USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Lafayette, Rhode Island; a few phases of its history from the ice age to the atomic > Part 5
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The names of some of the incorporators of the New York, Providence and Boston have a Connecticut and New York flavor. It was at this time that Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt had risen to fame as a "steam- boat man." Possibly he had a silent finger in this Stonington-route pie. He had acquired some Long Island Sound steamer lines and could profitably em- ploy some of his boats on the run between Stonington and New York. A helping element in such possible plans was the "skittish" feeling many passengers had about the run around Point Judith in stormy and wintry weather. It was reasonable to expect that they would welcome the trip in the calmer waters of the Stonington route.
It has been a tradition that Wickford was by-passed in the New York, Providence and Boston lay-out be- cause of the competition with that village's long-estab- lished water-traffic and the investment therein. An attitude of opposition on the part of Wickford could have been only natural under the circumstances, for the railroad was a new and untried venture in these parts. One can just as readily assume that the lay-out chosen was the shortest and most direct route to the Stonington terminal. The long stretches of straight track, even at the cost of deep cuts and long fills, and the direct crossing of the Great Swamp, make almost a "bee" line to Westerly and Stonington.
Then there may be some significance in the fact
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that one of the earliest boats operating on the Stoning- ton line was owned by Commodore Vanderbilt and was commanded by the Commodore's brother "Jake." When the smoke of organization, construction, and early operation had cleared away, the Commodore ap- peared as president of the New York, Providence and Boston, and when the road began the numbering and naming of its locomotives, No. I was the "C. Van- derbilt."
The present Harbor Junction branch, from Auburn to the Providence water-front, was the original lay- out of the road at the Providence end. This track reached the water just above Sassafrass Point, where a sizable water-front terminal is still maintained. From there the rails extended northward to Hill's Wharf, near Crary Street, where passengers were dis- charged, or transferred by ferry to India Point to connect with the Boston and Providence for Boston. This extension accounts for the present rails along Allen's Avenue. Later, these rails were extended still further north, through Dyer Street, to reach the shore of the old Cove where the Providence and Worcester and the Boston and Providence had located a joint terminal in the meantime. By this arrangement, pas- sengers from Stonington to Boston could make the trip without changing cars, and the ferry across the harbor was discontinued. Yet this new arrangement was a somewhat roundabout course for the New York, Providence and Boston passenger traffic, as it ran through the mercantile part of Providence and was subject to delays. Consequently, it was abandoned for passenger use in 1848, when the present approach from Auburn, through Olneyville, was built.
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THE COMING OF THE IRON HORSE
Construction work on the original building of the New York, Providence and Boston, south from Au- burn, occupied a few years, so that the road was not opened for traffic until November, 1837. The chief construction engineer was Major George Washington Whistler, a West Point graduate. He was the father of the noted American artist, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, whose famous painting "Portrait of My Mother" was reproduced on U. S. postage stamps in recent years. The road's lay-out was a time-consum- ing affair, for there were many disputes with land- owners and local officials over sites and prices. East Greenwich, North Kingstown, and Kingston were trouble-spots which took years to heal. It is told that Alexander Huling (5th generation) took a daily seat on a big rock on his land north of Stony Lane Road, in North Kingstown, with a rifle across his knees, and defied the railroad builders to enter his domain until satisfactory terms were arranged. East Green- wich land-owners complained of three changes in location, after land was torn up, and of a "pompous" reply to their protests: "Sue us for trespass." Com- mented the East Greenwich folks: "Deeds of land are but feathers." The feeling around Kingston lasted a long time after the road was opened.
The original construction was a single track. It pre- sented many problems of engineering, and taxed the limited construction apparatus of that day. Thousands of laborers, from far and near, were employed in excavating, filling, bridge-building, drainage, track- laying, fence-building, wood-chopping, construction of depots, water-tanks, freight sheds and other req- uisites. Horses, oxen, and carts, all along the line,
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drained the local resources to the limit. As the work progressed, one section after another was a bee-hive of activity to which the several communities were unaccustomed, and the army of skilled tradesmen, such as masons, carpenters, machinists, iron workers, sur- veyors and others, was a constant source of amazement to the countryside.
