Washington County, Ohio - Chapter 21: History of Public Improvements in Washington County, 1881

Chapter 21: History of Public Improvements in Washington County

Importance of the Rivers as Means of Communication in Early Days. - Dr. Manasseh Cutler on these Facilities for Commercial Intercourse in 1787. The Need of a Through East and West Road Recognized by the Pioneers. - Proceedings in the Territorial Legislature in 1802, - The First Sum of Money Ever Appropriated for Internal Improvements Northwest of the Ohio. - Five Hundred and Forty-four Dollars and Forty-one Cents as the Beginning of Incalculable Millions. - Planning for Communication from the Atlantic Seaboard to the Ohio at the Beginning of the Century. - Measures of 1831. - The Muskingum Improvement and Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. - Washington County and the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad. - Early and Late History. - The Cleveland & Marietta Railroad.

WAsHINGTON county has a border on the Ohio river of over fifty miles. The convenient access thus afforded to nearly all her population to the best navigable water of the western country has been a source of wealth in the

Notwithstanding the provision by nature for the wants of her people in the line of commercial intercourse, the subject of more enlarged and varied kinds of transportation facilities has been regarded from the very foundation of its settlement as one of great importance.

At the time the contract was made with Congress for the Ohio company's lands, the only means of commercial intercourse that was deemed reliable was by water. Hence we find that Dr. Cutler, in a pamphlet issued by himself at the time he negotiated with Congress for the lands, in recommending the new country, calls attention to the various water routes as follows:

Second. - The passage up the Ohio and Monongahela to the portage, which leads to the waters of the Potomak. This portage is thirty miles, and will probably be rendered much less by the execution of plans now on foot for opening the navigation of those waters.

Third - -The Great Kanawha, which falls into the Ohio from the Virginia shore between the Hocking and the Scioto, opens an extensive navigation from the southeast, and leaves but eighteen miles portage from the navigable waters of James river, Virginia. This communication for the country between Muskingum and Scioto will probably be more used than any other for the exportation of manufactures and other light and valuable articles, and especially for the importation of foreign commodities, which may be brought from the Chesapeake to the Ohio much cheaper than they are now carried from Philadelphia to Carlisle and other thickly settled back counties of Pennsylvania.

Fourth - But the current down the Ohio and Mississippi, for heavy articles that suit the Florida and West India markets - such as corn, flour, beef, lumber, etc., - will be more loaded than any streams onearth. The distance from the Scioto to the Mississippi is eight hundred miles; from there to the sea is nine hundred. This whole course is easily run in eighteen days, and the passage up these rivers is not so difficult as has usually been represented. It is found by late experiments that sails are used to great advantage against the current of the Ohio; and it is worthy of observation that in all probability steamboats will be found to do infinite service in all our extensive river navigation.

The design of Congress and of the company is that the settlements shall proceed regularly down the Ohio river and northward to Lake Erie; and it is probable that the whole country above Miami will be brought to that degree of cultivation which will exhibit its latent beauties and justify those descriptions of travellers which have so often made it the garden of the world, the seat of wealth, and the centre of a great empire.

It must be borne in mind that at that time water lines alone were used for transportation of merchandise from the seaboard to the interior, and for the return, mainly, of furs to the seaboard. These water lines were navigated by light canoes pushed up the streams to the extreme limit that the water in the stream would allow, then carried over the distance required to meet the waters of a descending stream in the proposed route. Thus commerce with the Indians had been kept up for more than a century between the waters of the Hudson and the lakes, while the same system was applied to more western lines as the wants of population required. This explains the importance attached to the acquisition of an Ohio river frontage extending from above the Muskingum to the Scioto, thus giving control not only of the Ohio, but of the mouths of the Muskingum, Hocking, and Scioto on the Ohio side, and of the Great Kanawha on the Virginia side, the head waters of all these streams offering lines of portage either with the Chesapeake bay or the lakes. Probably the word steamboat first found its way into print, as applied to western, waters, in the pamphlet above referred to.

But the attention of the pioneer fathers was not limited to these natural facilities for commercial intercourse. At that time Alexandria, on the Potomac, was regarded as the seaport of this region. It was at that port the early French emigrants landed and were met by Mr. Duer's agents, who conducted them by way of Simmrell's Ferry, on the head waters of the Youghiogheny, and thence by boats to Marietta, in 1790.

It became an object of great importance in the estimation of the early settlers to secure a direct route by land in the direction of Alexandria on the east and of Cincinnati on the west through Marietta. The following extracts from the proceedings of the territorial legislature show the interest then felt and the steps taken to open up this direct line from east to west through Marietta:

Mr. Ludlow, from the committee to whom was referred, the reports of the survey of a road made by Paul Fearing, 'Thomas Worthington, and John Reiley from Marietta in the county of Washington, through Chillicothe in the county of Ross, thence to Cincinnati in the county of Hamilton, made a report, which was read and ordered to be committed to the committee of the whole house on Saturday next.

