History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 42

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 42

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The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Company was formed May 6, 1874, by the consolidation of four other organizations, viz. : the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railway Company, the Arkansas Branch of the St. Louis and Iron Moun- tain Railway Company, the Cairo, Arkansas and Texas Railroad Company, and the Cairo and Fulton Railroad Company. The through line was opened in 1874.

The valuable mineral deposits of the Iron Moun- tain and Pilot Knob early attracted the attention of the enterprising men of St. Louis, and in 1837 mcn- tion is made in the Republican of January 18th of a " railroad to the mineral region," and of the fact that "Mr. Stansbury has completed his reconnoissance of the country be- tween St. Louis and the rich mineral region of Washington County, with a view to the location of a railroad in that direc- tion."

The same paper, under date of Feb. 6, 1837, re- ferred to

" an act to incorporate the St. Louis and Bellevue Mineral Railroad," with Robert Simpson, Samuel Merry, J. B. Brant, Thornton Grimsley, G. W. Call, Joseph C. Laveille, John F. Darby, James Robinson, William R. Ellett, John Perry, Jesse HI. McIlvaine, James H. Relfe, Israel McGready, or a majority of them constituting the first board of directors.

The charter of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company was granted by the State Legisla- ture and approved March 3, 1851, reviving for the most part the charter of the "St. Louis and Bellevue Mineral Railroad Company," approved Jan. 25, 1837, and amended Feb. 17, 1853. The first survey for a railroad west of the Mississippi River was made for this road by W. H. Morrell, it having been ordered in 1839 by the State government on "the nearest and best route from St. Louis to the Iron Mountain." In 1849 a survey was made by order of the United States government from St. Louis to the southwest corner of Arkansas, and in 1852 one for a branch of the Pacific Railroad to the Iron Mountain was made by James H. Morley.

By the act of March 3, 1851, the capital stock of the Iron Mountain Company was fixed at six million dollars, divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, and the company was empowered to construct a road from the city of St. Louis, or from some point on the line of the Pacific Railroad, to or near the Iron Mountain, in St. François County, or the Pilot Knob, in Madison County, and at any time within ten years from the passage of the act to extend the road to Cape

Girardeau, on the Mississippi River, or to any point south of Cape Girardeau within the limits of the State, or to the southwestern part of the State. At the second session of the Seventeenth General As- sembly an act was passed entitled “ An Act to expedite the construction of the Iron Mountain Branch of the Pacific Railroad, approved Dec. 25, 1852."

This act empowered the Pacific Railroad Company to construct a branch road to the Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob, with liberty to extend it to the Missis- sippi River and to the boundary line of the State of Arkansas, and granted a loan of the State credit, to be used solely in constructing the Iron Mountain Branch, to the extent of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The act further provided for the transfer by the Pacific Railroad Company to the Iron Mountain Company of the bonds thus authorized to be issued on a failure by that company to commence the con- struction of the branch within twelve months from the passage of the act, on condition that five hundred thousand dollars should be subscribed to the capital stock of the company before any part of the bonds were issued, and that the road should be located through Washington County, and not more than five miles east of the county-seat thereof.

At the same session of the General Assembly an act was passed amendatory of the act last referred to, approved Feb. 23, 1853, providing that the adoption by the board of directors of the Pacific Railroad Company within the limit of twelve months from the 25th of December, 1852, of a resolution declining to construct the Iron Mountain Branch Road should operate as an immediate and full transfer of the loan of the State credit-granted for the construction of that branch-to the Iron Mountain Railroad Com- pany.

At the same session an act was passed entitled “ An Act to amend an act entitled ' An Act to incorporate the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company, approved March 3, 1851,'" which was approved Feb. 17, 1853, granting general powers and supplying the deficiencies of the original charter.

The general provisions of an act passed at the same session, entitled “ An Act to authorize the forma- tion of railroad associations, and to regulate the same," approved Feb. 24, 1853, applied to the Iron Mountain Railroad Company, as well as the pro- visions of Sections 2 and 3 of an aet passed at the first session of the Eighteenth General Assembly, entitled " An Act for the benefit of the Pacific and other railroad companies," authorizing the issue of bonds in installments of greater amount than fifty thousand dollars on certain conditions, and permitting

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RAILROADS.

the sale and hypothecation of bonds at their market value, though below par.

