Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1873-09-19
The western Reserve & Maumec Road.

Inc W cstern Reserve " maumec k0ads
EDITOR BLADR;-I notice an article In your
paper of Sept. 81, headed western Reserve
Maumec Road, !" in which lhero are several
statements in regard to said Road, its condition
and management, which need correction, and to
have this subject properly understood, and
placed In porper light before the people inter-
esod. wish 10 make such correction, and give
fair and correct statement in regard to the sui
ject. In the outset Of the article, you say that
the people living along the Western Reserve
h Maumee Road have been greatly surprised
and asitnshcd bv the PRONUNCIATION of an order
requiring the collection Of intermediate tolls;"
when, IN TACT, the notice Of such bill having
been introduced in the legislature, aud think
that the passage nf II slsn, was published in the
Toledo l'LADE, which has large circulation
along the Road; besides being published in The
Cleveland papers and by part, il not all. of the
local papers published along the line Of the
Road. After the bill was introduced in the leg
islature, AMI published in the papers, | had
coutetsaliun with several persons in pcrrys.
burg, aud along the Road, in regard to the
prnpriciy of such measure. | found same
men opposed and some in favor Of IT, With
this information IN advance, those most interest
ed certainly could not have been ignorant of
the intentions Of the Legislature and State an.
thurities in regard 10 the natter. Not only
this, intermediate toll on the Western Reserve 4
Maumce ROud, and on the National Road is no
n.w measure. After the National Road hud been
leased Tor six years, and returned to the State
in worn out and dilnpidated condition the
Board ot Public Works issued an order in May +,
1859, Tor the collection of intermediate tolls on
said Road, under which order, the Resident En-
gincCr collected considerable amount Of tnll
but finding that the order making il penalty
for not reporting and paying such intermediate
tolls, MS required by their order, would not
stand the test Of the courts, the Legislature,
April l2th, 1870, passed law for the culec-
tinn otintermediate tolls similar tn the one now
in force on the Western Reserve h Maumee
Ruard, which law has been 'nfurced ever since
passage. Also on March 3d. 1891, the Board
ot Public Works issued an order for the cnlec-
tion of intermediate tolls on the Western Re-
serve h Maulnee Road.
| notwithstanding the fact That the contract
between the State and the eSsees of the public
works restricted the lrsseps to the rate OF toll
alOl ted IN 1859, which rate required only t,l
of persons passing through the gates, }. J..
Parks collected such nterme liate tolls from the
date OF the order until Tie road reverted To the
State, june 1t 1871. lie, an1 Mr. Tyler Of
/ Pcrrvsbnrg, his attrrney, informed me that they
had prosecuted parties at Manines, and obtained
judgement befure the District q ,urt. Mr. X AR
/ ck, the keeper uf Gate No. 4. informs ms tn It
7 Uc mas cplleCteu over fJUJ ~ lHteftneullte tutl
for Parks. Mr. SIM h. n Justice "f the Peace, Of
Fremont. infines me that he has given Judge.
ment in five or six cases, for such tolls. Parks
collected all the tolls that lie could collect I'M
der the order but like the nrdrr on the Nation
| al Rna l. C uld not enf"rce the penalty clause.
| With all this information and experience "f the
people. | don't see where the nsinni, ,hment
comes in, especially at Perrysburg, where Parks
| resides.
As | have before stated the National Road
was leased fr six wears and lcfl in bad conii
tinn. The State authorities found it necessary
to increase the regular tolls aud resort t. the
collection Of intermediate tolls to bring the Road
up tn the condition it was in before it was lras-
ed which has taken at least twelve years tn ac-
compli-h. The last Legislature and the pres
ent Board Of Public Works, probably took the
same view in relation t. the Western Reserve
& Maumee Road. This Road was leasel for ten
years from the lst of June, 1861, TO 1871, and
left in a much worse condition than was the Ma
tional Road. Mr.. d. l.. June, OF Fremont when
enqnirint ns to the policy of another lease Of
the Road, was told by Parks, as testified by
June before the Board nr Public Works at Co.
lumbus. in the fall Of 1871, "that the cream was
all out Of it-that the Road was played out
which declaration, | am sorry to say, was too
true. There is no honest and intelligent man
living along the Road. who is not satisfied that
the Road has been robbed OF at least Si0, 900 Of
tolls that shonld have been expended on it in re-
pairs. Ii will be seen, by the above, that the
last Legislature and present Board Of Public
Works did not inaugerdte the principle ofinter-
mediate tolls, but from the same necessity that
existed in regard to the National Road, they
have adopted it on this. II may be asked Why
does not the State make an appropriation to
place the Road in good condition. Those who
understand the subject, know that large maj r.
ity OF every Legislature, for Il number Of years
past, are from sec tiOus that have no interest in
"a md ma lfyr- NJ rsla
to have them all Abandoned; consequently. there
is no hope OF assistance from this direction.
Ii may also be asked, why the State AuthOri
ties. did not cgmpell Parks to le0ye the .toad ia
uuwritten history connected with the Road, and
other State interests, which could be given, bu
may not now be proper or pertinent TO this
subject. Suffice it to say, that Cole mel Porter
the acting member for this Division Of the Pub.
lie Works, used his best efforts to have Parks
so leave 1t, but he stood pOwerless in the minor.
ity, until the lease expired. The contract wa,
sn worded, and the action Of majority Of the
then Board of Public Works was such, that af.
ter the expiration OF the lease, and an honest
and efficient member Of the board installed in
othce there was no redress left, and we not
have tO do the best we can, under the circum.
stances. j. Parks has held mllace agains
Col Porter ever since the latter endeavered to
have Parks do something on the Road and fnr
my etfhrts in the Legislature and out, to have
declared To several men that he would oppose
and injnre me all he conld, because, forsonth,
tried to have him deal honestly with the 5 tate
There is no doubt in my mind that the meeting
at ferrysOurg, recently, was not because there
was any particular indignation in regard to in
tcrmedia'e tolls, but that 1t was gotten up and
manipulated by Parks and his associates part
ly for the purpose Of making m llichnS drive
at Col. Porter and mvself for the efforts we
have made in behalf Of justice. and partly for
making political capital for bill Allen aud his
associates on the Democratic ticket. The Rail-
road SYSTEM centering at Toledo, has created no
less than seven busineS centers along the Wes-
tern Reserve and Maumee Road, cutting ufl
most OF through travel, tngeather with the i'm,
| provenents of other roads aud the "cut off,
roads that have been made for the purpose Of
avoiding the gates, 50 that at the present time
al least two thirds of the travel on the Road is
done without passing through the gates, which
was probnblv an additional reason for the State
authorities adopting the collection of intermedi-
ate tolls. As the present Superintendent of the
road, no man regrets the necessity of collecting
| intermediate toll IN tho Road as much as nv
self. II the Board Of Public Works and the
Legislature Of the Stn'e in their wisdom. can
discontinue the collection Of said tolls, without
material injury tn the Road | w0ui certainly
feel reipcei and relieved by their action
While the law exists have no choice but to see
that lis provisions are enforced but shall try to
do so in as liberal an conciiatorv spirit as
possible. II. L. WooD.
The Cincinnati Industrial Exposition i,
attracting to it on an average of about 20
600 daily visitors. 1t is worth going to see.