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RAILWAYS OF THE COUNTY - 263 CHAPTER XVIII. RAILWAYS OF THE COUNTY. IT is now more than half a century since the first railroad was put in operation in Erie county, and in relation to this class of institutions the county enjoys the distinction of having constructed within its borders, the first railway in the State and among the first in the country. In the year 1832 two railroad companies, each having a part of their line in Erie, or what afterward became Erie county, were chartered as follows : The Mad River and Lake Erie, and the Milan and Columbus companies, the first being chartered January 5, 1832, and the other on the 11th February following. The 264 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. Milan and Columbus road was never built nor are we possessed of any information showing the performance of any substantial act other than the incorporation thereof. Then, again, although the creation of a later period, in reviewing these facts a mention must be made of that mythical and mysterious thoroughfare of travel known as the " Underground Railway," having its invisible, though well patronized route between the city of Sandusky, O., and Malden, in Canada. This was the usually traveled route taken by escaping slaves who sought a refuge beyond the reach of the owner's power and the driver's lash. There lives in Sandusky to-day, probably not to exceed fifty persons who recall the partial construction of the road of the Ohio Railroad Company, which was chartered at the session of the Legislature of 1835-6. The route of this road was entirely practicable, but its enterprising projectors had not the means suffrcient to complete the work, and it was abandoned after a vast amount of money had been expended. The route of this road, as defined by its charter, was as follows : " Beginning at the westwardly line of the State of Pennsylvania, and extending westwardly to the Maumee River in the State of Ohio," a distance of one hundred and seventy-seven miles. The line of this road, had it been completed, would have crossed Washington Square, in Sandusky. And many of the people of the county will remember the old Sandusky & Louisville Railroad Company, to the construction of which they liberally contributed, but the road was never built. THE INDIANA, BLOOMINGTON AND WESTERN RAILROAD. This road is, indeed, of comparatively recent creation. But the line now in part operated by the receiver of the above company, has a history more varied and more interesting than that of any road now in operation in the State of Ohio ; and for an intelligent and clear, as well as an accurate narration of the facts of that history we must look back to the early years of the present century and note the efforts that were made to establish the first railroad in this State, or in the west, and recall the evenst of the early life of a road famed in history as the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad. When the people of Sandusky were by fraud, deceit and corruption defeated in their efforts to establish communication between this point and the Ohio River by canal, the most enterprising and energetic of her residents said,. " Let us build a railroad." This was prior to the year 1825. During the period of the greatest agitation of this question a public meeting was held in Sandusky which was attended by all the leading men of the place, prominent among whom can be recalled the names of David Caswell, who was made chairman ; Dr. George Anderson, Colonel John N. Sloane, Elentheros Cooke, Cyrus W. Marsh, Hector Kibourne, Moors Farwell, Colonel Abner Root, David Campbell, Aaron C. Corbett, William Townsend and others, possibly, whose names cannot, at this late day, be remembered. This was in 1826. RAILWAYS OF THE COUNTY - 265 By these persons the situation was freely discussed, and united action was determined upon to urge the subject of building a road to connect Sandusky and Dayton, thence reaching south by the proposed Miami canal to Cincinnati and the Ohio River, thus opening direct and free communication between the great lakes on the north and the large rivers on the south. But it was several years before the fond hopes of the people of this locality were realized, but at last the thing was made possible. The Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad Company was incorporated by an act of the Legislature of Ohio, passed on the 5th day of January, 1832. Among the persons named as comMissioners in the act, three, William Townsend, Henry H. Wilcox, sr., and George Anderson were residents of Sandusky. It became the duty of these comMissioners to open books for subscriptions to the stock of the company, but no organization could be effected .until there had been subscribed to the corporation stock the amount of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This was accomplished in the course of a few months, and in October of the same year the company was organized, Horatio G. Philips, Of Dayton, Montgomery county, being elected president. A treasurer was chosen at the same meeting. Other than this no business was transacted at this time, except to receive reports and urge the importance of prompt action in getting subscriptions to the stock of the company. In the year 1834 another annual meeting was held, and Mr. Philips, being unwilling to hold further the office of president, declined a re-election, whereupon Joseph Vance, of Champaigne county, was chosen as his successor. In the spring of the next year, 1835, James H. Bell was appointed chief engineer of the company, and by him the route was located and surveyed between Sandusky and Tiffin, by the way of Bellevue, after which the work of construction was at once commenced. Ground was first broken at the east end of Water street, at the intersection of Meigs street, in Sandusky, on the 17th of September, 1835. General William Henry Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe, afterwards president of the United States, put the first