History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 71

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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257

THE RAILROAD SYSTEM.

A contract was made between the Galena & Chicago Union and Chicago & Aurora railroads, December 13, 185t, for carrying on a joint business. This contract was signed by E. S. Wadsworth, president, of the Aurora Branch road, and John B. Turner, president of the Galena & Chicago Union. On June 28, 1856, the company entered into an arrangement with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company through James F. Joy, amending the contract made with this company or its predecessor in 1851. Moses M. Strong, president of the Mineral Point Railroad ; W. P. Burrall, president of the Illinois Central, and John B. Turner, president of the Galena & Chicago Union, entered into a contract October 10, 1853, regulating the business of the Min- eral Point road so far as it related to the two principal roads named.

The contract with the Beloit & Madison Railroad Company providing for the building of that road, was made January 2, 1854, J. B. Turner, president of both roads, signing on behalf of each.

The contract with the Fox River Valley Railroad Company was entered into March 15, 1854, and signed by J. B. Turner on the part of the Galena & Chicago Union, and B. W. Raymond on that of the Fox River Valley. This contract provided for the construction of the road by the latter and its equipment by the former company, and also laid down rules for the division of revenues and special privileges.

The Dixon Air Line, a branch of the Galena & Chicago Union, was built in 1854. It was subsequently purchased by the Chicago & North Western.

The Chicago, St. Charles & Mississippi Air Line Railroad was before the people in 1854 ; but the only work done on the road was its grading from Chicago to St. Charles, after which it was sold to the Galena & Chicago Union, and in 1864 was purchased by the Chi- cago & North-Western.

The progress of the road from 1849 to 1857 is shown in the following table :

Year.

Gross Earnings.

Expenditures.

1849-50.

$ 48,331 96

$ 18,519 82

IS50-51.

127,685 78

48,904 24

1851-52.

211.310 55

87,361 67

I852-53.

473,548 21

187,396 39

1853-54.

799,013 88

359, 199 04

1854-55.

1,506,710 II

686,516 86

1855-56

2,315,786 96

1,063,744 85

1856-57 ..

2,416,343 85

1,295,493 69

May to Dec., 1857.

1,640,S06 94

921,251 82

'The rewards which waited on the projectors were fully earned. A railroad conceived, equipped, and suc- cessfully managed during those early years, without aid from the State or General Government, pointed out its projectors to be men at once self-reliant, energetic, en- terprising and intelligent. Michigan, Illinois, and in fact all States and private companies, that entered on such enterprises, were driven to the verge of ruin, the Ga- lena & Chicago Union Railroad Company alone making their enterprise successful from the moment work was begun. The history of the road up to 1864, when it was consolidated with the North-Western Railroad, is considere.l in the history of that immense railroad sys- tem.

CHICAGO & NORTH-WESTERN KAILROAD, 1854-57 .- The Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad, now the Chicago & North-Western, was originated in 1854. The Elgin & State Line Company's road, B. W. Ray- mond, president, was begun in 1854. It appears that the Galena & Chicago I'nion Railroad Company de-

signed to build an air line from Elgin to Chicago, and the object of the Elgin & State Line road was to con- nect the air line with the Wisconsin Central Railroad, then being constructed from the Illinois boundary to Stevens Point, Wis. The Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Company, however, refused to build the air line ; when its place was supplied by the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac. W. B. Ogden was president of this company, which must be considered identical with the Illinois & Wisconsin Railroad Company, chartered under the concurrent acts of Illinois and Wisconsin. On the 13th of March, 1851, the Legislature of Wiscon- sin granted a charter to Levi Blossom, Charles H. Wheeler and others, as a corporation called the Green Bay, Milwaukee & Chicago Railroad Company. At about the same time the Illinois Legislature granted a charter to the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad Com- pany, with.authority to build a line from Chicago to the State line between Wisconsin and Illinois, where it would meet the line built by the Green Bay, Milwaukee

& Chicago Railroad Company. .Both corporations be- gan the work of construction at once, and before the close of 1855 the two lines were completed and met at the State line. They operated the road together until 1863, when the two companies consolidated. It was in operation to Barrington January 1, 1855, and on March I to Cary-thirty-eight miles. In June and July, 1855, the gauge was changed, the line extended to Wood- stock, fifty-two miles from Chicago, and opened July 11, 1855.

