Evening star., 1901-04-15
CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO
THE HISTORIC CANAL MAY SOON
CHANGE HANDS
On May 1 ths Present Management
Ceases by Order Of Court-A
Railroad Possible,
From the Baltimore Sun.

The period of ten years during which the
trustees for the holders of the bonds Of 1874
have operated the Chesapeake and Ohio
canal, under decree of the circuit court
Tor Washington county, will terminate on
May J. Two things may be done. The
court may pass an order extending the time
ana continuing the present conditions or it
may. upon motion of the state of Maryland,
enforce the decree and order the property
to be sold to the highest bidder.
This historic waterway was wrecked and
washed out by the great flood of 1889. It's
fortunes had been declining for a number
of years A similar disaster had occurred
about ten years before. and a mortgage
debt of half million dollars had been put
upon it to provide for repairs. To this
mortgage the state had waived its liens
and it became the first lien upon the prop
erty. But freight rates on coal had been
reduced by competition between the Balti-
more and Ohio and the Pennsylvania roads
and the business of the canal was claimed
to be no longer profitable. 1t was there
fore, for a time deemed impracticable to re-
par the waterway after the flood of 1850
and for year there was a discussion as to
what should be done with the wreck The
general idea was that it should be convert
ed into railroad. The West Virginia Cen
tral and Pittsburg company was anxious
to have it, and the Western Maryland Rail-
road Company made a proposition to
lease it.
This proposition is of present interest. in
view of the complaints of business men in
this city of discrimination against Balti-
1ncre in the matter of coal freights. Bal
tinore, in its commerce and manufactu
needs a vast amount of COAL and it has
been deemed exceedingly unfortunate that
it's supply should depend upon railroads
which are controlled by rival cities. The
Western Maryland road is within about
sixty miles of Cumberland, and if it could
nj if nj ha flli roll Iosi
tow path at a comparatively small cost.
The grade through the mountains is better
than that possessed ty any railroad and
there is a tunnel undey the mountains
worth, it is estimated, a million dollars. AT
Cumberland the road could obtain coal
shipments from various sources. The
charges the coal roads centering at
Cumberland are limited by their charters
to a low rate.
Long Litigation.
The canal property is now enmeshed in
litigation. After the freshet of 1889 bill
was filed asking for the appointment of re-
ceivers, and the state which had and has
claims against the company for about
thirty million dollars, asked for a sale of
court for Washington county, appointed
receivers to examine the property and
make report and recommendations to the
court. They concluded that the canal
could no longer be operated profitably
waterway, and recommended that it be
sold. Then the trustees for the holders of
the 1914 bonds interviewed and asked that
the property be given over to be repaired
and operated by them, declaring that its
sale would deprive them of their only Sc
curity, their lien being upon the revenues
| and not upon the corpus of the work. Act
ing upon this petition, Judge Alvey, in his
decree of October 2, 1890, gave the canal
over to the trustees to be repaired at their
expense and operated. They We're also to
= hn hon Tc Of %,
four years from May ], 1891, the decree
said, there should not be revenues sufficient
to pay off the bonds of 1873, the cost of re-
pairs and the labor liens such failure
should be deemed conclusive proof that the
canal could not be operated so as to pro-
duce revenue with which to pay the bonded
debt, and the canal would then be sold.
The work of restoring the canal was COM
pleted at a cost of nearly half million
dollars. The trustees were identified with
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com
pany; the bonds of 1914 and those of 1873,
as well as certain labor claims in the in
terest of which the state had waived it's
priority, all have passed into the hands, it
has been stated, of persons in the same in
terest. Thus the canal came into possess
sion of it's historic rival, whose construc-
tion began the same day, namely, July 4.
1928.
On January 80, 1894, the canal trustees
filed petition in the circuit court for
Washington county asking for an extern
sion of time for operating the canal
company known as the Chesapeake and
Ohio Transportation Company had been
formed for propelling boats by electric and
other power, and authority was asked to
enter into contract with this company
Judge Stake passed an order granting the
petition of the trustees and extending their
time to May l. 1901. The claims against
the corpus of the canal which had been
conceded priority to those of the state
amount, on a rough estimate, to nearly a
million and half dollars. Many persons
believe that the tunnel and the tow path,
| the latter furnishing an entrance into the
heart of Washington and to the water
front, should, for the purposes of rail-
road, fetch enough to bring to the state
| treasury one or two million dollars. In dis
posing of this great waterway two things
should be had in view, namely, the inter-
ests of the people of the state, who con-
structed 1t for a transportation line, and
! the interests of the taxpayers. A proper
sale might bring enough to relieve the
state Of a great portion of its debt.