History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 31

Author: John W. Mason
Publication date: 1916
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 765

USA > Minnesota > Otter Tail County > History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 31

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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was projected through Otter Tail City, but which was finally run about fifteen miles to the northeast of the county seat.

Different reasons have been given for the failure of the Northern Pacific to pass through Otter Tail City. There was no paper published in the county at the time the road was being built through it, and therefore no contemporary account of local conditions has been preserved. Fortunately, a number of men are still living who passed through the fight of the seventies when efforts were being made to induce the road to pass through the county seat. There seems to be a consensus of opinion on two points, that the railroad company first planned to run the road through Otter Tail City, and secondly that their failure to do so was due, more than anything else, to refusal of one Thomas Cathcart, a large land owner in the vicinity of Otter Tail City, to give the necessary right of way and other concessions. There can be no question but that the company originally contemplated running their line through Otter Tail City. In the summer of 1870 there was a construction camp in the county seat, and for a short time, not more than three months, the people of the "city" were confident that the projected road was going to strike them. What- ever the cause may be for the road being finally placed where it now is, there can be no question that the failure of Otter Tail City to secure it was imme- diately followed by agitation to remove the county seat to l'ergus Falls.

While the Northern Pacific failed to touch Otter Tail City, the residents of the county seat still had hopes of a railroad. The act of Congress of March 3, 1871, has a direct bearing on the railroad history of Otter Tail county. This act permitted the St. Paul & Pacific to alter its branch line so that instead of having to build a line from Crow Wing to St. Vincent and from St. Cloud to Lake Superior, it could construct a line from Crow Wing to Brainerd to connect with the Northern Pacific at the latter point, and from St. Cloud "to a point of intersection with the line of the original grant at or near Otter Tail or Rush Lake, so as to form a more direct line to St. Vincent."

It was this latter provision which brought the St. Paul & Pacific through Fergus Falls, although the people of Otter Tail City at first contended that the provision would compel the company to build through their place. The secre- tary of the interior ruled, however, that the railroad company would be com- plying with the terms of its grant if it built the road through Fergus Falls, instead of Otter Tail City; that such a road would be "at or near Otter Tail or Rush Lake." This information reached Otter Tail county in January, 1872, and within a month from that time a bill had been introduced in the Legisla- ture to remove the county seat from Otter Tail City to Fergus Falls. Hon. E. E. Corliss, now custodian of the state capitol, and at that time a member of the Legislature, introduced the bill and it was promptly passed. It is not too much to say that this action was the direct result of the announcement of the

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St. Paul & Pacific that it intended to run its line to the west of Otter Tail City and, in all probability, through or near Fergus Falls.

The period from 1872 to 1879 in the railroad history of Otter Tail county is filled with the efforts of the people of Fergus Falls to get a railroad. As soon as it was known that the St. Paul & Pacific did not have to go through Otter Tail City to comply with its grant, the people of Fergus Falls began to lay their plans to have the company build through the county seat. Early in 1871 the surveyors of the railroad company started to survey an extension of the St. Paul & Pacific from Alexandria through Otter Tail, Wilkin and Clay counties in order to intersect the Northern Pacific at or near the present Glyndon. As a matter of fact, surveying parties had been engaged since 1870 in trying to locate a route between St. Cloud and Moorhead, but it was not until early in 1872 that definite steps were taken by the St. Paul & Pacific to build the extension.

