History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 34

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II > Part 34

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It appears that a misunderstanding has for some time existed between the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad Company and certain citizens of Franklinton (familiarly known as Sodom), involving the company's right of way to a gravel bed owned by them near the Scioto, one of the finest gravel beds, by the way, in the whole state. The lateral track leading thereto is about onefourth of a mile in length and branches off from the main track of the Columbus & Xenia road just beyond the river bridge. Abont eighty rods from the bed the gravel track diverges and three nominal streets are crossed by both tracks which are not much used, and over which the railroad company had constructed crossings. This track the Sodomites have torn up some dozens of times, always at night. Yesterday the company relaid the track with three parallel sets of rails and a double proportion of spikes. The Sodomites assembled, thirty or forty strong, and tore up the track by the aid of a jackserew and two yoke of oxen, gunpowder having been tried ineffectually. They then carried the bent rails and threw them into the river. The railroad employés attached to the gravel train drew the rails out of the river as fast as thrown in and laid them on the neutral ground.7

The warfare against the company was kept up until July 7, when Judge Bates granted an injunction in favor of the company on the ground that its charter empowered it to obtain materials for the construction and repair of its road in the manner adopted ; that the company had a legal right to the use of the streets in Franklinton, and that arrangements made with the supervisors of the road district wherein the company's premises lay were binding in law. The next day there was great excitement in Franklinton about the Judge's decision and threats of burning him in effigy were made, but the tracks were quietly relaid and the excitement subsided.

In October, 1854, a double track was laid from Cleveland to the junction of the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling road at Grafton. On December 22, in the same year, the statement was published that on the preceding Tuesday, engineer West- fall, with the locomotive Cleveland, ran his train from Cleveland to Columbus, 138 miles, in four hours, including the time lost in nineteen stoppages, and taking wood and water four times. This was believed then to be the best time on record for any western road. The appearance of a train of new cars on this road in May, 1866, suggested to a newspaper reporter the following :

The arrival of the train of new cars on the C., C. & C. Railroad yesterday suggests a com- parison of this train with the first one on the road in 1849. Many of our citizens will recol- lect the features of that notable excursion and perhaps many of them smiled as the low, dingy cars of the old train steamed up, in imagination, by the side of the beautiful double deckers of the new. A splendid new car then cost $2,200, it now costs $6,000.

One of the worst accidents which ever occurred on a railway near this city took place on this road September 18, 1864, when between three and four o'clock A. M., a train of twentynine cars loaded with lumber bound for Cincinnati arrived from Cleveland. According to custom the engineer attempted to cut the engine loose from the train and run ahead into the roundhouse, expecting the switch- man to replace the switch and run the train into the yard, but it happened that

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nine cars of the train had become detached four miles from the city on a down grade of forty feet to the mile. In the darkness of the night this was not discov- ered, and when the engine was detached it left twenty cars with only two brake- men who were not able to control them. These cars came upon the switchman before he could change the switch and the train followed and pushed the engine into and through the roundhouse and into the Little Miami shop. Benjamin Blaisdell, the engineer, stood to his post in his cab while he was hurled through two brick walls and escaped unhurt, while William Ryan, his fireman, jumped from the engine into a pile of wood from which he fell backward and was killed. One employé who was at work at an engine in the roundhouse was also killed.

On March 14, 1856, the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh & Cleveland and the Belle- fontaine & Indiana companies made a running agreement for five years from April 1, 1856, which term was extended May 16, 1860, and the arragement con- tinued in force until December 6, 1864, when the two companies were consolidated as the Bellefontaine Railway Company, forming a line from Galion, Ohio, to Indianapolis, with a capital stock of $5,000,000. On May 16, 1868, the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati and the Bellefontaine companies were consolidated as the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railway Company, with a capital stock of $15,000,000, the stockholders of the C., C. & C. to have one hundred and twenty dollars of the new stock for one hundred of the old, and the stock in the Bellefontaine Company to be exchanged at par for stock in the new company. The aggregate length of track embraced in this consolidation was 1,828.41 miles. The agreement included twentytwo different lines.

The Three C's, or Bee Line Company, as the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati company is usually called, is one of the very few in this country the original stockholders of which have not lost their investment. It paid two dividends at the rate of four per cent. in 1852, and from two to three dividends every year thereafter, and never a less rate than eight per cent. per annum, until 1868. In 1863 it paid sixteen per cent. and in 1864 thirtytwo per cent. Its total dividends paid amount to 214 per cent., equal to 89,990,758 in the aggregate. In Novem- ber, 1875, the company completed a large and commodious freight dépot at Col- umbus, which is still in use.

