The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-08

Dunkirk, N. Y, the other day." said
a veteran railroad man, was the en-
gineer who took into Dunkirk the first
passenger train that ran through from
the Hudson river to Lake Erie on the
Erie raiIroad-the first train that ever
made the trip between tidewater and
the lakes on any railroad. 1t was one
section of an excursion train that left
Piermont, then the eastern terminus
of the Erie, on May IA, 1851, to celebrate
the opening Of the railroad that had
been nearly twenty years in building.
That section of the pioneer through
train carried the most distinguished
party that was ever got together on
a railroad train before or since. In it
were Millard Fillmore, president Of the
United States, and his cabinet includ-
ing Daniel Webster and John J. Crit
tenden; Stephen A. Douglas, William
H. Seward, Hamilton Fish, eX-Gov.
Marcy, Daniel S. Dickinson, Charles
O'Conor and six carloads Of others,
judges, statesmen, journalists, all men
of great fame in that day. Daniel
Webster rode much of the time sitting
in big easy rocking chair placed on
fiat car as an observation car, so
he could see the country he said. The
trains were in charge Of the officers
and board of directors of the railroad
company, among whom were William
E. Dodge, Marshall o. Roberts. Shep-
pard Knapp, John ]. Phelps and
Charles M. Leupp, Benjamin Loder be-
ing president of the company. Dods-
worth's famous band accompanied the
excursion. Cad Lyman was the engin-
eer Of the first train out of Piermont
and Capt. Henry Ayers the conductor
The engine of the second train was in
charge of Onderdonk Merritt, and the
conductor was w. H. Stewart The
trains ran to Elmira the first day. On
the next day they ran to Dunkirk At
Hornellsville Charles H. Sherman took
charge of the first train as engineer
and w. D. Hall of the second. That
part Of the road was entirely new, and
locomotive was run a short distance
behind the second excursion train to be
on hand to help in case Of a break
down. This locomotive was In charge
Of w. A. Kimball The first train was
preceded by another locomotive run by
II. G. Brooks, then an engineer in the
employ of the Erie. That locomotive
was the first one that ever sounded a
whistle on the shore Of Lake Erie west
OF Buffalo. Brooks, then an engineer
on the Boston & Maine railroad, was
hired by the Erie to fetch the loco
motive from Boston. It was carried on
a vessel from that city to New York
where 1t was loaded on an Erie canal
boat and transported to Buffalo. From
there 1t was taken on a. Lake Erie
steamboat to Dunkirk Brooks set il
up on the Erie track at that place In
November 1850. 1t was the pioneer
locomotive of the western end of the
Erie railroad, and was named the Dun
kirk. Brooks remained with the Erie
He became superintendent of the west
ern division and master mechanic He
left the road in 1869 and founded the
Bfooks Locomotive works at Dunkirk.
many others were all brought from the
Boston and Maine railroad by Charles
M1not, general superintendent of the
Erie, who was himself a graduate of
the Boston and Maine. He was a son
OF Judge Minot, of the Massachusetts
supreme court. He was the first to
use the system of running trains by
Geographic orders, which he did on
the Erie in the fall of 1851. Sherman,
other day, was seventy eight years
old. Kimball is still living at Hor-
nellsville. Hall is at Batavia, N. Y,
where he is running a switch engine
on the New York Central railroad
They, with Sam Yaples, of Hornells-
vile, are the last of the pioneer en-
gineers of the Erie that came on the
road with Charles Minot, nearly fifty
years ago.
wv. H. Stewart, the conductor who
started from Piermont with one sec
tion of the great excursion train, is
living at Waverly, N. Y, at the age
Of eighty-six. He began as conductor
on the Erie in November, 1912, when
the railroad was only fifty miles long,
and had been in operation but little
more than year. This was between
Piermont and Goshen. Three conduc-
tors were then all that the business of
the Erie required. Stewart was the
third in the service, Eben e. Worden
having been the first conductor to run
a regular train on the Erie, and Henry
Ayers the second. Worden did all the
work on the road from it's opening in
September, 1871, until October, 1912,
when Ayers was added to the service,
Stewart following him two weeks later.
There were no such things as cabooseS
on freight trains in those days nor
cabs to the engines. The conductors
had to ride on the locomotives. There
was no protection from snow or rain.
1t was not an uncommon thing to see
the engineer and conductor covered
with ice. There was only two ticket
offices on the Erie, at Goshen and
Chester. The conductor was provided
with tickets for each station on the
road, square tin box to carry them
in, and a bag containing $40 in small
coins and bills. This was carried in
fln hnx fl1Oa
tai for the day. 1t was to make
change with when passengers offered
money larger than the amount
charged. The tin box and it's contents
were delivered at one end of the run
to the general ticket agent at Pier
mont. This was Henry S. Fitch, Fries
first general passenger agent, still liv-
balanced with the conductor and the
box returned to him with $40 in the
bag again for use ON the return trip.
All tickets for New York were collect
ed on the steamboat
Conductors Ayers and Stewart were
selected to run the first and second
section Of the great through excursion
train in 1851 as far as Elmira. At that
place Conductor C. w. Robinson was
to take the first section, and Conductor
A. N. Chaplin the second section and
run them to Dunkirk. The train lay
all night at Elmira, and everything was
wide open" Things were whooped up
all night long, and Conductor Robin
son, carried away by the universal
good cheer, was not feeling in shape to
take charge of his train next morning.
General Superintendent Minot put Con-
ductor Stewart in charge of section one
of the train, and SO he ran all the way
from Piermont to Dunkirk, and thus
became the first conductor to make the