Tidewater in 1907 -- Owner

[NW Mailing List]

TIDEWATER ROAD OWNED BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
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Hearing Before Interstate Commerce Commission Brings Out Heretofore Unknown Facts--President Page Gives History of Road
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    Washington, May 16.--The interstate commerce commission was deeply interested yesterday in listening to the clearing up of the mystery as to the ownership of the Tidewater, or Virginian Railroad as it has been recently named.  The mystery is not so much of a mystery now due to the story told the commission by Walter N. Page, president of the road.
    Mr. Page told of having been given a letter of credit amounting to $18,000,000 to build the road, and of how he already spent over $20,000,000.  He told the commission that H. H. Rogers, of the Standard Oil, and S. H. Hyams, a Boston millionaire, had financed the enterprise, but that back of them was a mysterious personage whose identity had never been revealed.  This latter man of mystery is supposed to be John D. Rockefeller [obviously this was just speculation on the part of the reporter].
    The story came out in the hearing of the complaint of the Loop Creek Colliery Company and the Deepwater railroad to compel the Chesapeake and Ohio to enter into satisfactory traffic agreements.  There were numerous witnesses, but their testimony was uninteresting until Mr. Page was called.  Questions from his own attorney, from Henry T. Wickham, general counsel of the Chesapeake and Ohio, and from members of the commission themselves brought out the whole story.
    Mr. Page first testified as to the ownership of the Loop Creek Coal Company.  He said that was owned by the Gauley Creek Coal Company whose stock in turn was owned by the heirs of the Abram S. Hewitt estate, Levi P. Morton [blurred; best interpretation] and himself, they owning one half interest, and the other half was owned by H. H. Rogers and another man.  He said, however, that Mr. Rogers had disposed of his holdings in the coal property and was now interested only in the railroad.
    He said that he had never signed a bond; that he knew that none had been issued as yet, though the property is to be mortgaged in a few weeks.  He testified that he had in his pocket a letter of credit on the International Trust Company of Houston [blurred; best interpretation] for $18,000,000 and that his drafts on the trust company had amounted to $20,000,000, and yet he could not swear who had put it there, and furthermore that he did not personally know any one connected with the institution, and if he went into its place of business to get a check cashed, he would have to be identified.  He said that he had nothing to conceal, that it was his information that H. H. Rogers had financed the road, though he did not know where Rogers had gotten the money.  He said that on April 22d the Tidewater and Deepwater roads had been consolidated and capital stock amounting to $35,500,000 had been authorized.
    Asked whether he thought there was any one back of Mr. Rogers, he said there might be, but that he did not profess to know a thing about it.  He said that he was only a figurehead as president of the road, and owned little or no stock in it, but did enjoy confidential relations with the men who are financing it.
    Speaking about the inception of the enterprise, he said that it was not the original intention of the people owning the Virginian railroad to build to tidewater, but to build only a short line connecting the Norfolk and Western and the Chesapeake and Ohio.  The Chesapeake and Ohio, however, could not and would not afford his people an outlet and the Virginian railroad has been the result.
    He said that the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Norfolk and Western, through Presidents Stevens and Johnson, had offered him every sort of proposition if he would not go to tidewater, and had offered to handle his traffic on practically his own terms if he would not go to tidewater [this appears to be at variance with the March 15, 1907 article, posted on this Mailing List, which stated that the N&W would not agree to the rate that Rogers demanded.].  He said that he knew they could not come up to such a contract, and that consequently the road was built on through to tidewater.  He said that the Chesapeake and Ohio is today playing the dog in the manger; that it is today developing six new counties, when its facilities are confessedly inadequate to handle the output of the counties it now gets coal from
    Mr. Page stated that five years ago he was shipping 400,000 loads of coal a year, but that now he could get equipment from the Chesapeake and Ohio to ship only 100,000 tons.  He said that it was his conviction that the railroad mileage of Virginia and West Virginia could both be doubled, and that still all the traffic, seeking an outlet could not find it.  He said that right now the Chesapeake and Ohio cannot handle half the business coming to it, and yet it is seeking to keep every other road out of the field.
    Mr. Page said that he thought that he could produce documentary evidence to prove that he had brought more capital into the states of Virginia and West Virginia than any other man had ever done.
    After he had concluded his testimony Mr. Page stated that it was the ultimate plan to extend the Virginian railroad through to the Great Lakes [it is surprising to see this attributed to Page, but it is almost a certainty that the right of way from the Ohio River to the Great Lakes was never bought and paid for as stated in the May 3, 1907, article posted on this Mailing List.].
    In view of the testimony of Mr. Page it is believed that the man back of Mr. Rogers is John D. Rockefeller.  It is evident that to carry the project through to the Great Lakes will require a great deal more money than Mr. Rogers can put up himself.
    The distance from Deepwater, W. Va., the western terminus of the Virginian railroad, to Sewell's Point, the eastern terminus, is 446 miles.  The distance of the Chesapeake and Ohio between Deepwater, W. Va., and Newport News is 450 [blurred; best interpretation] miles.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
May 17, 1907

Gordon Hamilton
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