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ILUNOiS  HiSTOfiiCAL  SURVEY 


^^(l-l 


Rock 
Island 


The  history  of  100  years 
achievements  of  the 


r® 


mim 


of  the  progress  and 
Rock  Island  Lines 


WILLIAM   EDWARD   HAYES 


Copyright,  1953  by  William  Edward  Hayes 
All  Rights  Reserved 
Manufactured  in  the  United  States  by 
H.  Wolff  Book  Manufacturing  Co.,  Inc. 
Designed  by  Marshall  Lee 

Library  of  Congress  Catalog  Card  Number:  53-12175 


To  Mimo 


r 


Contents 


Foreword      xi 

PART  ONE 

The  Dream  and  the  Drama:   1845-1869 

1  The  planners  and  the  plan       3 

2  Rarin'  for  a  raihoad      8 

3  Enter:  the  builders       15 

4  The  Rocket— the  first  train  West      19 

5  "One  wide  river  for  to  cross"      22 

6  Mississippi  holiday      27 

7  Steam  cars  in  Iowa      33 

8  The  battle  for  the  bonus       39 

9  Lincoln  and  the  burning  bridge      43 

10  Farewell  to  Farnum      49 

1 1  Late  arrival  at  the  Missouri       54 


PART  TWO 

The  Links  and  fhe  Forge:   1869-1883 

12  John  Tracy— review  and  resolve      61 

1 3  High  line  to  Leavenworth      70 

14  1,000  miles  of  railroad      75 

15  Fire!      81 

16  The  great  train  robbery      84 

17  Sumptuous  meals  on  wheels      90 

18  On  to  Kansas  City      93 

19  The  consolidation  of  1880      98 

PART  THREE 

Beyond  the  Missouri:  1883-1901 

20  Branching  out  in  Iowa       109 

21  Kansas— a  record  in  building       113 

22  The  farmers  find  a  friend       120 

23  Outcast  in  Omaha       125 

24  Gunfire  on  "the  strip"       131 

25  "The  best  laid  plans  .  .  ."       142 

26  Enter:  the  Reid-Moore  syndicate       147 

PART  FOUR 

Pattern  for  Disaster:  1901-1933 

27  Big  men— big  dreams       1 57 

28  To  have  and  to  hold      165 


29  All  this  and  Texas  too      170 

30  Broken  dream  of  empire      177 

31  Easy  come,  easy  go       190 

32  Out  of  the  frying  pan       196 

33  Under  two  masters      206 

34  Dividends  or  bust      211 

35  Broke  again      218 

PART  FIVE 

Re-birth  and  Regeneration:   1933-1952 

36  Spring  of  hope      225 

37  The  long  chance      231 

38  First  signs  of  recovery      235 

39  Samson  of  the  Cimarron— a  symbol      242 

40  Into  the  black      247 

41  Big  traffic— big  trouble      253 

42  Widows  and  orphans      259 

43  Solid  track  at  last      269 

44  Bright  dawn— bright  hope      280 

45  Test  and  triumph      284 

46  End  of  a  century  and  of  an  era      291 

Bibliography      297 
Index      299 


Illustrations 

following  page  1 8 


1  John  D.  Farrington 

2  Edward  M.  Durham 

3  Antoine  Le  Clair 

4  James  W.  Grant 

5  Henry  Farnam 

6  Joseph  E.  Sheffield 

7  Rock  Island's  "working"  Board  of  Directors 

8  Rock  Island's  first  bridge  across  the  Mississippi 

9  Wreck  of  the  drawbridge  after  the  great  gale  of  March  17, 1868 

10  Palace  Dining  Car  advertisement  in  the  1870'$ 

1 1  Camelback  locomotive  on  the  Choctaw,  circa  1902 

12  Engine  46,  "iron  horse"  of  i88i  typical  of  early-day  motive 
power 

13  Winterset  branch  train  at  the  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  station  in 
i86o's 

14  Rock  Island's  5000-class  4-8-4's 

15  Queen  of  the  Rocket  Fleet,  Rock  Island's  Extra-Fare  Golden 
State 

16  La  Salle  Street  Station  at  night 

17  The  diesel  switcher,  now  doing  all  Rock  Island's  yard  work 

18  Popular  Twin-Star  Rocket 


19  Fast  Freight  out  of  Memphis,  crossing  the  Mississippi 

20  Samson  of  the  Cimanon,  symbol  of  the  reborn  Rock  Island 

21  Train-side  bus  arrival  from  Peoria 

22  Map  showing  Rock  Island's  passenger  service  coverage 

23  Armourdale   (Kansas  City,  Kansas)   automatically-controlled 
hump  yard 

24  Modern  diesel  repair  facilities  housed  in  shop  at  Silvis,  Illinois 

25  G.  C.  Cornett,  veteran  agent-telegrapher 


Foreword 


The  record  of  the  hundred  years  of  the  birth  and  growth  of 
the  Rock  Island  Lines,  as  set  forth  here,  differs  from  those 
innumerable  volumes  generally  known  as  "company  books." 
Frequently  a  corporation  may  employ  a  professional  writer, 
pay  him  a  flat  fee,  open  the  company's  records  to  him,  and 
stand  the  expense  of  the  research  he  incurs.  Such  a  contract 
between  corporation  and  writer  may  provide  that  the  finished 
manuscript  shall  be  censored  by  the  corporate  officers,  and 
the  writer  agrees  to  fashion  his  story  as  the  company's  officers 
desire.  The  writer  also  may  be  expected  to  relinquish  all  rights 
to  any  earnings  that  the  book  when  published  might  enjoy, 
and  to  any  subsidiary  rights,  such  as  serialization,  motion 
pictures,  or  other  use. 

Obversely,  this  work  was  undertaken  by  the  author  solely 
as  his  own  enterprise.  He,  although  a  salaried  ojEcer  of  the 
Rock  Island  Lines,  was  not  assigned  by  the  company  to  do 
this  chore.  The  research  and  writing  were  done  outside  the 
performance  of  his  duties,  and  his  contract  with  the  pub- 
lishers is  his  own.  The  opinions  expressed  by  the  author  and 
the  conclusions  drawn  from  his  research  are  entirely  his  own, 
and  are  not  in  any  way  influenced  by  the  opinions  or  con- 
clusions of  his  employers. 

You  will  find  here  no  intricate  reference  work  that  sets 
forth  the  strict  dry  chronological  development  of  a  corpora- 
tion together  with  endless  tables  of  statistics  and  countless 
footnotes. 

XI 


Xil  FOREWORD 

Nor  is  this  in  any  sense  a  glowing  record  of  one  hundred 
years  of  glamorous  achievements  with  the  rough  spots  glossed 
over  or  left  unrecorded.  Rather  it  is  a  factual  account  of  a 
century  of  growth  and  setbacks  through  periods  of  high  pros- 
perity and  desperate  decline. 

In  the  evaluation  of  men  and  motives,  the  author  has  at- 
tempted to  project,  without  bias  or  prejudice,  his  characters 
solely  on  the  basis  of  the  record  they  left— the  record  of  the 
things  they  did,  or  failed  to  do. 

Court  records,  magazine  and  newspaper  stories,  editorials, 
and  the  voluminous  testimony  taken  at  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  investigations  and  at  hearings  before  Congres- 
sional committees,  were  searched  in  an  effort  to  get  at  the 
truth  behind  the  conflicts  that  twice  wrecked  the  Rock  Island. 

The  author  wishes  here  to  express  his  grateful  acknowledge- 
ment of  the  help  he  received  from  the  following: 

Arthur  W.  Large,  retired  Rock  Island  general  agriculture 
agent,  who  not  only  lived  through  a  long  period  in  which  he 
saw  the  history  of  this  railroad  made,  but  who  upon  leaving 
the  service  devoted  many  months  to  assembling  the  intricate 
research  material  on  the  corporate  development  and  progress 
of  the  Rock  Island  and  all  the  subsidiary  lines  that  finally 
came  into  the  system; 

Carl  Nyquist,  retired  vice-president  and  secretary-treasurer, 
who  in  his  years  of  service  in  the  financial  department,  sat 
through  many  of  the  dramatic  meetings  of  directors  and  stock- 
holders and  saw,  first-hand,  dreams  of  empire  rise  and  fall— 
whose  remarkable  memory  for  details  helped  to  fill  in  impor- 
tant sequences  in  this  story; 

Joseph  B.  Fleming,  surviving  member  of  the  three  trustees 
appointed  by  the  Federal  Court  in  1933,  in  the  railroad's 
second  and  hectic  receivership,  who  cooperated  by  permitting 
the  author  to  examine  his  confidential  files; 

E,  M.  Durham,  Jr.,  who  in  the  railroad's  darkest  days  in 
1935,  came  from  the  senior  vice-presidency  of  the  Missouri 
Pacific  to  face  the  gigantic  task  of  saving  the  Rock  Island 
from  dismemberment,  and  who  gave  freely  of  his  personal 


FOREWORD  XIII 

reminiscences  of  the  seven  years  he  devoted  to  the  inaugura- 
tion and  development  of  the  great  rehabihtation; 

Wilham  F.  Peter,  retired  Rock  Island  vice-president  and 
general  counsel,  whose  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  legal 
struggles  to  bring  the  property  to  its  eventual  reorganization 
proved  invaluable; 

L.  B.  Pritchett,  assistant  to  President  Farrington,  who  as 
secretary  to  Durham  at  the  beginning  of  the  long  road  back 
from  desolation,  provided  intimate  data  from  his  personal 
records. 

The  author  wishes  in  addition  to  express  his  thanks  for  the 
patient  cooperation  he  received  from  Bruce  Dwinell,  vice- 
president  and  general  counsel;  E.  Rigg,  vice-president,  freight 
traffic;  W.  H.  Hillis,  senior  vice-president;  Downing  B.  Jenks, 
executive  vice-president;  W.  E.  Bolton,  vice-president;  and 
to  many  other  officers  and  employees  who  offered  what  they 
could  to  make  this  story  complete. 

Most  of  all,  the  author  desires  to  record  this  special  note 
of  thanks  to  Rock  Island's  president,  J.  D.  Farrington.  His 
confidence  and  consideration  were  inspiring,  and  his  modest 
reticence  about  his  personal  contribution  was  most  endearing. 

August  1, 1953  Wilham  Edward  Hayes 


PART    ONE 


The  Dream  and  the 
Drama 


Q®4i5='Q©(S<D 


0  The  planners  and  the  plan 


A  stooped  man  with  lined  face  and  straggly  gray  beard  came 
out  of  Burrows'  Store.  He  stared  up  Front  Street  then  darted 
a  quick  glance  at  the  river.  His  perturbed  state  of  mind  was 
indicated  by  the  way  he  poked  gnarled  fingers  into  his  beard, 
the  quick  steps  he  took  toward  the  bench,  where  a  thin  little 
man  sat  quietly  chewing  on  a  large  cud  of  tobacco. 

The  little  man  looked  up  at  the  tall  figure,  squinted  and 
grunted  a  greeting.  He  moved  over  so  that  the  other  could 
sit  beside  him. 

"Whut  you  so  worried  about,  Lige?"  the  small  man  asked. 
He  fixed  his  sight  on  a  black  ant  in  backward  motion  towing  a 
bread-crust  through  the  fringe  of  weeds  beside  the  road.  He 
spat— accurately. 

"All  that  railroad  talk,"  Lige,  the  tall  man  answered.  "There 
in  Burrows'  Store— all  them  people,  Pete,  talkin'  about  nothin' 
else." 

"What's  talkin'  gonna  do?"  Pete,  the  small  one,  queried. 

"You  know  these  fellers,  Pete,"  Lige  said.  "They  get  t'  talkin* 
about  somethin'  an'  then  they  get  to  doin'.  Just  let  Jim  Grant 
get  a-holt  of  an  idee—" 

"Jim  Grant's  likely  to  be  right,"  Pete  said.  "If  he's  talkin' 
railroad  he's  on  the  track  of  somethin'.  You  gotta  agree,  Lige— 
he's  done  a  lot  for  this  town  ever  since  he  came  here— 'bout  '38 
wasn't  it?" 

"Yeh,"  Lige  agreed.  "Le's  see,  this  is  1845— seven  or  more 
years  ago—" 


4  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

"Railroads  is  a  comin'  thing,  Lige,"  Pete  said.  "I  don't  see 
nothin'  to  get  so  upset  about." 

"Well,"  Lige  said,  "I'm  a  river  man,  an'  there's  plenty  to 
get  upset  about.  I  hear  tell  back  East  they're  buildin'  them 
things  along  rivers  an'  canals  an'  they're  puttin'  the  boat  men 
outta  business." 

"That's  back  East,"  Pete  said.  "That  ain't  here  in  loway." 

"It's  over  there  in  Illinois,"  Lige  said.  He  pointed  a  finger 
in  the  direction  of  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  "An' 
from  the  talk  I  hear  in  the  store,  Jim  Grant  an'  some  others  from 
Davenport  here  plan  on  a  big  meetin'  at  the  Colonel's  house 
this  evenin'." 

Pete  looked  up  at  the  tall  man,  his  eyes  widening,  the 
rhythmic  motion  of  his  jaws  arrested.  "Over  at  Colonel  Daven- 
port's house,  eh?"  He  smacked  his  lips.  He  glanced  across  the 
brownish  river  at  the  island  just  off  the  Illinois  shore.  He  could 
see  the  white  facade  of  the  sprawling  Davenport  house  against 
the  green  backdrop  of  the  trees.  "Sa-a-y,"  Pete  drawled.  "If  the 
Colonel's  in  this  with  Jim  Grant— must  be  somethin's  really 
gonna  happen!" 

Lige  gripped  Pete's  elbow.  "There's  Jim  Grant  now." 

Grant  was  coming  down  Front  Street. 

"An'  look  who's  with  him,"  Pete  whispered.  "That  feller 
Fulton  that's  been  promotin'  real  estate  deals  around  here,  an' 
Eb  Cook.  If  all  three  of  them,  along  with  the  Colonel  has  got 
a  railroad  on  their  mind— man!" 

Jim  Grant,  the  North  Carolinian,  who  studied  law  while  he 
taught  school,  and  who'd  come  to  Davenport  to  put  out  his 
shingle  when  the  town  boasted  no  more  than  twenty-five  or 
thirty  houses,  had  a  railroad  on  his  mind.  So  had  his  com- 
panions in  the  boat  that  headed  into  midstream  for  the  house 
on  what  they  called  Rock  Island. 

The  lowering  sun  cast  saffron  light  on  the  wide  river.  The 
air  was  still  on  that  hot  June  afternoon.  The  grouping  of  houses 
and  stores  on  the  Illinois  bank  of  the  river,  below  the  island, 
resembled  a  toy  village.  It  was  called  Rock  Island  City.  Be- 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  O 

tween  it  and  Davenport  plied  a  busy  ferry  owned  by  Antoine 
Le  Claire,  a  huge  gentleman  who  was  part  French-Canadian 
and  part  Potawatomi.  It  was  this  man  who  with  Colonel  Daven- 
port laid  out  in  1836  the  Iowa  town  that  bore  the  Colonel's 
name. 

Jim  Grant  and  his  companions  tied  up  their  boat  at  the 
Colonel's  pier  and  made  their  way  up  the  walk  to  the  wide 
veranda.  They  didn't  speak  until  the  stocky  man  with  a  lion's 
mane  of  hair  that  bushed  up  over  his  forehead  and  fell  to  his 
shoulders  called  a  greeting  to  them.  George  Davenport's  ruddy 
face  glowed  in  the  fading  sunlight.  His  eyes  did  not  conceal  his 
excitement. 

"Sorry  if  we're  late,"  Jim  Grant  said.  He  saw  the  group  at 
the  other  end  of  the  porch— five  men  who  had  been  talking 
together  and  who  now  approached. 

"Not  at  all,"  the  Colonel  said.  "You  know  Lem  Andrews 
and  Whittaker  from  Rock  Island  City." 

The  Davenport  men  exchanged  greetings. 

"And  Charlie  Atkinson  from  Moline,"  the  Colonel  con- 
tinued. "And  this  is  Nelson  Elwood  from  Joliet,  and  Dick 
Morgan,  the  railroad  engineer—" 

"We've  heard  of  you,"  Grant  said.  "You're  the  gentleman 
who's  said  to  know  so  much  about  the  matter  we  came  here 
to  talk  about." 

The  Colonel  led  the  men  into  the  long  parlor.  Ebenezer 
Cook  who,  like  Grant,  was  a  Davenport  lawyer  of  high  repute, 
and  a  leader  in  the  town,  found  a  seat  beside  the  man  from 
Joliet. 

"You  came  by  stage?"  Cook  queried. 

Elwood  said  that  he  had,  and  in  answer  to  a  further  question 
said,  "I  don't  have  to  tell  you  about  Illinois  roads.  A  rough 
trip.  A  mighty  rough  one.  And  these  settlers  heading  west. 
Some  going  to  Iowa.  Some  to  Missouri,  some  to  the  mountains, 
and  some  just  don't  seem  to  know  where  they're  going." 

"West,"  Jim  Grant  said.  "Always  west.  The  pull  of  the 
land.  Each  year  the  Iowa  country  sees  more  and  more  farms 
staked  out,  and  the  population  keeps  growing." 


6  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

"And  that/'  said  A.  C.  Fulton,  "means  crops,  more  stuff 
to  market,  more  stuff  to  be  shipped—" 

"Which  brings  us  to  our  subject,"  Colonel  Davenport  said. 
"Grant,  will  you  take  over  and  start  things  to  going?" 

Jim  Grant  drew  himself  to  his  full  height.  His  face  was 
sharp-featured.  His  eyes  narrowed.  He  took  a  newspaper  from 
his  coat  pocket,  the  Chicago  Daily  Journal  of  June  4,  1845. 
He  spread  out  the  front  page  and  held  it  up.  It  was  solid 
with  advertising  notices  in  plain  and  fancy  borders. 

"Railroads,"  Grant  said— he  pointed  to  the  page.  "One  after 
another,  telling  us  what  they're  doing."  The  group  closed 
around  the  center  table  to  get  a  closer  look  as  Grant  laid  down 
the  paper. 

"The  Indianapolis  and  Cincinnati  Short  Line,"  Grant  re- 
sumed. "You  see  what  it  says.  Trains  ready  to  run.  The  Cleve- 
land and  Pittsburgh,  nearly  completed.  Lines  running  from 
the  Eastern  Seaboard  to  the  Alleghanies.  They'll  cross  those 
mountains  and  they'll  be  looking  to  a  connection  with  this 
great  waterway."  Grant  made  a  sweeping  gesture  toward  the 
river. 

"We  can  have  the  connection  for  them,"  Grant  continued 
after  a  brief  pause.  "The  canal  from  Chicago  to  the  Illinois 
River  is  now  building." 

"Yes,"  said  the  man  from  Joliet.  "A  railroad  from  Rock 
Island  City  to-" 

"To  La  Salle  or  Peru,"  another  in  the  group  said  excitedly. 

"Such  a  rail  link,"  said  Fulton,  "would  give  an  overland 
outlet  for  our  grain  and  produce  to  the  Eastern  markets.  We 
could  ship  by  rail  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  connection  with 
the  new  canal  and  then  into  Chicago  by  boat." 

"Also,"  said  Richard  Morgan,  the  engineer,  "you'd  be  able 
to  ship  down  the  Illinois  River  to  St.  Louis  and  south  when 
navigation  on  the  Mississippi  up  this  far  would  be  closed  in 
for  winter.  The  possibilities—" 

They  all  saw  the  possibilities.  They  all  began  talking  at 
once.  And  they  all  realized  how,  in  this  year  of  1845,  the 
subject  of  a  railroad  in  Illinois  could  be  most  unpopular. 


THE  DREAM  AND  THE  DRAMA      / 

They  reviewed  the  sorry  experience  of  1837  when,  by  its 
internal  improvement  act,  so-called,  Illinois  appropriated 
more  than  $10,000,000  which  it  didn't  have  in  the  treasury, 
to  build  a  network  of  railroads  between  a  number  of  the 
state's  most  important  points.  The  farmers  and  businessmen 
subscribed  to  five  million  in  bonds,  and  script  for  almost 
$1,000,000  was  issued  to  contractors.  The  net  result  was  a 
piece  of  railroad  a  little  more  than  50  miles  long  between 
Springfield  and  Meredosia  that  operated  briefly  at  a  consid- 
erable loss,  and  eventually  was  sold  to  private  interests  for 
virtually  nothing. 

What  happened  in  1837  would  not  deter  these  men  now. 
They  would  develop  their  idea.  Wasn't  the  whole  country 
changing?  The  change  was  in  the  very  air.  And,  besides,  with 
George  Davenport  willing  to  play  a  major  role  in  the  pro- 
motion of  this  railroad  they  had  a  great  power  behind  them. 

George  Davenport  was  an  engineer  and  a  builder  in  his 
own  right.  He  was  a  man  of  means.  He  had  come  to  this 
island  with  the  American  forces  after  the  close  of  the  War 
of  1812,  and  here  in  1816  had  built  Fort  Armstrong.  He  had 
laid  claim  to  his  land  after  the  army  had  abandoned  the 
post  in  1836.  Davenport  had  a  close  association  with  Le 
Claire,  and  Le  Claire  was  a  man  of  great  wealth.  It  was  pretty 
certain  that  Le  Claire  would  come  into  the  venture.  They 
wouldn't  worry  too  much  about  money  now.  The  idea  was  to 
organize  and  get  a  charter.  Somehow  the  money  would  come. 

Long  into  the  night,  these  men  talked  over  every  facet  of 
the  project.  Then,  at  last,  when  they  rose  to  take  leave  of 
their  host,  they  knew  that  this  night  they  had  made  history. 
A  railroad  from  Rock  Island  to  La  Salle.  That's  what  they 
would  drive  for.  They  couldn't  fail.  WTiat  was  tonight  a 
dream  would  tomorrow  be  a  reality. 


8  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


Rarin'  for  a  railroad 


The  Illinois  members  of  this  group  of  railroad  planners  lost 
no  time  in  getting  to  Springfield  to  set  the  machinery  in  mo- 
tion for  a  charter.  They  were  on  their  way  before  daylight  the 
morning  after  their  meeting  with  the  Colonel  on  the  island. 

Meanwhile,  the  news  broke  at  Sam  Fisher's  Store  in  Rock 
Island  City.  Before  noon  the  word  "railroad"  was  on  the  lips 
of  everyone  within  miles  around. 

"The  iron  horse.  I  seen  pictures  of  it—" 

"Travel  in  them  steam  cars— they  go  fast—" 

"Mebbe  they'll  build  alongside  my  land,  an'  I  can  make 
money—" 

"I  got  some  ground  north  uh  town  that's  good  for  buildin' 
lots-" 

Hopes,  dreams,  magic  in  the  warm  June  air. 

A  lean  man  at  Fisher's  Store  gazing  glumly  across  the  river, 
muttering  in  his  beard,  "Me— I  drive  the  stage  to  Beardstown. 
Let  'em  get  a  railroad  an'  what  happens  to  my  livin'?" 

"Feller  that  can  handle  them  nags  you  drive  oughtta  be 
able  to  drive  the  iron  horse,"  came  the  laughing  reply. 

They  waited  the  days  out  for  Lemuel  Andrews  to  come 
home  from  Springfield.  They  hung  on  his  words  for  a  new 
spark  of  encouragement.  They  speculated  on  the  date  when 
the  first  ground  would  be  broken. 

Then,  on  the  afternoon  of  July  4,  Colonel  George  Daven- 
port was  murdered  in  his  home.  The  sprawling  mansion 


THE    DREAM    AND   THE    DRAMA  Y 

which  had  been  the  setting  less  than  four  weeks  ago  for  the 
birth  of  this  great  new  raihoad  project,  suddenly  had  become 
a  house  of  tragedy. 

The  death  of  Davenport  at  the  hands  of  bandits  cast  a 
shadow  of  gloom  over  the  men  who  had  counted  so  much 
on  his  aid.  Certainly  the  shock  had  telling  effects  on  his 
associates.  Some  thought  his  passing  would  mean  the  end  to 
their  high  hopes. 

Jim  Grant,  of  Iowa,  however,  was  not  a  man  easily  shaken. 
Since  1841  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  Iowa  legislature 
from  Scott  County.  He  had  faced  tragic  circumstances  be- 
fore, both  in  his  arduous  efforts  to  improve  the  town  of 
Davenport,  and  to  promote  the  progress  of  his  State.  He  and 
his  associates  assured  the  people  that  no  efforts  would  be 
spared  to  get  the  railroad  for  them. 

No  one,  perhaps,  will  ever  know  the  trials  these  men  faced 
during  the  next  year  and  a  half— the  conferences,  the  political 
considerations,  the  tiring  trips  back  and  forth  to  Springfield 
all  took  time  and  patience. 

But,  on  February  27,  1847,  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  of  Illinois  approved  the  charter  that  established  the 
Rock  Island  and  La  Salle  Rail  Road  Company.  The  charter 
provided  for  the  company's  right  to  "survey,  locate  and  con- 
struct and  during  its  continuance  to  maintain  and  continue 
a  railroad  with  single  or  double  track  and  with  such  append- 
ages as  may  be  deemed  necessary  for  the  convenient  use  of 
the  same,  from  the  Town  of  Rock  Island,  on  the  Mississippi 
River,  in  the  County  of  Rock  Island  to  the  Illinois  River  at 
the  termination  of  the  Illinois  and  IMichigan  Canal  .  .  ." 

The  capital  stock  was  fixed  at  $300,000,  and  under  the  terms 
of  the  charter  this  amount  had  to  be  subscribed  before  the 
company  could  be  formally  organized  and  the  officers  elected. 

The  charter  named  as  commissioners  to  receive  the  stock 
subscriptions  Joseph  Knox,  F.  R.  Brunot,  N.  B.  Buford,  Wil- 
liam Vandever,  and  Nathaniel  Belcher,  of  Rock  Island 
County;  Joshua  Harper  and  James  G.  Bolmer,  of  Henry 
Count}';  Cyrus  Brj-ant,  Justus  Stevens,  and  R.  T.  Temple- 


10  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

ton  of  Bureau  County;  and  J.  V.  Horr  and  William  H.  W. 
Cushman,  of  La  Salle  County. 

