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A SHORT HISTORY OF 
 AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 

 
 
 
 GEORGE STEPHENSON—1781-1848 
 {nventor and First Practical Demonstrator of Steam Locomotives 
 
 Painted by H. P. Briggs, R. A. Engraved by C. Turner, A. R. A., 1838 
 —From ‘“‘A Century of Locomotive Building by Robert Stephenson & Co.’’ 
 
A SHORT HISTORY OF 
 AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 COVERING TENSDECADES 
 
 BY 
 
 SLASON THOMPSON 
 
 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 Ue yey CL ete MOD Duiss iui orca IN LOIN 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
To 
 The Two Million and More Railway Employes 
 and Their Allied Workers in the 
 United States 
 upon whose continusus energy and vigilance 
 rests the unending task of carrying on 
 by day and by night 
 our continental transportation service 
 with promptness, speed and safety 
 unparalleled in the history 
 of the World 
 
 THIS BOOK IS 
 FESRECTRPOULEY DEDICATED 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND 
 EDITION 
 
 WHEN the first edition of this short history was sent to 
 press without the customary preface, it would seem that the 
 second might follow similarly bereft. But since the favorable 
 comment it evoked has almost universally been accompanied 
 by the remark that it furnished a much needed chapter to the 
 wondrous story of the republic, a few words may be added to 
 emphasize the dereliction of American historians. 
 
 In Justin Winsor’s monumental “Narrative and Critical 
 History of America,” neither in the indices to the eight quarto 
 volumes nor the general index for the whole work does the 
 word Railway appear. Other historians: have not been so ex- 
 clusive in their narratives but none of them has paid anything 
 like proportionate attention, much less homage, to the one in- 
 dustry that has brought all other industries on this continent 
 within trading distance of each other. 
 
 This omission probably accounts for President Coolidge’s 
 failure to recognize, in his noble memorial address at the Min- 
 nesota State Fair on June 8th last, the coincidence of the cen- 
 tennial there celebrated with the demonstration of steam and 
 rail transportation on the Stockton & Darlington Railway, 
 September 26, 1825. Until the railways came, the coming of 
 the first shipload of Norse immigrants into New York in that 
 year, so splendidly recounted by the President, would have 
 been an insignificant event in the expansion of the republic. 
 The landing of a ship’s company of fifty-two souls who quickly 
 found homes on the thickly wooded frontier of New York 
 state was of small significance in the settlement of America 
 until the rails came to carry them and their descendants and 
 successors on to Illinois and later on to Minnesota and the 
 Dakotas. Not until after 1840. was there a mile of railway in 
 Illinois, and not until after 1860 was there a mile of railway 
 in Minnesota or either of the Dakotas. As told in these pages, 
 the first locomotive to reach St. Paul got there by boat in 
 
1860; and immigration returns record that Norse immigration 
 first assumed noteworthy proportions in the following decade. 
 
 Glancing over the printed pages of this “Short History” 
 the writer is conscious of how far it comes from filling the 
 gaps in the general histories of the United States. As the re- 
 viewer for the San Francisco Chronicle says, it merely “hits 
 the high spots.” The true history of American railways is to 
 be found in the valleys—following the meandering rivers and 
 rivulets and seeking the lowest grades across or through the 
 intervening heights. | 
 
 The American Railway Association might well devote a 
 share of its activities to assembling the histories of its 200 
 Class I roads into a story of that “magnificent and wondrous 
 adventure,” the making of the railways of America, with at 
 least one chapter given to the rescue of our Sister of the 
 Snow from the long haul of the toboggan and the dog train. 
 
 In the following pages have been incorporated some forty- 
 five corrections kindly pointed out by readers in response to 
 the invitation on the flyleaf of the first edition. While the 
 majority of these were palpable slips of the proof reader, one 
 was in a material feature involving the substitution of a small 
 cut of “Old Ironsides” for that of George Stephenson’s 
 “Planet” 1830. This was the more regrettable because the 
 “Planet” was the real prototype of the early locomotives built 
 in America. The interested reader can observe the resemblance 
 in the cuts as they appear in this edition. 
 
 The reception of the “Short History” by the press, railway 
 officials and the general public has been most gratifying. 
 
 SLASON THOMPSON. 
 
 @ 
 
 August, 1925. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Introdtictory Uy ee ae 3 eee Sete ae feet ee t 
 
 Chapter I Birth. OL Cie 1) evee Wet tne cam gale 6 
 Before the Iron Horse Came 
 
 Vhapter II 1830) to 1840 oe eee ee ee 43 
 The Genesis of Railways in America | 
 
 Ghapternsrrt 1840 to, TS SO ce ciate aime eariee vate ve mee 82 
 Pushing Across the Alleghenies 
 
 Chapter IV 1850 to, TRGO AAU tips Or aces cece eee 102 
 On to the Mississippi 
 
 Chapter V 1860 to. 1870. ee are 147 
 The Railways Save the Union 
 
 Chapter VI L870; to Fl BBOR eT tank ee ae ae aie 189 
 On to the Pacific Coast 
 
 Chapter VII 1880 to 1890 heiress ee a ee 229 
 How Regulation Came About 
 
 Chapter VIII 1 89045 L900 oe tea bs het ns tie oy ae Laem 253 
 Rebates Abolished 
 
 Chapter 1X TOQO FtON1O LO ar eee nae Re erer es ores 283 
 Construction Slows Up 
 
 Ghantersx. POLO S16 1920 ices, cue catenerat oe ee toy ete ae 324 
 Experiment in State Operation 
 
 Chapter XI 1920; and* Thereatt ers as acre ee 380 
 Emerging from the War Cloud 
 
 Chapter XII The Railway Door of Opportunity..... 415 
 Men at the Helm 
 
 PhetSpirit.dis ransportation® Avs...s neice 442 
 
 Bibhoer ra plivst ch satiate sie cre cin ee 445 
 
 Wddenda-=Ay Ber@, Soka sae vata 0 coe ee ee 450 
 
 Bees os Pee ia eae ta eee ct 18) Gn Prenat. <a. te:'s-bal da er 455 
 
A SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN 
 RAILWAYS 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 
 
 LIFE ON THE FOOTPLATE: EVERY BOY’S DREAM OF BLISS 
 
 From Punch by Permission. 
 
 Monday 21st (March) We went over in a Canoe 
 & travell’d up Maryland side all y. Day in a Continued 
 Rain to Coll Cresaps right against y. Mouth of y. 
 South Branch about 40 miles from Polks I believe y. 
 worst Road that ever was trod by Man or Beast. 
 
 —Washington’s Journal, 1747-8. 
 
 HEN I was a small boy, Noah’s Ark was the most cher- 
 
 ished plaything of boys and some girls. 
 
 catisfied until he runs a train 
 of cars, while his sister clings 
 to her dolls—rag, French or 
 talking,—as her parents’ 
 purse can buy. From the 
 days of the deluge to those 
 of George Stephenson (1821) 
 water afforded the easiest 
 form of transportation, and 
 according to some theorists 
 water has’ gridironed the 
 tandsca-p.e cot the Wnited 
 States ever since. 
 
 One hundred years ago 
 there was not a mile of rail- 
 road track on this continent, 
 
 Today no boy is 
 
 
 
 THE FIRST CAR ON RAILS 
 
 Note the car on wheels and rails in the 
 background 
 
 From German Print of 1550 
 
2 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 and little more on any other continent, for that matter. Now 
 there are over 400,000 miles of track in the United States 
 alone. 
 
 When George Washington anticipated the advice of 
 Horace Greeley, “Go West, young man,” he had to play the 
 part of baggage car for his only change of clothing, and many 
 a night he went to sleep with nothing above him but the 
 watchful stars—and the voices of the night were not too 
 friendly in those untrodden wilds. 
 
 Washington visited the site of Pittsburgh in 1753, 1755 
 and 1770, but his prophetic vision could not anticipate how 
 its destiny was to depend on 
 the rail, and not on the merg- 
 ing of the Monongahela ana 
 Alleghany rivers into the 
 Ohio. The site he chose for 
 a fort has become the second 
 railway center in the world. 
 
 EARLY HORSE RAILWAY IN In 1774 the government sold 
 
 GERMANY : = 
 
 feud.“ Uhis'was atcuiy wife wenec Sore 
 
 a ity Sof Pittsbureh sabe tee 
 pounds per one hundred acres,” or 50 cents an acre. The first 
 mail route by horseback between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia 
 was established in 1786. ‘To the student, whether of ten years 
 or eighty, it is hard to visualize a map of the United States 
 without the tracery of lines that signify, railroads from East-— 
 port, way up on the borders of Maine, to San Diego, way down 
 on the Pacific coast of California. 
 
 
 
 The schoolboy who draws an outline map of the republic 
 showing its lakes, rivers and mountains can get a glimpse of 
 the prospect of transportation and settlement upon which 
 Daniel Bocne and other early pioneers looked with fearless 
 eyes. The maps of the early twenties scarcely indicated the 
 post roads between the chief cities. The colonial conquest 
 of America had followed Indian trails, and the opposing 
 armies of the Revolution marched to meet each other mostly 
 by paths and turnpike roads. 
 
INTRODUCTORY 3 
 
 Navigable streams were unbridged, and Washington 
 crossing the Delaware in a scow in a snow storm, as pictured, 
 illustrated the dangers that attended land transportation along 
 the coast in those days. 
 Tf the ocean was the high- 
 way of nations in pre-railroad 
 days, the bays, estuaries, 
 lakes and rivers were their 
 byways. Until Watt invented 
 the steam engine and Fulton 
 hitched it to a flat boat with 
 side wheels, navigation had 
 made but slow progress from 
 the days when Columbus 
 crossed the uncharted sea |THE LADY AND THE LOAFER 
 with his three caravels. The freight’ traf joes ee 
 
 : and heavy end of the pole. 
 
 three-decker men-of-war, with 
 
 which Nelson checkmated Napoleon at Trafalgar and changed 
 the course of empire, were picturesque but cumbersome 
 things; and the passage of clipper ships across the Atlantic 
 was a matter of weeks where it is now one of days. It all 
 depended on how the seas ran 
 and the winds blew. 
 
 The settlement of Amer- 
 ica was at first restricted to 
 boatloads that landed fewer 
 fugitives, dissenters and ad- 
 venturers in a year than a 
 single immigrant steamer 
 brings now in one trip. 
 
 It was steam that made 
 the navigable waters of Amer- 
 ica really available for transportation, just as it was the steam 
 railroad that later was to return the long reaches of these 
 waters to the hoot of the lonely loon and the guardianship 
 of the watchful kingfisher. 
 
 In the early days of the 19th century men and mes- 
 sages took from two weeks to a month to cross the Atlantic. 
 
 
 
 
 
 FAST FREIGHT—AN INDIAN POLE 
 DRAG 
 
4 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 The amazing story of the conversion of this continent 
 from the paralysis of “magnificent distances” to the accessible 
 civilization of 48 states in one indissoluble Union is told in 
 this Short History of American Railways. This history will not 
 attempt to be exhaustive. It will only seek to give in outline the 
 part played by the railways in making this continent the hive of 
 the busiest civilization. It will touch on the high spots of the 
 transportation industry, leaving the details to the students of par- 
 ticular periods that mark its progress from Baltimore to farthest 
 Alaska. The romance of railways is engrossing, its reality 
 is more wonderful. The romance of railway expansion was 
 pretty nearly regulated out of 
 railways when the fixing of 
 rates was vested in the Inter- 
 state Commerce Commission 
 by the enactment of the Act 
 to Regulate Commerce. 
 
 The writing of this history 
 was easy where it dealt with 
 the amazing development of 
 
 Be OL Tn te sete ta aye oO Oee tLe reer 
 
 tramways, inclined planes and 
 stationary engines to the days when its vastness invited the 
 regulating hand of government. When the great void 
 spaces of the continent had been explored, surveyed and 
 largely gridironed with railway facilities, a change came 
 over the relations cf the public, the carriers and their em- 
 ployes, so that the writer has had to deal with controversial 
 subjects rather than the orderly narrative of the development 
 of the world’s greatest transportation achievement. Up to 
 the opening of this century he has felt the pleasure of his- 
 torical composition, the enthusiasm of seeing a mighty sub- 
 ject expand through its own momentum. Since 1900 the story 
 has been a struggle to hold a straight and sane course through 
 the whirling waters of Niagara with rocks and shallows on 
 either hand. The result can scarcely satisfy either side—any 
 more than a Daniel could reconcile the animosities of the 
 Montagues and the Capulets. 
 
 
 
INTRODUCTORY = 
 
 
 
 Some day carriers and employes will recognize that co- 
 operation in service to the public is the first essential to suc- 
 cessful railway operation. When that day comes both will 
 
 
 
 1825-1924 
 PHOTOGRAPH OF EARLIEST AND LATEST ENGLISH LOCOMOTIVE 
 Courtesy Railway Gazette—London, 
 
 unite to celebrate the conquest of a continent by men always 
 looking forward. 
 
 The illustrations, which tell a coincident story of the con- 
 quest of a continent, are not always in immediate connecticn 
 
 with the text, which does not always lend itself to pictorial aid. 
 Sal. 
 
A SHORT HISTORY OF AMERICAN 
 RAILWAYS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 BEFORE THE IRON HORSE CAME. 
 
 pies are three ways of transportation known to man, 
 yea, four—namely, highways, waterways, railways and 
 airways. Highways, with their 
 variants of byways, paths, 
 trails, roads and streets, have 
 been known to man from the 
 dawn of time. They were 
 first footworn across plain 
 and mountain ridge by the 
 passing “tread of pioneers of 
 nations. yet to be.” Only as 
 
 il ‘civilization wound its inter- 
 HI minable way through the 
 . slow-moving ages did man 
 Perfector of first practical steam begin to build roads to con- 
 
 
 
 JAMES WATT, 1736-1819 
 
 ye are nect hamlets, towns and cit- 
 
 ies with improved means for the movement of his accumula- 
 tion of goods and chattels. Passengers for centuries made 
 their journeys on horses, mules, camels and even elephants. 
 The walls of all times abound with the pictorial ‘history of 
 transportation, from the rudest sledge to the mightiest Mallet 
 engine of today. The ox-cart, with wheels made from the 
 cross-section of trees, anticipated the two-wheeled chariots 
 with which the ancients raced or made war. 
 
 For the transportation of what Julius Caesar grandilo- 
 quently called his impedimenta, the Romans built those time- 
 defying roadways whose foundations are to be traced all over 
 Europe, even to the far extremities of Great Britain. 
 
BEFORE THE IRON HORSE CAME 7 
 
 The evolution from primitive two-wheeled carts to the 
 imposing stage coach of the 17th century was _ snail-like, 
 apparently waiting on the development of the turnpike high- 
 way which eventually admitted of a journey of 400 miles 
 from London to Edinburgh in 40 hours, including all stops. 
 It is recorded that it took 400 horses—one horse per mile— 
 in relays, to accomplish this extraordinary feat. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 HOW OUR ANCESTORS TRAVELLED AND WHERE THEY FOUND “ENTER- 
 TAINMENT FOR MAN AND BEAST! BEFORE THE RAILWAYS CAME 
 
 “Until the close of the last century,” says Dionysius 
 Lardner in his “Railway Economy; a treatise on the New 
 Art of Transport,’ London, 1850, “the internal transport of 
 goods in England was performed by waggon, and was not 
 only intolerably slow, but so expensive as to exclude every 
 object except manufactured articles, and such as being of 
 light weight and small bulk in proportion to their value, 
 would allow of a high rate of transport. Thus the charge 
 for carriage by waggon from London to Leeds was at the 
 rate of £13 a ton, or 13%4d. (27 cents) per ton mile. Between 
 Liverpool and Manchester it was forty shillings a ton, or 
 15d. (30 cents) per ton mile.” 
 
8 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 In America the first stage coach was run between New 
 York City and Boston in 1782, “probably not regularly and 
 not long continued,” says the narrative. In 1756, however, 
 there was one stage running between New York City and 
 Philadelphia, distance 90 miles, time three days. By 1811 
 there were four coaches each way on this line. The express 
 (or “expedition”) coach made the run in 12 hours, fare $8.00; 
 the “Diligence’;made it in 26 hours, fare. S050 -sthes Accom. 
 modation,” stopping over night at New Brunswick, fare $4.50, 
 and the “Mail Coach,” traveling all night, time 17 hours. The 
 historian adds, “At this time the coaches were poorly con- 
 structed for eight or ten passengers, each being allowed 14 
 pounds of luggage free. In later years the stage coach was 
 improved, but was never agreeable, as the roads were always 
 bad, except in the finest weather.” 
 
 This highway was a part of the road General Washington 
 took on his memorable journey from Mount Vernon to New 
 York, whither he went to take the oath of office as first Presi- 
 dent of the United States on April 30th, 1789. 
 
 Some idea of what long distance travel in the United States 
 of 1807 was may be gained from the account of Aaron Burr’s 
 journey on horseback under arrest from Fort Stoddard to 
 Washington, a distance of about one thousand miles. “For 
 days torrential rains fell; streams were swollen; the soil was 
 a quagmire. For hundreds of miles the only road was an 
 Indian trail; wolves filled the forest; savage Indians were 
 all about. At night the party, drenched and chilled, slept on 
 the sodden earth.” 
 
 It was under similar conditions that earlier in the history 
 of this continent Washington had crossed the Alleghenies 
 and with the eye of a seer surveyed the undulating valleys 
 of the Ohio that only needed practical transportation to be- 
 come the Eden of the West. But his vision of the future 
 only comprehended the possibility of the realization of that 
 vision by means of hard wagon roads and waterways. 
 
 According to Mackenzie’s “Historical, Topographical and 
 Descriptive View of the United States of America, Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne, 1819,” in 1816 there were two great post roads in 
 
BEePORiE 17 1RON@-HORSE CAME 9 
 
 the country, “(1) That which extends from Robinstown, on 
 the north-eastern extremity of the coast of the United States, 
 to St. Mary’s on-the south-eastern extremity; and (2) The 
 road which extends from Washington to New Orleans. The 
 length of the first is 1733, that of the second, 1233 miles.” 
 
 On these roads the mail traveled at the rate of from 60 to 
 120 miles a day; “on the cross roads its progress is about 40 
 miles in the same time.” 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie adds: “The following regulations con- 
 cerning this establishment (the general post office at Wash- 
 ington) were adopted by an Act of the American Congress 
 on the 9th of April, 1816: 
 
 Miles Cents 
 
 Ratesvor ostace, letter, of one sheet) vo 04i00 2. oS 30 6 
 wiatestOir Ostage etter. of one sects cl aera ss x hs Joe 80 10 
 ates o., -ostace “letter. of one sheet... i ei ce Ges 150 12% 
 Pte Ot Osta vemler er ORrOne GieCbs cle ig v1s.c0)¢ se-e.t ebd 406 1814 
 Pee Fat pecs ol TEM Se See rok 8 hee oe har sg cleat occa ec wn 6, suman am ace, basso ale 25 
 
 Double letter, the double of these rates. 
 Triple letter, the triple. 
 
 “The yearly transportation of the mail in stages amounts 
 to 2,411,760 miles; ditto in sulkies and on horseback, 3,180,892 
 miles. Total, 5,592,652 miles. Averaging one office to fifteen 
 miles and a half of post roads.” 
 
 The accompanying cut of an American Stage Wagon is 
 from an engraving in Mr. Mackenzie’s rare and intensely 
 interesting “View of the United States of America” slightly 
 over a century ago. 
 
 The Era of Waterways 
 
 From the date of the earliest history, told in rude draw- 
 ings on stone, man has utilized water to transport himself 
 and chattels, including for many ages his many wives, chil- 
 dren and herds, from place to place. He began by mastering 
 his equilibrium on a floating log. He quickly learned to fasten 
 two logs together with vines. This gave him the first form of 
 a raft, such as boys construct for the navigation of neighbor- 
 ing ponds and creeks to this day. 
 
10 HISTORY .OF AMERICAN *RAILWAYS. 
 
 As soon as man provided himself with a stone hatchet, he 
 conceived the idea of scooping out a hollow log into a canoe. 
 He probably got this idea from seeing the half of a cocoanut 
 shell or gourd or even a clam shell floating in water where 
 it would sink if overturned. Anyhow, from the rudest sort 
 of a savage dugout was evolved every form of boat that floats 
 on lake, ocean or waterway today. It took centuries to con- 
 vince man that boats could be built of iron or steel as well 
 as wood. But the lesson once demonstrated, the wooden 
 vessel as an ocean carrier has been almost driven on the shores 
 of oblivion. 
 
 The story of the great Deluge affords us the first more or 
 less authentic account of the building of the original ocean 
 freighter or tramp. The specifications of that historic sea 
 going menagerie are worthy the study of every child and 
 grown person. It was to be constructed of gopher wood, 
 divided into many rooms to 
 accommodate all manner of 
 living things. It was to be 
 “pitched within and without 
 with pitch,’ and this is the 
 fashion after which it was to 
 be built; in length 300 cubits, 
 in breadth fifty cubits and in 
 height thirty cubits. As a 
 cubituis’ the sleneth Miromed 
 man’s elbow to the end of his middle finger, a fair notion of 
 the dimensions of this first marine monster can be had. 
 For easy reckoning, the Hebrew cubit has been accepted 
 as 22 inches, which would indicate that Noah’s ark was 
 about 550 feet long, or some 140 feet shorter than the 
 Great Eastern: or most of our modern leviathans.. [he 
 Ark, however, had greater width of beam and depth of 
 hold. Having no machinery, it was therefore of greater 
 carrying capacity than any of our great ocean tramps. 
 The Ark was a three-decker, but was scantily  fur- 
 nished in the matter of windows and doors. Neither was 
 there any artificial ventilation. There was no lack of fresh 
 
 
 
 EARLY RAFT ON THE MISSISSIPPI 
 
BeMOR Pett lO N. 21 OiS baie 11 
 
 water for lavatory and drinking purposes. The crew and 
 animal attendants had only to “Dip it up.” 
 
 For the forty-day voyage for which it was designed, the 
 event established its sea going efficiency. As the flood re- 
 ceded, instead of sinking to rest in the soft ooze of some 
 ferifiewvalleyamear sbacdads sit went asnore. on, the top of 
 Mount Ararat, some 17,112 feet above sea level, which gives 
 a faint notion of the freshet necessary to destroy every living 
 thing from the face of the earth except those with Noah 
 in the Ark. When the waters subsided, the Ark occupied 
 the highest dry dock in the history of maritime adventure. 
 
 Coming down from the days of Noah some two thousand 
 and odd years B. C., there was a slow evolution of water 
 carriage by different types of raft and boats with poles, oars 
 and sails for motor power. Tyre and Sidon, on the sea 
 coast of Palestine, were the ports from which the trade of 
 Western Asia sought an outlet to the cities of Europe on the 
 Mediterranean Sea seven hundred years before Christ. 
 
 It is claimed that Phoenician sailors rounded the Cape of 
 Good Hope fully 2,000 years before Vasca di Gama discovered 
 that India could be reached by way of that bold promontory 
 at the extreme south end of Africa. This discovery placed 
 it on the route of one of the great ocean highways of the 
 world. It was to shorten this route to India that the Suez 
 Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and Red Sea, was begun 
 in 1858 and finished in 1869. 
 
 The story of the gradual development of transportation 
 by water from galleys, with twenty-two slaves tugging at 
 oars on either side, to the great square-rigged ships that 
 studded every ocean before steam came to take the wind out 
 of their sails, is one of fascinating adventure and romance. 
 The greatest adventure of them all was the one that brought 
 immortal fame to the great Genoese sailor and opened ‘this 
 continent to the freedom-seeking colonists of Europe. What 
 
 land-bred American has not thrilled with the compelling lines 
 of Joaquin Miller on Columbus, beginning with: 
 
12 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 Behind him lay the gray Azores, 
 Behind the Gates of Hercules. 
 Before him not the ghost of shores, 
 Before him only shoreless seas. 
 
 And ending: 
 
 Then pale and worn he paced the dec 
 
 And peered through darkness. Ah, that night 
 Of all dark nights! And then a speck— 
 
 A light! A light! At last a light! 
 
 It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! 
 It grew to be Time’s burst of dawn. 
 
 He gained a world; he gave that world 
 Its grandest lesson: “On! Sail on!” 
 
 It was the voyage in search of another sea route to India 
 that paved the way for the Mayflower and the countless 
 flotillas of sailing vessels that quickly established an ocean 
 highway between Europe and America. Columbus was sev- 
 enty days making the voyage from Spain to the Bahamas; 
 the Mayflower had a stormy passage of sixty-three days from 
 Plymouth to Cape Cod, and the tiny Half Moon made a round 
 about trip in search of the Northwest passage that took 
 Hudson 151 days from Amsterdam to New York, at the mouth 
 of the river that bears his name to this day. 
 
 Artificial Waterways 
 
 Thus far we have been considering the development of 
 transportation over the natural waterways of the earth, of 
 which the oceans and the seven seas rank first, followed by 
 the great lakes, estuaries and rivers. But man quickly 
 rebelled against the obstructions that nature interposed 
 between his chosen waterways. So, as early as thirteen cen- 
 turies before Christ, Sisostris cut canals for transporting 
 merchandise running at right angles with the Nile as far as 
 Memphis to the sea. Various attempts were.made by Roman 
 emperors to cut a canal across the isthmus at Corinth. China 
 had a canal nearly 700 miles long from Hang-choo-foo to 
 Yan-kiang river in the 13th century. 7 
 
Ber wit Pv iON, HORSE. CAME i3 
 
 
 
 In Great Britain the earliest canal was one 36 miles long, 
 10 feet deep and 66 feet wide, from Leeds to Goole. A canal 
 mania struck the United Kingdom toward the close of the 
 18th century—the longest being a shallow ditch four feet deep 
 from Leeds to Liverpool, a distance of 127 miles. A projected 
 canal to join Stockton and Darlington was nipped in the bud 
 by the survey and construction of the pioneer railway between 
 those two historic points. Ireland had two canals six feet 
 
 
 
 LOCK AT LOCKPORT ON .THE ERIE CANAL—1826 
 
 deep, one from Dublin to the green banks of the Shannon, 
 89 miles, and the other from Dublin to Cloondara, both of 
 which are wet to this day. The Cloondara canal was dug in 
 such leisurely fashion that it took 33 years to complete it. 
 The canal mania did not extend to the United States until the 
 second decade of the 19th century, although a short canal 
 named the Middlesex, connecting Boston and the Concord 
 river, was constructed in 1804. 
 
 The Erie canal, begun in 1817 and opened from Albany to 
 Buffalo, 352 miles, in 1825, was the first and most ambitious 
 attempt to solve the growing transportation needs of the 
 United States by an artificial waterway. Between eight and 
 nine million dollars were spent in its construction; but, though 
 
14 HISTORY ORSAMIERI GAN Sent iaa 
 
 40 feet wide at the top, it was so shallow—only four feet 
 deep—that it was contemptuously referred to as “the longest 
 and most expensive gutter in the world.” 
 
 It is interesting to recall that three fast-walking horses 
 could draw a canal boat four miles an hour on its placid bosom, 
 and it is recorded that “at the end of the fourth day from 
 Schenectady the jaded traveler reached Buffalo.” Where it 
 had previously cost $5 and taken 30 days to ship 100 Ibs. from 
 Philadelphia to Columbus, Ohio, after the Erie Canal was 
 opened the time was reduced to 20 days and the cost to $2.50. 
 During the first seven years after its completion the business 
 of the Erie canal doubled and the rejoicings over its prospects 
 seemed justified. The echo of the steam whistle had not yet 
 been heard reverberating along the banks of the mighty 
 Mohawk. Other canals opened about this time were the: 
 
 Oswego—Oswego to Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 Cayuga and Seneca—Geneva to Montezuma, N. Y. 
 
 Black River—Rome to Carthage, N. Y. 
 
 Champlain—Waterford to Whitehall, N. Y. d 
 
 Delaware and Hudson—Rondout, N. Y., to Honesdale, Pa. (108 miles). 
 Morris—Jersey City to Phillipsburg, N: J. (102 miles). 
 Lehigh—Easton to Coalport, Pa. * 
 
 Lehigh Delaware Division—Easton to Bristol, Pa. 
 Pennsylvania—Columbia to Wilkesbarre, Pa. (144 miles). 
 Pennsylvania. West Branch Division (35 miles). 
 
 Pennsylvania Juniata Division (14 miles). 
 
 Susquehanna & Tidewater—Susquehanna, Pa., to Havre de Grace, Md. 
 Chesapeake & Ohio—Georgetown to Cumberland, Md. (184 miles). 
 Dismal Swamp—Elizabeth river to Pasquotonk, N. C. 
 Ohio—Cleveland to Portsmouth, O. (308 miles). 
 
 Ohio Hocking Branch. 
 
 Ohio Walholding Branch. 
 
 Miami & Erie—Cincinnati to Toledo, O. (264 miles). 
 
 Illinois & Michigan—Chicago to Illinois river (97 miles). 
 
 All these canals were projected, built and opened between 
 the years 1817 and 1849, except the Dismal Swamp, which 
 was begun in 1787 and opened in 1794, a remarkably quick 
 job, as canal digging went in those days. The purpose of 
 this canal was not to drain the Swamp, but to allow small 
 
BPEBORE THE JRON= HORSE CAME 15 
 
 
 
 schooners with a draft of less than five feet to bags from Ches- 
 _apeake bay to Albemarle sound. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that, with one exception, all these 
 early canal ventures were in the eastern section of the original 
 territory of the United states. 
 
 The life of the average canal mule was said to be the same 
 as that of a modern freight car, twenty-five years. He was 
 held to be serviceable as long as he had a good pair of heels. 
 
 The Middlesex, of which mention has been made, was 
 really the first canal in the United States designed to facilitate 
 general passenger and freight business. It was 31 miles long, 
 24 feet wide and 4 feet deep. A packet boat plied regularly 
 between Boston and Lowell, taking nearly a day for the jour- 
 ney. Ihe first boat voyage to Concord, N. H., was made 
 in 1819. This embryo canal, having served its purpose well, 
 was disused in 1851. 
 
 Throughout his life George Washington was an ardent 
 believer in canals to connect the great American waterways. 
 He was especially interested in the project of a canal to link 
 up Georgetown on the Potomac to Cumberland at the base of 
 the Alleghenies. Something like $15,000,000, first and last, 
 was expended on this one enterprise. Among other early 
 canal projects favored by Washington were the Potomac & 
 Ohio, the James & Ohio and the Mohawk & Great Lakes con- 
 nections—all, it will be perceived, designed to carry out his 
 heart’s dream of tightening the bonds between the coast 
 cities and the great plains of the West. 
 
 The birch canoe of the American Indian is the most buoy- 
 ant and tottlish mode of water transport known to man. In 
 Shape it is a thing of beauty, and with a light load of two 
 persons seems to ride upon the surface of the water, and yet 
 it is so constructed, wide and flat in the center, tapering to 
 both ends, that it will carry extraordinarily heavy loads. 
 Although both ends are exactly alike, through the perversity 
 of inanimate things the steersman by choice invariably takes 
 the same end. The typical Indian canoe has no seats—just 
 bars—the center bar being used to lift and carry the inverted 
 canoe by a single person. 
 
16 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The toboggan, with teams of dogs or hauled by the proud 
 brave or patient squaw, was the typical winter means of 
 transport of the American Indians. The snowshoe served to 
 carry the hunter, but little else when the snow was deep 
 and heavy. 
 
 When the white man began to supplant the Indian along 
 the magnificent water stretches of America, he quickly substi- 
 tuted poles, oars and sails for paddles; and batteaux, skiffs, 
 flatboats and keel boats for canoes, as means of water trans- 
 port. With the current, there was no limit to the loads they 
 could carry any distance so long as time was not to be con- 
 sidered. What if it did take 90 days from Pittsburgh to 
 New Orleans, it was a deliberate age and there was always 
 adventure along the way. Before the river steamer came to 
 disturb the serenity of the scenery, passengers and crew had 
 plenty of time to reflect on how they were to get back. Until 
 the steamer came it was cheaper to sell the barges than to 
 push, pole or row them against the relentless currents. 
 
 In considering the pre-steamer condition of transportation 
 in America it is well to remember the difference in the freight 
 charge between descending and ascending navigation. In 1814 
 it was stated “the freight on a barrel of produce or merchandise 
 from Louisville to New Orleans, a distance of 1,545 miles, was 
 $1.50, but to come up from New Orleans to Louisville it was 
 $4.50 a hundred weight, or $9 a barrel. The latter figure is 
 at the rate of 5.8 cents per ton mile where the former is about 
 1 cent per ton mile. The up river rate could be paid only by 
 expensive merchandise. The rivers or natural waterways of 
 this continent before the coming of steam were practically 
 “one-way” highways for the transport of the traffic that within 
 a century was to exceed that of all the rest of the world. 
 
 The Coming of Steam Power 
 
 But across the water which the fastest sailing vessel ever 
 built took nearly two weeks to cross, the inventive genius of 
 man was experimenting with the expansive power guaranteed 
 through the combination of fire and water. For generations 
 and centuries man had watched the struggle of boiling water 
 to escape confinement in any kind of a pot or kettle. What 
 
Bene tHe. IRON HORSE CAME i7? 
 
 boy has not heard the spirit of steam singing and puffing in 
 the kettle on the hearth or, more likely, the kitchen .stove? 
 The power of steam to impart motion was known to the 
 ancients, but its application was scarcely thought of until 
 some-time about the end of the 17th century. In 1705 a 
 blacksmith of Dartmouth, England, patented a contrivance 
 which worked by steam to pump water from mines. 
 
 In 1776, when the United 
 States of America took its 
 place among the progressive 
 nations ~.ot.twe earth; the 
 world was still waiting for the 
 coming of steam as the mo- 
 tive power that was to make 
 man independent of the prim- 
 itive means of transport that 
 had made little progress 
 “since the days beyond the 
 flood.” The railway waited 
 on the coming of steam to 
 
 
 
 emancipate man and mer- 
 
 NEWCOMEN’S ENGINE—1705 chandise from the tyranny of 
 
 This invention used the “‘beam’’ for the : : : t; 
 first time in pumping engines and held time, wind and tide. Know 
 
 its own until Watt started his additions, i San 0 
 betterments and improvements, twenty Ing the power of steam, if 1s 
 
 pga aE eed one of the mysteries of the 
 ages how centuries went by before man made any practical 
 use of that knowledge to harness it to do his will. | 
 
 But toward the close of the 18th century it appears that 
 the time was ripe for the utilization of steam. Scores of 
 individuals in England and on the continent were busy in- 
 venting steam engines. For the most part they were clumsy 
 and inffective machines. Not until Thomas Newcomen em- 
 ployed a steam cylinder and piston rod acting on a working 
 beam, the opposite end of which operated a pump, was the 
 first steam engine, properly so named, constructed. New- 
 comen took out a patent on his invention without moving 
 parts in 1705 and in 1723 set up an engine for drawing water. 
 
18 HISTORY OF. AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 " WATPS EXPERIMENF 
 
 MODEL OF WATT’S PARLIEST 
 STEAM ENGINE—1769 
 
 
 
 In 1729 he died without hav- 
 ing made any practical pro- 
 gress with his epoch-making 
 discovery. 
 
 James Watt, who was to 
 take Newcomen’s device and 
 develop it into the greatest 
 force of modern civilization, 
 was not born until 1736.- He 
 was a mathematical instru- 
 ment maker at the University 
 of Glasgow when he was 
 
 called on to repair a model of one of Newcomen’s machines. 
 Out of that chance meeting of the man and the opportunity 
 came the improvements that in 1774 resulted in the modern 
 
 “reciprocating” engine. 
 alteration after” another, so 
 quickly that nothing was left 
 of the original Newcomen en- 
 Pine bute thewpare Idearc 
 
 applied the principle of keep-~. 
 
 ing the cylinder, if possible, 
 as Vhot cas-ithe ’steam- ‘that 
 enters. it,.tnevisteam 1 jacket 
 air pump, and “separate con- 
 denser --e tne double acting 
 engine with steam admitted 
 at both ends of the cylin- 
 der, producing the push and 
 pull on the piston rod; the 
 rigid connection between the 
 piston and the crank shaft, 
 the fly wheel—in fact all the 
 attachments that were to 
 adapt the steam engine to 
 multifarious uses of mills, 
 locomotives, steamships and 
 factories. Watt also obtained 
 
 Watt designed) one ‘addition and 
 
 
 
 WATT’S SUCCESSFUL STEAM 
 ENGINE—1774 
 Note the resemblance to and departure 
 from Newcomen’s engine 
 
BEFORE! OESIRONT HORS EeGAME 19 
 
 a patent for a rotary steam engine. He made experiments 
 with locomotives, but their successful construction was left for 
 the genius of Richard Trevithick, who perfected a high-pres- 
 sure steam engine—the principle which Watt disapproved— 
 and finally put the first practical locomotive with flange 
 wheels on iron rails. While earlier inventors were perfecting 
 separate features of the steam engine, Watt’s was the genius 
 that was to assemble what had been invented into the prac- 
 tical machine which, yoked up first with boats and ships and 
 then with cars on rails was to revolutionize the transportation 
 of the world. 
 
 So the power that was to 
 provide carriage for man and 
 his belongings with speed and 
 strength beyond the most ex- 
 travagant dreams of the 18th 
 century was born. Once mas- 
 tered, the force of steam was 
 applied with amazing energy 
 and success. How the con- 
 tagion of invention spread may 
 be condensed from the record: 
 
 
 
 FULTON S SKETCH OF THE 
 “CLERMONT” 
 
 Steam carriage for roads built 
 in France in 1769. 
 
 Jonathan Hornblower patented an engine with two cylinders in 
 1781. 
 
 Watt invented a double acting engine in 1782. 
 
 Phineas Crowther built an engine with a fly-wheel above the 
 piston and no beam in 1800. 
 
 America entered the lists in the same year, when Oliver Evans 
 introduced the high pressure engine. 
 
 The Reverend Edward Cartwright took out a patent for a portable 
 engine in England in 1801. Here we are getting down to the days 
 that presaged the coming of the modern locomotive. 
 
 In 1802 Trevithick and Vivian of England patented a high pressure 
 engine. Mark that name, Trevithick, as one inseparable from the 
 early history of the locomotives, preceding that of Stephenson in point 
 of time, but not in the fame that attaches to demonstrated success. 
 
 The first practical steamboat, the tug Charlotte Dundas, was built by 
 William Symington and tried on the Forth and Clyde Canal in March, 
 1802. 
 
20 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Robert Fulton, with the assistance of Chancellor Livingston, United 
 States ambassador to France, built a steam paddle boat 60 feet long which 
 was tried on the Seine August 9, 1803. 
 
 First railway locomotive built by Trevithick in 1804. 
 
 Then George Stephenson took the center of the transportation 
 stage with “The Rocket” in the ever-memorable year in railway 
 annals, 1829. 
 
 With the entrance of Stephenson, 
 the era of experiment gave place 
 to that of demonstration. 
 
 The Rival Inventors 
 
 No story of the begining of 
 the railway era can omit a 
 passing tribute to Richard 
 Trevithick and George Steph- 
 enson. It is possible that 
 other men who were their 
 contemporaries might have 
 had as sound ideas of the 
 application of steam to loco- 
 motion as these two; there is 
 
 
 
 ROBERT FULTON—1765-1815 a replica of a model of a road 
 Father of Steamboat Navigation in the , ; A 
 United States locomotive in the South 
 
 From. a pamting by himselr”- Kensington Museum. said: to 
 have been built by William Murdock in 1784, but none of the 
 previous inventors had the good fortune to link their ideas 
 to the practical device that was to rob distance of its terrors 
 and bring the uttermost parts of five continents into compara- 
 tively easy communication. 
 
 Trevithick was the son of a Cornish mining engineer, born 
 at Illogan in April, 1771, when the whole engineering world 
 was experimenting with its new found power. Succeeding to 
 his father’s profession, his first invention was naturally an 
 improved steam pump which came into universal use in deep 
 mine pumping. He next perfected a high pressure engine and 
 began experimenting in locomotive engines. Passengers were 
 first conveyed by steam by his road locomotives in 1801 and 
 he was not long in successfully working out a steam road 
 locomotive. In fact, Trevithick first adopted the rails upon 
 
BEBGRES THE ARON ~ HORSE CAME gl 
 
 
 
 
 
 which Stephenson developed 
 his inventions that were to 
 revolutionize transportation. 
 He was one of the first to 
 recognize the value of iron in 
 shipbuilding, and in many 
 ways demonstratedithe posses- 
 sion of true inventive genius. 
 But Trevithick was of a rov- 
 ing nature and profited little 
 from his numerous 
 tions,dying, as so many in- 
 ventors do, poor. But his 
 fame is secure. 
 
 inven- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 RICHARD TREVITHICK—1771-1833 
 Inventor of the first locomotive 
 
 George Stephenson was born to a different fate. Fortune 
 smiled upon him from his birth, near Newcastle, June 9, 1781. 
 The ten years that separated him from Trevithick gave him 
 the tremendous advantage of coming upon the stage when 
 the experiments that ushered in the 19th century were ripen- 
 
 
 
 TREVITHICK’S MODEL 
 LOCOMOTIVE 
 
 ing into practical results. In- 
 stead of being born with a 
 silver spoon in his mouth, 
 Stephenson was born to an 
 opportunity such as can never 
 again play Fortunatus to a 
 young and aspiring man. He 
 had his apprenticeship as as- 
 sistant fireman and brakeman 
 in a colliery, and was made 
 engineman: before “he, was 
 twenty-one. In 1808 he took 
 a contract to operate engines, 
 and by 1812 was construct- 
 ing them. . 
 
 During this time Stephen- 
 son was a close student of the 
 progress that was being made 
 
ee HIST ORY “OP RAM PICA hie 
 
 to apply steam power to locomotives, and devoted all his spare 
 hours to working out the principle ina practical way. He was 
 fortunate in obtaining the financial assistance that enabled 
 him to construct a locomotive which was run on the colliery 
 tramway on July 25, 1814, and drew eight wagons at the rate 
 of four miles an hour. In passing, this may be compared with 
 
 
 
 TREVITHICK’S GATESHEAD 
 MODEL—1804 
 
 the giant locomotive of today 
 drawing a train of 100 cars, 
 each capable of stowing away 
 the eight wagons of Stephen- 
 son’s successful invention. 
 Stephenson next invented, 
 or rather adapted, the “steam 
 blast” that enabled him to 
 double the speed of his loco- 
 motive, and the patents he 
 took out in 1815 continue the 
 base for the construction of 
 
 locomotives to this day. He was appointed resident engineer 
 of the Stockton & Darlington line and persuaded its directors 
 
 
 
 
 
 STEPHENSON’S PATENT LOCOMOTIVE 
 From Strickland’s Report on Canals and Rail Roads, 1826. 
 
BEFORE THE [RON HORSE -CAME Ze 
 
 
 
 to substitute steam for horses in its opening on September 
 Rica dtesaay | 
 
 The Stockton & Darlington Railway Act of April 17, 1821, 
 merely provided for the hauling of wagons and other car- 
 riages upon the line “with men or Horses or otherwise.” That 
 “otherwise” opened the door through which George Stephen- 
 son persuaded the company to drive the first train of cars 
 hauled by a steam locomotive in the history of rail transporta- 
 tone On september 26): 13825, theatrial: trip was made with 
 a train consisting of the locomotive “Locomotion” and one 
 coach, with George Stephenson in the coach and his elder 
 brother James driving the engine. On the next day the formal 
 opening took place with as heterogeneous a train as ever took 
 part in one of the greatest events in railway history. It 
 consisted of the following: 
 
 The “Locomotion,” driven by George Stephenson. 
 
 Tender with water and coals. 
 
 Six wagons, loaded with coals, passengers on top of them. 
 One wagon loaded with sacks of flour, passengers among them. 
 One wagon containing the surveyors and engineers. _ 
 
 Coach occupied by the directors and proprietors. 
 
 Six wagons filled with strangers. 
 
 Fourteen wagons packed with workmen and others. 
 
 The weight of this train was estimated at eighty to ninety 
 tons, and, deducting time for delays and two accidents, an 
 average speed of eight miles an hour was attained. The 
 legend records that the coals were distributed among the poor 
 of the neighborhood and the workmen were regaled with 
 victuals and ale. 
 
 The accompanying halftone (p. 25) of “Locomotion,” as 
 locomotive No. 1 en the Stockton & Darlington Railway was 
 named is from a photograph taken in 1875 of the engine as’ re- 
 constructed. It was built in 1825 by Robert Stephenson’ & > 
 Company, and a comparison with the original drawings shows | 
 that it preserves the original form and general appearance, 
 although the wheels are of later pattern. The same engine 
 
24 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 is shown on a preceding page 
 in contrast with a modern 
 English locomotive of 1924. 
 
 This event, however, was 
 quickly overshadowed by the 
 most far-reaching success of 
 Stephenson’s career. He was 
 employed in the construction 
 
 of the Liverpool & Manches- 
 GEORGE STEPHENSON’S “ROCKET” ciao an 
 _FARLY MODEL ter Railway, which in itself 
 was a great engineering feat 
 across a swamp district known as Chat Moss. Here again 
 he persuaded his directors to give his newly constructed 
 engine a chance. They accordingly offered a prize of £500 
 for a locomotive to run ten miles an hour, drawing three 
 times its weight. The trial came off on October 26, 1829, and 
 was won by Stephenson’s 
 ever-famous “Rocket.” 
 
 The boiler of this famous 
 locomotive was cylindrical, 
 40 inches broad and 72 inches 
 long; the cylinders, placed at 
 an angle of, 37 "deorees, were 
 8 inches by 17 inches. There 
 were 25 copper tubes 3 inches |_STEPHENSON’S “PLANET”, 1830 
 E : ; “ The real prototype of early American 
 in diameter, with a heating locomotives, Note the resemblance 
 surface of 138 square feet. a eee es 
 The “Rocket” had a grate area of 6 square feet. The diam- 
 eter of the driving wheels was 56% inches. In working order 
 it weighed 4 tons, 5 cwt., the tender 3 tons, 4 cwt. In the 
 trial competition the tender was taken as part of the load. 
 It attained a speed of 291% miles an hour. 
 
 The award of the prize to the “Rocket” in the Rainhill 
 trials of October 26, 1829, was not received without much 
 adverse comment on the conduct of the judges in changing 
 the conditions during their progress. Before these changes 
 “The Novelty,” entered by Messrs. Braithwaite & Ericsson 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BEFORE THE IRON HORSE CAME 25 
 
 
 
 of London, had demonstrated its superior speed by making 
 “one mile in the incredibly short space of 1 minute and 53 
 seconds,” according to a contemporary observer. On the 
 second day it drew a load three times its own weight at “the 
 rate of 2034 miles an hour,” consuming its own smoke, coke 
 being the fuel used, but was unable to complete the trial 
 
 
 
 LOCOMOTIVE NO. 1, BUILT FOR THE STOCKTON & DARLINGTON 
 RAIEWAY BY ROBERT STEPHENSON & CO. IN 1825 
 
 Though rebuilt more than once, it preserves its original form, only the wheels being 
 of a different pattern 
 
 because of rain “which clogged the railways with mud.” In 
 a subsequent trial one of the feed pipes burst and the tempo- 
 rary repair was “too green” to stand the necessary steam 
 pressure. “The Novelty” weighed only 2 tons 15 cwt., or 
 slightly more than half Stephenson’s “Rocket.” American 
 youth will be interested to know that the junior member of 
 the firm of Braithwaite & Ericsson was no other than John 
 Ericsson, who came to the United States in 1839, in time to 
 build the first Monitor, in 1861, and to revolutionize the con- 
 struction of warships. 
 
 A real novelty entered in the Rainhill trials was Bran- 
 dreth’s horse engine called “Cyclopede,” weighing 3 tons. 
 
26 HISTORY (OF “AMERICAW  RAILY ALS 
 
 
 
 “THE NOVELTY”—BRAITHWAITE & ERICSSON, RIVAL OF 
 STEPHENSON?S# ROCKET? 
 
 The Rainhill award of October 26, 1829, may be said to 
 have ended the experimental stage of the locomotive. 
 
 In the cost of railway construction the British pioneers 
 set a pace which has kept them in the lead ever since. Up 
 to the end of 1835, five years after it was opened, the little 
 Liverpool & Manchester road had cost £1,195,000, or about 
 
 
 
 BRANDETH’S PATENT HORSE POWER ENGINE—1829 
 
BEAORE. CHE. TRON HORSE-“CAME tae 
 
 $187,495 per mile. Much of this was due to the excessive 
 cost of the right of way. The value of railway lands in Eng- 
 land in 1887 was placed at $1,615 per acre. At such a valua- 
 tion the right of way of American railways in 1924 would be 
 something over $5,500,000,000! 
 
 The “Planet,” built by Robert Stephenson & Co. in 1830, 
 was destined to be the type for a long line of practical engines 
 
 
 
 THE “SAVANNAH” 
 First steamship to cross the Atlantic. From drawing by C. B. Hudson under direction 
 
 of Captain J. W. Collins of United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries in 1889. 
 and from the illustration is seen to be a great advance upon 
 its —predecessors-of the ~ Locomotion” type: 
 
 The Coming of Steam to America 
 
 It is now in order to cross the Atlantic and see how the 
 new force in mechanics fared in our land of sparse settle- 
 ments and magnificent distances. Singularly enough, the 
 first steamship to cross the ocean sailed from Savannah. She 
 was named after the city from which she cleared, although 
 built in New York. The “Savannah” sailed on May 20, 1819, 
 and her log records that she sighted Cork, Ireland, on June 18 
 following. She was a hybrid, for sail and steam, 99 feet long, 
 with a 26-foot beam, and registered 350 tons. Her paddle 
 wheels were arranged with a series of joints, so that they 
 
28 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 could be easily detached and hoisted on board, in case of 
 storm. They could be shipped and unshipped in 20 minutes. 
 When the “Savannah” reached the English Channel, she was 
 mistaken for a ship on fire, and a revenue cutter that went to 
 her assistance reported that 
 “this strange ship went faster 
 with bare poles than we could 
 do with all sails set.” 
 
 Dhe Savannah adm 
 staterooms, but a wholesome 
 terror of the two-fold perils 
 of sea and steam kept them 
 unoccupied on her maiden 
 yoyare. = - hem natticanoment 
 was merely significant of the 
 avidity with which American 
 
 OLIVER EVANS—1735-1819 ingenuity seized upon the 
 Inventor of first high pressure engine. invention of Watt to- im- 
 prove transportation conditions in the new world. 
 
 Oliver Evans, who was credited with the invention of the 
 high pressure engine in 1800, came to the front with one of 
 the curiosities of steam locomotion. It was nothing less ambi- 
 tious than an amphibious locomotive. It was provided with 
 four wheels, upon which it traveled by land, and with a paddle 
 wheel in the rear for propul- 
 sion when it reached its na- 
 tive element. Evans aiso con- 
 structed the first steam 
 dredge, consisting of a flat 
 scow equipped with a small 
 engine to work the machinery 
 
 
 
 
 
 for raising the mud. This OLIVER EVANS’ ERUCTOR AM.- 
 
 D 
 dredge was also fitted with EA BOULS Oe 
 
 wheels on which it propelled itself to the Schuylkill river, 
 near which it was built. 
 
 In 1780 Evans built a multitubular boiler in which the 
 water was in the tubes, where in the modern boiler the heat 
 is in the tubes and the water surrounds them. Evans was a 
 
BEFORE THES IRONY HORSE CAME 29 
 
 typical Yankee inventor and. was able to turn his in- 
 ‘genuity to almost any mechanical contrivance that came 
 under his observation. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 = 
 
 FIRST PASSENGER COACH, QUINCY RAILROAD 
 
 ) . 
 
 The coming of the first American railway is generally 
 traced to the construction of a tram road in 1826 from Quincy 
 to Charleston, Massachusetts, to carry stone for the Bunker 
 
 
 
 
 
 PRIMITIVE WOODEN RAILWAY AND CAR WITH DOUBLE FLANGES 
 The artist failed to complete the switch 
 
 Hill monument. It was purely a quarry road, operated by grav- 
 ity and horse power. The horses pulled the cars up hill and 
 rode down. | Another gravity road frequently mentioned in 
 
 the early chronicles of American railways was that built at 
 
30 HISTORY OF AMERICAN ARAILVAALS 
 
 Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania,.in 1827, to convey coal from 
 the mine at Summit down to the Lehigh river. Still another 
 tramway of these pre-railway days was that from Carbondale 
 to Honesdale, some sixteen miles. It was on this last men- 
 tioned road that the “Stourbridge Lion,” the first locomotive 
 used in the United States, imported from England, had its 
 trial trip. Although it weighed only seven tons, it was found 
 too heavy for the primitive 
 tracks of those days. 
 
 These pioneer experiments, 
 however, have to concede pri- 
 macy to the tramway built 
 in Ridley township, Delaware 
 county, Pennsylvania, in 1806 
 
 
 
 FREIGHT TRAIN ON THE QUINCY : 
 LINE—THE FIRST RAILWAY by Thomas Leiper for the 
 
 IN AMERICA, 
 transportation of stone from 
 
 his quarries on Crum Creek to his landing on Ridley Creek, 
 a distance of about one mile. It is thus described in Dr. 
 George Smith’s history of Delaware county, compiled in 1862: 
 
 “The ascents were graded inclined planes, and the super- 
 structure was made of white oak with cross ties and string 
 pieces. The cars or trucks were very similar to those now 
 in use, the wheels being made of cast iron with flanges. The 
 line of the road can still be seen. This railroad was super- 
 seded=by thes eiper ¢Canal, 
 which passed from the upper 
 quarries down Crum Creek to 
 the landing, in 1828, and it 
 was used until 1852, when.it...}f 
 in turn was superseded by the |; 
 present railroad.” 
 
 Although the first locomo- 
 tive of whose trial on Ameri- 
 can rails we have any record, 
 
 
 
 BANK OF THE DELAWARE & HUD- 
 the “Stourbridge Lion” was SON CANAL COMPANY AT 13 WALL 
 
 STREET, NEW YORK IN 1825. 
 not the first locomotive to 
 
 reach these shores, as the following notes furnished the writer 
 by President Loree of the Delaware & Hudson Company 
 
BErOneebieeirON HORSE “CAME asl 
 
 (originally the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company), which 
 built the 16-mile line from Honesdale to Carbondale, testify : 
 “This company sent its agent, Mr. Horatio Allen, to Eng- 
 land in January, 1828, to secure locomotives to work on its 
 gravity railroad from Carbondale to Honesdale, between the 
 inclined planes, of which there were eight. One locomotive, 
 
 re : Sa S 
 
 
 
 GENERAL OFFICES—DELAWARE & HUDSON CANAL CO. IN ALBANY 
 ABOUT 1870 
 
 the ‘America,’ was bought of Stephenson & Company of New- 
 castle, and arrived in New York on the steamship ‘Columbia’ 
 on January 15, 1829. Three locomotives, the ‘Stourbridge 
 Lion,’ the ‘Delaware’ and the ‘Hudson’ were bought of Foster, 
 Rastrick & Company of Stourbridge, about sixteen miles from 
 Birmingham, England. The ‘Stourbridge Lion’ arrived in 
 New York on May 13, 1829.” The two others arrived in Au- 
 gust and September, 1829, but what became of them is not 
 recorded. 
 
 “Both the ‘America’ and the ‘Stourbridge Lion’,” continues 
 Mr. Loree, “were shipped by sloop to Rondout and there 
 unloaded. We have a record of the shipment of the ‘America 
 
e 
 
 
 
 
 
 PHIT.TIP HONE, 1781-1851 
 First President, Delaware & Hudson 
 CanalsCo. 
 
 
 
 Be HISTORY, OP VAMERICAN- “RAILWAYS 
 
 on the Delaware & Hudson 
 Canal, but no further trace of 
 ii, .exceptathat, oaeamimeits 
 cylinders is now in the Smith- 
 sonian Institution at Wash- 
 ateqdeyaen Pot 
 
 Apparently the trial trip 
 of the “Stourbridge Lion” on 
 August 8, 1829, was its last, 
 because the strap rails were 
 too sight to carry its seven 
 tons, where Allen had con- 
 tracted for only three. Allen 
 
 -demonstrated his courage if 
 
 not his discretion by running 
 the. “lion™ across «the; irem= 
 bling trestle’ at the rate of 
 “ten miles an hour amid deaf- 
 
 GENERAL OFFICES OF THE DELAWARE & HUDSON COMPANY IN 
 ALBANY IN 1924 
 Note the word ‘‘Canal’ was dropped from the title in 1899 by act of the legislature 
 
DEPOT IKON. AORSE«GAME 33 
 
 ening cheers,’ but none of the cheering multitude accepted his 
 _ invitation to become immortal by accompanying him. 
 
 ) To the “Stourbridge Lion” belongs the honor of having 
 been the first steam locomotive to run on any American 
 railway. } The cost of these two forerunners of the sixty-odd 
 thousand American locomotives of today, as furnished by Mr. 
 Loree, was as follows: 
 
 “America” od Beis} ees 
 PC Cee. ce eee ete eens $2,581.00 $2,190.63 
 FRIGHPAN Cements heey. ba wate 95.79 26.79 
 EU aci tee ch cmebgn dre uments 2k 8 UR oes os 230.08 93.33 
 Sof Orns eae ae a eee wes 709.65 604.15 
 Commission 1 per cent...... 27.90 Syesed 
 mapense: unloading “7 incase jaa eaie’ py ee ree 
 
 $3,663.30 $2,914.90 
 
 The commission on the purchase of the “Lion” was in- 
 cluded in the price. The grand 
 total bill for the four locomo- 
 tives bought by the Delaware 
 & Hudson Company was 
 $12,515.58, or about one-fifth 
 the cost of an up-to-date mod- 
 ern locomotive. 
 
 Early in 1825 the “Pennsyl- 
 vania Society for the Promo- 
 tion of Internal Improve- 
 ments in the Commonwealth” 
 sent William Strickland, engi- 
 neer, to Europe to collect in- 
 
 
 
 HORATIO ALLEN : : F 
 Engineer sent by the Delaware & Hudson formation relating to the 
 
 Cc to Engl in 1828 . 
 eet construction of canals, roads, 
 
 railways, bridges, steam engines and various industrial arts. 
 Its instructions excluded principles and theories and called 
 for definite plans, drawings, specifications and estimates of 
 cost. His first inquiries were to be directed to railways. And 
 his instructions ended with the injunction, “Locomotive ma- 
 chinery will command your attention and inquiry. This is 
 entirely unknown in the United States and we authorize you 
 
34 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 to procure a model of the most THESE locomotive machine at 
 
 the expense of the Society.” = 
 ma i 
 1 | 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE STOURBRIDGE LION 
 First English locomotive on Delaware & Hudson track 
 (From a drawing.) 
 
 The First Railroad in the United States 
 
 We have now arrived at the time when track and power 
 were to be combined to give America its first railways. [To 
 the Baltimore & Ohio belongs the honor of that historic con- 
 junction of the elements that 
 were to link the distant states - 
 in the Union that was to 
 prove indissoluble. At the 
 ceremony. “for breakin & 
 ground for this road on Julv 
 aeie2s, Charles .Carroll voi 
 Carrollton, then-in his 92d : 
 year, }said: “I consider this MODEL OF FIRST ENGLISH LOCO. 
 
 MOTIVE IMPORTED IN 1829. 
 among the most important 
 acts of my life; second only to that of signing the Declaration 
 of Independence, if even second to that.” He lived to see it 
 completed to the Point of Rocks, 73 miles from Baltimore. 
 
 Originally operated as a horse railroad, the Baltimore & 
 Ohio was the scene of the celebrated contest between a horse 
 drawn car and the experimental locomotive “Tom Thumb” 
 built by Peter Cooper. Unfortunately for the engine, the belt 
 that worked Mr. Cooper’s contrivance for blowing the fire 
 slipped off the drum at a critical stage of the race and before 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BEFORE, THE. IRON. HORSE CAME 35 
 
 
 
 it could be adjusted the old gray horse of the story came in 
 
 -an easy winner. 
 demonstrated its superiority, 
 batrine) accidents,» over. the 
 fleet animal that for ages had 
 been the recognized symbol of 
 speed and power. | The Balti- 
 more & Ohio road was opened 
 for traffic for 14 miles in 1830, 
 the same year that Abraham 
 Lincoln left his mother’s 
 cabin to shift for himself, 
 
 To Colonel Stevens of 
 Hoboken is due the high 
 honor of being the first con- 
 Spicuous American to urge 
 persistently the construction 
 of locomotives on railways for 
 long distance transportation 
 on this continent. 
 discouraged’ him. 
 
 But even so, in this contest the iron horse 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PETER, COOPER 
 
 No successive disappointments daunted or 
 He built and ran a steamboat nine years 
 
 before Fulton built the “Clermont,” and also patented a multi- 
 tubular boiler as early as 1803. Stevens built and operated the 
 
 
 
 PETER COOPER’S “TOM THUMB” 
 
 The first locomotive built by an 
 American 
 
 first engine that ever ran on 
 wooden tracks in the United 
 States. 
 
 As early as 1811, Colonel 
 Stevens had applied to the 
 New Jersey legislature for a 
 railroad charter. Failing in 
 this, he tried to persuade the 
 Erie canal commissioners, just 
 appointed in New York, to 
 build a railway instead of a 
 canal across the state from 
 Albany to Buffalo. But they 
 were wedded to the waterway 
 
SO HISTORY -OF AMERICAN RAIEWAYS 
 
 
 
 project, so once more the persistent colonel turned to the 
 legislature of his own state, which this time, in 1815, 
 granted him a charter, the first of its kind in the New World, 
 
 
 
 THE RACE BETWEEN: A SNS eae PETER COOPER’S TOM THUMB 
 1830. 
 
 to build a railroad to join the Delaware and Raritan rivers, 
 connecting at either end with steamboat lines for Philadel- 
 phia and New York. His road did not materialize for the 
 same reason that held similar schemes in leash—lack of con- 
 fidence, credit and, more to 
 the point; lack of cash, ~din- 
 vestors were still shy of put- 
 ‘ting good money into an en- 
 terprise where the investment 
 was certain and irrevocable 
 but the returns were at least 
 problematical. In those days 
 the necessary funds had to be 
 secured by selling securities 
 at a discount that would be 
 > NOR considered prohibitive today. 
 
 COL. JOHN STEVENS—1749-1838 
 Obtained first charter to build an Amer- Colonel Stevens next di- 
 eupiinde hoes veg rected his attention to Phila- 
 delphia, where, through the aid of some of its business men, 
 in 1823 he secured a charter to build a railroad from Phila- 
 delphia to Columbia, a town on the Susquehanna twenty- 
 seven miles south of Harrisburg. This charter contained 
 several clauses of interest to this day. It was to be in force 
 only ten years, the rails were to cross all pikes and roads on 
 causeways and the company might charge seven cents a ton 
 
 
 
BEPC Rie dite KON HOOKS Eh. CAME 37 
 
 per mile on freight moving westward and half that sum on 
 freight bound east, an evident concession to the difference in 
 grade. The State of Pennsylvania subsequently repealed this 
 charter and itself assumed the burden of building a railroad 
 threugh Lancaster to Columbia. 
 
 In all the histories of those stirring times there is a plenti- 
 ful lack of reliable data as to the cost of railway construction. 
 The Quincy tramway is said 
 to have cost “about $34,000,” 
 or “about” $8,500. per mile. 
 The powerful 7-ton locomo- 
 tive, the “Stourbridge Lion,” 
 built in England, already 
 mentioned, was entered at the 
 Custom House as having cost 
 $4,869.59, “including freight 
 duties and insurance ($2,-. 
 914.90, according to Mr. 
 Bercemrstpra )..- ana 4 eter 
 Cooper’s “Tom Thumb” was 
 said to have cost about $2,000 
 to build. 
 
 A few things about those SAILING CAR, TESTED ON THE 
 
 
 
 primitive railroads are of in- NS eee age ga 
 terest. Colonel Stevens had From Brown's History 
 
 to lay a circular track to demonstrate that a locomotive 
 could haul a train around curves; the first rails were long 
 wooden stringers protected on the top from the wear of the 
 wheels by strap iron nailed on, and the locomotives, weighing 
 only a few tons, gave more promise of speed than of tractive 
 power. Engineers still dcubted the adhesion of a smooth 
 wheel on a smooth rail, which Trevithick had demonstrated 
 twenty years before. The longest road actually under con- 
 struction in 1830 was 135 miles, from Charleston to Hamburg, 
 South Carolina. 
 
 The common country highway of those days cost from 
 $300 to $500 per mile to build, and it was estimated that it 
 cost 25 cents to move a ton a mile on its normal surface. As 
 
38 HISTORY) OF VAMETTCGAN RAILWAYS 
 
 the cost of these early turnpikes rose to $3,000 and $5,000, the 
 cost of moving a ton was reduced to 20 cents a mile—from 
 which cost it had not varied much until the motor truck on 
 hard-surfaced highways, costing from $30,000 to $50,000 per 
 mile, reduced the rate. | 
 
 The First State Railway 
 
 \ When the State of Pennsylvania took the construction of 
 the Philadelphia & Columbia Railway off the hands of Colonel 
 Stevens’ company, the line was finally located in 1828 and 
 construction began in 1829. This was the first railway work 
 undertaken by a State governments About twenty miles at 
 the eastern end of the road was opened for travel in 1832 and 
 the entire line, 81 miles, with two tracks, was completed by 
 1834. Unlike the railways of today, the State owned only 
 the track and rented its use for both passenger and freight 
 cars to individuals or companies who furnished horses or 
 mules to haul them, paying the State toll for the use of the 
 track. At first the State owned two locomotives, for the use 
 of which a regular toll was charged. | 
 
 As originally built the Philadelphia & Columbia railway 
 had two inclined planes. At about two miles from its com- 
 mencement it crossed the Schuylkill by a viaduct 984 feet 
 long and immediately ascended an inclined plane 2,805 feet 
 long and 187 feet high. Another inclined plane 1,800 feet 
 long and 90 feet high descended to meet the canal basin at 
 Columbia. The inclines operated by stationary engines at the 
 head of the planes were never satisfactory, being slow and 
 expensive in operation, and they were scarcely finished before 
 steps were taken to avoid them. They were abandoned in 
 
 1840, and a new line built at the east end from Ardmore to 
 West Philadelphia. 
 
 State of the Union in 1830 
 
 The year 1830 marks the true beginning of the railway 
 era in the United States and it becomes of interest to con- 
 sider the state of the Union in that period when the inventive 
 genius of mankind was turned to the problem of putting 
 
BErOK eT Hee IKON, HORSE. CAME 2 
 
 wheels, tracks and power under the civilization of the world. 
 -For a comprehensive description of the vast territory that 
 awaited the “snort of the iron horse’ to awaken it from the 
 semi-paralysis of great distances, that by Henry Adams in his 
 “American History During the First Administration. of 
 Thomas Jefferson” leaves little to be said: 
 
 “According to the census of 1800,” says Mr. Adams, ‘“‘the 
 United States of America contained 5,308,483 persons—one- 
 fifth of them negro slaves. 
 
 “Even after two centuries of struggle, the land was still 
 untamed. 
 
 “The center of population rested within eighteen miles of 
 Baltimore. 
 
 “Except in political arrangement, the interior was little 
 more civilized than in 1750 and was not much easier to pene- 
 trate than when La Salle and Hennepin found their way to 
 the Mississippi, more than a century before. 
 
 “A great exception broke this rule. Two wagon roads 
 crossed the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, while a 
 third passed through Virginia southwestward to the Holston 
 river and Knoxville in Tennessee. 
 
 “Nowhere did eastern settlements touch the western. At 
 least one hundred miles of mountainous country held the two 
 regions everywhere apart. The shore of Lake Erie, where 
 alone contact seemed easy, was still tnsettled. 
 
 “The same bad roads and difficult rivers, connecting the 
 same small towns, stretched into the same forests in 1800 as 
 when the armies of Braddock and Amherst pierced the west- 
 ern and northern wilderness. : 
 
 “Even by water, along the seaboard, communication was 
 as slow and almost as irregular as in colonial days. The voy- 
 age to Europe was comparatively more comfortable and more 
 regular than the voyage from New York to Albany. 
 
 “If America was to be developed along the lines of water 
 communication alone by such means as were known to Eu- 
 rope, Nature had decided that the experiment of a single 
 republican government must meet with extreme difficulties. 
 By water, an Erie canal was already foreseen; by land, cen- 
 
40 HISTORY OF AMERICANS RAILWAY 
 
 turies of labor could alone conquer those obstacles which 
 Nature permitted to be overcome. Highways furnished no 
 sure measure of progress. No matter how good the road, it 
 could not compete with water, nor could heavy freights in 
 great quantities be hauled long distances without extravagant 
 cost. 
 
 “At any known rate of travel Nashville could not» be 
 reached in less than a fortnight or three weeks from Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 “Politically each group of states lived a life apart. 
 
 “In the Northern states four miles an hour was the aver- 
 age speed between Bangor and Baltimore. Beyond the Poto- 
 mac the roads became steadily worse, until south of Peters- 
 burg even the mails were carried on horseback. 
 
 “Of eight rivers between Monticello and Washington, Jef- 
 ferson wrote, ‘five have neither bridges nor boats.’ 
 
 “The usual charge (for passengers) in the Northern states 
 was six cents a mile by stage. 
 
 “The Saxon farmer of the eighth century enjoyed most 
 of the comforts known to Saxon farmers of the eighteenth. 
 
 “Fifty or a hundred miles inland more than half the homes 
 were log ‘cabins, which might or might not enjoy the luxury 
 of a glass window. (Abraham Lincoln was born in such a cabin 
 in 1809 without ‘the luxury of a glass window.’) 
 
 “As a rule American capital was absorbed in shipping or 
 agriculture, whence it could not suddenly be withdrawn. No 
 stock exchange existed and no broker exclusively engaged in 
 stock jobbing, for there were few stocks. 
 
 “A probable valuation of the whole United States in 1800 
 was $1,800,000,000, equal to $328 for each human being, in- 
 cluding slaves; or $418 to each free white. 
 
 “Taxes amounted to little or nothing, and wages averaged 
 about a dollar a day.” 
 
 The picture thus painted of the United States in 1800 was 
 destined to remain so until “Tom Thumbs,” “Puffing Billies” 
 and “Best Friends,” as the five or six-ton locomotives of the 
 late twenties were called, undertook the giant task of rolling 
 back the American landscape like a scroll. 
 
BEPORE THE [RON’ HORSE CAME 4] 
 
 
 
 
 
 In his “Democracy in America,” published as late as 1834, 
 De Tocqueville, the French philosopher, spoke of the Missis- 
 sippi valley as the most magnificent dwelling place prepared 
 by God for man’s abode and “yet at present it is but a mighty. 
 desert.” | 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 SIX-HORSE CONESTOGA WAGON—THE FORERUNNER OF THE 
 “PRAIRIE SCHOONER” 
 
 The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 extended our boundaries 
 into the wilderness far beyond the Mississippi, only to make 
 the demand for transportation greater than ever. 
 
 Before the Railways Came 
 
 By way of comparison it may be recalled that at the open- 
 ing of the nineteenth century the cost of transportation by 
 
 
 
 AN ARTIST’S VERSION OF THE CONESTOGA WAGON 
 From a painting by N. H. Trotter. 
 
42 HISTORY OF \AMERICAN RAILWAYS. 
 
 pack horses, the only way, from Philadelphia to Erie, both 
 in Pennsylvania, was stated to be $249 a ton. Then came 
 the dirt roads traveled by the Conestoga wagon, the fore- 
 runner of the more famous prairie schooner of the sixties, 
 and the cost dropped to 13.51 cents per ton mile. The mere 
 toll on the early turnpikes was 1.35 cents per ton mile and the 
 trader furnished his own cars or wagons and motive power. 
 The standard rate for moving a ton on canals as late as 1832 
 was 3 cents a mile. It was from the semi-paralysis of such 
 rates that the railways rescued the American continent. 
 
 The third decade of the 19th century dawned upon the 
 Republic with less than 30 miles of railway actually built and 
 operated. According to the census of 1830, this was equal 
 to about one mile of railroad to 428,850 inhabitants, where, 
 according to the latest returns, we now have a mile to about 
 every 420. The contrast shows what the railways have done 
 for this continent in less than a century. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE FIRST DECADE OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS, 
 1830 to 1840 
 
 HYSICAL difficulties were not the only or chief obstacles 
 in the path of the early railway promoters in America. 
 
 
 
 CHARLES CARROLL OF 
 CARROLLTON—1737-1832 
 
 Signed the Declaration of Inde- 
 
 pendence Aug. 2, 1776. Turned 
 the first sod of the Baltimore & 
 Ohio Railroad July 4, 1828. 
 
 The canal mania occupied the 
 center of the transportation 
 stage well along through the 
 thirties. Water carriage had 
 the advantage of easy demon- 
 stration, and the application 
 of steam to river craft took 
 precedence over land carriage 
 until the smooth-surfaced 
 track came to the aid of the 
 primitive locomotive. What 
 scanty surplus funds had ac- 
 cumulated in America pre- 
 ferred what appeared to be 
 
 the safer investment, and the money markets of Europe looked 
 askance upon investments in the wilds of the New World; 
 which were still pictured, not without some reason, as the 
 
 abode of savage and blood- 
 thirsty Indians. In truth the 
 North American Indian was 
 still a menace and obstruction 
 to railway building in the 
 United States down to the 
 days when the Union Pacific 
 was built. 
 
 The top of the stone mark- 
 ing the spot in Baltimore 
 where the first sod-for the 
 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 
 
 
 
 CORNERSTONE OF THE BALTI- 
 MORE & OHIO RAILROAD, 1828 
 
OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 (pA S BOTS y 
 
 44 
 
 ‘aVOWTIVa OIHO ® HHOWILIVA AHL AO NOILONUYLSNOD GNV NOILVZI 
 “NVOUO AHL HLIM CHLOANNOO NYW GHHSINONILSIG ANV SYOLOEYIC ‘SYHCNNOA AHL 
 
 40 DNILNIVd 
 
 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1540 45 
 
 
 
 
 
 was turned bears the following inscription, which has come 
 to be of inestimable historic value: 
 
 tes PONE 
 PRESENTED BY THE STONE CUTTERS OF BALTIMORE 
 
 in Commemoration of the Commencement of 
 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was here 
 placed on the 4th of July, 1828, by the Grand 
 Lodge of Maryland, 
 
 Assisted by Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 
 the last surviving signer of The Declaration 
 of Independence, and under the direction of the 
 President and Directors of the Railroad Company. 
 
 In connection with this epoch-marking event the accom- 
 panying reproduction of a painting in the Board Room of the 
 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, furnished by the company, pos- 
 sesses unusual historical interest. For identification, the best 
 known personalities in this picture have been numbered, as 
 follows: 
 
 (1) Philip E. Thomas (1776-1861), First President B. & O. 
 (2) Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832) 
 
 (3) J. V. L. McMahon (1800-1871) 
 
 (4) S. F. B. Morse (1791-1872) 
 
 (5) Benj. H. Latrobe (1806-1874) 
 
 (5) Peter Cooper (1791-1883) 
 
 (7) John W. Garrett (1820-1884) 
 
 (8) Johns Hopkins (1795-1873) 
 
 (9) J. H. B. Latrobe (1830-1891) 
 
 By the aid of a strong glass the reader can decipher, on 
 the base of the picture, the names of the other figures in it. 
 
 Mr. Garrett, who occupies such a prominent place in this 
 group, came to the presidency of the Baltimore & Ohio in 
 1858 and is credited with having rescued it from the verge 
 of bankruptcy. 
 
 What the Waterways Were Doing 
 
 In the meantime large investments in canals made 
 it diticult™ to. raise’ funds tor .the.primitive. rarlways. 
 In soliciting bids for locomotives of American manufac- 
 ture in an advertisement dated January 4, 1831, President 
 Thomas of the B. & O. imposed the following conditions: 
 That they should consume their own smoke. 
 
46 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 That they should not weigh over 3% tons. 
 That they should each be capable of drawing 15 tons on 
 
 a level road 15 miles an hour. 
 That the wheel flanges should be on the inside of the rail. 
 That the steam pressure should not exceed 100 lbs. to the 
 
 square inch. 
 
 
 
 CARROLL OBE GCARROLELON 
 Enlarged from B. & O. group 
 
\ 
 
 FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 47 
 
 The least radius of curvature of the road was stated to be 
 400 feet. 
 
 “The York,” an engine built by Phineas Davis, met the 
 general conditions but was found “too hight for advantageous 
 use on ascending grades.” It is interesting to compare these 
 conditions with the “Growth of Steam Locomotives” as illus- 
 trated in succeeding pages of the history. 
 
 Where the first Erie canal cost $20,000 pér mile of its 
 four-foot depth and was deepened in 1835 to seven feet at 
 
 
 
 PACKET BOAT ON THE OLD DELAWARE & HUDSON CANAL 
 
 From a copyrighted reproduction by C. Klackuer, N. Y. of original oil painting by 
 EB. L. Henry 
 
 an added cost of $31,000,000, raising its total to $108,000 per 
 mile, it was well-nigh impossible to raise funds, even at 
 10 per cent and upwards, to build railways costing from $6,000 
 to $25,000 per mile without rolling stock or adequate facilities. 
 
 It has been officially estimated that a total of 4,468 miles 
 of canal were built in the United States, costing $214,000,000. 
 Of these, up to 1880, some 1,953 miles had been abandoned 
 and the net income of the remaining 2,515 miles did not pay 1 
 per cent on the cost of construction. 
 
 The right of way for canals was later used in many places 
 for railroads, and so the investment in this form of transpor- 
 tation was not entirely lost, except to the original owners, but 
 practically all of the capital put into the early turnpikes was 
 lost, as only parts of some of them were later used for rail 
 transportation. 
 
 The standard rate for moving a ton on canals in 1832 was 
 3 cents a mile. Previous to the opening of the Erie canal it 
 
/ 
 
 48 HISTORY. OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 cost $100 to move a ton from New York to Buffalo, and 20 
 days was consumed in transit. In northern tiers canals could 
 be operated only seven or eight months. 
 
 In connection with the charge for carrying freight on 
 canals, it might be added that these rates generally were fol- 
 lowed in subsequent charters given to railroads; the Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad Company charter stating that its rate should 
 
 
 
 WHEN TRAVELERS HAD TIME TO PAINT THE LANDSCAPE 
 Before the age of photographs and railways 
 
 not- exceed 2 cents per mile for each ton of freight =the rate 
 for passengers being 3 cents per mile for “through” passen- 
 gers, and 3% cents per mile for “way” passengers. 
 
 Under such conditions the 61 miles of the Camden & Am- 
 boy were projected in 1830, and $4,000,000 was subscribed—a 
 large portion of which was to be expended on a canal; the 
 Baltimore & Ohio was started on its successive short stages 
 to the west; the Philadelphia & Columbia secured its charter, 
 and the first section of the Charleston & Hamburg was opened. 
 The Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, upon which the celebrated 
 DeWitt Clinton locomotive and train were to make a triai 
 trip in 1831, was also among the first ventures of this period. 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1850-1840 49 
 
 
 
 It was built to connect the 
 Hudson at Albany with the 
 Erie Canal at Schenectady at 
 a cost of $600,000, or $38,000 
 per mile. 
 
 Contemporary with the en- 
 gine built by Robert Steph- 
 enson for the Mohawk & 
 Hudson road was the “John 
 Bull. ordeted = by =Colonel 
 stevens for “thes Camden: & 
 “Amboy Railroad and Trans- 
 portation Company in 1831 
 and put into service on No- 
 vember 12 of that year at Bor- 
 
 
 
 
 
 ROBERT L.-STEVENS, 1787-1856 
 
 Designer of the first “‘T rail’? and the 
 
 “hook head” spike 
 
 dentown, N. J. After being out of service for many years, 
 -on April 17, 1893, it was once more put in commission to haul 
 what was known as the “John Bull” train to the Chicago 
 
 World's Fair. 
 
 
 
 tae PERS Te ERA 
 
 The shaded section is Stevens’ original 
 design as whittled in wood in 1830: The 
 unshaded shows rail as made in England 
 laid in the Camden & Amboy road, 1831. 
 
 The train consisted of two of the original 
 
 Camden & Amboy coaches 
 andr mace. the. trie Ong 
 miles without assistance in 
 five days—which. was fine 
 work for a 62-year old engine. 
 
 The DeWitt Clinton was 
 built for the Mohawk & Hud- 
 sole Katlroad, tne 
 company of the present New 
 York Central Lines, at the 
 West Point foundry in 1831, 
 the year in which the road 
 was opened from Albany to 
 schenectady.:-’ The 
 
 pioneer 
 
 familiar 
 
 cut of the famous engine, with its train of old-fashioned stage 
 coach pattern cars, is from a silhouette cut by Brown on the 
 
 spot. 
 
 The original of the cut is now in the Museum of the 
 
 Ilistorical Society at Hartford, Conn. 
 
50 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 These may be regarded as the seedlings from which have 
 sprung the mightiest system of railways in the world. All 
 told, they are credited with only 23 miles of line in actual 
 operation in 1830. Aside from the Baltimore & Ohio, which 
 has held to its title through the intervening ninety years, these 
 
 
 
 TAY = lOHN= BOE 
 Built in 1831 and now in the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 
 
 daring ventures are now respectively important divisions of 
 the Pennsylvania System, the Southern Railway and the New 
 York Central. 
 
 The coming of the advance agent of American industry 
 and civilization was first announced on this continent by the 
 shriek of the locomotive in the year 1831, “when the applica- 
 tion of steam to blow a horn was first invented.” 
 
 The Charleston & Hamburg, in point of performance, is 
 entitled to precedence in the list of railways operated by 
 
 
 
 ANOTHER VIEW OF THE “JOHN. BULE? 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 51 
 
 
 
 
 
 steam in the United States. It was chartered in 1827, and by 
 January 1, 1830, six miles of road were ready for the first 
 practical locomotive built in America. This was patterned 
 after the “Stourbridge Lion,” which had proved too heavy 
 
 
 
 THE “JOHN BULL” AS IT MADE: THE. TRIP TO CHICAGO IN 1893 
 
 for the trestles of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad in 
 August, 1829, and was built by Horatio Allen, who had assem- 
 bled the parts of the discarded “Lion” when it arrived from 
 England. The locomotive was christened the “Best Friend” 
 of Charleston and was shipped to Charleston by packet in 
 October, where it promptly ran off the track during its trial 
 trip. It was of this locomotive that engineers like to tell 
 
 
 
 THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE AND TRAIN RUN IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 This sketch of the silhouette as it appeared in Brown’s ‘History of Early. Locomotives 
 in America’? was accompanied by the following note: The locomotive “De Witt Clin- 
 ton’? was ordered by John B. Jervis, chief engineer of the Mohawk and Hudson rail- 
 road, and was the third locomotive built in America for actual service upon a railroad. 
 The machine was made at the West Point Foundry Works in New York, taken to 
 Albany the latter part of June, 1831, and was put upon the road and run by David 
 Matthew. The first experimental trial-trip was made on the 5th of July, and others 
 at difieren: times during that month. The first excursion trip, with a train of pas- 
 senger-cars, was made from Albany to Schenectady on August 9, 1831, on which oc- 
 casion the author of this History of the Early Locomotives in America rode in ore of 
 the cars (only the first two are represented above), and before the train started made 
 the sketch as it appears above, which was pronounced a truthful representation of the 
 locomotive, tender, and the first two of the number of cars in the train, and correct 
 likenesses of the engineer and passengers represented in the cars. Some of them are 
 yet living, as their letters in this work will show. The picture was cut out of black 
 paper with a pair of scissors, a peculiar art with’ which the author was gifted from _his 
 earliest boyhood. The original was presented by the author to the Connecticut His- 
 torical Society; it was about six feet in length, and is yet preserved by the society 
 and highly valued for its antiquity and truthfulness. 
 
 LIBRARY waynes 
 
By 4 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 the story that a negro sat on the safety valve until its boiler 
 burst, projecting itself and the surprised Ethiopian twenty- 
 five feet. The engineer and two negroes were injured, but 
 none fatally. 
 
 
 
 DE WITT CLINTON TRAIN AND A MODERN LOCOMOTIVE 
 
 Nothing daunted, the company ordered a duplicate of its 
 “Best. Friend” called the “West Point,” which was put in 
 regular service early in 1831. This road was renamed the 
 
 South Carolina Railroad. The 
 
 expense of rebuilding it after 
 
 the war forced it into a re- 
 ceivership in 1878, and after 
 sale under foreclosure it was 
 reorganized in 1881 as the 
 
 South Carolina Railway, the 
 convenient way of giving an 
 old road a new name. 
 
 It was on this road that 
 the experiment of the trac- 
 tive power of sails was tried 
 with anything but satisfac- 
 factory results. 
 
 The Charleston & Hamburg 
 Railroad was a community 
 enterprise organized, promot- 
 ed and financed by the citi- 
 zens of Charleston. It was 
 proposed to rectify the freak of despiteful Nature that emptied 
 the waters and water-borne cotton of the Savannah River 
 
 
 
 INCLINED PLANE AT MAUCH 
 CHUNK, PA. 
 Lehigh Valley R. R. 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 SB 
 
 
 
 at Savannah instead of Charleston. The survey of this road 
 is instructive, giving an almost straight line from Charleston 
 
 to Aiken, South Carolina, and thence with a sharp bend drop- 
 ping some 180 feet by an incline 3,800 feet down to the Savan- 
 
 nah River opposite Augusta, then as now one of. the great 
 cotton centers of the South. 
 
 
 
 ANOTHER VIEW OF THE DE WITT CLINTON TRAIN 
 
 The road was financed almost entirely by private subscrip- 
 tions. The municipality backed it with a small loan of $20,000. 
 Built on the most economical basis, the bare roadbed and 
 track were estimate to cost slightly under $600,000. When 
 the bills were all paid, they figured up to $904,499, or exactly 
 $5,625.92 per mile. The miscalculation arose, according to 
 the annalist, from “the heightened cost of labor.” 
 
 When completed the Charleston & Hamburg’s 136 miles of 
 track “was the longest railway in the world; and its operation 
 was considered marvelous at the time.” Owing to the lack 
 of power, the company handled only. cotton downward and 
 light merchandise upward. Live stock, lumber and other 
 articles that could pay only low rates, so the legend runs, 
 “Were, declined fora time, --lhe passenger rates. fixed ‘by 
 the legislature were said to be so low “that a poor man could 
 not afford to walk.” 
 
Cay 
 Al a 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 This road is now a division of the Southern Railway 
 System. 
 
 The Columbia & Philadelphia had quite a chequered career 
 before it became the main stem of the modern Pennsylvania 
 System. Mention has been made of how this road was project- 
 ed by Colonel Stevens, who got no farther. The legislature 
 having repealed the charter 
 granted Stevens in 1823, the 
 state of Pennsylvania assumed 
 the task of building a railroad 
 from Philadelphia through 
 Lancaster to Columbia, on 
 the Susquehanna river ite 
 line was located in 1828 and 
 construction began“ in =the 
 year following. 
 
 This was the first railway 
 work undertaken and prose- 
 cuted by a State government 
 in America. Immediately on 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ORIGINAL DRAWING OF 
 
 “BEST FRIEND” i i i isan 
 First American Locomotive built for leaving Philadelphia this line 
 actual use used what was known as the 
 
 Belmont Inclined Plane just west of the railroad bridge over 
 the Schuylkill river in West Philadelphia, and also a plane 
 
 
 
 THE BELMONT INCLINED PLANE 
 West Philadelphia 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 Se 
 
 
 
 
 
 at the Columbia end, which 
 was subsequently abandoned, 
 and a new line built at the 
 east end from Ardmore to 
 West - Philadelphia. About 
 twenty miles at the eastern 
 end was opened for travel in 
 TOSo: and by 1834 the entire Passenger Coach used on the Portage 
 line, donbleerected tron ihe Railroad over the Alleghanies in 1835 
 start, was completed. At first the power was furnished by 
 horses and mules; private parties owned the passenger and 
 freight cars and paid toll to the State for the use of its tracks. 
 At this stage there was a strong resemblance between the 
 railway and the highway, which has now wholly disappeared 
 except for oratorical effect. At Columbia the rail ride ended 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 as we 4 bie -p E 4 « y) 
 y : ; 
 aes LEN A: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE BEST FRIEND AND TRAIN 
 
 This engine was built in New York City for the South Carolina Railroad in 1830 and 
 made an excursion trip as above on January 15th, 1831. 
 
 and the traveler took a canal packet up the river to the mouth 
 of its tributary, the Juniata, thence up that stream to Holli- 
 daysburg. Cars proceeded from here four miles to the foot 
 of the Alleghenies. 
 
 rom here let Charles Dickens describe what ‘hap- 
 pened, as told in his “American Notes” of his visit to the 
 United States in 1842: 
 
 “We left Harrisburg on Friday. On Sunday morning we 
 “arrived at the foot of the mountain, which is crossed by rail- 
 “road. There are ten inclined planes; five ascending, and 
 “five descending; the carriages are dragged up the former, 
 “and let slowly down the latter, by means of stationary 
 “engines; the comparatively level spaces between being 
 
56 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 “traversed, sometimes by horse and sometimes by engine 
 “power, as the case demands. Occasionally the rails are laid 
 “upon the extreme verge of a giddy precipice; and looking 
 “from the carriage window, the traveller gazes sheer down, 
 “without a stone or scrap of fence between, into the mountain 
 “depths below.” 
 
 And he tells how they “rattled down a steep pass, having 
 “no other moving power than the weight of the carriages 
 “themselves and saw the engine released long after us come 
 “buzzing down alone, like a great insect, its back of green 
 
 
 
 EARLY AMERICAN .RAILS AND TRACKS 
 
 No. 1 on the Pennsylvania portage of 1832 
 No. 2 first track on the Camden & Amboy in 1831 
 
 “and gold shining in the sun, that if it had spread a pair of 
 “wings and soared away, no one would have had occasion, 
 “as I fancied, for the least surprise. But it stopped short of 
 “us in a very business-like manner when we reached the 
 “canal; and before we left the wharf, went panting up the 
 “hill again, with the passengers who had waited our arrival 
 “for the means of traversing the road by which we had come.” 
 
 From that point the novelist took a canal packet on to 
 Pittsburgh and thence on by steamboat to Cincinnati, at that 
 time described by him as “a beautiful city” of fifty thousand 
 souls, “cheerful, thriving and animated.” 
 
 Anyone who wishes to get a definite impression of travel 
 by side-wheel ocean steamer from Liverpool via Halifax to 
 Boston, “out eighteen days,” and by rail and steamboat south 
 to Richmond and west as far as St. Louis should hunt up 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 of 
 
 Dickens’ “American Notes.” They may make the reader 
 angry, for the writer extenuated nothing, but took in every- 
 thing with the eye of London’s greatest newspaper reporter. 
 
 The Lure of the West 
 
 Maryland responded to Pennsylvania’s great feat of cross- 
 ing the Alleghenies by enacting a bill in 1836 that authorized 
 a loan of eight million dollars 
 in aid of a comprehensive 
 scheme to build railroads and 
 canals to connect Baltimore 
 
 WROUGHT IRON RAIL CHAIR arc he Ohi dee riveree he 
 method of constructing the Baltimore & Ohio is thus described 
 in an official report in 1832: 
 
 
 
 “A line of road is first graded, free from short curves and 
 as nearly level as possible. A small trench is then formed 
 for each track, which is filled with rubble stone, on which 
 are laid blocks of granite or other suitable stone about one 
 foot square and of as great length as can be obtained. ‘The 
 upper and inner surfaces of each track are dressed perfectly 
 even, as well as the ends of the blocks at their joinings. Bars 
 or plates of wrought iron, near an inch in thickness, are 
 then laid on these blocks or rails, in line with the inner sur- 
 faces, and fastened to the stone with bolts or rivets, entering 
 
 
 
 STONE BLOCKS. USED INSTEAD OF TIES IN EARLY CONSTRUCTION OF 
 THE PHILADELPHIA & READING RAILWAY 
 
58 HISTORY OF AMERIGAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 about four inches in holes fitted to receive them, at a dis- 
 tance of about eighteen inches. The distance between the 
 two tracks, for the wheels, should be about five feet.” 
 
 The cost of a road like this, sans rolling stock, stations, 
 etc., was figured at $28,173 per mile. 
 
 The stream of emigration to the west at this period was 
 sweeping the industrious poor from the Atlantic coast in 
 hordes that demanded more rapid transportation than canal 
 boats and pack mules could furnish; and Europe was called 
 on to furnish construction 
 funds on State guarantees at 
 any rate of interest. The 
 State of Indiana alone in 1836 
 provided for the construction 
 of over 1,200 miles of rail- 
 road and canal, to cost up- 
 ward of twenty million dol- 
 Slap yee: eri ee aoe Er eee LARS een Gam allt Otte ee ee 
 Rint Agee tit ets stock to the amount of ten 
 million dollars to be issued and sold abroad,” as the historian 
 McMasters dryly remarks. And he continues, “The system 
 of internal improvements on which IIlniois now (1836) en- 
 tered was, if possible, wilder still.” 
 
 The West was now growing at a tremendous pace. Be- 
 tween 1830 and 1840 Indiana had almost doubled in popula- 
 tion, from 343,031 to 685,886, while the rate of increase in the 
 younger State of Illinois was 
 even greater, having more 
 than trebled from 157,445 to 
 476,183. Chicago was incor- 
 porated as a city in 1837, with 
 a population of 4,170 and one 
 newspaper, the Chicago Dem- 
 ocrait, merged into the Chi- 
 cago Tribune in 1841.  Dick- 
 ens returned from St. Louis IMPROVED BOX Cae 
 to Cincinnati via Louisville, the way he had come, apparently 
 never having heard of Chicago! 
 
 
 
 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 59 
 
 
 
 Baldwin’s First Locomotive 
 
 Among the noted group of locomotives that claimed prece- 
 dence in the early history of American railways must not be 
 
 overlooked—“Old Ironsides,” the pioneer handiwork of the 
 house of Baldwin, whose product stretches in an uninterrupted 
 
 line from 1832 to this day. Matthias Baldwin, its construc- 
 tor, was a jeweler and watch 
 repairer of Philadelphia, with 
 a limited knowledge of me- 
 Guinicses Dut che ~had. the 
 genius and persistence to at- 
 tempt anything in the me- 
 chanical line that crossed his 
 vision. The jewelry trade 
 falling off, Mr. Baldwin be- 
 came a partner in the manu- 
 facture of binders, tools and 
 cylinders for calico printing. 
 This proved so_ successful 
 that the service of steam pow- 
 er was necessary to supply 
 iS BOOGIE eee ne Bald- i tATTHIAS W. BALDWIN—1795-1866 
 win undertook to design an Inventor and founder of the Baldwin 
 engine for that purpose. The EE herp ie 
 
 firm’s space being limited, an upright model was adopted. 
 The machine was so successful that it turned his attention to 
 steam engineering and thus undoubtedly directed his thoughts 
 to the engine on rails along which he was to go so far. At 
 the suggestion of a fellow townsman he built a diminutive 
 model of a steam locomotive which actually pulled two small 
 four-seated cars around a circular track in the Philadelphia 
 Museum in April, 1831. This demonstration led the directors 
 of the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad 
 (now a part of the Philadelphia & Reading System) to engage 
 Mr. Baldwin to build a full-sized locomotive to supplant horse 
 power on their road. The parts of the “John Bull,” imported 
 from England for the Camden & Amboy Railroad, had just 
 arrived, and before they were put together Baldwin availed 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 = 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
60 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 himself of the opportunity to make an intimate and criticai 
 study of them. ‘Then he went back and built “Old Ironsides,” 
 which on November 23, 1832, gave a successful demonstration. 
 
 As described in the “History of the Baldwin Locomotive 
 Works,” “Old Ironsides” was a four-wheeled engine, modeled 
 essentially on English practice of that day, as shown in the 
 “Planet” class, and weighed, in running order, something over 
 
 
 
 “OLD IRONSIDES” 
 
 The first Baldwin Locomotive completed in 1832 for the Philadelphia Germantown 
 & Northern Railroad 
 
 five tons. The rear or driving wheels were fifty-four inches 
 in diameter on a crank axle placed in front of the firebox. The 
 cranks were thirty-nine inches from center to center. The 
 front wheels, which were simply carrying wheels, were forty- 
 five inches in diameter on an axle placed just back of the 
 cylinders. The cylinders were nine and one-half inches in 
 diameter by eighteen inches stroke and were attached hori- 
 zontally to the outside of the smoke-box, which was D-shaped, 
 with the sides receding inwardly, so as to bring the center 
 line of each cylinder in line with the center of the crank. The 
 wheels were made of heavy cast iron hubs, wooden spokes 
 and rims and wrought iron tires. The frame was of wood, 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 61 
 
 placed outside the wheels. The boiler was thirty inches in 
 diameter and contained seventy-two copper flues, one and 
 one-half inches in diameter and seven feet long.’ The tender 
 was a four-wheeled platform, with wooden sides and back, 
 carrying an iron box for a water tank, inclosed in a wooden 
 casing and with a space for fuel in front. The locomotive 
 showed twenty-eight miles an hour on its trial trip and sub- 
 sequently attained thirty miles an hour with its usual train 
 attached. Mr. Baldwin was to have received $4,000, but 
 owing to some defects in performance compromised on $3,500. 
 
 From that halting success ninety-two years ago, the first 
 effort of an unskilled mechanic, has descended the long line 
 of locomotives that has carried the name of their builder 
 around the globe. 
 
 In 1836 William Norris demonstrated that his locomotive 
 could ascend the Schuylkill 
 inclined plane at the rate of 
 ten miles an hour. This plane 
 had a. grade of 359 feet to the 
 mile. 
 
 The labor cost of running 
 the railways in those early 
 days may be judged from the 
 pay roll of the Parkersburg 
 shops (Philadelphia & Co- 
 lumbia Railroad), where 31 
 employes, consisting of 1 manager, 1 foreman, 13 machinists, 
 3 blacksmiths, 1 coppersmith, 2 file makers, 1 pattern maker, 
 3. carpenters, 1 stationary engineer, 4 assistants and 1 watch- 
 man, received $1,087, or $35 a month per man. At the same 
 time enginemen received $2 a day and firemen $1.25. 
 
 New York’s Belated Start 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE—1834 
 
 New York City, with its outlook to the sea, its island- 
 locked sound to New England and its North river, the Hud- 
 son, to the interior of the State, had more faith in waterways 
 and their connecting canals than in the steam and iron roads 
 that met with such popular enthusiasm to the North and 
 
62 HISTORY, OF AMERICAN] RAILWAYS 
 
 South. Its first railroad, the New York & Harlem, was not 
 chartered until April, 1831, and was not opened until January, 
 1833. It was projected to run from New York to Chatham, 
 via Dover Plains, 130 miles, but the first eight miles from 
 near the City Hall to the Harlem river was the section that 
 counted and justified its title. 7 
 
 The New York of 1831 (p. 390) was a modest but aspiring 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Pioneer of the American Locomotive Co.’s line 
 
 village of some 200,000 souls. It occupied the southern end of 
 Manhattan Island. The trip to the “Harlem Strait,” as it was 
 then properly called, was like a journey into a far country. 
 So it 1s not surprising to read that the route of this first met- 
 ropolitan railway, leaving City Hall Square, passed along 
 Center and Broome streets, and thence via Fourth avenue to 
 the Harlem. It was the boast of its builders that its first 
 section of eight miles cost $1,100,000, or $137,500 per mile, 
 being the most expensive piece of railway property in the 
 United States prior to 1839. 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1850-1840 63 
 
 In 1873 this road was leased to the New York Central & 
 Hudson River Railroad. The lease included: the tracks to 
 42d Street and the Grand Central Depot, but “not the horse 
 railroad on Fourth Avenue.” For years the company pre- 
 served its charter from lapsing by running a box car from 
 42d to Chambers Street, to which the writer was a witness in 
 1879, when, returning from a midnight assignment for the 
 
 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE OF 1839 
 
 New York Tribune, he saw this solitary sentinel car propelled 
 down the Bowery by a Julien motor and storage battery. 
 
 It is one of the paradoxes of American railways that the 
 New York Central Railroad, which was to become one of the 
 chief factors in American rail transportation, for the better 
 part of half a century had no entrance of its own into New 
 York City. If the student will consult a map of New York, 
 he will perceive at a glance that the New York & Harlem 
 road was headed not up the Hudson but.as far from it as the 
 Massachusetts line would permit and was destined to reach 
 
64 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 Albany over the Boston & 
 Albany via Chatham Junc- 
 tion. This idiosyncracy was 
 undoubtedly due to New 
 York’s early and unshaken 
 faith in the Hudson as the 
 direct line from the Island of 
 PRIMITIVE BAGGAGE CAR Manhattan into the wilder- 
 PSadebn & adnspois akeed | 1S Oo a 
 not until 1846 that it turned 
 its eyes to that inviting valley that pierced the state between 
 the Catskills and the Berkshire Hills, and petitioned the legis- 
 lature to charter the Hudson River Railroad. This road was 
 opened from New York to Albany, 144 miles, in 1851. 
 
