"Jack" Snyder explains the early B&O railroad prepared by Jim Surkamp Pt. 2 by Jim Surkamp

Joseph P. "Jack" Snyder's new book: Baltimore and Ohio: The Passenger Trains and Services of America's First Common-Carrier Railroad, 1827-1971 [Hardcover]


http://www.amazon.com/Baltimore-Ohio-...

TRANSCRIPT: Scholar Joseph "Jack" Snyder gives an informed overview of the history of the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) railroad up to the Civil War
Another form of transportation, which had been inaugurated by George Washington - the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal - which eventually reached Cumberland about five years after the B&O railroad got there. Throughout most of the 19th century the two forms of transportation were in deep competition until eventually the Baltimore and Ohio railroad won out and took over the Canal. The railroad proved to be an extremely important form of transportation, not just for passengers who were the dominant money maker part of the railroad in the early days, but they were quickly supplanted by the importance of freight transportation. The B&O railroad hauled agricultural produce from inland points to the port of Baltimore, and the wheat being grown in this area in the mid-Atlantic was particularly prized in international commerce in those days. It held up very well in transportation and so it commanded premium prices. And the wealth generated by huge exports of wheat provided a great deal of money for the improvement for the areas that provided the wheat. That was particularly true here in Jefferson County, which is the focus of what we're going to talk about today. In fact many of the fine houses and plantations that were built in this area were a direct result of the wealth pouring in from the transport of wheat during that period, which was a period when a great deal of wheat was being demanded in Europe which was the result of population growth and economic growth. And the passenger side of it was very important too. It enabled people to move quickly between the coast and inland points, and this in itself resulted in tremendous economic growth.




When the B&O railroad reached Wheeling, Virginia in 1852 the transport of commodities had been very expensive. Everything was done by road up to that point, and the cost of transporting a ton of goods of any kind, whether it was agricultural goods or finished products was $100 a ton using wagons and teamsters over the National Road. Well, when the B&O got to Wheeling, Virginia in 1852 the price of shipping a ton of goods or commodities dropped from $100 a ton to five dollars a ton. You can readily imagine the tremendous effect this had on commerce between the Ohio River area and the east coast. And similarly, it was possible then for passengers to travel from Wheeling to Baltimore or Baltimore to Wheeling overnight! In those days an express train left Wheeling, Virginia at about five o'clock in the evening and arrived in Baltimore about nine o'clock the next morning. By 1857, the Baltimore and Ohio was able to offer through-transportation across Ohio and Indiana using connecting railroads in those states, all the way to St. Louis; and commerce really began to pick up. Until that point most of the major transportation routes were based on rivers and roads. And, the railroad was able to offer faster, cheaper, more efficient transport for everybody for both freight and passengers.

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