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^tf^. .pXIBRARY OF 
 
 THE 
 
 *^^°4t 
 
 EAILEOADS OF THE TOl p) l^jflgf <^^ 
 
 THEIR HISTORY AND STATISTICS: 
 
 COMPRISING 
 
 THE PROGRESS AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE VARIOUS 
 
 LINES WITH THEIR EARNINGS AND EXPENSES, 
 
 AND SHOWING THEIR WONDERFUL POWER 
 
 IN DEVELOPING THE RESOURCES 
 
 OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 TO WHICS ARE ADDED A 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF THE RAILROAD LAWS OP THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 AND AN ARTICLE ON THE COMPARATIVE MERITS Off 
 
 IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 
 
 BY 
 
 HENEY M. FLINT, 
 
 author op " the life of stephen a. dodalas," *' mexico ujideb 
 uaxxuilian/* etc. etc. 
 
 '• They baild not merely roads of earth and stone, as of old, but they build Iron roads : 
 and, not content with horses of fleah; they are building horsea of iron, such as never faint 
 nor lose their breath."— /)r, Buahnell. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 JOHN E. POTTER AND COMPANY, 
 
 617 Sansom Street. 
 
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Hfe 
 
 /\773fV 
 
 .-^ — C-r- 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 
 JOHN E. POTTEE & CO., 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for tha 
 Eastern District of the State of Pennsylvania. 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 The work whict is now submitted to the indulgence 
 of a generous public, supplies, it is believed, to some 
 extent, a want that has long been felt on both sides of 
 the Atlantic. The absence of any authentic work 
 which should give a connected and reliable history of 
 the principal railroads in the United States, is a fact 
 of which every intelligent person must be sensible. 
 The preparation of such a work involves an immense 
 amount of labor ; but it was cheerfully undertaken and 
 has been faithfully pursued, under the encouraging 
 conviction that the results of that labor, as now laid 
 before the public, would be fully appreciated. 
 
 The thanks of the author are due, and they are 
 hereby most gratefully tendered, to the many gentle- 
 men, prominently connected with the great railroads 
 of the country, for the exceedingly kind manner in 
 which they responded to his request for data and de- 
 tails m regard to many points, without which the work 
 would have been incomplete. It is owing to this con- 
 siderate kindness on their part, that the author is now 
 enabled to present his work to the public as authentic 
 and reliable upon every important point. 
 
 In a work of such extent, and embracing so many 
 
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U PREFACE, 
 
 ramifications, some errors may be detected. The 
 author will be happy to correct these in a subsequent 
 edition of the work, if pointed out by competent 
 authority. 
 
 If there is any one fact which stands out in this 
 work more prominently than another, it is the great 
 and surprising effects that have followed the consoli- 
 dation of several lines of railroad into one corporation. 
 The New York and Erie road ; the New York Central 
 road ; the Pennsylvania Railroad ; the Pittsburg, Fort 
 Wayne, and Chicago road ; and the Chicago and North 
 Western road, all afford striking illustrations of the 
 vast benefits of judicious consolidation. 
 
 The effect of particular railroads in developing the 
 resources of the country is a subject that has not been 
 overlooked ; and the chapters on the condition of the 
 Western country before the introduction of railroads, 
 will show how vast a change has been wrought by these 
 great promoters of civilization. 
 
 But, without further introduction, the work itself is 
 committed to an indulgent public, as an humble contri- 
 bution to the literature of the day. 
 
 H. M. K 
 
 Washington, April, 1868. 
 
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CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Pagb 
 
 THE OUIGIN OF RAILROADS 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOW A RAILROAD IS BUILX 19 
 
 Tunnels 21 
 
 AuEBicAN Tunnels 23 
 
 Cost of Railboads 2i 
 
 Eabj^ings and Oferatino Expenses .... 31 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ORIGIN OF RAILROADS IN RUSSIA 35 
 
 Anecdotes op Opposition to Railboads ... 37 
 
 UsiNQ Railroads on Sundays 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PROGRESS OF RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES . 43 
 
 Principal Trunk Lines 46 
 
 From Boston to the West 41! 
 
 From New Tork to the West . . . .47 
 
 From Philadelphia to the West • . . 49 
 From Baltimore to the West . • . .49 
 From New York to the South .•..&() 
 
 From Chicago to the South .... 51 
 
 From Chicago to the West .... 52 
 Chicago to the Northwest • . . .52 
 
 Chicago to the Southwest .... 52 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD .... 53 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD^co»<iM««i ... 65 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD 83 
 
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Paob 
 86 
 
 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PENNSYLVANIA KAILROAD 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA ^AIUIO AT)— continued 96 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA UAl'L'RO&.D—cmttinued 107 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PITTSBURG, FORT WAYNE, AND CHICAGO RAILROAD . 128 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 NORTHERN CENTRAL RAILROAD 1« 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD 144 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD— eore<jWW . . .156 
 
 CHAPTER XV: 
 
 MICHIGAN CENTRAL RAILROAD AND GREAT WESTERN 
 
 RAILROAD OF CANADA 167 
 
 Michigan Central Railkoad 168 
 
 Hotel Cars 170 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD 172 
 
 Increase op Means to Operate the Road . IBS 
 
 Financial CoNniTiON 186 
 
 Earnings por various Years IHO 
 
 CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD . . .191 
 
 CHAPTER XAail. 
 
 THE MICHIGAN SOUTHERN RAILROAD . . . .204 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 RAILROADS OF NEW ENGLAND 214 
 
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CONTENTS. 9 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Page 
 RAILROADS IN NEAT JERSEY 230 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 CENTRAL RAILROAD OF NEW JERSEY 235 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CONDITION OF THE WESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE THE 
 INTRODUCTION OF RAILROADS 239 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 CONDITION OF THE WESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE THE 
 INTRODUCTION OF RAlLROADS—coulitmed . . .248 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE RAILROADS OF ILLINOIS 258 
 
 Railroads now ik Operation 261 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE RAILROADS OF CHICAGO 263 
 
 Trunk Lines Centering at Chicago .... 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD . . .270 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD— co??.(!nMe(; . 281 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN R AII.UO AT)— conti?itied . 293 
 History of the Peninsula Railroad . . . 302 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD 311 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILRO AD— contituud . . . .320 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 CHICAGO AND ST. LOUIS RAILROAD. TOLEDO, WABASH 
 AND WESTERN RAILROAD .330 
 
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10 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 PiOE 
 
 CHICAGO, KOCK ISLAND, AND PACIFIC KAILROAD. CHI- 
 CAGO, BURLINGTON, AND QUINCY RAILROAD . • 335 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 RAILROADS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. NEW ORLEANS, 
 JACKSON AND GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD . . 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 MEMPHIS AND CHARLESTON RAILROAD . . . .358 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 ORANGE AND ALEXANDRIA RAILROAD . . . .370 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 RAILROADS IN TEXAS 374 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 PROJECTED RAILROADS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST. THE 
 
 PACliFIC RAILROAD 384 
 
 Projected Railroads in the South .... 385 
 
 Projected Railroads in the West .... 386 
 
 Railroads in Iowa and Minnesota .... 393 
 
 Railroad to the Pacific Ocean .... 394 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 ON THE COMPARATIVE MERITS OF IRON AND STEEL 
 RAILS 412 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 RAILROAD LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES . . .426 
 
 Railroad Laws or Pennsylvania .... 438 
 Consolidation of Railroad Companies . . . 439 
 Railroad Laws of Illinois ..... 440 
 The Consolidation Act ; Providing for the Con- 
 solidation OF Railroad Companies . . . 442 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note A.— NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILWAY . . .443 
 
 Note B.— PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD 440 
 
 Note C— NORTHERN CENTRAL RAILROAD . . . .450 
 
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MILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 THE ORIGIN" OF EAILROADS. 
 
 To tbat imperial people who colonized when they 
 had conquered, England owes her first road, in the 
 year 415. Wherever the Eomans penetrated-^into 
 whatever distant countries their victorious legions 
 marched, the arts went hand in hand with arms. The 
 Koman camp required the Roman way: and it has 
 been remarked that the general direction of those 
 works, which excite and astonish the beholder, is 
 closely allied to that of the modern railway. 
 
 In the Dark Ages, the roads of England were beset 
 with danger and delay ; and the age of chivalry was 
 a terrible era for the traveller. The great highway 
 of Watling Street, says Francis, was beset, even in the 
 age of Edward the Confessor, by robbers and highway- 
 men. The highwayman, indeed, was a portion of the 
 English roads until 1763, as he is now a portion of 
 established English literature. 
 
 Seventy -five years ago tram-roads were extensively 
 employed in many parts of England. They consisted 
 of thin beams or rails of wood, upon which the wheels 
 
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12 KAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of wagons rested, in their passage. The wooden rails, 
 forming the tracks for the wagon wheels, were about 
 four inches broad, supported on thicker pieces of tim- 
 ber laid at right angles to them, called sleepers, to 
 which they were secured by wooden pins. Over a 
 road thus constructed it was found that wagons, heav- 
 ily loaded, could be drawn with ease. The friction of 
 the wheels, however, passing over the rails, gradually 
 wearing out the latter, new ones were substituted: 
 and afterwards these tram-roads were made by laying 
 down two rails, one above the other, so that when the 
 upper rails were worn out, they could be easily re- 
 placed. These tramways were of especial value in 
 mining and coal districts. 
 
 At th,e Colebrook Iron Works, in 1767, in order to 
 protect these wooden rails still more, plates of iron 
 were laid over them. These iron plates were four 
 inches wide, one inch thick, and five feet long, and 
 were made with holes through whicb spikes were 
 driven to fasten them down. Tramways constructed in 
 this manner were found to be so durable that their use 
 became greatly extended, so that, in 1811, there were 
 one hundred and eighty miles in operation in Wales 
 alone. The first railroads that were constructed in 
 the United States were little more than iron tram-roads 
 of this kind. 
 
 In 1805 a tram-road was opened at Croydon, and 
 the advantages which it presented were subjected to a 
 practical test. A good horse, on an ordinary turnpike 
 road, can draw two thousand pounds, or a ton. A 
 party of gentlemen were invited to witness the ex- 
 periment, that the superiority of the new road might 
 
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THE OEIGIN OF RAILEOADS. 13 
 
 be established by ocular demonstration. Twelve 
 wagons were loaded with stones, till each wagon 
 weighed three tons, and the wagons were fastened 
 together. A horse was then attached, which drew the 
 twelve wagons with ease, six miles in two hours, 
 having stopped four times, in order to show that he 
 had the power of starting, as well as drawing this 
 great load. 
 
 Horses continued to be used on these tram-ways 
 for many years; and as long as the only motive 
 power on these roads continued to be-horses, few or 
 no improvements were made in the construction of 
 the roads themselves. But in 1820, Mr. Thomas 
 Gray, of England, published a book in which he 
 propounded a general iron railroad, or land steam 
 conveyance, to supersede the necessity of horses in 
 all public vehicles. This was a startling innovation ; 
 for steam had not yet begun to be used on railroads, 
 or as a means of propulsion on land. Mr. Gray pro- 
 posed that his plan should first be attempted between 
 Liverpool and Manchester. He laid his plan before 
 the capitalists of Manchester. But, although they 
 owed their fortunes to steam, they could not appre- 
 ciate the idea. Macaulay says: "There were fools 
 /then, as there are fools now; fools, who laughed at 
 railways as they had laughed at canals; fools, who 
 thought they evinced their wisdom by doubting what 
 they could not understand." 
 
 In 1825, the first railroad in England, for the con- 
 veyance of passengers, was established. It was the 
 Stockton and Darlington road, was thirty-seven miles 
 long, and consisted of a single track with sidings. It 
 
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14 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 commenced by carrying five hundred or six hundred 
 passengers every week, in coaches which carried six 
 passengers inside, and twenty passengers outside. 
 Each carriage was drawn by one horse, and the speed 
 was ten miles per hour. To the success of this line, 
 says an English writer, may be attributed the origin 
 of all the others. 
 
 The proposal to construct a railroad between Liver- 
 pool and Manchester was made in 1822, but it was ' 
 not till 1826 that the consent of Parliament was ob- 
 tained. Of the land owners on the' line of the road, 
 one hundred and fifty-two were in favor of it, and 
 eighty-six were opposed to its construction. When 
 the works approached completion, it was necessary to 
 decide what motive power should be used. Horse 
 power was found to be altogether inadequate. In 
 order to attract the attention of men of science to the 
 undertaking, a premium of twenty-five hundred dol- 
 lars was offered for the best locomotive engine that 
 could be constructed. The company required that 
 the engine should consume its own smoke, that it 
 should be capable of drawing a train of twenty tons 
 weight at ten miles per hour, and that its height 
 should not exceed fifteen feet. 
 
 The successful engine was built by Mr. Greorge 
 Stephenson. This engine, on its trial trip, ran a dis- 
 tance of thirty miles twice, drawing the required load. 
 The first time it performed the distance in two hours 
 and fifteen minutes, the second time in two hours and 
 seven minutes. It attained a speed of thirty miles 
 an hour, and its average speed was fourteen miles an 
 hour. Mr. Stephenson was immediately appointed to 
 
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THE ORIGIN OF RAILROADS. 15 
 
 construct all the engines that might be required for 
 the new road. The cost of this road was one hun- 
 dred and twenty thousand dollars per mile. 
 
 This line was formally opened on the I'Sth of Sep- 
 tember, 1830,* in the presence of a gay and very 
 distinguished company, among whom were the Duke 
 of Wellington and Lord Brougham. On returning 
 from the opening excursion, the guests sat down to 
 an elegant banquet provided by the company; and 
 after the repast. Lord Brougham made a speech in his 
 usual eloquent vein, in which he said of the excursion 
 on the new road: "There I saw the difiSculties of 
 space overcome; I surveyed masses of solid rock 
 pierced through; I saw mountains, on which it was 
 barely possible, before, for man or beast to plant the 
 sole of the foot, now traversed by a smooth and solid 
 road; I saw valleys made practicable by the bridges 
 of ample height and length which spanned them ; saw 
 the steam railway traversing the surface of the water 
 at a height of sixty or seventy feet ; saw the rocks 
 excavated, and the gigantic power of man penetrating 
 through miles of solid rock, and gaining a great, a 
 lasting conquest, over the powers of nature." 
 
 This railroad carried seven hundred thousand per- 
 sons during the first eighteen months after it was 
 opened ; being one thousand and seventy persons per 
 day. The success of this line removed all doubt as 
 to the possibilities of the railroad system. In 1838, 
 
 * The first division of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had heen 
 opened in May of the same year, lu the same year, also, a locomo- 
 tive and passenger cars were running on six miles of the Charles- 
 ton and Georgia Railroad. 
 
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16 RAILEOAPS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the road between London and Birmingham was com- 
 pleted and opened; and between the year 1840 and 
 1850, the other principal lines of railroad in England 
 were constructed. In 1841, there were fifteen hundred 
 and fifty miles of railroad in operation in England, 
 and twenty millions of people safely transported 
 during the year. In 1843, there were eighteen hun- 
 dred miles of railroad* in operation, and twenty-seven 
 millions of people were transported. In 1844, there 
 were nineteen hundred miles of railroad in operation, 
 and thirty millions of passengers were transported. 
 
 Although ,£60,000,000 of capital had been invested 
 in little more than ten years, in these now fashionable 
 enterprises, all the principal lines paid large profits. 
 Dividends of ten per cent, were declared, and the 
 shares rose largely in value. The demand for these 
 shares became a popular rage, but it was met with an 
 abundant supply. In 1845, three hundred miles of 
 new railroad were opened, and acts were passed by 
 Parliament, sanctioning the construction of eighteen 
 hundred miles more. 
 
 Ten years ago, a writer in the " London Economist*' 
 called attention to the £300,000,000 which, up to that 
 time, had been embarked in railroad enterprises in 
 England, as the largest aggregate property that was 
 ever contributed to any one commercial object. And 
 yet there could have been added to this sura the five 
 hundred millions of dollars invested in the same 
 commercial object in France; the six hundred and 
 fifty millions of dollars similarly invested in the 
 United States up to that time, and the relatively large 
 amount contributed in Belgium, Germany, Spain and 
 
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THE ORIGIN OF RAILROADS. 17 
 
 Italy. According to Mr. Steplieuson, the lines con- 
 structed in England exceeded, in I806, the aggregate 
 length of the ten chief rivers of Europe — the Volga, 
 the Danube, the Dnieper, the Rhine, the Dwina, the 
 Loire, the Vistula, the Dniester, the Ehone, and the 
 Guadalquivir ; and, exclusive of the Thames and the 
 Mersey, they undoubtedly carried more goods and 
 passengers than were conveyed on all those rivers. 
 
 In the United States, there were at that time twenty- 
 three thousand three hundred and forty-two miles of 
 railroad in operation, the increase in the year 1855 
 alone having been three thousand four hundred and 
 eight miles. When to these, then, are added the rail- 
 roads of France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and India, 
 it becomes, says the writer above named, manifest, 
 that railways constitute the greatest uniform work 
 performed in a few years by the hand of man. All 
 the highroads in Euroj)e, though they were the work 
 of many ages, sink into insignificance when brought 
 into comparison with the railroads built within thirty 
 years. All the vast pyramids, all the towering monu- 
 ments and mighty walls of the ancients, all the spa- 
 cious churches and proud cathedrals of the middle 
 ages, were but trivial works, compared with the rail- 
 roads that in a short period have sprung into ex- 
 istence, as if by the "conspiration and the mighty 
 magic" of one mind and one will, throughout the 
 whole civilized world. It is remarkable, too, that this 
 great work has been executed without any constraint, 
 or any serious derangement of any other needful 
 branch of industry. By saving time, and bringing 
 remote lands into cultivation, it has increased capital 
 
 o 
 
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18 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 with all the means of subsistence, and multiplied 
 employment whenever it has come into use. It has 
 made the rich man its client, and the poor man its 
 debtor. In the United States, by rapidly bringing 
 the surplus produce of the interior to the seaboard, 
 it saved a part of the population of Europe from 
 starvation. 
 
 The railroads of the United States are by no means 
 finished. The principal roads are constantly making 
 improvements in their tracks and rolling stock, by 
 which distance is shortened^ speed increased, and the 
 comfort and safety of passengers promoted. New 
 roads, too, are being built ; and the necessity for them 
 is shown in the fact that the freight and traffic for 
 them accumulate along the route, even before the 
 track is laid. 
 
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HOW" A RAILROAD IS BUILT. 19 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 HOW A EAILEOAD IS BUILT. 
 
 How little the railroad traveller, thoughtful only of 
 speed, comfort, and cheapness, sees of the formidable 
 works over and through which he is so safely and 
 rapidly carried ! How little he knows of the hercu- 
 lean labors that have been performed, the anxieties 
 that have been borne, the skill and invention that have 
 been brought into exercise, the desperate difficulties 
 that have been surmounted, in order to provide for 
 him those two parallel lines of iron over which he 
 smoothly glides and peacefully snores. Yet for bold- 
 ness of design, skill in construction, and success in 
 completion, the gigantic achievements of engineering 
 performed in the laying of great railroads, greatly 
 surpass in magnitude as well as in utility, those that 
 have left their own monuments from earlier ages. 
 
 The main object of the railroad engineer is to 
 reduce his road as nearly as possible to a level. High 
 grounds are to be cut down, and embankments raised 
 across the lower lands. When a mountain intervenes, 
 through which an open cut is impracticable, the ex- 
 pedient of a tunnel has to be adopted. When a deep 
 valley lays in the way, and an embankment is not 
 feasible, then there must be a viaduct. And when an 
 arm of the sea, such as the Menai Straits, has to be 
 
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20 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 crossed, it must be overleaped on iron tubes swung in 
 mid air. Of the eight thousand and fifty-five miles 
 of railroad in operation in England six years ago, 
 seventy miles passed through tunnels, and more than 
 fifty miles over viaducts ; while of railroad bridges 
 there had been built some three thousand large and 
 costly structures. 
 
 Incredible difaculties have been encountered by 
 engineers in carrying embankments of earth across low 
 grounds. These grounds, in many places, under a 
 fair, green surface, have been found to conceal the re- 
 mains of ancient bogs and swamps, sometimes of great 
 depth. Thus, on one English railroad, about six 
 hundred tons of stone and earth were daily used to 
 form an embankment across a valley, and morning 
 after morning, for many weeks, the material deposited 
 on the preceding day was found to have disappeared. 
 A still more remarkable instance, however, is said to 
 have occurred on a road in the United States, where 
 an embankment, which had been entirely constructed, 
 suddenly disappeared from view, and was found to 
 have sunk in thirty feet of water. The cause of this 
 was ascribed to the fact that an extensive lake had, ia 
 the course of ages, been covered with various deposits, 
 which at length formed a soil of sufficient stability to 
 withstand the operations of agriculture without giving 
 way ; but being oppressed by the weight of so extra- 
 ordinary a contrivance as a railroad embankment, it 
 declined to be thus burdened, and sunk at last beneath 
 the waters. 
 
 The Michigan Southern Railroad, to fill a " sink hole" 
 of forty rods under its track in Northern Indiana has 
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HOW A RAILROAD IS BUILT. 21 
 
 dumped in, two acres of earth averaging ten feet in 
 depth ; three acres of timber and brushwood ; the 
 ditchings and scrapings of fifty miles of railroad track 
 for about eight years past ; the old ties of about one 
 hundred miles of repaired track ; and about three thou- 
 sand car-loads of gravel ; besides the forty rods of em- 
 bankment, from four to six feet high, that were made 
 before the sinking occurred. The work of filling seems 
 now to have been accomplished. 
 
 Tunnels. — In Chester County, England, the great 
 Woodhead tunnel penetrates the mountain for a length 
 of about three miles, under a dreary, barren moor, 
 undisturbed save by the spoitsman's gun. The usual 
 shafts were sunk over the line of the tunnel, down 
 towards its base. The average depth of the shafts 
 was six hundred feet — but it was long, indeed, before 
 the workmen could reach the bottom level. The 
 sinking, blasting, and winding went on so slowly, that 
 the tunnel was six years in progress. This was caused 
 by the hardness of the material, and the immense 
 quantity of water that flowed into the shafts. The 
 operation of pumping continued incessantly for five 
 years, during which time the engines brought up no 
 less than eight millions of tons of water. At two of 
 the shafts, where continuous pumping was kept up, 
 not an inch was gained in nine months. In another, 
 it took eleven months to sink fourteen yards. The 
 ivater was never entirely conquered, until the under 
 ]rift was blasted through the line of the tunnel, 
 ivhereby the upper springs were tapped, and the 
 ivater flowed out of the open end of the tunnel by its 
 )wn gravity. The blasting in this tunnel was on so 
 
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22 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 enormous a scale, that not less than three thousand 
 five hundred barrels of gunpowder, weighing about 
 one hundred and sixty tons, were used in the opera- 
 tion. 
 
 More gunpowder, indeed, has been expended in 
 railroad works than has been blown away in the 
 recent Civil War in America, with the Crimean "War 
 added. Near Dover, in England, Sir William Cubit, 
 in 1833, blew away, with one charge of nineteen 
 thousand pounds of gunpowder, the entire mass of the 
 Round Down Cliff, which rose to the height of three 
 hundred and fifty feet above the level of the sea. 
 This terrible blast, fired by galvanic electricity at 
 several points instantaneously, at once hurled off' from 
 the cliff' a mass of more than a million tons of chalk, 
 which rolled down upon the beach — the dislodged 
 masses of chalk covering and whitening a space of 
 more than fifteen acres, as may still be seen, stretching 
 towards the sea near the western base of the well- 
 known Skakspeare's Cliff'. 
 
 By means of a similar blast, on the Londonderry 
 and Coleraine Railway, a hill was thrown into the sea 
 by a charge of three thousand pounds of gunpowder; 
 and thirty thousand tons of material were thus instan- 
 taneously removed from the line of the works. 
 
 A delicate piece of tunnel surveying and under- 
 ground building was executed at Glasgow, in Scot- 
 land, where the Garnkirk Railroad passes, by means 
 of a tunnel four hundred feet long, under the Monk- 
 land Canal, and over the tunnel of the Edinburo-h and 
 Glasgow Railroad. The two tunnels stand secure, 
 tier over tier. 
 
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HOW A RAILROAD IS BUILT. 23 
 
 In Derbyshire, England, Mr. George Stephenson 
 carried a railroad over a bridge which thero spanned 
 the river Amber, and at the same point, under the 
 aqueduct of the Groniford Canal. Eiver, bridge, rail- 
 road, and canal, were thus piled one above the other, 
 four stories high. Such another curious compUcation 
 in railroad engineering probably does not exist. 
 
 American Tunnels. — Most of the tunnels on 
 American roads are on the lines crossing the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains. Through the main Alleghany 
 ridge, near its summit, a tunnel was completed in 
 January, 1854, for the Pennsylvania Eaili'oad, the 
 length of which was three thousand six hundred and 
 twelve feet, the width twenty-four feet, and the height 
 twenty-two feet. To expedite the work, and facilitate 
 the removal of the rocky material, four shafts were 
 sunk, from the surface down to the level of the tun- 
 nel. One of these was thirteen feet wide, the others 
 were ten feet wide. These shafts varied in depth, 
 being one hundred and fifty, one hundred and fifty- 
 four, one hundred and ninety-six, and one hundred 
 and ninety-four feet deep respectively. The rocks 
 were found to be the nearly horizontal strata of the 
 coal measures, the tunnel in great part lying along a 
 bed of fire clay, which, though easily excavated, 
 caused considerable expense and much trouble in 
 properly securing the walls and roof. The work was 
 completed 'in two years, at a cost of nearly half a 
 million of dollars ($450,000). 
 
 Many fine tunnels are found on the line of the Balti- 
 more and Ohio Jlailroad, particularly on the Parkers- 
 burg branch. On the main stem of this road, the 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
24 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Kingwood and the Broiidtree tunnels are works of 
 superior magnitude and notable skill. 
 
 The Blue Kidge Hailroad crosses the Blue Kidge in 
 Viro-inia by a tunnel four thousand two hundred a:nd 
 seventy-three feet long, on a grade ascending seventy 
 feet to the mile. Its height is twenty-one feet, its 
 greatest width sixteen feet. , The work was carried on 
 from each end, at the rate of nearly a foot every 
 twenty-four hours. It was commenced in 1850, and 
 finished in 1857, without .shafts, at a cost of nearly 
 half a million of dollars ($464,000). On the Blue Eidge 
 Eailroad in South Carolina, three tunnels were com- 
 pleted shortly before the war broke out in the Pickens 
 district. One of these is six hundred and sixteen feet 
 long, another over two thousand feet long, and the third, 
 the Stump House Mountain tunnel, is five thousand 
 eight hundred and sixty-four feet long. Four shafts 
 were sunk from the summit of the mountains to ex- 
 pedite this work. In Georgia, on the same road, there 
 are two more tunnels. 
 
 The Long Dock Tunnel in Bergen, New Jersey, 
 opposite the city of New York, was completed in 
 1860. It passes through the Trap Hills that extend 
 from the Palisades south, and is four thousand three 
 hundred and eleven feet long, twenty-three feet high, 
 and tliirty feet wide. Bight large shafts, from seventy 
 to ninety feet deep, were sunk from the summit down 
 to its level. 
 
 The largest tunnel projected in the United States, is 
 that through tlie Iloosic Mountain, in Massacliuselts, 
 between tin? Ilousatonie and Deerfield Elvers. Its total 
 length is tweuty-four thousand five hundred feet or 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
HOW A RAILROAD IS BUILT. 25 
 
 more than a mile and a half long. The mountain is of 
 mica slate ami qaartz rock, and rises seventeen hundred 
 feet above the level of the tunnel, so that shafts have 
 been considered entirely out of the question. In May, 
 1860, the work had progressed sixteen hundred and 
 eighty-three feet on the east side, and eight hundred 
 feet on the west side, with such imperfect ventilation 
 that it would seem to be almost a hopeless undertak- 
 ing ; should the task of penetrating this mountain 
 ever be accomplished, the distance from Troy to 
 Boston will be reduced from two hundred and eight, 
 to one hundred and sixty-five miles, with an import- 
 ant reduction, also, of high grades and sharp curves. 
 
 Cost of Railroads. — -In Great Britain, in 1855, 
 there "were eight thousand two hundred and ninety- 
 seven miles of railroad in operation, which had cost 
 one million four hundred and eighty-seven thousand 
 four hundred and twenty dollars. In France, in 1S5'6, 
 there were four thousand and thirty-eight miles, which 
 had cost six hundred and sixteen millions one hundred 
 and eighteen thousand nine hundred and ninety-five 
 dollars. In the United States, in 1857, there were 
 twenty -six thousand miles, which had cost nine hundred 
 and twenty millions of dollars ($920,000,000). British 
 roads, therefore, cost one hundred and seventy-nine 
 thousand dollars per mile; French roads one hundred 
 and fifty -two thousand dollars per mile; and American 
 roads, only thirty-five thousand dollars per mile. Ten 
 years later, namely, at the present time, in 1868, there 
 are thirty-eight thousand miles of railroads in opera- 
 tion in the United States, which have cosi one billion 
 five hundred and thirty-two millions, five hundred 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
26 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 thousand dollars ; being an average cost of less than 
 thirty thousand dollars per mile, namely, twenty-nine 
 thousand three hundred and thirty dollars and fifty 
 cents. 
 
 The average cost per mile of the railways of Penn- 
 sylvania is forty-five thousand one hundi-ed and 
 eighty-six dollars and ninety-one cents; of Illinoi.s, 
 thirty-seven thousand five hundred and thirty-eight 
 dollars and tliirteen cents; of Nebraska, nineteen 
 thousand three hundred and tliirty-lbur dcjUurs and 
 eighty-eight cents; of Missouri, tliirty thousand one 
 hundred and sixty-seven dollars and sixty-three cents; 
 of Texas, sixty-two thousand two dollars and fifteen 
 cents. 
 
 The low rates of cost, which these figures show, re- 
 quired for the construction of American railroads has 
 naturally excited the surprise of the financier and the 
 political economist. How is it that, with a territory so 
 vast, such great railroads as the Baltimore and Ohio, the 
 Pennsylvania Central, and the New York and Erie, 
 can be built at so comparatively low a rate ! It is 
 due, first, to the general nature of the country ; second, 
 to the American mode of construction; and third, to 
 the prevailing manner of working railroads in the 
 United States. 
 
 The immense cost in the construction of English 
 railroads is mainly derived from the extravagant 
 prices which are demanded, and have to be paid at 
 the outset for the land. The average of this item, 
 for all the lines, has been rated at forty-three thousand 
 dollars per mile, or more than the entire averao-e cost 
 of AmTerican roads. The parliamentary charges' 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
HOW A RAILROAD IS BUILT. 27 
 
 incurred in procuring a charter, are also enormous — 
 many roads having cost over ten thousand dollars per 
 mile for this item alone. 
 
 After an English railroad is once built, however, 
 it requires a far less expenditure to keep it in work- 
 ing order, than an American road requires. The cost 
 of keeping an English road in perfect order has been 
 demonstrated to be less than eleven cents per mile, 
 annually ; of French roads, eight cents per mile ; while 
 it costs to keep American roads in order twenty-five 
 cents per mile, annually. 
 
 Except where the traffic is so considerable as to 
 compel a double rail, American railroads are built 
 with single tracks ; and sidings at convenient stations 
 answer all the requirements of safety and promptness 
 in the passage of trains. In the structure of the roads 
 themselves, principles attended with remarkable eco- 
 nomy have been universally adopted. In laying out 
 these lines, the engineers did not, as in England, 
 impose on themselves the difficult and expensive con- 
 dition of excluding all curves, except those of the 
 most liberal radius. On the contrary, curves having 
 a radius of one thousand feet are common, and oc- 
 casionally those of five hundred feet are allowed. 
 Every one will remember the two sharp curves just 
 outside of the city of Baltimore, on the road from 
 Washington to Philadelphia. 
 
 Nor are the grades restricted to the same low 
 limits as in Europe. Acclivities rising at the rate of 
 one foot in a hundred and thirty, are considered a 
 moderate ascent; and there are not less than fifty 
 lines, in which the gradients are laid down at a rate 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
28 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 varying from one foot in a hundred to one in seventy- 
 five. Nevertheless, these lines are worked without 
 difficulty by locomotives, and without the expedient 
 of either assistant or stationary eilgines^ The conse- 
 quence of which has been to diminish the cost of 
 earthworks, bridges, and viaducts, even in districts of 
 country where the character of the surface is least 
 favorable. 
 
 In Massachusetts, the Western Eailroad ascends from 
 Springfield to Pittsfield at the rate of eighty-three 
 feet to the mile. The New York and Brie road has 
 grades of sixty feet to the mile. The Baltimore and 
 Ohio road climbs the Alleghaniea from Piedmont to 
 Altamont on grades of one hundred and sixteen feet 
 to the mile. The Virginia Central road crosses the 
 Blue Eidge by inclined planes of two hundred and 
 fifty, and two hundred and ninety-five feet to the 
 mile. The mountain pierced by the Kingwood tun- 
 nel, on the Baltimore and Ohio road, was temporarily 
 surmounted by grades of five hundred feet to the 
 mile, of which each separate car was drawn by a 
 powerful locomotive. 
 
 Ill the ivorking of American railroads the same 
 studious regard for economy is observable. The 
 engines are strongly built, perfectly safe, and suffi- 
 ciently powerful; but they dispense with much of that 
 elegiince of exterior and fine workmanship, which 
 engage to an expensive degree the pride of British 
 builders. 
 
 The form and structure of the passenger cars con- 
 stitute a means of considerable economy in the work- 
 ing of American roads. There are no first, second 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
HOW" A RAILROAD IS BUILT. 29 
 
 and third class carriages, as in England. Except the 
 emigrant cars and the troop cars, all the passenger 
 cars are of the same class; and for the purpose for 
 which thej are designed, they present many advan- 
 tages. The simplicity of the structure renders the 
 cost of their construction comparatively less than that 
 of any class of carriages on European railroads. But 
 a still greater source of saving is found in their ope- 
 ration. The proportion of dead weight to the paying 
 weight is far less than in the first or second class 
 carriages on the English railroads. It is true, they 
 do not offer to the wealthy passenger all the luxurious 
 accommodations which he finds in the best first class 
 carriages on English roads, but they afford every 
 necessary convenience and comfort, and are far pre- 
 ferable to the second class carriages on European 
 lines. 
 
 Some very decided improvements in passenger cars 
 have recently been introduced on some of the princi- 
 pal roads in the United States, which will be men- 
 tioned hereafter. 
 
 There is at present finished and in operation in the 
 United States, thirty -eight thousand miles of railroads. 
 Of this, Pennsylvania has four thousand and thirty- 
 seven miles. Ohio is second in rank, haviug thirty- 
 four hundred and two and ^Vtr miles; Illinois third, 
 having thirty-two hundred and fifty and /u=g miles ; 
 New York fourth, having thirty hundred and twenty- 
 five and T^ij'V miles; Indiana fifth, having twenty-four 
 hundred and ninety and -,Vff miles. Oregon ranks 
 lowest in the number of miles of railway completed, 
 having but nineteen and /j^j miles. East of the 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
30 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Eocky Mountains, Rhode Island contains the fewest 
 miles of railway, having but one hundred and nine- 
 teen and -iVff miles; Delaware has one hundred and 
 fifty and -//g miles; Arkansas, one hundred and 
 ninety -one miles; Kansas, two hundred and forty; 
 Nebraska, two hundred and seventy-five. 
 
 The total cost of these internal improvements is 
 one billion five hundred and thirty-two millions five 
 hundred thousand dollars — a vast sum, invested to 
 keep us in motion and move what we produce and 
 consume. It is alone a significant comment upon the 
 development and magnitude or our domestic com- 
 merce. 
 
 The following is a statement of the earnings and 
 operating expenses of some of the principal railroada 
 in the United States : — 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
HOW A RAILROAD IS BUILT. 
 
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 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
32 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The celebrated Scotch writer Mr. Wm. Chambers, 
 after a tour through the United States some years ago, 
 thus speaks of American Eailroads: "The land on 
 which they are built has often either been given for 
 nothing or for a comparatively trifling consideration. 
 The lines have generally no fences, and they go through 
 populous towns along the open streets without fear of 
 the consequences ; the only care taken against accidents 
 is for the engine-driver to ring a bell. The waiting 
 rooms are generally of a poor description. All varieties 
 of passengers travel together in one carriage ; and there 
 is a marked deficiency of porters and other officials, 
 to give information or render assistance to passengers. 
 The trains proceed at a comparatively slow rate, and 
 seem to stop at the discretion of the conductor. The 
 whole organization and management is, in fact, on a 
 loose and primitive footing, though perhaps well adap- 
 ted to the raw condition of a large part of the country. 
 
 " The absence of any classification of passengers 
 strikes the Englishman as a curious feature in the 
 system. This defect is felt to be a grievance by many 
 Americans. ****** From this sketch it will be 
 observed that the railroad system of the United 
 States can in no way be brought into comparison with 
 that of Great Britain, for the two things are constituted 
 on very different principles. The chief desire in 
 America has been to open up the country at all 
 hazards to railroad communication, leavino- improve- 
 ments to be effected afterwards by the wealth which 
 that communication is certain to create. On the 
 contrary, in Great Britain, there has been no aim of 
 this kind ; the comfort of passengers and safety to the 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
HOW A RAILROAD IS BUILT. 33 
 
 public Have, on the whole, at whatever cost, been 
 matters of primary concern to the railroad companies." 
 
 An article in the January, 1867, number of the 
 " Edinburgh Review" says of American railroads : — 
 
 "Notwithstanding the diversity of circumstances 
 between America and England, the results of a railway 
 system initiated by private enterprise have proved, in 
 the older and more settled States at least, on the whole 
 very similar to those arrived at in this country. 
 America imported her first locomotive engine from 
 England in the year 1829, but unlike the States of the 
 European continent, she did not wait for English ex- 
 perience, but at once struck out her own course. In 
 the following year an engine of- American manufacture 
 was at work upon a railway in the Southern States 
 designed to connect Charleston with Savannah. As 
 in Europe, however, so in America, coal gave the great 
 impetus to the construction of metal roads. The great 
 mining State, Pennsylvania, took the lead, and, in the 
 session of 1880, granted no less than twelve charters to 
 as many corporations, while before three years had 
 elapsed sixty-seven lines were opened w^ithin its borders. 
 Virginia, and next Massachusetts and other Northern 
 States, followed the example of Pennsylvania. Each 
 State hastened to grant charters for its own purposes, 
 but often refused to authorize a road lest it should bene- 
 fit a neighbor, or give some special advantage to a 
 portion of its own territory. Competition and self-de- 
 fence, on the part both of States and corporations, also 
 played a great part in the creation of Transatlantic 
 railways. Boston first pushed a line westward to 
 secure the traffic of the inland States, and New York 
 3 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
34 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 felt compelled to send out a similar line without delaj, 
 Pennsylvania was thus driven to carry her rails first 
 over, and latterly through the Alleghanies, to Pitts- 
 burg and the regions beyond. Thereupon Baltimore, 
 Charleston, Savannah, in turn, pressed on to reach the 
 Mississippi, and their lines again obliged the Grulf cities, 
 Mobile and New Orleans, to construct lines running 
 north and south, lest the rival towns on the Atlantic 
 seaboard should rob them of the trade of the great 
 valley. 
 
 "American lines have thus, like the English, been 
 laid out and constructed without reference to any defi- 
 nite or comprehensive system. In many instances 
 they h^ve been made with the deliberate intention of 
 thwarting, rather than facilitating, continuous commu- 
 nication. One among numerous evils that have ensued, 
 has been the introduction of a great diversity of 
 gauges, varying from four feet ten inches in Ohio and 
 New Jersey to six feet on the New York and Erie line. 
 Owing mainly to the cheapness of land and the great 
 extent of level country, the capital expenses of Ameri- 
 can roads have been less, but in consequence of their 
 inferior construction, their working expenses are greater 
 than those of English railways. Their embankments 
 are usually narrow, their drainage neglected, the sleep- 
 ers of unseasoned wood, and the iron of very indifferent 
 quality. Their fares are indeed less than our own, 
 but so also are their comfort, their speed, and their 
 safety." 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
THE ORIGIN OF RAILKOADS IN RUSSIA. 35 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF EAILEOADS IN RUSSIA. 
 
 During the first few months after the opening of 
 the first division of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
 in 1830, the cars were drawn by horses and mules. 
 Locomotive engines were not yet in use in England. 
 It was at this time that a Mr. Thomas, of Baltimore, 
 constructed a car, of which the propelling power con- 
 sisted of sails. This car was called the Eolus, and 
 it actually ran between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills, 
 propelled by the wind alone acting upon its sails. 
 The Eolus had the honor, from time to time, of thus 
 wafting on scientific excursions many passengers of 
 distinction, Europeans as well as Americans. Among 
 these, on one occasion, was the Baron Krudener, envoy 
 to the United States from the Emperor of Russia, 
 who made the trip in this novel land yacht, trimming 
 the sails himself. On his return from the animating 
 excursion, he expressed his lively gratification. He 
 had never, he said, travelled so agreeably. "Where- 
 upon the Pi-esident of the road, Philip E. Thomas, 
 Esq., caused another car of this construction to be 
 built, and fitted with the friction-wheels invented by 
 Mr. Winans, of Baltimore. This car was presented 
 to the Russian envoy, together with the several reports 
 that had been published by the company, to be sent 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
36 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 to the Emperor of Eussia. In acknowledging this 
 liappy compliment, the envoy wrote : " The nature and 
 importance of the great undertaking to which you 
 have devoted your exertions, cannot fail of giving a 
 hifh degree of interest to the documents relating to 
 its origin and progress ; and I do not doubt that his 
 majesty will find them, as well as the ingeniously 
 improved principle on which the railroad car is con- 
 structed, deserving of serious attention." A few days 
 after this a letter was received from the envoy, intro- 
 ducing a deputation of scientific men from Eussia, 
 who had been appointed by the Emperor to visit the 
 United States. These gentlemen at once entered upon 
 a minute examination of the railroad from Baltimore 
 to EUicott's Mills, and the machinery used upon it. 
 On the return of the deputation to St. Petersburg, 
 they communicated to the Eussian government such 
 minute information, and of so great value, relative to 
 the material and management of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Eailroad, that the Emperor extended an invita- 
 tion to Eoss Winans, Esq., of Baltimore, to superintend 
 the construction, in Eussia, of machinery for the ex- 
 tensive railroads even then contemplated by the 
 Eussian Emperor. The invitation was accepted ; and 
 thus, says a well-informed vs^riter, "there is no doubt 
 that the early introduction of railroads into Eussia 
 originated in the disclosures made to his court at this 
 time by the Baron de Krudener." In a conversation 
 between the envoy and Mr. Thomas, the President 
 of the Baltimore and Ohio road, concerning the effects 
 which the railroad system, then in its infancy, would 
 produce, Mr. Thomas is said to have remarked that 
 
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THE ORIGIN OF KAILROADS IN RUSSIA. 37 
 
 " should our present anticipations of the efficiency of 
 railroads be realized, a total change will be brought 
 about in commercial and social intercourse in every 
 country where these roads may be introduced ; that 
 the experiments already made had demonstrated them 
 to be capable of aifording to an extensive continent 
 the facilities of inter-communication now incident to a 
 small island ; and that the discovery promised greater 
 advantages to Russia and the United States than to 
 any other countries." He then further observed, that" 
 " should the Emperor introduce railroads into Eussia, 
 it would not be many years before a railroad would 
 be constructed between the Baltic and the Black Sea, 
 along the rivers Dwina and Dnieper ; and that such a 
 road would enable Russia to encircle in her arms, not 
 only the entire northern, but also the eastern frontier 
 of Europe, and thus to greatly extend her power and 
 influence." The extended foresight of Mr. Thomas 
 was here again conspicuously manifested, for the year 
 1853 witnessed the completion of a large portion of 
 the great railroads that are so rapidly stretching over 
 the Russian continent. The great railroad from St. 
 Petersburg to Moscow was completed and opened in 
 1852 ; and its continuation to Odessa, on the Black 
 Sea, is now in progress of construction. It will be, 
 when finished, sixteen hundred miles long, as far as 
 from Boston to New Orleans, and will connect the 
 Baltic and the Black Sea. Mr. Winans remains in 
 Eussia, superintending the construction of the machi- 
 nery for these great roads. 
 
 Anecdotes of Opposition to Eaileoads. — It is 
 related in the annals of English railroads, that one 
 
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38 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 man sold some land to a railroad company, and was 
 loud and long in his outcries for compensation, expa- 
 tiating on the damages which the formation of the line 
 would bring, as he said, to his property. He was 
 assured that the construction of the road would greatly 
 iacrease the value of his property ; but to this he would 
 not listen for a moment. His complaints were only 
 stopped by the payment of his demands. A few 
 mouths afterwards, a little additional land was re- 
 quired of the same individual, when he actually de- 
 manded a much larger price for the new land than for 
 that which he had first sold to the company. On 
 surprise being expressed at his conduct, he coolly 
 replied : " Oh, I made a mistake, then, in thinking the 
 railroad would injure my property. It has increased 
 its value, and of course you must pay an increased 
 price for it." 
 
 On another occasion, a trial occurred in a court of 
 justice, before a jury, in which an eminent land valuer 
 was put into the witness box to swell the amount of 
 damages, and he proceeded to expatiate on the injury 
 committed by railroads in general, and especially by 
 the one in question, in cutting up the properties which 
 they invaded, &c. When he had finished the delivery 
 of this weighty piece of evidence, the counsel for the 
 company put a newspaper into his hand, and calling 
 his attention to a certain advertisement therein, asked 
 him whether he had inserted that advertisement ! He 
 was compelled to admit that he had. The counsel 
 then proceeded to read the advertisement to the jury. 
 Imagine the amusement of the latter, when the adver- 
 tisement proved to be a declaration from the land 
 
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THE ORIGIN OF RAILROADS IN RUSSIA. 39 
 
 valuer himself, that the approach of the railroad which 
 he had come there to oppose, would be exceedingly 
 beneficial to the property in its immediate vicinity 
 then for sale ! 
 
 Chancellor Livingston, who was a man of distinction 
 and thought, and who was even associated with his 
 brother-in-law, Eobert Fulton, in the endeavor to 
 apply stearn as a motive power to navigation by sea, 
 was an unbeliever in the possibility of using it for 
 travel by land. He believed that the railway could 
 never compete with the canal. His letter on this 
 subject may not be amiss in exhibiting how completely 
 ^the last half century has revolutionized former ideas 
 and opinions, and opened up the progress of improve- 
 ment and civilization. It is quite refreshing in view 
 of the present : — 
 
 "Albany, March 11, 1811. 
 
 "Dear Sir: I did not till yesterday receive yours of 
 the 25th of February ; where it has loitered on the 
 road, I am at a loss to say. I had before read of your 
 very ingenious proposition as to the railway commu- 
 nication. I fear, however, on mature reflection, that 
 they will be liable to serious objections, and ulti- 
 mately more expensive than a canal. They must be 
 doubly so to prevent the danger of two such heavy 
 bodies meeting. The walls on which they are placed 
 must be at least four feet below the surface, and three 
 above, and must be clamped with iron, and even then 
 would hardly sustain so heavy a weight as you pro- 
 pose moving at the rate of four miles an hour on 
 wheels. As to wood, it would not last a week. They 
 must be covered with iron, and that, too, very thick 
 
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40 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and strong. The means of stopping these heavy 
 carriages without a great shock, and of preventing 
 them from running upon each other — for there would 
 be many running npon the road at once — would be 
 very difficult. In cases of accidental stops or necessary 
 stops to take wood and water, etc., many accidents would 
 happen. The carriage of condensing water would be 
 very troublesome. Upon the whole, I fear the expense 
 would be much greater than that of canals, without 
 being so convenient. E. E. Livingston." 
 
 Using Eailboads on Sundays. — The opposition to 
 the vise of railroads on Sundays began with the first 
 introduction of.the railroad system, and it still prevails, 
 notwithstanding the progress towards enlightenment 
 which the world has made. One gentleman in Eng- 
 land, mistakenly called Eev., speaks of all railroad 
 travel on Sunday, as " trips to hell at 7s. 6c?. per head." 
 Awful denunciations were uttered on the sin of enjoy- 
 ing the Sabbath. Handbills, of which the following is 
 a copy, were sent about the streets of London, and 
 thrust into travellers hands : " Solemn Warning to 
 Sabbath Breakers ! God coming in Judgment ! as re- 
 vealed by the sudden destruction of nearly one 
 hundred immortal beings on the Paris and Versailles 
 Eailroad, on Sabbath the 8th instant ; and also in the 
 destruction, by fire, of the Sabbath-breaking town of 
 Hamburg !" 
 
 It is a great error to confound the Jewish with the 
 Christian Sabbath. They who lived nearest to the 
 time of Christ, made no such mistake. The apostles 
 did not enjoin their followers to refrain from labor on 
 
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THE ORIGIN OF RAILROADS IN RUSSIA. 41 
 
 Sunday. Jesus himself stowed his contempt for the 
 Jewish Sabbath by openly violating the Jewish law of 
 the Sabbath, and by commanding his disciples to " do 
 well" on the Sabbath day. When the self-righteous 
 Pharisees rebuked him for his open violation of the 
 Jewish law of the Sabbath, he demonstrated the ab- 
 surdity of that law, defended his own conduct on the 
 ground of reason and common sense, and told them 
 plainly, with all the authority of the Son of God, that 
 the Sabbath had been instituted for the use and enjoy- 
 ment of man. (See Mark, Chap. ii. 23-28. Matthew, 
 Chap. xii. 1-13.) Peter no doubt worked at his tents 
 on Sundays. During the first three centuries it was 
 not regarded as a Sabbath : and the initiative step was 
 only taken in the fourth century, by the half pagan 
 Constantine closing the courts of law on that day. The 
 most learned researches have shown that previous to 
 this era there was no law binding to its strict obser- 
 vance. Eight hundred and twenty-nine years after 
 Christ, it was determined by a council solemnly con- 
 vened for the purpose, that the keeping of the Lord's 
 day had no other ground but mere custom. 
 
 The benefits of railroads on Sundays are incalcula- 
 ble. In the cities, they carry thousands of persons 
 comfortably to church, on wet and rainy days, and 
 convey them safely to their homes, again, without in- 
 jury to their health, nine-tenths of whom would other- 
 wise have been compelled to remain at home. And 
 even on fine days it enables thousands of persons to go 
 to church, who live too far off to walk. They take the 
 workman from his hot, close, loathsome neighborhood ; 
 carry him and his family, in an hour, to the purest 
 
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42 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 haunts of nature ; and for that one day thus passed in 
 the pure air with those he loves, with the cool, refresh- 
 ino- breezes making music in the trees above his head, 
 and with all the charms of nature spread out before 
 him, he is a better man and a better citizen. 
 
 Wherever Sunday cars have been introduced, they 
 have had to encounter the opposition of those persons 
 in the community who pride themselves on their rigid 
 Sabbath observances, and who cannot believe that any 
 views of the observance of the Sabbath, different from' 
 their own, can be founded upon Christian principles. 
 But these prejudices have always worn away: and the 
 great mass of every community, where the cars run on 
 Sunday, regard them as promoters of health and mo- 
 rality, and by no means antagonistic to religion. 
 
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PROGRESS OF RAILROADS. 43 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PEOGEESS OF EAILEOADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 In the year 1850, there were only eight thousand 
 six hundred (8,600) miles of railroad finished and 
 in operation in the United States, which had cost 
 less than three hundred millions of dollars, namely, 
 $296,260,128. In 1860, there were thirty thousand 
 six hundred (30,600) miles of railroad finished and in 
 operation, which had cost over a thousand millions of 
 dollars, namely, $1,134,452,909. 
 
 Before the year 1850, there was only one line of 
 railroad completed and in operation between tide wa- 
 ter navigation and the great interior producing regions 
 of the country. This line was formed of several links, 
 which, now consolidated, form the New York Central 
 Eailroad, extending, with its water communications, 
 from New York and Albany to Buffalo and the west- 
 ern shores of Lake Erie. There was another line 
 opened soon afterwards, however, extending from Bos- 
 ton to Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence Eiver. This 
 was completed in 1851. A large business at once 
 sprang up along this line, by which Boston was greatly 
 benefited. The New York and Erie Eailroad, of 
 which full mention will be made hereafter, was also 
 opened in May, 1851. This great road extended from 
 New York to Dunkirk on Lake Erie, and the great 
 
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44 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 fertility of the country through which it passes, at 
 once furnished it with business fully equal to its capa- 
 city. The Pennsylvania Eailroad, from Philadelphia 
 to Pittsburg, was virtually completed in 1852, al- 
 though it was not formally opened as a through route 
 until 1854. It began at once to draw a very heavy 
 passenger and freight business from the West. The 
 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, from Baltimore to 
 Wheeling, was finished in 1853, and entered at once 
 upon its subsequent career of prosperity. 
 
 " The Tennessee Eiver, a tributary of the Mississippi, 
 was reached, in 1850, by the Western and Atlantic 
 Railroad of Georgia, and the Mississippi itself, by the 
 Memphis and Charleston Railroad, in 1859. In the ex- 
 treme north the Atlantic and St. Lawrence, now known 
 as the Grrand Trunk, was completed early in 1853. In 
 1858, the Virginia system was extended to a connection 
 with the Memphis and Charleston and with the Nash- 
 ville and Chattanooga Railraods. 
 
 " Previous to 1850, by far the greater portion of rail: 
 roads constructed were in the States bordering the 
 Atlantic, and, as before remarked, were for the most 
 part isolated lines, whose limited traffics were alto- 
 gether local. Up to the date named, the internal com- 
 merce or the country was conducted almost entirely 
 through water lines, natural and artificial, and over or- 
 dinary highways. The period of the settlement of 
 California marks really the commencement of the new 
 era in the physical progress of the United States. The 
 vast quantities of gold it produced imparted new life 
 and activity to every portion of the Union, particularly 
 the western States, the people of which, at the com- 
 
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PROGRESS OF RAILROADS. 45 
 
 mencement of 1850, were thoroughly aroused as to the 
 value and importance of railroads. Each presented 
 great facilities for the construction of such works, 
 which promised to be almost equally productive. 
 Enterprises were undertaken and speedily executed 
 which have literally converted them into a net- work of 
 lines, and secured their advantages to almost every 
 farmer and producer. 
 
 " The only important line opened in the west, pre- 
 vious to ly50, was the one from Sandusky to Cincin- 
 nati, formed by the Mad River and Little Miami roads. 
 But these pioneer works were rude, unsubstantial struc- 
 tures, compared with the finished works of the present 
 day, and were employed almost wholly in the transpor- 
 tation of passengers. Within the decade, in place of 
 this one line, railroads have been constructed radiating 
 from Lakes Erie and Michigan, striking the Mississippi 
 at ten and the Ohio at eight different points. These 
 trunk lines are cut every few miles by cross lines, 
 which, in the States east of the Mississippi,- are suffi- 
 ciently numerous to meet every public and private 
 want, and to afford every needful encouragement to 
 the development of the resources of this country."* 
 
 The necessity of continuous lines of railroad from 
 various points in the valley of the Mississippi and on 
 the shores of the great lakes, will be at once apparent 
 on examining the vast productive capacity of the 
 western States. Illinois alone sends to New York two 
 thousand head of beef cattle every week. Illinois 
 alone produces every year one hundred thousand head 
 
 * Census of United States : 1860. 
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46 EAILKOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of beef cattle, one hundred and twenty thousand head 
 of sheep, two and a half million head of hogs, thirty 
 millions of bushels of wheat, and one hundred and 
 fifty millions of bushels of corn. Imagine for a 
 moment the wealth there is, in these productions of a 
 single State. But take the six western States of Illi- 
 nois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, "Wisconsin, and Minne- 
 sota. The productions of those States, in the year 
 1860, were as follows : — 
 
 Illinois . 
 Indiana . 
 Iowa . . 
 Michigan 
 Wisconsin 
 Minnesota 
 
 Bead of Cnttle. Head of Sheep. Head of Hogs. 
 
 . 881,877 894,043 2,279,722 
 
 . 582,990 1,122,493 2,498,528 
 
 . 291,145 149,960 921,161 
 
 . 267,683 746,435 374,664 
 
 . 225,210 124,896 333,957 
 
 . 51,043 80 101,252 
 
 2,299,948 3,037,907 . 6,510,284 
 
 Bushels of Wheat. Bushels of Coin. 
 
 Illinois 24,159,500 115,296,779 
 
 Indiana 15,219,120 C9,641,591 
 
 Iowa 8,433,205 41,116,994 
 
 Michigan 8,313,185 12,152,110 
 
 Wisconsin 15,812,625 7,565,290 
 
 Minnesota 2,195,812 2,987,570 
 
 73,133,447 238,760,334 
 
 Peincipal Teunk Lines. 
 
 The principal trunk lines of railroad in the United 
 States are as follows : — 
 
 I. FROM BOSTON TO THE WEST. Miles. 
 
 From Boston to Chicago : 1024 
 
 Namely, from Boston to Albany, by the 
 Western Railroad of Massachusetts, two hun- 
 
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PROGRESS OF RAILROADS. 47 
 
 dred miles; from Albany to the Suspension 
 Bridge and Niagara Falls, by the New York 
 Central Eailroad, three hundred and six 
 miles; from the Suspension Bridge to Wind- 
 sor, two hundred and twenty-nine miles; 
 from Detroit to Chicago by the Michigan 
 Central Railroad, two hundred and eighty- 
 nine miles. 
 
 11. FROM NEW YORK TO THE WEST. 
 
 1. From New York to Chicago by the Erie Miles. 
 Railroad : 958 
 
 Namely, from New York to Dunkirk, on 
 the New York and Erie Railroad, four hun- 
 dred and sixty miles; from Dunkirk to 
 Toledo, by Lake Shore Railroad, two hundred 
 and fifty-five; from Toledo to Chicago, two 
 hundred and forty -three miles. 
 
 2. From New York to Chicago by way of 
 Albany and the Central Railroads : 974 
 
 Namely, from New York to Albany by the 
 Hudson River Railroad or New York and Har- 
 lem Railroad, one hundred and fifty miles; 
 from Albany to Suspension Bridge, as above, 
 three hundred and six miles; from Niagara 
 Falls to Chicago by the Great Western Rail- 
 road of Canada and the Michigan Central, five 
 hundred and nineteen miles. 
 
 3. From New York to Chicago by the Allen- 
 town and Pittsburg route : 899 
 
 Namely, from New York to Harrisburg, by 
 the New Jersey Central road^ one hundred and 
 
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48 RAILFOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 eighty-two miles; from Harrisburg to Pitts- 
 burg, on the Pennsylvania road, two hundred 
 and forty-nine miles; from Pittsburg to Chi- 
 cago, on the Fort Wayne road, four hundred 
 and sixty-eight miles. 
 
 4. From New York to St. Louis by way of Miles. 
 Dunkirk and Cleveland : 1147 
 
 Namely, from New York to Dunkirk, on the 
 Erie Eailroad, four hundred and sixty miles; 
 from Dunkirk to St. Louis, by the Bellefontaine 
 line, passing through Cleveland, Crestline, 
 Bellefontaine, Indianapolis, and Terre Haute, 
 six hundred and eighty-seven miles. 
 
 5. From New York to St. Louis by way of 
 Salamanca and Cincinnati: 1203 
 
 Namely, from New York to Salamanca, on 
 the Erie Eailroad, four hundred and fifteen 
 miles; from Salamanca to Cincinnati, on the 
 Atlantic and Great Western Eailroad, four 
 hundred and forty-eight miles ; from Cincinnati 
 to St. Louis, on the Ohio and Mississippi road, 
 three hundred and forty miles. 
 
 6. From New Yorh to St. Louis by the 
 AUentown route, Pittsburg, and Columbus : 1084 
 
 Namely, from New York to Pittsburg, by 
 the New Jersey Central Eailroad to Harris- 
 burg, and the Pennsylvania road, four hundred 
 and thirty-one miles; from Pittsburg to Colum- 
 bus, one hundred and ninety-three miles; from 
 Columbus to Cincinnati, one hundred and 
 twenty miles; from Cincinnati to St. Louis, as 
 above, three hundred and forty miles. 
 
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PROGRESS OF RAILROADS. 49 
 
 7. From New York to Cincinnati by way of Miles. 
 Dunkirk, Cleveland, and Columbus : 861 
 
 Namely, from New York to Dunkirk, on the 
 New York and Erie road, four hundred and 
 sixty miles; Dunkirk to Cleveland, one hun- 
 dred and forty -three miles ; Cleveland to Cin- 
 cinnati, two hundred and fifty-eight miles. 
 
 8. From New York to Cincinnati by way of 
 Salamanca, as above : 863 
 
 9. From New York to Cincinnati, by the 
 Allentown route, Pittsburg, and Columbus, as 
 above : 744 
 
 III. FROM PHILADELPHIA TO THE WEST. 
 
 1. From Philadelphia to Chicago: 823 
 Namely, from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, on 
 
 the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, three hun- 
 dred and fifty-five miles; from Pittsburg to 
 Chicago, by the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and 
 Chicago Railroad, four hundred and sixty-eight 
 miles. 
 
 2. From Philadelphia to St. Louis: 998 
 Namely, from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, 
 
 three hundred and fifty-five miles; from Pitts- 
 burg to Columbus, Ohio, one hundred and 
 ninety -three miles ; from Columbus to Indian- 
 apolis, one hundred and eighty-eight miles; 
 from Indianapolis to St. Louis, by way of 
 Terre Haute, two hundred and sixty-two miles. 
 
 IV. FROM BALTIMORE TO THE WEST. 
 1. From Baltimore to St. Louis: 928 
 
 Namely, from Baltimore to Parkersburg, by 
 4 
 
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50 RAILROADS OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad, three hun- 
 dred and eighty-three miles ; from Parkersburg 
 to Cincinnati, by the Marietta and Cincinnati 
 Eailroad, two hundred and five miles; from 
 Cincinnati to St. Louis, by the Ohio and Missis- 
 sippi Eailroad, three hundred and forty miles. Miles. 
 2. From Baltimore to Terre Saute: 777 
 
 Namely, from Baltimore to Wheeling, on the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad, three hundred 
 and seventy-niue miles ; from Wheeling to Co- 
 lumbus, one hundred and thirty-seven miles; 
 from Columbus to Indianapolis, one hundred 
 and eighty-eight miles; from Indianapolis to 
 Terre Haute, seventy -three miles. 
 
 V. FROM NEW YORK TO THE SOUTH. 
 
 1. From New York to Memphis: 1163 
 
 Namely, from New York to Washington, by 
 way of Philadelphia and Baltimore, two hun- 
 dred and thirty miles; from Washington to 
 Lynchburg, by way of Manasses Junction and 
 Gordonsville, one hundred and seventy-eight 
 miles; from Lynchburg to Knoxville, by the 
 Virginia and Tennessee Eailroad, three hun- 
 dred and thirty-four miles ; from Knoxville to 
 Chattanooga, one hundred and twelve miles; 
 from Chattanooga to Memphis, by the Memphis 
 and Charleston Eailroad, three hundred and 
 nine miles. 
 
 2. From New York to New Orleans • 1506 
 
 Namely, by the same route to Chattanooga, 
 eight hundred and fifty-four miles ; from Chat- 
 
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PROGRESS OF RAILROADS. 51 
 
 tanooga to Grand Junction, on the line between 
 Mississippi and Tennessee, two hundred and 
 fifty-seven miles ; from Grand Junction to New 
 Orleans, by way of Jackson, Mississippi, three 
 hundred and ninety -five miles. Miles. 
 
 3. From New York to Mobile: 1399 
 Namely, by the same route as above to Chat- 
 tanooga ; from Chattanooga to Corinth, in Mis- 
 sissippi, two hundred and sixteen miles; from 
 Corinth to Mobile, by the Mobile and Ohio 
 Railroad, three hundred and twenty-nine miles. , 
 
 4. From New York to Charleston and Savan- 
 nah : 
 
 Namely, from New York to Washington, 
 two hundred and thirty miles ■ from Washing- 
 ton to Wilmington, in North Carolina, by way 
 of Eichmond, Weldon, and Goldsborough. 
 
 Vr. FROM CHICAGO TO THE SOUTH. 
 
 1. From Chicago to New Orleans: 914 
 Namely, by the Illinois Central Eailroad, 
 
 from Chicago to Cairo, three hundred and 
 sixty -five miles ; from Cairo to Jackson, by the 
 Mobile and Ohio road, ninety-seven miles ; from 
 Jackson to Canton, on the Mississippi Central 
 road, two hundred and thirty-six miles; and 
 from Canton to New Orleans, on the New 
 Orleans and Jackson road, two hundred and 
 six miles. 
 
 2. From Chicago to Mobile: 858 
 Namely, by the Illinois Central Eailroad 
 
 from Chicago to Cairo, three hundred and 
 
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52 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sixty-five miles ; and from Cairo to Mobile, by 
 the Mobile and Ohio road, four hundred and 
 ninety-two miles. 
 
 VII. FROM CHICAGO TO THE WEST. 
 From Chicago towards the Bochy Mountains, 
 
 nine hundred and ninety miles: namely, from 
 Chicago to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri Eiver, 
 by the Chicago and Northwestern Eailroad, four 
 hundred and ninety miles, by way of Geneva, 
 Cedar Rapids, and Boonsboro ; crossing the Mis- 
 sissippi River at Clinton, in Iowa; and from 
 Council Bluffs, five hundred miles west of Omaha. 
 This is the eastern end of the Pacific Railroad, 
 
 VIII. CHICAGO TO THE NORTHWEST. 
 
 Chicago to La Crosse, in Wisconsin, by the 
 Chicago and Northwestern Railroad from Miles. 
 Chicago, by way of Janesville and Watertown : 280 
 
 IX. CHICAGO TO THE SOUTH WEST. 
 
 From Chicago to Texas, by the Chicago and 
 St. Louis Railroad to St. Louis ; from St. Louis 
 to Van Buren in Arkansas, on the Arkansas 
 River, by the Southwest branch of the Pacific 
 Railroad ; and from Van Buren, across the Red 
 River to the interior of Texas. 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO KAILEOAD. 53 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 THE BALTIMOBE AND OHIO EAILEOAD. 
 
 The through route between Baltimore and St. Louis 
 consists of three roads, namely, the Baltimore and 
 Ohio, from Baltimore to Parkersburg; the Cincinnati 
 and Marietta, from Parkersburg to Cincinnati; and 
 the Ohio and Mississippi, from Cincinnati to St. Louis. 
 The entire distance from Baltimore to St. Louis is 
 nine-hundred and twenty-eight miles. There are only 
 two changes of cars : namely, at the Ohio Eiver, and 
 at Cincinnati. 
 
 The Washington Branch of this road, from Balti- 
 more to Washington, a distance of forty miles, consti- 
 tutes part of the great through route between New 
 York and Washington. The whole line consists of 
 the New Jersey Eailroad, from New York to Phila- 
 delphia; the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Balti- 
 more Eailroad, from Philadelphia to Baltimore; and 
 the Baltimore and Ohio road, from Baltimore to 
 Washington. The whole distance is two hundred and 
 twenty-six miles, and the time consumed in the trip 
 is ten hours, or twenty-three miles per hour. 
 
 Over the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Eail- 
 road, from Baltimore to the Ohio Eiver, there are four 
 trains per day, two running from the east, and two 
 from the west. 
 
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54 KAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The depot of the road at Washington is not exactly 
 what it ought to be ; but probably in a few years a 
 more elegant structure will be erected. The depot at 
 Baltimore, however, known as "Camden Station," is 
 one of the handsomest and most commodious depot 
 buildings in the United States. Besides containing all 
 the necessary offices for the Company, it contains wait- 
 ing-roonis for ladies and gentlemen, dining-rooms, 
 wash-rooms, closets, and every convenience and com- 
 fort that passengers could desire. 
 
 The President of the road, JoHif W. Gareett, Esq., 
 of Baltimore, has held that responsible position for the 
 last eight years, the greater part of which period has 
 been a very trying time to the Company. And yet 
 the prosperity of the road and its present enviable 
 position are unquestionably due, first, to the good, sense 
 and discrimination of the Board of Directors in succes- 
 sively re-electing Mr. Garrett President ; and, second, 
 in the remarkable good fortune and tact of Mr. Garrett 
 himself, in having under him a body of officers who 
 faithfully carried out bis policy, and who have proved 
 themselves to be zealously devoted to the interests of 
 the road. Of these, two gentlemen deserve especial 
 mention, namely, Wm. Prescott Smith, Esq., for many 
 years Master of Transportation of the road, and John 
 L. Wilson, Esq., who at present occupies that important 
 and responsible position. 
 
 The Baltimore and Ohio Eaileoad was the 
 first road ever constructed in America for the convey- 
 ance of passengers. The first division of the road was 
 opened and put in operation in 1830, the same year 
 in which the Liverpool and Manchester Eailroad was 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO EAILROAD, 55 
 
 opeaed in England. In the year 1826, Philip E. 
 Thomas, the founder of railroads in America, resigned 
 the position which he had held as a commissioner on 
 the part of Maryland in the Chesapeake and Ohio 
 Canal Company, and from that time, in connection 
 with George Brown, he devoted all his energies to the 
 formation of the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad Com- 
 pany, and to the construction of the road. These 
 gentlemen prevailed upon the merchants and leading 
 men of Baltimore to hold a public meeting, at which 
 it was resolved to build a railroad to connect the na- 
 vigable waters of Chesapeake Bay with those of the 
 Ohio Eiver. This was the origin of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad Company. 
 
 The actual construction of the road was commenced 
 on the 4th of July, 1828. The people of Baltimore 
 were deeply interested in the work. All business 
 was suspended, and a vast crowd of the citizens assem- 
 bled near the southwestern boundary of the city 
 where the work was to commence. The day was 
 bright and beautiful. Strains of martial music floated 
 through the air, and a military and Masonic procession 
 approached the designated spot A carriage drives 
 slowly between the opening lines, and from it descends 
 the venerable Charles Carroll of Car.roUton, then over 
 ninety years of age, but still strong and vigoroua. 
 Every head is uncovered, and bowed in respectful salu» 
 tation, as the honored patriot, accompanied by the Di- 
 rectors of the road, proceeds with the ceremonies of 
 inaugurating the great work. The first sod was turned, 
 and the first stone laid, by the distinguished Revolu- 
 tionary patriot : and then a discharge of artillery an- 
 
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66 EAILKOADS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 nounced that the mighty enterprise was commenced. 
 Then, turning to thei people, Mr. Carroll made a very 
 short and appropriate address, containing these memora- 
 ble words : " I consider what I have just now done to 
 be among the most important acts of my life, second 
 only to my signing the Declaration of Independence, 
 if, indeed, it be even second to that. " Mr. Carroll, 
 therefore, with prophetic foresight, foresaw what was to 
 be the fature of this road ; that was the meaning of his 
 remarkable and impressive words. 
 
 The first division of the road, from Baltimore to 
 Ellicott's Mills, was completed and opened for travel 
 in the year 1880. In January, 1881, the Company 
 offered the sum of four thousand dollars for the most 
 approved locomotive engine of American manufacture, 
 and three thousand for the second best. By the engine 
 which was accepted, a speed of thirty miles per hour, 
 on straight lines, was obtained. On the 9th of March, 
 1833, the charter for the construction of the branch 
 railroad from Baltimore to Washington was obtained. 
 It stipulated that one fifth of the gross earnings from 
 passengers should be paid to the Treasurer, for the 
 benefit of the.State of Maryland, the amount so paid not 
 to be less than twenty-five cents from each passenger. 
 The construction of this branch was soon commenced; 
 surveys of the route having been previously made. 
 It was opened to Bladensburg on the 20th of July, and 
 to Washington on the 25th of August, 1835. Previous 
 to this period, Washington had had no railroad commu- 
 nication with the nortli. In 1834, the main road was 
 completed and opened to Harper's Ferry. In 1836, 
 surveys were made for the extension of the road to 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO EAILEOAD. 57 
 
 Cumberland and Wheeling. In 1836 the viaduct over 
 the Potomac, at Harper's Ferry, was completed. The 
 road was completed and opened to Cumberland in 1842. 
 
 At this time the great National road was in opera- 
 tion, and was in its full glory. It was a magnificent 
 turnpike road, built in the very best style of Mc- 
 Adamized roads, and it extended from the Capitol at 
 Washington, to St. Louis in Missouri, passing through 
 Eockville, Frederick, Hagerstown, and Cumberland, 
 in Maryland; Uniontown and Washington in Penn- 
 sylvania; Wheeling in Virginia, and crossing the 
 Ohio Eiver at that point ; Columbus in Ohio ; Indian- 
 apolis and Terre Haute in Indiana, and crossing the 
 Wabash Eiver at the latter point, by means of a ferry- 
 boat ; and Vandalia in Illinois, the former capital of 
 that State. 
 
 This great road was built by the authority of Con- 
 gress, and it was intended to be the great means of 
 communication between the east and the west. And 
 so it was, for many long years before the railroad 
 system of the United States got into use. From 1837 
 to 1850, thousands after thousands of emigrants from 
 Pennsylvania, .Maryland, Virginia, New York, New 
 Jersey, and New England, with their wagons, their 
 horses, their cattle, and their household goods, struck 
 this road about Cumberland or Wheeling, and moved 
 over it slowly, but. securely and comfortably, to their 
 new homes in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Mis- 
 souri. 
 
 The mails were also carried on this route, in hand- 
 some mail-coaches, each drawn by four horses, and 
 each coach carrying from six to nine passengers and 
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58 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 their baggage. These coaches generally made about 
 sixty miles per day. 
 
 But to return to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
 The road was completed to Wheeling in 1853; and 
 the Parkersburg branch was completed and opened to 
 Parkersburg on the 1st of May, 1857. 
 
 The entire length of the Baltimore and Ohio road, 
 including the Washington and Parkersburg branches, 
 is five hundred and twenty-three miles. The distance 
 from Baltimore to Wheeling is three hundred and 
 seventy-nine miles; from Baltimore to Parkersburg 
 three hundred and eighty-three miles. At -Grafton, 
 in Taylor County in Virginia, the road forks; one 
 track leading to Wheeling, and the other to Parkers- 
 burg. 
 
 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, how- 
 ever, has recently purchased the Central Ohio Rail- 
 road, from Columbus to Wheeling, a distance of one 
 hundred and thirty-seven miles, so that it will be 
 worked in future, as a continuation of the main stem 
 of the Baltimore and Ohio road. The latter road will 
 then virtually extend from Baltimore to Columbus, a 
 distance of five hundred and sixteen miles. This new 
 addition to their road will be of vast service to the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, as will be 
 seen by the examination of a good railroad map. 
 The various railroads from the west and northwest 
 seem to meet at Columbus as at a focus ; and it will be 
 strange, indeed, if the energy and enterprise which 
 control the operations of the Baltimore and Ohio 
 road, do not, in a few years, draw to that road a 
 large share of the business of those rich regions. 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 59 
 
 During tlie year 1859, the Columbus and Piqua 
 Eailroad, in Ohio, was completed, which gave the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Company an additional important 
 and useful connection with Chicago and the north- 
 west, both for passengers and freight. Merchandise 
 loaded in Baltimore could now be sent promptly 
 through to Chicago with only one change of cars, and 
 the benefits of this trade, which began in 1859, have 
 increased every year since. 
 
 In 1859 the Company had in constant use two hun- 
 dred and thirty-five locomotive engines, of which one 
 hundred and seventy were of the first class. 
 
 The services which the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad 
 Company rendered to the government during the recent 
 war, in the rapid transportation of large bodies of 
 troops, were very great, and of the highest importance. 
 The destruction of this road, therefore, ' became an 
 object of the first importance to the Confederates ; and 
 it was, at several times during the war, wholly or in 
 part in their possession, the track destroyed for many 
 miles, and hundreds of its cars and locomotives ruined. 
 On the 28th of May, 1861, general possession was 
 taken, by the Confederate forces, of more than one 
 hundred miles of the road, embracing chiefly the region 
 between the Point of Eocks and Cumberland. 
 
 Occasional movements were also made, accompanied 
 by considerable destruction, upon the road between 
 Cumberland and Wheeling, and between Grafton and 
 Parkersburg, during the same year. The protection 
 of the United States Government was not restored 
 throughout the line until March, 1862, when the work " 
 of reconstruction was undertaken and pressed with 
 
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60 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 great energy, and tte road was reopened on the 29tli 
 of that month. Before that period, the destruction of 
 the property, bridges, and tracks of the Company was 
 of the most extensive and serious character. The 
 large and costly machine shops and engine houses at 
 Martinsburg were greatly damaged. Fourteen loco- 
 motives and tenders, and a large number of cars, much 
 machinery from the shops, and the separated portions 
 of nine additional locomotive engines, were taken from 
 the road, and transported, by the aid of horses, oxen, 
 and mules, over turnpikes and common roads, to 
 southern railroads, and thus entirely lost to the 
 Company. 
 
 Forty-two locomotives and tenders, three hundred 
 and eighty-six cars, twenty-three bridges, including 
 three between Cumberland and Wheeling, three be- 
 tween Parkersburg and Grafton, and the great bridge 
 at Harper's Ferry, embracing one hundred and twenty- 
 seven spans and a total length of four thousand 
 seven hundred and thirteen feet, were also destroyed 
 by fire ; and numerous other engines and cars were 
 thrown into the Potomac, the Oj)equan, and other 
 streams. The rails of thirty-six miles of track were 
 torn up, and the rails and track fixtures were removed 
 for use on southern roads. The lines of telegraph for 
 one hundred and two miles, two water stations, and 
 much other valuable property were also destroyed. 
 
 At the close of the year 1862, the Confederate forces 
 continued in possession of a portion of the road, upon 
 which the tracks, bridges, and property of the Company 
 were generally destroyed. Much of the region be- 
 tween Hancock and Harper's Ferry was thus held until 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 61 
 
 tlie 29tli of December, 1862. At the earliest practica- 
 ble moment large forces commenced the work of re- 
 construction, which was pressed with great vigor from 
 the east and west. On the 6th of January, 1863, the 
 restoration of the bridges and tracks was completed, 
 and the entire route again reopened. From the 1st 
 of October, 1861, to March 29, 1862, a period of six 
 months, the road was in operation only at its extremi- 
 ties, one hundred miles of it, between Harper's Ferry 
 and Cumberland, being virtually out of use. This was 
 the result of the first general destruction of the road 
 by Stonewall Jackson, when forty miles of the track 
 were torn up and destroyed, and numerous bridges 
 and buildings burned, some of them a second or third 
 time. 
 
 The road was only permitted to be in operation from 
 the 29th of March to the 25th of May, 1862, on which 
 day Gren. Banks retreated from Winchester, through 
 Martinsburg, and the line of the road was again occu- 
 pied by the Confederates. Its possession, however, 
 was soon recovered, and on the 15th of June it was 
 again reopened throughout its entire length. It was 
 once more fully interrupted, on the 6th of September, 
 by the retreat of Gen. Julius White from Winchester, 
 and by the first invasion of Maryland by General Lee's 
 army, between Harper's Ferry and the Monocacy, now 
 knowb as the Antietam campaign. The entire road 
 was thus in the Company's possession only a little more 
 than four months of the year 1862. During the same 
 period minor interruptions occurred, of greater or less 
 extent, west of Cumberland, near New Creek and 
 Eoivlesburg, and between Parkersburg and Grafton. 
 
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62 KAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Many periods of alarm were also passed through, when 
 the road was merely threatened ; in all of which, how- 
 ever, the regular business of the line was seriously 
 affected. 
 
 The work of destruction on this road, during the 
 war, was not confined to the Confederate troops. 
 Much damage, also, was done to the track, and to the 
 equipment of the road, by United Slates troops, under 
 the plea of military necessity. 
 
 The present equipment of the road consists of 
 three hundred and fifty locomotive engines, seventy- 
 six stationary engines, two hundred and fifty pas- 
 senger cars, and six thousand freight cars. The 
 length of finished track is one thousand miles, as 
 follows: Baltimore to Wheeling, three hundred and 
 seventy-nine miles ; Washington Junction to Wash- 
 ington, thirty-one miles ; Grafton to Parkersburg, one 
 hundred and four miles ; Monocacy to Frederick, 
 three miles: Double track, two hundred and thirty- 
 seven miles ; sidings, ninety miles ; Central Ohio Divi- 
 sions, one hundred and thirty-seven miles; sidings nine- 
 teen miles. 
 
 The length of the roads under construction is sixty- 
 six and a half miles, as follows: Hagerstown to Knox- 
 ville, twenty-three miles; Washington to Point of 
 Eocks, forty-two miles ; South Paca Street, in Baltimore, 
 to Deep Cut, one and a half mile. The length of the 
 proposed lines is as follows: Virginia Valley Eailroad, 
 from Winchester to Salem, one hundred and seventy- 
 eight miles ; Pittsburg and Connellsville Eailroad, from 
 Pittsburg to Connellsville, one hundred and forty-nine 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 63 
 
 miles. (Seventy-two miles of this road are completed 
 and in operation.) 
 
 Distance from Washington to Pittsburg -by Metropolitan 
 Branch and the Pittsburg and Connellsville Railroads. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Washington to Poiut of Rocks , 42 
 
 Point of Rooks to Cnmberland 109 
 
 Cumberland to Pittsburg . 149 
 
 Washington to Pittsburg— Total 300 
 
 Distance from, Baltimore to Pittsburg via the Pittsburg 
 and Connellsville Bailroad. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Baltimore to Cumberland 178 
 
 Cumberland to Pittsburg 149 
 
 Baltimore to Pittsburg— Total 327 
 
 Through Distances between Eastern and Western points 
 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Connections. 
 
 Fkom — To Wheelikq. Benwood. Fabeebsbubq. 
 
 Baltimore 377 373 381 
 
 Washington (via Met. Br.) . 351 347 355 
 
 Philadelphia . . . .475 371 479 
 
 New York 562 558 564 
 
 COLOMBIIS. DaYTOS. CiNCIBHiTI. 
 
 ( via Columbus 629 
 
 Baltimore ... 510 580 1. " Wilm'g 614 
 
 ( " Parkersb'g 583 
 Washington (via Met. Br.) 484 554 5,57 
 
 Philadelphia f • ^08 678 666 
 
 New York ... 695 765 783 
 
 Fbou — Louisville. Indianapolis. St, Louis. 
 
