History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 88

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054

USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 88

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The operating of railroads was then comparatively in its infancy, and there were few experienced men to be employed. He at once instituted a rigid system of discipline and accountability, in which at first he met with opposition ; but after a time all became impressed with the justice and importance of it, and he received the hearty co-operation of the employees and directors, and thus established an esprit de corps among all con- nected with it which made " the Eagle Bridge route " celebrated for its promptness and regularity, its accommodation to the traveling and business public, and its employees as among the best railroad men in the country.

Heretofore it required two days for the mails as well as passengers to go between Burlington or Montreal and New York. Mr. Canfield first proposed to make a day line between the cities. He went to New York to enlist Governor Morgan, then president of the Hudson River Railroad, in the plan ; but he was coldly received by the governor, for the reason the governor believed it was simply impossible. But after several inter- views he consented to make the trial for three months, on condition Mr. Canfield would guarantee his company from any loss. It is 300 miles from New York to Burlington,

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and 400 to Montreal, which involved an average speed of about forty miles an hour. Accordingly, on the 15th day of May, 1852, at 6 o'clock, A. M., a train left the Cham- bers street depot in New York with Mr. Canfield, Mr. French, superintendent of the Hudson River Railroad, Mr. Johnson, superintendent of the Troy and Boston Railroad, with two or three reporters, being all that would risk their lives upon such a crazy ex- periment. The train arrived at Rutland on time at 1.25 P. M., having made the run from Eagle Bridge, sixty-two miles, in eighty-five minutes, making five stops, with Nat. Gooken engineer and Amos Story conductor. Burlington was reached at 3.20 P. M., and Montreal at 7 P. M. But for the fact that it had on board the New York papers of that morning it would have been impossible to have made the public believe that it came from beyond Troy. Thus was settled a question of great importance, the estab- lishing of a daily intercourse between Montreal and New York, since which time two daily trains have been kept up most of the time.

Burlington, previous to the advent of railroads, had been the commercial center of Northern Vermont, and had been built up from the trade arising from its being the point of shipment to the New York and Boston markets of the produce of the country, and the receipt and distribution of merchandise in return. Large numbers of eight or ten horse teams from Woodstock, Northfield, Bradford, St. Johnsbury, Hyde Park, Derby Line, Montpelier and other places with their loads of starch, butter, cheese, wool, scales and manufactured goods kept up a lively business with the interior, bringing to Burlington much money to be exchanged for flour, salt, iron, steel, nails and other mer- chandise. In addition to this the lines of boats running to Troy, Albany, New York, Montreal and all points on the lake, created an active and prosperous business for Bur- lington, and it became a very thriving and beautiful town.

When the question came up of connecting by railroad Boston and Burlington, two routes were proposed, one via Montpelier and Concord, and the other via Rutland and Fitchburg. There was much difference of opinion among the citizens which would be most for the interest of Burlington, or in other words, which would injure it the least, or least interfere with its already prosperous business. Public meetings were held, much excitement and feeling prevailed ; one party, headed by the old established house of J. & J. H. Peck & Co., advocating the Vermont Central route via Montpelier, of which Governor Charles Paine became president, and the other party, represented by Bradley & Canfield, urging the Rutland line, of which Judge Follett became president, who maintained that as Burlington had always derived its business more or less from Eastern and Northeastern Vermont, and parts of New Hampshire adjacent, that a railroad from Boston, penetrating these sections, would divert the trade direct to Boston, and thereby injure Burlington correspondingly ; while from the south Burlington had never had any trade, the connection with market from that portion of Vermont being made directly with the different shipping ports on the lake, and hence it was evident, that while Bur- lington had nothing to lose, but everything to gain by opening a trade with the towns of Western and Southern Vermont, at the same time the line to Boston would be shorter than by Montpelier, and, besides, a connection could be made at Rutland with railroads to Troy and Albany, and thus have a direct rail communication with New York and the West in the winter, as well as in the summer. The result of this controversy was the building of both lines, which was greatly accelerated by the powerful aid and influence contributed by the two contending parties, and on the 18th day of December, 1849, the first train from Boston via Rutland came into Burlington, and on the 25th day of the

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same month the first train via Montpelier arrived at Winooski, the bridge over the river at that place not being finished to admit it to Burlington. With the advent of the Vermont Central train, the fine ten-horse teams of Governor Paine and others ceased their trips forever to Burlington, and the elegant and celebrated six-horse teams and coaches of Mahlon Cottrell, of Montpelier, took their departure for the last time, as had before much of the business from that part of the State; and the prostration and decline of Burlington began, and stagnation in business reigned supreme, as Bradley & Canfield had maintained would be the case if the Vermont Central line was built.

