Portrait and biographical album of Peoria County, Illinois : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 15

Author: Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > Illinois > Peoria County > Portrait and biographical album of Peoria County, Illinois : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 15

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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troduction of all modern appliances which tend to the preservation of life and property, placed itself in such a condition, materially and physically, that its financial future cannot be affected by the con- tingencies which seriously affect other roads. Its success as one of the great highways of the West is an assured reality. It might be appropriately noted here that while much of this road's past suc- cess may be attributed to its admirable geographi- ical location, embracing a very rich section of the country for local traffic, and with a termini on Lake Michigan, the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and Denver, the heart of the Rocky Mountain ie- gions. equally as much is due to the stability of the management, and to the fact that the property has never yet become the foot-ball of speculators. It is not surprising that the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific has maintained a firm position as an invest- ment in the moneyed centers of the world, and it has acquired a well-merited popularity with the traveling and shipping public. Its steel rails and well ballasted road-bed have long since made it the favorite with shippers, and its freight traffic is im- mense and growing. At Council Bluffs and Omaha, connections are made with all roads centering there. It is the most direct and shortest route be- tween Omaha and Chicago -- and hence the favorite of shippers. At Davenport a branch diverges to the Southwest, and extends to Kansas City, Leav . enworth, Atchison and St. Joseph.

At St. Joseph the road crosses the Missouri and enters Kansas; at Horton the line diverges and ex- tends up into Nebraska as far as Nelson; from Fairbury, Neb., the line extends through Northern Kansas to Denver, and Colorado Springs. From HIorton the line leads in a southwesterly direction through Topeka, the capital of the State; thence to IIerington, Hutchinson and to Liberal. the latter place on the line of the Indian Territory. At Mc- Farland a spur extends in a northwestern direction through Manhattan and Clay Center to Belleville, where a junction is made with the main line to Denver, Col .; at Ilerington a short branch goes to Abilene and Salina. From Herington the line passes south through Wichita and Wellington to Caldwell, on the line of the Indian Territory.

With its accustomed energy this road was the

first to complete its line into the Oklahoma country, passing through Kingfisher, and having El Reno for its Southern terminus.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROAD.

The whole number of miles operated by the Chi- cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway at the present time, including second tracks and sidings, is about four thousand and ninety-three miles. The main track mileage in the following States is: Illinois, 236 miles; Iowa, 1,066.10; Missouri, 286.70; Kan- sas, 1,147.37; Nebraska, 140.97; Colorado, 376.06; and Indian Territory, 106.75-186.70 second track, and about 565.45 side track.

This company has a contract for joint use of track with the Hannibal & St. Joseph between Kan- sas City and Cameron Junction; with the Union Pacific Railway from Kansas City to North Topeka, also from Linion to Denver; and with the Denver & Rio Grande between Denver and Pueblo.

The principal shops of this company are located at Chicago, Ill .; Rock Island, Ill .; Stewart, Iowa, Trenton, Mo .; Horton and Goodland, Kan .; and Roswell, Colo. Solid trains, carrying all classes of passengers, are run through between Chicago, Denver, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, via St. Joseph, Kansas City and Topeka; through trains to Wich- ita, El Reno (Ft. Reno), Hutchinson, Dodge City, Salina and Abilene. The line is equipped with first-class baggage, mail, smoking cars and coaches ; chair cars of the latest improved pattern of chairs, and Pullman Palace Sleeping Cars. Dining cars are now running on all through passenger trains between Colorado points and Chicago, and also between Council Bluffs and Chicago, and eating- houses are located at convenient points on all divis- ions for the accommodation of local trains. It is contemplated to establish dining-car service on the whole line, in the near future. In regard to freight traffic, the management has a comprehensive sys. tem of through cars and way-billing to all promi- . nent points in the West, Northwest and Southwest. IJaving their own rails between Chicago, Peoria and Kansas City, St. Joseph, Omaha and Denver. no delays or transfers between Chicago and any of these points. Also run through cars to the Pacific Coast via all lines having terminals on the coast.

