History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 54

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840

USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 54
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 54

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A new mode of passenger travel was also thus opened, as advertisements of the period show that the canal packet-boat "Maria Colden," drawn by three horses, made daily trips (Sundays excepted) to Pas- saie, giving excursionista an opportunity to ride on the new railroad from Acquackanonk to Patterson. The fare each way was fifty cents; from Newark to Bloomfield, twenty-five cents. This trip over the new canal and railroad, was a favorite excursion with Newarkers.

During the year ending the 13th of September, 1834, twenty thousand tons of merchandise were transported over the canal in one thousand and

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

eighty-five boats. The success of the enterprise was greater than anticipated, and the stock of the com- pany went up in Wall Street during the early part of January to one hundred and eleven. A few months previous it was down to fifty. In the middle of January it reached one hundred and forty-two, and hollers of the stock held firmly at one hundred and forty-five.

This, however, was regarded in the stock market as a "bulling" operation; for, during the winter. the Legislature authorized an increase of one million collar- in the capital stock.

James B. Murray was at that time president, and Robert Gilchrist cashier.

On October 21. 1844, the whole property of the company was sold in Newark by Ira C. Whitehead, Master in Chancery, under a decree of the Court of Chancery, at the suit of Wilhelm Willink, Jr., repro- senting the holders of the original Holland loan. It was bought by Asa Whitehead. John J. Bryant, and Benjamin Williamson for one million dollars, and a new company was organized ; the election for twenty- three directors being held at Jersey City on November 30, 1844, when the following were chosen :-

Thomas Tillerton, Benjamin Williamson, Joseph B. Varnum, Peter MeMattin. Joseph Bishop. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Chester Clark, John Strader, Jr., George Griswold, James J. Scofield, Jonathan J. Cod- dington, John J. Bryant, John Rankin, Henry Mc- Farland, Jacob Little, Elijah Scott, Samuel P. Brooks, John A. Willink, Daniel Tyler, John C. Green, Woodward Haven, Zebedee Cook, Jr., Joseph N. Alsop.

At a subsequent meeting of the Board, Daniel Tyler was chosen president in place of B. Williamson, resigned, and John J. Bryant was appointed cashier. The old debt of $750,000, due in Amsterdam, was compromised for $600,000, and $60,000 was paid in cancelation of an obligation to the State of Indiana.

Railroads in Essex and Hudson Counties .- The history of railroads in the counties of Essex and Iud- son is contemporaneous with the history of the intro- dnetion of these great highways of travel into the United States, and almost parallel with the first suc- cess of railroading in England. Being so intimately associated with the great strides of advancement inade by New Jersey in the last half century, it may be per- mitted the writer to refer briefly to some of the prin- cipal events which marked the inauguration of a system of inter-State travel and commerce, which now opens to us the fertile pluins and vast cattle pastures of the great West, the prolific cotton fickls of the South and the rich mineral deposits of the Sierra Ne- vadas, and transports from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans the wealth of China, India and Japan for dis- tribution throughout the globe.

Up to 1829 the railroads constructed had been ope- rated entirely by horse power, and were exclusively used for the transportation of coal and other heavy

products, and were chiefly confined to private use. The first roads were very primitive in their construc- tion, being built entirely of wood. Afterward they were improved by having a plating or moulding of wrought iron placed upon the rails. No one ever dreamed then of applying them to the purposes of general traffic. Not until the practical triumph of the steam engine as a motive power upon water, was there a thought of a locomotive as an agent of land transportation on a level iron track ; and even this was delayed for many years. At first it was suggested that stationary engines should be used for the purpose of dragging the loaded cars, for there were many practical mechanics who were zealous in demonstra- ting by figures that it was impossible to make a loco- motive engine which would be able to move itself, much more to drag any load after it. The driving wheels, they said, would slip over the track. But George Stephenson was a practical sceptic for all unverified hypotheses, at least in the domain of me- chanics, and he preferred to wait, and to experiment, and finally demonstrated that the locomotive was competent, not only to move itself, but also to drag a heavy load. His success on the 6th of October, 1829, inaugurated a new era of transportation, and mankind acquired an ability to create an activity in the cireu- lation of the products of industry and for travel which has made possible the intensity of our modern life, and has done more in fifty-five years to extend the feelings of mutual sympathy among distant nations, and to bind different peoples in the bonds of friendly independence than all the forty centuries of the pre- ceding historic times of civilization had done.

