The Wood River Branch Railroad was a shortline railroad in Rhode Island.
Chartered in 1872 and opened on July 1, 1874, the 5.6-mile (9.0 km)
freight and passenger line connected the village of Hope Valley to the
New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (NYP&B;) mainline at Wood River
Junction. While it was nominally independent, finances were tough from
the start; it heavily relied on support from the NYP&B; and its
successor, the New Haven Railroad. Ralph C. Watrous became its president
in 1904, and remained involved for the next 33 years. A major flood in
November 1927 severed the line and the company considered abandonment,
but local citizens and the New Haven agreed to rebuild the line for
freight only under New Haven control, using a gasoline locomotive. The
New Haven sold the line in 1937 for $301 to local grain mill owner Roy
Rawlings. He ran the company until 1947 when a fire destroyed his mill
and other local industries. The railroad was abandoned in August 1947,
and little remains of it.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_River_Branch_Railroad>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1868:
A major earthquake near Arica, Peru (now in Chile), caused an
estimated 25,000 casualties; the subsequent tsunami caused considerable
damage as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1868_Arica_earthquake>
1876:
The Bayreuth Festival, now known for showcasing the stage works
of Richard Wagner, was inaugurated under his and his wife Cosima's
direction.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosima_Wagner>
1906:
Members of the U.S. Army's all-black 25th Infantry Regiment
were accused of killing a white bartender and wounding a white police
officer in Brownsville, Texas, despite exculpatory evidence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsville_affair>
2010:
After being boarded by Canadian authorities, MV Sun Sea docked
in British Columbia and the 492 Sri Lankan Tamil refugee claimants on
board were placed into detention.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Sun_Sea_incident>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
captivate:
1. (obsolete)
2. To make (a person, an animal, etc.) a captive; to take prisoner; to
capture, to subdue.
3. (figuratively) To capture or control (the mind, etc.); to subdue, to
subjugate.
4. (figuratively) To attract and hold (someone's) attention and
interest; to charm, to entrance, to fascinate.
5. (also figuratively, obsolete) Made captive; taken prisoner; captured,
subdued.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/captivate>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There may be, and there ought to be, progress in the moral
sphere. The moral truths which we have inherited from the past need to
be expanded and restated.
--Felix Adler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Felix_Adler>