Hammond Lake County Times, Thursday, 10 January, 1918
AIR LINE FROM CHICAGO TO NEW YORK.
A. C. Miller, conceiver of the ill-fated New York-Chicago air line project and later the moving spirit in the Gary and Interurban traction system died the other day in Aurora, Ill. Miller's air line project was not without sense, only he was ahead of his time. As for the Gary and Interurban line, which ambitiously branched out to Hammond, LaPorte, Valparaiso, Chesterton and was seeking to reach Goshen when hard times and the symptoms of over-bonding and over-capitalization manifested themselves, it covered too much territory. Miller gave up the air line dream, which had been denounced by many as a blue sky project--nothing ever came of the money put into it--and centered his activities on building up a great regional traction system.

Miller again bit off more than he could chew; he had the vision and sensed the region's needs, but did not get there. Yet we more than ever need an adequate regional traction system, and as for the air line, the shortest cut between New York and Chicago, at no time is it more needed than in these days of war-time congestion. Our present lines that link the east with Chicago go out of their way. That is because when the lines were built the promoters wanted to include along the route as many important cities as possible. In consequence we do not have either the speed or the directness in reaching New York.

Miller again bit off more than he could chew; he when asked what should be the route of the trans-Siberian railway took a ruler and drew a straight line across the map of Russia reaching to furthest Asia. That is the way Miller planned for this country. Some day, maybe ten or twenty years hence, there will be such a line.
Calumet Heritage Partnership

Calumet Region

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Created 5th May, 2004.