BY PAT FARNELLI
Times-Shamrock Writer

More than 200 persons turned out for the event, which was intended as more of a hometown celebration and old fashioned field day than a stuffy historical marker.

The Chidester dairy farm provided the tractors, wagons and drivers for the hayride, which began in the heart of Kingsley at the Methodist church, turned left onto Zick Hill Road past the Charlotte Zick memorial park and continued up to the top of the hill, a vantage point with a lovely panarama view of the bridge and forested hillsides.

The Harford and Brooklyn Historical Societies kept up a brisk business selling souvenirs of the event, including train whistles, model train boxcars, engineer hats, railroad spikes, books, postcards, and other memorabilia.

Beginning at noon, chicken barbecue dinners were served until they sold out. Meanwhile, children’s games were conducted by Lana Fluck, who directs a preschool program in Hop Bottom. Historical exhibits were displayed for public view, including a videotaped presentation by Patrick McKnight of the Steamtown National Historic Site.

During the hayride, Russ Tiffany recalled that his father was born in November of 1914, just after the first train passed over the bridge while traveling from Scranton to Binghamton. He said that his grandparents, Clyde and Elizabeth “Lizzy” Tiffany, had danced on top of the bridge pier during that “Cloud Dance.”

Rick Baker of Kingsley said that his grandfather flew on an airplane that flew under the Martins Creek and Tunkhannock viaducts as a stunt.

Roland Sharp, a Lenox realtor who has served with the Railroad Commission, enjoyed the event, and asked organizer Dave Palmer if he would do it again next year. He noted that huge stone blocks were quarried in the immediate area for the construction of Route 11, which runs alongside Martins Creek.

The highlight of the day’s festivities was a dance commemorating a unique celebration held by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad on Sept. 3, 1914 on the nearly completed rail bed, with a dance called the “Cloud Dance.” The “aerial dance event” was held atop the first pier of the viaduct on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 3 at 8 p.m., under electric lights. Approximately 200 people from throughout the entire railroad system arrived at the Kingsley station to get to the dance. A huge construction derrick with a carriage basket was used to raise and lower dancers to the dance floor, made by laying wood planks and then a carpet-like surface across the pier. Music was provided by the Oppenheim Orchestra of New York City.

Following the dance, trains left Kingsley station at 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 a.m.

As the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad built the bridges, they each became larger than the previous ones, culminating with the Tunkhannock Creek viaduct. This weekend, the Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct, also known as the Nicholson Bridge, will have its own centennial celebration.