History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 39

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York, Munsell & company
Number of Pages: 882

USA > Michigan > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Michigan > Part 39

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Water was supplied to locomotives from tanks located at stations as at the present time. The track men filled the tanks daily by force pumps worked by hand. The locomotives nsed wood for fuel, and the country being new there was plenty to be had. It was cut along the line of the road and piled up next the track, each pile being marked with the owner's name. It was sold to the company at prices . ranging from fifty cents to one dollar per cord, and paid for when used by the company. As needed at stations for engine use, a " wood rack " was attached to the rear end of a train, carried to the point where it was to be loaded, detached and left standing on the track. The wood was loaded by the track men, and on the return trip the rack was taken in front of the engine and pushed to the station where it was to be unloaded.

The method of freight shipment was radically different from that of the present day. At each station along the side track were located the private warchouses of the "forwarders." All freight destined to a station was consigned to the care of some forwarder, and was delivered by the railroad company to him. He paid the charges upon it, unloaded it in his private warehouse and delivered it to the consignee, making a charge for his services. Shipments were made the same way. From store and factory and mill the goods to be shipped were brought to some private warehouse and loaded by the forwarder, the railroad company advanc- ing him his charges and adding it as " expenses paid " to their own fees. Not infrequently the forwarder was a commission merchant, and bought and sold the goods he handled as ware- honseman.

A single " way bill " or manifest ordinarily covered a whole train and a single trip. Upon it was entered the freight forwarded from the terminus, and as each successive station

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was reached the freight forwarded from that station was entered upon the same way bill. The station force consisted of but one man, the agent, who sold tickets, entered the freight for. warded on the way bill and made collections of the forwarders for the consignments deliv- ered to them.

The first cars constructed held three to four tons of freight. Thirty barrels of flour, twenty barrels of salt, fifty bags of wheat, made a car load. Grain was shipped only in bags; bulk shipments were not introduced till years afterward. Freight consigned beyond the ter- minus of the road was delivered to an agent or forwarder at the terminus, who in turn deliv- ered it to the next carrier. If the succeeding carrier was a boat the grain was emptied from the bags and carried in bulk.

For the better part of the time the road was under the management of Mr. Cleveland its "office " was said to be " in his hat." All the executive affairs were managed by him; he was superintendent, general freight agent, gen- eral ticket agent and auditor, all in one. The books of the company were kept at the Monroe office by Seba Murphy, to whom all remit. tances were sent and through whom disburse- ments were made.

During the entire time the road was run under State control it suffered from financial embarrassments. The currency was princi- pally of that character denominated " wild cat," and bills on castern banks, generally supposed to be solvent, were eagerly sought after. State scrip, worth seven shillings on the dollar, was also used. Money to pay the employes was generally lacking, and when a man entered the company's employ they opened a ledger account with him and credited him with his earnings monthly, and paid him five or ten dollars on account, charging it to him. The result was that the company was always in debt to its employes, and they in turn were in- debted to tradesmen for the necessaries of life. When the employe's credit was exhausted he was forced to quit, whereupon the company would settle with him and pay him up. This gave him the means to re-establish his credit, and he again sought railroad employ.

When the five million loan was anthorized it will be remembered that the surplus earn- ings of the railroads were to be covered into a sinking fund to pay the loan and the interest

upon it. Five years had passed since the first section of the Southern had been completed, and as yet it had been a source only of expen- diture. In 1846 the State began to cast about for some means of ridding itself of this "old man of the sea," and the question of sale to a pri- vate corporation was agitated. The commis- sioners in the meantime had made contracts for new locomotives and cars to cost $9,000, and out of the earnings of 1846 did actually turn into the State treasury the sum of $12,736. During Mr. Cleveland's superintendeney a por- tion of what is now known as the " Jackson Branch" of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern had been built. It was originally the Palmyra and Jacksonburgh ; was planned and promoted by the same parties who were interested in the Erie and Kalamazoo, and as that road had become financially embarrassed the State advanced $20,000 out of its $5,000,000 loan to assist in building this branch, and ulti - mately acquired possession of it.