 
 
 ie . oe fe - ne 
 
 aso | 
 
 ‘ . Se 
 : aN r 
 
 ¢ 
 i. 
 e 
 
 4 ae berory 
 ™\}/D 
 
 x! i Ln 9, Ws iS 
 ohn = ILI salt Zsa 101 faye L\ <i 
 
 PA Awe /A\IN 5 ( 
 
 
 
 77 OTN 
 
 Sey// > 
 
 
 
 NORRIS FREIGHT ENGINE 
 
 Anticipating the course of this history, it may be remarked 
 that the completion of the Hudson River Railroad prepared 
 the way for the consolidation of the several independent lines 
 that had finally connected Albany with Buffalo. There were 
 as many of these as there were shades in Joseph’s coat oi 
 many colors. The Albany & Schenectady, chartered in 1826, 
 naturally headed the list; then came the Schenectady & Troy; 
 the Utica & Schenectady; the Syracuse & Utica (the Syra- 
 
FIRST. DECADE, 1850-1840 65 
 
 cuse & Utica direct); the Rochester & Syracuse (direct) ; the 
 Auburn & Syracuse; the Auburn & Rochester; the Buffalo 
 and Lockport; the Mohawk Valley; the Rochester, Lockport 
 & Niagara Falls, and the Buffalo & Rochester. With the 
 acquisition of the Hudson River Railroad, the consolidation 
 of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad was com- 
 plete from New York to Buffalo and went into effect on Au- 
 
 
 
 
 
 A STUDY IN CONTRASTS 
 A coal car in 1830 and a coal car of today 
 
 gust 1, 1853. The enumerated links in this New York Cen- 
 tral chain were so many independent companies, each proud 
 of its own primitive facilities and each jealous of its connec- 
 ‘tions. Passengers had to disembark at the end of each road 
 and take passage on, the next link, when its conductor was 
 ready to start. 
 
 Its further extension to Detroit, Cincinnati, Chicago and 
 St. Louis is another story. Up to the close of 1840, parts of 
 the New York Central System had not penetrated beyond 
 Rochester. 
 
 The New York & Erie 
 
 Surely a spiteful fairy presided over the birth of the New 
 York & Erie Railroad, the forerunner of the great trunk line 
 that, after many vicissitudes, was to connect New York with 
 
66 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Chicago. Its charter ran from tidewater to Lake Erie, but 
 unfortunately the State of New Jersey lay between its project- 
 ed line and tidewater at Jersey City. It had therefore to be 
 content with such tidewater as ebbed and flowed at Pier- 
 mont, which derived its name from a pier one mile long jut- 
 ting out into the Hudson some twenty-five miles from the 
 promised terminal in New York city. If the State of New 
 
 
 
 UNIQUE PASSENGER TICKET ISSUED IN 183? 
 
 By steamer to Albany, by rail to Schenectady, by canal boat to Buffalo—Note the re- 
 striction on baggage 
 
 Jersey had been less jealous of its big neighbor, the “Story 
 of Erie” might have been far different from the “chapter” told. 
 in the famous brochure written by Charles F. Adams thirty- 
 odd years later. Even Mr. Adams had to place the tribute 
 of foresight on the “citizens who originated and _ forced 
 through to completion this great national work, as important 
 as was ever the Appian Way to Rome.” 
 
 “The road was in truth,” he wrote, “a magnificent enter- 
 prise, worthy to connect the great lakes with the great sea- 
 port of America. Scaling lofty mountain ranges, running 
 through fertile valleys, and by the banks of broad rivers, con- 
 necting the Hudson, the Susquehanna, the St. Lawrence and 
 the Ohio, it stood forth a monument at once of engineering 
 skill and commercial enterprise.” But, like a certain man 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 67 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 journeying from Jerusalem to Jericho, the Erie fell among 
 thieves, who stripped it and left it for dead. Every attempt 
 to revive it has run into a business depression or panic. And, 
 although today it runs through that same favored region, 
 renders good service to its territory and earns substantial 
 revenues per mile, it barely meets operating expenses and 
 fixed charges. 
 
 The total cost of the 394 miles of railway built in New 
 
 
 
 ele ARrIAN WAY? AS IT STILL EXISTS 
 
 York State between 1832 and 1840, inclusive, was estimated 
 at $9,578,965. 
 Early New England Roads 
 
 The first railway in Massachusetts, as well as in the United 
 States, was appropriately enough an industrial tramway. It 
 ran from Bryant quarries about three miles to tidewater at 
 Neponset and was used to transport blocks of granite by 
 horse power. Its construction is interesting beyond the fact 
 that it carried the stone for Bunker Hill monument. Its own 
 tracks were laid on the same granite material. These stone 
 sleepers were placed eight feet apart. On these, great wooden 
 rails a foot high and six inches thick were laid. Flat strips 
 of iron three inches wide and a quarter of an inch thick were 
 fastened by spikes to the top of the wooden beams. And so 
 the first railroad in America was equipped for business. Rail- 
 way, in the modern sense of the word, this little granite road 
 of Massachusetts never was. It was operated by gravity and 
 
68 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 horse power and never rose to the dignity of a railroad until 
 it was purchased by the Old Colony Company in 1872, when 
 it was relaid with T-rails and the steam whistle re-echoed 
 among the boulders on its ancient right of way. 
 
 Mention of the Old Colony Railroad introduces the reader 
 to a group of familiar names associated with the early his- 
 tory of New England railways. 
 
 
 
 CLAIMED TO BE “THE FIRST STEAM RAILWAY DEPOT IN AMERICA” 
 It stood, until recently, at the top of Crane Street hill, Schenectady, New York, being 
 
 a one-story brick structure with a chimney at either end. 
 
 First of these was the Boston & Lowell, chartered in 1830 
 and opened for the twenty-six miles to Lowell in 1834. The 
 rails for this line were laid on stone blocks, which in turn 
 rested on deep foundations of broken stone. 
 
 Its companion road, the Boston & Worcester, then as now 
 forty-four miles from the Hub to Worcester, was built in the 
 same substantial manner and both were soon found to be too 
 rigid and inelastic for comfortable riding. This mistake was 
 avoided in the construction of the Boston & Providence, 
 where wooden sleepers were laid from the first, thus render- 
 ing the subsequent relaying of ties unnecessary. 
 
 These three Massachusetts roads employed horse power 
 on their earlier sections. In the spring of 1834 the Worcester 
 road invested in two locomotives, appropriately named the 
 “Meteor” and the “Rocket.” One of these was capable of 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 69 
 
 doing twenty miles an hour. They made two trips daily from 
 
 Washington Street to Newton, eight, nine or ten miles, ac- 
 cording to which of the famous Newtons was the first termi- 
 nation of the track. The fare was 37% cents each way, show- 
 ing the survival of the old York shilling, which afterwards 
 became the “bit,” or 12% cents, in California as late as the 
 seventies. 
 
 
 
 PEEKSKILL LANDING ON THE HUDSON IN 1837 
 
 The first train to make the whole trip to Worcester, con- 
 sisting of a locomotive and one passenger car, was run on 
 July 3, 1835, to be in readiness for the formal opening on 
 Independence Day, when four locomotives made two round 
 trips, carrying, all told, 1,500 travelers for the celebration. 
 
 The fare was $1.50 for the trip, where formerly it had been 
 $2 by stage. An enterprising merchant of Worcester was 
 so impressed with the advantages of the new means of trans- 
 portation that he immediately offered to build a side track 
 to his storehouse. | 
 
 The Boston & Providence was opened a few days before 
 the formal opening of the Boston & Worcester, but owing to 
 
70 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 some difficulty in getting its one locomotive to work, horses 
 had to be hitched up to the company’s two passenger cars. 
 But June 2, 1835, the day set for the steam railway trip, was 
 made forever memorable by the combination of stage and 
 steamboat transport from Boston to New York in less than 
 sixteen hours. In this signal performance Cornelius Vander- 
 bilt participated by building the fine but ill-fated steamboat 
 : ‘“Texineton, +.) Lizinadescom- 
 nections at Providence with 
 passengers who Started from 
 Boston by stage at 2 A. M. 
 and landed them in New 
 Y ork at6-P AM eel Bie sas 
 ington” was destroyed by 
 fire “on January 12,2 1640, 
 with a loss of 120 lives. 
 
 As soon as the Boston & 
 Providence locomotive was 
 put in running order, the 
 time of June 2, 1835, was 
 quickly eclipsed, and from 
 that day until’ an all rail 
 route was opened in Decem- 
 ber, 1848, the rail and water 
 passage between Boston and 
 New York, via Providence, had things its own way. 
 
 With the combination of rail and steam boat in 1835, the 
 gap between Boston and New York was reduced from four 
 days to about fourteen hours, but the rivalry was not lessened. 
 The two seaports engaged in a desperate race to see which 
 should be first to get to Albany by rail. 
 
 Of equal interest with the water and rail connection be- 
 tween Boston and New York is the introduction of the name 
 of Cornelius Vanderbilt in this narrative. Although at the 
 time of building the “Lexington” he was forty-one, he had not 
 entered upon his career as the foremost railroad manager and 
 financier of his time. His forte, as Artemus Ward would say, 
 was steamboats. While still a lad in his teens he bought a 
 
 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1850-1840 71 
 
 ferryboat and ran it so successfully between Staten Island and 
 New York that it was not long before he acquired a small 
 fleet of ferryboats and was known about New York harbor 
 as the “Commodore.” He had what might be termed 
 the Vanderbilt or Midas touch that turned everything he 
 handled on sea or dry land into gold. By the time he was 
 just over fifty his ventures in ship-building and managing 
 had amassed what for those days was the vast fortune esti- 
 mated at $10,000,000. 
 
 Then he took to railroading and in a very short time be- 
 came the leader in land transportation. He first bought a 
 controlling interest in the New York & Harlem road and, 
 having acquired the essential entrance into the heart of Man- 
 hattan Island, he annexed the principal interest in the Hudson 
 River Railroad and eventually in the New York Central. He 
 was the moving spirit in the consolidation of the independent 
 railroads between Albany and Buffalo, and ultimately ex- 
 tended the sway of the New York Central System over the 
 Lake Shore, the Canada Southern and the Michigan Central 
 to Zhicago:.UVor fiiteen, years,.from 1862-tosthe time, of his 
 death, in 1877, Cornelius Vanderbilt was the dominating 
 figure in American railway affairs. 
 
 The Panic of 1837 
 
 But the railways of the United States were not to go 
 through the first decade of their feverish existence without 
 experiencing some of the throes generally attendant on over- 
 doing anything. The initial cost of construction of the early 
 railroads and canals had imposed a heavy burden upon the 
 capital and industry of the country. In projecting new roads 
 they overshot current demands. As a result, according to 
 Poor’s Manual, in many states, especially Western and South- 
 ern, large sums of money were expended upon lines from 
 which there was no return, while many, approaching comple- 
 tion, were wholly abandoned. Charters and work begun in 
 1834-1836 were held in abeyance, not to be revived until along 
 in the early forties, when the effects of the panic of 1837 be- 
 gan to wear off. 
 
72 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The case of the Galena & Chicago Union, the predecessor 
 of the Chicago & North Western, is illustrative of the railway 
 condition prevailing throughout the country at this time. It 
 had received a special charter from the legislature of Illinois 
 in January, 1836, to build a railroad out into the prairie coun- 
 try toward the Mississippi. Under an amended charter a 
 short preliminary survey was made and the company ob- 
 tained 940 acres of woodland nine miles west of Chicago to 
 secure a source of fuel supply. “Then,” says the historian 
 of the period, “the financial ‘panic,’ beginning in the summer 
 of 1837, put a stop to this and many other railroad projects 
 not only in Illinois but all over the United States.” 
 
 The actual construction of the Galena & Chicago Union 
 was not resumed until 1847. In the meantime Chicago had 
 been incorporated and quadrupled in population—from 4,179 
 in 1837 to 16,859 in 1847. It was only a few years earlier 
 (1833) that the historian Charles Cleaver “saw many teams 
 stuck fast in the streets of the village” and “remembered that 
 once a stagecoach got mired in Clark Street, opposite the 
 Sherman House, where it remained several days with a board 
 driven into the mud bearing the inscription, ‘No bottom here’.” 
 
 Today Chicago is the greatest railway center in the world, 
 from which radiate more than 90,000 miles of railway to every 
 corner of the Union. 
 
 Michigan Tries Railway Ownership 
 
 It was the financial collapse of 1837 that induced the State 
 of Michigan to take over the construction of the railways it 
 had already chartered and assisted in the preliminary stages. 
 These roads were the Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad, chartered 
 in 1833 (now merged through the Lake Shore into the New 
 York Central System), and the Detroit & St. Joseph, char- 
 tered in 1836 (the original Michigan Central). The latter 
 company was capitalized at $2,000,000, but no work had been 
 done on it when the State of Michigan undertook its com- 
 pletion. By the aid of successive appropriations, this road 
 was completed to Kalamazoo, 144 miles. In December, 1844, 
 when 110 miles of the Central had been completed and some 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 73 
 
 
 
 terminal work on the Southern was in progress, the joint 
 enterprise had cost Michigan the following amounts: 
 
 WolitfalPeOUs TUCTIONE. tr ore Uta ead ee ere Oa EES PENS $1,842,308 
 pote eae Mie OUST TUIC TIO I Tae dec aeteh che Gey SOS ea aR oh vin Shaw ole pioedee 936,295 
 $2,778,603 
 10 per cent for interest and other incidental expenses........ 277,860 
 aay oe cre ta ek Ota I clteeiNC MOCO meee oa. = oe coeds d alee gts 30,000 
 ig6eoinotive.: andvcars-on Centtal- Re R.. 2. sce iic. $110,000 
 fee VO ies tier tre sat 8 (idste t wcclploM cic aca be ake ok oe 51,000 161,000 
 Sicewee Ven peer eee eee ete te Ree os Gesu idl ot A w dpe he Brave eg ae eae a $3,247,463 
 
 Governor Barry recommended the sale of the roads, to 
 which the Legislature agreed, and they were subsequently 
 sold to Boston capitalists for $2,000,000 and $500,000, respec- 
 tively. Payment was made in state bonds at their face, which 
 the purchasers had shrewdly bought in at 70 cents on the 
 dollar, thereby securing property that had cost at least three 
 and a half million for $1,750,000. Query, what would be con- 
 sidered the original cost of that road? 
 
 Such were the bargains that were scattered all over the 
 country by the panic of 1837, to be snapped up by the thrifty 
 capitalists who had the courage of their faith in the future of 
 railroads in the United States. They had their reward, and 
 _ had not long to wait for it, either. ; 
 
 Summary of the First Decade 
 
 Nothing in the amazing expansion of transportation by 
 rail on this continent equals, in all that constitutes the Ameri- 
 can character, the period whose salient features have so far 
 been briefly sketched. The mental alertness and daring with 
 which every invention and opportunity was seized on and 
 adjusted to the peculiar conditions of this country were 
 everywhere in evidence. Steam power, applied at first on the 
 -water and then on the land; the locomotive adapted or simul- 
 taneously invented in American shops; the experiments with 
 rails, ties and foundations that finally were replaced by the | 
 wooden sleepers, stone ballast and T-rails that we have with 
 us today; the rivalry between canals and railways that held 
 over into the next generation; the actual moving of American 
 civilization dependent on speedy and powerful transportation 
 
74 HISTORY OF: AMERICAN SRAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 from the fringe of Eastern States to the valley of the Missis- 
 sippi—it was all a part of the development of Anglo-Saxon 
 traits in a new world, under conditions that never before 
 confronted mankind, but for which mankind had been wait- 
 ing and preparing from the dawn of time. What happened 
 on this continent between 1830 and 1840 cannot be more 
 clearly expressed than by the figures of population and rail- 
 way mileage during that period: 3 
 
 United States—1830 to 1840 
 
 Population Miles of Railway 
 LB OY oases er fe Goa he i aha 12,866,020 ge 20 
 OSE a cE See we eer eae aoe 13,252,000 95 
 O32 ancec Rote Dea eee ee 13,571,000 se. 6229 
 SEER isd ho eR RE See ees 13,924,000 = 380 
 LSS 4 ere heen x as hope eth a eee 14,319,000 ~ | 633 
 LOSS eres Lee gk de ae Oth are 14,743,000 ‘= 1,098 
 TSG ep eee ak hott Spe Ben ccisre ane 15,127,000 = 1,273 
 LSS Vertis Rear Saks ST oat Me Ce 15,532,000 ~~ 1,497 
 LSS SIRE eR ope oe a act a 16,037,000 1,913 
 TR SOM s M6 age ot ae ene 16,540,000 2,302 
 TOAQ PEt ho. cee che tr eee 17,069,453 2,818 
 Per. fcent “inereaseitarcie ee ates SEY) 12,108.7 
 
 From such insignificant beginnings the percentage of rail- 
 way increase means nothing, but for the two years between 
 1838 and 1840 a 47 per cent increase gave promise of the 
 transformation in transportation that was impending. How 
 the mileage of 1840 was distributed among the states is an 
 interesting exhibit: 
 
 Mileage by States in 1840 
 
 Miles of Railway Population 
 
 Ala Daina meet see aths coe tn ieeicl, Metet sees 46 590,756 
 COonnecheutir Golf Re lle eee 102 309,978 
 elawiare mae ben es cast sis eee 39 78,985 
 GEGIP ldgme ce ea sce eee 185 . 691,392 
 Kentutisym ees coer cl ete s eles 28 779,828 
 TEOtista ts ah ee ore te S'S ae eae 40 352,411 
 Mainiesiyetr tee rece te ver eo. 11 501,793 
 Marylandgandiia Gaile soe 213 5S fan. 
 Massachivsettsmees on ees aire cube 320 737,699 
 MAChi¢a mri Nae cao hr. tea os 50 212 207 
 New mblampshiromie cess re: 53 284 574 
 News] erseyige mie bears aie eck 186 373.306 
 Ne Worl ORK sae een ete ieee 374 2,428,921 
 
 NortheCarolins Meeker ea 53 753,419 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 75 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 OR Geter We oot e POO ES 30 519 467 
 Renna SY A aglia nt ccs. eRe te hs 754 1,724,033 
 IRROdewUSia nd rane: a420 coe werk cet 50 108,830 
 SOUti eC a rolina tse chee Fes eee wares 137 594,308 
 WETAGE bebe Oe peereye ean ota ey tar ee 147 1,239,797 
 MOta Let ee, Garters Ol he Oey Tees 2,818 13,795,495 
 
 As the total population in 1840 was 17,069,453, this would 
 leave 3,273,958 inhabitants of the balance of the United States 
 without any railway connection whatever. They had for 
 the most part to get along with such highways and water- 
 ways as had served the transportation needs of the preceding 
 generations. But, if the completed mileage was woefully 
 short of the expanding needs of the republic, there was no 
 lack of prospectuses The land from the Atlantic to the Mis- 
 Sissippi was alive with projects. Tanner, in his “Description 
 of the Canals and Railroads of the United States,” published 
 in 1840, enumerates no less than 409 fully chartered railroad 
 companies. The spirit was willing and universal, but the 
 funds were weak and local to territory that promised some 
 return. 
 
 There are no really reliable figures as to the original cost 
 of construction of the early railroads. From scattering re- 
 ports, it appears that 1,727 miles of the lines in operation in 
 1840 cost approximately $57,940,000, or roughly $33,500 per 
 -twnile. This would place the cost for the reported mileage in 
 the neighborhood of $95,000,000, which may be accepted as 
 
 a conservative estimate. 
 
 These figures are probably far within the actual cost of the 
 roads when fully completed and equipped. In many in- 
 stances they did not include anything for stations, shops, etc., 
 and in some cases neither power nor equipment was included, 
 for the idea that a railway was a highway or a toll road died 
 slowly. 
 
 Among the roads that cost more than the average may 
 be mentioned the Boston & Lowell, $56,600 per mile; the 
 Great Western, now part of the Boston & Albany, $36,104 
 per mile; the Boston & Providence, $43,460 per mile, and the 
 Boston & Worcester, $38,700. 
 
76 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The eight-mile section of the New York & Harlem, built 
 through New York City before 1839, cost what was then con- 
 sidered the fabulous sum of $137,500 a mile, but there were 
 many roads in England at that time that paid as much for 
 the bare right of way. The Mohawk & Hudson cost $38,000 
 and the cost of the Erie, as first built, exclusive of engines, 
 cars and other equipment, was $43,333 per mile. 
 
 The cost of the Philadelphia & Columbia, the first section 
 of what is now the Pennsylvania, was $53,047, exclusive of 
 depots, shops, etc., while that of the Allegheny Portage road 
 that connected it with Pittsburgh was $1,634,357, or $44,545 
 per mile. 
 
 The first section of the Philadelphia & Reading cost $52,630 
 
 per mile. 
 
 In the South the combination of sandy soil, easy grades, 
 cheap lumber and cheaper labor resulted in reduced cost of 
 construction, and many of the early roads cost less than 
 $15,000 a mile. When the roads once got beyond the moun- 
 tain barriers, the broad plains of the West offered few ob- 
 structions to the laying of rails straight and level in every 
 direction then within the vision of railway prospectuses. In 
 a single decade railway promotion had outstripped the de- 
 mands of traffic. 
 
 The Medley of Gauges 
 
 Between the two-foot tramway and the six-foot broad 
 gauge there was scarcely an intermediate width of an inch 
 that was not experimented with in the early days of Ameri- 
 can railway exploiting. . 
 
 It was different in England. The gauge of the railway 
 was fixed by Parliament in 1830 to be not less than four feet 
 eight inches between the inside of the rails and between the 
 outside edges not more than five feet one inch. There was 
 much virtue in the word “more” in this Act, for it left the 
 tread of the wheel to the discretion or whim of the car builder. 
 It is worth recording that when Thomas Meynell, chair- 
 man of the Stockton & Darlington Railway Company, offi- 
 ciated at the laying of the first rails in Stockton on May 13, 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 7 
 
 1822, he placed them four feet eight inches apart, thus prac- 
 tically determining the standard gauge for Great Britain and 
 really setting the fashion which ultimately a vast majority 
 of the world’s railways were to follow. The rails laid on 
 that occasion were malleable iron bars, fifteen feet long and 
 twenty-eight pounds in weight, and the first to be used by a 
 public railway company. 
 
 In America a number of the earlier roads, including those 
 of New England and several in Pennsylvania and New York 
 State, adopted the English gauge of four feet eight and one- 
 
 
 
 TRACK OF THE ALBANY & SCHENECTADY, ROAD IN 1837 
 
 Note the strip of iron on the edges of the timber rail, cross ties of wood with founda- 
 tions of broken stone topped by timbers 
 
 half inches, but thereafter American engineers adopted such 
 width of track as seemed best suited to their local conditions. 
 The road between Albany and Schenectady had a gauge of 
 four feet nine inches; the Camden & Amboy adopted a gauge 
 of five feet, and that gauge prevailed throughout the South 
 until after the Civil War. The Erie started with a gauge 
 of six feet and maintained that broad distinction up to 1878, - 
 when after careful planning, but with dramatic alacrity, it 
 made this continent practically unanimous for the standard 
 gauge. 
 
 The general features of American railway track up to the 
 close of the first decade of construction are shown in the fol- 
 lowing table: 
 
78 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 Gauge in Wooden 
 
 Length: Feet .Cross\ Ties, Rails; 
 
 in and Size in Size in 
 
 Date Miles Inches Inches Inches 
 Matrehs Chink = (as) ia.cn ee 1827 9 3 Ousekloe le 4x6 
 Schty kil exes) Sea eee 1829 13 4.8% Oak 12x12 4x7 
 Mill .CréekgeePaniiy sco. oc0; 1829 3 Fy Br, eee mob. de 
 Schuylkill Valley (Pa.) ...1829 10 G44 pS ige s eeae eee 350 
 Mim Carport eas) os. eee 1829 Ti SOU a: ces eee 6x4 
 Baltimore & Ohio (Md.)...1828 13 EY * Cedar 6x6 
 Oinincy aC lLase nee eae 1826 3 5 Granite ae 
 Charleston-Hamburg (S. C.) .1829 6 5 Wood 6x10 
 Albany & Hudson (N. Y.)..1830 17 4.9 Wood 7x7 or 
 Delaware & Hudson (Pa.)..1829 5 as Hemlock 6x12 
 Wistert al Mags. ss ares 1837 54 4.8% Wood 7x12 _ Iron 
 DECn ce Sadi eON suey )oueee aes 1835 i 4.8% Cedar 6x6 Iron 
 Teri Cme Nowe a) arate be oa aie eee 1836 10 6 Wood Iron 
 
 
 
 *Some stone slabs. 
 
 It was in the last year of this decade that a young man 
 named Ulysses S. Grant, having been entered at West Point, 
 took passage on a steamer at—_ 
 Ripley, Ohio, for Pittsburgh. 
 “Western boats,” he says in 
 his Memoirs, “at that day did 
 not) make? -regulari-trips sat 
 stated times, but would stop 
 EARLY. EIGHT: WHEEL anywhere and for any length 
 Pee GER Cre of time, for passengers or 
 freight. I have myself been detained two or three days at a 
 place after steam was up, the gangplanks, all but one, drawn 
 in, and after the time advertised for starting had expired. 
 On this occasion we had no vexatious delays and in about 
 three days Pittsburgh was reached. From Pittsburgh I 
 chose the canal to Harrisburg, rather than the more expe- 
 ditious .stage..-*. * *  Hrom, Harrisburg to Philadelphia 
 there was a railroad, the first I had ever seen except the one 
 on which I had just crossed the summit of the Allegheny 
 Mountains and over which canal boats were transported.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 Miscellaneous Notes 
 
 The first severe railway accident in the United States 
 occurred on the Amboy & Bordentown Railroad October 8, 
 1833, in which several persons were killed. 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 7S 
 
 
 
 The modern American silver dollar of 412.5 grains dates 
 back to the Act of Congress of January, -1837. The dollar 
 would buy less transportation then than now. 
 
 The average passenger car of that period measured thirty- 
 five to forty feet in length, with a width of about eight feet, 
 and was six feet six inches high. The aisles were narrow and 
 
 
 
 CANAL BOAT BEING HAULED OVER THE PORTAGE ROAD IN 1839 
 
 the seats too short to accommodate two adults comfortably. 
 Their ventilation was primitive, and sleeping in a recumbent 
 posture only possible in an upright dream. In summer these 
 cars were stifling and in winter their temperature ranged from 
 red-hot near the iron stove at one end to zero at the other. 
 And yet travel by rail was so much more expeditious that it 
 was welcomed by all classes as a relief from the tribulations 
 of the stage coach and the tortoise pace of the canal boat. 
 Arksanas admitted as the twenty-fifth state June 15, 1836. 
 Territory of Wisconsin organized July 4, 1836. 
 
80 HISTORY: OF AMERICAN” RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Michigan admitted as the twenty-sixth state January 26, 
 1837. 
 
 Great commercial panic began in March and reached its 
 height in May, 1837, when all the banks in New York sus- 
 pended specie payment and embryo railway companies sought 
 shelter in the courts. 
 
 Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy, publisher of the Alton Observer, 
 shot dead by a mob at his office November 7, 1837, one of the 
 premonitory signs of the national struggle culminating in 
 the Civil War that practically wiped out all the railways then 
 built south of Mason & Dixon’s line. 
 
 First regular passage by steamer across the Atlantic. The 
 “Great Western” and the “Sirius” both arrived at New York 
 April 23, 1838. | 
 
 Iowa received territorial Aerie June 12, 1838, not be- 
 coming a state until March, 1845. 
 
 Dangers of river navigation in the West shown by losses 
 of fifty-five steamers on the Mississippi, thirteen on the Ohio, 
 two on the Missouri, two on the Illinois, one on the Arkansas 
 and four others during the year 1838. 
 
 Daguerreotypes first taken in the United States August, 
 1839. The illustrations in this book can be traced back to the 
 development of this process, the halftone not coming into 
 general use until the early eighties, previous sketches being 
 from drawings or working models. 
 
 Throughout this decade the idea of the transmission of 
 messages by electricity was simmering in the mind of Samuel 
 Finley Breese Morse. His first complete instrument was exhi- 
 bited in New York in 1835 and he filed his caveat for a patent in 
 Washington in 1837. He was refused a patent in England and 
 obtained a useless brevet d’invention in France. After four 
 years of discouraging importunity he finally got an appropriation 
 of $30,000 for an experiment of his invention on line between 
 Washington and Baltimore, over which, from the Supreme Court 
 room in the capitol to Baltimore on May 24, 1844, was flashed the 
 message, “What hath God wrought.” From that day the tele- 
 graph became an indispensable adjunct in the operation of 
 American railways, and with that epochal step in the march 
 
FIRST DECADE, 1830-1840 81 
 
 
 
 of human progress we take leave of the great railway decade 
 of 1830-1840. 
 
 Poverty and prejudice presided at the birth of rail trans- 
 portation in America, and panics rendered their early devel- 
 opment fitful and precarious. Only the indomitable opti- 
 mism of our race pushed the rails westward in advance of 
 civilization. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE SECOND DECADE, 1840 to 1850 
 
 RAILWAY PROGRESS—DR. LYMAN ABBOTT DESCRIBES 
 THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN RAILWAY 
 
 F the reader will draw a straight line on the map of the 
 United States from Rochester, N. Y., the western terminal 
 of the chain of little railroads 
 pushing valiantly from A\l- 
 bany to Buffalo, to Pensacola, 
 Florida, on the Gulf of Mex- 
 ico, the southern terminal of 
 the Alabama, Florida & 
 Georgia Railroad, in a rough 
 way he will locate the divid- 
 ing line between railroad ac- 
 complishment in 1840 and the 
 great beyond. Nowhere had 
 SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, 1791-1872. construction followed pros- 
 Perfector of Electric Telegraph - : 
 “What LO EE Fe Wrought !” ea into the vast West 
 ae which Washington had _ vis- 
 ited and viewed with the vision of prophecy nearly four score 
 years and ten earlier. The Portage Railroad over the Alle- 
 ghenies had ended at Johnstown, some thirty-eight miles 
 short of Pittsburgh, the Fort 
 Duquesne of Washington’s 
 western wanderings. 
 
 Up to 1840 canals had 
 shown the way in the con- 
 quest of the West. They had 
 the inside track with the Fed- 
 eral and State legislators of that day, and the financiers of 
 New York and Philadelphia lent a receptive ear to yundertak- 
 ings that promised and actually paid 8 per cent on invest- 
 ments, where the railway averaged less than 514 per cent. 
 
 
 
 
 
 TIOGA RAILROAD CAR OF 1840 
 
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850 83 
 
 
 
 
 
 Besides tales were floated around that a particularly favored 
 canal in England averaged 112 per cent on its cost. 
 
 Under such favoring influences the Erie canal had been 
 pushed through to Buffalo and was paying handsomely, and 
 the State of Ohio was traversed:by 1,000 miles of canals con- 
 necting the great lakes with the Ohio river. It has been esti- 
 mated that $250,000,000, or about $30,000 a mile, was invested 
 in American canals before investors saw the rail writing on 
 the map and began to put their money cautiously and grudg- 
 ingly into the more flexible and speedy means of modern 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CHICAGO IN 1842 
 
 internal communication. Waterways could not be made to 
 run up hill and railways could, and in that single phase of the 
 law of gravitation was written the doom of canals on this 
 continent of alternating plains and mountains. The normal 
 current of the Mississippi rendered it impotent to compete 
 with the light but high speed locomotives of the forties. 
 Today the chief objective of its improvement is an appro- 
 priation. 
 
 By 1842 it was estimated that all the states had appro- 
 priated or invested $60,000,000 for canals to $43,000,000 for 
 railways, and it was said that the few were prosperous and 
 the majority were insolvent. But the needs of the country 
 were such that they continued to raise, beg and borrow— 
 principally borrow—money for both. 
 
 The First Wave of Immigration 
 
 Prior to 1840 the United States was divided into two main 
 sections, Eastern and Western, separated by the Allegheny 
 
_— 
 . 
 
 nPwh 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 CHICAGO IN 1924—LOOKING TOWARD THE LAKE 
 —From the air by Chicago Aerial Survey Co. 
 Chicago & Northwestern Station. Illinois Central Station. 
 Chicago Union Station. . Municipal ‘Stadium. 
 
 Grand Central Station. Field Museum. 
 La Salle Station. . City Hall and County Building. 
 
 Dearborn Station. 
 
 © CONTOD 
 
—~ 
 
 SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850 85 
 
 
 
 mountains and their extensions. The winning of the West 
 
 by wagon road, pack horse, waterway and railway was the 
 
 impulse that stirred the migratory spirit of: American youth 
 from Maine to Florida. Horace Greeley’s “Go West, young 
 man,’ was the word passed along from town to hamlet, and 
 it fell on willing ears already ringing with tales of stirring 
 adventure and certain fortune where land was cheap and 
 elbow-room free. Even in the writer’s early youth, Daniel 
 Boone’s name overshadowed the fame of Washington as a 
 
 pioneer of the West. 
 
 Across the Atlantic, which steam had come to make the 
 great ocean highway, conditions were such that millions 
 needed little urging to take up their belongings and trek to 
 
 
 
 THE FIRST CUNARDER—“BRITANNIA” 
 ‘First trip, Liverpool to Boston in 1840 
 
 the land of liberty and opportunity. The census of 1841 
 showed Ireland to have a population of 8,196,597. The potato 
 crop failed and by 1851 famine and emigration had reduced 
 
 the population to 6,574,278. Of the difference, no less than 
 
 780,719 are shown by our immigration returns to have migrat- 
 ed to the United States in the ten years 1841-50. This was 
 followed by 914,119 from the Green Isle in the next decade. 
 
 Political unrest, ending in revolution in 1849, headed em- 
 
 igration from Germany to the same bourne of free speech 
 
 and free land, so that before the end of the decade 434,626 
 
86 BHISLORY. OF AMS RICAN ya Ears. 
 
 German immigrants had sought these shores; only to be fol- 
 lowed during the next decade by nearly a million more Teu- 
 tons, of whom Carl Schurz was the most important acquisi- 
 tion to our public life. 
 
 During these two decades. immigration added more to 
 our population (4,311,000) than there were inhabitants in the 
 United States at the time of 
 the’ first census an ~ 1790 
 (3,929,214) and it was a most 
 fortunate circumstance that 
 canal and railway construc- 
 tion had advanced far enough 
 
 
 
 PASSENGER CAR—MICHIGAN ; Sane 
 ENTRAL, 1844 to -assist. in their’ distrib 
 
 tion to the broad and fertile plains beyond the Alleghenies. 
 
 The Building of American Railways 
 
 Instead of following the fortunes of the many railway 
 projects for opening the various gateways to the West, the 
 reader. will be more interested in seeing its development 
 through the eyes of the late 
 Lyman Abbott, who in 1874 
 contributed a most enlighten- 
 ing description of the making 
 of an American railway to 
 Harper's New Monthly Maga- 
 zine. For the second number 
 of the same magazine, Wil- 
 liam McLeod had written a 
 lively account of the scenery 
 on the Erie Railroad, some 
 sentences from which may 
 serve as a prelude to Dr. Ab- 
 bott’s more detailed story. 
 
 
 
 “The construction of the 
 Erie Railroad through the 
 hitherto secluded valleys of 
 the Delaware and Susque- 
 
 
 
 LYMAN ABBOTT—1835-1922. 
 Latest photograph 
 
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850 87 
 
 
 
 hanna rivers, and reaching now almost to the Allegheny,” 
 says Mr. McLeod, “has opened to access new fields for the 
 tourist, abounding with the loveliest and grandest works of 
 Petit ere as tere 
 
 “The reader is familiar with the geography of the road: 
 Commencing at Piermont on the Hudson, twenty-four miles 
 from New. York, on the long pier that projects a mile 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 VIEW FROM PIERMONT, LOOKING NORTH 
 First terminal of the Erie on the Hudson, 25 miles from New York 
 
 into the river, it winds its way westward among the hills 
 along the course of the Sparkill. Just before leaving the pier, 
 looking north, the view on the preceding page is presented. 
 1 es 
 
 “We will present only one other view, which represents 
 one of the imposing structures which characterize the Erie 
 road. This is the viaduct over the valley of the Starrucca, 
 built of stone. It is elevated one hundred feet above the 
 valley, is over twelve hundred feet long and twenty-five feet 
 wide and is composed of eighteen heavy piers, with arches 
 
88 HISTORY OF AMERICAN, KAILW AY S 
 
 of fifty feet span. It is simple in its design, but symmetrical 
 and beautiful, and is altogether the noblest piece of work 
 upon the whole line of the road.” 
 
 Now let Dr. Abbott take up the story twenty-four years 
 later: “I propose,’ says he in opening his article on ‘The 
 American Railroad,” ‘“‘to give as far as it can be given within 
 the limits of a single magazine article some account of the 
 origin, history and internal management of the American 
 
 rairogd eat 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 SS 1B ty; SONTIE Soha 
 
 STARRUCCA VALLEY VIADUCT 
 
 
 
 “Tt will render our task of tracing the history and describ- 
 ing the organization of the American railroad simpler if we 
 take one as illustrative of the entire system. For that pur- 
 pose I have chosen the Erie Railway. It is one of the long- 
 est, as it is one of the oldest, on the continent. In its early 
 history it met and conquered obstacles which might well have 
 sufficed to crush an enterprise financially much stronger. A 
 large part of its course lay through an absolutely trackless 
 wilderness. To reach its destination it was necessary to climb 
 a mountain range over 1700 feet above the level of the sea, 
 and make its way along the course of a stream which flows 
 
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850 89 
 
 between almost precipitous walls of rock. As a monument 
 of engineering skill it is without a superior today in America— 
 certainly if the times and circumstances in which it was con- 
 structed be taken into account. * * * 
 
 “The conception of a railroad is often a flash of genius 
 in the individual mind. But before the originator can realize 
 his vision he must succeed in inspiring other minds with his 
 own conception and enthusiasm, and this is always a work of 
 time. Of the prenatal history of the railroad the Erie is an 
 illustrious example. 
 
 “In 1779 General James Clinton and General Sullivan, at 
 the close of an expedition against the Iroquois Indians in the 
 southern counties of New York State, proposed to Congress 
 the construction of what they termed an Appian Way from 
 theacity,o! New York to Lake ‘Erie. [he great inland? seas 
 which we call lakes, and which have done so much to develop 
 the rich but formerly inaccessible West, were at that time 
 separated from the sea coast by the mountain ranges which 
 stretched, with here and there a break, from the Gulf States 
 to the river St. Lawrence. The Great West, the future but 
 then tnrecognized granary of the nation, was more remote 
 from the Atlantic than is today the empire of Japan. To 
 the Clintons, New York owes the two great highways which 
 have rendered her chief city the metropolis of the nation— 
 the Erie canal and the Erie Railway. The Appian Way never 
 got further in construction than an ineffectual application to 
 Goneress 10r an appropiintion. «tv. " = 
 
 “Fifty years passed before the first step was taken toward 
 the realization of this Appian Way. Meanwhile the methods 
 of intercommunication had changed. ‘The canal had sup- 
 planted the public road and the railroad was beginning to 
 supplant the canal. At last, in April, 1832, three years after 
 George Stephenson ran his first passenger locomotive over 
 the Liverpool & Manchester railway, the Legislature of New 
 York granted a charter for the construction of a road of iron 
 where General James Clinton had dreamed only of one mod- 
 eled as well as named after the famous highway of ancient 
 Rome. This charter affords a curious illustration of the short- 
 
90 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 sightedness that is characteristic of the cunning of politicians. 
 It forbade all connections with Pennsylvania and New Jersey 
 railroads. * * * So the one terminus was made at Pier- 
 mont, the nearest accessible point in the state on the Hudson 
 river to the city of New York; the other was made at Dun- 
 
 ¢ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (This cut from Lyman 
 Abbott’s article in Harp- 
 er’s Monthly Magazine 
 of 1874 illustrates some 
 of the perils attending 
 the location of railways.) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TAKING A LEVEL 
 
 
 
 
 
 N THE 740s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ON THE ERIE I 
 kirk, the most remote western harbor. But through cars 
 have long since been run direct both to Cincinnati and Chi- 
 cago; and the long pier that was built over the flats of the 
 Tappan Zee at Piermont to make the steamboat connections 
 with the city is only useful as a permanent warning to legisla- 
 tors that it is their business to facilitate the natural course of 
 trade, not to obstruct, to divert or to control it.” 
 
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850 91 
 
 The next step was a survey: 
 
 “If the reader will turn to any map of New York state,” 
 continues Dr. Abbott, “he will find that the southern tier of 
 counties from the Hudson river as far west as Bingham- 
 ton, are intersected by mountain ranges, whose abrupt and 
 rugged character and wild and desolate features can be but 
 inadequately indicated. He will see also traced upon the map 
 by insignificant-looking serpentine lines the course of two’ 
 great rivers, the Delaware and the Susequehanna, whose 
 
 
 
 TRAINS PASSING THROUGH LANCASTER, PA., ABOUT 1842 
 Note absence of track elevation or gates for streets in those days 
 
 branches are but sixteen miles apart at Deposit, while the 
 waters of the one empty into Delaware Bay and of the other 
 into Chesapeake Bay. These mountain lines indicate the 
 difficulties to be overcome; these river lines indicate the meth- 
 ods by which the railroad engineer overcomes them.” 
 
 Here follows a detailed description of the route to be 
 taken by the Erie in its journey of 459 miles to its western 
 terminus, to which the writer adds: 
 
 “In a somewhat similar way the Pennsylvania Central 
 (Note the Central.) Railroad crosses the same great moun- 
 tain range by the aid of the Susquehanna, the Juniata and 
 the Conemaugh rivers; and the Pacific Railroad follows the 
 Platte river almost to its source in the Rocky Mountains on 
 the e#stern side and descends upon the western slope by the 
 
92 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 valleys of a succession of less important but equally useful 
 mountain streams.” 
 
 Then the article takes up the duties of the railroad sur- 
 veyor, which are common to all railway construction: 
 
 “Having made his preliminary and office survey, the real 
 work of the surveyor begins. For this purpose the chief 
 engineer makes a general reconnoissance of the whole ground, 
 generally on horseback. He provides himself with the best 
 map or maps he can obtain. He picks up as best he can more 
 definite and precise local information. To succeed in his 
 work he must have qualities’ which are rare, qualities which 
 no mere school of engineering can impart. In his profession, 
 as in every other, there is a certain something indefinable in 
 native genius, something which may perish unused for want 
 of development and training but which no mere development 
 and training can supply. The engineer must be a man of 
 ready parts. He must have himself always well in hand. 
 He must know human nature and how to deal with it. He 
 must be equally at home in the log hut among the mountains 
 and in the velvet-carpeted and mahogany-furnished office 
 in the great city. He must be a man of quick eye and abun- 
 dant resources, able to meet an exigency, or to vary in detail 
 and on the moment a carefully matured plan for the purpose 
 of avoiding an unexpected obstacle or reaching the general 
 result with the least expenditure of time and money. * * * 
 
 “The more accurate survey now follows: This is always 
 effected in sections. It is performed by an engineer corps, 
 which consists of an assistant engineer, a transit man, a 
 leveler, a rod-man, two chain-men, one or two flagmen and 
 a gang of axe-men. When the company are obliged to camp 
 out, the necessary accessories of a camp are. added: The 
 work of such a surveying party is always, under the best 
 circumstances, one of hardship and adventure. They must 
 stop at no obstacle; and the country presents innumerable 
 difficulties which the map had not reported and even the 
 reconnoissance had not discovered. Morasses are to be 
 traversed, streams are to be crossed, precipitous hills to be 
 climbed, impenetrable thickets to be penetrated. The Erie 
 
SECOND DECADE, i840-1850 — 93 
 
 Railway runs for miles along the banks of the Delaware river, 
 in many places upon a shelf cut in the solid rock fifty feet 
 or more above the torrent. Yet somehow along this seem- 
 ingly inaccessible gorge the surveying party had to make 
 their way before the first blast could be fired to prepare the 
 present rocky road-bed. It is said that at some points they 
 were lowered by ropes from the top of the cliff and so, hanging 
 between heaven and earth, took their levels. The earliest 
 surveys of such work as the Pacific Railroad through a coun- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TRANSPORTING A LOCOMOTIVE BY HORSES IN 1842 
 
 When the “Florida” arrived in Atlanta it had been hauled from Madiscn, 60 miles 
 away 
 
 —Courtesy of The Right of Way Magazine 
 
 try absolutely a wilderness, and almost absolutely an untrod- 
 den wilderness, are marvels of human capacity. * * * 
 “In the railroad survey the exact difference in level must 
 be preserved and respected. Every inequality must be noted. 
 This is done by the leveler and is preserved by the profile 
 map. Of these profile maps there are two—one, the larger 
 map, indicates the general features of the route; the second 
 and more detailed profile preserves to the foot a careful record 
 of every inequality of ground over which the projected route 
 is to pass. These reports indicate exactly the obstacles which 
 the engineer has to encounter. They inevitably lead to new 
 reconnoissances and new surveys. Deviations here and there 
 
94 HISTORY OF -AMERICAN KAILWAYS. 
 
 
 
 are found to be expedient, to save expense, now in first cost 
 of construction, now in subsequent cost of operating. 
 
 “At length the facts are all before the engineer-in-chief, 
 and he is prepared to make his report. It goes before the 
 board of directors. Its conclusions are scanned, its methods 
 cross-examined, its results subjected to the severest scrutiny. 
 A thousand questions must be raised, debated, determined, 
 before anything can be considered settled. The road must 
 deviate here to get the custom of a large town or city, there 
 to avoid grounds through which the right of way would be 
 more costly than a tunnel or filling; now to tap a rival or a 
 cross railroad at the right spot, now to accommodate some 
 wealthy and influential patron, whose interest in the road 
 depends on making it at some point subservient to his own 
 business. If thé engineer could only be permitted to run his 
 projected road where it would be easiest built, his problem 
 would be a simple one; but he must also consider what will 
 be the cost of carriage, what will be expensive to maintain 
 as well as to construct, where he will get custom, and how 
 he may avoid local oppositions * * * 
 
 “The road is projected; the projector has secured the co- 
 operation of sufficient capital to enable a beginning to be 
 made; it has been surveyed; the right of way has been ob- 
 tained; a charter has been secured; it now remains to con- 
 struct the road. In the inception of railroad life this was done 
 by the:company. .*~ *)~* © But the srowth -oferamroadesnas 
 brought with it a division of labor, and now the railroad 
 company rarely or never constructs its own line. This is 
 done for the company by a railroad contractor. * * * 
 
 “The railroad contractor is eminently a practical man. He 
 is apt to be a self-made man. He is not infrequently one who 
 commenced life with the spade, the pick-axe and the wheel- 
 barrow. He had greater industry or greater shrewdness than 
 his fellows and became the head of a gang of men. Then he 
 took a small contract on his own account, invested luckily in 
 real estate along the line of a projected railway, amassed a 
 little capital, employed both capital and experience to good 
 advantage, and so gradually got on in the world, till now, 
 
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850 95 
 
 
 
 what with capital and credit, he stands ready to undertake 
 any work which the railroad capitalist desires undertaken. 
 He knows how many cubic feet of earth there are in a hill 
 and how many it will take to fill up a valley. He has a prac- 
 ticed eye for soils and detects by a sort of intuition where the 
 hard rock will be, and where the cutting will be an easy one. 
 Earth digging, blasting rocks, pumping, embanking, boring 
 and building tunnels, erecting bridges and culverts, are all fa- 
 miliar operations with him. He possesses a larger or smaller 
 stock of wheelbarrows, picks, shovels, carts, earth wagons, 
 and horses. He lays tempo- 
 rary sleepers and light rails 
 as the work progresses and 
 generally owns at least one 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , TAS 
 or two locomotives and the Bern see fais 
 cot ae Se Sil S 
 necessary dirt cars for drag- AEX) TS. : 
 ging materials. He usually © ga_pwrn’s FAST PASSENGER 
 
 contracts for a section of the ENGINE OF 1848 
 
 road to be built at a fixed price, or at one that varies within 
 certain limits, according to the development of difficulties as 
 the work progresses. He often sublets to other contractors 
 his work in its details. He sometimes makes a miscalcula- 
 tion and loses a fortune, but his miscalculations are oftener 
 on the credit side of his ledger and the result a fortune made. 
 He has abundant opportunities to make incidental profits, and 
 he is not slow to avail himself of them. 
 
 “But he must not only have a practical knowledge of rail- 
 road works, he must have a practical skill in managing 
 pailread’ workers, °F | +  * 
 
 - “In this country the work of the pick and the barrow is 
 largely performed by Irish laborers. Their temporary vil- 
 lages are familiar to every traveler on our railroads. Their 
 management requires on the part of the contractor peculiar 
 dexterity to avoid the loss inevitable from wasted hours or 
 misapplied energy. In brief, the railroad contractor has under 
 him an army of men without the discipline of an army; he 
 must exercise over them the control of a general without 
 being invested with a general’s authority. * * * 
 
96 HISTORY” OF sAMERICAND RAIEWAYS 
 
 
 
 THE ENGINE HACKENSACK 
 Built by Rogers about 1846 
 
 “In brief, then, it is the office of the railroad contractor 
 not only to pierce the hills, bridge the streams, cross the val- 
 leys, construct the stations; not only must he be a bridge- 
 builder, a road-maker and a practical mechanic; not only must 
 he do his work with ignorant and unskilled workmen * * * 
 but he must do it frequently in the heart of a wild waste 
 wilderness; must transport his men, his tools, his provisions; 
 must erect the shelter and provide the necessaries of life for 
 
 
 
 THE RECONSTRUCTED “PIONEER? 
 OF STH CHILCAGONe “NOR TH 
 WESTERN 
 
 lccomotive was landed in 
 
 This 10-ton 
 Chicago from a Schooner, October 
 10, 1848 
 
 his workmen; must keep up 
 their failing courage with his 
 own and must do all at the 
 hazard of his purse, if his es- 
 timates have deceived him, 
 but at the hazard of his health 
 and even of his life.” 
 
 S00 Dr. Lyne coer 
 nearly half a century ago, 
 brought his typical American 
 railroad up to the point of 
 
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1830 oF 
 
 
 
 
 
 physical construction, ready to be equipped and put in opera- 
 tion. With variations to meet the physical conditions of a 
 continent, the same process of building railroads into the 
 wilderness was proceeding on both sides of the Erie. 
 
 At this stage, five great routes to the West were under 
 construction: the New York-Boston-Albany to Buffalo; the 
 Erie to Dunkirk ; the Pennsylvania from Philadelphia to Pitts- 
 burgh; the Baltimore & Ohio from Baltimore to Wheeling, 
 and the Southern, Western & Atlantic from Charleston to 
 Chattanooga. 
 
 At the end of the decade 1840-1850 we find that the railway 
 mileage of the United States has more than trebled in ten 
 years and is distributed among twenty-five states instead of 
 the nineteen listed in 1840. These twenty-five states, with 
 their mileage and population, were as follows 
 
 
 
 Miles Miles Population 
 
 in 1840 in 1850 in 1850 
 
 les Dau tYicie ate au ie tara Spee. $ 46 75 771,623 
 COMIECTICUE >. Rew a 102 402 370,792 
 Blelaware Na ceils. cna k 39 39 91,532 
 Hira Wace cae aha mh Zi 87,445 
 Geared aero we ee 185 643 906,185 
 Eilvine rs eres meets ae 18 3 111 851,470 
 leveitinael rte era ke 5 at 228 988,416 
 ITI EM Cle vr. ete ras as 28 78 982,405 
 Wouisiatio en Ge dee ohoak 40 80 517,762 
 NT treet ciated tee 161 245 583,169 
 iar yiatid atid L). oo. 9 213 259 583,034 
 Niasca cliitserts athe... OUL HOS5 994,514 
 Wisc arrestee sie, hat ee 50 342 397,654 
 WEI SSIC SO Dial at ie ae oh ts an 682,054 
 New tlampsiire +7... 93 467 317;976 
 Never thersty ny iil oa a) Mon 186 206 489,555 
 VEN e AOR ate, ge een ofa os 1361 3,097,394 
 North, Carolia 40... 53 154 869,039 
 COTATOM Reoe Riark gee eRe ek 30 S75 1,980,329 
 Peansvivania, ye... sss 754 1,240 2,311,786 
 ikhode. teland =... a. 33 EQ 68 147,545 
 SOUL BO avolina t:. (pte ee 289 668,507 
 eLIIT Olver ee Trea. elie bas he 290 314,120 
 PANG CF Idd ao te Sopiowel ci, 384 1,421,661 
 MWrasrunsineeh sn. sews: ot se 20 305,391 
 Pell reenter e iets 2,818 9,021 20,721,358 
 
 It will be perceived that the original thirteen states, Maine 
 being included in Massachusetts, contained an overwhelming 
 
98 HISTORY” OF AMEKICAN KAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 majority of railroads—no less than 7,118 miles of the 9,021 
 miles of completed line being in the section settled before 
 the Revolution. In ten years the population of the United 
 States had increased to 23,191,876, but nearly two and a half 
 million (2,470,518) were living in states or territories without 
 any railway connection with the rest of the Union. But it 
 was coming as swiftly as financial and physical conditions 
 would permit. The coffers of the world were not yet opened 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE “PIONEER”—ANOTHER VIEW 
 
 freely to enterprises where the risks were more promising of 
 adventures than of pecuniary returns. 
 
 As a glance at the mileage by states indicates, penetration 
 by rail had not penetrated the United States in 1850 anywhere 
 beyond the Mississippi. Even in Illinois, which presented 
 the most inviting topography the eye of a railroad prospector 
 ever rested upon, only 111 miles of line had been constructed 
 of the veritable network then proposed that in a few years 
 was to put it in the van of the railroad procession. In Texas, 
 which has now taken the lead, then freshly admitted to the 
 Union (1845), there was not a single mile of track, and the 
 war with Mexico (1846-48) was prosecuted on land with trans- 
 portation facilities little in advance of those employed in the 
 earliest campaigns of the Republic. 
 
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850 8) 
 
 
 
 During this decade the states of Florida, Texas, Iowa and 
 Wisconsin were admitted to the Union; the war with Mexico 
 had resulted in a treaty by which we acquired California and 
 New Mexico by the payment of $15,000,000 to Mexico and 
 $3,500,000 to Americans for damages due to the war. Hardly 
 was the ink dry on this treaty before gold, in quantities that 
 fired the imagination of mankind throughout the world, was 
 discovered in California and the greatest rush of goldseekers 
 
 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO IN 1848 
 From a sketch by J. C. Ward 
 
 in history taxed to its utmost every known means of trans- 
 portation across the continent. Immigrants and settlers who 
 had poured into the West from the East and Europe pulled 
 up their stakes and treked across the plains and mountains 
 in caravans by the hundreds. Others went by boat to Aspin- 
 wall, made the toilsome portage to Panama, and thence by 
 slow steamer to San Francisco. It would have congested the 
 continental railways and the Panama Canal of 1923 to handle 
 the rush of 1849, but neither was available. In 1848, the 
 same year that gold was discovered in California, the first 
 locomotive was landed from a schooner in Chicago and the 
 latter was the bigger event of the two in its vast potentiali- 
 ties for the human race. 
 
100 HISTORY OF “AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Perhaps the best idea of the lack of transcontinental trans- 
 portation in those days is given by the fact that the postage 
 on a half ounce letter from San Francisco to the Atlantic 
 coast was 40 cents. 
 
 Although mails were first carried by railroads in 1834, and 
 all railroads had been declared post routes in 1839, it was not 
 until March 3, 1845, that postage on letters was reduced to 
 5 cents within 300 miles and 10 cents for greater distances; 
 
 
 
 TY PH.OF ENGINE. BUILT BY ROGERS IN 4848. 
 
 and not until 1851 was 3 cents made the rate for carrying a 
 half-ounce letter by mail for any distance under 3,000 miles. 
 Only the railways as developed in the United States and 
 Canada have made the carriage of one-ounce letters all dis- 
 tances on this continent for 2 cents postage possible. 
 
 The cost of all railways in the United States up to 1850 
 was estimated to be $372,770,000, or $34,307 per mile. 
 
 Erie 7 per cent bonds sold at $90 cost the company 7.77 
 perscent interest. 5 
 
 Seven states undertook to build railroads—namely, Penn- 
 sylvania, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, 
 Michigan and Illinois. All sold out at a loss. The State of 
 
SECOND DECADE, 1840-1850 101 
 
 eo 
 
 Pennsylvania built the Allegheny Portage road. ata cost of 
 $1,860,750. 
 
 The first iron rails imported from England were as durable 
 as modern steel rails, but cost $80 a‘ton. 
 
 WKhe first [-railss werevrolledvmi the- United States; at the 
 Montour Rolling Mills, Danville, Pa., in October, 1845. 
 
 By 1850 there were sixteen steamers plying on the Sacra- 
 mento, but the Golden Gate had not yet heard the first whistle | 
 
 of a. locomotive. 
 
 “It was during this decade that aerk John C. Fremont, the 
 Pathfinder, made his famous explorations across the conti- 
 nent that finally landed him at the mouth of the Columbia 
 river and earned for him the Republican party nomination 
 for President in 1856, in the initial campaign that four years 
 later was to culminate in the election of Abraham Lincoln 
 and the great war that followed. 
 
 While railway promotion and construction were the great 
 physical concern of this period, over the whole United States 
 the shadow of that great struggle was impending. It had 
 flared up in 1837, when the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot 
 while defending his printing press and paper at Alton, Illi- 
 nois, from an attack of a pro-slavery mob. And from that 
 point on all attempts to avoid, evade.or compromise the issue 
 in Congress or throughout the Nation were futile. Only the 
 lack of rapid transportation prevented the extremists of the 
 North and South coming to grips over the slavery question 
 earlier than they did. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 THE THIRD DECADE, 1850 to 1860 
 
 We hear the tread of pioneers 
 Of nations yet to be, s 
 The first low wash of waves, where soon 
 Shali roll a human sea. 
 —Whittier 
 Y the opening of the next decade, the railways of America 
 may be said to have passed the experimental stage. Their 
 gauge had been fixed by almost 
 universal adoption at 4 feet 8% 
 inches. The ‘T-rail, . which 
 found its prototype in the 550 
 bars, 15 feet iong and weighing 
 36 lbs. to the yard, imported 
 from England in 1831 for the 
 Camden & Amboy Railroad, 
 had supplanted by practically 
 common consent all other 
 forms of rails. It was laid on 
 wooden cross ties instead of 
 longitudinal sleepers or blocks 
 of stone. With the stone block, 
 its attendant iron chair to hold 
 the rail gave place to the fish- 
 joint held together between 
 fishplates with bolts running 
 through the ends of the rails. The rails themselves had in- 
 creased in weight to 56 and 60 pounds to the yard— these 
 weights themselves seemingly fixed, the one by halving the 
 British 112-pound hundredweight and the other by arith- 
 metical progression with 10 as the factor. At this stage Bri- 
 tish nomenclature parted company with the progress of Amer- 
 ican rail weights which went forward at the rate of 10 lbs. 
 a leap to each yard to reach and pass the 100-pound mark. 
 The length of the rail had also increased from 18 to 30 feet. 
 
 
 
 SIR HENRY BESSEMER 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 
 
 103 
 
 
 
 It was during this decade 
 that the first steel rails were 
 imported from England and 
 placed in the line of the Penn- 
 sylvania Company. They 
 cost $218 per ton, which may 
 be compared with the pre-war 
 (1914) price of $28 per ton. 
 But the discovery of the 
 Bessemer process, by which 
 steel ingots were manufac- 
 tured that could be rolled into 
 
 
 
 “PRAIRIE SCHOONER” OF THE 
 EARLY ’50s 
 
 No advance on the Conestoga wagon of 
 the 730s 
 
 rails without hammering, in 1855, put an end to such a prohib- 
 
 itive price on steel rails. 
 
 sir Henry Bessemer reaped an 
 
 ample pecuniary reward for his great contribution to the in- 
 dustrial world, but his knighthood was conferred in tardy 
 
 recognition for an earlier minor invention which the govern- 
 
 ment promptly appropriated without compensation. 
 In the evolution of the railway the constituent parts of the 
 American train had by this decade reached, in miniature at 
 
 
 
 “GOVERNOR MARCY,” BUILT FOR MICHIGAN SOUTHERN R. R. IN 1851 
 —Courtesy of American Locomotive Co. 
 
104 HISTORY “OF AMERICAN? KRAILEWVAYS 
 
 least, the stage familiar to every school child. The locomo- 
 tive had developed from the nondescript experiments of the 
 earlier days, as illustrated in preceding pages, into what be- 
 came the peculiarly American type, with its four coupled 
 driving wheels and its four-wheeled truck or bogie, with the 
 pilot or cowcatcher; the large headlight and the wooden cabs 
 with glass windows. The last had been adopted first in New 
 England to protect the engineers from freezing to death at 
 
 
 
 
 
 CROSSING THE PLAINS.IN THE LATER 750s 
 
 their throttles in the frigid winters north of the Connecticut 
 river. The smokestack had reached the transition stage be- 
 tween the funnel-shaped device with the sparkcatcher, typical 
 of the early wood burners, and the upright stovepipe effect 
 which was to approach the vanishing point, drawn in like a 
 turtle’s head, as the boilers assumed greater proportions. At 
 this stage the American locomotive was a gaudy affair capa- 
 risoned, so to speak, with shining brass rods which it was the 
 duty if not the pride of the crew to polish up so carefully that 
 thousands of pounds of cotton waste and hundreds of “man- 
 hours” were annually wasted in the useless process. One of 
 the great economic reforms credited to Commodore Vander- 
 bilt was the ordering that all these rods should be painted 
 black, as they are to this day. 
 
 The American passenger car of 1850 had assumed the form 
 
PHIRD DECADE, 4850-1860 105 
 
 
 
 and proportion it bears today—a long body mounted on two 
 four-wheeled bogies, first adopted in the United States to 
 permit lengthy engines and cars to round the sharp curves 
 with which our early lines abounded. The side entrance 
 which persists in England and Europe today had been aban- 
 doned for the end entrance and the center corridor. 
 
 But there is one feature of the modern American through 
 train that was generally missing in the make-up of the trains 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lt 
 
 anu HALA te 
 ad \ cee 
 : ig oe 
 
 a wil 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ae sal 
 ~— awa | Eun 
 IN Mia 
 
 “TICKETS PLEASE’”’—1850 
 
 Worse than the owl’s midnight hoot to the sleeping passenger. 
 Note the lantern’s sickly illumination. 
 
 of the ‘50s—the sleepers. Not until the average rail journey 
 extended beyond what could be compassed between sun-up 
 and sun-down was there a pressing demand for relief from 
 having to curl up on the length of a single seat. The sketch 
 of “A general view of a night car on the Central” in 1858, 
 from Harper's Weekly, represents the ills the traveler of that 
 period had to endure when he undertook to get anywhere 
 beyond Albany after dark and before George M. Pullman drew 
 a curtain over the fantastic scene. 
 
 Once more the writer avails himself of the clear view ob- 
 tained of railway conditions in the United States during the 
 period under review by condensing from a contemporaneous 
 account of a journey over the newly completed Baltimore & 
 Ohio from Baltimore to Wheeling, and thence by boat to Pitts- 
 burgh, contributed to Harper’s Monthly in the spring of 1857, 
 by Brantz Mayer, an American writer of note in those days. 
 The author was fortunate in finding himself a guest on a spe- 
 
 EGA 
 
 
 
106 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 cial train made up at Baltimore to carry the officials on a 
 reconnoissance of the road. It was composed of a fine engine, 
 followed by a car fitted up as a kitchen and dining room, 
 
 
 
 
 
 WHERE GEORGE M. PULLMAN GOT HIS INSPIRATION 
 Discomfort of Night Travel in a day car in the °50s 
 —From sketch in Harper’s Weekly in 1859 
 
 where fifteen or twenty could take their meals as comfortably 
 as in the cabin of a packet. Next came two cars with read- 
 ing rooms, writing tables, books, instruments and everything 
 requisite for the reconnoitering party, while portions were 
 fitted with staterooms for accommodations at night. A car 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 107 
 
 
 
 conveniently fitted up for observation brought up the rear. 
 Being a native of Baltimore of extensive travels, Captain 
 Mayer did not fail to note his appreciation of the admirable 
 “Commissary Department,’ which had already come to be 
 associated with such inspection tours. The train was scarcely 
 beyond the outskirts of Baltimore before it stopped for break- 
 fast at the Relay House. The fare consisted of Maryland’s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ELLICOTT’S MILL—FIFTEEN MILES FROM BALTIMORE 
 
 luxuries, “soft shell crabs” and “spring chicken.” Skirting 
 the brawling Patapsco, the train quickly passed Ellicott’s 
 Mills, famed as the first stop of the initial Baltimore & Ohio 
 train, and soon reached Elysville, where it lingered long 
 enough to permit the artist to make a sketch of the double 
 track iron bridge which spanned the river at that point. Re- 
 suming, it was not long before our observer emerged on the 
 Potomac not far from the Point of Rocks. Here the roadway 
 ran along a “ledge cut from the precipice of the Catochin 
 
108 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 Mountain, towering up on the right, and supported by broad 
 embanking walls that separate it from the canal and river on 
 the-lett.e 
 
 “At this point,’ says Captain Mayer, “the Potomac is a 
 third of a mile wide, and foams over a bed of ledges like so 
 many fractured barriers, denoting the conflict between the 
 ridge and the river when it burst through the hills. Such, 
 with few intermissions, is the character of scenery from the 
 Point of Rocks to Harper’s Ferry, which is built on a narrow 
 declivitous tongue lying directly in the confluence of the 
 Shenandoah and Potomac and was fed on either side by those 
 noble streams.” 
 
 By the aid of Captain Mayer’s lively description and the 
 quaint little woodcuts accompanying the letterpress, the 
 reader gains an impression of the natural obstacles confronted 
 and overcome by the distinguished engineer Benjamin H. 
 Latrobe, under whose inspir- 
 ing direction the road was 
 completed across the Alle- 
 ghenies to the Ohio. For a 
 description of the meeting of 
 the riyers -at, Harper's. Ferry, 
 the author has recourse to 
 the well-known passage from 
 Thomas Jefferson, supposed 
 to have been written in the 
 Shadow of the giant rock 
 overlooking the scene depict- 
 ed in the éengraving.. ~ You 
 stand; vsays he! Gia Cc uy 
 high point of land; on your 
 right comes up the Shenan- 
 doah, having ranged the foot 
 of the mountain a hundred 
 miles to seek a vent; on your 
 POINT OF ROCKS left approaches the Potomac 
 
 Seventy miles from Baltimore along the : 
 Chesapeake & Ohio canal in quest Osa portage aiso. 2in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 — 109 
 
 
 
 
 
 the moment of their junction they rush together against the 
 mountain, rend it asunder and pass off to the sea.” 
 As the captain’s companions wandered through the Na- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 EARLY TRON BRIDGE ON THE B..& O., NEAR ELYSVILLE, 21 MILES 
 FROM BALTIMORE 
 
 tional Armory at Harper’s Ferry, inspecting the preparations 
 made “to construct weapons for human slaughter,’ he in- 
 dulged in sentimental reflections regarding the belligerent 
 state of mankind. He had no gift of prescience or prophecy, 
 or he might have recorded some premonitory thoughts of 
 
 Pottawattamie Brown and 
 the tragic episodes to be en- 
 acted only two years later 
 within the shadows of those 
 sentinel mountains. Not a 
 few Americans think that 
 secession was hastened by the 
 Harper’s Ferry raid and that 
 the soul of American free- 
 dém went marching on to vic- 
 tory from the body of John 
 Brown the fanatical aboli- 
 tionist. 
 
 No such thoughts disturbed 
 the spirits of Captain Mayer 
 
 
 
 THE POTOMAC FROM “JEFFER- 
 ON’S ROCK” ; 
 
 Harper’s Ferry on the B. & O., 81 miles 
 from Baltimore 
 
110 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 and his companions as their train rolled on into the rugged 
 mountain fastnesses beyond Harper’s Ferry. Quickly it 
 panted up the valley of the Potomac, with brief stops at 
 Martinsburg and St. John’s Run, to Cumberland. The better 
 part of thirty-six hours had been consumed in making the one 
 hundred and ninety miles now easily run inside of five hours. 
 
 Cumberland naturally awakened memories of old Fort 
 Cumberland, famous as a frontier outpost on the Indian trail 
 down the Potomac. It had been the rendezvous for Brad- 
 dock’s ill-fated enterprise and through it passed the National 
 Road. Washington had visit- 
 ed it almost a century before, 
 in 1753-54 and ’56, and Cap- 
 tain Mayer has embalmed the 
 general’s headquarters in a 
 charming little wood cut giv- 
 en herewith. 
 
 Leaving Cumberland, the 
 a fp party continued to ascend the 
 _ HARPER’S FERRY IN 1857. *' chasm and defiles cut by the 
 With covered bridge across the Potomac : : 
 
 Potomac in the steep ledges 
 of the mountains towering high above. “No one,” says our 
 author, “has ever looked westward from the spot (Piermont) 
 without wondering how the passage is to be effected; yet no 
 one has made the journey without equal surprise at the seem- 
 ing ease by which science and energy have overcome every 
 impediment. As you pass forward from Piedmont the im- 
 pression is that you are about to run a tilt against the moun- 
 tain flank, 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 steep as it strikes the edge of Savage River, which boils 
 down the western shoulder of Savage Mountain. The transit » 
 from the world to the wilderness is instantaneous.” 
 
 Then the train passes on and up to Altamont, 2,620 feet 
 above tidewater and the greatest elevation along the route. 
 At Cranberry. Summit the travelers get the “first grand 
 glimpse of the ‘Western World’.” And it may be remarked 
 
 
 
 fy Sy, 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 Lil 
 
 
 
 
 
 that Balboa, when he first looked upon the placid horizon of 
 the Pacific, saw nothing grander or more impressive than the 
 scene that unfolds before American travelers as they emerge 
 on the western slope of the Alleghenies. 
 
 The journey down to Wheeling and by boat to Pittsburgh 
 need not be told in detail. As he passed through the territory 
 then first reclaimed from Nature, Captain Mayer soliloquized: 
 “In these central solitudes everything seems to be the prop- 
 erty of the wilderness—wilderness incapable of yielding to 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 iQ yt 
 
 Ta 
 
 Lf OG 
 Ye 
 
 f) 
 GT a 
 
 
 
 WASHINGTON’S HEADQUARTERS AT FORT CUMBERLAND 
 
 any mastery but that of an engineer; and it may fairly be- 
 come 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.” ‘The italics are the captain's 
 and suggest the inquiry, how comes it that such slight recog- 
 - nition has been accorded to the race of indomitable engineers 
 who pioneered the winning of our west from the barriers of 
 “absolute mountain, absolute forest and absolute solitude” 
 that less than three-quarters of a century ago this author said 
 separated the East from the West? 
 
 When Captain Mayer drove out to Braddock’s Battle Field 
 from Pittsburgh he found that a hundred years had obliterated 
 every trace of the conflict. Somewhat in the rear of the cen- 
 tral house shown in the sketch, he says, “was the hottest 
 
ees 7 HISTORY “OR SAMERICAN SRAILWV ATS 
 
 part of the battle, for ploughmen have found it to be a perfect 
 arsenal of balls, bullets, arrow-heads and hatchets. At pres- 
 ent it is waving with grain; through the midst of it the Penn- 
 sylvania Railroad has laid its iron track, and the yell of the 
 savage is exchanged for the shriek of the engine.” 
 
 What was to become the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad was 
 opened through all rail from 
 Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in 
 December, 1852. 
 
 The Baltimore & Ohio 
 reached Wheeling on _ the 
 Ohio river January 1, 1854. 
 
 The New York, Erie & 
 Western completed its line to 
 Lake? Erie on sApril: 22,1351. 
 
 The consolidated lines of 
 the New York Central and 
 Hudson River Railroad fin- 
 ally linked up New York with 
 Buffalo in 1853. 
 
 In these four events you 
 have a summary of the 
 master achievements in rail- 
 
 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT OF REDUCED 
 TIME—1851 ; 
 
 Pittsburgh to Philadelpia, 46 hours way construction on this con- 
 
 Pittsburgh to Baltimore, 44 hours ? ee 
 tinent within twenty-five 
 
 years after the first steam locomotive was built in America. 
 
 While the opening of communication between Philadelphia 
 and Pittsburgh by canal and railway belongs to the preceding 
 decade, the all rail route was left to be completed in that now 
 under discussion. 
 
 The rail route consisted of the piecing together of the 
 state owned line from Philadelphia to Columbia; the Harris- 
 burg, Portsmouth, Mt. Joy and Lancaster R. R. from Columbia 
 to Harrisburg; the Pennsylvania R. R. thence to Hollidays- 
 burg, where it linked up with the state owned Portage road 
 with its inclined planes over the Allegheny mountains to 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 Va gs: 
 
 Johnstown and thence to Pittsburgh over the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad. 
 
 The reader will remember how, after many vicissitudes, 
 the first horse railroad was pushed through from Philadelphia 
 to Columbia on the Susquehanna. It was not until 1836 that 
 the horse was finally relegated to the stables as the motive 
 power on this incipient trunk line. The reader will also re- 
 
 
 
 BRADDOCK BATTLE FIELD IN 1857 
 
 member how in 1842 the novelist Charles Dickens took the 
 canal boat at Columbia and was wafted, so to speak, at the 
 rate of two miles an hour up the Susquehanna river to the 
 mouth of the Juniata, along which tortuous stream he was 
 carried by boat up into the heart of the Alleghenies at Holli- 
 daysburg. There he was hoisted by five inclines into the 
 rarified mountain atmosphere 2,800 feet above the sea level, 
 to be dropped down to Johnstown on the other side. Thence 
 he took another boat for Pittsburgh. 
 
 This afforded a varied and romantic experience in early 
 American travel to the English novelist, but it had its disad- 
 vantages, very apparent to the shrewd commercial minds of 
 Philadelphia, who saw that city’s interests imperiled by the 
 building of the Baltimore & Ohio to the South and the Erie 
 canal and rail connections reaching out from New York to 
 the great lakes at the north. So along in April, 1846, the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad got a charter to build a railroad from 
 
114 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 ooo 
 
 Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, or other place in the county of Alle- 
 gheny, with authority to extend the road or a branch thereof 
 to Erie, as might be deemed most expedient. The capi- 
 tal of the company was placed at $7,500,000 with the privilege 
 of increasing it to $10,000,000. The charter provided that in case 
 the company should have a certain sum of money in its treasury 
 and fifteen miles of road under construction at each terminus 
 prior to July 30, 1847, the law granting the Baltimore & Ohio 
 a right to build from Cumberland, Maryland, to Pittsburgh should 
 be null.and void. These conditions were promptly complied with, 
 to the discomfiture of parties interested in the rival company. 
 
 It will be of present interest to recall that the originators 
 of this enterprise took great pains to enlist popular co-opera- 
 tion in their undertaking. Committees went from house to 
 house in Philadelphia canvassing for subscriptions; public 
 meetings were held everywhere; the press was actively favor- 
 able to a project that meant so much to the commonwealth, 
 and no stone was left unturned that promised a subscription. 
 The first annual report to the directors records that out of 
 2,600 subscriptions on the books nearly 1,800 were for five 
 shares or under. 
 
 Work was pushed steadily from either end, so that by 
 September, 1850, the line was opened to the Mountain House, 
 near Hollidaysburg, where connection was made with the 
 state owned Portage railroad over the Allegheny mountains. 
 The gap between Johnstown and Pittsburgh was speedily com- 
 pleted and, by using the Portage inclines, cars were run 
 through from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh on December 10, 
 1850. 
 
 In February, 1854, the Pennsylvania Railroad completed 
 its own road over the Allegheny mountains, thus bringing 
 its line from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh into use. It was orig- 
 inally intended to be built as a single track road, but as the — 
 work progressed it was deemed advisable to make provision 
 for a second track, and this was laid on the Mountain Division 
 and for considerable stretches on other parts of the line. The 
 cost of the road in 1854, exclusive of equipment, was approxi- 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 115 
 
 
 
 mately $12,700,000, and practically all of this money was 
 raised from the sale of capital stock at par, although a portion 
 of the capital came from loans 
 made*in 1852. The out- 
 standing amount of capital 
 stock at par on January 1, 
 1854, amounted to $11,228,020, 
 on which 6 per cent interest 
 was paid until the payment 
 of dividends began in May, 
 18567 +. 
 
 But many vexatious mat- 
 ters between the company 
 and the state remained to be 
 adjusted before the road 
 couldyabercleared™ for. the 
 great part it was destined to 
 play in the settlement of the 
 American _ transportation 
 problem. The State of Penn- 
 sylvania had invested over |, BDOAR Towson ser 
 $33,000,000 in canals and rail- 
 Poads;sand.-that-part known as the “Main Line of- Public 
 Works” was purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1857. 
 The cost of the “Main Line” to the State, as reported by the 
 
 Auditor General in 1843, was as follows: 
 
 
 
 COMER SPE mG nk eae ieke ae Rey, SEO Ror eke Bee $ 4,204 ,969.96 
 Bra sverte caivicion olicanal 26 iret es Fc Apia eos 1,736,599.42 
 etiam LU ISI ONL Ol SCANAL 6 Mao ea ce ars. hee S52b 41221 
 PROTO ES AAI SOAL ces ok eiott Siete al Biocon ate 1,828 461-38 
 WeSretnl division of Catialt oo: 3) wih. J allad 3,069,877.38 
 
 POtaines ws “Bip Chad 5 Ae Mya i agp es le es ee ge kB $14 361,320.35 
 
 In the final adjustment of the differences between the 
 State and the railroad, the latter paid to the State of Penn- 
 sylvania $13,570,000. 
 
 In this connection it is interesting to recall the hard bar- 
 gain which the State imposed on the railroad in the nature 
 of a tonnage tax of 5 mills per mile for each ton carried 
 eimore than §20 ‘miles* over. the road between March 
 
116 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 INTERIOR OF FIRST CLASS PASSENGER .COACH, 1852 
 
 and December of each year, but not during the winter months, 
 because the State owned canal could not then be operated, 
 and the railroad would not then be competing with the State 
 Line of Public Works. A supplement to the original Act 
 incorporating the Pennsylvania Railroad, provided for the re- 
 duction of the tax to 3 mills per ton per mile during the entire 
 year, instead of 5 mills between March and December, and if, 
 after completion of the road, this reduction should not yield 
 as much revenue to the State as the 5-mill rate, the latter 
 was to be restored at the option of the Legislature. Upon 
 its purchase of the Main Line of Public Works in 1857, the 
 Act provided that the Company should be discharged from 
 the payment of this tonnage tax. This Act was declared 
 unconstitutional, with the result that the company found itself 
 in possession of the Public 
 Works, and at the same time 
 burdened with this - tonnage 
 tax. The final outcome was 
 the passage of an Act on 
 
 ey ee March /th, 1861, commuting 
 Pn en Nee are ae this tonnage tax provided the 
 
 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 WL 
 
 Pennsylvania Railroad would pay the State the sum of 
 $460,000 annually until July 31st, 1890. The final cost to 
 the Pennsylvania Railroad, including interest, was approxi- 
 
 mately $15,500,000. 
 On to the Mississippi 
 
 Having successfully passed the great barrier of mountain 
 ranges that separated the East from the West in the ’50s, 
 the promoters of these early railways cast longing eyes on 
 the great plains that stretched invitingly before them. But 
 they found that other railway pioneers had preceded them 
 and covered Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Iowa and 
 the States to the South with a perfect network of projects. 
 Many of these dated back to the preceding decades, only to 
 be abandoned when everything went blue in the financial 
 depression that extended from 1837 to 1844. 
 
 So it was that the New York Central interests found the 
 Michigan Central and the Michigan Southern Railroads ready 
 to connect up with their lines at Buffalo for the through 
 routes to Chicago, while several other lines, since consolidated 
 into the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway 
 (Big Four), afforded it direct access to the principal centers 
 of the West. 
 
 The Pennsylvania found another group of nascent rail- 
 roads, none too prosperous, ready for its consolidating hand. 
 These were finally gathered into the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne 
 & Chicago Railway, which it had helped to promote and 
 finance. Some of the rails which were taken from the State 
 owned Portage Railroad were used on the Fort Wayne road. 
 This furnished a direct route from New York, Philadelphia 
 and Washington to Chicago, and, while the Pittsburgh, Fort 
 Wayne & Chicago Railway was leased to the Pennsylvania 
 for 999 years from 1869, it was some years later before this 
 entire route from New York to Chicago came under direct 
 control of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Starting at 
 Pittsburgh from its eastern connection, the Pennsylvania 
 pieced together several lines to which it had rendered financial 
 assistance and by which it reached successively Columbus and 
 
118 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio, then Indianapolis and Terre Haute, Indiana, 
 and so on to St. Louis. 
 
 The Erie, or the New York, Lake Erie & Western, as it 
 was originally called, was stopped in its tracks at Dunkirk 
 by its 6-foot gauge, which was not reduced to 4 feet 8% inches 
 until 1878. Its story from then on to late in the century was 
 involved in financial shallows and quicksands that have dis- 
 tracted popular attention from its great services to the social 
 and commercial interests of the Union. At this time the Erie 
 had connection out into Ohio over the broad gauged track of 
 the Atlantic & Great. Western trom) Salamanca, Waey 
 Dayton, O. 
 
 The Baltimore & Ohio System, after reaching Wheetes 
 pursued its meandering way across the intervening territory 
 to Chicago on such local stepping stones as the Central Ohio 
 Railroad, the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Railroad and 
 the Newark, Somerset & Straitsville Railroad to finally reach 
 its objective under its own name from Chicago Junction, Ohio, 
 to Baltimore Junction, Illinois. From Cumberland its south- 
 ern branch, via Parkersburg and Cincinnati, reached its objec- 
 tive at St. Louis. os 
 
 The detail history of the railways through the Central 
 West is a story of faith, hope and disappointment. Their 
 promoters had everything necessary to success—vision, cour- 
 age, enterprise and energy—but lacked financial resources. 
 
 The stringency of funds for railway construction was em- 
 phasized and probably tightened by the specter of State regula- 
 tion that began to hover over all rail projects and heralded 
 its approach by asserting the right to violate the early char- 
 ters that granted authority to fix rates within certain maxima. 
 In different charters these maxima ran as high as 13 cents a 
 ton mile. The charter of the Petersburg Railroad prohibited 
 charging more than 13 cents per ton mile, that of the Balti- 
 more & Ohio forbade freight charges exceeding 4 cents a 
 ton mile. Between these rates the carriers were permitted 
 to fix almost any rate the traffic would bear and they very 
 generally fixed them low enough to De the canals out of 
 business. 
 
THIRD* DECADE, | 1850-1860 et, 
 
 
 
 South of the Ohio river the forerunners of the Louisville 
 & Nashville and the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis were 
 feeling their way into the western half of what in the next 
 decade was to be the Southern Confederacy. Railway build- 
 ing throughout the South Atlantic States during this period 
 was fully abreast of that at the North. In 1860 Georgia, with 
 1,420 miles open, ranked next to Indiana in completed mile- 
 age. In that year the completed mile to population was as 
 follows: 
 
 
 
 Miles of 
 Railway Population 
 
 AMG aa Naa le dae ae Oe ann in Ee ed 743 964,201 
 Pei ei Sead Meats ye Ge deen CYR a cate wares 38 435,450 
 SUG CaN AES.) Mae amas Peeees hee pares Zo 379,994 
 POE RECO teint hoa. Bac e al. s Heck 601 460,147 
 re lanveat Chet c os ee ease hg Vaan ean Lee 112,216 
 TORIC A eh oe Ney wae Oe Cols tt 402 140,424 
 (TCHR SAT pee aad ee Eee IE ee a 1,420 1,057,286 
 SATE oF ca Me aa one ee pel i ke ne 2,799 & 1,711,951 
 LMGP Naat y ope tgh Bpenle > Jae) eee ees 2163 & 1,350,428 
 Wey ei oe site ee ie be gehaeS o 655 674,913 
 Kentucky RAI yee, lt Tee fe eee 534 1,155,684 
 Peeiera tia ins, Bet a yek ict Secs §oit 6) 335 708,002 
 row Fem ea etn ee ty Pe 472 628,279 
 Nrarnylatie wands) 7 fc: Fok. os. 386 762,129 
 WP SeaU SCL Ses Wes: fea contsbelor chrh ats 1,264 1,231,066 
 1A Ve) 8 Cade Ase See amt Ro Oe Ba a A a oe RSE 779 749,113 
 ios teet tee ee ces oo kes ho oe ome 862 791,305 
 GSS Tit tele et te ues ee es asa gc oS 817 1,182,012 
 INGA eels SMa h eer eee vain Jak Xa 661 326,073 
 Dre wveh Bese ven eat can, Suis steams «es 560 672,035 
 PNW Wad OE cl Bene tae Oe Ean nee i we 2,682 3,880,735 
 North: Carolina: 2.3... A Rae ie cee oS 937 992,622 
 TO ee ee ee ee a a he a BOAG Cine, Sooo oa | 
 Penisylyatiatye east eat on. s; 2,598 2B 2,906,215 
 [Pel Pepitee o RAE Wade Pear eee Pier gee 108 174,620 
 SOU CLakett Olay wee, Sot p as ce a aie 973 703,708 
 at 0S CCP Ne cs eee be koh ons ee £253 1,109,801 - 
 Sle Ae ee A Os Ne oat Gi nc a 307 604,215 
 reat OUl Laren otk ie eerie hc sed cme eres 554 315,098 
 LVilae icity Bey fat SAE det tweaks Bales 1,379 1,596,318 
 NV GS CO SAM Me PETA NT. tia Sots ye cial te acs 905 775,881 
 
 EIR CES Wee. eETea alee ree Oke ule 30,635 29,791,431 
 
 Increase, 10 years—239.6 per cent. 
 
 The youthful reader cannot fail to note that the general trend 
 of all this early railway construction was westward. Its pro- 
 moters, engineers and surveyors were followers of the sun. 
 Nevertheless there was one noteworthy exception. From 
 
120 HISTORY OP: AMERICAN: RAILWAYS 
 
 its first inception the Illinois Central Railway was conceived 
 and designed to be a main traveled railroad running length- 
 wise from end to end of Illinois. Among the railways con- 
 templated under the State Act of 1837, for which the sum of 
 $11,315,099 was appropriated, the “Central Railroad,” as it 
 was named, was projected to traverse Illinois from “the con- 
 fluence of the Ohio and Mississippi” at Cairo, through the 
 western terminus of the Illinois & Michigan Canal at La 
 Salle to Galena on the Mississippi near the extreme north- 
 west corner of the State. Of the sum mentioned as appro- 
 priated, which was for general internal improvements, 
 $3,500,000 was apportioned to the “Central.” After $506,000 
 of this had been expended, mostly on surveys and preliminary 
 work, the plan was abandoned. Several attempts to revive 
 the enterprise made no headway until, in 1851, a charter was 
 granted to a new company to avail itself of the grant of public 
 lands by Congress to the State of Illinois for the building of 
 a railroad from Cairo to Chicago. With this aid and the 
 change in the destination of the road, its construction began 
 in earnest and was prosecuted with such vigor that by 1856 
 the main line from Cairo to Chicago and from Centralia to 
 Dunleith, opposite Dubuque on the Mississippi, was com- 
 pleted and opened for traffic. 
 
 Under the terms of its charter this entitled the railroad 
 company to receive title to some 2,595,000 acres of land along 
 its right of way. This grant was made conditioned on the 
 railway company paying 7 per cent out of its gross earn- 
 ings from the line built under it in the State into the State 
 Treasury of Illinois, in lieu of other taxes. That provision 
 has proved a most profitable one to the State, which from 
 this source alone has received many times over the value of 
 the lands granted. Up tothe end ‘of 1922 this chartenstax 
 amounted to $54,380,586, whereas the normal tax covering the 
 same period would not have exceeded $24,000,000. Before the 
 railroad was built the land it received was for the most part 
 unsalable at $1.25 per acre. Within six years of the com- 
 pletion of the road it had disposed of 1,300,000 acres and was 
 offering the remaining, 1,200,000 at prices ranging from $6 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 121 
 
 
 
 to $25 per acre. First class farming land at that time was 
 selling at about $10 to $12 an acre. When it is considered 
 that even then the Illinois Central went through such centers 
 as Vandalia, Bloomington, Dixon, Freeport, Mendota, Cen- 
 tralia, Mattoon and Urbana, the price seems almost incredible. 
 
 
 
 TRAIN ENTERING RANDOLPH STREET STATION OF ILLINOIS 
 CENTRAL RAILROAD. IN CHICAGO IN 1857 
 (See plans for new station in chapter XI.) 
 
 If the reader would appreciate the full strategic value of 
 the Illinois Central at the time it was opened, let him study 
 a railway map of the United States of that period. With the 
 extension of the Illinois Central over the New Orleans & 
 Jackson and the Mississippi Central Railways to New Orleans, 
 he will perceive that this road skirted what was then the out- 
 skirts of railway construction from the Gulf of Mexico to the 
 northernmost point in Illinois. It is rarely over fifty miles 
 east from the Mississippi, and only in the center of Illinois 
 
122 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 does it wander a hundred miles from the “Father of Waters.” 
 Rather, the “Father” does the wandering. Where the river, 
 by reason of its serpentine windings, takes 1,700 miles from 
 Dubuque to the Gulf, the direct rail gets there in 950. This 
 difference alone, if the rail transportation possessed no other 
 advantage, was enough to put the Mississippi out of the car- 
 rying business, except for local traffic. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FIRST MICHIGAN CENTRAL TRAIN IN DEARBORN IN 1855 
 Then a post village ten miles west of Detrcit—Now the home town of Henry Ford 
 
 Few Tracks West of the Mississippi 
 
 In 1860 the steam locomotive had not made its appearance 
 on the far side of the Mississippi at more than half a dozen 
 points. A beginning had been made to connect Vicksburg 
 with Shreveport. There was a short line into Arkansas con- 
 necting Memphis with Little Rock. From St. Louis several 
 roads started west, but none of them had reached Kansas 
 City. Des Moines, Iowa, was the center of three “railways 
 in progress” with none completed. Council Bluffs was the 
 objective of a line in the survey stage. Eliminating the four 
 states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Iowa, that vast 
 territory west of the Mississippi was without a railway track 
 

 
 PHAIKDCDEGADE, 1850-1860 123 
 
 except for 23 miles in California and 307 miles in Texas. Dis- 
 regarding these lonely 330 miles, this meant that more than 
 half (63 per cent) of the land area of the United States only 
 sixty odd years ago was absolutely without the means of the 
 easy transportation that had brought comfort and prosperity 
 to the eastern section of the Union. It is doubtful if there 
 
 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER—THE FIRST AMERICAN COAL BURNING 
 LOCOMOTIVE 
 —Courtesy S. M. Felton, son of the builder. 
 
 was a farmer or resident in all that trackless territory who 
 
 would not have given the shirt off his back to hear those— 
 Two low whistles quaint and clear, 
 
 That was the signal the engineer— 
 ‘That. was the signal Guild, ’tis’ said— 
 Gave to his wife at Providence, 
 As through the sleeping town and thence, 
 Out in the night, 
 On to the light, 
 Down past the farms lying white he sped! 
 
 The Land Grant Period 
 
 Such was the situation that caused and explained the ready 
 response of Congress and state legislatures to appeals for 
 erants of public lands. The year 1850 was to see the inau- 
 guration of a national policy of granting lands in aid of rail- 
 way construction. The subject had been buffeted about in 
 Congress for a score of years. What between state jeal- 
 ousy, constitutional inhibition, the slavery question and bitter 
 
124 HISTORY OF AMERICAN” RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 dissension over the tariff, Congress backed and filled on prop- 
 ositions to give the railways pre-emption rights or outright 
 land grants, and from 1833 to 1850 ended by doing nothing. 
 
 Now the need to do something was obvious, if the most 
 necessary of all pending internal improvements was not to 
 fail in its mission of uniting the distant sections of the country 
 in the bonds of commercial, social and industrial union. The 
 separate states had essayed the task of helping to finance 
 these improvements, but the states that needed them most 
 were least able to bear the burden. They could neither build 
 and operate the railways themselves nor back private compa- 
 nies. The result was disastrous, driving some states into in- 
 solvency and even to a repudiation of debts so incurred. The 
 canals and post roads in which the states had invested 
 so heavily had been generally obsolete almost before they 
 were open for traffic. 
 
 At this time the Federal government was long on land 
 and short on ready cash. The public domain in the ’50s has | 
 been summarized as follows: 
 
 States icessionscitatres) saeco a ee 258,504,129 
 Louisiana: purchases! S034. te ae 750,686,855 
 Floridaspurchase. 715100 us nee 35,264,500 
 Mexican cession, 1848 ‘/.......... 329,623,255 
 Léexas purchase 1350 2 ae. eine cee 62,266,953 
 Gadsden purchase, 1653"-4) 200 ate 29,142,400 
 
 Totaly.t: tas ao ore 1,465,488,092 
 
 The Alaskan purchase in 1867.added 369,520,600 acres to 
 this total; but little to its market value, being bought for 
 $7,200,000 cash—that is, 2 cents an acre, which probably fixed 
 the lump sum. In 1850 the Government could not give its 
 land away in wholesale lots at $1.00. 
 
 Such was the land situation in the United States in 1850, 
 when Stephen A. Douglas, only recently elected to the Senate, 
 began his successful campaign for the Illinois Central land 
 grant with all the ability and political sagacity of which he 
 was master. A similar bill had passed the Senate in a_pre- 
 vious session, and by coupling the Illinois grant with one for 
 a like grant from Alabama and Mississippi to the Mobile & 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 Vs 
 
 Ohio the necessary votes were shifted from those states in 
 the South to insure its passage. As this bill set the form for 
 others that followed, its general features may be summarized 
 as applying to all. 
 
 The Act of September 20, 1850, granted lands to Illinois 
 for a road from the southern terminus of the Illinois and Mich- 
 igan canal to a point at or near the junction of the Ohio and 
 
 
 
 “OREGON OR BUST” WAGON OF THE ’50s. 
 
 Note the automobile in the background, of which neither man nor quadruped dreamed 
 as they plodded their weary way toward the yellowing sunset 
 
 Mississippi rivers with a branch of the same to Chicago on 
 Lake Michigan and another via the town of Galena to Du- 
 buque in the State of Iowa. The main line was to be built 
 within six years. The lands of the road were to be exempt 
 from taxation and in lieu of this 5 per cent of the gross in- 
 come of the road each year was to be paid into the state 
 treasury. Besides giving a right of way for 100 feet on either 
 side of the road, the bill conveyed to the railway company 
 the alternate even numbered sections of unpre-empted land, 
 within six miles of the road, with a proviso, introduced by 
 Jefferson Davis, then senator, restricting the choice of lands 
 in lieu of pre-empted lands to those within fifteen miles of 
 
126 HISTORY »OF AMERICAN *RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 the road, for he considered this as far as a loaded team could 
 go and return in a day. The line was to remain a public 
 highway for the use of the Government, and mail was to 
 be transported for such price as Congress might direct. If 
 the road was not completed within ten years, the lands should 
 revert to the Government and the state should pay the United 
 States the amount received from the lands already sold. 
 
 The same general features appear in the grants to other 
 states. Subsequently, however, the grants were increased 
 from six to ten miles and the indemnity limits from fifteen 
 to twenty miles. The grants to the Pacific roads, being of 
 lands generally in territories, were made directly to the cor- 
 porations. 
 
 The Illinois Central was compieted within the time limit, 
 with the percentage of revenue in lieu of taxes raised to 7 
 per cent; and under the terms, of the Act 1t-received-tmiewe 
 2,095,133 acres. Of this, up to 1895, it had disposed of all 
 but 87,373 acres and had received something over twenty 
 million dollars, or less than $10 an acre. The price fixed in 
 1856 was from $5 to $25 an acre, on six years’ credit with 
 interest at 3 per cent. Deeds were not given until the entire 
 price was paid, so the tax exemption inured to the purchaser 
 for six years. 
 
 Besides insuring the prompt building of the road the grant 
 to the Illinois Central accomplished the purpose for which it 
 was made—the sale of the public lands. These were a drug 
 on the market at $1.25 an acre. Coincident with the Act of 
 Congress, the price was advanced to $2.50 and by 1855 all 
 the Government lands were reported as sold. Thus were all 
 the predictions of its advocates fulfilled. Illinois got its cen- 
 tral railroad; the Nation its Gulf to Galena connection; the 
 Government got rid of its unsalable lands and the people of 
 the United States secured transportation facilities for which 
 they had been clamoring for a generation. Before the close 
 of the decade, Congress had duplicated its grant to Illinois, 
 Alabama and Mississippi with grants in aid of railways to 
 Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, Lou- 
 isiana, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. In 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 127 
 
 almost every instance the conditions of the grants were ful- 
 filled and everywhere the Government and the people reaped 
 benefits far beyond those they bestowed. 
 
 Writing on this subject in Bulletin No. 30 of the Univer- 
 sity of Wisconsin (1899), Professor John Bell Sanborn, to 
 whom I am indebted for much of the foregoing, says: 
 
 “These lands have not been the source of wealth to the 
 roads that is commonly supposed. Even in the case of the 
 largest grants the balance for the whole period is quite small 
 and in many cases the land departments are now a source of 
 expense rather than of revenue.” The average price obtained 
 was under $10 per acre. “Comparing the building of the 
 roads which received land grants,” he continues,” with those 
 that did not, it seems that there was no particular need for 
 most of the grants. Unaided roads were built along similar 
 routes even faster than aided ones. The great transconti- 
 nental roads, however, probably needed the assistance in the 
 shape of lands or bonds to secure their construction at the 
 time they were built.” 
 
 Throughout the history of railway building in the United 
 States the brains, the constructive capacity, the untiring en- 
 ergy and resourcefulness, the vision, courage and pertinacity 
 put in their work by the leading spirits of the day counted 
 for far more than anything in the form of appropriations of 
 land or bonds. The land had to be sold for a song and the 
 bonds had to be redeemed. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln in Congress and later in the White 
 House never hesitated to lend public assistance to the one 
 medium that promised to unite farm and factory for the com- 
 mon weal. He would have preferred to see the Illinois land 
 grant without the enhancement in price of the land retained, 
 but accepted the principle of Senator Douglas’ bill. 
 
 Lincoln .on Railways and Waterways 
 
 It was not in connection with land grants, however, that 
 the Great Emancipator was to make his most noteworthy 
 contribution to railway progress westward across this conti- 
 nent. In June, 1854, a party of 250 excursionists, including 
 
128 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 ex-President Fillmore and Charles A. Dana of the New York 
 
 Sun started from Chicago to celebrate the completion of the 
 Chicago & Rock Island Railroad to the Mississippi opposite 
 
 Davenport. It traveled in two sections and took eighteen 
 hours to cover the distance now easily negotiated in eight. 
 The rails ended at Rock Island on the eastern bank of the 
 
 
 
 FIRST WOODEN BRIBGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI AT DAVENPORT, 
 TA; 1859 
 
 river. It was at that point that the great rivals—railways 
 and waterways—were to come to grips, and the precedence 
 of the rail over the boat for interstate transport was to be 
 demonstrated and decided. In that decision Abraham Lincoln 
 played a leading part. 
 
 With the coming of the rails to the river bank, steps were 
 immediately taken to build a bridge across to Rock Island and 
 thence by a longer structure to the Iowa: shore. The steam- 
 boat interests at once took alarm and invoked the aid of the 
 Secretary of War, who happened to be Jefferson Davis, to 
 withhold permission for bridging navigable waters. Applica- 
 tion was made to the Federal Court for an injunction against 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 129 
 
 the rail intruders. Justice John McLean of the Supreme 
 Court denied the injunction, the bridge was built, and on 
 April 2lst the locomotive named the “Des Moines” crossed 
 to the Iowa shore. “On the following day,” says the narra- 
 tive, “three locomotives coupled together with two tenders 
 and eight passenger cars crossed the new bridge today.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PRESENT STEEL BRIDGE, OVER THE MISSISSIPPI (1923) 
 
 Fourteen days later the Louisville-New Orleans packet 
 “Effie Alton,” sent north from St. Louis, passed through the 
 draw ; but 200 feet above the bridge one of her wheels stopped 
 and she was swept against the bridge, took fire, which spread 
 to the span and destroyed it. The owner of the “Effie Alton” 
 brought suit against the Railroad Bridge Company. Mr. Lin- 
 coln was employed by the defense and made his memorable 
 argument in which he foresaw the traffic going over the bridge 
 exceeding that passing under it. He urged that the Missis- 
 sippi, that great channel of trade “extending from where it 
 never freezes to where it never thaws,’ should not block the 
 travel from East to West which was building up new com- 
 
130 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 munities with a rapidity never before seen in the history of 
 the world. “This current of travel,’ said he, “has its rights 
 as well as that of North and South. If the river had not the 
 advantage in priority and legislation we could enter into free 
 competition with it and we could surpass it.” 
 
 The jury disasreed and was discharged, but another suit 
 was brought in the Federal 
 District Court for Iowa and 
 the bridge was declared a 
 nuisance and piers lying with- 
 in the State of Lowa were or- 
 dered removed. This de- 
 cision was reversed on appeal. 
 In its decision the Supreme 
 Court held that according to 
 rae the assumption of the bill “no 
 
 FIRST NIAGARA SUSPENSION lawful bridge could be built 
 Begun in 1852; opened March 8, 1855 across the Mississippi any 
 ee heuE where. Nor could harbors or 
 rivers be improved; nor could ’the great facilities to commerce, 
 accomplished by the invention of railroads, be made available 
 where great rivers had to be crossed.” 
 
