Robber Barons and the Battle of the Tunnel

as the u.s. grew over the latter part of the 19th century so grew our railroads essentially the number of railroad miles in the United States doubled every ten years from 1870 to 1970 competition over control of those railway lines in an era of unscrupulous business practices dubious legal wrangling and sometimes physical confrontations occurred over control of railroad companies in one good example that shows how far these conflicts could go is the story of a short-lived line called the Alvin E & Susquehanna railroad it is history that deserves to be remembered the Alban Ian Susquehanna railroad was the pet project and made possible because of the efforts of Joseph H Ramsey Ramsey was born in 1816 in the small town of Sharon New York not far from the state capital of Alban II the son of a minister he became a lawyer which in 1891 biography said the pursuit of which he was most singularly favored successfully practicing law on the office of a state assemblyman named Jedediah Miller Ramsey fellow biller into the state legislature being elected to represent Schoharie County in 1854 it was in the state legislature that he took a particular interest in the Alban e & Susquehanna railroad the Albany and Susquehanna railroad company was first organized in 1852 financed by more than a million dollars that had been subscribed by the inhabitants along the proposed line and investors in Albany there long been interest in a railroad line connecting Albany to the upper Susquehanna Valley investors saw the advantage connecting the valleys of fertile farms with the market in Alban II more importantly the line would connect the coal fields of Pennsylvania to Albany and other parts of eastern New York work on the railroad commenced in 1853 the line used a six foot broad gauge and 60 pound iron along extinct freely to the Erie Railroad in Binghamton New York close to the Pennsylvania border Ramsey recognized the potential of the rail line covering a region that was previously unserved so much so that it was locally described as a sequestered region the lane would be a boon to the towns along the route and as the ramsey biography rather poetically noted the wilderness region of those parts will be turned into fruitful fields and blossom like a rose in 1855 ramsey was elected to the state Senate represent New York's 17th district a Republican Ramsey managed to secure election and the Democratic County largely because of his support for the Albanian susquehanna wine but railroad financing the air was difficult and there was always a challenge by the owners of other lines who did not like competition the line nearly went bankrupt and construction stopped Ramsey stepped in pushing through a bill that authorized the towns that would be served by the line to subscribe to the line stock and issue their own bonds in payment thus the towns could finance the line with their own debt and that way ascertaining whether the people the towns were disposed to aid or not the law passed although there was a legal challenge that was settled in favor of the law by the New York Court of Appeals and became effective in 1857 in response to his action in 1858 Ramsey was elected a director of the Albany and Susquehanna railroad company and chosen by the Board of Directors to be vice-president of the line Ramsey was committed to keeping the line financed to begin seeking state funding to complete the line he managed to secure passage of several bills for financing between 1858 and 1862 in the legislature but they were all vetoed by the governor finally a bill passed in 1863 appropriating five hundred thousand dollars for the road as far as Oneonta and governor Horatio Seymour who had been elected in the fall of 1862 signed the bill the first section of line opened in 1863 and in the same year Ramsey was made president of the company construction however became more expensive as there was a labor shortage and general inflation due to the Civil War perhaps he continued to seek the assistance of the legislature against strong opposition and with varying success the last several miles from Harpers Ville to Binghamton proved particularly difficult as the Train became more challenging one particular obstacle was Belton Hill near the town of Colesville the owners decided that instead of going over the hill they would tunnel under it the tunnels excavation began from both ends in 1864 and the last rail to join the north and south tracks was laid four years later at the end of December 1868 the original tunnel was lined with timber except for the ends which were lined with brick boring at 2260 foot tunnel was not an easy task especially as there was a scarcity of Labor the line had to offer a $10,000 inducement to the Contra factor to speed the work the tunnel was exceptionally long and engineering marvel for its time the road was finally completed between Albuquerque and Binghamton New York distance of 143 miles in 1869 ramsey was excited for the line to start going about normal business a gala excursion train ran from Albany to Binghamton in January celebrating the opening of the line with a banquet a history of the line written in 1967 described its importance declaring the Rip Van Winkle spell had been broken in Susquehanna Valley although the Alberti and Susquehanna line was relatively short in Binghamton it connected to four other lines some of which went down into Pennsylvania coal country and that opened up the lucrative possibility of taking coal from Pennsylvania to eastern New York but that drew the attention of Jay Gould and Jim Fisk Jay Gould was a classic example of a robber baron of the Gilded Age who was a ruthless businessman whose business tactics in the 1860s made him both incredibly wealthy and nationally reviled he became involved in railroad investing during the panic of 1857 described as the first worldwide economic crisis the cause of the panic work complex but a large part of the sudden economic shock was a collapse of railroad stocks which had inflated to the point of being a bubble Gould had in the ensuing panic acquired stock in several railroads for pennies on the dollar James Fisk jr. was another the so-called robber barons often called Diamond Jim or Jubilee Jim while Gould was described as sullen and secretive Fisk was a showman who loved the press this could become wealthy during the civil war on government contracts for cotton shirts and wool blankets supplied to the Union Army although he reportedly provided quality merchandise his methods for securing contracts were suspect some suggesting to the point of using bribery Gould and Fisk could eventually be called the terrors of Wall Street begin the notorious connection in the 1866 268 Erie War the Erie Railroad originally built with public funds had faced financial difficulties in 1850 and Wall Street banker Daniel drew had acquired control over the line drew then grew rich manipulating Erie stock shares in 1866 railroad magnate Cornelius van der to take control of the railroad by silently scooping up stock the Erie war referred to a