USA > Illinois > Illinois, historical and statistical, comprising the essential facts of its planting and growth as a province, county, territory, and state, Vol. II > Part 47
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To relate the subsequent complicated history of the immense corporations which grew out of this first railroad in the State, the various changes of name to the Great - Western, the Toledo,- Wabash-and-Western, the Wabash, -St. Louis-and-Pacific, and now the Wabash Railway, and to enumerate its many reorgani- zations, consolidations, and foreclosures, would not only exceed the limits of this work, but also weary the reader.
In 1888, that portion of the lines situated in Illinois, known
1046
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
as the Wabash Railway was placed in the hands of Gen. John Mc Nulta, as receiver, and by him they were successfully oper- ated until the owners recovered possession in 1890. The princi- pal office of the company is at St. Louis.
Among the many railroad charters granted by the legislature of 1836, was one to the Galena-and-Chicago Union Railroad Company, approved January 16. It was the only one of these early charters under which an organization was effected, and a railroad actually put in operation. This line was the second completed in the State, and the first to run from Chicago .*
A company was formed, a partial survey of the proposed route made by Engineer Jas. Seymour, and some progress made in 1836-7; but the financial stringency, which followed that period, caused the cessation of the work in 1838. In 1847, the charter was amended, and the company reorganized, with Wm. B. Ogden at the head, assisted by an enterprising directory, constituted as follows: Walter L. Newberry, Charles Walker, James H. Collins, J. Young Scammon, William H. Brown, John B. Turner, Thomas Dyer, Benjamin W. Raymond, Geo. Smith, Charles S. Hempstead, Thomas Drummond, and Allen Robbins. Francis Howe was made secretary and treasurer, and Richard P. Morgan chief-engineer, who was, in 1849, succeeded by John Van Nortwick. A considerable proportion of the capital was raised along the line, and the first ten miles-from Chicago to the Desplaines River-were completed with a strap-rail, and operations were commenced with a second-hand locomotive pur- chased in New York, named the Pioneer, and six old freight- cars, December 15, 1848.
By January 22, 1850, the road was completed and opened for business to Elgin, a distance of 42 miles. It had cost up to this time $405,000. The first year's income was $48,000, and the cost of operating $24,000. The salary paid the president was $2000, that given to the "acting-director" $1500, and to the secretary $1200, all in stock. In 1851, John B. Turner suc- ceeded William B. Ogden in the presidency.
* John Ebbert of Chicago, was the engineer who ran the first locomotive out of Chicago; he is still living, March, 1891, aged 75 years.
It is an interesting fact that the first locomotive constructed in the Illinois metropolis was used on this road in 1854.
1047
THE NORTHWESTERN RAILROAD.
Belvidere was reached Dec. 3, 1852, and Freeport in August, 1853. Arrangements were made to extend the road to Dixon, Jan. 23, 1854. At Freeport, in 1854, the Illinois-Central Rail- road was made the continuation of the main line to Galena and Dubuque, and a lease was signed and an agreement entered into with the Mississippi-and - Rock- River-Junction Railroad Com- pany by which, including its own road to Freeport, a complete and continuous line was opened and operated from Chicago to the Mississippi River at Fulton in 1855. In 1864, the road became consolidated with the great system known as the Chicago-and-Northwestern, which corporation, by the purchase, consolidation, and absorption of 45 distinct railroad companies in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan, at different periods, has come-1891-into the control and management of 4250 miles of railroad, 586 of which are in Illinois.
The company which gave the title to this whole system was a reorganization, in 1859, of the Chicago,-St. Paul-and-Fond-du- Lac Railroad Company, which was itself a consolidation of the Illinois-and-Wisconsin and the Rock-River-Valley Union Rail- road companies .* The first officers of this new organization were Wm. B. Ogden president, Perry H. Smith vice-president, and George L. Dunlap superintendent. Among other leading officers connected with this road, since that time, may be named the following: Albert Keep, Marvin Hughitt, M. M. Kirkman, William H. Newman, J. B. Redfield, John M. Whit- man, and Sherburne Sanborn; besides, as general - counsel in Chicago, Burton C. Cook and William C. Goudy; and, resident- director at Chicago, Nathaniel K. Fairbank.