The house, according to the order of the day, resolved itself into committee of the whole on the reports of a survey of a road from Marietta to Cincinnati. The committee of the whole reported several resolutions thereon which were agreed to by the house as followeth to wit :

Whereas, from the present state of the funds of the Territory, it would be inexpedient to appropriate any further sum or sums of money for establishing the road laid out by Paul Fearing, Thomas Worthington, and John Reiley, from Marietta through Chillicothe to Cincinnati than what has already been expended in surveying and laying out the same; and whereas by an act passed at the present session of the General assembly entitled ''An act levying a tax on land for the year 1802 and for other purposes," the counties of Washington and Ross will, in a great measure, be enabled to open a road through said counties sufficient for present purposes, therefore,

Resolved, By the the legislative council and house of representatives, that so much of the reports and survey of said road as were made by Paul Fearing and Thomas Worthington, be delivered to one of the representatives from each of said counties of Washington and Ross, to be by them laid before the court of general quarter sessions of the peace of their respective counties for their information. Resolved also, that to defray the expenses already incurred in surveying and laying out said road there shall be allowed to the said Paul Fearing, Thomas Worthington, and John Reiley, the sum of four hundred and ninety-seven dollars and forty-one cents to wit: to Paul Fearing, eightyseven dollars, to Thomas Worthington, two hundred and thirty-seven dollars and forty-one cents and to John Reiley, one hundred and seventy-three dollars; and also that there be allowed to Ephraim Cutler, esq., for his services and expenses in completing the exploring of that

This sum of five hundred and forty-four dollars and forty-one cents was undoubtedly the first legislative appropriation of money for "internal improvements" northwest of the Ohio river, made by either State or Territorial authority. That was the first "highway" marked out in the "wilderness" by the pioneers of a Christian civilization.* Eastwardly it was designed at that time to secure a road through Clarksburgh, Romney, and Winchester to the seaboard at Alexandria. Baltimore in time took the place of Alexandria asthe sea-port, but a friendly and cooperative correspondence and effort was kept up for many years, between Marietta and these points, all looking to the establishment of what they expected and hoped would become a National thoroughfare from the seaboard to the west.

By the act of Congress April 30, 1802, providing for the admission of Ohio as a State into the Union, it was enacted that one twentieth part of the net proceeds of the lands lying within the said State, sold by Congress, from and after the nineteenth day of June next, after deducting all expenses, incident to the same shall be applied to the laying out and making public roads, leading from the navigable waters emptying into the Atlantic, to the Ohio State and through the same - such roads to be laid out under the authority of Congress, with the consent of the several States through which the road shall pass. ;

By an act of Congress passed March 3, 1803, it was provided that three per cent. of the land sales should be applied to the laying out, opening and making roads within said State, and to no other purpose whatever.

This act still left two per cent. of the land sales to be applied as originally designed - to roads leading from the seaboard to the Ohio river.

Sir: As it is expected that Congress at their next session will act upon the subject of appropriating two per cent. of the moneys arising from the sales of public lands in the State of Ohio, to the opening, making and repairing a road leading from the navigable waters of the Atlantic to the Ohio river, we take the liberty of suggesting for your consideration the following reasons in favor of appropriating the money on a road leading from the city of Washington to Marietta, or to some point on the river Ohio in its vicinity.

First - That no convenient road can be had from the city of Washington orits vicinity to the Ohio much below Marietta, and that a road leading to Marietta or its vicinity will be found to be nearly or quite as straight, and to pass over better ground, than a road leading to Charleston, Wheeling or Grave Creek, or to any other place on the river above Marietta.

Second - That a road striking the river at or near Marietta, would furnish a more direct and convenient communication from the seat of the General Government to Chillicothe, the seat of the Ohio State Government (between which place and Marietta an excellent State toad will soon be completed, a competent sum being appropriated for that purpose); as likewise by the navigable water of the Muskingum and Hockhocking rivers, and by short and practicable land routes, to the rich and habitable lands in the State of Ohio.

Third - That the most convenient road from Washington city to Kentucky, Tennessee, the Indiana Territory and Louisiana will be found by adopting the above proposed route.

Fourth - That one principal object to be attained in making a road from the Atlantic waters to the river Ohio is to facilitate the transportation of goods and families from the Atlantic States to the lower parts of the State of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the various territories creek, near Fort Cumberland, to the mouth of Yough, thence to Pittsburgh, thence via Beaver, thence via head waters of Yellow Creek and Big Sandy to Tuscarawas line, thence via heads of Hocking, Scioto, Little Miami to Great Miami at the mouth of Loramie Creek and to the English Fort of Pickawillamy, thence westerly to the Wabash, also a branch to Harrisburgh, and a wagon road to Philadelphia.

at almost all times furnishinga good and safe navigation from Marietta downwards, and particularly at seasons when it is rendered dangerous above by shoals, rocks, sunken trees, ice, and other obstructions by which boats are often late in autumn, detained and injured to the loss of lives and property. It will be further remembered that the Muskingum river running nearly through the centre of the State of Ohio, empties itself into the Ohio river at Marietta, and that its navigable heads interlock with those of the Cuyahoga of Lake Erie; and transportation may, and (as the progress of population extends) will be effected, from Marietta to Lake Erie, by means of these rivers and the connecting carrying place between them. Signed,

Dudley Woodbridge

This policy of the General Government in applying two per cent. of western Jand sales to building roads from the Atlantic waters to the Ohio river, resulted in the construction of the Cumberland and Ohio road, which was authorized by an act of Congress dated March 29, 1806. Its location was made through Wheeling, Zanesville, and Columbus.

The efforts, however, to secure a direct thoroughfare through Marietta were not abandoned. In 1831 the survey and location of a turnpike road were authorized by the legislature of Ohio, from Chillicothe, through Athens to Marietta. Ephraim Cutler, James Worthington and Charles Harper were appointed commissioners.

