Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 38

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II > Part 38

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RAILROADS-The earliest Rhode Island railroad charters were fashioned on the models of the Blackstone Canal and turnpike charters. In the instances of the former two charters were obtained, one from the Rhode Island General Assembly for the line within the state, and another from the Massachusetts General Court for the line within the commonwealth. Simi- larly railroads crossing state lines obtained charters in each state, and authorization to com- bine to form operating companies. The objection to single chartering was delicacy as to granting rights of eminent domain to acquire the right of way. Incidentally, it is worthy of note that the provision for combining sections of roads was suggestive, at the very beginning of railroading in America, of the consolidation of roads that became in later years one of the most significant problems that confronted states undertaking to regulate the operation of these most important public utilities. The likeness to the turnpike charters lay in the general enunciation of powers with reference to acquiring title and easements along the route, and in the grant to the railroad company of authority to collect "tolls" and to establish "toll gates" and toll stations.

The charter granted to the Boston and Providence Railroad would cover a quasi-public road on which rails had been laid, the company collecting tolls from owners of vehicles (with wheels spaced to fit the rails) drawn over the line. The company began operations with horse- drawn cars, while awaiting completion of the entire line and the delivery of locomotives. The first train operated by steam made the trip from Boston to Providence in June, 1835. The road passed through Attleboro and East Junction on a straight line which carried it two miles east of the centre of Pawtucket. It crossed the Seekonk River on a bridge south of Wash- ington Bridge, which was then in direct line with India Street in Providence. Until 1847, the road was entirely within Massachusetts until it crossed the Seekonk. The station was on India Street, Providence, convenient to the wharves, whence sailed packets and steamboats for New York. The railroad supplanted the stagecoaches speedily, as the steamboats had driven the packets from competition; though there were some like the Irishman pictured by the "Providence Journal" who, on being told that the railroad fare to Boston was $1.50 and the time I:30, chose to go by coach for a dollar because the dollar purchased a three-hour ride, all of which might be true except the figures! With the development of India Point as a railway terminus, the J. B. Mason house, crowning the east side hill overlooking India Point and the river and bay, was remodelled as a hotel and called the Tockwotton House. Mrs. J. B. Mason was a daughter of John Brown, who had promoted the first development of India Point as a commercial centre. The Tockwotton House, abandoned as a hotel after the railway ter- minal had been shifted, was subsequently home of the Providence Reform School. The grounds are a park, known as Tockwotton Park, marred in 1930 by the approach to the new Washington Bridge.

The "Stonington" line, Providence to Stonington, was opened in November, 1837, having

*"History of Steam Navigation Between New York and Providence."

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been constructed by the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad Company, which had been chartered in 1832. The Providence terminal station was on the west side of the river opposite Fox Point. The India Point Station of the Boston and Providence and the Stoning- ton station were connected by steam ferry, which carried through passengers and freight across the river. Trains were operated on "connecting" time tables. The route from Boston to New York was by rail to India Point, by ferry across the Providence River, by rail to Ston- ington, and by steamboat to New York. The third Rhode Island railroad was the Providence and Worcester, following the valleys of the Blackstone and Moshassuck, and entering Provi- dence on the south side of the cove. The road was completed and in operation in 1847. Between the cove and Exchange Place a union station was erected and completed in 1848, and occupied by the three railroads. The Boston and Providence built a connecting line from East Junction to Boston switch near Central Falls, and its trains entered Providence on the rails of the Providence and Worcester. The New York, Providence and Boston built a new line from Auburn to Olneyville and entered the new station from the southwest, connecting with the Worcester rails. With this arrangement it was possible to run trains directly from Boston through Providence to Stonington, and later with the development of western and southern lines, directly to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. The connec- tion with Worcester tapped the system now operated by the Boston and Albany, and New York Central lines for points west to Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis.