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Less than car-load shipments to all prominent points in through cars, thus avoiding transfers and delay. Special attention is paid to live stock from all points on the line. At present there is one hundred and eighty-seven miles of double track being operated, one hundred and eighty-one miles of which is located in Illinois, between Chicago and Rock Island; the balance in Iowa, from Da- venport to what is known as Double Track June- tion, about six miles west of Davenport on the Council Bluff line.

The experience of the past has elearly demon- strated that whatever is undertaken by the mana- gers of the Rock Island is not merely done, but done well, that they possess to an almost unlimited extent the confidence of Eastern and European capitalists, and that they are remarkably shrewd and far-secing in anything which affects the present or the future interests of their property.

It will be observed that all the great leading marts of trade in Kansas are tapped by this road, thereby giving to that portion of the West a strong and substantial competitive market with the great Eastern commercial centers.

000

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway,

OPULARLY known as the Santa Fe Route. The initial lines of this great system were first built from Atchison to Topeka, in 1869, and for many years the former city was the Eastern terminus of the road. The man- agement of the Santa Fe, with wonderful energy, pushed out its lines in every direction into the young and growing State of Kansas, and in the majority of instances preceding settlement and civilization. This road was the first to penetrate across the southern part of Colorado, via Pueblo and Trinidad into New Mexico, until its lines pene- trated the old adobe town of Santa Fe, whose citi- zens were half Spanish and half Mexican. As its course penetrated the wilderness it sometimes fol- Jowed the old Santa Fe Trail, and generally not far distant at any time from the "trail" which had

been made famous years before by trappers and also by the Government freighters. The mar- velous growth and development of the State of of Kansas is in a great measure due to the enter- prise and public spirit of the managers of the Santa Fe System. Not only did they devote their en- ergy to the upbuilding of the road, but at great expense they maintained emigration and Colonial agents in the various countries of Europe, as well as in the Eastern, Middle and Southern States. thereby advertising the State of Kansas as no other State has heretofore been done. Its climate, its soil and great advantages to the home secker were at times fully portrayed by the enterprise of this road-every fostering care was given to the stock and ranch men, to the merchant, the mechanic and the manufacturer to settle in Kansas-as a result we have here a State in the center of the Union, of boundless agricultural resources, settled by a wide- awake, enterprising and prosperous people. The Santa Fe owns and operates more miles of road in Kansas than any other line, with its vast system of East and West, North and South lines reaching every important town in the State, and penetrating sixty-three counties in Kansas. The magnitude of its business is immense. Its lines beginning at the Missouri River towns in Kansas are St. Joseph, Atch- ison, Leavenworth and Kansas City ; extends south to Coffeyville, Arkansas City, Hunnewell, Caldwell, New Kiowa (thence to the Pan Handle of Texas), and north to Superior, in Nebraska; Concordia, Clay Center. Minneapolis, and other Northern Kansas cities. Its main lines and branches reach nearly every important city in the State. St. Jo- seph, on the Missouri side of the river, has a popu- lation of nearly one hundred thousand, and its wholesale trade is heavy throughout the West. Atchison is a growing city of about twenty thous- and people; the Soldiers' Orphans Home of the State is located here. Leavenworth, with her thirty thousand people, is an important manufacturing center. Leavenworth was the earliest famous city of Kansas, as it was the original outfitting point for travel and traffic across the plains. The Kansas system may be described as a main east and west line. over four hundred miles in length, with branch lines extending in every direction where an area of

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particularly rich country, or some other special advantages invited a line of rails.

The road from Topeka, after 1869, was extended west and south, and then east to Kansas City by purchase of a line built by another company. From Kansas City, in 1887-88 the line was extended to Chicago, under the name of the Chicago, Santa Fe & California Road; in 1887, also the purchase of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Road, and the ex- tension of the Kansas lines through the Indian Territory to Texas, gave the company a line to the Gulf of Mexico. So that at the present time the Santa Fe System proper begins at Chicago, passes through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Indian Territory, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, and lias for its Southern terminals Galveston, on the Gulf of Mexico, and El Paso, on the Mexican frontier ; and for its Western terminals San Diego and Los Angeles, on the Pacific Coast, (San Francisco being practically a Pacific-Coast terminal, as it is reached via Mojave, over the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railway); and for its Northern terminals Chicago. St. Joseph, Mo., Superior, Neb., and Denver, the capital of Colo- rado.

