CHAPTER III

THE RISE OF A GREAT INDUSTRY

The "Pioneer" had cost Mr. Pullman $20,000. Compared with the finest sleeping cars previously in use, it was clearly evident that a new development in luxurious travel had been accomplished. The best ordinary sleeping cars were considered expensive at $4,000. There was no more comparison between the "Pioneer" and its predecessors in comfort than in cost. But it remained to be seen what the public would think of it; whether they preferred luxury, comfort, and real service, to hardship, discomfort, and no service at a lower cost.

The new cars were larger, heavier, and more substantial than any previously constructed. Increased safety was one of their advantages. Moreover, they were far more beautiful from every aspect--artistically painted, richly decorated, and furnished with fittings for that day remarkable for their elaborate nature. They were universally admired, and quickly became the topic of interest among the traveling public. It is remarkable that at this early date the two features of the Pullman car which characterize it today--the features of safety and luxury--should have been so clearly defined.

It is human nature to accept each step forward as a new standard and it is characteristically American to refuse to accept an inferior article as soon as one superior is available, even if at greater cost. The "Pioneer" and its successors established such a standard, and immediately those accustomed and able to afford the increased rate required by the greater investment in the car, gladly and thankfully accepted it; while those whose nature usually inclines to haggling when the purse is touched, were convinced of the worth of the innovation by the assurance against disaster which the weight and strength of the Pullman cars assured.

The next car constructed by Mr. Pullman, after the "Pioneer" cost $24,000. And very soon after several additional cars were built at approximately the same cost, and were put in operation on the Michigan Central Railroad. Here was the great test. In these luxurious carriages and in the verdict of the traveling public rested the future of Mr. Pullman's project. The question simply resolved itself to this: Did the public want them? In the old sleeping cars a berth had cost considerably less than it was necessary to charge for one in the new Pullman cars. In the mind of the inventor there was no question as to the verdict. The railroad authorities were equally certain the other way. They did not think the public would pay the extra sum.

There was but one way to decide, and Mr. Pullman made the suggestion that both Pullman cars and old style sleeping cars be operated on the same train at their respective prices. The results would show.

What happened is best described in the words of a contemporary writer.

Mr. Pullman suggested that the matter be submitted to the decision of the traveling public. He proposed that the new cars, with their increased rate, be put on trains with the old cars at the cheaper rate. If the traveling public thought the beauty of finish, the increased comfort, and the safety of the new cars worth $2 per night, there were the $24,000 cars; if, on the other hand, they were satisfied with less attractive surroundings at a saving of 50 cents, the cheaper cars were at their disposal. It was a simple submission without argument of the plain facts on both sides of the issue--in other words, an application of the good American doctrine of appealing to the people as the court of highest resort.

The decision came instantly and in terms which left no opening for discussion. The only travelers who rode in the old cars were those who were grumbling because they could not get berths in the new ones. After running practically empty for a few days, the cars in which the price for a berth was $1.50 were withdrawn from service, and Pullmans, wherein the two-dollar tariff prevailed, were substituted in their places, and this for the very potent reason, that the public insisted upon it. Nor did the results stop there. The Michigan Central Railway, charging an extra tariff of fifty cents per night as compared with other eastern lines, proved an aggressive competitor of those lines, not in spite of the extra charge, but because of it, and of the higher order of comfort and beauty it represented. Then followed a curious reversal of the usual results of competition. Instead of a levelling down to the cheaper basis on which all opposition was united, there was a levelling up to the standard on which the Pullman service was planted and on which it stood out single-handed and alone.

Within comparatively a short period all the Michigan Central's rival lines were forced by sheer pressure from the traveling public to withdraw the inferior and cheaper cars and meet the superior accommodations and the necessarily higher tariff. In other words, the inspiration of that key-note of vigorous ambition for excellence of the product itself, irrespective of immediate financial returns, which was struck with such emphasis in the building of the "Pioneer," and which ever since has rung through all the Pullman work, was felt in the railroad world of the United States at that early date, just as it is even more commonly felt at the present time. At one bound it put the American railway passenger service in the leadership of all nations in that particular branch of progress, and has held it there ever since as an object lesson in the illustration of a broad and far-reaching principle.[1]

[1]: _Contemporary American Biography_, p. 260.

