(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 154 CHAPTER XIX. RAILROADS. The Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad.—The Project of Building Originating in Chillicothe.—Ross County's Liberal Aid to the Enterprise.— The First Organization.— Contest between Hillsborough and other Points for Location.—The Hillsborough Branch.—Financial Failures and Successes.—Successive Changes of Management.—The Outlook for the Future.—The Springfield Southern Railroad.—Brief History of the Scioto Valley Railway.—The Dayton & Southern.—Southern Division of the Columbus & Maysville Railroad. THE railroads which pass through Ross and Highland counties, or enter either of them, are the Marietta & Cincinnati, with its Hillsborough branch, the Springfield Southern, as it is now called, formerly the Springfield, Jackson & Pomeroy, the Scioto Valley, the Dayton & Southeastern, and the southern division of the Columbus & Maysville railroad, which is in operation from Hillsborough southward. Of these, by far the most important one, historically, is the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad. It has a history which is of peculiar interest to the people of both counties, but especially to those of Ross and to the citizens of Chillicothe. It is the oldest road which enters the territory of which this volume gives the history, and commercially is also entitled to precedence in place as well as the principal space in this chapter. Its history has been carefully prepared by one who is thoroughly familiar with the subject and the story of its chequered though useful career, will be found interesting reading. MARIETTA AND CINCINNATI RAILROAD.* The Marietta & Cincinnati railroad passes for fourteen miles (main line) through Highland county, and for nearly forty miles through Ross county, entering the west side of the county at the crossing of Paint creek, * By John Waddle, Esq., of Chillicothe. HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 155 at Greenfield, in Highland county, and extending across the townships of Buckskin, Concord, Twin, Union, Scioto, Springfield, Liberty and Jefferson, to the east line of the county, where it enters Vinton county. In Buckskin township are the stations of Lyndon and Harpers, in Concord township the stations of Roxabell and Musselman's, in Union township Anderson's station, in Scioto township Chillicothe, and in Liberty township Schooley's station and Londonderry. As the project of building the road originated in Ross county, and the people of this county have, perhaps, contributed more largely than those of any other towards its completion, it is thought that somewhat of a history of the companies which have built and managed the road would not be out of place here. In March, 1845, a charter was granted to the Belpre & Cincinnati railroad company, with power to construct and maintain a railroad with double track, commencing at any eligible point on the Ohio river opposite Parkersburgh, Virginia, or at Harmar, in Washington township, thence, by the most practicable route, up the Hocking valley, by way of Athens and Chillicothe, to some point on the Little Miami railroad between Plainville, in Hamilton county, and the mouth of O'Bannon creek, in the county of Clermont. The capital stock of the company was fixed at one million dollars. Subsequent legislation authorized the increase of the stock to six million dollars; the adoption of a route from Harmar to Athens, other than that up the Hocking valley, and the extension of the road westwardly to Cincinnati and eastwardly to Bridgeport, opposite Wheeling, and also provided for a change of the name of the company to that of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad company. The provision for the change of name was to become effective on the acceptance by the company of certain subscriptions of the county of Washington and the towns of Marietta and Harmar; the change was effected August 13, 1851. The company was organized at Chillicothe August 18, 1847, and elected, as directors, William P. Cutler and Noah L. Wilson, of Washington county; A. B. Walker and John Ballard, of Athens county; David Richmond, of Vinton county; Felix Renick, William H, Price, William Ross, John Madeira, John L. Green, and W. Marshall Anderson, of Ross county; and Allen Trimble and William O. Collins, of Highland county. The board of directors organized by electing Felix Renick, president; William Ross, treasurer, and Seneca W. Elyp, secretary —all of Ross county. Mr. Ross resigned the treasurership within a month of his election, and Colonel John Madeira was elected in his place, President Renick was accidentally killed a few months after the organization of the company, and on March 9, 1848, Allen Latham, also of Ross county, was elected president. Mr. Latham served as president until August 21, 1850, when William P, Cutler, of Washington county, was elected to the office. The presidency was retained by Mr. Cutler to September 11, 1854, when he resigned it in consequence of ill health, and Noah L. Wilson, who was then in Europe on business of the company, was elected to the place. During the absence of the president elect, the duties of the office were performed by William S. Nye, president pro tempore. On