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143 - INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS CHAPTER X. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. EARLY ROADS-THE FIRST ROUTE OF TRAVEL IN NOBLE COUNTY -PRESENT' CONDITION OF THE ROADS-THE SUMMERFIELD AND BATESVILLE TURNPIKE - POSTOFFICES AND MAILS- RAILROADS - THE SHARON RAILROAD PROJECTED IN 1849-The "CALICO" RAILROAD - UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO CONSTRUCT A THROUGH LINE - THE CINCINNATI, WHEELING & NEW YORK - THE CLEVELAND & MARIETTA RAILROAD - ITS INCEPTION AND PROGRESS - COMPLETION OF THE ROAD IN 1871-2- WHAT NOBLE COUNTY DID TOWARD BUILDING IT-THE BELLAIRE, ZANESVILLE & CINCINNATI NARROW-GAUGE - ITS PROJECTION- CHANGE OF ROUTES-COMPANIES FORMED AND CONSOLIDATED - COMPLETION OF THE ROAD IN 1883. ROAD building in a hilly country is laborious and expensive, and after the roads are made there must be a constant outlay for repairs or the roads become worthless. The making of roads has been from the earliest times one of the most important subjects which has occupied the attention of the county commissioners and taxpayers of the region now embraced in the County of Noble. However, all the most important thoroughfares were built under the jurisdiction of Guernsey, Monroe and Morgan Counties, prior to the erection of Noble County, in 1851. As nearly all of these roads are described in the township histories which follow, they need be only briefly mentioned here. The most important of the early roads in Noble County were those leading from Marietta to Cambridge, the State road from Barnesville to McConnelsvlle, the State road from Belmont County to Marietta running via Calais, Summerfield and Carlisle, and the "Center road '' to—McConnelsville, through the western part of the county. The so-called Federal road, marked out in 1791, began at Grave Creek on the Ohio iver, and running westward crossed Dye's Fork of Meigs Creek near Renrock. This was the earliest route of travel through the county. Since 1851 constant efforts have been made to improve existing roads and build new ones, and especially of late years there has been great improvements. Several roads have. been well graded and the main thoroughfares can now be kept in reasonably good condition during all except the winter months. The county contains but one turnpike, a costly though valuable improvement, built under a special law. This is the Summerfield, Batesville and Quaker City toll-road, built in 186972, from Summerfield to the southern line of Guernsey County. This road cost over $100,000 and was built by levying a tax on the real estate lying within a distance of two miles of the road through Beaver 144 - HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY. OHIO. Township, and one mile on the east and two miles on the west through Marion Township. The receipts of toll are not sufficient to keep the road in first-class condition ; yet the turnpike is of great utility and convenience to the farmers living near it. OLD TIME STAR ROUTES. In these days when every township of the county contains from one to four postoffices, supplied with a daily, or at the farthest a tri-weekly mail, either brought by mail trains direct to the post- town, or to some convenient point but a few miles distant; when everybody, young and old, rich and poor, receives letters and papers, and looks eagerly for the arrival of the mail ; when weekly newspapers cost but a dollar per year, and the postage on a letter is but two cents; when all can read and write and take pleasure in the exercise of those accomplishments; in these days of railroads, telegraphs and fast mails, it is difficult to conceive how utterly isolated in the wilderness, how almost completely shut of from communication with the world were the pioneer settlers. Fancy the inconvenience to a citizen of Noble County in being obliged to go or send to Marietta, to Cambridge, or Woodsfield, for mail? And remember also that those places were then mere pioneer settlements, reached only by roads which would now be considered impassable, or by mere bridle-paths through the forests, marked here and there by blazed trees, and that walking or riding on horseback was the only method of reaching them ; recall fact that the mails from the East and Middle States were transport only by post-coaches ; that a lentil' posted in one of those States would be from two to four week in reaching the person to whom it was addressed in Ohio, and that he must pav twenty-five cents postage before taking it from the office, unless the sender had had the kindness to prepay it. Consider these things, reader, and von can form some idea of the situation of the pioneer as regarded mail facilities. When settlements began in Duck Creek and Meigs Creek, Marietta was the nearest postoffice. Later a postoffice was established at Macksburg, and about 1820, Robert McKee, the saltmaker, became postmaster at Ohve, which was doubtless the earliest office within the limits of the present County of Noble. At first the mail for the Olive office was brought weekly from Macksburg, and the route extended to Washington, Guernsey County. Prior to 183o a mail route was established from Barnesville to McConnelsville, and weekly mail was carried through by a post-boy on horseback. The offices and postmasters within the territory now comprised in Noble County were as follows in 1830; Batesville, Timothy Bates, postmaster; Summerfield, James W. Shankland, postmaster ; Olive, Robert McKee, postmaster ; Sharon, Rev. Robert Rutherford, postmaster ; Colonel Erastus Hoskins, postmaster. The next office on the route was at Gregg's, near where Reinersville now is, and the next McConnelsville. 