USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 93
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In 1897 the river widening was continued. The city obtained the land neces- sary for increasing the width from one hundred and eighty feet to two hundred and seventy-six feet between the Main street bridge and Superior street. Between Sen- eca and Mahoning streets the average width was increased from one hundred to one hundred and forty-two feet. February 12, 1900, the city council authorized the purchase of land between lower and middle Seneca streets bridges for straighten- ing the sharp turn called "Collision Bend." The purchase of land was also author- ized for widening the river between the old river bed and Main street and for widening the river between Sycamore and West River streets, and between Colum- bus street bridge and the Big Four bridge. In 1901 the widening was continued from Columbus street to Voltaire street and land was purchased for straighten- ing the channel opposite the canal lock.
In September of the following year, the dredging began in the upper river. This marks the last epoch in the development of the upper harbor. In 1908, the river had a navigable depth of twenty feet to Jefferson street, four miles above its mouth, and sixteen feet for one and a half miles further.
Soon after the Federal government had begun to build the east breakwater. the city began the improvement of the lake front. Piles were driven at a con- siderable distance from the shore and the intervening space filled with earth. A
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bridge was built over the railroad tracks to this new made land, and a city dock established, at the foot of Erie street. This work has so far progressed that it is contemplated to have passenger docks ready in the summer of 1910.
Major Dan C. Kingman of the corps of engineers wrote in his report of 1902: "I am of the opinion that a satisfactory harbor can never be had along the Cuyahoga river. The approaches from the land side are too contracted and diffi- cult. I believe that as the east breakwater is extended to its full length, advantage will be taken of the fine facilities that it will offer, and that docks will be built under its shelter, the land approaches changed to conform to the new conditions and the lake business of Cleveland will be done to a very large extent in the new harbor which the present act of congress provides for."
During the current year, the question of expanding the harbor facilities along the river has received a genuine impetus through the cooperation of the city and the adjacent property owners. If the present extensive plans are carried out, the next decade will find the wide valley of the Cuyahoga filled with manufactories from the viaduct to Willow station. For our river will no longer be the "Crooked River," but will have been made straight and its deepened channel will afford an easy waterway to the shipping of the lake.
CHAPTER LXXIV.
RAILROADS.
The first locomotive was seen in Cleveland only sixty years ago, November 3, 1849. The economic importance of this event overshadows all others, because transportation is the life of the modern city. The attitude of society toward the railroad was radically different from that of today. Large sums of public money were voted to their aid and the city of Cleveland pledged its credit to several roads. The building of a new line was prefaced by large public meetings and several years of general discussion. The leading financiers of the country were the promoters and the public had faith in their operations. The state legislatures were very lavish in granting charters. They extended only to the state lines and were often very vague. In order to make interstate connections, charters in the various states were necessary. The most determined opposition was met from property owners, who believed their farms and buildings would be ruined by the railroads. Obstructions were frequently placed on the tracks and the oper- ations of the trains hindered in every way. Early the sympathy of the juries was with the culprits, as it was soon after with the complainants against the companies for damages.
There has been a remarkable development in the building and equipping of railroads. The oldest lines used "strap rails" of iron, three fourths of an inch thick, three inches wide and fifteen to twenty feet long. The straps were spiked to the ties. In 1851 the Cleveland railroads began the use of the T rail. Those used on the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula railway in 1851 were made in England, from twelve to eighteen feet long and weighed fifty-six pounds to the
From an old lithograph
UNION STATION, DOCKS AND TERMINALS OF CINCINNATI, COLUMBUS, AND CLEVELAND RAILROAD, 1853
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
yard. The estimated cost of this road was fifteen thousand dollars a mile. The first engines were as primitive. A speed of twenty miles an hour was satisfactory. The first passenger coaches were about forty feet in length, the baggage cars twenty-eight feet in length, the freight cars fifteen to twenty feet. The Cleve- land, Painesville & Ashtabula passenger coaches were of the largest then in use, about fifty-six feet long, with eight wheels and brakes. The freight cars were twenty-six feet long, also supplied with brakes. This road had six engines, ample for its traffic. Two of them the "Eagle" and the "Osprey" (all engines were named before they became so numerous), were made in the Cuyahoga Loco- motive works at Cleveland. They had six foot drivers, fifteen inch cylinders, weighed about thirty tons and were considered the finest in the state. They burned wood and the wood train was a necessary adjunct to the equipment. This train supplied the sheds along the route with cord wood. In 1854 the "Herald" re- corded a "great performance of a locomotive," when the "Eagle" ran from Cleve- land to Erie, ninety-five miles, "with only a single tender of wood" and that enough wood was left to run thirty miles farther. This was due to a new device, patented by the Cuyahoga Locomotive works.1 June 4, 1856, a locomotive on the Cleveland & Pittsburg road burned coal, the first one to do so out of Cleveland. The locomotive ran one hundred and one miles in eleven hours and twenty-five minutes, on nine thousand, seven hundred and ninety-eight pounds of coal.2 All the roads soon adopted the new fuel.
