History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 23

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 23

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

It was no small task the contractor had assumed. Before it was completed there had been removed two hundred and fifteen thousand cubic yards of earth from the tunnel canal, and the stone masonry required on the work was fifty thousand cubic yards. Thirteen millions of bricks have been used in the arches of this great underground passageway. The. whole length of the tunnel is four thousand eight hundred and eighty feet, or sixteen hundred and twenty-three yards and one foot, almost one mile. There are two tunnels really, divided by a heavy wall which supports the arches that spring from it in either direction. The width of these tunnels is fourteen feet each, except at the curve, where they are fifteen feet wide. From the top of the rail to the interior crown of the arches the height is sixteen feet six inches.

The arrangement of a double tunnel covered under the street by two longitudinal arches not only renders collisions in the tunnel absolutely impossible, but also greatly increases the strength of the arches, which not only support their own weight, but must carry the weight of the streets and the immense traffic of the most traveled thoroughfare in the city. On Eighth Street between Locust and Olive, the location of the new post-office, the roof of the tunnel is composed of immense longitudinal iron girders, supported on heavy cast-iron pillars. On these longitudinal sills of iron rest lateral girders scarcely less ponderous. The spaces between these are filled by transverse brick arches. At this point the roadways open wider so as

to admit of the exchange of mails. By means of hopper-like receptacles the mail on the cars may be completely discharged in thirty seconds, and a similar place of deposit for the outgoing mails enables the train agent to get the bags on board in about the same time.

The distance from the entrance of the tunnel at its southern terminus to the northern terminus of the railway approach east of Cahokia Creek, East St. Louis, is eleven thousand feet, which is three thou- sand six hundred and sixty-six yards and two feet, or two miles, one hundred and forty-six yards, and two feet. This is really the length of the bridge railway.

The last stone for the arches of the tunnel was placed in position Thursday, June 24, 1874. During the progress of the work two scrious mishaps to the tunnel delayed operations for a time. In 1873 about two hundred feet of the massive stone wall of the open cut was overthrown during a great rain-storm by the tremendous pressure of twenty-eight feet of water collected behind. In the winter of 1874 a serious break in the completed tunnel took place on Wash- ington Avenue above Sixth Street. These were re- paired. In the first casc the wall had to be rebuilt, in the last the arch was taken out, the wall strength- ened, and the arch replaced. Notwithstanding so many men were employed, and there was so large an amount of work, there were comparatively few fatal casualties. The railway tracks were completed through the tunnel in July, 1874.

On the 20th of December, 1878, the bridge was sold under foreclosure of mortgage, at the east front of the court-house, a little after twelve o'clock. The sale was in virtue of a decree of the United States Circuit Court, rendered on the 17th of October, in the suit of John Pierpont Morgan and Solon Hum- phreys against the bridge company and others. Eze- kiel W. Woodward was the commissioner appointed to make the sale, and the property to be sold included the bridge proper, its approaches in St. Louis and East St. Louis, and all its appurtenances, franchises, and other property. The terms of the sale were fifty thousand dollars to be paid in bidding off the prop- erty, and the balance in the manner described in the decree of the court. The purchaser was also to pay in cash, on the confirmation of the sale by the court, the costs of the suit, including the expenses of sale, commissions to the trustces, and fees to the solicitors and counsel as determined by the court, and in addi- tion to and over his bid, in cash, the amount of the certificates of the indebtedness of the reccivers in the suit that were outstanding and amounting to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, more or less.

1086

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

Bidding was invited, and Charles B. Tracy bid two million dollars. There the matter hung, and all the eloquence of the auctioneer was futile to procure an- other bid. When it became quite certain that no advance would be made on Mr. Tracy's bid, the auc- tioneer, with the usual warning of " once, twice, three times," knocked down the bridge at two million dollars. The name being called for, Mr. Tracy announced An- thony J. Thomas, of New York, as the purchaser. On inquiry Mr. Thomas was ascertained to be a mer- chant in New York, who had bought the bridge for the first mortgage bondholders, who were also the principal, if not the sole, holders of the second mort- gage bonds.

