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398 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
saw the great advantage of the abandoned route over the other one to
which favor had been shown. At last it was decided by the great powers
of the Lake Store & Michigan Southern Railway that the old northern
division route to Toledo should be rebuilt. Every step of the work has
been anxiously watched ami when it was announced that the track had
been laid over Pipe Creek, and had reached the Bay Bridge, every one
seemed 1o think that the bay city would awaken from the lethargy into
which she had plunged 14 years ago and would now take her rightful
place among the great cities on the great chain of lakes. By the completion
of the northern division Sandusky railroad facilities are verymuch
increased, and when the much talked of Wheeling & Lake Erie
Road is built nothing ought to prevent us becoming a leading port of
export and entry on Lake Eric. .<
"As before stated the last train over the northern division left Port
Clinton 14 years ago. The 12th of March, 1872, will be remembered a
long time to the citizens of Port Clinton and Sandusky as opening a
new historical era. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon a train consisting of
the locomotive Vermillion, and a passenger coach left Port Clinton for
Sandusky. They came through with only a delay of about twenty minutes
at the draw bridge and arrived here shortly after four o'clock.
Mr. A. W. Otis, engineer of the Vermillion informed the reporier that
the track was in splendid condition all the way, and that the new Bay
Bridge is as firm as if it had been built for years. Mr. Otis was the
first engineer to drive a locomotive over the re-constructed bridge and
feels very much elated over the fact. Quite a number caine over from
Port Clinton on the train, among whom we noticed Mr. O. J. True, who
has superintended the rebuilding of the Bay Bridge. The train left
again for Port Clinton about half past five with banners flying."
On November 12, 1891, the first train over the Columbus Short Line
left Sandusky, carrying about 400 Sanduskians in eight passenger coaches
to Bellevue. Among them was W. T. West, who asserted that he was
the only man in the crowd who went to Bellevue on the old Mad River
Road on the first train in 1838. The Mad River Road from Sandusky
to Tiffin through Bellevue was abandoned in 1853. It was again put in
use by the erection of the Columbus Short Line, and was as solid and
firm as when first constructed. The road was absorbed by the Pennsylvania
System October 24, 1902.
The Register of January 11, 1899, notes the destruction of the old
Mad River freight bouse which had stood on the dock at the foot of
Lawrence Street for nearly fifty years. Tt was also used by the Lake
Shore Railroad when it ran trains along Water Street. Here was where
George W. Paine began his railroad career as well as many other men
since prominent in the railroad world. The second floor was used for
general offices of the Mad River Road and when the 0. S. & C. succeeded
the .Mad River and the I. B. & W. followed it was still the office build*
ing. It had been abandoned but a few years before its destruction.
In December, 1892, the new Lake Store depot, was finished.
The Lake Erie & Western Railway Company is now a part of the
New York Central Railroad System.