History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 36

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 36

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On September 1, 1869, a contract was made with the Western Union Tele- graph Company by which the railway obtained the " sole and exclusive use and enjoyment of the first wire upon its poles " along its line from Pittsburgh to Colum- bus, from Chicago to Logansport, and from Columbus to Indianapolis, for railway business for twenty years. A fifteenyear contract was made January 27, 1870, with the Pullman Palace Car Company by which the latter agreed to provide its cars and keep their furnishings in good condition, the railway company thus stipulat- ing : " In consideration of the use of the aforesaid cars [the railway company] agrees to haul the same in the passenger trains on their own line of road, and on all roads which they now control or may hereafter control," and to " furnish fuel for the ears and material for the light," and to wash and eleanse the cars and to keep them in repair." By contract of January 10, 1871, the Westinghouse Air Brake Company agreed to deliver to the railway as many sets of its apparatus as might be ordered at 8425 for each locomotive, car and tender. By another contract of June 25, 1873, running ten years, the Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati

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& St. Louis companies agreed with the Pittsburgh & Western company to run its cars " constructed upon the most approved plan " and " with the best appliances for preserving fresh meat and other perishable freight from spoiling in the sum- mer and freezing in the winter."

On May 25, 1874, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis and the Baltimore & Ohio companies were authorized by city ordinanee to construct and equip a rail- way track on Reed or Mulberry Street from their existing track to Broad Street with the consent of the owners of more than half of the abutting property. Dur- ing the year 1884 the company built a large roundhouse of thirtyeight stalls on Summit Street, to accommodate all of its lines touching Columbus. The first "fast mail" train over the Panhandle ronte arrived at Columbus September 13, 1875, in nineteen hours and twentyfive minutes from New York, bringing eastern news- papers twelve hours in advance of the usual time. While a westward bound pas- senger train, containing two sleeping and two passenger coaches, was passing between Black Lick and Taylor's Station on September 21, 1876, a broken journal cansed the cars to leave the track and roll down an embankment of twen- tyfive or thirty feet. Four persons were killed and many were wounded. The general passenger and ticket department of the Panhandle organization remained at Columbus until March, 1881, when it was removed to Pittsburgh. On Novem- ber 1, 1890, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company was formed by consolidation of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis, the Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh, the Cincinnati & Richmond and the Jefferson, Madison & Indianapolis companies on terms which were then made known to the public.

Cleveland, Akron & Columbus. - This was part of a line which formerly belonged to the Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati company, which had its origin under an amendment to the charter of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh road anthor- izing that corporation to construct a railway from Hudson, in Portage County, through Cuyahoga Falls and Akron to Wooster or some other point on the Ohio & Pennsylvania line, between Wooster & Massillon and to connect with any other road running in the direction of Columbus. Its name at that time was the Akron Branch of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railway, but in 1853 it was changed by judicial order to that of Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati. Subsequently oper- ated by a receiver, the road was sold in 1846 to George W. Cass and John J. Mar- vin, and at a later date it was leased and operated by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago; and still later by the Pennsylvania Railway Company. The Pitts- burgh, Mount Vernon, Columbus & London Railway Company, organized in May, 1869, purchased the unfinished road and right of way of the Springfield, Mount Vernon & Pitt-burgh Company from Delaware through Mount Vernon to Millers- burgh, fortythree miles. The same company purchased the property of the Cleve- land, Zanesville & Cincinnati company extending from Hudson to the coal mines southwest of Millersburgh, sixtyfive miles, and at the same time got a lease of the Massillon and Cleveland company's line from Massillon to Clinton, thirteen miles. In December, 1869, the name was changed to that of Cleveland, Mount Vernon & Delaware Railroad Company, and the capital stock was increased from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000. These purchases and assignments of lease gave the com-

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pany seventyeight miles of equipped road besides the line between Millersburgh and Mount Vernon, on which the work of construction was then being prosecuted. The town of Delaware guaranteed the sum of $165,000 required to complete the road to that place, and the statement was made that the company expected soon to have a direct line from Delaware to Hudson on the Cleveland & Pittsburgh. The road as proposed would pass through Mount Vernon, Gambier, Millersburgh, Orrville, Clinton, Akron and Cuyahoga Falls. A proposition to change the loca- tion of the road to Columbus caused the appointment of a committee of citizens to obtain the subscription of $125,000, which was required as a condition to that result. The road was finally built from Mount Vernon to Columbus and its first train arrived at this city from Mount Vernon at 9:10 o'eloek A. M, September 1, 1873. The title of the road was changed to that of Cleveland, Akron & Col- umbus.