the return of Mr. Wilson he assumed the presidency, and retained it up to the time of the dissolution of the company, in 1860. A reconnoissance of a route from Chillicothe to the Ohio river, at Belpre, had been made before the organization of the company, by Prof. John W. Allen and Mr. William H. Price, and on the election of Mr. Price in March, 1848, to the office of engineer, other explorations and surveys were begun with the object of ascertaining the most practicable route for the location of the road. To the acquiring of information, for the selection of the route, and the raising of means for the building of the railroad, the attention and efforts of the company and its officers were steadily directed for three years before the work of construction was commenced. During that time an active competition for the r0ad sprung up along the different routes, which stimulated the friends of each to subscribe to the stock of the company, with the condition that the road should be located and built on the route favored by the persons making the subscription. The rivalry between the friends of different routes, was particularly strong in relation to the two routes surveyed between Chillicothe and Hillsborough; one of them by Bainbridge, called the Paint Valley route, and the other called the Frankfort and Greenfield route. The Paint Valley route was two miles and a half the shorter, and of better grades, but was estimated to cost twenty-six thousand dollars more than the Frankfort and Greenfield route. To counterbalance the advantages of the Paint Valley route, the friends of its rival made large stock subscripti0ns, and more than doubled those made for the route by Paint valley. The directors, in May, 1850, decided to make Greenfield a point on the line of the road, and directed President Latham to procure an engineer and proceed to locate and prepare for letting the contracts for the construction of that part of the road lying between Greenfield and a point eleven miles east of Chillicothe. The services of Captain Archibald Kennedy, who had previously been engaged in constructing railroads in Vermont, were secured, and in the fall of 1850 he began the final location of that part of the road. Captain Kennedy continued as chief engineer of the company to August, 1854. Hillsborough, though not named in the charter, had been, by common agreement, considered as a point through which the road would pass, and the citizens of that town had taken an active part in the formation and organization of the company. The decision to make Greenfield a point was probably not designed to change the settled plan to build the road by Hillsborough, yet it soon became apparent to every one that the best route from Greenfield to Cincinnati lay to the north of Hillsborough, and that the road would be located on that more northern route. The adoption of the route by Greenfield, therefore, soon led to a withdrawal from the Belpre and Cincinnati company of the interest the citizens of Hillsborough had previously felt and manifested in its success, and was followed by an angry rivalry that 156 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. caused great loss to both of the parties engaged in it. The Hillsborough and Cincinnati railroad company had been organized about the same time as the Belpre and Cincinnati railroad company, for the purpose of building a railroad between the points named in its title, and was then engaged in building that part of its line lying between Hillsborough and Loveland. Negotiations had been in progress for the merging of the two companies into one, and uniting their roads at Hillsborough, but these were broken off, and the Hillsborough and Cincinnati railroad company determined on building an independent line from Cincinnati to Parkersburgh, by way of Hillsborough, Piketon and Jackson. The Belpre and Cincinnati company which, before this time (1852), had, by change of name, become the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad company on its part decided to construct its own line to Cincinnati through Blanchester, Goshen and Milford. The Hillsborough and Cincinnati company completed its line from Hillsborough to Loveland, and spent nearly four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the abortive attempt to build a road from Hillsborough to Parkersburgh. The Marietta company located and put under contract its line from Blanchester to Milford, but fortunately changed its determination before any money was expended on construction west of Blanchester, and connected its road at that place with the Hillsborough and Cincinnati line. In 1854 the rivalry ceased, and a contract of union was made by which the two companies agreed to unite their roads and to consolidate the companies. Since then the completed portion of the Hillsborough and Cincinnati railroad, being that part of the line lying between Hillsborough and Loveland, has been operated as a part of the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad. In March, 1851, the construction of the first division of the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad, extending from Greenfield to eleven miles east of Chillicothe, was put under contract; and in the fall of the same year, contracts were made for the construction from Greenfield to Blanchester, and for twelve additional miles east of Chillicothe, between Londonderry station and Byers. 