Read Ebook: A Pioneer Railway of the West by Lafferty Maude Ward

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President and Directors Lexington and Ohio R. R. Co.

Samuel H. Kneass, Chief Engineer--His Assistants and Treasurer of the Co.

Contractors and Pioneers with their implements of Labor.

State Board of Internal Improvement.

President, Engineers and Directors of Lexington and Maysville Turnpike Road.

Mayor and Aldermen of Louisville .

Capt. Neet's Rifle Guards--in Platoons.

Military Band of Music.

Trustees of the Town of Lexington and Clerk.

Justices of Fayette County Court and Clerk.

Trustees and Professors of Transylvania University.

Reverend Clergy.

Surgeons and Physicians.

Members of the Bar and Officers of Fayette County Court.

Union Philosophical Society of Transylvania University.

Medical and Law Students.

Tutors and Students of Transylvania University.

Principal of Preparatory Department and Pupils.

Principal and Pupils of Wentworth Seminary.

Principal and Tutors of Shelby Female Academy and Pupils.

Principal and Professors of Eclectic Institute and Pupils.

STRANGERS.

Stockholders of Lexington and Ohio R. R. Co.

Capt. Postlethwaite's Light Infantry Company--in Platoons.

Lieut.-Col. A. Stevens--Ass't. Marshal.

CITIZENS ON FOOT.

"For many years we have not witnessed so imposing a pageant and never one more interesting. A Federal Salute was fired by Capt. Hunt's Artillery at sunrise and seven guns when the first stone sill was laid, indicating the seven sections of the road under contract. The procession first moved in a circle around the lawn where it was formed at which time the bells in the various churches in town commenced a merry peal which continued until the procession reached the place where the ceremony was performed. The Military Escort then formed a hollow square within which the whole civic procession was enclosed. Thousands of delighted and anxious spectators were on the outside, among whom we were gratified to see a large concourse of ladies for whose accommodation the Marshal had directed the adjacent Market House to be appropriated.

Prof. Caldwell then delivered a highly interesting and appropriate address. The procession then returned to the University lawn after which the Military marched to the Arsenal and were dismissed, having received the thanks of the Directors and President of the Rail Road and the compliments of the Marshal for their excellent marching and exemplary good order on the occasion.

The arrangements for this interesting ceremony were hurried perhaps by the zeal of those immediately concerned and a desire to proceed without further delay with the work. A little more time and a little more preparation would have been better but the whole proceeding was conducted very handsomely. The procession was very numerous. The streets through which the long line marched were crowded with spectators and every window and every balcony were filled with ladies. The Military looked uncommonly well. The pupils of the various institutions wore appropriate badges. The ceremonies at the place of laying the corner stone were not tedious. The omission to prepare a rostrum for the Orator was a grievous oversight--thousands were unable to hear the speech, but those who were more fortunate pronounced it appropriate and eloquent and considering the very short notice upon which it was prepared, the effort was worthy of the distinguished orator, which alone, is saying enough in praise.

The prayer of the Rev. Mr. Hall, by which the occasion was preceded, awakened the best feelings of the human heart. The Governor and the President of the Company quickly dispatched the duty assigned them and the procession moved from the ground in good order, nothing having occurred in the slightest degree unpleasant. All were happy that the good work was now in progress and delighted at the bright prospects now dawning upon the towns and country through which the road is to pass. Owing to the short notice the expected guests from Maysville and Louisville did not attend but the Company was honored with the presence of the Governor and several distinguished members of Congress and two of the Judges of the Court of Appeals. These with other notable guests dined with the President, Directors and Stockholders at Postlewaite's Inn and during the even the Governor visited the Theater where he was received with many rounds of applause."

Down in our hearts we are truly thankful for the present century and all its benefits and we would rather be plain Kentucky people living today than any royalty in history. And yet when we read a great thrilling tale like this we cannot overcome a strange sense of loss, a feeling of regret that we too, could not have been there to see that wonderful pageant pass by. The Military with its pomp and music; the professors and their students; the officials and the rank and file; the lawyers, and the doctors and the ministers; the contractors and "Pioneers and their implements of Labor"; the old, the young, the great, the small--all banded together in one great masterly pull for Lexington! What a picture! What a privilege! What an inspiration! What would we not give to have seen it with our own eyes, to have applauded it with our own hands.

And yet, perhaps that is what we are doing now, applauding and giving praise and credit to those splendid citizens whose generosity, foresight, energy and progressive public spirit made Lexington a leading city of its day!

But to return to our subject, the newspapers kept the people advised as to the progress of the work and the Observer of February 3rd, 1832, says:

"Those who feel an interest in this great work will be pleased to learn that the grading of the first six miles put under contract last fall is already in a state of much forwardness. The stones for the Rail Sills are excavated from a quarry a short distance below the city. The ease with which they are split out and fashioned into sills is truly surprising. They are about twelve inches wide and many of them are twenty or twenty-five feet in length."