Columbus, Springfield & Cincinnati. - The Springfield & Columbus railroad company's charter was granted March 2, 1846 ; was amended February 24, 1848 ; and was repealed February 16, 1849, when the Columbus, Springfield & Cincin- nati company was incorporated with authority to construct a railway from Springfield to Columbus, or to some point on the Columbus & Xenia line. On May 14, 1849, Springfield voted a subscription of $10,000 to the company's capital stock. In November, 1835, a movement was made in Columbus looking to the construction of a branch of the Mad River & Lake Erie Railway from Springfield to this place, " or to connect at some convenient point with the contemplated railroad from Cincinnati by the way of the Little Miami Valley to Springfield." On December 20, 1837, the following statements were published : The citizens of Sandusky were gratified by an experiment of the speed of a locomotive on the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad. .. It drew four passenger cars containing about one hundred and fifty gentlemen, at the rate of twenty, thirty and even fifty miles an hour. All were astonished at the command which the engineer possessed over the movements of the engine. . .. It is anticipated that at least fifty miles of this road will be completed during the year 1838, and probably the whole line be in successful operation before the expiration of the year 1840."

On September 26, 1843, Joseph Vance, president of the company, received proposals for clearing, grubbing, grading, bridging and getting out timber for the superstructure of the road between Tiffin and Carey, and gave notice that the company would offer at public sale some lots in the town of Carey, " which it is believed," he said, " is destined at no distant day to become one of the most impor- tant business points in Northern Ohio." The road was completed from Sandusky to Springfield, 134 miles, in August, 1848, thus making a continuous line from Cin- cinnati to Sandusky ; and, on April 13, 1849, it was announced that two trains of cars would thenceforth leave Cincinnati daily for Sandusky City. This road, like all the earlier ones, was laid with flat rails.

The Columbus, Springfield & Cincinnati company had constructed a road from Springfield to London, and on June 1, 1854, it was leased to the Mad River & Lake Erie company for fifteen years, the lessee to pay the interest on $150,000 of the lessor's bonds, but this condition not being complied with, on January 2,

PHOTOGRAPHED BY BAKER

Residence of Valentine Loewer, 1422 East Town Street, built in 1887.

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1865, J. W. Pierce began proceedings for foreclosure, under which a decree was issued on February 5, 1868, and on May 8, the road and appurtenances were sold to Mr. Pierce for $100,000. On May 7, 1869, a new company was incorporated as the Columbus, Springfield & Cincinnati, capital, 81,500,000, with authority to con- struct a railway through the counties of Franklin, Madison and Clark. To this company J. W. Pierce and wife transferred by deed on September 4, 1869, the Columbus & Springfield property for $250,000 paid up stock in the new company, to which, on May 9, 1870, the Columbus City Council by ordinance granted the privilege of locating, maintaining and using its tracks across High Street at a point opposite the south line of the North Graveyard and also across Park Street and Dennison Avenue. In case the tracks so permitted to be laid should be above or below the grade of these streets so as to obstruct the travel thereof, the company was obliged to " put and maintain such street or alley in condition for the safe and easy passage of animals or vehicles."

By contract of June 25, 1870, the Columbus, Springfield & Cincinnati company leased its property to the Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland for ninetynine years, commencing July 1, 1870, the lessor agreeing to construct its road from London to Columbus by September 1, 1871, and put its line between Columbus and Spring- field in complete repair, and the lessee to have the right to issue $1,100,000 of bonds, the Columbus, Springfield & Cincinnati company to operate the road from Springfield to London and pay the other party $20,000 per year for its use until the road from London to Columbus should be completed ; but after com- pletion of the road the lessee was to pay forty per cent. of the gross earnings on the whole line between Columbus and Springfield, unless such gross earnings should exceed $120,000, in which case fifty per cent. was to be paid, the annual payment in no case to be less than $80,000. The original Springfield & Columbus line never paid the interest on its cost and the stock and a considerable amount of its debts were sunk. In January, 1871, a strip of ground from the south side of what was known as the Old Graveyard was appropriated by legal process for the benefit of this road.

