-OF THE-

RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS

With Compliments of

C. C. McCHORD,

UREY WOODSON,

CHAS. B. POYNTZ,

Railroad Commissioners.

FOR THE YEAR 1894.

PROPERTY OF THE STATE OF KENTUCKY.

FRANKFORT, KY.:

PRINTED BY THE CAPITAL PRINTING Co.

RAILROAD COMMISSION.

C. C. McCHORD, Chairman.

UREY WOODSON,

CHAS. B. POYNTZ,

Commissioners.

D. C. HARDIN, Secretary.

REPORT

-OF THE

RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS.

To HON. JOHN YOUNG BROWN, Governor of Kentucky:

We have the honor to submit the Fifteenth Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, containing a resume of the proceedings of the Board for the year 1894, and general information with reference to the railroads of Kentucky.

The year has been one of great business depression, felt more keenly by no other industry than the railroads throughout the United States.

Figures compiled by the Railway Age give the amount of new railway construction for the year now closing at 1,919 miles, which is less than is credited to any previous year since 1875. The record for the four preceding years is as follows: 1890, 5,670 miles; 1891, 4,282 miles; 1892, 4,178 miles; 1893, 2,635 miles. The greatest year of railway construction was 1887, when nearly 13,000 miles of road were built. It is probable that the present year marks the lowest point to which hard times and various disturbances in the business world will depress the work of constructing new lines.

The total length of all the steam railways in the United States is now placed at 179,672 miles, and this is expected to reach 200,000 miles by the end of the century. With the revival of business that is now in progress, there is a good prospect that these expectations will be realized.

There has been no railroad construction of consequence in Kentucky during the year. The Altamont and Manchester Coal Road has extended its line one mile. A coal and lumber road, 12.50 miles in length, has been completed in Bell county by the Cumberland River and Tennessee Railroad Company. The L. and N. has added 2.76 miles of second track to that

portion of its Cincinnati Division, formerly known as the Louisville Railway Transfer, between East Louisville and A street, Louisville. The Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy has built .75 miles of second track. The Kinniconick and Freestone has added .17 miles to its line in Carter county. Several miles of additional sidings have been built by several companies. The Chesapeake and Ohio has erected a splendid new bridge across the Big Sandy, at Catlettsburg.

The Triplett and Big Sandy Road, 4.50 miles in length, has been abandoned.

No trains have been operated over the Breckinridge Company's Coal Road (8.50 miles in length) for more than a year.

The double track mileage of the K. and I. Bridge Company, heretofore reported to the Commission as 3.85 miles, is corrected by the Receiver, who now gives it as 1.89 miles, both tracks having heretofore been measured and counted in the mileage.

The Eastern Kentucky Railroad built a spur track 3.45 miles in length, from Grayson to cannel coal mines, on Stinson creek, but the line was operated only four months, the mines suspending May 1.

The Louisville Terminal Railway is now constructed, and has in operation two and one-half miles of track from First street and Shipp avenue, Louisville, to Highland Park, Jefferson county, and it is now proposed to extend the lines to other parts of Jefferson county to connect with various railways now in operation, and to connect by side tracks with various manufactories. In view of the present conditions and those extensions contemplated, the Southern Railway Company has agreed to receive from the Louisville Terminal Railway all freight matter, in car loads, originating on its own lines, destined for points on the Southern Railway, or other railways connecting with it, or to any manufactory where there is a switch, the charge to be the same as to other like terminal companies. Receiver Harris. having represented this to be a fair agreement between the two companies, the court allowed him to enter into contract to carry out the agreement submitted.

The four great systems that practically control the railroad business in Kentucky remain as last year, save that the Ohio Valley has been severed from the management of the Chesa

peake, Ohio and Southwestern and the Louisville Southern from the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific.

Upon the petition of the holders of a majority of the stock and bonds of the Ohio Valley, a receiver for this line, independent of the receivership of the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern was appointed, and it is now operated as a competitor, rather than as a feeder to the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern, much to its financial advantage.

The Louisville Southern was sold under foreclosure in September last to the Southern Railway for $1,000,000, and is operated as the Southern Railway in Kentucky. The Southern Railway had expected to secure the control of the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railroad about the same time, but was forestalled by the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad Company, leaving it with 124 miles of railroad property in Kentucky remote from their great system in the South. It is not improbable, however, that the Southern Railway may yet gain control of the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific, as the United States Court has ordered the securities of the latter sold as a whole at an early day.

The Kentucky Union Railroad was sold under foreclosure during the summer, and has been re-organized under the name of the Lexington and Eastern Railroad Company.

The Lexington Passenger and Belt Railroad was also sold, passing into the hands of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company.

The Middlesborough Belt Railroad was taken from the management of the Knoxville, Cumberland Gap and Louisville Railroad, and put in the hands of J. H. Bartlett as receiver. It is not improbable, however, that at an early day this property will pass back into the hands of the receiver of the Knoxville, Cumberland Gap and Louisville.

The attempted transfer of the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern, and branches to the Louisville and Nashville has not taken place, the chancery division of the Jefferson Circuit Court having sustained the injunction suit brought by direction of your Excellency, on the ground that such purchase is forbidden by the Constitution of Kentucky, the two being competing lines. This case is now pending in the Court of Appeals.