It will probably be interesting at this point to describe with some detail the Pullman car of this early period. In the _Daily Illinois State Register_, Springfield, May 26, 1865, appears an interesting description of one of the new Pioneer type of cars just installed on the Chicago & Alton Railroad.

To the train on the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad, which passed up at noon today, was attached one of Pullman's improved and beautiful sleeping carriages, containing a party of excursionists from the Garden City [Chicago], to whom the trip was complimentarily extended by the company of the road, and among whom was George M. Pullman, Esq., of Chicago, the patentee of the car. This carriage, which we had the pleasure of inspecting during the stay of the train at our depot, we found to be the most comfortable and complete in all its appurtenances, and decidedly superior in many respects to any similar carriage we have ever seen. It is fifty-four feet in length by ten in width, and was built at a cost of $18,000, the painting alone costing upwards of $500. Besides the berths, sufficient in number to accommodate upwards of a hundred passengers, there are four state rooms formed by folding doors, and so constructed with the berths that the whole can easily be thrown into one apartment. When the car is not used for sleeping purposes, as in the day, every appearance of a berth or a bed is concealed, and in their stead appear the most comfortable of seats.

Westlake's patent heating and ventilating apparatus is applied so that a constant current of pure and pleasant air is kept in circulation through the car. In fact, it was useless to attempt to enumerate, in so brief a notice, even a few of the many improvements which have been introduced by the patentees into the carriage, rendering it as they have, superior to any that we have ever inspected. To one fact, however, we will refer in this connection, as especially conducive to the comfort of the traveling public, viz., that a daily change of linen is made in the berths of this new carriage, thereby keeping them constantly clean and comfortable, and rendering the car much more attractive than are similar carriages where this is neglected. As we are informed by Mr. Pullman that these cars will hereafter be run on the St. Louis and Chicago line, we would especially direct the attention of travelers to the fact, and recommend them to investigate the matter of our notice for themselves.

Exactly how "upwards of a hundred passengers" could have been accommodated is hardly clear, but the enthusiasm of the reporter, fired perhaps by the luxury of clean linen for each berth each day, may account for this apparent exaggeration. In the _Illinois Journal_, another Springfield paper, of May 30, the reporter reduces the estimate of the capacity to fifty-two and comments with perhaps more detail on the decorative features of the car.

We are reminded by a prophecy which we heard some three years since--that the time was not far distant when a radical change would be introduced in the manner of constructing railroad cars; the public would travel upon them with as much ease as though sitting in their parlors, and sleep and eat on board of them with more ease and comfort than it would be possible to do on a first-class steamer. We believed the words of the seer at the time, but did not think they were so near fulfillment until Friday last, when we were invited to the Chicago & Alton depot in this city to examine an improved sleeping-car, manufactured by Messrs. Field & Pullman, patentees, after a design by George M. Pullman, Esq., Chicago.

The writer describes his impressions of the interior. The absence of "mattresses or dingy curtains" by day, the beauty of the window curtains "looped in heavy folds," the "French plate mirrors suspended from the walls," as well as the "several beautiful chandeliers, with exquisitely ground shades" hanging from a ceiling "painted with chaste and elaborate design upon a delicately tinted azure ground," while the black walnut woodwork and "richest Brussels carpeting" make the picture complete. It is small wonder that the Pullman car excited admiration, and that its first appearance in the Illinois towns was probably recorded by similar editorial appreciation.

But perhaps one of the most interesting insights into the condition which the new Pullman cars were so quick to remedy, is found in the _Chicago Tribune_, June 20, 1865. After a veritable eulogy on the elegance and comfort of the Pullman car, the writer draws the following enviable contrast.