E. W. Woodward stated subsequently that the bridge had failed to yield enough money to pay the interest on its indebtedness. There were three mort- gages. The fourth one was canceled and wiped out of existence. The suit for foreclosure was brought by the first and second bondholders jointly. The bridge company organized soon after the sale by the election of J. Pierpont Morgan and Solon Hum- phreys, of New York ; and Gerard B. Allen, Julius Walsh, and Ezekiel W. Woodward, of St. Louis, as directors. The new company thercupon elected the following officers : Solon Humphreys, president ; Ezekiel W. Woodward, vice-president ; Edward Walsh, secretary; and Anthony J. Thomas, treas- urer.

On the 1st of July, 1881, the bridge was leased to the Missouri Pacific and Wabash, St. Louis and Pa- cific Railway companies at an annual rental equaling interest on bonds, semi-annual dividends on first pre- ferred stock at the rate of five per cent. per annum for three years to and ending in July, 1885, and therc- after at the rate of six per cent .; and semi-annual dividends of three per cent. on second preferred stock, the first payment to be made July 1, 1884. Dividends payable in gold frce of all charges. The companies further agreed to pay all taxes, assess- ments, and other charges; to pay two thousand five hundred dollars a year for maintaining organization, and to provide and maintain offices for the company in St. Louis and New York. In addition it is pro- vided that the bonds of the company as they mature shall be paid by the lessee companies. The funded debt consists of $5,000,000 seven per cent. gold bonds, dated April 1, 1879, due 1928 ; interest pay- able April and October ; first preferred stock $2,490,- 000; second preferred stock $3,000,000; common stock $2,500,000. The directors of the St. Louis Bridge Company in 1882 were Solon Humphreys, J. Pierpont Morgan, New York; E. W. Woodward,

Gerard B. Allen, Edward Walsh, Jr., St. Louis, Mo .; President, Julius S. Walsh, St. Louis.

One of the most active and energetic promoters of the great bridge enterprise was John R. Lionberger, who was a director of the company from its incipiency, and a member of the executive and construction com- mittee. Mr. Lionberger was a stanch, unwavering supporter of the project through its darkest hours, and contributed his share and something more to- wards providing means to resume work on the bridge and push its construction to completion.

John Robert Lionberger was born in Virginia, Aug. 22, 1829. As the name indicates, his father was of German, his mother of English-Scotch descent; -a mixture of blood calculated to produce an enter- prising and aggressive race. His father was engaged in mercantile business in Virginia, which he resumed upon the removal of the family, in 1837, to Boonville, Cooper Co., Md.

Up to the age of sixteen young Lionberger attended the noted Kemper's Academy in Boonville, and sub- sequently entered the University of the State of Mis- souri at Columbia, and took a classical course. Al- though thus cquipped with an education which fitted him for a professional career, his tastes led him to engage in mercantile pursuits, and he spent some years thus occupied at Boonville. The small and quiet town, however, offered at best only a limited prospect to a young man of energy and enterprise, and in 1855 he removed to St. Louis, and established the wholesale boot- and shoe-house of Lionberger & Shields, on Main Street. This partnership lasted some two years, when Mr. Lionberger purchased Mr. Shields' interest, and for some time managed the business as sole proprictor under his own name. Subsequently junior partners were admitted, and the firm became known as J. R. Lionberger & Co., under which title it flourished until 1867, when he retired, leaving to his associates a well-established and pros- perous trade, and having made for himself a fortune and reputation for reetitude and business sagacity second to none of the merchants of that period.

