier on corporate history.

Corporate History

The Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre Rail Road and Bridge Company was incorporated under special acts of Pennsylvania approved April 12, 1859, April 14, 1863, and March 14, 1865, and under letters patent granted by the Governor of Pennsylvania November 30, 1859.

Development of Fixed Physical Property

The company constructed a single-track standard-gauge railroad from Plymouth Junction to South Wilkes-Barre, a distance of about 2.03 miles, all in the State of Pennsylvania, which it completed in 1868. The railroad acquired by construction was operated until November 20, 1873, when The Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre Rail Road and Bridge Company was consolidated and merged with the Northern Coal and Iron Company under an agreement of consolidation and merger of October 14, 1873.

Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company, Predecessor of the Northern Coal and Iron Company

No accounting records of the Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company are obtainable. The information here submitted was secured from the corporate records and the returns of the carrier on corporate history.

Corporate History

The Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company was incorporated April 8, 1868, under the general laws of Pennsylvania, and perfected its organization April 2, 1868. The purpose of the corporation was to acquire by purchase the franchises, rights, and property of The Union Coal Company, which had been acquired at sheriff's sale, subject to two mortgages securing an issue of $1,000,000 bonds, certain traffic contracts with the carrier, and a certain trackage agreement with the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, later explained, by Andrew T. McClintock and Thomas Dickson, trustees, and so conveyed by them to the Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company under deed dated April 2, 1868. The Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company operated its railroad in the transportation of its anthracite coal only from the date of acquisition until January 1, 1869. On the latter date the entire property of the Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company was taken under lease dated December 1, 1869, by the carrier and operated by it until August 4, 1871, when the franchises, rights, and property of the Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company were consolidated and merged into the Northern Coal and Iron Company under agreement dated July 6, 1871. Between April 2, 1868, and August 4, 1871, the transportation of general freight and passengers over the railroad of the Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company was conducted by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company under a 20-year trackage agreement made between the latter company and The Union Coal Company on November 7, 1866, and passing to the Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company with its acquisition of the property formerly owned by The Union Coal Company.

Leased Railway Property

The lease of the property of the Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company to the carrier was for a term of 18 years from January 1, 1869, under agreement dated December 1, 1868. The terms of the lease specified the maintenance of the property and the payment of taxes and the interest on $1,000,000 mortgage 7 per cent bonds issued by The Union Coal Company and assumed by the Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company. In addition, the lessee was to pay 25 cents per ton on all coal mined and taken in excess of the 300,000 tons per annum permitted to be mined and taken without extra compensation. The trackage agreement under which the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company conducted the general freight and passenger traffic of The Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company was reciprocal to the extent of the operation of the latter's coal trains over the railroad of the former and specified payments of 1 cent per mile for passengers, 1 cent per ton per mile for coal freight, and 1.5 cents per ton per mile for other freight.

The Union Coal Company, Predecessor of the Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company

There are no accounting or other corporate records obtainable for The Union Coal Company, and the information here submitted was taken from the laws of Pennsylvania, the records of its successor company, the Baltimore Coal and Union Railroad Company, and from the returns of the carrier on corporate history.

Corporate History

The Union Coal Company was incorporated April 26, 1864, under a special act of Pennsylvania and under letters patent issued by the Governor of Pennsylvania May 30, 1864. The purposes for which The Union Coal Company was incorporated were to lease and hold coal lands in the counties of Luzerne and Schuylkill, Pa., not to exceed 2,000 acres, and for mining, vending, and transporting to market the products of its mines. The property of The Union Coal Company was sold under judgments in favor of Quintard, Ward & Company for $255,013.53, and Alden G. Crosby for $6,611.88, by Joseph E. Vanleer, sheriff, to Andrew T. McClintock and Thomas Dickson, trustees, and was conveyed to them by deed dated February 20, 1868.

Development of Fixed Physical Property

The road of The Union Coal Company consisted of the single-track, narrow-gauge railroad extending from Union Junction to Green Ridge, Pa., about 19 miles, that it had acquired from The Howard Coal and Iron Company under a special act of Pennsylvania dated February 13, 1867.

Leased Railway Property

The railroad of The Union Coal Company was completed and placed in operation during the year 1867, and was operated by its own organization from completion to February 20, 1868, for the transportation of its anthracite coal, and by the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company for the transportation of all other freight and passengers, under an agreement dated November 7, 1866, for 20 years from that date. Under the terms of this agreement The Union Coal Company agreed to "lay down a third rail, making a track of four feet eight and a half inches gauge upon the entire length of their railroad now being constructed as aforesaid," so that the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company might operate its equipment over the road, and in consideration of the same the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company likewise laid a third rail on the road of the Nanticoke Railroad so that The Union Coal Company might operate its coal trains over that road. The Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, in consideration of the above, agreed to subscribe and pay for in cash at par $350,000 of the bonds of The Union Coal Company.

The Howard Coal and Iron Company, Predecessor of The Union Coal Company

There are no accounting or other corporate records obtainable for The Howard Coal and Iron Company, and the information here submitted was taken from the laws of Pennsylvania, the records of its successor company, The Union Coal Company, and from the returns of the carrier on corporate history.

Corporate History

The Howard Coal and Iron Company was incorporated August 18, 1864, under a special act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania. The act of incorporation granted The Howard Coal and Iron Company the privilege of owning land, mining, preparing for market, selling, and disposing of the coal, iron, and other minerals found in the lands, and for constructing "such lateral or branch railroads, not exceeding 20 miles, as may be necessary to connect any of their land with other railroads within this Commonwealth."

Under a special act of Pennsylvania, approved February 13, 1867, the property of The Howard Coal and Iron Company was merged with that of The Union Coal Company under the name of the latter company.

This act provided for the issue of $100,000 additional capital stock of The Union Coal Company, "with the same or so much thereof as may be necessary for that purpose to redeem and retire the shares of stock which then may have been issued by the said The Howard Coal and Iron Company." The property of The Howard Coal and Iron Company was conveyed to The Union Coal Company by deed dated February 14, 1867.

Development of Fixed Physical Property

The Howard Coal and Iron Company undertook but did not complete the construction of about 19 miles of road from Union Junction to Green Ridge, Pa.