Mr. Andrew Young was detailed from the corps of canal engineers - then employed by the State - to make an instrumental survey of the route from Chillicothe through McArthur and Athens to Marietta. He reported a distance of one hundred and nine miles, and a cost for grading, culverts and bridges of one hundred and fortyseven thousand seven hundred and fifty-six dollars.

The Marietta and Newport turnpike company was organized, and the road built as far as Newport, connecting at that point with the Virginia northwestern turnpike.

Muskingum Slackwater Improvement And Baltimore And Ohio Railroad

Stimulated by the success of the Ohio canal, and a prevailing desire to improve the natural advantages of their position, the people along the Muskingum valley began the agitation of plans to secure State aid, either in the way of a railroad or slackwater improvement of that river. Their interest in that subject was much increased by the hope that they might induce the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad company to look for a terminus of their road upon the Ohio river at the mouth of the Muskingum.

*"A public meeting was held at the court house, January 3, 1835, to consider the question of the improvement of the Muskingum river, and a memorial was prepared and laid before the legislature. A bill was introduced the following winter by Isaac Humphreys, representative from Washington county, ordering the work, and appropriating four hundred thousand dollars

In compliance with the act of the legislature, under the direction of William Wall as acting commissioner, and David Bates as chief engineer, the work for the improvement of the Muskingum river was advertised to be let in the fall of 1836. The successful bidders were G. W. Manypenny, who secured the contract for building the dam at Zanesville; Josiah Spaulding, the lock at the same place; Hosmer, Chapin & Sharp, the dam at Taylorsville; Lyon, Buck & Wolf, the lock at the same place; Arthur Taggert, the lock and dam at Bald Eagle; Hosmer, Chapin & Sharp, the lock and dam at McConnelsville; Arthur Taggert, the lock and dam at Windsor; Lyon, Buck & Wolf, the lock and dam at Luke Chute; John McCune, the dam and canal at Beverly; Arthur Taggert, the lock at the same place; Lyon, Buck & Wolf, the lock at Lowell; Arthur Taggert, the lock and dam at Devols; Hosmer, Chapin & Sharp, the lock and dam at Marietta. The work was commenced in the spring of 1837 and completed in the fall of 1841. The size of the locks was changed from the original plan - which provided that they should be only one hundred and twenty feet long by twenty feet in width - to one hundred and eighty-five feet in length and thirty-six feet in width. Even this size admits only the smaller class of boats that navigate the Ohio. The supervisor and chief engineer, at the commencement and during the first two years progress of the work, was Samuel R. Curtis, a graduate of West Point - a most excellent man, but said to be in a measure deficient in practical knowledge and experience. The members of the several firms were distributed as follows: Mr. Taggert supervised all four of his contracts, Mr. Wolf at Taylorsville lock, Mr. John Buck at Luke Chute, Truton Lyon the lock at Lowell, Colonel Sharp at Taylorsville dam, Stephen R. Hosmer the lock and dam at McConnelsville, Harlow Chapin the Marietta lock and dam. It was considered at the time of the assigning of the different contracts that the dam and lock at Marietta was the most difficult to construct - and justly too - on account of the liability of back water from the Ohio river, and the other members of the firm insisted that Chapin, in consideration of having had the most experience, should perform the work, which was accordingly done.

The total cost of the Marietta or Harmar improvement was one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The contractors all made money; there were no failures.

The commissioner adopted several rules to govern him in disposing of the contracts. One was that he would give no more contracts or jobs than there were members in a firm; another was when a person was the owner of the lands on which a dam and lock was proposed to be built, he (the owner) could, if he so elected, have the contract at the lowest responsible bid. Following this rule the firm of Hosmer, Chapin & Sharp, could have only three contracts, while the firm was the lowest on every contract except the one for building the dam at Zanesville. But the firm had the choice of contracts, and made the choice of Taylorsville dam, McConnels- ville dam and lock, and Marietta lock and dam. A Mr. Proctor was the owner of the land where it was proposed to locate the Lowell dam, and he elected to take the contract at the lowest responsible bid, but did not desire to do the work, but to dispose of or sell his claim out. Mr. Alexander Hill was wanting work, but, unacquainted with such work, hesitated to pay Mr. Proctor his price - five hundred dollars - until he had consulted one of the firm of Hosmer, Chapin & Sharp, and was advised to lose no time in taking Mr. Proctor at his offer, and he did so, thereby securing the contract for the Lowell dam, which must have yielded him not less than twenty thousand dollars profit.

Great expectations were indulged in by the citizens of the Muskingum valley, before and after the beginning of the slack water improvement. Elaborate calculations were made, and spread broadcast along the valley, of the quantity of water power the construction of the dams would furnish, the number of mill stones that the flow of water in the river would furnish motive power to run, the number of barrels of flour that could and would be manufactured and exported. Untold numbers of manufacturing establishments would at once spring into existence, propelled by the abundance of water power; the finances of the State would at no distant day be placed on a firm and reliable basis, from the basis of this vast amount of water power. Added to this the tolls for freight and passengers would yield a revenue sufficient not only to pay the interest on the investment, but to wipe out the entire debt for its construction. These views were entertained by shrewd, conservative business men, while those more enthusiastic could see prosperity untold, with numerous cities, with a teeming population. Such opinions led to unnecessary increase in the expense of construction, and caused serious drawbacks to navigation as for instance, the unnecessary canals at Taylorsville, McConnelsville, Beverly, and Lowell.