Originally, to counteract the injury to a certain extent which might arise to Burling- ton by the Central line, it was contended by its friends that, its terminus being in Bur- lington with its shops, new business would be created to offset in part the loss of the old. It was also understood that an independent railroad should be built from there north to Canada to accommodate both the Boston lines, which were to make their termini in Burlington. But the excitement ran so high during the building that Gover- nor Paine, after becoming sure that his line would be built, gave up coming to Burling- ton, and arranged, with the aid of John Smith and Lawrence Brainerd, of St. Albans, to make a line north from Essex Junction, thus practically extending the main line of the Central to Rouse's Point, leaving Burlington to one side to be reached by a branch. This move gave the final blow to Burlington, and left the Rutland Railroad without any rail connection north, and forced it to make its connections with the Ogdensburgh and Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroads at Rouse's Point by boat. To meet this emer- gency, as the Rutland Railroad Company had not the right by its charter to build boats, Bradley & Canfield came to the rescue, and within ninety days, early in the spring of 1850, constructed four barges of the capacity of 3,000 barrels of flour each, and the steamer Boston to tow them between Burlington and Rouse's Point; and this enabled the Rutland line to compete successfully for the western business with the Vermont Central.

Previous to this, as early as 1847, Mr. Canfield saw that a change in the character of the business at Burlington was inevitable, and, to supply what would be destroyed, new branches would have to be built up. All the flour heretofore, for Northern Ver- mont and New York, came from Troy and Albany via Whitehall, while that for the rest of New England, after passing through the Erie Canal, found its way to Boston and other ports either by water by way of New York, or by the Boston and Albany Railroad to the inland towns. He thus early took the ground that, with the new pro- posed lines of railroads completed between the Atlantic and River St. Lawrence, a new route would have to be opened by that way and the upper lakes, to the wheat regions of the West. Upon consultation with leading forwarders at Troy and Albany, a move- ment of this kind, he found, would incur the hostility of New York and all parties in- terested in the navigation of the Erie Canal, which at that time was the main channel of transportation between the lakes and Hudson River. But Mr. Canfield, nothing daunted by such intimations, went in the spring of 1848 to Montreal, and laid his views and plans for a northern route before Messrs. Holmes, Young & Knapp, the most prominent merchants in Canada, and who carried on an extensive business with Cleve- land, Detroit and Chicago in wheat, flour and pork. They concurred with him in the desirability, but not the practicability of the scheme. From thence he went up the St. Lawrence River, stopping at Ogdensburgh, Kingston, Oswego, Rochester and Buffalo, to Cleveland. Here he met A. H. & D. N. Barney, who were engaged in boating on

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

the western lakes, and who have since become so prominent in the railroad and express business in New York city, and engaged them to send a vessel with a load of flour to Montreal, which he purchased on his own account. This vessel, although passing the locks in the Welland and St. Lawrence Canals, was too large to pass those of the Chambly, and hence Mr. Canfield had to unload the flour at Montreal, and after much trouble with the custom-house officers transferred it by ferry boat to La Prairie, nine miles above Montreal, on the opposite side of the St. Lawrence, then by rail to St. Johns at the foot of Lake Champlain, and then by steamer to Burlington. This was the first cargo of flour ever sent from Lake Erie to Lake Champlain via Welland Canal and St. Lawrence River. Although it was an expensive experiment, yet it showed that there was another route than that by the Erie Canal which was sooner or later to de- velop into an important one. The next season Bradley & Canfield chartered the steam . propeller Earl of Cathcart to run between Detroit and Montreal, agreeing to furnish at Detroit 1,500 barrels of flour every two weeks, at a fixed rate of freight to be paid whether the flour was shipped or not; and to enable them to comply with this contract, they purchased a large flouring mill at Battle Creek, Mich., to manufacture the flour, and thus opened a regular trade via Montreal to Burlington the whole season.

