`History' Trails R:El County Notorical Society

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`History' Trails r:El County Notorical Society

Agriculture Building 9811 Van Buren Lane Cockeysville, Md. 21030

ISSN 0889-6186 Editors: JOHN W. McGRAIN and WILLIAM HOLLIFIELD VOL. 22 AUTUMN 1987 NO. 1 The Presidents in Batt' ore County-2

by John W. McGrain

(13) The future president Millard Filmore was one of the speakers at the Whig convention held at Canton Race 'Rack in this county on May 4, 1840. (Schad History of Maryland, 3:198) As the Sun reported on May 16, 1854, Ex-President Filmore arrived at the Baltimore Exchange with John Pendleton Kennedy and Mayor Swarm "amidst deafening cheers." The Mayor welcomed him; after that the former president returned to the city residence of Mr. Kennedy. Filmore left from President Street Station by special car over the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Rail- Camden Station figured in Lincoln's night journey to inauguration and road for Philadelphia, turning down an offer from President on his trip to Gettysburg. His remains arrived there on a funeral train, Pierce to put up at the White House. April 21, 1865. (14) President Franklin Pierce arrived at Camden Station from Washington enroute to New York and "mounted a splendid sleeping car over Pratt Street string tracks by horse power. The car horse," riding through a crowd of 100,000, accompanied by was transferred to the B. & 0. rails at Camden Station, and went General Jefferson Davis and other cabinet officers. At Barnum's on to Washington. (MHM, 45:8) City Hotel he gave a speech praising Baltimore's role in the War of The trip to Gettysburg on November 18, 1863, involved 1812. The following morning he took the Philadelphia, three rail links. The president's party, including his two future Wilmington and Baltimore train northward. (Sun, July 12, 1853) biographers Nicolay and Hay, arrived via B. & 0. at Camden Mr. Pierce visited the Agricultural Exhibition and Cattle Show, Station at 1:20 p.m., the train commanded by Conductor Show- unannounced, on October 27 the same year, arriving in a coach acre. When passing over the Thomas Viaduct into Baltimore with his friend Joshua Vansant, president of the Maryland In- County, Lincoln remarked that he had seen full rigged ships in the stitute. The nation's president watched the plowing match for Patapsco below the Relay House on his trip to join the Congress in about an hour before slipping away. (Sun, October 28, 1853) 1847. (Sandburg, The War Years, 2:462) The four cars were (15) President-elect James Buchanan passed through the city pulled over tracks in Howard Street by horse power to Bolton almost unnoticed on his way to inauguration. (Sun, February 4, Station, where a Northern Central locomotive was attached at 1857) On May 16, 1859, there was an "Official Visit of the 2:00 p.m. At Hanover Junction in York County, Pennsylvania, the President and Cabinet" for the inspection of proposed sites for train switched to the Hanover Junction and Gettysburg Railroad, the new United States Court House. President Buchanan had left arriving in the latter place after dark. The cemetery was dedicated Washington on the 6:50 a.m. train "in charge of Conductor on the 19th and the Lincoln party left for home at 8:30 p.m. that Hoover and arrived at Camden Station in this city at 8:35." The evening, arriving in Washington near midnight. (Baltimore Ga- party put up at Barnum's Hotel, visited the custom house and post zett November 19, 21, 1863; Sun, October 11, 1952) office, then left Camden Station on the 5:30 p.m. train. (Sun, May Mt Lincoln came to Baltimore on April 18, 1864, to open the 17, 1859) Maryland State Fair for the Benefit of the Sanitary and Christian (16) President-elect Abraham Lincoln on his way to inaugu- Commission held in the Maryland Institute buildings on Market ration took the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, Place. At the fair, Mr. Lincoln said, "It is not fitting for a president the present Amtrak, which still involved a ferry crossing of the to make a speech of great length." That night, he stayed at the Susquehanna, arriving via Canton at President Street Station on house of William J. Albert at 702 Cathedral Street, a structure still the night of February 22-23, 1861. Mr. Lincoln traveled in his standing. (Sun, April 19, 20, 21, 1864) PAGE 2 HISTORY TRAILS AUTUMN 1987

