Cleveland Past and Present: Its Representative Men Part 35

Railroading

First of the railroads of any description chartered in connection with Cleveland were the Cleveland and Newburgh and Cleveland and Bedford Railroad Companies. The first named was incorporated in 1835, built soon after, and for some time run by horse power, hauling stone and timber, and occasionally pa.s.sengers. It was eventually abandoned. The Cleveland and Bedford was never built. Another local road, run by horse power, with wooden rails, was, about the same time, constructed between the city and East Cleveland, pa.s.sing up Euclid street.

The Ohio Railroad was of a different character. It was intended to run along the lake sh.o.r.e from the Pennsylvania line to Toledo, mostly to be built on piles. Considerable work was done, though no iron laid, when the financial crisis overwhelmed it and its kindred schemes. The piles driven for the track are yet visible in places between Cleveland and Sandusky.

The rights of the company, as far as they existed, afterwards became the property of the Junction Railroad Company, now the Cleveland and Toledo.

Of the same period, was the Cleveland, Warren and Pittsburgh. This was chartered in 1836, the act of incorporation authorizing the construction of a railroad from Cleveland, in the direction of Pittsburgh, to the State line of Pennsylvania. At the point of intersection with the State line, the charter provided for the union of the road with any other road which the State of Pennsylvania might authorize from Pittsburgh, or any other point below the Ohio river, running in the direction of Cleveland, in order that a continuous route might be perfected from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, under the authority of both States. The charter was very loose in its provisions, allowing the president and directors to create and sell stock as in their judgement occasion might require, without limit as to the amount issued, except that it should not exceed the needs of the company. Plenary powers were granted to the company in the selection of a route, the condemnation of land, and like "full and discretionary power" was granted to the company in "the use and occupancy of the road, in the transportation of persons or property, either by the force and power of steam, or animals, or any mechanical or other power, or any combination of them, which the company may think proper to employ." The cost of the line was estimated to be less than $7,000 per mile. The road was to be an extension of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a branch of which was to extend to Pittsburgh, and thus would "give the whole vast region of the western lakes an opportunity of marketing their products in, and receiving their foreign produce from Philadelphia and Baltimore, at least rive weeks earlier in the season, and at much less expense," than was accomplished at New York.

In the same year a charter was obtained for the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, connecting Cleveland and Cincinnati by the way of Columbus.

None of the roads were built under these charters. The financial panic of 1837 swept them all into oblivion, together with a mult.i.tude of other roads projected throughout the country. Some of them were heard of no more, and others were revived in after years, the charters greatly amended, and the roads eventually built. The design of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company was eventually carried out to the extent of building a line to Columbus and there connecting with railroads extending to Cincinnati. The Cleveland, Warren and Pittsburgh charter was dug up, amended, and made authority for organization of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad, whilst the original route was mainly occupied by the new Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad.

The Cleveland and Bedford was at last rendered unnecessary by the Cleveland and Pittsburgh pa.s.sing over its route, whilst the Cleveland and Newburgh reap-pears as a street railroad, for pa.s.sengers only, the original design of a local railroad for freight being abandoned thirty odd years ago.

In 1845, the lapsed charter of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company was revived, revised, and a new company organized, with John W. Allen, Richard Hilliard, Jolin M. Woolsey and H. B. Payne as Cleveland directors, and John W. Allen as president. Between the organization of the company and the construction of the road there was a wide gulf of difficulties, jealousies and enmities, bridged over at last by untiring perseverance and unwavering faith in the final success of the undertaking. The story of the struggle is told incidentally in the biographical sketches of those connected with the enterprise. All that we have to do here is, to briefly sketch the leading features in the narrative as it has been already told, after a careful examination of the doc.u.mentary history of the company. That account says the incorporation of the company had been obtained in the year 1845, with a proviso authorizing the city of Cleveland to subscribe two millions of dollars to the stock. The bonds of the city were promptly given, but before any money could be obtained upon these bonds it was necessary that a further subscription should be made by the citizens, not only to meet the current expenses, but to give a.s.surance to capitalists abroad that the people here were really in earnest, and would not suffer the undertaking to fall through. After a thorough canva.s.s of the city, by two well known and respected citizens, it was found that not more than twenty-five thousand dollars could be obtained. There was both a scarcity of cash and a lack of faith in the enterprise.

