USA > Kansas > Sedgwick County > History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas, past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county, Vol. II > Part 10
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Two possessions are necessary for a western town: First and foremost it must have the county seat, and, second, it must have ample railway facilities. Both of these qualifications are pro- duced by the rustling men who make and build the town. In a
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store window in Denver the other day I saw this legend: "Live fish swim up stream, the dead ones float downward with the cur- rent." The struggle has been a long one. Work has been un- ceasing, strenuous, week in and week out. To no particular men or set of men belongs the credit of the work accomplished, but the credit is due to the great masses who have patiently worked and waited and paid taxes, and theirs be the victory.
"And everybody praised the duke, Who this great fight did win.
'But what good came of it at last,' Quoth little Peterkin.
'Why that I cannot tell,' said he, 'But 'twas a famous victory.' "
MAKING RAILROADS IN THE EARLY DAYS.
During the years of 1886 and 1887, Kansas saw a wonderful period of railroad building. New roads, actual, imaginary and paper, were projected. The Rock Island was building great transportation lines across Kansas, the Santa Fe was building branch lines to protect its territory. Promoters of new lines were in the field. Each town of any prominence conceived the idea that it was a future railway center. It was in the air. It was a microbe which was contagious. It affected the most conserva- tive men of the state. In common with its neighbors, Wichita also got the fever and a bunch of men in Wichita projected the Omaha, Abilene & Wichita Railway. The idea was to get around the Kansas City pool, to get away from the basing line of the Missouri river at Kansas City, to reach Omaha instead of Kansas City. The utility of the plan was often doubted, but that made no difference.
Later on, when William G. Dacey was brought here from Boston to finance the Omaha, Abilene & Wichita Railway, and a meeting of the various people along the line was held in Topeka, the meeting was informed by M. A. Low, of the Rock Island, that the Rock Island would occupy much of that proposed line. Mr. Dacey then called the entire project off. O. H. Bentley was in the meeting and appeared as counsel for William G. Dacey. Mr. Dacey was about to take the train for his home in Boston when he was induced by Mr. Bentley to come to Wichita. The Wichita
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people wanted to build a railroad. They wanted it to be a Wich- ita affair, and they wanted to build it out of Wichita. Mr. Dacey consented to visit Wichita and a meeting was called at the Man- hattan Hotel. In this meeting the following named gentlemen participated: Governor Stanley, Senator Bentley, J. Oak David- son, Robert E. Lawrence, Charles R. Miller and H. G. Lee, all of Wichita, and Wm. G. Dacey, of Boston. A preliminary organiza- tion was effected and the Kansas Midland Railway Company was formed. C. R. Miller was made president, H. G. Lee vice-presi- dent, J. Oak Davidson treasurer and O. H. Bentley secretary and general attorney. This organization was continued and the rail- way built, and the entire enterprise carried to a successful ter- mination. A distance of 104 miles of main line was built and suitable depots and water service constructed.
The building of this line spans the gap from Wichita to Ells- worth, where the main line of the Union Pacific is reached. It called into being the towns of Bentley, Patterson, Buhler, Medora, Wherry, Saxman, Pollard, Frederick, Lorraine and Phipps. All of these towns are tributary to Wichita. Excepting a short belt of sand hills north of Burrton, the line bisects a veritable garden spot of Kansas. The building of this line and its acquisition by the Frisco under a ninety-nine-year lease effectually divorced the Frisco from the Santa Fe and gave the Frisco some very valuable terminals in the city of Wichita. The Midland was built by the Kansas Construction & Improvemeat Company, a corporation organized under the laws of New Jersey, aided and fostered by the local railway company, formed and chartered as above stated. For three years O. H. Bentley put . in his entire time in the building of the Kansas Midland Railway.
The Kansas Construction & Improvement Company, which built the Kansas Midland Railway, had its principal office in Jersey City and William G. Dacey was its president. A. A. Phipps, of Boston, was its secretary, and O. H. Bentley was its counsel. The stock of this company was held in Hartford, New York and Boston, with the Farmers' Loan & Trust Company of New York as its fiscal agent. This company successfully under- wrote its bonds and furnished the capital to build the railway. In common with the other lines radiating out of Wichita, the Kansas Midland Railway has been a potent factor in the up- building of the city.