'The construction of the seventy-five miles between Byers and Marietta was placed under contract in September, 1852, and in July, 1853, contracts were made for the construction of the western division, from Blanchester to Milford, and of the eastern divisions, lying between Marietta and Wheeling. Before work had been fairly begun on the western division the contractors were ordered to suspend operations, and nothing was afterward done on that division. The divisions lying between Marietta and Wheeling were actively worked until the summer of 1854, when work was suspended and has never been resumed. The different sections of the road were completed and opened for use as follows : From Chillicothe to Greenfield, May 1, 1854; from Greenfield to Blanchester, October 1, 1854; from Chillicothe to Byers, in the summer of 1855; from Hamden to Big Sand creek, January 1, 1856; from Big Sand creek to Athens, April 1, 1856, and from Athens to Harmar, April 20, 1857. It was not until the bridge over the Muskingum river was rebuilt, in the year 1873, that trains were run into the town of Marietta. By a contract with the Little Miami railroad company the trains of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad company were run between Loveland and Cincinnati over the Little Miami railroad. The opening of the road to Harmar, in April, 1857, therefore, gave the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad company a line from Harmar to Cincinnati. The company also had control of the part of the Hillsborough & Cincinnati railroad extending from Blanchester to Hillsborough. Previous to 1852 the constitution of Ohio permitted counties, townships, and municipal corporations to subscribe to the capital stock of railroad companies. Up to the time of opening the road to Harmar there had been subscriptions to the stock of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad company, as follows: By Ross county - $ 100,000 00 By same - 200,000 00 By the city of Chillicothe - 50,000 00 By Athens county - 200,000 00 By Washington county - 200,000 00 By the town of Marietta - 100,000 00 By the town of Harmar - 50,000 00 By the city of Wheeling - 250,000 00 By the Pennsylvania railroad company - 750,000 00 By individual stockholders - 1,655,550 00 Total - $3,555,550 00 The officers of the company had prepared for and expected, immediately on the opening of their road, a large through business from Cincinnati to Baltimore, and other eastern cities, and as Harmar, its then eastern terminus, had no railroad outlet, a steamboat was chartered to ply between Scott's landing, three miles below Harmar, and Parkersburgh, the western terminus of the Northwestern Virginia railroad, a branch of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, and operated as part of that road. This ferriage of ten miles was an expensive and objectionable feature in the new route opened to the east, and experience soon showed that a better connection must be made with Parkersburgh if travel and traffic were to be drawn to the route. But the financial embarrassments of the company were now become so great that no further expenditures could be made by it, nor could it longer sustain the burthen of debt which was already on it. The report of the treasurer to a special meeting of the stockholders, held at Chillicothe, in February, 1858, showed the condition of the company to be so desperate that there was no escape from bankruptcy. A financial scheme for scaling the indebtedness was submitted to the meeting, but there was no means of avoiding legal proceedings, and in the fall of that year the court of common pleas for Ross county appointed Orland Smith receiver, to take charge of the road and operate it, tinder direction of the court, until it should be brought to sale. After the appointment of the receiver, the different classes of creditors united in a plan for reducing their claims, and forming a new company for the purchase and operation of the road, and in accordance therewith the road was, in 1860, sold by the receiver for the sum of two hundred thousand dollars; the purchasers being trustees for the new company, corn- HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 157 posed of the creditors and stockholders of the old company. The road at the time of the insolvency extended from Marietta to Blanchester, and its cost was represented as follows: Capital stock, about - $3, 500, 000 00 First mortgage - 2,500,000 00 Second " - 2,000,000 00 Third   " - 1,500,000 00 Domestic bonds, about - 1,200,000 00 Floating debt, about - 1,500,000 00 Total - $12,200,000 00 Between the time of the opening of the line to Harmar and the sale of the road to the trustees, there had been built by a separate organization the Union railroad, nine miles long, from Scioto Landing to Belpre, by which the long ferriage by steamboat for a connection with the Baltimore & Ohio railroad at Parkersburgh had been reduced from ten miles to one mile. The new company organized July 29, 186o, under the name of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad company, as reorganized. The indebtedness' of