May 9, 1846, an act was passed by the legis- lature authorizing the sale of the Southern road for half a million dollars, the purchasers to take the locomotives and cars contracted for in 1845-6 at their cost ($9,000), and to pay the State this sum in addition to the price of the road. Active steps were taken to organize a company to buy it. Subscription books for shares were opened, the shares being $100 each, and during the summer and fall of 1846 the entire sum of $500,000 was subscribed. The following is the list of shareholders, to- gether with the number of shares taken by each. The great interest taken by Monroe in the en- terprise will be seen by an examination of this list, names to which a star is affixed being Monroe subscribers.

Names. Shares.

Names.

Sharcs.

E. C. Litchfield _. 1,000

W. A. Richmond 500

#Charles Noble 400

#T. B. Van Brunt . 250

#John G. Miller 50

*John Burch 50

*E. G. Morton 50

C. W. Ferris

200

*A. A. Rabineau 50

Chas. T. Mitchell Henry Waldron __ *Sam'l J. Holley __ #J. J. Godfroy

100

Amelia Sprout.

100

Patrick McAdam 50

*James Nelson

#Fifield & Sterling

100 *Benjamin Dansard

* Ambrose Beach __ 100

*W. W. Gale 30

N. B. Kidder 100 *W. P. Gale 25

#Stephen G. Clark _ 50

*Hiram Stone 50

*W. V. Studdiford 50

*G. W. Strong 200

*D. L. Bacon

200

120

J. S. Prouty 50

John I. Wheeler 50

100 *T. E. Wing 30

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HISTORY MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Names. Shares.

#Morton & Wing __ 100

#Thomas G. Cole-

100

* A. Bentley 20

#Noble & Sterling_ 100 #David McCormick 20

#Chas. G. Johnson 55

#W. Wadsworth, jr 10

Stillman Blanchard 10

#Harry V. Man 50

*George Landon __ 50 *M. Sweeny 10

#Wm. M. Smith 50 *R. Livingston. 10

#Isaac Lewis

#Bronson & Colton 10

5,000

The cost of the road had been approximately as follows :

Expended from State treasury $665,804

Loaned Palmyra and Jacksonburgh, for which the State afterwards, 1844, took the road, making it the Tecumseh Branch of the Southern 20,000

Paid for the River Raisin and Lake Erie,

Monroe to pier 32,500

$718,304

All the net earnings of the road had likewise been expended in its maintenance and con- struction (except $12,736 turned into the treasury in 1846), estimated at. 117,500

$835,804

This represented the cost of seventy-eight miles of track and equipment, viz. :

Monroe to Hillsdale 68 miles

Tecumseh Branch

78 miles

The new cars contracted for in 1846 were put upon the road in July, and on August 3d the fifth locomotive, the " Tecumseh, " was shipped from Philadelphia and went into use the same fall.

The earnings of the road while operated by the State were as follows :

Year Ending. Gross Earnings.

Expenses. Net Earnings.

Nov. 30, 1841, $7,399 21

$5,098 05 $2,301 16

Nov. 30, 1842, 15,248 16 15,248 16

Nov. 30. 1843, 24,260 31 16,353 46 7,906 85

Nov. 30, 1844, 60,340 51

60,340 51

Nov. 30, 1845, 62,735 62

62,735 62

Nov. 30, 1846, 88,394 30

56,221 95 32,172 35

$258,378 11 $215,997 75 $42,380 36

In making the approximations of the amount of the earnings of the road expended in its maintenance and construction in a previous table ($117,500), the net earnings as shown above have been deducted from the amount of expenses, though but $12,736 of the amount shown as net earnings were ever passed to the treasury of the State.

The $500,000, the purchase price of the road, was to be paid in twenty semi-annual install- ments of $25,000 each, taking ten years for the payment ; the $9,000 for new locomotives and cars was to be paid at once on the transfer of the property to the newly organized company. To anticipate a little it may be said that a con- siderable portion of the half million was paid to the State in depreciated State serip, bought at a very low figure, and the $9,000 was paid in three notes.

The sale was effected December 23, 1846, the stockholders of the new company, the " Mich- igan Southern Railroad Company," elected a board of directors, and on Christmas day, 1846, this board met and elected James J. Godfroy president, Elisha C. Litchfield treasurer, Thos. G. Cole superintendent.

The president and superintendent were Mon- roe men. A settlement was made with John F. Porter, acting commissioner of internal improvements, for the locomotive and cars, the $9,000 was paid by three " promises to pay," and Mr. Porter delivered to the company a deed from the State of the road and its equip- ment, which the new company had recorded in the counties of Monroe, Lenawee and Hills- dale.

