Licking County, Ohio - Chapter 32: Railroads, 1881

'The mothers ran out with their children about, From every log cabin they hail; The wood-chopper he stood delighted to see The law-makers ride on a rail. The horses and cattle, as onward we rattle, Were never so frightened before."

Newark, but as three of them are at present controlled by one corporation (the Baltimore & Ohio) the number is practically reduced to two - the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis; the latter better known as the "Pan Handle." Three of these roads were completed to Newark between the years 1852 and 1855; half a century after the town was laid out.

The Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark railroad was the first one completed to Newark. A _portion of this road was one of the first built in Ohio - the northern portion. It extended, when completed, from Sandusky City to Newark, a distance of one hundred and sixteen and one-half miles. This road (now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio) has had more charters, amendments, consolidations, reorganizations and adjustments than any in Ohio. It probably never paid expenses, unless it does so under its present management. Very few roads running due north and south, as does this one, have paid for the building. The: great travel and carrying business of this country seems to be east and west, and generally only roads built in conformity with this law, put money in the pockets of the stockholders. The germ of this road sprang into life between Monroeville and Sandusky City, and was chartered March 9, 1835, under the name of the Monroeville & Sandusky City railway. At that early day immense freight wagons were doing the carying trade for the country, and Lake Erie was the great outlet for grain and produce for the interior of Ohio. Pork, wheat, whiskey, furs, peltry, and everything else then produced in Ohio, were wagoned to the lake and shipped on vessels for Buffalo and points further east. Portland (Sandusky City) became a great market, or at least, a very important point for Ohio people, and a few enterprising men thought by building a railroad from this point south, they could get this entire freight business from their southern terminal point. When their road was first built wooden rails were used, and the cars were small box concerns, on wooden wheels, and were hauled by horses from Monroeville to Sandusky. It was not long, however, until steam-power superceded horse-power, but for a long time the road bed was 'wooden,' that is, the cars run on wooden rails upon which was fastened a piece of strap iron.

obtained for a road from Mansfield to New Haven. The building of this road interfered somewhat with the business of the first road, and yet was of but little value without the co-operation of the first; hence a plan of consolidation was soon agreed upon, the gap between New Haven and Monroeville filled, and the road became one continuous line from Mansfield to Sandusky City, a distance of fifty-four miles. It was then called the Mansfield & Sandusky City railroad.

The Columbus & Lake Erie road was chartered March 12, 1845. This was Newark's first railroad, and extended from Newark to Mansfield, a distance of sixty-two and one-half miles, connecting there with the Mansfield & Sandusky City road, thus opening up direct communication with the lake.

Another corporation, the Huron & Oxford road, extended from Huron to the line of the Monroeville & Sandusky City road, a distance of eight miles, and was chartered March 12, 1845.

Each of these companies had stock subscriptions and executed separate mortgages. November 23, 1853, the three companies consolidated under the name of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark railroad company.

''The construction of the road-bed was solid, if a multiplicity of timbers could make it so. First a mud-sill was laid down lengthwise of the road; strong cross-ties were then spiked on this mud-sill; into these 'gains' were cut, and these received the wooden rails, sawed to fit them. These rails were about five inches wide at the top, broadening at the bottom where they entered the gains, and were about seven inches high. On these the 'ribbon' was spiked, being a strip of hard wood, about two and a half inches wide, by one inch thick, and on this the strap-iron rail was laid. Spikes were driven through the strap-rail and the ribbon, into the large wooden rail beneath; the heads of the spikes being sunken into 'eyes' in the straprails, leaving a smooth surface for the wheels. This superstructure required fully three times as much timber as the present system of ties and iron rails."

About a year before the consolidation of the three roads forming the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark road, the Columbus & Lake Erie road was finished to Newark. This was one of the greatest events in the history of this city; second only to the opening of the canal.

The building of this road had been agitated nearly twenty years. As early as 1834-5, meetings were held by the citizens for the purpose of organization, and to obtain a survey of the route. It was a mighty undertaking, however; the country was yet sparsely settled and the people too poor to engage in such an enterprise, and it was not until ten years later that a charter was obtained, and nearly another decade before the road

Under the corporate name of Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark railroad, it was operated but a short time, with little better financial result than under the separate corporations, notwithstanding a new and consolidated mortgage was made and bonds issued. Proceedings were soon commenced in the Erie Common Pleas court, to bring all the creditors into court and sell the road to extinguish the several liabilities. It was found that the value of the road and property would pay but a small portion of the liabilities of the several corporations, and a plan of capitalization and reorganization was proposed and submitted to the stockholders and creditors, for an adjustment of the stock and a compromise of the liabilities of the company.