Meanwhile the Ogdensburgh Railroad was completed, and Mr. Canfield, still deter- mined to carry out his original plan of opening a more practicable northern route for much of the business between New England and the West, went to Oswego and Buf- falo, and after investigating more fully the operations of steam propellers on the lakes and Welland Canal, made a contract with E. C. Bancroft, of Oswego, to build two propellers of full size for the Welland Canal locks, costing $20,000 each, and arranged with Mr. Crawford, at Cleveland, to supply two more, with which to make a regular line from Detroit to Ogdensburgh. The Erie Canal forwarders, becoming alarmed at this new departure, procured from the Legislature of New York a reduction of tolls on wheat and flour, which interfered seriously with the new route, compelling a reduction of price of freight to about actual cost. This reduction was unnecessary, as it did not alter the production, and Mr. Canfield contended that the increased production of grain in the new-developed Western States would keep pace with all the increased facilities of transportation, which has since proved to be true, notwithstanding there are now eight through lines of railroad, as well as the Erie Canal and various water lines on the St. Lawrence River.

The next season, 1850, opened with the line of propellers between Ogdensburgh and Detroit. But the fates were against them. One of the new ones ran on to a rock in the upper St. Lawrence and sank on the first trip, and another was wrecked on her second voyage, entailing a very heavy loss upon Bradley & Canfield. Others were procured to take their places, and the line was kept up, so that it was demonstrated at the end of the season that with proper vessels a regular line could be supported ; the result of which was the establishment of the Northern Transportation Line from Og- densburgh to Detroit and Chicago, consisting of a fleet of ten or fifteen propellers, which forever settled the practicability of the northern route, so that at the present day nearly all the business between Northern New England and the West is done that way, either by rail or water. During the four or five years of its inauguration Mr. Canfield was the main advocate and promoter of it, and it was through his persistent efforts, and after various trials and experiments and great loss of time and money, that he saw his plans succeed and the route thoroughly opened up and maintained. But the various obsta-

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THOMAS HAWLEY CANFIELD.

cles which he still encountered, and especially the delay and damage incident to tran- shipment at different points, led him to consider the plan of a continuous water route without transhipment from the upper lakes, involving the construction of a ship canal from Caughnawaga, above the Lachine Rapids, in the St. Lawrence River, to Lake Champlain. He had frequent interviews in Montreal with the Hon. John Young, Ben- jamin Holmes, Harrison Stephens, Peter McGill, Messrs. Holton & McPhersons, for- warders, all of whom were men of broad views and extended knowledge of the re- sources of the vast West on both sides of the line. Mr. Young had already agitated the subject in Canada. Mr. Canfield arranged a series of meetings to bring the scheme before the public. One was held in Burlington August 14, 1849, which was addressed by Mr. Young, Judge Follett and Charles Adams, the latter gentlemen entering into it very enthusiastically as well as intelligently. Another was held at Saratoga August 21, over which General John E. Wool presided, which was also addressed by Mr. Young, Mr. Adams, Chancellor Walworth and many other prominent men from Mon- treal, Troy, Albany, Whitehall and other cities. A committee was appointed, consisting of prominent citizens in the States and Canada, to devise measures to carry on the en- terprise. A survey was made and it looked as though the project might be accom- plished. But when the matter came up in the Parliament of Canada for a charter, an unexpected resistance arose from Montreal, and although the charter was finally granted, the opposition became so great as to paralyze the efforts of Mr. Young and others, and prevented anything further being done.

