CHAPTER IV

RAILROADS

During the period of the development of the canals there was growing up along side of them an agency for transportation that was destined practically to put them out of business. Engineers in both Europe and America were straining every energy to apply the steam engine to the propulsion of wagons along a highway. No one at first looked upon the railroad as a separate and distinct industry. For years upon roads over which there was much hauling of heavy loads planks had been placed in the tracks to prevent rutting. These planks had developed into rigidly set timbers or rails either attached to cross timbers or to stones set in the roadway. A little later iron straps were fastened to the tops of the rails to lessen wear and friction. It was found that a horse could haul on these tramways several times as much as he could on the dirt roadway. The steam engine had revolutionized industry and was turning all sorts of machinery with an efficiency unknown before, why then could it not be applied to propel vehicles? In England George Stephenson and associates were proving that it could. But prior to their time many thinkers of America believed in it. John Fitch, the half crazy inventor of an early steamboat, had built a model locomotive. Oliver Evans, who had placed wheels under a steamboat of his invention (1804) and run it over the streets of Philadelphia, predicted “The time will come when people will travel in stages moved by steam engines, from one city to another, almost as fast as birds fly, fifteen to twenty miles an hour.” His vision went still further; he saw what most people think to be absolutely modern innovations: “A carriage will set out from Washington in the morning, the passengers will breakfast at Baltimore, dine at Philadelphia, and sup at New York, the same day ... and travel by night as well as by day; and the passengers will sleep in these stages as comfortably as they do now in steamboats.”[87] Evans antedated Stephenson’s thought that speed with a locomotive could only be made on nearly level rails. John Stevens, who is often spoken of as the father of American railroads, of course, had similar beliefs, and wrote a pamphlet to impress his ideas of the importance of railways upon Congress. He said: “I am anxious and ambitious that my native country should have the honor of being the first to introduce an improvement of such immense importance to society at large, and should feel the utmost reluctance at being compelled to resort to foreigners in the first instance.”[88] Had Congress not turned a deaf ear to him it is quite possible that he might have been before Stephenson in demonstrating the practicability of the locomotive.[89] Stevens built a small locomotive and demonstrated it on a piece of track on his grounds with himself as passenger in 1820. Several tramways or railroads operated by horse were established in different parts of the country. One of them--sponsored by the people of Baltimore, anxious to retain their trade--was the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which had secured from Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania charters for its construction in 1827 and 1828. It was being built with many curves, as it, too, was expected to have horse propulsion. Many persons thought it should be made straighter in order to take advantage of the steam locomotive when the inventors had perfected it sufficiently to be usable. It was not considered feasible to operate locomotives on crooked roads. Peter Cooper, justly praised for many benefits to his country, decided to build a locomotive to prove it could run on a crooked track. In his own words: “Under these discouraging circumstances many of the principal stockholders were about to abandon the work, and were only prevented from forfeiting their stock by my persuading them that a locomotive could be so made as to pass successfully around the short curves then found in the road.”[90]

Accordingly in 1829 Cooper fitted up a small engine and boiler on a flat car and with that crude locomotive, the _Tom Thumb_, was able to demonstrate that curves could be “navigated.” Having made some changes in the _Tom Thumb_, Cooper, the next year, ran it over the 13 miles from Baltimore to Ellicott’s Mills in an hour and a quarter, an average of 6 miles per hour, returning in sixty-one minutes, including a stop of four minutes. The engine pushed ahead of it a flat car carrying twenty-four passengers. The wheels of the engine had been constructed on the “cone principle” which allowed it to round the curves of 400 feet radius without trouble.[91] This was the first time a car filled with passengers had been hauled over a railroad in the United States by means of steam power.

In England steam engines had been tried out but not until 1820 was the first commercial road, the Stockton & Darlington Railroad, 37 miles in length, completed. Prior to this time the tram roads had been erected for specialized private transportation (from colliery to canal, for instance) or as improvements to the public highways. The Stockton & Darlington was intended to be operated with horses. And even as late as 1828 the Liverpool & Manchester Railroad, intended primarily to haul freight and relieve the congested condition of the canals, was chartered with a provision that the owners could exact toll of all who might put vehicles on the road for the transport of goods. The engineer, George Stephenson, however, was a strong advocate of steam power and the success of the _Rocket_, built by his son Robert, in 1829, as this road was nearing completion, definitely determined the power to be used. Roads in America followed the same idea that they were public highways. In Pennsylvania the state built a railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia and licensed over twenty different companies to run their horse-drawn cars over it.[92] In other states the same idea prevailed and the right to charge tolls “upon all passengers and property” transported upon the road was legalized by the charter.

The utility and economy of the railways were so manifest that organizations were formed rapidly over the whole well settled portions of the country. Several locomotives were imported from England. One of these, the _John Bull_ (locomotives were for a number of years all named like sleeping cars are now), brought over by Stevens & Son, is said to have given Baldwin information which enabled him to build _Old Ironsides_, the first locomotive to run on Pennsylvania tracks, and establish a business which afterwards became one of the largest locomotive works in the world. _Old Ironsides_ was built by Matthias Baldwin and his brother-in-law Rufus Tyler for the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Road. Tyler seems to have made the drawings. Baldwin was by trade a jeweler but his mechanical ingenuity had carried him further. He had added to his business that of constructing tools and calico printing apparatus and machinery. He had built a steam engine for his own shop. A museum operator in Philadelphia desiring to add to the attractions of his place of amusement wished to put in a miniature locomotive and railway. He applied to Baldwin, who built the road with its small locomotive and cars. On April 25, 1831, its installation was completed and it hauled two four-seated passenger cars about a circular track, to the great delight of the patrons, who were anxious for the experience of riding on the railroad.