The road next in order of completion in the State was a portion of the present Chicago-Burlington-and-Quincy system, under the name of the Aurora-Branch Railroad. It reached from Turner Junction, on the Galena-and-Chicago Union, to Aurora, 13 miles, and the cars began running November 1, 1850. The Chicago-and-Aurora Railroad Company, which succeeded the Branch Road Company, extended the line from Aurora to Mendota, 46 miles, and began to operate the extension in the fall of 1853. In 1855, the name of the company was again changed to that of its present designation, the Chicago, - Burlington -
* "Early Illinois Railroads," p. 50, by William K. Ackerman.
1048
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
and-Quincy, and on July 9, 1856, the latter company was con- solidated with the Central Military-Tract Company, chartered February 15, 1851, which had built a road from Mendota to Galesburg, 80 miles, and opened it for traffic in 1855. In 1860, it became the owner, by purchase under foreclosure sale, of the Northern-Cross Railroad, from Galesburg to Quincy, which had been opened in 1856-the name of which was changed to the Quincy-and-Chicago Railroad in 1857; and, in 1863, of the Peoria-and-Oquaka Road, from Peoria through Galesburg to Burlington, Iowa, which had been opened by that company in 1855, and since then continuously operated. This made a direct line from Chicago to Burlington as early as March I, 1855, and to Quincy the following year.
In 1862, the Chicago-Burlington-and-Quincy Road acquired ownership of the Jacksonville-and-Savannah Railroad, from Yates City to Lewiston; and, in 1864, it constructed an inde- pendent line from Aurora to Chicago. Since that time, the corporation has constructed and is at present operating other branches in Illinois as follows:
MILES
MILES
Geneva to Streator, 68 Scranton to Rushville, 32
Shabbona to Sterling, 48 - Galva to New Boston, 51
Sheridan to Paw Paw, 20 Junction to Keithsburg, 6
Mendota to Fulton and Clinton 65
Carthage to Quincy, 70
Buda to Elmwood, - - 45
Quincy to Louisiana, 50
In 1889, the total length of the entire system was 4567 miles, 854 of which were in Illinois. It also operates in Illinois the St. Louis,-Rock-Island-and-Chicago, 283 miles; the Gales- burg-and-Rio, 12 miles; and the Illinois-Valley-and-Northern, 58 miles.
The principal officers of the road-1890-are Charles E. Perkins president, James C. Peasley and Henry B. Stone vice- presidents, and Thomas S. Howland secretary. The late Wirt Dexter was for many years the general solicitor and the only Chicago director.
The Chicago-and- Alton Railroad, from Alton to Springfield, was originally constructed under a charter granted to the Alton- and-Sangamon Company, February 27, 1847. On June 17, 1852, the name of the company was changed to that of the
1049
THE CHICAGO AND ALTON.
Chicago-and-Mississippi Railroad Company, which was author- ized to extend the road from Springfield to Joliet through Bloomington or to Chicago on certain conditions. Capt. Benjamin Godfrey was the originator of the first project, to the promotion of which he devoted much time and money; Henry Dwight was the father of the second. Some portions of the line were operated in 1852, but the road was not completed to Spring- field until 1853. The line from Springfield to Bloomington was finished in 1854, and from the latter city to Joliet in 1856. The entire cost of these two portions of the present line is com- puted to have been $9,500,000.
In 1855, the name was changed to the Chicago, - Alton-and- St. Louis Railroad. The company was by this time in consider- able financial embarrassment, and in 1857, it passed into the hands of Joel A. Matteson and E. C. Litchfield. The name was thereupon changed to that of the St. Louis, -Alton-and- Chicago Railroad Company.
