History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 45

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 45

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

dent of the Mechanics' Bank of Baltimore and com- missioner of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, to re- sign the latter position and undertake to enlist his fellow-citizens of Maryland in the work of construet- ing a railroad from the Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River. Nevertheless, Mr. Thomas entered upon the work with a zeal born only of conviction, and sue- ceeded in obtaining the co-operation of George Brown, another prominent and influential capitalist of Balti- more.

At a public meeting held in Baltimore, Feb. 12, 1827, these two gentlemen expressed the conviction that rail transportation must supersede that of water, and induced the appointment of a committee to col- lect facts and carefully consider the novel proposition. That committee was quick to observe and note the facts that the trend of the Atlantic coast shortened the line from the East to the West, placing Southern eities nearer to the great valley than North- ern cities,' and that Baltimore was two hundred miles nearer to the navigable waters of the Mississippi valley than New York, and one hundred miles nearer than Philadelphia. The committee also strongly sus- tained in its report the idea that railroads .would supersede canals in transportation, and earnestly rec- ommended the construction of a railroad from Balti- more to the Ohio River. John V. L. McMahon prepared the charter of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road Company, the charter for the first railroad in the United States, which, from its very great clear- ness, became the model for many subsequent charters. At the session of the General Assembly of Mary- land in 1828, the sum of five hundred thousand dol- lars was voted to aid in the construction of the work. The surveys of 1827 and those of 1828 made appa- rent the feasibility of the route to the Ohio River along the valley of the Potomac, and on July 4, 1828, the vencrable Charles Carroll of Carrollton " broke ground," and on the 1st of October, 1828, the work was fairly commenced " all along the line" from Bal- timore to Ellicott's Mills. Congress was petitioned at the session of 1828-29 to aid in this important work, but notwithstanding a favorable consideration by many members, the influence of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company was potent enough to pre- vent any favorable action. The first division of the road to Ellicott's Mills was opened for traffic in 1830, and the " brigade of cars,"1 as trains werc then called, hauled by horses or mules, left " the depot on Pratt Street at six and ten o'clock A.M., and at three and four o'clock P.M., and will leave the depot at Ellicott's

Mills at six and eight and a half o'clock A.M., and at twelve and a half and six o'clock P.M." It was in 1830 that George Stephenson's locomotive, "The Rocket," made fifteen miles per hour on the Liver- pool and Manchester Railroad. But the England of 1830 was very much farther from America than that country is to-day. Ideas traveled then by sail-vessels, and not by electricity, and it was to " put fire on their backs" that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com- pany offered to the mechanical genius of America rewards of five and four thousand dollars respectively for locomotives which, upon trial, should prove to be the first and second best in complying with the speci- fications. "The York," an engine built at York, Pa., by Davis & Gartner, attained upon trial a speed of fif- teen miles an hour, and practically demonstrated the feasibility of steam as a traction agency. The charter of the " Washington Branch" was obtained in 1832, as well as authority to extend the tracks of the company to the harbor of Baltimore from Mount Clare shops and depot. The road was opened from Baltimore to Point of Rocks in 1832, but further prosecution of the work to Harper's Ferry was temporarily arrested by injunction sued out by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. The delay continued for about a year, and the road was not opened to Harper's Ferry until 1834. The charter of the Washington Branch had been saddled with objectionable provisions, which were not removed until 1833, after which so encr- getically was the work of construction pushed that in July, 1835, the branch was opened to Bladensburg, and to Washington City in August of the same year. The controversy with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company impeded and obstrueted the work of the railroad company west of Harper's Ferry until the Legislature of 1835-36 removed all obstructions to the extension westward of the company's lincs. The State of Maryland and the city of Baltimore each about this time subscribed three million dollars to the capital stock of the company.

The Harper's Ferry viaduct over the Potomac River was completed in December, 1836, opening a connection with the valley of Virginia by the Potomac and Winchester Railroad. From Harper's Ferry to the Ohio River the work of construction was not pushed forward steadily. Preliminary surveys were completed in 1838, but the period of time fixed in the charter of the company by the State of Virginia for the occupancy of that part of the State to be en- tered upon by the company having expired, an ex- tension of five years for completion to the Ohio River was granted by the State, coupled with the condition that Wheeling should be one of the termini, and a

1 Baltimore American, July, 1830.

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RAILROADS.

subscription of $1,058,420 to the capital stock of the company was made by the State of Virginia. In 1842 the road was opened to Hancock and Cumberland, and in 1853 to Wheeling, a total distance of three hundred and seventy-nine miles. The formal opening took place on the 12th of January, 1853. The suc- cessive periods of progress by this great road in reach- ing its destination on the Ohio are worthy of being preserved. They are :

Miles.

