History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 40

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 40

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It would be strange, taking into considera- tion the part which Monroe had played in the creation of the Southern, if no feeling should arise against the line for the diversion of her traffic and the loss of the terminal facilities. With a grassgrown track by the side of her river, with empty warehouses rotting at her wharves, with her harbor deserted and the connecting track abandoned and torn up, a bitterness of feeling was engendered against the Southern that rendered the position of representative of the road at Monroe anything but an enviable one. Between the demands of the patrons on the one hand and the refusals of the corporation on the other - with injustice undoubtedly on both sides - it was not until Mr. Cooper and Mr. Wright became superin- tendents that anything like adequate facilities were furnished for the business of the place. Later the stress of competition brought about a uniformity of rates which placed Monroe upon an equality with her quondam rival, and the antagonism between the city and the com- pany seems dying out.

But this antagonism was at its height shortly after the close of the war, and was one of the controlling causes which brought the second railway into the county. Some years before this time a railroad had been built from Holly, on the Detroit and Milwaukee, seventeen miles northward to Flint. This line was the embryo of the present Flint and Pere Mar- quette. Later it had been pushed forward to Saginaw, then enjoying such a season of prosperity as later came to be designated as a " boom," and after running a branch for sixteen miles down the Saginaw river to Bay City had crossed the river at East Saginaw and struck out through pathless forests of pine for the distant shores of Lake Michigan. A new country was being opened up, and

strenuous efforts were being made to control its trade.

In the meantime a new and unique method of building railroads had come into vogue. Their benefits had come to be generally recognized, and every hamlet was anxious to be upon some line of railroad. It became an easy matter for people, sanguine of the benefits which might ensue, to be induced to discount those benefits. The plan was simple and easy. A company would be formed, a charter procured, sufficient money paid in to pay for two or three pre- liminary surveys, and then the aid of the pub- lic would be sought to build the line. Each location upon the different surveys would be- come an earnest rival of the other lines, and would strain every nerve to procure sufficient financial inducement to cause the forthcoming line to pass through its borders. Thus the location was virtually put up at auction to the highest bidder, and every one who might be benefited, no matter how indirectly, was be- sought to subscribe in aid of the new project. Thus it sometimes chanced that railroads would be built at the expense of the communities through which they passed, while they would, of course, be owned by the company possessing the charter.

Monroe, conceiving itself ill used by its only railroad, the Southern, and at the same time de- siring to control a part of the trade of the Sagi- naw valley, began to talk of a line which should extend northward to connect with the Flint and Pere Marquette at Holly, and south - ward to the State line, there to be met by a cor. responding line from Toledo. The civil war, but recently closed, had accentuated the American habit of deciding all matters of public interest at public meetings, and public meetings were called to take into consideration the advisa- bility of making an effort to build a north and south railroad.

As to its necessity the speakers were all agreed; the question of expediency and cost was discussed,and committees appointed. Other meetings were held, at which favorable re- ports from these committees were made and much enthusiasm created. But enthusiasm does not build railroads nor provide them with rolling stock. The result of the meetings was the organization of the Holly, Wayne and Monroe Railroad Company. Capital stock was subscribed at Monroe and other points along

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the proposed route, and committees were ap- pointed to solicit aid. A line was surveyed which started at such a point in the first ward of Monroe City as should enable a connection to be made with the tracks of the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana. Thence cross- ing the River Raisin, the road extended through an excellent farming country for sev- eral miles, then entered a belt of hard wood timber lying on the boundaries of Monroe and Wayne counties, thence through " Catville" (later rechristened "New Boston "), crossing the line of the Michigan Central at the village of Wayne, thence through Plymouth, North- ville and Milford to the village of Holly, sixty- six miles from its commencement.

