USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II > Part 31
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pence per ton. Five years later Stephenson secured the premium offered by the Liverpool & Birmingham Railway for the best engine, by the production of his machine called the Rocket. It had eightinch cylinders with a sixteen-and-a-half ineh stroke, and driving wheels four feet eight and a half inches in diameter. The weight of the Rocket was something over four tons.
The sueeess of these experiments attracted attention in this country. Ohio had just begun her system of canals and popular as it was at that time persons were not wanting who foresaw that steam carriage would supersede them. Among such persons was Colonel James Kilbourn, who wrote and published on Dec- ember 29, 1825,' only three months after Stephenson's suecessful experiment, a communication from which the following is taken : " By the lueid reports of the committee of the British Parliament and their Board of Engineers it is manifest that railroads are altogether preferable to canals at any time, and can be used at all times, as well in winter as summer." Mr. Kilbourn suggested railway lines in Ohio as follows; " From Portsmouth to Sandusky Bay ; from Middletown on the Big Miami to the same point on the north ; from Marietta to a proper point at or near Cuyahoga Summit to meet the canal, say at Akron ; from the north westerly bend of the Ohio, near the south line of the State, by Warren to Grand River ; a branch road from Laneaster in the Hocking Valley, to intersect the Scioto line at a convenient point ; and a lateral road from Zanesville by Columbus to Dayton, connecting the three principal lines." In subsequent communications of February 23 and 26 Mr. Kilbourn suggested that "the adoption of this system of internal improvements in place of canals would greatly encourage the manufae- ture of iron and the development of the mineral sections of the State."
A meeting of the citizens of Columbus and other interested localities, held in the Statehouse January 9, 1836, with Governor Lucas as chairman, declared by resolution its " highest satisfaction" with a movement then contemplated to eon- struct a railroad from Cincinnati to Charleston, South Carolina. At this meeting delegates to a convention to be held at Knoxville, Tennessee, July 4, 1836, were appointed. On November 26, 1846, Asa Whitney, the projector and untiring advocate of a railway to Oregon, delivered a lecture in the United States Court- room at Columbus. Samuel Medary was chairman and Walter Thrall secretary of this meeting, which, in the course of its proceedings adopted resolutions com - mending to the attention of Congress the project of a railway from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean. This scheme had been proposed by citizens of Oregon a year earlier.
On February 4, 1830, the legislature of New Jersey incorporated the Camden & Amboy Railway Company, with a capital of one million dollars, and authority to construct a railway from Camden, opposite Philadelphia, to some point on Raritan Bay. It was stipulated that the charges should not exceed eight cents per ton per mile for freight or ten cents per mile per passenger, the company to pay the State, in lieu of all other taxes, a transit duty of ten cents per passenger and fifteen cents per ton of freight." The company ordered a locomotive from George and Robert Stephenson, which was shipped January 11, 1831, and reached Philadelphia the following August. The whole amount of track completed at that time was
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about threequarters of a mile from Bordentown. The locomotive was hauled in wagons to the track and there put together. A tender was made of a whisky hogshead mounted on a fourwheeled platform construction-car and connected with the pump of the engine by a leather hose fitted by a shoemaker of Bordentown. Steam was raised September 15 and several trips were made before the public trial took place November 12, 1831. On that trial R. L. Stevens was conductor, Isaac Dripps engineer and Benjamin Higgins fireman. The locomotive weighed ten tons. Its cylinders measured nine by twentyone inches. The machine had one pair of drivingwheels four feet six inches diameter, and one pair of wheels not connected, the hubs being of cast iron and the remainder, except the iron tires, of wood. The New Jersey State Gazette of November 19, 1831, gave the following account of the trial trip :
On the twelfth instant an experiment was made by the managers of the new railroad now constructing from Bordentown to South Amboy with their locomotive machine and two or three coaches attached thereto. About a mile and a quarter of the rails had been laid and the experiment succeeded, it is said, to the satisfaction of all present. A large number of members of the legislature and others attended and were highly gratified with the exhibi- tion. The machine to which the coaches were attached drew them with great velocity along the road and it is calculated that when the road is completed to Amboy, the whole distance can be performed at the rate of a mile in two minutes, and some say less.
