History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 39

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 39

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).

At the same session an act was passed entitled " An Aet to aid the construction of the Paeifie Rail- road," approved March 3, 1855, granting a further loan of the State eredit to the amount of three hun- dred thousand dollars, on the same terms and condi- tions which governed the loans formerly made, and providing for the appointment of a Board of Public Works to cxamine into the affairs of the company and its management. This act provided that unless accepted by the Pacific Railroad Company within six months after its passage it should be inoperative, and not having been accepted by the company it expired by its own limitation. A supplemental aet passed at the same session was approved March 3, 1855, pro- viding for the protection of innocent settlers on lands included in the land-grant to the Pacific Railroad Company.

On the 1st of June, 1853, a mortgage was executed by the company for ten million dollars, which included the lands granted by the General Assembly to the Pa- cific Railroad and the entire property of the company on the main and branch line, subject to the prior lien of the State. No bonds were sold under this mort- gage, and it was subsequently canceled.

The estimates of cost furnished to the Legislature Dec. 1, 1852, were :

St. Louis to Kansas .... $7,858,043

Southwest Branch. 8,157,000

Total, exelusive of interest .. $16,015,043

Estimates submitted Jan. 1, 1855 :

Full expenditures required, with interest, ete., from St. Louis to Kansas, with roll- ing stoek. $10,300,000

Southwest Branch to State line 9,900,000

Total estimate, Jan. 1, 1855 $20,000,000

The total of stock subscriptions and State bonds devoted to the purposes of the company up to No- vember, 1855, amounted to $6,734,400. Of this sum the individual subscriptions amounted to $864,400, of which $140,000 was applicable west of Jefferson

74 *

1158

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

City. The subscriptions made by the eity and county of St. Louis, payable in bonds, were :

City of St. Louis. $500,000

County of St. Louis 500,000

County of St. Louis suhseribed in cash, at one, two, three, and four years, $1,200,000, but anticipated by the county's honds to the amount of ........ 875,000

The first railroad iron for the Pacific Road was re- ceived in St. Louis in April, 1852. There were in all 4267 bars, the aggregate cost of which was $16,595.30. The government duty amounted to $4978.50. The iron was imported from England. On Nov. 12, 1852, the first locomotive, the " Pacific," manufactured at Taunton, Mass., was plaeed upon the track at the machine-shop ereeted by the company, and run out to the Manehester road.

"Yesterday evening," said the Republican of Dec. 2, 1852, " we visited the depot station of the Pacific Railroad Company to see the first ear started, and listen to the first whistle of the iron horse on this side of the Mississippi. We were disap- pointed in seeing the car start, but we had, in company with a number of persons, the pleasure of seeing the first ear, the ' Pacific, No. 3,' placed on the track, and this morning at seven o'clock we expect to hear the first whistle. Owing to unavoid- able circumstances, the car and tender could not he placed upon the track as early as was expected. It is There now, and the fact may be announced that the first car for the Pacific was placed on the track yesterday evening."

On the following day, as anticipated, the first trial was made. The locomotive, with the tender, had been backed down nearly to Fourteenth Street, and three heavily-laden ears of iron and ties were attaclied. Thomas Allen, president of the company, T. S. O'Sul- livan, engineer, Mr. Copp, the secretary, and a num- ber of other gentlemen were present. William R. Kingsley, the resident engineer, having charge of the construction of the First Division, had the track in complete working order. Everything being ready, and the word given, " All aboard," Charles Williams, the chief machinist of the company, took charge of the engine, and at seven o'clock the whistle sounded, and the train was in motion. To Mr. Williams belongs the credit of having run the first engine west of the Mississippi going towards the Pacific. The train was run successfully to the terminus of the track, a dis- tanee of several miles.

A few days later the road was completed to Sulphur Springs, or Cheltenham, five miles from St. Louis, and an experimental trip was made to that point on the 9th of December, 1852.1

1 "The president, Thomas Allen, in commemoration of the event, had invited the directors of the company, the members of the Legislature from St. Louis and other countics, then on their way to Jefferson City, and a few early friends of the en- terprise to a collation at the Sulphur Springs, or Cheltenham. At one o'clock the train was off. There were two beautiful and

During this year (1852) Mr. Kirkwood, chief en- gineer, resigned, and was succeeded by Thomas S. O'Sullivan.