It leaves to others to ticket the actual transit, so many miles for so much money, and comes in with its cars as the Ticket Agent of Comfort, sells you coupons to rest and ease by the way. So you wish to go through to New York or Baltimore, yourself, Belinda, Biddy and the baby, baskets, bundles, etc? You think of changes of cars by night, and rushes for seats for your party by day, of seats foul with the scrapings of dirty boots, of floors flowing with saliva, of coarse faces and coarse conversation, of seats you cannot recline in, of the ordinary discomforts of a long journey by rail!

It is small wonder that the new Pullman cars found an appreciative welcome!

In 1866 five Pullman sleeping cars were put in operation on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and late in May an excursion for several hundred invited guests was given from Chicago to Aurora, Illinois, and return. The new cars were named, "Atlantic," "Pacific," "Aurora," "City of Chicago," and "Omaha." Occasioned by the comforts which this new equipment disclosed a current newspaper remarked:

Pullman is a benefactor to his kind. The dreaded journey to New York becomes a mere holiday excursion in his delightful coaches, and, by the way, he will soon have a through line from Chicago to New York, in which a man need never leave his place from one city to the other.

The year 1867 marks the incorporation of Pullman's Palace Car Company, for the purpose of the manufacture and operation of sleeping cars. At the time of incorporation George M. Pullman owned all of the sleeping cars on the Michigan Central Railroad, Great Western [Canada] Railroad, and the New York Central Railroad lines, a grand total of forty-eight cars. In the operation of these cars he was ably assisted by his brother, A. B. Pullman, who held the office of general superintendent.

In forming the Pullman Company, the founder aspired to establish an organized system by which the traveling public might be enabled to travel in luxurious cars of uniform construction, adapted to both night and day requirements, without change between distant points, and over various distinct lines of railroads. In addition, such a service would provide the heretofore unknown asset of responsible employees to whose care might be entrusted women, children, and invalids. It was a service that was sorely needed, and indication pointed to its prompt acceptance by the railroads and the public.

In the same year a remarkable achievement in railroad travel was accomplished. Due to the different gauge tracks in use by the several railroads connecting Chicago and New York, the continuous passage of a car from one city to the other was impossible. But in 1867 the standardization of the gauge was effected by the completion of a third rail on the Great Western [Canada] Railroad, and to mark this opening of through communication, an excursion was arranged from Chicago to New York on the "Western World," the newest Pullman "hotel" sleeping car.

At this point it is interesting to note that the first "hotel car," the "President," was put in service by the Pullman Company in 1867 on the Great Western Railroad of Canada. The hotel car was a combination car, in reality a sleeping car with a kitchen built in at one end. The meals were served at tables placed in the sections. To the Pullman Company, accordingly, must be accorded the credit of first supplying to the public the service of meals on board a train. The success of the "President" led to the immediate construction of the "Western World" and its sister car "Kalamazoo." These cars, however, must not be confused with the dining car which was later developed from the "hotel car" by the Pullman Company, and to which the "hotel cars" rapidly gave place.

The _Detroit Commercial Advertiser_ of June 1, 1867, comments:

But the crowning glory of Mr. Pullman's invention is evinced in his success in supplying the car with a cuisine department containing a range where every variety of meats, vegetables and pastry may be cooked on the car, according to the best style of culinary art.

The following bill of fare illustrates the variety of edibles provided on this celebrated excursion.

MENU

OYSTERS

Raw 50 Fried and Roast 60

COLD

Beef Tongue, Sugar-cured Ham, Pressed Corned Beef, Sardines 40 Chicken Salad, Lobster Salad 50

BROILED

Beefsteak, with Potatoes 60 Mutton Chops, with Potatoes 60 Ham, with Potatoes 50

EGGS

Boiled, Fried, Scrambled, Omelette Plain 40 Omelette with Rum 50

_Chow-Chow, Pickles_

Welsh Rarebit 50 French Coffee 25 Tea 25

The excursion party left Chicago on April 8, 1867, and comfortably established in the "Western World" arrived in Detroit the following day. At Detroit the river was crossed on the "great iron ferry boat," the first company of passengers that ever passed from Chicago to Canada without change of cars. On the new third rail of the Great Western, a speed of forty miles was often maintained for considerable periods. "The cars were decorated with American and British flags, symbolizing the union which is destined to take place between the United States and Canada. A train has just rolled by, the engine and passenger cars on the broad gauge, and freight cars from the East on the narrow gauge." So goes the journal of one of the passengers.

