Evening journal., 1915-01-23
New News Of Yesterday
A Railroad Prediction of
Last Century
By Holland.

Commodore Vanderbilt was al
ways greatly interested in a popular
feature of American railroad devel-
opment, and il was one which he
had carefully studied said the late
Charles {. Clarke, who was an in
innate friend of Commodore Wander
bilt, and even more intimate with his
son. William H. Vanderbilt to me
az a time when there was some
thought of establishing a through
railroad line from the Atlantic to
the Pacific under single control.
The time is far distant, in my
opinion continued Mr.. Clarke, when
the dream of the Nanderblts, or jaw
Gould, or that of G. p. Huntingdon
for continuous unified railroad line
from the Atlantic TO the Pacific will
be realized, but I believe that by
ano by, perhaps thirty or forty years
hence line of that kind will be
established
THE commodore noticed two or
three years before he began railroad
activities that the universal tenc pcy
of railroad development in the Uni-
ted States wa across the country
from east 10 wes.. CT vice versa.
Z hat. he once told me, was so from
tho beginning. He said that men
Of capital Of Boston recognized { nat
when they undertook to build a rail-
read from Boston to Albany, an east
and west line. Alexander Brown,
of Baltimore. founder of the great
International banking house. pointed
out only year or two after Stephen
son invented his locomotive engine
that the future of Baltimore depen-
ded upon running a railroad from
that city across the mountains 10
the Ohio valley. The Erie Railroad
was undertaken long after the Bal
timore and Ohio was completed be-
cause it was realized that in order
to protect New York City It was
necessary to run a railroad line di-
rectly from the Hudson to a harbor
upon the Great Lakes.
John NJ Forbes, OF Boston, realized
that the development of the United
| States. so far as it was dependent
upon railroad construction, compelled
/ the building of railroads along
] parallels of latitude Therefore hc
/ completed tue Michigan Central and
he began Immediately the construc-
/ tion of a railroad from Chicago 10
{
| germ of what became the Burlington
! system There is only one important
north and south railroad in the
United States and that is the Illinois
Central and its allies.
The commodore reasoned. there
fore. that for him, at least. if he were
to carry out his plans II was necos-
sary that he extend his railroad sys-
TEN from the east first to Chicago
and then. in whatever way seemed
feasible, farther west That explains
Why he became interested in the Chi
cago and Northwestern. He ono
told mo that this building of the east
and west line was inevitable because
the products of the farms of the
great west had to be moved from the
( harvest fields to the markets, and
/ these we're upon the Atlantic coast.
The commodore believed that at some
day there would be developed two
or three great railroad systems whose
lines would run north and south
He did not live long enough 10
see his prediction fulfilled. but I
have. and / think il is more likely,
that a line under one management
end ownership stretching from The
Canadian boundary to the Gulf of
Mexico will be built within a few
!, years than that a line under one
! management and ownership will
stretch from the Atlantic to the Pa
oific until years have passed.
| Copyright. 1915. by E. J. Edwards
All rights reserved).