A Pioneer Railway of the West Part 5

RAIL ROAD STOCK.

"Four shares of Lex. and Ohio R. R. Stock were sold at public auction on Monday last at $101.00 per share, next dividend off being one per cent advance. This is some evidence of the estimation in which this stock is held. The next dividend to be struck 1st January and to which the purchaser will not be ent.i.tled would probably have added about $5.00 per share. We repeat that the citizens of Louisville do not duly appreciate the importance to their city of the completion of the road from thence to Frankfort with as little delay as possible."

And in the same paper is an account of the sad fate of the attractive little Villa:

FIRE.

"The neat little 'Villa,' so tastefully erected by Smith and Rainey and kept for some time past by Mr. Clatterbuck, on the R. R., six miles from Lex., was destroyed by fire on the night of Monday last together with most of the furniture, liquors and a considerable sum of money. This misfortune will be seriously felt not only by Mr. C----, but by the travellers on the R. R., who were always sure of a kind reception and the solace of a cup of hot sparkling coffee at daylight after making the first stop from Lex. The benevolent we are sure will not be appealed to in vain to contribute something towards enabling Mr. Clatterbuck again to commence business. His loss in cash was about $700."

And now I have told you all that I have been able to find concerning this old Lexington and Ohio Railroad. I have traced its conception and birth, its construction and success. I have not the heart to tell you of its slow and lingering death, how it became antiquated, ridiculed, supplanted and re-constructed, how it was mortgaged and sold, and finally became merged into the great Louisville and Nashville system and how its very history became clouded in tradition.