Source:Fleming-cass
George T. Fleming. "Cass pioneer in building of railroad: Interesting life work of great engineer is given in detail: Celebrated lawsuit." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Dec. 24, 1916, sec. 2, p. 5. Newspapers.com 85515124.
THE railroads from the West that first entered Pittsburgh were the Ohio and Pennsylvania and Cleveland and Pittsburgh, now the Pennsylvania Lines West.
The long struggle between the railroad officials and the city councils concerning the crossing of Penn street, now avenue; protracted litigation concerning the right of way through the West Commons, now West Park, the building of the first bridge across the Allegheny, the lease to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the obligations imposed by the former city of Allegheny are interesting phases of this railroad history.
The crossing of the river was of the utmost advantage to Pittsburgh, more so than the passage of the tracks through the commons—these could have followed the rivers. The right of way through the commons was granted the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad in 1850 and at once the right of commons or pasturage was squarely raised and the issue fought out in the courts.
In the original grant of this commons in the original plan of the Reserve Tract opposite Pittsburgh by the act of Assembly, September 11, 1787, among other items, the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was empowered to have laid out and surveyed a town in lots, with a competent and suitable number of outlots for the accommodation thereof in said tract, and to cause to be laid out and surveyed the residue of said tract in lots, etc., and authorizing the sale of the whole of the said lots, etc., but providing, however, that there should be reserved "out of the lots of said town, for the use of the state so much land as they should deem necessary for a court house, "gaol and market house, for places of public worship, for burying the dead and without the said town one hundred acres for a common pasture." The graveyard came in due time and the commons came.
The origin of the Allegheny or North Side parks was on this reservation of 100 acres, in the plan of the Reserve Tract as a common pasture for the owners of the "In Lots" in the town plan.
Later it was proved that the idea had not been considered by those responsible for setting aside the land now occupied by the North Side parks, that the land was to be used as a pleasure ground for the people or to add to the beauty of the city.
Pittsburgh was in those years a small frontier settlement. Parks and railroads had not, could not, find a place in the minds of the projectors of the town on the Reserve Tract.
The act of assembly incorporating the city of Allegheny, passed in 1840, specifically vested the right of commons in that city for such public usages as were recited in the act of 1787, and such other public uses as the councils of the city might direct, provided, however, that no part of the land allotted for the common purposes should be applied to any other purpose without releases being obtained from such persons as were entitled to the right of commons.
Evidently there was an obstruction to the right of way of a railroad through the commons. There were other cases arising out of the alleged violation of this right of commons. The Western University of Pennsylvania grant, the Western Theological Seminary case, the Western Penitentiary grant and occupation of part of the commons and the litigation and its settlements—all preceded the coming of the railroad. These cases are part of the park history.
The question of the right of commons as it affected the railroad was decided in the case of Bell versus the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad reported in Pennsylvania State Reports, Vol. 25, page 161. Bell was an "In Lot" owner who sought to restrain the railroad company from taking a portion of the common ground for its right of way and appurtenances.
William M. Bell's case was heard before Judge Moses Hampton in the old District Court of Allegheny county.
The complainant sought an injunction to restrain the building of the road through the commons, alleging three grounds of complaint—that his common of pasture would be destroyed; that the acts complained of in his bill and proved or admitted were a nuisance; that there was a violation of trust by the City Councils in granting the license in question—and therefore he claimed the intervention of the court that the defendant company be restrained within their corporate powers.
Hepburn and Shaler, great lawyers and each serving as judge in Allegheny county, appeared for the complainant. Thomas Williams and W. S. Courtney were for the railroad. The injunction was refused and Bell appealed and lost by a divided court, two and two, one judge not sitting.
The Supreme Court held that the right to take herbage by the mouth of one's cattle gives the commoner no incidental right to keep the commons open as an ornament to his dwelling or as contributing to his personal pleasure or convenience.
Chief Justice Ellis Lewis, who wrote the opinion, evidently had been in the habit of rambling through Allegheny. He was familiar with the locality. Among other things he said:
"The herbage is not as abundant on the commons as that which may be found in a recently disinterred street in Herculaneum."