John M. Woolsey was sent to Cincinnati to negotiate the city bonds with the Ohio Life and Trust Company; to Pittsburgh to ascertain upon what terms iron could be obtained; and to Philadelphia and New York to enlist the sympathy and help of capitalists. The mission was a failure. The common strap iron of that day could not be obtained without cash on delivery, and the money could not be procured on any terms. Cleveland was too far off, and entirely unknown to the moneyed men of the eastern cities. Thus, in the Spring of 1847, one of the very darkest periods in our history, it was determined to abandon the enterprise for the time, and await a more favorable season.

In this desperate extremity Mr. Hilliard and Mr. Payne volunteered another and last effort of three months personal labor to arouse their fellow citizens to a proper sense of the importance and ultimate value of this grand undertaking. By patient perseverance they succeeded in securing a leading subscription of five thousand dollars from Leonard Case, who also consented to become a director of the company. The ultimate result of the solicitations was the subscription of about $40,000 additional to the amount previously pledged. About the same time an accession of the utmost importance was made when Alfred Kelley, of Columbus, accepted the presidency of the road, contrary to his inclination to retire from further public duties and to the strong remonstrances of his personal friends.

Through the influence of Mr. Dwight, of Springfield, Ma.s.s., the directors secured the services of Captain Childs, well known among Eastern capitalists as a skillful engineer, and his endors.e.m.e.nt of the company did much to advance its credit abroad. But it was still necessary to secure a large disposal of stock at home, and to effect this, a liberal additional a.s.sessment upon the friends of the road was made and accepted. Mr. Childs finally recommended Mr. Harbeck, who, in company with Stillman Witt and Amasa Stone, Jr., undertook and carried out the building of the road to its completion.

In February, 1851, the first through train arrived from Columbus, bringing the State authorities and the Legislature, to celebrate the union of the two cities. Thus the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad was the pioneer of the series of the now enlarged, and most important enterprises so clearly identified with the growth of the city. The chairman of the building committee stated at the opening of the new depot, that during the entire building of that road, there was not a dollar paid as a bribe to either the Legislature or the City Council, to receive their favors.

The terminus of the road at Cleveland was originally intended to be on Scranton's Flats, but it was afterwards determined to bring the road across the river to the site of the old New England House. Appreciating the importance of extending it to the lake sh.o.r.e, the contractors agreed to grade the road free of charge from that point to the lake, and it was accordingly carried forward to its present terminus.

In 1869, the road was consolidated with the Bellefontaine line, thus placing its western terminus in Indianapolis. Its southern stem had previously been extended by way of the Delaware Cut-Off to Springfield, thus opening another connection with Cincinnati.

We have already said that the charter of the Cleveland, Warren and Pittsburgh Railroad, after sleeping for several years, was dug up, amended, and the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad Company organized under it. The resuscitation of the charter took place in March, 1845, when the route was changed from "the most direct in the direction of Pittsburgh,"

to "the most direct, practicable, and least expensive route to the Ohio river, at the most suitable point." The company organized at Ravenna, in October of the same year, with James Stewart, of Wellsville, as president, A. G. Cattell, as secretary, and Cyrus Prentiss, as treasurer. The route was surveyed, meetings held in aid of the project, and in July, 1847, the first contracts let from Wellsville northward, and the work of construction commenced. The northern end dragged, owing to the slow coming in of subscriptions, and the work was not fully let until 1849.

In February, 1851, the line was opened from Cleveland to Hudson, and the General a.s.sembly and State officers who had come to Cleveland to attend the celebration of the opening of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, accepted an invitation to ride over the new railroad to Hudson.

A short supply of provisions at Hudson, and the ditching of the train on the return trip, made the weary and hungry legislators long remember their pioneer trip over the unfinished Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. In March following, the track was completed to Ravenna, in November to Hanover, at which time free pa.s.ses for "each stockholder and his lady,"

and "landholders through whose land the road pa.s.ses, with their wives,"

were issued, good for one ride over the line and return, that they might see the whole of the stupendous undertaking and admire it. In January 1852, connection was made with the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad at Alliance, and a route thus opened to Pittsburgh, and in March, of the same year, the line was opened to Wellsville, and connection with the Ohio river perfected, thus completing the work laid out in the amended charter.

At different times, subsequently, authority was granted by the General a.s.sembly for the extension of the line and the construction of branches.

In this way the River Division was built, connecting the Wellsville end with Pittsburgh by a junction with the Ohio and Pennsylvania at Rochester, and with the Baltimore and Ohio and Central Ohio, by a line to Bellair.

