DO NOT CONFUSE THIS ANTES SNYDER -- WHO IS THE NEPHEW OF ANOTHER ANTES SNYDER (1805-1861) -- AND WHO ALSO WAS A CIVIL ENGINEER WITH THE RAILROAD.3

Resident of Williamsport, PA in 1877. 3265
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ANTES SNYDER—A MEMOIR

Antes Snyder, a charter member of the [Engineers] Society [of Western Pennsylvania], was born at Selins Grove, Snyder County, Pa., on December 9, 1836, and died at his residence in Wilkinsburg, Pa., on January 20, 1908. The County formed in 1855 was named for his grandfather, Simon Snyder, the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1808 to 1817.

Mr. Snyder's early activity as a civil engineer was before our period of specialization. He was a draftsman at a general foundry* and and machine shop at times when such service was needed for the development of original designs, and also prepared drawings for the patent office, following this occupation in New York and New England. In middle life he took out a patent for a bridge combining the suspension and cantilever types. He had the good fortune to obtain employment on the improvement of the permanent way of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, under his uncle of the same name, a West Point graduate, who was stationed at Pottstown for twenty-four years as resident engineer, and among other works they built the skew arch stone bridge at Schuylkill Falls.

In 1861 Mr. Snyder came to Schuylkill County to work on surveys under Gorge B. Roberts, afterwards president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The next year Mr. Roberts sent him to make surveys in New Jersey for the extension of the railroad from Millville to Cape May, and in 1863 appointed him principal assistant engineer at Blairsville, Pa., for the construction of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad to Freeport, following the line of the defunct Northwestern Railroad. The canal throughout being by purchase from the State, the property of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the road was extended to Allegheny City, and Mr. Snyder served as the first superintendent of the total of 90 miles, including Butler Branch, later known as the West Penn Division, P. R. R.

As a matter of history, the line of the Northwestern with its gradings, tunnels and bridge work, partly built to Freeport, lay idle from 1857 to 1863, its period in bankruptcy. The project was for a direct railroad by Blairsville, Freeport, Butler and New Castle to Cleveland; and the City of Philadelphia and Butler County issued bonds in aid of the project, the issue of such bonds then being lawful. The part then laid out had heavy grades and was at high elevation to avoid the Pennsylvania canal occupying the river valley proper, and was the first railroad from Blairsville to Freeport. This has since been largely superseded by 'better gradients and alignment, forming a link in the freight route of the Pennsylvania Railroad, operating as the Conemaugh Division, which was made feasible by occupation of the old canal property.

From 1871 to 1873 Mr. Snyder was in business sawing lumber at Freeport, and opened a coal mine at Leechburg. He was much in demand 'by the railroad company to decide questions concerning land rights, especially those in connection with the properties acquired from the State, and finally again entered the services of the railroad company as engineer of right of way, in the jurisdiction extending along 'both river valleys into Pittsburgh, including the Monongahela Division with its multifarious work through the factory districts and without the advantage of the right of eminent domain. After more than forty years' service with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company he was retired at the age limit of seventy years. Mr. Snyder remained the engineer in attention to accurate detail all his time.

Singularly unassuming in every relation, he had the respect of every man who learned to know him—an honest man.

Mr. Snyder is survived by his widow, formerly Miss Emma F. Evans, and four children: Antes Latrabe Snyder, assistant engineer in construction department of Pennsylvania Railroad Company, residing in East Liberty; Mrs. J. E'. Lintner, in Blairsville, and two daughters, Fanny and Emma, residing with their mother in Wilkinsburg. The remains were taken to Blairsville for interment.3730

[The above article was written shortly after Antes Snyder’s death]
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The railroad [the first railroad in Butler County] of whose early history we have given such an extended account was completed by the Pennsylvania Company after many difficulties and delays by the opening of the year 1871, and formally delivered into the hands of the company by the engineer, Antes SNYDER, upon the 1st of March.

It was, however, opened to travel upon January 12, 1871, and that was a memorable day in the history of Butler. An excursion was organized from Butler to Pittsburgh to celebrate the long-hoped-for and finally consummated connection of Butler with Pittsburgh and the outer world by rail.

Some three hundred invitations were sent out to people to be present and engage in this excursion. The train left Butler at 7 o'clock A. M., passed over the branch to Freeport, and thence to Pittsburgh. At the union depot in that city, a splendid repast was served and a number of speeches made in response to toasts.

Hon. Ebenezer MCJUNKIN responded to the toast, "Railways; the bonds of civilization;" Gen. John N. PURVIANCE to "Old Butler awakened to new life, and made a citizen of the world;" W. M. STEWART to "The Pennsylvania Central Railroad, the pride of our Commonwealth;" Thomas M. MARSHAL to "The old stage coach - it could not long survive Arthur MCGILL;" Samuel A. PURVIANCE to "The old Circuit Court (Butler, Clarion and Armstrong). The Court now travels by rail, but justice prefers the mud road;" Eugene FERREO to "The Butler Branch;" Lewis Z. MITCHELL to "Antes SNYDER (the engineer)-- by his skill he overcame the mountains of our county, and organized successfully the excursion in hand and the dinner just discussed."

In the afternoon, the excursionists, joined by a number of Pittsburghers, returned to Butler. At the various stations along the new line, the people turned out en masse to greet them, and at Saxon Station a cannon was fired in honor of the event.
Butler had been filled with people the night before the excursion, and a great throng greeted the incoming train. Here again a substantial repast was served. Afterward, speeches were made, as at Pittsburgh. Eugene FERREO spoke upon the "Butler Branch," as did also Mayor CALLOW, of Allegheny. Charles MCCANDLESS, Esq., spoke in response to the toast, "The Engineers of the Pennsylvania Railroad." Others who addressed the assemblage were John M. THOMPSON, Esq., of Pittsburgh, and Col. Thomas M. BAYNE.

In the evening occurred the "funeral" of the old stage coach which had been superseded by the iron horse. The huge vehicle was draped in black, and hauled by horses decorated with crape, up the hill to the cemetery. It was not actually buried, although its days of usefulness (in this field) were practically over, but a travesty of the funeral service was gone through with, and then the jovial throng who had attended the "funeral," a number of Pittsburghers and citizens of Butler, among them the stage proprietor, D. S. WALKER, returned to the village, and marched through the streets blowing tin whistles and penny trumpets.3731
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*A foundry is a factory that produces metal casting. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron. However, other metals are also used.610