164 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY

CHAPTER XIV.

RAILROAD.

The Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad—Opposition Encountered—County Bonds Issued—Consolidated With the Junction Road—Name Changed to Cleveland & Toledo Road, Afterwards to Lake Shore & Michigan Southern—Benefits of the Road.

THE Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad was the next improvement in this county, and had such great influence in developing its resources and increasing the wealth and business of the people, that it should have a prominent place in this history. The act incorporating this company was passed by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, March 7, 1850. The first section of the act provides that Timothy Baker, Charles L. Boalt, John R. Osborn, George G. Baker, John Gardner, and James Hamilton, jr., of the county of Huron; Frederick Chapman, L. Q. Rawson, L. B. Otis, H. Everett, A. B. Taylor, and R. P. Buckland, of the county of Sandusky, and Hezekiah D. Mason, Edward Bissell, Daniel O. Morton, J. W. Bradbury, and John Fitch, of the county of Lucas, and their associates, successors and assigns be a body corporate and politic, by the name and style of the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad Company, with perpetual succession and all the usual powers granted to such companies, under the general law regulating railroad companies, passed February 11, 1848. This last mentioned general law conferred the right to survey, locate, and appropriate lands necessary for any railroad which might be organized in the State. The second section of the act of incorporation provided that the capital stock of the company should be two millions of dollars, and that the company were empowered to construct a railroad from Toledo, in the county of Lucas, by way of Norwalk, in Huron county, so as to connect with the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati railroad at Wellington, in Lorain county, or at some other point in said counties of Huron and Lorain to be determined by the directors of said company.

The third section of the act of incorporation provided that the county commissioners of any county through which

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the road would pass in whole or in part, might subscribe to the capital stock of the company any sum of money not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars, and to borrow money to pay the sum at any rate of interest not exceeding seven per cent., payable semiannually in advance; and for the final payment of the principal and interest of the sum so subscribed, the county commissioners were empowered to make, execute and deliver such bonds, notes and instruments of writing as may be necessary or proper to secure the payment of the money so borrowed or subscribed, and to levy and collect annually such taxes as, together with the profits, dividends or tolls arising from said stock, will pay at such time or times as shall be agreed upon, said money so borrowed or subscribed, with the interest and incidental charges. The fourth section of the act of incorporation, however, provided that no subscription should be made by the county commissioners until a vote of the qualified voters of the county should be had in favor of the subscription. The vote was to be taken according to the provisions of the act of February 28, 1846, which was then in force, which provided that county commissioners should give at least twenty days' notice in one or more newspapers printed and in general circulation in the county, to the qualified voters of the county, to vote at the next annual election to be held in the several townships and wards in the county, for or against the subscription, and if a majority of the electors voting at such election for or against such subscription shall be in favor of the same, such authorized subscription might be made, but not otherwise.

The company was organized and subscriptions solicited from the commissioners of the several counties through which the road would pass. In this county a public meeting was called and Charles L. Boalt, president of the company, addressed a meeting at the courthouse, and endeavored, by stating numerous facts about the effect of railroads on towns and on the rural districts, particularly the beneficial effects of such means of transportation to farmers and farm lands, and produce, to convince our people that it would be to the interest of the whole county to have the road built, and that sufficient private subscriptions were not attainable. The subject was new to the mass of the voters —a few years before the Ohio Railroad had swindled a great number of them and they were suspicious that this enterprise was got up for another swindle. Some went so far as to express the belief that if these sharp railroad men once got their hands on the county bonds they would be sold, the money arising from them would go into the pockets of the railroad men, and that would be the last we would hear about building the road. Arguments and suspicions like these rendered it difficult to move the popular mind toward farming the county subscription. But, fortunately, there were a few men in the county whose calmer judgment and better foresight led them to realize the importance of the road, not only to the city of Fremont, but to the people of the whole county.

