The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-03-26
VAN BROTHERS
CINCH RULE Of
RAIL EMPIRE
Cleveland Wizards Annex
C. & {. l., Control $4,000
Miles of Track.
START IN REAL ESTATE
Nickel Plate Was Nucleus
of Vast Holdings; Gould
Dream ECIipSed.
BIZ Lntte1 prcsa

nN I NGtu fftSS
NEW YORK, March 26.-Witilin
fourteen years after they bought a
rundown, Single-track railroad 523
miles long, the Van Sweringehs Of
Cleveland-Oris P. and Mantis j.
have come to dominate the worlds
largest privately-controlled railway
empire.
Acquisition Of the Chicago g. East
ern Illinois, the newest unit in the
steel-banded chain of transporta-
ton, gives the brothers partial or
complete influence over $4,000 miles
Of trackage. The investment in
road and equipment of the several
lines totals $2,O84 200, 900. The cap
itafiSation is $808,000,000.
There was no hint of the finan-
cial greatness to come when o. p.
Van Sweringen, the older of the
boys, left an Ohio farm to seek his
fortune in the city. His first lob
was as a. newsboy and a few years
later his brother likewise went to
Cleveland and sold papers.
Start in Real Estate
But the start" vas gained in real
estate. The Van Sweringens ac-
CURED large interest in the famed
Shaker Heights development, and
that project brought them their
first million dollars.
Their first railroad was the New
York, Chicago e. st. Louis, an am
bilious name for a line that never
had reached two of its detectives.
1t began at Chicago and ended at
Buffalo, getting nowhere near New
York or st. Louis.
It's sobriquet, 1.-The Nickel Plate"
was based on reputed remark Of
William Vanderbilt upon acquiring
the road for the New York Central,
that if the thing had been nickel
plated it couldn't have cost him
more than it did
Railroad circles were surprised
when John J. Bernet, who had been
president of the New York
Central, renounced his chances of
the presidency Of that line and
agreed to head the Nickel Plate.
Soon the nickel became more golden.
Bernet in four years raised the
operating revenue from $23,969 to
$44,867 a mile.
Acquire Other Roads
Then, rapidly, the Van Swerir-
gems acquired the Toledo, st. Louis
q Western and the Lake Erie 81
Western. Scarcely we're these deals
completed than the brothers began
to look with envious eyes upon other
roads. The present mileage of the
railroads controlled by the Van
Sweringens follows;
Wheeling & Lake Erie .............. SIT
Chesapeake E. Ohio .-..-.......-...-2.73 S
Pere Marquette -.....-..............22 4e
NTieeo,,ri 77'ssss9p
CbfSoq6 a TaHte-n 1iiinois az
Not all are owned directly. Some,
'or instance, are o~ned through the
h'laqhen-- cc~'>~~a On.
But = all int-n and purposes
the Van SweriDeens dominate a
vast system extending from New
York to Salt Lake City, from Buff.
falo to Brownsville, from Old Point
Comfort to Omaha, from Chicago
to New Orleans, from Detroit to
Ell PaSo.
Land Missouri Pacific
The Missouri Pacific, which was
acquired quietly, comprises such
lines as the International Great
Northern and Texas 81 Pacific. It
shares with the Western Pacific
ownership in the Denver 81 Rio
Grande Western. The latter line
ends at Salt Lake, where connection
is made with the Western Pacific
to the Pacific coast.
The Western Pacific is known to
be friendly to the Van Sweringens
and thus the latter have what is
tantamount to a transcontinental
railway-the dream of such builders
as Jay Gould and Jim Hill.
And no one in the world of busi-
ness believes that the Van Swerin-
gems yet have purchased their last
railroad.