 Thus was the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln in favor of the 
 survival of the fittest form of transportation imbedded in the 
 supreme law of the land. The accompanying illustrations 
 show the first bridge across the Mississippi and the present 
 Steel structure that) has’ replaced=itt 
 
 
 
 Bridging Niagara 
 
 It has been said that there are only three ways of cross- 
 ing a river—by a bridge, a ferry or a ford. In their progress 
 across the continent the railways have known only the first 
 two, unless the numerous piers in some of the early. bridges 
 could be considered as so many stepping stones in the cross- 
 ing of broad and shallow rivers. Until quite recently the ma- 
 jority of roads entering New York City, or Manhattan as it 
 is now called, did so by ferries from New Jersey, the New 
 York Central controlling the entrance by a bridge over the 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 131 
 
 
 
 Harlem river, or straits as it was originally named. When 
 the railways first reached Buffalo they had the chojce to ferry 
 across Niagara river above the Falls or making a detour 
 around Lake Erie by what is now the Lake Shore route. The 
 Canada Southern across the peninsula of Ontario offered a 
 tempting level air line route with a ferry at either end. Plans 
 were immediately adopted to bridge the gorge of Niagara 
 river, and John A. Roebling, the genius of the great Brooklyn 
 
 
 
 CANTILEVER BRIDGE AT NIAGARA—OPENED IN 1883 
 ‘ Note old suspension bridge in background 
 
 bridge, was the engineer employed to draw the plans and exe- 
 cute the work. Construction was begun in 1852 and the 
 bridge was opened for traffic on March 8, 1853. Windsor, on 
 the St. Clair river opposite Detroit, was the western terminus 
 of the road, and trains were shipped bodily across to Ameri- 
 can soil on large ferry boats. Quite recently the use of ferries 
 has been largely circumvented by a tubular tunnel under the 
 river, made possible by electrical motors. Long before this 
 the Grand Trunk of Canada had tunneled the river at Sarnia. 
 
 In the process of development the stone towers of the 
 original suspension bridge at Niagara were replaced by steel 
 

 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN 
 
 STEEL ARCH SPAN OVER NIAGARA RIVER—1924 
 
 RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 skeletons and the 
 chasm was spanned 
 by a new steel can- 
 tilever And as this 
 is written otire se 
 structures have been 
 supplemented by a 
 giant steel arch 
 bridge. “Phe allus- 
 trations. te Lieu 
 story of evolution in 
 railway bridges bet- 
 ter than columns of 
 technical descrip- 
 tion, 
 
 What the Early 
 Railways Cost 
 
 It is very difficult 
 to arrive at a con- 
 vincing estimate of 
 what 1t -costqeto 
 finance, construct 
 and equip the early 
 American railways. 
 From the beginning 
 there was no stan- 
 dard by which to 
 measure the ex- 
 pense. Everything 
 was experimental. 
 The engineer of the 
 period did not know 
 from day to day 
 what new _ proposi- 
 tion would be 
 sprung on him over 
 night. Not a single 
 through system got 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 133 
 
 to the end of its proposed route with the same form of struc- 
 tures and equipment with which it started out. Rails, ties, 
 ballast, joints, switches—all underwent a constant and some- 
 times radical process of evolution. There was no resemblance 
 between the locomotives, passenger cars and freight cars of 
 1830 and those of 1860. The difference between the 5-ton 
 “Stourbridge Lion” and the 28-ton locomotive that scaled the 
 Alleghenies in the ’50s may be said to fairly measure the dif- 
 ference that existed between the rail facilities of the two per- 
 iods. Everything in between had been discarded and replaced, 
 at constantly increasing cost and in face of recurring financial 
 panics. : 
 
 It has been estimated that the total investment in the 
 30,635 miles of line completed in 1860 was $1,150,000,000, or 
 about $37,000 per mile. Railway acccounting was very loose 
 and careless on many of the roads through those constructive 
 days. Uniform accounting was a long way off even after the 
 Civil War. But $37,000 a mile may be accepted as a reason- 
 able average cost in 1860. 
 
 For the purpose of subsequent comparison, it may ,be well 
 to give the following estimated cost of equipment for the 
 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul in 1854: 
 
 8 locomotives @ $9,000 ..... i ash $ 72,000 
 Brpassenper. cares (0) 2,100) 28s. cow an 16,800 
 SEAS CAGE CCES I bl OU toe aa ee 6,400 
 /Ovycicht! cars; OS) G00 eis t ac: 45,500 
 Platform ane coravelscaree asc sisaex ¢. 25,000 
 
 SES Perret codes GaP wh 2 Fn Ae rds | aah $165,700 
 
 As an illustration of how enthusiastic estimates invited 
 well-nigh ruinous results, the case of the Ohio & Mississippi, 
 built in the ’50s as an extension of the Baltimore & Ohio, may 
 be cited. A distinguished engineer who was invited to con- 
 duct the survey of the line reported that “throughout the 
 entire distance from Cincinnati to St. Louis no grade exceed- 
 -ing forty feet to the mile had been found necessary.” He 
 estimated the entire cost of construction and equipment at 
 $6,000,000, which he subsequently revised in detail to $5,045,- 
 -000. The first contract called for $9,000,000, and before it 
 -was completed the cost had risen to $20,000,000, or $58,800 
 
134 FISTORY (OF “AMERICAN VRAILIVALS 
 
 per mile, which had been extracted from different sources 
 with increasing difficulty. But the faithful chronicler of the 
 day concludes: 
 
 “Though individuals have lost, the country has gained. 
 The road is worth the money.” 
 
 It was such experiences as this, running through succes- 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE AMOSKEAG 
 A fine model of 1851 
 —Photo American Locomotive Company 
 
 sive reorganizations, that lapped up the millions of water that 
 kept the life in American railways from 1837 to 1860. 
 
 St. Paul Sees Visions 
 
 In 1853 St. Paul, located on the Mississippi below the falls 
 of St. Anthony, was a thriving town of some 5,000 inhabitants 
 who firmly believed that they held the key to all the vast 
 region north and west of them. In the morning they looked 
 hopefully to the East, impatiently waiting for the completion 
 of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad to Dubuque. It 
 was already open to Rockford. On this they relied for trans- 
 portation to Chicago and thence to “New York, Boston and 
 almost any other place you please,” as expressed by the histo- 
 rian of that day. In the, evening the same inhabitants saw 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 135 
 
 a vision in the western sky of “the early completion of a rail- 
 road from the Mississippi to San Francisco,” to quote a writer 
 of that same period, who asserted that he was not dreaming 
 dreams. His vision followed the route of what he termed 
 “the magnificent enterprise of the North Pacific Railroad.” 
 With St. Paul as its starting point, it was headed for the 
 
 
 
 LOCOMOTIVE BUILT FOR THE HUDSON RIVER R. R. IN 1860 
 (Total weight 108,000 Ibs.) 
 —Courtesy of American Locomotive Co. 
 
 great bend of the Missouri river; thence on the table-land be- 
 tween the Missouri and Saskatchewan, searching for some 
 eligible pass in the Rocky mountains; and so on down the 
 Pacific slope to Puget’s Sound. The loyal citizen of St. Paul 
 had no hesitation in pronouncing the “Central Pacific Route” 
 impracticable, because, as he said, “the country through which 
 it passes is generally unfit for cultivation; the altitude of the 
 summit is greater; the snows deeper; in brief, that route is 
 out of the question.” He was inclined to concede, however, 
 without local jealousy, “that there is a route farther south, 
 through Texas or New Mexico and along the Gila to San 
 Diego or through Walker’s Pass to some point farther north” 
 that might be practicable. 
 
 There was one fly in the St. Paul cup of optimism that 
 disturbed his dreams. This was nothing less than that his 
 railroad by the northern route might be forestalled by another 
 
136 HISTORY OF AMERICAN _ RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 railroad, one farther north, that rumor told him the British 
 Government contemplated building north of Lake Superior 
 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to the Pacific. 
 
 The true son of St. Paul also indulged in day dreams of 
 “a continuous line of railroad from New Orleans to the falls 
 of St. Anthony, running on the west side of the Mississippi 
 River through the best portions of Arkansas, Missouri, lowa 
 and Minnesota.” Here he failed to read the handwriting 
 
 
 
 FAST PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE, PENNSYLVANIA R. R.—1867 
 Courtesy Baldwin Locomotive Works 
 
 on the wall that had already settled that the connection was 
 to be made east of the Mississippi through a territory already 
 reclaimed from Nature and her waterways by the iron horse. 
 
 The effect of such optimistic views as here quoted can be 
 traced in his regretful confession that “In 1849 I could have 
 purchased a quarter of a block, on one lot of which the Pioneer 
 office now stands, for two hundred: dollars; now (1853) the 
 same property is worth three thousand dollars, without the 
 improvements.” The present (1923) value of this block as 
 quoted to the writer is $13,500 exclusive of improvements. 
 That is the transformation the coming of the railway wrought 
 in real estate values in St. Paul; it had even greater effect on 
 the farm values in Minnesota. In 1850 the value of all farm 
 property in the West-North-Central census division, consist- 
 ing of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Da- 
 kota, Nebraska and Kansas, was $108,885,147; in 1920 the cen- 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 137 
 
 
 
 
 
 sus valuation of all farm property in Minnesota alone was 
 $3,787 ,420,118, or nearly 36 times greater than the valuation 
 of the whole West-North-Central division 70 years before. 
 
 The steel rail was the magic wand by which this amazing 
 transformation was brought to pass. 
 
 James J. Hill was a farmer lad of 12 in Canada in 1850. 
 He came to the United States in the nick of time to hitch his 
 car to the star of empire sailing west that was to bear him 
 on to fame and fortune. In that same year his precocious rival, 
 Edward H. Harriman, had not attained long trousers. 
 
 Railway annalists are prone to dwell upon the financial 
 panics of 1854 and 1857 as the result of the feverish financing 
 of railways into the waste places of the republic. There was 
 undoubtedly an excess of speculative blood in the veins of the 
 - American railway promoters of those days. The pioneer spirit 
 refused to be daunted by physical or financial difficulties. 
 Where there was room for population in the uninhabited 
 spaces of the continent he saw visions of farms, villages and 
 towns—all taking on the proportions of metropolitan cities 
 and only awaiting the coming of the railway sidings and ter- 
 minals. Land and railway speculation went hand in hand to 
 the inevitable fall. Many of the bankrupts of those days 
 needed only to weather the storm of over-construction to 
 have their names enrolled with the empire builders. of 
 America. 
 
 And they builded better than they claimed. In the five 
 states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, 
 where railway construction was most rapid, the value of farms 
 increased from $671,678,075 in 1850 to $1,738,394,188 in 1860, 
 at least one-half of the difference, $1,066,/16,113, was attribu- 
 table to the building of roads that bankrupted their builders. 
 In the same five states during the same period the production 
 of wheat increased nearly 75 per cent and of cattle 60 per cent. 
 
 The first really successful locomotive for burning coal in 
 the United States was perfected in 1855. It was named the 
 “Daniel Webster.” It ran at half the expense of a wood 
 burner of the same class, which it did not wholly supersede 
 for more than twenty years. The cut on page 123 is from 
 
138 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 a photograph of a gold and silver model of the “Webster” 
 presented to the inventor in 1865 and now in the possession 
 of his son, S. M. Felton, president of the Chicago Great West- 
 ern Railroad. The elder Felton is credited with having frus- 
 trated the plot to assassinate Lincoln while on his way to 
 Washington for his first inauguration. 
 
 The Coming of the Pullman Palace Car 
 
 Toward the close of this decade, through the vision, energy 
 and organizing genius of one man, was to come a departure 
 in passenger car construction 
 destined to place that branch of 
 the service in America in the 
 forefront of railway progress. 
 For a generation little had 
 been done to relieve the long 
 distance traveler from ‘the 
 tedious discomforts of the 
 primitive passenger car. As 
 railway lines extended their 
 tracks: farther sand’ farther 
 from the seaboard, these dis- 
 comforts became a_ serious 
 check -on the naturally no- 
 madic instinct of the average 
 G. M. PULLMAN IN 1854. American with a dollar in his 
 
 pocket. Only immigrants, 
 prospectors and persons traveling on business cared to face a 
 
 night on an American railway train. The allurements and 
 luxuries of seeing America first were extolled in the adver- 
 tisements of the time only to suffer disillusionment on the 
 cramped car seats in realization. The steamers on the Hud- 
 son and up the Sound from New York were literally floating 
 palaces, with generous staterooms for those who could afford 
 to pay and lesser luxuries, but still convenient, for those with 
 leaner wallets. : 
 
 The railway sleeper of the early ’50s had not advanced far 
 from the makeshifts of the ’30s and 40s. Their builders ap- 
 
 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 ibe 
 
 
 
 parently took canal bunks or shelves for their models. Some- 
 times narrow mattresses, hardened into something resem- 
 bling granite from frequent usage, were provided; more sel- 
 dom an unaired blanket or unlaundered sheet was thrown in 
 and the sleeper used his old-fashioned carpetbag for a pillow. 
 
 
 
 
 
 OLD “NO. 9” PULLMAN’S FIRST COMPLETE SLEEPING CAR 
 
 When he was about to retire his eye fell on the necessary 
 warning, “Passengers will please remove their boots before 
 getting into the berths.” No curtains shut out the fierce pub- 
 licity that beat upon the occupants of those embryo Pullmans. 
 
 Under such conditions a young lad named George M. Pull- 
 man took a night train from Buffalo to Westfield, N. Y. The 
 distance was not great, but the discomforts were many and 
 the conveniences, as we know them, nil. Possibly out of the 
 
 
 
 COSTUME PARTY IN THE ORIGINAL PULLMAN CAR 
 Note where the Salvation Army lassies got the idea of poke bonnets. 
 
140 HISTORY * OP GAMERICAN (RAILV AVS. 
 
 —— 
 
 nightmare of that experience he saw visions of the palace 
 sleeping cars and hotels on wheels that were to herald his 
 name to the ends of the earth. He did not linger long behind 
 a country store counter in Westfield, but at the age of seven- 
 teen joined an elder brother who was in the cabinet making 
 business in Albion, N. Y. 
 There he acquired the knowl- 
 edge of woods and wood- 
 working utilized so extensive- 
 ly in his earlier car construc- 
 tion. His first venture in 
 transportation was in con- 
 tracting to move warehouses 
 and other buildings back 
 from the banks of the Ene 
 canal when it was undergoing 
 one of its periodic widenings. 
 When this was completed, 
 Mr. Pullman, now a young 
 “man of twenty-four, moved 
 with his savings to Chicago, 
 where he immediately en- 
 gaged as a contractor in the 
 great work of elevating the 
 streets some fifteen feet above 
 INTERIOR OF EARLY DINING CAR the Jeyel of Lake Michigan. 
 It was thus that by 1858 Mr. Pullman had already acquired 
 the knowledge, experience and organizing ability that was to 
 redound to his fame and the comfort of American railway 
 travel. 
 
 
 
 
 
 LATEST, PULLMAN SLEEPER 
 Pullman Co. Photo 
 
De DME CADE, 1850-1860 141 
 
 Rude attempts had been made to build sleeping cars be- 
 fore the first Pullman car was tested on the Chicago & Alton 
 between Bloomington and Chicago. To the Cumberland Val- 
 ley Railroad of Pennsylvania must be awarded the credit of 
 installing the first sleeping car service between Harrisburg 
 and Chambersburg as early as 1836. It consisted of the adap- 
 tation of a second hand day coach to sleeping purposes, being 
 divided into four compart- 
 patrments with three bunks 
 in each, built against one side 
 of the car; a roller towel. 
 basin and water were pro- 
 vided in the rear of the car. 
 
 Whether Mr. Pullman had 
 ever seen this car or not, its 
 plan of inconveniences had 
 little influence on his first at- 
 tempt at remodeling two Chi- 
 cago & Alton coaches into the 
 first Pullman sleepers in 1858. 
 The passenger cars put at his 
 disposal for the experiment in 
 the company’s Bloomington 
 shops were forty-four feet 
 long and had flat roofs only 
 six feet from the floor. Into 
 this space he crowded ten 
 pe oeeemerinon closcta@and «0 tt Ok WOR RARE ULLMAN 
 two wash-rooms. ° They were Note the absence of divisions 
 lighted by oil lamps, heated with box stoves and mounted on 
 four-wheel trucks with iron wheels. The reconstruction of 
 these two cars cost less than $1,000 apiece. The chief novelty 
 in them was Mr. Pullman’s invention of an upper berth that 
 might be closed up in the day time and serve as a place to 
 store mattresses and blankets. 
 
 These experimental cars were a popular success from the 
 start, and after a careful study of their shortcomings Mr. 
 Puliman proceeded to produce the first real Pullman sleeping 
 
 
 
142 HISTORY” OF “AMERICAN ©RAILWAYS. 
 
 car built from the rail up to fill the requirements of long dis- 
 tance travel in America. It was built in a Chicago & Alton 
 shed on the site of the Union Station, now about to be 
 wrecked to make room for the greater Union Station whose 
 completion was delayed by the World War. 
 
 Fully equipped, the “Pioneer,” as it was appropriately 
 named, cost $20,178—an unheard of price up to that time, 
 when $5,000 was the limit paid for a railway coach. Besides 
 its adaptation to day travel as well as for night journeys, the 
 “Proneer | dittéered ‘trom sprecedinge= “passenger weoacheaset) 
 
 ee Se Sa ey eee ae = 
 ae Seam 
 
 l whe 
 (2 pore ee L 
 
 Gunny FP Fe Sea 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 L=-aN 
 
 
 
 Devowreon raven ans 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 —fT na TW 
 =u wy 
 
 PULLMAN SLEEPING CAR OUTLINE, SHOWING HOW IT-IS SUPPLIED 
 WITH LIGHT, WATER AND HEAT 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 weight, strength and solidity of construction. It was 54 feet 
 long and 10 feet wide—a foot wider and 30 inches higher 
 than the old car. The additional height was necessary to 
 accommodate the hinged upper berth. These increased dimen- 
 sions had an important bearing on railway and car construc- 
 tion, for after that all stations and platforms and bridges were 
 
 built to conform to its standard and the only departure there- 
 from has been in length. 
 
 With the solution of the physical phase of the sieeping 
 car problem, the “Pioneer” and its twin, costing $24,000, had 
 to satisfy the doubting Thomases who questioned its supe- 
 riority justified such expenditure for single cars. Would the 
 public pay for the extra luxury of traveling in the greater 
 safety and comfort of these so-called palace cars? Mr. Pull- 
 man proposed that the public that paid should decide. The 
 Chicago-Springfield train. was equipped with both styles of 
 
THIRD* DECADE, 1850-1860 143 
 
 
 
 cars, Pullmans to charge $2 a 
 night, the old style sleepers 
 $1.50. The result justified 
 Mr. Pullman’s confidence that 
 the public would pay a bonus 
 for the best. The Pullmans 
 carried all they could hold, 
 the old style only those who 
 could not get sleeping room 
 in the new style. In a short 
 time the $1.50 sleepers were 
 withdrawn, leaving the sleep- 
 SraicldetO tie o2,car and 11s 
 colored porter... _By_ 186/, 
 when the Pullman Palace Car 
 
 
 
 PROCESS OF MAKING UP BERTHS 
 Company was incorporated, “IN MODERN PULLMAN SLEEPER 
 
 Mr. Pullman owned all the oan 
 
 sleeping cars on the Chicago & Alton, the Chicago, Burlington 
 & Quincy, the Michigan Central, the Great Western of Canada 
 and the New York Central Lines— a total of 48 cars. That 
 incorporation was to. bear 
 fruits no whit less important 
 than his original invention. 
 {t ‘established a. system 
 whereby the best equipment 
 for both night and day rail- 
 Way journeys was placed at 
 the service of the public over 
 all the railways, without 
 change at connecting points 
 Besides being a wonderful 
 convenience, this corporation 
 had a great part in hastening 
 the final adoption by all of 
 our railways of the standard 
 
 INTERIOR OF MODERN DINING 4-ft. 8%-in. gauge. 
 In the same year the: Pull- 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mark the simplicity of design 
 
144 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 OF MODERN DINING 
 CARSKIT CHEN 
 Built by Pullman Company for, Chicago, 
 
 SECTION 
 
 Burlington & Quincy R. R. in 1924 
 
 man Company built and put 
 the first “hotel car” in service 
 on the Great Western - of 
 Canada. This car, which was 
 the predecessor of the dining 
 car of today, was in reality a 
 combination of a sleeping car 
 with a kitchen at one end. 
 The meals were served at 
 temporary tables between the 
 sections, as is still the case 
 on some roads, both in Can- 
 ada and the United States. 
 The dining car, appro- 
 priately named “Delmon- 
 ico’s,” devoted wholly to eat- 
 ing purposes, was personally 
 
 designed by Mr. Pullman in 1868 and, like his first sleeping 
 cars, had its initial trip on the Chicago & Alton. 
 In May, 1870, the first through train of Pullmans from 
 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific 
 carried a distinguish com- 
 pany of Bostonians from Bos- 
 ‘ton to San Francisco in an 
 EXCUPSION y .Ol tne. = sbOstOn 
 Board of Trade. 
 
 From that time to the 
 present the progress of the 
 Pullman car has been one of 
 continuous development 
 along the lines of safety, sim- 
 plicity, convenience and 
 cleanliness. Few _ persons 
 traveling in these cars realize 
 at what an expenditure of 
 thought, vigilance and money 
 the Pullman standard of 
 
 
 
 VIEW OF OTHER END OF PULL- 
 MAN DINING CAR KITCHEN 
 
 — 
 
THIRD DECADE, 1850-1860 © 145 
 
 
 
 cleanliness is maintained. To provide the mere facilities for 
 car cleaning alone the company maintains a force in 225 prin- 
 cipal and 150 outlying yards. Jn these are employed a staff 
 of over 4,000 cleaners. The company keeps constantly on 
 hand no less than 1,858,178 sheets, valued at nearly a million 
 dollars. During one year over 100,000,000 pieces of linen, 
 including sheets and pillow cases, were washed and ironed. 
 All told, the Pullman Com- 
 pany has an investment of 
 nearly $2,000,000 for approxi- 
 mately 7,000,000 separate 
 pieces. Replacement alone 
 costs over $400,000 a year. 
 
 But the Pullman Company 
 has not achieved its monopoly 
 without competition and ri- 
 valry and does not maintain 
 it without constant superior- 
 ity of service. 
 
 Among its earliest competi- 
 tors was the Mann “Boudoir 
 Car,’ in which the beds were 
 arranged transversely instead INTERIOR OF LATEST PULLMAN 
 of longitudinally. This car Pee See 
 met with a very favorable reception in Europe, where its 
 general features survive to this day. It was ‘put in service 
 in the United States in 1883 between Boston and New York. 
 The cars were divided into eight compartments, accommodat- 
 ing two or four persons. It was tried on a few western roads, 
 but never met with public favor. Having a smaller seating 
 capacity necessitated a higher fare, which did not conduce to 
 its success. 
 
 The most serious competition encountered was that of the 
 Gates Sleeping Car Company, named after its promoter, G. B. 
 Gates, general manager of the Lake Shore road. It was 
 absorbed by the Wagner Palace Car Compay in 1869. Backed 
 by Commodore Vanderbilt, the Wagner Company, whose 
 cars resembled closely the Pullman characteristics, was able 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
146 HISTORY (OF “AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 to place its cars on the New York Central and its connections. 
 In 1881, the Pullman Company brought suit for infringements 
 of its patents against the New York Sleeping Car Company 
 and Webster Wagner, claiming $1,000,000 damages. The 
 suit was compromised on the Wagner Company agreeing to 
 use the Pullman improvements under contract to run its cars 
 only on the New York Centra! road. 
 
 The rivalry between these 
 two companies came to a 
 show-down over the use of 
 vestibules between cars, 
 which Mr. Pullman put in 
 operation in 1888. The Wag- 
 ner Company promptly ad- 
 vestised a vestibule train and 
 was as promptly met with an 
 injunction holding the Wag- 
 ner devices an infringement 
 of Pullman patents. After 
 protracted hearings the case 
 was determined in favor of 
 the Pullman Company. 
 
 The so-called “Sessions’ 
 patent,” under which the 
 
 GEORGE M. PULLMAN’S HAP- Pullman Company operated, 
 
 PIEST PHOTOGRAGH : : 
 —Courtesy of his daughter, Mrs. Frank Was patented in 1881 and cov- 
 
 aps ° ered’ the principles upon 
 which the vestibuled train is operated to this day. As orig- 
 inally designed the accordion diaphragms were only the 
 width of the passageway between the cars. As redesigned 
 in 1893 they enclosed the entire platform by means of a drop 
 which lowered over the step openings. Among other advan- 
 tages the vestibule added greatly to the steadiness and clean- 
 liness of the entire train. The rivalry between these compa- 
 nies ended with the absorption of the junior by the senior 
 organization, greatly to the improvement of the service. 
 The manufacturing side of the Pullman Company is an- 
 
 other story, having been separated from the parent company 
 in 1924, 
 
 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 FOURTH DECADE—1860—1870 
 KKAILROADS IN THE Civit WAarR—THEN THE UNION PACIF:c 
 
 Hark, I hear the tramp of thousands 
 And of arméd men the hum; 
 Lo! a nation’s hosts have gathered 
 "Round the quick alarming drum,— 
 Saying, “Come, 
 Freemen, come! 
 Ere your heritage is wasted,” said the quick 
 alarming drum. 
 —Bret Harte. 
 Lincoln was inaugurated March 4, 1861. Sumter was fired 
 
 on April 12, 1861. 
 
 O existing general history of the United States does full 
 
 justice to the part played by the railroads from 1861 to 
 1865 in the preservation of 
 the Union from the disinte- 
 erating convulsion of seces- 
 sion. Viewed from an impar- 
 tial standpoint, the railways 
 of the South served their sec- 
 tion with _ characteristic 
 American devotion and cour- 
 age. Operating on interior 
 lines from Mason and Dix- 
 on’s line to the Gulf, they 
 served General Lee with un- 
 tiring zeal and loyalty. With 
 constantly shrinking facili- 
 ties and equipment, they eked 
 out dwindling resources of 
 men, materials and supplies 
 to the bitter end at Appoma- ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 Pema icin) dikes the sole) - ne) peroved)) tie (Location (oy the 
 
 
 
148 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 diers of the Confederacy, the railroad men started the rehab- 
 ilitation of their lines from Richmond to Galveston 
 
 Lee’s surrender came through no fault of the railways of 
 the South nor by any superiority of patriotism in the railways 
 of the North. It followed in 
 due course of cause and ef- 
 fect from the impetus given 
 to settlement and production 
 by the rapid laying of rails 
 west of the Alleghenies that 
 took place from 1850 to 1860. 
 When the railways finally 
 broke through the barrier 
 mountains in the early ’50s, 
 the territories to the west of 
 Pittsburgh and north of the 
 Ohio had a population of only 
 4,840,822 and that vast region 
 could boast only 1,276 miles 
 of rail communication. Before 
 Sumter was fired on this same 
 
 THOMAS A. SCOTT, 1824-81 territory had a hardy pioneer 
 population of 8,282,750, brought in touch with the outposts 
 of the Confederacy by no less than 10,285 miles of line, which 
 was being added to every day. 
 
 To realize what these figures mean it is well to remember 
 that the South entered upon the conflict with a population of 
 12,127,067 and 10,386 miles of 
 railway, not all of which was 
 available: for, .the =“stragele, 
 Fully one-third of the popu- 
 lation was colored, and not 
 all of the railway mileage was 
 in states in active rebellion. 
 SO “tare as coreakino “up “the 
 Union by force of arms was A SOUTHERN ENGINE OF THE "60s. _ 
 concerned, the attempt came fully a decade too late. It is 
 not impossible, nor wholly improbable, that it might have suc- 
 
 
 
 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 149 
 
 
 
 ceeded in 1850, when over 40 per cent of the Nation’s inhab- 
 itants formed a truly “solid South” and the opposing 60 per 
 cent was scattered from Skowhegan, Maine, to the Missis- 
 sippi, with no completed means of transportation at either 
 
 
 
 MAPS SHOWING MARCH OF RAILWAYS—183v-1860 
 
 end. By 1860 the gaps in the North were bridged with steel 
 and the recruit from Skowhegan, as from LaCrosse, Wiscon- 
 sin, could be carried by rail to any point along the long front 
 from the Mississippi to Chesapeake Bay. It may have been 
 true, as the fighting Southerner claimed, that he was indi- 
 vidually more than a match for the Northeastern Yankee 
 But in the great contest he found that Yankee reinforced with 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 SF ae see AX: —_ PA 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 BRIDGE, TRAIN, STEAMBOAT AND WOODED LANDSCAPE—1860. 
 
150 HISTORY -GFE. AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 a new generation bred in the open air west of the mountains 
 that scorned fatigue and made a jest of danger. 
 
 It was the West that won the war for the North, and it 
 was the railways that settled the West and carried its sons 
 on to Vicksburg; to the base of Lookout Mountain; and united 
 the West and the East in the day of final victory. The West 
 gave Lincoln to the Nation and Grant to the Union army at 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN ENGINE, BUILT IN 1861 
 
 Vicksburg and in the Wilderness campaign. They had no 
 prototypes, so far as human ken could discern in 1850, when 
 Fillmore was president and Jefferson Davis was a power in 
 the United States Senate. 
 
 Speculation as to what might have been but for the amaz- 
 ing development or the West in 1850-1860, however interest- 
 ing, cannot be conclusive. All we know is that the railways 
 furnished the means by which the response of the West to the 
 Union call, “Lord, we come!’ was made effective as it was 
 practically unanimous. 
 
 What One Railway Official Did 
 
 It would take a separate volume to tell the exploits of 
 individual railway men on both sides of the line during the 
 -war. Their experience and trained services were in demand 
 from Washington to Texas in the movement of troops and 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 152 
 
 
 
 munitions. They headed construction and _ reconstruction 
 gangs all along the frontier as the tide of conflict flowed back- 
 ward and forward through those four fateful years. One day 
 they tore up miles of track to impede the adversaries’ ad- 
 vance, only to see it restored the next day as if by magic by 
 the enemy, who was equally quick to put 
 it out of business when the tide of combat 
 turned. 
 
 The one railroad man who impressed 
 his personality high up on the Union side 
 of the line was Thomas A. Scott... He 
 began his career with the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad as station agent at Duncansville 
 in 1850 and in ten years, by dint of un- 
 usual executive ability and energy, Tose THOME kc cee 
 to be vice-president under the direction As he looked during 
 of the road’s famous executive J. Edgar Pa ei Solty 
 Thomson. Here the war found him, and Governor Curtin 
 of Pennsylvania summoned him to his aid to place him in 
 charge of the transportation of the state’s troops answering 
 by thousands to President Lincoln’s first call. So perfectly 
 did he organize the service that it attracted attention in Wash- 
 ington, and when Southern sympathizers in Baltimore burned 
 
 
 
 
 
 TYPICAL BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE OF 1861 
 Built for the Pennsylvania Railroad 
 
152 HISTORY * OP SAMERICAN~ KAILEW Ais 
 
 
 
 the bridges of the Northern Central Railroad he was called 
 to the National capital to superintend and keep open the road 
 from Baltimore to Harrisburg. On April 27th Mr. Scott was 
 appointed to take charge of the railways and telegraphs be- 
 tween Washington and Annapolis, and, as his work involved 
 acting in a military capacity, on May 3, 1861, he was mustered 
 into the service as colonel of the United States volunteers. 
 His first duty was to construct a line by way of Annapolis to 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN PASSENGER AND FREIGHT LOCOMOTIVE 
 Built for the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore R. R. in 1862 
 
 Philadelphia to replace the Northern Central connection 
 which had been destroyed. It was a case that admitted of 
 no delay—where what had to be done was done so quickly 
 that the officials who ordered it done did not know when it 
 was done. President Lincoln was one of these to whom the 
 immediate opening of the new line meant so much. Meet- 
 ing Colonel Scott, he asked him how the work progressed. 
 
 “The road is completed,” replied the colonel. 
 
 “Completed!” echoed the amazed President. “And when 
 may we expect troops over it?” 
 
 “A train is already in with a regiment,” responded the 
 
 colonel, “and others are on the way.” 
 
 2 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 153 
 
 
 
 “Then, thank God! we are all right again!” exclaimed Mr. 
 Lincoln. As a result of Colonel Scott’s promptness there 
 were fewer sleepless eyes in Washington that night. 
 
 Before the close of the month Colonel Scott was appointed 
 “to take charge of all Government railways and telegraphs 
 or those appropriated for the Government,” and on August 1, 
 1861, he was appointed assistant secretary of war, a post 
 created for him. In this position he was required to visit 
 all the great western states to organize their means of trans- 
 portation to expedite the preparation and movement of their 
 
 
 
 STONE BRIDGE OVER THE SUSQUEHANNA 
 At Rockville, Pa., replacing iron truss bridge built in 1877, after previous wooden 
 truss partially destrcyed by fire in 1868. 
 
 volunteers for actual service. In the performance of this duty 
 alone Colonel Scott traveled some 5,000 miles. 
 
 In June, 1862, Colonel Scott resigned his Federal position 
 to resume his duties as an official of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
 road, only to be recalled by Secretary Stanton to report to 
 General Hooker for “special service” on his staff. This spe- 
 cial service was nothing less than “the duty of sending for- 
 ward with the utmost despatch the troops of General Hook- 
 er’s command.” It consisted in forwarding Hooker’s and 
 Howard’s corps over railroads connected by improvised 
 tracks, so that in an incredibly short time he had assembled 
 from half a dozen different states an army of fifty thousand 
 men, with their artillery, cavalry and complete field equip- 
 ment “where it was most needed.” The special order for 
 utmost despatch, with its appointment as assistant quarter- 
 master of volunteers, was issued from Washington Septem- 
 
 e 
 
154 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 ber 24, 1863; Colonel Scott furnished the necessary despatch 
 so that on November 24th Hooker was able to win the “Battle 
 Above the Clouds” on Lookout Mountain, and on the follow- 
 ing day the Federal army under Grant scaled Missionary 
 Ridge, and the siege of Chattanooga was raised. 
 
 With this signal service successfully performed, Colonel 
 Scott once more resigned his military title to resume his posi- 
 tion as active vice-president of the Pennsylvania. Such spe- 
 cial service as Colonel Scott was in a position to render to 
 the Union cause was duplicated in other fields by thousands 
 of railway men wearing the blue and gray as their fealty to 
 state or nation called and as opportunity arose. The decisive 
 preponderance of duty as of service was settled for the nation 
 by the railroad building of 1850-1860. 
 
 Story of a Confederate Locomotive 
 
 How these respective senses of duty came into sharp and 
 unusual conflict may be illustrated by the story of the seizure 
 
 
 
 THE FAMOUS LOCOMOTIVE “GENERAL” 
 As It Appears in the Union Station at Chattanooga, Tenn. 
 
 Its Seizure by the “Andrews Raiders” and Pursuit by the Confederate Crew is One 
 of the Most Thrilling Railway Stories of the Civil War 
 
 and recapture of the famous locomotive ‘‘General,” which 
 ever since the war has been an object of interest to all trav- 
 elers having’ occasion | to “stop oft at Chattanoocage@n ste 
 morning of April 12, 1862, a passenger train on the Western 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 155 
 
 
 
 & Atlantic, now a division of the Nashville, Chattanooga & 
 St. Louis Railway, under charge of Capt. W. A. Fuller, left 
 Atlanta for Chattanooga. At Marietta a party of strangers 
 in plain clothes got on board and paid their fares to different 
 points. They claimed to be refugees from the Yankee lines 
 going to join the Confederate army. In fact they were dis- 
 guised soldiers, volunteers from Sills’ brigade, U. S. A., led 
 by a Kentuckian named James J. Andrews. 
 
 
 
 PASSENGER TRAIN OF 1860 WITH WOOD-BURNING LOCOMOTIVE, 
 DELAWARE & HUDSON CO. 
 
 At Big Sandy, seven miles from Marietta, the train stopped 
 for breakfast and most of the passengers and crew left the 
 train. No sooner had they taken their seats than Captain 
 Fuller, looking through a window, saw a body of strangers 
 mount the engine and start off rapidly with three freight cars 
 detached from the passenger train. Then began as exciting 
 a chase as was ever witnessed in peace or war. . Captain Ful- 
 ler, his engineer, Jeff Cain, and Anthony Murphy, the fore- 
 man of the Western & Atlantic shops, started the pursuit on 
 foot, just as the “General” and its crew of raiders, at first 
 m*ctaken for Confederate deserters, was disappearing around 
 
156 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 the first bend in the track. At Moon’s station, two miles 
 from Big Sandy, Captain Fuller got news of the fugitives 
 that satisfied him they were Federals in disguise, and this 
 added greater zest to the pursuit. With the aid of track 
 hands, he placed a hand car on the rails and with his two 
 companions literally pushed the pursuit, taking turns, two 
 running and pushing while the third rested. Now and then 
 they had to stop to remove obstructions which the flying Fed- 
 erals threw upon the track. At Acworth they secured some 
 guns and were joined by two men, who aided greatly in the 
 chase. Two miles from Etowah the crew of the “General” 
 stopped long enough to take up two rails from the outside 
 of a short curve, and the handcar and its crew were ditched. 
 
 At Etowah Captain Fuller found an old engine named the 
 “Yonah,” which proved to be a better friend than its name 
 suggested. Some time was lost attaching the engine to its 
 tender and a coal car for the use of a number of Confederate 
 soldiers who volunteered for the grim frolic. From Etowah 
 to Kingston the “Yonah” was forced up to sixty miles an 
 hour only to find at the latter station that the “General” was 
 maintaining its lead. Here the “Yonah” was exchanged for 
 another engine named “Texas,” which, with one car, was 
 pressed into the service. From Kingston the pursuit was 
 much impeded by cross ties dropped from the rear car of 
 the “General’s” train. A short distance from Adairsville, 
 which is 40 miles from Big Sandy, the “Yankees” had stopped 
 long enough to tear up 60 yards of track. 
 
 Nothing daunted, Captain Fuller continued the chase on 
 foot and soon outran all of his company except Anthony Mur- 
 phy. Two miles from Adairsville he was met by an express 
 freight of twenty cars. At his signal it stopped; and under 
 his orders it began to back in the direction whence it came, 
 with Captain Fuller on the rear car. As it approached the 
 switch at Adairsville in this fashion he jumped off, ran ahead 
 and changed the switch so as to throw the cars on the side 
 track. This accomplished, he changed the switch back to the 
 main track and jumped on the engine, which had been un- 
 

 
 
 
 FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 157 
 
 coupled from the cars. This was achieved “so adroitly that 
 the train and engine ran side by side for fully three hundred 
 yards.” 
 
 The captain’s command had now been reduced to himself, 
 Murphy and the engineer, fireman and woodpasser. They 
 backed the next ten miles to Calhoun in twelve minutes, which 
 was some speed for an engine with 5-foot 10-inch driving 
 wheels. 
 
 As they passed Calhoun at fifteen miles an hour the cap- 
 tain added to his crew by landing a boy telegrapher on board 
 with a flying grasp of the hand. This lad had walked from 
 Dalton looking for the break in the wire which the Yankees 
 had cut. 
 
 Fuller’s game now was to reach Dalton before the fugi- 
 tives could cut the wire be- 
 tween that station and Chat- 
 tanooga. 
 
 Two miles from Calhoun 
 the crews of the rival engines 
 caught sight of each other. 
 Those on the quarry prompt- 
 ly let loose a freight car to 
 block the road. But that did 
 not deter Captain Fuller long. 
 He coupled it to his engine 
 and from its top gave the nec- 
 essary signals to the engineer. 
 Then the “General” detached 
 another freight car, which the 
 
 
 
 “GENERAL” MONUMENT 
 In the National Cemetery on Lookout 
 captain’s enpine=as promptly Mountain, Erected by the Survivors 
 
 of the Raid. 
 coupled up. 
 
 At Resaca, five miles from Calhoun, the captain was able 
 to get rid of his two impediments and started again with an 
 engine only. Two miles north of Resaca a T-rail was dis- 
 covered diagonally across the track, too late to stop. Then 
 the captain made the important discovery that his engine at 
 fifty-five miles an hour was a steeple-chaser, for it went over 
 the obstruction like a trained hurdler. At Dalton the telegraph 
 
158 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 boy was dropped, with orders to dispatch instantly a telegram, 
 which Captain Fuller had prepared, to General Ledbetter at 
 Chattanooga, informing him of the situation and warning him 
 not to let the raiders pass. 
 
 Two miles beyond Dalton the pursuers came in sight of 
 the fugitives again. They had stopped to tear up the track 
 and cut the wire. This last cut was just too late to catch 
 the message to General Ledbetter, but it intercepted the usual 
 acknowledgment. 
 
 The race was now resumed at a hotter pace than ever, but 
 with the “General” showing signs of distress. 
 
 Half way between Ringgold and Graysville the fugitives 
 abandoned the ‘‘General” and took to the woods, with the 
 injunction from their leader, Andrews, that “every one take 
 care of himself.” .They scattered in groups of three or four. 
 Captain Fuller secured the aid of a company of mounted 
 militia and began to scour the woods for the fugitives. Four 
 of these were run down in the fork of the Chickamauga river — 
 at Graysville. In a few days all were captured and for the 
 first time it was definitely known that the raiders consisted of 
 twenty-two men, two of whom, including the leader, Andrews, 
 were Kentuckians and the other twenty were enlisted men 
 attached to the 2d, 21st and 33d Ohio infantry. .Tried by 
 court martial, eight of them, including the two from Ken- 
 tucky, were executed in Atlanta as spies, six Wer e exchanged 
 and eight escaped from prison at Atlanta. “Thus,” concludes 
 the historian, “ended one of the most daring exploits on 
 record.” ; 
 
 The ‘story, however, does not end ‘there. The *General” 
 was to see further service. It hauled a train load of ammuni- 
 tion up to General Johnston’s lines in the battle of Kenesaw 
 Mountain on the morning of June 27, 1864; and in the eve- 
 ning brought a large number of wounded soldiers from Feath- 
 erstone’s division back to Marietta. It was also the last West- 
 ern & Atlantic engine to leave Atlanta with a train load of 
 refugees and war material when Hood’s army evacuated 
 that city. | 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 159 
 
 The United States recognized the daring exploit of its 
 soldiers by awarding medals of honor to the six men who 
 were paroled as well as the eight who escaped from the At- 
 lanta prison. Medals were also ordered for the nearest rela- 
 tives of the men who were executed. 
 
 The fame of this exploit is kept alive in Chattanooga by 
 theppreservation of the’ “General” inside a? guard rail at the 
 station, with her tender heaped with firewood as when she 
 started on her unscheduled flight from Big Sandy; and high 
 up in the National Cemetery on Lookout Mountain the sur- 
 vivors of the raiders have erected a monument to their fallen 
 comrades. The monument is surmounted by a miniature of 
 the “General”, and tablets on three sides of the pedestal bear 
 the names of the three parties into which the raiders were 
 divided—the executed, the paroled and the escaped prisoners. 
 
 This tale serves to illustrate one phase of railroading dur- 
 ing the Civil War in which the wits, resourcefulness and 
 daredevil spirit of both armies were matched with varying 
 fortunes. 
 
 mecordinge to Prof. Carl Russell Fish of the University; 
 of Wisconsin, the skeleton of the Southern railway system 
 had been planned with remarkable foresight and was almost. 
 complete when the war broke out. It furnished transporta- 
 tion for men, munitions and provender from the limits of the 
 Confederacy to Lee’s army over rails five feet apart, the gauge 
 being a constant impediment to the use of northern rolling 
 stock. “As the northern armies threatened. to advance,” says 
 Prof. Fish, “the Confederate military authorities, after run- 
 ning off the rolling stock, destroyed as much of the perma- 
 nent way as they knew how. They never, however, acquired 
 the skill in this art of the more mechanically minded north- 
 ern soldiers.” 
 
 In his personal memoirs General Grant tells how expert 
 Sherman’s men became in this work of hobbling southern 
 communications. “The method adopted,” he says, “of crip- 
 pling these roads was to burn and destroy all the bridges and 
 culverts, and for a long distance, at places, to tear up the 
 
160 HISTORY -OF AMERICAN: KRATEWAYS 
 
 
 
 track and bend the rails. Soldiers to do this rapidly would 
 form a line along one side of the road with crowbars and 
 poles, place these under the rails and, hoisting all at once, turn 
 over many rods of road at one time. The ties would be placed 
 in piles, and the rails as they were loosened would be carried 
 and put across these log heaps. When a sufficient number of 
 rails were placed upon a pile of ties, it would be set on fire. 
 This would heat the rails very much more in the middle than 
 at the ends so that they would naturally bend of their own 
 weight; but the soldiers, to increase the damage, would take 
 tongs and, one or two men at each end of the rail, carry it 
 with force against the nearest tree and twist it around, thus 
 leaving bands to ornament the forest trees of Georgia.” 
 
 In another passage General Grant records that “like our- 
 selves the rebels had become 
 experts in repairing such 
 damage.” Blacksmiths were 
 detailed and set to work mak- 
 ing the tools necessary in 
 railroad and bridge building. 
 Timber for bridges and fuel 
 for locomotives was cut; car- 
 builders were set to work re- 
 pairing locomotives and cars; 
 and, according to General Grant, “every brand of railway 
 building, making tools to work with and supplying the work- 
 men with food, was all going on at once and without the aid 
 of a mechanic or laborer except what the command itself 
 furnished.” 
 
 
 
 WESTERN STAGE COACH, 1862 
 
 Many miles of railway in the disputed territory were de- 
 stroyed and rebuilt a dozen times before the final rehabilita- 
 tion that followed Lee’s surrender. 
 
 What a difference the few miles that separated the main 
 lines of the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore & Ohio made 
 was shown in the contrast in the damage and loss suffered 
 by them through the battles and raids that ravaged their com- 
 mon territory. The Pennsylvania suffered little more than 
 
‘FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 161 
 
 temporary annoyance by being able to withdraw rolling stock 
 and other property from threatened ‘regions. This was no- 
 ticeably so during the Gettysburg campaign, when General 
 Lee’s army penetrated to the neighborhood of Harrisburg. 
 Such effective precautions were undertaken that the general 
 superintendent was able to report that “the whole property 
 of the company escaped untouched and unharmed and it was 
 enabled, as soon as the danger was removed, to resume its 
 operations in full, and with very little delay.” 
 
 The experience of the Bal- 
 timore & Ohio was far differ- 
 ertee ine Gontedérate forces 
 in May, 1861, took possession 
 of more than one hundred 
 miles of the main line, most- 
 ly between the Point of Rocks = 
 and Cumberland; and by oc- “C. P. HUNTINGTON” BUILT BY 
 
 - : DANFORTH, COOKE & CO. 
 casional raids caused great Shipped Around the Horn, Went Into 
 
 destruction on the roads be- Central Pacific Service About 1864 
 
 tween Cumberland and Wheeling and from Grafton to Park- 
 ersburg. Locomotives, cars and machinery were carried off 
 and “transported by animal power” over turnpikes to south- 
 ern railways. In Virginia portions of the Orange & Alex- 
 andria and sections of the Virginian and of the Petersburg & 
 Richmond roads were subjected to destruction and reconstruc- 
 tion by the alternating raids and retreats of the Union cavalry. 
 
 
 
 The Passing of the Canal 
 
 How the scepter of transportation was passing from the 
 waterway to the railway during the decade is sharply illus- 
 trated in the following record of tonnage moved in the years 
 1860 and 1870: 
 
 Tons Moved Tons Moved 
 
 1860 1870 
 Piricweisiat here ee. oi, ta ikea soe PAG nee 3,083,132 
 PLPC AMIGO AG AS, Uitce oobi nixed ioe 1,139,554 4,852,505 
 N. Y. Cent’] & Hudson River R.R..1,028,183 4,122,000 
 
 So fifty years ago there could be no mistaking the hand- 
 writing on the wall. The artificial waterway had been tried 
 
162 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 and been given a long start, but was found wanting in the 
 elements of speed and flexibility to answer the transportation 
 needs of this continent. 3 
 
 In March, 1865, it took Judge Munson, an appointee of Presi- 
 dent Lincoln, fifty days to complete the trip from St. Louis to 
 Fort Benton, the head of steamboat navigation, 2,000 miles by 
 river on the crack boat of the river. The sinuous windings of the 
 
 
 
 PERILS OF OVERLAND TRAVEL IN THE ’60s 
 From an Old Drawing 
 
 Missouri accounted for doubling the distance as now made by 
 rail in less than 48 hours. 
 
 The high cost of steel rails greatly retarded their intro- 
 duction on American railways, but the invention of the Besse- 
 mer process brought them within the resources of our stronger 
 roads, whose officials were quick to see the economy of a 
 rail that cost only twice as much as the best iron rail and 
 lasted eight times as long. 
 
 The first steel rails rolled in America were rolled at the 
 Chicago Rolling Mill on May 25, 1865. The total production 
 by 1867 was only 2,277 tons; by 1870 it had risen to 30,357 
 and the price had dropped from $166.00 per ton to $106.75 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 163 
 
 
 
 and before the end of the next decade it had fallen to $48.25. 
 At first the duty on Bessemer rails was 45 per cent ad va- 
 lorem, which was gradually reduced until, in 1883, it was 
 $17 per ton and the price of rails went below $40 a ton. 
 
 Steam Speed in the Sixties 
 
 Appleton’s Railway Guide for October, 1862, gives an au- 
 thentic picture of the passenger facilities of the railways dur- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FIRST RAILROAD TRAIN IN THE FAR WEST 
 —From a Rare Print in the Possession of Judge Lyman E. Munson 
 
 ‘ing the second year of the War for the Union. These, then 
 as now, were judged by the standard attained on the New 
 York and Chicago run. 
 
 There was no through service between the two cities in 
 1862. The Central Railway of New Jersey advertised the 
 shortest line to the West—“Time from New York to Chicago 
 36 hours—three hours less than Northern Lines.” To make 
 good its boast, the Central ran an express train from Jersey 
 City to Pittsburgh “without change” over its own rails to 
 Easton; Lehigh Valley to Allentown; East Pennsylvania Ry., 
 
164 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 to Reading; Lebanon Valley R. R. to Harrisburg, and 
 Pennsylvania Central to Pittsburgh, in 16 hours and 5 min- 
 utes. At Pittsburgh the traveler took the Pittsburgh, Fort 
 Wayne & Chicago Ry., composed of that line, the Ohio & 
 Pennsylvania and the Ohio & Indiana, to Chicago—46/ miles. 
 This route had an aggregate distance of 898 miles, or 10 
 miles shorter than what is now the Pennsylvania line between 
 New York and Chicago. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 INDICATOR: 
 
 Entered aceording to Act of Congress, inthe year 1862, by G. £. Thomas, in the Clerics Office of theDist.Court 
 of the United States for the Southern District of DewYork. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 HOW_ THEY SET THEIR WATCHES IN 1862, BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION 
 OF STANDARD TIME 
 
 In Appleton’s Guide the Pennsylvania road as we know 
 it today was listed under the title of the Pennsylvania Cen- 
 tral Ry., with J. Edgar Thomson president. Its entrance to 
 New York was effected over the New Jersey Railway to Jer- 
 sey City and also by the Camden & Amboy Ry., which had a 
 steam ferry connection at one end and a steamboat ride of 
 27 miles at the other. If the time tables of 1862 can be relied 
 on, the journey from New York to Chicago via Philadelphia 
 could be made in 33 hours against 20 hours in 1924. 
 
 In 1862 the great New York Central System had no Hud- 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 165 
 
 son River attached to its title and its time tables began with 
 Troy and Albany and ended at Buffalo. At that point its 
 trains connected “with the Lake Shore Railway to Erie, Cleve- 
 land, Sandusky, Toledo and thence to Chicago by Michigan 
 Southern Railway.” The distance between Chicago and Albany 
 over this combination was 836 miles, to which has to be added 
 the 144 miles from East Albany, reached by ferry via the Hud- 
 son River Railway to New York, making a total of 980 miles, 
 which is practically identical with the distance today, if Buf- 
 falo is visited en route. The journey with all connections 
 consumed between 38 and 39 hours, which may be compared 
 with the New York Central’s Twentieth Century train which 
 makes the run in 20 hours. 
 
 In these time tables of 1862 scrupulous attention is paid 
 to the difference in time between stations, the New York 
 Central note reading: “Standard of Time Clock in Depot at 
 mibany, which 18°21) minutes faster than Buffalo. time >On 
 the New York & Harlem Railway, which started at the City 
 Hall with stops at White and Center streets, 26th, 42d and 
 Yorkville before it reached Harlem, the standard of time was 
 the “Clock in Superintendent’s Office, 26th Street, New York.”’ 
 Frequent reference was made to the “Time Indicator” illus- 
 trated above. 
 
 An interesting feature of the reading matter accompany- 
 ing the time table of the Hudson River Railway, which left 
 from the corner of Chambers Street and College Place, was 
 the claim that “Trains of this road run with an expedition, 
 despatch and regularity not surpassed by any other in the 
 country.” But even more interesting, as showing the primi- 
 tive measures taken to secure “the almost entire exception 
 from accidents and collisions” claimed by the management, 
 is the following statement: “One characteristic of this road 
 deserves especial mention. We refer to the system of signal 
 flags introduced to secure safety from accidents in running 
 the trains. Flagmen are stationed upon every mile of the road 
 (italics are the Guide’s), generally at the curves, or upon a 
 slight acclivity, where a view of the track from some dis- 
 
166 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 tance can be had. Upon the approach of a train, if all is 
 clear ahead, the flagman displays a white signal. If there 
 be any obstruction in sight, or a diminished speed is required, 
 a red flag is displayed.” 
 
 Building of the Union Pacific 
 
 Out of the throes of the Civil War, but in the fullness of 
 time, came the great national undertaking known as the Union 
 Pacific Railroad. What Washington, with the eye of a seer 
 and a pioneer surveyor, foresaw as necessary for the survival 
 of the new Nation—uninterrupted communication for the 
 widely separated parts of the republic—Abraham Lincoln put 
 
 in the way of actual accom- 
 
 Mba lishment when, on Novem- 
 
 Apceucter t”"Uety, ae 4, 1864, he certified his 
 
 de locaZon approval of the first hundred 
 of: Ze te lib miles west from Omaha, Ne- 
 Toad gfor- tree Yulee — bhraska, as the permanent lo- 
 weet yr 7 -cation of the, Unions bactin 
 
 Se sgh df He refs Parcep That was the “All aboard” 
 g of Siac OLG for the vast enterprise which 
 | | Yi , ey, for a full generation had been 
 simmering in the minds of 
 
 M re hemsdeucate 
 
 ) Americans who had visions 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN’S APPROVAL . | 
 OF THE LOCATION OF THE of a-great continental rail- 
 
 UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD 
 way. How nearly one of the 
 earliest suggestions for this road came to hitting on the exact 
 route finally chosen may be judged by the following extract 
 from an article in the Emigrant, 2 weekly newspaper pub- 
 lished in Ann Arbor, in the Territory (!) of Michigan, Febru- 
 ary 6, 1832, under the title “Something New:” 
 
 “The distance between New York and the Oregon is 
 about three thousand miles,—from New York we could 
 pursue the most convenient route to the vicinity of Lake 
 Erie, thence along the South Shore of this lake and of 
 Lake Michigan, cross the Mississippi between 41 degrees 
 and 42 degrees of north latitude, cross the Missouri about ~ 
 the mouth of the Platte, and thence on by the most con- 
 venient route to the Rocky Mountains, near the source of 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 167 
 
 
 
 the last named river, thence to the Oregon, by tthe valley 
 of the south branch of that stream called the southern 
 branch of Lewis’ river.” 
 
 The only variance of this route from that finally adopted, 
 which was to reach San Fran- 
 cisco, was that it branched off 
 bymtnewOresons short.) Line 
 route to Oregon and Port- 
 land. 
 
 From this time on projects 
 to span the continent with 
 Gileeor more, 1rone bands. mul- 
 
 
 
 
 
 EW OmULICLMELOMnemOtialy tars Fy eke ke cee en Gentry pin 
 thered by Asa Whitney in pUNERAL TRAIN TO SPRING. © 
 favor of building a railway ae 
 
 from the Mississippi below the Falls of St. Anthony to the 
 Pacific ocean, under the direction of the secretary of war, . 
 was introduced into Congress successively in 1845, 1846 and 
 1847. Whitney proposed to build his road from the Missis- 
 sippi to the Pacific coast for a grant of land 30 miles in width 
 along its track. Bills in favor of the Whitney project were 
 
 
 
 
 
 FROM A PRINT OF THE PERIOD 
 (About 1865) 
 
16gce HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 introduced at both sessions of the 30th Congress, but were 
 defeated through the opposition of Senator Benton, who had 
 his own scheme for a “Na- 
 tional Central Highway” with 
 St. Louis as its eastern gate- 
 way. Benton’s proposal got 
 no farther, but it started the 
 war over the eastern termi- 
 nus of the Pacific railway, 
 and that was enough to keep 
 all similar projects hanging 
 in the sectional air then thick 
 in Congress, which was to be 
 dispelled only by the flames 
 of civil war. 
 
 Whitney spent his entire 
 fortune in the attempt to re- 
 alize his vision of a Pacific 
 railway, and ended his life 
 selling milk from his own 
 dairy in Washington, D. C. 
 His project, along with 
 
 
 
 GENERAL GRENVILLE M. DODGE, 
 
 1831-1916 others with different initial 
 Veteran of the Civil War: Chief Engi- : 
 neer of the Union Pacific 1866-70 points, was allowed to slum- 
 
 and of The Texas Pacific 1871-81 ber for the next ten years 
 > 
 
 until the overwhelming sentiment of the country demanded 
 action for the preservation of our national existence. 
 Throughout this period (1849 to 1859) there were five routes 
 before Congress, as follows: | 
 
 (1) By the 47th and 49th parallels, or the Northern route; 
 (2) by the 41st and 42d parallels, the “Overland,” “Central” 
 or “Mormon” route; (3) by the 38th and 39th parallels, or the 
 Buffalo trail; (4) by the 35th parallel; and (5) by the 32d 
 parallel, or Southern route. 
 
 Both political parties declared in favor of a Pacific rail- 
 way, but no majority could be brought to unite on the route. 
 President Buchanan commended the subject to the “friendly 
 consideration” of the 35th Congress (1857-1859) “without 
 
FOURTH \DECADE, 1860-1870 169 
 
 finally committing himself to any particular route.’ That was 
 the rub that held this mighty essential enterprise in pause 
 through those critical years. Northern capital alone could 
 build the line and Northern capital could only be obtained for 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ENGINE “FALCON” ON INSPECTION OF CENTRAL PACIFIC BEFORE 
 DRIVING OF THE GOLD SPIKE AT PROMONTORY 
 
 Note—Federal Railroad Commissioners Clements and Blinkendoffer in Wraps on 
 the Cowcatcher 
 
 —Photograph Taken Feb. 9, 1869, Courtesy 
 of Mrs. O. C. Waldau, Daughter of W. B. 
 . Kendale, the Conductor, Shown with Orders 
 
 in His Hand 
 a Northern route. Southern representatives realized this, and 
 so the building of any Pacific railway depending on Federal 
 action and assistance remained an impossibility until after 
 the firing on Sumter, when the North undertook to legislate 
 
 for the Nation. 
 
 With the secession of eleven Southern states, the rivalry 
 of the five sectional routes was reduced to three—the St. Louis 
 interest, the Chicago interest and the Northern interest. In 
 the end the Chicago interest, backed by the wealth and energy 
 _of New England and New York, prevailed. By 1860 the Chi- 
 cago interest had reached the Mississippi at Dubuque, Rock 
 
170 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 Island and Burlington, from which points respectively the 
 Chicago & North Western, Rock Island and Burlington lines 
 were pushing on across Iowa 
 to Sioux City, Council Bluffs 
 and Platte City, as rapidly as 
 their resources would permit. 
 
 Well nigh a year was con- 
 sumed in perfecting the Act, 
 which finally received Lin- 
 coln’s approval on July 1, 
 18625 lt screateditamecommocd. 
 tion. to be known. as "The 
 Union Pacific Railroad Com- 
 pany,” to be composed of 158 
 persons named “in thes Act, 
 “together with five Commis- 
 sioners to be appointed by the 
 Secretary of the Interior=ine 
 
 
 
 TABLET IN THE CHICAGO & NORTH- 
 
 WESTERN CHICAGO STATION | capital stock was to con- 
 To Commemorate the Establishment of : 
 the First Railway Postal Car Service sist of one hundred thousand 
 
 Bi diatghons eee ea shares of one thousand dol- 
 
 lars each, of which not more than two hundred shares were 
 to be held by one person.” The route named in the Act was 
 to be from a point to be fixed by the President of the United 
 States on the 100th meridian of longitude west. from Green- 
 wich * * * thence running westerly upon the most direct, 
 central and practicable route through the territories of the 
 United States to the western boundary of the Territory of 
 Nevada, there to meet and connect with the line of the Cen- 
 tral Pacific Railroad Company of California.” The grades 
 and curves were not to exceed those of the Baltimore & Ohio 
 Railroad, and the line was required to be completed by 
 July 1, 1874. 
 
 The right of way through public lands 200 feet on each 
 side of the track was granted. Mineral lands were exempted 
 from the grant and the right of way was limited to 100 feet 
 on each side of the track through private property. Further 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 171 
 
 
 
 LOCOMOTIVE “CONNESS” ON TRESTLE OVER AMERICAN RIVER 
 MARCH 16, 1865 
 
 Built by the Mason Locomotive Works, Mass. in 1864 and Shipped Around €ape Horn 
 
 aid in the form of United States 30-year 6 per cent bonds not 
 to exceed $50,000,000 were to be issued to the company as the 
 work progressed, such bonds to be paid by it at maturity. 
 This aid was attended with conditions of the most exacting 
 nature. 
 
 Like terms and conditions accompanied the grants to the 
 
 
 
 A BALDWIN FLEXIBLE BEAM TRUCK LOCOMOTIVE 
 
 Introduced in 1842 
 Remodelled in 1865 
 
LAZ HISTORY ~OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Central Pacific and it was provided that if either road reached 
 the California boundary before the other it could proceed to 
 a meeting with the other. It was this provision that spurred 
 on the race until the two companies met head-on at Promon- 
 tory Point, north of Salt Lake, on May 10, 1869. 
 
 The Act of 1862 provided that the gauge of the road should 
 be determined by the president, a responsibility Mr. Lincoln 
 did not relish. After much discussion, he named 5 feet, which 
 
 
 
 PORTLAND, OREGON IN 1867 
 
 conformed to the California gauge. Then the New ‘York- 
 Chicago-lowa combination got busy and secured the passage 
 through Congress of an Act declaring “that the gauge of the 
 Pacific Railroad and its branches throughout the whole extent, 
 from the Pacific coast to the Missouri river, shall be, and 
 hereby is, established at four feet, eight and one-half inches.” 
 
 That not only fixed the gauge for the Pacific roads but 
 settled officially 4 feet 8% inches as the standard gauge for 
 _the railways of the United States, as it is today. 
 
 Omaha Without Railways in 1863 
 
 “In 1863,” says the historian of that road, “when the act 
 authorizing the Union Pacific was passed by Congress, no 
 single iron rail or railroad tie had ever so much as been seen 
 at Omaha. The end of the nearest railroad building westward 
 from Chicago across Iowa was still 200 miles distant. One 
 frail railroad had recently reached the Missouri River at St. 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 173 
 
 
 
 Joseph, Missouri, 150 miles distant, over which there was un- 
 certain navigation and that during but four months of 
 the year. E 
 
 “Westward for 2,000 miles stretched that vast Indian in- 
 fested tract of desert and mountain from the Missouri River 
 to the Pacific Ocean—sun parched in summer and blizzard 
 swept in winter.” 
 
 In the geographies of those days this inhospitable region 
 was named the “Great American Desert” and the trails across 
 it were marked with headstones instead of milestones. 
 
 Private capitalists balked at the inducements to invest 
 their funds under the Act of 1862, and it was not until Con- 
 ' gress practically doubled these inducements, in 1864, that 
 construction was actually begun, and by September, 1865, the 
 first eleven miles of the Union Pacific were completed. There- 
 after the race between the rival Pacifics was on, the Central 
 Pacific having a full year advantage at the start. When they 
 met at Promontory Point, in 1869, the Union Pacific had 
 built 1,086 miles from Omaha and the Central Pacific 689 from 
 Sacramento. 3 
 
 The natural obstacles of mountain and desert made the 
 work exceptionally difficult, dangerous and expensive. The 
 Central Pacific had the advantage of getting its iron, finished 
 supplies and machinery by sea, via Cape Horn or Panama, 
 and also of obtaining coolie labor from China, while the Union 
 Pacific having no railway connection until January, 1867, had 
 to get all its supplies overland from the unfinished railways 
 in Iowa or by Missouri river steamboats. It had also to de- 
 pend on intractable Irish labor until it was able to recruit 
 more stable forces from the discharged soldiers of the army. 
 Instead of the unified management the Central Pacific enjoyed 
 through a single construction company, the Union Pacific 
 was harassed by the warring factions of the Credit Mobilier. 
 In the closing days of this great work the two companies 
 employed at least 25,000 men, about equally divided between 
 them. 
 
 Another great advantage enjoyed by the Central Pacific 
 was that the Sierra Nevada furnished all the timber needed 
 
174 HISTORY> OR AMERICANGHAILIVASS 
 
 for ties, trestles and snow-sheds, whereas the Union Pacific 
 had scarcely any timber along its line, except the worthless 
 cottonwood of the Platte valley. Both roads were built 
 through a new, uninhabited and uncultivated country and 
 had to set up their own foundries and machine shops as the 
 work progressed. 
 
 This unique, difficult and dangerous example of American 
 railway building was admirably described in a paper read 
 before the Society of the Army of the Tennessee by General 
 G. M. Dodge, chief engineer 
 of the Union Pacific during 
 construction. 
 
 The work was semi-military 
 in its character. The survey- 
 ing parties were always ac- 
 companied by a detachment 
 of soldiers as a protection 
 against interference by In- 
 dians. The construction trains 
 -were fully equipped with ri- 
 fles- ands othersarms,> and it 
 was claimed that a gang of 
 tracklayers could be _ trans- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 COLLISD Pa WLUNTINGION,. 1821-1900 
 
 Railway Organizer and Builder formed at. an momen into 
 “When peo sung £0 erty Wood He ‘eit ek: - ‘ ent - 
 
 icked up Chips” a battalion 1 tv. = 
 
 From a Steel Engrawng of the ’70s O niant y) Ss 
 
 
 
 ENGINE AND CREW IN CHARGE OF TRANSFER AT PROMONTORY, TAKEN 
 AT THE LAYING OF THE LAST RAIL MAY 10; 1869 
 —Courtesy W. L. Park 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 175 
 
 
 
 saults on the trains by the Indians were not infrequent. 
 “There was nothing we could ask of the United States 
 army,’ wrote General Dodge, “that they did not give, even 
 when the regulations did not authorize it, and it took a long 
 stretch of authority to satisfy 
 all our demands. The com- 
 missary department was open 
 to us. Their troops guarded 
 us, and we reconnoitred, sur- 
 veyed, located and built in- 
 side of their picket line. We 
 marched to work to the tap 
 of the drum with our men 
 pe daer hile ye Stacked) tieir 
 arms on the dump and were 
 ready at a moment’s warning 
 toctallsin-and fight for their 
 territory. General Casement’s 
 track train could arm a thou- 
 Sande men at a word: and; 
 from him as a head down to 
 
 
 
 his chief spiker, it could be COLLIS P. HUNTINGTON 
 é From a Photograph Taken Shortly Be- 
 commanded by experienced fore His Death in 1900 
 
 officers of every rank from general to a captain. They had 
 served five years at the front, and over half of the men had. 
 shouldered a musket in many battles. An illustration of this 
 came to me after our track had passed Plum Creek, 200 miles 
 west of the Missouri River. The Indians had captured a 
 freight train and were in possession of it and its crews. It 
 so happened that I was coming down from the front with my 
 car, which was a traveling arsenal. At Plum Creek station, 
 word came of this capture and stopped us. On my train 
 were perhaps twenty men, some a portion of the crew, some 
 who had been discharged and sought passage to the rear. 
 Nearly all were strangers to me. The excitement of the cap- 
 ture and the reports coming by telegraph of the burning train 
 brought all the men to the platform, and when I called on 
 them to fall in to go forward and retake the train, every man 
 
176 HISTORY “OF SAM ERICAN® RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 on the train went into line, and by his position showed that 
 he was a soldier. We ran down slowly until we came in 
 sight of the train. I gave the order to deploy as skirmishers, 
 and at the command they went forward as steadily and in as 
 good order as we had seen the old soldiers climb the face of 
 Kenesaw.” 
 
 
 
 PORTLAND, OREGON, OCT. 5, 1924 
 Mount Hood Shows in Snow Clad Distance 
 —Copyrighted by A. M. Prentiss, Portiane 
 
 Here is a description from the Fortnightly Review of an- 
 other phase of the building of the great national railway: 
 
 “Track laying on the Union Pacific is a science, and we 
 pundits of the far East stood upon that embankment, only 
 about a thousand miles this side of sunset, and backed west- 
 ward before the hurrying corps of sturdy operators with a 
 mingled feeling of amusement, curiosity and profound respect. 
 On they came. A light car drawn by a single horse gallops 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 177 
 
 up to the front with a load of rails. Two men seize the end 
 of a rail and start forward, the rest of the gang taking hold 
 by twos, until it is clear of the car. They come forward at 
 a run. At the word of command the rail is dropped in its 
 place, right side up with care, while the same process goes 
 on at the other side of the car. Less than thirty seconds to 
 a rail for each gang, and so four rails go down to a minute! 
 Quick work, you say, but the fellows on the Union Pacific 
 are tremendously in earnest. The moment the car is empty 
 it is tipped over on the side of the track to let the next loaded 
 car pass it, and then it is tipped back again, and it is a sight 
 to see it go flying back for another load propelled by a horse 
 at full gallop at the end of sixty or eighty feet of rope, ridden 
 by a young Jehu, who drives furiously. Close behind the 
 first gang come the gaugers, spikers and bolters, and a lively 
 time they make of it. It is a grand Anvil Chorus that these 
 sturdy sledges are playing across the plains. It is in triple 
 time, three strokes to a spike. There are ten spikes to a rail, 
 four hundred rails to a mile, eighteen hundred miles to San 
 Francisco. * ™* * Twenty-one million times are those 
 sledges to be swung—twenty-one million times are they to 
 come down with their sharp punctuation, before the great 
 work of modern America is to be completed.” 
 
 Now, gentle reader, let us take a trip over the Union 
 Pacific during its construction days, boarding the train at 
 Omaha, with the eyes and pen of J. H. Beadle, correspondent 
 of the Cincinnati Commercial. He bore a letter of identifica- 
 tion from Murat Halstead, the famous war correspondent and 
 editor of that once influential newspaper. The start was made 
 at 6 P. M. July 3, 1868. The road at first ran through a well 
 settled and cultivated country for fifty miles. 
 
 “Next morning our eyes rested on an expanse of distance— 
 without life, vast plains, rolling hills, and the mighty Platte 
 six inches deep and two miles wide; ‘too thin to walk on, too 
 thick to drink, too shallow for navigation, too deep for safe 
 fording, too yellow to wash in, too pale to paint with—the 
 most disappointing and least useful river in America‘.” And 
 
178 HISTORY OF (AMERIGAN RAILWAYS 
 
 —_— 
 
 
 
 
 
 yet the imperceptible ascent of the valley of the Platte made 
 the rapid building of the Union Pacific possible. 
 
 “Out of North Platte, 291 miles from Omaha, where we 
 breakfasted, we move out over a dry plain following the South 
 Platte. For over a mile the train moves through a settlement 
 of prairie dogs called a ‘Dog Town,’ occasionally we see a 
 group of Indians looking on from distant sandhills, and are 
 kept alert by the usual rumors of trains held up and plundered 
 by dusky warriors, just ahead of ours, but pass safely on. 
 
 “For four hundred miles the eating stations are the only 
 towns we see. Late in the day we reach Cheyenne, only six 
 months ago the ‘great city of the plains, full of boisterous 
 life and sudden death, with a population of six thousand peo- 
 ple, which at this date (July, 1868) had shrunk to a quiet 
 and moral town of perhaps fifteen hundred inhabitants. 
 
 “From Cheyenne a practically level road takes us rapidly 
 to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, from which the 
 rise is steep and rugged up to Sherman, the highest point on 
 the road. Then down the western slope to Laramie, and so 
 on to what was then known as Benton, a short distance be- 
 yond the present town of Rawlins.’ To the correspondent of 
 the Commercial in 1868 “it was a typical railway town of 
 mushroom growth with three thousand inhabitants, laid out 
 in a rectangular square, five wards, a city government of 
 mayor and aldermen and all the paraphernalia of a permanent 
 community. 
 
 “This, for the time being, was the terminus of construction 
 six hundred and ninety-eight miles~ from Omaha. From it 
 nota‘ ereen tree) shrub-orispear of grass was to be seen. 50 
 far as Mr. Beadle’s eyes could reach, “the red hills appeared 
 scorched and bare as if blasted by the lightnings of an angry 
 God. * * * All seemed sacred to the genius of drought 
 and desolation.” 
 
 Benton was the end of freight and passenger traffic and 
 the beginning of the construction division. Here twice daily 
 immense trains arrived and departed. All goods formerly 
 hauled across the plains came here and were reshipped. ‘For 
 ten hours daily,” says the correspondent, “the streets were 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 179 
 
 
 
 thronged with motley crowds of railroad men, Mexicans and 
 Indians, gamblers, ‘cappers’ and saloon keepers, merchants, - 
 miners and mulewhackers.” 
 
 The great institution of Benton was the “Big Tent,” a 
 structure 100 feet long by 40 feet wide, with a good floor for 
 dancing and many tables for gambling, with every device 
 known to frontier life, from three-card monte down to “rondo- 
 coolo,” said to be the least “cutthroat” of these sports. This 
 “Big Tent’ was a peripatetic institution that was set up at 
 
 
 
 WHERE THE UNION PACIFIC AND CENTRAL PACIFIC MET AT 
 PROMONTORY, UTAH, in ’69 
 
 each successive terminus that marked the advance of the Union 
 Pacific. 
 
 On the 10th of May, 1869, Mr. Beadle witnessed the cere- 
 monies connected with laying the last rail and driving the last 
 spike on the Pacific Railway at Promontory Point, north of 
 Great Salt Lake. There he wrote: “Irish and Chinese labor- 
 ers met in their great work to place the last bit in the band 
 which weds the Orient and Occident.” 
 
 It was there the American railways completed the work 
 of binding this Republic in an indissoluble union, to which 
 they contributed so greatly during the decade 1860-1870. 
 
 With the three strokes that drove the last spike, the telegraph 
 in every city in the Union clicked off: “ONE, TWO, THREE 
 (pause), DONE 
 
180 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 The Credit Mobilier Scandal 
 
 Unfortunately the completion of the Union Pacific cannot 
 be dismissed with its junction with the Central Pacific at 
 Promontory Point. While its inception, promotion and com- 
 pletion in the face of political, physical and financial obsta- 
 cles was a signal triumph of the American spirit that rises 
 to meet emergencies, there were features about its actual 
 
 
 
 SAME SCENE FROM A PRINT OF THE PERIOD 
 
 When Artists Disagree, You Can Take Your Choice. The Camera Was Not as 
 Ubiquitous in 1869 as It is Now 
 
 financing and construction that have always detracted from 
 the public’s pride in this essentially national achievement. 
 Although time and the fulfillment of all its obligations to the 
 Government, with receiverships and consequent reorganiza- 
 tions, have cleared the title of the Union Pacific from the 
 last shadow of the Credit Mobilier, no history of railways in 
 America can ignore it as a passing and past phase of railway 
 construction on this continent. 
 
 The story is a long and somewhat intricate one, which 
 may be boiled down to. the statement that the construction 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 181 
 
 _ of the Union Pacific was let out through the intervention of 
 seven trustees to the Credit Mobilier, a company that had 
 taken over the charter rights of the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agen- 
 cy—which included powers of the most elastic nature, with 
 a limitation of liability of its shareholders to the amount of 
 stock subscribed. The African in this seemingly legitimate 
 business transaction was the duplication of the stockholders 
 in the two companies. The seven trustees were to do the 
 work and, as fast as the miles of road built entitled the Union 
 Pacific to receive the pro rata of Government subsidy bonds, 
 first mortgage bonds, land grant bonds and other securities, 
 these were paid over to the trustees, who, after reimbursing 
 themselves for the cost to date, turned the balance over to the 
 Credit Mobilier to be distributed among its stockholders. 
 
 Testimony before a Senate committee was to the effect 
 that the Union Pacific paid the contractors securities of the 
 face value of $93,546,287; that the work cost the contractors 
 $50,/20,959, leaving a balance of $42,825,328 for the Credit 
 Mobilier. But as the bonds and stocks were put in at par, 
 where they were disposed of at a heavy discount, the profit 
 on this questionable transaction was reduced to $23,366,319. 
 It was not this profit, enormous as it was, that outraged 
 public sentiment, which was familiar with the “lucky strikes” 
 of railway contractors who took the risks of difficult enter- 
 prises, but the exposure of a distribution of Credit Mobilier 
 stock “where it would do the most good” in Congress created 
 a political sensation such as has seldom been known in Amer- 
 ica. The list of those to whom stock had been “sold” in- 
 cluded the names of Vice-President Colfax, Vice-President- 
 Blect Wilson, Speaker of the House Blaine, Senator Pat- 
 terson and Representatives Oakes Ames, Dawes, Schofield, 
 Garfield, Boutwell, Bingham and Kelley. 
 
 When Congress began its session in the following Decem- 
 ber, 1872, Speaker Blaine called Sunset'-S. Cox to the chair 
 and introduced a resolution calling for an investigation under 
 which what is known as the Poland Committee was appointed. 
 In January following, the Wilson Committee for the same 
 purpose was appointed in the Senate. 
 
182 HiSlORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 After six weeks of almost daily sessions the Poland Com- 
 “mittee reported, and its report was referred to the Committee 
 on Judiciary. This committee reported against impeachment 
 because none of the acts complained of had been done by an 
 officer of the House who was such both when the crime was 
 committed and when it was investigated. Its findings on the 
 relation of Representative Oakes Ames to the scandal, which 
 contain the gist of the matter, were as follows: 
 
 “Oakes Ames, for the purpose of creating in members of 
 Congress a ieeling favorable to the Union Pacincem and 
 Credit Mobilier) had sold or agreed to sell to them stock in 
 the Credit Mobilier at par when it was worth much more, but 
 instead of having the stock transferred to purchasers on the 
 books of the company, had kept it in his own name as ‘trustee,’ 
 had received the dividends and accounted for them to the 
 purchasers. His purpose was not to secure positive beneficial 
 legislation, but to prevent possible detrimental legislation, 
 particularly legislative regulation of freight and passenger 
 rates on the Union Pacific as advocated by C. C. Washburn 
 (Wis.) and, Ev. B. Washburnéd* (it.)jy (iis acts* were wiane 
 mount to bribery—in the opinion of the committee.” 
 
 The Poland Committee thereupon recommended the ex- 
 pulsion of Representatives Ames and Brooks (who as a Gov- 
 ernment director and Congressman had used his position to 
 procure stock in companies directly dependent upon Congres- 
 sional legislation). The House contented itself with ,“abso- 
 lutely condemning the conduct” of Oakes Ames. Within a 
 few months of their condemnation both representatives died— 
 the former’s death, on May 8, 1873, being attributed to his 
 immense exertions in building the Union Pacific and the ex- 
 citement and disgrace of the Credit Mobilier scandal. 
 
 In the Senate a select committee appointed to consider 
 ‘the evidence taken by the Poland Committee reported in favor 
 of the expulsion of Senator Patterson, but his term expired 
 before the report was acted on. : 
 
 The Wilson Committee of the Senate reported a bill for 
 the recovery of the excessive -profits of the Credit Mobilier for 
 

 
 
 
 FOURTH WLCADE, 1860-1870 183 
 
 the benefit of the United States. Suit was accordingly brought 
 in the District Court for the District of Connecticut, but on 
 demurrer both the District Court and the Supreme Court 
 on appeal found that the Government had no cause of action. 
 The grounds for this decision, as stated by Justice Hunt of 
 the District Court, are not open to question. In part, he said: 
 “So long as the security of the United States for its loan of 
 bonds and land should not be impaired, and as long as the 
 corporation should perform the public functions imposed upon 
 it by its charter, the United States could not maintain an 
 action for recovery from the Union Pacific of money or other 
 properly, even fraudulently or unlawfully taken from the cor- 
 Rotor ee oe in sectring the. benefits sexpected irom 
 a Pacific railway, the government had given no more than it 
 agreed to give, and the corporation had done and was doing 
 all that the law required.” 
 
 In afhfrming the decision, Justice Miller of the Supreme 
 Court said: “It is difficult to see any right which as a credi- 
 tor the Government had to interfere between the corporation 
 and those with whom it deals. It has been careful to protect 
 its interests in making the contract, and it has the right which 
 that contract gives. What more does it ask?” 
 
 In the end the so-called improvident grants made by Con- 
 gress to the Pacific railways did not turn out so badly. The 
 bread it cast on the arid waters (plains and mountains) re- 
 turned to it after many years. The grant of land to the Union 
 Pacific netted the company approximately $23,000,000, but 
 added more than that to the value of the alternate sections 
 not granted. The last of the Government bonds issued to 
 the company were finally redeemed with interest. 
 
 Summing up the history of the Union Pacific in another 
 connection, the writer said: “Justice in the public mind 
 has never been done—probably never will be—to the courage, 
 enterprise and indomitable energy of the Americans who 
 pushed the great work through financial shoals and physical 
 obstructions to completion. It and the Central Pacific, as 
 well, were built at war prices. Labor was scarce and was to 
 be had only at exorbitant figures. The cost of materials was 
 
184 HIS PORY~ OF “AMERICAN *hxAILiVAy ss 
 
 well-nigh prohibitive. The price of ties laid down at Omaha 
 ran as high as $2.50. The rails for the first 100 miles of the 
 Union Pacific cost $135 per ton. When railway connection 
 was established between Council Bluffs and the East, this 
 was reduced to $97.50. Government bonds were issued as the 
 work progressed, and netted the company only 65 cents on 
 the dollar. The country through which it was built was the 
 hunting ground of the most warlike Indians of the West. 
 
 
 
 THE FIRST ENGINE TO REACH ST; PAUL BY BOAT IN 1860 AND 
 GREAT NORTHERN GIANT. OF 1924. 
 
 They harassed the work at every stage, from scalping survey- 
 ing parties to attacks on graders, who worked with their guns 
 stacked within easy reach. It is related that more than half 
 the construction gangs were men who had been through the 
 war, which experience stood them in good stead. 
 
 “The conception of this work was an inspiration of patri- 
 otism; its financing was a nightmare; its physical construc- 
 tion was a battle between civilization and the forces of sav- 
 agery and Nature, worthy the pen of Fenimore Cooper; its 
 progress was a Titanic race for subsidies and its completion 
 was hailed with patriotic acclaim throughout the Union. Presi- 
 dent Lincoln designated the eastern terminus of this trans- 
 continental railway on March 7, 1864, and on May 10, 1869, 
 President Grant received the tidings that the last spike—a 
 golden one from California—had been driven that joined the 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 185 
 
 
 
 _ rails of the Union and Central Pacific railways at Promon- 
 tory, Utah.” That event was celebrated in a poem by Bret 
 Harte, beginning: 
 
 What was it the engines said, 
 
 Pilots touching head to head, 
 
 Facing on the single track 
 
 Half a world behind each back? 
 
 And what was this great work whose completion marked 
 the meeting of the iron girdle across a continent, with half a 
 world behind each pilot? It was a hastily graded, unbal- 
 lasted, indifferently equipped, single track road of 1,921 miles, 
 laid with 56-pound iron rails, through sparsely settled deserts 
 and mountains, which, paradoxical as it may seem, cost three 
 times as much as it was worth and yet was worth many times 
 more than three times as much as it cost. 
 
 The Union Pacific of 1923 has more miles of yard track and 
 sidings than the Union Pacific of 1870 had miles of main line. 
 
 The decade of 1860-1870, that opened with the terrific 
 struggle to destroy the Union, closed with the completion 
 of the first of the many transcontinental railways that all 
 Americans fervently hope will make that Union forever indis- 
 soluble. There were other events in the railway world that 
 made this decade memorable in American history—the cross- 
 ing of Lowa by no less than five great trunk lines, the Chicago 
 & North Western, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the 
 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chicago, Burlington & 
 Quincy and the Illinois Central, which all arrived at the Mis- 
 souri before the close of 1870. At that time there were 52,922 
 miles of main line in the United States, an increase of 22,296, 
 no less than 15,242 miles of which were constructed in what 
 twenty years before was truly the Wild West, so far as rail- 
 ways were concerned. In this decade, moreover, nine states— 
 - Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, the Dakotas, 
 Oregon and Utah—heard the sound of a locomotive whistle 
 fottnelirst atime. sin) factaiimajority, of theseastates, were 
 still in the chrysalis or territorial stage when the decade 
 closed. Illinois had established its leadership of the states 
 
186 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 for railway mileage, with 4,823 miles of line to Pennsylvania’s 
 4.656, which it was not to relinquish until 1910, when Texas 
 was to overtop them both. 
 
 Genesis of Three Western Roads 
 
 The story of how three leading western systems were 
 assembled from detached parts into great through lines to 
 connect Chicago with the Pacific roads is worth telling as 
 illustrative of the part consolidations have played in furnish- 
 ing this continent with the essential links in its transporta- 
 tion system. Take, for instance, the Chicago & North West- 
 ern, which was the first of the three to reach the goal at Coun- 
 cil Bluffs: What may be considered as its main stem started 
 out from Chicago as the Galena & Chicago Union. Originally 
 chartered, in 1836, to build a railway across the prairies 
 toward the Mississippi, the enterprise was caught in the finan- 
 cial panic of 1837 and actual construction was not undertaken 
 until 1847. Eight years later it reached the Father of Waters. 
 In 1859 the Chicago & North Western was formed as the 
 successor to the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac, itself a 
 consolidation of the two roads chartered in Illinois and Wis- 
 consin as far back as 1851. With the consolidation of these 
 several properties in 1864 and the acquisition by lease of the 
 Cedar Rapids & Missouri, the Chicago & North Western was 
 pushed on to the Missouri in time to assist in the final rush 
 of the Union Pacific on to Ogden. Before the final merger 
 of the integral parts of the system as developed into the mod- 
 ern Chicago & North Western, more than a score of distinct 
 organizations were absorbed and dissolved. 
 
 Here again in the evolution of the Chicago & North West- 
 ern, as was so generally the case in the history of railway 
 construction on this continent, sooner or later, one man played 
 an almost decisive part in the direction of its affairs. In this 
 case William B. Ogden was the man. Born in 1805, he was 
 barely thirty years old when he came west and settled in 
 Chicago, just in time to be elected its first mayor on the city’s 
 organization, in 1837. When the project of building the 
 Galena & Chicago Union line, after slumbering eleven years, 
 
FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870 187 
 
 
 
 
 
 was revived, in 1847, Mr. Ogden was chosen for its first presi- 
 dent; then he was successively first president of the Chicago, 
 Fond, du Lac Railway in 1855, of the Chicago & North West- 
 ern in 1859 and of the Union Pacific in 1862. He was also a 
 director in the Fort Wayne Railway at its organization, and 
 from 1835 to the time of his death, in 1877, he was easily the 
 most prominent single figure in Chicago and was justly called 
 “the father of transportation systems” of 
 what was then the Northwest. 
 
 With a purchase of a majority of its stock 
 in 1882 the Chicago & North Western ac- 
 quired control of the Chicago, St. Paul, Min- 
 neapolis & Omaha Railway, itself a succes- 
 sor to several earlier railway enterprises. 
 Like early Worms, which are credited with 
 being the original tillers of the earth, these 
 pioneer roads afforded the necessary nour- 
 
 
 
 ishment for the roads that swallowed them. oie ene 
 fer@hicapo, Rock island & Pacific-ap- wre eae ob Che 
 
 . cago and first presi- 
 pears to have been one of the few western eae ee 
 
 roads that had a definite objective when ee 
 
 it was started’ “Chartered in 1851 without the Pacific 
 suffix, it reached Rock Island in 1854, beating the Chicago & 
 North Western to the Mississippi by a year. There it yoked 
 up with the Mississippi & Missouri Railway, which was pro- 
 ceeding by easy stages across the State of Iowa. When the 
 two roads were consolidated, the word Pacific was added to 
 premnock island s titles” Che extension’ to’ Council * Biufts 
 thereafter was pushed with energy and the junction with the 
 Union Pacific was effected in June, 1869. From this time on 
 the Rock Island extended its lines to the south and west by 
 original construction, at foreclosure sales and by leases as the 
 spirit of expansion dictated, much as farmers annex adjoining 
 meadow, arable and woodlands. 
 
 Neither Burlington nor Quincy was mentioned in the 
 genesis of the great Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Company. 
 They were afterthoughts, coming to the fore after the Chi- 
 
188 HISTORY OF AMERICAN KAIEWAYS 
 
 
 
 cago & Aurora and the Central Military Tract roads were 
 consolidated, in 1858—Quincy being picked up when the 
 Northern Cross road was purchased, and Burlington was in- 
 cluded when the line was extended to that city by the pur- 
 chase of the Peoria & Oquawka road. Oquawka just missed 
 literary fame when Edgar Allen Poe abandoned his design 
 of editing the Oquawka Magazine there. It was not until 
 1875 and 1880 that the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy acquired 
 the lines and land grants of the Burlington & Missouri in 
 lowa and Nebraska. From this time on the Chicago, Burling- 
 ton & Quincy extended its organization over a myriad of em- 
 bryo roads, thereby forming a strong and harmonious system 
 which has contributed so greatly to the prosperity and prog- 
 ress of the agricultural West. 
 
 Space only admits of giving the history of these typical 
 instances of railway amalgamation in barest outline, but it 
 will serve to indicate to the student how many of the great 
 railway systems of America have grown up more like Topsy 
 than from any preconceived and carefully worked out design. 
 Necessity called for them and circumstances directed their 
 construction wherever the call seemed most urgent, with such 
 funds as were available. Owing to the lack of design and 
 limited resources, so painfully evidenced in successive re- 
 ceiverships, foreclosures and reorganizations, the immediate 
 results were not always what might have been desired, and 
 yet the ultimate result is the best and most efficient railway 
 system in the world. Surely there is a divinity that has shaped 
 the course of empire on this continent, build the railways as 
 we might. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 FIFTH DECADE—1870-1880 
 
 ERA OF SPECULATION, REGULATION, GRANGER LEGISLATION AND 
 RECEIVERSHIPS 
 
 MERICAN railways went into their fifth decade with an 
 
 overhang from the preceding decade, notorious in the 
 annals of stock jobbing as “A 
 Chapters Ghatirie: << starting 
 with its most virulent phase 
 in 1868 in the rivalry for con- 
 trol between Cornelius Van- 
 derbilt and Daniel Drew, this 
 scandal was destined to keep 
 the great national achieve- 
 ment of 1830-1851 in a succes- 
 sion of shameful deals up to 
 thé receivership. of 18/5. 
 From then on the Erie was 
 in financial breakers down to 
 tie Mtourth. J receivershrp; -1n 
 1893 and reorganization in 
 Poreeacecin06. thisiroad . 
 has been managed as a rail- as 
 way should be; tor gives the!” CHAREES HR ANCIS ADAME "IR 
 best public service in its ter- | Author, Railway Commissioner, 
 : ears cee : President and Publicist 
 ritory within the limits of its 
 resources. For this due credit has to be given E. B. Thomas, 
 who headed its operations from 1896 to 1900, and to Frederick 
 D. Underwood, who succeeded him in 1901. Their struggle 
 to live down the legacy of debt and dishonor attached to the 
 name Erie by the transgressions of Drew, Gould and Fisk is 
 worthy the best traditions of American railways. 
 
 “The Chapter of Erie,” as told by Charles Francis Adams, 
 
 Jr. in his monograph with that title, is a long and intricate 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
190 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 —_— —_—  — — — — — — — —— —  —SSSSSSSSSSSFSSSssSsSSeeFs 
 
 one which cannot be more than outlined here. It had its 
 prelude in the stock jugglings of Drew as a director and treas- 
 urer of the road previous to 1868, by which he was reputed to 
 have accumulated millions. Then came the contest between 
 him and Commodore Vanderbilt, which involved pretty much 
 every variety of maneuver, knavery, abuse of judicial writs, 
 fraudulent issue of securities, corruption of judges and legis- 
 lators, etc., known to past masters in the tortuous arts of 
 “frenzied finance.” Judges were made pawns of the contest- 
 ants, and a Tammany chief was allowed a receiver’s fee of 
 $150,000 when there was no 
 property on Manhattan Is- 
 land for a receiver to receive. 
 An act which the Drew- 
 Gould interests “lobbied” 
 through at Albany was de- 
 nounced by Judge Barnard 
 as “a bill for legalizing coun- 
 terfeit money.” Before Gould 
 and Fisk got through with 
 Drew by means of a stock 
 corner, they had stripped him 
 of his last dollar and left him 
 a wreck on the sands of that 
 speculative sea where, for a 
 quarter of a century, he had 
 flown the black flag. | 
 This retribution was Dan- 
 iel Drew’s due, but he and 
 ee ee Ia his immediate successors sad- 
 dled the Erie management 
 
 with an accumulation of liabilities from which no subse- 
 quent reorganization has been sufficiently drastic to com- 
 pletely relieve it. But, more serious still, the Erie scandal 
 has hung like a foul vapor over the railroad world ever since, 
 poisoning the popular mind and filling it with mistrust and 
 suspicion of the most faithful and efficient public utility in 
 
 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 191 
 
 
 
 the Nation. Verily, the evil men do lives after them, the 
 good is often interred with their bones. : 
 
 Jay Gould during his meteoric career was undoubtedly one 
 of the most imposing figures 
 in the financial and railway 
 world. He began his specula- 
 tion in railway stocks in the 
 early “60s and, besides his 
 ventures in Erie, before his 
 death he had acquired large 
 if not controlling interests in 
 the Wabash, Kansas Pacific, 
 irom NP Acinc, oot: 4 Louis 
 Southwestern, Texas Pacific 
 and Missouri Pacific. He also 
 participated in the organiza- 
 tion of the American Tele- 
 graph Company, which laid 
 an Atlantic cable and was 
 subsequently merged in the 
 
 
 
 
 
 Western Union, of which he ays JAY GOULD—1836-1892 
 : : ailway Financier, Organizer and - 
 was the chief stockholder. At President of Many Roads 
 ; President and Treasurer of Erie 
 the time of his death Jay 1868-72 
 
 Gould’s railway holdings were estimated at $75,000,000. 
 Another Story of Erie 
 
 There was, however, another “Story of Erie” written in 
 an altogether different key from that pervading Mr. Adams’ 
 classic brochure. Without extenuating any of the shameful 
 incidents attending the exploiting and struggle over its con- 
 trol as told by Mr. Adams, this story traces its history from 
 its inception as set forth in a preceding chapter through its 
 early vicissitudes to its triumphant “opening in Erie” in May, 
 1851. The official notification of that opening is a cherished 
 historic document in the possession of the Curtis family of 
 Callicoon, N. Y., and sets forth that— 
 
 “On the 14th of May inst. the steamboat ERIE will leave 
 the New York and Erie Pier, foot of Duane Street, at 6 A. M. 
 
192 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 for Piermont, whence two Trains of Cars will start for Dun- 
 kirk and run by the Time Table on the back hereof.” 
 
 That Time Table allowed for two hours to reach Piermont 
 and an even 13 hours to get to Elmira, 283 miles from the 
 Duane Street pier. Between Port Jervis and Narrowsburg 
 the excursion train was said to have made 34 miles in 35 
 minutes, a record that has scarcely been bettered since on that 
 particular division. The passengers, among whom were Pres- 
 ident Fillmore, Governor Marcy of New York, Daniel Webster 
 and as distinguished a body of officials as ever attended an 
 opening, became alarmed and some of them wanted the train 
 stopped so that they could get off. But it proceeded and 
 landed its precious freight safely at Elmira at 7 o’clock, or 
 only 20 minutes late. There they laid up for the night to 
 resume the journey and speech making next morning at 6 
 o’clock, arriving at Dunkirk “about half past four in the after- 
 noon” of May 15th. The running time from Piermont to 
 Dunkirk, 440 miles, was 21 hours. 
 
 From this point on the author, Edward Harold Mott, 
 traces in detail the development of the Erie through a perfect 
 maze of administrations, receiverships, and reorganizations. 
 Jay Gould is pictured on one page as the shrewdest and most 
 unscrupulous speculator that ever matched his wits with the 
 powers of Wall Street, and on the next he is credited with 
 being a railway wizard of the broadest vision and most daring 
 and far flung telegraph and rail enterprise. He certainly 
 
 
 
 Jetoyonbiesusroval IbwAl ayahaal Jaen amelie es, 68h bo ah anoc ide DONS 
 Population 1920 with three continental roads..... Wee DLO,GtS 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 193 
 
 anticipated the consolidations that have created the great 
 systems of today and, according to Mr. Mott, it was only the 
 evil destiny that seemed to hover over Erie that in the early 
 70s prevented it from becoming the nucleus of the leading 
 railway organization between the Atlantic and the Pacific. 
 
 However, the real “Story of Erie,” as it concerns the his- 
 tory of transportation on this continent, is not told in the de- 
 tails of the titanic struggle of the Vanderbilts, the Drews, the 
 Goulds and other speculative financiers for its control in the 
 60s, but in the development of a railway whose passenger 
 receipts were only $15,165 in 1841, when operation began 
 with only 46 miles of line, and freight receipts were only 
 $14,523, into the system of 2,183 miles today, whose passenger 
 revenues in 1923 were $13,865,994 and freight revenues were 
 $95,853,671. In 1841 the Erie carried 11,627 passengers and 
 5,779 tons of freight and in 1923 30,985,579 passengers and 
 48,333,188 tons of freight. 
 
 Railroad Building Goes On 
 
 Happily for the American people, the clash and clamor of 
 conflicting stock manipulators in New York were but the 
 braying accompaniments to the persistent and substantial 
 progress of railway construction throughout the United 
 States. It was inevitable where the financial necessities of 
 that construction called for the investment of millions upon 
 millions that the birds of prey should hover and scream above 
 the tireless pioneers who were pushing rails of civilization to 
 the limits of the continent. It is one of the triumphs of the 
 ‘conquest of America that it refused to be halted or diverted 
 by the financial corners, booms and panics that attended the 
 projection, construction and completion of its railroads. These 
 financial, industrial and political convulsions may be likened 
 to the growing pains in the human body. They engrossed 
 attention while they lasted and their echoes have never ceased 
 to fill and confuse the public ear. But all the while the work 
 went steadily on, capital to pay for labor, materials and facili- 
 ties was forthcoming—often at usurious cost—from the slow 
 accumulations of our own people; from British banks and the 
 
194 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 deep pockets in the wide breeches of Dutch thrift. The op- 
 portunity of gain “beyond the dreams of* avarice’ was the 
 lure that brought gold from its hidden stores in old stockings 
 and savings banks. ‘The risk was always present to account 
 for high interest or heavy discounts. 
 
 But it is not the purpose of this history to dwell upon the 
 romance or the tragedy attending the financing of American 
 railways. It is concerned with the unfolding of the map of 
 the matchless network of rails that binds this Union into a 
 real Nation and that affords to its inhabitants on farm, in the 
 
 
 
 SIXTEEN-HORSE TRAIN CROSSING WYOMING IN 1870 
 
 factory, at the bench and in every walk of life the best and 
 cheapest transportation in the world. 
 
 From the outset railway construction both in America and 
 England, not to speak of the rest of Europe, was viewed by 
 statesmen, economists and financiers with suspicion and mis- 
 givings. In England every charter was obtained only after 
 extended and costly parliamentary proceedings. In the Unit- 
 ed States early charters were more easily obtained, for the 
 public was impatient for improved transportation. Nation, 
 state and municipality welcomed the rail as a possible relief 
 from the tyranny of poor roads, long hauls and tedious travel. 
 But there were adverse interests even here that had to be 
 placated and overcome. The stage coach, for which the canal 
 development held no terrors, was quick to scent a speedier 
 rival in the locomotive. But the canal had dug deep into the 
 pockets of investors before the railway had established its 
 superior efficiency, and the canal and steamboat interests 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 195 
 
 quickly took alarm and for several decades put every obstacle 
 they could command in the way of rapid railway expansion. 
 
 Under such conditions it was natural that Congress and 
 state legislatures should assert some supervision ovér the 
 railways. At first this assumed the form of requiring annual 
 reports. But this did not long suffice to satisfy the public 
 demand for information about the railways, which under their 
 charters were permitted to do pretty much what they saw fit 
 and to charge rates that were within very liberal maxima. 
 
 
 
 FIRST CLASS PASSENGER BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE 
 Built for Central R. R. of New Jersey in 1875 
 
 Railway progress in America had been attended by the 
 popular suspicion of lurking monopoly, the prevailing theory 
 that competition was the life of trade, the mistrust of carrier 
 fixed rates and the jealousy of business concerns and com- 
 munities over undue preferences and discriminations. Be- 
 tween 1830 and the ’70s, competition wherever railways were 
 operated had practically driven stage coaches-and artificial 
 waterways out-of the carrying trade on this continent only 
 to develop ruinous competition among the rail carriers them- 
 selves. Agreements to maintain rates to remedy this condi- 
 tion were made only to be broken like pie crust under the 
 urge to get business. Pooling, or an arbitrary division of 
 
196 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 traffic, was resorted to to prevent the recurring rate wars 
 with their disastrous consequences. But it lacked cohesive 
 strength until, in the early 
 AOS wea traitict sassOctation. ot 
 southern roads was effected 
 with Albert Fink, vice-presi- 
 dent of the Louisville & 
 Nashville road, as chairman. 
 He - proved. to! «possess the 
 ideal requirements of cour- 
 age, ability and character 
 necessary to inspire confi- 
 dence in handling the con- 
 flicting interests. To these 
 were added exceptional fa- 
 miliarity with the crucial traf- slosiaiel 
 
 fic problems involved and the Ohas Mie Let 
 springs of human action. So ae og 
 
 it was natural, when the Trunk Line Association was formed, 
 to extend the southern pooling principles to the national 
 field—in 1877, Mr. Fink was chosen as its Moses to lead the 
 railways out of the wilderness of cut rates and shipping dis- 
 criminations. 
 
