Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-02-23
WHEELINGsS CLOSE INTEREST IN
THE BILIJ0N STEEL TRUST.

can Manufacturer, throws an entirely
new light on the origin of the billion
dollar steel trust, which, according to
his version, is the outcome of Mr.. Car
negie's threat to build a new n in
dependent trunk line from the Pacific
to the Atlantic if the existing railroads
continued to discriminate against his
industry in freight rates. In the
story Mr.. Larsen tells Wheeling has
a large share of vital interest, which
certainly will o be served by the
proposed deal and the cutting off of the
tremendous transcontinental railroad
projected by Mr.. Carnegie, which line
would come direct through Wheeling.
Mr.. Larsen relates how j. Pierpont
Morgan and the syndicate of railroads
under his control were forced to offer
to buy out the great Pittsburg iron
master to relieve themselves of a most
dangerous competitor. The Wabash
railroad" says Mr.. Larsen, has been
seeking an entrance into Pittsburg for
man. years. Numerous surveys nave
been made and a bridge was partly
built, the piers remain standing, to let
it over the Monongahela river. Meyran
T. Herrick, Cleveland, receiver of the
Cleveland, Wheeling & Lorain railroad,
lent himself 80 the scheme and offered
to turn his line over to the Wabash,
and it, together with the Wheeling &
Lake Erie, were to form the connecting
links west. Andrew Carnegie, George
Gould, C. Z. Cuyler, of New York, and
Meyran T. Herrick, of Cleveland, who
also represents Mark Hanna, each sub
scribed 5 5000, 900 towards carrying out
the enterprise to bring the Wheeling
& Lake Erie into Pittsburg for the pur-
pose Of making extensions east to
Philadelphia and Baltimore. The plan
was as follows:
&c. c. lutte. of P%ittsburg, for the
Carnegie interests, optioned large
tracts of coal land in Washington AMI
Greene counties, Pa, through which
The Wheeling & Lake Erie was to be
built from Wheeling to Pittsburg. Sen
aror Hanna having large holdings
along the Wheeling & Lake Erie,
wished to avoid the Ohio law which
prohibits railroads from operating coal
mines, had a separate corporation
made of his coal properties, and Thos.
Young elected president, so that he
could enter into the extension OF the
Wheeling & Lake Erie and the pro-
posed Carnegie railroad.
The Midway Coal Company. the Shaw
Coal Company and other concerns We're
organized with q hope of benefiting by the
extension of the Carnegie system. Jones
* Laughlins were taken into the deal and
connections were to have been made with
the M~onongahela Connecting Railroad
which connects their various plants and
departments, Options were secured on a
now occupied by a number of shacks and
the Millholand machine shops. A tunnel
was to be cut through the Hill known as
Mt. Washington, the steep grade which
cuts Pittsburg off from the land on the
south. Back of this hill land was secured
for yards and switching purposes TO have
a SdP1NatN VI -pipuV litASiE cars ana SID
ings.
The railroad WAS to connect with the
Union Line of the Carnegie Company
which skirts the M~onongahel river from
Homestead TO ADuquesne. A line has been
surveyed and work commenced to extend
the Union Line south 50 miles, and this
was to connect with the Monongahela &
southern, promoted by Col. J. NJ. Guffey.
which in turn is to connect with the West
ern MARYLAND railroad at Shippensburg,
Pa. This would give an outlet 10 Phila-
delphia and Baltimore.
While these plans were progress
iEg," continues Mr.. Larsen. and were
absut to be closed, Mr.. Carnegie cane
cut in an interview in the Plttsburg
papers calling attention to the dis
ordinations in eastern freight rates.
and making the broad assertion that
if no relief was given he would build a
line to the coast. President Cassett,
in Philadelphia, was informed of the
tons of the article and fastened to New
York to visit Mr.. Carnegie that day.
The Vanderbilts were also thoroughly
aroused, as the entrance of the Cleve-
land, Wheeling & Lorain railroad into
flttsDurg, meant a loss of freight OF
iron ore, coke, coal and limestone to
and from the lakes, of which the Pitts
burg & Lake Erie railroad carries al
most 10000, 900 ton a year.
j. Pierpont Morgan, as the repre-
sentative of a majority of the rai.roao
bondholders, and as the man who haa
previously made overtures to MIR. Car
I-egie with Mr.. Prick for the pur-
chase of his interests, was selected as
the man to make a second attempt TO
buy out Mr.. Carnegie. Hts restless
Spirit was a menace to the established
railroads of the east, west and north.
ters, then, Is where Mr.. Morgan is Sc