Whetstone Township (part 5 of 5)

It was Feb. 8, 1832, that the legislature of Ohio passed an act incorporating the Delaware, Marion and Sandusky Railroad, and among the incorporators were E. B. Merriman, Zalmon Rowse and Henry St. John. It was a time when there was a craze for railroad building all over the state, and, like dozens of other roads incorporated at that time, nothing came of it. Nearly sixty years passed and all the original projectors had long since moldered into dust when on April 12, 1889, practically the same road was again incorporated as the Columbus, Shawnee and Hocking. By the close of the year twelve miles of the road had been built from Sandusky to Bellevue, and this twelve miles on the right of way where fifty years previous the Mad River road had run its cars on scrap iron rails. The route had been abandoned by the Mad River road in the fifties for a new route from Sandusky to Clyde. But the northern twelve miles of the C. S. and H. (the Short Line) is the roadbed where first ran the first cars on the first real railroad in the state of Ohio.

The work on the C. S. and H. was pushed rapidly from both ends of the line, and it was on Sunday, Dec. 4, 1892, at 12:15 noon, that the last connecting rail was laid that joined the lines. This rail was at the north end of the trestle in Bucyrus. Although the road was completed as far as track-laying was concerned, there was still much to be done in the way of preparing the road bed, and securing the rolling stock, and it was on Monday, April 17, 1893, that the first regular trains began

This was the last railroad built in Crawford county, with its well ballasted track, heavy steel rails, monster locomotives, and handsomely furnished, easily riding cars. Everything was new and modern and presented the strongest contrast to the track and equipment of the pioneer days of railroading. It was Monday, April 17, the train went through, representative of the highest type of railroad development, and three days later, on April 20th, the contrast came. A great exposition was to be opened at Chicago (one year late) to commemorate the discovery of America by Columbus, 401 years previous, and the first locomotive ever brought to America was to pass through Bucyrus. Over a thousand school children and double that number of citizens were at the station, when the little locomotive, the "John Bull," hardly larger than a traction engine, pulling its two small cars, came round the bend, puffing and blowing as if it appreciated the full measure of its responsibility. It came up to the station very slowly, through two dense ranks of people, who crowded both sides of the track, leaving only room for it to pass. It looked small and it looked old, and even the veteran pioneers present had become so accustomed to the modern trains that they too were astonished at the smallness and crudeness of the engine and coaches, that in their early day they had regarded as a wonder and a marvel in the science of transportation.*

*In 1876, this little engine, the "John Bull," was discovered among the old junk in the Pennsylvania shops; it was repaired and exhibited at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and later presented to the United States government. Prior to 1830 experiments had been made in England with more or less success with locomotives to be propelled by steam. In 1830, Robert L. Stevens, the founder of the Camden & Amboy road, saw the "Rocket" in England, the invention of George Stevenson, and he ordered one built for shipment to this country. The engine was built, shipped to America, and named the "John Bull." It arrived in Philadelphia in August, 183 1. When it was finally put together it was placed on a track, specially built for its trial; the boiler was filled with water from a hogshead ; a fire of pine wood was lighted in the furnace, and at the mdication of thirty pounds of steam pressure, the young engineer named Dripps, nervous- with excitement, opened the throttle, and the first locomotive in America moved over the rails. One of the little old cars had been purchased in 1868 bv a farmer living near South

When the train stopped, men and boys and women and girls crowded around the little cars, -and went inside, finding them so low that a tall man must stoop. Common wooden seats ran along the sides; there were little windows, placed there only to give light, so high that one must stand up or kneel upon the seat to look out. These windows could not be opened; there were no lights for after night, so when the shades of evening fell, the passengers rode in darkness. The engine weighed ten tons, and was the same as when it first ran in America, except that it had been changed from wood to coal fuel. The tender had a capacity of about a ton of coal, and the water tank about 1500 gallons of water. The water was sufficient for thirty miles, but the coal would last for ninety miles. The boiler was 13 feet long, and 3 feet 6 inches in diameter. The cylinders were 9 by 20 inches. There were two drive wheels on each side, 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter, with cast iron hubs and wooden felloes. On top of the tender at the rear was a contrivance resembling a poke bonnet; it was called the "gig top," and here sat the forward brakeman on the lookout for approaching trains, and also to signal the rear brakeman should occasion require. He worked the brakes on the locomotive and tender by means of a lever which extended up between his knees. There was no bell cord or gong to the locomotive and all communication between the brakeman and engineer was by word of mouth. He kept by him a few soft clods which carefully aimed, attracted the attention of the engineer if hasty communication was necessary.