The success of steam power in England soon awa- kened the interest of the American people, who were then displaying wonderful energy in opening up ave- nues of communication in all parts of the vast country, which was craving with hungry desire, het- ter means of promoting commercial relations with its distant as well as neighboring towns and villages. Several railroads had been commenced as early as 1828, the most important projects being the Baltimore and Ohio, the Mbany and Schenectady, now a part of the New York C'entral, and the Charleston and Ham- burg railroads. The latter was intended to facilitate the transportation of cotton to the seaboard. It was the first road that was commenced in this country with a view to using steam instead of animal power, and was the first road that carried the United States mail. The first locomotive engine ever built in this country was built for and used on that road on the re- commendation of lloratio Allen, who is still living- a venerable and respected citizen of South Orange, N. J. He was among the first civil engineers in this country who saw the new era that was coming, and who went to England at his own expense to study the farts as they existed at that time, with a prophetic anticipation of what was to take place. His recom- mendation to adopt the locomotive on the South C'aro-

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ANCIENT STAGE LINES AND ROUTES.

lina railroad was, to use his own words, "on the broad ground that while there was no reason to anticipate that the breed of horses could be materially improved, the man was not living who could say what the breed of locomotives would be." The directors did not hesi- tate half an hour before casting their vote unani- mously in favor of the locomotive. The Baltimore and this at the time leaned in favor of horse power. The rapid growth of railroads in the first five years of their construction may be judged from the fact that in 1827 there were but three miles in operation in the United States, while in the Spring of 1832 there were 2,938 miles. Now there are nearly 100,000 miles in active operation, and it is estimated that the country will ultimately need at least 300,000 miles. In New Jersey there was, in 1883, according to the report of State Railroad Commissioner A. M. Reynolds, 1,916.15 miles under the management of eighty-three distinct railroad corporations, representing a total investment of $227,384,534, and paying State and municipal taxes amounting to $900,000 annually.

The first railroad enterprise started in New Jersey was that of the "Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company," which was incorporated by the State Legislature on the 4th of February, 1830. At the same time, the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company was incorporated, and in 1831 the two companies were consolidated.

The next enterprise approved by the Legislature was that of the Patterson and Hudson River Railroad, the charter for which was granted in January, 1831, but to this road we shall more fully refer under the head of the Erie system.

Meantime the people of Newark were agitating the subject of railroad communication with New York. This desire took tangible shape at a meeting of the citizens held at the "Mansion House " on January 22, 1830, to consider the propriety of petitioning the Legislature to incorporate a company for the con- struction of a railroad from the Hudson River to Camden, through Newark, Elizabethtown and Tren- ton, as a part of the proposed grand Atlantic Railroad to New Orleans. James Vanderpool presided, and L. A. Smith acted as secretary. At an adjourned meet- ing held on the 27th of the same month, resolutions were adopted approving the project, and disapproving any restrictions in the proposed charter of any rail- road which would operate to prevent the passage of any other bill for a canal or railroad company-an outspoken protest against monopoly. Mesers. Fethi Boyden, Joel W. Condit and Aaron Johnson, Jr., were appointed a committee to circulate a petition in favor of the proposed Atlantic Railroad bill. On the 18th of February the bill was " dismissed from the files" of the House of Assembly, an action which caused much discontent in Newark. This project of a grand through railroad route to New Orleans was warmly advocated by the newspapers of New York and Newark, and an ably written article appeared in

the "Evening Post " only a few days prior to its "dismissal," showing the great advantages to be de- rived by New York, Philadelphia and all the other cities on the route, by the accomplishment of the scheme. At the succeeding session of the Legisla- ture the bill was re-introduced, but was again fated to defeat. Then a bill was introduced to charter the Last Jersey Railroad, which the advocates of the "grand Atlantic" declared was only a ruse of the opponents of their bill. This last was, however, doomed to the same fate as its predecessor4, only in a milder form-it was postponed until the next session of the Legislature.