the old company had been entirely discharged by the payment, or offer, of stock in the reorganized company; and the cost of the road to the new company was represented as follows: First preferred stock - $3,295,900 00 Second preferred stock - 2,637,850 00 Common stock - 1,850,000 00 First preferred stock scrip - 2,711 11 Second preferred stock scrip - 1,038 89 Total - $7,787,500 00 Trustees loan - 201,471 07 Total$7,988,971 07 The stockholders of the new company, at their first meeting, resolved to increase the capital stock to ten million dollars, to issue three million, five hundred thousand dollars of bonds, secured by a first mortgage on the road, and to purchase the Union railroad and the Hillsborough & Cincinnati railroad; these resolutions were soon after carried into effect. By the purchase of the Union and the Hillsborough railroads, and the continuing of the contract for the right to run the Marietta & Cincinnati trains, from Loveland to Cincinnati, over the Little Miami railroad, the company controlled a continuous line from Cincinnati to Belpre, opposite Parkersburgh, besides the branch line twenty-one miles long, extending from Blanchester to Hillsborough. For the Union railroad, nine miles long, the company agreed to pay: In cash - $40,000 00 In stock - 25,000 00 In assumed mortgage debt - 60,000 00 Total - $125,000 00 For the Hillsborough & Cincinnati railroad, the completed portion of which, between Hillsborough and Loveland is thirty-seven miles long, the price agreed on was Cash, - $ 11,500 00 First preferred stock of M. & C. R. R. Co. as reorganized at par, - 1,262,151 75 Second preferred stock, - 232,376 25 Common stock, - 320,000 00 Total - $1,826,028 00 In 1863 the company purchased the Scioto & Hock ing Valley railroad, the completed portion of which, between Hamden and Portsmouth is fifty-six miles long. The amount paid was five hundred thousand dollars, in the first preferred stock of the M. & C. R. R. Co. as reorganized, the road being all bought, subject to a mortgage debt of three hundred thousand dollars. The track of this road, at the time of the purchase, was of five feet, four inch gauge; but the M. & C. company in April, 1866, changed the gauge to that of its main line—four feet, eight and one-half inches. It is now known as the Portsmouth branch. In the early part of 1864 the company began the extension of its line from Loveland in the direction of Cincinnati, and in February, 1866, had so far progressed as to enable it to run its trains to the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton R. R., near Spring Grove station, six miles from Cincinnati. By agreement with the C. H. & D. R. R. company, the trains of the Marietta & Cincinnati were run over the C. H. & D. road to near Horn street, in Cincinnati, and thence were brought, as they still are, further into the city, to Plum street passenger depot and the freight houses and yards of the M. & C. company, near Smith street, by the I. C. & L. R. R. tracks, laid in the bed of the old White Water canal. The arrangement for use of the C. H. & D. R. R. continued to June 1, 1872, when the Cincinnati & Baltimore railway company organized with authority to build a railway from Cincinnati to Loveland. Having laid a single track on its line from its present eastern terminus, near Ludlow Grove, to Cincinnati, the Marietta & Cincinnati company transferred its trains to the route by which it now enters the city. The Cincinnati & Baltimore railway is leased perpetually by the M. & C. R. R. company, as reorganized. The great mistake which was made by the original company in leaving the valley of the Hocking river six miles east of Athens, and adopting a line thence to Scott's Landing, very expensive and difficult to construct, and expensive and dangerous to operate, was corrected at last by the building of the Baltimore Short Line railway from the point, six miles east of Athens, at which the old road left the bottom lands of the Hocking valley, to Belpre, a distance of thirty miles. The Baltimore Short Line railroad company was organized in 1870, with authority to build a railroad from Athens to Belpre. Its line as now built, extends from the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad, near Warren's, to Belpre, the eastern terminus of the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad. The road is located very nearly on the first route surveyed by engineers Allen and Price, in their reconnaissance for the Belpre and Cincinnati commissioners, in 1846 or 1847; being carried down the Hocking valley for seventeen miles from its beginning point, to the ravine of Skunk run, which it ascends to a summit at Torch, in Athens county ; thence it passes to the immediate valley of the Ohio river, at the mouth of Little Hocking river, and thence by the Ohio Valley to Belpre. The building of the road was begun in September, 1872, and November 15, 1874, the Marietta and Cincinnati railroad company, having acquired a perpetual lease of the new route, transferred to it all its through 158 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO trains, and has since continued to operate it as part of its main line. Ten miles of distance are thereby saved, and a line secured which can be cheaply and