Large crowds visited the train at Rochester, Syracuse, and Utica, and at Albany, Erastus Corning telegraphed Commodore Vanderbilt that the car must be taken to New York, if possible, and the gauge of the Harlem road be taken for that purpose. The party arrived in New York on April 14. One of the purposes of sending the "Western World" to New York was that it might transport on its return trip, Dr. J. C. Durant, vice president of the Union Pacific Road, and a committee of directors, to examine a portion of their new transcontinental line which the contractors were ready to turn over. A member of the party describes the call on Dr. Durant in his office on Nassau Street and refers to the office as "probably the finest in New York, beautiful with paintings and statuary, and enlivened with the singing of birds."

Following the "Western World," the "hotel cars" were promptly put in service and regular through service was established between Chicago and eastern points. The new "City of Boston" and "City of New York" surpassed even the "Western World" in magnificence and were popularly reported to have exceeded $30,000 each in cost. These cars were known as "hotel cars" for the reason that each contained all the requirements for a protracted journey. The main body of the car was occupied by the berths and seats and at one end a kitchen and pantry provided the culinary service. The dining car, devoted entirely to restaurant purposes, was a second step which soon followed. The first dining car personally designed by Mr. Pullman was named the "Delmonico," and was operated on the Chicago & Alton in 1868.

But it was in 1869 that the Pullman car made perhaps its greatest advance in the interest and confidence of the public for in that year the Union Pacific, building westward from the Missouri River at Omaha, met the Central Pacific, which built from San Francisco eastward. By their union a line was established between the two coasts of the continent, a slender thread of track which stretched for 1,848 miles through a practically uninhabited country. Almost simultaneously with the completion of the road there was put upon the rails one of the most superb trains ever turned out of the Pullman shops. Its journey to California and its reception there were in the nature of a progressive ovation. From that time forth the great population of the Pacific coast knew no train for long distance travel save a Pullman train, and would hear of no other. When people from California reached Chicago on their way eastward, the road over which Pullman cars ran got their patronage, and roads over which other cars were operated did not. Newspapers and magazines were awakened to studies of the Pullman cars and the Pullman system, and scores of printed pages were filled with the marvels of a journey to the Pacific Ocean which was nothing more than a six days' sojourn in a luxurious hotel, past the windows of which there constantly flowed a great panorama of the American continent, thousands of miles in length and as wide as the eye could reach. Illustrated magazine articles which appeared telling the story of a trip to California had as many pictures of Pullman interiors as they had of the big trees or the Yosemite Valley. The effect of all this was far reaching. The great Pennsylvania line abandoned its own service and adopted the Pullman, and many other lines made application for inclusion in the Pullman system.

In May, 1870, the first through train from the Atlantic to the Pacific crossed the continent, engaged for a special excursion by the Boston Board of Trade, many distinguished Bostonians being numbered among the passengers. During the trip a daily newspaper entitled the _Trans-Continental_ was published. In the issue of May 31, published on the sixth day out, as the train was crossing the summit of the Sierra Nevadas, an account is given of a meeting of the passengers in the smoking car, and resolutions passed by them were printed. The Hon. Alex H. Rice presided at the meeting, and the resolutions were offered by Frank H. Peabody, a Boston banker, and seconded by Robert B. Forbes, another Bostonian.

_Resolved_, That we, the passengers of the Boston Board of Trade Pullman excursion train, the first through train from the Atlantic to the Pacific, having now been a week _en route_ for San Francisco, and having had, during this period, ample opportunity to test the character and quality of the accommodations supplied for our journey, hereby express our entire satisfaction with the arrangements made by Mr. George M. Pullman, and our admiration of the skill and energy which have resulted in the construction, equipment and general management of this beautiful and commodious moving hotel.