In May, 1866, the first "sleeping coach" was seen in Cleveland. It arrived on the Cleveland & Toledo road and was in service between Cleveland and Chicago. The "Herald" of May 18th says, "two very handsome, commodious, comfortable and well ventilated sleeping coaches, manufactured at Adrian, Michigan, have commenced going through without change." The coaches accommodated fifty- six passengers each.
The first schedules were meant for local traffic and convenience only. Freight trains were run haphazard. Only the consolidation of the short lines made through trains possible and brought the elaborate time tables of today. The history of each of the lines entering Cleveland will be briefly outlined.
THE OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY.
The first railroad project in this vicinity was the Ohio Railroad Company, organized April 25, 1836, in Painesville by R. Harper, Eliphalet Austin, Thomas Richmond, G. W. Cord, Heman Ely, John W. Allen, John G. Camp, P. M. Wed- dell, Edwin Byington, James Post, Eliphalet Redington, Charles C. Paine, Storm Rosa, Rice Harper, Henry Phelps and H. J. Reese.
Nehemiah Allen of Willoughby, representative in the legislature, was respon- sible for the charter that granted liberal banking powers as well as the usual rights to build a railroad. By act of March 24, 1837, the legislature loaned its credit to the amount of one third of the capital stock in railroads, turnpikes and canals, when the other two thirds had been subscribed. The state issued its bonds in payment for stock in the company. This "plunder law" was repealed March
1 "Daily Herald," February 28, 1854.
2 "Daily Herald," June 25, 1856.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
17, 1840, after the state had stock in railroads amounting to $751,915 ; turnpikes, $1,853,365 ; canals, $600,000; total, $3,205,280. This was nearly all lost.
The Ohio Railroad Company planned to build not only a trans-state railroad, but at its termini two great cities, Richmond on the Grand river and Manhattan on the Maumee. The railroad was to be built on stakes driven into the ground. The visionary scheme fitted into the financial fantasies of the day and vanished before the hot breath of the panic of 1837. The state auditor reports in 1843 that "The original subscriptions to the stock of the company were one million, nine hundred and ninety-one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-six dollars. Of this sum only thirteen thousand, nine hundred and eighty dollars had been paid in cash ; eight thousand or ten thousand dollars in labor or material; and five hun- dred and thirty-three thousand, seven hundred and seventy-six dollars in land and town lots. These have been reported as a basis for the credit of the state ; also there has been added two hundred and ninety-three thousand, six hundred and sixty dollars in donations of lands for right of way, all of which of course are con- ditional to revert upon failure to complete the work. The lands received in pay- ment for subscriptions were all taken at the most extravagant rates." The state had paid the company two hundred and forty-nine thousand dollars, and its re- turn was "some sixty-three miles of wooden superstructure laid on piles, a considerable portion of which is already rotten and the remainder going rapidly to decay." Out Lorain street and over the ridge toward Elyria, remnants of these stakes were visible for many years after this picturesque collapse.3
THE CLEVELAND, COLUMBUS & CINCINNATI RAILROAD.