spade in the earth, at the point above indicated. That was a day of general jubilee in Sandusky, and the celebration was followed by a banquet at the Victor's Hotel, the distinguished guests and the prominent citizens taking part in the festivities of the occasion. In this same year, 1835, the contracts were let for bridging and grading on the located line, and the work of construction commenced. In 1836 Colonel John H. James, of Urbana, one of the pioneers of the State, was chosen president of the company, and under his management the work of construction was pushed with the greatest energy the limited means of the corporation would permit. In this same year Colonel James contracted for the iron to be used between Sandusky and Bellevue. He also entered into 266 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. a contract with the firm of Rogers, Ketchum & Grovenor, of Paterson, N. J., for the construction a locomotive to be named the " Sandusky." This firm was at that time engaged in the manufacture of cotton machines, and undertook the work of building a locomotive with the greatest reluctance, but subsequently they became most celebrated as manufacturers of locomotives, and the outgrowth of their factory is found in the present extensive " Paterson Locomotive Works." The locomotive " Sandusky," was brought from Buffalo on the vessel Sandusky, Thomas C. McGee, skipper, to the town of Sandusky, in the year 1837, and, during that fall, was placed upon the track and run between Sandusky and Bellevue, the road having been completed between these points in that year, all statements, impressions, and opinions to the contrary notwithstanding. In the year 1850 the road was completed to Dayton, a distance of one hundred and fifty-four miles, and in the following year was in operation. Colonel James was succeeded in the presidency of the company by William Hunt, and he, in succession by these men': Hon. Ebenezer Lane, E. F. Osborne, R. E. Runckle, John P. Yelderton, Oran Follett, Rush R. Sloane, and John S. Farlow, the last named having been continued to the present date, notwithstanding the frequent changes in the name of corporate management. The same year in which the Mad River and Lake Erie road was completed to Dayton, another line, known as the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad Company, met the former at Dayton, and thus, in 1851, was constructed and in operation a through connection between Sandusky and Cincinnati. In 1851 an act was passed by the Legislature incorporating the Sandusky City and Indiana Railroad Company. This company was organized in fact for the purpose of constructing a road from Sandusky to Tiffin, by the way of Clyde, to be built, moreover, in the interest and with the capital of the Lake Erie and Mad River road. On the 1st of December, 1854, this road, via Clyde, was leased for ninety-nine years, renewable forever, to the Mad River Company, and the old road to Tiffin by way of Bellevue was discontinued and abandoned. The first change in the name of the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad was made on February 3, 1858, under a decree of the Common Pleas of Erie county, by which the road became known as the Sandusky, Dayton and Cincinnati Railroad Company. And under a bill filed in the Erie county Common Pleas on February 4, 1865, Oran Follett was appointed receiver, under order, of the court, and continued as such until its reorganization, on July 2, 1866, when, under that reorganization, the line passed under the management of the Sandusky and Cincinnati Railroad Company, and so remained until the 8th of October, 1866, when the line was leased for a term of ninety-nine years, renewable forever, to the Cincinnati, Dayton and Eastern Railroad Company, and RAILWAYS OF THE COUNTY - 267 Rush R. Sloane was made president. On the 9th of January, 1868, this lease was surrendered. In 1868, on the 11 th of January, by a decree of the Common Pleas of Erie county the name was changed to the Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cleveland Railroad Company, by which it is known at this day, although managed by the receiver of the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Company as a part of that system. That part of the road between Dayton and Springfield was leased for a term of ninety-nine years, renewable forever, to the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Company, in 1868. This contract of lease was negotiated by Rush R. Sloane, and it was, without doubt, the most profitable lease for the lessor company that was ever effected and executed in the State of Ohio. About the year 1881 or 1882 the Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cleveland portion of the road was leased to the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Company. This latter corporation was operating a line of road extending from Indianapolis, Ind., to Springfield, 0., and desirous of obtaining a lake connection, leased the part above named and made it a portion of their 'system. Some months ago, however, the Indiana, Bloomington and Western Company became insolvent, and a receiver was appointed, and since that event the Cincinnati, Sandusky and Cleveland as well as the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Company has been operated by the receiver of the general Indiana, Bloomington and Western System. THE SANDUSKY, MANSFIELD AND NEWARK RAILROAD COMPANY. This company embraces three others of much earlier organization, which, with the dates of their charters, respectively, were as follows : The Monroeville and Sandusky City Railroad Company, chartered March 9, 1835 ; the Mansfield and New Haven Railroad Company, chartered March 12, 1836, and the Columbus and Lake Erie Railroad Company, chartered March 12, 1845. The two first named were united under the name of the Mansfield and Sandusky City Railroad Company ; and that, in turn, consolidated with the Columbus and Lake Erie Company, and became known as the Sandusky, Mansfield and Newark Railroad Company, on the 23d