It is very probable that the inside story of the original extension as planned and partially graded will never be told. Accounts differ as to why the com- pany finally decided to build the road south and west of Fergus Falls instead of going through the county seat. To the casual observer it would appear that there was every reason why the line should have gone through Fergus Falls, but the ways of railroad magnates in those days were past finding out. George C. Miles, of Conrad, Montana, who was in the surveying party which ran the road through the county in 1872, says that it was currently reported at that time that the road was placed where it was because of the influence of certain land owners in St. Cloud and Dayton who had land between those two places. As the road was originally projected from Alexandria to the Northern Pacific it entered Otter Tail county in Tumuli township, veered to the north- west, passing through Aastad, Buse, Orwell and Carlisle townships. It crossed the Red river a short distance below the present Otter Tail Power Company's dam and passed through sections 33, 29, 28, 18 and 7 in Carlisle township. The road was graded from Red river northwest until it left the county, the company expending at least eighteen thousand dollars on the grading in this county alone. There was also considerable grading between Dayton and Dal- ton to the south and east of Red river. The grade is still plainly to be seen and especially north of Red river where it is graded in many places as high as fourteen feet.

But in the summer of 1872 the panic came on and within a week all work was suspended. The road was then in operation as far north as Melrose. The newspapers of Fergus Falls are full of articles on the railroads from 1873 until the road finally reached the city in December, 1879.

On May 25. 1874. a large meeting of Fergus Falls citizens was held to consider the conditions and aspect of their railroad interests, especially con-

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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA. 287 cerning the St. Vincent branch. There seemed to be a feeling that a crisis in

the development of their material interests had been reached. A full account of that meeting is reproduced from the Fergus Falls Journal :

"All realize the suffering condition of business from the want of rail- road outlet. It seems apparent that the important interests of this whole sec- tion of country were being sacrificed to the selfish personal quarrel being waged between the factions known as the bondholders of the St. Paul & Pacific railroad, and the contractors, known as the DeGraff element. That between these two powerful interests the people who have been induced to settle in this county and made the dupes of the pledged building of the road, are being ground to powder, as between the upper and nether millstone."

A COMMITTEE PRESENTS RESOLUTIONS.

A committee composed of Doctor Goodale, Sam H. Nichols. J. W. Mason. O. S. King and A. J. Underwood, was appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the sentiment of the meeting. This committee reported the fol- lowing preamble and resolutions, which, after a full discussion, were unani- mously adopted :

Whereas. Five months of the present session of Congress have passed and it must be considered that the end of the session is rapidly approaching, and that it is morally certain that neither of the bills now before Congress for the extension of the time for the completion of the unfinished branches of the St. Paul & Pacific railroad can become a law by reason of a division of its friends, one part supporting a measure wholly in the interest of the bondholders, and the others supporting a measure wholly in the interests of the contractors claiming to he creditors.

And Whereas. The completion of these roads through the vast region of country which they are to traverse is of much more consequence to the people of this state. and especially to the inhabitants of the northern part thereof. than that any class of creditors, whether contractors or bondholders, should be allowed to mould legislation to their peculiar interest or purposes, and at the expense of those sections, the develop- ment and progress of which are not only retarded. but effectually prevented by the long and unjustifiable delay in the building of the roads. That the large and suffering com- munities who have been invited and enticed into the neighborhood of these roads by their location and promised construction, have some rights which deserve to be respected : that the construction of these roads as aided and secured by the land grants, was intended chiefly to subserve their interests and promote their welfare. and therefore cannot rightfully be subverted to objects of less public consideration.

And Whereas. The substantial interests of all parties concerned would be pro- moted by the speedy completion of these roads. Therefore,

Resolved, That neither class of creditors or claimants should be permitted longer to exclusively occupy the ground in its contest with the other, and that they should not be allowed longer to retard the necessary legislation, and thus Indefinitely postpone the consummation of a great public enterprise.

Resolved. That we request our Legislature to secure the extension of the land grant to the trustees of the bondholders, with the following conditions:

First. That if the present company or its successors or assigns fail to fully con- struct and operate the lines by June, 1876. they shall forfeit their franchises to the

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unfinished portions thereof, and the state shall be empowered to confer the franchises and grant of the uncompleted portions upon another company or corporation.

Second, That the branch line from St. Cloud to St. Vincent shall be constructed and operated via Sauk Centre, Osaki, Alexandria, and Fergus Falls.

