History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 105

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198

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This committee was instructed to report at a subsequent meeting to be called by President Kidder, but the record fails to disclose that there was ever held an- other gathering of territorial scope to consider this subject.

With the Yankton people there was an earnest sentiment, based upon the most important conditions, that railway facilities must be secured, and from the date

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of this meeting the efforts of the people were largely directed in negotiations looking to the construction of a road.

Gen. G. M. Dodge, and Hon. James F. Wilson, of lowa, prominent citizens and railroad projectors and promoters, visited the settlements in the Missouri Valley in October, 1809, and held meetings. They proposed the organization of a com- pany for the purpose of building a railroad from Sioux City up the immediate Valley of the Missouri to a connection with the Northern Pacific, which at that time was expected to cross the Missouri near the mouth of the Yellowstone. These gentlemen were sanguine that they could secure the building of the line, and at the meetings held they were assured of the hearty and liberal co-operation of the people. On their return to Sioux City, a company was organized, composed of G. M. Dodge, John T. Baldwin, A. W. Hubbard, E. Creighton and James S. Wilson, for the purpose of constructing a road from Sioux City to the Bix Sioux River, a distance of about five miles through lowa, there to connect with the pro- posed Dakota & Northwestern already organized, which has been mentioned, whose charter could be secured and which conferred valuable franchises.

RAILROAD CORPORATIONS REPORT TO LEGISLATURE

The Legislative Assembly of 1870-71 adopted a joint resolution requiring all railroad companies organized under the laws of Dakota Territory to make an im- mediate report and statement of the condition of the corporation, and what had been accomplished, in order that the Assembly might have reliable data upon which 10 base a memorial to Congress for a grant of lands to the territory to be used in promoting the construction of railways. The Dakota & Northwestern Company submitted its report January 25, 1871, as follows :

The act of incorporation under which this company organized was approved January 11, 1867. The company organized as required by said act early in June following, and in August the board of directors ordered a preliminary survey of their proposed line from the Big Sioux River to Yankton, which was made by Chief Engineer George Stickney during the following November. On the 6th of January, 1868, an annual meeting of stock- holders was held at Yankton, when books of subscription to the capital stock were opened and 6.490 shares of stock subscribed. A board of directors was elected, the report of the chief engineer, herewith attached, was received and approved. No further steps were taken during 1868. On the 4th of January, 1869, at the annual meeting of the directors, the books of subscription were again opened, when the remaining portion of the capital stock of $1,000.000 was subscribed and the books were closed. The stockholders met at the same time and elected a board of directors.

On the 23d of November, 1858, the stockholders of the company held a special meeting pursuant to a thirty days' call, for the purpose of authorizing the company to make arrange- ments for the construction of the road by the company or by the Missouri Valley Railroad Company. A committee appointed to consider the proposition of the latter company reported in favor of accepting the proposition of the Missouri Valley company, and authorizing the Dakota & Northwestern to transfer its franchises to the Missouri Valley road upon the con- ditions that a survey of the road be made, and one mile of grading be completed by the Ist day of September, 1869. and the whole road completed and in running order from Sioux City, lowa, to Yankton, Dakota Territory, by the Ist day of September, 1871. The survey has been made and the one mile of grading done.

The Missouri Valley company was organized under the laws of lowa for the purpose of constructing a railroad from Sioux City, Iowa, to a point of junction with this company at the Big Sioux River, and for the further purpose of acquiring the right to construct the line of road of this company in accordance with the laws of the territory. The first condition under the articles of agreement was complied with, and we have every assurance and are satisfied that the second will be, as well as the further condition which requires said company to construct the remainder of the line in accordance with the terms of this company's charter and its contract with said valley company road. A failure on the part of the Missouri Valley company to comply with the terms and conditions of said contract will, by the terms of the same, revert all the rights, privileges, franchises, etc., embraced in its charter to this company.

The Missouri Valley company, we are assured, is engaged in perfecting its plans for the building of the road, and have furthermore applied to Congress for a grant of lands to aid in its construction, said grant to be made lo the Dakota corporation; said lands, if granted, to be sold to actual settlers at the price of $2.50 per acre. In consideration of the great benefits to flow from the construction of this line, we ask the Legislative Assembly

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to aid by memorial to Congress, to secure a land grant which we are confident will secure the completion of this line of railroad within the next twelve months.

