The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-20

,o,recting link between the railroads
80 Down East and those of the South
and the West lies along eight miles of
.,o most crowded waterway in the
n.or,d. that monthly upwards of $4,000
oors Of freight and thousands of pas
ssneers are carried around New York
nm and down the East river through
-Iou Cate the former without break
IN, hulk. the latter without being put
~ the inconvenience of changing cars.
mot one New England or Western
shinner in a hundred knows that his
etuff is carried along this waterway"
is the statement of one of the officials
high in this transfer service.
Even many we'll posted railroad
men. who are not Intimately connect
Cd with the transfer system, are al
most as ignorant of it as is the aver
age layman.
"Whv." said a prominent railroad
official of Philadelphia in his aston
ishment, as he went down the East
river recently on board of one of the
passenger transfer steamers and be-
held an almost continuous double
procession of freight car laden floats
from Harlem to Jersey City, Il had
no ideal thought perhaps you had
at most half dozen floats in serv-
ice"
This man was not so much in err
rOr as the second vice president OF a
northern trunk line, who confessed
that for years he had a notion that
one steamer alone took care of the
transfer work. And his road, as in
the case with the Philadelphia cor
poration, every month has hundreds
of cars of raw material from the
West taken into New England by
this route and receives in the same
way other hundreds loaded with fin
ished products from the manufactur-
ing centers of ssachusetts, Con-
necticut and New Hampshire.
Still, both men were far enough
away from the facts. Instead of one
steamer or '@at most a half dozen
floats" this link between the East
and the West consists of two power
full steamers for transferring passen-
ger trains, sixty-five car floats, each
varying in capacity from sixteen to
twenty-five freight cars, two immense
water front freight yards that jointly
cover several square miles of territory,
and twenty of the most powerful tug
boats built; and 1900 men are busy
twenty-four hours day operating the
link.
Ills llAlhy WutCh ID OSGQ ny ONGI
score of railroads and dispatch lines
running from the Jersey shore of the
Hudson river to the South and the
West, resulted from one mans fore
sight and indomitable will.
When, in 1875, Charles P. Clark was
the general manager of the New York
and New England Railroad, long since
absorbed by a former rival, he con-
ceived the idea that If he could estab-
fish transfer freight system via the
East and Harlem rivers between Jer-
sey City and the railroad which touch
ed the Harlem river at the point that
is now known as One Hundred and
Thirty-fifth street, he would get much
more freight for his own road from the
Western roads that terminated at Jer-
sey City than under the prevailing
method of breaking bulk and Tightening.
But he was alone in his belief that the
plan was practicable.
1T can't be DONE" said one railroad
authority after another. The river
is too dangerous; no railroad will trust
its freight and rolling stock on floats
that have to go through He'll Gate"
Maybe others admitted reluctant
ly, maybe you'll receive a few cars
from railroads that don't know what
they're about, but you'll not get enough
to pay for the trouble"
Money!" said the bankers. why,
Mr.. Clark, you're the only railroad
man who believes in the scheme. We're
very sorry, but we must take the judg-
ment of your colleagues, which is
united against you"
But Mr.. Clark would not be dis
Outraged. Baked in his attempt to
secure assistance of any sort from any
source whatever. he went down into
his own pocket, put up the money nee
essary to start the line, and then, back
ed by tug or two and three or four
floats, each capable of holding eight
cars, he went in search of business.
The first piece of work came In the
shape of a peach train from the Del
aware district. The railroad that haul
ed it to Jersey City was anxious to get
1t to Boston in a hurry. so it was de-
cided not to lighter the contents, but
turn the cars over to Mr.. Clark, who,
while the railroad officials held their
breath, took them safely through Hell
Gate and landed the train in Boston
day or so ahead of the usual time taken
In covering the distance.
At that, the cold water throwers sat
up and rubbed their eyes, and straight
way saw that Mr.. Clark was right art
er all. They also realized that 1t would
no longer be necessary to break the
bulk of the thousands of tons OF
freight that came to the edge of New
York from the South and the West for
Down East. The result was that the
link soon had more business offered IL
than it could take care of.
year later, with the opening OIL
the Centennial Exposition in Ph1la-
delphia, Mr.. Clark conceived the plan
OF opening up a through passenger
business by the river route. Again
ne was laughed at. People are not
going to trust themselves on Hoat
down the East river and through
He'll Gate" was staple objection.
Wen admit your freight theory has
proved all right in practice, but people
Will not risk their lives as they would
their property" Financial assistance
was also refused, so once more Mr..
Clark drew on his own bank account
and his nerve, bought a steamer that
had been used as a government trans
port during the Civil War, had it
overhauled so that passengers coaches
could be run on it, and then, while the
steamer was being brought to New
York to be entered in the service, it
ran aground in storm.
"Ah ha," said the pessiInists. 1--WE
told you sol TIN be wrecked with
passengers aboard next"
But Mr.. Clark was not to be dis
Outraged. He hauled the steamer off,
brought her to Harlem river and
then, one day, ran a passenger train,
bound for the Centennial, aboard and
slipped down the river, through Hell
Gate, In and out among the countless
craft, ana with never a mishap and on
the schedule time, which he had ag-
ured out beforehand, landed his train