The  year  1847  was  a  year  of  crisis.  Bank  currency  was  de- 
pressed in  the  Ilhnois  and  Iowa  country;  credit  had  been  ex- 
panded to  the  limit,  and  President  James  K.  Polk's  war  with 
Mexico,  for  the  acquisition  of  California  and  the  tenitory 
east  to  the  Texas  border,  had  its  deleterious  effect  on  the 
general  economy. 

Money  was  hard  to  raise.  Illinois  was  still  feeling  the  effects 
of  the  panic  of  ten  years  ago,  and  the  burden  on  the  tax- 
payers that  had  followed  the  State's  ill-fated  venture  into 
the  railroad  field  was  still  a  punishing  one. 

Despite  the  fact  that  only  $5  was  required  for  a  down  pay- 
ment on  each  share  of  Rock  Island  and  La  Salle  stock,  with 
the  balance  to  be  paid  as  called,  the  commissioners  seemed 
to  get  nowhere. 

They  held  frequent  meetings  at  Rock  Island  City  to  dis- 
cuss their  progress,  or  lack  of  it,  and  each  time  they  went 
away  more  determined  than  ever  to  make  a  success  of  their 
venture.  They  called  on  every  businessman  and  farmer  be- 
tween the  river  and  La  Salle,  but  their  pleas,  in  most  instances, 
were  made  to  deaf  ears. 

It  was  not  until  early  in  1848,  after  the  fiercely  contested 
march  of  the  American  forces  from  Vera  Cruz  to  Mexico 
City  resulted  in  the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  that  the 
economic  picture  brightened  somewhat.  President  Polk  had 
achieved  his  goal.  California  and  the  territory  that  is  now 
Arizona,  Nevada,  New  Mexico,  and  Utah,  came  under  the 
American  flag. 

For  the  next  two  years  and  ten  months  the  progress  of  the 
Rock  Island  and  La  Salle  commissioners  was  slow  but  steady. 
Rock  Island  made  the  best  showing;  Henry  County  made  the 
poorest. 

Finally,  on  November  12,  1850,  the  commissioners  met  at 
Rock  Island,  and  their  eyes  were  grave  as  they  glanced  at  one 
another.  Discouragement  was  written  on  their  faces.  Early 
subscribers  to  Rock  Island  and  La  Salle  stock  wanted  to  know 


THE    DREAM   AND   THE    DRAMA  II 

what  was  happening  to  their  money.  Here  it  was  getting  close 
to  four  years  since  the  charter  was  granted  and  nothing  tan- 
gible had  been  done.  The  company  had  not  been  formally 
organized.  Richard  Morgan,  acting  as  engineer,  had  made  a 
survey  of  the  line  and  it  was  down  on  the  map  of  Illinois. 
On  paper,  that  was  all.  Was  it  possible  that  they  again  had 
been  played  for  suckers,  again  had  lost  their  money  in  this 
dubious  railroad  venture?  Maybe  they  should  have  left  it 
alone  in  the  first  place. 

Commissioner  Buford  reported  for  Rock  Island  County. 
He  called  out  the  total  subscription  from  that  area— $75,800. 
Next  came  Justus  Stevens'  report  from  Bureau  County.  His 
books  showed  a  total  of  $50,400.  The  men  from  La  Salle 
County  reported  $25,000,  and  Joshua  Harper,  from  Henry 
County,  gave  in  his  report— $20,000  subscribed. 

The  commissioners  gazed  about  them  in  discouragement. 
Three  years  and  almost  ten  months,  and  they  had  just  a 
little  more  than  half  of  what  they  needed  to  get  this  railroad 
going.  A  grand  total  of  $171,200  on  the  books;  the  charter 
called  for  $300,000. 

\Vhat  was  the  matter  with  James  Grant  and  Ebenezer  Cook 
and  A.  C.  Fulton,  and  others  from  Scott  County,  Iowa,  dur- 
ing all  this  time?  True,  Grant  had  met  with  them,  discussed 
their  problems,  knew  their  troubles.  Surely  had  George  Dav- 
enport lived  there  would  not  be  this  dilemma. 

The  door  of  the  meeting  room  opened.  The  men  around 
the  table  looked  up.  They  recognized  the  faces  in  the  group 
that  entered.  Of  course  Jim  Grant  was  there,  and  Cook,  and 
others  they  knew. 

"What  now—"  Hope  kindled  in  tired  eyes.  These  men  from 
Davenport.  They  must  have  some  good  tidings. 

They  did.  They  had  subscriptions  for  $128,300  and  they 
put  them  on  the  table.  The  commissioners  stared  speechless, 
then  all  began  talking.  There  were  handshaking  and  back- 
slapping,  and  trembling  fingers  adding  the  totals  together. 

"Still  five  hundred  short,"  one  man  shouted.  "Five  hun- 


12  I  RO  N    RO  AD    TO    EM  PIRE 

dred.  If  we  can  get  that  five  hundred  we  can  elect  a  board 
of  directors  and—" 

They  got  the  five  hundred.  They  made  it  up  among  them- 
selves. 

Right  now  was  the  time  to  elect  the  ten  directors  called  for 
by  the  charter. 

"Jim  Grant,  by  all  means,"  came  the  first  nomination. 

"By  all  means.  We're  all  agreed  on  the  Judge." 

Grant  smiled  and  bowed.  The  judicial  title  still  pleased  him, 
although  he  had  been  named  to  the  bench  of  the  Iowa  Dis- 
trict Court  three  years  before. 

"And  Eb  Cook,"  another  said.  "If  it  hadn't  been  for  the 
Judge  and  Eb,  with  their  Iowa  friends  over  there  in  Scott 
County,  we  wouldn't  be  able  to  sit  here  and  make  nomina- 
tions." 

Thus  it  went.  One  by  one  the  board  was  named.  Judge 
James  Grant  and  Ebenezer  Cook,  of  Davenport,  the  latter 
now  a  member  of  the  thriving  banking  firm  of  Cook  and 
Sargent;  N.  B.  Buford,  who  had  taken  the  brunt  of  money- 
raising  in  Rock  Island  County;  J.  N.  Allen;  M.  B.  Osborne; 
Charles  Atkinson,  of  Moline;  and  Lemuel  Andrews,  of  Rock 
Island  City,  who  had  sat  in  on  the  historic  meeting  at  the 
Davenport  home  five  years  ago;  John  Stevens;  and  Justus 
Stevens  who  did  his  best  in  Bureau  County  where  the  going 
had  been  extremely  hard.  The  tenth  man  was  L.  D.  Brewster, 
of  La  Salle  County. 

"Now  that  we're  this  close  to  formal  organization  of  the 
company,"  Jim  Grant  said,  "we've  got  the  matter  of  construc- 
tion to  consider.  Of  course,  we  can't  even  think  of  contracting 
for  anything  until  we  comply  with  the  clause  in  the  charter 
that  gives  us  thirty  days  from  this  date  to  meet  again  and  elect 
officers.  Personally,  I  think  I'll  have  something  to  tell  you 
within  fifteen  days." 

"About  a  contractor?"  someone  asked. 

"Henry  Famam,"  Grant  said.  "He  is  now  in  Chicago.  Fd 
like  to  take  a  small  committee  with  me  to  talk  to  him.  I  want 
to  leave  today." 


i 


THE  DREAM  AND  THE  DRAMA     13 

In  answer  to  another  question  Grant  explained  that  he'd 
read  about  Farnam,  a  New  Haven  man,  experienced  in  rail- 
roads, and  presently  contracting  to  finish  building  the  Michi- 
gan Southern  into  Chicago  from  the  East.  Grant  also 
explained  that  Mayor  Ogden,  of  Chicago,  was  trying  to  in- 
terest Farnam  in  the  building  of  the  Galena  and  Chicago 
Union  westward  from  its  present  terminus  at  Harrington, 
Illinois,  to  the  Mississippi. 

"It  may  be  that  we  can  convince  Mr.  Farnam  that  we 
have  the  most  plausible  route,"  Grant  said. 

"You  pick  your  committee,"  someone  suggested,  "and  if 
you  think  you'll  be  able  to  give  us  a  report  by  November  27, 
let  us  set  that  date  for  our  formal  organization." 

"I  think  I'll  be  able  to  give  you  a  report,"  Grant  answered. 

"The  railroad's  a-comin'!" 

The  phrase  was  magic.  People  heard  it  in  the  store,  they 
heard  it  on  the  streets  of  Rock  Island  City. 

"Somethin's  stirrin',"  said  the  Beardstown  stage  driver  in 
utter  miser}^  "Only  a  few  days  ago  them  strangers  was  along 
the  road  between  here  an'  Bureau.  They  had  stakes  down. 
They  were  sightin'  along  the  prairie  an'  puttin'  things  on 
paper." 

"The  railroad's  a-comin'!" 

The  excitement  was  electric.  It  filled  the  room  where  the 
directors  of  the  Rock  Island  and  La  Salle  Rail  Road  gathered 
around  the  table.  It  was  November  27,  1850. 

Judge  Grant  looked  over  his  neighbors.  He'd  heard  what 
they  were  saying  on  the  streets.  The  others,  too,  had  heard. 
They  all  looked  at  Grant. 

"The  first  order  of  business,  gentlemen,"  someone  said,  "is 
the  election  of  officers.  Nominations  are  open  for  the  office 
of  President." 

"I  say  Judge  Grant,"  a  voice  was  quick  to  offer. 

"Anyone  else?" 

There  was  no  one  else.  The  Judge  was  elected  unanimously. 


14  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

William  Bailey  was  made  treasurer  and  N.  B.  Buford  was 
made  secretary. 

Grant  took  the  chair.  Now  the  directors  were  ready  for  his 
report  on  his  conference  with  Henry  Farnam,  and  the  results. 

"Henry  Farnam  will  build  our  railroad,  gentlemen,"  Grant 
reported.  Then,  after  a  dramatic  pause,  "—under  certain  con- 
ditions which  I  will  now  place  before  you." 

The  former  North  Carolinian  told  about  his  meeting  with 
Farnam  and  the  noted  construction  engineer's  reaction  to  the 
plan.  Farnam  could  see  no  point  in  such  a  railroad  as  had 
been  chartered.  A  small  link  between  two  waterways.  With 
roads  from  the  East  already  forging  their  way  to  Chicago, 
the  logical  thing  would  be  to  build  a  railroad  from  Chicago 
through  Joliet,  Ottawa,  and  La  Salle,  thence  on  to  Rock 
Island. 

"Farnam  has  surveyed  the  proposed  route,  gentlemen," 
Grant  continued.  "He  feels  that  he  can  interest  his  partner, 
Joseph  ShefEeld,  provided  we  can  get  our  charter  amended. 
With  Sheffield  will  come  Eastern  capital— all  we  will  need. 
Once  this  line  is  completed  we  will  have  a  solid  line  of  rail 
from  the  Mississippi  to  New  York.  What  such  a  project  can 
accomplish  in  the  opening  of  the  West  is  beyond  all  imagina- 
tion. I  recommend  that  we  comply  with  Mr.  Farnam's  sug- 
gestions and  take  the  proper  steps  to  have  our  charter 
amended." 

There  was  some  consternation.  They  all  remembered  how 
long  it  had  taken  to  get  their  original  charter,  and  how  difficult 
it  had  been  to  get  the  stock  subscribed  to.  Now  here  was  a 
new  problem. 

Grant  assured  them  that  it  wasn't  too  great  a  problem. 
Under  his  guidance  the  directors  drew  up  a  memorial  to 
Congress  to  grant  a  right-of-way  over  all  public  lands  across 
which  the  railroad  might  be  constructed.  A  petition  was  drawn 
up  asking  the  Illinois  legislature  to  amend  the  original  charter 
by  authorizing  a  change  in  the  corporate  title  and  the  exten- 
sion of  the  railroad  from  the  head  of  navigation  of  the  Illinois 
and  Michigan  Canal  (Peru  -  La  Salle)  to  the  city  of  Chicago. 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  |0 

Machiner)'  also  was  set  in  motion  to  ask  the  legislature  of 
Iowa  to  authorize  the  railroad  to  establish  a  depot  in  Daven- 
port and  to  carry  freight  and  passengers  across  the  Mississippi 
River. 

The  railroad  was  on  its  way. 


Enter:  the  builders 


Previous  to  that  historic  meeting  of  November  27,  1850,  the 
founders  and  commissioners  of  the  Rock  Island  and  La  Salle 
had  trouble  only  in  raising  money. 

Now  as  the  year  1851  dawned  there  were  new  troubles. 
That  business  of  petitioning  the  Iowa  legislature  for  the  right 
to  set  up  a  depot  in  Da\enport  and  transport  freight  and  pas- 
sengers across  the  river.  Would  the  steamboat  people  stand 
for  anything  like  that?  Not  without  a  fight. 

And  that  business  about  extending  from  La  Salle  to  Chi- 
cago. Right  along  the  new  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal. 
Would  the  canal  people  stand  for  a  railroad  taking  their 
business?  Most  certainly  they  would  not. 

And  the  Illinois  legislators  had  the  interests  of  the  canal 
at  heart  when,  on  February  7,  1851,  they  authorized  the 
amended  charter.  A  section  was  inserted  which  pro\'ided  that 
the  railroad  would  pay  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Illinois 
and  Michigan  Canal  a  toll  on  all  commodities,  except  live- 
stock, that  the  canal  could  carr}-.  The  tolls  were  to  be  equal 
to  the  canal  rates,  and  were  to  apply  to  shipments  destined 


16  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

to  or  from  any  point  between  Chicago  and  a  point  twenty 
miles  west  of  La  Salle.  The  tolls  were  to  be  paid  by  the  rail- 
road only  during  the  periods  when  navigation  on  the  canal 
was  open. 

It  is  doubtful  that  the  tolls  section  of  the  amended  charter, 
as  written,  would  have  been  acceptable  to  Judge  Grant  and 
his  associates,  had  not  Grant  received  a  letter  from  Henry 
Farnam,  written  January  22,  1851. 

In  his  letter  the  builder  said: 

"Be  sure  to  get  the  charter  to  make  the  road  on  the  shortest 
route  from  La  Salle  to  Chicago,  even  if  they  insist  on  your 
paying  tolls  on  freights  taken  from  points  along  the  canal." 

The  directors  met  on  April  8,  1851,  and  formally  accepted 
the  amended  charter,  including  the  canal  tolls  provision.  The 
meeting  officially  terminated  the  corporate  existence  of  the 
Rock  Island  and  La  Salle  Rail  Road  Company.  Chicago  and 
Rock  Island  Rail  Road  Company  became  the  new  corporate 
title.  Judge  Grant  was  elected  president,  and  the  officers  and 
directors  of  the  first  organization,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
who  dropped  out,  formed  the  new  corporation. 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  amended  charter  additional 
directors  were  necessary,  and  the  men  elected  to  fill  these 
posts  were  John  B.  Jervis,  of  Rome,  New  York,  noted  con- 
sulting engineer  and  a  close  friend  and  associate  of  Henry 
Farnam;  Elihu  C.  Litchfield  of  Detroit;  Charles  Butler;  and 
John  Stryker.  These  men  represented  Joseph  E.  Sheffield's 
interests. 

Sheffield  was  anxious  to  get  into  the  building  of  the  Chicago 
and  Rock  Island  with  his  financial  support  but,  according  to 
the  records,  he  didn't  want  to  do  it  so  long  as  the  railroad 
was  burdened  with  the  canal  tolls.  This  would  indicate  that 
he  and  Farnam  didn't  see  eye  to  eye  on  this  particular  phase. 

The  tolls  provision  of  the  charter,  however,  was  full  of  legal 
loopholes,  and  Judge  Grant  was  pretty  sure  he  saw  a  way  out. 

One  part  of  the  tolls  section  read,  "If  the  Canal  Board  of 


THE  DREAM  AND  THE  DRAMA     17 

Trustees  refuse  to  comply  with  this  act  by  the  first  Monday 
in  June  following  passage  of  this  Act,  then  said  railroad  com- 
pany shall  have  right  to  build  and  all  restrictions  with  refer- 
ence to  tolls  removed." 

Judge  Grant,  shortly  after  the  enactment  of  the  revised 
charter,  enclosed  a  copy  of  it  to  the  president  of  the  canal 
trustees.  Grant  received  a  reply  that  stated  matters  of  such 
grave  import  to  those  whose  interests  he  represented  required 
serious  deliberations.  The  canal  president  said  he  would  refer 
the  tolls  provision  of  the  charter  to  his  associates  at  their  next 
meeting. 

The  result  of  this  action  was  explained  by  Judge  Grant  in 
his  report  to  the  stockholders  for  the  year  1851  when  he  said, 
"The  first  Monday  in  June  has  passed  and  the  Trustees  of 
the  niinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  having  failed  to  assent  to 
the  terms  of  the  charter,  our  obligation  to  pay  tolls  to  the 
Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  ceases  by  the  terms  of  the  act 
of  incorporation." 

It  was  as  simple  as  that. 

Immediately,  the  new  railroad  came  in  for  a  battle  in  the 
courts.  The  canal  trustees  had  been  advised  by  counsel  that 
the  railroad  could  not  exercise  the  power  of  eminent  domain 
on  the  public  lands  that  had  been  granted  to  the  canal  on 
either  side  of  its  channel  for  construction  aids.  The  railroad 
went  ahead  to  condemn  the  right-of-way  over  canal  lands  and 
other  lands. 

The  canal  trustees  took  the  case  to  the  Cook  County  (Il- 
linois), court  for  an  injunction  against  the  Chicago  and  Rock 
Island.  The  court  held  that  the  power  of  eminent  domain  was 
lawfully  exercised,  and  the  ruling  was  upheld  by  the  Illinois 
supreme  court. 

The  way  now  having  been  cleared  for  building,  Henry  Far- 
nam,  on  September  6,  1851,  submitted  the  Farnam  and  Shef- 
field contract  to  build  the  road  from  Chicago  to  Rock  Island, 
181  miles,  at  a  cost  of  $3,987,638.  This  price  did  not  include 
right-of-way,  station  grounds,  station  buildings  except  in  cer- 
tain instances,  fencing,  and  incidentals. 


18  I  RO  N    RO  AD    TO    EM  PIRE 

The  railroad's  directors  on  September  17, 1851,  met  at  Rock 
Island  and  unanimously  approved  the  Farnam  and  Sheffield 
contract. 

That  the  contractors  went  into  action  at  once  is  evidenced 
by  Judge  Grant's  remarks  at  the  first  annual  meeting  on 
December  22,  1851.  He  said: 

"Since  that  time  (September  17,  when  the  contract  was 
approved),  Messrs.  Sheffield  and  Farnam  have  commenced 
and  prosecuted  the  work  in  a  manner  highly  creditable  to 
them  and  which  we  were  authorized  to  expect  from  their 
character  for  promptness  and  energy,  and  permit  me  to  say 
that  it  was  fortunate  for  us  that  men  of  such  pecuniary  means 
and  personal  worth  were  induced  to  embark  in  the  enterprise, 
and  we  must  endeavor  to  so  fulfill  the  contract  on  our  part 
that  the  work  may  be  completed  at  the  earliest  practicable 
period." 

At  this  meeting,  which  was  held  in  the  Tremont  Hotel,  in 
Chicago,  Judge  Grant  announced  that  he  would  have  to  de- 
cline re-election  to  the  presidency  of  the  organization.  He 
had  again  entered  the  Iowa  legislature,  and  had  been  elected 
speaker  of  the  house,  and  he  felt  that  his  law  practice  and 
legislative  duties  would  not  permit  him  to  guide  the  destinies 
of  this  new  railroad  to  the  west. 

As  a  result,  the  presidency  went  to  John  B.  Jervis,  the  engi- 
neer and  builder  with  whom  Farnam  was  now  associated  in 
the  building  of  the  Michigan  Southern  toward  Chicago. 
Judge  Grant  remained  as  vice-president.  Nelson  D.  Elwood, 
of  Joliet,  who  had  met  with  Grant  and  those  others  at  the 
Davenport  home  on  Rock  Island  five  and  one-half  years  pre- 
viously, was  elected  secretary.  A.  C.  Flagg,  of  New  York,  be- 
came treasurer.  Isaac  Cook,  of  Chicago,  became  assistant 
secretary. 

Judge  Grant  could  turn  over  the  gavel  to  Jervis  with  the 
satisfaction  of  having  guided  the  railroad  from  the  birth  of 
an  idea  to  the  point  where  construction  was  under  way,  with 
great  faith  and  perseverance.  Now  it  was  a  job  for  hard-rock 
railroad  men— builders  and  engineers. 


Courtesy  of  Raihvay  Age 


John  D.  Farrington,  Rock  Island's  president,  who  in  mid-May  19:56  came 
from  the  Burlington  to  tackle  the  job  of  chief  operating  officer  and  map 
out  the  program  for  the  road's  complete  rehabilitation — a  program  of 
"planned  progress"  that  lifted  the  system  from  financial  and  physical 
bankruptcy  to  rank  with  America's  finest  railroad  properties. 


Edward  M.  Durham,  Jr.,  chief  executi\e  officer  under  the  Rock  Island 
Trustees,  left  the  senior  vice  presidency  of  the  Missouri  Pacific  in  Decem- 
ber 19:55  to  use  his  fine  executive  talents  in  the  first  big  move  to  circum- 
\ent  dismemberment  and  route  Rock  Island  back  on  the  road  to  recovery. 
He  retired  in  194:1. 


Antoine  Le  Clair,  enormous 
French-Indian  pioneer,  wealthy 
land-owner,  and  founder  of  Daven- 
port, Iowa,  played  a  leading  role  in 
earlv  Roek  Island  history.  He 
turned  the  first  earth  to  mark  the 
beginning  of  railroad  building  in 
Iowa. 


James  W.  Grant,  of  Daxenport, 
elected  first  president  of  the  Rock 
Island  and  La  Salle  Rail  Road,  re- 
tained that  post  when  by  amended 
charter  the  name  was  cliangcd  to 
Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Rail 
Road  Companw  Chief  among  the 
road's  founders,  he  led  moncv- 
raising  campaign  from  i'^4~.  re- 
signed    presidency     in     December 


1    ...      *— ^ 


S  R  Ari^s 

MARm^n     r-N   nr        ,    r~i        J  M  Noms    A  0  Gibson 

CLr\ 

/R,Clnger3oi!.,>^-^^             LB.NeufflilleA^ 

-i    iHCrowr 

/F.M.Maijer^__,.^ 

H  L  Horton 

i^""^ 

/jBFae^rel      ) 

^          MVF  Peter 

^ 

5-6  Henry  Farnam  {opposite  left)  Joseph  E.  Sheffield  {opposite  right); 
they,  in  partnership,  were  the  contractors  who  built  the  Chicago  and 
Rock  Island.  Farnam  later  served  as  Rock  Island's  president  from  De- 
cember 1854  ^^  Jnnc  1863. 


{Below)  Rock  Island's  "working"  Board  of  Directors.  Absent  when  this 
picture  was  made  were  Harry  Darby,  Chairman  of  the  Board,  Darby  Cor- 
poration, Kansas  City,  Kansas;  Charles  Wiman,  President,  Deere  and 
Company,  Moline,  Illinois;  Robert  McKinnev,  publisher,  Santa  Fe  (New 
Mexico)  New  Mexican.  Of  the  others,  identified  in  the  inset,  James  Norris 
is  now  deceased,  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Bruce  Norris.  Arthur  O.  Gib- 
son, secretary  and  treasurer,  is  not  a  member  of  the  board. 


8     Rock  Island's  first  bridge  across  the  Mississippi,  begun  in  1853  and  com- 
pleted in  May  1856. 


9  Subjected  to  fire  and  other  acts  of  apparent  sabotage,  in  long  battle  with 
steamship  interests,  the  bridge  fell  victim  in  March  1868,  to  a  devastating 
tornado. 


TAKE  THE  "GREAT  ROCK  ISLAND  ROUTE  '  FOR  ALL  POINTS 

IN  KANSA*.  NECRAMA.  COLOKAOO,  WVOMINC,  4IIIION*    HtW  Mf  XIOO    MONTANA    UTAH  AMD  CALIFODIIIA 


10  Advertising  its  Palace  Dining  Cars  in  the  late  1870's,  Rock  Island  stressed 
complete  table  d'hote  dinners  for  seventy-five  cents  with  "a  bottle  of 
imported  French  wine  1  c;  cents  extra." 


]  1      Camclback  locomotixc  on  the  Choctaw,  circa  1902.  a  raritv  in  the  west. 


]2     Engine  46,  ready  to  leave  Indianola,  Iowa  for  Des  Moines.  This  "iron 
horse"  of  1881  was  tvpical  of  earlv-dav  moti\e  power. 


13     Rock  Island's  depot  Des  Moines,  circa  1S72,  with  Engine  Xo.  5  head- 
ing ont  for  \\'interset. 


r;?^'Tr.\*^ -^\  :    •-* 


14     Rock  Island's  5000-class  4-8-4's,  great  among  the  high-speed  tonnage 
haulers  in  World  War  II,  now  replaced  by  diesels. 


J^r--*-      _ 


]  5     Queen  of  the  Rocket  Fleet  is  Rock  Island's  Extra-Fare  Golden  State, 
between  Chicago  and  Los  Angeles.  It  was  inaugurated  in  1902. 


•'■jiilf  ••»§•*« ', 


\^^A 


(** 


16  (Above)  La  Salle  Street  Station  at  night  and  a  streamliner  ready  to  go — 
the  Corn  Belt  Rocket  to  Omaha  precedes  the  departure  of  the  Imperial 
to  California. 


17     {Below)  The  diesel  switcher,  now  doing  all  Rock  Island's  yard  work, 
has  played  an  important  part  in  the  road's  complete  dieselization. 


Popular  Twin-Star  Rocket,  shown  here  at  a  station  pause,  connects  Min- 
ncapohs-St.  Paul  with  Houston,  Texas,  in  a  fast  daily  run. 


19     Fast  freight  out  of  Memphis,  crossing  the  Mississippi,  follows  a  route 
to  Oklahoma,  Texas  and  beyond  where  early  history  was  hectic. 


20     Samson  of  the  Cimarron,  symbol  of  the  reborn  Rock  Island,  was  first 
great  major  miprovement  on  California  route. 


21     Train-side  bus  arrival  from  Peoria  brings  passengers  to  connect  at  Bureau 
with  Golden  State  and  other  main  line  trains. 


22     Route  of  the  Rockets — this  map  shows  Rock  Island's  passenger  service 


eoxerage. 


