History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 35

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 35

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The Baltimore & Ohio had laid a track for thirteen miles to Ellicott's Mills, which was operated by horses, and this track ran through or near Peter Cooper's land. The horsecar line did not pay and the land speculation was threatened with disaster. Peter Cooper there- fore turned his attention to steam as the proper motive power for the road. At one point there was a sharp turn of 150 feet radius. Stephenson, the great English inventor, was reported to have said that steam could not he used as a motor on any curve with less than 900 feet radius. Peter Cooper believed he could demonstrate that it could be. With incred- ible perseverance he built the Tom Thumb, the first locomotive built in this country for experimental use upon a regular railroad, in which he successfully overcame the mechanical difficulties involved. The Tom Thumb made the sharp curve and covered the distance, thirteen miles, in one honr and twelve minutes. The return trip, on a down grade, was made in fiftyseven minutes This was in August, 1830.

On April 13, 1882, the Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad Company was incorp- orated with a capital of 82,000,000 to build a railway from Columbus to the Marietta & Cincinnati line, between New Lexington and Clinton Valley Station. This company, on September 19, 1882, acquired the rights of the Miami Valley & Columbus Railway Company, previously incorporated. A contract was made with Frost, Stearns & Hoover for the construction, and on June 20, 1883, the work was begun. On June 27, same year, the route was so changed as to place the sonth- ern terminus at Wilmington. The Midland Construction Company was organ- ized with a capital of 850,000, its members being Colonel Orland Smith, Stearns, Hoover & Co., and others. It contracted to build and equip the road, the railway company agreeing to furnish the right of way, and pay the contractors partly in bonds and stock. The road was completed and put into operation November 13, 1884, on which date an excursion train bore the Columbus Board of Trade, city officials and invited guests to Cincinnati. On January 3, 1890, the road was

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eased to the Central Ohio Railroad Company for 999 years, the lease to be assigned to the Baltimore & Ohio Company, together with $1,000,000 preferred stock, the Baltimore & Ohio company to secure four and a half per cent. on the $2,000,000 of bonds of the Columbus & Cincinnati Midland, as the new property had been named.

In October, 1866, the Baltimore & Ohio company established what was known as a "lightning express," the first car of which reached Columbus October 23. The company had fifty of these cars built to run on " passenger trucks " in pas- senger trains, especially to accommodate the oyster trade, and as many as ten cars of oysters have been delivered at this city in one train, the average carload con- sisting of eightytwo cases each containing about fifty quarteans of oysters. The first Pullman palace drawingroom and sleepingcar to arrive at Columbus came in a Baltimore & Ohio train August 26, 1871. On December 14, 1873, while a train belonging to this road was pulling out of the Columbus station, the boiler of its engine exploded, instantly killing Daniel Cooper, the engineer. The fireman, David Laugherty, escaped with slight injury. The engine and several cars near it were completly wrecked. On December 26, 1873, the employés of railways cen- tering at Columbus inaugurated a strike, an account of which will be found in its appropriate place. On the twentysecond of the same month the Baltimore & Ohio Company reduced its fare from Columbus to Washington to ten dollars, and before order was restored, further reduced the rate to seven dollars The regular rates as restored April 20, 1874, were: Columbus to Baltimore or Washington, 813.50; to Philadelphia, 815.50; to New York, 817.50. The company now owns or con- trols fiftytwo different trunk or branch lines of railway having an aggregate length of 1,922.48 miles.

Columbus, Piqua and Indiana .- This company was incorporated February 23, 1849, by Joseph Ridgway, Junior, William S. Sullivant and William Dennison of Franklin County, and others of Madison, Champaign, Miami and Darke counties, with a capital of 82,000,000 and authority to construct a railway from Columbus or some point on the Columbus & Xenia line ria Urbana and Piqua to Greenville, Darke County, and thence by such ronte as the directors might choose to the western boundary of Ohio. J. P. Williamson, secretary, on October 30, 1850, invited bids for grading, masonry, etc., on twentytwo miles between Covington in Miami County and St. Paris in Champaign, and on May 20, 1851, A. G. Conover, engineer, invited bids for the grading and masonry from St. Paris to Columbus. On March 12, 1851, the company was authorized to change its route at discretion west of Covington and also to change its eastern terminus. Tracklaying began at High Street, Columbus, November 20, 1852, and on June 6, 1853, it was stated that on the preceding Saturday a party numbering forty or fifty persons had trav- eled over the road from Columbus to Pleasant Valley, about eighteen miles. The first locomotive for the road was received from Boston, August 14, 1852, and it was then announced that seven hundred tons of iron for the track had reached Quebec. The first passenger train passed between Columbus & Piqua October 16, 1854, on which date three such trains were put upon the line. A passenger train first ran over the entire line on April 19, 1859. The officers on February 17,