The track consisted of castiron rails laid on stone sills three feet apart. It cost about 818,000 per mile, aud was completed to South Amboy in February, 1833. Horses were used for drawing the trains until September, 1833, when the locomo- tive, commonly known as the John Bull, which had been lying idle since its trial, was put into use with one of the three daily trains and continued to be so used until 1866. It was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition and is now in the National Museum at Washington. A monument is to be ereeted at the point from which it first started, one mile below Bordentown. The shaft of this memorial will be bound with some of the rails and spikes used in construction of the orig- inal track.
The first railway chartered in Ohio was the Milan & Newark Railroad, which was incorporated by an act passed February 7, 1832. According to this statute the road was to commence at the head of the Milan Canal, at Milan, in IIuron County, and extend southwardly through Norwalk, Mansfield, Mount Vernon and Utica to Newark on the Ohio Canal. At that time Knox and Riebland counties formed the great wheatgrowing region of Ohio, and Milan was one of the most important grain markets of the State. The road having its two terminal points on the canal, it was intended to furnish an outlet for the grain districts which it penetrated. It will thus be seen that railways held at that time a place secondary to that of the canals. It seems to have been thought that the canal could furnish the railway with all the business it could do. Among the first railways operated in the State was one from Sandusky City to Monroeville, which was in operation December 14, 1838. Its advertisement, printed July 19, 1839, was accompanied by a picture of a train of cars built in the form of a stagecoach, which seems to have been the ideal model of that day for all passenger-carrying vehicles.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
On February 8, 1832, the first railway touching Columbus - the Columbus, Marion & Sandusky -was incorporated by Lincoln Goodale, Gustavus Swan, Joseph Ridgway, Daniel Upson and Aurora Bottles, of Franklin, and sundry others of Delaware, Marion, Crawford and Huron counties. Its capital stock was one million dollars. Its charter provided that if two hundred shares should not be subscribed within the first five years after the opening of the books the act of incorporation should become void ; also, that the stock might be doubled, and that the State might after twenty years purchase it at ten per cent. premium. On March 4, 1844, this charter was amended with William Neil, A. Chittenden, Orange Johnson, Daniel Kellogg, Charles Stanbery and William A. Platt, of Franklin County, as commissioners instead of those first named. The same author- ity was conferred upon these commissioners as upon their predecessors. It was required that the road should be commenced within five and finished within ten years, its ronte to extend from Columbus to Worthington, and thence via Delaware, Waldo, Marion and Little and Upper Sandusky, until it should intersect the Mad River & Lake Erie Railway. The charter contained this further provision : " That said company and the corporators and the stockholders thereof shall be subject to all regulations, restrictions and individual liabilities of an act entitled an act instituting proceedings against corporations not possessing banking powers and the visitorial powers of courts, and to provide for the regulation of corpora- tions generally."
The Milan & Columbus Railroad Company was incorporated February 11, 1832, with James Robinson, John Bishop and A. V. Payne, of Franklin County -- so the record states - and others of Huron, Marion and Delaware counties as com- missioners, with a capital stoek of one million dollars, to construct a double or single road or way from the head of the Milan canal, through Milan, Norwalk, Peru, New Haven, and Mount Gilead to Columbus. If the capital stock should be deemed insufficient for the purpose of the act the president and directors, or a majority of them, were authorized to increase it not exceeding one million dollars. Section twenty of the act reads :
They shall have power to charge for tolls and the transportation of persons or goods, produce, merchandise or property of any kind whatsoever transported by them or by others along said railway, any sum not more than the tolls charged on the Ohio canals on the same kind of goods, merchandise, produce and property of any other description, or passengers, going in the same direction ; and it shall not be lawful for any other company or any person or persons whomsoever to transport any persons, merchandise, produce or property of any description whatsoever along said road or any of them or any part thereof without the license or permission of the president and directors of said company.
If the road should not be commenced within five years and finished within fifteen years the act was to become void, and after twenty years the State was authorized to take possession of the property at cost. The provisions of this charter, as of a large number of others enacted during many subsequent years, show that the sympathies of the legislature were on the side of the canals, and that it was not intended to permit the railways to have free competition with them.
