USA > Illinois > McLean County > The good old times in McLean County, Illinois : containing two hundred and sixty-one sketches of old settlers, a complete historical sketch of the Black Hawk war and descriptions of all matters of interest relating to McLean County > Part 8
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The following description of the machine shops of the Chi- cago and Alton road, is condensed and revised from articles published in the Pantagraph, in May, 1870 :
"The machine shops of the Chicago and Alton Railroad cover forty acres of ground. They are divided into fifteen buildings. The store house of the company is a fine building, sixty by one hundred and twenty feet, and two stories high. It is built of Joliet stone, and is roofed with slate, supported by iron frame work. The first floor is used as the store-room, and here can be found everything necessary for repairing engines or cars. If by accident a car or locomotive is broken, the storekeeper is im- mediately informed by telegraph and in ten minutes he finds the necessary articles for repairing the damage, and they are sent to the spot by an engine. The value of the articles in the store room is estimated at four hundred thousand dollars. They are under the charge of Robert Bell, Storekeeper. In the hall of this building is the clock, which furnishes the time for the road. It keeps Chicago time, which is used on the entire road, and is about five minutes faster than Bloomington time. It has become the time generally used in Bloomington. On the upper floor
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are the offices of the various departments of the road. Here is the office of O. Vanghan, the assistant superintendent and train master, who direets the running of all trains on the road and its branches. Adjoining this is the office of superintendent of telegraph, C. H. Seaver. There are five instruments in use for night and eleven for day work. They are improved instru- ments of Mr. Seaver's own invention, and are manufactured at Ottawa. The battery-room is lower than the ground floor, with a stone flagging pavement. A Grove battery of fifty eups is used to supply electricity for all the telegraph lines of the road. It is perfectly insulated. The Hill battery is used for local pur- poses. On the upper floor is the office of J. A. Jackman, superintendent of machinery. He has general charge of all the machine shops, and furnishes the designs by which all locomo- tives, boilers and articles of use in the shops are made. The conductors' room is the headquarters of the conductors when off duty. In the northeast corner of the building is the office of Rufus Reniff, the superintendent of the car shops, and adjoining is the office of Thomas White, the roadmaster of the 3d divi- sion. On the same floor H. J. Stierlin, the car-accountant and train master's clerk, has his office. Here are kept the accounts of cars loaned to various railroads.
The car-shops, under Rufus Reniff, superintendent, are in a building two hundred and sixty-three feet by eighty, built of stone, with a wrought-iron truss roof covered with slate. During cold weather the building is heated by steam. One-half of this building is used for making passenger cars, and the other half for freight cars. The Reniff & Buttolph ventilator, and President Blackstone's platform and coupler are used on all passenger coaches. The latter invention is considered of great importance by railroad men, as the cars are kept in actual contact, and it is almost impossible for one of them to be thrown from the track.
The planing and ear machine shops are in a building two hundred feet by seventy-five. Here the various parts of cars are made. Mr. L. E. Munson is foreman of the woodwork. A part of this building is used for the iron machine shops. On the same floor is a machine for pressing ear wheels on their axles. It is an hydraulie press driven by steam, and exerts a pressure
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of five thousand pounds per square inch, or one hundred and fifty-seven tons upon the end of an axle.
The engine room contains the engine to drive the machinery of the building. It is of eighty horse power, and works with scarcely any noise, as it drives a belt twenty-three inches in width.
The paint shop is in a building one hundred and seventy by seventy-five feet, made of stone with an iron-trussed slated roof. The shop was under the charge of M. E. MeGrath, now deceased, as foreman. In the varnishing room all the ornamental painting is done and the glass-etching. The latter is accomplished by the use of fluoric acid. The glass is coated with parafine, the pattern is marked out, the parafine removed from all the glass, except the ornamental pattern, and the fluoric acid is applied. It acts upon the glass exposed and gives it a frosted appearance. On the upper floor is the trimming room under the charge of G. J. Rawson. Here all the trimming of the seats and cushions is done.
The paint shop proper is on the upper floor, and in it is to be found at all times from six to nine coaches and sleeping cars in the hands of the finishers and painters. The landscapes and flower pieces are done by P. M. Jander, a first-class artist.