Congress has abundant precedem for granting lands to aid in the railroad development of our young and promising territory. In conclusion, we desire to say that on our applica- tion for the right of way along the line of this road we have received, in every instance, a cheerful grant of the same by the property holders, an assurance of further and in the full and speedy completion of this great enterprise. J. P. KIDDER, President.

J. B. S. Topp, Secretary. Yankton, D. T., January 6, 1871.

THE YEAR 1809 GOOD FOR CROPS

The year 1869 was the most notable for immigration and good crops the terri- tory had yet experienced. Farmers in many instances threshed out forty bushels of wheat to the acre of ground planted, and two or three small cargoes of this grain were shipped down the river on some of the late steamboats. There was a great surplus of wheat and the mills had not then been erected to grind it. Wagon transportation to Sioux City ate up all the profits, and it was the very best of for- tine to find the outlet by boats for a portion of the surplus of the counties across the river, as well as in Dakota. The necessity for a railroad was forced upon the attention of the people by conditions of this character, which were certain to grow more urgent another year : and the energy and ability of the territory was given in good earnest to securing railway facilities. Public meetings were held where addresses were made showing the advantages of railway facilities, though everyone seemed to have settled that question with himself affirmatively, and ways and means for supporting an enterprise were suggested ; committees were appointed who visited the railway managers in their eastern offices and endeavored to enlist them to build their lines into the territory. The prosperity of every branch of in- dustry apparently was dependent upon securing railway facilities, and if settle- ments were to expand and population and production increase, such facilities were indispensable and urgent. Steamboat transportation was not dependable, because navigation closed when most needed to move the grain. It was a railway that the situation demanded imperatively to relieve the congested condition of the farmers' cribs and grain bins. Railroad companies had been organized in the territory and preliminary surveys made from Yankton to Sioux City ; from Yankton to Colum- bus, Nebraska, and also from Yankton to a point in Southern Minnesota. Repre- sentative men had been sent out to the railway and financial centers east for the purpose of enlisting individuals of wealth or railway corporations in the project of constructing a line into the territory and through its most important and prom- ising centers of population, but nothing tangible had been accomplished. While the situation at home was keenly realized, railway builders had not appeared to be favorably impressed. As a rule, they looked upon the enterprise with disfavor, promising no adequate returns for the capital required to construct and operate a road, and they were loath to consider a proposition unless it was accompanied by a substantial subsidy. All or nearly all the western railroads had been aided by grants of land and county bond donations ; the Dakota proposition had neither to recommend it. The contention on the part of the railway men was that there was not sufficient patronage from the grain fields and commerce of the territory at the time to warrant the investment of the money which would be required to build, equip and operate the road, and a subsidy of lands or bonds would be needed to make up the estimated deficiency. Millions of acres of unclaimed land still awaited settlement on the frontiers of Iowa and Minnesota, and railway men were apt 10 consider that years would elapse before there would be any more than moderate progress in the settlement of the wide wastes in those states, which would be the first to invite the attention of the immigrant from the East. Had the price of wheat gone to a dollar a bushel it might have been a factor in favor of Dakota's rail- way development at that time. but prices of all farm products averaged low, indi- cating that the supply was abundant, the demand very moderate. ( And nothing of the kind occurred or was likely to occur for a generation, and the situation in the territory, as well as the spirit of enterprise that dominated those old Dakotans,

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would not admit of a surrender. ) They had the will and they were bound to find the way. The only feasible project at this time and the one that had a large ma- jority of public sentiment behind it, was a road from Sioux City up the Missouri Valley on the Dakota side. Such a line would reach the important towns of Elk Point, Vermillion and Yankton, which were the principal centers of trade, and at Yankton would connect with the Missouri River, an important item to the pro- jected road in securing the up-river business and the contracts for transporting the army supplies and Indian goods sent up by the Government. The cost of grading this line would be much cheaper than the average.

Sioux City had a monopoly of the Dakota business, and was also the starting point for a large number of up-river steamboats. Competition between the rail- road and the river had induced the railways to make a rate from Chicago to Sioux City as reasonable as the boats could afford from St. Louis to Sioux City, the Chicago market was also an eager competitor, while in the matter of time the railway possessed a decided and permanent advantage.