On September 7, 1881, the Ohio Railway Company was incorporated. The incorporators were the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis, and the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railway companies. The purpose of this corpora- tion was the consolidation of the two companies named. The joint capital was $20,000,000. On October 19 Hugh J. Jewett as trustee and R. S. Grant brought suit in the Franklin Common Pleas to prohibit the proposed consolidation on the ground that it was a combination of competing lines prohibited by statute. The competition lay between the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton and the Dayton & Michigan from Toledo to Cincinnati ; and the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati, the Columbus & Xenia and the Little Miami from Cleveland to Cincinnati. The action was brought against the C. C. C. & I. Railway Company, J. H. Devereux, G. H. Russell, F. H. Short and Stevenson Burke. In addition to these names

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those of W. H. Vanderbuilt, Augustus Schell, Cornelius Vanderbilt, M. E. Ingalls and E. B. Thomas appeared in the ease, of which the following is an abbreviated history : On October 19 the court in Franklin County granted a temporary injunction restraining the election of directors for the Ohio Railway Company. On October 21 William H. Clement was appointed receiver of the C. C. C. & I. Railway. On October 24 an injunction was allowed by Judge Caldwell at Cleve- land prohibiting Mr. Clement from taking possession of the company's offices. On October 25 a rule was issued by the Franklin County Common Pleas against the Cleveland parties, alleged to be in contempt. On the same date quo warranto pro- ceedings against the directors of the Ohio Railroad Company were filed in the Supreme Court. October 26, a motion was made by Devereux et al. for leave to file in the Supreme Court a petition in error to the Franklin Common Pleas. October 27, orders for writs of attachment were issued against J. H. Devereux and Stevenson Burke. November 1, leave was granted by the Supreme Court to file a petition in error " so far as relates to the order appointing a receiver in said case, and all orders founded or dependent upon, or in execution of said appoint- ment are concerned ;" and it was further ordered " that the execution of the order of said court of Common Pleas appointing a receiver, and all orders founded or dependent upon, or in execution of said order of appointment, be and the same are hereby stayed until the final determination of the proceedings in error." The consolidation was not effected.

Central Ohio .- This company was incorporated February 8, 1847, by William Neil, Samuel Medary, Joel Buttles, Joseph Ridgway and Bela Latham, of Franklin County, with others of Licking and Muskingum counties. Its original capital stock was $1,500,000, which was increased July 19, 1854, to 83,000,000. The com- pany wasauthorized to build a railway from Columbus ria Newark and Zanesville to such point on the Ohio River as the directors might select, and from Columbus west- ward to the Indiana boundary. Its route as reported by its engineer, J. Knight, began at Bridgeport, Belmont County, passed down the Ohio to the mouth of McMahon's Creek, followed thence the ravine of that creek to the summit of the divide separating it from Captina Creek, near the village of Belmont, and thence took its course via Barnesville, Cambridge, Zanesville and Newark to Columbus, making a total length of 150 miles to Wheeling. This route was amended by making the Ohio River erossing at Bellair and extending the track from thenee up the left bank of the river to Wheeling, as required by the charter granted by the State of Virginia. The Baltimore & Ohio company preferred to cross the Ohio at Parkersburgh, and its engineer after surveying the route from thence to Colum- bus recommended it in his report, but the president of the company was induced while visiting Columbus, to recommend the Central Ohio route. Subsequent developments have justified the engineer's preference. Had it been adopted the road would have been located on a much cheaper and better route, would have secured the coal trade of the Hocking Valley. and would have supplied the city of Colum- bus with coal nearly twenty years earlier than such supply was finally obtained. The directors were authorized to adopt such rates of toll as they might deem reasonable, a schedule of their rates to be publicly posted at every station on the

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road. The General Assembly might prescribe rates once in ten years, but not so as to reduce the profits below eight per cent. On March 8, 1849, this reserved right of the legislature was repealed.