of November, 1853. In the year 1856 the road was sold and then reorganized, retaining, however,. the former name. On February 13, 1869, the road was leased to the Central Ohio Railroad Company, and the Baltimore and Ohio Company guaranteed and assumed the covenants of the Central Ohio Railroad Company. The road extends from the city of Sandusky to Newark, 0., a distance of one hundred and sixteen miles. The work of construction on the old Monroeville and Sandusky City road was begun in the year 1835, and was, of course, necessarily slow. At a point six miles south of Sandusky the workmen encountered a ridge of slate, and this 268 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. proved the rock on which the founders of the enterprise, the Hollisters, were wrecked. In 1837 an effort was made to purchase the iron, to be used in building the road, in England. and for that purpose James K. Campbell was sent to negotiate ; but this effort was unsuccessful. The bed was finally completed as far as Monroeville, a distance from Sandusky of sixteen and one-half miles. It was operated as early as 1837, but the motive power used was horses, with which regular trips were made between these points. The rails were of hard wood, and as no great speed was acquired or desired this primitive method answered very well for a time. The State rendered considerable substantial aid in the construction of this old road, which was completed and put in operation under the presidency of Burr Higgins. Its results, however, were not very satisfactory from a financial point of view, therefore a reorganization became necessary, to which reference has already been made. The stock, which was considered of little value, was bought up, and by the results of the lease, virtually to the Baltimore and Ohio Company, bids fair to be of some considerable value in the future. The road is now earning an excess above interest on its bonded indebtedness. The line of this road through Sandusky formerly and for some years lay through Franklin street, but it was subsequently changed to Warren street. The old residents of the city will remember the old depot of the Monroeville and Sandusky City Company, that was located about in front of the old Lake House on Water street THE LAKE SHORE AND MICHIGAN SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway proper was created or formed by the union or consolidation of other lines of road having an existence prior to the year 1869. And inasmuch as this is, undoubtedly, the most important railway now passing through Erie county, a brief mention of the several coporations from which it was formed will not be considered inappropriate in this connection. The first union occurred by the consolidation of the Buffalo and State Line Railroad (extending from the City of Buffalo, N. Y. State, west to the State Line 0f the State of Pennsylvania, a distance of sixty-eight miles), with the Erie and Northeast Railroad (extending from the Pennsylvania State Line to the city of Erie, a distance of twenty miles), under and in pursuance of laws of the States of New York and Pennsylvania, in the year 1867, and became known as the Buffalo and Erie Railroad Company. And by the consolidation of the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad (extending from Erie, Pa., to Cleveland, O., a distance of ninety-five miles), with the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad (extending from Cleveland to Toledo, a distance of one hundred and thirteen miles), with a branch or northern division of the latter road extending from Elyria twenty-six miles west of Cleve- RAILWAYS OF THE COUNTY - 269 land to Sandusky, a distance of thirty-five miles. Also from Oak Harbor, (twenty-six miles west of Sandusky) to Millbury, near Toledo. These two last mentioned roads were consolidated under the name of the Lake Shore Railway Company in March, 1869, under the laws of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Then the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad, extending from Toledo to the city of Chicago, Ill., a distance of two hundred and forty- four miles, was consolidated with the Lake Shore Railway Company in May, 1869, under the laws of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, under the name of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company. In August, 1869, the Buffalo and Erie Railroad Company was consolidated with the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company, under the latter name, thus forming a continuous line of road five hundred and forty miles in length between the cities of Buffalo and Chicago. This, in the main, formed the ground-work of the great Lake Shore and Michigan Southern System. It will be noticed above that mention is made of a "branch" or "Northern Division" of the Cleveland and Toledo Road. This is the line extending through Erie county, and is described above as "extending from Elyria (twenty-six miles west of Cleveland), to Sandusky, a distance of thirty- five miles." This branch road, as it was called, was that formerly chartered as the Junction Railroad, intended to reach from Cleveland to Sandusky, and thence to Fremont. It was chartered March 2, 1846, and amended so as to extend to Toledo in January, 1851. It was built during the years 1851 and 1852, but about the same time the lower division, known as the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad was built, which road by connecting with one already in operation, reached Cleveland before the northern line was completed, and thenceforth did everything possible to obstruct the latter, among other acts to prevent the bridging of the Cuyahoga River. Then, again, the construction of the southern line from Toledo to Norwalk tapped the Fremont region, thus rendering unprofitable the building of the Junction Road from Sandusky to that point. The Fremont people gave it no encouragement and the project was abandoned. After the abandonment of the plan of building to Fremont it was still necessary to have a western outlet for the Junction Road, and the idea was conceived of crossing the Sandusky Bay and running to Port Clinton, and thence west to Toledo ; but in this several obstacles must be overcome. There was much opposition to building across the bay, that being navigable water ; then, again, the charter did not call for a road over that route. This led to the charter granted the Port Clinton Railroad Company, and under it the road was built, though not without many difficulties and much litigation, but at last it was accomplished and put in operation. 