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FIRST TRAIN ON THE SANTA FE.
When Wichita was yet a spraddling village scattered over the virgin prairie near the conflux of the Big and Little Arkansas rivers, the first railway came into the city. There was great re- joicing among the residents of all Sedgwick county on that memorable occasion when the first train steamed into the town. That was away back in 1873, nearly forty years ago. The train came in on rails laid by the Wichita and Southwestern Railway Company. This company built a line from Newton to Wichita and finally disposed of it to the Santa Fe Company. The Wich- ita and Southwestern Railway Company was organized in 1871. The charter was secured June 22, 1871, and the capital was $500,000. Wichita men who are well known to the present gen- eration, organized the company and built the road. J. R. Mead was president; C. F. Gilbert, vice-president; H. C. Sluss was secretary, and William Griffenstein was treasurer. The con- tract for the construction of the twenty-eight iniles of track from Newton to Wichita was let September 9, 1871. T. J. Peters secured the contract, which called for the completion of the line into Wichita, July 1 of 1872. It was nearly a year later when the line was completed and trains were in operation.
The Santa Fe south of Wichita was built under the charter name of Cowley, Sumner and Ft. Smith railway. The company incorporated to build this extention was capitalized at $1,500,000. It was organized in October of 1878, and a few years later suc- ceeded in reaching Caldwell, fifty miles south of Wichita. The officers of the Cowley, Sumner and Ft. Smith railway, were: Thomas Nickerson, president; W. B. Strong, vice-president, and Edwin Wilder, secretary and treasurer. When the railway reached Wichita from Newton, it was placed in operation by the Santa Fe. The first agent at Wichita was E. J. Waterhouse, whose headquarters were at Newton while the line was build- ing. Mr. Waterhouse's title was terminal agent. On May 16, 1872, Mr. Waterhouse sent W. J. Kennedy to Wichita to take charge of the station. Mr. Kennedy's title was freight cashier. He made his reports back to Waterhouse, who was still term- inal agent. A short time later Asa P. Baldwin was ap- pointed agent at Wichita, but after a few months he was sent to the southern terminus of the road. He was suc- ceeded by Charles Marsh, who is still a resident of the city.
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The succeeding agents of the road in Wichita up to 1886 were as follows: C. E. Warriner, H. L. Pierce, John C. Lyth and H. B. Keeler.
The oldest Santa Fe time card for Wichita in existence was issued in 1882. This showed one passenger and one freight train each way daily. Now the Santa Fe operates eighteen passenger trains and fourteen freight trains into and through Wichita every day. The first shipment of freight made out of Wichita was thirteen carloads of cattle.
When the Santa Fe began operating trains into Wichita, the engines in use had 12 and 14-inch cylinders, weighed 70,000 pounds and had a tractive force of 10,000 pounds. The engines now in use on this line weigh 215,000 pounds and have a tractive force of 35,000 pounds. Thirty years ago, ten or twelve cars constituted a load for any engine. Now seventy-five to ninety loaded cars are hauled. The early passenger trains carried three and four coaches. Now the average is eight to fourteen coaches of much larger size. The original depot of the Santa Fe stood just north of Douglas avenue, opposite the present passenger station. This early day station was about like that maintained by the company at Valley Center. Some time after 1882 a new station was built near the Santa Fe tracks at Oak street. This was the city's first union station, it being occupied jointly by the Santa Fe and Frisco. This Oak street station was abandoned about 1890 when the present stone passenger depot was built. It was used as a freight depot for a time till the old freight house, abandoned last month, was built. At one time, imme- diately following the arrival of the Santa Fe in Wichita, this was the greatest cattle and grain shipping point in the United States. There were no railways into the vast territory to the south and west of Wichita. Hence cattlemen and farmers brought their products overland to the nearest shipping point. Wheat farmers hauled their grain for 50 to 100 miles to load it onto cars in Wichita. Cattle were driven from deep into Texas by the thousands to the railway terminus in this city. Later all this business was transferred to Caldwell.