Other Rhode Island railroads were constructed as follows: (1) Providence to Hartford, 1854, chartered as the Providence, Hartford and Fishkill; (2) Providence, Warren and Bris- tol, 1855, entering Providence over the railroad bridge at India Point, with terminal station at Fox Point ;* (3) Fall River, Warren and Providence, 1860, a branch line of the Provi- dence, Warren and Bristol from Warren to Slade's Ferry, opposite Fall River, with which it was connected first by steam ferry and later by a bridge; (4) Old Colony, operating a line from Fall River to Newport, 1864, crossing Seaconnet River on a bridge north of Stone Bridge, and as connected at Fall River furnishing rail connection between Providence and Newport, and Newport and Boston; (5) Providence and Springfield, 1873, but completed only so far as Pascoag until 1893, when it was connected with the New York and New Eng- land at East Thompson; (6) Woonsocket and Pascoag, 1892, a road connecting with the Providence and Springfield at Harrisville, and with the New England system at Woonsocket ; (7) the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Railroad Company, 1872, operating a line from Valley Falls to Franklin, connecting the Providence and Worcester and New York and New Eng- land, and furnishing a line from Providence to Boston via Valley Falls and Franklin; (8) Pawtuxet Valley branch, 1872, Auburn, through Pontiac, Natick, Riverpoint to Hope; (9) Warwick and Oakland Beach, 1874, extended in 1880 to Buttonwoods; (10) Newport and Wickford, 1870, by rail from Wickford Junction to Wickford, and by steamboat from Wick- ford to Newport; (II) Narragansett Pier Railroad, 1875, from West Kingston to Narragan- sett Pier; (12) Wood River branch, 1872, Wood River Junction to Hope Valley; (13) Moshassuck Valley, 1877, Woodlawn to Saylesville; (14) branch line of Providence and Worcester, 1874, Valley Falls to East Providence. By various consolidations, leases and sales, all Rhode Island railroads except the Narragansett Pier, Moshassuck Valley, Newport and Wickford, and Wood River branch, were controlled and operated in 1893 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The consolidated system included 190 miles of railroad ; the independent systems barely twenty miles.

Regulation of railroads became a problem by the middle of the nineteenth century. The General Assembly appointed a committee in 1851 to investigate charges made against the Stonington road that fares were not uniform, that the company was interested in certain stagecoach lines and discriminated against passengers patronizing other lines, that the rights

*Changed later to Union Station.

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of the general public were ignored, that free passes were granted to some, and that freight rates were not uniform. The Assembly, in 1852, ordered the Stonington road to establish and maintain uniform, non-discriminatory rates. Again, in 1853, an investigation was ordered of charges that free passes were distributed, and that freight was refused with the purpose of compelling patronage of one express company with which the road had made a contract; the committee was also to ascertain what freight and baggage had not been delivered, which had not been claimed, of what delivery had been refused, and what disposition had been made of money received from sales of freight and baggage. Legislation was enacted with the purpose of curing the evils suggested by the complaints. The General Assembly required annual reports from railways; and appointed commissioners, whose function was inspection of roads and bridges, and also of accidents, particularly those resulting in death. The Supreme Court, in 1872, failed to grasp a chance to abolish grade crossings, holding that a railroad may pass a road at grade if it does not "impede and obstruct safe and convenient use."t

The Union passenger station in Providence, erected in 1848 between the south side of the Cove and Exchange Place, the civic centre, on which it fronted, though attractive archi- tecturally with graceful campaniles and sheltered colonnades, and remarkable, when con- structed, for convenience, within twenty-five years was considered inadequate; another quarter of a century was to elapse, however, before it had been replaced. The delay was because of disagreements arising from conflicting interests, the city wishing to retain the Cove for æsthe- tic reasons, the railway companies being unwilling to abandon a location with reference to the city that scarcely could be improved. After the companies had rejected, in 1888, a plan to place the station on the north side of the Cove, a compromise was reached in a proposition to fill the Cove and locate the station on the new land. Tracks and station were elevated and carried above broad streets; provision was to be made for subways to avoid crossing tracks, and the station was reached by ramps of easy grade. When the station was completed other- wise, the Mayor of Providence, Edwin D. McGuiness, refused to sanction opening it for service as meeting all the requirements of the railroad companies' agreement with the city, until a substantial trainshed covering esplanade and tracks had been erected. A courageous and masterful man, his strategy was convincing, and he was successful in constraining action. The station was opened in 1898. The old station, part of which had been destroyed by fire, February 21, 1896, was removed, the site being laid out as a park fronting the new station.

