By Jeffrey Calta
A chronological list of the Combination performances beginning in early 1877 indicates that the troupe performed in Massachussetts on January 3rd, and worked their way west. They performed in Erie, PA on February 16th and 17th. Other February 1877 performances followed (in order) in Cleveland; Youngstown; Sharon; Meadville; Oil City; and Edenburg (now named Knox).
March 1877 performances were in St. Petersburg; Petrolia; Millerstown; (now named Chicora), and Parker City (now named Parker). The Combination then headed south to Pittsburgh and played two shows there. The Buffalo Bill Combination moved on to numerous other shows for another 6 years throughout the United States.
The railroads arrive…….
It is almost certain that the Combination used railroads to travel from performance to performance. They could not have performed so many shows in different towns in a relatively short amount of time without the help of rail lines. Plus, the Combination would have had baggage and necessary props for the actors. Overland travel by stagecoach or wagon would have been slow and expensive. American railroads expanded greatly in the post- Civil War years. Virtually all of the major cities and many towns in the Eastern and Mid-western states were connected by railways by early 1870, but numerous areas were by-passed for lack of railroad income potential and difficult terrain to cross.
Southern Butler County was relatively railroad friendly in the early years of the 1870’s but it was a different scenario in the northeastern part of the County. There were no railroads to the northeastern townships of Butler County as of 1870. The Pittsburgh and Western railroad ran in nearby Armstrong County along the east bank of the Allegheny River but no railroads were in the northern Butler County townships. Construction began on the Pittsburgh and Western rail road in 1837 with its starting point in Pittsburgh. The line reached Kittanning in 1856 and was extended to Oil City in 1870 spurred by the great profitability in transporting goods and passengers to and from the Titusville/Oil City area. This line passed by Parker, PA on the east side of the Allegheny river. A ferry enabled some limited traffic from the Northern townships to the Pittsburgh and Western railroad. An iron bridge was constructed in 1873 connecting Parker’s Landing on the river’s west side to the Parker Station stop on the P&W railway.
The discovery of oil fields in Northern Butler county in the early 1870’s generated interest in creating a rail line from Parker, PA to Butler, PA. The Parker and Karns City (P&KC) narrow gauge3 railroad was formed in 1873 and was completed in April of 1874. In November of 1876, this line was extended from Karns City to Butler. Although the iron railway bridge at Parker was still in existence in 1876 the P&KC line was never directly connected to the Pittsburgh & Western line on the east side of the Allegheny. Freight and passengers needed to be transloaded from one line to the other at Parker Station.
Another rail line in the Oil Region was created in 1876 called the Emlenton, Shippenville, and Clarion (ES&C) railroad. It was a railroad branch that went from Emlenton to Clarion. Track laying for this rail line was begun in June 1875 and was completed to Edenburg (now Knox) in 1876. The ES&C railroad met the Pittsburgh and Western railroad at Emlenton.
OK, how did the Buffalo Bill Combination get to Petrolia?
Now that we know something of the rail lines in the Oil Region as of early 1877, we can make an educated guess on the path that the Buffalo Bill Combination traversed in early 1877 to arrive at Petrolia on March 2, 1877.
A performance in Oil City occurred on February 27, 1877. The next performance was scheduled in Edenburg (Knox) on February 28th. Edenburg was a bustling oil city in the mid-1870’s with many hotels, stores and undoubtedly an eager audience for Buffalo Bill. The Combination could have taken a train directly from Oil City to Edenburg using the Pittsburgh & Western line to Emlenton and then the ES&C line to Edenburg.
St. Petersburg was the next scheduled show on March 1st. This is the only part of the journey that requires an assumption as no railroad line existed to St. Petersburg in early March 18774. William Fox believed that a rail line from Foxburg to Edenburg was needed for the area of Foxburg to prosper. William Fox and his business associates started a railroad company that was chartered on March 12, 1877 and called the Foxburg, St. Petersburg, and Clarion RR (FStPC), but it did not reach St. Petersburg until September 1877.
St. Petersburg would have been a desirable stop for the Combination in early 1877. Like Edenburg, Petrolia, and other Oil Region towns, it boasted a substantial population in the 1870’s with numerous churches, hotels, schools, and an opera house. Similar to Petrolia and Edenburg, St. Petersburg would have had a relatively prosperous and eager audience for the Combination’s performance.
There was no railroad line to St Petersburg when the Combination was scheduled there. The best guess on the transit to St Petersburg is as follows:
Feb 28th ……… performance in Edenburg
March 1st ……train ride from Edenburg to Foxburg using two rail-lines. First, a trip from Edenburg to Emlenton using the ES&C line. Secondly, a ride on a Pittsburgh and Western train from Emlenton to Foxburg followed by a short overland trip from Foxburg to St. Petersburg using wagons or stagecoach5.
March 2 ………… wagon/stagecoach trip back to Foxburg and board a Pittsburgh and Western train to Parker Station on east side of the Allegheny River.
Baggage and passengers would have been trans-loaded at Parker Station onto a Parker and Karns City RR train to Petrolia for the March 2nd 1877 performance. The March 3rd trip to Millerstown (now Chicora) would have been on the Karns City to Butler RR followed with a return trip back to Parker for the performance on March 5th.
Conclusion next week.
In case you missed it . . . Buffalo Bill - part 1.
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