salminkarkku-This one was a little easier to research. Found it in Book No. 9 in the series Logging Railroad Era of Lumbering in Pennsylvania, volume titled Teddy Collins Empire by the late Walter C. Casler, printed in 1976.
While most of the volume covers the standard gauged Sheffield & Tionesta, in the chapter Lumbering In North Forest County 1882-1911, mention is made of L. S. Clough and Company, P. T. and E. Railroad in Clough's Mills. Levi S. Clough was born in Chautauqua County, New York in 1848. He operated sawmills in Chautauqua County, NY and Crawford County, PA.
In 1888 he purchased approximately 7,000 acres of timber in Howe Township, tracts 5101, 5103, 5104, 5106, 5107, 5282 and 5136. The text states that two warrants reached nearly to Tionesta Creek on the north, with a small portion of the tract extending into Jenks Township.
Without quoting from the entire text, here are some of the more relevant points:
"At the time of purchase, the Clough timber was far removed from any existing means of adequate transportation. There were no streams of sufficient size which could be used to float the logs or raft the lumber to market. The nearest railroad was the Pittsburgh and Western which was several miles distant. The only access was a public road extending north from Marienville, past Seldom Seen Corners to Balltown, on Tionesta Creek. The name Seldom Seen denotes the remoteness of the area. Consequently the only way to get the timber out to market was to build a railroad. After they decided to build a railroad, the next problem was to select a site for a sawmill. Two choices were available, one was to locate it along the Pittsburgh and Western Railroad, but this involved a long haul for the log trains. The other was to locate the mill near the timber and haul the finished lumber to the Pittsburgh and Western Railroad. This was considered more practical and a mill site was selected in the southwest corner of warrant 5106 on Little Salmon Creek, in Jenks Twonship.
A right of way was acquired and the railroad was built in 1889, and the sawmill was constructed about the same time. The railroad had a mysterious name, P. T. & E. Railroad, but what these initials stood for is unknown for certain. The line was not incorporated and no records were found which might identify what the initials P. T. & E. stood for. Some claim it was Pittsburgh, Titusville and Erie while others say it was Punxatawney, Titusville & Erie. However, neither seem appropriate for its location. An unusual feature was that the locomotives were lettered P. T. & E. but the cars carried the name, L. S. Clough and Company.
This operation owned four locomotives, three are pictured in the book. They were:
No. Type Builder Built C.N. Tons Origin
1 2-4-4T Brooks 1889 1562 New
2 2-6-0 Brooks 1879 349 WNY&P
2 Truck Dunkirk 1892? 16 Unknown*
Class "B" Climax Unknown#
* possible Fox Crain & Company
# possible Iron City Lumber Company, only loco NOT in photos.
Finally, again according to the text, the mill ran continously until 1907 when it shut down temporarily for a lack of logs. There was a dispute between Clough and T.D. (Teddy) Collins over boundary lines, which dragged through the courts and left Clough's mill idle with over 40,000,000 feet of standing timber remaining to be cut. Finally, in October of 1911, Clough sold his property to a couple of gentlemen who offered almost $300,000 for the property. The line sat idle from 1907 until 1915 when the locomotives and the railroad itself were scrapped.
Art Audley, AA3RT
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