[Illustration: THE EVOLUTION OF THE RAILWAY TRAIN

1. The First Railway Coach--1825. 2. Horse Power Locomotive--1829-30. 3. Stourbridge Lion--1829. 4. Stevenson’s Rocket Locomotive--1829. 5. The DeWitt Clinton Locomotive--1831.

(From Brown’s “First Locomotive”--Courtesy of D. Appleton & Company.)]

One of the roads that seems to have been prolific in “first things” was between Charleston and Hamburg, South Carolina. Chartered in 1827, again in 1828. In 1829-30 it experimented with sailing cars, as did also the Baltimore & Ohio and with treadmill horse powers. But the company fortunately employed Horatio Allen, who had studied the English roads and was strongly inclined to steam power. He so convincingly presented his ideas that it was decided to strengthen construction and use such locomotives. This then, very likely, was the first railroad in the world to adopt formally the steam locomotive as its means of propulsion (January 14, 1830). The company accordingly built its lines substantially and placed upon them the “first locomotive made in America for regular and practical use on a railway.”[93] This locomotive known as the _Best Friend of Charleston_ was built in New York and shipped to Charleston by sea. After some adjustments it satisfied the demands of the contract, but distinguished itself by being the first locomotive to explode. It is said a negro fireman sat upon or held down the safety valve to prevent escaping steam from annoying him. The _Charleston Courier’s_ account closes with the gratifying information that “none of the persons are dangerously injured except the negro, who had his thigh broken.” A new locomotive, the _West Point_, was secured, upon which several improvements suggested by experience had been made; among them the safety valve was placed out of reach of the fireman, making it fool-proof.

The beginning of the New York Central may be traced to a charter granted in 1826 to the Mohawk & Hudson Company, which with five or six other small lines was joined together into that company. Its first locomotive, the _De Witt Clinton_, had a rather interesting initiation. The engine was constructed by the West Point foundry, the same concern that had built the _Best Friend_ and the _West Point_. A demonstration was announced for August 9, 1831, the road having 17 miles of rails at that time. The locomotive, a small affair compared with the modern engines, is still in existence and with its train of that day was exhibited at the Pageant of Progress, Chicago, July 30, 1921, as the “pioneer American steam passenger train.” The whole engine was only about 12 feet long with large wheels, tall smoke stack and a central steam dome. Back of it were the tender and wood for fuel and two barrels of water, two passenger coaches modeled after stage coaches, and following these several small flat cars to which had been attached temporary benches for seats. The locomotive and cars were joined together with short sections of strong chain. When the engine started these jerked so badly the passengers could not retain their seats; stopping had a similar effect. On the trip it is said the passengers appropriated rails from a near fence and made braces to keep the cars the full length of the chains apart. The wood fuel produced many sparks which flying backward set fire to and ruined much of the passengers’ clothing. But according to a newspaper report[94] the train “passed over the road from plane to plane, to the delight of a large crowd assembled to witness the performance. The engine performed the entire route in less than one hour, including stoppages, and on a part of the road its speed was at the rate of 30 miles an hour.”

On May 10, 1893, Engine No. 999, of the New York Central Railroad, made, traveling alone, a record of 112.5 miles an hour.

The Camden & Amboy road was chartered in 1830 and was somewhat unique in that New Jersey in return for $200,000 worth of stock had granted a monopoly of the right of way between Philadelphia and Newark. Poore says:[95] “The state became a willing party to the scheme, under the idea that it could thereby draw the means for supporting its government from citizens of other States, thus relieving its own from the burdens of taxation.” He says, “the state now (1860) derives a revenue of over $200,000 annually from transit duties and dividends on the stock presented to it.”

NewEngland started three railway projects about the same time: Boston & Lowell, chartered in 1830 first used in 1834, 26.7 miles long; Boston & Providence, chartered in 1831, first used in 1834, 43.5 miles long; and the Boston & Worcester, chartered in 1831, first used in 1834, 44.6 miles long.[96] These roads were chartered with the idea of using horse-drawn vehicles, except the Boston & Worcester, where steam locomotives were authorized, but it was not until about 1834 that they were used. Some of these roads, as did most of those built farther west, followed the English practice of laying track. One of them, at least, laid its track upon wooden cross-ties, thus securing the necessary resiliency for service. It was not many years, however, before several other roads were established with regular trips of locomotive drawn cars arranged both for passenger and freight traffic. The time of passenger service from Boston to New York had been materially shortened by connecting the schedules of stage coaches to Providence with those of steamboats down the Sound. When the steam railway came into existence the time of the trip was again shortened, and still again when an all rail route was opened in 1848, as shown by the following table:

1775 General Washington was 12 days en route. Early coaches required a week. 1800 Stage coaches required 4 days. 1832 Stage coaches required 41 hours. 1822 Coach to Providence, steamboat to New York, 28 hours. 1835 Coach to Providence, steamboat to New York, 16 hours. 1835 Railway to Providence, steamboat to New York, 15 hours. 1848 All railway, 10 hours. 1922 All railway, 5 hours, 10 minutes. 1922 Air plane, 3 hours.

While the railroads of the East were gradually working west, the trans-Alleghany states were themselves looking toward railroad transportation. The first railway in Ohio was begun in 1835 and had completed 30 miles by 1840. It extended from Sandusky to Springfield. When it was chartered, 1832, under the name of the Mad River & Lake Erie Railway, the intention was to connect Lake Erie with the Ohio River. A locomotive was purchased and shipped to Sandusky by canal and lake. It arrived before any track was laid hence the gauge of the track was made to fit the locomotive, 4 feet 10 inches. Other roads in Ohio were laid at that gauge and in time the state adopted that as a standard.