And again on May 24th, 1832--

"The grading of the first division of six miles is nearly completed. Part of the Iron Rails for the first division have arrived at Louisville from Liverpool by way of New Orleans, and the laying of the stone sills will be forthwith commenced."

The work progressed steadily in spite of many obstacles--chief of which seems to have been the indifference of Louisville and lack of ready money, and so in the Observer for March 16th, 1832, there is an interesting and eloquent appeal:

"To the Citizens of Lexington and Fayette County--

"Now is the time for every man, who is a man and will act like one, to come forward and put his shoulder to the wheel. The Lexington and Ohio Rail Road can be finished to Frankfort before the 1st of November, 1832, if those who are able will do their duty and take stock, or increase their present subscriptions. Not one should hang back and let his neighbors do for him what he ought to do for himself. If he loves money, this is the way to improve his fortune; if he loves his country, this is the sure way to advance her power and glory.

The work can be done and will be done in the time I have named if you are true to your best interests and will act promptly on this occasion. No time is to be lost--Come all--Come quickly. Let us have no more theorizing but in its stead, efficient action."

The Observer and Reporter, June 28th, 1832, says:

"Laying the stone sills is rather a tedious operation. Messrs. Holburn and Benson, who are the contractors for this branch of the work deserve great praise for executing their contract not only faithfully but in a style of beauty and elegance of workmanship which has excited the admiration of all who have examined it. They are now putting in the Iron Rails and we hope it will not be long before the Directors will have it in their power to gratify the universal anxiety which daily increases in intensity to behold the novel spectacle of a Rail Road Carriage in rapid motion."

This desire was soon gratified according to an article in the Lexington Observer dated August 9th, 1832, and entitled "Our Rail Road." It says:

"A splendid car was placed on the Rail Road on Thursday last. It made two trips, the distance the road is finished, having inside and outside about sixty passengers each trip. The crowd to witness the experiment was very great and we never saw spectators more delighted. The opening of the Rail Road from Lexington to the Ohio River will be the commencement of a new era in the history of Kentucky. Let unbelievers in the utility of Rail Roads witness but one experiment and their scepticism will soon vanish.

"On Tuesday the 14th the road we understand will be formally opened and the car afterwards kept constantly running for the accommodation of passengers. The Governor of the State and the Mayor and Council of the City of Louisville have been invited to be present on this occasion."

The Observer and Reporter of August 16th, 1832, tells how "The Lexington and Ohio Rail Road was formally opened on yesterday. Among the persons present was Gov. Metcalf. At twelve o'clock precisely the Car left its moorings at the upper end of the lower Market in fine style, having on board about 40 passengers. The Road is completed entirely only about one mile and a half from its termination in this city. Other portions are in a state of great forwardness and will be ready for the Car in a few days which will make the whole distance completed about 3 miles. The Car travels at the rate of about 10 miles an hour."

How eagerly they longed for its completion, using it for pleasure trips when only a mile and a half was finished! And how quaintly they spoke of it leaving "its moorings" as though they were still thinking in terms of rivers and flat boats and steam boats, and could only describe it in river terms! And how they dignified it with capitals, it was always the Rail Road and the Car--as if the very immensity of the undertaking demanded capital letters. To them the "Rail Road started" or "returned," or was "kept running," as in the article in the Observer of August 25th, 1832, which says:

"Two miles of the Lexington and Ohio Rail Road are now completed, and the splendid car, "Lexington and Ohio," is kept constantly running this distance to gratify those who feel an interest in Rail Roads, and are desirous of testing their utility. The Car is sufficiently large to accommodate 60 passengers and this number is drawn by one horse, with apparently as much ease and rapidity as the same animal would draw a light gig. The delight experienced at the sight of a car loaded by sixty passengers and drawn by one horse at the rate of ten miles an hour through a country where heretofore five miles per hour with one passenger to a horse has been thought good speed, is sufficient of itself to repay the beholder for the trouble of a journey of fifty miles. We understand a locomotive steam engine is now being constructed to be placed upon the road as soon as the distance is opened on the whole of the First Division."

Having always heard the Old Lexington and Ohio Road referred to as "the first rail road built West of the Alleghany Mountains," I was greatly surprised at this juncture to see how close the question of priority between it and the old Pontchartrain Railway really was and being unable to decide the question myself, I beg leave to lay the evidence before my readers and let them decide the matter according to their own judgment.

Mr. J. H. Ellis, Secretary of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, at a banquet in Louisville in 1914, when speaking of the oldest railroads built West of the Alleghanies and South of the Ohio River, said: "It is commonly believed that the oldest road is the Lexington and Ohio, so it may surprise you to know that in point of antiquity it is beaten by that little old Pontchartrain Railroad, Charles Marshall's darling, but by a remarkable coincidence, by only a week. For while the Pontchartrain Railroad Company received its charter on January 20th, 1830, that of the Lexington and Ohio Railroad Company is dated January 27th, 1830. And in point of construction the latter likewise followed the Pontchartrain."

An article published in the Lexington Observer of October 4th, 1832, taken from the New Orleans Emporium of September 15th, 1832, says:

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