Cleveland Past and Present: Its Representative Men: Comprising Biographical Sketches of Pioneer Settlers and Prominent Citizens
History
Cleveland Past and Present: Its Representative Men: Comprising Biographical Sketches of Pioneer Settlers and Prominent Citizens
Cleveland (Ohio) -- Biography; Cleveland (Ohio) -- History
In the autumn of 1846, an incident occurred that may be worthy of
notice. On the 14th day of October, when walking in Broadway, New York,
Mr. Stone met the president of the New Haven, Hartford and Springfield
Railroad, who had in his hand a telegram, stating that the bridge across
the Connecticut river at Enfield Falls, one-fourth of a mile long, had
been carried away by a hurricane. The president asked the advice of Mr.
Stone, who stated that the timber for that structure was furnished by
Messrs. Campbell & Moody, of that city, and advised that he order it
duplicated at once. The president, a very faithful officer, but
disinclined to take responsibilities, asked Mr. Stone to take the
responsibility of ordering it. Mr. Stone replied, "Not unless I am
president." The timber was, however, ordered, and at the request of the
president, Mr. Stone went immediately with him to Springfield, where a
committee of the board was called together, and he was asked to propose
terms, and the shortest time upon which his firm would contract to
complete the bridge. He stated that his terms would be high, as the
season was late and would likely be unfavorable before so heavy a work
could be completed, and further suggested that if they chose to appoint
him manager of the work, he would accept and do the best he could for
them. He was immediately appointed sole manager of the work, and the
board placed at his control all the resources of the company. The work
was immediately commenced by bringing to the site men and material, and
it was completed, and a locomotive and train of cars run across it by
Mr. Stone within forty days from the day the order was given for its
erection. The structure consisted of seven spans of seventy-seven feet
each, with two other spans at each end of about fifty feet each. Mr.
Stone has been heard to state that he regarded this as one of the most
important events of his life, and that no one was more astonished than
himself at the result. He was rewarded by complimentary resolutions, and
a check for one thousand dollars by the company.
The following Winter the partnership of Boody, Stone & Co. was dissolved
by mutual consent, and the territory that their contract for the bridge
patent covered was divided, by Mr. Stone taking the States of
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and Mr. Boody the other three
States. A new partnership was then formed between Mr. Stone and Mr.
Harris, which continued until the year 1849.
From the year 1839 to 1850, the residence of Mr. Stone, most of the time,
was in Springfield, Mass., but the numerous contracts in which he was
interested called him into ten different States, He served several years
as a director in the Agawam Bank, was also a director for several years,
and one of the building committee in the Agawam Canal Company, which
erected and run a cotton mill of ten thousand spindles, in the town of
West Springfield.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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