Hobart Then and Now: EJ&E Bridge

1899 and 2010.



(Click on images to enlarge)

I couldn't take the picture from the same spot as the 1899 photographer because where he or she stood is now fenced-off private property. So I went to the other side. And no, I couldn't get in front of the those trees, because in front of those trees is a sheer drop-off.

Here's what happened:

Perhaps the most destructive wreck in the history of the E.J. & E. railroad on this end of the line occurred last Thursday evening [March 2, 1899] about 7 o'clock at the Deep River bridge. The company had been hauling cinders to improve the embankment constructed last year and four empties stood upon the track and were to have been pushed to Hobart by this freight train, but the dispatcher failed to give the engineer orders to do so and as a result a loaded freight train of about thirty cars collided with the empties upon the embankment and just west of the new bridge. The empties were not discovered until within a short distance of them and the engineer and fireman didn't jump but fell upon the cab floor and abided their time. Two of the empties were smashed to smithereens and one was pushed nearly to Hobart. The engine and tender passed over the bridge, which was completely wrecked and allowed some twelve loaded cars to be pushed by the force of the train into the river. It was a deplorable sight but fortunately no lives were lost.

Many of our citizens went down to the wreck the next morning and all were surprised to see the engine standing near the river and wondered how it escaped the fate of the cars.

Albert Hancock was a passenger but didn't realize what had happened until he emerged from the caboose.

The loss to the company will amount to several thousand dollars. A new bridge has been built.

A new bridge built in a week? That's some fast bridge-building.

Source: "A Bad Wreck." Hobart Gazette 10 Mar. 1899.

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Opening Day for the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Museum is tomorrow from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. I hear there's going to be an AINSWORTH EXHIBIT!

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I updated the last George Young story with his portrait, found in the Lake County Encyclopedia. Why didn't I think to look in there in the first place? My desk is too crowded. I need to build an addition on my house just to have room to work on this historical stuff.