Forging the "Bee Line" Railroad, 1848-1889

III Arthur Andrew Olson

Description

In the 1830s, as the Trans Appalachian economy began to stir and Europe's Industrial Revolution reached its peak, concerned Midwesterners saw opportunities and risks. Success of the Erie Canal as a link to East Coast economic markets whetted the appetites of visionaries and entrepreneurs, who saw huge opportunities. Amid this perfect storm of technology, enterprise, finance, location, and timing arose some of the earliest railroads in the Midwest.By the late 1840s three such vision-driven railroad ventures had sprung to life. Two small railroads carrying goods to Midwestern markets - the Indianapolis & Bellefontaine in Indiana and the Bellefontaine & Indiana in Ohio - spawned early enthusiasm, but few citizens would look beyond the horizon. It was the admonition of Oliver H. Smith, founder of the Indiana line, who challenged the populace to look farther: "to decide whether the immense travel and business of the west should pass round or go through central Indiana."Soon, the two local lines would crystallize in the minds of people as the "Bee Line." In Cleveland, meanwhile, a clique of committed businessmen, bankers, and politicians came together to finance the most prosperous of all early Midwestern railroads, extending from Cleveland to Columbus. Their aspirations expanded to control the larger Midwestern market from Cleveland to St. Louis. First by loans and then by bond purchases, they quickly took over the "Bee Line."Hoosier partisans' independence, however, could not be easily brushed aside. Time and again they would frustrate the attempts of the Cleveland clique, exercising a degree of autonomy inconsistent with their dependent financial underpinnings. Ultimately, they acquiesced to the reality of their situation. After the Civil War, even the group from Cleveland fell victim to unscrupulous foreign and national financiers and manipulators who had taken their places on the boards of larger trunk lines expanding throughout the Midwest.Exhaustively researched and meticulously documented, Forging the "Bee Line" Railroad, 1848-1889 is the first comprehensive scholarly work on this most important of early Midwestern railroads.

Sujets

• History of the Americas
• History

Informations

• Publié par: The Kent State University Press
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781631012365
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

F ORGING THE B EE L INE R AILROAD , 1848–1889
FORGING THE
Bee Line Railroad,
1848–1889

