Transportation Facilities

The English made much more of Detroit than their predecessors had done. Under the French it was chiefly a military post for the region immediately around it; and as there were other French establishments north and west, the goods for the Indian trade and the army were divided among them. Transportation from Montreal to Detroit, in 1702, was at the rate of $300 for one hundredweight. Under English rule Detroit was the extreme western post, became the center of all operations in the West, and enormous quantities of goods were gathered here. This resulted in supplementing the birch-bark canoes with numerous vessels, all of which were owned by His Majesty. Even the goods of private traders were transported in the king's ships, and in 1780 the rate from Niagara to Detroit was £1 per barrel. The same vessels were used until 1796, when some of them were transferred to private parties, and with other craft they continued to have almost a monopoly of the business of transporting goods from the East. In 1815 the price of freight from Buffalo to Detroit was $5.00 per barrel. The only competitors of the sailing vessels were the pack-horses, which were much used, especially in conveying government stores. The Detroit Gazette for December 26, 1817, says: " This week a number of pack-horses, laden with shoes for the troops at Green Bay, started on an expedition through the wilderness for that post." In 1818 steamboats made their appearance, and on February 27 Charles Smith, of Albany, New York, gave notice in the Gazette that he had completed arrangements for the transportation of merchandise from the East to the upper lakes, and guaranteed that the cost of transporting packages of ordinary size from New York to Detroit should in no case exceed $4.50 per hundredweight.

The completion of the Erie Canal to Buffalo in 1825 was a notable event in the progress of transportation facilities, and freights were greatly reduced as soon as it was opened. The Detroit Gazette for December 5 says: "We can now go from Detroit to New York in five and a half days. Before the war it took at least two months or more." The opening of the Welland Canal in the fall of 1831 was also of great advantage.

During this period the scarcity of roads of any kind in Michigan, and the condition of those that did exist, made all transportation to or from the interior exceedingly difficult and expensive. In order in part to obviate the difficulty, in August, 1833, a subscription was raised in Ypsilanti, and a flat-bottomed boat, the Experiment, was built to navigate the Huron River. The following, from the Detroit Journal and Advertiser of May 21, 1834, tells of the progress of this experiment, and of the hopes it raised:

NAVIGATION FROM DETROIT TO YPSILANTI.

Last week a boat arrived in this place from Ypsilanti with a load of flour consisting of one hundred and twenty-five barrels, the entire distance being performed in thirty-six hours. This is an experiment which merits notice and encouragement. The flour was brought here at an expense of about thirty-eight cents per barrel, the usual price by land being from sixty-three to seventy-five cents. After the slight impediments to the navigation are removed, the transportation will be greatly reduced, and it is ascertained by competent and well judging individuals that by expending a trifling sum of money, the Huron River may be rendered navigable as far as Ypsilanti or Ann Arbor for steamboats of from thirty to forty-five tons. The result of this adventure justifies the expectation that hereafter the produce and importations of a considerable portion of Washtenaw will be transported by water, at a much less expense than the usual tedious and tardy mode of land conveyance.

These expectations were not fulfilled, as there was not enough business to make the project remunerative ; after three trips the boat was sold, and finally, with all the bright anticipations that once clustered about it, was stranded on the banks near Dearborn.

