USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > History of Detroit and Wayne County and early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Vol. I > Part 141
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From the time the road became a private corpo- ration, passenger traffic from the east was specially sought for, and in order to obtain it, the company, in 1847, began building a boat to run between De- troit and Buffalo. Their first boat, the Mayflower, built at Detroit, was completed on May 28, 1849, and from that date formed, with the Atlantic, a regular Michigan Central Railroad line between Buffalo, Cleveland, and Detroit. The Mayflower was the finest boat that had thus far appeared on the Lakes. She had eighty-five state-rooms and could carry three hundred cabin and from three to five hundred steerage passengers. In the season of 1850 and 1851, the line to Buffalo consisted of the
MICH
CENTRAL RUL-ROAD PASSENCER SEPOT
MICHICA
CENTR
GRAND
TRUNK
RAIL . ROAD
TICKET OFFICE
OLD DEPOT BUILDINGS OF THE MICHIGAN CENTRAL RAILROAD ON THIRD STREET.
also a right of way on the Illinois Central. Thus Michigan City was reached on October 29, 1850, and eventually Chicago. This was accomplished only after bitter strife and the most persistent strat- egy. The Southern Railroad Company issued in- junctions, removed the track, and in other ways sought to prevent their rival from reaching the goal, but all in vain. On May 21, 1852, one day in ad- vance of the Southern, the Central was completed to Chicago, and the smoke and whistle of their locomotive announced the end of the battle.
Between June, 1852, and 1853, the first local train to Kalamazoo was put on. In 1854 three through trains were run. The next year four were running, and in 1855 the Jackson accommodation train was provided. On November 1, 1857, an agreement was made for one year with the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad Company to make an equal division of all through passenger business, and
Mayflower, the Atlantic, and the Ocean ; and in the same years the steamboats Southerner and Baltimore ran to Cleveland.
The Mayflower stranded on December 16, 1851, near Erie, but no lives were lost. She was recov- ered in the spring of 1852, and again took her place in the line. In the same year the Forest City and the May Queen were running to Cleveland.
On August 20, 1852, the propeller Ogdensburgh collided with the Atlantic on Lake Erie, off Long Point, and one hundred and thirty-one lives were lost. The Buckeye State took the place of the At- lantic, and in 1853 ran in connection with the Ocean and the Mayflower. In 1854 and 1855 the Michigan Central Railroad line was made up of the Buckeye State, the Plymouth Rock, and the Western World ; the two boats last named went into service on July 7 and 10, 1854, and were much the largest and finest ever placed on the Lakes. They were nearly
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alike in size, build, and finish. The Plymouth Rock was three hundred and sixty-three feet long. The Mississippi, an equally fine boat, was added in 1855, and with the Plymouth Rock formed the line for that year. After the completion of the Great West- ern Railroad through Canada, their occupation was nearly gone. They were laid up in the fall of 1857, and year after year remained at the Central Wharf, affording a very practical illustration of the prophecy of The Gazette in 1829.
In 1862 the Western World and the Plymouth Rock were sold for $200,000 each to Captain George Sands of Buffalo. Their engines were taken out and placed in boats to be used on the coast of China. Their hulls and also that of the Mississippi after- wards served as dry docks at Bay City, Port Huron, and Cleveland or Buf- falo.
About 1850, se- rious troubles over- took the road. Many cattle had been killed along the line, and it was claimed that the company did not ex- ercise sufficient care and did not pay in full for the losses. The persons ag- grieved became in- creasingly angry, and finally, on No- vember 19, 1850, the freight depot at De- troit was burned, causing a loss of about $150,000. The fire was evidently set by an incendiary, and so alarmed the corporation that active measures were taken to discover and arrest the instigators. These efforts were successful, and on April 19, 1851, thirty- three persons, arrested as railroad conspirators, arrived at Detroit. Their trial began on May 28, and lasted almost continuously for four months. Hon. W. H. Seward was present as counsel for the prisoners, some of whom were wealthy farmers. On September 25 a verdict of guilty was rendered against twelve of them, and on the following day they received sentences of from five to ten years each. During the trial one of the prisoners died in jail. The jury was composed of R. C. Smith, Levi Cook, Amos Chaffee, John Roberts, Buckminster Wight, Horace Hallock, A. C. McGraw, Alexander McFarlane, Ichabod Goodrich, Stephen Fowler,
NEW MICHIGAN CENTRAL DEPOT.