For a time everything went swimmingly. The soliciting committees were almost uni. formly successtul, and aid was liberally prom- ised. Construction was begun at the north end, and at various places along the line grad- ing was done. The most difficult portion of the line lay between Wayne and Monroe, and at first but little was done upon this. Then fol- lowed a season of indifference, during which but slow progress was made. The company maintained its corporate existence, and occa- sionally spurred up the lagging enthusiasm by a public meeting. The year 1868 found the company in this position, when the heavy fire of that year bore heavily upon some of the road's most ardent advocates. Its treasury be- came exhausted, and several contractors who had ventured largely in its construction be- came embarrassed ; among them General Levi S. Humphrey, the commissioner who had built the Michigan Southern. But the organization pluckily kept at work. During 1869 and 1870 some work was done, but it became evident to the projectors and promoters of the scheme that even if they succeeded in completing their road bed, it would be difficult to put on equip- ment, and the line would be a weakling.

The Flint and Pere Marquette, under the energetic management of George C. Kimball, terminated at Holly, reaching Detroit over the tracks of the Detroit and Milwaukee. Mr. Kimball was dissatisfied with the accommoda- tions accorded him by that line, and was cast- ing about for another outlet. Negotiations were entered into between the Holly, Wayne and Monroe and the Flint and Pere Marquette by which the latter were to complete the work

upon the road bed, iron it and put on the requisite equipment, and were to take the vari- ous subscriptions to the road. But so long a time had elapsed since the work of the solicit. ing committee had been done, that some of the aid notes had become stale and others value- less. The proposition was made to obtain re- newals of these, which were to be turned over to a committee of citizens of whose responsi- bility and standing there was no doubt, and these citizens were to give their personal bond to the Flint and Pere Marquette. As the peo- ple were anxious for an carly completion of the work, at least as far as Monroe, it was stipu- lated that connection should be made with the tracks of the Lake Shore and Michigan South- ern by the first of January, 1872, the arrange- ment being perfected with the Flint and Pere Marquette early in 1871.

With his accustomed energy Superintendent Kimball began to push the construction of the new line, and from time to time reports reached Monroe of its extension southward, and that first one and then another point had welcomed the advent of the iron steed on its south ward progress.

But doubt began to creep over the inhabit- ants of Monroe as the summer passed and autumn came on, and no preparation was vis- ible to bridge the Raisin. This was a task which would require at least several weeks for its completion. It was generally supposed that the agreement with the Flint and Pere Marquette, which called for a connection with the tracks of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, provided for a depot in the first ward of the city. The line from Detroit to Toledo, while owned and operated by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, had never been consolidated with it, but still maintained its organization as an independent company ; and it was apprehended that a connection with the track of that line would not be a com- pliance with the conditions of the agreement. The curiosity of the people became great when it was known that the construction force had reached within three miles of the city. It was now early in December, 1871, and practically impossible to bridge the river in time to con- nect the tracks before January 1, 1872. But the question was speedily settled. Abandon- ing the line of the original survey, about a mile north of the city limits a sharp curve was made

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to the eastward, and near the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo track a reverse curve to the south- ward brought the line to the right of way of the latter road. The acquisition of the neces- sary land by arrangement for a part, and the purchase outright of another portion, was quietly done, the new line was as quietly staked out, and before the fact was generally known the rails had been laid to the track of the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo line. No con- nection was made, however, and it was at once vigorously protested that the agreement had been violated, and the signers of the aid notes released from their obligations. But the pro- testers evidently failed to reckon upon the astuteness of corporations.

Opposite the north end of Half street, from the main track of the Lake Shore and Michi- gan Southern, a long track, curving in a north- easterly direction, extends to a point a few feet north of the crossing of Front street, over the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo track. This curving side track, as well as all the other side tracks at the station, extended east and west, and were portions of the track of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern ; and the point of connection of this curving track with the north and south track was in reality the point of connection between the Lake Shore and Michi- gan Southern and the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo railroads. Putting in a " frog" about three-fourths of a mile north of the river, in order to carry the northerly line of rail across the west line of rail of the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo, the new line was put down parallel to and about two inches from the line of rail of the Detroit and Toledo road and carried down in this manner past Elm avenue and across the railroad bridge, and between the 20th and 24th of December, 1871, the end of this line of rail was connected with the north end of the curve track before mentioned, thus carrying out the letter if not the spirit of the agreement.