About this time a rival project, to build a road from Cleveland to Sandusky City, and thence to Lower Sandusky, on such a line as would not necessarily touch Norwalk or Bellevue, was designed. The charter for this latter road was passed March 12, 1846, and was entitled an act to incorporate the "Junction Railroad Company." This company was authorized to construct a railroad, commencing at such point on the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad as the directors might select, either in the county of Cuyahoga or Lorain, and within thirty miles from

166 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

the city of Cleveland, thence to Elyria, in Lorain county, unless the junction with the Cleveland and Columbus road should be made at Elyria, and from thence on the most feasible route to intersect the Mad River & Lake Erie at Bellevue, or at such other point as the directors should choose, and thence to Lower Sandusky (Fremont), and the power was also given to this company to construct the railroad, or a branch of it, from Elyria to Sandusky City, in Erie county, and from thence to Lower Sandusky. The act of incorporation of the Junction Railroad Company also provided that if the directors of said company and the directors of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad Company could not agree upon the terms of junction, then, in that case, the Junction Railroad should commence at the city of Cleveland.

The agitation of the project to build a road from Toledo to Cleveland by way of Fremont and Norwalk, had the effect to put the Junction Company into active rivalry and earnest opposition against the interests of Norwalk. Fremont at that time would have been satisfied if the Junction Company would have pledged its faith and promised to construct a railroad from Sandusky City to that point. A delegation was sent, and a consultation had with the authorities of the Junction Company, but no satisfactory arrangement was offered, and the consultation was without effect, except to satisfy the leading railroad advocates of Fremont that the Junction Company intended to ignore both Norwalk and Fremont, and build their road across the Sandusky Bay to Port Clinton, and thence direct to Toledo.

Charles L. Boalt, of Norwalk, President of the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad Company, assisted by the strong men of Norwalk and Fremont, became the financial manager of his road, while ex-Supreme Judge Ebenezer Lane, of Sandusky City, assisted by the strong men of that place, became the financial manager of the Junction road.

These two managers were brothers-in-law, and each worked with untiring zeal for the interests of his own locality. Both were able men. Boalt, however, was the younger man, and though not a large man, he was by nature endowed with a remarkable capacity to endure mental and physical labor, and he certainly put them all into intense service in working his railroad through. At a meeting addressed by him at the courthouse in Fremont, in the summer of 1850, about twentyfive thousand dollars was subscribed on the spot by the citizens individually. The influential friends and advocates of the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad then set themselves about persuading the county commissioners to give the requisite notice for a vote on the question of a county subscription. The application was so far successful that on the 11th day of September, 1850, two of the commissioners, namely, Martin Wright and John S. Gardner, with Homer Everett, then county auditor, met at the auditor's office. (Hiram Hurd, the other commissioner did not attend). The record opens in the following form :

AUDITORS OFFICE, September It, 1850. Be it remembered, that on this 11th day of September, in the year 1850, the commissioners of Sandusky county, upon application, met for the purpose of considering the propriety of giving notice for a vote of the people of said county in favor of or against subscription to the capital stock of the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad Company.

The result of the meeting was that notice was ordered to be given to the voters of the county to vote for or against subscription at the next annual election, to be held on the 8th day of October, 1851.

The notice specified that the voters

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were to authorize the commissioners to subscribe one hundred thousand dollars. The vote was taken, and there was a majority against the subscription, and the question was decided adversely to the subscription. The line of the road was located, and did not pass through either Woodville Or Townsend township, the voters of which naturally felt averse to being taxed for an improvement which would confer no special benefit on them. Besides this, many of the people of Townsend township did their trading at Sandusky City, and were more interested in the advancement of that place than that of Fremont, and it was suspected at the time that Sandusky City influence and argument had something to do in influencing the votes of these townships, and both townships voted heavily against the subscription. As to procuring individual subscriptions sufficient to do Sandusky county's fair proportion of the amount necessary to build the road, that had been tried and seemed to be an impossibility. The success of the road by this adverse vote was put under a cloud, and many of its friends were discouraged, while others of the never give up sort, among whom the indefatigable president, Boalt, was a leader, did not for a moment despair of final success, nor abate their zeal and work in behalf of building the road. The efforts of these persevering men resulted in the passage of an act by the General Assembly of the State, January 20, 1851, authorizing a vote of the county on the question of subscription, excepting the townships of Woodville and Townsend, which townships should not be taxed to pay for the stock.

