Ohio History Journal
OHIO RAILROADS.
BY R. S. KAYLER,
STATE COMMISSIONER OF RAILROADS.
Ohio was among the first of the States
to commence the
building of railroads. As early as 1832, when there
were but
two hundred and twenty-nine miles of
railroad in operation in
the United States, a special charter was
granted by the State of
Ohio for the construction of a railroad
to extend from Sandusky,
Huron County, to Dayton, Montgomery
County, a distance of
one hundred and fifty-six miles. The
road was completed as
far as Bellevue, sixteen miles, and put
into operation in 1839.
The balance of the road was not
completed and put into oper-
ation until 1844. It is now a part of
the "Big Four" system.
In order to aid this enterprise, special
acts were passed by
the Ohio Legislature authorizing the
State to loan its credit
to the amount of $200,000, and also
authorizing some of the
counties through which the road was to
pass to subscribe cer-
tain amounts, ranging from $25,000 to
$60,000 toward the cap-
ital stock of the company. The city of
Springfield was also
authorized to subscribe $25,000.
Another road was projected in 1832, the
Kalamazoo and
Erie, to extend from Toledo, Ohio, to
Adrian, Michigan, thirty-
three miles. A company was formed in
1835 and the road was
completed the following year, this being
really the first road
constructed in the State.
Oak stringers, covered with strap iron,
five-eighths of an
inch in thickness and two and one-half
inches in width, were
used for track in place of rails. The
road was first put into oper-
ation by means of horse power in 1836,
and continued in that
primitive way one year, when a
locomotive was purchased and
steam power was used thereafter.
In October, 1837, a contract was made
with the United
States government for carrying the mail.
(189)
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190 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
The first passenger cars were of a very crude pattern, a sort of a double-deck affair, built somewhat after the style of the body of an old stage coach, and having seating capacity for twenty-four persons. The first engine was built similar to the road engines that are now used for thresher engines, and weighed about ten tons, including water and coal tanks loaded. Speed for passenger was less than ten miles per hour, and less than one-half that for freight. The passenger rate was four and one-half cents per mile, and one and one-fourth cents per hundred weight per mile for freight, or twenty-five cents per ton per mile. |
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Very few miles of railroad were built in this country by any of the States until after 1848. The average number of miles con- structed in the United States from 1835 to 1848 was but three hundred and eighty per year, and there were but five thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six miles in operation in this country up to the latter date. During the year 1848 a road was completed across the State from Cincinnati to Lake Erie, two hundred and eleven miles. In 1851 the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati road, two hun- dred and sixty-three miles, was completed and put into operation from Cincinnati to Cleveland. The Erie road reached the lake the same year, extending across a part of the State; and a por- tion of the Cleveland and Pittsburg was put into operation this |
Ohio Railroads. 191
year, the charter for which had been
granted in 1836. Small
stretches of road were built here and
there in different parts of
the State at different times, and
finally were connected up and
reorganized into systems, as they exist
today.
We had (June 30, 1899) ninety-nine
railroad and railway
companies incorporated under the laws of
Ohio, ninety-five of
which are in operation, and four in
process of construction.
Seventy of these corporations are
entirely within the State, and
twenty-five are incorporated under the
laws of Ohio and adjoin-
States. They are operated as follows:
Sixty companies operate the ninety-five
corporations.
Seven foreign companies operate
twenty-seven corporations
under lease or contract.
Four inter-State lines operate, in
addition to their own
roads, seven corporations, under lease
or contract.
Seven State corporations operate, in
addition to their own
lines, eight corporations.
Eight inter-State and thirty-four state
lines operate simply
their own individual roads.
Ohio had at the close of the fiscal
year, June 30, 1899,
8,767.27 miles of main line road and
4,619.08 miles of all other
tracks, making a total of 13,386.35
miles, with a total cost of
road and equipment of $644,355,840.29.
The main line is repre-
sented by $371,353,547.35 capital stock,
with a bonded indebted-
ness of $314,712,947.19. They gave
employment last year (1899)
to 57,114 persons, and paid them in
wages $32,076,046.35. They
transported 22,028,152 passengers, at an
average cost of 2.4 cents
per passenger per mile; 104,537,103 tons of
freight at an average
cost of 1.3 cents per ton per mile;
earning $72,369,848.68 in gross
receipts.
They expended on road and equipment
$4,200,054.04. Paid
into the State treasury in taxes
$3,048,541.70; paid $11,336,123.99
interest on bonded indebtedness, and
$5,553,963.35 in dividends
to stockholders.
They used in their service 5,410
locomotives, which con-
sumed during the year 3,955,327 tons of
coal for fuel; 4,080 pas-
senger cars and 227,771 freight cars
were used to do the business
to the roads.
192 Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.
In order to appreciate the progress that
has been made in
the railroad business in Ohio one must
contrast a track made
of wooden rails covered with strap iron
with modern "T" rails
made of steel, weighing 100 pounds to
the yard; wooden bridges.
set on wooden piling, driven into the
earth with steel bridges set
on best of stone masonry; double-deck
coaches, built like an
old-fashioned stage coach with modern
vestibule and Pullman
palace cars; a small ten-ton engine,
built like a modern thresher
engine, with a 280-ton engine with a
tank capacity of 7,000 gal-
lons of water and ten tons of coal, with
a hauling capacity of
2,000 tons up a grade of 42 feet to the
mile at a much higher rate
of speed than the first engines were
able to make on a level; a
wooden freight car, ten ton capacity,
with a car made entirely of
steel, with a capacity of 50 tons. And
finally, an engine and a
couple of cars, coupled together with
link and pin, braking done
entirely by hand, lumbering along at a
speed of about ten miles.
per hour, with a service each way once
in twenty-four hours,
with a train of thirteen cars, each a
palace within itself, with
every convenience, coupled together with
automatic coup-
lers, which admit of the smallest amount
of slack, and handled
entirely by air brakes, running at a
speed of a mile a minute, and
so smoothly that the great speed is
hardly perceptible to the
passengers, with service in either
direction, in the most densely
populated districts, every half hour.