This road, subsequently expanding into the "Big Four," had its origin in Cleveland enterprise, when John Barr visited Cincinnati in 1835-36 and in- terested capital there to work with Cleveland in the securing of a railroad char- ter. On March 14, 1836, the charter was granted for constructing a line from Cleveland to Cincinnati via Columbus and Wilmington. The great panic foiled the plans of all railroad building and it was not until 1845 that the commercial interests had sufficiently revived to reopen the subject. The charter of this line was amended March 12, 1845, permitting the building as far as Columbus, where it could connect with any road "then or thereafter constructed * lead- ing from any point at or near Lake Erie to or toward the southern part of the state." The new company chose John W. Allen as president, and the following directors from Cleveland: Richard Hilliard, John M. Woolsey, Henry B. Payne and John W. Allen. Cleveland voted $200,000 of its credit as a loan but private capital was loath to invest. Only $25,000 could be raised in Cleveland by stock subscription, and Mr. Woolsey's endeavors to enlist Cincinnati, Philadelphia and New York capital were almost futile. In 1847 through the earnest personal ef- forts of Richard Hilliard and H. B. Payne, an additional $40,000 were raised. Al- Fred Kelley was elected president. Frederick Harbach, Amasa Stone and Stillman Witt were given the contract to build the road, agreeing to take part of their pay-
3 See "The Ohio Railroad, that famous structure built on stilts." C. P. Leland, "Western Reserve Historical Society Tract No. 81."
JOHN W. ALLEN, 1802-1887 Pioneer lawyer, banker and railroad man
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
ment in stock and actual construction began. The following paragraphs give a detailed account of these early operations :
"In order to save the charter which had lain dormant for a time, it was thought best to make a show of work on the line already surveyed. One bright autumn forenoon about a dozen men got themselves together near the ground now occu- pied by the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company's depot with the noble purpose of inaugurating the work of building the Cleveland, Columbus & Cin- cinnati road. Among the number were Alfred Kelley, the president; T. P. Handy, the treasurer; J. H. Sargent, the engineer; James A. Briggs, the at- torney ; and H. B. Payne, Oliver Perry, John A. Foote, and others besides your humble servant. On that memorable spot one could look upon those vast fields of bottom lands, and nothing could be seen but unbroken wide meadows. The brick residence of Joel Scranton, on the north and the mill in the ravine of Walworth Run of the south were the only show of buildings in all that region round about. These gentlemen had met to inaugurate the work on the railway, yet there was a sadness about them that could be felt. There was somthing that told them it would be difficult to make much of a railway without money and labor. Yet they came on purpose to make a show of a beginning. Alfred took a shovel and with his foot pressed it well into the soft and willing earth, placing a good chunk in the tranquil wheelbarrow close at hond, repeating the operation until a load was attained, and dumping it a rod or so to the south. We all shouted a good sized shout that the road was really inaugurated. Then Mr. Handy did a little of the same work, as well as Sargent and Briggs, while I sat on the near- est log, rejoicing to see the work going on so lively and in such able hands. All that fall and winter one man was kept at work on the great enterprise, simply to hold the charter. There was a serious hindrance in the progress of the work, which came in this wise: The laborer who had so great a job on his hands took a look and thought at what he had to do. It was one hundred and forty miles to Columbus, and it was best to hurry up or the road would not be ready for use for quite a spell to come. He set to work with renewed energy for a while, then threw himself quiet out of breath on the ground for a brief rest, when the rheuma- tism took hold of him and sciatica troubled his limbs so much that the great work was brought to a standstill: he struck for his altars and his fires at home, while the next fall of snow obliterated the line of his progress toward the south, and the directors got together to devise ways and means to keep the work moving onward." 4
A meeting was held in Empire hall this same year to discuss the conditions of the road. While Alfred Kelley was graphically describing the fate of Cleve- land if the town did not soon have railroad connections with the central part of the state, the doors of the hall were locked and the people were compelled to stay until enough subscriptions were received to make sure the road.
November 3, 1849, a throng of eager people watched the first locomotive seen in our city, pull a work train of wooden flat cars up the River street grade. All the small boys in town were there, and overcrowded the cars so that the train was stopped and the boys put off. This culmination of the anticipations of the people
* George F. Marshall, "Annals Early Settlers Association," No. I, p. 102.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
was enthusiastically received. The "Herald" said: "The whistle of the locomotive will be as familiar to the ears of the Clevelander as the sound of church bells."
