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Hostile TakeoverIn 1907, steam was still king, but there was stiff competition from clean, efficient electric power. Railways were popping up all across the Keystone State and for years rumors were circulating that even the PRR would convert to electric traction between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Locally, a new road, known as the Juniata Valley Electric Street Railway, was just being completed in Huntingdon (Huntingdon County) between the PRR depot there and Juniata College, a distance of less than two miles (3 kilometers).Before the railway was even set up and running, a survey was begun for a grandiose expansion through Kishacoquillas Valley to Reedsville to hook up with the thriving Lewistown & Reedsville Electric Railway. On November 27, 1906, this extension was chartered as the Big Valley Street Railway Co., a subsidiary of the JVESR. The BVSR charter indicated, the line would run eastward out of Juniata Valley, following the public highway through Kishacoquillas Valley and serving the villages of Airy Dale, Allensville, Belleville to Reedsville - a distance of 27 miles (43 kilometers). Naturally, subscriptions to such an overextended trolley line were hard to collect and the promoters began looking for shortcuts to conserve money. Several KV stockholders, notably Samuel Watts, who at that time was still on the board of directors, proposed that the trolley promoters buy them out, and take over the KV as part of the new railway. R.W. Jacobs, president of the JVESR and all subsidiaries, agreed with the idea. He reasoned that electrifying the KV would be a simple matter of bonding the rails and constructing parallel trolley poles with overhead wire, thus saving his company the expense of building nine miles (14.5 kilometers) of track. Through some of his agents, Jacobs quietly began purchasing KV stock from KV stockholders. When 1,335 shares were obtained, Jacobs dispatched his attorney and field representative to the president and the general manager of the KV to have proper transfer of the stock made to him. KV officials flatly refused, and Jacobs retaliated by instituting mandamus proceedings in Mifflin County Court to compel them to issue new certificates in his favor. In answer to the mandamus proceedings, KV officials filed a sworn statement denying that the stock had been offered to them for transfer or that they had been asked to issue new certificates. However, once in court the KV backed down. On June 13, 1908, the transfer of stock was made to Jacobs, along with another director of the Juniata Valley Railway, F.B. Isenberg, became a member of the KV board of directors. Although Jacobs was the single largest stockholder, a majority of directors, notably Whittekin, Getter and Hayes opposed the take over and retained controlling interest. Jacobs bided his time, waiting for the railway construction to reach Belleville. By then he hoped to persuade the three to vote pro-trolley. In 1909 the BVSR and other subsidiaries of the JVESR merged into one company called the Huntingdon, Lewistown and Juniata Valley Traction Co. The following year work began on grading the roadbed into Kishacoquillas Valley and in a short time had completed several miles. But problems plagued the railway from the very start. First, Jacobs was unable to persuade the Huntingdon town council to pass ordinances favorable to approve the trolley extensions; Big Valley farmers obtained court injunctions restraining the trolley from entering their land; and the workmen were on the verge of a strike for higher wages. The coup de grace came in June, when the contractor absconded with the monthly payroll, forcing the workers to walk off the site. No more work was done on the railway. Jacobs went bankrupt in 1914, and a year later the remains of his HL&JVT Co. fell into the hands of the Huntingdon Bank. His little two-mile (3.2 kilometers) railway in Huntingdon continued to operate for another 13 years, but his dream of penetrating Kishacoquillas Valley would never be realized. |
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