Amboy, the Camden and Amboy road having thrown it into discard. The farmer removed it to his place and used it as a chicken-coop. It housed the chickens until a representative of the Pennsylvania road looking for curiosities, ran across it, and entered into negotiations for its purchase. The thrifty farmer discovered that lapse of time had endowed his hen-coop with an unexpected value, and he demanded and received a price which represented more than compound interest on his original purchase, and although the hens were left homeless, the farmer looked out for himself by building a new residence with all modern improvements from the proceeds of his sale. The second car had not so romantic a history. It was found years previously in a lumber yard in a New Jersey town, and a farsighted Pennsylvania official had secured it as a relic, believing the day might come when it would have a value as a curiosity.

160,000 pounds, easily drew its long line of parlor cars and sleepers, and diner, all fitted with every modern improvement and filled with the officers and guests of the Pennsylvania company. From Philadelphia to Chicago this finest locomotive of modern construction restrained its power, followed its wheezing ancestor, decrepit with age, as if it were exercising a fatherly and protecting care over him which it no doubt was.

At Bucyrus, the train was joined by representatives of the Journal and Telegraph, the Forum and the Courier. The Journal sent their veteran editor, John Hopley, who in 1842, had come as far west as Pittsburg on just such a train, and with him the youngest member of the firm, J. W. Hopley, as representatives of the past and the present. They rode in one of the- ancient coaches as far as Upper Sandusky, jarred and jolted in the springless car, kneeling on the seat occasionally to glance from the window, and when Upper Sandusky was reached both youth and age preferred comfort to novelty, and as far as they were concerned the little train, once the pride of the road, and once the acme of perfection in traveling, was left to jog on its slow way alone, while they-found all the comforts of travel in the palatial cars of the modern train. The speed of both trains was of course governed by the motive power of the John Bull and it took nine hours to go from Bucyrus to Ft. Wayne, being a trifle over 14 miles an hour.

On Nov. 12, 1891, the commissioners of the county granted a franchise for the building of an electric road from Galion to Bucyrus, to be known as the Suburban Electric Railway Company. The financial depression of 1893 put a stop to all improvement investments, but later the matter was again taken up, and the work of building commenced at Gabon, and gradually extending to Bucyrus. On Aug. 26, 1899, a regular train service was started from Galion as far as the T. & O. C. tracks at Bucyrus, and on September ir, the track had been completed to the Public Square, and there was a half-hourly service between the county seat and the metropolis of the county. Although the two cities had a combined population of about 14,000 the business did not justify so frequent a service and it was soon reduced to hourly trains. Later the road was extended to Crestline, and the following year to Mansfield, and it became the Cleveland, Southwestern and Columbus Railway Company, with through trains from Cleveland to Bucyrus. The headquarters of the motive power and the car barns are at Galion.

In 1894 an electric road was projected from Columbus to Cleveland, by way of Delaware, Marion and Galion. The latter city took little interest in the road so Bucyrus took the matter up, and Frank L. Hopley had the builder of the road, John G. Webb, of Springfield, visit Bucyrus, and after a consultation with J. B. Gormly, W. C. Lemert, George Dennenwirth and others, the road was incorporated as the Columbus, Marion and Bucyrus Electric Railway, and on Aug. 5, 1905, James B. Gormly was elected one of the directors of the new road. Owing to the high prices at which land was held much time was consumed in securing a right of way, but the Marion road was finally decided upon, and the work of construction commenced. On Monday, Aug. 10, 1908, regular trains started from the south end of Poplar street, and the first through passenger to Columbus was County Treasurer George W. Miller, who took the first car to make his settlement with the state treasurer. There was difficulty over the route through Bucyrus, but the matter was finally settled, and on Oct. 27, the track laying reached the Public Square, E. B. Monnett and Charles Roberts driving the last spikes which made the connecting link at Bucyrus of an electric line from Cleveland to Cincinnati.

The following table shows the amount of trackage in the various townships in the county, and their value as placed on the tax duplicate. Also the appraised value of the various roads in the county. The total valuation of all property on tax duplicate in the county is $52,453,120, and of this $8,758,680 is rail- roads. Jefferson township fares best, as its entire valuation on the tax duplicate is $2,190,- 840, and of this nearly half, $981,770 is railroad property.