The dry house is a brick building, nineteen by sixty-three feet. It is heated by steam. All the lumber used in building cars is dried in it.
The foundry is a building one hundred and eighty feet by sixty with an L-shaped addition forty by tifty feet. It is built in the same manner as the buildings previously described. It is under the charge of M. A. Moulton, who makes all the castings for the company under contraet.
The new round house, near the foundry, is two hundred and forty feet in diameter, and has room for twenty-eight locomo- tives. In the center is an iron frame turn-table.
The blacksmith shop is built of stone, and has fifty forges, two furnaces and eight steam hammers. One of these hammers weighs three thousand pounds, one weighs fifteen hundred, and the remainder weigh from eight to twelve hundred pounds. The shop is superintended by William Hughes.
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The boiler shop is one hundred and fifty by sixty feet, and is under the charge of J. E. Eastman. The boilers built allow four hundred and fifty pounds pressure to the square inch, but in actual use not more than one hundred and thirty pounds pres- sure is exerted at the highest.
The machine shop, J. A. Jackman, Jr., foreman, is two hundred and sixty feet by one hundred, with two additions, one forty-five by fifty feet for engine and boiler room, and the other forty-five by eighty feet. On the south side of this shop is the locomotive transfer table, three hundred feet in length, from which fourteen tracks extend into the building, where engines are taken in for repair.
The brass foundry and coppersmith shops are located near by.
The new round-house has already been referred to, but an- other round-house of the same size, two hundred and forty feet in diameter and holding twenty-eight locomotives, was con- structed. A bulletin-board is kept, on which is daily posted the time of the departure of each train and the name of the engineer to run it. Both of the round-houses are in charge of A. A. Ackley. The old machine and repair shops are in a building two hundred and seventy feet long and forty feet wide. Here are lathes, planes, drills and many other machines for saving labor.
The pattern shop, where the patterns for castings are made, is under the charge of Frank White. The coppersmith shop is north of the machine shop, and here all the brazing is done and the joining of metals.
Near by is the wheel foundry, which uses the best of iron. The wheels used seldom or never break.
The rolling mill in Major's Grove, near by, is one hundred and thirty-two feet by fifty-seven, and has two smoke-stacks.
The well, close by, is thirty feet in diameter and thirty feet in depth, and is supplied by an inexhaustible underground stream. The pumping-house is near the well, and the pumps of the Knowles' pattern, worked by steam, force the water through underground pipes to all parts of the depot and shop grounds. The switching ground is about a mile in length, and extends from the coal shaft on the south to Seminary avenue on
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the north. This ground is called " the yard," and is under the charge of John Weichlin. All trains are made up here.
All the shops of the company are well lighted by gas and kept in the most perfect order.
The following items are of interest to those who are curious to know what it costs to manage a railroad :
The company uses for lubricating machinery and burning in lamps, thirty-two thousand one hundred and seventeen pints of oil per month, worth $2,816.19. It uses nine thousand one hundred and fifty-nine tons of fuel per month, worth $24,134. The repairs cost, per month, $20,516.48. The number of en- gines on the road is one hundred and fifty-six, and the number of miles traveled by them, per month, is three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred and sixty eight. The wages paid in the machinery and car departments at Bloomington, per month, are :
Machinery department. .$45,000
Car 66
18,600-863,600
Of this, employes living in Bloomington receive, $43,278 per month. The conductors, brakemen, telegraph operators and switchmen receive $20,000, of which, those in Bloomington receive about $14,400. The total paid out per month, in Bloom- ington, is $57,678. The average cost per mile run of an engine is about 22.95-100 cents. The number of employes in Bloom- ington is: In machine shops, 280; in the car shops, 230; engi- neers, 80 ; firemen, 90. Total, 680.
The following are the connections of the Chicago & Alton Railroad :
Great Eastern Railroad crosses Chicago & Alton at Brighton Course.
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad crosses at Joliet, the Chicago & Alton passenger station. '
At Dwight Junction the main line of the Chicago & Alton Railroad joins with the Western Division.
