USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of Wisconsin from prehistoric to present periods : the story of the state interspersed with realistic and romantic events > Part 59
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Among the prominent passengers aboard the unfortunate train, were Perry H. Smith, the vice-president of the road, T. F. Strong, Sr., the assistant superintendent, Robert Drummond and Edward S. Bragg.
It is a strange incident, but nevertheless true, that the mate of the ox that caused this wreck, the following year, nearly wrecked a twin engine and a train at the same point. The engine " Perry H. Smith " was so unfortunate that engineers on the road became superstitious, and refused to run her, thus necessitating her transfer.
The Fond du Lac Commonwealth of November 2, 1859, in describing the disaster, said :
" The smash-up took place in the woods, on low, marshy ground, there being a deep ditch on each side filled with water. The engine and cars that left the track were plunged into the water, mud and soft ground, and not less than three cars were utterly demolished-a mass of splinters above the body of the car, and the strong frames driven deep into the earth. There were seven cars, filled to a jam, that did not get thrown from the track or any person injured on them save those who were standing on the platform. In one minute after the crash, we never saw a cooler set of men, or a band of more heroic women. They leaped to the work of saving others with remarkable effectiveness, and it seemed but a few moments before all were dragged from the ruins, the dead decently cared for, and the wounded made far more comfortable than one would conceive possible in such a location. The cushioned seats of cars, laid upon doors, made passable beds, while the ladies' skirts were freely stripped to make bandages for the wounded."
The most excited man among the passengers was big-hearted Perry H. Smith, while the coolest on board was the little lawyer, who afterwards won fame as one of the generals of the famous Iron Brigade-Edward S. Bragg.
The Chicago and North-Western Railway Company now owns and operates 1,337.84 miles of main line in Wisconsin, besides several hundred miles of branch and leased lines. The chairman of the Board of this most prosperous and enter- prising company is Albert Keep, of Chicago; Marvin Hughitt, of Chicago is the president ; M. L. Sykes, of New York City, is the secretary and treasurer ; and Wm. A. Thrall, of Chicago, general passenger and ticket agent-all men of exceptional ability.
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579
WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS.
CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE AND ST. PAUL RAILWAY COMPANY.
Central, southern and western Wisconsin have been, from immense prairies, vast forests and countless mines, transformed into beautiful agricultural dis- tricts, manufacturing, commercial and mining centers, through the influence of that great developer of civilization of the northwest, the Chicago, Milwau- kee and St. Paul Railway Company, and the companies upon which this great corporation was founded.
The territorial government of 1841 cha' ered the Milwaukee and Wau- kesha Railroad Company from Milwaukee to Waukesha. On November 23rd of this year, the charter members of the company met at the city hall at Mil- waukee and elected Dr. L. W. Weeks president and Alexander W. Randall, afterwards governor, secretary. On the first Monday of February, 1848, sub- scription books were opened, and by April 5, 1849, capital stock had been sub- scribed in the sum of $ 100,000, and five per cent. thereon paid, as required by the charter, before perfecting its organization.
Previous to March, 1848, an act had been passed amending the charter and authorizing the company to extend its road from Waukesha to Madison, and from thence to the Mississippi river. In 1850, the name of the corpora- tion was changed to the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company. In these days, it will be remembered, that neither in Milwaukee nor within the state were there any capitalists, therefore the project of building a railroad from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river required the efforts of active, energetic men of more than ordinary ability. The city of Milwaukee, through its repre- sentatives, seeing the necessity of the construction of a road to the Mississippi, was induced to give its credit for that purpose, and in consequence, during the month of February, 1851, the road was completed to Waukesha, a distance of twenty miles, while through the year the road was completed to Eagle, a dis- tance of thirty-four miles from Milwaukee. In the fall of 1852, the road was completed to Milton, in Rock county. This company not having the authority to build to Janesville, a company was organized and a charter granted to the Southern Wisconsin Railroad Company for that purpose, and the eight miles of road constructed from Milton to Janesville, connecting Milwaukee with Janesville in January, 1853.