The Tuscarawas Branch was built to New Philadelphia, and there stopped, though its original purpose was to form a connection with the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad. Authority was also given to build a branch from Hudson towards the Ohio and Pennsylvania and any line running in the direction of Columbus. A separate company afterwards constructed this "Akron Branch," or Cleveland, Zanesville and Cincinnati Railroad, so far as Millersburgh. The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad has had a serious financial struggle to go through, but it has come out as an important and prosperous line. It is now working under a consolidation of earnings with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago, formerly known as the Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad Company, now, after several consolidations and changes of t.i.tle, forming part of the Lake Sh.o.r.e and Michigan Southern Railroad Company, was part of the general plan of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, was built under much of the same influence, and has always been intimately connected with it in its working. The charter was obtained by special act in 1848, and empowered the corporators to build a line by way of Painesville, through Ashtabula county, to the Pennsylvania State line, and to continue their line into that State to any point authorized by the Pennsylvania Legislature. That part of the road extending to Erie, in the State of Pennsylvania, was constructed under the charter of the Franklin Ca.n.a.l Company, pa.s.sed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, the 21st day of May, 1846, and amended April 9th, 1849, giving it authority to construct a railroad.

The company was organized August 1st, 1849, by the selection of Alfred Kelley, Samuel L. Seldin, Heman B. Ely, George E. Gillett, David R. Paige, Laphnor Lake and Peleg P. Sanford as directors, and Heman B. Ely as president, and the surveys from Cleveland were made under the superintendence of Frederick Harbeck as chief engineer, and from the State line to Erie he acted as consulting engineer, filling both situations until his death, which occurred in the month of February, 1851. A contract for the construction of the road from Cleveland to the State line of Pennsylvania was made with Frederick Harbeck, A. Stone, Jr., and Stillman Witt, on the 26th day of July, 1850, but the work progressed slowly for six months after the contract was concluded, princ.i.p.ally for the reason that there was no confidence in the ability of a railroad from Cleveland to Erie or Buffalo to compete with the lake in the transportation of persons and property, and the contractors expended more than $100,000 of their means before a like amount could be raised through all other sources. In the month of January, 1851, the Hon. Alfred Kelley was appointed general agent of the company with unlimited authority to raise funds and press forward the work of completion. He entered upon his duties with his usual indomitable perseverance and energy, fully seconded by the directors and contractors, and they had the satisfaction of pa.s.sing a locomotive over its entire length late in the autumn of the year 1852.

The act conferring authority on the Franklin Ca.n.a.l Company to construct a railroad from the State line of Ohio to the city of Erie, being regarded by the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania as doubtful, they repealed it on the 28th day of January, 1854. On the 5th day of May, 1856, the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania pa.s.sed an act authorizing the Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad Company to purchase the road as constructed from the State line to Erie, and to operate it under the general law of the State of Pennsylvania, pa.s.sed the 19th day of February, 1849. The history of the Pennsylvania portion of the line reflects no credit on that State. The petty and vexations "Erie War" in 1854, by which a portion of the people of Erie attempted to prevent a through connection of the road at that place, and the unjustifiable expenses to which the company were subjected by the Legislature, are blots on the record of that State.

The road was operated jointly with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad until April 1st, 1855, when the management was divided. In 1869, it was consolidated, first with the Cleveland and Toledo and then with the Michigan Southern and Buffalo and Erie Railroads. The Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula has been one of the most profitable railroads in the country.

The story of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad Company--one of persistent struggle against apparently insurmountable difficulties, is told in great part in the sketch of the life of Jacob Perkins, to whose labors and sacrifices the success of the undertaking is in great measure due. The road was projected to develope more fully the mineral and agricultural resource of Trumbull and Mahoning counties, and to find a market for their products in Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Unlike many projected railroads, the first object of this line was a local trade; the through business antic.i.p.ated was a secondary consideration. The Company was incorporated in 1851, and the first meeting of stockholders held at, Warren, Trumbull county, in June, 1852, when $300,000 local subscriptions were reported and it was determined to survey and prepare estimates for the road. The directors under whom this work was commenced were Jacob Perkins, Frederick Kinsman and Charles Smith, of Warren, David Tod, of Youngstown, Dudley Baldwin of Cleveland, Robert Cunningham, of New Castle, and James Magee, of Philadelphia. In order to aid the enterprise by securing connections, they opened negotiations with the Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad, and the Pittsburgh and Erie Railroad, but without success. About the same time a contract was made with the Junction Railroad, afterwards merged in the Cleveland and Toledo Road, for purchase of ground near the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, on the west side, and the right of way obtained through a portion of Ohio City, and through Scranton's Hill to the west end of the Columbus street bridge, near which the freight depot was afterwards established. In 1853, the princ.i.p.al office of the Company was removed to Cleveland, which was made the head quarters of the Company.