Following his murder, Mr. Lincoln's remains lay in state for one hour under the dome of the Baltimore Exchange, the coffin opened, April 21, 1865. His funeral train had traveled from Wash- ington via the B. & 0. and Camden Station. The coffin was con- veyed to the exchange in a hearse owned by Elisha Cox of East Baltimore; Cox drove the four black horses. The last leg of the journey was up Calvert Street by hearse to the Northern Central's Calvert Station. The railway cars had in the meanwhile been brought through the streets by horse power and were coupled to a Northern Central locomotive. At about 3 p.m., the train proceeded past the Calvert Station Freight Depot that had been opened only two days before—the present Downtown Athletic Club—and ground slowly through northern Baltimore County, where crowds of people turned out at Lutherville, Phoenix, and Monkton. By evening the body lay in state at the capitol building in Harrisburg. (New York Times, Baltimore Daily Gazette, April 22, 1865) (17) President Andrew Johnson was welcomed to Baltimore on September 15, 1866. The same year, on November 20, he laid the cornerstone of the Baltimore Masonic Temple. (American, September 17, 1866; Scharf Chronicles of Baltimore, p. 666) President Street Station, now a woeful shell, was the point of arrival for (18) President Ulysses S. Grant attended the commencement President-elect Lincoln in February 1861 on his way to take up the grim of the Notre Dame Institute on North Charles Street in Govans, duties of office. then in the county, and conferred diplomas, crowns, and medals. The president's niece, Bessie Sharp, was a student of this academy. Jersey, for the trip to Washington, September 21, 1881, passing Grant had dinner with Archbishop James Roosevelt Bailey, Gover- through Union Depot, Baltimore, at 3:28 p.m. (American, Septem- nor John Lee Carroll, Mayor Latrobe, and many others. (Maryland ber 22, 1881) Journal June 17, 1876) That autumn, the President and other (22 & 24) Grover Cleveland is reported to have gone gun- notables visited Montibello, the residence of John Work Garrett ning at Bowleys Quarters on Middle River as guest of the ducking on the Hillen Road. "The day was spent in examining the fine club, which we are unable to document. In his first term, the stock on Mr G's estate, and making a visit to the country seat of American of January 25, 1887, reported, "A Grand Ball Given for the late Johns Hopkins." The Hopkins home, Clifton, still stands Charity's Sake, Society Happy, Opened by the President and His and houses the pro-shop at Clifton Park Golf Course. (Baltimore Lovely Wife." The ball had taken place on the 24th at the Academy County Union, October 30, 1876) of Music on Howard Street. The presidential party, including (19) Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, then president-elect, left Secretary of War Endicott, arrived at Camden Station at 9:25 p.m. Columbus, Ohio, by train, arriving at Harrisburg, where the by special train. The private rail coaches were named Baltimore Pullman cars were attached to Engine No. 91 for the 91-mile trip and Delaware. over the Northern Central. The trip took 2 hours and 26 minutes. As an Ex-president, Cleveland boarded another railroad pres- The last leg to Washington was by Engine No. 12 of the Baltimore ident's private Pullman car at Princeton Junction and traveled to and Potomac Railroad from Union Depot, Baltimore. After com- Washington via the Pennsylvania Railroad for the lying-in-state of pletion of the Wilson Street tunnel in 1873, it was possible for President McKinley. (American, September 18, 1901) both train and locomotive to transit Baltimore via Union Station. (23) President Benjamin Harrison and his party passed (American, March 3, 1877) through Union Station via the Pennsylvania Railroad on August 13, (20) A