Entertaining these extravagant views led to the formation of several companies to profit by the prospects presented for making a fortune. One composed of David Bates the chief engineer, Colonel Augustus Stone, Colonel John Mills, and Mr. Hatch, purchased a large tract of vacant ground in Harmar and laid it out in lots of small dimensions, forced the lock on the Harmar side of the river, where it should not have been, to favor the speculatien; but the speculation was a failure. One other company was formed and purchased the land between the canal and river at a place they named Lowell, with the full expectation and anticipation that it would, in a brief space of time, throw old Lowell, its namesake, entirely in the shade; but the scheme was a failure; and the same may be said of Taylorsville and McConnelsville.

The Muskingum improvement was already in a fair way of being accomplished and was actually commenced before the railroad project really promised to be a success.

In the decision of the first the people had whatever influence could be brought to bear in shaping the legislature of the state of Ohio upon that subject; but upon the other they could exert no positive influence beyond

In 1837 a committee appointed at a county meeting commissioned Judge Cutler to go to Baltimore to confer with Mr. Louis McLane, the president of the Baltimore & Ohio company, with regard to the route of that road which had been built about eighty miles.*

Judge Cutler was again requested by a meeting of citizens held November 30, 1839, to repair immediately to Baltimore and obtain interviews with the board of directors, and seek to impress on the minds of its members the great importance of terminating the road in this section of the Ohio valley.

The two absorbing subjects at that time were the Muskingum improvements on the one hand and the terminus of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad on the other hand.

The efforts of the citizens of Marietta and Washington counties, however, in calling the attention of Baltimore railroad managers to the advantages of a location of their great work upon a line most direct to Cincinnati and St. Louis as well as most accessible to the fertile interior of Ohio was so far successful that earnest efforts were made to secure legislation from the State of Virginia in accordance with that policy. 'The opening for public use of the Cumberland turnpike road to Wheeling had directed the attention of Baltimore merchants to that point on the Ohio river as the only one that would meet their views and interests. The city of Wheeling availed herself of this preference and exerted such an influence with the Virginia legislature that years of controversy were spent in an effort on the part of the more intelligent and far-seeing friends of the Baltimore road to reach the Ohio upon a direct route that would have given to Marietta the full advantage of her position.

Middle Island was the preferred route of those who had listened to representations urged by the agents from Marietta. Then as a next choice was Fishing creek and at one time Fish creek was accepted by the Baltimore managers as a compromise. But Wheeling influence prevailed and the Baltimore & Ohio company were obliged to accept Grave creek, twelve miles below Wheeling, as their point of entrance to the Ohio valley or continue a struggle that promised indefinite delay. WASHINGTON COUNTY AND THE MARIETTA AND CINCIN-

Nati Railroad

A special charter had been granted to the Belper & Cincinnati railroad company in 1845 to build a road to Cincinnati, with terminus on the Ohio river, either at Belpre or Harmar.

The company was organized at Chillicothe, and Washington county interests were represented in the board of directors by N. L. Wilson and William P. Cutler.

As the terminus of the Baltimore & Ohio was then undecided, they. obtained from the legislature - with the consent and approbation of the Belpre & Cincinnati directors the right to extend from Harmar up the Ohio valley to any point so as to connect with any railroad or other improvement that should be built to the Ohio river on the easterly side thereof.

This legislative grant of a right to extend from Harmar up the Ohio valley was procured in accordance with advice received from the manager of the Baltimore & Ohio company, and with their known wishes on that subject.

The following extract from a letter to Hon. W. P. Cutler from Louis McLane, then president of the company, sufficiently indicates their views and fully justifies the efforts made to bring the road to Harmar.

Unless it should be indispensably necessary to prescribe some limit to the extension of your road, it would appear to me most advisable that the right should be obtained to extend it to any point on the Ohio at which the company should determine to connect with our road, or if a limitation be unavoidable, to obtain the right to extend it to any point on the Ohio river not higher up than the mouth of Fish creek. That would enable you certainly to connect with the projected improvement either from that point or Fishing creek, and I have very little doubt that before we finish our road to Wheeling our intersecting road will be authorized from the mouth of Fishing creek.

As the location and construction of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad through the western part of the county, upon what is known as the "old line" has been a subject of much adverse criticism, and is now the occasion of a serious controversy, it is due to all the parties who were in any way responsible for that action, that the facts should be put upon record as they existed at the time when the necessary decisions had to be made. In the first place, it was a very serious undertaking, a very heavy job, to build two hundred miles of railroad across southern Ohio, where the water courses afforded no valleys of any great extent running in the proper direction, but all requiring a railroad line to be carried across and nearly at' right angles to their courses. Second, it required the active and cordial cooperation of all the localities along the route. Third, the only points of any strength that could be brought into harmony with each other and the general object of the enterprise were Marietta, Athens, and Chillicothe, and the respective counties of which they were the county-seats. Gréenfield, Hillsborough, and several smaller towns west of Chillicothe could contribute private, but not municipal aid.

The Belpre and Cincinnati charter, with Harmar as an available terminus, and with subsequent right of extension up the Ohio valley, so as to meet the views expressed in President McLane's letter as above quoted, made a cooperation of all the above named interests possible.

The first effort to build was by placing twenty-four miles between Chillicothe and Greenfield, and eleven miles east of Chillicothe under contract. This was soon followed by a second contract, extending to Byres station on the east and Blanchester on the west. At the date of these contracts the control of the company was in the hands of directors from Athens, Ross, and Highland counties. Washington county had but two representatives on the board, Messrs. Wilson and Cutler. The contract entered into would require at least three million dollars to complete them. The means applicable were three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in municipal subscription to stock from Ross county and Chillicothe, and two hundred thousand dollars in private subscriptions between Chillicothe and Blanchester.