At the first session of the Eighteenth General Assembly an act was passed entitled “ An Act to aid in the construction of the St. Louis and Iron Moun- tain Railroad," approved March 3, 1855. This act provided for an additional loan of the State credit to the Iron Mountain Railroad Company to the amount of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, upon the same terms and with the same restrictions as prescribed by the several acts providing for and regulating the grant of State credit to the several railroad companies. The act provided also for the appointment of a Board of Public Works, charged with the supervision, and required to examine into the affairs of the company, the act to be operative only if accepted by the com- pany within six months after its passage. This act was accepted as prescribed on the 11th of May, 1855.1

The preliminary organization of the company was effected on the 4th of November, 1852, and on the 4th of January, 1853, the first board of directors was chosen as follows :

John O'Fallon, James Harrison, William M. Mc- Pherson, Jules Vallé, Henry Kayser, Francis Keller- man, Jr., William H. Belcher, Andrew Christy, Solon Humphreys, Lewis V. Bogy, John Simonds, Frederick Schulenburg, and John Cavender. Surveys were or- dered by the board and commenced during the same month (January, 1853), and were reported on the 29th of March, 1853. In all the preliminary movements

the prominent object seems to have been to reach the mineral region and the Iron Mountain, without any definite idea of going beyond. The work on the line was advertised for contract on the 21st of July, 1853.

After some delay, caused, as appears from the journal of proceedings of the board, by conflicting opinions as to the proper route to be selected, the line was finally located for a portion of the distance to the Pilot Knob, in Madison County, on the 8th of September, 1853.

On the 7th of November, 1853, an election for directors of the company was held, at which the fol- lowing were chosen : William H. Belcher, John Cavender, John How, Adolph Abeles, Lewis V. Bogy, L. M. Kennett, M. Brotherton, James Harrison, William M. McPherson, F. Schulenburg, E. Haren, M. Miller, and E. R. Mason. The board met on the following day (November 8th), and elected Luther M. Kennett president. Mr. Kennett was re- elected in 1854, and his successors in the presidency up to the sale of the road in 1866 were Madison Miller, 1855-58; Lewis V. Bogy, 1858-59 ; S. D. Barlow, 1859-66.

In the fall of 1853 the work of construction was commenced, under a partial letting to Messrs. Holmes & Co. on a small portion of the northern end of the line. On the 28th of February, 1854, a contract for the construction of the whole road to the Pilot Knob, except that portion already contracted for, was entered into with Messrs. Watts & Co. This contract did not include the furnishing of iron rails. Messrs. Watts & Co. subsequently bought out the other con- tracts, with the exception of that for work connected with the bridge over the Maramec, and that for the grading of a small portion of the line between St. Louis and Carondelet, which was contracted for by the board, in the spring and summer of 1854, with the owners of the land through which the line of the road passed.

On the 15th of June, 1855, a contract was entered into with a Pennsylvania firm for nine thousand tons of iron rails of their manufacture, the whole quantity needed for the completion of the road to the Pilot Knob.

The first locomotive (made in St. Louis by Wil- liam Palm) was placed on the road in 1856, and the road was opened for business a distance of eighty-five miles, from St. Louis to Pilot Knob, in May, 1858. The entire cost of the road, including Potosi Branch, rolling stock, discounts and interest to Oct. 1, 1860, was $5,519,948.51. The means of construction were derived from the following sources :

1 " Pursuant to a eall published in the English and German . papers, a meeting was held on the 16th inst. at the Phoenix Engine-House, for the purpose of raising subscriptions to the Iron Mountain Railroad.

"On motion, Mr. H. Kayser was chosen president, Messrs. F. Schulenberg, J. B. Bremel, H. Cobb, and Ch. Gehrke vice- presidents, and Charles Mehl and Ad. Abeles were appointed secretaries.

" After some preliminary remarks by the president as to the objeet of the meeting, Messrs. McPherson, Reynolds, Alex. Kayser, and Cobb addressed the meeting in an eloquent manner, expressing at the same time their preference for a separate, direct route.

" The following gentlemen have been appointed on the eight sub-committees for collecting subseriptions to the stoek of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company :

"1. C. R. Diekson, L. King, J. Brimermann; 2. A. H. Menkins, J. Kern, J. P. Bremel ; 3. J. D. Daggett, E. R. Mason, A. Steinkauler; 4. A. Abeles, Thos. Reynolds, I. G. C. Heidrieks; 5. C. C. Simmons, J. C. Degenhart, L. M. Kennett; 6. G. Gehrke, Wm. Hohenschild, M. Feldman ; 7. H. C. Lyneh C. Jung, B. Riee ; 8. C. F. Blattau, E. O. English, C. Mell.