But in retiring from trade he did not retire from business. On the contrary, he immediately entered upon a field of much greater activity, and thenceforth his energies were exerted in connection with many enterprises of great public importance, and promising much to the city of his adoption. All the great pro- jects of the past twenty-five years have had his earnest and energetic support. He has been forcmost in devel- oping the transportation system of St. Louis, and was specially prominent in the affairs of the North Mis- souri Railroad. When the fortunes of that road were

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

1087

NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

at a low ebb, the company with which he was identi- fied took the road and completed it to Kansas City and the Iowa State line. As has been seen, he was very active and efficient in promoting the construction of the bridge across the Mississippi. He was also a director of the Chamber of Commerce Association, and a member of the building committee which su- pervised the erection of the Merchants' Exchange, perhaps the most stately and ornamental structure of which the city can boast. He is a member of the Board of Trade, and has served it in many honorable and use- ful capacities ; was a delegate to the Boston Convention of the National Board, and was also its representative in the New Orleans Convention, where his fellow- delegates showed their estimation of his character as a representative business man of St. Louis by electing him their chairman. It may therefore be said with- out exaggeration that in all matters relating to the public welfare, and in all enterprises undertaken for the benefit of the city, Mr. Lionberger has manifested the keenest interest, and has contributed generously of his own means towards any object that seemed likely to build up St. Louis.

One of the later enterprises which he has assisted, and one of the most important, is the Union Depot and Shipping Company, which in 1881 erected a warc- house with an elevator five hundred by seventy feet, and four stories high, with an elevator capacity of seven hundred and fifty thousand bushels of grain. Other corporations with which Mr. Lionberger has been connected have done much to improve the city in the erection of tasteful and ornamental buildings.

When the street railway system was introduced, Mr. Lionberger at once appreciated its importance as an agency in developing the city, and promptly gave it his attention and support. He is a large owner of street railway stock, and his efforts have always been directed towards the management of the street car companies with reference to the convenience of the community.

Mr. Lionberger was one of the organizers of the Safe Deposit Company, one of the most substantial corporations of its kind in the country, and has been its president for several years. He was also one of the organizers of the old Southern Bank in 1857, served actively as a director, and was for many years its vice-president. When in 1864 it organized under the National banking law and became the Third National Bank, Mr. Lionberger retained his interest in the corporation, and in 1867 was elected president, a position which he held until 1876, when he re- signed and made a long European journey. On his return from abroad he was elected vice-president, in

which position his judgment and foresight have con- tributed largely towards making tre bank one of the strongest and most highly respected financial insti- tutions in the Mississippi valley. In December, 1882, after twenty-five years of continuous service in different capacities, he resigned the vice-presidency and directorship in this institution.

In 1852, Mr. Lionberger married Miss Margaret M. Clarkson, of Columbia, Mo., a lady of engaging and estimable qualities, and their union has yielded four children.

The many public positions which Mr. Lionberger has held have exposed him to the severest scrutiny of the community, which has only served to demon- strate his sterling integrity, and to set forth conspicu- ously his pure and unblemished character. As a public-spirited man, he occupies a prominent place among the citizens of St. Louis, while in private life he is esteemed for his engaging qualities of head and heart. His work is not yet finished, and if the past is any augury of the future, it may be assumed that he will for many years to come be heard of in con- nection with schemes to advance the public good and further still more the " manifest destiny" of St. Louis.

CHAPTER XXVII.

NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

AFTER the bark canoe, in the progress of naviga- tion on the Mississippi, came the Mackinaw boat, car- rying from fifteen hundredweight to three tons, and then the keel-boat, or barge, capable of carrying from thirty to forty tons. The first appearance of the keel- boat on the Mississippi above the mouth of the Ohio of which there is any account was in 1751, when a fleet of boats, commanded by Bossu, a captain of French marines, ascended as far as Fort Chartres. This en- terprise, also, was the first to ascertain by actual ex- perience the perils of navigating the Mississippi. One of the boats, the " Saint Louis," struck a sand-bar above the mouth of the Ohio, and was unladen and detained two days. Three days later, says the traveler, " my boat ran against a tree, of which the Mississippi is full; ... the shock burst the boat, and such a quantity of water got in that it sunk in less than an lour."1 This was probably the first commercial boat " snagged" on the Mississippi. From three to four months were required to make a voyage from New

