Hundreds of day laborers were needed on the railroad construction crews to complete the hard physical work. Many of the men gained short term employment on these crews and at this time in history, their word was good enough for the engineers in charge.

I believe that a traveling Erie Railroad construction crew built the 1864 Arch Bridge in Big Shanty with some of the day laborers being escapees from Camp Douglas. Hard workers were difficult to find at this time because most were off fighting in the Civil War. Men on these crews would come and go, being hired daily for the tasks at hand.

When a mass of Confederate soldiers escaped, most feared that they would be recaptured if they headed due south. Some went farther north into Canada to flee the Union soldiers. Men would hop trains hiding from the train conductors.

People in the North would help the escaped soldiers with food, clothing and employment. Most families had relatives fighting in the Civil War and many just wanted their boys to come home. They were called “sympathizers”. Being good Christians, they wanted to help the men escape the hell that they had endured to get home to their families.

During their time in this area, I believe they would tell their stories about working on the Big Shanty Arch Bridge over the gift of a dinner, clothing or a dry place to sleep.

Mr. Richard Thurber, an old-timer that was born in Big Shanty, Pa in 1924, told me that Lawrence W. Kilmer was correct in stating that Confederate Prisoners helped build the 1864 Arch Bridge. He said that they came from the New England States. This was told to him by his father, Fred, who was a Tax Assessor in Big Shanty many years ago. Richard lived at what was called the PLC town in the Big Shanty area. PLC stands for the Pennsylvania Lumber and Coal Company. He said that the Erie built the grade on the high side of Big Shanty Road from Lewis Run and ended at Big Shanty. They dug about 400 feet into the hillside. Mr. Thurber use to shoot his gun there as a kid. 

The Erie RR gave up on the high side of Big Shanty Road and went down near the East Tuna. Thurber stated that there was another grade/track running along side of the 1864 Arch grade, which they used as a Switch track. They would unhook half of the train and haul it up to Lafayette, then come back and get the other half. They would also bring down half on the grade and leave it, then get the other half and haul the large freight train off to Bradford or Carrollton. This was done to prevent a runaway down Big Shanty Hill.

Thurber said that most of the stone blocks came from quarries in Big Shanty and they were still being used when he was a kid. He use to watch them cut stone, not for the grade, of course. There was only one road off to the left from Lewis Run, a road to Dana (Droney), other than a small dirt road to the Big Shanty Depot. (Lineman Road wasn't there.) Droney Road was where the Lewis Run dump was located, along with a Nitro building (a few explosions) used for the Oil producers. Niagara Oil Co. owned most of the oil on the high side of the grade. The lease road that ran next to the RR grade was the Anderson Oil Lease and as for the Big Shanty RR station; it was just a small depot like the one in Mt. Alton, not like the baggage/passenger station in Lewis Run. They would park their pump hand cars there that were used to check the line. Thurber said that the water tower was located near the depot and that water from Bear Run was used. He also stated that "a coal company in Lewis Run cut down most of the trees in Big Shanty.”

In 1860, about 30 miles from Lafayette Township, a similar arch bridge was built in Warren, Warren County, PA. It was called the “Morrison Run” arch bridge and it still stands today.