At a public meeting held at Zanesville June 6 and 7, 1847, attended by R. W. McCoy and Robert Neil, of Columbus, James Taylor of Licking and John Hamm of Muskingum, a resolution was adopted in favor of Wheeling as the terminus of the Baltimore & Ohio road, and it was agreed that stock subscription books for the Central Ohio should be opened June 20 and 23 at the office of Alexander Patton, in Columbus, at the office of J. G. Smith in Newark, and at the County Auditor's office in Zanesville, the amounts of subscription obtained to be reported to Solomon Sturges, John Hamm, Daniel Convers and Joseph Raguet, of Zanes- ville, who were constituted a committee with power to call a meeting to organize the company as soon as stock to the amount of ten thousand dollars should be subscribed. Accordingly, on August 26, 1847, Solomon Sturges, John Hamm, George James, Charles B. Goddard, S. R. Hosmer, Daniel Brush and Levi Clay- pool, of Muskingum County; Albert Sherwood, D. Marble and Daniel Duncan, of Licking ; and R. W. McCoy, Robert Neil and William Dennison, of Franklin County, were chosen directors. In October, 1847, an engineer was engaged to investigate as to the practicability of a route from Wheeling to Zanesville. Prior to that time a route through the hilly regions of eastern Ohio had been carefully surveyed and the cost of construction on that survey had been estimated. The information thus obtained demonstrated that this route would be practicable and satisfactory without the intervention of stationary engines. By vote on May 9, 1848, the people of Zanesville endorsed a proposition to subscribe $30,000 to the stock of the company, and in April, 1850, Muskingum County and the town of Zanesville issued bonds for $200,000 in aid of the work. Bids were at the same time asked by Robert McLeod, engineer, for building the road from Zanesville to Newark. A proposition to subscribe for the company's stock was submitted May 14, 1850, to the people of Columbus and resulted in 449 votes for and 2,006 against it. The proposition thus rejected authorized a county subscription of fifty thousand dollars to the Central Ohio, and one of 825,000 to each of two other roads leading to Pickaway, Ross and Fairfield counties ; also a city subscription of 825,000 to the Central Ohio and one of $15,000 to each of the other roads just mentioned. The influences which induced the people to reject these proposals were: 1. Three roads were to be assisted and all to be aided or none. 2. Jealousy between the northern and southern portions of the city. 3. Many reflecting persons had concluded that the plan of county and city subscriptions to railways was inexpedient and likely to produce mischief. It was stated that subscriptions to the amount of $75,000 had been obtained in the city during the same week. The directors of the Central Ohio held a meeting in Columbus on the same day on which the vote just mentioned was taken.

Bids for the grading and masonry of thirtysix miles of the line from a point three miles east of Newark to Columbus were invited at Zanesville September 24, 1850. By April 13, 1852, the road was all under contract ; and on May 22, same year three hundred men were at work on the line five miles east of Columbus ; on

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

November 20 the tracklayers were putting down rails just east of the Columbus station ; and on January 20, 1853, the road was complete to Zanesville and the fol- lowing newspaper statement was made :

We are happy to announce that the Central Ohio Railroad, from Columbus to Zanes- ville is now open, and the cars make regular trips between the two places. Yesterday the first train came through and landed its passengers at the depot of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati roads. At a quarter past two o'clock p. M. the train started for Zanesville with a goodly number of passengers. The time is now three hours. The road is just finished and the speed will be moderate and safe till it is properly settled when it will be run as rapidly as any road in the State.8

The same paper of January 31, 1853, made the following statement in rela- tion to " the great work at Big Walnut:"

For at least a mile east of the stream the work is the heaviest that we have ever seen in the West. . . Last summer, when a full force was at work, the cholera broke out and between fifty and sixty hands died in a short time. This created a perfect panic and the whole force scattered to the four winds. It took weeks to restore them and the best part of the season was lost. It became evident that the embankment could not be finished this winter and the only remedy was to erect a large trestle of over one thousand feet in length and varying from twentyfive to forty feet in height. This ... was finished about the first of January. . The track is now laid on string pieces on the top of these trestles and the work of embanking goes on by using cars and dropping the load from them to the bank below. The trestle work will thus, in time, he entirely covered up and the track will be laid on the top of one of the heaviest fillings we have seen. When the road passes the valley and strikes the high ground east of it the cutting commences and is not only very heavy but is through material that has made it extremely laborious and difficult. A portion of the hill was composed of a blne slate stone. Another portion was formed of blue clay in which were small bowlders, gravel, &c., packed so solid that the picks produced but little impression on it. It was one of the most difficult jobs that has been found in the West.