The fact that the large lumber trade with Canada and Michigan has grown up since at Burlington, even with the much inferior and more distant connection by the way of the Chambly Canal, demonstrates the necessity of a canal of much larger dimensions, and had the original plan of Mr. Canfield and Mr. Young been carried out, Burlington would long since have become the distributing point for the flour and grain of the West as well as lumber for nearly all of New England ; the large steamers leaving Duluth and Chicago would have discharged their cargoes on the docks at Burlington without breaking bulk, thereby creating a business which would have added greatly to its pop- ulation and prosperity, and made it one of the most important cities of New England. Mr. Canfield still believes that this canal will, sooner or later, be built, that the necessi- ties of trade and commerce will demand it, and that nothing would conduce so much to the growth and advancement of Burlington as the construction of the Caughnawaga Ship Canal.

While Mr. Canfield was thus engaged in these various enterprises he formed the ac- quaintance of Edwin F. Johnson, then perhaps the most experienced railroad engineer in America, who spent much of his time at Burlington in the stone store of Bradley & Canfield. Mr. Johnson, having been projector of the Erie Railroad in 1836 from New York to the lakes, as well as having been engaged in the construction of the Erie Canal, had given much thought, and collected from army officers, trappers and traders, much information relative to the belt of country between the great lakes and the Pacific Ocean, and had become so thoroughly impressed with the importance of a railroad to the Pacific coast, that he was constantly talking with Mr. Canfield upon the project to induce him to take hold of it. Mr. Canfield, who was then about thirty years old, be- came so much convinced by Mr. Johnson's arguments, as well as by his own study of the country, of the practicability of a railroad across the continent, that he resolved to make it the business of his life, and devote his energies and talents to the accomplish-

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

ment of it, believing he could in no way be so instrumental in promoting the happiness and welfare of his fellow men as in opening to settlement that immense tract of fertile land in the Northwest, and which would furnish homes for millions of the poor and down-trodden of all nations.

The first active step towards it was the taking of a contract in 1852, by himself and partners, to build the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad, now known as the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, from Chicago to St. Paul, Minn., and Fond du Lac, Wis. Mr. Johnson was made chief engineer. At this time there was no railroad into Chicago from the East, and the materials and supplies were transported from Buf- falo by boat through the lakes and straits of Machinac to Chicago. Robert J. Walker, secretary of the treasury of the United States, N. P. Tallmadge, ex-United States sena- tor from New York, and other prominent men were the directors of the company. It was while Mr. Johnson was thus engaged on this road that he used to have long talks with Mr. Canfield about a line of railroad to the Pacific Ocean from St. Paul, and wrote an exhaustive treatise upon Pacific railroads, showing that the northern via the Missouri, Yellowstone and Columbia Rivers was the most feasible route, as well as passing through the most productive country. This made a volume of 150 pages, with an extended map, which Mr. Canfield and his partner published at their own expense, upon which was traced the isothermal line, showing that the climate became milder from Minnesota to Puget Sound, until a mean winter temperature there was warmer than Chesapeake Bay.

In those days railroad building was slow compared with what it is now, materials difficult to get, capital timid, contractors inexperienced, and before the railroad was fin- ished to Fond du Lac the panic of 1857 overtook it and stopped all work, embarrassing the company and contractors. Before the company could be reorganized, the War of the Rebellion came on, when the necessity of a railroad to the Pacific became apparent, and the government selected the middle route, or Union Pacific, as the first line to be built, granting it lands and a money subsidy.

Soon after the war broke out and the government assumed control of the railroads of the country, and Colonel Thomas A. Scott, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was made assistant secretary of war, having for his special duties the collecting of the armies of the United States. He sent for Mr. Canfield and placed him in charge of all the rail- roads about Washington as general manager. At this time Washington was surrounded by the rebels, and all communication was cut off except by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, with a single track - all the materials and supplies for the daily support of citizens, the army and everything, as well as all passengers and troops, had to be taken over this line. It required from thirty to forty trains a day each way, of about thirty- five cars each, and the fear that the enemy might intercept them at any time caused no little uneasiness to the president and his cabinet.

It was a very responsible and trying position. The flower of the Confederate army, under their experienced and popular leader, General Lee, was encamped upon the "sa- cred soil " in sight of the capitol, rebel spies and allies were everywhere present in dis- guise, occupying positions of trust in the different departments of the government, keeping up a constant secret communication with the rebel leaders, the whole North in a state of anxiety and excitement lest the capital of the Union, with its treasures and archives, should fall into the hands of the enemy, while the South were hourly expect- ing to hear of its surrender to General Lee, and its occupation by their troops.