The road had really taken a leap in the dark when they ventured upon such large obligations with so slender support. But the more difficult problem to be solved was the extension from Byers station, a distance of seventy-five miles, to the Ohio river, over the most rough and expensive portion of the whole route, and for which they had at that time only a pledge of one hundred thousand dollars, voted by Athens county.

It was at this crisis and under these circumstances that municipal subscriptions were offered from Washington county, Marietta and Harmar, amounting to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and from individuals amounting to fifty thousand dollars, provided the company would locate and build their road through the western part of the county.

In addition to this offer of four hundred thousand dollars, the promise was held out by the citizens of Washington county that they would undertake to enlist a Philadelphia interest to take the place of the expected connection up the Ohio valley with the Baltimore & Ohio road, as that company had been forced, by the influence of Wheeling, to confine its terminus on the Ohio to that point.

This promise was subsequently fulfilled by subscriptions of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars by the Pennsylvania railroad company and two hundred and fifty thousand dollars by the city of Wheeling to the common stock of the company.

It was found that the credit of mortgage bonds would be greatly enhanced by a through connection over the Pennsylvania road to Philadelphia and New York. The progress of surveys and locations on the Baltimore & Ohio line had developed grades of one hundred and sixteen feet to the mile, or long plains with shortest practicable curves.

The commerce of Baltimore at that time was not such as to impart any confidence that western products would seek that seaport over a line of road that was regarded as well nigh impracticable.

It was also ascertained that a practicable route could be obtained from Marietta eastward to Baltimore, by bridging the Ohio river in that vicinity to Williamstown, in Virginia, thence by way of Cow creek to Grafton, on the main stem of the Baltimore & Ohio road. A charter was secured to cover this route, and careful surveys made by the Independence railroad company proved that the through line from the seaboard to the great west could be built through Marietta and along the route of the old line several miles shorter than through Belpre and along the Hocking valley.

As the case then stood, when the question of a choice as between Belpre and Harmar came up for decision, the controlling facts on one side were, first, an offer of four hundred thousand dollars from Washington county, conditioned upon the road being built through Boston township; second, one million dollars from the Pennsylvania railroad company and city of Wheeling, on same condi tion; third, a route vza Williamstown and Harmar, as between Baltimore and Cincinnati, shorter and cheaper than the one through Belpre and along the Hocking valley; fourth, the additional advantage of a seaboard route directly to Philadelphia and New York over grades of fifty-two feet per mile as compared with those on the Baltimore & Ohio line; fifth, a credit thus imparted to the mortgage securities of the road by the virtual indorsement of the scheme in large subscription to its stock by the Pennsylvania, then standing at the head of American railroads. In the opposite scale was laid one hundred thousand dollars voted by Athens county with assurance of as much more, all applicable to either route.

Appeals had been made both to Parkersburgh and the president of the Baltimore & Ohio company for aid in case the Belpre terminus should be adopted, but no encouragement whatever was given that any money could be expected from those sources. The conclusion reached at that time was quite unanimous by the board of directors of the Belpre & Cincinnati company - although the sympathies of all the members except the two from Washington county were strongly enlisted in favor of a direct connection through Belpre with Baltimore alone. But they all felt that even to have continued the work already under contract would have been little less than a swindle upon there own people, unless additional means equivalent to that which Washington county offered could be secured. The only alternative in the mind of any sane man at the time was to accept the proffered aid or abandon the enterprise at once.

Upon the actual acceptance of the Washington county subscription - based upon a contract between the municipal authorities and the railroad campany to locate and construct their road through Barlow township - Messrs. John Mills and Douglass Putnam were elected directors. Messrs. Beman Gates and W. S. Nye became members soon after, thus giving to Washington county six out of the nineteen members of the board. The name of the company was also changed to that of Marietta & Cincinnati railroad company.

The burden of the enterprise rested upon their shoulders from that time forward. The western members very soon secured the object of their most earnest efforts by having the line from Blanchester to the western limits of the Vinton county coal fields brought within the limits of certainty by the progress of grading and a favorable purchase of rails. They were, therefore, quite willing that the Washington county men shonld assume the active execution of a policy which they had devised and urged upon the board's acceptance. While, therefore, the cooperation of the western members, including those from Athens, was most cordial and at all times valuable, the active labors of planning and urging forward the work devolved mainly upon the Washington county members.

direct route to Baltimore, but a still more valuable one to Philadelphia, the credit of the mortgage as well as municipal bonds did acquire a high value. Most favorable contracts were effected in England for rails, and the extra line from Blanchester to Wheeling was soon under contract in the hands of contractors of the highest standing in ability and experience.

A force of six thousand men and teams was soon at work with every prospect of consummating the high hopes that had become universally inspired, as to the complete success of the whole scheme.

But in 1854, after four years of most unremitting toil, and just as success seemed to be a question of only a short interval of time, a storm burst upon the managers from a quarter least expected, from which no human foresight could have protected them, and from a source entirely foreign to the enterprise.

The financial agents of the company in New York soon gave warning that sales of bonds were diminishing. Monthly payments for work in progress had reached the large sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per month. Advances were earnestly sought so as to keep contractors at work, but very soon all sales ceased and there was no alternative but to discharge every man and team from the line.

This disaster could not in any way be charged upon the enterprise itself, or upon the policy that had given it sO promising a start. As the court proved, that policy was the basis of recuperation and reconstruction.

