at this time
completed from Cincinnati to Belpre, Ohio, opposite Parkersburg--and the
Ohio and Mississippi, which extended more than three hundred miles from
St. Louis to Cincinnati.

Times were not the best, however, and, although much traffic was
developed, the immense cost of the extensions heavily burdened
the Baltimore and Ohio Company, while the panic of 1857 seriously
embarrassed its credit. Soon after this panic and before the company
had begun to recover from its effects, John W. Garrett, one of the large
stockholders in the road and son of a Baltimore banker, was elected to
its presidency, and a new chapter in the history of the Baltimore
and Ohio began. Almost immediately following Garrett's election, a
remarkable change became apparent. Losses were turned into gains;
deficits were converted into surpluses; and soon Garrett had gained the
reputation of being the most remarkable and efficient railroad manager
in the world. He seemed to be almost an Aladdin of railroad management
for, even when he could not show increases in amount of business done,
he reported greater profits by showing lower expenses. In those days
the railroads did not furnish detailed reports of business to the
stockholders or to the public. At the annual meetings it was customary
for a president or the directors simply to announce, either orally or in
a brief printed statement, the amount of gross business and profits
for the year. No such thing as a balance sheet or detailed financial
statement saw the light of day--practically everything was taken by
the stockholders on faith. And great was their faith. When, therefore,
Garrett announced large increases in profits in years when most
railroads were standing still or were incurring losses, he was
implicitly believed.

Under Garrett's management a new era of expansion almost immediately
began; work was started on the long delayed branch to Pittsburgh and
plans were laid for establishing a line of steamships from Baltimore to
the leading European ports. But the Civil War, which bore heavily on the
Baltimore and Ohio, interfered with these ambitious schemes. Early in
1861 the Confederates took possession of a large part of the line east
of Cumberland; in the next four years important sections of the road
were repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, as they passed into the hands of
the Federal or Confederate troops. The company, however, managed to get
through without default in its securities, an