Ralph Phelps, and Silas A. Bagg. The ending of the trial did not put an end to the troubles of the road. On January 23, 1852, the car manufacturing shops at Detroit were burned, and two years later to a day, on January 22, 1854, the passenger offices were destroyed by fire. On April 2, 1862, the engine-house and nine locomotives were burned. On October 18, 1865, the freight depot was burned, involving a loss of about one and a half million dollars, and a year later, on October 29, the old wheat elevator was destroyed by fire, with a loss of $50,000. The last large fire on the company's property at Detroit was on November 15, 1872, when the wood-working department was burned, with a loss of about $100,000.
Sleeping cars were introduced in August, 1858, the company supplying its own cars. On June 20. 1866, the Pullman sleepers began to run, and in November, 1875, they were displaced by the cars of the Wagner Company.
From about the time the road was completed to its western terminus, trains were run by Chicago time, but on June 11, 1883, this practice was changed, and trains began running by Detroit time, chang- ing to the new stan- dard time in 1884. The policy of helping to build branch roads to serve as feeders was inaugurated in 1868, and was productive of great benefit to the State. The fol- lowing figures give interesting particulars as to the growth of the business of the road : Number of pas- sengers carried in 1850, 152,172 ; 1860, 324,422; 1870, 865,582 ; 1880, 1,699,810. Net earnings in 1850, $566,264 ; 1860, $1, 141,941 ; 1870, $1,693,373 ; 1880, $1,595,404.
In 1880 the company furnished employment to 1,294 persons at Detroit and the Junction, and the monthly pay-roll amounted to $60,595. The total disbursements at Detroit the same year amounted to about $700,000.
The following railroads now use the depot of this road : Detroit & Bay City ; Detroit, Lansing & Lake Michigan; Canada Southern; and Flint & Pere
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Marquette. The construction of the new passenger depot was begun in 1883. It cost $250,000. It has a frontage of one hundred eighty-two and a half feet on Third Street, by two hundred and eighty- two on Woodbridge Street. The tower is one hundred and fifty-seven feet high.
The chief officers of the company have been : Presidents, 1847-1856, J. M. Forbes ; 1856-1867, J. W. Brooks ; 1867-1877, James F. Joy ; 1877, S. Sloan ; 1878-1883, W. H. Vanderbilt; 1883- - H. B. Ledyard. Superintendents, 1847 to June, 1853, J. W. Brooks; June, 1853, to 1854, Edwin Noyes, 1854 to June, 1868, R. N. Rice; 1868-1875, H. E. Sargent ; 1875, W. B. Strong ; 1876 to July, 1877, H. B. Ledyard; 1877-1883, vacant ; 1883- , E. C. Brown. Treasurers, 1842-1854, G. B. Upton ; 1854-1876, Isaac Livermore; 1876-1877, C. F. Livermore ; 1877, B. Dunning ; 1878-1883, C. Vanderbilt ; 1883- , Henry Pratt. Auditors, 1855, H. Teelson ; 1856, E. Willard Smith ; 1857- 1859, Horace Turner; 1859-1875, John Newell; 1875- , D. A. Waterman. Treasurers and cashiers, 1854 to December, 1875, George W. Gil- bert ; 1875 to August, 1877, C. F. Livermore ; 1877 - , John E. Griffiths. From June 1, 1875, Allan
Bourn has been purchasing agent. Prior to that date no such office existed.
Chicago & Canada Southern Railroad.
This, the fourth railroad opened to the East, was completed between Detroit and Toledo on Novem- ber 13, 1873, and runs on almost an air line to Buffalo.
During the great railroad strike of July, 1877, it happened to be the only road near Detroit whose trains were interfered with. Fears were entertained that the strike would prevail at Detroit, but the trouble soon ceased.
One of the fastest trips ever made in the country was that made over this line by the special train which brought Bishop Borgess to Detroit on his return from Europe, September 13, 1877; the distance from St. Thomas to Detroit, one hundred and eleven miles, was made in one hundred and nine minutes ; even this was surpassed by the time made on May 3, 1880, when W. H. Vanderbilt, the presi- dent of the road, and others, made a trip of two hundred and twelve miles in two hundred and two minutes.
Originally using but one ferry, such was the increase of its business that in February, 1880, the road began to use two ferries to transfer its cars at Grosse Isle. On the completion of the Essex cut- off in December, 1882, they were discontinued at that place, and Detroit became the place of trans- fer. In 1882 about one hundred of the company's
employees were paid at Detroit, and the average monthly pay-roll amounted to $5,000.