145 - INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. Mr. C. H. Laws, now a merchant in Middlehurg in this county, was the post-boy in 1830, and can relate many interesting incidents that occurred during his service in that capacity. He says he honestly believes he has carried the sack from Barnesville to McConnelsville many times when there was not a letter inside of it any part of the entire distance. Timothy Bates's report to the postoffice department for the first quarter was made in these words : "No letters, no papers ; hope for better luck next quarter." The old State road from Barnesville led via Batesville, Timothy Bates's mill, Sarahsville, Belle Valley, Hoskinsville, the Dye settlement and Big Meigs Creek to Mc- Connelsville. The mail carrier followed this road a part of the way, and a part of the way he took a shorter route, following a path marked hy blazed trees. II is life was not an easy one ; often he was obliged to make his horse leap over fallen trees, wade through deep mud, or swim a heavily swollen creek. There were no bridges, and the water sometimes raised to such an extent as to make the crossing of a creek difficult and even dangerous. But the mail carrier was regarded as a grand personage; and as he approached a postoffice, blowmg shrill blasts upon a tm horn to announce his coming, boys and men looked upon him with admiration and envy. About 1828, a postoffice called Wharton's was established at Andrew Wharton's store in Brookfield Township. This office was on a mail route from McConnelsville to Cambridge. As the years went by and the country became more thickly settled, and postage became less burdensome, the mail service on the old-time routes was gradually increased; the offices were supplied two and three times per week instead of once; new offices and new routes were established, and some of the old ones discontinued, slow but continual progress being made until Noble County began to build railroads, and since that time postal facilities have rapidly multiplied, until now there is scarcely any part of the county where the inhabitants are without a convenient postoffice. The following is a list of the post- offices in Noble County in 1886, with the townships in which they are located : Ashton, Enoch ; Ava, Noble ; Batesville, Beaver ; Belle Valley, Noble ; Berne, Stock ; Caldwell, Olive; Chaseville, Seneca : Claytona, Jackson ; Crooked Tree, Jackson; Dexter City, Jefferson ; Dudley, Olive ; Elk, Elk ; Enoch, Enoch ; Flag, Elk ; Fredericksdale, Center ; Fulda, Enoch ; Glenwood, Buffalo; Raga, Olive; Harrietsville, Elk ; Hiramsburg, Noble ; Haskinsville, Noble ; Keith's, Jackson ; Kennonsburg, Wayne; McCleary, Stock ; Middle Creek, Jefferson ; Mount Ephraim, Seneca ; Mount Zion, Buffalo ; Nobleville, Noble ; Olive Green, Sharon ; Rado, Enock; Renrock, Brookfield ; Rich Valley, Sharon ; Ridge, Jackson; Sarahsville, Center; Sharon, Sharon ; South Olive, Olive ; 146 - HISTORY Or NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO. Summerfield, Marion ; Whigville, Marion. EARLY RAILROAD PROJECTS. With the exception of a piece of the Central Ohio Railroad* (now the Baltimore & Ohio) about half a mile long, in the northeast corner of Beaver Township, Noble County was without a railroad from the time of its organization until the building of the C. & M., or Duck Creek Railroad in 1811-2. But rail roads were projected through this region prior to the organization of the county, and one was partially built. In 1849 a charter was granted to the Sharon Railroad Company to build a road from Sharon to the Muskingum iver in Washington County. The incorporators were Elijah Stevens, Samuel Aikens, Jesse M, Stone, Oliver Keyser anti Isaac Parrish; capital, $30,000. Provision was made that after the company was organized, by agreement of a majority of the directors and an increase of capital, the railroad might be extended to Marietta and to Cumberland, or to either place. Ilion. Isaac Parrish, who was then engaged in the milling business at Sharon, was the chief projector of the railroad, the primary object of which was to enable him to transport the flour from his mill to the Muskingum iver, whence it could be taken by boat to southern markets. The summer after the charter was obtained the work of grading * The Central Ohio Railroad was completed from Bellaire to Columbus in 1853. was begun at Sharon, and several miles of the road were graded. list owing to a lack of capital and to disagreements among the railroad projectors, all the labor expended was without result. In February, 1853, by provision of the charter, and by permission of the court of Guernsey County, the directors ordered an increase of capital of $20,000 and the extension of the railroad to Cumberland. March, 1853, T. W. Peacock (afterwards president), was chosen one of the directors, and lion. Isaac Parrish president. Next, it was proposed to build the road from Cumberland, Guernsey County, to McConnelsville, Morgan County ; and not long afterwards