 Baltimore . . . 720 { ^^^ ^ol. 691 933 
 
 l " Cin. 698 
 
 Washijgton (via Met. Br.) 694 665 897 
 
 Philadelphia . . 818 789 1021 
 
 New York ... 905 876 1108 
 
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64 
 
 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 
 Cleveland. 
 
 Toledo. 
 
 Chicago. 
 
 Baltimore 
 
 515 
 
 627 
 
 826 
 
 Washington 
 
 489 
 
 601 
 
 800 
 
 
 Kashtille. 
 
 Cairo. 
 
 Memphis. 
 
 Baltimore 
 
 905 
 
 979 
 
 1097 
 
 Washington (via Met. 
 
 Br.) 879 
 
 953 
 
 1071 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 . 1003 
 
 1077 
 
 1195 
 
 New York . 
 
 . 1090 
 
 1164 
 
 1282 
 
 ; Eaitsab. Leavenworth. Omaha. 
 
 Baltimore . . . 1205 1234 1 via P. &c. R. R. 1187 
 
 Washington (via Met. Br.) 1179 1228 ) Met. Br. 1161 
 
 Baltimore to New Orleans, by the proposed Virginia Valley Rail- 
 road, thirteen hundred miles. 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 65 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD: CONTINUED. 
 
 On the 12th of Dec. 1866, Mr. -Garrett having been 
 )r the eighth year in successioa elected President of 
 le Company, made an address to the Directors, from 
 'hich the following interesting extracts are made, as 
 bowing the present condition of the road : — 
 
 "During the past year, extensive and satisfactory 
 rogress has been made in many important improve- 
 lents. In addition to the regular employees engaged 
 1 the working departments of the road, more than two 
 lousand men have been employed in constructing 
 ouble track, tunnels, bridges, buildings, &c. These 
 irge forces have accomplished rapid and marked 
 3sults. The President has the satisfaction to announce 
 lat since .October 1st, 1865, eighty miles of first class 
 icond track have been constructed, and are now in 
 se. In accomplishing this construction many diffi- 
 ulties and obstacles were encountered, embracing 
 luch heavy work in rock, grading, and embankments. 
 
 " It was found that a portion of the tunnels constructed 
 )r double track were not of sufficient capacity for the 
 irge cars now used, and the tunnel at Marriottsville 
 as consequently enlarged to the requisite size. The 
 lunel at Paw Paw is also being enlarged. 
 
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66 EAILBOADS Olf THE UiflTED STATES. 
 
 " Besides the construction of these eighty miles o 
 double track, a large amount of grading and otlie: 
 work has been done upon the remaining part of th( 
 line east of Piedmont ; and we have the satisfaction o 
 being able to state that the entire line from Baltimore 
 to Piedmont (a distance of two hundred and six miles 
 will be completed with a superior double track during 
 the next year. 
 
 " It was found, that in order to insure safety and re 
 liability ^t the diffijult passage near the Point of Rocka 
 — where the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal borders ot 
 the Potomac River, and the great mountain of rocl 
 rises directly from the bed of the present single track 
 —it Would be essential to construct a tunnel of eight 
 hundred feet in length through the hard rock for. 
 matioii of that mountain. This costly and diflcall 
 ■work was commenced on the 16th of December, 1863, 
 and by the employment of the largest forces whict 
 could be used, working frotn each end and from i 
 side drift, thus working from four different points, 
 working also day and night — more than half of this 
 work has already been accomplished, and. in the course 
 of the month of February, 1867, it is expected, the 
 heading will be through, and that by August, 1867, the 
 double track can be laid through this rock-tunnel, and 
 the exposed line upon the banks of the canal at this 
 point be abandoned. The rock from this excavation, 
 which is exceedingly hard and durable, is broken 
 chiefly by an improved steam ballast-crusher, and ii 
 Used in ballasting the new second track. 
 
 " To avoid the sharp curve near the canal at Wil 
 liams's Point, west of the tunnel described, itj will b( 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO KAILKOAD. 67 
 
 lecessary to construct an additional tunnel. Prepara- 
 ;ions are being made to commence this work, and large 
 brces will be placed at all points along the line of the 
 ;anal, as soon as the navigation thereon ceases. Thus 
 luring the winter, this construction can be safely per- 
 brmed without interference with that work. 
 
 " It has been the policy of the Company at this and 
 )ther points, recognizing that the vast and increasing 
 business of the route requires the best possible and 
 permanent improvements, to hesitate at no cost in giv- 
 ngto the line those perfections which skill and enter- 
 Drise can command. It has also been an object 
 lontinuously of the Eoad Department to improve the 
 jurvatures whilst constructing- the double track, and, 
 it all points where practicable, to undertake the neces- 
 sary expense to straighten the line. Excellent results 
 lave attended this policy, and very decided improve- 
 nents of this character have been and are being made. 
 
 "Since the destruction of the wooden and other 
 jridges upon its line during the war, twelve first class 
 ron bridges, aggregating three thousand four hundred 
 ind seventy-five feet, with twenty-seven spans, varying 
 rom seventy-eigbt to two hundred and five feet in 
 ength, and of very costly character, have been built 
 it the Mount Clare workshops, placed upon superior 
 nasonry, and are now in successful use. 
 
 " The increasing business having demonstrated the 
 .dvantages of much larger buildings than those hereto- 
 ore used by the Machinery Department, the Company 
 las erected at Mount Clare a fire-proof brick machine 
 hop, two stories in height, with slate roof, and one 
 luadred and ninety-nine feet in length by sixty feet in 
 
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68 RAILROADS OF THE TJKITED STATES. 
 
 width. Scbroeder's Run has been securely arched, the 
 stone tunnel being of twelve feet span for its entire 
 distance through the Company's property at Mount 
 Clare ; and, by filling over this arch, large and valuable 
 additions have been made to the available grounds at 
 this important station. A very extensive blacksmith 
 shop, five hundred and sixty-eight feet in length by 
 seventy-five feet in width, and a wheel-house one hun- 
 dred by fifty feet, have been built of brick, with slate 
 roofs, in the most substantial manner, and are nearly 
 completed. 
 
 " At Martinsburg, an engine house for sixteen loco- 
 motives, and a machine shop one hundred and eighty- 
 four by sixty feet, of similar character to that at Mount 
 Clare, have been completed. A shop for car purposes 
 at that point, one hundred by two hundred feet, con- 
 structed also of brick, with slate roof, is now approach- 
 ing completion. At Piedmont, a new passenger station 
 has been erected, and the engine-house, blacksmith, car 
 and other shops have been completed, and are in use. 
 At Grafton, a superior engine-house for sixteen engines, 
 built of brick, upon stone foundations, thirty-three feet 
 in height, is nearly completed, and will be used during 
 the present season. Additional buildings have also 
 been erected, and are being constructed at Parkersburg, 
 "Wheeling, and other important and desirable points. 
 
 " A large amount of difficult work has been done 
 upon the Parkersburg branch. Three hundred and 
 twenty men are now employed in arching the tunnels 
 on that road. It is gratifying to announce that the 
 arching of three of these tunnels will be completed in 
 the most substantial manner during the present month. 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 69 
 
 I addition to this work, one thousand and ten feet of 
 laton's tunnel have been securely arched. The arch- 
 ig of three additional tunnels upon this line will be 
 nmediately commenced. Although the remainder of 
 lese tunnels are quite securely timbered, yet it is the 
 olicy and determination of the Company, in view of 
 le important and large business of this branch, and 
 ur desire to develop its advantages in every possible 
 )rm, to press energetically the work of arching every 
 annel upon the lines as rapidly as it can be judiciously 
 erformed. 
 
 " The arrangements of this line extend from Balti- 
 lore, via Parkersburg, and the Marietta and Cincin- 
 ati road, to Cincinnati and the Southwest, and via 
 Jellair and the Central Ohio road to Columbus, and 
 
 II points in the West and Northwest. The rapid 
 cnprovements effected by heavy expenditures upon 
 be Parkersburg branch, and the approaching com- 
 letion of the arching of its tunnels, combined with 
 be great improvements effected upon the line of the 
 farietta and Cincinnati road, especially in connection 
 rith. the use of the direct line into the western part 
 f the city of Cincinnati, will enable this Company, 
 dth these connections, during the next season, to 
 irnish the best and shortest possible line for passen- 
 :ers and freight between Cincinnati and Baltimore 
 nd Cincinnati and Washington. 
 
 " The establishment of the line of steamships between 
 5altimore and Liverpool has answered the most san- 
 uine expectations formed in regard to this enterprise. 
 )uring this period, our steamers have made fourteen 
 oyages with passengers and full cargoes to Liverpool, 
 
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70 
 
 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and twelve voyages with full cargoes and large num- 
 bers of passengers from Liverpool. It was anticipated 
 that arrangements would have been made prior to this 
 time for a line of large ships, which the increasing 
 business of the port requires ; but in consequence of 
 the derangements caused by the European war, the 
 requisite arrangements were deferred. Negotiationg 
 are again pending, which it is hoped will result in 
 securing large iron steamers, of a capacity and charac- 
 ter suitable for the extensive business now offering for 
 the line." 
 
 In order to shorten the distance between Washing- 
 ton and the West, the Company have long entertained 
 the design of constructing a road from Point of Rocks, 
 near Harper's Ferry, direct to Washington. The 
 route for this line has been surveyed, and it is th« 
 intention of the Company to proceed with the con- 
 struction of the road as soon as possible. 
 
 The following statement shows the total earnings of 
 the road, the total expenses, and the net earnings of 
 the. road, for a series of years. It is certainly a most 
 gratifying exhibit for the stockholders. 
 
 Earnings of the Baltimore and Ohio Hailroad, including 
 the Washington and Parkersburg branches. 
 
 
 
 
 Total Earnings. Total Expenses. 
 
 Not Earaiogs. 
 
 1856 
 
 
 . $4,830,172 $2,593,056 
 
 $2,237,116 
 
 1857 
 
 
 
 . 5,145,682 3,004,938 
 
 2,140,744 
 
 1858 
 
 
 
 . 4,573,912 2,986,906 
 
 l,587,ft06 
 
 1859 
 
 
 
 . 4,301,009 2,056,948 
 
 2,244,061 
 
 1860 
 
 
 
 . 4,654,286 1,584,245 
 
 2,670,041 
 
 1861 
 
 
 
 , 4,000,097. 1,817,432 
 
 2,182,665 
 
 1862 
 
 
 
 . 6,624,297 1,847,704 
 
 3,77«,S.93 
 
 1863 
 
 
 
 . 7,659,289 2,643,176 
 
 5,016,113 
 
 1864 .... 10,138,876 4,446,195 
 
 5,692,681 
 
 
 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 71 
 
 The following is a list of the officers of the C<am- 
 pany :— 
 
 John W. Garrett, President ; John King, Vice-Presi- 
 dent ; J. J. Atkinson, Treasurer ; J. L. Wilson, Master 
 of Transportation ; G. E. Blanchard, General Freight 
 Agent ; L. M. Cole, General Ticket Agent ; John W. 
 Brown, General Passenger Agent. 
 
 There are three great railroads in America, on 
 which the courage and skill of the engineer haye 
 surmounted, with peculiar triumph, the tremendoa^ 
 barriers to his advance which Nature had set op- 
 These roads are the New York and Erie; the Penn- 
 sylvania Central as it crosses the Alleghany Mountains; 
 and the Baltimore and Ohio. We shall proeeed to 
 speak of some examples on the latter road. 
 
 At Tunnelton, nineteen miles east of Grafton, the 
 grand scenery of the Cheat Eiver region begins (to 
 the traveller going eastward). It is at this part of the 
 road, also, that some of the greatest feats of railway 
 CBgineering have been achieved. Those who desire 
 to understand the power of science in conquering 
 nature by means of iron and steam, will here find 
 abundant examples. Here is a great railroad, which, 
 at the will of man, has been made to pass over, under, 
 and around, the rugged Alleghany Mountains. To 
 the unscieutifie eye, it would appear impossible that a 
 railroad could be built so as to cross the mountains in 
 this region, under any circumstances, so proudly do 
 they lift their heads into the clouds, and so steep and 
 precipitous are their tempest-washed sides. But not 
 so thought the engineer of the road, Benjamin H. 
 Latrobe, Bay after day did this enthusiastic votary 
 
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72 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of railroad science spend in reconnoitring these moun- 
 tain steeps, and in wandering through what was thea 
 an unbroken solitude. Victory rewarded him at last. 
 The great Kingwood tunnel is only one of the monu- 
 ments of his genius. It is four thousand one hundred 
 feet long, and its construction cost the Company a 
 million of dollars. Between Tunnelton and Eowels- 
 burg there is a constant succession of marvels of rail- 
 way work. The Tray Run Viaduct is one of these ; a 
 light and graceful structure, yet so firm in its welded 
 strength that thousands of tons of merchandise pass 
 over it daily without causing the least oscillation of its 
 airy arches. This viaduct is built entirely of iron. It 
 is six hundred feet long : it rests tipon a massive base 
 of masonry as firm as the mountain itself; and it is 
 one hundred and fifty feet above the water in the little 
 stream beneath. 
 
 For several miles, on this part of the line, the road 
 runs along the steep mountain side, presenting a suc- 
 cession of the most delightful landscapes. At Cran- 
 berry Summit, two hundred and forty-two miles west 
 of Baltimore, the traveller will nearly have reached 
 the top of the Alleghany Mountains. Here, looking 
 back to the westward, can be seen the grand panorama 
 of the long, gradual sweep of the Alleghanies towards 
 the Ohio Eiver, up which, to the present surprising al- 
 titude, the traveller has climbed, without effort, and 
 almost unconscious of the ascent. At Oakland, two 
 hundred and thirty-two miles west of Baltimore, the 
 traveller will be tempted to stop for a short time, if his 
 journey is in the summer, at the Glades Hotel. "The 
 Glades" are the mountain meadows, a region, on the 
 
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THE BALTIMOKE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 73 
 
 high table land at the summit of the Alleghany Moun- 
 tains. At this height the air is extremely rarefied and 
 cool, during the heats of summer. The landscape 
 abounds in groves of the beautiful white oak, and in 
 copious streams of the purest and clearest water, kept 
 full and fresh by the clouds that condense around the 
 summits ; and abounding with delicious trout. It pas- 
 tures innumerable herds of sheep, the tenderness and 
 flavor of whose flesh rival that of the deer which 
 abound in the woods. Wild turkeys and pheasants 
 hide among its oaks, beeches, walnuts, and magnolias ; 
 the groves of sugar-maple trees resound with the songs 
 of larks, thrushes and mocking birds ; while a profusion 
 of wild flowers completes the attractions of this moun- 
 tain paradise. It is no wonder that many families 
 from Baltimore come to the Glades Hotel to spend a 
 few weeks in the hot summer months. 
 
 At Altamont, two hundred and twenty -three miles 
 w.est of Baltimore, the traveller finds himself at the 
 surprising altitude of two thousand seven hundred feet 
 above that city, and upon the extreme summit of the 
 Alleghany Mountains. It is here that the mountain 
 streams divide, flowing in one direction towards the 
 Potomac Eiver, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Atlantic 
 Ocean, and in the other towards the Ohio Eiver, the 
 Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Prescott 
 Smith, lately and for many years the Master of Trans- 
 portation of the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad, who is as 
 poetical as he is practical, has made the beautiful sug- 
 gestion that these waters, thus divided on the summit of 
 the Alleghany Mountains, unite again in the broad At- 
 lantic, amid the turbid waves of the Gulf Stream. Nor 
 
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74 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 is this beautiful theory at all improbable, for the vast 
 volume of water which the Mississippi pours into the 
 Gulf Stream is, as is well known, carried, with all the 
 velocity of that mysterious ocean current, northwards 
 past the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, where it receives 
 the waters from the eastward-flowing streams. 
 
 From Altamont the grade of the road begins to de- 
 scend, and at Piedmont, two hundred and six miles 
 west of Baltimore, the traveller reaches, as its name 
 implies, tlie foot of the Alleghany Mountains. Here, 
 if he be at all of a contemplative turn of mind, he will 
 pause, and consider for a moment the wonderful engi- 
 neering skill that has thus carried this great railroad 
 across such mighty obstacles. 
 
 There are in all sixteen tunnels on this road, mea- 
 suring in all nearly thirteen thousand feet in length, 
 namely, twelve thousand eight hundred and four feet, 
 01 which twelve thousand and seventy-two feet are 
 arched with substantial masonry, and seven hundred 
 and thirty-two feet are cut through solid rock. 
 
 In June, 1856, a party of tourists, among whom 
 was the historian Bancroft, were taken over the road 
 in a special train. Brantz Mayer, the author, was among 
 them, and he thus describes some of the beautiful fea- 
 tures along the route : — 
 
 " No one, I am sure, has ever looked westward from 
 this point without wondering how the passage is to be 
 effected ; yet no one has made the journey without 
 equal surprise at the seeming ease by which science 
 and energy have overcome every impediment. As you 
 pass forward from Piedmont, the impression is that 
 you are about to run a tilt against the mountain flank 
 
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THE BALTrSfOEE AND OHIO EAILEOAD. 75 
 
 with blind and aimless impulse; but a graceful curve 
 winds the train out of harm, and you move securely 
 into the primeval forest, feeling the engine begin to tug 
 up the steeps as it strikes the edge of Savage Eiver, 
 which boils down the western shoulder of Savage 
 Mountain. The transit from the world to the wilder- 
 ness is instantaneous. Mr. Bancroft and I mounted 
 the engine at this spot so as to enjoy an unobstructed 
 view of the scenery during the ascent ; and although 
 a gust began to growl over the mountains, with fre- 
 quent flashes of lightning and thunder, we kept our 
 post, finding the grandeur of the prospect enhanced by 
 the rush of the storm as we rose higher and higher on 
 the mountain flank. 
 
 " No one has observed fine scenery without acknow- 
 ledging the difficulty of its description ; for its impres- 
 sion is purely emotional, and emotion is so evanescent 
 that the effort to condense it into language destroys the 
 sentiment as breath destroys the prisms of a snow-flake. 
 We may give a catalogue of pines, precipices, rocks, 
 torrents, ledges, overarching trees, and all the elements 
 that make one ' feel the sublimity of a stern solitude ;' 
 but I have never been able to convey, by words, the 
 exact impression of such scenes, nor do I believe we 
 can obtain what is somewhere called ' a realizing sense ' 
 in the descriptions of others. In this reject, music 
 and painting have more power than language ; music 
 has the spirituality which painting lacks, and painting 
 tbe body in which music is deficient; but, as their 
 effiectscan never be completely united, we must despair 
 of influencing the mind at second hand from Nature. 
 
 " And so we rolled resistlessly upward, for seventeen 
 
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76 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 miles along the broad ledges, seeing the tree-tops sink- 
 ing as we swooped into the air, which freshened as we 
 arose ; seeing the vale grow less and less, and the sum- 
 mits that were just now above us come closer and 
 closer till we touched their level; seeing the river 
 whence we started shrink into a film into its bed ; and 
 seeing the narrow upward, imprisoning glimpse widen 
 into a downward, distant reach. 
 
 " On we hurried without halting but once, till we 
 turned from the Savage Valley into the Crabtree Gorge, 
 along the flank of the great Alleghany Backbone ; and 
 a few miles above Frankville (an eyrie among the 
 summits, some one thousand eight hundred feet 
 above tide, and one thousand one hundred feet 
 above Cumberland), cast our eyes back toward the 
 northeast for a rapid glimpse of one of the grandest 
 views in the mountains. The gloomy masses of Sav- 
 age Mountain tower on the right, fold upon fold, and 
 the eastern slopes of Meadow Mountain, with its spurs, 
 on the left ; while between them the Savage River winds 
 away for miles and miles in a silvery trail' till it is lost 
 in the distance. Throughout the whole passage from 
 Piedmont to Altamont (two thousand six hundred and 
 twenty feet above tide, and the greatest elevation along 
 the route) the road-, constantly and almost insensibly 
 ascends, in every portion filling the mind with a sense 
 of as perfect security as if the transit were made in a 
 coach. 
 
 '• At Altamont we dipped over the eastern edge of 
 tlie Alleghanies, and by a slight descent entered the 
 highland basin of the old mountain lakes, which ex- 
 tends over many thousand acres, and is known as the 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 77 
 
 'Glades.' There the Youghiogheny takes its rise, 
 while the dividing ridge of the great Backbone sends 
 the water on one side into the Gulf of Mexico, and on 
 the other into the Chesapeake. These beautiful glades, 
 or mountain meadows, are not connected in a level 
 field like our western prairies, but lie in broken out- 
 lines, with small wooded ranges between them, or jut- 
 ting out from their midst in moderate elevations. At 
 this height the air is extremely rarefied and cool 
 throughout the summer ; so that, although the country 
 is not adapted for agriculture, it is calculated for every 
 species of animal and vegetable life that is disposed 
 to run wild and take the world as it finds it. 
 
 "We slept at Oakland. The mists hung high over 
 these highlands long after sunrise, and the air was so 
 bracing that we found overcoats necessary as we 
 bowled across the great Youghiogheny, on a single 
 arch of timber and iron, and passed the picturesque 
 Falls of Snowy Creek, where the road quits the prairie 
 and strikes a glen through which the stream brawls in 
 foam, contrasting bravely with the hemlocks and 
 laurels that line the pass. 
 
 "At Cranberry Summit the mountain-levels and 
 gladelands terminate, at an elevation of two thousand 
 five hundred and fifty feet above tide, and only 
 seventy-six feet lower than Altamont, where we 
 entered the field, twenty miles back. 
 
 " From this elevated point we catch the first grand 
 glimpse of the ' Western World,' in a long gradual 
 sweep down the AUeghanies toward the affluents of 
 the Ohio. The descent begins instantly, along the 
 slopes of Saltlick Creek, through a mass of excava- 
 
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78 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tions, two tunnels, and fifty feet of viaduct.' Down- 
 ward and downward we swept as comfortably as on a 
 plain, till an easy and almost imperceptible descent of 
 twelve miles, througli a forest of firs and pines, 
 brought us to the dark waters of Cheat Eiver. After 
 the difficulties of ascending, crossing the Backbone 
 of the Alleghany, and descending its first western 
 slope-— all of which, like Columbus's discovery, ' seem 
 so easy' now that they are overcome — a new marvel 
 has been accomplished in the preservation of a high 
 level by massive viaducts and by boring the moun- 
 tains with tunnels. On Cheat River, at the bottom of 
 this descent, we approached the first of these marvels, 
 two noble arches of iron, firm and substantial as the 
 mountains they join. Then comes the ascent of Cheat 
 Eiver Hill. Next are the slopes of Laurel, and its 
 spurs, with the river on the right; till the dell of 
 Kyer's Run is passed on an embankment, and Buckeye 
 Hollow crossed on a solid work whose foundations are 
 laid deeply below the level of the road. Both of these 
 splendid structures have walls of masonry, built of the 
 adjacent rock. 
 
 " Beyond this we reach Tray Run, which is passed 
 by an iron viaduct, six hundred feet in length, founded 
 on a massive base of masonry as firm as the mountain 
 itself. All these remarkable works — chiefly designed 
 by Mr. Fink — have borne the trial of heat and frost, 
 travel and transportation for several years ; and when 
 closely inspected, their immense solidity, security and 
 strength, are as easily tested by the eye as they have 
 been by use and time. 
 
 " These beautiful structures had hardly been passed 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD. 19 
 
 when we wound upward across Buckthorae branch, 
 and, half a mile further, left the declivities of Cheat 
 Eiver, with its brown waters dyed by the roots of 
 laurel and hemlock, and bordered by the bright 
 flowers of the rhododendron. Our last glimpse of this 
 mountain river was through a tall arch of forest, 
 rounding off) far below, in its dark valley of uninha' 
 bited wilderness. 
 
 "Beyond Cassidy's Ridge, we encountered another, 
 and perhaps the most remarkable of these gigantic 
 works. The road -can only escape from its mountain 
 prison by bursting the wall. Up hill and down hill, 
 through brake and ravine, it has cleft its way from 
 Piedmont, like a prisoner seeking release from his 
 bars, till at last it finds a bold barrier of two hundred 
 and twenty feet abruptly opposed to its departure I 
 For a while (before the entire completion of the road) 
 engineering skill led a track over this steep ly an ascent 
 of five hundred feet in a mile; but finally the giant has 
 been subdued, and the last great wall of the Allegha- 
 nies passed by piercing the mountain. For nearly 
 three years crowds of laborers were engaged in blast- 
 ing through solid rock the four thousand one hundred 
 feet of the Kingwood Tunnel, and a year and a half 
 more was spent in shielding it with iron and brick, 
 so as to make its walls more solid, if possible, than the 
 original hills. 
 
 "For five miles from the western end of this tunnel, 
 we descended to the broader valleys about Eaccoon 
 Creek, and gliding through another tunnel of two 
 hundred and fifty feet, followed the water till we 
 entered the Tygart Kiver Valley, at Grafton, where the 
 
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80 KAILROADS OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Northwestern Railway diverges to Parkersburg, on the 
 Ohio, ninety -five miles below Wheeling. The estab- 
 lishments of the Company at this point are erected in 
 the most substantial way for the comfort and security 
 of all who may visit this interesting region. 
 
 " There are few routes of travel in America — and 
 none, probably, by rail — worthier of attention than 
 the region between the slopes of the western gladeland 
 to the mountain exit at Kingw.ood. It is all absolute 
 mountain, absolute forest, absolute solitude. In 
 winter it is the very soul of desolatton, when the trees 
 are iced, like huge stalactites, from top to bottom, 
 and the ravines among the cliffs blocked with drifted 
 snow. But in spring or summer it presents splendid 
 bits of forest scenery. The glens are narrow, and 
 there are few distant prospects ; but there is every- 
 where the same ragged bloom — the same overarching 
 hemlocks and firs — the same torrent roar, foaming 
 over rocky beds — the same fringing of thick-leaved 
 laurel — the same oozy plashes of morass, rank with 
 dark vegetation — the same black mountain face — the 
 same absence of people and farms — the same sense of 
 absolute solitude. 
 
 "But in Tygart's Valley the landscape softens and 
 becomes more human, with the marks of agriculture 
 and habitation, and the road seems to bound along 
 more gayly, as if exulting in its release from the 
 mountain. The river winds gently through rounder 
 and lower hills and broader meadows, broken only by 
 'the Falls,' which, in a few steep pitches, tumble 
 seventy feet in the distance of a mile. Not far from 
 this point, Tygart Eiver and the West Fork unite to 
 
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THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO EAILKOAD. 81 
 
 form the Monongahela, which, a quarter of a mile 
 below the juuction, is crossed by an iron viaduct of 
 six hundred and fifty feet long — the largest iron 
 bridge in America, and due to the engineering skill 
 of Mr. Fink. 
 
 " In these central solitudes everything seems to be 
 the property of the wilderness — a wilderness incapa- 
 ble of yielding to any mastery but that of an engi- 
 neer; and it may fairly become a matter of national 
 pride, that scientific men were found in our country 
 bold enough to venture on grades by which any 
 mountain may be passed. Where ground was wanted. 
 Nature seemed to have scooped it away ; where it was 
 not wanted. Nature seemed to have stacked it up for 
 future purposes. There are considerable difficulties 
 between Baltimore and Cumberland ; yet, in a country 
 which rises only six hundred and thirty-nine feet 
 above tide in one hundred and seventy-nine miles, a 
 road may be constructed by ordinary perseverance 
 and skill. But they who desire to understand the 
 power of science in conquering nature by steam and 
 iron, must climb and cross the Alleghanies between 
 Piedmont and Kingwood. The success of this, the 
 most difficult portion of the enterprise, is due to the 
 engineering of Mr. Latrobe, and the financial energy 
 of Mr. Garrett and Mr. Swann. 
 
 " As the pioneer of such internal improvements in 
 the Union, it has been the school for subsequent rail- 
 ways, and deserves the gratitude of scientific men for 
 the true principles of location and construction. The 
 bridging and tunnelling along the whole route amount 
 to about five and a quarter miles ; the laborers and 
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82 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 employees form almost five regiments in number ; and, 
 when we take into consideration the depots, tanks, 
 engines, rails, station-houses, and innumerable cars for 
 freight and travel, as well as the two lines of telegraph 
 wires, belonging exclusively to the Company, which 
 keep every portion in communication and successful 
 pperation throughout the line, one no longer wonders 
 that twenty-five millions were expended on the struc- 
 ture, but is only surprised that the people of a small, 
 ^ngle State, could accomplish so colossal an enter- 
 prise." 
 
 This chapter was written in July, 1867, at which 
 time several great improvements were in progress 
 along the line of the road. These are now, for the 
 most part, finished ; but on those yet in progress, and 
 in the workshops of the Company, there are employed 
 ten thousand men. Mr. Garrett has been elected Presi- 
 dent for the tenth time, and is now in the tenth year 
 of his office as President of the road. This is a very 
 great, but richly deserved compliment, paid to one of 
 the first railroad men of the age. 
 
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OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD. 83 
 
 CHAPTEE VII, 
 
 OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI EAILEOAD. 
 
 The tliroTigh route between Baltimore and St. 
 Louis is nine hundred and twenty-eight miles long. 
 It is composed of the Baltimore and Ohio road, from 
 Baltimore to Parkersburg, three hundred and eighty- 
 three miles; the Marietta and Cincinnati road, from 
 Marietta to Cincinnati, two hundred and five miles; 
 and the Ohio and Mississippi road, from Cincinnati to 
 St. Louis, three hundred and forty miles. The Balti- 
 more and Ohio Eailroad Company are about to build 
 two bridges of stone and iron, over the Ohio Eiver, 
 one at Wheeling and one at Parkersburg ; indeed the 
 work on the former is already in a good state of for- 
 wardness. But in the meantime passengers cfoss the 
 river at Parkersburg on a steamboat, and take the cars 
 on the other side at Marietta. 
 
 The Ohio and Mississippi Eailroad Company was 
 chartered in 1848, and its chartered powers were ex- 
 tended in 1849 and 1851. A contract was made by 
 the Board of Directors on the 22d of November, 
 1851, with Hezekiah C. Lyman, of New York, to 
 construct and complete the road from Cincinnati to 
 Vincennes, on the Wabash Eiver, in Indiana, a dis- 
 tance of one hundred and ninety-two miles, for six 
 and a half millions of dollars ($6,500,000). Owing 
 
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84 KAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 to Mr. Lyman's death, the contract passed into other 
 hands. After several years of perplexing embarrass- 
 ments, an agreement was made in May, 1856, with 
 William H. Aspinwall, of New York, and his asso- 
 ciates, to complete the work. Under that agreement 
 the road was constructed, and was opened to Vincen- 
 nes on the 15th of April, 1857. The western division 
 of the road from Vincennes to St. Louis, a distance 
 of one hundred and forty-eight miles, was constructed 
 between the years 1856 and 1859, and the whole road 
 was in full operation early in 1860. 
 
 This road possesses some remarkable advantages. 
 It runs in nearly a straight line, has no sharp curves, 
 and is nearly on a level. It connects two of the great 
 cities of the West, and the running time between them 
 is only sixteen hours. It runs through the great hog- 
 ^•aising district of the West. Finally, the following 
 great roads, which cross and intersect it, act as feeders 
 to it, namely, the road from Lafayette to Lawrence- 
 burg ; the road from Michigan City to Mitchell Sta- 
 tion; the road from Terre Haute to Evansville; the 
 two roads of the Illinois Central line, from Chicago 
 and Galena ; and the road from Indianapolis to Louis- 
 ville. With all these advantages, it ought to be, and 
 no doubt will be, one of the best paying roads in the 
 country. It has been, hitherto, highly prosperous. 
 But its business has not been half so great as it might 
 have been, owing to the fact that it is worked in two 
 divisions, and to all intents and purposes as two roads. 
 When it is worked as one great road, under one set 
 of officers, its revenues, great as they are now, will 
 become doubled. 
 
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OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD. 85 
 
 Passengers from Cincinnati, on arriving at the Mis- 
 sissippi Eiver, opposite St. Louis, are subjected to 
 serious inconvenience. They are transported across 
 the river in a ferry boat, the motion of which is im- 
 perceptible, so smoothly does the machinery work. 
 But the boat itself is ugly, dirty, smoky, and has no 
 accommodations. The passengers, however, are seated 
 in long omnibuses, each drawn by four horses, in 
 ■which they have been driven on board the boat. On 
 arriving at the St. Louis side of the river, these omni- 
 buses are driven up the steep levee, into the city. 
 Instead of being driven straight up the hill, however, 
 they are driven sideways, so that one side of the omni- 
 bus is much lower than the other. This sensation is 
 anything but pleasant, and the passengers are in con- 
 stant fear of the omnibus upsetting. To see the 
 omnibuses leaning over during the whole distance 
 up the long hill, they seem to be in fact, on the point 
 of capsizing every moment. It is certainly a very 
 dangerous practice. 
 
 The reader will be glad to learn, however, that 
 arrangements are in progress for building a substantial 
 stone and iron bridge over the Mississippi at St. Louis, 
 so- that trains can pass directly over, and deposit 
 their passengers in the city. The bridge will be two 
 thousand seven hundred feet long. 
 
 In December, 1867, a new election of Directors was 
 held, and Wm. D. Griswold, Esq., was elected Presi- 
 dent of the Company. The prosperity of the road 
 will now, no doubt, be greatly enhanced. 
 
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86 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PENNSYLVANIA KAILEOAD. 
 
 The lines of railroad owned and worked by the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad Company, consist of the Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad, from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and 
 the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, formerly and more 
 properly called the Sunbury and Erie road, from Har- 
 risburg to Erie. The consolidation of these two great 
 railroads has been productive of the most beneficial 
 efifects, as will be presently seen. The canals of the 
 State of Pennsylvania are also owned and worked by 
 the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. 
 
 The great through route between Philadelphia and 
 Chicago consists of two railroads, namely, the Penn- 
 sylvania Central, from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and 
 the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago, from Pitts- 
 burg to Chicago. There is only one change of cars 
 on the route, namely, at Pittsburg, and here the pas- 
 sengers only have to walk a few steps, under the same 
 roof, in changing from one train of cars to another. 
 
 The entire length of the Pennsylvania Central Rail- 
 road is three hundred and fifty-five miles. It was 
 commenced in 1831, as the Philadelphia and Columbia 
 Railroad, intending to terminate at Columbia, on the 
 Susquehanna River. In September, 1882, twenty 
 miles of the road were ready for use. In April, 1834, 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 87 
 
 a single track was completed, and opened for truvel, 
 from Philadelphia to Columbia. In October, 1834, 
 the doable track was completed and opened for public 
 use. 
 
 This road crossed the Schuylkill River, at Philadel- 
 phia, on a wooden viaduct nine hundred and eighty- 
 four feet long, fifty feet wide, and thirty-eight feet 
 above the water. The road then immediately ascended 
 an inclined plane, two thousand eight hundred and five 
 feet long, and one hundred and eighty-seven feet high. 
 Between Philadelphia and Lancaster the grades were 
 very steep, some of them being forty -five feet to the 
 mile, and none being less than thirty feet. The deepest 
 cuttings on the road were from thirty to forty feet 
 deep ; the highest embankments were eighty feet high. 
 The road entered Columbia by an inclined plane 
 eighteen hundred feet long and ninety feet high. 
 Efforts were soon made to avoid these inclined planes; 
 but it was some years before these efforts were success- 
 ful. In the mean time they were ascended with ease, 
 by means of stationary engines. At the inclined plane 
 near the Schuylkill, a building at the head of the as- 
 cent contained a stationary engine of sixty horse power. 
 An endless rope, three inches in diameter, was used to 
 draw the cars up. One train passed up, while another 
 train passed down. 
 
 Another division of" what afterwards became t'o 
 Pennsylvania Central Railroad, from HoUidaysburg io 
 Johnstown, a distance of thirty-seven miles, was solui 
 after completed. There was one viaduct on this road, 
 built of stone, having a single arch of eighty-feet span. 
 It was seventy feet above the water, and cost fifty -four 
 
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88 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 thousand five hundred dollars. There were two very 
 long inclined planes, at the top of each of which two 
 stationary engines were placed, and were worked with 
 the usual endless rope. Four cars were drawn up and 
 four were let down at the same time. A safety-car 
 attended each trip, and could stop all the cars, in case 
 of accident to the rope. The track of this road was 
 made of English iron, which cost one hundred and 
 eighteen thousand eight hundred and eigbtj-nine dol- 
 lars for the first track that was laid. The double track 
 was made with the same kind of iron, which cost 
 eighty-seven thousand four hundred and ninety-five 
 dollars, or forty-eight dollars and fifty cents per ton. 
 This road attained an elevation of two thousand 
 four hundred and ninety-one feet above the level of 
 the Atlantic Ocean. It was completed March 18th, 
 188-i. 
 
 In a little work entitled " Pleasant Peregrinations 
 through the Prettiest Parts of Pennsylvania, by Pere- 
 grine Prolix," now entirely out of print, we find the 
 following amusing and interesting account of a journey 
 from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, before this great road 
 was completed : — 
 
 "The omnibus being now full, we proceeded to the 
 depot at Broad Street (in Philadelphia), to be trans- 
 ferred to a railroad car. Two cars, filled with passen- 
 gers and, covered with their baggage, are drawn by 
 four horses for four miles, to the foot of an inclined 
 plane, which is ou the western bank of the Schuylkill 
 Eiver, and is approached by a spacious viaduct, extend- 
 ing across the river, built of strong timber, and 
 covered with a rool; The ride to the foot of the 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA KAILKOAD. 89 
 
 inclined plane is very interesting, first passing through 
 a deep cut made forty years ago, for a canal that was 
 never finished, and then by a number of beautiful 
 country-seats on the eastern bank of the Schuylkill ; 
 affording occasional glimpses of the romantic river 
 itselfi and the lovely scenery .on its western bank. 
 The view from the viaduct towards the north is 
 particularly fine, embracing a long reach of the river 
 with a beautiful green island in the foreground, and 
 the banks on both sides rising into bold hills crowned 
 with romantic villas. 
 
 " At the foot of the inclined plane the horses were 
 loosed from the cars. Several cars were then fastened 
 to an endless rope, and presently began to mount the 
 steep acclivity at a speed of five miles per hour. When 
 the cars had all arrived at the top of the plane, fourteen 
 of tliem were strung together like beads, and were 
 lowered down the other side of the plane, in the same 
 manner. "We an-ived at Lancaster at three P. M., dined 
 well, and slept comfortably. On the next morning we 
 left Lancaster at five o'clock, in a railroad car drawn 
 by two horses, and arrived at Columbia at half past 
 six the same morning." Here were twenty-two hours 
 consumed in travelling eighty-two miles, a portion of 
 the road that is now traversed in four hours ! But we 
 will let this pleasant traveller resume, and tell his 
 story in his own way. Columbia, on the Susquehanna 
 River, he says, "is the western termination of the rail- 
 road ; and ^oods from the seaboard, for the great West, 
 are here transshipped into canal boats. At four in the 
 afternoon we went on board the canal boat, to ascend 
 tlie canal which follows the eastern bank of the Sus- 
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90 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 quehanna. A canal packet-boat is eighty feet long 
 and twelve feet wide. It kas a house built in it, that 
 extends to within six feet of stem and stern. Thirty- 
 six feet of this space are used as a cabin by day and a 
 dormitory by night ; the forward twelve feet being cut 
 off by a thick curtain, for the accommodation of 
 ladies. In front of this is the ladies' dressing-room, 
 six feet by ten. At nine o'clock in the evening, the 
 steward and his satellites begin the work of arrang- 
 ing the sleeping apparatus (much after the manner of 
 a modern sleeping car). Abaft the cabin is the pantry 
 and kitchen, where an escaped slave from Virginia 
 usually performs the part of cook. The breakfasts, 
 dinners, and suppers on board these boats are excel- 
 lent, thirty-seven cents being charged for the dinners, 
 and twenty-five cents each for the other meals." (It 
 may be remarked that it is only within a few years 
 past that travellers have been systematically robbed, 
 by being charged fifty cents, and even seventy-five 
 cents, for breakfasts and suppers, and a dollar and one 
 dollar and twenty-five cents for dinner, at stations on 
 many of the railroads. The meals that are given to 
 travellers at these places could be furnished at thirty- 
 seven and fifty cents each, and still leave a handsome 
 profit. It may safely be said, for instance, that the 
 " dinner" for which the traveller pays a dollar, does 
 not cost the landlord more than fifteen cents. The 
 people who keep these eating-houses at railroad sta- 
 tions, make immense fortunes in a very few years. 
 But to . resume our traveller's narrative) : " This ma- 
 chine, and all that it inhabit, is dragged through the 
 water at the rate of four miles per hour, by three 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 91 
 
 horses. The rope, which is two hundred feet long, is 
 fastened to the deck, twenty feet from the bows, so that 
 it can be loosed from the boat by touching a spring. 
 The horses are changed every three hours, and seem 
 to be much jaded by their work." The traveller, ap- 
 preciating the beauties of the scenery, here laments 
 the custom of travelling at night, and urges the estab- 
 lishment of a line of canal packet-boats travelling only 
 by day, at five miles per hour ; starting at six A. M. 
 and stopping at seven P. M. at good hotels in pleasant 
 places, and furnishing them excellent and appetizing 
 breakfasts and dinners on board. 
 
 " At five in the morning," he says, " we rose, deter- 
 mined to land on Duncan's Island, which we were now 
 approaching. The scenery around us was a combina- 
 tion of the magnificence of nature in her grandest and 
 wildest mood, and of the ingenuity of art in some of 
 her greatest efibrts. The canal here runs along the 
 southwest side of a mountain, in whose basement of 
 rock a bed is partly cut ; and is separated from the 
 Susquehanna by an enormous wall of stone. Through 
 a wide opening of solid masonry it debouches into the 
 mighty river, here converted into a lake by an im- 
 mense dam. As the boat entered the river at this 
 point, the horses ascended to a gallery high in the air, 
 attached to the side of a great bridge of timber, which 
 here extends its numerous and expanded arches across 
 the river, and thus drew us across the wide expanse 
 of water. Having passed the river, the boat entered 
 the canal on the southwest side of Duncan's Island, 
 through a superb lock of solid masonry : the romantic 
 river Juniata discharging its limpid waters into the 
 
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92 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Susquehanna, close on tte left. The boat stopped, and 
 we landed and took up our quarters at Mrs. Duncan's, 
 whose spacious mansion stands on the island, three 
 hundred feet from the canal." Here the discriminating 
 traveller goes into raptures about Mrs. Duncan's house 
 and its comforts, the excellent bread, the fragrant but- 
 ter, the profusion of rich cream, the variety of pre- 
 served fruits, &c., and then says, more prosaically: 
 " The island itself is situated at the confluence of the 
 Susquehanna and Juniata, and contains three hundred 
 and sixty acres. It is elevated twenty -five feet above 
 the river. At six the next morning we embarked on 
 another canal boat, and resumed our journey. The 
 canal here passes along the bank of the island for a 
 mile, and then crosses the Juniata on a substantial 
 aqueduct. We had now reached a most romantic re- 
 gion, having the Juniata, and the ever-changing scen- 
 ery of its bold and picturesque banks constantly in 
 view. "We arrived at Lewistown at sunset, but did not 
 stop there. We passed a comfortable night on board 
 the boat, and arrived at Huntington at seven the next 
 morning, and at Hollidaysburg at half-past six that 
 evening. 
 
 "In the artificial canal basin, at Hollidaysburg, 
 which is large and commodious, terminates that part of 
 the Pennsylvania Canal which lies east of the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains. The goods and merchandise 
 destined for the west are here taken from the canal 
 boats, and placed in freight cars, which are to carry 
 them over the mountains by means of the Alleghany 
 Portage Railroad. 
 
 " At half past eight the next morning we left Holli- 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 93 
 
 daysburg in a stage coach with four horses. After 
 jolting twenty-one miles in the mud, which occupied 
 six hours, we stopped at a village tavern kept, as the 
 sign informed us, by P. Amich." Here the traveller 
 goes into raptures again over the bountiful and deli- 
 cious dinner to which he and his companions sat down. 
 He praises the snow white table cloth, the glittering 
 glasses, the juicy ham, the tender turkey, the roast 
 beef cooked to a turn, the preserved fruits and cream, 
 and the fragrant coffee ; and for all this, oh ! reader, the 
 travellers were charged just thirty-seven cents each ! 
 
 "On the next morningj^' continues our cheerful 
 friend, "we found ourselves, at six o'clock, in motion 
 in the railroad cars, again, o!i the first level, as it is 
 called, of four miles long leading to the foot of the first 
 inclined plane. This level has an ascent of one hundred 
 feet, and we passed over it in horse cars, at the rate 
 of six miles per hour. The passengers and cars were 
 now to be raised eleven hundred and fifty -two feet of 
 perpendicular height, and then to be lowered fourteen 
 hundred feet in perpendicular descent. This was to be 
 done by means of complicated and powerful ma- 
 chinery, and we were thus to pass over a mountain, 
 in six hours, which, with a similar weight, three years 
 ago, would have required three days. The idea of 
 rising so rapidly in the world, particularly by steam 
 and a rope, is very agitating. As soon as we arrived 
 at the foot of the inclined plane, the horses were 
 unhitched, and the cars were fastened to a rope, which 
 passes up themiddleof one track, and down the middle 
 of the other. The stationary steam engine at tlie head 
 of the plane was then started, and the cars moved ma- 
 
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94 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 jesticallyup the steep and long acclivity in four minutes. 
 The length of this plane is sixteen hundred and eight 
 feet, and its height one hundred and fifty feet. The 
 cars were now attached to horses, and drawn through 
 a magnificent tunnel nine hundred feet long, having 
 two tracks through it, and being cut through the solid 
 rock. 
 
 " The valley of the Conemaugh is now passed, on a 
 viaduct of most beautiful construction. It is of one 
 arch, a perfect semicircle, with a diameter of eighty 
 feet. It is built of cut stone ; and its entire height 
 from the foundation, is seventy-eight feet. The four- 
 teen miles of the second level are passed in an hour, 
 and the train arrives at the foot of the second inclined 
 plane, which is seventeen hundred and sixty feet long, 
 and one hundred and thirty -two feet high. The third 
 level is nearly two miles long. The third inclined 
 plane is fourteen hundred and eighty feet long, and 
 one hundred and thirty feet high. The fourth level is 
 two miles long.- The fourth plane is two thousand 
 one hundred and ninety-six feet long, and one hun- 
 dred and eighty-eight feet high. The fifth level is 
 three miles long. The fifth plane is two thousand 
 six hundred and twenty-nine feet long, and two 
 hundred feet high. This brings us to the top of the 
 mountain. "We are now two thousand three hun- 
 dred and ninety-seven feet above the ocean. At this 
 elevation, in the midst of summer, you breath an air 
 like that of spring, clear, cool, and refreshing. The 
 length of the road on the top of the mountain is nearly 
 two miles. There are five planes and five levels also, 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 95 
 
 on the other side of the mountain, by which you 
 descend." 
 
 Such was the mode of travel, on this delightful 
 route, before the Pennsylvania Eailroad was finished. 
 It must be confessed, that, if the rate of progress was 
 slow, the journey was attended by many pleasures. 
 But the great increase of travel, the rapid settlement 
 of the Western States, and the enormous freight busi- 
 ness that gradually sprang up between the east and 
 the west, demanded a far more rapid means of commu- 
 nication, and this the Pennsylvania Central Eailroad 
 Company proceeded to furnish. 
 
 The work was a stupendous one, and could not have 
 been accomplished in the magnificent manner in which 
 the road now exists, without talents and abilities of the 
 very first order on the part of the chief officers of the 
 Company. Of these, the Company is more indebted 
 to J. Edgar Thomson and Thomas A. Scott, the 
 present President and Vice-President of the road, than 
 to any others. Mr. Thomson was for many years 
 Chief Engineer and General Superintendent of the 
 road; and the untiring energy and judicious enterprise 
 of Mr. Scott, always directed to the right object, have 
 secured for the Company the most brilliant results. 
 
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96 EAILKOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX, 
 
 PENITSYLVANIA RAILROAD, CONTINUED. 
 
 That part of the road between Harrisburg and 
 Lewistown, a distance of sixtj-one miles, was com- 
 pleted and opened on the 1st of September, 1848 ; and 
 good progress had been made, up to that time, upon 
 the section between the mouth of the Little Juniata 
 and the base of the Alleghany Mountains. At this 
 time the railroad over the Alleghany Mountains, by 
 means of the inclined planes described above, was 
 called the Alleghany Portage Road, and was not 
 owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The 
 Eastern Division of the Pennsylvania Road had, how- 
 ever, been completed to the Tyrone Forge, from 
 whence it was continued along the rOute designated by 
 the preliminary surveys, to the summit, where the 
 town of Altoona is now situated. From that point, it 
 was proposed that the main line should commence the 
 ascent of the eastern slope of the Alleghany Mountains. 
 In the mean time a branch six miles long connected 
 the road with the Alleghany Portage, making a con- 
 tinuous road two hundred and seventy-nine miles long, 
 from Philadelphia to the point now known as Johns- 
 town, seventy-eight miles east of Pittsburg. 
 
 In the Second Annual Report which he made to the 
 Company, on the 15th of November, 1849, J. Edgar 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 97 
 
 Thomson, Esq., then the Chief Engineer and General 
 Superintendent of the road, stated that during the pre- 
 ceding summer, an actual location of the main line of 
 the road had been " made from Altoona to the sum- 
 mit of the mountain. The ascent is accomplished in 
 twelve miles and a quarter, by a maximum gradient 
 of eighty-four feet six inches on straight lines. From 
 the Laurel Swamp Summit, the road descends along 
 the valley of the Conemaugh to Johnstown, at a maxi- 
 mum inclination of fifty feet per mile. The most im- 
 portant obstacle to be overcome is a tunnel seven 
 hundred feet long. 
 
 " In the descent of the western slope of the moun- 
 tain, the direction of our line is generally in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the Portage Railroad ; crossing it 
 five times by bridges, and once upon a level. "When 
 our whole line on the western side is finished, the two 
 roads can be advantageously joined, at the summit of 
 the Portage, by a steep ascending gradient from the 
 vicinity of Laurel Swamp Summit, less than two miles 
 long, by which means all the western planes will be 
 avoided." 
 
 The condition of the virhole route, as it existed on 
 the 1st of January 1852, is very clearly set forth in 
 the report of the General Superintendent, as follows : — 
 
 " Gentlemen : The commencement of the last fiscal 
 year found the Pennsylvania Railroad in operation as 
 far as the western termination of the Eastern Division 
 of the Pennsylvania Railroad, with a connection with 
 the Alleghany Portage Railroad, near Hollidaysburg; 
 since that time portions of the Western division have 
 Loon brought into operation, and transportation bo- 
 7 
 
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98 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tween Philadelphia and Pittsbutg is now conducted 
 over several separate links, forming a broken, and, to 
 some extent, unsatisfactory chain of communication 
 between the two extreme termini of the line. 
 
 " The first, or eastern portion of the route, is formed 
 by that part of the Philadelphia and Columbia Rail- 
 road which lies east of Dillerville ; the length of which 
 is seventy -one miles. This improvement is owned and 
 operated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and 
 is controlled and managed by the Board of Canal 
 Commissioners, ahd officers ap})oihted by them. The 
 State furnishes motive power, but participates in no 
 other way, iti the conduct of transportation upon the 
 road, which is open to the free use of individual trans- 
 porters. 
 
 " The Lancaster and Harrisburg Kailroad, from its 
 intersection with the Columbia Railroad, at Dillerville, 
 is thirty-six miles in length, and is operated by the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad Company, under a contract 
 with the company owning the road. The Pennsyl- 
 vania Railroad Company furnish all the motive power, 
 and the cars used in their own business, but do not 
 attend to the repairs of track or bridges. 
 
 " The Eastern Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
 extends from Harrisburg to Altoona, a distance of one 
 Hundred and thirty-two miles, from which a branch of 
 six miles connects it temporarily with the Alleghany 
 Portage Railroad, at a point about one and & quarter 
 iniles west of Hollidaysburg. 
 
 " The Portage Railroad is owned by the Common- 
 ■W^6alth of Pennsylvania, and forms part of the main 
 line of railroad and canal connecting the cities of Phil- 
 
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THE PENNSYLVAMA KAILEOAD. 99 
 
 adelphia and Pittsburg; its length from the intersec- 
 tion with the Pennsylvania Railroad is thirty-four 
 miles, and the ascent and descent of the mountain are 
 each effected by five inclined planes. Two miles east 
 of Johnstown, a connection was made on the 25th of 
 August, 1851, with the Portage Railroad, and twenty 
 miles of the Western Division of the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad, extending to Lockport, was brought into 
 use." 
 
 During the year 1851, fifty seven miles of the road 
 were built, including twelve miles from Pittsburg east- 
 ward. The completion of this portion of the road left 
 a gap in the Western Division of only twenty-eight 
 miles to be filled up. To faciliate the completion of 
 the heavy work near Greensburg, a tunnel six hundred 
 feet long was constructed, being cut through solid 
 rock. 
 
 Mr. J. Edgar Thomson, the Chief Engineer, in his 
 fourth annual report, January 15th, 1852, says : — 
 
 "That portion of this division between Johnstown's 
 and the stone viaduct, avoiding inclined plane No. 1, 
 of the Portage Railroad, will not be ready for use 
 before the opening of navigation, when it is expected 
 that plane No. 2, and shortly afterwards plane No. 8, 
 will be avoided at the expense of the Commonwealth, 
 thus leaving but seven of these impediments to rapid 
 transit upon the line of that work — all contained in a 
 space of ten miles. This will enable the business of 
 the Portage Road to be better systematized, and greatly 
 facilitate its operations, reducing the time consumed in 
 its passage to three hours. 
 
 "The whole of^h^^jid^^og^ the Mountain Divi- 
 
100 KAILKOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sion is now under contract, and is progressing with 
 considerable rapidity. The Alleghany Tunnel at 
 Sugar Eun Summit, which forms the greatest obstacle 
 to the completion of this division, has been commenced 
 at each end and at two of the shafts, making six 
 points of operation. The progress made at the shafts, 
 and at the approaches, has not been as great as antici- 
 pated, in consequence of the great flow of water 
 encountered ; which has caused, for the present, the 
 abandonment of the third shaft. The contractors still 
 feel confident that they will be able to permit the 
 passage of trains through it during the summer of 
 18.f>3. But I cannot anticipate so early a termination 
 of our labors at this difficult and uncertain job, though 
 it can scarcely throw us into the use of the Portage 
 for a third winter. The material to be removed is for 
 the most part easily excavated, but a considerable 
 portion of it, probably one-third, will require arching, 
 which will add materially to its cost. The unreliable 
 character of the excavation exposed in opening the 
 eastern approach to the tunnel, induced me to increase 
 the gradient upon the eastern slope of the mountain 
 from ninety -two to ninety -five feet per mile on straight 
 lines, and eighty-two upon curves of minimum radii. 
 This arrangement reduces the length of the tunnel to 
 three thousand and five hundred and seventy feet, and 
 the maximum gradient to nine and three-fourths miles 
 in length, commencing about one and a half miles 
 west of Altoona, and extending to the east end of the 
 tunnel ; overcoming in that distance a rise of eight 
 hundred and ninety-six feet, equal to an average of 
 ninety -one and six-tenths feet per mile. By ci'ntiuu- 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 101 
 
 ing the maximum gradient of the Western Division 
 through the tunnel, we obtain the incidental advan- 
 tage, if it should at a future period become desirable 
 to avail ourselves of it, of overcoming the mountain 
 by a single inclined plane, worked by stationary 
 power, to be used by freight trains, instead of 
 assistant locomotives, upon the steep gradient. This 
 arrangement would make the maximum locomotive 
 gradient west of Altoona fifty-two and eight-tenths feet 
 per mile on straight lines. Below that point, it has 
 been before stated that the steepest ascent against the 
 heavy trade is but ten and a half feet per mile. Our 
 high gradient is, however, twenty-one feet per mile 
 less, and five and one-fourth miles shorter than the 
 similar ascent of the Alleghany Mountain on the Bal- 
 timore and Ohio Eailroad. Upon which road the 
 descent upon the west side of this barrier is at the 
 same inclination as the ascent; while ours does not 
 exceed fifty-two and eight-tenths feet per mile. In 
 addition to the Alleghany Mountain, the Baltimore 
 route passes Laurel Hill — which we avoid — by a 
 gradient on each side, of one hundred and five feet per 
 mile. 
 
 " The difference in elevation overcome at the summit 
 of the Alleghanies, by each route, is four hundred and 
 forty-four feet ; theirs being two thousand six hundred 
 and twenty feet above tide, and that of the Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad two thousand one hundred and 
 seventy-six feet. These facts are not presented with a 
 view of disparaging that important work. There is 
 sufficient business for both roads." 
 
 Mr. Thomson then presents a detailed and very 
 
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102 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 interesting estimate of the cost of the whole road, with 
 a single track, which he fixes, including the equip- 
 ment then required, at about eleven and a half mil- 
 lions of dollars ; and including additional machinery 
 which would be required as soon as the Mountain Di- 
 vision should be completed, at twelve millions of dol- 
 lars. " To widen the grading," says Mr. Thompson, 
 " where it has been prepared for a single track, and 
 lay down a double track from Harrisburg to Pittsburg, 
 will require an additional expenditure of three millions 
 six hundred thousand dollars." 
 
 At this early date, the experience of the Company 
 had already demonstrated that it was better for them, 
 and cheaper, to build their own cars, than to have 
 them built by contract ; and it was determined to erect, 
 at Altoona, those extensive car-works and machine 
 shops which have since turned out such fine specimens 
 of railway architecture, if it may be so called. 
 
 The passenger travel over this road had greatly 
 increased during the year 1851. The General Super^ 
 intendent, in his report made January 1st, 1852, states 
 that the extent of the passenger business requires that 
 every attention should be paid to their proper accom- 
 modation, at the terminal depots, and offers the follow- 
 ing admirable practical suggestions, all of which were 
 soon after acted upon and carried into effect, and 
 which now contribute so much to the comfort and 
 convenience of travellers, "Baggage," he says, "could 
 be delivered by responsible parties, under contract 
 with the Company, at any place agreed upon with the 
 passenger, and at moderate expense — an arrangement 
 which is now in operation. Each of the principal ho- 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA EAILKOAD. 103 
 
 tels could have an omnibus in atten(}ar^ce, on the arri- 
 val of tlie cars, as in Baltimore, Boston, and other cities, 
 and it would be to the interest of other companies to 
 provide conveyances to their boats or depots, for pasr 
 sengers who did not wish to remain in the city. 
 
 " If this arrangement should not be acceptable, a con- 
 tract could be inade to convey passengers in omnibuses, 
 at a fixed charge, to any of the hotels, depots, or pri- 
 vate residences within the Umits of tbe city ; the bag- 
 gage being sent either by separate conveyance, as al- 
 ready Explained, or carried on the omnibus, at the 
 pleasure of the passenger. Parties not wishing to be 
 separated from their baggage, could reta,in their checks, 
 and employ a hack or cab, many of which would al- 
 ways be in attendance. Iniposition from hackmen 
 could be prevented by proper regulations. Passengers 
 arriving in the night, and wishing conveyance to pri- 
 vate residences in inconvenient localities, would em- 
 ploy hacks ; passengers leaving the city from any of 
 the principal hotels could be carried, with their baggage, 
 in, omnibuses or hacks; from second rate hotels, or 
 private residences, hacks could be employed. 
 
 " A ticket office, with a convenient baggage-room, 
 should be secured in some central location. Baggage 
 brought to this office could be checked, and sent tP 
 West Philadelphia in a wagon ; passengers could col- 
 lect at this point, and be removed at short intervals by 
 omnibuses running to the outer depot. 
 
 " With a complete system similar to that described, 
 or any other that 'may be considered preferable, tbe 
 inconvenience of the location at West Philadelphijt 
 would not be serious, and the annoyance, delay, and 
 
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101 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 expense of hauling passengers through the streets in 
 cars would be avoided." 
 
 At this time some of the railroads leading from 
 Pittsburg westward were already in progress of con- 
 struction. There was a railroad completed between 
 Pittsburg and Cleveland, a distance of one hundred 
 and forty miles. The Pennsylvania and Ohio Rail- 
 road was also completed from Pittsburg to Alliance, 
 a distance of eighty-two miles. This afterwards be- 
 came a part of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chi- 
 cago road. 
 
 In January, 1853, J. Edgar Thomson, Esq., was 
 elected President of the Company ; and this high trust 
 has been conferred upon him annually ever since. A 
 continuous railroad from Philadelphia to Pittsburg 
 had been completed on the 10th of December, 1852. 
 Mr. Thomson, in his re'port made January 31st, 1853, 
 says : " The Portage Railroad, over which we exer- 
 cise no control, at present forms a part of this continu- 
 ous line ; and it is still obstructed by seven inclined 
 planes." It will be remembered that there were, 
 originally, ten of these planes. Three of them had 
 already been avoided by the construction of additional 
 new portions of the Company's road, west of Al- 
 toona, as suggested by Mr. Thomson, in his report as 
 Chief Engineer, November 15th, 1849. 
 
 The most formidable work on this portion of the 
 route is the Summit Tunnel through the Alleghany 
 Mountains. Its length is three thousand iive hun- 
 dred and seventy feet. It was worked from both 
 ends at once, and also from three working shafts, two 
 of which are each two hundred feet deep. Steam en- 
 
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THE PENNSTLYANIA RAILROAD. 105 
 
 gines were required at all the shafts; and at the 
 middle one the water was so abundant that a power- 
 ful pumping engine, of fifty horse power, had to be 
 resorted to. 
 
 It was by this time evident that the early comple- 
 tion of several of the roads leading from Pittsburg 
 westward would be of great advantage to the Penn- 
 sylvania road, in drawing to the latter much valuable 
 business. The Board of Directors therefore agreed to 
 subscribe three hundred thousand dollars to aid in the 
 construction of the road from Crestline in Ohio to 
 Fort Wayne in Indiana, with the understanding that 
 this road was to be continued eastward to Alliance, 
 and westward to Chicago. The Pennsylvania aiad 
 Ohio road was, in fact, at this time finished nearly to 
 Crestline. 
 
 On the 15th of February, 1854, the whole line of 
 the road from Harrisburg to Pittsburg was completed 
 and opened for business, entirely avoiding all of the 
 inclined planes on the Alleghany Mountains. Three 
 passenger trains per day were now run over the road, 
 between Philadelphia and Pittsburg: one, leaving 
 Philadelphia at eight A. M., reached Pittsburg in 
 seventeen hours, stopping at all the way stations ; the 
 second, leaving Philadelphia at one P. M., reached 
 Pittsburg in thirteen hours ; the third, leaving Phila- 
 delphia at eleven at night, reached Pittsburg in fifteen 
 hours; and three trains per day, likewise, ran from 
 Pittsburg to Philadelphia. 
 
 By the year 1857, the passenger traffic of the road 
 had become greatly increased, by the completion of 
 several roads from the west, centring at Pittsburg. 
 
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106 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 But on arriving at Pittsburg, or rather on arriving at 
 Alleghany City, opposite Pittsburg, on the western 
 side of the Alleghany River, western passengers, bound 
 for Philadelphia, found themselves exposed to a 
 serious annoyance. Alighting from the cars, the 
 passengers were compelled to enter omnibuses, and 
 were jolted across the river on a long, rickety wooden 
 bridge. To obviate this difficulty, a fine railroad 
 bridge was built across the Alleghany River, by the 
 joint exertions of this Company and the Pennsylvania 
 and Ohio Railroad Company. It was completed and 
 used in 1858. In the year 1858 there were transported 
 over the road one million and thirty thousand passen- 
 gers. In this year, too, all trains arriving at or depart- 
 ing from Pittsburg began to us^ the Union Depot in 
 that city. 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 107 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD: CONTINTJED. 
 
 By the year 1862, considerable progress had been 
 made in the construction of the Philadelphia and 
 Erie Railroad, which was designed to extend from 
 Philadelphia to Lake Erie. The road properly and 
 really extended from Erie to Sunbury, passing through 
 Lock Haven and Williamsport and following the general 
 direction of the west branch of the Susquehanna River. 
 It was thought by the Directors of the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad Company, that its interests would be advanced, 
 by being in possession of this road, as it would con- 
 stitute, in fact, a branch of their own road, diverging 
 from it at Harrisburg ; and accordingly an arrangement 
 was made, by which the Philadelphia and Erie Rail- 
 road Company leased their road, for a long term of 
 years, to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The 
 arrangement has been found to work most admirably, 
 and to the entire satisfaction of all parties concerned. 
 The management of the Philadelphia and Erie road 
 was committed to the charge of Joseph D. Potts, Esq., 
 who successfully conducted its affairs until within 
 a recent period. At the beginning of the year 1866 
 the business of this road had increased to be twice 
 what it had been estimated, at the time when the 
 stockholders of the Pennsylvania road had been 
 
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108 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 asked to authorize its lease. Alfred L. Tyler, Esq., 
 had become General Superintendent of the road, and 
 under his energetic and judicious management, its 
 afiUirs were being most admirably conducted. 
 
 A correspondent of the '' New York Tribune" gives 
 the following description of a portion of the country 
 through which this road passes: — 
 
 " The western branch of the Susquehanna, running 
 far between the spurs of the Alleghanies, has been 
 the highway thither, while for many years it has 
 borne on its waters logs and lumber bound for the 
 known world. The lumbermen were a hardy race; 
 in the valleys they raised a little grain, and for meat 
 they depended much on venison, bear, and speckled 
 trout. Several new counties have been organized out 
 of this region, and named Cameron, Elk, and Forest; 
 but portions of it still are included in the counties of 
 Potter, McKean, Clinton, Clarion, and Jefferson. It 
 may be roughly estimated as one hundred miles long 
 and sixty wide, and it contains the head-springs of 
 the Susquehanna, the Alleghany, and Genesee Rivers. 
 Not a single important road passed through from the 
 north, south, east, or west : the country towns were in- 
 significant hamlets, reached after days or weeks of 
 travel. It required years for a new fashion to be in- 
 troduced. The most important men were the law- 
 yers. Almost' always, a lawyer was a special agent 
 for non-resident land-owners : he had a good salary ; 
 ]:iri duty was limited to preventing the land from being 
 stripped of timber. 
 
 "A large part of the land is owned by capitalists in 
 New York and Philadelphia, but perhaps the heaviest 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA EAILKOAD. 109 
 
 owners are ■well known banking-houses in Europe, 
 and their possessions include millions of acres. The 
 title originally was in the Holland Land Company, and 
 these foreign proprietors now properly represent that 
 organization. The leading idea has been that some 
 day this land would be valuable, and that there could 
 be no safer or more profitable investment. Coal and 
 iron were known to exist, and there might be other 
 minerals. Still, here and there small tracts of a few 
 thousands acres each were held by persons of limited 
 means; sometimes they sold their land, sometimes the 
 sheriff sold it for them, and a few settlers gained a 
 foothold. After the railroad reached Williamsport, 
 there was some activity, and a few new settlers went 
 up the Susquehanna with goods, and their families 
 in canoes, while one of their number drove a yoke of 
 oxen along the valley. When the river became too 
 shallow to be navigated, the canoe was abandoned, 
 a sled was constructed, regardless as to whether the 
 ground was bare or covered with snow, and they 
 pushed on through the wilderness to the waters of 
 the Alleghany, and selected locations where the rail- 
 road was to come. But they had to wait many years ; 
 some did not live to see their hopes realized. Their 
 children seldom went to meeting, never to school, and 
 all looked back with sad hearts to the land they had 
 left behind. I was told of one man who had lived 
 in a valley fifteen years, waiting for the railroad ; when 
 it did come, he improved the first good chance to sell 
 out and return to his native place to educate his chil- 
 dren. 
 
 "In passing through this country, I saw many signs 
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110 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of recent improvement. There are good saw-mills, 
 and at least one first-class tannery newly put in 
 operation, with a fine prospect, for bark is plentiful, 
 and several valuable coal mines are shipping large 
 quantities of coal. Beyond ISaint Mary's is a mine of 
 cannel coal, so named from ' candle,' as it was used 
 by the miners in England instead of candles. I saw 
 it burning in a grate, and it left a residuum similar to 
 the ashes of hard wood. Perhaps this is the only coal 
 of the kind in our country, unless it be in the Breckin- 
 ridge mines of Kentucky. 
 
 " I was told that the soil in the narrow valleys is in- 
 clined to leach ; that for this reason grass does not do 
 well; but that on the mountain levels it is retentive, 
 of fine quality, and excellent for grass, oats, potatoes, 
 and perhaps other crops; but lumbermen pay little 
 attention to farming. From many sources I learned 
 that the amount of level flat land is considerable, and 
 that, if the saw timber has been cut ofl) it can be 
 bought very cheap. 
 
 " It is a recent discovery that an acre of good grass 
 land is worth any acre of choice plough land. More 
 than this; the grass land is destined to increase in 
 value, because the climate in which it is natural 
 is limited to a few degrees of latitude. Philadelphia 
 does not lie within it, nor any place south of it, 
 unless sufiiciently elevated to make a climate corres- 
 ponding to a higher degree of latitude. 
 
 " On the continent of North America, there are more 
 degrees of latitude in which the climate is suited to 
 figs, oranges, lemons, cotton, and sugar-cane, than 
 to grass. Now, while dairy products are limited to a 
 
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THE FENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. Ill 
 
 belt not exceeding three hundred miles wide, and a 
 part of which must always be devoted to other crops, 
 the importance of developing all our grass land is ap- 
 parent. The increased demand for butter and cheese, 
 owing to the increase of our population, and the great 
 profits arising from this source, make a grass farm of 
 especial value. It is of no consequence that pastures 
 shall be level;- still, the land to be mown should 
 not be too rough. It is a well-known fact that the 
 grass of mountain regions is more nutritious than 
 that in the low lands. 
 
 "Now, this Pennsylvania wilderness is surrounded 
 on every feide by the most fruitful regions in the 
 World. On the east are the famous wheat and clover 
 regions ; on the south the counties of Centre and In- 
 diana ; on the west the great dairy and fruit regions 
 of Ohio ; and on the north Chautauqua, Cattaraugus,- 
 and Alleghany Counties, where the farms are as 
 valuable as in any part of the world. Some twenty of 
 thirty years ago, these western counties were lightly 
 esteemed, for the reason that they were so frosty, and 
 the winters were so long. Perhaps it has been dis- 
 covered that in countries where cattle have to be fod- 
 dered seven months in the year grass enough grows 
 to feed them, and that where the winters are mild the 
 summers are so hot the grass will not grow at all. 
 Boston folks are very particular, and if any people 
 know how to pick out things good to eat, they do. 
 The very best beef in their market comes from the 
 State ot Maine. 
 
 " Innumerable streams of cold, pure water come down 
 through the hills: on the upland levels springs are 
 
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112 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 frequent, and in the small rivulets trout are abundant. 
 Snow falls early and remains all winter, and, when 
 it melts in April, the ground is unfrozen. Hence, 
 here is a region supposed similar to Labrador, but in 
 the heart of all that is fruitful and choice in this 
 happy land, where winter stiffens the soil less than 
 it does at Nashville, where verbenas, tender roses, 
 dahlias, and other flower bulbs and delicate shrub- 
 bery, as well as vines, need no more protection from 
 the frost than they would at Natchez or Vicksburg. 
 
 ' For health, these localities can hardly be surpassed. 
 Now that a railroad penetrates them, they will be 
 valued as summer resorts. . Pure air and water will 
 work all the wonders said to be wrought by sul- 
 phurous and carbonic acid gas springs. 
 
 " Within twenty years, progress in every branch of 
 mechanics and agriculture has been so great that lo- 
 calities once considered of little value are now taking 
 a respectable, some a first rank. Not only is it possi- 
 ble now, but it is easy, to develop regions which, 
 in the last generation, presented obstacles too great 
 for mortal men to overcome. And then, when the 
 development is made, advantages which no one sus- 
 pected are presented. 
 
 " Of course, the country I am speaking of is rough. 
 One first passing through will think farming impos- 
 sible. But there are places more or less remote from 
 stations, and perhaps difficult to reach, where good 
 fiirms can be made. Many are known only to the 
 hunters or to the lumbermen. 
 
 " Among these, 1 came across one locality where hun- 
 dreds of farms can be made all adjoining each other ; 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA EAILEOAD. 113 
 
 aiid the whole tract is so level that a good trotting 
 road can be made from one end to another. 
 
 " The railroad runs through this land. The timber 
 is maple, beech, white wood, and a sprinkle of hemlock. 
 The greater part is a succession of sugar maple 
 groves. I was reminded of some townships on 
 the Ohio Western Reserve, as I saw them in an early 
 day. But I must reserve a further description for 
 another letter." 
 
 The writer of this letter does not do justice to the 
 subject. Since the opening of the railroad between 
 Lock Haven and Erie, a great improvement has taken 
 place in the condition of the country. New settle- 
 ments have sprung up all along the line of the road. 
 Hundreds of farms have been purchased, in good loca- 
 tions, not only within a mile of the road, but as far 
 back as five or ten miles from the line of the road, and 
 are now under good cultivation. All the towns and 
 villages on the line of the road have greatly increased 
 in population. Lock Haven and Jersey Shore have 
 nearly doubled their population and the wealth of 
 their citizens, during the last five years, in consequence 
 of the increased business brought to them by the rail- 
 road. 
 
 In the months of June and July, 1863, the opera- 
 tions of the Pennsylvania Railroad were somewhat 
 interrupted by the invasion of the State of Pennsylva- 
 nia by a portion of the Confederate army. The track, 
 however, was not damaged, nor were any bridges on 
 the line of the road in any way injured. 
 
 During the year 1864, the number of passengers 
 transported over the road was considerably over two 
 
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114 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 millions, namely: two millions three hundred and 
 sixty-six thousand two hundred and thirteen. 
 
 In the year 1857, the Pennsylvania Eailroad Com- 
 pany became the owners of the Pennsylvania canals, 
 and have worked them ever since. 
 
 The construction of the Pennsylvania Eailroad has 
 proved to be a greater work even than was at first 
 anticipated. During the progress of the work, and 
 particularly during the last few years, the Company 
 have found it necessary to extend their aid, and that 
 to a very liberal extent, to assist in the completion of 
 similar works in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and to 
 become the lessees and virtual owners of the Phila- 
 delphia and Erie road. The circumstances under 
 which these extended operations took place, and the 
 results of those operations, are thus clearly set forth, 
 in the report of J. Edgar Thomson, Esq., President 
 of the Company, made Feb. 19, 1867. 
 
 " The Company has been placed in this strong posi- 
 tion, while it has, at the same time, to a larger extent 
 than any other corporation of the kind, promoted the 
 development of the interior of the State of Pennsyl- 
 vania, by aiding the completion and extension of other 
 railroads where private capital would not incur the 
 risks of such investments. The Pennsylvania Eail- 
 road was commenced under the sanguine hope that it 
 could be completed and equipped without incurring 
 any debt. The efforts of the Company in this direc- 
 tion, in view of the great abuse that had attended the 
 financial operations of the earlier corporations of 
 Pennsylvania, were eminently wise, and worthy of an 
 earnest effort to carry them into effect. But after 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA EAILEOAD. 115 
 
 some years of persistent labor, it became evident that 
 the enterprise was too great for the local capital of 
 Philadelphia, without submitting to a delay in its 
 completion, which neither the commercial prosperity 
 of that city nor the interest of the shareholders of the 
 Company would justify. This policy was therefore 
 abandoned for one which limited the mortgage in- 
 debtedness of the Company to its capital stock. 
 
 " At the commencement of its work, the views of the 
 Company extended only to the construction of a rail- 
 way between Harrisburg and Pittsburg. But in ope- 
 rating such a line in connection with the uncertain 
 and frequently adverse management of the Philadel- 
 phia and Columbia Eailroad, under the State authori- 
 ties, it became evident that it must fail to meet the 
 just expectations of its projectors, unless an inde- 
 pendent connection could be made with its commercial 
 depot, or a lease or purchase of the existing lines 
 efiected. After many abortive efforts, this object was 
 accomplished by a lease of the Harrisburg and Lan- 
 caster Eailroad, and the purchase of the State im- 
 provements at a high price, but upon a satisfactory 
 credit. The great point, however, of securing harmo- 
 nious action throughout the line, from Philadelphia 
 to Pittsburg, was accomplished, which at once im- 
 parted new life and vigor to the enterprise, and in- 
 sured its prosperity. 
 
 "It was early foreseen that a trunk line, intended 
 to accommodate the traffic between the East and West, 
 would fail in its object if wholly dependent upon the 
 uncertain navigation of the Ohio River as a feeder. 
 The earlier commencement of the other trunk lines had 
 
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116 EAILKOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 already diverted the routes of the railroads in progress 
 from the commercial centres of the West towards the 
 East, to their works, To overcome this disadvantage, 
 it became essential that other lines connecting your 
 poad with these trade centres of the West should be 
 commenced, and. to effect this, direct and efficient aid 
 by this Company towards their construction was 
 necessary. So fully impressed were the shareholders 
 of this Company, at the time, of the importance of this 
 movement, that, in voting such aid, they exceeded the 
 views of the directors. The three principal lines 
 selected for such aid were one to Cincinnati, a second 
 to the centre of Ohio, at Columbus, and a third 
 towards Chicago. The connection with Cincinnati 
 via Marietta was adopted, and failed from the inade- 
 quate means provided to construct a line over what 
 proved to be an unexpectedly rugged country. The 
 line to Chicago was only saved as an investment, after 
 the failure of the credit of that Company, by much 
 labor and large additional outlays by this Company 
 to secure its completion. These efforts were crowned 
 with entire success, and the enterprise, both financially 
 and as a feeder of your main line, has met our most 
 sanguine expectations. 
 
 "The line to Columbus — which also afforded an 
 equally good connection with Cincinnati as that via 
 Marietta, though leaving a large district of country 
 tributary to another railway — after long delays, grow- 
 ing mainly out of a failure to procure adequate legisla- 
 tion in Virginia, has recently been brought into 
 efficient use, and promises satisfactory results. The 
 Pennsylvania Eailroad Company will own as a pre- 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 117 
 
 ferred shareholder more than half of the capital stock 
 of this line. 
 
 " The eastern end of this line, known as the Pitts- 
 bufg and Steubenville Kailroad, extending from Pitts- 
 burg to the Yirginia State line, Was commenced under 
 the patronage of the city of Pittsburg and Alleghanj 
 County, but owing to the absence of any legal right 
 to extend its road to the Steubenville and Indiana 
 Eailroad across Virginia, it failed to obtain a credit 
 that would jttstify any responsible individuals in un- 
 dertaking its construction. A further increase of its 
 capital stock was therefore impracticable. 
 
 " A contract was entered into by the Pittsburg and 
 Steubenville Eailroad Company, with parties of in- 
 sufficient capital for the completion of this line, which, 
 as might have been expected, only resulted in still 
 further embarrassing the condition of the Company by 
 a disproportionate increase of its indebtedness, com- 
 pared with the work done. After further e&brts to 
 secure other parties to build the road, a contract was 
 entered into with the Western Transportation Company 
 for that object — a corporation in which this Company 
 became the chief shareholder — and through its in- 
 strumentality a concession was obtained from Western 
 Yirginia, permitting the construction of a railroad 
 across that State. From this period the work was pushed 
 with as much vigor as the condition of the labor mar- 
 ket would permit, notwithstanding the extraordinary 
 advance that had taken place in every element that 
 entered into the cost of constructing railways. Under 
 this contract, the work has been opened for use for 
 more than a year. In view of the expenditures that 
 
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118 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 had been made upon the line, and those directed to be 
 made under the commutation act, it was, at the time, 
 deemed best to advance the means required to com- 
 plete this line ; but, in consequence of the unexpectedly 
 large amount required, it would have probably been 
 better to have permitted the road to have been sold, 
 and thus divested it of the complications surrounding 
 it and which now render such a sale essential to 
 ascertaiji the relation of its creditors. There is much 
 work still to be done, to complete this road in a 
 manner that will enable it to meet the demands of its 
 traiffid. 
 
 " The Marietta line, which had enlisted the warmest 
 support from the shareholders and the merchants of 
 this city, of either of the lines mentioned, became so 
 hopelessly involved that the funds advanced by this 
 Company, for the construction of that part of the road 
 between Marietta and Wheeling, were taken without 
 our assent, to meet its debts iilcurred upon the line 
 west of that point. In consequence of this misappli- 
 cation of the means furnished by this Company, and 
 the immense sums that would have been absorbed in 
 carrying out the original plan, it was not deemed 
 prudent to make any attempt to save the amount 
 invested in the enterprise, under your instructions. 
 This amount was accordingly charged to profit and 
 loss, and its stock no longer appears among youir 
 assets. 
 
 " The interest of the Company in the Chicago line 
 has nearly all been disposed of, at a profit to this Com- 
 pany fully equal to its loss upon the Marietta line. 
 But for the timely aid afforded by this Company, it 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 119 
 
 would have proved, as an investment, nearly as uii- 
 produotive. 
 
 " The completion of the Columbus route having, in 
 consequence of want of legal authority in Virginia, 
 been thrown into a period of inflated prices, its cost 
 has so far exceeded our anticipations that it will re- 
 quire a long time for it to repay this Company in 
 direct returns for the outlays incurred. For these ex- 
 penditures it has received various securities, some of 
 which have been disposed of, and on the remainder 
 there will probably be no loss except a few years of 
 interest, for which the indirect advantages gained by 
 the Company must be its compensation. 
 
 "The shareholders will perceive, from this risume 
 of the operations of the Company, the extent of the 
 means required, and the labor and responsibility 
 incurred to save the original investments made under 
 your instructions, to build up lines to connect yours 
 with the trade centres of the West — expenditures that 
 were necessary to the success of your own work, but 
 which a few years' earlier commencement of it would 
 have rendered unnecessary, as the tendency of the 
 Western lines would probably then have been towards 
 Pittsburg. 
 