*  :♦:   ♦ 


23     Armourdale  (Kansas  City,  Kansas)  automatical]} -tontrolkd  liump  yard, 
can  handle  classification  of  4.000  cars  dailv. 


24     (Above)  Last  word  in  modern  diesel  repair  facilities  housed  in  remodeled 
shop  at  Silvis,  Illinois. 


2  5  {Below)  This  veteran  agent-telegrapher,  G.  C.  Cornett,  of  Shawnee, 
Okla.,  is  typical  of  Rock  Island's  old-timers  who  help  keep  trains  always 
on  the  mo\e. 


THE   DREAM    AND   THE    DRAMA  19 


^  The  Rocket— the  first  train  West 


Through  the  fall  and  winter  of  1851-52  Farnam  and  his 
forces  completed  and  rechecked  their  surveys,  made  all  ar- 
rangements for  their  materials  and  supplies,  and  organized 
for  the  westward  push  as  soon  as  spring  weather  might  afford 
good  working  conditions.  The  iron  rails,  57  pounds  to  the 
yard,  were  coming  from  England.  Other  material  would  come 
in  by  boat.  This  necessitated  building  track  within  the  Chicago 
area  to  connect  with  the  Chicago  River.  Rails  were  laid  from 
Chicago  south  to  what  is  now  Englewood  for  a  connection 
with  the  Northern  Indiana  Railroad  (now  the  New  York 
Central)  which  was  then  building  in  from  the  Indiana  Line. 

During  Judge  Grant's  tenure  of  ofEce  as  president,  he 
signed  a  contract  with  the  Northern  Indiana  which  made 
possible  the  present  New  York  Central's  ownership  and  use 
of  vast  terminal  properties  in  Chicago.  The  contract  provided, 
with  minor  exceptions,  for  joint  ownership  and  use  of  all  the 
property  of  the  two  railroads  between  what  is  now  the  north- 
ern boundary  of  65th  Street  and  La  Salle  Street  Station. 

This  contract  was  of  vital  importance  to  the  Northern  In- 
diana, as  it  allowed  that  company  to  purchase  in  the  name 
of  the  Rock  Island  the  needed  right-of-way  to  get  into  the 
city.  Farnam  completed  the  main  line  from  the  depot  at  22nd 
Street,  Chicago,  to  the  junction  with  the  Northern  Indiana 
early  in  January  1852.  On  May  22,  the  first  Northern  Indiana 
passenger  train  operated  into  the  Chicago  depot,  and  was  ac- 
corded a  great  reception. 


20  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

With  a  break  in  the  weather  in  April  of  1852,  the  Famam 
crews  struck  west  with  the  grading  and  ballasting  of  the  new 
railroad.  The  lawsuits,  the  difficulties  of  financing,  other  op- 
position, were  all  behind. 

By  October  1,  the  40-mile  segment  between  Chicago  and 
Joliet  was  almost  ready  for  opening.  Some  rail  had  yet  to  be 
laid.  From  Joliet  to  Morris,  approximately  20  miles,  less  than 
a  mile  of  grading  remained  until  track-laving  could  be  begun. 
Only  a  small  section  remained  to  be  graded  between  Morris  and 
Marseilles,  and  less  than  four  miles  had  yet  to  be  graded  between 
Marseilles  and  Peru.  In  less  than  six  months  the  builders  had 
thrown  up  the  fill  and  virtually  completed  40  miles  of  rail- 
road, and  had  readied  for  rails  all  but  a  little  less  than  8  miles 
on  the  whole  gg-mile  stretch  between  Chicago  and  Peru.  It 
was  trulv  a  remarkable  building  record. 

So  insistent  were  the  people  living  along  the  line  bet\^'een 
Chicago  and  Joliet  to  see  the  iron  horse  make  its  way  over 
this  iron  road  to  empire  that  arrangements  were  made  to  run 
the  first  train  on  October  10. 

The  first  of  the  orders  for  new  locomotives  was  standing  in 
its  Chicago  shed.  It  was  a  fine  new  eight-wheeler  (American 
4-4-0  t^■pe)  built  bv  the  Rogers  works.  Six  new  coaches,  gailv 
painted  a  bright  vellow,  also  were  on  hand.  The  locomotive 
was  named  Rocket,  ob\iouslv  after  George  Stephenson's  en- 
gine which,  a  few  years  before,  had  attained  a  speed  of  44 
miles  an  hour  on  its  run  between  Manchester  and  Liverpool, 
England. 

Addison  R.  Gilmore,  the  Rock  Island's  first  superintendent, 
went  to  Farnam  and  Jer\-is,  and  told  them  of  the  public 
clamor. 

From  all  the  evidence  of  that  early  histor\'  Messrs.  Famam 
and  Jems  knew  a  great  deal  about  railroad  building,  but  ap- 
parentlv  ven-  little  about  good  public  relations.  Indications 
are  that  the  launching  of  the  first  train  was  miserably  planned. 
WTiile  all  the  rail  was  in  place  and  some  of  the  right-of-way 
was  dressed,  the  line  was  by  no  means  completed.  The  only 
station  anj-where  near  ready  to  open  was  at  Blue  Island.  The 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  21 

Mokena  depot  was  barely  under  construction,  and  at  Joliet 
there  were  no  facilities  to  turn  the  engine. 

Evidently  little  advance  notice  of  the  coming  of  this  his- 
toric event  was  circulated.  When  at  lo  a.m.  on  Sunday,  Octo- 
ber 10,  1852,  the  gaily  bedecked  train  was  ready  to  leave  the 
22nd  Street  depot,  the  occasion  had  caused  hardly  a  ripple 
in  the  busy  life  of  Chicagoans.  There  were  no  flag-waving 
crowds  at  the  station.  There  was  no  blare  of  bugles,  and  the 
usual  firing  of  guns  that  had  marked  similar  occasions  else- 
where was  conspicuously  absent. 

But  at  10  o'clock  James  Lendabarker,  former  packet  engi- 
neer, opened  the  throttle  of  the  Rocket.  The  slack  came  out 
between  the  yellow  coaches  which  carried  a  good-sized  crowd 
of  the  adventurous.  Wood  sparks  from  the  balloon  stack  flat- 
tened out  on  the  breeze,  and  another  chapter  of  history  was 
in  the  making. 

Three  days  later,  on  October  1 3,  the  Chicago  Daily  Demo- 
crat paid  tribute  to  the  "quiet  and  efficient"  men  who  held 
the  destinies  of  this  new  railroad.  The  writer  commented 
about  the  smoothness  of  the  ride  "on  the  portions  of  it  (the 
railroad)  which  are  already  ballasted  .  .  ." 

The  run  to  Joliet  was  accomplished  in  two  hours.  News- 
paper records  indicate  that  at  the  various  stations  along  the 
rails  great  crowds  shouted  and  cheered  as  the  Rocket  rattled 
and  bounced  on  its  way.  A  vast  number  of  people  turned  out 
at  Joliet  to  pay  tribute  to  "this  unbelievable  thing." 

The  return  to  Chicago  was  a  back-up  movement.  But  to 
compensate,  Farnam  and  his  associates  that  night  entertained 
those  who'd  made  the  trip  at  a  banquet  at  the  Sherman 
House. 


22  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


"One  wide  river  for  to  cross" 


Under  the  contract  with  Farnam  and  Sheffield,  the  railroad 
was  to  be  operated  bv  the  construction  organization  until  it 
should  finally  be  completed  to  Rock  Island,  fully  equipped. 
Until  such  time  service  would  be  inaugurated  by  the  con- 
tractors as  each  portion  of  the  line  was  ready  for  operation. 
The  contractors  were  to  retain  the  earnings  and  pay  the  in- 
terest on  the  outstanding  first-mortagage  bonds. 

Regular  service  between  Chicago  and  Joliet  with  two  pas- 
senger trains  dailv  in  each  direction  was  begun  on  October 
18,  1852. 

The  arrival  of  the  railroad  at  Ottawa  touched  off  a  tre- 
mendous public  celebration  and  marked  the  first  in  a  series 
that  were  to  become  memorable  events  in  one  community 
after  another.  The  first  train  from  Chicago  pulled  to  a  stop 
at  the  Ottawa  station  on  Februar\-  14,  1853.  In  the  coaches 
were  manv  prominent  business  leaders  from  Chicago  and  in- 
termediate points,  and  of  course  Henr\-  Farnam  was  the  host 
en  route. 

The  citizens  of  Otta\\-a  tendered  their  visitors  a  grand  re- 
ception and  a  banquet  replete  with  laudator}-  speeches  by 
local  ci\-ic  leaders  and  prophetic  speeches  by  the  railroad 
official  personnel. 

Naturally,  ne\^■s  of  this  progress  spread  from  to\Mi  to  town 
along  the  road  vet  to  be  built,  and  excitement  increased 
among  the  farmers  and  the  businessmen.  The  people  of  Rock 
Island  talked  of  nothing  else. 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  23 

"Figgered  out  when  the  rails'll  get  here?"  was  a  constant 
question. 

"Might  be  a  year  yet— that's  what  I  hear." 

"More  people  comin'  in  all  the  time.  Buyin'  up  homesites. 
Gonna  be  a  real  boom  in  the  town." 

"It'll  be  a  great  day  when  the  trains  come.  An'  are  them 
people  over  in  loway  gettin'  excited— man!" 

The  people  in  Davenport  had  a  right  to  be  excited.  Nine 
days  before  the  big  reception  in  Ottawa  a  group  of  leading 
citizens,  among  whom  were  Antoine  Le  Claire,  Ebenezer 
Cook,  and  A.  C.  Fulton,  gained  Iowa  legislative  authorization 
for  the  incorporation  of  a  new  railroad  to  be  called  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Missouri.  Its  charter  provided  for  the  building 
and  operating  of  a  railroad  from  Davenport  to  Council  Bluffs, 
and  its  capitalization  was  fixed  at  $6,000,000. 

Farnam  was  identified  with  the  promotion  of  the  Missis- 
sippi and  Missouri  from  its  very  inception,  but  his  partner 
Sheffield,  would  not  go  along  with  him  in  the  Iowa  venture. 
Sheffield,  according  to  some  records,  felt  that  he'd  reached 
the  time  of  life  when  he  wanted  to  retire  from  building  activi- 
ties, and  planned  to  do  so  on  the  completion  of  the  Chicago 
and  Rock  Island. 

The  building  into  Ottawa  had  been  accomplished  without 
any  serious  setback;  however,  even  before  the  rails  had  reached 
that  point,  trouble  was  in  the  making  at  the  neighboring 
cit}'  of  La  Salle,  just  to  the  west. 

The  line  through  La  Salle  had  been  surveyed  to  follow  the 
foot  of  the  bluflFs  along  the  river.  This  survey  was  not  to  the 
liking  of  a  group  of  businessmen  who  had  acquired  consid- 
erable land  back  from  the  river  on  top  of  the  bluffs.  This 
group  had  already  started  a  business  and  residence  develop- 
ment, and  wanted  the  railroad  built  through  that  area. 

When  the  contractors  refused  to  consider  such  a  route, 
the  citizens'  group  succeeded  in  fomenting  local  dissension 
and  indignation  to  the  point  that  the  builders  were  frankly 
told  the  people  of  La  Salle  would  use  force,  if  necessary,  to 
get  the  line  of  the  railroad  changed. 


\y 


24  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  railroad  remained  adamant,  and  the  city  council  finally 
passed  an  ordinance  providing  for  a  $10  fine  to  be  levied  on 
any  "healthy  male"  between  the  ages  of  21  and  50  who  would 
refuse  to  answer  the  call  to  use  forcible  means  against  the 
railroad  builders. 

This  action  made  it  necessary  for  the  officers  of  the  Chi- 
cago and  Rock  Island  to  go  before  the  legislature  and  secure 
a  further  amendment  to  the  charter  to  permit  the  railroad  the 
right  to  follow  its  course.  With  approval  of  the  amendment 
the  laying  of  rail  on  the  grade  along  the  river  was  successfully 
accomplished. 

Through  service  from  Chicago  to  La  Salle  was  established 
in  the  latter  part  of  March  1853,  and  was  extended  to  Peru 
the  following  month. 

While  the  rails  pushed  westward  toward  the  settlement  of 
Bureau,  the  firm  of  Sheffield  and  Farnam  contracted  with  the 
newly  chartered  Peoria  and  Bureau  Valley  Railroad  to  build 
that  line.  The  charter  called  for  the  construction  of  a  rail- 
road "from  Peoria,  Illinois,  to  a  point  in  Illinois  below  Indian- 
town,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Bureau  River."  A  later  amendment 
to  the  charter  provided  for  terminating  the  line  in  the  Bureau 
Valley  at  any  point  that  would  be  most  advantageous  to  the 
company. 

The  building  contract  was  executed  in  May, 

It  was  on  the  31st  of  that  month  that  new  excitement 
seethed  through  the  growing  city  of  Davenport.  The  founders 
of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  at  last  were  ready  to  sit  around 
the  conference  table  and  elect  directors  and  officers. 

William  B.  Ogden,  mayor  of  Chicago,  and  one  of  the  origi- 
nal developers  of  the  Galena  Union,  was  on  hand  along  with 
Farnam  and  the  Rock  Island's  president,  John  B.  Jervis. 
^  Thomas  C.  Durant,  who  had  joined  the  Sheffield  and  Far- 
nam firm  for  the  construction  of  the  Peoria  and  Bureau  Val- 
ley, took  an  active  hand  because  he  already  knew  that  on 
Sheffield's  retirement  he  would  take  over  full  partnership  with 
Farnam  in  the  construction  activities  of  this  Iowa  line. 

John  A.  Dix,  of  New  York,  was  elected  president  of  the 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  25 

Mississippi  and  Missouri,  and  Ogden  was  named  vice-presi- 
dent. John  E.  Henry,  of  Iowa,  was  chosen  as  secretary.  The 
job  of  treasurer  went  to  A.  C.  Flagg  who  was  also  treasurer 
of  the  Rock  Island. 

Henry  Farnam  was  named  chief  engineer  and  Jervis  was 
appointed  consulting  engineer.  The  tie-up  between  the  Rock 
Island  and  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  was  even  made  more 
complete  when  Durant,  Farnam,  Sheffield,  and  Ebenezer 
Cook  all  were  made  directors. 

It  was  the  general  opinion  that  such  strong  management 
and  directorate  were  clearly  indicative  of  the  national  im- 
portance that  this  new  railroad  was  destined  to  assume.  Every- 
thing was  in  its  favor.  Men  with  financial  means  almost 
unlimited— men  with  fine  construction  and  operating  back- 
ground. What  if  Sheffield  would  not  take  an  active  part  in  the 
building?  He  would  be  in  the  background  with  his  financial 
support.  Durant  was  a  younger  man,  and  a  powerful  one. 

The  directors  had  ideas  that  reached  far  beyond  just  a  rail- 
road from  Davenport  to  Council  Bluffs.  To  the  south  was 
Burlington.  To  the  north  through  the  Cedar  Valley  was  a  rich, 
green  land  crying  for  full  development. 

The  board  named  a  committee  made  up  of  Ogden,  Cook, 
and  another  Farnam  man,  William  Walcott,  to  go  out  and 
get  right-of-way,  secure  support  of  local  communities  and 
make  recommendations  as  to  the  lines  that  should  be  built. 

The  committee  didn't  take  long  to  get  into  the  country  and 
come  back  with  a  report.  The  committee  visited  Cedar  Rapids, 
Iowa  City,  Muscatine,  and  several  other  towns  and  recom- 
mended that  a  branch  be  built  down  through  Muscatine  to 
the  southern  or  western  boundary  of  Iowa— or  to  both— and 
that  another  line  be  built  to  the  northern  border  of  the  state 
through  Cedar  Rapids  and  the  Cedar  Valley. 

The  charter  was  amended  on  June  27,  to  incorporate  these 
proposed  routes  and  in  August  the  Farnam-Durant  firm  signed 
the  contract  for  construction. 

With  a  railroad  approaching  Rock  Island  from  the  east, 
and  with  a  new  line  getting  set  to  build  to  the  west  from 


26  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Davenport,  there  was  still  that  wide  river.  Well,  the  way  you 
get  over  a  river  is  to  build  a  bridge. 

Down  at  Burrows'  Store  on  Front  Street,  in  Davenport  one 
summer  morning  of  1853  opinion  was  pretty  well  divided  as 
to  the  sanity  of  certain  leading  townsmen,  "an'  them  fellers 
from  the  East." 

"Just  plumb  crazy,"  old  Lige,  the  riverman— a  little  more 
stooped  and  a  lot  more  gray  than  on  that  June  day  of  1845 
when  he'd  got  so  upset— said  to  his  wizened  friend  Pete. 
"Bridge  across  that  river.  Why,  that'll  make  navigation  so  all- 
fired  dangerous—" 

"Oh,  I  don't  know,"  Pete  said.  He  stuffed  some  fresh  scrap 
into  his  cavernous  jaw.  "Folks  say  the  only  way  it'll  interfere 
with  navigation,  is  mebbe  the  thing'll  fall  off  its  stone  pilin' 
an'  float  down  stream." 

"That  ain't  no  comfort  to  me,"  Lige  said.  "It's  that  same 
gang  that's  buildin'  the  railroad  from  Chicago.  Remember 
what  you  said  that  if  Jim  Grant's  mixed  up  in  anything  he's 
bound  to  make  it  good.  Well,  this  Famam  outfit— looks  to 
me  like  they  ain't  put  their  stone  pilin'  over  there  on  the  Island 
for  nothin'.  An'  that'n  right  down  there—"  Lige  pointed  to 
the  piling  that  had  just  been  erected  on  the  Iowa  shore. 

"Guess  we'll  change  as  times  change,"  Pete  said  laconi- 
cally. 

The  railroad  pioneers  hadn't  erected  the  pilings  "for 
nothin'."  Long  before  their  iron  rails  had  reached  Ottawa, 
in  the  early  part  of  this  year  of  1853,  Railroad  Bridge  Com- 
pany had  been  incorporated  by  a  special  act  of  the  Illinois 
Legislature  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  Chicago  and  Rock 
Island  to  reach  the  Iowa  side  of  the  Mississippi.  Now  that  the 
railroad  was  well  past  the  halfway  mark  on  its  course  from 
Chicago  to  Rock  Island— in  this  summer  of  1853— everything 
had  been  set  in  motion  to  begin  actual  construction  of  the 
bridge. 

The  steamboat  interests  were  crying  to  high  heaven.  Legal 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  27 

brains  were  employed  to  develop  every  obstacle  that  might  be 
thrown  in  the  path  of  such  a  ridiculous  thing. 

Back  in  the  Bureau  Valley  the  people  weren't  thinking  about 
a  bridge.  On  September  12  the  Rock  Island's  rails  came  into 
the  town  of  Bureau.  Southward  from  Bureau  the  Peoria  line 
was  under  construction.  A  summer  of  good  crops  was  behind 
for  the  farmers.  They  looked  to  the  day  when  the  railroad 
would  be  hauling  those  crops  east  to  the  Chicago  markets. 
They  dreamed  of  good  prices.  They  dreamed  of  expanding 
their  properties  and  growing  more  things.  The  producers  down 
in  the  Peoria  area  wouldn't  have  to  depend  on  the  river  to 
ship  their  stuff  and  take  a  depressed  price  in  the  season  when 
navigation  remained  open.  They  could  hold  their  grain  through 
the  winter,  then  if  the  price  was  advantageous  they  could  load 
it  on  the  steam  cars  and  send  it  on  its  way. 


(i)  Mississippi  lioliday 


Washington's  Birthday  in  the  year  1854  broke  cold  and  clear 
over  the  Mississippi  towns  of  Rock  Island  and  Davenport.  A 
stiff  wind  blew  down  from  the  north,  and  the  pale  sun  glinted 
yellow  on  the  blue  ice  in  the  river. 

All  during  that  morning  of  February  22  the  wagons  came. 
The  wagons  and  the  carriages,  and  men  on  horseback.  Their 
goal  was  the  wooden  structure  down  by  the  river  front  over 
which  a  sign  hung  to  tell  one  and  all  that  this  was  the  "passen- 
ger house"  of  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Rail  Road— the 
first  depot  in  Rock  Island  City. 


28  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  iron  rails  were  in  place  at  the  platform.  The  iron  rails 
had  reached  the  river.  The  dream  of  years  had  been  accom- 
plished. 

There  was  good-natured  bantering  among  the  men  as  they 
called  to  the  Farnam  crews.  The  workmen  were  putting  the 
finishing  touches  to  the  track  and  the  rough  station  building, 
readying  it  for  the  arrival  of  the  first  train  from  Chicago. 

In  the  crowd  were  the  enthusiastic  supporters  and  also  the 
unbelievers— men  like  Lige  and  Pete  from  Davenport  who  still 
did  not  want  to  believe  that  this  thing  had  come  to  pass.  With 
Lige  and  Pete  was  the  bearded  and  lugubrious  driver  of  the 
Beardstown  Stage.  And  others  who  wanted  to  scoff  and  ridi- 
cule, but  whose  words  were  ver}^  hollow,  because  they  knew 
they  faced  the  opening  of  a  new  era,  and  they  didn't  know 
how  to  face  it. 

All  during  the  day  the  crowds  gathered.  Rock  Island  had 
prepared  for  the  visitors  who  would  come  from  Chicago.  The 
program  for  the  festivities  had  been  carefully  planned.  The 
celebration  would  be  confined  to  the  people  from  Davenport 
and  Rock  Island  City  and  environs.  The  big,  formal  celebra- 
tion would  come  later,  in  good  summer  weather.  Joseph  Shef- 
field had  already  planned  for  that.  He  apparently  wasn't  going 
to  have  things  go  as  they  had  in  Chicago  on  the  occasion  of 
the  run  of  the  first  train.  There  would  be  good  organization 
to  the  Rock  Island  events,  and  there  would  be  a  top  public- 
relations  job  done. 

Handbills  were  all  over  town.  Block  type  at  the  top  pro- 
claimed "Order  of  the  Day,"  and  below  were  the  words,  "Rail- 
road Festival."  The  handbill  gave  the  arrival  time  of  the  train 
as  5  o'clock  p.m.,  "which  event  will  be  heralded  by  the  roar 
of  artillery,  the  sounds  of  joyful  music,  and  the  acclamations 
of  the  people." 

When  that  gaily  decorated  locomotive  pulled  its  train  into 
the  station  in  the  gathering  dusk  of  that  February  evening 
it  was  hard  to  tell  whether  the  artillery  or  the  people  made  the 
most  noise.  The  place  was  bedlam.  The  local  crowds  climbed 
into  the  cars  as  the  visitors  got  out.  They  climbed  on  the  en- 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  29 

gine  and  over  its  cab  roof  and  over  the  roof  of  the  coaches. 
The  vast  majority  of  them  hadn't  even  seen  pictures  of  such 
"a  contraption/'  as  it  was  called. 

Then  came  the  banquet  and  the  toasts  and  the  speeches. 
J.  J.  Beardsley,  of  Rock  Island,  officiated  as  "President  of  the 
Day"  and  pronounced  the  welcome.  N.  B.  Buford,  who  had 
done  so  much  in  the  days  when  the  commissioners  were  try- 
ing to  raise  money,  took  over  as  toastmaster.  The  first  toast 
offered  was:  "To  the  22nd  of  February,  1854,  ^^^  espousal  day 
of  the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  May  no 
vandal  hands  ever  break  the  connection." 

Another  toast  was:  "To  the  Projectors  of  the  Chicago  and 
Rock  Island  Rail  Road.  Their  hearts  rejoice  in  what  their  eyes 
behold.  What  was  conceived  in  weakness  is  this  day  brought 
forth  in  strength." 

There  were  others  and  there  were  the  responses.  And  finally 
there  was  Famam's  response.  He  said  speech-making  was  not 
part  of  his  contract. 

"It  is  less  than  one  quarter  of  a  century,"  he  said,  "and 
within  the  memory  of  most  of  you  that  the  first  locomotive 
made  its  appearance  in  the  States.  Now  more  than  fourteen 
thousand  miles  of  iron  rails  are  traversed  by  the  iron  horse  at 
almost  lightning  speed. 

"It  is  less  than  two  years  since  the  first  train  of  cars  entered 
the  State  of  Illinois  from  the  east,  then  connecting  Lake  Erie 
with  Chicago.  It  is  less  than  one  year  since  the  first  continuous 
line  of  road  was  completed  connecting  New  York  with  Chi- 
cago .  .  . 

"Two  years  ago  there  were  less  than  one  hundred  miles  of 
road  in  operation  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  most  of  that 
was  what  is  called  the  'strap  rail.'  Now  more  than  twelve  hun- 
dred miles  of  rail  of  the  most  substantial  character  is  in  opera- 
tion, eight  hundred  miles  of  which  leads  directly  to  the  City 
of  Chicago. 

"Today  we  witness  the  nuptials  of  the  Atlantic  with  the 
Father  of  Waters.  Tomorrow  the  people  of  Rock  Island  can 


30  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

go  to  New  York  the  entire  distance  by  railroad,  and  within 
the  space  of  forty-two  hours." 

Farnam  praised  the  cooperation  of  Governor  Matteson,  of 
Ilhnois,  and  others.  But  in  the  record  of  his  speech  no  men- 
tion was  made  of  the  one  man  who  had  made  possible  the 
whole  achievement— Judge  James  Grant. 

The  evening  was  finished  off  with  fireworks,  and  both  Rock 
Island  City  and  Davenport  were  "illuminated."  Local  citizens 
provided  lodging  for  the  visitors  who,  the  following  morning, 
were  to  return  to  Chicago. 

Another  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  railroad's  march  to 
empire  had  been  written.  The  first  line  of  rails  to  span  Illinois 
from  Lake  Michigan  to  the  Mississippi  had  become  an  ac- 
complished fact. 

Even  as  he  spoke  to  the  gathering  at  Rock  Island  that  Feb- 
ruary night,  Henry  Farnam  was  in  trouble.  He  was  in  trouble 
in  Iowa,  although  as  yet  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  Railroad 
existed  only  on  paper. 

Farnam  had  sent  Hiram  Price,  an  Iowa  lawyer  of  much  abil- 
ity, into  the  counties  through  which  the  proposed  railroad 
would  pass  on  its  way  to  Council  Bluffs.  Price's  job  was  to 
enlist  the  aid  of  the  citizens  in  getting  right-of-way  and  sub- 
scribing to  Mississippi  and  Missouri  securities. 