The chief officers at Detroit have been: freight agents, T. H. Malone, November, 1873, to Janu- ary, 1874; D. E. Barry, September, 1874, to Sep- tember, 1875; A. E. Smith, September, 1875, to September, 1881 ; F. Hill, September, 1881, to Feb- ruary 1, 1882 ; D. E. Barry, February 1, 1882, to January 1, 1883 ; W. L. Benham, January 1, 1883, to . City ticket agents, A. Allee, February, 1875, to October, 1875 ; F. S. Taylor, November, 1875, to October, 1877 ; M. C. Roach, November, 1877, to July, 1878 ; C. A. Warren, August, 1878, to Mr. Warren is in fact also ticket agent of the Michigan Central Railroad and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad.
In the fall of 1882 the road was leased to the Michigan Central Railroad, and in January, 1883, its offices were removed from St. Thomas to Detroit.
Detroit & Bay City Railroad.
This road extends from Detroit to Bay City. It was opened to Oxford on October 31, to Lapeer November 30, and to Otter Lake December 31, 1872. On March 31, 1873, it was completed to Vassar, and on July 31, 1873, it reached Bay City.
At Detroit it uses the depot of the Michigan Central Railroad, and since 1876 it has been for most of the time managed as a branch of the Michi- gan Central Railroad. In 1880 sixty of the em- ployees were paid here ; the yearly pay-roll averaged $13,500. On February 12, 1881, it was sold to the holders of a mortgage fer $3.625,750.
The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad.
The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad and its branches, so far as Michigan is concerned, had its origin in the Erie & Kalamazoo. Railroad, which was chartered on April 22, 1833. It was designed to build that road from Port Lawrence, now Toledo, to the headwaters of the Kalamazoo River. The line as far as Adrian, a distance of thirty-three miles, was completed and went into operation on October 1, 1836, and was the first line opened in Michigan. The cars were drawn by horses up to January 20, 1837, on which date the first locomo- tive that ran over a Michigan road arrived at Toledo. The accompanying picture of the second passenger or "pleasure car" is vouched for by C. P. Leland and others. It held twenty-four per- sons, eight in each compartment. On August 9, 1849, a perpetual lease of the road was made to the Michigan Southern Railroad; this company had its origin in an Act of March 20, 1837, which made provision for the survey by the Com-
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missioners of Internal Improvements of a railroad through the southern counties of the State, from Monroe to New Buffalo. A subsequent Act of March 22, 1838, authorized a change in the route. making the road pass through Niles. The survey was made by Joseph S. Dutton, and the first ground was broken at Monroe on May 14, 1838. Up to November 30, 1847, there had been paid out by the State on account of the road the sum of $948,234. The road was opened from Monroe to Petersburgh in 1839; to Adrian on November 23, 1840; and to Hillsdale on September 25, 1843. The same causes that led to the sale of the Central Railroad brought about the Act of May 9, 1846, which pro- vided for the sale of this road and the incorpora- tion of the railroad company. On December 23, 1846, it was delivered to the persons who had or- ganized for its purchase ; they paid $500,000. The rolling stock and plant,
other than the road - bed, was estimated at $41,359.28. The western terminus of the road was to be at a point on Lake Michigan.
FIRST LOCOMOTIVE IN THE WEST. Original style of Passenger Cars.
Almost as soon as the sale of the Central and Southern roads was con- summated, a bitter and long- continued rivalry began between the two cor- porations, each striving in various ways to hinder and defeat the other. The company owning the Central Railroad were fortunate in being able to push their road faster than their competitors of the Southern Road. In order to prevent the Central Railroad from first reaching the goal, the Southern Railroad, in March, 1850, applied to the Legislature for permission to change the route of their road as defined in the charter, for one through some of the northern counties of Indiana, the design being to prevent the Central and other roads from passing around the head of Lake Michigan to Chicago, and connecting with the roads leading west. This plan did not meet the approval of the citizens of Detroit, and, on March 21, 1850, a monster meeting, pro- moted by the Michigan Central Railroad, was held at the City Hall to protest against the proposed change, and the plan was defeated. Meantime both
roads were pushing westward, and in September, 1850, the Southern Road reached Jonesville, in De- cember following Coldwater, in March, 1851, Stur- gis, and in July, White Pigeon ; on October 4, 1851, it was completed to South Bend, and on January 9, 1852, to LaPorte; it reached Ainsworth, or South Chicago, in February, 1852, over the line of the Northern Indiana Railroad. On May 22, 1852, it was completed from Toledo to Chicago, just one day after the Central Railroad had reached that city. On February 13, 1855, it was authorized to con- solidate with the Northern Indiana Railroad, under the title of Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad.