The interest taken in the new company by the citizens of Monroe will be readily seen by consulting the list of subscribers to its capital stock. The rivalry born of location and in- tensified by the " Toledo War," and the strong competition between the Erie and Kalamazoo and the Southern railroads, will account for some of the interest displayed. It was presumed that by controlling the Southern by Monroe people the interests of Monroe would be en- hanced, and its growth assured. It was but the first step towards the upbuilding of its rival, the second and final one being taken in 1849.

The new company found themselves unable to extend the road westward as rapidly as they desired. Money and material was scarce, and the treasury of the State was no longer at com- mand. During the next four years, to 1851, they only extended the road five miles - from Hillsdale to Jonesville. In 1848, under the presidency of Tunis B. Van Brunt (who suc- ceeded James J. Godfroy in June, 1847), bonds to the amount of $30,000 were loaned to the owners of the steamboats "Baltimore," "South- erner," " De Witt Clinton " and " Franklin,"

Names. Shares.

William Mitchell 20

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to control them for the port of Monroe. The growth of the city at this time was rapid, and it bade fair to pass its rival, Toledo, in the race, when Van Brunt was succeeded in Decem - ber, 1848, by Charles Noble, and he in August, 1849, by George Bliss.

The Erie and Kalamazoo, as has been pre- viously noted in the history of that road, had become embarrassed, was in constant litigation, and in 1848 had been sold under accumulated judgments to Washington Hunt, of Lockport, New York, and George Bliss, of Massachusetts. Bliss at about this time would seem to have become interested in the Michigan Southern, as he became its president in August, 1849, and in the same month leased the bankrupt Eric and Kalamazoo to its rival, the Michigan Southern, in perpetuity, at an annual rental of $30,000. This was virtually the end of the struggle be- tween Monroe and Toledo for commercial supremacy, and it was the child of Monroe's loins, the Michigan Southern, which struck the blow. The executive of the road was a Massa- chusetts man, who had no interests in Monroe, while, it is presumed, he did both in Toledo and Chicago, then looming into prominence. Five months after Mr. Bliss became president, the superintendent, Thomas G. Cole, of Mon- roe, was succeeded (January, 1850) by Lewis W. Ashley. From this time forth the interests of Monroe began to assume a smaller place in the counsels of the company and those of Tole- do a greater, though it was not till the spring of 1869 that Monroe was dropped from the re- ports of the company as one of its termini.

The years 1851-2 witnessed a general " boom " in the affairs of the Michigan South- ern, to explain which it will be necessary to briefly sketch another enterprise. Two years before the State of Michigan embarked in rail- road building on its loan of $5,000,000, a san- guine legislator of Indiana introduced a bill incorporating the " Atlantic and Pacific " rail- road. As its termini were necessarily in Indi- ana there was much good-natured raillery on the ambitious name he gave to the undertak- ing, under the lash of which he finally con- sented to somewhat curtail the boundaries of his proposed line, consenting to call it the " Buffalo and Mississippi." This also met the jeers of his fellow-members, but he ob lurately refused to " take another inch off the name," and the road was chartered. The aim was to

build a road from Maumee Bay to the Missis- sippi river, a resolution of the Congress of the United States having foreshadowed such a route. It is not intended to enter into the de- tails of the history of this undertaking. Four- teen years thereafter (in October, 1849) the Buffalo and Mississippi peacefully died, having graded one mile of road, but not having laid a cross tie nor a rail, and from its ashes sprang the Northern Indiana.

The Litchfields, who still retained an interest in the Michigan Southern, acquired control of the Northern Indiana shortly after its organi- zation, George Bliss being also a director, and the two roads had the same officers. In 1851-2 work was begun all along the line, and pushed as rapidly as possible, the Michigan Southern reaching the State line south and west of White Pigeon, and the Northern Indiana running thence to Chicago. The first train ran into Chicago over the new line May 22, 1852.

In the meantime some of the finest steamers upon the lakes had been secured for the line, and in 1852 the company controlled the fol- lowing : On the Buffalo, Monroe and Toledo route the "Empire State," "Southern Mich- igan " and " Northern Indiana; " Toledo, Monroe and Sandusky route, the " Fashion ; " on Lake Michigan, the " Baltic" and the " Golden Gate." H. M. Kinne represented the line at Buffalo, J. D Morton at Toledo and G. S. Hubbard at Chicago.