14. The Iron Horse Is Harnessed
THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL of Monday, No- vember 13, 1837, told of the opening of the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad on the previous Friday, November 10. The occasion was purely offi- cial, starting at Stonington with the morning arrival there of a steamboat from New York, bringing a large party of railroad officials and guests. They were joined by a local welcoming contingent, and break- fasted at a Stonington hotel. Two trains were in wait- ing to convey the entire party to Providence, and in the late forenoon the epoch-making event in Rhode Island railroad transportation began. One train reached Providence in about 3 hours. The engine of the sec- ond train stalled at East Greenwich, and the train's passengers enjoyed the East Greenwich scenery for several hours. They didn't see Providence that day.
At Providence, Mayor Samuel W. Bridgham and other city officials greeted the iron horse pioneers
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from the south'ard with an informal entertainment, and when the train returned to Stonington late that afternoon, the Mayor and a few other officials ac- companied the party. Meantime, another locomotive had been sent down from Providence to East Green- wich to relieve the marooned passengers of the second train. It was so late in the day, however, that it was decided to accompany the first train on its way back. The trip from Providence to Stonington was made in 2 hours and 20 minutes, a distance of 50 miles. The three locomotives used during the day were named "Stonington," "Little Rest," and "Apponaug." Crowds of cheering, hat-waving men and handkerchief-wav- ing women, with a mixture of awe-stricken boys and girls, greeted the passage of these first trains at every town, village and cross-roads along the right of way.
Zebulon Northup,* aged 102, then living in Swamp- town, near the "great fill" north of the "Dry Bridge," was helped to the window of his house that he might see the "first flight." What a span of life he had cov- ered, from the plodding horse and his rider, along roads that were little more than trails, to the graded roadbeds and smooth metal rails along which the "iron horses" sped at 25 or more miles an hour!
That evening was a noted one in Stonington, for a celebration dinner that was a dinner occupied several hours at the local hotel. The Governor of Connecticut and other State officials, the steamboat-load of guests from New York, the Mayor of Providence and other Rhode Island representatives, New York, Providence and Boston Railroad officials, from the President down, and many minor dignitaries consumed a long list of
* A Revolutionary soldier.
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things to eat and drink, and listened to a torrent of speeches. One outstanding bit of information disclosed that the cost of the enterprise to date was the fabulous sum (for those days) of $2,500,000. At a late hour, the New York contingent sailed away home, with a band playing and the steamboat ablaze with lights.
The Providence Journal of November 16, 1837, car- ried the following "ad" :-
"The New York, Providence, and Boston Railroad, being ready for the conveyance of passengers, will be open for travel on Friday, November 17.
"Trains will run as follows:
"Leave Stonington for Providence, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings after arrival of steamboat from New York.
"Leave Providence for Stonington on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons, on arrival of New York train of railroad cars from Boston.
"The trains will stop at Greenwich, Kingston, and Westerly to deliver and receive passengers."
No provision was made for a stop at what is now Wickford Junction for this "boat train" service.
A timetable of 1844 shows an accommodation train running on a daily schedule, leaving Providence at 2 P.M., and Stonington at 6 A.M. By this time, the travel had become sufficient for a station to be pro- vided at what had previously been known as "Huling's Crossing," and Capt. Jimmy Huling was appointed station agent. The name "Wickford Depot' * was
* In 1845, a railroad passenger getting off there, found a one room building with a scanty platform and little space for passengers or freight. It was almost surrounded by woods and only 3 houses were in sight.
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adopted, although the village of Wickford was 3 miles distant. Tradition has it that at "Huling's Crossing" and other localities where no station or platform had been provided, a plank or two on short posts, or an old bench, or even an old chair, were provided for getting on or off the steps of the train which stopped on signal from the conductor, or when the engineer spied wait- ing passengers signaling him to stop.