a bigger scheme presented itself, and the "Pittsburgh, Maysville and Cincinnati Railroad Company " was organized with the object of building a railroad from the Ohio River at or near Steubenville to Maysville, Kentucky, and thence to Cincinnati, passing through the counties of Guernsey, Morgan, Athens, and onward in a southwesterly direction. This was the famous " Calico " railroad project, upon which not less than $300,000 were expended during the next ten years, and though many miles of roadbed were constructed not a rail was laid. Wretched mismanagement caused the total collapse of the company, and the scheme of building a great through line slumbered for many years, finally to be revived in a new form and under a new company. in 1875 W. H. and C. H. Stevens purchased that part of the property INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS - 147 lying between Cumberland and Washington, Guernsey County, under certain conditions. Through their efforts the line was completed between Cumberland and Point Pleasant, and operated under the name of the Eastern Ohio Railroad. In 1881-2 a syndicate was organized by Hon. F. M. Atkinson, of Noble County. The Cincinnati, Wheeling and New York Railroad Company formed, Mr. Atkinson made its President, and the road extended from Point Pleasant to Senecaville and thence to Morgan Junction on the Baltimore and Ohio. The people of the northwestern part of Noble County invested heavily in the enterprise with disastrous results to themselves. The great through line remains in state quo and the affairs of the company are in an unsettled condition. According to the original plan the road was to follow the Beaver Fork of Will's Creek, via Batesville. In the vicinity of that town a considerable portion of the road was graded. The road is still operated between Cumberland and Morgan Junction. THE CLEVELAND AND MARIETTA RAILROAD. In the fall of 1866 railroad meetings were held in Marietta and Caldwell, and the project of a railroad from the former place to Point Pleasant was discussed. Hon. William P. Cutler, of Marietta, was then the leader of the enterprise. The first public discussion of the matter in Noble County took place at a meeting held in Caldwell, on Nov. 8, 1866. Sheriff Eliab Matheny presided, and D. S. Spriggs acted as secretary. A committee, consisting of Rev. George Fetters, 1). S. Gibbs, and William McKee was appointed to confer with the citizens of Marietta and Cumberland, to see if some arrangement could not be made whereby the old South western (" Calico") railroad should be extended from Cumberland to Marietta. About this time and later other routes were discussed, and preliminary surveys made, one for a road along the East Fork of Duck Creek, and another along the West Fork of the same stream. At a meeting held at Cambridge, February 19, 1868, of delegates from Washington, Noble and Guernsey Counties, after conferring with Thomas W. Peacock, president of the Southwestern Railroad, it was decided that it was impracticable to avail themselves of the charter of that road, but still advisable to build a railroad up the valley of Duck Creek, through Caldwell and Cambridge. It was also resolved that a new and independent company be formed. Gen. A. J. Warner, of Marietta, J. S. Foreman, of Caldwell, and E. W. Mathews of Cambridge, were appointed an executive committee to carry out the provisions of the resolutions. In September, 1868, the Marietta and Pittsburgh Railroad Company was incorporated, and on the first of October it was announced that subscriptions for building the road would be received by the following named corporators : W. H. Frazier, 148 - HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO. William W. Gidden, William C. Okey, Caldwell ; and William P. Cutler and R. R. Dawes, Marietta. Through the exertions of these gentlemen and other prominent citizens the interest of the public was aroused, and the work of securing subscriptions and the right of way went forward auspiciously. To secure the road to Caldwell, Noble County was required to subscribe $60,000 and give the right of way. Every citizen agreed that a railroad was needed ; and the following item from a Caldwell paper of the date March 25, 1869, will perhaps show as well as anything how much it was needed. The picture is not overdrawn : " MUD.—Mud to the right of us, mud to the left of us, mud all around us ; mud-bound and muddy, we sit in our sanctum with muddy boots, trembling at the prospect of a month of mud still ahead of us. We dream of mud and have dim visions of puffing locomotives and macadamized roads crossing the dismal and almost impassable barrier that separates us from the outside world — and awaken in the morning to find mud everywhere we look, that defies description and laughs at all figures of rhetoric and arithmetic." The sum of $175,000 having been secured in Washington and Noble Counties, it was decided to build from Marietta to Caldwell and the work began in the fall of 1869. In the first annual report of the board of directors, Dec. 8, 1869, Hon. W. P. Cutler, president of the road, gives the following facts relative to its history : "The charter of this company covers the ground from Marietta, by way of Caldwell, to the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad near Uhrichsville in Tuscarawas County, with the design of