At  Des  Moines,  Price  found  a  lot  of  opposition  to  what  the 
people  termed  the  "Davenport  Road."  He  had  found  the 
same  things  at  other  points.  In  great  discouragement  he  had 
written  to  Farnam: 

"I  have  called  public  meetings  at  different  places  and  suc- 
ceeded in  passing  resolutions  leaving  a  county  subscription  to 
be  applied  to  either  road,  as  they  may  deem  best."  When  he 
said  "either  road"  he  meant  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  and 
another  projected  railroad  called  by  the  lowans  at  that  time 
the  Lyons  Road.  This  latter  had  made  surveys  and  its  agents 
had  beaten  Farnam's  man  into  a  number  of  the  county  seats 
and  other  towns  with  promises  that  the  Lyons  Road  would  be 
the  very  first  one. 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  31 

Of  the  difficulties  in  Des  Moines,  Price  told  Farnam,  "A 
more  crazy  and  unreasonable  people  I  have  never  seen  than  a 
majority  of  them  are.  A  few  are  with  us,  but  the  current  sets 
strongly,  often  irresistibly,  the  other  way  .  .  .  The  counties 
between  this  and  Iowa  City  are  not  able  to  take  one-third  of 
the  stock.  The  wholly  taxable  property  of  Iowa,  Poweshiek, 
and  Jasper  Counties  is  only  eighty  thousand  dollars;  the  dis- 
tance by  a  straight  line  through  these  counties  is  seventy-eight 
miles." 

Not  very  promising,  to  say  the  least.  Even  less  so  after  the 
results  of  an  election  held  in  Polk  County  (Des  Moines)  in 
which  the  people  voted  overwhelmingly  to  support  the 
Lyons  Road. 

Through  the  spring  of  1854  Farnam  and  his  associates  were 
too  busy  to  worry  a  great  deal  about  their  Iowa  venture.  They 
had  the  finishing  touches  to  put  to  the  i8i-mile  completed 
Chicago  and  Rock  Island,  and  they  had  a  bridge  to  build 
across  the  Mississippi.  Once  that  bridge  actually  began  to 
shape  up,  the  people  of  Iowa's  interior  might  be  brought 
around  to  a  different  viewpoint.  Certainly  that  should  convince 
them  that  nothing  could  stop  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri, 
and  so  they  had  better  get  on  the  bandwagon. 

Hadn't  Sheffield  and  Farnam  proved  to  the  world  what 
they  could  do  in  the  building  of  this  Chicago  and  Rock  Island? 
That  was  a  job  that  could  be  pointed  to  with  great  pride. 

And  Sheffield  was  determined  to  tell  the  world  about  it.  He 
sent  out  invitations  on  May  1,  1854,  to  stockholders,  bond- 
holders, prominent  citizens  throughout  the  East,  the  top  jour- 
nalists of  the  day,  and  the  leading  politicians,  to  be  guests  of 
the  railroad  at  the  formal  celebration  of  the  opening  of  the 
line  on  June  5. 

It  took  two  special  trains  to  accommodate  the  guests.  They 
departed  from  the  Chicago  station  at  9  a.m.  June  5,  and  ar- 
rived in  Rock  Island  at  4  that  afternoon.  On  the  excursion 
were  Millard  Fillmore,  ex-President  of  the  United  States; 
George  Bancroft,  famous  historian;  Charles  A.  Dana,  of  the 
New  York  Sun;  J.  H.  Sanford  and  W.  C.  Prime  of  the  New 


32  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

York  Journal  of  Commerce;  Chicago's  Mayor  Isaac  L.  Mil- 
liken  and  the  members  of  the  Chicago  city  council;  and  a  host 
of  others.  James  F.  Babcock,  of  the  New  Haven  Palladium, 
wrote  long  articles  on  the  splendors  of  the  territory  through 
which  the  excursion  passed. 

Again  there  was  the  banquet  at  Rock  Island,  and  the 
speeches.  Down  on  the  river  the  steamboats  War  Eagle, 
Galena,  Lady  Franklin,  Sparhawk,  Golden  Era,  and  Jenny 
hind  were  at  anchor  under  charter  to  the  railroad.  To  these 
boats  the  party  was  assigned,  and  on  the  morning  of  June  6, 
to  the  accompaniment  of  blaring  bands,  gunfire,  and  the 
symphony  of  the  steamboat  whistles  the  excursion  started  up- 
river  with  the  town  of  St.  Paul  its  goal. 

At  each  citv  and  town  along  the  way  the  party  staged  pa- 
rades and  concerts  and  visited  the  things  of  interest  these 
places  had  to  offer.  The  excursion  reached  St.  Paul  a  little 
ahead  of  schedule  and  found  the  reception  there  poorly  organ- 
ized. However,  the  citizens  made  up  for  that  during  the  two 
days  the  party  visited  at  that  point.  St.  Paul  was  the  seat  of 
the  territorial  government  of  Minnesota  and  boasted  a  popu- 
lation of  5,000.  There  was  not  one  mile  of  railroad  in  all  the 
territory. 

Visits  were  made  to  St.  Anthony's  Falls  (now  Minneapolis) 
and  to  Fort  Snelling.  Many  in  the  party  saw  their  first  Indians, 
and  the  writers  who  were  on  the  trip  were  at  a  loss  for  words 
to  describe  accurately  the  beauty  and  the  promise  of  this  new 
far-away  land. 

Local  leaders,  listening  to  the  tales  their  visitors  told,  were 
inspired  to  begin  to  do  something  about  railroads  in  Minne- 
sota. They  were  more  than  convinced  now  that  railroad  de- 
velopment meant  their  economic  development,  and  they 
couldn't  do  without  this  new  form  of  transportation. 

The  party  returned  to  Rock  Island  without  stops,  and  then 
embarked  on  their  special  trains  for  Chicago  and  the  East. 
The  party  was  an  expensive  one,  but  it  paid  off  for  the  Chicago 
and  Rock  Island  which,  overnight,  became  the  best-known 
railroad  west  of  the  Alleghanies. 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  33 


V  steam  cars  in  Iowa 


The  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Rail  Road  was  turned  over  to 
the  corporation  by  the  contractors  on  July  lo,  1854,  a  year  and 
a  half  earlier  than  the  time  specified  in  the  contract.  In  the 
beginning  Sheffield  and  Farnam  had  agreed  to  build  the  road, 
equip  it  and  turn  it  over  to  the  company  for  $3,987,688.  Pro- 
vision was  made  that  any  additional  expenditures  made  neces- 
sary would  be  added  onto  the  bill. 

The  final  cost  was  a  little  under  $4,500,000.  That  was  due 
largely  to  the  fact  that  the  equipment  called  for  in  the  con- 
tract proved  to  be  inadequate  to  handle  the  business  that 
developed  from  the  opening  of  the  first  section  of  the  road. 
The  contract  called  originally  for  18  locomotives,  12  passenger 
cars,  150  box  cars,  and  150  flat  cars.  Additions  had  to  be  made 
to  keep  step  with  increasing  traffic,  to  the  extent  that  on  com- 
pletion of  the  contract  the  builders  turned  over  to  the  com- 
pany 28  locomotives,  28  passenger  cars,  170  box  cars,  and  170 
flat  cars,  and  a  variety  of  other  equipment  and  rolling  stock. 
In  addition  the  management  had  on  order  10  more  locomo- 
tives and  had  under  consideration  a  proposal  to  increase  that 
order  by  8. 

The  line  to  Peoria  was  progressing  steadily  in  that  summer 
of  1854,  and  the  town  of  Bureau  indeed  was  a  busy  place. 
Over  the  main  line,  east  and  west  the  little  wood-burners  rat- 
tled their  way  with  their  \ellow  coaches  loaded  and  with  their 
laden  freight  cars  strung  out  behind  them.  Their  smoke 
plumes  arched  over  the  prairies,  their  whistles  blasted  the  tri- 


34  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

umph  of  their  progress.  From  their  cab  windows  the  bearded 
men,  who  not  long  before  had  manned  the  engines  of  packet 
boats,  leaned  forward  with  their  gaze  intent  on  the  gleaming 
rails  and  the  far  horizons. 

At  Rock  Island  City  business  was  booming.  The  pilings 
were  in  the  river  for  the  contemplated  bridge.  J.  M.  D.  Bur- 
rows, of  Davenport,  the  founder  of  the  store  that  now  was 
called  Burrows  and  Prettyman,  pioneer  in  developing  hog, 
corn,  and  wheat  crops  for  transportation  eastward,  described 
in  his  memoirs  the  opening  of  the  railroad  as  bringing  potato 
buyers  into  Rock  Island  together  with  other  produce  buyers  in 
droves. 

Years  later,  recalling  those  days,  Mr.  Burrows  wrote: 

"The  opening  of  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Rail  Road 
rather  bewildered  me.  It  revolutionized  the  mode  of  doing 
business.  Heretofore  a  few  men  at  each  business  point  had 
done  the  bulk  of  the  business  required,  and  a  great  deal  of 
money  and  good  credit  were  necessary  .  .  .  When  the  rail- 
road got  into  operation,  produce  men  were  as  thick  as  potato 
bugs.  If  a  man  could  raise  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  he 
could  begin  business.  That  amount  would  buy  a  carload  of 
wheat.  In  the  morning  he  would  engage  a  car,  have  it  put 
where  he  could  load  it,  and  have  the  farmer  put  his  wheat, 
barley,  or  oats,  as  the  case  might  be,  in  the  car.  By  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  car  would  be  loaded  and  shipped." 

These  operators.  Burrows  said,  needed  no  warehouse,  had 
no  rent  or  labor  problem.  What  Burrows  experienced,  others 
did  too.  The  railroad  was  swiftly  changing  the  whole  economy. 
Old  established  merchants  sensed  trouble. 

And  the  bridge  project  was  in  trouble,  too.  It  wasn't  enough 
that  the  money  situation  in  Iowa  threatened  at  that  very 
moment  to  doom  the  dreams  of  Farnam  and  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri.  The  United  States  Government  was  very  busy 
in  an  effort  to  prove,  in  the  courts,  that  the  Rock  Island,  in 
condemning  land  across  the  Island  from  the  mainland  to 
bridge  the  river  to  Davenport,  had  taken  possession  of  prop 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  35 

erty  that  was  being  reserved  by  the  United  States  for  miHtary 
installations. 

The  Government  sought  an  injunction  on  these  grounds, 
and  also  on  the  contention  that  the  bridge  would  be  a  hazard 
to  navigation.  But  while  the  case  was  being  contested  in  the 
courts  the  builders  did  not  stop.  They  were  going  to  reach 
Davenport  with  that  structure  or  they  would  die  in  the 
attempt. 

And  just  to  prove  that  they  meant  business  they  had  a 
cornerstone  ceremony  in  Davenport  on  September  i  that 
year.  They  had  speeches,  and  bands  marched  and  played, 
and  flags  waved.  And  the  steamboat  people  indulged  in  de- 
risive laughter.  It  was  as  if  they  already  knew  what  their  first 
moves  would  be  as  soon  as  this  ridiculous  thing  took  definite 
shape. 

To  the  accompaniment  of  great  cheers,  more  banquets  and 
more  speeches,  Sheffield  and  Famam  opened  the  Peoria  and 
Bureau  Valley  line  with  an  excursion  from  Chicago  on  No- 
vember 7,  1854.  It  was  a  fine  piece  of  track  through  a  rich 
farming  area  along  the  Illinois  River.  The  Rock  Island,  six 
months  before,  had  taken  over  the  property  through  the  ex- 
ecution of  a  perpetual  lease. 

The  excursion  didn't  mean  that  the  Peoria  line  was  ready 
for  ofiicial  operation  by  the  management.  The  contractors 
still  had  much  to  do  before  they  would  turn  it  over  to  the 
railroad  company. 

At  the  annual  meeting  some  six  weeks  after  the  Peoria 
excursion,  John  Jervis  announced  that  he  was  ready  to  retire 
from  the  railroad's  presidency.  Farnam's  name  was  placed 
in  nomination,  and  he  was  elected..  It  was  of  course  addi- 
tional responsibility  for  him,  inasmuch  as  his  building  con- 
tracts were  crying  more  and  more  for  his  full  attention. 

The  Mississippi  and  Missouri  was  frankly  getting  no  place, 
and  the  way  work  on  the  Mississippi  Bridge  was  progressing 
it  looked  as  if  that  structure  would  have  trains  operating  over 
it  before  there  was  any  rail  laid  in  the  State  of  Iowa. 


36  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

It  was  now  early  in  the  year  1855.  Material  for  the  river 
bridge,  the  stringers  and  the  trusses,  were  piling  up  at  Rock 
Island  City.  The  dream  of  the  Iowa  people  for  rails  stretching 
westward  from  a  connection  with  the  bridge  seemed  farther 
and  farther  from  realization. 

"Something's  wrong  somewhere,"  you  would  hear  someone 
say  to  a  group  in  the  store,  or  to  a  friend  in  the  bank.  "Ought 
to  be  seeing  something  by  now." 

"Away  last  May,"  another  would  say,  "almost  a  year  ago, 
we  had  a  big  blowout.  Antoine  Le  Claire  turned  the  first 
earth." 

"And  what  did  we  do?  We  laid  one  wooden  tie  to  mark 
the  beginning  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri.  One  wooden 
tie  in  the  dirt  there  at  5th  and  Rock  Island  Streets." 

"It's  money,"  would  come  the  rejoinder.  "Farnam's  men 
have  been  moving  heaven  and  earth  to  get  money,  to  sell 
their  stocks  and  bonds.  But  the  money  is  tight." 

Farnam  raised  enough  to  get  started  on  construction  of  the 
51; -mile  stretch  to  Iowa  City.  The  first  rail  was  spiked  on  June 
2g.  In  July  1851;,  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  executed  a 
mortgage  conveying  to  certain  trustees  the  "first  division"  of 
its  railroad  from  Davenport  to  Iowa  City  and  Muscatine.  The 
mortgage  was  to  secure  the  payment  of  the  principal  and  in- 
terest on  its  bonds  issued  and  limited  to  an  aggregate  of 
$1,000,000. 

The  town  of  Muscatine  was  a  busy  and  growing  commu- 
nitv.  Its  civic  leaders  wanted  the  railroad  from  Davenport  to 
reach  their  city  first.  Groups  of  Muscatine  businessmen  met 
with  Farnam  and  his  associates  and  insisted  that  Muscatine 
have  the  first  train. 

Iowa  City  was  the  capital  of  the  State.  It  too  had  great 
civic  pride,  and  by  now  there  was  a  feverish  interest  in  get- 
ting the  rails  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  main  line 
through  Iowa  City  to  Des  Moines.  Unquestionably  when 
Iowa  City  leaders  learned  about  the  insistence  of  Muscatine 
people  there  developed  a  certain  fear  that  Farnam  might 


THE  DREAM  AND  THE  DRAMA     37 

make  the  Muscatine  line  the  main  route  toward  the  Missouri 
River. 

Accordingly,  Iowa  City  made  an  offer  to  Famam. 

"Get  your  railroad  into  our  city,  put  a  train  into  our  depot 
on  or  before  midnight  of  December  31,  this  year  (1855), 
and  you  get  a  $50,000  cash  bonus." 

That,  in  substance,  was  what  the  Iowa  City  people  said 
when  they  laid  the  deal  on  the  table. 

Available  records  do  not  specifically  state  the  exact  nature 
of  the  internal  strife  in  the  Famam  organization  between 
Farnam  and  his  partner,  Tom  Durant.  It  is  evident,  however, 
that  Durant  was  far  from  being  another  Joe  Sheffield.  Durant 
possessed  none  of  the  financial  acumen  and  sound  business 
judgment  of  Farnam's  former  partner,  and  certainly  none 
of  Sheffield's  ability  at  organization.  Farnam's  son,  writing 
the  memoirs  of  his  father,  has  made  reference  to  Durant's 
bent  toward  wildcat  speculation  which,  at  one  time,  threat- 
ened the  very  destruction  of  the  firm  and  the  personal  for- 
tune of  Farnam. 

Little  wonder  then  that  Farnam,  without  Sheffield  on  this 
Mississippi  and  Missouri  project,  was  a  good  deal  like  a  loco- 
motive without  a  well-fueled  tender.  This  was  made  strik- 
ingly clear  by  the  sorry  progress  of  construction  both  to  Iowa 
City  and  to  Muscatine. 

The  first  rails  toward  Wilton,  some  23  miles  away,  were 
laid  out  of  Davenport  in  midsummer.  A  Paterson  locomotive 
named  Antoine  Le  Claire  was  ferried  over  the  river  in  July  and 
assigned  to  construction  train  service.  Another  4-4-0,  the 
hluscatine,  and  a  third  engine,  the  Davenport,  were  delivered 
to  the  Iowa  side  to  stand  in  readiness  for  service  on  the  first 
completed  section  of  track. 

Wilton  was  designated  as  the  junction  from  which  the 
Muscatine  line  would  veer  to  the  south  and  the  Iowa  City 
main  line  would  drive  straight  ahead. 

The  drive  didn't  have  much  behind  it.  Construction  wasn't 
difficult  from  the  viewpoint  of  terrain,  but  it  took  better  than 
five  months  to  spike  the  last  rail  in  place  at  the  depot  in 


38  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Muscatine— a  total  distance  of  about  35  miles  from  Davenport. 

Farnam  advised  the  Muscatine  people  that  they  would 
have  their  first  train  on  November  20,  1855.  The  city  planned 
for  a  wild  celebration.  Handbills  went  out  through  the  coun- 
try, and  an  elaborate  program  was  organized.  Muscatine  had 
given  liberally  in  the  matter  of  land  and  money  to  get  this 
railroad,  and  what  they  got  finally  wouldn't  pass  too  close  an 
inspection.  There  were  rails  on  the  ties,  and  there  was  a  good 
grade.  But  the  line  was  far  from  ready  for  regular  operation. 

November  20  dawned  overcast  and  rainy.  In  fact  all 
through  the  morning  the  rain  came  in  such  torrents  that  the 
Muscatine  Journal  of  that  day  reported  "the  mist,  mud,  and 
rain  were  in  much  greater  abundance  than  should  have  been 
visited  upon  our  heads  were  our  sins  mountain-high  com- 
pared with  those  of  any  other  city  in  the  land." 

Through  the  mist  and  the  rain  and  the  chill,  at  1  o'clock 
that  afternoon  the  first  train  ever  to  operate  in  the  State  of 
Iowa  whistled  on  the  curve  at  the  edge  of  town,  and  the 
bellowing  exhaust  of  the  locomotives  Muscatine  and  Daven- 
port, double-heading  the  six  overcrowded  coaches,  sounded 
the  triumphal  entry. 

The  rain  didn't  dampen  the  enthusiasm  of  the  crowd.  The 
newspaper  later  reported  that  the  town  was  full  of  strangers 
who  mingled  with  the  residents  in  the  downpour. 

Muscatine's  mayor,  J.  H.  Wallace,  made  the  speech  of  wel- 
come, and  a  flowery  oration  it  was. 

"Eighteen  years  ago,"  the  mayor  said,  "the  spot  on  which 
we  stand  was  known  only  to  that  unfortunate  race  that  has 
melted  from  our  sight  as  the  snow  melts  under  the  blaze  of 
the  meridian  sun.  Now,  instead  of  the  war-whoop  we  heard 
the  ear-piercing  whistle  of  the  locomotive,  and  instead  of  the 
council  fire  at  which  was  determined  the  scheme  of  some 
bloody  foray,  representatives  from  different  states  are  here  as- 
sembled, proffering  their  congratulations  at  the  triumph  of 
mind  over  matter." 

The  mayor's  address  was  followed  by  the  response  of  Mayor 


THE  DREAM  AND  THE  DRAMA     39 

Boone,  of  Chicago,  who  said  Chicago  was  proud  to  take  Mus- 
catine into  its  family. 

A  vast  assault  on  the  gastronomical  apparatus  of  the  assem- 
bled guests  at  Muscatine's  banquet  that  night  is  attested  to 
by  the  newspaper's  account  of  twelve  tables  "graced  with 
handsome  pyramids  of  cake"  and  at  least  twenty  kinds  of 
meat.  "There  was  turkey,  quail,  chicken,  venison,  tongue, 
ham,  beef,  oysters,  chicken  salad  .  ,  .  ,"  and  on  and  on. 

Farnam,  in  response  to  a  toast,  said  that  all  this  evidence 
of  joy  "at  the  successful  completion  of  a  scheme  of  improve- 
ment" was  sufficient  recompense  for  his  outlay  of  labor  and 
means. 

Watching  all  this  was  William  P.  Clark,  of  Iowa  City.  He 
had  taken  no  small  part  in  promoting  the  bonus  money  to 
get  this  railroad  into  his  town.  He  promised  the  banquet 
guests  that  they  would  hear  from  Iowa  City  at  the  proper 
time  and  in  the  proper  manner. 


©  The  battle  for  the  bonus 


Farnam,  personally,  was  hearing  a  lot  from  Iowa  City,  and 
it  wasn't  very  complimentary.  The  people  were  asking  why 
their  railroad  couldn't  be  built  with  the  same  speed  that  had 
marked  the  progress  of  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island.  Here 
it  was  December,  the  bonus  money  was  waiting,  the  weather 
was  closing  in,  and  it  didn't  look  much  as  if  the  Farnam 
people  would  make  the  grade. 


40  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  excitement  that  had  been  mounting  generally  among 
the  Iowa  City  residents  found  fervid  expression  in  the  argu- 
ments of  the  habitues  of  Crummy's  Tavern,  the  foremost 
gathering  place  of  those  who  sought  good  cheer  and  the 
warmth  of  the  big  stove. 

Among  Crummy's  guests  that  early  morning  of  December 
31  were  two  late  converts  to  the  belief  that  the  railroad  really 
was  here  to  stay.  They  were  Mr.  Pete  Simpson  and  his  river- 
faring  crony,  Mr.  Elijah  Wilks,  from  the  environs  of  Daven- 
port. 

They  were  huddled  over  their  grog  at  a  table  in  the  back 
corner  and  they  didn't  look  very  happy  about  anything.  They 
were,  to  begin  with,  dog-tired.  Their  eyes  were  red-rimmed 
and  their  beards  were  matted.  They'd  had  little  sleep,  and 
presently  they  would  trudge  their  way  back  to  the  scene  of 
what  looked  like  a  losing  game.  Thev  were  members  of  that 
exhausted  track  gang  who  were  dead-earnest  about  winning 
this  bonus. 

Lige  scratched  his  chin  and  shook  his  head  solemnly.  "A 
thousand  feet  away,"  he  said  slowly.  "Right  at  the  top  of  the 
grade  comin'  into  town." 

"The  wind  an'  the  cold,"  Pete  said.  "Gawd,  if  it  wasn't  so 
cold  we'd  have  a  chance." 

"Thirtv  below,  feller  says,"  Lige  responded.  He  looked  at 
his  toil-worn  hands.  "Never  had  nothin'  like  this  on  the  river." 

"It  was  you  who  said  we  could  make  a  lotta  money  on  this 
deal,"  Pete  accused. 

"Drivin',"  Lige  said.  "Drivin'  so  hard  we  ain't  got  good 
sense." 

There  was  a  commotion  at  the  front  door.  A  big  man,  face 
purple  from  the  bitter  cold,  stalked  into  the  tavern,  and  the 
frigid  Iowa  blast  was  at  his  back.  He  was  the  track  gang  boss. 

"Up  an'  out,"  he  growled  in  a  savage  voice.  "Yuh  can't 
lay  track  sittin'  here." 

Lige  got  up.  "An'  us  with  four  hours  sleep,"  he  mumbled. 

Pete  filed  out  behind  him  and  a  group  of  others. 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  41 

This  was  New  Year's  Eve— the  last  day  of  the  battle  against 
weather  and  time. 

All  that  bitter  day  the  crews  drove  hard.  Great  fires  were 
built  along  the  right-of-way.  By  noon  the  citizens  began  to 
drift  to  the  tavern  and  other  places  where  they  could  find 
shelter  to  wait  for  news  of  the  railroad's  desperate  try. 

The  hoarse  shouts  of  the  gang  bosses  were  swallowed  in  the 
wind,  and  the  wind  burned  the  reddened,  bearded  faces.  Foot 
by  foot  the  ties  were  laid  in  place.  They  were  laid  on  the  frozen 
earth.  The  men  couldn't  set  them  or  tamp  them  properly. 
But  they  laid  the  ties  and  the  rails  followed. 

Eight  hundred  feet,  six  hundred  feet,  five  hundred  feet  to 

go- 
Now  it  was  dark  and  the  great  fires  along  the  fill  turned  the 

struggle  into  an  eerie  sight.  No  longer  could  the  townspeople 
stay  in  the  stores  and  the  tavern.  They  came  down  to  track- 
side  in  ever-growing  groups.  From  somewhere  came  huge  pots 
of  coffee,  and  steaming  mugs  were  passed  up  to  the  men  who 
more  and  more  were  dulled  by  the  slow  paralysis  of  exhaustion. 

As  they  stopped  to  sip  the  heartening  brew  they  looked 
ahead.  There  below  them  stood  the  wooden  structure  that 
was  Iowa  City's  first  depot.  If  only  they  could  make  it.  Such 
a  little  distance  yet,  and  still  time.  Still  a  little  time. 

The  people  began  to  cheer  the  toilers,  to  shout  encourage- 
ment. 

Nine  o'clock  .  .  .  ten  o'clock  .  .  .  eleven  o'clock  .  .  . 

Sixty  minutes.  Ties  down  at  the  depot  platform.  Ties  on 
the  hard  ground.  The  rails  coming  along  behind  them.  No 
time  now  to  spike  these  rails  in  place  as  they  should  be.  Get 
them  down.  Get  them  on  the  ties.  No  time  for  too  much 
sighting  for  good  alignment.  Get  the  rails  down.  Just  spike 
them  any  way  so  that  they'll  hold  that  wheezing  teakettle  of 
an  engine. 

Get  that  engine  moving.  The  engine  would  be  enough.  Yes, 
the  deal  had  been  for  a  train  of  cars  into  that  Iowa  City  sta- 
tion. But  there  wasn't  any  train  of  cars.  Bring  the  engine  down. 