" The first named on each of the committees will be furnished with a subseription-book.

" H. KAYSER, Ch'n of Com."

-Republican, Dee. 18, 1852.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

From stock subscribed and paid in ... $1,970,537.50 State of Missouri bonds .. 3,501,000.00

net earnings transportation to October,

1859

87,093,68

floating debt ..

43,989.13

The company having received from the State of Missouri from time to time during the progress of construction loans of State bonds amounting in the aggregate to $3,501,000, for which the State took a statutory first mortgage, and having failed for several years, in common with some of the other railroads, to pay all the interest falling due upon those bonds, the Legislature on the 19th day of February, 1866, passed an aet entitled " An Act to provide for the sale of certain railroads and property by the Governor, to foreclose the State's lien thereon, and to seeure an early completion of the Southwest Branch Pacific, the Platte Country, the St. Louis and Iron Mountain, and the Cairo and Fulton Railroads of Missouri."

Under the provisions of this aet the Governor ad- vertised the road for sale, and on the 27th of Septem- ber, 1866, sold it at public auction, and bid it in for the State for the amount of principal and interest due the State. Three commissioners, appointed under the act, took possession of the road and managed it for the State until Jan. 12, 1867. They were author- ized by the law to receive proposals and sell the road " to the highest and best bidders," one fourth eash, and the balanee in five equal annual installments, with six per eent. interest, payable annually, and the pur- chasers to enter into eontraet and give bond in the sum of $500,000 to complete the road to the Missis- sippi River, opposite to or below Columbus, Ky., in five years after the date of sale, and to expend. $500,000 a year " in the work of graduation, masonry, and superstructure on said extension." The commis- sioners awarded the road to McKay, Simmons & Vogel, and the Governor approved the award, and completed the sale contraet by a deed, and these par- ties, without taking any but momentary possession, sold and transferred the property to Thomnas Allen, who entered into possession Jan. 12, 1867. He as- sumed the bond and the obligation to pay the pur- chase-money, and the contract to complete the road as required. He at once appointed James II. Morley chief engineer, and the surveys for the extension eommeneed in February, and owing to the rough character of the country were continued on many dif- ferent lines, which were fully reported on until July, when the route from Bismarck to Belmont was se- lected, finally located, and put under contraet.

On the 20th of March, 1866, the Legislature passed an act to enable the purchasers of the railroad to incorporate themselves, directing how it might be

done, and declaring that the corporation thus pro- vided for should have the same rights as to property and franchises that the corporation to which they sue- eeeded through the sale made by the State formerly had.

Accordingly Mr. Allen and his associates incorpor- ated themselves on the 29th of July, 1867, in the manner directed by the law, into the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company, adopting the same name as the original corporation, and acquiring the same right of property and franchises as had belonged to that corporation.

On the 17th of March, 1868, the Legislature passed an act entitled " An Act to confirm the title of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad to Thomas Allen, his heirs and assigns, and to deliver possession thereof to the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company, organized as a corporation on the 29th day of July, 1867."

In the month of April, 1867, a suit was eom- meneed by the attorney-general of the State (Win- gate) against the State commissioners and purchasers of the road, to set aside the sale, as made by the commissioners and Governor, seeking at the same time to enjoin the company from going on with the road. In this latter he was overruled by the court, but his suit, proseeuted in the form it was, proved a serious detriment, embarrassing all attempts to get the public interested, and causing heavy discounts on loans. This burden, in view of the short time re- maining (six months) within the first year, for the proper expenditure of $500,000, as required by law, gave the company great anxiety. It succeeded, how- ever, through strenuous efforts, with the aid of efficient contraetors, in getting forty miles of the lower divi- sion graded, and by the time the first year had elapsed, viz., from Jan. 11, 1867, to Jan. 1, 1868, the ex- penditures had amounted to $583,611.73, in addition to the sum of $225,700 paid into the State treasury on the purchase. This was done, and the statement sworn to, certified by the Governor, and filed with the Secretary of State, in spite of the impediments put in the way by the attorney-general. The Legislature upon petition were about to pass a resolution order- ing the suit dismissed as to the road, but to insist on its prosecution as to the Governor's commissioners and the original purchasers, when the Governor, on the night of the 15th of January, 1868, seized the road. His reason, as afterwards published, was that the company had not made the expenditure, nor the annual statement, as required by law. The Legisla- turc, however, subsequently ordered him to restore the road and all its earnings and property forthwith,

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RAILROADS.

and at the same time confirmed the title forever by the act of March 17th, above mentioned, and in six days thereafter granted the balance duc the State as a subsidy to aid the company in building the Arkan- sas Branch.