 Under his guidance the association effected many needed 
 reforms in the handling of railway traffic. But the abuses 
 and discriminations, inherent in the original freedom of rail- 
 way exploitation from regulation, were tco deep rooted in 
 human nature to be cured by any purely voluntary association 
 of its beneficiaries. The rivalry and competition of railway 
 companies and the competition and rivalry of shipping inter- 
 ests which granted preferences, by the former, by cut rates 
 to the latter could be eradicated only by some authority im- 
 partial enough to decree “just and reasonable” rates and uni- 
 versal enough to enforce its decrees. : 
 
 
 
 State Regulation 
 
 With the completion of the Union Pacific to which the 
 national treasury had contributed so generously, albeit so 
 

 
 FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 197 
 
 guardedly that every dollar was subsequently repaid with 
 interest by the company, there caine a demand for a restric- 
 tion on the go-as-you-please metliods. prevailing in railway 
 management during the construction period. Out of the popu- 
 lar dread of monopoly the demand for some state regulation of 
 railways had been growing from their first appearance in 
 competition with canals and stage coaches. They were recog- 
 nized as necessary public servants but possibly dangerous 
 political masters. Massachusetts had gathered primitive rail- 
 way Statistics as early as 1836, and Rhode Island and New 
 Hampshire had provided themselves with embryo railroad 
 commissions. But it was left for Massachusetts to lead the 
 way to serious supervision of the railways by legislative action 
 in 1869. An Act was passed establishing a commission for 
 the regulation of railways within the commonwealth. By 
 this statute the commission, of which Charles Francis Adams, 
 Jr., was the first chairman, was invested with very broad 
 powers of investigation and recommendation, but was de- 
 pendent for the enforcement of its findings on public opinion. 
 As the Massachusetts statute became the model for one set 
 of state commissions in contrast with those organized on a 
 widely different principle, the following description by Mr. 
 Adams of its distinctive features has historic as well as perti- 
 nent current interest: 
 
 “In the West the fundamental idea behind every railroad act was 
 force;—the Commission represented ‘the constable. In the Massa- 
 chusetts act the fundamental idea was publicity;—the Commission 
 represented public opinion. The law creating the board and defining 
 its field of action was clumsily drawn, and throughout it there was 
 apparent a spirit of distrust in its purpose. In theory an experiment, 
 in reality it was a makeshift. The powers conferred on the commis- 
 sioners hardly deserved the name; and, such as they were, they were 
 carefully hedged about with limitations against abuse.. Accordingly 
 when the commissioners entered upon their duties they were at first 
 inclined to think that they could hardly save themselves from falling 
 into contempt from mere lack of ability to compel respect for their 
 decisions. In fact, however, the law could not have been improved. 
 Had it not been a flagrant legislative guess, it would have been an 
 inspiration. ~The only appeal provided was in publicity. The board 
 of commissioners was set up as a sort of lens by means of whch the 
 otherwise scattered rays of public opinion®’ could be concentrated to a 
 focus and brought to bear upon a given point. The commissioners 
 
 had to listen, and they might investigate and report;—they could do 
 little more. Accordingly they were compelled to study their subject, 
 
198 HISTORY -QF AMERICAN RATLWAYS 
 
 and with each question that came before them they had to stand or 
 fall on the reasons they presented for their conclusions. They could 
 not take refuge in silence. Whenever they attempted to do so they 
 found themselves introuble. They had, as each case came up, to argue 
 the side of the corporations or of the public, as the case might be; 
 but always to argue it openly, and in a way which showed that they 
 understood the subject and were at least honest in their convictions. 
 Placed from the beginning in this position, the board was singularly 
 fortunate in the permanence with which its members were continued 
 in office. But two individual changes were made in it during nine 
 years, and it has undergone no change during the last six. Accord- 
 ingly it had a chance to outlive its inexperience and profit by its own 
 blunders, which naturally were at first neither trifling nor infrequent. 
 
 “The result was necessarily as different:from that reached in the 
 West, as were the conditions under which it was reached. The board 
 in the first place became of necessity a judicial in place of a prose- 
 cuting tribunal. It naturally had often to render decisions upon mat- 
 ters of complaint which came under its cognizance in favor of the rail- 
 road corporations;—whether it decided in their favor or against them, 
 however, its decisions carried no weight other than that derived from 
 the reasons given for them. The commissioners were therefore under 
 the necessity of cultivating friendly relations with the railroad officials, 
 and had to inspire them, if they could, with a confidence in their 
 knowledge and fairness. Without that they could not hope to sustain 
 themselves. On the other hand, their failure was imminent unless 
 they so bore themselves as to satisfy the public that they were abso- 
 lutely independent of corporate influence, and could always be relied 
 upon to fearlessly investigate and impartially decide. 
 
 “Undesignedly the Massachusetts legislators had rested their law 
 on the one great social feature which distinguishes modern civiliza- 
 tion from any other of which we have a record;—the eventual suprem- 
 acy of an enlightened public opinion. The line of policy thus happily 
 initiated was. carefully pursued. New and wider powers were, year 
 by year, conferred upon the board, but always in the same direction— 
 powers to investigate and report. The commissioners meanwhile were 
 not slow to realize the advantage of their position, and have repeat- 
 edly put themselves on record as desiring no more arbitrary powers,— 
 as feeling themselves indeed stronger without them. In 1876 this 
 
 
 
 TRAIN ON PECOS RIVER BRIDGE, TEXAS 
 One of the highest bridges in the world, being 321 feet high. 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 199 
 
 
 
 policy reached its final result, as the legislature then placed the entire 
 system of accounts kept by the corporations under the direct supervi- 
 sion of the board. Its power in this respect was.unlimited. Not only 
 was it authorized to prescribe a uniform system upon which those 
 accounts should be kept, but they were also to be kept under the 
 immediate and constant supervision of its officers, and on proper ap- 
 plication the books were to be publicly investigated. * * * Singularly 
 enough, also, this act was passed not only without opposition from 
 the railroad companies as a body, but with the active assent of many 
 oi-theme - tao * 2 
 
 “This measure carried the Massachusetts method of dealing with 
 the railroad question to its ultimate point of development under a 
 state government. No greater degree of publicity was possible. The 
 system was perfectly simple, but none the less logical and practical. 
 It amounted to little more than the establishment of a permanent 
 board of arbitration, acting without any of the formality, expense and 
 delay of courts of law. On each question which came before it,— 
 whether brought to its notice by means of a postal card or through 
 the action of a city government,—this board was ito make an investi- 
 gation. If wrongs and grievances were made to appear, and no meas- 
 ure of redress could be secured, the appeal was to the courts or the 
 legislature, the board still being the motive force. Thus on all ques- 
 tions, not, strictly legal, arising out of the relations of the railroad 
 corporations,—whether among themselves, with the community as a 
 whole or with individuals, a body of experts—supposed to be skilled— 
 was provided, who were clothed with full inquisitorial powers and 
 whose duty it was, whether moved thereto by facts within their own 
 knowledge or brought to their knowledge through the intervention of 
 others, to investigate the doings or condition of the corporations and 
 to lay the resulting facts in detail before the public. 
 
 “The policy thus described,’ concludes Mr. Adams, “would seem 
 to have worked sufficiently well in Massachusetts.” 
 
 From its earliest introduction state regulation asserted the 
 right to amend the charters of the early railroads in the matter 
 of rates and fares. For specific maximums they substituted 
 the elastic phrase of “just and reasonable rates,” which. has 
 become the rule of legislatures, courts and commissions. 
 
 Along this-line regulation had developed the state policy 
 of limiting profits to a fair return on the value of property 
 devoted to public use. This has introduced into their regula- 
 tion at least two moot questions that admit of the widest 
 difference of opinion. What is a “fair return” and how shall 
 the property be valued? Years of discussion have not brought 
 forth a conclusive answer to either question and both omit 
 the one thing that is of most consequence to the public. They 
 provide no reward or return for efficient and progressive man- 
 agement; proceeding, no doubt, on the theory that good man- 
 agement, like angling and virtue, is its own reward. But 
 
200 AISTORYAOFPVAMERICANT RAIL AT. 
 
 American railways have outstripped all others by rewarding 
 their projectors, builders and managers—not all according 
 to their deserts, but sufficiently to keep ambition alive and 
 active. 
 
 No less an authority on this subject than Louis D. Bran- 
 deis, now of the United States Supreme Court, has said: 
 
 “To take from railroad corporations the natural gifts of efficiency 
 —that is, greater money rewards—must create a sense of injustice 
 suffered, which paralyzes effort, invites inefficiency and produces slip- 
 shod management. * * * Large earnings are frequently accepted 
 as evidence that ‘rates are too high, and invite a demand for reduc- 
 
 tion; whereas, in fact, the large earnings may be due wholly to better 
 judgment, greater efficiency and economies in administration.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN’S STEAM MOTOR FOR STREET CAR—1877 
 
 The Granger Laws 
 
 The success of the Massachusetts brand of regulation, 
 according to Chauncey M. Depew, for years the Nestor of 
 American railway officials, was due to the fact that the com- 
 monwealth “had first the independence to appoint a gentle- 
 man, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., of character and high prin- 
 ciples, who seemed particularly fitted for the work, and then 
 amidst all political changes had the sense and courage to 
 keep: him. there.” 
 
 In fact, Massachusetts regulation was sane and effective, 
 and it would have been well if it could have been extended to 
 all other states. But about this time, early in the ’70s, a 
 sentiment mistrustful of and hostile to all railways had been 
 aroused throughout the West that knew no moderation. In 
 its view all railways were badly managed, only some were 
 worse than others. This gave rise to the agitation, especially 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 201 
 
 in the West, in favor of drastic regulation of the railways. In 
 1867 the National Grange of Patrons of Husbandry was 
 formed, consisting of farmers. The local bodies were called 
 granges, and each state had its state grange. Its rules dis- 
 claimed any intention to interfere in politics, but it had hardly 
 got under way before it began to take an active, and for a 
 time in the Northwestern states a dominating, part in the 
 agitation against railway rates and other practices, which in 
 18/71 resulted in the passage of two regulatory acts by the 
 Illinois legislature. The first of these fixed maximum rates 
 and fares and the other established a commission to supervise 
 the railroads and to assist in enforcing the laws for their 
 regulation. The former, being declared unconstitutional, was 
 replaced by an act authorizing the commission to prescribe a 
 schedule of “reasonable maximum rates or charges for the 
 transportation of passengers and freight.” $ 
 
 The spirit of this legislation spread like a prairie fire 
 through the Western states. Laws of a similar nature were 
 enacted in Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and 
 Minnesota. Particularly drastic measures were passed in Iowa 
 and Wisconsin. They fixed passenger fares and freight rates in 
 detail. The Iowa law established a fund of $10,000 to pay 
 the expenses of private suitors for damages under the act 
 and made railway officials 
 and employes subject to fine 
 and imprisonment on convic- 
 tion of violations under the 
 act. The Potter law, as the 
 Wisconsin act was called, not 
 only fixed freight rates but 
 established a revised classifi- =— 
 Cio eoitseowne bhe rail saree DN OMA NEB tai? 
 way officials asserted that this law merely took the lowest 
 existing rates for the maximum and then reduced them 25 
 Der.cert. ) 
 
 
 
 
 
 As was inevitable, these drastic laws quickly got into the 
 Supreme Court of the United States and resulted in a series 
 
BOS os FISTORY (OPA AMERICAN SRAM Ay 
 
 
 
 
 
 of decisions in which new principles regarding the relations 
 of the states to transportation corporations were announced 
 and made the law of the land. 
 They supported the Granger 
 laws to the extent of fixing 
 maximum rates, even though 
 these were challenged on the 
 ground of unreasonableness. 
 These decisions have been 
 modified since. 
 
 Briefly) statedwiethem cons. 
 held that the Government 
 had a right to regulate the 
 use of property for the public 
 good and to fix maximum 
 charges for public services of 
 those with whom the public 
 has no choice but to deal. 
 
 Boeiestung _ Such regulations were never 
 USO oe ESET A870 7.12 AG0RS  cuposed ato, dent rye mreiman 
 *Increase mostly due to railways owners of their property, but 
 the devotion of property to a use in which the public has an 
 interest subjects it to that extent to public control. . 
 
 
 
 SAME STREET IN OMAHA—1922 
 
 
 
 TRESTLE ACROSS VALLEY NEAR SOUTH OMAHA 
 Process of Filling for Solid Embankment 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 203 
 
 This decision was not without question even on the bench 
 from which it issued. Justice Field; one of the ablest jurists 
 that ever sat in that great court, held, in agreement with 
 Justice Strong, that the legislature had no right to interfere 
 with private business and it was giving that body the power 
 to confiscate private property, contrary to the Constitution. 
 It certainly was anomalous, for it violated the charter rights 
 of many of the corporations to charge fixed fares and rates 
 far below the maximums in vogue or established by statutes. 
 The inviolability of many charter contracts was violated ruth- 
 lessly. But from that day there has been no doubt that 
 in the United States any industry “affected with a public 
 interest” has been subject to 
 governmental regulation. The 
 only question has been how 
 far the regulation could go 
 before confronting the con- 
 stitutional inhibition against 
 confiscation. In the period of 
 depressed business to which 
 these state laws contributed, 
 their more drastic provisions 
 were repealed. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 When Air Brakes Came 
 
 During the first forty years 
 of railway development on 
 this continent great progress GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE 
 had been made in the application of motive power, in the 
 increase of carrying capacity and in the creature comforts 
 of travel, but the means of stopping trains at stations or 
 holding them back on down grades had not kept pace with 
 the motive power. It had advanced little beyond the foot- 
 brake with which the Jehus of the stage coach period delight- 
 ed to alarm and reassure their passengers on hilly turnpikes. 
 True, Stephenson by 1833 had equipped one of his locomotives 
 with a steam brake, as shown in the accompanying cut, but 
 
 
 
204 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 it was applied to a single unit where the demand was for 
 something that would brake every car wheel in the train. 
 
 To the young American of today who has not traveled in 
 Europe the hand brakes that still decorate the platforms of 
 passenger cars and project above the roofs of freight cars 
 seem as unnecessary as the vermiform appendix to man. They 
 are relics of the experimental railway age. But they survive 
 on many of the railways of Europe, where thousands of freight . 
 cars have no brakes at all and only every third or fourth car 
 in a freight train has its brake and brakeman. 
 
 With the increase in the weight and speed of American 
 trains, both passenger and freight, the necessity for some 
 device that would control not only the individual car but 
 the whole train became more insistent. The toll of railway 
 accidents with display headlines in the newspapers alarmed 
 the public and threatened to check the economical develop- 
 ment of rail transportation. 
 
 As-in every other evolution of the transportation indus- 
 try, the condition found its man. The successor to Watt, 
 Stephenson, Baldwin and the long line of railway projectors 
 and builders was found in the person of George Westing- 
 house, who was to do for stopping trains what George Steph- 
 enson had done for starting them. 
 
 Like Watt and Stephenson, Westinghouse was not the 
 first in his field of train brake invention. Watt took the model 
 of Newcomen’s engine and put the life of practical improve- 
 ments into its infant cylinder; and Stephenson found in the 
 
 
 
 A PRIMITIVE BRAKE—THE DRAG 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 205 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 crude road and track locomotives of Robert Trevethick the 
 elements he combined in the “Planet” and “Rocket,” which 
 were the forerunners of the long line of giant locomotives 
 that. move the traffic of this 
 ecotient today. #And, 'so 
 George Westinghouse,  re- 
 tithing arom Service in ‘the 
 Union army in 1865, found 
 the field of railway braking 
 strewed with ineffective de- 
 wices = tor controlling @ the 
 wheels of our secondary na- 
 tional industry. 
 
 George Westinghouse was PRIMITIVE DOURLE ACTION 
 : ; BRAKE 
 
 born in the village of Central 
 
 Bridge, N. Y., in October, 1846, but his future was given its 
 bent when his father moved to Schenectady and established 
 himself in that industrial center as a maker of agricultural 
 and mill machinery and small steam engines. As Westing- 
 house was destined to be the leading personality in one of 
 the greatest industrial organizations in the world, as well as 
 the perfector of the train air brake, a brief sketch of his career 
 will not be amiss here. The American youth can study it with 
 profit. He came, as his biographer says, of Westphalian 
 stock which settled in Bennington county, Vermont, in 1755. 
 It is not necessary to go back of his father and mother to 
 locate his inheritance of the genius that sees things that | 
 should be done and the imag- 
 ination and capacity to do 
 them and the persistence to 
 keep at it until they are done 
 right. His father was pos- 
 sessed of those sterling quali- 
 ties that seem to inhere in 
 men born in the foothills of 
 Vermont, joined with the in- 
 
 : genious turn of mind that can 
 ENGLISH RAILWAY WAGON . 
 BRAKE OF 1839 whittle a model of a mechani- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
206 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 cal contraption out of a cedar shingle or a pine block. He 
 blazed the way for his son to the patent office by preceding 
 him there with some eight to ten inventions for agricultural 
 implements. 
 
 On his mother’s side, George was kin of Elhu Vedder, 
 one of the foremost decorative and mural artists this country 
 can boast, and it is not unlikely that it was from her he in- 
 herited the imagination that saw in the minor inventions of 
 his contemporaries the broader possibilities that under his 
 organizing touch were to revolutionize transportation on this 
 continent. 
 
 Westinghouse Enlists at Fifteen 
 
 Before he was fifteen George ran away from home to enlist 
 in the early days of the war. He was promptly retrieved by 
 his father and put back to work in the Schenectady shop at 
 75 cents a day. His pay was gradually raised to $1.12% a 
 day, until the end of September, 1863, when, being now in 
 his seventeenth year, he was permitted to join the Union army 
 as an enlisted man. He served briefly in the infantry and 
 cavalry and was an officer in the navy when he was mustered 
 out, in 1865, before he was twenty years old. Shortly before 
 his death, in 1914, this veteran of the Civil War said that the 
 chief capital he got out of his army experience was “the les- 
 sons in that discipline to which a soldier is required to submit, 
 and the acquirement of a readiness to carry out the instruc- 
 tions of superiors.” From the little shop in Schenectady 
 and from a brief sojourn in 
 the camps of the army that 
 preserved the Union, George 
 Westinghouse acquired those 
 habits of thought and action 
 that were to carry him high 
 up on the roll of Americans 
 who have served their coun- 
 
 THE WIDDEFIELD & BUTTON try grandly. His school 
 BRAKE 
 
 
 
 “larnin’” was brief and frag- 
 mentary, but his reading was extensive and his command of 
 
 his mother tongue unusually good and forcible. 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 207 
 
 
 
 
 
 Within a few months after his return to civil life, in 1865, 
 Westinghouse took out his first patents. The occurrence that 
 directed his attention toward the air brake field in which he 
 was to go so far, according to his biographer, was the mischief 
 that followed a head-on collision that happened on the railway 
 between Schenectady and Troy. 
 
 The first form of brake that occurred to his inventive mind 
 was of the buffer kind, in which the brakes on each individual 
 car were automatically applied by impact as the brakes were 
 set on the locomotive. It was quickly abandoned for a coupled 
 chain device running the length of the train, manipulated by 
 power from the locomotive. He found, however, that this 
 was anticipated by the Am- 
 bler patent of 1862. From a 
 magazine article describing 
 how the rock drills in the 
 Mont Cenis tunnel were 
 worked with compressed air, 
 Westinghouse got the idea of 
 transmitting that power in 
 tubes from the engine to the 
 brake mechanism under 
 each car. 
 
 On July 10, 1868, Westinghouse filed his first caveat for 
 a patent relating to the air brake. It was a momentous day, 
 not only for him but for the railway world, when the Steuben- 
 ville Accommodation on the Panhandle Railroad equipped 
 with this brake began its initial trip from the Union station 
 in Pittsburgh. Its success was immediate. Briefly described, 
 its essential parts were: 
 
 
 
 THE AMERICAN BRAKE 
 
 An air pump driven by an engine receiving its steam from 
 the locomotive; 
 
 A main reservoir into which air was compressed to sixty 
 or seventy pounds per square inch; 
 
 A pipe from the reservoirs to the valve mechanism con- 
 venient to the engineer; 
 
 Brake cylinders for the tender and each car: 
 
208 HISTORY” OF AMERICAN’ RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 A line of pipe connecting the engineer’s brake valve with 
 brake cylinder; flexible con- 
 nections between cars with 
 couplings and automatic 
 valves opening and closing as 
 cars were joined and sepa- 
 rated ; 
 The brakes were applied 
 and released by pistons from 
 a each cylinder attached to the 
 HIGH SPEED PASSENGER regular hand brakes; 
 pr aE The brakes were applied 
 when the engineer admitted the compressed air from the loco- 
 motive reservoir into the train pipe. : 
 
 Such was the apparatus known as the “Straight air brake,” 
 which was quickly superseded by the “Automatic brake.” The 
 difference between the two was fundamental—the straight 
 air apparatus worked by increasing the pressure in the train 
 pipe; the automatic, by the decrease of pressure applied the 
 brakes. With the latter, when a train breaks in two or the 
 
 MIGH SPEED BRAKE REDUCING VALVE 
 ADIUSTED TOPRETAIN 60 LBS PRESSURE 
 IN THE BRAKE CYLINDER. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE STEPHENSON STEAM BRAKE, 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 209 
 
 
 
 hose bursts the brakes go on automatically, whereas with the 
 straight air brakes they are put out of commission, and the 
 detached section runs wild. 
 
 Almost before the ink was dry on his patents, George 
 Westinghouse organized the Air Brake Company that bears 
 his name to manufacture and market his air brake. It started 
 in 18/0 with a small plant in Pittsburgh, consisting of two 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 View from below. 
 
 ENGLISH ENGINE AND TENDER WITH WESTINGHOUSE AUTOMATIC, 
 
 buildings with a floor space of 9,600 square feet and a work- 
 ing force of 105. 
 
 By 1881 the business had attained such proportions that 
 new quarters were acquired in what was then the city of 
 Allegheny, now the north side of Pittsburgh. It afforded 
 125,000 square feet of floor space. By 1890, when the busi- 
 ness had expanded to a production of 100 complete sets of air 
 brake equipment a day, and numerous other railway devices’ 
 and appliances connected with the distribution of natural gas, 
 the company was forced to make its second move to the pres- 
 ent plant at Wilmerding, Pa., a town 14 miles from Pitts- 
 burgh, created to house the army of employees that followed 
 it from Allegheny. Here with buildings having a floor space 
 of 1,083,728 square feet, equal to nearly 25 acres, the largest 
 of its kind in the world, a force of 6,000 men can turn out 1,000 
 complete standard air brake equipments each twenty-four 
 
210 HISTORY. (OP rAyERICGHN Wat a0 
 
 teed. 
 
 
 
 hours in addition to a world of miscellaneous apparatus with 
 which the name of Westinghouse is associated. 
 
 It would be a congenial task to elaborate on what the 
 automatic air brake has meant to railway development on 
 this continent. Without it we would be struggling along 
 with 20-ton locomotives, 10-ton passenger cars, 20-ton freight 
 cars, 15-car freight trains and a speed limit of 30 to 35 miles 
 an hour on passenger trains. Combined with the automatic 
 signal system, to which Westinghouse contributed many of 
 its best features, the automatic air brake, with its latest im- 
 
 
 
 WESTINGHOUSE WORKS AT WILMERDING, PA., 1924 
 
 provements, has made railway operation on this continent 
 safe beyond the dreams of its pioneers. } 
 
 The contrast between the floor space of the original West- 
 inghouse Air Brake plant of 1870 and that of the vast works 
 at Wilmerding in 1923 gives some notion of what this one 
 auxiliary invention meant to the railways and to the people 
 of this Republic. The Westinghouse train air brake gave to 
 American railways that flexibility of expansion that is only 
 partly visualized in the increase in the weight of locomotives 
 on drivers from 15 tons to 100 tons and of the average train- 
 load of 176 tons to nearly 700. It put almost limitless power 
 at the transportation service of the American people. With- 
 out it New York would still be almost as far from San Fran- 
 cisco as it was the day after the Union and Central Pacific 
 locomotives met at Promontory Point. 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 211 
 
 Block Signalling 
 
 Hardly had trains between Liverpool and Manchester 
 reached the stage of demonstration when the growth of traf- 
 fic in weight and speed directed attention to the necessity for 
 some system of signals. So as early as 1834 that road intro- 
 duced its system of fixed signals, consisting of an upright 
 post with a rotating disk at its top, showing red for danger 
 and the absence of any indication by day and a white light 
 by night for clear. It was soon demonstrated that a narrow 
 arm projected against the 
 horizon or landscape could be 
 seen farther than the same 
 area in a Square or circle. 
 
 The British system was 
 anticipated in America by the 
 installation on the Newcastle 
 & Frenchtown (now a part of 
 the Pennsylvania R. R.) of 
 signals consisting of a large 
 white ball being raised to the 
 fon, oO tie smast. when the 
 train left the terminus, and at other stations half way, and, 
 as the trains passed each station, the ball was raised to top 
 of mast and lowered after it had passed the next station. A 
 black ball was used when the train was disabled. 
 
 The first semaphore signal was designed at New Cross 
 and erected by Sir Charles Gregory in 1841. 
 
 “There was no communcation between stations,” said the 
 Jate A. H. Smith, president of the New York Central Com- 
 pany, in an address before the National Association of Rail- 
 road Commissioners in 1909, “each signalman displaying his 
 signal at danger after the passage of a train until a certain 
 time had elapsed, when it was cleared.” With certain modi- 
 fications, this is the basis of our present block and caution 
 signals, but it was not until telegraphic communication was 
 established, as late as 1863, that the first block signals in this 
 
 
 
 BLOCK SIGNALS 
 
212 HISTORY (OF AMERICAN TRAIEWAYS 
 
 
 
 country were installed on the Philadelphia & Trenton 
 Railroad. 
 
 In 1866 or 1867 the first automatic electric block system 
 in America was installed on the New Haven System at Meri- _ 
 den, Conn. This system, with some modification, remains 
 in operation today. 
 
 Following the manual controlled signals came the auto- 
 matic of the semaphore type and the adoption of green in- 
 stead of white for clear signals at night. Then as an addi- 
 tional safeguard against mistakes came the interlocking sys- 
 tem, which was installed in yards and at intersections, where- 
 by an operator with one machine or device was able to control 
 the situation over which he presided, so as to prohibit con- 
 flicting routes. Gradually the interlocking system was so 
 perfected that greater safety was obtained through central 
 control. 
 
 Safety Devices and Accidents 
 
 Urged on by sensational reports of accidents, Congress 
 and the Commission, about ‘1906, became insistent on the 
 adoption of additional safety devices. On June 30, by joint 
 resolution, Congress directed the Commission to investigate 
 and report on the use of and necessity for block signals and 
 appliances for the automatic control of railway trains in the 
 United States. The Commission was able to comply with 
 the first part of this order, but had to report that there had 
 been no practical demonstration of appliances capable of auto- 
 matically bringing trains to a stop where danger signals for 
 any reason were “ignored by enginemen.” 
 
 These three quoted words should have put Congress and 
 Commission on inquiry as to the chief cause of the 
 railway accidents that had become so alarmingly frequent. 
 They would have learned that the best safety device known 
 was a careful workman, alert and watchful, in lonely vigil or 
 on the speeding engine. From 1906 to 1924 the campaign for 
 safety devices on American railways has been prosecuted with 
 unintermittent vigor and it has produced gratifying results. 
 But it was not until the railways entered upon their “Safety 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 213 
 
 First” campaign with their employees that the best results 
 became capable of statistical demonstration. 
 
 In a noteworthy address at Milwaukee on October 1, 1912, 
 Commissioner McChord uttered these memorable words: 
 
 “The most difficult and perplexing factor in this problem 
 is the personal equation. The failure of the man at the criti- 
 cal moment is the thing to be guarded against, and this in- 
 volves generally a reformation in methods of discipline and 
 rules of operation.” ‘That reformation with and by the hearty 
 co-operation of the personal equation has produced such won- 
 derful results that 1922 saw the railways operated with a 
 total of 40 per cent fewer fatalities than in the year of the 
 commissioner’s address—the figures being 6,326 and 10,585, 
 respectively. Moreover, this was in the face of an increase 
 Ormueariyecuaner centrin freight traffice and -over./. per cent 
 in passenger. 
 
 In all railway fatalities, those in train accidents bear the 
 Broportionsor one! to: tenvof those due to’ other causes sin 
 some years the proportion has run as one to fifteen. In some 
 years trespassers killed exceed the number of all other fatali- 
 ties. There has been a marked decrease in this class of fatali- 
 ties in recent years. Where between 1903 and 1916 the num- 
 ber of trespassers killed exceeded 5,000 annually, in the six 
 following years, 1917-1922, the average was below 3,000. 
 
 What progress has been made in protecting train move- 
 ment with some form of block signals is shown in the follow- 
 ing comparison of conditions in 1907 and 1923: 
 
 System. 1907. 1923. 
 Miles. Miles. 
 
 AUTOMaAtICEHIOCIS . oust seat eee 11,474 48,084 
 Bontrollied s Viautal ro. ou5 us coeds ks 3,491 63,754 
 Nanuala Lelegra pit scl. aes tele de BA SOU ET a STL 
 Stat eort Lap letawe cet. aie tiebae cs ZATE Prd at ats. 
 OTA ee te eats oT) 59,602 111,838 
 Iierease er elo ayearsi ts ticec ee. oc oe 52,230 
 
 Progress in the installment of automatic train control de- 
 vices has been slow and cautious because of its experimental 
 nature. The reader may judge of the difficulties attending 
 
214 HISTORY* OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 its introduction from the following paragraph in the Commis- 
 sion’s report of December 12,1923: 
 
 “Observations and tests of eight automatic train control 
 devices that have been installed for test purposes by different 
 carriers were made during the year and plans of 60 devices of 
 this character which were submitted to us for consideration 
 have been examined and reported upon. Of the number ex- 
 amined, 45 were considered impractical or unworthy of further 
 consideration in the form presented; 13 possessed meritorious 
 features but required further development; and 2 possessed 
 merit as safety devices warranting some degree of commenda- 
 tion. One of the latter was of the intermittent magnetic-in- 
 duction type and the other of the continuous-induction type.” 
 
 The Commission has now ordered the installment of some 
 form of automatic train control devices on specified divisions 
 of some three score roads. The weak spot in all such auto- 
 matic devices is that their maintenance, which depends on 
 human vigilance and intelligence, has to be 100 per cent per- 
 fect or it endangers all who put their trust in them. All safety 
 devices eventually come back to the personal equation of 
 which Commissioner McChord spoke. 
 
 P. T. Barnum’s Show First Uses the Railways 
 
 Previous to 1872 P. T. Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth 
 made its jumps from town to town in short stages on foot, on 
 horseback or by clumsy caravans, as best it could. In Febru- 
 ary, 1872, says the greatest autobiographer of his time, Phineas 
 was threatened with a mutiny of his staff manager and his 
 son-in-law, S. H. Hurd, because of his extravagance in adding 
 100 horses to his retinue of 500 horses, and in buying giraffes 
 and other expensive animals. They figured out what their 
 expenses for 180 days would be and that their receipts could 
 not exceed $350,000, entailing a loss of $370,000 on six months’ 
 business. They also declared that their teams could “not 
 travel more than an average of twenty miles per day.” 
 
 P. T. thanked them for their advice, and continued—at least 
 he says he did—“I see the show is too big to drag from village 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 215 
 
 to village by horse power and I have laid my plans accord- 
 ingly. I will immediately telegraph to all the principal rail- 
 way centers between here and Omaha, Nebraska, and within 
 five days I will tell you what it will cost to transport my whole 
 show, taking leaps of a hun- 
 dred miles or more in a single 
 night when necessary, so as 
 to hit good-sized towns every 
 day in the season. If I can do 
 this with sixty or seventy 
 ercieit .Gars)> Six passenger 
 cars and three engines, within 
 such a figure as I think it 
 ought to be done, I will do it.” 
 
 “Within three days,” con- 
 tinues the narrator, “the rail- 
 road telegrams were gener- 
 ally favorable and we then 
 and there resolved to trans- 
 port the entire Museum, Me- 
 nagerie and Hippodrome, all 
 the coming season by rail, enlisting a power which, if ex- 
 pended on traversing common wagon roads, would be equiva- 
 lent to two thousand men and horses.” ‘The italics are Mr. 
 Barnum’s, and the world knows he was always within the mark. 
 
 In Appendix II to his “Struggles and Triumphs,” edition of 
 1873, Mr. Barnum gives the sequel to this daring venture. 
 “The idea of attempting to transport by rail any company or 
 combination requiring sixty-five cars—to be moved daily from 
 point to point—was an experiment of such magnitude that 
 railroad companies could not supply my demands, and I was 
 compelled to purchase and own all the cars.’”’ This he did. 
 “So at the appointed time the great combination moved west- 
 ward by rail. It visited the States of New Jersey, Delaware, 
 Maryland, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Virginia, 
 Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, 
 Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. In order to exhibit 
 only in large towns it was frequently necessary to travel one 
 
 
 
 PORTRAIT OF PT. RARNUM 
 
216 HISTORY OF -AVMERICAN Sia) EADS, 
 
 
 
 hundred miles in a single night, arrrving in season to give 
 three exhibitions and the usual street pageant at 8 o’clock 
 A.M.” | 
 Thousands and tens of thousands of American citizens 
 living today remember that train, with its P. T. Barnum ban- 
 ners, traversing the continent from New York to the Missis- 
 sippi, and they will be glad to know that financially it met 
 
 
 
 BUILT FOR NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA & OHIO R. R. IN 1880 
 —Courtesy American Locomotive Co. 
 
 its great projector’s anticipations. “The entire six months’ 
 receipts of the Great Travelling World’s Fair,” says he, “ex- 
 ceeded one million dollars. The expenses of the 156 days 
 were nearly $5,000 per day, making about $780,000, besides 
 the interest on a million dollars’ capital, and the wear and 
 
 tear of the whole establishment.” 
 
 And so the railways once more demonstrated their su- 
 periority to any known means of transportation and brought 
 “the greatest show on earth” to the youth of what was then 
 the accessible part of the Union north of the Potomac. Hav- 
 ing done this, Mr. Barnum fitted up another “Museum, Men- 
 agerie and Circus” for an invasion of the Southern States. 
 
 In October Mr. Barnum visited Denver, taking the Kansas 
 Pacific Railroad, “seeing many thousands of wild buffalo, our 
 train sometimes being stopped to let them pass.” Since then 
 all the buffalo have passed from those grazing plains into 
 ZOOS or preserves. | , 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 ANG 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Panic of 1873 
 
 In the progress of society there are always forces at work 
 that make small account of the acts of legislatures and the 
 decrees of courts. So it happened in the’ case of American 
 railways in the early days of the decade 1870-1880. The Civil 
 War had not only brought all industrial progress to a com- 
 parative pause, but by its legacy of an inflated currency had 
 prepared the way for the financial cataclysm of 1873. It is 
 not difficult to trace the part played in this by the railways. 
 
 
 
 ALASKA DOG SLEDGE OF 1880 
 
 Between 1860 and 1865 only 3,303 miles of line were built in 
 the United States. With the return of peace, construction 
 was resumed with feverish activity. In the eight years, 1865 
 to 1873, the mileage jumped from 35,085 to 70,651 miles—that 
 is, it more than doubled. In the matter of railways the United 
 States was being overbuilt at a rate that presaged a day of 
 reckoning. Where it had been demonstrated, to quote Poor’s 
 Manual (1877-78), “that to enable railroads to operate at a 
 profit a population of at least 850 to a mile is necessary in 
 this country,” this ratio had fallen from 1,026 in 1860 to 730 
 in 18/0 and to 590 in 1873. In the Western states in .1876 
 there were only 427 inhabitants to the square mile. More sig- 
 nificant still was the shrinkage in gross earnings per mile. 
 These dropped from about $9,000 per mile in 1870 to $8,116 
 in 1872, to $7,933 in 1873 and before the panic had spent its 
 force to $6,381 in 1877. The large receipts per mile previous 
 to 1871 had furnished the stimulus for the over-construction 
 of unproductive mileage which swept scores of railways into 
 bankruptcy during the business stagnation that attended the 
 restoration of our currency to a sound money basis following 
 
218 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 the return to specie payment on January 1, 1879. An exami- 
 nation of the reports of the leading systems that went into 
 the hands of receivers in 1874 reveals the fact that their diffh- 
 culties proceeded from one of two causes—either they were 
 in process of construction involving the raising of large sums 
 before they had begun to earn sufficient revenues to pay oper- 
 
 
 
 HELENA, MONTANA—ABOUT 1880 : 
 —From Collection of Montana Historical Society 
 
 ating expenses; or their income was so depleted by the reduc- 
 tion of rates below a profitable basis that the cost of operation 
 absorbed too large a proportion of their earnings. 
 
 The Northern Pacific, which was begun in 18/70 and was 
 being built almost directly toward the sunset, was an example 
 of the former. Jay Cooke, whose firm had acted for the Gov- 
 ernment in floating the Civil War bond issues to the extent 
 of $2,500,000,000, an unheard of sum previous to that time, 
 became the fiscal agent for the Northern Pacific and advanced 
 large sums of money on its bonds. By 1873 it had 555 miles 
 in operation, getting’ practically nowhere. It had issued 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 pig 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 $30,780,940 bonds, from which it had realized only $22,766,923, 
 so that it was paying 7 3-10 per cent on what it received. 
 In 1874 its earnings from operation were only $365,343, or 
 $22,876 more than its expenses, and Jay Cooke, who had so 
 conspicuously assisted in financing the Civil War, was forced 
 to the wall because he could not tide the Northern Pacific 
 through the years succeeding the panic of 1873. The road 
 went into the hands of a receiver and Jay Cooke’s firm went 
 into bankruptcy. Through the process of reorganization, in 
 which the bondholders took preferred stock for their prin- 
 cipal and interest, the building of the Northern Pacific was 
 resumed and completed, and in the sequel Jay Cooke’s fortune 
 was rehabilitated. 
 
 How the Granger raid on rates reacted on railway rev- 
 enues is shown in the decrease of 71-100 of a cent per ton 
 mile between 1871 and 1876. This reduced the operating 
 revenues by approximately $130,000,000, and accounts for the 
 following results, as shown in the receiverships of 1874-77: 
 
 In Receiver’s Hands 
 
 Mileage. Capitakstack. Funded Debt. 
 | alist: ee amet 6,825 $235,179,273 $236,285,961 
 at he Pee eae 6,280 211,740,414 204,312,038 
 i Re FU eae a BG EP, 87,181,928 114,783,799 
 PS jy le rata 3,017; 65,454,116 95,937,385 
 
 elbetal eectos 20,714 $599,555,751 $651,319,183 
 
 Among the roads involved in this financial maelstrom were 
 the following well-known titles: The Erie; Long Island; 
 Central Railroad of New Jersey; Mobile & Ohio; Wheeling 
 & Lake Erie; Wisconsin Central; Rio Grande; St. Joseph & 
 Denver City; Northern Pacific; Burlington, Cedar Rapids & 
 Missouri; Burlington & Southwestern; Atlantic & Great 
 Western; New Orleans, St. Louis & Chicago; Chesapeake 
 weihio, New Orleans & Pexas; Union. Pacific and the 
 Kansas Pacific. All told, in the period between 1873 and 
 1880, inclusive, over 150 roads sought the protection of the 
 courts from insistent creditors. In the reorganization that 
 followed, scores resumed operations under aliases that served 
 
220 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 to obscure their identity. Consolidations were then the order 
 of the day. It is well to note that in the receiverships of 
 this period the proportions of capitalization involved were 
 47.9 per cent stock and 52.1 funded debt. 
 
 The Eads Bridge at St. Louis 
 
 In the development of railways on this continent the construc- 
 
 pF CW. 1858 9) 
 
 
 
 ENGINEERS PROFILE OF THE EADS BRIDGE 
 
 tion of the so-called Eads Bridge across the Mississippi, opened 
 July 4, 1874, ranks high. It is well named after its projector 
 and constructing engineer, who had more than the usual obstruc- 
 tions, financial and skeptical, to overcome before it was accom- 
 plished at a cost of about $7,000,000.: Some of the physical diffi- 
 culties to be surmounted, can be dimly visualized, by the aid of 
 a magnifying glass, in the little profile illustration given herewith. 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 Zot 
 
 
 
 But the unruly nature of the Mississippi River, reinforced at this 
 point by the mighty but quixotic Missouri, are left to the imagina- 
 tion. Provision had to be made for seasonal floods that rose 
 thirty or more feet above mean and scoured the bottoms of the 
 piers down to their bases. The main river bridge consisted of 
 three arch spans, one central of 520 feet in the clear and two side 
 arch spans of 502 feet each. The two shore abutments measured 
 
 
 
 THE EADS BRIDGE AT ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 Built 50 years ago. 
 
 225 feet each. The bridge and approaches were about a mile long 
 and had two levels—for railway and highway. 
 
 When completed the Eads Bridge was so scientifically and 
 honestly built that for more than fifty years it has stood steadfast 
 against floods of water and ice, and today presents the firm front 
 of beauty and strength shown in the photograph taken in 1924. 
 
 The most spectacular single event in the railway history 
 of this decade was the record breaking run of what was 
 known as the Jarrett and Palmer Special from New York to 
 San Francisco, 3,313.5 miles, in 80 hours and 20 minutes. The 
 distance has since been negotiated in 70 hours. The trip 
 was organized to transport Lawrence Barrett, a leading star 
 actor of the period, and his company, scheduled to appear at 
 
Zia HISTORY Of AMERICAN - RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 the California Theatre in “Henry-V~ on June 5,.48/6.46 0ne 
 special train consisted of locomotive and tender, one Pullman 
 hotel car, one combination passenger and smoking car and 
 one baggage car. It left New York over the Pennsylvania 
 at 12:40 A. M. June 1, and reached Pittsburgh at 10:56 A. M., 
 having made the 439.5 miles in 10 hours and 16 minutes, with 
 one engine and not a single stop; it got to Chicago, 468 miles, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 | Bialher Orrle.. 7 Eis Gok emcee age_$ J 
 
 Of = wenn L290 — Lodge No..L@...-directs in case of his demise while | 
 
 wae =, —} @ member of this Lodge, that all Moneys or Benefits he may be entitled 
 oe e ie ‘| to at that time be paid to Lees. eae gw. Sox, | PR ie thst a 
 by Riga pica Se Zz oe 
 
 | ee Me... vir, whose residence is uate. LY aadks, On 99 be 28 es 
 
 ee Ee i [sical URE (re “] anh op ... Fe 
 
 SS. ay ‘ een Qignature of Financeal Segectary } ; no. os eceuteth. ae 
 
 | EaeOT? 9 eres $f, Preece ite “{ ae PP ON en. | 
 
 INSURANCE CARD OF BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN 
 IN 1876 
 
 that evening at 10:43; to Council Bluffs (503 miles) over 
 the Chicago & North Western at 10:00 A. M.; to Ogden 
 (1,022 miles) over the Union Pacific at 10:57 A. M.; and to 
 san-Francisco. (881 miles).over the Central: Pacific at)12:57 
 P. M., June 4. The maximum speed attained was 72 miles 
 an hour on the Union Pacific, but the most remarkable run 
 was that from Ogden to San Francisco with a single engine 
 and the air brakes inoperative for more than two-thirds of 
 the way, and sixteen operating stops. They make bigger en- 
 gines now, but few of them could better that performance, 
 although better is done on regular schedule by at least one 
 road. 
 
 Mr. Barrett opened on’ time, as I know, for I was there 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 223 
 
 to see him, but he made no such Henry V as George Rignold, 
 who had stolen a march on him. 
 
 The Railroad Riots of 1877 
 
 Nothing before or since in the nature of railway strikes, 
 accompanied by mob violence and riots, has equaled those 
 that broke out in 1877 and swept across the country, inter- 
 rupting traffic, resulting in the destruction of millions of dol- 
 lars’ worth of property and costing scores of lives—and accom- 
 plishing no good. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, thou- 
 sands of working men were idle and _ all were discontented 
 over the reduction in wages attendant on a falling market. 
 In July a 10 per cent reduction in wages on the Baltimore & 
 Ohio precipitated a strike. The engineers and firemen claimed 
 that they could not live and maintain their families on the 
 reduced pay and the company claimed that it could not pay 
 the old scale and earn interest on the capital of the road. The 
 firemen at Martinsburg, Maryland, left their work and drove 
 other men who offered to take their places from the engines. 
 Then the rioting began. The town authorities were power- 
 less. State aid was summoned, but the militia was in sym- 
 pathy with the strikers. All traffic at Martinsburg was 
 blocked, with nearly 100 locomotives with trains attached 
 blockading the railway yards and stretching two miles on 
 either side of Martinsburg. An angry mob held possession 
 of the city and threatened its destruction. The torch was 
 applied to railway property in various directions. After a 
 _ clash between the rioters and the Sixth Maryland Regiment, 
 Governor Carroll called on the President for federal aid, 
 which was promptly dispatched from Baltimore, and the riot 
 at Martinsburg ended with a casualty roll of 30 to 40 wounded 
 and 9 killed outright, “all of them rioters,” although several 
 of the militia were seriously injured. 
 
 The more serious riot at Pittsburgh in the same month 
 followed the same course, only outside rioters took the torch 
 and brickbat and revolver out of the hands of the strikers and 
 threatened Pittsburgh with destruction. 
 
224 HISTORY “OF AMERICAN -RATEWAYS 
 
 
 
 Following the panic of 1873, the Pennsylvania Railroad 
 Company reduced the wages of its employes 10 per cent. As 
 business continued to decline, another reduction of 10 per cent 
 was ordered, effective June 1, 1877. Both these reductions 
 were finally accepted. But on July 16 an order was issued 
 increasing the number of freight cars in a train from 18 to 36, 
 
 
 
 THE HEAVIEST BALDWIN TYPE OF ITS DATE, 1875 
 
 Built for the Lehigh Valley R. R. and Exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition, 
 ° Philadelphia, 1876, 
 
 without increasing the crew, and employing an extra locomo- 
 tive known as a “pusher” on up grades. 
 
 This incensed the train employes, who refused to take out 
 trains, and the crews of all incoming trains joined the strikers. 
 Before the railway officials had time to parley with their 
 employes, a formidable mob gathered from the worst elements 
 of the city. The Mayor appeared on the scene with an inade- 
 quate police force and the Sheriff came in with a hastily sum- 
 moned posse, part of which promptly deserted to the rioters, 
 who greeted the officers with hoots and jeers. The local 
 military were called upon, but proved unequal to the emer- 
 gency, and as the mob was increasing in numbers and vio- 
 lence the Governor was appealed to and a division of troops 
 was ordered to Pittsburgh from Philadelphia. When it at- 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 225 
 
 
 
 tempted to take up a position to protect the roundhouse, it 
 was met with a shower of stones and other missiles, hitting 
 several soldiers, who were ordered to fire, the first volley 
 killing about 20 persons and wounding 30 others, three of 
 whom were children. The enraged mob closed in on the mili- 
 tary and drove them into the roundhouse. This the rioters 
 sought to burn by sending blazing cars of whisky and petro- 
 leum down upon it. The com- 
 manding officer appealed to 
 the mob to desist or he would 
 open fire. It continued the as- 
 sault, and another volley 
 added more rioters to the list 
 of casualties. 
 
 This all took place on Sat- 
 urday. The troops held their 
 position until Sunday morn- 
 ing, when they retreated and went into camp at Sharpsburg. Dur- 
 ing Saturday night and Sunday the mob took possession of the 
 city and looted the armories and gunshops. On Sunday the 
 roundhouse and all the locomotives in it were destroyed by fire, 
 as were also the Union Depot, the grain elevator, the Adams Ex- 
 press building and the Pan Handle Depot. The firemen were 
 driven away from the burning buildings. A committee of citizens 
 attempted a conference, but found no leaders to confer with. 
 Finally a Committee of Public Safety was organized to take 
 charge of the situation. Governor Hartranft issued a peace 
 proclamation and came personally to Pittsburgh with two or 
 three thousand troops, the Mayor’s backbone was stiffened, a 
 number of prominent rioters were arrested, and in a few days 
 quiet was restored. 
 
 As an aftermath of this riot, claims to the amount of 
 $4,100,000 for losses due to the failure to maintain order were 
 made on Allegheny county. These were settled for $2,772,349. 
 In all, 25 persons were killed; 1,383 freight cars, 104 locomo- 
 tives and 66 passenger coaches were destroyed by fire. 
 
 The historian of this riot concludes his account of the out- 
 break with the comment that “The lesson was worth all it 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 “TYPICAL AMERICAN- LOCOMOTIVE 
 OF 1879 
 
226 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 cost, and anarchy has never dared to raise its head in the 
 corporation limits since that time.” | 
 
 The story finds its place in this history because it presents 
 a vivid picture of the course of every attempt to settle indus- 
 trial disputes by strikes. The cause of the strikers is first 
 espoused by sympathizers, these are quickly joined and out- 
 numbered by the turbulent element in the community, who 
 employ violence and incendiarism in order that they may 
 pillage at their pleasure. Rioters know that rioting loosens 
 the restraining hand of law and order. 
 
 Only as the whole community learns that in the end it 
 will have to pay for the damages done in riots, as was the 
 case in Allegheny county, will it rally promptly behind the 
 authorities to preserve order, which in very truth is “Heayen’s 
 first law.” 
 
 So far as this strike affected the original issue, the men 
 went back to work at the reduced scale, which stood until 
 April, 1880, when wages were increased 10 per cent, with 
 other adjustments. The increased number of cars in a train 
 stood and the “pusher” became a recognized economic factor 
 in hauling heavy traffic on up grades. 7 
 
 Another contribution to this history brought out by the 
 
 railway riots of 1877 was the following scale of wages paid 
 by the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad: 
 
 Old Rate. New Rate. 
 Engineers, per day........ $ 3.50 ce Be, 
 Kinemen aneradayecn sn ahs Lie 1.58 
 Brakemen, *per “dayorn we eens v5 1.58 
 Switchmen, per mo......... 40.00 36.00 
 Wardshands,. per ailomeaiecn $40.00 to$ 55.00 $36.00 to$ 49.50 
 Shop bands, per 110.2 n wa: 45.00 to 125.00 38.50to 112.50 
 
 The Central strikers demanded a restoration of the 10 per 
 . cent reduction, and trains were stopped at Syracuse, Buffalo 
 and West Albany. President Vanderbilt refused to restore 
 wages in the face of threats, but held out promises for the 
 future when business improved. 
 
 There were disturbances on the Erie at Gloucester, on 
 the Lake Shore at Cleveland and at Chicago, but the govern- 
 
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880 cet 
 
 
 
 ors of New York, Ohio and Illinois, by prompt action, pre- 
 vented their becoming serious. 
 
 The Centennial Exposition 
 
 Before dismissing this decade it may be well to recall that 
 the progress of railway construction in the United ‘States 
 made the Centennial Celebration at Philadelphia possible as 
 the great gathering of participants from every state in the 
 Union. They were the channels through which the life of the 
 Nation flowed back from its remotest parts to the city of its 
 birth one hundred years before. It was approximately the 
 semi-centennial of railway transportation, without which no 
 such exposition of the material progress in the world as that 
 witnessed at Philadelphia by over 9,000,000 visitors could 
 have been possible. 
 
 Among the exhibits at that exposition that were destined 
 to aid in expediting the transaction of business was the type- 
 writer, which in infinitely improved form may be found in 
 
 40,000 or 50,000 railway offices today. 
 
 At the close of the decade the last gap in the roll of states 
 without railway communication with the rest of the Union 
 had been filled up, and Montana was the only state that was 
 credited with less than 100 miles. The significance of this 
 exception lay in the fact that neither the Northern Pacific 
 nor the Great Northern had made their way across the conti- 
 nent. That great empire-building event was to be reserved 
 for the following decade. 
 
 - Between 1870 and 1880, in the face of panics, hostile legis- 
 lation, receiverships and reorganizations, no less than 40,749 
 miles of railway had been added to the transportation facili- 
 ties of the American people. Tracks were being laid to con- 
 nect farms, mines, factories and consumers. 
 
 French View of State and Private Railways in 1877 
 
 The truth in regard to the relative. merits of state and 
 private ownership of railways was as well known half a 
 century ago as today. A writer in the Journal des Economists 
 
228 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 in August, 1877, states the fundamental differences in these 
 terms: 
 
 “When two railways situated in the same country, the 
 one belonging to the Government, the other to a private 
 company, are in almost identical conditions as to working— 
 that is-to say, if the receipts per mile of each road and the 
 variations of longitudinal section are approximately the same 
 —we arrive at the following economic deductions: 
 
 “1. The working co-efficient, or the ratio of expenses to 
 receipts in running the roads, is greater on the government 
 railway than on the private one. 
 
 “2. In order to obtain the same receipts, the Government 
 is subjected to a greater expense than the private company. 
 
 “3. The rate of interest paid on account of construction 
 capital exceeds on the private railway that realized by the 
 Government railway. 
 
 +4: she expenses,of working per passenger and per ton 
 of freight under the system of the State are greater than 
 those of the private railway. 
 
 “These results, founded upon the figures of the working 
 of many years given us by statistics, are a characteristic mark 
 of the inferiority of the working of railways By the State, 
 compared to the working by private companies.’ 
 
 
 
 FIRST SANTA.QFE TRAIN INTO LAMY» Mae S77 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 SIXTH DECADE—1880-1890 
 
 WHEN UNRESSfRICTED ExPANSION REACHED ITs HEIGHT AND 
 FEDERAL REGULATION BEGAN 
 
 ORDS cannot add to the story of railway expansion in 
 | the United States told by the cold figures of mileage 
 built between 1880 and 1890. 
 When Rutherford B. Hayes 
 entered upon the last year of 
 his presidential term, in 
 March, 1880, there were only 
 93,671 miles of rail line in the 
 country. As Benjamin Har- 
 rison ended his second year 
 in the White House, in 1890, 
 there were 159,271 miles, an 
 increase of 65,600 miles, or 
 70 per cent as many miles as 
 had been built in the preced- 
 ing half century. In 1880 the 
 grain elevators in the United 
 States represented an invest- 
 ment of over $10,000,000 and 
 had a capacity of upwards of 
 27,000,000 bushels of grain, JUDGE THOMAS M. COOLEY 1249 
 
 This was the reaction of merce Commission 
 unrestricted American energy and enterprise to adverse con- 
 ditions which had to be met and overcome throughout the 
 preceding decade. From 18/70 to 1880 railway building had 
 proceeded with great rapidity in spite of an extended period 
 of business depression. The demand for increased transpor- 
 tation facilities was so urgent and insistent that new lines 
 were projected, financed and built regardless of scandals, 
 adverse money markets and successive receiverships. The 
 people and their transportation needs demanded the railwa 
 
 
 
230 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 and one way or another they were provided. But with the 
 return of good times and stable money in 1880 a frenzy of 
 railway construction seized all communities from the Atlantic 
 to the Pacific, and more miles of rail were laid in the United 
 States in a decade than Germany and Austria could boast 
 when they started the World War. 
 
 In considering this amazing development, it is well to re- 
 member that after the close of our Civil war the republic had 
 
 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE BALDWIN PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE 1880 
 Built for the Atlantic Coast Line 
 
 grown at-a startling pace. Between 18/0 and 1880 the 
 population of the United States had increased from 38,558,371 
 to 50,155,783 (over 30 per cent) and our national wealth from 
 16 billion to 30 billion (87 per cent). In the mean time the 
 value of farm lands and property had increased from 
 $8,944,857,749 to $12,180,501,538, or over 36 per cent, chiefly 
 due to accessibility by rail between farm and market. 
 Where the war had reduced immigration to less than 
 one hundred thousand a year, the return of peace in 1865 
 revived and swelled it to such an extent that in the following 
 ten years more than three and a quarter million aliens were 
 landed on our shores. The panic of 1873 and the business 
 depression put a damper on the incoming rush of homeseekers 
 who preferred the ills of Europe to the possibilities of the 
 unknown American wilderness. With the return of prosper- 
 ity the tide of immigration again set in with the force of a 
 released flood, so that in the following decade it reached a 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-1890 231 
 
 
 
 grand total of 5,250,000. While many of these newcomers. 
 did not journey far beyond the cities of the seaboard, the vast 
 majority were booked for the vacant lands of the West, 
 whither the railways carried them in ever-increasing num- 
 bers. It was during the two decades 1865 to 1875 and 1880 to 
 1890 that the Northwestern states from the Indiana-Illinois 
 line to the Pacific received those great accessions of foreign- 
 born citizens so necessary to their development, but which 
 have always been suspicious of the one instrumentality that 
 made life in their remote homes not only possible but pros- 
 perous beyond the days when they turned their emigrant 
 eyes toward the land of liberty and plenty. 
 
 To understand how railway construction and population 
 went hand in hand during the decade 1880-1890 to build up 
 cur fertile empire of the West, it is only necessary to glance 
 at the following table of the concurrent increase in railway 
 mileage and population in the principal states of that vast 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 region between those census dates: Ponuacen 
 Miles of Railway Increase 
 1880. 1890. Increase. 1880 to 1890. 
 Colorlines. dams. a eecU 4.148 1,928 343,436 
 GolGradowaes. ves: L531 4,154 2623 PAW EIA! 
 iE RENO catia d, is 220 941 721 Si 7/5 
 TUSHGIS (ote ce ns © 7,955 9,843 1,888 748,480 
 ROC eo. the. 5255 8,347 oy) tZ 287,281 
 HOT Ges’ Cher. ot oe 3,439 8,806 5,367 431,000 
 Esch aries «te: 3,931 6,789 2,858 456,952 
 Minnesota’ ...... 3,108 5,466 2,358 521,053 
 Miassaurt sock... 4011 5,897 1,886 510,804 
 MOA adwos Pye 48 2,181 Fad A 93,000 
 Weprasita’ on vst. 2 2,000 5,274 3,274 606,508 
 North. Dakota-<..- 635 1,940 1,305 154,074 
 Oreo nite Ge ia esos 1,269 687 138,999 
 rlanomia eet a.- 275 P2ES 938 61,834 
 South: Wak Otau« sae 000 2,485 1,855 220,332 
 1 ee, PR ae ee 3,293 7,911 4,618 643,774 
 Washington ~..5< — 2/74 1,699 1,425 274,274 
 MiSconsin 25... S130 5,468 2,338 371,383 
 Wiavromiitu A ana« L472 941 469 39,916 
 Arizona Metis ts E384 1,061 677 19,180 
 New Mexico .... 643 1,284 641 34,028 
 Potalsenre ss. 44,016 SF Tl7 43,101 6,255,942 
 Picreasen per Scents. aacsa, as Pe 97.9 40.8 
 United States... .93,671 159,271 65,600 12,466, ote 
 Increase (per CED ol pie ee ee re 70.0 24. 
 
 Balance of States.49,655 72,154 22,499 6,238 4560 
 Increase (per cent) Deine. circa on 45.3 17.9 
 
232 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The percentages tell the amazing story of how the over- 
 construction of railways from 1880 to 1890 opened up the 
 valleys of the Mississippi and Missouri to a population that 
 increased over 40 per cent where that of the rest of the Union 
 recorded a gain of less than 18—itself a substantial increase. 
 
 Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas and Washington naturally 
 show phenomenal growth both in railway mileage and popu- 
 lation, for it was through these newly admitted states that 
 
 
 
 SEATTLE, WASH., IN 1878 
 Population—1870, 1,107; 1920, 315,312 ° 
 
 the Northern Pacific and Great Northern were rushing con- 
 struction to the Pacific. 
 
 The ,southern tier of states was not content to be without 
 a transcontinental railway. But unlike the pioneers of the 
 northern routes they had no frontier jumping off places like 
 Omaha and St. Paul. As far back as 1858 the early settlers 
 of Kansas had perfected measures for the construction of a 
 short line from Atchison to Topeka, a distance of some 50 
 miles. But the shadow of the coming Civil War cast its 
 blight over this project on which nothing was done for five 
 years, when, under the new title of the Atchison, Topeka & 
 Santa Fe, it was revived with some show of being completed 
 by the aid of a land grant of some 6,400 acres per mile. But 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-1890 233 
 
 
 
 land at $1.25 per acre was a drug on the Kansas market in 
 those days and railway construction required cash. The 
 terms of the grant called for the completion of the entire line 
 to the western border of the state by June, 1873, and when 
 August, 1872, rolled around only 61 miles had been completed. 
 This left the company with over 400 miles to go, and only 
 ten months left in which to 
 do it. With bankruptcy star- 
 ing them in the face in case 
 they failed to make the goal 
 in time, the owners of the 
 Toad eataade: the grade’ “on 
 time, only to be met at the 
 threshold of Colorado by the 
 panic of 1873. By a compro- 
 mise with their bondholders 
 the road was kept out of re- 
 ceivers’ hands during the en- 
 suing depression. 
 
 
 
 SEATTLE 1884 AND 1924. 
 
 Transformation by Rail Transportation. 
 Until the railways came Seattle was 
 a Pacific Port without shipping. 
 
 —L. R. Dale, Photographer. 
 
 In 1880 construction was 
 resumed along the valley of 
 the Rio Grande in the direction of Albuquerque, New Mexico. 
 In this part of its extension the tracklayers followed closely 
 the old Santa Fe trail, which labor-saving policy left a legacy 
 of engineering and expense to their successors in providing 
 the alignment and grades of the present great Santa Fe 
 system. That system had to pass through a maze of negotia- 
 tions and traffic arrangements with rival companies before it 
 reached the Pacific coast. ‘Then it faced East, and by 1888 it 
 was finally linked up with Chicago, thus completing, after 
 30 years, a destiny not dreamed of by the incorporators of the 
 Atchison & Topeka Company in 1858. 
 
 Another instance of how in the American railway field 
 “great oaks from little acorns grew” is afforded by the history 
 of the Southern Pacific. The acorn of this great system was 
 planted ina little local line of 50 miles from San Francisco to 
 San Jose, chartered as long ago as August, 1860. This road 
 
234 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 was taken under the wing of the Central Pacific, in anticipa- 
 tion that it might some day become useful in the golden 
 future that was always dawning in California. That future 
 
 
 
 FIRST LOAD OF CATTLE ON SEATTLE WATER FRONT, 1880. 
 Seattle on hill in background 
 
 dawned for the San Francisco & San Jose road when, in 18/0, 
 Messrs. Stanford, Huntington, Crocker et al detached it 
 
 from the Central Pacific, which they controlled, and made it 
 the initial section in the Southern Pacific Railroad, then first 
 
 
 
 SEATTLE, SAME POINT IN 1924 
 City on hill in distance 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-1890 253 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 organized to build a line to the state line at Yuma, where it 
 was expected to connect with the Texas Pacific. By a branch 
 line to Fort Mohave, on the Colorado river, it was designed 
 to meet the Atlantic & Pacific road then on its way across 
 the Indian Territory. The project had a land grant of 
 4,800,000 acres from the State of California and was prose- 
 cuted with the indomitable will and energy characteristic of 
 the men behind it. Before this, save for a short line in the 
 San Joaquin valley, southern California was without railway 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UTAH CENTRAL ENGINE ABOUT 1884 
 —U,. P. Magazine. 
 
 connections. In 1870 Los Angeles was a small town of less 
 than 6,000 inhabitants, its connection with the outer world 
 being by steamship from San Pedro on the coast, 25 mlies 
 away. As late as 1880, after railway service had rescued it 
 from its Spanish lethargy, Los Angeles was credited with a 
 census population of only 11,183. Its marvelous growth since 
 then it owes to the railways. 
 
 Automatic Couplers 
 
 Early in its supervision of railway affairs the attention of 
 the Interstate Commerce Commission was directed to the 
 necessity for some appliances to take the place of the link and 
 pin system that had served to connect railway vehicles from 
 the days of Stephenson and the “Rocket.” It was moved to 
 take some action by the frequent fatal accidents incurred in 
 
236 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 coupling cars and the clumsy and slow process of making the 
 connection. The difficulty confronting the Commission was 
 not to find a substitute for the link-and-pin—the offices of 
 the railways were infested by inventors—but none of them 
 had hit upon the device that would stand the test of “various 
 and extended trial in actual service.” As the Commission 
 said in its third «annual Te- 
 ee port for 1889, “Although some 
 Wy thousands of couplers have 
 been patented, the difficulty 
 has not been to choose among 
 good ones, but to find any 
 good one.” Uniformity, so 
 that the couplers would 
 couple with one another 
 throughout the country, was 
 an imperative essential in any 
 device to secure the Commis- 
 sion’s approval. Many of the 
 couplers “which gave _ the 
 FI AND EIN (COUPLERT Lote athotes Di OM comma atc ames 
 trial,’ said the Commission. 
 In 1882 the legislature of Connecticut took the initiative 
 and adopted a statute providing that automatic couplers 
 approved by the railroad commission must be placed on all 
 new cars, under penalty. Massachusetts followed this lead 
 in 1884, Michigan in 1885 and New York in 1886. In 1889 
 New York by statute provided that after November 1, 1892, - 
 it should be unlawful for railroads to run any of their own 
 cars in that state unless equipped with automatic couplers. 
 But laws could not be enforced upon roads only partly in one 
 state, and the difficulty and danger of substituting one form 
 for another was very great, the Connecticut commission ad- 
 mitting that the mixture of link couplings with a number of 
 different automatic types tended to increase rather than 
 diminish coupling accidents. The automatic coupler was 
 automatic only with another automatic coupler and not with 
 a link. 
 
 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-1890 257, 
 
 
 
 In this cut the top figure looking down on the coupler 
 shows one of the latches A, open; the central figure shows 
 the two couplers partly engaged, and the bottom figure shows 
 
 i iy 
 | Hl! I Ih! | 
 i HAAS NANI 
 
 HY | 
 HUM i) 
 
 { LATTA : 
 cof ICT 
 
 ll 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 JANNEY AUTOMATIC ON A FREIGHT CAR 
 
 the coupling completed. Thus the cars are coupled auto- 
 matically, rendering it unnecessary for the brakeman to go 
 between the cars, as the coupling can be released by means of 
 a rod extending to the side of the car, which is shown in the 
 cut of the perspective of the coupler applied to a freight car. 
 
 
 
 
 —{\ 6 
 — ot e8 
 
 
 
 AUTOMATIC COUPLER SEEN FROM ABOVE 
 
 3 
 
238 HISTORY OF AMERICAN ORAILIVAY 
 
 
 
 Ss 
 
 The first cut shows the old link and pin coupler. These illus- 
 trations are from an article by H. G. Prout on “The American 
 Railways,” Scribners, 1889. 
 
 By approving the principle of the Janney car coupler but 
 not its specific parts, the Commission side-stepped giving a 
 monopoly of its manufacture to any one person, company or 
 firm. 
 
 In 1887 the Master Car Builders’ Association, by a vote 
 of 474 to 194, approved a type of “vertical plane coupler” as ° 
 
 
 
 ONE FORM OF ROTARY SNOW PLOW 
 
 the standard to which all others must conform. The first 
 cost of this standard coupler was from $20 to $25 per car, as 
 against $10 to $15 for the link-and-pin form. 
 
 By 1890 the Commission was able to report that 25,551 
 passenger cars out of 26,820 and 75,485 freight cars out of 
 918,491 were fitted with automatic couplers. The freight car 
 situation was complicated by the multiplicity of patent coup- 
 lers, of which there were no less than: 38 in actual use, the 
 two leaders being the Janney and the Miller, which divided 
 the majority between them. 
 
 By the Act of March 2, 1893, carriers engaged in inter- 
 state commerce were required to equip their cars with auto- 
 matic couplers and their locomotives with driving-wheel 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-1890 239 
 
 
 
 brakes, and by 1900 the Commission was able to report that 
 “for all practical purposes the safety-appliance Act of 1893 
 has been complied with.” In that year it reported that 33,927 
 passenger cars out of 34,713 and 1,376,051 freight and com- 
 pany cars out of 1,450,838 had been fitted with automatic 
 couplers. 
 
 At this writing (1924) the adoption of automatic couplers 
 
 
 
 ANOTHER PATTERN OF ROTARY SNOW PLOW 
 
 and train brakes has become so universal in America as to be 
 no longer a subject for official statistical observation. 
 
 How National Regulation Came About 
 
 But the decade of 1880-1890 will not be distinguished in 
 railway history by its record of physical construction, al- 
 though this was unprecedented in the annals of railway build- 
 ing; nor by reason of the financial distress which followed 
 within ten years and was hastened by the too rapid and specu- 
 lative recovery from the “panic of 1873;” nor for any of the 
 
240 HISTORY OF AMERICAN -KRALEW AAS 
 
 
 
 
 
 achievements or failures to meet the demands of an ever- 
 expanding traffic. 
 
 The outstanding feature of the decade so far as the rail- 
 ways were concerned was the passage of the “Act to Regulate 
 Commerce,” approved February 4, 1887, effective April 5 
 following. With that date opened a new era in railway con- 
 struction, operation and management. National regulation 
 did not come upon the railways out of a clear sky. For more 
 than a decade the clouds of popular dissatisfaction with both 
 
 
 
 HEAVIEST TYPE OF BALDWIN FREIGHT HANDLER USED IN 1886 
 
 railway management and state regulation had been gathering. 
 Daily it had become apparent that state legislatures and state 
 commissions were inadequate to deal with the national trans- 
 portation problem. It had long been recognized in circles of 
 independent thought that the question could not be settled 
 by the authority of the states. This was essentially and nat- 
 urally prejudiced by local interests. State shippers and mer- 
 chants camped on the steps of local authority complaining 
 of the discriminating practices of other states and asking for 
 reprisals. 
 
 As the railways were extended and consolidated, the bulk 
 of the traffic became more and more interstate in its char- 
 acter and more difficult for the states to handle without undue 
 partiality. This was the fundamental fault of state regula- 
 tion. Every state wanted to get the best of its neighbors. 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-1890 241 
 
 
 
 The other phase was the too well grounded impression 
 that the railway corporations wandered far away from the 
 restrictions and obligations of public carriers under the com- 
 mon law and had become to a large extent a law unto them- 
 selves. Out of the fierce competition of the roads had grown 
 abuses of special privileges and preferences. These arrange- 
 ments took the form of special rates, rebates, drawbacks, 
 under billing and manipulated classifications. Unjust and 
 unfair practices had become so general and their beneficiaries 
 
 
 
 HEAVIEST TYPE BALDWIN PASSENGER: LOCOMOTIVE USED IN 1889 
 —Bullt for Baltimore & Ohio Ry. 
 
 so numerous that the demand for their reform gradually crys- 
 talized into Congressional action. In regard to some subjects 
 of complaint there was much to be said on both sides of the 
 question. This was specially true in regard to the discrimi- 
 nating rates on the short and long haul business. To many 
 it seemed obviously unjust that a carrier should charge more 
 for a short haul than for a long one. But the experience of 
 the railway world has justified the lower rate on the long haul 
 traffic which was from competitive stations against a higher 
 rate on intermediate non-competitive stations. When the 
 Act came to be written, this distinction was recognized by 
 qualifying the interdiction with the phrase ‘“‘under essentially 
 similar circumstances and conditions.” On that phrase has 
 
242 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 hung a world of litigation over the long and short haul clause 
 of the Act to Regulate Commerce. 
 
 There were many other features of railway management 
 that conspired to hasten the enactment of the Act to Regulate 
 Commerce. For nearly ten years the subject of some federal 
 legislative regulation had been before Congress. In 1878 
 Representative Reagan of Texas introduced his first “Inter- 
 state Commerce” bill, on which the Act to Regulate Com- 
 merce nine years later was based. In his selection of the 
 members of the Commission to exercise the vast powers con- 
 ferred by this Act, President Cleveland was careful to nomi- 
 nate only men of recognized national repute for ability and 
 judgment. They were: 
 
 Thomas M. Cooley, Chairman, of Michigan; 
 William R. Morrison of Illinois, 
 Augustus Schoonmaker of New York, 
 
 Walter L. Bragg of Alabama, 
 Aldace F. Walker of Vermont. 
 
 The Commission was fortunate and unfortunate in the 
 choice of its two chief subordinates. In its organization for 
 the vast task in hand it could not have found an abler or more 
 energetic man for secretary than Edward A. Moseley, or a 
 more capable and conscientious official statistician than Prof. 
 Henry C. Adams. So long as the Commission was composed 
 of men fully alive to the necessity of constructive regulation, 
 these two men were invaluable in adjusting the work of the 
 Commission to the best transportation needs of the public 
 which were to be attained by stable, reasonable and equitable 
 rates for adequate service. But as the Commission lost the 
 impetus of its original composition, the dominating person- 
 ality and experience of its secretary became apparent in the 
 antagonistic spirit of regulation toward the railways, while 
 its statistician magnified the role of statistics into manage- 
 ment and administration. Mr. Moseley undoubtedly repre- 
 sented the popular spirit of mistrust and suspicion that had 
 demanded the enactment of the law, as Professor Adams rep- 
 resented the prevalent theory of many expert statisticians 
 that a living business can be run by dead accounts. 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-1890 243 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fortunately, statistics came to the aid of the railways in. 
 
 an unexpected quarter. 
 
 The establishment of a uniform 
 
 system of keeping accounts and rendering reports enabled 
 
 them to establish the fact that 
 they were not the robbers and 
 extortioners the general pub- 
 lic had been led to believe. 
 ase the:-reports “of “receipts 
 and expenditures “and ‘of 
 trafic and public service 
 came under official supervi- 
 sion, it was speedily seen that 
 in the aggregate the transpor- 
 tation of the United States 
 was being handled expedi- 
 tiously at lower rates than 
 anywhere else in the world. 
 chnese=- oihcial,- reports also 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 EDWARD A. MOSELEY 
 
 Secretary Interstate Commerce 
 mission—1889-1909 
 
 Com- 
 
 showed that the average rate was steadily declining while the 
 
 price of labor and commodities was advancing. In fact railway 
 
 rates in the United States have never been exorbitant per se. 
 Chairman Cooley in his first annual. report gives the 
 
 
 
 
 
 GEORGE B. McGINTY 
 
 Secretary Interstate Commerce Com- 
 
 mission 1912 
 
 following important _ testi- 
 mony as to the remarkable re- 
 duction in rates between 1877 
 and 1887, before the Inter- 
 state Commerce Act was 
 passed. “In the former year,” 
 said he, “the rates charged on 
 first, second, third and fourth 
 classes of freight from New 
 York to Chicago were re- 
 spectively 100, 75, 60 and 45 
 cents a hundred pounds. 
 They are now (1887) 75, 65, 
 50 and 35 cents, but the classi- 
 fication as to many article has 
 
244 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 in the meantime been reduced so that the actual reduction 
 is greater than these figures would indicate. Rates from Chi- 
 cago to New York are proportionately less. A similar result 
 has been apparent elsewhere.” 
 
 During the decade considered by Chairman Cooley the 
 average receipts per ton mile—that is, per ton of freight car- 
 ried one mile—so. far as ascertained from the incomplete re- 
 turns of the period, dropped from 1.364 cents in 1877 to 1.063 
 cents in 1887. In the meantime the passenger receipts had 
 fallen from 2.614 cents in 18/77 to 2.276 cents im: 18875) By 
 the close of the decade under discussion the average ton mile 
 receipts had fallen to .941 cent and the average receipts per 
 passenger mile to 2.167 cents. The student will find these 
 averages worth remembering, for from them can be traced 
 the gradual decline of the ccst to the public of transporta- 
 tion in the United States until, just before the outbreak of the 
 Great War, they reached a point pregnant with disastrous 
 consequences unless the descent was checked. 
 
 Capitalization in 1887 
 
 In no way has the Act to Regulate Commerce proved more 
 beneficial to American railways than in dissipating much of 
 the popular misapprehension as to their over-capitalization. 
 All through the period of their construction, from the laying 
 of the first rail until their accounts were finally brought under 
 the supervision of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the 
 wildest and widest differences of opinion prevailed as to their 
 capital cost and true value. The scandals attaching to the 
 financing of certain leading systems obscured the vast sums 
 that were expended honestly, faithfully and, on the whole, 
 wisely in the main body of American railways. A continent 
 had to be redeemed from an almost primeval wilderness of 
 forest, mountain, prairie and arid desert. Canals built, as we 
 have seen, at vast expense had failed to solve the problem. 
 As civilization pushed into the wilderness and realized the 
 possibilities that waited on speedy and certain transportation, 
 it took small account of the millions drawn from Nationai, 
 State and Municipal grants and from private sources and 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-1890 245 
 
 
 
 invested irrevocably in making way for the iron highway 
 from ocean to ocean. Throughout the first three decades of 
 this construction period everything about the railroad was in 
 an experimental stage—rails, ties, locomotives, cars, fuel, 
 signals, couplings—nothing had reached a point of permanent 
 adoption. All had to be tried out—the practicable to be 
 adopted, improved and adapted to the different conditions of 
 a vast territory, the impracticable rejected and scrapped. The 
 only thing about American railways that cost less than it 
 was worth was the right of way, and no sooner was the track 
 laid and the line opened than this right of way and adjoining 
 lands increased in value two-fold, ten-fold and in many cases 
 one hundred-fold. But the money to survey, lay out, build 
 and equip that line was scarce and hard to get. 
 
 The reader has only to glance at the illustrations in this 
 book to realize the wasteful process of elimination that 
 attended the building of American railways. And if he is a 
 reasonable youth he will have no difficulty in understanding 
 how the early railways of New England cost about $40,000 
 per mile to build and equip, the middle state roads $53,000, 
 the southern roads $30,000 and the western roads $41,000, as 
 estimated by Henry V. Poor in 1868, the first issue of his in- 
 valuable Manual, which is a railway library in itself. 
 
 Not a decade passed without witnessing a reorganization 
 of scores of companies, involving fresh financing, and it is 
 safe to say that not a single road survived these periodic 
 years of depression without having been sustained and nour- 
 ished by net income put into improvements and betterments 
 without any corresponding increase in capital account. “The 
 dollar for improvements to one for dividends” has been the 
 slogan that carried American railways to the farthest bounds 
 of the Union with the lowest capitalization per mile of any 
 first class railways in the world. 
 
 It is therefore not surprising to find that when the official 
 statistician succeeded in bringing order out of the chaos of 
 railway accounts he found that there was little or no founda- 
 tion for the charges of over-capitalization that had poisoned 
 
246 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 the popular judgment concerning railway accounting. In 
 his first report, in 1888, Professor Adams presented the fol-  ° 
 lowing summary of railway capital: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Per Cent 
 Amount of Total Per Mile 
 Outstanding Capital of Road 
 Stock— 
 Conmimonahesen ne $3,341,476,942 41.11 
 Preferred , 522,991,113 6.43 
 Total stocks....$3,864,468,055 47.54 $28,232 
 Funded Debt— 
 BOndsort cee ».«. -$3,816,379,040 46.94 
 Car Trust Obliga- 
 tions and Receiv- 
 ers’ Cértificates?) © 5258377325 65 
 Total Funded Debt.$3,869,216,365 47,60 28,266 
 Gurrent Liabilities .6> 396,103,311 4.87 2,894 
 NP OLAd cee pean as $8,129,787,731 100.00 $59,392 
 
 (Mileage represented, 136,884.) 
 
 The mileage represented in this statement falls 13,018 
 short of the total railway mileage of the United States in 
 1888, to which it bore about the same relationship as that of 
 Class 1 roads to the total in 1923. 
 
 Much of the confusion and misunderstanding in regard to 
 railway capitalization, property and return on investment 
 that has prevailed under the Act to Regulate Commerce has 
 resulted from the inclusion of revenues from investments 
 with those derived from rates and fares in operation. That 
 Professor Adams understood this may be judged from his 
 statement that “For the railway manager, whose interest 
 centers in operating earnings and operating expenses, that 
 part of the table (the income account) which deals with 
 income from stocks and bonds owned, or from rentals, is of 
 slight importance.” And yet for thirty-five years the official 
 statistics were burdened and vitiated with exaggerated capital 
 figures and dividends on duplicated stocks. In 1890 the rail- 
 way securities owned by the railways amounted to no less 
 than $1,406,907,001, and the net railway capital was 
 $7,577 ,327,015, or $48,447 per mile. In that year the track 
 mileage in the United States was reported as follows: 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-189¢ 24? 
 
 
 
 NTesmor Sinvle- Or imati tracker, aloe owe tet ee 156,404 
 Males "OlPseCond utraGks tess sae: ue alesse ee Bot es 8,438 
 INDIES S O bet Dincinr a Glctrgs ie nets biomed eee ian teas fas 761 
 Mileswol, LomntirrandsOthic es tracers. wee. ee pai. eee 562 
 Miles: a2) Vardi ttack=and=sidings- 35 /acce soe 4s bok ees 30)7 41 
 
 ‘Potaleimitlieseor soll tracks ek wees ee nee oe 199,876 
 
 This would yield a net capitalization of approximately 
 $38,000 per mile of track, including 30,140 locomotives, 26,820 
 passenger cars, 829,885 freight cars and 31,020 company cars 
 with which to enter the last decade of the 19th century. 
 
 From this time on statistics under the uniform system of 
 accounting adopted by the Commission began to play an 
 important—well-nigh a dominating—part in the regulation of 
 American railways. Now statistics are good servants, but 
 poor masters. They are not evena safe crutch. They furnish 
 valuable charts and discover leaks, but they do not provide 
 favoring winds nor propelling steam to ships at sea nor funds 
 to finance railways on land. On the contrary, when developed 
 and specialized to meet the views of impractical social agita- 
 tors and theorists they lead the unwary into labyrinthian 
 depths where blind leaders are as safe guides as angels of 
 light. 
 
 Without wise interpretation, railway statistics are a stum- 
 bling block. In the hands of designing demagogues they be- 
 come a menace to the Republic, whose prosperity depends on 
 progressive transportation facilities. 
 
 Railway Labor Organizations 
 
 It was in this decade that railway labor organizations 
 began to play an important part in the adjustment of trans- 
 portation conditions in America. Throughout the construc- 
 tive period, almost absolute freedom of contract had pre- 
 vailed, not only with the contractors who built the roads but 
 between the managers who operated them and the men who 
 worked on the trains, in the yards, in the shops, at the keys 
 and in the offices. Individualism was the order of the day 
 and no fixed scale was the standard of pay throughout the 
 Nation. 
 
248 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 The underlying principles of labor unionism, as they relate 
 to collective bargaining and movements for the control of 
 working hours and conditions, were introduced into this coun- 
 try from England in the early days of the 19th century. Va- 
 rious trade unions and associations were organized in New 
 England, 1820-1835. New Hampshire made 10 hours a legal 
 day’s work in 1847 and the 
 formation of unions became 
 national from Maine to Cali- 
 fornia in 1850-60; and Con- 
 gress ‘passed an eight-hour 
 law for Government em- 
 ployes in 1868. The spirit of 
 unionism following the war 
 was abroad in the land at that 
 time, 
 
 It was natural, therefore, 
 that in their different divi- 
 
 PM. ARTHUR sions railway employes 
 Pinsky (Gaand © Chiet | Brotherhood: ofc’: fstrouldiayielte, (oeath clei 
 impuse to organize for mu- 
 tual protection and benefit. Naturally, too, locomotive en- 
 gineers, the most distinctive class of railway workers, took 
 the lead. A brief sketch of the inception, organization and 
 development of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers 
 has been furnished the writer by Grand Chief Warren 5S. 
 Stone. As it pictures the evolution of the leading brotherhood 
 during the years when the relations of management and em- 
 ployes were crystallizing into working agreements, it may be 
 accepted as typical in the best sense, and it is a valuable con- 
 ‘ribution to this history of American railways. 
 
 “Following a very bitter strike on the Michigan Central 
 Railroad in 1862,” says Mr. Stone, ““W. D. Robinson, at that 
 time secretary of what was known as the National Protective 
 Association, started the new movement which resulted in 
 what is the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers today. In 
 April, 1863, he brought together a number of representative 
 locomotive enginers at Marshall, Michigan. This small meet 
 
 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-1890 249 
 
 
 
 
 
 ing called a convention of locomotive engineers to meet in 
 Detroit May 5, 1863, and a call was sent out to engineers on 
 the Michigan Central, Michigan Southern, Northern Indiana, 
 Detroit & Milwaukee and Grand Trunk Railways, and the 
 Detroit Branch of the Michigan Southern. 
 
 “On the appointed day twelve engineers met in the Fire 
 Department Hall on Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, and for four 
 days devoted themselves to laying the foundation for a per- 
 manent organization of railroad engineers and named their 
 organization the ‘Brotherhood of the Footboard.’ Wm. D. 
 Robinson was made Chief Engineer; George Q. Adams was 
 Imadee Assistant Chief; Ed, Harrison, Secretary, and|.sam 
 Keith eactirer. 
 
 “In 1864 the first convention of the new organization was 
 held in Indianapolis, Indiana. At this convention the name 
 of the organization was changed to Brotherhood of Locomo- 
 tive Engineers, the name that the organization bears today. 
 
 “From its very inception the B. of L. E. grew rapidly and 
 attracted to its ranks the best and most conservative railroad 
 engineers in the country. In 1867 the Locomotive Engineers 
 Mutual Life & Accident Insurance Association was established, 
 and to date this association has paid out in insurance benefits 
 the sum of $53,057,511.95 and has in effect at this writing 
 $183,674,250 of insurance. 
 
 “Since that time a Pension Association has been organ- 
 ized which is paying pensions to thousands of former locomo- 
 tive engineers. A Widows’ Pension Association has been 
 organized which is paying pensions to hundreds of widows 
 of former members of the B. of L. E: Pension Association. 
 ihe Bo of L. E. has always taken care of its-own’ and no 
 member of the organization is a public charge. 
 
 “The membership of the B. of L. E. is made up of con- 
 servative, thinking men who have the well deserved reputa- 
 tion of living up to any agreements made with railroad man- 
 agements by their executive. 
 
 “Since its organization the Brotherhood of Locomotive 
 Engineers has had only four chief executives; the first, W. D. 
 Robinson, served one year. The second grand chief served 
 
250 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 ten years. Peter M. Arthur served from 1873 to 1903, and 
 1 have+been grand “chief of the: B. ofa U2, fora perioggor 
 twenty-one years. 
 
 “Members of the B. of L. E. take a very active interest in 
 politics from a non-partisan standpoint. The entry of the 
 organization into the financial field is so well known that it 
 will be unnecessary for me to go into detail regarding the 
 various activities of the organization along banking and finan- 
 cial lines, but at the present time, through the banks and 
 other financial organizations controlled by the B. of +L. i, 
 the organization has control of considerably over $100,000,000. 
 
 “It is a rathér difficult matter to write a general review 
 of the B. of L. E. and its activities for the reason that we 
 have been much more concerned about the question of daily 
 living than we have in that of making history.” 
 
 When the Brotherhood of the Footboard was organized, 
 there were less than 6,000 locomotive engineers in America, | 
 where there are 70,000 now. | Five years after the organization 
 of the engineers, in 1868, the Order of Railway Conductors 
 was formed; in 1873 the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen 
 came into existence, and in 1883 the “Big Four” was rounded 
 out with the organization of the Brotherhood of Railway 
 Trainmen. Associated more or less with these four unions have 
 been the Order of Railway Telegraphers and the Switchmen’s 
 Union, .But to. this day the “Bie “Bour 7 are acceptecs a 
 popular mind as the representative railway labor organiza- 
 tions. They have generally maintained an attitude of inde- 
 pendence toward the American Federation of Labor, with 
 which the Railway Shop Crafts, so called, are affiliated. The 
 reason for this difference of affiliation is obvious. The mem- 
 bers of the “Big Four” are first and last railway men, while 
 the shop crafts are first machinists, carpenters, etc.—in rail- 
 way employment today and in outside shops tomorrow. 
 
 In time nearly all the relations between the four classes 
 of railway employes represented in the four brotherhoods 
 and the railway manager have come to be settled by confer- 
 ences between officials of the “Big Four” and officials of the 
 
SIXTH DECADE, 1880-1890: 251 
 
 
 
 
 
 ce 
 
 railways. In these conferences the “strike vote” is ostenta- 
 tiously displayed, but the strike itself is seldom invoked. 
 Reason and the common weal generally prevail and the “Big 
 Four” retires with a half or a quarter loaf, but always some- 
 thing, under its arm to await a more favorable opportunity 
 to come back for the balance of any surplus the railways may 
 accumulate. 
 
 The success of these perennial maneuvers is shown in the 
 following record of the average yearly pay of trainmen (ex- 
 clusive of conductors) by five-year periods since figures are 
 available: 
 
 DOGO ME Pw ics cs baleen. $560 LOU De etek. Sar aie tr: $ 826 
 VERB 10 valerate iar 598 LER IST © eihied fee beard Beatie 958 
 Dayecsh reReU ey Sale panera ge GLC] DES ato nichaie Jel ee 1,626 
 LRORUIRD (2d ie a gaa api 710 aI Pee he ae ge one a 1,942 
 
 Contemporaneous with this increase for trainmen, the 
 average yearly pay of engineers has increased from $1,020 to 
 $2,800, of conductors from $940 to $2,700 and of firemen from 
 $630 to $2,005. These averages for something over 300,000 
 men in 1923 may be accepted as a remarkable tribute to the 
 negotiating shrewdness of the officials of the four railway 
 brotherhoods. Thousands of engineers and conductors now 
 earn over $3,000 a year. 
 
 In another line the brotherhoods have served their mem- 
 bers most effectively. Instead of wasting their resources on 
 strikes and industrial strife, they have developed a most 
 successful system of death and disability insurance. The 
 most distinctive feature of this has been the placing of dis- 
 ability insurance on a parity with death insurance. About 
 25 per cent of the claims paid out by the railroad brother- 
 hoods are for disability. 
 
 With the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, 
 the question of the relation of railway management to its 
 employes became one of increasing solicitude to the Commis- 
 sion and its statistics, which have been gradually expanded 
 until they cover every salient feature of railway employment. 
 And the latest railway legislation is aimed to provide means 
 
252 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 of deciding labor disputes so as to prevent strikes that would 
 interfere with national transportation. 
 
 Although the avoidance of strikes has been the general 
 policy of the typical railway unions, it has not always been 
 successful. The Pittsburgh strike of 18/77 has already been 
 discussed. In 1888 occurred the great strike of the engineers 
 of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway. It was in- 
 augurated against the order of Grand Chief Arthur, but once 
 started received his approval and support. It was bitterly 
 fought and caused severe losses to both carriers and train- 
 men— to say nothing of the loss and inconvenience of the 
 public. The company finally won, but*at a price that left 
 victory with the scars of defeat for many a year. 
 
 Then came the Pullman strike of 1894, which started in 
 an industrial struggle between the Pullman Company and 
 its employes and was taken up by the American Railway 
 Union, of which Eugene V. Debs, afterward Socialist candidate 
 for President, was active head. This union, which aimed to em- 
 brace all railway labor, declared a sympathetic strike against 
 all roads moving Pullman cars and succeeded in tying up all 
 but six of the 23 railways centering in Chicago. The strike 
 was attended with much violence and bloodshed, there being 
 12 fatalities and 515 arrests. The loss of the railways was_ 
 put at $4,600,000, to the Pullman Company at $350,000 and to 
 railway employes at $1,400,000. It was finally broken and 
 order restored, but only after the assertion of Federal su- 
 premacy over State authorities by President Cleveland over 
 Governor Altgeld. The American Railway Union never re- 
 covered its influence after this defeat. It did not affect the 
 four brotherhoods, which had held aloof from any organized 
 assistance to the sympathetic strike. 
 
 The strike of the shop crafts in 1922 will be discussed in 
 its proper place. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 SEVENTH DECADE—1890-1900 
 
 RAILWAYS BETWEEN THE HorNS OF REGULATION AND 
 COMPETITION—CONSIRUCTION SLows UP 
 
 ITH the opening of the last decade of the 19th century 
 the railways of America found themselves confronted 
 
 with national regulation in 
 its tentative stages while still 
 exposed to all the vicissitudes 
 and temptations of competi- 
 tion. The Commission recog- 
 nized the vast proportions of 
 the task assigned to it under 
 the Act of 1887 to Regulate 
 Commerce. The railway mile- 
 age, in round numbers, was 
 about 160,000. The business 
 included the carriage of 540,- 
 
 
 
 PRAIRIE STRETCH ON, THE 
 UNION PACIFIC 
 
 000,000 tons of freight and 472,000,000 passengers. Chairman 
 Cooley thus summarized the situation: 
 
 “Any criticism upon the efficiency of regulation would 
 obviously be defective if it failed to take note of the vast 
 number of persons and the extent of the business to be regu- 
 
 
 
 ORE DOCKS AT DULUTH, GREAT NORTHERN RY. 
 Loading and Unloading by Gravity 
 
254 HISTORY OP AMERICAN RALLVWZAAY S 
 
 
 
 lated. The extent of the country is also of vast importance. 
 Railway regulation in a small and compact country, where all 
 the carriers are easily kept under observation, and where 
 the circumstances of carriage are substantially alike, is a small 
 matter compared with the regulation in a country as exten- 
 sive as this, where the transportation is subject to such variety 
 of circumstances, and where differences in conditions of car- 
 riage in the different sections are so striking and so peculiar. 
 That which may be a simple task to a regulating commission 
 
 
 
 LOCOMOTIVE 999, HOLDER OF THE WORLD’S SPEED RECORD 
 Attained a speed of 112.5 miles an hour. 
 
 Built by American Locomotive Company for New York Central R, R,; Exhibited at 
 World’s Fair Exposition, Chicago, in 1893. 
 
 in any other country is obviously a more complicated and 
 difficult undertaking in the United States, and one that calls 
 for ceaseless exercise of vigilance and exacting labor.” 
 The Commission was quickly confronted with the diff- 
 culty of establishing fair and equitable rates where the selfish 
 interests of a majority of all shippers in the land were vitally 
 engaged in getting the better of their competitors in special 
 rates, service and privileges, and the carriers generally had no 
 other alternative to granting preferences, except to lose the 
 business. It was a case of if you won’t your competitor will. 
 So what was a poor carrier to do? The poorer the carrier 
 the harder to resist the pressure. But the necessities of the 
 weaker roads reacted on the stronger, and the cut-throat game 
 went on. The early ‘reports of the Commission, especially 
 
SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 299 
 
 
 
 while Judge Cooley was at its head, are full of discussions of 
 the principles underlying the classification of goods for rate- 
 making purposes. In the fourth annual report, for instance, 
 the whole subject is passed 
 under review. Its importance 
 justifies extended quotation, 
 as follows: 
 
 “The first step toward the 
 imposition of rates for trans- 
 portation of merchandise is a 
 classification of the articles 
 which, it is supposed, may be 
 offered for carriage, and the Th ete Breent A, HL, Smith of the 
 arranging of them into classes of Locomotive “999.” 
 which are to bear different rates. In making the classification 
 all the considerations that can properly bear upon it are sup- 
 posed to be taken into account, and they are severally given 
 such weight as the carrier believes it is proper to allow them 
 under all the circumstances attending its own business, and 
 all the business of the section, or of the interests that are 
 served by his road. An important question always is, what 
 is the probable cost of the carriage of the articles severally, 
 and each is supposed to be so classed that the rate it would 
 bear would be such as to cover this cost and also to afford 
 some profit to the carrier. But this is only a general rule. 
 There are many cases in which property may be expected to 
 be offered for transportation, the weight of which, or the 
 
 
 
 
 
 MOGUL OF 1892 
 Built for Kymulga & Coosa River R. R. by the Lima Locomotive Works. 
 
256 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 bulk, is so out of proportion to its value that it cannot pos- 
 sibly, if considered by itself, bear such charges for transpor- 
 tation as will leave any profit to the carriers, and must conse- 
 quently be carried at a rate that falls below the point of fair 
 profit or not be carried at_all. 
 
 “This well-known fact has led to the common saying that 
 no traffic must be charged greater rates than it can bear— 
 a saying intended to indicate the maximum, though often 
 understood in quite an opposite sense. It is therefore found 
 that in every classification many articles are so classified that 
 
 
 
 RAILROAD OVER FLORIDA KEYS AND ISLANDS 
 Florida East Coast Railway. 
 
 the rates upon them will give to the carrier but very slight 
 profit, and if the carrier were deliberately to refuse altogether 
 to transport them the refusal might doubtless in some cases 
 be justified if its own interest were exclusively to be con- 
 sidered. But the considerations that determine the classifi- 
 cation in such a case look beyond the particular article, and 
 relieve what would be an oppressive and perhaps prohibitory 
 burden by imposing some portion thereof upon other articles 
 that can better afford to bear it. In every classification, there- 
 fore, articles whose value is very great in proportion to the 
 bulk or weight are classed high in expectation that the rates 
 imposed upon them will pay not merely the cost of transpor- 
 tation, and a fair profit to the carrier, but will contribute 
 toward adequate remuneration for the transportation of such 
 articles as cannot bear proportionate charges. Thus the cost 
 of carriage to the carrier itself is no more a controlling consid- 
 
SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 257 
 
 eration than is the value of the carriage to the owner of the 
 property, and when both are taken into account questions of a 
 puvlic character also have weight, inasmuch as it is important 
 to make a great public agency reasonably profitable to its own- 
 ers, and at the same time as useful as may be to the general 
 public. : 
 
 “This method of classification has been so long continued 
 and so universal that every well-informed person in a com- 
 munity understands that made, as it is, for the purposes of 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN FAST PASSENGER LOCOMOTIVE 
 Built for Baltimore & Ohio R. R. in 1893. 
 
 rating it is based upon an almost infinite variety of circum- 
 stances having regard not merely to the interests of the car- 
 ier and the value of the services but also to the interests of 
 the parties and sections served and to considerations which 
 may change from day to day so as to demand a change in the 
 proportionate rating. * * * The carriers are entirely 
 right in assuming, as they have done heretofore, that they 
 best perform their duty to the public when they take into 
 consideration in making their classification and in fixing their 
 rates, not merely the question of cost to themselves and of 
 value to the owner of the property carried but every con- 
 sideration of a public nature which can fairly bear upon the 
 question of public usefulness.” 
 
258 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 Long and Short Hauls 
 
 No subject involved in railway regulation demanded and 
 received more patient and illuminating exposition by the 
 Commission than that relating to the conflicting interests of 
 long and short haul business. The statute declared: 
 
 “Tt shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to 
 the provisions of this Act to charge or receive any greater 
 compensation in the aggregate for the transportation of pas- 
 sengers or of the like kind of property under substantially 
 
 
 
 PART OF AN OKLAHOMA COTTON TRAIN—1893 
 
 similar circumstances and conditions for a shorter than for 
 a longer distance over the same line in the same direction, 
 the shorter being included in the longer distance.” 
 
 In the fourth annual report (1890) this clause received the 
 following clear elucidation: 
 
 “The carriers by rail have so far made their rates and 
 charges fairly proportional as between local and long haul 
 traffic that the clause, if it ever worked injustice to them, does 
 so no longer. Indeed as the general result is to give greater 
 satisfaction to local communities without unjustly affecting 
 the great centers of commerce the outcome cannot fail to be 
 beneficial to the carriers themselves. Nothing is more de- 
 sirable to any railroad than that its patrons shall be convinced 
 that its rates are just, and they can never be made to believe 
 this while the extraordinary differences in charge which were 
 formerly in many cases as between the long and short haul 
 traffic carried over the same line, are persisted in. Much 
 
SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 Zoe 
 
 —_ 
 
 of the complaint now made of the clause in question, with a 
 view to affecting public sentiment, ignores altogether the fact 
 that the prohibition of the greater charge for the shorter haul 
 is very much qualified in the statute, and in respect to freights 
 it is limited to those of a like kind carried over the same line 
 in the same direction and under similar circumstances and 
 conditions. A stranger to the law might infer, from some 
 public addresses and pamphlets which have assumed to dis- 
 cuss this subject, that the railroad companies were prohibited 
 
 
 
 
 
 AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE COMPANY ENGINE OF 1895 
 
 Built for the St. Louis, Vandalia & Terre Haute R. R.—Weight loaded, Engine and 
 Tender, 219,000 lbs. 
 
 from carrying the necessities of life over long distances at 
 very low rates unless their rates on other subjects of trans- 
 portation for shorter distances were made to correspond. 
 Indeed, instances have been pointed out in which it was said 
 that certain articles of commerce could not now be trans- 
 ported for long distances because by reason of this provision 
 they would not bear the charges that must under compulsion 
 of law be imposed upon them. Among such instances has 
 been mentioned the granite industry of New England, as to 
 which it has been said that valuable manufactories have ceased 
 to be profitable because it has now become impossible for 
 the properties to obtain from the railroad companies the nomi- 
 nal rates for the transportation of their products which they 
 

 
 
 
 260 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 formerly enjoyed, since it is now, by the long and short haul 
 clause, made criminal for the companies to give such rates. 
 A complaint of this nature is not to be met by argument, 
 because it is baseless in point of fact. The instance men- 
 tioned may safely be assumed to be chosen rather from regard 
 to the needs of an attack upon the law than from any belief 
 in the justice of its application. The prohibition of the fourth 
 section, so far as concerns this article of commerce, or any 
 other that can be named, will have no application whatever 
 until it is made to appear that elsewhere upon the lines of the 
 roads conveying it there is property of the same kind for 
 transportation by the same carriers in the same direction, 
 upon which the carriers are disposed to making greater 
 charges in the aggregate for the shorter hauls. The wheat 
 of the extreme West, it is also said, can no longer have the 
 nominal rates which were formerly made for transportation 
 to the seaboard, but this assertion is also without point or 
 applicability unless it is shown that the carriers are not only 
 disposed to give such rates but propose to make up the conse- 
 quent losses to themselves by the imposition of greater 
 charges in the aggregate for the carriage of the like grain 
 when offered for carriage by growers in the States nearer to 
 the seaboard. Nominal rates impartially made as between 
 shippers of like articles in the same direction and under like 
 circumstances and conditions are as admissible now as they 
 ever mwere: 
 
 _ “A law that does not prohibit an equal charge for the 
 transportation of like articles for the longer distance would 
 seem to be quite as liberal as could be asked for or desired, 
 -provided the transportation in each case is under like circum- 
 stances and conditions. And such is the law of the clause in 
 question; the same charge may be made for the carriage of 
 the like articles for 10 miles as for a thousand without a viola- 
 tion of its terms.” 
 