Columbus & Hocking Valley .-- On September 25, 1852, a public meeting was held at Nelsonville to consider a proposition to build a railway from that place to Columbus via Lancaster. This meeting was addressed by Thomas Ewing, Wil- liam Neil and others, and was followed by another held at the same place October 28, with L. D. Poston, of Nelsonville, as chairman and E. H. Moore, of Athens, as secretary. This second meeting adjourned to reassemble at Athens on November 18, but seems to have been superseded by another held at Nelsonville November 11, at which Joseph Sullivant delivered an address illustrated with minerals from the Hocking Valley. Newspaper comments of contemporary dates indicated a lively popular interest in this movement, and the statement was made that on April 20, 1853, a meeting was held at Nelsonville at which steps were taken to organize the Columbus & Athens Railway Company. Finally, on July 11, 1853, a meeting was held at Lancaster to organize the Hocking Valley Railroad Com- pany, the stock of which was fixed at two million dollars. William Dennison, J.

18*

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

W. Fritter, Charles Borland, J. Borland and E. H. Moore were named as corpora- tors, and it was agreed that books for stock subscription should be opened August 15, at the Exchange Bank in Columbus, and at Lancaster, Logan, Nelsonville. Athens, Lithopolis and Winchester. A disagreement arose between the Lancaster friends of the road and those of Columbus, the former seeming to be unwilling to allow the latter a majority of the directors lest their interests might be sacrificed. Nothing more was done under this charter.

On April 10, 1856, the General Assembly of Ohio enacted a very singular statute. It was entitled " an act to protect the investments of municipal corpora- tions in the stock of railroad companies," and applied only to the counties of Athens and Washington; but when its repeal was asked for at the session of 1857-8, Cincinnati and other portions of Southern Ohio loudly remonstrated against compliance with this request. The law contained the singular provision that no railway should thereafter be built in Washington or Athens Connty with- ont the consent of the legal voters of the county to be given in the manner pre- scribed in the act. The proposed Hoeking Valley Railway could not reach the Ohio River or form a connection with the Baltimore & Ohio Railway without pass- ing through a portion of Athens County. The key to this legislation is found in the announcement made July 18, 1856, that the Marietta & Cincinnati Railway was approaching completion. The citizens of Athens had subscribed for stock in that enterprise and feared that the proposed Hocking Valley road would be its competitor. Nevertheless the act was repealed.

Popular interest in the construction of the Hocking Valley line subsided until the year 1863, when the project was again discussed in the newspapers, one of the principal impelling considerations being the exorbitant price paid for coal and the difficulty of obtaining that mineral by canal. On April 14, 1864, the following certificate signed by William P. Cutler, John Mills, Douglas Putnam, Eliakim H. Moore and Milbury M. Greene, was filed with the Secretary of State:

We the undersigned do hereby certify that we have associated ourselves into a company under the name of the Mineral Railroad Company for the purpose of constructing a railroad from Athens in Athens County, thence running through the counties of Athens, Hocking, Fairfield & Franklin to the city of Columbus, in said Franklin County, all in the State of Ohio, with a capital stock of one million five hundred thousand dollars.

On January 10, 1866, it was publicly stated that a survey had just been com- pleted from Athens to a point on Big Belly's Creek, from whence diverging routes were surveyed, one to the southern part of Columbus and the other up Alum Creek to the Central Ohio Railway, the track of which continned the line to the Columbus station. It was stated that the location of the road from the Big Belly's Creek to Columbus would depend on the vote of the stockholders, the largest sub- scription controlling, " other things being equal." "Other things " were not " equal," for while the subscription on the southern route was far less than that on the northern. the advantages of the southern route for entering the city on an independent line, and for securing terminal grounds, determined the location. The engineers reported a remarkably favorable line with no grade over fifteen feet to the mile and a shorter route from Columbus to Baltimore than that of any

