Part 53 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: Yours very truly, H. S. Stevens]
Henry S. Stevens.
To Henry S. Stevens, more than to any other man, are the citizens of Cleveland indebted for their facilities in traveling, cheaply and comfortably, from point to point in the city, and for the remarkable immunity the Forest City has enjoyed from hack driving extortions and brutality, which have so greatly annoyed citizens and strangers in many other cities. To his foresight, enterprise and steady perseverance is Cleveland indebted for its excellent omnibus and public carriage system, and for the introduction of street railroads. Both these improvements were not established without a sharp struggle, in the former case against the determined opposition of the hack drivers who preferred acting for themselves and treating the pa.s.senger as lawful prey, and in the case of street railroads, having to overcome interested opposition, popular indifference or prejudice, and official reluctance to permit innovations.
Mr. Stevens was born in Middles.e.x county, Ma.s.sachusetts, January, 1821.
After spending seven years at school in Salem and Boston, his father's family moved to New Hamps.h.i.+re. He attended school there for two years.
Before he was twenty years of age he developed a desire to visit new scenes and a propensity for observing strange characters and manners, which seems to have strengthened with his years. Our railroad system and ocean steam navigation were then in their infancy, and the first journey he made was almost equivalent to a journey around the globe at the present day. He took pa.s.sage in a packet s.h.i.+p from Boston for the West Indies, visiting Porto Rico, Matanzas and Havana, thence to New Orleans, the interior of Texas and Arkansas, and remained a winter at Alexandria, in western Louisiana. About a year after his return to New Hamps.h.i.+re the family removed to Maryland, where he resided nine years, and finally came to Cleveland in 1849, when this city had less than a fifth of its present population. He was one of the early proprietors of the Weddell House, and upon his retirement from the business, he established the omnibus local transit for pa.s.sengers and baggage at a uniform rate of charge, which system has been generally adopted in the princ.i.p.al cities in the country.
In 1856, in company with two other gentlemen from New York, he explored the southern part of Mexico from the Gulf to the Pacific ocean, with reference to its availability for a railroad and preliminary stage road.
The result was, that two years later he completed an arrangement with the Louisiana Tehuantepec Company to carry out the provisions of their charter. He chartered a vessel at New York and s.h.i.+pped mechanics and other employees, coaches and materials, and in two months thereafter the line commenced moving a distance of one hundred and twelve miles through the forests and over the rolling plains of Southern Mexico.
For nearly a year this continued successfully, and it was owing either to his good fortune or good management, that no accident to pa.s.sengers or property was incurred, and of the large number of his employees from the States, every one returned in good health. The rebellion was then in its incipiency, and the Southern owners of the route decided to suspend operations until their little difficulty was adjusted with the North.
Mr. Stevens, however, is better known as having started the street railroad system here, which has proved so great a convenience to our citizens, and which has enhanced the price of real estate in this city more than any other one cause. He built the Prospect street, Kinsman street and West Side railroads; the first two without aid from capitalists, and in the face of many discouragements. In the Fall of 1865, he went to Rio Janeiro for the purpose of establis.h.i.+ng street railroads in that city. These roads are now in successful operation there. In this journey Mr. Stevens visited many other places in Brazil, including Pernambuco, Bahia, St. Salvador and Para, on the river Amazon. Returning by the way of Europe, he stopped at the Cape de Verde Islands, on the coast of Africa, thence to Lisbon and across Portugal to Madrid. During his sojourn in Spain he visited Granada, the Alhambra, and many cities in the south of Spain. His route home was through Paris, London and Liverpool. Two years later he made an extended tour over Europe, including Russia, Hungary, and other places of the Danube.
Mr. Stevens has served four years in the city council, and for two years was president of that body. During his official term he was noted for regularity and punctuality of attendance, close attention to business, and watchful care of the public interests. As presiding officer he had few equals. Dignified, yet courteous, in manner, and thoroughly impartial, he possessed the respect of all parties in the council, and was always able to so conduct the deliberations as to prevent unseemly outbreaks or undignified discussions. Methodical in the disposition of business, he was able to get through a large amount in a short time, without the appearance of haste.
