CHAPTER IX
TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES
First Roads and Turnpikes-Dicken's Ride by Stage-coach from Columbus to Upper Sandusky -Railroads - Marion's Railroad Facilities-Marion Electric Railway.
TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES.
Marion County has no navigable streams and no canals. The commercial growth of the county has been, as a consequence, the direct result of the energy of its citizens, who from its organization to the present have been noted for their very determined efforts in promoting business enterprises.
FIRST ROADS AND TURNPIKES..
It will not be inappropriate in this connection to trace briefly the beginnings of the roads, and turnpikes, for on these thoroughfares the villages and cities were first located and afterward connected by steam and electric roads. These first roads usually followed Indian trails. One such trail ran from Upper Sandusky, near the present location location of Caledonia, thence to Mount Gilead, Fredericktown and Mount Vernon, down Old Creek to White Woman River. This was an Indian war trail and was much traveled.
The first white man's road through the county was General Harrison's war road, which was the route taken by his army in the War of 1812. In general the Marion and Delaware pike and the Marion and Upper Sandusky road follows the course, of this old war road.
The most traveled road in pioneer days was the Radnor road, which ran from Delaware to Upper Sandusky, by way of Radnor, Green Camp and Big Island. This was a State road. Other State roads were from, Mount Vernon to Marion, from Mansfield to Marion and from Kenton to Marion. These roads were surveyed and opened by the State, but were only slightly improved. By an act of the General Assembly, passed February 4, 1822, a State road was established, "commencing at Norton in Delaware County, thence to the city of Sandusky." This road was to be laid out on the most direct route and Lyman Farwell and Hector Kilbourn were appointed commissioners to lay out the road and report to the commissioners of Delaware County.
This was followed four years later by an act incorporating the Columbus and Sandusky Turnpike Company with power to construct a "good, secure and substantial road of stone, gravel, timber or other material, from Columbus to Sandusky through Delaware." The capital of the company was $100,000, and it was authorized to collect as toll for each 10 miles 25 cents for every four-wheeled carriage or wagon; 18 3/4 cents for every two-wheeled vehicle; and 6 1/4 cents for each horse or ox. Each four-wheeled pleasure carriage drawn by two horses was required to pay 37 ½ cents and
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12 1/2 cents for every horse additional. Every person going to and. from religious services on Sabbath and militiamen going to and from muster grounds were allowed the use of the road free.
To aid this project, Congress by an act of March 3, 1827, granted to the State of Ohio a quantity of land equal to 29 sections, and the General Assembly of Ohio on February 12, 1829, by act, declared these lands to be for the use of and authorized their sale by the company. The road was completed in 1835 and these lands were computed to the company at $1.40 per acre, and credited to the State on the books of the company as so much land stock. The road was really only a narrow ridge of soil thrown up and instead of being a "turnpike" was a "mud pike" as the people came soon to term it. It ran from Waldo north by about 30 degrees east through Richland, Claridon and Scott townships, by way of Letimbervile. The lands were known as "Turnpike Lands'' and were sold by the company to contractors who built the road by sections.
In 1843 the citizens along the line of the road petitioned the Legislature to annul the charter, which was repealed on February 28, 1843, but not until an investigation had disclose d that the company had, perpetrated a gigantic fraud and the indignant. citizens had demolished the toll-gates. A vivid description of a trip over the route from Columbus to Upper Sandusky in 1841 is given by the distinguished author, Charles Dickens, in his "American Notes," which we here reproduce.
"There being no stage-coach next day upon the road we wished to take, I hired 'an extra,' at a reasonable charge, to carry us to Tiffin, a small town from whence there is a railroad to Sandusky. This extra was an ordinary four-horse stage-coach, such as I have described, changing horses and drivers, as the stage-coach would, but was exclusively our own for the journey. To insure our having horses at the proper stations, and being incommoded by no strangers, the proprietors sent an agent on the box, who was to accompany us the whole way through; and thus attended, and bearing with us, besides, a hamper full of savoury cold meats, and fruit, and wine, we started off again, in high spirits, at half-past six o'clock next morning, very much delighted to he by ourselves, and disposed to enjoy the journey.