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other line by thirtytwo miles. Mr. Greene, it was said, had already obtained by private grant the right of way for most of the road, but this was premature, for the right of way finally cost, as reported in 1877, the sum of $95,373.60. The cost of the road was estimated at from one and a half to two million dollars. Investi- gation was made as to the amount of coal, iron and salt annually shipped from the region to be penetrated. Stock to the amount of $830,000 having been sub- scribed, the subscribers met at Columbus on December 19, 1866, and elected the following directors: P. llayden, George M. Parsons, William Dennison, B. E. Smith, William G. Deshler, Theodore Comstock, Isaac Eberly, D. Talmadge, W. B. Brooks, J. C. Garrett, William P. Cutler, E. H. Moore and M. M. Greene. P. Hayden was chosen president, M. M. Greene vice president, and John J. Janney secretary and treasurer. Mr. Greene was authorized to act as chief engineer, and under bis direction W. W. Graves, who had made the preliminary survey, again surveyed and located the line from its connection with the Cleveland, Columbus & Indiana Railway at Columbus, to its connection with the Marietta & Cincinnati Railway at Athens, seventyfive and a quarter miles.9 This survey was completed by the first of the following May, on the second of which month the name of the corporation was changed to that of Columbus & Hocking Valley Railroad Com- pany.

On November 18, 1866, the directors owned $360,000 of the company's stock the whole amount of which was at that time $800,000, of which Columbus had subscribed $480,000, Athens & Nelsonville $100,000, Lancaster $75,000, Logan 875,000, Winchester $30,000 and Groveport $25,000. The Columbus & Xenia Company proposed that the Little Miami should join it in a subscription of $50,000, but the Little Miami company declined. The Columbus subscribers thereupon increased their subscription $50,000. At a meeting of the directors held August 17, 1866, an issue of $1,500,000 of bonds of the company was ordered for the con- struction and equipment of the line. A sinking fund of $15,000 per year was pro- vided for, said fund to be invested in outstanding bonds of the company, provided they could be had at not more than five per cent. premium ; otherwise, said fund to be invested in bonds of the United States or the State of Ohio. This proviso has been carefully complied with, and in order that the bonds thus redeemed might not be reissued, the signature of the secretary has been cut out of them after redemption. The road takes its course from Columbus via Groveport, Winches- ter, Carroll, Lancaster (where it crosses the Cincinnati, Wilmington & Zanes- ville), Sugar Grove, Logan, Nelsonville and Salina to Athens, where it intersects the Marietta & Cincinnati Railway.

In a statement published by the directors they declared that the principal object of the road would be to bring the coal, salt and iron districts of Southern Ohio into connection with the central, northern and western portions of the State and the States of Indiana and Illinois. The directors proceeded to say :

The route of this road passes through the largest coalfield west of the Alleghany Moun. tains, at a point fiftyfive miles from Columbus, extending twelve miles ; where a vein of coal six feet in thickness exists above the surface on both sides of the road. . . . From this vein there have been taken and can continue to be, 200,000 bushels, of eighty pounds to the bushel, of coal to the acre. . . . The quality of the coal is equal to any known west of the

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mountains for steam and grate purposes. . . . In addition to coal the Hocking Valley, together with the counties lying south of it on the line of the Marietta & Cincinnati Rail- road, .. are rich in iron ore of superior quality. .. . Two furnaces are now in operation on the line of this road and an almost unlimited supply of ore, coal and limestone in immediate contact will lead to the speedy erection of others. On the line of this road in Athens County, there are now in operation seven salt furnaces with an unlimited supply of saltwater and coal. . . . With the means of transportation which this road will furnish to Central and Northwestern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, the production of salt will be largely increased.

The verification of this prophesy has been sadly interfered with by the Michigan and New York saltwells, the competition of which has totally destroyed the manufacture of salt in the Hocking Valley.

On April 6, 1867, the City Council of Columbus by ordinance authorized the Mineral Railway Company " to maintain and operate its railroad across and along any street or streets, alley or alleys in this city, situate west of the Columbus Feeder of the Ohio Canal and south of a line drawn through the centre of Kossuth Street and prolonged to said feeder canal," with a proviso that should the road be constructed so much above or below any street or alley as to obstruct travel thereon, the company should erect " substantial bridges" or " sufficient culverts or passways." On May 22, 1867, a favorable contract was made with Dodge, Case & Co., to construct the road complete and ready for its rolling stock within eight- een months for eight hundred thousand dollars cash and $865,000 in the bonds of the company. Under this contract the track was graded from Columbus to Lancaster and tracklaying began in November. In April, 1868, the track was graded from its connection with the Columbus & Xenia to the lower bridge over the Scioto River, and on July 16, an engine and car were run over the road nearly to Winchester, fourteen miles. The persons making this trip were M. M. Greene, B. E. Smith, G. W. Manypenny, W. B. Brooks, Theodore Comstock, John Graham, John J. Janney and W. C. Faxon. As a matter of amusement, it was proposed that every man present should drive a spike. The efforts to do this excited the ridicule of the tracklayers until Messrs. Graham and Janney took the spike maul which, owing to their early training in railsplitting, they used in a manner com- manding the respect of the workmen.