Chicago to Kansas City is practically an air line, being the most straight and direct of any road between the two cities. It passes through a large number of important towns in Illinois, including Joliet, with its great steel works, and other mann- facturing interests. The next important place is Streator, a few miles south of the latter place; a branch extends to the thriving city of Pekin, on the Illinois River. From Streator the main line crosses the Illinois at Chillicothe, and extends through Peoria and Knox Counties to the beauti- ful and enterprising city of Galesburg, here it comes in competition with several lines of the Burlington System; thence running in a southwest- erly direction through a rich aud populous seetion, crossing the Mississippi at Ft. Madison, on a mag- nificent steel bridge. Here the company have established shops, that being the terminus of the two operating divisions of the road. From Ft. Madison by a spur Keokuk is reached. The line through Missouri shows very heavy construction work, made to secure what was desired in the way

of distance and grades. Along the Santa Fe new towns are springing up, and new industries are be- ing developed. Twenty miles east of Kansas City the Missouri River is crossed by a steel bridge, so that the line enters Kansas City on the south sids of the river. From Kansas City to Topeka the line runs on the South bank of the Kansas River; at Wilder and Holliday are points for the depart- ure of branch lines-one northwest to Atchison, and the other southwest through Ottawa and South- ern Kansas, being known as the Southern Kansas division of the Santa Fe System. From Lawrence to Topeka the road is still in the Kansas Valley, through a veritable garden. Native trees of great height overhang the railway here and there, and in the spring and summer the crops look green and luxuriant. The approach to Topeka is through the long yards, and by the vast machine shops of the Santa Fe Company, across various broad streets to a commodious brick station.

The general offices of the road are in Topeka, and occupy a handsome and commodious building near the State capitol. From Topeka to Denver the Santa Fe Route runs for about seventy-five miles in a southwesterly direction to the upper wa- ters of Neosho River, at Emporia, passing through Osage County, where are found some of the richest coal fields of the West. At Newton the line di- verges south through Southern Kansas, the Indian Territory and Texas to Galveston; continuing west from Newton the first city of importance reached is Hutchinson ; here are some of the heaviest salt works in the United States, besides other ex- tensive manufacturing interests. West of Hutch- inson the line extends through a fertile, prosperous and rapidly growing district. The line is beautified here and there by many thriving cities and villages. At La Junta, in Colorado, the line for New Mex- ico, Arizona and beyond, turns south. Pueblo, sixty-five miles dne west of La Junta, for years the terminus of the Santa Fe System. is a growing manufacturing city. It is admirably located with reference to the great ore-producing canons of Col- orado. All roads leading to it, coal, iron, silver, gold, lead, copper, building stone, everything in fact which is produced in the greatest mining Stato in the Union, roll naturally down hill to Pueblo.

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Beyond Pueblo to the west are many thriving cities founded on mining and agriculture, notably : Lead- ville, the greatest mining camp in Colorado; while forty miles north, on the line of the Santa Fe, are the lovely villages of Colorado Springs, and Mani- tou, nestling at the foot of Pike's Peak. Manitou is at the month of a deep canon, and is one of the most lovely summer resorts in America. Near here is the famons "Garden of the Gods," whose won- drous beauty and grandeur is unsurpassed. From Colorado Springs westward, through Manitou and up the canon beyond Pike's Peak, the Colorado Midland Railway is pushing its way far toward the the western borders of the State. Eighty miles north of Colorado Springs the Santa Fe line ter- minates at Denver, a magnificently built city of nearly two hundred thousand people. It is prob- able that no American city has so many features of unique beauty as Denver. Its splendid public build- ings, and its broad avenues lined with beautiful residences, cozily located at the foot of the snow- capped mountains of the Rocky range, render it unlike any other city of its size in the world. The ride from Pueblo to Denver along the foot of the mountains is one never to be missed. The snow- covered peaks, the many combinations of sun and cloud, and rain and snow; the marvelous atmos- phere, all combine to surprise and charm the be- holder.