On the 6th of May, 1853, the direetors decided that the road should be opened for travel to Kirkwood, fourteen miles from the city, and that for the aecom- modation of way business the train should stop at Rock Spring, two and a half miles from the city ; " Chelten- ham, about five miles ; the River des Peres, a little beyond Sutton's ; and Webster's College, which is two and a half miles this side of Kirkwood."

By resolution of the board " the fare for passengers from this time forth is not to exceed three eents per mile, with proper and liberal deduetion for in and out passengers."

The First Division, thirty-nine miles, from St. Louis to Franklin, was opened on the 19th of July, 1853, and the event was signalized by an exeursion to the then terminus of the road. At eleven o'clock on that day, twelve large passenger-ears, drawn by the loco- motive "St. Louis," and carrying between six and seven hundred invited guests, including the St. Louis Grays, with Jackson's Band of the Sixth United States Infantry, started for Franklin Station, in Frank- lin County, which was then situated in a forest of large timber, with no other improvements than a large and handsome depot, extending several hundred feet. Here the train was greeted by several hundred per- sons from the surrounding country, ineluding many ladies. In all there were fully fifteen hundred per- sons present.

commodious passenger-cars attached to the powerful locomotive. A few minutes brought the company to the mansion of Mr. Ilawley, at the Sulphur Springs, and they sat down to a most bountiful repast.

" After discussing the viands the meeting was entertained by addresses from Mayor Kennett, the president of the railroad company, Mr. Allen, Dr. Shelby, the then Speaker of the House of Representatives of the State, the Hon. Edward Bates, James II. Lucas, Esq., Mr. Halliburton, member of the House of Representatives from Linn, Mr. Tarver, Mr. O'Sullivan, the then engineer of the road, who commenced thic work in con- nection with Mr. Kirkwood, the first engineer, and who was most flatteringly toasled by the company. The health of Mr. Williams, who ran the first locomotive, was also received with cheers. Mr. Labeaume gave ' the Governor of the State and the aid he has given this and other internal improvement en- terprises,' and expressed the hope that his successor would prove as favorable to their consummation. This sentiment was re- ccived with mueh enthusiasm. Mr. Loughborough and many other early friends of this road were toasted.

"The day was remarkably fine, and at the appointed time (railroad time) the company, with several hundred who had come out on the second train, returned to the city. Everything worked well, and for a new road, we say advisedly that there is not a better huilt road in the Union."-Republican, Dec. 10, 1852.

1159

RAILROADS.

" Much of the latter part of the road," says a con- temporary account, " had not been used before,- in fact, some of the rails had not been laid until that morning,-and still we arrived at Franklin before two P.M. The actual running time, as kept by some of the passengers, was one hour and fifty-one minutes, a fair speed for a new, partially unballasted and untried road."

A collation was served, after which Charles D. Drake proposed the health of the president of the company, Thomas Allen. In Mr. Allen's absence, Hon. L. M. Kennett responded in an address highly eulogistic of Mr. Allen's services in behalf of the en- terprise. In the course of his address Mr. Kennett congratulated his hearers on the fact that the cars were of St. Louis manufacture, " drawn by a locomotive made in St. Louis, and by St. Louis mechanics, Messrs. Palmı & Robertson, to whose enterprise and public spirit the company, and the citizens of St. Louis generally, are indebted for so important a movement towards our city's advanceuient to wealth and prosperity."

The actual cost of the division was set down by Mr. Kennett as being " a trifle over one million six hundred thousand dollars." At this time the two divisions of the main stem, towards Kansas, had been located, and were under construction as far as Jeffer- son City, eighty-eight miles from Franklin.

Addresses were also made by Hon. John How, mayor of St. Louis, Hon. Edward Bates, J. D. Ste- venson, R. S. Elliott, William Palm (of the firm of Palmı & Robertson, who built the first locomotive in St. Louis), A. S. Mitchell, P. B. Gareschè, William L. Williams, James Conran, Henry Cobb, Charles S. Rannals, and others.

The president, Mr. Allen, who had devoted his time and energies to the starting of the enterprise, the first year without pay, and during the last at a salary of fifteen hundred dollars per annum, willing still to make sacrifices for the cause, and desirous of attract- ing publie attention at once to the necessities of the case and to propitiate all opposition, if any, on the score of long continuance in office, tendered his resig- nation, which was accepted at a meeting of the board of directors on April 30, 1854, which at the same time passed a unanimous indorsement of his entire action in the affairs of the company. After Mr. Allen's resig- nation had been accepted, Hudson E. Bridge was elected president of the company, and Henry L. Pat- terson vice-president. At an election held about this time the question of making a subscription on the part of St. Louis County to the amount of one million two hundred thousand dollars to the capital stock of the company was decided affirmatively by a

vote of three thousand four hundred and twenty yeas to one thousand three hundred and thirty-three nays.

