OHIO STATEWIDE FILES - Know your Ohio: Tidbits of Ohio -- Part 89 ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgenwebarchives.org ************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 August 18, 2006 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Ohio And Then They Went West Know your Ohio Tid-Bits - part 89 by Darlene E. Kelley notes by S. Kelly ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid-bits - part 89. Signature on the Map of Ohio James J. Hill of the first century of Cleveland's commercial development once said, " I have written my name in lines of steel across the face of the continent and no man can erase it." Alfred Kelley wrote his signature on the map of Ohio. After the completion of the Ohio Canal he turned his intense energy to railroad building. Kelley was first, last and all of the time for Cleveland. He knew that if the canals benfited Cleveland, the railroads were certain to do a thousandfold more. The Ohio Railroad of 1836, not of Kelley's promotion, was built on piles driven into the ground -- the " railroad on stilts." But this enterprise proved a bubble and brought nothing to the investors. For many years a portion of the track stood on Lorain Avenue. Kelly organized the Cleveland, Columbus Cincinnati Ralroad on an entirely different basis than that of unstable Ohio Railroad. Kelley knew one lesson by heart. He knew that to build and operate a railroad, one must have ample capital. A meeting was held in the old Empire Hall. Kelley made a speech. The citizens saw the light, but lacked warmth over the enterprise. Then Kelley dramatically locked the doors and changed his appeal to a demand. the session lasted till the " wee sma' hours " and the funds were raised in a generus amount. Construction had, some time before, been started on the Scranton flats of the Cuyahoga River. Kelley himself, filled the first wheelbarrow with earth --- every shovelful a symbol of progress. Other men followed his example. After the Empire Hall subscription meeting, the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company built the first engine. The " Cleveland Herald," however, on February 20,1851, silenced them all with this barrage: " There is no use in attempting and editorial today. The eloquent, sublime and fine all hav vanished fom our caput and their places are filled with one extremely large, sputtering, whizzing locomotive." An advertisement in the Cleveland papers announced." The regular through trains of Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad will commence running on Tuesday next." A minister of the time used as his text, " The chariots rage in the street, they jostle one another in the broadways; the appearance of them is like torches, they run like lighting." Rails for Cleveland's first steam road were brought from abroad. Today Cleveland is sending steel railway supplies to the Old World. Cleveland's first going railroad was regulated with a drastic indifference to the Company's plans. The Council passed an ordinance which limited the speed of trains in the city limits to five miles an hour. Trains were not permitted to run at night. Trains were stopped to collect fares. Those who unofficially objected to the railroads placed objections on the tracks. The first railroad eastward from Cleveland was the Cleveland-Painesville-Ashtabula, which started operation in November 1851. This road was financed with difficulty. Investors believed that it could not compete successfully with the lake steamers. Provisions was made for double trackway and a good road bed. Today this bit of railroad is a most important fraction of one of America's greatest railroad systems. The journey from Buffalo from Cleveland was interrupted by a change at Erie to another short line. The various short lines were of a different gauge, and through transportation was impossible. Cleveland men planned a consolidation of many small lines, which resulted in the Lake Shore Railroad. Eventually the Lake Shore became a through line from Chicago to Buffalo. One trunk line after another made Cleveland a central point. Alfred Kelley, crowned by his associates as " the railroad king," was one of the Empire builders to whose memory time has been unkind. Nor was he an idol of his own day generation. He was of the Cromwellian type. He did his work and made no bid for applause. But to him belongs the credit for the canal and railroad development in Ohio. Cleveland became a bridge builder to avoid being " a house divided against itself." The narrow valley of the Cuyahoga is a deep slash made by nature, which runs through the heart of the city. And were it not for the twenty one bridges to " make us one " there would be twin cities watching each other across the divide. Moses Cleaveland located his dream city on the eastern bank of the Cuyahoga. Later the settlement on the west side became known as " Ohio City." Lorenzo Carter established a ferry for travelers who crossed the river near his tavern. A neighbor, Elijah Gunn, operated a ferry at the foot of Superior Street. No bridge was possible at this point but near the present Central viaduct a bridge of logs, bound together by chains, was floated. This portable bridge had to be drawn aside to accomodate passing sail boats. In 1811, a public meeting was held to raise money by subscription to buiild a substantial bridge. Thirteen persons agreed to pay in work and money the cost of this public utility. The first wooden bridge across the Cuyahoga, with a draw of forty nine feet as a passage way for vessels, caused a minature war--- " the battle of the bridge." The Ohio City merchants objected to their trade going to Cleveland, its city council declared the bridge " a public nuisance." An official organized a raid and blasted one abutment of the bridge. William Case of Cleveland, backed by a company of militia armed with muskets and an ancient canon, waited on the bridge to meet the attacking party. The Ohio City stalwarts advancing with axes and crowbars, ripped up the floor of the bridge and Case was driven back with clubs and stones. A number were injured before the sheriff of the county exercised his authority. But the bridge spanning the Cuyahoga created mutual interests, and many wooden bridges were erected. In 1857, a wooden bridge at West Third Street collapsed under the weight of a drove of cattle. Zenas King, a youthful farmer and bridge builder, recognized the weakness o the wooden bridges. King built a number of bridges of iron girders. He was the inventor of the iron bridge adopted in the railroad construction. King had the co-opertaion of Amasa Stone, railroad engineer and contractor. Bridges made on the King plan have been shipped and re-assembled in every part of the world. To dmonstrate its supremacy as a bridge builder, Cleveland has erected one of the largest concrete spans in the world. The high level bridge is five hundred and forty feet long, It is the masterpiece of the King Bridge Company. Four million dollars were expended on the high level structure to save the laborious and unnecessary travel down to the flats and across the small bridges over the river and up the hills. As graceful as the arch of a rainbow, it typifies for all time the unity, co-operation and strength of Cleveland and of the old community of the Western Reserve. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tid-Bits continued in part 90.