Michigan in 1832, then a territory, incorporated the Detroit & St. Joseph Railroad Company. After several years without doing anything the road was completed to Ann Arbor in 1840. Later its western terminal became New Buffalo, from which point there was steamboat communication with Chicago. This was the germ which has grown into the Michigan Central.

A railroad was begun from Frankfort, Kentucky, to Lexington, a few miles from the pioneer settlement at Boonesborough. By 1840 this road had extended to the Ohio River near Louisville and was 92 miles in length. Indiana chartered not less than a half-dozen railways in 1832 and continued with a score or more in the next few years. The Lawrenceburg & Indianapolis line, chartered 1832, was opened with a Fourth of July celebration, 1834, and had laid less than 2 miles of track by 1836.[97] The Madison & Indianapolis road was opened in 1838. The report of the principal engineer, 1837, states that “the exclusive use of steam as a motive power” had been adopted, thus saving “the cost of a horse path” and avoiding “the delay and confusion arising from the simultaneous use of both steam and horse power,” as well as elevating the “character of the road by greater dispatch in the conveyance of passengers.” He thinks “in the use of the railroads constructed by the state it will probably be best for the state to furnish the motive power, leaving the cars for the conveyance of freight and passengers to be furnished by individuals or companies, from whom the state will exact the proper toll for the use of the road, and for the motive power.” The idea seems everywhere to have prevailed that a railway was a public highway to be used by and for the benefit of the public. Only for a very short time in the history of the country did the theory have prominence that a railway is private property to the extent that its owners could do as they pleased with it and the “public be damned.”

At various points in the South were railways projected and built. Besides the Charleston & Hamburg, which has already been mentioned, and which by 1850 had extended across the state to Hamburg directly across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia, and northward to Columbia with some branches, should be noted a few others. From Richmond there was a line westward to the coal fields (1830-31) and a line which by 1840 connected the Potomac with Fredericksburg, a distance of 75 miles. It was constructed in the ordinary manner of wooden rails with strap-iron plates. In Virginia there were the Petersburg & Roanoke, about 60 miles long and other lines sufficient to total in 1840 more than 300 miles. North Carolina also took up the rail question rather early. The Wilmington & Raleigh, chartered in 1833, had laid upwards of 160 miles in 1840. Georgia was building lines in the ’thirties and ’forties from Augusta across the state to link with lines in Tennessee. The lines of these several Southeastern states were joined together later and became parts of large systems. Of the several projects authorized amounting to more than 1000 miles (1837) only one materialized, namely, the road from Springfield to Meredosia, and 58 miles had been completed by 1842. A locomotive was purchased and according to the Springfield _Journal_, March 18, “the cars ran from Jacksonville, 33¹⁄₂ miles, in two hours and eight minutes including stoppages.” On account of the unsettled condition of the country and the accidents along the way,--no doubt the track was poorly constructed,--it did not pay. The locomotive for a considerable time lay out in the open where it had jumped the track. A man bought it, equipped it with wide tired wheels and attempted to operate it on the wagon roads. This proved unsuccessful and it was finally abandoned on the prairie.[98] The road was sold in 1847. Several roads were reaching out for the Mississippi River and the fertile prairies beyond. The bustling young city of Chicago began its first railway toward the west in 1848. The other extremity was set for Galena on the Mississippi River. Not being financially able to buy T-rails they purchased some second-hand strap-irons. Likewise a second-hand locomotive was obtained, but when it arrived at the water front in Chicago the city authorities having refused the privilege of laying tracks on the street the company was at a loss to know how to get it to the end of their rails. After much discussion permission to lay a temporary track was given, and the _Pioneer_ finally reached her destination. The railway proved successful from the first; later it became part of the Illinois Central System. The locomotive _Pioneer_ is still retained in the Field Museum of Chicago.

There is not space to trace the development of the railways in all the individual states. In all natural growths, increases at first are slow, then accelerated until a maximum is reached, followed by a gradual retardation. So with the railway growth. The number of miles of railroad constructed up to 1830 was 41; 1835, 918; to 1840, 2797; in small widely scattered locations, but from that time on to the Civil War the work went on rapidly. By 1860 about 31,000 miles had been constructed and was going on at the rate of 5000 miles per year. Seven trunk line roads had passed through the Appalachian Mountain system; at eight places they and their connections touched the Ohio River, and the Mississippi at ten.[99] By 1850 there was railway connection between Boston and the east end of Lake Erie, and from the west end of Lake Erie to Lake Michigan with steamboat connection across the two lakes; before 1860 there was a network of rails between the Atlantic seaboard and the Mississippi River. Construction lagged behind in the South. Up to 1856 the building was approximately as follows:

Northeastern States 4000 miles Northern Central States 7500 „ South Atlantic States 2750 „ Southern Interior 2150 „

And the very fact that few of these were north and south roads, that travel and intercourse were east and west, that the people of the North did not fraternize with the people of the South, that they grew apart and worshiped at the shrine of different ideals, furnished at least one cause for the cruel Civil War. There are still too few north and south trunk lines of travel and commerce, too little trade and friendly intercourse to heal the differences engendered by a century of separation. There lies one of the hopes of the interchange of summer and winter automobile visitors.

The building of railroads offered an opening for surplus capital; the opportunity for fortune and fame was attractive; but above all the people were crazed with the idea of improvement; every town wanted to grow bigger and a railroad was an absolute necessity; scores of companies were formed with the intention of beginning construction, then deeding the improvement to some established line to operate. Many communities subscribed stock, others voted bonds, others paid for right of way by private subscription in order to secure a railroad. Mob psychology had got in its work; the people were frenzied. The result was often overbuilding, parallel lines, too many roads attempting to occupy the same territory, with the result that branch lines often never paid interest on the cost of construction. On the other hand the gambling instinct was rampant, many roads were overcapitalized, stock was voted influential persons without money consideration, and stock sold to others for more than it was worth.

