The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-20
BY MAUDE WOOD HENRY.


Back of the suit to set aside the sale
of the Toledo & Ann Arbor railroad
now pending in the United States court
in Toledo, is story, the dramatic story
of the construction OF $10.000.000 worth
of property out of optimism and nerve.
The Ann Arbor railroad was once but
the impracticable vision of old Gov
ernor Ashley. 1t became a reality
through the indomitable will, the
energy and gigantic proportions of his
son Jim. James n. Ashley, jr., stands
six feet four in his stockings, and for
fifteen years he has fought with his
head and his hands for the develop
ment of a dream, until through him II
has become one of the important rae
tors of commerce. And now, whether
the fruits of the labors of this Hercules
will fail 10 him or another man, the
courts are trying to decide.
In 1877, at the age of go, old Gov
ernor Ashley found himself bank
rupt, one of the many wrecks OF the
great panic He looked about him Tor
a fresh start in life. On his way he fell
in with Colonel Thomas a. Scott of
Washington, and found him an inter-
ested listener.
Colonel Scott had been assistant sec
rotary of war under Stanton, his duties
being those of master of transporta-
tion during that tremendous conflict.
He heard Ashley through patiently,
declared that this was a great country
the greatest on earth-said that the
period of shrinkage in values and lying
dormant was about past, and that
there would be more miles of railroad
built in the next fifteen years than
were then in operation in the United
States. Scott then told Ashley that ne
thought he knew where he could get
the rails and material for the road on
credit if he could raise the money Tor
the. remainder of the work The
cherubic countenance of Governor Ash
ley frightened amazingly, his spirits
arose and he speedily retraced his steps
to Boston. where, as the result of eff
forts extending over several months,
he put up $3.50 600 out of SI5O,0OO or
bonds and gave a mortgage upon all or
his property in Toledo. for which he
received a loan of $4,000 for one year.
With this small capital and the credit
at his command, the road from Ioledo
to Ann ATbor was constructed ana
placed in operation in July, 1878. Inc
means provided were, however, totally
Inadequate to meet the expenses, and
the new road and its owners soon
found themselves burdened with a
heavy load of Indebtedness, F-ith earn
ings for the first six months amount
they were going deeper and deeper into
debt.
Gov. Ashley's Hornets Nest.
About this time the great Michigan
Central system passed into the SANDS
of William H Vanderbilt, owner OF Iile
New York. Central so that the little
Ann Arbor was corked up at both ends
bv hostile influences. Ashley's rainbow
colored visions were rapidly vanishing,
but. sumnroning up his courage. ne or
ganiZed another road 100 miles long
and issuing S2,500,0O0 of bonds ana
81. 500. 900 of stock, he consolidated the
forty-five miles already built with the
100 miles not constructed, and, getting
introductiOns 10 bankers in New YORK
who had begun to feel the confidence
ef better times. was able TO borrow 90
rents on the dollar on the bonds. Dur
hlg the next two years he constructed
Ahe additional 100 miles of road.
The year previous the Michigan Cen
trial had caused to be repealed what
had been known as the crossing laws
of Michigan, by which one railroad was
enabled to cross another. 1t was wen
known that Ashley was building TINS
road wholly upon credit and that ne
was largely in debt, and il was argued
that if this construction could be de
laved. his railroad would be bankrupt,
and could be absorbed cheaply and
readily by the stronger road.
Governor Ashley was in New York at
this time. half distracted with the hor-
nests nest he had pulled about his
ears During his absence the tracks
of the middle division Of this 100 miles
~ road were approaching junction
near the village of Howell. Some $780,
900 in local aid was conditioned upon
the completion of the track laying and
the running of a train over the road by
Jan / 1886. SO, when the Ann
Arbor tracklayers neared Howell,
working from each end, in December,
1885, and were met with a refusal to
cross and a show Of force, backed by
an array of injunctions, the situation
looked rather desperate. Governor Ash
ley's oldest son, James NJ. Ashley, jr-,
then something over 20 years of age,
was in charge of the roads construc
ton. and realized how much the COM
pletiOn OF this little 100 feet of track
meant. He saw the 5000 of local aid
fading away in the distance, and he
knew what q financial smashup was in
evitable if both ends failed to meet q I
the close of this era of construction
But the first-born son of the visionary
old governor was made Of stern stuff;
there were six feet and four inches of
fight in him.
When the governor quaked at his
desperate situation, young Ashley only
rufiied up his brush of black fnair and
went 10 work. a little more than ten
days remained for him to complete the
track and earn the 5000, GOO. Up at the
north end of the road, in the lumber
camps, he gathered together Il band
of 200 red-shirted desper ADDE'S, and
armed and disciplined thep4 as well as
,mr few days time permitted. Then
he telegraphed TO Toledo and RAJ I
an equal body from the tough elenn1~C
Of that town. These were also armed
with old musllets and bayonets. and on
the night after Christmas the two
bodies met at the railroad crossing
near Howell. They proceeded at once
to blast their way through the en-
bankment on which the track of the
other road was placed. If he could not
legally pass over the Michigan Central
tracks, he could dig a tunnel under
them, and tbs he did. The Tremendous
conclusions OF the dynam mite aroused
the villagers in Howell, mile
away. and they quickly fiocked to the
scene. The night was clear, cold and
crisp, and brilliant moonlight, and At
midnight, as the two divisions of the
road we're Joined, the scene was one
not easily forgotten. Amid the loot
ings and shrill screenings of locomo-
tive whistles, the explosion of dy-
Mantle cartridges and the hoarse cheer
ing Of thousand men, young Ashley
worked like a Trojan, shouting his
directions to the mob. while he beat
his hands together to keep them from
freezing. That night a road train with
a passenger coach attached passed