USA > Illinois > The era of the Civil War, 1848-1870 > Part 4
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COMING OF THE RAILROADS
yielded to the prevailing demand. True, southern Illinois chose democratic orthodoxy on this point and sustained the policies of President Polk and other party leaders; but the predomi- nating voice of upper Illinois determined the course of Doug- las, who championed river and harbor appropriations and stoutly contended that even an appropriation for the improve- ment of the Illinois river fell within the principles laid down by Andrew Jackson. In 1852, however, Douglas hit upon the expedient of state tonnage duties as a method of eliminating political bargaining in the raising of funds for such improve- ments. A year later during the agitation for the conversion of the Illinois river into a national thoroughfare of trade, Douglas brought his tonnage duty scheme aggressively to the fore, but suddenly the whole issue was pushed completely aside by the all-absorbing interest in the slavery question. 10
The telegraph was the true forerunner of the railroads. By the beginning of 1848 the outposts of the eastern telegraph lines had been pushed westward to Chicago, Springfield, and St. Louis. Under the act of February 9, 1849, for the estab- lishment of the telegraphs, connecting lines were soon sent out in every direction, so that by 1850 the outlines of an extensive telegraph system networked the state. In December, 1848, the first presidential message was relayed to the Illinois border at Vincennes; two years later almost every town and village had been placed in touch with current happenings by the aid of "lightning wires." The Illinois system was largely con- trolled by Judge John D. Caton, who rapidly became "the telegraph king of the West." 11
Many improvements in land and water transportation and of telegraphic communication resulted from the stimulus of railroad agitation and the completion of new rail connections. These did not come, however, until the state had learned the full lesson of the collapse of public finance and of private enterprise that followed the panic of 1837. The reaction that had then set in placed the advocates of railroad construction
10 Chicago Weekly Democrat, July 6, 13, 1847; Illinois State Register, July 16, 1847, December 4, 1851; Ottawa Free Trader, November 15, 1851; Chicago Daily Journal, November 15, 1851; Chicago Democrat, November 29, 1851; Douglas to Matteson, Alton Courier, January 28, 1854.
11 Chicago Weekly Democrat, November 5, 1853; Koerner, Memoirs, I : 509.
.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
upon the defensive and engendered a new caution and sober- ness of judgment that augured rather better for the future development of the state. But the rich resources of Illinois, increasingly evident, could not be ignored; railroad schemes, accordingly, began to reappear to run the gauntlet of public opinion; and in the closing years of the forties a serious rail- road fever began to infect the people of the state, for it was becoming more and more apparent that lack of adequate transportation facilities alone held back development; thirty- six counties with over two-fifths of the population of the state had only unimproved mud roads over which to market their crops. Extremely fertile regions little more than twenty miles from the canal, the lake, and the rivers, however, lay isolated and untouched because of the lack of cheap internal transpor- tation. Without adequate market facilities, the rich prairie loam of the east central counties could not begin to compete with the less fertile soil in Egypt or northern Illinois. More- over, the settlement of the state had gone on apace, the agricultural output had more than doubled in a decade, while industrial conditions showed that the atmosphere of the log cabin and of homespun had yielded to the march of progress. There was still fabulous mineral wealth to be tapped, and a large part of the state was virgin soil-one-third of the land remained in the hands of the federal government.
Two policies were involved in this new discussion: the need of tying together the various parts of the state and opening up the resources of unsettled areas by one or two north and south routes and by corresponding crosslines sug- gested projects of considerable dignity and expense which might be utilized to connect with trunk lines to the Atlantic seaboard and with the Mississippi water route; there was also the natural ambition on the part of isolated localities for short but necessary connections with undeveloped mineral deposits, with nearby markets and with adjacent water routes. The one need was theoretical and prophetic, the other practical and immediate. To realize these policies, a number of projects now seemed to warrant support: a central railroad beginning at Cairo, the southern point of the state, and running north to the terminus of the Illinois and Michigan canal with
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COMING OF THE RAILROADS
branches to Galena and Chicago; a connection between Chi- cago and Galena in the northwestern corner of the state, which would connect the Atlantic coast with the Mississippi as a continuation of the Michigan Central; an extension of the Northern Cross line from Springfield and from Meredosia so as to complete the lateral bisection of the state, and a line between Springfield and Alton with the possibility of a later extension northward to Chicago.