The link which connects Detroit with Toledo was built almost as soon as projected. A meeting was held at the Michigan Exchange on February 23, 1855, to con- sider the pro- priety of organ- izing a com- pany to build the road. B. F. H. Witherell was chairman, and Wm. A. Butler, secre- tary. A corpo- E.& K.R.R. ration was formed under the General Railroad Law, and ten months from that time, on Christmas Day, the road was in opera- tion to Monroe, and in July following it was completed to Toledo. J. S. Dickinson was conductor of the first passenger train which arrived at Detroit.
On July 1, 1856, a perpetual lease of the line was made to the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad, on condition that they pay interest on the bonds and eight per cent on the stock.
The road between Toledo, Cleveland, and Buffalo was completed on April 24, 1855, and was the sec- ond railroad route opened to the East.
On April 26, 1866, the depot, with that of the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad, was destroyed by fire. The two companies have always used the same depot. In 1880 the pay-roll of the company at Detroit included the names of eighty employees, and their salaries amounted to $3,700 per month.
The local agents at Detroit have been : 1855- 1857, John Wilkinson and R. E. Ricker ; 1857-1859, J. S. Dickinson ; 1859-1864, L. P. Knight ; 1864, J.
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C. Morse; 1865, R. H. Hill; 1866, A. H. Earll. Beginning with 1867, the business was divided be- tween the passenger and the freight agents. The following persons have filled these offices : Freight agents, 1867-1870, P. P. Wright ; 1870-1873, D. Edwards; 1873-1874, John Gaines ; 1875- , S. S. Hand. Passenger agents, 1867-1872, J. M. Brown ; 1872-1875, H. T. Miller ; 1875-1876, W. W. Lang- don ; 1877-1878, J. Rhines; 1879- , C. A. War- ren. The office of division superintendent at Detroit has existed since 1875. The following persons have served : 1875-1881, P. S. Blodgett ; 1881-1887, T. J. Charlesworth ; 1887- G. H. Worcester.
Detroit, Hillsdale & Southwestern Railroad.
Early in 1869 a new era of railroad building was inaugurated in Michigan, and one of the first pro- jects in which it was sought to interest Detroit was the Detroit, Hillsdale, & Indiana Railroad. On January 29, 1869, a public meeting of citizens voted to raise $100,000 to aid in building the road. Soon after, other projected railroads began to seek for aid, and on May 10, a citizens' meeting recommended that the city aid the Detroit, Howell. & Lansing, Detroit & Bay City, and Detroit, Adrian, & St. Louis Rail- roads to the extent of $250,000 each, and the De- troit, Ann Arbor, & Jonesville Railroad to the amount of $200,000. The question was brought before the council, and this body provided for a vote to be taken on July 12, 1869, as to the issuing of $200,000 bonds to the Detroit, Hillsdale, & Indi- ana Railroad, and $300,000 each to the Northern Michigan, Detroit, & Howell, and Detroit, Adrian, & St. Louis Railroads.
Those interested in the several projects pooled their interests and efforts in favor of the plan, but the aid asked for was refused by a large majority vote. The Detroit, Hillsdale, & Indiana Road, under the auspices of the Michigan Central Railroad, was then pushed forward to completion, and was operated by that company until September 20, 1881, when it passed under the control of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad. It extends from Ypsilanti to Banker's Station on the Fort Wayne, Jackson, & Saginaw Railroad, using the track of the Michigan Central Railroad from Detroit to Ypsi- lanti. The road was opened from Ypsilanti to Saline in July, 1871, and to Indianapolis on July 25, 1872, on which date the Board of Trade and the City Council of Detroit paid a visit to that city.
The Great Western Railroad.
The Great Western Railroad, the first opened to the East, is located in Canada, and the Detroit River intervenes between it and the city, but ferry com- munication has always been maintained by the rail- road boats.
This road was chartered in 1834, with a capital of $500,000, to build a road from Hamilton to the De- troit River. In 1837 the charter was amended in several particulars, but the company failed to build the road, and the charter expired in 1839. On March 29, 1845, the charter was revived, with power to extend the road from Hamilton to Niagara. While these efforts were being made, an opposition road, named the Detroit & Niagara Rivers Railroad, which had been chartered about 1836, began to show signs of life, and a survey was made which showed that on an air line of one hundred and thirty- six miles, between Detroit and Niagara, no cut or embankment would require to be over ten feet in depth. The following notice of a meeting held in Detroit on September 29, 1845, concerns these rival projects :
The meeting of our citizens on the subject of the Canada Rail- road was well attended. Hon. A. S. Porter was chairman, and James F. Joy secretary. W. Hamilton Merritt explained fully the different railroad routes projected through the Upper Pro- vince, and expressed himself strongly in favor of the direct route from Windsor to Berthie, as provided in the charter of the De- troit and Niagara Rivers Railroad Company. General Cass offered a resolution, which was unanimously adopted, for the appointment of a committee of two, to proceed to Hamilton to confer with the Directors of the Great Western Road, and if possible to effect a union of the two routes.