The next venture was made by the State, and was much more costly and extensive. The crowds of emigrants' that came by every steamer, the new settlements they built up all over the State, the pressing need thus caused for more easy and rapid transit through the interior, and the rejoicing of all parties over the admission of the State to the Union, caused the Legislature to act like one who, youthful and inexperienced, has suddenly become heir to an immense estate. In the month of March, 1837, was passed, not only the notorious Wildcat Banking Law, but also a law providing for borrowing on the bonds of the State the enormous amount of $5,000,000, to be expended in internal improvements under the direction of seven commissioners. The estimated cost of the improvements undertaken reached the sum of nearly $8,000,000; these included four railroads, three canals, and the improvement of the Grand, Kalamazoo, and St. Joseph Rivers, and appropriations were actually made for the roads and canals, and for two of the rivers. All of the railroads and canals were to be built and operated solely by the State. The roads were named the "Southern," from Monroe to New Buffalo, the "Northern," from Port Huron to Grand Rapids, the "Central," from Detroit to St. Joseph, and the "Havre Branch," from Havre, in Monroe County, to the Ohio State line. Of the canals, the "Clinton and Kalamazoo" was to extend from Mt. Clemens to the mouth of the Kalamazoo on Lake Michigan, the "Saginaw or Northern," from the forks of Bad River to Maple River, and the "St. Mary's" was designed to avoid the rapids in the St. Mary's River. In addition to these, a legion of private railroad and canal companies were incorporated, apparently with the intention of supplying every four corners with both a railroad and a canal. Among the other railroad projects that sprang up in the flush times of 1834 to 1837 was the Shelby and Detroit Railroad Company, designed to run between Detroit and Utica. It was incorporated on March 7, 1834, with a capital of $100,000, and in September, 1839, it was in operation from Utica to within five miles of the Gratiot Road. The cars were drawn by horses, and connecting stages at the end of the rails carried passengers to Detroit. In 1844 the company ceased to operate the road, and on March 18, 1848, the Legislature changed the name to Detroit, Romeo, & Port Huron Railroad ; but the new name did not give it new life, and it is either dead or sleeping. The most of these projects were actually needed about as much as the banks which kept them company. The railroads built by the State are elsewhere described. Upon the canals and river improvements over $3,000,000 were expended, but no one of these public works was brought to completion. The embankments of several of these works look like Indian mounds, and remain to this day as relics of the dead past and departed glory.

Other railroads, both State and private, were gradually pushed to completion, and communication with the West established. The completion of the New York Central Railroad from Albany to Buffalo, in 1842, and of the New York and Erie from New York City direct to Buffalo, in 1851, very nearly solved the question of rapid transit to and from the East; and the completion of the Great Western from Niagara Falls to Detroit, in 1854, fully met the needs of the public.

In the spring of 1855 trade with the Lake Superior region was greatly facilitated by the opening of the St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal.

At the present time fast freight arrives from Baltimore in from one and one half to two days. The gain in time since 1836 is shown by the fact that on February 15 of that year, G. R. Lillibridge advertised in the Detroit papers, as a remarkable event, that he had for sale oysters which had just arrived," only twenty days from Baltimore."

Nearly all of the freight from the East is now consigned by some one of the freight lines which operate on the various roads. These companies own and lease many thousands of freight-cars, and by contract with the railroad companies have their cars or freight transported at special rates on fast trains. Some one line usually has a monopoly of the main traffic of each road, and the companies, by agreement among themselves and with the railroads, from time to time arrange the rates and classifications of freights.

Railroad Ferry Dock.

The crossing of the river at Detroit has always been a serious inconvenience to the railroad companies, and prior to 1867 the delay involved in the handling and transferring of freight to and from the boats greatly increased the expense of its carriage; railroad ferries were built to crush the ice in winter, but the handling of packages was tedious and expensive work. On January 1, 1867, the Great Western Railroad inaugurated the plan of carrying the cars themselves across the river on boats built for the purpose. The Great Western was the first of these boats. She was built in England, at a cost of $190,000 in gold, was sent over in parts, and put together at Windsor. She carries fourteen freight cars. Of the five other boats since added, the Transit carries ten, the Michigan sixteen, the Transfer eighteen, the Transport twenty-one, and the Trenton eight.

On the docks on both sides of the river are tracks which can be raised or lowered to admit of the cars passing directly from the boats to the railroad. The boats transfer about 15,000 passenger-cars and 400,000 freight-cars yearly. Even these facilities are not fully satisfactory, and early in 1871 the question of tunneling the river began to be publicly agitated, and on May 11, 1871, James F. Joy applied to the Common Council for the use of portions of certain streets for approaches to a proposed tunnel. Some of the citizens protested, but on August I an ordinance was passed which favored the project. On September 14 arrangements were made to break ground for the main shaft of the tunnel in the yard of the D. & M. R. R., opposite St. Antoine Street, near the present Railroad Ferry Slip. On January 31, 1872, the shaft was finished for a distance of one hundred and eight feet below the surface of the river. The depth of the masonry was one hundred and fourteen feet, the upper portion of eighty-nine feet was fifteen feet in diameter, with sixteen-inch walls. The lower twenty-five feet was nine feet in diameter, with twelve-inch walls. The work of excavating the drainage drift or tunnel under the bed of the river was then begun, but in 1873, after digging one hundred and thirty-five feet, the work was discontinued. There was said to be too much sulphur and quicksand to venture further. The question of bridging the river was next agitated. The vessel owners strenuously opposed this measure, and both parties began to marshal their forces. On April 7, 1874, a meeting of residents of various parts of the State was held in Detroit to consider the subject, and resolutions in favor of a bridge were adopted. One week later, on April 15, the vessel owners rallied at Young Men's Hall and passed resolutions favoring a tunnel. After these two meetings interest in the subject seemed to flag.