The Beloit & Madison Railroad, subsequently the Rock River Valley Railroad, was built under the char- ter of 1848. The principals of the enterprise were John B. Macy, T. L. Gillett and A. Hyatt Smith, the two first of Fond du Lac and the latter of Janesville, Wis. Books were opened December 19, 1850, and on July 10, 1851, ground was broken at Fond du Lac by Timothy F. Strong, Sr., for a six-foot gauge railroad. The road was first laid with wooden and strap-iron rails, over which the old "Winnebago " drew the first train. The little engine weighed fifteen tons. On her arrival at Sheboygan from Buffalo in 1851, fourteen yoke of oxen were attached to the wagon on which she was placed, and after six weeks of laborious effort over the forty-two miles of road her arrival was reported at Fond du Lac. This road was consolidated with the Illinois & Wisconsin in 1855, and both with the Chi- cago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac, September 6, 1855. In 1857 the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac absorbed the Wisconsin & Superior Railroad.

After the consolidation of the Illinois & Wisconsin and the Rock River Valley Railroad in 1855, under the name of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad Company, the progress of the road became remarkable. In 1856 the divisions from the State line to Janesville and from Fond du Lac to Minnesota Junction were completed ; the grade was changed from six feet to four feet eight and a half inches, and through-passenger trains run from Chicago to Mississippi, via Milton June- tion and Janesville, over the track of the Milwaukee & Mississippi, or Prairie du Chien Railroad. At this time the contest for the possession of the seven hundred thousand acres of railroad lands in Wisconsin took place. The influence of Milwaukee opposed the pre- tentious claims of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac road ; and to meet their opposition a policy was adopt- ed which was attended with success. The Wisconsin & Superior Railroad Company was incorporated, seven hundred thousand acres of land secured, and in 185; the charter and lands were placed in possession of the am-

258

HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

bitious Chicago line. In addition to this the Marquette State line and the Ontonagon & State line roads were con- solidated. This policy of absorption was carried on un- remittingly, until at length the road became known throughout the world as the Chicago & North-Western.

CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & QUINCY RAILROAD, 1849- 57 .- This great system, which, in these times embraces 4,126 miles of road, and brings the commerce of great portions of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Colo- rado into the heart of thiscity, may be said to have formed a nucleus in 1849. The Aurora Branch Rail- road was incorporated February 12, 1849, and empowered to build a road from Aurora to the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad in Du Page County. The first direct- ors were : S. F. Gale, I. H. Burch, Allen Robbins, E. S. Wadsworth, John Frink, E. C. Larned, John Van Nort- wick, B. Hackney, L. D. Brady, J. W. Brooks, and Gilbert C. Davidson. On November 1, 1850, this branch was completed and cars from Aurora passed into Chicago over the Galena & Chicago Union Company's track.

December 13, 1851, the Aurora Branch Railroad Company and the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Company entered into an agreement, to be in force for thirty years from January 1, 1852, containing those stipulations referred to in the history of the last-named road for the transaction of a joint business.

A contract made October 3, 1854, between George C. Bestor, president of the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad ; James F. Joy, president of the Chicago & Aurora Rail- road, and J. W. Brooks, by J. F. Joy, president of the Central Military Tract, provided for the joint business of these roads. On January 1, 1856, the Northern Cross- roads, the Central Military Tract and the Chicago & Aurora, entered into further contracts for the regulation of joint business and for the disposal of the bonds then authorized.

The gross earnings of the Chicago & Aurora Rail- road from January to December, 1854, were $300,042.62, of which sum $152,105.98 were disbursed on account of general expenditures.

The Peoria & Oquawka Railroad, (chartered in 1849,) from Peoria through Galesburg to Burlington, was graded and several miles of track laid by January 31, 1854, to Galesburg, in December, 1854, and in 1856 was consolidated with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. This road was taken into the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system in 1863, thus opening a through route from East Burlington to Peoria.

The act to incorporate the Central Military Tract Railroad was approved February 13, 1851, with William McMurtry, C. S. Colton, James Bunce, W. S. Gale, H. H. May, G. C. Lamphere, W. A. Wood, Alfred Brown, Alva Wheeler, Peter Grouse, Amos Ward, Patrick Dunn, Daniel Meeks, Silas Willard and .\. C. Wiley incorpora- tors. In an amendment to this act, approved June 19, 1852, the names of Sylvester Blish, Barney M. Jackson, Myrtle G. Brace, Edward Holister, Edwin G. Ellet and William Maxwell were added to the list of incorporators. The road was built by Colton & Brooks and opened in 1855. The consolidation of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy with the Central Military Tract line was ef- fected July 9, 1856 ; but for convenience in rendering the accounts for receipts and disbursements, the actual consolidation dates from July 1, 1856. The earnings of the Central Military Tract Railroad for eight months, ending December 31, 1855, amounted to 8314.529.56, of which $134,293. 11 formed the aggregate expendi- tures.