 " These expenditures have frequently been referred 
 to by shareholders as unwise, without reflecting lint 
 they were the result of their own action, and that t!ie 
 officers of the Company are really the parties to com- 
 plain of the immense unrequited labor and responsi- 
 bility they have had to assume to save the object the 
 Company had in view in making these investments, 
 and in providing the means necessary to effect them. 
 
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120 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 That they have required outlays, to secure the original 
 objects, far exceeding any just expectation at the time 
 they were entered into, is quite true ; but this has 
 arisen from the inadequate stock basis furnished by 
 tlieir shareholders for the completion of these works 
 and the subsequent increased cost of building rail- 
 ways. The result, however, we think will justify the 
 policy of this Company. 
 
 "These extraordinary outlays were commenced while 
 the traffic of this line was comparatively small, and 
 burthened by a heavy impost duty levied by the State, 
 and assessed upon no other competing line, greatly 
 diminishing its ability to meet these necessary expen- 
 ditures to insure the prosperity of the State — and 
 from which burden it was only released upon condi- 
 tion that the Company would apply the unpaid instal- 
 ment towards the construction of the Mifflin and 
 Centre County, Bedford, Bald Eagle Valley, Tyrone 
 and Clearfield, Ebensburg and Cresson, Western 
 Pennsylvania, and the Pittsburg and Steubenville 
 Railroads— all improvements within the common- 
 wealth. The effect of this mandate was the same as 
 that which followed the appropriations made by the 
 stockholders to Western lines, already stated, entail- 
 ing upon this Company either the loss of the whole 
 investment directed to be made, or advances of the 
 additional amounts required to complete these works. 
 The Board saw no other alternative but to meet this 
 difficulty by the a(lo{)lion of a liberal and active 
 policy, and thus bring all of these lines into produc- 
 tive use as speedily as piacticable. The outlays neces- 
 sary, to secure this object, from the causes already 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD, 121 
 
 referred to, have been very large, but the results have 
 proved much more satisfactory than if the original 
 expenditures had been suffered to remain unproduc- 
 tive, as would have been the case if they had simply 
 fulfilled the requirements of the law. The farther 
 extension of some of these lines will still be necessary, 
 to enable them to become productive and meet the 
 wants of the districts they were built to accommodate; 
 
 " We have thus presented to you the extent, and the 
 causes for the unusually heavy expenditures made by 
 this Company on account of its tributaries. Their 
 magnitude has made it necessary, not only to protect 
 the investments made in them, but also to secure the 
 control of other lines important to their success. This 
 policy has eventuated in a systein which includes the 
 Pliiladelphia and Erie and Northern Central Railroads, 
 by which the Company's cars find their way over 
 continuous and unbroken lines, under one control, 
 fr(jm Columbus, Erie and Pittsburg to Philadelphia 
 and Baltimore. 
 
 "The earnings of the Company's canals were, in 
 1866 :— 
 
 From Snsqnehaiiiia Division $252,681 42 
 
 " Juniata " 35,175 32 
 
 " miscellaneous sources . • . . . . 10,010 42 
 
 Total earnings $297,867 16 
 
 Against $181,015 38 for 1865. 
 
 "The cost" of maintaining, enlarging and operating 
 the canals, was : — 
 
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122 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 For Susquehanna Division $130,212 93 
 
 " Juniata « 101>501 50 
 
 " Western " 1.723 55 
 
 Total expenses $233,437 98 
 
 « Showing a net profit during 1866 of $64,429 18. 
 
 "Estimating the value of these canals when purchased 
 at one million of dollars, they now stand this Com- 
 pany, including interest and the cost of their renewals 
 and enlargement as far as it has progressed, at about 
 two millions seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
 for which sum they will be sold to the Pennsylvania 
 Canal Company for stock in said Company, in pur- 
 suance of the policy sanctioned at your last annual 
 meeting." 
 
 During the year 1865, there were transported over 
 the Pennsylvania Eailroad nearly three millions of 
 passengers, namely (2,861,836) ; and during the year 
 1866, more than two and a half millions, namely 
 (2,673,568). 
 
 The revenue of the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company 
 from its several lines during the year 1866, is as 
 follows : — 
 
 From the Pennsylvania Railroad and branches . $16,583,882 84 
 " " Canals .... 297,867 16 
 
 " Philadelphia and Erie Eailroad . . 2,541,051 79 
 
 $19,422,801 79 
 
 On railroads having so great a traffic as that which 
 is daily carried over the Pennsylvania road the de- 
 struction of the iron rails, has been found to be very 
 rapid. The constant friction of the car- wheels causes 
 the iron of the rails to peel off, in thin flakes, and 
 
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THE PENNSTLYANIA RAILROAD. 123 
 
 although this is almost imperceptible, yet in time it 
 actually wears away the iron rail, and makes frequent 
 renewals of the rails necessary. On this subject Mr. 
 Thomson, in his report says : — 
 
 " Every effort to materially improve the quality of 
 the iron to meet the wants of the augmenting traffic 
 of the trunk lines having heretofore failed, attention 
 was directed to the introduction of steel rails, and, 
 with a view to test their efficiency, the President, 
 while in England, in 1862, ordered a few hundred 
 tons for trial. These proved so satisfactory that 
 larger importations have been made of Bessemer steel 
 rails, which have entirely confirmed our expectations 
 of their success. The cost of steel rails is at present 
 about twice the price of the best iron rails, while their 
 durability is fully eight times greater. It is con- 
 fidently believed, however, that with enlarged works, 
 increased knowledge of the ores required to produce 
 the best quality of this metal, and greater experience 
 in its production, they will be successfully manufac- 
 tured at home and the price very largely reduced. At 
 present the demand is equal to the supply, and prices 
 are maintained. To avoid the heavy annual outlays 
 that a change from a cheap to a dearer material would 
 necessarily entail upon your revenues, it is proposed to 
 continue for the present to re-roll the worn-out rails, 
 and replace the annual wear and tear with steel rails. 
 The general introduction of steel rails is now wholly 
 a commercial question, in which the cost of the in- 
 creased capital required for their purchase becomes 
 the chief impediment to their general adoption. While 
 the business of a line is small, it will still be economy 
 
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124 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 to use iron rails, at an ordinary rate of interest upoti 
 capital, until the cost of producing steel is reduced to 
 its minimum. When this result is accomplished, the 
 general public will be materially benefited by the re- 
 duced cost of transportation which the introduction of 
 steel rails will enable railway companies to afford." 
 
 The following statement exhibits the earnings of 
 the Company for a series of years : — 
 
 Earnings of the Pennsylvania Bailroad Company. 
 
 1851 $1,039,565 
 
 1854 3,512,295 
 
 1856 4,720,193 
 
 1857 4,855,669 
 
 1858 5,185,330 
 
 1859 5,362,355 
 
 18«0 5,932,701 
 
 1861 ..;...;... 7,300,000 
 
 1862* $413,000 ; and canals .... 10,969,239 
 
 1863* 727,669 ; and canals 12,906,239 
 
 1864* 1,131,147 ; and canals 308,615 . . 16,198,820 
 
 1865* 2,074,140 ; and canals 181,015 . . 19,714,325 
 
 1866 as per page 149 19,422,801 
 
 The "Philadelphia News" of May 9, 1867, says:— 
 " In accordance with the policy adopted by the 
 Pennsylvania liailroad Company, the Board of Direc- 
 tors have declared a semi-annual cash dividend of 
 three per cent, on the capital stock, and an extra 
 dividend of five per cent., which will be paid to the 
 stockholders in the shares of the Company, both clear 
 of National and State tax. The extra dividend is 
 derived from earnings of the road prior to January 1, 
 and it is quite probable that the surplus earnings 
 
 * Including Philadelpliia and Erie Railroad. 
 
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THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. KT) 
 
 above six per cent, for the current year, will enable 
 the Board to declare a like extra dividend in Novem- 
 ber." 
 
 The of&cers of the Company are as follows :— 
 
 President, J. Edgar Thomson; Vice-Presidents, 
 Thomas A. Scott, and H. J. Lombaert; Treasurer, 
 Thos. T. Firth ; Secretary, Edmund Smith. 
 
 We have thus endeavored to present a sketch of 
 the history, operations, and prospects of this great road, 
 which is justly regarded with pride by every citizen 
 of Pennsylvania. The amazing success which has 
 attended all the operations of the Company, and the 
 bright prospects that lie before it in the future, are 
 almost entirely due to the good sense on the part of 
 the Directors, in re-electing and keeping in ofl&ce Mr. 
 Thomson and Mr. Scott, the chief officers of the Com- 
 pany. The occasions have been frequent, particularly 
 during the last few years, when the rare executive and 
 administrative qualities of these gentlemen not only 
 saved the Company from heavy losses, but brought 
 about results that are now seen in the enviable posi- 
 tion which the road and the Company occupy. 
 
 The Pennsylvania Eailroad Company has recently 
 purchased the Pan-Handle, or Steubenville Eailroad, 
 extending from Pittsburg to Newark in Ohio; so that 
 the Company's cars can now run on its own road, 
 from Philadelphia nearly to the Capital of Ohio. The 
 western operations of the Company will be greatly 
 facilitated by this purchase ; as it now has the virtual 
 control of an uninterrupted line from Philadelphia to 
 Cincinnati. 
 
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126 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PITTSBURG, FORT WAYNE, AND CHICAGO RAILROAD. 
 
 This great road affords an excellent example of the 
 benefits of railroad consolidation ; of the good effects 
 of which we shall meet with so many examples in the 
 progress of this work. 
 
 The distance between Philadelphia and Chicago is 
 eight hundred and twenty-three miles. Previous to 
 the year 1856, there was no direct railroad communi- 
 cation between these two cities. The through line is 
 now composed of two roads, namely, the Pennsylva- 
 nia Central from Philadelphia to Pittsburg; and the 
 Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago, from Pittsburg 
 to Chicago. The construction of the latter road was 
 formally commenced by breaking ground at the 
 boundary line between the States of Pennsylvania and 
 Ohio, (•!! I he -tth of July, 1849, the work having been 
 comnuiiu.'il by the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad 
 Company, of which Gen. Wm. Robinson, Jr., was the 
 first and then President, and S. W. Roberts, Esq., the 
 Chief Engineer. The Ohio and Pennsylvania Rail- 
 road Company was incorporated by an Act of the 
 Legislature of Ohio, passed 24th of February, 1848 ; 
 and the Legislature of Pennsylvania, by an Act of the 
 lltli of April of the same year, concurrently made the 
 Company a corporation of Pennsylvania. The Act 
 
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PITTSBURG, r. W., AND CHICAGO RAILROAD. 127 
 
 of Incorporation gave the Company " power to con- 
 struct a railroad from the town of Mansfield, in Eich- 
 land County, eastward by the way of the towns of 
 Wooster, Massillon, and Canton, to some point in the 
 eastern boundary of Ohio, within the county of Colum- 
 biana, as hereinafter provided ; thence to the city of 
 Pittsburg, in the State of Pennsylvania ; and from the 
 said town of Mansfield westwardly by way of Bu- 
 cyrus, in Crawford County, until it intersects the west 
 line of the State of Ohio." Under this authority the 
 preliminary surveys for the road were commenced in 
 Pennsylvania, on the bank of the Ohio Eiver, at the 
 mouth of Big Beaver Eiver, on the 11th of July, 1848. 
 The surveys were pressed forward with much energy, 
 and completed for the whole line in less than two 
 years. The work of construction was commenced in 
 the last half of 1849, and the entire track was laid 
 and the road opened for use between Pittsburg (Alle- 
 ghany City) and Crestline, a distance of one hundred 
 and eighty seven miles, on the 11th of April, 1853. 
 Although the Company was authorized to extend its 
 road to the western boundary of the State of Ohio, 
 the Board of Directors did, as early as 1850, make 
 Crestline the western terminus of the road. This 
 action was taken in view of the certainty that the line 
 would be practically carried to the western boundary 
 of Ohio by the building of the Ohio and Indiana 
 Eailroad in the direction of Fort Wayne, and the 
 building of the Bellefontaine and Indiana Eailroad in 
 the direction of Indianapolis. 
 
 The means for building the Ohio and Pennsylvania 
 road were derived from the sale of shares, bonds, and 
 
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123 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 temporary loans. A large proportioa of the shares 
 was subscribed for by muaicipal and other corpora- 
 tions, and not paid for in cash, but in the bonds of the 
 corporations subscribing. These had to be sold at a 
 discount by the Eailroad Company, and the loss sus- 
 tained by it, thereby adding to the cost of the road. 
 The shares subscribed for by individuals were paid 
 for in cash, or by contractors' work, the latter being 
 to the Company as good as cash, so far as the work 
 was contracted for at cash rates. The actual cash, 
 however, paid into the treasury of the Company by 
 shareholders was only about one-fifth of the cost of 
 the road and equipment. 
 
 The great desire to have pushed forward to early 
 completion a continuous railway from Pittsburg to 
 Chicago induced parties the most interested to organize 
 new companies, believing their object could be reached 
 more speedily by several corporations than by one. 
 In furtherance of this view, the Legislature of Ohio, on 
 the 20th of March, 1850, passed an Act incorporating 
 the Ohio and Indiana Railroad Company, with " power 
 to construct a railroad commencing at a suitable 
 point, to be selected by said Company, on the Clever 
 land, Columbus, and Cincinnati Railroad, near Seltzer's 
 tavern, in the county of Richland ; thence to Bucyrus, 
 in the county of Crawford; thence to Upper San- 
 dusky, in the county of Wyandotte, and thence, on 
 such route as the Directors of said Company, or a 
 majority of them may select, to the west line of the 
 State of Ohio ; and thence to Fort Wayne, in the State 
 of Indiana." This Company was made a corporation 
 of Indiana by concurrent legislation of that State with 
 
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PITTSBURG, F. W. AND CHICAGO RAILROAD. 129 
 
 Ohio, by an Act of the State approved January 15th, 
 1851. The organization of the Company was com- 
 pleted at Bucyrus on the 4tn of July, 1850, by the 
 election of a Board of Directors, which met as soon as 
 elected and selected Dr. Willis Merriman as President. 
 On the 10th of the same month, J. E. Straughan was 
 elected, by the Board, Chief Engineer ; who at once 
 organized his Engineer Corps and commenced making 
 the necessary surveys for the location of the road. 
 
 On the 18th of September of the same year, the 
 Board of Directors fixed the eastern terminus of the 
 road at Crestline, the point where the Ohio and Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad intersects the Cleveland, Columbus, 
 and Cincinnati Railroad. 
 
 On the 28th of January, 1852, the Board of Direc- 
 tors awarded to Wm. Mitchell & Co. the contract for 
 building the entire road (the Company furnishing the 
 rails) from Crestline to Fort Wayne, a distance of one 
 hundred and thirty-one miles. These contractors com- 
 menced the work soon after, and prosecuted it to com- 
 pletion with such commendable energy as to have it 
 ready for passing trains over the whole road on the 
 first of November, 1854. 
 
 The means for building this road were obtained, as 
 in the case of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Road, by 
 sales of shares and bonds, and temporary loans. But 
 a small amount of the money expended in the con- 
 struction of this road was realized by a direct payment 
 of cash into the treasury. Large subscriptions to the 
 stock were made by municipal and other corporations, 
 and paid for in the bonds of the corporations so sub- 
 scribing; which bonds were sold at a discount, and at 
 
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130 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the loss of the Ohio and Indiana Eailroad Company. 
 The contractors also received stock in part payment 
 for work ; or, in other words, stock was paid for in 
 contract work. In some instances stock was paid for 
 in uncultivated lands, in farms, town lots, and the pro- 
 ducts of the farm ; and the proceeds realized from the 
 sale of stock thus paid for in the various ways made 
 available in the payments for building the road. The 
 amount of cash paid into the treasury by the share- 
 holders of this Company was less than five per cent, 
 of the cost of the road and its equipment. 
 
 Before either of the two companies building roads 
 east of Fort Wayne had half completed the works 
 they had in charge, the people in the counties between 
 Fort Wayne and Chicago determined on an indepen- 
 dent effort to build the last link in the chain between 
 Philadelphia and Chicago. To accomplish it, a Con- 
 vention was held at Warsaw, Kosciusko County, In- 
 diana, on the 14th of September, 1852, "to make 
 arrangements for extending the Ohio and Indiana 
 Eailroad westerly." Delegates were in attendance 
 from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinios, repre- 
 senting large, varied, and important interests, from 
 the seaboard to the Mississippi River. A good degree 
 of unanimity and much earnestness characterized the 
 proceedings. 
 
 During the sitting of the Convention " Articles of 
 Association" were formed in the manner prescribed 
 by an Act of the Legislature of Indiana, entitled "An 
 Act to provide for the Incorporation of Railroad Com- 
 panies," approved May 11th, 1852. Two hundred and 
 thirteen individuals and firms, mostly members of the 
 
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PITTSBURG, F. W., AND CHICAGO RAILROAD. 131 
 
 Convention, subscribed, in the aggregate, for one thou- 
 sand shares of the stock of this corporation, just formed 
 under the style of the " Fort Wayne and Chicago Eail- 
 road Company." The names of the persons to consti- 
 tute the first Board of Directors were incorporated 
 into the " Articles of Association,'' and therefore their 
 election, and the legal existence of the corporation, 
 date from the lith of September, 1S52. The Board 
 of Directors was formally organized at a meeting held 
 at Warsaw, September 2'ith, 1852, by electing Hon. 
 Samuel Hanna, of Fort Wayne, President. At the 
 same meeting, J. E. Straughan, Esq., was appointed 
 Chief Engineer. By an Act of the Legislature of 
 Illinois, , approved February 5th, 1853, and entitled 
 "An Act to Incorporate the Fort Wayne and Chicago 
 Eailroad Company," the Indiana corporation was given 
 legal existence in Illinois. 
 
 An engineer corps was organized and the location 
 of the line commenced during the fall of 1852, and sO 
 far progressed in as to enable the Board, on the 8th of 
 June, 1853, to put under contract the entire road from 
 Fort Wayne to Chicago, excepting the seven miles at 
 the west end, the final location of which depended 
 upon the selection of the station grounds in the city 
 of Chicago, which had not yet been made. The 
 means of the Company to prosecute the work was to 
 be derived from the sale of stocks and bonds. The 
 stock subscriptions which were paid in cash into the 
 treasury of the Company were very small — amounting, 
 perhaps, in all, to less than three per cent, on the final 
 cost of building and equipping the road between Fort 
 Wayne and Chicago. The stock subscriptions were 
 
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132 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 paid for mostly in uncultivated lands, farms, town 
 lots, and labor upon the road. A large portion of the 
 real estate thus conveyed to the Company in payment 
 of subscriptions to stock (over one million of dollars in 
 value) was mortgaged by the Company to obtain the 
 necessary cash means to pay for grading the roadway, 
 &c. The balance of the cash means of the Company 
 was derived from the sale of bonds. 
 
 The Company, having only a very small cash sub- 
 scription to its stock, and not being able to make a 
 free sale of its securities, progressed slowly with the 
 work of construction during the years 1853, 1854, and 
 1855. In 1855, the work was confined almost exclu- 
 sively to the portion between Fort Wayne and Colum- 
 bia City, a distance of twenty miles ; and that piece 
 was completed and opened for business in February, 
 1856. 
 
 We have now reached a point in the history of these 
 cprporations when it became evident to the Managers 
 that, to secure the early completion of the line to 
 Chicago, and the ultimate success of the three roads, 
 some plan for harmonizing all interests, and creating a 
 unit for management, would have to be devised. The 
 Ohio and Pennsylvania Eailroad Company was at this 
 time in fair working order from Alleghany City to 
 Crestline, a distance of one hundred and eighty-seven 
 miles, with a business sufficient to pay the interest on 
 her debt, but no dividends on the stock. The Com- 
 pany had yet to build its track into the city of Pitts- 
 burg, across the Alleghany Eiver, and provide station 
 grounds and buildings in that city, which would in- 
 volve an outlay of four hundred thousand dollar-s. Its 
 
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PITTSBURG, F. W., AND CHICAGO RAILROAD. 133 
 
 western terminus rested on the Cleveland, Columbus 
 and Cincinnati Eailroad, at a point sixty miles north 
 of the southern terminus; of that road ; which made the 
 Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad dependent upon a 
 Company, whose interests were adverse, for the Cin- 
 cinnati and Southwestern trade. It was also at this 
 time quite certain that four other lines, then building, 
 would in time compete for the Southwest trade, with 
 advantages in all cases equal, and in some superior, to 
 any that the Ohio and Pennsylvania road could ever 
 enjoy. The direct Western business of the road was 
 by means of the so-called Bellefontaine line, reaching 
 from Gallon, a point four miles south of Crestline, on 
 the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, to 
 Indianapolis ; which line was owned by two corpora- 
 tions. The business of this connection had to be 
 filtered through four miles of an adverse corporation, 
 owning the road between Crestline and Galion. The 
 proximity of the eastern terminus (eighty miles) of the 
 Bellefontaine line to Lake Brie, aided by a large 
 Cleveland interest in the Bellefontaine and Indiana 
 Eailroad Company, caused the larger portion of the 
 business of that line to gravitate towards the lakes. 
 The Northwestern trade of the Ohio and Pennsylvania 
 road, however much or little it might be, could have 
 hut one avenue — over the line through Fort "Wayne, 
 then building by corporations embarrassed in their 
 finances. Even on the completion of this line, the 
 Ohio and Pennsylvania road would stand in the same 
 relation to it as the, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincin- 
 nati Eailroad, or any other intersecting, road. In 
 all previous contracts between the parties, this priiuji- 
 
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134: RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 pie had been clearly recognized and set forth, by which 
 the Ohio and Indiana and the Fort Wayne and Chi- 
 cago Companies were at liberty to give to any connect- 
 ing road or roads the same rates, facilities and rights 
 as to the Ohio and Pennsylvania road. Nothing could 
 be more evident to any one conversant with railway 
 strategy and the laws of trade, than that the position 
 of the Ohio and Pennsylvania road would soon become 
 secondary, as compared with the leading lines in the 
 West, and would degenerate into a local road, de- 
 pendent on way-local business; or, if competing for 
 through traffic, would have to do so under circum- 
 stances which would leave no profit to result there- 
 from. To become a portion of one of the great trunk 
 lines controlling the traffic between the East and West, 
 was the only security to the shareholders of the Com- 
 pany that their interests would, at a future day, b^ of 
 any value. And it was this view as to the probable 
 future value of the property which induced the Mana- 
 gers and Stockholders to assent to the terms of consoli- 
 dation, which were agreed to and consummated on the 
 first day of August, 1856. 
 
 At this same period the Ohio and Indiana Kailroad 
 was unable to earn sufficient to pay the interest on the 
 funded debt and improve the track, which was in very 
 bad order. The hope of this Company was in the 
 completion of the whole line to Chicago, and it ap- 
 pearing evident to the Managers and Shareholders 
 that a consolidation of the three Corporations into one 
 would effect this object, they were the first to urge 
 consolidation. 
 
 The Fort Wayne and Chicago Eailroad Company 
 
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PITTSBURG, F. "W., AND CHICAGO RAILROAD. 135 
 
 harl now been brought to a stand still for want of cash 
 means, although they had their iron purchased and 
 paid for, and lai'ge but unavailable assets. The pres- 
 sure of the times, with an acquiescence in the policy 
 that the line from Chicago to Pittsburg should be a 
 unit, made the Managers and Shareholders of that 
 Company the advocates of consolidation. Thus, with 
 great unanimity, the Shareholders of these three Cor- 
 porations voted in favor of the consolidation of the three 
 Corporations into the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and 
 Chicago Eailroad Company ; the existence of which 
 Corporation dates from August 1st, 1856. 
 
 Before the final consummation of the consolidation, 
 and in anticipation of it, arrangements were made to 
 improve the condition of the track of the Ohio and 
 Indiana road, and put to active work the contractors 
 on the portion of the Fort Wayne and Chicago road 
 between Columbia City and Plymouth, a distance of 
 forty-five miles. The work was pushed forward with 
 energy, under the direction of Jesse L. Williams, Esq., 
 the Chief Engineer ; so that, on the 10th of November 
 following, a period of about ninety days, the road was 
 open to travel. The portion of the Cincinnati, Peru, 
 and Chicago road between" Plymouth and La Porte 
 was opened about the same day; so that on the 10th 
 of November, 1856, a line was opened between Pitts- 
 burg and Chicago, by way of La Porte, which brought 
 into use, for the traffic of the Northwest, three hundred 
 and eighty-four miles of the Consolidated line. This 
 result was accomplished by temporary loans and 
 credits made and given by the Pennsylvania Eailroad 
 Company, and the Harrisburg and Lancaster Railroad 
 
 Company. 
 
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136 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Although the struggle for the completion of the line 
 to Chicago was tedious, and protracted beyond what 
 was anticipated, and the financial difficulties embar- 
 rassing, yet all these obstacles were overcome by the 
 energy and enterprise of the gentlemen engaged in 
 the undertaking; and the shareholders and bond- 
 holders have now the satisfaction of knowing that they 
 own a property the great value and controlling import- 
 ance of which is assured beyond a question. With- 
 out such a consolidation as was made in 1856, this 
 result could never have been attained. 
 
 On the first of January, 1857, the new Company 
 executed a mortgage on their entire property for ten 
 millions of dollars, to secure an issue of ten millions 
 of thirty-year bonds. These bonds were divided into 
 two classes of three and one-half and six and one-half 
 millions of dollars, respectively. The first were 
 denominated construction bonds, and were to be used 
 in the construction and equipment of the road; the 
 second were denominated redemption bonds, and were 
 to be used for redeeming or relieving all the issues of 
 the old corporations. The discredit which bad fallen 
 upon railway securities, and the diminished traffic at 
 this period of the leading railways of the West, made 
 it impossible to realize the expectations which had 
 been formed for thus obtaining the means to complete 
 the road to Chicago. During the year 1857, and tlie 
 early part of 1858, therefore, no great progress was 
 made in the work of construction, and all that was 
 done was paid for by the operations of the road, and 
 at the expense of the transportation department. 
 
 In the spring of 1858 arrangements were made for 
 
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PITTSBURG, F. W., AND CHICAGO RAILROAD. 137 
 
 deferring the interest on the bonded debt; which, with 
 aid from the Pennsylvania Eailroad Company, enabled 
 the Company, by the close of the year, to complete 
 their track to Chicago. The means and credit of the 
 Company were entirely exhausted, and a large floating 
 debt incurred, in the effort which accomplished the 
 completion of the road to Chicago. This burden was 
 beyond the ability of the revenue derived from trans- 
 portation to remove in the time demanded by the 
 creditors of the Company. Efforts were made to 
 convert the floating debt into funded debt, and thus 
 relieve the Company ; but the difference of views of 
 creditors, and the anxiety of all to get more money 
 than the Company possessed, delayed the accomplish- 
 ment of any plan until the bondholders, in December, 
 1859, commenced proceedings for foreclosure, and put 
 the property in the hands of a receiver. Soon after, 
 a plan was perfected by which the whole proj)erty 
 was to be sold under legal proceedings in the several 
 States, and purchased in for the benefit of all classes 
 of creditors assenting to the arrangement. A new 
 corporation was to be created to hold the property, 
 and by means of which all interests were to receive 
 their respective portions, as agreed upon previous to 
 the sale. The plan has been successfully executed. 
 
 At a future day it will be a marvel, as it is now 
 dii3Scult to realize, how so long a line of road — the 
 longest in the United States between terminal stations 
 — much of it built through a country sparsely inha- 
 bited and but little improved, could be built, and at 
 last rest, on a solid foundation of business and credit, 
 with so small amount of cash means contributed by the 
 
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138 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 shareholders of the Company. Of the eighteen inil- 
 lion six hundred and sixty-three thousand eight hun- 
 dred and seventy- six dollars now representing the cost 
 of the road, equipment, &c., the shareholders contri- 
 buted in cash only about ten per cent., or less than 
 two millions of dollars; and their contributions in 
 cash, bonds, notes, lands and personal property, labor, 
 &c., to something less than four millions of dollars, 
 or rather more than twenty per cent, of the present 
 cost of the work. The difference between this sum 
 and the capital stock, as now shown by the books of 
 the Company, is made up of dividends which were 
 paid in stock, interest on stock paid in stock, premium 
 on stock of Ohio and Pennsylvania and Fort Wayne 
 and Chicago Railroad Companies, allowed to the stock- 
 holders therein at the time of the consolidation, which 
 was paid in stock, and a balance of stock still held by 
 the Trustees. 
 
 It is a satisfaction to be able to say, that from the 
 commencement of this great enterprise in 1849, to the 
 consummation of the plan of re-organization in 1862,^ 
 no creditor of the Company was ever required to abate 
 one dollar from any just claim, but that all such debts, 
 with interest, have been paid in cash, or in the bonds 
 of the Company, which are now recognized as among 
 the best railway securities in this country. 
 
 The completion of the last link in the road, from 
 Plymouth to Valparaiso and thence to Chicago, was 
 an event of no small importance to the latter city. It 
 gave her one more grand trunk line to the east, and a 
 direct, air-line route to Pittsburg and Philadelphia. 
 Her citizens were not slow to avail themselves of these 
 
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PITTSBURG, F. "W., AND CHICAGO RAILROAD. 139 
 
 advantages ; and the passenger and freigbt traffic of the 
 road, Irom Chicago, large from the first, has been 
 steadily increasing every year. 
 
 The eilect of the opening of the road, upon the 
 prosperity of the country through which it passes, was 
 most remarkable. In Indiana and Ohio particularly, 
 new settlements sprung up all along the line of the 
 road, while all the older towns along the route rapidly 
 increased in population. Hundreds of farms lying 
 within a mile or two of the road, which before had 
 been regarded as nearly valueless, were now eagerly 
 sought for, were sold at good prices, and were imme- 
 diately put under a system of high cultivation. The 
 result of this state of things soon showed itself. Tlie 
 production of grain and cattle increased enormously 
 all over the region alluded to ; lands rose in value ; and 
 the wealth and prosperity of the country have been 
 ever since increasing. 
 
 The present organization of the Pittsburg, Fort 
 "Wayne, and Chicago Railroad Company, under the 
 new arrangement, was effected on the 26th of February, 
 1862, when George W. Cass, Esq., of Pittsburg, was 
 elected President. The Directors have shown their 
 appreciation of the value of the services of Mr. Cass, 
 and his eminent fitness for this responsible position, 
 by re-electing him President at every subsequent 
 annual election. Under the wise and judicious man- 
 agement of Mr. Cass, the affairs of the road have greatly 
 prospered. During the last six years, the business of 
 the road has steadily increased. 
 
 The running time of the through trains between 
 Philadelphia and Chicago is about thirty-five hours, 
 
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140 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 or two days and a night. There is only one change 
 of cars, and that at Pittsburg. The depot here is so 
 admirably arranged that the traveller has only a few- 
 steps to walk, under the same roof, in order to enter the 
 cars in which he wishes to continue his journey. Many 
 persons who travel on this line, who are opposed to 
 sleeping cars, and who do not like to travel at night, 
 spend the intervening two nights of the journey either 
 at Altoona, Pittsburg, Crestline, or Fort Wayne; at 
 all of which places excellent accommodations are 
 found. 
 
 The earnings of the railway since the consolidation 
 of the three original Corporations have been from year 
 to year as follows : — 
 
 In 1857, $1,660,424 89 
 
 " 1858, 1,567,232 22 
 
 " 1859 1,965,987 80 
 
 " 1860, 2,335,353 83 
 
 " 1861 3,031,887 42 
 
 " 1862, 3,734,390 43 
 
 " 1863 5,182,933 74 
 
 " 1864, 7,120,465 76 
 
 '" 1865 8,489,062 56 
 
 In 1866 the earnings of the road amounted to seven 
 million four hundred and sixty-seven thousand two 
 hundred and eighteen dollars; and the expenses to 
 five million one hundred and forty-seven thousand six 
 hundred and eighty-six dollars. 
 
 The ofRoers of the Company are George W. Cass, 
 President; Samuel Hanna, Vice-President; J. N. 
 McCullough, General Superintendent; H. A. Gardner, 
 Chief Engineer; John B. Jarvis, Consulting Engineer; 
 J. P. Henderson, Treasurer ; F. M. Hutchinson, Secre- 
 tary. 
 
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NORTHERN CENTRAL RAILROAD. 141 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 NORTHERlSr CENTRAL RAILROAD. 
 
 The route between Washington and Niagara Falls 
 consists of the following railroads namely : — 
 
 Miles 
 The Baltimore and Ohio, from "Washington to 
 
 Baltimore 40 
 
 The Northern Central road, from Baltimore to 
 
 Canandaigua ....... 315 
 
 New York Central road, from Canandaigua to 
 
 Suspension Bridge 106 
 
 Total 461 
 
 The Northern Central Railroad, as originally built, 
 extended only from Baltimore to Sunbury. Previous 
 to the year 1853, its business was confined to the re- 
 gion between these two points. The passenger traffic 
 between Harrisburg and Baltimore was always good, 
 and generally taxed the capacity of the rolling stock 
 of the Company to its full extent. Between Sunbury 
 and Baltimore the freight traffic was principally in 
 coal, of which immense quantities were dug from the 
 mines'near Sunbury. In 1854 a portion of the Sun- 
 bury and Erie Railroad was completed ; and that part 
 between Williamsport and Sunbury was thrown open 
 to the public. This proved to be of great service to 
 
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142 RAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the Northern Central Railroad. Williamsport is a large 
 and growing town, and has a very extensive trade in 
 lumber and iron machinery of various kinds. . Besides 
 the usual county courts, the United States District 
 Court is also held here. Its inhabitants embrace many 
 persons of wealth, culture, and refinement, and of great 
 enterprise and public spirit. The opening of the Sun- 
 bury and Erie Railroad, connecting it with Sunbury, 
 and thence with Baltimore and Philadelphia, gave a 
 new impetus to all branches of business in the place, 
 and during the ten years succeeding 1855, Williams- 
 port increased rapidly in wealth and population. The 
 Northern Central Railroad felt an immediate improve- 
 ment in its business in consequence, and this has been 
 every year increasing. 
 
 The Williamsport aud Elmira Railroad, from Wil- 
 liamsport to Elmira, had been built and was in opera- 
 tion about the year 1846. Its business, however, was 
 small and unremunerative, until it became consolidated 
 with the Northern Central Railroad. From that time 
 a remarlsable change took place in its aftiairs. The 
 whole consolidated line, from Canandaigua to B>ilti- 
 more, is now in the best possible condition. It is re- 
 garded as one road, and is under one management. 
 Particular pains are taken to keep the track in perfect 
 order. It is constantly examined, and the rails 
 renewed as often as necessary. The locomotives are 
 the best and most powerful that can be procured, and 
 the passenger cars are models of cleanliness and com- 
 fort. 
 
 The enormous amount of the passenger travel over 
 this road may be judged from the fact that during the 
 
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NORTHERN CENTRAL RAILROAD. 143 
 
 year 1866, eigbt hundred and eighty-tive thousand pas- 
 sengers passed over it. The present equipment of the 
 road includes ninety-five locomotives, sixty passen- 
 ger cars, thirty -seven baggage cars, and three thousand 
 six hundred and eighty -six freight cars. The total earn- 
 ings of the year 1866 were over four millions of dol- 
 lars (namely, $4,042,125) ; .and the net earnings were 
 over a million of dollars (namely, $1,295,288). The 
 prosperity of the road, for a series of years past, is 
 chiefly due to the energy and great experience of J. N. 
 Du Barry, Esq., the General Superintendent, who has 
 given his personal attention to all the details of the 
 service. 
 
 The officers of the Company are as follows : — 
 James D. Cajneron, President ; J. N. Du Barry, 
 General Superintendent; Edward L. Du Barry, Assist- 
 ant Superintendent ; J. S. Leib, Treasurer ; E. S. Hol- 
 lins. Secretary. 
 
 The Company are at present engaged in building 
 four new bridges between Sunbury and Shamokin in 
 Pennsylvania, in order to run a through train between 
 New York and Sunbury. The new portion of the 
 route, and the through trains, will be in operation by 
 next March. 
 
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144 EAILBOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 
 
 The great- through route between New York and 
 Chicago, by way of Albany and Niagara Falls, consists 
 of the following lines of railroad : — 
 
 Miles. 
 The Hudson Eiver Kailroad, from New York 
 
 to Albany 144 
 
 The New York Central Eailroad, from Albany 
 
 to Suspension Bridge ..... 304 
 The Great Western Eailroad of Canada, from 
 
 Suspension Bridge to Detroit . . . 229 
 
 The Michigan Central Eailroad, from Detroit to 
 
 Chicago _2U 
 
 Total .951 
 
 The whole length of the New York Central Eail- 
 road is five hundred and fifty-six miles. 
 
 The whole length of the first track, laid on 
 main lines and branches measuring the 
 length of the road exclusive of second Miles, 
 tracks and sidings, is as above . . . 555.88 
 
 The length of the second track, laid on 
 main lines and branches (exclusive of 
 sidings and turnouts less than one mile in 
 length) is 280.51 
 
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NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 145 
 
 The lengtli of sidings, turnouts, and switches Miles 
 laid on main lines and branches is . . 152.27 
 
 The total length of equivalent single track, 
 laid on main lines and branches, adding to 
 the length of the first track the length of 
 the second track, of the sidings and of the 
 turnouts, is 988.66 
 
 The length of lines leased by the New York Central 
 Railroad Company is as follows : — 
 
 Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Rail- 
 road, from Suspension Bridge to Miles 
 Canandaigua, 98.-±6 
 
 Sidings, turnouts, and switches, . . 3.42 Mile* 
 
 — 101.88 
 
 Saratoga and Hudson River Railroad, 
 from Junction, east of Schenectady, 
 to Athens, 37.87 
 
 Sidings, turnouts, and switches, . . 6.32 
 
 43.19 
 Total length of equivalent single track, 145.07 
 
 Total length of equivalent single track 
 
 on lines owned and lines leased, . 1,133.73 
 
 The New York Central Railroad Company was 
 organized under an Act of the Legislature of the State 
 of New York (Chap. 76 of the Laws of 1853), entitled 
 '■ An act to authorize the consolidation of certain rail- 
 road Companies," whereby the Albany and Schenec- 
 tady, the Schenectady and Troy, the Utica and Sche- 
 nectady, the Syracuse and Utica, the Rochester and 
 Syracuse, the Bufialo and Lockport, the Mohawk Val- 
 
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146 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ley, the Syracuse and Utica direct, the Buffalo and 
 Eochester, and the Eochester, Lockport, and Niagara 
 Falls Eailroad Companies, were authorized at any. 
 time to consolidate the said companies into a single 
 corporation. 
 
 Articles of agreement were accordingly entered 
 into by the said several companies, bearing date the 
 17th day of May, 1853, which were duly executed in 
 duplicate, and a copy filed in the office of the Secretary 
 of the State of New York, as required by the said 
 act of the Legislature, by which the said several com- 
 panies were consolidated into one corporation, under 
 the name of " The New York Central Mailroad. Com- 
 pany." 
 
 The first Board of Directors of the new Company 
 were elected on the sixth day of July, 1853, and the 
 Company then organized. The officers of the former 
 companies continued to receive the, income of the 
 several Hoes of road of which they are in charge, until 
 the first d^y of August, 1853. 
 
 The first railroad ever constructed in the State of 
 New York was the Mohawk and Hudson road. It 
 was chartered in 1826, commenced in IbSO, and fin- 
 ished in 1831. It was one of the first railroads in the 
 United States, to use locomotive engines. Horse 
 power was employed upon it for a few months at first, 
 but two locomotives were placed upon it soon after 
 its completion, to which we will refer again. There 
 were considerable elevations at both ends of the road, 
 but these were overcome by stationary engines, operat- 
 ing on inclined planes. The plane at Albany was 
 three thousand one hundred and three feet long; that 
 
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NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 147 
 
 at Schenectady two thousand and forty-six feet long. 
 The road was built in a very primitive style, in con- 
 formity to the crude and defective stage of railway en- 
 terprise at that early day. Instead of the massive and 
 durable rail of modern times, weighing seventy-five 
 pounds to the yard, a flat bar was used not quite three- 
 quarters of an inch thick, and two and a half inches 
 •wide. 
 
 At that time the Erie Canal was the principal 
 medium of communication between all points along 
 its line, from Albany to Buffalo. The great number 
 of locks, however, between Troy and Schenectady, 
 and the slow progress made by the canal boats, made 
 the journey anything but desirable. Before the year 
 1831, a regular line of stage coaches ran between Al- 
 bany and Schenectady, and these were well patronized 
 by the travelling public. But when the railway was 
 first built, it was found to be a great convenience, and 
 it soon crowded the line of stage coaches off the track. 
 
 Early in the year 1830, the Mohawk and Hudson 
 Eailroad Company made an engagement with John B. 
 Jervis, Esq., who afterwards became so celebrated as 
 a civil engineer, and whose merits in that capacity, 
 even then, began to be appreciated. Mr. Jervis at 
 once entered upon his duties, as chief engineer of the 
 road. In July, 1830, the grading of the road was 
 put under contract, and the work of laying the track 
 was commenced in the spring of 1831. About mid- 
 summer of that year, the rails were so far laid as to 
 allow coaches for passengers to run from the head of 
 the inclined plane at Schenectady, to the junction of 
 the western turnpike road, about two miles west of 
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148 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Albany. This section, of about twelve miles, was 
 then operated for passengers, mostly by horse-power. 
 Two locomotive eflgines were put on, soon afterwards; 
 one of them an English engine, and one of American 
 manufacture. 
 
 The latter was built in New York, by the West 
 Point Foundry Association. The American engine 
 was quite light, not over six tons weight, but was able 
 to haul a train of eighty or a hundred passengers. 
 The English engine was larger, weighing about eight 
 tons, and was able to haul a ttam of one hundred and 
 twenty-five, or one hundred and fifty passengers from 
 twenty to twenty-five miles an hour. The line of the 
 railroad was very straight, with light grades. The 
 above was the utmost capacity of these two engines. 
 The sharpest grade between the heads of the inclined 
 planes was twenty-six feet per mile for a distance of 
 about two miles. The formation of the country was 
 abrupt at both ends of the railway, and at that day a 
 railway was regarded as impracticable without the 
 use of inclined planes with stationary engines, where 
 the elevation to be overcome was so great as on this 
 road. Hence the use of inclined planes* of great 
 length on the Pennsylvania railroad, which were con- 
 tinued to as late a period as the year 1853. 
 
 Subsequent experience, of course, has demonstrated 
 that this idea was erroneous, and it has been corrected 
 for many years. It is proper, however, to remark, 
 that the line eventually adopted for this part of what 
 afterwards became the New York Central Eailroad, 
 could not have been established in the commencement 
 of the work, on account of the opposition to a location 
 
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NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 149 
 
 in the heart of the city, of a railroad to be operated 
 by locomotive engiaes. The history of railroads in 
 this country has shown that this kind of influence has 
 often been powerful and very embarrassing, although 
 in time it has generally yielded. Mr. Jervis was one 
 of the commissioners who subsequently established 
 the present line of that part of the New York Central 
 Eailroad, doing away with the inclined planes, and he 
 has often remarked, since, that he was very much im- 
 pressed with the manifest difference in public opinion 
 on such a question. What would have been impracti- 
 cable in the original proceedings, was now sought as 
 a public benefit. 
 
 It was truly interesting to observe the change of 
 views in regard to inclined planes, on which a great 
 controversy grew up, both in England and America. 
 In the course of this controversy, and of the experi- 
 ments which it involved, it was soon found that 
 inclined planes were a serious impediment to the 
 passenger traffic, and they are now, it is believed, 
 entirely dispensed with, and are only used on roads 
 during a heavy freight traffic mostly, in minerals. For 
 the latter, they are still regarded in mountainous dis- 
 tricts as being very advantageous for cheap transport. 
 
 To return to the Mohawk and Hudson Eailroad: 
 A branch railway was made from the junction of the 
 western turnpike, along that turnpike and through 
 State Street, in Albany, to a station a short distance 
 below the Capitol. This was afterwards extended to 
 the foot of State Street. It was operated by horse 
 power for several years, and then abandoned. Finally 
 
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150 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the inclined planes were abandoned, and the road was 
 operated entirely by locomotive engines. 
 
 The rails of the track were originally composed of 
 plate iron laid on yellow pine stringers. The iron 
 plate had a flange, to give it more stiffness, and to hold 
 the plate more firmly to the stringer. The plate was 
 nearly three-quarters of an inch thick, and two and a 
 half inches wide. The stringer timbers were six 
 inches square. 
 
 Over embankments, the rail was supported by cedar 
 cross-ties, on which two cast-iron chairs were fastened, 
 to receive the rail stringer, and were secured by a key 
 or wedge. In excavations, the stringers rested on 
 stone blocks, secured in the same way, by cast-iron 
 chairs. The stone blocks were then regarded as the 
 best kind of foundation for railways, and they were 
 very generally adopted in England, and were exten- 
 sively used in this country. This railroad, at the 
 time it was constructed, was regarded as a first class 
 road. 
 
 The coaches were hung on through braces, like a 
 stage coach, and passed over the road very smoothly. 
 But it did not require very long use of even the com- 
 paratively small engines that were then used, to de- 
 monstrate the importance of securing, if possible, some 
 changes in the locomotives. The English engine, 
 before alluded to, was on four wheels, which were all 
 driving wheels. According to the impression at that 
 time prevailing, it was necessary to gear the wheels as 
 near together as possible, in order to facilitate the 
 movement in curves. This required the engine to pro- 
 ject about four feet beyond the point of support in the 
 
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NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 151 
 
 axles. This again gave a good deal of vei'uG.il inoiiDii 
 at the ends of tiie mauhiae, whenever it pas.sed inequali- 
 ties in the track. The attention of Mr. Jervis, and of 
 other gentlemen connected with the road, was drawn to 
 this circumstance, and some means to remedy this evil 
 were diligently sought. It also appeared very import- 
 ant to distribute the weight on a greater number of 
 wheels, in order to reduce it on any one point of the 
 rail. The result desired was, to obtain more whecs 
 and so to arrange the plan of the machine that it would 
 be supported near its ends, and so give more ease to 
 the rail, and a greater degree of steadiness to the motion.. 
 These ends were finally acomplished, and a great and 
 most beneficial change effected, by the genius of Mr. 
 Jervis. 
 
 After a good deal of reflection, it appeared to Mr; 
 Jervis that a truck migbt be placed under the forward 
 end of the frame and so support it, and by means of a 
 centre pin the truck would play freely under the 
 frame. la this it appeared that the truck, moving 
 freely under the frame, could be geared so as to work 
 most favorably around the curves, and thus secure a 
 guide to the whole machine, and allow it to be a sup- 
 port near, or at the end of the engine, by which the 
 greatest practicable steadiness would be secured. At 
 that time there was little experience in railway m i- 
 chinery; and it was generally considered that a ti-iu:k 
 in this situation would not be safe for high speed, and 
 therefore unfit for passenger work. This idea prevailed 
 in England in 1850. 
 
 They called these engines bog-engines; and although 
 there was at one time, several of them introduced on 
 
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152 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 English railroads, the impression of unsafely -was so 
 strong that they abandoned them. Having from 
 careful reflection become strongly impressed in his 
 own mind with the practicability of the truck plan, 
 Mr. Jervis made drawings and a working model of 
 the same. A contract for a truck engine was then 
 made with the West Point Foundry Association in 
 New York. This engine was completed according to 
 the plans of Mr. Jervis, and was put upon the Mohawk 
 and Hudson Eailroad in 18B2. Mr. Jervis also at- 
 tempted to combine a boiler with a furnace adapted 
 to the use of anthracite"coal as a fuel. In regard to 
 coal burning it was a failure, and it was not well 
 adapted to the use of wood as a fuel. Mr. Jervis suc- 
 ceeded, however, in running it with wood, sufficiently 
 to test the principle of the truck. In the following 
 winter a new boiler was put in, adapted to the use of 
 wood as a fuel, and it did good service. 
 
 Mr. Jervis was at the same time chief engineer of 
 the Schenectady and Saratoga Railroad ; and as soon as 
 be had ascertained that his improved truck could be 
 relied on, he made the plans and drawings for an 
 engine for that railway, with truck and the most af>- 
 proved boiler for the use of wood as a fuel. The 
 plans were sent to England, and a contract made with 
 the celebrated English engineers, George Stephenson 
 & Co., in the autumn of 1832. This engine arrivwd 
 safely at New York, and was put on the Schenectady 
 and Saratoga Railroad in the spring of lbB3. Even 
 to this late day, Mr. Jervis well remembers the 
 pleasure he enjoyed in riding on that engine, as com- 
 
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KEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 153 
 
 pared with the motion of the four-wheeled engine 
 before referred to. 
 
 The railroads in the Eastern States were slow to 
 adopt the improved truck ; and for several years after- 
 wards the Western Railroad of Massachusetts and 
 other railroads in New England continued to use four- 
 wheeled engines. Now, however, the truck is used 
 in all the railroads of the United States, and its utility 
 and value are universally acknowledged. The principle 
 of the truck, moreover, is carried into practical ope- 
 ration in both passenger coaches and freight cars, on' 
 more than thirty thousand miles of railroad. 
 
 It is no more than what is due to Mr. Jervis, and to 
 the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Company, that this 
 acknowledgment should be made, of the great bene- 
 iits which railroads have derived from the introduction 
 of the truck on this small railway, at a time when the 
 idea was met with great scepticism as to its probable 
 success. It is due to the directors of the Company to 
 say, that they uniformly supported the proceedings of 
 Mr. Jervis, and gave him every facility that he needed, 
 in carrying out the experiment. 
 
 Mr. Jervis, although now somewhat advanced in 
 life, is still actively engaged in professional duties, 
 and is now consulting engineer of the Pittsburg, Fort 
 Wayne, and Chicago Railroad. At his advanced age, 
 it must be a great pleasure to him to notice the ex- 
 tensive use of his early invention ; and the more so, 
 that this, like all the other improvements that he has 
 made in railway works and machinery, has been freely 
 given to the public, without any attempt on his part 
 
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154 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 to secure to himself any special advantage or pecuni- 
 ary benefits from patent rights. 
 
 The success of the Mohawk and Hudson road 
 created a revolution in public sentiment in relation to 
 railroads, and an effort was soon made to extend the 
 road up the valley of the Mohawk. The construction 
 of the Utica and Schenectady road was soon aftei-- 
 wards commenced, and it was completed and opened 
 in 1836 ; the distance being seventy-eight miles. It 
 was built as cheaply as possible, the flat, thin iron bar 
 being then in universal use for railroads; but it was a 
 richly-paying road from the commencement. In fact 
 it was one of the most productive railroad enterprises 
 then in operation in the whole country, the annual 
 dividends averaging ten per cent., up to the period of 
 its consolidation with the New York Central road. 
 Utica was a great point of concentration from the 
 North, the South, the East, and the West, and the cars 
 were crowded throughout the year. 
 
 The Buffalo and Niagara Falls Eailroad, twenty-two 
 miles in length, was constructed in 1836, and opened 
 for business in 1837. The Tonawanda road, running 
 from Eoohestei* to Attica, a distance of forty -two 
 miles, was put in operation in 1837, and these two 
 roads at once found as mucb business as they could 
 attend to. In the mean time, another link in what 
 afterwards became the New York Central road, was 
 being built. This was the Utica and Syracuse Rail- 
 road, by way of Eome, fifty-three miles long, which 
 was completed and opened in the year 1839. The 
 business of this road was very great from the first. 
 The annual dividends, for a long series of years, 
 
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NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 155 
 
 reached about ten per cent. Still another link, the 
 Auburn and Syracuse Eailroad, twenty-six miles in 
 length, was commenced in 1836, and opened in 1838. 
 Until 1840 it was operated with horse-power coaches 
 on a wooden rail. In 1840 the wooden rail was 
 superseded by the iron strap rail, and the road was 
 operated by steam. In 1843 the first saloon, or long 
 car with seats having reversible backs, used on the 
 New York Central Railroad, was placed upon the 
 Auburn and Syracuse Railroad, and would hold 
 between thirty and forty passengers. 
 
 The Auburn and Rochester Eailroad was begun in 
 1838, and completed with iron rail, and operated by 
 steam in 1843, a portion of the road (from Rochester 
 to Canandaigua) having been opened two or three 
 years before. This road crosses the northern ex- 
 tremity of Cayuga Lake near the site of the famo'is 
 old Cayuga Bridge, over which, before the Erie 
 Canal was built, thirty crowded stage coaches thun- 
 dered each way daily on the route between Albany 
 and Buffalo. The site of this old bridge is how 
 marked by rows of piles that formerly supported the 
 roadway. 
 
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156 RAILROADS OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV- 
 
 NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD; CONTINUED, 
 
 The two roads last mentioned formed the zigzag line 
 between Kochester and Syracuse, by way of Canandai- 
 gua, Auburn, and Geneva. The route was exceedingly 
 crooked and indirect, but it was necessarily so, on 
 account of the financial difficulties that were encoun- 
 tered in the inception of the enterprise. At that time 
 money was very scarce, and could only be obtained at 
 veiy high rates; and capitalists were reluctant to em- 
 bark in enterprises the success of which was not fully 
 assured. The towns and villages near the proposed 
 line, however, strained their means to assist the work ; 
 and it has been truly said that the zigzag course of the 
 track shows that they exerted a commanding influence 
 in determining its course. This road was used until 
 it was superseded by the Rochester and Syracuse 
 direct road in 1853. 
 
 The short, but important road from Troy to Sche- 
 nectady, was built in IS-ii and 1842, It was a 
 losing concern from the outset. It never paid any 
 dividends, and was never profitable until it was con- 
 solidated with the Central road. 
 
 The Attica and Buffalo Railroad, thirty miles in 
 length, was opened m 1844, and the next year a gap 
 of about a quarter of a mile between the Auburn and 
 
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NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 15T 
 
 Rochester Railroad and the Tonawanda Railroad was 
 closed, which completed the connection by rail of Al- 
 bany with Buffalo. 
 
 All the railroads now forming the New York Cen- 
 tral were operated by steam from their opening ex- 
 - cept the Mohawk and Hudson, Auburn and Syracuse, 
 and the Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad, which, 
 were for a short time operated by horse-power. 
 
 Thus the connection of the waters of the Hudson 
 River with Lake Erie by railroad was now complete 
 with the exception of the gaps between the roads com- 
 posing the line. These gaps made it necessary for 
 the passengers to change cars five or six times in the 
 course of the journey. Baggage checks had not yet 
 been invented, and the vexation and annoyance attend- 
 ing these frequent transfers of baggage, the great 
 delay consequent, and the extortion of hackmen, all 
 conspired to produce great impatience and dissatisfac- 
 tion. Therunning time of course was very slow. The 
 train which left Buffalo at seven in the morning 
 reached Rochester at one o'clock in the afternoon. 
 Auburn at seven in the evening, and Syracuse at nine 
 o'clock at night. It was customary for most of the 
 passengers to remain at Syracuse over night. Sleep- 
 ing cars had not then been invented ; and after riding 
 fourteen hours in the uncomfortable cars then in use, 
 some rest seemed to be indispensably necessary. In 
 the summer, two trains daily were run each way, but 
 in the winter only one train each way daily. The 
 trains from Albany to the west usually stopped at 
 Syracuse over night, while those from Buffalo to Al- 
 bany usually stopped at Auburn. Snow-storms fre-- 
 
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158 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 quently blocked up the road, and it was ilo unusual 
 thing for travel to be interrupted for three or four days 
 at a time. 
 
 In the year 1849, an entire revolution in the mode 
 of travel took place. The different railway companies 
 on the line, united their tracks, took up the thin bai; 
 iron rail, and put down a heavy uniform T rail on the 
 Avhole track. New locomotives, and cars of an im- 
 proved construction, were put upon the track, and the 
 trains began to run at a very high rate of speed. 
 I'rom twenty miles an hour the speed was increased 
 to twenty-five, and then to thirty. After running 
 some weeks at thirty miles an hour, the speed was 
 still further increased to thirty -five, then to forty, and 
 finally to Ibrty-five miles per hour. The frightful 
 velocity of tiie latter rate of speed was ' kept up for 
 some months, but it was finally reduced to thirty miles 
 an hour, and kept at that rate. 
 
 In 1850 the Auburn and Syracuse, and Auburn and 
 Eoohester Eailroad, were consolidated under the title 
 of the Eochester and Syracuse Eailroad, and imme- 
 diately commenced the construction of a more direct 
 line betwwMi the two cities, called the Eochester and 
 Syracu o D.ivct Eailroad, and opened it in 1853, 
 making a saving in distance over the old line of 
 twenty-one miles. 
 
 About the same time (1850) the Tonawanda Eail- 
 road was consolidated with the Attica and Buffalo 
 Eailroad, under the title of the Buffalo and Eochester 
 Eailroad, and in 1852 opened a more direct line 
 botweea Buffalo and Batavia, making a saving of five 
 miles over the old line. Upon the opening of the new 
 
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NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 159 
 
 line between Buffalo and Rochester, the portion of the 
 old line between Attica and Buffalo was sold to the 
 Buffalo and New York City Railroad Company. The 
 Rochester, Lockport, and Niagara Falls Railroad, was 
 opened in 1852, having bought out the franchises of 
 the old Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad. 
 
 The Buffalo and Lockport Railroad was opened in 
 1853, and since then the Buffalo and Lockport Rail- 
 road and the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad, have 
 used the same track from Buffalo to Tonawanda, eleven 
 miles. 
 
 As heretofore stated, the several railroads cod^-. 
 prising the entire line between Albany and Buffalo 
 were consolidated in the year 1853, under the name 
 of the New York Central Railroad Company. The 
 bill for the consolidation was strenuously opposed by 
 the New York legislature, but it finally passed by a 
 handsome majority. It has proved to be a wise and 
 excellent measure. The public convenience, and the 
 interest of the stockholders were alike consulted by 
 the gentlemen through whose exertions it was cousum- 
 . mated ; and it is well known that its opponents now 
 cheerfully acknowledge the great advantages that 
 have resulted from it. 
 
 Immediately after consolidation, the New York 
 Central Railroad leased for the term of their respective 
 charters, the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad, the 
 Lewiston Railroad (opened in 1854), and the Rochester 
 and Lake Ontario Railroad ; and under an act of the 
 legislature, passed in 1855, these roads became practi- 
 cally consolidated with the New York Central Rail- 
 road, by exchange or conversion of the stock of the 
 
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160 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 companies for stock of the New York Central Eail- 
 road. 
 
 The Canandaigua and Niagara Falls Eailroad was 
 opened as a broad gauge Eailroad from Canandaigua 
 to Batavia (fifty miles) in 1853, and to Suspension 
 Bridge, forty-nine miles further, in 1854, and was 
 intended to furnish a broad gauge line from New 
 York via New York and Erie, Canandaigua and 
 Elmira Eailroads, connecting with the Great Western 
 Railroad-of Canada at Suspension Bridge, but not prov- 
 ing a success financially, it was sold to satisfy mort- 
 gages in 1857. A new company was formed under 
 the title of the Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Rail- 
 road, and in 1858 it was leased in perpetuity to the 
 New York Central Eailroad Company, who at once 
 changed the gauge to four feet eight and a half inches, 
 and since then the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Eailroad 
 has been run upon the track of this railroad, between 
 Tonawanda and Niagara Falls. 
 
 The whole of the original line of the Buffalo and 
 Niagara Falls Eailroad which was for nearly the 
 whole distance within the limits of the travelled high- 
 way, is now abandoned, the track of the Buffalo and 
 Lockport Eailroad being used between Buffalo and 
 Tonawanda, and the track of the Niagara Bridge and 
 Canandaigua Eailroad between Tonawanda and Nia- 
 gara Falls. 
 
 The Saratoga and Hudson Eiver Eailroad was 
 begun in 1864, and opened in the spring of 1866. 
 Tiiis railroad runs from the village of Athens on the 
 west side of the Hudson River opposite the city of 
 Hudson and about thirty miles below Albany, to a 
 
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NEW" YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 161 
 
 point on the line of the New York Central Railroad 
 about three and a half miles east of Schenectady, and 
 is thirty -seven and a half miles long. It was designed 
 to give the traffit; upon the New York Central, an 
 outlet upon the river below the shouls and shifting 
 channel between that point and Albany, which have 
 in years past made the navigation of tlie river by 
 large vessels and steamers somewhat uncertain. This 
 railroad is leased and operated by the New York 
 Central Eailroad Company. 
 
 The main trunk of the New York Central Eailroad 
 via Mohawk and Hudson Eailroad, Utica and Schenec- 
 tady Railroad, Syracuse and Utica Eailroad, Eoches- 
 ter and Syracuse Direct Eailroad, and Buffalo and 
 Rochester Railroad, is double tracked the whole dis- 
 tance. The other lines are all single tracked. 
 
 Thus thirteen distinct corporations have been 
 united, under the consolidation act, to form the present 
 New York Central Railroad Company. 
 
 The capital stock of the Company is twenty-four 
 millions five hundred and ninety -one thousand dollars. 
 The Company has no floating debt. The entire cost 
 of the construction and equipment of the road has been 
 thirty-four millions one hundred and thirty-three thou- 
 sand nine hundred and eleven dollars. 
 
 In 1855, the equipment of the road consisted of one 
 hundred and eighty-eight locomotive, two hundred 
 and sixty-three passenger cars, and two thousand one 
 hundred and sixty -two freight cars. Additions to this 
 equipment have been made every subsequent year. 
 In 1866 the equipment consisted of two hundred and 
 seventy-six locomotives, two hundred and ninety-two 
 
 11 
 
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162 KAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 passenger cars, and four thousand nine hundred and 
 fifty-nine freight cars. In 1»54, the number of pas- 
 sengers carried was about two and a half million 
 (namely, 2,556,874) persons. This number somewhat 
 increased until the year 1858, when it fell off in con- 
 sequence of competing roads, to a little over two mil- 
 lion (namely, 2,124,439) persons. Since that time the 
 number of passengers has steadily and largely in- 
 creased, and in the year 1863 it had amounted to 
 nearly three millions, and in 1864 to three and a half 
 millions. In 1866 the number of passengers reached 
 the enormous number of three million seven hundred 
 and forty thousand, one hundred and fifty-six. 
 
 The earnings of the road in 1854 amounted to 
 nearly six millions of dollars (namely, $5,91«,334). 
 The earnings of the road have steadily increased every 
 subsequent year, except in 1858 and 1 859, in both of 
 which years, however, they were over six millions. In 
 the year 1862 they were over nine millions of dollars; 
 in 1863 nearly eleven millions; in 1864 nearly thirteen 
 millions; 1865 nearly fourteen millions; and in 1866 
 the earnings of the road amounted to over fourteen and 
 a half millions of dollars (namely, $14,596,786). 
 
 The engraving at the beginning of this chapter is 
 an accurate representation of the first train of passenger 
 cars that ever ran on the New York Central Railroad, 
 In 1831, as before stated, that part of the road then 
 known as the Mohawk and Hudson, being completed, 
 the Company had a locomotive built in New York by 
 the West Point Foundry Association, which is accu- 
 rately represented in the engraving. It was called the 
 De "Witt Clinton, and made its first trip in July. The 
 
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NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 163 
 
 cylinders were five and a half inches in diameter, with 
 sixteen inch stroke. The wheels were four and a half 
 feet in diameter. The boiler had thirty copper tubes, 
 five feet long and four" inches in diameter. The con- 
 necting rods worked on double cranks in the front 
 axle. John Thompson, an Englishman, was the en- 
 gineer. 
 
 The profiles in the engraving are life portraits of the 
 passengers who took passage in the first trip over the 
 road, and the names of all have been preserved. The 
 fourth from the engine, counting the engineer one, is 
 Thurlow Weed, and the likeness can easily be recog- 
 nized. It will be observed that the cars are built 
 like stage coaches, and hung on springs in stage coach 
 fashion. 
 
 In another chapter of this work, we have spoken of 
 the New York Central Railroad as a part of the great 
 through route between Chicago and Boston. Previ- 
 ous to the year 1865, however, passengers on arriving 
 at Albany were compelled to change cars, and to cross 
 the Hudson River on a ferry boat. In that year the 
 great railroad bridge across the Hudson was built by 
 the New York Central Railroad Company. It was 
 completed, and opened for use, on the 22d of Febru- 
 ary, 1866, and since that time trains from both New 
 York and Boston have run through to Buffalo and 
 Suspension Bridge, without the transfer of either pas- 
 sengers or freight. 
 
 The New York Central Railroad Company has been 
 
 peculiarly fortunate in having for its officers, for some 
 
 years past, a body of gentlemen who are emphatically 
 
 the right men in the right places. It is owing to their 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
164 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 fidelity in the discharge of their respective duties, that 
 this road has gained such an enviable reputation as it 
 has long enjoyed. And without making any invidious 
 distinctions, it is no more than an act of simple justice 
 to say that the labors of Mr. H. W. Chittenden, the 
 General Superintendent, and of Mr. Charles Hilton, the 
 Chief Engineer, have made the road what it is : one of 
 the best constructed, best managed, and best paying 
 roads in the United States. 
 
 In November, lb67, the Stockholders of the Com- 
 pany became convinced that the interests of so vast a 
 corporation required at its head a person of no ordi- 
 nary abilities. They did not have to look outside of 
 the circle of their own members to find the man they 
 needed. Commodore Vanderbilt was already one of 
 the largest stockholders. His remarkable administra- 
 tive talents, and his great experience in the manage- 
 ment of railroads, pointed him out as the man for the 
 crisis. The stockholders holding thirteen millions of 
 stock, therefore, placed their proxies in the hands of 
 Commodore Vanderbilt, which enabled him to select 
 such a board of directors as he deemed suitable. Mr. 
 Vanderbilt accepted the trust; and the board of di- 
 rectors thus chosen, elected him as president. 
 
 The following table exhibits in a condensed shape, 
 the financial history of the road from the year 1853 to 
 1867:— 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
KEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD. 
 
 165 
 
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166 BAILKOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The officers of the Company are C. Yanderbilt, Pre- 
 sident; E. M. Blatchford, Vice President; E. D. AVur- 
 cester, Treasurer ; Harlow W. Chittenden, General 
 Superintendent; Charles Hilton, Chief Engineer; 
 Julius A. Spencer, Assistant Superintendent. 
 
 The election of Commodore Vanderbilt as president 
 of the Company, in December, 1867, marks the com- 
 mencement of a new era in the history of this great 
 road. With its well-constructed track and road-bed, 
 its powerful and gigantic locomotives, and its superb 
 passenger cars, fitted up with state-rooms and with 
 every luxury and comfort, it would seem that the road 
 was all that could be desired ; while the steady increase 
 of its passenger and freight business, during the last 
 ten years, sufficiently indicates its popularity. But 
 Commodore Vanderbilt and the new Board of Direc- 
 tors believe that the road and its management is sus- 
 ceptible of still further improvements — improvements 
 that will greatly increase the comfort and safety of 
 passengers, and that will greatly augment the revenues 
 of the Company. These improvements will be imme- 
 diately carried out ; and when we consider the great 
 experience of Mr. Vanderbilt in railroad matters, and 
 the energetic character of the gentlemen composing 
 the new Board of Directors, it cannot be doubted that 
 the contemplated improvements will lead to the most 
 happy results. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
MICHIGAN CENTRAL AND GREAT WESTERN. 167 
 
 CHAPTER XY. 
 
 MICHIGAN CENTRAL RAILROAD ; AND GREAT WESTERN 
 RAILROAD OF CANADA. 
 
 The New York Central Railroad terminates at the 
 famous iron Suspension Bridge, at Niagara Falls. 
 Tbis bridge crosses the Niagara River at a point two 
 miles below the Falls, and was built in order to carry 
 the New York Central Railroad across the river at 
 this point. It is constructed of iron wires bound to- 
 gether, and presents an exceedingly light and graceful 
 appearance. It is eight hundred and twenty -one feet 
 long, and consists of two main passages, a roadway for 
 horses and carriages, and a track for the railroad, the 
 latter being uppermost. The elevation of the railway 
 track above the water is two hundred and forty-five 
 feet. This bridge was completed in 1855, and has been 
 in daily use ever since. The heaviest trains have 
 passed over it daily, yet it is, so far as the most scien- 
 tific investigation can show, as strong now as when first 
 constructed. 
 
 Crossing this fine bridge, with the' bottomless waters 
 of the Niagara River two hundred and forty-five feet 
 beneath our feet, we find ourselves on the 
 
 Great Western Railroad of Canada. — This 
 road extends from Niagara Falls to Detroit, and is 
 two hundred and thirty miles loQg. The total re- 
 
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168 EAILBOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ceipts of this road, since its completion have amounted 
 to nearly twenty-six millions of dollars (namely, 
 $25,843,906). The Company has recently completed 
 and launched a new car ferry boat, on the Detroit 
 Kiver, by which trains of cars can be safely and 
 speedily transported across the river to Detroit, 
 without making it necessary for the passengers to 
 leave their seats. 
 
 Michigan Central Kailboad. — The Michigan 
 Central Railroad extends from Chicago to Detroit, a 
 distance of two hundred and eighty-four miles. It 
 has a wide track, and has the reputation of being one 
 of the best constructed roads in the United States. 
 The passenger cars are certainly all that could be 
 desired, being models of comfort and convenience. 
 Four trains are run daily, from Chicago to Detroit, 
 and four also from Detroit to Chicago. The trains 
 from the east leave Detroit on the arrival of the cars 
 on the Great Western Railroad of Canada from Nia- 
 gara Falls, about 7 and 10.30 A. M., and 5.30 and 
 11 P. M., and arrive at Chicago at about 8 and 
 11 P. M., and 6 A. M., and 12.80 at noon; the run- 
 ning time being thirteen hours. Trains for the east 
 leave the depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, at 
 Chicago about 4 and 6 A. M., and 5.30 and 10 P. M., 
 and arrive at Detroit in time to connect with the trains 
 for Suspension Bridge. 
 
 In May, 1849, the Michigan Central Railroad was 
 completed and in operation from Detroit to New Buf- 
 falo. New Buffalo was a small village at the southern 
 extremity of Lake Michigan, a few miles east of the 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
MICHIGAN CENTRAL EAILROAD. 
 
 169 
 
 present Michigan City. It has now entirely disap- 
 peared from the map. The Michigan Central Eailroad 
 terminated there, and from this point two daily lines 
 of steamers ran to Chicago., a distance of nearly forty- 
 five miles. The time between Chicago and New York 
 became thus reduced to two and a half days. The 
 population of Chicago in IsdO was twenty-eight thou- 
 sand. The Galena Eailroad of Illinois was at that 
 time completed and in operation from Chicago to 
 Elgin, a distance of forty-two miles. The Galena 
 Eailroad Company for a time entertained the design 
 of completing the Michigan Central road from New 
 Buffalo into Chicago, but that was finally done by the 
 Michigan Central Eailroad Company themselves. 
 
 The following statement shows the earnings from 
 passengers, freight, &c., and the proportion of earnings 
 consumed in operating expenses of this road, for a 
 series of years. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Per ct of earn- 
 
 Tear 
 
 
 
 
 
 ending 
 Maj 31, 
 
 Passenger Earn- 
 ings. 
 
 Freight Earnings. 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 EaroiDgs. 
 
 ings need in 
 operatiDg ex- 
 penses, exclu- 
 sive of lax. 
 
 1857 
 
 $1,610,415 75 
 
 $1,413,492 47 
 
 $80,694 47 
 
 64,"^ 
 
 1858 
 
 1,321,039 56 
 
 1,033,748 32 
 
 73,969 64 
 
 69/5 
 
 1859 
 
 938,609 39 
 
 831,435 46 
 
 68,084 82 
 
 63 ,V 
 
 18i;0 
 
 803,507 97 
 
 962,621 70 
 
 66,815 19 
 
 53,V 
 
 1861 
 
 775,228 53 
 
 1,218,186 29 
 
 64,637 79 
 
 51 
 
 1862 
 
 724,915 48 
 
 1,559,080 98 
 
 77,264 96 
 
 ISt'o 
 
 1863 
 
 889,682 28 
 
 1,983,757 35 
 
 73,120 92 
 
 40,V 
 
 1864 
 
 1,262,415 07 
 
 2,073,274 71 
 
 98,858 85 
 
 47A 
 
 1865 
 
 1,771,813 60 
 
 2,233,529 47 
 
 140,076 50 
 
 55^ 
 
 1866 
 
 2,061,335 05 
 
 2,208,591 82 
 
 176,563 64 
 
 61 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
170 
 
 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The following table shows the earnings ami ex- 
 penses of the last two years : — 
 
 
 1865. 
 
 1866. 
 
 Passenger earuiugs 
 Freight earnings 
 Miscellaneous earnings 
 
 $1,771,813 60 
 
 2,233,529 47 
 
 140,076 50 
 
 $2,061,335 05 
 
 2,208,591 82 
 
 176,563 64 
 
 Total earninizs 
 Operating expenses, inolading 
 taxes ..... 
 
 $4,145,419 57 
 2,406,149 63 
 
 $4,446,490 51 
 2,808,375 92 
 
 Net earnings 
 Ratio of expenses, less taxes, to 
 earnings ..... 
 
 $1,739,269 94 
 55^ 
 
 $l,638,lf4 59 
 61 
 
 Hotel Cars. — On the whole of this route, between 
 New York and Chicago, by way of Albany and Sus- 
 pension Bridge, are to be found the elegant new 
 sleeping cars of Mr. Pullman, which are as much 
 superior to the sleeping cars in recent use, as the 
 present mode of railroad travelling is superior to 
 the old stage coach. Here are no dirty bed-clothing 
 reeking with foul smells ; no unclean mattresses ; no 
 foul air ; in a word, none jjf the features that make the 
 traveller turn away in disgust. No ; here everything 
 is beautifully clean, fresh, and sweet. The cars are 
 divided into compartments, each one as private as a 
 room in a hotel, and quite as comfortable. In each 
 there is a sofa, a table, and two arm-chairs. At night 
 the sofa and chairs are made up into three double 
 berths, with plentj"- of room above and below, and 
 p'lenty of ventilation. The traveller gets up in the 
 morning refreshed with a comfortable sleep, finds all 
 the conveniences for washing, rings his bell, orders 
 
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MICHIGAN CENTRAL RAILROAD. 171 
 
 his breakfast from a printed bill of fare, and has it 
 brought to hira hot, in warm plates, and with clean 
 linen, bright glasses and silver forks. The meals are 
 cooked on board, and are served up in delicious style, 
 and the traveller eats them at his leisure. Such is 
 the hotel car which has just been introduced, and 
 which will add so much to the comfort of travellers. 
 A lady writes, in regard to the meals on these cars : — 
 
 " Our breakfast consisted of delicious porter-house 
 steak, eggs, toast, hot rolls, and splendid tea and 
 coffee, and the dmner was made up of chickens, roast 
 beef, potatoes, sweet corn, currie, with a dessert of 
 nicely canned peaches, and other nice things. The ta- 
 bles set in the car remind one of a table at Delmonico's. 
 All is cooked in tke baggage ear." 
 
 The admirable and successful management of this, 
 important road, the Michigan Central, is due in a great 
 measure to the personal exertions and great experience 
 of the General Superintendent, R. N. Eice, Esq., who 
 resides at Detroit, and who exercises the most vigilant 
 supervision over all the departments of the service. 
 
 The Company has just erected a new freight build- 
 ing at Detroit, which is one of the finest structures of 
 the kind in the country. 
 
 The oflScers of the Company are John W. Brooks 
 President ; R. B. Forbes, Vice-President ; Isaac Li ver- 
 more, Treasurer, R. N. Eice, General Superintendent. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
172 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTEE XYI. 
 
 NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 
 
 The main line of the Brie Eailway is four hun- 
 dred and sixty miles in length, and passes through 
 portions of the most important valleys of the Atlantic 
 Slope. From the valley of the Hudson it crosses the 
 Shawanguuk Mountains into the valley of the Dela- 
 ware. From Susquehanna to Waverley it runs along 
 the banks of the north branch of the Susquehanna. 
 Next on the Genesee it is found in the valley of the 
 lower St. Lawrence. From Olean to Salamanca it 
 runs for twenty miles on the margin of a river which 
 flows into the Mississippi, and its western terminus 
 is on the shore of the system of lakes which forms 
 the upper St. Lawrence. Except the great Pacific 
 road, no other road in the country has a better 
 right to the title of national. 
 
 Before the Brie Canal was completed projects were 
 agitated for the improvement of the means of commu- 
 nication through the southern tier of counties in the 
 State of New York ; and soon after that great work 
 was opened application was made to the General 
 Government for a corps of engin,eers to survey the 
 proposed route. The application at first promised to 
 be completely successful, but the aid was ultimately 
 limited to the services of one officer on terms 
 
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NEW TOEK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 173 
 
 which were availed of only by the counties of Orange, 
 Eochester, and Sullivan. 
 
 This reconnoissance was made in the year 1832, 
 under the superintendence of Col. De Witt Clinton, Jr.> 
 and, though not made at the request of the corporation 
 by whom the road was eventually constructed, it 
 proved to be of great service to them, demonstrating 
 that the supposed obstacles had been exaggerated, 
 and it identified the name of Clinton with the Erie 
 Railway as indelibly as it had been identified with 
 that of the Erie Canal. 
 
 In the season of 1832, the Legislature of New York 
 incorporated the New York and Erie Eailroad Com- 
 pany, with authority to construct a railroad with single, 
 double, or treble tracks from the Hudson River to 
 Lake Erie through the southern tier of counties of 
 the State. With the sectional state jealousy which 
 distinguished the legislation of that time, the Corpo- 
 ration was specially forbidden to connect their road 
 wirti any road in the State of New Jersey. 
 
 It was not until May, 1833, that steps were taken 
 to act under this charter ; when a notice of the open- 
 ing of the books and the terms of subscription of the 
 stock was issued, signed by such men as Morgan 
 Lewis, Idaac Lawrence, Stephen Whitney, John Hag- 
 gerty, Elislia Riggs, Gideon Lee, John Duer, and 
 others. The pamphlet which accompanied this notice, 
 extravagant as it doubtless seemed to some of the 
 signers, will bring a smile on the face of the reader 
 of 1867. They say " there can be no extravagance 
 in the opinion that the proposed railway would be 
 altogether the most important and most productive 
 
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174 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 thoroughfare from the coast to the interior in any 
 part of the country, whether we regard the present 
 amount of trade and intercourse to be accommodated, 
 or that which a few years would exhibit, requirmg 
 thirty or forty hours only for the passage hence to 
 Lake Brie." " A single railway of sufficient strength 
 and solidity to be used with advantage and economy 
 by animal power can be constructed for less than 
 three millions of dollars." "A railroad of this 
 description would be most satisfactory to the inhabi- 
 tants on and near the route," and " although on 
 railways designed for the use of steam, heavier loads 
 may be drawn and greater speed attained than on 
 those for animal power," yet " it is to be considered 
 that a railway for horses on the route in view would 
 be as much superior in both these respects to any ex- 
 isting or probable means of communication as steam 
 is in any respect to animal power," and for these 
 reasons the gentlemen who issue the notice " entertain 
 the most entire confidence that the stock of a railroad 
 of the description proposed would be both safe and 
 productive." 
 
 By July, 1833, the very modest promises held out 
 in the call from which we have quoted had induced 
 gentlemen to subscribe to the stock of the new Com- 
 pany to the amount one million of dollars, and the 
 New York and Erie Eailroad Company was organized 
 and went into business, and on the 29 th of September, 
 1835, the Directors made their first annual report to 
 the Stockholders. During the interim a new survey 
 of the route had been made under directions of the 
 State of New York by Mv. Wright, the engineer ap- 
 
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NEW YORK AND KKIE RAILROAD. 175 
 
 pointed by Governor Marcy, and as the result of tliat 
 it was announced that the estimates were increased to 
 SIX millions of dollars, and that the road was to be 
 constructed entirely for transportation by steam. The 
 Board further stated to the Stockholders in italics, 
 in order to mark the importance of the announcement, 
 that they had the gratification of announcing the 
 following result, to wit, " that loads of sixty tons 
 gross (or deduotmg the weight of the cars, forty tons 
 net) may be drawn in a single train from the Hudson 
 Eiver to Lake Erie at an average speed of from 
 twelve to fourteen miles to the hour ; that with the 
 rate of speed augmented one-half a locomotive engine 
 will nevertheless suffice to transport two hundred 
 passengers and their baggage ; that no stationary en- 
 gine will be requisite on any part of the work, and 
 that one or at most two auxiliary engines only will 
 be requisite on the whole length of the line." The 
 Directors further advised the Stockholders that they 
 proposed at once to commence the construction of 
 the road and to rely for means upon increasing the 
 stock subscription to three millions, borrowing the 
 other three millions either from foreign capitalists or 
 from the State. The stock subscriptions were actually 
 increased so as to net about one million five hundred 
 and eighty thousand dollars, and a loan of three mil- 
 lions of dollars was obtained from the State of New 
 York under a law passed in 1836 and subsequently 
 modified. 
 
 The construction of the road was commenced and 
 continued from these and other sources until April, 
 1842, when the Company, being without further 
 
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176 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 means and without credit, voluntarily suspended 
 work, and made an assignment of all their property 
 to assignees for the benefit of their creditors. This 
 assignment was subsequently held by the Supreme 
 Court of New York to be invalid. At the time of the 
 assignment the estimated total cost had increased up 
 to twelve millions four hundred and twenty-two thou- 
 sand eight hundred and ninety dollars, of which eight 
 million two hundred and eighty-one thousand dollars 
 were still to be raised. Application was made to the 
 Legislature for State a,id, which was granted, but with 
 conditions attached that made it useless. The city of 
 New York was applied to and refused to lend its 
 credit. New books of subscription were opened, but 
 no one applied. 
 
 At length, in 1845, the act of the State of New York 
 was passed under which the construction of the road 
 was resumed and completed. The Stockholders were 
 required to surrender and cancel one-half of their 
 shares, and to increase their subscriptions by three 
 millions of dollars new subscriptions ; in consideration 
 of which the State relinquished entirely its claims for 
 the return of the three millions of dollars already 
 loaned, and agreed to virtually become a trustee for 
 the holders of new first mortgage bonds to the likd 
 amount secured upon the whole property. The con- 
 ditions were all complied with, the construction of the 
 work was resumed, and on the 22d day of April, 1851, 
 the road was opened for travel from Piermont to 
 Lake Erie, a distance of four hundred and fifty-one 
 miles, with a branch from Gray Court to Newburgh, 
 a distance of nineteen miles. 
 