Mr. Wilson undertook to negotiate sale of mortgage bonds in Europe and succeeded in organizing a syndicate to take a large amount based upon and connected with a purchase of seven thousand acres of mineral lands in Vinton county. It was a condition of the bond purchase that the shops should be located at Zaleski. The bond purchasers laid out that town on a large scale and named it after a Polish nobleman who had taken a large. amount of the bonds.

In the meantime other members of the board succeeded in making a home market for a large amount of domestic bonds along the line to contractors and others interested in the completion of the road.

Messrs. Gates and Nye devoted their personal oversight and attention to the reorganization of the abandoned work and its prosecution between Byres and the Ohio river. The labor was performed - much of it in the winter - amidst all the difficulties and discouragements resulting from so serious a downfall - and was made doubly important from the fact that many subscriptions to domestic bonds had been made payable upon condition that the track should reach certain points at fixed times.

The labors and struggles of that period if fully presented would form and interesting chapter of personal devotion, untiring effort and skilful management on the part of the eastern members, and of cordial support by those who had sooner realized in part the expectations of the people, by having secured some running road.

But another storm had gathered its force and was ready to burst upon the heads of the directors, almost as soon as they had reached a temporary resting place upon the banks of the Ohio river.

In the fall of 1857 the failure of the Ohio Life and Trust company involved nearly every newly or partly finished railroad in the west in such financial embarrassment that bankruptcy was a general result.

In urging the work forward the directors had incurred personal liabilities amounting to over two hundred thousand dollars. This load of indebtedness was distributed among the thirteen members of the road, and when the crash came they found that all the securities that had a cash value had been absorbed, leaving them only some third mortgage bonds and scraps of real estate - none of which could be readily converted into money. The advance of money or personal credits on the part of the directors was absolutely necessary to get the track through to Marietta. Without it that object could not have been attained.

This second disaster, however, did discourage or prevent further effort. Foreign holders of securities forced the road into the hands of a receiver - but steps were at once taken to reorganize the company by exchanging all indebtedness for stock, so that in 1860 a complete reorganization had been effected. During this interval a line was built from Scott's Landing to Belpre so as to make an "all rail" route over the Baltimore & Ohio road, and thus displace a water link which had proved almost fatal to through traffic.

From the time of the reorganization up to 186% the management of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad was almost exclusively in the hands of Washington county men. During that time money was raised to complete a large portion of the unfinished work on the eastern division, and an independent line was built from Loveland into Cincinnati through Madisonville, thus securing close connections with all western roads and the right of common use with the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Louisville road of the passenger depot on Plum street.

At no time, however, has it been found practicable to resume the work between Harmar and Wheeling. The result has been that the Baltimore & Ohio company had a complete control over all through traffic and the policy was to patronize a barge line on the Ohio river from Parkersburgh, while their '"'all rail" business was done over the Central Ohio through Bellair. Local business alone was not sufficient to maintain the road and pay interest on the bonds that had been issued to build into Cincinnati and complete other portions of the road. Aid was sought from the Baltimore & Ohio managers in 1868. This was extended only upon condition of absolute control over the Marietta & Cincinnati road.

During the twelve years that the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad has been under an exclusively Baltimore control, the policy has been to devote its tracks and equipments mainly to an inter-State traffic between western grain fields and the elevator in Baltimore. It is only by succeeding in this effort that Baltimore can ever expect to retain her foreign shipping, and become a large commercial centre upon the Atlantic railroad.

This effort has forced the railroad managers to propose this through traffic at very low rates, in order to compete successfully with water routes and competing railroad lines.

In order to make up for lack of profit on the inter- State business, the highest rates have been charged upon local. 'The effect of this has been to discourage business enterprise along the route of the Marietta & Cincinnati road, and has forced the people of Marietta, Athens, Chillicothe, Greenfield, Jackson - all the strong points along the line - to build roads that would give them respectively outlets to other and competing railroads.

As a result of this entire policy, which has been on trial during the twelve years past, a complete wreck has been made of all the securities of the Marietta and Cincinnati road, as will be seen by the following statement, showing earnings, deficits and interest paid for borrowed money, copied from annual reports on file in office of railroad commissioners in Columbus.

This statement is made up by the difference between operating expenses, taxes, rentals, interest on floating debts, and other strictly general payments, and gross earnings for each year:

The road has been in the hands of a receiver for about three years. His report made October 31, 1880, states that there are past due coupons on mortgage bonds, amounting to three million four hundred and twentyseven thousand five hundred dollars, and says: 'It cannot be expected that those arrearages can ever be paid, or that the company will ever be able to pay the excessive rates of interest accruing on its present funded debt, and

In order to save ten miles in distance, the Baltimore managers built thirty miles of new road along Hocking valley to Belpre, and have abandoned the use of that portion of their road that was built through the western portion of Washington county, upon the route fixed by contract between the municipal authorities of the county and the company, in 1862, now known as the '"'old line." The rental annually paid on the new road - the Baltimore short line - is about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. During over six years that it has been used, it has absorbed nearly one million dollars of the earnings, while the bondholders are shown annual deficits. Such have been the results to the owners of the property from devoting the road to through traffic for the benefit of Baltimore city, while Washington county is wantonly deprived of that which cost the people in subscriptions, advances and taxes about one million four hundred thousand dollars. The people have appealed to the Legislature for relief and court aid to compel the railroad company to perform its duties to the public.

