The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-08-17

ihe experiment was pronounced success
Men began to get. enthusiastic over II. Tner
the Columbus street bridge over the cana
gave out, and they got blue again. TRACK
laying went on just the same At four
o'clock q. m Thursday the bridge gang wen
to work on the bridge, and after dinner on
Thursday cars again came down on Columbus
street as far as the Clifton Hotel, and began
taking passengers for the Driving Park
They were soon loaded. As fast as a train
-motor-car and open trailer-pulled up in
front of the Clifton, it was filled in half a
minute, and pulled out fer the Park. In
five to eight minutes more the scramble was
repeated, and so on until the travel turned
the other way, each train carrying from 30
to 100 passengers per trip.
In the evening Mr. Evans, the presiden.
Of the line, invited the press and business
men TO an excursion trip, ana train of eight
cars-four motors and four trailers- in four
sections, headed by band in the first car
made the round trip to the Park, every car
crowded to its utmost capacity. The trip,
as were ell Of the day-was made without a
jar or hitch and when the party reached
the hotel on the return. shout Of triumph
and congratulation for themselves and Mr..
Evans went up from thousand voices.
When it is remembered that some of the
t,or hoI ,Nt ha.p do oh
that hardly q tie had even the faintest ex,
ouse for bsllast-a little sand and gravel
tamped under them and none on top; that
the overhead wire was simply tied to its
supports by bits Of wire; that the track
was literally sprinkled with loose gravel
and that the ubiquitous boy repeatedly OBJ.
structed the passage with cobble stones to
see what would happen when the motor hit
them, the speed and ease with which the
trains moved and the absence of oil Of that
annoying lettering motion 80 familiar to
all patrons Of the horse. cars, and the free
dom from all jerk in starting and tho fsmil.
lar noise and rattle Of the cabls,-are
certainly remarkable.
No wonder Ottawa psople are the most
delighted community in Illinois to-day
The road is superb as ii is. Ifthere was a
kicker in the town on Thursday morning,
he took q " header and disappeared" before
night came. But when the road Is finished;
when the road bed shall have been bsllasted
and the streets cleaned up-why, the OTTAWA
Eleotyie street Railway Will be simply the
perfection Of street loocnOtion.
Several Chicago men rode over it on
Thursday and the expression CT one of
then but echoed local sentiment when he
said " This road esen as il is. to- day is
somsthing for any city to be proud Of. 1t
beats the cable all to death"
Ottawa is proud Of it. She will be prouder
still Of it when it is finished, as it will be in
q very short time now, seeing all the mate
rails are now on the ground and the work
being pushed with sll the men tha, can be
had in the town.
The cars, too, are beauties. The writer
has ridden in street cars in nearly every
great city in America, and never yet saw
rolNag stock on street car line that could
be compared with the cars now running in
Ottawa. Built b., the Pullman Company,
tempted to an extra finish by extra pay for
good work and beauty of interior as we'll as
exterior, they are beautiful in bosh form and
finish, done in hard woods in natural colors,
with polished brass trimmings. All are
lighted with the Thomson, Houston incandes-
cent electric lights, five 2O-candle power
lights to the car. The motor cars will carry
no conductors, the fare being deposited il
the familiar boz behind the driver as in the
old fashioned bob tails-a system, of course
necessary for economy's sake in city o
this size, but which can be NO hardship
to the people of Ottawa, at least until tn
town gets so big and so sassy and 80 ls1y
that patrons. of the line will no longer ride
without being able to kick at something O.
somebody.