New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Com- pany .- In 1832 railroad enterprises were starting up in all the largely populated States. The New York Legislature, during its session of that year, granted twenty-four railroad charters, having an aggregate capital of $24,775,000. One of these was the New York and Erie, with an authorized capital stock of $10,000,000. The New Jersey Legislature was also busy this year with railroad legislation. A supple- ment to the Camden and Amboy charter was pending, which gave this company privileges of an exclusive and monopolistic character. The people of the north- ern part of the State opposed this selfish principle. and had to vigorously contend agamst it in their ap- phiration for a charter for a new railroad between .Jersey City and New Brunswick. By a species of log-rolling-which is well understood in legislative circles-the charter for the new road was allowed to pass, its old adversaries withdrawing their opposition, but on the same day the monopoly clause in the Camden and Amboy supplement became a law also.

The charter of the "New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company " passed the Assembly, with the Council amendments, on March 7, 1832, by a vote of 39 to 5. The act of incorporation authorised a capital stock of $775,000, with liberty to double that amount. The commissioners to receive subscriptions to the stock were named as follows :- John S. Darcy, William Chetwood, Isaac Baldwin, Abraham W. Kinney, Garret Sip, William Edgar, Cornelius P. Hardenburg, Thomas Muir, William R. Allen, James 1. Vandyke, William Pennington, Zephaniah Drake, Amzi Dodd, Thomas Salter, Jacob K. Mead, A. W. D'orey, Joseph W. Scott, and James S. Morris. It was required that the books be open for three days; the first day at New Brunswick, the second at Eliza- bethtown, and the third at Newark. An instalnent of $5 was to be paid at the time of subscribing, and the residue as the directors shoukl require, under a penalty of forfeiture of what had been paid in.

The route of the road was required to be through the "town of Newark." The place for crossing the Passaic River was originally fixed by the bill as " contiguous to" the present bridge; but the Bridge Companies would not permit the Railrond Companies to come near their bridge, or make any arrangement

191

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

whatever with the Railroad Company, when the Legis- lature thought it prudent to provide an alternative, and the bill was amended to read "contiguous to, or south of, the bridge crossing the Hackensack or Passie rivers." A provision in the bill gave the Com- pany authority to purchase these bridges if they deemed them necessary to the furtherance of their project.

The commissioners met in Newark on March 22, and appointed General John S. Darcy, of Morris County, President, and John P. Jackson, of Newark, Secretary. It was then ordered, that the books be opened at New Brunswick on the first of May. They were closed on the third day, as required by the law, a considerable surplus of stock having been taken, and the subscribers being almost wholly Jerseymen. The capitalists of the State were impressed with the importance of the enterprise which, relating to the manufacturing interests mutually existing between Newark and New York, was without parallel in the country.

After this successful initial effort, notice was imme- diately given to the stockholders to meet at the house of Zephaniah Drake, the " Eagle Tavern," on the 4th of June. At this meeting a permanent organization was effected, the following being chosen as the first Board of Directors :- General John S. Darcy, William R. AAHlen, Abraham W. Kinney, Z. Drake, A. W. Corey, William Chetwood, Thomas Salter, and George P. Mollison, of New Jersey, and General Alexander M. Muir, of New York. General Darey was unanimously elected President, and John P. Jackson, Secretary.

Work was immediately commenced. The road bed was laid across the meadows, bridges were built across the Passaic and Hackensack, and in two years, or, on September 1, 1834, an excursion was made over the road in the passenger car "Washington," described by the chronicler of the period as "a splendid and beautiful specimen of workmanship, containing three apartments besides seats on top." Regular trips were commenced on the 15th of September; the ears were operated with horse power, making eight trips each way, leaving either terminus at 7, 8, 9, and 11 o'clock, A. M .; 1, 2, 3, and 5 o'clock, P. M .; starting from the ferry at Jersey City, and from Thomson's Hotel, Newark (situated on the site of the present t'ity Ilall), stopping " for the purpose of receiving and delivering passengers," as the advertisement of the day read, at Chandler's Hotel, on Broad street, op- white Mechanic street ; at Dickerson's Hotel, at the foot of Market street; at the west end of the bridge over the Passaic (Centre street); at the Hackensack Bridge, and at the Paterson Depot (at what is now known as Marion). The fare each way was 374 cents, and the trip was made to Jersey City in about half an hour, It was not then deemed safe to use locomotives on the embankments extending over the marshes, and not until the embankments were thoroughly settled was steam power considered secure upon them. The