270 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. But the difficulty at Cleveland was not satisfactorily adjusted, and the Junction Road was eventually "frozen out," and being so unfortunately conditioned, the two divisions, the north and south, were finally consolidated under the name of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad. That part of the old Junction Road between Cleveland and Elyria was practically abandoned, though never entirely so, and the two branches joined again at Milburn, a town west of Sandusky, and near Toledo. Under the consolidation of 1869 the Cleveland and Toledo systems, both divisions passed to the control of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Company, and is by that company managed at the present time. The former line of this road through Sandusky lay along Water street, but the Lake Shore people needed more room for the transaction of their largely increasing business in the city ; therefore, a part of the line was changed to pass through the south portion of the town over which the bulk of their freight business passes, the Water street line being used only for accommodation purposes. Another part was sold to the I. B. & W. Company, and is nOW used by them. In 1870 the revenue from passenger traffic at 'Sandusky on the Lake Shore Road was $8,858, while in 1886 it amounted to $39,892. In 1870 the freight forwarded amounted to over twenty-six thousand tons, and freight received to more than eighteen thousand six hundred and forty-four tons. In 1886 the shipment of freight was four hundred and eighty- four thousand six hundred and eighty-six tons, and freight received one hundred and forty-eight thousand one hundred and seventy-four tons. THE WHEELING AND LAKE ERIE RAILROAD COMPANY The main points touched by this road in Erie county are Huron and Milan. It starts from the former and follows the general course of the Huron River to Milan, and thence passes it.to Huron county on the south. The company was chartered by an act of the Legislature, passed April 6, 1871. By June 30, 1873, ten miles of its line were graded. In 1876 the road was completed from Huron to Norwalk, a distance of twelve and one-half miles, and thirty-five miles more of the road were graded. In the spring of 1878 the company passed into the hands of a receiver. Toward the construction of the Wheeling and Lake Erie Road the citizens of the city of Sandusky were invited to contribute, and for that purpose subscription books were opened. It was promised, and generally understood that Sandusky should be one of the points touched by the road, but at a time when the company were seriously in need of funds, several prominent residents of Huron came forward with liberal contributions, and the road was built to that place. An attempt was afterward made to secure the subscription books at Sandusky for the purpose of collecting the amounts by the several persons subscribed, but they were not secured, nor was the money paid. The road was RAILWAYS OF THE COUNTY - 271 not, therefore, particularly friendly to the Sandusky people or interests. The road is easily reached by way of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Road at Huron. THE LAKE ERIE AND WESTERN RAILROAD. This is the youngest of its class of corporations now in full operation in Erie county. The company was chartered about 1879, and the road went into operation some two or three years later. The line runs from Sandusky to Fremont ; thence via Findlay, Lima and Nuncie, to Bloomington, Ill. From the latter point the road will soon be fully completed to Peoria, Ill. As an encouragement to build the Lake Erie and Western road, the City of Sandusky in 1881, issued its bonds to the extent of sixty thousand dollars, the avails of which were given to constructing the road THE SANDUSKY, ASHLAND AND COSHOCTON RAILROAD. No part of the corporation erection of this company is now in operation except official organization. The company was chartered in 1883 and was formed for the purpose of tapping the vast coal and iron regions of the southern counties of the State and elsewhere, and for the purpose of bringing those products to Sandusky for consumption and manufacture. The line of the proposed road is one hundred and thirty-nine miles in length. It is a well known fact that there exists in Coshocton county a bed of the finest quality of cannel coal, and this road will bring this city of Sandusky in direct communication with that region and afford a desirable outlet for its most valuable product. The capital stock of the company is five millions of dollars, but instead of asking for subscriptions to the stock the company have issued bonds and have arranged to build and stock their road with the proceeds of the bond sales. In fact, W. D. Crane, of New York city has agreed to take the bonds and build and equip the road, and construct extensive docks at Sandusky as well. The present officers of the comapany are Hon. John Mackey, president; P. H. Clark, secretary, and David Brubaker, treasurer. THE NEW YORK, CHICAGO AND ST. LOUIS RAILWAY. This road, which is more commonly known as the " Nickel Plate," has its line across Erie county, entering from the east, in the north part of Vermillion township, and departing near the southwest part of Groton township. The road is of no sipractical benefit to the county, having but an occasional passenger train and doing but little other than a through freight business as a part of the " Vanderbilt system." |