1 Bossu, vol. i. p. 114.

1088

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

Orleans to the settlement in the vicinity of St. Louis. For years afterwards, and until the era of steam navi- gation, a journey on the river was a matter of no small moment, serious consideration, and prudent domestic and personal preparation. It had to be made on craft of a peculiarly constructed and constricted form, having but limited living arrangements, and of slow, uncertain progress, where, besides being deprived of the usual comforts of even an ordinarily-supplied home, the trav- eler was thrown into immediate association with a wild, reckless, rollicking set of voyageurs, whose manual labors alone aided or urged the craft, either with or against wind and current, by the use of oars, poles, and other contrivances. The shippers on these boats, after forwarding their goods and products thereon, were satisfied to have returns therefrom in five or six months after the shipment, and not very much surprised or disappointed when they heard that boat and cargo were resting quietly on the bottom of the river, near the foot of some snag, or upset in a storm, or reposing high and dry on a sand-bar, where they must remain till the next high water floated them off. True, such disasters and delays were not always attendant upon this mode of navigation,-if they had been, the whole system would have fallen into disuse very soon and altogether,-but they were of frequent occurrence, and were viewed as being, more or less, a natural result of the primitive powers and material they were compelled to bring into service.

Flat-boats (of about the same model we have now) and barges were the kind of craft mostly in use on the Ohio and Mississippi and their navigable tributaries at the beginning of the immigration and settlements along those rivers, in the early part of this century, and for several of theclosing decades of the previous century, the former for transporting their few market- able products, and for the conveyance of families and stock to new settlements that could be reached, or mainly so, by water. As the country became more populous and developed, the interchange of products and manufactures became a desirable necessity, espec- ially along and with the southern coasts and towns. For this purpose barges were introduced and made common carriers, up and down, and from point to point. Like flat-boats, they were broad and square at the ends, but werc raked fore and aft, and instead of being entirely covered in, not more than half their hull was decked over, and on the part thus decked a cabin was placed for the use of the crew and such few passengers as might venture with then. The re- mainder was left open, or only oar-decked, where was stored the cargo, which was covered with some suita- ble material to protect it from the weather. The

space under the cabin was devoted to stowage also. Being designed for continued and active service, they were stronger, better built, and more properly fitted out for navigation than flat-boats, and instead of being sold at the end of the trip for whatever they would bring, or otherwise disposed of (as the flat- boat was), were brought back to their home-ports by the crew, against winds and current, by a constant and arduous heaving on oars, poles, and cordelles, with an occasional use of the sail when the breeze was sufficiently strong and favorable. Many of these crafts were owned and run by individuals who made barge- ing their avocation, and in person commanded and controlled their operations, but established lines of barges (not regular) owned by companies or firms were not uncommon from the principal towns of the upper rivers to New Orleans, the boats of which were placed in charge of competent men experienced in river navigation, who acted as patroon (captain) and pilot, aided by a crew of their own selection. These boats carried from one hundred to two hundred tons, and some as much as four hundred, but not many, the latter being too unwieldy and unmanage- able, and difficult to land except in high water. The trip down, say from Cincinnati or St. Louis to New Orleans, was made in about five weeks, unless they were favored with bright nights, when it would be made more quickly. The return occupied eighty or ninety days, and frequently much longer. The crew was eight to fifteen men on the downward and twenty to thirty-six on the upward trip. Fast time was fre- quently attempted, and often successfully performed according to the prevailing ideas. A quick trip was made in February, 1811, by the keel-boat " Susan Amelia," which descended from the Falls of the Ohio to Natchez in fourteen days and five hours. This trip was a famous one in its day, and the boat's time from and to different points was made the standard of swiftness for many years, as was that of the steamer "J. M. White" in a later day. But it was deemed a very risky and imprudent exhibition by the cautious men of the time. An old river chronicler in speak- ing of it said, " Nothing ought to induce such run- ning but a case of life and death."

