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34 - CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES CHAPTER V RAILROADS, TELEGRAPHS AND TELEPHONES EARLY RAILROAD HISTORY-OLD TIME TRAIN ORDER-RAILROAD MILEAGE-THE OLD CANAL. Great has been the changes in transportation and vocal communication since the organization of Carroll County, Ohio. Then the timbers from the forests and the products of the soil were all hauled to market by means of ox and horse team. The "highway" was only a few blazed trees to mark a dim trail. Milling was obtained by the hardest methods for many years after the county was first settled by that noble pioneer band. But with the passing of years and then decades, a system of steam railways was constructed through this and adjoining counties, thus connecting the county with the great, busy and progressive outside world. The history of the county may well be divided into two great eras—the "before the railroads" and "after the railroads came." SOME EARLY RAILROAD HISTORY The following interesting chapter on the early railroad operations of this county and especially of the Wheeling & Lake Erie, of today -how and when built and what companies once had charge of it, is well told in the Centennial edition of the Carrollton Free Press-Standard as follows: The present Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad had its origin in Carrollton, and is the outgrowth of the primitive road organized in 1849 by John Arbuckle, Gen. Henry A. Stidger, Hon. Isaac Atkinson, John Riley, James M. Davis, John B. Moody, and others and was known as the Carroll County Railroad. Town and township bonds and private stock subscription to the amount of forty thousand dollars, put the Carroll County Railroad in operation. The road extended from Carrollton to Oneida, a distance of ten miles, where it connected with the Sand and Beaver Canal and the Sandy Valley branch of the Cleveland & Wellsville Railroad, the Cleveland & Pittsburgh. The first steps toward organizing the road were taken in 1849 and on May 24, 1852, the first train was run into Carrollton. The road was indeed a crude affair. The rails were wooden stringers six inches thick, eight inches wide and in length ranging from eight to sixteen feet. Along the upper side of these was a line of strap-iron half an inch thick and three inches wide, fastened down with spikes driven about five feet apart. The Cleveland & Wellsville road, at first operated the Carroll County road on shares, running from Bayard to Oneida thence to Carrollton and return. Later, when the Cleveland & Wellsville branch along the Sandy Valley was completed, that road discontinued its arrangement with the Carroll County road and 34 CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES - 35 the local company bought an engine in New York—an old one which had been built in England and brought to America for a pattern. This was in 1855. Prosperity, however, failed to follow this stroke of enterprise, and in 1859 the road was sold by the sheriff to John Ebersole, Henry A. Stidger, James Huston, James P. Cummings, Jacob Helfrich and James Cameron. This sale did not however include. the locomotive which was the personal property of the president of the road. The new company operated under the name of the si"Carrollton & Oneida Railroad." A small amount of rolling stock was purchased, and horse-power was resorted to. The road was operated in this way until 1866, when new blood was infused into the company, a charter taken out and the road repaired and equipped with a locomotive built in Cleveland. The fare at this time between Carrollton and Oneida, was seventy-five cents one way, but the business consisted largely of freight traffic. In 1873, proposals were made by the Ohio & Toledo Railroad Company to extend PICTURE OF WHEELING & LAKE ERIE RAILROAD DEPOT, CARROLLTON the track into the new coal fields, equip the road with "T" rails and put on first class rolling stock, with the ultimate purpose of building on to Toledo or some other Lake Erie port, providing the new company were given the old road-bed as it stood and the people of Carrollton subscribe $45,000 in stock. Public meetings were held, and great enthusiasm prevailed, with the result that in 1874, the Carrollton & Oneida Company donated its track and right-of-way to the Ohio & Toledo Company, receiving no return therefor, so far as known, and the people subscribed $32,000 in stock. After many tribulations and failure to collect much of the stock subscription, the Ohio & Toledo, of which Gen. E. R. Eckley, of Carrollton, became president, succeeded in getting a narrow-gauge track in operation between Carrollton and Minerva and extended it south into Dell Roy. In 1877, E. G. Livermore, a New York banker, invested in the road 36 - CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES and put N. A. Smith in charge. Smith put the road in first class condition, extended the tracks to Sherrodsville, and eventually succeeded, after a bitter contest, in ousting the Eckley interests from the management. Thus General Eckley to whose efforts the people of Carrollton owed the fact that at last they had a real railroad, found himself out in the cold and out of pocket. Many law suits against the railroad followed, and on November 27, 1878, under an order of court, the road was sold to the highest bidder, the Cleveland Iron Company buying it in the interest of the Smith party, who extended the line to Canton, under the name of the Youngstown & Conotton Valley, which was later changed to the Conotton Valley. In 1879 the first telegraph line was strung along the road and Will J. Baxter, later probate judge, was installed as the first telegraph operator at the Carrollton station. In 1881, the road, now controlled by Boston capitalists, acquired pieces of track leading from Canton to Zanesville and set out building connecting links. In 1883, the main line was extended to Cleveland and shortly afterward to Coshocton, and on June 25, 1885, the name was changed to Cleveland & Canton. All this time the road was a narrow-gauge, and on Sunday, November 18, 1888, all preparations having been made, the road was changed to standard gauge in one day. The road was extended to Zanesville in 1889, and the name again changed to the Cleveland, Canton & Southern. In 1899 the road became known as the Wheeling & Lake Erie. The present handsome and modern depot at Carrollton, was erected in 1913. The rapid industrial growth of Carrollton has made the building inadequate in handling the business and a new express office is being now erected. AN OLD-TIME RAILWAY ORDER There is hanging in the railroad offices an old-time train order used by the train dispatcher of the Cleveland & Canton line, covering a run from Canton to Carrollton and it advises that trains Nos. 33 and 36 will meet and pass at the junction. This message was sent by the operator "Sanderson" and received by William Baxter. On the telegram were the initials of S. D. Maher and the figures 12 which signified in railroad language—"Do you understand?" Just below this is the figure 13 which means "Understand." This is signed by the conductor Morgan and engineer Pettit. RAILROAD MILEAGE In 1921 the mileage of steam roads within Carroll County is as follows: Main track of the Carrollton branch of the Wheeling & Lake Erie - 27 1/2 Assessed at $1,019,170. Main line of the Wheeling & Lake Erie - 6 3/4 Assessed at $499.670. CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES - 37 Sandysville & Waynesburg branch of Baltimore & Ohio Railroad - 11/2 Assessed at $21,360. Tuscarawas branch of Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad - 10 3/4 Assessed at $864,590. Lake Erie, Alliance & Wheeling Railroad - 16 3/4 Assessed at $739,960. Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad - Three-fourths niile Assessed at $123,980. Total number miles in county - Sixty-four Total assessed at - $3,258,670.00 The total number of miles of telegraph lines in the county is 162. The total number of miles of telephones in the county is 1,417. DATES OF CONSTRUCTION The Carroll County Railroad Company, built a four by five wood railroad which was completed May 24, 1852 and continued to operate till 1859. PICTURE OF OHIO & TOLEDO RAILROAD (1873) The Carroll & Oneida Railroad, a strap-rail two and a half by three-fourths of an inch thick, was completed in 1859 and run until 1873. The Ohio & Toledo Railroad, a narrow gauge road with a "T" rail, completed August 1, 1873. The Youngstown & Conotton Valley, narrow gauge line, finished November 27, 1878. 38 - CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES The Conotton Valley Railroad, a narrow gauge line, completed October 10, 1879. The Cleveland & Canton Railroad, a narrow gauge line, completed June 24, 1885. The line was changed to standard gauge on Sunday, November 18, 1888. The Cleveland, Canton & Southern Railroad, standard gauge line, completed October, 1890. The Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad completed to Carrollton, July 26, 1899. THE OLD CANAL What was known as the Sandy and Beaver Canal extended from the Ohio River through Columbiana, Carroll, Stark and Tuscarawas counties. It was begun in 1825 and was navigable to some extent until 1850, when it was abandoned. The aggregate loss to the stockholders of this enterprise was almost two million dollars. Its principal use was as a feeder for certain mills along its route. It is said that only one boat ever went its entire length, and that by the contractors who were compelled to do this in order to fulfill their contract and receive remuneration. |