In the spring of 1857, the Joliet-and-Chicago Railroad Com- pany, incorporated by act of 1855, was completed to Chicago, which by arrangement with the Chicago, - Alton-and-St. Louis Company formed a continuous line from Chicago to Alton. It was leased to the Chicago-and-Alton Company in perpetuity.
In 1858, the road was placed in the hands of a receiver. In 1862, the property was sold under a decree of foreclosure, and the company was reorganized under its present name, the Chicago-and- Alton Railroad Company.
The line from Alton to St. Louis was built in 1864 and opened for business January 1, 1865, by the Chicago-and-Alton-the latter road holding this line also under a perpetual lease.
The St. Louis, -Jacksonville-and-Chicago Railroad Company -consolidated with the Tonica-and-Petersburg Railroad Com- pany-completed its line from Godfrey to Bloomington in 1866, and in 1868, it was likewise absorbed by the Chicago-and-Alton in perpetuity.
The Chicago-and-Alton is the great highway of travel be- tween Chicago and St. Louis, and because of this fact un- doubtedly transports more citizens of Illinois than any other road in the State. The great success it has achieved as a rail- road corporation is due to the intelligent, skilful, and prudent
67
1050
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
management of its president Timothy B. Blackstone and its vice-president James C. Mc Mullen,* who, in its different depart- ments, have conducted its varying fortunes through so many changing vicissitudes of times, laws, and progress-social, mate- rial, and political-through war, labor-troubles, strikes, and adverse decisions of courts, and have enabled their road to show a larger amount of net earnings per mile, and larger annual dividends to the owners, than any other like corporation in the State. C. H. Chappell is the general manager of the road, and Hon. William Brown general solicitor. The resident directors of the company, besides T. B. Blackstone and J. C. Mc Mullen, are Albert A. Sprague, John B. Drake, and A. C. Bartlett, con- stituting a majority of the board.
The entire length of the Chicago-and-Alton line, Oct. 1, 1889, was 849 miles, 586.36 of which were in Illinois, as appears by the following table:
MILES
Chicago to East St. Louis, main line,
280.70
IN ILLINOIS 280.70
Joliet to Mazon River, branch,
-
23.86
23.86
Coal City to Mazon bridge, branch,
5.90
5.90
Dwight to Lacon, branch, -
54.30
54.30
Varna to Washington, branch, -
25.50
25.50
Roadhouse to Louisiana, branch,
38.10
38.10
Bloomington to Godfrey, branch,
150.60
150.60
Godfrey to Wann, branch, -
- 7.40
7.40
Louisiana to Mexico, Missouri, branch, 50.80
Mexico to Cedar City, Missouri, branch, 50.
Mexico to Kansas City, branch,
161.82
* In 1851, Timothy B. Blackstone, then a young man of twenty-two, having been thoroughly educated in the science of civil engineering, determined to leave his na- tive New England and try his fortune in what was the then great West. In 1852, he was employed in the survey and construction of the Illinois-Central from Bloomington to Dixon. When this work was completed, in 1856, he interested himself in the build- ing of the Joliet -and - Chicago Road of which company he became president. In 1861, he was elected a director of the Chicago-and- Alton, and was made the com- pany's president in 1864, which position he has since continuously occupied-having rendered a longer service in that capacity than that of any other railroad man in the State.
James C. Mc Mullen is also the architect of his own fortunes. Coming to Illinois from New York in 1857, he first engaged in railroad work as freight and ticket-agent on the Great-Western Railway at Decatur. Here he remained until his connection with the Chicago-and-Alton in a similar capacity, at Springfield, in 1860. He was
1051
THE CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND AND PACIFIC.