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1853, were : President, M. G. Mitchell; vice president, William Dennison ; secre- tary, Joseph M. Ewing ; treasurer, William Scott; chief engineer, A. G. Conover; superintendent, J. R. Hilliard. In February, 1856, the following directors were elected : William Neil, president ; John L. Gill, B. E. Smith, T. L. Jewett, M. G. Mitchell, Joseph Ridgway, Robert E. Neil, A. Stone, Junior, J. W. Yandes, J. R. Ililliard, H. Kitchen and HI. Cable.

The company having become embarrassed, foreclosure proceedings were begun June 17, 1856, by George S. Coe, and a receiver was appointed, but before the prop- erty could be sold a reorganization was effected and approved by the court. The road and its franchises were finally sold August 6, 1863, for $500,000, and were trans- ferred to the trustees of the reorganization. By this arrangement $1, 158,108 of the original stock of the Columbus, Piqua & Indiana Railroad Company was sunk. On January 6, 1859, M. G. Mitchell was president. J. W. Bradley general agent, A. G. Conover chief engineer, John Ferson secretary and R. Walkup superintend- ent. At a meeting held at Columbus, October 2, 1863, for the purpose of reor- ganization, the name Columbus & Indianapolis Railroad Company was adopted, and B. E. Smith, John Gardiner, G. V. Dorsey, John L. Gill, John R. Hilliard, John H. Bradley, S. M. Waln, John F. Seeley and Joseph T. Thomas were chosen directors. B. E. Smith was elected president, John H. Bradley vice president, James Alexander treasurer, and H. P. Bigelow secretary. The sale of the road and the proceedings for its reorganization were judicially approved November 20. On September 5, 1864, the company purchased the Richmond & Covington railway " from a stake in the track of the Columbus, Piqua & Indiana Railroad, on land of John Somers, in Newberry Township, Miami County, to and through the counties of Miami, Darke and Preble, to the State line of the State of Indiana," thirtytwo and a half miles, for 8644,000, of which amount $356,000 was paid for bonds and stock of the Richmond & Covington, which bonds and stock the Columbus & Indianapolis company redeemed with corresponding pledges of its own.

A certificate was filed with the Secretary of State October 17, 1864, consoli- dating the Columbus & Indianapolis and the Indiana Central companies as the Columbus & Indianapolis Central, the Indiana Central being then in operation between Indianapolis and Richmond. The stock of the new company was 83,000,000. The stockholders of the Columbus & Indianapolis were to exchange their stock at par; the stockholders of the Indiana Central were to receive $160.31 consolidated stock for $100 of the old stock, all of which was to be sur- rendered, the holders of convertible bonds to receive consolidated bonds to a like amount. B. E. Smith was president of the new company, James Alexander treasurer, and Gordon Moodie secretary. On September 10, 1867, a certificate was filed for another organization consolidating the Columbus & Indianapolis Central, the Logansport & Burlington (from Logansport to the western boundary of Indiana), and the Union & Logansport (from Union City to Logansport), as the Columbus & Indiana Central Railway Company. The Cincinnati & Chicago Airline was incorporated July 10, 1860, by purchasers of the Logansport & Chicago Railway from Richmond to Logansport, and on January 25, 1865, the Chicago & Great Eastern and the Cincinnati & Chicago Airline were consolidated as the Chicago