During the year of 1853, the main line was extended to Stoughton and early in 1854 it reached Madison, and two years later, in 1856, the line was completed through to Prairie du Chien. A subsequent charter authorized the construction of a road from Milton via Janesville to the Mississippi river. The road already built from Milton to Janesville was purchased and at once extended to Monroe. At this time the Milwaukee and Mississippi Company had constructed two hundred and thirty-four miles of railroad. In 1860, the
580
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
company, being in default on account of its interest, which necessitated a fore- closure, the purchasers under the foreclosure formed a new company, the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Railroad Company, which took all of the rights and property of its predecessor.
We quote the following from John W. Cary's " Organization and His- tory of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company : "
" The Milwaukee, Fond du Lac and Green Bay Railroad Company was chartered in the winter of 1853. In the spring of that year the company was organized and active operations commenced-James Kneeland, president. The city of Milwaukee was induced to loan its credit to the company, to the extent of $200,000 in city bonds. Depot grounds were secured in Mil- waukee, and considerable grading was accomplished between Milwaukee and Richfield, when the company became embarrassed, and in January, 1854, it was consolidated with the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Com- pany. This last named company was chartered in 1852, to construct a rail- road from La Crosse to Milwaukee. Byron Kilbourn, Moses M. Strong and Timothy Burns were prominent among the projectors. The company was organized during the same year in which the charter was obtained. The first meeting of the commissioners was held at La Crosse, and the first board of directors was chosen at the city of Madison, in August of the same year. By- ron Kilbourn was elected president, and Edwin H. Goodrich, secretary. After its consolidation with M., F. & G. B., the La Crosse company took possession of the partially graded line, and the work was vigorously pressed forward. The road was completed to Horicon, fifty miles from Milwaukee, in December, 1855, and to Portage, ninety-five miles, in December, 1856.
"The Milwaukee and Watertown railroad was chartered in 1851, and soon after organized and commenced the construction of a road from a point thirteen miles west of Milwaukee, on the Milwaukee and Mississippi road, through Oconomowoc to Watertown. Its charter also provided that the line might be extended by way of Portage to La Crosse. In 1856, the road was completed to Watertown. The line of road projected by this company was parallel to, and, on an average, not more than twelve miles distant from, the line of the La Crosse company ; thus, to a great extent, occupying the same territory, and this fact gave rise to bitter hostility between the companies to each other's projects. A portion of the land-grant, made by congress June 3, 1856, was to aid the construction of a railroad from Madison or Columbus, by way of Portage City, to the St. Croix river or lake, between townships twenty- five or thirty-one, and thence to the west end of Lake Superior, and to Bay- field. The legislature was assembled in September of that year to dispose of this grant. The La Crosse and Watertown companies, together with a new company, formed in Madison, were eager competitors for this portion of the
58
WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS.
grant. After a long contest, it was finally settled by consolidating the two first named companies, under the name of the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company, and authorizing it to construct the lines of road named in the grant, in addition to the lines originally provided for in the respective charters of the two companies. This portion of the land-grant was then conferred upon the consolidated company ; but not until the hands of the governor, and many of the members of the legislature, as legislative investigation subsequently demonstrated, had been shamefully soiled with railroad bonds taken as " pecu- niary compliments"-for their support of the bill. The La Crosse Company, during 1857-58, completed its main line to La Crosse, the Watertown line from Watertown to Columbus, and partially graded the line from Madison to Port- age. Neither it, nor its successors, ever received any part of the lands of the land-grant.
" The Milwaukee and Horicon Road was chartered in 1852, and al- though built by a separate company, was, in effect, a branch of the La Crosse and Milwaukee Company. It was constructed between the years 1855 and 1858, commencing at Horicon, on the La Crosse and Milwaukee Road and extending north through Waupun and Ripon to Berlin, on Fox river, a dis- tance of about forty-two miles.
" In 1877, the La Crosse Company sold to the Madison, Fond du Lac and Michigan Company that portion of its road acquired by consolidation with the Milwaukee and Watertown Company, which was afterwards consoli- dated with the Watertown and Madison Company, and the name changed to the Milwaukee and Western Railroad Company. The line of this company comprised about eighty miles of road, extending from Brookfield Junction, thirteen miles west of Milwaukee, through Watertown to Columbus, with a branch from Watertown, by way of Waterloo, to Sun Prairie, twelve miles east of Madison.