At Pontiac the Chicago & Paducah Railroad crosses the Chicago & Alton Railroad. The Chicago & Alton Railroad runs through cars between Chicago and the terminus of the Chicago & Paducah Railroad. The Toledo. Peoria & Wabash crosses at Chenoa. Passenger station for both roads at the junction.
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The Illinois Central Railroad crosses at Normal. Passenger station for both roads at the junction.
Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western crosses at Blooming- ton. Passenger station for both roads at the junction. Also junction of main line with Jacksonville Division.
At Lincoln the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Rail- road and the Pekin, Lincoln & Decatur Railroad cross the Chi- cago & Alton Railroad.
The Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad crosses Chicago & Alton Railroad at Springfield. Passenger station for both roads at the junction. The Springfield & Southeastern Railroad also crosses here.
The Edwardsville Railroad runs up to Edwardsville Junction and uses the same depot with the Chicago & Alton Railroad.
The Ohio & Mississippi crosses Chicago & Alton Railroad at Venice.
At Godfrey the Alton Branch of the Jacksonville Division joins main line of Chicago & Alton Railroad.
The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad crosses Chicago & Alton Railroad at Delavan.
Springfield & Southeastern Railroad crosses the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Ashland.
The Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad erosses Jacksonville Branch of Chicago & Alton Railroad at Mason City.
The Farmers' Railroad crosses Chicago & Alton Railroad at Jacksonville.
The Rockford & Rock Island Railroad crosses main line of Chicago & Alton Railroad at Brighton.
The Rockford & Rock Island Railroad crosses Alton Branch of Jacksonville Division at Whitehall.
At Pike the Quincy, Alton and St. Louis Railroad joins the Chicago & Alton Railroad. Both roads use the same passenger depot.
The St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroad crosses the Missouri Division of the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Mexico. Both roads use the same depot.
The Toledo, Peoria & Wabash Railroad crosses at Washing- ton Station, the division of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, which branches from main line at Dwight.
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At Pontiac the main line of the Chicago & Alton Railroad is crossed by the Chicago & Paducah Railroad.
ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD.
A central railroad for the State of Illinois was suggested by Judge Breese, now of the Supreme Court, at a very early day, some time before the session of the Illinois Legislature in 1832-3. In the State Senate at this session Lieutenant Gov- ernor Jenkins proposed a survey of a railroad from Peru to Cairo, but nothing was done for some years afterwards. The idea was not suffered to perish but was revived from time to time. The matter was brought before Congress, and that body was asked to donate public lands in aid of the work. But the scheme was rejected, as it was considered a matter of local im- portance. It was reserved for the brain of Stephen A. Douglas to invent the method of carrying the measure through. He saw that it must in some way be made a matter of national import- ance, and he devised a plan which was comprehensive and in- genious, and carried it out boldly and confidently. His plan was to give the alternate sections of land in Illinois for six miles on each side of the railroad. The company was authorized to an extreme limit of twelve miles on each side for the purpose of making good deficiencies caused by entries of lands prior to this act and to issue the full amount of land in- tended thus to be donated to the State to enable it to build a railroad, and to charge $2.50 for the remaining sections instead of $1.25. In order to enlist the support of the senators and representatives from other states, his plan was to provide for the extension of the road from Cairo to Mobile, Alabama, which has been put in actual operation, only this winter, throughout. His scheme embraced the construction of a road from Little Rock, Ark., to Texas by way of the Red River Raft, also an ex- tension of the Illinois Central road from Galena to a point op- posite Dubuque, Iowa ; a branch to Mineral Point, Wis., and a branch to Chicago. IIe proposed to give an appropriation to the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad, to favor the interests of Mis- souri, and to do something for a railroad in Michigan, extend- ing from Detroit to the lumber regions. After an interval of a quarter of a century, only a part of this vast plan has been car-
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ried out, but it served its purpose, and the votes of senators and representatives were secured for the donation of lands for the building of the Illinois Central Railroad. On the 20th of Sep- tember, 1850, Congress passed the act entitled "An act granting the right of way and making a grant of land to the States of Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama in aid of the construction of a railroad from Chicago to Mobile." As soon as the act was passed various New York and Boston capitalists were anxious to build the railroad, and the State of Illinois granted them a charter for the Illinois Central road on the 10th of February, 1851. By this charter the railroad company was given the al- ternate sections donated by Congress to the State of Illinois. The company was allowed a capital stock of one million dollars, which might be increased not to exceed the entire amount ex- pended on the road. The charter vested the control of the railroad in thirteen directors, one of whom was the Governor of Illinois. The State of Illinois looked out for number one in granting the charter, for it provided that seven per cent. of the gross earnings of the railroad should be paid into the treas- ury of the State. The road was immediately built, and the country of Central Illinois was rapidly developed. The large waste lands were broken, and the crops of prairie grass gave place to crops of wheat and corn. The Illinois Central Railroad is now one of the largest and most important lines in the world. It extends from Dunleith to Cairo with a branch to Chicago, and with various leases and connections it reaches the lumber regions of the North and the stock raising country of Central and Southern Illinois. The following are the connections of the road :
At Chicago with Chicago & Northwestern ; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and Mil- waukee Railroads.
With Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, and Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railways.
At Calumet with Michigan Central Railroad.
With Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway at Gilman.
With Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railway at Champaign.
With Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad at Tolono.
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With Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad at Mattoon.
With St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute & Indianapolis Rail- road at Effingham, forming a through line without change of cars between Chicago and St. Louis.
With Springfield & Illinois Southeastern Railroad.
With Ohio & Mississippi Railway at Odin.
With St. Louis & Southeastern Railroad at Ashley.
With Belleville & Southern Illinois Railroad at DuQuoin, forming, in connection with Illinois Central Railroad, a short line between St. Louis and Cairo.
With Grand Tower Railroad at Carbondale.
At Cairo with Mississippi Central Railroad, forming a great trunk route from Chicago to New Orleans without change of cars ; also with Mobile & Ohio Railroad for Mobile, and with the Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Railroad for Little Rock, Fulton, Houston, and points in Arkansas and Texas.
With Mobile & Ohio Railroad and connections.
At St. Louis with Pacific of Missouri, St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Missouri and Atlantic & Pacific ; Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad.
At Waterloo and Cedar Falls with Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Minnesota Railroad.
With Des Moines Valley Railroads at Fort Dodge.
Connections of Northern and Iowa Divisions :
At Ackley with Central Railroad of Iowa.
At Farley with Dubuque & Southwestern Railroad.
At Dubuque with Chicago, Dubuque & Minnesota Railroad. At Warren with Mineral Point Railroad.
At Freeport with Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and Western Union Railroad.
At Forriston with Chicago & Iowa Railroad, which, in con- nection with the Illinois Central Railroad, forms a through route without change of cars between Chicago and Dubuque.
At Dixon with Chicago & Northwestern Railway.
At Mendota with Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.
At La Salle with Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad.
At El Paso with Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railway.
Crossing of the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Normal.
At Bloomington with Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railway.
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At Decatur with Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway.
At Pana with Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad and Spring- field, Illinois & Southeastern Railway.
At Vandalia with St. Louis, Vandalia, Terre Haute & In- dianapolis Railroad.
At Sandoval with Ohio & Mississippi Railway.
At Centralia with line to Cairo.
INDIANAPOLIS, BLOOMINGTON & WESTERN RAILWAY.
On the twenty-sixth of June, 1866, fifteen or twenty persons met in the court house in the city of Urbana, Champaign County, Illinois, for the purpose of taking steps to secure the construc- tion of a railroad from Danville, Ill., to the Illinois River. This was the small beginning from which came the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad. Very little was done at this meeting, the parties present merely exchanged views and ad- journed to meet on the seventh of August, at Leroy. The at- tendance at Leroy was large, delegates being present from va- rious places along the line of the proposed road. The matter was discussed at some length and all things looked hopeful. Every one thought the road necessary as well as practicable. But the meeting adjourned without organizing and another was called for the twenty-seventh of August. The enterprise was then fully discussed by the newspapers, and when the time for the meeting came some opposition to the road was manifested. It was a matter of some difficulty to effect an organization, nev- ertheless it was done under the general railroad law of the State. This law required one thousand dollars to be subscribed for every mile of the proposed road, and ten per cent. of this to be paid in. The law was a good one, though it caused some trouble to the originators of this railroad. But after some delay the various towns along the line subscribed the required amount and paid up the necessary ten per cent. This, as nearly every one in this section of the country knows, was accomplished through the efforts of Dr. Henry Conkling, who worked for the road with great zeal and wonderful success. The road proposed was one hundred and sixteen miles in length and the subscriptions amounted to one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars. The
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company immediately elected officers, making C. R. Griggs, President ; William T. McCord, Vice President, and Dr. Henry Conkling, Secretary. The necessary papers were filed with the Secretary of State, and during the following winter the Legisla- ture gave them a charter, which was approved by the Governor on the twenty-eighth of February, 1867. The road was then called the Danville, Urbana, Bloomington & Pekin Railroad.
