COGAN STATION — You can be in Cogan Station and not know it.

At the intersection of Route 937 and St. Michael’s Road off Route 15, a sign reads “Cogan Station, 2 miles” in the direction opposite from where a motorist just traveled — leading to a question:

“Where is Cogan Station?”

“It’s kind of everywhere,” said Israel Temple, 16, a resident who explained that Cogan Station, Lycoming Township, Lycoming County, is not a borough or village or even a rest stop.

“It’s really a bunch of houses just scattered everywhere.”

“It’s a wide place on the highway,” a local woman laughed as she left the post office, the most official business place in Cogan Station.

And both were right. For a place with just about as many residents as Lewisburg, according to the 2000 census, people are so scattered around its 58 square miles, you wouldn’t know about 5,500 call it home.

The Census Bureau labels Cogan Station a “ZIP code tabulation area.”

Basically, it’s a ZIP code (17728). And just 15 miles north of Williamsport, and that city’s population of 30,706, it may as well be a world away.

There are no stop lights, no town square, not even a statue to any war dead from the area. Named after a former train stop, an abandoned train bridge over Lycoming Creek is the only suggestion a railroad ever ran there.

But for being just a ZIP code, Cogan Station now has a favorite son: Republican Tom Marino, the newly elected representative to Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District.

On the map

Residents of 17728 are bursting with pride.

“I’m glad to see someone from here get to that level” of government, said the 49-year-old man who owns Bartley’s Garage off Route 937 and asked his name not be used.

“I voted for him, and I’m glad to get rid of (Gov. Ed) Rendell,” he said.

A former U.S. attorney, Marino beat Democratic incumbent Rep. Chris Carney, of Dimock, on Nov. 2, capturing 55 percent of the vote. This was despite having far fewer finances than did Carney and allegations that Marino helped convicted felon Louis DeNaples, who sought a state gaming license.

“I promised you from the beginning I know who it is that I am working for,” Marino said in his victory speech in November, “and I will always be accessible to each and every one of you.”

That’s what the garage owner is hoping for.

“Someday, hopefully, they (Congress) will help the businesses around here.”

He is referring to the dairy and agriculture businesses. His brother runs a dairy farm on the family’s land, and “it’s a failing industry,” the garage owner said. “That and small business, those are the two things that need a lot of help here.”  

Among the scattered homes are small businesses: a travel trailer dealer, some hardware stores, a few sawmills. The garage owner talked while fixing the brakes on a car.

“There is not much industry here, and when there was, it didn’t last long,” he said.   

He’s worried for his brother’s dairy farm, which he’s had since 1980.

“He told me there are only a few farms left in Lycoming Township,” he said.



Remember our values, they tell Marino

Wayne Stebbins, 73, of Cogan Station, also voted for Marino. Though retired, he and wife Janice run JanWay Co., a promotional and fund-raising printing business for libraries.

Stebbins said he voted straight Republican in the election, and hopes that Marino and Republican Party that will control the U.S. House will cut spending that, he thinks, has gotten out of control.

“There was a 32 percent increase in spending in eight years” under Rendell, and a marked increase since the Democrats took over the White House and Congress in 2008, he said.

“There are people who need the help. I am the first to say help the folks who are hurting,” said Stebbins, who is also a retired Methodist minister. “But there are those who don’t need the help.”

Stebbins answered questions while he and his dog, a friendly chocolate lab-Weimaraner mix named Annie, enjoyed the sun and quiet next to the spring-fed lake behind his home in the woods.

From this point behind Stebbins’ house are endless mountains and fields, pines and sky. His nearest neighbor is about 200 yards to his left.

This is about as far from Capitol Hill as one can get, yet Stebbins hopes that the district’s new representative keeps in mind taxes and how they affect his constituents back home.



Shale traffic hurts road

A man named Charles, who was at the post office and wouldn’t give his last name, wants Marino to remember his constituents, period. And he feels confident that will happen.

A 32-year employee of Textron in Williamsport, Charles said Marino had been by recently for a tour and spoke of grants for the company to help business.

“I’ll tell you what I am concerned about,” Charles said. “Something needs to happen on Route 220.”

He was referring to a fatal crash early Wednesday morning in Bradford County, in which a 36-year-old Eagles Mere man died while heading north on Route 220.

While road conditions were cited as the accident’s cause, Route 220 has become notorious for another reason: the heavy truck traffic the gas drilling industry has brought to the state’s Northern Tier. Much of Route 220, which is the main artery into the drilling area, is two lanes.

“Route 220 isn’t wide enough for all that traffic,” Charles said. “Even around here, the at gas industry is using Route 973,” which is also narrow and two lanes.

“There are pros and cons with everything,” Charles said, noting that he’s happy to see the drilling industry in the area.  

The Marcellus Shale industry has been around for about two or three years here. Just up Route 973 from Bartley’s Garage on Bobst Mountain, there are three gas drilling rigs. A sign for a Timco site stands among some dead corn stalks in a field off Route 937.

“I hope he keeps an eye on gas drilling,” the garage owner said of Marino. “He’s local and he’s interested.”

Most people in and around Cogan Station have leased land to the gas industry for drilling, the garage owner said.

He and his family own 96 acres in Lycoming Township, land that’s been in the family for decades. He hasn’t leased his portion; he wouldn’t say what his brother did with his.

“I’m afraid they’re going to pollute the water,” he said, pointing to nearby Little Gap Creek, which remains polluted from the coal mining that took place there years ago.

Wells and springs supply the water to Cogan Station and surrounding places.

Stebbins, who said he’s leased land to a gas driller but wouldn’t disclose other details, said the other side of Bobst Mountain is loaded with gas-drill rigs. Lycoming County is among the heaviest drilling counties in Northeast Pennsylvania.

And that’s not bad news to Steve Ulmer, 37, who voted for Marino and owns a construction contracting business, and also has leased some land to Anadarko Petroleum.

“From his stance on things and what he’s said, I think (Marino) has the best interests of his constituents at heart,” Ulmer said, leaning against his pickup. He said he’s had so much business between people wanting to use him and building his own house, he’s referring it to friends.

“Home construction here is going to boom because of the gas industry,” Ulmer said, noting that over the hill, a single-family home development was starting to take shape.