For a railroad that never actually materialized, the South Penn has consistently figured in the news since about 1883. Much of that has been due to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the path of which followed the planned railroad's right of way. The proposed railroad involved Somerset, Fayette, Westmoreland and Allegheny counties, with the terrain a major challenge for civil engineers in its design. Leading up to 1883 were events of most of that century. By 1863, the South Pennsylvania Railroad Co. emerged from a sequence of earlier proposed roads. The powers of this new railroad's charter enabled it to adopt the shortest route from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh and onward. Until 1880, however, the majority of the stock of the South Penn was held overseas in London. There was little backing for a project of its magnitude. In the early 1880s, New York Central President William H. Vanderbilt was looking for a way to compete with the Pennsylvania Railroad. He chartered the Harrisburg & Western with authority in addition to that of the South Penn, then merged the two and started to look into construction to rival the Pennsylvania's main line. In June of 1883, the South Penn's planned main route was announced: 'The road leaves Harrisburg where it connects with the Philadelphia & Reading going east, and runs 100 miles in a direct line to Bedford, thence to near Somerset to near Mt. Pleasant and down the Big Sewickley (Creek) Valley to its mouth.' There, between West Newton and Sutersville, it was to cross the Youghiogheny River and join 'the Pittsburgh, McKeesport & Youghiogheny Railroad, 29 miles from Pittsburgh, thus running a line from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh 229 miles in length.' A branch from a point east of Mt. Pleasant by way of Connellsville to Wheeling, W.Va., also was proposed. Ten tunnels were planned, the westernmost of which were Quemahoning, near Somerset (2,000 feet long), Laurel Hill (5,300 feet), and Sewickley (1,800 feet). First construction contracts were let in September 1883, targeted toward finishing construction in two years. The PMcKY terminal in Pittsburgh was to be used by the South Penn. Coincidentally, the PMcKY in September of that year became part of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie as its Youghiogheny Division. It ran from the P&LE terminal 58 miles south to New Haven (now Connellsville West Side). Since the P&LE was part of the Vanderbilt-New York Central interests, this was 'in the family.' In January 1884, the route west of Mt. Pleasant was changed to save 12 miles, diverting from Sewickley Creek beyond Paintersville to the north to meet the PMcKY a mile west of McKeesport and eliminating the need for Sewickley tunnel and a Youghiogheny bridge. As work progressed on the tunnels and difficult mountain rights of way in May 1885, there were three plans for the route west of Somerset. One was to use a Baltimore & Ohio branch line from Somerset and complete the trip to Pittsburgh on the B&O by way of Connellsville and over the full length of the PMcKY. Length was its disadvantage. Others favored going straight across Westmoreland to join the PMcKY 11 miles from Pittsburgh, shortening the overall route to 219 miles. The third was even shorten across Westmoreland to a PMcKY juncture at Port Perry along the Monongahela River. The proposed branch by that time was designed to leave the line four miles west of Donegal for Connellsville, Uniontown, Fairchance, New Geneva and Point Marion to provide access to developing West Virginia coal shipments. In that month of May 1885, work was moving ahead with full vigor, aided by a favorable cost situation created by a national business recession. A 213-mile route by way of Port Perry was finalized. However, stockholders of the Vanderbilt interests were concerned that the bitter rivalry between the Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt's New York Central was going too far. They asked powerful financier J. Pierpont Morgan to bring reason out of chaos. He arranged meetings between the two rival interests, resulting in a 'division of territory agreement' that provided for the sale of the South Penn to the Pennsylvania, which obviously would mean the end of the South Penn. Specific orders to stop work were not issued for legal reasons, but work slowed down gradually. About two-thirds of the tunnels were finished, along with some other work. Many South Penn shareholders wanted to see the railroad finished, since much of the heavy and difficult work was well along. Many legal suits were filed to either block or carry out the agreement. William H. Vanderbilt, the driving force behind the South Penn, died of apoplexy in his New York City office, Dec. 8, 1885. As late as 1890, some South Penn stockholders were still trying to force the railroad's completion with some cost-saving alternative such as using the Connellsville branch. Those efforts gradually faded, and the railroad was dormant until the 1937 turnpike plans. A