Minutes  now— minutes  until  the  church  bells  would  ring 


42  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

out  the  old  year  and  ring  in  the  new.  If  they  could  only  get 
that  engine  moving. 

The  last  rail  was  down.  The  crowd  who  saw  the  spike  driven 
started  to  shout.  The  shouts  carried  back  along  the  track. 

John  E.  Henry,  the  red-eyed  superintendent,  gave  the  rail 
a  quick  glance  and  decided  to  take  the  chance.  He  waved 
frantically  to  the  engineer.  He  could  see  the  engine  in  the 
dancing  firelight,  several  hundred  feet  back.  Why  didn't  the 
thing  move? 

Crowds  were  gathering  around  the  engine.  John  Henry 
drove  tired  legs  and  ran  toward  it.  Something  was  wrong.  He 
could  see  the  staring  eyes  in  the  dismayed  faces. 

Henry  pushed  his  way  to  the  cab.  Charlie  Stickles,  the 
engineer  was  almost  in  tears.  He  was  waving  at  his  immobile 
charge. 

"She's  froze  up.  I  can't  move  her." 
\^        Now  Farnam  was  in  the  crowd,  and  Sam  Reed,  his  chief 
construction  engineer,  and  other  officers. 

"Pinch  bars,"  Henry  shouted.  "We'll  push  'er." 

The  pinch  bars  were  produced  as  if  by  magic.  Men  ganged 
behind  the  tank  to  nudge  with  their  shoulders. 

Slowly  they  felt  the  first  give  in  the  stubborn  iron  thing. 
There  was  that  awful  moment  when  the  silence  was  broken 
only  by  labored  breathing.  Then  the  movement  was  definite. 
The  engine  was  in  grudging  motion. 

A  hell  of  a  way  to  make  a  triumphant  entry  into  the 
capital  of  Iowa!  But  they  had  to  get  there.  Slowly  they  gained 
momentum.  Nobody  could  look  at  a  watch.  It  was  the  last 
desperate  try. 

Foot  by  foot,  now— yard  by  yard.  The  fires  at  the  depot 
were  getting  closer.  The  fancy  pointed  pilot  of  the  engine 
swayed  with  the  roughness  and  the  bad  alignment  of  the 
track. 

The  shouting  gained  crescendo.  It  came  from  the  men 
and  from  the  residents. 

It  grew  to  a  deafening  din  as  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri's 
dead  engine  reached  its  goal.  So  deafening  was  the  shouting 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  43 

that  seconds  later  few  in  that  crowd  were  aware  that  over  the 
cold  blackness  of  the  Iowa  night  the  bells  had  begun  to  ring 
to  mark  the  passing  of  the  year. 

Up  in  the  cab  of  the  locomotive,  Charlie  Stickles  looked 
vaguely  around  him.  He  set  his  brake,  climbed  slowly  to  the 
ground.  He  raised  an  arm  as  if  to  steady  himself  beside  his 
engine,  and  then  collapsed. 

His  fellow  workers  carried  him  unconscious  into  the  station. 

Throughout  this  close  call  to  losing  that  $50,000  bonus, 
Charlie  Stickles  had  thought  he  was  to  blame. 

A  few  days  later,  on  the  evening  of  January  3,  1856,  when 
Henry  Farnam  stood  before  the  celebrants  who  had  wel- 
comed the  first  excursion  into  Iowa  City  that  afternoon,  he 
couldn't  have  been  very  proud.  He  must  have  remembered 
his  march  to  empire  through  the  prairies  of  Illinois  when 
everything  had  gone  off  on  schedule,  where  there  had  been 
no  last  minute  hitches— certainly  nothing  so  disgraceful  as 
the  record  of  the  building  into  Muscatine  and  into  this  capi- 
tal city  of  the  State  of  Iowa. 

Engineer  Charlie  Stickles  could  never  have  been  held  up 
to  blame  if  the  builders  had  lost  that  bonus. 


^  Lincoln  and  the  burning  bridge 


On  the  early  morning  of  April  1,  1856,  two  men  stood  on 
the  ties  near  the  Illinois  side  of  the  first  bridge  to  span  the 
broad  reaches  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Both  were  gentlemen 


44  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

of  impressive  physique.  The  elder  was  the  president  of  the 
Chicago  and  Rock  Island,  the  builder  who  probably  would 
never  forget  the  New  Year's  Eve  at  Iowa  City  and  the  ban- 
quet that  followed. 

Henry  Farnam's  record  as  chief  engineer  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri  might  not  have  been  anything  to  point  to  with 
pride.  But  here,  on  this  April  morning  of  1856,  he  might 
find  some  consolation  in  his  survey  of  this  great  bridge  which 
had  been  planned  under  his  direction,  and  which  he  had 
supervised  to  completion  in  his  capacity  as  Rock  Island's 
president. 
>    .  The  man  beside  him  was  John  F.  Tracy,  Rock  Island's 

superintendent.  Mr.  Tracy  was  known  for  his  rasping  voice, 
his  quick  and  exacting  eye,  his  taciturnity,  his  unloving  dis- 
position, and  his  inordinate  capacity  for  work.  He  had  come 
from  Buffalo,  and  what  little  can  be  learned  of  his  career 
before  his  arrival  on  the  Rock  Island  indicates  that  he  had 
worked  for  some  time  with  the  Erie.  Unquestionably,  he  was 
a  first-rate  operating  officer  and  a  hard  driver  of  men.  He 
asked  no  questions  but  took  hold  of  a  job  and  personally 
saw  to  it  that  the  job  was  successfully  accomplished. 

He  had  a  job  to  do  this  morning— the  first  test  run  over 
this  spidery  span.  He  had  his  engine  and  eight  cars  coupled. 

"Might  as  well  give  her  a  try,"  Farnam  said. 

Tracy  agreed.  The  bridge  was  all  but  complete.  The  mon- 
strosity that  steamboat  men  had  ridiculed  and  which  one 
scoffer  had  predicted  would  not  stand  of  its  own  weight,  not 
only  was  firmly  in  place,  and  standing  serenely,  but  was  ready 
for  a  test  to  determine  whether  it  would  take  the  weight 
of  a  train. 

It  did.  Tire  engine  crossed  almost  to  Davenport,  then 
backed  up  to  Rock  Island.  The  bridge  engineers  watched  the 
performance,  checked  every  tie  and  rail,  the  stress  on  each  of 
the  six  spans.  The  spans  were  250  feet  in  length  with  the 
exception  of  a  draw  or  "swing"  span.  The  length  of  this  one 
was  285  feet.  This,  when  opened,  gave  a  clear  channel  for 
river  traffic  120  feet  wide  on  either  side  of  the  pier.  There  was 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  45 

a  little  more  than  1,000,000  feet  of  timber  in  the  structure, 
220,000  pounds  of  cast  iron  and  400,000  pounds  of  wrought 
iron.  It  was,  by  and  large,  a  modern  miracle  if  not  exactly 
a  thing  of  beauty. 

The  Davenport  Democrat  whipped  up  a  lot  of  local  ex- 
citement by  reporting  the  testing  activity  on  the  bridge. 
Everyone  on  both  sides  of  the  river  was  talking  about  it. 
People  with  money  invested  in  the  sluggish  Mississippi  and 
Missouri,  which  at  the  moment  was  doing  only  a  fair  amount 
of  business,  built  new  hopes. 

"Once  we  get  the  connection  through  with  the  East,"  they 
said,  "you  watch  her  boom.  Business  will  be  flourishing." 

The  ofEcial  connection  was  made  on  April  21.  The  loco- 
motive Des  Moines  crossed  and  stopped  before  a  gaping 
crowd  at  the  Davenport  Depot.  But  it  was  really  the  next 
day  that  the  big  party  came  off. 

On  April  22  three  locomotives  coupled  to  eight  passenger 
cars  crossed  from  Illinois  to  Iowa  and  really  set  off  a  celebra- 
tion. The  Democrat  pulled  out  all  the  stops,  used  all  the 
adjectives,  and  gravely  pronounced  a  new  era  for  all  the  West. 
Farnam  came  in  for  his  share  of  the  praise,  as  did  the  firm 
of  Stone  and  Boomer,  of  Chicago,  the  contractors. 

Unfortunately,  the  opening  of  the  new  era  didn't  last  long. 
The  day  the  bridge  was  announced  as  ofEcially  open,  no  court 
action  stood  in  its  way.  The  suit  brought  by  the  Government 
earlier  had  been  finally  decided  in  favor  of  the  bridge.  Every- 
thing looked  bright. 

Then,  on  the  night  of  May  6,  only  a  couple  of  weeks  after 
the  impossible  had  been  accomplished,  a  steamboat  got  in 
the  way.  And  it  did  a  very  good  job  of  it. 

The  boat  was  the  Ejfie  Afton,  out  of  St.  Louis.  It  was 
headed  upstream  after  having  cleared  the  draw  span.  Sud- 
denly it  veered  as  if  out  of  control,  swung  back  downstream, 
rammed  a  pier,  and  instantly  burst  into  flames.  The  blaze 
reached  high  in  the  air  on  this  still  night— mysteriously  high 
when  you  considered  there  was  no  wind— and  ignited  a  span 
of  the  bridge. 


46  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Just  what  desperate  measures  were  taken  to  get  the  fire 
under  control  have  never  been  clearly  defined,  but  evidently 
the  men  involved  did  an  excellent  job.  The  fire  spread  very 
little  beyond  the  one  span,  although  there  was  some  damage 
to  other  parts  of  the  structure.  The  pier,  of  course,  was  con- 
siderably banged  up. 

This  Effie  Afton  was  an  exceedingly  fine  boat.  Her  usual 
run  was  on  the  Ohio  River  and  on  the  Mississippi  between 
Louisville  and  New  Orleans.  There  was  no  apparent  reason 
for  its  appearance  this  far  north  on  the  river  in  the  night. 
Even  today  there  is  no  record  of  who  or  what  the  boat  car- 
ried, or  what  its  destination  might  have  been. 

Tension  mounted  and  the  people  in  the  Rock  Island  and 
Davenport  areas  were  divided  into  two  camps.  Those  who 
wanted  the  railroad,  who  took  pride  in  the  mar^^elous  accom- 
plishment, were  sure  that  the  Efjie  Afton  had  been  loaded 
with  something  highly  inflammable,  and  that  it  had  been 
run  into  the  bridge  intentionally.  The  argument  was  that 
had  it  been  drifting  out  of  control  it  would  have  drifted  with 
the  current  in  the  channel  and  would  not  have  touched  the 
bridge  pier. 

"No,  sir.  Them  steamboat  people  done  it  deliberately,"  the 
rail  people  said.  "They  laughed  at  us,  an'  they  said  we  couldn't 
build  a  bridge  that  would  stand.  Well,  we  built  her  an'  she 
stood,  an'  so  the  next  thing  was  to  wreck  her.  But  she  won't 
stay  wrecked  long." 

'Them  boat  people's  gonna  bring  suit.  You  watch  what 
I  tell  you." 

The  steamboat  interests  were  loud  in  their  denunciation  of 
the  bridge.  They  were  righteously  indignant.  Divine  Provi- 
dence had  given  them  the  natural  waterway  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  people  and  goods.  Then  had  come  these  railroaders 
with  their  fancy  ideas  of  changing  the  Divine  course  of  traffic. 
They  had  violated  all  the  laws  of  Nature  to  clutter  up  the 
river  with  this  fool  bridge.  Now  look  at  what  they'd  done. 
They  were  responsible  for  the  wreck  and  destruction  of  one 
of  the  finest  boats  ever  to  ply  the  rivers.  The  railroads  would 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  47 

pay  for  this.  They'd  be  forced  to  pay  dearly  and  to  remove 
that  awful  structure. 

The  Rock  Island  wasn't  quitting  now.  Word  came  to  Far- 
nam  that  a  man  named  Hurd,  of  St.  Louis,  one  of  the  owners 
of  the  Ejfie  Afton,  would  file  suit.  Well,  the  railroad  had 
some  good  law  talent,  and  a  good  case,  as  any  reasonable  man 
could  see,  so  the  railroad  wasn't  afraid. 

Work  went  ahead  all  summer  to  put  the  bridge  back  in 
operating  condition,  and  this  was  accomplished  on  Septem- 
ber 8,  when  trains  again  were  run  to  the  Iowa  side. 

The  steamboat  interests  filed  their  suit  in  the  United  States 
Circuit  court  in  Chicago.  It  was  officially  designated  as  Hurd 
et  al.  vs.  Railroad  Bridge  Company.  Actually  it  was  the  river 
people  against  railroads.  No  attempt  was  made  to  disguise 
the  true  purposes  of  the  suit.  The  steamboat  interests  an- 
nounced in  advance  that  they  would  base  their  case  on  the 
prior  rights  of  the  steamboats  to  use  river  waters  and  that 
bridges  were  a  dangerous  hindrance  to  navigation  and  there- 
fore should  for  all  time  be  prohibited. 

The  case  came  to  trial  in  September  1857,  before  Judge 
John  MacLean.  The  railroad's  legal  staff  was  comprised  of 
Norman  Judd,  prominent  Chicago  attorney  and  a  member 
of  the  Rock  Island's  board;  George  E.  Hubbell,  of  Daven- 
port; and  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Springfield,  Illinois. 

Lincoln  was  named  principal  attorney  for  the  railroad,  and 
because  of  what  he'd  been  told  about  the  actions  of  the 
Effie  Afton  he  wanted  to  look  over  the  bridge  and  the  river 
carefully. 

It  was  on  September  1,  1857,  that  he  sat  on  the  stringers 
over  the  current,  and  with  the  help  of  a  12-year-old  boy,  Bud 
Brayton,  made  a  time  check  of  the  current  flow.  He  secured 
and  made  a  study  of  a  report  on  the  river  in  the  Rock  Island 
section  made  by  General  Robert  E.  Lee. 

During  the  trial  in  Chicago  Lincoln  made  his  points  dra- 
matically on  behalf  of  the  bridge.  He  declared  that  by  no 
stretch  of  the  imagination  could  a  steamboat,  out  of  control, 


48  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

get  so  far  out  of  the  current  as  to  be  able  to  hit  the 'pier  that 
brought  about  the  fire. 

Judge  MacLean,  in  his  charge  to  the  jury,  said  that  the 
whole  case  simmered  down  to  the  one  point— was  the  bridge 
a  material  obstruction  to  navigation? 

The  jury  couldn't  agree  and  was  discharged.  The  case  was 
set  down  for  another  trial,  but  later  the  action  was  dismissed 
by  the  Hurd  interests. 

But  the  bridge  still  wasn't  free  from  the  activities  of  its 
opponents.  In  Mav,  1858,  following  the  Chicago  trial,  James 
Ward,  the  leader  of  the  steamboat  people  in  St.  Louis,  brought 
suit  in  the  United  States  District  Court  in  Iowa. 

Ward  prayed  the  court  to  find  the  bridge  a  nuisance,  to 
prevent  the  railroad  from  further  enlarging  any  piers,  and, 
upon  final  hearing,  to  "order,  adjudge,  and  decree  that  the 
said  bridge  was  erected  in  violation  of  the  law  .  ,  ."  and  that 
"it  be  abated  and  removed  .  .  .  and  said  river  be  restored 
to  its  original  capacitv  for  all  purposes  of  navigation." 

It  wasn't  until  April  •^,  i860,  that  Juds^e  Love  rendered  his 
decision  upholding  the  Ward  contentions. 

In  his  opinion  Judge  Love  said  that  if  he  held  for  the 
Rock  Island  in  this  instance  it  would  let  the  bars  down  for 
other  railroads  to  build  bridges  until,  within  not  too  long  a 
time,  there  would  be  a  bridge  across  the  Mississippi  every 
fortv  or  fiftv  miles.  He  ordered  the  piers  of  the  superstructure 
with  all  appurtenances  lying  within  the  State  of  Iowa  to  be 
removed. 

The  Supreme  Court,  to  which  appeal  was  made,  reversed 
Judge  Love's  decision.  In  the  first  place,  said  the  Supreme 
Court,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Iowa  court  extended  only  to 
the  middle  of  the  Mississippi's  main  channel.  Removal  of 
the  piers  and  structure  on  the  Iowa  side  would  solve  nothing 
in  the  matter  of  obstruction.  Most  of  all,  if  Judge  Love's  as- 
sumption was  to  be  accepted,  then  no  lawful  bridge  could 
be  built  across  the  Mississippi  anvwhere;  "nor  could  harbors 
and  rivers  be  improved;  nor  could  the  great  facilities  of  com- 


THE    DREAM   AND   THE    DRAMA  49 

merce,  accomplished  by  the  invention  of  raihoads,  be  made 
available  where  great  rivers  had  to  be  crossed." 

The  result  was  to  establish  for  all  time  the  right  to  bridge 
navigable  streams. 

Several  railroads  had  been  holding  back,  watching  for  the 
Supreme  Court's  decision.  When  it  came,  the  business  of 
spanning  the  Mississippi  with  other  railroad  bridges  suddenly 
blossomed  into  a  boom. 

This  was  the  end  of  the  bridge  litigation,  but  it  wasn't  the 
end  of  trouble.  Fires  and  accidents  were  frequent  for  the  next 
several  years,  too  frequent  and  apparently  too  well-planned 
to  be  just  happen-so. 


0(D  Farewell  to  Farnam 


While  the  Rock  Island  was  going  through  its  bridge  troubles, 
Farnam  was  experiencing  both  personal  and  business  set- 
backs in  connection  with  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri. 

The  year  1857  was  a  panic  year.  In  Davenport  the  banking 
firm  of  Cook  and  Sargent  went  to  the  wall.  So  did  the  big 
mercantile  enterprise  of  Burrows  and  Prettyman.  Mills  col- 
lapsed and  many  businesses  went  into  the  hands  of  creditors. 
Farnam's  partner,  Tom  Durant,  was  heavily  involved  in 
speculations,  and  the  firm  of  Farnam  and  Durant  came  close 
to  ruin. 

On  August  29,  1857,  Farnam  wrote  to  an  associate  in  New 
York: 


50  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


\^ 


"I  thought  a  week  ago  that  I  was  a  rich  man;  I  now  find 
the  concern  (his  contracting  firm)  so  involved  that  we  can- 
not possibly  go  on,  and  the  firm  must  make  an  assignment 
tonight  or  Monday.  The  loss  of  property  is  nothing,  if  I  was 
only  sure  that  I  had  enough  for  the  support  of  my  dear  wife 
1  and  family;  to  lose  everything  now  is  rather  more  than  I  can 
bear." 

Farnam  was  saved  through  the  activities  of  his  friends  in 
the  East. 

It  wasn't  exactly  Farnam's  fault  that  the  building  of  the 
Mississippi  and  Missouri  had  bogged  down  after  its  entrance 
into  Iowa  City.  The  general  business  depression  and  the 
tightness  of  money  brought  construction  work  almost  to  an 
end. 

And  to  make  matters  a  little  tougher  for  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri,  the  citizens  and  settlers  along  the  route  to  Des 
Moines  were  building  a  fire  under  state  and  local  authorities 
for  the  forfeit  of  land  grants  that  had  been  made  to  encourage 
the  rapid  building  of  the  line. 

The  grants  resulting  from  an  act  of  Congress  approved  May 
15,  1856,  called  for  alternate  sections  designated  by  odd  num- 
bers, six  sections  in  width  on  each  side  of  the  line,  to  be 
owned  by  the  railroad  and  to  be  developed  for  settlement. 
In  the  event  settlers  on  these  lands  claimed  possession,  an 
indemnity  feature  was  provided  to  extend  the  railroad  grants 
15  to  20  miles  on  each  side  of  the  right-of-way  and  outside 
the  regular  land-grant  limits. 

The  Federal  Government  didn't  assign  this  land  directly 
to  the  railroad,  but  to  the  State,  which,  in  turn,  by  legislative 
action,  granted  the  property  to  the  railroad.  This  arrangement 
gave  the  people  the  opportunity  to  put  terrific  pressure  on  the 
members  of  the  legislature  to  have  the  railroads  routed  via 
their  towns  and  completed  by  certain  dates,  otherwise  the  rail- 
roads would  forfeit  their  claims  to  the  land. 

Because  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  was  so  far  behind  in 
its  construction,  the  citizens  of  Des  Moines  and  the  territory 


THE    DREAM    AND   THE    DRAMA  51 

between  that  city  and  Council  Bluffs  raised  a  clamor  for  the 
cancellation  of  the  railroad's  charter  west  of  Des  Moines. 

This  was  the  situation  in  Iowa  as  the  war  clouds  gathered 
over  the  nation.  The  boom  of  cannon  fire  at  Fort  Sumter,  and 
the  subsequent  roll  of  the  war  drums  North  and  South,  turned 
the  attention  of  the  people  to  the  grim  crisis  that  faced  the 
nation. 

Farnam  had  completed  in  September^  1858,  the  extension 
of  the  Muscatine  branch  from  Muscatine  to  Washington, 
Iowa,  and  the  main  line  from  Iowa  City  to  Grinnell  reached 
the  latter  point  in  1862. 

The  end  of  the  track  came  for  Henry  Farnam  in  June,  1863. 
He  stepped  out  of  the  presidency  of  the  Rock  Island,  a  well- 
built,  well-operated,  and  prosperous  railroad.  His  building  of 
the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  in  marked  contrast  to  his  record 
on  the  Rock  Island,  had  in  eight  years  reached  only  a  little 
beyond  Brooklyn  on  its  way  to  Kellogg— still  far  short  of  Des 
Moines. 

Charles  W.  Durant,  of  New  York,  became  the  Rock  Is- 
land's fourth  president,  and  John  Tracy  was  elevated  to  the 
position  of  vice-president  and  superintendent.  Tracy  was  do- 
ing an  excellent  job  of  operating  the  Rock  Island. 

Gross  income  on  the  Rock  Island  had  increased  from 
$1,242,906  shown  in  the  first  full  year  of  operation  after  the 
contractors  had  turned  the  road  over  to  the  company  (July 
11,  1854  ^^  J^"^  3°'  ^855),  to  $1,529,141  for  the  period  from 
April  1,  1862,  to  March  31,  1863. 

Two  years  later,  for  the  period  from  April  1, 1864,  to  March 
31,  1865,  this  gross  had  risen  to  $3,359,290. 

But  for  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  from  almost  the  date 
of  the  first  operation  of  a  train  the  story  was  sad  indeed. 

The  story  was  so  grim  that  in  October,  1865,  the  Missis- 
sippi and  Missouri  president,  John  A.  Dix,  addressed  a  circu- 
lar to  the  stock-  and  bondholders  in  which  he  gave  the  sorry 
picture.  He  pointed  out  that  the  company's  earnings  for  the 
first  six  months  after  the  road  was  accepted  from  the  con- 
tractors—55  miles  from  Davenport  to  Iowa  City,  and  12  miles 


LIBRARY 

UNivtRsmr  OF  iwmi^ 


c 


52  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

of  branch  from  Wilton  to  Muscatine— amounted  to  $184,193. 
This  had  enabled  the  company  to  pay  the  interest  on  its  bonds 
and  to  pay  a  4  percent  dividend  to  its  stockholders.  From  then 
on  the  rising  bonded  debt  and  declining  income  clearly  indi- 
cated eventual  collapse. 

Dix,  in  his  letter,  said  that  while  gross  earnings  for  the  fiscal 
year  ending  June  30,  i860,  were  $207,688,  the  net  before  fixed 
charges  for  the  year  was  but  $97,889,  while  the  annual  interest 
on  the  bonded  debt  amounted  to  $145,300. 

The  situation  during  the  war  years  didn't  improve.  In  fact, 
it  got  worse.  Under  pressure  to  speed  up  construction  or  lose 
its  land  grants,  the  company  disposed  of  its  land  grant  bonds 
at  60  percent  of  par,  "thus  adding  enormously  to  the  aggregate 
of  its  debt." 

Dix  concluded,  "your  company  is  therefore  driven  to  the 
necessity  of  selling  the  road  or  reorganizing  on  a  basis  which 
will  furnish  the  means  of  constructing  40  miles  of  road  and 
extending  it  to  Des  Moines,  the  Capital  of  Iowa,  and  de- 
ferring to  a  future  time  the  payment  of  existing  liabilities." 

On  October  20,  1865,  the  holders  of  Mississippi  and  Mis- 
souri securities  met  in  New  York  to  consider  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  president  that  the  road  be  sold  to  the  Chicago 
and  Rock  Island  Rail  Road  Company  for  $5,500,000  unless 
$1,500,000  could  be  raised  immediately  to  complete  the  line  to 
Des  Moines.  The  security-holders  voted  for  the  sale. 

An  agreement  was  entered  into  whereby  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri  would  act  immediately  to  have  all  mortgages 
upon  its  property  speedily  foreclosed,  and  the  Chicago  and 
Rock  Island  Rail  Road  Company  would  incorporate  in  Iowa 
a  company  which  would  purchase  the  Mississippi  and  Mis- 
souri. A  bond  issue  of  $9,000,000  due  in  25  years,  and  bear- 
ing interest  at  7  percent,  would  be  secured  by  a  new  mortgage 
on  all  the  consolidated  property  between  Chicago  and  Des 
Moines.  The  money  thus  raised  would  pay  the  $5,500,000  pur- 
chase price  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  pay  off  the  then 
existing  mortgage  on  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  in  the 
amount  of  $1,400,000  and  the  bonds  of  the  Bridge  Company 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  53 

which  stood  at  $600,000.  Further,  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island 
would  take  over  the  operation  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri 
on  December  1,  1865. 

The  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
in  Iowa,  referred  to  as  Pacific  No.  i,  was  incorporated  under 
the  general  laws  of  the  state  June  12,  1866,  "for  the  purpose 
of  purchasing,  acquiring,  and  owning  the  railroad  now  built 
by  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  Rail  Road  Company,  together 
with  all  and  singular  the  railway  lands  used  and  occupied  for 
right-of-way  .  .  .  and  all  personal  property,  rights  and  privi- 
leges and  franchises  granted  to  or  acquired  by  said  Mississippi 
and  Missouri  Rail  Road  Company  at  any  time  heretofore  and 
also  all  the  lands  granted  by  Act  of  Congress  of  May  15, 
1856,  to  the  State  of  Iowa,  and  by  the  State  of  Iowa  granted 
said  Mississippi  and  Missouri  Rail  Road  Company,  and  when 
so  acquired  to  maintain  and  operate  the  said  railroad  .  ,  . 

