USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th > Part 18
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OTHER RAILROAD ENTERPRISES.
In 1850, a movement was started to build a railroad from Springfield to Mt. Vernon via Delaware. The following quotation from the Olentangy Gasette of April 25. 1851, gives an excellent account of the early work in connec- tion with this venture: "The directors of the Springfield & Mansfield Railroad Company, accompanied by a corps of engineers, have been in this place and neighborhood for several days past, exploring the country and making the preliminary surveys, preparatory to locat- ing the road through the county. The sur- veys show the county to be admirably adapted to the construction of a road, and that it will be speedily built may be regarded as a fixed fact. A single glance at the map will show the vast importance of the work. At Springfield. it will connect with two roads to Cincinnati and one to the lake, and by reducing the dis- tance from the river to the lake so as to make the route over this road considerably shorter than any other route can be, it will defy all competition for through travel. At this place. it will unite with the Cleveland and Colum- bus road, and on the east, at Mt. Vernon, with the Pennsylvania & Ohio road, now being con- structed west through Pennsylvania and this State to Indianapolis. It must necessarily be a very important road, and the stock cannot but pay well." The Gazette in its June 13th issue. printed the following under the head of "Springfield & Delaware Railroad:" "On Sat- urday last. a vote of Delaware Township to take $25.000 stock in the above road, was de- cided in the affirmative by 303 votes for and thirteen against it. A meeting was held at the Court House on Wednesday night, for the pur- pose of discussing the proposed subscription on the part of the of the county to the Springfield
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ยท
& Delaware Railroad. After remarks by Pow- ell and Little of Delaware, and Whitley of Springfield, in favor of subscription, the fol- lowing resolution was offered by Powell, and passed with but three dissenting votes : Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meet- ing, it is expedient to vote a county subscrip- tion of $50,000.'" A few days later, the of- ficers and directors of the Springfield & Mans- field Railroad and the promoters of a proposed road between Mt. Vernon and Loudonville, and Mr. Roberts, the chief engineer of the Ohio & Pennsylvania road, representing the directors of that Company, held a meeting in Delaware, and consolidated the Springfield & Mansfield and Mt. Vernon & Loudonville Com- panies into one company for the construction of a railroad through Marysville, Delaware, Mt. Vernon and Londonville, where it would intersect the Ohio & Pennsylvania road. On May 11, 1869, this consolidation was incor- porated as "The Pittsburg, Mt. Vernon. Co- lumbus & Londen Railroad Company." A large and enthusiastic meeting was held on the evening of this day at the Court House in Delaware, where speeches were made by Judge Powell, General Anthony, and Mr. Roberts, the engineer. As a result, Delaware County voted a subscription of $50,000, and Delaware Township subscribed $25,000 to the venture. The paper on October 17th, stated that the en- gineers had permanently located the route be- tween Marysville and Delaware. The bridge over the Olentangy at Delaware was built in 1853, and the road was completed early in 1854. For a number of years after its com- pletion, this road was called the Springfield, Delaware & Mt. Vernon Railroad. That part of the old grade from the city of Delaware to Centerburg has never been completed. The grade between Centerburg and Mt. Vernon was sold to the Cleveland. Mt. Vernon & Co- lumbus Railroad, and is now part of the Cleve- land, Akron & Columbus road. The unfinished portion above referred to was graded and ready for laying down the ties, when the com- pany became involved in financial reverses. which made it necessary to sell the road. The Cleveland & Columbus Railroad purchased it in January, 1862, for $134,000. A number of
years after this, it was consolidated with the Cincinnati & Dayton road, thus giving a more direct route to Cincinnati than by way of Co- lumbus. This change in route made it possi- ble to connect directly with the road running to Indianapolis via Galion and Bellefontaine. It was in this way that the road came to be called the "Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railway."
Its report to the railroad commission in 1868 shows that the road had twenty-five sta- tions, nine engine-houses and shops, forty-five engines, about 800 cars of all kinds and 1.315 employes. The main line had 138 miles of track, and the Springfield branch fifty miles. Average cost of the road. $34.000 per mile.
RAILROAD SHOPS LOCATED IN DELAWARE.