 Nothing could be clearer or more reasonable, and yet com- 
 plaints under the fourth clause relating to long and short 
 hauls have echoed and re-echoed in the courts and before the 
 Commission from that day to this. 
 

 
 SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 261 
 
 
 
 Lions in the Way of Enforcing the Law 
 
 The greatest obstacle that confronted the Commission in 
 the enforcement of the law against discriminations, undue 
 preferences, cutting of rates and rebates was the difficulty of 
 getting evidence. This was particularly so where rival car- 
 riers were involved. “This is especially the case,” says the 
 ‘ Commission, “when the prosecution is instituted for the giving 
 of low rates, for, even when this is done unjustly and illegally, 
 it, nevertheless, will have, or seem to have, the effect of favor- 
 
 
 
 TRAIN ON HUMP FOR SWITCHING 
 
 ing localities or important interests, and thereby it secures 
 their approval and invites their support. A carrier who 
 under such circumstances prosecutes, or who aids in prosecu- 
 tion, does so at the risk, not merely of submitting itself to 
 such annoyances and expense as commonly attend a criminal 
 proceeding, but also of appearing in the eyes of an influential 
 portion of those for whose favor all are competing, as the 
 prosecutors of a rival whose real offense, whatever it may be 
 nominally, consists in the fact that in the struggle for business 
 it has been the more successful of the two, and for the com- 
 mendable reason, if lawfully done, that it has conceded more 
 to the demands of competition and been less severe in its 
 exactions. The risk of arousing against themselves a preju- 
 dice of this nature is one which the Commission shows the 
 carriers are very slow to encounter.” 
 
 In illustration of what the. carriers were “up against” in 
 this regard, the Commission published the following portion 
 
262 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 of a letter it received from the general manager of one of the 
 roads terminating in Chicago: 
 
 “Referring to your complaint against railroad officials that they 
 admit, state and charge that the published rates are cut in violation 
 of the law, while at the same time fail and refuse to give any evidence 
 to the Commission, I beg to say that it is true that we do make such 
 charges and have information about cut rates that warrants us in 
 making them; still we dare not use it with the Commission or in 
 Court. The transportation of this country is handled by a compara- 
 tively small number of persons who are.-all interested in getting the 
 lowest rates possible and the greatest advantage over their competi- 
 tors. These shippers we must depend upon for business, and if any 
 railroad company or any railroad officials should go into Court or 
 before the Commission with charges that such shippers are receiving 
 favors from other railroad companies, it would result in that railroad 
 company or the company represented by such officials being boycotted 
 by the majority of the shippers. In other words, they do not want 
 the law enforced so long as they get an advantage in its violation. 
 ADRS te we hake Railroad Company and its officers desire that the 
 interstate commerce law is enforced, but for reasons above given we 
 dare not use the information we receive in various ways as to what is 
 being done by our competitors and connections. Of course this in- 
 formation is not in the nature of absolute proof, but it is in the nature 
 of prices paid for commodities and the direction that traffic takes, 
 which is not its natural channel. In some cases shippers state frankly 
 that they are getting concessions, but of course do not divulge just 
 how much, or how it is done, and even were we disposed to use the 
 information we get I do not know that it would be competent 
 evidence.” 
 
 Here was a state of things involving carriers and shippers 
 in every section of the country where competition was “the 
 life of trade” as well as the theory of the Act to Regulate 
 Commerce. Carriers and shippers who fain would obey the 
 statute were driven willy-nilly into their only alternative of 
 retaliation.in kind. Naturally the railways bore the brunt of 
 public reprobation, while the shippers, who pocketed the profit 
 of the illegal transaction, subscribed liberally to campaign 
 funds and foreign missions and largely escaped criticism. 
 
 _ The Effect on Railway Construction 
 
 One of the untoward effects of the national assumption 
 of its right to regulate the railroads was the brake it put on 
 railroad construction. Where this had been proceeding at 
 the rate of 6,500 miles of new line per year over a ten-year 
 period, it dropped to an average of about 3,600 in the next 
 decade. Where railway building had been anticipating popu- 
 lation, it was restricted to the current needs of the people of 
 
SHVEN DH DECADE,” 1890-1900 263 
 
 
 
 the United States. The returns show that there was little 
 variation in the averages in inhabitants per mile of line be- 
 tween 1890 and 1910, and since that year population has been 
 outstripping railway construction. 
 
 Commenting on this condition in his report of 1893, Pro- 
 fessor Adams, the official statistician, said: 
 
 “When it is noticed that the increase of railway mileage 
 was 4,897, it at once becomes apparent that the tendency 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN 1896 FOR THE ATLANTIC CITY R. R. 
 Used in high speed passenger service. One of fastest locomotives ever built. 
 
 toward merger, consolidation, lease, traffic agreement and 
 the like is relatively stronger. than the tendency towards 
 railway construction.” 
 
 The World’s Fair and Panic of 1893 
 
 Under the impetus of the Columbian Exposition held at 
 Chicago in 1893, railway traffic reached its highest record 
 up to that time. The story of this accomplishment is briefly 
 told in the returns for the four years that included that won- 
 derful quadricentennal of the discovery of America: 
 
 Passengers Freight Tons 
 Carried 1 Mile. Carried 1 Mile. 
 POO ee COCA yc. es 13,362,898 ,299 88,241,050,225 
 LOOG eens PA Cr Sats 14,229,101,084 93,588,111,833 
 Holl APL eee ee eee 14,289,445,893 80,335,104,702 
 
 East he decce Gs sate Po a 12,188,446,271 85,227,515,891 
 
264 HISTORY OF AMERICAN KALLWAYLS 
 
 For the full meaning of these figures it is necessary to 
 remember that they relate to the fiscal year ending June 30 
 in each case. This threw the heavy attendance at the World’s 
 Fair from July 1 into the 1894 returns, accounting for the 
 large passenger traffic of that year, whereas the freight traf- 
 fic, which had no unusual stimulus in that year, felt the full 
 force of the depression that paralyzed business in the fall of 
 1893 and dropped thirteen billion ton miles, or over 14 per 
 cent. This represented a loss of $129,562,948 in revenue from 
 freight alone. Notwithstanding the increase in passenger 
 mileage in 1894, there was a loss of $16,142,258 in passenger 
 revenue due to the reduction in receipts per passenger mile 
 from 2.108 cents in 1893 to 1.986 cents in 1894. 
 
 The average receipts per ton oe also showed a decline 
 from .878 to .860 cent. 
 
 Thus in every way the railways were made to feel the 
 effects of the financial storm that swept no less than 119 com- 
 panies, operating nearly 28,000 miles of line and representing 
 over two billions of capital, into receiverships. Among the 
 important roads that took refuge in the courts from the panic 
 of 1893 to 1896 were the following: 
 
 Miles ; 
 
 Owned. Stock. Bonds. 
 ALCHISOn,.1 Opeka: & oanta Pe.w..).) 2 4,438 $102,000,000 $228,082,000 
 Baltic wo i0, ewes Fa ee Sod 30,000,000 80,797,000 
 Pade (Dia PIP CACIN fea. ae he tees ee 337 41,227,362 160,820,009 
 NWortolk ea: Westerns. cls mate ee ea27. 59,500,000 57,669,529 
 DIGTEeii hE aclic: cota e an ote ae eee Paes 84,238,347 . 132,376,500 
 Wirsconein® Central ic: aiciai i Bes ic lady 685 11,435,500 10,631,009 
 UR iyH we PCC us Woks pie eto er eee 1,830 60,868,500 85,492,185 
 New York “& New England”. .273).2 360 23,817,600 17,106,373 
 New York, Lake Erie & Western .... 543 86,373,600 81,537,168 
 Toledos/st.) Louis c&.. KansasaGity:. 2. & 450 17,055,000 10,000,000 
 Bape. t ear awoyY adkin Valley... eS 329 1,972,900 4,922,700 
 Central RoR: Banke’ Co. of tsa... lz 7,500,000 26,574,000 
 Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern... 351 9,726,000 11,002,628 
 
 Note should be made that these figures do not include the 
 operated mileage of the roads named. 
 clude the capitalization of the subsidiary or leased roads of 
 
 the several systems. 
 
 Neither do they in- — 
 
 It may be of assistance to the student to give concrete 
 illustration of the general process through which these rail. 
 
SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 265 
 
 
 
 ways went through their sea of receivership troubles to the 
 ground of net profits by which alone they can succeed. 
 In the first place, the receiverships of 1893-96 followed the 
 long drain of declining rates as night follows the declining 
 sun. Take the Atchison, Fopeka & Santa Fe, for example. 
 Between 1884 and 1894 its average passenger receipts per 
 mile fell from 2.648 cents to 2.264, and its average freight 
 receipts from 1.882 to 1.191 cents. To those unfamiliar with 
 such units it may be explained that on the 385,000,000 pas- 
 sengers carried one mile the decline of .384 cent cost the 
 railway nearly $1,500,000 in 1893, and on the 2,418,000,000 
 tonsi-ot ireight carried one mile the decline of .691 cent cost 
 the railway over $16,000,000. No business on earth can stand 
 up under such a continuous depletion of its resources—for 
 fares and rates are the only resources available to a common 
 carrier wherewith to pay wages and other operating expenses, 
 taxes and a fair return on invested capital. 
 
 So much for how the Atchison got into a receivership in 
 1893. When it went into the hands of the court its funded 
 debt was $228,082,000 and its capital stock $102,000,000. In 
 the reorganization that followed the foreclosure sale Decem- 
 
 a 
 
 ber 10, 1895, its funded debt had been scaled down to 
 
 $162,278,050 and its capital stock increased to $213,468,000, 
 The increase in stock was accounted for by the issue of 
 $111,486,000 preferred stock to the holders of old second mort- 
 gage bonds amounting to over $90,000,000, on payment of a 
 4 per cent assessment, and as a bonus to holders of the orig- 
 inal stock on whom an assessment of $10 a share was levied. 
 As shares in the old company, for which par had originally 
 been paid, were worth only $13 at the date of reorganization, 
 it required faith to pay the $10 assessment necessary to hold 
 on. It was 1899 before a 2% per cent dividend was declared 
 on the preferred stock, and 1901 before a 1% per cent divi- 
 dend was paid on common stock. 
 
 The reader should take note of the preponderance of capi- 
 tal stock over funded debt in this readjustment. It is in the 
 proportion of almost 3 to 2 over funded debt and something 
 
266 HISTORY OF AMERICAN |\RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 like a proportion of 6 to 5 has been maintained to this day. 
 But it was the men, not the money, that saved and made this 
 great continental line. Aldace F. Walker, who was one of 
 the original Interstate Commerce Commissioners, after acting 
 as one of the Santa Fe receivers, was chosen as Chairman 
 of the Board and, more important still, the Board of Directors 
 selected Edward P. Ripley as President and vested in him 
 almost despotic authority over the management of the prop- 
 erty. If ever there was an instance of a beneficent despotism, 
 it was the rule of Mr. Ripley over the Santa Fe from 1895 to 
 his death in harness, in 1920. 
 
 Other roads went through the deep waters in 1893-96, 
 from which many emerged with lightened burdens and strong- 
 er organizations. But they were not all through with receiver- 
 ships, as the next chapter will tell. 
 
 A chapter could be written on the prevision necessary to 
 the choice of a site for passenger and freight depots in well 
 established communities. In the west the railways generally 
 selected the most convenient location for themselves, and let 
 the communities come up to them. In the east the railways 
 had to take what city councils and township trustees and cost 
 per siront foot permitted: The experience, of Philadermii. 
 with its great rail transportation agency, illustrates this fea- 
 ture of railway progress. It was 1858 before the Pennsyl- 
 vania Railroad had a real passenger station to its name in 
 Philadelphia. This was located way over on the West Side, 
 with a small ticket office at Eleventh and Market. Its next 
 passenger station was erected on Market Street west of the 
 river in October, 1864. In 1876 the approach of the Centen- 
 nial Exposition spurred the railway officials to the erection of 
 a new station on Market Street and Lancaster Avenue, west 
 of the tunnel junction that was to accommodate not only the 
 Independence multitudes but any crowds that might visit 
 Philadelphia in the next generation. “But,” says the historian, 
 “it only required a few years’ experience to demonstrate that 
 the West Philadelphia Passenger Station was too small and 
 wrongly placed.” 
 
chicky gta yy RENE 
 
 SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 267 
 
 Then they built them a larger and finer station between 
 Broad and Fifteenth Streets, extending south from Filbert 
 Street, which was opened for use in December 1881. Before 
 
 
 
 BROAD STREET STATION, PHILADELPHIA, 1894 
 
 1894 expanding business called for the extension of this sta-. 
 tion into what is now known as the “Broad Street Station,” 
 illustrated herewith, whose days are reported numbered as 
 this is written. 
 
 Verily one generation of railway builders cannot foresee 
 what the next generation of railway users will demand. 
 
 When the decade 1890-1900 closed, the American people 
 had at their disposal a transportation plant that may be sum- 
 marized as follows: 
 
 Wile SmOTTitiait Mitre) See. yo. eels oe Sri bias 192,556 
 NMPESHOTEGOCOTLOSELACK iar occas te coe a 12,651 
 Md SeOt at Har deutra Glos? vik San eee et a 1,094 
 Miles=ot toutthy and other track) 2-4 Oks... 829 
 Mileetot-vard. track and Siding seer al Aten. 52-153 
 MiteseO tea etEACKS Rd tt can. ceo. BN ta ae 258,784 
 
 IFOCOUIGIIVC Sime tas ator, Ka es Phir ee Ce ak a Mes 37,663 
 
268 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 Passenvere cats. jie Sipe ee ee eee 34,713 
 Preight cars ee ce ee ee ee 1,365,541 
 Company cars*s See or eee 50,594 
 Netheapitalizationsc $ oe: aor ee ee $9,547 ,984,611 
 Net capitalization per mile of line.....7.... 51,0 
 
 Net ‘capitalization: per mulevot track. .....-:; 36,895 
 
 At the opening of the decade the equipment of rolling 
 stock with train brakes and automatic couplers was in its 
 infancy. By 1900 practically the entire equipment was fitted 
 with the automatic coupler and 67 per cent was fitted with 
 train brakes. This transformation alone must have entailed 
 an expenditure of from three to four hundred million dollars, 
 or nearly enough to duplicate the entire locomotive equip- 
 
 ment of 1900. 
 
 Small Return on Invested Capital 
 
 In the face of the scriptural injunctions, new and old, that 
 say, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn,” 
 and “‘the laborer is worthy of his reward,” railway regulation 
 in America has inherited the popular disposition to muzzle 
 the railways that literally tread out the corn for nourishment 
 of the people. At no time in their history has the muzzle 
 been loosened from the mouth of American railways, so that 
 they could partake freely of the fruits of their labors, 
 
 Since 1890 the Commission has presented an annual re- 
 . sumé of the average return in dividends and interest -on the 
 capital invested in American railways. As this seldom finds 
 its way into the public prints, the student may be interested 
 in what it shows as to the per cent of actual return on capitai 
 stock at the beginning and close of the seventh American 
 railway decade: 
 
 1890. 1900. 
 hota Gapital tock) 4.828 os $4,409,658,485 $5,545,579,593 
 
 Per Cent Per Cent 
 Paying | Paying 
 
 Dividends Paid. Dividends. Dividends. 
 Notiiitatpaid ic sane eee 63.76 54.34 
 Brome isto? percent: sa. 2.08 ag 
 From. 2 to* 3: percent ... .~ 1.50 1.81 
 From. 3 to.; 4 per-cent ..4. 2.89 6.10 
 From 4to 5 per cent.... 8.26 14.56 
 From 5to 6percent.... 6.69 6.93 
 
 Brom “Gato. / percetit’...- 6.53 4.29 
 
SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 269 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Brotnyt 7, tO oper cent... 3.78 6.40 
 PromesotO as percent... 2.40 1.78 
 From 9 to 10 per cent .... 35 .08 
 From 10 per ct. and upwards 1.76 1.44 
 
 PLO tal tates. Peete ett 100.00 100.00 
 
 It will be perceived that in 1890 85.18 per cent of all rail- 
 way capital paid less than 6 per cent and in 1900, a more pros- 
 perous year, 86.01 per cent paid less than that dividend. The 
 marked difference in the two years was in the amount of 
 stock that paid nothing and that paid from 4 to 5 per cent. 
 
 When it comes to interest paid on funded debt, amounting 
 in 1900 to $5,585,147,047, no less than 87.29 per cent paid 
 less than 6 per cent. Of this G78 per cent paid nothing. The 
 largest percentage was 32.82 paying from 4 to 5 per cent. No 
 less than 71.46 per cent of the funded debt paid between 3 
 and 6 per cent interest. 
 
 The return on the capital invested in American railways 
 has never been a burden on American internal commerce. 
 
 How the Union Pacific Was Rebuilt 
 
 This decade closed with the practical reconstruction of the 
 Union Pacific after the reorganization that followed the re- 
 ceivership in 1893. In this there came to the surface of rail- 
 way affairs a new and compelling constructive human force 
 in the person of Edward H. Harriman. The romance of the 
 spectacular building of the Union Pacific in a race with the 
 construction of the Central Pacific in the 60s was succeeded 
 by thirty years of alternating periods of plenty and drought, 
 during which, between 1880 and 1890, the able administra- 
 tion of Charles Francis Adams did not prove equal to the task 
 of stemming the current of adverse balances. Mr. Adams 
 made an heroic struggle against adverse circumstances, but 
 unfortunately, as he confesses in his autobiography, “lacked 
 the cleancut firmness” to wring success from heavy odds. 
 When Mr. Adams resigned, in 1892, the road was confronted 
 with the maturity of the Government loan in 1895, and so 
 in the shadow of the financial panic of 1893 it sought shelter 
 from its pressing embarrassments in the hands of a receiver. 
 
270 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 After various combinations, including one to which J. Pier- 
 pont Morgan was a party, had tried and failed to effect a 
 reorganization, a syndicate headed by Kuhn, Loeb & Com- 
 pany undertook the heavy task. But not until they were 
 joined by Mr. Harriman did they make much headway. He 
 with the backing of the Illinois Central, in which he had 
 earned his railroad spurs, brought to the syndicate the in- 
 domitable spirit of personal faith and initiative that has always 
 accompanied the railway miracles on this continent. 
 
 The syndicate found the Union Pacific stripped of the un- 
 profitable parasites and feeders that had sapped its immature 
 resources, and it acquired the property by assuming liabilities 
 amounting to over $81,000,000, of which $58,448,223 had to be 
 paid to the Government in full satisfaction of its claims for 
 original advances. Thus was extinguished the debt for guar- 
 anteed bonds with interest that had hung over the enterprise 
 from its inception. The syndicate also took over the unsold 
 and practically unsalable balance of the land grants. The 
 road was in poor physical condition and lacked proper equip- 
 ment when, on January 1, 1898, it was handed over by the 
 receivers to its new owners. In May following Mr. Harri- 
 man was elected chairman of the executive committee and 
 from that day the dust of reconstruction never ceased to fly 
 on the Union Pacific. After a hurried inspection, in which, 
 like Rudyard Kipling in other fields, nothing escaped his 
 photographic eye, Mr. Harriman telegraphed a request for 
 $25,000,000 as a starter in rehabilitation of road and equip- 
 ment. He followed up his wire in person and succeeded in 
 persuading his directors into making the unusual outlay. 
 
 How he employed that $25,000,000 in part is worth telling 
 in the picturesque language of Frank H. Spearman, whose 
 basic facts are attested by Chief Engineer Berry, who was 
 in charge of the work: 
 
 “Tt is not perhaps generally understood,” says this author, 
 “that the highest barrier presented to the Union Pacific on 
 its transcontinental run lies immediately west of the plains 
 about Cheyenne, where the line strikes that secondary range 
 
SEVENTH-DECADE, 1890-1900 z/1 
 
 
 
 of the Rockies known as the Black Hills. What makes the 
 ascent of these hills of especial difficulty is a great elevation 
 coupled with unusually short slopes. Just here, at the out- 
 set almost, the Union Pacific rises to its greatest height above 
 the sea, and here, in the rebuilding lay the problem before 
 Berry, chief engineer, as to how the grade of this granite 
 summit might possibly be reduced. New limits had been 
 set to the gradients of the proposed improvements; but it is 
 one thing in a directors’ meeting to adopt a grade over the 
 Rockies of forty-three feet to the mile, and quite another to 
 Pouinros tne. Rockies and run it. «lhe; chief engineers hadvte 
 match his wits against those of engineers who, a generation 
 before, had laid out the pioneer line and done it well. Thirty- 
 five years of reflection, observation and criticism from the 
 best constructionists in the world had failed to develop flaws 
 in this earliest effort to bridge the Rockies. * * * 
 
 “To find the line that Berry determined he must have, 
 he sent good men into the hills, only to be told that where 
 he wanted a line there was none. But when they tried to 
 maintain this, the personal equation, that subtle and incal- 
 culable factor in men which, in the overcoming of difficulties, 
 makes the slight difference between success and failure, inter- 
 vened. The chief engineer, undaunted, refused to abide by 
 the findings. He sent the engineers again; the second time 
 they brought the line he knew must be there. It involved 
 staggering estimates. The Dale Creek crossing, just beyond 
 Cheyenne, called for a single fill nine hundred feet long and 
 one hundred and thirty feet deep. In these granite wastes 
 the engineering figures assumed at once unheard of propor- 
 tions. Cubic yards went into the calculations in millions 
 instead of thousands. Two creek crossings called for eight 
 hundred thousand yards of embankment. Two miles of new 
 line required the moving of seventeen hundred thousand 
 yards of material, and of this three hundred thousand were 
 solid rock. Two fills, within these two miles, swallowed a 
 million cubic yards. To eliminate three heavy reverse curves 
 and two bridges, a summit cut was required eighty feet dee 
 
Lis HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and a thousand feet long. The springing charge for a single 
 cone of rock was a thousand pounds of giant powder, and 
 the mountain was hurled into the cafion with twenty thou- 
 sand pounds of black. For these unprecedented level- 
 ings of the continental summit new devices were constantly 
 brought into play. Time was an essence of the undertaking, 
 and the American contractor, following loyally the Americana 
 enginer, as he has always followed him, stooped like an Atlas 
 and took upon his shoulders the burdens of the plans. 
 
 “Grading machines and dump wagons were sent into the 
 hills in train loads. Steam shovels, the leviathans of the 
 railroad camp, crossed the mountains in processions. ‘They 
 scooped the borrow-pits, cut the shale from the tunnels, dug 
 the Sherman ballast and loaded, even blasted, granite upon 
 cars out of the rock cuts. Track laying machines flung out 
 rails on one side and ties on the other, like sandwiches. At 
 one of the vital points Chicago men took the heavy work, and 
 in order to make a three hundred thousand-yard fill with an 
 embankment of one hundred and thirty-eight feet, MacAr- 
 thur, to complete his contract on time, threw his own tempo- 
 rary suspension bridge across the thousand-foot cafion, and 
 ran his dump-cars upon his own rails and cables. Track 
 laying—ballasting even—was pushed across the Rockies in 
 midwinter. At the summit the last hill was drilled and a 
 tunnel eighteen hundred feet long was put through primitive 
 ‘granite. Here the Harriman engineers scaled two hundred 
 and forty-seven feet off the highst elevation at which the road 
 had formerly crossed the continent; then came the task of 
 getting gracefully down the western slope of the hills to the 
 isranue. plains...) ees 
 
 “The whole road, from its eastern approach to the Black 
 Hills far out to Medicine Bow on the Laramie plains, shows 
 everywhere the chisel and straight edge of the Harriman 
 engineers. There are but two pieces of track—both of them 
 very short—on the entire main line where the forty-three-foot 
 grade is exceeded. Curvature had to go with the heavy 
 grades, and between the Black Hills and the Wasatch Range 
 
SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 273 
 
 seven thousand degrees gradually disappeared. At one point 
 the new line, within a distance of four miles, crosses the old 
 one seven times. 
 
 “The Hanna cut uncovered an eight-foot seam of coal; 
 a Green River cut revealed wide deposits of petrified fish. 
 First and last the contractors uncovered a little of everything 
 in the Rockies, from oil pockets to underground rivers; but 
 in the Wasatch Range, in boring a six thousand-foot tunnel, 
 they struck a mountain that for startling developments broke 
 the records in the annals of American engineering. It was _ 
 here that the underground stream was encountered; but this 
 was a mere incident among the possibilities in the mountain. 
 The formation is carboniferous, thrown up in the Aspen Ridge 
 at an angle of twenty-five degrees, and it includes shales, 
 sandstone, oil and coal. To bore a hole through the mountain 
 at a depth of four hundred and fifty feet from the highest 
 point was not difficult; but the curious thing was that after 
 being bored the hole would not stay straight. The moun- 
 tain, reversing every metaphor and simile of stability, refused 
 to remain in the same position for two days together. It 
 moved forcibly into the bore from the right side, and then 
 stole quietly in from the left; it descended on the tunnel with 
 crushing force from above, and rose irresistibly up into it 
 from below. The mountain moved from every spot of the 
 compass, and from quarters hardly covered by the compass. 
 Workmen grew superstitious and engineers stood nonplussed. 
 Starting in huge cleavage planes, the shale became at times 
 absolutely uncontrollable. Wall plates, well fastened into 
 regular alignment at night, looked in the morning as if giants 
 had twisted them. Twelve-by-twelve hard pine timbers, laid 
 skin to skin in the tunnel, were snapped like matches by this 
 mysterious pressure. Engineers are on record as stating that 
 in the Aspen tunnel such construction timbers were broken 
 in different. directions within a distance of four feet. An 
 engineer stood one day in the tunnel on a solid floor of these 
 timbers, when under him and for a distance of two hundred 
 feet ahead of him the floor rose, straining and cracking, three 
 
274 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 feet into the air. Before the tunnel could be finished it he- 
 came necessary to line over seven hundred feet of it with a 
 heavy steel and concrete construction.” 
 
 Differing in degree, according to the topography of the 
 territory and traffic involved, the work of reconstructing the 
 hastily built mileage of American railways has been prose- 
 cuted from the laying of the first rail in Baltimore to the 
 present day with the untiring energy and unstinted expendi- 
 ture of money and brains that has made them leaders in the 
 transportation world. They closed the three-quarters of a 
 century of railway progress on this continent with 192,556 | 
 miles of line and 258,754 miles of all track. In other words, 
 American railways ended the 19th century with enough miles 
 of track to encompass the earth ten times. 
 
 Reorganization of Southern Lines 
 
 This decade also witnessed a reorganization and consoli- 
 dation of minor roads south of Mason & Dixon’s line that 
 was more or less reminiscent of the process by which the 
 New York Central assimilated the several links in its line from 
 New York to Chicago. The great difference between the 
 two processes was that, while the northern combination was 
 made up of solvent parts, the southern enterprise gathered 
 its parts from the wrecks of 1893 and succeeded in welding 
 them into several of the great trunk lines of the Union. 
 
 When the Richmond & Danville Railroad was purchased 
 at foreclosure sale on June 18, 1894, by the Southern Railway 
 Company, freshly organized for that purpose, it was operating 
 a perfect network of minor companies stretching from Wash- 
 ington, D. C., to the Mississippi at Greenville. There were 
 some thirty separate organizations represented in its 3,357 
 miles of line, operated on pretty much every description of 
 ownership, lease or control. The Richmond & Danville itself 
 was one of the pioneer roads of the South whose organization 
 tan back to 1847. 
 
 In swift succession the Southern Railway acquired at 
 foreclosure sales the Charlotte, Columbia & Augusta Railroad; 
 
SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900- e/3 
 
 
 
 the Columbia & Greenville Railroad; the important East 
 Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railway (operating 1,265 
 miles); the Georgia Pacific Railway and numerous other 
 lines, so that by September 1, 1894, it was operating 4,429. 
 miles right in the center of what may be called the Old South. 
 Since then it has been gathering into its fold by purchase, 
 lease, control of stock, etc., a host of other roads whose roll 
 call includes more than half a hundred corporate names, oper- 
 ating a total of over 7,000 miles. 
 
 Another consolidation or amalgamation of independent 
 odds and ends of roads going back to the beginning of things 
 in the South is the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Its seed- 
 eiaumeanmbewtraced to the Petersburg. “Railroad” Company, 
 chartered in 1830 and opened, 60 miles, to Weldon, North 
 Carolina, in 1833 and to the Richmond & Petersburg Railroad, 
 chartered in 1834 and opened in 1835. The title, Atlantic 
 Coast Line, without any details of organization, first appears 
 in Poor's Manual for 1889. In that year a holding company 
 of the same name was incorporated in Connecticut. The 
 nucleus of the present system makes its first appearance in 
 official statistics for 1888 under the title of the Atlantic Coast 
 Association, with a total operated mileage of 837, assembled 
 from no less than thirteen distinct companies, of which the 
 chief was the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad, with 319 miles. 
 The last road traced its genesis back to 1835. 
 
 By 1902, through various consolidations and some original 
 construction, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad found itself 
 operating 3,589 miles of line and had arranged for the pur- 
 chase of a majority of the stock of the Louisville & Nashville 
 Railroad, which, from a charter running back to 1850, was at 
 that time operating 3,444 miles of line. The Louisville & 
 Nashville had previously acquired a majority of the stock of 
 the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway. So by 1904 
 these associated roads operated well over nine thousand miles. 
 
 Concurrent with these consolidations, and by much the 
 same process of natural selection and amalgamation, came 
 the organization of the Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1900, 
 
276 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 tracing its ancestry and name back to the Seaboard & Roan- 
 oke Railroad (1832), with its seaboard terminal at Ports- 
 mouth. Through this and subsequent reorganizations the 
 Seaboard Air Line acquired operating control over 3,576 miles 
 ofsline.in’ 1922) 
 
 By natural selection, the four trunk lines named—the 
 Southern, the Atlantic Coast Line, the Louisville & Nash- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UNION STATION, ST. LOUIS, MO, OPENED SEPT, 1, 1894 
 
 ville and the Seaboard Air Line—all tracing their charter 
 rights back to the beginning of railway things in the South, 
 as well as in the Republic, almost engross the transportation 
 system in the Southern States. Together they operate nearly 
 20,000 miles of line and have come through the trying vicissi- 
 tudes of panics, the Civil War and Federal control with a 
 remarkable record of service and substantial success. 
 
 St. Louis Terminal Facilities 
 
 Through its Terminal Railroad Association, since 1894 St. 
 Louis has boasted one of the largest and most complete 
 
SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 ay 
 
 
 
 
 
 terminal systems in America, for which even greater prece- 
 dence was claimed until quite recently. Fifteen trunk lines 
 co-operate in the responsibility and management of the Asso- 
 ciation. How comprehensive it is in design and accomplish- 
 ment may be judged from the facilities it affords for handling 
 all branches of railway traffic. It comprises what for many 
 
 ol Ht 
 
 =a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ——— 
 
 SS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Os ——— SEZ Ze 
 = ————— Se 
 = he - F ‘ 
 > S ae 7, 
 y ay y fi 
 ‘ — = “i / 7 
 xs * = ‘N , / | M, yf 
 ia G fii y 
 
 TRACK LAYOUT, UNION STATION, ST. LOUIS 
 
 years was the most modern union passenger station in the 
 country, used by all lines entering St. Louis. With two 
 bridges spanning the Mississippi, these radiated to every part 
 of the Union. The provision for handling freight was equally 
 comprehensive, including three river docks. The general 
 character of the St. Louis terminal may be seen in the accom- 
 panying cuts of the Union Passenger Station and layout of 
 tracks. 
 
278 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 Baggage 
 
 In no one respect is the superiority, or rather the liberality, 
 of American railway practice better shown than in the way 
 baggage is handled here compared with its treatment in for- 
 eign countries. Here it is made an object of, special consid- 
 eration at the carrier’s risk, special cars are provided for it 
 and an elaborate system of checks follows it from station 
 
 
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF TRAIN SHED, ST. LOUIS UNION STATION 
 
 of departure to station of destination, and even from private 
 residence or hotel in one city to private residence or hotel 
 3,000 miles away, and without extra railway charge unless 
 the baggage exceeds 150 pounds. 
 
 In England and Europe how different. There the safest 
 thing to do with a trunk that weighs over 150 pounds, the 
 point at which the excess baggage charge begins in America, 
 is to send it by express. In England the ‘charge for -100 
 pounds for less than 50 miles is 50 cents; between 50 miles 
 and 150 miles, $1.00; between 150 and 300 miles, $1.50, and 
 above 300 miles $2.00 per 100 miles. Moreover, the traveler 
 has to see that his “luggage,” as they call baggage in Eng- 
 land, is put in the right “van” as it is called there. These high 
 rates and considerations account for the large amount of hand 
 “luggage,” suitcases, satchels, carry-alls, Gladstone bags, 
 rugs, etc., with which the typical English traveler preempts 
 
SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 279 
 
 
 
 all available space and racks in passenger cars. If he has 
 anything left that necessitates taking a trunk along, he has 
 to identify it at every station, terminal or change of trains. 
 On the continent of Europe, the excess baggage charge begins 
 at 55 pounds and the conditions of shipping baggage and 
 identifying it are even more vexatious. 
 
 
 
 GRAND HALL, UNION STATION, ST, LOUIS, OPENING NIGHT 
 —Flashlight Photograph by Atwater. 
 
 Exactly when the baggage car as a distinctive unit of 
 passenger train equipment was introduced on American rail- 
 ways has not been definitely settled, but it is generally cred- 
 ited to the Baltimore & Ohio road within the first decade of 
 its history. At first it was little more than a box freight car 
 impressed into the passenger service to carry mail and bag- 
 gage. Next a passenger car was divided into two sections, 
 one-half with seats for second class passengers or as a smoker, 
 and the other end for’ mail; express and baggage. A little 
 wood cut in the Great Railway Celebration of 1857 shows a 
 
380 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 typical baggage car in its proper place in a train of four cars 
 on the Little Miami Railroad. Where the baggage car of 
 these early days cost from $1,000 to $1,500, by 1920 the cost 
 of a modern steel baggage car had risen to over $12,000, 
 while post office cars of similar construction cost from $20,000 
 to $25,000 apiece. The artist evidently considered the rearing stal- 
 lion in the foreground the chief feature of his landscape. Many 
 years were to elapse before the spirited animals took kindly to the 
 snorting iron horse. 
 
 fa maen 
 
 
 
 A VIEW OF PENDLETON, 
 
 ‘Two Mites From CINCINNATI, AND THE-OuTER StTaTION oF THE LitrLE Miami Rarzroap. 
 
 It has been estimated that the railways of the United 
 States handle in excess of 150,000,000 pieces of baggage annu- 
 -ally of an aggregate value of over $30,000,000,000, which is 
 credible when it is considered that the better class of trunks 
 that endure the strong arm attentions of the express and 
 baggage man cost from $50 apiece and upwards. Their con- 
 tents are often insured for $200 and upwards. The typical 
 Saratoga trunk has given way to the innovation model, but 
 the sample trunk of the average traveling salesman still main- 
 tains its competition with the mail order store, which has 
 necessitated the running of mail freight trains on passenger 
 schedule. The parcel post business has made freight cars 
 out of $20,000 postal cars running on passenger schedules. 
 
SEVENTH DECADE, 1890-1900 281 
 
 The handling of baggage at our great central stations in 
 the summer season has reached colossal proportions, and only 
 the adoption of the most systematic methods and mechanical 
 assistance renders it reasonably efficient. When the vast 
 number and weight of the pieces to be moved with haste and 
 accuracy is considered, the proportion misrouted, delayed, 
 lost and damaged is so relatively small as to be insignificant. 
 
 The South Boston Station 
 
 Near the close of this decade, five roads entering Boston 
 from the south and west united for the construction and 
 operation of a station that should accommodate their passen- 
 ger traffic. The new station is located at the corner of Sum- 
 ner Street and Atlantic Avenue and is owned by the New 
 York, New Haven & Hartford, the Boston & Albany, the 
 Boston & Providence, the New England R. R. Co. and the 
 
 
 
 
 
 “NEW (1898) SOUTH BOSTON STATION” 
 
 Old Colony roads, the last three being leased to the New 
 Haven. The Boston & Maine, Maine Central, Bangor & Aroo- 
 stook and their New England connections entering Boston 
 from the North and West are served by the North Boston 
 Station at the other end of the city. | 
 The area of the station is about 35 acres; the train | 
 shed is 568 feet wide by 720 feet in length, and covers 28 , 
 tracks with a substation for 4 additional tracks. The length | 
 of 28 main tracks is 3.58 miles; sidings and yard tracks, 12.46 
 
Z02h 0 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 APPROACH TO SOUTH STATION, BOSTON, MASS. 
 Note the numerous block signals. 
 
 miles; total track, 16.04 miles:') The photograph gives a good 
 idea of the signal system necessary to the operation of this 
 station. 
 
 A Santa Fe Train on Stilts 
 
 
 
 BRIDGE OVER CANYON DIABLO, ARIZ, 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 EIGHTH DECADE—1900-1910 
 
 REGULATION BrEcoMES MorE STRINGENT. REBATES FINALLY 
 SUPPRESSED. COMMERCIAL VALUATION OF 1904. THE 
 COMMISSION. GETS» AUTHORITY “To Fix. Rates, i-barrH- 
 QUAKES AND FLoops 
 
 ITH the opening of the 20th century the whole char- 
 
 acter of this narrative changes from a historical review 
 leeratlway “progress to a 
 record of contemporaneous 
 events. Regulation, which 
 had found the railways prac- 
 tically free agents prior to 
 1887, had gradually gathered 
 the reins of administration 
 into its hands. From a sort 
 of benevolent supervision of 
 
 
 
 : GROWTH IN DIMENSIONS OF 
 . railway affairs through the PASSENGER CAR 
 
 1880-1905 
 adoption of a uniform system 
 
 of accounting; hearing complaints of discrimination in rates 
 and fares and of undue preferences to individuals and cor- 
 porations; and from pronouncing many tariffs unjust and 
 unreasonable, the Commission had become the central arbiter 
 of American transportation affairs. It lacked only authority 
 to name just and reasonable rates in place of those it found 
 unjust and unreasonable. And this was coming with that 
 certainty that seldom fails the legislative applicant who knows 
 what he wants and will not be satisfied until he gets it. The 
 Commission knew what it wanted. The shippers knew what 
 they wanted. Congress knew what both wanted. So it was 
 only a question of persistent importunity when the authority 
 to fix rates passed from the carriers to the Commission. 
 Between the passage of the original Interstate Commerce 
 Act, in 1887, and 1900 the field of the Commission’s super- 
 
284 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 vision had undergone a most remarkable expansion, as the 
 following figures show: 
 
 
 
 Increase 
 
 1890 1900 per cent 
 Milesvatasiiplemtrackaes a. Seis Soe 156,404 192,556 2.1 
 Miles Oruati xiary ciracke. <vcaes ae 9.761 14,074 + 441 
 Milescof “yatd track@andi Sidings. 2) ae S71 52,154 54.7 
 Miles? Gtealls- tracks “1. cumeaes. «4 cee 199,876 258,784 29.5 
 Number “of jocomotivesta =...) ee 29,036 37,663 29.7 
 Number ole passenger: Cars, ou. fun en 24,586 34,713 41.2 
 Ntimmber Gfedreighti carsis accent ee 829,885 1,365,531 64.5 
 
 The figures in this statement that are especially worthy 
 of the student’s attention are those showing the growth of the 
 auxiliary track and yard track and sidings of 44.1 and 54.7 
 per cent, respectively. These percentages are significant of 
 
 
 
 THE LUCIN CUT-OFF OVER GREAT SALT LAKE 
 Costing Millions and Saving More 
 
 the intensive development of railway facilities that has been 
 characteristic of American railways in recent years. Where 
 conditions did not invite extensions into new territory that 
 needed railways without the traffic to support them, the de- 
 mand for transport facilities along established lines encour- 
 aged the laying of double tracks and sidings in the more 
 settled portions of the country. Money was withheld from 
 the stockholders in millions and put back into side tracks, 
 reduced grades and realignments. 
 
 A like condition checked the numerical increase of rolling 
 stock. It will be observed that the increase in the number 
 of locomotives in the above statement was practically identi- 
 cal with the increase in miles of all tracks. Taken alone this 
 would not have sufficed to move the concurrent increase of 
 85 per cent in freight ton mileage and 35 per cent in passenger 
 mileage. This phenomenon was accounted for by an increase 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 285 
 
 of at least 40 per cent in the capacity of the engines and 65 
 per cent in the capacity of freight cars. The exact percent- 
 ages are not available because the weight and capacity of 
 rolling stock was not officially reported prior to 1902. The 
 percentage given are conservative estimates. 
 
 The railways entered the new century with their average 
 receipts both for freight and passengers at the low level of 
 
 
 
 UNLOADING LAKE VESSELS INTO RAILWAY CARS. 
 
 7.24 mills per ton mile and 1.978 cent per passenger mile. The 
 attempt of the carriers to readjust these rates to their mount- 
 ing expenses in 1900 precipitated the agitation to give the 
 Commission power not only to declare rates unjust and un- 
 reasonable but to prescribe what rates should be substituted 
 for them. This agitation once begun, bequeathed from Con- 
 gress to Congress, was not permitted to falter until the 
 authority was granted by Congress by the Hepburn bill in 
 1906, which will be considered in its place. 
 
 The so-called Elkins amendment to the Commerce Act 
 of February 19, 1903, clarified and strengthened its provisions 
 forbidding special rates, rebates, drawbacks or other device 
 granting undue preference to any individual or species of 
 traffic. By it the publication of tariffs was required in all 
 cases and any practice on the part of the carriers whereby any 
 property by any device whatever was transported at a less 
 rate than that named in the tariffs was prohibited under 
 severe penalty. 
 
286 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 ALL STEEL POSTAL CAR—UNION PACIFIC 
 
 While this legislation bore the name of Senator Elkins, it 
 was really the consummation of the efforts of railway execu- 
 tives under the leadership of President Cassatt of the Penn- 
 sylvania to root up the demoralizing and destructive prac- 
 tices that threatened towinvolve the entire transportation 
 system in disgrace and disaster. The struggle for competi- 
 
 
 
 
 
 INTERIOR STEEL POSTAL CAR—UNION PACIFIC 
 
EIGHTH. DECADE, 1900-1910 287 
 
 
 
 tive traffic had forced down the rates paid. to a point where 
 none but the strongest companies could earn a living profit. 
 Agreements to maintain rates were the veriest scraps of 
 paper. There was practically no limit to the rebates extorted 
 by the shippers under threat of diverting traffic. The bigger 
 the shipper the larger the rebate. The word “rebate” as 
 applied to the secret return of a percentage of the freight 
 
 
 
 
 
 MISSOURI PACIFIC ENGINE OF 1902 
 Built by American Locomotive Co. 
 
 charge is a happy term for an odious practice in that the true 
 word is derived from the French rabattre, to beat down. It 
 literally beat down the railways and smaller competitors. 
 The rebate on freight charges bred discrimination and undue 
 preferences in their most insidious and corrupting form. And, 
 while many large industries prospered by the nefarious prac- 
 tice, the railways, in common with more numerous smaller 
 shippers, suffered proportionately. 
 
 Liability to imprisonment for acts for which such punish- 
 ment had been named in the original Act was expressly abol- 
 ished by the Elkins Act, thus recognizing that the penalty 
 should apply to the beneficiary, and not its agent. Corpora- 
 tions, having no souls, could not be sent to the penitentiary. 
 This greatly increased the efficacy of the statute. 
 
 In its annual report for 1904 the Commission went on 
 record that the branch of regulation that dealt with the pub- 
 lication and invariable application of tariff rates “as amended 
 by the Elkins law of February 19, 1903, appears to be operat- 
 
288 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 ing successfully as applied to carriers subject to its provi- 
 sions.” ‘The Commission was greatly encouraged in its fight 
 for authority to prescribe the reasonable rate upon complaint 
 after hearing by a passage in President Roosevelt’s annual 
 message calling on Congress to confer on it “the power to 
 revise rates and regulations, the revised rate to go at once into 
 effect and stay in effect unless and until the court of review 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN SANTA FE TYPE OF 1903 
 Built for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe—Heaviest type used at that time 
 
 reverses it.” As the Commission was to be the judge of the 
 facts, the right of appeal was a barren legal ideality. 
 
 The Commercial Valuation of 1904 
 
 Among the questions involved in the discussion of railway 
 rates and relations to the public, none has caused a wider 
 divergence of opinion than that of the relation of their cost 
 
 or value to their capitalization. From their inception this 
 has been in dispute. Their capitalization, starting with the 
 
 humble figures of $15,000 to $20,000 a mile, exclusive of equip- 
 ment, has gradually advanced until, at the beginning of the 
 eighth decade, the total capital stood at $11,688,147,091, or 
 $61,531 per mile; whereas, eliminating the intercorporaite 
 duplication of stocks and bonds, it was only $9,482,649,182, 
 or $49,925 per mile. 
 
 This last figure may be compared with $43,781, which 
 was found to be “the mean cost per mile of all the finished 
 
FIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 289 
 
 
 
 roads in operation” in Massachusetts in 1849 by the standing 
 committee on railways and canals within the commonwealth. 
 Early in 1902 S. N. D. North, then Director of the Census 
 Bureau, under authority of the Act of March 6 of that year, 
 undertook an appraisal of railway property, and employed 
 Prof. Henry C. Adams, the Commission’s statistician, to direct 
 and superintend the work. The attempt to get anything 
 
 
 
 ILLINOIS CENTRAL FREIGHT YARD IN THE HEART OF CHICAGO, 
 ; PHOTO OF 1904 
 
 approaching a satisfactory valuation quickly. proved abortive 
 and Professor Adams, with the assistance of Prof.’.B: H. 
 Meyer of the University of Wisconsin, now a member of the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission, adopted the rule that the 
 valuation of the operating railway systems “should be arrived 
 at by the capitalization of their true net earnings at a rate to 
 be determined by the market value of their securities.” The 
 capitalization was based on net operating income after taxes 
 were paid, and excluded revenue from outside sources. “Only 
 the strictly net earning capacity of the transportation business 
 -of the railways was capitalized.” The final appraisement 
 was then computed from the mean of the five years ending 
 
 June 30, 1904. 
 
290 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The rate of capitalization, upon which the whole structure 
 of the valuation rested, was arrived at by Messrs. Adams and 
 Meyer and the method of its determination was explained at 
 length by Prof. William J. Meyers, who subsequently suc- 
 ceeded Professor Adams as Statistician of the Commission. 
 So when the ratio was finally fixed at 4.256 per cent it had 
 behind it as expert official authority on railway accounting 
 as could be found in the United States. 
 
 As announced in Census Bulletin 21 by Professor Adams: 
 
 “The commercial value of railway operating property in 
 the United States computed for the year 1904 was $11,244,852,- 
 O00, or $52,600 per mile.” 
 
 For the same year the net railway capital of the same rail- 
 ways was $10,711,794,078, or $52,099 per mile. 
 
 How the “Commercial Value” as reported by Professor 
 Adams was apportioned among the states is shown in the 
 following table from Census Bulletin No. 21, with the taxes 
 paid by the railways in the respective states for the same year: 
 
 Commercial Value 
 
 of railway operat- Average Taxes 
 State ing property as of Value Ad Valorem 
 June 30, 1904 Per Mile 1904 
 A Viteds Slates oot, wien Wee eee $11,244 852,000 52,500 $61,649,474 
 FA la bani tae apis raat, Mee ee 150,211,000 32,200 761,660 
 ATIZON Eat. tee eee, aa 68,356,000 39,000 222.357 
 GAT RANSAS. Lit ee hartge te tao 124,626,000 30,200 613,752 
 SEN Dn tore he Wa sme na Ay 7 nee eae A 350,694,000 56,000 1,720,860 
 CROTORAGG a Mins Og one tee ave 198,261,000 39,800 1,325,962 
 Connecticttoe.: 0. fests rae 105,369,000 103,500 1,123,124 
 Delaware ts Seca eek ak 17,285,000 51,500 21,388 
 District of sc.ol ttm bia os. eae. 5,578,000 174,300 28,150 
 PlOTidane eee ee eee 80,467,000 22,600 503,320 
 ATED TRIBE 3 wal. Ws Vases taletintes 156,603,000 24,800 874,092 
 Wilt Ot 22 te Ri tos Ao eat athe Oe. im Pe te 91,877,000 62,900 342,911 
 DOTS este. So eure ils et ee es 805,057,000 69,300 4,792,986 
 TPA AG cheats Hes ae eee SO es 375,541,000 54,300 3,057,204 
 dL GaVA RO RAO AL ec ss Valk he cons mee 344,847,000 35,000 2,046,751 
 IRaSaG ia eratene ste Cer ee 356,356,000 40,400 2,436,986 
 Kentucky ear eet tire. oie hes 155,772,000 47,900 1,051,156 
 TiS icra on Gee che hc, etenees 123,401,000 $1,600 727,398 
 MDA eat tsar ce mee eee a atts 80,146,000 39,600 411,891 
 Manvland <u, ceireeae foe: 132,342,000 93,100 468,810 
 MaSsachisettSsactec ie ees ae 250,052,000 118,000 1,589,497 
 ITCHIP AT I IAe ects aes eels ee 277,597 ,000 32,100 2,560,699 
 Mianniesotas case. flats en een 466,734,000 59,800 1,937,139 
 Mississippian <a. coke eee 107,884,000 31,000 541,900 
 
 MASSOLITE Poaks. . ees bie 309,768,000 40,200 1,509,291 
 

 
 EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-191 291 
 
 Monti tate eon. bee ese ee 196,209,000 60,100 680,353 
 Nebraska metre cern 2 tare *, 263,170,000 45,200 1,285,793 
 Wevadastere ites ee nt. 43.745,000 44 300 344,603 
 NewiHampshire: 2.2 .te. els 79,786,000 62,500 391,595 
 WeWs JEZSC Vee Ay cate uses 333,568,000 146,400 1,694,045 
 Wewee Mexicous fn fo Se. 86,400,000 34,500 284,073 
 UN GNVARY OL ist GON Ug cee beter 898 222,000 108,300 4,651,307 
 NOLIN ATOlIaAs os a a: hoe ee 113,146,000 27,800 667,596 
 INOLiite aK tee eer eke ee 123,390,000 38,700 683,644 
 OT Oar te at a eo. Sc ous 689,797,000 75,000 3,956,164 
 GVAEN Stee | a el ene GPa ure 78,668,000 30,100 291,471 
 OPerOn mre tae Ot Sets eee 75,661,000 43, 333,861 
 CTS VAVAIN Aw a Sates Sock ees 1,420,608,000 128,900 4,735,018 
 fhoder lsiandirs ers. | ec eee 25,719,000 121,400 197,437 
 SSGliemUaTONiare tre era 75,500,000: 23,800 467,230 
 Soule akotaur se. eke. ks 49 646,000 16,300 306,449 
 FRennesscem ce tes eRe ae 131,166,000 37,700 824,049 
 SS sme ee AO cede ners 237,718,000 20,100 1,222,583 
 tere etre ey oe eer he Ps 2) 90,325,000 50,800 367,996 
 IWELINOLIt marsh bettas ota. 37,311,000 35,100 153,346 
 Vit Siintiane: Brace An eon 3. 211,315,000 53,700 1,127,696 
 AVEISIVIN STO eer te nik a's ao; 182,837,000 54,500 754,569 
 WVieSSeay Ionia es Sete ae 201,799,000 71,000 549 286 
 NVISCOMSIT Me eres cs eae ees 284,510,000 40,400 1,900,027 
 WV Oe Ge hte rate operand dees waa 100,307,000 80,400 203,377 
 Mig iiamed CTLitOTYe%.. <. se eit = 79,405,000 31,400 48,318 
 
 Although this valuation has the defects and glaring in- 
 equalities inseparable from the method adopted by Professors 
 Adams, Meyer and Meyers, yet in the final result it is as 
 worthy of acceptance as any attempt to appraise such a vast 
 and complex property as the railways of the United States 
 can be. An appraisal that gives to the railways of Wyoming 
 a value of $80,400 per mile, with South Dakota set down at 
 $16,300, does not carry conviction from any inherent plausi- 
 bility. But on the whole the aggregate valuation of 
 $11,244,852,000 receives strong support from the ad valorem 
 taxes collected from the railways in 1904. These, including 
 some $16,000,000 where the tax was levied on gross earnings 
 or some other basis, amounted to a rate of approximately 
 .55 per $100 compared with .74 per $100 of estimated true value 
 as computed by the Census Bureau in 1902. 
 
 If the adult student or school boy will take an arbitrary 
 ratio of 5 per cent instead of the 4.256 per cent of Professor 
 Adams and apply it to the. net operating income of Federal 
 return without deductions, he will get as near the commercial 
 
292 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 eee 
 
 value of the railways as the three able and conscientious 
 professors did in 1904. Only, and this is all important, he 
 must pick a normal year and not the mean of any five or 
 
 
 
 TUNKHANNOCK CREEK BRIDGE—DELAWARE, Pei MEN 
 & WESTERN R. R. 
 
 —It is built of concrete, 2,200 rispiestis a Po ease the creek bed and has. twelve 
 ten years with numerous deductions. By including the lean 
 year ended June 30, 1915, an average Federal return of 
 $940,000,000 was arrived at. This would have yielded a so- 
 called “Commercial Value” of approximately $18,800,000,000 
 which may be compared with the official valuation of 
 $18,900,000,000 certified by the Commission in 1920. Applied 
 to the railway situation in 1920 the methods and ratio adopted 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 AS 
 
 
 
 by Professors Adams, Meyer and Meyers would have reduced 
 the “Commercial Value” of the railways to nothing, along 
 with the net operating income which was less than nothing 
 
 
 
 FAST MAIL 1904—TAKEN AT 80 MILES AN HOUR 
 —Green, Photographer 
 that year. Applied to the net operating income of 1916 it 
 would have supported a valuation of over $23,000,000,000. 
 And so the “Commercial Valuation” of 1904 serves the 
 useful purpose of furnishing a reductio ad absurdum for kick- 
 
 
 
 720-FOOT SPAN OF BRIDGE OVER OHIO RIVER NEAR PADUCAH, KY. 
 
 This span was built on timber falsework partly removed when picture was taken—It 
 is the longest simple truss ever built. 
 
294 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 ing out of court all such valuations resting on the fluctuations 
 of traffic, rates and wages or stock exchange quotations. The 
 wind that bloweth where it listeth is no more fickle than the 
 elements upon which net railway operating income depends. 
 Any such valuation is absolutely worthless for rate fixing 
 purposes, for it depends on the ratio as related to wages, 
 which represent over 60 per cent of the cost of operation. 
 
 
 
 NARROW GAUGE GIANT OF 1876 AND ITS SUCCESSOR 
 
 To this extent the Commercial Valuation of 1904 was worth 
 the space given it in this histary. - 
 
 Commission Gets Power to Prescribe Rates 
 
 By what is known as the Hepburn law, approved June 
 29, 1906, the Commission finally got what it had been seeking 
 for many years, authority to prescribe just and reasonable 
 rates in place of those which after complaint and hearing it 
 had pronounced unjust, unreasonable or discriminating. 
 Although in its twenty-first annual report of December, 1907, 
 the Commission testified that the law had been accepted by 
 railway managers in good faith, who had shown a sincere 
 disposition to conform to its requirements, little immediate 
 progress was made toward the effective enforcement of the 
 Hepburn amendment. This followed the filing of suits ques- 
 tioning the right of Congress to delegate to any tribunal 
 authority to establish an interstate rate. 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 295 
 
 No sooner had the Commission secured the approval of its 
 authority to prescribe rates under the Hepburn law than it 
 renewed its recommendation to Congress for the extension 
 of its authority to prohibit the taking effect of the advance 
 of rates or a change in regulations or practice by a carrier 
 until the matter had been finally heard and determined by the 
 Commission. With the enactment of the so-called Mann- 
 Elkins Act of 1910, the Commission was finally clothed with 
 almost absolute authority over the rate-making phase of rail- 
 way management. Not only was it authorized to suspend 
 the operation of proposed changes in rate schedules until their 
 propriety had been investigated, but the Act imposed upon 
 the carriers the “burden of proof” to justify the proposed rate 
 advances. 
 
 The first effect of this legislation, gathering the reins 
 of both regulation and revenues into the hands of the Inter- 
 state Commerce Commission, was to put the brakes on rail- 
 way extension and construction, as the following statement 
 of the number of miles built in the five years preceding and 
 following the passage of the Hepburn Act in 1906 shows: 
 
 Railway Construction 
 
 
 
 
 
 Before After 
 Year Miles Year Miles 
 MOA Getrees nore Sse 6,026 LOO, ees be 5212 
 LOU Sapte es Epa eat o SOoe LOCOS Was oe oe 3,214 
 TOGA ee i he Sec re 3,832 1 SOG elena eco ks ok ea 3,748 
 LOO Ree acces eats ey 4 388 EO Mees tek eae tame 4,122 
 LOU Gaeta Pech. a fe 5.623 POT ee oer eee 3,066 
 HgVe. VEATSr es. 3 eel a Ph ivied VCakeu +) eee oO" 
 
 This showing is serious enough, but it would be more 
 impressive if the year 1907 had been shifted to the construc- 
 tive period and 1912 and 1913, with a total of 6,068 miles built, 
 had been added to the period after the Hepburn Act became 
 really operative. Then the totals for the two periods of six 
 years would have been 30,733 and 20,222, respectively. 
 
 Between these six-year periods the average freight re- 
 ceipts of the railways dropped from 7.62 mills per ton to 
 7.50 mills and that apparently small difference cost the rail- 
 
296 ; HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 BUILT FOR BALTIMORE & OHIO R. R. IN 1904 
 Weight loaded Engine and Tender 474,000 Ibs, 
 ways approximately $180,000,000 in freight receipts, or 
 $30,000,000 a year. Its paralyzing effect on railway construc- 
 tion was the most serious effect of tightening the bonds of 
 
 regulation. 
 The Panic of 1907 
 
 But astringent legislation and regulation were not the only 
 adverse elements in the railway situation as it developed in 
 the fall of 1907. For the fifth time in- eight decades they 
 were caught in the maelstrom of a financial panic. Their 
 early projects were postponed by the monetary crisis of 1837, 
 caused by land speculation and “wild cat” banking; this was 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN ATLANTIC TYPE 1906 
 Fast Passenger Service 
 
 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 — 297 
 
 
 
 followed by the financial depression of 1857, resulting from 
 much the same causes; then came the panic of 1873, attended 
 by the suspension of specie payments, following the failure 
 of Jay Cooke & Company and the depression of 1893, for 
 which impending tariff changes and the fear of silver legisla- 
 tion were held largely responsible. On each of these occa- 
 sions the railways were involved to such an extent that build- 
 ing operations were suspended, as their credit suffered in 
 common with the banks and trust companies. The financial 
 crisis of 1907 came upon the railways out of a clear sky. For 
 the ten years 1897 to 1907 the railways had enjoyed a period 
 of unprecedented extension and prosperity. In that time 
 their gross earnings, expenses and net income had more than 
 doubled, as the following statement shows: 
 
 Revenues Expenses Net Income 
 Year (thousands ) (thousands) (thousands) 
 ETRE IEOR Ws tas ee TE $1,122,089 $ 752,524 $326,428 
 TGF eal Rive he Ss ce aces 1,247,325 817,973 386,215 
 [I ohh Sc a eR IR AR 1,313,610 856,968 410,305 
 OO Ber Plots oii aeited 1,487,044 961,428 477,284 
 19 EEF src eR Re Se na a 1,588,526 1,030,397 507,185 
 Ee ere ee ees sy lore ae 1,726,380 1,116,248 555,667 
 POI Se es s Lees 1,900,846 257505 585,459 
 cine eee ee eae 1,975,174 1,338,896 574,582 
 RUC ret ee Merit SEs. R ES. 2,082,482 1,390,602 628,406 
 ROM tat hk fh cethe sd MONS 2,325,677 1,599,443 714,103 
 AD UPEE CSDM Soi alee RN ae. 2,589,105 1,748,515 760,278 
 Increase per cent........ 130.7% 132.3% 132.9% 
 
 In the meantime the railway pay roll had increased from 
 
 $465,601,581 to $1,072,386,427, or 130.3 per cent; and 85,962 
 miles of track had been added to the facilities for carrying the 
 
 ever-expanding volume of American traffic. Moreover, the 
 freight rates had decline from 7.98 mills to 7.59 mills per 
 ton mile. | 
 
 So it was in the very heyday of their usefulness that the 
 panic of 1907 overtook American railways. Where their 
 revenues for that October wefe $250,575,757, by February, 
 1908, they had dropped to $161,085,085 and the earnings for the 
 calendar year 1907 fell from $2,621,288,809 to $2,322,831 ,233, 
 a loss of nearly. $300,000,000, or over 11 per cent. By prompt 
 and drastic retrenchment, less than $100,000,000 of this loss 
 was carried to net income. But that retrenchment fell heav- 
 
298 HISTORY -OF<AM ERICANWRAILYW AVS 
 
 
 
 ily on the pay roll, which was reduced from 1,672,074 to 
 1,458,244 in 1908, or nearly 18 per cent. The cut in compen- 
 sation, however, was not proportional, being only slightly 
 over $20,000,000, or less than 2 per cent. The difference was 
 accounted for by an advance of 5 cents a day per employe. 
 The recovery of the country and railroads from this panic 
 was not complete until 1910. 
 
 
 
 STEEL PASSENGER CAR 1907 WEIGHT 105, 500 lbs. 
 
 Floods and Earthquakes Test the Railways 
 
 From their inception the railways of America had to face 
 perils by storm in all seasons and by disastrous floods when 
 spring unlocked the accumulated snows of winter. Built 
 along the winding watercourses of the continent, their tracks 
 were often only a few feet above normal high water mark 
 and therefore were exposed to washouts and destruction 
 whenever Mother Nature saw fit to let loose torrential rains 
 among the hills and mountains. West of the Mississippi are 
 many rivers that are fit for concrete paving part of the year, 
 but down which raging torrents rush at other seasons and 
 without always waiting for the calendar. “A mile wide and 
 six inches deep,’ as a cynic has described them, but liable 
 to death-dealing convulsions. The Mississippi itself is a 
 tricky stream and has played many mad pranks with its levees 
 and banks, the railways ranking among the first and often 
 the heaviest sufferers. 
 
Rea Soe CY he 
 
 FIGHT AH. DECADE, 1900-1910 AS, 
 
 
 
 But it was left for the year 1906 to furnish a diversion in 
 the way of a convulsioneof Nature that was to involve the 
 railways in the dual role of sufferer and rescuer. On April 
 18 of that year San Francisco was visited by a series of violent 
 earthquake shocks. The quake itself would not have de- 
 stroyed any considerable part of the city. But it started fires 
 in several widely separated sections and the fractured and 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN DECAPOD TYPE OF 1906 
 Built for Pennsylvania R. R.—Weight engine and tender 582,100 lbs. 
 
 dislocated water mains left the fire department without ade- 
 quate means of controlling the flames. For three days these 
 raged unchecked and were finally stopped only by means 
 of water from the bay pumped through a tandem line of fire 
 engines connected by long sections of hose. Meanwhile the 
 whole business heart of the city and a large part of the resi- 
 dential section, covering all told more than five square miles, 
 had been reduced to ashes or smoldering ruins. Something 
 like 200,000 persons were rendered homeless and the property 
 loss was appraised at $325,000,000. 
 
 The railways suffered in common with the inhabitants of 
 the smitten city, but it was given to them to play a most be- 
 neficent role in the rescue work, in bringing shelter to the 
 houseless and removing the homeless and hungry to neigh- 
 boring communities where there was welcome shelter and 
 abundant food. The resources of both the Union Pacific and 
 the Southern Pacific systems were put at the service of: the 
 Sit wena theripet aay or the-disaster .Vice*President’ Hiri. 
 Calvin of the Southern Pacific bought $20,000 worth of food 
 
300 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 in Los Angeles and rushed it to San Francisco by special 
 freight running on passenger time. «lt reached there in time 
 to preserve the inhabitants of the still smoking city from 
 experiencing the pangs of hunger for a single day. In the 
 first 24 hours after the earthquake the so-called Harriman 
 lines moved 1,073 carloads of refugees to the country and on 
 the next day as many more. Fortunately, both quake and 
 fire spared the ferry house at the foot of Market Street and 
 there the railways made their headquarters the Mecca for 
 the distressed and half-dazed populace that declined transpor- 
 tation to happier scenes. In his report Vice-President Calvin 
 said that between April 18th and May 23d the two roads 
 brought into San Francisco free of charge 1,603 carloads of 
 supplies, at a cost of $445,410, and carried out 224,069 refu- 
 gees, whose fares, if they had been paid, would have amounted 
 to $500,831. 
 
 This record of Good Samaritan work is told here because 
 it is a replica, only under different circumstances, of what 
 railway companies have been quick to do in every community 
 visited by fire, flood, tornado or crop failure. These very 
 words bring the names of Chicago, Johnstown, Louisville and 
 Kansas to mind. As willing rescuers they have played the 
 part of first aid to the injured in every state in the Union. 
 About the only echo of this splendid work in San Francisco 
 to find its way into national recognition is the following note 
 referring to the compensation of employes in the official Sta- 
 tistics for 1906: “This figure does not include the amount 
 paid by the Southern Pacific Company, which by reason of 
 the fire that occurred in San Francisco in April, 1906, lost 
 many of its records and was thus unable to make a complete 
 report.in .this jrerard.., 
 
 But the bears of the stock exchange in New York did not 
 fail to take toll of the calamity. The psychological tremor 
 that struck San Francisco was felt across the continent and 
 shook more than a billion of market value out of railway 
 securities. Between April 17 and May 20 the shares of the 
 leading companies sold off all the way from 6 to 48 points. 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 301 
 
 
 
 
 
 Industrial stocks showed their sympathetic sensitiveness to 
 anything affecting the railways by even greater losses. 
 
 Saving the Imperial Valley 
 
 To the majority of school children, as well as their elders, 
 the term Imperial Valley means little more than a rich section 
 of the great State of California famed for its glorious climate 
 and golden harvests, agricultural and mineral. The real Im- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FLOOD WATERFALL IN IMPERIAL VALLEY, CUTTING BACK 
 
 perial Valley is one of Nature’s most interesting phenomena. 
 Here is a depression in the earth’s surface about 100 miles 
 long and.35 miles wide that was once covered by water to a 
 depth of 400 feet in its deepest part. Once it was the north- 
 ern end of the Gulf of California, and the Colorado River 
 poured its flood of water and silt into its eastern shore. In 
 time the silt formed a barrier clear across the gulf and left 
 its upper stretch a great sdlt water lake. Slowly the Cali- 
 fornia sun sucked up the water, at the rate of five or six feet 
 a year, leaving nothing but an arid basin known as the Salton 
 Sink. There are evidences that through the ages the Colo- 
 rado River frequently broke through the barrier it had cre- 
 
302 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 ated and the gulf flowed back into its ancient banks, only 
 to have the process of exclusion renewed by the fickle river. 
 Early American explorers who crossed the Sink found 
 nothing there but a hot, waterless desert, apparently the bot- 
 tom of a-dried up lake. None of them realized that it was 
 far below the level of the Pacific Ocean. Not until 1891 did 
 the idea of irrigating the Salton Sink with fresh water from 
 the Colorado River find lodgment in some adventurous minds. 
 But the company that attempted to execute the idea went 
 
 
 
 THE MAN AND THE JOB 
 Facing the Problem -of a Flooded Empire 
 
 bankrupt in 1893. The project languished for nearly ten 
 years, when it was renewed, a canal was dug from the Colo- 
 rado at Pilot Knob, nearly opposite Yuma, and the boastful 
 name “The Imperial Valley” was substituted for the ominous 
 sounding “Salton Sink;” 400 miles of irrigating ditches were 
 dug and water was available for 100,000 acres more of irri- 
 gable land. 
 
 It was but another story of American adventure and en- 
 ergy waving the wand of unwavering will above a seeming 
 impossible situation and seeing it blossom as no rose ever 
 blossomed before. 
 
 Then enter the railway. <A branch of the Southern Pacific 
 was built through the valley. By 1904 more than 10,000 
 settlers were on the ground, numerous town sites were laid 
 out, the capacity of the canals and irrigating ditches was 
 quadrupled and by January, 1905, 120,000 acres of reclaimed 
 land were under actual cultivation. The land was so rich in 
 varied elements that it would literally produce almost any- 
 
LIGHT AH DECADE. 1900-1910 303 
 
 
 
 
 
 thing. Nowhere on earth was Nature more bountiful. The 
 air of the valley was so dry that men worked in a tempera- 
 ture of 120 in the shade without exhaustion. The title “Im- 
 perial Valley” was justified in the abundance and variety of 
 the crops. 
 
 But the Colorado River had to be reckoned with. What it 
 had done ages before it could do again. And it proceeded 
 to wreak its will. In 1904 the silt from the Colorado, such 
 as had dammed out the waters of the gulf from Salton Sink, 
 
 
 
 THE RIVER STILL RAMPANT 
 Contemplation gives place to action 
 
 gradually clogged up the canal that was furnishing the life- 
 Saving irrigation to the valley. So the engineers of the Cali- 
 fornia Development Company started to cut a new intake 
 from the river. The Colorado River took advantage of the 
 failure to provide this intake with a head gate control, to 
 start serious trouble. In February, 1905, it began operations 
 with its first flood of the season, which passed without doing 
 any damage. Shortly after followed another flood and that, 
 too, passed. But the flood that came along in March was 
 something different. The spring sun in the mountains was 
 behind it and it started to enlarge the size of the intake. At 
 first the breach was only sixty feet wide, and the engineers 
 tried to close it with piles, brush and sandbags. ‘These were 
 swept away by another flood. The crevasse was widened 
 from 60 to 160 feet and the river was flowing into the valley 
 at the rate of 90,000 cubic feet per second. It quickly over- 
 flowed the banks of the main canal and soon, in the words of 
 Mr. George Kernan, “a new Salton Sea. was in process of 
 formation.” : 
 
304 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 Right here is where a railway—this time the Southern 
 Pacific—was called in to save a prosperous community from 
 being drowned out or driven into the desert wilderness sur- 
 rounding the oasis. It loaned the development company 
 $200,000 to help control the river. But this was pronounced 
 insufficient by the engineer, Epes Randolph, who said the 
 ultimate cost “might easily run into three-quarters of a million 
 dollars.” 
 
 
 
 DUMPING MILLIONS OF DIRT AND DOLLARS INTO THE SALVATION 
 OF SALTON SINK 
 
 “Are you certain you can put the river back into the old 
 channel?” telegraphed Mr. Harriman. 
 
 “T am certain it can be done,” replied Mr. Randolph. 
 
 “Then go ahead and do it,” wired Mr. Harriman. 
 
 And so the battle was on. 
 
 The Gulf of California lay only 100 feet below the broken 
 intake, the bottom of Salton Sink was 300 feet lower. The 
 engineers sought to deflect the river by a jetty, but it failed. 
 By the construction of a 600-foot barrier-dam the flow was 
 lessened and hopes were high that the worst was over. But 
 on the last day of November a flood carrying masses of drift- 
 wood came down the Gila, a tributary to the Colorado, and 
 increased its discharge from 12,000 to 115,000 cubic feet per 
 second. The dam disappeared, the crevasse widened to 600 
 feet and nearly the whole river poured into the valley, form- 
 ing a lake with a surface area of 150 square miles. 
 
 At this point it became a question of self-preservation for 
 the railway. Its main line “was almost awash.” If the river 
 could not be controlled before the spring freshet, 60 miles 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 305 
 
 
 
 of Southern Pacific track would be submerged, the splendid 
 work of irrigation would be undone and the Imperial Valley 
 would become a fresh water lake. Engineers and contractors 
 were at their wits’ end for means to avert the impending dis- 
 aster, that grew every hour as temporary plans proved futile. 
 The crevasse had grown to a quarter of a mile in width and 
 “the Colorado was pouring into the Salton basin more than 
 4,000,000,000 cubic feet of water every 24 hours.” 
 
 On April 19, the day after the San Francisco earthquake, 
 the Southern Pacific took full charge of the defensive opera- 
 tions. But before it could begin to stem the flood, the sum- 
 mer freshet arrived, doubled the width of the break and poured 
 a resistless avalanche into the valley. At its height the Colo- 
 rado carried 75,000 cubic feet of water and silt per second, 
 or 6,000,000,000 cubic feet every 24 hours, into the valley. 
 The main line of the Southern Pacific was quickly inundated, 
 and the inhabitants were fleeing to the mountains from a lake 
 that rose seven inches a day over a territory covering thou- 
 sands of acres. 
 
 On August 6, when the summer flood had passed its peak, 
 the work of damming the crevasse was begun. The railway 
 company recruited a motley camp of Mexicans and 2,000 
 Indians from six tribes and with all its road building resources 
 sought to divert the water while erecting control gates. But 
 the river once more proved too much for the mortals and 
 the work of four months of labor and an expenditure of 
 $122,000 was swept into the valley. 
 
 The men engaged in this struggle with riotous Nature 
 were of the stuff that may be down but is never out. They 
 redoubled their efforts, added a thousand more men and seven 
 hundred horses and mules to their little army, and proceeded 
 to dump rock and gravel and clay into a massive levee half a 
 mile long across both intake and crevasse. Checked at this 
 point, the wily water started a flank movement 1,200 feet 
 farther south and in less than three days the whole river 
 was pouring down the 400-foot slope into the Salton Sea. 
 
 Then it became evident that no temporary dike would 
 afford protection from the Colorado River in its riotous moods, 
 
306 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 and it was decided to build a great rampart along the west 
 bank of the river for at least twenty miles. This it was esti- _ 
 mated would cost approximately $1,500,000 and the railway 
 company had already spent as much to no purpose. At an 
 additional cost of fifty or sixty thousand dollars it could 
 move its track out of danger. The temptation to abandon the 
 Imperial Valley to its sink was almost as resistless as the 
 raging river. 
 
 
 
 MAN TRIUMPHS AND THE IMPERIAL VALLEY IS SAVED 
 
 In this emergency Mr. Harriman laid the whole situation 
 before President Roosevelt. The President responded by 
 wiring for fuller information as to what was proposed. On 
 December 15th Mr. Harriman advised him that if work was 
 begun at once engineers said the break might be repaired 
 for $300,000 to $350,000, and the Southern Pacific would co- 
 operate with its train service, tracks, switches and quarries. 
 Then ensued telegraphic quibbling over responsibility, past 
 and future, ending by the Southern Pacific undertaking to 
 repair the break, trusting to the Government for assistance. 
 
 So the fight was resumed. Trainload upon trainload of 
 small stones and rocks as large as flat cars could handle were 
 dumped from a trestle into the crevasse, to be followed by 
 sravel and smaller material to knit the whole into a solid 
 mass. Finally, as this rose, the water passing over the dam 
 lessened and began to seek its own channel, and by February 
 10, 1907, the gap was closed tight and the Colorado flowed 
 once more in its old way to the gulf. | 
 
 To make the future of the Imperial Valley safe for future 
 generations of agriculturists, an unbroken line of dikes was 
 
BIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 307 
 
 
 
 
 
 constructed for a dozen miles near the river, shutting it off 
 from the lowlands to the west. 
 
 All told, the Southern Pacific spent $3,100,000 in the pres- 
 ervation of the Imperial Valley and, although Congress was 
 urged by two Presidents—Roosevelt and Taft—to reimburse 
 the company in some measure for “coming to the rescue of 
 the Government at the instance of President Roosevelt in a 
 great emergency,” as Mr. Taft phrased it, the claim has never 
 been honored. A majority of the House Committee on Claims 
 reported a -bill appropriating $773,000 in January, 1911, but 
 it got no farther. The claim is still unpaid at this writing. 
 
 In 1916 it was claimed that the farmers of the Imperial 
 Walley-expected to €ain a sum equivalent to interest.on 
 $500,000,000. For the week ending July 5, 1924, over 14,000 
 carloads of cantaloupes were shipped from the valley. 
 
 In this splendid piece of rescue work the Southern Pa- 
 cic simply added to the lone list. of sacrifices American 
 railways have made for the communities they serve only to 
 experience the traditional ingratitude of republics. But the 
 Imperial Valley, with its teeming inhabitants and industries, 
 is a splendid monument to the intrepid American spirit that 
 has conquered and settled this continent from the Atlantic 
 fosties bacinc, 
 
 The Ohio Flood of 1913 
 
 Out of its place in this brief chronicle the flood that swept 
 down the watersheds of the Muskingum, the Scioto and the 
 Miami, tributaries of the Ohio, in the spring of 1913 gives 
 another glimpse of the perils the elements hold over the rail- 
 ways. In the early days of March the valleys of these rivers 
 were peopled by as happy and prosperous a community as 
 was to be found in the United States. Cities, towns, villages 
 and farm buildings dotted the landscape in every direction. 
 Between Wheeling to the east and Indianapolis to the west 
 rose such well-known cities as Columbus, Dayton and Zanes- 
 ville. The school boy, with a string representing a hundred- 
 mile radius on any map with Columbus as its center, can get 
 a fair idea of the territory in Ohio alone whose inhabitants. 
 
308 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 went io sleep on March 20 without dreaming that anything 
 could or would happen to disturb the physicai security of 
 their lives. The dwellings and their grounds were sodden 
 with the moisture of a wet winter. There was nothing par- 
 ticularly alarming when a severe wind storm swept eastward 
 over the state on Friday, March 21. Wind storms in March 
 are no unusual occurrences even in the peaceful valleys of 
 Indiana and Ohio. It did a lot of damage to telephone and 
 
 | Kalo magoo 
 
 
 
 South Bena 
 
 Piymouwth Butler 
 
 fy 
 Fr Wi 
 Peorie Adem: oe hil 
 
 2 Offa” 
 
 : 
 Farmdel 
 sey if logensport 
 
 
 
 Converse Brian? 
 Morior 
 
 Ridgeville 
 Decetur Morve Bradfor 
 . anderson 
 S i Noblesville 
 Waveland 
 QRockville Lah) ade) Ke te, Dayt 
 ¢ a Poris 
 Farringlon A aes a,c , 
 mee Srey: 
 
 D 
 Camden Lancester 
 
 lerre Mavti Ibyville \ Washington CH. 
 Gosport? Hami!ton 
 
 
 
 1 orrow 
 landahe AColumbus iM) ddletown Jc 
 
 werrad Cinunnatr 
 
 Vincennes bMadison 
 
 New Albany 
 4 Loursvilie 
 
 LINES BEFORE THE FLOOD CAME 
 
 telegraph wires and tore up trees by their roots. And it set 
 the stage for the disaster that was brewing in distant head 
 waters of the Ohio tributaries. On Sunday morning rain 
 began to fall in the extreme northwestern section of the state 
 and continued for the next four days to deluge the whole 
 state eastward to the Pennsylvania line. In that time an 
 average for the whole state of between 7 and 8 inches fell, 
 ranging from nearly a foot at Bellefontaine down to 2.7 inches 
 at Marietta, nearly 150 miles away. The student can visual- 
 ize what that means by taking the area of Ohio, 40,740 square 
 miles, or slightly more than four times that of Lake Erie 
 (9,960). This would give a rainfall in these fateful four days 
 equal to a lake the size of Lake Erie 24 feet deep. 
 
; MiGhe eee ADE LO00T910l 309 
 
 
 
 This was no tideless lake; but a resistless current, obeying 
 the law of gravitation and seeking by hundreds of creeks and 
 rivers to find its way to the Ohio River, whose banks were not 
 high enough or far enough apart to carry it off. Nothing 
 built by men, of iron, steel or concrete, could withstand it. 
 It swept embankments and abutments away as if they had 
 been built of bubbles, seen for a moment, then vanishing into 
 the universal wreck of debris. 
 
 
 
 SMITH STREET STATION, CINCINNATI, OHIO 
 
 In round numbers, 22,000 houses were destroyed and 35,000 
 were seriously damaged by the water. Zanesville boasted a 
 flood mark 15 feet above the previous high record, until Dela- 
 ware, just north of Columbus, came to the surface with a 
 claim of 15 feet 7 inches above its previous record. 
 
 In Dayton it was reported from the high tower railway 
 depot that the-only dry spots in sight were the National Cash 
 Register buildings and grounds. 
 
 When the rain ceased and the waters subsided into their 
 accustomed channels, they left a deposit of mud and slime 
 over the devastated area from an inch to a foot and a half 
 in depth. 
 
 Words cannot begin to picture the extent of such a dis- 
 
310 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 aster. How it overwhelmed the transportation system of 
 that region can be judged from two skeleton maps of the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad showing its system in the territory be- 
 fore and after the flood. It cost this one road $3,019,240 to 
 restore its lines, besides an indefinite loss in interrupted traf- 
 fic. What happened to the Pennsylvania was the common 
 lot of the New York Central “Big Four,” Erie, Baltimore & 
 
 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA BRIDGE OVER MUSKINGUM RIVER, ZANESVILLE, 
 OHIO 
 
 Ohio, Hocking Valley, Wabash and other roads serving the 
 fiooded district. In such a calamity Nature plays no favorites. 
 
 Governor James M. Cox estimated that a million and a 
 quarter inhabitants were affected by the flood and that the 
 direct money loss was over $300,000,000. The fatalities ac- 
 companying this disaster have never been definitely stated. 
 One estimate places them at 444, including a number in Indi- 
 ana and Illinois, for the torrential rain extended over a great 
 
 part of those states. It'is probable the number exceeded 500 
 dead and missing. 
 
BIGHTA DECADE, 1900-1910 311 
 
 
 
 Intercorporate Relations of Railways 
 
 In March, 1908, after nearly two years of diligent investi- 
 gation, the statistician of the Commission, Prof. Henry C. 
 Adams, made public his report on the “Intercorporate Rela- 
 tionships of Railways in the United States.” In collecting 
 and compiling the data for this report Professor Adams had 
 the assistance of Mr. W. J. Meyers, subsequently statistician 
 of the Public Service Commission of the Second District of 
 
 
 
 RAILWAYS AFTER FLOOD HAD COME AND GONE 
 Mark the universal dislocation of the lines 
 
 New York and of Mr. Frank H. Dixon, from 1910 to 1918 
 chief statistician of the Bureau of Railway Economics. As a 
 result of their joint industry they found the outstanding net 
 securities of the railways in the hands of the public were as 
 follows: 
 
 Amount Per mile 
 Funded debt .......00e..--$ 7,842,400,969 $36,173 
 SPOCIEI Por ae cuss week bee 4,743,049,585 21,877 
 POtaleas Sectiritiesas., 224 faces 12,585,450,554 58,050 
 
 This finding excluded from the securities having any claim 
 upon the revenues of the railways all railway holdings from 
 outstanding capital. It resulted in a reduction in the amount 
 
312 HISTOR YOPAMERICAN RAILWAYS, 
 
 
 
 generally accepted as the measure of the claim of such capital 
 on revenues from $67,936 per mile of line to $58,050—a de- 
 crease of practically $10,000 per mile. It was submitted to 
 the Commission with the remark that: 
 
 “This report makes public for the first time a correct state- 
 ment of the portion of securities outstanding in the hands of 
 the public.” 
 
 Unofficially the Bureau of Railway News and Statistics 
 had computed the outstanding railway securities in the hands 
 of the public upon which returns from revenues were claimed 
 during the three years that this investigation was pending, 
 as follows: 
 
 BQOG she Bae enctattens ee deers ice eee $57,966 per mile 
 POO TS. 25d. nett Ne Cade inn, ae 57,425 per mile 
 TOUGHER ae trac iae ile, Caen Beet 58,064 per mile 
 
 Owing to intensive construction of auxiliary tracks, sid- 
 ings and yard tracks and the decrease of miles of line through 
 abandonment, the net securities in the hands of the public per 
 mile of line has increased in 1923 to $76,734. 
 
 Two Cents a Mile Passenger Legislation 
 
 Contributing to the distress of the railways in 1907 was 
 the action of the legislatures or commissions in twenty-two 
 states placing a limit on passenger fares. In a majority of 
 these states the maximum named was 2 cents a mile, and 
 wherever by reason of special conditions it was 2% or 3 cents 
 those conditions called for higher fares. 
 
 Previous to 1906 it was estimated that the approximate 
 cost of running passenger trains was a dollar a mile—exact 
 figures then as now being incapable of determination because 
 from 25 to 30 per cent of all operating cost is common to 
 freight and passenger service. In 1906, the year when most 
 of these reductions were ordered, the average number of 
 passengers in a train, for the entire country, was 49 and for 
 the three territorial groups chiefly affected it ran: Group 
 III (Ohio, Indiana and Michigan), 44 to the train; Group 1V 
 (Virginia, West Virginia, North and South Carolina), 36 to 
 
 F 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 313 
 
 the train, and Group VI (Illinois, lowa, Wisconsin, Minne- 
 ~sota and portions of the Dakotas), 43 passengers to the train. 
 By multiplying these figures by 2 cents the student will per- 
 ceive that they fall short of the operating cost per train mile 
 from 12 to 28 cents. In Group IV, 3 cents a mile was barely 
 sufficient to meet the expense of operation. 
 
 As the passenger train mileage in these three groups in 
 1906 was upwards of 183 million, it will be seen that an aver- 
 age fare 12 cents a mile below the cost of operating those 
 trains would amount to nearly $22,000,000. Happily, a ma- 
 jority of the states refused to follow such a destructive policy, 
 and before our entry into the Great War the density of pas- 
 senger traffic had overtaken the cost’ of operating trains. 
 
 However, the 2-cent passenger legislation preceding the 
 panic of 1907 added to its adverse effect upon the railways. 
 The trail of the panic as shown in the official list of receiver- 
 ships, 1907 to 1910, was as follows: 
 
 Companies Miles operated 
 June 30, 1907 29 3,926.31 
 June 30, 1908 BA 9,529.03 | 
 June 30, 1909 44 10,529.80 
 June 30, 1910 39 5.25703 
 
 It is worthy of record here that the question of a reason- 
 able passenger rate was threshed out before the Railroad 
 Commission of Wisconsin in the case of Buel vs. the Chicago, 
 Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. One of the commissioners 
 was B. H. Meyer, now of the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
 sion. After an exhaustive review of the whole field it was 
 decided that 3 cents a mile for intrastate travel in Wisconsin 
 was excessive and that a charge of 2% cents should be sub- 
 stituted for it. 
 
 With the close of the decade, daylight was beginning to 
 show ahead of the companies that had been hardest hit by 
 the depression and its attendant difficulties of 1907. 
 
 Effect of Panic on Rolling Stock 
 
 In no other department of railway operation was the effect 
 of the depression of 1907 more instant and far reaching than 
 in the provision that has to be made for handling the peak 
 
314 HISTORY OF AMERICAN AIL AL 
 
 
 
 
 
 of freight traffic. Throughout the year there had been an 
 average shortage of freight cars, running as high as 140,000 
 in February. This was gradually reduced until, in August, 
 there was a small surplus. By October the shortage had 
 risen again to 86,811. In the face of the slump in business 
 that occurred toward the end of that month, the shortage 
 shrank to 44,802 in the following month, to be succeeded by 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN CONSOLIDATION TYPE 1910 
 Heavy Freight built for Pennsylvania R. R. 
 
 a surplus of 208,586 in December. From that point on for 
 56 months, with two exceptions, surpluses were reported, 
 rising as high as 413,338 in April, 1908. Nothing to equal 
 this accumulation of idle freight cars had ever occurred on 
 American railways. With a temporary break, the condition 
 was to prevail until 1916. Its effect upon the construction 
 of new freight equipment was immediate and paralyzing, as 
 the following statement of cars built during the five years 
 before and after the panic shows: 
 
 Freight Cars Built 
 
 
 
 Before After 
 
 the the © 
 
 Panic Panic 
 
 OORT are cians 60,806 1 OUR tee Piha kano 76,555 
 1905 ae Fee 165,155 1909 4.9 93,570 
 TOGG ss eet tee ke 240. S05 1910 eee 180,945 
 POONER EN Set 284,188 OTL eee ee 72,161 
 Four years: .... 750,652 423,231 
 
 Av. per year.... 187,663 105,808 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 315 
 
 
 
 While it is a well-established fact that the life of a freight 
 car averages between 20 and 25 years, and therefore there is a 
 call for the replacement of about 100,000 freight cars a year, 
 this table demonstrates that in the four years 1908-1911 barely 
 enough cars were built to take care of the retirements from 
 age, decrepitude and destruction. Except for the spurt in 
 building in 1910, which was encouraged by the partial recov- 
 ery in revenues in 1909, the building of cars for those years 
 would have fallen below the minimum of provision for in- 
 creased traffic. 
 
 In passing it is worthy of note that between 1908 and 1918 
 there was an increase of only 284,692 freight cars-in service; 
 or 13.5 per cent, where the freight handled increased nearly 
 90 per cent, the handling of the greater traffic being made 
 possible by an increase in the average capacity of freight cars 
 from 34 tons to 41 tons and in trainloads from 357 tons to 655 
 tons. To make this possible the weight of locomotives on 
 drivers had been increased from an average of 7/1 tons to 91 
 tons. In tractive power, locomotives in the meantime had 
 risen from about 25,000 pounds to 34,000, or about 36 per cent. 
 
 A clear comprehension of these statistics as they relate to 
 the equipment in the decade 1900 to 1910 is necessary to a 
 thorough appreciation of how the railways rose to meet the 
 great emergency of the following decade. Their lack of pre- 
 paredness dates back to the Hepburn Act of 1906 and the 
 panic of 1907. They were put on a starvation diet and forced 
 to eke out the small surplus of funds and equipment they 
 had been permitted to accumulate previous to that most fateful 
 period in their history. 
 
 The Farmer and Railways’ Share of the Consumer’s Price. 
 
 Regarding the railroad and the farmer’s share of the con- 
 sumer’s cost Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson, in his 
 report for the year 1910, made the following division: 
 
316 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Percentage of Consumer’s Price 
 
 : Farmer Railway All other 
 Milkioe st er 0 nar bine ee 50 7.0 43.0 (a) 
 Butter 52 sue. or amen eae 50 0.5 49.5 
 EC OO OUEN GS Oe Sosa Seas ae ee 50 0.6 49.4 
 EMD De Sek sce ee we tee 50 6.8 43.2 
 ES CANGS Scien tak aie ee 50 2.4 47.6 
 PEIALOES Sr ee eaten eee 50 7.4 42.6 
 Gram “allekinds | nae et ox 50 . 34 46.6 
 FLAS Ge anes igh PRs 50 7.9 42.1 
 Cattle tand ‘hoes 22tcaaieess 50 i 48.8 
 ive POultt wos las sade t cc uae 50 age 47.8 
 WOO etd 1 Cn tn Re ecle enom 50 0.3 49.7 
 
 (a) Received mostly by the retailer. 
 
 To which the Secretary adds, “The foregoing allowances 
 for freight are to be increased by one-half when the farmer 
 receives about three-fourths of the consumer’s price;” and he 
 adds-that it is plain-that-the* cost. of -distribtition™ ironietac 
 time of delivery at destination by the railroad to delivery: 
 to the consumer is the feature of the problem of high prices 
 which must present itself to the consumer for treatment.” 
 
 In-another »part .of the report the secretary-saysm = ue 
 railroad, generally speaking, adds a percentage of increase 
 to the farmer’s prices that is not large.” Without straining 
 a seam he might have said that it is an amazingly small price 
 for the indispensable service rendered. : 
 
 The Detroit River Tunnel 
 
 Elsewhere has been told how the New York Central 
 secured its Michigan Central connection with Chicago by 
 bridging the Niagara River in 1855, but in doing so it had to 
 ferry the Detroit River at Detroit. That break in locomotion 
 —trains being ferried intact—was not overcome until the 
 ferry was rendered obsolete by a tubular tunnel through which 
 trains were hauled by electric locomotives. Regular freight 
 and passenger service was inaugurated October 16, 1910, four 
 years having been required in its construction. This involved 
 engineering of novel features because of its magnitude. 
 Where the giant tubes were to be laid the Detroit River is 
 over half a mile wide and 50 feet deep at some places. It 
 has an uneven bed over which the current runs at:a speed of 
 
PiGH TAC DECADE. 1900-1910 317 
 
 
 
 two miles an hour on the surface and about half as fast at the 
 bottom. The problem was to build two great single track 
 tubes and lay them on or rather in a graded bottom so that 
 they would resist pressure from all sides. In order to do this 
 the right of way under the river had to be dredged to an even 
 surface, 74 feet below the surface at the lowest point. The 
 tubes were constructed in sections 260 feet long five miles 
 
 
 
 
 
 DELROIE RIVER TUBULAREITUNNEL 
 Sinking Section No. 10, August 4, 1909. 
 
 above their submerged beds. When this was done they were 
 floated on great pontoons to the proper place and sunk with 
 the utmost exactitude, so that they formed a single continuous 
 tube from Canada to the United States. This was accom- 
 plished and the result is said to be drier than the land on 
 either side. 
 
 The tunnel and approaches measure 12,800 feet or more 
 than 234 miles. 
 
 For engineers the designing, construction and placing of 
 this great tubular, subaqueous tunnel presented numerous and 
 interesting features which cannot be adequately dealt with 
 outside of a technical review. The pontoons containing the 
 
318 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 tubes were launched sideways and floated down to their 
 destination. But great concrete anchorages had to be sunk to 
 hold them steady during the process of sinking them into the 
 ditch that had been dredged for them. 
 
 The interior radius of the tubes was 23 ft. 4 inches, being 
 lined with 20 inches of reinforced Class A concrete and en- 
 cased in solid Class B concrete, so that the two parallel tubes 
 are imbedded in what is practically a solid rectangular block 
 
 
 
 CANADIAN APPROACH TO DETROIT RIVER TUNNEL 
 
 of concrete. The space between this and the side of the ditch 
 is filled with the replaced river clay, so that the whole tunnel 
 as it stands is a part of the solid bottom of the river. 
 
 When laid there was no variation in the level of the tun- 
 nel and only a negligible variation in alignmetnt—so accurately 
 had everything been calculated and exactly constructed. 
 Where the river is deepest the top of tunnel is slightly above 
 the bottom of the river and had to be protected by riprap. 
 
 In service the tunnel has developed no structural defects 
 and, being operated electrically, is free from smoke and foul 
 air. 
 
 Rise and Fall of the Commerce Court 
 On June 18, 1910, President Taft signed an amendment 
 
 to the Interstate Commerce Act creating a Court of Com 
 merce, with jurisdiction possessed by Circuit Courts of the 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 319 
 
 
 
 United States in all cases of the kinds specified in the Act. 
 These related specifically to the enforcement of orders of the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission. The court was composed 
 of five judges, with the rank and pay of United States Circuit 
 judges with an allowance of $1,500 for the extra expense of 
 living in Washington, D. C. Martin A. Knapp was taken 
 
 
 
 CONCRETE LINED INTERIOR OF DETROIT RIVER TUBULAR TUNNEL 
 Seventy-four Feet Under River Level at Lowest Point. 
 
 from the Commission to head the new court, and his asso- 
 ciates were men of eminence and experience at the bar and 
 on the bench in the states from which they hailed. The 
 new court attacked the duties to which it was assigned with 
 commendable enthusiasm and ability that evoked both ap- 
 proval and criticism, as its decisions went for or against the 
 shippers and carriers concerned. 
 
 Hardly was the court fairly under way before an agitation 
 was started for its abolition, which found such favor in Con- 
 gress that a repealing clause of the Commerce Court Act 
 
320 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 was included in the legislative, executive and judicial appro- 
 priation bill in June, 1912. This was made an additional rea- 
 son for President Taft’s veto of that bill. In his message the 
 President said that he could not find a single reason for the 
 arguments advanced for repeal why the court should be abol- 
 ished “except that those who propose to abolish it object to 
 certain of its decisions.” “Next to impartial and just judg- 
 ment,’ he continued, “the great desideratum in judicial re- 
 forms today is the promotion of the dispatch of business and 
 the prompt decision of cases. The establishment of the Com- 
 merce Court has brought this about in a substantial way by 
 reducing the average delay from two years to six months, 
 and I doubt not that as time goes on and the procedure be- 
 comes better understood this period of six months will be 
 further reduced. It is greatly in the interest ‘of the shippers 
 and therefore of the public that the means of reducing the 
 time of remedial litigation against railroads should be pre- 
 served.” 
 
 The veto was sustained and a new bill, with the Com- 
 merce Court provision omitted, was passed over another veto. 
 However, the Commerce Court was abolished by an amend- 
 ment to the urgent deficiency bill approved October 23, 1914. 
 Thus was lost to the public a laudable attempt to put litiga- 
 
 tion growing out of the regulation of American railways upon 
 a sensible and expeditious basis. 
 
 Mr. Acworth on American Railways 
 
 Just before sailing for England, Mr. William M. Acworth, 
 the widely known international authority on railways, after 
 a two months’ tour of inspection of the railways in 1910, gave 
 the results of his observation, as follows: 
 
 “I have been somewhat surprised to see the space that has 
 been given in your newspapers to the criticism of your rail- 
 ways. It has been my opinion that in actual economy of 
 operation the railways of the United States are first in the 
 world. In the number of tons per car, cars per train; in the 
 fullest utilization of locomotives; in the obtaining of the 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 321 
 
 
 
 
 
 ‘greatest measure of result for each unit of expenditure, they 
 are not equaled by the railways of any other nation. When 
 the Greek commanders after the battle of Salamis voted who 
 should receive the prize for valor each put his own name first, 
 put all put the name of Themistocles second. And Themis- 
 tocles received the prize. So, 
 too, though German, French 
 and English railway men 
 would, I dare say, put their 
 railways first in efficiency, 
 they would ‘all, I am _ sure, 
 put yours second, and on the 
 voting of the experts your 
 railways would come out 
 first. 
 
 “But further, your nation 
 as a whole is not in other 
 matters pre-eminently — effi- 
 cient. No one would say that 
 your farmers were more effi- 
 cient than those of France 
 and England, or that your: 
 
 
 
 
 
 governiment is more efficient SIR WILLIAM M. ACWORTH 
 Whose death since first publication was 
 than the government of Prus- a great loss to the railway world. 
 
 sia. Your railways have reached a higher standard in inter- 
 national comparison than your farmers or your government 
 and under greater difficulties, for in England and on the Con- 
 tinent employment with a railway company is a prize and a 
 man hopes to remain in the service of the same company 
 throughout his life. He is, therefore, obviously more amend- 
 able to discipline than the shifting and often even foreign 
 force employed on your railways. 
 
 “The investors of Europe and even your own Wall Street 
 seem hardly to grasp the enormous amount of money that 
 must be spent upon railroads to keep pace with your growing 
 traffic. If your traffic doubles every ten years, as it substan- 
 tially does, you will need not perhaps to double your facilities 
 every ten years, but to increase them at least 50 per cent. 
 
322 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 The eleven hundred millions per year specified by Mr. Hill 
 as necessary for this purpose is none too much. The inhab- 
 itants of your Western and Southern States, your people in 
 general, must understand that this capital cannot be obtained 
 in their own communities. 
 
 “Texas and Oklahoma have no money to spare for rail- 
 road building. They want it all for their own local business. 
 Even the East cannot find all the money required. This 
 money in iarge measure must for a long time to come be 
 raised abroad; and the investors of other lines will not be 
 willing to subscribe it so long as there is a continuance of 
 the harassing conditions which tend to impair the revenues of 
 your railways, to hamper their administration and to retard 
 their development. If the railways of the United States could 
 reach a time when state legislators ceased from troubling 
 and state commissioners were at rest, it would in my think- 
 ing be good for the railways and still better for the citizens 
 of the United States.” 7 
 
 Earlier in the decade (1903) another Englishman, this 
 time Sir Neville Priestley, under-secretary to the Government 
 of India, Railway Department, made an official report on the 
 condition of American railways. After spending months in 
 the country studying the subject, he made an exhaustive sum- 
 mary of the situation, in the conclusion of which he bore the 
 following testimony to his interesting and instructive ex- 
 pericnace: 
 
 “The railways of America are commercial undertakings 
 on a gigantic scale, and are operated under conditions which 
 are to be found nowhere else in the world, since they receive 
 no protection from the State, and have had to fight their way 
 to the front by sheer ability of management. * * * Many 
 of their methods are different, often startlingly different, from 
 those one has been brought up to believe the only correct 
 method; and it is not until one realizes that the one idea in 
 the mind of American railway men is to ‘get there,’ and that 
 they do ‘get there’ by the shortest and quickest way, and do 
 not allow themselves to be turned aside either by red tape, 
 
EIGHTH DECADE, 1900-1910 323 
 
 
 
 old-time prejudices, tradition, or any other of the bogeys by 
 which older countries are assailed, that one understands how 
 the results have been obtained which one sees there. * * * 
 That their methods are not always perfect is what might have 
 been expected; but they have managed to do what no other 
 
 
 
 434,500 lb. ENGINE OF 1910. ; 
 Built by Lima Locomotive Works for Baltimore & Ohio R. R. 
 
 country in the world has done, and, that is, carry their goods 
 traffic profitably at extraordinarily low rates notwithstanding 
 the fact that they pay more for their labour than any other 
 country.” 
 