The interests of the chief towns of the state were linked with this system. Cairo was expected to become the southern entrepôt of Illinois; Springfield a halfway station in the whole system; Alton and Galena were to profit as termini, while such places as Rockford would be rescued from their isolation in the country. To Chicago, however, went the peculiar benefits of the projected system. A Chicago branch of the Illinois Central was counted on as a prime necessity, for, like the Illinois and Michigan canal, it would divert trade from St. Louis. The wretched condition of the Galena road out of Chicago consti- tuted an effective argument when it was again pointed out that this made the lake-shore city unable to compete with the freight rates by way of St. Louis. In both instances the water routes of Chicago were tied up for several months by the freezing of the lake and canal, whereas St. Louis had no such handicap.12
This " Illinois plan " for a system of railroads was advo- cated as the embodiment of true "state policy" for the devel- opment of the state and its interests; projects not included in the plan met with prompt opposition. An Ohio and Missis- sippi route running across the state from St. Louis to Vincennes and Cincinnati, with eastern connections, was condemned on the ground that it would violate "state policy; " Illinois could not afford to contribute to the building up of a city of an out- side state at the expense of all the small towns along the route. A similar argument was urged against the Atlantic and Missis- sippi railroad, a proposed line from St. Louis to Indianapolis or Terre Haute; most objections disappeared, however, with the suggestion that Alton be made the terminus.13 It was
12 Chicago American, June 25, 1840; Chicago Daily Journal, February 4, 5, 1847.
13 Alton Telegraph, February 5, 19, 26, March 5, 1847.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
suggested that a railroad might connect the Mississippi river at the Rock Island rapids to the canal and slack water navi- gation of the Kankakee, but for a long time Chicago interests were neutral.1+ Opposition to "state policy" was fairly well localized in the southern quarter of the state, a region directly tributary to St. Louis.15 There it was felt that every facility ought to be afforded by the state to all companies desiring charters, and sentiment developed in favor of a general rail- road incorporation act. In reply the people of Egypt were told by advocates of "state policy" that they were about to cut their own throats by favoring a course which would prevent the building up of an important city in their own section.16
The quarrel over "state policy" became especially heated in the summer of 1849. The supporters of the Ohio and Mississippi road were anxious to secure legislative authority for their project and welcomed the idea of a special session of the legislature which was then being urged to fill the seat in the United States senate left vacant as a result of Shield's ineligibility. The question of a called session aroused general interest; the northern counties were strongly opposed,17 while the southern section was anxious to secure the railroad con- nection in question. Local railroad meetings, followed in June by a general railroad convention at Salem, were held by advo- cates of a rail connection between St. Louis and southern Illinois. This convention, termed by its opponents a "Rebel- lion Conclave, a Rebellion against our own State,"18 was attended by Governor French, who was himself interested in the St. Louis road; he and the Springfield democratic machine were opposed to the "state policy" propaganda and were carefully canvassing the situation. When it became evident that the discussion had aroused a general popular interest in
14 Chicago Daily Journal, June 5, 1847.
15 Belleville Advocate, October 14, December 9, 1841, November 19, 1846. A line to connect Belleville with Illinoistown which would make the first town a suburb of St. Louis and a summer resort for transients was too local in interest to attract favorable notice from outside.
