USA > Iowa > Dickinson County > History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 19
USA > Iowa > Emmet County > History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 19
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At that time the only public conveyance between Estherville and Fort Dodge was a two-horse spring wagon, which was advertised as the "Fort Dodge & Spirit Lawe stage line, W. K. Mulroney, proprietor." The "stage" made one trip each way weekly, leaving Spirit Lake on Monday and Fort Dodge on Thursday. The Northwestern Stage Company ran a daily stage between Estherville and Dakotah, Humboldt County, where it connected with another line that ran to Fort Dodge. The main line of the North- western Stage Company ran from Fort Dodge to Sioux City and was a link in the stage line that ran all the way across the state, having its eastern terminus at Dubuque.
On February 22, 1870, nearly a year after the correspondence between Mr. Graves and the lessees of the road, a railroad meeting was held in Estherville. The meeting had been called to protest against the passage of a bill introduced in the Legislature by Galusha Parsons, the representa- tive from Webster County. Howard Graves was elected to preside and
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Dr. E. H. Ballard was chosen secretary. O. C. Bates, of the Northern Vin- dicator, presented a series of resolutions, the preamble of which set forth the facts that the Parsons bill provided that the state should reclaim 100,000 acres of the land granted to build the railroad up the west branch of the Des Moines River. The resolutions that followed the preamble were as follows :
"Resolved, By the citizens of Emmet County, in mass convention as- sembled, that any legislation having for its object, or causing in effect, the embarrassment of the further construction of the Des Moines Valley Rail- road up the Des Moines River proper, and through the lands in place is a wanton and unprovoked outrage upon the people of the upper Des Moines Valley, and is special legislation in the interest of individuals and local- ities remote from the land selected and heretofore appropriated for the construction of said road.
"Resolved, That as over thirty-three thousand acres of Emmet County lands have been appropriated and applied towards constructing the Des Moines Valley Railroad to the vicinity of Fort Dodge, that the one hundred thousand acres of land yet reserved for the construction of said road shall not be resumed, but should be certified at once to the company by the state, that said company may be able to complete at an early day the construction of said road to the Minnesota state line, and through the lands which have been dedicated to this grand enterprise.
"Resolved, That we earnestly and emphatically protest and remon- strate against the passage of Mr. Parsons' bill, or any bill or amendment proposing in effect the resumption of the 100,000 acres of land now held conditionally by the Des Moines Valley Railroad Company."
Another resolution indorsed the bill introduced by H. G. Day, the representative from Emmet County, providing for the construction of the road, and requesting the representative and senator in the Legislature to use all honorable means of defeating the Parsons bill. A remonstrance against this bill was signed by every one present at the meeting and Adolphus Jenkins, R. P. Ridley, J. A. Hagadorn, Dr. E. O. Baxter, J. L. L. Riggs and G. M. Haskins were appointed a special committee to circulate the remonstrance for additional signatures.
The Parsons bill was defeated and in the fall of 1870 a survey was made up the west branch of the Des Moines, via Rutland, Emmetsburg and Estherville to the state line. Late in that year the road was completed to Fort Dodge, when the financial condition of the company caused a cessa- tion in the work. The financial difficulties continued and the road was finally sold under foreclosure. That part of it from Keokuk to Des Moines is now a part of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific system, and the line from Des Moines to Fort Dodge is operated by the Minneapolis & St. Louis.
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MINNEAPOLIS, ST. PAUL & UNION PACIFIC
The failure of the Des Moines Valley Railroad Company to build to the state line left the people of Emmet County without immediate hope or prospect of a railroad. When Gen. Lindsay Seals appeared before a meeting at Estherville on March 27, 1872, as a representative of the Minn- eapolis, St. Paul & Union Pacific Railroad Company he was given a cor- dial reception. He announced that the company was ready to begin the work of constructing a line of railroad from Minneapolis to connect with the Union Pacific at Omaha, and asked for the aid and cooperation of the people of Emmet County. Adolphus Jenkins, R. E. Ridley, H. G. Day, I. Skinner and G. M. Haskins were appointed a committee to select a location for a depot and report how much money could be raised by private sub- scription. Another meeting on April 1, 1872, pledged $5,000 as a bonus to the company, provided cars were running to Estherville by July 1, 1874, and freight and passenger stations were established within half a mile of the public square.