From Newton to Galveston, the line leaving the main east and west line in Kansas at Newton, runs directly south to Galveston. The first place of importance reached is the phenomenal city of Wich- ita, located on the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers, a city of thirty-five thousand people, where only a few years ago was an Indian trading-post. Wichita is one of the most remarkable cities in the West. It has a heavy and growing wholesale trade, and a large amount of manufacturing business, including the Burton Stock Car Works, the Dold & Whit- aker Meat-Packing establishments. The city is handsomely laid out, and has many handsome pub- lic buildings, commodious business houses and spacious residences, situated on broad avenues, lined with beautiful shade trees. Sonth of Wichita is a cluster of growing cities, comprising Winfield, Wellington, Arkansas City and Caldwell. Wichita

and Arkansas City have profited much by the opening np of Oklahoma to settlement. Entering the Indian Territory the line passes through a magnificent agricultural country, as yet almost wholly undeveloped. In Texas the principal cities on the line between the Indian Territory and Gal- veston, are Gainesville, Paris, Ft. Worth, Cleburne. Dallas, Morgan, Temple, Brenham, Honston and Richmond. Galveston, the terminus, is a rapidly growing city of fifty thousand inhabitants. It is charmingly situated on the Gulf Coast, and has an unsurpassed climate in both summer and winter.

From La Junta to El Paso, the line leaving La Junta climbs to the summit of the Raton Range, seventy-six hundred and twenty-two feet above the sea. On the way up it passes through the impor- tant Colorado towns of El Moro and Trinidad. The village of Raton is an important division point for the railway, and then comes Las Vegas and its famous hot springs, six miles distant from the main line, but connected with it by a short line with good equipments. At the Hot Springs is the Phe- nix Hotel. The springs are unsurpassed anywhere in the world, and the hotel is conducted by the company in the most generous manner imaginable. The springs are forty-two in number, and are hot and cold, and have a variety of mineral properties which render them remarkably strong in their cura- tive power. South of Las Vegas the line passes through fertile valleys, heavy forests, and black and rugged canons, until the valley of the Rio Grande is reached. A branch line from Lamy ex- tends up the mountain to Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, next to St. Augustine, the oldest city in America. Santa Fe has a new State House, and its quaint old churches and dwellings are inter- spersed with modern structures. It should be seen before the peculiar charm of its antiquity has been entirely destroyed. Albuquerque, Socorro and San Marcial are the chief points between Santa Fe and El Paso. All are important points for the business of mining, cattle raising and general commerce. From Rineon a branch line leads to Deming, where junction is made with the Southern Pacific Rail- way, and to Silver City, and to the other mining towns of Southern New Mexico. It is the fortunate destiny of New Mexico generally, and the Rio

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Grande Valley particularly, to soon take front rank in the line of fruit production. The grapes produced in the Lower Rio Grande Valley are not surpassed in either quality or quantity by the product of any part of the Continent.

From Albuquerque to the Pacific Coast, in the heart of New Mexico, due west, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad forms the main Santa Fe Route to California. The line passes through a great mining and stock-raising country, where the elimate is per- feet. Prescott, the capital of Arizona, is reached by a branch from Prescott Junetion. Constant changes of scenery characterize the line, and the crossing of the Colorado Canon is one of the most · remarkable accomplishments known in the railroad world. In Southern California the lines of the California Central & Southern reach every impor- tant city. Barstow, San Bernardino, Colton, San Diego, National City, Los Angeles, and a hundred other beautiful towns offer unequaled inducements to the seeker after health, wealth and pleasure. San Francisco and other cities of Central and Northern California are reached by the lines of the Southern Pacific by virtue of a special arrangement for traffic. Between Chicago and Kansas City meals are served on the finest dining cars; on the other lines and branches are superb eating-houses and hotels. No expense is spared in securing ele- gant accommodations; the supplies are secured from the best markets East and West.