As there had been for turnpikes, as there had been for canals, once again there came a popular call for governmental aid. Land was then plenty and the general belief was that the prosperity of the country demanded its settlement. If railways could be induced to go out into the open prairies and by their selling agencies bring about the occupation and tillage of these lands, other lands owned by the Government would soon be in demand. There would be no particular hardship on anyone, since Government land was sold to actual settlers for such a small sum, the railroads would be unable to dispose of their land at a much larger price. As a matter of fact the land was sold by the railroads for whatever it would bring; the prices increased as settlement became more dense. In Iowa railroad land sold from $5 to $50 per acre during the ’sixties and ’seventies. The remaining land held by the government was ordinarily increased in price from $1.25 to $2.50 per acre.

Congress, evidently influenced by the demand for railroads, and falling back upon the precedent of the National Highway, heretofore mentioned, granted in 1850 to the State of Illinois a strip of land about 12 miles wide lengthwise through the state to be transferred by it to the Illinois Central Railroad. The act gave six sections per mile on each side of the track, amounting, as certified to later, 2,595,053 acres. In consideration of this and in lieu of all other taxes, the company agreed to pay the state an amount equal to 7 per cent of the gross earnings from freight and passenger traffic. The company had received from the sale (principal and advanced interest) of 2,250,633 acres, up to January 1, 1873, $24,296,596;[100] an average of about $11 per acre.

Other companies were quick to take advantage of this precedent. Each had its representative in Congress. For over twenty years there was scarcely a Congress that did not make one or two such grants. More than a hundred such grants[101] were made between 1850 and 1872, aggregating 155,000,000 acres.[102] Several roads did not comply with the conditions of the grants hence the donation lapsed. Up to June 30, 1880, grants amounted to 155,504,994.59 acres, according to Donaldson, of which there had been patented to the same date, 35,214,978.25 acres.

=Pacific Roads.=--The most gigantic land grants made by the Government were for the benefit of the trans-continental or Pacific roads. The idea of a transcontinental railroad has been traced back practically to the beginning of railroad building in the United States.[103] During the ’fifties the debates in Congress waxed strong. Should the states’ sovereignty idea prevail and federal aid be first granted to the states and dealt out by them to the builders as had been done with the Illinois Central and numerous other cases, or should the National Government undertake the work itself or grant the aid to a company for that purpose? Where would the road be built: in the North, which would give an advantage to the abolitionists, or in the South, with corresponding advantage to slavery partisans? The two classes were absolutely antagonistic to each other’s desires. Then there was a middle class, who desired to prevent separation and war who refused to vote upon either side for fear it would create trouble with the other.

As a compromise a bill was passed in 1853 to have the country west of the Mississippi River surveyed to determine the most feasible region for building the transcontinental railroad. The report of the survey is contained in eleven volumes, and was made by the War Department, of which Jefferson Davis was the Secretary. This cabinet officer reported in favor of “the route of the 32d parallel” as the “most practical and economical from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.”[104] A line this far south, of course, was not acceptable to the North. The election and Civil War coming on changed the status of affairs and on July 4, 1862, President Lincoln signed the bill by which the first transcontinental road should be constructed by two companies: the Central Pacific working from the west, and the Union Pacific working from the Missouri River at Omaha westward. A grant of land of approximately 35,000,000 acres was made, namely, the odd sections lying contiguous to the line on either side. This was not quite a return to the position of the Government when it built out of the funds from the sale of public lands the National Road westward from Maryland, through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, into Illinois. Then the construction was done under the direction of the federal Government and the road remained the property of the Government. Now federal aid was given to private companies to be operated for their own benefit. What might have been the result in this country had the Government taken a firm stand for national ownership is problematical, but the fact that it has made a success of the construction and operation of the Panama Canal leads many to believe that the railroad question would have been handled as easily if that system had grown up from the beginning. Opponents of government ownership point to the roads of continental Europe as being less efficient than those of England and the United States under private ownership. And more recently the fiasco of Government operation under war emergency is considered a strong argument against public ownership.

In addition to the land granted to the Union Pacific for the “purpose of aiding in the construction of said railroad and telegraph line, and to secure the safe and speedy transportation of the mails, troops, munitions of war, and public stores thereon, every alternate section of land, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of five alternate sections per mile on each side of said road,”[105] the company was given for “right of way” 200 feet each side of the track,[106] “including all necessary grounds” for stations, side-tracks and various other purposes enumerated, also to take from the public land “adjacent to the line of said road” (afterwards limited to 10 miles on each side) “earth, stone, timber, and other materials, for the construction thereof.” Further help was also granted by the provisions of the act (Section 5): “That ... the Secretary of the Treasury shall, upon the certificate in writing ... of the completion and equipment of forty consecutive miles ... issue ... bonds of the United States of one thousand dollars each, payable in thirty years after date, bearing six per centum per annum interest ... to the amount of sixteen of said bonds per mile.” The act provides that this loan shall constitute a first mortgage lien on the property, but the act of 1864 allowed the company to issue bonds to the same amount and subrogate the Government bonds to those issued by the company making the Government claim a second mortgage instead of a first. The Government gave similar grants and privileges to the Central Pacific, although it was a purely state corporation and, at first, was only to build to the east line of California. Apparently the last vestige of the traditions of Madison and Monroe, of Jackson and Buchanan had disappeared.

There was danger that other lines would be built. A line was preparing to go west from Leavenworth, lines were converging on St. Joseph and Sioux City, any of which might become rivals of the Union Pacific, so the act provides that they shall unite with the Pacific not farther west than the one hundredth meridian of longitude, and if they do so grants of lands and subsidy bonds will be given to them.