What is now the Chicago, - Rock-Island-and- Pacific Railway Company began operations under a charter granted to the Rock- Island-and-La Salle Co., Feb. 27, 1847, so amended in 1851, as to incorporate the Chicago-and-Rock-Island, under which name a company was organized and the work of construction begun April 10, 1852. The leading spirit, as he was also the principal contractor of this road, was Henry Farnam from New Haven, Conn., who, in 1854, became president of the company. The road was completed, and the first passenger-train run to Joliet in October, 1852; to Morris, 62 miles, January 5, 1853; to Ottawa, 84 miles, February 14; to Peru, 100 miles, March 21; to Geneseo, 159 miles, December 19, 1853; and to Rock Island, 181 miles, February 22, 1854. The entire cost was $4,500,000. The branch from Bureau Junction to Peoria was also completed in 1854. Such energy in railroad construction had never before been witnessed in this State.
The Mississippi-and- Missouri Railroad Company was char- tered in 1852, to construct a road from the Mississippi to the Missouri River. The bridge across the Mississippi at Rock Island was completed April 21, 1855, and the extension of the road to Iowa City and Muscatine in 1856. August 22, 1866, the Chicago-and-Rock-Island and the Mississippi-River companies were consolidated as the Chicago,-Rock-Island-and- Pacific Railway-the name of the present organization. At this time, only one hundred and thirty miles of the main line in Iowa and the Washington branch had been constructed, and the road to the Missouri River and a junction with the Union- Pacific was not completed until June, 1869. The entire length of the main line and branches in 1889 was 1526 miles of which 236 are in Illinois.
The principal Illinois officers are Ransom R. Cable,* president,
made a division-superintendent of the road in 1864, and assistant general -superin- tendent in 1867. The following year, he was promoted to the general superintend- ency, which position he continued to fill until his appointment as general manager in 1878. In 1883, he became vice- president of the road, which office he yet- April, 1891-holds, having thus worked his way up from the ranks to the position of second in command.
* President Cable did not engage in the business of railroading until he was nearly thirty-five years of age, and lacked, therefore, that early training generally deemed essential to success. Having been appointed general manager of the St. Louis, -Rock-
1052
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
W. G. Purdy vice- president, Hiland A. Parker assistant to the president, E. St. John general manager, W. M. Sage traffic- manager, Thos. F. Withrow general counsel; and Hugh Riddle, formerly president of the company, Marshall Field, and John De Koven, Illinois directors.
The origin of the Illinois-Central Railroad Company, and dates of the completion of the main line and Chicago branch, have already been mentioned .*
Portions of the road were operated as construction proceeded, the first being from Thirteenth Street, Chicago, to Kensington for the accommodation of the Michigan-Central trains May 20, 1852. In May, 1853, that portion of the line from Blooming- ton to LaSalle, 61 miles, was put in operation, and in July, 1854, that from Chicago to Urbana, 128 miles. The first sub- urban trains from the city to Hyde Park began running June I, 1856.
The entire line of 705.5 miles of road had not been com- pleted, by September, 1856, without encountering at times serious financial difficulties and embarrassments. The $17,000,- 000 secured by the sale of the first mortgage bonds, readily placed by reason of the pledge of 2,000,000 acres of its lands, had only lasted until 1854, when another loan of $3,000,000 had to be secured. Then came the disastrous financial disturbances of 1857, and, during the absence in Europe of the able and indefatigable president, William Henry Osborn, the company suspended payment and made an assignment. This difficulty was only temporary, however, as another loan of $5,000,000 enabled the corporation soon to resume possession of its property. The total cost of the 705.5 miles of road, as reported by the company in June, 1889, was $35, 110,609.
Island- and- Chicago Railroad Company-formerly the Rockford, -Rock-Islend-and- St. Louis-in 1871, and soon after to the presidency of that corporation, he showed himself an apt scholar, and made a thoroughly able and competent railroad officer. That road having passed into the possession of the Chicago,-Burlington-and-Quincy Com- pany in 1879, he accepted the vice-presidency and general management of the Rock- Island-and-Peoria Railway-one of the most prosperous short-line roads in the State. His acknowledged administrative capability led to his selection, in 1880, as general manager of the great trunk-line under consideration, and, in 1887, he was elected to the presidency of the road, which position he still-April, 1891-retains.