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& Great Eastern, this being the fourth company of that name, and ineluding the Galena & Illinois River, Chieago & Great Eastern and Chicago & Cincinnati com- panies of Indiana. On February 12, 1868, a consolidation took place, pursuant to an agreement of December 4, 1867, of the Columbus & Indiana Central, and the fourth company named Chicago & Great Eastern, as the Columbus & Indiana Central, embracing the following lines: Chieago to Columbus, Bradford Junetion to the western boundary of Ohio, from that boundary to Indianapolis, from Rieh- mond to Logansport, and from Logansport to the western boundary of Indiana, making an aggregate of 587.8 miles. The stock of the new company was fixed at 815.000,000, of which the stockholders of the Chicago & Great Eastern (number one) were to exchange their holdings at par, and the stockholders of the Columbus & Indiana Central were to have share for share, 82,000,000 of the new stock to be distributed to them pro rata if presented within ninety days after ratification of the agreement. Bonds to the amount of $15,000,000 were to be issued, of which $11,000,000 were to be applied to the redemption of a like amount issued at par by the consolidated companies. At a meeting of the stock- holders held in Columbus in February, 1868, at which over eight and a half mil- lion dollars of stock was represented, the following directors were elected : W. D. Thompson, Frederick R. Fowler, W. D. Judson, Amos Tenney, Henry Morgan, James W Elwell and Lawrence Wells, of New York ; Joseph T. Thomas, of Pennsylvania ; Joseph E. Young, of Illinois; John S. Newman and J. N. Con- verse, of Indiana; and B. E. Smith, William Dennison, John Gardiner and John R. Hilliard of Ohio. B. E. Smith was chosen president, Gordon Moodie secretary, and James Alexander treasurer.

On February 1, 1869, the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central leased its entire system to the Pittsburgh, Cineinnati & St. Louis, and the Pennsylvania companies. The lines embraced in this lease are described as follows :

From its terminus in Chicago, through Cook County in said state southward to the State of Indiana, and through the counties of Lake, Porter, La Porte, Starke, Pulaski, Cass, Howard, Tipton, Madison, Henry and Wayne in Indiana, to Richmond, and thence east- ward to the State of Ohio and through the counties of Preble, Darke, Miami, Champaign, Union, Madison and Franklin in said state to Columbus; and also extending from Rich- mond, Indiana, aforesaid, westward through the counties of Wayne, Henry, Hancock and Marion to Indianapolis, Indiana ; and also extending from the main line aforesaid at a point in Miami County, Ohio, westward through Darke County, Ohio, to the Indiana State line at Union ; and thence westward through the counties of Randolph, Jay, Blackford, Grant, Miami, Cass, White, Jasper and Newton, in Indiana, to the line of the State of Illinois, in the direction of Peoria.

The lease, running for a term of ninetynine years, provided that the Pitts- burgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis company should maintain the roads leased " in good working condition and repair as first class roads, together with all sidetracks, stationhouses, rollingstock, equipments and other property, and should reserve seventy per cent. of the gross earnings, thirty per cent. thereof to be applied to payment of the interest on $20,000,000 of the bonds of the C. C. & I. C. company and interest on income bonds that might be issued, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis to pay the interest in any event, the surplus, remaining, if any, to be

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paid to the C. C. & I. C. company. The P. C. & St. L. company was prohibited from making any consolidation of earnings or running arrangements with any other company for competing business or traffic without the consent of the Colum- bns, Chicago & Indiana Central. It was further provided that the lines thus con- solidated should at all times be placed upon a perfect quality with any others that might " connect at Pittsburgh, as to the rate and facilities for joint transportation for all classes of traffie to and from all points east or west," any differences aris- ing as to the relations of the contracting parties to be submitted to arbitration. The last two clauses of the agreement may have been dictated by the experience of one of the parties thereto, for when the Panhandle organization first leased the Columbus, Piqua & Indiana road, and a foreclosure began to be talked about, some of the friends of the latter claimed that the former had discriminated against it in favor of the Pittsburgh, Bellefontaine & Indiana line which it already controlled, in relation to traffic between Pittsburgh and Chicago.

On February 1, 1870, an amended lease was executed by which the mortgage indebtedness of the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central was reduced to $15,821- 000, and the amount to be paid by the lessce as rental should in no case be less than seven per cent. of that amount per annum. The New York & Erie Railway Company had offered to lease the property of the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central, pay the interest on the debt of that company and guarantee an average annual dividend of seven per cent. on its stock, but the proposition was unani- mously rejected. The wisdom of this action may be doubted. The offer rejected would have furnished a certain income, whereas the one accepted was, in its terms, uncertain as the sequel proved. Differences having arisen as to the meaning of certain portions of the lease, the lessee (the P. C. & St. L.) refused to pay the ren- tal from which the interest on the bonds could be met, and on application of the C. C. &. I. C. to the United States Court, W. R. Fosdick, of New York, was appointed receiver, and to him the lessees paid the net receipts of the road. The first and seeond mortgage bondholders of the C. C. & I. C. company appointed committees to protect their interests. Several years of litigation followed, during which the Pennsylvania Company, through W. L. Scott, of Erie, obtained a controlling amount of the bonds and stoek. Scott bronght suit for payment of the unpaid interest on the first mortgage bonds; foreclosure under this suit was ordered in February, 1883; the road and franchises were sold at Indianapolis ; and the company was reorganized as the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh, thus becoming a part of the system of railways west of Pittsburgh controlled by the Pennsylvania company.

