M. Atwater, M. J. Williamson, T. P. Handy, William A. Otis, George Mygatt and Hosea Williams. In 1851, Alfred Kelley was elected president, Henry B. Payne, acting president, M. J. Williamson, secretary, T. P. Handy, treasurer, and A. Stone, jr., superintendent. In the report of President Kelley for 1851, he says:

The road was so far finished that trains were run over its entire length, from Columbus to Cleveland, on the twenty-first day of February last, but the road could not be considered as fully open for regular business operations before the first of April. Since that time a large and profitable business has been done-larger and more profitable, it is believed, in proportion to the amount of capital invested, than has been done on any other road in the United States for the first eight months after its being opened for

use.

In the report he says:

Of equal importance in fully developing the capabilities of your road is the connection with the Cleveland, Painsville & Ashtabula, familiarly known as the Lake Shore road.

This would seem to indicate that the term Lake Shore, as applied to the great line now bearing it as a part of its title, was a pat designation, from the inventive genius of the great public, and forced into use, as has been the term Nickle Plate, as applied to a more modern trunk line. Superintendent Amasa Stone, in his report for that year,

says:

Two accidents have occurred worthy of notice, the first of which was caused by a cow being run over by a freight train, throwing it from the track, and Mr. Hummiston, the conductor, a very worthy man, was killed. The other was the bursting of the boiler of the locomotive Delaware, killing instantly Mr. Boothsly, who was running a locomotive connected with it; also injuring Mr. Bryant, engineer of the Delaware, so severely that he survived only a few days.

In the report for the following year,

1852, H. B. Payne, the acting president, says:

During the month of November the Lake Shore road was so far completed as to admit of the passage of trains to Erie. A contract has been entered into, which took effect on the first of December, for operating the two roads jointly, under one superintendent and under a joint committee of two from each board. The equipment is owned in common. The running expenses are defrayed out of the joint earnings.

In the report for the next year can be found this pleasant statement:

In examining the abstract of the secretary, one very gratifying fact will not fail to arrest your notice, to-wit: That this company is substantially out of debt.

This year Mr. Payne is president in name, as in fact. The report adds:

It has been deemed advisable to provide a line of first-class steamboats between Cleveland and Buffalo. The New York & Erie company having built two boats expressly adapted to that trade, an arrangement was, in July last, entered into, according to which the title to said boats passed into the hands of trustees for the joint and equal benefit of the New York & Erie, New York Central, and the line of roads between Erie and Cincinnati. The proportion advanced by this company was $54,000.

During 1855 the contract between this line and the Cleveland, Painsville & Ashtabula was discontinued, although the cars of each line were given free passage over the tracks of the other. In 1856 the line began to feel the touch of the competitive troubles that have grown to such size in these latter days, as Superintendent E. S. Flint's report

says:

It must be borne in mind that a strong competition existed for business over competing lines for nearly the entire summer and fall months, and prices were in consequence reduced much below the regular established and remunerative rates.

In the report for 1866, President L.

The new passenger depot at Cleveland, costing some $475,000, and in which this company has one fourth interest, was so far completed as to be opened for use on the twelfth day of November last.

Its erection was indespensable, as the old depot, being erected over the waters of the lake upon piles, from general decay had become unsafe for the passage into it of heavy locomotives and trains of cars loaded with passengers.

These points show the gradual changes of the growth and business, and will serve for the other lines as well as for the one to which they have special ref

erence.

SOME EARLY ATTEMPTS.

The year 1836 was one of excitement and enthusiasm in the projection of railroad lines, and if all the roads then built on paper had been actually constructed there would have been more transportation facilities than goods or people to transport. As has been related heretofore, the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati and the Cleveland, Warren & Pittsburgh were both chartered in 1836, the former finally struggling into life after long delay, and the latter finding a partial revival in the Cleveland & Mahoning and Cleveland & Pittsburgh, some years later. The newspaper files of the year last named, 1836, contain a rich harvest of information on this point, and the people seem to have subscribed as cheerfully and with as high hope as though all the schemes had been demonstrated successes instead of experiments still in the air. Bills passed the Ohio legislature chartering, in addition to those named above, the Fairport & Wellsville line,

Ashtabula, Warren & East Liverpool line. All of these five were for the purpose of connecting Lake Erie and the Ohio river, as the railroad in the days of its beginning was supposed to be only an adjunct or feeder to the lines of water communication, and was seldom looked upon as a rival thereto. The Cleveland Herald of January 26, 1836,

states with some gratulation and pride that the engineers of the Cleveland, Warren & Pittsburgh line had reached Cleveland on the previous day, and adds that "everything connected with this. improvement seems to progress with an activity and spirit which promises the most favorable results." On March 22 it is announced that a profile of the proposed road can be seen at the law office of Rufus P. Spalding in Warren. By April 5 $105,000 worth of stock for this enterprise had been subscribed in Cleveland alone, and it was announced that probably the $50,000 more would be taken. The Herald, in April, frequently appeals to the public to take more interest in the scheme, and declares that people are not doing their full duty. Affairs had so arranged themselves that by May 12 an organization was possible, and on that day the stockholders met in Cleveland and chose a board of directors. J. W. Willey, then mayor of the city, was made president of the board, of which John W. Allen and David Tod were members. Stock to the amount of $170,000 had been taken. On June 28 Mr. Willey published a long article in favor of the enterprise, with a fervent appeal for aid. On February