Trolley Plunges at Jethro Trestle

Saturday, December 8, 1906

Trolley which serviced Rock Springs Park along the East Liverpool Traction & Light Company line plunges over a twenty-five foot embankment at the Jethro Trestle in East Liverpool. See an image and read more at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/08/jethro-trestle.html.

Traction Company Merger Unites Steubenville and Beaver

Friday, June 8, 1906

On this day in Rock Springs Park History, a big traction company merger united Steubenville and Beaver and included 12 miles of East Liverpool Traction & Light of East Liverpool, as well as the line across the Chester Bridge to the Rock Springs.

Read related articles at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/07/trolley-merger.html and http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/07/park-electric-line-part-of-1906-merger.html.

Rock Springs Coal Mine

Rock Springs Park owner, C.A. Smith, also operated a coal mine along the west bank of Beaver Creek near Island Run (downstream from Grimm's Bridge in image). The mine supplied coal to generate electricity for the streetcars, the city of East Liverpool, and the park. It was at the end of a 3-mile off-shoot or spur of The East Liverpool Traction & Light trolley line at the Pennsylvania and Ohio border northeast of Chester. It was common practice at this time for trolley generating plants to supply streetlights and homes with electricity before city power plants were built.

Coal was extracted from the hillside mine in large buckets hoisted from the depths of the earth and carried along a 1500 foot cable to the tipple. Images of the mine and tipple can be viewed at http://www.eastliverpoolhistoricalsociety.org/trolley5.htm. According to this website, “The so-called Island Run electric line was used until 1917 when C.A. Smith found that he could purchase cheaper power downriver.”
Fact from the site http://www.trolleystop.com/trolleycar.htm: Many trolley companies built and operated amusement parks along their lines, as a way of generating extra revenue, during the warm weather months. Before automobiles became available to the general public, many people would ride the trolleys, out to the company owned amusement park, to relax and enjoy their free time. So, the trolley companies not only made money, from the fares people paid to ride the trolleys to the amusement park, but they also made money, charging admission to the park, and selling tickets for the various rides in the park.

Trolley Line to Rock Springs Park

The trolley line which connected East Liverpool to Rock Springs Park was only a small section of a much larger interurban system that eventually connected Pittsburgh, PA. and Wheeling, W.V.
By 1909, The Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers Journal reported, "There has been construction during the past two years, along the northerly and westerly banks of the Ohio River, between Vanport, Pa., and Steubenville, Ohio, about 40 miles of double-track, standard-gauge, electric railroad, which affords this busy, thriving, industrial section a high-grade interurban road."

By the end of the following year, completion of a short piece of track near Sewickly meant that the line, made up of several independent systems would "make possible through travel by trolley between Pittsburg [sic] and Wheeling." The report emphasizes that the line "precludes the construction of a future competing line." Anyone who has lived in the area or traveled it, even in modern times, will understand this notion. There is very little flatland between the river and the hills of the Ohio Valley along this stretch.

The railways described were made up of three constituent companies: The Steubenville and East Liverpool Railway and Light Company, The Ohio River Passenger Railway Company, and The Beaver Valley Traction Company.

As the map illustrates C.A. Smith's East Liverpool Traction & Light Company was only a small part of the overall railway lines. It is this trolley system which took excursionists to Rock Springs Park and therefore the one I will focus on in this blog post.

The East Liverpool Traction & Light Company - This company serves the East Liverpool district, which extends eastward as far as the State line between Ohio and Pennsylvania, and southward to the southerly limits of Wellsville, and includes the street railway system in East Liverpool, a branch line across the river to Chester, W. Va., and a 3-mile spur track to the company’s coal mine up Island Run. It also furnishes light and power for commercial purposes in East Liverpool, Chester, and Wellsville. The initial move in improving and increasing the transportation facilities demanded by this territory was made by this company. The road was originally a single-track line, lying wholly in the highways and streets, and had several dangerous steam railroad crossings at grade. In the reconstruction of that portion of the system which forms a part of the through main line, provision was made for a double track, which has been laid partly in new location, and as far as practicable on private right of way, improving the grade and alignment, and eliminating the grade crossings.

The major portion of this property was reconstructed during 1905 and 1906, thus preceding the construction of the stretches of road southward to Toronto and Steubenville, and northward from East Liverpool to Vanport, which has resulted in the continuous line of about 40 1/2 miles of double-track road described herein.

Additional information and images go to http://www.eastliverpoolhistoricalsociety.org/trolley5.htm

Good for What Ails You

In an age in which one can jump into an automobile and travel wherever one wishes after work, it’s hard to imagine a life completely dependent upon public transportation for any trip out of town. In the summer of 1904, C.A. Smith’s East Liverpool Traction and Light Company offered, for the first time, evening trolley excursions during the workweek to Rock Springs Park so that townspeople in the Beaver Valley area could enjoy “the cool, life-giving, ozone-laden breezes from the pine-clad mountains of West Virginia.” Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

The Daily Tribune, Beaver Falls, PA – June 20, 1904

A Popular Move

Rock Springs Special from Beaver Valley Will Be Popular – Low Rates

The Rock Springs Special, to be run from the Beaver Valley to East Liverpool, over the Pennsylvania lines, on Tuesday evening, June 21, promises to be one of the most popular innovations ever attempted in the excursion line in this section. An opportunity of spending an evening at beautiful Rock Springs Park has never before been granted the people of the valley at so low a cost. In fact, the rate is so low that any young man can take his best girl on this trip cheaper than he can take her to the opera.

The schedule of the special has been so arranged that the entire evening may be spent at the park and yet no time need be lost from work or employment. This is expected to prove one of the most attractive features of this excursion, as many people would spend an evening in the woods if they could do so without loss of time from their work.

Rock Springs Park has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful and popular picnic grounds and summer resorts in the part of this United States, and it is visited annually by hundreds of thousands of people. Some twenty different forms of amusement may be enjoyed by visitors. Among these are dancing, bowling, boating, tennis and all kinds of outdoor sports. Large and costly roller coasters and merry-go-rounds furnish amusements for the young people.
But to the majority of people the most attractive feature is the cool, life-giving, ozone-laden breezes from the pine-clad mountains of West Virginia. An evening's outing in such an atmosphere will repair the ravages of weeks spent amid the dust, dirt and smoke of the towns.

The special will leave Beaver Falls at 6:45; New Brighton, 6:52; Rochester, 7:00; Beaver, 7:10, Eastern time. Returning the special leaves East Liverpool at 11:30 and arrives Beaver Falls at 12:30, Eastern time. The fare is fifty cents for the round trip.



This postcard picture shows that the dirt and smoke of the city soon encroached on Rock Spring’s “ozone-laden breezes.”

1904 marks the beginning of the automobile craze in the United States, including the introduction of Ford’s first car, the Model B.