16 Cairo Delta clipped in Illinois State Register, March 3, 1849; Illinois Journal, May 29, 1849.
17 Chicago Democrat, August 27, 1849.
18 Pickering to French, June 16, 1849, French manuscripts.
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MARSHALL
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ILLINOIS
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BELLEVILLE
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LANDOLPE
PERRY
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Railroad Development 1850 - 1860
OWILLIAMSON
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Railroads, 1850
UNION
JOHNSON POPE
Railroads, 1855
ALEXAN
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Railroads, 1860
CAIRO
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HAMILTON
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COMING OF THE RAILROADS
railroads and that the state was about to be swept by a veri- table railroad fever, the governor issued a proclamation calling for the special session and enumerating railroad legislation among its objects.19 He was at once bitterly assailed for taking this step and dubbed the tool of St. Louis and of a clique of railroad speculators. The Charleston Globe, a demo- cratic paper from French's home district, edited by a personal friend, was convinced that St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Vincennes were "tricking Illinois out of interest and privileges which are of vast import." 20
A bitter struggle was now under way. The advocates of "state policy " held railroad meetings and called for a general railroad convention to meet at Hillsboro. At this meeting, which was held on the fourth of October, eight or ten thou- sand persons coming from fifteen or more counties decided to terminate the tribute to St. Louis and passed resolutions aggressively demanding that no legislation be attempted in the interest of Missouri connections.21
When the legislature assembled, Governor French called attention to the authority of that body to pass general laws regarding internal improvements and recommended a general railroad law to end the disputes that had been occupying so much attention in politics and legislation. The " state policy" men were able to defeat any direct form of the St. Louis propo- sition. Their opponents then came out for "liberal general laws" and made sufficient headway to cause the moderate "state policy" men to support a bill "for a general system of railroad incorporations " which was passed and immediately approved by the governor. This act, however, was considered a triumph for "state policy," as it required every road to secure a special grant of a right of way and legislative action to fix its termini.22 For this reason both the demand for a
19 Preston to French, April 12, 1849, and Casey to French, August 23, 1849, French manuscripts; Illinois State Register, September 4, 1849.
20 Latshaw to French, December 4, 1848, French manuscripts; Illinois Globe, September 15, 1849.
21 Latshaw to Keating, Buckmaster, Smith, et al., May 27, 1849, Gillespie manuscripts ; Illinois Globe, June 16, 1849; Alton Telegraph, August 10, October 10, 1849.
22 Illinois State Register, October 25, December 20, 1849; 2 Lazus of 1849, 18-33, 33-35; Illinois Globe, November 10, 1849.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
cross-state road to St. Louis and for a "real" general railroad law continued.
The most popular railroad project in Illinois was clearly that for a great central highway connecting the northern "Yankee" counties with the region of "Egyptian darkness." It found its advocates in all parts of the state and, while looked upon as a primary feature of "state policy," was also warmly supported by the " anti-state policy" party. A com- pany had been organized and incorporated in 1836 to build such a road; it was the backbone of the system provided for under the internal improvement act of 1837, under which a considerable amount of preliminary work was done; and it was revised in 1843, when the rights of the state were trans- ferred to the Great Western Railway Company, incorporated to construct a railway from Cairo to the Illinois and Michigan canal. Confidence in this undertaking, however, had become impaired as a result of continued ill-fortune; and in 1845 the company yielded its charter and its work reverted to the state. 23
The disastrous failure of railroad undertakings in general and of this central project in particular seemed to furnish convincing evidence that large and expensive enterprises could not succeed without material aid from the national govern- ment. Senator Sidney Breese was from the start a champion of the Illinois Central railroad; his favorite scheme was to induce congress to grant to the builders of the road pre- emption rights to a portion of the public lands through which it should pass.24 This would enable the railroad company to market the lands at a profit, which would insure an income on the investment. Breese seemed to have secured little assist- ance, however, from other members of the Illinois legislature. With the entry of Stephen A. Douglas into the United States senate an important advance was made in the preparations for successful railroad construction in Illinois. Douglas was also an ardent supporter of the central road, but differed with his colleague's preemption policy in that he advocated a direct
23 Brownson, History of the Illinois Central Railroad, 17 ff .; Newton, Rail- way Legislation in Illinois, 21 ff .; Ackerman, Historical Sketch of the Illinois Central Railroad.