May 24, 1830, to Ellicott's Mills, by horse-power. 14

Aug. 30, 1830,

steam

Dec. 31, 1831, to Frederick 61

April 1, 1832, to Point of Rocks 69

Dec. 31, 1834, to Harper's Ferry

July 20, 1834, to Bladensburg (Washington Branch). 32

Aug. 25, 1834, to Washington

June 1, 1842, to Hancock

123

Nov. 5, 1842, to Cumberland

178

July 21, 1851, to Piedmont. 206

July 22, 1852, to Fairmont.

302

Jan. 12, 1853, to Wheeling .. 379

The Northwestern Virginia Railroad was leased by the Baltimore and Ohio in 1857, for a period of five years, renewable, and became the Parkersburg Branch, extending from Grafton on the main line to Parkers- burg, on the Ohio River.

The civil war was a period of repeated raids and injuries to the road, but the work of reconstruction was promptly entered upon immediately after the ter- mination of actual hostilities in 1865, and at the same time the policy of the president, John W. Garrett, looking to morc intimate and thorough connections with the railway system west of the Ohio River, took active shape. In pursuance of this general plan the Central Railroad of Ohio, between Bellaire and Co- lumbus, was leased in 1866 by the Baltimore and Ohio, and an unbroken line opened between Baltimore and the capital of Ohio, where connection was made with Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and other points in the West- ern States.

The Winchester and Potomac Railroad, leased in 1867, opened the great valley of Virginia to this railroad, and the line was further extended up that valley by the lease in 1870 of the Winchester and Strasburg Railroad and the Manassas Division, in the valley, of the present Virginia Midland Railroad Company.

In 1869 the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark Rail- road having passed under the control of the Baltimore and Ohio, opened the lakes to the Lake Erie Divis- ion of the road. The great iron bridge at Parkers- burg was opened in 1871, and in the same year the Hempfield Railroad, from Wheeling to Washington, Pa., was purchased, and has since been operated as the Wheeling, Pittsburgh and Baltimore Branch. The Pittsburgh and Connellsville Road, which was leascd

from Jan. 1, 1876, offered another outlet, and brought Baltimore and Pittsburgh into a direct interchange of trade and business. The Metropolitan Branch, from Washington to the main line, was commenced in 1870, and completed May 28, 1873. The Newark, Somer- set and Straitsville Railroad Company passed into the control of the Baltimore and Ohio in 1872, and in the same year the charters from the States of Ohio, Indi- ana, and Illinois for the Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Chicago Railroad Company were granted, and the road was completed from Centreton to Chicago in 1874, thus providing a throughi line between Balti- more and Chicago.

The different lines of the Baltimore and Ohio system in 1882 were:

Miles.

Main Stem, from Baltimore to Wheeling .. 379

Parkersburg Division, from Grafton to Parkersburg 104 Washington Brunch, Relay to Washington ...... 31

Metropolitan Branch, Washington to Junction .. 43

Alexandria Branch, Bladensburg to Shepherd. 124 Washington County Branch, Weverton to Hagerstown ... 24 Harper's Ferry and Valley Branch, Harper's Ferry to Staunton. 126

Pittsburgh Division, Cumberland to Pittsburgh, with branches from Connellsville to Uniontown, and Broad Ford to Mount Pleasant ..

Central Ohio Division, Columbus to Bellaire .. 137

Lake Eric Division, Sandusky to Newark 116

Chicago Division, Newark to Shawnee 43

Wheeling, Pittsburgh and Baltimore Branch, Wheeling to Washington, Pa 32

Marietta und Cincinnati Railroad 297

620

Ohio and Mississippi Railway ..