A few days before, a meeting had taken place at Monroe between Superintendents Kim- ball of the Flint and Pere Marquette, and Wright of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, at which arrangements had been made for the business of the new line to be done by the force and in the offices of the old one, and the agent in charge was instructed to make the necessary plans for the transfer of about six car loads of freight each way daily,

that being about the anticipated volume of interchange. But twenty-four hours after the connection had been made a train arrived at Monroe from Holly bringing in over thirty car loads of freight and taking out forty-two.

The dissatisfaction of the people of Monroe at the outcome of their effort to obtain a compet- ing road was intense, and fanned the antag- onism against the Southern into a brighter flame. After all their efforts and sacrifices the new road had joined hands with the enemy and they were no better off than before, after their outlay. But even before the new line had reached its connection with the old one a hope appeared, aroused by well-founded rumors of still another line which would afford an out- let north, sonth, east and west, and be indeed a competing road.

With the opening to traffic of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad the business interests of Monroe and the surrounding country began a healthy and satisfactory growth. Access was had to the lumbering regions and a market afforded for hay and grain. East Saginaw and Bay City, respectively the distributing points for the inland lumber camps and the towns along the shores of Lake Huron, furnished a ready outlet for berries, vegetables and fruits, and the market gardening interest began a steady growth, which it has maintained and increased year by year until it has become one of the prominent industries of the vicinity. Through a portion of its route the new railroad ran through dense forests of hard woods, which difficulty of access had kept from mar- ket. Heavy contracts were made whereby this timber was to be cut, hauled by train to . Monroe and there put into the river. Thence it was rafted to the St. Lawrence, and from there transported to Europe for shipbuilding purposes. While this supply of timber lasted the docks assumed a semblance of their former activity; and when the timber suitable for ship- building became scarce, there still remained

large quantities suitable for cooperage stock, and the northern portion of the county began to feel the business impetus occasioned by the opening of communication with the outside world. It was rapidly cleared up, and what had been a heavy forest when the road was opened, grad- ually became arable land, such timber as was not suitable for cooperage purposes being made into charcoal, for which the industries of

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Wyandotte and Detroit furnished a ready market. The new line was found advan- tageous in another particular, in that it fur- nished the towns in Monroe county a direct line from the great pine regions of the State. Theretofore no pine Inmber was attainable save by paying transportation charges over two roads. This was now changed, and the lumber trade of Monroe began to assume much larger proportions and the building trades felt the increase.

The dissatisfaction which arose from the nnal change of route speedily disappeared when it was found that some of the anticipated benefits which had inspired the building of the new line, were being realized, and that the man- agement was disposed to deal generously and equitably with the business men of Monroe. For some years that portion of the road between Monroe and Holly was known as the Holly, Wayne and Monroe division of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railway, but a later reorgani- zation merged it into the Eastern division, ex- tending from Bay City through East Saginaw to Monroe.

In the dark days succeeding the panic of 1873 the road passed through some of the vicis- situdes incident to railway property in times of commercial and financial depression. In 1879 it went into the hands of a receiver ap- pointed by the courts. After the affairs of the old company were wound up, the bondholders of the road took the property and again reor- ganized it into the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad. Since this reorganization it has steadily increased in value. By means of branches run into the pine regions it has main- tained its supremacy as one of the leading lumber lines, and at the same time has opened up a vast area of country for settlement. By means of its own steamers between Ludington and Milwaukee, it has established itself as an important link in the transcontinental system of railways, and has been a successful competitor for a liberal portion of through traffic. It has steadily improved its property and equipment, promptly adopting every tried and valuable improvement. Its iron rails have been re. placed by the best quality of steel, its motive power and rolling stock are the best obtainable, its station buildings and general offices are models of elegance and adaptability, and while these improvements have been in steady prog-