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The Columbus, Delaware, Marion & Upper Sandusky Railroad Company was incorporated February 8, 1832, with Joseph Ridgway, William Neil, J. N. Cham- pion, Lyne Starling, Junior, Wray Thomas, Robert Brotherton and Moses II. Kirby, of Franklin County, and others of Delaware, Marion and Crawford counties as commissioners, with a capital of 8500,000 which might be doubled if necessary. If thirty thousand dollars should be subscribed within three years the company could organize. The road was to run from Columbus cia Delaware and Marion and "as near by Little Sandusky " as might be " found advantageous," to inter- sect the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad at or near Upper Sandusky. The charter provided that whenever the company's dividends should exceed six per cent. per annum the legislature might impose such reasonable taxes on the amount of said dividends as might be received from other railroad companies. This charter was amended March 4, 1844, by making William Neil, A. Chittenden, Orange Johnson, David Kellogg, Charles Stanbery and William A. Platt of Franklin County and others of Delaware, Marion and Crawford counties commis- sioners, thus superseding the Columbus, Marion & Sandusky Company, incor- porated February 8, 1832.
On March 12, 1836, the Columbus, London & Springfield Railroad Company was incorporated with Gustavus Swan and William S. Sullivant of Franklin County, and sundry others of Madison and Clark counties as commissioners, the capital stock being 8200,000. The road was to run from Columbus to Springfield, via London and South Charleston or the suburbs of cach. The charter provided that charges might be made not exceeding one and a half cents per mile for toll and five cents per ton for transportation of merchandise, and not more than three cents per mile for each passenger, all persons paying the prescribed tolls being permitted to transport persons and property on the line " with suitable and proper carriages " and subject to the bylaws of the company. It was further required that as soon as the receipts, after deducting expenses and liabilities, should exceed four per cent. the directors should make a dividend so that no contingent or accumulating fund exceeding one per cent should remain undivided for more than six months.
On March 14, 1836, the Columbus & Marysville Railroad Company was ineor- porated with John McElvain, of Franklin County, and others of Union County, as incorporators, the capital stock being $350,000. The road was to run from Col- umbus to " Marysville and thence to the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad at or near the Big Spring in Logan County. The rates of transportation prescribed for this road were the same as for the Columbus, London & Springfield, but the company was authorized to have five per cent. surplus.
The Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad Company was incorporated March 14, 1836. Its history is reserved for another place.
The Urbana & Columbus Railroad Company was incorporated March 14, 1836, by citizens of Urbana with a stock of 8300,000. The road was to commence "at any eligible point in or near the town of Urbana" and extend thence " by the nearest and most eligible route to some point in or near the city of Columbus." The company was authorized " to locate and construct a navigable canal or basin
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from the termination or depot of said railway in or near the town of Urbana to any proper point on Mad River" and to connect the same with any navig- able feeder that might be constructed by the State from Mad River to the Miami Canal. The rates of transportion were restricted to a maximum of four cents per mile for passengers and three cents per ton per mile for freight. The charter was amended March 11, 1849, so that the road might terminate "at any suitable point on the Columbus & Xenia Railroad instead of Columbus; or at any suitable point on the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad; or unite with both of said roads, with proper branch roads, as the directors of the Urbana & Columbus road might determine."
The excitment about railways reaebed a climax about 1836, in which year fortynine charters were granted and by which time nearly all the lines sinee built had been suggested or chartered. The Columbus & Pittsburgh Railroad Company was incorporated March 2, 1846, by William Neil and Joseph Ridgway, Junior, of Franklin, and sundry others of Knox, Licking, Holmes, Coshocton, Wayne, Tus- carawas, Carroll, Harrison, Jefferson and Columbiana counties, with a capital of two million dollars. This road was to extend from Columbus to a point on the Ohio River above the city of Steubenville. The charter provided that the company might receive such rates of toll for the transportation of freight and passengers as it pleased, provided that the same should first be " posted up in a publie place at each dépot." It was stipulated that the State might, at the expiration of each period of ten years, regulate charges on the line and might reduce the rates charged for freight should the line come into competition with the canals. By an amendment of February 24, 1848, the company was authorized :
To connect said road with any other railroad starting from Columbus and tending in the direction of Pittsburgh or commencing at the Ohio River within the State of Ohio north of the town of Steubenville and tending westward ; provided that said company shall not be at liberty to locate and construct their road west of Mount Vernon on a line parallel to the line of road of any other railroad company heretofore incorporated which shall have organized and actually in good faith commenced the construction of their road before the company incorporated by this act shall have actually commenced the construction of that part of their road, nearer than twenty miles to the lines of said roads unless for the purpose of connecting therewith.