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NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 177 
 
 la order to secure a terminus at New York, the 
 Company, in 1852, acquired by lease, the Paterson 
 and Hudson River Railroad and the Paterson and 
 Ramapo Railroad of New Jersey, and the Union 
 Railroad of New York, by means of which their 
 passenger trains were enabled to reach the Hudson 
 River at the station of the New Jersey Railroad and 
 Transportation Company. But this was soon found 
 insuf&cient accommodation, and a contract was in 1856 
 made with the Long Dock Company, by which that 
 Company undertook to acquire all the lands and water 
 rights necessary for an independent terminus at 
 Jersey City, and to construct a railroad thence to the 
 Paterson and Hudson River Railroad, tunnelling the 
 Bergen Hill, which contract was carried out so that 
 freight and passenger trains commenced discharging 
 at the Long Dock in 1862. 
 
 In April, 1859, the New York and Erie Railroad 
 Company went to protest upon its mortgage interest, 
 and in the following July proceedings were commenced 
 for the foreclosure of two of the mortgages, and a re- 
 ceiver of all the propert}'- was appointed by the court. 
 The creditors and stockholders having succeeded in 
 making an amicable arrangement, applied to the 
 Legislature for authority to carry it out, and the for- 
 mation of the present Erie Railway Company was 
 authorized by an act passed in 1860. This Company 
 was duly organized in 1861, and in 1862 the road, 
 property, and franchises of the old New York and 
 Erie Railroad Company having been sold to trustees 
 under a decree for the foreclosure of the fifth mort- 
 12 
 
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178 BAILEOADS OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 gage, was conveyed to the new company by the 
 trustees. The same trustees also conveyed to the 
 Erie Eailway Company sixty miles of road between 
 Hornellsville and Attica, which they had purchased 
 during their trusteeship. Since January 1st, 1862, 
 the day on which the new company entered into 
 possession of their property, the Erie Eailway Com- 
 pany has also acquired by leases the Buffalo, New 
 York and Erie Railroad and the Buffalo, Bradford, 
 and Pittsburg Railroad, and they now operate, in- 
 eluding the main line and all its branches, seven 
 hundred and seventy-three miles of road, of which 
 three hundred and fifty miles are double track. Their 
 equipment consists of three hundred and seventy-one 
 locomotives, three hundred and five passenger and 
 baggage cars, and five thousand seven hundred and 
 seventeen freight cars. 
 
 The aggregate population of the counties of Rock- 
 land, Orange, Sullivan, Delaware, Broome, Tioga, 
 Chemung, Steuben, Alleghany, Cattaraugus, and Chau- 
 tauque, in the State of New York, through which only 
 the New York and Erie Railroad, as originally pro- 
 jected, was to run, was in 1830 two hundred and thirty- 
 four thousand one hundred and fifty-three. 
 
 The present population of the territory tributary to 
 the road and branches, including terminal stations, is 
 probably not short of two millions. 
 
 The estimated cost of construction was three mil- 
 lion dollars. The actual cost, exclusive of rentals, has 
 been forty-eight milli®n eight hundred and eighty-five 
 thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight dollars. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
NEW YORK AND EEIE BAILKOAD. 179 
 
 The estimated revenue on which the projectors in- 
 vited the public to invest in its shares was — 
 
 From passengers $900,000 
 
 " freight 1,069,088 
 
 $1,969,088 
 Less operating expenses . . $919,088 
 " repairs .... 144,000 1,063,088 
 
 Net profits ...... $906 000 
 
 The actual results for 1866 were, as reported by the 
 Company — 
 
 From passengers $3,148,290 
 
 " freight 11,261,641 
 
 $14,409,931 
 Operating expenses and Repairs . . 10,853,140 
 
 Surplus $3,556,791 
 
 The local business of the road was very large, 
 from the first opening of this great thoroughfare. 
 The country through which it passes is one of re- 
 markable fertility, and it was already thickly settled, 
 and all the farms along the route in a state of high 
 cultivation. The railroad, however, afforded the 
 farmers what they had not before, namely, the means 
 of getting their produce quickly and cheaply to 
 market. They eagerly embraced the opportunity, and 
 the production of grain, fruit, and cattle, all along the 
 route, became greatly stimulated. 
 
 The value of the road was further seen, in the 
 rapid growth of the towns along the route. Elmira, 
 Binghampton, Owego, and Corning, were all small 
 towns, when the road was commenced. Now they are 
 
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180 BAILROADS OP THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 all flourishing cities, and their wealth and population 
 have steadily increased. 
 
 But it was as a through route between the East and 
 the "West, that the New York and Erie Kailroad 
 acquired its greatest celebrity, and gained its greatest 
 wealth. The Michigan Southern Eailroad was opened 
 to Chicago in 1852, and the Lake Shore Eailrdads, from 
 Dunkirk to Toledo, in 1853. In connection with these 
 roads, the New York and Erie road at once began to 
 carry passengers, and this route between New York 
 and Chicago became immediately popular. The pas- 
 senger, traffic over this through route increased 
 rapidly, year after year, from 1854 to 1860; and 
 during these six years the revenues of the New York 
 and Erie Railroad, from passengers, were enormous. 
 Freight, of course, followed the same route ; and the 
 freight business of the road, between New York and 
 Chicago, increased rapidly year after year. 
 
 The great trouble with regard to freight was, that 
 it all had to be unloaded at Erie, and transshipped 
 into other cars. This was owing to the difference of 
 gauge in the roads west of Erie, from that in use on 
 the New York and Erie road. After some years, 
 however, this difference was obviated, but not until a 
 serious riot had taken place at Erie, in consequence of 
 the attempt to equalize the grades. Since that time 
 there has been no difficulty on this point, and loaded 
 freight cars now go through, between New York and 
 Chicago, without breaking bulk. 
 
 This road has an eastern terminus at Newburg, as 
 well as at New York. It will be connected at New- 
 burjg, in a few months, with the Boston, Hartford, and 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 181 
 
 Erie Kailroad, which is now completed, except a dis- 
 tance of twenty-six miles, east of Newburg. This 
 road, when completed, will extend from Boston to New- 
 burg, passing through Hartford, and several other 
 important towns in Connecticut. It will })rove a most 
 valuable feeder to the New York and Erie road, and 
 will add greatly to the business of the latter. 
 
 The Erie Railway, for convenience in operating, is 
 divided in four divisions, while the branches leading 
 from the main line to Buffalo constitute a fifth divi- 
 sion, each under the charge of an assistant, or division 
 superintendent. 
 
 The Eastern Division, extending from Jersey City 
 to Port Jervis, 87^ miles, is double-tracked the entire 
 distance, the last completed portion of the second 
 track (near Hohokus) having been brought into use 
 early in March, 1866. 
 
 The Delaware Division, extending from Port Jervis 
 to Susquehanna, a distance of one hundred and four 
 miles, has nineteen and a half miles of double track, 
 and fifteen miles have been graded for a second track. 
 It is the intention of the Company that nothing shall 
 be allowed to interfere with the steady prosecution of 
 this important and essential work, until the double 
 track is completed over the whole division. The 
 Susquehanna Division extends from Susquehanna to 
 Hornellsville, one hundred and thirty-nine miles, and 
 of this one hundred miles are supplied With double 
 track. The Western Division extends from Hornells- 
 ville to Dunkirk, one hundred and twenty-eight miles, 
 and a single track has been found sufficient. The 
 .Buffalo and Northwestern Divisions, united under the 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
182 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 charge of one Division Superintendent, comprise the 
 road from Buffalo to Corning, one hundred and fortj- 
 two miles; from Attica to Hornellsville, sixty miles; 
 and from Avon to Eochester, eighteen miles, making 
 two hundred and twenty miles of single track road. 
 
 In the year 1861, the earnings of the road were, 
 from passengers one million eighty-five thousand nine 
 hundred and sixty-nine dollars; from freight five 
 millions eleven thousand six hundred and sixty-one 
 dollars. The total earnings were six million two 
 hundred and fourteen thousand one hundred and 
 eighty-two dollars, and the net earnings were two 
 million four hundred and twenty-nine thousand six 
 hundred and ninety-eight dollars. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1862, the whole property of 
 the road, and its management, passed from the hands 
 of the Supreme Court into the possession of the present 
 New York and Erie Railroad Company. For two 
 years and a-half previously, the road had been ope- 
 rated by a receiver appointed by the court ; but all 
 liabilities and claims against the Company and its 
 property having been paid or satisfactorily adjusted, 
 by arrangement between the shareholders and credi- 
 tors, he was discharged. On handing over the property 
 to the new Company, the receiver said: "With the 
 ability to earn more income than ever before, it is 
 hoped the early return of peace and prosperity to the 
 country will so increase the trafiic that the road will 
 hereafter earn full interest on the entire capital and 
 debt of the Company." This hope, so far only as the 
 earnings of the road are concerned, has been fully 
 realized. The road has not only earned niore than the 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 183 
 
 interest ou its entire cost to the Company, but is in a 
 condition so improved in its permanent way and rol- 
 ling stock as to be able to earn still larger income, 
 subject only to the state of the times and the degree of 
 the general prosperity of the country. 
 
 During the year 1862 the road bed was very much 
 improved by widening cuts, deepening ditches, 
 adding new culverts, and raising the grade in places 
 exposed to floods, substituting stone ballast for gravel, 
 and increasing the number and size of cross-ties. 
 The whole road was now fenced for the first time, on 
 both sides, along its entire length. The rolling stock 
 consisted of two hundred and twenty-six locomotives, 
 one hundred passenger cars, and three thousand one 
 hundred and fifty freight cars. The net earnings of 
 the road were three million five hundred and thirty- 
 nine thousand five hundred and eighty-six dollars. 
 
 During the year 1863 the efiiciency of the rolling 
 stock was largely increased by the addition of seventeen 
 fine locomotives and two hundred and fifty-seven cars. 
 
 Increase of Means to Operate the Road. — 
 The report of the President for this year says: — 
 
 " The necessity for more equipment both of locomo- 
 tives and cars, as well as additional double track, 
 machine shops, station accommodations and turnonts, 
 is strongly impressed upon the minds of the Board < if 
 Directors. In order to increase the earnings, or ev n 
 to maintain the rate of last year for any considerable 
 time, these increased facilities are indispensable. The 
 large earnings of 1863 were produced by working the 
 maCchinery almost to its utmost capacity, and far be- 
 yond the limits of economy ; while some parts of the 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
184 KAILBOADS OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 single track were so constantly filled witli trains as to 
 render delays, always costly, unavoidable. The earn- 
 inu-s of IS&'6 were ten million four hundred and sixty- 
 nine thousand against five million thi-ee hundred and 
 forty-two thousand dollars in 1860, while the in- 
 crease in the number of locomotives was compara- 
 tively small. In 1863 there were two hundred and 
 forty-three against two hundred and twenty in 1860, 
 Of this increase, less than one-half were in use the 
 whole of last year. The increase of freight cars has 
 been somewhat greater in proportion, though the 
 present stocii is quite inadequate. With a moderate 
 increase of equipment the earnings of last year would 
 have been at least one million dollars larger than they 
 were, while the expenses would not have been pro- 
 portionately increased. 
 
 "In view of these facts the Directors have author- 
 ized the President to contract for as many locomo- 
 tives, and to build in the shops of the Company as 
 many cars as the Executive Committee and the offi- 
 cers sliall judge necessary. Under this authority 
 forty first-class ireight locomotives have been ordered 
 and are in course of delivery. The whole number 
 will probably be completed by the first of June. The 
 building of cars is going on in the Company's shops. 
 Additions to the double ti'ack, new turnouts, machine 
 shops, engine houses, an<l station houses will be com- 
 menced in the spring. To provide the means to meet 
 the cost of these improvements, the Board of Directors 
 have only two resources— either to use the earnings of 
 the road, or to raise new capital." 
 
 They determined in favor of the latter, and obtained 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 185 
 
 legislative authority to increase the capital stock five 
 millions of dollars. 
 
 In this year the rolling stock of the road consisted 
 of two hundred and forty-three locomotives, one hun- 
 dred and nine passenger cars, and three thousand five 
 hundred freight cars. The net earnings of the road 
 were four million eighty-eight thousand nine hundred 
 and seventy dollars. 
 
 The report of the President for the year 1864 stated 
 that, although the road was now very well supplied with 
 cars, except passenger cars, there was " still a great 
 deficiency of engines. The engines have been, for the 
 last three years, worked night and day without any 
 intermission. 
 
 " In addition to the extra service required of the 
 engines the shops of the Company were found inade- 
 quate to repair them when they could be spared for 
 tliLit purpose, and it has been found absolutely neces- 
 sary to provide more shops and larger accommoda- 
 tions for the repairs of engines and cars. The room 
 provided did not anticipate so large an increase in 
 the rolling stock as has been found necessary to do the 
 increased, and consstantly increasing business offered. 
 
 "To meet this want the Company have nearly com- 
 pleted a new machine shop_ at Susquehanna, which 
 will much facilitate the repairs of engines now so 
 much needed, and give accommodations for building 
 new ones. 
 
 " There would have been a much more economical 
 ^rking of the road if the motive power had been 
 greater and in first-rate working order. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
186 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 " To provide for this deficiency contracts have been 
 made to furnish sixty-seven (67) engines of the most 
 approved pattern, to burn coal." 
 
 In this year the rolling stock of the Company con- 
 sisted of two hundred and seventy-six locomotives, 
 one hundred and fourteen passenger cars, and four 
 thousand and eighty-seven locomotives. The net 
 earnings of the road were four millions five hundred 
 and ninety -four thousand two hundred and twenty-five 
 dollars. In 1865, the rolling stock consisted of three 
 hundred and thirty-two locomotives, one hundred and 
 thirty-three passenger cars, and four thousand two 
 hundred freight cars. The net earnings reached the 
 enormous sum of five millions of dollars, namely, 
 five million sixty-six thousand five hundred and 
 eleven dollars. 
 
 Operations of the Koad for the Year 1866. — 
 The earnings of the road for the year 1866 were four- 
 fourteen million five hundred and ninety-six thousand 
 four hundred and thirteen dollars ; and the expenses 
 ten million eight hundred and fifty-three thousand 
 one hundred and forty dollars. 
 
 The expenses of operating the road in 1865 were ^11,754,395 
 " " " " " « " 1866 " 10,853,140 
 
 Decrease of expenses in 1866 " $901,255 
 
 It is no more than just to state that this large 
 decrease in the working expenses of the road was not 
 made at the expense of the condition of the track, or 
 the efficiency of the equipment. 
 
 Financial Condition. — The financial condition of 
 the Company, December 31, 1866, was : — 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 187 
 
 Capital stock issued .... $25,111,210 00 
 
 Funded debt 22,429,920 00 
 
 Accounts payable, current business . . 4,894,452 04 
 Accrued interest on bonds, not yet due . 624,107 04 
 Earnings for preferred stock, payable Janu- 
 ary 21, 1867 567,304 85 
 
 Balance of " income account," . , . 660,880 56 
 
 $54,287,874 49 
 These amounts are represented by — 
 
 Cost of road and equipments 
 
 Hawley branch 236,946 99 
 
 Cash and cash items .... 994,150 73 
 
 Materials and fuel (as per tables) . . 2,606,494 99 
 
 Accounts receivable, current business . 1,191,556 21 
 
 Long Dock Company .... 280,488 51 
 
 Buffalo, Bradford, and Pittsburg Railroad 60,073 09 
 
 Twenty-third Street property . . . 32,425 24 
 
 $48,885,738 73 
 
 $54,287,874 49 
 
 The three million first mortgage bonds mature and 
 become payable on the first of July next. Previous 
 to their maturity it is the intention of the Company 
 to invite proposals for their extension for a period of 
 thirty years, at seven per cent., per annum ; authority 
 being given to the Company, by a statute of the 
 State of New York, to extend any or all of its mort- 
 gage bonds, in the order of their respective priorities. 
 
 These bonds being a first mortgage on the entire pro- 
 perty of the Company, must be regarded as a very 
 desirable investment, and the Company will un- 
 doubtedly be able to negotiate for their extension on 
 advantageous terms. 
 
 The passenger travel over this road for the last ten 
 years has been immense, and seems to be steadily 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
188 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 increasing every year. It forms a part of one of tlie 
 favorite routes between New York and Chicago, the 
 other roads on the route being the Michigan Southern, 
 and the Lake Shore line. The distance from New 
 York to Chicago, by this route, is nine hundred and 
 fifty-eight miles, and the running time about thirty- 
 six hours. Four passenger trains leave New York 
 daily, from the depot at the foot of Chambers Street, 
 at about eight and ten A. M., and five and seven P. M., 
 passing through Hornellsville, Dunkirk, Erie, Cleve- 
 land, and Toledo, and arriving at Chicago at about 
 six and eleven A. M. and eight P. M. The trains run 
 into the new depot of the Michigan Southern road, 
 on the corner of Van Buren and Sherman Streets. 
 
 Harper's Guide Book of the Erie Eailroad says: 
 "We would suggest to the traveller that he make 
 his first day's journey extend as far as Port Jervis, 
 and go the next day to Susquehanna, drive down to 
 Lanesburg, and pass the night at the quiet little inn 
 there, and devote the next morning to an examination 
 of the viaduct and the cascade bridge. He can then 
 take an afternoon train for Binghampton or Elmira, 
 where he can pass the night. The next day he should 
 go to Hornellsville, and the next to Dunkirk. The 
 question is frequently asked, which side of the car 
 is preferable to sit on ? It is impossible to select one 
 side as preferable for the entire route, for one side is 
 often hidden for many miles by mountains, while from 
 the other side the view is good. From Middleton 
 to Mount Hope, where the road returns from Penn- 
 sylvania to New York across the Delaware Eiver, the 
 right hand side presents one = continuous scene of 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 189 
 
 beauty, grandeur, and magnificence ; while, from the 
 left side almost nothing is visible. From this bridge 
 to Deposit, the left hand side is to be chosen, as the 
 right is hidden by mountains all the way. From De- 
 posit to Susquehanna, the right hand side is to be 
 selected." 
 
 The officers of the Company are John S. Eld- 
 ridge, President; Alexander S. Diven, Vice-President; 
 Samuel Marsh, Honorary Vice-President ; H. N. Otis, 
 Secretary ; B. W. Brown, Treasurer. 
 
 The following is a statement of the earnings of the 
 road for the last thirteen years : — 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
190 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
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 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN. 191 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD. 
 
 The broad-gauge through route between New York 
 and St. Louis, by way of Cincinnati, consists of the 
 New York and Erie road, from New York to Sala- 
 manca, four hundred and fifteen miles; the Atlantic 
 and Great Western road, from Salamanca to Cincin- 
 nati, by way of Akron, Mansfield, Gallon and Dayton, 
 five hundred and seven miles ; and the Ohio and Mis- 
 sissippi road, from Cincinnati to St. Louis, by way of 
 Vincennes, three hundred and forty miles ; total, twelve 
 hundred and sixty-two miles. The running time for 
 the entire distance is forty-eight hours. 
 
 The Atlantic and Great "Western Railroad affords 
 us another example of the benefits of railroad consoli- 
 dation. It is only about six years since this enterprise 
 was commenced, and it has now five hundred and 
 seven miles in operation. The rapid progress made 
 in the construction of this fine road has seldom been 
 surpassed. Up to the year 1850, the New York and 
 Erie Railroad had only been extended as far west as 
 Hornellsville. In September of that year, a meeting 
 of the citizens of Western New Yoik was held at 
 Jamestown, to discuss the project of building a railroad 
 from Salamanca to the town of Erie in Pennsylvania, 
 on Lake Erie. The attention of the directors of the 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
192 RAILROADS OF THE UXITED STATES. 
 
 New York aad Erie road, thea iaitsiafancy, had been 
 frequently called to the importance of extending their 
 road to the harbor of Erie : and the route by way of 
 Salamanca and Jamestown was found to be feasible. 
 Surveys of the route were made in November and 
 December, 1850, at the instance and expense of the Hon. 
 Benj. Chamberlain, T. S. Sheldon, Esq.; Wm. Hall, Esq ; 
 Samuel Barrett, Esq.; Mr. Henry Baker, and Mr. A. F. 
 Allen, well known in Western Ndw York for their 
 energy and liberality. In July, 1851, a company was 
 organized under the title of the Erie and New York 
 City Railroad Company, and in March, 1852, the line 
 of the road was located. In May, lb53, the whole line 
 from Salamanca to Ashville, a distance of thirty-eight 
 miles, was under contract for construction, and the 
 grading progressing favorably. On account of finan- 
 cial difficulties the work was very much retarded. The 
 work of grading however was pushed along with 
 energy till January, 1855. 
 
 In July, 1857, the citizens of Meadville, in Crawford 
 County, Pennsylvania, organijsed a Railroad Company, 
 under the name of the Meadville Railroad Company, 
 in order to construct a road through the counties of 
 Crawford and Mercer. The gentleman prominently 
 concerned in the enterprise were Wm. Reynolds, Esq., 
 John Dick, Hon. Gaylord Church, James R. Dick, and 
 Hon. D. A. Finney. In pursuance of the powers 
 granted to this Company in their charter, they pur- 
 chased all the property and franchises of the Pittsburg 
 and Erie Railroad Company within these two coun- 
 ties. 
 
 In June, 1851, a company was organized in Ohio, 
 
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ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN. 193 
 
 for the purpose of building a railroad under the name 
 of the Franklin and Warren Kailroad, from Warren, 
 in Trumbull County, to Dayton in Montgomery County. 
 In July, 1853, operations were actively commenced on 
 the eastern end of the line, and, during the year 1854, 
 that part of the road between Akron and Warren was 
 completed. 
 
 During the summer of 1852, some gentlemen in 
 Pennsylvania and Ohio proposed the project of con- 
 tinuing the broad-gauge of the Ohio and Mississippi 
 Railroad through Ohio and Pennsylvania, so as to con-^ 
 nect with the New York and Erie Eailroad. This 
 grand plan for a broad-gauge through line from New 
 York to St. Louis, one thousand two hundred miles 
 long, was submitted, in November, 1856, to the direc- 
 tors of the three local companies above referred to, and 
 was favorably considered. 
 
 In the month of May, 1859, a company was organ- 
 ized in the State of New York, under the name of the 
 Atlantic and Great Western Railroad Company. In 
 18fiO, this Company purchased the track, road-bed, 
 property and franchises of the Erie and New York 
 City Railroad, extending for thirty-eight miles, and ex- 
 tended the track for a distance of eleven miles further, 
 so as to join the track of the Franklin and Warren 
 Company. 
 
 Negotiations were commenced in Europe, in the fall 
 of 1858, with James McHenry, Esq., for the necessary 
 means to carry on the work. In the fall of that year, 
 at the instance of Mr. McHenry, T. W.Kennard, Esq., 
 a civil engineer of prominence in England, came out 
 to make an exploration of the entire line. He per- 
 
 13 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
194 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 formed his work most thoroughly; and, upon the 
 receipt of bis report by Mr. McHenry, preparations 
 were made for actively commencing operations. Mr. 
 Kennard came out as the agent and attorney of Mr. 
 McHenry, and also as engineer-in-chief of the whole 
 work. 
 
 On the 20th day of April, 1860, a corps of engineers 
 commenced their labors at Jamestown, N. Y., and oa 
 the 26th day of the same month a second corps com- 
 menced at the junction with the New York and Erie 
 Eailroad at Salamanca. On the 27th the contractors 
 commenced grading, and May 8th, 1860, the first rail 
 was laid, and the first spike driven. During the same 
 month a construction train was put on the work, and 
 on July 3d, of the same year, seventeen miles of track 
 were laid to Randolph, N. Y. On the ,5th day of August 
 following, the track was laid across Main Street, in the 
 village of Jamestown, N. Y., thirty-four miles from 
 Salamanca ; and in the afternoon of that day an ex- 
 cursion train arrived from the city of New York, con- 
 taining the chief ofScers of the New York and Brie 
 Eailroad Company, and other gentlemen. In May, 
 1861) another link was opened, from Jamestown, N. 
 Y., to Corry, Pa., a distance of twenty-seven miles 
 from the former place, and sixty-one miles from Sala- 
 manca. On the 27th day of the same month regular 
 trains commenced running over this portion of the road. 
 
 In 1861 the contracts for the completion of the en- 
 tire line passed into the hands of Mr. McHenry ; but 
 the work was suspended from June 1st, 1861, to March- 
 13th, 1862, when the engineers were again placed upon 
 the line in Pennsylvania. The construction was now 
 
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ATLANTIC AND GKEAT WESTERN. 195 
 
 driven forward with energy under the immediate 
 supervision of Mr. Keiinard. On the 21st day of 
 October, 1862, the road was opened to Meadville, Pa., 
 forty-one miles distant from Corry, and one hundred 
 and two miles from Salamanca. 
 
 During this time the work was progressing in Ohio, 
 not very rapidly, however ; but in the spring of 1862 
 it was energetically commenced. 
 
 January 4th, 1863, another section of the road was 
 opened, from Meadville, Pa., to Warren, 0., fifty-nine 
 miles from the former place, and one hundred and 
 sixty-one miles from Salamanca. 
 
 February 23d following, the track-laying was com- 
 pleted to Eavenna, and on the 18th of May express 
 trains commenced running regularly to this point; and 
 eight days subsequently, the broad gauge cars reached 
 Akron, two hundred and two miles from Salamanca. 
 
 On the 30lh of this same month the track-layers 
 completed the track on the Franklin Branch (Mead- 
 ville to Franklin Pa.), twenty-five miles. 
 
 The work accomplished during the year, so briefly 
 referred, to, is without parallel in the history of rail- 
 roads. When we consider the great scarcity of labor- 
 ers, the army absorbing able-bodied men, to the extent 
 that it became necessary to keep agents in Canada and 
 Ireland to send them out for this particular work by 
 the ship-load, the building and bringing into active 
 operation so many miles of road in so short a period 
 of time may well be called a wonderful achievement. 
 . Daring the whole of this time the Meadville Eail- 
 road Company and the Franklin and Warren Railroad 
 Cgmpany were working in harmony with the Atlantic 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
196 RAILROADS OF fkE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and Great Western Railroad Company, under the 
 same name as the latter, and with the view of ultimate 
 consolidation. Indeed, the three companies may 
 henceforth be regarded as one corporation, and we shall 
 speak of them as one. 
 
 In October, 1863, the Company leased for ninety- 
 nine years the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad, 
 extending from Cleveland to Youngstown, sixty-seven 
 miles. This road had been built on the narrow gauge, 
 but the Company laid down an additional rail outside 
 of the track, thus converting it into a broad-gauge 
 railroad. On the 8d of November, 1863, trains began 
 to arrive at Cleveland, by way of this new track and 
 the New York and Erie Railroad, the broad-gauge 
 being unbroken during the entire distance. 
 
 On the 27th of December, 1863, the last rail between 
 Akron and Gallon was spiked, eighty-two miles of 
 additional road being thereby brought into use. In 
 June, 1864, a special train reached Dayton, and a con- 
 nection was made with the Ohio and Mississippi road 
 at Cincinnati, over the broad-gauge track of the Cin- 
 cinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad, which had 
 been provided by that Company for the business of the 
 Atlantic and Great Western road. 
 
 In August, 1865, the companies of the three roads 
 were consolidated under the provisions of Acts of 
 Consolidation passed by the respective Legislatures of 
 the three States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. 
 Included in the consolidation is a branch road, hereto- 
 fore known as " The Buffalo Extension of the Atlantic 
 and Great Western Railway Company,-' leaving the 
 main line of the consolidated roads at Randolph, New 
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ATLANTIC AND GHIEAT WESTERN, 197 
 
 York, seventeen miles west of Salamanca, and extend- 
 ing to Buffalo, a distance of about sixty-seven miles. 
 This branch was to have been completed in 1866, and 
 will, when built, form a connection with the Erie and 
 Niagara Eailroad in Canada, crossing the Niagara 
 Eiver near Buffalo. 
 
 The present condition of tbe road will be apparent 
 from the following facts: That 'part of the road 
 between Salamanca and Meadville requires considera- 
 ble repairs, although it was greatly improved during the 
 year 1866. Owing to the hasty and temporary manner in 
 which some parts of the road were at first constructed, 
 the destruction of the permanent way has been very 
 great, requiring almost a total renewal of the track 
 material, and the substitution of permanent structures 
 for temporary ones. There were placed upon this part 
 of the road during the year 1866, one hundred thousand 
 five hundred and seventy-five cross-ties and ten miles of 
 re-rolled iron rails, besides four new bridges. During 
 the year 1867, thirty miles of re-rolled iron rails were 
 laid down, besides fifty thousand cross-ties. 
 
 On that part of the road between Meadville and 
 Kent, the track is not in first-class condition, for the 
 same reasons. The character of the material in the 
 road-bed here is much worse than that mentioned 
 above. Nothing less than a thorough re-ballasting of 
 the track between Meadville and Leavittsburg, sixty- 
 three miles, will be safe to rely upon. From Leavitts- 
 burg to Kent, the road is much better, although a 
 considerable quantity of new iron is needed. During 
 the year 1866, twenty thousand cross-ties and six miles 
 of re-rolled iron rails have been laid down on this part 
 
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198 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of the road. In respect to drainage and ditching, a 
 very important condideration, this portion of the road 
 is in far better condition than at any previous time. 
 During the year 1867, twenty-seven miles of re-rolled 
 iron rails, fifty thousand cross-ties, and fifty thousand 
 cubic yards of ballasting, were laid down on this part 
 of the road. 
 
 That portion of the road between Kent and Qalion, 
 a distance of ninety-two miles, is in very good condi- 
 tion. The same may also be said of that .portion of 
 the road between Dayton and Galion, a distance of one 
 hundred and four miles ; and of that portion of the road 
 between Cleveland and Levittsburg, a distance of fifty 
 miles. 
 
 The General Superintendent of the road, D. McLaren, 
 Esq., says in his last annual report : — 
 
 " Permit me to say in connection with this, that the 
 subject of iron should engage the most serious atten- 
 tion of railway managers, as the cost of renewal of iron 
 is far the heaviest item of expense in the maintenance 
 of a road. The experience of the American railways 
 proves that the average life of iron (needing in the 
 meantime re-rolling) does not exceed ten years, requir- 
 ing, therefore, the ;"enewal of at least ten per cent, of 
 the entire quantity each year from the commencement 
 of its use. Of this road, sixty miles, from Salamanca 
 to Corry, has been used six years. One hundred and 
 thirty miles, from Corry to Akron, four years. Two 
 hundred and thirty -six miles, from Akron to Dayton 
 and broad-gauge of the Mahoning Branch, three years. 
 The narrow gauge of the Mahoning Branch, from Cleve- 
 land to Youngstown, ten years, and the Franklin 
 
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ATLANTIC AND GliEAT WESTERN. 199 
 
 Branch, from Meadville to Oil City, thirty-three miles, 
 two years ; making an average of four and one-half 
 years upon the entire amount of iron upon the road, 
 or nearly one-half the life of the whole. But a very 
 inconsiderable amount of this has been renewed — 
 twenty-two miles in all — during the past year, or 
 barely four per cent., leaving ninety-six per cent, uf 
 iron one-half worn out. From this it will appear that 
 forty -one per cent., equal to two hundred and flve miles, 
 should be added to the iron at once to make the depre- 
 ciation good. 
 
 " The large expenditure for repairs of track and road- 
 way, for the past year, and requirements for the future 
 have arisen from the incomplete manner in which part 
 of the road was originally constructed. The cuttings 
 in many instances were too narrow, thereby obstructing 
 the drainage and covering the track with mud, and 
 requiring a constant outlay in widening and ditching. 
 The embankments are still, in many places, too nar- 
 row to retain ballast and furnish sufficient bearing for 
 the cross-ties. No portion of the line, except the Fourth 
 Division, has ever heen sufficiently ballasted. Many 
 miles on the other divisions, up to this time, have 
 never been ballasted. The cross ties originally were 
 insufficient in number and size to sustain the rail 
 under the pressure of the heavy machinery used upon 
 the line. A large per cent, of the cross-ties were fur- 
 nished frbm poor material — about one hundred and 
 seventy-five miles of track being laid almost exclu- 
 sively with hemlock ties, which we are discarding, 
 and using, for the most part, white oak of the best 
 quality ; and none other should be used in the future 
 
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200 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 as a matter of economy. Four years being the extent 
 of the life of hemlock ties as proven by our expe- 
 rience, while white oak ties are good for eight years. 
 
 " A number of temporary structures were erected in 
 the original construction. Those upon the first and a 
 portion of the second divisions are of an inferior cha- 
 racter of material, requiring their substitution by ma- 
 sonry and embankments. It is owing to these facts 
 that your track material has so rapidly depreciated, 
 and at the same time requiring an extraordinary ex- 
 pense in repairs of the road and machinery. 
 
 "The pattern of iron used in our renewals is a sixty 
 pound fish-plate rail, making a very excellent road, 
 requiring very small expense in laying, avoiding the 
 continuous pounding and jar of joints, approaching as 
 near as anything yet adopted to a continuous rail." 
 
 The managers of the Company, in a pamphlet re- 
 cently put forth by them, make the following statement 
 in reg'ard to the expenses of working the road : — 
 
 "The cost on the Atlantic and Great Western Eail- 
 way is 72.80 per cent., while on the Pennsylvania the 
 cost of operating in 1865 was 76 per cent., and in 1866, 
 77.13 per cent. The expenses of the New York Cen- 
 tral for 1865, inclusive of taxes, was 80.29 per cent., 
 and in 1866, 77.66 per cent. The Ohio and Missis- 
 sippi was operated in 1865 at a cost of 73.10 per cent., 
 and the Erie Eailway 72.27 per cent. In 1866, the ex- 
 penses of the Erie Railway, including taxes, were 78.10 
 per cent., and of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad 
 82 per cent. The working expenses of the Boston 
 and Worcester Railroad for 1866 were 74,''g per 
 cent. All the roads named have been made for years. 
 
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ATLANTIC AND GREAT WESTERN. 201 
 
 and are free from many of the extraordinary expenses 
 of operating a new line of railway, especially a line so 
 hastily and in very many respects poorly constructed 
 as the Atlantic and Great Western, and yet their 
 average percentage is much greater. These figures 
 are taken from the ofBcial reports of the several com- 
 panies, and are, therefore, reliable. Added to this we 
 have the exhibit made by the Auditor General's Ee- 
 port of the Eailroads of Pennsylvania, for 1866, which 
 shows that the average cost of operating all the lines 
 in the State is 66.58 per cent. The Pennsylvania and 
 the New York Central, two of the oldest, best equipped 
 and managed roads in the country, are operated at a 
 greater cost than any of the other lines. Certainly 
 the Atlantic and Great Western does not suffer by 
 comparison with these old and well-established routes. 
 Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that this road 
 is a new competitor for the traffic between the west 
 and the seaboard, and in the outset is subject to more 
 than ordinary expenses to attract business. Moreover, 
 the reports of many of the leading railways indicate 
 that the cost of supplies and materials in transporta- 
 tion expenses has increased enormously during the 
 past two or three years. The New York Central, in 
 view of this fact, has been seeking legislation to enable 
 them to charge one-half cent more per mile on all 
 passengers, and their exhibit made to the investigating 
 committee shows that the increase of cost of most sup- 
 plies is from 60 to 200 per cent. The annual report 
 of the Michigan Southern Eailroad Company shows 
 that the increase in transportfition expenses on that 
 
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202 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 line has been from 4 to 5 per cent, during the past 
 year. 
 
 " So far, therefore, as the charge of expensive man- 
 agement enters into the controversy, these facts and 
 figures dispose of that." 
 
 Comparison of Business for 1866 and 1865. — 
 Statement showing the earnings and expenses of run- 
 ning the road for the ten months ending October 
 3 1st, 1866, compared with the corresponding period in 
 the year 1865, viz : — 
 
 1866. Earnings 
 Expenses 
 
 Net Earnings 
 
 1865. Earnings 
 Expenses 
 
 Net Earnings 
 
 ^833,489 86 
 3,522,460 23 
 
 $1,311,029 63 
 
 $4,614,727 38 
 2,804,474 38 
 
 $1,810,253 00 
 
 The expenses in 1865 were 63 j% per cent, of the 
 gross earnings. The expenses in 1866 were 72 ^% per 
 cent, of the gross earnings. 
 
 The total number of passengers carried during the 
 year 1865 was eight hundred and forty-seven thousand 
 six hundred and eight, giving a revenue of one million 
 two hundred and ninety-one thousand four hundred 
 and seventy-six dollars and sixty-one cents, or an 
 average fare per passenger of one dollar and fifty-two 
 cents. 
 
 In the year 1866 the total number of passengers 
 carried was seven hundred and forty-two thousand 
 and seventy-seven, giving a revenue of one million 
 one hundred and twelve thousand five hundred and 
 
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ATLANTIC ANT) GREAT TTK^iTEElsr. 203 
 
 seventeen dollars and thirty cents, or an averagd from 
 each passenger of one dollar and fifty cents. 
 
 The equipment of the road at present consists of 
 about one hundred and eighty locomotives, one hun- 
 dred passenger cars, and about two thousand freight 
 cars. 
 
 The officers of the Company are S. S. L'Horamedieu, 
 President; J. J. Shy rock, Vice-President; J. M. Dick, 
 Treasurer; J. C. Calhoun, Secretary; L. D. Eucker, 
 General Superintendent ; T. "W. Kennard, Chief Engi- 
 neer. 
 
 During the year 1867,, the increased prosperity of 
 the New York and Erie road was fully shared by its 
 western continuation, the Atlantic and Great Western. 
 The great improvements that have recently been made 
 in the track and road-bed of the latter, and its com- 
 fortable, wide coaches, render it a most pleasant road 
 to ride upon ; and the through trains upon it between 
 New York and Cincinnati are always full of passen- 
 gers. The road is excellently managed, and every 
 .precaution is taken to guard against accidents, with 
 the most happy results. The President of the road, 
 Mr. L'Hommedieu, and the General Superintendent, L. 
 D. Eucker, Esq., are emphatically the right men in the 
 right places ; and it is chiefly to their untiring energy 
 and great railroad experience that the road has won 
 Buch an enviable degree of popularity. 
 
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204 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 THE MICHIGAN SOUTHERN RAILROAD. 
 
 Previous to the year 1852, there was no complete 
 and uninterrupted line of railroad between Chicago 
 and the eastern cities. In that year, the Michigan 
 Southern Eailroad was opened, in connection with the 
 lake shore lines, and these roads, with the New York 
 and Brie road, began that career of usefulness which 
 has ever since added so much to the convenience of 
 the travelling public. 
 
 The Michigan Southern Railroad extends from 
 Chicago to Toledo, a distance of two hundred and 
 forty-three miles. Three trains leave Chicago daily, 
 from the new depot on the corner of Van Buren and 
 Sherman Streets, namely, at 7 A. M. and 5 and 10 P. 
 M., arriving at Toledo at 4 and 9 A. M., and 4.30 P. M. 
 
 The history of this road affords another example of 
 the benefits of railroad consolidation. 
 
 The Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana 
 Railroad Company was formed on the 25th of April, 
 1855, by the consolidation of two railroads which had 
 existed for some time previously, namely, the Michigan 
 Southern Railroad, and the Northern Indiana Rail- 
 road. The Northern Indiana Railroad, as it existed 
 at the time of its consolidation with the Michigan 
 Southern Railroad Company in 1856, originated in a 
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THE MICUIGAN SOUTHERN RAILKOAD. 205 
 
 Company formed in Indiana, as early as 1835, under a 
 charter from that State, as the Buffalo and Mississippi 
 Kailroad Company. The Northern Indiana Kailroad 
 Company commenced its operations in the year 1852, 
 under the provisions of a charter from the State of 
 Ohio, which was granted on the 3d of March, 1851. 
 The Northern Indiana and Chicago Eailroad had also 
 commenced its operations about the same time, under 
 a charter from the State of Illinois. The three roads 
 last named became merged into one about the year 
 1854, under the name of the Northern Eailroad Com- 
 pany. 
 
 The Michigan Southern Eailroad Company was 
 formed under a charter from the State of Michigan, 
 on the 9th of May, 1«46, and in pursuance of an act 
 authorizing the sale to them of the existing Michigan 
 Southern Eailroad and the Jackson and Tecumseh 
 Branch thereof, which were both owned and operated by 
 the State of Michigan. The organization was completed, 
 and the conditions of the act were complied with, in 
 December, 1846, so that the Michigan Southern Eail- 
 road Company entered into possession of the railroad 
 and its branch that year. The railroad, from Monroe 
 westward, was commenced by the State of Michigan 
 about 1838, but it was only finished as far as to Hills- 
 dale at the time of its sale to the Michigan Southern 
 Eailroad Company, in 1846. It was extended by that 
 Company, in 1852, to the Indiana State line, near 
 Middlebury, and was connected there with the Northern 
 Indiana Eailroad. The latter road was completed to 
 Chicago in June, 1852. 
 
 The Jackson and Tecumseh Branch was extended 
 
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206 
 
 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 to Jackson in 1855, and a brancli was built from Con- 
 stantine, which was the terminus of the old Michigan 
 Southern Eailroad, to Three Kivers, in Michigan, in 
 1853. The Goshen Branch forms part of the Goshen 
 air-line from Toledo to Elkhart, where it makes con- 
 nection with the old line from Chicago to Monroe. 
 
 The Erie and Kalamazoo Eailroad, from Toledo to 
 Adrian, leased from the Erie and Kalamazoo Eailroad 
 Company, is run a,nd used as part of the main line of 
 the Michigan Southern Eailroad from Chicago to 
 Toledo. Part of the Detroit, Monroe, and Toledo 
 Eailroad, which was mostly built by the Michigan 
 Southern Eailroad Company, and is exclusively con- 
 trolled and operated by them, is used as far as Monroe 
 as part of the Michigan Southern Eailroad from Chi- 
 cago to Detroit. The Detroit, Monroe, and Toledo road 
 is also used as a line from Detroit to Toledo, connect- 
 ing at Toledo with roads to Cincinnati and Cleveland. 
 
 The number of miles of road now owned and 
 operated by the Michigan Southern and Northern In- 
 diana Eailroad Company is as follows : — 
 
 Toledo to Chicago, via old line . 
 
 . 243 
 
 Toledo to Elkhart, air line 
 
 . 132 
 
 Detroit to Toledo .... 
 
 . 65 
 
 Monroe to Adrian . . . 
 
 . 33 
 
 Jackson Branch . . . . 
 
 . 42 
 
 Three Eivers Branch, sub-leased 
 
 . 12 
 
 Total miles ..... 
 
 . 527 
 
 III September, 1849, soon after the organization of 
 the Michigan Southern Eailroad Company, a statement 
 
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THE MICHIGAN SOUTHERN RAILROAD. 207 
 
 was submitted to the Stockliolders by the Board'of 
 Directors, exhibiting the condition of the road and 
 the finances of the Company, and soliciting a new 
 subscription of a quarter of a million of dollars to 
 provide means for extending the road west from 
 Hillsdale. A portiqn of the stock was subscribed, and 
 in the spring of 1850 the line from Hillsdale to Cold- 
 water, a distance of twenty-two miles, was put under 
 contract. The road then in operation from Monroe to. 
 Hillsdale, a distance of sixty- nine miles, was that 
 which had been originally constructed by the State 
 of Michigan. It had a wooden rail covered by a flat 
 bar of iron. The Company had leased the Erie and 
 Kalamazoo road, extending from Adrian to Toledo, 
 thirty-three miles in length, making a total of one 
 hundred and eleven" miles then operated by the Com- 
 pany. 
 
 In the original grading of these roads the crossing 
 of the valleys was effected, for the most part, by 
 bridges of timber. Since that time, however, the 
 whole extent of the tracks on these roads has been re- 
 laid with heavy rails, and the valleys on the route 
 have been filled with permanent embankments, with 
 new bridges a,nd culverts for the streams and water- 
 courses. Heavy expenses have also been incurred in 
 providing abundant station accommodation all along 
 the line. 
 
 In the summer of 1850, the line was put under con- 
 tract from Coldwater to Sturgis, a distance of twenty- 
 three miles, and in March, 1851, this portion of the 
 road was completed and opened. Some delay was ex- 
 perienced in determining upon the location of the 
 
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208 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 line west of Sturgis, and contracts for the remainder 
 of the road in Michigan were not made until 
 May, 1851. During the winter and spring of 1851, 
 the Indiana road was put under contract. The Michi- 
 gan Southern road was opened to White Pigeon in the 
 latter part of July, 1851. The Northern Indiana road 
 was opened in successive stages : During the fall of 
 1-;51, to South Bend, and on the 9th of January, 1852, 
 to La Porte. In February, 1852, the road was opened 
 from Michigan City to Ainswortli, in Illinois, and to 
 Chicago in March, 1852. On the 22d of May, 1852, 
 the entire line was opened, and a passenger train went 
 through from Toledo to Chicago. Thus, in the space 
 of twenty montiis, embracing two severe winters, the 
 Company constructed one hundred and sixty miles of 
 new road, and relaid, and nearly rebuilt, fifty miles 
 of old road. 
 
 The last act of legislation necessary to the consolida- 
 tion of the companies owning the Michigan Southern 
 and the Northern Indiana lines of railroad was passed 
 by the Michigan Legislature on the 13th of February, 
 1855 ; full authority therefor having previously been 
 given by the States of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Im- 
 mediately after the passage of the last-mentioned act, 
 the necessary measures were taken to carry the same 
 into effect, and on the 26th of April, 1856, the articles 
 of consolidation were finally sanctioned and approved 
 by the unanimous vote of the stockholders of the 
 respective corporations. 
 
 Improvements of every kind at once sprang up in 
 all directions, through the region in which the roads 
 run. At Toledo, the new depot grounds were sooa 
 
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THE MICHIGAN SOUTHERN EAILROAD. 209 
 
 brought into use, and the whole business of that termi- 
 nus was transferred to them. These grounds are situ- 
 ated on the Maumee River. At this point the Cleve- 
 land and Toledo Eailroad unites with the Michigan 
 Southern. The inconvenient ferrj which formerly 
 existed at this point has long since been dispensed 
 with, and in place of it a handsome bridge has been 
 erected. This point is also the eastern terminus of the 
 Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad, whose trains 
 run into the passenger depot of the Michigan Southern 
 road. This depot is a very handsome and commodious 
 structure, built of brick, four hundred and eighty feet 
 long and one hundred and sixty feet wide. These de- 
 pot grounds cover an area of twenty-six acres, and the 
 Company has expended one million of dollars upon 
 them in improvements. The depot and station build- 
 ings, freight houses, and grain elevators, that have been 
 built by the Company upon these grounds, are very 
 extensive and complete, and areadmi-rably adapted to 
 the accommodation of the business for which they were 
 constructed, and which is concentrated at this point. 
 
 In the location and planning of these grounds and 
 buildings, they were made accessible to other import^ 
 ant railroads terminating at Toledo, an arrangement 
 which has been found to be exceedingly convenient to 
 these other railroads, and at the same time very profit- 
 able to the Michigan Southern Railroad. In addition 
 to the improvements already enumerated, the Company 
 in 1855, erected at Toledo two very large warehouses 
 for the storage of grain and its transfer in bulk to ves- 
 sels. They both front upon the river, and will hold 
 four hundred thousand bushels of grain. Soon after 
 14 
 
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210 EAILROADS OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the Michigan Southern Eailroad got into operation, it 
 was found that the immense production of wheat and 
 corn along the line of the road rendered such warehouse 
 accommodation indispensable. 
 
 The rolling stock of the Company, in 1855, consisted 
 of seventy-four locomotives, ninety-eight passenger 
 cars, twenty-five baggage cars, seven hundred and 
 twenty -two freight cars. 
 
 The earnings of the road in 1854 were two million 
 one hundred and fifty-eight thousand three hundred 
 and twelve dollars ; in 1855, they were two million five 
 hundred and ninety-five thousand six hundred and 
 thirty dollars ; and in 1856, they were two million seven 
 hundred and fourteen thousand eight hundred and forty- 
 eight dollars. In 1857, the earnings were two million 
 three hundred and nine thousand four hundred and 
 eighty-seven dollars; and in 1868, they were two mil- 
 lion two hundred and twenty-seven thousand eight hun- 
 dred and ninety-four dollars. In 1860, the earnings 
 were two million seventy-five thousand four hundred 
 and fifty -nine dollars ; in 1861, they were two million 
 two hundred and twenty-six thousand two hundred and 
 ninety-nine dollars; in 1862, they were two milRon 
 eight hundred and thirteen thousand eight hundred 
 and thirty-one dollars ; in 1863, they were three mil- 
 lion three hundred and eighty -four thousand two hun- 
 dred and ninety -four dollars ; in 1864, they were four 
 million two hundred and eighty-nine thousand four 
 hundred and sixty-six dollars ; in 1865, they were four 
 million six hundred and eighty-six thousand four hun- 
 dred and forty-five dollars ; and in 1866, they were 
 
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THE MICHIGAN SOUTHERN RAILROAD. 211 
 
 four million six hundred and forty-seven thousand 
 five hundred and twenty -eight dollars. 
 
 During the year 1866, one hundred and three miles 
 of the road were relaid with new and re- rolled iron, and 
 one hundred and thirty-one miles were relaid with 
 new cross-ties. 
 
 During the year 1866, the new passenger depot at 
 Chicago and the new freight depot there were com- 
 pleted, and the Company has been at the expense of 
 the grading of the streets in their immediate vicinity. 
 
 In the matter of other permanent improvements, a 
 large expenditure has been made in the substitution of 
 stone structures in place of wooden bridging, for new 
 stations, woodsheds, and other conveniences upon the 
 line, as well as the increase in number and length of 
 side tracks. 
 
 In February, 1868, a contract was entered into with 
 the Erie Eailvvay, of New York, by the terms of which 
 that Company guarantees the building a broad gauge 
 railroad from a point on the Atlantic and Great West- 
 ern Railway, near Akron, Ohio, to Toledo, Ohio, less 
 than one hundred miles. The Michigan Southern and 
 Northern Indiana Railroad agree to lay a third rail 
 on their line to Chicago, thus to perfect a broad gauge 
 route from Chicago to New York by one of the short- 
 est lines. The new road will be completed within a 
 year, and will effect a revolution in travel between 
 New York and Chicago, as the wide and comfortable 
 cars of the Erie road can then carry passengers from 
 one city to the other without change. 
 
 The road carried during the last year eight hundred 
 and forty-six thousand six hundred and ninety-eight 
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212 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 passengers and six hundred and ninetj-nine thousand 
 seven hundred and sixty-five tons of freight. It has five 
 hundred and twenty-three miles of road in use, and 
 owns one thousand three hundred and sixty freight 
 cars, one hundred and ten passenger cars, and one 
 hundred and twenty-one locomotives. 
 
 The new passenger depot of the Company is one of 
 the handsomest buildings in Chicago, and one of the 
 largest and finest depot buildings in the United States. 
 It is used in common with the Chicago and Rock 
 Island Railroad Company. It occupies the whole 
 square of ground between Harrison and "Van Buren 
 Streets, and between Griswold and Sherman Streets, 
 and is five hundred and fifty-two feet long, and one 
 hundred and sixty feet wide. It is built of rough 
 faced stone, with a slate roof. Besides all the neces- 
 sary offices for the Company's business, the depot con- 
 tains commodious waiting rooms for passengers, dining 
 rooms, baggage rooms, &c. 
 
 To the south of the passenger depot is the old en- 
 gine house of the Michigan Southern road, and im- 
 mediately south of this building the new freight house. 
 It is built of stone, and has a slate roof. Th i length 
 is six hundred feet,, by fifty-two in wLlt.' aa I about 
 fifty in height. Considering that each car w ul occupy 
 about thirty feet, this house is able to accommodate 
 twenty cars at a time. It has storage room for two 
 hundred cars, which, at ten tons to the car, will give 
 a total of two thousand tons, though these figures are 
 practically greatly increased, from the fact that the 
 freight is, moving during the entire day. One of the 
 noticeable features of this building is the presence of 
 
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THE MICHIGAN SOUTHERN RAILROAD. 213 
 
 an improved transfer table, by which cars can be sent 
 from the shed to the track outside with little labor and 
 without interfering with other cars. The offices are in 
 the south end of the building. 
 
 Both of these fine depots were constructed by Mr. 
 W. W. Boyington, an eminent architect of Chicago. 
 
 The officers of the Company are E. B. Phillips, 
 President ; Charles F. Hatch, General Superintendent ; 
 Charles Paine, Chief Engineer ; Legrand Lockwood, 
 Treasurer ; C. P. Leland, General Passenger Agent ; 
 Charles Gray, General Freight Agent ; S. C. Hough, 
 Western Passenger Agent. 
 
 The business of the road for the year 18fi7 was large 
 and remunerative; much more so, in fact, than in pre- 
 vious years. The condition of the track and road-bed 
 is now all that could be desired, and the passenger cars 
 are furnished with every requisite for comfort. The 
 time-tables and arrangements for the running of 
 through trains on this route between Chicago and 
 New York, in connection with the New York and 
 Erie road, afford every desirable accommodation and 
 facility to the travelling public ; and these advantages 
 are fully appreciated by the latter. All the indica- 
 tions, in fact, point to a steady increase in the income 
 of the road, from year to year. 
 
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214 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX, 
 
 RAILROADS OF NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 A RAILROAD map shows that the New England 
 States are covered with a perfect network of railroads. 
 They are all, however, short roads, each one extending 
 only a few miles in length. All the long lines, such 
 as the Boston, Hartford and Erie, the Vermont Cen- 
 tral, and the "Western of Massachusetts, as well as the 
 lines from Boston to Ogdensburg and from New Haven 
 to Montreal, are composed of short links, constructed 
 at different times, by different corporations, and with 
 difterent and often conflicting interests in view. Gen- 
 erally, when a consolidation of these short roads 
 was proposed, it has been found very difiBcult, and 
 sometimes impossible, to reconcile these conflicting 
 interests. 
 
 We have heretofore given a complete list of these 
 short roads, and need only refer to the list here. 
 The history of these roads affords very little of inter- 
 est to the reader. They were generally well built, 
 and were moderately supplied with rolling stock of the 
 best construction. Previous to the year 1:>45, the rail- 
 roads of New England were almost exclusively of this 
 character. By that time, indeed as early as 1840, the 
 necessity of having direct railroad communication with 
 the West, became apparent. The Vermont Central Rail- 
 
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RAILROADS OF NEW ENGLAND. 215 
 
 road was thereupon built, connecting Boston with 
 Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence River, and making a 
 liile three hundred and eighty-two miles long. Or 
 rather, four- railroads, which had been built a short 
 time previou.sly, were consolidated, and formed the 
 line from Boston to Ogdensburg, These were, first, 
 the road from Boston to Concord, seventy-five miles 
 long, which had been built a number of years, and 
 had always enjoyed an immense local traffic; second, 
 the road from Concord to Montpelier, one hundred and 
 thirteen miles, which had also been in operation for 
 some years, and was doing well in connection Avith 
 the road to Boston ; third, the road from Montpelier 
 to Rouse's Point, seventy-six miles long, a road which 
 soon became a favorite with travellers, on account of 
 the fine scenery along its route ; and fourth, the road 
 from Rouse's Point to Ogdensburg, one hundred and 
 eighteen miles. The whole of this line was completed 
 and in operation in 1851. 
 
 The country through which the greater part of this 
 road passes is not remarkable for its fertility. In- 
 deed, compared with the rich soil of the western 
 country, or even with that through which the New 
 York and Brie and New York Central road passes, it is 
 a barren and sterile region. And yet the local bu.si- 
 ness of the line has increased year after year, and tlie 
 local traffic of the whole line is now profitable. Tlie 
 design in opening the line as a through route, was to 
 draw western produce, arriving at Ogdensburg from 
 Bufialo and Chicago, to Boston ; and this object was 
 attained to a reasonable extent. 
 
 Another line, which was constructed about the same 
 
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216 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 time, is the "Western" Kailroad, as it is called, 
 extending from Boston to Albany, a distance of two 
 hundred miles. This line, also, is formed by the con- 
 solidation of four short roads, namely, first, the Boston 
 and Worcester road, forty-four miles long; second, 
 the Worcester and Springfield road, fifty-four miles 
 long ; third, the Springfield and Pittsfield road, fifty- 
 thiee miles long; and fourth, the Pittsfield and Hud- 
 son River road, seventy-five miles long, and termi- 
 nating at Albany. This line runs across the whole 
 length of the State of Massachusetts, and is exclnsively 
 a Massachusetts road. It was built mainly by Massa- 
 chusetts capital; and Massachusetts men. are jastly 
 entitled to the credit of the enterprise. The object 
 of the consolidation of the four roads was to form a 
 connection with the New York Central road ; and in 
 this it has been remarkably successful. Passengers 
 from Chicago to Boston find in the great depot of the 
 Illinois Central Railroad at Chicago, a train of cars 
 made up, with this sign alongside: "These cars for 
 Boston," Once in these cars, they are all right. They 
 are whirled along on the Michigan Central road to 
 Detroit; thence, on the Great Western Railroad of 
 Canada, to Niagara Falls; thenco, after crossing the 
 Suspension Bridge, on the New York Central road, 
 through Rochester, Canandaigua, and S^^racuse, to 
 Albany ; and thence, crossing the Hudson River, on 
 the Western Railroad of Massachusetts, to Boston. 
 Freight from the West to Boston, of course, took the 
 same route ; and, very soon alter it was opened, the 
 Western Railroad of Massachusetts became profita- 
 ble. Its local business, particulai-ly between Boston 
 
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EAILROADS OF NEW ENGLAND. 217 
 
 and Pittsfield, has always been good. Its affairs are 
 managed with a great deal of tact and ability. The 
 officers of the Company are C. W. Chapin, President ; 
 C. 0. Russell, Superintendent ; and J. B. Chapin, Assist- 
 ant Superintendent. 
 
 Some time afterwards, the line from New Haven to 
 Montreal was opened, to run in connection with the 
 Grand Trunk Railroad of Canada, from Detroit. This 
 line was made up by consolidating no less than seven 
 different short roads, namely, first the road from New 
 Haven to Hartford ; second, the road from Hartford 
 to Springfield ; third, the road from Springfield to 
 Bellows Falls ; fourth, the road from Bellows Falls to 
 Lebanon ; fifth, the road from Lebanon to Montpelier ; 
 sixth, the road from Montpelier to Rouse's Point ; and 
 seventh, the road from Rouse's Point to Montreal. The 
 business of this road has been fair, and on the whole 
 satisfactory, but not equal to some others. There are 
 too my ny conflicting interests connected with it, which 
 are as yet unharmonizerl. It runs, however, through 
 the richest arid most fertile portion of New England, 
 and its revenues, hirge as they are, can be probably 
 doubled. 
 
 The Boston and Maine Railroad, extending from 
 Boston to Bangor, in Maine, was constructed at a later 
 period, and at once became remunerative. It passes 
 through Portsmouth, Portland, and Augusta, and its 
 local and through traffic are both very large. 
 
 The Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad Company, of 
 which I shall speak in detail presently, applied to the 
 legislature of Massachusetts during the winter of 1867, 
 for some material aid. Thefr interests were very ably 
 
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218 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 managed by an eminent lawyer whom they had re- 
 tained for that purpose. In the course of his argu- 
 ment before the legislature, he gave the following 
 reminiscences in relation to that and other railroads 
 in Massachusetts: — 
 
 "I have spoken freely, Mr. Chairman and gentle- 
 men, of the present state of things in this Common- 
 wealth, because I have very decided opinions on the 
 subject, opinions founded on a careful consideration 
 of facts and fortified by the observation of thirty 
 years, while engaged in active business in this city, 
 and because it is well for us to look at the other side 
 of the fancy picture so constantly presented to us. 
 We all take pride in the material prosperity of the 
 Commonwealth, and are fond, perhaps too fond, of 
 making comparisons between our own position and 
 that of less favored communities. But are we not 
 dwelling a little too much on this, or rather are we 
 not resting too confidently on the laurels won in 
 former years, on the prestige secured for us by the 
 efforts of eminent men who have now passed away ? 
 Those who have carefully watched the course of legis- 
 lation and of business operations for the past ten 
 years, and have instituted a comparison between this 
 Commonwealth and some other States in the Union, 
 are by no means so confident of our position as men 
 who never go abroad even with their eyes and who 
 are content to let well enough alone. To stand still 
 in these matters is to fall behind. Let us glance a 
 moment at the State of Maine, the daughter of Massa- 
 chusetts and bound to us by many other ties than 
 those of mere business relationship. We shall find 
 
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RAILROADS OF NEW ENGLAND. 219 
 
 that while the State of Maine was formerly apparently 
 insensible to its great natural advantages, its magnifi- 
 cent harbors, its extended seacoast, and its unrivalled 
 facilities for manufacturing operations, there has been 
 of late years a most marked change. In point of 
 energy, sagacity and ability, she now more than rivals 
 our own Commonwealth ; while in comprehensive, 
 wise, and sensible legislation in matters affecting her 
 material interests, she is excelled by none of her sister 
 States. In former years, Massachusetts bore the palm 
 in this respect. In the active years of Webster (who 
 was a most thorough and sagacious business man for 
 everybody but himself), Everett, Lawrence, Appleton, 
 Davis, Briggs, Dwight, the most enlarged views were 
 prevalent, and the most judicious and even artistic 
 plans were made to secure the capital of the Common- 
 wealth within its own borders, to develop our own 
 resources, and to attract the labor, the skill and the 
 industry of the whole country here. To this end our 
 State legislation was carefully shaped. The most 
 favorable system of corporations was originated here. 
 Our plan was peculiar. There never was anything 
 like it before in the world. The English system was 
 quite different. The great idea was to draw into 
 effective operation capital from all quarters. The 
 rich and the poor acted in the same interest. Any 
 man who could raise the amount of a single share was 
 to that extent enabled to compete with the millionaire ; 
 while, on the other hand, the man of wealth had at 
 risk only that which he put into the concern. This 
 all seems very simple to us now, but it was in its day 
 a grand and original idea. It was the subject of 
 
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220 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 constant assault. The great division of the two parties 
 was on this very point — one of them insisting on the 
 encouragement of these manufacturing corporations 
 and the other resisting it. 
 
 "The same feeling extended to railroads. It was 
 early perceived by these able and intelligent men, that, 
 from the position of our State, its poor soil, its small 
 extent, we must not only create a market, but we must 
 afford extraordinary facilities for customers to reach it. 
 The natural tendency of the West was to the South, 
 to New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. They 
 would not reach Boston unless we held out extra- 
 ordinary inducements. Accordingly the policy was 
 adopted of making these great highways for travel 
 and for traffic. Not only were most liberal charters 
 granted, but the State made express grants of money. 
 When the Western Railroad was projected, the project 
 excited ridicule. But the Commonwealth subscribed 
 one million dollars to the stock. In a year or two 
 afterwards, it advanced two million one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars more. Then another and another million, 
 and so on to five million dollars. All this time, or at 
 first certainly, there was no serious expectation of any 
 return for these grants. The idea was not an investment 
 for the sake of dividends ; but for the sake of commu- 
 nication with the West, for the sake of opening a 
 market for our manufactures, for the sake of an avenue 
 for trade. The return was to be indirect and remote 
 and not direct or immediate. Nor was this all. Our 
 wise legislators, not satisfied with one route to the 
 West, desired several. They also desired to reach the 
 North and the East. In 1837, they assisted the Andover 
 
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EAILBOADS OF NEW ENGLAND. 221 
 
 and Haverhill (now the Boston and Maine) Railroad 
 by a loan of one hundred thousand dollars. In the 
 same year, the Eastern, by five hundred thousand dol- 
 lars. The Norwich and Worcester by four hundred 
 thousand dollars. In 1838, the Eastern by ninety 
 thousand doUars. The Nashua and Lowell by filty 
 thousand dollars. In 1839, the Boston and Portland 
 (now Boston and Maine) by fifty thousand dollars. 
 And subsequently the Troy and Greenfield by two 
 million dollars ; and so on. The State has never yet 
 lost a cent. It has gained immensely in wealth, in 
 population, and in influence and importance. It has 
 even made millions of dollars by its investments. 
 Even the promoters of these projects have been asto- 
 nished at the results, for they never expected to be. 
 made whole by direct returns'from these grants. ■ 
 
 "These things were not done without opposition. 
 Of course not ! The croakers are not a recent race ; 
 nor, it may be added, are the fools all dead. Politi- 
 cians perambulated the State. They advised the dear 
 people that every man's farm was mortgaged to these 
 grasping corporations. We all remember the pother 
 that was made because the Legislature laid a State 
 tax for the enormous ,sum of seventy-five thousand 
 dollars ! The matter was debated in this hall several 
 days, and a great many declared that the passage of 
 the act would change the politics of the State. On 
 one occasion a surveying party, in making a triangula- 
 tion of the Commonwealth for the great map, were 
 takino' some observations on a hill in Berkshire, when 
 some village politicians created a great excitement by 
 the cry that they were surveyors sent up to set off the 
 
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222 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 town for our enormous State debt, which had been con- 
 tracted for these rich corporations." 
 
 We now come to speak of the Boston, Hartford and 
 Erie Eailroad itself; an enterprise worthy of the ener- 
 gies of the people of a great State, and destined to add 
 greatly to the wealth and influence of Massachusetts. 
 Yet in order to illustrate still further the peculiar 
 character of the short railroads of New England, we 
 will make another extract from the able speech of the 
 eminent lawyer quoted above. He says, in speaking 
 of the consolidated line : — 
 
 " Our franchise covers various roads. Several of 
 them are in operation. They are doing fairly. Bat 
 our operations are necessarily and essentially frag- 
 mentary. The business now is purely local, and 
 on short routes and a small scale. In one sense, we 
 begin nowhere and end nowhere. Essential links are 
 wanting. 
 
 " As I said before, all this is fragmentary. The road 
 consists of isolated tracks. There is and there can 
 be no system, no order, no deiSnite and profitable ar- 
 rangements until certain important links are made. 
 It is as ihtuigh the Worcester road only ran to West- 
 borouyli, Of the Western ran from Alban}' to Palmei', 
 or the Eastern from Boston to Ipswich. 
 
 " In this state of things,'' he says, " we present our 
 case. We show you a road already built and in ope- 
 ration two hundred and thirty-three miles. We ex- 
 hibit to you an air line to the Hudson River. We 
 present to you a route almost straight to St. Louis and 
 across the continent. We ask you to aid this mag- 
 nificent route to the extent of twenty-six miles of road 
 
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RAILROADS OF NEW ENGLAND. 223 
 
 already partly graded. And we ask this, on the ex- 
 press conditition that another party shall put in twice 
 as much as you advance. "We also desire assistance in 
 making a second track and further equipment." 
 
 Probably no railway that leads out of Boston is so 
 little understood as the one now under consideration. 
 We all know that a new line was projected several 
 years ago between Boston and New York City, and 
 between Boston and some point on the Hudson Eiver 
 below Albany. We all know that this general project 
 had been split up into a variety of lesser schemes — 
 some sensible and some foolish — that there have been 
 several Corporations, a great deal of contention be- 
 tween them, considerable bitterness, and, in general, a 
 state of things that eftectually prevented any energetic, 
 concentrated and vigorous action to accomplish the 
 great purpose of a new route to the West. 
 
 There was the New York and Hartford Eailroad 
 Company, chartered in 1845, the Manchester road in 
 1833, the Hartford and Providence in 1847 ; these 
 were merged in the New York and Hartford road and 
 made one corporation by the name of the Providence, 
 Hartford and Fishkill Company. These were com- 
 panies of Connecticut, indicative of a policy of uniting 
 by railroads with the city of New York on the south- 
 west, and with the New York and Erie Eailroad on 
 the west. 
 
 In 1850, the legislature of Massachusetts entered 
 upon the ground, and the Midland, the Norfolk County, 
 and the Southridge and Blackstone, roads wtere author- 
 ized to unite with the Willimantic, and the Providence, 
 
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224 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Hartford and Fishkill roads (all these were very sbort 
 roads), and form one corporation- In 1846, the State 
 of Ehode Island granted a charter to the Providence 
 and Plainfield Eailroad Company, and in 1852, au- 
 thorized a consolidation with the Providence, Hart- 
 ford and Fishkill Company. These rival corporations 
 have ever since been very quarrelsome, and have 
 fought each other, New England Railroad men say, 
 with all the fury of the Kilkenny cats. The result of 
 such a condition of things was destructive of all suc- 
 cessful operations. 
 
 Meanwhile the grand project of a new and shorter 
 route to New York and the West continued to occupy 
 the minds of many enterprising citizens of Massa- 
 chusetts. As the result of their efforts, in 1863, the 
 present corporation was created, by the name of the 
 Boston, Hartford and Erie Eailroad Company, and they 
 were authorized to purchase, contract with, or lease 
 the whole or part of any railways whose lines form 
 part of railway lines from Boston and from Provi- 
 dence, westwardly across the State of Connecticut. 
 
 Under this charter and other suitable legislation by 
 the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
 and New York, the various companies have beea 
 united in one grand corporation, which now includes 
 all the various projected enterprises that have hitherto 
 been in an antagonistical position, and effectually ex- 
 tinguished all rivalries and buried all jealousies and 
 animosities. 
 
 " What then," says the eloquent lawyer from whose 
 speech I have so freely quoted : " What then does the 
 
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RAILROADS OF NEW ENGLAND. 225 
 
 franchise of the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad 
 cover ?" I answer : — 
 
 1. A line from Boston to New York City shorter 
 than any other. 
 
 2. A line from Boston to Fishkill, on the Hudson 
 River, about midway between Albany and New York 
 City, two hundred and twenty-five miles in length, 
 passing through Blaokstone, Hartford, and Waterbury, 
 one of the wealthiest sections of country in the United 
 States. 
 
 3. A line from Providence to Fishkill. These 
 lines centre at Willimantic, in Cohnecticut, from which 
 the roads branch eastward to Providence and Boston, 
 and westward to New York City and Fishkill. 
 
 4. A branch to Webster and Southbridge, and 
 other rich manufacturing villages in Massachusetts. 
 
 5. It embraces what is known as the Air-line road 
 which commences at Brookline and is completed and 
 in operation to Woonsocket in Rhode Island. 
 
 "Now, it is unnecessary to say that this is a grand 
 enterprise; that this franchise embraces the very 
 richest part of New England, and that this road when 
 completed will be one of the most important in the 
 whole country. 
 
 " It is astonishing how little the subject is generally 
 understood. They know about it better in Rhode Is- 
 land and Connecticut than we do in Massachusetts. 
 The scheme is far better understood in Hartford than 
 it is in Boston. The various old corporations hiive 
 fought each other so much, and have called each 
 other such hard names, that some of the public have 
 taiien them at their word and have regarded the whole 
 
 15 
 
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226 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 thing !is. a visionary affair that would never come to 
 any good. But to a great majority of the people 
 there has been the greatest difficulty of understand- 
 ing the various projects or the precise character and 
 purpose of the consolidated road which we now re- 
 present before the Committee. And in point of fact it 
 is only quite recentlj'^ that the consolidation of the 
 various routes and a harmonious adjusttnent of con- 
 flicting interests have been effected, so that the pro- 
 jectors could appeal to the public with any hope of 
 being fully appreciated. The new corporation is now 
 in a position where it can stand a severe scrutiny, and 
 can satisfy the most skeptical that, with suitable njan- 
 agement, it will command the confidence of the public. 
 
 " Let me nGw state a few facts that have been proved 
 before the Committee. 
 
 " In the first place, this corporation has more miles of 
 road ia actual operation than the "Western Railroad. 
 
 Boston to Woonsocket . 
 
 34.00 
 
 Boston to Mechanicville 
 
 59.57 
 
 Boston to Waterbury . 
 
 . 122.50 
 
 Southbridge Branch 
 
 17.50 
 
 233.57 
 
 " Two Hundred and Thirty-three Miles of Road 
 IN Actual Operation. — Longer than both the Boston 
 and Maine and the Eastern. Five times as long as the 
 Boston and Worcester. Ten times as long as the Bos. 
 ton and Lowell. Almost as long again as the Western. 
 At this moment in operation and connecting Boston 
 with the Patchcoag Valley and the rich manufactur- 
 
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RAILROADS OF NEW ENGLAND, 227 
 
 ing towns of Rhode Island and Connecticut, and the 
 inimense quantities of coal, iron, lumber and farming 
 productions of New York and Pennsylvania. The 
 Southbridge Branch, connecting Boston with that 
 thriving manufacturing town, is sixty miles long, ac- 
 tually longer than any railroad that leads out of Bos- 
 ton, except the Boston and Maine. 
 
 " The equipment of the road, as shown by the testi- 
 mony in the case, is thirty-nine engines, thirty-two 
 passenger cars, fifteen baggage and express cars, three 
 hundred and sixteen eight-wheel freight cars, thirteen 
 four-wheel freight cars, one hundred and sixty-five 
 four-wheel coal cars — not so much by one-half as it 
 should be, but for a Boston road pretty well. Tioo 
 hundred and thirty-three miles in good running order and 
 fairly equipped. 
 
 " And how much do we ask the Commonwealth to do? 
 "Why, to aid us in furnishing a better equipment than 
 we now have, to enable us to serve the public better, 
 and in the completion with a double track of the small 
 space between Willimantic and Putman, about twenty- 
 six miles, a part of which is already graded. That is 
 the whole of it. There will then remain the portion 
 between Waterbury and the Hudson River, seventy- 
 six miles, the completion of which will be provided 
 for otherwise. So that if the Commonwealth will aid 
 in the partial building of twenty-six miles of road, we 
 shall have an entirely new and independent route to the 
 West, with easy grades, with a large local business, 
 and connecting with the New York and Erie Railroad, 
 the most important trunk line in the United States. 
 AXl this cau be accomplished in two years. 
 
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228 KAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 "Now-let us take a glance at the prospective busi- 
 ness of the new route, as it is proved and estimated 
 before the Committee. The main trunk and branches, 
 when completed, will pass through one of the most 
 thriving portions of New England, about midway be- 
 tween Long Island Sound and the ' Western' Eailroad, 
 crossing and connecting with all the roads — not less 
 than eleven in number, running north and south 
 through Rhode Island, Connecticut, and the eastern 
 part of New York, making connections through them, 
 with the lines running north into Massachusetts, New 
 Hampshire, and Vermont, and opening direct com- 
 munication with all the important manufacturing 
 cities and towns in New England. 
 
 " The great article of local traffic will be coal. The 
 road will connect a considerable portion of New Eng- 
 land with the great coal fields of Pennsylvania. At 
 present and heretofore, vast quantities of coal for New- 
 England are shipped to New York and Philadelphia, 
 come round by water in the summer through the Sound, 
 and are sent into the interior by the railroads running 
 north. A great amount of coal is required for manu- 
 facturing operations, in the States of Massachusetts 
 Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont. For a very 
 large portion of this coal, our railroad will be the 
 natural channel. We have had the field carefully 
 examined by a competent engineer, whose clear and 
 satisfactory statement on the subject you have heard. 
 His estimate of freight from coal alone is five hundred 
 and fifty-four tons, and he places the freight at one 
 million oix hundred and eighty-six thousand dollars, 
 from this one article. You have from another and 
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RAILROADS OF NEW ENGLAND. 229 
 
 distinct source the evidence that upon careful inquiry 
 it appears that four hundred and fifty thousand tons of 
 coal were sent by railroad from ports on Long Island 
 Sound, during last year, to ports in Connecticut, Rhode 
 Island, and Massachusetts, all of which could be sup- 
 plied from Newburg, if our own road were opened to 
 the Hudson, at lower rates than is now done. Lowell, 
 Nashua, and Manchester consume more than one hun- 
 dred thousand tons annually. The consumption of 
 coal is rapidly increasing throughout New England, 
 by the constant building of new mills and factories, 
 and by the more general use of coal for domestic pur- 
 poses. 
 
 "But this is not all. The amount that the road 
 may earn for its stockholders is but a small portion of 
 its probable benefit to the public. You must bear in 
 mind that this road connects the capital of Massachu- 
 setts with the great railroad of the country. This road 
 is to make the station on Summer Street an important 
 outlet to the sea for the great New York and Erie 
 Eailroad — in fact, by building this twenty-six miles of 
 road, you connect Boston with St. Louis by the shortest, 
 easiest, and best route." 
 
 This link of twenty-six miles has not yet been 
 completed. It is, however, in active progress, and, 
 when finished, it will constitute the eastern continua- 
 tion of the New York and Erie road, which will then 
 extend in an unbroken line from Buffalo to Boston, 
 crossing the Hudson Eiver at Newburg. 
 
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230 EAILKOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 EAILEOADS IN NEW JERSEY. 
 
 The great through route between New York and 
 Washington consists, first, of the Railroads in New 
 Jersey between New York and Phila4elphia, namely, 
 the Camden and Am boy road, and the New Jersey 
 Railroad; second, of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, 
 and Baltimore Railroad, from Philadelphia to Balti- 
 more ; and third, the Washington Branch of the Balti- 
 more and Ohio Railroad, from Baltimore to Washing- 
 ton. Passengers who take the Camden and Amboy 
 line have a fine sail between New York and Amboy. 
 They have to cross the Delaware River at Camden, but 
 there is now no delay in making connections at Phila- 
 delphia. By the New Jersey Railroad, also, there is 
 now neither delay nor detention. By crossing the 
 Delaware River on the railroad bridge at Trenton, and 
 by passing to the west of Philadelphia, the delay which 
 ■was formerly experienced at that city is now avoided ; 
 and by the recent construction of the fine railroad 
 bridge over the Susquehanna at Havre de Grace, the 
 ^elay which vi^as formerly experienced at the ferry 
 there is now avoided ; so that the trip might be made, 
 and ought to be made now, by express trains, in seven 
 hours, which would be thirty-three miles per hour. 
 This rate of speed is maintained on some roads in the 
 
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EAILKOADS IN NEW JERSEY. 231 
 
 United States; and in Europe forty miles per hour, 
 fur express trains, is not unusual. 
 
 There is a delay of about half an hour at Baltimore, 
 which ought to be avoided. On arriving at the Phila- 
 delphia depot, at President Street, the passengers are 
 not required to leave their seats, but the locomo- 
 tive is detached, the train is broken up, and each car 
 is (ifawn separately by five horses, through Pratt 
 Street, to the Washington depot, on Eutaw Street. 
 Here the train is made up afresh, the passengers from 
 Baltimore are hitched on in additional cars, a fresh 
 locomotive is furnished, and the train takes a fresh 
 start for Washington. There is a double track be- 
 t\^en Baltimore and Washington, and between these 
 two cities there are fourteen passenger trains daily ; 
 seven running each way. Between Washington and 
 New York there are eight trains per day, four running 
 each way. 
 
 It is difficult to realize what the condition of the 
 country was between New York and Washington 
 before these railroads were built. It was a good six 
 days' distance between the two cities, and few persons 
 made the journey in less than eight days. There was 
 an excellent turnpike road, and a daily line of stage 
 coaches. But the more wealthy people made the trip 
 in their carriages, and many persons travelled on 
 horseback. The country, except immediately along 
 the line of the road, was comparatively rude and un- 
 cultivated; and the best lands were held at a low 
 figure compared with the prices which they now com- 
 mand. The soil was not worked to one-quarter of its 
 capacity, because its capacity was not known. Of New 
 
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232 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Jersey, for instance, whicb is now one of the most fer- 
 tile and fruitful States in the Union, it was supposed 
 that the soil of the whole State was either all sand, or 
 all pine. A recent writer says that the State was 
 "traversed by the old high-road between Philadelphia 
 and New York, laid out by the British Government 
 in. Colonial days, and protected at various points by 
 block-houses and barracks, in which garrisons of 
 troops were stationed. Some of these block-houses 
 remain to this day. Along this royal highway passed 
 all the early travel between the New England Colonies, 
 and those south and west of the Delaware and the Po- 
 tomac. After the colonies had been severed from the 
 parent country, this road continued to be, up to the 
 advent of steamboats and railroads, the only thorough- 
 fare between the two cities of Philadelphia and New 
 York. Stage coaches occupied five weary days 
 between them, the horses exhausted and jaded by 
 wading through a deep, tenacious sand in summer, or 
 the still deeper and more sticky mud through which 
 they floundered in winter. On many miles of this 
 road the sand was frightful. No local authorities 
 worked it, no merciful builder of turnpikes ever 
 thought of reclaiming it. It lay, from generation to 
 generation, as waste and wild as when the native 
 pines were first cleared away. Access was so difficult 
 and laborious, that few strangers visited the region 
 through which it passed; and the land was held in 
 large tracts, whereon but few settlers bad made any 
 clearings. Everybody judged the soil to be as worth- 
 less as the deep sand in the highway. Where some 
 adventurous settler had cleared up a farm, his 
 
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RAILROADS IN NEW" JERSEY. 233 
 
 labors presented no inviting spectacle to the pass- 
 ing traveller. If manure was known in those days, 
 the farmer did not appear to value it, for he neither 
 manufacturt-d nor used it. Phosphates and fertili- 
 zers had not been dreamed of. If the farmer spread 
 any fertilizer over his fields, it was but a starveling 
 ration; hence his corn crop was a harvest of small, 
 worthless ears ; and this again gave the soil of New 
 Jersey a bad name. 
 
 " Wheat he never thought of raising. Eye was the 
 sole winter grain ; and rye-bread, rye-mush, and rye 
 pie-crust, held uncontested dominion, squalid condi- 
 ments as they usually are, in every squalid farm-house. 
 Eagweed and pigweed took alternate possession of the 
 fields ; cultivation was at its last point of attenuation ; 
 none grew rich, while all became poor; and as autumn 
 came on, even the ordinarily thoughtless grasshopper 
 climbed feebly up to the abounding mullein stalk, and 
 with tears in his eyes surveyed the melancholy picture 
 of desolation around him." Such is a true picture of 
 the condition of New Jersey up to the building of the 
 railroads of that State. 
 
 "No wonder," says this graceful writer, "that the 
 great public who passed over this road should think 
 that the whole State of New Jersey was all sand, seeing 
 that in their passage through it they beheld but little 
 else. , The sandy road alone was seen, while the green 
 and fertile tracts that lay beyond and around it were 
 unknown, because unseen." 
 
