, 1870-06-25
THE RAILROAD CONTROVERSY.



OF tho Peanut War.
From. The Ee,o FORK Tribune, June =.
Now that the Etie braves have dug up the
Ratchet, assumed the sz-paint, and struck
the tail, sststement ok ths origin Of tho fsud
between ths rival roads may be OF interest to
the public.
In 1851, the Nav York L Eric Railroad Com
pany, having in contemplation the eongtruo-
ton Of = rzifosd from Dunki1k 70 tho PENN
sylvania State line, and the Buffalo and State
Line Rai]road, passing through -Duukirk and
running to the State Ene paral1al with tha.pro-
posed road Of Erie md only forty miles from
It, entered into contract, to which the New
York Central was Also party, whareby it was
agreed that it Was best for tho interests Of
ail concerned that but one rusdhahould run
West between those points, which should
be- 30 constructed and managed aa,ato
equally promote the interests Of and be juat
and impartial betweenstho EIle and Central.
That therefore the -Duu6rk i state Line
Company should discontinue their orgauizs-
ton, abandon the construction Of their road
and ftrxnsfer Ill their property to the Buffalo
Il State Line Road. At that etime, ~ now,
the Ere was six,feet gauge road and the
gauge of the Buffalo d Aochester four feet
eight and ona-haH inches.- By that contract
compEomtae gauge Was agreed upon tor the
inches. The New York and Ere subsequently
failed and went into liquidation, and from its
sshee, Pbunix like, the present CORPORATION
arpse. The gauge Of the State Line Road was
then altered to four feet nine and one-quArter
inches, and Tie cars ot The Central provided
running over both gauges, which they still do.
In 1858 the Centra1, eRuha1o and Rochester,
and ali the roads n far east ~ Albany, ,consol-
dated, md in 1853 the Hudaon h7ar Road
entered the coalition aud the whole corpora
tion became tho New York Central. Prior,
t~e4 An$ $f1n1 1n@&a ~&k A,-~
msde BY the people Of the city Of Era, aided
and abetted BY tie Erie road, and the Slate Of
Pennsylvania, to compet tho Central TO bseak
tho giuge Ut Erie This vould necessitatA
tho changing Of freight and passengers to and
from csrs Of dtnete0t gaugea. Ihe Erie road
and the: good peopte Of tho town of Eric
washed it for the reason that the majority OF
them >wefs identified with the peanut md
aGugh-cako inteEosts, and hoped to find
market WHARF people would bo compelled to
undergo the dsl.y Of ehanging cars. This
what il known In history u Mo i'peanut
War" and which waB only pettled by the 10
eeptance, on the part Of the Central, OF what
is called the "ohio gauge" four feet ten
inches in width.
The roads west Of Peunsylyauia adopted the
nsr1ow gauge, four feet si1 inches wide, and
finally consolidated and became the Lake
Shore i Michigan Southern Road, rnnning
from Buffalo to Chicago, rn2ldng complete
narrow gauge road from New York to Chicago.
About this time Erie scquired \ road from
their main track to Buffalo, where it brenks
Shore line; while Central runs through and
runs to the PennsylYani. State ine without
breaking bulk.
Erie now brings suit based On tho contract
of 1851, demanding q, ,0O0, ,00O damages for
Its Infringement Aad has obtained from Indigo
$oxf ftnT r AZ 1k,rv1 l. ftnf1S
gin Southern and the New York Central to
show cause why they should not be restrained
frpm moving any OF the rolling stock Of either
on the track Of tle other; and why thny
should not be restrained from running any
railroad between Buffalo and the Pennsylyanta
State line Of 4 na11owar gauge than four feet
10 inches.
Tho Central people claim that this move-
nent will bring the peanut merchants into the
Geld again to re-enact the scenes OF bloodshed
and devastation that characterized their lAst
outbreak, and prognosticated much suffering
among the passengers from the lick Of fruit
and dough cAke6 which must inevitably follow
the free vent OF the passions Of thoae to
whom their disposition ie intrusted They
contend further that it would subject the ship
pers Of the West and Southwest to enormous
expense from rehandIing, loss and detention,
and that the City OF Buffalo itself, devoted to
that purpose, would not afford sufficient space.
They also claim that the contract Nas broken
by the Eric road when it effected its connec-
tiDn with the Atlantic 4 Great Western and
run to Cleveland and Cincinnati on a SIX foot
gauge, when the agreement provides that 10
foat ahau run west Of Buffalo on other than
the compromise gauge, and this alone, they
Say, upho1ds their every action
The statement Of Nj. Fisk tI,xt Commodore
Vanderbilt had obtained control Of the Lake
Shore line and intended 10 refuse the use
thereof to Erie, is contradicted by those con-
nectcd with the Central. who aaY that Exie can
send its freight over the Lake shore ~ long
AZ it pays the tolls in advance, and will only
have it's connection With Chicago cut Oh when
il applies for credit
As the matter stands now 1t is good field
for embryo diplomats to turn their fgurative
some1saults in, and may eventually become
somewhat stripped Of the complications that
1uxIuunn II, to puet. u.-tus.t, ~ feAet, hAAk
those moat interested in the welfare Of rail-
roads, namely, the travelling public, will get
an idea in how great degree their comfort
and convenience arc regarded By the msn who
wage thus mighty battle.