Beginnings
After grappling with financial difficulties for many years, the company opened service between Bridge Street in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Cedar Springs, Michigan on December 25, 1867, a distance of about 20 miles (32 km).
The gross earnings of the railroad in 1867 were about $22,700. In July 1868 it had 2 engines in service: the Pioneer and the Muskegon. At that time the company also utilized a single passenger coach and single baggage car, six box cars, 24 flat cars and five hand cars.
By 1869 the railroad was again in trouble with its creditors, and the courts appointed a receiver, Jesse L. Williams of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to control the company. Under Williams' direction the Continental Improvement Company was hired on May 1, 1869 to complete the line between Fort Wayne and Little Traverse Bay in Michigan. Fifty-one days later, on June 21, 1869, the Continental Improvement Company had laid the last rail connecting Cedar Springs to Morley, Michigan. Williams was discharged as receiver on June 20, 1871.
Read more about this topic: Grand Rapids And Indiana Railroad
Famous quotes containing the word beginnings:
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“When the beginnings of self-destruction enter the heart it seems no bigger than a grain of sand.”
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—Neil Kurshan (20th century)