After surveying different routes and hesitating over the choice between them, it was decided to build the road from Cleveland, on the West Side, and running through Scranton's hill to Newburgh, Bedford, Aurora, Mantua and Warren, fifty-three miles, and thence down the Mahoning Valley to Youngstown and Poland, to the east line of the State.

Repeated attempts were made to induce the Legislature of Pennsylvania to authorize an extension of the road in that State, but owing to the opposition of the Pittsburgh and Erie Bailroad, and especially of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, the desired permission was finally refused. The estimated aggregate cost of the road was about one and three-quarter millions of dollars, and when the princ.i.p.al contracts for labor and iron were made, there was a very fair prospect of disposing of the bonds of the company to advantage, and thus, in addition to the loans effected in Philadelphia, New York and at home, the means to complete the work were reasonably antic.i.p.ated. In the Directors' Report of 1854, they were obliged to announce unlooked for embarra.s.sments, growing out of the altered condition of the money market. The story of the seemingly hopeless, but finally successful, struggle that followed is told in another part of this work. At length, in 1857, after five or six years of persevering efforts, and most perplexing difficulties, the road was opened through to Youngstown; substantial machine shops were built at Cleveland, station houses erected along the route, and the coal and iron of the Mahoning Valley were made accessible by a quick and easy route.

In October, 1863, the road was leased for ninety-nine years to the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, which had already laid a broad gauge upon the track, That company now controls the main line to Youngstown, with the several branches to Hubbard and the coal mines. The narrow gauge is kept up for the use of the Mahoning trains, freight and pa.s.senger, while the broad gauge is used by the Atlantic and Great Western through trains. The track has been extended to the sh.o.r.e of the old river bed, an extensive wharf.a.ge established, and large facilities obtained for connecting the traffic of the road with the lake commerce.

The Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Company was formed by the consolidation of two rival and nearly parallel lines. One of the companies thus united, was incorporated as the Junction Railroad Company, and the other by the name of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company. The former was incorporated by an act of the legislature of Ohio, pa.s.sed on the second day of March, 1846; and the latter, by an act of the seventh of March, 1850. The Junction Railroad Company, by its original charter and two amendments, in 1861, was authorized to construct a railroad from the city of Cleveland to the west line of the State by such route as the directors might determine, with power to construct branches to any points within the counties through which the main line might pa.s.s. The charter of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company, authorized the construction of a railroad from Toledo, by the way of Norwalk, in the county of Huron, to a connection with the Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati Railroad, at some point in the counties of Huron or Lorain. The authorized capital stock of the Junction Company was three millions, and that of the other company, two millions of dollars.

The consolidation was effected, and the new company organized on the first of September, A. D. 1853, under the specific provisions of the twelfth section of the amendment to the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad charter, pa.s.sed on the first of March, 1850. Under its charter, the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad Company constructed a road from the east bank of the Maumee river, opposite the city of Toledo, to Grafton, where it connects with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, twenty-five miles south-west from the city of Cleveland, being a distance of eighty-seven and one-half miles, all of which was finished and put into operation in January, 1853. This became known as the Southern Division of the Cleveland and Toledo Railroad.

The Northern Division, or Junction Railroad, was originally intended to run from Cleveland, west side, via Berea and Sandusky, westward to a point on the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad some twenty miles west of Toledo, and crossing the track of the Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad at a point about eight miles east of the same city. The road was opened between Cleveland and Sandusky and operations commenced upon it in the Fall of 1858, immediately after the consolidation. The original project of a separate line to the west was carried out by the consolidated corporation so far as to construct the road to its intersection with the old Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland track, from which point both lines approached Toledo over the same right of way. This line was operated over its whole length until the 31st day of December, 1858, on which day the use for regular business of that portion lying west of Sandusky was discontinued, and all the through travel and traffic turned upon the Southern Division. On the 30th of July, 1856, a contract was entered into with the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Company by which the Cleveland and Toledo Company acquired the right to use the track of the first named company from Grafton to Cleveland, for the Southern Division trains, and from Berea to Cleveland for the Northern Division, and thence forward all trains were run into, and departed from, the Union Depot in Cleveland--a change which soon resulted in the practical abandonment, for the time, of that portion of the Northern Division lying between Berea and Cleveland on the west side of Cuyahoga river. This arrangement, together with the completion, in 1855, of a bridge over the Maumee river at Toledo, enabled the company to receive and discharge its pa.s.sengers in union depots at each end of its line. During the years 1865 and 1866, about eight miles of new road were constructed between Elyria on the Northern Division, and Oberlin on the Southern Division, for the purpose of allowing all trains to leave and come upon the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Road at Berea, thirteen miles, instead of Grafton, twenty-five miles from Cleveland. This new piece of road was opened for business on the 10th of September, 1866, and the road between Oberlin and Grafton immediately abandoned, The construction of a bridge near the mouth of the Cuyahoga river at Cleveland, brought the Northern Division line between Cleveland and Berea once more into use, and over it the freight trains of the line are now run. In 1869, the company was made part of the Consolidated line between Buffalo and Chicago.