"It was well for us, that we were in this
THE OLD MILITARY - RADNOR AND MANSFIELD ROADS
humor, for the road we went over that day, was certainly enough to have shaken tempers that were not resolutely at Set Fair, down to some inches below Stormy. At one time we were all flung together in a heap at the bottom of the coach, and at another we were crushing our heads against the roof. Now, one side was down deep in the mire, and we
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were holding on to the other. Now, the coach was lying on the tails of the two wheelers; and now it was rearing up in the air, in a frantic state, with, all four horses standing on the top of an insurmountable eminence, looking coolly back at it, as though they would say, 'Unharness us. It can't be done.' The drivers, on these roads, who certainly get over the ground, in a manner which is quite miraculous, so twist and turn the team about in forcing a passage , corkscrew fashion, through the bogs and swamps, that it was quite a common circumstance on looking out of the window, to see the coachman with the ends of a pair of reins in his hands, apparently driving nothing, or playing at horses, and the leaders staring at one unexpectedly from the back of the coach, as if they had some idea of getting up behind. A great portion of the way was over what is called a corduroy road, which is made by throwing trunks of trees, into a marsh, and leaving them, to settle there. The very slightest of the jolts with which the ponderous carriage fell from log to log, was enough, seemed, to have dislocated all the bones in the human body. It would be impossible to experience a similar set of sensations, in any other circumstances, unless perhaps in attempting to go up to the top of Saint Paul's in an omnibus. Never, never once, that day, was the coach in a position, attitude, or kind of motion to which we are accustomed in coaches. Never did it make the smallest approach to one's experience of the proceedings of any sort of vehicle that goes on wheels.
"Still, it was a fine day, and the temperature was delicious, and though we had left Summer behind us in the west, and were fast leaving Spring, we were moving towards Niagara, and home. We alighted in a pleasant wood towards the middle of the day, dined on a fallen tree, and leaving our best fragments with a cottager, and our worst with the pigs (who swarm in this part of the country like grains of sand on the sea-shore, to the great comfort of our commissariat in Canada), we went forward again, gaily.
"As night came on, the track grew narrower and narrower, until at last it so lost itself among the trees, that the driver seemed to find his way by instinct. We had the comfort of knowing, at least, that there was no danger of his falling asleep for every now and then a wheel would strike against an unseen stump with such a jerk, that he was fain to hold on pretty tight and pretty quick, to keep himself upon the box. Nor was there any reason to dread the least danger from furious driving, inasmuch as over that broken ground the horses had enough to do to walk; as to shying; there was no room for that; and a herd of wild elephants could not have run away in such a wood, with such a coach at their heels. So we stumbled along, quite satisfied.
"These stumps of trees are a curious feature in American traveling. The varying illusions they present to the unaccustomed eye as it grows dark, are quite astonishing in their number and reality. Now, there is a Grecian urn erected in the centre of a
lonely field; now there is a woman weeping at a tomb; now a very Common-place old gentleman in a white waist-coat., with a thumb thrust into each armhole of his coat; now a student poring on a book; now a crouching negro; now, a horse, a dog, a cannon, an armed man; a hunchback throwing off his cloak and stepping forth into the light. They were often as entertaining to me as so many glasses in a magic lantern, and never took their shapes at my bidding, but , seemed to force themselves upon me, whether I could or no; and strange to say, I sometimes recognized in them counterparts of figures once familiar to me in pictures attached to childish books, forgotten long ago.
"It soon became too dark, however, even for this amusement, and the trees were so close together that their dry branches rattled against the coach on either side, and obliged us all to keep our heads within. It lightened too, for three whole hours; each flash, being very bright, and blue, and long; and as the vivid streaks came :darting in among the crowded branches, and the thunder rolled gloomily above the tree tops, one could scarcely help thinking that there were better neighborhoods at such a time than thick woods afforded.
"At length, between ten and eleven o'clock
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PAGE 138 PICTURES: SOLDIERS AND SAILORS MEMORIAL CHAPEL (MARION CEMETERY), SPONTANIOUSLY MOVING STONE BALL (MARION CEMETERY), VIEW IN THE OLD MARION CEMETERY, AND VIEWS IN MARION CEMETERY.