At the next regular session of the commissioners, March 4, 1851, the board, then consisting of Messrs. Martin Wright, Hiram Hurd, and Michael Reed (who succeeded Mr. Gardner), ordered that notice be given to the voters of the county, excepting those in Woodville and Townsend townships, to vote for or against a county subscription of fifty thousand dollars to the capital stock of Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad Company, at the then next ensuing annual April election.

The question of subscription now became the absorbing topic in the public mind, throughout that portion of the county on which the responsibility was placed, by the amended law of January 20, 185 1. At that time the political parties were the Democratic against the Whig party, and the former was largely in the majority. R. P. Buckland was then a practicing lawyer and a prominent and influential man, and was also the acknowledged leader and champion of the Whig party. On the other side, Homer Everett was also a lawyer and then held the office of county auditor by the suffrage of the Democratic party. Both were in favor of the proposition to subscribe the stock. The county commissioners were all ardent Democrats, and not very decided n their views on the question at issue, but like wise politicians, expressed no convictions or opinions on the measure. The friends of the measure very wisely concluded that it would not advance their cause to permit the proposition to assume the form of a political party issue, which some of the opposition were striving to give it. It was finally determined to hold a series of meetings at schoolhouses in the different townships in which the people were to vote, and have addresses made to convince the voters, especially the farmers, that the construction of the road would benefit them in a pecuniary point of view. An arrangement was thereupon made that these meetings should be attended and addressed by Ralph P. Buckland and Homer Everett jointly, and that both should give assurance that the question

168 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

had no relation to party politics, and the two gentlemen very willingly volunteered in the service without pay and at their own expense. Numerous meetings and consultations were appointed and advertised, at which the time was equally divided between the two speakers, and various arguments were by them offered, such as the increased price of wheat, pork, eggs, butter, etc., which would result from cheap and rapid transportation by the railroad, and the resulting increase in the value of their lands. The speakers also offered to answer as well as they could any questions about the matter in discussion which anyone in the meeting would ask. Some of the questions asked and some of the objections to building the road were really curious, and if propounded today would bring out only laughter from old and young in response. Some would ask how the building of the road would operate on the prices of horses and oats? Would not the railroad destroy the occupation of teaming, and thereby throw a great number of men and horses out of employment. Another objection was raised by certain hotel-keepers and land owners residing along the Maumee and Western Reserve turnpike. These claimed that not only would the occupation of hauling by wagon be destroyed, but that all the emigration which afforded these their chief income, would be diverted; that it would be very unjust to the State; that travel on the turnpike would cease, no tolls would be collected, and the road on which the State had spent such large sums of money would grow up to grass and be abandoned and so the State be made a great loser by the railroad. The speakers awswered all these questions in a friendly and respectful way, as well as they could, and pressed on to their work. Particular mention of two meetings will serve to illustrate the spirit and the persistence with which this railroad campaign was carried by those who opposed as well as those who worked for the road. One was at VanWaggoner's schoolhouse, as it was called, a little north of what is since called Winters' Station, in Jackson township. That township was not touched by the line of the road, and of course not so directly benefited by its construction as some other townships. Word came to the friends of the road that opposition to it had sprung up in that township and neighborhood, and that the vote of the township would probably go against the county subscription.

Sardis Birchard, who had influence and many personal friends and acquaintances there, volunteered to go with the speakers to that meeting. In the evening Messrs. Birchard, Buckland, and Everett, and John F. Pease, started on horseback from Fremont, and reached the schoolhouse a little after eight o'clock. They found there from thirty to fifty voters. Addresses were made, and then a free consultation over the subject took place, in which Mr. Birchard did effective work in telling the voters what he had seen of the effect of railroads in other localities, and in answering questions. This consultation became so animated and interesting that the meeting did not disperse until after twelve o'clock; and when Mr. Birchard and the speakers reached Fremont, on their return, it was after two o'clock, A. M. Another meeting was appointed for the speakers at the schoolhouse at Gale Town, a little hamlet about three miles southward from Hamer's Corner, now Clyde.