"And  also  for  the  purpose  of  building,  maintaining  and 
operating  a  railroad  from  Kellogg,  the  west  terminus  of  the 
constructed  railroad  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  Rail  Road 
Company  to  the  City  of  Des  Moines,  in  the  State  of  Iowa." 

The  Mississippi  and  Missouri  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
new  company  on  July  9  by  a  foreclosure  sale  at  the  Court 
House  in  Davenport. 

The  consolidation  of  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island  in  Illi- 
nois and  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railroad 
Company  in  Iowa  was  effected  August  20,  1866,  by  articles 
filed  in  both  states  in  accordance  with  the  laws,  and  the  Chi- 
cago, Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company  (Pacific 
No.  2)  came  into  being. 


54  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


OH  Late  arrival  at  the  Missouri 


For  John  F.  Tracy,  indefatigable  concentration  on  efficient 
operation,  singleness  of  purpose,  and  straightforward  drive 
from  the  day  he  went  to  work  for  Henry  Farnam  as  assistant 
superintendent  in  Chicago  in  1854,  finally  paid  off. 

In  August  1 866,  upon  the  consolidation  of  the  lines  in  Illinois 
and  Iowa,  Tracy  was  elected  president.  The  passing  of  time 
hadn't  mellowed  him.  He  had  no  family  and  his  friends  were 
very  few.  His  face  was  a  little  more  lined  and  he  was  gray  at 
the  temples,  but  he  was  unchanged  in  other  respects.  He 
only  needed  one  quick  look  at  a  problem  to  be  able  to  de- 
termine what  course  to  take. 

One  of  his  first  problems  was  the  necessity  for  immediate 
steps  to  get  this  railroad  into  Des  Moines  and  on  to  Council 
Bluffs.  The  Iowa  people  were  anything  but  friendly,  and  while 
Tracy  didn't  much  care  whether  anybody  liked  him  person- 
ally, he  was  greatly  concerned  that  they  should  like  his  railroad. 

Tracy  put  the  line  into  Des  Moines  on  September  9,  1867, 
and  operated  the  first  passenger  train  to  the  Des  Moines  sta- 
tion for  the  edification  of  the  populace. 

But  the  populace  wasn't  much  impressed.  In  the  first  place, 
a  line  known  as  the  Des  Moines  Valley  Rail  Road  had  com- 
pleted building  from  Keokuk,  down  on  the  Mississippi,  into 
the  capital  city,  and  had  operated  a  very  famous  excursion 
into  Des  Moines  on  August  29,  1866.  In  the  second  place, 
there  was  so  much  dissension  among  Des  Moines  people  over 
the  fact  that  it  had  taken  more  than  12  years  to  get  the 
Davenport-Council  Bluffs  road  this  far  that  they  couldn't 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  55 

whip  themselves  into  a  lather  of  excitement  when  the  Rock 
Island  engine  finally  whistled  into  town.  Somewhere  along 
the  line  the  City  of  Des  Moines  had  posted  a  $10,000  bonus 
to  help  speed  things  along,  but  the  builders  never  made  the 
bonus  date,  so  the  money  was  never  paid. 

It  didn't  take  long,  however,  for  the  citizens  of  Des  Moines 
and  the  Polk  County  area  to  realize  the  value  of  having,  at 
last,  a  through  main  line  right  into  Chicago.  Tracy  saw  to 
that.  He  left  no  stone  unturned  to  give  Iowa  the  best  opera- 
tion possible.  He  won  friends  the  hard  way— but  only  as  far 
as  Des  Moines. 

What  about  that  stretch  between  the  capital  and  Council 
Bluffs? 

Tracy  and  his  associates  hit  on  a  bright  idea.  They'd  win 
friends  there,  too.  They  needed  some  quick  cash  to  the  tune 
of  something  over  four  million  dollars  to  do  the  job. 

Without  giving  any  prior  notice  to  the  public— and  in 
those  days  they  were  not  required  by  law  to  do  so— the  rail- 
road management  issued  49,000  shares  of  new  capital  stock 
with  a  par  value  of  $4,900,000.  The  sale  of  these  securities, 
after  paying  all  expenses,  put  more  than  $4,800,000  in  the 
treasury.  Council  Bluffs  would  have  its  railroad  in  record  time. 
The  machinery  was  set  up  for  a  rush  job  to  completion. 

A  very  large  monkey  wrench  was  suddenly  tossed  to  stop 
the  machinery  before  it  could  really  get  started.  The  monkey 
wrench  came  in  the  form  of  a  whole  series  of  lawsuits. 

Just  about  the  time  Tracy  and  the  Rock  Island  directors 
got  set  to  float  their  new  stock  issue,  a  group  of  astute  gen- 
tlemen interested  in  speculation  both  in  Chicago  and  New 
York  were  quietly  engaged  in  engineering  a  corner  on  Rock 
Island  securities  which  would  give  them  control  of  the  rail- 
road. It  would  have  been  a  nice  deal  on  which  to  ride  had 
not  Mr.  Tracy's  unannounced  stock  sale  caused  an  overnight 
upset. 

The  speculating  gendemen  claimed  to  have  lost  their  shirts 
and  numerous  other  articles  of  apparel  and  forthwith  went 
to  the  courts. 


L^ 


56  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  legality  of  the  entire  proceedings  in  the  Rock  Island's 
acquisition  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  and  the  issuance 
of  the  new  stock  was  questioned. 

Court  actions  against  the  Rock  Island  were  brought  in 
Eastern  districts,  and  in  almost  all  instances  the  courts  held 
against  the  railroad.  Some  judges  even  issued  injunctions  re- 
straining the  Rock  Island  from  spending  any  money  realized 
from  the  sale  of  the  new  stock. 

There  was  a  way  to  meet  this  unprecedented  action.  Tracy 
and  the  directors  met  it  by  throwing  themselves  on  the  mercy 
of  the  Iowa  legislature  and  appealing  to  the  lawmakers  to 
determine  the  legality  of  the  railroad's  actions. 

All  that  was  needed  was  a  good  strong  law,  so  the  Iowa 
legislators  gave  the  railroad  one.  The  law  demanded  the  com- 
pletion of  the  road  to  Council  Bluffs,  recognized  the  validity 
of  the  consolidation  of  August,  1866,  re-granted  to  the  con- 
solidated company  the  lands  granted  to  the  state  by  the  Act 
of  May  15,  1856,  and  reserved  to  the  State  the  power  to 
regulate  charges  for  the  transportation  of  persons  and  goods. 
It  ratified  the  issue  and  sale  of  the  questioned  stock,  and 
postponed  the  election  of  a  board  of  directors  for  one  year. 

The  speculators  might  have  questioned  the  validity  of  the 
act,  and  in  some  legal  circles  it  was  felt  that  the  law  would 
not  stand  up.  But,  if  the  opponents  made  too  much  ado  about 
it  they  stood  to  lose  more  than  what  had  already  gone  down 
the  drain.  The  kicker  in  the  law  was  the  land-grant  part,  and 
the  lands  so  granted  equaled  one-half  the  value  of  the  whole 
railroad.  The  law  said  that  if  the  Council  Bluffs  extension 
wasn't  completed  by  June  1,  i86g,  the  road  would  forfeit  any 
further  claims  to  all  that  valuable  land.  And  nobody  could 
complete  a  railroad  within  that  short  a  time  with  the  build- 
ing funds  tied  up  in  lawsuits. 

The  Rock  Island  won  out,  and  on  May  11,  1869,  the  last 
rail  was  spiked  down  on  the  bluffs  overlooking  the  Missouri 
River. 

While  the  final  touches  were  being  made  to  the  line  into 
Council  Bluffs,  the  people  of  Chicago  were  being  treated  to 


THE    DREAM    AND    THE    DRAMA  57 

a  new  "wonder  of  the  world."  Rock  Island's  big  and  recently 
completed  station  at  the  corner  of  Van  Buren  and  La  Salle 
Streets  daily  entertained  large  crowds  who  came  to  view  a 
most  unusual  locomotive. 

Since  the  first  engine  steamed  out  to  Joliet  in  1852,  it  was 
not  uncommon  for  locomotives  to  be  gaily  painted  and  to 
be  adorned  with  brightly  polished  brass.  The  one  that  stood 
in  the  Chicago  station  that  May  of  1869  was  all  silver.  Its 
boiler  jacket  was  of  German  silver  and  many  of  the  en- 
gine's decorations  and  appurtenances  were  silvered.  Named 
America,  the  locomotive  had  been  built  by  the  Grant  Works, 
of  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  for  the  Universal  Exposition  in 
Paris  in  1867.  It  had  attracted  so  much  attention  that  Allen 
Manvel,  Tracy's  purchasing  agent,  had  prevailed  upon  Tracy 
to  buy  it  for  operation  over  the  Rock  Island. 

Tracy  decided  a  good  time  to  induct  the  America  into  serv- 
ice would  be  with  the  completion  of  the  Council  Bluffs  ex- 
tension. 

The  silver  engine,  coupled  with  four  other  engines  and  a 
long  string  of  crowded  coaches,  came  to  a  stop  at  the  depot 
on  Pearl  Street  in  the  early  afternoon  of  May  12.  According 
to  the  Council  Bluffs  Nonpareil  of  May  15,  1869,  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Rock  Island  excursion  touched  off  quite  a  party. 

"Train  whistles  shrieked,"  the  paper  reported,  "and  for  a 
few  minutes  the  earth  shook  with  the  reverberations  of  music 
and  the  cannon,  that  told  in  numbers  not  only  that  Council 
Bluffs  was  jubilant,  but  that  there  were  thirty-eight  States 
in  the  Union  that  looked  with  pride  upon  the  completion  of 
one  of  the  grand  tributaries  to  the  great  artery  that  is  to  bring 
to  our  doors  the  wealth  of  Ormus  .  .  ." 

It  is  doubtful  that  any  of  the  writer's  audience  had  any 
idea  as  to  who  or  what  Ormus  might  be,  but  from  all  accounts 
of  the  happenings  on  that  Mav  12  they  had  a  wealth  of  fun 
right  at  home.  Mayor  D.  C.  Bloomer  welcomed  the  guests, 
led  the  parade,  and  got  extremely  wet  during  a  shower. 

Rock  Island  was  very  busy  regaining  friends  in  Iowa. 


PART    TWO 


The  Links  and  the 
Forge 


a®(£)'D'^Q®® 


Q^  John  Tracy— review  and  resolve 


John  F,  Tracy,  on  that  night  of  May  12,  1869,  drank  no  cup 
of  triumph.  The  last  dim  purple  faded  from  the  western  sky 
and  the  river  picked  up  the  blurred  reflections  of  the  scat- 
tered lights  of  Omaha.  The  gunfire,  the  blaring  bands,  the 
oratory,  and  the  wild  acclaim  that  had  marked  the  welcome 
for  the  Rock  Island  to  Council  Bluffs  long  had  been  stilled. 
In  the  eating  houses  and  in  the  taverns  men  talked  about  the 
new  railroad.  The  oil  lamps  burned  in  the  editorial  offices  of 
the  Nonpareil  while  pens  scratched  out  the  words  that  would 
record  this  history. 

Whatever  the  scribes  would  say  could  in  no  way  bring 
solace  to  the  big  and  silent  man  who  headed  what  in  time 
was  to  become  Iowa's  greatest  railroad  system.  To  John  Tracy 
it  was  not  great  tonight.  Not  that  he  himself  was  in  any  way 
to  blame  for  the  long  series  of  failures  that  had  marked  the 
shaky  progress  of  the  road  from  Davenport  to  Council  Bluffs. 
He  had  set  out  with  grim  determination  on  that  day  \\-hen 
he  had  taken  the  job  as  president  of  the  Rock  Island  lines 
in  Illinois  and  the  newly  acquired  mileage  of  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri  in  Iowa,  to  complete  what  his  predecessors  had 
failed  so  miserably  to  do. 

From  Des  Moines  to  Council  Bluffs  now  stretched  the 
lonesome,  curving  miles  of  iron.  It  was  a  through  main  line, 
under  one  management,  connecting  the  Missouri  with  Chi- 
cago and  sen'ing  the  important  cities  of  Des  Moines,  Daven- 
port, Rock  Island,  Moline,  La  Salle,  Ottawa,  and  Joliet  in 

61 


62  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

between.  Should  not  the  reahzation  of  this  fact  have  been 
cause  for  rejoicing  in  the  heart  of  John  Tracy? 

That  might  well  have  been,  save  for  one  thing.  He  was  two 
years  and  five  months  late.  There  it  was  in  the  newspapers 
spread  out  before  him.  The  story  of  Promontory  Point  was 
still  on  the  front  pages,  and  the  editorial  columns  were  lavish 
in  their  commendations  and  in  their  praise. 

It  had  happened  two  days  before.  It  had  come  over  the 
telegraph  on  May  lo,  from  Promontory  Point,  Utah.  It  was 
the  story  of  the  completion  of  the  Union  Pacific— the  join- 
ing of  the  Union  Pacific  and  the  Central  Pacific  with  the 
driving  of  the  golden  spike  that  made  at  last  an  unbroken 
line  of  railroad  from  Omaha  to  the  western  sea.  Now  it  would 
be  possible  for  passengers  and  goods  to  travel  by  rail  across 
the  whole  width  of  the  North  American  continent  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  The  dream  that  in  the  late  1840's  took 
form  in  the  efforts  of  Asa  Whitney  and  others  to  promote  a 
Pacific  railroad  now  had  become  a  reality. 

For  John  Tracy,  and  for  the  many  who  had  built  their  hopes 
in  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  the  whole  thing  was  nothing 
short  of  irony.  The  one  railroad  that  had  started  out  of 
Davenport  with  such  high  promise,  that  had  turned  the  first 
wheels  over  Iowa  soil,  that  had  been  built  up  as  the  railroad 
that  would  reach  Council  Bluffs  long  before  the  first  earth 
would  be  scratched  for  the  building  of  the  Union  Pacific,  to- 
night found  itself  with  no  part  in  either  the  profit  or  the  glory. 

In  John  Tracy's  mind  the  picture  moved  in  sharp  review. 

Two  years  and  five  months  before,  another  road  that  had 
started  out  of  Cedar  Rapids  in  i860,  four  years  after  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Missouri  had  reached  Iowa  City,  had  laid  its  rails 
into  Council  Bluffs  to  become  the  official  connection  of  the 
Union  Pacific  to  the  East.  That  road  had  been  organized  as 
the  Cedar  Rapids  and  Missouri  River  and  had  come  under 
lease  to  the  Galena  and  Chicago  Union  (predecessor  of  the 
Chicago  and  Northwestern)  in  1862. 

The  newspapers,  in  their  summary  of  the  Union  Pacific's 
progress,  told  of  the  close  links  between  the  men  who  had 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  63 

been  responsible  for  the  Cedar  Rapids  and  Missouri  River,  and 
the  men  who  had  laid  the  iron  across  the  high  plains  and  over 
the  forbidding  mountains.  A  mighty  achievement,  indeed, 
accomplished  by  mighty  men. 

Who  were  they?  Here  is  where  the  irony  bit  deeper.  Their 
names  in  the  black  type  read  like  the  official  roster  of  the 
Chicago  and  Rock  Island,  the  Peoria  and  Bureau  Valley,  and 
the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  in  their  beginnings. 

"President  of  the  Union  Pacific,  General  John  A.  Dix,  could 
not  attend  the  driving  of  the  golden  spike,  but  in  his  stead 
Dr.  Thomas  Clark  Durant,  vice-president  and  general  man- 
ager, stood  with  bowed  head,  and  General  Grenville  M. 
Dodge,  chief  engineer  .  .  ." 

Dix,  Durant,  Dodge,  Samuel  B.  Reed,  Peter  A.  Dey,  Wil- 
liam B.  Ogden— all  their  names  were  prominent  on  the  lips 
of  men  who  spoke  in  awe  of  this  historic  achievement, 

"Monumental,"  one  newspaper  writer  put  it,  "when  it  is 
realized  that  in  1867,  when  the  Cedar  Rapids  and  Missouri 
River  Railroad  reached  Council  Bluffs,  the  Union  Pacific  had 
constructed  less  than  300  miles  of  its  line,  and  now  just  two 
years  later,  its  whole  length  of  more  than  1,000  miles  is  ready 
for  traffic." 

Dix,  editorially,  was  designated  as  a  man  of  outstanding 
business  acumen,  and  with  a  firm  administrative  grasp  of  this 
great  railroad  project.  Durant  was  lauded  as  a  driving  force,  a 
man  of  vision  who  could  make  reality  of  what  seemed  the 
impossible. 

The  smile  on  Tracy's  bearded  face  was  crooked. 

It  was  this  same  John  A.  Dix  who,  in  the  year  1853,  was 
elected  to  the  presidency  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  and 
who,  almost  three  years  later,  on  the  night  of  January  3,  1856, 
stood  before  an  audience  in  Iowa  City  to  acknowledge  the 
plaudits  of  the  citizens  on  the  occasion  of  the  first  train  into 
the  then  capital  of  the  State. 

It  was  Dix  who  that  night  apologized  for  the  delays  that 
had  marked  the  building  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  over 
these  55  miles  from  Davenport,  and  who  promised  that  from 


64  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

here  on  every  effort  would  be  made  to  have  the  railroad  into 
Des  Moines  by  the  end  of  the  year. 

It  was  Peter  A.  Dey  who,  with  his  assistant,  Grenville  M. 
Dodge,  located  the  Peoria  and  Bureau  Valley  line  and  then 
proceeded  to  Davenport  to  be  assigned  by  Dix  to  make  the 
survey  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  to  Council  Bluffs.  Their 
instructions  were,  on  reaching  Council  Bluffs,  to  cross  the 
Missouri,  stake  out  a  location  for  a  bridge,  then  go  westward 
into  the  Nebraska  Territory  to  develop  a  location  for  a  rail- 
road to  the  far  West.  That  was  in  1853. 

Dodge's  recommendation,  after  his  location  job  had  been 
completed,  was  to  build  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  from 
both  ends— westward  from  Davenport  and  eastward  from 
Council  Bluffs.  He  pointed  out  in  his  report  that  materials 
and  supplies  for  the  west  end  could  be  brought  up  the  Mis- 
souri by  boat.  It  was  Dodge's  opinion  that  the  whole  line 
could  be  ready  for  traffic  in  1859. 

Whether  or  not  John  A.  Dix  considered  Dodge's  recom- 
mendations, or  turned  them  over  to  Thomas  C.  Durant  and 
Henry  Farnam,  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  contractors,  no 
one  now  living  will  ever  know.  It  is  a  matter  of  record  that,  in 
1857,  Dodge  visited  the  New  York  offices  of  President  Dix  to 
urge  a  new  survey  of  that  portion  of  the  line  between  Des 
Moines  and  Council  Bluffs  with  a  view  to  eliminating  some 
of  the  grades  and  curves.  Dix,  despite  his  acumen,  apparently 
evidenced  no  interest. 

Whatever  the  administrative  grasp  of  John  Dix,  whatever 
the  driving  force  of  Tom  Durant,  whatever  the  engineering 
genius  of  Henry  Farnam,  their  dismal  performance  for  the 
people  of  Iowa  who  had  placed  their  hopes  and  their  fortunes 
in  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  was  in  marked  contrast  to 
what  the  editorial  writers  were  to  say  about  them  in  May  of 
1869. 

Certainly,  from  the  very  beginning  these  men,  together  with 
William  B.  Ogden,  first  mayor  of  Chicago,  first  vice-president 
of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  were  thinking  of  more  than 
a  railroad  from  Davenport  to  Council  Bluffs.  That  would  only 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  65 

be  the  first  segment.  Sooner  or  later  Congress  would  act  on 
the  Pacific  Railroad— Congress  would  pass  a  bill  that  would 
make  possible  a  railroad  to  the  coast  of  California.  And  when 
that  happened,  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  would  be  bring- 
ing the  materials  and  supplies  into  Omaha— the  rails  and  the 
timbers  and  the  iron  for  the  bridges. 

Congress  passed  the  bill  and  President  Abraham  Lincoln's 
signature  made  it  into  law  on  July  i,  1862.  Among  the  names 
of  the  incorporators  were  Ogden  and  Farnam.  The  bill  pro- 
vided that  commissioners  be  named  for  each  of  the  several 
States,  and  that  these  commissioners  take  subscriptions  for 
the  stock. 

The  commissioners  called  a  meeting  in  Chicago  in  Sep- 
tember 1862.  Its  purpose  was  to  create  interest  in  the  Union 
Pacific  so  that  the  stock  sale  might  be  given  added  impetus. 
Prominent  in  the  meeting  were  Thomas  Clark  Durant,  Wil- 
liam B.  Ogden,  and  Samuel  R.  Curtis,  associate  of  Ogden,  and 
the  man  who  a  few  years  later  was  to  push  the  Cedar  Rapids 
and  Missouri  River  into  Council  Bluffs. 

Out  of  the  meeting  was  formed  what  was  called  the  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Organization  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad. 
Ogden,  the  vice-president  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  was 
elected  president.  He  was  at  the  same  time  serving  as  president 
of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railway  Company,  and  was 
a  director  of  the  Galena  and  Chicago  Union.  He  had  had  be- 
hind him  by  that  time  a  long  career  in  real  estate  and  railroad 
promotion  and  speculation  and  had  made  a  great  deal  of 
money,  at  least  on  paper.  He  was  now  actively  engaged  in 
bringing  about  the  merger  of  the  Galena  and  Chicago  Union 
with  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern,  and  he  had  his  eye  on 
that  railroad  that  was  building  out  of  Cedar  Rapids  westward. 

Since  Ogden's  main  interest  seemed  to  be  the  creation  of  a 
great  Northwestern  system  it  is  little  wonder  that  he  had  long 
ago  lost  interest  in  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  and  its  ulti- 
mate fate. 

If  Ogden  had  lost  interest,  had  he  also  influenced  Durant 
to  look  upon  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  as  a  lost  cause?  It 


66  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

will  be  remembered  that  Ogden  was  on  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri  committee  that  had  traveled  the  route  from  Daven- 
port up  the  Cedar  Valley  to  Cedar  Rapids  in  1853  and  had 
brought  about  the  amendment  to  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri 
charter  to  provide  for  a  branch  to  Cedar  Rapids— a  line  that 
the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  and  its  successor,  the  Rock 
Island,  never  built. 

It  was  September  1862,  and  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri 
was  bogged  down  at  Marengo,  Iowa.  Its  rails  ended  against  a 
mound  of  dirt  and  a  pile  of  ties  just  84  miles  west  of  Daven- 
port and  232  miles  short  of  its  Missouri  River  goal.  It  had  been 
more  than  six  years  since  John  Dix  had  stood  before  the  peo- 
ple of  Iowa  City  and  pledged  to  do  his  best  to  get  the  line  to 
Des  Moines  by  the  end  of  1856.  In  that  six-year  period  the 
Mississippi  and  Missouri  had  built  just  30  miles  west  of  Iowa 
City,  and  beyond  the  pile  of  ties  at  tracks'  end  stretched  91 
empty  miles  to  Des  Moines. 

It  was  this  same  John  A.  Dix  who  in  October,  1863,  after 
the  completion  of  the  Union  Pacific  corporate  structure  and 
the  election  of  directors,  was  chosen  president  of  this  great 
new  railroad  company. 

Thomas  Clark  Durant,  co-builder  of  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri,  member  of  its  board,  member  of  the  directorate  of 
the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island,  was  elected  vice-president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Union  Pacific.  Durant  had  subscribed 
heavily  to  Union  Pacific  stock— reputedly  more  than  a  million 
of  his  own  funds— and  now  he  was  on  fire.  This  driving  force, 
this  speculating  genius  who  had  emerged  from  medical  college 
at  twenty,  and  who  had  spurned  a  slow  dollar  when  he  saw 
how  his  family  turned  the  dollar  faster  in  grain  and  stocks 
and  bonds,  was  on  fire. 

Already  he  had  sent  Peter  Dey  and  Grenville  Dodge  over 
the  high  plains  and  into  the  Rockies  to  find  the  best  location 
for  the  railroad  to  the  Pacific.  He  had,  along  with  Ogden,  sold 
the  Union  Pacific  down  the  line  to  every  friend  and  associate 
he  had.  His  enthusiasm  was  contagious. 

What  had  happened  to  his  enthusiasm  for  the  Mississippi 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  67 

and  Missouri?  Apparently  nobody  knew,  nor  did  anyone  care. 
John  Dix  was  about  to  throw  in  the  sponge  on  that  property 
anyway.  Farnam  was  out  of  the  picture,  both  on  the  Missis- 
sippi and  Missouri  and  on  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island.  Du- 
rant's  brother,  Charles  W.,  was  heading  up  the  Rock  Island 
management.  Charles  would  help  out  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri. 

What  about  getting  that  railroad  to  Council  Bluffs?  The 
Union  Pacific  would  need  the  connection  from  the  very  start. 
The  Union  Pacific  would  have  to  get  its  rails,  its  locomotives 
and  cars,  its  construction  material  in  from  Chicago  and  the 
east. 

What  about  it?  Ogden's  associate,  Curtis,  was  pushing  a 
railroad  to  Council  Bluffs.  No,  it  wasn't  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri.  The  Mississippi  and  Missouri  had  gotten  as  far  as 
Brooklyn,  and  would  reach  Grinnell  in  another  year  if  every- 
thing went  all  right.  But  the  railroad  was  in  bad  shape  physi- 
cally and  financially,  while  this  Cedar  Rapids  and  Missouri 
River  Line  that  Ogden  was  behind— well,  it  was  being  built 
economically;  it  was  under  lease  to  the  Galena  Union,  another 
one  of  Ogden's  pets;  and,  together  with  the  Northwestern, 
there  would  be  a  through  line  from  Chicago  to  Council  Bluffs. 
True,  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  had  a  bona  fide  contract 
with  the  Union  Pacific  that  would  make  it  the  official  eastern 
connection,  but  the  contract  had  a  string  attached.  It  de- 
pended upon  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  reaching  Council 
Bluffs  in  time  to  bring  in  the  things  the  Union  Pacific  would 
need  as  its  building  progressed. 

Building  of  the  Union  Pacific  began  in  August  of  1865  after 
so  much  delay  that  it  had  both  Dix  and  Durant  in  a  sweat. 
Dix,  in  fact,  was  in  a  sweat  on  two  counts. 