safely operated. The original line, lying between the western terminus of the Baltimore Short Line and Scott's landing, continued to be operated for local business for a few years after the opening of the shorter and better through route, but the lack of business to repay the expense of running the trains, and the decay of structures, which would have required large expenditures for repairs, gradually led to the withdrawal of the trains, and in 1879 business over it was entirely suspended. The bridge built over the Ohio river, at Parkersburgh, by which a connection between the Marietta & Cincinnati, and the Baltimore & Ohio railroads was perfected, was commenced in 1865, under the contract by which the two companies were to jointly build and own it; but the inability of the Marietta & Cincinnati company to provide its share of the money required for the purpose, put upon the Baltimore & Ohio company the whole work of construction. It was opened for the passage of trains in January, 1871, and at once relieved the business of the line from the delay and greater expense which had attended the transfer of passengers by steamboat, and of freight by barges. The shops of the company, for building and repairing cars, are located at Zaleski; those for repair of locomotive engines and for the general repairs connected with the road, are established at Chillicothe. At each of these places the grounds owned by the company are extensive. The Marietta & Cincinnati railroad has never been a paying investment for its stockholders. The original company passed through bankruptcy, in 1858, with a then admitted loss to its stockholders and creditors of more than four millions of dollars. The reorganized company started out August 5, 1860, with a stock capital of about eight million dollars, and, except the obligation to the stockholders, owing only the two hundred thousand dollars paid by the trustees for the road at the judicial sale. The only cash dividend ever paid on its stock was in 1864, when a dividend of three per cent. on the first preferred stock was declared and paid, amounting to one hundred and sixty-two thousand four hundred and seventy-eight dollars and fifty cents. At the close of 1868, about eight years from the reorganization, the liabilities of the company, other than stock, had increased to about six millions of dollars, and nearly seven millions of additional stock had been issued. At December 31, 1876, the stock issued had been somewhat reduced from what it had been at the close of 1868, and was then fourteen millions of dollars, but the other debts of the company had risen to nearly eighteen millions of dollars. This indebtedness had been partly incurred by the large expenditures which were made towards improving the road from the unfinished and incomplete condition, in which it had been opened for business; by the purchase of the Union railroad, the Hillsborough and Cincinnati railroad, and the Scioto and Hocking Valley railroad; by the building of the road from Loveland to the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton railroad near Spring Grove; by assisting to build the Cincinnati and Baltimore and the Baltimore Short Line railways, and by the acquiring of property for freight yards and other railroad uses in Cincinnati; but, after making due allowance for the value of these improvements, additions and acquisitions, it is apparent that the railroad has not been earning money enough to maintain itself, and to pay the interest on its indebtedness. Another reorganization involving a reduction of capital and debt, and a consequent loss to stockholders and creditors appears to be inevitable. After such reduction shall have been judiciously made, the road in its present completed condition, and with the large volume of business which it commands, will, without doubt, show net earnings sufficient to reasonably remunerate the new or again reorganized company. Steps have already been taken toward bringing the road again to sale. In June, 1877, the trustees named in the fourth mortgage given by the company on its road, applied to the court of common pleas of Ross county for the appointment of a receiver to take charge under the direction of the court, of the road and other property of the company, and to apply the receipts therefrom for the benefit of its creditors until sale would be made of the same under foreclosure of mortgages. The court granted the application, and appointed John King, jr., former president of the company, as receiver. The property is now (March, 1880) managed by the receiver, and will probably be soon brought to sale under judicial proceedings. THE SPRINGFIELD SOUTHERN RAILROAD. This road passes through portions of Ross and Highland counties. It was known originally as the Springfield, Jackson & Pomeroy railroad, and under that name was organized early in 1875, the following gentlemen associating themselves in the enterprise: John H. Thomas, George H. Frey, J. Thompson Warder, and Asbury P. Gatch, of Clark county, Ohio; George W. Janes, James Pursell, and Madison Pavey, of Fayette county, Ohio; William W. Bell and George I. Rucker, of Highland county, Ohio; Richard R. Seymour and Elijah C. Rockhold, of Ross county, Ohio; James Emmitt and Wells S. Jones, of