Special elections were held in eight townships of the county to vote on the question of levying a five per cent. tax, the proceeds of which were to be given to the railroad company to aid in the construction of the road. The amount of the tax in Emmet County would have been about seventy- five thousand dollars, but before it was collected General Seals transferred his affiliations to another company known as the Fort Dodge & North- western Railroad Company, of which John F. Duncombe was president; Lindsay Seals, secretary; O. E. Palmer, treasurer. This company pur- chased conditionally large tracts of the Des Moines Valley Railroad lands, some of which was in Emmet County. Special taxes had also been voted in Clay County and the Northern Vindicator of December 7, 1872, called attention to the fact that in Clay County an effort was then being made to divert the tax there to the Iowa & Dakota Railroad Company, another corporation which made glowing promises, but failed in the performance. General Seals was asked by the people of Emmet County for an explana- tion, but the general, probably concluding that discretion was the better part of valor, wisely remained silent, and the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Union Pacific Railroad came to an untimely end.
FORT DODGE & FORT RIDGELY
After the failure of the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Union Pacific project, the railroad question lay dormant for about two years. Then the Fort Dodge & Fort Ridgely (the successor of the Fort Dodge & Northwestern) came forward with a proposition to build a railroad through Emmet County, on condition that financial aid was extended by the several town-
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ships. Again special elections were held in Armstrong Grove, Center, Ellsworth, Emmet, Estherville, Swan Lake, Iowa Lake and Twelve Mile Lake townships, all of which voted in favor of a five per cent. tax to aid in the construction of the road. Once more history repeated itself and again the citizens of the county were disappointed in their efforts to secure a railroad. On January 5, 1877, the board of supervisors instructed the treasurer of the county not to collect the special tax in the above named townships "until the said Fort Dodge & Fort Ridgely Railroad Company complied with all the conditions upon which such tax was voted." As the company never complied with the conditions the tax was never col- lected.
BURLINGTON, CEDAR RAPIDS & NORTHERN
Early in the year 1880 the railroad company known as the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Falls & Northwestern began to take an active part in Iowa railroad history. A line of railway was projected from Cedar Rapids to Worthington, Minnesota, and on June 23, 1880, construction bonds to the amount of $825,000 were issued. Before the close of the year the road had been completed between Holland, Grundy County, and Clarion, Wright County, and the company announced that the following year the road would be completed to the town of Worthington, 177 miles from Holland. The activity of the new company caused a revival of the old Des Moines Valley Railroad project and an Saturday, February 26, 1881, a meeting was held at Emmetsburg to see what could be done toward securing the extension of that line from Fort Dodge through Palo Alto and Emmet counties. Robert Shea, treasurer of Palo Alto County, presided and sev- eral Estherville men were present, though most of them did not arrive until after the meeting had adjourned.
On March 9, 1881, the stock and bondholders of the Des Moines & Fort Dodge held a meeting in New York City and agreed to extend the road into Minnesota. They suggested that Palo Alto and Emmet counties should each raise $25,000 to assist in the construction of the road. Past experience had taught the people of the upper Des Moines Valley that the promises of this company could not be relied on, and a majority were in favor of making an effort to secure the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Falls & Northwestern instead.
A meeting was therefore called at the school house in Estherville for the afternoon of April 28, 1881. Howard Graves was called to the chair. S. L. Dows, of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Falls & Northwestern Railroad Company, was present. Frank Davey, E. H. Ballard, F. E. Allen, David Weir and Knuet Espeset were appointed a committee to draw up an agree- ment between the people of Emmet County and the railroad company, the conditions of which were that the company was to pay the expenses of
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holding a special election to vote on the question of levying a five per cent. tax, and that the road was to be completed to Estherville by September 1, 1881. Special elections were held in the townships of Center, Ellsworth, Emmet, Estherville, High Lake and Twelve Mile Lake, and five of the six voted in favor of the tax.
