 The two companies were merged on September 11, 1891.However, the original investors, all of them from Watsontown, Pennsylvania, made little headway in construction.The president was Samuel H. Hicks, who was also general manager and superintendent of the Wilkes-Barre and Western Railway; this railroad terminated at Watsontown, across the Susquehanna from White Deer, and represented a possible connection with the eastern extension.