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at night, a few teeble lights appeared in the distance and Upper Sandusky, an Indian village, where we were to stay till morning, lay before us."
The Marion and. Waldo Pike Company was organized September 12, 1868, with a capital of $25,000, and :constructed and operated a turnpike from Waldo to Marion. The promoters of the company were John E. Davids, Benjamin Waddell, John Brundige, Charles Bishop, D. S. Drake, Henry Falk and S. S. Bennett. The rates of toll were for every 10 miles as follows: for a four-wheeled carriage, drawn by one horse, 15 cents; for each additional animal 5 cents; sleigh, with two horses, 10 cents; horse and rider, 5 cents; each head of horses in droves, 3 cents; each head of cattle six months old and upward, 1 cent; stage coach or omnibus, 30 cents; two-wheeled carriage drawn by one horse 10 cents; for each vehicle drawn by two horse, 10 cents. No toll was charged those going to elections, funerals, church, musters and military duty.
The road was 10 miles long and cost $21,000. For 15 years it was run as a toll-road, after which it was sold to the county and made free in 1883.
The Marion and Middletown Turnpike Company was capitalized in 1870, with $10,000 stock. In 1883 it sold out to the county for 40 per cent. of the stock.
The Marion and Berwick, pike was built by subscription in 1872, and in 1878 was made a free road.
The other pikes of the county were constructed under the pike laws and paid for by assessments on the property along the line of the road.
RAILROADS.
In 1832 there were no railroads in Ohio 229 miles in operation in the United States. The first railroads in the State were built on oak stringers, covered with strip iron, five-eights of an inch in thickness and two and a half inches -in width. In 1836 the first railroad in Ohio was completed from Toledo to Adrian, Michigan, a distance Of 33 miles.
The first passenger cars were at of a crude patter, being a sort of double-deck affair, built after the style of an old stage coach, and, having seating capacity for 24 persons. The first engines were similar in appearance to thresher engines of to-day, and weighed about, 10 tons, including water and coal tanks loaded. The speed of passenger trains was less than half 10 miles per hour, and of freight trains about half that. The passenger rate was 4 1/2 cents per mile, and 1 1/4 cents per hundred weight per mile for freight, or 20 cents per ton per mile.
The first, railroad to be chartered in the State was the Ohio Central & Stubenville Railway Company. The charter was granted February 23, 1830, and, with the exception of the Baltimore & Ohio, was the first railroad charter in the United States. One provision of this charter, found in no other charter, was that any person might use the road upon payment of toll, and rates were fixed in the charter similar to canal tolls. This road was never built.
As early as February 8, 1832, an effort was made by public-spirited citizens of Marion to connect the place by rail with the outside world. On that date the Columbus, Delaware, Marion & Sandusky Railroad Company was incorporated by an act of the Legislature of Ohio, to connect Columbus and Sandusky and touch the intermediate points of Delaware, Marion, and, Bucyrus. In the company were: 25 incorporators , who were by the act named as commissioners to receive subscriptions to, the capital stock of the company. Five of these incorporators were from Franklin County, five from .Delaware County, five from Marion County, six frorn Crawford County and four from Huron County. The local commissioners were Sanford S. Bennett, George H. Busby; Hezekiah Gorton, James H. Godman and Eber Baker. The company was capitalized at $l,000,000. The commissioners were to receive as compensation 5 per cent. on all stock paid in.
The State reserved the right to connect any railroad with the road of this company. It
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also reserved the right to purchase the road at any time after its completion at a price not to exceed the original cost and 10 per cent additional. The company was required to keep and submit to the Legislature an accurate account of the cost of construction. The directors of the company were given power to purchase and place on any railroad construction by them all machines, wagons, cars, carriages or vehicles of any description.
The company was given five years to begin and 15 years. to complete the road. In 1842 the charter of the company was revived by the Legislature and the time for commencement and completion was extended. The road never was built.
