Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois (c) Bill Oliver 23 November 2003 Vol 2 Issue: #42 ISBN: pending Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, In opening, I have an example to last week's question: Are you doing the "write" thing? :) I was reading in a publication about mass transportation systems and as usual my mind wandered — just a tiny bit. Sitting in front of me in my computer room is a picture of my Grandfather and one of his brothers. They were standing outside a streetcar in Cincinnati, Ohio near the turn of the twentieth century in uniform of the Cincinnati ___ Company. Great Uncle Lando controlled the power and Grandpa Charles was the "conductor". Both men were "giants" in their time, standing more than six foot five. In my lifetime, I remember streetcars powered by electricity, but I remember riding in a horse drawn streetcar while visiting a historical site. I also remember the updated version of buses powered by the same electric lines. Then, of course, we developed buses which were independent of electric lines, which produced black fumes. In Lincoln, Nebraska the last electric streetcars ran in 1945; in Omaha 1955; in Chicago, Illinois 1958; and in Toledo, Ohio 1949. Electric streetcars lasted through World War II, mostly due to conservation efforts to the war "efforts". It is not surprising that the first mule or horse drawn streetcars were pulled along on railroad tracks. The names in Toledo, Ohio for the first streetcar companies were the Toledo Consolidated Street Railway, Metropolitan Street Railway Company, and the Central Street Railway Company. In 1890 the horse drawn cars were converted to electric streetcars. In 1866, the Civil War over; slavery abolished; Andrew Johnson President of the United States of America; there were no electric lights, sewers, or running water in our cities. Artesian wells supplied public water. And transportation was by "horse-power" ... horse and buggy, mostly. There were some artificial gas street lights in our cities. Maybe, I should really back up to the beginning of public [mass] transportation in New York City in 1826/7. It was called an "omnibus" and it ran up and down Broadway. Though there had always been carriages to transport people, the omnibus was different in that it traveled a regular or designated route [and charged a nominal fee]. The driver sat atop like a stagecoach driver and when people wanted off they pulled "his leg" or pulled on a cord or leather strap attached to his leg. Then came the great improvement ... streetcars running over steel tracks. Horses and/or mules furnished the power. Because they ran on steel tracks one horse could pull a much larger vehicle. There were drawbacks to animal power however. Horses could only work four hours at a time and mules only two hours. They could be used again after a "proper" rest. Thus, three or four streetcars would require as many as three dozen head of stock to keep them running. When electric streetcars came into use, more than a quarter of a million horses were put on the unemployment list. A hundred and a quarter bushels of grain a day were saved. This had side effects on the economy, for the railroads hauled grain. Forty-five million bushels of grain a year revenue loss. Then there were the layoffs of the workers who cared and cleaned up after [both on and off the street] the livestock. Reportedly, New York was the first city to have streetcars; New Orleans was the second. San Francisco was in there next along with Chicago. Streetcar crews consisted of two members. One man was the driver and rode up front. His job was to drive the horse; control the reigns. He was also responsible for handling the brake. The second crew member was called the conductor. He rode at the rear of the car. He helped passengers on and off the streetcar. When everyone was on board, the conductor would pull a cord which rang a bell which the driver could hear. When the brothers, my Great Uncle, the driver and Grandfather, the conductor, were a team, horses were no longer used in Cincinnati, Ohio. Streetcars were powered by electricity. The first attempts to develop a horseless streetcar was the cable care. Cable cars were hauled slowly by a long cable that moved slowly under a city's streets. A ditch was dug between the rails and a chamber was constructed to house the cable. This chamber was called a "vault". The cable that ran from one end of the line to the other was spliced into a loop. The cable moved constantly and there was a device which could latch onto the cable when the driver wanted to move the car. To round corners, etc, a series of pulleys was used. In San Francisco, these allowed the cars to be pulled up the steep hills. The first large and successful use of electricity to run a streetcar system was built in Richmond, Virginia in 1888. The builder, Frank Sprague, worked for Thomas Edison. With this system, wires were strung overhead. A long pole was used to attach the car to the source of electricity. Electricity was generated by large steam engines. With electricity powering streetcars the name changed to "trolley cars". Streetcars didn't last forever, so Uncle and Grandpa turned to other professions. Uncle furnished security for the building of the Panama Canal and Grandpa operated Cranes. e-la-di-e-das-di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- Other sites worth visiting: http://206.103.49.193/csr/csr.htm http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html