Adventures in the Archives – The Worcester Salt Special

by Robin Ziegler, PARC volunteer

As a Perkins Art and Research Center volunteer, I am assisting with documenting our extensive collection of images. I found this photo from the Snow Collection (SNOW-0047) showing a very long train spanning the length of the bridge over the Merrimack River quite intriguing. “Worcester Salt Special on Newburyport Bridge” is handwritten on the back. Some sleuthing on the internet revealed the following:

“The Worcester Salt Special departed from the Worcester Salt Company in Silver Springs, NY on January 6, 1897 to celebrate the election of William McKinley as the 25th president of the United States. William McKinley was a staunch industrialist. He organized this “largest single shipment of a manufactured commodity ever made”, to be launched remotely when he pushed an electric button from his home in Ohio.”

The freight train was comprised of 162 cars spanning nearly one and a half miles in length. It carried 5.45 million tons of table salt, a consignment of orders bound for New England. The barrels of salt piled end on end would purportedly stand 6 miles high! It travelled via the Erie railroad to Jersey City (see the lettering on the close-up of the train cars below), and on to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad to Boston and points around New England.

Notice the man standing on top of the railcar. He is likely the brakeman. In the days before pneumatic brakes they had to be set manually, which was done from on top of the cars. This would be an OSHA nightmare today!

William McKinley was elected to a second term in November, 1900. Sadly, this term was cut short when he was assassinated by Leon Czolgosz in September, 1901. McKinley was succeeded by his Vice President, the indomitable Theodore Roosevelt. And the rest is history!

Portrait of William McKinley by Harriet A.S. Murphy, White House Historical Association