Third. That the road shall be constructed and in operation to Fergus Falls by December 1, 1874.

Fourth, That no lands shall be deeded to the company until both branches are fully completed and in operation.

Fifth. That all settlers who have entered upon and improved any part of said grant prior to September 1. 1872. in good faith, shall be protected in their claims, the same as if said grant had not been made, and other lands corresponding in value to be granted in lieu thereof.

It will be seen by these resolutions of the citizens of Fergus Falls in 1874 that the people of the village really felt that a crisis was at hand in regard to the expiration of the land grant of the St. Paul & Pacific. Added to any and all other obstacles in the path of the company was the lack of money to com- plete the work and the constant agitation on the part of the Fergus Falls people to compel the building of the road through the county seat.

The question reached a climax in the session of the Legislature which met in 1877. At that session the railroad company applied for an extension of their grant. This extension was granted upon condition that the road be built through Fergus Falls instead of through Dayton as originally planned and already partially graded. It seems proper in this connection to make mention of the men who were largely responsible for compelling the company to change their plans and build through Fergus Falls. While there were many men who had labored for several years to this same end, yet when the crisis came it was Henry G. Page, the senator from Otter Tail county and Knute Nelson, senator from Douglas county, who deserve the greatest amount of credit for the pas- sage of the act of March 1. 1877. The part of this act which refers to Otter Tail county in general and to Fergus Falls in particular reads as follows :

"Section 6. The time for the completion of the uncompleted portions of the line of railroad extending from St. Cloud to St. Vincent. commonly known as the 'St. Vencent Branch of the St. Paul & Pacific Extension Lines,' is here- by extended as follows :

"From Melrose to Sauk Center, until July 1, 1878; from Sauk Center to Alexandria, until January 1, 1879: from Alexandria to Fergus Falls, and from Crookston to St. Vincent, until January 1, 1880; from Fergus Falls to Glyndon, until January 1, 1881."

The act of March 1, 1877, was amended by the succeeding Legislature, March 9, 1878, but no change was made in the time limit for the completion of the road from Melrose via Sauk Center. Alexandria, Fergus Falls and Glyn- don to St. Vincent. The act of 1878 did provide, however, that "when that portion of said line of railroad extending from Alexandria by way of Evans-

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ville to Fergus Falls is fully completed, with the cars running thereon, then, and not before, the governor of the state may convey or certify to such com- pany all the rest, residue and remainder of the lands granted by the United States to the state of Minnesota to aid in the construction of the said line of railroad."

With the passage of the act of March 1, 1877, Fergus Falls was finally assured of a railroad. The newspapers of the city during the next two years are full of railroad items and it is possible to trace the growth of the railroad week by week until the first train rolled into the city on December 2, 1879. The Journal in its issue of May 16, 1879, says "The contract for the construc- tion of the railroad from Alexandria through Fergus Falls to Barnesville, about eighty miles, was let in St. Paul last week to Langdon, Harrison & Com- pany, the lowest bidders. Hon. R. B. Langdon, of Minneapolis, and D. C. Shepard, of St. Paul, who are well known railroad men in this state, are mem- bers of this firm and have many friends in these parts. Advertisements are out for five hundred laborers and three hundred teams, and offers are made to sub-contractors."

One reason why the St. Paul & Pacific had ceased work on its roads in Minnesota was because it went into the hands of a receiver in 1872 and had been unable to get sufficient financial support to continue operations. During the period from 1872 to 1879 the receiver was operating the road in the interest of the bondholders. The road, of course, was not a paying investment at this time, and it was not a surprise when it was sold under a decree of foreclosure in May, 1879. Apropos of this sale, the Journal of May 30, 1879, has the following to say: "The purchasers of the St. Paul & Pacific railroad under the decree of the United States district court, met on the 23rd inst., and re-organized under the name of the St. Paul. Minneapolis & Manitoba Rail- way Company. The first board of directors consists of George Stephen, of Montreal. John S. Barnes, of New York, Donald S. Smith, of Winnipeg, and Norman W. Kittson, J. J. Hill, H. R. Biglow and R. B. Galusha, of St. Paul. The directors subsequently met and elected George Stephen for president of the company, Norman W. Kitson vice-president and Edward Sawyer, secre- tary and treasurer. James J. Hill was made general manager. It is generally known that the St. Paul & Pacific railroad has virtually passed into the hands of the bondholders by an amicable understanding and settlement with all the other parties in interest. Under an agreement between the parties a formal foreclosure and sale of the road is to take place, afterwards the new company will have plain sailing in the management of the largest and most important railroad system in the northwest."