A movement was started in the early 50's by the people of Delaware to have the shops and offices of the Springfield, Delaware & Mt. Vernon Railroad located here. The company sent a representative here to solicit subscrip- tions to enable the company to erect shops and build cars here. The county subscribed $50,- 000 to this enterprise, and a similar amomit was raised in three of the townships, besides a liberal subscription by individuals. Nothing was done, however, until after the consolida- tion of the Springfield, Delaware & Mt. Vernon and Cleveland & Columbus roads. The new company agreed to locate the shops, offices and depot buildings of the road at Delaware if the city would pay $35,000 towards the expense of erecting the buildings. This was agreed to; the money was paid and the railroad company erected large brick buildings, in which they established fully equipped shops. In 1901, a new and larger roundhouse was built on the site of the former roundhouse, and in 1904. a brick boilershop was erected, 55 by 70 feet in dimensions, part of which is two stories high. Including all departments, there are now about 325 men employed in the shops, and this does not take into account the large number of train- men and other employes who make their home in Delaware. The company was not so prompt in erecting the depot buildings which had been
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agreed upon, and it was not until 1865 or '66 that they were put up.
The Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Rail- road enters Delaware County at the north- eastern corner of Trenton Township, where it has two stations. Condit and Big Walnut, and runs in a southwesterly direction through Sun- bury and Galena, passing into Genoa Town- ship about midway of its northern boundary, and thence in a direction a little west or south to Franklin County. This road was incorpor- ated March 17, 1851, as the Akron branch of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad. This was a separate and distinct company, organized to build a railroad from Hudson, Ohio, to con- nect with the present Pittsburg. Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad. On November 1, 1869, it received by assignment from the Pittsburg, Mount Vernon, Columbus & Loudon Railroad Company, all that portion of the Springfield, Mount Vernon & Pittsburg Railroad extend- ing east from Delaware through Mount Ver- non in the direction of Millersburg. As al- ready stated in this chapter, the part of this roadbed which lies between Delaware and Cen- terburg was never made use of. The present line of road was completed and trains began running over it in the early winter of 1872.
The railroad which is now commonly called the "Hocking Valley" was originally in- corporated on May 28, 1872, by a number of Columbus men, under the name of "The Co- lumbus & Toledo Railroad." The line of the road was permanently located in the fall of 1873. In Liberty Township, which the road enters on the south, it has two stations, Powell and Hyatts. It passes through the western part of the city of Delaware, and runs in a northwesterly direction across the southwest corner of Troy Township, where it has a sta- tion, and on through Radnor Township to Marion County. The station in Radnor Town- ship is about a mile east of the village, and is known as Meredith. It was intended, origi- nally, to run the road due north from Dela- ware, but the purchase of $10,000 worth of stock by Radnor citizens influenced the com- pany to run the road through their township.
The road was begun November 17, 1876, and was fully completed in July, 1877. The
work of construction had progressed so well, that the company, in response to urgent re- quests of stockholders and business men, be- gan, on January 10, 1877, to run trains over the road between Columbus and Marion.
On August 20. 1881, this company and the Ohio & West Virginia Railway Company were consolidated with the Hocking Valley Railroad Comany, under the name, of the Columbus Hocking Valley & Toledo Railway Company. Ever since the consolidation, the company has struggled against heavy indebtedness and much litigation, with great reduction in the value of its stock, and difficulty in meeting the interest on its bonded debt. The result was the appointment of a receiver of the company on February 28, 1897. by order of the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
In the late 70's, a road, known as the At- lantic & Lake Erie Railroad, was surveyed be- tween Pomeroy on the Ohio River and Toledo. As originally planned. the road was to pass through Newark, Mt. Gilead and Bucyrus, the object being to develop the coal fields through which it passes in the counties south of New- ark. It was completed south of that point and equipped with rolling stock, but for a long time it looked as if that portion of the road which runs through Delaware County on north would never be built. It was completed, how- ever, in the early So's. It crosses the north- east corner of Porter Township, where it has one station, Peerless. The Toledo & Ohio Central, as the road is now called, does not run through Newark, but passes a few miles to the west, through Central City.