A large number of stockholders and creditors of the several companies had not converted their securities into the consolidated company, and some that had were unwilling to accept the terms of readjustment, and on the eighth of April, 1856, the legislature passed an act to aid in carrying out this adjustment, entitled "an act for the relief of the stockholders and creditors of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark railroad company."

Under this act and by virtue of a decree of the court in the case referred to, the road and property were sold and the company reorganized; and under the act of April 4, 1863, the directors of the old consolidated company conveyed, by deed, the franchise, or right to be a corporation, to the reorganized company.

By the terms of adjustment a large amount of the old stock and debts was sunk, and the remainder passed into new hands. Since the reorganization, the Huron branch, as it was called,

Up to the time of the transfer to the Baltimore & Ohio road, this road had not, probably, been able to pay a dividend to its stockholders; and often was not able to pay its interest promptly, but managed to maintain the road and rolling stock in good condition. It had always been a

_ favorite project with this company to extend their line by building a road south from Newark into the coal region of Perry county, but nothing was done in that direction, and February 13, 1869, a contract was entered into by and between the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark, the Ohio Central and the Baltimore & Ohio railroads, whereby the first named came under the control of the last named, and is now operated by that extensive corporation.

The second railroad that favored Newark with its presence, was the Central Ohio. It was not much behind the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark, having been finished to Newark in 1854. The charter for the building of this road was granted February 8, 1847; to run from Columbus, Ohio, through Newark and Zanesville to such a point on the Ohio river as the directors might select. The work was commenced in June, 1850, on that portion between Columbus and Newark, and rapidly pushed forward. Those were hard times, however, for building railroads; money was hard to get, and the new road labored continually under financial embarrassment; and before it could be finished and equipped, it was overtaken by insolvency. In May, 1859, it was placed in the hands of a receiver, and in that condition operated until its final sale and reorganization or capitalization in 1865. . By the terms of reorganization concessions were made by all classes of creditors and stockholders, by which nearly four millions of dollars of stock and debt were sunk.

The road runs in an easterly direction from Columbus to the Ohio river at Bellaire, a distance of one hundred and thirty-seven miles, thirty-three miles (that part between Newark and Columbus), of which is partly owned by the '"' Pan Handle" road, that company having purchased an undivided half in 1863, for seven 'hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.

November 21, 1866, the company reorganized, entered into a contract for operating the road, fixtures and equipment, with the Baltimore & Ohio railroad company, for a term of twenty years, subject to termination in five years at the option of either party upon notice; the Baltimore & Ohio, among other things, agreeing to pay for the first five years as rent, quarter-yearly, the balance of gross earnings and receipts from the road after deducting sixty-five per centum thereof, and sixty per centum after five years, agreeing and guaranteeing that the amount to be paid shall not be less than one hundred and sixty-six thousand dollars for each year. This contract went into effect December 1, 1866.

The Baltimore & Ohio road which yet operates this Central Ohio, and also the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark, has grown from insignificant proportions to one of the largest trunk lines in the country. This road was commenced in 1830, its object being to open a line of communication with the west, and the undertaking was looked upon at that day as one of almost unparalleled magnitude. The following items in the early history of this road would, doubtless, cause a ripple of humor in the minds of some of the railroad kings of to-day. In July, 1832, the following appears in print:

"'Many passengers and large quantities of freight pass daily on the railroad to and from Baltimore, to the Point of Rocks on the Potomac, at which latter place a new village is being built very rapidly. 'The entire journey 'out and home', one hundred and forty miles, is now made in seventeen continuous hours, giving ample time to view the Point of Rocks, one of the most agreeable excursions that can be found in the country, and on many accounts highly interesting."

Securing control of the Central Ohio in 1866, and of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark in 1869, its way to Lake Erie was open. Not satisfied with these acquisitions, wishing an outlet to Chicago and the great Northwest, and not being able to get control of any road in that direction, it boldly advanced the capital, purchased the right of way, and built a road to Chicago, from a point in northern Ohio on its line nearest to that piace. This it accomplished in 1873, pushing a road through in a bee line from Chicago Junction, in Huron county, Ohio, to Chicago. This accom- plished, and it had a through line to Chicago from Baltimore and Washington, and was in a position to compete with the other large trunk lines of the country. The business on the Central Ohio and the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark 'has largely

The Pittsburgh, Columbus & Cincinnati railroad constitutes the line from Columbus, Ohio, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was the third road to pass through Newark, following closely, .however, the other two. It is familiarly known as the ''Pan Handle route'" - so called from the narrow neck, or section, of West Virginia extending up and along the Ohio river, across which the Pittsburgh & Steubenville road (being a part of this line) passes. The road runs in an eastwardly direction from Columbus to Pittsburgh, one hundred and ninety-three miles, and is the shortest and most direct line between these two cities. That part of the road lying in Ohio is one hundred 'and fifty miles long, from Columbus to Steubenville.