Superintendent Ashley was succeeded in April, 1851, by E. P. Williams, under whose superintendence much of the building was done. Before the road reached Chicago, how- ever, he was succeeded (March, 1852) by Joseph H. Moore, and in May, 1854, he was succeeded by James Moore. The two com- panies were identical in all but name, and were consolidated into the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad Company, April 26, 1855, James Moore continuing as superin- tendent of the new company.

With the consolidation new vigor seemed to mark the action of the corporation, and five new enterprises were inaugurated, two of which were of interest to Monroe. A direct line from Elkhart to Toledo was laid out and put under way (the present Air Line division of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern). A road was surveyed and begun,

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

extending northward from White Pigeon as a feeder ; the Jackson branch was put under construction northward from the point where it had stopped ten years before : the old Detroit and Maumee project was galvanized into life under the title of the Detroit, Monroe and To- ledo Railroad, to construct a line from Detroit through Monroe to Toledo, and arrangements were made to built two of the most magnificent steamers on the lakes. The Detroit, Monroe and Toledo was the outgrowth of a meeting at Detroit February 23, 1855. The road was com- pleted to Monroe Christmas Day, 1855, and to Toledo the July following, and on July 1, 1856, was leased in perpetuity to the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana.

· These various enterprises were pushed to completion, all or nearly all being finished in 1856 and early in 1857. Of the two affecting Monroe, it will suffice to say that the line from Detroit to Toledo was immediately prosperous (and has ever remained so), and that the steamers were built and named the " Western Metropolis " and " City of Buffalo." They cost 8600,000, and were the final effort to resuscitate the waning current of lake travel, then slowly but surely dying under the competition of the various lines of railroad which had linked Buffalo with Toledo along the southern shore of Lake Erie. Their subsequent history is briefly told. They never earned expenses and were finally withdrawn from the route. An effort was made to sell them, but the panic of 1857 tightened the money market and pricked the bubble of speculation, and there were no bnyers. They were brought to Monroe, tied up, and their grandeur only met the eye of a solitary watchman who was put in charge of them. They were finally sold in 1861 for $50,000 -- less than the cost of one of their engines.

The crash of 1857 put an end to the ambi- tious plans of the road and came near wrecking it. The various projects involved a large floating debt, which the revulsion caught un- provided for. From April, 1857, to April, 1858, the road had four presidents. Its stock was 115 in 1856, and in August, 1857, its paper went to protest. George Bliss became its president in April, 1858, and found 155 law- suits against it. When the board of directors met to organize, when he was elected, they had to borrow chairs from the neighboring offices,

the sheriff having left nothing but the bare walls of the Board room, every chair, table and desk having been seized on execution. During 1858-9 the principal occupation of the officers of the company was promising to pay its debts -when its financial condition would allow. Superintendent Moore had been succeeded by Sam Brown and he by the energetic John D. Campbell, who was trying to bring order out of chaos and a dividend to the long-suffering stockholders out of the property. He died on the very day his efforts were crowned with success, August 1, 1863. It may be imagined to what straits the road was reduced when the fact is noted that the stock, which was firm at 115 in 1856, was offered at 6 in 1859, with slow sale.

The depot, which had theretofore been situ- ated at the corner of Front and Harrison streets, shortly after the building of the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo line was removed to the point where this track intersected the track of the Southern. This made a haul of about three-fourths of a mile for every pound of mer- chandise going ont or coming in, and was thus detrimental to the business of the city, but it also established as a portion of the main track of the railroad a part of the line which had not theretofore been thus used, and thereby im- paired the use of an entire street for business purposes.

With the death of John D. Campbell, Henry H. Porter was appointed superintendent. He was a conservator of the " Keep" interest in the line. He continued as executive for two years and was succeeded by Charles F. Hatch, who assumed the title of general superinten- tendent. Mr. Hatch was a thoroughly trained railroad man, and had earned his way from the position of telegraph operator at White Pigeon through various grades to the high position of chief officer of the linc. The old-fashioned methods of railroad management had gradu- ally given way to something like the present system, and Mr. Hatch was progressive. He divided the road into four parts, known re- spectively as the Eastern, Western, Air Line or Southern, and Northern Divisions. The latter comprised the Jackson branch, the Mon- roe branch and the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo line, known thereafter as the Detroit branch. Over this division, as division superintendent, was placed P. D. Cooper, an energetic and com-

233

RAILROADS.

petent man. The continued upbuilding of the main line between Toledo and Chicago had told disastrously upon the efficiency of the Northern division, but Mr. Cooper set at work to put his portion of the road in as good condi- tion as possible, and to build it up, so far as the means granted him by the company would permit. He was fairly successful, though ham- pered by the policy of the company, and the stations in Monroe county received as good accommodations at his hands as he could com- mand.