However, the demand for transcontinental lines was so great that three other lines were authorized. In 1864 the Northern Pacific Railroad to connect Lake Superior with Puget Sound, with a land grant of 58,000,000 acres; in the Atlantic & Pacific to follow the old 32d parallel route, now a part of the Southern Pacific, with a grant of 42,000,000 acres; and last, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé received also a large grant. The total Congressional grants certified or patented to railroads and military wagon roads from 1850 to 1880 were as follows:

To States 35,214,978.25 acres To Corporation and Pacific Roads 10,435,048.08 Military Wagon Roads 1,301,040.47 ------------- 46,951,066.80 Deduct lands forfeited 607,741.76 ------------- Grand Total for Railroads and Military Wagon Roads 46,343,325.04

Acres necessary to fill grants providing all roads are constructed 155,504,994.59[107]

=Construction of Pacific Roads.=--It would be interesting to take up in detail the work of constructing these roads, but space will not permit. Nothing can be said of the intense interest throughout the United States; of the romance and adventure of penetrating 1700 miles of wilderness and desert with hostile Indians ready at any time to attack; with worse than hostile Indians in the rough-necks, gamblers, and prostitutes who followed the camps; of the magnitude of the work employing 2000 graders to go first, 1500 wood choppers and tie-getters spreading their labors over thousands of miles of Government forests; of the engineers and their feats of searching out easiest passages; of the track layers; of the boarding houses; of general camp life; of the exciting race with the Central Pacific ending in the union of the two lines and the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Point on the north shore of Great Salt Lake, 1086 miles westward from Omaha and 689 miles eastward from Sacramento, on the 10th day of May, 1869; and of the crowds in Omaha, Chicago, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Washington, New York, San Francisco, and every other place of importance in the whole nation, who patiently waited the sounds of the bells rung in unison with the sounds of the strokes upon the spike, transmitted instantaneously through the intervening space by the electric telegraph.

There is no doubt but that the benefits that have come from the railways through the increased facilities for transportation and the corresponding gain to civilization has amply repaid the Government for all its bounties, notwithstanding some of them were unnecessary, in fact, a willful waste and led to an orgy of financial and political corruption a little later.

=The Crédit Mobilier.=--Perhaps the most widely noticed scandal connected with the railroads was the scheme known as the Crédit Mobilier. This was made much of by the Grange and other anti-monopoly movements which reached their height in the ’seventies. Charges having been made that many congressmen had been bribed by an organization known as the Crédit Mobilier, a Congressional investigation was made,[108] Thomas Durant, vice president, and other leading stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad, secured a controlling interest in the stock of the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency in 1864 and had its name changed to the Crédit Mobilier of America. One of the ostensible functions of the company was to loan money for railroad construction. The same men were instrumental in awarding the contract for the building of the Union Pacific Railroad to one of their number, Oakes Ames, a member of the United States House of Representatives, for stipulated amounts per mile for the different sections ranging from $42,000 to $96,000, amounting in the aggregate to $47,000,000. The contract was right away transferred to seven trustees composed of the same controlling stockholders, who were to execute it receiving therefor $3000 per year each, and the profits were to be divided among those stockholders of the Crédit Mobilier of America who would comply with certain conditions. The Crédit Mobilier agreed to furnish the necessary money at 7 per cent per annum and 2¹⁄₂ per cent commission, not to exceed the amount provided in the contract to be paid by the Union Pacific company. These same leading stockholders of the Union Pacific being also controlling stockholders of the Crédit Mobilier were thus, because the contract prices were said to be twice the actual constructing prices, making a big profit, practically all of which was coming from the United States treasury. Complaints were being made and adverse legislation was feared. Stock in Crédit Mobilier was offered to members of congress at a very low figure on which it is said they made dividends of 340 per cent. It amounted to this: The men entrusted with the management of the road let the contract for its construction to themselves at a figure double its real cost, and pocketed the profits, estimated at about $30,000,000. These same men started the scheme, which afterward became common, of watering the stock, that is increasing the outstanding stock, and distributing it as dividends, upon the plea that the property had increased without any new outlay of money. It also appears to be a method of earning dividends upon money never invested.

=Railroad Consolidation.=--It has been shown that at the beginning railroad building consisted of short stretches from town to town, or from the end of one water communication to the beginning of another. It was but reasonable that these would join for the purpose of through traffic. The result was also better efficiency as the equipment could be used to better advantage; the terminal costs were reduced as there were not so many of them; and, what may have been a leading cause, the control, and perhaps prevention, of competition. Unrestricted competition caused rate wars; rates once down it was difficult to get them back and frequently bankruptcy occurred. Government regulations were made prohibiting rate agreements and pooling. Such apparently hastened consolidation. One objection to consolidation was the concentration of vast financial powers in the hands of a few, and since money had much influence in Washington and in the state capitals, political power as well. This and combinations of other industrial concerns were causes which brought about the enactment of the Sherman Anti-Trust law of July 2, 1890.[109] This law did not come in time to stop consolidation and it may be doubtful if it would for the Supreme Court has decided that combinations are not unlawful unless they exercise an unreasonable restraint upon trade.[110]

The methods of consolidation are: _merger_ or outright purchase, in which case the individual lines lose their separate identity; _stock purchase_, wherein a controlling share of the stock of another road is held by the purchasing line or by a holding company; _lease_ usually for long periods, a rental being paid periodically for the use of the line; and, _community of interest_, that is the establishment of friendly relations. The consolidations are more often financial than physical. When two roads physically combine under one management it is customary to reorganize and assume the same name. In the consolidations given in the table below many of the roads are operated separately and almost independently but are dominated by common financial interests with common policies or very friendly relations. Some of the principal consolidations prior to 1912 are:[111]