The first locomotives used in America were odd- looking contraptions, mostly upright boiler, tall smoke- stack, and big wheels. There was no cab for the engineer or fireman at first, for if the driver of a stage- coach could endure all sorts of weather, why not the engineer? A tender was attached, loaded with cord- wood for fuel, and water-tanks were located along the route for replenishing the boiler's supply. The early engines had anywhere from 10 to 25 horse-power, and weighed from 5 to 20 tons. American ingenuity soon improved on the appearance and size and weight, with a horizontal boiler, eight wheels, a primitive cab, and more or less "streamlining." Coming later in the field, the New York, Providence and Boston took advantage of these improvements and its early engines were much less crude than those represented on roads previously established. The "Roger Williams," an early comer on the Providence-Stonington run, is pictured as having quite a modern appearance in style and equipment.
The cars for passengers were at first little more than vans, or stage coach bodies, mounted on 4 iron wheels. Some passengers rode on the roof where they were exposed to wind and rain and to the smoke and sparks from the locomotive. A passenger on the train from Boston to Providence, in July, 1835, describes the
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train as composed of ugly boxes where 30 persons were stowed away in each box, and compelled to sit on hard wooden benches. When 12 bouncing young ladies, bound for Newport, came aboard, and began sucking lemons so as not to be "car-sick," some of the men had to mount to the roof to make room. At night, these boxes were illuminated with candles, and in winter a wood-burning stove in one corner pretended to fur- nish heat.
But here again, American ingenuity rapidly im- proved the so-called passenger cars and provided bet- ter conditions for the comfort and convenience of day- light travel. Within the first 20 years of American railroading, bunks were built into a few cars and night travel was invited. There were no bedclothes, only a mattress in each bunk, passengers did not undress ex- cept to take off such outer garments as would serve for bed-covers, and a basin of water and a towel were provided at the end of the car. It was after several trips in these "bunk cars" that George M. Pullman de- vised and built his first "sleeping car." This was so luxurious for the times that passengers planning to enjoy the unaccustomed comforts (?), were asked to take off their boots before retiring.
The officials of the New York, Providence and Boston (then becoming known as the Stonington Rail- road) were enterprising enough to take advantage of all these improvements so far as their funds would permit. But they had hardly got their new enterprise under way when they began to feel the pinch of the panic of 1837, which was making its effects felt all over the country. Travel and freight were not up to expectations and in 1839 a large amount of bonds,
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issued to obtain funds for construction, fell due. The failure of the company to pay either principal or in- terest led to the taking over of the railroad property by the trustees under bond mortgages. The rolling stock of the company was attached and operations were close to suspension.
It seems almost a miracle that the directors kept the road running. But they did, and in 4 years new bonds were issued to replace those defaulted, and the direc- tors regained possession of the property. Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had been elected a director in 1846, was elected president of the company in 1847, and from then on everything was hunky-dory in a financial way. A new locomotive built for the Stonington Road by the Taunton Locomotive Works in 1847, was numbered 1, and was named "C. Vanderbilt." It ran for many years and can still be remembered by older Lafayette residents.
Even under the financial clouds the directors had maintained faith in the railroad's future and shaped its course accordingly. They gained a great boost in an arrangement for through car service between Stoning- ton and Boston, and the advantage of a handsome new Union Station in Providence. The latter was built in 1848. It had a famous, spacious hall where Abraham Lincoln spoke in his campaign of 1860.
The directors also had in mind the eventual exten- sion of the rail line from Stonington to New London, and thence to New York. This materialized in the first through train from Boston to New York, over this route, in 1859.
Meanwhile, close attention was being given to local traffic, through additional facilities such as depots,
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freight sheds, sidings, and the ever-improving new equipment. In 1845, the Stonington Road carried 100,000 passengers, with a constantly increasing num- ber each year. Locomotive No. 2, the "Whistler," built by the Rhode Island Locomotive Works, was acquired in 1849, followed by the "Connecticut," the "C. Phelps," the "Westerly," the "Gov. Anthony," and others. Each of these featured the improvements in power and style the builders were constantly making. The passenger car equipment was likewise contin- uously increased with the newest designs for passenger comfort and safety. Local train service for both pas- sengers and freight was added to yearly, all the time bringing Rhode Island rural communities into closer touch with the larger centers of trade.