The present line of the Pennsylvania Rail- road running through Delaware County was originally known as the Columbus & Sandusky Short Line Railroad. It enters the county on the north a little west of Norton, in Marlbor- ough Township. and runs southeast through Troy Township, where it has a flag station. Troyton, and on to Delaware. From this city the road runs southeast through Berlin and Orange Townships to Franklin County. There is one station. Gregory, in Berlin Township. and two stations, Lewis Center and Orange, in Orange Township. The original promoter of
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this road was W. E. Guerin, a citizen of Co- lumbus, who married a Delaware lady, a daughter of R. W. Reynolds. The present station in Delaware was built in the winter of 1892-'93, and the first through train passed through the city on April 15, 1893, although during the first part of that month locals be- tween Delaware and Marion had been run, but not on schedule.
Later this road was re-organized, and took in a line running into Zanesville, known as The Columbus, Sandusky & Hocking Railroad, which name the new organization adopted.
Almost from the beginning this railroad venture was beset with financial difficulties, and before the Pennsylvania Company took over the road, it had been in the hands of re- ceivers four times. In 1893, the year of the panic, business was very light. After the con- solidation with The Columbus, Sandusky & Hocking Railroad, a heavy expense for re- pairs was incurred, and the road became so em- barrassed, financially, that it went into the hands of a receiver. This was four years after the consolidation. The receivership lasted nine months, and Mr. Guerin was again appointed president. The road struggled along for an- other eighteen months, and then went into the hands of another receiver, and so things con- tinued getting into the hands of a receiver and getting out, like the freedom, debt and jail ex- perience of Micawber. until the Pennsylvania System purchased the road in November, 1902.
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.
Early in 1903, the Delaware & Magnetic Springs Railway Company was incorporated to build an electric railway from the intersection of the west line of the city of Delaware with a public highway known as the Radnor Pike, through Delaware and Union Counties to Magnetic Springs. March 31, 1903, the fran- chise of the Union Electric Railway Company to build such a road was transferred to this corporation, and soon afterward the work of -building the road was begun. It runs west from Delaware, through the southern part of Radnor Township, crossing the Scioto River
at the famous old Broad ford, and thence across the southern end of Thompson Town- ship to Magnetic Springs in Union County. The power-house in Thompson Township was built at this time. On June 23, 1904, the first car was run over the road from Magnetic Springs to the intersection of the Radnor and Troy pikes just outside Delaware city limits. It seems that the Railway Company and the city of Delaware have never been able to agree on the terms of a franchise which would allow the road to enter the city over its own tracks; however, since September, 1905, the company has had an arrangement with the Co- lumbus, Delaware & Marion Railway Company, by which their cars enter the city over the tracks of the latter company.
On October 15, 1906, the Delaware & Mag- netic Springs Railway Company and the Rich- wood & Magnetic Springs Railway Company were consolidated under the name of The Co- lumbus, Magnetic Springs and Northern Rail- way. This company now owns about eighteen and one-half miles of track, which, with power- house and rolling stock, represents an invest- ment of about $250,000. While it has not been successful as a financial venture, the road is destined to fill an important place in the net- work of electric lines which is rapidly over- spreading this section of the State.
Delaware Electric Street Railway Com- pany .- On November 16, 1891, the City Coun- cil passed an ordinance granting a franchise for a street railway in Delaware to James K. Newcomer. The Delaware Electric Street Railway Company was incorporated May 31. 1892, with a capital stock of $60,000, the par value of the shares being $100 each. The names of the following gentlemen appear as incorporators: James K. Newcomer, Captain Velores T. Hills, Hon. John L. VanDeman, Beverly W. Brown, William A. Hall, C. Ria- (lle, Hon. Frank M. Marriott, Robert G. Ly- brand, Harvey J. Mccullough, Henry A. Welch and Colonel James M. Crawford. The company was organized on June 6, 1892, at which time the following Board of Directors was elected: V. T. Hills, J. D. VanDeman, James K. Newcomer, C. Riddle, W. A. Hall. F. M. Marriott, B. W. Brown, H. J. McCul-
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lough and R. G. Lybrand. The following of- ficers were then elected : President , J. K. Newcomer ; vice-president, J. D. VanDeman ; treasurer. V. T. Hills : secretary, W. A. Hall ; manager, J. M. Crawford.