special train took President James A. Garfield from 1889, on their way to Woodstock, Connecticut. (Catonsville Washington to Elberton, Long Branch, New Jersey, to recuperate Argus, August 17, 1889) President Harrison also visited the from the assassin's bullet. The train passed through Baltimore at Bowleys Quarters Ducking Shore at least twice and was pho- 8:02 and changed locomotives at 8:10 in Bay View yards. (Ameri- tographed with a handsome lot of fowl. (Baltimore County Dem- can, September 7, 1881) Following the President's death, a fu- ocrat, November 16, 1889; November 21, 1891; Frank Leslie's neral train from Long Branch left on September 21, passing Bay Illustrated Weekly, April 8, 1891) View yards at 3:16 and Union Depot, Baltimore, at 3:28. (Ameri- (25) President William McKinley passed through Union Sta- can, September 22) After memorial services in the Capitol, the tion after his "stumping tour" on October 26, 1899, remaining in train left Washington at 5:16 p.m., September 23, passing through the station eight minutes "until a fresh locomotive could be Fulton Station and Union Depot, Baltimore, thence on to Har- supplied to the train. The locomotive subsequently gave out in risburg and Cleveland. (American, September 24) the tunnel, and the train backed out until an additional loco- (21) General Arthur, as the papers still called the new Presi- motive was added. Then it sped on to Washington." (Maryland dent Chester A. Arthur accompanied by General and Ex-President Journal, October 28, 1899) McKinley visited Baltimore at least Grant, boarded the Garfield funeral train at Long Branch, New once, traveling by special train on the Pennsylvania Railroad to AUTUMN 1987 HISTORY TRAILS PAGE 3 reach the city mansion of his former postmaster general, James A. Gary, at 1200 Linden Avenue. (Sun, November 26, 1900) The special train from Buffalo, New York, bearing the body of the third assassinated president, as well as the new president, Theodore Roosevelt, traveled via Harrisburg to Baltimore's Union Station, arriving there at 7:30 p.m. on the way to Washington, September 16, 1901. Following the services, the train, still accompanied by President Roosevelt, left Washington for Canton, Ohio, September 17, passing through Baltimore's Union Station at 9:28 p.m. (American, September 18, 1901) "Monday evening, a num- ber of citizens of Towson and vicinity went to Sherwood, North- ern Central Railway, to see the funeral train bearing the body of President McKinley from Buffalo to Washington, D.C. The casket was on a raised bier covered with an American flag, in full view of the many thousands who gathered along the lines of route to view the funeral train." (Maryland Journal, September 21, 1901) (26) Theodore Roosevelt had witnessed the funeral proces- Clifton, the Baltimore County home of Johns Hopkins, was a stop on sion of Lincoln through the streets of New York and was acciden- President Grant's 1876 tour. tally photographed in a panoramic view As governor of New York, he arrived from Westminster at Arlington Station on the Western presidency Wilson attended the marriage of Francis H. McAdoo to Maryland Railroad on October 26, 1899, following a stumping Ethel McCormack at Brooklandwood, arriving at Brooklandville tour for Governor Lloyd Lowndes. Roosevelt proceeded by car- Station on the Valley Branch by special train. (Dawn E Thomas, riage to Dickeyville, where he addressed the mill workers. He The Green Spring Valley, p. 228) Mr. Wilson drafted the League of proceeded by carriage to Tanglewood, the home of Wesley M. Nations proposal while staying at the Theodore Marburg house at Oler, accompanied by boys on horseback who called themselves 14 West Mount Vernon Place. (John Dorsey, Mount Vernon Place, "Catonsville Rough Riders." As the Sun reported, "Most of the p. 55) Wilson was