On June 23, 1881, an agreement was entered into between the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Falls & Northwestern and the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway Companies, by which the former company was to issue $4,000,000 in bonds to take up the outstanding construction bonds issued the year before, and to lease to the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern the line from Holland to Worthington, for the term of years mentioned in the charter. This agreement was signed by George J. Boal and W. P. Brady, president and secretary of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Falls and North- western, and J. Tracy and W. D. Walker, president and secretary of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern. About this time the Spirit Lake Beacon said editorially :
"It is no secret in Iowa that the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & North- ern is backed by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, two companies ranking among the very staunchest doing business in the state. The intense rivalry existing between these corporations and others doing business in this quarter of the state will prevent any pooling of issues to the disadvantage of the inhabitants of this section, and insures sharp competition and consequently low rates of transportation."
By the close of the year 1881 the track was laid to Emmetsburg and the grading was practically finished as far as Estherville. On June 8, 1882, the first train arrived at Estherville. The people of Emmet County at last were provided with railroad transportation. A month later the road was finished as far as Spirit Lake. From that point work was con- ducted more slowly, but the western terminus at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was reached in due time. The road is now known as the Cedar Rapids & Sioux Falls division of the Rock Island system.
CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL
About the close of the Civil war Congress made a grant of land to the McGregor & Western Railroad Company to assist in building a line of railroad from the Mississippi River at McGregor to some point in North- western Iowa or South Dakota. The company had some difficulty in rais- ing the necessary funds to build the road, the aim being to hold on to the lands until the road was finished, when a better price could be obtained for the lands. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company became interested in the project and the charter of the McGregor & West- ern was finally assigned to that company. Building west from McGregor,
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the road passed through Mason City, Algona and Emmetsburg, and in the fall of 1878 was completed as far as Spencer.
The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul was one of the rival corporations referred to by the editor of the Spirit Lake Beacon in the quotation above. Early in December, 1881, the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern track- layers reached the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul tracks at Emmetsburg about ten o'clock one Sunday morning. Anticipating trouble in making a crossing over the tracks of the rival company, Judge Tracy, president of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern; General Superintendent Ives ; S. L. Dows, president of the construction company ; Chief Engineer White and others were there in a private car to encourage the workmen. The necessary angle irons, etc., had been prepared and a force of men was soon at work tearing up the tracks of the rival company. By noon the crossing was in position and the work of tracklaying was continued beyond the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road.
Superintendent Sanborn, of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, was at Mason City that Sunday morning, when he received a telegram notify- ing him of what was taking place at Emmetsburg. He hurried to the scene, but before he arrived the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern had completed the crossing. Shortly after midnight that night, Mr. Sanborn marched a body of men up to the obnoxious crossing and personally directed its removal. The tracks were then relaid and when the Burling- ton, Cedar Rapids & Northern workmen appeared on Monday morning they found a train of freight cars standing where their crossing had been the day before. All that day the place was kept in a state of blockade by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Company. When a train arrived the blockading train would pull on to a siding and as soon as the regular train had passed would resume its place.
The officials of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern applied to Judge Weaver of the Circuit Court for an order restraining the other company from obstructing their work. A cross complaint was filed by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul asking for an injunction against the opposition company that would prevent the restoration of the crossing. Judge Weaver decided in favor of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & North- ern and an appeal was taken to the Supreme Court. While the matter was pending there a compromise was effected, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul replacing the crossing and paying its rival $1,000 as a recompense for the delay.