Bids to build the road were called for, and in order to keep the money in Delaware, Colonel Crawford put in a bid, which was twenty per cent lower than any other. Work upon the road was started the same month, and by the following December, the North Belt line was completed, also the line from the Hocking Val- ley station to the Big Four station, and the line to Greenwood Lake. The South Belt line was not completed until 1894. The road, in- cluding rolling stock and power plant equip- ment. cost about $80,000. The money for this enterprise was all furnished by Delaware citi- zens, and the labor of building the road was all performed by home people. The venture has never been a success from a financial stand- point. After a time it went into the hands of a receiver, John A. Cone being appointed to that position. On July 30, 1898, the road was sold by order of the court, the purchasers be- ing B. W. Brown, F. M. Marriott, F. P. Hills and John A. Shoemaker. The purchase price was $13,525. These gentlemen continued to operate the road until March 20, 1902, when it was sold to John G. Webb, who purchased it for the C., D. & M. Railway, of which he was president. The consideration was $50,000. The first cars were run over the tracks of the Delaware Electric Street Railway in Novem- ber, 1892. Mr. Newcomer had charge of the road for the first month, after which Colonel Crawford managed the road for a short period.
The Columbus, Delaware & Marion Rail- way Company. There were exciting times when the Columbus, Delaware & Marion Elec- tric Railway Company and the Columbus, Delaware & Northern Railway Company be- gan to secure consents for an interurban line be- tween Columbus and Marion. Their rights of way for considerable distances, where secured, were parallel. and it was at a most opportune moment that the "C., D. & M.," as the com- pany is now popularly called, appeared on the scene and purchased the rights and franchises of the two competing companies, and began to
build the road. In entering the county, the road crosses the southwestern corner of Or- ange Township, and runs a little west of north in almost a straight line, about midway be- tween the Hocking Valley and Pennsylvania Railroads, through Liberty and Delaware Townships to the city of Delaware; thence it
runs in a northwesterly direction, paralleling the tracks of the Hocking Valley Railroad, through Delaware, Troy and Radnor Town- ships to Marion Copnty. The first car began running between Columbus and Delaware in September, 1902, and about a year later the line was completed to Marion. The old paper mill at Stratford was purchased and rebuilt for a power-house. In 1903 a spacious building was erected adjoining the power house.
In addition to car-barn facilities, this
building contains a fully equipped ma-
chine-shop, blacksmith-shop. carpenter-shop and paint-shop, where all the repair work of the company is done. This Stratford property of the company represents an investment of prob- ably $200,000. When the power-plant was es- tablished, it was equipped with McIntosh & Seymour horizontal engines, but in 1905. a large steam turbine of 2,000 kilowatt capacity was installed, and in 1906. an auxiliary turbine of 800 kilowatt capacity was put in. These are direct-connected to the generators and are the latest type of three-phase generators manufac- tured by the General Electric Company. The smaller turbine furnishes power at night. The plant runs twenty-four hours a day. There is a steam-driven exciter of 25 K. W. and a mo- tor-driven exciter of 75 K. W. There are four- teen pumps for various purposes. Steam is furnished by a battery of seven boilers having a total of 2,000 horse-power. Forty-eight tons of coal are consumed every day. An alternat- ing current of 2.300 volts is generated; that is stepped up to 19,050 volts and sent to the sub-stations at Chaseland, Prospect and Mar- ion, where it is stepped down to 370 volts and enters rotary converters where the current is changed from alternating to direct and raised from 370 to 600 volts, which is the current carried by the trolley wire. An average of about fifty men find employment in the various departments of the Stratford plant.
CHAPTER VII.
MANUFACTURES.
Manufacturing Possibilities of Delaware County-Early Mills and Mill Machinery-A Tragic Occurrence-Chair Manufacture-Lumber, Furniture, etc .- Flour Mills-Dis- tilleries-Leather-Textile Products- Paper Mills-Oil Enterprises-Foundries, etc. -Artificial Ice-Light, Heat and Power-Brooms - Evaporated Goods-Clay Pro- ducts-Cigars-Creamcries-Lime and Stone-Gas Manufacture.