the only president to attend schools in Mary- `Rough Riders' seemed to be of Democratic sympathies, for, to the land, earning his Ph.D. at the young Johns Hopkins between 1883 great amusement of Governor Roosevelt, they cheered John Wal- and 1886; Hopkins was then downtown and Wilson boarded at ter Smith more than they did Governor Lowndes." Roosevelt No. 8 McCulloh Street (old style numbers); renumbered as 909 rested up at Tanglewood, moved on to the home of U.S. District McCulloh Street in 1887, the house fell to urban renewal. Attorney John C. Rose on Prospect Avenue, took a nap and had (29) President Warren G. Harding came to Fort McHenry to dinner before heading to the Lyric on a chartered trolley car for dedicate the statue of Orpheus that supposedly honored Francis another rally. (Sun, October 27, Argus October 28, 1899) Scott Key, June 14, 1922, which was of course Flag Day. "The party Within less than two years, as mentioned above, Roosevelt came in four automobiles . . . carrying the President and Mrs. would take over for the slain McKinley, accompanying the funeral Harding, Secretary George B. Christian, Jr, the Secret Service train to Washington on September 16, 1901. Men, Major Blunt and other army, marine, and naval officers." The As ex-president, he accompanied the serving president motorcade came via Laurel and the Washington Boulevard. The William Howard Taft to Cardinal Gibbons's jubilee celebration at President's speech was sent to Druid Hill Park by radio and the Fifth Regiment Armory June 6, 1911. Toward the end of his amplified; at first indistinct, it later came in clearly. There was a life, T R. was present at Oriole Park, York Road, Waverly, for a reception at the home of Senator Joseph I. France, 15 West Mount Liberty Loan drive, September 28, 1918. That night he dined with Vernon Place. (Sun, June 15, 1922) When Harding died in 1923 a crowd of 600 at the Lyric. (Sun, September 29, 1918) on his trip to Alaska, he was brought back on a transcontinental (27) William Howard Taft came to Baltimore to address 400 funeral train; the map in the Sun of August 6 shows that Baltimore members of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association on was by-passed. After services in Washington, the funeral train February 9, 1913. (Sun, February 10) At the time of his death, the returning Harding's remains to Ohio pulled into Union Station, Sun of March 9, 1930, had the headline, "Baltimore is Rich in Taft Baltimore, at 7:17 p.m., stopping 15 minutes. The dimly lit funeral Memories." The former President and former Chief Justice had car passed over flower-strewn rails through Ruxton. "Approx- visited the Theodore Marburg home at 14 West Mount Vernon imately 500 persons were at the station at Riderwood when the Place and had been to the June 15, 1929, graduation at Bryn Mawr train passed at 7:50. 0. R. Thomas, a florist had covered the tracks School. He had also visited Johns Hopkins University on February with flowers for a distance of 150 yards. Five hundred persons 22, 1917. In the spring of 1918 he had visited Westminster for a were gathered at the station at Texas when the train passed at 8 Red Cross campaign and stayed at the Shriver house at Union p.m. White Hall was reached at 8:20 and Parkton at 8:24. This Mills. Taft was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, thus there station is only six miles from the Pennsylvania State line. Here, was no funeral train. where 300 persons stood reverently, the train was speeded up to (28) Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey spoke in the 45 miles per hour" (Sun, August 9, 1923) court room at Towson on April 29, 1912, the year he was elected President. (Baltimore County Union, May 4, 1912) During his (To be continued) PAGE 4 HISTORY TRAILS AUTUMN 1987 Ore Washing in Soldiers Delight