The Steubenville & Indiana railroad company was chartered February 24, 1848, and under its charter and amendments thereto commenced work in November, 1851, on the eastern division, opening the road for traffic from Steubenville to Newark, in April, 1855. This line, with a branch from the main line to Cadiz, eight miles in length, constituted the road.of the Steubenville & Indiana railroad company. 'The delay in building the road from Steubenville to Pittsburgh, the want of proper connections east or west, and the unfinished and poorly equipped condition of the road, gave insufficient earnings to pay interest and current expenses; the company became greatly embarrassed and fell in arrears to laborers and for supplies, and was annoyed and perplexed with suits and judgments which it was unable to fund or pay, and, finally, proceedings were commenced in the court of common pleas, of Harrison county, Ohio, for the foreclosure of mortgages and sale of the road, and Thomas L. Jewett was appointed receiver on the second day of September, 1859, On the first of October, 1864, the receiver, on behalf of the company, purchased an undivided half of that part of the Central Ohio between Newark and Columbus, as before stated, for seven hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, thus giying the company an independent outlet and direct communication with railroads running west from Columbus.

Meantime the work on the Steubenville & Pittsburgh road was rapidly pushed forward to completion, and on the first of October, 1865, the receiver concluded an arrangement with the lessees of that road for operating the whole line from Columbus to Pittsburgh. The road received the name of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis, and December 28, 1867, it was reorganized under the name of the Pan Handle. Upon completion it was leased to the Pennsylvania railroad company, by which it is now operated. The construction and equipment of this road cost, in round numbers, twenty million dollars. This corporation has just now (December, 1880) completed a beautiful brick depot building and a freight house at Newark. The freight house is of brick and stone, is very large, and both buildings are very substantial.

What is known as the Straitsville railroad, was projected as early as 1854. It was intended to be operated in connection with the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark road, to tap the coal-fields of Perry county. Moore & Company were the contractors, and the construction of the road-bed was pushed forward to completion, or nearly so. Some of the bridges were built and timber for many others purchased, when the enterprise was overtaken with financial disaster and the work suspended. It remained in this condition nearly twenty years. 'Those who thought of the old roadbed at all - and no doubt there were stockholders across whose minds flashed occasional recollections of money sunk therein - supposed the project abandoned forever. However, during the "flush" times succeeding the war, when a good many people ran wild after the almighty dollar, a "coal" company was formed in Newark, at the head of which were J. L. Birkey, William Shields, Lewis Evans, and some other well-known active business men. They "purchased" .a large amount of coal lands in Perry county, borrowed money largely, and proposed making themselves and everybody else rich in a few days - or years. In order to get transportation for the coal with which they proposed to supply the United States, they revivified and put new life into the old railroad project. With commendable perseverance and industry they completed this road to Straitsville about 1875, beginning the work probably in 1873, or just before the beginning of the great financial panic. When this great coal scheme burst, and scattered fragments like a bomb-shell, a good many people in Licking county were hurt, and the old wounds are not yet entirely healed. One good it accomplished, however, was the completion of the Straitsville road, thus enabling Newark to get cheaper coal. Soon after completion, this road passed into the hands of the Baltimore & Ohio company, which still continues to operate it.

In 1870 a railroad was projected from Toledo to Pomeroy, on the Ohio. It was intended to tap the coal-fields in the southern part of the State. It was called the Atlantic & Lake Erie; General

Thomas Ewing was president. It met the usual fate of new roads; struggling along about nine years, when (in 1879) it was sold for debt, and passed into new hands. During these years the road-bed had been mostly constructed, the work being pushed vigorously all along the line. ent (December,

At pres- 1880), the larger part of the road from Fostoria, south, is finished, so that construction trains are passing over it, and it is called by the new company "The Ohio Central." through the counties of

It passes Ioucas, Wood, seneca, Wyandot, Crawford, Marion, Morrow, Knox, Licking, Fairfield, Perry, Athens, and Meigs. Erom the south it enters Licking county near Licking Summit, passing north along the canal to within two or three miles of Newark, when it makes a bend west, passing through Granville, Alexandria and Johnstown, leaving the county at the northwest corner. Its line is generally through a very rich farming country.