The leading man of Gale Town was one James Morrel. He was a justice of the peace, an active man in all public affairs, and withal the controlling member of the local board of school directors. Mr. Morrel was ardently opposed to having the county subscribe for the stock, and had infused his feelings and sentiments

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into the minds of his neighbors, so that the locality was quite strongly anti-subscription. The "speakers were there about eight o'clock, expecting to find the schoolhouse lighted and the men assembled to hear what was to be said. But all was dark. One of the residents was found, who at once set off to Mr. Morrel's residence for the key to the schoolhouse, but returned with the word that the directors had consulted over the matter and concluded that the schoolhouse should not be used to advocate a scheme to swindle the taxpayers of the county. However, a man was found, after some effort, who said, though he was opposed to subscribing for the road, he thought it wrong to treat men so who came to speak on the subject, and he believed it was right to hear both sides.

This gentleman procured admission into a small wagonmaker's shop, where the work man had left his tools and lumber in readiness to commence the next day's work. He also procured a single tallow candle, which he fastened to the wall back of the workbench; and, after partially clearing the bench, a few men besides the speakers gathered in to hear. The only way to get light enough to read memoranda, or reckon figures, was for the speakers to stand on the workbench and read, and from there deliver their remarks and answer questions. They mounted the bench and undertook to set forth the benefits which that part of the county would derive from the railroad when constructed. Hamer's Corners, since named Clyde, was indeed a promising place for marketing farm produce, and the speakers endeavored to convince the few hearers there of the fact. After talking about half an hour each, and answering various questions and replying to sundry objections, the speakers came home, quite well satisfied that if the people of Green Creek township were soblind about their own interest, the success of the road was very uncertain.

On the Saturday next before the election, there were more men in the city than usual on that day. Mr. Birchard, and John R. Pease, and other friends of the road had become alarmed about the result. These men noticed the fact that there was, for some reason, on that day, a large proportion of Democrats on the streets, and also a number of the active opponents of the road. Mr. Everett had been out speaking the night before until quite late, and, after dinner, hoarse, tired, and thoroughly exhausted, had sought the refreshment only to be found in sleep. He was awakened by a delegation, sent by Mr. Birchard and others, with orders to go at once into the street and make an address on the railroad question. Worn and hoarse, and unfit as he was, he obeyed the orders under the impulse of his own zeal in the work, and for about half an hour summed up the arguments pro and con to a large crowd of listeners on Front street, in the open air, and this ended his labors in that campaign. Much discussion of the measure between individuals was had that day, and great good for the work was no doubt accomplished.

The election was held on the first Monday in April, 1851, and the following certificate shows the result:

STATE OF OHIO, SANDUSKY COUNTY, 1 ss.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

I, La Q. Rawson, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in and for said county, hereby certify that, at the election held in the several election districts in said county, except the townships of Townsend and Woodville, for the purpose of voting for or against railroad subscription to the capital stock of the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad Company, the vote, as appears by the abstract and returns on file, stands as follows:

For railroad subscription ....................1,174

Against railroad subscription.................774

Majority..................................................400
D. CAPPER, Deputy Clerk. April 10, 1851.

170 - HISTORY OF SANDUSKY COUNTY.

On the 16th day of April, 1851, the county commissioners, namely: Martin Wright, Michael Reed, and Hiram Hurd, met at the auditor's office, and, as their journal shows, found that the election had been had, and that a majority of the votes cast on the question was in favor of subscribing fifty thousand dollars to the capital stock of the road, ordered the stock to be subscribed accordingly, and that bonds to pay the same be issued, bearing interest coupons at seven per cent. per annum, payable semiannually, in due form, and in two series ; one series numbered from one to forty, inclusive, for one thousand dollars each, and the others numbered from one to one hundred, inclusive, for one hundred dollars each. The order further provided that these bonds be delivered when there was executed a stipulation to abide the proposition of the directors of the company against loss, and upon delivering the proper certificate of stock equal to the amount of the bonds.

The stipulation with the directors of the road alluded to in the order was, that the county should not suffer any loss by the subscription for stock. The bonds were made ready for delivery, but the commissioners refused to deliver them until there was ample security given to indemnify against loss, according to the verbal promise of the directors.

The undertaking of the directors themselves did not satisfy the commissioners, and they then demanded a bond, signed by residents of the county, of known ability, to pay any damage or loss the county might suffer.