" In 1858 and 1859, the La Crosse and Horicon companies defaulted in the payment of the interest of their bonded debts, and several suits were in- stituted to foreclose the different trust deeds given to secure their bonds, to- gether with other suits commenced to enforce the payment of their floating debts. This led to protracted litigation, extending through several years, both in the state and federal courts, which was finally settled in 1868 by the decision of the supreme court of the United States. Decrees of foreclosure and sale were obtained in 1862, and in the spring of 1863 both roads were sold and purchased for associations of the bond-holders."
The organization of this company was based upon and grew out of the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Company, and its associate lines, by virtue of the foreclosure of mortgages given by that company, which foreclosures were thoroughly contested in the United States courts and by the supreme
582
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
court. On May 5, 1863, articles of association were filed in the office of the secretary of state of Wisconsin, and the corporation organized under the laws of the state by the name of Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company. On the same day William W. Pratt and William H. White conveyed to the Mil- waukee and St. Paul Railway Company all of that portion of the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad from Madison by way of Portage City to La Crosse, to- gether with all of the engines, rolling-stock and other equipments of every kind and description, and delivered said deeds so executed to the newly organ- ized company.
As early as 1865, when Alexander Mitchell, of Milwaukee, was president and S. S. Merrill general manager of the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company, the company operated six hundred and eighty-six miles of road in Wisconsin, and in all fourteen hundred miles. Its lines extended from Mil- waukee to St. Paul and Minneapolis, and to Algona, in Iowa, and over the Western Union to Savannah and Rock Island, in the state of Illinois.
It is said by no less authority than John W. Cary, in his history of this corporation, that in the early days of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad Company they adopted and executed plans for raising funds, by procuring farmers to subscribe to the capital stock of the company and mortgaging their farms as security for their notes given for such subscriptions. The well-named, plausible and designing gentleman, Deacon Clinton, was early engaged on that branch of business on the Mississippi road, and afterwards employed as a special director of the La Crosse road, and devoted his whole time to procuring sub- scriptions, from the farmers on this plan. We quote from Mr. Cary's " Organi- zation and History of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Com- pany :"
" In all over eleven hundred thousand dollars of this class of subscrip- tions were obtained for the La Crosse Company.
" The modus operandi was for the farmer to subscribe to the stock, give his note for the amount of his subscription, payable to the order of the com- pany, secured by a mortgage on his farm, bearing from eight to ten per cent. interest. The company then attached to said note and mortgage its bond guaranteeing the payment of the note and mortgage, principal and interest, and in and by the terms of the bond the note and mortgage were assigned to the holder, and such note, mortgage and bond were sold in the market together as one security, and not separately, the note not indorsed. An agreement was also given to the farmer by which the company agreed to pay the interest on the note until it became due, in consideration of which the farmer made an assignment of his prospective dividends on the stock so subscribed for suffi- cient to pay said interest.
583
WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS.
" It is needless to say that this stock proved worthless and that the farmers were compelled to pay their mortgages and in very many cases lost their farms."
The Oshkosh and Mississippi Railroad Company was chartered in 1866, for the purpose of constructing a road from the city of Oshkosh to the Missis- sippi river. The road was constructed to Ripon in 1872, with the purpose of connecting Oshkosh with the Milwaukee and St. Paul road. It is twenty miles in length and now operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company.
The Western Union Railroad Company, in 1871 and '72, built a road from Milwaukee to the state line, between Wisconsin and Illinois, to connect with a road constructed from Chicago to the Wisconsin state line. This line was built in the interest of the Milwaukee and St. Paul Company, to afford a con- nection between its Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa systems and the eastern trunk lines centering in Chicago.
Upon the Ist day of April, 1872, Sherburn S. Merrill, John W. Cary, Hans Crocker, Sanford B. Perry, E. S. Wadsworth and Anthony G. Van Schaick, under the general railroad law of Illinois, organized the Chicago, Mil- waukee and St. Paul Railway Company, and filed the articles of association in the office of the secretary of state on that day. While the consolidation of the company known as the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company was in fact previously consolidated, yet the name was not changed by vote of the stock- holders until February 7th, and the certificate filed with the secretary of state of Wisconsin, until February 11, 1874.
On June 30, 1892, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Com- pany's total of main lines in Wisconsin was 1,374.66, while the total of its re- spective lines and branches in the various states were 5,721.40.