On March 12, 1845, the Franklin and Ohio River Railroad Company was incorporated by William S. Sullivant, Lincoln Goodale, Samuel Medary, Samuel Parsons, Leander Ransom and Orange Johnson of Franklin County, as the Frank- lin & Washington Railroad Company, with a stock of one million dollars. The road was to extend from Columbus to " such point on the Ohio River as shall be opposite the actual terminus on said river of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad " and the company was authorized to fix its own charges, but by an amendment of March 2, 1846, the rates charged for freight and passengers might be changed by the State if deemed too high, or if they should compete with the canals.
The Columbus & Springfield Railroad Company was incorporated March 2, 1846, by Michael L. Sullivant and Wray Thomas, of Franklin County, and others of Madison and Clark counties, with a capital of $800,000. This act was repealed
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February 16, 1849, but had previously been amended February 24, 1848, so as to permit the location of the line from Dayton to Springfield and thence to a point on the Columbus & Xenia Railroad at or west of the town of London, provided,
That if the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad Company shall, within one year from the passage of this act, commence the construction of that part of the road authorized by the charter of said company which lies between Dayton & Springfieldl, and shall complete ten miles of the same within two years, then the company hereby incorporated shall not con- struct a road between said points ; and provided further, that said Dayton, Springfieldl & Co- lumbus Railroad shall not, at any point between Springfield and Columbus, diverge from a straight line southward more than one mile, if the Columbus & Xenia Railroad Company shall consent that said Dayton, Springfield & Columbus Railroad may be connected with said Columbus & Xenia Railroad at London or some other convenient and suitable point.
The stoek was increased to 81,200,000.
On February 8, 1847, the Central Ohio Railroad Company was incorporated by Robert Neil, Samuel Medary, Joel Buttles, Joseph Ridgway and Bela Latham of Franklin County, with others of Licking and Muskingum counties, and a capi- tal stock of $1,000,000 and the privilege of increasing the same to $2,500,000.
The Springfield & Columbus Railroad Company was incorporated February 16, 1849, by Michael L. Sullivant, Aaron F. Perry, William Dennison, and D. W. Deshler of Franklin County, and others of Clark and Madison counties, with a capital stock of 8600,000, the road to extend from Springfield to Columbus or to some point on the Columbus & Xenia Railroad between Columbus and Xenia, the intersection, if made, to be at the town of London.
The Columbus, Piqua and Indiana Railroad Company was incorporated Feb- ruary 23, 1849, by Joseph Ridgway, Junior, William S. Sullivant and William Den- nison of Franklin County and others of Champaign, Miami and Drake counties, with a capital stock of $2,000,000. 1
The Little Miami Railroad Company, of which the history is reserved for another place, was incorporated March 11, 1836. On March 14 of the same year the Muskingum & Columbus Railroad Company was incorporated by Joseph Ridgway, Junior, Altred Kelley and P. B. Wilcox of Franklin County, and sun- dry others of Lieking and Muskingum counties, with a capital stock of 8400,000. It was stipulated that the road should extend " from the west bank of the Mus- kingum River near the town of Zanesville " through the Licking Valley to Colum. bus; that it should be commenced within three and completed within ten years ; that its dividend should not exceed six per cent. per annum; and that after thirtyfive years the property might be purchased by the State.
