Louisville and Nashville Railroad

“ The round-about route over King David’s Transit Railroad to Cedar Key, and thence by steamboat to the Manatee, will then be abandoned, and henceforth remembered only as a necessity of by-gone days. The recent completion of the Louisville, Nashville and Great Southern Railroad, with a terminus at Pensacola, will soon give us direct and speedy communication with the cities of Louisville, Nashville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago and St. ”

“ The first count alleged 'that at and before the time hereinafter named the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company is and was a railroad corporation, duly organized and existing by law, and a common carrier engaged in the transportation of passengers and property wholly by steam railroad for a continuous carriage and shipment from one state of the United States to another state of the United States of America ”

“ Salt River, Rolling Fork, Green River, Nolin, Barren, Cumberland and numerous smaller streams all traversed the pathway of this railroad. The topography of the country through which the Louisville & Nashville Railroad was constructed naturally demanded many bridges and trestles of great length. Few railroads were ever built that offered better facilities for destruction by cavalry raids.
A man of General Morgan’s boldness, intense activity and prevalent courage could not long remain idle. The enemy in front of him were the people he had come to fight. All who wore blue were his foes. ”

“ These communications once established, Louisville becomes the very center of a vast network of roads, connecting different climates, the products of different soils and regions of every diversity of wealth. The railroad to Nashville connects immediately with Charleston, and thence opens roads to New Orleans and Mobile; while in another direction it reaches Richmond, Va., passing through immense tracts of rich agricultural and mineral lands. The railroad to Cincinnati opens to us the whole North and East ”

“ And the same observation applies to the proviso in the seventh section of the act of December 4, 1851, which requires that Kentucky should grant to Tennessee, or to such companies as the latter state might 'charter,' the right of way from Nashville to intersect with a named road at certain points in Kentucky, with the like powers and privileges granted by Kentucky to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company. ”

“ Having built a steamboat at Augusta, after his removal to Lexington, he invented in 1826-1827 a steam locomotive for a railroad with a car attached for two passengers, with power to ascend an elevation of eighty feet to a mile. An oval track was constructed for it in a room. It was opened to the public for exhibition and several took rides at fifty cents a ticket on the first "railroad train" ever run successfully in western America. This was sold to a Mr. Samuel Robb, who exhibited the novelty at various cities including Louisville, Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans ”

“ Considering the first of these conditions, suppose Congress in the exercise of its power over interstate commerce should enact that all interstate passengers be charged exactly 4 cents a mile, and the railroad company, while obeying that statute in its charges for carrying passengers from Nashville to Louisville, should from Franklin to Louisville charge 5 cents a mile, could it be pretended that the prohibition of the state Constitution against charging more for a short haul than for a long haul was not operative because an interference with interstate commerce? ”

“ That part of the application which sought to continue in effect lower rates to and from Louisville and Nashville than those in effect to and from Bowling Green, was heard separately. [1] The railroad sought to justify the lower charges for the longer distances by showing that it had to meet, particularly as to Nashville traffic, competition both by water and by rail. This contention was opposed by evidence to the effect that at Bowling Green, also, there was water competition, actual or potential and that at Nashville there was no real rail competition. ”

“ The Central Stock Yards station is at the Central Stock Yards, just outside the boundary line of Louisville, Kentucky, on the Southern Railway Company's line, and, by agreement between the two companies, the Central Stock Yards were the live-stock depot for the purpose of handling live stock to and from Louisville on the Southern Railway. ”

“ There is not a railroad anywhere between Lexington and the point to be seized, and along the whole length of which the Union sentiment among the people largely predominates. We have military possession of the railroad from Cincinnati to Lexington, and from Louisville to Lexington, and some home guards, under General Crittenden, are on the latter line. We have possession of the railroad from Louisville to Nashville, Tenn., so far as Muldraugh's Hill, about forty miles, and the rebels have possession of that road all south of there. ”

“ There still remains the southeastern corner of the United States—and right here our problem reaches its final and most perplexing phase. Whether to rearrange it in two or three simon-pure regions or to have two or three competing systems within a comparatively large regional district is a question not easy of correct solution. I believe that the latter is the solution most likely to come, however. The inter-ownership of the Atlantic Coast Line and the Louisville and Nashville railroads is a factor not easily to be ignored. ”

“ The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad (C&EI) filed a notice under § 13a (1) of the Interstate Commerce Act, 72 Stat. 571, 49 U.S.C. § 13a (1) , proposing to discontinue a pair of trains known as the 'Georgian,' operated by it between Chicago, Illinois, and Evansville, Indiana, and operated in conjunction with trains of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N) between Evansville, Indiana, and Atlanta, Georgia, crossing Kentucky and Tennessee en route. ”

“ This decision was reversed by the court of appeals (Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Miller, 112 Ky. 464, 66 S. W. 5) , and thereupon the before-mentioned bill in the United States court was brought, to deal with interstate shipments, with a prayer, also, that the railroad be required to recognize changes of destination ”