five-mile portion did become a railroad, the Pittsburgh, Westmoreland & Somerset (Aug. 5 Vignettes), using the finished Quemahoning tunnel. But the South Penn has never been really laid to rest, with succeeding news developments and proposals through the years, turnpike changes, and other ideas. It has been a most active 'what might have been' heritage in southwestern Pennsylvania history. THIS DATE IN HISTORY The summer doldrums have apparently affected Aug. 12 in regional history. A post office was established at New Stanton in 1841, although the town's real growth did not begin until the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in 1940. In 1849, Albert Gallatin died at Astoria, N.Y., at his son-in-law's home, at the age of 89. He was a native of Geneva, Switzerland. A new post office building, now the library, opened at Greensburg in 1912. Twenty-seven persons were killed in a trolley accident near Johnstown in 1916. In 1930, because of extreme dry weather, there were 160 burning forest fires in a month in Fayette-Somerset-Westmoreland. CLARK EXPEDITION In the early summer of 1788, Col. George Rogers Clark and his river expedition down river to Illinois left from Brownsville where its boats were built. Clark's objective was protection of pioneer Kentucky residents from British and Indian raids from Detroit, and he was able to establish control over the southern end of the Northwest Territory. A boatbuilder for that expedition was John Minor, who with his brother William built the first flour mill west of the Monongahela River in what became Greene County. They had settled in the future area of Mapletown in 1764. John was elected to the state Legislature in 1791 and immediately started to work for a new county, realized with the creation of Greene in 1796. HISTORICAL RECOGNITION Pennsylvania's 'at risk - 2001' listing of the commonwealth's most endangered historic properties includes two southwestern sites, Homestead historic district and the old Koffee Pot restaurant in Bedford. Preservation Pennsylvania, which has published the list each year since 1992, focuses on preservation of sites of interest. Most are from the eastern part of the state. The unique 'coffeepot' design of the restaurant has made it a landmark along Route 30 since 1920. It has been closed for a number of years and has deteriorated considerably. When opened, the first floor was a lunch stand and the second floor housed a small apartment. It is one of the state's best examples of design in which the purpose of the building is apparent, and its uniqueness served as an advertisement. The buildings at Homestead, made famous by an 1892 strike and other history, are threatened by a national drugstore chain, the magazine reports. The Pennsylvania Heritage Society 'volunteer of the year' awards for 2001 have been presented to Kenneth M. Blose of Bushy Run Park, Ken Miskovich of Fort Pitt Museum, and Carl Kohl of Somerset Historical Center. Each has given many hours to key operations of those state historical facilities. RECOUNT CHANGED RESULT An 1868 election recount in Westmoreland County changed an apparent voting result in which Henry D. Foster of Greensburg apparently defeated John Covode by 41 votes. Covode retained attorney James M. Logan of Greensburg to contest the result. After the legal maneuvering, Covode was eventually declared the winner by 18 votes. Logan became the youngest presiding judge in the state at the age of 31, three years later, serving the 10nh Judicial District, which in addition to Westmoreland included Armstrong and Indiana. SPORTS HISTORY Some southwestern Pennsylvania sports history highlights: The 1921 Washington & Jefferson College football team, which tied California in the 1922 Rose Bowl, played their last four games of that season without a substitution. They were against Pitt, West Virginia, Detroit and in the bowl game, California. While the first Pittsburgh-area golf course was laid out on a former race track at Homewood, at least four others quickly followed in the late 1890s, including Edgewood, Edgeworth, Pittsburgh Golf Club and Allegheny Country Club. Marion C. (Slugger) Klingensmith, who served as Brownsville mayor and Fayette County commissioner in the latter years of his life, was a busy boxer during his pugilistic days. He lost only 35 of 281 amateur bouts, including 28 in the Navy during World War II. He turned pro in 1945 with 46 bouts, including 38 victories and one draw. When Glenn S. (Pop) Warner left as Pitt head football coach after 1923, it was not a surprise that Dr. John B. (Jock) Sutherland was hired. Then head coach at Lafayette where he had won an Eastern championship, Pitt alumnus Sutherland had continued his association with the school teaching in the dental school in Pittsburgh during the off-season. John Heisman, the football coach for whom the prestigious award was named, was head football coach at Washington & Jefferson in 1923. Robert B. Van Atta is history editor of the Tribune-Review.

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