The Sioux City business men were not friendly to an extension of their road into Dakota, but it was apparent to even the most casual observer that if the south- ern portion of the territory was to have a railroad it must come from Sioux City or that point would lose one half of its business. Had any of the other railway projects which the people of Dakota had in view at that time been successful, they would have deprived Sioux City for a time, at least, of its most valuable trade territory, and there were prospects of securing railway facilities from other directions.

A NEBRASKA ENTERPRISE

Reference has been made to the Yankton and Columbus Railway. This con- pany though organized in 1868 at Yankton under the laws of Dakota, was also in 1869 organized at Columbus under the laws of Nebraska, there being substan- tial reasons for doing so, the principal advantage being the securing of state and county aid. The officers of the new organization were John Rickley, president ; W. W. Brookings, vice president ; Will B. Dale, secretary ; Charles H. Whaley, treasurer. W. W. Brookings, Newton Edmunds, J. R. Hanson, Will B. Dale, Chas. H. Whaley, S. L. Holman, directors. Rickley, Dale, Whaley, and Holman were the Nebraskians. The plan was to secure a donation of county bonds from the counties through which the road would pass, sufficient to pay the cost of right of way, grading and tieing, and already the Legislature of Nebraska had made a grant of Nebraska state lands to this company. This enterprise was inviting to Yankton people, and was supposed to have the favor of the Union Pacific Rail- way. It was kept alive through the succeeding year and a meeting was held at Yankton January 14, 1871, for the purpose of promoting it; the Nebraska interest manifesting a determination to build the line considering the feasibility of making an effort to obtain the grant of certain lands understood to have been forfeited to the State of Nebraska by certain railroad companies which had failed to com- ply with the terms of their grant ; to aid in building a railroad from Yankton to Columbus in that state. Chief Justice French presided at this meeting, and Maj. Į. R. Ilanson, of Dakota, and Hon. S. P. Sanders, United States senator of Nebraska, were secretaries. Addresses were made by Jas. S. Foster, Hon. S. P. Sanders, W. W. Brookings, Surveyor General Beadle, Secretary of the Territory George Alexander Batchelder, Bartlett Tripp, M. T. Woolley, Mr. Herrick, Gov. Newton Edmunds, and Col. G. C. Moody. This route from Yankton to Colum- bus had already been surveyed and a profile made of the line by Carl C. P. Meyers, and an excellent route found. Finally a committee was appointed consisting of Governor Edmunds. Colonel Moody, Secretary Batchelder, Jas. S. Foster, General Beadle, S. P. Sanders and Saby Strahm, the last named of Aten, Nebraska, to visit the legislature of Nebraska, then in session, and make an effort to secure the legislation necessary to enable the Yankton and Columbus Railway Company to

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obtain control of the forfeited lands. A portion of the committee attended the ses- sion of the Legislature, and met with much encouragement but found some impediments in the way that had to do with the organization of the company, but which could have been easily corrected. It was doubtful, however, whether the matter could be reached in time for the Legislature then in session to act upon it. The project does not appear to have received any further attention due no doubt to the improving prospects of obtaining an eastern connection through Dakota lines already projected. It was also apparent that Yankton could expect no support whatever beyond its immediate community for this enterprise, it being considered by the communities cast of the capital as detri- mental to their interest, and helpful only to a very small area of the then settled and productive area of the territory.

During the session of the Minnesota Legislature of 1865, a memorial was passed by that body, asking Congress for a grant of land to aid in the construc- tion of a railroad from La Crescent. Houston County, Minnesota, via Blue Earth City to the Town of Yankton, Dakota Territory. The La Crescent, Rochester and Yankton Railroad Company had already been formed, and M. K. Armstrong, of Yankton, was one of the incorporators. The land grant asked for was ten sections to each mile of road, the total length as established by survey being about 275 miles, and connecting the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in the North- west. The bill granting the land passed the Senate, but did not get through the House. The company was unable to go ahead without the aid of the land grant, and the enterprise seems to have been given up by its projectors.