The first coaches for this road arrived in Cleveland in 1849, by boat. They were made in Springfield, Massachusetts, and were "elegantly finished inside with crimson plush." The locomotives were made here by the Cuyahoga Steam Fur- nace Company.
In February, 1851, the last two rails were laid and the final spike was driven at Iberia, by Alfred Kelley and Mayor Case, in the presence of many spectators from Columbus and Cleveland. On the 18th of February the first locomotive passed the entire distance from Columbus to Cleveland. It was welcomed by a salute of artillery. On the morning of February 21, a delegation of four hun- dred and twenty-eight citizens and officials, including. members of the legisla- ture, state officers, municipal officers and others from Cincinnati and Columbus left the latter city and reached here in the evening, where they were greeted by a jubilant throng, the firing of guns and the music of bands. The following morning (Saturday), a parade was formed ending in a public meeting on the Square, where the visitors were welcomed by Mayor Case. The response was spoken by Hon. C. C. Converse, president of the senate, and the oration by Samuel Starkweather. Short speeches were made by a number of those responsible for the road's successful completion, including Governor Wood. The company then returned to the depot and went to Hudson, over the newly laid track of the Cleveland & Pittsburg railway, returning in the evening for a banquet at the Weddell House, followed by a torchlight parade. The following day, Sunday, the "churches were crowded with listeners from abroad." Dr. Aiken, the dis- tinguished pastor of the Old Stone church, preached his famous sermon on rail- roads, afterwards published by the officers of the new road. On Monday morning the visitors left for a jollification at Columbus, accompanied by a Cleveland dele- gation. A boat, typifying the lake commerce, had been carried in the parade. This was placed on a flat car and sent to Columbus to participate in a similar service. M. J. Greiner, "the Railroad Poet," composed an "original song" for this occasion. He later became state librarian.
The building of this railroad from St. Clair street to Supperior street, parallel with River street, necessitated the taking down of many old buildings. In No- vember, 1849, the city council passed the first ordinance regulating the speed of locomotives. Four or five miles an hour was thought safe.
In March, April and May of 1851, the road's revenue from passenger service was $56,625.21, and from freight, $25,929.85, total, $82,554.06. Number of pas- sengers carried 31,6791/2. This was considered a splendid beginning. The total gross earning of the Big Four system in 1908 were $24,621,660.85 .*
The line immediately began to expand. In March, 1850, the Springfield & Mansfield Railroad Company was chartered. The name was later changed to the Springfield, Mount Vernon & Pittsburg Railroad Company. In 1860 it was in the hands of a receiver, and on January 1, 1861, it was sold, the division between Springfield and Deleware being purchased by parties who, in January, 1862, re- sold it to the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Company, and was known as the Springfield branch.
* Moody's Manual.
W. S. Streator
Stillman Witt
Oscar Townsend
George P. Ely
L. M. Hubby
J. H. Devereux
HI. B. Hurlbut
James Farmer
GROUP OF PIONEER RAILROAD MEN
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
December 26, 1864, the Indianapolis, Pittsburg & Cleveland Railroad Com- pany of Indiana, and the Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad Company of Ohio were consolidated under the name of the Bellefontaine Railroad Company. In May, 1868, the Bellefontaine and the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati lines were consolidated under the name of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad Company. Soon thereafter this line by perpetual lease secured the Cin- cinnati & Springfield Railroad Company's line. In April, 1880, the Mount Gilead branch was secured. June 23, 1882, the Indianapolis & St. Louis railroad was purchased. This line extended from Indianapolis to Terre Haute. On the same date the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute was secured, forming connections be- tween Terre Haute and St. Louis. Thus a through line was established between Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and St. Louis. In 1882 the branch to Alton, Illinois, was absorbed. In June, 1889, these lines were merged into the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad system, immediately called the "Big Four." Other lines have since been leased or purchased. . The road is operated by the New York Central system. It has 1,680.97 miles of main track and operates 2,628.72 miles.
THE CLEVELAND & PITTSBURG RAILROAD.