ress, they have been made from the legitimate earnings of the road. While its management has been careful and prudent it has likewise been liberal, and has recognized the truth of the adage that " One dollar and a friend is bet- ter than two dollars and an enemy." The "Independent State " feels a pardonable pride in the prosperity of the Flint and Pere Mar- quette, since a portion of the line is of her own creation.

For some years prior to 1873 railroad build- ing was active throughout the northern seetion of the United States. The completion of the first Pacific line, in 1869, had given an impetus to the business in the West; and various con- solidations of small and weak lines with large and powerful ones in the middle and castern sections, had again called the attention of cap- italists to railroad building and operation as an investment. Five trunk lines, more or less complete, were in operation between the East and the West: the Grand Trunk, New York Central, Erie, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore and Ohio. Of these all but the first were wholly within the boundaries of the United States. This skirted the northern shore of Lake On- tario, reached the United States at the outlet of Lake Huron, and then by connecting roads made a detour around the south end of Lake Michigan to reach Chicago. The second and third ran from New York to Buffalo, and thence, by two separate lines, deflected southwestward along the trend of Lake Erie, thence westward to Chicago. The third ran in an approximate air line through Pennsylvania, and then bent north ward to reach the same point; while the Baltimore and Ohio made a more circuitous southern route than any of the others. Neither route was, even approximately, an air line, and neither the shortest practicable route. Exam- ination of the map will disclose the fact that a line drawn from Western New York to Chicago will tend to the northward of Lake Erie rather than south of it. Taking advantage of this fact the project of another trunk line was de- vised, a portion of which, starting at Buffalo, should run in an air line through Canada to the Detroit River, crossing which a direct southwesterly course was laid to the southern point of Lake Michigan, whence a few miles northwestward would bring it into Chicago. From the starting point, west of the Detroit river, a line was projected to run north ward to

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Detroit and southward to Toledo, parallel with the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo line; the point where the projected line crossed the Detroit river being almost exactly midway between Detroit and Toledo.

Among the many railway enterprises in which capitalists were engaged at this time, the new line obtained assurance of adequate finan- cial backing, and its organization was speedily effected. It was composed of four separate companies : the Canada Southern, from the Niagara River to the Detroit River ; the Can- ada Southern Bridge Company, for the ferry and bridge across the Detroit River, Amherst- burg to Stony Island, Stony Island to Grosse Isle and the mainland; the Chicago and Can- ada Southern thence to Chicago, and the To- ledo, Canada Southern and Detroit, Detroit to Toledo.

The line was a prime favorite from its very inception. It aroused no antagonisms. It asked no bonuses or favors, purchased its right of way, paid for its materials and help promptly, and proceeded without any flourish of trum- pets, in a methodical and business-like manner, to construct its road. Work was first begun on the Canada portion of it, and when that was well under way the crossing at Amherstburg was undertaken, and work begun upon the division between Toledo and Detroit. The number of bridges to be built upon this latter portion made the construction procced some- what slowly. Work was also begun on the line from the Detroit River to Chicago. It was prose- cuted energetically during the summer of 1873, and the autumn of that year found the Canada line practically completed, as was the crossing of the Detroit River and the Toledo and De- troit division, while the line westward had crossed the Michigan line and reached Fayette, Ohio. The line between Detroit and Toledo was opened for business November 13, 1873.