by Wilson Herrera

Our good friend and past president of the BCHS , Wilson Herrera, died in October. Wilson was a great raconteur but not someone who would put words on paper. Almost the only Herrera historical sketch to be found is the following interview with the 88-year-old Resin H. Triplett in1972.(The matter inparentheses was insertedbyMr.Herrera.)

"George Randall was an ore washer and old man Schemm. John Randall and his son John worked in the branch whenever it was being worked. But the Tripletts were the chief ones. Uncle Ore washing near the Choate Mine on Deer Park Road about 1900. Billy Triplett, he was blind and the skinniest, but he could upend a (Supplied by Jesse Choate Phillips of Harrisburg.) barrel of ore. (At another period, Mr. Joe Allen and Black Laura other sand and gravel washed on. Extra stops were put in as the Dorsey are credited as able to upend a barrel of ore.) The Tysons ore accumulated. We washed the ore three times. The best had an order and wanted Uncle Horace and Pap (Mr. Albert Triplett) to get it out. They had a contract with Tyson. washed ore was called 'heads,' the next grade was called 'mid- dlings,' and the remains was called `tailings.' "If you struck a good streak in the branch, it made money. Clarence and Will and I (three sons of Albert Triplett) worked at "When it was going strong, they worked the buddle all year 15 of 16 and made $5 or $6 a day. (Farm workers were making 50 long, except when it was frozen over. In the early days, when the cents to $1 a day.) operation first started, it had been almost pure chrome ore. Later, "There were several buddies. One was just beyond Uncle when Pap took over, they only worked it in the summertime. My, Horace's place—on Goslin's Pleasant Pastures (probably Gos- but it was nice then, standing in the water in hot weather, just as nell's); it was the prettiest little place; a little grove of box oaks, nice and cool. . . . and the grass was so green. There used to be a picture of Pap "Uncle Arnold Gries did all the hauling from Triplett's buddle. washing ore and Ed putting the stops in (an inch-square piece of Uncle Arnold had no wagon, so he went to Sykesville with old wood, 11 inches long, to catch the chrome ore as it came down Prince and the buggy to get a wagon. He went to Hen Bennett's the sluice). Uncle Horace made the buddle; he was a good car- implement place and made a deal. It was a Acme wagon. I'll never penter. He and Pap were in partners. forget the name The Acme was a prominent make of wagon for "There were three other buddies. One was about 300 yards years and years. It was a small wagon; he could only haul two northeast of the chrome mill, below the dam. One was on the barrels at a time. He would haul it to Owings Mills. And when Gore place, and one was between the Choate Mine and Persim- there was enough for a carload, they would all go over to push the mon Lodge (a Sherwood lodge near Sherwood and Dolfield heavy barrels up skids into the box cars. The worst was, the Roads). railroad was high there; it was hard. You could eat your supper "The mill wasn't still running; the shingle roof was down, after a day of that." lying on the wall when I was a boy about 10 years old (c. 1895). NOTE: The trough of a typical buddle was about 12 inches Pap's father was Eli, and it was his father, old Eli Triplett, the first wide, 12 inches deep, and 12 feet long with a wooden floor settler of the Triplett's in these parts. He was in charge of the mill along each side. The slant of the buddle produced a 1- to 1.5- The old pay office was still standing in 1895; it must have disap- inch drop over its length; loose blocks of wood (stops) were used peared about 1897. It was board and batten—nice white pine to control the flow of water from the dam. A cross-sectional lumber. It was on the south side of the lane down to the mill about drawing of a buddle appears in the Maryland Geological Survey 150 feet or so from the mill—only a small room with a door and a report of 1928, Volume 12, page 166 In the photo showing men window. It was about 10 feet by 12 feet or 14 feet. and horse teams along a stream bank, the trough of the buddle "The boarding house was just across from Alvey Triplett's appears on the right. By 1928, it was no longer possible to hire house—it was only a little house, hardly see how it could have men to endure the wet and strenuous work for a contracted been a boarding house. I helped to lay out a dead man there... . price of $25 a ton. —John W McGrain "When the mill was running, they kept two men to cut wood to fire the boiler; the mill ran by steam, not water power. The ore was ground up and went out in a trough. The dam took the place The patrons of Powhatan School—in fact all the residents of of a buddle to get rid of the tailings from the rock ore—that was the village and surrounding country—held an indignation meet- different from the sand ore in the streams You know, it seems like ing on Friday night, 6th inst., to denounce the action of the School it was some kind of rotary buddle made of stone cut over in Board, or its president, in refusing to supply the school with England, if I remember what they said. books, & c. The proceedings of this meeting will be published in "You stood in the buddle and shoveled the sand into the huddle our issue of next week. and the chrome ore was heavy and settled to the bottom, and the —Baltimore County Union, October 7, 1876