24 Congressional Globe, 29 congress, 1 session, 208.
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COMING OF THE RAILROADS
grant of land to the state of Illinois, which was to be respon- sible for the construction of the road.25 This form of national aid in internal improvement made allowance for the tenderness of democratic feeling on the subject of state rights.
Both Breese and Douglas had personal interests in this great undertaking. Both were strongly inoculated with the western fever of land speculation; Breese, one of the original incorporators in 1836 and a director of the Great Western Railway Company, sought to satisfy his ambitions in connec- tion with the construction of this railroad, while Douglas, moving to Chicago in the summer of 1847, shrewdly foresaw the development of a western metropolis at this commanding position on the lower end of Lake Michigan and hazarded his available capital in a heavy investment in Chicago real estate.26 Moreover, Douglas was more keen than his less able colleague in the analysis of political benefits; he realized the growing seriousness of the sectional line of cleavage between the north- ern and southern parts of the state and the threat at his own political ambitions involved therein; accordingly, a scheme that promised to contribute so effectively to a greater unity and harmony in party politics was certain of a hearty welcome.
Douglas now stressed the Chicago connection, which had been subordinated in previous schemes. He undertook to draw on the natural interests of the business men of that city, of shippers along the Great Lakes, and of eastern capitalists to secure support for the central project. He featured it, there- fore, as a trunk line connecting the Atlantic seaboard with the Mississippi river at Cairo by way of Chicago and the lakes. Thus destroying some of the sectional character of the enter- prise, he added eastern support to the general western demand for the inaugurating of government aid to railway construc- tion. As a result his land grant bill easily carried the senate, although the south and the landless states, western as well as eastern, combined to effect its defeat in the house on strict
25 See correspondence between Douglas and Breese in Breese, Early History of Illinois, appendix; also see Illinois State Register, January 23, March 13, 1851.
26 Breese to Douglas, Illinois State Register, February 6, 1851. Governor French also had a " private interest " in the Chicago branch. Sturges to French, August 7, 1851, French manuscripts.
-
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
construction grounds.27 Breese's proposition then had the same legislative experience.
Douglas' measure was lost by such a close vote in the house that the railroad promoters concluded that it was only a matter of time before the measure could be passed. The Illinois legislature, therefore, was induced by the members of the former Great Western Railway Company, the most formi- dable aggregation of capital in the state, to renew their charter, into which a clause was smuggled surrendering to the company whatever lands the federal government might grant to the state.28 Knowledge of this situation in Illinois embarrassed Douglas and the Central advocates at Washington until the company was induced to surrender its corporate rights tempo- rarily. Then Douglas, aided by Shields, who had succeeded to Breese's seat, and by John A. McClernand, John Went- worth, and William H. Bissell of the house delegation, pressed the land grant proposition in congress; by making provisions for similar grants to Alabama and Mississippi, the hostility of the south was allayed, so that the "Chicago and Mobile railroad " measure was able to survive a bitter opposition in the lower house 29 and become law on September 20, 1850.
The question immediately arose as to how the central road should be constructed. The corporate interest concerned was a group of capitalists, dominated from the beginning by Darius B. Holbrook, who were organized as the Cairo City and Canal Company for land speculation at the southern Illi- nois terminus. This "Holbrook company " was anxious, under the charter of the Great Western, to secure the benefits of the federal land grant by constructing the road; it had, indeed, pursued a policy of watchful waiting until favorable action by congress was assured before taking the steps required under the charter for the construction of the road.30
The company was, therefore, unwilling to yield its charter
27 Brownson, History of the Illinois Central Railroad, 25; Johnson, Stephen A. Douglas, 170-171.
28 This act was not published in the session laws of 1849; see, however, its repeal, Laws of 1851, p. 192-193.
29 Congressional Globe, 31 congress, I session, 1838.
30 Holbrook to French, December 24, 1849, September 2, October 8, 1850, French manuscripts; see also Greene and Thompson, Governors' Letter-Books, 1840-1853, p. 235.