* Vol. I, page 572, et seq.
IO53
THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL.
Not so much was realized from the sale of the lands donated to the company at first as had been anticipated. The country was new and purchasers had little ready money. 107,614 acres were disposed of immediately to preemption claimants. After the location of the land, and as the construction of the road progressed, sales soon began largely to increase and by the close of 1856 over 1,000,000 of acres had been sold .* Up to January 1, 1890, 2,456,829 acres had been disposed of, yielding $28,742,0027 a sum exceeding three-fourths of the total cost of the road. And, although the corporation has returned to the State, in the statutory seven-per-cent gross earnings, on an average about $350,000 per annum since 1856, when it is considered that other railroads pay taxes also, some of them exceeding this sum in proportion to their mileage in Illinois, it must be admitted that the Illinois-Central is a highly-favored corpora- tion-above any other in the State at this day.
Other roads have been acquired by lease, purchase, or reor- ganization, with mileage in Illinois, as follows:
YEAR
MILES PRICE PAID
1887,
Chicago,-Havana-and-Western,
131.62 $1,801,022
Chicago,-Madison-and-Northern, 130,97
1877, Chicago-and-Springfield, -
III.47
1,600,000
1878, Kankakee-and-Southwestern,
131.26
1,432,858
1887, Rantoul Railroad,
66.21 511,212
1881, South-Chicago Railroad, - - 4.76
217,904
These lines added to the original length make a total of 1282 miles of road in Illinois in 1890.
Among those whose names appear as officers or employés of the company, the following subsequently became distinguished Union officers: George B. McClellan, chief-engineer and vice- president; Ambrose E. Burnside, treasurer; Nathaniel P. Banks, a resident director in 1860-1; Truman E. G. Ransom, a station agent; John Basil Turchin, connected with the land-department; Mason Brayman, one of the solicitors; John B. Wyman, a division superintendent; David Stuart, a solicitor; H. L. Robinson, a conductor; Joseph Kirkland, auditor; James T. Tucker, assistant-
* C. C. P. Holden.
+ Ackerman's " Historical Sketch of the Illinois-Central Railroad Company, " p. 75.
IO54
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
treasurer; and John C. Willing, for many years auditor and advanced, in 1890, to the position of first vice-president.
The following is a list of the presidents of the company: Robert Schuyler, 1851-3; William P. Burrall, 1853-4; John N. A. Griswold, 1855; William H. Osborn, 1855-65; John M. Douglas, a long time the able solicitor of the company, and resident director, from 1865-71, and from 1875-6; John Newell, 1871-4; Wilson G. Hunt, 1874-5; William K. Ackerman, who has been connected with the road since 1852, as treasurer, andi- tor, and director, from 1877-83; James C. Clarke from 1883-7; and Stuyvesant Fish, the present incumbent, since May, 1887.
Benj. F. Ayer has filled the responsible position of general solicitor of the company, acting also as a director, since 1877. Joseph F. Tucker was connected with the company in various capacities, leading up to the general superintendency, for twenty- eight years; and his brother, Horace Tucker, the present gen- eral freight-agent, since 1862. Edward T. Jeffrey, who rose from the position of office-boy to the general-managership of the road, was in its service from 1856-89, when he resigned.
But few of the directors, outside of the officers, have been citizens of Illinois. Of those elected in 1890, two, however, were residents of Chicago, namely, John W. Doane and Norman B. Ream.
The Chicago,-Milwaukee-and-St. Paul Company, a corpora- tion formed through the consolidation of several Wisconsin lines, was organized Feb. 14, 1874. The length of its various lines-5656 miles-exceeds that of any other road entering Chicago., Of these, 318 miles only are in Illinois, as follows: Chicago toward Milwaukee 45.06 miles, Roundout to Liberty- ville 3, Chicago to Evanston 11.76, North Chicago to Pacific Junction 3.39, Pacific Junction to Savanna 135,48, Galewood to Dunning 3.18, Racine to Kittridge 51.63, Savanna to Port Byron Junction 47.70, Rockton to Rockford 14.94, Warren to Mineral Point 1.01. Roswell Miller is the president of the company; E. P. Ripley, formerly for many years general mana- ger of the Chicago,-Burlington-and -Quincy, vice-president; J. F. Tucker, assistant to the president; and A. J. Earling general manager. Philip D. Armour of Chicago, is the resident director.