The president of this company is Roswell Miller, of Chicago. Frank S. Bond, of New York City, is the vice-president; P. M. Meyers, of Milwaukee, the treasurer ; and George H. Heafford, of Chicago, the general passenger and ticket agent.
THE WISCONSIN CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY.
Of all the railroads constructed in the state during the past quarter of a cen- tury, none has been more conducive to the general welfare of the state than the Wisconsin Central Railroad. This road passes through a section of our state hitherto unsettled, and opened up for settlement an immense region of heavily timbered land and productive mines, thus greatly contributing to the growth and prosperity of the state.
In 1870, the Milwaukee and Northern Railway Company was incorpo- rated to build a road from Milwaukee to some point on the Fox river, below Lake
584
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
Winnebago, and from thence to Lake Superior, with various branches. Its road was completed between Milwaukee and Menasha, a distance of one hun- dred and two miles, in 1873, with a branch from Hilbert to Green Bay, a distance of twenty-seven miles. During the same year of its completion it leased its line to the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company.
During the year of 1864, congress made a grant of land to the state of Wisconsin, to aid in the construction of a railroad from Berlin, Doty's Island, Fond du Lac or Portage, by way of Stevens Point, to Bayfield or Superior, giving under the terms of the grant the odd sections within ten miles on each side of the line, with an indemnity limit of twenty miles on each side. The legislature, during its session in 1865, failed to dispose of this land grant, but the next legislature provided for the organization of two companies, one to construct a railroad from Portage City via Berlin to Stevens Point, and the other from Menasha to the same point, and then jointly to Bayfield and Lake Superior. The first company was called the Winnebago and Lake Superior Railroad Company, and the latter the Portage and Superior Railroad Company. In 1869, an act was passed by the legislature consolidating the two companies, under the name of the Portage, Winnebago and Superior Railroad Company. In 1871, the name of the company was, by legislative enactment, changed to the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company.
Upon the organization of the Winnebago and Lake Superior Company, under George Reed, its president, the work of constructing the line between Menasha and Stevens Point was rapidly pushed forward. In 1871, the Wis- consin Central Railroad Company consolidated with the Manitowoc and Mis- sissippi Railroad Company. The articles of consolidation provided that Gard- ner Colby, a director of the last-named company, should be the president, and that George Reed, a director of the former company, should be vice-president of the new organization. It was further provided in the articles of incorpora- tion that Gardner Colby, George Reed and Elijah B. Phillips should be and remain its executive committee.
The Phillips and Colby Construction Company was incorporated in 1871, by which articles of incorporation E. B. Phillips, C. L. Colby, Henry Pratt and others associated for the purpose of building railroads, and all things per- taining to such construction and operation. This construction company con- tracted with the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company to build its line of road from Menasha to Lake Superior.
In November, 1873, the Wisconsin Central leased of the Milwaukee and Northern Railroad Company its line of road from Schwartzburg to Menasha, and the branch road to Green Bay, for the period of nine hundred and ninety- nine years, and also acquired under said lease the right of the latter company to use the track of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company,
585
WISCONSIN'S RAILROADS.
between Schwartzburg and Milwaukee, together with the depot facilities in the . city of Milwaukee. The construction of this important line was commenced in 1871, and finished from Menasha to Stevens Point in November of the same year. From Stevens Point the line was built one hundred miles northward to Worcester, in 1872. During the years 1872 and 1873 the road was built south- ward from Ashland to Penoka iron ridge, a distance of thirty miles, leaving a gap of forty-two miles between Worcester and Penoka iron ridge, which was closed in June, 1877.
The straight line between Portage City and Stevens Point, the construc- tion of which was authorized by an act of legislature in 1875, was built be- tween October 1, 1875, and October 20, 1876, a distance of seventy-one miles.
During 1882 and 1883, the Milwaukee and Lake Winnebago Railroad Company constructed a railroad extending from Neenah to Schleisingerville, a distance of sixty-three and eighty-five hundredths miles. At the same time the Chicago, Wisconsin and Minnesota Railroad Company constructed a line from Schleisingerville to the Illinois state line, where it connected with the line from Chicago to that point, operated under the same name. The Chicago, Wisconsin and Minnesota Railroad Company and the Milwaukee and Lake Winnebago Railroad Company were constructed in the interest of the Wiscon- sin Central Railroad Company, and are a part of that company's railroad system in Wisconsin and Illinois.
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