Bell, the complainant, claimed right of pasture on the South common. This portion, along Stockton avenue west of Federal street, is now altogether occupied by the railroad. But the road was finally built so that we find much in the early reports of the board of directors to make interesting reading. The reports at hand are the first, secand [sic] and third annual reports of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad Company, issued in 1857, 1863 and 1865, respectively, and the first annual report of the Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad Company, issued in 1854, previous to its absorption by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago. These reports, with the 999-year lease of the latter road to the Pennsylvania Railroad, are bound together in one volume and are recent additions to the valuable historical collection of Gilbert A. Hays of Sewickley.
Mr. Hays, having lived at Fair Oaks and Sewickley the greater part of his life and traveled the road for a half century, is naturally a good historian. His father, Gen. Alex. Hays, was one of the engineers who laid out the road when first planned; that is, the portion between Pittsburgh and Alliance, Ohio.
Mr. Hays says:
"The documents I send you contain much that is interesting, showing by comparison the marvelous changes that have taken place during the 60 years of more since the road was first operated—the transformation from the little "dinkey" locomotives of the early days to the giants of today; the diminutive wooden passenger cars with their small windows, poorly ventilated, candle-lighted, dwarfed by the modern, commodious, ventilated and scientifically electrically-lighted coaches of our day; the iron rails weighing from 30 to 60 pounds to the yard, running at first from 18 to 20 feet in length, with cross-ties three feet between centers, the rails joined by the crude chair that preceded the present spliced bar.""
We learn from the reports that the present Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, known as the Pennsylvania Lines West, extending from Pittsburgh to Chicago, previous to its consolidation August 1, 1858, embraced three separate railroads, viz: The Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad, from Allegheny to Crestline, completed in April, 1853; the Ohio and Indiana Railroad, Crestline, O., to Fort Wayne, Ind., completed in November, 1854, and the Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, from Fort Wayne to Chicago, but completed only to Columbus, 20 miles west of Fort Wayne, in February, 1865, reaching Chicago about one year later. All these roads were built piecemeal, owing to the difficulty in securing funds to continue the work and the path of the promoters was a thorny one. The greatest objections coming from the farmers who feared some loss of their livelihood, owing to the fact that horses would in a great degree be replaced by the steam horse, the raising of oats and hay therefore ceasing to be profitable. We have heard the same argument in recent years about the automobile.
Stocks and bonds of the road were sold for a fraction of their par value and traded in lieu of cash to contractors, builders of equipment, conductors, engineers and even trackmen, who in turn would "trade in" these highly depreciated securities to the butcher, grocer and baker at a still further shrinkage in value. Shrewd merchants, realizing the future of this paper, accumulated much of it at a nominal cost, and more than ane [sic] prominent family in the Sewickley valley has good cause to bless the farsightedness of their ancestors.
The reports contain much statistics highly interesting to students of railroad history in the United States and to railroad men generally.
The Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad at first extended only from the site of the present Federal Street Station to Crestline, O., but only to New Brighton in 1851. The original terminal depot still stands in New Brighton and is occupied now as a steam laundry. The bridge over the Beaver River was not completed until 1851, hence the New Brighton terminal.
The railroad had a hard time in getting a Pittsburgh terminal. There was persistent opposition from city authorities, both in Pittsburgh and Allegheny, probably of more or less political significance. The bridge across the Allegheny River was not completed until September 22, 1857, and then the road only ran as far as the company's present freight depot site at the north side of Penn avenue, as the City Council refused to grant a right-of-way across that street that connection might be made with the Pennsylvania Railroad, whose depot was then at the foot of Liberty street, although a few years later moved to the site now occupied by New Grant street, between Liberty and Seventh avenues. Mr. Hays well remembers the long strings of horses, in tandem, that hauled the trains along Liberty street from Eleventh street to the Monongahela wharf.
A preliminary injunction, granted by the court February 10, 1858, restrained Councils from interference, and on the same day tracks were laid across Penn avenue and connection made with the Liberty street tracks, trains running through that day from Pittsburgh to Crestline and the West.
The first Allegheny River bridge was a wooden truss affair; in 1864 it was replaced with an iron structure that was superceded [sic] by the present splendid double-deck structure. Provision was made by the city authorities that a free foot passage must be maintained forever on the bridge, which exists today, although not very convenient of access.
Previous to the completion of the bridge passengers and freight were transferred by vehicles from Federal street to the Pennsylvania depots. Gen. william Robinson, a great factor in the construction of the road through Allegheny, made every effort to prevent the road from extending beyond Federal street, in fact, until recent years certain trains under the original agreement were compelled to have Federal street as their terminus.