In a report to the stockholders made by Mr. Greene in January, 1868, he said : " the entire right of way through Fairfield County. . . and through Hock- ing, except one case," also through Atliens County, " except three cases," had been settled without recourse to legal proceedings, the citizens of Groveport and vicin- ity furnishing the right of way from Walnut Creek to Winchester at a cost to them of $7,500, and the citizens of Lancaster furnishing the necessary grounds for tracks and dépots in their city at a cost to them of 820,000. The president reported the entire cost of the right of way from the station of the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Railway at Columbus to Athens as $70,000 in cash and $12,000 in stock-an underestimate, as the event proved, of nearly fifteen per cent. This estimate included about twentyfive miles of fencing which the parties granting the right of way had agreed to build on both sides of the track, thereby, perhaps unwittingly relieving the company very materially of responsibility for injury to farm stock.

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At the company's second annual meeting, held January 24, 1871, the vice president reported the road complete from Columbus to Athens, with a branch of thirteen miles from Logan to New Straitsville. The report contained the follow- ing particulars : Maximum grade of 26.40 feet per mile, four miles ; level, thirty miles ; from level to twenty feet grade, thirtyfour miles; from 20 to 26.40, five miles; total rise going sonth, 245.43 feet; total fall going south, 324.16 feet ; no continuous grade one mile in length of over 15 feet ; miles of straight line, 5l and 90 feet ; miles of curved line, 24 and 1,328 feet; total length, 75 miles and 1,418 feet.

On January 13, 1869, the members of the General Assembly, the state officers and citizens journeyed over the road from Columbus to Lancaster and back by invitation of the president and directors of the company. The train, George R. Carr conductor, and Charles Wiggens engineer, comprised twelve eoaches and carried 720 passengers. The General Assembly was received by the City Council of Lancaster, headed by Mayor John P. Slough. William P. Creed spoke in behalf of the council and was responded to by Doctor Fielding for the General Assembly and Samuel Galloway for the citizens. The members of the legislature were entertained as guests of the City Council at the Talmadge House and the Mithoff House. On the next day, January 14, 1869, a free ride from Lancaster to Columbus and return was offered to the public, and according to estimate the invi- tation was accepted by eighteen hundred passengers, filling eighteen coaches. Going north from Lancaster the party was met at Winchester by the members of the Columbus City Council, by whose invitation the City Council of Lancaster and the directors and officers of the railway company were entertained at the Neil House. The officers of the company were of one mind as to any further offer of a free ride to the general public. At every way station the platform and adjacent space were crowded with a waiting mass of men, women and children, and by the time the train reached Columbus the seats, aisles, platforms and steps of the coaches were packed with people.

The road was opened for through business July 23, 1870, and on November 6, 1868, the first passenger train was run from Columbus to Lancaster and carried the following excursionists : W. H. Clements, J. N. Kinney, Charles Reemelin, of Cincinnati ; E. Gest, president of the Cincinnati & Zanesville Railway Company, and M. M. Greene, vice president, J. W. Doherty superintendent, and B. E. Smith, William G. Deshler, Isaac Eberly and W. B. Brooks, directors of the Columbus & Ilocking Valley company. At Lancaster this party took the Cincinnati & Zanes- ville road to Zanesville, during the journey over which they stopped to examine the coal mines of the Miami Coal Company. On January 18, 1869, notice was given that from the twentieth of that month daily trains, both passenger and freight, would run over the road between Columbus and Lancaster. The first freight train from Nelsonville arrived at Columbus August 17, 1869. This train came from the mines of Brooks & Houston and comprised fifteen ears laden with eoal. It had on board a small eannon, the discharge of which gave notice of the approach of the train at all points along the line. The first regular passenger train from Columbus to Athens was run July 25, 1870, and thus was opened a

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 36

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