_Vanderbilt Interests_

Mileage Boston & Albany 392 New York Central 3,591 Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 1,663 Michigan Central 1,805 New York, Chicago & St. L. 561 Lake Erie & Western 886 Big Four 1,979 Pittsburgh & Lake Erie 215 Chicago, Indiana & Southern 329 Other affiliated eastern lines 1,759 Western Maryland[112] 575 Chicago & North Western Systems 9,827 ------ Total 23,582

_Morgan Interests_

Erie Railroad 2,565 Pere Marquette 2,334 Southern Railroad System 8,667 Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific 335 Mobile & Ohio 1,114 Atlantic Coast Line 6,818 Louisville & Nashville 4,590 Chicago & Great Western 1,495 ------ Total 27,918 ======

_Harriman Interests_

Oregon Short Line 1,646 Oregon Railway & Navigation Company 1,737 Union Pacific System (remainder) 3,791 Southern Pacific 10,257 Illinois Central System 6,340 Central of Georgia 1,915 Baltimore & Ohio 4,555 Delaware & Hudson 875 San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake 1,105 Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton 1,015 ------ Total 33,236 ======

_Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé_ 10,472

_Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul System_ 9,657

_Seaboard Air Line_ 3,084

_Pennsylvania Railroad Interests_

Pennsylvania Lines 11,197 Norfolk & Western 1,990 ------ Total 13,187 ======

_Gould Interests_

Wabash System 2,663 Wheeling & Lake Erie 457 Missouri Pacific System[113] 3,920 St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern[113] 313 St. Louis, Southwestern[113] 1,675 Texas & Pacific[113] 1,991 International & Great Northern[113] 1,159 Denver & Rio Grande[114] 2,778 Western Pacific[113] 979 ------ Total 15,935

_Moore Interests_

Rock Island System 8,144 Delaware, Lackawanna & Western[114] 1,052 Lehigh Valley[115] 1,431 ------ Total 10,627 ======

_Hill Interests_

Great Northern 7,397 Northern Pacific 6,281 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 10,443 Colorado & Southern 1,249 ------ Total 25,370 ======

_New Haven Interests_

New York, New Haven & Hartford 2,887 Boston & Maine 3,594 ------ Total 6,481

_Hawley Interests_

Minneapolis & St. Louis 1,027 Iowa Central 559 Toledo, St. Louis & Western 451 ’Frisco System 7,147 Chicago & Alton 1,025 Chesapeake & Ohio System 2,232 Missouri, Kansas & Texas 3,393 Hocking Valley 350 ------ Total 16,508 ======

_Philadelphia and Reading_ 2,137

Grand Total of above Groups and Systems 198,638 Total milage of railways in the United States, Dec. 31, 1916 397,014

For a more extended discussion see “National Consolidation of Railroads,” by George H. Lewis.

=Mechanical Development.=--There is not space to follow in detail the mechanical development of railroads. The rail, for instance, was at first a mere plank placed in the cart track to prevent rutting; this evolved into a rail of timber about 4 x 6 inches held in proper position by cross-ties not to be considered as sleepers or supports especially. On top of the rail was later placed a strap iron. Since this strap iron under the wheel loads curled up, thicker plates began to be used. Then cast-iron rails some 4 or 5 feet long from tie to tie, cast deeper at the middle for greater strength. Then the rolling mills were becoming sufficiently improved to roll out wrought-iron rails, at first rectangular plates, then T-rails held up by chairs and finally through a dozen or more forms to Bessemer, then open-hearth steel rail shapes as at present used. The fastenings and fish plates have gone through a stage of evolution. The track soon assumed a standard form and has retained it with little variation notwithstanding attempts to use steel and concrete ties.

The freight cars, at first boxes with wheels on them, have gradually developed into monsters of steel with draw bars, automatic brakes and couplings. Passenger cars at first very variable were developed from stage coaches and Conestoga wagons hitched together. In Europe they remained short, like stage coaches with side doors. In the United States they lengthened out with seats through the interior and doors and platforms at the ends. Platforms were eventually housed in with vestibules. Both types have their advantages and disadvantages. Sleeping cars seem to be a development of the canal and steamboat sleeping quarters. Here a single company early obtaining a working, if not a legal, monopoly of the business of making and operating sleepers. As a result no improvements of note have appeared in them for years. For financial efficiency the monopoly seems to be a good thing; for mechanical progress it is not.

Locomotives have shown a continual progress. One reason perhaps is their short lives; new ones must always be coming along and there is ample opportunity for experimentation. From the _Tom Thumb_ to the powerful Mountain Type is a long climb, but as each step was taken the individual changes were not very noticeable. Like the hour-hand of a watch only by observing its position at times quite separated can it be noticed to have traveled.

In fact the entire railway system with its millions of cars operating on hundreds of roads has grown complex and yet standardized. To get a common gauge that cars from one road might pass to another required an act of Congress. At first companies adopted diverse gauges that their cars could not go onto another road, but when transcontinental roads were to be built and through lines of traffic established President Lincoln was called upon to set a gauge. He “side-tracked” the matter and threw it onto Congress, who established the distance 4 feet 8¹⁄₂ inches as the standard width between rails.

Without the telegraph the present amplification of railroad business could not have taken place. The early trains traveled by time schedule. No extra train could be added, although looking-posts were established at the stations up which the train men could climb to watch for the smoke of an approaching train. Now every division point must have its coterie of dependable dispatchers. Each wire carries multiple messages. Electric signals and other safety devices to lessen accidents are universal, while the bewildering network of tracks in the ordinary city yard are operated easily from distant towers by interlocking switches. That railroads have brought about an industrial and social revolution, that they have increased enormously the country’s transportation, that they have thus been very instrumental in bringing the present civilization to its high and uniform state of attainment, cannot be denied.

