1917 - Transportation

Transportation

Germany has 18 ships in the port of New York April 6, five of them anchored in the Hudson off 135th Street; Dudley Field Malone, collector of the port, sends 600 customs agents to board the vessels and seize them in the name of the United States Government. Malone himself is in the boarding party that takes over the giant Vaterland and runs up the U.S. flag in the first act of war. The 22nd Infantry boards army tugboats at Governors Island and arrests 1,200 German soldiers along with 325 officers; all are taken to Ellis Island for internment. A company of troops marches through the Hudson tubes to Hoboken, seizes the piers of the North German Lloyd and Hamburg-Amerika lines, and rounds up about 200 Germans in the dock area saloons and boarding houses for internment on Ellis Island. Army engineers sink a steel net in the waters across the Narrows to block any U-boat trying to sneak into the Upper Bay, and the port of New York becomes the nation's chief port of embarkation for shipping cargo and troops overseas.

Shipping magnate William Matson of Matson Navigation Co. dies at San Francisco October 11 at age 67. The U.S. Navy takes over his Wilhelmina, Maui, and Matsonia (see 1908) and will keep them until 1920.

U.S. trolley-car ridership reaches 11 billion, with 80,000 electric streetcars plying 45,000 miles of track, up from 30,000 trolley cars on 15,000 miles of track in 1900. Connecting lines make it possible to travel from New York to Boston by trolley and even for more than 1,000 miles from eastern Wisconsin to central New York State, paying a nickel to ride to the end of each line (see 1939).

The Hell Gate Bridge (New York Connecting Railroad Bridge) opens April 1 over the East River to give Pennsylvania Railroad trains access to New England. Designed by engineer Gustav Lindenthal, it is the longest steel arch bridge built up to now. Its massive arch extends for 1,107 feet, it carries four tracks, and it is part of a two-and-a-half-mile system that includes viaducts, overpasses, and two smaller bridges. Not only does it shorten the trip between Boston and Washington from 15 hours to about 12, but it also reduces traffic at Grand Central Terminal and increases traffic at Penn Station.

A "Stop-Look-Listen" warning sign for railroad crossings begins to replace the "Watch for Engines" sign in common use. A Seattle, Wash., safety lecturer has devised the sign for the Puget Sound Power Co.

Australian engineers complete a 2,715-mile railroad line connecting Perth and Kalgoorlie on the Indian Ocean with Adelaide (it will be extended to Sydney on the Pacific). Begun in 1912, the line crosses desolate country that includes the Nulabar Plain and includes the straightest stretch of track in the world.

The worst train wreck in world history occurs December 12 at Modane, France, where a passenger train jumps the tracks killing 543, injuring hundreds more. Three U.S. train wrecks in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Kentucky kill 20, 23, and 46, respectively.

Rail equipment shortages delay movement of U.S. troops and freight to ports; President Wilson uses the Federal Possession and Control Act December 28 to take over "each and every system of transportation . . . within the boundaries of the United States" and puts his son-in-law William G. McAdoo, secretary of the treasury, in charge of a newly-created U.S. Railroad Administration (see 1918).

Dirigible pioneer Ferdinand, graf von Zeppelin, dies at Charlottenburg, outside Berlin, March 8 at age 78 (see Eckener, 1918).

Chance Vought Co. (initially Lewis Vought Corp.) is founded at Long Island City, N.Y., by New York-born aeronautical engineer and designer Chance (Milton) Vought, 27, with financing from Birdseye B. Lewis. Vought designed and built an advanced training plane 3 years ago, the British have been using it to train pilots, and as chief engineer at the Wright Co. in Dayton, Ohio, Vought last year produced the Vought-Wright Model V military biplane (see United Aircraft, 1929).

Italian-born Long Island, N.Y., flying-school operator Giuseppe Mario Bellanca, 31, designs and produces the first monoplane with an enclosed cabin (see 1911; Bellanca, 1927).

U.S. auto production reaches 1,745,792, up from 543,679 in 1914. Model T Fords account for 42.4 percent of the total. Apperson, Biddle, Buick, Cadillac, Chalmers, Chevrolet, Cole, Crow-Elkhart, Daniels, Detroit Electric, Doble Steam, Essex, Fageol, Franklin, Haynes, Hudson, Hupmobile, Jordan, Kissel, Lenox, Maxwell, McFarlan, Mitchell, National, Oakland, Ohio Electric, Packard, Paige-Detroit, Pathfinder, Peerless, Pierce-Arrow, Premier, Pullman, Reo, Saxon, Scripps-Booth, Willys-Knight, Willys-Overland, and others vie for customers.

The Lincoln motorcar is introduced by former Cadillac president Henry M. Leland, now 74, who starts a company that will produce and market a luxury car to compete with Cadillac, Duesenberg, Packard, and Pierce-Arrow (see Ford, 1922).

Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) is created at Munich by a reorganization of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke. The company will introduce the world's first six-cylinder high-altitude aircraft engine and a 550-horsepower nine-cylinder engine (see motorcycles, 1923).