The work of construction from Franklin westward was prosecuted with unremitting energy, and on the 1st of November, 1855, the road was opened to Jeffer- son City.1 This event was the occasion of a catas- trophe which resulted in great loss of life, and caused universal distress and mourning in St. Louis. It has ever since been known as the Gasconade Bridge dis- aster, and occupies a position of melancholy promi- nence in the history of the city.

The train, which consisted of fourteen passenger- cars, started from the Seventh Street Depot, St. Louis, on the morning of Thursday, November 1st, with the mayor and City Council of St. Louis, Company A of the St. Louis Grays, and the National Guard, with the band attached to the latter, and a number of invited guests, the whole party numbering between six and seven hundred persons. There had been heavy rains the night before, and the weather was still inclement, but the train proceeded in safety until the Gasconade River was reached, when the bridge across the stream gave way, and ten of the cars were precipitated a distance of twenty-five or thirty feet. The locomotive, from all appearances, had reached the edge of the first pier when the structure gave way, and in falling reversed its position, the front turning to the east and the wheels upward. On the locomotive at the time were the president, H. E. Bridge, T. S. O'Sullivan, the chief engineer of the road, and several employés. Mr. Bridge escaped, but Mr. O'Sullivan was killed. The road entered the bridge with a curve, and this circumstance, perhaps, prevented the disaster from being more fatal, as the cars thereby were diverted, and thus prevented from falling in a general mêlée. The baggage-car, next the engine, went down easily, without causing any serious casualty. The first and second passenger-cars fol- lowed, and in these several were killed, and a great number more or less mangled. In the third car one or two were killed only. This car, althoughlı in a dan- gerous position and almost entirely demolished, was less fatal to life and limb. In the fourth and fifth cars a great many were fatally injured and several instantly killed. The other cars of the train followed swiftly on their fatal errand, and the loss of life, with contusions more or less severe, was dreadful. Some of the cars plunged on those beneath them with their ponderous wheels, and crushed or maimed the unfor-

1 On the 10th of February, 1855, the road was opened to Washington, fifty-five miles; and on the 6th of August, 1855, to Hermann, eighty-one miles.

1160

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

tunate persons below. Others hung upon the cliff in a perpendicular position, and two or three turned bottom upward down the grade. Only one, the ex- treme rear car, maintained its position on the rail.

" When we take into consideration the fall of thirty feet in front to the bed of the river," says the Repub- lican, in its account of the disaster, "and the high embankment on either side of the track, covered with stone,- the ponderous cars themselves capable of grinding each other into fragments,-the wonder is increased that so few were killed outright or fatally wounded. There is hardly a position in which a car could be precipitated from the track at the point named that gives a reasonable hope of escape, and yet although seven out of the ten of which the train was composed plunged headlong down the abutment, and then others rolled over the gradc, containing five to six hundred passengers, we have only the report of twenty-five killed and mortally injured.

" As soon as the crash was over a moment of pain- ful silence ensued, and then issued from the wreck the groans of the wounded, the supplications of the imprisoned, the sercams of the agonized, while here and there might be observed the upturned face of the dead, mangled and elotted with blood, or the half- buried forms of others whose spirits had passed away forever. To add to the horror of the scene, a storm of lightning, thunder, and rain arose of the severest description."

Drs. McDowell and McPherson happened to be on the train, and rendered efficient aid to the wounded.

Couriers were dispatched forthwith to Hermann for another train, and in an hour or less the wounded were in comfortable cars on their way to the city.

The following is a list of the killed and injured :

Killed .- A. L. Chappell, Rev. A. Bullard, B. B. Dayton, Cyrus Melvin, Mann Butler, Thomas Grey, Rev. Mr. Teasdale, S. Best (fireman), Pat- rick Barry (wood-passer), T. J. Mott (representa- tive of Dunklin County), Thomas S. O'Sullivan (chief engineer), E. C. Yosti (firm of Shields & Yosti), Capt. C. Case, E. C. Blackburn, J. A. Ross (firm of Ross & Gillum), - Athey (late assessor of St. Louis), Henry Chouteau (of the firni of Chouteau & Vallé), Capt. O'Flaherty, Joseplı Har- ris (of St. Louis County), E. B. Jeffrees (represen- tative of Franklin County), Adolph Abeles, George Eberle, William L. Lynch, R. M. Dubois, HI. W. Huhn, Joseph A. Finnegan, Mr. McCulloch (of Dunk- lin) ; one body, left at the Gasconade ; one body, iden- tified at Hermann, name unknown.