In May, 1869, the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana was consolidated with the various roads extending eastward from Toledo. Ohio, to Erie, Pennsylvania, under the title of the "Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Rail- way Company." In August of the same year the link from Erie eastward to Buffalo, New York, was added to the consolidation, making a continuous line between Buffalo and Chicago. In the reorganization, the division formerly known as the Northern, became the Detroit division, Mr. Cooper remaining in charge and Mr. Hatch becoming general superintendent of the consolidated lines. In the fall of 1869 Mr. Cooper was promoted, and the Detroit division was divided between Superintendent Curtis of the Michigan division and H. M. Wright of the Air Line, Mr. Curtis taking the Monroe branch and Mr. Wright the Detroit branch, the actual management of the station being in Mr. Wright. Like his predecessor he was a practical man, and conscientious, and during his administration many needed improvements were made and the facilities at Monroe largely increased. The passenger depot had previ- ously been a small, inconvenient, and badly arranged building, and it was under the ad- ministration of Mr. Wright that the present commodious building was erected.

In 1872 Mr. Hatch resigned to accept a more responsible position in Boston and was suc- ceeded by Charles Paine. In 1874 Mr. Wright was compelled, by the failure of his health, to seek the climate of California, and was suc- ceeded in the management of the Detroit divi- sion, which was then again united, by a nephew of Mr. Paine's, P. S. Blodgett. Mr. Paine be- came connected with the West Shore in 1880, and just previous to his resignation appointed Mr. Blodgett to a lucrative position on the Western division. Mr. Blodgett was succeeded

as superintendent by T. J. Charlesworth, and he by George II. Worcester, a son of the sec- retary and treasurer of the road.

The representatives of the road in the city of Monroe have been numerous, and the terms of their service have extended from sixty days to fifteen years. Among them, three have been of more than local distinction. J. S. Dickinson became a prominent officer of the Wabash com- pany ; C. C. Haskins achieved fame as a poet and later as an electrician, and for sixty days in 1868 the position of agent was held by C. D. Hanks, who was reputed to be not only a poet but a politician as well, having previously been one of the State officers of Ohio.

The history of the Michigan Southern has been given at considerable length and with fullness of detail, for the reason that its story is intertwined and closely linked with the history of Monroe city and county. Had it not been for the earnest persistence of our early citizens, the road would never have been built. Had it not been for their energetic action it would have been hopelessly destroyed in the interest of the Central within a month after its first division was finished ; and when the amount of wealth in the infant community is taken into consideration, the list of the stockholders who purchased it from the State and the amounts they subscribed will show how deeply they were interested in its preservation as a dis- tinctively Monroe enterprise, and at what cost to themselves they attempted to build up the city of their home.

When Bliss secured the presidency of the Southern and proceeded to saddle upon it the bankrupt Erie and Kalamazoo, which he also was interested in, and which was a "cheap purchase " to the syndicate he represented, under its burden of judgments, a heavy blow was struck at the growth and prosperity of Monroe, and struck through the very means they had anticipated would build it up and maintain its prestige. The gradual transfer- ence of its terminal business from Monroe to Toledo tended to the upbuilding of the latter at the expense of the former. The business men of Monroe sought equal facilities, were prom- ised them, but the rival city maintained her advantage. Thus a decade passed away, and then followed the " dark days" of the financial crash, when the road seemed on the verge of bankruptcy and could do nothing for either

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

city. But the period of the greatest depres- sion was followed by the civil war with its fluctuating currency, its feverish excitement of speculation, and the increased tide of business incident to the transportation of men and material of war, animals and sustenance for the troops and raw material for manufacture for their supplies, and almost every northern rail. road felt the impetus of the growing activity, and began to increase in value. At the termina- tion of the war the Southern was again on a sound financial foundation.

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History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 39

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: New York, Munsell & company Number of Pages: 882

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York, Munsell & company
Number of Pages: 882