" Before the panting of the steam-engine was heard on these (Western) waters," says Lloyd's Steamboat Directory, "the only river contrivance for conveyance of freight and passengers was a species of boat called a barge, or bargee, according to French nomenclature. The length of this boat was from seventy-five to one hundred fcet ; breadth of beam from fifteen to twenty feet ; capacity from sixty to one hundred tons. The receptacle for the freight was a large covered coffer,

1089

NAVIGATION ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

called the cargo-box, which occupied a considerable portion of the hulk. Near the stern was an apology for a cabin, a straitened apartment six or eight feet in length, in which the aristocracy of the boat, viz., the captain and patroon, or steersman, were generally quartered at night. The roof of the 'cabin' was slightly elevated above the level of the deck, and on this eminence the helmsman was stationed to direct the movements of the boat. The barge was commonly provided with two masts, though some carried but one. The chief reliance of the boatmen was on a square sail forward, which when the wind was in the right direction accelerated the progressive motion of the boat and relieved the hands, who at other times werc obliged to propel the barge by such laborious methods as rowing, warping, and the cordelle."

Keel-boating proper was an institution of a later day. The keeled craft were not in general use on the rivers until 1808-9, though all the early river navi- gation is now referred to under the generic term of keel-boating. Naturally the bargemen became the keel-boatmen ; the commercial interests, designs, and working of the two modes were, in fact, about the same, and, for all the purposes of the present sketch, essentially alike. But keel-boats were much of an advance over barges in celerity and diminution of time and labor. They were longer and narrower, had a keel- shaped, instead of a broad flat bottom, carried as much freight on a less amount of current expenses, furnished less resisting surface, and therefore were more easily handled in cross currents, bends, and other places re- quiring speedy movement, made quicker trips, and for several other good reasons became in a short time after their introduction the universal freight-carriers, holding their position as such for nearly twenty years, or until the running of steam-craft came with a sufficient frequency and tonnage to supply the de- mands of commerce, when of course they were aban- doned for the superior advantages offered by steam- boats. They were also generally quite artistically built, presenting a neat appearance on the water, in many respects resembling the canal-boats of this day. As a rule, however, the river-craft was unshapely and cumbrous. The lines of lcast resistance were not then understood, and different kinds of boats were used according to the needs of the locality and the nature of the freight, including canoes, pirogues, barges, keel- and flat-boats. " The Indian birch canoe was ordinarily thirty feet long, four feet wide in the broadest part, two and a half feet deep in the centre, and two feet deep at each end. The pirogue was larger than the canoe, but smaller than the other other boats. The barge was wider, but not so long

as the keel-boats, and was chiefly used between St. Louis and New Orleans. The barges sometimes had a capacity of forty tons. The boats designed for the Indian trade werc of peculiar construction, from forty to sixty feet in length, with low sides and a bottom almost flat. Their narrowness and light draught fitted them for swift or shallow water. In ascending the river, the boatmen, in order to prevent a useless expenditure of strength, avoided the rapid current of the channel of the river and sought the slower water near the shore; and in order that they might approach close to the bank, the boats were constructed with a flat bottom and provided with short oars. The low side of the boat, by bringing the oarlock nearer to the water, lessened the resist- ance, and consequently lightened the labors of the rowers. The capacity of these boats varied from fif- teen thousand to twenty-five thousand pounds, and the size of the crew was determined by the allowance of one boatman for every three thousand pounds of freight. The oarsmen were generally Creoles and French mulattocs.

" The crookedness of the Mississippi between St. Louis and New Orleans necessitated long détours. In one place a circuit of fifty-four miles represented an actual gain of only five miles ; at another point the neck of a bend thirty miles long was but a mile and a half across. In ascending these bends the boats always avoided the concave side of the stream, for the double purpose of escaping the force of the current and the peril of caving banks. Large masses of earth undermined by the action of the water sometimes fell suddenly into the river, and a boat overtaken by such an accident was in imminent danger of submersion. In order to shun this risk, as well as to avoid the main current of the stream, the boats kept close to the con- vex bank of the bends. The extreme crookedness of the river necessitated frequent crossings, and it has been stated that the number of times a boat was com- pelled to cross the Mississippi in the ascent from New Orleans to St. Louis was three hundred and ninety. These crossings, and the distance that a heavily freighted boat would be borne down stream in going from one side to the other, added nearly five hundred miles to the length of the voyage. In descending the river the boatmen reversed their course of action, and followed the concave side of the bends in order to avail themselves of the effective aid of the current. In violent storms or high winds, when it was not safe to move, the boats were fastened to trees on the oppo- site bank.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 23

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358