 When the student gets that fact into his head—that Amer- 
 ican railways have been built, maintained and operated by 
 labor paid not only more but double that paid in any other 
 country, except Canada (and Canada is in the same boat)— 
 he will begin to take a just pride in what his fellow country- 
 men have achieved on this continent. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 NINTH DECADE—1910-1920 
 
 INADEQUATE RETURNS. HIGHER INTEREST AND 71 AXES. BUILD- 
 ING OF MONUMENTAL STATIONS. RAILWAYS AND THE 
 Wortp War. FEDERAL CoNTROL AS AN EMERGENCY 
 MEASURE. 
 
 ITH the opening of the ninth decade of railway develop- 
 ment in the United States the struggle between the 
 conflicting views of their reg- 
 ulation and management be- 
 came more intense In the 
 public mind generally the 
 idea prevailed that the best 
 results were to be obtained 
 by subjecting their adminis- 
 tration more and more to the 
 regulating hand of the Inter- 
 state Commerce Commission ; 
 whereas in railway circles 
 and in the financial centers, 
 from which they had to draw 
 the sinews for growth and ex- 
 tension of facilities, there was 
 hesitation that was reflected in the rate on railway borrowings, 
 Previous to 1900 for a generation the railways had been 
 able to borrow a majority of their new funds at less than 4 
 per cent. In that year they raised $215,039,851 for new con- 
 struction at an average of 3.75 per cent. Between January 
 and June 30, 1908, they borrowed $266,281,355, but by this 
 time the average was 5.04 per cent and it has been above 5 
 per cent ever since—all except gilt-edge securities of that 
 denomination selling at a discount. Today it is only the low 
 rate on early issues of long term securities that holds the 
 average on the aggregate indebtedness of American railways 
 
 
 
 CEMVELAND, (O.; DOCK CO] CAR 
 DUMPER 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 325 
 
 
 
 down to 4% per cent. The borrowings in 1923 for new con- 
 struction ranged from 5 to 6 per cent, running as high as 7 
 per cent on some short term securities, and the Commission 
 has authorized loans at as high as 8 per cent. 
 
 The attitude of the Commission was well stated by the 
 late Franklin K. Lane, then Commissioner, in deciding the 
 Western Rate Case in February, 1911, denying advances. In 
 concluding, he said: 
 
 “We do not say that the carriers may not increase their 
 income. We trust they may, and confidently believe they 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE CO. ENGINE OF 1911 
 Built for the Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Weight, loaded Engine and Tender 493,000 Ibs. 
 
 will. If the time does come when through changed condi- 
 tions it may be shown that their fears are realized, or ap- 
 proaching realization, and from a survey of the whole field of 
 operations there is evidence of a movement which makes 
 against the security and lasting value of legitimate investment 
 and an adequate return upon the value of these properties, 
 this Commission will not hesitate to give its sanction to in- 
 creases which will be reasonable. It is the law that rates 
 shall be just and reasonable, and alike to all for like service.” 
 
 The trouble with that decision, as with so many other 
 decisions not only of the Commission but of the carriers them- 
 selves, was that it mistook a spring shower for a crop-produc- 
 ing rain. “It now appears probable,’ said Commissioner 
 Lane earlier in his opinion, “that at the end of the fiscal year 
 1911 the carriers here involved will in the main enjoy earn- 
 ings as high as those they had in 1910—the highest year in 
 their history.” ; 
 
" 326 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 The Commissioner’s anticipations were doomed to disap- 
 pointment. While the earnings held up fairly well, the ex- 
 penses outran them, so that the net operating income and 
 operating ratio for the three years 1910-12 made the follow- 
 ing showing: 
 
 Operating Ratio, 
 
 Net Income including taxes 
 1910 $824,242,000 70.06 
 1911 766,398,000 72.54 
 1912 750,187,000 73.62 
 
 Not until 1913 did the net income equal that of 1910 upon 
 which the denial of advances was predicated, and by that time 
 
 
 
 
 
 SMALLEST AND LARGEST LOCOMOTIVES IN THE PHILADELPHIA & 
 READING SERVICE 
 
 wages, expenses and taxes had got out of hand, so that net 
 income in 1914 shrank to $706,175,000 and in 4915 to 
 $728,212,000, while the operating ratio had risen to 76.83 and 
 75.37 per cent, respectively. Prior to the Great War, an 
 operating ratio, including taxes, above 70 per cent meant that 
 it was time for the railways to hang out storm signals. With 
 the war and Federal control advancing rates, this ratio with- 
 out taxes was advanced to 75 per cent, and with them to 
 approximately 80 per cent. 
 
 Up to 1910 about the only ated investigators whose 
 valuations kept pace with the growth of American railways 
 were the assessors and taxing bodies. Between 1890 and 1910 
 railway taxes more than trebled. They rose steadily from 
 $31,207,000 to $103,795,000, or 232 per cent in twenty years, 
 where their capitalization had not quite doubled and their 
 revenues from operation had increased only 161 per cent. 
 
 To understand what is essential to the successful and pro- 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 327 
 
 
 
 gressive operation of the railways of the United States as a 
 system, the student must have in his mind some fixed formula 
 that will insure a net return of at least 6 per cent on the capi- 
 tal invested or valuation found by competent authority, plus 
 at least 2 per cent additional to provide for additions, better- 
 ments and improvements and the credit necessary for exten- 
 sions. Besides a surplus must be maintained to take care of 
 
 
 
 
 
 WHERE TRAIN AND LAKE FREIGHTER MEET AND EXCHANGE 
 FREIGHT MECHANICALLY 
 
 lean years as sure to come as night follows day. As a con- 
 crete illustration of what such a formula should provide, the 
 following distribution of the gross earnings of the railways 
 in the fairly successful year 1910 may be accepted as a rea- 
 
 sonable standard: Demeencat 
 
 Amount Revenues 
 Maintenance Sot Ways seoree:. ce $ 360,999,868 13.33 
 Maintenance of Equipment......... 407,700,524 15.06 
 EEC EEN DEIISCS ht eace eed ore ecu 55,176,869 2.04 
 Transportation Expenses’ .2...3.0.% 905,404,200 33.44 
 fpetrecaleeteeCliSeS. ce aie. ct haere van 65,177,264 2.40 
 ee Cee oe cece ee ee alee i a) Gos 103,435,985 3.82 
 otal xpenses) it ea 1,897,894,710 70.09 
 Int. on Funded and Unfunded Debt 359,313,649 13 2/ 
 Rent rot eased. ROA cs sc cess oh 123,976,236 4.58 
 
 Dividends ‘and Surplus 2.5 2252.5 °° 326,614,395 12.06 
 Total Return on Investment, etc. 809,904,280 29.91 
 Total Operating Revenue...... 2.707,798,990 100.00 
 
328 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Whatever ‘the operating revenues may be, some approach 
 to the percentages of this table for the railways as a system 
 is necessary to their maintenance to the standard of service 
 required for the United States. War wages and rates will 
 necessitate an adjustment of these percentages on a basis of 
 
 
 
 
 
 ASHTABULA, O.,.DOCK CO. CAR DUMPER 
 
 75 per cent for expenses and taxes and 25 per cent for return 
 on investment and surplus. Under the item “Dividends and 
 surplus” has been included the appropriations for betterments, 
 deficits of weak companies, reserves and surplus. But the 
 attention of the student is particularly directed to the fact 
 that the total of $809,904,280 denominated “return on invest- 
 ment” amounted to over 5.90 per cent on the net railway 
 capital cost of $13,710,570,171 in 1910. In 1911 the Interstate 
 Commerce Commission reported the investment in road and 
 equipment, without any deduction for accrued depreciation, 
 as $15,612,378,845. “With adequate expenditures for mainte- 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 329 | 
 
 nance, there should be no such charge as “accrued deprecia- 
 tion.” A properly maintained railway provides for better 
 and better public service day by day. The thrifty maxim of 
 American railway management sets aside a dollar for better- 
 ments to every dollar for dividends and the railway regula- 
 tion that does not make due allowance for improvements out 
 of rates does not fulfill its duty to the American people. 
 
 Effects of Restrictive Legislation 
 
 By 1910 the combined effects of advancing costs of mate- 
 rial and labor and the restrictive policy of regulation, state 
 and national, had reduced the railways to the state of Caesar 
 when he cried: “Help, Cassius, or I sink.’ No study of Amer- 
 ican railways at the opening of the ninth decade in their his- 
 tory is worth while that does not include a brief review of the 
 conditions confronting them. Between 1900 and 1910 every- 
 thing entering into their operation had advanced in price, 
 whereas the one thing they had to sell—transportation—was 
 nixed, and with a slight advance in 1901 was practically sta- 
 tionary. During this period the range of receipts per ton and 
 passenger mile was as follows: | 
 
 Per Freight Per Passenger 
 
 Ton Mile Mile 
 Year (mills) (cents) 
 1900 pas ee 2.003 
 1901 . 7.50 21S 
 1902 Tiai- 1.986 
 1903 7.63 . 2.006 
 1904 7.80 2.006 
 1905 7.66 1.962 
 1906 7.48 2.003 
 1907 7.59 2.014 
 1908 7.54 1.937 
 1909 7.63 1.928 
 1910 1153 1.938 
 
 It will be perceived that during the decade 1900 to 1910 
 American shippers and ‘travelers enjoyed the full advantage 
 of stable rates and fares—a condition essential to sound in- 
 dustrial development and social intercourse. Behind the 
 slight advance in freight receipts shown for 1901 lies the fact 
 that the average for that year marked the recovery from the 
 
 % 
 
330 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 low record of 1899 incident to the attempt of the railways to 
 advance rates without consulting the Commission. 
 
 Turning to the other side of the ledger, which shows the 
 steady increase in everything entering into the production of 
 railway service, the thoughtful student will have no need of 
 spectacles to appreciate what confronted railway management 
 in 1910. The chief items of cost in railway operation are 
 labor, fuel, metal and lumber. The following statement gives 
 
 
 
 Lal 64 6> 6a ar : 60" 7° 7e° 77° 
 
 as* ‘a 
 
 MAP SHOWING CENTER OF "MANUFACTURES, 7] <* 
 
 * AY EACH DECADE —+-— 
 1850 To 1910 rae 
 
 | OLA 
 | AND THE CENTER OF POPULATION «=v "| 
 
 
 
 FROM 1790 TO 1910 B Uterengad 
 3X CENTER OF POPULATION Be 
 jw] @ CENTER OF MANUFACTURES 
 hae ioe Scale of nules 
 eee mene ome alee A 
 1890 
 “~~ | 1900 © | 
 | ‘ 
 .o| Harel o* 
 1910 \3 | 
 Hes, » 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 : ei 
 i { f / 
 tote fietd» % bya NBD 5 ‘ 
 BY eres NASHINGTOS Ahnapete 
 939 Nogtssok yh : oH 
 —~ ! Cy ¢ 
 
 
 
 
 
 CENTER OF POPULATION 1790 TO 1910- 
 
 the prices for the commodities relatively to a basis of 100 for 
 the decade 1900 to 1910: 
 
 Year Labor Fuel Metals Lumber All Commodities 
 1157 110.5 
 
 1900 102.4 120.9 120.5 
 
 1901 101.2 119.5 111.9 116.7 108.5 
 1902 102.4 134.3 Lif2 118.8 1129 
 1903 105.9 149.3 117.6 121.4 113.6 
 1904 109.0 132.6 109.6 122.7 113.0 
 1905 109.6 128.8 122.5 Wee 115.9 
 1906 109.6 131.9 135.2 140.1 122.5 
 1907 115.0 135.0 143.4 146.9 129.5 
 1908 118.0 130.8 125.4 133.1 122.8 
 1909 118.9 129.3 124.8 138.4 126.5 
 1910 120.3 125.4 128.5 153.2 131.6 
 
 These increases, which any other industry would have 
 added to the selling price of its product, increased the operat- 
 ing expenses of the railways in 1910 by approximately 
 $250,000,000. It was this condition that moved the railways 
 to apply to the Commission for the increase in rates in 1910 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 331 
 
 which was denied in February, 1911, in two decisions in what 
 are known as the Eastern and Western rate cases. These 
 decisions were predicated on a misapprehension as to railway 
 profits in which dividends were counted twice and the opti- 
 mistic anticipation of heavier trafic reterred to apove. The 
 increased’ traffic did not materialize, but the advance in ex- 
 penses did, so that 1911 and 1912 showed a marked shrinkage 
 in net income. 
 
 Building of Monumental Stations 
 
 In marked contrast with the declining rate of railway con- 
 struction in the early days of this decade was the demand 
 
 
 
 THE NEW PASSENGER STATION AT WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 SHOWING THE ABANDONED STATIONS 
 
 for more extensive and expensive terminal facilities. Not 
 only had traffic outgrown the provisions for its convenient and 
 economical handling, but there was an insistent demand for 
 larger and more pretentious passenger depots. Railway man- 
 agers had quite generally resisted this pressure on the ground 
 that it involved heavy outlay for sentimental and non-pro- 
 ductive improvements. But the public would not be denied 
 and the close of the preceding decade saw the railways em- 
 barked on terminal programs that yielded such results as the 
 Union Station at Washington, the Pennsylvania and the 
 Grand Central stations at New York, the Chicago & North 
 Western Station at Chicago and the Union Terminal Station 
 at Kansas City. Only the war put a temporary stop to the 
 tearing down of ancient landmarks to make way for modern 
 monumental terminals. Moreover, many of the landmarks 
 
J32 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 UNION PASSENGER STATION, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 —as photographed by Schutz 
 were not so ancient and none of them had exceeded the Bibli- — 
 cal limit on the age of man, even by reason of strength. 
 
 There were noteworthy passenger stations in the United 
 States before 1910—for instance, the South Station at Boston, 
 
 
 
 SLLISNHIVSSYN 
 
 TRACK LAYOUT, UNION STATION, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 Note “Tunnel”? Under Station for Southern Connections 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 333 
 
 
 
 
 
 the Union Station in Baltimore, the Lackawanna Station at 
 Scranton, the La Salle Street Station at Chicago, the Union 
 Station at St. Louis and others of lesser dimensions, but the 
 big five above mentioned, thrown open within a period of five 
 years, marked an important advance in railway terminal archi- 
 
 
 
 TRAIN CONCOURSE, WASHINGTON STATION 
 —Schutz Photo. 
 
 tecture truly noteworthy. In the adaptation of modern steel 
 construction to the track facilities-of great passengef termi- 
 nals they worthily represent the progressive spirit of Ameri- 
 can railway management. They are beautiful examples of the 
 builder’s art and engineering skill without any sacrifice of the 
 public use which is their first excuse for being. 
 
 Taken in the order of their completion, the Union Station 
 at Washington replaces the several terminals that for many 
 years were unworthy of our national capital. 
 
 _ As early as 1901 Congress passed an Act providing for the 
 building of a union terminal passenger station to take the 
 
334 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 place of the obsolescent ticket offices and train sheds that had 
 served to welcome and speed visitors to the national capital 
 for over sixty years. This Act as amended in 1903 provided 
 for the connection and concentration of the existing lines en- 
 tering Washington from the several points of the compass into 
 a common terminal a few blocks north of the Capitol. 
 
 
 
 
 
 MAIN CONCOURSE, WASHINGTON STATION 
 —Schutz Photo. 
 
 : The Washington Terminal Station 
 
 The work of constructing and operating this consolidation 
 was entrusted to The Washington Terminal Company, in 
 ‘agreement with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Phila- 
 delphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad, a subsidiary of the 
 Pennsylvania. It was to be for the joint use of the named 
 companies, the Southern Railway, the Washington Southern 
 Railway, the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway and such other 
 companies as might be admitted to the use of its facilities and 
 connections. The revenues and expenses of the terminal were 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 335 
 
 to be divided between and charged separately against the ten- 
 ant companies in proportion to the use each made of the 
 properties, respectively, as agreed upon. 
 
 Under the Act of Congress all other existing stations were 
 required to be abandoned, together with the tracks approach- 
 ing thereto. Trains approaching the station from the south 
 
 
 
 
 
 TRAIN SHEDS, WASHINGTON STATION oo bho, 
 came in through a tunnel passing under the station building. 
 
 The Station proper is a fine specimen of railway architec- 
 ture and has the advantage of fronting on a semi-circular open 
 space across Massachusetts Avenue. Noble as are its propor- 
 tions, they have already been taxed when the people of the 
 Union descend upon their capital for some special event. 
 
 It is the only Passenger Station in Washington and affords 
 direct connection between lines from all sections of the Union. 
 
 The Washington Terminal was completed and opened on 
 November 17, 1907; and therefore should be credited to the 
 preceding decade. 
 
336 HISTORY OF AMERICAN -RAILIVAY S 
 
 
 
 The Pennsylvania’s New York Station 
 
 The magnitude of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s contribu- 
 tion to the monumental edifices of the world is not visible 
 to the spectator who merely admires its classic proportions 
 occupying the Manhattan blocks bounded by 3lst and 33d 
 streets and 7th and 8th avenues. It begins far out on the 
 New Jersey shore at Harrison, where steam power is ex- 
 
 
 
 THE PENNSYLVANIA PASSENGER STATION NEW YORK 
 Fronting on 7th Avenue 
 
 changed for electrical, crosses the Hackensack Meadows, 
 passes under the Hudson at a depth of 97 feet, emerges into 
 the sunlight at 10th Avenue, enters the Main building and 
 then reverses the proceeding under the East River to re- 
 appear on the Long Island shore. But the description of 
 the enginering features of this vast undertaking would re- 
 quire a separate chapter to do them justice, and few of the 
 thousands who annually enter New York through the Bergen 
 Portal. on the Jersey side realize the vision, skill, unerring 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 Jor, 
 
 
 
 calculations and millions expended to secure such an entrance 
 into the heart of Manhattan Island. The mere acquisition 
 of the territory, two blocks wide, from 7th to 10th Avenue, 
 required years of negotiation before the work of demolishing 
 the buildings crowded upon it prepared the way for dynamit- 
 ing the rocky chasm for the laying of the tracks and the 
 foundation for the station proper. 
 
 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA’S NEW YORK PASSENGER STATION TRAIN. CONCOURSE 
 
 The reduced illustration of the station will give a better 
 idea of its vast proportions and the beauty of its Doric 
 facade on /th Avenue than many pages of letterpress. It 
 has a frontage of 430 feet on the avenue and a depth of 784 
 Onynne streets, . lhe average height, above. the. strect..1s- 69 
 feet, with a maximum of 153. feet to the top of the rqof over 
 the main waiting room. 
 
 All told, the station and yards have an area of 28 acres, 
 in which are 16 miles of track. The storage tracks will hold 
 386 cars. The length of the 21 standing tracks in the station 
 is 21,500 feet. Between these tracks are eleven passenger 
 platforms, with 25 baggage and express elevators. The high- 
 est point of these tracks is nine feet below the sea level. The 
 
a 
 
 338 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 =» 
 
 maximum capacity of all the tunnels running into the station 
 has been placed at 144 trains per hour. 
 
 The northern side of the station, running along 33d 
 Street, has been assigned to the Long Island Railroad with 
 separate entrances, exits, ticket offices, etc., to accommodate 
 its large suburban traffic, which already taxes its capacity. | 
 
 
 
 MAIN WAITING ROOM - 
 Pennsylvania’s New York Passenger Station 
 
 This station was opened for traffic in September, 1910, 
 nine years having elapsed from the grant of the franchise 
 by the city of New York. 
 
 Chicago Station of the Chicago & North Western 
 
 June 4, 1911, saw the Chicago & North Western Railway 
 Company enter into possession of the first truly modern pas- 
 senger station in Chicago. Its location and construction in- 
 volved the transfer of the road’s passenger terminal from 
 the north side of the Chicago River to the west side of the 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 339 
 
 south branch of the same unique stream that flows inland 
 from its mouth and finally mingles with the Mississippi a 
 few miles above Alton by way of the Illinois River. The 
 first station of the Chicago & North Western, or, more strictly 
 speaking, of the Galena & Chicago Union, with which it was 
 consolidated, as told elsewhere, was on the west side of the 
 
 
 
 CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN PASSENGEK STATION, CHICAGO 
 
 north branch. The second station, built in 1852, involved a 
 move across this branch to the north side of the river proper 
 
 at Wells and Kinzie streets. The river was first spanned by 
 a swing bridge which in 1908 was superseded by a one-leaf 
 double track jack knife that lifted its head 200 feet in the air 
 to let small boats by. It was the congestion of traffic by 
 this obstruction that finally determined the location of the 
 new station. 
 
 This choice involved the acquisition of right of way for 
 six blocks through an industrial section of Chicago and it is 
 not surprising to read that this feature of the undertaking 
 alone entailed an expenditure of $11,560,000, or almost half 
 the cost of the entire work. The station building and train 
 shed cost $6,380,000. The total cost, including elevated ap- 
 proaches, was approximately $23,750,000. 
 
 The station building proper faces 320 feet on Madison 
 Street by 218 feet on Canal and Clinton streets. Its walls 
 
340 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 are of gray Maine granite, as are the six 40-foot columns 
 that mark the fine Doric portico on Madison Street. While 
 the general outlines of this worthy addition to the world’s 
 great passenger stations can be studied in the accompany- 
 ing illustrations, its details, as they embrace nearly every- 
 thing that the public demands and the railway has to furnish 
 in a metropolitan terminal, will be of interest. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CROSS SECTIONAL VIEW, CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN STATION 
 
 In the main lobby of the station, entrance to which may be 
 vy the portico just mentioned or through spacious doors on 
 Canal and Clinton streets, are located the ticket offices 
 information bureau, telephone booths, travelers’ supply and 
 drug stores, telegraph offices, lunch room, cab and motor car 
 offices, lost and found department and the parcel checking 
 room. North of the lobby extends a most complete depart- 
 iment {for=checking “in” and ““Out™ baeeage.-« Undere ine 
 train shed farther north is the Canal Street Station of the 
 United. States Post Office, to which mail is carried direct from 
 trains by means of an endless chain belt between the tracks. 
 The elevated tracks form a covered way over Washington and 
 Randolph streets. 
 
 The main waiting room, which is reached from the lobby 
 by numerous elevators and stairways, in addition to the grand 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 341 
 
 
 
 central staircase, is architecturally described as embodying 
 the idea of a Roman atrium; that is to say, it is a spacious 
 interior court -lighted mainly from above, and opens into 
 other rooms on one wr more levels. Its sides are finished in 
 Tennessee marble of a delicate light pink shade, and the col- 
 umns which support the high vaulted roof are of green Cipo- 
 
 
 
 Ee TRACKS ENTERING TRAIN SHED 
 Chicago & Northwestern Passenger Station Chicago 
 
 lino limestone. The ceiling is of self-supporting tile con- 
 struction, with ribs of terra cotta, ornamented with symbolic 
 signs. The whole tone and effect of this atrium are restful. 
 On the west end of this court are found the main dining 
 room and a separate waiting room for ladies. At its east 
 end are the barber shop, news stand, smoking room and: pub- 
 lic and pay toilets. 
 
 Opening out of the main waiting room, through numerous 
 doors, lies the train shed concourse across the entire width 
 of the building, and beyond, still to the north, are the train 
 platforms for sixteen tracks. The concourse is separated from 
 
342 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 the train shed by a glass partition and can be heated in win- 
 ter to a temperature of 60 degrees. 
 
 In minute attention to the comfort and-convenience of 
 travelers this station resembles a great modern hotel, except 
 in the absence of sleeping apartments. Noteworthy are the 
 provisions made for the shelter and handling of immigrants. 
 
 
 
 
 
 TRAIN SHEDS 
 Chicago & Northwestern Passenger Station Chicago 
 
 The accommodations specially set apart for them would be 
 considered fully satisfactory by the average cosmopolitan 
 tourist. The station, which appeared enormously roomy 
 when opened, already shows signs of congestion at certain 
 hours and on special occasions. It handles thousands of sub- 
 urbanites and through passengers daily and illustrates how 
 almost impossible it is to anticipate the growth of American 
 passenger traffic. 
 
 The North Western Station, with its terminal yards, 
 covers eight acres and includes nearly three miles of track. 
 Six years were required in its construction, including the 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 343 
 
 
 
 acquisition of the right of way. Some idea of the value of 
 the property on which this terminal has been erected may be 
 gained from the fact that it had to pay $50,000 for a lot 80 
 by 80 feet, or the equivalent of $4,224,000 per mile, and 
 $365,000 for an irregular plot containing 28,000 Square feet 
 at the rate of $6,864,000 per mile of right of way 100 feet 
 
 
 
 
 
 MAIN WAITING ROOM, CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN PASSENGER 
 STATION, CHICAGO. 
 
 wide. Since the war property in the vicinity of this terminal 
 has more than doubled in value. 
 
 Grand Central Station, New York 
 
 The history of providing a passenger station on Manhat- 
 tan Island for the New York Central Lines and the New 
 Haven Lines has been one of tearing down, moving uptown 
 and building greater, only to find in a few years that they 
 were not great enough. It is hard for the present generation 
 
344 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 345 
 
 
 
 to realize that less than a century ago the first passenger 
 terminal of these lines was on Chambers Street facing on 
 City Hall Square. Its first move was up Fourth Avenue 
 to 26th Street, the present site of Madison Square Garden. 
 This served the metropolis from 1857 to 1871, when the Grand 
 Central Station on 42d Street, facing down 4th Avenue, was 
 
 
 
 GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, NEW YORK 
 From the Street Level, 42d and Vanderbilt Ave. 
 
 built, only to be remodeled and greatly enlarged in 1900. It 
 was of this station when originally finished, in 1871, that 
 Commodore Vanderbilt said that it would accommodate all 
 the railroad business coming into New York for fifty years 
 to come and that it would be his best monument. Scarcely 
 was the proud boast out of his lips before it was necessary 
 to build an addition to accommodate the rush of travel, and 
 before forty years were up his monument and its extensions 
 ‘had been torn down to make way for the present colossal 
 
346 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 monument—not to one man, but to the irrepressible genius 
 of American railway progress. 
 
 The accompanying illustrations must serve for any at- 
 tempt to describe the completeness of this solution of the 
 modern terminal requirements of a vast railway system. 
 Nothing in the design and execution of this wonderful enter- 
 
 
 
 
 
 CROSS SECTION GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL NEW YORK 
 Showing Subway Site. The Bridge is over 42d Street 
 
 prise exceeded in difficulty, from every point of view, the 
 problem of operating without interruption the through and | 
 suburban trains of two great railroads: while tearing away 
 their old tracks and foundations and reconstructing far be- 
 neath them the foundations for the new and greater trackage. — 
 It was a marvel of engineering genius that added another 
 amazing achievement to the record of American railway 
 building. 
 
 To the reader who delights in the tabulation of concrete 
 information, the following figures will be of interest: 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 347 
 
 
 
 ever e AOS OME LOLIInAl seit ack oi, ea ea 23 acres 
 ete alezeOrenews verininaltisrss 2. os cioe . ES at 
 epee OteCK PCs wel sinelevelonia tik. at, you. so. ae 464 “ 
 Forty-two tracks, express level, length............... 19.5 miles 
 Piatrorms;-expresssievel slenothe,/a. As BOL: hee Seay 
 Pee SGT OTE VEL trae emer hemi ei als os dns BP ose 52.8 acres 
 Twenty-five tracks, suburban level, length........... 14.1 miles 
 Fiatiormiseesupurban levels -lenoth 45, 6 vec enc u ees 2.5 
 DEERE PET 35 ¢ OURS Be Ge a ee ph Cag 
 Bearer a roms srenetiws cn Ce ee te ee Sie eos 
 yeti acpi Ol excavation, mamily in roék. fi... . 56 feet 
 Bute mi mavove: street level osu. cas ee kaw nee sees ToGo 
 Preteteuiiestation, streét Jevel oo. so sna cccnan ee Offi 
 Wie eitiemrertation lar strect.lévelcsc.. 5 poets eke aes o10. 
 Peet er cow estrechuleVvel pcp sit ck scx d eke eee eee. (Aye 
 Wieter a peiyuna Streets Level, 0.2. ca on oF S Ceo cee oes ee 455-2 
 Deiinroclovmastiect levels. 25 sss. 5140s nce eee 455% 
 Potatoweient. of. steel sworks 230. o0 cc Bs gh bay na 118,597 tons 
 eameci ymormords LET Hilal rvccr. . Coes ues ea Faces lees 366 cars 
 peeve miler sLOritiNal ceva acts so cess Ge See a bes 0535" * 
 Creer rOurpolnd «CONCOUTSE 2% fies ee cette os 15,000 persons 
 eae fete MUO CONCOUPSE 2). oe. k ne ce nares le S000 2a 
 Sasa Tee VAT 1. FOOUIS eo rec led! ncbads cae oe bp tee oe SOOM ieee 
 Posssple vrais Ol per HOUL:... Socios. css ae eseeeees 200 
 
 Average traffic old. terminal, per day..............-60,000 passengers 
 
 
 
 GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL, NEW YORK 
 
 Sie seen from a neighboring skyscraper. Hotel Belmont, left; Hotel Commodore, 
 right; Park Avenue in distant vista 
 
348 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 Traffic capacity new terminal, per hour............./0,000 passengers 
 Annualstrafiiczold=términaly leeks «ieee ae on 21 UU 000s paseen cere 
 Possible annual traffic new terminal............100,000,000 passengers 
 
 The new terminal has five levels where the old had but 
 one. There is the gallery or top level on the 42d Street grade; 
 the through train concourse; the suburban train concourse; 
 the suburban track level, and the subway level for handling 
 
 baggage. 
 
 
 
 MAIN CONCOURSE AND TICKET OFFICE 
 Grand Central Terminal, New York 
 
 The most prominent interior feature of the station is the 
 main concourse, where all facilities are provided for making 
 travel arrangements, including ticket offices, information bu- 
 reau, baggage and parcel rooms, telegraph offices, telephone 
 booths, etc. The concourse is 375 feet long, 120 feet wide 
 and 125 feet high to an arched roof, with farther extensions 
 in the gallery at either end. It is a room finished in’ Botti- 
 cino marble and buff tinted stone, three immense arched win- 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 349 
 
 
 
 dows on Depew Place and three on Vanderbilt Avenue oppo- 
 site Forty-third Street forming the ends. The arched ceiling 
 is painted turquoise blue, and presents a view of the section 
 of the heavens as seen from October to March, or from Aqua- 
 rius to Cancer. 
 
 It would be beyond the scope of this history to give any- 
 thing approaching an adequate description of these great ter- 
 
 
 
 
 
 LOWER LEVEL CONCOURSE 
 Grand Central Passenger Station, New York 
 
 minals. Each is worthy of a separate detailed study. What 
 is set down here must suffice to give the reader an inkling of 
 the extensive and costly terminal stations demanded by the 
 American public and justified by its growing patronage of 
 the railways. The Washington Station is the only one that 
 appears to be in advance of normal traffic, but there are occa- 
 sions when it seems too small for the capital crowds that surge 
 through its wide-swinging gates. 
 
 Kansas City Union Station 
 
 It is a far cry from the monumental passenger stations of 
 the New York Central and the Pennsylvania in New York to 
 
350 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 the suburbs of Kansas City, where twelve great railway sys- 
 tems have united in a terminal company to construct a station 
 that will accommodate all the passenger business converging 
 there from every point of the compass. It was in the suburbs 
 of the city when it was conceived to obviate the inconven- 
 iences of the old stations. It is about two miles southeast 
 of the old Union Station and three blocks away from the 
 
 
 
 
 
 KANSAS CITY UNION STATION 
 Opened November 1, 1914 
 
 Grand Avenue stations. Like all such improvements, it has 
 had the effect of a magnet to attract civic traffic to a new 
 center. 
 
 The building of this Union Station was undertaken by 
 the following systems: the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, 
 the Chicago & Alton, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the 
 Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Chicago, Milwaukee & 
 St. Paul, «the:;Missourl, | Kansas\ tc5> Texas, the @Mie= 
 souri~ Pacific, ithe “St.. \Louts-San |: Francisco; the, sUnion 
 Pacific, the Wabash, the Chicago Great Western, and 
 the Kansas City Southern—none of which had _ been 
 heard of when the Pennsylvania, the New York Central and 
 the Baltimore & Ohio were already the wonders of the East- 
 ern railway world. The list embraced all the roads entering 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 351 
 
 
 
 Kansas City in 1906, when the enterprise was first broached, 
 and the original project included a new belt line around the 
 north end of the city and an entirely new site. That site 
 occupies -an area of 18 acres covered by the main building 
 and train sheds—an area exceeeded only by the Pennsylvania 
 and the New York Central stations in New York. 
 
 
 
 PORTION OF WEST BOTTOM FREIGHT YARDS, KANSAS CITY 
 Live Stock Exchange in Distance 
 
 Although built by a terminal company, this station is of 
 the pull through type—the tracks running straight through 
 under the waiting room. It is constructed in the form of an 
 inverted T, the main body of the station, being sideways to 
 the tracks over which the stem extends. The station proper 
 is 510 feet long by 150 feet wide, and rises to a height of 126 
 feet above the plaza. 
 
 On the west of the main buildings are the express buildings 
 extending in a continuous stretch for more than 1,000 feet. 
 The waiting room wing, which extends over the tracks, 
 is 410 feet long and 165 feet wide. On either side of the main 
 
ye HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 waiting room are passages, called midways, in which are the 
 stairways and elevators leading to the train platforms below. 
 The train shed is 1,370 feet long and covers eight platforms 
 serving 18 tracks, with provision for additional. 
 
 The style of architecture is modern French and the ex- 
 terior is finished in Bedford stone with granite base. The 
 interior style is Louis XVI, with lobby walls of yellow Ka- 
 sota. The floor is pink Kasota and gray Tennessee, with a 
 black border. 
 
 Nothing known to modern conveniences of a passenger 
 station seems to have been omitted in making provision for 
 the comfort-of the traveler... [he general character of layout 
 and construction can be best understood from the accompany- 
 ing illustrations. 
 
 Passing of Famous Railway Builders 
 
 Concurrent with the opening of these modern railway 
 edifices, the transportation world was to lose the services of 
 four leaders who for a generation had carried forward rail- 
 way development with the courage and energy associated 
 with the work of pioneers. Within fourteen years, 1906-1920, 
 Alexander J. Cassatt, Edward H. Harriman, James J. Hill and 
 ‘Edward Payson Ripley passed into the history of American 
 railways in which for the better part of half a century they 
 had played a most commanding part. 
 
 Mr. Cassatt, who died in 1906, did not live to see the com- 
 pletion of the great work which was the crowning demon- 
 stration of his exceptional sagacity and capacity as a railway 
 engineer and executive. The double track tunnel under the. 
 Hudson and the magnificent terminal in New York and the 
 four tunnels under the East River and the great steel arch 
 bridge over “Hell Gate,” connecting with the New Haven 
 System, are the monumental memorials to his genius and fore- 
 sight. The statue in the Pennsylvania Station fittingly com- 
 memorates his services to that company and the transporta- 
 tion industry. It bears the inscription, “Alexander Johnston 
 Cassatt, President, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 1899- 
 1906, whose foresight, courage and ability achieved the ex- 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 
 
 253 
 
 
 
 
 
 tension of the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad System in New 
 York City.” Mr. Cassatt had 
 enteream the service 4of #the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad as a 
 rodman in 1861 and so had 
 spent forty-five years, the bet- 
 ter part of his life, with it. 
 Many would not classify 
 Edward HH: Harriman «as a 
 distinctively railroad person- 
 eee aetadile sind <yet iat.the 
 time of his death, in 1909, he 
 was the foremost and most 
 forceful figure in the trans- 
 portation world. In a few 
 years of his devotion to the 
 business he had reconstructed 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ay J CASSAT YT, “1840-1906 
 Former President of Pennsylvania R. R. 
 
 the Union Pacific, reorganized and consolidated the Southern 
 Pacific and helped place the Illinois Central in the van of rail- 
 
 way progress. 
 
 = 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 EDWARD H. HARRIMAN, 1848-1909 
 Railway Financier & Reorganizer 
 
 
 
 His one failure, which has been attended 
 
 with severe criticism, left the 
 Chicago & Alton an improved 
 and rehabilitated but impov- 
 erished common carrier in the 
 fermtdryriteserves: a since: the 
 Chicago & Alton was reor- 
 ganized, in 1899, its carrying 
 capacity has increased from 
 2,244,227 passengers annually 
 to 3,594,991 in 1920 and from 
 3,251,585 “tons sof freight. to 
 12,070,934 for the respective- 
 years. Wherever Mr. Harri- 
 man touched a piece of rail- 
 way property the result was 
 improved and more profitable 
 servicerto the “public at -re- 
 
354 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 duced rates, even though, as in the case of the Alton, the 
 road failed to realize net results. 
 James Jerome Hill survived his more youthful com- 
 petitor nearly seven years and 
 when he died, in 1916, the 
 whole Northwest, from Lake 
 Michigan to Puget Sound, 
 paid tribute to his energy and 
 sagacity by crowning him 
 “The Empire Builder.” The 
 history of the prospecting, 
 financing, construction and 
 management of the Great 
 Northern and the Northern 
 Pacific systems is the story of 
 Mr. Hill’s connection with 
 these two transcontinental 
 roads. He also was the fore- 
 sighted projector of their 
 practical consolidation with 
 the Chicago, Burlington & 
 Quincy. Beyond extending 
 JAMES J. HILL, 1838-1916 his rails into the vast regions 
 Late President Great Northern Railway of the West, Mr. Hill was the 
 active promoter of the settlement of those regions with the 
 farmers who were to provide the traffic for his roads, and then 
 he saw to it that the settlers should have the advantage of 
 seed and stock suitable for planting and breeding in their 
 territory. The farmers lost a far-sighted counselor when Mr. 
 Hill passed over the divide. 7 
 Edward Payson Ripley, who came into the presidency of 
 the Santa Fe when it was reorganized, in 1895, was the last 
 survivor of this “big four’ that demonstrated in separate 
 fields the four different types of leaders required in the de- 
 velopment of railways to meet the varied requirements 
 on a continent as large as ours. “Mr. Ripley was a man 
 of comprehensive views, who at the same time had time 
 and sympathy to spare on the human side of railway man- 
 
 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 359 
 
 
 
 agement So he came to be affectionately known from Chi- 
 cago to oan Diego as the “Old Man” of the Santa Fe. He 
 established a sort of paternal relation with the thousands that 
 worked under him and 
 trusted to his judgment and 
 sense of justice for a square 
 deal all along the “Santa Fe,” 
 which he knew from end to 
 end. 7 
 
 Preceding, contemporan- 
 eous with and surviving these 
 leading spirits in the land of 
 railway achievement were 
 and are Chauncey M. Depew 
 and Marvin Hughitt, chair- 
 man of the Board of Directors 
 of the New York Central and 
 the Chicago & North Western 
 IOentecmetespectively, “Cheir 
 knees have been under the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ; ’ E, P. RIPLEY, 1845-1920 
 directors tables at the same Late President Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
 time of these and other lead- Fe Railway 
 
 ing roads for more than a generation. What Mr. Depew does 
 not know about the legal and financial side of the railway busi- 
 ness or Mr. Hughitt does not know of its constructive and 
 operating side is scarcely worth trying to find out. For fully 
 two generations they have watched the railways grow and 
 participated in their development. Their joint reminiscences 
 would make a priceless volume. If Mr. Depew could have 
 found time to write this history, including his experiences 
 with politics and politicians, the boys of America would have 
 been entertained by a story teller and narrator equal to “Mark 
 Twain,’ and if Mr. Hughitt had written it, it would have been 
 the most authoritative work on practical railway management 
 available to this generation of railway students. 
 
 Both Mr. Depew and Mr. Hughitt are natives of New 
 York State, having been born in the first decade of railway 
 development in America described in the second chapter of 
 
356 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILVAAYS 
 
 
 
 this history. Mr. Depew first saw light at Peekskill on the 
 Hudson April 23, 1834. So he has passed his ninetieth birth 
 anniversary as this is written. Three years later Mr. Hughitt 
 was born at Genoa, on August 
 Sinisa At “that @stiune 
 Peekskill’s chief communica- 
 tion with New York was by 
 boat and it was a long walk 
 or ride from Genoa) to™ the 
 Erie» Canal long aivetee.i 
 Hughitt was a sturdy urchin. 
 
 Although Mr. Depew had 
 the better of Mr. Hughitt in 
 transportation facilities in his 
 early years, the latter was the 
 first to enter railway. service, 
 which he did as a telegraph 
 operator in his seventeenth 
 year. That was two years 
 before Mr. Depew graduated 
 from Yale. Mr. Hughitt took 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW 
 When: President of the NewsYork Gene  Hloraces Grecleysaadyicos aa 
 
 Pe iver RR, in 1882) 
 PERS ata ete Pees 8 came west in 1854, while Mr. 
 
 Depew studied law, was admitted to the bar and in 1866 en- 
 tered railway service as attorney for the New York & Harlem 
 road, the predecessor of the New York Central on Manhattan 
 Island, with which he has been identified ever since. 
 
 It would be a fascinating task to follow step by step the 
 carreer of these two men, so nearly coincident with the prog- 
 ress of American railways from the laying of their first rails. 
 The mere dates given above must suffice, but much of their 
 lives and adventures can be pieced out from the preceding his- 
 tory since 1856. They lived through all the transformation of 
 the period, its struggles, panics and wonderful achievements. 
 Mr. Hughitt has read the first eight chapters of this book and 
 pronounced it worth while. He made a few minor corrections 
 in the history of the early consolidation of the New York 
 Central lines and to one paragraph he penned the remark: 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 357 
 
 
 
 “This is pure fiction, and you are writing history.” The para- 
 graph was modified and the reader robbed of an interesting 
 espisode, which not knowing he will not miss. 
 
 eMeOr portraits pO 1 Lt: 
 Hughitt appear elsewhere in 
 this history. 
 
 In the Shadow of the Great 
 War 
 
 For ten years’ prior to 
 gAmerica’s- entry into the 
 Great War the railways had 
 been slowly recovering from 
 the -eftects of the panic of 
 1907. When the Germans tn- 
 vaded Belgium, after tearing 
 up the “Scrap of Paper” that 
 
 _ guaranteed its neutrality, 
 American railways had barely 
 got on their feet after the two 
 lean: years 1911 and°1912; In 
 
 
 
 CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW 1834— _ 1913, for the first time in their 
 Chairman Board, New York Central Rail- y . 
 road—From. his latest photograph. history, the operating revenues, 
 
 —Courtesy of Mr. Depew : ; 
 aided by a 5 per cent rate raise 
 
 in Central territory, had risen above the three billion mark ($3,- 
 125,136,000), only to drop back in 1914 and 1915 as the first 
 effects of the European convulsion and submarine depredations 
 staggered our export trade. During those two years less 
 than 180,000 freight cars and only 4,320 locomotives were 
 built, including the Canadian output—not enough to replace 
 the retirements on account of annual wear and tear. 
 
 In 1915 the Commission decided what is known as the 
 Western Rate Advance Case by granting the advances on 
 certain commodities and denying them on others. It was a 
 fifty-fifty decision, where Commissioners Daniels and Harlan, - 
 in powerful dissenting opinions, held that “on the record the 
 carriers have in general sustained the burden of proof cast 
 upon them by the statute and are of right entitled to increases 
 
358 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 in rates productive of revenue far in excess of what they are 
 accorded by this decision.” 
 
 There was no opportunity to judge what would have been 
 the effect of this half-loaf decision. Before it became opera- 
 tive we were in the midst of the most active industrial boom 
 that has ever been known in the United States. Where the 
 total domestic exports in 1914 were valued at $2,071,057,744, 
 
 
 
 TRIPLE, ARTICULATEDSDVPE w196 
 Heaviest and Most Powerful Baldwin Locomotive Built to Date 
 
 by 1916 they were valued at $5,422,642,505 and by 1917 at 
 $6,169,617,225. In 1920, when these exports reached their 
 peak in value, $8,080,480,821, they were divided, 48.33 per 
 cent natural products and 51.67 per cent manufactures and 
 miscellaneous. In 1919 the crude materials and foodstuffs 
 constituted 54.85 per cent of the value exported. 
 
 The share our railways played in this remarkable increase 
 in our export trade is more faithfully represented in the fol- 
 lowing figures of transportation by quantity, which was not 
 affected by the rise in prices: 
 
 Receipts per 
 
 Year Tons Carried Carried 1 mile. ton mile 
 (millions) (millions) (mills) 
 JOT Seto syiines oUt seer 1,802 276,830 32 
 1916) to2June 30.3.9.25% 2,186 342,494 7.14 
 I9i6etoa Dec Slee ee, 2,283 365,034 P24 ioe 
 ISTO Dec: Oller 2,362 394,040 Fis ioe 
 LHS tos Decssol eck fe 2402558) 408,011 8.49 
 1919 to Dec. 31.2... -.% 2121 375,884 9.73 
 I9203to =Deecooly eres 2,305 411,151 10.52 
 192 sto Der. Slee: 1,741 307,878 12:75 
 19272) to°Dee 312s... oe 1,908 341,018 11.85 
 
 iestineDac wali es 2.411 414 347 11.25 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 7 359 
 
 
 
 While this table runs a little ahead of our story and will 
 be referred to later, here it is used to demonstrate the ava- 
 lanche of traffic that was launched on the railways in 1916 
 and 1917 and how they rose to cope with it at the lowest aver- 
 age freight receipts per ton mile in their history or the history 
 of any other country. 
 
 And right here the student of this great period in the 
 world’s history should make note of the fact that while every 
 profiteer in this broadi land, whether on farm or in factory or 
 commercial life, was quick to seize upon the world’s needs to 
 double and treble his profits, the railways up to the end of 
 1917 were not permitted to share in the profligacy of war. 
 The succession of low ton mile receipts 1915 to 1917, inclu- 
 sive, absolves them from having taken advantage of the Euro- 
 pean cataclysm. This is not saying that they would not have 
 done so, only under the Commerce law they could not. 
 
 But during those fateful years everybody took advantage 
 of the railways. Between 1915 and 1917 the compensation 
 of their employes was advanced from $1,272,392,851 to 
 $1,781,027,002, or 40 per cent; individual pay from $825 per 
 year to $1,001, or over 20 per cent. In the meantime the price 
 of the same class of locomotives rose from $23,000 to $47,000; 
 the passenger coach from $8,000 to $9,500 and freight cars 
 from $800 to $1,200, and fuel from $1.13 to $2.07 per ton at 
 the mines. 
 
 The Adamson Law 
 
 Embedded in the increase of $269,298,076 in the compen- 
 sation of railway employes between 1916 and 1917 is the story 
 of the surrender of the national administration to the threats 
 of the four railway brotherhoods of a nation-wide strike. This 
 surrender was the prelude to the passage of the so-called 
 “Adamson law,” which eventually fastened the basic eight- 
 hour day with time and a half for over time upon the rail- 
 ways. The far-reaching effect of this law upon the economi- 
 cal operation of the railways justifies a brief review of the 
 controversy that resulted in its passage as a party measure. 
 
 In February, 1916, the railway trainmen—engineers, fire- 
 men, conductors and other trainmen—claiming to number 
 
360 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 400,000 men, where only 300,000 were employed, demanded 
 for the freight service an eight-hour day without reduction 
 of the existing wage for a ten-hour day and time and a half 
 for over time. Conferences with the managers began June 
 Ist. After two weeks of ineffectual parleys and after refus- 
 ing to accept arbitration, the brotherhods ordered a strike 
 vote and on August 8th announced that 90 per cent had. voted 
 confirming the authority to strike. The following day the 
 managers invoked the services of the United States Board 
 of Mediation and Conciliation, which suggested: arbitration. 
 This the men again refused. 
 
 At this point the managers made public their view that 
 the demands would increase the hourly pay 25 per cent and 
 the over-time rate 871% per cent, and that the aggregate in- 
 crease, if confined to the freight service alone, would be about 
 $100,000,000 a year, which could not be paid without increas- 
 ing passenger and freight rates. It was shown that the train- 
 men constituted only 18 per cent of the employes but re- 
 ceived 28 per cent of the total pay roll. 
 
 Confronted with what he thought would be a disastrous 
 strike, President Wilson intervened and on August 13th sum- 
 moned the disputants to a conference in Washington. He 
 proposed as a basis of agreement acceptance of the eight- 
 hour day, a postponement of the over-time demand until its 
 effects could be determined and the appointment of a com- 
 mission to investigate and report on results. The brother- 
 hoods, with some reservations, accepted the President’s. sug- 
 gestions, but the managers balked, declaring that the eight-. 
 hour day was not intended to reduce the hours of labor but 
 merely sought to increase wages. They made counter pro- 
 posals in the nature of a compromise for a commission to 
 determine the effect of an eight-hour day.. This was put : 
 forward on August 28, but the brotherhoods had already | 
 issued a strike order, effective September 4. When the Presi- - 
 dent requested its withdrawal, he was told that the committee 
 which alone could do so had dispersed to their posts to put it 
 into effect. Confronted by.an emergency, on August 29th the 
 President appeared before the houses of Congress. and in a. , 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 361 
 
 fervid message urged the passage of an act that would avert 
 what he regarded as an impending national calamity. He 
 recommended (1) the enlargement of the Interstate Com- 
 merce Commission; (2) an eight-hour day for all employes 
 engaged in the operation of trains; (3) the creation of a 
 commission to study the effects on the cost of operation; 
 (4) an expression of approval by Congress if the findings of 
 the Interstate Commerce Commission justified an increase of 
 freight rates; (5) a provision making all railway strikes un- 
 lawful until official investigation had been made, and (6) a 
 provision empowering the. President to draft railroad em- 
 ployes into service when required by military necessity. 
 
 On September 2, after a most perfunctory discussion, 
 Congress passed the Adamson Act, which embodied only 
 items 2 and 3 of the President’s suggestions. In the Senate 
 Mr. La Follette was the only Republican to vote for the bill, 
 which Mr. Mann, Republican leader in the House, opposed as 
 an enactment that for the purpose of compensation eight 
 hours shall be a day’s labor without any intention of shorten- 
 ing the hours of labor. 
 
 An analysis of the act shows that it does not limit the 
 working day of railroad employes engaged in the movement 
 of trains in interstate commerce to eight hours. Instead it 
 provides that their wages shall be based upon a day of eight 
 hours with pro rata over-time pay for whatever time in ex- 
 cess of eight hours they may work. It is a wage statute 
 rather than an eight-hour day law. 
 
 The act further provides that the employes should be paid 
 for over time not less than the pro rata for such standard 
 eight hours of work. The punitive time and a half for over 
 time was yet to come. 
 
 pet ealjooi 
 
 The year 1917 was pregnant with baffling conditions for 
 American railways. It opened with traffic ranging higher 
 than had ever been known before at that season of the year. 
 The revenues for January stood at $311,000,000—an increase 
 
362 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 of $43,000,000, or 16 per cent, over the corresponding month 
 in 1916, the previous high record for the month, and a clear 
 $100,000,000 or 47.4 per cent above the operating revenues 
 for January 1910, when a very high level had been registered. 
 
 The returns on revenue accurately reflect the volume of 
 traffic during this period because the range of freight receipts 
 per ton mile 1915 to 1917 was practically stationary at 7.22, 
 7.07 and 7.15 mills. 
 
 Beginning with January, railway right of way and rolling 
 stock was taxed to its utmost. There was a continual short- 
 age of freight cars—ranging from 62,247 in January up to 
 148,627 in May and receding to 33,776 in August, contrary to 
 the seasonal current of shortages. 
 
 It is important that the student should take note of the 
 trend of railway shortages at this time in their relation to the 
 entry of the United States into the World War, which dates 
 officially from the Declaration by Congress, signed by the 
 President on April 6, and the taking over of the railways by | 
 President Wilson on December 27, 1917. Beginning with. 
 April, the car shortages, by months, were as follows: 
 
 April 44.797 September 34,605 
 May 148,627 October 70,380 
 June 106,649 November 140,000 
 July 77,682 December 117,132 
 August 33,776 
 
 Immediately upon the Declaration of War, the railways 
 adopted a national policy to co-operate with the Government 
 in expediting its military operations. A Special Committee 
 on National Defense, with a membership of 28 of the leading 
 railway executives, was organized, which in turn appointed 
 an executive committee of five, known as the Railroads’ War 
 Board, which took active charge of the railway war organi- 
 zation, beginning in April, 1917. lt consisted of the follow- 
 ing members: 
 
 Fairfax Harrison, president of the Southern Railway, 
 chairman; Julius Kruttschnitt, chairman of the Executive 
 Committee of the Southern Pacific Company; Samuel Rea, 
 president of the Pennsylvania System; Hale Holden, presi- 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 363 
 
 dent. of = the -Chicago, - Burlington. & Quincy: Railroad, 
 and Howard Elliott, chairman of, the Northern Pacific 
 Railway. In its task of co-ordinating the operation of the 
 railways the War Board was 
 greatly assisted by the co- 
 operation of Interstate Com- 
 missioner Edgar E. Clark, 
 who after its organization at- 
 tended its meetings and 
 brought to its counsels the 
 advantage of close association 
 with the Commission, of 
 which at that time he was 
 chairman. 
 
 This Board was con- 
 fronted at its inception by a 
 shortage of over 140,000 
 freight cars, resulting prin- 
 cipally from a dearth of ship- 
 ping at the principal ports to 
 handle the products rushed to 
 the coast for export. Instead 
 
 : EDGAR E. CLARK 
 of being unloaded with nor- Ex-Interstate Commerce Commissioner 
 mal promptness, loaded freight cars were held for days before 
 being released for further service. 
 
 The situation became so serious that on May 29 Congress 
 stepped in and by way of relief conferred stringent powers 
 on the Interstate Commerce Commission whenever the situa- 
 tion called for action, “with or without notice, hearing or the 
 making or filing of a report,” to suspend any car service rules 
 then in effect and instead issue whatever directions concern- 
 ing car service that might seem to be in the public interest. 
 The Commission was also intrusted, after hearing, to establish 
 reasonable rules, regulations and practices in respect to car 
 service. 
 
 The Commission and the Railroads’ War Board, acting in 
 unison, were able to effect an instant improvement in the car 
 situation, as the reduction in the car shortage from 148,627 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 — 4 
 
 
 
364 ALS TORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 in May to 33,776 in August testified. But the free and sys- 
 tematic movement of traffic was retarded and sometimes 
 blocked by the misuse of the priority privilege, not only for 
 war materials but for other 
 descriptions of freight. Prior- 
 ity was all right for certain 
 commodities, but as priority 
 became general it defeated its 
 own purpose. 
 
 This*led: to the-enactirent 
 
 of what was known as the 
 priority amendment to the 
 Commerce Act.-- By 1€ pro- 
 vision was made that during 
 the continuance of the war in 
 Europe the president might 
 for purposes of national de- 
 fense and security direct that 
 certain kinds of traffic shall 
 have preference or priority in 
 transportation whether by 
 bon See rail, water or otherwise. The 
 . V.-P. Penn. Ry. President could issue such 
 directions through the Commission or any person or persons 
 designated by him. ‘This act also penalized the interference 
 with the orderly movement of trains by physical force, in- 
 timidation or threats. 
 
 At this time the membership of the Commission was 
 increased to nine and it was authorized to divide itself into 
 divisions with jurisdiction to exercise the powers of the Com- 
 mission with certain restrictions and requirements. 
 
 Out of the lack of preparedness and disorder that attended 
 America’s entrance into the war, amid such an industrial and 
 military rush as had never been known, the railways during 
 the second half of 1917 rose to function with most amazing. 
 efficiency—amazing because for a whole decade they had been 
 denied the revenues essential to progressive equipment for 
 the increasing demands of transportation. Every element en 
 
 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 365 
 
 
 
 tering into their operation—wages, material and money for 
 additions and improvements—cost more, and the last was 
 becoming harder to get with Liberty bond issues marketed by 
 the billion. With the call to arms this Nation became a hive 
 for the ‘recruiting; »arming, 
 equipping and transportation 
 of an army that swelled from 
 190,000 to over a million be- 
 fore the end of the year ‘and 
 was beginning to land in 
 France. ‘The first contingent 
 defying the submarine peril 
 had crossed the Atlantic in 
 July, ue) by January 1, 176,- 
 000 were “over there,” the ad- 
 vance guard of the two mil- 
 lion American soldiers that 
 were to share the honor of 
 Armistice Day, November 1J, 
 1918; and two million more 
 were training and straining to 
 get across. 
 
 The story of our participa- 
 tiem ine thes’ VWVorld” “War, 
 of how we made our own port Vice “President Pennsylvania, R. R. 
 in France with accommoda- inition and ‘operation U, ‘$" Military 
 tions for scores of ocean eee ee ee 
 steamships at a time; of how we built more than 
 700 miles of double track, with freight yards greater 
 than the largest on the continent, and set up our own system 
 of telegraph and telephone, and how, in W. W. Atterbury of 
 the Pennsylvania Railroad, America furnished the director 
 of construction and operation of our military railways in 
 France—these and their’ related facts—constitute the skel- 
 eton for another story which is one of the brightest Sage 
 in the history of pect S Deep attOn in that war “for all 
 We nave aidrare), 
 
 
 
 W. W. ATTERBURY, 1866— 
 
366 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The United States expended over $612,000,000 under 
 Director General of Military Railways Samuel M. Felton, 
 President of the Chicago Great Western Ry., upon the rails, 
 rolling stock and railway construction in France as its con- 
 tribution to saving it from the Hun invasion. 
 
 Here it can truthfully be said that in the United States 
 the railways, handicapped by ten years of inadequate rates, 
 with equipment that gaped at the seams, with many of its 
 best men drafted into military service and hobbled with re- 
 strictive laws, carried on a traffic that in the nine months be- 
 tween April 1 and December 31 increased over 12 per cent 
 over the same period in 1916, itself a record of performance. 
 For the full year of 1917 the record of the railways compared 
 with the years preceding it was as follows: 
 
 Freight tons Passengers 
 carried 1 mile carried | mile 
 (millions): (millions) 
 
 1917 to Dec. 31.... 394,040 39,739 
 1916 tol Deescols ew. 605,034 35,007 
 1916 to June 30.... .342,494 34,228 
 1915 to June 30.... 276,830 32,384 
 1914 to June 30.... 288,320 35,258 
 
 The Government Takes Over the Railways 
 
 Such was the demonstrated efficiency of American rail- 
 ways at the close of 1917, when President Wilson, misled by 
 the clamor of a coterie of Government ownership agitators, 
 issued his proclamation assuming control of the entire trans- 
 portation system. Acting on a baseless claim that a great 
 national necessity existed, he based his action on the Act of 
 
 
 
 HEAVY FREIGHT ENGINE OF 1918 
 
 Weight loaded, Engine and Tender, 898,000 lbs. Built by American Locomotive Co. 
 for the Virginian Ry. Co.- 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 367 
 
 
 
 August 29, 1916, which authorized the President in time of 
 war “through the Secretary of War” to assume control of the 
 transportation system for the transportation of troops, war 
 materials and equipment to the exclusion, as far as may be 
 necessary, of all other traffic. 
 
 Obeying the letter of the Act that possession of the rail- 
 ways should be taken over through the Secretary of War, at 
 noon of December 28th Newton D. Baker assumed such con- 
 trol to the end that they should be utilized for the transporta- 
 tion of troops, etc. But at that point the Secretary of War faded 
 from the emergency picture and Mr. William G. McAdoo, 
 Secretary of the Treasury, Chairman of the Federal Reserve 
 Bank syste, of thes! ederal Farm “Loan Board and ‘of the 
 United States Section of the International High Commission, 
 was “appointed and designated Director General of Rail- 
 roads.” In this same proclamation, without consulting the 
 owners of the property, it was decreed that they should accept 
 the average of their net operating income for the three-year 
 period ending June 30, 1917, “as a just and reasonable com- 
 pensation.” Whoever suggested the inclusion of the lean 
 year to June 30, 1915, in this test period robbed American 
 railway owners of at least $100,000,000 a year while the guar- 
 antee lasted. Had the last year preceding our entrance into 
 the war been chosen, as was done in England, the compensa- 
 tion would have been approximately $1,050,000,000 instead 
 of $940,000,000. 
 
 Accompanying his proclamation, President Wilson issued 
 a statement which was intended to reassure the holders of 
 railway securities, as follows: 
 
 “Investors in railway securities may rest assured that 
 their rights and interests will be as scrupulously looked after 
 by the Government as they could be by the directors of the 
 several systems.” 
 
 On January 4, in his message to Congress, President Wil- 
 son said: 
 
 “The group of railway executives who were charged with 
 the task of actual co-ordination and general direction of the 
 
368 HUIS LORY “OPMTAMERICAN- RAILVCAAY S 
 
 
 
 railways performed their difficult duties with patriotic zeal 
 and marked ability, as was to have been expected, and did, 
 ] believe, everything that it was possible for them to do in the 
 circumstances. If I have taken the task out of their hands, 
 it has not been because of any dereliction or failure on their 
 part, but only because there were some things which the 
 Government can do and private management cannot. We 
 shall continue to value most highly the advice and assistance 
 of these gentlemen and I am sure we shall not find them with- 
 olen grin ere ee 
 
 “The common administration will be carried out with as 
 little disturbance of the present operating organizations and 
 personnel of the railways as possible. Nothing will be altered 
 or disturbed which it is not necessary to disturb.” 
 
 On the last day of 1917 the Railroads’ War Board, that had 
 co-ordinated the operations of the railways since April 11 of 
 that year under authority from the principal companies of the 
 country so successfully, finding its occupation gone under Mr. 
 McAdoo’s order No. 1, placed its resignation in his hands. 
 It was accepted with alacrity. In its place. Mr. McAdoo se- 
 lected the following Advisory Cabinet: 
 
 JoHa, Skelian® Wilbams vas eae 02 eee Comptroller of the Currency 
 Kale bloiden: 26s ssi2: President, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. 
 Henry WValters 0... Rok Seek Chairman, Atlantic Coast .Line shea 
 Edward*Champbers.: >. :; Vice-Pres., Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. 
 Walkers Dadi inese icant Chairman, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. 
 
 Mr. Hines occupied the position of assistant to Director 
 ‘General McAdoo. Mr. R. S. Lovett, who had been Director 
 of Priorities under the Railroads’ War Board, was appointed 
 head of the Division of Capital Expenditures. But the ap- 
 pointments that boded no good for the railways nor for any 
 economical success of government operation were the desig- 
 nation of W. S. Carter, Grand Chief of the Brotherhood of 
 Railway firemen, as. Director5of Jeabor, with] GoW 
 Hanger as his chief assistant. 
 
 The appointments of Regional Directors, seven in num- 
 ber, were admirable, and if Mr. McAdoo had possessed the 
 true impulses and intuitions of a great commander and left 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 369 
 
 the details of management in their hands, under his single- 
 minded administrative co-ordination, the experiment of Gov- 
 ernment operation of 240,000 miles of railway might have had 
 a very different sequel. 
 
 Congress lost little time in putting the stamp of legislative 
 approval on President Wilson’s railway policy and promises. 
 By the Act of March 21 it indorsed the basis of compensation 
 and Federal return to be ascertained and certified by the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission; it provided that the prop- 
 erty of each carrier should be maintained and “returned to it 
 in substantially as good repair and in substantially as good 
 equipment as it was at the beginning of Federal control.” 
 
 Under its provisions the President was authorized to in- 
 itiate rates, fares, charges, classifications, regulations and 
 practices which should not be suspended by the Commission 
 pending their final determination, thus abrogating for the 
 time being a process that had made the advancing of rates 
 subject to suspension and interminable delay even where ulti- 
 mately validated. 
 
 The final sections of this Act are enlightening: 
 
 “Sec. 15. That nothing in this Act shall be construed to amend, 
 repeal, impair or affect the existing laws or powers of the states in 
 relation to taxation or the lawful police regulations of the several 
 states, except wherein such laws, powers or regulations may affect 
 the transportation of troops, war materials or Government supplies, 
 or the issues of stocks or bonds. 
 
 “Sec. 16... That this Act is expressly declared to be emergency 
 legislation, enacted to meet conditions growing out of war; and 
 nothing herein.is to be construed as expressing or prejudicing the 
 future policy of the Federal Government concerning the ownership, 
 control or regulation of carriers or the methods or basis of the 
 capitalization thereof.” 
 
 Once charged with irresponsible authority over American 
 railways, Mr. McAdoo lost no time in proceeding to exercise 
 it. No infant finding himself in possession of a new toy ever 
 set to work to tear it to pieces to see the wheels go ‘round 
 with more gleeful alacrity than did the Director General of 
 Railroads when they were placed in his hands. With the 
 Railroads’ War Board out of the way, orders flew from and 
 reports poured into Washington in a bewildering cloud that 
 no man could number. Computing machines were needed to 
 
370 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 count them. Something like 400 of the most capable men in 
 railway service were discharged to make room for their hand- 
 picked successors owing their advancement to Mr. McAdoo. 
 Every scrap of paper upon which there was space to print 
 it bore the official imprint: 
 
 United States Railroad Administration 
 (W. G. McAdoo, Director General) 
 
 The two million railway employes were thus officially 
 notified that they must know no other god but ME. 
 
 The real test and proof of the bureaucracy headed by Mr. 
 McAdoo came in his two orders Nos. 27 and 28, issued May 
 26th and 27th, respectively. The necessity, misnamed emer- 
 gency, behind these two orders can be best explained by the 
 following statement of the earnings and expenses of Class 1 
 roads for the first six months of Federal control: 
 
 1918 Revenues Expenses Ratio kate 
 1918 1917 
 
 ihaniiary ssc ee ees $ 285,083,748 -$ 270,756,750 94.97 71.63 
 Bebruatye oe". oe 289,683,833 260,590,900 89.96 78.31 
 Marclt. str cieeetad) 365,912,476 283,428,186 LL AG oF 22) 
 Abbe. oi ee ele 370,614,729 280,655,455 f Oc) end CaS 
 May See Tee 378,242,104 285,523,303 75.49 69.00 
 tibet whoa, Gree ee 393,309,379 435,096,305 110.62 67.37 
 
 Ci Otal Oates. aes 2,081,448,000  1,815,706,527 S720 et Joe 
 (a) The footings are from the official final summary for June 
 
 and differ slightly from the footings of the monthly returns. 
 
 To the trained railway manager or financier the one thing 
 called for by the condition revealed in these official figures 
 was an advance in rates sufficient to take care of the expenses 
 as they existed, already running wild. But Mr. McAdoo 
 thought otherwise. In January he had appointed a Railroad 
 Wage Commission to investigate and report on the question 
 of wages and hours of service of railroad employes; but when 
 the time came to act he “felt obliged to depart from its recom- 
 mendations in some particulars.” He departed about $300,- 
 000,000 worth. In what “particulars” General Order No. 
 27 does not vouchsafe. Beginning with employes earning 
 $46 or under per month, the order added 43 per cent, or $20, 
 to the monthly pay and from that point up to those receiving 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 371 
 
 $250 the per cent was on a descending scale until it yielded 
 $l for the man receiving $249. There were many exceptions 
 and variations from this method of raising wages, but its 
 ultimate effect, with changes in working conditions, was to 
 raise the average pay of all employes from $1,001 in 1917 to 
 $1,480 in 1919. As the pay roll had in the meantime been 
 increased by 180,546 employes, the total compensation rose 
 from $1,739,482,142 to $2,843,128,432, or over a billion dollars, 
 with 18 billion less tons of freight carried one mile. Com- 
 pared with 1916, before the Adamson law went into effect, the 
 total compensation of railway employes showed an increase 
 of over 90 per cent. 
 
 How Mr. McAdoo or his successor, Mr. Walker D. Hines, 
 ever expected to catch up with such an unprecedented ad- 
 vance in wages, accompanied with an equal or greater advance 
 in the price of coal, materials and supplies, with an advance 
 of 33 per cent in freight rates and 25 per cent in passenger 
 fares, as they finally worked out, passes understanding. True, 
 the Railroad Wage Commission had estimated the cost of its 
 recommendations at “not less than $300,000,000 in the year 
 1918,” never anticipating an addition of nearly 200,000 five- 
 dollar a day emergency workers to the railway ranks. 
 
 As if the inadequacy of the raise in rates to meet the ad- 
 vance in wages was not enough to stagger the revolving fund 
 of $500,000,000 provided in the Act of March 21, the wage 
 rate was made retroactive to January 1, 1918, whereas the 
 advance in rates and fares could be and were only made effec- 
 tive on June 25 and 10, respectively. 
 
 These momentous changes were fully reflected in the sig- 
 nificant items of the income account for 1918, Class 1 roads 
 under Federal control, as follows: 
 
 Revenue from operation........ $4,850,991 ,008 
 Operatwied expenses 2.4.4. ave e's 3,948,192,102 
 Dy aes el AR Oa (OEE ates mrvane terse es 183,177,868 
 Rent of equipment and facilities 35,903,074 
 
 Net operating income...... 683,717,964 
 Compensation paid railways.... 893,310,130 
 
 CrovetiiitentetOSs 0. .% << ss ce sss 209,592,166 
 
a72 HISTORY, OF: AMERICAN; RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 For all railways taken over the Government loss was over 
 $Z 12,000,000. 
 
 Before 1919 was half spent the two revolving funds— 
 $750,000,000 had been added to the original $500,000,000— 
 had dissolved, vanished into thin air, leaving nothing but a 
 vacuum in which to revolve. Where Mr. McAdoo’s Commis- 
 sion had estimated that the raise in wages would increase 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 HEAVY BALDWIN ARTICULATED MALLET LOCOMOTIVE 
 Built for the Baltimore & Ohio R. R. in 1919 
 
 the railway pay roll to $2,205,432,938, the actual figures were 
 $2,606,284,245. But it did not stop there. Under the foster- 
 ing “care-of aMirt Carter, Director ola baboreet Tesco 
 $2,828,014,440 in 1919 and to $3,681,801,193 in 1920, when the 
 Railroad Labor Board lent a boosting hand. : 
 
 But if Mr. McAdoo was open-handed in spending revolving 
 funds on labor, he proved niggard when he faced the equip- 
 ment situation. Confronted by a shortage of 135,000 freight 
 cars in March, 1918, he ordered 1,415 locomotives and 100,000 
 freight cars, standardized, when the immediate need was. 
 10,000 locomotives and 250,000 freight cars adapted to meet 
 the varying conditions of climate, terrain and traffic require- 
 ments of 240,000 miles of line. Subsequently he increased 
 his order of locomotives by 600, but that order of freight cars 
 stood throughout Federal control, whereas at least 100,000 
 cars are destroyed or incapacitated every year. 
 
 This failure to recognize the sound rule of railway man- 
 agement that demands more installments than retirements, 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 aos 3 
 
 in which obsolescent cars must be included, left the railways 
 to cope with the unprecedented traffic of 1920 confronted by 
 a car and motive power shortage that lasted from January 
 untu >the “btisiness sdepression set.in, in December.:: The 
 promise of the President and the authorizing Act of mainte- 
 nance and good order return were ignored for the twenty-six 
 months of Federal control. 
 
 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN MIKADO TYPE OF 1920 
 Built for Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. 
 
 On December 31, 1918, Mr. McAdoo deserted the labor- 
 logged ship, handing over the administration to his assistant, 
 Walker D. Hines, who, like his predecessor, was a lawyer and 
 not an experienced operating railway official. What Mr. 
 Hines might have achieved had the original crushing respon- 
 sibility fallen on him cannot be guessed. The whole train 
 was running down hill at an accelerating pace when he en- 
 tered the cab and he had no sand to put on the track. Mr. 
 Hines went on the principlé that there is a bottom to every 
 hill and that for every down grade there must be an up grade. 
 One of his first orders (January 6, 1919) was an interpretation 
 of General Order No. 27 that it should apply to all railway 
 employes “earning less than $250 per month in December, 
 1915,” and “Where such persons have not been granted the 
 increases provided for in General Order No. 27 such increases 
 will be made applicable retroactive to January 1, 1918, and 
 until suspended by supplement thereto.” 
 
 Confronted with the alternative of meeting deficits with 
 an increase of rates or a reduction of wages, he did neither. 
 He granted increases of wages and entered into agreements 
 
374 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 that raised them still higher. He postponed the advance in 
 rates the situation demanded with sanguine prognostications 
 that improved business would insure sufficient earnings. 
 With strange inconsistency he prophesied a traffic that would 
 tax facilities and refused to add a locomotive or a freight car 
 to the inadequate orders issued by Mr. McAdoo. 
 
 The record of locomotives and cars actually built in the 
 three years 1919, 1920: and 1921 stands *as an andicimen acs 
 the Federal administration as executor of its trust: 
 
 Year Locomotives Passengerears Freight cars 
 1919 2,162 466 101372 
 1920 2 022 1,272 60,955 
 
 1921 1185 1,636 48,696 
 
 The provision of power and carrying capacity fell at least 
 4,000 locomotives and 300,000 freight cars short of what pru- 
 dent management required. Moreover, the locomotives and 
 cars actually built, especially the former, were largely on 
 orders given previously by the railway corporations them- 
 selves. 
 | Second Year of Federal Control 
 
 The financial returns for the second year of Government 
 control were more disappointing than the first, as the follow- 
 ing statement of Class 1 roads under Federal control shows: 
 
 Revenues trot Operation. 2 mae. oe tae eee ‘ee oo Let ooS 2uy 
 Paxpenses #68) operdtionr2 54.1. gen eons Sees 4,360,136,355 
 PRES ce Sie ae ce See bee ote eee eae 195,763,096 
 Rent of €quipmentandriaciities mae, son ae 33,179,485 
 
 Wethoperatinge imcomen © ev acerrinaee 535: 516.3741 
 Compensation “paid the -railways-..).4:...45 911,495,342 
 Government loss on operation, 1919......:. 375,978,971 
 Government loss on. operation, 1918........ 209,592,166 
 Government loss on operation, two years.. 585,571,137 
 
 This covered only Class 1 roads, where the total for all 
 roads taken over, some 240,000 miles, called for a yearly com- 
 pensation of about $940,000,000. The loss to the Government 
 on operation alone for the two years was therefore in the 
 neighborhood of $650,000,000. 
 
 To this must be added the $381,000,000 paid by the Gov- 
 ernment for its inadequate replacement orders of locomotives 
 
 and freight cars in 1918 and 1919 and $763,000,000 for “addi- 
 
NIN TEIDE CADE, 1910-1920 375 
 
 tions and betterments,” all finally added to railway capitaliza- 
 tion with little tangible to show for it. 
 
 That was the situation at the close of 1919, when the war 
 had been over more than a year, and the Federal: Railway 
 Administration has never given any comprehensive account 
 of its stewardship, the figures given above having been ex- 
 tracted from the annual and monthly statistics of the Inter- 
 state Commerce Commission. 
 
 
 
 A 400-TON SANTA FE LOCOMOTIVE 
 
 As the time for relinquishment of the railroads under the 
 metsor March 21. 1918, approached, it became a matter, of 
 grave concern how it could be accomplished without involv- 
 ing serious consequences to the commerce and industry of the 
 country as well as the railways. The Act provided that Fed- 
 eral control should not continue beyond “one year and nine 
 months next following the date of the proclamation by the 
 President of the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of 
 Heace.« | 
 
 The war ended on November 11, 1918, the date of the 
 armistice; but the treaty between the Allied Powers and Ger- 
 many was not signed until June 28, 1919. On December 24 
 President Wilson issued a proclamation turning back the 
 railroads to private control on March 1, 1920. January 1 had 
 been originally fixed, but owing to the necessity for legisla- 
 tive action the latter date was chosen. The Esch-Cummins 
 or Transportation Act of February 28, 1920, was the legisla- 
 tion referred to. This extended the Government guarantee 
 to the amount of the Federal return for six months after the 
 owners resumed control—that is, until September 1, 1920, 
 when everything in the nature of a guarantee ended. 
 
376 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The Transportation Act of 1920 
 
 The Esch-Cummins Act, officially known as the “Trans: 
 portation Act of 1920,” went far beyond safeguarding public 
 and railway interests during the so-called transition period. 
 Under “Title II, Termination of Federal Control,” the general 
 provisions of the Act of March 21, 1918, were made applicable 
 to what was termed the “guaranty period,” to wit: the “six 
 months beginning March 1, 1920.” The railways were to be 
 operated by their owners during that period—the difference 
 between their net operating income or deficit and the Federal 
 return fixed by the “test period” to be paid by or to the Gov- 
 ernment, as finally adjusted by the Commission. This guar- 
 antee was conditional on its acceptance by the individual 
 carriers on or before March 15th. Acceptance was general, 
 the Southern Railway being the chief exception, preferring 
 to take its profit or loss on operation to compensation on a 
 basis it deemed inadequate. Financially the Southern lost 
 out on this show of independence, for it suffered in common 
 with all the railways from the deluge of expenses that broke 
 all records in the year 1920. But it had its compensations in 
 freedom in adjustments. This year proved the culmination 
 of wage advances and expensive working conditions that ran. 
 wild under the politico-economic theories in the saddle cf 
 Federal control. Although the railways were operated under 
 the terms of the Act of February 28, 1920, for the greater 
 part of that year, they inherited the conditions prevailing 
 throughout 1918 and 1919, when the National treasury was 
 drawn upon to make good the results of wasteful mismanage- 
 ment. The following condensed income account tells the 
 StOTV=. 
 
 Class I Roads 1920 
 
 Operatinetfevenues?. ttt $6,234,264,201 
 Operating <expensés> 0 t. o. 5,886,573,383 
 CARES. cl te eR ee Wee are 274,808,339 
 Rent of equipment and facilities 60,247,341 
 Net operating income.:........ 12,635,138 
 Eight months guarantee...:.... 613,000,000 
 Government ‘1l6ssH.9% Leese, 601, 635, 138 
 
 But for the presence of some fifty to sixty aillion back 
 mail pay in the revenues of 1920, there would have been a 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 377 
 
 deficit instead of a net operating income of $12,635,138. The 
 total loss of the Government on its thirty-two months’ guar- 
 ‘antee was approximately as follows: 
 
 SARs URS A St a Baer $ 209,592,166 
 TERT ies Sees giderbicie ey as ks 585 5715137, 
 1920 (8 months to Sept. 1) 601,635,138 
 
 Gta tase LIONS 2... 3s sr. 1,396,798,441 
 
 As these figures cover only Class 1 roads, the total loss to 
 the Government on all roads taken over was considerably 
 greater. A proposal to extend the trial of Federal control for 
 an additional five years, which was strongly urged by Director 
 General McAdoo and his successor, Mr. Hines, met with 
 little popular support, and so, on September 1, 1920, the rail- 
 ways went back into full regulated private operation. 
 
 In a recent address before the Carnegie Institute of Tech- 
 nology, Arthur T. Hadley, President Emeritus of Yale Uni- 
 versity and one of the few lay authorities on transportation 
 subjects, discussing Federal control, said: “For a time Mr. 
 McAdoo and those about him thought that he could prove 
 the possibility of solving the railroad problem by taking the 
 decisive powers of the management out of the hands of the 
 Owes te". < Fi he: verdictwas. against himes During 
 nearly two years which elapsed after the close of the war no 
 attempt was made to balance the railroad budget. Of the 
 three ways of doing this—to increase rates, to reduce wages, 
 or to get the same amount of work done by the smaller num- 
 ber of men—the Government lacked the courage’ to choose 
 any. The result was an appalling deficit.” 
 
 Decreased Mileage 
 
 During the concluding years of this decade the courtry 
 witnessed the unusual phenomenon of an actual decrease in 
 the mileage of American railways. Between 1916 and 1920 
 the miles of line owned, as reported by the Commission, were 
 as follows: 
 
 191l6stosJunevs0< 7.2 <. 254,250 miles 
 tole lO WeC re alee. «ares 253,626 miles 
 Tote tos etetal set shoe. 253,528 miles 
 1919sfoe Ded 31. 253,152 miles 
 
 TOU OE ICC, Ol. esa sss 252,844 miles 
 
378 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 GROWTH OF 
 STEAM Locomotive 1837-1918 
 
 
 
 Sendusky Built for Mad River & 
 Total Weight Loaded Engine 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "Gover oF Marcy Built for Michigan Southern on 
 Tote! Weight Loaded Engine & Tender 67000 Los 
 
 
 
 Built for Hudson River AR in 1860. 
 Toto! Weight Loaded Engine & Tenaer 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Al ot 
 ie aaneme=s il 
 
 
 
 
 
 Saas 
 
 Built for New York Ponnay' no AR in 1880 
 Total Weight Loaded Engine 6 Tender u 
 
 
 
 
 
 | pote) 5 Sarg Reds AT ROE OFAC OCS = oy 
 
 Built for St Louis, Vencalie & Torre Heute (Vandalie Line) in 1895 
 Tote) Weight Looded Engine & Tender 219000 Lbs 
 
 
 
 
 
 phe aes aw ee | 
 LOU)? werd. csc outs Oe A Pe Ree SSO. Acie O00 CO ORES STO 
 
 
 
 
 
 Built for Missours Pacific R Rin 1902 
 Tots! Weight Loaded. Engine 4 Tender 283000 Lbs 
 
 a ON OM ORS 
 
 
 
 Bum for Balumore & On c 
 Tota! Weight Loaded Engine & Tender £74000 Los 
 
 
 
 EO tee eves acta ee ores ak betes 
 
 
 
 
 Built for Cresepeeke & Ohio Ry in iit 
 Tote! Weight Loaded Engine & Tender 493000 Lba 
 
 Beever Virgen fy so aay 
 Tole! Weight Loaded, Engine 6 Tender 88000 Lbe 
 
NINTH DECADE, 1910-1920 379 
 
 
 
 Happily, the decline in single track was accompanied by 
 an increase of 3,030 miles of auxiliary track and 9,686 miles of 
 yard track and sidings. 
 
 The remarkable exhibit on page 378 was drawn to scale 
 for this work by the American Locomotive Company. The 
 counterpart of each of these nine locomotives, separately 
 illustrated, will be found in the text of the decade 
 to which it belongs. Thus assembled, these locomotives give 
 a convincing picture of the process by which American rail- 
 ways have risen to their powerful position in the transporta- 
 tion world. It is expressed in the contrast between the 18,000 
 Ib. giant of 1837 and 898,000 Ib. giant of 1918. A correspond- 
 ing growth in inhabitants would have given the United States 
 a population of over 850,000,000! 
 
 As for the “Sandusky,” which tops this impressive pyramid 
 of locomotive progress, President Fletcher of the American 
 Locomotive Company believes that it was never photographed 
 but furnishes the spirited drawing, which is reproduced in its 
 appropriate place. 
 
 Past, Present and ? 
 
 
 
 THE ABORIGINE MAKES WAY FOR THE LOCOMOTION 
 —Scene in Apache Canon, N, M. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 OPENING OF THE TENTH DECADE—1920 
 
 AFTERMATH OF FEDERAL CONTROL. PASSAGE OF THE TRANS- 
 PORTATION Act, 1920. Raitroap Lasor Boarp MAKES 
 IMMEDIATE ADVANCE IN WAGES AND THE COMMISSION 
 ADVANCES RATES. 
 
 ITH the return of the railways to private control dis- 
 posed of in Title II of the Transportation Act, 1920, 
 the statute proceeded to make 
 radical changes in the regula- 
 tion of American railways. 
 The first of these, Title III, 
 was aimed at the prevention 
 of any interruption of the 
 operation of any carrier grow- 
 ing out of any dispute be- 
 tween it and its employes. 
 Such disputes, if possible, 
 were to be decided in confer- 
 ence between the representa- 
 tives of the carriers and their 
 employes “directly interested 
 in the dispute’. In case such 
 conference failed to decide 
 the dispute, provision was 
 
 
 
 
 
 MAIN HALL CHICAGO UNION 
 STATION, OCTOBER, 1924 made for its reference to 
 
 boards of labor adjustment and finally to the Railroad Labor 
 Board established under the Act. 
 
 This Board, which was the new departure under the Act, 
 was to be composed of nine members—(1) three, to be known 
 as the Labor group, to be appointed by the President, sub- 
 ject to confirmation by the Senate, from not less than six 
 nominees made by the employes as prescribed by the Com- 
 mission; (2) three, to be known as the Management group, 
 to be appointed in the same way from not less than six nomi- 
 
TENTH DECADE, 1920 38) 
 
 nees named by the carriers as prescribed by the Commission, 
 and (3) three, to be known as the Public group, to be ap- 
 pointed by the President subject to confirmation by the 
 Senate. 
 
 The Act specifically provided that any member of the 
 Board who during his term of office is an active member or 
 holds office in any organization of employes or any carrier 
 
 
 
 COAL CARS—PAST AND PRESENT 
 Philadelphia & Reading R. R. 
 
 or owns any stock or bonds thereof, shall become ineligible 
 for further membership upon the Board. This provision was 
 a dead letter from the start, so far as several Labor members 
 of the Board were concerned. 
 
 In addition to jurisdiction over disputes coming to it 
 through the indicated channels, the Board was authorized 
 upon its own motion to receive and hear and with due dili- 
 gence decide any dispute involving wages or salaries or griev- 
 ances or rules and working conditions likely substantially to 
 interrupt commerce. Decisions of the Board require the con- 
 currence of at least five members, of whom, in certain cases 
 at least, one shall be a member of the Public group. 
 
 In determining the justness and reasonableness of wages 
 in any dispute the Board, so far as applicable, shall take into 
 consideration, among other relevant circumstances, the fol- 
 lowing: | 
 
 (1) The scale of wages paid for similar kinds of work in 
 other industries; 
 
 (2) The relation between wages and the cost of living; 
 
382 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 (3) The hazards of the employment; 
 
 (4) The training and skill required; 
 
 (5) The degree of responsibility ; 
 
 (6) The character and regularity of the employment; and 
 
 (7) dnequalities of increases in wages or of treatment, 
 the result of previous wage orders or adjustments. 
 
 The Board was given no authority to enforce its decisions 
 
 
 
 200-TON ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE of 1924 
 Length Inside Knuckles 68 ft. 2% in. 
 
 farther than through their publication and the force of public 
 opinion, in which respect the Act followed the principle so 
 successfully invoked in the original state regulation in Massa- 
 chusetts. Decisions were effective only as the facts and rea- 
 soning behind them appealed to the public as convincing and 
 just. 
 
 Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act 
 
 Title IV of the Transportation Act, 1920, consisted of 
 numerous amendments to the Commerce Act, the most im- 
 portant of which was known as “Section 15a,” which formu- 
 lated rules for rate making. Under it the Commission was 
 empowered to. prescribe just and reasonable rates, so that the 
 carriers as a whole or in groups would, “under honest, eff- 
 * cient and economical management,” earn a net annual railway 
 operating income equal to a fair return on the aggregate value 
 of the carriers’ property held for and used in the service of 
 transportation. Net operating income was defined to include 
 debits and credits arising from equipment and joint facility 
 rents. ‘The fair return was fixed at 514 per cent on the aggre- 
 
TENTH DECADE, 1920 383 
 
 
 
 gate value for two years, beginning March 1, 1920, with an 
 additional % of 1 per cent for improvements, betterments 
 and equipment. Any excess over 6 per cent on the value 
 of its property received by any carrier had to be divided in 
 two—one-half going into a reserve fund of the carrier and the 
 other half to be paid to the Commission to be kept in a re- 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN OIL BURNING HEAVY FREIGHT 
 Southern Pacific Ry., 1922 
 
 serve revolving fund for purposes described in the Act. The 
 ostensible purpose was to assist by loans weak companies. 
 It came to be known as the “recapture” clause of the Act, 
 because it was aimed to recover whatever surplus of net in- 
 come resulted from the rates being unnecessarily high for the 
 prosperous companies. 
 
 The real crux of the problem imposed on the Commission 
 was the determination of the aggregate value of the carriers’ 
 transportation property. For this purpose it was authorized 
 to utilize the results of the Valuation Act of 1913, so far as 
 deemed available, and was directed to give due consideration 
 to all elements of value recognized by law for rate-making 
 purposes, including the property investment accounts of the 
 carriers only to the extent that they were entitled to consider- 
 ation in such an inquiry. 
 
 Consolidation of Railways 
 
 By an amendment to Section 5 of the Commerce Act the 
 Commission was directed to prepare a plan for the consolida- 
 tion of the railway properties into a limited number of sys- 
 tems. Under this existing routes and channels of trade were 
 to be maintained and competition was to be preserved as far 
 
 * 
 
384 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 as possible. When the Commission had prepared its tenta- 
 tive plan, it was to publish the same and hold public hearings 
 upon it. 
 
 Under this section a tentative plan has been submitted 
 and hearings have been held. But to date little progress has 
 been made toward actual consolidation, for the simple reason 
 that only weak companies favor it as a means to their im- 
 ' proved financial condition and strong companies do not see 
 any advantage in diluting earning capacity with unproductive 
 mileage. Happily the Act permits of the voluntary consolida- 
 tion of railway properties, with the approval of the Commis- 
 sion. Along this line several consolidations have taken place 
 and more are proposed. 
 
 Now let us review the progress of events under the more 
 important provisions of the Transportation Act, 1920, which 
 went into effect February 28, 1920. 
 
 The $700,000,000 Labor Award 
 
 The first reaction of far-reaching consequences, to the 
 Transportation Act, 1920, was the decision of the Railroad 
 Labor Board which advanced 
 the wages of all classes of 
 railway employes by various 
 percentages that aggregated 
 between $600,000,000 and 
 $700,000,000 a year. The first 
 figure was the estimate that 
 accompanied the decision, the 
 
 latter is included in a total 
 increase of the pay roll from 
 $2,828,014,440 in 1919 to 
 $3,681,801,193 in 1920, or 
 
 $853,786,/53. Part of this in- 
 crease was due to the enlarge- 
 ment of the staff by approxi- 
 
 
 
 RAGAN 
 
 CONDUCTOR LEWIS wW. 
 ON BLOCK SIGNAL TOWER NAMED 
 
 AFTER HIM 
 The Tower is at Delaware, 3 miles South 
 
 of Wilmington. Mr. Ragan has been in 
 Service 50 years 
 
 mately 112,000 men. The real 
 advance was in average year- 
 ly pay from $1,482 in 1919 to 
 
PEN TE PECADE 1920 385 
 
 $1,820, or 22.8 per cent. Compared with the average pay in 
 1913, before the breaking out of the World War, the average 
 of $1,820 marked an increase of over 138 per cent in wages in 
 seven years. 
 
 This enormous addition to the already heavy burden im- 
 posed on American transportation was decreed by the Labor 
 Board before it was fairly warm in its newly created seat of 
 
 
 
 
 
 HELL GATE CUT-OFF, LONG ISLAND 
 
 This cut-off enables the Pennsylvania road after passing under Manhattan to Long 
 Island to regain the main land by the bridge at the right separately illustrated 
 —Copyright Major Hamilton Maxwell. 
 
 authority. The Board was confirmed by the Senate on April 
 15, 1920,,and was immediately confronted by the controversy 
 over requests for wage advances, aggregating some $800,000,- 
 000, that had been pending since January, 1919, involving, 
 as the Board admitted, as “serious, difficult and intricate 
 problems as had ever been presented to tribunals in this 
 country.” It listened to arguments by the day, read testi- 
 mony by the ream and studied thousands of exhibits and 
 statements and after giving consideration to all the condi- 
 
386 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 tions enumerated by the Act and also “other relevant cir- 
 cumstances,” on July 20th it delivered its decision which 
 estimated “that the increase in wages herein provided for 
 will impose on the railroads an addition to the pay roll of 
 March Ist, 1920, aggregating approximately six hundred mil- 
 lion dollars per annum.” For reasons stated in the opinion 
 satisfactory to itself and to the employes, the advance was 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FOUR TRACK 977% ft. HELL GATE ARCH CROSSING THE EAST RIVER, 
 NEW YORK 
 
 made fetroactive to, May 1, 1920; <It declined=to; statesnaw 
 the Board divided on the various questions involved. The 
 effect of the retroactive clause was shown in the returns 
 for July and August, 1920, when the operating ratio ran up 
 to 98.40 per cent and 124.23 per cent, respectively, exclusive 
 of taxes and equipment and facility rents. 
 
 One of the relevant circumstances apparently overlooked 
 at the time of its momentous first decision was the paragraph 
 in the Act which provided that “The Labor Board may upon 
 its own motion within ten days after the decision in accord- 
 ance with the provisions of section 3 of any dispute with 
 respect to wages or salares of employes or subordinate off- 
 cials or carriers, suspend the operation of such decision if 
 the Labor Board is of opinion that the decision involves such 
 an increase in wages or salaries as will be likely to necessi- 
 tate a substantial readjustment of the rates of any carrier.” 
 
TENTH DECADE, 1920 387 
 
 For lack of time, the Board postponed decision of questions 
 involving rates and working conditions. 
 
 Valuation and Rates Under the Act 
 
 Immediately upon the passage of the Transportation Act, 
 1920, the Commission entered upon its duties relative to the 
 adjustment of rates to yield a just and reasonable return on 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE, TRAIN AND BLOCK SIGNALS ON NEW YORK 
 CENTRAL AT RIVERDALE 1921 
 
 . the valuation to be fixed by it. It first assigned March 22 
 for hearing the question whether the rate adjustment should 
 be for the carriers as a whole or by rate groups or territories. 
 It was decided to make the adjustment by groups, as follows: 
 Eastern, Southern, Western and Mountain-Pacific. For gen- 
 eral purposes the last named was to be included in the West- 
 ern group. It first found that the book cost of road and equipment 
 ef all classes-ofcarriers reporting to.it-on December 31,1919, 
 was as follows: 
 
 Master PrOUup iawe.k-< $ 9,038,194,615 
 Sournecns rou ps ce. 2,183,923,124 
 Western group ....... 8,818,454,872 
 
 rota iMalinorcunsie <020040572 611 
 
 Applying itself to the task of determining the aggregate 
 value of all railway property, as defined by the Act, “held 
 and used in the service of transportation;” and utilizing the 
 
388 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 results of its investigations under the valuation sections of 
 the Commerce Act, as far as available, and giving due con- 
 sideration to all elements of value recognized by law for 
 rate-making purposes, the Commission made the following 
 approximation for the three groups: 
 
 Eastern group, as defined by the carriers..$ 8,800,000,000 
 Southern group, as defined by the carriers. 2,000,000,000 
 Western group, as defined by the carriers, 
 including both Western and Mountain- 
 Pacrht-roupsuec soe i eee eee 8,100,000,000 
 
 Totaballseroapes.--. 3 ee ee eee $18,900,000,000 
 
 
 
 BALDWIN. PACIFIC TYPE EXPRESS PASSENGER—1922 
 
 Thereupon the Commission named the following increases 
 _ for the respective groups: Eastern group, 40 per cent; South- 
 ern group, 25 per cent; Western group, 35 per cent, and, 
 Mountain-Pacific group, 25 per cent. These percentages were 
 arrived at after a searching analysis of the traffic and needs 
 of the carriers in the respective territories. 
 
 In general terms, the carriers were authorized to increase 
 passenger fares 20 per cent; excess baggage rates, 20 per cent; 
 milk and cream on passenger trains, 20 per cent, and a sur- 
 charge of 50 per cent on Pullman fares was granted. The 
 last was in reality an increased passenger fare for extra and 
 superior facilities, the proceeds going to the railways, the 
 Pullman Company merely acting as a collector of the charge. 
 The rates were made effective upon not less than five days’ 
 notice to the Commission, or at least three months after the 
 increased wages became effective. 
 
 These increases as authorized were intended to yield the 
 full 6 per cent (54%+%4), as contemplated by the Act “to make 
 
TENTH DECADE, 1920 389 
 
 —$—. 
 
 
 
 provision in whole or in part for improvements, betterments 
 or equipments, which, according to the accounting system 
 prescribed by the Commission, are chargeable to capital ac- 
 count,’ as the record left “no doubt as to the needs of the 
 country for additional transportation facilities.” 
 
 The decision of the Commission bears date July 29 and 
 takes note of the fact that “On July 20, 1920, (only nine days 
 before) after the close of the hearings and oral argument, 
 the Labor Board announced a decision “awarding approxi- 
 mately $618,000,000 as increased wages.” 
 
 
 
 SCHENECTADY PLANT OF AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE CO. 
 
 ~ 
 
 This, as the sequel demonstrated, sufficed not only to 
 vitiate all the Commission’s studied anticipations of a 6 per 
 cent net return on the $18,900,000,000 valuation, but actually 
 left the railways in 1920 earning the largest operating rev- 
 enues on record with an operating deficit. The Commission, 
 with full information, had done its part, whereas the Labor 
 Board, ill-balanced in organization and overwhelmed with 
 the complexity of conditions affecting the cost of living of 
 approximately two million men, did not stop to inquire 
 whether the $618,000,000 would “necessitate a substantial 
 readjustment of the rates of any carrier.” — 
 
 And so the mischief was done. The effect of the Labor 
 Board’s prodigality was seen in the failure of the railway 
 revenues to meet the expectation of the Transportation Act, 
 1920, in 1920 by $1,021,772,792; in 1921 by $423,687,940; in 
 1922 by $262,619,407 and 1923, when the Commission had 
 
390 HISTORY OF AMERICAN. RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 raised the rate of return on valuation to 534 per cent, by 
 $109,092,632. And so in four years the net operating income 
 of the railways fell more than a billion and three-quarters 
 below the just and reasonable expectations of its authors and 
 the administration of the Commission. If to the valuation of 
 July, 1920, be added the betterments since made on capital 
 account under the direction of the Act for supplemental valu- 
 ation “from time to time and as often as necessary,” the failure 
 to yield a reasonable return would be much greater for the 
 
 
 
 BROOKS PLANT, AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE COMPANY 
 
 new investment, since. 1920 to .December, 31) 192 Gssiasepeen 
 approximately two and a half billion dollars, without includ- 
 ing the $1,144,000,000 securities the railways have had to 
 issue to take care of improvements and betterments under 
 Federal control. 
 
 New York City in 1831 and 1924 
 
 In taking account of the different conditions facing the 
 transportation industry between the first railway decade on 
 this continent and now, perhaps the transformation that has 
 taken place in the surroundings of Trinity Church, New York, 
 in the interim, as shown in the two following pictures, may 
 help the reader to visualize them. New York City, where rail and 
 water ways meet more profitably to the immediate community 
 than elsewhere in the Union, had' to be pictured in a slow 
 process by pen or pencil in 1831, whereas its tallest skyscraper 
 is caught by an instantaneous camera from the air in 1924. 
 
 Such was New York only three years before Chauncey 
 M. Depew opened his eyes on the gentle scene at Peekskill 
 depicted in an earlier chapter. Today in order to identify 
 
PENT DECADES 1920 391 
 
 
 
 
 
 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY, IN 1831 
 Note Trinity Church at left 
 
 the steeple of Old Trinity that rises above this semi-sylvan 
 scene of ninety odd years ago, he would have to ascend in an 
 airplane and look up through the Wall Street Canon to catch 
 a glimpse of its needlelike spire at the top center of the accom- 
 panying picture. 
 
 Fe 
 
 
 
 WALL STREET 
 
 The Ganglion of New York in 1924—From the air 
 —Wide World Photos. 
 
esa ae HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The Recession of 1921 
 
 In 1921 the railways of America, in common with all other: 
 national industries, suffered from the reaction following the 
 abnormal activities and excessive production of 1920. Where 
 the entire community had reveled in high costs of everything 
 entering into the daily life of the people, the railways found 
 themselves on the brink of bankruptcy from their inability 
 to adjust their expenses to their revenues. Between July, 
 1920, and September, 1921, the “farm price” of grain dropped 
 more than 50 per cent and the Commission was appealed to 
 for a reduction in the rates which had been advanced by 
 Director General McAdoo in 1918 and by the Commission, 
 effective August 26, 1920. The Commission found that these 
 advances had raised the freight rate on various kinds of 
 grain from 50 to 80 per cent. It also found that during the twelve 
 months after the advance of 1920 the carriers had not earned 
 “an aggregate net railway operating income over or about 
 one-half of 5% per cent of the value of their property as tenta- 
 tively fixed by us.’ 
 
 This cut the return to the owners of the roads in one-half 
 of the “just and reasonable” return on their property as fixed 
 by the Commission, whereas the slump in the price of wheat 
 only cut the war peak price in two. In September, 1921, 
 the farmers were still getting 29 per cent more for their grain 
 than they did in 1913 and almost exactly the same as they 
 received in 1915; whereas the net railway operating income 
 in 1921 was $200,000,000, or 24 per cent, below the figure for 
 1913. Acting in what it regarded as the governing good to 
 the whole people, the Commission cut the advance in wheat 
 and hay granted in July, 1920, in half and reduced the rates 
 on coarse grains to the extent that they exceeded 10 per cent 
 less than those prescribed on wheat. 
 
 In the spring of 1921 the carriers applied to the Railroad 
 Labor Board to settle disputes over working conditions and 
 to reduce wages in line with the decreased cost of living 
 since its order advancing wages some $600,000,000 in July, 
 1920. On June Ist the Board rendered its decision, effective 
 
PNP OA IE W920 393 
 
 July 1, 1921, reducing wages by an average of about 12 per 
 cent of the 1920 scale for the classes to which it applied. The 
 decreases were by specific amounts per hour for different 
 classes. In actual effect this decision reduced the pay roll 
 by about $275,000,000 to $300,000,000, or less than one-half 
 the advance of July 1, 1920. Actually it amounted to only 
 one-third of that advance plus the changes in working con- 
 ditions. The great economy in operation in 1921 was to 
 come in the reduction in the number of employes from an 
 average of 2,022,832 in 1920 to 1,667,580—a decrease of 355,252 
 persons, a majority of whom were unnecessary, as the pay 
 roll for 1923 was to demonstrate, when an average of 1,857,713 
 employes moved the greatest traffic ever carried by American 
 railways. 
 