The opening of this line had a marked effect upon the business of the entire county of Mon- roe. The Chicago and Canada Southern line ran diagonally in a southwestern direction through the county. At the crossing of its road with the Flint and Pere Marquette sprang up the lively and flourishing village of Carl- ton, which for some years found a profitable industry in working up the hard-wood timber of the surrounding country. The villages of Scofield and Maybee also came into existence,

each the center of a lively trade with the sur- rounding region. The enterprising inland village of Dundee found itself at last with rail connections to the outside world, and an era of business revival and prosperity set in. The setting up of these surrounding markets tended to curtail the territory whose trade had there- tofore been tributary to Monroe City, but such was the impetus given to its business that property of all kinds appreciated in value; a large tract of land east of the new railroad was platted and put into the market, as well as an- other in the southern part of the city ; new manufactories were projected and built, old ones were enlarged ; houses were erected, and there was such an influx of population that in the fall of 1873 rents rapidly increased and there was not a vacant dwelling to be found. Indeed, in some cases houses in process of erection were rented while yet unfinished, the prospective tenants paying rent to secure them.

With the opening of the new line Monroe became a battleground between it and its com- petitor, the Lake Shore. The officers and agents of the new line had been selected from the ranks of its competitor, thus securing a force which had no need to become acquainted with its prospective patrons. Its superinten- dent was David Edwards, who had been agent of the Lake Shore at Detroit; its agent at Detroit was T. H. Malone, and at Toledo, W. H. Minneker, who had respectively been chief clerks in the freight department of the Lake Shore at those cities ; and the agent at Monroe was W. B. Calhoun, who, some years previ- ously, had been telegraph operator and ticket agent of the Lake Shore at that point. The roadmaster was James Conney, for many years in charge of the Lake Shore construction train, and even the section foremen were drawn from the ranks of the Lake Shore.

The warfare between the two lines was sharp and bitter. Each seemed to be actuated by the same spirit in regard to traffic as moved the elderly Quaker in his advice to his son regard- ing money: "Get it; honestly if thee can, but-get it!" Each agent was presumed to have a book of rates, but virtually made such figures as would be likely to draw the business from his rival. The shipping of freight be- came a good deal like an auction sale, and each patron wanted to " look around" before clos-

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ing the deal. But the long nursed prejudice which Monroe felt against the Lake Shore found vent in building up its rival, though by an appeal to the pockets of patrons through lowering rates down to and below the cost of doing the business, the Lake Shore managed to make it a losing game for its rival, and for many years the Toledo, Canada Southern and Detroit did not have earnings enough to meet its expenditures.

But the new line, planned as a link in a transcontinental chain, was not destined to be completed. Just before its Canadian and De- troit and Toledo branches were ready to re- ceive traffic, and while its main line was being rapidly pushed westward it was brought to a sudden halt For several days in September, 1873, the financial pulse of Wall street beat feverishly. Excitement, with difficulty sup- pressed, marked the transactions of that great monetary center. Specie payments had not yet been resumed, and gold was the foot-ball with which the bulls and bears were playing. Day by day the stringeney of the market grew greater, till on " Black Friday " the first crash came ; a crash which ushered in a financial de- pression lasting for seven years. Amid the ruins of the carlier shocks were the financial backers of the Canada Southern, and construc- tion was at once suspended, never to be re- sumed.

For some years thereafter the Canada South- ern led a precarious existence, repudiating claims, declining to pay losses, and rapidly ap- proaching bankruptcy. The railroad wars in- augurated shortly after it was opened for busi- ness and continued with unabated violence for several years, the great strike of 1877 and con- sequent loss of traffic, and the general depres- sion of all industries of the country during the years following the crash of 1873, conspired to depreciate its value and render it an unprofit- able venture. Its rolling stock became worn out without the ability to replace it, its road bed degenerated into " two streaks of rust and the right of way," when the process of dismem- berment began. In 1879 the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern purchased $1,732,500 of the first mortgage bonds and $1,384,700 of the capital stock of the Chicago and Canada Southern, that portion of the line extending from the Detroit River to Fayette, Ohio, sixty. seven miles. Although this purchase nomi-

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History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 40

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