All of the above not otherwise specified were resi- dents of St. Louis.

Wounded .- Hon. Washington King, mayor of St. Louis, badly cut.

F. L. Billon, arm broken.

Carlos S. Grecley, slightly injured.

L. M. Kennett, slightly injured.

Judge Wells, United States District Court, slightly injured.

John M. Wimer, badly hurt.

Henry C. Hart.

George K. Budd.

Francis Lanc, leg broken.

James Mullery, slightly injured.

D. H. Armstrong, right arm broken.

Capt. Connelly, right leg injured.

Wilson Primm, bruised about the head.

John Schuetze, not seriously hurt.

Edward Colston, badly cut on head.

S. J. Levi, bruised about face.

L. A. Benoist, leg hurt.

Judge Thomas, of Bridgeton, face injured.

John J. Hoppe, face cut.

Wayman Crow, leg bruised.

Peter Ochman, badly bruised.

Mr. Dyson, firm of Taylor & Dyson, lower jaw broken, and otherwise badly injured.

John C. Ivory, much cut and bruised.

William Lindsey, shoulder out of joint.

John K. Field, firm of Beardslee & Field. Mr. Field went out the day after the accident, having heard that his brother was seriously injured at the Gasconade Bridge. He failed to get across Bœuff Creek before the bridge there was washed away. Afterwards he crossed the river, took a hand-car, and was at work on it when his coat was caught in the wheel and he was thrown out. The wheel passed over him, doing him very serious injury, principally about the face.

W. H. Tucker, the engineer on the locomotive, had his legs badly bruiscd.

William D'Œnch, right arm broken.

Julius Bush, facc cut badly.

John Neindenhofer, facc bruised.

James McDermott, leg broken.

A number of others were more or less seriously hurt.

The masonry of this bridge was of the most sub- stantial kind, and had stood every test applied to it without damage in any shape whatever. The wooden superstructure-trestle-work-was put up by Stonc, Boomer & Co., men of great experience in bridge- building in the West.1

1 In view of the distressing nature of the calamity, the mayor of St. Louis, Hon. Washington King, determined to set apart a

1161

RAILROADS.

It having become apparent that the cost of the pro- posed railroads in Missouri had been underestimated, the Legislature on the 10th of December, 1855, cn- acted that the State bonds might be issued to the railroad companies in the proportion of two dollars of loan advanced for one expended by the stockholders, and thus granted the further sum of two millions to the main trunk linc of the Pacific Road. The act also created and established a Board of Public Works, consisting of three persons, not stockholders, to be (after the first appointed by the Governor ) elected by the people for four years, the first election in 1856, and further required each railroad company to set aside and pay to the State treasurer every year, on State bonds thereafter to be issucd, onc and one quarter of one per cent. on each thirty-year bond, and two and one-half per cent. on each twenty-year bond sold or hypothecated. The treas- urer of the State and the treasurer of each railroad company for the time being were made commission- ers of the sinking fund thus created, and cach com- pany was required to pay to the State treasurer the semi-annual interest on the bonds issued to them thirty days before the coupons should fall due. The State treasurer was required to select one place in the city of New York for the payment of the interest on all the bonds issued by the State, and to give public notice thereof thirty days in advance.

James H. Lucas was elected president of the Pacific Railroad Company in March, 1856, but resigned about a month afterwards, when William M. Mc- Pherson was elected president in his place, and Ed- ward Miller soon after was made chief engineer. Mr. MePherson continued to serve as president until March, 1858, when Hon. John M. Wimer was elceted in his place.

By an act approved March 3, 1857, the State

day of fasting and prayer. He accordingly issued the following proclamation :

" TO THE CITIZENS OF ST. LOUIS .- In view of the awful and inscrutable dispensation of Providence, by which so many valu- able lives were lost on Thursday last, I have deemed it proper to recommend, and as the mayor of the city I do hereby recommend and set apart Monday next, the 5th inst., and ask that it be observed universally as a day of cessation from all labor, as a tribute of respect to those who are most deeply stricken by this terrible blow, and a day of heartfelt thankful- ness and gratitude to God by and on account of all who are saved from death.

" I recommend that all business houses be closed, and that all secular pursuits go unobserved on that day. I also request that the churches of all denominations be opened for religious wor- ship on that day.