The right of way in Allegheny from Federal street east was on the bed of the old canal, and until recent years a section of the canal bed was in evidence under the building that stood where a restaurant now stands in Federal street.
In 1859–60 the waters of the old canal ran along the southern side of the south and east commons, the latter now East Park, the south common but a long strip of ground with flowers, fountains and walks extending from Federal to Sandusky street. The canal waters were much frequented by youngsters, who navigated them on rafts and planks, and occasionally the navigators were wrecked, resulting often in a ducking and a "licking."
The reports show that George W. Cass was president and Thomas D. Messler auditor and secretary until 1865, when Francis M. Hutchinson, son-in-law of Gen. Cass, was secretary.
George W. Cass was a noted man in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania in those days; in fact, he had a wide reputation. He was a pioneer in our railroad building. He was a civil engineer, a graduate of West Point Military Academy and was one of the Engineer Corps who laid out the National road in 1834. At that time he was a captain of engineers, U. S. A.
Some of Capt. Cass' colleagues were Capt. Richard Delafield, long the superintendent of West Point Academy, and Lieut. J. K. F. Mansfield, later major general, U. S. A., killed at Antietam.
While on the National road work Gen. Cass married a daughter of George Dawson of Brownsville and located there and engaged in business for years, later removing to Pittsburgh, where he was a prominent man in all Pittsburgh progress.
Gen. Cass was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1810 of New England parentage. The region about his home was new and there were few schools. He was sent therefore to Detroit, Mich. to be educated at the old Detroit Academy. While in Detroit he resided with his uncle, Gen. Lewis Cass, then governor of Michigan, a great man subsequently in American history.
George W. Cass remained in Detroit three years, 1822–1827 [sic]. In 1828 he obtained his appointment to West Point from Ohio and was graduated in 1832 and at once entered the Topographical Engineers. He resigned from the army in 1836, but was reappointed by President Jackson and remained in the government service until the completion of the National road and its reception by governors of the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Gen. Cass built the first iron bridge in the United States, over Dunlaps Creek, a tributary of the Monongahela. He was engaged in improving this river. He located and superintended the erection of locks Nos. 3 and 4.
Upon the completion of the system of locks and dams yet in use Gen. Cass organized a steamboat line to Pittsburgh, the first regular line on the river. He also engaged in the carrying trade over the mountains and his name is written in the history of the National road.
Relays of teams carried freight in large wagons across the country and over the mountains. Brownsville was a great emporium and transfer point between the East and the West. Business fairly hummed there in those years.
In 1849 Gen. Cass established the Adams Express across the mountains from Baltimore; he effected the consolidation of all the Adams lines between Boston and St. Louis and south to Richmond, Va. In 1854. He was elected president of the consolidated lines since known as the Adams Express Company.
Gen. Cass became president of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad in 1856. Although the consolidated lines were leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad, that corporation known as the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad has been maintained. Gen. Cass continued as president of that company until 1881, when he resigned the office, although he still continued on the board of directors, remaining until his death in March, 1888.
Gen. Cass became largely interested in the Northern Pacific Railway and served three years as president of that company, 1872–1875, when, upon the road becoming insolvent, Gen. Cass was appointed receiver. He was a partner of Benjamin P. Cheney of Boston in the institution of the greatest wheat farm in the world up to that period, known by the name of its manager as the Dalrymple farm. This was near the town of Casselton in the Red River Valley, Dakota.
While a resident of Pittsburgh Gen. Cass lived on the North Side, or in former Allegheny, from 1852–1863. He moved the latter year to a location now in Osborne borough, where he remained 10 years, when he moved to New York.
For a decade or more previous to his death Gen. Cass had retired from active pursuits. His Osborne mansion, known as Cassella, was one of the finest about Pittsburgh.
The Casses were Democrats in politics and members of the Protestant Episcopal Church. While in New York Gen. Cass served as senior warden of Christ Church in that city.
Thomas B. Searight in his history of the "Old Pike," says that Gen. Cass was married twice, his second wife the sister of his first. He left his widow, one son and six daughters.
Gen. Cass' grandfather was named Johnathan. The family was originally from the South of England, the first location in America at Exeter, N. H. Johnathan Cass was a major in the Revolution and after that war moved to Ohio.