From the resume thus given of the facilities pos- sessed hy the Santa Fe Railway, for interchanging traffic at its termini and various junctions, it must be apparent to the reader that the line is admirably

situated, and that in many respects it occupies a strategic position, superior to that of other trans- Missouri and Mississippi railroads. These advan- tages have been utilized in the past, as they will be in the future, in developing the localities through which the various branches extend, and to build up the permanent prosperity of the property whose history is so closely interwoven with the settlement. development and prosperity of the West beyond the Missouri River. Its local traffic compares fa- vorably with that of other competing lines. To this purely local traffic must be added the contri- butions of its several termini, all large cities and prominent trade centers in the Missouri and Mi sissippi Valleys. With the growth and steady development of the manufacturing and other indus- tries of Chicago, Kansas City, St. Joseph, Atchi- son, Leavenworth, Topeka, Wichita, Galveston, El Paso, Pueblo and Denver, the Santa Fe Rail- way must materially make corresponding strides toward attaining that proud financial position which has been the life dream of its originators and present owners. Under the present progressive and conservative management, all advantages of geo- grapical position, and all the resources of the through line will be constantly utilized in building up the future prosperity of the road itself, and in developing the extended area of Chicago's com- mereial supremacy. The Land Grant from the Government amounted substantially to three mill- ion acres. In brief its commanding geographical position, coupled with its direct Eastern alliance for through business, must render the Santa Fe eventually one of the most remunerative of our Western railroads.

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The Wabash.

6 O THE publie and our thousands of readers in general :- It will no doubt be interesting to all if we give a brief description of this road. The Wabash, as now known, has been operated under several names from time to time. It is the offspring, as it were, of the first line of road projected in Illinois, then known as the Northern Cross Railroad, extending from Dan- ville to Quiney. This was chartered in 1837, and upon it the first locomotive was placed in the winter of 1838-39, running from Meredosia, on the Illinois River, to Jacksonville. In 1842 the road was completed from Jacksonville to Spring- field, and three trips were made per week. The track was of the old flat rail style, which was made by nailing thin strips of iron on two parallel lines of timbers placed at the proper distance apart, and running lengthways of the road. The engine as well as the road soon became so impaired that the former had to be abandoned, and mules substituted as the motor power. However, such locomotion was destined to be of short duration, for the State soon after sold the entire road for a nominal sum, and thus for a short time was suspended one of the first railroad enterprises in Illinois. But in the West a new era-one of prodigious industrial activity and far-reaching results in the practical arts-was dawning, and within thirty years of the temporary failure of the road mentioned, Illinois had outstripped all others in gigantic internal im- provements, and at present has more miles of rail- road than any other State in the Union.

The Great Western, whose name has been suc- eessively changed to Toledo, Wabash & Western, Wabash, and Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific, and Wabash Railroad, and The Wabash, the last of which it still bears, was an extension of the Northern Cross Railroad, above mentioned,and traverses some of the finest portions of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. It soon became the popular highway of travel and traflie between the East and the West. Through a system of consolidation, unparalleled in American railways, it has become a giant among them, and has added many millions of dollars to the value of bonds and shares of the various companies now incorporated in the Wabash system. The road

takes its title from the river of that name, a tribu- tary of the Ohio, which ir part separates the States of Illinois and Indiana. In looking over the map of the Wabash Railroad it will be seen that the line extends through the most fertile and wealthy portions of the center of the United States, having termini at more large cities than any other West- ern road. It was indeed a far-reaching sagacity which consolidated these various lines into the Wabash system, forming one immense ebain of great commercial activity and power. Its ter- minal facilities are unsurpassed by any competing line. Its home offices are established in commo- dious quarters in St. Louis. The lines of the road are eo-extensive with the importance of the great transportation facilities required for the products of the Mississippi Valley. This line passes through the States of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

The various lines of road may be divided into the following:

Miles.

St. Louis to Chicago. 286

Toledo to Kansas City 662

St. Louis to Des Moines 360

Logansport to Detroit.

207

Chicago to Laketon Junetion 123

Clayton to Keokuk. 42

Bluffs to Quincy 105

Streator to Forest.

Attica to Covington

Champaign to Sidney

Edwardsville to Edwardsville

Crossing . 9

Bement to Altamont and Effingham 63

Brunswick to Omaha 225

Roseberry to Clarinda. 21

Salisbury to Glasgow 15

Centralia to Columbia

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Portrait and biographical album of Peoria County, Illinois : containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 15

Author: Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1014

Author: Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo and Chicago
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1014