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The First KV CharterNear the center of Pennsylvania, in the midst of the Allegheny Mountains, lies quaint Kishacoquillas Valley - named for an old Shawnee Indian chief whose tribe inhabited the area more than 200 years ago. It is bounded by two large mountains, Stone Mountain to the north and Jack's Mountain to the south. In the latter 1700's a community was started in the center of this valley and when the town was offered postal service in 1800 it was formally named Belleville, meaning "beautiful village."Belleville has always been an agricultural center, but during its early years it was also a mining town. About a mile (1.6 kilometers) south of town were the Greenwood Ore Banks where very high-quality iron ore was extracted. The ore was washed and then carted over Stone Mountain to Greenwood Furnace where it was smelted into pig iron. The heavy bars were loaded into wagons and sent on a laborious 20-mile (32 kilometers) journey to Burnham for reprocessing. When the Pennsylvania Canal Commission was surveying a route for a continuous railway between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in 1839, the surveryors planned on running tracks through the center of Kishacoquillas valley to capture the area's agricultural and mining treasures. But the Pennsylvania Railroad, who evenutally took over the commission's plans, decided it was more feasable to abandon the valley route (See: PRR (Middle Division) Route for details). In 1868, a few people of Belleville decided to take matters into their own hands and drew up a nine mile (14.5 kilometers) railroad route along the foot of Jack’s Mountain to connect Belleville with the PRR's M&CC branch in Reedsville. Money was secured for 10% of the road cost and a charter was approved on April 11, 1868. The name of the organization was the "Kishacoquillas Valley Rail Road Company," named after the valley which the railroad would run through.
The Lewistown Gazette quipped, "The West Kishacoquillas Railroad wants stirred up with a long stick." The "long stick" turned out to be the Freedom Iron and Steel Company in Burnham. The superintendent of the plant was Richard Henry Lee III, a director of the KVRR. Freedom’s Greenwood Furnace was represented as well since its manager, John Withers, was also a stockholder. Their interest in the road was obvious - the railroad would ease transporting Greenwood ore from Belleville and iron from Greenwood to their plant in Burnham. It was reported that if the people along the proposed route could raise $30,000, that Freedom Iron and Steel promised to subscribe the remainder of stock. Within a year the required $30,000 was said to have been subscribed. But during this time Freedom Iron and Steel was experimenting with a new Bessemer process with disasterous results. The steel produced was brittle and it was determined that the local ore was to blame. Unfortunately, this revelation came too late and in January 1870, the creditors seized the plants and foreclosed on the mortgages. With the loss of its main backer, the life of the first Kishacoquillas Valley Rail Road soon ended. |
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