Steubenville &' Indiana .- This company was incorporated February 24, 1848, with a capital of $3,500,000, and authority to construct a railway from Steuben- ville along the Connotton or Stillwater Creek to Mt. Vernon, and " thenee to the Indiana state line at any point between Willshire and Fort Recovery; but the company was forbidden to locate its road west of Mount Vernon parallel to that of any other company previously incorporated which bad in good faith begun the construction of its line. This restriction appears in many of the charters granted about that time and seems to have been intended to prevent the construction of com-

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peting and parallel lines. On March 12, 1849, the act was so amended as to authorize the company to construct a branch from Coshocton via Newark to Col- umbus; also from Steubenville via Mount Vernon to the Indiana boundary at any point between Willshire and Fort Recovery, inclusive. Another charter granted March 12, 1849, authorized the construction of a railway from the west end of the Steubenville bridge to the junction with the Central Ohio Railway at Newark, 117₺ miles. The Columbus & Pittsburgh Railway Company was granted a charter March 2, 1846, but no action in pursuance thereof was taken.

In May, 1848, a railway convention for Central Ohio, held at Coshocton with W. B. Hubbard as chairman, recommended a survey of different routes, the reports of such surveys to be referred to a committee of which Robert Neil and Joseph Ridgway, Junior, were the Franklin County members. This committee subsequently reported in favor of a line from Columbus to the western terminus of the Philadelphia & Pittsburgh roads, and also one to the western terminus of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway at Wheeling. On May 3, 1849, a convention in the interest of a railway from Pittsburgh via Steubenville to Columbus and St. Louis was held at Steubenville, at which Joseph Ridgway, of Columbus, was chairman, and committees were appointed to secure the location of the line and obtain subscriptions in the counties through which it would pass. The committee- men for Franklin County were Joseph Ridgway, Junior, W. B. Hubbard and Wil- liam Dennison. The members of the first board of directors of this road, elected March 6, 1850, were Daniel Kilgore, John Andrews, James Means, William Mc- Donald, Thompson Hanna, William K. Johnson and James Parks. Daniel Kil- gore was chosen president, R. S. Moody secretary, Daniel L. Collier treasurer, Jacob Blickensderfer chief engineer, and T. L. Jewett and Thomas Means solici- tors. J. G. Morris was subsequently elected secretary and treasurer in place of Moody and Collier, resigned, and James Means president vice Kilgore deceased. On April 19, 1855. Mr. Means resigned the presidency and W. B. Hubbard was chosen in his place, but he too soon resigned and was succeeded by Thomas L. Jewett, who was elected June 7, 1855, and served as president and receiver until the consolidation of the company with the Pittsburgh and Steubenville company. In December. 1851, contracts were made for the construction of the road between Steubenville and Coshocton, but owing to the depressed condition of the money market, little was done until May or June, 1852, when work was begun along the entire line. On December 22, 1853, regular trains were run from Steubenville to Unionport, and on April 11, 1855, the president reported the road complete from Steubenville to Newark. To procure iron and machinery, bonds to the amount of $1,500,000 were issued October 1, 1852. On November 1, 1853, a second mort- gage of $900,000 was executed, followed on February 15, 1856, by a third issue of $600,000, and afterward by income bonds amounting to $431,150.

On April 17, 1857, an arrangement was made between the Central Ohio and the Steubenville & Indiana companies by which the former agreed to haut the traffie of the latter between Newark and Columbus. Preliminary surveys had been made, in 1853, by the Steubenville and Indiana Company preparatory to the con- struction of a line from Newark to Columbus, and on March 14, 1864, a contract

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was made for the sale of an undivided half of the road between Columbus and Newark, by the Central Ohio to the Steubenville & Indiana Company, for $775,000. On August 31, 1864, this sale was judicially confirmed and a mortgage for the amount of the purchase money was put upon the property. The road becoming embarrassed and being unable to pay its interest, suit was brought at the Septem- ber term, 1859, of the Harrison County Common Pleas by Robert Garrett & Sons and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company on $838,000 of the bonds and interest, and on September 2, T. L. Jewett was appointed receiver, with power to operate the road under order of the court. In 1863 Robert Garrett & Sons and the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company began suit for foreclosure on the first and second mortgages, and in November a decree was entered for $3,692,766 and a sale was ordered. Accordingly, on February 27, 1864, the road and its franchises were sold at publie auction to J. Edgar Thompson, Henry M. Alexander and George W. McCook, for $1,908,889. Before confirmation of this sale a plan of adjustment without a sale was submitted to the creditors and accepted by them. In accord- ance with this agreement the first and second mortgages were reduced to $3,000,000 (a shrinkage of $692,766), payment was extended to January 1, 1884, and a new six per cent. twentyyear mortgage, dated April 19, 1864, was executed, followed by another for $1,500,000 payable April 1, 1894, to secure the old third mortgage and income bonds.