[Illustration:

© _Underwood and Underwood_

MODERN LOCOMOTIVES

1. Showing the Growth in the Size of Locomotives During the Past Twenty Years. The Smaller Locomotive is an _American_ Type Class Engine of 1900. The Larger is a _Mountain Type_ Engine. Both are Used on the C. B. & Q. R. R. Photographed at Lincoln, Nebr., Sept., 1922. 2. One of the New Gearless _Electric_ Locomotives Built by the General Electric Company for the C. M. & St. Paul R. R.]

=The Evolution of the Sleeping Car.=--Mr. Husband has made a very interesting book of the story of the Pullman car and its evolution[116] in which he traces with much detail, step by step, the improvements from 1836, when the first sleeping car was offered to the traveling public, to the most modern parlor car now in use. The discomfort and inconvenience of travelers by rail was so much greater than that by canal that only the greater speed of the former caused it to forge ahead of the latter. As the mileage of the roads increased so also did the comforts of travel. It has already been noted that sparks set fire to the clothing of passengers. Soon box-like cars replaced the open carriages and bogie trucks replaced the rigid wheels, the former giving much more protection and the latter comfort while rounding curves. But yet passengers were herded like cattle on stiff-backed narrow benches in cars with scant head clearance and width. Clean stone ballast for the road bed had not yet been thought of and the dust blew in clouds through the open windows in the summer time, and a stove vitiated the air in the winter. There were no screens or vestibules. It is a far cry from the dim flaring candle to the brilliant white incandescent electric lights. Passenger cars were rapidly improved until by 1844 they had taken on something of the appearance of the present coach.

George M. Pullman, a Chicago contractor, having experienced the inconveniences of railway travel and also being acquainted from close association with the Erie Canal and the sleeping arrangements of the canal boats, had visions of similar or better rail comforts. In 1858 he engaged Leonard Seibert, an employee of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, to remodel two coaches into the first Pullman sleeping cars. Mr. Pullman’s invention of upper berth construction whereby it could be closed during the day and serve as a receptacle for bedding was introduced into these cars, before which time sleeping car bunks had been stationary and on one side only. The success of his venture was such that he established a shop for the manufacture of the cars and employed technical skill to plan and make them. He had such organizing ability, however, that before his death he saw the Pullman Company holding a practical monopoly of all the sleeping cars in the country, with through cars scheduled so that change of Pullman was unnecessary from coast to coast, or if a change had to be made it was merely a transfer from one car to a connecting car on another route. A single ticket will carry a passenger from Portland, Maine, to San Francisco, by way of Washington, D.C., New Orleans and Los Angeles with only two changes of cars, namely, at New York and Washington, a total distance of 4,199 miles.

It may be interesting to note that some 26,000,000 persons are annually accommodated by the 7500 cars operated by this company.

=Street Car Service.=--Now that more than one half the population of the United States live in cities makes the matter of local transportation of at least passing interest. Railroads were at first tram cars and many of them were built through the city streets, it was easy, therefore, to make of them street cars caring for such local traffic as desired to take advantage of them. They became a popular means of local transportation in the decade 1850-60. As the demand became greater the one-horse car gave way to the two-horse with its longer body and greater capacity. These not being sufficient steam locomotives were used in some cities, in others the tracks were elevated above the surface, the first in New York in 1876, or depressed below with steam locomotives operating trains of cars rapidly loaded and unloaded at stopping points about four blocks apart. In 1879 or 1880 in San Francisco where the hills were too steep for horses the cable car was designed, whereby an endless cable operated from a central station ran continuously in a trench or conduit under the track. A grip attached to the car could be made to take hold of this cable and the car was thus drawn along. Notwithstanding they were expensive to install cable cars were rapidly replacing horse-drawn cars when electric traction came in and displaced them.

=Electric Traction.=--There are reports of attempts to obtain magnetic traction by the use of batteries, but not until the electric dynamo and motor had become practical working machines was anything like a successful working electrically propelled car developed. The ordinary method is to generate the electricity at a central station, carry it along the track by means of a wire, from which it is taken by a trolley or some form of conductor to a motor on the car completing the circuit through the track and ground. Such a car was practically demonstrated at the Berlin Exposition of 1879, by Werner Siemens, with a line 219 yards long.[117] This was the first practical electric railway. But long before this time in America experiments had been made with electric traction. Dever exhibited a model at Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1835.[118] In 1879, the year of Siemens’ exhibition, another model railway having a “third rail” to carry the current was exhibited at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Edison had a car in operation at Menlo Park, New Jersey, in 1882, and the following year a small road carried passengers at an exhibit in Chicago. Miniature roads were exhibited at Philadelphia, Denver, Cleveland, New Orleans, and possibly elsewhere. The first electric railway built and operated for profit in American streets was at Richmond, Virginia, in 1885 on 2¹⁄₂ miles of track. During the same year 2 miles between Baltimore and Hampton were put in operation.[119] By 1890 the number of cities having trolley cars had increased to forty-nine.[120] From that time on the change from horse-drawn cars was very rapid. Trolley lines were even extended throughout the country districts. At one time it looked as though they might replace steam cars for passenger traffic, especially short-haul traffic. There was a complete network of interurban trolley lines in the Eastern and Central Western states by 1910.[121] The trolley is also being used upon hard-surfaced roads without tracks by buses and trucks. Steam railroads running into New York City through the tubes use electric locomotives to draw the trains, thus avoiding the smoke nuisance and the danger therewith connected. The Milwaukee Railroad is using electric locomotives on its mountain division in Montana and Idaho. Electricity is generated by water power; also the trains going down grade are run against a dynamo and storage battery thus acting as a brake as well as renewing the batteries.

SELECTED REFERENCES

BROWN, WILLIAM H., “History of the First Locomotive in America.” D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1871.

