Last week we discussed how many farmers benefitted financially from the arrival of interurban service. Some even agreed to provide free land for a right of way in order to encourage a line to come past their farm.

However, there also were farmers who bitterly opposed lines wishing to cross their land. In one case, on a line to Bryan OH, a famer went so far as to shoot an advanced surveyor for a proposed interurban. In another case, an obstinate farmer refused to sell land to the Cleveland & Southwestern for its proposed extension from Wellington to Ashland. Although the railway probably could have gone to court with a claim of eminent domain, it abandoned this plan and, instead, ran its Ashland line from a connection with its Wooster route at Seville. The farmer successfully defended his rights but, in doing so, he may have hurt himself – and his neighbors — financially.

Pictures, both Columbus Metropolitan Library: 1) Cleveland & Southwestern Ry #109 in Wellington, and 2) Central Ohio Traction #6 In Ashland. Although both towns got their interurban, the proposed direct connection was never built.