Work on a number of railroads through the State of Iowa, from the Missis- sippi had been going forward in a spasmodic manner for several years, each advance shortening the distance of wagon transportation between Dakota points and the railroad. Dakotans watched with much interest the forward movement of these highways. The building of the Union Pacific west from Omaha had given an impetus to the work on the Iowa lines, particularly the Northwestern from Clinton, and in February, 1866, this road began running a passenger train to Boone, Iowa, from Chicago, which enabled the Dakota passenger to reach Chicago in seventy-two hours, "long measure." The stage trip to Boone occupied fifty-three hours continuous traveling when the roads were good, according to the advertised schedule, and thence by rail to the lake metropolis in twenty hours.

In the fall of 1866, engineers began the survey of the north branch of the Union Pacific Railroad, from Missouri Valley Junction to Sioux City, Iowa. This enterprise was one of the railway puzzles of that age, it being farther away from the Pacific at its terminus than when it left its initial point at Sioux City, but Mr. John I. Blair, of New Jersey, who was then the railway king of the West, built an extension west from Missouri Valley some time later, joining the Union Pacific at Fremont. Nebraska, which carried the western terminus a few miles farther in a Pacific direction, and aided materially in consuming the substantial appropria- tion made by the Government.

On the first day of January, 1867, the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad was opened for traffic to the Village of St. Johns, afterwards called Missouri Valley (lowa). The railroad from Missouri Valley to Sioux City was built in 1867, and completed in March, 1868. It was the first railroad to reach Sioux City. It was built by John I. Blair and was called the Sioux City and Pacific, being constructed under the charter granted by Congress for building the Union Pacific Railway, and constituted the north branch of the Union Pacific.

Under a charter granted by the Legislature of Dakota of 1866-7, the Min- nesota and Missouri River Railroad Company was organized at Yankton on the 26th day of February, 1867, by the election of M. K. Armstrong, president ; Newton Edunids, vice president ; George H. Hand, secretary, and D. T. Bramble. treasurer. This company had some very strong financial support in Minnesota, where Mr. Armstrong's brother resided. and had been lieutenant governor of the state. There was a great deal connected with its initiatory work that gave good "ol. 1-39

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grounds for believing it would develop into something substantial. According to the terms of its charter, the line started at a point on the boundary line of the State of Minnesota between Minnesota and Dakota, about due east of Sioux Falls, and running southwest terminated at the Missouri River-the terminal point being left undetermined, but either Vermillion or Yankton, or any inter- mediate point could be selected. A reconnoitering surveying party made an inspection of the proposed route from Yankton to Sioux Falls during the sum- mer, and a practicable route was found that varied little from an air line. This survey was made by Messrs. Armstrong, Spink, Fuller and Bradford, of Bon Homnie.

Mr. Armstrong, who was a skillful civil engineer, and Mr. Samuel Morrow, a practical surveyor, then made a preliminary survey of the line, starting from Yankton, thence along the territorial road north, crossing the James River at a place called Bruid's Ferry ; thence over a gently rolling prairie, crossing Clay Creek, Turkey Creek, Vermillion River, and the Big Sioux River in the great bend west of the Falls, reaching the state line of Minnesota at a distance of sixty- eight miles and thirty-seven chains and eighty links, at which point a connection was made with the proposed Southern Minnesota Railroad, and also the sur- veyed line of the Minnesota Valley Railroad from St. Paul via Mankato to the Missouri River.

The stockholders of this company met January 7, 1868, and elected a board of directors, as follows: M. K. Armstrong, W. W. Brookings, Newton Edmunds, Geo. W. Kingsbury, S. L. Spink, D. T. Bramble, Geo. H. Hand and A. G. Fuller. The officers chosen by the directors were: S. L. Spink, president; A. G. Fuller, vice president ; Geo. H. Hand, secretary ; D. T. Bramble, treasurer ; W. W. Brook- ings, attorney ; M. K. Armstrong, chief engineer.