Work on the road was pushed rapidly during the summer and fall of 1879 .

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and little else was talked of in Fergus Falls except railroad matters. The people looked forward with expectant hearts to the day when the whistle of the locomotive could be heard around the bend across the river. By September 12, 1879, regular passenger trains were running to Evansville and the people of Fergus Falls were assured that within two weeks a track would be laid inside of the township of Tumuli. In that township it was reported that work would be suspended for a time and the main force of workmen sent north of Fergus Falls to work from Barnesville south. The Journal reported on September 12 that "the cars will actually reach Fergus Falls first from the northwest. In that direction the grading has been let into small contracts and is being pushed rapidly. The piles are about all driven at the crossing of the Pelican."

The Journal was able to report in its issue of December 5, 1879, that "out of the million of clinchers that have been driven in St. Paul & Pacific rails, the last one needed to complete the Fergus Falls division was driven yesterday about six miles west of this town." What a feeling of exultation the readers of the paper must have felt when they read this item. For at least eight years they had been hoping that the day would come when the newspaper would chronicle this event, and now that it had actually happened the joy of the people of Fergus Falls knew no bounds. It was on Tuesday afternoon, between the hours of three and four, on December 2, 1879, that the first pas- senger coach crossed the river and stopped at Mill street. A number of the officials of the company were aboard and all were taken to the Occidental hotel, the "Kaddatz" of that time, and wined and dined by the happy citizens of the city. Later, the train passed westward a short distance and then returned to Fergus Falls. Regular passenger trains began running on Monday morning. December 8, 1879, according to the following schedule : Leave Fergus Falls. 6:30 a. m., arrive at St. Paul, 6:35 p. m. ; leave St. Paul 7:00 a. m., arrive at Fergus Falls, 7:45 p. m. This shows that it took twelve hours and five min- utes to go to St. Paul and forty minutes longer to make the return trip. The last schedule (1916) shows that the trip is now made in five hours. Mr. Ulmer was the first station agent and his temporary place of business was in a box car. The first station was on the east side of the river, about two blocks down the track from where it crossed the river. It remained there until the forepart of the eighties when it was moved to the Vine street crossing. This change was brought about through the influence of the Scotch interests, who were at that time building the Grand hotel and improving the western part of the city. It was moved to its present site. between Mill and Cascade streets, about 1900.

The Great Northern secured control of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba on February 1, 1890, under a lease which was to extend for a period of nine hundred and ninety-nine years. The owners of the St. Paul.

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Minneapolis & Manitoba were the organizers of the Great Northern. It was felt that the corporate powers of the Manitoba company were lacking in scope desirable for the control of a large transportation system such as was planned by the stockholders in 1889. It was at this time that the system was planned to reach the Pacific coast and it was for the purpose of larger operations that the Great Northern Railway Company took over on February 1, 1890, all of the railways and appurtenant properties of the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba. It might be mentioned that the road was com- pleted to the Pacific coast in 1893. the first road, by the way, to be built across the continent without government aid.