Total 2409}

The " terminal facilities" of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company at Locust Point, Baltimore, inur- ing indirectly but most materially to the trade and commerce of St. Louis, constitute a factor in the rail- road facilities of St. Louis as well as of Baltimore. As early in the history of the road as 1848 the coal trade demanded and received the means of easy and inexpensive trans-shipment from the cars to the boat. In 1851 the Locust Point lands, purchased by Hon. Thomas Swann, president of the company, were in- creascd in area by means of inducements held out to private parties to erect their own wharves at Whet- stone Point. It was not until 1860, however, when connections had been established with the West, and the fruits of Mr. Garrett's sagacity were beginning to be realized, that the development of the " terminal facilities" at Locust Point took their present definite and complete shape. The experimental European line es- tablished by Mr. Garrett's purchase of the " Alle- gheny," the "Carroll," the "Somerset," and the " Worcester" stcamships from the United States government was the beginning of that Atlantic extension of the Baltimore and Ohio, by which Western grain and produce are shipped in bulk to

174

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

Europe on through bills of lading. The erection of piers, wharves, and warehouses followed immediately upon the establishment of this European line. The management of so vast an enterprise demanded the sagacity and nerve of a man like Mr. Garrett to dem- onstrate its feasibility, before the more timid would take hold of a doubtful and untried business. The experimental line finally gave way to others which are now reaping the harvest of the seed which Mr. Garrett sowed.

Elevators followed and facilities increased until Baltimore offers cheaper and easier trans-shipment of heavy products than any Atlantic port in the country. The largest steamer in the United States transfers trains of cars across the harbor of Baltimore to the tracks of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Balti- more Railroad, and an independent connection with Philadelphia and New York will in the near future make the Baltimore and Ohio a separate and distinct line from New York as well as from Baltimore. When this great object shall have been consummated it is fair to presume, from his past career, that Mr. Garrett will give greater freedom to transportation be- tween the East and the West, as he has given cheaper rates, and forced upon others the lesson that Baltimore is an important factor in the foreign commerce of the Western States.

To the great executive powers and financial talents of John W. Garrett, ably seconded by his son, Robert Garrett, now first vice-president of the company, the present vast development of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is unquestionably due. Under Mr. Garrett's prudent, wise, and at the same time aggressive manage- ment the company has successfully weathered all the financial storms that have threatened it in common with other railroad properties, and has come off more than conqueror in all the " wars" that have been waged by it with rival companies. Mr. Garrett has also preserved his company from the injurious effects of " watered stock," and now enjoys the satisfaction of seeing it command a place in the markets surpassed by no other railroad corporation.

Several years ago Mr. Garrett called to his aid the vigorous energies of his son, Robert Garrett, who had bcen educated and traincd to railroad management, and who has since abundantly demonstrated his pecu- liar fitness for the position.

To the facilities of transportation offered by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and its extensive con- nections, Mr. Garrett has added those of the telegraph and express systems. By the former he provides com- petition with the former telegraphic monopoly of the Western Union Company, and by the latter he extends

the competition to the transportation of valuable and perishable articles. He has also organized an Atlantic Cable Company for telegraphic communication with Europe, which will probably soon have in operation two cables connecting the land wires of the Baltimore and Ohio Telegraph Company with all European capi- tals and commercial centres. It is doubtful whether any single life has been more fruitful of grand achieve- ments in railroading than that of John W. Garrett.

The labors of Mr. Garrett in the many departments of his great railroad system have demanded the assist- ance of men of marked ability and fertility of re- source at points distant from the headquarters of the company. The selection at St. Louis has been a most fortunate one. To W. W. Peabody; general super- intendent of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, the great success of this line has been pre-eminently due. His zeal, ability, energy, and integrity have established with the commercial and traveling community a con- fidence in the safety and reliability of the great line of railroad possessed by no other company to a greater degree and enjoyed by very few to an equal extent.

The Ohio and Mississippi Railway claims to be the shortest and quickest route between St. Louis and Cincinnati, and between St. Louis and Louisville. The road being under the management of one general superintendent, all trains leaving St. Louis for Louisville and Cincinnati are run through promptly on time, and a continuous trip is guaranteed. In connection with the Marietta and Cincinnati and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads, trains are run through to Washington, D. C., without the change of a single car in all the chain of day-coaches, parlor-, palace-, and other cars. It is worthy of remark in this connection that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com- pany operates a sleeping-, dining-, and parlor-car system of its own, and that it is the only line that passes through the national capital in going East.

The Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway Company originated in the Toledo and Illinois Railroad Company, which was organized April 25, 1853, under the laws of the State of Ohio, to con- struct a railroad between Toledo and the western boundary of the State. On the 19th of August fol- lowing the Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Rail- road Company was organized under the laws of Indiana to build a road from the east line of the State through the valleys of the Little River and Wabash River to the west line of the State in the direction of Danville, Ill. The road from Toledo through Ohio and Indiana was constructed under these two charters. On the 25th of June, 1856, the two companies were consolidated under the style of the Toledo, Wabash

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RAILROADS.

and Western Railroad Company. This organization having become financially embarrassed in the general. panic of 1857-58, its property was sold in October, 1858, under foreclosure proceedings, and purchased by Azariah Boody, who conveyed it to two new compa- nies, under the style of the Toledo and Wabash, of Ohio, and the Wabash and Western, of Indiana, the two being consolidated Oct. 7, 1858, under the cor- porate name of the Toledo and Wabash Railroad Company, which opcrated the road through the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois until 1865, when all interests between Toledo and the Mississippi River at Quincy and Hamilton were consolidated under an agreement between the Toledo and Wabash, the Great Western of Illinois, the Quincy and To- ledo, and the Illinois and Southern Iowa Railroad Companies, under the style and designation of the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway Company. The Great Western Railroad Company of this combination was organized in 1859, and its road ex- tended from the Indiana State line to Meredosia, in Illinois, with a branch from Bluff City to Naples. The road from Meredosia to Camp Point was owned by the Quincy and Toledo Railroad Company, and the road from Clayton, Ill., to Carthage, Ind., was owned by the Illinois and Southern Iowa Railroad Company.

In 1870 the Decatur and East St. Louis Railroad Company constructed and equipped a road between Decatur and East St. Louis, which in the same year came under the management and control of the To- ledo, Wabash and Western Railway Company, and which was opened to St. Louis in 1871. The Han- nibal and Naples Railroad, between Naples and Han- nibal, with a branch to Pittsfield from Maysville, was leased in 1870 by the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway Company, and in 1871 the same company obtained control of the Hannibal and St. Louis Cen- tral Railroad, from Hannibal to Moberly, and also of the Pekin, Lincoln and Decatur Railroad, which was thenceforth operated as the " Pekin Division." In 1872 the Lafayette and Bloomington, from Lafayette Junction to Bloomington, was added to the lines of the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad Company, making a total of over nine hundred miles of road opcrated under ownership and lease by this cor- poration. In 1874 financial disaster overtook the company, and its property passed under decrecs of the courts into the hands of John D. Cox as receiver. Mr. Cox retained control until 1877, when a reorgani- zation was effected under the style of the Wabash Railway Company. The leases of the Pekin, Lincoln and Decatur and the Lafayette and Bloomington Railroads were set aside during the receivership, as

well as that of the bridge at Quincy. . In 1877 the Edwardsville Branch passed under the control of the Wabash, and on the 7th of November, 1879, the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway Company was organized by the consolidation of the Wabash and the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railway Companies and their branches.

The St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railway Company is the outgrowth of the North Missouri Railroad Company, which was chartered March 1, 1851, to build, cquip, and operate a railroad from St. Louis to the boundary linc between Missouri and Iowa, and thence on to Ottumwa and Chariton.

The work of construction was commenced in May, 1854, and the road was completed to the Missouri River, opposite St. Charles, on the 2d of August, 1855; to Warrenton in August, 1857; to Mexico in May, 1858 ; to Moberly' Nov. 30, 1858, and to Ma- con in February, 1859. The civil war affected all works of this character, and the North Missouri re- mained stationary at Macon until 1864. Unable to meet its obligations to the State for interest, in con- sequence of the war and its effects, the company met with most favorable action on the part of the Legis- lature of 1866-67, which relinquished the State lien, upon the condition that the company should build a branch from Moberly to Kansas City and the western boundary of the State, and extend the road from Ma- con to the Iowa linc. By this generous action on the part of the State the company was enabled to push its extensions both north and west. In 1868 the road was completed to the State line at Coatesville, and in 1869 the road was opened to Kansas City, on the west- ern line, and to Ottumwa, on the northern line, which was reached over the St. Louis and Cedar Rapids Railroad, built by an independent corporation and Icased by the North Missouri. The Chariton and Randolph and the Missouri River Valley Railroad Companies werc consolidated into the North Missouri in 1864. The line of the latter companies was opencd from Moberly to Brunswick Dec. 15, 1857; to Carrollton Aug. 15, 1868; to Lexington Junction Oct. 1, 1868, and to the junction with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Nov. 28, 1868.