The Yankton and Columbus, Nebraska, railroad enterprise was set on foot in November, 1868. On Saturday, the 21st of that month, a meeting of the citizens of the territory was held at the capitol building at which Governor Ed- munds was elected chairman and James S. Foster, secretary. The meeting was addressed by Messrs. W. W. Brookings, Geo. H. Hand, S. L. Spink, Joel A. Potter. G. W. Kingsbury and General Foster. Messrs. Spink, Potter and Edmunds were appointed a committee to invite John I. Blair, the eminent railroad builder, who had constructed the Northwestern Railroad across the State of lowa, and the Sioux City and Pacific to visit Yankton and to confer on railroad matters. Messrs. I. N. Higbee, Hand and Kingsbury were appointed to ascertain the cost of a preliminary survey of a line from Yankton to Columbus. Mr. Brookings was selected to open up correspondence with the parties in Columbus who were favorable to the enterprise. Messrs. Gov. A. J. Faulk, J. E. Witherspoon, D. T. Bramble, C. H. McIntyre, J. Shaw Gregory, G. W. Kingsbury, M. K. Armstrong, J. L. Foster, Simon Eiseman, J. B. S. Todd, J. M. Stone and J. R. Hanson were appointed a finance committee. The meeting then adjourned to ineet on the 28th instant.

A preliminary survey of this line was made by Engineer C. C. P. Meyer, in the late fall of 1868. He found a good route and quite direct. The expectation at that time, engendered by the active cooperation of the Columbus people, and intermediate points, and a promising prospect of state aid through a grant of state lands, was that the Yankton and Columbus would be constructed, and by way of the Union Pacific afford Dakota its first outlet. Mr. Meyer's report was submitted to the Legislature in 1868.

The Vermillion Valley and Northern Pacific Railroad was surveyed by H. J. Austin, chief engineer, in the summer of 1871. In his report of the survey the engineer says :

The route may pass nearly in a direct line and with few curves the whole distance of 300 miles. Starting from Vermillion. the route passed nearly north along the Vermillion Valley in Clay County, touching Bloomingdale. Lodi and Riverside: thence into Turner County, touching the towns of Mattoon, Ohio, Turner and Finlay; thence north on the

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second guide meridian between McCook and Minnehaha counties; thence through Lake County, and bearing a little west, through Wood County, near Lake Thompson, along the western edge of the Coteaus. From Wood County the route lies through Clark, Greeley. Stone, Ransom and Burbank ( now Barnes), to the Northern Pacific Railroad, at a point about forty-five miles west of Fargo. The whole route is well watered with clear streams and beautiful lakes, interspersed with small groves of timber. The building of the road over the first 150 miles would require but little grading and but few bridges. ! think that $60,000 would prepare the first 1,650 miles for the ties. The lay and quality of the land for twenty miles on either side of the line excels any tract of country of the same size 1 ever saw. It is not so level as to require drainage, nor too rough for farm purposes. 1 do not believe there is one acre in a thousand in all this scope of country. 40 miles in width by 150 miles long, but can readily be cultivated, and will grow a good crop of wheat, oats. corn, barley or potatoes.

Its incorporators were Horace J. Austin, Jefferson P. Kidder, Nelson Miner. Charles H. True, Andrew E. Lee, M. D. Thompson, D. M. Inman, Amos F. Shaw. John L. Jolley, B. F. Campbell, J. W. Turner, V. E. Prentice, Geo. Curliss, P. H. Turner, Samuel Lyon, Henry Newton, Samuel Jones, F. McKercher, R. J. Stan- ley. H1. J. Austin, H. 11. Rudd, Jesse L. Fisher, W. K. Hollenbeck, C. A. Maxon, E. W. Skinner.

A railway company was organized at Elk Point in February, 1872, for the purpose of constructing a railway from the Point to Brule Creek, thence up that stream fifteen miles, thence northwesterly to the Vermillion River at Turner, thence northerly to a terminus with the Northern Pacific. It was called the Elk Point and Dakota Central Railway. Its construction depended largely on getting a grant of land from the Government, which it was unable to procure, and subsequent railroad developments postponed the work of construction which was not undertaken.

The Springfield and Dakota Central Railway Company was organized in November, 1871, to build a railroad west and northwest from Springfield to the Northern Pacific. It never got beyond Springfield owing to the refusal of Congress to aid it with a land grant, a cause that lay at the root of many other contemporaneous railroad enterprises.

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History of Dakota Territory, volume I, Part 105

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1198

Author: Kingsbury, George Washington, 1837-; Smith, George Martin, 1847-1920
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1198