BURCH, EDWARD P., “Electric Traction for Railway Trains,” Chap. I (Historical). McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1911.

CALLENDER, GUY S., “The Economic History of the United States,” Chapter VIII, “Transportation,” Ginn & Co., New York.

Census, U. S. Eleventh (1890) “Transportation on Land.”

Census Bureau, U. S. Special Report (1902) “Streets and Electric Railways.”

DAVIS, JOHN P., “Union Pacific Railway.” S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago.

DONALDSON, THOMAS, “History of the Public Domain,” Published by order of an act of Congress, 1884.

DUNBAR, SEYMOUR, “A History of Travel in America,” 4 volumes. Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis.

ERICSSON, JOHN, “Life of” by William C. Church, Chap. IV. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York.

HUSBAND, JOSEPH, “The Story of the Pullman Car.” A. C. McClurg & Company, Chicago, 1917.

JOHNSON, EMORY R., “Elements of Transportation,” 1909. D. Appleton & Company, New York.

LARRABEE, WM., “The Railroad Question,” Shulte Publishing Company, Chicago, 1893.

LE ROSSIGNOL, J. E., “Monopolies Past and Present.” T. Y. Crowell Company, New York.

LEWIS, GEORGE H., “National Consolidation of Railroads.” Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.

Maps of Interurban Lines, Century Atlas. Century Company, New York.

MARTIN, E. W., “History of the Grange Movement, or The Farmer’s War against Monopoly.” A subscription book published in 1874. National Publishing Company, Chicago.

POORE, HENRY V., “History of Railroads and Canals of the United States,” Vol. I, p. 377. New York, 1860.

SANBORN, JOHN B., “Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways.” University of Wisconsin Bulletin, Vol. II, No. 3, Econ. pol. Sci. and Hist. Series.

SELFRIDGE, H. GORDON, “The Romance of Commerce.” John Lane, London.

SPARKS, E. E., “National Development,” Vol. XXIII, The American Nation Series, Chapter III and IV. Harper & Brothers, New York.

U. S. Statutes, 1862-1864, Pacific Railway Acts, Investigation of the Crédit Mobilier.

U. S. Statutes, 41st Congress, 1st Session, Chap. DCXLVII, Sherman Anti-Trust Law.

U. S. Statutes, Railroad Bills, 1850-1880 House Report 42d Cong., 3d Session, No. 77.

FOOTNOTES

[87] Quoted from “Niles’ Register” of 1812 by Dunbar.

[88] Stevens’ pamphlet published in 1812.

[89] Stephenson’s first locomotive was put out in 1814. His _Rocket_ and Ericsson’s _Novelty_ had their famous contest resulting in favor of the _Rocket_ in 1829.

[90] Brown’s “History of the First Locomotive,” letter from Cooper, 1869.

[91] The coning of wheels is an invention of Jonathan Knight, Engineer of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.

[92] Dunbar, “A History of Travel in America,” 932.

[93] Dunbar, “A History of Travel in America,” 960.

[94] The _Albany Argus_, August 11, 1831.

[95] “History of the Railroads and Canals of the United States,” 1860, Vol. I, p. 377.

[96] Dunbar, “A History of Travel in America,” 998, 1383.

[97] Dunbar, “A History of Travel in America,” 1071.

[98] _Potter’s American Monthly_, July, 1879.

[99] T. C. Smith, _American Nation_, Vol. XVIII, p. 60.

[100] E. W. Martin, “History of the Grange Movement,” 1874, p. 35.

[101] Donaldson, “History of the Public Domain.” University of Wisconsin Bulletin: “Congressional Grants of Land in Aid of Railways,” by J. B. Sanborn, Pol. Sci. and History Series, Vol. II, No. 3.

[102] The “History of the Grange Movement,” a subscription book by Edward Winslow Martin, published in 1874, but which can hardly be taken as wholly reliable, says: “The lands granted by the Government to various railway corporations make up a total area of 198,165,794 acres, or about 300,000 square miles--an area larger than the State of Texas, which contains 237,504 square miles ... and the railway subsidies comprise nearly one-tenth of the entire Union.”

[103] Dunbar, “A History of Travel in America,” Chap. LVI, et seq. Donaldson, “History of the Public Domain.”

[104] Senate Executive Document No. 78, 33d Congress, 2d Session.

[105] U. S. Statutes. Acts of 1862 and 1864.

[106] By subsequent provision the right of way was cut to two hundred feet, although the company still holds four hundred feet through parts of Nebraska.

[107] Thomas Donaldson’s “History of the Public Domain.”

[108] “House Reports,” 42 Cong., 3d Session, No. 77.

[109] U. S. Statutes, 51 Cong., 1 Sess., Chap. DCXLVII.

[110] Digest U. S. Supreme Court Reports, Vol. IV, “Monopoly,” pp. 4043-4052, The Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, Rochester, N. Y., 1908.

[111] Funk and Wagnalls’ Encyclopedia.

[112] Jointly with Gould Interests.

[113] Jointly with Rockefeller, Kuhn, Loeb, & Co., Vanderbilt and other interests.

[114] Jointly with Standard Oil interests.

[115] Jointly with Erie, Reading and Vanderbilt interests.

[116] “The Story of the Pullman Car,” by Joseph Husband. A. C. McClurg & Company, Chicago, 1917. Cf. _Literary Digest_, February 10, 1923, p. 25.

[117] Funk and Wagnalls’ Encyclop.

[118] “Special Reports, Streets and Electric Railways,” U. S. Census Bureau (1902). This, of course, was not a practical machine.

[119] “American Nation,” Vol. XXIII, 39.

[120] U. S. Eleventh Census (1890), “Transportation on Land.”

[121] See Maps in Century Dictionary.