Thereupon came a suspension of the delivery of the bonds for nearly two days. The friends of the road finally agreed to indemnify the county against all loss by reason of subscribing the stock and issuing the bonds, on condition that the commissioners would stipulate in the bond ofindemnity to sell and transfer the stock whenever the signers of the bond should require them to do so. A bond was drawn, with the conditions clearly set out, and delivered to Sardis Birchard, who undertook to return it, signed by men whose pecuniary circumstances would satisfy the commissioners, that in no event could the county be a loser by taking the stock and delivering the bonds. This undertaking was returned on the second day after, signed by about thirty of the solid men of the county. The bond is not now in existence, or at least cannot be found, but the writer of this sketch thinks now it was for the penal sum of one hundred thousand dollars, and, though he cannot remember the names of all the signers, recalls now among them the names of Sardis Birchard, R. P. Buckland, Rodolphus Dickinson, Nathan P. Birdseye, James Moore, John R. Pease, and La Q. Rawson. He much regrets his inability to place on record all the other signers, that the present and future inhabitants of the county might know who is entitled to their gratitude for the great benefits the road has conferred and is still conferring, and will continually confer on all who reside or may reside in the county. At the time this indemnity was demanded, it was plainly to be seen that, but for the prompt action of these signers, the road would probably not have been built, or, if built, it would not have passed through Fremont. But the indemnity was so ample that there was no longer any excuse for the exercise of that vigilant, if not extreme prudence, on the part of the commissioners, which came so near to working a final defeat of the enterprise.

The bonds were delivered and the stock taken, however, and the rapid construction of the road followed. A consolidation of the Junction and the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland roads was doubtless

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arranged for privately by the managers early in 1853. But the agreement to consolidate was not publicly and certainly known until July 15, and then to take effect September 1, 1853.

In this arrangement such terms were made as to raise the value of the stock of Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland considerably above par, and create a demand for it, in which condition of affairs the signers of the indemnifying bond demanded a sale of the stock held by the county. The stock was sold sometime in April, 1853, and the bonds redeemed and burnt up July t, 1853, by the commissioners. In the transaction the county gained by the rise of the stock over fifteen hundred dollars above all expenses.

The first through passenger train passed over the road on the 7th day of February, 1853. After the consolidation the road was called the Cleveland & Toledo Railroad, and passed by that name until it was consolidated with the Lake Shore road, April 6, 1869, since which date it has been denominated the Southern Division of that road, and has formed a part of one of the great trunk lines of road from east to west.

THE BENEFITS OF THE ROAD CONSIDERED.

The reader will remember how, in the history of this road, the project was opposed and was once voted down; how cautious the county commissioners were in requiring a guarantee against loss by the county, in consequence of subscribing fifty thousand dollars to the capital stock, in order to insure the construction of the road, and how, afterwards, the stock was sold at a premium of fifteen hundred dollars. Now let us glance briefly at the further results which so completely justify the friends of the road in their efforts to build it, and at the same time illustrates the folly of opposing the march of improvement which had then (1852), reached this county on its way to the Great West.

In 1854 the county duplicate shows that the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railroad Company paid into the county for taxes on its property the sum of three thousand three hundred and sixty-four dollars and thirty-five cents. Ten years later, in 1864, it paid for taxes into the treasury, nine thousand four hundred and fifteen dollars and twenty-five cents.

This annual tax increased year by year until, in 1876, it paid into the treasury for taxes the sum of seventeen thousand two hundred and ninety-eight dollars.

In the year 1877 the amount was a little less, being sixteen thousand three hundred and seventy-four dollars. In 1878 the amount paid for taxes was twelve thousand two hundred and thirty-four dollars. In 1880 the sum paid was thirteen thousand and ninety-nine dollars and thirty cents.

The county auditors will show, that during the twenty-eight years of its existence, and including the year 1880, the road has paid into the treasury of this county alone; an average yearly tax of not less than nine thousand dollars, or an aggregate sum of two hundred and fifty-two thousand dollars. Now add to this large sum, which is to be swelled year by year, the gain to our farmers from the increased price of their products, and also the increased value of farming and city real estate in the county, and surely the friends of the road who resided in the county and struggled so hard to have it built, are justified in their views and opinions, and rewarded amply for all their labors for the public good.