The Civil War tested the Stonington Road's facil- ities to the limit in the transportation of troops and supplies. The through line to New York was a great advantage here. More new locomotives and cars were acquired to serve the country's cause. Among the engines purchased was the "Mat Morgan" which was the first coal-burning locomotive, and led the way to discarding wood as railroad fuel. (The "Mat Morgan" ran a number of years. It had a disastrous end in 1875 when its boiler exploded in the Providence yard. The fireman, Jimmy Thomas, a Lafayette boy, was killed in the explosion. He is buried in the Phillips cemetery on the slope of the hill, just west of the Swamptown Crossing of the Wickford Branch Railroad.)
Following the Civil War, the Stonington Railroad bulked large in business. In 1872, it was carrying 500,000 passengers yearly, and was in the midst of vast improvements in its roadbed and equipment. It
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was adding two or three locomotives a year, and pas- senger cars correspondingly. Its freight business was demanding increased facilities and faster movement. Double-tracking was started at Providence in 1871, reaching "Wickford Depot" the same year, Kingston in 1873, and was completed to Stonington in 1874. The Wickford Branch connection in 1871 necessitated a new depot with a new name, "Wickford Junction," at a cost of $8000; Stony Lane Bridge was widened at a cost of $5000 in 1874, short local trains were added to the timetables in 1874, air brakes were introduced in 1875, and new rails were laid on long stretches.
Express trains were running regularly between New York and Boston in the late 70's, with one or more Wagner "Palace Cars" and "Sleepers." General Grant, on his way to Boston from New York, in October, 1880, came down "Wickford Hill" in a Wagner, at a speed of 50 miles an hour (estimated), his passage past the crowd on the Wickford Junction platform being a "dusty blur."
An investment of $20,000 was made in the new Wood River Branch Railroad in 1873; $15,000 in the Narragansett Pier Railroad in 1875; the Oakland Beach Branch was bought in 1879; and the Pawtuxet Valley Branch was taken on in 1880.
The Stonington Railroad had been free from serious wrecks and disasters up to 1873. In April of that year, the express steamboat train from Stonington to Boston plunged into the river at "Richmond Switch," now Wood River Junction. The railroad bridge had been swept out by the flood from a broken dam above, and in the dim early light the engineer Reuben Guile, did not discover the open gap in time to stop his train.
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He and six others lost their lives in the wreck, and 12 others were seriously injured. Several Lafayette people visited the scene of the disaster. The catastrophe was the subject of a poem by Bret Harte, entitled "Guile the Engineer."
The '80's witnessed further prosperity for the Ston- ington Railroad. In 1882, it was carrying over one million passengers a year, and its freight trains grew longer and more frequent. Heavier steel rails con- tinued to be laid, steel bridges replaced wooden ones, more powerful locomotives were purchased to haul the heavier Pullmans on the long express trains and the heavy-loaded freights. The "Groton" or No. 27 was a monster locomotive of its day. It was a hard-coal burner, but the change of fuel was not altogether successful. Train schedules, both local and express, were increased. The practice of running through Pull- mans between New York and Wickford Landing for the Newport travel was begun, with a switch-off at Wickford Junction to or from New York. A shelter and extended platform at the Junction were built in 1887, at a cost of $3500, and by 1889 the road was carrying five million passengers. Fares were reduced per mile, and rock-ballasting of the road-bed was com- menced. Every sign of prosperity appeared in the service, equipment, and general up-keep of the prop- erty.
Wickford Junction had become a hive of railroad activity, especially in the summer months. The Adams Express Company established an agency there to handle the pile upon pile of express matter; the Wick- ford Branch had an express messenger to handle ship- ments to and from Newport; the mails were bulky;
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while baggage, largely trunks, was a huge item. Every through express train, night and day, stopped at the Junction, to unload and take on, and local trains added to the hustle and bustle.
It was during the '80's, specifically on November 18, 1883, when an important event in the railroad business took place, not only in Rhode Island but all over the United States and Canada. This was the adoption of standard time. Until then, there were actually 50 dif- ferent varieties of time in the United States. Time- tables explained that Connecticut time was 12 minutes slower than Boston time, and New York time was still slower, as one went westward. This condition was con- fusing to both railroad employees and the traveling public. So a plan was adopted to divide the country into four time zones, each an hour apart, but all time within any one zone to be the same. These zones were named Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific, terms now familiar to all radio listeners. Here in the Eastern zone, the time adopted was approximately that of Philadelphia, the center of the zone. This time was applied to all the territory east to Nova Scotia and west to Cleveland, Ohio.