The Governor and his agents operated the road from Jan. 15 to March 18, 1868 (sixty days), when it was restored to its lawful owners. The suit of the attorney-general was dismissed, as to the road and the company, on the 16th of April ensuing, and the net proceeds of the Governor's two months' oper- ations ($3806.80) were turned over to the company about the 1st of the ensuing May. A claim for damages done by these acts of State officers was laid before the Legislature January, 1869, amounting to $1,316,724. The road from St. Louis to Belmont (opposite to Columbus, Ky.) was completed in 1869.

On the 7th of April, 1870, the board of directors resolved " that the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad Company desire to avail themselves of the provisions of an act entitled ' An Act to aid the build- ing of branch railroads in the State of Missouri,' ap- proved March 21, 1868, for the purpose of building a branch of their road from Pilot Knob southerly to the State line of Arkansas, under the name of the ' Arkansas Branch of the St. Louis and Iron Moun- tain Railroad.' " The act authorized a separate cor- poration to be governed by the parent road, the accounts to be kept separate, the stockholders having the same right to vote for the directors as those of the original company. It was therefore agreed that the capital stock of this branch should be $2,500,000, and that bonds should be issued to the extent of $2,500,000, payable in twenty-five years, with interest at seven per cent., payable semi-annually in gold, and secured by a special mortgage of the Branch Railroad, its property and appurtenanecs. The State having by law appropriated the unpaid portion of the purchase- money and interest accruing after the date of the act for the Iron Mountain and Cairo and Fulton Railroads ($674,300), at the rate of $15,000 pcr mile for every mile completed within a certain time, it became necessary to complete the first twenty miles on or before the 23d of March, 1871, and work was commeneed in the fall of 1870, and the first thirty miles completed Feb. 23, 1871. The work was prosecuted during the remainder of that year, and Nov. 4, 1872, the whole line (ninety-nine miles in length) was completed to the boundary of Arkansas. It was duly accepted by the State, and the debt can- celed. Trains commenced running regularly over the line April 2, 1873.

As previously stated, the road was consolidated

with other roads in May, 1874, and a through line secured to Texarkana, Texas.

The gauge of the road was changed in June, 1879, from five feet to four feet eight and one-half inches, to accommodate its running machinery to the roads east of the Mississippi, with which it connects at St. Louis by means of the great bridge.

The connections of this great railroad are,-

At Carondelet, five miles south of St. Louis, with the Missouri Pacific and with the East St. Louis and Carondelet Railways, by which it is enabled to handle with great economy the provision and produce busi- ness from Kansas City for Southern markets.

At Mineral Point, six miles from St. Louis, with a branch to Potosi.

At Bismarck, seventy-six miles from St. Louis, the line divides ; the one to Belmont intersects at Charles- ton, one hundred and seventy-eight miles from St. Louis, the Cairo, Arkansas and Texas Railroad ; here a ferry connects with the Mobile and Ohio Railroad for Mobile and intermediate points in Mississippi and Alabama, also witlı New Orleans. The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern system connects at Union City with the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway for Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Augusta, Charleston, Columbia, Port Royal, Savannah, Macon, Selma, Montgomery, Decatur, Jacksonville, and points in Florida. The other line of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Rail- road from Bismarck continues in the direction of Ar- kansas and Texas, passing the great iron deposits at Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob, the valley of Arcadia, the grades of the Ozark Mountains, and the Black River to Poplar Bluff, one hundred and sixty-six miles from St. Louis. At that point the branch from Cairo connects with the Arkansas division, crossing the Missouri boundary at Moark, so called from Mo. and ARK.

At Little Rock, three hundred and forty five miles from St. Louis, connection is made with the Memphis and Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroads.

At Malvern, three hundred and eighty-eight miles from St. Louis, connection is made for the Hot Springs by the Hot Springs Narrow Gauge Railroad.