Mr. Stevens is one of that cla.s.s of travelers of whom there are, unhappily, but few, who not only travel far, but see much, and are able to relate what they saw with such graphic power as to give those who remain at home a pleasure only secondary to visiting the scenes in person. His several wanderings in Mexico and Central America, in South America, Western Europe, and Russia, have all been narrated briefly, or more at length, in letters to the Cleveland Herald, which for felicity of expression and graphic description, have had no superiors in the literature of travel. This is high praise, but those who have read the several series of letters with the well known signature ”H. S. S.” will unqualifiedly support the a.s.sertion. In his journeyings he generally avoided the beaten track of tourists and sought unhackneyed scenes. These were observed with intelligent eyes, the impressions deepened and corrected by close investigation into the historical and contemporary facts connected with the localities, and the result given in language graphic, direct, and at the same time easy and graceful. A collection of these letters would make one of the most delightful volumes of travel sketches in the language.
Theodore R. Scowden.
Theodore R. Scowden, son of Theodore Scowden, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was born June 8, 1815, and was educated at Augusta College, Kentucky.
On leaving college, in 1832, he was apprenticed to the steam engine business at Cincinnati, and continued at this about four years, when he engaged as engineer on a steamer plying between Cincinnati and New Orleans. From the time of commencing engine building, he employed all his spare moments in studying mechanics, hydraulics and civil engineering. He remained in the position of engineer on the river for about eight years, when, in 1844, he turned his attention to the work of designing and planning engines, and so put into practice the knowledge acquired by application for the previous twelve years, and, in fact, for which he more particularly fitted himself while at college. He was then appointed by the city council of Cincinnati, engineer of water works, the primitive works then existing being inadequate to the increased wants of the city.
The water was conveyed in log pipes, and the work before Mr. Scowden was to replace these logs by iron pipes, and to design and erect new works. In about a year from his appointment his plans were perfected and he was ready to commence operation. A great difficulty under which he labored, was, the necessity of keeping up the supply of water all the time, and being at the same time compelled to place the new reservoir and engine house in the exact spot of the old. This made the construction extend through nearly eight years, during which time from forty to fifty miles of iron pipe were laid, and a reservoir of great capacity constructed. This was his first great public work completed, and was a perfect success.
The first low pressure engine ever successfully used in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, was designed by Mr. Scowden and introduced into these works. It was found that the sedimentary matter of the Ohio river cut the valves in the condensing apparatus, and so destroying the vacuum, rendered the working of the engine ineffective. This Mr. Scowden overcame by introducing vulcanized india rubber valves, seated on a grating. Since that time he has designed several low pressure engines for the Mississippi river, which are still working successfully.
In 1851, Mr. Scowden was commissioned by the city of Cincinnati, to make the tour of England and France for the purpose of examining the principles and workings of public docks, drainage, paving and water works. After returning and making his report he resigned his post and came to Cleveland, for the purpose of constructing the water works now in operation in this city. The plan and designs were completed during 1852, and active operations commenced in 1853. The site of these works is said to have presented more engineering difficulties than any other in the country. At the time the tests were made for the foundation of the engine house, the water was nearly knee deep, and four men forced a rod thirty feet long and three-quarters of an inch in diameter twenty-eight feet into the ground. By the aid of five steam engines and pumps he succeeded in excavating to the depth of fourteen feet, and not being able to proceed further, he commenced the foundation. It is well to note the fact here, that the soil was in such a semi-fluid state that it could not be handled with a shovel, and altogether the chances of success for securing a permanent foundation looked, to the public, at least, very dubious. The citizens grew uneasy; they thought it was a waste of public money, but Mr.
Snowden never despaired, though he with his own hand thrust a pole down twelve feet from the bottom of the excavation.
He laid down over the whole area two courses of timber laid cross-wise, leaving a s.p.a.ce of twelve inches between each timber. The first timber was drawn by a rope, and floated to its place. In order to get a bed he scooped a s.p.a.ce of two feet in length at one end, which was filled with gravel. This process was continued through the whole length of the timber.
The second timber was floated to its place, leaving a foot between them, and the same operation was performed throughout the whole foundation.
All the s.p.a.ces between the timbers were filled with broken stone and hydraulic cement; then the cross timbers were laid, filling the spans with the concrete also. It is to be observed that not a single pile was driven in all the foundation.