Archive for the ‘Ogden’ Category
Ogden Street Railways
Street railways came to Ogden in 1883. That’s when the Ogden City Railway was organized to build, own and operate a system of street railroads in the City of Ogden, Utah. Operations began in May 1884, using mules to pull the small street cars. In March 1889, small steam locomotives, known as “dummies,” arrived and took over for some of the mules.
The street car lines in Ogden were electrified in September 1891, almost a year after the effort was first announced. But that announcement came in response to competition.
In August 1890, a company known as the Henderson-Brinker Street Railway asked for a franchise from Ogden City to build and operate an electric railway on the streets of Ogden. Immediately, Ogden City Railway protested before the city council, saying that they were providing day-to-day service with their steam motors and the business was not sufficient for a second company. The council disagreed and approved the second company’s request. Ogden City Railway asked for reconsideration, with numerous supporters and local businessmen in attendance. The council refused to reconsider, and Ogden City Railway sued for an injunction against both the council and the Henderson-Brinker company, and lost.
What followed was “That Electric War” that pitted Ogden City Railway against the city council and the Henderson-Brinker company. With the approval of the franchise, the directors of the Ogden City Railway said that their company was worthless, and turned it over to the trustee and bondholders, Jarvis-Conklin Mortgage Trust Company of New York City. After taking possession, Jarvis-Conklin became very active in the management of the company.
On the night of November 2, 1890, a Sunday, they tried to block the tracklaying crews of the Henderson-Brinker company from crossing the existing company’s tracks at Washington Avenue and Twenty-Fifth Street. The new company immediately sought a local judge, and a restraining order was issued while the court reviewed a claim that Ogden City Railway owed First National Bank for a promissory note in the amount of $5,000. The U. S. Marshal was on hand to serve the order, as well as the mayor, city attorney, and the entire police force, and about 2,000 spectators. It must have been quite the show while the U. S. Marshal saw that the motors and equipment were moved out of the way, and work progressed, after a stipulation that no work be done on the Sabbath. Everyone waited a couple hours until Midnight, and work resumed.
The drama withered away as the Henderson-Brinker crews got to work, laying about three blocks of tracks along Twenty-Fifth Street, to the intersection with Wall Avenue. Ogden City Railway exercised its franchise and built tracks along Twenty-Fourth Street, to block the new company’s access to that street, one block north.
Within ten days, the Henderson-Brinker company began grading for its tracks along Wall Avenue, north to the location of its planned electric power plant, located on the Ogden River. On November 28, 1890, the Ogden Electric Railway was organized to take over the interests of the Henderson-Brinker company, with H. H. Henderson and J. Brinker as two of its officers.
On December 19, 1890, Ogden City Railway was placed in financial receivership, claiming that it was losing $30 to $40 per day, and that it would take $25,000 to bring its equipment up to modern standards, and another $75,000 to convert its railway to electric power. The company was sold at auction for a reported $80,000, the amount of the bond owed to Jarvis-Conklin, and a reorganized company named Ogden City Street Railway was created to get the financing needed to convert to electric power.
The new Ogden City Street Railway was organized on March 6, 1891. In January, work had started installing poles and overhead wires, and continued under the new company. Progress was made along all of the existing street car routes, and the improvements were completed in mid August. The first electric car ran on September 23, 1891, after waiting for the completion of a new power plant to generate electrical power.
What happened to the Henderson-Brinker company, later known as Ogden Electric Railway? Apparently, not much. After the dramatic first days, the company seems to have had difficulty finding financial backers to build its power plant, and to continue with the construction of its car lines. In June 1893, as Ogden City progressed with the paving of Twenty-Fifth Street, the tracks of the Ogden Electric Railway were torn out because the company could not pay to have the space between its tracks paved.
Jarvis-Conklin continued in the daily management of the Ogden City Street Railway, but over the following years, the condition of the tracks and equipment began to deteriorate. In December 1895, the parent company was reorganized to settle its financial difficulties, and the new company, North American Trust Company, continued to show even less interest in Ogden’s street railways.
In April 1900, a new franchise for street railways was issued to a group of Ogden residents that included David Eccles and his associates. On May 16, 1900, the Ogden Rapid Transit Company was organized and took over the defunct Ogden City Street Railway. On March 24, 1904, after all the financial and corporate matters were taken care of, Ogden Rapid Transit formally purchased all of the assets and interests of Ogden City Street Railway.
Ogden Rapid Transit grew rapidly, including taking over the street car line north along Washington Avenue from Ogden to North Ogden, then west through Pleasant View to the resort at Hot Springs. Expansion continued and numerous improvements were made. Ogden Rapid Transit completed an electric interurban railroad from Hot Springs to Brigham City. The same owners and officers had completed a similar street railway system in Cache Valley, known as Logan Rapid Transit. In May 1914, the two companies were merged into the Ogden, Logan & Idaho Railway, serving as a fully developed all-electric railroad that provided rail service to all points between Ogden and Preston, Idaho, north of Logan. In 1918, the Ogden Logan & Idaho Railway changed its name to Utah Idaho Central Railroad, which continued to offer railroad service to the region until it ceased operations on February 16, 1947.
As a background note, this story had its roots in a three-page summary of the Shay locomotives that operated in Utah. Over the past three years, I have been making progress compiling separate web pages for each of the owning companies, giving me a place to show a roster listing for each Shay locomotive. A small Shay locomotive was delivered to Ogden City Railway in July 1890, as part of its overall effort to upgrade its steam-powered street car service. But the sudden distraction of the change to electric-powered street cars forced a change that included an auction to sell the interests of Ogden City Railway in order to reorganize as an all-electric Ogden City Street Railway. The steam-powered Shay locomotive was sold in January 1891 to Ogden resident David Eccles’ Oregon Lumber Company, and was moved to one of that lumber company’s locations in northeast Oregon. Eccles had organized his Oregon Lumber Company in 1889, with a major portion of its business being to furnish railroad ties to Union Pacific and its subsidiary companies as these companies continued their rapid expansion throughout the West.
The Ogden City Railway’s Shay locomotive remained in Oregon from 1891 until 1894, when it returned to Utah, having been sold to Salt Lake & Mercur Railroad as that company’s first locomotive.
