CHAPTER XVII.

THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO SYSTEM.

There are many railways in the United States which are either too small or lack the necessary connections with important points to become factors in through traffic, and it has become customary for roads so situated to enter into close traffic agreements with other railroads, and to form "lines." These agreements are made both for freight and passenger business. Recently a "freight line " (the Cumberland Gap Express) was established between New York and Texas, which availed itself of steamers to Norfolk and of the Norfolk and Western, Louisville and Nashville, and several other railways which, but for a similar arrangement, could scarcely have had a share in the traffic between Texas and the East. Of a passenger "line," the compact between the Chicago and Northwestern, Union Pacific, and Central Pacific forms a very good example. These three railways have well-nigh monopolised passenger traffic between Chicago and San Francisco because, on the strength of an agreement, through trains are run from Lake Michigan to the Golden Gate. The advantages of a similar arrangement are obvious. A small railway, by becoming part of a "line," becomes part of a through route and receives through freight and may gain access to important points resulting in a considerable increase of its traffic.

By arranging for a through line with the Reading and Jersey Central systems the Baltimore and Ohio obtained an entrance into Jersey City, as a result of which it receives

a large share of the traffic between the West and New York, and especially between Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the Eastern metropolis. Before through trains were run between these four important points, the change of cars which was necessary caused the Pennsylvania RR. to monopolise through traffic along this busy route, and even freight traffic along that which now is the "Royal Blue Line" was impeded. The close compact between the B. & O. and the Reading, however, changed matters, and, by giving the former terminal accommodations on the Hudson River, this connection has done much towards the improvement of the business of the B. and O. Yet Baltimore remains its principal eastern terminus, where the cars meet the vessels, and where the contents of the trains are stored in huge elevators at Canton and Locust Point and the Basin, all near the mouth of the Patapsco River, on Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore offers great facilities for navigation, and various lines of steamers run to the leading ports of Europe, while there is a considerable coasting trade. The city is no great manufacturing centre, but it has an extensive trade in groceries, tobacco, hardware and dry goods with the South and West, which brings a great amount of prosperity to a population numbering about 470,000.

It was this trade which created the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. American towns are very jealous of each other, and this feature, although it frequently manifests itself in numerous ludicrous and childish outbursts of local patriotism, has among its various good results this, that it causes constant improvements. The supremacy as a trade centre was long contested between Philadelphia and New York, and Baltimore vigorously competed with these two cities. In 1825 the Erie Canal was opened with great pomp, and from the day on which the first barge went from Lake Erie to New York, and a barrel of lake water was emptied into the Atlantic, the struggle was decided in favour of New York, which at once began to get the lion's share of the trade

with the West. Thus the denizens of Baltimore saw that something ought to be done to promote the importance of their town as a trade centre, and in February, 1827 twentythree leading citizens met and resolved to build an improved "railway' to Wheeling on the Ohio, this river being a key to the entire valley of the Mississippi before the days of railways. This project, originally conceived, it is said, by George Washington, was acted upon at once and a charter obtained, while from the outset it received the support both of the City of Baltimore and of the State of Maryland, although the public at large does not seem to have approved of this aid; at least, in the John Hopkin's University Library of Baltimore one finds numerous proofs of the public disapproval of this first instance of State-aid in railroad building which has set a precedent for all later cases. The public at large was against financial support and against all powers which now-a-days are granted to railways as a matter of course. "Why, sir," exclaimed the Speaker of the Maryland State Congress when he listened to the demands of the company's attorney, "you are asking for more than the Lord's Prayer." "That may be, your Honour, but I ask for nothing which is not necessary for progress and prosperity in the State and the city," replied the lawyer; whereupon his Honour said, "Go on, then, in God's name." The railroad company was endowed with almost arbitrary powers, and construction begun at once. The road consisted of iron-plated wooden rails, along which tramcars "ran at the marvellous speed of nine miles an hour." Soon after its inauguration sails were tried, but as no control of the elements could be obtained, this means of locomotion was speedily abolished. I was introduced to an old gentleman who witnessed the trial trip of these sailing cars, and could give many details relating to them. The Russian Ambassador, who at the time travelled on one of these conveyances, was so highly pleased that he ordered every member of the Embassy to have a ride on them, and Muscovite enthusiasm

rose to such a climax that the sailroads were introduced in the Northern Empire. In Baltimore, however, they were abolished, and soon after people rode by steam from Liverpool to Manchester locomotive engines were ordered from England. But these engines played havoc with the ironplated wooden rails, and in consequence a road with sleepers, and 10lb. rails (the present ones are 60-80lbs.) was built. The first train dashed along at the rate of 10 miles an hour, and the Baltimore American in 1835 published one of its heaviest "leaders," eulogising this achievement of human genius, and saying, "We doubt not that before long this unprecedented rate of speed will be raised to 18 and even 20 miles an hour, and that the journey to the Ohio will be performed some day in twenty-four hours." At present one may breakfast in the "Monumental City" and enjoy his dinner while seated at a seated at a window overlooking the Ohio River.

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In these early days of railroading, and among events chronicled in language which must seem rather grotesque to fin de siècle people, the Baltimore and Ohio was built. It was not intended to compete with the Erie Canal, connecting, as it did, with quite a different region. The canal communicated with the Lakes, but the railway connected the East with the South-West, and the vast and fertile country intersected by the numerous navigable tributaries of the Father of Streams." There can be no doubt as to which of the two, the canal or the railway, was the most important and gave the greatest promise to the State which projected it but for the subsequent extensive introduction of railways with steam traction the B. and O. might have. made Baltimore the leading city of the States, because the grand system of rivers, unequalled by any other, would have poured all its freight into Baltimore along the great artificial highway created by patriotic Marylanders. As the result of the rapid growth of the railroad system, and the rise of Chicago, however, the B. and O. became but one of the

many great highways of trade linking the East to the West, and its Ohio connection lost much of its value. It could no longer subsist on mere Ohio river traffic, but like the other trunk lines went far beyond its original scope, and progressing in the same degree as cultivation of the fertile soil of the Central States and the commercial importance of the West advanced it gradually penetrated into the traffic centres of the West, at the same time extending towards the South. To-day the Baltimore and Ohio lines connect Baltimore and Washington with Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Lexington in Virginia.

The following is a summary of the lines now constituting the Baltimore and Ohio system:-

Of these parts the main stem and branches as well as the Philadelphia, Pittsburg, New York and Trans-Ohio divisions are directly operated by the B. & O., although not entirely owned. The B. & O. Southwestern and Pittsburg & Western are controlled through ownership of stock; the Ohio and Mississippi was obtained control of in the latter part of 1891.

The Reading, along which the „Royal Blue Line" conducts its traffic, runs almost by the side of the Pennsylvania, and therefore connects Jersey City, Newark and Trenton, with Philadelphia. The Reading track, on which the American record of railway speed was made, is undoubtedly one of