_Resolved_, That we return our cordial thanks to Mr. Pullman for the very great pains taken by him beforehand to make the present journey safe and pleasurable; that we recognize the complete success which has followed all his efforts, and that we extend to him our sincere wishes for such a degree of prosperity to attend all his operations as will be proportionate to his merits as one of the most public-spirited, sagacious, and liberal railroad men of the present day.

_Resolved_, That we take pleasure in witnessing, as we journey from point to point, through all the Western States, the many evidences of Mr. Pullman's enterprise and the extent of his operations in the cars which we meet belonging to the Pullman Company, attached to the regular trains for the use of the public, or appropriated especially to private excursion parties, and we earnestly hope that there will be no delay in placing the elegant and homelike carriages upon the principal routes in the New England States, and we will do all in our power to accomplish this end.

The list of passengers on this notable excursion included:

Hon. Alex. H. Rice Maj. Geo. P. Denny Hon. J. M. S. Williams James W. Bliss Edward W. Kingsley Frederick Allen and wife H. S. Berry Miss Josie W. Bliss Hon. John B. Brown and wife E. W. Burr and son John L. Bremer Geo. D. Baldwin and wife Miss L. E. Billings Chas. W. Brooks M. S. Bolles Alvah Crocker and wife Mrs. F. Cunningham Thomas Dana, Mrs. Thomas Dana, 2nd, Miss M. E. Dana Mrs. Geo. P. Denny Arthur B. Denny Cyrus Dupee and wife John H. Eastburn and wife Robert B. Forbes and wife Joshua Reed J. S. Fogg Mrs. E. E. Poole Misses Farnsworth Robert O. Fuller J. Warren Faxon N. W. Farwell and wife Miss Mary E. Farwell Miss Evelyn A. Farwell Curtis Guild and wife C. L. Harding and wife Miss N. Harding Edgar Harding J. F. Hunnewell J. F. Heustis W. S. Houghton and wife D. C. Holder and wife Miss C. Harrington A. L. Haskell and wife Miss Alice J. Haley J. M. Haskell and wife H. O. Houghton and wife John Humphrey Hamilton A. Hill and wife Benjamin James C. F. Kittredge Mrs. C. A. Kinglsey Miss Addie P. Kinglsey Miss Mary L. Kinglsey Chas. S. Kendall Miss M. C. Lovejoy John Lewis Jas. Longley and wife Geo. Myrick and wife Col. L. B. Marsh and wife C. F. McClure and wife Joseph McIntyre Sterne Morse Fulton Paul F. H. Peabody, wife and servant Miss F. Peabody Miss L. Peabody Master F. E. Peabody Rev. E. G. Porter Miss M. F. Prentiss James W. Roberts and wife Wm. Roberts S. B. Rindge and wife Master F. H. Rindge J. M. B. Reynolds and wife John H. Rice Hon. Stephen Salisbury M. S. Stetson and wife D. R. Sortwell and wife Alvin Sortwell F. H. Shapleigh T. Albert Taylor and wife E. B. Towne Lawson Valentine and wife Miss Valentine Rev. R. C. Waterston and wife A. Williams Dr. H. W. Williams and wife N. D. Whitney and wife Judge G. W. Warren Geo. A. Wadley and wife Henry T. Woods Mrs. J. M. S. Williams Miss E. M. Williams Miss C. T. Williams J. Bert Williams

In the next few years the Pullman Palace Car Company established manufacturing shops in Detroit, and in 1875 a new "reclining-chair car," the first parlor car to be operated in the United States, was presented by Mr. Pullman to the public. For several years parlor cars of Pullman design and construction had been in satisfactory use on the Midland Railway, between London and Liverpool, England. The success of these cars promptly resulted in the construction of the "Maritana" for use in the United States. The chairs in this new car were heavily and richly upholstered and revolved on a swivel, on the same principle as the chairs in the parlor car of the present day.