The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-06-01
A LUCKY VENTURE.
For a Mere Song a Jersey
City Man Gobbles Up a
Big Franchise.
THERE'S MILLIONS IN IT
Mr.. James H. Small Will Encircle
Grand Island With the
Trolley.
THERE'S MILLIONS IN |

\ OOAcOJ "a
most remarkable businessoieoups by which,
expressed in onsaseppt4snfps,s3 POSSESSES the
absolute franchise olbuila "a Iselectric. road
surrounding a. 4 infts e latt5 N Hork State
as large as The g;ga 88f i5Maaaahlattatn Island.
and all for the eptiaHssS9fA fey ddolitaafrs. When
he first made known his schems.to'sthe most
powerful Buffalo capitalists he was laughed
at and his plan scodted as ridiculous. Today
the laugh is on the other side and now the
cidepant s~coffars are filed with bitterest re-
greet that they did not possess the foresight
to secure the franchise for its ultimate worth
is into the millions.
He who made this lucky venture is Mr..
James H. Small of No. % Troy street, Jer-
| sew City Heights and formerly managing
! owner of the Pavonia Horn Railroad Com
pany.
| and happening to visit Grand Island, a large
| tract OF land surrounded by forks OF the
Niagara River, and directly opposite to the
| most thickly populated business portions OF
| the, CITY of Buffalo he found to his astonish-
ment that this piece Of land, the area OF
| which is nearly three hundred thousand
| acres and its circumference more than thirty
miles, was with0ut any means OF access IN
the way of railroad. Z, Although around Its
| shores there were small groups of private
| residences, local clubhouses and pleasure re-
sorts, the only method of reaching these
points was by a buggy or hanks mare.
BUSINESS PERSPICAcITY
Mr.. Small was quick to perceive what a
field for profitable speculation was here. At
the eastern end of the Island there was q
ferry connecting with q thriving =
bustling outskirt of Buffalo. On the south
side to the district known as Tonawanda, the
biggest lumber centre in the world, IS
another ferry, and again at the western end
Is q third in direct communication with the
city of Buffalo.
1t occurred to Mr.. Small that if he could
secure from the owners of the Island, those
whose lands laid Immediately contiguous to
the water front, the necessary right of way
a great future laid for that projected road
He. being at one time connected with the
Buffalo City Horse Railroads and intimately
known to its wealthiest men, communicated
to them his scheme and asked their CO.
operation.
q JOBS, CoMFoRTERs THESE.
"Why you will starye thore," said one;
ia perfect wild goose scheme" said a sec
ondyaYour plan Is about as remuperatlye
as making rope from sand consolingly add
ed another comforter; but MIR. Small stuck
to his scheme in spite Of them.
He first ascertained who were the land
owners then hired a buggy and started in to
request their signatures to his petition to the
fcGrand, Island Highway Board for the fran
chise. ia
By dint of patience, hustling, arguing,
Ecoa2ing and promising, he managed to So
| cure signatures to bis petition representing
tx$27z335I worth of the entire land, assessed by
the local assessors at $4T7,977.
meeting was called OF the owners only
two days ago. and Mr.. Small unfolded his
plan.
According to law he had co secure the
| votes of a majority of the owners and the
consent of the Highway Commissioner. Be-
fore the meeting was over the ~d1ssenttent
| owners SO much convinced that q railroad
| would benefit their property, gave their
unanimous consent, and, with the concur
| rent approval of the Highway Commits
sioner, the franchise was awarded to Mr..
Small Of jersey City.
A suRPRIsING ANNOUNCEMENT.
Pleased as that gentleman was with the
| success of his labor, be was overjoyed be-
| yond measure to hear from one of the most
| influential Of the owners that the Niagara
| Falls Power Company, which corporation is
now spending $4,000 600 to furnish the city
of Buffalo with electricity, has determined
to carry the power across Grand Island to
| Buffalo.
Here, then, was his scheme assisted in a
most extraordinary manner. With the
| cables carrying the power running down
| both east and west sides OF the island, how
easy to get his supply for an electric road.
TO ENCIRCLE THE ISLAND WITH ~ELECTRICITY
Before this announcement was made. and
even at the beginning, Mr.. Small concluded
to carry passengers around the Island by
dummy engines. 1t is needless to add how
completely the dummy plan became about
as valuable as a dummy. Electric roads,
the trolley was at once brought within the
range of the plan. Having securedF this
n LII fo- nbtro. M. Cpao11h ac potur.onO7a
East to New York where be will find among
New York and Brooklyn capitalists, all the
J. money he requires to. organize his corpora
tion and begin the construction. gny . z
The Lewis Fowler Rail and GirdeTgCon
panys and wealthy corporatiousli hawe
in aninterview with a JERSEY CITxsafNEws
representative, modestly explained the
scheme which he has so successfully launched,
and added that in two years be hopes to see
it perfected. Mr.. Small is very widely
known in this city, where, IS before stated,
be resides, having been for many years in
control of the road from the Erie ferry to
Summit avenue, purchased from the Erie
Railroad by the North Hudson County Rail
road Company.
HE INVENTED THE BELL PUNCH.
Itmay not be generally known, but rail
road men know it, that he is the inventor of
the bell punch used fol years on our horse
railroads all over the United States and even
in Europe.
Many years ago he started the first 'tram-
ways in Glasgow which system is now
among the wealthiest In Great Britain. AT
a later period no was rat the head Of the
South London Tramway q Company and
gave that corporatfH1 bb9Id5a a&Rs sam1limDRsetus
which pushed it into the realm OF. profitable
money making concsrnssTIifis,giiebtrqsiye
quiet manner ma disifkkee xaie ~ Al ittsaue
oeuiuses, to publicity has a&mpd N8fl fed the
Outside of Jersey City.uo3 ii III Work
State, in England, his name and fame as q
railroad nj is as well-knowA y,aS1t is re-
spected. . g4sngs
The future Of Mr.. SmalIs ventupe will be
watched with peculiar interest, by smen in
this country who know Mr.. Small intimately