The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, by its lease of the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad, has become an important part of the Cleveland railroad System. The company was organized in 1851, as the Franklin and Warren Railroad Company, to build a road from Franklin Mills (now Kent) in Portage County, to Warren, in Trumbull county, with power to extend to a point in the eastern line of the State, northeast of Warren and southwesterly to Dayton, Ohio. In July, 1853, operations were actively commenced along the whole line, but were soon seriously r.e.t.a.r.ded by financial embarra.s.sments. In 1854, the Franklin and Warren Railroad Company, under authority of an Act of the General a.s.sembly of 1853, changed its name to the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad Company. Two years before, a project had been started to extend the broad gauge of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad through Ohio, northeastern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York, to connect with the New York and Erie Railroad.

This route would run through Meadville, Pennsylvania, Warren, Kent, Akron and Galion to Dayton, Ohio. In 1858, the Meadville Railroad Company changed their name to the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad Company of Pennsylvania. In 1859, a company was organized in the State of New York, under the name of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad in New York, and purchased in 1860 of the New York and Erie Railroad Company thirty eight miles of their road, from Salamanca to near Ashville. These thirty eight miles with eleven miles of new line, make up the entire length of line of this road in the State of New York. Each of the above companies made contracts for the building of their respective roads.

In the Fall of 1858, negotiations were commenced in London with James McHenry, for the means to carry on the work. T. W. Kennard, a civil engineer, came over as the attorney of Mr. McHenry, and engineer in chief of the whole work. In 1862, the road was opened from Corry to Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 1863, it was extended to Warren, and in the next year to Ravenna and Akron--202 miles from Salamanca.

In October, 1863, the three companies above named, leased for ninety-nine years, the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroad, extending from Cleveland southerly to Youngstown, Ohio, sixty-seven miles. This road has a narrow gauge track crossing the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad at Leavittsburgh, Ohio, fifty miles south of Cleveland. The Atlantic and Great Western Company laid a rail on either side of the narrow track, thus carrying the broad gauge into Cleveland, and a broad gauge train from the city of New York entered Cleveland on the evening of November 3rd, 1863.

Subsequently the several companies forming the Atlantic and Great Western line were consolidated into one line, and this again was, in 1869, consolidated with the Erie Railway.

Besides opening a new and important thoroughfare to the East, this line has opened up to Cleveland the resources of north-western Pennsylvania, and in the oil product has added an immense and highly profitable trade to the business of the city.

Several lines have been built, connecting with and adding business to the railroads leading to Cleveland, but of these it is not the province of this work to speak. A large number of new railroads have been from time to time projected in various directions. Some of these "paper railroads" have intrinsic merit, and these, or lines aiming at the same objects, will eventually be built.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Yours truly, Jacob Perkins]

Jacob Perkins.

Jacob Perkins was born at Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, September 1st, 1822, being next to the youngest of the children of Gen. Simon Perkins, one of the earliest and most prominent, business men of norther Ohio, a land agent of large business, and the owner of extensive tracts of land.

In his early years Jacob Perkins developed a strong inclination for study, acquiring knowledge with unusual facility, and gratifying his intense pa.s.sion for reading useful works by every means within his power.

He commenced fitting himself for college at the Burton Academy, then under the direction of Mr. H. L. Hitchc.o.c.k, now president of Western Reserve College, and completed his preparation at Middletown, Connecticut, in the school of Isaac Webb. He entered Yale College in 1837.

While in college he was distinguished for the elegance of his style and the wide range of his literary acquirements. He delivered the philosophic oration at his junior exhibition, and was chosen second editor of "Yale Literary Magazine," a position in which he took great interest, and filled to the satisfaction and pride of his cla.s.s. His college course was, however, interrupted by a long and severe illness before the close of his junior year, which compelled him to leave his studies and (to his permanent regret) prevented him from graduating with his own cla.s.s. He returned the following year and was graduated with the cla.s.s of 1842.

He entered his father's office at Warren, and was occupied with its business until, upon the death of his father, some two years afterwards, he became one of his executors.

During his residence at Warren he appeared occasionally before home audiences as a public speaker, and always with great acceptance.