" WASHINGTON KING, Mayor.

" MAYOR'S OFFICE, ST. LOUIS, Nov. 3, 1855."

agreed to guarantee the bonds of the Pacific Railroad Company, issued as authorized by the act of Dee. 10, 1855, upon a mortgage of lands on the Southwest Branch, in sums of $100,000 each, to an amount not exceeding $4,500,000, the first $100,000 to be issued upon evidence of a like amount of expenditure on that branch by the company, derived from sources other than guaranteed bonds, but the subsequent amounts were to be issued as fast as each given sum was expended. The Governor was also authorized to make such guarantees in larger amounts than $100,- 000 at a time if expedient, and place them for sale in the hands of an agent to be appointed by him, etc.

The company was required to complete the South- west Branch in four years, pay the interest, and hold the State harmless from her guarantee, or forfeit the branch road, lands, and franchises. The same aet further provided that whenever the Pacific Railroad Company had expended five hundred thousand dollars west of Jefferson City, the Governor of the State should issue to them $1,000,000, part of the amount granted by the act of Dec. 10, 1855, but not issued ; and also granted a further loan of $300,000 of the same amount, to be based upon a showing of half that sum expended from stock subscriptions west of Jef- ferson City. The act also granted the same com- pany a further loan of $1,000,000, to be issued in sums of $100,000, the applications for them to be based upon proof of additional expenditure of half the amount derived from other sources than State bonds, and not included in any previous statement, and showing also that the procceds of all the bonds issued under the act of 1855 had been expended in the construction of the road, the statement of ex- penditure to be exclusive of interest, discount, and commissions.

This law also provided that the work should pro- gress continuously west, so as to leave no part unfin- ished beyond the reach of the means of the com- pany, and postponed the payments into the sinking fund required by the act of 1855 until Jan. 1, 1859, when said payments were to commence and be made as before required, and within two years from that time the companies werc to make full payment of all sums thus postponed. The same act of March 3, 1857, required the State geologist to make a thorough survey along the lines of all railroads aided by the State, and to report in detail to the president and di- rectors "all the mineral, agricultural, and other re- sources which may affect the value or income of the road under their direction."

In consequence of the panic in the money market, the State bonds of Missouri, like many others, touched

1162

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

a low point in the fall of 1857, and many of the holders felt much alarmed. The act of Nov. 19, 1857, suspended the further issue and guarantee of bonds until March 1, 1859, with some exceptions, and among them four hundred thousand dollars were permitted to be issued to the Pacific Railroad to finish to Round Hill, and two hundred thousand dollars to carry the Southwest Branch to Moseley's. But it was agreed that whenever State bonds could be sold for ninety cents on the dollar, the Governor might issue five hundred thousand dollars for the South west Branch, and receive in exchange the same amount of guaran- tecd bonds. It was further provided that there should be deposited with the State treasurer a like amount of seven per cent, railroad mortgage bonds as collateral security, and as the latter bore seven per cent. interest and the former six, the company was required to pay the difference (one per cent.) into the State intercst fund on the bonds so ex- changed.

The Pacific Railroad was also required to deliver up all guaranteed bonds, and a like amount of State bonds, running twenty years and bearing six per cent. interest, were ordered to be issued and delivered to them. It was a singular fact that while State bonds sold readily, mortgage bonds, guaranteed by the State, could not be sold.

The Board of Public Works was required to attend all the meetings of the boards of directors and watch their proceedings. Full and ample provision was also made by the Legislature to meet at all times the ac- cruing interest on the State bonds of Missouri.

The main (or Kansas) line of the Pacific Railroad was completed to Sedalia, and its Southwest Branch, afterwards the St. Louis and San Francisco line, to Rolla in 1861. The four years of the civil war re- tarded the efforts of the company to push forward the work of construction, and the effect upon the road was disastrous in the extreme. For much of the time in the use of the government, which only allowed the actual cost of transportation, and seriously injured by destruction of its depots and bridges by armed bands, the work was still pushed forward under the greatest difficulties, and in May, 1863, was extended to Dres- den, in July, 1864, to Warrensburg, and was being pushed to Kansas City, when the great raid of Gen. Price, in the fall of that ycar, destroyed everything destructible between Franklin and Kansas City, in- flieting a damage which exceeded a million of dollars. Nearly one mile of bridging was destroyed, includ- ing the Gasconade, Moreau, and Osage, and depot buildings, machine-shops, water-tanks, and wood- sheds were totally destroyed at Franklin, Gray's Sum-

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 39

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