An act passed May 1, 1852, provides that if any railroad " extends or shall hereafter be extended to any place in the vicinity of or to a point of intersection with any of the navigable canals or other works or improvements belonging to the State," it must " fix and establish a tariff of rates . . . to or from such place to a point of intersection, . . . not higher for transporting similar merchandise, prod- uce or property over a shorter distance of its road than is charged or received according to such fixed tariff;" and the company must keep such tariff posted " at the several business stations on its road," any change of rates to be posted at
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least two days before it shall take effect. It was further provided that if a rail- road company should adopt and adhere to a rate for freight as before stated, the Board of Public Works might authorize it to cross " any navigable canal or feeder, slackwater improvement, navigable river, stream, lake or reservoir with which any of the canals of this State are connected ;" but on the twentyeighth of the next preceding month the Board of Public Works had adopted the following order :
That all bridges erected by railroad companies over any of the public canals of the State be removed by the first day of June next, and that the Secretary of this Board give immedi- ate notice to the several railroad companies of the passage of this order; and that, in default of such companies removing such bridges by the time aforesaid, each acting commissioner cause the same to be removed from the public works under his charge.
An act passed April 17, 1854, made stockholders liable " to an amount equal to their stocks subscribed in addition to their stocks; " and by another act of May 1, 1854, it was required that a majority of the directors of a railroad company should be residents of the State. Subsequent legislation requires that in case of consolidation, the place of residence and number of shares of stock held by each director or other officer shall be stated. An act of 1848 prescribed a passenger rate of 3g cents and a freight rate of five cents per ton, per mile. An act of 1852 reduced the passenger fare to three cents but left the freight rate unaltered. On March 10, 1871, the legislature passed an act requiring that the space betweeen passenger cars should be bridged. For this statute there was certainly no demand, since, among 55,000,000 passengers carried in five consecutive years by the railways of the State, only three had suffered for want of such bridges, and of these two were intoxicated men and the third a child which had been permit- ted to wander to the platform. The constitution of Ohio, adopted in 1852, pro- vides that incorporations, instead of being granted by special statutes, as had pre- viously been done, shall be provided for by general law ; consequently they have since been obtained in pursuance of such a law by filing proper certificates with the Secretary of State. A list of the railways touching Columbus which have thus been incorporated is hereto appended. The number of such. lines is eigbtyseven, their aggregate capital $112,160,000.
Little Miami Railway .- This company was chartered March 11, 1836, with a capital of $750,000. The charter having become void for nonuser it was revived February 15, 1844, and on February 5, 1847, its stock was increased to $2,000,000 and the directors were authorized to borrow not exceeding $400,000 at not over seven per cent. interest. By act of February 24, 1848, the stock was increased to 83,000,000 and the company was authorized to subscribe stock sufficient to build branch roads over any ground on which the construction of a branch had been permitted. The first survey of the line was made in 1836 by O. M. Mitchell, and the first meeting for the election of directors was held August 23, 1837, at the Den- nison House in Cincinnati. At this meeting Bennet Lewis, James Galloway, Junior, John Hivling, George W. Neff, Charles Anthony, Robert Buchanan, D. A. 0 Powell, P. A. Sprigman, Matthias Kugler, Clark Williams, Jeremiah Morrow and John Sexton were clected directors and George W. Neff was chosen president, R.
nily yours of Gray
PHOTOGRAPHED BY BAKER.
Residence of N. B. Abbott, 898 East Town Street, built in 1886.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY BAKER.
Residence of D. S. Gray, 530 East Town Street, built in 1850, rebuilt in 1872.
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Buchanan secretary and Charles Anthony treasurer. In 1837 the work of con- struction was begun ; the line was opened to Milford December 2, 1841, to Xenia in August, 1845, and to Springfield in August, 1846. In common with all rail- way lines built at that time, this road was first laid with flat or " strap " rails which were replaced with T rails about the year 1848. On December 27, 1845, notice was given that from that date passenger trains would leave Cincinnati daily at eleven A. M. and Xenia 8:30 A. M., Sundays excepted, connecting with Neil, Moore & Co.'s stages for Columbus, Zanesville, Wheeling, Cleveland and San- dusky City. On April 18, 1846, a summer arrangement of two trains daily, except Sundays, when only one train would be run, was announced. On August 11, 1846, it was stated that what was intended to be the first through trip was interferred with by the Springfield train, going down, and the Xenia train, com- ing up, meeting one another on the same track and derailing both. On August 18, 1846, a banquet was given at Springfield, at which a large number of pro- minent citizens from various points on the line took part by invitation of the directors.
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