My story (1913) (14780080951) - Public domain book illustration

Identifier: mystoryjohnson00johnuoft (find matches)

Title: My story

Year: 1913 (1910s)

Authors: Johnson, Tom Loftin, 1854-1911 Hauser, Elizabeth J

Subjects: Cleveland (Ohio) Ohio -- Politics and government

Publisher: New York, B.W. Huebsch

Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto

Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

Text Appearing Before Image:

and were based on grants already in existence which I purchased from people who did not know their real value. This city looked like a good field to me for it then had eight street railroads operated by different companies and owned by bankers, politicians, business and professional men who had been successful in various undertakings, but without a street railroad man in the entire list. I thought my knowledge would give me some advantage there. Cleveland is built on two plateaus some fifty or sixty feet above the level of Lake Erie. Each of these plateaus runs down a sheer bluff into a valley through which the Cuyahoga river flows. The river is less than 200 feet wide, but bridges three quarters of a mile long are required to span the valley and bring the plateaus onto a level. Before these plateaus, known as the West Side and East Side, were connected by a viaduct the Simms-Hanna horse-cars traveled down the steep hill on the westside, across a short river bridge and up the hill on the east side.

Text Appearing After Image:

TOM L, JOHNSON AT TWENTY-SIX Just ten years after my entrance into the business as an office boy I became a bidder for a street railway grant in Cleveland. BUSINESS AND POLITICS 19 The viaduct was completed by the time I got possession of the Pearl street line. At this time all the car lines, except the Pearl street, which had its terminal on the west side, ran to the center of the city only. It cost two fares to go from one side of town to the other, passengers going east or west being obliged to change at the public square since there were no through lines. A very short ride, if it necessitated using two lines, cost ten cents also, while the authorized fare for the entire system (covering the city and extending half a mile beyond the city limits) was sixteen cents. Cleveland was not unlike other cities in this respect. Most of them had several private companies and the people who were obliged to use the various lines had to pay several fares. One of my early street railway discoveries was that

1913 books my story 1911 tom l johnson book illustrations street railways trams transportation industrial history tram transportation tram car railroad industry railroads horse politicians politics and government images from internet archive canada

1913

University of Toronto

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public domain