STREET RAILWAYS-A street railway, operating horse-drawn cars between Central Falls, Pawtucket and Providence, was opened in May, 1864. Charters for street railway lines in Providence were granted as early as 1861; operation by the Union Railroad Company, a. Sprague corporation, with Amasa Sprague as President, began February 22, 1865, with the opening of a horse-car line from Market Square to Olneyville via Westminster and High Streets, returning via High Street and Weybosset Street. Later in the same year four other lines were in operation; the Union Railroad Company owned thirty-five cars and 250 horses, and carried 2,369,261 passengers in its first year. The Providence lines, including those built in later years, radiated from Market Square; there the company was authorized by the Gen- eral Assembly in 1867 to build a station and waiting room sixty feet square over the waters of the river north of Weybosset Bridge. The system was extended by the opening of addi- tional lines, and was practically complete as a horse-car service reaching all parts of Provi- dence and suburban communities within a radius of five miles by 1884. The independent line to Pawtucket and Central Falls was acquired and merged with the system in 1872. The horse- car service was picturesque; the cars, closed in winter, and open in summer, were drawn by two horses. Routes were planned to avoid steep hills; two east side lines, to Governor Street and to Brook Street, ran south on South Main Street to circle the steep east side hill and

Johnston vs. Providence and Springfield, 10 R. I. 365.

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climb by easier grades in flank and rear. On some grades a third horse, called a "hill horse," was added to the team. Horse car service was inaugurated in Pawtucket in 1885.

Tradition relates that George Washington, on one of his visits to Providence, suggested a tunnel as the most satisfactory device for overcoming the steep grades of east side streets ; the tunnel was constructed more than a century later. In 1889, the Providence Cable Tram- way Company built a cable road over the hill, the cable being operated underground and kept in motion by a power plant near Red Bridge. The route was up College Street, through Waterman Street to East River Street, returning via South Angell, Angell and Prospect Streets to College Street. The Union Railroad Company acquired the tramway stock in 1891, operating the line by cable power until electric traction was introduced. Thereafter, until the building of the tunnel, and the abandonment of College Street as a railway approach to the east side, a counter-weight was operated under the old tramway slot in College Street to bal- ance cars on the heavy grade.

The first street car operated by electricity made its initial run in Woonsocket on Septem- ber 25, 1888. Equipment was made at the plant of the Woonsocket Electric Machine and Power Company, under the direction of Frank M. Thayer. A horse car was rebuilt and equipped with apparatus, and Thayer supervised the hanging of trolley wires. The experi- ment was successful, and the Woonsocket street railway service was changed from horse to electric. Electric tramways were introduced at Newport soon after. After an unsatisfactory experiment on the Broad Street line in Providence with an electric car operated by storage batteries, electric traction with overhead trolleys was introduced in Providence in 1892. Within two years, April 24, 1894, horse cars had been abandoned. Meanwhile the Union Railroad Company, with the alleged purpose of obtaining additional capital for equipment, had obtained legislation authorizing it to issue bonds to an amount not exceeding $3,000,000, and to contract with towns and cities for franchises for terms not exceeding twenty-five years. A group of capitalists purchased controlling interests in the Union Railroad Company, paying $250 per share, and in the Pawtucket Company, at $125 per share, and obtained in New Jersey a char- ter for a holding company known as the United Traction and Electric Company. The next few years witnessed a rapid extension of trolley lines covering a large part of the state, many operated by the Rhode Island Suburban Railway Company, also controlled by the United Traction and Electric Company. Other companies or lines included : The Pawcatuck Valley Street Railway Company, 1893, Westerly to Watch Hill; Pawtuxet Valley Electric Street Railway Company, 1894, linking the valley villages, from Hope to Clyde, Washington and Crompton; lines from Pawtucket to Attleboro and North Attleboro, 1892 and 1895; Cum- berland Street Railway Company, 1898, Lonsdale to Cumberland Hill; Newport and Fall River, via Stone Bridge, 1898; Sea View Railroad, Wickford to Narragansett Pier, 1899; Providence to Wickford, 1900, connecting with the Sea View; Warwick and Oakland Beach, 1900, conversion of the old steam railroad; Providence to Apponaug and East Greenwich, 1900: Providence to Barrington, Warren and Bristol, 1900.