Pike county, Ohio; John C. H. Cobb, Horace L. Chapman, John L. Long, and Henry F. Austin, of Jackson county, Ohio. The line of the road, according to the articles of incorporation, ran from Springfield, as the western terminus, through Clark, Madison, Fayette, Highland, Ross, Pike, Jackson, and Meigs counties to Pomeroy, the eastern terminus, by way of South Charleston, Jeffersonville, Washington Court House, Greenfield, Bainbridge, and Jackson Court House. The amount of capital issued for the purpose of building the road was two million dollars, divided into shares of fifty dollars each. On March 2, 1875, the stockholders of the road elected its first directory as follows: H. L. Chapman, R. R. Seymour, James Emmitt, W. W. Bell, James F. Ely, John H. Thomas, and John Foos. The officers chosen were James Emmitt, president; H. L. Chapman, vice-president, and W. W. Bell, secretary. The second HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 159 election of directors took place January 1, 1876, when the original board (with the exception of Mr. John W. Thomas, who was succeeded by Mr. J. T. Warder) were again chosen. The business of this directory was mainly devoted to securing subscription and stimulating the interest of the people in the road. On January 1, 1877, a third directory was elected, as follows: James Emmitt, George H. Frey, E. G. Dial, H. L. Chapman, W. W. Bell, R. R. Seymour and James Pursell. Of this board, Mr. Emmitt was re-elected president and Mr. Chapman vice- president. Mr. George A. Barnes was chosen secretary, and Mr. W. C. Agnew chief engineer. On November 3, 1877, Messrs. Emmitt, Frey, Dial and Seymour resigned, and W. N. Whiteley, Amos Whiteley, John Foos and B. H. Warder were elected in their stead, Mr. Whiteley taking the presidency. Up to this time, eight hundred thousand dollars of the capital stock of the road had been subscribed, and almost entirely by responsible farmers and actively engaged business men all along the proposed route. The laying of the track had already been begun, and the first prospectus of the narrow gauge was issued. The road was then building from Jackson to Springfield. The road bed was completed and ten miles of track laid between Jackson and Waverley. It was complete and ready for iron and ties from Springfield to Washington Court House, and nearly completed from Greenfield to Bainbridge. The heavy work encountered in crossing the Scioto river and valley at Waverly was also completed in the most substantial manner, with stone piers and Howe truss superstructure, with two thousand feet of pile trestling approach on the west side, and two thousand feet of solid embankment approach on the east side. This was the heaviest work on the entire line. The gap of twenty-two miles, between Waverly and Bainbridge, was under contract on the most favorable terms, and work was progressing rapidly, so that, with little doubt, by the time the iron reached Waverly from Jackson, the bed would be ready to continue it on towards Bainbridge and Greenfield, with little or no interruption. The board of directors manifested an unusual amount of caution, perseverance and enterprise, and pushed the work steadily on in spite of the hard times; the result was, that owing to the fact that so little work had been done or under progress for the two years past, there had been an unlimited amount of competition for the work to be done. The company, therefore, made contracts on the most favorable terms, thus constructing its road for so much less per mile than was at first anticipated that the local subscription would almost grade and iron the entire road, if properly paid in. On January 1, 1878, the board of directors elected the previous year were again chosen. During the year the track was completed to Jackson, and the road equipped so that by August 1st the first train, bearing an excursion party, made a trip over the entire length of the line from Springfield to Jackson. On January 1, 1879, same board of directors were again elected, with the addition of W. L. Tulley, of Bainbridge, and W. B. Lee, of Waverly. On January 8th Mr. Whiteley resigned the presidency, and George H. Frey succeeded him as president and director. During January of this year proceedings were begun to foreclose the first mortgage and for the appointment of a receiver. February 1st W. N. Whiteley was appointed receiver by the court, which position he held until September 11, 1879, when he resigned, the road in the meantime having been subjected to continuous litigation. Mr. Thornburgh was then appointed to the receivership. The road was ordered to be sold by the court, and the sale was effected September 15th, General Samuel Thomas, of Columbus, being the purchaser. General Thomas, November 3d, sold the road to Oliver S. Kelly, of Springfield, upon which date it was organized as the Springfield Southern railroad company, by Oliver S. Kelly, General Samuel Thomas, Robert Johnson, William Wilson, and George Barnes, and upon the same day the books were opened for subscriptions, and, on December 6th, the directors were elected, as follows: William N. Whiteley, Amos Whiteley, Oliver S. Kelly, Jerome Fassler, Asa Bushnell, B. H. Warder, George H. Frey, and H. L. Chapman. The officers chosen