 All this was changed, as if by enchantment, as soon 
 as the New Jersey Eailroad, and the Camden and 
 Amboy Eailroad had been built. " Every mile of the 
 
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234 KAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 old highway," says the writer from whom we have 
 quoted, " is now a splendid gravel turnpike, intersected 
 by a dozen similar roads, which stretch in every, direc- 
 tion through the State. As good roads invite settle- 
 ment, so population, the great promoter of the value 
 of land, has come in rapidly, and changed the aspect 
 of every farm-house. Good fences line the roadside, 
 rank hedge-rows have disappeared, new farm-houses 
 have everywhere been built, low lands have been 
 drained, manures have been imported from the cities, 
 and wheat is now the staple winter grain." 
 
 All this has been owing, in a great measure, to the 
 construction of the Camden and Amboy, and the New 
 Jersey Railroads. Terminating at New York and 
 Philadelphia, they opened up a cash market among 
 thousands asking for daily bread. When these rail- 
 roads were first opened, their annual way-freight 
 yielded less than one hundred dollars a year. But 
 their managers wisely built station-houses at every 
 cross-road, as the farmers called for them. To these 
 railroad stations the produce of entire townships quickly 
 gathered in astonishing quantities. A cash market 
 being thus brought to the very doors of th^ farmers, 
 an immense stimulus to production was created, and 
 a new spirit was infused into the whole region. Hun- 
 dreds of farms were renovated, cleared of foul weeds, 
 drained, and liberally manured. New vegetables were 
 cultivated. Tomatoes, peas, rhubarb, and early pota- 
 toes rose to be the prime staples. From one county, 
 corn for the table is now taken in July, to the extent 
 of two thousand tons daily. Way-trains are run for 
 the sole accommodation of this business of the farmers, 
 
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RAILROADS IN NEW JERSEY. 235 
 
 stopping every two or three miles to take in the fresh 
 vegetables and fruit that have been collected at these 
 stations. This traf&c, thus grown up within the last 
 ten years, has proved highly remunerative, both to the 
 railroad and the farmer. These way-freights, thus 
 wisely cultivated by the railroad, now amount to many 
 thousands annually, and are steadily growing larger. 
 
 It must be manifest that crops of fruit and vegeta- 
 bles, of such magnitude as are now produced in New 
 Jersey, cannot be produced on mere sand. Men do 
 not grow rich upon a barren deserty such as this 
 region has been described. Yet the farmers who 
 occupy this State are notoriously becoming rich. 
 
 A great deal of growling is often heard against the 
 Camden and Amboy, and the New Jersey railroads, 
 because, it is said, they are monopolies. But if the 
 growlers will remember in future what vast benefits 
 these railroads have conferred upon the State and 
 people of New Jersey, perhaps they will be more just 
 in their observations about the roads. 
 
 The officers of the New Jersey Eailroad are A. L, 
 Dennis, President, and F. "W. Jackson, General Super, 
 intendent. Of the' Camden and Amboy Eailroad, E 
 A. Stevens, President, and A. Welch, Vice-President, 
 Of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad, V. L. Brad 
 ford, President, and E.. S. Van ^Eensselaer, General 
 Superintendent. 
 
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236 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI 
 
 CENTRAL RAILROAD OF KEW JERSEY. 
 
 The Central Eailroad of New Jersey forms a part 
 of what has become a very popular route between 
 New York and the west, by way of Pittsburg. The 
 whole route consists of the Central Eailroad of New 
 Jersey, from New York to Allentown, by way of 
 Ear^ton on the Delaware Eiver, ninety-two miles ; the 
 Lehigh Valley road, from Allentown to Harrisburg, 
 ninety miles ; and the Pennsylvania Eailroad from 
 Harrisburg to Pittsburg, two hundred and forty-nine 
 miles ; total, four hundred and thirty-one miles. 
 
 Three express trains leave New York, daily, on this 
 route. 
 
 The early history of the New Jersey Central Eail- 
 road presents a striking example of perseverance in 
 overcoming obstacles. That part of the road from 
 Elizabethport to Somerville was built by a company 
 of that name between the years 1S32 and 1842. It 
 was first opened to Plainfield, and then to Bound 
 Brook, and finally to Somerville, by a desperate 
 effort, resulting in the failure of the Company and the 
 foreclosure of the mortgage on the road. In 1846 the 
 road was sold. The strap rail was taken up by the 
 new organization, the track relaid with heavy rails, 
 and preparations were made for a large business. A 
 
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CENTRAL RAILROAD OF NEW. JERSEY. 237 
 
 new company was chartered in 1847, to extend the 
 road from Somerville to Baston, called the Somerville 
 and Easton Company. The same year that part of the 
 road between Somerville and White House was put 
 under contract, and in the fall of 1348 it was completed 
 and opened to White House. In 1849 the Company 
 obtained authority to purchase the Elizabeth and Som- 
 erville Eailway, and . the name of the consolidated 
 Company was changed to that of the Central Railroad 
 Company of New Jersey. In 1850 the existing roads 
 were brought under one management, and immediately 
 after the spring of 1850 the remainder of the route, to 
 Philipsburg on the Delaware River, opposite Easton, 
 was put under contract. The road as far as to CHnton 
 was opened in May, 1852, and the entire road was 
 completed and opened in July, 1852. The railroad 
 bridge over the Delaware River at Easton belongs to 
 the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company. 
 
 In 1860 the Central Railroad of New Jersey obtained 
 authority to extend its road eastward to Jersey City, 
 and this was done. In 1855, the Lehigh Yalley road 
 was opened from Easton to Allentown. During this 
 year, also, the Delaware, Lackawana, and Western 
 Railroad Company completed their line from New 
 Hampton to Scranton, the centre of the Lackawana 
 coal region, and a convenient depot for coal transporta- 
 tion. By means of these two roads, the products of 
 the richest anthracite mines in Pennsylvania were 
 brought to the Central Railroad of New Jersey for 
 transportation to New York. 
 
 The Lackawana connection requiring a six feet 
 gauge, the Central Railroad Company anticipated this 
 
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238 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 necessity by laying a third rail on the track. The 
 value of these connecting lines may be appreciated 
 from the fact that during the first year after their com- 
 pletion the business of the Central Eailroad of New 
 Jersey was nearly doubled. 
 
 In 185'8, the Pennsylvania Eailroad was opened to 
 Allentown and Eeading, establishing a direct line with 
 unbroken gauge to Harrisburg, Pittsburg, and the 
 West. From Somerville a branch road has recently 
 been opened to Flemington, which gives another route 
 to Philadelphia. 
 
 During the last ten years, the business of the New 
 Jersey Central Eailroad has been constantly increasing. 
 The freight traffic has increased so rapidly as to require 
 large additions to, the freight cars, each year. As a 
 part of the through route between New York and -the 
 West, by way of Pittsburg, its popularity has steadily 
 increased. It is truly a wonderful sight, to see the 
 three express trains full of passengers every day moving 
 westward, and the same number coming in the opposite 
 direction. The financial condition of the Company of 
 course is all that could be desired. 
 
 The President of the Company is J. T. Johnston, Esq., 
 and the General Superintendent is J. 0. Stearns, Esq., 
 both of them gentlemen of great experience and ability 
 in railroad matters. 
 
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WESTEKN COUM'KV biii'OKE KAILliOAi;S. 2CJ 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CONDITION OF THE WESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE THE 
 INTRODUCTION OF RAILROADS. 
 
 It may not be inappropriate, in this place, to make 
 some observations upon the peculiar manners and cus- 
 toms, modes of dress, religious observances, amuse- 
 ments, and social features, of the people of Illinois and 
 Indiana, at the period just before the general introduc- 
 tion of railroads. The territory comprised within the 
 limits of these two States is of immense extent, reaching 
 for three hundred and fifty miles from east to west, and 
 the same distance from north to south. The northern 
 and soiuhern portions of the two States were settled 
 by people of widely difi'erent views and habits of life ; 
 and the southern parts of the States were populous and 
 flourishing while the northern counties were but little 
 more than an untrodden wilderness. Keeping these 
 facts in view, we proceed to notice first the manners 
 and customs of the early settlers of Illinois ; those who 
 founded Kaskaskia and other towns in what are now 
 the counties of Randolph, Jackson, and Monroe. These 
 being Frenchmen, brought with them to Illinois the 
 light-hearted ga'yety and cheerful manners of the 
 French people. They were Roman Catholics, and their 
 priests shared with them the innocent gayeties of life. 
 They were followed by hundreds of families from Vir- 
 
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240 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
 Tennessee, and Keutuoky, who spread themselves all 
 over the southern and middle parts of the State, and 
 made numerous settlements in the counties of Cham- 
 paign, Macon, Sangamon, Marion, Washington, Jeffer- 
 son, Franklin, and Pope ; and at points along the Ohio 
 and Wabash Rivers. They brought with them the 
 manners and customs, and the institutions, of tlie 
 Southern States, and proved to be a most valuable 
 acquisition to the wealth and growth of the State. 
 They commenced the cultivation of cotton, but did not 
 carry it to any great extent, and iinally abandoned 
 it. Their slaves assisted them in the cultivation of 
 the soil ; but it soon became evident that the products 
 of Illinois were not adapted to slave labor. Conse- 
 quently, these southern settlers took no measures to 
 promote the increase of their slaves, and as the latter 
 gradually died oft^ replaced them by hired white 
 laborers from the New England States and from Ger- 
 many and Ireland. 
 
 As is the case in all new countries, the early settlers 
 of Illinois paid very little attention to dress. Utility, 
 durability, and comfort were the only requisites 
 thought necessary in the dress of either sex. Broad- 
 cloth, satin, velvet, fine linen, silks, and rich dress 
 goods were rarely seen, and were only worn by the 
 rich, and on extraordiniiry occasions. These, together 
 with delains, merinos, French calico, and, indeed, any 
 dress fabrics of eastern manufacture, were called 
 " store goods," and were bought and used but sparingly. 
 Linsey woolsey, Kentucky jeans, and a coarse and 
 strong linen wi^re manufactured in the looms of the 
 
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WESTKKN COUJSTKY BEFORE EAILEOADS. 24l 
 
 s -ulers themselves, and were made up into garments 
 by tlieir wives and daughters. The dressed skins of 
 the sheep and the deer were also frequently made into 
 trowsers, which were found extremely serviceable. 
 Tlie skins of the deer, and of several other wild animals 
 were also dressed with the fur left on, and were made 
 into overcoats, which, for real comfort and utility, have 
 never been surpassed by any modern tailor work. The 
 gloves made by the women, from the skins of the rac- 
 coon, wild-cat, mink, martin, fitch, otter, squirrel, and 
 rabbit, were certainly as warm and comfortable as any 
 that are now sold in the stores of New York or Phila- 
 delphia for five to ten dollars a pair. 
 
 The summer dress of the early settlers of Illinois 
 was more remarkable for simplicity than for adherence 
 to the rules of fashion. A shirt of tow linen, trowsers 
 of the same, or of linsey woolsey, and coarse shoes, or 
 none at all, completed the attire. On Sundays a coat 
 made of linsey woolsey, and cut in 'a style that would 
 have sent a fashionable tailor into convulsions, was 
 added. The women were attired with equal simplici- 
 ty. On Sundays alone, the taste for finery inherent in 
 the sex everywhere, was indulged to a moderate ex- 
 tent. Hoops were unknown. The ladies wore linsey 
 woolsey dresses which their own hands had made, dyed 
 with colors as various and as brilliant as the rainbow 
 hues. Their bonnets, some of them real leghorns, 
 which had been handed down from generation to gen- 
 eration, were trimmed with ribbons of fabulous width, 
 and of colors that were sure to be in striking contrast 
 with the rest of the dress. She who could wear a 
 16 
 
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242 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ribbon on her bonnet an incb or two wider tban her 
 neighbors, was sure to be envied by all who saw her. 
 
 The people of Illinois were not unmindful of their 
 religious duties. In the Catholic settlements, the 
 priests were regarded with unbounded love and rever- 
 ence. Their authority was paramount. They used 
 this authority with moderation, and there is no in- 
 stance on record of its being abused. The people were 
 devotedly attached to the church, and were scrupulous 
 in their regard for all its requirements. They have 
 been distinguished, in every period in the history of 
 the State, for their obedience to the laws, and for their 
 reverence for the constituted authorities. 
 
 The Protestant settlements in the State were not so 
 well supplied with ministers of the gospel, and with 
 what are called " the means of grace.^' The Methodists 
 made the first efforts for the conversion of the people. 
 They sent out their preachers ; and as there were few 
 churches built, these preachers frequently used to hold 
 meetings in groves, in the open air, which the people 
 were invited to attend. Oftentimes, when the vocifer- 
 ous preaching of these missionaries seemed to be 
 attended with more than usual excitement (or as the 
 preachers themselves expressed it, when their preach- 
 ing was attended by an outpouring of the spirit), these 
 meetings were protracted from day to day, and fre- 
 quently lasted for two or three weeks at a time. They 
 were then called camp-meetings. It must not be sup- 
 posed, however, that the same people attended these 
 meetings during the whole time. Parties consisting 
 of a few families from the same neighborhood would 
 go together, taking with them provisions and cooking 
 
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WESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE RAILROADS. 243 
 
 ■atensils, stay three or four days, camp out at night, 
 and then return home. The scenes that took place at 
 these camp-meetings were strange indeed. A tin 
 horn would be blown to call the people together for 
 worship, three or four times in the course of the day. 
 Forth from their tents would come men, women, and 
 children, and seat themselves on the rude benches in 
 front of the preacher's stand. If it was the evening 
 service, innumerable lights gleamed from torches of 
 pine and other resinous wood, lighting up the- scene 
 with a strange and fitful glare. The preachers ascend 
 the rude pulpit. One of them begins to sing one of 
 those hymns peculiar to the Methodists, in which he is 
 soon joined by the whole congregation. 
 
 The sound of so many voices blended together 
 echoes and re-echoes through the forest, and forms a 
 wild and not unpleasing melody. The hymn being 
 over, one of the preachers kneels down and prays. 
 He prays loudly and with fervor. He prays that the 
 Lord would open the blind eyes, and carry conviction 
 to the heart of every sinner present. He prays that 
 the Lord would come down with mighty power, and 
 bring every sinner to repentance, and turn the hearts 
 of the people, even as the rivers of water are turned. 
 He waxes importunate, uses the most familiar language, 
 and insists that the Lord shall not wait one instant, 
 but come right down at once. By the time he is done, 
 he is in a profuse perspiration, and his voice is entirely 
 gone. Another preacher now rises, and preaches the 
 sermon. This was usually a wild rhapsody, filled with 
 denunciations of the wicked, assurances of God's wrath 
 against sinners, and urgent appeals to the people to flee 
 
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244 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 from the wrath to come, and seek refuge in the ark of 
 safety. The people become worked up to the highest 
 pitch of excitement. One after another would rise, 
 and go forward to the " mourning bench." This was 
 an inclosed space immediately in front of the pulpit, 
 and strewn plentifully with straw. Upon this straw, 
 men and women would throw themselves indiscrimi- 
 nately, and roll about in paroxysms of excitement. 
 The loud tones of the preacher's voice would now be 
 mingled with shouts of Amen! Glory to God! Halle- 
 lujah ! &o., from the congregation ; and with groans and 
 cries from the persons in the straw. When the latter 
 fancied that they had "got religion," as they expressed 
 it, they would leap up, dance about, throw up their 
 hats, shout and sing, . embrace each other, and go 
 through other antics equally ridiculous. 
 
 It may well be doubted whether any permanent good 
 ever resulted from these meetings. The excitement 
 quickly vanished, and the feelings to which it gave 
 rise soon disappeared. The meetings, however, served 
 to give to the preachers of the Methodist denomination 
 a power and consequence among the people not en- 
 joyed by the ministers of any other sect. As new vil- 
 lages sprang up, and as the towns increased in size, 
 the Methodists began to build churches ; and as these 
 increased in number, camp-meetings began to decline, 
 and were held less frequently. 
 
 The early Methodist preachers were, for the most 
 part, illiterate men, who passed six days of the week 
 in secular labor. They were unsparing in the ridicule 
 which they cast upon the ministers of other sects, who 
 began to come into the State about the year 1837. They 
 
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■WESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE RAILROADS. 245 
 
 spoke of them in the most contemptuous manner, and 
 said they had brought with them barrels of old ser- 
 mons that had been preached a hundred years ago. It 
 is much to be regretted that few authentic reports exist 
 of the sermons preached by these pioneer preachers. 
 One extract, however, has been handed down to pos- 
 terity, the authenticity of which was beyond dispute. 
 The preacher was addressing a congregation which 
 had become somewhat sleepy, and in order to waken 
 them up he used the following language : — 
 
 " I would ask you a strange question. Who is the 
 most diligent man in the whole country ; that sur- 
 passeth all the rest in doing of his ofBce ? I can tell, 
 for I know him, who it is. I know him well. But 
 now I think I see you listening and hearkening that 
 I should name him. There is one that surpasseth all 
 others, and is the most diligent man in all the West. 
 And will you know who it is ? It is not you. Brother 
 Watson, nor you. Farmer Hodge, nor is it honest John 
 Thompson the blacksmith. It is — the devil I Among 
 all the pack of you, the devil is the man for my money, 
 for he fulfilleth his business. Therefore, ye idle men 
 and women, learn of the devil to be diligent in your 
 office. If ye will not learn of God, for shame's sake 
 learn of the devil." 
 
 The amusements of the people were for the most 
 part of a nature to develop the physical more than 
 the intellectual qualities. Hunting was pursued with 
 avidity, both for the sport and game it aflbrded, as well 
 as from the necessity of clearing the State of trouble- 
 some wild animals. The custom of collecting at the 
 shop of the village blacksmith, and pitching quoits or 
 
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246 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 horseshoes, promised at one time to become a popular 
 amusement, but happily it was frowned down, and 
 never got much into vogue. It was justly regarded as 
 an idle and unprofitable waste of time. In the winter 
 time, sleighing parties and dancing parties were much 
 in vogue among the inhabitants. These innocent and 
 healthful amusements were the means of bringing to- 
 gether the young people for miles around, and of pro- 
 moting refinement and good manners. The music for 
 the dancing was furnished by the fiddles played by 
 negro sJaves. Senator Douglas and Lyman Trumbull, 
 when young men, frequently danced at these parties, 
 to the music played by these slaves. 
 
 Military trainings were kept up in the ancient fashion 
 till as late a period as the year 1838, and in some coun- 
 ties in the State, for some years later. These " train- 
 ings," were little more than assemblages of all the 
 able-bodied men in the community, required by law to 
 be made on two days in the year. It was the design of 
 the law that the men should be " trained" on those 
 days in the use of arms, and in military evolutions. 
 But this design was completely defeated by the igno- 
 rance of the officers themselves in regard to military 
 matters, ami. by the laci£ of arms. Thus the only use 
 in these "trainings" was in keeping up the enrolment 
 of the men able to perform military duty. For all 
 other purposes, these trainings were the broadest farces. 
 The field and stafi' officers (! !) pranced about on fiery, 
 untamed plough-horses, gorgeous in tinsel, feathers, 
 and fancy uniforms. The men wore their common 
 clothes. Those who had guns or rifles brought them, 
 but these were less than half of the whole number. 
 
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WESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE RAILROADS. 247 
 
 The rest actually carried wooden guns, sticks, and even 
 corn-stalks. Some carried umbrellas; and if the sun 
 was hot or the day rainy, did not scruple to raise them 
 in the ranks. The " officers" made a show of instruct- 
 ing the men in the manual exercise, and in marching; 
 — but the instruction did not amount to much. Those 
 who had rifles were usually good marksman ; but all 
 the others were the veriest rabble. It will be remem- 
 bered that we are speaking now of the period between 
 1835 and 1840, during which time most of the settlers 
 in Illinois came there without arms, because there was 
 little or no use for them. Those who lived in the 
 State in 1831-2, at the time of the Black Hawk War, 
 were well armed, and made excellent soldiers. And 
 by the year 1840 volunteer military companies began 
 to be formed in various parts of the State, and as these 
 were uniformed, and arms furnished to them by the 
 government, the ridiculous features of the trainings 
 soon began to disappear. It may be mentioned here, 
 though greatly in anticipation of the order of time, 
 that the great improvements in fire-arms that were 
 introduced in 1858, did not find their way to Illinois 
 till the close of the year 1860, when the Chicago Light 
 Guard were supplied with the Minie musket. 
 
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248 BAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 COXDITION OF THE WEdTEBN COUNTRY BEFOBE THE 
 INTRODUCTION OF RAILROADS: CONTINUED. 
 
 Previous to the adoption of the system of Public 
 Schools, duriog the administration of Gov. Mattisoa 
 in 1853, no adequate provision was made for the edu- 
 cation of the rising generation. The schools throagh- 
 out the State were generally under the District School 
 system of the older States. The teachers were usually 
 young gentlemen from the Eastern States, who had 
 come to the west with the ultimate intention of prac- 
 tising law, but who were willing to devote a few months 
 or a year or two, to teaching school. They were gen- 
 erally well educated and honorable, and made excellent 
 teachers. The custom of the teacher " boarding 
 around" prevailed to some extent. In other localities, 
 the teacher was engaged by the trustees of the district 
 for a certain stipulated sum, and was then at liberty to 
 engage board for himself at any house convenient to 
 the scene of his labors. The schoolhouses were almost 
 invariably built of logs, and if they kept out the rain 
 and the cold, they were thought sufficiently comforta- 
 ble. The seats were made of logs split in two, and 
 the desks were similarly constructed, both being sup- 
 ported by stakes set in auger holes. Boys and girls 
 attended these schools together. The studies j)ur&ued 
 
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■WESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE RAILROADS. 249 
 
 ■were usually the lower English branches. Reading, 
 spelling, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, and geo- 
 graphy, were the branches usually taugiit. It was not 
 till several years later that classes were formed in 
 some of the schools for the study of Natural Philoso- 
 phy, Chemistry, Astronomy, and Algebra. Occasion- 
 ally, however, some teacher, anxious to foster a taste 
 for a more enlarged view of education, would deliver 
 a course of lectures, on one evening in the week, on 
 Chemistry, Astronomy, and Natural Philosophy. 
 These lectures were of course free, and were attended 
 by the older pupils, and. their parents and friends. 
 They were generally delivered in the school-room, but 
 sometimes in the village church. If the teacher were 
 the fortunate possessor of a telescope of moderate 
 power, or an electrical machine, or of a limited chemi- 
 cal apparatus, it lent additional interest to his lectures, 
 and caused him to be regarded with a feeling approach- 
 ing to reverence. 
 
 if any anecdotes are current among the people, relat- 
 ing to these eai-ly schools. The recital of half of them 
 would fill many pages, and we select therefore only two. 
 One of the schools was taught by a young gentleman 
 who was a graduate of one of the military schools in 
 the Eastern States. Among his pupils there was one 
 big boy, the bully of the school, who was the only one 
 who gave the teacher any trouble. He was refractory 
 from the first, openly set at defiance the rules of the 
 school, and the admonition of the teacher, and had 
 often been heard to declare that he would whip the 
 teacher if the latter dared to punish him. He was 
 eighteen years old, and was much larger than the 
 
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250 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tciiclier, who was ivveuty-two. One morning he bad com- 
 mitted some offence of a more glaring nature than usual, 
 and at the morning recess had "absquatulated." When 
 the afternoon session had begun, he stalked in, and 
 stood in an attitude of defiance in front of the fireplace. 
 The master sternly bade him come forward to the desk. 
 He muttered, but so loudly that all in the room heard 
 him, that he would come when he got ready, and then 
 taking up a stick of wood from the hearth, and suiting 
 the action to the word, he exclaimed, "Shoulder arms!" 
 Now the master had succeeded hitherto in maintaining 
 good order in his school, and such daring rebellion as 
 this threw the whole school into consternation. Every 
 one wondered what was coming next, and not a few 
 thought that the authority of the master was at an end, 
 and that he would have to succumb before the big boy 
 who thus defied him. If he had done so, his authority 
 ■would have been at an end, the school would have been 
 a pandemonium, and he would have been compelled 
 to retire from the school with ignominy. These 
 thoughts passed through his mind in one moment. 
 The next, he was by the side of the big boy, and had 
 taken up another stick of wood. The fireplace was 
 of the old-fashioned, large, and open kind, and the 
 wood provided for it was in sticks four feet long, and 
 of all sizes, from large back-logs to small round stick.s 
 two inches thick. It was the latter kind that the mas- 
 ter and the boy now held respectively. "Shouldei- 
 arms !" the big boy had just exclaimed. " Ah 1" replied ' 
 the master, " military, hey ? I understand those tactics 
 myself Ground arms !" and with a rapid motion of his 
 stick, he sent that of the big boy flying out of his hand, 
 
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"W^^ESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE RAILROADS. 251 
 
 and the next instant the big boy found himself sprawl- 
 ing on the floor. Bullies are always cowards ; and 
 when the big boy saw that he was conquered, he 
 begged piteously for mercy. The master had no more 
 trouble in his school. The big boy subsequently went 
 to California, fell into evil courses, and finally became 
 a victim to justice as administered by a Vigilance 
 Committee. The master was, soon after the close of 
 his school, admitted to practise law, and is now an emi- 
 nent lawyer. 
 
 The other anecdote is of a quick-witted lad, John 
 Thomas by name, who always had a ready answer to 
 help him out of any difficulty. The wood for the 
 school-house fire was furnished by the families of the 
 district in turn; each one supplying the fuel for a 
 week. The fires were made by the boys in rotation, 
 each one making it for three days in succession. Some 
 of the farmers sent good wood, but others sent the 
 poorest they had, and one man sent a load of brush- 
 wood and small twigs, although he had plenty of good 
 wood. . It was the turn of the boy of whom we have 
 spoken to make the fire ; but one morning, the skating 
 being good, John Thomas spent the morning in skat- 
 ing, and at nine o'clock, when the master came, there 
 was no fire, the school-house was cold, the girls were 
 shivering around the fireplace, and John Thomas was 
 just bringing in an armful of farmer Plowder's twigs. 
 " How is this, John ?" said the master. " No fire yet ?" 
 Now John, among his other accomplishments, was an 
 incorrigible stutterer, but a lad of great good humor. 
 "No, sir," he replied. '' I've been here ever since day- 
 light, k-k-keeping the snow b-b-birds from k-k-k- 
 carrying away Mr. Plowder's wood I" 
 
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252 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The schools in the towns were often of a higher 
 grade of excellence, and by the year 1840 there began 
 to be many private or select schools. These schools 
 were really excellent. Many of the teachers were 
 men of great erudition, and gave instruction in the 
 Latin and Greek languages, in the sciences, mathe- 
 matics, and the higher English branches. At the 
 close of their sessions they usually gave a public ex- 
 hibition of the progress of their pupils. At some of 
 these exhibitions, little dramas used to be performed 
 by the pupils. 
 
 Railroads did not begin to exist (except a few short 
 ones in the southern part of the State) before the year 
 1845. All the travel was by the common country 
 roads ; and the travel was necessarily slow. Taverns 
 and public houses quickly sprang up on all the principal 
 routes of travel, but the accommodations they afforded 
 ■were, almost without exception, of the most inferior de- 
 scription. It was impossible to get a comfortable or 
 wholesome meal at any of them. Hot and. doughy bis- 
 cuit and ill-cooked meats formed the unvarying repast. 
 The beds were hard and uncomfortable, stuffed with dried 
 husks of corn, and the sheets and blankets anything but 
 clean. During " court weeks" the taverns at the county 
 seats would be crowded, and late comers found it difficult 
 to obtain rooms at all. A good anecdote is related of 
 a distinguished member of the bar, and a prominent 
 Whig, who came late one day to one of these taverns. It 
 was in the year 1851. The landlord told him that all" 
 his rooms were occupied, but that he could give him a 
 bed in a room with some other gentlemen. " It is the 
 room, sir," said the landlord, " that Judge Douglas 
 
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WESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE RAILROADS. 253 
 
 occupied when he was here." "Oli, well," said the 
 lawyer, "1 am quite willing to sleep in any room 
 that Judge Douglas has occupied." So the landlord 
 took hitii up, showed him the door of the room, and 
 , bade him good night. The lawyer advanced, candle in 
 hand, and opened the door. The sight that met his 
 astonished gaze was one that might well cause him to 
 start back in amazement. There were six beds in the 
 room. Each bed had two occupants, save one, in which 
 there was room for the astonished lawyer. The 
 rafters overhead re-echoed with the snoring of the 
 eleven sleepers. Twenty-two boots, twenty-two socks, 
 eleven coats and eleven pair of trowsers lay strewn 
 over the floor. A large table in the middle of the floor 
 was covered with empty brandy bottles and tumblers. 
 On the floor were four enormous spittoons, each one 
 filled with that for which they were designed, and with 
 the stumps of cigars. The atmosphere of the room was 
 impregnated with an odor that can be more easily ima- 
 gined than described. The lawyer took in the whole 
 at a glance. But a glance was sufficient. Rushing 
 down to the bar (office was then unknown), he called 
 frantically for the landlord. The latter came, with 
 wonder oh his face, a nightcap on his head, and a mug 
 of lager beer in his hand. " Sir," said the lawyer, " I 
 said I would sleep with Judge Douglas; but I'll 
 be banged if I'll sleep with the whole Democratic 
 party !" 
 
 But to return to country taverns: On the cross- 
 roads, and in the more newly-settled districts, where 
 there were no taverns, the traveller fared really better 
 than where they were. The houses of the farmers of 
 
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254 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 all degrees were freely opened to the traveller, and 
 the hospitable host invariably declined to receive any 
 remuneration. The beds in the farm-houses were al- 
 ways cilean and comfortable, and the meals plentiful and 
 wholesome. Happy the traveller whose fortune it was 
 to come across one of these abodes of real comfort ; for 
 there he had an opportunity to see real country life in 
 Illinois. 
 
 The sun, rising in the early summer at four or five 
 o'clock, would find the farmer's family all astir even 
 at that early hour. The animals were all fed, and the 
 cows milked and sent out to pasture, and at five or six 
 o'clock the family assembled for breakfast. At this 
 meal, large, fat, juicy beef-steaks, potatoes, excellent 
 bread of wheat, of rye, and of corn, delicious butter, 
 and rich milk, with " store coffee" for such as preferred 
 it, constituted the basis of a substantial repast: and 
 fastidious indeed must have been the taste that would 
 not have done justice to it. Breakfast over, the men 
 hied to the fields, to attend to the various avocations 
 of the season. There was prairie land to be ploughed, 
 ditches to be dug for draining the land, seeds to be 
 sown, fiii'ii i)lanted, hay to be cut, grain to be cradled, 
 wheat to be threshed, corn to be shelled, colts to be 
 broken, fences to be made, and an endless variety of 
 employments. At noon, a horn loudly blown sum- 
 moned all hands to dinner. This meal surpassed in 
 profusion the morning repast. Boiled or roast beef, 
 lamb, veal, or mutton, fresh or salt pork, potatoes, tur- 
 nips, cabbage, beets, and parsneps, formed the staple 
 of the bill of fare. Water alone was drunk, or per- 
 .haps milk or cider. Soup was a rare dish, and when 
 
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WESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE RAILROADS. 255 
 
 made it was usually meagre, tasteless, and -without 
 nourishment. The meal concluded with a variety of 
 simple but excellent pies or puddings. The dinner 
 was quickly dispatched, the time spent at table not 
 exceeding half an hour. The intervening time be- 
 fore one o'clock was spent in some cool or shady 
 spot, where, with jovial conversation, the nooning hour 
 passed quickly away. The afternoon labors, com- 
 mencing at one, terminated at sunset, when a hearty 
 supper, spread with the same profusion as the other 
 meals, restored the strength of the honest sons of toil. 
 The evenings were usually spent by the farmers at 
 their own firesides, in reading the newspapers of the 
 day, or such books as they possessed, or in the instruc- 
 tion of their children. The village " store," however, 
 was an institution by no means neglected by those 
 who lived near enough. This store, which was fre- 
 quently the post-office also, was furnished with seats 
 or benches in front of the counters, where as many as 
 twenty men could sit. Every evening these benches 
 would be occupied by a dozen or more of the neigh- 
 boring farmers, who met here to get their newspapers, 
 hear the news, talk politics, and discuss farming. 
 
 One more western institution remains to be described ; 
 namely, the barbecue. This was usually a compliment 
 to some eminent public man ; but was also frequently 
 arranged as a means of affording the people an oppor- 
 tunity to hear both sides of the political questions of 
 the day discussed. A spot of ground was selected, 
 where a prairie was skirted by a grove of timber free 
 from underbush. A platform and rude seats were 
 constructed. Deep trenches were dug in the ground, 
 
 and large fires made in them. On these beds of coals 
 
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256 RAILROADS OF THE tTNITED STATES. 
 
 all sorts of meats were cooked; roast beef, turkeys, 
 chickens, beef-steaks &o. Tables were set provided 
 with everything necessary in profusion. Dozens of 
 barrels of cider were provided, with plenty of tin cups 
 and gourds. The people of all political parties 
 assembled ; and not only the men, but the ladies also 
 came. Then, if the barbecue was given as a compli- 
 ment to some distinguished man, that individual would 
 address the multitude. If it was to be a discussion 
 between two rival candidates to Congress, One of them 
 would speak in the morning, and then, after dinner, 
 his antagonist would reply. These entertainments 
 were free to all ; and the presence of the ladies pre- 
 vented any improper conduct. 
 
 What has been heretofore said, has had reference to 
 the mode of life in the middle and southern parts of 
 the State. The northern counties were settled by very 
 different people. They were, for the most part, from 
 the New England States, and brought with them, to 
 Illinois, much of sour austerity, gloomy puritanism, 
 and sectional fanaticism. They were chiefly Congrega- 
 tionalists, but many were Presbyterians, some Baptists, 
 and a few Universalists and Unitarians. Many of 
 them were abolitionists of the most bigoted class. 
 
 The foregoing observations, although written 
 mainly with reference to Illinois, apply with equal 
 truth, for the most part, to Indiana. 
 
 "With the introduction of railroads into all parts of 
 the States came a vast change in the habits of life, 
 manners, and customs of the people. The paths trod- 
 den by the footsteps of the Indian and the pioneer 
 settler were broken up, and were crossed and recrossed 
 
 by the iron track of an advancing civilization. Old 
 
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WESTERN COUNTRY BEFORE RAILROADS. 257 
 
 tilings were passing away; all things were to become 
 new. The old hunters were dying; the log-cabin and 
 the old Catholic church were crumbling into ruins; 
 and all the forms and modes of life in old Illinois were 
 passing away, never to return. People in all the Eas- 
 tern States began to hear of the wonderful fertility of 
 the plains of Illinois and Indiana, and emigrated there 
 by hundreds. It requireil three weeks of constant 
 travel, even by persons unencumbered with fiooks and 
 herds, to reach the prairie land. 
 
 The author, then a mere child, made the journey in 
 the year 1837. By railroad and canal from Philadel- 
 phia to Pittsburg, thence down the Ohio to Cincinnati, 
 thence by stage-coach through Columbus, Richmond, 
 Indianoplis, Terre Haute, and St. Louis. The memory 
 of that journey still remains, but how changed is every- 
 thing on the route. The wild and uncultivated coun- 
 try, the road here winding along some lonely stream, 
 there stretching in a straight line for miles without a 
 sign of a human habitation, the log-huts of the pioneer 
 settlers, the herds of deer, the tall grass of the prairies 
 waving in the breeze like the billows of the ocean ; all 
 these are now gone like an unsubstantial pageant faded, 
 and left not a trace behind. 
 
 Between us of the year 1 ■: 68 and Old Illinois there 
 lies a chasm which the prose of the historian can never 
 bridge. Only when we are out on the Grand Prairie, 
 in the month of June, far from the busy hum of men, 
 out of sight of all the works of man's hands, with the 
 bright prairie flowers around us, and no object in view 
 but the vast plain at our feet and the blue sky over 
 our heads, can we realize what Illinois was in 1836. ■ 
 17 
 
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25b EAILEOADS OF THK UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 THE RAILROADS OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 In 1836, the whole country was wild on the subject 
 of internal improvement, and the people of Illinois 
 partook of the prevailing excitement. The legisla- 
 ture passed acts incorporating the following railroad 
 companies : — 
 
 Miles. 
 The Illinois Central, to extend . . 300 
 The Galena and Chicago Union . . 175 
 The Chicago and Vincennes . . 240 
 
 The Springfield and bit. Louis . . 80 
 The St. Louis, Wabash and Lake Erie 250 
 
 Beades twenty-one other roads ; extending, in all, 
 three thousand two hundred and eighty -^even miles. 
 The twenty-one other roads were never built. 
 
 Mr. Stephen A. Douglas, afterwards the illustrious 
 Senator from Illinois, was at that time a member of 
 the State legislature. Ho was opposed to any system 
 of internal iuipiovements to which the State of Illinois 
 was to be merely a party. But he favored a plan by 
 which the State was to select some of the most import- 
 ant works, which were to be owned, constructed, and 
 operated by the agents of the State Government. The 
 following resolution, submitted by Mr. Douglas, indi- 
 cates hia policy : — 
 
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THE RAILROADS OF ILLINOIS. 259 
 
 Resolved, That the Committee on Internal Improve, 
 meats be instructed to report a bill for the commence- 
 ment of a general system of internal improvements, as 
 follows : — 
 
 1. For the completion of the Illinois and Michigan 
 Canal, to connect Lake Michigan with the waters of 
 the Mississippi, by means of the Illinois River. 
 
 2. For the construction of a railroad from the ter- 
 mination of the above canal, which was about at 
 Ottawa, in La Salle County, at the head of steamboat 
 navigation on the Illinois River, to the point nowr 
 occupied by Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio River. A 
 glance at the map will show that this was the route 
 which was afterwards taken by the Illinois Central 
 Railroad, from La Salle, on the Illinois River, to 
 Cairo; although the road extended much further norths 
 ward. 
 
 3. For the construction of a railroad from Quiney, 
 on the Mississippi River, about one hundred and 
 thirty miles above St. Louis, eastward to the State line, 
 in the direction of the Wabash and Erie Canal. This 
 road was never built. The Wabash and Erie Canal 
 extends from Toledo, in Ohio, through Indiana, along 
 the upper waters of the Wabash River, to Terre Haute. 
 It was of vast benefit to the inhabitants of Ohio and 
 Indiana, and if this proposed railroad had been con- 
 structed at that time, Illinois would have been greatly 
 enriched and benefited by the business which it would 
 have brought to the State. 
 
 4. For the improvement of the navigation of the 
 Illinois and Wabash Rivers. These rivers are both 
 navigable for steamboats ; the Illinois River, from its 
 
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260 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 mouth to Ottawa, a distance of two hundred and fifty 
 miles ; the Wabash, from its mouth to Lafayette, also a 
 distance of two hundred and fifty miles. It was of the 
 first importance that the navigation of these rivers 
 should be improved. 
 
 Resolved, That as the basis of the system, the im- 
 provements shall be constructed and owned exclusively 
 by the State. 
 
 But the plan of Mr. Douglas was rejected, because 
 the people at that time were wild with excitement, and 
 his proposal seemed to them to be entirely too mode- 
 rate. The people, in accordance with the gigantic views 
 of the day, demanded a hundred railroads, crossing 
 and interlacing each other in every direction. In the 
 year 1837, the gigantic system of internal improve- 
 ments, increase of banking capital, and subscription to 
 railroad stock by the State, which afterwards involved 
 the State in such trouble, was adopted by the legisla- 
 ture. The act provided for the construction of nine 
 long railroads, and made large appropriations in order 
 to aid in their construction. The appropriation for 
 what afterwards became the Illinois Central Railroad, 
 from Cairo to Galena, by way of Centralia, Decatur, 
 Bloomington, La Salle, and Freeport, was three mil- 
 lion five hundred thousand dollars. The other eight 
 railroads were never built. Aniong them all there 
 was no provision made for any railroad to or from 
 Chicago. The northern part of the State was as yet 
 very thinly settled, and Chicago was an insignificant 
 village. Few persons at that time dreamed of the 
 brilliant destiny that was in store for that wonderful 
 city. 
 
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THE RAILROADS OF ILLINOIS. 261 
 
 ■Railroads now in Operation. — The principal 
 railroads in Illinois now in operation, are the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 1. The Michigan Central, from Chicago to Detroit, 
 two hundred and eighty-two miles. 
 
 2. The Michigan Southern, from Chicago to Toledo, 
 two hundred and forty-two miles. 
 
 3. The Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago, from 
 Chicago to Pittsburg, four hundred and sixty-seven 
 miles. 
 
 4. The Great Western Eailroad of Illinois begins at 
 Quiacy on the Mississippi Eiver, and runs nearly east 
 through the State, passing through Springfield and 
 Decatur, and joining the Toledo, Wabash, and Western 
 Eailroad, which extends to Toledo, passing through 
 Lafayette and Fort Wayne, in Indiana. 
 
 5. The Terre Haute and St. Louis Eailroad, from 
 St. Louis to Terre Haute, directly across the State, and 
 crossing both branches of the Illinois Central Eoad. 
 
 6. The Ohio and Mississippi Eailroad, from St. Louis 
 to Cincinnati, running directly across the State, and 
 crossing the Illinois Central Eoad a little above the 
 fork, at Centralia. 
 
 7. The Illinois Central Eailroad, from Chicago to 
 Ciiiro on the Mississippi Eiver; and from Centralia to 
 Dunleith. The entire length of the road is seven hun- 
 dred and eight miles, all within the State of Illinois. 
 The Illinois Central Eailroad Company pays seven per 
 cent, of its earnings to the State. 
 
 8. The Chicago and St. Louis Eailroad, from Chi- 
 cago to St. Louis, two hundred and eighty-four miles, 
 passing through Bloomington and Springfield. 
 
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262 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 9. The Chicago, Burlington, and Quincj Railroad, 
 from Chicago to Quincy, on the Mississippi River, five 
 hundred and fifteen miles, including a branch to Bur- 
 lington. 
 
 10. The Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, from 
 Chicago to Rock Island, on the Mississippi River, one 
 hundred and eighty-two miles ; since extended some 
 distance west of Iowa City. 
 
 11. The Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, from 
 Chicago to Milwaukee, eighty-five miles; extended 
 thence to La Crosse. 
 
 12. The Chicago and North Western Railroad, from 
 Chicago to Oshkash, two hundred and thirty miles. 
 
 13. The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, from 
 Chicago to Dunleith, one hundred and forty-one miles. 
 This road has paid as high as twenty-one per cent, in 
 dividends to its stockholders, in a single year. 
 
 14. The Chicago and Fulton Air Line Railroad, from 
 Chicago to Fulton, on the Mississippi River, one hun- 
 dred and thirty-six miles. 
 
 The last four great roads have been consolidated for 
 some years past, and have been worked under ad- 
 mirable management and with great success, as the 
 Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. The President 
 is Hon. Wm. B. Ogden; and the General Superintendent 
 is George L. Dunlap, Esq., two of the most accom- 
 plished and efficient railroad men in the world, and 
 men of the same stamp for energy and enterprise as 
 John W. Garrett, of the Baltimore and Ohio road. 
 
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THE RAILROADS OF CHICAGO. 263 
 
 CHAPTEE XXV. 
 
 THE RAILROADS OF CHICAGO. 
 
 There is nothing more wonderflil in the history of 
 the United States than the growth of the City of Chi- 
 cago. Forty years ago, Chicago was a howling wil- 
 derness, where the red man and the buffalo roamed 
 undisturbed. Thirty years ago, there were white 
 people at Chicago, but it was a mere straggling 
 village, the population being one thousand four hun- 
 dred and seventy inhabitants. It was scarcely known 
 then, even by name in the Eastern and Middle States. 
 Two years later, in the year 1837, it was incorporated 
 as a city, with the Hon. Wra. B. Ogden as mayor ; but 
 the population then was only four thousand one hun- 
 dred and seventy souls. The city grew slowly at 
 first. In 18-iO, when General Harrison was elected 
 President of the United States, the population of Clii- 
 cago was four thousand four hundred and eighty-nine. 
 In lS43, the population was seven thousand five hun- 
 dred and eighty ; in 1844 it was eight thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty ; and in 1845 it was twelve thou- 
 sand. Even in 1847, twenty years ago, the population 
 was only seventeen thousand. In 1849 the popu- 
 lation amounted to twenty -three thousand, and from 
 that time it has increased rapidly. Its commercial 
 advantages began then to be appreciated, and from 
 
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264 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 that fime a steady stream of enterprising persons 
 from the east and south began to come to Chicago to 
 settle. At that time, too, the riiilroads of Illinois 
 began to be built, and some Of them were fairly under 
 way. 
 
 In 1850, when the Galena Railroad had been com- 
 pleted to Freeport, the population of Chicago was 
 twenty-eight thousand. In 1853, when the Michigan 
 Central and Michigan Southern Railroads had been 
 completed to Chicago; when considerable progress had 
 been made in the construction of the Illinois Central 
 Eailroad ; and when the Rock Island Railroad had 
 been commenced, the population of Chicago had in- 
 creased to sixty-six thousand. In 1854 it had in- 
 creased to seventy-four thoasand five hundred. In 
 1855, when the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy, the 
 Dixon air line, and the Chicago and Rock Island 
 Railroads were all completed, the population of Chi- 
 cago had increased to eighty-two thousand seven hun- 
 dred and fifty ; and in 1856 to ninety thousand. 
 
 At the present time, Chicago has a population of 
 nearly two hundred thousand ; its streets are well- 
 paved, and well- lighted at night, and it has an admira- 
 ble system of drainage. Its commerce amounts to 
 two hundred and fifty millions of dollars annually; its 
 harbor is one of the finest and most capacious in the 
 west, and is constantly crowded with vessels ; it is the 
 largest grain market, pork market, and lumber mar- 
 ket in the world; many of its churches and public 
 buildings, and private dwelling-houses, are equal to, if 
 they do not surpass, any similar buildings in New 
 York or Philadelphia ; two of its railroad depots far 
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THE RAILROADS OF CHICAGO, 265 
 
 surpass any similar buildings in the United States;' 
 and its best hotel, the Tremont House, is probably 
 the best in the United States, except the far-famed 
 Continental, of Philadelphia. 
 
 In the year 1866, there were manufactured at Chi- 
 cago four hundred and forty-four thousand five hun- 
 dred and twenty-four barrels of flour ; and during the 
 same year, one million seven hundred and eighty-four 
 thousand barrels"were exported. The receipts of wheat 
 during the same year amounted to twelve million 
 eight hundred and seventy-four thousand nine hun- 
 dred and thirty-four bushels ; and the exports of wheat 
 to nine million seven hundred and eleven thousand 
 two hundred and twenty-six bushels. The receipts of 
 corn in the same year amounted to thirty -three million 
 and seventy-three thousand bushels; and the exports 
 of corn to thirty-three million five hundred and forty 
 thousand bushels. 
 
 Such is Chicago in its commercial aspect ; and she 
 owes her unexampled growth, and the rapid develop- 
 ment of her resources, almost entirely to her railroads, 
 ■wli h ■ raver.sing the whole State, and indeed the whole 
 nonliwest, bring to her, and pour into her lap, the rich 
 treasures of those fertile regions. 
 
 Trunk Lines, Centering at Chicago. — There are 
 thirteen grand lines of railroads starting out from 
 Chicago from seven principal depots, as follows : — 
 
 1. To THE East. — The Michigan Central Railroad, 
 to Niagara Falls, New York, and Boston, by way of 
 Detroit, Suspension Bridge, and the New York Cen- 
 tral Railroad. Four trains daily leave the Depot of 
 the Illinois Central Railroad, at the foot of Lake Street, 
 
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266 RAILROADS OF THE TTNITED STATES. 
 
 at about 6 and 8 A. M., and at 5 and 10 P. M. Dif^- 
 tance to Detroit two hundred and eighty-four miles. 
 Running time twelve hours. Fare, eight dollars and 
 twenty-five cents. 
 
 2. To THE Bast. — The Michigan Southern Railroad, 
 to New York by way of Toledo, Cleveland, Dunkirk, 
 and the New York and Erie Railroad. Four trains 
 leave Chicago daily, at about 7 and 9 A. M., and 5 
 and 10 P. M. Distance to Toledo t'wo hundred and 
 forty-four miles. Running time eleven hours. Depot 
 corner Van Buren and Sherman Streets. 
 
 3. To THE East. — The Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and 
 Chicago Railroad, to Philadelphia, by way of Fort 
 Wayne, Crestline, Alliance, Pittsburg, A.ltoona, Har- 
 risburg, and Lancaster. Three trains daily, leave the 
 depot at Chicago, near Madison Street bridge on the 
 
 -west side, at about 7 A. M., and 5 and 10 P. M. Dis- 
 tance to Pittsburg, four hundred and sixty -eight miles. 
 Running time twenty hours, or about twenty-three 
 miles per hour. This is also a very popular route 
 from Chicago to New York, as the time and distance 
 are shorter than by any other route, and there is only 
 one change of cars between Chicago and New York. 
 Three express trains daily leave the depot of the 
 Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railroad, near 
 Madison Street bridge, and proceed as above to Har- 
 risburg, and thence to New York by way of Allen- 
 town and Easton. Distance from Chicago to New 
 York by this route, eight hundred and ninety-nine 
 miles. 
 
 4. To THE Southeast. — Chicago and Great Eastern 
 Railroad to Cincinnati, by way of Logansport and 
 
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THE RAILROADS OF CHICAGO. 267 
 
 Ki<ihmond. Distance two hundred and ninety-four 
 miles. Eunning^time, fifteen hours. Twc trains daily- 
 leave Chicago at about 6 A. M. and 9 P. M. Fare, 
 eleven dollars and forty-five cents. 
 
 5. To THE South.— The Louisville, New Albany, 
 and Chicago Railroad, to Louisville, by way of Lafay- 
 ette, Crawfordsville, Green Castle, and New Albany. 
 Two trains per day. 
 
 6. To THE South. — The Illinois Central- Eailroad 
 to New Orleans, Mobile, and Memphis. Two trains 
 daily leave the Illinois Central Depot, foot of Lake 
 Street, at about 9 A. M. and 10 P. M. Running time 
 to Cairo, nineteen hours ; distance three hundred and 
 sixty-five miles. 
 
 7. To THE Southwest. — The Chicago and St. Louis 
 Eailroad, to St. Louis, by way of Bloomington, Spring- 
 field, and Alton. Two trains daily leave Chicago, 
 from depot on West Division, near Madison Street 
 bridge, at about 8 A. M. and 8 P. M. Distance to 
 St. Louis, two hundred and eighty miles. Running 
 time, thirteen hours. 
 
 8. To the West. — Chicago, Eock Island and Pacific 
 Railroad, to Fort Des Moines, by way of Davenport 
 and Iowa City. Distance to Kellogg Station, which is 
 seventy-six miles west of Iowa City, three hundred and 
 fifteen miles. Two trains daily leave Chicago for Rock 
 Island and Davenport, on the Mississippi River, one of 
 which runs through to Kellogg. Running time to Rock 
 Island, eight hours and a half. The depot at Chicago 
 ia on the corner of Van Buren and Sherman Streets. 
 
 9. To the West. — ^^The Chicago, Burlington, and 
 Quincy Railroad, to the towns of Burlington and Quin- 
 
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268 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 cy, on the Mississippi River. Distance to Burlington, 
 two hundred and ten miles; to Quincy, two hundred 
 and sixty-five miles. Running time to Burlington, 
 eleven hours. Two trains leave Chicago daily, about 
 8 A. M., and 10 P. M. Fare to Burlington eight 
 dollars. 
 
 10. To THE West. — The Chicago, Council Bluffs, 
 and Omaha line of the Chicago and Northwestern 
 Railway, to Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the Missouri River, 
 without change of cars. 'Distance to Council Bluffs, 
 four hundred and eighty-eight miles. Two trains leave 
 Chicago daily at about three and eleven P. M., cross- 
 ing the Mississippi River on a fine railroad bridge. 
 This is really the commencement, or eastern section, of 
 the Pacific Railroad. 
 
 11. To THE West. — The Galena and Chicago Union 
 Railroad, to Dubuque, by way of Freeport. Two trains 
 leave Chicago daily, at about 9 A. M. and 10 P. M. 
 from the depot corner of Wells and Water Streets, in 
 the North Division, near Wells Street bridge. Distance 
 to Freeport, one hundred and twenty mites. Running 
 time, six hours and a half. 
 
 12. To the Northwest. — The Chicago and North- 
 western Railroad, to Fort Howard, at the head of 
 Green Bay in Wisconsin, by way of Crystal Lake, 
 Janesville, Fond-du-lac, and Oshkash. Distance to 
 Fort Howard, two hundred and forty-two miles. 
 Running time, twelve hours and a half Two trains 
 leave Chicago daily, from the depot in Kinzie Street, 
 in the North Division, north of Lake Street Bridge, 
 at about 9 A. M., and 4.30 P. M. The trains for Be- 
 loit leaves at 4.30 P. M. 
 
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THE RAILROADS OF CHICAGO. 269 
 
 13. To THE North. — The Milwaukee Division of 
 the Chicago and Northwestern Eailway. Six pas- 
 senger trains leave Chicago daily on this road, namely 
 for Milwaukee at 9 A. M., 3.45 P. M., and 11.45 P. M. 
 for Evanston at 1.30 P. M. ; for Kenosha at 4.40 P. M. 
 and for Waukegan at 5.30 P. M. 
 
 The four roads last mentioned are embraced among 
 those of the consolidated Chicago and Northwestern 
 Eailroad Company. 
 
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270 RAILROADS OF THK UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 
 
 We will now present to the reader the most re- 
 markable illustration of the benefits of railroad consoli- 
 dation which this volume affords. 
 
 The Pacific Eailroad — for there is only one, as will 
 be presently shown, in another Chapter on "The 
 Pacific Eailroad" — the Pacific Railroad begins at 
 Chicago, on what was formally the Dixon and Fulton 
 Air-line Railroad ; crosses the Mississippi River at 
 Fulton; runs across the whole State of .Iowa on what 
 was formerly the Chicago, Iowa, and Nebraska Rail- 
 road, to Council Bluffs, and there crosses the Missouri 
 River at Omaha. It then proceeds along the north 
 side of the Platte River, and through Nebraska to 
 Salt Lake City. The distance from Chicago to Council 
 Bluff's is about five hundred miles, and this forms a 
 part of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. 
 
 The lines of railroad which are now consolidated, 
 and worked as the Chicago and Northwestern Rail- 
 road, are as follows : — 
 
 1. The Wisconsin Division, being the old 
 main line of the road, extending from Chicago 
 to Fort Howard, at the head of Green Bay, by 
 way of Janesville, Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, and Miles. 
 Appleton 242 
 
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CHICAGO AND NOBTHWESTBRN RAILROAD. 211 
 
 2. The Kenosha Division, extending from 
 Kenosha on Lake Michigan, to Eockford, the Miles, 
 point of junction with the old Galena road . 73 
 
 3. The Gralena Division, consisting, first of 
 the original Galena and Chicago Union Rail- 
 road, extending from the Junction, a point 
 thirty miles west of Chicago, to Freeport, by 
 way of Elgin, Belvidere, and Eockford, ninety- 
 one miles ; second, of the Dixon and Fulton Air- 
 line Eailroad, extending from Chicago due west 
 to Clinton on the Mississippi Eiver, by way of 
 the Junction, Geneva, and Dixon, one hundred 
 and thirty-eight miles ; and third, the road from 
 Elgin to Richmond, thirty-three miles, and the 
 South Branch track at Chicago, five miles, mak- 
 ing in all 268 
 
 4. The Madison Division, being the Beloit 
 and Madison Eailroad, from Belvidere to Madi- 
 son, by way of Beloit ..... 69 
 
 5. The Iowa Division, consisting of the Cedar 
 Eapids and Missouri Eiver Eailroad, extending 
 from Clinton on the Mississippi Eiver, one hun- 
 dred and thirty-seven miles west of Chicago, to 
 Council Bluffs, on the Missouri Eiver, in Iowa, 
 
 by way of Cedar Eapids and Boonsboro . . 352 
 
 6. The Milwaukee Division, from Chicago to 
 Milwaukee 85 
 
 7. The Peninsula Division, consisting of the 
 Peninsula Eailroad of Michigan, extending from 
 the harbor of Escanaba, at the mouth of Green 
 Bay, to the Cleveland and Great Jackson iron 
 mines ....■••• ''^ 
 
 Total 116^ 
 
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272 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The above railroads constitute five great lines radi- 
 ating from Chicago from west to north, as follows : — 
 
 Miles. 
 
 1. The road from Chicago to Milwaukee . 85 
 
 2. The road from Chicago to the head of Green 
 Bay 242 
 
 3. The road from Chicago to Madison, by way 
 
 of Elgin, Belvidere, and Beloit .... 147 
 
 4. The road from Chicago to Freeport, by way 
 
 of Elgin, Belvidere, and Rockford . . . 121 
 
 5. The road from Chicago to Council Bluffs on 
 the Missouri River, by way of Dixon, Fulton, 
 Clinton, Cedar Rapids, and Boonsbgro, cross- 
 ing the Mississippi River at Clinton . . .491 
 
 If the reader will now examine a map of the States 
 of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, he will see that these 
 railroads traverse and completely drain the richest and 
 most fertile portion of the great northwest. These 
 three States, as has been shown on a previous page, are 
 the great wheat growing, corn growing, and hog rais- 
 ing States of the West ; and the whole of Iowa, the 
 southern half of Wisconsin, and the northern half of 
 Illinois, are drained of their rich productions, by these 
 long lines of.railroads, with their lateral branches. 
 
 The consolidation of the above railroads under one 
 organization, dates from a recent period ; and it will 
 be necessary therefore to speak of the origin of each 
 road separately. 
 
 The bright future that lay before the Western States 
 was clearly perceived, at a very early period, by the 
 first settlers of those wild aud uncultivated regions. 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 2T3 
 
 In the year 1836, travellers who came to Chicago by 
 land, entered that village, as it was then, in the Great 
 Eastern mail stage, which was sometimes an actual 
 stage coach, and at others a common wagon with a 
 canvas cover. This stage coach, with a baggage wagon 
 added sometimes, brought all the travellers from the 
 east, except those who came on the lake schooners. 
 Chicago was then a primitive village, with 1470 inhab- 
 itants. A wooden block-house, called Foi't Dearborn, 
 at the mouth of the Chicago Eiver, and which was still 
 f tanding as late as 1856, was the headquarters of a gar- 
 1 i-;on of United States troops, whose presence was ab- 
 solutely necessary to protect the people from the attacks 
 of Iirlians. The latter were quite numerous in the 
 neighborhood, and were of an exceedingly treacherous 
 and bloodthirsty disposition. 
 
 In the fall of 1836, there were farming settlements 
 near Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee. There were 
 probably twenty families on Fox River, from Burling- 
 ton to Waukesha. There were twenty-seven in "Wal- 
 worth County. On *Roek River, there were five fami- 
 lies at Beloit, three at Watertown, two at or near Janes- 
 ville, and two at Fort Atkinson. The number of souls, 
 at that time, from the settlements by the Lake Shore 
 to Mineral Point and Dodgeville, could not have ex- 
 ceeded three hundred and fifty, nearly all of whom 
 came in the same season. Travellers from place to 
 place made their way by Indian trails, which were 
 numerous, and about six inches in depth and eighteen 
 in width. 
 
 During the years 1836 and 1837, there was not a 
 giispei minister residing between the villages on the 
 
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274 KAtLROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 shore of Lake Miohigan and the mineral region, a dis- 
 tance of one hundred and twenty-five miles. 
 
 At that early day, the project of constructing a rail- 
 road from Chicago westward across the northern part 
 of the State of Illinois, to the Mississippi River, was 
 conceived by some of the citizens of Chicago. They 
 applied to the legislature of the State, and obtained a 
 charter for that purpose, under the name of the Galena 
 and Chicago Union Railroad Company. At that time 
 there were- less than a thousand miles of railroad con- 
 structed in the United States. The Baltimore and 
 Ohio Road had been built from Baltimore to Washing- 
 ton, and from Baltimore to Harper's Ferry, and had 
 been surveyed as far as Cumberland. The Pennsyl- 
 vania Railroad had been built from Philadelphia to 
 Columbia, on the Susquehanna River; and there were 
 a few short railroads in the south. 
 
 Their charter gave the Galena and Chicago Union 
 Railroad Company of Illinois power to construct a 
 railroad from Chicago to Galena, and to construct, 
 maintain, and use such other lateral routes of road as 
 the Company might deem advantageous, expedient, 
 and necessary. The corporation was authorized to 
 unite (the word " consolidate" not having at that time 
 been applied to railroads) with any other railroad com- 
 pany already incorporated, or which might be incor- 
 porated, on such terms as might be agreed upon by 
 the directors of the companies so uniting; and also to 
 construct such other lateral routes as might be neces- 
 sary to connect these united roads with any other rail- 
 road routes that might be deemed expedient. 
 
 Under this charter, the Galena and Chicago Union 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 275 
 
 Eailroad Company, in 1847, commenced the construc- 
 tion of the present line of road from Chicago, via Elgin, 
 Belvidere, and Rookford, to Freeport, and by February, 
 1850, had completed its first forty-two miles from Chi- 
 cago to Elgin, and thereafter extended that line of its 
 road to Eockford and to Freeport, from whence it 
 yielded its right of construction to Galena to the " Illi- 
 nois Central Railroad," and unfortunately lost thereby 
 the control of the direction of the business of the Mis- 
 sissippi River at Dunleith and Galena. 
 
 Soon after completing the road to Freeport, the error 
 in losing the control of the Mississippi River business, 
 by surrendering it to the " Illinois Central Railroad," 
 became so apparent, and the Mississippi River connec- 
 tion so important, that the Galena and Chicago Union 
 Railroad Company sought a remedy and relief in the 
 construction of another line of road, as authorized 
 under their charter, from the Junction, so called, about 
 thirty miles west of Chicago, on a line due west 
 through Geneva and Dixon to the Mississippi River 
 at Fulton, now commonly called the " Dixon Air-Line," 
 and an air-line it almost literally is, reducing the dis- 
 tance from Chicago to the Mississippi River, on this 
 now much the most important line of road,, then owned 
 by the Galena Company, to less than one hundred and 
 thirty-eight miles. 
 
 While constructing this air-line road, the Galena 
 Company thought proper to consolidate with the Mis- 
 sissippi and Rock River Junction Railroad Company, 
 which latter Company was incorporated by the State 
 of Illinois on the 15th of February, 1851, and its 
 charter amended by an act approved June 21st, 1852, 
 
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276 HAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and again on the 28th of February, 1854, and whose 
 charter contained powers at that time desirable to pos- 
 sess, including ample powers of consolidation. 
 
 By an act of the Legislature of the State of Illinois, 
 approved February 25th, 1854, the Galena and Chicago 
 Union Kailroad Company' was authorized to connect 
 its (air-line) road by lease, purchase, or consolidation, 
 with any railroad extending to the Mississippi Kiver 
 at or near Fulton. Under these powers, and under 
 the general law of the State of Illinois authorizing the 
 consolidation of railroads, the Galena and Chicago 
 Union Railroad Company and the Mississippi and 
 Eock Eiver Junction Eailroad Company, on the 9th 
 of January, 1855, united and consolidated their roads, 
 under the name of the Galena and Chicago Union Rail- 
 road Company. 
 
 Under this consolidation, the air-line road was 
 constructed to Fulton ; and by an act of the Legisla- 
 ture of the State of Illinois, approved February 15th, 
 1855, the articles of agreement and consolidation, 
 made and executed between the two companies, were 
 not only sanctioned, confirmed, and approved, but it 
 was especially declared in the act that thenceforward 
 all the immunities, franchises, and privileges granted 
 to either of the two companies should be united and 
 consolidated in the one consolidated company, and the 
 capital stock of the two companies should be blended 
 in one capital stock. 
 
 Under the powers possessed by the Mississippi and 
 Eock Eiver Junction Railroad Company, which powers 
 were by the act of February 15, 1855, declared to be 
 conferred upon the consolidated Galena and Chicao-o 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD, 277 
 
 Union Eailroad Company, the last-named Company 
 acquired and exercised a rigkt which it did not other- 
 wise possess, to increase its capital stock, and also the 
 right to consolidate its stock and franchises with the 
 stock and franchises of any other railroad company. 
 
 After completing its air line of road to the Missis- 
 sippi River at Fulton, and about the 3d of July, 1862, 
 the Galena Company obtained a perpetual lease of the 
 franchises of the Albany Bridge Company, having the 
 right to maintain a ferry or build a bridge across the 
 Mississippi River, from a point near Fulton, to Clinton 
 in the State of Iowa ; and also a lease of the Chicago, 
 Iowa, and Nebraska Railroad, extending west from 
 Clinton, on the west bank of the Mississippi River, to 
 Cedar Rapids, in Iowa, a distance of eighty-two miles, 
 and also a lease of the Cedar Rapids and Missouri 
 River Railroad, the line of which extends westward 
 from Cedar Rapids to the Missouri River opposite 
 Omaha, and opposite the Pacific Railroad Depot at 
 Omaha. 
 
 Only a small portion of the Cedar Rapids and Mis- 
 souri River Railroad, however, was constructed at the 
 time of making the lease ; but the whole road has since 
 been fully completed to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri 
 River. 
 
 These leased roads and the ferry were operated by 
 the Galena Company from and after the date of the 
 leases. 
 
 Just previous to the consolidation of the Galena 
 
 Company with the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad 
 
 Company, in June, 1864, the Galena Company had 
 
 commenced the construction of a bridge over the Mis- 
 
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278 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sissippi River at Clinton, which bridge has since been 
 completed by the Chicago and Northwestern Company, 
 and is the second bridge built over that river below 
 St. Paul, the bridge at -Rock Island being the first. 
 
 The extension of the Cedar Rapids and Missouri 
 River Railroad to Boonsboro', and to the abundant 
 coal fields on the Des Moines River, in that vicinity, is 
 a matter of great value and importance to the Company 
 in the economical operation of this entire line of road, 
 running through a country so rich in productions and 
 so destitute of wood. 
 
 The Company now enjoys in this direction a con- 
 tinuous and almost air-line of road, running due west 
 through a country of extraordinary richness and fer- 
 tility, from Chicago to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri 
 River, a distance of four hundred and ninety-one 
 miles. 
 
 In 1847, the route of the Galena Railroad, from Chi- 
 cago to Ereeport, was surveyed by Richard P. Morgan, 
 an eminent engineer, who says in his interesting 
 report :— 
 
 "Instead of crossing high mountains and barren 
 plains, the Galena and Chicago Railroad passes through 
 one of the most fertile countries on the globe, where 
 every man will rejoice in its construction and con- 
 tribute all he is able for the purpose. Instead of stag- 
 nation and opposition, as in Massachusetts, during the 
 interval between its commencement and completion, 
 its population and wealth will increase by anticipation, 
 and the accumulated products of industry and enter- 
 prise will throng the railroad immediately upon its 
 goiag into operation. Settlers now avoid coming on 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 279 
 
 to lauds of the utmost fertility and possessing every 
 good quality they can wish for, if compelled to sacri- 
 fice all they can make in hauling their products to 
 market. It is a fact well known, and frequently ad- 
 verted to, that a farmer near Rock River expends as 
 much in getting his wheat to market as all other ex- 
 penses of ploughing, sowing, harvesting and threshing. 
 To build the Galena Road is to ofter an annuity of 
 one hundred and fifty dollars to every farmer within 
 twenty miles of it, who lives forty miles from Chicago. 
 If it could be completed by 1850, and if it could be 
 known that such would be the case, it is a moral cer- 
 tainty that an amount of agricultural and mineral pro- 
 ducts would be awaiting its operation, equal to lyhat 
 is assumed in the estimate as the business of a large 
 portion of the year. It is not, however, from these 
 causes alone that the increase of population, instead of 
 going on in a decreasing ratio, will proceed with as 
 much rapidity as for years past; the railroad will offer 
 a thousand inducements to enterprise that cannot now 
 exist; much fine water power lying useless will be 
 applied to various purposes ; a new stimulus will be 
 given to manufacturing and mechanical labor, and by 
 establishing numerous branches of business, which 
 could not otherwise exist, will continue to create new 
 trafiSc and rapidly accelerate the period when Nortli- 
 ern Illinois will take the first rank in wealth and 
 importance." 
 
 These anticipations were more than realized, even 
 in the first few years after the completion of the road. 
 
 The road was completed to Freeport, one hundred 
 and twenty-one miles from Chicago, in September, 1851. 
 
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280 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 la 1850 the number of passengers carried was sixty- 
 nine thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, their 
 fare amounting to fitty-six thousand four hundred and 
 seventy-two dollars; and the whole receipts of the 
 road being one hundred and twenty-seven thousand 
 six hundred and eighty-seven dollars. In 1851, the 
 number of passengers carried was ninety-one thousand 
 nine hundred and twenty. The amount received from 
 passengers was eighty-five thousand one hundred and 
 seventy-six dollars, and from freight one hundred and 
 twenty-five thousand eight hundred and five dollars; 
 and the total receipts of the road were two hundred 
 and twelve thousand three hundred and ten dollars. 
 Now mark the increase. In 1852, the number of pas- 
 sengers was two hundred and thirty-eight thousand 
 two hundred and ninety-six ; the amount received 
 from passengers was three hundred and thirty-nine 
 thousand nine hundred and ninety-six dollars; from 
 freight four hundred and fifty-nine thousand and^even- 
 teen dollars ; and the total receipts of the road were 
 seven hundred and ninety-nine thousand and thirteen 
 dollars. Such a result was truly gratifying and en- 
 couraging. Twenty-one miles of the Beloit branch of 
 the road were completed and opened for business 
 during this year. The equipment of the road at this 
 time consisted of thirty locomotives, thirty passenger 
 cars, and about four hundred freight cars. 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 281 
 
 CHAPTEE XXyil. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD : CONTINUED, 
 
 The business of the road for 1853 was equally 
 good, and in 1854 there was another large increase. 
 The number of passengers carried was four hundred 
 and six thousand six hundred and ninety -eight ; the 
 amount received from passengers was six hundred and 
 twenty-nine thousand six hundred, and ninety -two dol- 
 lars ; and from freight eight hundred and seventy-seven 
 thousand and seventeen dollars ; and the total receipts 
 of the road were a million and a half of dollars 
 (namely, $1,506,710). The business of the road 
 steadily increased during the succeeding two years. 
 In lb55, the receipts irom passengers were eight hun- 
 dred and eighty thousand four hundred and ten dol- 
 lars ; and from freight nearly a million and a half of 
 dollars (namely, $1,435,876); and, the total receipts of 
 the road were considerably over two millions of dol- 
 lars (namely, $2,315,787). In 1856, tlie receipts from 
 passengers were nearly a million of dollars (namely, 
 $906,069) ; and from freight a million and' a lialf of 
 dollars .namely, $1,510,275); and the total receipts of 
 the road were nearly two niillions and a half of dollars 
 (namely, $_',416,34-1). 
 
 In 1857, the great financial panic took place in the 
 west, and of course this railroad was seriously affected 
 by it. During this year, the receipts from passengers 
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2S2 KAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 were only half a million of dollars (namely, $522,187) 
 and from freight a little over a million dollars (namely, 
 1,118,620); and the total receipts of the road were 
 one million six hundred and forty thousand eight hun- 
 dred and seven dollars. The equipment of the road 
 at this time included sixty locomotives, fifty passenger 
 cars, and twelve hundred freight cars. 
 
 Large expenditures had been made, each year, in 
 the improvemeut of the track and buildings, and 
 everything about the road was by this time in splendid 
 order. The fencing of the entire line was completed. 
 It had been found that in the winter, during heavy 
 snow storms, the snow drifted many feet high, and 
 covered the track in certain places. These places, 
 therefore, were protected by building a high and 
 strong board fence on each side of the track, behind 
 which the snow drifted, instead of covering the track. 
 
 The financial depression continued during the year 
 1858, and was aggravated by a scanty crop of wheat 
 in the Western States. The receipts from passengers 
 during this year were four hundred and seventy-two 
 thousand two hundred and sixty-nine dollars ; from 
 freight one million seventy-five thousand two hundred 
 and ninety -two dollars ; and the total receipts were one 
 million five hundred and forty-seven thousand five 
 hundred and sixty-one dollars. The receipts for the 
 succeeding years were as follows : — 
 
 
 Passengers. 
 
 Freight and Mails. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1858 . 
 
 . $472,269 
 
 $1,075,292 
 
 $1,547,561 
 
 1859 . 
 
 . 397,402 
 
 972,039 
 
 1,369,441 
 
 1860 . 
 
 . 341,384 
 
 1,120,367 
 
 1,462,752 
 
 1861 . 
 
 . 338,851 
 
 1,381,845 
 
 1,720,396 
 
 1862 . 
 
 . 389,833 
 
 1,387,708 
 
 1,777,541 
 
 H63 . 
 
 . 496,316 
 
 1^696,979 
 
 2,193,295 
 
CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN EAILROAB. 283 
 
 Previous to the year 1854, the Galena and Chicago 
 Kailroad Company constructed and corupleted the 
 road from Helvidere to Beloit, a distance ol' twenty- 
 one miles, calling it the Beloit Branch ; and in ISoi 
 they entered into a contract or lease with the Beloit 
 and Madison Railroad Louipany, for the construction 
 of the line from Beloit to Madison, the capital of Wis- 
 consin, a distance of forty -seven miles. That Company, 
 although materially aided by the Galena Company, 
 failed to complete its road, and was subsequently 
 leased to the Galena and Chicago Company in perpe- 
 tuity. The lease bound the latter Company to equip 
 and maintain the road permanently. 
 
 The Company also, previous to 1857, became identi- 
 fied with the construction of the Fox Eiver Valley 
 Eailroad, and in fact became the lessees of that road. 
 Its name, at the time of the lease, was changed to that 
 of the Elgin and State Line Railroad. It extends from 
 Elgin, northward, to Richmond, near the north line of 
 the State of Illinois. It is thirty-three miles long, and 
 by the consolidation of the Chicago and Northwestern 
 Eailroad Company with the Galena Company, is now 
 the property of, and is controlled by the former Com- 
 pany. 
 
 The Galena and Chicago Union Eailroad Company, 
 also, some years since purchased the entire rights and 
 franchises of the St. Charles and Mississippi Air-Line 
 Railroad Company, including all its road and track then 
 constructed, and its right of way and depot grounds, 
 paying a large price for the same. Only about nine 
 miles of this road from the south branch of the Chi- 
 cago River to Harlem, on the Galena road, was ever 
 
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284 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 constructed, and this the Galena road used chiefly as 
 a connecting track with the other roads in the city of 
 Chicago. 
 
 That part of this St. Charles and Mississippi Air- 
 Line Railroad which extended between the western 
 limits of the city of Chicago and Harlem, has been 
 removed by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad 
 Company, since its consolidation with the Galena; and 
 a new track, commencing near the west line of the 
 city of Chicago, at the present western terminus of this 
 St. Charles road, and extending north parallel with, 
 and a little west of and outside of the western limits 
 of the city, to the main track of the Galena road, has 
 been constructed, making a shorter and more con- 
 venient connection with other roads than formerly ex- 
 isted by way of Harlem. This connecting track is 
 now being extended still farther north, to the track of 
 the original Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, now 
 the Wisconsin Division of the present Chicago and 
 Northwestern Railroad, and to the track of the Mil- 
 waukee Division of the same road (formerly the Chi- 
 cago and Milwaukee Railroad). It will thus form a 
 very complete and desirable outside connection between 
 all the railroads of the city. 
 
 The long-continued, unwise, and injurious competi- 
 tion which existed between the Galena and the North, 
 western Railroads at their several points of contact, and 
 which seemed to be chronic, and not likely to termi- 
 nate, and which induced the companies to give too 
 much of their time and attention to the control or con- 
 struction of inferior, rival, and illegitimate lines, natur- 
 ally gave rise to proposals for the combination of these 
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CHICAGO AND N-QETHWESTERN RAILROAD. 285 
 
 two lines as the only certain and permanent remedy 
 for the loss of earnings and increase of expenses re- 
 sulting from the senseless but apparently unavoidable 
 competition which existed. The stockholders of both 
 roads were consulted. They very generally and cor- 
 dially consented to and approved of a consolidation, 
 in the manner and on the terms on which it was 
 effected and cai-ried out on the 2d of June, 1864. 
 
 In making the consolidation, these two companies 
 had the benefit of the example of some of the oldest 
 and wealthiest roads in the United States. The first 
 great leading example of railroad consolidation was 
 the New York Central Railroad, which corporation 
 now includes not less than ten original different railroad 
 companies, some of which were utterly worthless as 
 sources of income previous to consolidation; all of 
 which are, by consolidation, made valuable and highly 
 appreciated income paying property. 
 
 The great New York and Erie Railroad was never 
 a reliable dividend paying road, until the various 
 roads leading from it to New York, to Buffalo, and to 
 other places, had been consolidated with it. The 
 Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railroad, now 
 paying full interest upon all its securities, and ten per 
 cent, dividends upon all its sjock, and with a large 
 surplus of net earnings beyond, with which it is con- 
 stantly perfecting itself and adding to its machinery 
 and facilities for doing business, is largely indebted 
 for its great prosperity and success to the consolida- 
 tion and reorganization into it of the several original, 
 comparatively inferior, and non-dividend paying com- 
 panies which now compose it. The same is eminently: 
 
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286 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the case with the now largely profitable Chicago and 
 St. Louis Railroad, now paying handsome dividends to 
 its stockholders. 
 
 The great Pennsylvania Central Railroad, now com- 
 prising the most extensive combination of railroad 
 lines under one control in the United States, is indebted, 
 in good part, for its present great prosperity, and for 
 the enormous earnings upon its main line of nearly 
 forty thousand dollars per mile every year, to the busi- 
 ness secured to it by the control which it has acquired 
 over its various extensions and lateral routes. 
 
 The Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, 
 through its series of consolidations, purchases, and con- 
 struction, has made itself one of the largest earning and 
 best paying roads in the United States. 
 
 To the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad itself, 
 the advantages that have resulted from the consolida- 
 tion have proved to be all that were anticipated. By 
 it the management of the respective roads and of the 
 consolidated line has been improved, the uses of the 
 engines and cars extended, and the earnings of the 
 road largely increased, and the ability of the Company 
 to trainfl'i- their engines and cars to the different lines 
 of the road, where they are most required, has proved 
 a great benefit to its interests. The general facilities 
 of the consolidated roads in the way of connections 
 with all other roads terminating in Chicago, for the in- 
 terchange and transfer of freight, cars, and engines, and 
 for the general interchange of all business transactions 
 with those roads, have been largely increased and 
 muuh economized by the consolidation. It is the in- 
 tention of the Company to establish one general Central 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 287 
 
 Depot and Passenger House for the accommodation of 
 its different lines of road. As soon as this is done the 
 business of them all can be conducted there with the 
 ease of one road, and with a very large reduction in 
 the expense of management incurred by these lines 
 previous to consolidation. 
 
 The increased earnings of these roads since the con- 
 solidation, and in great part resulting from it, clearly 
 indicate the wisdom and good policy of that step, and 
 the officers of the Company are perfectly confident that 
 when they shall have perfected their new orgahizations 
 and appointments, and the economical plans for the 
 conduct of the business of the consolidated roads, and 
 as soon as labor and material shall return to fair prices, 
 they will be enabled, if supplied with an equipment 
 sufficient to transact the business offering, to reduce 
 their tariff on freight and passengers to a very mode- 
 rate rate, and to furnish increased facilities for trade 
 and travel to all the country and people doing business 
 with them to their entire satisfaction ; and yet be able 
 to make full and regular payments of interests and 
 dividends to all of their bond-holders and stock- 
 holders. 
 
 Soon after the commencement of the construction of 
 the Galena road, in 1847, the officers of that Company 
 visited Janesville, Mineral Point, and other places in 
 Wisconsin, soliciting aid and co-operation in their 
 efibrts, and proposing branches and extensions of their 
 line of road, from the line between Chicago and Galena 
 then in process of construction to Beloit, Janesville, 
 Madison and beyond, being substantially the same 
 
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288 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 lateral route subsequently adopled and now occupied 
 by the Chicago and Northwestern Railway. 
 
 Incited by these offers and promises of co-operation, 
 the people of "Wisconsin, living upon the line of the 
 route of road above suggested, were prompted to pro- 
 cure an act incorporating the Madison and Beloit Rail- 
 road Company of Wisconsin, which act was approved 
 August 19th,- 1848. 
 
 Under this act, and the- several acts amendatory 
 thereof, containing full and ample powers, said Com- 
 pany was authorized to construct and operate a rail- 
 road from Beloit, or from any other point on the north 
 line of the State of Illinois, via Janesville, Madison, 
 and La Crosse, to a point on the Mississippi Eiver, at 
 the line of territory, now State of Minnesota, near St. 
 Paul, and also from Janesville to Fond du Lac. And 
 by an act of the Legislature of the State of Wisconsin, 
 approved February 9th, 1850, the name of the Madison 
 and Beloit Railroad Company was changed to that of 
 the Rock River Valley Union Railroad Company, and 
 its powers extended. 
 
 The oiScers of this Company repeatedly sought in- 
 terviews with the Galena Company, for the purpose of 
 securing the proposed co-operation of that Company 
 in the construction of the proposed branch or lateral 
 line of road from the Galena and Chicago line, then in 
 process of construction, to the State line of Wisconsin, 
 there to connect with the said Madison and Beloit or 
 Rock Eiver Valley Company of Wisconsin. 
 
 Becoming, finally, displeased with the result of these 
 interviews, the officers of ' the Wisconsin Company 
 sought and obtained, from the legislature of the State 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 289 
 
 ot Illinois, an act, approved February 12th, 1851, in- 
 corporating the Illinois and Wisconsin liailroad Com- 
 pany, with powers under the said act, and the several 
 acts amendatory thereof, to construct and operate a rail- 
 road from the city of Chicago to the north line of the 
 State of Illinois, and to unite and consolidate with any 
 railroad company then incorporated, or which might be 
 thereafter incorporated in the State of Wisconsin ; and 
 the work of construction upon this line of road, from 
 Chicago northwest to the State line of Wisconsin, was 
 commenced. 
 