On February 26, 1836, the Columbus, Delaware, Marion & Upper Sandusky Railroad Company was incorporated with similar powers. The local commissioners of this company were Sanford S. Bennett, Elisha Hardy, Cory A. Darlington, Eber Baker, George H. Busby and Nathan Peters. The capital of the company was $500,000. This road was to be constructed from Columbus to Upper Sandusky, there to intersect the Mad River & Erie Railroad, and to pass through Delaware and Marion and as near Little Sandusky as might be advantageous. The State reserved the right to purchase after the expiration of 35 years at cost and 15 per cent. additional. Another restriction placed upon the company when the dividends of the company exceeded six per cent. per annum the Legislature might impose a reasonable tax on the company.
This company was also given five years to begin work and 15 years to complete the road. On March 8, 1845, the charter of this company was revived and the time of beginning construction was extended five years, but the project fell through for lack of encouragement
The first railroad to be built in the county was the Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad. In 1845 the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railway Company was chartered and the road from Cleveland to Columbus, by way of Galion, was completed February 22, 1851.In 1845, Marion County, realizing the wisdom of having connection with this line, voted for $100,000 stock in the Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad Company. This road was completed on August 28, 1852. Whether the road should run down Center street or run .where it was subsequently located, on Mill street (then North) was a matter that at was bitterly contested. General Godman wanted it on Center; Judge Bartram, wanted it on North; Judge Bartram carried his point. The first train, a mixed one, was run through from Galion to Marion by Howard Copeland, conductor. In June, 1853, through trains to Union City began to run.
The building of this road was due to the energy and wisdom of Hon. James H. Godman. In 1848 he drew the act and secured its passage by the Legislature, chartering the Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad Company. The same year he was elected president of the company, which he at once organized. He had the line surveyed from Galion through Mar-
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ion, Hardin, Logan, Shelby and Darke counties to the Indiana State line at Union City. The survey passed through Marion, Bellefontaine and Sidney. His influence was such that he induced Marion and Shelby counties to that he stock in the company and issue bonds therefor. He accepted real estate of the value of $300,000, issued $800,000 bonds of the company, built and equipped the road in a little over two years, and managed it until the fall of 1856, when he resigned to resume the prctice of the law. The main office of the company was, during this. period, in the offices now occupied by the law firm of Jacoby & Donithen.
The following very interesting report of the products shipped out of the county just 51 years ago by this road, is taken from the Democratic Mirror of May 25, 1855:
In 1864 the Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad Company was consolidated with the Indianapolis, Pittsburg & Cleveland Railroad Company, forming the Bellefontaine Railway Company, and four years later this road was consolidated with the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad Company, which in 1889 took the name of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company or "Big Four" system, as it is commonly known. It now has in the county 31.30 miles of main track, valued at $375,600; 11.40 miles siding valued at $22,800; rolling stock at $93,900; buildings, tools and credits valued at $13,240; total valuation on tax duplicate for 1906, $505,540.
The "Nypano" Railroad has had a varied and at times precarious existence.. The Franklin & Warren Railroad Company was chartered March 10 1851. In 1855 the name was changed to "Atlantic & Great Western." In Marion County at least $100,000 stock was taken in this road in 1852, the subscription list, being headed by Bradford R. Durfee, Ozias Bowen and J. S. Copeland, at $5,000 each. The road is now leased and operated by the Chicago &.Erie Railroad Company. The line comprises in this county 25.368 miles of main track valued at $228,300; 9.296 miles of siding valued at $18,000, rolling stock valued at $76,110; buildings, tools and credits, $37,560; total valuation on tax duplicate for 1906, $360,570.
The "Atlantic & Lake Erie Railway Company" was incorporated in 1869, to build a road from Toledo to Pomeroy. In 1876 the name was changed to Ohio Central Railway Company. This road passes through Tully township, this county, and is now known as the Toledo & Ohio Central Railway. It has 4.22 miles of main track in the county valued at $31,650; 1.60 miles of siding valued at $4,000; rolling stock valued at $13,504; buildings, tools and credits valued at $1,022; total tax valuation in 1906, $50,176.