were: William N. Whiteley, president; H. L. Chapman, vice-president; George H. Barnes, secretary; Amos Whiteley, treasurer. The failure of the old management to finish the road to Pomeroy and put it in successful operation, was due to the shrinkage of subscriptions, there having been only six hundred thousand dollars of the capital stock paid in of eight hundred thousand subscribed. Then again, the cost of building the road was much greater tban was at first anticipated, and furthermore it was found that a narrow gauge track was inadequate to the existing commercial necessities, and, consequently, upon the reorganization under the Springfield Southern railroad company, it was determined to change the gauge to the standard width. The most important local business on this road within the limits of the territory of which this volume gives the history, is a very large reservoir, situated in Huntington township, Ross county. It covers five acres, and has a capacity of one hundred and eighty million gallons of water. F. L. Griswold was the engineer in charge of its construction. THE SCIOTO VALLEY RAILROAD. This comparatively new road is one of the most important which passes through Ross county. Strangely enough, the iron horse never swept along the Scioto until the centennial year. By the construction of the Scioto Valley railroad an outlet was given the production of as rich a piece of country as there is in Ohio, and the people of Columbus, Circleville, and Chillicothe gained connection with that great trunk line, the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad. The line extends a distance of one hundred miles, from Columbus to Portsmouth, upon the Ohio river. It was completed from Columbus to Circleville, May 1, 1876, and to Chillicothe in July of the same year, thus securing a right to the title of the "Centennial Railroad of Columbus." It was not opened for travel to 160 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. Portsmouth until January, 1878. The company was organized in February, 1875, and the road from that time to the present has been under, essentially, the same management. The financial statement of this company sh0ws that the capital stock authorized is two million dollars; funded debt, first mortgage, seven per cent. bonds, due January 1, 1896, outstanding, one million, two hundred and forty thousand dollars; reserve, fifty thousand dollars. The issue of bonds is limited to thirteen thousand dollars per mile, or one million, three hundred thousand dollars in all. A sinking fund of one per cent. per annum is provided, which commenced January 1, 1879. The rolling stock of the company is: eight engines, ten passenger, and seventy-two freight cars. The total number of employes is two hundred and twenty-three. The number of passengers carried, in 1878, was one hundred and fourteen thousand, five hundred and twenty-nine, and the number of tons of freight moved was ninety- eight thousand, three hnndred and eighty-two. The gross earnings were one hundred and ninety-eight thousand, and eighteen dollars and four cents, and the total expenses, ninety-one thousand, three hundred and seventy- seven dollars and seventy-nine cents, leaving the net earnings at one hundred and six thousand, six hundred and forty dollars and twenty-five cents. The total assets and liabilities are three million, twenty-seven thousand, eight hundred and eighty-five dollars and forty-three cents. The equipment cost two million, eight hundred and eighty-four thousand, six hundred and eighty-nine dollars and forty-nine cents. The principal office of the company is in Columbus. The directors of the company are the following gentlemen: George M. Pullman, president of the Pullman Palace car company of Chicago; Edward F. Winslow and William Adams, jr., New York; Henry K. McHarg, Edward D. Adams and Horace Porter, representatives of New York banking houses; Henry L. Morrill and Joseph Robinson, Indiana; Harford Tolland, London, Ohio; John G. Mitchell, Columbus; Marcus Boggs, Chillicothe; George Davis, Portsmouth ; and George D. Chapman, Columbus. George D. Chapman is president of the road; Henry L. Morrill, vice-president; Joseph Robinson, treasurer; and James C. Curry, secretary. The road is in a very thrifty condition, and an extension into the coal fields, which will help it considerably, is proposed. THE DAYTON AND SOUTHEASTERN RAILROAD. As its name indicates, this road leaves the city of Dayton, in Montgomery county, running in a southeasterly direction through the counties of Montgomery, Greene, Fayette and Ross, penetrating the coal bearing regions of Jackson county at Wellston, eight miles north of the county seat of that county. This lithe of road is one hundred and twelve miles long, and passes through some of the finest agricultural portions of the State for about ninety miles of its length, and then abruptly plunges into the mountainous mineral region of southeastern Ohio, where iron and coal are most abundant. The scheme of its building originated first in the mind of Samuel N. Yeoman, an active, enterprising merchant of Washington Court House, Fayette county, Ohio, who, in conjunction with other prominent citizens of his county and the adjoining county of Greene, succeeded, in the year 