first engine passed over the road, from Jersey City to Newark, on December 2, 1835. It was named the " Newark." Up to January 1, 1838, when the Bergen ('ut was completed, the cars were drawn over the hill by horse power. This cut was a heavy undertaking, and involved an immense outlay of money. The curve at the eastern entrance is justified in a report made by Superintendent Jackson, in 1853, ax saving an expense of upwards of $100,000 on a more direct route. The work was commenced, and the formid- able rock excavation of this hill undertaken, with only #35,000 in the treasury. At that important juncture in the affairs of the company, the firm of Nevins, Townsend & Co., and their associates,- embracing capitalists of New York and New Eng- land,-entered into an engagement to become propri- etors of the stock subscribed by the commissioners, stipulating to carry on the construction of the work, from New York to New Brunswick, in accordance with the provisions of the charter. The road was ex- tended to Elizabethtown in 1835, to Rahway in 1836, and, in the Report of the Directors for the year 1837, it is stated that the distance from the Raritan to the Passaic (22} miles) was " completed with a single line of rails and an adequate number of turnouts, upon the most approved mode of structure, with heavy upright iron rails. On the whole of this distance, a locomotive engine has been used since the middle of last July, making three trips a day." On January 1, 1839, the road was opened through to Philadelphia, and thus direct communication was established between that city and New York. Previous to this, the line of tra- vel was by way of the Camden and Amboy Railroad, steamboats connecting New York with the terminus of that company at South Amboy, involving a water passage of twenty-seven miles.

The original cost of the road, with each item sepa- rately enumerated under oath, in 1839, was $1,951,- 638.34. It was not long before the Company availed itself of the authority given it in the charter, to pur- chase the stock and franchises of the Bridge and Turn- pike Companies, which cost the Company about $300,000. The ferry franchises in Jersey City were bought in 1853, and large sums were expended in im- | proving the terminal facilities. In 1856, the Com- pany projected a more direct route, between East Newark and the Market street depot, by bridging the Passaic at Commercial Dock. This was bitterly op- posed by the navigation interests, and a bill was brought by Charles E. Milnor, William L. Shardlow, and others in the United States Circuit Court, for an injunction to restrain the Company from building the proposed bridge. Judge Grier delivered an opinion in the September term of 1857, denying the injune- tion. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, whose final adjudication was made in favor of the Company in 1862. The work was immediately commenced, the road straightened, and the handsome iron bridge now spanning the river was

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ANCIENT STAGE LINES AND ROUTES.

erected. The road continued under the management of its first President, General Darey (with a short in- terval during which he was in California, when Mr. J. Phillips Phoenix held the other), until his death, October 22, 1863, in the seventy-sixth year of his age.

Ile was succeeded by Mr. A. L. Dennis, of Newark, who is now the Vice-President of the United Railroad and Canal Company. The first Secretary was John P. Jackson, who filled that office until 1849, when he was chosen General Superintendent, an office which he filled with great efficiency until the time of his death, which occurred on December 10, 1861. Hc