Local interest in this line began in 1835. On January 12, 1836, a meeting was held at Hudson "for the purpose of devising means to construct a railroad from Cleveland to Pittsburg." Delegates from various towns were present. Frederick Whittlesey, the chairman, N. C. Baldwin, S. J. Andrews and H. B. Payne repre- sented Cleveland. Several committees were appointed to prosecute the work of organization. N. C. Baldwin was chairman of the committee to frame a charter. John Barr, David Long and E. T. Stirling were the committee to raise funds in Cleveland.5
November 6, 1838, delegates from Ohio and Pennsylvania met in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to discuss the building of a railroad from Cleveland to Pittsburg through Harrisburg to Philadelphia. Samuel Starkweather, C. M. Giddings, John Barr, William B. Loid and Frederick Whittlesey were the Cleveland dele- gates.6
March 14, 1836, the road was chartered as the Cleveland, Warren & Pitts- burg to build from Cleveland to the eastern line of the state. After the panic the charter was resuscitated March 1I, 1845, giving the privilege of avoiding Warren if need be to build "the most direct, practicable and least expensive route to the Ohio river at the most suitable point." In October, 1845, the company organized at Ravenna, with James Stewart of Wellsville, president ; A. G. Cottell, secretary ; Cyrus Prentiss, treasurer. No contracts were let until July, 1847, when the construction from Wellsville northward was let. Lack of money and great financial distress delayed the work on the Cleveland end. At a public meeting in the courthouse, March 23, 1847, it was resolved that the city council be asked to submit to the people the question of voting aid to the enterprise. In April, 1848, a vote was taken on subscribing one hundred thousand dollars. Only
5 "Cleveland Whig," January 18, 1836.
6 "Magazine of Western History," Vol. 8, p. IIO.
-
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
twenty-seven votes were cast against the proposition and one thousand, one hun- dred and thirty for it.7
In November, 1850, the branch to Steubenville was authorized and ultimately the road was extended to New Philadelphia. In February, 1851, the road was finally opened from Cleveland to Hudson, in March to Ravenna, in November to Hanover, ninety-five miles from Cleveland, and in 1852 the Pittsburg connections were completed. On March 4th the mayor of Cleveland, the council and in- vited guests went to Wellsville on the first train, where a three days' celebration took place, the visitors going to Pittsburg and Wheeling. When the road had reached Hanover, the stockholders resolved "that the directors be requested to give a free ticket to each stockholder and his lady, to ride over the road from Cleveland to Hanover and return at any time within thirty days, and that land- holders through whose land the road passes shall be entitled to a free ticket for themselves and wives from twenty days from the opening of the road, and that the same privilege be extended over the other portions of the road, when com- pleted."
The line was ninety-eight and a half miles long. In April, 1853, the Penn- sylvania legislature incorporated the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad Company, to connect with the Ohio Company. Later the line was extended to Rochester, Pennsylvania, and to Bellaire, Ohio. In December, 1862, a joint agreement was made between the Cleveland & Pittsburg and the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chi- cago railroad for a common use of the tracks of the latter from Rochester to Pittsburg.
In October, 1871, the Pennsylvania railroad leased the Cleveland & Pittsburg for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, running from December 1, 1871. The consideration is recorded as seven per cent on the capital stock, the payments of interest and bonds, the maintenance of lines and other considerations.
R. F. Smith, for many years general manager of the road, in 1871, in a re- port to the Cleveland Board of Trade speaks of the early history of the road as follows: "The enterprise thus completed and about to enter upon what seemed a course of prosperity was overtaken by the financial revulsion of 1857, and the stagnation of business, combined with a heavy floating debt, threatened total loss of the invested capital. The stock which six years before had ranged above par was brought down to seven and even five cents on the dollar in the market, and only by the most economical and skillful management was the road saved to the stockholders. Upon the breaking out of the war the road shared with other northern lines, the traffic diverted by the closing of the Mississippi and the stimulated business consequent on the war, and rapidly emerging from its low estate its stock reached the high rate of one hundred and forty-five per cent."
In 1908 it operated 255.53 miles and carried 1,859,194 passengers.8
THE NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA & OHIO RAILROAD.
February 22, 1848, the Cleveland & Mahoning Valley Railroad Company was given a charter, and the first meeting of its stockholders was held in Warren,
7 "Herald," April 12, 1848.
8 "Moody's Manual."
Atlantic & Great WesternR'y 1864. 1865.
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