connecting there both with that railroad and also, by way of New Philadelphia, with Cleveland and all the more northern lines. The effort to secure foreign aid sufficient to justify the undertaking of the entire line at once having failed, it was decided to accomplish the same object by constructing first that portion of the road lying between Marietta and Caldwell, leaving the remainder of the work to be accosmlished with local means applicable to that purpose, aided by the credit resulting from the completion of so valuable a division of the road. " An appeal was therefore made to the citizens of Washington and Noble Counties for subscriptions to the capital stock, which has resulted in a total subscription of $175,000. With this amount of actual capital secured, a contract was entered into with the firm of Warner, McArthur & Co. to build the first 33 miles of the road, and to receive in payment $5,000 per mile cash, being the proceeds of the above subscription; $4,000 per mile in capital stock, and $8,000 per mile in first mortgage seven per cent bonds at par ; thus making in all $17,000 for the finished road ; the work to be done in two years from the 11th of May, 1869 * * * Under this contract the work has been commenced and vigorously prosecuted. Track-laying INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS - 149 will commence as early in the spring as the weather and the state of the embankment will permit." At the meeting at which the above report was submitted the following were unanimously elected directors for the ensuing year : William P. Cutler, R. R. Dawes, James Dutton, Samuel Shipman, William II. Frazier, David McKee and Thomas Green: The work was continued in 1870 and 1871, and in September of the latter year trains were running between Dudley and Marietta. About the same time a vigorous canvass was inaugurated to secure subscriptions and the right of way for the extension of the line from Caldwell to Point Pleasant. In November, 1871, trains began running between Caldwell and Marietta. Before the end of the year it was announced that the requisite amount had been raised for the extension of the road to Cambridge. The line was completed to Point Pleasant in August, 1872, and to Cambridge in the fall of the same year. In 1874 the road was completed to Canal Dover, its present northern terminus, where it connects with lines running north and east: At Cambridge it crosses the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and at Newcomerstown the Pan-Handle Line, thus affording important connections with hoth the east and the west. The company, organized under the name of the Marietta & Pittsburgh Railroad Company, afterwards became the Marietta, Pittsburgh & Cleveland, and is now known as the Cleveland & Marietta Railroad Company. The length of the line from Marietta to Canal Dover is 98 miles. For the construction of the road through the county the citizens of Noble raised in all about $115,000. The right of way was all given with the exception of a small portion, the cost of which did not exceed $500. Among the Noble County men who were especially active in securing the road may be mentioned Hon. William H. Frazier, one of the directors ; Fulton Caldwell, F. G. Okey, Judge A. P. Jennings, David Gouchenour and William W. Glidden. Several others did' effective service in securing subscriptions in their respective neighborhoods. Mr. Glidden had charge of the matter of securing the right of way, and his canvass was very thorough and successful. The C. & M. Railroad has had the usual experience of small local lines. It early became financially bankrupt, and passed into the hands of Gen. A. J. Warner as receiver. In 1877 it was sold at Cambridge for the sum of $200,000, and bid in by Cyrus W. Field and others. Under its present management the road is being improved on an extensiVe scale, and the track re-laid with steel rails. The company was re-organized July 14, 1886, with A. T. Wikoff, George K. Nash, C. C. Pickering, William Quinn and J. I. Kidd as incorporators. July 15, 1886, the following directors were chosen : Morris K. Jesup and John W. Ellis, of New York, and A. J. Warner, A. T. Wikoff and George K. Nash, of Ohio. General A. T. Wikoff was elected president of the company, and G. R. 150 - HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO. Candee, of New York, secretary and treasurer. General Wikoff, as receiver of the road, had previously been its manager for some time. THE BELLAIRE, ZANESVILLE & CINCINNATI RAILWAY. The project of a narrow-gauge railroad from Zanesville to Caldwell and eastward was discussed as early as 1871, and in that year the Zanesville, Cumberland & Caldwell Railroad Company was incorporated. In the following year a number of local capitalists and citizens associated together for the purpose of securing a railroad through Belmont, Monroe, Noble, Guernsey and . Muskingum Counties, to be called the Bellaire, Woodfield & Zanesville Railroad. Neither of these projects matured, the attention of many of those interested being diverted to the work of extending the Duck Creek Railroad (C. & M.) from Caldwell northward. The Bellaire & Southwestern Railroad (narrow-gauge) was built between Bellaire and Woodsfield in the years 1876-9, and was formally opened between the two places on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, 1879. The