The Cleveland And Marietta Railroad

The history of the enterprise which resulted in the building of this road is one of numerous failures. The company as originally organized was known as the Marietta & Pittsburgh railroad company, and it was brought into being for the purpose of of constructing a road from Marietta to Dennison, Tuscarawas county, passing through the counties of Washington, Noble, Guernsey, Harrison, and Tuscarawas. 'The certificate of organization was filed September 29, 1868, and the first meeting of the stockholders, pursuant to a call of the corporators, was held December 8, 1868, at the First National bank of Marietta. The original corporators were William H. Frazier of Caldwell, William Glidden of Noble county, William C. Okey, W. P. Cutler, and R. R. Dawes. The stockholders elected the following gentlemen as the first directors of the company, viz; W. P. Cutler, A. J. Warner, and R. R. Dawes, of Washington county, William Frazier, of Noble, Isaac Morton, Thomas Greene and William Lawrence of Guernsey. At a meeting of the directors held upon the same day William P. Cutler was chosen president, and R. R. Dawes, secretary. At the second meeting, held February 18, 1869, A. J. Warner resigned his place as director of the company and became, with James McArthur, party to a contract to construct the road from Marietta to Caldwell, a distance of thirtythree miles, the original purpose being to purchase the nearest good coal fields. They agreed to build the road for about seventeen thousand dollars per mile, taking their pay in the stock subscriptions and bonds of the road. The contract was made and submitted February 18, 1869, and the directors were ordered to place a mortgage upon the road and issue bonds to the amount of fifteen thousand dollars per mile. Construction was commenced in the summer of 1869. On June 30th the company was authorized to issue a mortgage of one million five hundred thousand dollars, it having been arranged to extend the construction from Caldwell to Dennison or some other point to connect with the ''Pan Handle" or

Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis railway. Of these bonds five hundred thousand dollars were to be used in payment for building that part of the road between Marietta and Caldwell already under contract. This action by the board of directors was ratified by the stockholders July 1, 1870. At the annual meeting of the stockholders December 14, 1870. It appears from the president's report that six miles of track had been laid. The grading was completed to Caldwell, and cross ties furnished for nearly the whole of the line. It was shown that the sum of one hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine dollars had been expended by the company, which by this time was largely in debt to the contractors.

At this meeting a new board of directors was elected, viz: William P. Cutler, R. R. Dawes, Samuel Shipman, James Dutton, of Washington county, William H. Frazier and David McKee of Noble. This board organized by the election of Mr. Cutler as president, Mr. Frazier as vice-president, Samuel Shipman as treasurer, and J. A. Kingsbury as secretary.

Up to this time no effort had been made to carry out the company's plan of extending the line north of Caldwell. Ata meeting of the directors, May 1, 1871, the following resolution was adopted:

Resolved, That we deem it advisable to take the necessary steps at once toward extending our line northward from Caldwell, and that W. Richardson and Samuel Shipman be a committee to take all preliminary and necessary steps to attain that effect.

At the same meeting Mr. Warner submitted a proposition on behalf of the firm of Warner & McArthur, proposing to build the extension contemplated, and a resolution was passed authorizing the company to enter into a contract with them, the company agreeing to furnish the right of way. An agreement was executed on the twelfth of June following. The contractors immediately began the work of locating the line through to Newcomerstown, which point had finally been selected as the place of junction. At a meeting held November 30, 1871, the northern terminus of the road had been changed from Newcomerstown to Canal Dover, Tuscarawas county, and the contractors were given authority to take subscriptions in the name of the county, and to enter into contract, for rights of way. By this time the road was completed and rolling stock was moving over it between Marietta and Caldwell. Conductor P. M. Snyder, at present in the employ of the company, had the honor of running the first train over the road - from Marietta to Whipple, fourteen miles - on the first day of April, 1871.

On the first day of January, 1872, the fourth annual meeting of the company was held, and the following directors were chosen, viz: A. J. Warner, Samuel Shipman, W. Richardson, W. H. Frazier, Isaac Morton, A, Wilhelmi, and William P. Cutler.

A. J. Warner was chosen president, and from this time on almost the entire responsibility of the affairs of the company rested upon him. The company had become largely in arrears to the contractors, being unable to collect subscriptions fast enough to pay for the construction.

Arrangements were made with the several counties to provide subscriptions of stock to a given amount and to furnish right of way as conditioned prior to entering upon the construction of the road in them. the line was definitely located between Caldwell and Canal Dover a branch was projected to run from Liberty, Guernsey county, via Coshocton, to Mansfield, to be known as the Northwest Extension, which it was intended should become the main line. A considerable amount of money was subscribed, and county and township aid was voted to this line, but before work could be begun the panic of 1873 overtook the company and put an end to operations. Prior to this, however, Mr. Warner had negotiated the first mortgage bonds through parties in New York city and Amsterdam, which enabled the company to prosecute their work vigorously through the season of 1872.

February 11, 1873, the annua] meeting for that year was held. The old board of directors was continued in. office, with the exception of Mr. Richardson, whose place was filled by T. W. Ewart. During this year the name of the company was changed to that of the Marietta, Pittsburgh & Cleveland railway company; the " Marietta city branch" was built, affording connection with the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad at Front street; and a consolidated mortgage was authorized to be issued for the purpose of providing additional funds, and taking up the mortgage previously issued.