remains at his post as General Superintendent of the New Jersey Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Mr. William A. Whitehead, lately deceased, another honored citizen of Newark, succeeded Mr. Jackson in the Secretaryship, in which capacity he served xix years, when he received the appointment of Execu- tive Agent. F. Wolcott Jackson was Secretary until his appointment to the Superintendency, and for three years thereafter, combining the two offices until 1865, when Mr. F. W. Rankin was appointed Feere- tary. The New Jersey Railroad Company was con- solidated with the Camden and Amboy Railroad Company, under authority given by the Legislature, February 27, 1867, and became a part of the United Railroad and Canal Company. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in 1870, opened negotiations for the leasing of the railway and canal of the joint com- panies, its rapidly extending feeders in the West and the consequent growth of its through-carrying trade necessitating increased facilities to New York City. On the Ist of December, 1871, the lease was consum- mated for the term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, by the delivery of those works to the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company, at an annual rental of ten per centum per annum, when the capital stock, free of all taxes, and in accordance with the lease, quar- terly dividends of two and a half per cent. in cash have been regularly paid. The Pennsylvania Com- pany now control 540.9 miles of railroad in New Jer- sey. The cost of their lines and work in this State, including branches, steamboats, other equipments. real estate, etc., together with additional construction expenses, incurred by the lessee, is stated by the report for 1883 presented to the Legislature, to be: $37,375,- 299.50. The total earnings for 1883 were $14,40%,- 540.44; working expenses $10,513,338.70; net earn- ings, 3,895,201.74.

Extensive improvements have been made siner the lease, in Jersey t'ity and in the meadows west of the Hackensack River, to accommodate the immense travel and traffic centering at this terminus of the Railroad Company's system. Among these are a new passenger depot, enclosing a space of six hundred and twenty by two hundred and twenty-eight feet through which are run twelve tracks of railway for passenger trains only. At the river end of this edifice is a pas-

sage way forty feet wide, by two hundred and twenty- eight feet long, by which access is had to the general waiting-rooms, covering an area of eighty by eighty- four feet, including the adjacent ticket offices and restaurants. These waiting-rooms open upon a covered way sixty feet wide, running the entire length of the river front, on which all the ferry slips open. The ferry-house is forty by one hundred and twenty feet, and contains large and comfortable rooms and offices for the public accommodation.

About midnight on the 4th of August, 1884, an ex- plosion of gas occurred in the entrance to the ferry- was succeeded by his son, F. Wolcott Jackson, who ) house at the foot of Exchange Place. This was fol- lowed by a burst of flame and smoke, which seemed to envelope the entire waiting room in an instant. The Jersey City fire department made a prompt re- sponse, but before they could reach the scene the flames had spread through the ferry waiting room, and had reached the long shed-like structure connect- ing the tive ferry slips, from the Brooklyn Annex, on the south, to the Adams Express pier on the north. The din of scores of locomotive whistles brought the company's large fleet of fire tugs and the two New York City fire boats to the wharf, whence numerous heavy streams were forced on the flames. From the ferry entrance the fire spread to Superintendent Jack- son's and other offices overhead, and in a wonderfully short time the entire building bad been devoured. A strong southerly wind prevailed at the time, carrying the flames to the cupola of the waiting room of the railroad depot, and soon the entire interior was a roaring mass of fire, while the ferry slips and bridges in front of it were engulfed almost simultaneously. The main depot itself, fortunately, had a roof con- structed largely of iron and glass, supported by briek side walls and wooden uprights. The latter were not close enough together to afford much opportunity for the flames, and the firemen, by hard work, succeeded in saving all but about seventy-five feet of the depot itself. The flames reached the shore end of Adams Express t'ompany's pier, and were unable to go fur- ther, as they were met by the combined streams of several fire tugs and steamers. The entire ferry house and waiting room, with the bridges and floats, and the greater portion of the elastic spiles, the offices and the depot waiting room, were entirely destroyed.

Fortunately no lives were lost, although many nar- row escapes were reported. Those who were about the ferry-house at the time, either made their way to the street, or were taken off by the two ferry boats which were laid up for repairs. The loss was esti- mated at $300,000. The Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany have an insurance department, with headquar- ters at Philadelphia. Their property is covered with what are called floating policies, which are placed mostly in English companies. These policies cover whatever damage may be caused by fire, to any of the property of the company.

Before daybreak several hundred meu were put to

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

work clearing away the debris. A barricade was erected across the river end of the depot, and trains started and arrived within two hundred feet of their foriner position. Covered passages were erected lead- ing to the Adams Express pier, for the Desbrosses Street Ferry, and to the Brooklyn Annex pier, at the foot of York Street, for the Cortlandt Street Ferry. The burned Annex slip was partially removed, and a bridge towed from West Thirty-fourth Street was placed in position, for the transfer of teams.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 54

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 840

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840