This charter was adopted by the company at a meeting held in Pekin on the twenty-seventh of the following March, and officers and directors were elected. Commissioners were imme- diately appointed to secure the right of way and push the work. Steps were taken to obtain subscriptions, and indeed it was clear that the matter was in the hands of live, active men, who under- stood their business, and were determined to go through at all hazards. Most of the cities and towns responded to the call and subscribed to the stock to the amount of eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The road had three divisions. The first ex- tended from Danville to Champaign City, where it connected with a branch of the Illinois Central ; the second extended from Champaign City to Bloomington, where it connected with the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis road ; and the third extended from Bloomington to Pekin on the Illinois River. Work on the road was commeneed on the first of October, 1867, and, notwith- standing some unavoidable delays, the last rail was laid in the city of Bloomington on the first of May, 1870. While this road was being built another road was projected from Indianapolis to Danville, known as the Indianapolis, Crawfordsville & Danville Railroad, and in August, 1869, the two roads were consolidated under the name of the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western. extending from Indianapolis to Pekin, a distance of two hundred and two miles. Since then the road has been extended to sev- eral points. One extension connects Pekin and Peoria, another extension runs from Urbana to Havana on the Illinois River, and a third extension runs from Danville to Monticello and Decatur. The road now runs through more than five hundred miles of the richest and prettiest country in the West. On its line of road are found some of the most enterprising and thriving inland towns. Among these are Peoria, Pekin, Bloomington, Champaign, Ur- bana, Danville, Covington, Crawfordsville, Indianapolis, Monti-
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cello, Decatur, Clinton, Lincoln and Havana. The farming lands along the road are all well fenced and cultivated. A great abundance of the best coal in Illinois is found on the line of the road, and wood of excellent quality in the State of Indiana. The road is now in its infancy ; nevertheless it will compare fa- vorably in its construction and rolling stock with the best and oldest roads in the State. Its connections with other roads are good. Going East it connects at Indianapolis with the Pan Handle & Pennsylvania Railroad to New York; going West it connects at Peoria with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy to Omaha and the Pacific coast, or with the Peoria & Rock Island road to Rock Island and Davenport. The fine country through which it passes, its connections and enterprising management give this road a promising future.
THE LAFAYETTE, BLOOMINGTON & MISSISSIPPI RAILWAY.
The items for the following sketch of the Lafayette, Bloom- ington & Mississippi Railway have been furnished by Colonel O. T. Reeves :
The Lafayette, Bloomington & Mississippi Railway Company was chartered in February, 1867, and was organized in the Sep- tember following, A. Gridley was elected President; C. W. Holder, Treasurer, and O. T. Reeves, Secretary. These officers served until January 31, 1872, when the management of the road passed into the hands of parties in New York, interested in the Toledo, Wabash & Western Railway. A. B. Ives, J. H. Cheney, of Bloomington, and W. HI. Pells, of Paxton, were, with the officers above named, the managing spirits of the enterprise. The capital stock of the company is $1,000,000. Of this $467,- 000 is held by MeLean and Ford counties, and townships of McLean and Vermillion counties. The right of way was pro- cured and the grading and bridging done out of the proceeds of the bonds issued by the counties and townships in payment of their stock. The ties and iron were purchased and laid, the station houses, round houses and other necessary buildings erected and the road fenced, with the proceeds of the first mort- gage bonds of the company. The length of the road is eighty miles. At the Indiana line it connects with a road running to
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