1875, in procuring a charter, opening stock books, securing a stock subscription in the neighborhood of eight hundred thousand dollars, and effecting a permanent organization. Yeoman was elected president, with a board of directors consisting of D. E. Mead, Daniel Keifer, T. A. Segler, W. P. Callihan, Simms, and Corwin, of Montgomery county; M. C. Allison, A. Hivling, and A. J. Christopher, from Greene county; John L. Persinger and Milton Hegler, from Fayette county; Thomas Woodrow, S. F. McCoy, and D. C. Anderson, of Ross, and H. F. Austin, of Jackson, with Jacob Blickensderfer for chief engineer and James O. Arnold for secretary. With this organization the work of construction was commenced, and for several months pushed with vigor, until the summer of 1876, when the financial panic had rendered the collection of stock subscriptions next to an impossibility. During the autumn and winter of that year work was entirely suspended. Meanwhile Yeoman was defeated for the presidency by D. E. Mead, of Dayton, who was a man of wealth and business reputation. He resorted to every scheme possible to further the progress of constructi0n, but was compelled to write utter failure on all his efforts, and in August, 1878, the road by this time becoming somewhat involved in debt, he was directed by the superior court of Montgomery county to hand over the property and control of the road to one J. E. Gimperling, as receiver, and it remained for him to lead it, by slow degrees, into the path of prosperity. When, in 1876, it became apparent that the stock subscriptions would not produce a sufficient sum in the requisite time to meet the liabilities incurred by the company in construction, it was decided by the board of directors to put the road under mortgage and issue bonds to the amount of five thousand dollars per mile, and thereby produce the necessary funds to complete its construction and equipment. Consequently this was done, but after months of delay and futile efforts, it was found that there was no market for them at home or abroad. At various times during the years 1875-76-77, these bonds were in large sums delivered to the contractors in payment for construction, and other purposes, until, at the time J. E. Gimperling assumed control of the road, less than two hundred thousand dollars of these securities remained rn the possession of the company. Up to this period the earnings of the road (seventy miles of which was then completed and in operation) were insufficient to pay expenses. In this half-finished condition, without money, or credit, or business, J. E. Gimperling on the eighth of August, 1878, took charge of the road, with the determined purpose to reorganize its force and methods of operation, and by economy and wise management, so increase its business, and consequently its credit, as to finally create a market for its bonds among home capitalists. With that inflexible purpose, he pursued the work until, at the end of ten months, HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 161 (June, 1879,) he had inspired such confidence in the success of the road, properly managed, that capitalists at home, in less than twenty days after he had offered the remainder of the bonds for sale, purchased the last dollar, and clamored for more. Thus provided with the means, he set to work to complete the construction of the remaining forty miles of road to the coal fields, and before the snows of the succeeding winter fell, the road was completed, and large quantities of coal were shipped over its line. This is eminently a coal road. It was conceived and constructed with a view to making it such. Its gauge is three feet. Its cost per mile varies somewhat, but will range not far from eleven thousand five hundred dollars. Its grade is an exceptional one, being, with one exception, not less than sixteen feet per mile. A telegraph line is now in process of construction along its line, and will very soon be in operation. It has been provided with the celebrated "Ramsey transfer" at points along the line where connections are made with roads of different gauge, so that its cars can be run over roads of different gauge, and their cars over its line without delay or shifting of load. This is an admirable arrangement, by which cars of any gauge may be transferred to the track of any other road by shifting the trucks without disturbing the load. The difficulties of transferring and reloading freights, which have been so strenuously insisted upon by the opponents of the "narrow gauge" system of railroads, have vanished before the Ramsey transfer. In regard to the capacity of this road for business, it may be said that there is found neither difficulty nor danger in making thirty-five miles per hour with passenger trains. There is no difficulty in moving two hundred and seventy-five to three hundred tons of freight over the entire line of one hundred and twelve miles, with one small engine, unassisted. As the road is just now completed, and no time has been afforded to determine accurately its earnings, they can only at present be approximated, but it is entirely safe to say that its gross earnings henceforth will not fall short of twenty thousand dollars per month, of which fifty-five per cent. will be net.