The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1905-12-27

What the Beginnings OF Railroads in
the United States Were
Lila

The monument dedicated at Deposit,
N. Y, November 10. in commemmora-
ton Of the seventeen anniversary Of
the beginning Of work % the Erie,
marAs an important date in American
railroading, saws the New York Post.
Few, il any, roads, have passed through
such vicissitudes as tell to the lot Of
the Erie from its very inception; none
has heen more typical IN its con
stracuon, and certainly none have
been more often or more ruthlessly
plundered by conseieneeless financial
managers The frs. passenger train
with locomotive nad teen ,nht in act
ual sarvice IN South Carolina on Jan
uary Is. 1891 Two and 0ne.half years
later the New York & Erie company
was organized upon the assurance that
The desired road would cost only
100000 AS hint Of the lawess-
ness to come, the organizers violated
the act Incorporating their company
By beginning business with only five
per cent. Of It's capital stock sub
scribad instead of ten.
That Mr. James Gore King himself
was a visionary appears from the
speeel he made as nc dig up the first
spadefuls in the beautiful meadow in
which the inaugural ceremony took
place That vale. he declared, would
soon see a different spectacle"a
track Of rails with cars passing and
repassing loaded with merchandise and
The products of the country" The
freight" he continued, will amount
TO 100000 per annum in very few |
years Frightened at the incredibly |
expressed on the faces of those who |
hearl this wild prophecy, he hastily i
added-"at least eventually" Nine !
years later, in 1874, only "A miles Of /
road were in operation, from which I
was received in that year the munifi- |
cent income of s46,17SS4 from passen-
gers. and s79.S4lG 60 on freight, The /
cost Of operations and repairs was but
S66. 945. The only other great railways
then were the Baltimore 4 Ohio and
the read between Moscow and st.
Petersburg.
From that time on the road grew
slowly enough like all the other new
roads But unlike them, it could not
combine with other local railroads
Early construction III this country was
almost precisely like the development
or electric street railways during the
last decade First were lot of little
railroads between cities. Then came
links, and finally an anal
gamation Of many roads into a trunk
line OF this procedure. tho New York
Central Is the best example II was I,
made out of a chain OF ramshackle To-
cal roads OF different gauges Tho
Erie itself was forced TO lease two I
roads copuecting II with Jersey City.
as its passengers disliked getting of !
ut Piermont. its terminal and com
ng DOWN the Hudson on steamer
10 New York city
The ceremonies at the Erie's com
Dleti0n in 1851 werc fttended by Presi
lent Fillmore and Jour members Of
his cabinet, Including his secretary OF
state. Daniel Wehste~ Two palatial
special trains conducted the guests TO !
DunK.Ek with some difficulty, IT is
true, as one eLglne although a mon
5ter capable of pulling 10 tons, gave !
}ut carly in the lrip, But Elmira was
reached in ten hours, and. on the sec
md day, the remainder Of the 469 miles :
we're covered in seven hours. This
peaceful victory sait a banner on the
special train from Nawburgh, lis more
glorious in its triumph han Aus;erlitz :
II Waterloo" Anoti en- declared thai
this day wanting tie world had not !.
ecu tHc oA'TA' VI i@iIi"N 6