In 1871 financial embarrassments overtook the North Missouri Company, and forcclosure following, the road was purchased by M. K. Jessup, of New York, who in February, 1872, assigned it to the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroad Company, a corporation organized under the general railroad law of Missouri. A new line from Ferguson into St. Louis and the Union Depot was built in 1876, and the road was extended from North Missouri Junction to Kan-

1190

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

sas City and from Pattensburg to Council Bluffs, with a branch to Clarinda, in 1879.1

The capital stock of the new consolidated company (Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway) on Jan. 1, 1880, was $40,000,000, half common and half pre- ferred, of which $12,000,000 of each kind was as- signed to the former stockholders and creditors of the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern, and $8,000,000 of each kind to those of the Wabash Company. The indebtedness of the two companies, $35,469,550, was assumed by the new company upon consolidation, making the capital and bonded debt of the new com- pany Jan. 1, 1880, $75,464,550.

Twenty-one railroad organizations which were at one time operated as distinet lines have been merged in order to form what is now known as the great Wabash, St. Louis and Pacifie Railroads, one of the largest systems in the United States. Previous to 1880 the Wabash proper extended from Toledo to St. Louis, Hannibal, Quiney, and Keokuk, with a branch from Logansport to Butler, Ind., or a total length of seven hundred and eighty-two miles. But in the fall of 1879, as we have seen, the Wabash was consoli dated with the St. Louis, Kansas City and North- ern Railroad, extending from St. Louis to Kansas City, St. Joseph's, Ottumwa, and Council Bluffs, with several small branches, having in all seven hundred and sixty-nine miles of road. The corporation thus formed, with a mileage of fifteen hundred and fifty- one miles, established its headquarters at St. Louis. During the same year entry to Chicago was effected by the purchase of the Chicago and Padueah, ex- tending from Effingham and Altamont to Chester, Ill., and the construction of a branch from Strawn, ninety-six miles northward. Subsequent acquisitions were the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Road, extending from State line, Indiana, through Peoria to Burling- ton, Warsaw, and Keokuk, a distance of two hundred and forty-six miles, and before the elose of the same year, the Quiney, Missouri and Paeifie, Champaign, Havana and Western, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska, and Centreville, Moravia and Albia Roads, all con- necting at different points with the main line. On Dee. 31, 1880, the system comprised two thousand four hundred and seventy-nine miles.

The lines built and acquired during 1881 were the Detroit and Butler, an extension of the Logansport and Butler Division to the city of Detroit, one hun- dred and thirteen miles ; and the purchase of the In-

dianapolis, Peru and Chicago Railway, extending from Indianapolis to Michigan City, a distance of one hun- dred and sixty-one miles. Other roads added to the system the same year were the Cairo and Vineennes, the Danville and Southwestern, the Quiney, Mis- souri and Paeifie, the Des Moines and Northwestern, and the Attica and Covington, making the actual revenue-earning mileage of the Wabash at the elose of the year 1881 three thousand three hundred and eighty-four miles.

The Butler and the Detroit, in connection with the Toleda, Peoria and Warsaw, completed the second independent trunk line of the system from the Mis- sissippi River to Lake Erie, besides seeuring new connections upon its entrance to Detroit.

Several extensions and branches were finished during 1882, the most important of which were the Shenandoah and the Des Moines Divisions. The former continued the second trunk line from the Mississippi to Lake Erie through to the Missouri, and established another to Council Bluffs and Chicago line. The cities of St. Louis and Des Moines were connected in a more direct manner than heretofore. The total length of the Wabash is 3670.6 miles, being the third largest mileage of any distinet railroad company in the world. The details of the mileage of the lines east of the Mississippi are as follows :

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 45

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