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Notes Editors’Introduction 1. James A. Ward, Railroads and the Character of America, 1820–1887 (Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1986), 14–15. Eds. 2. Sarah H. Gordon, Passage to Union: How the Railroads Transformed American Life, 1829–1929 (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1996), 5–6. Eds. 3. Albro Martin, Railroads Triumphant: The Growth, Rejection, and Rebirth of a Vital American Force (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 15. Eds. 4. Sylvester K. Stevens, Pennsylvania: Birthplace of a Nation (New York: Random House, 1964), 155. Eds. 5. James D. Dilts, The Great Road: The Building of the Baltimore and Ohio, the Nation’s First Railroad, 1828–1853 (Stanford, Cal.: University of Stanford Press, 1993). Eds. 6. John Majewski, A House Divided: Economic Development in Pennsylvania and Virginia before the Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000). Eds. 7. Donald Kent, “Erie War of the Gauges,” Pennsylvania History 15 (Oct 1948): 253–75. Eds. 8. John Reynolds, “One Hundred Years Ago” (Unpublished essay, CCHS, 1869). Eds. 9. The Diary of William Reynolds, 1841, ed. Robert D. Ilisevich (Meadville , Penn.: CCHS, 1981), 16, 19. Eds. Author’sPreface 1. For the sake of clarity and consistency, the A&GW companies will be referred to as Railroad as opposed to Railway companies. Official company reports,documents,and correspondence use the terms interchangeably.Eds. 2. The Branch was the first incarnation of the railway from New York to Ohio through Meadville, Pennsylvania. It was legally justified by the branching rights given to the Pittsburg & Erie Railroad in its charter. Eds. Chapter1 1. Reynolds is referring to the New York & Erie Railroad, which later became the Erie Railroad. For clarity we will refer to the company as the Erie RR. Eds. 2. Father of William Reynolds. In a letter to John Reynolds from Kinsman , Ohio, Dr. D. Allen asked if Meadville leaders would support a railroad through their town from near Jamestown, New York, to Warren and Akron, 239  Ohio. Should they agree, Meadville would have to obtain a charter by a ruse, for Pennsylvania would not grant such a charter to New Yorkers. Allen claimed the plan was being discussed in Ohio and New York. Allen to John Reynolds, Feb. 17, 1851, Reynolds Collection, Allegheny College. Eds. 3. In 1843 a “snake” was used as a rider in Pennsylvania legislation reviving the Pittsburg & Connellsville RR. Eds. 4. The Mahoning Valley RR was represented by Jacob Perkins, President, of Warren , Ohio. The Clinton line by Prof. H. N. Day, President, and Mr. Clark. The Franklin & Warren RR afterwards A&GW, by Judge Kinsmen, Marvin Kent, and Dr. Earle, and Mr. Boyer, of Newton Falls. (These roads were at this time only commenced.) The Cleveland & Ashtabula RR by Judge Humphries, and the Erie & New York City RR by Judge B.Chamberlain of Randolph,New York,D.A.Finney and William Reynolds represented Meadville interests. The Pittsburg & Erie RR was represented by Dr. Wm. Gibson, David Garber, and E. Sankey. 5. George W. Howard of Meadville, Charles Howard, broker at Detroit, and S. Howard. 6. Cash $2,833.33, County bonds, $1,416.66, Stock $4,256. 7. This was the first of forty-three trips to New York City and two trips to Europe which Reynolds cites in his memoir. Considering the inconvenience of travel at that time, this was an incredible expenditure of time, patience, and energy on Reynolds’s part. Eds. 8. Reynolds, Gibson, John A. Waugh and Sankey, Thomas I. Power, chairman ex of- ficio. 9. For the railroads, times were difficult. This period is remembered as the era of Erie’s Railroad War. The road from Ashtabula to Erie had been completed under the covert legislation of the Franklin Canal Company charter, making a line from Buffalo to Cleveland with the six-feet-gauge line of the E&NE RR. The effort of the companies to connect the lines without first going to the harbor, and the attempt to change the gauge of the E&NE RR, led to the riot and destruction. For newspaper coverage, see Crawford Democrat and Crawford Journal Nov.–Dec. 1853. The selfish feeling of preventing railway connection was not limited to Erie, but extended to other places, and found sympathizers in Meadville who used every effort to thwart the railroad project. To counteract this effort, a public meeting was held at the Court House on November 15, 1853. I. Potter, President, Noah Town and W. Keplar, V.P. James Buchanan and Wm. McLaughlin Secretaries. Wm. H. Davis, H. L. Richmond , J. C. Hayes, H...

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