On February 4, 1853, the members of the General Assembly and the officers of state journeyed over the road to Zanesville, whither they were invited by the authorities of that city. The officers of the company in September, 1853, were : President, John H. Sullivan ; vice president, George James ; treasurer, S. R. Hos- mer ; auditor and secretary, William Wing; executive committee, John H. Sulli- van, S. R. Hosmer, George B. Wright, George James, James L. Cox and Samuel Brush. In 1851 the company erected a roundhouse, a " locomotive dépot," a repair shop and an " extensive blacksmith shop " adjoining the station grounds in Columbus. On August 30, 1854, the board of directors was so reorganized as to distribute its membership along the whole line, the officers remaining unchanged. The members of the board were, N. Wright and Jonathan Davenport, of Bel- mont County ; Isaae W. Ilill and Moses Sarchett, of Guernesy County ; J. H. Sullivan, S. R. Hosmer, N. S. Whittemore, William Gallagher and Samuel Clark of Muskingum County ; George B. Wright of Licking ; D. W. Deshler and Samuel Brush of Franklin ; and Channcy Brooks of Baltimore. The road was open to Cambridge, eightyfive miles from Columbus, June 7, 1854, and in October follow- ing, D. S. Gray was appointed its agent at Columbus. On Monday, October 6, 1854, regular through passenger trains began running in connection with the through trains on the Baltimore & Ohio.

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On the morning of November 15, 1854, an excursion train left Wheeling for Columbus. It had on board several hundred Baltimoreans, including Thomas Swann, President of the Baltimore & Ohio, Z. Collins Lee, a prominent Baltimore lawyer, and others. Of the visit of these excursionists at Columbus we have the following account :

Under the auspices of the City Council a magnificent feast was prepared at the Neil House for the guests. W. B. Hubbard was president and Theodore Comstock, of the City Council, vice president. John H. Sullivan, president of the Central Ohio Railroad Com- pany, spoke briefly ; Mr. Hubbard responded and introduced Thomas Swan, during several years president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, who expressed thanks to Colonel Sullivan, and sketched the history of the Baltimore & Ohio road. He referred to the financial difficulties the company had met with. The first loan was made in New York, but when the money market became tight, that market could no longer be relied on. They then turned to Baltimore and there found sympathy and aid to the amount of $1,500,000. He spoke spe- cially of the great services of the house of Garrett & Sons.

Other addresses were made by Colonel Kinnie, of Frederick, Maryland, and Samuel Brush, of Columbus. While Mr. Kinnie was speaking "about a yard square of the plastering over the centre of the centre table let go and fell with a tremendous crash upon the dishes. No one was hurt," but several were fright- ened. On January 3, 1855, the Ohio State Journal significantly remarked : " We have heard of no accident on the Central Ohio for thirtysix hours." In 1855 D. W. Deshler was elected to but declined the presidency of the road, whereupon Elias Fassett, of New York, was chosen president and J. W. Baldwin, of Colum- bus, director, the latter to succeed Samuel Brush, resigned.

In December, 1855, the financial embarrassment of the road became generally known. The following statement was published : Cost of the road, 86,200,000; paid up stock, 81,600,000; first mortgage bonds, $1,000,000; second ditto, $1,000,000; third ditto, 81,000,000 ; floating debt, $1,600,000. "The most serious difficulty under which the road now labors is," it was said, " that for two or three months past the great tunnel [at Cambridge] has been gradually caving in. . . . Passengers and freight are transported in stages and wagons around the tunnel." This further statement was made: " The Wheeling injunction [to prohibit the .crossing at Bellair] having been dissolved and connection made at Benwood, traffic will be greatly facilitated."

At a meeting of the company's creditors held at Zanesville, January 23, 1856, W. B. Hubbard suggested, from a committee, as a means of relief to creditors, the issue of a fourth mortgage for twenty years at seven per cent. On August 26, 1856, H. J. Jewett was elected president and Daniel Applegate, treasurer. Mr. Jewett served as president and receiver until the lease of the road. The officers chosen January 6, 1859, were : President, H. J. Jewett; vice president, E. Fassett ; treasurer, D. Applegate; secretary, William Wing; general freight agent, D. S. Gray ; general ticket agent, J. W. Brown ; directors, D. W. Deshler, J. W. Bald- win and W. B. Brooks, of Columbus. On February 19, 1859, the company was subjected to great annoyance and expense by a landslide near Cambridge. A bill- side on which the track was laid slid downwards, carrying the track with it.