T HE R ISE AND F ALL OF THE H OOSIER P ARTISANS AND C LEVELAND C LIQUE
A RTHUR A NDREW O LSON III
The Kent State University Press Kent, Ohio
© 2017 by The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio 44242 A LL RIGHTS RESERVED
Text from the following sources appears courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society: R. Carlyle Buley, The Old Northwest , Vol. 1 (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1950); Donald F. Carmony, Indiana 1816-1850: The Pioneer Era (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1998); Andrew R. L. Cayton, “The Northwest Ordinance from the Perspective of the Frontier,” in The Northwest Ordinance, 1787: A Bicentennial Handbook , edited by Robert M. Taylor, Jr. (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1987); Wylie J. Daniels, The Village at the End of the Road (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1938); Calvin Fletcher, The Diary of Calvin Fletcher 1817-1838 , Vol. 1, edited by Gayle Thornbrough (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1972); Calvin Fletcher, The Diary of Calvin Fletcher 1848-1852 , Vol. 4, edited by Gayle Thornbrough, Dorothy L. Riker, and Paula Corpuz (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1975); Calvin Fletcher, The Diary of Calvin Fletcher 1853-1856 , Vol. 5, edited by Gayle Thornbrough, Dorothy L. Riker, and Paula Corpuz (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1977); Charles Latham, “Biographical Sketch.” Finding Aid Collection Summary updated 2 January 2002, Samuel Merrill Papers: 1812-1934, Collection #M0204 OM0132; Dorothy Riker, Summary of Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad Company, 1853-55 , Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Collection, SC 845 (microfilm), Indiana Historical Society, William Smith Library, Indianapolis; Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana in the Civil War Era: 1850-1880 (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, Indiana Historical Society, 1965).
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2016008092
ISBN 978-1-60635-282-3
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Olson, Arthur Andrew III, 1950- author.
Title: Forging the Bee Line railroad, 1848-1889 : the rise and fall of the Hoosier Partisans and Cleveland Clique / Arthur Andrew Olson III.
Description: Kent, Ohio : Kent State University Press, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016008092 (print) | LCCN 2016014951 (ebook) | ISBN 9781606352823 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781631012365 (ePub) | ISBN 9781631012372 (ePDF)
Subjects: LCSH : Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis Railway Company. | Bee Line, Inc. | Railroads--Ohio--History--19th century. | Railroads--Indiana--History--19th century.
Classification: LCC HE 2791 .C7836 2016 (print) | LCC HE 2791 (ebook) | DDC 385.06/5771--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016008092
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To my wife, Kristen and our grandchildren Andy & Tommy— may your curiosity blossom!
Contents
List of Illustrations
Background and Acknowledgments
Railroad Abbreviations List
Preface
How the Bee Line Got Its Name
The Bee Line to Big Four Flowchart
The Atlantic and Great Western Railroads to Erie Railroad Flowchart
Timeline of the Bee Line Railroads and Involved Lines
Prologue: U.S. Transportation Policy and the Industrial Revolution: 1780s–1830s
The Dawn of Midwestern Railroading: An Indiana Example: 1832–1853
Push and Pull of the Cleveland Clique and Hoosier Partisans: 1853–1868
National Aspirations and Financial Chicanery: 1860–1874
End of the Era: The Bee Line Fades from the Scene: 1874
Epilogue: Bee Line Destiny—Cornerstone of the Big Four Route: 1874–1889
Appendix A: Principal Characters List
Appendix B: Representative Bee Line Locomotive Images
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations   Map of the Eastern Trunk Lines’ Approach to Ohio   Map of the Bee Line and Principal Midwestern Railroads Fig. 1 . Cleveland Railway Station and Docks, 1854 Fig. 2 . The Bee Line Route & Surrounding Lines, ca. 1860 Fig. 3 . Stephenson’s “Rocket” Locomotive Fig. 4 . Baldwin’s “Tiger” Locomotive, 1856 Fig. 5 . A Bee Line Taunton Locomotive Mfg. Co. Engine, ca. 1870 Fig. 6 . An Amoskeag Mfg. Co. Locomotive, 1856 Fig. 7 . A Bee Line Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Co. Locomotive, ca. 1851 Fig. 8 . Indianapolis and Union City Area Railroads, ca. 1860 Fig. 9 . Indianapolis Railroad Depots, ca. 1852 Fig. 10 . Indianapolis Union Station, ca. 1906 Fig. 11 . Route of the Indianapolis & Bellefontaine Railroad , ca. 1855 Fig. 12 . Bee Line Kilgore-Styled Taunton Mfg. Co. Locomotive Advertisement Fig. 13 . Union City to St. Louis Area Railroads, ca. 1860 Fig. 14 . Route Map of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad , ca. 1865, and Area Railroads, ca. 1860 Fig. 15 . Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Fig. 16 . Route Map of the Big Four , ca. 1900 Fig. 17 . Cover Etching of a Bee Line Train   Samuel P. Anthony   John Brough   Benjamin S. Brown   John W. Burson   William Case   Selah Chamberlain   John H. Devereux   John A. Dix   Calvin Fletcher   James H. Godman   Jay Gould   Truman P. Handy   Richard Hilliard   Reuben Hitchcock   Leander M. Hubby   Hinman B. Hurlbut   Melville E. Ingalls   Hugh J. Jewett   Alfred Kelley   Marvin Kent   David Kilgore   James F. D. Lanier   George B. McClellan   James McHenry   Thomas A. Morris   William A. Otis   Henry B. Payne   Edwin J. Peck   Joseph Perkins   Rufus P. Ranney   James B. Ray   William Reynolds   Chauncey Rose   Don José de Salamanca   Daniel E. Sickles   Jeremiah Smith   Oliver H. Smith   George Stephenson   Robert Stephenson   Amasa Stone Jr .   Oscar Townsend   William H. Vanderbilt   Peter H. Watson   Henry Wick   Stillman Witt   Daniel Yandes   Simon Yandes Fig. A . CCC&I Locomotive #70 Fig. B . CC&C Alabama Locomotive, ca. 1856 Fig. C . CC&C Cincinnati Locomotive, ca. 1851 Fig. D . B&I Galion Locomotive, ca. 1852 Fig. E . CC&C Leonard Case Locomotive, ca. 1853 Fig. F . CC&C L M Hubby Locomotive, ca. 1867 Fig. G . CC&C Louisville Locomotive, ca. 1851 Fig. H . CC&C New Hampshire Locomotive, ca. 1854 Fig. I . B&I Sidney Locomotive, ca. 1853
Background and Acknowledgments
I n 2007 as I stood at the edge of a new phase of life—retirement—the prospect of undertaking extensive writing and research projects had not entered my mind. On the other hand, much of my prior experience suggested itself to this endeavor. Beginning with classroom and personal creative writing, followed by more structured legal compositions and research, and finally developing extemporaneous works that captured the careers and personalities of interviewed executives, writing was always a part of my personal and business makeup.
As a child I had heard stories of the career and life of a long-departed ancestor who had purchased and lived on a thousand-acre homestead in the small east-central Indiana hamlet of Yorktown. His name was David Kilgore (1804–1879). I visited this place often as my maternal grandparents repurchased many of the original land parcels and lived much of their later lives there. To this day, a straight ribbon of rail cuts diagonally across the former Kilgore property close by the site of the original family residence. The whistle and sound of trains passing by still take me back. Stories of Kilgore’s life and career, though woefully incomplete, were recounted in various forms over the years. Included among the anecdotes were tales of his connection to the rail line slicing across the land.
The work before you today is the third extensive research paper and narrative related to various aspects of David Kilgore’s life. However, as often happened in my prior efforts, curiosity and research took me far beyond this limited scope. I wanted to understand the historical backdrop against which Kilgore had acted. While family lore had suggested Kilgore served as a director for the nearby railroad, in most versions it was assumed he served on the New York Central Railroad Company ’s board. Although this line owned the nearby track by the early twentieth century, I soon discovered Kilgore served on the boards of much earlier predecessor railroads. To unravel his career, however, took substantial digging—to understand why, how, and with whom he got involved, and how the business evolved over the course of his more than twenty years on the board. In answering these questions, I was drawn to the broader story. Kilgore became a relatively minor character, eclipsed by such men and personalities as Oliver H. Smith, John Brough, Thomas A. Morris, Calvin Fletcher, Stillman Witt, Amasa Stone Jr., John H. Devereux, Peter H. Watson, Hugh J. Jewett, James Lanier, and James McHenry, to name but a few.
The process of answering the rhetorical questions of “why” and “how” posed its own challenges to an amateur historian. Learning to conduct primary research was initially a hit-or-miss proposition. Understanding how to utilize such resources as state and national archives, state libraries, historical society archives and libraries, and university collections was a daunting task at first. Then there was the Internet, a relatively new resource that could be both an important tool and dangerous source of unsubstantiated drivel. Fortunately, several credible organizations such as Google; the New York Times; and a growing number of universities, libraries, and private enterprises are now digitizing a vast array of historical materials. Access to such sources has greatly expanded the ability to conduct more thorough and in-depth research—and to do so at an accelerated pace. The availability of primary and secondary source materials through such sites as books.google.com , archives.org , and loc.gov (Library of Congress) have helped assure a more complete, multifaceted perspective on historic events. Google Books alone, as of this date, has digitized more t