 By a subsequent act of the State of Wisconsin, ap- 
 proved March 10th, 1855, the Illinois and Wisconsin 
 Railroad Company and the Rock River Valley Union 
 Railroad Company were authorized to consolidate the 
 stock property aod franchises of the two corporations, 
 and to take such corporate name as the Board of Di- 
 rectors of the consolidated corporation might select, 
 and all the powers, franchises and immunities possessed 
 by either of said corporations were granted to the con- 
 solidated corporation. 
 
 On the 30th March, 1855, the consolidation of these 
 two roads was perfected, and all the powers, property 
 and franchises of the two corporations thereupon be- 
 came vested in the consolidated corporation thereby 
 created and called the Chicago, St. Paul, and Fond du 
 Lac Railroad Company. 
 
 The object and desire of the Chicago, St. Paul, and 
 Fond du Lac Railroad Company from the beginning 
 was the extension of their line of road from Janesville 
 northwest, via Madi.^on and La Crosse, to St. Paul, and 
 from Janesville north along the valley of Rock River 
 
 19 
 
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290 RAILKOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 to Fond du Lac, and to the greJtt iron and copper re- 
 gions of Lake Superior. 
 
 Application was made to Congress for a grant of 
 lands in aid ot both these lines of road, which grant, 
 chiefly through the efforts of the Chicago, St. Paul, 
 and Fond du Lac Kailroad Company, was obtained in 
 June, 1856, at which time Congress granted six sec- 
 tions (three thousand eight hundred and forty acres) 
 per mile to the State of Wisconsin, to be used in aid 
 of the construction of those lines of road. 
 
 An extra session of the legislature of the State of 
 Wisconsin was called in September or October, 1856, 
 at which a contest arose between different railroad 
 companies seeking to have these lands conferred upon 
 them by the State. 
 
 The result was, that the lands upon the northwestern 
 line were given by the State to the La Crosse and M - 
 waukee Railroad Company, and the lands upon the 
 northern line, from Fond du Lac to the north line of 
 the State, in the direction of Lake Superior, were 
 granted by the State to the Wisconsin and Superior 
 Railroad Company, a corporation created at that ses- 
 sion of the legislature of the State of Wisconsin, by 
 an act approved October 11th, 1856, thus depriving 
 the Chicago, St. Paul, and Fond du Lac Railroad Com- 
 pany of the grant of lands mainly if not wholly ob- 
 tained by their efforts, and granted in aid of the lines 
 adopted and then in process of construction by said 
 Company. 
 
 The charter of the Wisconsin and Superior Railroad 
 Company,, which contained very broad general, detailed 
 and extraordinary powers, and which authorized the 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 291 
 
 construction of a railroad from tbe city of Fond du Luc 
 to the north line of the State of Wisconsin, and a 
 branch from the main line to some point on the Michi- 
 gan State line, also authorized the consolidation of the 
 riglits and franchises of the Wisconsin and Superior 
 Railroad Company with any railroad company in the 
 State of Michigan ;_and by the general railroad law of the 
 State of ^f ichigan, any railroad company of that State 
 was authorized to consolidate its stock and franchises 
 with any other railroad company in or out of said 
 State, forming together a continuous line. 
 
 By virtue of an act of the legislature of Wisconsin, 
 approved February 12, and amended February 28, 
 1857, the Wisconsin and Superior Railroad Company 
 and the consolidated corporation called the Chicago, 
 St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad Company were 
 authorized to consolidate their rights, property, land 
 and franchises, under the name of the corporation last 
 mentioned, with all the powers and franchises pos- 
 sessed by either of said corporations ; and on the 5th day 
 of March, 1857, the said corporations were so consoli- 
 dated, retaining the name of the Chicago, St. Paul and 
 Fond du Lac Railroad Company, and all the lauds 
 granted by Congress to the State of Wisconsin, and by 
 the State of Wisconsin to the Wisconsin and Superior 
 Railroad Company, were by this consolidation secured 
 to the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad 
 Company. 
 
 In June, lHn6, Congress also granted lands to the 
 State of Michigan in aid of a road from Marquette, on 
 Lnke Superior, southerly to the State line of Wiscon- 
 sin, and also from Ontonagon, on Lake Superior, to the 
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2a2 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 said State line of Wisconsin, in contemplation of the 
 connection of these roads at the State line with the 
 northern line of road of the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond 
 du Lac Railroad Company. 
 
 Subsequently railroad companies were organized 
 from Marquette to the State line, and from Ontonagon 
 to the State line of Wisconsin, with a view to a union 
 and consolidation with the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond 
 du Lao Railroad Company ; and the grants of public 
 land to the State of Michigan to aid in the construction 
 of these' roads were conferred upon them, and they 
 were consolidated with the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond 
 du Lac Railroad Company, forming with it a complete 
 line of road from Chicago to Marquette and the great 
 Iron Mountain regions of Lake Superior, and to On- 
 tonagon, on Lake Superior, and the extensive copper 
 regions in its vicinity. 
 
 The great financial revulsion of 1857, which pros- 
 trated so many railroads in the country in process of 
 construction, carried down with it and suspended for 
 a time all further progress of the Chicago, St. Paul and 
 Fond du Lac Railroad Company, 
 
 In consequence of the financial misfortunes of the 
 Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad Company 
 in 1857, the consolidation of the Marquette and Onton- 
 agon Railroads with it were defeated, and the public 
 lands conferred upon those companies reverted to the 
 State of Michigan. 
 
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CHICAGO AND KORTHWESTEEN EAILEOAD. 293 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD : CONTINUED. 
 
 In February, 1859, at a meeting held in New York 
 of the bond- holders, stock-holders, and creditors of the 
 Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du iac Eailroad Company, 
 a plan for the organization, extension, and ultimate 
 completion of that Company's road was agreed upon; 
 which plan provided for a sale of the road, under both 
 its outstanding mortgage deeds of trust ; for the pur- 
 chase of the same by the duly appointed agents of the 
 Company, provided they could make a satisfactory pur- 
 chase of the road. Legislation was applied for in 
 order to carry into effect this proposed plan of reor- 
 ganization, and by an act of the legislature of the State 
 of Illinois, apj)roved February 19th, 1859, and by an 
 act of the legislature of the State of "Wisconsin, approved 
 March llth, 1859, and by a general law of the State 
 of Wisconsin, approved October 10th, 1856, such per- 
 sons as might become the purchasers of the road and 
 property of the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac 
 Railroad Company, were authorized to organize a cor- 
 poration, under such name as they might elect, with 
 all the powers, rights, and franchises before possessed 
 by that corporation, by virtue of all existing laws and 
 charters of both Illinois and Wisconsin. 
 
 On the 2d of June, 1859, in pursuance of these laws 
 
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294 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and powers, the bond-holders, by their agents, purchased 
 the entire road and property of the Chicago, St. Paul 
 and Fond du Lac Eailroad Company. These agents 
 proceeded immediately to the further execution of the 
 trust reposed in them, and on the 6th of June, 1859, 
 organized a corporation, under the more comprehen- 
 sive and desirable name of the Chicago and North- 
 western Railroad Company, having all the powers, 
 rights, and franchises theretofore possessed by the Chi- 
 cago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad Company, or 
 by any of the railroads of the States of Illinois or Wis- 
 consin previously consolidated into it, including the 
 full power to consolidate its stock, franchises, and pro- 
 perty with the stock, franchises, and property of any 
 other railroad company with which its line of road 
 might connect or intersect, in the States of Illinois, 
 "Wisconsin, and Michigan respectively ; and the law of 
 Illinois of February 19th, 1859, specially conferred 
 upon this Company the right to exercise and enjoy, in 
 the State of Illinois, all the rights, powers, privileges 
 and franchises theretofore granted by the States of 
 Wisconsin or Michigan to the Chicago, St. Paul and 
 Fond du Lac Railroad Company, or to the previously 
 existing companies consolidated into it. 
 
 The Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company 
 was authorized, by a law of Wisconsin, approved 
 April 10th, 1861, to locate the line of its road, or a 
 branch thereof, by the way of Fort Howard or Green 
 Bay, northerly to the north line of the State at the 
 Menominee River, still retaining its grants of lands 
 on the original line to aid in the construction of this 
 changed line. 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 295 
 
 And by an act of said State, approved March 8th, 
 1862, it was i'urtlier authorized to locate, construct, and 
 operate a line of road to the Michigan State line, and 
 this act expressly confers all the rights, privileges, 
 powers, and authority contained in the charter of said 
 Chicago and Northwestern Kailway Company, or in 
 the charter of the Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lao 
 Eailroad Company, or in the charter of the Wisconsin 
 and Superior Railroad Company, upon the Chicago 
 and Northwestern Railway Company ; and the Chicago 
 and Northwestern Railway Company was declared to 
 be the successor to all the rights and franchises of the 
 said railroad companies. 
 
 By an act of the legislature of the State of Illinois, 
 approved February 13th, 1863, the Chicago and North- 
 western Railway Company was recognized as an exist- 
 ing corporation ; and it and every other railroad com- 
 pany with which it might connect or intersect were 
 respectively authorized to make running connections 
 with each other, and to consolidate their respective 
 stocks and property in such manner and upon' such 
 terms as might be agreed upon between said com- 
 panies. 
 
 Supported and authorized by all these manifold 
 charters and varied powers, and often repeated enact- 
 ments of the States of Illinois, Wisconsin, and of Michi- 
 gan, the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company 
 entered upon its renewed corporate existence under 
 the before mentioned reorganization of June 2d, 1859. 
 
 In accordance with the provisions of its plan of re- 
 organization, as agreed upon by bond-holders, stock- 
 holders, and creditors in February, 1859, a general 
 
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296 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 seven per cent, first mortgage was created upon the 
 Chicago and Northwestern line of railway from Chi- 
 cago to Oshkosh, one hundred and ninety -four miles, to 
 secure three million six hundred thousand dollars of 
 general first' mortgage bonds, to be issued to the 
 holders of outstanding first mortgage bonds of the old 
 Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad Company 
 in exchange for said old bonds, and the interest ac- 
 crued thereon; and one million two hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars preferred sinking fund bonds were 
 issued to pay and remove special existing incum- 
 brances, and to be disposed of at their par value in 
 money to subscribers for them under provisions of the 
 said plan of reorganization, and were also secured in 
 priority by said first mortgage. 
 
 A second six per cent, mortgage was also issued, to 
 secure two million dollars of six per cent, second mort- 
 gage bonds. 
 
 These latter bonds (subsequently exchanged for pre- 
 ferred stock)i together with about one hundred and 
 fifty thousand acres of land, acquired by the Company 
 tinder grants of Congress for portions of the road 
 already constructed, were used and disposed of in ex- 
 change for about three million dollars of outstanding 
 eight per cent, land grant bonds of the old Fond du Lae 
 Company, and upon which land grant bonds some 
 eight hundred thousand dollars of interest had accumu- 
 lated. 
 
 The plan also authorized the organizing committee, 
 
 in their discretion, within a time, and in a manner 
 
 fixed and limited, to cause stock of the new Company 
 
 to be issued at par in payment of such debts of the old 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 297 
 
 Company as tliey should think just and equitable, at 
 seventy -five cents for the dollar of said debts ; and 
 further authorized them to cause the stock of the new 
 Company to be issued at par in exchange for stock of 
 the old Company', at sixty cents on the dollar of said 
 old stock. 
 
 The plan farther required that the holders of the 
 bonds of the old Company should subscribe for and 
 take the new sinking fund bonds at par to the extent 
 of ten per cent, of the old bonds held by them, on re- 
 ceiving new bonds in exchange for said old bonds. 
 This provision of the plan furnished the new Company 
 ■with about six hundred thousand dollars in money, 
 with which they constructed, in the summer and fall 
 of 1859, fifty-seven miles of road, from Janesville to 
 Minnesota Junction, which completed their entire line 
 from Chicago to Oshkosh, one hundred and ninety -four 
 miles. 
 
 From this relation it will be seen that the stock and 
 bond capital of the Chicago and Northwestern Eailway 
 Company did not represent any actual cost and dis- 
 bursement of money by said new Company, but con- 
 stituted an amount which was then considered to 
 represent the actual and in part prospective value of 
 the road and property of the Company ; and which was 
 equitably distributed among the bond and stockholders 
 and creditors of the old Chicago, St. Paul, and Fond du 
 Lac Railroad Company, and which amounted to a sum 
 much larger than it would have then cost to build the 
 road from Chicago to Oshkosh. 
 
 It was because of this large amount of representative 
 capital, issued by the Chicago and Northwestern Rail- 
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298 EAILKOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 way Company, at the time and subsequent to its reor- 
 ganization, that the additional common stock was issued 
 to the stockholders of the Galena Company at the time 
 of the Chicago and Northwestern Eailway Company's 
 consolidation with it, iu order to equalize the interests 
 of the owners»of the two companies in the consolidated 
 roads. 
 
 In the fall of 1860 and early in 1861, the Chicago 
 and Northwestern Railway Company extended its line 
 of road from Oshkosh to Appleton, over twenty miles; 
 at a very low cost, issuing bi^j; one hundred and eighty- 
 four thousand dollars of Appleton Extension seven per 
 cent, first mortgage bonds, and some thirty thousand 
 dollars of the common stock of the Company, in ex- 
 change at par for Appleton and Neenah bonds, to cover 
 the cost of its construction. 
 
 In. 1862, the Chicago and Northwestern Eailway 
 Company issued three hundred thousand dollars of 
 Green Bay Extension seven per cent, first mortgage 
 bonds, and. about sixty-five thousand dollars of its com- 
 mon stock in exchange, at par, for bonds of Brown 
 County and the town of Fort Howard, at Green Bay, 
 with the proceeds of which bonds and stock it con- 
 structed and extended its line of road from Appleton 
 to Green Bay, about twenty-eight miles. 
 
 The Appleton and Green Bay Extension bonds, 
 issued as above mentioned, were secured respectively 
 upon the portion of road for the construction of which 
 they were issued, and upon the portion of public lands 
 granted to the Company in aid of such constructions, 
 which lands, amounting to a little more than two hun- 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 299 
 
 dred thousand acres, are still held by the Company in 
 security for said bonds. 
 
 In addition to the general grant of lands conferred 
 upon the Company in aid of the construction of its line 
 of road from Fond du Lao to Green Bay, and to the 
 northerly line of the State of Wisconsin, Congress made 
 a special grant of eighty acres of land, out of its Fort 
 Howard reservation, for the depot grounds of this Com- 
 pany at Green Bay, which grant, from its favorable 
 location, large water-front and ample dimensions, is of 
 great value and convenience to the Company. 
 
 The length of the said Company's road from Chi- 
 cago, via Fond du Lac and Appleton, to Green Bay, is 
 two hundred and forty-two miles. 
 
 In the summer of 1S63 the " Kenosha, Rockford, and 
 Rock Island Railroad Company," with its road recently 
 completed and in operation from Kenosha, on Lake 
 Michigan, to Rockford (one of the most important 
 towns and stations on the Galena road), about seventy- 
 three miles in length, and diagonally crossing the Chi- 
 cago and Northwestern Railway at Harvard, about 
 sixty miles northwest from Chicago, and which was at 
 that time in competition with the Galena, and a valu- 
 able feeder to the business of the Northwestern Road 
 from Rockford and in that direction, became embar- 
 rassed, and parties controlling its securities were desir- 
 ous of disposing of them to the Galena Company, or 
 to the Chicago and Northwestern Company, carrying 
 with them the control of that road. 
 
 To have, at that time, allowed that control -to pass 
 into the hands of the Galena Company would have 
 deprived the Chicago and Northwestern Raihvay of a 
 
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300 EAILEOADS OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 very considerable source of revenue, derived through 
 its connection with this road. An arrangement was, 
 therefore, made, whereby several large holders of these 
 securities, and such capitalists as could be induced to 
 purchase them in the interest of the Northwestern 
 Eailway Company, associated themselves to purchase 
 and recognize the Kenosha Railroad, embracing nearly 
 all the first mortgage bonds. 
 
 A foreclosure sale of the road having taken place, 
 and a reorganization being effected, consolidation was 
 made in accordance with the provisions of the laws of 
 the States of Illinois and Wisconsin. 
 
 It had been originally proposed that bonds of the 
 Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company, secured 
 by a mortgage upon the Kenosha line, and to be called 
 the " Chicago and Northwestern Railway Kenosha 
 Extension bonds," should be issued to an amount, 
 ■which, at the market value of similar securities of the 
 Company, would reimburse the cost to the new parties, 
 of the bonds purchased by them, and that the old 
 holders should accept bonds at the same rate, so that 
 these new Kenosha Extension bonds would be disposed 
 of in payment for the Kenosha road at cost, at a better 
 rate than the whole issue could be sold at in the mar- 
 ket, and the line would then cost this Company about 
 eight hundred thousand dollars in its Kenosha Exten- 
 sion bonds, at par, or less than eleven thousand dollars 
 per mile, in bonds, at par. 
 
 But instead of issuing these Kenosha bonds, it was 
 subsequently agreed to issue one million four hundred 
 thousand dollars of the common stock of this Company 
 then considered equivalent to the cost of said road to 
 
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CHICAGO AND NOKTHVTESTERN RAILROAD. 301 
 
 the owners thereof, iu full consideratiou for this seventy- 
 three miles of a new and well-ironed road, and for its 
 equipment, consisting of six engines and one hundred 
 cars, and including also ati amount of about one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand dollars, surplus of cash assets, 
 resulting to this Company in the transaction. 
 
 The preceding account of the Northwestern Eailway 
 brings its history down to the period of consolidation 
 with the Galena and Chicago Union Eailroad Company, 
 June 2d, 1864, except so far as relates to its prelimi- 
 nary action, in connection with the Peninsula Railroad 
 Company, which is referred to hereafter, in the history 
 of that road. 
 
 At the time of consolidation with the Galena, on the 
 2d of June, 1864, the Chicago and Northwestern Rail- 
 way comprised the following lines of roads, to wit : — ■ 
 
 Its main line, or " Wisconsin Division," as 
 now called, extending from Chicago via Janes- 
 ville, Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, and Appleton, to Miieg. 
 Green Bay 242 
 
 Its " Kenosha Division," extending from the 
 town of Kenosha, on Lake Michigan, to its junc- 
 tion at Rockford, on the Rock River, with the 
 old Galena road 73 
 
 Total length of railroad line owned by Chicago 
 and Northwestern Railway at the time of con- 
 solidation with the Galena, aforesaid . . 315 
 
 To which add the lines of road owned by the 
 Galena at the time of consolidation . . . 29^ 
 
 Length of Galena leased lines of road at the 
 time of consolidation ..... 227 
 
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302 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Galena extensions of leased roads since con- Miles, 
 
 solidation ....... 21 
 
 Total length of roads owned and leased at the 
 
 time of consolidation 860 
 
 History of the Peninsula Eaileoad. — As has 
 been already observed, it was always a part of the 
 original plan and desire of the Chicago and North- 
 western Railway Company to reach the business, trade, 
 and travel of the important and growing mineral re- 
 gions of Lake Superior, and the board of directors 
 scarcely failed in their annual reports, for years past, 
 to urge upon the attention of their stockholders the 
 importance of securing that trade and traffic. 
 
 In the extension of the road to Green Bay this ob- 
 ject was prominent. 
 
 The enlarged operations of the copper and iron mines 
 of Lake Superior for the last few years, and their 
 promise of still greater increase of business in the 
 future, was beginning to attract the attention of rail- 
 road parties not in the interests of this Company, so 
 seriously that it became important to secure, without 
 delay, this business to the long line of railroad of this 
 Company, already extending from Chicago to Green 
 Bay, two hundred and forty-two miles ; and it became 
 apparent, also, that unless, at least, that portion of the 
 line of road between Little Bay de Noquet, on Green 
 Bay, now called " Escanaba," and the Iron Mines, was 
 secured and built in the interests of the Chicago and 
 Northwestern Eailway Company, it would be con- 
 structed by others having adverse interests and con- 
 nections, threatening ultimately to entirely deprive the 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 303 
 
 Chicago and Northwestern Eailway Company of its 
 valuable Lake Superior business, now so perfectly 
 secured to it by the Peninsula Eailway, besides other- 
 wise materially and injuriously affecting it. 
 
 The Northwestern Eailway Company having, about 
 that time, with considerable eflbrt, completed its line 
 of road to Green Bay, the Board hesitated in regard to 
 immediate proposals for further efforts, by the Com- 
 pany, in that direction. 
 
 Capitalists, in the main unconnected with the Chi- 
 cago and Northwestern Eailway Company, were ap- 
 pealed to, to furnish the funds and build a road across 
 the Upper Peninsula of Miclugan, as of itself a desira- 
 ble investment. The appeal was successful, and the 
 result was the prompt construction of the " Peninsula 
 Eailroad of Michigan," commenced in 1863 and 
 opened in December, 1864, by a company duly or- 
 ganized under the general laws of that State ; said 
 road extending from Escanaba, on Green Bay, to 
 nearly all the great iron mines of Lake Superior, and 
 connecting at the Jackson Mine with the railroad from 
 Marquette to the mines, thus making a through line to 
 Lake Superior. 
 
 The length of the Peninsula road, from the harbor 
 and ore-docks at Escanaba to the great Jackson jnine 
 at Negaunee, and to its junction with the Marquette 
 road at that point, is about sixty-two miles, and its ex- 
 tension from that point to the end of the Peninsula road, 
 at the Cleveland Iron Mountain and the New York 
 Company's mines, is about three miles further. 
 
 Branches from the main line to some five or six 
 other mines recently opened, and to the neighborhood 
 
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304 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of others proposed to be opened, amount in all to about 
 five miles more of track, making the entire length of 
 the Peninsula road extension and branches full seventy- 
 miles, besides several miles of side track, including ore- 
 dock tracks at Escanaba. 
 
 The large ore-dock at Escanaba, thirty-two feet high, 
 thirty-seven feet wide and a quarter of a mile long, 
 constructed for receiving and holding some twenty to 
 thirty thousand tons of ore in pockets, at a time, and 
 for shuting it thence into the holds of ships without 
 re-handling, seems a perfect success, and great saving 
 of tinie and money in shipping ores, and offers supe- 
 rior inducements to shippers over anything of the 
 kind known to be in use elsewhere. Its cost was very 
 considerable, near two hundred thousand dollars ; but 
 its ef&ciency and economy, in the expense of handling 
 and shipping ores, is very satisfactory, and the facili- 
 ties it furnishes invite shippers, and insure business 
 and ample returns. 
 
 The ample, perfectly safe, deep, and desirable harbor 
 for ships at Escanaba, with its easy, unobstructed, broad, 
 and liberal entrance, also greatly attracts shippers and 
 purchasers of iron ores to that point. Vessels can 
 make nearly or quite two trips from Cleveland or 
 Buffalo to Escanaba in the time required to make one 
 to Marquette, on Lake Superior, the only point hereto- 
 fore from which iron ore was shipped. The season for 
 shipping is also much longer from Escanaba, and the 
 St. Mary's River and canal are avoided by going there, 
 and large vessels can load much heavier and deeper at 
 Escanaba. 
 
 The engines and cars for this road were contracted 
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CHICAGO AKD XOBTHWESTEEN RAILROAD. 305 
 
 for just previous to the great rise in these articles during 
 the war, on very favorable terms : the contracts for con- 
 struction were let fevorably also ; but labor became so 
 high and inefi&cient, and the dif&culties of construction 
 through such an entire wilderness as the road traverses, 
 being greater than was anticipated, considerable extra 
 expenses was incurred before the road was finally 
 opeoed in December, 186-4. 
 
 The length of the through line from Escanaba, on 
 Green Bay, to Marquette, on Lake Superior, is about 
 soventy-five miles — sixty-two miles of which is over the 
 Pjninsula Railroad, from Escanaba to its junction with 
 the Marquette Road, at the Jackson Iron Mines, at the 
 viiiaj-'o of Negaunee, and thence thirteen miles over the 
 Marquette and Bay de Noquet Railroad to Marquette, 
 on Lake Superior. 
 
 The securities of the Peninsula Road rose rapidly, 
 with the increase in value of the equipment materials 
 and work which had already been provided, and were 
 in brisk demand for near a year before its completion, 
 the stock reaching eighty and ninety cents for the dol- 
 lar, and the bonds were sought for and sold at par. 
 There was danger that they might pass into the hands 
 of holders having interests adverse to the Northwestern, 
 and again expose that Company to the hazard of losing 
 the benefits of a close connection with it, as the key to 
 the Lake Superior business, so important to the long 
 line of road already extended in that direction. 
 
 Efforts were made from time to time by the North- 
 western, previous to its consolidation with the Galena, 
 to secure a permanent connection or consolidation with 
 20 
 
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306 KAiLBOApS' OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tfes'roaJ, but were unsuccessful, tbe owners of it then 
 being indisposed except at too high rates. 
 
 Meanwiiile, at tHe'ann,ua,l meeting, at the time of con- 
 solidation between the Galena and Northwestern Eail- 
 roads, in June, 1864, authority was conferred upon the 
 ^oafd of Directors by the stockholders to consoli- 
 date' with' the' Penirisbla, if terms' acceptable' could" be 
 obtained. 
 
 Subseqneiitly better terms were obtained, and in 
 October, 1864, after the consolidation between the Ga- 
 lena and Northwestern, a consolidation was eflected 
 with the Peninsula Railroad Company, by ah exchange' 
 of one-half share of the common stocli and one-half 
 share of the preferred stock of this Company, for one 
 full shiare of the stock of the Peninsula Railroad Com- 
 pany. .^ , _ , _, _ r:: , . . 
 
 The agreement of consolidation contained a provision^ 
 however, in accordance with the law of the State of 
 Wisconsin, approved March 26, 1864, authorizing this. 
 Company to create and issue different classes of pre- 
 ferredand special stock, under which provision holders 
 of Peninsula Railroad stock might, if they elected so to 
 do, continue to hold their Peninsula stock, and receive' 
 any dividends thereon which might be declared from' 
 the special earnings of that road, instead of exchanging 
 it in the manner above stated ; and a portion of the 
 Peninsula stockholders still continue to hold their stock, 
 preferring to rely upon the earnings of that road for 
 divide,i?ds upon it, rather than upon the general earn- 
 ings of the consolidated Cpmpanv. 
 
 Some months previous to the opening of the Penin- 
 sula Railroad from Escanaba to the Iron Mines re- 
 
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CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 307 
 
 peated efforts were made and branch roads offered to 
 induce the Sault St. Mary Canal Mineral Land Com- 
 pany, who held a large body of superior, heavily tim- 
 bered mineral lands, containing valuable iron ores, and 
 situate at and near the northern termini of the Penin- 
 sula Railroad, to open and worlc their iron mines, or to 
 lease them to others who would open and work them. 
 That Company, however, declined either to work or 
 lease them, but, finally, determined to sell them in a 
 body. 
 
 It was of great importance to the business of tbe 
 Peninsula Railroad that these mines should be 
 promptly and amply developed; and just before its 
 completion, parties engaged in the production or' 
 manufacture of iron in various parts of the United 
 States and others, were induced to make the purchase 
 of these mineral lands. 
 
 Large expenses were immediately incurred, by the 
 new owners in the development of these new mines 
 in which great progress has already been and is still 
 being made. 
 
 Branches of the Peninsula Railroad have been ex- 
 tended to these new mines, and they are so situated 
 tliat the only outlet for their ores to market is over tbe 
 Peninsula road, to which their supply of iron ores for 
 transportation will hereafter be large, constituting, no 
 doubt, one of the main sources of the business of that 
 road. 
 
 The temporary paralysis which the close of the war 
 produced in the iron trade, prevented the " Peninsula 
 Division" of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway 
 Company from opening the present season with the 
 
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308 KAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 amount of local business anticipated. Latterly, how- 
 ever, it has been occupied to the extent of capacity of 
 its machinery in the transportation of iron ore, and 
 promises to be so occupied to the close of navigation. 
 
 A line of steamboats is established between Green 
 Bay and Escanaba, adding, in connection with the 
 Peninsula road, large numbers of through passengers 
 and business, both ways, to this Company's line be- 
 tween Green Bay and Chicago, and promising in 
 the future all that was ever expected from this connec- 
 tion. 
 
 A matter of great value and importance, in connec- 
 tion with this Peninsula road, is the grants to it (and 
 to an extension of it south to the Michigan State line 
 at the Menominee River, in the direction of Green Bay, 
 about sixty miles) by Congress and by the State of 
 Michigan together, of about a million of acres of land, 
 if the same can be found in alternate sections, of Go- 
 vernment lands and in lands of the State, within twenty 
 miles of either side of the line of the road. 
 
 The old grant of six sections, three thousand eight 
 hundred and forty acres to the mile, to the Chicago 
 and Northwestern Railroad Company, in aid of the 
 extension of its line of road from Green Bay to 
 the State line of Michigan, at the Menominee River, 
 about fifty miles, and to its point of connection there 
 ;with the Peninsula road, is still extant and valid ; and 
 both these grants were extended at a recent session of 
 Congress for five years from June, 1866, within which 
 time, aided by these lands, the Chicago and North- 
 western Railroad Company can, if it shall think proper, 
 readily and easily construct this only remaining con- 
 
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[t 
 
 CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD. 309 
 
 necting link from Green Bay, bj way of the Menomi- 
 nee Eiver, to Escanaba, about one hundred and ten 
 miles, from the proceeds of bonds to be secured upon 
 it, and of stock subscriptions and donations that will 
 be made along the line of it. 
 
 The report of the Hon. Wm. B. Ogden, President of 
 the consolidated Company, made in October, 1865, 
 
 \ " Notwithstanding the large increase of equipment, 
 secured during the past year, this Company is still in 
 great need of at least five hundred further and addi- 
 tional cars. A much greater number and additional 
 engines could at this time be fully and profitably em- 
 ployed, and the prospect of the continuance of an 
 enlarged business throughout the year is at present 
 very encouraging. 
 
 " Every month, since the first of June last, our earn- 
 ings would have been increased from fifty to one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand dollars per month, and probably 
 some months to a still greater sum, by additional 
 machinery, sufficient to earn that increased sum ; and 
 the only reason why the earnings of September, Octo- 
 ' her, and even November, of this year, will fall short of 
 ' a million and more per nionth, if they do fail to reach 
 ' that amount, will be because our present equipment is 
 ' insufficient and incapable of earning more than it now 
 '• does. 
 
 * " The earnings of this Company's roads for the past 
 fiscal year, ending May 31st, 1865, exceeded, it will be 
 
 P* suen, those of the previous year, two million one hun- 
 
 * dredand thirty -eight thousand nine hundred and forty- 
 two dollars and /j]^j«-^fyv5]8/(<?SfiJte being -lo.eO per cent. 
 
^10 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 increase. The earnings for the first four months, June, 
 July, August, and September of the present year, show 
 a still further increase over the same months of last 
 year of nine hundred and thirty thousand and eighty- 
 three dollars, being 41.62 per cent., making the earn- 
 ings of these four months more than twice the amount 
 earned in the same months but two years since, and 
 without any material additional earnings from new 
 additional or extended lines of road." 
 
 The equipment and rolling stock of the Company, 
 in May, 1865, included one hundred and fifty-four lo- 
 coniotives, ninety-four passenger cars, eighty baggage 
 cars, and two thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven 
 freight cars. 
 
 The earnings of the Company for two years were aa 
 follows : — 
 
 Year ending May 31. 
 
 - Faasengers. 
 
 Freight, &c. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1864 . 
 
 . $1,321,819 
 
 $3,359,988 
 
 $4,681,807 
 
 1865 . 
 
 . 2,167,902 
 
 4,652,848 
 
 6,820,750 
 
 This does not include the earnings of the Milwaukee- 
 Division. 
 
 The total expenses of the Company for the year 
 ending May 31, 1865, were six million one hundred 
 and forty-one thousand eight hundred and twenty dol- 
 lars, including four million two- hundred and ninety- 
 five thousand four hundi-ed and seventy-three dollars 
 for operating expenses. 
 
 The ofiicers of the consolidated Company are 
 William B. Ogden, President; George L. Dunlap, 
 General Superintendent; P. H. Smith, Vice-President; 
 James E. Young, Secretary; George P. Lee, Trea- 
 surer. 
 
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THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL EAILEOAD. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 ILLINOIS CENTRAL EAILKOAD. 
 
 The rapid development of the State of Illinc 
 wealth and population, is owing in a great me 
 to the existence and early completion of the II 
 Central Railroad. This magnificent ro^d, for st 
 truly is, is seven hundreti and eight miles lonj 
 tending the entire length of the State, from Ch 
 to Cairo, and from Centralia to Dubuque. The 
 after the route was surveyed and agreed upon, 
 constructed in a shorter time than is usualin a 
 of such magnitude, and it owes its rapid completi 
 the indefatigable exertions of the late Senator Doi 
 through whose efforts Congress was prevailed up 
 grant to the State of Illinois, in 1850, two m 
 five hundred and ninety-five thousand acres of 
 to aid in its construction. It was not without 
 culty that the bill granting these lands, value 
 thirty millions of dollars, to the State of II 
 was passed by both houses of Congress. It wi 
 seen, by reference to the "Congressional Globe 
 the years 1848, 1849, and 1850, that the bill 
 opposed, on various grounds. The consider! 
 probably, which finally secured its passage was, 
 the lands thus granted to the State would secun 
 building of the toad, and that a road thus built a 
 
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312 RAILROADS OF THE UKITED STATES, 
 
 the whole length of the State would secure the sale, at 
 an advanced price, of all vhe public lands in the State. 
 The public lands in the interior of the State of Illinois 
 had been in the market for many years, and although 
 they were known to be rich and fertile, nobody would 
 buy them, because, after the farmer had raised liis 
 crops, there would be no means for him to get it to 
 market. In one of his great speeches in the Senate,_in 
 favor of the bill, Senator Douglas said ; " These lands 
 have been in the market for about twenty -three years ; 
 but they will not sell even at the usual government 
 price of one dollar and a quarter per acre, because 
 they are distant from any navigable stream or a mar- 
 ket for produce. A railroad will make the lands sale- 
 able even at double the usual price, because the 
 improvement made by the State will make them valu- 
 able." 
 
 All these anticipations were realized. The lands 
 thus' granted to the State of Illinois were made over 
 to the Illinois Central Railroad Company, upon certain 
 conditions, and the road was built. The construction 
 of the road, and its massive and substantial buildings, 
 has probably cost thirty millions of dollars. 
 
 The surveys for the location of the road were com- 
 menced June 1st, 1851, and on the 1st of January, 
 1852, the entire line was located. For convenience, 
 the road was divided into twelve Divisions, as fol- 
 lows ;— 
 
 Miles. 
 1st Division, from Cairo to the Big Muddy River, 60 
 2d " " Big Muddy River to Gentralia 52 
 
 3d " " Gentralia to Ranjsey ' . . 39 
 
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THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD. 
 
 313 
 
 
 
 Miles. 
 
 4th Division, from Ramsey to Decatur 
 
 53 
 
 5th " 
 
 " Decatur to Bloomington 
 
 43 
 
 6th " 
 
 " Bloomington to La Salle 
 
 61 
 
 7th " 
 
 " La Salle to Freeport . 
 
 78 
 
 8th " 
 
 " Freeport to Dunleith . 
 
 68 
 
 9th " 
 
 " Chicago to Kankakee . 
 
 56 
 
 10th " 
 
 " Kankakee to Urbana . 
 
 72 
 
 11th " 
 
 " Urbana to Mattoon 
 
 45 
 
 12th " 
 
 " Mattoon to Centraha . 
 
 77 
 
 On the 15th of March, 1852, a portion of the 9th 
 Division, from Chicago to Calumet, was put under con- 
 tract, being sixteen miles. On the 19 th of June, 1852, 
 the 1st, 2d, 6th, 8th, 10th, and the remainder of the 
 9th Divisions were put under contract. On the 14th 
 of October, 1852, the 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th, 11th, and 12th 
 Divis'ons were put under contract. By the end of 
 the year 1853, one hundred and thirty-two miles of 
 the road had been constructed. By the end of 1854, 
 four hundred and tliirty-two miles had been con- 
 structed. By the end of 1855, six hundred and 
 twenty -seven miles were completed ; and the remainder 
 of the road was iinisLed m 1857. The road was put in 
 operation : — 
 
 From Chicago to Calumet in June, 1852, 
 " La Salle to Bloomington in June, 1853. 
 " La Salle to Mendota in the fall of 1853, 
 " Chicago to Kankakee, July 4, 1854. 
 
 During the year 1854, the road was opened froni 
 Chicago to Urbana, one hundred and twenty-eight 
 miles ; also a considerable portion of the distance from 
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314 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Cairo to Centralia, about ninety miles ; and a portion 
 pf the distance between Bloomington and Decatur, aD,d 
 from Freeport west. Qa the 28th of December, lb5o, 
 
 .the last rail was laid on the main line of the road, 
 about ten miles south of Vandalia, and the entire main 
 line was then in operation. During the year 1855, the 
 
 .road was opened from Chicago to Mattoon, one hundred 
 and seventy-three miles. In 1857, the whole line was 
 completed and in operation. 
 
 The larger portion of the rajls originally laid, were 
 of English or Welsh manufacture, and although they 
 cost a high price, yet they proved to be fully worth all 
 that was paid for them. They wore remarkably well, 
 and did excellent service. The rails that have been 
 used in renewals have been principally made in Eng- 
 land, and at Trenton, in New Jersey. A large amount 
 of worn-out rails have been reroUed, at the rolling mills 
 at Chicago. 
 
 The principal difficulties which were encountered 
 
 . in constructing the road arose from the newness of the 
 country, the few settlements near the line of the road, 
 the difficulty of procuring men and of supplying them, 
 and the difficulty of getting engines, cars, and iron, at 
 points where they were first wanted. In order to pro- 
 cure men, agents were sent to New York, New Orleans, 
 and M ontreal : and in many cases the fare and expenses 
 of the men were paid, in order to get tbem on the 
 work. Flour and pork were transported in wagons, 
 over the. rude country roads, seventy miles, in order to 
 supply them with food. The country at that time was 
 so new that in several places it was forty miles between 
 
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THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD. 315 
 
 tlie settlenients, and in one case there was only one set- 
 tlement within seventy miles. 
 
 In one case an engine was sent from New York, to 
 Cincinnati, and then taken on a fiat-bottomed boat and 
 taken down the Ohio River to the mouth of Cache 
 Eiver, thence up the Cache, and landed on the track, 
 ten miles north of Cairo. Another engine, sent fro/n 
 New York to Chicago, was thence taken through the 
 Illinois and Michigan Canal to La Salle, and then do\Ya 
 the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to the mouth of the 
 Big Muddy River, south of St. Louis, thence up the 
 Big Muddy to the line of the road. Other engines 
 were sent by the way of St. Louis, Alton, Naples, La 
 Salle, and Galena: and in each case, of course, the 
 transportation of them to the line of the road was at- 
 tended with heavy expense. The cars were manufac- 
 tured at Chicago, and were sent to all points on the 
 road where they were needed. The rails for the track 
 were purchased in England, landed at New York and 
 New Orleans, brought thence to Chicago and Caii;o, 
 and therefrom distributed at La Salle, Naples, Galena, 
 St. Louis, Alton, Dunleith, the mouth of the Big Muddy, 
 and at other convenient points. 
 
 The most expensive portion of the work was in 
 crossing and cutting through the high bluffs on each 
 side of the Illinois River. At this point there is a 
 bridge twenty-eight hundred feet lon^, and seventy- 
 five feet above low water. The next most expensive 
 part of the work was from Cairo to the Big Muddy 
 River; and from Freeport to Galena. 
 
 Ever since the road has been in operation, the 
 Company has devoted much attention to securing a 
 
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316 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 proper degree of elasticity in the track. Nothing ia 
 more destructive, both to the rails and the cars, than a 
 perfectly hard and solid track : and all railroad tracks 
 become so, unless the proper means are used to pre- 
 vent it. On this road, whenever the ballast becomes 
 hard and packed to such an extent as to render the 
 track unelastic, the ballast is broken up, and the whole 
 track is raised slightly, say two inches. This gives a 
 new and uniform bearing to each crosstie, and renders 
 the track perfectly elastic and easy. In order to keep 
 a road in perfect order, this should be done every three 
 or five years, depending upon the character of the bal- 
 last, a portion being thus treated each year. There 
 are portions of this road that are not ballasted, the na- 
 ture of the soil on which the track is laid not requiring 
 it. When such a road bed is dry, and the track put 
 np in good condition, it is found that there is less wear- 
 ing of the rails than where the track is ballasted. This 
 is due to the greater natural elasticity of the unbal- 
 lasted road bed. 
 
 By the construction of this road the vast and hither- 
 to desert prairie lands of Illinois have been transformed 
 into well cultivated farms, which are now, and for years 
 past have been annually contributing many millions 
 of bushels of grain ; and which present the prospect of 
 much larger crops in future. The lands of the Com- 
 pany extend on both sides of the road, in a breadth of 
 about thirty miles. They are usually well watered by 
 small streams, and water is abundant. Coal also is 
 found in abundance at almost all points along the road. 
 The rich, black soil of the country is five feet deep. 
 
 No' sooner were the lands of the Company thrown 
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THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILpOAD. 317 
 
 open to sale, than plenty of purchasers at once offered 
 themselves, and the number of these soon rapidly in- 
 creased. From August, 1S54, to December 3 1st, 1855, 
 five hundred and twenty-eight thousand eight hundred 
 and sixty-three acres were sold for five million five 
 hundred and ninety-eight thousand five hundred and 
 seventy-seven dollars. By December 1st, 1856, eight 
 hundred and nineteen thousand one hundred and thirty- 
 eight acres had been sold for ten million thirty-three 
 thousand four hundred and eighty-six dollars, leaving 
 at that time one million seven hundred and seventy- 
 five thousand eight hundred and sixty-one acres unsold. 
 
 In 1866, the Company announced that they had sold, 
 during the previous ten years, one million four hun- 
 dred thousand acres, to more than twenty thousand 
 actual settlers. During the year 1865, two hundred 
 and sixty -four thousand four hundred and twenty-two 
 acres were sold. Up to the present time, the sales 
 have amounted to about one million seven hundred 
 and fifty thousand acres, leaving about eight hundred 
 and sixty thousand acres of the best and most eligible 
 lands of the Company still unsold. 
 
 But what did the United State Government gain by 
 this magnificent grant of lands? The Government 
 realized far more than had been promised by Senator 
 Douglas. The grant to the State of Illinois was not 
 of every section, but of every alternate section. The 
 alternate sections the Government reserved to itself: 
 and raising the price of them from one dollar and a 
 quarter to two dollars and a half per acre, threw them 
 upon the market. What was the result ? The Illinois 
 Central Eailroad Company was hard at work, construct- 
 
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318 RlILROADS OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 itig their road. It was easy to see that in'a few ydars the 
 whole condition of things in the State wouldbe changed; 
 that there would be a great highway in existence' 
 between the north and the south; and that lands along 
 the line of the road would be worth, not two dollars' 
 and a half, nor even five dollars, but tea dollars, twenty 
 dollars, and even thirty dollars per acre. 
 
 The consequence was that there was a perfect rush' 
 fbr these reserved sections of land, particularly between' 
 the yeai-s''18'o3 and 1857 ; and the Governmentreadily 
 disponed of all the land which it owned in Illinois- at- 
 from two dollars and a half to seven dollars per acre ; 
 for the price did not long remain at two'dollars and a 
 half. As Mr. Yates said, in a recent speech in the 
 Senate : — 
 
 "It is a well-known fact that for some of these' 
 reserved lands the Government received' as high as 
 seven dollars per acre; How was this ? Why, sir, 
 because this much-abused road made that half of the 
 lands I'eserved by the Government far more valukble 
 than the whole by bringing them nearer to market, 
 and by attracting an industrious and energetic popula- 
 tion tn piimhase aiid settle them. By this grant the 
 GoveniyiieiiD was the greatest gainer, and it got early 
 purchasers' for lands which for thirty years had lain 
 unsought and undesirable in a wilderness prairie? 
 Stately cities, a thousand prosperous villages, comfort-' 
 able mansions, and highly cultivated farms have 
 sprung up along the line of this railroad in the wil- 
 derness prairie where before wolves howled" and the 
 rank grass waved untrodden. 
 
 '' It is said, however, that the Company has redized 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD. 31!) 
 
 far more than two million dollars for these lands. 
 This is true ; but through whose agency ? Not that 
 of the Government, surel3^ No, sir; the Company, by 
 investing millions of money and by great energy and 
 wise management, opened these" lands to market and 
 settlement and made them valuable. Is the United 
 States, after granting these lands, and after they are 
 made valuable, to set up a claim on the road on account 
 of the increased val,ue ? 
 
 " The road was located for the benefit of the State 
 and the United States, and very much to the pecuniary 
 prejudice of the stockholders of the Company. The 
 road was, by the charter, made to run, not between 
 important commercial points, such as Chicago and St. 
 Louis, nor along "any of the lines of trade and traffic 
 running east and west, nor through the settled por- 
 tions of the State, but north and south, through the 
 wild and unsettled lands of the United States ; the sale, 
 s'ettlement, and improvement of these lands being the 
 chief consideration which influenced Congress to make 
 the grant. At the date of the grant the settlements 
 nad been principally confined to the public highways 
 or stage routes, and mainly to the timber lands, leav- 
 ing the prairies to bloom in their native wilderness, 
 flourishing little villages and a considerably dense 
 population had sprung up along these thoroughfares 
 and natural channels of intercommunication, which, 
 from the beginning, have furnished travel and traffic 
 and most remunerative profits to the roads which have 
 since been constructed along them. On the other 
 hand, the Central Railroad had to build up its own 
 settlements, its own towns and farms, and to create its 
 own trade, travel, /apijafii^wasse" ft® 
 
320 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 ILLINOIS CENTRAL BAILEOAD: CONTINUED. 
 
 In 1850, when the route for the railroad was sur- 
 veyed, the population of the forty-nine counties 
 through which it passes was three hundred and fifty- 
 one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven. In 
 1865, the population of those counties had increased 
 to one million one hundred and twenty-seven thou- 
 sand and eighty-seven, being more than half tlie popula- 
 tion of the entire State! 
 
 Until within the last two or three years, the Com- 
 pany did not require any payment to be made, for 
 lands sold by them, during the first two years; a long 
 credit was given, and interest on the payments was 
 computed at only 3 per cent. The prices of the 
 lands varied then from five dollars to twenty-five 
 dollars per acre ; as they do now from eight dollars to 
 thirty dollars. Interest for the payments of the first 
 two years was paid upon making the contract. The 
 first instalment of the purchase money, one-fifth of the 
 whole amount, became due at the expiration of two 
 years from the time the contract was made, and an- 
 other fifth at the close of each subsequent year, with 
 3 per cent, interest on the unpaid instalment, so that 
 the last instalment became due at the end of six 
 years. At present the Company permit a cash pay- 
 
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THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD. 321 
 
 meat of one-quarter of the whole amount of the pur- 
 chase money to he paid at onqe, on making the contract 
 together with interest at 6 per cent, on the remain- 
 ing three instalments due. At the end of the first 
 year, another quarter of the whole amount of the 
 purchase money must be paid, with interest for one 
 year on the remaining one half of the whole pur- 
 chase money. At the end of the second year, the pur- 
 chaser must pay another quarter of the whole amount, 
 with interest on the sole remaining one quarter. At 
 the end of the third year, the purchaser pays the re- 
 maining one quarter of the purchase money, without 
 interest, and the Company gives him a deed in fee sim- 
 ple for his land. 
 
 In the year 1857, the Illinois Central Railroad Com- 
 pany, overwhelmed by a floating debt of several mil- 
 lions of dollars, was compelled to make an assignment. 
 At that time the interest of the funded debt largely 
 exceeded the receipts from the sales of land and 
 from the earnings of the railroad. The financial 
 crisis, then prevalent, and which produced so much 
 and so great distress at the west, aggravated by 
 a short crop of grain, deprived the owners of the 
 Company's lands of the means of meeting the pay- 
 ments due on their notes ; land sales fell off, traffic 
 declined, and altogether the prospect for the future was 
 about as gloomy as can be imagined. But, fortunately 
 for the Company, its interests were in the hands of 
 men whom no difficulties could discourage. They bent 
 all their energies to the task of saving the road and 
 restoring its former prosperity, and success at last 
 crowned their efibrts. 
 
 21 
 
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322 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 'Three years elapsed, and a wonderful change had 
 been wrought in the condition of the affairs of the 
 Company. Not only had the former prosperity of the 
 road been restored, but the entire floating debt of the 
 Company had been paid. The whole history of rail- 
 roads, in Europe and America, does not furnish so 
 striking an example of misfortune so oobly overcome, 
 or so encouraging an illustration of the results of 
 energy and indomitable perseverance. By the year 
 1860 the Illinois Central Railroad Company could and 
 did face the world, with all their obligations fairly 
 met, and without a dollar of floating debt. Its condition 
 
 was as follows : — 
 
 Ck. 
 
 By cost of railroad $37,000,000 
 
 " land notes in hand 12,598,000 
 
 " value of 1,334,727 acres of land unsold, at $15 . 20,020,905 
 
 Total 59,618,905 
 
 Db. 
 
 To Capital stock .... $15,655,000 
 " Funded debt . . , . 15,672,000 
 " Floating debt .... none 
 " Ultimate profit .... 28,417,000— $59,804,000 
 
 In other words, it was now plainly evident that, as 
 had been foreseen by- the early promoters of the enter- 
 prise, the stockholders would eventually get all their 
 money back, and would also own a magnificent rail- 
 road, seven hundred miles long, besides. The land 
 notes above referred to, amounting to twelve million 
 five hundred and ninety-eight thousand dollars, were 
 all secured by mortgage on the lands sold ; and the 
 Company, at this time, could have made money by 
 foreclosing the mortgages, and resuming possession of 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILKOAD. 
 
 3:.>3 
 
 the land, in cases when the notes were not met at 
 maturity. The Company, however, have always found 
 it good policy to pursue an indulgent course towards 
 the persons who have settled on their lands. Two 
 good crops enable a farmer in Illinois to pay for his 
 land, and sooner or later all these notes were paid, with 
 interest. 
 
 The above estimate of the land unsold in 1860, one 
 million three hundred and thirty-four thousand seven 
 hundred and twenty seven acres, at fifteen dollars per 
 acre, was rather less than the average price at which 
 lands were then selling. As these lands became settled 
 too, they became of course more valuable. The Presi- 
 dent of the Company, in his report in 1860, recom- 
 mended the Company gradually to advance the price, 
 according to the following sliding scale, which makes 
 their aggregate value twenty-seven million six hun- 
 dred and thirty-six thousand three hundred and fifty, 
 instead of twenty million twenty thousand nine hun- 
 
 dred and five dollars, as above est: 
 200,000 acres to be sold at $13 
 
 200,000 
 200,000 
 200,000 
 200,000 
 100,000 
 100,000 
 . 100,000 
 34,727 
 
 1,334,727 
 
 15 
 16 
 18 
 
 20 
 25 
 30 
 40 
 50 
 
 mated : — 
 
 $2,600,000 
 3,000,000 
 3,200,000 
 3,600,000 
 4,000,000 
 2,500,000 
 3,000,000 
 4,000,000 
 1,73G,350 
 
 $27,636,350 
 
 The gross earnings of the road for the year 1S60 
 were two million seven hundred and twenty-oue 
 
 thousand five hundred and ninety dollars ; the operat- 
 
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324 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ing expenses were one million six hundred and ninety- 
 three thousand four hundred and three dollars; and 
 the net earnings were one million twenty-eight thou- 
 sand one hundred and eighty-seven dollars. Out of 
 this the State tax of one hundred and seventy-seven 
 thousand five hundred and fifty-seven dollars was 
 paid, which left eight hundred and fifty thousand six 
 hundred and thirty dollars as the clear gains of the 
 road for the year. 
 
 The following table will show the amount, for six 
 years, of the interest paid on construction bonds, of 
 the net revenue from the road and of the revenue 
 from the lands : — 
 
 
 Interest paid on 
 
 Net earnings 
 
 Cash received 
 
 Tear. 
 
 construction bonds. 
 
 of road. 
 
 in land depart 
 
 1855 
 
 . $1,099,723 
 
 627,952 
 
 234,439 
 
 t856 
 
 . 1,095,187 
 
 938,436 
 
 422,811 
 
 1857 
 
 . 1-,081,318 
 
 391,473 
 
 791,718 
 
 1858 
 
 . 1,110,610 
 
 424,618 
 
 588,237 
 
 l859 
 
 . 1,055,085 
 
 492,765 
 
 623.310 
 
 ISBO 
 
 . 1,026,507 
 
 850,765 
 
 653,312 
 
 The history of the road, since 1860, has been one 
 continued scene of prosperity. The lands of the Com- 
 pany have been steadily sold, and every year thou- 
 sands of new acres have been brought under enlight- 
 tened cultivation. New settlements have sprung up 
 all along the line of the road ; and churches, schools 
 and academies have everywhere been built. Every 
 year, too, a better class of people come and settle upon 
 .the Company's lands : in many cases men of education 
 and refinement, who bring with them not only wealth 
 but all the modern improvements in agriculture. 
 
 The regular business of the road steadily increased 
 
 year after year. The earnings of the road, from freight 
 
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THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD. 325 
 
 and passengers alone, in 1863, were over four and a 
 halt' millions of dollars; in 186-1:, they were nearly six 
 and a half millions, and in 1865, they were over seven 
 millions of dollars. In 1866, as we shall see presently, 
 the net earnings of the road exceeded those of 1865. 
 
 The operations of the road during the year 1-866 
 were highly satisfactory, enabling the Company to pay 
 two dividends to the stock-holders, of five per cent, each 
 in February and August, amounting, with the govern- 
 ment tax, to nearly two and a half .millions of dollars 
 (namely, $2,459,679). The earnings of the road for the 
 year 1886 were over six and a half millions of dollars 
 (namely, 6,546,741). The operating expenses were four 
 million three hundred and seventy-one thousand two 
 hundred and ninety-four dollars, being six hundred 
 and thirty-four thousand nine hundred and ninety dol- 
 lars less than in 1865. The net earnings for the year 
 were over two millions of dollars (namely, $2,175,447), 
 which is a slight increase over the net earnings of 1865> 
 which were two million one hundred and seventy-four 
 thousand nine hundred and twenty-four. The income 
 from passengers, during the year 1866, was nearly two 
 millions of dollars (namely, $1,987,705). The income 
 from this source would have been much greater, had 
 it not been for the fact that the Southera States have 
 Bot yet recovered from the ravages of war sufficiently 
 to give to the road the business which must, in time, 
 come from that source. Sadly desolated by the war, 
 and by the evils that the war brought in its train, with 
 its system of labor utterly disorganized, with a very 
 general disinclination on the part of the negroes to 
 work, and with great distress prevailing in consequence, 
 
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326 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 it is not strange that the reconstruction of southern 
 industry has been so slow that the vast and hitherto 
 fruitful country below the southern terminus of the 
 road has contributed, since the war, little or nothing to 
 the resources of the Company. It is much to -be hoped 
 that the lapse of a year or two will change this for the 
 better. 
 
 The income for freight, during the year 1866, was 
 four million three hundred and fourteen thousand one 
 hundred and sixty dollars, showing a healthy growth 
 in the local business of the road, the earnings from 
 freight in 1865 having been four million two hundred 
 and forty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-nine 
 dollars, being an increase for 1866 of seventy-two 
 thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight dollars. 
 
 During the year 1866, the Company laid six thou- 
 sand tons of new and re- rolled rails in the track. The 
 equipment of the road was increased by the addition 
 of two new locomotives, seven passenger coaches, and 
 one hundred and fifty cars for the transportation of 
 cattle, built at the workshops of the Company at Chi- 
 cago at a cost of two hundred and twenty-five thousand 
 four hundred and seventy-four dollars. A new wharf 
 boat has been built at Cairo, and is found to be a great 
 convenience. At one place on the road, where the 
 grade was eighty-five feet to the mile, it has been 
 reduced, by cutting through solid rock, to forty feet to 
 the mile, at a cost of fifty-six thousand three hundred 
 and seventy-four dollars. The whole of the track has 
 been carefully examined, repairs made wherever 
 needed, and the whole rog.d is now in better condition 
 tlian ever before. 
 
 The Company commenced the year 1867 with a 
 
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THE ILLIN-QIS CENTRAL RAILROAD. 327 
 
 balance on hand of over two millions of dollars (namely, 
 $2,029,3 19\ out of which the semi-annual dividend of 
 Feb. 1st, 1867, has since been paid to the stockholders, 
 leaving a balance on hand in March, 1867, of eight 
 hundred thousand dollars. The dividend of 5 per cent, 
 in August, 1867, was also paid as Usual. 
 
 The amount of care and attention which is bestowed 
 upon the condition of the road may be inferred from 
 the fact that, during the year 1866, the sum of one mil- 
 lion two hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hun- 
 dred and sixty-three dollars was expended on the item 
 of " Maintenance of Way," which consists in keeping 
 the track in order, &c'. 
 
 The number of locomotive engines now in use by the 
 Company is one hundred and fifty ; number of passen- 
 ger cars seventy-seven ; besides seven sleeping cars ; 
 number of baggage cars thirty -five ; number of freight 
 cars three thousand four hundred and eighty-seven. 
 
 The sales of the Company's land, during the year 
 1866, amounted to one hundred and fifty -eight thousand 
 acres. This was sold to two thousand two hundred 
 and eighteen different persons, at an average of ten 
 dollars and sixty-five cents per acre, and amounting iu 
 the aggregate to over a million and a half of dollars 
 (namely, $1,683,694). The total number of acres now 
 remaining unsold is eight hundred and sixty-eight 
 thousand eight hundred and forty-one, geographically 
 situated as follows : — 
 
 On Main Line. 
 
 Between Cairo and the Ohio and Mississippi R. R. . 313,987.78 
 
 Between the Ohio and Mississippi R. R. and Decatur . 95,384.77 
 
 Between Decatur and Dixon 85,398.30 
 
 Between Dixon and Dnnleith 33,962.33 
 
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S28 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 On Chicago Branch. 
 Between the Oliio and Mississippi R. R. and Tolono . 85,903.47 
 Between Tolono and Chicago 254,204.82 
 
 A considerable quantity of these lands, it will, be 
 seen, lies between Chicago and Centralia, in the rich 
 and populous counties of Kankakee, Ford, Iroquois, 
 Vermilion, Piatt, and Champaign, in the centre of the 
 most favored climate in the State, and almost at the 
 very door of the great market of Chicago. For rais- 
 ing grain and cattle, these lands present unsvirpassed 
 advantages, and every year these advantages are becom- 
 ing better appreciated. The impression long prevailed 
 that Illinois was not adapted to the raising of fruit ; 
 but experience has demonstrated the contrary. Young 
 orchards of apple;^, pears, and peaches, which were set 
 out only a few years ago, now produce every year the 
 most abundant crops, and the fruit is of the finest qual- 
 ity and of the most delicious flavor. Uor is this all. 
 Strawberries, grapes, and ras})berries were formerly 
 not cultivated in Illinois, simply because the proper 
 mode of cultivating them was not understood. Enter- 
 prising men, however, have taken the matter in hand> 
 and have demonstrated that with the proper care and 
 attention, the finest flavored and the largest straw- 
 berries and raspberries, as well as grapes, can be raised 
 in all parts of the State. 
 
 This business, however, is yet in its infancy : and the 
 demand for these fine fruits in Chicago always exceeds 
 the supply. The business of raising fruit for Chicago, 
 however, has already assumed so much importance 
 that special fruit trains are now run on the Illinois 
 Central Railroad to meet its requirements. Persons, 
 
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'iMK ILLINOIS CENTRAL BAILEOAD. 329 
 
 therefore, who are hesitating whether to buy a farm in 
 New Jersey or in Illinois, should not forget these facts. 
 A little farm in New Jersey, of only ten acres, if it is 
 ■worth anything at all, cannot be bought for less than 
 a thousand dollars. A farm of forty acres in Illinois, 
 on the line of the Illinois Central Railroad, with the 
 land incomparably richer than in New Jersey, can be 
 bought for five hundred dollars, in four annual pay- 
 ments. On this farm can be raised every kind of fruit 
 and vegetables that can be grown in New Jersey, in the 
 same perfection, and which can be sold at equally good 
 prices at Chicago. 
 
 A farm of fifty acresL, of the rich lands of the Com- 
 pany, can be bought for eight hundred dollars : or a 
 farm of one hundred acres for ten hundred dollara. 
 On these larger farms in Illinois, any man who is pru- 
 dent, industrious, and intelligent, cannot fail to grow 
 rich in a few years. 
 
 The following statement shows the total earnings of 
 the road, the amount of sales of land, and the operating 
 expenses, for the last four years : — 
 
 
 Total pai-Dings. 
 
 Land Bales. 
 
 Operating expenses 
 
 186a . 
 
 . $4,636,827 
 
 
 $2,151,786 
 
 1864 . 
 
 . 6,403,034 
 
 $2,939,733 
 
 3,460,739 
 
 1865 . 
 
 . 7,264,010 
 
 2,191,630 
 
 4,509,794 
 
 1866 . 
 
 . 6,621,741 
 
 1,683,691 
 
 3,944,218 
 
 The officers of the Company are : President, John 
 M.Douglas; Land Commissioner, John B. Calhoun; 
 Treasurer, Thomas E. Walker; General Superintendent, 
 Marvin Hughitt; General Passenger Agent, W. P. 
 Johnson. 
 
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330 RAILR0AD3 OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 CHICAGO AKD ST. LOUIS BAILKOAD. 
 TOLEDO, WABASH, AND WESTERN RAILBOAD. 
 
 The Chicago and St. Louis Railroad presents a 
 most remarkable illustration of the good eftects of 
 proper railroad management. It extends from Chi- 
 cago to St. Louis, a distance of two hundred and 
 eighty miles, and the running time between the two 
 cities is fourteen hours. It encounters two powerful 
 rivals in the Illinois Central and the Chicago, Bur- 
 lington, and Quincy roads, as will be seen by the ex- 
 amination of a railroad map. And yet, so admirable 
 has the management of the road been, that its local 
 freight business has always exceeded the capacity of 
 its rolling stock. The latter has recently been 
 largely increased. The track of this road is one of 
 the best in the country. The enormous traffic that 
 passes over it was found to wear out the ordinary iron 
 rails in a very short time. The Directors, therefore, 
 have begun to relay the track with steel rails, and in 
 the mean time are using iron rails of an improved 
 construction. The rolling stock now in use on the 
 road includes seventy locomotives, forty passenger 
 cars, and twelve hundred freight cars. The Company, 
 in connection with the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne, and 
 Chicago Railroad Company, is about to erect a 
 
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CHICAGO, ST. LOUIS, ETC., RAILROADS. 331 
 
 handsome and commodious passenger depot at Chi- 
 cago, near Madison Street bridge, in the West Divi- 
 sion. 
 
 The total earnings of the road in 1865 were nearly 
 four millions of dollars (namely, $3,840,092), of which 
 over a million and a half of dollars were from passen- 
 gers (namely, $1,604,188). The entire expenses of 
 the road were two millions of dollars (namely, 
 $2,006,574), leaving the net earnings of the year 
 nearly two millions of dollars (namely, $1,833,517). 
 The total income of the road, during the year 1865, 
 including these net earnings, was two million six 
 hundred and nineteen thousand seven hundred and 
 ninety-two dollars, and the total disbursements one 
 million three hundred and twenty-eight thousand 
 three hundred and ninety-four dollars, leaving as the 
 net balance on hand over a million of dollars (namely, 
 $1,291,398). The total earnings of the road in 1866 
 were three million six hundred and ninety five thou- 
 sand one hundred and fifty-three dollars ; and the total 
 expenses two million two hundred and ten thousand five 
 hundred and thirty-six dollars, leaving the net earn- 
 ings one million four hundred and eighty-four thousand 
 six hundred and sixteen dollars. The total income 
 of the road, including these earnings, was two million 
 seven hundred and seventy-six thousand and fourteen 
 dollars, and the total disbursements one million two 
 hundred and seventy-eight thousand and fifty-nine 
 dollars, leaving the net balance on hand of one million 
 four hundred and ninety-seven thousand nine hundred 
 and fifty-five dollars. Such a result of two years' 
 work may well be considered gratifying by the stock- 
 
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332 RAILROADS OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 holders, particularly when they realize the splendid 
 condition at present of the track, road-bed, and equip- 
 ment of the road. The present of&cers are as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 T. B. Blackstone, President; Eobt. Hale, General 
 Superintendent; W. M. Larrabee, Secretary and Trea- 
 surer. 
 
 The Toledo, Wabash, and Western Railroad. 
 — This is one of the greatest railroads in the western 
 country. It is composed of the Toledo and Wabash 
 Eailroad, the Great Western Railroad, the Quincy 
 and Toledo Railroad, and the Illinois and Southern 
 Iowa Railroad, which were consolidated and merged 
 into one, July 1st, 1865. The present Company is 
 operating a great, direct, through line of railroad 
 commencing at Toledo, in Ohio, and terminating at 
 Quincy, Illinois, with branches to Naples and Keokuk, 
 making the entire length of road operated, five hun- 
 dred and twenty miles. The capital stock of the Com- 
 pany amounts to twenty millions of dollars. 
 
 The entire revenues of the road, for the eighteen 
 months ending Dec. 31, 1866, amount to five mil- 
 lion seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and 
 the operating expenses to four million two hundred 
 and ninety-eight thousand dollars; leaving the net 
 earnings during this period to be nearly a million and 
 a lialf of dollars (namely, $1,451,971). The number 
 of locomotives in use upon the road is one hundred 
 and two, number of passenger cars forty-seven, num.- 
 ber of freight cars, one thousand and forty. 
 
 The Company is at present engaged in the construo- 
 
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CHICAGO, ST. LOUIS, ETC., EAILKOADS. 333 
 
 fion of an iron railroad bridge across the Mississippi 
 Eiver at Quinoy. It is expected that this bridge will 
 be ready for the passage of trains befofe the close of 
 the year 1867. The Company have also contracted 
 for the construction of another railroad bridge across 
 the Mississippi Eiver, at Keokuk. The President 
 says, in his report: "The accomplishment of this im- 
 portant undertaking, the success of which is already 
 quite assured, })laces our line without competition or 
 rivalry in direct railway connection with the Des 
 Moines Valley Railroad, thereby affording us eas^y 
 and favorable access to the vast grain and stock busi- 
 ness of Central and Northern Iowa, one of the most 
 productive" and greatest wheat growing regions of the 
 west. 
 
 During the past year, the Company have expended 
 three millions of dollars in improving their road and 
 in adding to its equipment. Sixty-one miles of en- 
 tirely new track have been laid, twenty-one new first- 
 class locomotives have been purchased, and six elegant 
 passenger coaches have been built, at the Company's 
 shops. Four new passenger depots have been built, 
 and three large freight buildings. Several new 
 bridges have been built, besides those over the Mis- 
 sissippi Eiver ; among them is a wrought iron bridge 
 over the Wea River, west of Lafayette, in Indiana, at 
 a cost of fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 The President's Report says : — 
 
 "The Elevators used by our Company at Toledo, 
 with a storage capacity of one million four hundred and 
 fifty-two thousand bushels, are now in good repair and 
 efficient working condition, and their present manage- 
 
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334 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ment seems to secure the entire confidence and approba- 
 tion of ail doing business with them. Upon the comple- 
 tion of the track now in process of building through Ele- 
 vator ' No. 3,' the unloading facilities will be fully equal 
 to two hundred and fifty cars daily, which, in emerg- 
 encies, can be increased to four hundred daily, thus 
 assuring us against delays and detentions in times of 
 a great pressure of business." 
 
 The machine shops of the Company at Toledo are 
 very extensive, and are admirably managed. All the 
 necessary repairs to cars and locomotives are done 
 here, and the shops turn out, besides, two new freight 
 cars daily. Four new and elegantly arranged sleeping 
 cars were put upon the route in the spring of 1867. 
 
 The oificers of the Company are Azariah Boody, 
 President; Warren Colburn, Vice-President; E. A. 
 Chapin, General Superintendent ; John N. Drummond, 
 Secretary and Treasurer. 
 
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CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND, ETC., RAILROADS. 335 
 
 CHAPTEE XXXII. 
 
 CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND, AND PACIFIC RAILROAD. 
 CHICAGO, BURLINGTON, AND QUINCY RAILROAD. 
 
 The Chicago and Eock Island Eailroad was one 
 of the earliest roads completed from Chicago to the 
 west. It extends from Chicago to Eock Island on the 
 Mississippi Eiver, which it crosses on a fine bridge. 
 The distance is one hundred and eighty-two miles. It 
 owes its construction, and the success of its early ma- 
 nagement, particularly up to the year 1860, to the 
 energy, enterprise, and liberality of Henry Farnum, 
 Esq., the former President of the Company. The road 
 is constructed in the best possible manner, and its 
 equipment and rolling stock are not surpassed by that 
 of any road in the western country. The passenger 
 depot of the Company, at Chicago, is at the corner of 
 Van Buren and Sherman Streets, and is one of the 
 finest railroad buildings in the country. 
 
 The Chicago and Eock Island Eailroad was virtually 
 completed as early as the year 1854, and was in full 
 operation in 1855. It runs through a very rich and 
 fertile portion of the State of Illinois, passing through 
 the flourishing towns of Joliet, La Salle, and Bureau. 
 These were all small villages at the time the road was 
 laid out, but their growth was very rapid immediately 
 after the road went into operation. Many other settle- 
 
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336 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ments also sprung up along the line of the road, and 
 have since grown to be large and flourishing towns. 
 But it was in the improvement of the country along 
 the route of the road, that the change was most marked 
 and gratifying. Much of the land, especially between 
 La S.ille and Rock Island, was still uncultivated at the 
 time wheivthe road was completed. But it no longer 
 remained so. Hundreds of industrious and enterpris- 
 inj; nien at once settled themselves on farms near the 
 line of the road, where the land, although cheap, was 
 of unsurpassed fertility, and at once devoted all their 
 energies to the raising of wheat and cattle. 
 
 In a short time every farm along the line of the road, 
 and for miles on each side of it, was under a high state 
 of cultivation. The result of this state of things was soon 
 apparent in the increased business of the railroad; 
 Eroni the year 1856 to the year 1861, the receipts of 
 wheat at Chicago, over this road, continued to increase 
 rapidly, and finally became enormous in amount. 
 
 By the year 1857, the Mississippi and Missouri Rail- 
 road, beginning at Davenport, opposite Rock Island, 
 had been extended to Iowa City. It has since been 
 completed to Fort Des Moines, on the Des Moines 
 River, one hundred and fifty miles west of the Missis- 
 sippi River. The whole of this road is in progress to 
 the Missouri River, and will probably be completed to 
 Council Bkiffrf in a few months. The road will be run 
 and worked by the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific 
 Company, in pursuance of a contract to that effect.. 
 The hitter Company recently advanced half a million 
 of dollars to the Mississippi and Missouri Company, to 
 
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CHICAGO, BOOK ISLAifD, ETC., RAILROADS. 337 
 
 aid the latter in the construction of their road to the 
 Missouri River, 
 
 The increasing prosperity of the Chicago and Book 
 Island Eailroad Companj, for the last six years, is 
 mainly due to the energy and enterprise of Charles 
 W. Durant, the President, and John F. Tracy, the 
 Vice-Pi-esident of the Company. The latter gentleman 
 particularly, living at (.!hicago, and devoting his per- 
 sonal attention to the interests of the road in all its 
 details, has had the satisfaction to see, as the result of 
 Lis labors, a steady improvement in the condition of 
 tlie afiairs of the Company, year after year. 
 
 The Company are the owners of a large tract of land 
 about three miles west of Chicago, on which they ar'e 
 erecting this summer Very extensive buildiftgs for the 
 use of the road. There will be a machine shop three 
 hundred and thirty-six feet long, a blacksmith shop two 
 hundred and fifty-two feet long, a boiler shop ninety- 
 two feet long,' and engine-house of two hundred and 
 seventy-eight feet in diameter, a car shop two hundred 
 and. fifty-two feet long, and a painting house one hun- 
 dred and two feet long. In these buildings constant 
 employment will be given to six hundred men. 
 
 The earnings of the Rock Island Railroad for the 
 year ending March 31, 1866, were three million one 
 hundred and fifty-four thousand two hundred and 
 thirty-six dollars, and the operating expenses one mil- 
 lion seven hundred and eleven thousand four hundred 
 and fii'ty-five dollars, leaving one million four hun- 
 dred and forty-two thousand seven hundred and 
 eighty-one dollars, as the net earnings of the road. 
 Various payments, however, amounting to one million 
 22 
 
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338 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 one hundred and nine thousand and ninety -nine dol- 
 lars, reduced the net earnings to three hundred and 
 thirty-three thousand six hundred and eighty-two 
 dollars, which is considered in every way satisfactory. 
 The President of the Company is Charles W. Du- 
 rant, Esq. ; Vice-President, John F. Tracy^ Esq. 
 
 Chicago, Bublington, and Quincy Eailboad. — 
 This railroad, one of the most important roads of the 
 west, and at the same time one of the most wealthy, is 
 comparatively unknown at the east, except among rail- 
 road men. The reader will presently see that it 
 deserves to be as well known as any railroad mentioned 
 in this volume. The road extends from Chicago, in a 
 general southwest direction, to Galesburg, where it 
 forks. One branch reaches the Mississippi Eiver at 
 Burlington, and the other at Quincy. At Quincy, 
 after crossing the Mississippi Eiver, the road makes 
 connection with the Hannibal and St. .Joseph Eailroad, 
 which extends from Quincy to the town of St. Joseph 
 on the Missouri Eiver. 
 
 At Burlington, after crossing the Mississippi Eiver, 
 the road makes connection with the Burlington and 
 Missouri Eailroad, a road designed to extend from 
 Burlington on the Mississippi Eiver to Council Bluffs 
 on the Missouri. The latter road is now completed to 
 a distance of one hundred and thirty-two miles west of 
 Burlington, which is fifty-seven miles west of the 
 station marked Ottumwa, on the railroad maps. This 
 one hundred and thirty-two miles of the Burlington 
 and Missouri Eailroad runs through the richest and 
 most fertile part of Iowa, a part of that State which is 
 
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CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND, ETC., RAILROADS. 339 
 
 rapidly increasing in population. The business to 
 and from this part of Iowa passes over the Chicago, 
 Burlington, and Quincy Eailroad alone, and is, there- 
 fore, of great importance to it. It is generally through 
 business on the latter road, between Burlington and 
 Chicago, and is therefore of a very valuable nature. 
 
 The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, although a 
 new road, is already somewhat knovvn. It extends 
 through a very rich and fertile portion of the State of 
 Missouri, and its local freight traffic has increased 
 amazingly during the last eighteen months. During 
 the last year, particularly, it has poured a vast stream 
 of business upon the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy 
 Eailroad, draining, for this purpose, fully one-third of 
 the State of Missouri of its most valuable products. 
 It was to secure such rich traffic as this that the Chi- 
 cago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad was built. 
 
 But what shall we say of the country through which 
 the latter road itself passes ? Starting from Chicago, 
 the road passes through the counties of Cook, Du 
 Page, Kane, Kendall, De Kalb, La Salle, Bureau, 
 Henry, Knox, Warren, Henderson, McDonough, Han- 
 cock, Adams, Peoria, and Fulton. If the reader 
 will cast his eye over that portion of the State of Illi- 
 nois, he will see that it comprises the very best farm- 
 ing land in the State. It is in these counties, and in 
 those through which the Illinois Central Railroad runs 
 that the immense crops of wheat and corn are raised 
 that have made that State so celebrated. Coal 
 also abounds in the counties that we have named, of 
 the very best quality. The engines on the Chicago, 
 Burlington, and Quincy road are mostly run by coal. 
 
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840 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 On the line of tlie road many cities and large towns 
 have grown up. 
 
 At Quincy, a city of twenty thousand inhabitants, 
 the railroad Company has boats constructed like the 
 Steamer Baltitnore, at Havre de Grace, to transmit 
 loaded cars across the Mississippi River without deten- 
 tion oi" the breaking of bulk. This ingenious con- 
 trivance greatly shortens the time of transporting grain 
 to market and in getting quick returns of cash for it ; 
 and has largely increased the business of the Com- 
 pany. For example, a train of freight cars is loaded 
 with wheat raised in Missouri at St. Joseph, or at 
 Cameron, or at La Clede, one hundred or two hundred 
 miles west of Quincy, and four hundred miles west of 
 Chicago. It is of great importance that it should reach 
 Chicago as soon as possible. On arriving at Quincy, 
 instead of unloading the cars and transshipping the 
 grain the cars are run directly on board of these large 
 ferry boats, the train is quickly made up again on 
 the eastern side of the river, and it starts off for Chi- 
 cago without having been delayed a single hour. 
 
 At Aurora, another city on the line of the Chioagd, 
 Burlicgton, and Quincy Eailroad, of twelve thousand 
 inhabitants, the Company have their machine shops and 
 workshops, and employ a large number of men. The 
 sum of six hundred thousand dollars was paid out 
 there for work and material, during the year 1866. 
 At Galesburg, also, the Company have very extensive 
 works. 
 
 During the year 1866 a large addition was made to 
 the equipment and rolling stock of the Company, con- 
 sisting of six locomotives, eight passenger coaches, two 
 
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CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND, ETC., RAILROADS. 341 
 
 eli^ant sleeping cars, and one hundred and thirty-one 
 freight cars. During this year, too, fifty-three miles of 
 the track have been relaid with new and re-rolled ironj 
 being about one-eighth of the whole track. 
 
 The Chicago, Bui-lington, and Quiney Eailroad was 
 laid out and surveyed ia the year 1853. The work of 
 construction was commenced in 1854, and in 1855, the 
 road was completed according to the original design> 
 namely, from Galeaburg to the junction of the Galena 
 Road, thirty miles west of Chicago, a distance of. one 
 hundred and forty miles. From the Junction to Chi- 
 cago, the cars of the Company were run over the track 
 of the Galena Railroad. In 1856 the road was extended 
 to Burlington ; in 1857 the branch to Peoria was comr 
 pleted; and in 1858 the road was finished to Qjuincy, 
 In I860, the Company constructed a. track of their own, 
 from Chicago to Aurora, forty miles, and the route by 
 way of the junction was thenceforth abandoned. The 
 whole road is nearly four hundred miles long, namely, 
 from Chicago to Quiney, two hundred and- sixty-five 
 miles ; from Galesburg to Burlington, forty-five miles; 
 from Peoria to Galesburg fifty-three miles ; from Lewis- 
 ton to Yates City, thirty miles, total three hundred and 
 ninety-three miles. Four passenger trains leave Chi- 
 cago daily, fur the west, over this road, starting .from 
 the depot of the Illinois Central Railroad, at the foot of 
 Lake Street. 
 
 The present equipment of the road includes one 
 hundred and twelve locomotives, fifty-four passenger 
 coaches, twenty-five baggage cars, and two thousand 
 freight cars. This equipment, although large, is inade- 
 quate to the business of the road, and will be greatly 
 
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342 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED Sl'ATES. 
 
 increased this year. There is now building for the 
 Company eight new locomotives, twelve passenger 
 coaches, and two hundred freight cars, which will be 
 added to the rolling stock of the road before the close 
 of the present year. During the year 1866, the num- 
 ber of passengers who passed over the road was nearly 
 a million (namely, 939,201). The earnings of the road 
 during the year 1866 were over six millions of dollars, 
 of which one million seven hundred and fifty-seven 
 thousand three hundred and eighty-eight dollars were 
 from passengers, and four million four hundred and 
 eighteen thousand dollars were from freight ; total, six 
 million one hundred and seventy-five thousand :five 
 hundred and fifty-three dollars; while the net earn- 
 ings were nearly three millions of dollars (namely, 
 2,799,435). The capital stock of the Company now 
 amounts to over ten millions of dollars (namely, 
 10,193,010). 
 
 The ofiicers of the Company are : James F. Joy, 
 President; Robert Harris, General Superintendent; H. 
 Hitchcock, Assistant Superintendent; A. N. Towne, 
 Assistant Superintendent ; Samuel Powell, General 
 Ticket Agent; E. R. Wadsworth, General Freight 
 Agent. 
 
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NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON, AND G. N. KAILROAD. 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 EAILKOADS IN THE SOUTHEEN STATES. 
 NEW OELEANS, JACKSOJT, AND flKEAT NOETHEEN EAIL- 
 EOAD. 
 
 Eaileoads in the Southern States. — The citi- 
 zens of (Jharleston and Savannah were quick to appre- 
 ciate the importance of connecting their harbors with 
 the productive districts of the interior, by railroads; 
 and when these had penetrated their own States, the 
 line, of equal importance to both, was extended through 
 Georgia into Tennessee, connecting, in 1849, Chatta- 
 nooga with those cities. All these advances into the 
 valleys watered by the branches of the Mississippi, 
 affected the cities near the Gulf of Mexico ; and New 
 Orleans and Mobile hastened forward the completion 
 of the lines which, in the early years of American 
 railroads, they had projected for securing to themselves 
 the trade of these rich valleys. From Mobile, a road 
 directed towards the mouth of the Ohio was completed 
 into Mississippi: and from New Orleans, through the 
 central part of Mississippi, and across Tennessee and 
 Kentucky, the Ohio River was reached at Paducah, a 
 few miles above its mouth. 
 
 Railroad operations in South Carolina were conv 
 menced in 1829, on a road designed to connect Charles- 
 ton with Hamburg ou the Savannah River. Six miles 
 
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344 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITli:!) STATES. 
 
 were completed from Charleston ttatyear. It is a fact 
 worthy of remark, that, before the use of locomotives 
 was eatablished in Great Britain, and before they were 
 even known, in the United States, the directors of ibis 
 road in South Carolina determined, under the advice 
 of their engineer, Mr. Horatio Allen, to make locomo- 
 tive engines exclusively their motive power. Their 
 road was so constructed as to be wholly dependent 
 upon locomotives, being built, often for miles together, 
 upon piles, and often at great height from the ground. 
 