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THOMAS HAWLEY CANFIELD.

Every avenue of communication by land and water with the District of Columbia was in the hands of the rebels, except the single iron-track Baltimore, over which the 300,000 soldiers for the Army of the Potomac were to be transported for the defense of Washington, as well as everything for the support of man and beast in and about Wash ington. It was only after frequent interviews and repeated assurances that Mr. Can- field could satisfy President Lincoln that he could, on this single track, keep open a communication with Washington until the Army of the Potomac should be collected, pro- vided the government would furnish troops enough to protect the line from destruction.

But the rigid system instituted by Mr. Canfield of guarding the track the whole dis- tance by day and night, the employment of experienced, loyal railroad men whom he knew and in whom he had confidence, an implicit obedience of all employees to the rules and regulations, enabled him to transport the immense amount of freight, passen- gers and troops during the whole blockade without an accident of any kind. Never, perhaps, has there been, before or since in this country, so much business done in the same length of time with so much promptness and safety, upon a single-track railroad. The general movement of the army the next season into Virginia and the South raised the blockade and removed the necessity of further vigilance at Washington; and the death of Mr. Doolittle, the superintendent of the steamers on Lake Champlain, created a vacancy which the directors of the company desired Mr. Canfield to fill, which he accepted, returned to Burlington, and for several years was the general superintendent of the company.

Upon the revival of the project of the Northern Pacific Railroad after the war, when Messrs. Smith, of Vermont, Rice, of Maine, and Cheney, of Boston, purchased from Mr. Perham, then the ostensible proprietor, the whole enterprise, to save it to this country and from going into the hands of the Grand Trunk Railroad of Canada, which was endeavoring to get control of it, an active man was wanted to take charge of the busi- ness, to attend to all the details, to bring the merits of the enterprise before Congress and the country. Mr. Canfield, who was well known to all these gentlemen as having given much attention to the matter in former years with Mr. Johnson, was appointed a director and general agent of the company, with power to take such measures as he thought necessary to get the company into operation, and to carry out the provisions of the charter in the work of construction, under the advice of the directors from time to time. After the failure of Congress in 1866 and 1867 to grant aid, it was evident that the temper of that body was hostile to further government aid to railroads, which was encouraged by those interested in the Union and Central Pacific Railroads, to prevent, if possible, the building of the northern and southern lines. The directors of the North- ern Pacific were much discouraged, and at times were about ready to abandon the en- terprise and lose what money they had already put in. But the charter would expire in two years. Mr. Canfield, who had been so many years working for the enterprise, would not consent to give it up without one more effort to save it, knowing full well that with the state of public sentiment then existing, if this charter expired, another never would be granted.

To secure an extension of the charter and give it a more national character than it seemed to have before, Mr. Canfield conceived the idea of a syndicate of gentlemen, to be made up from those occupying prominent positions in the leading railroads of the country. He went to St. Albans and laid the matter before Governor Smith, who was then president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, who concurred in it; but, being too busy

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HISTORY OF CHITTENDEN COUNTY.

with the affairs of the Vermont Central Railroad to give much personal attention to the plan, he told Mr. Canfield to go ahead and he would endorse anything he might do. Mr. Canfield left Burlington for New York on the 26th day of December, 1866, with a heavy heart, but resolved to make a last desperate effort to save the magnificent enterprise about which he had already spent so many years of his life. Mr. William B. Ogden, of Chicago, with whom Mr. Canfield had long been acquainted, was the president of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, was better informed upon the resources of the great Northwest, and had spent more time in investigating them than any other man of his time, and could better appreciate the magnitude of the Northern Pacific and the development of an empire, which must follow its construction. Mr. Canfield felt that his first point was to secure the active co-operation of Mr. Ogden and induce him to take hold of it, notwithstanding he was overwhelmed with business.

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History of Chittenden County, Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 88

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1054

Author: Rann, W. S. (William S.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1054