“ Thirty years ago competition for trade throughout the South was very keen between the great cities in the East and in the Middle West. Direct lines to the northwest from Atlanta and Nashville opened up a new avenue of communication with ambitious cities like Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati. The state of Georgia constructed the Western and Atlantic Railroad in 1851 for the express purpose of developing this trade. As western manufactures developed, a keen rivalry between the routes respectively east and west of the Alleghany mountains into the South was engendered. ”

“ Then, to maintain the locomotives and cars in good condition—more especially in view of the constant attempts made by the enemy to destroy them—extensive machine and car shops were built at Nashville and Chattanooga. Those at Nashville—the terminal station for 500 miles of railway running south, east or west—had, at times, as many as 100 engines and 1,000 cars awaiting repair. ”

“ The railroad to Nashville must be practically rebuilt and made much more efficient than it was, or both Thomas's and Foster's armies would be tied fast without the possibility of advancing. To make it possible to feed Sherman's auxiliary force, he sent it down the river to Bellefonte, some thirty miles below Bridgeport, opened steamboat communication with it, and set it at work repairing the railway from Nashville to Decatur and from Decatur to Stevenson. This would furnish an additional line to Chattanooga when completed, and would make an accumulation of stores there a possibility. ”

“ The value of railways is also fully recognized in war quite as much as, if not more so than, in peace. The Atlanta campaign would simply have been impossible without the use of the railroads from Louisville to Nashville—one hundred and eighty-five miles—from Nashville to Chattanooga—one hundred and fifty-one miles—and from Chattanooga to Atlanta—one hundred and thirty-seven miles. Every mile of this "single track" was so delicate, that one man could in a minute have broken or moved a rail, but our trains usually carried along the tools and means to repair such a break. ”

“ Enormous buildings have been put up at great expense, new machinery of various kinds has been added to the original supply, experienced workmen have been brought from the older cities, and everything has been effected which could contribute to place the concern on an equality in point of capacity with any similar establishment in the country. The manufacture of railroad cars is a new department of the business ”

“ True Southerners thank God that human slavery has been abolished. They are striving earnestly and successfully to adjust conditions created in the birth pangs of a social revolution. Well managed railroads like the Louisville & Nashville adjust their working policies to these basic conditions. Nearly a decade ago Samuel Spencer, as president, felt that the Southern Railway needed an infusion of new operating blood and a rotation of types, both excellent things in themselves, but, as experience showed, easily overdone and carried to an irrational degree. ”

“ Rarely, indeed, have the magnificent landscapes which can be viewed on either side from the grand stand and its neighborhood, looked more lovely. Behind, looking, we see the Nashville railroad winding its way like a snake through green fields and woodlands until it is lost in the distance. In front to one side you see the curling smoke arising from the city, with a cloud of dust that indicates the road over which the vast crowd is coming, bent on pleasure. ”

“ The Louisville and Lexington Railroad had opened so many new sources of wealth and developed such advantages before unthought of, that the policy of stretching out iron arms to embrace in their circle all possible resources was no longer doubted. Acting upon this feeling, the people of Louisville united with those of Jeffersonville in building a road from that point to Columbus, and with those of New Albany in uniting that growing city with Salem. ”

“ Here, where once were woods, is a growing city, its manufactories covering the banks of a noble stream, which, with the two greatest railroads in the South—the Louisville & Nashville and the Southern—give it rates and an opportunity unsurpassed anywhere. It is as sure to be a great city as men are to see and hear. Here is the opportunity of a life for any young man who wishes to till the land or to build factories or stores. ”

“ At this time there was no such thing as a steam locomotive in use in the United States. The first ever used here for practical purposes was built in England and brought to New York city in 1829, and in August of that year made a trial trip on the rails of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. The experiment was a failure; and for several years horses were the only motive power in use on the railroads. In 1830, however, the South Carolina Railroad having finished six miles of its road, had a locomotive built in New York city, and in January, 1831, placed it on the tracks at Charleston. ”

“ The traveller, however, does not need figures to convince him of the business activity of the town; the piles of cotton beyond the capacity of storage, the street traffic, the extension of streets and residences far beyond the city limits, all speak of growth. There is in process of construction a union station to accommodate the six railways now meeting there and others projected. On the west of the river it has lines to Kansas City and Little Rock and to St. Louis; on the east, to Louisville and to the Atlantic seaboard direct, and two to New Orleans. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Louis than by the direct route. [264] And now a generation later, it appears that grain from Cannon Falls, forty-nine miles south of St. Paul on the direct line to Chicago, destined for Louisville, Kentucky, can be hauled up to St. Paul on local rates and thence on a through billing to destination, back over the same rails, considerably cheaper than by sending it as it should properly go. [265] The Hepburn Committee reveals shipments from Rochester, New York, to St. Louis, Minneapolis or California, all rail, on a combination of local rates to New York and thence to destination. ”

“ The smaller establishments in the interior places have been obliged to resign to the superior quality and price of Louisville work. There is no city in the Union where there are so many private vehicles used, in proportion to the population, as in Louisville. This fact has led to the endeavor on the part of carriage makers here to compete with foreign workmen. And with the single exception of heavy carriages, Louisville builders are at any time ready to furnish carriages at the same price as they can be had in the East. ”