With the substitution of electricity for horses, lines were extended into places more and more remote from cities, opening up new sections for building homes, which were by the new tramway service brought into the circle of convenient suburbs. The Union Railroad Com- pany extended lines to Centredale, Riverpoint, Crescent Park and Rocky Point. Other lines from Providence, operated by or connecting with the Union system, reached Danielson, Con- necticut ; Fall River through Swansea and Somerset; and Taunton. Four parallel lines were operated between Providence and Pawtucket, with connections reaching from Pawtucket to Taunton and the Attleboros, or northerly through the Blackstone Valley. A direct express line to Woonsocket, for the most part on its own right of way, was constructed, with other lines to Saylesville and Smithfield. Within Rhode Island 218 miles of electric roads were operated in 1900, and 52,922,041 passengers were carried in that year. Similar expansion of transpor-

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tation systems had occurred elsewhere, and it had become possible through connecting sys- tems of electric tramways to travel long distances over country roads at speed that was reason- able for accomplishment and yet slow enough to permit sightseeing. A few of the longer trips that could be made from Providence by connecting lines were to Narragansett Pier; to Danielson, Connecticut; to Worcester via Woonsocket; to Taunton, Brockton and Middle- boro, and eventually to Boston; to Newport via Fall River ; to New Bedford via Fall River. Even longer trips could be made by transfer from line to line. Supplementing the passenger system, freight service was inaugurated on many lines. We shall leave the electric tramway as a practically complete system of transportation at the end of the nineteenth century with the purpose of returning in later paragraphs to trace its history in the twentieth century.

SOUND STEAMBOATING-We left the captains of Rhode Island packets and other small sailing vessels engaged in bay and coastwise commerce face to face with competition by steam- boats that indicated disaster for the packets. As a matter of fact, the sailing captain faced also competition with railroads that was more decisive possibly than that of the steamboats. The volume of the traffic on small sailing vessels is indicated both by the number of lines in opera- tion and the number of boats. In 1825, besides the lines operating within Narragansett Bay, regular sailings were made to Albany, Baltimore, Boston, Hartford, New York and Philadel- phia. In the same year eighteen sloops were operated between Providence and New York; six small schooners, and later five larger schooners, between Providence and Philadelphia ; four small schooners, between Providence and Boston; seven vessels, including a brig, between Providence and Baltimore; seven sloops, between Providence and Albany; five sloops between Providence and Hartford. Besides passengers the vessels carried freight in quantity ; the latter was the staple source of revenue. The advantages of speed of small over larger wooden vessels, which encouraged the use of packets and small schooners, vanished with the coming of steamboats and steam railroads. The steamboats were the earlier competitors. The first regular steamboats between Providence and Newport, were the "Connecticut," Cap- tain Bunker, and the "Fulton," Captain Law, which made two trips weekly in each direction in 1823. Three years later another steamboat, the "Washington," joined the fleet, and three sail- ings were made weekly. The fare was ten dollars, as it had been in the packets. Occasionally a competing steamboat offered reduced rates, so low as six dollars. Five boats, the "Wash- ington," "Fulton," "Chancellor Livingston," "Benjamin Franklin," and "President," ran in 1829 and until 1831, when the "Washington" sank after a collision with the "Chancellor Liv- ingston," May 14, in Long Island Sound. The "Chancellor Livingston" was 500 feet in length, with accommodations for 200 passengers. Her 250-horsepower engines, with three smokestacks, developed an average speed of eight and one-half miles an hour. She was built on lines resembling sailing vessels of the period, and carried three masts, with sails. Steam- power was applied to side paddle wheels, the latter having the appearance of being added afterward, although her designers softened her lines by graceful curves. The "Benjamin Franklin" was a rival, and the vessels raced from Providence to New York in October, 1828. The "Providence Journal" reported the race thus :