 In the winter of 1829-50, Mr. C. E. Detmold made 
 the drawings of the first American steam locomotive, 
 w:hich was planned by Mr. E. L. Miller, of Charleston, 
 and constructed by the Kembles of New York. It 
 was placed on the road which has just been described in 
 the summer of 1830. It was a small, four-wheeled 
 engine, with upright boiler, the flames circulating 
 around the water flues. It worked succassfully for 
 two years, when it exploded, and was rebuilt with a 
 flue boiler, the other parts having been uninjured by 
 the explosion. 
 
 On this road was introduced, in 1831, for the fir.st 
 time on any railroad, either in Europe or the United 
 States, the important arrangement of two four-wheeled 
 trucks for locomotives and long passenger cars. These 
 were built from plans designed by Mr. Horatio Allen 
 in 1830; and with no essential change, his system- o(' 
 double-truck running-gear, including the application 
 of pedestals to the springs, has been ever since adopted 
 upon all the roads in the United States. 
 
 Virginin, seeking the trade of the same region, also 
 reached Tennessee by the road from Richmond, ttirpugh 
 
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NE"W OBLEANS, JACKSON, AND G. N. EAILBOAD. 345 
 
 Lynchburg to Knoxville and Chattanooga, whence the 
 western line, already completed to Memphis on the 
 Mississippi, crossed the Mississippi Eailroad at Grand 
 Junction on the Southern line of Tennessee, and with 
 this made the communication complete from Alexan- 
 dria, Norfolk, and Eichmond to New Orleans. The 
 connection between the cities on the Atlantic Coast was 
 completed soon afterwards, by independent railroads, 
 planned originally from one city to the next. Between 
 Portland in Maine, and Philadelphia, several nearly 
 parallel railroads were afterwards constructed. 
 
 During the period between the years 1850 and 1860, 
 the Southern States manifested remarkable vigor in 
 the prosecution of all public enterprises, and especially 
 in the construction of railroads. Virginia particularly, 
 threw herself into the work of extending her railroads, 
 with greiit energy ; and during the period named, she 
 nearly trebled the extent of her existing railroads, and 
 increased her railroad investments seven fold. At the 
 siirne timeGeorgin, Alabama, and Mississippi competed 
 with each other in spirited manifestations of railroad 
 progress. 
 
 Thus Macon and Atlanta became railroad centres of 
 considerable importance. At Macon, trains arrived 
 daily from Savannah on the east and Montgomery on 
 the west; from Atlanta and Tennessee on the north, 
 and from the southern part of Georgia. At Atlanta, 
 also, trams arrived daily from Charleston on the east> 
 from Knoxville and Memphis on the north and west, 
 aad from Savannaii and Montgomery on the south. 
 The prosperity of these cities was built up, m a good 
 degree^ by the increasing business of all these rail- 
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346 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 roads, and when the war broke out, in 1861, all the 
 roads were doing an excellent business, and these two 
 cities were on the highroad to advancement. How 
 much they suffered during the war has never yet 
 been fully realized ; but the calamities that swept over 
 the south reduced hundreds of wealthy persons to 
 poverty. 
 
 Since the close of the war, and since the southern 
 railroads have again got into operation, they have re- 
 covered, in some measure, from the shock of war. 
 The citizens, in spite of their reverses, have moved 
 with commendabl© public spirit in reconstructing 
 those- of their buildings that were destroyed, and in 
 restoring their cities to that degree of elegance which 
 was so marked a feature before the war. The editor 
 of the "Macon Telegraph" recently visited Atlanta, 
 and he thus speaks of matters connected with rail- 
 roads there : — 
 
 "■ Atlanta has risen as if by magic from the desola- 
 tion and ashes of war. There has been nothing like it in 
 th.e past, and the matchless energy that has thus spoken 
 a large city, with massive and costly blocks for busi- 
 ness and. every necessary public building on a grand 
 scale, into sudden existence, is passing all comprehen- 
 sion. Such enterprise need not stagger at any under- 
 taking. It has been, loo, a most beneficent movement. 
 Thousands would have suffered and hundreds starved 
 but for the labor opened up to them in the rebuilding 
 of the city. We would be glad to specify many new 
 structures and comment on them and their purpose, 
 but fear to make this hasty sketch too long. 
 
 " The extensive iron works and rolling mills of J. 
 
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NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON, AND 6. N. RAILROAD. 347 
 
 D. Gray & Co., on the State road, about a mile and 
 a half from the city, were visited and attracted much 
 attention by their novelty. Many of our party 
 had never witnessed the operation of the powerful 
 machinery used in such establishments, and were 
 wonder-struck at the facility with which a glowin,<r 
 and jagged mass was converted into smooth and solid 
 rods or bars. 
 
 " The Marietta paper mills have undergone com- 
 plete reconstruction, and are now prepared to supply 
 the press and dealers with any amount and quality of 
 paper. 
 
 "On Friday afternoon the association was compli- 
 mented with an excursion by special train over the 
 State road to Marietta, a courtesy for which we were 
 indebted to the accomplished Superintendent, Major 
 Campbell Wallace. Mr. J. B. Peck, Master of Trans- 
 portation ; Ira E. Taylor, Auditor ; and Mr, John Flynn, 
 Master Machinist ; accompanied the party on the trip, 
 which was in all respects a most delightful one. The 
 road and rolling stock are in better condition than we 
 have ever seen them before, and reflect the highest 
 credit upon those officers. There are no rough places 
 in the track, the engines are kept bright and clean as 
 if just from the manufacturer's hands, and even the 
 freight cars are well painted and in an excellent state 
 of preservation. The road, too, is p niring thousands 
 monthly into the treasury, thus proving the hitherto 
 disputed fact that there is more than one man in Geor- 
 gia who has the ability to manage it successfully. In 
 Mr. Wallace and Mr. Peck the Governor has found real 
 treasures, and we hope no inducement will be wanting 
 
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348 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 to keep them on the road. The railroad depot and 
 offices and all the neighboring buildings, with nearly 
 the whole of the Public Square at Marietta, were de- 
 stroyed by Sherman's army when they evacuated it. 
 It was a hard and undeserved fate for that beautiful 
 little city, but we are glad to see that it is slowly 
 rising from its ashes." 
 
 New Orleans, Jackson, anb Great Northern 
 Eailroau. — The great through route between New 
 Orleans and Chicago, which is nine hundred and four- 
 teen miles long, is composed of the following lines of 
 railroad : — 
 
 The New Orleans, Jackson and Great North- 
 ern Railroad, from New Orleans to Canton, in Milea. 
 Mississippi 206 
 
 The Mississippi Central Railroad, from Canton 
 to Jackson, in Tennessee , , . , 236 
 
 The northern part of the Mobile and Ohio 
 Railroad, from Jackson in Tennessee to Colum- 
 bus, in Kentucky, on the Mississippi River , 87 
 
 Steamboat on the Mississippi River, from Co- 
 lumbus to Cairo ,..,., 20 
 
 The Illinois Central Railroad, Cairo to Chi- 
 cago 365 
 
 Total 914 
 
 It was originally intended that the New Orleans, 
 Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad should connect 
 New Orleans with Nashville, in Tennessee, and, in 
 order to accomplish this end, the route, as surveyed, 
 was, made to run from Canton in a northeast, direction 
 
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NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON, AND G. N. RAILROAD. 349 
 
 towards Nashville, until it struck the State line of 
 Tennessee, or the Tennessee Eiver, at the northwest 
 corner of Alabama. That portion of the road, how- 
 ever, between Canton and the Tennessee River, has 
 never been constructed. The route has been surveyed, 
 however, and a portion of it graded. As it presents 
 no formidable engineering obstacles, it may possibly 
 be completed at some future period, if "the prosperity 
 of the south should justify the undertaking. 
 
 By the first of December, 1860, the road had been 
 completed with a single track, together with the neces- 
 sary side-tracks, depot buildings, and water stations, 
 from Ne\v Orleans to Canton, in Mississippi, a distance 
 of two hundred and six miles, in a substantial and per- 
 manent manner, equal to any railroad in the United 
 States. 
 
 On that portion above Canton, known as the exten- 
 sion, twenty-six miies had been graded, at a cost of two 
 hundred and twenty thousand dollars, and an addi- 
 tional section of fourteen miles to the town of Koscius- 
 ko was under contract, and was completed during the 
 year 1861 ; another section, extending south from Aber- 
 deen, Mississippi, to the intersection of the Mobile and 
 Ohio Railroad nine miles, was under contract, the 
 grading of which was nearly completed and ready 
 for the rails. In addition to the work done on the 
 above nine miles, more or less work had been done 
 upon about forty miles of the line through Munroe 
 County, above and below Aberdeen, at an expense of 
 about eighty-five thousand five hundred dollars. 
 
 The amount expended in the construction of the road 
 from New Orleans to Canton, Mississippi, including 
 
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350 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the right of way, real estate, depot buildings, station 
 houses, iron rails, wood and water stations, and work- 
 manship of all kinds, up to December 1st, 1860, 
 was $5,549,211 81 
 
 For locomotive engines, cars, tools, 
 etc., in the machine shop . . . 1,044,661 20 
 
 For grading, right of way, and real 
 estate, etc., north of Canton . . 445,000, 00 
 
 Total cost of road and rolling stock . $7,038,873 01 
 
 The amount of indebtedness for 
 
 money borrowed upon first mortgage 
 
 bonds was $2,645,000 00 
 
 Loans from the State of Mississippi . 205,000 00 
 Amount of bills payable . . 735,385 73 
 
 Total loans and bills payable . $3,585,335 73 
 
 The net earnings of the road, for the year 1860, were 
 over half a million of dollars (namely, 556,712). The 
 equipment of the road, at that time, amounted to forty- 
 five locomotives, thirty-seven passenger cars, nine bag- 
 gage cars, and five hundred and three freight cars. 
 
 The tf)ta! earnings of the road, from freight, pas- 
 sengers and mails, for the — 
 
 Twelve months ending Dec. 31st, 1857, were $277,088 24 
 
 " " " " 31st, 1858, were 593,093 69 
 
 " " Nov. 30th, 1869, were 954,951 56 
 
 " " " " 30Ui, 1800, were 1,272,862 87 
 
 Showing a regular increase of more than three hun- 
 dred thousand dollars each year since 1857, notwith- 
 standing the interruptions to the traffic from the extra- 
 
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NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON, AND G. N. RAILROAD. 351 
 
 ordinary storms, crevasses, and short crops of the years 
 1859 and 1860. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1862, the whole road from 
 New Orleans to Canton, Mississippi, was in the best 
 possible condition, being better than any railroad in 
 the south, as regards capacity, rolling stock, &o. 
 
 The earnings of the road from the transportation of 
 freight and passengers, during the year 1861, were 
 oyer a million of dollars (namely, 1,128,537). The 
 cost-for the same, including-repairs of the road, engines, 
 cars, &c., was five hundred and thirty-one thousand 
 five hundred and ninety dollars, yielding a net revenue 
 of five hundred and ninety-six thousand nine hundred 
 and forty-seven dollars, which was applied to the 
 reduction of the floating debt, payment of interest ou 
 loans, and the extension of the road. 
 
 On the 24th of April, 1862, the rolling stock and 
 locomotives of the Company were taken possession of 
 by Major-General Lovell, and removed to that part 
 of the road north of Fonchatoula, where it remained 
 under his absolute control for twenty days. It was 
 then returned to the control of the officers of the road, 
 who continued to manage the same during the years 
 1862, 1863, 1864, and a portion of 1865, up to the 
 date of the surrender of the department by General 
 Taylor. On the 27th of August, 1862, the Directors, 
 who were then in Mississippi, met in the town of Can- 
 ton, and fixed the temporary domicile of the Company 
 at that place. They held regular board meetings, and 
 their attention was given to the business of the Com- 
 pany for a period of eight months, subject to the con- 
 trol of the Confederate military authorities. 
 
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352 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 About the middle of April, 1863, the country through 
 which the road passes was disturbed by the raid of 
 General Grierson, and subsequently by the invasion of 
 General Grant, and General Sherman, in May. At 
 that time, Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, was cap- 
 tured, and much of the road in its vicinity was torn 
 up and destroyed. In the years 1863 and 1861, the 
 rolling stock and locomotives belonging to the road 
 were destroyed by the contending forces, or rendered 
 unfit for service. 
 
 On the 7th of June, lS65, an order was obtained 
 from Major-General Canby, directed to the proper 
 officers, to turn over that portion of the road and some 
 of the rolling stock then in their hands, to the posses- 
 sion and control of the President and Directors of the 
 Company. The severe illness of Colonel Holabird, 
 the officer in charge, delayed the execution of this 
 order until the 24th of June, when that portion of the 
 road in their possession, and some of the rolling stock, 
 were received for the use of the Company. Shortly 
 afterwards the machine shop was given up and the 
 tools in the same restored to the use of the Company. 
 
 At the time the road was turned over to the Board 
 of Directors, it was being used, and was in good con- 
 dition as far as Ponchatoula, forty-seven miles north 
 of New Orleans. From that point to Brookhaven, a 
 distance of eighty-one miles, the road had not been 
 used since the spring of 1863, as most of the bridges, 
 between those points had been destroyed by the dif- 
 lerent armed forces traversing that section of the 
 c<ju[itry. That portion of the road not having re- 
 ceived any attention since 1862, it became enveloped 
 
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NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON, AND G. N. RAILROAD. 353 
 
 with briers, bushes, and grass, the undisturbed growth 
 of three years, thus causing, by shade and moisture, 
 the decay of the pine timber used in its construction. 
 There was scarcely a single bridge on that section 
 that was nut wholly or in part destroyed by fire, or 
 rendered unfit for use by decay. Of the cross-ties on 
 this section, fully three-fourths had to be replaced to 
 render the road safe for the transit of cars and locomo- 
 tives. From Brookhaven to Jackson — a distance of 
 fifty-five miles — the road, though dilapidated, was in 
 use, save some two and a half miles immediately south 
 of the latter place, where the road-bed had been torn 
 up and bridges and cross-ties burnt. 
 
 Fr(;m Jackson to Canton, the present terminus of 
 the road, a distance of twenty-three miles, the road, 
 though much out of repair, having been often torn up 
 and destroyed, was still being used. Of the splendidly 
 equipped road of 1861 and '62, of the forty-nine loco- 
 motives, thirty-seven passenger cars (many of which 
 had never been used), and five hundred and fifty freight, 
 baggage, and gravel cars, there remained fit for use, 
 though in a damaged condition, between Jackson and 
 Canton, one locomotive, two second class passenger 
 cars, one first class passenger car, one baggage and 
 one provision car, two stock and two flat cars. 
 
 On the section between Jackson and Brookhaven, 
 there were in use two locomotives, damaged, having 
 been partly burned; four box cars, one of which was 
 used for passengers, and nine flat cars. All the other 
 locomotives had been burned or damaged by time and 
 exposure and rendered unfit for service. The amount of 
 rolling stock turned over to the Company by the mili- 
 
 23 
 
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354 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tary authorities at New Orleans consisted of one loco- 
 motive, one passenger car, four box and ten flat cars, 
 one baggage and two cattle cars. 
 
 01 all the depot buildings and platforms attached, 
 wood-sheds and water stations, and division houses, 
 which were in complete repair in 1862, there remained 
 only the buildings at Osyka, Magnolia, and Summit ; 
 the remainder having all, from time to time, been de- 
 stroyed by the armed forces in their vicinity. 
 
 Such was the general condition of the road, and the 
 amount of rolling stock and motive power, when it 
 was placed under the control of the present Board of 
 Directors, on the 24th of June, 1865. Of its financial 
 condition, it need only be said, there was not a dollar 
 of available funds in its treasury. To rebuild the road 
 and restore its shattered finances was the first work 
 to which the Directors addressed themselves. Work- 
 men were immediately employed to rebuild the 
 bridges, commencing directly north, of Pontchatoulai 
 Other portions of the road were also undergoing 
 repairs, and every effort, commensurate with their 
 ability, was used to render the road, in its entire 
 length, fit for use at the earliest day. On the 3d of 
 July, the President of the Company was directed to 
 go to Washington to negotiate with the Government 
 for rolling stock, and to make postal arrangements for 
 the transmission of mails over the road. Contracts for 
 mail service were made on the same terms as with 
 other southern roads at this time. The negotiations 
 for rolling stock and locomotives resulted in a pro- 
 mise on the part of the Government, that when the 
 stock belonging to the Government was sold, the 
 
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NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON, AND G. N. RAILROAD. 355 
 
 several roads in the south would be permitted to pur- 
 chase, for their respective (.^ompauies, amounts accord- 
 ing to the length of road. Since that time there have 
 been purchased, for this road, ten locomotives and one 
 hundred and ninety freight cars. 
 
 Since the 2-±th of June, 1865, the date of the posses- 
 sion uf the road in its entire length by the Company, 
 there have been built and repaired ninety bridges, mea- 
 suring three thousand five hundred feet ; fifty thousand 
 cross-ties have been purchased and placed in the 
 roaa-bed ; all of which, together with the large increase 
 of rolling stock, tools &C., has been done with the 
 earnings of" the road during the time, and without 
 borrowing a dollar, or incurring any debt, except the 
 one to the United States Government for engines and 
 cars. 
 
 On the 2d of November, 1865, the Board of Direc- 
 tors elected General Beauregard as President of the 
 Company ; and he was re-elected in February, 1867. 
 General Beauregard has devoted his whole time, with 
 well-known energy and ability, to restore the road to 
 its former high position, as one of the most substantial 
 and permanent in the country. 
 
 By the end of the year 1866, under the energetic 
 management of General Beauregard, the condition of 
 the road had become very much improved. Many of 
 the depots and section houses destroyed during the 
 war had been rebuilt ; and passenger trains ran 
 regularly from New Orleans to Canton, two hundred 
 and six miles, in thirteen hours. The rolling stock 
 now iuoludes twenty-seven locomotives, thirty pas- 
 senger cars, nine baggage cars, and two hundred and 
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356 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 fifty freight cars. The earnings of the road for the 
 year 1866 were over a million and a half of dollars 
 (namely, $1,628,134:). The present indebtedness of the 
 Company amounts to about the same sum. 
 
 In May, 1866, General Beauregard, the President of 
 the road, and two of the directors, were appointed 
 commissioners to confer with the Northern and 
 European first mortgage bondholders relative to the 
 outstanding coupons and interests due them, and 
 which the Company was unable to meet. This ina- 
 bility was solely owing to the troubles which had 
 prevailed in this country, and which had left the road 
 in a most dilapidated condition. The Commissioners 
 repaired immediately, by way of New York and 
 Liverpool, to London, where they met and conferred 
 with some of the most prominent bondholders. They 
 were everywhere received with great kindness and 
 liberality, and the following agreement was entered 
 into with the London bondholders, to be submitted to 
 the other bondholders, namely : To deposit with trustees 
 the matured coupons held by them of the first mort- 
 gage bonds of the Company, including the coupons 
 due July 1st, 1865, and to receive, in lieu thereof, the 
 second mortgage bonds of the Company at par. In 
 case of failure on the part of the Company to meet their 
 new obligations in the payment of the interest on the 
 second mortgage bonds thus issued, or on the first 
 mortgage bonds (commencing with the coupons due 
 Jan. 1st, 1867), then the bondholders to reclaim their 
 first mortgage bond coupons and surrender the second 
 mortgage bonds which were issued for them, thus plac- 
 
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NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON, AND G. N. RAILKOAD. 357 
 
 ing them in their original position with their first 
 mortgage lien upon the road. 
 
 The Company has a large claim-agaiost the United 
 States Grovernment for railroad iron ^nd other mate- 
 rials taken by the United States forces during the war, 
 properly receipted for by the Government officers on 
 taking possession of the same. This amount will no 
 doubt be accepted by the Government in part payment 
 of the sura of seventy two thousand one hundred and 
 seventy-three dollars, due by the Company to the 
 Government, for rolling stock bought at New Orleans 
 and Nashville since the close of the war. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that the monetary condition of 
 the Company is most encouraging, and that, with con- 
 tinued watchfulness over its affairs, and economy in 
 the expenditure of its constantly increasing receipts, 
 the obligations of the Company towards its bondholders 
 and other creditors will certainly be met at maturity ; 
 and that, before many years, the road will befjome a 
 source of profit to the States of Louisiana and Missis- 
 sippi, the city of New Orleans, and the othei stock- 
 holders. 
 
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358 KAlLUOAiJS OF TH-Ji UNITED STATiSS. 
 
 CHAPT.B.R XXXIV. 
 
 MKMPHIS.AND CHARLKSTON RAILROAD. 
 
 The through route betweea Memphis and Charles- 
 ton, in South Carolina, which is seven hundred and fifty- 
 six miles long, is composed of the following railroads : — 
 
 Memphis and Charleston Railroad, Irom Mem- Miles, 
 phis to Stephenson, in Alabama . . . 272 
 
 The southern part of the Nashville .and Chatta- 
 nooga Railroad, from Stephenson to Chattanooga. 38 
 
 The Western and Atlantic Railroad, from Chat- 
 tanooga to Atlanta, in Georgia .... 138 
 
 The Georgia Railroad, from Atlanta to Augus- 
 ta, on the Savannah River .... 171 
 
 The South Carolina Railroad, from Augusta, 
 in Georgia, to Charleston 137 
 
 Total 756 
 
 The Memphis and Charleston Railroad was designed, 
 at first, to furnish an air line route between those two 
 cities, and in order to accomplish this, a route was 
 selected and surveyed between Decatur, in Alabama, 
 on the Tennessee River, and Atlanta. But this road, 
 as thus surveyed, has never been built. The route in 
 use at present, although reasonably direct, is not an 
 air line. The road from Memphis to Stephenson, two 
 hundred and seventy-two miles, was built about the 
 year 1850, and was in full operation in 1851. From 
 
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MEMPHIS AND CHARLESTON RAILROAD. 359 
 
 that time till 186 L, iis operations were conducted with 
 great .success, and to the entire satisfaction of the 
 stockholders. The want of such a road had long been 
 felt, and its completion, together with the subsequent 
 completion of its extensions to Charleston, as above, 
 gave the planters along its route the means of rapidly 
 transporting their crops, at reasonable rates, to Charles- 
 ton, whence they were shipped to New York and 
 Liverpool by steamers. The completion of the road, 
 and the facilities that it thus afforded, acted as a power- 
 ful stimulus to production. All the plantations, for 
 miles on each side of the route, were worked to their 
 fullest extent, and thousands of acres were added to the 
 cultivated lands, each succeeding year. The produc- 
 tions of the southern part of Tennessee, and of the 
 northern 'part of Mississippi and Alabama, rapidly in- 
 creased each year: and the prosperity of the road 
 itself, owing to its increased business, became so much 
 enhanced by the year 1860, that the project of com- 
 mencing to build the air line connection, between D v 
 catur and Atlanta, was seriously entertained. This 
 project, perhaps, would have been carried out at that 
 time, had it not been for the breaking out of the war. 
 That event, however, disarranged all plans of thia 
 kind. 
 
 The road, however, was operated as usual until the 
 eleventh of April, 1862, and proved to be of great use 
 to the south, in the transportation of troops and mili- 
 tary supplies during the first year of the war. On the 
 9th of January, lb62, the directors were able to declare 
 a dividend pf 33J per cent, on the profits of the road. 
 
 On the eleventh of April, 1862, the United States 
 
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360 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 military forces, under Gen. Mitchell, occupied Hunts- 
 ville, Alabama, and took possession of the road from 
 Stephenson to Tusouiiibia, together with eighteen loco- 
 motives, one hundred freight cars, a large number of 
 passenger cars and some baggage cars, the shop at 
 Huntsville with its tools and material, and a large 
 amount of wood, cross-ties, and other valuable property 
 on the line of the road bejween Decatur and Stephen- 
 son. Five days before this capture, the bloody battle 
 of Shiloh had been fought near the line of the road, 
 north of Corinth. The Confederate troops were falling 
 back to their intrenebments at Corinth, and the Federal 
 army was pressing up the line of the road near Big 
 Bear Creek. 
 
 Immediately after the capture of Huntsville, the 
 Confederate commander at Corinth gave orders for the 
 remainder of the rolling stock west of Huntsville to be 
 concentrated at and west of Corinth with the least pos- 
 sible delay. The Federal army was then moving 
 rapidly in order to frustate this movement, and, under 
 the excitement and haste attending the surrounding 
 scenes, it was made in great confusion, and much loss 
 of property necessarily took place. The pressing neces- 
 sity for railroad aid, and the exciting scenes in and 
 around Corinth from the eleventh of April, to the 30th 
 of May, incident to a heavy and determined siege, and 
 the concentration of two immense and hostile armies, 
 taxed the road, its rolling stock, and the energies of its 
 oflBcers and men to their utmost capacity, day and 
 night. 
 
 On the 29th of May, 1862, the Confederate forces at 
 Corinth, and on the line of the railroad, retired south- 
 
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MEMPHIS AND CHARLESTON RAILROAD. 361 
 
 ward, and bj the order of the military authorities of 
 the Coufederacy, all the machinery and rolling stock 
 were carried to points further south, by way of the 
 Mobile and Ohio, and Ohio and Mississippi Central 
 Eailroads. 
 
 Before the last trains leaving Corinth could reach 
 Cypress Greek, thirteen miles west of Corinth, the 
 bridge across that stream was burned, preventing the 
 further progress of trains, which, by military order, 
 were abandoned and partially destroyed. The road 
 lost four locomotives, one passenger car, and thirty-two 
 freight cars. 
 
 A subsequent order located the machinery and roll- 
 ing stock at Marion Station, on the Mobile and Ohio 
 Railroad, five miles north of Meridian, in Mississippi, 
 at which place the Company erected a temporary shop. 
 The repairs of engines and cars were commenced here, 
 and continued till June, 1863, during which time mili- 
 tary requisitions were made, and the stock taken and 
 distributed on the Selma and Meridian, and southern 
 railroads. In July and August, 1863, nineteen loco- 
 motives and eighty-three passenger and freight cars 
 were removed to Montgomery, in Alabama, by order 
 of General Pemberton, incurring water transportation 
 of twenty miles. After the arrival of the rolling stock, 
 &c., at Montgomery, the Quartermaster-General of the 
 Confederate States army distributed it all, except six 
 passenger cars, on various southern roads, where it 
 remained till the close of the war. The rolling stock, 
 tools, and materials remaining at Montgomery, in Ala- 
 bama, were all destroyed by General Wilson's United 
 States forces. A large amount of the rolling stock oa 
 
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362 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 the different roads in North Carolina, South Car.)lina, 
 and Georgia, was subsequently burned and destroyed 
 by the troops acting under Gen. Sherman. 
 
 la August, 1862, the northern part of Alabama was 
 evacuated by the United States forces, and in the fall 
 of that year, the road being clear from Decatur to Ste- 
 phenson, the Company again resumed its possession 
 by order of General Bragg, rebuilt the road between 
 those points, and a portion of the shop machinery, all 
 of which had been destroyed or badly damaged. As 
 soon as rebuilt, they operated this portion of the road 
 until July 1st, 1863, when they were again forced to 
 evacuate by order of General Bragg, taking south what 
 little machinery they had left. From this time until 
 the close of the war,_the railroad and most of its pro- 
 perty remained in the hands of the Federal forces, 
 being constantly attacked and injured by the Confed- 
 erates. The contest over this section of the country 
 was so hot that neither party was able to run the road 
 through, after it was first cut, in April, 1862. 
 
 Immediately after the surrender of Gen. Taylor, the 
 President of the road, Sam. Tate, Esq., proceeded to 
 Washington and procured from President Johnson a 
 special pardon. He then made application to the Presi- 
 dent for the restoration of the railroad property to its 
 owners. President Johnson informed him that the 
 property would be so restored as soon as the Company 
 was reorganized, and a Board of Directors chosen 
 whose loyalty was undoubted. Mr. Tate at once adver- 
 tised for a meeting of the stockholders to elect a Board 
 and reorganize the Company. This was done in July, 
 1865. Mr. Tate went to Washington and presented 
 
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MEMPHIS AND CHARLESTON RAILROAD. 363 
 
 the organization to the President, who approved it. 
 On the 8th of August the President gave nn order to 
 the Military Commander of the Division of the Ten- 
 nessee to turn over to the Company the railroad and 
 property belonging to it. The President of the road 
 then went to Nashville, to get the approval of Gen. 
 Thomas, and an order for the surrender of the property 
 which the President's order required. 
 
 This he succeeded in getting on the 1st of Septem- 
 ber, 1865, and on the 3d, the eastern division of the 
 road, from Stevenson to Decatur, eighty -four miles, was 
 turned over by the United States military authorities 
 to the Company. On the 11th of September, the 
 western division, from Memphis to Pocahontas, seventy- 
 four miles, was likewise surrendered. This left the 
 gap from Pocahontas to Decatur, one hundred and 
 fourteen miles, almost entirely destroyed, except the 
 road-bed, the iron rails being in very bad condition. 
 Every bridge and trestle on this part of the route was 
 destroyed, the cross-ties were rotten, the buildings 
 burned, the water-tanks gone, the ditches and drains 
 filled up, the track grown over with weeds and 
 bushes. There was not a saw-mill near the line ; and 
 the labor system of the country was gone. About 
 forty miles of the track was burned, the cross-ties en- 
 tirely consumed, the rails bent and twisted, and many 
 of them destroyed. 
 
 What little rolling stock the Company had left was 
 principally scattered over the south, and had been run 
 for four years without proper repairs ; consequently it 
 was not in a condition to be made available without 
 heavy repairs. The Company was not in a condition 
 
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364 RAILKOADS OF THE UNMED STATES, 
 
 to undertake this. They had before them over one 
 hundred miles of the road to rebuild, all the buildings 
 to renew, and nearly three hundred miles of road to 
 equip and run, with but little cash means, and less 
 credit. It was not a very flattering prospect before 
 the Company, to try to rebuild and equip the road, 
 and put it in operation. But great as the embarrass- 
 ments were, the Directors determined to overcome 
 them, and restore the road to active use, in order that 
 the country might get the benefit of it, and the invest- 
 ment again be made profitable. 
 
 In order to equip and run that portion of "the road 
 which had been turned over to them by the Govern- 
 ment, it was necessary to purchase rolling stock, which 
 could alone be had of the United States Government. 
 They therefore availed themselves of the benefits of 
 the President's order of August 8, 1865, which pro- 
 vided for the sale, to southern railroads, of certain 
 government locomotives and cars. Under the pro- 
 visions of this order, the Company purchased ten 
 locomotives, two hundred and twenty-six freight cars 
 fourteen passenger cars, tools for the shops at Hunts- 
 ville and Memphis, and a large amount of road mate- 
 rial and shop fixtures, amounting in all to four hundred 
 and ninety-one thousand nine hundred and twenty 
 dollars. By this purchase the road was organized 
 once more on a working basis, and had time to get 
 home such of their own rolling stock as could be found 
 and have it repaired. The Government also turned 
 over to the Company eighteen locomotives that had 
 been seized on the road, whicb added much to the 
 
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MEMPHIS AND CHAKLESTOxV K.ULUOAD. oiio 
 
 ability of the Company to prosecute needed repairs, 
 and do such business as was offered on the line. 
 
 The work of construction equipping and reorganiz- 
 ing the road, was prosecuted with al. the vigor and 
 energy that the means of the Company and the con- 
 dition of the country and its labor would admit. It 
 was operated as fast as repaired, and on the 6th of 
 November, 1865, trains were run over the entire main 
 line, with but one break, the bridge at Decatur, across 
 the Tennessee River, over one thousand seven hundred 
 feet long, having been destroyed. 
 
 The Company was compelled to transfer freight and 
 passengers by steamer at that point. A contract was 
 made in October, with Albert Fink, of Louisville, Ky., 
 one of the most experienced and reliable bridge build- 
 ers in the country, to rebuild the bridge at that point 
 with the least possible delay, but the scarcity of suita- 
 ble lumber, and the high water in winter retarded its 
 progress to some extent, so that it was not completed 
 and ready to pass trains over it until July 7th, 1866. 
 It is a first-class bridge, of the Fink V. patent, with 
 wrought iron bottom chords, and wooden top chorda 
 covered with tin, and wooden braces so arranged that 
 any one of them can be removed without interruption 
 to passing trains, combining, probably more strength, 
 durability, and economy, than any bridge now con- 
 structed, with less liability to accident than any bridge 
 except those bailt of iron. 
 
 B'or two years past, and ever since the completion of 
 this bridge, the road has been operated with great 
 regularity and success. It forms a part of the great 
 through line between New York and Memphis, by 
 
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;3J3 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 way of Washington, Lynchburg, Kaoxville, and Chat- 
 tanooga, and through trains on this route are now 
 running daily. The distance from Memphis to New 
 York, by this route, is eleven hundred and sixty-four 
 miles. The road is now well supplied with rolling 
 stock including locomotives and passenger cars of the 
 most approved construction, and the track and road- 
 bed are in perfect order. The management of the road 
 is excellent. Every person employed lay the Company 
 is required to be of good character, and to be faithful 
 and zealous in the Company's service. 
 
 In his Eeport, maxJe July, 1, 1866, the President of 
 the road urges the importance of constructing, at an 
 early day, a branch of the road from Decatur to Mont- 
 gomery, in Alabama, running nearly south from the 
 former point. This enterprise seriously commends 
 itself to the support of the citizens of Alabama, as it 
 will be of immense advantage to them when completed, 
 and it will no doubt be undertaken at no distant day. 
 
 Mr. Tate, also urges the resumption and completion 
 of the road from Decatur to Atlanta, to which allusion 
 has been made above. On this point he says that the 
 distance will be " one hundred and forty to one hun- 
 dred and seventy miles. This road completed, the 
 Company would have an air-line from Memphis to 
 Charleston on the shortest line that can ever be built 
 between Charleston and the Mississippi River three- 
 fourths of which is now completed, on what is practi- 
 cally an air-line. When this road is finished you can 
 defy all competition for the imported goods from New 
 York and other eastern cities, as well as the manufac- 
 tured articles from New England and other northera 
 
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MEMPHIS AND CHARL'ESTON RAILROAD. 367 
 
 manufacturing districts, to be consumed, iu the Valley 
 of the Mississippi south of the mouth of the Ohio, as 
 well as for western produce, to be distributed over its 
 entire line. By steamer from New York to Charleston 
 you have the cheapest transportation for a like distance 
 known. The time is two and a half days; the distance 
 by this line to Memphis is six hundred and sixty-five 
 miles, and could be run in two and a half days by a 
 day and night freight schedule, allowing twenty-four 
 hours for transfer at Charleston, and you have six 
 days between New York and Memphis, and the short- 
 est rail line that can ever be had between the points 
 named. The time and the price would settle competi- 
 tion for all eastern goods to be consumed on the line, as 
 well as at Memphis or south of that point, as low as 
 the mouth of the Arkansas Eiver. 
 
 "From St. Louis to Memphis is two days' run of 
 steamer ; goods can be placed on the cars at Memphis 
 from St. Louis at twenty cents per hundred pounds ; 
 from that to Charleston the time would be two and a 
 half days ; allowing twelve hours for transfer, would 
 give five days between St. Louis and Charleston. The 
 time and price here would again give you loaded cars 
 going East, every mile of the line requiring Western 
 produce. These lines would all be then in one in- 
 terest, and would be worked as one company, without 
 change of cars — another great inducement, as it adds 
 facility to transportation, saves labor and liability to 
 damage ami pillaging while transferring. The distance 
 being sixteen miles nearer from Atlanta to Savannah 
 than Charleston, the same advantages would accrue to 
 you for the trade of that line. If this line was com- 
 
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368 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 pleted, the distance from Memphis to Atlanta would 
 be three hundred and fifty-eight miles against four 
 hundred and forty-seven, via Chattanooga. The dis- 
 tance by rail from Louisville to Atlanta is four hun- 
 dred and seventy-four miles. Should Cincinnati ever 
 build a line direct to Chattanooga, it will be at least 
 four hundred and fifty miles from Cincinnati to At- 
 lanta. 
 
 " I cannot urge upon you too strongly the importance 
 of this connection, even if you had to build it unaided, 
 whenever your finances would admit of it. The line 
 is a practical one, and most of it can be built cheap, 
 and when built, secures yours as one of the heaviest 
 freight lines south of the Potomac and Ohio Elvers, 
 and gives permanence to the value of your property, 
 and secures your power as the great through line 
 between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi Eiver, 
 without a successful rival. The investment is bound 
 to be profitable, and no fears need be entertained on 
 that subject. 
 
 "New sources of labor and wealth will be estab- 
 lished ; your lands will be divided up into smaller 
 plantations, accommodating a much larger population 
 that will cultivate them to greater advantage, produc- 
 ing double what they now do, and supporting double 
 the population; yourrich mineral resources will invite 
 capital from the North and elsewhere to develop your 
 iron and coal fields, equalled iu quantity, quality, or the 
 ease and cheapness with which tliey can be worked, 
 by iiuue on this continent; your splendid water power, 
 abundant provisions and healthy climate, will invite 
 the cotton and woollen manufacturer to such points as 
 
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MEMPHIS AND CHARLESTON RAILROAD. 369 
 
 Shoal Creek and Cypress Creek, and the Muscle Shoals 
 on the Tennessee, to build up manufacturing establish- 
 ments, where the raw material and provisions can be 
 grown within sight of the factory, and a home market 
 for everything you produce be provided, thereby sav- 
 ing the heavy cost of transportation now paid to get 
 the raw material to the factory and to return the manu- 
 factured product to the consumer, as well as the cost 
 of transportation of provisions to feed the operatives. 
 These inducements will soon produce the results 
 named, and prosperity will spring up from all quarters. 
 We will be astonished at the vast recuperative ener- 
 gies of a country and people who have so recently beeu 
 overrun and their country desolated by the ruthless 
 hand of war. Eventually your property will recover 
 from its immense losses, and be much more valuable 
 and permanently profitable than before the war ; and 
 finally, it is to be hoped, it will be proved to us that 
 Providence, in its wisdom, has sent to us our misfor- 
 tunes as blessings in disguise ; and if we are not per- 
 mitted to enjoy them ourselves, our children will be. 
 Let us all go to work in good earnest; act our part 
 well, and in ■ good faith ; do our duty to ourselves as 
 well as others, and leave the consequences to Him who 
 rules our destiny." 
 
 The officers of the Company are: Samuel Tate, 
 President; W. J. Ross, General Superintendent; James 
 L. Meigs, Chief Engineer. 
 24 
 
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370 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXY 
 
 ORANGE AND ALEXANDRIA RAILROAD. 
 
 This road extends from Alexandria, in Virginia 
 (near Washington), to Lynchburg, in the same State, a 
 distance of one hundred and seventy-eight miles. It 
 forms a part of the great through route between New 
 York and New Orleans, by way of Philadelphia, Bal- 
 timore, Washington, Gordonsville, Knoxville, Chatta- 
 nooga, Grand Junction, and Jackson, in Mississippi. 
 The Company was chartered by the State of Virginia 
 in March, 1848 ; and an extension of the charter was 
 made in 1852. The branch road to Warrenton, which 
 was very much needed, was completed in 1852, and 
 proved of great benefit to the inhabitants. The road 
 was finished from Alexandria to Gordonsville in 
 1854; and from Gordonsville to Lynchburgin January, 
 1860. The capital stock of the Company is two mil- 
 lion sixty-three thousand six hundred and fifty-nine 
 dollars. At Gordonsville, the road connects with the 
 Virginia Central Railroad, running from Richmond 
 to Covington, by way of Charlottesville and Staunton. 
 At Lynchburg, the termination of the road, it connects 
 with the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad for Knox- 
 ville ; and with the Petersburg and Lynchburg Rail- 
 road for Richmond and Norfolk. It will also connect 
 at Lynchburg with the Lynchburg and Danville Rail- 
 
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ORANGE AND ALEXANDRIA RAILROAD. 371 
 
 road, when the latter is completed to Danville, and 
 will thus form an almost air-line route from Alexandria 
 to Charlotte in North Carolina. 
 
 This railroad was of immense advantage to the Con- 
 federates during the recent war, as it enabled them to 
 transport rapidly large bodies of troops from all points 
 in the south to the line of the Potomac, which was, 
 for so long a period, the frontier between the two con- 
 tending parties. To destroy and cripple this road, 
 therefore, became an object of the first importance on 
 the part of commanders of the Federal troops. But, as 
 the Confederates retained possession of the country be- 
 tween the Potomac and Eappahannock (except in the 
 immediate vicinity of Washington) during the greater 
 part of the time until General Grant began his over- 
 land campaign, there was no very favorable opportu- 
 nity for extended destruction. On one or two occa- 
 sions, indeed, parties of cavalry succeeded, in a few 
 hours, in destroying several miles of the track, as well 
 on this road as on the Virginia Central and the Pe- 
 tersburg and Eichmond roads. But these occurrences 
 were always provided for in advance. Supplies of 
 new rails, and of all materials needed for repairs, were 
 kept constantly on hand. Construction trains were 
 instantly put in motion, and in a few days all the 
 damage was repaired, and trains were running as 
 usual. 
 
 The country through which the Orange and Alex- 
 and.'ia Railroad runs was the great battle-ground of 
 the war, during almost the whole contest, from the 
 first of May, 1861, until the summer of ISfii. On the 
 21st of July, 18til, the first battle of Bull Run was 
 
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373 PAH-B04DS OP THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 ^Ught near Manasses Junction ; and from that time 
 till February, 1862, the Confederate lines were ad- 
 vanced close to the vicinity of Washington. "While 
 Qeneyal McOlellan's Peninsula campaign was in pro- 
 gress, froni March to August, 1862, the road was not 
 used by either party. No sooner was General Mc-> 
 Qlellan's ?i,rmy withdrawn from the Peninsulaj ho\sf- 
 evei;, than the road began to be again used by the Coq-. 
 federates, in moving troops towards Washington. 
 General Pope used it also, foi* the transportation of 
 the supplies for his army, from Alexandria to Gul- 
 p^jpper, early in August, 1862. His disastrous defeats, 
 the second battle of Bull Run on the 29th of August, 
 and the retreat of the Federal army to Washington, 
 followed ; and then the road remained in the hands of 
 the Confederates until the middle of November, 1862, 
 At that time th^ army of the Potomac, under Genera,! 
 Burnside, was at Warrenton Junction, on its march to 
 Fredericksburg, and the use of the road was divided. 
 The Confederate army ran their trains upon it from 
 Lynchburg to Culpepper ; and the Federal army used 
 it for tra,Qsporting th^ir supplies, from Alexandria to 
 Warrenton Junction. Thus matters remained till the 
 Sd of May, 1863, when the army of the Potomac, under 
 General Hooker, was defeated at Chancellorsville near 
 Frederiqkaburg. The army under Hooker retreated tQ 
 Washington early in June, and by the 16th of that 
 month the whole road was in the pqssessipn of the 
 Confederates. 
 
 The month of August, 1863, found both of the con^ 
 teading armies south of the Rappahannock. The inva- 
 gioft Qf Penosylvania by General Jjee, and the battle of 
 
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ORANGE ANB ALEXANDRIA RAILROAD. '373 
 
 Gettysburg on the 3d of July, liad taken place, and 
 then General Lee, retiring into Virginia on the western 
 side of the Blue Ridge, had taken up a very strong 
 position south of the Rapidan. This position was 
 known as Mine Run ; and after making several inef- 
 fectual attempts to drive General Lee from it, General 
 Meade, with the army of the Potomac, went into winter 
 quarters near Culpepper. Thus matters remained 
 nptil Getieral Grant began his ovferland campa.ign 
 against Richmond, on the 3d of May, 1864. The road 
 from Washington to Culpepper was used by the 
 Federal army, and from Lynchburg to Orange Court 
 House by the Confederate army ; and proved very 
 useful to both, until the end of June, 1864, when Gen- 
 eral Grant began his operations against Petersburg. 
 From that time to the end of the war the road was not 
 used to any extent by the Federal army, as a mili- 
 tary road, although it was used to a limited extent by 
 the Confederates, until the fall of that year. 
 
 Since the close of the war, the track has been put in 
 excellent order, and a daily train is run each way over 
 it, carrying the great mail between New York and 
 New Orleans. The business of the road is steadily in- 
 creasing, and there is every prospect that the earnings 
 for the year 1868 will be quite satisfactory to the 
 stockholders. The officers of the Company are John 
 S. Barbour, President; H. W. Vandegrift, Superintend- 
 ent; Anthony McLean, Auditor. 
 
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374 KAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 EAILROADS IN TEXAS. 
 
 The vast and illimitable resources of Texas have 
 scarcely yet begun to be developed ; nor will they be 
 fully developed, until the various railroads in that 
 State which are now projected, and some of which are 
 in progress, shall have been completed. Texas was an 
 independent nation — an empire of itself — before it 
 became one of the United States ; and it yet possesses 
 its imperial domain, of which Daniel Webster gave 
 such a glowing description. When Texas was an- 
 nexed to the United States, in 1845, it was stipulated 
 in the articles of annexation, that, as the population in- 
 creased, four other States might be made out of its im- 
 mense territory, which States, when formed in the usual 
 manner, were to be received into the Union on the 
 same footing as the original States. Texas is quite 
 large enough thus to make five States. It comprises 
 two hundred and thirty-seven thousand square miles; 
 equal, in territorial extent, to five States of the size of 
 New York or Pennsylvania; or equal to the six States 
 of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, 
 and Illinois. It is already probably the greatest cat- 
 tle raising State in the Union, and the soil and climate 
 are admirably adapted to the raising of wheat and corn- 
 The following remarks of Judge Robertson on this 
 
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RAILROADS IN TEXAS. 375 
 
 subject, although spoken in reference to Louisiana, the 
 adjoining State, apply equally well to Texas. 
 
 '' Our seed should come from Missouri, Tennessee, or 
 Texas. The Mediterranean varieties would suit us 
 best,.perhaps. Wheat with us should be planted in 
 September, October, or November. It is a beautiful 
 season for preparing the ground. It may then be 
 reaped in the last half of April and May, a time usually 
 selected for making brick, on account of its fair 
 weather. The daily quotations show that southern 
 flour, raised in Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia, 
 brings from three to five dollars more per barrel than 
 the best New York Genesee flour. Louisiana and 
 Texas flour is far superior to the Tennessee, Virginia, 
 or Missouri, owing to the superior dryness, and the 
 fact that it contains more gluten and does not ferment 
 so easily. Southern flour makes better dough and 
 maccaroni than northern or western flour; it is better 
 adapted for transportation over the sea, and keeps bet- 
 ter in the tropics. It is, therefore, the flour that is 
 sought after for Brazil, Central America, Mexico, and 
 the West India market, which are at our doors. 
 
 "A barrel of strictly southern flour will make 
 twenty pounds more bread than Illinois flour, because, 
 being so much drier, it takes up more water in making 
 up. In addition to this vast superiority of our grain, 
 we have other advantages over the Western States in 
 grain-growing. Our climate advances the crop so 
 rapidly that we can cut our wheat six weeks before a 
 scythe is put into the fields of Illinois ; and being so 
 near the GulfJ we avoid the delays in shipping and the 
 long transportation, the cost of which consumes nearly 
 
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376 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 one-half of the product of the West. These advan- 
 tages, thtt superior quality of the flour, the earlier 
 harvest, aad ths lilieup and easy shipment, etiaUle us 
 absolutely to loreBtall tiie VVest.ia the loreign den. .aid, 
 which is DOW about forty millions of bushels annually. 
 and is rapidly increasing, and also in the Atlantic sea- 
 board trade. 
 
 " Massachusetts, it is calculated, raises not more than 
 one month's supply of flour for her vast population. 
 New York, not six months' supply for her population, 
 and the other Atlantic states in like proportion. This 
 vast deficit is now supplied by the Western States, 
 and the trade has enriched the West, and has built 
 railroads in every direction to carry toward the Bast 
 the gold-producing grain. We can, if we choose, have 
 a monopoly of this immense trade, and the time may 
 not be far distant when, in the dispensation of Provi- 
 dence, the West, which contributed so largely to the 
 uprooting of our servile system and the destruction of 
 our property, will find that she has forced us into a 
 rivalry against which she cannot compete, and that 
 she will have to draw not only for supplies of cotton, 
 sugar, and rice, but even her breadstuffs from the 
 South." 
 
 George Wilkes Kendall, Esq., the well-known and 
 genial editor of the New Orleans Picayune, whose 
 long residence in Texas made him perfectly i'amiliar 
 with the resources and capabilities of that superb coun- 
 try, thus speaks of the railroads of Te.xas, and the 
 need of reliable labor there : — 
 
 "I find Lidianola much improved since T was here 
 in August last — new buildings up and going up, old 
 
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RAILROADS IN TEXAS. 377 
 
 ones repaired and freshly painted, and numerous un- 
 mistakable signs of prosperity, I have heard, too, the 
 joyous jingle of Mexican castings, as the silver dollars 
 from the other side of the Eio Grande are called ; they 
 are ringing their merry chimes on all sides. And all 
 is life and bustle, too, and the faces of men are glad 
 and hopeful. One great cause of this, independent of 
 a prosperous season, is the fixed fact that the railroad 
 to Lavaca is soon to be built, and that the work beyond 
 T^ictoria, in the direction of San Antonio, is immedi- 
 ately to be pushed forward. When called upon the 
 other day for the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, to 
 make up the amount necessary to commence work be- 
 tween this and Lavaca on the road which is already 
 graded, sixteen thousand were subscribed in a single 
 evening, and many have not as yet put down their 
 names. Mr. Warner, who represents a company of 
 rich British capitalists, and Mr. Julian, a competent 
 English engineer, have just completed a thorough sur- 
 vey of the route between Inrlianola and both Austin 
 and San Antonio, are perleetly satisfied, and are at once 
 to leave for England with the intention of bringing out 
 laborers, rails, and all the rolling stock necessary. As 
 far as Concrete, in Do Witt County, the roiid will soon 
 be under construction, and once there, it will soon be 
 branching oft" either to San Antonio or A,ustin — proba- 
 bly to both. I give you the common talk of the town, 
 all jubilant over the flattering prospects for early rail- 
 road communication with the interior. If T have a 
 leisure half-hour on the way up to San Antonio, I will 
 drop you anotVier line on this subject — -certainly, after 
 reaching that city. The introduction of English 
 
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378 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 laborers to work on the road is certainly important to 
 Western Texas; they will all settle down after the 
 railroad is completed, add help materially to develop 
 the rich resources of the region. 
 
 " Messrs. Hughes & Lily, who have established a 
 beef-packing establishment here on a large scale, are 
 still unable to supply the great demand* upon them. 
 They are sending their beef to Mobile and Pensacola, 
 as well as New Orleans, where it is pronounced equal, 
 if not superior, to the same article sent down the Mis- 
 sissippi from the West. They are enterprising men, 
 deserve success, and will undoubtedly achieve it. 
 
 " The steamship Mexico went out this evening with 
 some four hundred and fifty head of cattle, for New 
 Orleans. She returns immediately, and her next load 
 of beeves will be taken to Havana. The time may 
 come, and sooner than many expect, when our Cuban 
 neighbors will be regularly supplied with Texan beef, 
 and much cheaper than they can raise it at home. As 
 I am now writing, a large drove of beeves is passing 
 the door, to be shipped to-morrow for New Orleans. 
 
 "I must again recur to the subject of foreign emi- 
 gration. Finding out, to my cost, that no contract 
 made in Europe is binding in this country, under our 
 present laws, would it not be well for our legislators 
 immediately to pass an act by which we can enforce 
 the terms of a regularly signed and stamped contract ? 
 If I understand the matter, our present law was passed 
 to prevent the introduction of Coolies for a long term; 
 it operates as an incentive to Germans, French, Irish 
 Scotch and all to openly violate the most solemn en- 
 gagements, and after we have advanced them six 
 
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EAILEOADS IN TEXAS. 379 
 
 months' or a year's wages, and their passage across seas 
 has been paid by us, they can snap their fingers in our 
 faces, and laugh at us for our folly. 
 
 " Texas wants working emigrants; so does Louisiana, 
 and all our Southern States. We want industrious 
 laborers to take the places of the loafing and improvi- 
 dent negroes, who will not work — -cannot be made to 
 work under our present laws. The tide of German emi- 
 gration, constantly increasing, all flows to New York, the 
 great feeder of the West. In New York they want 
 emigrants with money to pay their way across the 
 ocean in the first place, their railroad fare out to Wis- 
 consin, Minnesota, and other Western States in the 
 second, and have enough left to purchase farms when 
 they get to their journey's end. For the New Yorkers 
 it is a money making business all round ; to an extent 
 they own the ships, the railroads, and the wild lands 
 of the West — lands which, once under cultivation, fur- 
 nish them with increased business. We of the South- 
 want emigrants who can pay their way and purchase 
 their lands after they get here ; but we cannot, to any 
 extent, divert the great current setting towards New 
 York. But one thing we can do, either by the exer- 
 tions of individuals or the enactments of legislatures, 
 and that is to bring over an immense number of stal- 
 wart laborers who are willing and most anxious to 
 come, but who have not, and nevrr can have, the 
 means to pay their way. Hundreds of thousands, yes, 
 ' millions of lusty laborers in the European States, who 
 can barely earn enough, by working from daylight 
 until dark, to keep starvation from their doors, would 
 throw up their hats for joy could they have their pas- 
 
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380 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 sages paid to any Southern port. And for forty dol- 
 lars a head, a sum which they could earn in four 
 months in Texas, first-class laborers could be brought 
 over, and the wealth their strong arms would add to 
 the State would soon cover all this expense. 
 
 "In a conversation at Galveston the other day, "With 
 Mr. Flake, of the Bulletin, he told me that laborers, 
 unable to pay their own way, could at once be thrown 
 tipon the l^rolific soil of Texas, if the State would but 
 simply furnish the passage money. Ten thousand, or 
 even five thousand of such laborers thrown into Texas 
 this season, would be of incalculable advantage — -would 
 prove a greater source of stable wealth than the dis- 
 covery of a gold mine richer than those of California. 
 
 " But how could Texas nndertake such a job ? This 
 question will be asked. Surely there is legislative 
 wisdom enough in the State 'to adopt sOrhe plan, 
 some system which would be advantageous to the 
 laborers, their employers, and the public coffers at the 
 same time. The passagfe of a law that the State should 
 simply hold a claim upon the services of the emigrants 
 until the expense of bringing them over was refunded 
 might do, and thousands of farmers and planters would 
 cheerfully advance this amount if the service of the 
 foreigner could be insured to them a single year. Of 
 course with the hope that he might, by kind treatment, 
 be induced to work on for a longer period, or until 
 he had secured the means to purchase a place of* his 
 bwn, 
 
 " The throAving of fifty thousand stout German la- 
 borers upon our soil would have a better effect upon 
 the freedineh th^in aiiy philanthropic acts of their 
 
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RAILROADS IN TEXAS. 881 
 
 northern friends — so-called philanthropic. It would 
 open wide their eyes to a fact that they now seem to 
 ignore — the fact that we could get along without their 
 labor. There is work, and more than work for all of 
 them^ and hundreds, of thousands besides, and compe- 
 tition in the labor market Avould draw out whatever 
 there may be of industry in them. Qf this I am cer- 
 tain. A large number of negroes now congregating 
 about our cities, towns, and villages, must die ofi:^ — they 
 cannot live from hand to mouth long. Among a class 
 of them loafing is chronic : they are doomed, yet there 
 are many who have not become hopelessly and irra- 
 dicably indolent and worthless, and the influx of a 
 large and industrious working element among them 
 would have a most beneficial eflect. At all events, 
 there is no harm in introducing it. 
 
 " We came up from Lavaca last evening on the San 
 Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railroad; starting at half- 
 past four o'clock, we got over thirty miles by dark. 
 The windows were wide open ; thousands of cattle were 
 seen feeding on the wide prairies; the evening air, 
 a,fter a hot and sultry day, was mild and balmy, and 
 every hundred yards a brood of prairie chickens either 
 ran off across the prairies, or else rose and flew a few 
 yards to settle down again almost within gunshot. It 
 was aggravating to one who has the sporting proclivi- 
 ties I claim to possess, to see covey after covey of these 
 splendid birds so close, and without being able to pay 
 my respects to them with the new breech-loader re- 
 cently presented me by an old English friend; I 
 could almost fancy I heard the gun rattling in its case, 
 at tlie close proximity of ^uch noble game, in it^ 
 
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382 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 eagerness to ' up and at them.' They may catch it one 
 of these days. 
 
 "Some few weeks since the depot of the Company 
 here in Victoria was burned, and the larger locomotive 
 destroyed ; but the smaller, a mustangy looking affair, 
 brouo-ht us up safely, and more speedily than we an- 
 ticipated. We should always speak well of the bridge 
 that brings us well over. 
 
 "Among the passengers were Judge Paschal, Col. 
 Schleicher, Mr. J. C. French, of San Antonio, all 
 representing the interests of the railroad, and from 
 them I learned many interesting and cheering particu- 
 lars in relation to the work they have so much at 
 heart. For some weeks Mr. Warner and Mr. JuUian, 
 the latter a practical English engmeer of much expe- 
 rience, have been going over the country and along 
 the route, and have been so well pleased with what 
 they have seen that last evening, as I have previously 
 stated in a letter from Lavaca, the former signed con- 
 tracts with Messers. French, Paschal and others to set 
 to work immediately to push the road forward to 
 Cuero, thirty miles above this city, and near a fork in 
 the Gnvlahipe, where there is a fine water-power, and 
 all tlnis to be done with British capital, which Mr. 
 Warner, a gentleman of rare intelligence and driving 
 industry, ably represents. 
 
 " The plan of operations is as follows : On the 1st of 
 July the work is to be commenced both on the India- 
 nola branch, which is already graded, and on the regular 
 track between this city and Lavaca, which is now \ised 
 but is much out of repair. This part is to be regraded, 
 new yellow pine ties are to be used, the whole route ia 
 
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RAILROADS IN TEXAS. 383 
 
 to be raised and gravelled, and deeper draining ditches 
 are to be dug on either side. The work is to be done 
 bj laborers introduced from England, or in great part, 
 and all is to be finished by this time next year, proba- 
 bly before. The work is then to be started vigorously 
 on the route from this city to Cuero, and finished in 
 less than two years. From Cuero the road will next 
 run either to Austin, drawing the rich trade of that 
 prolific section to Matagorda Bay, or else to San An- 
 tonio, and very probably to both. The 'entire work is 
 to be well done — as well done as on any English rail- 
 road — and a rate of speed is to be attained equal to 
 that on a parliamentary train, if not faster. Fancy the 
 citizens of Austin being whirled through to the Gulf 
 in three hours, and the legislative wisdom of Texas 
 obtaining the fine flavored, luscious and most savory 
 oysters of Matagorda Bay before the shells are well 
 dry ! And the San Antonio folk can go, come, and 
 be supplied in even less time. Those who have 
 journeyed over these routes on the outside of a pony, 
 as I have often done, and occupied several weary days 
 in doing it, can appreciate the difference when the iron 
 horse jerks us through between a late breakfast and an 
 early dinner. 
 
 "I am firmly convinced that such a necessity would 
 follow the completion of railroad communication from 
 the Gulf to Austin, and to San Antonio as well, that 
 more British capital would be piling in upon us. Look 
 at the vast region west, northwest, and north of San 
 Antonio." 
 
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384 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 PEOJECTED EAILKOADS IN THE SOUTH AND WEST. 
 THE PACIFIC RAILEOAD. 
 
 An article in the January, 1867, number of the 
 "Edinburgh Review," in speaking of some projected 
 railroads in England, says : — 
 
 " The time is now come, or is close at hand, wheu 
 railways may become the ordinary means of commu- 
 nication throughout the kingdom ; when the locomo- 
 tive, having superseded the mail coach and the stage 
 wagon, may enter into competition with the omnibus 
 and the carrier. Trains are no longer unwieldy 
 saurians that can only drag their length along the 
 level for which the spade and the pick must fill up the 
 valley and 
 
 ' Pare the mountain to the plain to leave an equal baseness.' 
 
 Lines can now adapt themselves to the natural features 
 of the country, they can follow the sinuosities of the 
 watercourse and ravine, scale the hill-top and wind 
 down the mountain-side. Opposuit natura Alpesque 
 nivesque — yet locomotive engines, ascending and de- 
 scending by gradients of one in twelve, rolling round 
 curves with a radius of one hundred and twenty feet, 
 have proved themselves able to convey trains weighing 
 from twenty to forty tons over Mount Cenis and the 
 Semmering at the rate of twelve miles per hour and 
 
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PROJECTED RAILROADS IN THE SOUTH. 385 
 
 upwards. Slight and cheap railways fitted to the 
 character of the country they serve have already been 
 constructed in Scotland. Even in France the local 
 authorities have begun to apply to roads the power 
 given them by law to make highways. The Council 
 of the Bas-Ehin, with the aid of the communes con- 
 cerned, within the last two years has planned and 
 opened some subsidiary lines, and other departments 
 are said to be preparing to follow the example thus set 
 in Alsatia. 
 
 " That minor railways admit of being introduced in 
 every part of the British Isles will scarcely be called 
 in question. It is, indeed, estimated by competent 
 engineers that a class of lines having a gauge of three 
 or even three and a half feet, gradients of one in forty, 
 and curves of three hundred feet radius, may be con- 
 structed at a cost of three to five thousand pounds a 
 mile, the average cost of the existing English lines 
 having- been thirty thousand pounds a mile." 
 
 Pkojected Eailroaus in the South. — The pre- 
 sent railroad route between New York and New 
 Orleans is a very direct one, and nearly on a straight 
 line, from New York to Chattanooga or Dalton, by 
 way of Washington, Lynchburg, and Knoxville. From 
 Chattanooga or Dalton to New Orleans, the route is a 
 very circuitous and round-about one, by way of Grand 
 Junction, on the Memphis Eailroad. It is proposed, 
 therefore, to build an air-line railroad from New 
 Orleans to Dalton. The whole route of this proposed 
 road has been surveyed, much of it hns been graded 
 between Dalton and Selma, and the tiack has actually 
 25 
 
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386 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 been laid from Selrna to Jacksonville, in Alabama, a 
 distance of one hundred and fifty miles. This portion 
 of the road is in fact in operation, and is known as the 
 Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad. 
 
 There remains to be constructed, of the proposed 
 route, one hundred miles between Dalton and Jackson- 
 ville, and two hundred and fifty miles between New 
 Orleans and Selma. 
 
 Projected Ratleoads in the West. — Notwith- 
 standing the amazing progress that has been made in 
 the construction of railroads during the last ten years, 
 in all probability the next ten years will see an equally 
 remarkable increase. To say nothing of the rail- 
 roads in Texas, there are several other important lines 
 of railroad now in progress, and others in contempla- 
 tion which will doubtless be undertaken, in the west. 
 One of these is a railroad from Chicago to the seaport 
 of Guaymas, on the Gulf of California. The proposed 
 route is by the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Rail- 
 road to Quincy, on the Mississippi River, or else by 
 the Chicago and St. Louis Railroad to St. Louis; 
 thence by the Southern Pacific Railroad to Kansas 
 City; thence by the general direction of the old Santa 
 F^ trail to Santa F^ ; thence down the valley of the 
 Rio Grande to El Paso; and thence across the northern 
 part of Mexico to Guaymas. The route from Kansas 
 City to Santa F^ is said to have been surveyed. 
 
 A glance at tlie map will show to the reader that 
 the route of this proposed railway is the shortest 
 possible line between Chicago, the great commercial 
 emporium of the west, and the Pacific. The distauce 
 
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PROJECTED RAlLliOADS IN THE WEST. 387 
 
 is at least one-fifth less than the distance by the most 
 direct route between Lhicugo and San Francisco. The 
 country through which the road would pass afibrds a 
 more feasible route through the mountains than any 
 yet found in a more northern latitude. Unlike the 
 more northern Pacifio railways, the route does not 
 lay entirely through mountain wildernesses and unin- 
 habited deserts. More than one-third of the whole 
 distance is one of the oldest settled regions in America 
 — a region where the European had "stuck his stake," 
 was cultivating his fields and feeding vast flocks and 
 herds, while the red man was yet disputing with tha 
 Dutch settlers the possession of Manhattan Island. 
 A recent article in the " Chicago Times" says: — • 
 "The Federal Congress has recently admitted Ne- 
 braska to the dignity, equality, and rights of a State, 
 and the territory of Colorado stands knocking for ad- 
 mission, with a prospect that she also will soon be 
 ushered in. The circumstance gives to Nebraska and 
 Colorado an importance in the popular mind which 
 does not really belong to them. People do not take 
 the trouble to know that southward of Colorado lies a 
 territory, equal in extent, having a free white popula- 
 , tion threefold that of Colorado or of Nebraska, and 
 one-third greater than both of them together. Such, 
 nevertheless, is the fact. 
 
 " The total white population of New Mexico in 1860 
 was eighty-two thousand nine hundred and seventy- 
 nine. In addition to whites, there were ten thousand 
 four hundred and fifty-two Indians, of a class rather 
 superior to those who are allowed to vote under the 
 constitution of Minnesota. There were also eighty- 
 
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388 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 five Ethiopians, making a total free population of 
 ninety-three thousand five hundred and sixteen. The 
 total population of Colorado, in the same year, includ- 
 ing Indians who could be kept in one place long 
 enough to count them, was thirty-four thousand 
 two hundred and seventy-seven, and the total aggre- 
 gate of Nebraska was twenty-eight thousand eight 
 hundred and twenty-six. The population of Colorado 
 is believed to have decreased, rather than increased, 
 since the census was taken; that of Nebraska has 
 probably somewhat increased ; but the population of 
 both together does not equal the present population of 
 New Mexico. 
 
 " The comparison is yet more remarkable in other 
 respects. The subjoined table will give some idea of 
 the material and social condition, of New Mexico as 
 shovVn. by the census of 1860 : 
 
 Occupied land, acres 
 Improved acres 
 Unimproved acres 
 Farm implements, value 
 Horses and mules, number 
 Milk cows, number 
 Oxen, number 
 Other cattle, number 
 Sheep, number . . 
 Wool product, lbs. 
 Wine product, gals. . 
 Flour and meal, value . 
 Copper, zinc, and nickel 
 Capital invested . 
 
 Assessed value of real and personal pro- 
 perty 
 
 "It will be seen, upon a comparison of these statis- 
 tics with those of other Territories and States, that 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
 1,326,470 
 
 149,415 
 
 1,177,055 
 
 $194,005 
 
 11,255 
 
 34,461 
 
 26,104 
 
 29,228 
 
 836,459 
 
 479,245 
 
 8,201 
 
 $374,190 
 
 415,000 
 
 2,081,900 
 
 $20,838,780 
 
PROJECTED EAILEOADS IN THE WEST, 389 
 
 not only was New Mexico far in advance of Colorado 
 and Nebraska, but that in some particulars it was in 
 advance of States long settled, highly civilized, and 
 very radical in politics. The number of sheep in that 
 territory exceeded the number in any State of the Re- 
 public, excepting only the States of California, Indiana, 
 Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohioi 
 Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and the wool product was 
 greater than in any one of the fifteen States now in the 
 Union (including nine of the Southern States which 
 are not now in the Union). The wool product seems 
 to have been greatly disproportionate to the number 
 of sheep, doubtless on account of the difficulty of get- 
 ting that product to market. 
 
 "These statistics reveal the important fact that New 
 Mexico, unlike Colorado, and regions in the same 
 longitude, but of higher latitude, is already an agri- 
 cultural and grazing country of no small importance. 
 They reveal, moreover, that its inhabitants comprise a 
 fixed population engaged in agricultural pursuits, and 
 not made up, as in Colorado, of mere adventurers in 
 pursuit of gold, here to-day and to-morrow gone. If 
 the growth of the territory since it became an Ameri- 
 can possession has not been so rapid as some others, it 
 has been at the same time less unhealthy. The popu- 
 lation increased between 1850 and 1860 from sixty -one 
 thousand to ninety-three thousand ; at the same rate 
 of increase it is not less at the present time than one 
 hundred and twenty thousand. 
 
 " This large population, inhabiting one of the most 
 fertile and romantic regions in America, is shut out, 
 by distance and by want of facilities of communication. 
 
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390 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 from all the great markets of the continent. It needs 
 no remarkable foresight to perceive that the first rail- 
 way which penetrates New Mexico will find from the 
 moment of its completion a large and remunerative 
 traffic. And the construction of such a road will be 
 the direct means of stimulating the productions of that 
 country, upon a foundation already broadly and per- 
 manently laid, with a vigor and rapidity which no 
 portion of America has hitherto surpassed. All that 
 is needed is that New Mexico shall be connected by 
 railv/ay with Chicago. The field of enterprise which 
 invites the attention of Chicago in that direction is one 
 that has long been sown, and is already ripe with a* 
 golden harvest." 
 
 Another article in the same paper says : — 
 "Leavenworth now proposes to construct a railway 
 link to connect that flourishing city which the great 
 Chicago line through Northern Missouri, at Cameron. 
 The distance between Leavenworth and Cameron is 
 about the same as between Kansas City and Cameron. 
 The two lines, with the Missouri River, form an acute 
 triangle, the base of which is not more than twenty -five 
 or thirty miles (the distance between Kansas City and 
 Leavenworth). The rivalry between these two cities 
 for commercial supremacy is already lively, and 
 promises to be in future yet more active. Leavenworth 
 has at present the advantage of greater age, greater 
 numbers, and greater wealth than its energetic rival. 
 But Kansas City has the advantage in position, save 
 only in being located Just within the border of Mis- 
 souri. Commercially, it is a city of Kansas, and the 
 most natural entrepot of the extensive region watered 
 
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PROJECTED RAILROADS IN THE WEST. 391 
 
 bv the Kansas River, as well as of the vast country 
 southward of that stream, embracing two-thirds of 
 the State — a regi(jn of prairie and woodland, generally 
 well watered, and capable of sustaining a population 
 as great as the southern half of Illinois. It is this 
 region that the railway system of Kansas is destined 
 mainly to penetrate. The Kansas City and Galveston 
 line crosses it from north to south; the Union Pacific 
 skirts its northern border; the great road already pro- 
 jected to New Mexico passes diagonally through it. 
 These grand trunk lines all concentrate at Kansas 
 City, giving to that point ulterior advantages which no 
 other place on the Missouri River possesses. If 
 Leavenworth expects to retain supremacy as the com- 
 mercial emporium of Kansas, it is very evident that 
 her inhabitants must be up and doing. This fact they 
 are beginning to perceive. 
 
 "Leavenworth Count}^ in Kunsas, and the opposite 
 County of Platte, in Missouri, have each voted fivj 
 hundred thousand dollars to build the proposed link 
 connecting Leavenworth by a direct route with Clii- 
 cago. The distance is fifty miles ; the amount sub- 
 scribed is therefore twenty thousand dollars per mile, 
 or about two-thirds of what will be required to com- 
 plete the road. This is an energetic beginning, and 
 looks like a determination to carry the enterprise to a 
 speedy fulfilment. 
 
 " A committee of citizens of Leavenworth will arrive 
 in Chicago to-day, to confer with the merchants and 
 capitalists of this city, and solicit their interest in the 
 enterprise. Nothing is or can be of greater importance 
 to this city than the extension of its railway connec- 
 
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392 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tions in Western Missouri and Kansas. Every con- 
 necting link with the railway system of Kansas is 
 more important than two connections with Nebraska, 
 or any half dozen connections with regions farther 
 north. For roads extending south westward ly from this 
 city form, as it were, the base line of the vast region 
 whose natural commercial nucleus is Chicago. It is 
 the true policy of Chicago to give all the encourage- 
 ment in her power to the extension of -that base line 
 in a southwesterly direction." 
 
 On the 21st of March, 1867, the following article 
 appeared in the same paper : — 
 
 " The railway enter])rises in Western Missouri and 
 Kansas, having for their immediate object the connec- 
 tion of Kansas City and Leavenworth by direct rail- 
 way lines with Chicago, are to be followed by an en- 
 terprise even more important to a large region of 
 country than either. This is, the construction of a 
 railway from Hannibal, Missouri, to a point on the 
 North Missouri Eoad in Randolph County, called 
 Mowberly, a distance, by direct line, of about sixty 
 miles. From Mowberly, the route of the North Mis- 
 souri Road is due west to Kansas City, and this part 
 of the road, with the proposed link to Hannibal, will 
 constitute an air-line from the latter place to Kansas 
 City, and thence, by the south branch of the Pacific, 
 an equally direct line to Fort Riley. 
 
 " The legislature of Missouri recently passed an act 
 amending the charter of the Hannibal and St. Jo Eoad, 
 by which the latter is bound to 'pro-rate' with any 
 and all roads coming to Hannibal on the eastern bank 
 of the Mississippi. This will insure the speedy com- 
 
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RAILROADS IN IOWA AND MINNESOTA. 393 
 
 pletion of tlie Hannibal and Naples Eoad, in Illinois, 
 which was all ready for the iron before the war com- 
 nieuued. From Naples to Jacksonville, and thence up 
 the Illinois Kiver Valley to Peoria, and onward by 
 connecting lines to Chicago, trains are now daily run- 
 ning. 
 
 " The proposed road from Hannibal to Mowberly 
 will give to Chicago, by the route indicated, the 
 shortest and most direct line of railway to Kansas 
 City — so much shorter than other routes that it will, 
 not improbably, become the great thoroughfare of travel 
 and trade from this point to Kansas, Colorado, and New 
 Mexico. Much of the line from Mowberly to Kansas 
 City is graded, and a large force of men is now at 
 work on it. Over eighty miles of the distance (from 
 the mouth of Grand River to Kansas City) has a 
 grade of not over seven feet in the mile, and on the re- 
 mainder of the route the grades do not exceed forty 
 feet in the mile. The link from Mowberly to Hanni- 
 bal is under survey." 
 
 Railroads in Iowa and Minnesota. — The Iowa 
 and Minnesota Railway Construction Company are 
 rapidly progressing in the construction of their lines 
 of road from New Oregon, Iowa, to Owatonna, Minne- 
 sota, about eighty-live miles. This line of railroad 
 runs through the garden of Minnesota, and connects 
 St. Paul by rail with Milwaukee and Chicago. It will 
 be the first and nearest connection by rail. They have 
 now in their employ constructing said road about one 
 thousand men. It is expected it will be completed in 
 October of this year, in time to move the crops of the 
 
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394: RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 present season. In anticipation of its completion, tlie 
 farmers on the line have put under cultivation luauy 
 thousands of additional acres of wheat lands. The 
 prospects of a large wheat crop tributary to this line 
 of road were never better at this season of tlie year than 
 at present. The line of road, when finished, will 
 belong to the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Com- 
 pany. 
 
 Railroad to the Pacific OcEAisr.^The railroad 
 to the Pacific Ocean is now fairly under way, with a 
 good prospect of ultimate success, unless unexpected 
 obstacles develop themselves. The route commences 
 at Chicago, on the Dixon and Fulton air-line Railroad, 
 now a part of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, 
 and crosses the Mississippi River at Clinton, on a fine, 
 iron railroad bridge. It then proceeds, on the con- 
 tinuation of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, 
 to Council Blufi's on the Missouri River, by way of 
 Cedar Rapids and Boonsboro. At this point it crosses 
 the Missouri River, the town of Omaha being on the 
 western side. It then proceeds along the northern 
 bank of the Platte River, through Nebraska, for a dis- 
 tance of about three hundred miles. It is expected 
 that the road will be extended to the base of the 
 Rocky Mountains by the summer of 1868. In the 
 mean time the work is being prosecuted with energj', 
 although not with equal rapidity, from the western end. 
 Starting at Sacramento, ninety-four miles are com- 
 pleted, to Cisco Station, which is twelve miles from the 
 summit of the grand mountain chain of the Sierra 
 Nevada. From Cisco to the summit, most of the heavy 
 
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RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 395 
 
 rock cutting is now completed. The highest moun- 
 tain on the ridge is being pierced by a tunnel which 
 will be sixteen hundred and fifty-eight feet long. 
 Only five hundred feet of this tunnel remain to be cut, 
 and large parties of men are working at it day and 
 night. East of the summit, the descent will be much 
 easier, as the surveys have shown that the great inte- 
 rior basin of Nevada is elevated four thousand feet 
 above the sea level. 
 
 The two working parties, working from the east and 
 west, the one from Sacramento and the other from 
 Omaha, are expected to meet each other at Salt Lake 
 City about five years from the present time. A recent 
 article in the New York Ex{)ress says : — 
 
 " The necessity for a railroad to the Pacific has been 
 recognized ever since the discoveries of gold on that 
 coast drew thither large numbers of our most energetic 
 people. The more recent discoveries of the precious 
 metals, both in California and the contiguous territory ; 
 the demonstration of extraordinary agricultural capa- 
 cities, and the prospect of a large trade with the Em- 
 pires of Eastern Asia, have successively added to the 
 original need for railroad communication with the Ear 
 West. There is a manifest disability in being obliged 
 to send passengers, mails, and freight through the 
 tropics, across a foreign territory, a distance of six 
 thousand miles; or through the Antarctic Ocean, half 
 round the world, when we might have a short road of 
 our own. The commercial and social requirements of 
 our Pacific Colonies — not to mention the military ad- 
 vantages to the national authority — would long ago 
 have justified the Government in constructing such a 
 
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396 EAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 road, if the building of railroads were any part of its 
 functions. 'J'he development of a considerable min- 
 ino- industry in the intermediate territories, and a 
 growing population along the temperate belt across 
 the continent, render it at this time a -work of para- 
 mount importance; since railroads have become prime 
 agencies in expanding our productive power, the arte- 
 ries and veins of our social organism. 
 
 " To encourage such a work of internal improvement 
 Congress granted to three separate routes large quan- 
 tities of public lands ; but the outbreak of war, and the 
 diversion of capital to other channels, delayed the 
 enterprise — which was all the while becoming more 
 indispensable. At last, after examination, Congress 
 came again to the relief of the only route which had 
 made a fair beginning, and generously loaned its eredi-t 
 to an amount estimated to be half sufficient to build a 
 continuous line of road from the Missouri to the Pacific ; 
 providing for the repayment by the services of the road, 
 or a small percentage upon its future business. The 
 route adopted for this subsidy, as is well-known, was 
 the Central Route, undertaken by two separate corpora- 
 tions — the Union Pacific, building from this end for- 
 ward; and the Central Pacific, building from the other 
 end this way. The sura of fifty millions was set apart 
 to be divided equally between these two companies, 
 and a much smaller sum for an Eastern Branch, on this 
 side of the Rocky Mountains; the two links of the main 
 line to build as fast and as far as they could, till a junc- 
 tion was effected ; the bonds of the Government being 
 issued in proportion to the length done, and the diffi- 
 culty of construction. The road is required to be first- 
 
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RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. SOT 
 
 class, and the further grant of twelve thousand eight 
 hundred acres of land per mile may be reckoned among 
 its ulterior resources. 
 
 "Unfler this stirnulus the two companies have made 
 commendable progress witliiii the past two years. At 
 this end the Union Pacific had been stretched three 
 hundred miles beyond the Missouri at Omaha, and ex- 
 pects to reach the base of the Rocky Mountains by 
 the close of this year. ^J'iie conneciiun at the meet- 
 ing point near Salt Lnke City is sot down for July, 
 1871, or six years earlier than the limit fixed by law. 
 The Central Pacific Company, at the other end, being 
 less affected by the. war, and powerfully attracted by 
 the immense traf&c between California and the rich 
 mining regions of Nevada and Idaho, has made even 
 more gratifying progress; and is relatively at this day 
 nearer completion than the Union. In November 
 last it bad iiint;ty-four miles in running order, from 
 Sacramento to Cisco; that is, to within twelve miles of 
 the summit of the grand inouutnin chain of the Sierras. 
 Grading has been done i'or some miles beyond, and a 
 tunnel through the crest, now halt' cut, is all that de- 
 lays the successful passage of tlie dreaded mountains. 
 Ill August next, it is confidently expected the road 
 ■will have reached the ccjinparatively even surface of 
 the inferior plains. I'he average ascent in the one 
 hundred miles built is about seventy-one feet per mile; 
 once gained, the elevation is never lost; the greatest 
 elevation being seven thousand and forty-two feet 
 above the sea-level. Nowhere are the grades heavier 
 than on the l^altimore and Ohio, and it is quite practi- 
 cable to cross with the locomotives at a high rate of 
 speed at all seasons of the year. 
 
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398 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 " The costliest and heaviest portion of the Central 
 Company's grading is now done and passed. Iron is 
 being hauled across the mountain summit to be laid 
 at once. In July next, it is expected, the la^t rock 
 will have been blown out of the mountain tunnels, 
 and the locomotive will be shrieking its glad tidings 
 at the Nevada boundary. The mountain section, of 
 which each Company has one hundred.and filty miles, 
 is so nearly completed on the part of tlie Central Pa- 
 cific Eailroad Company that the bulk of the difficulty 
 is practically overcome as the course across the plains 
 to Salt Lake is com parativelj^ easy work. 
 
 " The cost of building the road from Sacramento to 
 the eastern base of the Sierra Nevadas will be, in 
 round numbers, fifteen million six hundred thousand 
 dollars; or at the rate of one hundred thousand dollars 
 per mile. Five millions more will have been expend- 
 ed by the 1st of July, which will cover a very libe- 
 ral equipment for that length of road and iron enough- 
 for one hundred and fifty miles additional. This is a 
 good sum of money, but the Company has been favored 
 by abundant revenues, viz : — 
 
 Donation of San p'rancisoo Gold bear- 
 ing Bonds $400,000 00 
 
 U. S. Government Bonds . . . 7,336,000 00 
 
 First Mortgage Bonds . . . 7,336,000 00 
 
 Convertible Bonds .... 1,500,000 00 
 
 California State Aid Bonds , . 1,500 000 00 
 Subscriptions to Capital stock (mostly 
 
 in Gold) 3,000,000 00 
 
 Public Land, 2,000,000 acres . . 3,000,000 00 
 Net earnings after interest payments 
 
 (gold 1865 and 1866) . . . 708,664 42 
 
 Net earnings to July, 1867 . . . 386,818 27 
 
 Total resources for 156 miles $25,166,482 69 
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RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 399 
 
 "It will be seen that only two of tliese items bear 
 interest for the payment of which the Company is 
 chargeable. The whole interest liability upon this 
 schedule will be, for the present year, but five hundred 
 and forty-five thousand one hundred and sixty dollars 
 in gold ; while its net earnings by a moderate estimate 
 will be three or four times that sum. 
 