Railroad connection between Chicago and Burling- ton, Towa, was established the first week in March,

1855. During the same year the Northern Cross road from Galesburg to Quincy was completed. During the session of the Legislature of 1855, a law had been passed consolidating the Aurora & Chicago, the Cen- tral Military Tract, the western end of the Peoria & Oquawka, and the Northern Cross Railroad companies into a single corporation under the name of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. The Chicago & Aurora Railroad extended from Chicago to Mendota, the Central Military Tract from Mendota to Galesburg, the west end of the Peoria & Oquawka from Galesburg to Burlington, and the Northern Cross Railroad from Galesburg to Quincy. This consolidation gave Chicago five points of connection with the Mississippi Valley, and a road two hundred and ten miles in length. In 1856 arrangements were fully completed and trains run- ning into Chicago, from Geneva Junction, over the tracks of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad. The tracks of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, via Six- teenth Street, were laid into the city in 1863.

The Rock Island & Alton Railroad Company, to whom aid was granted along its proposed line in 1856 (but in many instances the bonds representing this aid were returned to the people), was completed over a dif- ferent route from that selected in the first instance, under the name of Rock Island & St. Louis Railroad. The line was carried on under varied fortunes until in IS76 the Rock Island & St. Louis Company adopted the title St. Louis, Rock Island & Chicago Railroad Com- pany, and the same year the line was purchased by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company.

The income of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad for 1855, including balance of $82,473.35 car- ried forward from December 31, 1855, was $806,611.95, of which $592,630.29 were expended in dividends, in- terest on bonds, sinking fund, taxes and operating ex- penses in 1854-55, leaving a balance of $213,981.66 to be credited to the company's account on January 1, 1856. The expenditures of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (consolidated ) from July 1, 1856, to April 30, 1857, were $716,288.61, while the earnings reached $1,389,292.99.

The rolling stock in 1857 comprised eleven coal- burning locomotives, forty-three wood-burning loco- motives, twenty-six first-class passenger coaches, five second-class passenger cars, eight baggage cars, five hundred and ninety-four freight-house cars, one hun- dred and sixteen platform cars, and fifty coal cars.

The directors of the road in 1857 were Erastus Corning, New York; Edward L. Baker, U. Thayer, R. B. Forbes, S. H. Perkins, J. M. Forbes, J. W. Brooks, Massachusetts; James F. Joy, Detroit; Isaac H. Burch, Chicago; John Van Nortwick, Batavia, Ill., and C. S. Colton, Galesburg, Ill. The officers were John Van Nortwick, president; C. G. Hammond, superintendent; and Amos T. Hall, treasurer and secretary.

CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILROAD, 1847- 1857 .- This road had its origin in the Rock Island & LaSalle Railroad Company, chartered February 27, 1847. Although nothing was done toward the construc- tion of the road under this charter, attention was drawn to the project, and enthusiastic meetings and conven- tions were held during the year in Chicago. in favor of a railroad to the Pacific, Hon. Stephen A. Douglas occa- sionally lending his presence to them. In 1850, during the marked revival in railroad matters occasioned by the Illinois Central land grant, Henry Farnum came to Chicago from New Haven, upon William B. Ogden's invitation, to assist in the construction of the Galena A Chicago Union road. While here he examined the

259

THE RAILROAD SYSTEM.

Rock Island route, and was so impressed with its ad- vantages that he wrote to his friend, Joseph E. Sheffield, a rich capitalist of New Haven, to come to Chicago and also look over the proposed route. This resulted in obtaining a charter and building the road.