 ~The full effect of these decisions of the Commission and 
 the Labor Board was not apparent until 1922, when the dis- 
 sent of the shop crafts to any reduction in wages was to pre- 
 cipitate the disastrous strike of that year. A strike of the 
 train service organizations was called for October 30, 1921, 
 but three days before that date was called off. The operating 
 results for the year 1921 in comparison with those for Class 1 
 roads in 1920 were as follows: 
 
 1921 1920 
 (thousands) (thousands) 
 TRC VCTIUCGEE fs tel aie ece he Ris pouiteeia © © $5,568,505 $6,234,265 
 POR DENIEES Fy in cle cigciaietets sie'stadeprats 4,602,116 5,886,573 
 ACCS ee, Bre eS a elas as 279,725 274,809 
 Equipment and facility rents.. 68,969 53,835 
 Uncollectible revenues ....... 1,883 1,320 
 Net operating revenues....... 615,812 17,427 
 Employes, average number.... 1,667 2,022 
 Gomipensation essere) ee $2,800,897 $3,681,801 
 UNVELAL Ce CTE Y.CAL sides gue cthncce 1,680 1,820 
 PCAN TeCAllOs cans 2 oes beh Pesala oh 94.29% 
 amar Olle ratio sae. so ot nake ns 50.30% 59.06% 
 
 The last two lines of this statement indicate how the rail- 
 ways were struggling back toward normal after the wasteful 
 experience of Federal control. The ratios for 1921 were still, 
 far above the level of economic safety, which, for expenses 
 sans taxes, experience had placed below 70 per cent, while 
 before the war the ratio of compensation of employes to rev- 
 enues ranged from 38.40 per cent to 44.05 per cent. 
 
394 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 During 1921 there was a continuous surplus of freight 
 cars, running as high as 495,781 in April, from which it re- 
 ceded to 121,944 in October, only to jump back to 493,357 in 
 January, 1922, when the tide turned. 
 
 The Chicago Union Station 
 
 Plans for the erection of the great union station on the 
 west side of the south branch of the Chicago river were 
 
 
 
 ARCHITECT’S DRAWING FOR CHICAGO UNION STATION 
 
 This shows the relation of the station to the river, surrounding territory and the 
 tracks entering from the North and South. It can be compared 
 with the completed structure. 
 
 well under way before the World War brought all such enter- 
 prises to a stop. Money and labor were not available for 
 such triumphs of peace when the Government was floating 
 bonds by the billion and calling for men for the front and 
 for war industries by the million. But the property along 
 the river for five blocks from Washington Street to Van 
 Buren and two blocks west on the river between Adams 
 Street and Jackson Boulevard was in hand, ready for the 
 monster yard and station. The accompanying layout shows 
 what was proposed. It was designed to accommodate the 
 trains of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Pan 
 Handle division of the Pennsylvania coming in from the north 
 
EENTH DECADE, 1920 395 
 
 and west; and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago 
 & Alton, and the main lines of the Pennsylvania coming in 
 from the south, east and west at the south end. There were 
 to be eighteen tracks occupying the entire space between 
 the river and. ‘Canal Street, “which had to be excavated’ to 
 give head room for the concourse which covered them. 
 The tracks entering from the north are protected by steel 
 umbrella train sheds extending from Adams street two blocks 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 y 
 Adams os i 
 * Baggage Drwe Down ~ H i | : 
 a \ 
 = = a my lo! 
 ats ron “ a ? 4 
 S n a . Cob Orne ut % Cab! Stang “ll 
 Wes 1 ' 
 = - \ ' 
 ae > < “ ' aia Concourse 
 Ves/-tule 
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 ey Drug Store rf] ‘ 
 ® bd ° Ww 
 ‘i aie 
 = My 
 Moz 
 Voit 
 om . 
 
 eo 
 
 
 
 S Pos 
 Ticket Lobby sgt th 
 s 
 
 0 
 Information a, SG 4) . 
 
 a 
 
 ‘otormaticn 
 
 Clinton St 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 Nickeb 
 
 ° (1m - 
 itt 
 
 e iu = 
 
 Mezzanine Floor 
 
 
 
 "Scurn Seconctury Concourse 
 
 got yin ALIALE the ateeetot 
 
 Train” Conceurse’ 
 
 ff ire 
 A 
 
 
 
 Se ce 
 Fay re om Fe @ oe 
 is: ss 
 
 TL Stony 2 
 
 a meses ere It 
 a , 
 
 ---Dw-> + 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fs 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GROUND PLAN CHICAGO UNION STATION 
 
 to Madison, while those coming in from the south are simi- 
 larly .covered by sheds extending from Jackson Boulevard 
 two blocks to Congress. The extreme ends of these sheds are 
 more than a quarter of a mile apart. The main concourse 
 separates their stub ends. 
 
 Outside of these train sheds, and between them and the 
 river, lie three tracks affording communication between the 
 two sections of the terminal. Provision is also made for 
 separate entrances for suburban passenger trains from the 
 Jackson Boulevard and Adams Street sides of the station. 
 
 As this history goes to press plans are in preparation for 
 adding fifteen stories to the main building shown in the 
 
396 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 preceding pages, making twenty-three in all. This in itself 
 testifies to the unending demands made upon the railways 
 for increased accommodations to handle the Nation’s business. 
 
 Culmination of the Labor Struggle 
 
 The legacy from Federal control of inadequate revenues to 
 meet the increased cost of operation hung like a pall over the 
 
 
 
 SKELETON CONCOURSE CHICAGO UNION STATION FROM THE RIVER. 
 MAIN BUILDING IN BACKGROUND. Oct. 1924. 
 
 railway situation at the opening of 1922. The problem had 
 resolved itself into a demand from farm and factory for a 
 lowering of freight rates and a stubborn insistence on the 
 part of certain blocs of railway labor that there should be no 
 lowering of the wage scale, by which alone a reduction in 
 freight rates was economically possible. Not having the 
 power of taxation behind them with which to make good 
 half-a-billion-a-year deficits, as Directors General McAdoo 
 and Hines had, the carriers could only rely on a readjustment 
 of wages to meet the reduction in rates which the Commis- 
 
TENTH DECADE, 1920 397 
 
 
 
 sion had reluctantly ordered. This reduction was decreed by 
 the Commission on May 16, 1922, effective July 1 following. 
 Taking the increased ratio in 1920 as a basis, it was ordered 
 that the advance of 40 per cent then made in Eastern territory 
 be reduced. to 26 per cent, the 35 per cent for the Western 
 group was reduced to 21.5 per cent and the 25 per cent ad- 
 vance in the Southern and Mountain-Pacific groups was re- 
 
 
 
 
 
 CONCOURSE, CHICAGO UNION STATION 
 As seen from roof of Main Building, Oct. 22, 1924 
 
 duced to 12.5 per cent. It was estimated that this decision 
 would reduce the operating revenues by some $400,000,000, 
 but the recovery in traffic made up for the reduction in rates. 
 The Commission based its decision on an anticipation that 
 with normal traffic the revised rates would yield over 
 $900,000,000 net operating income, or some $100,000,000 more 
 than it actually did. 
 
 On June 6 the Labor Board ordered a reduction of shop- 
 men’s wages amounting to from 5 to 10 cents an hour and 
 
398 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 authorized other reductions for other railway employes except 
 those of the four brotherhoods. The shopmen immediately 
 announced that unless the Board rescinded its action a strike 
 would be ordered on July 1. On the Board’s refusal to yield, 
 the strike was duly declared. Between 200,000 and 250,000 
 shopmen dropped their tools. The subsequent official figures 
 showed that the strike was far from being unanimous. The 
 
 
 
 CHICAGO UNION STATION AND CONCOURSE 
 Nearing completion October, 1924 
 
 shopmen on the pay roll at the middle of June numbered 
 346,366; on the middle of July they numbered 117,305, and 
 on the middle of August 188,235. By the middle of Septem- 
 ber the shopmen at work numbered 270,374 and by the middle 
 of October 366,530, showing that so far as the railways were 
 concerned the strike was over, although Federation leaders 
 persisted that it was still on with those roads that had de- 
 clined to restore seniority rights to returning strikers. 
 
 Upon this question of restoring seniority rights to re- 
 turning strikers, there was a radical cleavage in the policy 
 of the leading railway companies. One party that had been 
 most active in recruiting its forces through assurances that 
 
TENTH DECADE, 1920 399 
 
 workers taking the place of strikers would be given perma- 
 nent jobs, if proved capable, and who had warned the shop- 
 men that they forfeited their seniority rights if they did not 
 return within a specified time, felt in honor bound to abide 
 by their promises. The other party accepted what was known 
 as the Baltimore Agreement, which, among other things, pro- 
 vided that all men were to return to work in positions of the 
 class they originally held on June 30, 1922, and at the same 
 point, “at present rates of pay.” The principal roads signing 
 this agreement and also those that declined to restore seniority 
 to strikers were as follows: 
 
 . Baltimore Agreement— 
 Baltimore & Ohio 
 Chicago, Milw. & St. Paul 
 New York Central 
 Southern Railway 
 Chesapeake & Ohio 
 Seaboard Air Line 
 Chicago & Northwestern 
 Michigan Central 
 Western Pacific 
 Mobile & Ohio 
 
 Cincinnati, N. Orleans & Tex. Pac. 
 
 Erie 
 Chicago Great Western 
 
 Seniority Not Restored— 
 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
 Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
 Illinois Central 
 Great Northern 
 Kansas City Southern 
 Atlantic Coast Line 
 Louisville & Nashville 
 Lehigh Valley 
 Southern Pacific 
 Union Pacific 
 Pennsylvania 
 Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
 New York, New Haven & Hartford 
 Boston & Maine 
 Chicago & Eastern Illinois 
 Central R..R. of New Jersey 
 Delaware, Lackawanna & Western 
 Delaware & Hudson 
 Chicago & Alton 
 Denver & Rio Grande 
 Minneapolis, St. Paul & S.S. Marie 
 Missouri Pacific 
 Northern Pacific 
 St. Louis-San Francisco 
 Texas & Pacific 
 
 In the final roundup it was found that approximately 26 
 
 per cent of the shopmen went back under the Baltimore 
 Agreement and 67 per cent settled by agreements with the 
 roads that held fast to the forfeiture of seniority rights by 
 employes going on a strike after due notice. 
 
 But the strike had other far reaching consequences. In 
 its early stages it was accompanied with acts of lawlessness, 
 violence and sabotage, and these grew to be so numerous 
 
400 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 and desperate that the Attorney General obtained an injunc- 
 tion in the U. S. District Court in Chicago forbidding strikers 
 and union officials from interfering in any manner with the 
 operation of the railroads. This injunction was made perma- 
 nent and today stands as a bulwark protecting railway opera- 
 tion throughout the United States from destructive attacks 
 in labor struggles. 
 
 St. Paul’s New Union Station 
 
 If the reader will take a map of the vicinity of St. Paul 
 and Minneapolis he will quickly perceive that neither was 
 
 I | | 24 = pete 
 
 FOURTH 
 
 
 
 BROADWAY 
 
 
 
 
 
 ROSABEL ST 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Z\ Seconn Floor FLAN { 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 : fo) 
 = 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 MISStssipp, 
 
 Us “ARBOR un 
 
 DATA Rives Vy ; 
 . w 7 
 : 4] oi 
 
 $3 oe 
 
 “un 
 
 
 
 
 
 NUMBER OF PASSENGER TRACKS... 22 
 ‘ + FRI 
 
 
 
 
 
 EIGHT . 
 SMORTEST STATION YARD TRA 
 LONOEST ° ~ 
 
 
 
 
 GENERAL PLAN — 
 - ST PAUL UNION DEPO? 
 IMPROVEMENTS 
 
 
 
 a 
 = RBEG388, 
 
 1285 Tof R Tracks Mand iB 
 Tr 
 
 * 8 WAITING ROOM 
 PAGGAGE MAIL AND EXPRESS ROOMS UND! 
 . . : ‘ ELEVATORS. orete 
 NUMBER OF PASSENGER PLATFORMS. siacemalneh 
 AGGREGATE LENGTH OF PASSENGER PLATFORMS 10800" 
 
 & 3 
 
 
 
 
 TRACK LAY-OUT ST. PAUL UNION STATION 
 
 the ideal terminal for the various railways which center there. 
 Ihe topographical spot for a railway serving two cities with 
 an aggregate population of over 600,000 would have been the 
 bend of the Mississippi River where it is joined by the Minne- 
 sota River. The outpost Fort Snelling would have been an 
 ideal location. But no such look into the future determined 
 the site for this double-doored gateway of the Northwest. 
 Circumstances decreed that they should be located on different 
 sides of the “mighty waters” that they might pursue their 
 distinct ways to their present metropolitan and business im- 
 portance. 
 
PENTH DECADE, 1920 401 
 
 
 
 The site of St. Paul was probably chosen because it was 
 convenient to the head of deep water navigation on the 
 Mississippi and was on the eastern shore of the stream that 
 for a decade separated civilization from the boundless West. 
 The Falls of St. Anthony, only ten miles from St. Paul as 
 the crow flies, and nearer twenty by the river, had within its 
 tumultuous waters the secret and potentiality that fixed the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FRONT VIEW, UNION STATION ST. PAUL, 1923 
 Photos—Northwestern Photographic Studios. 
 
 destiny of Minneapolis as the milling center not only of Min- 
 nesota and the United States but of the world. So diverse 
 stars presided at the birth of these twin cities. 
 
 St. Paul was settled in 1838 and chartered in 1854, by 
 which time Minneapolis was a thriving village of some 500 
 pioneers. In 1860, when the first census enumerator appeared 
 on the scene, St. Paul had a population of 10,401 to Minneapo- 
 lis’ 2,564. For a few years St. Paul had the advantage given 
 it by that first locomotive that landed on its banks from a 
 steamboat from Dubuque, and forged ahead. But before the 
 
402 HISTORY OF AMERICAN “KAILIWV ATs: 
 
 
 
 census taker of 1880 came around the railways had brought 
 prosperity and increased population to the younger city. 
 
 In 1862, according to James J. Hill, “the whole railroad 
 system of Minnesota, the gateway to the newer portion of 
 the Northwest, was comprised in ten miles of track connect- 
 ing St. Paul and St. Anthony”—mind you, a bridge across the 
 river had still to be built. 
 
 
 
 UNION STATION, ST, PAUL, MINN. Se 
 Progress of work from Robert Street Bridge. 
 Photos—Northwestern Photographic Studios. 
 
 In 1920 the population of St. Paul was 234,698, while that 
 of Minneapolis was 380,582, both cities owing their wonderful 
 development to the iron horse that had come out of the East 
 only sixty years ago to make distant fields and forests tribu- 
 tary to their flouring and lumber mills. . 
 
 Minneapolis, being dominated by only two or three lines, 
 had no difficulty in providing itself with an ample passenger 
 terminal; whereas St. Paul, being the center of half a dozen 
 diverse railway interests and having a very difficult problem, 
 terminal and through service, to solve, delayed its plans for 
 
TENTH DECADE, 1920 403 
 
 
 
 a union station until the demand became imperative. Once 
 decided upon, the work of replacing the old station with a 
 new one without abandoning the old was pushed with great 
 energy, with the result that St. Paul has now one of the most 
 modern passenger terminals in the country. The illustrations 
 of the layout and progress of the work given herewith in- 
 cate the difficulty of the task that has been accomplished. 
 
 
 
 
 
 MAIN CONCOURSE, ST. PAUL UNION STATION 
 
 The Struggle Back to Normal 
 
 With the labor situation somewhat clarified by the collapse 
 of the shopmen’s misguided strike of July 1, and the adjust- 
 ments with the Government over the return of the roads to 
 private operation nearer settlement, the railways in the 
 autumn of 1922 set themselves the task of adapting inadequate 
 facilities to the demands of increasing traffic. For ten years, 
 1912 to 1922, construction of new line had been practically 
 at a standstill, being barely sufficient to offset the mileage 
 abandoned, which, in the meantime, had amounted to over 
 
 
 
404 HISTORY OF AMERICAN. RAILWAYS 
 
 —— 
 
 6,000 miles—mostly of small lines and little or no traffic. 
 
 The shifting nature of railway classification by revenues at 
 $1,000,000, $100,000 and below, as well as the paralysis of pro- 
 gressive construction during the decade 1912 to 1922, is set forth 
 in the following statement: | 
 
 Miles of Line Operated 
 
 Year Class I Class ii «-ClassiLil.fAn Glasses 
 1912 218,247 20,288 9,446 247,981 
 1913 222,289 20,183 9,052 251.524 
 1914 225,007 20,398 9,149 254,554 
 1915 227,025 19,570 8,955 250/590 
 1916(a) 229,258 18,914 9,033 2575205 
 1917 230,611 18,440 8,867 257,618 
 1918 231,112 17,592 7,770 256,474 
 1919 232,411 16,966 7,195 256,572 
 1920 233,285 17,868 6,839 257,992 
 1921 234,702 17,432 6,228 258,362 
 1922 234,986 16,500 5,458 256,944 
 Ine percent’ 7.6% -D-18:6%' -D422% 3.6% 
 
 (a) Year ending December 31. D. Decrease. 
 
 The figures for Class 2. and Class 3 in 1922 are subject to 
 revision when the official annual reports are compiled. Rec- 
 
 
 
 WHERE NATURE DWARFS THE WORKS OF,MAN 
 Grand Canon Arizona, from North Rim 
 
TENTH DECADE, 1920 405 
 
 — 
 
 ognizing the defect of instability in classifying roads by the 
 fickle unit of revenues of successive years, the Commission on 
 November 20, 1920, adopted the revenues of the calendar 
 year 1919 as the basis for classification. 
 
 Not since the second decade of American railway history 
 has there been such an insignificant addition to the Nation’s 
 main line of transportation as during the period covered in 
 the above statement. Of the 16,739 increase credited to 
 Class 1 roads, at least one-half was taken over from the other 
 classes, principally by reason of the advance in rates in 1918 
 and 1920. During this period over 7,000 miles of line were 
 abandoned, against something like 10,000 miles of new con- 
 struction. 
 
 It was only through the construction of some 30,000 miles 
 of auxiliary track—that is, second, third and other track and 
 yard track and sidings—that the railways were able to cope 
 with the heavy demands made upon them during the war and 
 since in the normal development of national production and 
 commerce. What that amounts to since 1912 is shown in 
 the following figures for Class 1 roads: 
 
 Tons of freight Passengers 
 Year carried one mile carried one mile 
 1922 339,285,347,571 35,469,841 ,029 
 1912 259,981 628,198 32,316,262,549 
 Increase per cent 31.9% 9.7% 
 
 Two causes have operated to keep the passenger traffic 
 from increasing relatively to population, which increased ap- 
 proximately 15 per cent during the decade—the diversion of 
 travel to motoring, both in touring and suburban rides, and 
 the advance in average passenger rates from two to three 
 cents. With an increase of less than 10 per cent in passenger 
 mileage there was an increase of nearly 68 per cent in passen- 
 ger revenues. In freight receipts the combination of in- 
 creased stonnace, 31:9. per. cent, and increased rates raised 
 the receipts from $1,897,692,838 in 1912 to $3,992,442,459 in 
 1922, or 110 per cent. 
 
 The growth of railway service is measured by the traffic 
 movement and not by revenues, which in this case were 
 
406 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 swelled by rates and fares advanced to meet an increase of 
 over 120 per cent in the compensation of employes. 
 
 But it was left for the year 1923 to demonstrate the return 
 of the railways to more than pre-war efficiency. Operating 
 on what sailors call “an even keel” throughout the year, with 
 no untoward circumstances in the way of strikes or regulatory 
 reactions; with only minor adjustments of rates and wages 
 to upset the reasonable anticipation of transportation de- 
 mands, the railways of the United States in 1923 succeeded 
 in handling the greatest volume of freight in their history. 
 Except for the abnormal movement attendant on the assem- 
 bling and disbanding of an army of over 4,000,000 men during 
 1917-1920, the same would have been true of passenger traf- 
 fic. Only figures can tell the full story of the magnitude of 
 what energetic and concerted railway management accom- 
 plished in 1923. Using the year 1916, their most successful 
 year before the war, for comparison, the essential figures for 
 Class 1 roads in 1923 were as follows: 
 
 Item 191624 1923 
 Operated Mileage cain wcosee on ee te ae 229 525 234,759 
 Hitless alletraclen ys. de secus cue tees neat eee 364,137 382,101 
 ILQCOMIOLIVESE 6c. . cle ee ee ee eee 61,013 64,879 
 Passeneer icarst icc: aero 52,179 54,834 
 Fyeronte CaS ian aon ore ee eed 2,280,955 2,314,389 
 Passentersecarried ®. 7 7e ae oe 1,005, 954, 777 985,908,000 
 Passengers carried 1 mile..... 34, 585 952.026 38,005,922 ,000 
 Hreight tons xcarried 5... ys 2,179,696,043 2,312,200,000 
 Freight tons carried 1 milc. 362, 444, 397, 129 413,562,132,000 
 Passenversréventies: 729 aes. eon. $706, 608, wu $1,147,365,989 
 Receipts, pér passenger mile......... 2.042 c 3.029:Ct 
 Freight revenues ..... aetain dere: $2,560,988, 1 $4,613,954,874 
 Receipts “per? ton: anileroe se ae 707 ct. Pell 6-68 
 
 Total operating revenues...$3,596,865,766 $6,356,890,737 
 Total operating expenses... 2,357,398,412 4,943,928,145 
 
 Operatiip tratiog iinet, sa ee ee ee 65.54% 77.17% 
 PCS ee ea ce Oe an sk eA Ee Oe Ge ls7s1 3372 $336,381,765 
 Rent of equipment and facilities 41, 471 079 96,847,506 
 
 Net operating income...... 1,040, 882. 000 977,657,368 
 Nuamber-of employesss 4 .o5 «so oeke 1 647, 097 1,879,770 
 Cambensationws o.oo $1,468, 576, 394 $3,043,161,163 
 Average per=veati i 64. soasd ite an $891 $1,619 
 PerdAcent! ofereventiesiin dncueaneke inion 40.8% 47. 9% 
 
 With this exhibit of the wonderful recovery of the rail- 
 ways under private operation from the tribulations and dis- 
 organization under Federal control, our record of their amaz- 
 
TENTH DECADE, 1920 407 
 
 ing accomplishment is properly rounded out by the comple- 
 tion of two great union stations in Chicago and St. Paul as 
 illustrated in preceding pages. The sites of these two cities 
 were Indian trading posts, unmarked on the maps accessible 
 to Carroll of Carrollton when he turned the first sod of the 
 Baltimore & Ohio, ninety- 
 seven years ago. Today their 
 place in the industrial life of 
 the republic and as great rail- 
 way centers justifies the erec- 
 tion of two of the largest pas- 
 senger stations in the world, 
 embodying in their construc- 
 tion every convenience and 
 requirement of modern rail- 
 way travel. 
 
 The Castleton Cut-off 
 
 One of the first principles 
 ote tailway location = 4s . to 
 straighten out as nearly as 
 possible all angles, for the THE LATE A, H. SMITH 
 perfect railway is a straight level line between two places. 
 Being practically impossible, it remains the objective of all 
 the realignment and reduction of curves that figure constantly 
 in railway betterments and improvements. The latest in- 
 stance of this rectification of a long standing obstruction to 
 economic operation of increasing traffic was the opening of the 
 so-called “A. H. Smith Memorial Bridge” over the Hudson 
 at Castleton. The necessity for this was a legacy of 1830, 
 when the Albany to Schenectady was built. 
 
 If the reader will take a straight edge rule and run a line 
 on the map of New York State from Castleton to Hoffmans, a 
 few miles west of Schenectady, he will perceive how modern 
 engineering gets around the acute angle in the New York 
 Central’s main line to Chicago at Albany. The bridge across 
 the Hudson also obviated the necessity of running freight 
 trains for Boston through Albany. 
 
 
 
408 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The accompanying map shows the advantages of the new 
 cut-off in point of distance, but it does not tell of how it 
 avoids the steep. grades and low level bridges at the head 
 of navigable water in the Hudson. It was steamboat traffic 
 that made Albany the gateway for early western transporta- 
 tion, and now the increase of traffic has made the expenditure 
 
 eh 
 
 
 
 CASTLETON CUT-OFF—SHOWING BRIDGE OVER HUDSON 
 
 of $25,000,000 on this cut-off an economic investment for the 
 railways. 
 
 The picturesque as well as the engineering feature of this 
 cut-off is the bridge, which is a double track through truss 
 steel structure. It consists of two river spans of 600 and 400 
 feet, respectively, resting upon three massive stone and 
 concrete piers. : 
 
 The map shows the location at Selkirk of one of the largest 
 and most efficiently equipped terminal freight yards in the 
 world, with a present capacity of 11,000 cars. It has two 
 
’ TENTH DECADE, 1920 409 
 
 
 
 
 
 electrically operated switching humps for handling east and 
 
 west bound business, respectively. 
 
 | | Capitalization in 1848 and 1923 
 
 Throughout this history of the American railways the 
 question of their capitalization has been the “poor relation” 
 that presided at their birth and haunted every proposal for 
 their extension, expansion.and nourishment. There has never 
 
 
 
410 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 been a time, since Carroll of Carrollton turned the first spade 
 of dirt for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad down to the check 
 for $100,000 paid last year for a single locomotive, that every 
 dollar spent for that spade or that locomotive has not been 
 suspected of concealing “Water.” No decade reviewed in the 
 preceding chapters has been without its indiscriminate cry 
 of “Water! Water!”, the implication being that the stated 
 capitalization of all the railways far exceeded the amount in- 
 vested in them. 
 Investment in Early New England Roads 
 
 In 1848 a committee of the Massachusetts legislature made 
 an investigation of the railroads of the commonwealth and 
 reported the following facts: 
 
 Lencsthtotercads, sinless eee ice 954.3 
 Length of double track, miles...... 22052 
 Capital oe ae taroumRor ee $50,004,100 
 Gapital *paititie eee ere 37,009,560 
 COSTS 5. see: Stee ee eee 46,777,009 
 
 As the lst of roads covered by this statement included 
 several unfinished lines, the committee presented another 
 table of 28 completed roads with a total of 913 miles of main 
 track and 89 miles of branches which had cost $43,865,256, or 
 $43,781 per mile. Elsewhere in the report it appeared that 
 the discrepancy between the capital paid in’and the capital 
 was made up by an indebtedness of $12,420,201 and other 
 items. 
 
 The committee also calls attention to the fact that the 
 average cost of 4,420 miles in England in 1848 was about 
 $142,000 per mile and added: “There is no road in this 
 country which cost the average of the English lines, excepting, 
 perhaps, the Reading Railroad in Pennsylvania.” 
 
 How near the surmise of the Massachusetts committee 
 was to the truth is shown by the following figures from the 
 Reading Railroad’s balance sheet of November, 1848: 
 
 Railroad even cate eee -.$11,264,715.41 
 DepOtsias vii eee le ee eae 205,324.87 
 Locomotive engines and cars.. 2,278,326.36 
 Realeestate wee. 0.8 ie eee ee 478,514.52 
 
 Totem tee eae $14,226,881.16 
 
 Perrinile, (95 milesv ee 152,977.00 
 

 
 
 
 PENT DECADE 1920 411 
 
 
 
 Unlike a majority of the roads at that time, the Reading 
 was double tracked all the way. 
 
 One-sixth of the railway mileage of the United States . 
 was covered in the review of the Massachusetts committee 
 in 1848. The population of the Republic has grown from 
 22,000,000 in 1848 to, say, 112,000,000 in 1924, or well over 
 400 per cent, but the railway mileage has increased over 4,000 
 percent. In 1848 there was only one mile of railway to some 
 3,600 inhabitants, where there is one mile of line to about 420 
 inhabitants now. | 
 
 That it has taken millions and billions of dollars to work 
 this amazing transformation no serious, straight-minded stu- 
 dent will question. Water does not run up hill at that rate. 
 Therefore it is not surprising to find the seeming miracle 
 represented in such official capitalization figures as these for 
 250,000 miles of operated line: 
 
 ee TERS OC pee eared Mere area a be eee eI cre he sb eislnye eco se $ 7,626,037 ,584 
 Peet) Ct Mes ete eas es ee feet Oe SP eee eS 11,961,375,063 
 PReeeTVeioeaCeh 1ICALCSH aurea ic eile dni ee eos Seabee Bi 6,943,968 
 
 Total 190,000 miles owned and 60,000 miles rented 19,594,356,613 
 
 For the purposes of this statement the rental of non- 
 operating roads is capitalized as offsetting their capitaliza- 
 tion, thus sidestepping the pitfall of intercorporate relations. 
 
 The total investment reported for the same roads to De- 
 cember 31, 1922, was $20,961,692,520; and so we have— 
 
 Capital per mile of operated line...... $78,377 
 Investment per mile of operated line.. 83,846 
 If the reader is inclined to question the relative reasonable- 
 ness of these figures compared with the findings of the Massa- 
 chusetts committee in 1848, let him compare the railway of 
 1848, as symbolized in the Pioneer locomotive landed in Chi- 
 cago that year, with the last locomotive illustrated in this 
 book, and he will get a clearer realization of the cost of the 
 railway service at the disposal of Americans today at lower 
 rates than prevailed then. 
 In the presence of such impressive figures and facts, the 
 official valuation of the railways made by the Interstate Com- 
 merce Commission in 1920, of $18 900 000 000, seems easily 
 
412 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 within the mark. If it were possible to summon every dollar 
 sunk irrevocably in right of way, rail, tie, station, bridge, 
 viaduct, culvert, locomotive, car, shovel, tool, machine, signal, 
 safety device, convenience and patent contraption of American 
 railways from the opening of the Quincy tramway until now, 
 it would present a column of figures whose sum would reach 
 billions beyond the vast totals that can be accounted for. 
 The vastness of its minutiae precludes its attempt. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J! INDIANA 
 
 
 
 Sour, i 
 
 Pee icay 
 
 
 
 LAY-OUT OF THE NEW ILLINOIS CENTRAL TERMINAL 
 
 Moreover, the brains, the vision, the adaptation of small 
 means to great ends that has attended the building and man- 
 agement of American railways is a priceless heritage worthy 
 of a place in the annals of the Republic only one step below 
 that accorded to its founders and preservers. 
 
 TEE PALES T PASSENGE RIS PATION 
 
 Many of our readers who have followed this brief history 
 may have come into the passenger station of the Illinois Cen- 
 tral when it was located at the foot of Randolph Street, Chi- 
 cago, in the early 50’s. Many more have passed through the 
 company’s “new” station opened April 17, 1893, at Park Row, 
 for it was there during the World’s Fair. And now, just as 
 it has become inadequate through a like expansion of traffic, it 
 is to be succeeded by a modern structure and terminal that is 
 intended to embody every convenience adopted in railway pas- 
 senger service. | | 
 
TENTH DECADE, 1920 413 
 
 
 
 Only the tentative plans are available at this writing. But 
 their general features must conform to the necessary confines 
 of the situation—a terminal for through traffic that shall not 
 interfere with one of the most necessary and densest suburban 
 services in the United States; electrification of all tracks pass- 
 ing through to the vast freight yards that open like a fan 
 from Madison Street to the Chicago River and a head house 
 that shall accommodate the ever-expanding passenger traffic 
 
 
 
 GENERAL PLAN HEAD HOUSE AND CONCOURSE 
 
 of the Illinois Central, with its direct connections that range 
 all the way from Minneapolis in the Northwest to Jackson- 
 ville in the Southeast, and of the Michigan Central and its 
 immediate connections through Detroit and Buffalo with the 
 East. } | 
 
 The new station will front on Twelfth Street, a short block 
 south and somewhat east of the present building. It will be 
 the third noteworthy structure of the three that form a tri- 
 angle with the Field Museum and the Municipal Stadium 
 at the southern end of Grant Park. 
 
 The architects’ drawings must suffice to give an idea of 
 what this new addition to America’s monumental passenger 
 
414 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 stations will be, and one or two like it are contemplated before 
 Chicago is equipped for the second century of rail transporta- 
 tion mi thesUnited: States. 
 
 Is This to Be the Last Word in Steam Locomotives? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 STEAM TURBINE LOCOMOTIVE 
 Exhibited by Krupp Works at the Railroad Fair, Berlin, 1924. 
 —Photos, Gilliams Service, New York 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE RAILWAY DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY 
 
 “The man’s the gowd for a’ that.’—Burns. 
 
 le no other occupation does the eye to see, the hand to do 
 and the sane mind in the sound body find its due reward 
 with more certainty than in the railway 
 service. Its doors of opportunity swing 
 inward to the multitude who are annually 
 entered on its rolls. It is a steep climb 
 from the bottom rung, which is open to all, 
 to the top of one of the hundreds of com- 
 panies; but the footing is sure and the re- 
 wards increase with every step. The goal 
 of place, honor and competence is always 
 there to him who brings to the service en- 
 ere ye ucusthysandaie Sopiriy. tonstcceed «MARVIN TU GHITT 
 And all along the way the railroad em- 
 
 ploye has the satisfaction of knowing that he is engaged in a 
 useful and necessary public service. 
 
 That these are no idle words is proved by the following 
 brief biographical notes of the men who today are at the head 
 of the leading railway systems of the country. 
 
 
 
 Beginning with Marvin Hughitt, whose eyes, undimmed at 
 eighty-seven, have seen the railways of the United States 
 expand from their first thousand to 250 thousand miles. He 
 was born at Genoa, New York State, in 1837, before the rail- 
 way had penetrated that far into the wilderness, but he sailed 
 his boyhood boats on the Erie Canal. At the age of sixteen 
 he entered service of the telegraph company at Syracuse 
 as a messenger boy, less than ten years after Morse had pat- 
 ented his invention. In 1854 he migrated to Chicago, entered 
 the railway service as a telegraph operator and by 1862 had 
 reached the position of trainmaster on the St. Louis, Alton & 
 
416 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Chicago Railroad; from 1862 
 to 1864 he was superintendent 
 of the Southern Division of 
 the Illinois Central, then gen- 
 eral superintendent of the 
 same road until 18/0; assist- 
 ant general manager of the 
 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
 Paul; and general manager of 
 the Pullman Palace Car Com- 
 ‘pany, 1871 to 1872. Since that 
 date he has been connected 
 with the Chicago & North 
 Western successively as gen- 
 eral ‘superintendent, general 
 manager, vice-president, pres- 
 ident, 1887-1910, and chair- 
 man of the Board of Directors 
 since then—over 70 years in 
 railway and public service. 
 After this brief outline of length of service, the career of 
 the present head of the great system that harks back to the 
 Camden & Amboy Railroad of 1830 engages attention. Samuel 
 Rea, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was born at 
 Hollidaysburg, Pa.,.in 1855. At sixteen he 
 entered the railway service, in the engineer- 
 ing department. The accompanying por- 
 trait shows him engaged in the same work 
 as illustrated in Lyman Abbott’s story of 
 the building of the Erie. From 1874 to 1875 
 Mr. Rea held a clerical position with the 
 Hollidaysburg Iron & Nail Company. In 
 1875 he re-entered the Pennsylvania’s serv- 
 ice in the engineering corps, in which by 
 1883 he had risen by successive steps to be SAMUEL REA 
 principal assistant engineer (of. the: system + when! casaeeauas 
 
 Pets d A survey of the Pitts- 
 assistant to second vice president (1888); burgh & Lake Erie 
 
 
 
 MARVIN HUGHITT—1924 
 —Steffens, Chicago 
 
 
 
RAILWAY DOORTOR OPPORTUNITY 417 
 
 
 
 out of the service from 1889 
 to 1892; then returned to ser- 
 vice as assistant to president; 
 fourth vice president (1899) ; 
 successively third, second and 
 first vice-president; president 
 since 1913; supervised con- 
 struction of New York terminal 
 extension and station. It was 
 the good fortune of Mr. Rea to 
 enter the service of the Penn- 
 sylvania when it was under 
 the management of A. J. Cas- 
 satt, who rose from rodman in 
 1861. to general manager in 
 1870 and president in 1899 to 
 
 1906. 
 Patrick E. Crowley, presi- 
 
 dent of the New York Cen- 
 tral Lines, affords a typical 
 
 
 
 PATRICK Es CROWLEY 
 
 
 
 SAMUEL REA—1924 
 
 illustration of the _ railway 
 road from the common lot to 
 high distinction. Born in 
 1864, at the age of twelve Mr. 
 Crowley was a messenger boy 
 in his father’s station on the 
 Erie at Cattaraugus, New 
 York, earning five dollars a 
 month. He entered the serv- 
 ice of the Erie as a telegraph 
 operator at fourteen and by 
 1888 had risen to train dis- 
 patcher on the Rome, Water- 
 town & Ogdensburg, now a 
 part of the New York Cen- 
 tral. From then on his pro- 
 motion has been rapid. By 
 1904 he was assistant general 
 
418 HISTORY OF AMERICAN, RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 DANIEL WILLARD 
 
 one more instance of how the 
 highest office in railway serv- 
 ice beckons the ambitious boy 
 from the humblest station in 
 lie “eborne in meV ermoni ait 
 1861, he was a railway track 
 laborer “at “eighteen on > the 
 Central Vermont Railway. 
 Brom pthenton, he ihas “been 
 locomotive fireman, engineer, 
 roundhouse foreman and 
 trainmaster, until at 37 he had 
 risen to superintendency of 
 the Minneapolis, St. Paul & 
 Sault Ste. Marie road. Thence 
 he went to the Baltimore & 
 Ohio as assistant. general 
 manager in 1901; second vice- 
 
 
 
 superintendent of the New 
 York Central, and 1916 found 
 him vice-president in charge 
 of operation of the same road. 
 In 1924 he succeeded to the 
 presidency on the _ tragic 
 death of A. H. Smith, whose 
 career from messenger boy to 
 president had been a close 
 counterpart of the long hours 
 of labor and “nights devoid of 
 ease” by which Mr. Crowley 
 fitted himself for one of the 
 most responsible and arduous 
 offices in the railway world. 
 
 Daniel Willard, president 
 of the Baltimore & Ohio, an- 
 other of the early roads, is 
 
 
 
 FRANK H. ALFRED 
 
RAILWAY DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY 419 
 
 
 
 president in charge of opera- 
 tion of the Chicago, Burling- 
 ton & Quincy, 1904-1910; and 
 president of the Baltimore & 
 Ohio since then. 
 
 But the inspiring tale of 
 how these men, irrespective 
 of the circumstance of birth, 
 worked themselves up_ to 
 places of great responsibilty 
 must. be curtailed sto the 
 barest outline. Taking them in 
 alphabetical order, the review 
 of each in main is restricted 
 to where they began, when 
 they arrived and their present 
 position, 
 
 Frank H. Alfred, president 
 Peron wrardnette Kin entered L. W. BALDWIN 
 service in 1387. when 21 years Moffit Photo, Courtesy Railway Review. 
 old, as rodman on construction Columbus, Lima & Milwaukee 
 R. R; 1889-1894, assistant engineer Norfolk & Western R. R. 
 construction work at Columbus, O.; assistant, then chief en- 
 gineer, Pere Marquette 1900-05; out of service three years; 
 with Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton Ry. 1908-12; general 
 manager for receivers Pere: Marquette 1912-17; president and 
 general manager since 1917. 
 
 Lewis W. Baldwin, president Missouri 
 Pacific R. R., entered service of Illinois Cen- 
 fide elven 1306 when 2leyears, old) .as 
 chainman; successive positions 1896-1915 on 
 same road up to general superintendency of 
 southern lines; 1915-18 vice-president and 
 general manager of Georgia Ry.; assistant 
 regional director under U. S. administration 
 1918-20; vice-president Illinois Central 1920- 
 23; present position since 1923. 
 
 W. G. BESLER AT 21 William G. Besler, president Central R. 
 
 
 
 
 
420 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 WILLIAM G. BESLER 
 —Pach, New York 
 
 eral manager and vice-presi- 
 dent Central R. R. Co of New 
 Jersey 1902-14, president 
 sincesl 922. 
 
 Ralph Budd, president 
 Great Northern Ry., entered 
 service of Chicago, Great 
 Western as rodman in 1899, 
 when 22- years old; in en- 
 gineering department same 
 road 1899-1902, advancing to 
 assistant engineer, superin- 
 tendent construction and divi- 
 sion engineer Chicago, Rock 
 Island & Pacific 1902-06; 
 chief engineer Panama R. R. 
 1906-09; chief engineer Great 
 Northern Ry. 1913-14, and 
 present office since 1919, 
 
 
 
 
 
 R. of New Jersey, entered ser- 
 Vice von the Gs, by CO) eee 
 at Galesburg, Ill., as train- 
 master’s clerk; transferred to 
 general offices in Chicago, be- 
 coming private secretary to 
 general manager and chief 
 clerk in general superintend- 
 ent’s office; Massachusetts In- 
 stitute of Technology 1884- 
 88; re-entering the service on 
 the same road as night train- 
 
 master, subsequently  train- 
 master and division superin- 
 tendent, 1888-99;  superin- 
 
 tendent Reading and Lebanon 
 divisions and general super- 
 intendent Philadelphia & 
 Reading Co. 1899-1902; gen- 
 
 RALPH BUDD 
 
RAILWAY DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY 421 
 
 H. E. Bryam, president 
 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
 Paulo ingementercar service. oF 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quin- 
 Cy RatRivass call boyrins eels 
 when “16 years-old ;? out:of 
 service 1889-1894; re-entered 
 with Great Northern in latter 
 year; superintendent Cascade 
 division that road 1899-1902; 
 vice-president C., B. & Q. 
 R. R. 1910-17; president C., 
 Moot nino resince: LOT 7, 
 
 Agnew T. Dice, president 
 Philadelphia & Reading Ry., 
 entered service with Penn- 
 sylvania R. R. in 1881, when 
 19 years old, as flagman with 
 
 
 
 HOWARD ELLIOTT 
 —Underwood & Underwood 
 
 
 
 AGNEW T. DICE 
 
 engineering corps; rodman 
 and assistant engineer 188/- 
 88; various positions same 
 
 road up to supervisor 1888- 
 92; superintendent of signals 
 New York Central & Hud- 
 son River Ry. 1892-93 ; super- 
 intendent Shamokin division 
 Philadelphia & Reading Ry. 
 1897-1903; general superin- 
 tendent, general manager, 
 vice-president same consecu- 
 tively 1903-16; present posi- 
 tion since 1916. 
 
 Howard Elliott, chairman 
 Northern Pacific Ry. and 
 New York, New Haven & 
 
422 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAY» 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 SAMUEL M. FEL- 
 TON AT 30 
 
 When Vice-president 
 of the Erie 
 —Photo L. Almon 
 
 Hartford R. R., graduate Lawrence Scien- 
 tific School, Harvard, entered service of Chi- 
 cago, Burlington.& Quincy R. R. in 1880, 
 during vacation, as rodman, when 20 years 
 old; held various clerical positions up to 
 general freight agent Hannibal & St. Joseph 
 R. R. 1891-96; second vice-president Chi- 
 cago, Burlington & Quincy 1902-03; presi- 
 dent Northern Pacific 1903-13; 1913 to 1917 
 president and chairman New York, New 
 Haven & Hartford; 1917 to 1920 president 
 Northern Pacific and present position since 
 "1920. 
 
 Samuel M. Felton, president Chicago Great Western R. R., 
 eraduated as civil engineer from Massachusetts Institute of 
 Technology in 1873 at the age of 20; chief engineer Chester 
 & Delaware River R. R. 1873-4; general superintendent Pitts- 
 burgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Ry. 1874-81; general manager 
 New York & New England R. R. 1882-84; vice-president 
 
 New York, Lake .Erie & 
 Western R. R. 1885-90; presi- 
 dent Cincinnati, New Orleans 
 & Texas Pacific Ry. 1890-99; 
 for that and 
 various other roads after the 
 panic’ of 18935" president: ‘ot 
 Chicago & Alton and affiliated 
 roads 1899-1907; president 
 Mexican Central 1907-09; 
 president and receiver Pere 
 Marquette 1912-1914; director 
 general of Military Railways 
 U. S. Army 1917-18; present 
 
 also receiver 
 
 position since 
 
 lives of Mr. Felton and his 
 father cover 79 years of rail- 
 
 way service. 
 
 1909. The 
 
 
 
 SAMUEL M. FELTON—1924 
 

 
 
 
 William H. Finley, presi- 
 dent Chicago & North West- 
 eri Ry, wentered Service (2s 
 draftsman on the Chicago, 
 Milwatkee so 75t.. paul) Ry: 
 in 1887, when 25 years old; 
 engineer of bridges Chicago & 
 
 North Western 1892; chief 
 engineer ssame road 7 1913; 
 president “same. road since 
 1918. 
 
 James E. Gorman, presi- 
 
 dent Chicago, Rock Island & 
 Pacific Ry., entered railway 
 service with the G:, B.& O. 
 at 13 as:\car number taker; 
 with the Chicago, Burlington 
 & Quincy for four years, then 
 
 
 
 JAMES E,. GORMAN 
 
 RAILWAY DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY 423 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 WILLIAM H. FINLEY 
 
 held various positions with 
 the Rock Island, the Chicago 
 Lumber Co., Chicago & North 
 Western, Sante Fe, and Illi- 
 nois Central, moving upward, 
 until 1895, when he was chief 
 clerk of the Sante Fe, becom- 
 ing freight traffic manager of 
 the same road in 1905; went 
 back to Rock Island as first 
 vice-president in 1909; chief 
 executives under «receivéeroin 
 1915 and president since 1917 
 except for ‘period of Federal 
 control, when he served as 
 Federal manager. 
 
 Carl R. Gray, president 
 Union Pacihe. System, “en- 
 tered service of St. Louis & 
 San Francisco R. R. as tele- 
 
424 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 graph opera- 
 tor in 1882, 
 Ww) heer ala 
 years old; by 
 1897 he had 
 TiseHeeto pe 
 division su- 
 perintend- 
 ent; by 1900 
 superintend- 
 ent of trans- 
 portation; by 
 1904 general manager, and by 
 1909 senior vice-president— 
 all with the same road; presi- 
 dent of Spokane, Portland & 
 Seattle Ry 1911-12; president 
 Great Northern Ry 1912-14; 
 
 
 
 ' CARL R. GRAY 
 Ni ae B) 
 
 -—j, Ee) Crouch, artist, 
 Fayettesville, Ark. 
 
 president Western Maryland - 
 
 Ry. 1914-17; director Division 
 of Operation U. S. Railroad 
 
 
 
 FAIRFAX HARRISON 
 
 
 
 CARL R. GRAY 
 —Moffet, Chicago 
 
 Administration 1918-19; and 
 president Union Pacific since 
 January 1, 1920. 
 
 Fairfax Harrison, presi- 
 dent Southern Railway Sys- 
 tem, admitted to the bar in 
 New York in 1892, when 23 
 years old, in practice until 
 1896, when he entered railway 
 service as Solicitor of South- 
 ern Ry.; assistant to presi- 
 dent and vice-president of. 
 same road until 1910; then 
 president of the Chicago, In- 
 dianapolis & Louisville 
 (Monon) Ry. until 1913, since 
 then President Southern Rail- 
 way and affiliated roads. 
 
 Hale Holden, president 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
 
RAILWAY DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY 425 
 
 
 
 Ry., after graduating from 
 Harvard Law School prac- 
 ticed law in Kansas City until 
 1907, when at the age of 38 he 
 entered railway service as 
 general attorney for road 
 named; assistant to president 
 1910-12; vice-president 1912-: 
 14; president 1914-18;  re- 
 gional director Central West- 
 ern region 1918-20; present 
 position since 1920. 
 
 Mr. Holden = succeeded 
 Darius Miller, who himself 
 
 entered railway service at the 
 age of eighteen as stenog- HALE HOLDEN 
 rapher in the general freight office of the Michigan Central. 
 William J. Jackson, president Chicago & Eastern Illinois 
 Ry., entered service in 1877, when 18 years old, with Grand 
 Trunk Ry. as machinist’s helper; 18/8-81 freight clerk 
 same road; 1882-85 chief 
 claim clerk Chicago & Grand 
 Trunk Ry. at Chicago; 1891- 
 93 assistant local freight 
 again ©. ht care O ea Hast- 
 ern Illinois; 
 Same ¢ 1893 
 various posi- 
 tions same 
 Boudnatip. to 
 presidentand 
 Heeervy.er; 
 19 1 3+1918; 
 federal man- 
 ager 1918-20; 
 receiver and 
 presrdent 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 : WILLIAM J. 
 DARIUS MILLER since. JACKSON AT 20 
 
426 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 
 
 John R. Kenly, president 
 Atlantic Coast Line R. R., en- 
 tered service as construction 
 engineer Pittsburgh & Con- 
 nelsville R. R. in 1871, when 
 22 years old; superintendent 
 Richmond & Petersburg R. R. 
 1882-85; various positions on 
 Atlantic Coast Line 1885 to 
 1913, and since that his pres- 
 ent position. 
 
 Se 
 Boi 
 BESEOUNES 
 
 B55 
 
 
 
 JOHN R. KENLY 
 
 Julius Kruttschnitt, chair- 
 man Southern Pacific Com- 
 pany, was born in New Or- 
 leans in 1854, graduated as 
 a civil engineer at Washing- 
 ton & Lee University, assist- 
 ant teacher in McDonough’s 
 School, near Baltimore, 1873- 
 
 JULIUS KRUTTSCHNITT : : 
 Diedi Tune 45.1925: , 78; entered railway service at 
 
 24; general manager Atlantic system Southern Pacific Co, at 
 35; general manager of all Southern Pacific lines at 41; direc- 
 tor of maintenance and operation Southern Pacific Co., 
 
 
 
RAILWAY DOOR QF -ORPORTUNITY 
 
 Union -Paciic# RR. kh Oregon 
 Short Line and Oregon- 
 Washington R. R. & Naviga- 
 tion Co. at 50, and chairman 
 Southern Pacific Company 
 LOVS. inti retirement in 1925. 
 
 James M. Kurn, president 
 St. Louis-San Francisco Ry., 
 entered service in 1885, when 
 15 years old, as telegraph op- 
 erator on the Michigan Cen- 
 alee  transierred » tO 
 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 
 in 1887 in same capacity, be- 
 
 
 
 
 
 J. M. KURN 
 —Straus’ Photograph 
 
 coming train dispatcher in 1891 and chief dispatcher in 1900; 
 trainmaster Pueblo in 1901; promoted to division superintenden: 
 Rio Grande division 1905; superintendent New Mexico division 
 1906-10; general superintendent western lines 1910-14; 1914-18 
 president Detroit, Toledo & Ironton R. R.; first vice-president St. 
 Louis San Francisco 1918 and general manager during Federal 
 control; present position since March 1, 1920. 
 
 Robert S. Lovett, 
 
 
 
 ROBERT S. LOVETT 
 —Underwood & Underwood 
 
 chairman Executive 
 
 Board Union 
 Pacific System, entered: rail- 
 road service at 24 in 1884 as 
 local attorney of Houston 
 Hasta & tVWVestavexase Kotka: 
 attorney for) all 
 Southern Pacific lines, in 
 Texas 1892-1903; 
 counsel for Union Pacific and 
 Southern Pacific afhliated 
 lines 1904-09; chairman Ex- 
 ecutive Committee and presi- 
 dent) “Union ~Pacifie’” and 
 Southern "Pacific. (systems 
 since 1909-13 (when relations 
 of two systems were dis- 
 solved), chairman Executive 
 
 general 
 
 general 
 
428 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 “ 
 ~ 
 
 
 
 Committee Union Pacific since 1913, and director of capital 
 expeditures under United States Railway Administration 
 
 1918-1920. 
 
 L. F. Loree, president Delaware & 
 Hudson Co. and chairman Executive Com- 
 mittee Kansas City Southern Ry., entered 
 service Pennsylvania R. R. as assistant in 
 engineer corps in 1877, when 19 years old; 
 1883-84 assistant engineer Chicago divi- 
 sion Pennsylvania lines west; president 
 Baltimore & Ohio R. R. 1901-04; chairman 
 Executive Committee Chicago Rock Island 
 & Pacific Ry. and affiliated companies 
 January to October, 1904; 
 chairman. Kansas. City 
 Seuthern~ since: “19065 and 
 president and chairman Dela- 
 ware & Hudson Co. since 
 1907. 
 
 Charles H. Markham, 
 president Illinois Central R. 
 R. and Yazoo & Mississippi 
 Valley R. R., entered railway 
 service as section laborer on 
 the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
 Fe in 1881; various positions 
 on Southern Pacific succes- 
 
 
 
 L, \F.-LOREE At 20 
 
 
 
 L. F,. LOREE 
 
 sively up to general manager 
 1881-1904; out of railway 
 service 1904-1911; president 
 Illinois Central and affiliated 
 tompanies 1911 to date. C. H. MARKHAM AT 20 
 
 
 
RAILWAY DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY 429 
 
 W. L. Mapother, president 
 Louisville & Nashville R. R., 
 entered service as office boy in 
 secretary's office that road in 
 1888, when 16 years old; rose 
 through various positions to 
 chief clerk Executive Depart- 
 ment in 1904; assistant to pres- 
 ident one year; first vice-presi- 
 dent in 1905-18; Federal man- 
 ager 1918-20; succeeded to 
 presidency in 1921 on the death 
 of Milton H. Smith, a heroic 
 figure in the public and railway 
 life of the South. The accom- 
 panying portrait of Mr. Smith 
 was furnished by his successor 
 
 in lieu of an earlier one of him- 
 self. 
 
 
 
 CHARLES H. MARKHAM 
 
 Regional Director of the 
 
 1 Allegheny 
 Region Under Federal Control 
 
 1918-19. 
 
 
 
 ae ; ; 
 Mr. Smith’s record, itself reading like a romance, was 
 
 typical of those hardships, struggles and long hours of work and 
 study by which railway officials have breasted the currents of 
 
 
 
 W. L. MAPOTHER 
 
 life td win recognition and 
 
 success. He was born a year 
 earlier than his contemporary, 
 Marvin Hughitt, and. entered 
 railway service as an operator 
 and clerk; he was with the mili- 
 tary railways of the South dur- 
 ing the war; after that he held 
 positions with the B. & O. and 
 Pennsylvania railroads until 
 1882. From that time he was 
 identified with the Louisville 
 & Nashville, as IT with HIM, 
 from 3d vice-president to Presi- 
 dent (1891), dying in harness 
 in 1920. 
 
430 HISLORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 MILTON H. SMITH 
 
 1909 and present position since 
 LoZ2 
 
 Charles E. Schaff, presi- 
 dent Missouri-Kansas-Texas 
 Lines, entered service in 18/1, 
 when 15 years old, as brake- 
 man; held various positions 
 on different roads up to gen- 
 eral superintendent Peoria & 
 Pekin Union Railway in 1893; 
 assistant to president Cleve- 
 land), Gincinnati;.Chicago 7& 
 St. Louis Railway, and gen- 
 eral manager same road 1894- 
 1906; 1906-12 vice-president 
 New York Central Lines at 
 
 
 
 Edmund Pennington, chair- 
 man of Board Minneapolis, St. 
 Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Rail- 
 way (“Soo” System), entered 
 service as warehouseman and 
 brakeman in 1869, when 21 
 years old, with Chicago, Mil- 
 waukee & St. Paul Railway; 
 rose through various offices to 
 assistant superintendent Iowa 
 and Dakota divisions same road 
 1869-84; superintendent Min- 
 neapolis & Pacific R. R. 1884- 
 88; with “Soo” since 1888 in 
 consecutive offices from super- 
 intendent up to president in 
 
 
 
 C. E. SCHAFF 
 —J. C. Straus, St. Louis 
 
—— ee 
 
 
 
 RAILWAY DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY 431 
 
 
 
 Chicago; present position 
 since Olz. 
 
 William Sproule, president 
 southern, Pacinc.. Company, 
 entered railway service as 
 freight clerk Southern Pa- 
 cic. Wow |bo2s"ocneral ‘trafic 
 manager same 1898-1906; out 
 of service 1906-11 with the 
 American Smelting and Re- 
 fining Co. and president of 
 Wells Fargo & Co.; ‘re-en- 
 tered service in 1911 and since 
 as president of the Southern 
 Pacific. Duringithe war Mr: 
 
 
 
 
 
 WILLIAM SPROULE 
 
 Sproule was district director 
 ofethe* Geéntral’-Western Re- 
 gion. 
 
 W. B. Storey, president 
 Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
 Fe Railway, began railway 
 service as axeman at age of 
 20 years; after working one 
 year. took *a college. course 
 and re-entered railway serv- 
 ice in 1881; engineer with 
 United States Hydraulic Min- 
 ing Commission at 36; re- 
 entering railway service in 
 1895 he was chief engineer 
 and general superintendent of 
 thejeoan oP rancisco. .&\oail 
 Joaquin. Valley Ry. until 
 1900; chief engineer of Santa 
 ihm toner ee Fe at Topeka Kansas 1900- 
 
 
 

 
 JAMES E. TAUSSIG 
 
 Wabash Railway 1915; vice- 
 president; 4716-16+) sbeqeras 
 manager 1918-20, and present 
 position since 1920. 
 
 William H. Truesdale, presi- 
 ident of the Delaware, Lacka- 
 wanna & Western R. R., en- 
 tered service of Rockford, 
 Rock Island & St. Louis R. R. 
 (now. spartoh CB ee: 
 System) as clerk in the audit- 
 ing department in 1869, when 
 18 years old; with a legal 
 firm in charge of railway af- 
 fairs 1874-76; assistant to re- 
 Gai ver Wand trenctrer™ omic 
 Logansport, Crawfordsville & 
 Southwestern R. R. (now 
 part .ofv they Vandalia dine). 
 assistant to president of the 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 1909 ; vice-president in charge 
 of construction and operation 
 1910-20 and president since 
 1920 ; “succeeding the latest 
 Po Ripley: 
 
 J. E. Taussig, president 
 Wabash Railway, entered 
 railway service as an appren- 
 tice in the machine shops of 
 the St. Louis Bridge & Tun- 
 nel Company in 1882, when 17 
 years old; rose through va- 
 rious positions with different 
 roads to be assistant to gen- 
 eral manager of the Wheeling 
 & Lake Erie Railway in 1900; 
 assistant to president of the 
 
 
 
 WILLIAM H. TRUESDALE 
 —Underwood & Underwood 
 
RAM ArevOOK OTSOFrrORTUNITY 433 
 
 Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapo- 
 lis & Omaha Railway 1881- 
 82; president and receiver of 
 the Minneapolis & St. Louis 
 Railway 1887-94; vice-presi- 
 dent and general manager of 
 the Chicago, Rock Island & 
 Pacific Railway 1894-99 ; pres- 
 ident of the Delaware, Lacka- 
 wanna & Western Railway 
 since 1899. 
 
 Frederick D. Underwood, 
 President oi “thet Erie Rail- 
 road, entered service of the 
 Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
 Paul Railway as clerk and 
 brakeman in 18/0 when 18 
 years old; general manager 
 in charge of construction 
 
 
 
 S. DAVIES WARFIELD 
 
 
 
 FRED’K. D. UNDERWOOD 
 —Underwood & Underwood 
 
 of the Minneapolis & *Pacific 
 
 Railway (now part of the 
 “Soo” System) in 1886; gen- 
 eral manager of the Min- 
 
 Neapolisperote wreaths G yoanlt 
 Ste. Marie Railway 1886-99; 
 1899-1901 vice-president of 
 the Baltimore & Ohio R. R., 
 present position since 1901. 
 S. Davies Warfield, presi- 
 dent and chairman of Board, 
 Seaboard Air Line Railway 
 Company ;# member: of’ the 
 Greater Seaboard Committee 
 1898-1900, which consolidated 
 and organized the Seaboard 
 
434 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Air Line Railway System; became chairman of Board in 1912 
 upon reorganization of the property. Present position since 
 1918. Mr. Warfield was the founder and is president of The 
 Continental Trust Company 
 of Baltimore; also organized 
 and is president of the Na- 
 tional Association of Owners 
 of Railroad Securities. This 
 association initiated and pre- 
 sented to Congress what be- 
 came the fundamental section 
 of the Transportation Act of 
 1920, viz, Section 15a. Other 
 proposals of the association 
 are embodied in other sections 
 of that act. 
 
 Otis= FP erand Nive Van 
 Sweringen, Chairman and 
 Vice-President, respectively, 
 of the New York, Chicago & 
 St. Louis Railroad. 
 
 During the progress of this 
 work the railway door of op- 
 portunity swung inwards to 
 these ambitious brothers who, 
 as their portraits indicate, are OTIS P. VAN SWERINGEN 
 still in the early forties. Both were educated in public schools. 
 They first attracted attention as real estate dealers in Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, planning and carrying through one of the largest 
 suburban subdivisions in that city. In 1916 they organized 
 the “Nickel Plate Securities Corporation” to hold and control 
 the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad (“Nickel Plate’), 
 which was acquired from the New York Central Railroad in 
 July of that year. With the backing of large Cleveland 
 moneyed interests the brothers set out to organize a merger 
 of a number of operating lines with an aggregate mileage of 
 nearly 10,000. The lines mentioned included the following: 
 the “Nickel - Plate; Erie, Pere -Marquetté,) Hocking way aien. 
 
 
 
RAILWAY DOOK OF OPPORTUNITY 435 
 
 and Chesapeake & Ohio. If 
 tne brothers succeed in per- 
 fecting their ambitious under- 
 taksnevuana secre’ thes ap- 
 proval of the Interstate Com- 
 merce Commission, whose 
 tentative plan of railway con- 
 solidations it traverses in sev- 
 eral instances, they will find 
 themselves at the head of one 
 of the great railway systems 
 of the world. 
 
 Edward F. Carry, presi- 
 dent of the Pullman Company, 
 who found his railway door of 
 opportunity through the 
 closely allied Pullman service 
 on its manufacturing side, 
 was born in Fort Wayne in 
 1867; educated in the public 
 
 
 
 
 
 EDWARD F. CARRY 
 President Pullman Co, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 M. J. VAN SWERINGEN 
 —Wide World Photos. 
 
 schools, pushed his way up to 
 general manager of the Amer- 
 ican Foundry Company by 
 1200) coing a thence stow the 
 Haskell-Barker Car Com- 
 Dattyeeas. president. in #19 bo: 
 during the war was director of 
 operations under the United 
 States Shipping Board, and 
 also Chairman of the Port 
 and Harbor Facilities Com- 
 mission, resigning in 1919; 
 three years later was elected 
 to his present position. 
 
436 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Chiefs of the Big Four 
 
 To this list of railway officials who have “made good” from 
 various starts by service to the public in administrative service 
 
 
 
 WARREN 5S. STONE 
 
 —IJnternational Newsreel Photo 
 Died June 12, 1925. 
 
 Lucius E. Sheppard, presi- 
 dent of the Order Railway 
 Conductors, entered service 
 of the Pennsylvania R. R. in 
 1881, when 18 years old; con- 
 ductor 1883; member of the 
 Government Arbitration 
 Board between eastern rail- 
 ways and conductors and 
 trainmen 1913; member of 
 President Wilson’s first In- 
 dustrial Conference 1917; 
 member Railway Adjustment 
 Board 1918; present position 
 
 since 1919. 
 
 may be added the chiefs of 
 the “Big Four” Brotherhoods, 
 who have made good through 
 service to their fellow em- 
 ployes. 
 
 Warren §S. Stone, grand 
 chief Brotherhood of Loco- 
 motive Engineers, entered ser- 
 vice of Chicago, Rock Island 
 & Pacific Railway in 1879, 
 when 19 years old; promoted 
 to engineer in 1894; appointed 
 to) Succeeds Gir ada bier 
 Arthur in 1903 and elected to 
 present position in 1904 and 
 president of the Co-operative 
 National Bank of Cleveland 
 (first of its kind in United 
 States) in 1920, 
 
 
 
 L. SHEPPARD 
 
RAILWAY DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY 437 
 
 
 
 D. L. Robertson, president 
 of the Brotherhood of Loco- 
 motive Firemen and Engine- 
 
 
 
 W. G. LEE—ABOUT 1884 
 
 men, entered service of the 
 Pennsylvania’ R..R. in 1895, 
 in his 19th year, in the capa- 
 city of engine wiper, then 
 
 
 
 W. G. LEE 
 —Harris & Ewing, Washington, D. C. 
 
 
 
 D. L. ROBERTSON 
 
 went to the Erie, serving suc- 
 cessively as hostler, locomo- 
 tive fireman and locomotive 
 engineer irom’ 11898 to. 1913. 
 From 1905 to 1913 he was 
 grand chairman of his order 
 forsthe) Brie) System 3 «-vice- 
 president of the Brotherhood 
 1913-1922; elected president 
 aSuatey, ie VAey 
 
 William G. Lee, president 
 of the Brotherhood of Rail- 
 way Trainmen, entered serv- 
 ice as brakeman at Emporia, 
 Kansas, on the Atchison, To- 
 peka & Santa Fe Railway in 
 1879, when 20 years old; 
 
 brakeman and conductor un- 
 
438 “HISTORY OF AMERICAN, RAIBWAYS 
 
 til 1884; deputy recorder of deeds Ford County, Kansas, four 
 years; conductor Union Pacific from 1889 to 1895; first vice 
 president Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen 1895-1909; pres- 
 ent position since 1909. 
 
 With these brief notes the demonstration of the open door 
 of opportunity and service in the railway field must close. 
 Though it were to “stretch out to the crack of doom,” chang- 
 ing with each moon, it could not illustrate more clearly the 
 democratic nature of railway service. Not a single man in 
 this list has reached his position of authority and responsi- 
 bility by any royal road of chance, birth, education or “pull.” 
 The spade in the hand has been worth more than the silver 
 spoon in the mouth to all of them. Each in his time and 
 place has “made good” and the directors of more than two 
 hundred roads are on the alert for men with the like execu- 
 tive talents to succeed the veterans of today. The mien named 
 above are merely near the apex of the pyramid of railway labor 
 whose base includes the half million clerks, section men and 
 shop helpers enlisted in an occupation whose highest rewards 
 are open to all that have the ambition, will and capacity to rise. 
 
 No educational or social test limits the opportunity in rail- 
 way service. There are several college graduates among 
 those named, but the marked majority have entered the lists 
 without any education beyond the grammar classes of the 
 public schools. They have all graduated in the school of 
 observation, experiment and experience. As the late A: H.- 
 Smith of the New York Central said: “Ninety-five per cent 
 of the railway problem is human.” ‘The railway official who 
 does not study men does not get very far. The link of human 
 sympathy is the most important link in the chain that 
 stretches from the president’s chair to the loneliest cabin on 
 the line. 
 
 It is upon the human sense, the bond of sympathy between 
 railway managers and railway employes, the source from 
 which all graduate, that the peaceful, progressive administra- 
 tion of transportation depends. This is something that no 
 
RAILWAY DOOK OF OPPORTUNITY 439 
 
 
 
 laws or regulation can establish or promote. It is the essen- 
 tial factor in the brotherhood of man. Upon it rests the con- 
 tinuous success of American railways. 
 
 A Word in Conclusion 
 
 In the preceding chapters no attempt has been made to 
 present an exhaustive history of American railways. That 
 would require at least a dozen volumes each the size of this 
 and then would leave much of the field unexplored and un- 
 represented. The story of the development of the locomotive 
 alone from anything like original data would call for years 
 of research and the possession of technical knowledge and 
 expert skill in selection and assembling of the material far 
 beyond the aim of this primary history. The evolution of 
 passenger and freight cars, including the post office car and 
 the railway mail service, would fill another volume. Railway 
 accidents, inseparable from the speed, weight and multiplica- 
 tion of transportation units, and the innumerable rules and 
 devices adopted to reduce them to a minimum, would justify 
 separate treatment. It is a gratifying fact that, proportion- 
 ately to the forces and risks of railway operation, fatalities 
 in train accidents have been reduced practically 73 per cent. 
 This statement is borne out by the following figures: 
 
 Fatalities in Railway Accidents 
 
 Other Persons 
 Year. Passengers. Employes. Trespassers. Non-Trespassers. Total 
 1922 = 22 200 1,241 2,431 2,454 6,326 
 1890.... 286 2,451 3,062 536 6,335: 
 
 Note that the total fatalities in 1922 were practically the 
 same as in 1890, the first year for which similar figures were 
 available. During the same period the growth of railway 
 traffic is reflected in the following statement: 
 
 Year. Passengers Carried 1 Mile. . Freight Tons Carried 1 Mile. 
 
 EAS PA Neco 2 ney SE cane 35,663,147 ,324 341,018,000,000 
 
 E890 -Sarkeee ees 11,847,785,617 76,207,000,000 
 Increase ct ce 23,815,361,707 264,811,000,000 
 Increase (per ct.) 200 347 
 
440 HISTORIAOE AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 If fatalities had increased ‘relatively to traffic, the mortality 
 in 1922 would have been over 23,500 instead of 6,326. The 
 fatalities to non-trespassers include those of automobile parties 
 at crossings and should be classed as suicides. 
 
 The genesis and expansion of railway unions, until they 
 practically include the entire working staff outside of the 
 executives and leading officials, might well be made the sub- 
 ject of a large volume, which should include brief biographies 
 of their leading spirits. A companion volume would be needed 
 to cover strikes and threatened strikes and legislative attempts 
 to deal with imperiled transportation. 
 
 The Interstate Commerce Commission in Session. 
 
 
 
 Reading from Left to Right—Commissioners Cox, Campbell, Aitchison, McChord, Hall, 
 (Chairman), Meyer, Eastman, Esch, Lewis and cManamy. Commissioner 
 Potter declined to pose for. the camera. 
 
 No history of American Railways would approach com- 
 pleteness that did not devote at least one or two volumes, as 
 large as this, to a digest and analytical review of the hearings, 
 rulings and reports of the Interstate Commerce Commission 
 from 1887 down. From a membership of five the Commission 
 has gradually been expanded to eleven. The accompanying 
 illustration shows the Commission sitting in banc. 
 
 In the conscientious exercise of its functions, which have 
 been expanded from Regulation to Administrative Control 
 since 1887, rests the future of American railways. The Com- 
 mission, or a majority of it, is independent of all outside in- 
 fluences, unless its judgment may be occasionally forced by 
 the Railroad Labor Board, as in 1920, in the matter of wages 
 
RAILWAY DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY 441 
 
 
 
 and conditions of employment. It might be relieved of this 
 by Act of Congress vesting in the Commission the right tc 
 review decisions of the Board tending to force advances in 
 rates and fares. 
 
 When all other railway history was exhausted there would 
 remain the rise of railway architecture from the first shanty 
 built to shelter the ticket seller of the Delaware & French- 
 town Railway down to the monumental structures illus- 
 trated in the preceding chapter and the last word in 
 union stations nearing completion in Chicago as this History goes 
 
 to press. sar. 
 It is not known definitely where the first railway station 
 
 in America was built. It may have been, and probably was, 
 in Baltimore or at either end of the Camden & Amboy Rail- 
 way. But here is a picture of what is claimed to be the first 
 ticket offce—which may well serve as a tailpiece to this story. 
 
 
 
 THE FIRST TICKET OFFICE 
 Delaware & Frenchtown Ry. 
 
THE SPIRIT OF TRANSPORTATION 
 
 —Copyright K. D. Ganaway, 
 
 , 
 
 THE EXPRESS* 
 By R. Gorell Barnes 
 
 1 
 
 When a stillness reigns in the country lanes 
 And the wayside station’s bare, 
 
 Stirs a faint, far hum that seems to come 
 From the spirits of the air; 
 
 And the long rails thrill with a murmur till 
 There’s a bursting shell of sound, 
 
 A clattering roar, like the rumble of war, 
 And a trembling of the ground— 
 
 A scudding blast has come and passed 
 With a shriek as of tortured souls, 
 
 And along the track is the echoing back 
 That slowly to silence rolls. 
 
 
 
 Chicago 
 
 *From Love Triumphant and other Poems—Longmans, 
 
 Green & Co., 1913. 
 
It is I the proud, the strong, 
 
 I who sway the lives of men, 
 Beating out my deathless song 
 
 As I speed’ through field and glen. 
 
 IT. 
 
 I romp with the dawn and startle the fawn 
 From his couch in the moorland glade 
 
 And merrily shake the cattle awake 
 As they dream in the noontime shade: 
 
 I am plodding on when the sunlight’s gone 
 And mortals homeward creep, 
 
 And I hammer my tune in the light of the moon 
 When the world is locked in sleep. 
 
 I cleave the night with my gleams of light 
 And my heart’s glow bursting forth, 
 And behind me I throw in a glittering bow 
 
 The diadems of my wrath. 
 
 O’er the hill, along the plain, 
 Through the forest speeding, 
 On the prairie’s stretching miles 
 With fierce hunger feeding, 
 
 Iam where the bison was, 
 All the earth exploring, 
 
 Through the gorge and to the heart 
 Of the mountain boring, 
 
 ’Cross the river, by the sea, 
 Onward rushing, roaring. 
 
 III. 
 
 I join the hands of distant lands, 
 With my sister of the sea, 
 
 ~--T grapple with space as I onward race 
 And fling it away from me. 
 
 A mortal pack do I bear on my back 
 And I roll with the wheels of fate, 
 
 For asunder I tear the arms of despair 
 And I stay not for love nor hate. 
 
 I hurl a life far on my rollicking car 
 As the breezes toss a feather; 
 
 And I fill the great net that Labor has set 
 And huddle the world together. 
 
 I fling wide the door to the valley and moor 
 And unfetter the laughter of men, 
 
 And I strew on the coast a great holiday host— 
 Which I gather to work again. 
 
IV. 
 
 I am weighted down with the spoils of the town 
 And the harvest of the field: 
 Gaunt Famine shrinks back at my sudden attack 
 And Plenty stands there revealed. 
 Though I travel afar as the servant of War, 
 I am fostermother of Peace; 
 I bind the world’s charms on her outstretched arms 
 And bring to her power increase. 
 In my strength and my pride am I deified 
 As the emblem of mortal command, 
 For I spread o’er the world with the banner unfurled 
 On the march of a mighty band 
 And lead a great train, like a thought through the brain, 
 To illumine the darkest land. 
 The chimney tall starts up at my cail 
 And the factory whistle screams, 
 As from slumber I wake the shores of the lake 
 And shatter the valley’s dreams. 
 I am clad in the dress of stern usefulness 
 And I build with a tyrannous rage: 
 In my pride I roll on over all that is gone 
 And I reck not of Beauty nor Age. 
 For I am Progress, I am Power, 
 I am the spirit of today: 
 I fell the forest, clear the glade, 
 I drain the marsh and crowd the earth. 
 I roll onward, ever on 
 Down my God-appointed way, 
 Herald of the breaking morn, 
 Calling to a nobler birth 
 All the forces yet unborn 
 And the greatness still to be. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 445 
 
 SoME WorKs THAT HAvE BEEN CONSULTED 
 
 In the preparation of this History, extending over twenty 
 years, almost countless authorities on the different phases of 
 railway organization, promotion, financing, construction, oper- 
 ation, regulation, etc., have been consulted—and partly 
 assimilated. The names of those that have been of the most 
 assistance follow: 
 
 Acworth, W.-oM.-" ~The Railways and the Traders.” John 
 
 Murray, London, 1891. 
 
 Acworth, W. M. “The Railways of England.” John Murray, 
 
 London, 1900. 
 
 Acworth, W. M. “The Elements of Railway Economics.” 
 
 The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1905. 
 
 Acworth, W. M. “Historical Sketch of State Railway Owner- 
 
 ship.’ > John ‘Murray, London, 1920. 
 cemamubaticsthtacionm te nt haptervonelrie, .“\iields 
 
 Osgood & Co., Boston, 1869. 152 pp. 
 
 Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. “Railroads: Their Origin and 
 
 Problems.” G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1878. 
 Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. “Notes on Railroad Accidents.” 
 
 G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1879. 
 
 “American Railway Journal,” 1832. 
 Bailey, W. F. “First Transcontinental Railroad.” W. F. 
 
 Bailey, Pittsburgh, 1906. 
 
 Baldwin. “History of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831- 
 
 1924.” Philadelphia, 1924. 
 
 Beadle, J. H. “The Undeveloped West; or Five Years in the 
 - Territories.” National Publishing Co., Philadelphia, 1873. 
 Bishop, Avard Longley. “State Works of Pennsylvania.” 
 
 Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Press, New Haven, Conn., 
 
 1907. 
 
 Boag, George L. “Manual of Railway Statistics.” The Rail- 
 
 way Gazette, London, 1912. 
 
 Brown, W. H. “History of the First Locomotives in Amer- 
 
 ica.” D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1871. 
 
 Census Reports of the United States, 11th to 14th Reports. 
 Woodson, E. R. “Railway Accounting Procedure.” 1922. 
 
446 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Cleveland, F. A., and Powell, F. W. “Railroad Promotion and 
 Capitalization in the United States.” Longmans, Green 
 & Co., London, 1909. 
 
 Daggett, Stuart. “Railroad Reorganization.” Harvard Eco- 
 nomic Studies, Houghton, Mfflin & Co., Boston, 1908. 
 Davis, John P. “The Union Pacific Railway.” S. C. Griggs 
 
 & Co., Chicago, 1894. 
 
 Dewsnup, E. R. “Railway Organization and Working.” Uni- 
 versity of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1906. 
 
 Dunbar, Seymour. “History of Travel in America.” Bobbs- 
 Merrill Co., Indianapolis, 1915, 4 vols. 
 
 Fink, Henry. “Regulation of Railway Rates on Interstate 
 Freight Traffic.” Evening Post Job Printing Office, New 
 York, 71905. 
 
 Gillette, Halbert :P.. <“ Handbook, of Gost<Datar’™ My ronaG 
 Clark Publishing Co., New York and Chicago, 1907. 
 
 Grierson, J. “Railway Rates: .English and Foreign.” Ed- 
 ward Stanford, London, ‘1886. 
 
 Hadley, Arthur Twining. “Railroad Transportation: Its His- 
 tory and Its Laws,” G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1885. 
 
 Haney, Lewis H. “A Congressional History of Railways in 
 the >United States.” “State Printer,iMadisony Wis: 
 
 Harper’s Monthly Magazine, 1850-1924. 
 
 Hill, James J. “Highways of Progress.” Doubleday, Page & 
 Co., New York, 1910. 
 
 Husband, Joseph. “Story. of the Pullman Car; AWC Me: 
 Chiro & Go. ..Chicago,. 1917. 
 
 Interstate Commerce Commission, Reports 1887 to 1923. Gov- 
 ernment Printing Office, Washington, 37 vols. 
 
 Interstate Commerce Commission Statistics of Railways of 
 the United States, 1888-1922. Government Printing Of- 
 fice, Washington, 35 vols. 
 
 Jeans, J. S. “Railway Problems.” Longmans, Green & Co., 
 London, 1887. 
 
 Johnson, Emory R. “American Railway Transportation.” D. 
 Appleton & Co., New York, 1903. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 447 
 
 Kennan, George. “E. H. Harriman, a Biography.’ Hough- 
 tons Mifflin & Co., Boston; 1922: 2 vols. 
 
 Kirkman, Marshall M. “The Science of Railways,” 14 vols., 
 1898. World Railway Publishing Co., New York and 
 Chicago. 
 
 Lardner, Dionysius. “Railway Economy.” Taylor, Walton 
 & Maberly, London, 1850. 
 
 Loree, L. F. “Railroad Freight Transportation.” D. Appleton 
 & Co., New York, 1922. 
 
 Mackenzie, F. “Historical View of the United States.” Mack- 
 enzie & Dent, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1819. 
 
 McPherson Locan Gi) “ThesWotking’ of the -Railroads?’ 
 Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1907. 
 
 McPherson, Logan G. “Transportation in Europe,” Henry 
 Holt & Co., New York, 1910. 
 
 Mayer, Hugo R. “Government Regulation of Railway Rates.” 
 Macmillan Co., New York, 1905. 
 
 Monkswell, Lord. “French Railways.” Smith, Elder & Co., 
 London, 1911. 
 
 Mossop, C. P. “Railway Operating Statistics.” The Railway 
 Gazette, London, 1911. 
 
 Newcomb, H. T. “Railway Economics.” Railway World 
 Publishing Co., Philadelphia, 1896. 
 
 Pearson, H. G. “An American Railroad Builder, John Murray 
 Forbes.” Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1911. 
 
 Phillips, Ulrich B. “Transportation in the Eastern Cotton 
 Belt.” Columbia University Press, New York, 1908. 
 
 Poor’s “Manual of the Railroads of the United States.” H. V. 
 & H. W. Poor, New York, 1868-1924. 56 vols. 
 
 Pratt, Edwin A. “Railways and Their Rates.” John Murray, 
 London, 1905. 
 
 Richards, R. C. “Railroad Accidents; Their Cause and, Ere- 
 vention.” Chicago, 1906. 
 
 Ringwald, J. L. “Development of Transportation Systems in 
 the United States,” 1888. 
 
 Sanborn, John B. “Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of 
 Railways.” University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1899: 
 
448 HISTRY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 Seymour, Silas. “Western Incidents Connected with the 
 Union Pacific Railroad.” Van Nostrand, New York, 1867. 
 
 Smith, Wm. Prescott. “Great Railway Celebrations of 1857.” 
 D. Appleton & Co., 1858. 
 
 Stretton, Clement KE. “Safe Railway Working.” Crosby, Lock- 
 wood & Sons, London, 1893. 
 
 Tanner, H. S.. “Canals and’ Railroads of the United States.” 
 Tanner & Disturnell, New York, 1840. 
 
 The Railway Library. An Annual Collection of Articles, Ad- 
 dresses, Etc. on Railway Subjects, 1909-1915, inclusive. 
 Bureau of Railway News and Statistics, Chicago. 
 
 Tomlinson, W. W. “The North Eastern Railway, Its Rise 
 and Development.” Andrew Reid & Co., Newcastle- 
 upon-Tyne, 1914. The N. E. traces its rise to the ees 
 ton & Darlington Ry. and “Locomotive No. 1.” 
 
 Turner, (Walter V. «(ThevAir Brakevasmhelated sto ser ooress 
 in Locomotion.” 1910. 
 
 Turner & Dudley. “Development in Air Brakes for Rail- 
 roads.” Westinghouse Air Brake Co., Pittsburgh, 1909. 
 
 Warren, J. G. H. “Century of Locomotive Building by Rob- 
 ert Stephenson & Co., 1823-1923.” Andrew Reid & Co., 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
 
 Washington, W. D’H. “Progress and Prosperity,’ National 
 Educational Publishing Co., 1911. 
 
 Webb, Walter Loring. “Economics of Railroad Construc- 
 tion.” John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1906. 
 
 Wellington, Arthur M. “The Economic Theory of the Loca- 
 tion of Railways.” Railroad Gazette, New York, 1877. 
 Westinghouse, “Air Brake Tests.” Westinghouse Air Brake 
 
 Co., Wilmerding, Pa., 1904. 
 
 Walliams; is. (Co “The. Economics? ofe Railway, irausport: 
 Macmillan & Co., London, 1909. 
 
 Wilson, William B. “History of the Pennsylvania Railroad 
 Company.” Zi vols. Henry. Ts Coates (Co eb hiladete 
 phia, 1899. 
 
 Wilson, W. Hassell. “Brief Review of Railroad History.” 
 Allen, Lane & Scott, Philadelphia, 1895, 53 pp. 
 
 To this list might be added innumerable volumes, pamphlets, 
 
 & 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 449 
 
 addresses, and other ephemeral literature on railway sub- 
 jects passing in review during twenty-two years devoted 
 to the study of current railway affairs. If the reader has 
 any curiosity to judge the exhaustless fund of printed 
 matter on all phases of rail transportation, he is referred 
 to “The Catalogue of Books on Railway Economics,” a 
 volume of 446 pages gotten out by the Bureau of Railway 
 Economics, Washington, D. C., 1912. It would take an- 
 other volume almost as large to bring this Catalogue up 
 
 to date. . 
 eee. ke 
 
 To the enumerated and unenumerated sources of informa- 
 tion, detailed and general, which have contributed in printed 
 page, spoken word or illustration to this outline sketch of the 
 second most essential industry in the United States, most 
 . sincere acknowledgement is unqualifiedly made. Only the nar- 
 rative thread that binds the scraps together is “mine own.” 
 
 SLASON THOMPSON. . 
 February 12, 1925. 
 
ADDENDA A 
 THe BaLpwin LocoMoTIvE WorKS 
 
 Scattered through the pages of this History will be found small cuts 
 showing the progress in the design and manufacture of locomotives 
 attributed to Matthias W. Baldwin and the company perpetuating his 
 name. Beginning with “Old Ironsides” at the very dawn of railway 
 development on this continent, the list now numbers over 58,000, of almost 
 every description and size from a few tons apiece up to the giant articu- 
 lated Mallet of over 430 tons. 
 
 
 
 HEAD OFFICE AND WORKS, PHILADELPHIA, 19.6 ACRES. 
 
 During the Great War a large part of the locomotive plant was con- 
 verted into a munition factory, which before its end was credited with 
 the following output: 6,565,355 3-inch shells, 1,959,974 rifles, 1,863,900 
 cartridge shells besides large quantities of miscellaneous munition items. 
 The aggregate value of its war contracts with those of the Standard Steel 
 Works and other subsidiaries, including locomotives, was approximately 
 $250,000,000. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 EDDYSTONE PLANT ON DELAWARE RIVER 616 ACRES. 
 
ADDENDA B 
 
 GROWTH OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 Within a century, from an insignificant tramway carrying 
 granite blocks for Bunker Hill Monument, the railways of the 
 United States, by decades, have shown the following amazing 
 
 growth : 
 
 States 1835] 1840] 1850] 1860 | 1870 | 1880 1890 1900 | 1910t | 1920 
 Mabaimas- samen toe 46 46 75 743] 1,429] 1,851] 3,148) 4,219] 5,022] 5,377 
 Arkansas strani some cie Ltr late eats 38 256 89 QyL 0S |e 7041 |e oOo OS2 
 California we Facer rel ee else eee ees 23 925] 2,220) 4,148) 5,744) 7,655] 8,356 
 Colorad OF: eee wih ne cee | one Na ote ell betta: [ite ete s 157) 1,531] 4,154] 4,587] 5,519] 5,519 
 Connecticut ane 102} 402 601 742 954} 1,007; 1,023] 1,000} 1,001 
 Delawarem.e too 16 39 39 127 224 280 328 346 335 335 
 Hl Oridarepee ae te eos | anon 21 402 446 530] 2,390] 3,272] ~4,370)- 5,212 
 GeOrcia pve et Asche nces 185| 643] 1,420] 1,845] 2,535] 4,105] 5,639} 7,020] 7,326 
 LOAN OMe eee Oe 2 eae wo ee Seacel as ietede' [Soerats S aySione.« 220 941 1,261 2,168} 2,877 
 I BNC SEVOS IEE. 4 nm Sie ug eo en eae Geel Geet 111] 2,799) 4,823] 7,955] 9,843) 10,997] 11,876| 12,188 
 Undianaees eee cee SIN ae | eae 228) 2,163) 3,177] 5,454] 5,891 6,469 7,420] 7,426 
 
 OWiaere tieremter ate cae uicegars (fn eke titel ons, chewed snaienerts 655) 2,683] 5,235] 8,347) 9,180] 9,733] 9,808 
 ANG Gree te eer el ere ee es | eae ieeierte eek O11 13: 439 18: 8061 7-857 19) 2° 9: 00718. 9.388 
 Kentucky Woes oe 15 28 78 534] 1,017] 1,598] 2,694) 3,059} 3,518] 3,929 
 Louisiana aiken - 40 40 80 339 479 633/ 1,658] 2,824) 5,469] 5,223 
 Vi aT Ga ee ae 11} 245 472 786| 1,013 1,313 1,915 22482295 
 Marland:and. Ds Cs 2.2] -117| 213). 259 386 671} 1,012 1,168] 1,407 1,413] 1,472 
 Massachusetts........ 113} 301)1,035| 1,264] 1.480] 1,893) 2,094) 2,118} 2,109} 2,106 
 Maichipane aieue. ss. wena 50} 342 779) 1,638] 3,931 6,789| 8,193] 8,985] 8,734 
 Minnesotatiucan cs. | eel eerie seein laoe ste 072) 3.10817 -5,466]-6,942|) 856691 5 9,114 
 Mississippitiere a vee note seen 75 862 990] 1,183] 2,292] 2,919] 4,413) 4,369 
 IMISSOUTER aE ee een oe | karte se aca 817] 2,000] 4,011} 5,897] 6,867] 8,078] 8,117 
 Montana bicker de: AEH Recceaie t 48} 2,181 3,010} 4,207) 5,072 
 INebraskazmun.. .: ...| 1,812] 2,000] 5,274] 5,684] 6,067] 6,166 
 INE Va Caterer rote eae ot emare | aes [latte a ie 593 769 925 909} 2,277] 2,160 
 New Hampshire......]..... 53| 467 661 736| 1,015 1,133 1230) 246 1s 2o2 
 New Jersey.......... 99} 186] 206 SOO0let 125 lo OL a2 OS4 92237 wee 255s, SOL 
 INew York seo stain oats 104} 374]1,361| 2,682} 3,928] 6,019) 7,462] 8,121} 8,416] 8,390 
 North, Carolinave.. sacle 53} 154 937] 1,178] 1,499] 2,904) 3,808] 4,734] 5,522 
 North Dakota...... =. ines 35 635) 1,940) 2,731) 4,201} 5,311 
 OUIOM aoe ee roe lone 30] 571] 2,946] 3,538) 5,912 7,719} 8,774!) 9,128| 9,002 
 Oklahoma. ert aati Bees Pe 275 12 13\ 92-150), 978), 6,572 
 OLresOnires rere yt Are ees cee eke [en cope mtarate oil soeeees. aoe 159 582 12691 mateo Slee 27 3,305 
 Pennsylvania. ....... 318] 754]1,240] 2,598] 4,656] 6,243] 8,307} 10,277} 11,084 11,551 
 Rhode Island........ Put pecs 50| 68 108} 136] 210 212 212 212 211 
 South Carolinas. .c..- 137| 137) 289 973| 1,139] 1,429); 2,096} 2,795} 3,410] 3,814 
 South Dakotar sth he ace Le See bas 30 630] 2,485) 2,850} 3,948] 4,276 
 Tennessee sana cots ate 1,253] 1,492) 1,824] 2,710} 3,124) 3,809} 4,078 
 Pexae iirc wince Ne eat ate kph Nacoctnt 307| 711] 3,293) 7,911] 9,873] 14,243] 16,125 
 LOU We on pd Det a aad (re tt WAR ERA Sear iee 257 770| 1,090) 1,547 1,986} 2,161 
 Viermontrmeriacnce cs Aicd Pahibicacal Base 290 554 614 912 913; 1,012] 1,081 1,077 
 Vit Oiniaeemy cro es 93) 147] 384] 1,379] 1,486] 1,826| 3,142] 3,729] 4,443] 4,703 
 Washtne tomer asa vcr | ee ete cote | aerate [iiwets) <8s pate 274| 1,699] 2,890] 4,858] 5,587 
 West Virginia...... bills 387 694| 1,306] 2,198} 3,526) 3,996 
 Wisconsin........ - 20 905} 1,525] 3,130] 5,468] 6,496) 7,328) 7,554 
 WA Tepes baie, ce Seo: Boece ytd PENA OH Bacto rccam Geel Per ecaenal Martranetc 472 941) 1,228) 1,600) 1,931 
 Arizona. ‘ 384] 1,061 1,511 2,097| 2,478 
 New Mexico..... 643} 1,284] 1,752] 2,999] 2,972 
 Alaska wae. : Pepeart. ys eS a eae 246 
 
 Ota ieee eee 1,098!2 81819 021!130.635!152,922!193,671 159.2711192,940 238,609'253,090 
 
 tExclusive of switching and terminal companies—1,614 miles in 1910; 1,743 miles 
 
 in 1920. 
 
ADDENDA C 
 
 THREE DECADES OF RAILWAY PROGRESS 
 
 Item 
 (m=Thousands) 
 
 Population. ack eee 
 Miles of Lines (operated)..... 
 Miles of All Track........... 
 
 Net Capitalization (m)....... 
 Net Cap. per Mi. of Line..... 
 Net Cap. per Mi. of Track... 
 
 Revenues from Operation (m) 
 Revenues per Mile Operated. . 
 Expenses of Operation (m)... 
 Exp. of Op. per Mi. Operated. . 
 Net Rev. from Operation (m).. 
 Net Rev. per Mile Operated... 
 Ratio of Exp. to Revenues.... 
 
 Receipts from Pass. (m)...... 
 Receipts from Freight (m).... 
 Receipts from Mail (m)...... 
 Receipts from Express (m)... 
 
 Passengers Carried (m)....... 
 Passengers Carried 1 Mi. (m).. 
 Avg. Receipts per Pass. Mile 
 Avg. Passengers in Train..... 
 Avg. Journey per Pass. (m)... 
 
 Freight Tons Carried (m).... 
 Freight Tons Car. 1 Mi. (m).. 
 Avg. Receipts per Ton Mile 
 
 Cont lls) veers Glare, ree hee sae 
 Average Tonsin Train....... 
 Avg. Haul per Ton (miles).... 
 
 Locomotives (number)....... 
 Locomotives Weight without 
 
 Tender i(tons) iene one 
 Passenger Cars (number)..... 
 Freight Cars (number)....... 
 Freight Cars Capacity (tons).. 
 
 Employes (number).......... 
 Emp. per 100 Mi. of Line.... 
 Employes Compensation..... 
 Proportion of Gross Earnings. 
 
 Prop. of Operating Expenses. .|_ 
 
 Per Employe per year........ 
 
 Proportion of Gross Earnings. . 
 
 
 
 1893 1903 
 66,970,496} 80,983,390 
 169,780 205,313 
 221,864 283,821 
 $8,831,603} $10,281,598 
 50,293 SO D9 
 39,818 36,222 
 1,220,751 1,900,846 
 7,190 9,268 
 827,921 1,257,538 
 4,876 6,125 
 392,830 643,308 
 2,314 3,133 
 67 .82% 66.16% 
 $301,492 $421,705 
 829,054 1,338,020 
 28,445 41,709 
 23,631 38,331 
 593,061), 694,891 
 14,229,101) 20,915,764 
 2.108 2.126 
 42 46 
 23.97 30.10 
 745,119 1,304,394 
 93,588,112} 173,221,279 
 8.78 7.63 
 184 310 
 125 .60 132.80 
 34,788 43,871 
 1,565,460 2,606,587 
 31,384 38,140 
 1,013,307 1,653,782 
 24,319,200} 48,622,125 
 873,602 TFSI 2 SO 
 Sisley 639 
 $488,360,400/$775,321,415 
 40% 40.78% 
 59.05% 61.65% 
 $558 $591 
 $36,514,689) $57,849,569 
 aR BS 282 
 2.99% 3.04% 
 
 96,512,407} 112,000,000 
 
 253,470 
 379,508 
 
 $15,330,131 
 
 60,481 
 40,395 
 
 3,125,136 
 12,329 
 2,169,969 
 8,561 
 955,167 
 3,768 
 70.02% 
 
 $695,988 
 2,198,931 
 50,053 
 78,536 
 1,043,603 
 
 34,672,685 
 2.006 
 
 me) 
 
 33.31 
 
 2,058,035 
 301,730,291 
 
 7.29 
 445 
 144.40 
 
 65,597 
 
 5,247,760 
 SARIN NTE 
 2;273,564 
 86,988,595 
 
 1,864,303 
 730 
 
 $1,405,080,826 
 
 43.99% 
 63.29% 
 $797 
 
 524 
 4.08% 
 
 248,816 
 404,414 
 
 $19,468,095 
 78,242 
 48,139 
 
 6,413,230 
 25,175 
 4,990,828 
 20,058 
 1,422,402 
 Syspil e/ 
 77.82% 
 
 $1,153,571 
 4,662,050 
 93,756 
 153,744 
 992,523 
 
 38,049,173 
 3.032 
 66.8 
 
 38 .3 
 
 2,411,239 
 414,347,458 
 
 Lie 25 
 662 
 172 
 
 66,964 
 
 6,897 ,292 
 55,020 
 2,359,685 
 100,818,376 
 
 1,904,807 
 766 
 $3,077,945,911 
 47.99% 
 61.67% 
 $1,616 
 
 $127,331,960/$340,632,054 
 
 1,369 
 3E 1% 
 
 D2Se 
 342. 
 
 260. 
 
 Arowro 
 
ADDENDA D 
 COwNneERSHIP oF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 Starting with a few millions hestitatingly invested by ad- 
 venturous spirits in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Balti- 
 more and Charleston, and loaned by speculative capitalists of 
 Great Britain and Holland, the capital stock of American rail- 
 ways is now held by nearly a million shareholders, while their 
 bonds have an equally wide distribution, almost all held in 
 America. The number of stockholders in 30 leading roads 
 reported in 1923 was as follows: 
 
 Shareholders 
 
 Name of Company Dec. 31, 1923 
 Pac ite Vivica andy We i oa MnUn ee eRES CRAs Lea slay iatere b a oe 142,527 
 PLCHISGOM MODE Ka nO boatitas HGshas) LHSh use oui od Siete ore eis e 67,118 
 POUe eT CAT Che en he Tew y eal nT ack av abiohe wwe 60,662 
 One aC ive lens a ctanercies ap + Le Sahn ee nae bVore he 
 Corea tem One rt wera eels, & cine HESS Geewlecd wat eis 4 44,742 
 INIGSE RC Giiae EACH ICie mutes ce trted fos than ahd ro Reps cote a obeh bial beak» 37,991 
 WegveeY Of lveCentra lee Syma uu titi ah ieee ataaety delta ik mes 34,502 
 PAIL OF CMLCEs Le) TO Sars al ac fess chal Ve wie is al otuaeece 33,395 
 NewYork: News Haventeirartiord.. ec.) eens 24,796 
 WiCcacO tN a waniceeuarr trian Moc. yds cli, Bey eed 22,518 
 Gricdaso. CoUNOEt haw 6 Steric iss} onder oh cree oeh. baad 20,059 
 LMiT AML OTICE Al: Bieta namie iat. ok. ela ce terre Cleese A Gk coke 19,323 
 Boston QML aries: metas Pirear es Gt Sordi cave cloth gi dd aie Ohare late 16,642 
 TROL ig ruben le ving © cette s cet. od ther tsi g)s setae G edible Aa dgeeie as 16,095 
 Be ecraL ic Aliya Vil pte we Gir, Lae Luks ade ec Sialeie Mine oy Ales 15327 
 orien! Fe ATit OS UINe AS aS oe sien: see eer ce dw choc a eeu 14,495 
 Phicasomnackmisiatds Gwelactic:, RVs... snl arose teen 14,426 
 No eiolicnes VV esternvilvic ho dom un atvie a the. i tetas Sek 13,585 
 Debt Ware WEIS ON AACN eee eft ce cers wield ibaa Gee 11,665 
 Pere ver Ot Coe Arr Rl co nee As oe tie sob woe al Wain oe sioane 9.801 
 Mesa DO ACR Com CTO: uch a chit ix. «ole RicldipCeeaks stale aia 4 where 9,320. 
 AUR ict open S ERECT LL WRENN ay Oh ee Si aageaty ctabollap eg a" ake 9,310 
 BITSSO Ubi MeL ACC iter vitae ast hota Aion Pema onus 8 Siacaliay 7,936 
 Pigs villewar me INaSO VILE TR Rey cee hi alin vatde. eres dat ciate 6,794 
 Delaware lackawana cor: Western R.Ro ry. fk es 6,758 
 renew cep iat Taney ck, ok acgla) eiotace he eee eee 5,972 
 PA Sealit le tea tease L Oxas its wiley be sassy ntdietmlevwiaeie ee teate ace 5,595 
 ere i mrs tel it ema hans elec cs oh idee tees sce ba’ s 5,025 
 Simbisotist Oa TaniciSCG, RYyserd «a leek ere eee hee tee 4,476 
 Sea OA LC RIT COR oR hay ie oem a doe oe a gas Sie dae e 3,020 
 
 QA, og Dae a RUSS PA dR A ae i Aa Oe cB 736,407 
 
 Stock in several large roads not included in this list is held by 
 trustees. 
 