At Texarkana, four hundred and ninety miles from St. Louis, the southern terminus of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad, connection is made with the Texas and Pacific Railway, and by it with New Mexico and California, and with the Inter- national and Great Northern Railroad, by which Hearne, Houston, Galveston, San Antonio, Columbia, and Palestine trade with St. Louis. When Mexico is opened to American enterprise, the St. Louis, Iron

1176

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

Mountain and Southern Railway will, as heretofore indicated, be one of the chief lines of intercommuni- cation with that great and undeveloped country, and St. Louis the entrepôt for its trade with the United States.

The Cairo, Arkansas and Texas Railroad Company was an independent organization, which derived its powers from a special act of the Missouri Legislature, approved May 16, 1872, authorizing the construction of a road from Greenfield, opposite Cairo, to Poplar Bluff. This road, seventy-one miles in length, was completed in September, 1873, intersecting the Bel- mont line of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Road at Charleston, in Missouri County, and the Arkansas Branch at Poplar Bluff. Having a grant of gov- ernment lands amounting to sixty-five thousand acres, it became a desirable adjunct of and is now controlled by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Rail- road Company.

The Cairo and Fulton Railroad was incorporated in 1853, and received a grant of land from Congress of 3840 acres per mile. In 1866 its privileges were ex- tended for ten years and its grant enlarged to 6400 acres per mile. At that time the charter was controlled by Eastern capitalists, but being a direct link in the line from St. Louis to Texas, the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad and its Arkansas Branch, the Cairo, Arkansas and Texas Railroad, entered into ar- rangements by which the Cairo and Fulton Railroad was consolidated with the St. Louis and Iron Moun- tain Railroad.

The total mileage of the Iron Mountain road is as follows :

Miles.

St. Louis to Texarkana 490

Bismarck to Columbus 121

Iron Mountain and Helena. 43

Potosi Branch. 4

Cairo to Poplar Bluff 74

Doniphan Branch (as far as completed). 7

Cowley Ridge Branch 140

Camden Branch. 34

Total 913

The earnings of the road for the year ending Dec. 31, 1881, amounted ($10,691.20 per mile) to $7,686,973.38 ; expenditures ($6859.34 per mile) to $4,931,863.70. The total assets were set down at $56,334,799.54 ; capital stock, $22,084,115 ; funded debt, $31,792,929.71.

During the year 1881 the greater part of the stock of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Rail- road Company was purchased by the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, the object of the purchase being the consolidation of the two corporations, and on the 14th of March, 1882, the following directors were elected : Henry G. Marquand, Jay Gould, Russell

Sage, Thomas T. Eckert, Sidney Dillon, Joseph S. Lowery, Samuel Shethar, John T. Terry, and George B. McClellan, of New York; Henry Whelan, of Philadelphia ; Frederick L. Ames, of Boston ; Rufus J. Lackland and R. C. Kerens, of St. Louis. The executive officers of the company are Jay Gould, president, New York ; R. S. Hayes, first vice-presi- dent, St. Louis; Thomas T. Eckert, second vice- president, New York ; S. D. Barlow, secretary, St. Louis ; A. H. Calef, treasurer, New York; C. G. Warner, general auditor, St. Louis; H. M. Hoxie, general manager, St. Louis ; E. L. Dudley, superin- tendent, St. Louis ; O. A. Haynes, master-mechanic, Carondelet, Mo. ; . Seth Frink, general freight agent, St. Louis ; F. Chandler, general passenger agent, St. Louis ; Thomas Esscx, land commissioner, St. Louis ; J. H. Morley, chief engineer, St. Louis ; R. B. Lyle, purchasing agent, St. Louis ; A. E. Bu- chanan, superintendent of bridges, Little Rock, Ark. The principal office of the company is located at &t. Louis.

The Texas and Pacific Railway Company was organized under an act of Congress, March 3, 1871, and the general railroad laws of Texas. It acquired the properties of the Southern Pacific, the Southern Transcontinental, and the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific Railroad Companies. The Southern Pacific was a consolidation of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas and the Southern Pacific. The portion of the line in Louisiana, about twenty miles, was built by the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas, and the section from the east line of Texas to Longview, Texas, about forty miles, by the Southern Pacific Company. The rest of the line in Texas was built by the Texas and Pacific Company. The road extends from New Or- leans, La., westward through Louisiana and Texas, and by junction with the Southern Pacific Railroad of California to the Pacific coast. Its length June 1, 1882, was : Miles.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 42

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358