Morrow County, Ohio - Chapter 3, 1880 (part 2 of 2)

But " the best-laid plans of mice and men aft gang aglee," wrote the poet of Bonny Doon, and with all the interest with which the enterprise had hitherto been nurtured, it died out, and for a year or two nothing was heard of it. In the spring of 1872, it awoke to life, and we find the following in tha. Fredericktown Independent of that date : " We take pleasure in informing our people that the western end of the Pittsburgh & Continental line, as far east as Marion, Ohio, is under contract. The route to be taken from Marion east is still undecided. Energetic measures are being taken by the citizens of Bellville and Johnsville for its location in that section of country, but as that course will cut ofi" all support from Mount Gilead, besides being the longest and most difficult route, the attempt will undoubtedly fail if the citizens of Mount Gilead, Chesterville and Fredericktown will take prompt action in the matter. The route via Mount Gilead is much the best route of the two. It takes in Claridon, Denmark, Mount Gilead, Chesterville and Fredericktown, runs through Amity and crosses the C, Mt. V. & C. Railroad, at some point near Orville, Wayne Co., Ohio. Now is the time for the people along the line to work. Mount Gilead has another railroad on hand, but we are reliably informed that the citizens of that city will do their full share." This seems to have been one of the last struggles of the expiring company, which finally died a natural death. Morrow County is still without an east and west railroad, and whether the Baltimore, Pittsburgh & Continental will ever be resurrected is somewhat problematical.

In 1874, a certificate of incorporation was filed with the Secretary of State for the " People's Freight Railway Company," and again hope sprung up, that Morrow County would yet have an east and west railroad. The route was much the same as that of the Baltimore, Pittsburgh & Continental, and it is not altogether improbable that the new company was founded upon the old one. The Union Register of September 9, 1874, gives the proceedings of a convention of the People's Freight Railway Company of Pennsylvania, held upon a circular of the Cheap Transportation Company of New York. The object of the convention was to perfect an organization in the States of New Jersey,

Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, for the purpose of surveying a line for a cheap freight railway between New York and the Mississippi River, and arranging for the incorporation of a People's Freight Railway Company ; Ohio division to be under the laws of this State. The line of the road was to pass through this State, as before stated, upon the old route of the Baltimore, Pittsburgh & Continental line. A report, supplemented with a recommendation from the committee on the order of business, was made, in accordance with which a committee was appointed in each State along the proposed line of the road, to obtain subscriptions for the purpose of perfecting a preliminary survey of the People's Freight Railway Company, along the entire route from New York to the Mississippi River, and branches diverging to Chicago and St. Louis. A central committee was also appointed, with headquarters at Pittsburgh, to which the committees were to report.

When the company was incorporated in this State the names of the following gentlemen appeared upon the certificate as incorporators : J. C. Devin, P. H. Updegrafi", George Rogers, Samuel Israel, James Boyd, David Richards, John C. House and W. A. Coulter. They incorporated with a capital of $100,000, with the privilege of increasing the amount to $15,000,000. Says the Mount Vernon Banner upon the subject: -' Morrow County has upon the subscription-books her full quota for the preliminary survey of the road, and Knox County has within a few dollars of the estimate made for that county. We hope all the counties from the Ohio River to Marion, Ohio, (^from which point surveys have been made), will at once subscribe their proportion, and then the surveyors will be put in the field at once. Every farmer is interested in this road, because it will reduce the cost of the transportation of his products to the East more than one-half Every merchant is interested because it will reduce the rate of freight on his goods in the same ratio, and certainly every unprejudiced consumer must wish its completion and success, as it will reduce the price of commodity in proportion to the reduction of transportation, 75 per cent of which comes out of his pocket." As a proof of the interest taken in the enterprise by Morrow County, the Union Register has a report of a meeting held in Mount Gilead, on the 3d of October, 1874, a few weeks previous to the publishing of the notice copied above from the Banner, the object of which was to decide upon some plan by which a fund might be raised to defray the expenses of a preliminary survey through this State, the route of the People's Freight Railway Company. A committee of six was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Charles Shedd, Henry Talraage, Joseph Pollock, J. S. Trimble, Dr. Voorhies and Henry Snyder, to wait on the citizens and solicit subscriptions to said funds. An executive committee, consisting of three members, was appointed, viz., Henry Tal- Mage, Joseph Pollock and J. S. Trimble.

This, like a number of railroad projects that have been agitated, never amounted to anything beyond what is given above. The enterprise finally died out, as did the Baltimore, Pittsburgh & Continental line a few years previously.

An extension of the Pittsburgh & Marietta road on through to Coshocton and Lima by way of Mount Vernon, Mount Gilead and Marion, over the old Owl Creek route, was another of Morrow County's railroad enterprises. For some time this project was agitated, and the interest manifested excited hopes in the minds of its supporters that it might eventually be built. But other enterprises came up in which the people felt a livelier interest, and this road was suffered to go by default. The Cambridge & Lima road, and the Wheeling, Lima & Chicago road were also projects that created light breezes for a time, but they were short-lived, and never received much encouragement from this county.

Last, if not least, in the railroad history of Morrow County, is the " Short Line," a trunk route from Mount Gilead to Levering Station on the Cleveland, Columbus. Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad, and which, as its name indicates, is a short line, being some two and a half miles in length. This road was agitated several years before it became an accomplished success. The act for the present road was passed by the Legislature in the spring of 1878, but it was not until April, 1879, that the Mayor issued his proclamation for an election, at which election a vote should be taken for or against the road. The election resulted favorably to its building, and work commenced at once. It was pushed forward without unnecessary delay, and opened to the public for travel and traffic on the 1st of May, 1880. It is in good running order, with eight trains passing back and forth each day between Mount Gilead and Levering Station, for the accommodation of passengers and freight, thus proving very beneficial to the town and surrounding country. We shall allude to the road again in the history of Gilead Township.

Before the building of the Short Line, the little town which is its western terminus, was known as Gilead Station. After the road got into operation, it became necessary to change the name of Gilead Station, as it seemed a. little out of place to have the same name at both ends of this great through route. So it was changed to Levei'ing, in honor of a prominent citizen of Mount Gilead. Soon after this change of name, the following incident occurred, which was related by the gentleman who took part in it. He boarded a Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis train at a station south of Levering, some fifty miles or more. When the conductor came around, he handed that important functionary his ticket upon which was written (instead of printed) " Levering Station." The conductor took the ticket, looked at it, turned it over, looked at it again, then looked at the passenger from whom he had received it, then back at the ticket, stuck it in his punch, but took it out without punching it, looked at the passenger again, and finally blurted, '' where in the h - is Levering Station ?"