E. A. Brush interested himself in the Detroit & Niagara Rivers Railroad, as its route was the most direct, and it could be built with the least expense ; but that company could not secure the right to ex- tend their line to Buffalo, consequently the Great Western won the race, and in 1846 began to build their line.
The same year H. N. Walker, at the request of J. W. Brooks of the Michigan Central Railroad, wrote a series of articles for Detroit papers favoring the Great Western Railroad ; but at this time the Buffalo capitalists could not be interested. Mean- while the charter of the Detroit & Niagara Rivers Railroad was about to expire, and an effort was made to have it renewed, but it was lost by one vote.
In the interest of the Great Western Railroad, Messrs. E. Farnsworth, J. F. Joy, and H. N. Walker visited Toronto and Niagara, and on an examination of the charter of the road it was found that it made no provision for crossing the Desjardins Canal; an amendment was then procured which provided for filling up the old channel of the canal and making a new cut. In order to plan for and further the building of the road, a meeting of representatives of the Michigan Central Railroad, the New York Central Railroad, and the friends of the two roads in Canada and the West, was held at Niagara Falls, and as one of the results a meeting was held at Detroit on June 23, 1851, and a committee appointed to solicit subscriptions to the stock. H. N. Walker obtained
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subscriptions to the amount of $180,000. The Michigan Central Railroad than advanced $120,000 to make up the $300,000 required to complete the road, and it went forward. Instead of the ordi- nary American gauge of four feet eight inches, it was built with a gauge of five feet six inches, an Order in Council requiring all Canada roads to have that gauge, with the design of preventing the use of the road and cars in case of war. The road was completed from the Falls to Hamilton on November 10, 1853, and to London on December 31, 1853.
On January 17, 1854, the long-expected day arrived; the road was completed to Windsor, and for the first time railroad communication was opened with New York and the East. It was made the occasion of one of the greatest demonstrations that ever occurred in Detroit. In the afternoon the stores and business places of every kind were closed, and the river front was lined with people who gathered to see the incoming train and to welcome the visi- tors from the neighboring province when the ferry should bring them over. At the foot of Woodward Avenue the throng was beyond all precedent. The train was to arrive at two o'clock, but it was nearly five o'clock before the whistle and the smoke of the locomotive gave notice of its approach. On reach- ing Windsor a salute was fired, the ferry soon brought the company to Detroit, and a procession moved from the Campus Martius to the depot in the following order : Chief Marshal and Aids, Military Escort composed of the National Dragoon Guards and the Scott Guards; Fire Department, Citizens, Corporation Officers, Invited Guests, Directors, Engineers and Superintendent of Great Western Railroad, Clergy of Detroit, President, Vice-Presi- dent, and Chief Directors of the Great Western Railroad with the Mayor of Detroit. Dinner was provided in the long freight-house at the depot for 1,700 persons. Those who long for the old times and think that in late years there is occasional municipal extravagance will do well to remember that for the reception and dinner on this occasion the city paid $4,329.90, the bills being audited on February 21, 1854. The event was undoubtedly an important one, but probably on no occasion would aldermen and city officers now think of spending anything like the amount then so needlessly squan- dered.
On the completion of the railroad, a new ferry- boat, the Transit, owned by the company, com- menced to carry freight and passengers. Her trial trip was made February 27, 1854. On August 7. 1857, the railroad ferry-boat known as the Union made her first trip, and soon after commenced to run regularly.
On January 1, 1867, the laying of a third rail gave the railroad a gauge uniform with that of the
Michigan Central Railroad, and a new ferry, built for the purpose, began to transport freight-cars; on June I of the same year passenger-cars were also transported, and now passengers take seats in a coach at the Brush Street Depot and need not change until New York is reached.
The most serious accident that ever happened on this road occurred on March 13, 1857, when a train broke through the bridge over the Desjardins Canal, near Hamilton. Over eighty lives were lost, and travel over the road was suspended for two weeks.
Most of the business of the company is necessa- rily transacted in Windsor, but in 1880 the company employed about thirty men and paid nearly $30,000 yearly for salaries at Detroit. In 1882 the road was consolidated with the Grand Trunk Railroad; on August 12 the offices at Detroit were put under one management, and since that date the road has been known as the Great Western division of the Grand Trunk Railroad.
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