One object of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Company in remov- ing the crossing was to hold back the construction of its opponent, hop- ing thereby to reach Estherville in advance of the Burlington. The tracks of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul ran east of the other road, passing through High Lake and the southwest corner of Center Township. On April 17, 1882, the following action was taken by the Estherville council:
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"Be it resolved by the town council of the incorporated town of Esther- ville, Iowa, that the sum of $180 be, and the same is hereby, appropriated for the purpose of aiding in the purchase of depot grounds to be used for railway purposes by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company, and that a committee be appointed by the mayor to procure a deed therefor and deliver the same to said company."
Mayor F. E. Allen appointed Dr. E. H. Ballard and Knuet Espeset, two members of the council, to serve as the committee. They performed their duty and in this way the people of Estherville donated the site for a railroad station. In August, 1889, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Company abandoned its line form Emmetsburg to Estherville and tore up its tracks.
CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN.
On January 10, 1836, the Illinois Legislature granted a charter to the Galena & Chicago Union Railway Company, which was authorized to build a railroad from Chicago to the lead mines on the Mississippi River. The first train that ever left Chicago for the West was on this road, October 24, 1848. It was drawn by a little locomotive called the "Pio- neer," which would be regarded as a mere pigmy by the side of some of the Northwestern Locomotives of the present day. The old Pioneer is still in the possession of the company and was exhibited at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. After the financial panic of 1857 the com- pany was reorganized as the Chicago & Northwestern. That reorganiza- tion marked the beginning of one of the great railway systems of the country.
At that time there was a heavy tide of emigration from the older states to the country west of the Mississippi River, and the new board of directors decided to construct a railroad through Iowa to the Missouri River. Early in the '60s the first train crossed the Mississippi at Clinton, Iowa, and although the nation was then involved in civil war, the line was pushed westward through Belle Plaine, Marshalltown, Ames, Carroll and Denison, and on January 17, 1867, the first train from the east rolled into Council Bluffs. Then followed the construction of the line from Chi- cago to Minneapolis and St. Paul, after which came the building or acqui- sition of branch lines until now the Northwestern and its ramifications cover the states of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas.
As early as the summer of 1880 the Chicago & Northwestern Rail- road Company sent a party of surveyors through Northwestern Iowa and selected a route for a railroad almost identical with that later followed by the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern. At that time the company was not above asking aid from the people in the construction of its branch lines. Not receiving the encouragement in this direction that had been
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anticipated, it withdrew from the field, though a little later the branch from Eagle Grove to Hawarden was built.
On Saturday, December 10, 1898, W. P. Barlow filed articles of incorporation with Register of D'eeds Cobleigh, in Redwood County, Min- nesota, for the Minnesota & Iowa Railroad Company. The incorporators were all connected with the Chicago & Northwestern Company and the articles set forth that the object was to build a line of railroad "from some point on the Winona & St. Peter Railroad near Sanborn southward into the State of Iowa." Work was commenced early in the year 1899 and within twelve months the road was in operation. It runs from Sanborn, Minnesota, to Burt, Iowa, where it connects with the main line of the Northwestern from Des Moines to Minneapolis. On the time cards of the Chicago & Northwestern Company it appears as the Jewell & San- born division "via Burt." This road passes through the townships of Lincoln, Swan Lake, Armstrong Grove and Denmark, in Emmet County. The stations in the county are Dolliver, Gridley, Halfa and Ringsted- one in each of the township named.
MINNEAPOLIS & ST. LOUIS
About the time the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company began work on the line from Jewell to Sanborn the Minneapolis & St. Louis Company projected a line from Winthrop, Minnesota, to Storm Lake, Iowa, a distance of 155 miles. This road enters Emmet County from the north near the northwest corner of Ellsworth Township, from which point it runs almost in a direct line in a southwesterly direction to the City of Estherville. From Estherville it follows a somewhat devious course through Estherville and Twelve Mile Lake townships until it crosses the western boundary of the county about the middle of Section 7, Township 98, Range 34.