In 1862 Francis M. Hutchinson, husband of Sophia Cass, went to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad. In 1865 he became secretary and treasurer. Also with subsidiary roads in the same capacity. His health failed in 1882 and he left for a tour abroad, but immediately returned and came to Pittsburgh again, gradually declining until his death, August 23, 1882, seven weeks after he had left New York for Europe.
Mr. Hutchinson was for many years a resident of Sewickley and senior warden of St. Stephen's Protestant Episcopal Church there. He died at his home in Sewickley. He had been in continuous service with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad for 20 years and had been granted leave of absence for a tour abroad. He left his widow and four children, two sons and two daughters.
It was a great day in Pittsburgh when the first locomotive, the Salem, came to town. Like the first canal it was the signal for a great popular outpouring.
Mr. C. E. Locke, for many years connected with the old Chronicle as city editor, was one of the boys who saw the first locomotive, also the first train on the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad when the train was run between Pittsburgh and New Brighton, July 4, 1851. The train was in charge of D. N. Courtney conductor, who was later master of transportation.
The engine Salem, named for that Ohio town, came here in the fall of 1850 via the canal. A track had to be built like an incline to bring the engine from the high level of the canal to the railroad tracks, the canal having been about 50 feet above the tracks.
The incline started about half-way between Marion avenue and Craig street, now Cremo. It extended towards Federal street several hundred feet before making the curve in the canal. Meantime the populace was examining the engine which was on a boat in the basin about where the old Westinghouse glass works stands, on Lacock street.
The second engine arrived soon afterward. It was named the "Beaver."
At first the locomotives bore names only. From the following list, given in the report for the year ending December 31, 1857, these names are extracted: Atlantic, Beaver, Chicago, Franklin, Knox, Lawrence, Pacific, Alliance, Canton, Rochester, Illinois, Indiana, Massillon, Ohio, Stark, Washington, Crawford, Mohican, Sewickley, Wyandot, Gen. Robinson, Damascus, Palestine, Orrville, Fairview, Ashland, Richland, Pittsburgh, Keystone, Jefferson, Mansfield, Wooster, Fort Wayne, Columbiana, Mahoning, Enon, Allegheny, Loudonville, Pioneer, Mad Anthony, Warsaw, Plymouth, Fort Wayne, Ohio, and Sandusky.
There were many named for the different stations along the road and most of the Western states and cities, and all the large cities and a few for individuals such as the "Fred Lorenz."
While not stated it is to be presumed that all or nearly all these engines were wood burners. Typical of the locomotives of this period was the "Sewickley," six four-foot drivers, cylinders 16 inches in diameter, 22-inch stroke; weight of engine 56,920 pounds, drivers 42,250 pounds, tender 25,980 pounds. Twenty freight cars was the limit of a train. That the steel car is not a modern invention is evident in the operation of a number of metal passenger coaches in 1865 built by the defunct New Brighton Iron Car Company. The private car used by Gen. Cass was of this type, and this car was in service as a passenger coach until a few years ago on the Sharpsville Railroad from New Wilmington, Pa., to Sharpsville. The Merrick family of New Brighton operated this iron car concern, the buildings at present in fair state of preservation, being occupied as a wall paper factory.
The second bridge of the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne and Chicago Railroad is shown today. The views are from each end; from the north end the grain elevator at Liberty, Grant and Washington streets, destroyed in the riot fires of 1877, is shown plainly. As this structure was erected in 1865 the date of the picture is between 1865 and 1877.
The large smokestack on Bedford avenue at the old pumping station is also to be plainly seen in the original. This is the stack that smoked up the Fulton Street or Central High School, as those who attended in those years can attest.
The photographs state that H. A. Gardner was the chief engineer of the work and Felician Slataper the engineer in charge. The contractor was the late C. J. Schultz, whose bridge works were then on Carson street between Twentieth and Twenty-first streets. The total length of the bridge was 1,172 feet. The board of directors photographed in 1865 shows President Cass and Springer Harbaugh. Kent Jarvis and William H. Barnes of Pittsburgh are among them, also Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Mr. Tilden is standing in the center of the rear row and President Cass is seated the third from the left end, J. Edgar Thomson at his right.
Cass avenue in the Woods Run district of the North Side was named for Gen. Cass.