On February 7, 1851, at the suggestion of Eastern capitalists and from motives prompted by general com- mercial foresight, the charter of the Rock Island & La Salle Company was amended so that the road could be continued from Peru, LaSalle County, by way of Ottawa and Joliet, to Chicago. The name was also changed to . the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company, additional subscriptions of $300,000 being required. By the 13th of the month the requisite amount of new stock had been taken. Surveys of the road under Richard P. Morgan, chief engineer, from Rock Island to Peru, had been going on since December, 1850, and were now (in April) nearly completed. Upon the re-organization of the company in April, 1851, J. B. Jervis was chosen president and William Jervis chief engineer. On account of high water the survey was not entirely completed until June 26. In August all surveys and estimates for the line to Chicago had been made, and on the 25th of that month the executive committee met Messrs. Far-

contract with them for the construction and equipment of the road. This contract was approved by the board of directors, meeting at Rock Island, on September 17. In January, 1852, the company contracted for the build- ing of the Rock-river bridge. Contracts were also made for iron for the whole road, ten thousand tons to be delivered in 1852 (sufficient to furnish the road to Peru) and the remainder in 1853. A large enough force

was to be put on the road to have it completed to Joliet by August 1, and to Ottawa by October 1. Work was finally begun, April 10, 1852, under the superintendency of Mr. Farnum. Although it did not progress quite as rapidly as was anticipated, the progress made was en- couraging. On October 18, the road was open from Chicago to Joliet, a distance of forty miles; January 5, 1853, to Morris, sixty-two miles; February 14, to Otta- wa, eighty-four miles; March 21, to LaSalle, ninety- eight miles; March 21, to Peru, one hundred miles; September 12, to Tiskilwa, one hundred and twenty-two miles; October 12, to Sheffield, one hundred and thirty- seven miles; December 19, to Geneseo, one hundred and fifty-nine miles; and to Rock Island, one hundred and eighty-one miles, February 22, 1854.

The completion of the road to LaSalle and Peru afforded a full opportunity to calculate the advantages which its construction to the Mississippi would confer upon Chicago, as well as the extent to which the interest of the company would be served. Indeed, from that day in October, 1852, when the first passenger train passed down to Joliet, the success which waited upon the enterprise was manifest. In February, 1854, the road was opened to the Mississippi, and the nucleus of the magnificent system, known as the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad was firmly founded. From 1854 to 1857, nothing occurred to mar the harmony of progress, beyond the shocking accident, near Joliet, November 1, 1854. This catastrophe cost eight pass- engers their lives, and the company a large sum of money. In the fall of 1853 the company in union with the Michigan Southern Railroad Company, built their depot between Clark and Sherman streets, on Van Buren Street. This building incurred an expenditure of about $60,ooo and gave the young city another substantial token of hier enterprise and prospects.

CHICAGO & ALTON RAILROAD, 1846-57 .- The

Alton & Springfield road was commenced in 1846 upon promises of money and paid-up stock by local subscrib- ers. During the progress of the road examples of perseverance and self-sacrifice were given, which par- take of the nature of romance rather than of actual his- tory. Captain Godfrey mortgaged all his property, lived in a construction car, and labored as a hired work- man from the beginning of work, in 1846, to the com- pletion of the road in 1852. The charter was granted to the Alton & Sangamon Railroad February 27, 1847.

The Chicago & Mississippi Railroad Company was chartered June 19, 1852. Henry Dwight was the lead- ing spirit in the extension of the Alton road from Springfield to Bloomington and Joliet. Having suc-

ceeded in the organization of a board of directors, in 1856, bonds were issued, amounting to $3.500,000, and with the moneys obtained on such bonds, the road was finished to Joliet, as the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis, the new company leasing the entire line. The Alton & Sangamon road, from Alton to Springfield, was com -. pleted in 1853, and the Chicago & Mississippi, from Springfield to Bloomington, in 1854, and from Bloom- ington to Joliet in 1856.

The Joliet & Chicago Railroad Company was char- num and Sheffield in New York city, and concluded a . tered by the Legislature of 1854-55 and empowered to

construct a road from Joliet via Lockport, to Chicago, on the condition that a perpetual lease of it should be grant- ed to the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company. This con- necting was subsequently completed, the city granting a right-of-way into Chicago in April, 1857.

In December, 1857, Governor Mattison and one or two others, purchased the road at auction, for $5,000, or less than one-ninth of the cost of building one mile, the total sum expended upon the line being $9,535,000. The St. Louis, Alton & Chicago Railroad Company, however, which was then organized, survived but a few years ; the company being re-organized in 1862, as the Chicago & Alton.

THE MICHIGAN SOUTHERN & NORTHERN INDIANA RAILROAD, 1833-57 .- The Michigan Southern was com- pleted to Chicago February 20, 1852, and was the first Eastern trunk line introduced here. The depot was built on the prairie near Gurnee's tannery, opposite the Rock Island Railroad depot, the same year. The his- tory of this road, which is the early history of the pres- ent corporation known as the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company, embraces the record of the Erie & Kalamazoo, 1833 to 1849 ; Michigan South- ern, 1837 to 1855 ; Atlantic & Pacific, or Buffalo & Mississippi, or Northern Indiana, 1835-1855 ; and the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana, 1855-57.

The Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad Company was incorporated in April, 1833, by the Michigan Legis- lative Council, with power to build a road thirty-three miles long, from Port Lawrence, now Toledo, to Adrian, Mich. The road was opened as a one-horse railroad in the summer of 1837 ; but in August of that year the engine, "Adrian Baldwin No. 1," was placed on the road. This enterprise, added to the one undertaken by the company, known as the Palmyra & Jacksonburg Railroad Company, was pregnant with troubles to the company. In 1842 W. J. Daniels was appointed re- ceiver, and the latter road was soll to the State of Michigan for $22,000, the amount due to the State. In 1848 financial troubles brought ruin to the company, and the road was sold to Washington Lunt, of New York, and George Bliss, of Massachusetts. The Michigan Southern Railroad Company leased the road August 1, 1849, and has continued in possession of it, paying a rental of $30,occ annually. This Michigan Southern was one

260

HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

of the old lines, which, like the Michigan Central, passed from the State into the hands of a corporation. In 1837 the track of the Michigan Southern Railroad was laid with strap-rail. In 1839 it was completed to Peters- burg; in 1840 to Adrian ; and in 1843 to Hillsdale. Sixty-six miles were in operation in 1843 from Monroe to Hillsdale, owned and operated by the State of Michi- gan. It was the original plan to build the road from Monroe to New Buffalo ; but, owing to the crisis which the extravagant dreams of 1837 created, the State was forced to cease work on the road in 1843. In 1844 the State took possession of the Palmyra & Jacksonburg Railroad, in lieu of the loan and interest thereon, made by the State to the Erie & Kalamazoo Railroad Com- pany, who projected and built the Palmyra & Jackson- burg Railroad. This last-named road was opened to Tecumseh August 9, 1838, and the branch to Jackson in 1856. In 1846 the road was purchased by Edwin C. Litchfield & Co., of New York, the State agreeing to receive the sum of $500,000 payable in ten installments of $50,000 each, within ten years. In 1850 the new company had added only four miles of track, but within the two succeeding years the Michigan Southern was built from Toledo to Chicago, a distance of two hun- dred and forty-three miles.

A bill for the incorporation of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Company, was introduced in 1835 by John B. Chapman to the legislators of Indiana. The Legis- lature would not consider the bill under that heading, but subsequently granted certain privileges to the Buf- falo & Mississippi Railroad Company.

On May 25, 1835, a number of incorporators-met at Elkhart, Ind., to consider the subject of building a rail- road from Maumee Bay to the Mississippi. From this meeting sprung the organization of a company in Feb- ruary, 1837, with Robert Stewart as president. The road was located and contracts let June 14, 1837. About one mile of the proposed road west of LaPorte was graded. In 1838 work was suspended ; but a line from Goshen to the eastern boundary of the State was located. In 1847 a new company was organized with William B. Ogden, J. Y. Scammon, J. W. Brooks, C. B. Blair, E. D. Taylor, John B. Niles, and A. L. Osborn, directors. Up to 1849 nothing was done on the road, so the company re-organized under the title Northern Indiana Railroad Company. During this year the Rail- road Charter & Insolvent Railroad Purchasing Com- pany, known as Edwin C. Litchfield & Co., of New York, turned their attention from fallen public railroad works in Michigan to fallen private railroads in Ohio and In- diana, and soon had control of the Northern Indiana Railroad Company, the more humble title substituted for the Buffalo & Mississippi.

In October, 1849, the Northern Indiana Railroad Company was organized by Judge Niles, and a charter obtained from the Ohio Legislature, March 3, 1851. At the same time the Northern Indiana & Chicago Railroad Company was organized in Illinois and consolidated with the former under the title of Northern Indiana Railroad Company. Work was begun in earnest and on May 22, 1852, a passenger train, drawn by the en- gine " Adrian," passed over the line from Toledo to Chicago. Within two years following, the company re- constructed fifty miles of the old road and built one hundred and sixty miles of new road. The consolida- tion of the Northern Indiana with the Michigan South- ern was effected April 25, 1855. Between the years 1353 and 1856 the road was extended to Jackson, and to Three Rivers, Mich.

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 71

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340