The Old Reading Road
The Old Reading Road, the first public highway passing through the site of Shamokin, was opened in colonial days. The course through the borough can be indicated with a fair degree of accuracy by present landmarks. Crossing Coal run nearly opposite the Luke Fidier colliery, it continued in a westerly direction to the north side of Sunbury street in the rear of the Central school building and at the base of the mountain to the gap, whence it followed the course of the creek to Paxinos. It is described in 1803 as having been lined on either side with a dense growth of laurel.
The Danville & Pottsville Railroad
The Danville and Pottsville Railroad sustained an important relation to the early prosperity of Shamokin. It was opened to Paxinos in 1885 and completed to Shamokin three years later. The road was leased in 1842 by William and Reuben Fagely and operated by horse-power ten years; the track was re-laid in 1853 and the road was formally reopened on the 25th of August in that year. In 1854 it was extended to Mt. Carmel: this extension is now operated by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, the entire line from Sunbury to Mt. Carmel being leased by the Northern Central Railway Company.
The Philadelphia & Reading Railroad
The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. Williamsport division, is composed in this county of the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven, Mahanoy and Shamokin, and Shamokin, Sunbury and Lewisburg railroads. The Mahanoy and Shamokin, formed by the consolidation of the Enterprise, the Shamokin and Trevorton, the Zerbe Valley, and other roads in Schuylkill county, was merged into the Reading system in 1871. The Enterprise railroad extends from Locust Gap to Shamokin, and was opened in 1808; the Shamokin and Trevorton, now a part of the Herndon branch, was opened on the 2nd of August, 1869; and the Shamokin, Sunbury and Lewisburg railroad, extending from Shamokin through Sunbury and Lewisburg to West Milton, was opened in July, 1883.
The Shamokin Street Railway Company
The Shamokin Street Railway Company was organized on the 23rd of July, 1889, and incorporated on the following day with a capital of thirty thousand dollars. The present officers are as follows: president, E. C. Hamilton; secretary. Dr. J. J. John; treasurer, Martin Markle; directors: E. C. Hamilton, Dr. J. J. John, R. S. Aucker, Ferdinand Tretter, John H. Gable. E. G. Seiler, H. Rothschilds, John Clifford, H. Rohrheimer, J. H. Conley, and John Schabo. An electric street railway is in course of construction (1890), the line extending from the powerhouse at the corner of Pearl and Pine streets to the intersection of Spruce and Second, by way of Pine, Shamokin, Independence, Market, and Spruce streets.