ADDENDA E 
 GROWTH OF THE Wokr.p’s RAILWAYS 
 
 From the folowing table the reader can get a comprehen- 
 sive view of the world’s railways. Great Britain, which heads 
 the list by virtue of being first in the field of practical opera- 
 tion, was superseded by the United States before the end of 
 the first decade. 2 | 
 
 
 
 
 
 MILES OF ROAD COMPLETED 
 
 
 
 COUNTRY 
 Opened} 1840] 1850] 1860 | 1870 | 1880} 1889 1899 1910 | 1921* 
 Great Britain....... 1825 |1,857|6,621]10,433)/15,537|17,933}] 19,943] 21,666} 23,280] 23,733 
 United States....... 1827 |2,818/9,021/30,626]52,922/93,296]160,544/189,2951236,422/250,983 
 Canadas sacperme ocr 1836 16 66] 2,065] 2,617} 7,194] 12,585) 17,250) 24,731] 39,771 
 Brances.7. sees eee oc PS2ZS Gl oe 1,714] 5,700}11,142)16,275| 21,899] 26,229] 29,364] 132,030 
 Germany ree oes 1835 | 341]3,637| 6,979]11,729|20,693| 24,845] 31,386] 36,235] 34,689 
 Belgiuni. .aee eee S 1835 207| 554] 1,074] 1,799] 2,399] 2,776] 2,883] 2,888] 2,913 
 Austria (proper)..... LSSie| oe 817] 1,813] 3,790} 7,083} 9,345] 11,921] 13,591] 14,434 
 Russia ce. eer eee 1SSSel eee 310} 988] 7,098]14,026] 17,534] 26,889] 35,347/49,081 
 Italy ne oe wehoatene 1839 13] 265] 1,117] 3,825] 5,340} 7,830] 9,770] 10,425] 9,747 
 Hollands these oa 1839 10} 110) 208} 874] 1,143] 1,632} 1,966) 2,235) . 2,389 
 Switzerland: .....3.. 18445 |e: 15} 653] 885] 1,596] 1,869} 2,342] 2,791] 3,246 
 Hungary ee 1846 |.....] 137] 1,004] 2,137] 4,421] 6,751] 10,619] 12,177] 14,152 
 Denmarki ney... 134 Janae 20 69| 470) 975] 1,217] 1,764] 2,121) 2,635 
 Spain ie. seen es eee 1848) bee. 17} 1,190] 3,400] 4,550} 5,951] 8,252] 8,961} 9,517 
 Chili nese aes 18514} hecean eee 120} 452) 1,100} 1,801} 2,791} 3,451} 5,395 
 Brazilsctace were cto 185415 eels 134) 504) 2,174) 5,546] 9,195] 11,863] 17,438 
 British India........ 13532) see | Saaee 838] 4,771] 9,162] 15,887] 23,523] 30,809] 36,735 
 Norwavneoe ae terre AR SCY 9 ree ace, 42 692| 970 970} 1,231} 1,608] 2,037 
 Sweden aes saree FLOSS Onl cat adie are 375| 1,089] 3,654] 4,899] 6,663] 8,321] 9,287 
 Atrcentines REDUDIICN |e 1S575 lee oe nee eeelen eee 637] 1,536] 4,506) 10,013] 14,111] 21,161 
 Turkey: ine ropes malin ccm lee sere oe 41 392 727| 1,024) 1,900) 1,967} 1,236 
 Pere eee ake eens Beri Mana fara sal Pere bis 47 247| 1,179 993} 1,035} 1,470} 1,889 
 Portugalee eee ae eR ered (re Se ct eB ne 42 444 710] 1,118] 1,475] 1,689) 2,047 
 Greece ines ee cies AS69 Fle eae | Sept ee eae 6} , if 416 604 845} 1,507 
 Wrugtayeree sco ere LS69y bes eae heats | ecaeenes 61] 268 399 997] 1,371] 1,636 
 MEXICO ay en ie oiets LSGBY Weeeee al oa aes trees 215} 655| 5,012] 8,503} 14,845} 15,805 
 Roumaniavs<<.s he s.| sen om eles [aa pe] penis aos 20252] e591 GT 537) ued O20 7-0 7olme 240 
 Australia tiercterctier tole Spent tote | snettens [chs Gates Lantos ued ome meee 789| 4,850} 11,111] 17,956] 26,143 
 JADA eres idee Sere aL Od in | cep repel therare ne | sronetecte eters er 75 542] 3,632] 5,130} 6,202 
 China acts. peor Rill eke RoD ft Rea-jeto eg Penis, 26 Payee Ral y Inne bs BOB 124 401} 4,997] 6,836 
 BATICA Cites ole ee a Settee hrcaure | cates letetene licens | teres 583} 2,873) 5,353] 19,207| 25,647 
 
 
 
 *Or latest figures. fIncludes industrial and local railways. fIncluding New 
 Zealand. Including Finland and Asiatic railways. 
 
 Under the treaty of Versailles there has been such a read- 
 justment of boundaries and creation of new states carved out 
 of old, that the next decade will have to take account of the 
 railways of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, 
 Estonia, Jugoslavia and Albania, at the expense of several of 
 the better known European countries, 
 
INDEX 
 
 *Indicates illustration. 
 
 A 
 
 Abandonment of unprofitable lines. 404 
 Abbott, Dr. Liman, describes build- 
 
 WOT AE Ties ni BO, Sten s gl ie vise 86 
 maULNOL.? COTUFaltl loa cies sce 0Ms.«« 86 
 Accidents, decrease in, 1890-1922.. 439 
 first serious railway, 1833... 78 
 inseparable from railway oper- 
 ALTO Nee ciecrerchaye ee ahesieesieieeies 438 
 proportion in train to other 
 CATISCS Io as chavo lehihetens syste svee, sWais'e 213 
 Acworth, Sir William M., on Amer- 
 HCA RAW AV Sim cuareesieter cieteketereus 320 
 DOLLA ME wep elec chev cyere «cutie <isve: ove 321 
 *Adams, Charles Francis, Jr., por- 
 Efal tamen stm eiccty cer Mie cre snare 189 
 as president of the Union Pa- 
 Chi Geer. eee cree Sated rata) trust shai. tess 269 
 describes Massachusett’s reg- 
 WLATLOTI ES cto Sets ete ahcreteiolede 6 See's 197 
 father of state regulation..... 188 
 Massachusetts railroad commis- 
 SOME tie seeraai pst ales cis Mare <zo-e eye 189 
 writes -aschapter of Erie./..... 189 
 Adams, Prof. Henry C., first official 
 Rall weavyeestatisticla time cerita: 242 
 on railway capital in 1888.... 246 
 reports on intercorporate rela- 
 LLOMS Ries ce rae aeds Beis ors, s 311 
 superintends commercial valua- 
 CLOT OT U9 4. crust auche levers. « cies 289 
 Adamson Act, a surrender to in- 
 tiicdationmmnee tie. « 3leks 360 
 Act establishes an _ eight-hour 
 ASIC MC AV me cieteh etd eistooke otoneisue 359 
 
 Law, what it cost the railways 359 
 Additions and betterments, cost of 
 
 under Federal control...... 374 
 Cities) IRD a NARS Sica en Aas 390 
 
 Adhesion of smooth wheel on 
 STO OLD ital laneters ewes sic erste! evs-si/e 0 fe ay/ 
 *Advertisement of reduced time... 112 
 
 “Advisory Cabinet’? named by Di- 
 TECtOme General ecm ec selene on 368 
 
 *Air brakes applied by Stephenson 
 ATMEL SOS gets tee ro cieteto ee se cre 203 
 automatic train, how applied... 207 
 ESSENLIAIDALtGe sate ccc cue. fe) a6 oie 207 
 UESULOLIM MOLE terete ie crete aisicie ene 203 
 *high speed passenger ......... 208 
 MECESSICVMLOT eam. raters ares ff ere ace 204 
 Straight 1 wae s co ee ress wees 5% 208 
 
 Westinghouse first caveat ..... 207 
 
 Alaska, purchased in 1867 at 2 
 CENtSeanmacreveausemiecemisietoce 
 *Albany & Schenectady track in 
 LSOLM Rartslettesthe che ae nae 
 *Alfred, Frank H., president Pere 
 MarquetteeRy.o... so een ree 
 *Allen,: Horatio, portrait ¢...3...... 
 sent to England in 1828 to buy 
 LOCONIOLiVeER cKO ea eae 
 Amendment, Interstate Commerce 
 ANCL Me eae Chet e tcba ac ates athe ats 
 *“America,” first English locomotive 
 Yor} UI SA Seta ticles ns pitts 
 
 the earliest locomotive to land 
 
 itl AinertCa wang tor Sona ee 
 American army transported to 
 MranCepe se treiale Totter eee 
 *American Locomotive Works at 
 SHCMEMECtA C Uae 5 omateiteieta atte 
 Brooks plants Gli cose ws es oe cee 
 American Railway Unions ........ 
 Ames, Oakes, connection with 
 Gredit@Mobiliemasc. + tence ee 
 *«Amoskeag,” locomotive of 1851... 
 Iywew Wenge. INNES odo cyuobebose uc 
 ASE 1 Ee lS BLO Ga Vamsi ai ieiet tei toreice: 
 proposed from Manhattan to 
 Wakemiriert.cts «dete siete er ress 
 
 Ark, The; dimensions of...5....... 
 *Armstrong, Geo. B., memorial tablet 
 TATiiutame wl epOntraltem oereten cee 
 Grand Chief of Locomotive En- 
 PINGEIS WE O/O- IOS sateen. cite 
 
 *Ashtabula, mechanical dumper at... 
 Assurances, President Wilson’s.367, 
 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, con- 
 SELUCELOMMOL sete ster. ee ei vaheiens rele 
 
 gets Chicago connection in 80’s 
 *president of 
 receivership and reorganization 
 *Atlantic City Locomotive of 1896.. 
 
 Atlantic Coast Line, thirteen lines 
 
 oe eee eee eee eee ese 
 
 MENG Cd Lif) ceepaver chess Cf tlerel alors 
 
 traces its tracks back to 1830.. 
 
 * Presidents: O faeeietacic aie slateretere ieee 
 *Atlantic type locomotive, Southern 
 Pacerticey 1. 90 Orrarrepersnesnsieat clones 
 *Atterbury, W:. W., Director of 
 American railway operation 
 
 ity BranCe PMs cite oisheissa o avenesnere 
 
 *in Brigadier General’s uniform. 
 
 Automatic control lacked practical 
 demonstration in 1906....... 
 
 77 
 
 418 
 33 
 
 31 
 
HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 
 
 456 
 Automatic couplers, difficulties at- 
 tending adoption: «. se sneer 
 train brake, what it meant to 
 railway development......... 
 
 train control, report on in 1923 
 Auxiliary trackage provides for in- 
 creased traffic, 1912-1922.... 
 
 Baggage 
 allowance 
 Baggage car, cost of in early days 
 ATIC ® IN OG ELI erelieyeletetoieuelersin eleel ers 
 *early 
 
 eoeee rece eo ee eee eee ee eee 
 
 *primitive 
 Baggage, how handled in England 
 ATGMICUODE i si. eeteteteratelepncreranote 
 
 how handled on American roads 
 pieces y handled’, 2. cass eres 
 *Baldwin, Lewis W., president, Mis- 
 SOUPISUEACIIIC se% ee eters ciate eretetets 
 *Baldwin, Matthias W., builder of 
 (OMAR ETONSICeS mea suche eeteesote sie 
 pioneer locomotive builder..... 
 *fast passenger engine, 1848... 
 *flexible beam truck locomotive, 
 1842 
 *locomotive, 
 *locomotive, 
 *locomotive, 
 *Locomotive 
 *Locomotive 
 phia 
 
 ¥ Barn. pins d a OIt Cale canes ae ie 
 first uses railways for his show 
 profits by using the railways... 
 saw trains stopped by buffaloes 
 Baltimore agreement restored senior- 
 Tha Ama ked Wiens GB Hee bled. 6 mS OIoe 
 Baltimore & Ohio, breaking ground 
 FOL IN oe LS2oe eis tet es siausiemiele 
 
 COSt Det Mille ssrsiste elses erotelaiaiel 
 *HtstestOne \OL erste s sekicie ceisler 
 labor Ti10ts Mill OA aces eestor 
 method of construction in 1832. 
 opens all rail line to Wheeling, 
 1854 
 *president of 
 ‘reaches Chicago and St. Louis 
 tracks roughly handled during 
 
 ee ore eee eee eee eee ees © 
 
 eee ere see e ee Sores eeeeese 
 
 Works at Eddystone 
 Works at Philadel- 
 
 eo ewe eee see see esse e st toe 
 
 eer eeet eee ewer oeeee 
 
 Givil Witte ve nain sets ete ete le wes 
 trip from Baltimore to Wheel- 
 AGO WIM SS Fiancee atone ereraceeenet atonsys 
 
 Beadle, J. H., trip on Union Pacific 
 in 1868... 
 
 eee ever eeeevreoere reve 
 
 398 
 
 43 
 58 
 43 
 223 
 ad 
 
 112 
 418 
 118 
 161 
 105 
 
 177 
 
 = Belmontimincliie. im ster aedelaralecenetts 
 Benton, Senator Thos. H., advo- 
 cates National Central High- 
 
 way 
 Benton, Wyo., end of Union Pacific 
 INV BOS. eae s wick ike ae ee 
 
 HEC AINE in PU SOS te tee een ee 
 *Besler, Wm. G., 
 *president, Central R. R. of New 
 Jersey 
 *Bessemer, Sir Henry, 1813-1898.... 
 rails, duty and cost, 1870...... 
 rails, process discovered....... 
 “Best Friend,’ first practical loco- 
 motive built in America..... 
 “Original “drawing ) Of)... seaneaees 
 Awith train, sl G30nm cesar ete 
 Betterments, dollar for to dollar for 
 divideridSseriles se eee 
 Bibliography 
 Big ott Gi. | tainmen.. cee 250, 
 Block signals, development of..... 
 first automatic electric installed, 
 
 1871 
 
 first installed 
 
 1863 
 progress in 
 
 se 6862.65 @ ee. ee Wnt) Op we sim 6 a 
 
 er er] 
 
 © 4) 8 a8 se ee) Ss) @ 0) 6 b.'6 Be) 8 6 wie 
 
 in America in 
 installation, 1907- 
 19.29 Fetter aee: shee en 
 
 Booms. 1ndusthial.e1 Ol 6 see a een 
 Boston and New York connected by 
 rail and water vin’ 1835 a0 en 
 *Boston new South Station......... 
 *Boston, track approaching 
 SOULE Statlogne stl eee sence 
 
 * BOX pCa Weatlyonicseice sateen 
 *improved 
 *Braddock’s battlefield in 1857...... 
 *Brakess American caf .sisc isc sstien 
 *detail of high speed passenger. . 
 ‘double sactlon: tciaceaieert eee 
 *locomotive, Stephenson’s steam 
 *primitives. the © lag anette canes 
 *railway car about 18390....... . 
 Brandies, Louis D., on the reward 
 Of4 EfiCieENnCy ecaewiete ae iets 
 *Breakwater dock at Cleveland...... 
 *Bridge at Tunkhannock Creek, Penn. 
 *early iron, near Elysville, Md. 
 
 *highestw ine them worldr.. seer 
 *over Hell Gate, 977 foot span 
 
 RR ssaea Mints eee reece ae eG 385, 
 *over the Susquehanna......... 
 *railway, 91860 xoasseiccomi cmasatenel 
 
 *720-foot span at Paducah, Ky.. 
 *steel arch over Niagara, 1924.. 
 *“Britannica,” first Cunarderiesseres 
 
 168 
 
 178 
 179 
 419 
 
 420 
 102 
 163 
 103 
 
 St 
 54 
 55 
 
 329 
 445 
 435 
 211 
 
 212 
 
 211 
 
 213 
 358 
 
 70 
 281 
 
 282 
 58 
 58 
 
 113 
 
 207 
 
 208 
 
 205 
 
 208 
 
 204 
 
 205 
 
 200 
 324 
 292 
 109 
 198 
 
 386 
 153 
 14¢ 
 293 
 132 
 
 85 
 

 
 *Broad Street Station of Pennsyl- 
 Vailaviweienine 1894: cy mrt t ens 
 
 *Broadway, New York, in 1831.... 
 *Brotherhood of Firemen’s card, 1876 
 of Locomotive Engineers...... 
 
 of Locomotive Firemen........ 
 Buchanan, President, neutral on 
 choice of Pacific route....... 
 
 Budd, Ralph, president, Great 
 Northern’ Ry eae. on ee 
 Buffaloes, wild, stopped Barnum’s 
 APS ANS CO WIL Sil heat aioe 
 Building a railway described by Dr. 
 PADDOLEME ata uea ache riecrrstarevers 
 
 Burr, Aaron, journeyed from Ft. 
 Stoddard to Washington..... 
 *Byram, H. E., president, Chicago, 
 Milwaukee & St. Paul....... 
 
 C 
 
 Cabs, engine, first adopted...... state 
 California and New Mexico acquired 
 Dyin Seinvthe, 409... i9 «os 
 Camden & Amboy Ry. projected in 
 GS Oradea stave: sess cnd ect coaieRate a a's 3 ot 
 *Canal boat hauled up portage in- 
 CLINE LSS Drank pe roto eearers cet Sc 
 construction prior to 1840..... 
 Hirten Original mCOSt 1OLe «0% cis.e 6 
 SlockeatmlOCk port scuss lc decreas. 
 PARInS AO fisthen «steel froin a\e +2 
 
 rights of way used for railways 
 *Canals afford time to paint landscape 
 cost of before superiority of 
 
 railways demonstrated....... 
 
 cost of up to 1840...... niatsin ere 
 early American....... ereteiiaterars 
 eanlyae bing lisht pase ast +6 alejeiens 
 favored by Washington..... ois 
 tate, per.ton on early......... 
 Canoe of the American Indian..... 
 *Cantilever bridge over Niagara, 1883: 
 Gapital scosts Of tall waySnus si. ss) 
 in hands of public in 1908.... 
 
 per mile of line in 1908........ 
 Capitalization, 1848 and 1922...409, 
 confused by _ intercorporate 
 GWILEL SUID GES eisycter sities Sie ier sis ia, eis 
 estimated by Prof. Adams in 
 USO SMrevn ene cece ete oes ee 
 
 AN TL GOA mente cette ties s caere ts! 
 {ICTEASE Fit ALO OO ein cress ele so oss 
 
 MEE Atel SOC eleva teteeie iets, 2. 5y 
 official summary in 1888....... 
 
 per mile of track in 1890...... 
 rate of agreed upon in 1904... 
 
 INDEX 
 
 2167 
 oot 
 222 
 248 
 250 
 
 168 
 
 420 
 
 216 
 
 Carbondale & Honesdale Railway... 
 
 *Carroll, Charles, of Carrollton...... 
 *Charles, of Carrollton, in B & 
 Ovgreup paintitigs. .. ele) e. 
 Charles, of Carrollton, turns 
 
 hrst Bac ON Sod Jo vies eee 
 
 Carter, W. S., appointed Director of 
 Labor under Federal control 
 
 *Cassatt, Alex. J., Penn. R. R.’s great 
 engineer president........... 
 
 leader against rate abuses.... 
 Castleton Cut-off 
 
 oor eee eee te eee enon 
 
 *Centennial Exposition, heaviest loco- 
 Re henative. at wey gee al teehee: 
 Exposition, 1876, made a _ suc- 
 cessinbya thes tailwaySat sac 
 Central Pacific, advantages in con- 
 struction 
 
 and Union Pacific, race of con- 
 struction 
 Central R. R. of New Jersey, pres- 
 LGENE NOLS casas oe acces 
 <Chairse: wroughts tony tall. «erste: s 
 Charleston & Hamburg Ry. chartered 
 ENULS 20s ate cree eee Met, 
 Owe Nan Cedar icte aensister ete eels 
 *Chase, products of, how transported 
 *Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, along the, 
 1857 
 Chicago & North Western Ry., ante- 
 GCEGENES OF sacchasjersceners ele rekers-< oh 
 *chairman of board 
 *president of 1924 
 -Ohica cOmstationmots sci bersie’siciers 
 Mima waltitie eLOOMl cleterests clei « 
 *cross sectional view.......... 
 *stub ends in trainshed.339, 341, 
 *Chicago and Eastern Illinois Ry., 
 Presidents Of wee nay kel eoep aie 
 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Ry., 
 organized from minor roads 
 
 * *president of 1924 
 *Chicago, first locomotive landed in 
 UT LSS Sis e tercs stars Colele: ehelarcneteuenst suse 
 
 ELL OA oie ene ons erateiavece aistetenenteteects. 2 te 
 
 *in) 1924, from) the airs... «atc 
 TUCOLPOLALeG pill el SOA sere eialels ial 
 
 not mentioned in Dickens’ Notes 
 *Chicago Great Western R. R., pres- 
 IdOHt Obs s vetsa cues Hameo ahs 
 
 ee | 
 
 | 
 
 eo ec eee ee eee eee eee se toe es 
 
 ee) 
 
 eeereeeeoeenee 
 
 457 
 
 
 
 30 
 43 
 
 43 
 368 
 435 
 353 
 286 
 407 
 408 
 40S 
 224 
 227 
 173 
 172 
 
 419 
 
 425 
 96 
 72 
 83 
 84 
 
 186 
 58 
 
 422 
 

 
 458 
 *Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry., 
 DLesidenteOse cert area 421 
 Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
 CHOSSES> LOWareins cn sae nine ot 187 
 ADLeEsi@ent LOL el 927 sate eich ecie ets 423 
 *Chicago Union Station, architect’s 
 Ta WING, eyotarcsrercrensee che estenetenete = 394 
 ECONCOUMS Clee cures. <teltiois, etn she elate eettts 397 
 wloatehbay deteWd Beane Wneeins Cesier uae Ore 380 
 *near completion October, 1924.. 398 
 “Ayaae(sie Keel yoke an Sido Onan 6 395 
 *Eincinnatin tlood ecleermrieais ctr 309 
 Civil War, railway conditions before 147 
 TAL wayieuliie th Cots amour keremenee tele 147 
 *Clark, Edgar E., associated with 
 War 2B oardisins.cn cetersteieuaete 363 
 Classification, 1919 revenues adopted 
 ASWEDASIS Me seers oie ice ehoe eersrs 405 
 *“Claremont,’’ Fulton’s successful 
 StCAIME Ion ake cietetere tte ete eistr one are 19 
 *Cleveland, mechanical dumper at.. 324 
 *Coal burning locomotive, first..... 137 
 *Coal car, early horse drawn...... 2 
 Oba  SoOMaAtiG mal S24 fete rteretiatetele 64 
 Bpastuance presenters tele 381 
 *Colorado River, diverting it from 
 SaltonmSinilc. cece siete 301, 306 
 floods Imperial Valley......... 303 
 
 turned back into its own channel 302 
 Columbus, Joaquin Miller’s poem.. 12 
 Commerce Art, 1920 amendment to 382 
 Commerce Court, rise and fall of... 318 
 Commission and War Board cooper- 
 
 CO MUEN S retensteiey sieceitcker sues scsiepenete raters 363 
 Commission, Interstate Commerce, 
 AbtltUdeqrOtmemerasettescm aetek rer 325 
 Hersounelmope tirSt eke aie erss 242 
 *present membership of........ 440 
 
 Committee of National Defense... 362 
 Commodities, price of, 1900-1910... 330 
 Community foots riot bill of 1877..: 266 
 Competition, railway, begets discrim- 
 
 LTAtLOM MIN TAaceS nemesis 254 
 railways, gives way to Federal 
 Tegulation comeces ote eie ee cers 240 
 
 Complaints to I. C. C. mostly settled 
 without reference to courts.. 243 
 
 Compressed air used in brakes.... 207 
 
 *Conductor, the inconsiderate, and 
 
 the «weary, travelerosss ees 105 
 Conductors, average pay of, 1888- 
 LOD Sit etapteeis ctetere custo ese sy Meteie.cistale 251 
 president of Order of......... 436 
 *Conestocan WagOMS er cesilcls dere see ei 41 
 
 Congress endorses Federal control 
 
 aS emergency measure...... 369 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 Connections of early through routes 163 
 
 Consolidation of railways under 
 
 CommercesrA Cts eer cere 383 
 
 Construction, railway, 1902-1911, 
 
 DY SY CALS set cinte ects asteietetens se eate 5 2S 
 decreased after 1890.......... 262 
 recedes under regulation...... 262 
 retarded during decade, 1912- 
 
 OD Seeiete forsee Nevekel cbersentiers eoeee 404 
 
 Contractor, railway, described by 
 
 Dri PAbbotte aces vccerd terete 94 
 
 Cooke, Jay, involved in Northern 
 
 Paciiicw ban tuptoyemrercteentte 218 
 recoups his fortune when North- 
 
 ern Pacific resumes......... 219 
 
 Cooley, Judge Thomas M., first an 
 
 Nuale report Ole sce a eeetrcrns 243 
 
 *first chairman of I. C. C., 1887 229 
 on difficulties of regulation.... 253 
 Cooper, Peter, builds his first Amer- 
 ican. 1ocomotives.\. +b eee ise 34 
 *inventor and philanthropist.... 35 
 Cost of carriage not a controlling 
 
 *factors im fixitie rates were 255 
 Chi., Milw. & St. Paul rolling 
 
 stock? ane 18545 seer eee cater Sis 
 country highways..........-..-. 37 
 American locomotives.......... BS: 
 early British railways.......... 26 
 early American railways....58, 131 
 first Pullman sleeper......... 142 
 moving freight on highway.... 37 
 operation advances............ 359 
 Tajlways,. LOO0s. sens -eielsnstererte 132 
 railways estimated in 1868.... 245 
 railways up to 1840...... a erent fe 
 TailwayS UDP _tOwl SoU sep eeieetelens 100 
 transportation in England in 
 pre-railway days; << .)c sacs 7 
 
 per mile of early railways.... 67 
 *Cotton, train load of, in Oklahoma 
 
 IN? US93 Mes cave 3 tates aketarceoreenenere 258 
 *Couplers Glink. "and @pina-heseee cate 236 
 automaticwead option |OLe sree 230 
 *automatic, on freight car...... 237 
 automatic, standard adopted... 238 
 automatic, universal by 1900... 268 
 
 * Coupling process #Ots eve ater 237 
 Credit) Wobilier scandali.u. ene 180 
 
 scandal investigated by Congress 181 
 Credit, railway, crimped by inade- 
 
 quateS seturns. «.sGecees eae 295 
 *Crossing the Atlantic first by the 
 
 ‘‘Savannah’iij, swam niet 
 
 the: plains, 1852455 five vas s fasteners 
 
INDEX 459 
 
 
 
 *Crowley, Patrick E., president, New 
 
 York -Gentral ssyvsteniasce csc 417 
 *Cunarder, first, the “Britannica,’’ 
 ES OM Ree akera ot accecores ae! ereie ene cauerete re 85 
 
 *“Cyclopede,” horse locomotive..... 26 
 
 D 
 Daguerreotypes introduced in Amer- 
 LCase SSO ee oes calc a 89 
 Damming the Colorado flood...... 302 
 *“Tyaniel Webster,” first soft coal 
 
 burning locomotive. .123, 137, 138 
 *Dearborn, on the Michigan Canal, 
 
 PHBL OOS seroma ecm oi oere es 122 
 
 Debs, Eugene V., organizes Amer- 
 ican |! Railway, Union... 2.22. . 252 
 *Delaware & Hudson Canal, bank of 30 
 Shite tepuestGeiltem Oho stys costes sic Sie 
 *present «president: cece + see. 428 
 “perrersleomce, 15/0. nas. sso 4 os 31 
 Eoeneraloticerel O24 canes cet, cles 32 
 
 *Delaware, Lackawanna & Western 
 Ryeey presidente Of cae ses oc sche 432 
 *Depew, Chauncey M., 1882....... 356 
 MGA Mc lrcce aurea tim eror alee als 5 Ce 
 
 legal and financial guide of 
 three railway generations.... 355 
 on regulation in Massachusetts. 200 
 *Depot, first railway in America... 68 
 
 Depression tries 102) oar. cele eeieleiee 392 
 DeTocqueville on the Mississippi... 41 
 Detroiter versa tunnel irene 316 
 *DeWitt Clinton compared to modern 
 LOCOMOLLV. Gio a ped store Stet one Weetiele 52 
 *DeWitt Clinton locomotive and 
 EAI Te seavevertassrshe ere eas AO Sil SS 
 *Dice, Agnew T., president, Phila- 
 delphiatucumeh ecadinigwrey erie. 421 
 Dickens, Charles, experience cross- 
 inlee themsp OLLage warteene nici 55 
 * Dinan gar cat, marly = cicisiels eteles\ 3) eis erect LAO 
 SIMO EL Liwesten ec ste tediccier otae.e tusvele: nie, 142 
 Dining car first put in service..... 144 
 Discriminations, law against....... 261 
 evidence of hard to get........ 261 
 Distribution of gross earnings...... B27, 
 
 Dividends paid in 1890 and 1900... 268 
 
 Dixon, Frank H., assists in compil- 
 ing intercorporate report.... 311 
 
 *Dock, freight, breakwater at Cleve- 
 
 dari SA ee Se eee Ae oh fic 234, 327 
 2 Docks sore water alitiemmracnset eee 253 
 *Dodge, Gen. Grenville M., chief 
 
 engineer of Union Pacific.... 168 
 *Dog sledge in Alaska in 1880...... 217 
 
 Dollar for betterments to each dollar 
 
 Pot ALVIGendS Ceo demas oe ao 329 
 Douglas, Stephen A., father of IIli- 
 HOiSeslaid Merants fee asicereere: 124 
 Drew, Daniel, part in Erie scandal 189 
 SfreasurermOtahTie o. fees. cee 190 
 *Dumper, mechanical, at Ashtabula, 
 Obioy ides cote oe eaetitcicnis 328 
 E 
 Eads Bridge, after fifty years...... 221 
 engineer septoll essai neie ss 220 
 Earliest railway in America........ 30 
 
 Early horse railway in Germany.... 2 
 
 *railway depot in Schenectady... 68 
 Earnings and expenses, first six 
 
 months of Federal control... 370 
 
 per mile dropped, 1870-1877..... 217 
 
 Earthquake in San Francisco in 
 LOO Geta totes aieis eres Perea e sists 299 
 East and West joined at Promontory 
 Tee L869) aeecces cla egcterereasne terse 180 
 *Eddystone, Baldwin Locomotive 
 Wiorkgarennse sce tats a eal eictenienc 450 
 
 Effect of orders 27 and 28 on rev- 
 enues and expenses in 1918 371 
 
 Efficiency, railway, demonstrated by 
 traffic handled 1916-1920.... 406 
 
 Eight-hour day in the Adamson Act 361 
 
 Efghth Decade, 1900-1910)......... 283 
 *Electric locomotive, train and block 
 Signalswenncc sce cote: Mee oes ke 387 
 
 messages demonstrated, 1844... 80 
 messages experimental, 1835... 80 
 Elkins Act, forbidding special pref- 
 
 GrenCes, eae cit sateie eee ete) 288 
 “AON beh, ICUS BEIEY Ac bras el oan woe 107 
 *Elliott, Howard, chairman, North- 
 
 (ray LEVON, Ai ele amid Sue Bec 429 
 *Empire State Express, locomotive 
 
 oo 9 0 OZ eben c/s 4aicy Setcorscae ate no etiials 254 
 Employes, advance in compensation, 
 
 POLS SOL 7 eet eiarcicerierae @ tus ers vene 359 
 
 Engineers, average pay of, 1888-1923 251 
 life and accident insurance asso- 
 
 CLALLO flat-rate o ae hte acts eke ate 249 
 
 locomotive, Brotherhood organ- 
 IZEC LOOSE cts hte slevuate ote wrelaoas 248 
 *Gratidaichiete Obamas cee esol sane 436 
 
 *English engine with Westinghouse 
 altomaticu Dirakermuriie seen - - 209 
 Equipment, cost of 1854........... 133 
 
 *Ericsson, John, joint inventor of 
 “The Novelty’... .a.s%seseiss 25 
 
460 
 
 Erie, A Chapter of, told by Charles 
 Krancisy AdamS.ae) reer susie oe 
 ANOtMeT, MStOLY AN Olseie eaters 
 Canal, America’s first important 
 WALET Wa Vidtais eietonststa als late shaban te 
 Canal, first cost and cost of 
 deepening in 1835..... Boi tshtieis 
 *Canal vin gi Saaec., sete. takes 
 R. R. changed gauge from 6- 
 foot to 4-ft. 8% in. in 1878.. 
 construction of described by Dr. 
 Lyman Abbott 
 
 ee cee eee eee eee 
 
 distinguished guests on opening 
 
 excursion 
 how it was handicapped by its 
 charter 
 (New York & Erie R. R.)... 
 
 Cr 
 
 Se 
 
 opens line to Lake Erie in 1851 
 Anresident: OL ‘jc cuatsuds saree ares 
 projected without a» New York 
 GELIMINAl he iake pace eee ers 
 *scenery on, described by Wm. 
 IMicIne0d is sites laste orate eieinree ss 
 
 traffic on in 1841 and in 1923 
 trip on, New York to Dunkirk 
 ATUL BS eee Grace eye stave Severe auecwene 
 
 *Evans, Oliver, amphibious locomotive 
 *Oliver, early American inventor 
 Evidence of discrimination difficult 
 to: obtain (0) os ties cia ene 
 Exorbitant rates per se unknown in 
 Winited GStates sect scetar) erevelans 
 Expansion of traffic, 1915 to 1920... 
 period of, 1897-1907........... 
 railway, reaches its height..... 
 Expenses, advances in items 
 volved L900 [tO nl GOR erste cern 
 
 equal revenues in 1920........ 
 Exports, before and after the Great 
 War 
 Express)» Lhe ((poem)%\, «Sse 2+ «hse 
 Extensions checked by restrictions. 
 
 eee eee eee ee tere eee eee ee 
 
 F 
 
 Fair return fixed by Transportation 
 Act 
 what. constitutes), (2 <5... ss .0 66 
 Famous railway builders, passing of 
 Fares on New England roads...... 
 Farmers’ share of the consumers’ 
 price 
 
 Farm lands, increased value, 1870- 
 1880 
 
 price of grain drops in 1921.. 
 
 eee reewe eee eee teers ee eore 
 
 eer et eee eee ee ee eee eoeee 
 
 ee eee eee eee eee e eee eere 
 
 86 
 
 192 
 
 66 
 65 
 191 
 433 
 
 66 
 
 90 
 193 
 
 191 
 376 
 28 
 28 
 
 261 
 
 243 
 358 
 297 
 217 
 
 326 
 389 
 
 358 
 442 
 284 
 
 382 
 199 
 352 
 
 68 
 315 
 
 230 
 392 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 values in 1850 and 1860...... 
 values, railways add to....... 
 *Fast locomotive of Atlantic City 
 hoa ts eri SA eerie SOP ny 
 *Fast passenger locomotive, 1893. 
 Federal compensation fixed......... 
 control attermagh, . Lacan meets 
 control declared to be emergency 
 legislatvon cnc cee ae 
 tailroad administration......... 
 *Felton, Samuel M., president, Chi- 
 cago Great Western R. R... 
 *Samuel’ Me.) at 30 au eee 
 S.-M. Ist,,.. builds first coal 
 burning locomotive ......... 
 Field, Justice Stephen J., defends 
 inviolability of private prop- 
 CELY 2F S Ailes alters Syeuer suataiel ts ie eet aN 
 Fifth Decade, 1870-1880........... 
 Financial returns for 1916 and 1923 
 for 1912 sandwi922) ere oe 
 for first year of Federal con- 
 tPOD WEES. aol oad. aoe ae 
 for second year of Federal con- 
 trol eee eines shehoaneee ean 
 for transition year, 1920...... 
 Financing American railways always 
 Gificiultank. oo omle ouster 
 *Fink, Albert, organizer joint traffic 
 aSSOCiation Prox ee cserea he ttee 
 *Finley, William H., president, Chi- 
 cago & North Western...... 
 Firemen, average pay of, 1888-1923 
 Brotherhood of Locomotive, 
 tpresident; of Wincse eee ware 
 First all rail route, Philadelphia to 
 Pittsburgh cuvette 
 *car hong rails: he o-:. ures ere ror 
 *coal burning locomotive...... 
 decade of American Railways, 
 LSS0KI S40 A oeiscneehie cn ere 
 *locomotive landed from Chicago 
 from schooner, 1848......... 
 *first railroad in the United 
 Statesiahensciemdosan eee 29, 
 regular passenger steamer 
 crosses the Atlantic, 1838.... 
 *stone on B. & O. railroad.... 
 train on Stockton & Darlington 
 Ry tuecus sis spe eaia heen toner ote 
 Flanges on wheels of early rolling 
 STOCK Caw are asic cine tis beets te east eem ements 
 Flood, waterfall into Imperial Valley 
 Floods and earthquakes overtake the 
 TairlwayS yiswvet welelecstsiern aera 
 *Florida Keys, railroad over....... ' 
 
 203 
 189 
 406 
 404 
 371 
 
 374 
 376 
 
 345 
 
 196 
 
 423 
 251 
 
INDEX 
 
 *Ford, Henry, home town Dearborn 
 
 TL SO See nes cet el 2)e ieee 
 *Founders, group of, of Baltimore 
 WE O)TO seve tn cen RAS Sete ae 
 Fourth- Decade, 1860-1870......... 
 France, railway, staff and material 
 TAD reas NC aera cots io ame oner cl ahs) eheea ewe 
 Freight car, average life of........ 
 annual replacement of 100,000 
 TLECESSAT Veet oie le esl ata 
 built compared with increased 
 freight ohnandledi., va cvrnsete cus! 
 SUED IUSE OL pL OU enw, serieme te « 
 Mretenrrchareess iCarly. sete susmtes erie 
 congestion in 1917 caused by 
 LrekwOreshippitiaisencekseceiscres « 
 "NO ctiSy lOGOMOLIViem ta clears arate 
 *exchanged mechanically........ 
 loadings by MMaAcChineryse «secs « « 
 *locomotive, heaviest type of, 
 
 HO SOwp cheese + cjotste leet se ole blake ts > 
 *locomotive, typical, 1861....... 
 rates, early limitations......... 
 tratiical Ol Su LOM LOADS namaste ss) 
 traffic of waterways and rail- 
 WAViSs ul SOUP LOZ Omer: ate sieleleiel' 
 *train on the Quincy railway.... 
 “aioe Gorkha (eehpelselss oon eoacah 
 *yard, Illinois Central R. R., at 
 Ghicagowsewrm ate ee eee creas 
 Rvard,) sit Kaneas eCityd. ws te oss 
 Fremont, Gen. John C., crosses the 
 continent in ihe: 40’s.s..... 
 *Fulton, Robert, American inventor 
 gO Glenitiotites galas stele Maken ctalatehe so 
 
 G 
 
 Galena & Chicago Union, building 
 cut short by panic of 1837.. 
 construction resumed in 1847.. 
 
 first) chartered) in 18360. 20.4). . 
 *Gateshead model, Trevithick’s...... 
 Gaugesmimedleys Otetcs. +s eictcwe es. « 
 Gauge, Union Pacific, fixed by Con- 
 ITESSW betel itere ohctel srairaigie sao te 
 “General,” capture, chase and re- 
 CADETS sO Matron esis cits cheers: © 
 Confederate locomotive stolen 
 
 by Federal raiders.......... 
 *locomotive, chase of........... 
 *monument to, Lookout Moun- 
 PETAR 5 Alsteto Heeb 0 Ciatao CARO RAEN RRA 
 German immigration, 1849......... 
 Gold discovered in California...... 
 seekers rush to Califcrnia..... 
 
 Good Hope, Cape of, rounded by 
 122 AClent mV eENnetiansyre ¢ acme csi 
 *Gorman, James E., president, Chi., 
 44 Rockmistand™ Se Pacitici eu er. 
 147 SP GOuULGS Alayna am chante relents Pou erckepees 
 connection with Erie........ 
 365 Government loss under Federal con- 
 315 CLOMS2 ee moOtit series: mere tte 
 Operations endsiewiasss. aes eee 
 315 ownership disavowed by Cong- 
 TESS AAsSAtEs ta oie a sien, © caserniele 
 OLS takes over the railways....... 
 396 *“Governor Marcy,’’ locomotive built 
 42 Lit PES le wages hs eee chats Bere 
 Grain elevators, investment in..... 
 3:63 Grand Central Station, New York. 
 64 Pthreemperiod sii. tue ae. erie 
 327 *New York, cross section of 
 285 level Seciern: ste! ahem ee eens 
 New York, dimensions......... 
 240 *New York, main concourse & 
 150 CICK Ets OUNCE’. cn Ramin chores ss 
 AS *New York, from 42d Street.... 
 358 *New York, lower level con- 
 COULSCMr ten tele hams rom Preon cis tas 
 161 *New York, seen from neighbor- 
 30 A OMSKYVSETADEL cree weciere vies, «sie 
 3 Grange, National Patrons of Hus- 
 ATUL VewA avatetel Eee aie islets Peaciete ase see 
 289 (sranger la wsniire eeees clears ook Soi 
 351 laws sustained by the supreme 
 Counters te reer deme cars ts 
 101 legislation in Iowa, Wisconsin 
 20 and other western states.... 
 19 Grant, General, on railways during 
 THE MWaty Rec cele rides setae ov sterereeelers 
 General, first sight of a railroad 
 *Gravity railways at Mauch Chunk.. 
 72 *GrayvaCarth R.watwiiiteenen.i: 236 %< 
 72 *president, Union Pacific R. R.. 
 72 Great American Desert, trails 
 a marked with headstones..... 
 76 Great Northern rushes construction 
 to the Pacific in the 80’s.... 
 172 president. Ofc .cuewce sat eware ss 
 Growth of American railways by 
 158 SEATES Ue cecusrauslel state pote lets etetaley sis) < 
 of railways, 1830-1860........ 
 We “Guaranty period” to Sept. 1, 1920 
 154 established oietnldacteiacts sake 
 ended September 1, 1920...... 
 157 
 370 jal 
 85 
 99 *Fackensack,’”? locomotive . built 
 99 aborts £24605 aes e ee oes « 
 
 461 
 
 10 
 
 423 
 191 
 191 
 
 377 
 375 
 
 369 
 366 
 
 103 
 2129 
 .343 
 344 
 
 346 
 347 
 
 348 
 345 
 
 349 
 347 
 
 201 
 200 
 
 202 
 201 
 159 
 
 78 
 
 30 
 424 
 424 
 173 
 
 232 
 420 
 
 451 
 149 
 
 S75 
 S16, 
 
462 
 
 Hadley, Arthur T., discusses effects 
 of .Federali@controles- nce ees 
 
 * Harpers Petry ein p1o07 eee tee eee 
 *Harriman, Edward H., 1848-1909... 
 appears on the railway stage... 
 elected chairman of Union Pa- 
 
 cific 
 
 in fight to save Imperial Valley 
 railway reorganizer and recon- 
 
 eee reer eee eee eee eee eee 
 
 SULUCE Ot weerey Mattenete aanetenehcll vet otele Ras 
 *Harrison, Fairfax, president South- 
 ern Railway, System one 
 
 Harte, Bret, on completion of trans- 
 Continental sroadsemwer ate sie er 
 *Helena ww Vlontanasettiinl G7 giver ele 
 *Hell Gate arch over East River... 
 *Long Island connection....... 
 Hepburn Act gives Commission 
 AuUthOLityatoMalravesnn is cinte. 
 *Highest bridge in the world, Pecos 
 RAVETIsie vin sieve eer eianeteeteeie tere oe 
 
 *Hill, James Jerome, portrait.....-. 
 came to United States oppor- 
 LUTICL Vales eter che tas, shoyareteratwretsteimane > 
 
 TTL COO Hey he ciekarsne erotic cies leheleperecare 
 
 the “Empire Builder’ of the 
 North weStw acs teecikitiensrs es 
 
 Hines, Walker D., succeeds Director 
 General McAdoonocn ecatree 
 *Holden, Hale, president, Chicago, 
 
 Burlington & Quincy R. R.. 
 *Hone, Philip, first president Dela- 
 ware & Hudson Canal Co.... 
 *Hood, Mt., as seen from Portland.. 
 *Horse coal car, early German... 
 *locomotive, the ‘‘Cyclopede’’... 
 *sixteen train, in Wyoming in 
 1870) 
 *Hughitt, Marvin, chairman, Chicago 
 & Northwestern, in 1924.... 
 
 = Marvitlitl: a Osiris ete steteterehe rete 
 Marvin, whose eyes have seen 
 
 70 years of railway service.. 
 Human equation in railway service 
 
 eee etre ese ee sere eee er eeose 
 
 *Huntingston, Collis Pio. mass 
 projector and organizer contin- 
 ental SroadSen. « scrttethererel sets 
 “Huntington,” locomotive shipped 
 around the Horn in 1864.... 
 I 
 
 Illinois -Central, construction begun 
 #18511. ssp to ish eeaeene > 
 
 first north and south railway... 
 practically parallels Mississippi 
 
 River 
 *nresident *Ofs. © + «sens sew ee e 
 
 eoeore rere eet toe e se eiee eo 
 
 353 
 269 
 
 269 
 304 
 
 353 
 424 
 185 
 218 
 386 
 385 
 294 
 
 198 
 354 
 
 137 
 137 
 
 354 
 
 194 
 
 416 
 415 
 
 356 
 438 
 175 
 174 
 
 161 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 projected (unl 1S3/a5.5 ose ee 
 *proposed new passenger station 
 
 Atiet Chicago ss. eee 5 tee 
 *dlittos elayOUutencie ce terete 
 * ditto, generale plan -enernets cere 
 * dittone! Tort eelevatiOtns semen 
 “SfatiOnuin loo 7cehetterstereyieeae tenes 
 
 terms, Of lands prante.e -ceeien ae 
 Immigration, first wave of........ 
 from Ireland and Germany in 
 
 1880- 
 
 Ce 
 
 increase during decade 
 
 1890 
 
 *Imperial Valley flood, five cuts..301- 
 
 irrigated from Colorado River.. 
 Savitig the... ceicaenicete colton 
 saved at cost of three millions 
 towthemrallwayse.-se aeeeiets 
 
 title justified by its crops...... 
 Imprisonment, penalty for discrim- 
 inatione-a bolished= snes eee ia 
 Improvements and _ betterments 
 under Federal control...... 
 *Inclined. plane at Belmont......... 
 tat Match) Chunk ace a onpseetons 
 
 at Philadelphia and Columbia. 38, 
 
 on the Delaware & Hudson... 
 
 *on the portage railway......... 
 Income, net, fails to equal reason- 
 ablewreturn jie see eee 
 *Indians attacking stage coach...... 
 impede building of Union Pacific 
 *“Tndicator,’ every city had its own 
 time einethes O0'S series sae 
 Injunction, sweeping, issued against 
 lawlessness in strikes........ 
 Insurance, death and_ disability, 
 engineers 
 disability, 
 Intercorporate relations of railways, 
 1908 
 
 ee 
 
 from 
 
 Interest, advance in rate on new 
 borrowing 
 
 paid on funded debt in 1900... 
 Interstate Commerce Act of 1887... 
 AMENGIMeN te Ole sc. efele ess were sierenere 
 *Interstate Commerce Commission, its 
 members 
 
 its great responsibility......... 
 Investment as reported by the Com- 
 MISSION | A1y elo Leeieretonepeaael iene 
 
 per milelin® 19225. ac sie-clsicis inns 
 
 eC ee 
 
 ee 
 
 85 
 
 230 
 306 
 302 
 301 
 
 307 
 307 
 287 
 
 390 
 54 
 52 
 54 
 31 
 79 
 
 389 
 162 
 175 
 164 
 400 
 
 251 
 249 
 
 311 
 
 246 
 
INDEX 463 
 
 -Yowa, crossed by five trunk lines 
 in decade 1860-1870.......... 185 
 Drishpimmioration, wl C4le. acceso cette 85 
 
 J 
 *Jackson, William J., at twenty..... 425 
 
 *president, Chicago & Eastern 
 IN WOISBAR SA oo ote scene ace sieve. seus 426 
 Jarrett & Palmer’s Special in 1876.. 221 
 iGuinerey, Utere RSV (eS esc nacoD ae 109 
 ee Ol tats i) ieeee LOCOMOLLV Cr eerste ote sils 50 
 *locomotive built for Camden & 
 Arm DOyoUR Vem EOS leresieises els . 49 
 TTA SEI.VlCOumnEl eel 4,0 eiatieusiey ait cts sie 51 
 Just and reasonable return, failure 
 (al (ein ICNbok otiaG.a5 BosoooO 392 
 
 wages, what to be considered... 381 
 
 K 
 Kansas City Union Station....... 349 
 *station, exterior view...-.....- 350 
 *Kenly, John R., president, Atlantic 
 (Toasted he cers seleesre sensi cate 426 
 Kitchen of modern dining car..... 144 
 
 *Kruttschnitt, Jullus, chairman, 
 Southern Pacific Company... 426 
 
 *Kurn, James M., president, St. 
 Louis-San Francisco R. R.... 427 
 
 L 
 
 Labor Board, Railroad, awards 
 wage increase of $700,000,00. 384 
 cuts advance in wages half... 392 
 establishment? Ofe sss. «sce oe s 380 
 reduces wages by 12 per cent.. 393 
 without power to enforce orders 382 
 ‘Labor, compensation of under Fed- 
 
 STAVECONLLO! paeisictsesnes atalesnen’ 371 
 cost of, on early railways...... 61 
 COStMMON metalliwa Veer tencttrelle tals. os 323 
 OLSAMIZaAtlONSya TalLWay;. serene. ol <i 247 
 
 struggle, culmination of, in 1922 396 
 unions, early organized in New 
 Fine laricieacir res sreterste. ators tis: 248 
 
 *Lancaster, train passing through, 
 SA OMEN CIN a afer s eisversis cteie t.6.'° 91 
 
 Land grant, acres a drug on the 
 AATKCEIRa tw Ilea et. se atere.c stele 126 
 DELIOG et ee ees estes cee ose ss 123 
 terms of, to Illinois Central... 120 
 ACTESHCOVELE UM DY wiaieraie ele) everetels s.0 124 
 PENELAlCALUITES seiemrretere + etarevels 125 
 
 hastened sale of public lands... 126 
 not very profitable to the rail- 
 WAY SY so eretePabeiclere sactavebete niet ahhh s 127 
 
 
 
 responded to popular demands 124 
 Valter OFF. s1cu sei cteieas aces eo 126 
 Land value in St. Paul in 1849.... 136 
 
 Lane, Franklin K., on adequate re- 
 turn for railway investors... 325 
 
 elec, Williame Gaeats tweaty.. ona 437 
 : *president, Brotherhood of 
 Drainmensene pee ee 437 
 
 Legislation, restrictive effects of.... 329 
 Leiper tramway, earliest railway in 
 
 Patents glstncro tts AL ee AA latede 30 
 Letter postage, San Francisco to 
 Atlantic coast, 40° cents in 
 tIVE RA OUSin ver ones cp exe sate ahctecasers oe 100 
 *Level, taking a, on the Erie...... 90 
 Limit of railway construction in 
 LS GOI nee ant se ee ee ots 122 
 *Lincoln, Abraham, approves location 
 OfeUnionmeaciicassaneres ners 166 
 *autograph, approving Union 
 Paciiceslocationar.. demesne as te LOO 
 favored lands grants. qe bacer yy 
 MAugULAateds it el BG) aeiweecee cote 147 
 
 in Rock Island bridge case.... 128 
 on railways and waterways.... 127 
 
 Rilinkeancds pinmcoppletytcerts cma 236 
 Liverpool & Manchester Ry. adopts 
 SteamuepOW.CLRi iret crete tale creer 24 
 *Loading and unloading by gravity.. 253 
 *Lock at Lockport on Erié.......... 13 
 “Locomotion? Nog4) asi rebuilt a0 25 
 
 first locomotive in actual service 23 
 *Locomotive and crew at Promontory 
 
 11M BOD Hers he te eicvsrsichcveeve lee auete 174 
 tarticulated ms Wallet 1919 s,m ase. 372 
 *articulated type, 1916, weight 
 
 SOOLS5 OM IDS Se ache came taka she bare 358 
 *at Centennial Exposition, 1876 224 
 Atlantic’ type OOO sets tecns pee 296 
 * Baldwin inl GO lair seis 149, 151 
 *Baldwin, fast passenger, of 1848 95 
 *Baltimore & Ohio, 1904....... 296 
 *built for Hudson River R. R. 
 
 INE 1 SOO yacwe rae tne ches Vote tokere 135 
 * Gamer) wae heav.yae | Oiler are 325 
 C. FP. Huntington, shipped 
 
 ALOuNCmtien Elo fiir weirs 161 
 *“Conness,”’ transported around 
 
 Capeniorey s1S05iveanes ease 171 
 *“Consolidation’” type, heavy, 
 
 fre1ah teeet Ol Oiaverenetacreneiererererrces 314 
 *“Decapod’ type, 1906):..52..121- 299. 
 Gevelopmenity Ofientan cele enelsielcy ere 104 
 
 *development of, 1837 to 1918.. 378 
 demonstrates superiority to 
 HO TSEW OTe srewicte siete lamas tere ars 35 
 

 
 464 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 *designer’s model of Hudson *Locomotives, heaviest type of 
 Rivets €ngine. sick conch tone 136 Ere git ed GSOe werkt ee eke aa 
 *earliest and latest English..... a BS TOL: BOS ys steers ect aterere meee ats 259 
 **“Falcon,’’ on inspection tour of For they perlodesus<asc. oe 
 Central BP acinomae. eric: tere 169 *1876 and modern compared... 294 
 *fast passenger in 1893......... 257 *smallest and largest in P. & R. 
 *first and modern compared.... 5 SELVICe sine ate aden arene ee 326 
 *first class passenger in 1875....195 Long and short haul, discussion of 241 
 *first)coal-burning. 18552... 1 123 principles discussed by Commis- 
 *first English in AAmerica...... 34 SICH 0).y chs <b ster eat dace eee 258 
 firstin actual service... 4... 21 regulation depends on_ partic- 
 *first to reach St. Paul by boat ilapycifcumstancesaan ieee 258 
 in S60 vatidiamoderns semen s- 184 *Long Island, Hell Gate Cut-off..... 385 
 *flexible beam truck of 1842, re- Longest railway under construction 
 modelled in 1865............ 171 Itt 283.0 k ae were ee cae eee 37 
 *four hundred ton A. T. & S. F., *Lookout Mountain, ‘“‘General’? mon- 
 1.92 i oye reel ee do dneepae ante tors (a eet Rete ok 505 UTMETIE: (ON) ss: sien oneaictere een eae 157 
 four hundred ton electric...... 382 “Loree, Lic F. at: twenty ..ce urea 428 
 *freight and passenger, 1860 *president, Delaware & Hudson, 
 a Fal Rig Stee aeoeeeetoneee Rete 148, 152, 216 UD Dawes she Sas athe bia al Cate has 
 *“General” seized by Union *Los Angeles had no railways in 
 taiders < WHR Lecce ae tote 154 TS60:s . BARGiee cre ereiyaa cree 233 
 *Geo. Stephenson’s early patent. 22 *in 51870 and mow.) ack ee ene 192 
 *German, steam, turbine....... 414 Loss, government, on first year’s 
 *“Governor Marcy,” built in Operations 4, neeseeure lense ic, ee 
 18515: 2 Se Ie a ae 103 on two years’ operation...... 374 
 *heaviest type of passenger, 1889 241 Louisville & Nashville chartered in 
 sheave treights rd OlGoers scenic ts 366 VSS OMe Ae ive ols ee meets Baa Gs 
 *Lehigh Valley, heaviest of 1875 224 Presidents Ole ee een seater eae 429 
 inl ae Wonks) ant Gili sepa ene AY RB} Lovett, Robert S., head of Divi- 
 *Mikado! type) L920 ce wele eats 3137 sion of Capital Expenditures 363 
 “Missouri Pacific, 1902/5. 5 tes we. 287 *chairman, Union Pacific System 427 
 Moguliwot ul Co2 nee sisereie ners e200 SLucin} ctit-Offc os ose eee es 284 
 *Mountain type, heavy passenger, Luggage, English name for baggage 278 
 LOZ Zig cee Nae An edete socal Ore Rettetodal alte 388 
 *“Nashville” that drew Lincoln’s M 
 funeral trains ose. sane . 167 
 BING, DOO? CASE chais abet ed eee ie ba 254 McAdoo, Wm. G., appointed Di- 
 *“Novelty,” rival of the “Rocket” 26 rector, Géneraloiiy veces cee 367 
 of L903! hehetcllessteretercies beeen eee 287 Director general, resigns.... 373 
 *oil burner, heavy freight serv- McAdoo’s “Advisory Cabinet”..... 368 
 : AGE, LOZZ IS fe ln veroia rye ie wiajais wre ele 383 McChord, Commissioner, on the per- 
 passenger of 1896, one of the sonal equationsn.sesnecteene 213 
 fastest. ever) sbuiltsace. sche: 263 Mail. fret Pe key? i] ‘ 
 4 a Bey. ai rst carrie y railways in 
 representative Baldwin in 1839 63 1837 ae : 100 
 pontine Romy peN ore! Wicaay eae 238 *train, fast) at 6Omhiles an hour’ 293 
 *specifications for early B. & O. 45 ne fg eg: 
 *stages of, drawn to scale, 1837 Mann “Boudoir car’ tried on East- 
 fo 1923 Reece aan ea Maa Gee 378 GTi Leads: ee Caco eae ae 
 “transporting a, by horsesin 1842 93 Mann-Elkins Act strengthens power 
 *Trevithick’s first model........ 21 of Commission over rates... 295 
 *twelve wheel tender.......... 373 *Mapother, W. L., president, Louis- 
 Hype Ot. A SIOa es Cee eee 225 ville & Nashville....... eoaire 429 
 *Virginian Ry., 1918, weight *Maps, railway, 1830, 1840, 1850, 
 OR9.O00FUbSic Fe. vie ailtre wrele erect 366 18600 2075 han ieee se @ eres atte 149 
 *with Central Pacific train, 1868 169 *“Marcy Governor,” locomotive, 1851 103 
 

 
 INDEX 465: 
 *Markham, Chas. H., at twenty.... 428 *Mogul locomotive, 1892............ 255 
 *president, Illinois Central R. R., *Mohawk & Hudson, first locomotive, 
 ROP SE Me erstve aes acc aias t setris eae 428 Demy att CHALOM tain. cates 51 
 Martinsburg, riots, 1877)... 2c... 5. 223 Monumental stations, building of... 331 
 Massachusetts roads, capital of, in *Morse, Samuel F. B., inventor... 82 
 LSA Sie ratee ialo sieisekes Seles stele are 410 files caveat for electrical instru- 
 state regulation of, 1869...... 197 TNE DL Gey ecers nee ee nn 5. Son hes 82 
 Mauch Chunk, gravity railway at... 30 *Moseley, Edward A., first secretary 
 SITIC tle deaplatlemiatiere eremt-uccusle oiets 52 GLMCOMTINISETOU es Seyret acd «5 8 5 243 
 Mayer, Brantz, trip across the Alle- *Motor car, Baldwin, steam, 1877.. 200 
 @USTNICS 211s 1S ovis ns « seis ne ees = 105 Mountainy tunmeling. sires tne ess es 273 
 *Mechanical dumper at Ashtabula Munson, Judge, 50 days’ trip, St. 
 GOCKSia Berets eres Nite hion sures: . 328 Louis to Ft. Benton, 1865.. 162 
 FatCleveland VdOCkKSa = geld cr sisieiete 324 
 Meyer, Prof. B. H., assists in com- N 
 MeTCialwvalMatlOMms. <eyee srs «/ 289 Newcomen, Thomas, original inven- 
 Meyers, assists in intercorporate tor of steam engine ...... 17 
 TOPOL Gate, s.0) siete Sdtentiscs) Slice ee 290 model engine ..cccscccecseess 17 
 *Michigan Central train in Dearborn, New England roads, early history 67 
 1857 ee eee e toe eer seer eeeeesee 121 New York and Boston all rail con- 
 Michigan railways, early, what they MeClOn ine 1848 eee. 70 
 cost the state.......+-+.+- . 73 New York’s belated start ......... 61 
 sells state roads at a loss in 1844 72 New York & Harlem Ry., chartered 
 tries state ownership in 1837... 72 ay cane OUA naan omer ke i 62 
 Migration to the west.........+.. 58 CAsth OL ap VEO PLEA Se 76 
 Mileage and population............ 97 New York, early depots in ...... 344 
 and population in; 1860. <<. 119, 148 HTP ESS) ee ste ele 62, 390, 391 
 AandetracksSeitin LOCO. ciel sett 267 *in 1924, from an airplane 390, 391 
 at the close of the 19th century 284 to Albany direct, 1851....... 6a 
 built between 1870 and 1880.... 227 to San Francisco in 80 hours, 
 built between 1880 and 1890.... 229 SiomMNiNutegnr waxes we eda tin 221 
 by states, 1840..........-+0.. 74 New York Central, composed of 
 increase, 1860-1870....... eee GS many links, 1853 .......... 64 
 decrease in’ 1916-1920......... 377 FAreRIeOE COL bre ee a ee oe 417 
 expansion during Eighth Decade 284 New York Central & Hudson River 
 Miller, Justice, finding in Credit *R. R. opened to Buffalo, 1853 112 
 Mobiliter® cases ce. «c/s. 2.010102 #10 183 *New York, Chicago & St. Louis 
 Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. R. R., Chairman of......... 434 
 Marie Ry., President of.... 430 *New York, Grand Central Station 
 *Mississippi River, bridge of 1855 at—suburban concourse...... 349 
 established rights of  rail- *New York, New Haven & Hartford 
 Ways Men Ginetta stints «ate © + she 128 R. R., Chairman of ........ 421 
 *present steel structure ..... 129° *Niagara, bridging ...........2.005 130 
 *Mississippi River, early raft on... 10  *Night travel before the days of 
 how trunk lines reached the.. 117 SLEEPERS: pirster lew tae ty shat eh 105 
 limit of railway construction Ninth Decade, 1910-1920........... 324 
 BEE LOOU eins se ale sini oie ols 8:2 Hes 98 » *¢No,. 4,” “Locomotion, first... 5).)... 23 
 yal We), UNS HK Gay Hu ao Gud Beconmon 117 *Norris, Wm., freight engine ..... 64 
 traffic rendered obsolete by Norris locomotive ascends Schuykill 
 Tall Way. sme ostele lose wictes s.aial= 122 inclined! planes % « cca. sien 61 
 transportation on ....+....+.- 16 Northern Pacific begun in 1870... 218 
 Va ey.’ fers (PAA iT ie steele, «ee 116 goes under in 1873 and recov- 
 Missouri, Kansas & Texas line, pres- ELS, (is 1S ZS! staan ees enters 218 
 THEN ER Oferta ielese-ctedaie eiaveleerayens 430 * Chairman wore LOZ omy caslate senate 421 
 Missouri Pacific Ry., President *“Novelty,” the rival of Stephen- 
 OLB SEAT De Fore Slee borer aan chan otis 419 Son’sn\c Rockets o weictas eltiessyeere 26 
 
466 
 
 O 
 
 Officials recruited from the ranks.. 
 *Ogden, Wm. B., Father of western 
 
 TAL WAYS tries ahereverste ci cueiee ose ots 
 president of many western rail- 
 Wil MICOM PANIES Mss leleiieleteiste siete 
 Ohio, flood 2085491 Soci cn se reap es 
 ba jo ef Ls di OE aoe Oo oon 
 estimate of life and property 
 VOSS i aieis cielo ts ehateic siekerssetcveds 309, 
 
 *railways after it had gone .... 
 *“Old Ironsides,” first Baldwin lo- 
 
 frei Gowide So onc vom AO 
 
 Baldwin’s first locomotive 
 *Omaha in the 60’s, without railways 
 ASLTECU CATE ML OUAY Mere meusierech ares ee 
 SStreety 11) whos Sumeesieis Crees eueisiecseke 
 *trestles across valley near South 
 Origa hae oehiteeereisretets crcis es 
 Operating ratio before and after 
 themGreatwnyVate cts. crit 
 Operating revenues, formula for 
 UKE aba Beasccscosascc 
 Operations, railway, three decades 
 ory AUR EI oteadoso do eras 
 
 Opportunity, railway door of 
 *Ore docks, Great Northern at Du- 
 luth 
 *“Oregon or bust’ prairie schooner 
 *Original Pullman car, costume party 
 OLPETIOM SIT Mec erste saerors 
 Over-construction, 1865-1893 
 Overland travel in the 60’s, perils 
 of 
 Ownership of American railways... 
 *Ox-cart, early 
 
 eee eee eee eee te ore eee sees 
 
 Pacific routes, battle of the five.. 
 *Packet boat on Delaware & Hudson 
 
 Canal ewer ces oe als sie sstatete's 3 
 Pannier mica Zins actos Bay renetera asec: s ; 
 Ofml Godman del Sod islslaeiteittes« 
 
 Olin 1873 hee Serer c rte ohctorelereretartens. 5 
 
 of 1873 due to overbuilding rail- 
 WAYS LSOS*USI/G! wertepel stereo elon ere 
 
 of 1893 paralyzed railway traffic 
 
 of 1907, effect on rolling stock 
 of 1907, effects last for years 
 *Passenger car, 1844 .......eeeeee- 
 MiNteTIOTE OF) “LOO. speletcierrsrs => 
 “onthe. Quincy. Ry. se tsesss = 
 wid Byer dite (On Mensano Oo OO COC 
 “early S-wheel-%.0-2) costes nes 
 *on Pennsylvania’s Portage 
 
 eee ereoee ert eoeree® 
 
 Road, 1835 
 
 414 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN -KAlLLWAYS 
 
 *steel 190702 hens eee ter 
 *Passenger coaches, 1880-1905 
 * Passenger engine, Schenectady 
 WOEKS, Ws) S60) ses select creators 
 fare, two-cent a mile legisla- 
 tid: is SO aes ne ee eens 
 *locomotive;sitaste s: see sens 263, 
 +locomotiviesstast) ml Ooo mee emuetetens 
 *locomotive, first class, of the 
 LOPS eee ete eee ite eee notes 
 *‘ocomotive, heaviest of its 
 type. Bald witttecaeeeceeeare 
 *locomotive, representative, 1886, 
 Bald wintseciace Oooo ers cae othe 
 tates, commissioner B. H. 
 
 Meyer on, in Wisconsin case 
 
 trates, reduced between 1877 
 
 and: 61887 98 .co eee eer 
 *station, first in New York.... 
 stations, difficulties attending 
 
 location i. Mes oa eile Sete en ena 
 traffic affected by motor compe- 
 
 TILTOT Recs oe ee etree rete 
 trafic lags it L922 mee eee 
 train’ Of [860M sae oer een 
 *ticket by steamer, rail and 
 
 canal, New York to Buffalo 
 
 Pay, average of, conductors, 1888- 
 ODS Ye kale cas abovetene tetas oe hoe crbete 
 
 of, engineers, 1888-1923 
 
 of, trainmen, 1888-1923 
 Pay roll in 1919 advances 90 per 
 cent over 1916 
 increase, 1897-1907 
 increased $600,000,000 by Labor 
 Board 
 
 in Parkersburg shops in 1830... 
 *Peekskill Landing on the Hudson 
 
 eeevee 
 
 eee eee eee eece 
 
 ee 
 
 coe reese eee ese eee eos oe 
 
 19 *1337 Wiese oe, one eee 
 Penalty under the Elkins Act 
 Changed seve ateiiersaicmerieteie 
 *Pennington, Edmund, chairman, 
 Minneapolis, St. Paul & S. 
 
 S¥o Maries ®./srosisusrecnockers elemhe 
 Pennsylvania R. R., how it finally 
 reached Chicago and _ St. 
 LGUs ersce crete ote sadcces Srotesere a srote 
 
 how sit goteite Charlee o.c ct 
 opens all-rail line to Pittsburgh 
 VSS 4 crests susie aerators Sle wre pistes 
 
 early history and first cost ... 
 
 loses $3,019,000 in Ohio flood 
 original cost. to state reim- 
 
 bursed by company ....... 
 * president! Of rec seteteste stele atecatore 
 
 several stations of, in Phila- 
 
 240 
 
 313 
 
 244 
 344 
 
 266 
 405 
 405 
 SE) 
 
 66 
 251 
 251 
 251 
 
 371 
 297 
 
 384 
 61 
 
 69 
 
 287 
 430 
 117 
 iS 
 114 
 114 
 310 
 
 115 
 416 
 
SCA al tees Watalet a afeie Var Rises ie 
 
 I Newarr orks statlonle Ofs este asters 
 dimensions of New York sta- 
 TLOMe aroiertterel epost wie euteeetss so 
 
 R. R. tracks raided and cap- 
 tured during the war ...... 
 *Pennsylvania’s New York station, 
 Maiwewaltinge TOOM mies... 
 *Seventh Ave. facade ......... 
 PUPAL ICONCOULSE Wmaeteiere sie otete:snae 
 Pennsylvania, state sells its railway 
 tomeleritinn Re Rot COwercsteiate 
 
 *Pere Marquette, president of...... 
 Philadelphia & Reading, cost of in 
 LSA CHM ctora cleaheleve sa sletely cence 
 DEESIGENT MOL ee ctcee cielo ticket ore ees 
 ‘Philadelphia, different passenger 
 StAtlGHS MA Cea so setae wie ae 
 Philadelphia, Germantown & Norris- 
 town orders ‘Old Ironsides” 
 ‘Piermont on the Hudson ........ 
 “Pioneer,” first locomotive landed 
 ine Chicago, 11h 1848) ose. s 96, 
 ‘“Pioneer,” first Pullman sleeping 
 CALM Toten atete oh ce slorhane ieee cnet 
 Pittsburgh, by flatboat to New Or- 
 Mea i's Pee aarcscerlnievers are cians testo tes, 
 Tatlwavye TlOts ehOL7 tae cc eszelsierers 
 reached by rail and portage 
 
 road in 1850 
 visited by Washington in 1753 
 
 | 
 
 *Plains, crossing the, in the 50’s... 
 Plants tatlway,. 1890-1900) “2... < 
 * Point mote ROCKS aml 6 Si/meccroletes Seaver 
 Poland Committee, findings of, in 
 
 Credit Mobilier case ...... 
 * Pole Sdrag cI AGA: |, ve «avers wistaiere css 
 Poor, on density of population nec- 
 
 ESSALVIMtOMTallWa VS ateicie1ce 
 Poor’s Manual, estimate of railway 
 
 COSts 1s 13.00 metals sloteree tiorais, © oe 
 
 Population and railways, 1830-1840 
 
 *Population center of 1790-1910... 
 density necessary to successful 
 
 GALWAY Sabon) tare eisrelis chsle oes = leves'e 
 growth of, 1870-1880 ........ 
 growth of, 1880-1890 ......... 
 ArVen tiem .0; Gare retele ters sispeiots ssc 3° 
 
 Portage incline, canal boat hauled 
 EPO he cot See ace lta Pe ar aa 
 *Portland, Oregon, in 1867 ....... 
 ed ris ODA ee rctepetue ererractetetereteioiier es te) oe 
 *Postal car, all steel, exterior...... 
 *alleesteels  intertOn ne siereciies-«s <1 
 
 *tablet commemorating first 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Postage on letters, San Francisco to 
 
 ING Wan Ona 84.9 tic ate ke ante 
 FALCSMOL MLO Oeste roc: caterer merce 
 *Potomac, the, from Jefferson’s Rock 
 BL Merete erciccee acte wreteicse natenes 
 Potter law, enacted in Wisconsin. . 
 Pe raliiem SCHOONER Mel Oo Uiee. ee <tecacieres 
 Ole iNemns 0 Saratiemer et crtystae eas ene 
 
 *Prairie section, Union Pacific 
 Priestley, Sir Neville, official report 
 on American railways ...... 
 Priority orders, abuse of caused 
 confusion and delay 
 Private control, railways 
 DACK CO mr excrete sete teres bottles tere 
 operation restores efficient op- 
 CLALION Rerrastere aioe coke Sie ere 
 Progress of railway operation in 
 TSA Otieces oirere oooregerotevenmsremvets, rote 
 of railways, three decades of.. 
 of railway mileage, 1860 ...... 
 Prominent men involved in Credit 
 IMobiliergees nec: Iooiondemonabe 
 Promontory Point, driving last spike 
 at, May 10, 1869: 
 Pratlsemeet att O9 mer. as siclere cere 
 Public lands in the 50’s 
 VALCO fem SO (asetaeestate etevereterche oe 
 *Pullman, Geo. M., portrait 
 *last portrait 
 CALECETITOL Miocis cists veusiwae everce get 
 first remodels sleeping cars... 
 *present president 
 palace car 
 Palace Car 
 rated 
 sleeping car, coming of 
 *sleeping car, latest, with draw- 
 ings 
 *sleeping car, process of making 
 up berths 
 sleeping cars, first through train 
 of, crosses continent 
 *kitchen, modern 
 *interior early dining car 
 *interior early sleeper 
 int eLLOL smi Gel eLIimcsie teeter ele teioters 
 *interior, modern dining car.. 
 *sleeper ready for night 
 Pullman surcharge of fifty per cent 
 “Pusher” the cause of labor riots.. 
 
 Q 
 
 an early gravity 
 
 ee eee eee 
 
 turned 
 
 eoee se ea re 
 ee 
 
 ee eer ee eet eeeseeee 
 
 Co., first incorpo- 
 
 oc eeece 
 ebi6 s' W 50) 6.0 a. 0 0/0; » ee 6 6 a).8,.0 8 lee 
 eo ee ere ees essere e ese 
 ee eeeeoe 
 eee es eee erene 
 
 eoceevee 
 
 ee seeeee 
 
 Quincy railway, 
 
 road 
 COStR OLE sco co ems we wetetcrae eels 
 
468 
 
 R 
 
 *Raft, early on the Mississippi .... 
 *Ragan, L. W., block tower named 
 
 ATLOTE Pechaie chs ein the el oreetehs sarees 
 
 Rail chairs, wrought iron ........ 
 Railroad Labor Board, how con- 
 Sti bite ese ak odetersus  otsheree ots tale 
 Railroads’ War Board, composition 
 OD ei ised ans aitve ee trevevele es maa 
 FESIONS Io Vee ere iicteass 4. code mlvia nantes 
 SRatlseande thaciksaml Gol cuales eter ere 
 Coste or ins the 407s. Weeicu ere ee 
 early steel, cost of, 1867 and 
 URES altel oars emeueteomelaNet sole cane 
 
 early weight and cost of...... 
 PAGSt MCAT’ Ol) laters clots tera tar helalolors : 
 
 first steel, imported in the 50’s 
 first steel rolled in America in 
 
 DROS ee cate eee cite teen caer: 
 
 first T, rolled in United States 
 
 TTMGHE BAS) y-cee eve Nicere oe sichain elieletere es = 
 iron, imported from England, 
 Costy SoUMpetet One ta etapere kets 
 ADEMNITIVE | WOOGED Wie «peieies>ielvielale 
 *shown in an old cut, 1550.... 
 *Railway. builders, passing of...... 
 building in 1850-1860 probably 
 SaAVeGatHe nie tl O1is siverede retehsl sis 
 
 companies chartered in 1840.. 
 companies differ on terms of 
 
 Strike settlement :.......... 
 companies of the early 30's... 
 efficiency restored in 1923..... G 
 Mirai eSenVviCe marine tie eae tane 6 
 mileage and population in de- 
 
 Cages) 1830-40 iaecrsietatste Nereis 
 
 mileage and population in 1850 
 mileage increases 70 per cent, 
 
 TS SOLES Oe csi, «lnctoretarenebeievenate 
 mileage by (State, LS 40 sci elec 
 mileage relative to population 
 plantiin Glo OO ee oe siecle rclepstensnay ate 
 
 Railways all east of the Missis- 
 
 SiPpi aint, S50, elec s emetcnelsiers 
 and population, 1850-1860 .... 
 of the Confederacy .......... 
 past the experiment stage by 
 
 1850 @ @ 6,66 © Se eee. 6,06, 0) eleleile velo 
 teach every state in the Un- 
 
 LOM a DY SS Olga tsms sy otes systole ex onenens 
 
 share of the consumer’s price .. 
 to be returned in as good repair 
 as when taken over 
 torn up, destroyed and repaired 
 1861-1865 
 
 eovedeorn 
 
 10 
 
 384 
 57 
 
 380 
 
 362 
 368 
 
 56 
 101 
 
 162 
 102 
 1 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN KAILWAYS 
 
 Rainhill trials of locomotives ..... 
 Randolph, Epes, engineer directing 
 rescue of Imperial Valley.. 
 
 Rate advance discounted by Labor 
 
 Board) Vawarda pict otto 
 
 and fare increases in 1920.... 
 increase under Transportation 
 ANGE > le eke, dra toe eter care een eee 
 Rates, American freight, lowest in 
 the! world yk weit ee 
 
 and wages advanced by Director 
 General 
 
 eee tae eee eee ees eeoere 
 
 order 
 
 Ce ee 
 
 authority toenameetacs cece 
 principles underlying 
 fixing of, discussed by Chair- 
 
 man Cooley 
 
 influenced by public considera- 
 tions 
 
 ‘Gust and reasonable’? become 
 the: "rules jhisciyserrte delecretie 
 
 ‘Gust and reasonable,” 
 they must produce 
 
 of 1920 reduced by Commission 
 
 in 1922 
 
 on early railways 
 revision of by Commission ad- 
 vocated by President Roose- 
 
 velt 
 
 Ratio of pay roll to revenues...... 
 operating, before the Great War 
 Rea, Samuel, president, Pennsyl- 
 vania R. R. 
 
 *in 1877 
 *portrait 
 Reading railroad, cost of in 1848.. 
 Reagan, Representative, father of 
 Commerces Actin siercwier aire 
 Reasonable return cut in half...... 
 Rebates, word derived from French 
 rabattre 
 “Recapture clause” 
 Act 
 Receipts, average freight and pas- 
 senger, 1900-1910 
 
 PeL ton mile wees cate were sa 
 
 per ton mile, 1864 
 average, reach low level in 1900 
 
 per ton mile reach low level in 
 1917s See ae a hene Ores hiters 
 Receivers, in the hands of, 1874- 
 187 Agha y oko Geteeueictsuere ene 
 
 ere ese eee eee ee seer eee 
 
 eee eet eee 
 cc eee eee eee eee see ee 
 
 Ce Cy 
 
 ec eee eee e eee ete 
 eoeee eee eee eee tee eae & 
 
 eco ecseer eee eee reese ee ee 
 
 of Commerce 
 
 eevee reese ee eevee eee eeeoe ® 
 eeseeeeece 
 
 ee ee eee eseoe 
 
 304 
 
 389 
 388 
 
 388 
 243 
 370 
 370 
 
 294 
 255 
 
 255 
 257 
 
 199 
 382 
 
 397 
 42 
 
 288 
 393 
 3/26 
 
 416 
 416 
 417 
 410 
 
 242 
 392 
 
 287 
 383 
 329 
 406 
 2164 
 285 
 
 362 
 
Receiverships, 1893-1896 .......... 
 (150) between 1873 and 1880.. 
 
 of important roads in 1893- 
 1896. 
 process under 
 Receivership of Santa Fe, an ex- 
 ample 
 Recession 
 1921 
 
 in railway revenues in 
 
 eo eer eee eer see eoee st toe e 
 
 pal WRSYAGS Areata eae Remeron aun CoA 
 Reduction in freight rates, 1877.. 
 in number of employes in 1921 
 Regional directors, seven appointed 
 Regulate Commerce, Act to, passed 
 in 1887 
 Regulation becomes more stringent 
 conflicting views regarding.... 
 difficulties of described by Judge 
 Cooley 
 early state 
 effect on construction......... 
 national, how brought about.. 
 of railways looms up 
 of railways result of long agi- 
 tation 
 Results, operating, 1920 and 1921.. 
 operating, first year of Federal 
 control 
 
 eee ee sees eres eerene 
 
 oo ese ree eee eee soe er eee 
 
 Return on investment in 1911..... 
 on invested capital 
 reasonable 
 
 Revenues and expenses, 1920)...... 
 first six months of Federal con- 
 
 trol 
 second year of Federal control 
 
 *-Revenues dropped $300,000,000 in 
 
 1907 
 Revival of business in 1922....... 
 Revolving funds amounting to a bil- 
 lion and a quarter inade- 
 quate 
 
 Rights of way of canals utilized for 
 
 railways 
 
 Riots, railway, of 1877 <::.....%.. 
 losses caused by, 1877......... 
 
 *Ripley, Edward Payson, portrait.. 
 chosen president of Santa Fe 
 
 in 1895 
 “Grand Old Man” of the Santa 
 
 Fe 
 
 River navigation, dangers of in 1838 
 *Roadbcd. and track, Albany to 
 Schenectady, 1837 ....-.e+0- 
 
 ee eee eer eee ee eweseane eee 
 
  ) 
 
 ee eee rer eeee ee eee ee 
 
 eoeoeeeaeeer cere eoereesee 
 
 iNDEX 
 
 264 
 219 
 
 264 
 264 
 
 265 
 
 392 
 
 221 
 243 
 293 
 
 368 
 
 240 
 283 
 324 
 
 261 
 196 
 262 
 239 
 240 
 
 239 
 393 
 
 371 
 328 
 
 . 268 
 
 327 
 376 
 
 370 
 374 
 
 297 
 403 
 
 372 
 
 *Robertson, D. L., president, Lo- 
 comotive Firemen’s Brother- 
 MOOGA Tart Selene tccee ee eee 
 
 Robinson, W. D., first grand chief 
 
 Bro’hood Locomotive Engi- 
 
 TICELS Peetctdoepese Sale cee deine hs > 
 *“Rocket,” first practical locomotive 
 GinrensStonGmotayeecd. satires 6 
 *Rogers’ locomotive, 1848 .......... 
 
 locomotive, type of the 80's... 
 
 Rolling stock built in 1919, 1920, 
 LOD URS yerercrck ovetanets. fc ote leis cee s 
 
 effect of panic of 1907 on.... 
 
 Af gnl COO gas atereetoiele sle'besiore Soeishe’s 
 
 110g) | DOO MEW de teicleneis spene atthe clat overe yes 
 inadequate provision under Fed- 
 etalk CONETOME cams, carscrets st cheeuss 
 
 increase in power and capacity 
 none ordered by Director Gen- 
 CLAlMELINES peers «etc alate, chorale s 
 Roosevelt, President, favors fixing 
 rates by Commission 
 Routes, five, from _ coast 
 Mississippi Valley 
 
 toward 
 
 S 
 
 “Safiety First’? campaign inaugu- 
 rated Sisrets 
 Safety devices vais: ssi, s\e ole, 9.50 viele welt 
 eSatlsmon etalnecan 
 eS eOuis MU not otatlOMe osejs siecle 
 *orandy ball ayetecel eters Bike swatcjetenes 
 *track layout 
 *train shed 
 Paul, first locomotive to reach, 
 1860 
 
 in 1850| had no railways...... 
 sees visions in 1853 
 when it was a frontier city.... 
 *Union Station, front elevation 
 *track layout 
 *main concourse 
 *progress of work on 
 Salton Sink, dumping millions into. 
 overflowed by Colorado River.. 
 Sanborn, Prof. John Bell, on land 
 
 eoeeoeeeeeee sees eee . 
 
 oor etree e eee eee e ears 
 
 *St. 
 
 ee eeeer eerste eos eee eee ® 
 oe eee eee ee 
 eeeve recess e eee sen 
 
 eeeeeeteoe se eee 
 
 QTANTS wc ececcceeccsccceces 
 *“Sandusky”’, locomotive, 1837..... 
 San Francisco, earthquake and fire 
 
 Mine. 1S48 4 Soden ¢ Weare s, aislecatpia oisss 
 Sante Fe, The, reaches Chicago... 
 *type locomotive, heaviest 
 freight, el OOo: cate Winte) cote etghe os 
 
 *“Savannah,” the first steamship. to 
 cross the Atlantic, 1819 
 
 469 
 
 437 
 
 249 
 24 
 24 
 
 100 
 
 216 
 
 374 
 313 
 247 
 268 
 
 372 
 285 
 
 374 
 288 
 
 97 
 
 212 
 212 
 
 36 
 276 
 279 
 277 
 278 
 
 184 
 134 
 134 
 304 
 401 
 400 
 403 
 402 
 304 
 301 
 
 127 
 62 
 299 
 99 
 233 
 
 288 
 
 27 
 
470 
 
 *Schaff, Charles E., president, Mis- 
 souri-Kansas-Texas Lines.... 
 
 *Scott, Thomas A., portrait ...148, 
 assistant Secrctary of War.... 
 colonel in United States Volun- 
 teers 
 services during Civil War..... 
 Seaboard Air Line, descendant of 
 Seaboard & Roanoke R. R... 
 
 PLESIA NLL O Liars ehereisiersictererelenersnocsts 
 *Seattle, freight yards in 1924...... 
 *in 1878 
 
 eooees eee se steerer ese see see 
 
 *water front in 1880 
 Second Decade, 1840-1850! 
 Securities, railway, in hands 
 
 the public in 1908 
 Semaphore signal erected in 1841.. 
 Seniority rights involved in settle- 
 
 ment of 1922 strikes 
 restoration of declined by two- 
 thirds of roads 
 Settlement of America at first re- 
 stricted 
 
 of the West by the railways 
 saved the Union 
 per cent railway bonds sold 
 at $90: 
 Seventh Decade, 1890-1900: 
 Share, railway, in consumers’ price 
 *Sheppard, Lucius E., president, 
 
 Order Railway Conductors.. 
 Shopmen, quarter of a million lay 
 
 down their tools 
 
 strike of 1922 
 
 wages cut by Labor Board ... 
 Shortage, car, 1917 
 Signals, system of, on Hudson River 
 
 Ry. in 1862 
 Sixth Decade, 1880-1890 
 Sleeping cars, cost of first construc- 
 
 LION Mere chee Chowee areieyse remeileperese te 
 
 first on Cumberland Valley 
 RERR Accs tere eradelocsicharennerencas 
 
 *interior of modern ........... 
 
 justify their high cost 
 
 need of .. 
 2S mit baweAcw Ul mecielarare cnr terete Bareteiere ase 
 
 Fini cape Ole NOse 999 telesleleieeleliers 
 
 *Memorial Bridge 
 *Smith, Milton H., late president, 
 
 Louisville & Nashville 
 South, five-foot gauge of railways 
 
 OLA sss 
 * Snows DIOW.s 0. curetcivieoes Linde Pee fe oe 
 *Snowa plow,  LOtalyiccistisieteuearrertcn 
 
 eeereeereos 
 
 eoceeeoere 
 
 Seve:: 
 
 eeceeeoee 
 
 eevee seve 
 
 eoeoesceeoe eee eeee 
 
 eoceeereeceecee ees 
 
 ee eee cee eee eeee 
 
 eeoeeer sees 
 
 coeeoseeeeeeeese eee 
 
 eoeeeeoeeeee 
 
 430 
 tol 
 148 
 
 152 
 151 
 
 276 
 433 
 234 
 232 
 233 
 234 
 
 82 
 
 159 
 239 
 238 
 
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 
 South, population of in 1860...... 
 *Southern engine in the 60’s....... 
 Southern lines consisted of consoli- 
 dations or minor linkshece 
 
 Cost, Of, weatlyp gre. cs, soto eyes 
 Feorganization vOLy ws. jetele stele 
 operate 20,000 miles ......... 
 Southern Pacific Ry., evolution of 
 *chairman’ of Boardvof 344-2029 
 rescue work at San Francisco.. 
 *DTESIdenitaiO Luis aces ee eee 
 spends millions to save Imperial 
 Valley -Caviisicas. ester ere 
 Southern Ry. absorbs scores of 
 pioneer sroOaGSmeee eee 
 *president 10ft aoc terete eee 
 
 Southern railways before the war. 
 Southern states, four trunk lines of 
 Spearman, Frank H., describes re- 
 habilitation of the Union 
 PAacihiG: occ scc sted ee ete eal eee 
 Speculation, era of 
 in railways and land coincident 
 Speed, No. 999 attained a, of 112.5 
 miles wan). HOUf Wercsrrestee aie 
 
 of first train 
 
 on. early stage coaches ........ 
 railway, in the 60’s 
 *Sproule, William, president, 
 ern Pacific Co. 
 *Stage coach, California in 1865... 
 first between New York and 
 Boston 
 
 *in pre-railway days 
 site of, ee to Edinbareh 
 
 eo eee eee eee eee 
 
 ee eeeeo ee eee eeee 
 
 Sarr 
 
 Standard bats adoption hastened 
 by Pullman cars 
 *Standard time indicator in the 60’s 
 
 local time before the days of.. 
 *Starnucca, | Viaductwotertuem .rsaier 
 State of the Union in 1830 ....... 
 State owned railways, French 
 economist on, 1877.......... 
 Ownership tried by Michigan, 
 NBR Y! | Remco Gisttove tate ayaskete Craroness 
 tailways, first undertaken in 
 IPennsylvaniagetie toc tents et 
 Tegulation in Massachusetts... 
 regulation, agitation for spread 
 States, seven build railways...... 
 without railways in 1850 ..... 
 Stations, building of great ....... 
 Statistics, ‘‘good servants but poor 
 TNASLETS/ yes che eieteiete es creat: are 
 
 require discreet interpretation. 
 
 235 
 426 
 299 
 431 
 
 306 
 
 274 
 424 
 148 
 274 
 
 227 
 
 72 
 
 38 
 196 
 201 
 100 
 
 98 
 331 
 
 247 
 247 
 

 
 
 
 INDEX 47] 
 *Steamboat, first,: 1802 ........5...- 19 *Suspension bridge, first over Niag- 
 *Steam engine, Watt’s development ATAU NTVC La uct occcstece cure Vehscahe. er 131 
 (he i: eer ase eee re Tot eis denana -DTiGCee waited < sleeve 153 
 power, coming of ..........-. 16) 42 Switchinowhumpnss.cs as sean seo. 261 
 power, its discovery and devel- T 
 OPMENT. dc vas a 6 os eect miaieins 16 ; 
 *Steel passenger coach, heavy, 1907 298 Taft, President, vetoes bill abolish- 
 rails, cost and production before aes: Commerce (OUTE Mesie sist 320 
 RTO Nee SiR stadt eee 162 Tariffs, publication of............. 285 
 rails first rolled at Chicago, *Taussig, J. E., president, Wabash 
 1865 Pe eee aie ey cere cretste 162 Ry. ehelevelietel(e sere (els) s/o ais ieidie 6 o0 « 432 
 Stephenson, George, early experi- Taxes, ad valorem, by states, in 
 ments and patents bes Se eS 21 1904 = aia atphahel we eilels\aiisse.b belles e 290 
 *first practical locomotive..... 22 railway, increase 232 per cent 
 *FrOntispiECe (sya sc-v ss oes egos IV in 20 years .......... ser++ 326 
 triumph with the “Rocket” .. 24 Telegraph, electric, becomes indis- 
 Stephenson, James, drives engine pensable to railways eine steaahs 326 
 of first train ........+. esse 23 Tenth Decade, opening, 1920 .... 380 
 *Stephenson’s No. 1 and modern lo- Test gS ey haa years to June ‘3 
 i nhs eae erie Ta NDNA Md EE Tals rane Ge ube aren wise (ois @ 
 
 Ed ERLE ws . 24 *Ticket, New York to Buffalo, 1832. 66 
 *steam brake .....-++---- cae caus *office, oldest known in United 
 *Stevens, Col. John, American in- A States aerate acinus tiles ticle 441 
 
 ventor and promoter ......- 35 Tioga, Passenger cars wLS4 Ones etelene 82 
 anticipates that rails will super- glad Decade, 1850-1860 %........ 102 
 SOME) CaNalS. (sais lass «0's Dts i ooo Thomson, J. Edgar, early president 
 demonstrates curved railways.. 37 Pennsylvania R. Ho oe Sram 115 
 *Stevens, Robert L., designer of Through routes few in the 60’s... 163 
 Jutiy Dee alee heb te: Aah 49 *“Tom Thumb,” Cooper’s first loco- 
 Stockton & Darlington Ry., first TOOLIVE! Ayictetad acre awe agitate ris 4 See 
 practical steam railway ..... 23 COBLYOR Ponce naw vais 8a seagate 37 
 *Stone blocks for sleepers, 1830.... 57 *locomotive built by Peter 
 *blocks with rails attached 56 Cooper ebelevelicteice 6) 0) 6e!.0,6)e elen sie ia 35 
 *Stone, Warren S., portrait ...... 436 Fraceswiths Horses .ciuees «the ce 36 
 Warren S., Grand Chief Loco- Track, mileage of, 1890 ......... 247 
 motive Engineres, 1903. .250, 436 Tracks destruction and rebuilding 
 *Storey, W. B., president, Atch., Of dOTINg | Wariiaes's bacones 160 
 Top. & Santa Fe Ry...... 431 Traffic conditions, 1916 and 1923 
 “Stourbridge Lion,” cost of ...33, 36 COMPAL We cite -ciere selaine ercteee oa 406 
 *The, first locomotive on Amer- expansion, 1897-1907 ......... 97 
 ican TAU SMe ters ote cispetorsuencvess) *.< 34 handled, NOMA tol Ol ene ree 366 
 trial trip Of... 16. eeeee eee eee 32 reaches high level in 1917 .361, 362 
 Strickland, William, sent to Eng- AT carl se MmOdeLL GLe stout coe arethae © fete 49 
 land to investigate locomo- Train, first in the West.......... 163 
 ELVOSHE Sch ote cheer ena ta crate ors) slevenstarere 33 Trainmen, average pay of, 1888- 
 Strike, engineers’, on C. B. & Q,, LO 230 So ay cei he tos. tere Sateen terete 251 
 1888... ce cee ener cece ceee 252 *president of Brotherhood of.. 437 
 great railway, at Pittsburgh... 223 Trains, early through, New York 
 of 1922 by shopmen against tO CHICAZO fs eit eee waa 163 
 Labor Board award ....... 398 Tramway, Carbondale to Honesdale 30 
 Prllatitet O94 we stem tas t coc eie,0 252 early, at Leiper, 1806 ...... 30 
 threatened in 1921 abandoned 393 Trans-Atlantic steamship, first...... 27 
 Subsidies, government, to Union Transportation Act of 1920....376, 380 
 Pacihicuessn tee Ci ruber) SCA CAL slow development before age 
 to Union Pacific refunded .... 270 Of) TailwayStisus. Son ke eet 3 
 FEMitit TOL days sctsis si we oealec ama Pate 
 

 
 472 HISTORY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS 
 *Trestle across valley near South *nearing completion, October, 
 Omaha coca. see cc oe ele A Dra 202 1 O24. apy. ceo ss acclinte, wintereiate teeta 398 
 wT révithick, Richard etic. coca ean 21 *skeleton of concourse ....... 396 
 Richard, inventor of first lo- *Union Station, Kansas City, exterior 350 
 COMOtLVEa widen eosin eteciaeetets 21 *Union Station, St. Paul, exterior.. 401 
 *model locomotive of ...... yea Lo Na yo tity ciao thse re ee ee ae 400 
 *Truesdale, William H., president, “ain: .CONCOULSE Wi weenie 403 
 Delaware, Lackawanna & *PDrOgkess 1OL- wOLlkalen seni nena 402 
 Western (iws scan RIOT isin 432 *United States, railway maps, 1830, 
 *Tubular tunnel at Detroit, approach 1840; 1850, VS60.) ae. ee ee 149 
 TOS Comet etinnd case t ee Rie tele iase 318 *Unloading lake vessels by machin- 
 *concrete lined interior ........ 319 CLY” bie lets Bele sintate otetenctertot eters 285 
 Length oof metyetscisiemers Miners ote *Utah Central engine photographed 
 Msinking a), SEGttOtic: venice inne 317 at Omaha in 1884 ......... 235 
 *Tunkhannock Creek bridge (Lacka- 
 V 
 Wialltia) Mencia cael tie wismelei ate sieietens 292 
 Tunnel under Detroit River at De- Valuation Act of 1913, results of.. 383 
 ALOE BA rstecrarckseieteionersravels) castes 3:16 apportioned among states, 1904 290 
 Two-cent a mile passenger fare fol- as shown by taxes .......... 326 
 lowed by receiverships .... 312 by eroupss 240 ee eereee 383 
 by three territorial divisions... 387 
 U commercials 1904e 5 eet 288 
 *Underwood, Fred’k D., president, Pace spt an BAe mp ge (Dagan: 
 Briei) Ra Oe Rives ous tates ale 433 lag pass Sneath eae taes 
 4 , commercial, per mile, by states 290 
 Uniform accounts, adoption of..... 243 for rate making purposes 387 
 Union, American Railway, strike... 252 of 1920, $18,900,000,000 agen 387 
 *Union, Insurance Card of, TS 76ers 222 under the TransportationAct. . 387 
 Union Pacific R. R., building de- Value of farms increased by rail- 
 SCrIDEC satin ests ce ole telswnls « srereks 166 WAYS EN. 5 cote oe cee oe ete 136 
 Rytatil lias oe teva eiteaecctictexetete siete sis icicts 173. _ ***Vandalia,” locomotive, 1895...... 259 
 *Ghatrmanol is 0alG.mere atid ae 427 *Vanderbilt, Commodore............ 70 
 Completed weve ew seach s oe te 179 share in Erie scandal......... 190 
 corporation approved July 1, buys control in New York & 
 TSG 2a iieeste c ciowe. cle cccrs talons eeimteroy 166 Harlem wens ae oer 71 
 difficulties attending construc- *financier and consolidator of 
 TOD Read oan weds eb ee Oe 173 Tatlways ut taine terete aie 7 () 
 difficulties overcome on _ recon- starts his Staten Island ferry... 71 
 SEFUCHION Micmac eles eoomsters tele 271 *Van Sweringen, Otis P., chairman 
 Pederalcaid #tore nes uiccecee se 170 Nickel Plate Securities Co... 434 
 gauge fixed by Congress ...... 172 *Van Sweringen, M. J., vice-presi- 
 grant of right-of way..'.\.....- 170 dent, N. Y., Chi..& St. Louis 
 *last spike driven May 10, 1869 179 Re Res patio eee oe aeeeaeaee 435 
 *HrEesident mOLmes eile ¥ sisiers eeete atch 423 Vestibule cars put in operation in 
 febuilding SOF) (asa ete Sees 269 TS SS.: 5:02. teee stauiy- cr eek A aoe 146 
 TECEIVELSMIP OL Me cle sivie ei sierete he: ate 264 *“Victory,’’ the Rogers locomotive in 
 Feorganizations Ots meee ce eter 269 L848 eho ciedevege ein eRe oe 100 
 route chosen by New England Volume of traffic greatest in history 
 and \ New .Y Orkw, sthscie sien es 169 INEIIZS Sie a tates esas aE Oe 
 route of, anticipated in 1832.. 166 
 taken over by a syndicate..... 269 WwW 
 *Union Station, Chicago, architect’s *Wabash R. R., president of ...... 432 
 GLAWIN GUase sete amienciels eaveraeeets 394 Wages and rates advanced by Di- 
 MCONCOUTSE Drs Pisce Pte vices pic aterate 397 rector p Generale. 0 eee 370 
 *ground plan and tracks ...... 395 of pay on New York Central in 
 main Schall ae4.v i av iiniecctes Ree oo” 1877 wi cculdiesid as @ viotkehinitete neteeets 
 

 
 INDEX 473 
 Wages, circumstances to be _ con- *“Webster, Daniel,’’ model of..... «, 123 
 Sidenedeyiites fxn eh as oti sae 381 first coal burning locomotive.. 137 
 Labor Board cut shopmen’s.... 397 Westeethetluremots.cwces vicsclewess 57 
 
 - Wagner Car Co., absorbed by Pull- Western railways help preserve the 
 PH AEMOG Ole etete te ereces acai e'e’ aia ;- 146 RD ELOLUGE sloth «ly Gece le as hy aes 150 
 Wagner sleepers competed with Patewad vance ie UO cles crs ae Aley/ 
 
 Purllima nS goad enctesie eee ots 145 Rate Case decision based on 
 Walker, Aldace F., chairman of false premises......... SAIS sre ODL 
 Board under Santa Fe reor- TOAUS» w CCHEeSISMOLe this). rec ee L SO 
 IPANIZALION encarta te yeyet ree eal ole av 266 *Westinghouse, George, portrait..... 203 
 commissioner and receiver..... 266 father of the trainbrake...... 204 
 War, America’s entry into the Great 361 firstapatent in, LoOSiscm eases se 207 
 declaration of, April 6, 1917... 362 Sketch ote lutexart mnie accion = 205 
 
 the Great, found railways short 
 OlmeECUipMentes. cae seh eee as 366 
 in the shadow of the Great... 357 
 War Board, Railroads’, members of 362 
 Ratlroads7orranized se. saiece toO2 
 iRailroadsmeresipnss-:t tess cs ss 01 SOS 
 *Warfield, S. Davies, president, Sea- 
 
 board 2A tra Lines.o. cies oe cusses 433 
 Washington, George, early visits to 
 Pittsburye hienmcrcrlslorsicesieieins 2 
 experience in 1747........000% 1 
 *headquarters at Fort Cumber- 
 ATT Ue s Sevaa secerae crstenaieta eles 111 
 interest in waterways......... 15 
 *Washington, Union Station, facade 
 OE ee al egteeawnddlg cee 
 *main concourse........ dace e sisi OOS 
 CL OmEHemET Att Site ere Api noes 333 
 BtrackslayOutectle s/s Badisloe eebiees FOOL 
 “trainsheds <.......< HRC SOO TODO Ces) 
 Waterways, era of......... Dae ane 
 natural and artificial, preceded 
 EAall WAY Sim sietetotancie sists ohcueietsve othe 12 
 passing of their traffic to rail- 
 WAYS os mics ess anleie esc wiste's oe. 128 
 MV att we Jaimes, © portfattw css poss see's cs 4 10 
 adapts and perfects Newcomen’s 
 irghiVs, sao Sos COCO eteretaie's 17 
 *first etipitie: Of... 2.66 esse oe 18 
 *improved engine of.........-- 18 
 
 Wealth, national, increase of...... 230 
 
 organizes Air Brake Company.. 209 
 *Westinghouse Works at Wilmerding, 
 
 Par il ODA Seca tete sicisie <3 210 
 “What the traffic can bear’ mis- 
 UNMCErSLOOG Meneitare st orev telnet 21s 256 
 aVVAITECLS meetin Stan ({SCCsjeneye icicle’. thsrelare efa.e 4 
 Whitney, Asa, Pacific route pro- 
 qeciediby’ 194500 e oe). ome ce 167 
 Widdefield & Button brake........ 206 
 *Willard, Daniel, president, Balti- 
 TOTS cee © IO tercteee tetas ee mie 418 
 Wilson, James, Secretary of Agri- 
 culture, on railway share of 
 PLICES Haste eee teas wee arauares S15 
 Wilson, President, assurances to 
 Laalway ei VeStOUsnr-yetseratere =!) 367 
 *Wood burning locomotive......... 154 
 *Wooden railway car with flanged 
 Wilkie GIGMe Aves a ciciecarearmiete cites 29 
 Workmen, character of, on Union 
 Pacific construction. ......... 175 
 Vora eeS lieike Git Ih). oan gensoocon 263 
 efrecty ONmtratiCunte aiteereiieacels © 263 
 TAlWWA VS Hee GOW tHNLO a atelatsloiele sisie 454 
 Y 
 
 Yard tracks and sidings, 1890-1900 284 
 
 id 
 Zanesville bridge destroyed by flood 310 
 

 

 

 

 
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