"By II o'clock the dense columns of smoke which blackened the heavens gave note of the dreadful preparation. All was life and animation. The passengers and even the spectators partook of the feelings of the owners and commanders of the two boats, and in fact the boats themselves seemed animated for the occasion and alive for the race. Before the clock struck twelve the 'Franklin' parted her fasts, apparently impatient for the encounter. She moved slowly down the stream and came to Fox Point Wharf, waiting the departure of the 'Chan- cellor.' At the usual hour the 'Chancellor' left the wharf, and the 'Franklin' at the same time set her wheels in motion, but being too far to the westward she unfortunately grounded, and the 'Chancellor' passed her. In about six minutes the 'Franklin' was again in motion, pro- ceeding rapidly on her voyage. It should be remembered that the 'Chancellor' was not pre-

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pared for the race. Just before the 'Franklin' started her commander received a note from the captain of the 'Chancellor' saying that the latter's piston was cracked in such a manner that it would prevent putting on the usual quantity of steam. The 'Chancellor' was also prepared for her regular trip to New York with a large number of passengers and the wood was stowed as usual upon her upper deck. Had the 'Chancellor' been prepared, the result would have been more favorable; as it was, she was beaten about three miles or from twelve to fif- teen minutes. With regard to the boats, we entertain but one opinion. They are both first- rate steamships, and, . ... we think there are not . . . better boats in the country."

The "Chancellor Livingston" was withdrawn from the Providence line in 1832, and was wrecked in Boston harbor in 1834. Two new boats, the "Providence" and the "Boston," were added to the fleet, and the "Connecticut" was withdrawn. In 1833-1834 the "Provi- dence" and the "Boston," and the "Benjamin Franklin" and the "President" were operated as competing lines. The "Lexington" entered service in 1835 as a rival to both. Two other new boats, the "Rhode Island" and the "Massachusetts," were added to the fleet in 1835, with the opening of the Boston and Providence Railroad. The "Narragansett," 1836, and "Cleo- patra," 1838, were further additions; in 1837, the "Narragansett" and the "Rhode Island" were transferred to a line operating from Stonington in connection with the Stonington railroad.

A Rhode Island steamboat, the "John W. Richmond," was launched in 1837 at Eddy's Point on the Providence River. Her engines were built by the Providence Steam Engine Company, and her speed made her queen of the Sound. Gradually finer lines and better engines were having an effect on steamboat traffic. The "Massachusetts" had reduced the running time between Providence and New York to thirteen and one-half hours; the "John W. Richmond" made the trip in eleven hours. Against the "Richmond" the "Lexington" was pitted, rivals for passengers and in speed. In a race from Stonington to New York the "Rich- mond" beat the "Lexington" by a half-hour. The "Richmond" was sold in 1840; the "Lex- ington" was destroyed by fire off Huntington, Long Island, January 13, 1840, only four of 150 passengers and complement surviving. The "Lexington" carried a cargo of cotton, piled close to the smokestacks. Fire was discovered early in the evening, and Captain Child headed his vessel for shore. The steering gear was disabled and the fire spread rapidly. A panic among the passengers prevented safe launching of the boats, and many were drowned. The four who were saved left the steamer on cotton bales; others who did likewise perished from cold and exhaustion in the bitter cold of midwinter. The "Lexington" burned until three in the morning and sank. David Crowley, who left the steamer on a cotton bale, burrowed into it, and drifted about from Monday night until Wednesday. A companion on the same bale died from exposure. Crowley reached shore on Long Island fifty miles from the wreck, crawled over the ice, and walked a mile to reach shelter. He recovered and saved the bale of cotton. Tradition relates that he kept the cotton at his home in Providence until the Civil War, when he sold it for the high price that prevailed because of the blockade of the cotton ports of the South. The Lexington brand of cotton cloth took its name from Crowley's bale of cotton.

The opening of the Stonington Railroad, and afterward the completion of all-rail con- nection from Boston to Stonington through the Providence Union station tended to reduce passenger traffic by steamboat from Providence to New York. Indeed, the rail route to Stonington and boat route thence to New York was favored, patronage of the Providence boats decreased, and service was reduced. The first steamboat substituting screw propeller for side paddles was the "Washington," which was built at Bristol, and ran between Provi- dence and New York, 1844-1847. The "Washington" was sold to the United States govern- ment for use as a transport during the Mexican War. In 1845 a line from Providence ran to

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Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 38

Author: Carroll, Charles, author Publication date: 1932 Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716