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On April 21, 1859, snit was brought for foreclosure by George S. Coe, trustee, and H. J. Jewett was appointed receiver; but without sale, a plan of reorganiza- tion was agreed upon, whereby the first and second mortgage bonds, with the accrued and pastdue interest on the first mortgage, were to be exchanged for new bonds to the amount of $2,500,000, at six per cent., due September 1, 1890, secured by a mortgage on the road and its equipments, with a sinking fund of $16,000 per year; the second mortgage bondholders to concede onehalf of the accrued interest and take coupons for the other half, payable in ten annual installments; the third mortgage bonds to be paid by the proceeds of the sale of the undivided half of the road between Columbus & Newark to the Steubenville & Indiana Railroad Company ; the fourth mortgage bonds to be paid at par in common stock at par, or preferred stock at eighty cents on the dollar; income bonds to be exchanged for preferred stock at sixty cents on the dollar, or common stock at eighty cents; the floating debt to be paid in common stock at sixty cents. Judgments taken prior to May, 1859, including interest, were to be received at the original amount. The original stock was to be redeemed with common stock at forty cents on the dollar. This arrangement imposed a loss on the holders of the original stock and indebtedness of nearly $4,000,000. Some of the first and second mortgage bondholders refused to agree to the arrangement, and proceedings were commenced to force a sale of the property, but the agreement was finally assented to by all, and on March 28, 1865, the trustees made sale of the property to George B. Wright, vice president and agent. This sale was followed by reconstruction of the company November 1, 1865, as " The Central Ohio Railroad Company as Reorganized," and on Novem- ber 8, the original company conveyed the property to the new one.

On December 1, 1866, the Baltimore & Ohio and the reorganized Central Ohio companies entered into an agreement for the operation of the Central Ohio for five years, subject to discontinuance on twelvemonths notice, the Baltimore & Ohio to operate and maintain the road, pay all expenses and taxes, and prorate sixtyfive per eent. of the gross earnings for the first five years and sixty per cent. thereafter ; that is, to pay the Central Ohio thirtyfive per eent. of the gross earn- ings for the first five years and forty per cent. thereafter, provided that the pay- ments to the Central Ohio should not exceed $166,000 per year. This agreement was amended February 13, 1869, so that the amount paid on account of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Railroad should be thirtyfive per cent. on the gross earnings during twenty years instead of forty per cent., the contract, after the first five years, to extend in periods of twenty years indefinitely, exeept on twelvemonths notice of discontinuance. On the same date the Central Ohio made a contract with the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark, by which the former leased the road to the latter company for seventeen years and three months with power of continuance in twentyyear terms by the Central Ohio. This gave the Central Ohio Company its own line from Newark to Bellair, 104 miles; the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark, 116 miles ; and onehalf of the road from Columbus to Newark, 33 miles ; total, 253 miles. The rental was $174,350 yearly, and all taxes, damages and operating expenses. The Central Ohio during the first eleven years after its opening for business in 1854 paid no dividends, and only a

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part of its interest. In 1866 a dividend of $22,845 was paid on its preferred stock ; a three per cent. dividend was paid in 1867, and again in 1868.

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company was incorporated by the legisla- ture of Maryland in March, 1827, with a capital of $3,000,000, which might be increased to $5,000,000. The act of incorporation was indorsed by the legislature of Virginia on condition that Wheeling should be made the Ohio River terminus. The Company preferred to make its terminal connections at Parkersburg, but accepted the conditions imposed by Virginia, and finally built a line to both Parkersburg and Wheeling. The road was completed to Cumberland, 178 miles, in March, 1842; to Piedmont July 21, 1851; and to Wheeling January 11, 1853. Incidentally it may be observed that New York had completed the Erie canal in 1825, and that Philadelphia was reaching out by canals for the trade of what was then called the West, but Baltimore seemed to be cut off from that trade by impassable mountains. Just at this time railway transportation began to be developed, and Baltimore undertook to construct the Baltimore & Ohio line. This brought hope to her citizens and its inspiration reached an enterprising citizen of New York, Mr. Peter Cooper, who, with two others, bought three thousand acres of land within the city limits of Baltimore. Mr. Cooper was finally obliged to pay for this land himself. In an address delivered on the anni- versary of his birth the following additional faets were stated by Hon. Seth Low :

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 34

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1196

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196