The Santa Fe men in Wichita are: O. A. Brown, division freight agent; H. A. King, city passenger agent; R. O. Miner, local freight agent; E. S. Gunn, traveling freight agent; C. R. Gilfellen, traveling live stock agent. and O. L. Cope, soliciting freight agent.
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The Santa Fe Railroad, was the pioneer railway line into Wich- ita ; it was built from Newton to Wichita under the name of the Wichita and Southwestern Railway Company and large aid was voted to this line by Sedgwick county. It was then the cus- tom of that railroad to have local directors in various com- panies and William Griffenstein was one of them for Sedgwick county, also J. R. Mead. This line was built in considerable haste from Newton to Wichita, many of the ties were laid upon the prairie sod and the rails spiked to them; the line was ex- tended southward as the Cowley, Sumner and Ft. Smith railroad. and the building of this line to Wichita created the greatest primary wheat market in the world. The extension of this line to Winfield and Wellington, as was then supposed ruined Wich- ita; the number of times that Wichita has been ruined is mar- vellous but, like the fabled Phoenix, it always arose from its ashes. The pronounced policy of the Santa Fe was to build in Kansas a number of towns and to discourage the building of any large ones, presumably upon the theory that large towns become ambitious; as Wichita grew and waxed in size the Santa Fe gradually surrounded it with lines, notably the line from Augusta to Mulvane and the building of the Mulvane extension ; and they even threatened to construct the Wichita and West- ern from Sedgwick to Kingman. Our people early recognized that the Santa Fe was against Wichita becoming a large town, but in later years this policy was in part abandoned. The rela- tions of the town and the railroad became somewhat reciprocal ; Wichita was recognized as one of the leading stations along the entire system and time will develop a greater friendship for Wichita, under a liberal management, and a greater tonnage.
EARLY RAILROADS HAD TO STRUGGLE FOR AN EXISTENCE.
The railways of a city are its chief asset. The more railways a city possesses the greater are its possibilities. Each additional railway secured by any city opens a new channel of commerce. And commerce rules the world. Hence it is not strange that the little frontier town of Wichita, springing up on the prairies scarcely vacated by the Indians, should in its infancy seek to become the railway center of Kansas. One railway came to Wichita in 1872. The second line came 11 years later. This
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second road was the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita railway, now owned and operated by the Missouri Pacific system. It was at the beginning of the boom days when this line built into Wichita. A surprising change had been wrought in the topo- graphy of the county at the conflux of the Big and Little Arkansas rivers. A city of some 15,000 souls had sprung up in the 11 years following the arrival of the first railway.
Then on July 4, 1883, the first train on the St. Louis, Fort Scott & . Wichita steamed into the city. At that time through service was inaugurated between Wichita and Fort Scott, a dis- tance of 150 miles. With the arrival of the first train on July 4 there was a great celebration. Wichita men had assisted materially in the construction of the line and their achievement was heralded as the beginning of Wichita's supremacy on the plains. The St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita railway was built by the Mallory Construction Company. J. W. Miller was gen- eral manager of the road, and the general offices of the com- pany were located in this city. These were the first general railway offices the city ever possessed. The opening of the new road placed Wichita 52 miles nearer St. Louis. Not only that but it opened for development a vast, rich territory which was and is tributary to the commercial interests of this city. Fine grazing and farming lands were opened and Wichita reaped the benefit of their development.
Just as the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita railway was be- ginning to prosper with the wonderful development of Southern Kansas there was a sudden pause of activities. The collapse of the boom came swifty. With the crash the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita railway went into the hands of the receiver. It could no longer pay running expenses and interest on indebtedness. Shortly afterward new capital was secured and the railway company was reorganized. Operation of trains was resumed but the name of the line was changed to Fort Scott, Wichita & Western. That name still survives, although the public generally knows the road as a part of the Missouri Pacific. Finally Jay Gould purchased the road and it was incorporated in the Mis- souri Pacific system. Mr. Gould realized the vast possibilities of Southern Kansas and extended the line southwesterly from Wich- ita to Kiowa, 86 miles. This branch was completed in 1886.
