Col. C. T. Hobart
Col. C. T. Hobart, General manager and chief engineer of the Columbus & Lake Michigan Railway, now in operation from Lima to Defiance, Ohio, is a railroad man of long experience and scientific training. He was born in Vermont and was educated in his State University, where he was graduated in the polytechnic department.
For 12 years after entering railroad service Colonel Hobart was in the operating department of the Central Vermont Railroad. From that time on he has been more of less continuously connected with great lines of transportation. In 1866 he made the first survey of a preliminary nature, for the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad; 900 miles were covered before the party was attacked by the Indians. Of the party of 21 surveyors, only eight escaped with their lives. The exigencies of his business often required long journeys through unbroken forests and over dangerous paths. One winter he left Montana by stage and traveled 700 miles to Salt Lake City, thence by stage 600 miles to Austin, Nevada. This was necessary in measuring the ground for the Central Pacific Railway. Afterward he worked back across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He was then superintendent of the operating department which built the road out to a point connecting with the Central Pacific and continued it until it was in operation to Ogden. Upon the completion of this great engineering work, Colonel Hobart was engaged by the Northern Pacific, met the directors at St. Paul and after impressive services, in which the directors took part, including Governor Smith of Vermont (the president of the company), Colonel Hobart was left in charge as superintendent of construction and operation. This was initial step in the building of that great highway of commerce and promoter of civilization the Northern Pacific Railroad. For 17 years Colonel Hobart continued in charge of this great enterprise. When it was found desirable to construct a branch line from the Northern Pacific to Yellowstone Park, under a government lease, Colonel Hobart built the line and erected the hotel in the park for the entertainment of the people who visit that wonderful region. These hotels he later turned over to the Northern Pacific road.
On account of the delicacy of his wife's health, Colonel Hobart then gave up his connection with the Northern Pacific and went to the Argentine Republic, South America. Here he built 200 miles of railroad, under government concessions to American capitalists, through Paraguay and other portions of South America. The road was later abandoned. Upon his return to New York, he became vice-president of the Raritan River Railway and constructed the same.
It was while engaged in this great project that he was approached by Benjamin C. Faurot, who gave him such a glowing picture of the business possibilities of Northwestern Ohio and so convincingly placed before him the desirable climatic and other advantages for happy home building, that Colonel Hobart determined to settle in this section. From this determination subsequently came about the building of the Columbus & Lake Michigan Railway ( at first known as the Columbus, Lima & Milwaukee). Within the current year in all probability, the road will have reached Columbus as one terminus and Eastern Lake, Michigan, as the other.
Colonel Hobart is a Knight Templar Mason, and belongs to the Protestant Episcopal Church.