Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1881-05-05
GREAT RAILROAD SYSTEMS
nov a SMALL NAME BRIDGES 4
FAST COMBIN1TION.
rhe pennsylvania, Wabash and
baltimore n Ohio Systems-PrOs-
meet of Even Greater GonibIua-
Iinus,

lions.
''Alate issue OF the Boston Herdd de-
votes column and Il half to an account
Of some of the great railroad systems and
combinations Of this country, starting
with the premise that railroads are seldom
adequately represented by their titles.
while often the shortcoming is 80 great in
this respect as to amount to u nisreprt-
sentation, or even delusiOn. The UcroM
yarousy illustrates its point.
The .'Pennsylvania rairoadr indicates,
by its title, railroad running through
the Keystone State, aud naturally, it
might be supposed, uniting the cities of
Philadelphia and Pittsbmg, not far from
$50 miles apart. This it does
but the Pennsylvania railroad
has under its absolute control
aud management, at the present time,
length of road aggregating upward of
5000 miles, besides more than 400 miles
OF canal, and, although it has about
:, 800 miles of road east of Pittsburg, sit
uated, OF course, mostly in Pennsylvania,
il has at least 100 miles more than that
amount West of Pittsburg, the actual
figures for 1880 having been: Pennsyl-
yania road east of Pittsburg, 2,401 miles
Pennsylvania Company west of Pittsburg,
3,54j miles Pennsylvania canal, 33S
miles Delaware & Raritan canal, 6G
miles. These figures have been increased
by accessions to the Pennsylvania system
since made. This, then, is the "Pennsyl-
vania, or the Pennsylvania system, as
1t is sometimes called, although all the
operations of this gigantic scheme are in
variably carried ON under the general
-
Here are the roads west of Pittsburg
leased to the Pennsylvania railroad, and
operated i'll its interest: Pittsburg,
Fort Wayne & Chicago railway claw
renee railroad and branch. Newcastle Il
Beaver Valley railroad, branches of and
leased to the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne &
Chicago Erie Il Pittsburg railroad with
branch: Cleveland * Pittsburg railroad
aud branches indianapolis y st. Louis
railroad, its leased lines and branches
pittsburg, Cincinnati x st. Louis railway;
CHARTERS railroad Pittsburg, Wheeling
Kentucky railroad Cincinnati II
Muskingum Valley railroad Little Miami
railroad and leased lines Columbus,
Chicago " Indiana Central railroad
,leliersonville, Madison X indianapolis
railroad, with branches indianapolis 4
N'httHi'N ihllI'h''I Niohlftbutb ~ Tvs
burg railroad Cleveland, Mt. Vernon Il
Delaware railroad and branch North
western Ohio railway; st. Louis, Vandalia
Terra lIautc railroad East st. Louis &
Caroudolet railroad GraudRapids x
Indiana railroad Allegheny 4 South
eastern railroad Traverse City railroad /;
Cincinnati. Richmond " Fort Wayne
railroad These lines west of Pittsburg
vary in length from Il 3 to about 47o
miles, and earned for the Pennsylvania
system in 1879 about s3l ,0Ou,O At
this time the Pennsylvania owned 200
locomotives and y, 900 ears of all kinds,
900 OF the latter being passenger cars,
and all valued at $2j, 600, 900, round
numbers. Such is the significance of the
title Pennsylvania as applied to one Of
the railway systems OF the country.
THE WABASH SYSTEM.
A few years ago the Wabash railway
was a weak affair, extending from Toledo,
o., tn st. Louis, Mo-, n distance according
TO its route, OF 43j.7 miles. Now the
wabash is an important system, CON
Tollrd by Jay Gould, and its length of
road is 2,4s7.2 miles. Within the past
two or three years, especially since Could
began his manipulation Of it, the Wabash
system has increased with great rapidity,
antl II now occupies what is evidently
intended in the could economy, to be
cume the centre of Il magnificent trans
continental combination, the extent and
influence of which can hardly be esti-
mated or described in words. The phySi-
cal features of this system are not that it
has a long drawn out line, from Detroit to
Omaha, with branches and connections
running off at right angles frequently all
the way, although il has something OF
these features. Its peculiarities are rather
that it presents series of more like
parallel lines, such as would be tolerably
we'll represented by the hand laid Hat
upon sheet of paper, with the fingers
and thumbs slightly extended. The
most important grain-r raising and moving
region ot the country is commanded by
this system, as the following figures for
1879 will testify In the counties of the
states now actually traversed by the
Wabash system, there were grown in thi'
year G5,G9j, $50 bushels of wheat and
533, 2G4, $50 bushels of corn, or more thar
one-thrd Of the entire corn crop Of til,
country, and Just one-third of the entir,
crop OF the country of wheat and corr
combined. The lines now controlled anC
'lAA'At'i III lilc w dutSu sNHltll are llpIl
Toledo to st. Louis Decatur, H., t,
Mo-; Maysville, ILL.,, to Pittsfeld, Ill.
Clayton, ILL.,, to Keokuk, Ia. Edwards
willie, Ill.,, to Edwardsville Crossing, Ill.
Logansport, Ind, to Butler, Ind.
Chicago to Altamont, H.; Streator, Ill.
to Streator junction, ILL.,; Shumway, Ill.
to Bingham, H.. urbana, ILL.,, to FIa
Sana, H.; White Heath, H., to Decatur
Ill. st. Louis to Kansas City Bruins
wick, Mo-, to Council Bluffs (Omaha)
la; Roseberry, Mo-, to Clarinda, la.
Moberly, Mo-, to Ottumwa, la; Nortl
Lexington, Mo-, to st. Joseph, Mo-; Cen
trala, Mo-, Ia Columbia, Mo-. Salisbury
Mo-, to Glasgow, Mo-; Ferguson, Mo-, t
Biddle street, st. Louis Quincy, Mo-, t
Milan, Mo-; state Line, Ind, to Burling
ton, la; La llarpc, H., to Warsaw, Ill.
Kcokuk, la, to Van Wort, la; Centre
Vile, la, to Abba, la. The Wabas
system ~onneets with upward of 30 othe
different lines at "A different points. Ad
ditons are still making to the system
Indeed, those more recently made hay
not been included or noticed in the aboy
sketch.
coNHlNArIoNs AMI "LlNgs.'
W llilbuL ublbl tllt liHiiViVN
combinations and "agrrememts' anon
lailroad lines, where the different interest
are net mnalEamated into one system
recognized rs such under Il given It'll,
Thus, the Ncw York Central railroad ma
he looked upon as the centre Of Systr
which extends from tidewatcr, ON Il
Massachusetts, coast, to various points
the West and Northwest, ,evenas far ava
Omaha. The sIii'rpS%iuu might
reclioned in the following order: III
Boston y Albany railroad, the Ne
York Central, the Lake shore X Michigi
southern, and the Chicago x Mort
western and it is not, perhaps, 'recko
ing large to say that any arrangeme
for transportation made with the office
ofeither of the above roads would be he
good upon any part Of the four. III
Chicago X Northwestern is an immen
system of itself, being made up of truI
lines and nine great designated line
which, in turn, represent the unity OF
great number of lesser lines of what We
once distinct corporations. The Chica
Y Northwestern alone controls near
5000 miles of road.
Other systems are formed by uniting
u continuous line many links or part
until consolidated highway is stretch
for hundreds of miles through Civ,
section or sections, all the parts unit
for a specific purpose. Thus, the ''lloOs