 " As a still further inducement to enlisting private 
 capital in this semi public enterprise, the Central 
 Pacific Company was authorized to issue its own 
 first moi;tgage bonds to the same amount with the 
 bonds issued by the United States for the purpose 
 which should have precedence over all others; that is 
 to say, they are made by law an absolute first lien 
 upon the road, its franchises, improvements, &c. 
 These bonds, it appears, the Central Pacific Com- 
 pany arc now olTeiing, to a limited amount (in order 
 to finish the remainder of the road as rapidly as pos- 
 sible), at rates very advantageous to surplus capital. 
 As they constitute a prior claim upon such a valua- 
 ble property, and are offered at ten per cent, less 
 than the Government bonds, bearing the same inter- 
 est, they are one of the most profitable and certain 
 investments to be found. So long as there are peo- 
 ple, land, law, and property, there must be railroads; 
 and a road lying athwart the continent, through the 
 present centres of population of the Far West, with 
 an immense through traf&c waiting for it, is one of 
 the most stable things in existence. These bonds, 
 at the present rate of gold, will pay over eight per cent, 
 and the business profit of the road upon a mere un- 
 
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400 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 finished fragment is more than four times the amount 
 of interest upon its bonded debt." 
 
 An article in the "New York Tribune," on the 
 same subject, says : — 
 
 " The chief difficulties apprehended in the construc- 
 tion of the great railroad to the Pacific, high moun- 
 tain crossings and winter snow obstructions, prove, 
 upon practical test, to be not at all formidable. The 
 two mountain ranges have to be crossed at elevations 
 of over seven thousand feet, or nearly three times the 
 height of any railroad lines hitherto built on this conti- 
 nent. Experience shows that it is entirely practicable, 
 and that the deep snows are not likely to prove very 
 serious obstacles. The Central Pacific Railroad of 
 California, the western end of the great national route, 
 commencing at Sacramento (tide water) in 186'6 en- 
 countered, at the outset of its career, the mountain 
 difficulty in its worst form ; the dreaded Sierras had to 
 be overcome within the first hundred miles. In 
 November last, however, it had carried its track 
 nearly to the summit, and had demonstrated the feasi- 
 bility of the whole mountain passage with less average 
 engineering resistance than the Alleghanies are crossed, 
 thus disposing of one of the twin fears. During an 
 unusually severe winter just closed, it has successfully 
 operated the road as far as built, and could have done 
 so over the mountains with equal ease. It has had 
 Lirgo working parties on the Summit Pass, so as to 
 convince its officers that the other fear of impassable 
 snow-drifts is equally needless. Only three days have 
 the trains failed to make the regular trips, which is far 
 
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RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 401 
 
 less interruption than has attended many of the Atlan- 
 tic lines. 
 
 •' The whole mountain ascent and descent is now in 
 the hands of the contractors, and nearly graded, de- 
 veloping a feasible and favorable line, the most diffi- 
 cult portion of which is now running. From Sacra- 
 mento to Cisco Station, the present terminus, is ninety- 
 four miles, in which five thousand nine hundred 
 and eleven of the total seven thousand and forty-two 
 feet of ascent are made. This portion embraces the 
 heaviest and costliest portion of the work. The ascent 
 is continuous; once gained, it is never lost, the average 
 rate being seventy-five feet to the mile; the maximum, 
 one hundred and sixteen leet to the mile, of which there 
 are but three and a half miles. ^J he bulk of the heavy 
 grade is at one hundred and five feet to the mile, with 
 numerous level intervals interspersed. Thirty per 
 cent, only of the distance is occupied by curves, none 
 of which have a radius of less than five hundred and 
 seventy-three feet, or ten degrees. The Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad has seventeen miles, in two stretches, of 
 one hundred and sixteen feet grade, with curves of four' 
 hundred feet radius; and the Virginia Central for 
 many years worked with the unaided locomotive 
 grades of two hundred and ninety-six feet to the mile, 
 and ruling curves whose radii were three hundred feet. 
 By crossing from one spur and ridge to another, pierc- 
 ing by a number of short tunnels and deep cuts where 
 necessary, the line has been made available for pas- 
 senger trains to run at twenty-five miles an hour, and 
 freiglit trains at half that speed. The time consumed 
 26 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
402 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 in making the trip, inoluding stoppages, is six hottrs, 
 with ordinary engines and trains. 
 
 " From Cisco to the Summit most of the heavy rock 
 cutting is now done. The crest of the ridge is pierced 
 by a tunnel of one thousand six hundred and fifty- 
 eight feet, the longest on the road, of which about five 
 hundred feet remain uncut, and at which men are 
 working night and day the week round, excavating at 
 the rate of sev^n feet per day. East of the summit the 
 descent is mnch easier, the great interior basin being 
 elevated' four thousand feet above the sea level. In 
 fourteen miles there is a fall of one thousand one hun- 
 dred feet, after which there is a gentle slope, nowhere 
 exceeding forty-five feet to the mile, eastward toward 
 Salt Lake. There are, including the Summit Tunnel, 
 fourteen tunnels (in all two thousand feet) on the por- 
 tion now grading, two-thirds of which have been cut 
 out. The greater portion of the line is so sheltered by 
 excavations that it will be necessary to erect sheds 
 over it for two miles only, in order to shoot the snow- 
 slides clear of the track. Provision is made in the 
 larger tunnels and heavy cuttings for a double track, 
 which, from present indications, will be necessary at 
 no distant day- to accommodate the growing tralBc. 
 Ten thousand men, mostly Chinese laborers, are em- 
 ployed on the work, the heavy parts of which are in 
 a forward state, and it is confidently believed that in 
 July next the locomotive will be traversing the plains 
 of Nevada. 
 
 " The following table will show the rate of progress 
 and the elevation above the sea level : — • 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
 
 403 
 
 Jan. 1, 1865, to New Castle 
 
 May 13, 1865, to Auburn . 
 
 June 10, 1865, to Clipper Gap 
 
 Sept. 4, 1865, to Colfax 
 
 May 8, 1866, to Secret Town 
 
 July 10, 1866, to Alta 
 
 Nov. 29, 1866, to Cisco 
 
 July, 1867, to Summit 
 
 September, 1867, to Virginia Station 
 
 January, 1868, to Big Meadow 
 
 January, 1870, to Salt Lake City . 
 
 " The original estimated cost of building ihe road 
 across the Sierras was slightly above that of the most 
 expensive railroads in the country where the right of 
 way had to be purchased at considerable cost; and 
 compared as follows : — ■ 
 
 Mllei. 
 
 Feet 
 
 31 
 
 930 
 
 36 
 
 
 42 
 
 1,600 
 
 56 
 
 2,448 
 
 66 
 
 3,416 
 
 73 
 
 3,700 
 
 94 
 
 5,911 
 
 . 105 
 
 7,042 
 
 . 150 
 
 5,800 
 
 , 250 
 
 4,000 
 
 . 725 
 
 4,285 
 
 Boston and Providence Railroad cost per mile 
 
 Boston and Lowell Railroad cost per mile 
 
 New York and Erie Railway about 
 
 Hudson River Railroad about 
 
 Pacific Central (Mountain Division) estimated 
 
 $81,273 
 78,636 
 80,000 
 80,000 
 88,400 
 
 " Up to the first of January last the Central Pacific 
 Company had expended in building the ninety-four 
 miles in operation together with about a third of the 
 preparation upon twenty-five miles additional and for 
 a liberal equipment of rolling stock, nearly fifteen 
 millions of dollars ($14,558,714). Fifty miles addi- 
 tional, or about one hundred and fifty in all, will, it is 
 confidently expected, be running in July next, which 
 brings the road to the comparatively smooth ground. 
 The total construction cost of this mountain section 
 will be about fifteen millions of dollars, or at the rate 
 of one hundred thouaatid dollars per mile. The rest 
 
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404 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 of tlie distance to Salt Lake City, five hundred and 
 seventy-five miles, can be constructed for about sixty 
 thiiusand dollars per mile. The difference in the 
 prices of labor and iron sufficiently accounts for the 
 increase upon the original estimate. About five mil- 
 lions of dollars more will have been expended by mid- 
 summer for iron rails and equipments, most of which 
 are either on the other side or en route. The bulk of 
 the engineering difficulties, it will be observed, has 
 already been overcome; and by far the most costly 
 and rugged resistance left behind. Rails are already 
 being laid east of the summit, ready for the advance 
 when the tunnel is opened. 
 
 " As might be anticipated, the Central Pacific is to 
 be classed among the most expensive roads in the 
 country. Such were the imperative demands of the 
 local transportation between California and the min- 
 ing regions east of the Sierras, that a steam road even 
 at this cost was an economy. It has been estimated 
 that the wagon freights across the mountains in a 
 single year, before tlie commencement of a railroad, 
 amounted to fully thirteen millions of dollars ; which of 
 itself would, without any increase, be a sufficient motive 
 for building a railroad. If we con^i(ler the enormous 
 through travel, which is to pass to and fro between 
 China and Europe — the natural expansion of the 
 Western States and Territories; the stimulation which 
 must follow to mining enterprises-; and the equally im- 
 portant national, military, social, and civilizing ad- 
 vantage to be reached — the railroad becomes a pressing 
 necessity ; and the liberal subsidies of the Govern- 
 ment to such a work of internal improvement seem 
 
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RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 405 
 
 eminently wise and proper. Thus far the Cali- 
 fornia projectors have pushed on their half of the 
 work with commendable vigor and steadiness; and 
 in a few weeks will have easy work before them. 
 The law requires that the road shall be substantially 
 built, of the best American materials, and in such a 
 way as befits its semi-nationaj character. 
 
 " The following table will show the actual net earn- 
 ings of the road as it progressed up the mountain side, 
 after the payment of operating expenses, for the past 
 three years, the earnings being stated in gold, the 
 money of California, and the relation of the earnings 
 to the interest charges assumed by the road, upon the 
 supposition that the whole amount of bonds authorized 
 will have been issued : — 
 
 Date. Av. miles Net earainirs Int. payable on At. net earn- At. debt 
 
 bonded debt, in^srs p. mile, charges p. m. 
 
 $102,111 $7,000 $2,550 
 
 125,380 8,750 1,672 
 
 545,000 10,937 3,633 
 
 "Thus it will be seen that the road is abundantly 
 able to pay the interest engagements upon the con- 
 struction; but as the general Government and Cali- 
 fornia corporations have assumed the larger portion 
 ot the interest bearing charge, the Company is able 
 to carry over a handsome surplus to the construction 
 fund. As the heaviest expenditure i.s now made, and 
 every extension of the road adds to the value of the 
 whole, by decreasing the ratio of operating expenses 
 at the same time that it multiplies its own natural 
 bu.siness, the point of financial difficulty has also 
 been passed. Once across the mountains, a whole 
 scheme of industrial enterprises in Nevada and 
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 moning. 
 
 (gold). 
 
 1865 
 
 40- 
 
 $280,272 
 
 1866 
 
 75 
 
 655,883 
 
 1867 
 
 150 
 
 1,600,000 
 
406 BAILEOAUS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Idaho stand ready to be quickened into activity, 
 which have hitherto been beyond the limit of pro- 
 fitable woi-iiing. With the topographical, climatic, 
 and financial difficulties subdued, the Pacific Railroad 
 of California becomes a settled and imminent suc- 
 cess. In its outlays, it is worthy to be noted, the 
 Californians are fortunEtte in being able to command 
 large numbers of cheap, serviceable Chinese laborers; 
 and also in the fact that the iron and heavy freights 
 can be shipped round the horn at less cost than it 
 would taiie to send them to the Missouri Eiver. We 
 may look for some astonishing advances from the en- 
 ergetic people on the Pacific, in completing the great 
 work which is to bring them two weeks nearer to their 
 old homes." 
 
 A recent letter in the "New York Express," signed 
 by the well-known initials " J. B.," gives the following 
 lively account of the state of affairs on the Pacific Rail- 
 road in May, 1867 :— 
 
 "We left Albany, a little party of us, about ten 
 o'clock of a morning, in a Pullman's saloon parlor car, to 
 go in it to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri River. The 
 Central Railroad added on one of its splendid day cars, 
 and gave us an extra locomotive, and we rolled — we 
 flew to Niagara. The Canadian Great Western added 
 on an official car of their own, and we rolled, and flew, 
 at night, through Upper Canada. Our eyes opened in 
 the morning on the clear waters of the Detroit River. 
 The Michigan Central gave us another special locomo- 
 tive, and we found ourselves in Chicago, near two P. M., 
 not twenty-eight hours from Albany. Now, speed is 
 something^but comfort is the thing. Pullman pro- 
 
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RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 407 
 
 vided us with the best of beds, some, in st:ite rooms, 
 private and solitary, if not alone — some, in a saloon— 
 h ! presto, converted by some machinery into bedroiriji ■;; 
 and Kingsley — (honor be on his head forever, for he 
 knows how to cook, and cooking is an art divine, that 
 comes only from tlie gods) — and Kingsley gave us 
 breakfasts and dinneis and teas — and such breakfasts 
 and dinners and teas as only the gods have in their 
 symposia. He cooked his dinner in the car, in a little 
 bit of a kitchen, about as big as a Saratoga trunk, and 
 served 'it up on tables for two, or three, persons, 
 between every seat of the car. We were eighty miles 
 long eating one dinner, and you can judge, therefore, 
 how good miiat have been such linked sweetness thus 
 drawn out 
 
 "Hence, I honor Kingsley. Great as we are — we, 
 the mighty American People — capable, perad venture, 
 of thrashing all mankind — ' galorious' as is our eagle, 
 'wide-spread,' 'broad-spread,' 'ever soaring,' etc.-^a 
 beefsteak or a mutton chop is yet beyond our genius, 
 and a loaf of bread — not of dough — is among us a 
 miracle. Great is a cook, therefore, in a cookless coun- 
 try; for more lives are to be saved, or to be prolonged 
 by cookery than by all the arts of the Pharmacopoeia. 
 Feed "us well, and there will be no dyspepsia, and no 
 cross husbands, nor cross wives, nor cross children. 
 Next to a Christian ■Missionary is a Christian Cook — 
 and he best serves God in this country, who is teach- 
 ing us — as Pullman and Kingsley are how to ride on 
 a rail — and at peace, and at leisure, to be an hour eat- 
 ing breakfast — an hour or two for a dinner, and an 
 bouF Of more lor a tea. Tbmk of bow we rush in and 
 
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408 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 rush out of the eating bouses fn route, and tbink how 
 WB divi, tberelruui, of dyspepriial 'IVu nuiiivtes for 
 diiiner,' ei-ied the cuaduotur. The bell viug-, the 
 waiters cry, aiul yell, aud pull, and haul. 'Tw..u!v 
 minutes' is a luxury. More lives are cut short in ihks 
 way, than by all the whiskey in the country. We cat 
 and run. Both hands and arms pitch in. Here, there 
 goes a slice of bacon ; there, a lot of eggs, or a chicken, 
 legs, wings, and all I there, corned beet ns tough as 
 hide; there, white-oak pies — all, all are pitched into 
 the gullet, and the poor stomach raves and roars under 
 the terrible bunlen. Pullman and Kingsley are to 
 save us al! therel'rom, and God bless them. 
 
 "Chicago was left between ten and eleven A. M., 
 and by rhree or four we were on the bridge over the 
 Mississip|)i, at Clinton, The great father of waters 
 — think of it, now, has to consent to be shackled by 
 bridges, an<l locomotives, and cars ! The common law 
 made him a monarch of waters — but the . locomotive, 
 now, repeals and reverses such common laws. Water 
 here is no m:itch for lire. The boatmen growl, tlie 
 raftsmen swear — but on strides the locomotive, from 
 bank to bank, over ina^t and [lipe — with an utter 
 recklessness of all the craft bi hnv it. The Missouri is 
 to be everywhere bridged, as well as the Mississippi, 
 for trade runs East and West — and what trade wills, 
 the laws obey — while the great waters of tl>e West 
 will soon be left only to the heavy freights of the com- 
 mon boatmen. 
 
 "And now, here at Omaha, we are on the track of 
 the Great Pacific Eailroad, which we had come to 
 .M.-e an<l to ride over. If ever there was .an .audacious 
 
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RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN, 409 
 
 enterprise on earth, it is this Pacific Eoad. We are 
 one thousand eight hundred miles from New York by 
 rail ; and here, with no railroad connection east, when 
 the work was begun ; with a very imperfect and 
 roundabout river communication on the Missouri; 
 ■with no timber for ties ; with iron to be transported 
 all the way from Pennsylvania via Chicago and St. 
 Joseph's (Mo.) •, with labor to be improvised, beyond the 
 reach of bed apd board, &c., far beyond all civiliza- 
 tion ; with car-houses on tracks for laborers to eat and 
 sleep in ; with cooking establishments, bed establish- 
 ments, and all — a railroad is pushed on three hundred 
 and seven miles west of Omaha, last year two miles 
 per day, and this year, soon, two miles per day more. 
 There never was anything like it 'in Greek or Eoman 
 fame.' Talk not of the Colossus of Ehodes — but a 
 trifle at bet^t — or even of the banging gardens of Baby- 
 Icjn, or of the Pyramids — for what were they all but 
 the works of a great and civilized people, in the heart 
 of high civilization, while here is the locomotive run- 
 ning where you can shoot the antelope from the engine? 
 or prairie dogs, or wolves, that liowl about at night? 
 The tawny Pawnee, hanging about you here, is not the 
 intelligent, cultivated, scientifio Egyptiun, that put up 
 the Pyramids,' but a lazy, loafing savage, roady for 
 murder or robbery, if necessary ; and hostile ti'iiies of 
 savages, Cheyennes, and Sioux, even now, not far off) 
 are perpetrating horrible butcheries. To build a road 
 then, such as the Union Pacific, over treeless prairies, 
 where there is not even a stone for an abutment or a 
 foundation, over rivers like tlie fierce Elkhorn and the 
 wild Platte ; where there is not a thing to eat, save the 
 
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410 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 antelope or tlw3 buffalo; to be pushing it on in frbht 
 of; and in defiance of the Rocky Mountain Alpine sum- 
 mits and passes — does, indeed, 'eclipse all Greek tmd 
 Koman fame.' And, what is wonderful, the mind, the 
 genius that conceives and directs the great work, is 
 one thousand eight hundred miles from here, in Nassau 
 Street, New York, where the telegraph is the daily 
 messenger, that guides all things with success and 
 safety. .Mind and matter never befoi-e thus covvoiked 
 or worked better together. Tlje Electrie ^J'hought of 
 the Managing Director, T. C. Duiant, in his New York 
 office, flashes ofi' orders and directions, one thousand 
 eight hundred miles off, and all, seemingly, goes on 
 well, as if he were on the spot, personally superintend- 
 ing the wonderful creation. 
 
 " Omaha is full of workshops. The locomotives are 
 not built here, but completely kept in order and repair 
 here. The cars of all kinds are made here. The 
 workshops also manufacture all sorts of things neces- 
 sary for a new country, and such as could not be 
 brought from the East without too much delay and 
 expense, the tin ware, the iron ware, the stoves, the 
 furniture of the cars, &c. ; things almost innumerable. 
 
 "Well, on a Tuesday morning, about ten A. M., we 
 were rolled from the depot at Omaha — with a Com- 
 mittee of the Directors on board, Mr. Ames, the great 
 shovel man of Massachusetts, Mr. Dillon, the great 
 railroad conc.-actor of the Jersey Central and other 
 roads, now living in New York, with Mr. Duft; of Bos- 
 ton, the builder of the Hannibal and St. Joseph's— with 
 Mr. Cooke, the President of the Hock Island, and the 
 Goveramcat Directors from Springfield, Illinois, Kf. 
 
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RAILROADS TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 411 
 
 Carter — in a voyage of discovery, on the railroad and 
 over the plains. These Directors were here, to receive 
 from the Grtdit AJobilier, the work contracted for — and 
 in an officers' car — with the now indispensable Kings- 
 ley — over the rougli Elkhorn, and the boundless 
 prairies and plains, we were rolling again till late in 
 the evening. About the best dinner hungry man ever 
 had was served up in the cars on the plains. We slept 
 during the night, as if in the Fifth Avenue, New York, 
 or in the Continental, Philadelphia. Tcere was nothing 
 to see but ' plain,' ' plain,' 'prairie, 'prairie' — nothing 
 save a dej)ot here and there — no houses, no settlements, 
 beyond the Elkhorn. We took from the armory of 
 the cars rifles with sixteen shots in them, and banged 
 away and away — and actually shot one antelope, while 
 going thirty miles an hour. Night brought us up 
 beyond the North Platte, on the great plain, where 
 were workmen by hundreds, with long strings of cars, 
 with rails amities upon them, and provisions, construc- 
 tion houses, &c. — the laborers therefrom, rising with 
 the sun, washing themselves in the muddy water of the 
 ditches, and toiling on all the day, with tie over tie, 
 and rail upon rail. The road makers expect to be two 
 hundred miles from here, on the Rocky Mountain pla- 
 teaux, before the next winter storms .set in. 
 
 "I cannot end this long, i ambling 'yarn,' without 
 adding on, that we of the East are about a quarter of a 
 century behind the West in cars, and the comforts and 
 appliances of travelling. We have no such sleeping 
 cars as Pullman is running over the Pacific road, 
 through the very wilds of Nebraska. 
 
 ' Westward the Star of Empire takes its way.' " 
 
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412 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 ON THE COMPABATIVE MEKITS OF IRON AND STEEL 
 RAILS. 
 
 An article in the "London Quarterly Review," for 
 July, lb66, says : — 
 
 "The first wrought-iron rails laid down were only 
 twenty-five pounds to the yard ; but they were soon 
 found too light for the loads they had to carry. When 
 George Stephenson was examined by Mr. (afterwards 
 Baron) Alderson, before the Committee on the Liver- 
 pool and Manchester Railway Bill, he was taken to 
 task about the weakness of the Hetton Road, and the 
 danger of travelling by railway, on the assumption of 
 trains being run at the dangerous, but then hypotheti- 
 cal, speed of twelve miles an hour. The witness was 
 asked — 'Do not wrought-iron rails bend — take Hetton 
 Colliery for instance ?' — ' They are wrought-iron, but 
 they are weak rails.' 'Do you not know that those 
 bend ?' — ' Perhaps they may bend, not being mnde 
 sufficiently strong.' ' And if they are made sufficiently 
 strong, that will involve an additional expense ?' — ' It 
 ■will.' ' Then if you were to make them oC adamatd, 
 that would be very expensive?' — 'It does not lequire 
 a very great, expense to make them strong enough for 
 heavier work.' 
 
 " That there might be no deficiency of strength in 
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MEKITS OF IRON A_ND STEEL KAILS. 413 
 
 the fish-bellied rails first laid down upon the Liverpool 
 and Manchester line, they were made of the unusual 
 weight of thirty-five pounds to the yard. But the ex- 
 traordinary speed of the locomotive had not yet been 
 discovered, and there is no doubt that the performances 
 of the 'Eocket' surpassed the expectations of even 
 George Stephenson himself. Although the engine 
 weighed only four and a half tons, it proved too heavy 
 — when running at high speeds — for the malleable 
 rails ; and as the traffic grew, and heavier engines were 
 introduced on the line, the weight of the rails was in- 
 creased from time to time, but not in like proportion 
 to the weight of the locomotives. For while the mal- 
 leable rails have been increased from twenty-eight 
 pounds to seventy-five and even eighty-six pounds to 
 the yard, the locomotive has been increased from four 
 and a half tons, as in the ' Rocket,' to thirty and thirty- 
 five tons, the weight of first-class express engines. 
 The disproportion between the weight and force ofthe 
 engine and the resistance of the rail has been con- 
 stantly increasing ; until the point has at length been 
 reached at which no additional weight in the rails will 
 enable them to resist the crushing load of the modern 
 locomotive. As in the case of the battle between guns 
 andiron plates, the weight of both has been increased, 
 until at length, unless a new material — the ' adamant' 
 imagined by Mr. Alderson — be employed, it is clear 
 that as regards the locomotive and the iron road tlia 
 latter will be vanq uislied in the contest. The defect is 
 in the material, to whit^h a crushing power i.s applied 
 wliicli ordinnry iron is positively incapable of resisting. 
 The points of contact of the wheels of a thirty tou loco- 
 
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414 EAILEOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 motive with the rail are very minute, and upon these 
 points, the whole weight of the engine presses. The 
 effect id to squeeze and crush the iron and roll it oflf 
 in laminae, as any one may observe who examines a 
 riiil laid down on a line of heavy traffic that has borne 
 a fair amount of work under the heavier class of en- 
 gine* On some of the metropolitan lines iron rails, 
 especially if placed on sharp curves, will scarcely last 
 a year. Hence the railroad has become even less ' per- 
 manent' now, with its rail of iron, than it was with its 
 original rail of wood a huudred years ago. It has 
 thus become absolutely necessary to introduce a new 
 material, and that material is to be found in Steel. 
 
 "The greatly superior resistance which steel offers 
 to crushing as compared with iron, may be learnt from 
 the experiments made by Mr. William Fairbairn, with 
 the object of ascertaining their respective strengths in 
 this respect. A piece of captiron, both ends flat, was 
 crushed by a pressure to wliicli it was subjected of fifty- 
 five tons to the square inch ; and a piece of malleable 
 iron of the same shape was flattened by a pressure of 
 seventy-three tons to the square inch ; while a piece of 
 steel of the .same shape resi.^ted a pressure of one hun- 
 dred and twenty tons per square inch without being" 
 
 * " The friction between the driving wlieels and tlie rails, when 
 the engine id tliundeiing along at high speed, is alsi) very great, 
 and the iron is giound otf in minute paiticles, and thrown into the 
 air. Hr. Angus Snjilli. wh^-n onue travelling hv railway, took the 
 pains to collect some of the particles whCh lloited about him in 
 tlie cariiage and seemed to sljiiie with nietallic Instre. On exami- 
 nation they were found to be in icality minute lollerl plates of iron, 
 whii-li seemed to have betU heavily piesaed and torn up I'lOm the 
 surface of the rails." 
 
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MERITS OP IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 415 
 
 either crushed or flattened * The result of certain 
 American experiments, quoted by Mr. Mallett, was to 
 a like eflfect. The mean resistance of cast steel to com- 
 pression was found to be two hundred and ninety-five 
 thousand pounds, of cast iron, one hundred and twenty- 
 five thousand pounds, and of wrought iron eighty-three 
 thousand five hundred pounds; while ihe tensile 
 strength was forty tons for mild cast steel, twenty to 
 twenty-five tons for wrought irOn, and ten to twelve 
 tons lor cast iron. Thus in cast steel we find a mate- 
 rial not only capable of resisting a far greater compres- 
 sive force than any known metal can do, but also one 
 whose tensile strength is nearly double that of wrought 
 and more than three times that of cast ii'on. 
 
 " The comparatively perishable nature of wrought 
 iron when subjected to the crushing load ot the 
 modern express locomotive, has necessarily led to a 
 large increase in the annual cost for maintenance and 
 renewal of railways. Thus, while the percentage of 
 locomotive expenses on gross receipts has somewhat 
 decreased on the Great Northern line during the last 
 fourteen years, the cost of maintenance of way has in- 
 creased during the same period more than two hun- 
 dred per cent. In an excellent practical paper re- 
 cently read by Mr. R. Price Williamsf before the In- 
 stitute of Civil Engineers, some striking facts were 
 adduced in illustration of this rapid increase in the 
 
 * "Tr^satise on Iron ShipbuiWhig." By Wm. Fairbaini, C. E. 
 lSli5. p. 48. 
 
 t On the maintenance and renewal of permanent way. Read 
 liy R. I'rice Williams, M.I.C.E., before the Institute of Civil Engi- 
 neers, March 12, 1866. 
 
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41G EAILKOADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 tear and wear of permanent way of late years. It was 
 shown that during a period of thirteen years, most of 
 the Great Northern up-Iine between Potter's Bar and 
 Hornsey, where there are heavy descending gradients, 
 has been renewed not less than three times, giving an 
 average of only three and a half years as the ' life of a 
 rail' under heavy coal and passenger traffic worked at 
 high speeds. That it is ' the pace that kills' as well as 
 the weight, is obvious from another fact stated by Mr. 
 Williams with respect to the Lancashire and York- 
 shire line, where an equal number of trains of about 
 the same tonnage as in the case of the Great Northern 
 line, were worked at low speeds over a portion of rail- 
 way between Bury and Accrington, but there the rails 
 lasted as long as seven and a quarter years. 
 
 "The heavy cost of maintenance and renewals on 
 the London and Northwestern Eailway has for some 
 time been a marked feature in the accounts of that 
 Company. As the renewal of the road is properly 
 chargeable against revenue, any large increase of ex- 
 pense on this account necessarily tells upon dividend ; 
 and hence, to relieve revenue against exceptionally 
 heavy charges for renewals, the expedient of a suspense 
 fund has been adopted by some of the larger com- 
 panies. But, in 1857, the suspense renewal fund of 
 the London and Northwestern Company was found to 
 be so heavily in debt, that the only practical mode 
 that could be devised for dealing with it was to write 
 it off direct to capital to the amount of two hundred 
 and fifty-six thousand five hundred and eighty-eight 
 pounds; and since that date fifty-six thousand pounds 
 have been charged to capital for renewals in like 
 
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MERITS OF IRON- AND STEEL RAILS. 417 
 
 manner. The Great Eastern Company also cut the 
 same knot by charging eighty-six thousand pounds to 
 capital instead of revenue only two years ago ; while 
 the Manchester, Sheffield, and Linconshire Company, 
 between the years lyo-i and 1861, judging by the 
 accounts, charged renewals direct to capital, without 
 even the pretence of a suspense account. The charge 
 in respect of renewals is always exceedingly variable. 
 Durmg- the first few years of working a railway, while 
 materials are all new, the cost is comparatively light ; 
 no provision is made for replacing them when worn 
 out ; but as years pass on, and the rails, sleepers, and 
 chairs have to be renewed, the outlay rapidly in- 
 creases. Thus, in 1847, the charge for renewals on the 
 London and Northwestern Eailway was thirty-eight 
 pounds per mile; in the next five years it was one 
 hundred and one pounds per mile; and in the tea 
 years following, two hundred pounds per rnile ; the 
 total expenditure of the Company on renewals of way 
 alone, during nineteen years, having amounted to one 
 million nine hundred and six thousand eight hundred 
 and fifty-eight pounds. 'The average annual expen- 
 diture of the Company for renewals since 1847,' says 
 Mr. Williams, 'has amounted to one hundred and 
 three thousand and sevent^'-four pounds. This repre- 
 sents something like seventy-three miles of single way 
 of the main line broken up and entirely replaced annu- 
 ally during the period; chiefly in situations where the 
 traffic was heaviest, and where consequently (owing to 
 tlie short intervals between trains) the facilities for do- 
 ing the work are the least, and the danger of accident 
 tije greatest.' 
 
 27 
 
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418 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 '■ Tke consideration of these circumstances led the 
 oiacials of the London and Northwestern Company to 
 direct their attention to the employment of some more 
 durable material than ordinary wrought iron for rails, 
 with the object of providing a more 'permanent' way 
 than any that had yet been adopted. Mr. Woodhouse, 
 the Superintendent of the permanent way department, 
 induced the Directors, in 1861, to order five hundred 
 tons of Bessemer steel rails, which were laid down at 
 such parts of the line as were subject to the most rapid 
 destruction, not only by the passage of the regular 
 traffic, but the starting, stopping, shunting, and mak- 
 ing up of trains. Some of these were laid down in the 
 Crewe Station, and others at Camden Station. Per- 
 haps there is no spot on any railway in Europe where 
 the traffic is so great as at the latter place. At Chalk 
 Farm Bridge there is a narrow throat in the line, at 
 which the whole system of rails employed at the Lon- 
 don termini of this great Company converges. There 
 all the passenger, goods, and coal trains have to pass, 
 and the shunting of carriages is constantly going on 
 day and night. The iron rails laid down in this throat 
 were rapidly ground to pieces by the enormous 
 traffic. The face of a rail was usually worn away in 
 little more than two months; and the traffic being so 
 unintermitting, its stoppage for the purpose of chang- 
 ing the rails or renewing them was found most inconve- 
 nient as well as dangerous. 
 
 "Certainly no better spot could have been fixed 
 upon for determining the durability of the Bessemer 
 material. On the 2d of May, 1862, two steel rails 
 were laid down precisely opposite two new iron rails 
 
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MERITS OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 419 
 
 of the best quality, so that no engine or carriage could 
 pass over the iron rails without also passing over the 
 steel. When the iron rails were worn as far as the 
 safety of the traffic would allow, they were turned, the 
 lower side upwards, and the second face was worn off" 
 in like manner. The old rail was then replaced by a 
 new one, and this process went on until the 22d of 
 August, 1865, when one of the steel rails was taken 
 up. It was computed by the engineer, that during 
 the period that had elapsed since it was laid down 
 (three years and about four months) not fewer than 
 nine million five hundred and fifty thousand engines, 
 carriages, and trucks, weighing ninety-five million 
 five hundred and seventy-seven thousand two hun- 
 dred and forty tons, hud passed over one face of the 
 steel rail, and worn it evenly down about a quarter 
 of an inch, whilst it was still capable of enduring a 
 good deal more of the same work. During the same 
 time eight iron rails had been entirely worn out on 
 both faces, and the seventeenth face was in use when 
 the steel rail was taken up. The extraordinary en- 
 durance of the new material compared with the old 
 was further proved at Crewe Station, along both sides 
 of which steel rails were laid down, and after three 
 years' wear not one of them required turning ; whilst 
 iron rails similarly placed had been removed or turned 
 every few months. 
 
 " These results were deemed quite conclusive on the 
 subject; and, after mature consideration, the Directors 
 of the Company were so satisfied of the advantages in 
 an economical point of view, as well as on the ground 
 of increased safety to the public, of using the strongest 
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420 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and more durable material, that they wisely resolved 
 on erecting extensive Bessemer steel works at Crewe, 
 which are now in active and successful operation, 
 turning out about four hundred tons per week. Mr. 
 Eamsbottorn, the Company's locomotive engineer at 
 Crewe, had for some time before been gradually intro- 
 ducing steel in the construction of passenger-engines, 
 wherever great strength and durability were required, 
 as in the case of axles and wheel-tyres ; and the results 
 were so satisfactory, that steel is now employed by 
 Lim in all such cases instead of iron. In designing 
 the machinery and plant of the steel works at Crewe, 
 Mr. Ramsbottom introduced many ingenious modifi- 
 cations and improvements, so that they may be re- 
 garded as models of their kind. One of his most 
 valuable contrivances for working up the steel re- 
 quired for engine purposes, is his duplex hammer, 
 which strikes a blow on both sides of the ingot at once 
 in a horizontal direction, thus rendering unnecessary 
 the enormous foundations required for ordinary ham- 
 mers. 
 
 " The London and Northwestern Company have 
 been very slowly, and at a great distance, followed by 
 railway companies generally, who are for the most 
 part content, so long as they can go forward on the 
 old iron ways. But it seems to us quite clear that 
 the days of iron as the material for main express lines 
 are numbered; and that not only considerations of 
 safety, but of economy, will, before long, lead to the 
 general use of steel instead of iron. The Americans, 
 who are quick to discern the merits of any new inven- 
 tion, have already recognized the important uses of 
 
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MERITS OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 421 
 
 Bessemer steel to a much greater extent than English 
 railway engineers have done.- They are already sub- 
 stituting steel for wroTight iron in almost every depart- 
 ment of railway construction ; and within the last few 
 montiis orders have been received by a single Sheffield 
 firm for about ten thousand tons of Bessemer steel 
 rails for the Pennsylvania, Erie, Philadelphia, Balti- 
 more and Ohio, and the Michigan Central B,ailroads. 
 
 " Another circumstance remains to be mentioned in 
 favor of the substitution of steel for iron, which is, the 
 great deterioration in the quality of modern-made 
 iron. All the earlier experimenters on iron found 
 greater strength in ordinary qualities than is now pos- 
 sessed by the very best. The rails made thirty years 
 since possessed much more durability than those made 
 now. Whether this arises from the greater rapidity 
 of the processes now adopted — the use of squeezers, 
 by which cinder and sand are pressed into the metal, 
 instead of being beaten out by the tilt-hammer, as 
 formerly — the use of the hot-blast, b}'' means of which 
 inferior ores are capable of being reduced — or the 
 spirit of competition which induces iron manufacturers 
 to turn out the largest possible quantity of iron 
 at the cheapest possible rate — certain it is, that the 
 manufacture of wrought iron in this country has 
 undergone a serious deterioration during the last half 
 century. - 
 
 " Dr. Percy raises an important point for discussion, 
 with reference to a supposed deterioration in the 
 quality of iron resulting from the effects of percussion, 
 which applies equally to steel. It has long been a 
 moot point with engineers, whether, under repeated 
 
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423 KAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 light blows, or rapid vibration of macbinery ia action, 
 iron becomes disintegrated and consequently brittle. 
 This is undoubtedly the case with brass, which, when 
 subjected to vibration, in a few weeks becomes as brit- 
 tle as glass. When the frightful accident occurred on 
 the Yersailles Eailway, some years since, occasioned by 
 the breaking of a crank axle, the best men of science 
 and practice in France were called upon to give evi- 
 dence on the point; but they were by no means 
 agreed. The whole subject was again discussed before 
 the Commissioners appointed by our own Parliament, 
 in 1849, to inquire into the application of iron to rail- 
 way structures. Evidence was given to show that 
 pieces of wrought iron exposed to vibration frequently 
 break after long use, and exhibit a peculiar crystalline 
 fracture and loss of tenacity ; whilst other witnesses 
 maintained that this peculiar structure was the result 
 of an original fault in the process of manufacture, and 
 that the internal constitution of the metal remained 
 unaffected by vibration however rapid or long-con- 
 tinued. In opposition to the popular view as to the 
 brittleness of iron being occasioned by vibration, Mr. 
 Robert Stephenson pointed to the engine-beam of a 
 Cornish engine which received a shock equal to about 
 fifty-five tons eight or ten times a minute, and yet 
 ■went on working for twenty years without apparent 
 change. He also referred to the connecting-rod that 
 communicates the power of the locomotive to the wheel 
 and receives a violent jar eight times in a second at 
 ordinary speed, and yet remains unaffected. He 
 pointed out that in a case of that sort a rod that has 
 
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MERITS OF IRON AND STEEL RAILS. 423 
 
 borne two hundred millions of such jars, will be found, 
 on examination, to have retained its fibrinous structure. 
 
 "Whore iron exhibits a crystalline appearance on 
 breaking. Dr. Percy rightly points out that time plays 
 a most important part in determining the character of 
 the fracture. When the metal is broken with extreme 
 rapidity, the fracture will be crystalline; when broken 
 slowly. It will be of a fibrous appearance. In the case 
 of the breakage of a crank-axle; we apprehend the 
 cause to be torsion, not ribration. It was stated in 
 evidence by a locomotive engineer, at the inquiry into 
 the causes of the Bow accident on the Great Eastern 
 Line, that the very first turn of a crank-axle begins the 
 process of breakmg ; and that the final fracture — nearly 
 always at the same place — is only a question of time. 
 
 " That the brittleness of iron is increased by frost is 
 also a prevalent notion amongst engineers, similar to 
 the popular impression that bones are more brittle in 
 winter than in summer. But the railway accidents 
 which occur in frosty weather are- more probably at- 
 tributable to the circumstance that at that time tlie 
 road is hard and rigid, and the engines running over 
 it at high speeds are much more strained, and conse- 
 quently more liable to accident than they are in ordi- 
 nary weather when the road is soft and yielding; just 
 as in frosty weather we are more liable to falls, and 
 consequently to fractured limbs, arising from the slip- 
 periness of the roa'ds rather than to the increased brit- 
 tleness of our bones at that season. To put the matter 
 to a practical test, however, Mr. Ramsbottom had a 
 piece of rail taken up while covered with sharp frost 
 and placed under the large steam-hammer at Crewe, 
 
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424 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 "when it stood the blows necessary to double both ends 
 together without showing the smallest indication of 
 fracture. Ne-vertheless the suggestion of Dr. Percy is 
 well worthy of consideration, in which he says, ' It is 
 most desirable that the subject tihould be accurately 
 investigated; and the Institution of Civil Engineers 
 would render excellent service by conducting an ela- 
 borate inquiry into it.' " 
 
 The President of the Northern Central Railroad of 
 Pennsylvania, in his last Annual Report, in speaking 
 of this subject, says : — 
 
 " We have, in common with all the railroads of the 
 country, suffered very much from the rapidity with 
 which the iron rails wear out. The average life of a rail 
 has diminished fully fifty per cent, during the last ten 
 years, they lasting now but about three years. This 
 causes an expenditure in maintaining the road which 
 tells severely upon the working expenses. We are 
 not prepared to say that the railroad iron now manu- 
 factured in this country is inferior in quality, but 
 the increase of speed by our passenger trains, and the 
 increase in weight of engines, together with the in- 
 creased tonnage, may account for their rapid destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 "Some of the principal railroads have been purchas- 
 ing steel rails to a considerable extent. We purchased 
 a small lot, sixty tons, in May last, and laid them on 
 the heavy grade between Calvert Station and Bolton. 
 So far they show no evidence of wear. If our means 
 admitted, we would recommend the adoption of steel 
 rails, as those now in use must be replaced. The 
 Freedom Iron and Steel Company at Lewistown, Pa., 
 
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MERITS OF IKON- AND STEEL KAILS. 425 
 
 and the Pennsylvania Steel Works at Harrisburg, and 
 other rolling mills, we understand, will soon be pre- 
 pared to furnish steel rails, at, we suppose, so small an 
 advance upon the price now paid for iron that there 
 will be no doubt abont the propriety of adopting them 
 on our road." 
 
 Steel rails are used to a limited extent, on both the 
 New York Central, and the New York and Erie 
 Eailroads, and on many other railroads in the United 
 States ; and their use is every year becoming more 
 general. They will, undoubtedly, in time, entirely 
 supersede the iron rail. Wliere steel rails have been 
 laid upon one side of a track, and iron rails upon the 
 other, as an experiment, it has been found that the iron 
 rails require to be renewed seventeen times before the 
 steel rails begin to show any signs of wearing out. 
 
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426 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 OHAPTEE XXXIX. 
 
 RAILROAD LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The basis of the railroad laws of New York is the 
 Act of April 2, 1850. The following is a comprehen- 
 sive summary of its provisions (the Acb of 1848 is 
 repealed) ; — 
 
 Section 1. Any number of persons, not less than 
 twenty-five, may form a company fur the purpose of 
 constructing, maintaining and operating a railroad for 
 public use in the conveyance of persons and property, 
 or for the purpose of maintaining and operating any 
 unincorporated railroad already constructed for the 
 like public use ; and for that purpose may make and 
 sign articles of association, in which shall be stated the 
 name of the company ; the number of years the same 
 is to continue; the places from and to which the road 
 is to be constructed, or maintained and operated ; the 
 length of such road as near as may be, and the name 
 of each county in this State through or into which it 
 is made, or intended to be made ; the amount of the 
 capital stock of the company, which shall not be less 
 than ten thousand dollars for every mile of road con- 
 structed, or proposed to be constructed, and the num- 
 ber of shares of which said capital stock shall consist 
 and the names and places of residence of thirteen di- 
 rectors of the company, who shall manage its affairs 
 
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RAILROAD LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. 427 
 
 for the first 3'ear, and until others are chosen in their 
 places. Each subscriber to such articles of association 
 shall subscribe thereto his name, place of residence, 
 and the number of shares of stock he agrees to take 
 in said company. On compliance with the provisions 
 of the next section, such articles of association may 
 be filed in the ofi&ce of the Secretary of State, who shall 
 indorse thereon the day they are filed, and record the 
 same in a book to be provided by him for that pur- 
 pose ; and thereupon the persons who have so sub- 
 scribed such articles of association, and all persons who 
 shall become stockholders in such company, shall be 
 a corporation by the name specified in such articles of 
 association, and shall possess the powers and privileges 
 granted to corporations, and be subject to the provi- 
 sions contained in title three of chapter eighteen 
 of the first part of the Revised Statutes, except the 
 provisions contained ia the seventh section of the 
 said title. 
 
 Sec. 5. Provides for a board of thirteen direc- 
 tors, to be chosen annually, by a majority of the stock- 
 holders. 
 
 Sec. 6. The directors shall appoint one of their num- 
 ber President. 
 
 Sec. 8. The stock of railroad companies shall be 
 deemed personal estate. 
 
 Sec. 9. In case the capital stock of any company is 
 found to be insufficient for constructing and operating 
 its road, the company may increase it to any amount 
 required for those purposes. 
 
 Section 10 has been amended by the Act of April 
 15, 1854, and now reads as follows : — 
 
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428 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Sec. 10. Each stockholder of any company formed 
 under this act shall be individually liable to the credi- 
 tors of such company, to an amount equal to the amount 
 unpaid on the stock held by him, for all the debts and 
 liabilities of such companj'-, until the whole amount of 
 the capital stock so held by him shall have been paid 
 to the company, and all the stockholders of any such 
 company shall be jointly and severally liable for the 
 debts due or owing to any of its laborers and servants 
 other than contractors, for personal services for thirty 
 days' service performed for such company, but shall not 
 be liable to an action therefor before an execution shall 
 be returned unsatisfied in whole or in part against 
 the corporation, and the amount due on such execu- 
 tions shall be the amount recoverable with costs against 
 such stockholders ; before such laborer or servant shall 
 charge such stockholder for such thirty days' services 
 he shall give him notice in writing, within twenty 
 days after the performance of such service, that he 
 intends so to hold him liable, and shall commence 
 such action therefor within thirty days after the return 
 of such execution, unsatisfied, as above mentioned ; and 
 every such stockholder, against whom any such recovery 
 by such laborer or servant shall have been had, shall 
 have a right to recover the same of the other stock- 
 holders in said corporation, in ratable proportion to the 
 amount of the stock they shall respectively hold with 
 himself; and all laws whereby the stockholders, officers 
 and agents of any railroad corporation are made indivi- 
 dually liable for the debts or liabilities of such corpora- 
 tion beyond the provisions contained m the act entitled 
 "An act to authorize the forniation of railroad corpo- 
 
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RAILROAD LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. 4"29 
 
 rations, and to regulate the same," passed April 2, 
 1850, and the acts amending the same, are hereby re- 
 pealed. 
 
 Sec. 11. No person holding stock in any such com- 
 pany, as executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, 
 and no person holding such stock as collateral security, 
 shall be personally subject to any liability as stock- 
 holders of such company ; but the person pledging such 
 stock shall be considered as holding the same, and 
 shall be liable as a stockholder accordingly ; and the 
 estates and funds in the hands of such executor, ad- 
 miuistrator, guardian or trustee, shall be liable in like 
 manner and to the same extent as the testator, or intes- 
 tate, or the ward or person interested in such trust 
 fund would have been, if he had been living and 
 competent to act, and held the same stock in his own 
 name. 
 
 Sec. 13. In case any company formed under this act 
 is unable to agree for the purchase of any real estate 
 required for the purposes of its incorporation, it shall 
 have the right to acquire title to the same in the 
 manner and by the special, proceedings prescribed in 
 this act. 
 
 Sec. 14. For the purpose of acquiring such title, the 
 said company may present a petition, praying for the 
 appointment of commissioners of appraisal, to the Su- 
 preme Court, at any general or special term thereof 
 held in the district in which the real estate described 
 in the petition is situated. Such petition shall be 
 signed and verified according to the rules and practice 
 of such court. It must contain a description of the 
 real estate which the company seeks to acquire ; and it 
 
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430 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 must, in efEeot, state that the company is duly incor- 
 porated, and that it is the intention of the company, in 
 good faith, to construct and finish a railroad from and 
 to the places named for that purpose in its articles of 
 association ; and the whole capital stock of the com- 
 pany has been in good faith subscribed as required by 
 this act; that the company has surveyed the line or 
 route of its proposed road, and made a map or survey 
 thereof, by which such route or line is designated, and 
 that they have located their said road according to 
 such survey, and filed certificates of such location, 
 signed by a majority of the directors of the company, 
 in the clerks' office of the several counties through or 
 into which the said road is to be constructed ; that the 
 land described in the petition is required for the pur- 
 pose of constructing or operating the proposed road; 
 and that the company has not been able to acquire 
 title thereto, and the reason of such inability. The 
 petition must also state the names and places of resi- 
 dence of the parties, so far as the same can by reasona- 
 ble diligence be ascertained, who own or have, or 
 claim to own or have estates or interests in the said 
 real estate ; and if any such persons are infants, their 
 ages as near as may be, must be stated ; and if any 
 of such persons are idiots or persons of unsound mind, 
 or are unknown, that fact must be stated, together with 
 such other allegations and statements of liens or in- 
 cumbrances on said real estate as the company may 
 sec fit to make. A copy of such petition, with a notice 
 of the time and place the same will be presented to the 
 Supreme Court, must be served on all persons whose 
 
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EAILROAD LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. 431 
 
 interests are to be affected by the proceedings, ten days 
 before the presentation of the same to the court. 
 
 The section then describes the mode of service upon 
 different classes of persons ; and section fifteen pro- 
 vides for the appointment, by the Supreme Court, of 
 Commissioners to ascertain tlie compensation to be 
 made to the owners of the real estate proposed to be 
 taken. This section has been amended by the act of 
 April 15th, 185i, and now reads as follows : — 
 
 Sec. 15. On presenting such petition to the Supreme 
 Court as aforesaid, with proof of service of a copy 
 thereof and notice as aforesaid, all or any of the per- 
 sons whose estates or interests are to be affected by the 
 proceedings may show cause against granting the 
 prayer of the petition, and may disprove any of the 
 facts alleged in it. The court shall hear the proofs 
 and allegations of the parties, and if no sufficient cause 
 is shown against granting the prayer of the petition, it 
 shall make an order for the appointment of three dis- 
 interested and competent freeholders, who reside in the 
 county or some adjoining county where the premises 
 to be appraised are situated, commissioners to ascer- 
 tain and appraise the compensation to be made to the 
 owners or persons interested in the j'eal estate proposed 
 to be taken in such county for the purpose of the com- 
 pany, and to fix the time and place for the first meeting 
 of the commissioners. 
 
 Sec. 16 has also been amended by the act of April 
 15th, 18o-t, and now provides that the commissioners 
 shall view the premises described in the petition, and 
 hear tlie proofs and allegations of the parties, and re- 
 duce the testimony taken by them, if any, to writing, 
 
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432 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and after the testimony in each case is closed, they or 
 a majority of them, all being present, shall, without 
 any unnecessary delay, and before proceeding to the 
 examination of any other claim, ascertain and deter- 
 mine the compensation which ought justly to be made 
 by the company to the owners or persons interested in 
 the real estate appraised by them ; and in fixing the 
 amount of such compensation, said commissioners 
 shall not make any allowance or deduction on account 
 of any real or supposed benefits which the parties in 
 interest may derive from the construction of the pro- 
 posed railroad, or the construction of the proposed im- 
 provement connected with such road, for which such 
 real estate rnay be taken. 
 
 Sec. 17. Makes it the duty of the commissioners to 
 report their proceedings to the Supreme Court: which 
 report and decision of the commissioners must be 
 confirmed by the court, and an order made to that 
 effect. 
 
 Sec. 18. A certified copy of the order so to be made 
 as aforesaid, shall be recorded at full length in the 
 clerk's office of the county in which the land described 
 in it is situated ; and thereupon, and on the payment or 
 deposit by the company of the sums to be paid as 
 compensation for the land, and for costs, expenses, and 
 counsel fees as aforesaid, and as directed by said order, 
 the company shall be etititled to enter upon, take pos- 
 session of, and use the said land for the purposes of its 
 incorporation. 
 
 Sec. 20. The court shall appoint some competent 
 attorney to appear for, and protect the rights of any 
 party in interest who is unknown, or whose residence 
 
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RAILROAD LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. 433 
 
 is unknown, and who has not appeared in the proceed- 
 ings by an attorney or agent. 
 
 Sec. 23. The directors of every company formed 
 under this act may, by a vote of two-thirds of their 
 whole number, at any time alter or change the route 
 or any part of the route of their road, if it shall appear 
 to them that the line can be Improved thereby ; and 
 they shall make and file in the clerk's office of the 
 proper county, a survey, map, and certificate of such 
 alteration or change ; and shall have the same right 
 and power to acquire title to any lands required for the 
 purposes of the company, in such altered or changed 
 route, as if the road had been located there in the first 
 instance; and no such alteration shall be made in any 
 city or village, after the road shall have been con- 
 structed, unless the same is sanctioned by a vote of 
 two-thirds of the common council of said city or trustees 
 of said village; and in case of any alteration made in 
 the route of any railroad after the company has com- 
 menced grading, compensation shall be made to all per- 
 sons for injury so done to any lands that may have 
 been donated to the company. All the provisions of 
 this act relative to the first location, and to acquiring 
 title to land, shall apply to every such new or altered 
 portion of the route. 
 
 Sec. 24. Whenever the track of a railroad con- 
 structed by a company formed under this act shall 
 cross a railroad, a highway, turnpike or plank road, 
 such highway, turnpike or plank road may be carried 
 under or over the track, as may be found most expe- 
 dient ; and in cases where an embankment or cutting 
 shall make a change in the line of such highway, turn- 
 
 OQ 
 
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434 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 pike or plank road desirable, with a view to a more 
 easy ascent or descent, the said company may take 
 such additional lands for the construction of such road, 
 highway, turnpike or plank road on such new line as 
 may be deemed requisite by the directors. Unless the 
 lands so taken shall be purchased for the purposes 
 aforesaid, compensation therefor shall be ascertained 
 in the manner prescribed in this act for acquiring title 
 to real estate, and duly made by said corporation to the 
 owners and persons interested in such lands. The sarne, 
 when so taken, shall become part of such intersecting 
 highway, turnpike or plank road, in such manner and 
 by such tenure as the adjacent parts of the same high- 
 way, turnpike or plank road may be held for highway 
 purposes. 
 
 Sec. 27 (as amended by the act of April 22, 1862). 
 No company formed under this act shall lay down or 
 use in the construction of their road any iron rail of 
 less weight than fifty-six pounds to the lineal yard, 
 except for turnouts, sidings and switches and roads 
 upon which steam power cannot by law be used ; and 
 on the last mentioned road such weight shall not be 
 less than forty pounds to the lineal yard. 
 
 Sec. 28. Every railroad company shall have power 
 to construct their road across, along, or upon any 
 stream of water, street, road, or canal, which the route 
 of its road shall interest ; but the company shall restore 
 the same to such a state as not to have impaired its use- 
 fulness. But no railroad bridge shall be erected 
 across any .stream navigated by steam boats or sail boats. 
 Every railroad company shall have power to cross, 
 intersect, join and unite its road with any other rail- 
 
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EAILEOAD LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. 435 
 
 road, at any point on its route. Every company whose 
 railroad, shall be intersected by any new railroad, shall 
 unite with such new railroad in forming such intersec- 
 tions and connections, and grant the necessary facilities 
 therefor. 
 
 Every railroad company shall have power — 
 
 7. To take and convey persons and property on their 
 railroad by the power or force of steam or of animals, 
 or by any mechanical power, and to receive compensa- 
 tion therefor. 
 
 8. To erect and maintain all necessary and conve- 
 nient buildings, stations, fixtures and machinery for 
 the accommodation and use of their passengers, freights 
 and business. 
 
 9. To regulate the time and manner in which pas- 
 sengers and property shall be transported, and the 
 compensation to be paid therefor ; but such compensa- 
 ticm, for any passenger and his ordinary baggage, shall 
 not exceed three cents per mile. 
 
 10. From time to time to borrow such sums of 
 money as may be necessary for completing and finish- 
 ing or operating their railroad, and to issue and dispose 
 of their bonds for any amount so borrowed, and to 
 mortgage their corporate property and franchises to 
 secure the payment of any debt contracted bj'' the 
 company for the purposes aforesaid; and the directors 
 of the company may confer on any holder of any bond 
 issued for money borrowed as aforesaid, the right to 
 convert the principal due or owing thereon, into stock 
 of said company, at any time not exceeding ten years 
 from the date of the bond, under, such regulations as 
 the directors may see fit to adopt. 
 
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436 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Sec. 29. Whenever the railroad of any company- 
 formed under this act shall run parallel or nearly 
 parallel to any canal of this State, and within thirty 
 miles of such canal, the company owping such railroad 
 shall pay to the canal fund, on all property transported 
 upon its railroad other than the ordinary baggage of 
 passengers, the same tolls upon that portion of the'road 
 running parallel to the canal, that would have been 
 payable to the State if such property other than bag- 
 gage had been transported on any such canal; and 
 every such company shall make returns, at such times 
 and in such manner as the commissioners of the canal 
 fund shall prescribe, of all the property transported 
 on its railroad, except ordinary baggage of passengers; 
 and the same commissioners are authorized and re- 
 quired to prescribe the manner in which such tolls so 
 payable to the canal fund by such company, shall be 
 collected and paid, and to enforce the collection and 
 payment thereof, and to make such regulations as they 
 shall deem proper for that purpose; and every such 
 company that shall neglect or refuse to comply with any 
 such regulations, shall forfeit to the people of this State 
 the sura of five hundred dollars for every day it shall 
 so neglect or refuse ; and in every case of such for- 
 feiture, it shall be the duty of the attorney-general to 
 prosecute such company for the penalty. 
 
 Sec. 30. Suitable uniforms and badges of office must 
 be worn by Qvery person employed. 
 
 Sec. 31. Every railroad company must make a com- 
 prehensive annual report to the State Engineer, under 
 one hundred and five distinct heads ; or else shall pay 
 
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RAILROAD LAWS OP THE UNITED STATES. 437 
 
 to the State two hundred and fifty dollars for every 
 report omitted. 
 
 Sec. 34. All railroad companies shall, when applied 
 to by the Postmaster-General, convey the U. S. Mails. 
 And in case the Postmaster-Greneral shall require the 
 mail to be.cq,rried at other hours, or at a higher speed 
 than the passenger trains are run, the corporation shall 
 furnish an extra train for the mail, and be allowed an 
 extra compensation for the expenses, and wear and 
 tear thereof, and for the service, to be fixed as afore- 
 said. 
 
 Sec. 37. A check shall be affixed to every parcel of 
 baggage, when taken for transportation, by the agent 
 or servant of such corporation, if there is a handle, 
 loop or fixture, so that the same can be attached upon, 
 the parcel or baggage so offered for tran.sportation, and 
 a duplicate thereof given to the passenger or persoa 
 delivering the same on his behalf; and if such check 
 be refused on demand, the corporation shall pay to 
 such passenger the sum of ten dollars, to be recovered 
 in a civil action ; and further, no fare or toll shall be 
 collected or received from such passenger, and if such 
 passenger shall have paid his fare, the same shall be 
 refunded by the conductor in charge of the train ; and 
 on producing said check, if his baggage shall not be 
 delivered to him, he may himself be a witness in any 
 suit brought by him, to prove the contents and value 
 of said baggage. 
 
 Several subsequent acts have been passed, the most 
 important of which are those of Feb. 13, 1851 ; March 
 25,1853; April 15, 1854; April 14, 1857; April 7, 
 1858 ; April 29, 1868 ; April 22, 1862 ; May 5, 1864 ; 
 
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433 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 and April 20, 1864. The amendments to the general 
 railroad act of April 2, 1850, are noticed above, in the 
 respective sections that have been amended. 
 
 Eailboau Lavsts of Pennsylvania. — Act of Feb. 
 19th, 1849. Sec. 1. Whenever a special act of the 
 legislature shall be passed, authorizing the incorpora- 
 tion of a company for the construction of a railroad, 
 -any five of the commissioners named in the act shall 
 have power to open subscription books. No subscrip- 
 tion to railroad stock shall be valid, unless a payment 
 of five dollars is made on every share subscribed, at 
 the time of subscribing. 
 
 Sec. 2. When ten per cent, on the capital stock shall 
 have been subscribed, and five dollars, as above, paid 
 on each share, the governor shall (and this duty is dis- 
 cretionary, and not ministerial, and cannot be inter- 
 fered with by injunction or mandamus) create and con- 
 stitute the subscriber&it\to a body politic and corporate, 
 with tlie full powers of a railroad company. But they 
 are not to purchase or hold any real estate, except 
 such as may be necessary for constructing their rail- 
 road, &c. 
 
 Sec. 4. The stockholders shall elect a President and 
 twelve Directors annually, on the second Monday in 
 January. 
 
 Sec. 6. The President and Directors are authorized 
 to exercise all the powers of the corporation. 
 
 Sec. 8. The capital stock shall be divided into shares 
 of fifty dollars each. 
 
 Sec. 9. The dividends of so much of the profits as 
 shall appear advisable to the directors, shall be declared 
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CONSOLIDATION OF RAILROAD COMPANIES. 489 
 
 iu January and July, in each year; but the divid.^iulci 
 sliiill in no case exceed the amount of the act protits. 
 
 Sec. 10. The President shall make an annual rupurt 
 to the stockholders ; and whenever required, shall fur- 
 nisli a full report to the legislature. 
 
 Sec. 11. The legislature may revoke the charter iu 
 case of abuse, and may take the road for public use, 
 on making full compensation to the stockholders. 
 
 Sec. 12. The company may enter upon and occupy 
 lands necessary for the road, not, however, passing 
 through any burying ground or place of public wor- 
 ship, or any dwelling house without the owner's con- 
 sent. 
 
 Sec. 13. When the company cannot agree with the 
 owners of lands for the compensation, the Court of 
 Common Pleas shall appoint seven freeholders of the 
 county. Any five of them shall view the premises, 
 and shall estimate and determine the amount of com- 
 pensation, and make report to the court ; and if the 
 report be confirmed by the court, judgment shall be 
 entered thereon, and execution may issue thirty days 
 thereafter. 
 
 Sec. 17. Wherever it is necessary to cross any es- 
 tablished road, the railroad shall be constructed across 
 such road so as not to injure the use of the latter. 
 
 Sec. 19. (Act of Feb. 11, 1853.) Every railroad 
 company is authorized to change the gauge of their 
 road. 
 
 Consolidation of Eaileoad Companies. — Act of 
 May 16, 1861. 
 
 Seg. 24. Eailroad companies may consolidate, if the 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
440 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 articles of consolidation are ratified by the stock- 
 holders. 
 
 Sec. 36. (Act of April 2, 1859.) Every railroad 
 company must make a full annual report to the audi- 
 tor-general, on the 1st of December, under a penalty 
 of five thousand dollars for each omission. 
 
 Eailroad Laws of Illinois. — The basis of the rail- 
 road laws of Illinois is the Act of November 5, 1849. 
 It is voluminous, and very comprehensive in its provi- 
 sions. Of these the following is a brief summary. 
 
 Sec. 1. Any number of persons, not less than 
 twenty-five, rnay associate, take stock, pay ten per 
 cent., sign articles, become incorporated, and construct 
 and operate railroads. The articles of association 
 must set forth the name of the company, the amount 
 of the capital stock, the names of the directors, and 
 the termini of the proposed road. 
 
 Sec. f>. No person can be a director unless he is a 
 stockholder. Sec. 9 requires the President to make 
 ah annual -report. Sec. 13 provides that the stock of 
 the company shall be deemed personal property, and 
 may be transferable. 
 
 Sec. 14. "All the stockholders shall be severally 
 and individually liable, to an amount equal to the 
 amount of stock held by them respectively, for all debts 
 and contracts made by the company." 
 
 Sec. 21. Among the general powers of the company 
 they are empowered to enter upon the lands of any 
 person, but s\ibject to responsibility for damages ; to 
 purchase, hold, and use all such real estate and other 
 property as may be necessary for the construction and 
 
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RAILROAD LAWS OF ILLINOIS. 441 
 
 maintenance of the road depots and stations; to con- 
 struct their road upon or across any stream of water, 
 road, railroad, or canal, which the route of its road 
 shall intersect, but without impairing the usefulness of 
 such stream, road, railroad or canal ; " to cross, intersect, 
 join, or unite its railroad with any other railroad, at 
 any point on its route, and upon the grounds of such 
 other railroad company; and every company whose 
 railroad shall be intersected by any new railroad, shall 
 unite with the owners of such new railroad in forming 
 such connections, and shall grant the facilities afore- 
 said." 
 
 Sec. 24. Nothing in this act shall authorize any 
 railroad company to make a location of their track 
 within any city, without the consent of the common 
 council. 
 
 Sec. 28. Every railroad company must make an 
 annual and comprehensive report to the Secretary of 
 State. 
 
 Sec. 29. Or may omit to make it, on payment of 
 two hundred and fifty dollars for each omission, to 
 be sued for by the State. 
 
 Skc. 31. The State shall have a lien upon all rail- 
 roads and their appurtenances and stock, which shall 
 take precedence of all judgments. 
 
 Sec. 33. All railroads must cary the F. S. Mail, if 
 applied to by the Post-Master-General. In case the 
 latter shall require the mail to be carried at other 
 hours and at a higher speed than the passenger trains 
 be run at, the railroad company shall furnish an extra 
 train for the mail, and be allowed an extra compensa- 
 tion. 
 
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442 RAILROADS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The Consolidation Act; Pkoviding for the 
 
 CON'aOLIDATlON OF KaILEOAD COMPANIES. — Aut of 
 
 Feb. 28, 1854. 
 
 Sec. 1. All railroad companies and plank- road com- 
 panies which have the ternuni fixed by law, whenever 
 their roads intersect, may consolidate their property 
 and stock, and may consolidate with companies out of 
 the State, whenever their lines connect with the lines 
 of such companies. 
 
 Sec. 2. Such consolidated companies are regarded, 
 after consolidation, as one body corporate -and politic. 
 
 Sec. 3. The consolidated corporation shall have 
 power to increase their capital stock to any amount 
 not exceeding the cost -of the consolidated roads and 
 works. 
 
 Other railroad laws have subsequently been passed 
 by the legislature of Illinois, but none in conflict with 
 the above. 
 
 To give even a synopsis of the railroad laws of 
 the other States, would swell this volume to an un- 
 wieldy bulk. The above - synopsis of the railroad 
 laws of New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, will 
 give a good general idea of those of the other States. 
 And as a general rule, in regard to the railroad laws 
 of the respective States, it may be observed 1st, that 
 they confer every necessary power and privilege on 
 railroad companies, and that to the fullest extent; and 
 second, that they fully protect the rights of private indi- 
 viduals, and the public, from any invasion on the part 
 of these corporations. Where these ends are both 
 secured, no other legislation is necessary. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Note A. — New York and Ekie Railway. 
 
 During the year 1857, it was determined by the Board 
 of Directors of this Company to replace iron with steel 
 rails whenever renewals were made ; and to lay a double 
 track on the Delaware Division of the road, also with steel 
 rails. The report of the General Superintendent, made 
 March 3, 1868, is as follows : — 
 
 " Office Geseral Sdperiktendent, 
 
 New Yokk, March 3, 1868. 
 Hon. John S. Eldridge, President Erie Railway. 
 
 " Sir : On the 3d of December I addressed a communica- 
 tion to the Yice-Prcsident recommending the purchase of 
 five thousand tons of steel rails, and at an interview with 
 you I expressed the opinion that fifieen thousand to 
 eighteen thousand tons of rails would be required for the 
 repairs of track during the year 1»G8. 
 
 " Since that opinion was given we have passed through 
 three months of unusually severe winter weather and 
 moved more than an average winter tonnage, with the road- 
 bed frozen solid as a rock, the rails encased in snow and 
 ice, so that it has been impossible to do m'uch in the way 
 of repairs; the iron rails have broken, laminated and worn 
 out beyond all precedent, until there is scarce a mile of 
 your road, except that laid with steel rails, between Jersey 
 City and Salamanca or Buffalo, where it is safe to run a 
 train at the ordinary passenger-train speed, and manv por- 
 
 ( 4^3 ), ' 
 
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4-44 APPENDIX 
 
 tions of the road can only be traversed safely by reducing 
 the speed of all trains to twelve or fifteen miles per hour, 
 solely on account of the worn-out and rotten condition of 
 the rails. Broken wheels, axles, engines, and trains ofi' the 
 track have been of daily, almost hourly, occurrence for the 
 last two months, caused mostly by defective rails. Fully 
 one thousand broken rails were taken from the track in the 
 month of January, while the number removed on account 
 of lamination, crushing, or wearing out, was much greater. 
 February w^ill show a still worse record than January. 
 
 " The failure of rails is confined to no particular make, 
 although there is a difference, easily observed, between 
 those made at Scranton and those re-rolled at Ehnira. The 
 former break readily into many pieces, and ly so doing are 
 pretty sure to throw a train from the track ; a large num- 
 ber of these rails have broken with less than six months' 
 service, some with scarce one month's wear. 
 
 " The Elmira re-rolled iron seldom breaks until very 
 much worn, but it does not possess the hardness and dura- 
 bility found in the Scranton iron, when the latter has 
 strength to resist breaking strains. 
 
 "With the ten miles laid with the John Brown Besse- 
 mer steel no fault need be found. Only one rail has broken 
 during the winter, and no lamination and very little wear 
 is perceptible. Twenty steel rails were laid in Jersey City 
 yard last March ; the iron rails adjoining, subject to the 
 same wear, have been renewed four times since the steel 
 was put down, and I have no doubt the steel rails will out- 
 last three times as many more iron rails. 
 
 "This winter's experience has satisfied me that the 
 quality and weight of the iron rails in use cannot be de- 
 pended upon to sustain the traffic of the Erie Railway. 
 Forly-two tons locomotives hauling trains of fifty and sixty 
 loaded cars, and passenger engines weighing thirty-seven 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD. 445 
 
 tons, running at a speed of thirty to forty miles per hour, 
 literally crush and grind out the iron rails beneath thera. 
 Instances have been reported to me of rails removed from 
 track too much worn for safety, vi'here the first imperfection 
 was visible but the day before. 
 
 "In view of this state of things what is the remedy ? 
 Manifestly the adoption of steel rails as far as practicable, 
 and iron rails of superior quality and heavier section, to be 
 followed by the gradual reduction of the weight of engines 
 and cars as new equipment becomes necessary. The ten- 
 dency has been of late years to larger and more powerful 
 locomotives, and heavier, stronger cars, and this has been 
 carried to such an extent as to render them out of a,ll pro- 
 portion to the strength and durability of the track. Espe- 
 cially has this been the fact upon the Erie Railway. 
 
 "The condition of the iron at the present date is such 
 as to give not much anxiety and apprehension for the 
 safety of trains. We cannot and do not attempt to make 
 the schedule time with our trains ; nearly all lose from two 
 to five hoars in passing over the road, and it has been only 
 by the exercise of extreme caution we have been able thus 
 far to escape serious accident. 
 
 "A very large quantity of rails must be laid as soon as 
 the weather will permit and they can be furnished. 
 
 "In conclusion, I desire to modify my estimate of the 
 quantity of rails required for the current year. After a 
 careful observation of the whole road, assisted by informa- 
 tion obtained from Division Superintendents and Track 
 Masters, I have come to the conclusion that twenty-five 
 thousand tons of rail will be needed to keep up your track 
 in 1868, and I would earnestly recommend that as large a 
 proportion as possible shall be of steel. 
 
 "Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 H. RIDDLE, 
 General Superintendent." 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
446 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note B. — Pennsylvania Railroad. 
 
 The earnings of the Company during the year 186T 
 exceeded sixteen millions of dollars, being sixteen million 
 three hundred and forty thousand one hundred and fifty- 
 six dollars. Of this amount, nearly three and a half mil- 
 lions of dollars were from passengers. The expenses 
 amounted to twelve millions of dollars ($12,080,299); 
 leaving as the net earnings of the road for the year 1867, 
 four million two hundred and fifty-nine thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty-six dollars ; being an increase of two 
 hundred and fifty-one thousand nine hundred and seventy- 
 eight dollars, over the net earnings of 1866. 
 
 The general results of the year 1867 show a large In- 
 crease in the business of the road. 
 
 The annual report of J. Edgar Thomson, Esq., Presi- 
 dent of the Company, made Feb. 15, 1868, says : — 
 
 " The Tyrone and Clearfield Railroad at present .termi- 
 nates at Phillipsburg. During the past year the road-bed 
 has been graded to the town of Clearfield, and the track 
 •will be laid upon it in the ensuing spring and summer. 
 
 " That portion of the railway between Pittsburg and 
 Columbus, Ohio, extending from Pittsburg to the Ohio 
 River, across the State of West Virginia — in consequence 
 of its great cost and long delay in its construction — became 
 involved in inextricable financial difficulty, to free it from 
 which it was sold under a decree of the Supreme Court. 
 Arrangements are now being made to consolidate it with 
 the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad, under the name of 
 the Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway Com- 
 pany, with a view to make but oue corporation between 
 Pittsburg and Columbus. In this line the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad Company has a large interest in its shares, and 
 we entertain the belief that its revenues will at once pay 
 
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PENNSTLYANIA RAILROAD. 447 
 
 an interest npon the amount now charged to that account. 
 The chief motive, however, in incurring this expenditure 
 was, as already mentioned, the advantage it afforded to this 
 Company in securing the freight and travel to and from 
 the Southwest, for which we had previously no independent 
 connection. The line is now in full operation, and in this 
 respect has met our expectation, gaining for the traveller 
 a saving of several hours in his journey from Philadelphia 
 and New York to Cincinnati, over any other route. 
 
 " The Philadelphia and Ei'ie Railroad Company, under 
 the lease, is obliged to furnish the money to meet the ex- 
 penditures for this object, but as it is without means or 
 available credit, it devolves upon this Company to supply 
 the deficiency or continue an unprofitable arrangement. 
 As neither the public advantage nor the permanent inte- 
 rest of this Company will justify the latter alternative, the 
 Board, with a view to apply the expenditures mentioned in 
 a manner that will best promote the objects in view, has 
 purchased and converted obligations that have accrued 
 against that Company, into its capital stock to the extent 
 of thirty-one thousand six hundred and thirty-six shares 
 of Common, and forty-eight thousand of Preferred, 
 amounting in all, at par, to nearly four million of dollars — 
 sufficient to determine the future mode of managing the 
 affairs of the Company. 
 
 " This line and the Pennsylvania Railroad occupy the 
 only routes within this Commonwealth upon which a rail- 
 way for through business can be built, and yield a reason- 
 able return upon the capital that may be expended in its 
 construction. "Upon all other routt's, several additional 
 mountain summits will be encountered, besides the in- 
 creased cost hereafter of constructing such a work. With 
 this knowledge we may safely make outlays for the develop- 
 ment of their traffic. The extent to which this can be 
 
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448 APPENDIX. 
 
 done by a judicious enlargement of the field of operations 
 of the Philadelijiiia and Erie line may be appreciated by 
 referring to the history of our own railroad, which was 
 only opened as a continuous railway in connection with 
 the State road, between Philadelphia and Columbia, on 
 the 15th of February, 1854 — at which date the Eastern 
 and Western Divisions of what was originally the Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad were united, avoiding the ten inclined 
 planes, operated by stationary power, which had previously 
 lifted the traffic over the Alleghanies. The revenues of 
 this Company, from the whole line, from Philadelphia to 
 Pittsburg, during 1854, the first year of its operation as a 
 continuous line, were three million five hundred and twelve 
 thousand two hundred and ninety-five dollars. In 186T, 
 between the same points — with addition of the local busi- 
 ness of the State railroad — thSy were sixteen million five 
 hundred and eighty-three thousand dollars, an increase of 
 nearly fivefold in money and much larger in tonnage. 
 
 " It is true the Pennsylvania Railroad traversed a coun- 
 try that had been partially developed by the State im- 
 provements, and a large local traffic became immediately 
 available, but at that time the through business was of 
 inconsiderable extent. It has since vastly increased by 
 the rapid growth of the West, both in population and 
 wealth, and is capable of still greater development by the 
 introduction of rates of freight that will successfully com- 
 pete with those charged upon the lakes and the New York 
 canals. 
 
 "A line possessing a large mixed traffic, such as com- 
 manded by the Pennsylvania Railroad, cannot fully meet 
 this requirement without the construction of a third track 
 throughout its length, by which trains can be moved at a 
 lowr.itc of speed without serious interruption to the traffic 
 thiit will pay for the cost of a more rapid movement. 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD. 449 
 
 Instead of a third track upon the Pennsylvania Railroad 
 to meet this demand, as originally suggested, it has been 
 proposed that the line of the Philadelphia and Erie Rail- 
 road, as far as practicable, be taken for such a thorough- 
 fare. This line will cross the summit between the eastern 
 and western waters where the elevation is fourteen hun- 
 dred and fifty feet above tide, which may be overcome by 
 gradients not exceeding a rise of a half of a foot in one 
 hundred feet, passing through a region abounding in the 
 best bituminous coal for fuel. 
 
 "A road built to accommodate the object contemplated 
 must be located and constructed with a view to secure the 
 lowest possible cost of movement of trains, and its locomo- 
 tives and cars adapted to the business they are intended 
 to move and the speed they will travel. Instead of chang- 
 ing locomotives at the end of each day's service as at 
 present, the trains under this system will be provided with 
 double crews, alternating their time upon duty until their 
 destination is completed and the return trip accomplished. 
 The speed of the freight trains should not exceed an ave- 
 rage of six miles per hour. 
 
 " As through travel and general merchandise will seek 
 lines where the movement is more rapid, a railway ope- 
 rated upon this principle can only be introduced with 
 advantage to the community and profit to its shareholders, 
 where the traffic that it will command is very large. The 
 profits upon the capital invested in such a line must be 
 realized from a small margin over cost upon a very large 
 tonnage to be moved. But few, if any, locations at pre- 
 sent afford a business sufficient to justify the construction 
 of a railway specially operated upon this principle, and one 
 between the East and West will be sufficient to meet the 
 public demand for many years. In New York tlie Erie 
 Canal fulfils the objects of such a work not only for that 
 29 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
450 APPENDIX. 
 
 State but for through tonnage between the East and the 
 West. No route in Pennsylvania or elsewhere between 
 the seaboard and the West affords equal facilities for the 
 introduction of this system as the line occupied by the 
 Eastern portion of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, 
 where a basis for it may be laid with confidence as to its 
 affording favorable results. A railroad operated upon this 
 plan will ultimately be extended to the Mississippi River 
 across the table lands of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, south 
 of the great lakes, which, when the tonnage is sufficient to 
 justify its construction, will afford a medium of transporta- 
 tion at all seasons of the year, as cheap and more expedi- 
 tious than via the lakes and Erie Canal, without materially 
 interfering with the profits of existing lines. The general 
 introduction of this system of railways to supersede the 
 present lines can only end in a disastrous failure wherever 
 tried." 
 
 Note C. — Xoethern Central Railroad. 
 
 The earnings of the road for the year ISGY were three 
 million six hundred and ninety thousand eight hundred 
 and sixty-eight dollars. The operating expenses were two 
 million four hundred and seventy-eight thousand seven 
 hundred and nine dollars ; making the net revenue one 
 million two hundred and twelve thousand one hundred and 
 fifty-eight dollars. 
 
 The annual report of J. D. Cameron, Esq., President of 
 the Company, made Feb. 20, 1868, for the year 1867, 
 says :— 
 
 " Our business has grown so rapidly within a short space 
 of time, and so much expenditure has been necessary to 
 perfect the track, extend Ridings and furnish equipment, 
 that we have delayed, as far as we could, the building of 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
NORTHERN CENTRAL RAILROAD. 451 
 
 shops for the repair of engines and cars. Additional shops 
 have now become an urgent necessity, and we propose to 
 erect suitable buildings for that purpose at Sunbury. Dur- 
 ing this year we have added to the equipment seven loco- 
 motives, two passenger cars, two baggage cars, twenty-iive 
 box cars, twenty-nine gondolas, thirty-lour lime cars, and 
 three hundred and seventy-seven coal cars, at a cost of 
 two hundred and sixty-five thousand one hundred and 
 thirty-four dollars and forty-one cents, and we have already 
 contracted to have delivered in the early part of this year 
 ten locomotives, one hundred stock cars, and five hundred 
 coal cars. 
 
 " We have purchased and put into the track some addi- 
 tional steel rails. Our experience so far with steel rails 
 has been satisfactory, and we regret that we have not the 
 ability to use them exclusively in the renewal of the track. 
 As the tires on the locomotives have worn out they have 
 been replaced by steel tires, and the change has been 
 found to be an economical one. The operations of the 
 leased roads have been much more satisfactory than during 
 the preceding year. The increase of tonnage from them 
 has added materially to the business of the main line, and 
 the arrangements lately consummated for securing addi- 
 tional trade from the West and Northwest are such that we 
 feel the time is not far distant when we will be benefited, 
 not only by the trade which they add to the main line, but 
 that the increase will make them self-sustaining, and they 
 will become a source of direct profit, as the Shamokin divi- 
 sion has been since the commencement of its lease by this 
 company. 
 
 " As the receipts incident to the inflation of trade pro- 
 duced by the war are no longer perceptible in our business, 
 a comparison of the business of this road for the year just 
 
 Digitized by Microsoft® 
 
452 APPENDIX. 
 
 closed with that of the year immediately preceding the 
 war, will be interesting. 
 
 In the year 1864 the entire receipts of the road were $964,621 30 
 The expenses were 717,265 64 
 
 And the net revenue was ..... $247,355 66 
 
 In 1867 the gross receipts were .... $2,676,084 61 
 Expenses 1,556,538 71 
 
 Showing net earnings amonnting to . , . $1,119,545 90 
 
 " The net earnings of 1867 are one hundred and fifty-four 
 thousand nine hundred and twenty-four dollars and sixty 
 cents in excess of the entire earnings in 1860, and the 
 comparison shows an increase of 177 per cent in the gross 
 earnings, and 452 per cent, in the profits. The number 
 of passengers carried in 1860 was two hundred and eighty- 
 seven thousand six hundred and thirty, while in 1867 we 
 carried six hundred and fifty-five thousand six hundred and 
 fifty-one." 
 
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 i'ANNT Hunter's Western Adventures. 
 
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 History of the War in India. Furnishing 
 
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 I'HKILLING IdSTCIDEKTS I'N AmERICA]^ HiSTORT. 
 
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 The Battle -Fields oe the Revolution-. 
 
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