Notice of the proposed change had been well ad- vertised, and as business in general and most individuals were anxious to be on the new railroad time, there was quite a gathering in the station at Wickford Junc- tion on Sunday noon, November 18. Miss Annie Matteson, the station operator, took her position at the telegraph key to await the signal. The audience of railroad men and others anxiously held their Elgin, Waltham, and P. S. Bartlett watches. It was known that the old Philadelphia time was some 15 minutes
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slower than Wickford Junction time, so it was a case of setting back the local watches to noon, Philadelphia time, when the "flash" should come.
At 12.10, old Wickford Junction time, the talk died down. At 12.12, only a word or two. At 12.14, one or two whispers. At 12.15, dead silence-even the tick of the watches seemed to have vanished. Then !!! C-1-a-a-c-k! went the telegraph key as Annie turned and quietly said-"Twelve o'clock noon, new time !! " Excited fingers turned the respective watches back. The station master mounted a chair and set the wall clock, remarking as he stepped down, "Gentle- men, I'll bet your watches won't never all agree again!" There were no takers.
Along came the gay '90's. The Stonington Railroad was still going strong. So was Wickford Junction. A timetable of June, 1891, shows the following service between Providence and the Junction :-
Leave Providence:
A.M .: 6.40, 7.50, 8.15, 9.30, II.IO.
P.M .: 1.20, 2.15, 3.30, 4.15, 5.00, 6.00, 7.20.
Return:
A.M .: 5.04, 5.43, 5.54, 8.00, 8.43, 9.49, 10.24, 11.45. P.M .: 2.44, 4.44, 5.42, 6.01, 9.28.
Hotels were springing up around the Junction, busi- ness blocks were built, stores opened up, carriage service and express delivery radiated in all directions from the depot, signal towers included one at the Junction crossing of the Ten Rod, and limited through trains, with dining cars, were forecast by the inauguration of the Gilt Edge Express which honored the Junction with a stop, both ways. The Railroad
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was giving employment to many local people in its station force, its track crews, and the manning of its trains. It was a good customer for wooden ties from the near-by forests (the chestnut blight had not got in its deadly work), and a constant stream of carts and wagons was piling up "sleepers" at convenient loading- places along the tracks. Freight was beginning to come in carloads rather than in occasional cases or bales. The Wickford Branch continued to be a good feeder in both passengers and freight, while the summer traffic to and from Newport was both a day and night hub- bub.
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Rail- road Company took over the New York, Providence and Boston in 1892. From then on the local road was known as the Stonington Division of the New Haven. With the opening of the new railroad bridge over the Thames River at New London, new through trains were scheduled between Boston and New York. Such of these as were "limiteds" did not stop at the Junc- tion, yet the local service was maintained with full schedules, and not much change in personnel. The rail- road atmosphere hereabouts evidenced the change in management. The familiar N.Y. P. & B. lettering on engines and cars was gradually replaced with N.Y. N.H. & H., and employes had to familiarize them- selves with new rules and regulations of the new and larger corporation.
With the turn of the century in 1901, the automo- bile loomed on the transportation horizon. Various types of the new invention had been appearing for some years, both here and abroad. But when Henry Ford turned out his first car of the present fundamental
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type, in 1903, it was the beginning of a revolution in means of transportation. In 10 years the flood of automobiles was affecting materially all local railroad transportation. Wickford Junction, however, con- tinued to hold its long distance railroad business, espe- cially the New York-Newport business. An instance of this is the incident in the early 1900's, when on one fall day, some 300 or more pieces of baggage of re- turning summer people from Newport, were left over at the Junction, since the regular New York- bound express had no space for such a quantity. Spe- cial cars had to be sent down from Providence to take care of this surplus. With improved automobiles, better roads, and auto-carrying ferries, this traffic by rail began to peter out. In 1925, the steamer connection between Wickford and Newport was discontinued and the Wickford Branch slumped into inactivity.
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