On March 24, 1849, the legislature of Pennsylvania incorporated the Pitts- burgh & Stenbenville road from Pittsburgh to the State line towards Steubenville, thirtysix miles, and on March 30, 1860, the Virginia legislature incorporated the Holliday's Cove Railway across the " Panhandle " of Virginia, connecting the Pittsburgh & Steubenville at the State line with the Steubenville & Indiana at the Steubenville bridge. On October 1, 1865, the receiver made arrangements with the Pittsburgh & Steubenville Company to operate the whole line as the Pitts- burgh, Columbus & Cincinnati Railway and it was so operated until consolidated with the Pittsburgh & Steubenville and the Holliday's Cove lines and became known as the Panhandle Company, the capital of which was $4,400,000. On December 26, 1867, this company agreed to issue $2,500,000 preferred stock. On March 17, 1868, the Panhandle, the Holliday's Cove and the Steubenville & Indi- ana companies were consolidated as the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis, which company, on January 22, 1869, leased the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central Railway on a perpetual lease for thirty per cent. of the gross earnings, the P. C. & St. L. Company agreeing to pay the interest on 820,000,000 of bonds of the C., C. & 1. C. Company. The lines owned or controlled by the P. C. & St. L. Company at this time comprised the following: Main line between Columbus and Pitts- burgh ; branch from Cadiz Junction to Cadiz ; branch from New Cumberland June_ tion to New Cumberland; branch from Bridgeville to Rend's Mines; Pittsburgh to Birmingham ; yard tracks at Union Station, Columbus; Columbus & Indiana Central, leased ; and Little Miami and Columbus & Xenia; total length of track 998.76 miles. The consolidated line thus formed was known as the Panhandle route. The stock of the new company was 810,000,000 - $3,000,000 preferred and $7,000,000 common. The stock of the Panhandle Company was to be converted

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into the stock of the new company as follows : Not over 20,000 shares of seven per cent. preferred stock of the P. C. & St. L. Company to be exchanged for a similar amount of stock in the new company ; not more than 20,000 shares of the common stock to be exchanged for 10,000 shares of the new stock, the residue of the common to be merged into the stock of the new company, but nothing to be given in exchange; the stock of the Steubenville & Indiana Company, not exceed- ing 40,000 shares, to be exchanged for a like amount of new stock, share for share. The Holliday's Cove stock was sunk.

On April 5, 1872, a certificate was filed with the Ohio Auditor of State that the assent of twothirds of the stockholders had been given to the issue of $3,500,000 of preferred stock. On May 5, 1868, a first mortgage was executed for $10,000,000 at seven per cent., due in 1900, the bonds to be issued and disposed of . as follows: The first preferred seven per cent. stock of the Panhandle Railway Company, not exceeding 20,000 shares, to be exchanged for a like amount of the new stock, share for share; the common stock not exceeding 20,000 shares, to be exchanged for 10,000 shares of the new -two for one; and the residue of the Panhandle stock to be merged into that of the P. C. & St. L. company without any equivalent. Of the Steubenville & Indiana stock not more than forty thousand shares of the first preferred were to be exchanged share for share for a like amount of the new, and not more than 40,000 shares of the common were to be converted into a like amount of the common stock of the new company.

In October, 1870, the order of sale of the Steubenville & Indiana line by the Harrison County court was set aside, by consent of the parties, and the receiver was discharged. The original incorporators of the P. C. & St. L. Company were James Wilson, James Means, Nathaniel Dike, William MeDonald, Daniel L. Collier, John Orr, John Andrews, David W. McGowan, James Gallagher, James McKinney, Roswell Marsh, James Turnbull, and Alexander Doyle. On April 1, 1873, a second forty year seven per cent. mortgage for $5,000,000 to pay unad- justed floating debt outstanding, and to furnish " additional facilities needed from time to time for increasing the business of the road" was executed.

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 35

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