The Hocking Valley Railway was completed on January 10, 1877, from Columbus to Toledo. It was at first known as the Columbus & Toledo Railroad. Robert Kerr, Amos H. Kling, J. J. Hane; J. Ballentine, J. S. Reed, and T. P. Wallace were prominent Marion citizens who encouraged the building of the road by liberal subscriptions to the stock of the company. In 1881 the road was sold to a syndicate and the name was changed to the Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo Railway Company. A few years ago the road became a part of the Morgan system and has since been known as the Hocking Valley Railway. It has 19.52 miles of main track in the county valued at $214,830; 13.72 miles of siding valued at $27,440; rolling stock valued at $138,663; buildings, tools and credits valued at $24,768; total tax valuation for 1906, $405,701.
The Chicago & Atlantic Railroad now
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known as the Chicago & Erie, forms a direct route between the West and the North Atlantic States, and was opened from Lima to Marion on May 1, 1883. The movement for building this road originated about 10 years before its final completion, and among the prominent Marion men who took part in its promotion were judge John Bantam, Judge C. H. Norris, H. T. Van Fleet, Thomas McMurray, Ira Uhler, S. R. Dumble, Timothy Fahey and P. 0. Sharpless. It now has in this county 14.73 miles of main track, valued at $117,840; 23.270 miles of siding valued at $46,558; rolling stock valued at $23,568; buildings, tools and credits, valued at $31,225; total tax rate valuation, 1906, $219,191. The company owns extensive yards and transfer freight houses in the western part of the city of Marion and in Marion township.
The Columbus, Sandusky & Hocking Railroad was opened from Columbus to Sandusky passing through Marion, in the early '90's. Recently it became a part of the Toledo Division of the Pennsylvania Lines. It is known as the Sandusky Branch of the Toledo, Walhonding Valley & Ohio Railroad Company. It has 20.25 miles of main track in the county, valued at $91,125;. 7.09 miles of siding valued at $8,508; rolling stock, valued at $52,650, buildings, tools and credits, valued at $9,103; total tax valuation $161,387
The, Columbus, Delaware and Marion Traction Company was completed two years ago. It traverses a fertile and prosperous territory, paralleling the Hocking Valley much of the way from Delaware to Marion. Over it an hourly service is maintained, on which regular passenger traffic coaches speed north and south between Marion and Columbus. It has 11.574, miles of main track in the county, valued at $40,509; rolling stock valued at $5,787; buildings, tools and equipment valued at $16,647; total tax valuation, 1906, $56,943.
An interurban line connecting Marion and Bucyrus is being promoted, and another between Marion and Findlay. For the line between Marion and Findlay almost the entire right of way has been secured. Both roads seem likely of completion within the next two years.
The total tax valuation of railroad property in the county in 1882 was $1,257,038. The total tax valuation of the railroads in the county is now $1,759,508. The aggregate main trackage of the railroads h. the county is 127 miles. The aggregate yard trackage in the county is 66 miles.
MARION'S RAILROAD FACILITIES.
Marion has the best railroad facilities of any city of its size in the State, her lines running direct to 40 counties in the State. The Hocking Valley has 10 passenger trains daily out of Marion; the Chicago & Erie, 10; the Cincinnati Division, Chicago & Erie, 6; the "Big Four," 6; and the Pennsylvania, 6. The C., D. & M. traction line maintains hourly service between Marion and Columbus.
Until recently Marion was made notorious by its shabby and dilapidated railroad depots. Progress could be noted in every direction, but the railroads, impervious to protest and ridicule, held tenaciously to the old depots, relics of their pioneer days, and scarcely adequate for the demands of a small village. The Erie Railroad for years had no better accommodation for the traveling public than the antiquated private car of "Jim" Fisk, which during the winter was surrounded by mud and mire. Finally, in 1902, the Hocking Valley, with the cooperation of the Erie and "Big Four" railroads, built the Union Depot at the junction of these roads, and the up-town depots were abandoned. The public now has no further cause for complaint, for this new structure is well lighted, commodious, modem in every respect and a credit to our growing city.
MARION ELECTRIC RAILWAY.
On January 8, 1895, street cars made their first regular trips over the lines, although they had been running irregularly since, January 1st of that year. E. Durfee was president of the company and George E. Turner, superintendent.
