Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-04-25
RIVER RAILROADS.
Our Parallel Lines Between Wheel.
ing and Harrisburg.
Shall we Gather at the RiVer2-The Fight
Between the "Hearn" and Cochran"
Roads-What Mr.. Garrett Guar
anteeS aRd What Mr.. Thaw
thinks.
INTERVIEWS ON LIVE TOPICS.

H
granted certificates of incorporation to two
additional railroads which proposed. on
4 paper or otherwise, TO open up the re,
| sources Of the New Dominion still further
! by making fresh outlets from its Capital
/ City to Eastern and Western markets. One
| OF these was the Wheeling and Harris.
burg Railway with 8 capital stock of one
| million dollars divided into 500 shares,
I whose incorporatorS were r II. Cochran,
George Baird, Joseph Bell and A. C. Eyer
ter OF this city, and L. W. Sutherland, John
| A. Hanlon- aud Joel Wood OF Ohio. and
WHICH was %. have i,s Pr<hcipG oficeffn
Wheeling; and the other was the "South
! Pennsylvania Railroad in West Virginia" /"
whose incorporators were VIM. H. Hearn,
A. c. Egerterand A. W. Campbell, OF Wheel,
| ing; Silas W. Petit of Philadelphia; and
Reon Barnes. OF New York, and which had
! capital stock of half million dollars diVid-
| ed into shares OF so each and a principal
| office in Wheeling. Both these incorpora-
tions were without limitas to their perpetu-
alton, and both proposed 10 use about the
same territory for their construction, the
only difference noted being that the first
| proposed to begin at the West corporate
limit of this city and run TO point on the
Marshall county line, which divides that
/ county from Pennsylvania, and the other
proposed to begin at such a point on the
Marshall line and run to Wheeling. The
Wheelingan and Harrisburg incorporation out
date the other about month, its certificate
being taken out on the sixth day of March,
lSS2, and that OF the second on the third
day of the present month.
New Departure.
After the usual felicitatiOrs IN the new'-
papers which accompany the incOrpora.
tiOnS Of a new railroad in this State, and
the usual predictions of the bright future
which was in store for this neck Of woods
when the iron bands, etc, etc, the projects
quieted down into calm and peaceful
quietude, the Secretary OF State collected
and spent his fees of incorporation, and
the public doubtless relegated both rail-
roads to the limbo of air lines and wind
routes which in times past and in the
minds Of their projectors, have grid-ironed
this State from one end to the
other, but which in point of construction
have never gotten any further than the in
corporation stage.
ItwaS but q short time however, before
the South Pennsylvania project gave signs
of continuing vitality. A surveying
squad under command of eX-City Engineer
Peterson. was hired to run line, and broke
ont over the hill near the first tollgate on
the National Road. east of the city, through
Judge ThOmpsOn's COW pasture, across
LCathcrwOOd TO Mt. de Chantal, over Mt.
de Chantal TO Menninger'S beer garden and
along up the creek through Mrs.
RoettgerS back kitchen, across to
LoringS and up Big Wheeling,
jumping the creek every few minutes
like steers in fly time. and disappearing off
in the direction of Greene county, Pa.
The Rival Survey.
About the same time another surveying
party, in the employ of the Wheeling and
Harrisburg organization, hove in sight,
coming down the creek, and passed the
rival line and rod men on the run, sticking
down stakes so CleSe to those of the first
mentioned surveyors aS to create an I'M
preston that the two lines contemplated
BY the Stake-stiCkerS were to be of the mar
row gauge order Meanwhile rumors of
other surveying expeditions out near the
Pennsylvania line. right of way agents and
solicitors, wars and rumOrs OF wars, and
possible Swallowings up OF one organization
by the other, filled the air, and there was
general railroad stir and sensation such as
has not been heard OF in these parts since
the meeting of the Elm Grove stockholders
at the Court House some years since.
The True Inwardness-
With a view OF turning on all the illu-
miRatiuu that could be secured concerning
the condition and outlook of railroad enter
prise in this vicinity, one of the REGIsrER'S
nOtaries public was sent out to
take the atlidavits of reliable
persons who are supposed to know whereof
they speak While he did not find many
persons who said they knew much about
the two enterprises above referred to, he
found a large number OF persons who
ought to know considerable. but who were
willing TO swear they did not know any
thing, and in the course of explanation as
10 their ignorance, furnished facts OF more
or less interest.
Col. Boyd's Statement.
Col. Boyd. the veteran contractor OF the
Is. AZ o. r r. was the first deponent en-
countered, and in response TO an urgent
invitation TO depOne, he said he did not
know ANYTHING. I'm going up the road,
me bow" he said. and when | come back
may be can tell We more.
But Colonel. some people say the Bal Iii
more and Ohio Company is operating under
the guise of the South Pennsylvania
charter to get line for it, proposed Con-
ncllsville extension
= There's nothing in that Mr.. Garrett is
not ready to build that extension yet.
When he is he will probably use the
Hempfield for part of it. told him before
/ came away that the people out here would
ask me about
The ConneIIsyiIIe Extension,
and that did not want to tell any lies
! about il. and asked him if he intended to
| build il and he said he did when he got
ready He has his own reasons which are
! no business of mine for waiting. 1t would
| be an expensive road 10 build. The fifty or
| sixty miles including the putting in order
| Of the Hempfeld would cost in the neigh
! bOrhood OF 100000. AS for these
| other routes YOU ask about the entrance to
| this city on the lines being run would be a
| very expensive one, too. There would be
! not less than eight bridges 10 build on
1 Wheeling Creek between here and Patter-
! ,er<on's, beyond Elm Grove and the char
| arter of the stream would make large struct'
| ures necessary. don't think the people
| along those lines need move out for some
| time to come. Tell them to wait till they
| see the side stakes driven
Judge Cochran's Views.
! With this intimation that the b. %.
| X. K. were neither moving nor concerning
( themselves much about the movements OF
! Others in the direction referred to, the re-
I porter sought Judge Cochran, whose promi'
/ nenCe in connection with the Wheeling &
/ Harrisburg project, has induced persons oi
/ a time.saSing disposition, 10 call 1t the
/ Cochran road" II don't want to assume
I any appearance of mystery about our en-
! terprise, " said the Judge, 'alor do l want
/ 10 talk about it so freely
/ as TO give our opponents
/ an undue advantage. You know as welitaS
\ do that another company is seeking to oc'
/ cupy pretty much the same territory over
| which the Wheeling and Harrisburg pro,
poses to build. We were first in the held
| and have picked up so much OF the right ol
| wav that the South Pennsylvania repreSen'
| tatives recently have manifested some dis
| poSition 10 combine with us. of course we
| know that but one road ought to be built
/ between here and Harrisburg, and are will
| ing to be harmonious Ii harmony is to be
the order of the day, however, we want
Our share of the Harmony
! lion the other hand it is to be contest
we want to be in 9 position to protect our
/ selyes We can build the road without