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COMING OF THE RAILROADS
unless reincorporated in another form. But Douglas was sufficiently irritated by the grasping ambitions of the specu- lators to suggest that it was not a bona fide construction company but on the contrary was planning to profit by the sale of the charter in Europe. It was suggested that if the work were to be done by a private corporation, a more dis- interested group of eastern capitalists might be found to do the work under proper restrictions. This proposition does not seem to have grown out of any rival interests, as it was some time before any definite project was placed before the people. Another suggestion was that a company composed of holders of state bonds be given the right to construct the road under semi-legislative management, thus simultaneously reestablish- ing the credit of the state. Though many advocates of direct state construction were still to be found, the lessons of the past weighed heavily against such an experiment; Senator Shields especially argued against the practicability of this method.31
When Senators Douglas and Shields returned in triumph from Washington they received the gratitude of the state for their sturdy devotion to the land grant; about the banquet table the victory they had secured was celebrated, and its sig- nificance proclaimed in the flowery language of the after-dinner speaker. The adherents of all the various ways of using the land grant soon clashed in a free for all political fight; with no definite provision for the route of the road, every village and hamlet along the line sought to influence the choice of route favorable to its development. In each legislative district the practical obligations of the next assembly were carefully considered; but the schemes for state ownership and for the continuance of the Holbrook company, being concrete and definite, were so vigorously assaulted that they were worsted by their opponents. The newly elected legislature showed a triumph of the forces of negation. When that body met, how- ever, and proceeded to clear the way for action, it was found that no satisfactory substitute proposition was available. This
31 Bissell to Gillespie, December 22, 1850, Gillespie manuscripts; Chicago Democrat, January 11, 1851; Illinois Journal, November 30, 1850, January 29, 1851.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
situation was relieved when Robert Rantoul of Massachusetts in behalf of a group of eastern capitalists offered to build the road and, on condition of a surrender to it of the federal land grant, to pay the state in return a percentage of the gross receipts. The offer was regarded as very fair; it was favor- ably received by the friends of the central road; and Governor French promptly recommended it to the legislature. An act of incorporation fixing the share of the state at seven per cent of the gross revenues was passed almost unanimously and became law on February 10.32
The builders of the Illinois Central thus undertook to con- struct a road over twice as long as the largest railway system of that day, the New York and Erie. The charter allowed the company four years to complete the main line and six years for the branches; as a problem in contemporary engineering this required most careful planning. The organization was promptly completed,33 and within a few months a preliminary survey was under way. A hotbed of agitation, bribery, and litigation developed along the general line of the Central where rival points struggled to secure the railroad for their own particular districts; the survey, however, went forward on considerations of engineering and administrative policy.
In regions not directly influenced by the Central system, attention was centered on securing other railroad facilities. The project of the Galena and Chicago railroad incorporated in 1847 was popular with both Chicagoans and residents of northern Illinois generally, who put it actively in the field with subscriptions to over a quarter million of stock; in one day President William B. Ogden of the company secured $20,000 on the streets of Chicago from farmers who were selling wheat. Early in 1848 contracts were let and construc- tion was started on the section from Chicago to Elgin, and by the spring of 1849 fourteen miles were in operation; the thirty-five miles to Elgin, however, were not completed until February 1, 1850, when a grand celebration took place. On
32 Illinois Journal, January 22, 1851; Senate Journal, 1851, p. 237, 265, 266. The act is not printed in the session laws.
33 Schuyler to French, March 24, 1851, French manuscripts.
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COMING OF THE RAILROADS
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