This has always been an agricultural coun- ty, and most of the manufacturing enter- prises that have found firm footing here have been those whose products consumed the raw materials that were available, or contributed to the needs of an agricultural people. But there seems to be no reason why manufacturing in- dustries should not be developed here with great profit to the county. Located in the geo- graphical center of Ohio, it has excellent rail- road facilities, and is within easy reach of all kinds of raw materials and fuel. Thus far, the community has been practically free from such disturbances as originate with the labor agita- tor. One has only to look at some of our neighboring counties to see and appreciate the advantages of inviting and fostering manufac- turing enterprises; and it would seem un- necessary to enumerate the benefits, such as enlarged markets for farm produce, increased value of real estate, more business for the mer- chants, etc., that wouldl accrue to the commun- ity through a policy of helpful friendliness to- ward the establishment here of manufacturing industries. The last few years have witnessed an awakening in Delaware. The present Com- mercial Club of Delaware, which numbers among its members nearly every important business man of the city, is doing all in its power to develop Delaware as an industrial center.
EARLY MILLS AND MILL MACHINERY.
Such has been the improvement during the last half century in machinery and methods of manufacture, that the present and coming generations must gain their conception of the primitive mills and methods of pioneer days from the printed page; and in tracing the de- velopment of manufacturing in Delaware County, we believe it will prove interesting. at the outset, to glance briefly at the conditions and problems that confronted the early set- tlers in providing themselves with such neces- sities as meal, flour, lumber, leather, cloth, etc. At first, mills were fifty to seventy-five miles away, and "going to mill" involved a long and arduous horse-back ride through trackless forests and unbridged streams. Usually, it took about a week to make such a journey, and as only a small quantity of corn or wheat could be carried, the busy frontier farmer could not well afford to sacrifice so much valuable time. Many, therefore, contented themselves with "corn-crackers." such as were used by the In- dians. To make a "corn-cracker" a stump was cut off level on the top and a large basin was burned out of it. A nearby sapling was bent over to serve as a spring-pole, and to the end of this was attached by a piece of grape- vine a heavy wooden pestle.
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As the frontier settlement grew in size, mills were built at sites offering the best prom- ise of power, and where dams could be con- structed with least difficulty. In those days. people had little knowledge of the science of civil engineering, and the dams constructed were crude affairs, the like of which the people would not now waste their time in building. Log pens were constructed about six feet square, roughly locked and pinned together at the corners. A number of these would be built across a stream, with short spaces between them. The pens which were filled with stone, and thus served as anchors for the dam, were further strengthened by placing masses of stone in front of them. Behind the pens, brush was piled to serve as a support for the earth which was placed upon it. These structures offered but little resistance to the dislodging power of a freshet ; they had to be repaired so often that milling under such conditions was truly a discouraging business. Before the land was denuded of its virgin forest, the streams of the county furnished greater and more con- stant power than they do now. The power on the Olentangy, or Whetstone, as it was then called, at Delaware and at the "Old Stone Mill" about a mile north of town, was good nearly all the year, and Cone's mill on the Scioto River in Thompson Township and the other mills on the river south of there, had power sometimes for ten or eleven months in the year : but with these exceptions, it is doubt- ful if there was a location in the county whose power was available for more than six to eight months out of twelve.
The machinery in these early mills was as crude as all else. The mill-stones were made from large round stones called "nigger-heads," such as still abound in the county. A section was cut from the middle of one of these "nig- ger-heads" and split. Furrows were cut in these stones. radiating from the center. At the circumference. these furrows were about three and one-half inches wide and one-half an inch deep, while at the center of the stone they were much narrower and of little, if any, depth. When the stones were in position, one was revolved to the right and the other to the
left, thus crushing the corn or other grain fed between them. The ignorance of the people in those times regarding the most elementary laws of physics is indicated by the fact that their object in cutting these furrows was to provide a way of escape for the corn or meal. In actual practice, however, the furrows be- came solidly packed with the grist, and the miller was robbed of a very large portion of what would have been the grinding surface of his buhrs. Some of the "old-timers" are to be found who still contend that the theory was right, though no furrows are to be found on modern mill-stones. Such mills as these were also used at a later time for grinding flaxseed in the manufacture of oil.
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