First,  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  debt  had  mounted  to  the 
point  where  it  was  something  more  than  staggering.  Its  rails 
were  now  at  Kellogg,  still  40  miles  short  of  Des  Moines.  The 
company  had  in  operation,  including  the  Muscatine- Washing- 
ton line,  183  miles  of  railroad.  It  had  taken  10  years  to  com- 
plete this  mileage  as  compared  to  the  23  months  it  had  taken 


68  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Sheffield  and  Farnam  to  build  the  same  amount  of  mileage 
from  Chicago  to  Rock  Island.  It  had  issued  $9,525,000  in 
bonds,  $7,000,000  of  which,  bearing  7  percent  interest,  were 
outstanding.  That  made  the  bond  issue  per  mile  $40,000.  Shef- 
field's record  on  the  Rock  Island  had  shown  a  total  cost  for 
building  and  equipping  181  miles  of  main  line  of  $25,000  per 
mile. 

Second,  if  Dix  and  Durant  didn't  get  something  started 
shortly  on  the  Union  Pacific  the  investing  public  might  be- 
come hard  to  handle,  and  it  was  certainly  evident  that  neither 
of  these  stalwart  gentlemen  could  afford  to  have  people  taking 
too  close  a  look  at  their  record  on  the  Mississippi  and  Mis- 
souri. Dix  knew  that  shortly  he  would  have  to  send  his  letter 
to  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  stockholders  and  suggest  a 
foreclosure  sale.  Already  Durant's  brother,  Charles,  currently 
president  of  the  Rock  Island,  had  loaned  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri  a  half  million  in  cash  to  get  that  Council  Bluffs  con- 
struction under  way,  and  nothing  much  had  happened. 

The  headache  on  the  Union  Pacific  was  centered  in  Du- 
rant's attempts  to  get  a  contractor  to  build  the  road.  He  could 
find  no  takers,  although  he  had  tried  every  well-known  firm 
with  sufficient  means  to  do  the  job.  Finally,  he  did  a  little 
master-minding  and  came  up  with  the  idea  of  taking  on  a  Des 
Moines  politician  by  the  name  of  H.  M.  Hoxie,  who  had  done 
some  contracting,  and  forming  a  dummy  company  which  he 
and  some  of  his  associates  would  finance.  What  Durant  actu- 
ally started,  and  what  brought  about  his  eventual  downfall  in 
the  infamous  Credit  Mobilier  does  not  concern  this  record. 

What  Dix  and  Durant  had  done,  or  what  they  had  failed 
to  do  in  their  obligations  to  the  stock-  and  bondholders  of  the 
Mississippi  and  Missouri,  certainly  is  in  marked  contrast  to 
their  performance  in  the  organization  and  completion  of  the 
Union  Pacific. 

Durant's  last  connection  with  the  Rock  Island  system  fol- 
lowed John  Tracy's  move  to  complete  the  Iowa  Line  by  issu- 
ing that  49,000  shares  of  new  common  that  had  resulted  in 
so  many  court  actions  and  had  caused  so  much  more  delay. 


THE    LINKS    AND    THE    FORGE  69 

Following  the  action  of  the  Iowa  legislature  which  put  an  end 
to  the  injunctions  against  use  of  the  money  that  had  been 
raised  by  the  sale  of  the  questioned  stock,  Thomas  Clark 
Durant,  his  brother  Charles,  and  a  third  member  of  the  Du- 
rant  family,  Clark,  all  resigned  as  Rock  Island  directors. 

Had  these  three  been  among  the  "certain  parties"  who  had 
been  seeking  in  1867  to  get  control  of  the  Rock  Island?  If 
John  Tracy  knew  the  answer  he  left  no  record  of  it.  From  what 
can  be  pieced  together  from  scattered  reports  in  various  finan- 
cial journals,  it  appears  that  groups  of  leading  financial  in- 
terests, rather  than  individuals,  were  involved.  The  implication 
seems  clear  that  the  Durants  were  heavily  involved  and  may 
have  been  the  leaders. 

The  49,000  shares  of  new  stock  were  sold  in  December  1867. 
The  Iowa  legislative  action  to  validate  the  stock  occuned  on 
February  11,  1868.  On  March  26,  just  a  few  weeks  later,  the 
three  Durants  resigned  from  the  Rock  Island  board.  They  had 
held  these  offices  for  15  years.  Shortly  after,  Tom  Durant  filed 
a  suit  at  Davenport  seeking  a  writ  of  attachment  against  the 
property  of  the  Rock  Island  railroad.  The  court  disallowed 
the  writ. 

Now  it  was  May  1869,  and  John  Tracy's  railroad  was  at 
the  Missouri  River.  No  time  to  brood  over  past  failures,  no 
time  to  rankle  over  the  conduct  of  men  who  had  been  his 
associates,  or  what  they  had  done  to  thwart  the  hopes  of 
Iowa's  first  railroad. 

John  Tracy  had  learned  a  lot  about  business  ethics,  or  rather 
the  complete  lack  of  them.  He  had  learned  about  the  ruthless 
drive  of  men  like  Tom  Durant.  He  had  learned  about  specu- 
lation. The  next  big  move  would  be  his. 


70  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


01  High  line  to  Leavenwortli 


The  Rock  Island  railroad,  in  that  mid-year  of  1869,  stood  on 
the  threshold  of  a  vast  expansion.  John  Tracy  already  had 
begun  a  series  of  long-range  plans,  and  he  was  cracking  the 
whip.  He  had  important  irons  in  the  fire— much  too  important 
to  spend  time  brooding  about  the  mistakes  and  mismanage- 
ment of  his  Mississippi  and  Missouri  predecessors.  Of  one 
thing  he  was  sure— no  competitor,  no  group  of  speculators, 
would  ever  again  get  the  jump  on  him  in  tapping  fertile  ter- 
ritory and  increasing  his  railroad's  traffic  sources. 

With  the  Council  Bluffs  line  behind  him,  he  found  himself 
involved  in  three  new  major  projects  and  a  number  of  smaller 
ones.  First,  he  was  about  to  get  a  new  bridge  across  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  the  United  States  Government  was  going  to  build 
it.  Second,  there  was  a  beautifully  fertile  territory  west  of 
Washington,  Iowa,  the  end  of  his  line  from  Muscatine,  and 
the  time  looked  ripe  for  building  a  railroad  to  Leavenworth, 
Kansas,  just  across  the  Missouri  River.  Third,  some  very  quiet 
and  secretive  plans  were  in  the  making,  which,  if  Henry  H. 
Porter,  of  Chicago,  one  of  Rock  Island's  new  directors,  could 
work  the  matter  out,  would  bring  the  Chicago  and  Northwest- 
ern under  Rock  Island  control. 

Back  in  June  of  1866  a  bill  was  passed  by  Congress  author- 
izing the  Secretary  of  War  to  relocate  the  line  of  the  railroad 
across  Rock  Island  so  that  there  would  be  no  interference  with 
the  re-establishment  of  an  arsenal  on  the  Island,  a  project  that 
was  begun  by  the  Government  in  1862.  The  act  of  June  27, 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  71 

1866,  besides  providing  for  grants  of  necessary  land  for  right- 
of-way,  also  authorized  the  erection  of  a  new  bridge  which 
would  be  a  double-decked  affair.  Rail  traffic  would  use  one 
level;  wagon  traffic  would  use  another. 

Then,  on  March  2,  1867,  a  bill  was  approved  calling  for  the 
erection  of  a  bridge  at  Rock  Island  and  providing  "that  the 
ownership  of  said  bridge  shall  be  and  remain  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
shall  have  the  right-of-way  over  said  bridge  for  all  purposes 
of  transit  across  the  Island  and  River  upon  the  condition  that 
the  said  company  shall,  before  any  money  is  expended  by  the 
Government,  agree  to  pay  and  shall  secure  to  the  United 
States,  first,  half  the  cost  of  said  bridge;  and  second,  half  the 
expense  of  keeping  said  bridge  in  repair;  and  upon  guarantee- 
ing said  conditions  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Secretary  of  War, 
by  contract,  or  otherwise,  the  said  Company  shall  have  full 
use  of  said  bridge  for  purposes  of  transit,  but  without  any 
claim  to  ownership  thereof." 

This  looked  like  a  pretty  stiff  deal— half  the  cost  of  the 
whole  job,  but  no  claim  to  ownership. 

Just  who  might  have  done  the  job  of  lobbying  on  the  bill 
as  it  stood,  and  just  who  might  have  pressed  for  the  new  reso- 
lution in  the  Congress  that  was  approved  on  July  20,  1868, 
does  not  appear  in  the  record.  But  that  resolution  made  the 
deal  a  better  one  for  the  railroad  in  that  it  provided  that  the 
Government  would  build  the  bridge,  but  the  railroad  would 
pay  for  only  half  the  cost  of  the  superstructure  over  the  main 
channel.  The  railroad  would  have  to  build  its  own  bridge  from 
the  mainland  across  the  Island,  and  would  have  to  pay  half 
the  cost  of  keeping  the  Government  bridge  in  repair.  A  further 
provision  called  for  the  removal  of  the  old  bridge  "within  six 
months  after  the  new  bridge  is  ready  for  use,"  and  for  removal 
of  the  original  tracks  laid  across  the  Island. 

John  Tracy  signed  his  name  to  an  agreement  with  the  Gov- 
ernment, guaranteeing  the  railroad's  fulfillment  of  the  terms 
of  the  act,  and  then  and  there  was  able  to  dispel  from  his  mind 
any  further  worries  about  lawsuits  and  sabotage.  Once  the 


72  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Government  got  into  the  picture,  the  railroad  would  never 
again  be  liable  for  any  alleged  damage  to  boats  on  the  river, 
or  to  cargo  delayed  by  reason  of  interference  with  navigation. 

John  Tracy  worked  very  closely  with  Army  Engineer  Lt.  W. 
P.  Duller  who  finally  submitted  three  plans  for  the  new  bridge 
to  the  Secretary  of  War.  The  first  called  for  a  double-tracked 
railroad  deck  with  a  deck  for  wagon  traffic  above  the  railroad. 
The  total  estimated  cost  was  $1,234,52:5.  Buller's  second  plan 
provided  for  a  single  track  on  the  railroad  portion  with  the 
wagon  level  above  the  tracks,  at  approximately  $978,085.  Plan 
No.  3  got  the  total  cost  down  to  $934,291,  and  provided  for  a 
single  track  level  for  the  railroad,  below  which  the  wagon  traf- 
fic level  would  be  built.  The  last  proposal  was  adopted  despite 
the  fact  that  the  Army  engineers  recommended  the  double- 
track  plan.  The  contention  on  the  part  of  the  Government  was 
that  the  bill  which  authorized  the  bridge  allowed  an  expendi- 
ture of  no  more  than  $1,000,000. 

Work  on  the  new  bridge  got  under  way  finally  about  the 
middle  of  1869  after  Congress  on  March  3  appropriated  $500,- 
000  for  the  work  to  begin. 

It  was  in  this  month  of  June,  1 869,  that  Tracy  and  the  Rock 
Island  directors  reached  their  decision  to  push  westward  from 
Washington,  Iowa. 

The  Mississippi  and  Missouri  had  extended  the  line  to 
Washington,  from  Muscatine,  11  years  before,  and  Washing- 
ton had  been  the  scene  of  the  one  greatly  successful  first  train 
celebration  in  all  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri's  hectic  his- 
tory. That  train,  drawn  by  a  new  locomotive  named  Washing- 
ton, arrived  with  13  cars  and  700  passengers  on  September  1, 
1858. 

The  business  interests  of  Washington  were  glad  to  have 
their  town  remain,  over  the  ensuing  years,  the  end  of  track. 
Fortune  smiled  on  the  community  as  it  became  the  center  of 
a  vast  trading  territory.  People  with  produce  to  ship  had  to 
bring  it  to  Washington  to  get  it  on  the  railroad,  and  that 
meant  that  these  people  with  cash  derived  from  what  they 


THE    LINKS    AND    THE    FORGE  73 

had  to  sell  bought  the  things  they  needed  from  Washington 
merchants. 

But  the  growing  settlement  of  the  land  to  the  west  and  the 
southwest  made  it  increasingly  necessary  to  give  thought  to 
extending  the  railroad  at  last. 

As  early  as  i860  promoters  of  railroad  expansion  had  an  eye 
on  building  a  line  to  connect  Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  with 
that  other  great  Army  post  at  Fort  Des  Moines.  In  that  year, 
on  January  4,  the  Platte  County  and  Fort  Des  Moines  Rail- 
road Company  was  incorporated  in  the  state  of  Missouri,  "to 
construct  a  railroad  from  a  point  on  the  Missouri  River  in 
Platte  County,  Missouri,  on  the  most  eligible  and  practicable 
route  to  a  point  on  the  line  dividing  the  states  of  Missouri  and 
Iowa,  in  the  direction  of  old  Fort  Des  Moines,  Iowa." 

This  project  apparently  reposed  on  paper  until  February  12, 
1864,  when  the  Missouri  legislature  approved  a  special  act  to 
change  the  name  of  the  line  to  Platte  City  and  Fort  Des 
Moines  Railroad  Company.  Provision  was  made  that  the  rail- 
road should  start  within  one  mile  of  the  city  of  Weston  and 
run  through  Platte  County,  passing  within  not  more  than  three 
miles  of  Platte  City.  Another  change  in  name  by  special  act 
of  the  Missouri  legislature  in  July  1867  made  it  the  Leaven- 
worth and  Des  Moines  Railway  Company. 

Indications  are  that  during  these  years  of  changing  the  cor- 
porate names,  one  after  another,  the  promoters  built  nothing 
in  the  way  of  a  rail  line.  They  probably  made  surveys,  and 
some  grading  may  have  been  done  at  one  point  or  another. 

Thus,  on  March  3,  1869,  with  the  Rock  Island  behind  the 
incorporators  to  get  something  concrete  started,  the  Missouri 
legislature  approved  a  change  in  the  corporate  title  to  Chicago 
and  Southwestern  Railway  Company  (of  Missouri).  The  new 
charter  specified  that  the  western  terminus  of  the  line  be  at 
a  point  on  the  Missouri  River  opposite,  or  nearly  opposite  the 
city  of  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  and  authorized  the  building  of 
a  branch  line  in  the  direction  of  Ottumwa,  Iowa. 

With  the  breaking  of  ground,  and  the  beginning  of  con- 
struction at  Stillings  Junction,  Missouri,  opposite  Leaven- 


74  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

worth,  the  civic  leaders  of  Leavenworth  began  negotiations 
with  the  Rock  Island  to  induce  Tracy  to  construct  a  single 
line,  under  unified  management,  from  Washington,  Iowa,  to 
their  city. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Rock  Island  directors,  a  special  com- 
mittee made  up  of  members  of  the  board  was  named  to  visit 
Leavenworth  and  make  a  complete  survey  of  the  possibilities. 
Certairily,  if  a  line  such  as  the  Leavenworth  people  proposed 
had  strong  economic  value  the  Rock  Island  wanted  to  know 
about  it. 

The  committee  visited  Leavenworth  in  June  and  came  back 
with  a  report  which  recommended  that  "a  new  company 
should  be  incorporated  in  Iowa,  with  power  to  construct  and 
operate  a  railway  from  Washington,  on  the  Oskaloosa  Branch 
to  a  point  on  the  boundary  line  between  the  states  of  Iowa  and 
Missouri,  at  which  it  could  connect  with  the  railway  of  the 
Chicago  and  Southwestern  of  Missouri;  that  these  companies 
should  be  consolidated;  that  the  consolidated  company  should 
issue  a  series  of  bonds  having  a  par  value  of  $5,000,000  or 
$20,000  per  mile  for  the  road  to  be  constructed  .  .  ." 

Under  the  recommendation  the  bonds  would  be  secured 
by  a  first  mortgage  on  the  company's  property,  and  the  Rock 
Island  would  guarantee  payment  of  both  principal  and  inter- 
est. The  bonds,  the  committee  said,  should  contain  a  clause 
which  "should  secure  to  the  guarantor  the  right  of  subrogation 
as  to  all  principal  and  interest  it  should  pay  in  the  performance 
of  its  contract  of  guaranty,  with  the  right  to  demand  the  fore- 
closure of  the  mortgage  and  the  sale  of  the  property  subject 
to  the  rights  of  the  holders  of  the  bonds  secured  by  the  same 
mortgage,  and  that  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Rail- 
road Company  should  receive  and  hold  a  majority  of  the  capi- 
tal stock  of  the  consolidated  company." 

The  Rock  Island  directors  accepted  and  approved  the  com- 
mittee's report  promptly,  and  the  work  of  constructing  the 
Leavenworth  line  gained  momentum. 

Meanwhile,  the  promoters  of  the  company  in  Missouri 
secured  a  charter  from  the  legislature  in  that  state  for  the 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  75 

Chicago  and  South  Western  Railway  Company  in  Iowa.  The 
purpose  was  to  bring  Atchison,  Kansas,  into  the  picture  by 
providing  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from  the  east  bank 
of  the  Missouri,  opposite  Atchison,  to  a  junction  with  the 
Leavenworth  line.  This  was  to  be  commonly  called  the  Atchi- 
son Branch,  and  in  time  it  was  to  become  an  expensive  head- 
ache to  the  Rock  Island. 

With  work  of  construction  on  the  Leavenworth  line  pro- 
gressing eastward  from  Stillings  Junction,  on  the  Missouri 
River,  and  westward  from  Washington,  Iowa,  and  with  the 
contract  calling  for  completion  of  the  whole  line  by  Novem- 
ber 1,  1871,  Tracy  could  now  devote  most  of  his  attention  to 
the  scheme  that  had  been  hatching  for  control  of  the  Chicago 
and  Northwestern. 


M  1,000  miles  of  railroad 


John  Tracy,  through  some  pretty  bitter  experiences,  had  come 
to  be  wary  of  many  of  his  associates.  Henry  H.  Porter,  how- 
ever, was  one  man  Tracy  trusted  above  all  others. 

Porter,  a  New  England  Yankee,  who  had  first  seen  the  light 
of  day  at  Machias,  Washington  County,  Maine,  was  a  product 
of  a  hard  school.  He  had  experienced,  in  the  first  15  years  of 
his  life,  a  comfortable  home  and  seemed  destined  to  enjoy  the 
advantages  that  could  be  provided  by  a  family  of  considerable 
means.  His  father  was  a  lawyer,  highly  intellectual,  but  prob- 
ably not  very  practical  from  the  business  viewpoint. 


76  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

At  the  age  of  1 5,  Porter  found  himself  suddenly  on  his  own, 
due  to  his  father's  financial  reverses.  He  had  to  forego  a  formal 
education  and  strike  out  to  find  a  job.  He  was  17  when  he 
landed  in  Chicago  in  1852.  A  year  later  he  went  on  the  payroll 
of  the  Galena  and  Chicago  Union  as  a  clerk  at  $400  a  year. 

Porter  early  demonstrated  to  his  superiors  an  enormous  ca- 
pacity for  detail,  a  good  head  for  figures,  a  pleasant  manner 
with  the  road's  patrons.  The  result  was  that  he  was  made  pay- 
master, claim  agent,  and  general  ticket  agent.  He  held  these 
three  jobs  concurrently  until,  in  i860,  he  went  over  to  the 
Michigan  Southern  and  Northern  Indiana,  predecessor  of  the 
New  York  Central,  as  station  agent  at  Chicago.  Three  years 
later  he  became  general  superintendent  of  the  Michigan 
Southern  and  Northern  Indiana's  entire  line  between  Chicago, 
Toledo,  and  Detroit. 

About  the  time  that  Tracy  took  over  as  president  of  the 
Rock  Island,  Porter  formed  a  partnership  with  Jesse  Spalding, 
famous  Chicago  lumber  merchant,  and  besides  acquiring  vast 
interests  in  timber  lands,  he  explored  the  possibilities  of  the 
northern  iron  ore  deposits  and  acquired  a  share  of  iron  ore 
holdings.  He  became  a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Chicago  in  1867,  and  it  was  in  that  year  that  his  close  associa- 
tion with  John  Tracy  began. 

Tracy  brought  him  into  the  Rock  Island  directorate  in  June 
i86q,  a  move  by  which  Tracy  sought  to  develop  the  ideas  he 
had  about  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern.  Tracy  felt  that  a 
consolidation  of  the  Rock  Island  and  the  Northwestern  would 
result  in  an  extremely  sound  system.  The  merger  would  bring 
about  reduction  in  overhead  and  operating  costs,  a  more  con- 
servative policy  on  the  opening  of  new  territory,  and,  above 
all,  would  eliminate  duplication  of  services  in  competitive 
areas. 

Porter's  connections  with  investors  and  strong  financial 
interests  were  widespread.  He  knew  what  groups  held  large 
blocks  of  the  common  stocks  of  both  the  Rock  Island  and  the 
Northwestern.  He  was  completely  sold  on  the  merger  idea 


THE    LINKS    AND    THE    FORGE  77 

and  he  talked  with  Eastern  interests  to  bring  them  into  the 
consohdation  plan. 

The  Union  Pacific  elected  Porter  a  director  in  1870,  and  on 
June  2  of  that  year  Porter,  along  with  Tracy,  W.  L.  Scott,  and 
Milton  Courtright  of  the  Rock  Island,  became  directors  of  the 
Northwestern. 

Tracy  was  elected  president  of  the  Northwestern  on  the 
following  day,  June  3,  while  retaining  the  presidency  of  the 
Rock  Island  system.  This  move  placed  him  in  the  position  of 
controlling  the  operation  of  more  miles  of  railroad  than  any 
other  railroad  chief  executive  of  that  period.  He  turned  over 
to  Porter  all  the  details  of  attempting  to  consummate  the 
merger,  and  devoted  his  attention  to  that  big  construction 
project  across  Iowa  to  Leavenworth. 

Construction  of  this  mileage  proceeded  at  a  steady  pace.  All 
through  the  fall  and  winter  of  1870  and  the  spring  of  1871, 
the  rails  advanced.  The  demand  for  transportation  through 
the  territory  was  so  great  that,  as  each  section  of  the  line  was 
ready  for  trains,  operations  were  begun  on  a  construction 
company  basis. 

As  the  month  of  September  approached,  Tracy  began  to 
lay  plans  for  a  great  excursion  train  from  Chicago  to  Leaven- 
worth. The  engineers  had  told  him  to  set  his  sights  on  a  date 
in  the  last  week  of  the  month,  and  they  would  make  the  date 
definite  within  two  or  three  weeks  of  the  finish.  That  was 
good  enough  for  Tracy. 

His  one  worry  was  the  bridge  over  the  Missouri  River  from 
Stillings  Junction  into  the  city.  A  group  of  Leavenworth  busi- 
ness interests  had,  in  i86g,  formed  a  company  to  build  a 
bridge.  General  W.  W.  Wright  was  chief  engineer  and  the 
contract  went  to  the  American  Bridge  Company.  Construc- 
tion was  begun  on  July  26,  1869.  The  Rock  Island  was  not  a 
partner  in  the  enterprise. 

The  high  hopes  of  the  builders  and  the  bridge  company 
for  completion  of  the  structure  in  time  to  carry  the  first 
train  across  from  the  Missouri  side  were  dashed  in  June  of 
1870  when  a  serious  accident  upset  the  time-table. 


78  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

A  section  of  the  bridge  columns  fell  over  and  struck  a  barge 
on  which  was  loaded  some  of  the  valuable  machinery  and 
equipment  necessary  for  the  project.  The  barge  sank  forth- 
with, taking  the  machinery  down  with  it. 

Considerable  time  was  spent  in  trying  to  get  the  machinery 
out  of  the  river,  and  after  long  delay  this  effort  was  given  up 
and  new  machinery  and  equipment  had  to  be  ordered  before 
construction  could  continue. 

On  receipt  of  word  that  the  whole  line  between  Washington 
and  Stillings  Junction  would  be  open  by  September  20,  John 
Tracy  set  the  date  for  the  first  excursion  to  Leavenworth  to 
depart  from  Chicago  on  the  morning  of  September  26. 

He  had  the  mechanical  forces  groom  the  silver  engine, 
America,  for  the  trip,  and  the  car  department  assembled  the 
finest  equipment  the  road  owned.  Invitations  were  speedily 
dispatched  to  a  list  of  prominent  citizens  both  in  Chicago  and 
in  the  cities  on  the  Eastern  Seaboard.  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  Mrs.  Grant  readily  accepted 
the  railroad's  invitation,  and  a  special  parlor  car  was  provided 
for  their  use. 

Another  distinguished  guest  aboard  the  train  on  its  depar- 
ture from  Chicago's  depot  was  one  of  the  builders  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central,  General  P.  G.  T.  Beauregard,  late  of  the  Army 
of  the  Confederacy. 

The  coincidence  of  President  Grant  and  his  former  arch 
antagonist  in  the  Civil  War  being  aboard  the  excursion  train 
is  credited  to  the  work  of  Colonel  Daniel  R.  Anthony,  the 
managing  director  of  the  famous  Planters  Hotel,  of  Leaven- 
worth. Anthony  was  an  intimate  friend  of  both  generals  and 
a  diligent  worker  toward  healing  up  the  wounds  left  by  the 
defeat  of  the  South. 

The  city  of  Leavenworth  had,  prior  to  the  Civil  War,  at- 
tracted many  settlers  from  various  parts  of  the  old  South,  and 
prominent  Southerners  had  built  the  Planters  Hotel.  It  was 
considered  one  of  the  finest  in  the  West  and  had  long  ago 
gained  fame  for  its  elegant  appointments  and  its  fine  hospi- 
tahty.  Colonel  Anthony  left  nothing  undone  to  make  the  cele- 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  79 

bration  at  Leavenworth  something  long  to  be  remembered, 
and  it  was  his  hope  that  the  whole  affair  would  kindle  a  better 
feeling  between  those  segments  of  the  population  that  still 
rankled  under  sectional  bitterness. 

The  departure  of  the  excursion  on  the  morning  of  Septem- 
ber 26  from  the  Rock  Island's  imposing  station,  then  called 
the  Union  Passenger  Depot,  was  a  holiday  occasion.  Thou- 
sands of  Chicagoans  crowded  the  concourse  to  see  the  celebri- 
ties board  the  cars.  President  and  Mrs.  Grant,  delayed  enroute 
from  Cincinnati,  boarded  the  special  at  suburban  Washington 
Heights. 