scheme by drew backed by board members Gould and Fisk to other cut Vanderbilt by issuing dubious shares watering down the railroad stock they fare crassly involved political bribery with Gould and Fisk aligned with New York's Tammany Hall and its infamous William boss tweed whom they made a director of the line in exchange for tweed pushing legislation through the New York legislature legitimizing the dubious shares muckraking journalist Gustavus Meyers described the legislative battle as being a battle of outright bribery with both sides pouring out stacks of money to buy legislative votes at one point Gould was said to have come to Albany personally with a satchel carrying $500,000 which he used to distribute bribes in the end drew Gould and Fisk kept control but paid Vanderbilt back for the worthless shares with which they had built him the Erie line was whether the wines to which the album and Susquehanna connected and having taken control of the Erie Gould and Fisk now set their sights on the a and s line they started acquiring shares in the company Ramsey responded by issuing thousands of shares that were on the company's books to his supporters afraid that Gould and Fisk would try to claim the company by force Ramsey buried the company's books in secret in the Albanese cemetery as a response Gould and Fisk tried to oust Ramsey by going to a judge that controlled on the New York Supreme Court getting him to issue her stranding order this went to a friendly Albany judge seeking his own restraining order the legal fight which was essentially corrupt judges issuing orders in their own financial interests disgusted the editors of the journal Scientific American who described in an article published in 1869 that it only seems necessary to trump up a series of charges with or without basis to obtain an injunction and the appointment of a receiver who forthwith takes possession of announced the holders of the coveted property conflicting orders went up and down telegraph lines to the stations with both sides claiming authority over the line by court order as the dubious legal struggle continued the tactics became more aggressive Gould and Fisk conspired to have Ramsey and other board members falsely arrested they showed up with a group of thugs to the company offices only to be arrested themselves by a policeman who turned out to be a railroad employee in disguise once released from jail Fiske armed with a restraining order signed by the judge he had in his pocket sought to forcefully take control of the line railroad men of the Erie Railroad loyal to Fisk and Gould took off from Binghamton with a locomotive intent on taking control of the line station by station railroad superintendent JW Van Valkenburgh set lines to the stations tell him to gather all available men and defended their stations a group of fist men including some County deputies were surrounded and taken prisoner by NS men in Albany four hundred railroad ans men took off in their own locomotive intent on stopping the Erie train this set up the August 10th 1869 Battle of Belden Hill the two trains met on a long curve just outside the Belden Hill tunnel the impact pushed the Alberti train off the tracks and onto its side and with that crash the battle began armed with all manner of weapons fighting with fists tools axe handles and revolvers men from both trains piled off and a full-scale Donnybrook took place at both sides fought to gain the upper hand at first the Alberti men although outnumbered managed to push back fist men who retreated into the tunnel the ANS men managed to rear ail their train and push through the tunnel another melee exploded at the south end the fight continued mostly inside the tunnel with the two sides pushing back and forth for three days before trips of the 44th New York militia called in by County officials arrived and restored order New York Governor John T Hoffman placed the railroad temporarily under the control of the state despite all the fighting and many injuries including gunshot wounds no one seems to have died in the three-day long brawl Ramsey sought the help of another financier John Pierpont Morgan who had been made a trustee in September at the company's annual meeting Morgan rallied the Ramsey stockholders and was elected vice president and director of the line golden fist declared the voting invalid and elected their own men in a different set of elections the case was finally settled in the New York Supreme Court which ruled in favor of Ramsey Ramsey and Morgan then signed a 90 year lease of the line to the Delaware and Hudson railroad effectively ending the war for the wine in September of 1869 golden fists tried to corn the nation's gold market in a complex scheme to drive up the price of wheat in order to increase traffic on their railways their manipulations caused instability in the gold markets that resulted in a panic that was referred to as Black Friday that caused massive economic disruption in the United States they then avoided any legal consequences for their actions with the help of boss tweed aligned judges in 1870 golden fist betrayed Daniel drew bankrupting him by manipulating Erie stocks but Ghul was then swindled by a confidence man from England who styled himself Lord Gordon Gordon of more than a million dollars in Erie stock in the aftermath Gould lost control of the Erie Railroad and in an attempt to arrest Gordon who had fled to Canada nearly started a war Gould continued his involvement with railroads in the West becoming extraordinarily wealthy on dubious business practices he died of tuberculosis in 1892 Jim Fisk was killed in 1872 shot by a former business associate in a scandal involving an extramarital affair Joseph Ramsay continued to practice law and was involved in many businesses including a stint as president of the Albanian New York railroad Ramsey played a significant role in a move to impeach Judge George Barnard the judge Hood aligned with Gould and Fisk in the fight for the Alban and Susquehanna Barnard was removed from office by the New York State Senate and barred from ever again holding any office under the civil government in New York State Joseph Ramsey passed away in 1894 the so called Battle of Belden Hill or battle of the tunnel was a spectacular example of the railroad wars that occurred all over the nation during a period of such vast economic growth in the United States that it was referred to as the Gilded Age but also a period when the so called robber barons amassed huge sums of wealth using unscrupulous business practices that would then give rise to the progressive era of social activism and political reform that followed I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guys where it's snippets have forgotten history in between ten and fifteen minutes long and if you did enjoy 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 279,497

Keywords: History, the history guy, railroad history, us history, new york, railroad wars, history guy

Id: 3AF_YJRlt1Y

Length: 13min 39sec (819 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 01 2019