During the same year local capitalists, farmers and stock- men organized a company for the construction of a railway north-
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west toward Hutchinson. The road was first completed and operated to Colwich, 14 miles northwest. Later the line was finished into Hutchinson. It was originally intended to build this line to Colorado as indicated by the name, Wichita & Colo- rado railway. While the Wichita & Colorado railway was under construction another company was building the Salina, Hutchin- son & El Paso railway southwesterly from Salina. This line met the Wichita & Colorado road at Hutchinson and both roads were purchased by the Gould system. The Goulds were at that time building a Colorado line and the Salina, Hutchinson & El Paso line became a part of it. This ended the building of any lines by the Missouri Pacific system that were directly connected with Wichita. Since the completion of the Hutchinson branch only one stretch of new line has been added. This is the Hardtner extension of 10 miles completed this summer and now in opera- tion with through service to Wichita.
THE SANTA FE IN WICHITA.
Two thousand passengers are handled in and out of Wichita every day by the eighteen passenger trains operated into and through this city. That means that this road brings in and takes out something like 750,000 people per year. And that is a nifty little business for any railway in any city. Of the eighteen trains operated through Wichita by the Santa Fe eight are on the main line, four on the Panhandle branch, two on the Englewood branch and four on the Wichita and Western line. Seven years ago there were but four main line trains, two Panhadle trains and two on the Wichita and Western, or ten altogether. A bet- ter comparison to show the rapid growth and development of the territory southwest of Wichita is this: Seven years ago the Panhandle line had one three-car passenger train and one mixed train. These two handled all the business. Now there is one nine-coach passenger train operated to Amarillo and another train of equal size operated through to Carlsbad, N. M. Both of these are big shopper trains for Wichita.
A few years ago one accommodation train did all the freight and passenger business on the Englewood branch. In the past five years the big ranches in that section of the state have been cut up into farms. This shows up in the additional passenger business on the Englewood branch, which required a passenger
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train each way daily. The freight business is handled separately by two local trains. It is a rare occasion when every seat in the Englewood train is not taken. The express business on this branch is especially heavy. For its length the Wichita & West- ern is the prize branch of the Santa Fe. Three hundred people are handled on each of the two trains operated on this line every day. The mixed train also does a good passenger busi- ness. The main line passenger business of the Santa Fe has grown enormously in the past ten years. In 1900 there were but two trains each way daily. Now there are four each way. Not only that but every train carries larger and heavier equip- ment and more of it than did the trains of a decade ago.
SANTA FE TONNAGE.
From the standpoint of tonnage handled and money received the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway is the greatest indi- vidual concern in Wichita. How great a concern the Santa Fe is one can hardly realize even when considering that the com- pany's business in Wichita totals two and one-quarter millions of dollars annually. Briefly the Santa Fe is Wichita's greatest railway asset. Not that this road turns more money into the city than any other line, for it does not. It is only greatest from the amount of tonnage handled and from the amount of money collected for the service rendered. Some idea of the vast amount of business transacted by a great railway like the Santa Fe may be gained from actual record figures. For instance the in and out tonnage handled by the Santa Fe for the first seven months of this year totaled 408,000,000 pounds of freight. The total for the twelve months of 1909 was 536,- 000,000 pounds. The increase of tonnage for the first seven months of this year over the same period of last year was 62,- 000,000 pounds.
The remarkable increase in the business done by the Santa Fe in this city is the talk of the entire system. For the past few years the annual gain in tonnage and receipts has been from 50 to 75 per cent. For instance in the first seven months of this year the company hauled into Wichita 5,639 cars of freight and took out 2,622 cars. During the corresponding period of 1909 the road received 3,432 cars of freight and forwarded 1,754 cars. The above figures are exclusive of live stock. Of this latter
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item the Santa Fe brought in and forwarded 7,447 cars of hogs and cattle for seven months of this year. For the corresponding time of last year the road received and forwarded 7,279 cars of live stock. The transfer freight business of the Santa Fe in Wichita is also heavy. So far this year 22,000,000 pounds of through freight has been transferred by the local freight hand- ling force. Indications are that the total transfer business of the year will be in the neighborhood of 45,000,000 pounds. This is a healthy growth over the transfer business of last year. It requires ten regular and half a dozen extra freight trains daily to handle this enormous amount of business. These trains con- sist of from 75 to 90 cars or an average tonnage of 2,000 tons per train.