In the latter part of March, 1879, it was announced that a tunnel was to be built at Grosse Isle, where the Canada Southern crossed the river, and work was begun on April 21. This awakened the business and railroad men of Detroit and their eastern friends, and a project was inaugurated to secure Belle Isle for the city, as a suitable place for the crossing of a bridge and also for a park. A bill was passed on May 31, 1879, providing for its purchase and for permitting the city to unite with the Canadian authorities or any Canadian corporation in building a tunnel on equal terms, and the Council was given power, with consent of the Board of Estimates, to issue bonds for $500,000, for the purpose of building a bridge or tunnel. At the same session of the Legislature provision was made for submitting, at the State election in November, 1880, an amendment to the constitution giving the Legislature power to authorize such action on the part of the city. The amendment was lost by a vote in the State of 37,340 for and 58,040 against the amendment ; the work of tunneling from Grosse Isle was soon after suspended, and the announcement made that the stone through which the tunnel was to be made was unfavorable for the work.

On October 14, 1879, a committee, appointed under the direction of Congress, held sessions in Detroit to hear the various arguments for and against a bridge or tunnel; and on December 8 they reported in favor of a bridge. No public action has since been had on the question.

An elevator (or wheat-house, as it was first called), for the purpose of storing grain, was not much needed until 1851, and in that year the first one was erected by the M. C. R. R. In 1861 E. M. Clark built an elevator at the D. & M. Depot. In the winter of 1879-1880 it was enlarged to double its former capacity, and will now hold 390,000 bushels. In 1864 the M. C. R. R. built a second elevator, and on October 29, 1866, the first one was burned. In 1879 a new one was built, and on September 29 it received its first lot of grain. The capacity of each of these elevators is 550,000 bushels. The elevator built in 1882 by the Union Depot Company will hold 1,200,000 bushels. The elevator of the Grand Trunk R. R., built in 1887, will hold 800,000 bushels.

Two-wheeled drays were introduced about 1830, and up to 1858 the draymen did all the teaming for the business men of the city. In the latter year the Detroit & Milwaukee, and Great Western Railroads, through the agency of Messrs. Hendrie & Company, commenced to collect freight for and deliver from the several roads. This innovation greatly incensed the draymen, and on July 28, 1858, they held an indignation meeting to protest against the practice. Their meeting was of no avail, but the feeling against the roads continued. On February 10, 1860, J. G. Erwin & Company wished to ship a hundred dressed hogs by the G. W. R. R. Forty of the draymen volunteered to take them, and went in procession to the depot, each dray laden with a single hog. As a demonstration it was a great success, but the railroad trucks still continued to run, became increasingly popular, and are now used to deliver most of the freight to or from the railroads.

Messrs. Hendrie & Company, E. Ferguson, the Grand Trunk Railroad, J. & T. Hurley, and the Detroit Truck Company have a capital of probably $75,000 invested in about fifty trucks and horses. There are about four hundred and fifty trucks, drays, and express wagons owned by other parties. The two-horse trucks or drays pay a city license of $6.00, express wagons and drays, $2.00 each. The old two-wheeled drays, once so familiar, have almost entirely given place to four-wheeled wagons, less than half a dozen of the former being now in use.

A Package and Baggage Express Company was established on June 6, 1881, and carried small packages to any part of the city for from five to ten cents each, and also delivered large packages at reasonable rates. In 1881 the company employed five men, with one-horse teams, and from fifteen to twenty boys, who delivered hundreds of packages daily. The business was not sufficiently remunerative, and the organization ceased in 1882.

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