It may be remarked, that during the summer of 1873 the work of construction was pushed ahead with all of the rapidity possible. Most of the grading was done, ties provided, and the line was got in readiness for the laying of iron, except in the construction of the tunnels, of which four were proposed between Caldwell and Canal Dover. One of these it was necessary to complete before cars could be run on the road. On this tunnel, south of Newcomerstown, work was carried on night and day for several months. In order to hasten the track laying and get the road into running order the three other summits were crossed by steep grades and zig-zags. Progress, however, was considerably delayed, and the company and contractors were embarrassed by the tardiness of subscribers in paying the money they had promised, and the difficulty in selling bonds. But by employing every energy at their command and using their own funds the contractors pushed the road forward until the panic came on. The track was then laid nearly to Cambridge, from the south, and most of the way from Canal Dover to Newcomerstown, upon the north, but none of the road had been ballasted and the cuts and embankments were new and required constant attention. At this juncture it became a serious question whether it was possible to complete the line or whether it must be abandoned, Bonds could not be negotiated, and it was almost impossible to make any further collections on stock subscriptions. The floating debt was large and pressing.

Up to this time Mr. Warner was not personally involved beyond the direct obligations he had assumed as contractor in building the road. The construction of the road came to a halt. Mr. Warner, knowing. that along the line not only lose all of the money they had paid in, but also lose the road, determined to carry the project through, even if he did so at the expense of heavily involving himself, personally. In February, 1874, he went to Europe, and after some time spent there succeeded in effecting a negotiation whereby the first bonds were substituted by the new consolidated bonds and additional funds provided for carrying on the work. The business of the road, however, which was largely dependent upon the development of the coal and iron field, came to a standstill, furnaces 'blowing out" and rolling milis "shutting down." The road was left by these causes without sufficient earnings to pay the interest on the bonds. This complication of troubles, being supplemented and aggravated by an unparaleled flood in Duck creek, which did great damage along the southern part of the line, made it necessary to apply for a receiver. On August 5, 1875, A. J. Warner was appointed to this position by Judge Marsh of the Guernsey county court of common pleas. The road was operated by the receiver from this time until June 13, 1877, when it was sold under order of the court, Cyrus W. Field, John Paton, and Isaac Morton becoming the purchasers as trustves for the bondholders. 'The trustees conducted the business of the road until May 1, 1880, when, in accordance with an agreement made by the bondholders, the road was transferred to the new organization, the Cleveland & Marietta railroad company, a corporation duly formed under the State law, and having for directors Isaac Morton, of Cambridge; Douglass Putnam, of Marietta; Stanley Mathews, Larz Anderson, F. H. Short, and Charles W. West, of Cincinnatti; Cyrus W. Field, Charles Lanier, and John Paton of New York city; C. D. Willard, of Washington, District of Columbia; and S. C. Baldwin, of Cleveland. These directors elected Isaac Morton, president and treasurer, and S. C. Baldwin, vice-president and secretary.

The road was incomplete when it came into the hands of the trustees and they spent large amounts in building trestles, repairing bridges and tunnels, etc., their expenses charged to this account being in excess of the earnings of the road. It may be remarked that the same is in a large measure true of the operation of the road under its present management.

The reign of prosperity which has succeeded the long period of universal depression, the consequent development of the rich resources of the country through which the Cleveland & Marietta railroad passes, and the continuance of good management in the same line of policy as that which has obtained during the past three years, there can be no doubt, will make the line in the not far distant future, what it never yet has been, a paying property. Already the business has been very largely increased, and a contemplated connection with Cleveland by the new valley road, which, unlike the lines by which outlet isnow obtained, has no interests conflicting with the Cleveland and Marietta railroad, seems to be all that is necessary to make the business of this line all that may be desired. The shipments of coal, iron ore, and petroleum must in the future be very large. For the year ending June 30, 1880, they are largely in excess of those for 1877. In the latter year seventy thousand tons of coal were carried, to only seventeen thousand tons of the former year, and a smaller proportionate increase is shown in the amount of oil carried. In 1877 it was only twenty-nine thousand tons; in the year ending in June, 1880, it was fifty-one thousand tons. 'Twenty-one thousand tons of iron ore were carried in the last fiscal year, and none in 1877. As the production of these staples increases, as it is now doing and seems destined to, increase in freightage must correspond. Agriculturally, too, the country is growing richer, more abundant crops being secured through the enrichment of the hill coal lands with phosphates. The chief inducement to build the road was the mineral deposits extending almost the whole length of the line. The road was carefully located with reference to the best and most easily available ores and coal, and its development of the mineral resources was all that was ever claimed for it by its projectors and builders. The line crosses the entire outcrop of the great Appalachian coal-field. No other road in Ohio or elsewhere passes through larger or better deposits of coal or iron.

The road, too, has opened a district before without railroad communication and has given an outlet to a number of interior towns formerly isolated. It also gave to Cambridge and Newcomerstown the full benefit of competition. One especial advantage which the road secured to Marietta, and one which saved its people many thousands of dollars every year, was the opening of communication between the city by the river and the valuable coal fields, which has operated to materially reduce the price of coal.

'There has been a noteworthy freedom from accident upon this road, even from the first, but during the time when the road was operated by the trustees, from June, 1877, up to June of 1880, no passenger has been killed upon the line, and accidents of all kinds were reduced to the minimum. The total length of the main line is about one hundred miles. A large part of this is ballasted with stone and quite a number of miles with coal slack. It is kept in excellent condition through constant watchfulness. The road is under the direct management of S. C. Baldwin, vice-president and secretary, and J. C. Kingsbury, who has been connected with the road from its establishment, is the master of transportation.