A MILLION AND A HALF IN TERMINALS.
Eleven years ago the Missouri Pacific had practically no buildings of any consequence in Wichita. The passenger depot, located at Second street in Wichita, was a low, rambling struc- ture of wood built in the early 80's when the road reached here from the East. The freight depot was of the same nature in the same vicinity.
Today the Missouri Pacific has the finest passenger station in the city, the largest and best equipped round house and shops, and one of the best and largest freight handling warehouses any- where in the Southwest. All of these were built within the past eleven years. It was just a dozen years ago that Wichita began to recuperate from the terrible shock of the boom. Building operations recommenced, the population began to increase, and there was evidence of returning prosperity on every side. At this juncture the Gould system began its rebuilding in Wichita.
The first to go was the old frame passenger station. This was replaced by a handsome, three-story brick structure fronting on Douglas avenue. The station cost $55,000, which was an enor- mous sum to spend on one building in Wichita at that time. Trains were dispatched from the new depot following its dedi- cation by Miss Helen Gould in 1899. In this depot offices were provided for the division superintendent and his force, for the train dispatcher and his operators, for the division engineer, for the trainmaster, for the passenger agent and baggage master. The station is still large enough for the business of the road in
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this city, but at the present rate of increase it will soon be tuu small. In the year following the dedication of the new passenger station the finest and largest freight warehouse in Kansas was built. This fronts on First street and extends northward almost to Second street. This building was built of brick and equipped with all modern warehouse appliances. The cost was $20,000. All local freight business is handled through the offices in this building.
About six years ago the down town freight yards of the Mis- souri Pacific became too small for the tonnage the road was han- dling. The switching of trains through twelve blocks of business and residence districts where the old yards were located, was a constant source of inconvenience to the company and a nuisance to the public. In consequence a large tract of ground was secured at Twenty-fifth street for the building of a new freight yard, roundhouse and shops. More than $100,000 was expended by the company to improve this property. Today it is the finest and most compact freight yard in the city. Twelve miles of switch tracks were built in the new yards, where all trains are now made up and broken up. An eighteen-stall roundhouse shelters the motive power maintained there for service on the Wichita divi- sion. One hundred men are constantly employed at the shops operated in connection with the Twenty-fifth street yards.
These improvements, along with the rebuilding of tracks, bal- lasting and other things, represented a direct expenditure of over $200,000. The thirty-seven miles of trackage maintained by the Missouri Pacific within the city has a value of $25,000 per mile. This brings the total valuation of the company's Wichita prop- erty close to the $1,500,000 mark. One of the more recent depart- ures of the company is the location of the bridge department for the Wichita division at Wichita. The materials for bridge building occupy several acres of ground in West Wichita. Bridge gangs and wrecking crews are maintained here and swift relief can be given in the event of an accident.
The Missouri Pacific reached Wichita in 1883 from the East, was extended to Kiowa in 1886, was extended to Geneseo in 1887, has division headquarters in Wichita, employes 500 men in the city, pays them $55,000 monthly, owns Wichita property valued at $1,500,000, operates sixteen passenger trains in and out of Wichita daily and twenty-two freight trains every day; has twelve miles of double track in the city, has a total trackage of
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thirty-seven miles, handled 420,000 tons of freight in and out of Wichita in 1909; business increase over 1905 was 200 per cent.
THE MISSOURI PACIFIC BEGINS REBUILDING OF ALL ITS LINES.
There was a time when the Missouri Pacific Railway was the laughing stock of all Kansas. No one thought of riding on the line if it was possible to avoid it. The roughness of the roadbed and the uncertainty of the trains were to blame for this unpopu- larity. But all has changed now. Last year the company spent more than a million dollars bettering its lines in Kansas. The improvement of roadbeds is still going on and will continue till every branch is entirely rebuilt with heavier rails and ballasted with something heavier than dirt. This summer and fall the Missouri Pacific is spending several hundred thousand dollars for heavier rails and ballast. At the present time eighty-five- pound rails are being laid between Wichita and Fort Scott. This will be completed this fall and the Missouri Pacific will then have a first-class line from this city to Kansas City and St. Louis.
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