company was organized with E. G. Morgan as president, but the actual work of building the road was performed under the efficient superintendence of Col. S. L. Mooney, president. Immediately after the completion of the road to Woods- field, measures were taken to provide for its extension westward to Summerfield and Caldwell. Meantime, in December, 1879, J. II. Sullivan, of and F. M. Atkinson, of Batesville, projected a new and distinct road, to be called the Bellaire, Beaver Valley & Shawnee Railroad, which was to connect with the B. S. W. at Jerusalem, Monroe County, and run westward to the Muskingum River. One of the proposed routes was by way of Senecaville and the "Calico" Railroad to Cumberland, and thence to McConnelsville; the other, by way of Muddy 'Fork of' Will's Creek and Little Buffalo to Sarahsville, and thence to Caldwell and Beverly. Subscriptions were taken for this road, and for a time railroad matters were very lively, especially in the eastern part of the county. The projected Beaver Valley road ultimately became merged in the Cincinnati, Wheeling & New York, or "Calico," of which Hon. F. M. Atkinson became president; and the prospect, in 1880, and 1881, that this road was to become a great through line, caused the abandonment of the projected extension from Jerusalem via Batesville to Senecaville. December 16, 1879, an enthusiastic railroad meeting- was held at Summerfield to consider the matter of extending the H. & S. W. road Irma Woodsfieid to the Muskingum River. The sentiment of the citizens was almost unanimous in favor of the proposal. Then followed meetings and discussions in the eastern townships of the county, and great, interest was awakened. The people of Summerfield and vicinity began the work of securing the right of way, and subscriptions in January, 1880. Then the project slumbered for a while, and INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS - 151 railroad talk appeared to lose its interest for nearly a year. At a meeting laid at Caldwell, in December, 1880, Colonel Hurlburt spoke in behalf of the railroad company. W. W. Glidden, Fulton Caldwell, J. W. Tipton, Sr., W. W. Collins, George A. Smith, D. S. Spriggs and R. P. Summers were appointed a committee to look after the interests of Caldwell and to take action to secure the road. The railroad company proposed to iron, equip and run the road, provided the people living between Woodsfield and Caldwell would give the right of way, and subscribe enough money to grade the road and furnish ties. This required a subscription of over $100,000 for the thirty-five miles of road between the two towns. At this time the managers of the enterprise talked of making the road a through line to Chillicothe and Cincinnati, running to Beverly or McConnelsville, and thence westward. In September, 1881, the requisite amount having been subscribed, the subscriptions were turned over to the railroad company, who issued a bond to build the road from Woodsfield to (bid well, via Louisville, Summer- field, Freedom and Sarahsville. Ground was broken for the extension in Octoher, 1881. Among the citizens of Noble County to whom especial credit is due for their labors in behalf of this road we mention the following names, copied from a local paper • dated August, 1881: Wilham W. Glidden, Fulton Caldwell, John W. Tipton, Sr., F. G. ()key, Irvin Belford, George A. Smith, William Young, John Lemmax, L. W. Finley, Benjamin Danford, Jacob Hamilton and Charles Winger. Many others might be named, but suffice it to say that the best citizens generally aided the project according to their financial ability. While Noble County was preparing for the extension or the B. &, S. W. Railroad, Zanesville capitalists organized the Zanesville Southeastern Railroad Conn pa n v, with the avowed purpose of building a narrow-gauge road from Zanesville to Beverly, to connect at some point with the B. & S. W. when the latter should be extended west from Caldwell. In January, 1882, this company was consolidated with the B. S. W., forming the Bellair, Zanesville & Cincinnati Railway Company. During the same year the proposed route to Beverly was akin- dolled, and instead it was derided to build from Zanesville via Chandlersville and Cumberland to Caldwell. Zanesville and Muskingum County responded liberally, pledging over $200,000 to the road, and work was soon begun in Muskingum County. August 1, 1883, the B., Z. C. was opened to Summerfield. November 29, the first regular passenger train ran over the completed road from Caldwell to Zanesville, and December 3, 1883, the first passenger train ran from Summerfield to Zanesville. Owing to heavy rains and insufficient ballast upon the roadbed traffic was suspended between Summerfield and Cumberland during most of` the following winter, but re- sinned over the entire line in the 152 - HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO. spring of 1884. The distance from Bellair to Zanesville is 112 miles, and the route is through one of the most hilly and picturesque regions in Ohio. The B., Z. & C. passed into the hands of I. H. Burgoon, receiver, in June, 1886, but is still running under the old name. The rolling stock has recently been increased, and the road is being improved rapidly. It is a great benefit and convenience to a wide extent of country formerly without railroad facilities. |