Something of the history of the Northern Pacific through Otter Tail county has already been given and it now remains to give an account of the branch of that road which was built from Wadena junction via Fergus Falls to Breckenridge and from Fergus Falls north to Pelican Rapids. The citizens of Fergus Falls during the decade from 1870 to 1880 were bending every effort to induce some railroad company to build a line through the city. While it was hoped that the St. Paul & Pacific, now the Great Northern, would change its route and build through the county seat, yet if this could not be brought about, they hoped to be able to induce the Northern Pacific to build westward from Wadena via Fergus Falls, Breckenridge and points west. George B. Wright was largely responsible for the ultimate building of this road. He labored for years to get this railroad built and his fertile pen was constantly employed in the columns of the local papers with great effect; his convincing arguments were directed to citizens of the county wherever he met them, in order to create a public sentiment favorable to county aid; he dogged the legislature for swamp land grants; he made jour- neys to the east to visit capitalists and railroad men; and with tireless energy he fathered this project through defeat and failure, in years of grasshopper ravages as well as those of prosperity; and just as his hopes were fairly realized and the consequent prosperity to this city and county was bursting upon us like a flood of light, he was suddenly called away-his life work ended.

Several elections were held in Otter Tail county in the seventies to vote bonds for the assistance of railroads. On May 24, 1876, such an election was held, the issue at this time being whether Otter Tail county should vote one hundred thousand dollars of bonds to the Northern Pacific to build a road from Wadena to Fergus Falls. An exciting campaign preceded the election and the result showed that the county was fairly well divided on the question. The vote stood seven hundred and ninety-five in favor of the issuance of the bonds to nine hundred and ninety against the proposition. The Perham and Pelican valley people were strongly opposed to the proposi-

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date: tagen on the road and on October 26. 1882. the rad was we feel free Madera inaction via Fergus Falls to Breckenridge and north to, Peber Pride. On that date a special train bearing State Treasurer Have a ster civil and railroad officials, together with a party of chivers and youmake made a tour of inspection over the road. 'e treasurer delivered the bonds to the com- pany. Over eighty mass of the two branches is in Otter Tail county and with the opening of the road twelve railroad stations were installed along the line. The Journal in its issue of October 26. 1872. says that "the tax- able valuation of the county has already been increased millions of dollars

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OTTER TAIL COUNTY, MINNESOTA.

in consequence of the building of the road. The great central part of the county and the Pelican valley have been given markets for their immense crops of grain and produce; this road has already become our chief source of lumber supply, and the amount of wheat, flour and other articles of export that shall pass out to the markets of the world over its track, is beyond all computation. The wisdom of the project has been already proved a thou- sand times, and today the final completion and acceptance of this important enterprise, which had its origin in and owes its success to Fergus Falls."

At the present time the following stations are on the branch running from Wadena to Fergus Falls: Deer Creek, Henning, Vining, Clitherall, Battle Lake and Underwood. The Pelican Rapids division has two stations between Fergus Falls and Pelican Rapids, Elizabeth and Erhard.

The history of the road to Pelican Rapids contains an interesting fea- ture which deserves mention. In 1880 when the Northern Pacific began building its branch from Fergus Falls north to Pelican Rapids, the St. Paul, Minnesota & Manitoba at once began to build a parallel line, branching off the main line at Carlisle, going to Elizabeth and thence north, paralleling the right of way of the Northern Pacific. The two construction crews worked side by side for some weeks and it seemed for a time that both companies would actually build branches into Pelican Rapids. However before either company laid any rails, a compromise was effected whereby the Great North- ern bought out the Northern Pacific. The old grade of the abandoned road may still be seen from Carlisle to Elizabeth and from that village north to Pelican Rapids. Some of the piling was driven for the bridges and this may also be seen in some places today. This is another instance where thou- sands of dollars has been spent in Otter Tail county for a railroad which was never built. The other instance was the abandoned route of the St. Paul & Pacific which was planned to run through Dayton, and later changed in 1877 to run through Fergus Falls.

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History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota: Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 31

Author: John W. Mason Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Number of Pages: 765

Author: John W. Mason
Publication date: 1916
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 765