Among the earlier cross-roads constructed was the Ohio-and-
1055
THE OHIO AND MISSISSIPPI.
Mississippi Railway, chartered Feb. 12, 1851. The original line, from St. Louis to Cincinnati-338.05 miles in length, of which 146 are in Illinois-was completed and opened May 1, 1857. The company was foreclosed in 1862, and a reorganization was effected in 1867. In 1875, the new company acquired the various lines of road, then known as the Springfield-and-Illinois-South- eastern Railway, from Beardstown to Shawneetown, 224.86 miles. Its principal officers, J. F. Barnard being president, reside in Cin- cinnati. C. M. Stanton of Springfield is assistant-superintendent of the road, and Director Frank W. Tracy, also of Springfield, the state-agent for Illinois. George S. Morrison of Chicago is also an Illinois director.
The Terre-Haute-and-Alton Railroad Company was also chartered January 1, 1851, for the purpose of building a road between these two points, 172.50 miles. Work was begun in 1852 and the road completed by March 1, 1856. It subse- quently embraced by consolidation, the Belleville-and - Illinois- town Railroad-15 miles-and an extension of that line from Illinoistown to Alton. The first section of this road was com- pleted in 1854, and the extension to Alton in October, 1856. The road was sold under foreclosure and a new company organ- ized under the name of the St. Louis-Alton-and-Terre-Haute Railroad Company Feb. 18, 1861. The main line, from East St. Louis to Terra Haute, 193 miles, all in Illinois except eight miles, is leased to and run by the Indianapolis-and-St .- Louis Railroad Company. The St. Louis, -Alton-and-Terra- Haute Company operates its line from East St. Louis to Belleville, and also the following leased roads: Belleville-and-Southern Illinois, to Du Quoin, 56 miles; the Belleville-and-Eldorado, Du Quoin to Eldorado, 50 miles; Belleville-and-Carondelet, 17 miles; St. Louis-Southern Railroad, Pinckneyville to Marion, 49 miles; and the Chicago,-St .- Louis-and-Paducah, from Marion to Paducah, 50 miles.
George W. Parker of St. Louis is president, general manager, and treasurer of this road, and Edward F. Leonard of Spring- field, Illinois, secretary. A majority of the directors are resi- dents of Illinois, as follows: F. M. Youngblood, Carbondale; Eli Wiley, Charleston; W. K. Murphy, Pinckneyville; James A. Eads, Paris; Henry A. Beach, Litchfield; Levi Davis, Alton; Edward Abend, Belleville.
1056
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
The St. Louis, - Vandalia-and - Terre- Haute Railroad, from East St. Louis to Indiana state line, 158 miles, was chartered Feb. 10, 1865, and the road opened July 1, 1870. It is leased to and operated by the Terre-Haute-and- Indianapolis Railroad Company.
Another of these earlier lines, constructed across the State, is the Toledo,-Peoria-and - Western, chartered as the Toledo, - Peoria-and-Warsaw Feb. 14, 1863, to construct a road from the Indiana state line to Warsaw, Illinois, 219 miles, which was opened in 1868-with a branch from La Harpe to Iowa Station, 10 miles, in 1873. It was sold under foreclosure and the present company organized in 1887.
E. F. Leonard of Springfield is president and general mana- ger of the road, and H. D. Gould general-freight, passenger- and ticket-agent. The offices are located at Peoria. A major- ity of the directors are citizens of Illinois: the president and John W. Bunn, Springfield; Wm. Hill, Warsaw; E. D. Usner and E. N. Armstrong, Peoria. The other four directors are located in New York.
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