A proposition to acquire by purchase or condemnation grounds for a depot, roundhouse and machine shops for this railroad company, at a cost not to exceed eighteen thousand dollars, was submitted to the voters of Estherville Township at a special election on March 11, 1899, and was carried by a vote of 450 to 30. Grounds were acquired and Estherville was made a division point on the road. In the summer of 1909 the divi- sion point was removed to Spencer, but in October of the same year it was brought back to Estherville, where it still remains. No machine shops were built by the company in Emmet County.
ROCK ISLAND BRANCH LINES
The branch of the Rock Island system running eastward from Esther- ville was built in 1892 as the Chicago & Iowa Western, It runs from
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CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILROAD BRIDGE, ESTHERVILLE
THE OLD MILL, ESTHERVILLE
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ASTOR, IL ' TILDEN F ...
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Estherville to Dows, where it connects with the main line for Cedar Rap- ids and Chicago. The Emmet County stations on this road are Gruver, Maple Hill and Armstrong. At Germania, Iowa, it is tapped by another branch that runs northward to Albert Lea, Minnesota, making connection at that point with the main line for Minneapolis and St. Paul.
About three o'clock on the afternoon of May 13, 1909, the Rock Island depot at Estherville was discovered to be on fire, and so rapid was the progress of the flames that some of the company's employees in the sec- ond story of the building had to make their escape by way of ladders placed at the windows. In a short time the structure was a smoking ruin, entailing a loss of about eight thousand dollars. The present hand- some depot was then erected at a cost of $26,000 and was opened for the transaction of business on February 1, 1910.
VALUE OF RAILROAD PROPERTY
Altogether Emmet County has nearly eighty miles of railroad, exclu- sive of side tracks, Iowa Lake and Jack Creek being the only townships without a railroad. The valuation of railroad property in the county in 1915, as shown by the auditor's records, given by townships and towns, was as follows:
Townships
Armstrong Grove
$ 43,429
Center
45,067
Denmark
39,084
Ellsworth
8,355
Emmet
15,648
Estherville
100,254
High Lake
38,439
Lincoln
47,878
Swan Lake
84,871
Twelve Mile Lake.
19,942
Towns
Armstrong
6,160
Estherville
34,718
Dolliver
3,224
Gruver
3,899
Halfa (including school district)
42,309
Ringsted
12,214
Wallingford
7,797
Total
$553,288
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DRAINAGE
Although not an internal improvement in the sense of being a public utility, the drainage and reclamation of the swamp lands has been a potent factor in the development of Emmet County's natural resources, and perhaps no other agency has added so much to the county's wealth and prosperity. For many years after the first settlements were made in the county a large part of the surface could not be cultivated on account of the marshes, through which the channels of the watercourses were not regularly defined and the natural drainage was imperfect. No provision ` was made for reclaiming these marshes until the passage of an act by the Sixteenth General Assembly authorizing boards of county supervisors "to locate and cause to be constructed levees, ditches or drains," such as might be necessary for the reclamation of swamp lands. Under the act of 1882 the property holders were given the right of petition to the board of supervisors for the construction of ditches or drains, and the board was given enlarged powers in the way of levying assessments against the property benefited and damages in favor of property injured by the construction of such ditch or drain.
The first drainage districts in Emmet County (Nos. 1, 2 and 3) were established in 1900 and assessments for construction placed upon the tax lists. By January, 1917, the number of drainage districts had reached 117, which gives the reader some idea of the amount of improvement of this character that has been made in the county. The work of reclaim- ing the swamp lands met with considerable opposition in the early stages, some of the opponents claiming that the drainage laws were unconstitu- tional, inasmuch as they violated Section 18, Article I, of the constitu- tion, which provides :
"Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation first being made, or secured to be made, to the owner thereof, as soon as the damages shall be assessed by a jury, who shall not take into consideration any advantages that may result to said owner on account of the improvement for which it is taken."
To settle the question and enable the work of reclamation to go on without dispute, the General Assembly submitted to the people of the state at the general election on November 3, 1908, the following amend- ment to the above section :
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