If  the  excursion's  guests  were  impressed  by  the  tremendous 
crowds  that  greeted  the  train  at  every  station  along  the  route, 
they  were  completely  overwhelmed  by  the  turnout  at  Leaven- 
worth on  their  arrival  at  the  Planters  Hotel.  Newspapers  of 
the  day  recorded  it  as  the  greatest  and  most  elaborate  celebra- 
tion ever  held. 

Welcoming  speeches,  the  booming  of  cannon,  the  color  of 
a  gigantic  parade  all  preceded  a  banquet  the  like  of  which  had 
never  before  been  seen.  General  Grant  saw  the  troops  at  Fort 
Leavenworth  in  review,  and  committees  of  citizens  left  noth- 
ing undone  to  provide  a  vast  variety  of  entertainment  for  the 
excursionists. 

From  Leavenworth  the  train  was  taken  to  Council  Bluffs, 
and  then  headed  eastward  over  that  line  toward  Chicago.  A 
correspondent  of  the  Chicago  Tribune  wired  his  paper  on 
September  29: 

"At  12  o'clock  today  the  head  of  the  famous  engine,  America, 
which  has  drawn  the  excursion  train  on  its  whole  route  from 
Chicago,  was  turned  eastward  over  the  Rock  Island  Railroad, 
toward  home,  where  the  party  expects  to  arrive  early  Friday 
(September  30)  morning. 

"The  excursion  has  been,  in  some  respects  a  most  remarkable 
one,  because  on  this  train  two  men  who  directed  the  contend- 
ing armies  at  Pittsburgh  Landing  and  Manassas  Junction, 
where  the  fate  of  the  Nation  trembled  in  the  balance,  clasped 
hands  for  the  first  time,  and  in  friendship. 


80  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

"The  party  will  have  traveled  over  1,500  miles  by  railroad, 
controlled  by  one  company,  and  without  changing  either  en- 
gines or  cars.  They  have  been  served  with  both  beds  and  meals 
on  the  train  during  the  whole  trip. 

"At  a  called  meeting  in  the  Ladies'  Car  this  P.M.,  resolu- 
tions were  passed  expressing  the  extreme  appreciation  of  the 
excursionists  in  regards  the  perfection  of  the  railroad's  appoint- 
ments, track,  equipment,  service,  etc.,  and  particularly  their 
gratitude  to  President  Winston  (Frederick  H.  Winston,  presi- 
dent of  the  Chicago  and  South  Western  and  the  builder  of  the 
Leavenworth  line)  for  the  protection,  consideration  and  'never 
to  be  forgotten'  pleasures  afforded  them." 

John  Tracy  felt  pretty  good  about  the  whole  thing.  On 
October  10  the  railroad  would  be  exactly  19  years  old.  From 
its  inauspicious  beginning  with  that  little  train  of  cars  on 
October  10,  1852,  it  had  now  become  one  of  the  biggest  sys- 
tems west  of  Chicago  under  one  management.  With  its  main 
line  from  Chicago  to  Council  Bluffs  and  its  new  main  line 
from  Washington,  Iowa,  to  Leavenworth,  Tracy  commanded 
just  a  little  short  of  1,000  miles  of  well-ballasted  railroad,  with 
motive  power  and  equipment  second  to  none. 

Revenues  were  on  a  continual  increase.  Industry  was  devel- 
oping rapidly  in  the  growing  cities  all  along  the  railroad.  In 
Iowa,  especially,  Tracy  saw  the  opportunity  for  continued 
expansion.  This  rich  agricultural  area  needed  more  and  more 
transportation.  Good  sound  branch  lines  would  provide  the 
answer. 

Tracy  looked  to  the  nineteenth  birthday  with  great  antici- 
pation. He  didn't  know  it  at  that  moment,  but  he  was  looking 
straight  at  disaster. 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  81 


m  Fire! 


On  Saturday  afternoon,  October  7,  1871,  John  Tracy  sat  back 
in  his  creaking  swivel  chair  in  the  Chicago  general  offices.  He 
had  spread  out  before  him  several  newspaper  pages  on  which 
were  line-cut  reproductions  of  his  elegant  Chicago  passenger 
depot. 

"Looks  like  everybody's  writing  us  up/'  he  mumbled.  "Says 
here  we've  got  the  most  beautiful  passenger  depot  in  Amer- 
ica." A  blunt  finger  tapped  a  news  page. 

The  heavy  man  across  from  him  grinned  quietly.  His  name 
was  Hugh  Riddle  and  he  was  Tracy's  general  superintendent. 
Tracy  had  brought  him  from  the  Erie  in  November  of  1869. 
Like  Judge  Grant,  the  Rock  Island's  first  president,  Riddle 
had  started  his  career  in  Bedford,  New  Hampshire,  as  a  school 
teacher,  and  then  had  studied  engineering.  He  had  served  on 
construction  crews  with  the  Erie  from  1846  until  1852  when 
he'd  gone  to  the  Canandaigua  and  Niagara  Falls  Railroad  for 
a  year.  In  1853  he  returned  to  the  Erie  as  chief  engineer, 
became  division  superintendent  in  1855,  and  general  super- 
intendent in  1865. 

"That  station  isn't  what  you've  got  on  your  mind,"  Riddle 
said. 

"You  did  a  good  job,  Hugh,  with  that  excursion,"  Tracy 
said.  "The  way  you  handled  those  people— well,  you  did  a 
good  job."  Coming  from  Tracy  that  was  high  praise.  Tracy 
had  never  been  given  to  compliments. 

"The  trip  did  us  a  lot  of  good/'  Riddle  admitted.  "We're 


82  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Still  getting  letters.  Hard  to  answer  them  all,  right  off,  but 
the  way  people  express  themselves  about  the  train  and  the 
railroad—" 

"We've  got  a  good  railroad,"  Tracy  broke  in.  "We'll  have 
a  greater  one."  He  gazed  for  a  long  moment  at  Riddle's  broad 
face.  The  day  had  been  unseasonably  warm  and  through  the 
open  windows  a  slight,  dry,  southwest  wind  blew  softly  to  stir 
the  air  in  the  room. 

'Tve  got  a  new  job  for  you  coming  up,  Hugh,"  Tracy  said, 
shifting  his  weight  in  his  chair. 

Riddle's  brows  lifted. 

"I  need  you  closer  to  me,"  Tracy  continued.  "With  some 
new  branch  lines  proposed  in  Iowa  you  can  assume  new  de- 
tails. So  beginning  October  16,  you'll  be  promoted  to  vice- 
president.  You'll  keep  your  title  as  general  superintendent,  too, 
but  you'll  have  more  responsibility— more  authority." 

Tracy  offered  a  hard  hand.  Riddle  clasped  it  warmly. 

"It's  been  a  long  day,"  Tracy  said  as  he  stood  up.  "I'm 
tired." 

"We  both  need  rest,"  Riddle  said.  "And— my  thanks." 

The  fire  came  in  the  night.  The  clang  of  bells  on  the  fire- 
wagons,  racing  over  cobbled  streets,  awoke  Tracy.  The  fire 
had  started  near  the  corner  of  Van  Buren  and  South  Clinton 
streets,  just  a  half  mile  west  of  the  depot  and  across  the  Chi- 
cago River. 

Weeks  without  rain,  now  with  that  southwest  wind  blow- 
ing, Chicago's  stage  was  set  for  tragedy. 

Tracy  went  to  the  depot  and  there  he  found  a  worried  Rid- 
dle. They  gathered  what  information  they  could  as  to  the 
extent  of  the  fire.  The  sky  to  the  west  was  bright  yellow  and 
deep  orange,  and  the  smoke  was  suffocating.  Van  Buren  Street 
was  filled  with  the  surging  crowds  trying  to  get  closer  to  the 
scene, 

A  messenger  came  through  the  mob  to  advise  Tracy  that 
the  whole  area  between  Halstead  Street  and  the  river  appeared 
doomed,  but  that  the  fire  department  hoped  to  keep  the  blaze 
from  spreading  east  of  the  river  or  north  of  Adams  Street. 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  83 

The  area  where  the  intensity  of  the  blaze  increased  with 
each  passing  hour  was  an  industrial  section  with  lumber  yards, 
coal  yards,  elevators,  and  mills,  and  almost  all  of  them  had 
their  own  pumping  facilities  to  draw  water  directly  from  the 
river  to  pump  into  the  flames. 

Tracy  and  Riddle,  after  an  all-night  vigil,  left  the  offices  on 
Sunday  morning.  They  had  been  assured  that  all  danger  was 
over.  There  weren't  very  many  buildings  left  standing  between 
Van  Buren  and  Adams  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  but  the 
fire  had  been  brought  under  control. 

Sundav  turned  into  a  pleasant,  warm  day  and  the  wind  car- 
ried off  the  smoke  haze  that  through  the  early  morning  had 
hung  over  the  lower  part  of  town.  Tired  fire-fighting  crews 
sought  rest  after  the  hideous  night. 

Then,  almost  without  warning,  after  manv  people  had  gone 
to  bed  that  Sunday  night,  it  happened.  It  happened  around 
9:30  at  Jefferson  and  DeKoven  Streets,  just  a  short  distance 
from  where  Saturday  night's  fire  had  started. 

Much  has  been  written  about  Mrs.  O'Leary's  cow  and  her 
contribution  to  the  fire.  Whether  fact  or  legend,  it  was  at  the 
place  where  Mrs.  O'Leary  lived  that  the  blaze  had  its  origin, 
and  Mrs.  O'Leary's  house  quickly  went  up  in  flames  to  add 
impetus  to  the  fire.  The  residents,  hearing  the  alarms  again 
being  sounded,  followed  by  the  clatter  of  the  fire  wagons, 
thought  little  about  it.  Probably  just  a  flare-up  from  the  fire 
of  the  night  before,  confined  to  some  local  area  where  the 
embers  had  not  been  extinguished. 

The  spread  of  the  flames  was  phenomenal.  By  midnight  all 
hope  of  holding  the  fire  under  control  was  doomed.  Yellow 
tongues  of  flames  licked  through  buildings  in  the  Loop,  and 
fanned  out  with  the  increasing  southwest  wind. 

In  the  path  of  this  destruction  was  John  Tracy's  beautiful 
passenger  depot.  The  flames  enveloped  it  and  gutted  it.  It 
was  leveled  along  with  the  general  offices  and  the  out-freight 
depot.  Other  Rock  Island  losses  were  "three  sleeping  coaches, 
eight  passenger  coaches,  five  baggage  and  mail  cars,  and  six 
freight  cars." 


84  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Warren  G.  Purdy,  then  cashier  in  the  local  oEce,  is  credited 
with  having  saved  many  of  the  corporate  records.  Purdy,  on 
duty  that  Sunday  night,  locked  everything  in  the  way  of  papers 
and  files  in  the  vaults  before  the  fire  got  into  the  Loop.  These 
records  included  deeds,  contracts,  board  minutes,  and  all  other 
things  of  an  official  nature.  Engineering  data,  maps,  surveys, 
and  many  matters  of  such  kind  were  all  destroyed. 

The  railroad's  loss  was  estimated  at  $300,000,  with  insurance 
covering  slightly  less  than  $50,000  of  that  amount.  Traffic  was 
in  a  snarl,  and  it  would  be  weeks  before  such  important  com- 
modities as  lumber  and  merchandise  would  move  from  the 
Chicago  area,  or  into  it. 

While  the  loss  was  a  blow  to  the  Rock  Island,  the  road's 
strong  financial  position  made  it  possible  for  Tracy  to  meet 
the  emergency  in  his  stride.  He  called  in  the  architects  and 
engineers,  and  before  the  last  ember  had  burned  out  plans 
were  under  way  for  the  erection  of  an  even  greater  depot  at 
Van  Buren  and  La  Salle. 


0(^  The  great  train  robbery 


The  year  1873  was  a  year  of  crisis  for  John  F.  Tracy  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  plans  for  the  merger  of  the  Rock  Island  and  the 
Chicago  and  Northwestern.  He  made  frequent  trips  to  New 
York  to  talk  with  Eastern  financiers.  He  began  speculating 
heavily  on  his  own  account,  and  he  urged  Henry  Porter  to 
renew  his  efforts  to  wrap  up  the  merger  project. 


THE    LINKS    AND    THE    FORGE  85 

Meanwhile,  the  new  Union  Passenger  Station  (now  known 
as  the  La  Salle  Street  Station)  was  completed.  Tracy's  drive 
in  getting  this  new  structure  ready  for  a  public  opening  was 
an  incentive  to  many  business  leaders  of  Chicago  in  the  trying 
days  of  reconstruction.  The  effects  of  the  great  fire  had  been 
far-reaching.  Almost  a  third  of  the  city's  population  had  been 
left  homeless— more  than  100,000  people— and  the  failure 
of  insurance  companies  to  pay  out  on  the  property  loss  had 
greatly  retarded  rebuilding.  It  was  estimated  that  of  the  total 
propertv  loss  incurred— $ig6,ooo,ooo— only  $50,000,000  in  in- 
surance had  been  collectible. 

The  Rock  Island  annual  report  for  1873  described  the  new 
depot  "as  of  the  same  dimensions  and  occupying  the  same 
site  as  that  destroyed  by  the  late  fire."  The  report  went  on  to 
say,  "Some  changes  in  the  style  of  the  building  and  interior 
arrangements  add  much  to  the  beauty  and  convenience,  and 
it  may  trulv  be  said  to  be  the  finest  depot  building  in  the  West, 
and  second  to  none  in  the  Countr\'  for  elegance  of  design  and 
adaptation  for  the  use  intended." 

The  dedication  took  place  with  a  notable  ceremony  that 
lasted  two  da  vs.  No  expense  was  spared  in  hiring  the  best 
bands  for  the  entertainment  of  guests.  Civic  leaders  gave  them- 
selves over  to  laudatory  orations  in  which  they  cited  the  rail- 
road management  for  its  vision  and  directness  of  purpose  in 
transforming  the  ruins  and  rubble  that  the  fire  had  left  into 
something  "glorious  to  behold." 

Newspapers  reported  that  the  thousands  of  people  who  vis- 
ited the  station  were  inspired  by  the  ingenuity  of  man  to  over- 
come what,  only  a  few  months  before,  had  seemed  a  most 
hopeless  situation.  This  enterprise,  according  to  the  writers, 
had  a  profound  and  far-reaching  effect  in  building  up  public 
confidence  in  an  even  greater  future  for  Chicago  and  her 
citizens. 

Where  Tracv  had  succeeded  in  gaining  public  acclaim  for 
his  new  station  he  faced  failure  in  his  consolidation  scheme— 
a  failure  that  struck  deep. 

Despite  all  Henry  Porter's  efforts  the  merger  of  the  North- 


86  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

western  could  not  be  accomplished.  That  system  had  slumped 
off  on  earnings,  while  the  Rock  Island  continued  to  gain  in 
financial  stability.  But  the  rank  and  file  of  Northwestern  peo- 
ple and  its  officers  vigorously  opposed  the  plans,  and  Porter, 
at  last,  had  to  tell  Tracy  that  it  was  no  use. 

On  June  19,  1873,  Tracy  had  to  step  down  as  president  of 
the  Northwestern,  and  for  him  a  dream  of  empire  was  over. 

Tracy  began  driving  himself  harder  in  the  development  of 
new  traffic  for  the  Rock  Island.  The  new  Government  bridge 
across  the  Mississippi  was  now  in  full  operation,  and  its  com- 
pletion in  October  1872  had  had  a  noticeable  effect  on  traffic. 
Schedules  had  been  stepped  up  and,  as  the  annual  report 
pointed  out,  there  was  "a  considerable  savings  ...  in  expense 
of  crossing  trains  as  compared  with  the  old  line." 

This  report  accounted  for  "the  completion  of  the  bridge  in 
a  most  substantial  manner,  iron  superstructure  resting  on  abut- 
ments and  piers  of  first-class  masonry,  the  whole  erected  under 
the  supervision  of  experienced  Government  engineers,  and  it 
may  be  justly  regarded  as  among  the  finest  works  of  its  class 
in  America,  and  an  attractive  feature  to  the  traveler." 

The  removal  of  the  old  bridge  took  time  and  patience,  and 
during  the  summer  of  that  year  it  was  necessary  to  rearrange 
the  yard  tracks  at  Rock  Island.  Additional  land  was  purchased 
near  the  east  end  of  the  new  bridge  and  three  miles  of  side- 
track was  laid. 

It  was  indeed  a  busy  program  that  the  railroad  had  laid  out 
for  itself  to  rehabilitate  its  terminal  facilities.  Industry  was 
expanding  all  along  the  line  between  Rock  Island  and  the  area 
east  of  Moline.  Payrolls  increased  and  new  housing  proceeded 
at  a  satisfactory  pace  to  take  care  of  the  influx  of  new  residents. 

Prior  to  the  great  fire  at  Chicago,  Tracy  had  seen  the  rail- 
road's revenues  climb  to  the  then  record-breaking  figure  of 
$6,028,287  for  the  year  ending  March  31,  1871.  He  and  his 
associates  had  been  fearful  that,  as  a  result  of  the  fire  and  its 
effect  on  traffic,  there  would  be  a  sharp  decline.  But  the  de- 
cline had  been  small  indeed.  Revenues  for  the  year  ending 
March  31,  1872,  dipped  to  $5,900,000  and  then  resumed  their 


THE    LINKS    AND    THE    FORGE  87 

steady  climb.  At  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year,  March  31,  1873, 
they  stood  at  $6,419,231. 

Thus,  as  midsummer  of  1873  approached,  everything  was 
in  splendid  shape  with  the  Rock  Island.  The  railroad  was  en- 
joying prosperity  such  as  few  railroads  of  that  period  could 
boast  of.  Both  freight  and  passenger  traffic  were  heavy.  Mail 
and  express  revenues  provided  a  steady  source  of  income. 

About  the  time  Tracy  was  finding  that  his  dream  of  ac- 
quiring financial  control  and  consolidation  of  the  Northwest- 
ern was  shattered,  a  rather  cunning  and  observant  gentleman 
of  questionable  character  was  taking  more  than  a  curious 
interest  in  the  prosperous  Rock  Island.  His  associates  were 
particularly  concerned  with  certain  packages  that  were  being 
handled  in  the  express  cars  aboard  Rock  Island  passenger 
trains.  Information  obtained  in  devious  ways  indicated  that 
on  certain  days  these  shipments  amounted  to  many  thousands 
of  dollars. 

The  gentleman  from  Missouri,  Jesse  James  by  name,  was 
an  earnest  believer  in  the  doctrine  that  institutions  entrusted 
with  funds  should  share  the  wealth.  A  very  convincing  way  of 
enforcing  such  a  program  was  at  gun-point. 

Mr.  James,  and  his  brother  Frank,  and  others  of  his  beard- 
ed and  unwashed  band,  had  gained  considerable  reputation 
around  northern  Missouri  for  their  sporadic  banditry,  striking 
mostly  at  small  banking  institutions,  vanishing  into  the  hills 
with  their  loot. 

Jesse's  interest  in  the  Rock  Island  increased  when  his  agents 
reported  that  it  would  be  much  simpler  to  hold  up  and  loot 
a  train  than  to  take  their  chances  with  solidly  planted  institu- 
tions such  as  banks  and  stores.  Jesse  had  visions  of  lonely 
places  where  trains  had  to  pass  in  the  night— no  citizens 
around  to  observe  the  plan  of  attack  or  to  follow  him  and 
his  riders  as  they  made  off  with  their  takings. 

That  stretch  of  the  Rock  Island  between  Council  Bluffs 
and  Des  Moines  had  some  very  lonely  segments  of  track.  Jesse 
and  his  men  scouted  it  and  found  everything  in  their  favor  a 
short  distance  from  the  small  town  of  Adair,  Iowa.  There  were 


88  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

many  curves  and  grades,  and  near  the  summit  of  one  of  these 
hills,  just  beyond  a  curve,  would  be  a  pretty  good  place  to  try 
their  luck. 

Just  how  the  James  band  got  their  information  on  money 
shipments  by  express  has  never  been  determined,  but  there 
have  been  many  references  to  "inside"  plants. 

Word  reached  Jesse  about  a  shipment  of  $75,000  that  would 
move  out  of  Council  Bluffs  in  train  No.  2's  express  car  on  the 
afternoon  of  July  21.  Having  picked  the  spot  for  the  holdup, 
the  James  band  proceeded  to  set  the  stage.  They  carefully 
loosened  a  length  of  rail  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  track 
to  an  engine  running  east.  They  removed  some  of  the  spikes 
and  disconnected  the  rail  from  the  next  one  ahead.  They  then 
fixed  a  rope  around  the  rail  so  that,  from  their  hiding  place 
in  the  bushes,  they  could  begin  moving  the  rail  outward  to- 
ward the  tie  ends.  They  figured  that  the  engineer,  pufhng  up 
the  grade,  would  see  the  phenomenon  and  bring  his  engine 
to  a  halt. 

With  everything  in  readiness  the  James  boys  waited  out  of 
sight.  They  heard  the  exhaust  of  the  locomotive  as  it  labored 
up  the  grade,  and  hard  fingers  tightened  on  the  rope.  The 
engine  came  in  sight  with  its  oil  headlight  flickering.  It 
straightened  on  the  short  tangent  toward  the  top  of  the  grade 
and  the  rail  started  to  move. 

Inch  by  inch  the  pull  on  the  rope  brought  the  rail  out  of 
line. 

In  the  cab  of  the  locomotive  Engineer  Rafferty  saw  the  rail 
and  yelled  to  his  fireman.  There  were  no  air  brakes  in  those 
days  for  quick  emergency.  There  were  only  hand  brakes  which 
were  applied  by  members  of  the  train  crew  when  the  engineer 
whistled  for  them. 

Engineer  Rafferty  made  two  quick  moves.  With  one  hand 
he  whistled  for  brakes  and  with  the  other  he  reversed  his  loco- 
motive. He  could  do  nothing  else.  The  stack  belched  smoke 
and  fire  with  the  reversal  of  the  valve  gear.  The  wheels  slid. 
But  the  long,  pointed  pilot  and  the  engine  plunged  down  the 
fill  on  the  right-hand  side  and  turned  over. 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  89 

Engineer  Rafferty  died  in  his  cab  and  his  fireman  was  criti- 
cally injured. 

The  James  boys  cared  little  about  that.  They  didn't  have  to 
spare  a  man  now  to  guard  the  engine  crew. 

Guns  barked.  And  as  the  passengers  rushed  to  the  exits  they 
were  lined  up  beside  the  track.  Two  of  the  band  made  quick 
work  of  the  express  car,  then  stood  guard  while  the  others 
went  through  the  passengers  and  collected  jewelry  and  cash. 

Within  an  incredibly  short  period  the  whole  thing  was  over. 
The  passengers  were  left  trembling  and  gaping.  The  sound  of 
horses  moving  into  the  brush  told  them  of  the  bandits'  de- 
parture. 

The  express-car  haul  amounted  to  $3,000.  Since  there  were 
200  passengers,  the  jewelry  and  money  loot  was  estimated  at 
about  $3,000  more.  The  $75,000  that  had  been  the  James  goal 
had  been  held  over  to  move  on  a  later  train,  a  last-minute 
switch.  Had  there  been  an  inside  man  on  the  job  to  inform 
Jesse  James  of  this  movement,  the  switch  had  been  made  too 
late  for  word  to  be  sent  to  the  bandits. 

The  James  gang  annoyed  the  Rock  Island  at  other  times, 
but  the  affair  near  Adair  that  July  night  set  a  new  pattern  for 
the  Western  bad  men.  It  was  the  West's  first  holdup  of  a 
railroad  train,  and  it  was  to  be  duplicated  many  times  there- 
after in  various  parts  of  the  Western  country.  It  had  been 
quick  and  simple,  with  virtually  no  risk  of  being  caught  in  the 
act  or  being  chased  by  a  sheriff's  posse  without  first  having  the 
opportunity  for  a  long  getaway.  In  the  case  of  the  Adair  rob- 
bery it  took  hours  for  a  crew  member  to  walk  to  a  telegraph 
office  and  call  for  help. 


90  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


W  Sumptuous  meals  on  wheels 


Following  the  Adair  robbety,  Hugh  Riddle  took  all  possible 
precautions  to  prevent  a  recurrence.  He  overhauled  the  police 
methods  then  in  use  on  the  railroad  by  placing  armed  guards 
on  certain  vulnerable  trains  and  by  arming  train  and  engine 
crews  as  well  as  express  messengers. 

Riddle,  whose  capacity  for  detail  and  whose  drive  for  ac- 
complishment were  equally  as  great  as  John  Tracy's,  little  by 
little  found  himself  taking  on  more  and  more  of  Tracy's  func- 
tions. Riddle  knew  of  Tracy's  stock  speculations,  and  some- 
times it  worried  him.  Not  for  any  effect  those  activities  of 
Tracy's  might  have  on  the  solidity  of  the  Rock  Island  but  the 
effect  they  were  having  on  the  man  himself. 

Tracy  was  showing  signs  of  wear.  The  years  of  driving  him- 
self day  and  night  were  beginning  to  tell.  He  was  more  lined, 
more  gruff,  more  withdrawn  into  the  hard  shell  he  had  built 
around  himself. 

He  left  to  Riddle  the  business  of  branch-line  expansion.  Out 
in  Iowa  the  Rock  Island  had  taken  over  the  Des  Moines,  In- 
dianola,  and  Missouri  Railroad  Company  which  had  been 
incorporated  back  in  1870  and  which  had  built  21  miles  of 
track  from  Des  Moines  to  Indianola  to  open  up  a  rich  farm- 
ing belt.  The  road  had  been  built  by  B.  F.  Allen,  a  contractor, 
and  a  director  of  the  Rock  Island,  and  the  Rock  Island  had 
advanced  $179,300  to  aid  in  the  construction.  Leased  to  the 
Rock  Island,  the  road  had  failed  to  pay  interest  on  its  bonds 
and  a  suit  for  foreclosure  had  been  filed. 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  91 

While  these  proceedings  were  pending  the  Indianola  Com- 
pany conveyed  its  road  to  the  Iowa  Southern  and  Missouri 
Northern  Railroad  Company,  subject  to  the  mortgage  and 
lease  to  the  Rock  Island.  There  followed  a  court  action  in  Iowa 
in  which  the  proceedings  were  challenged.  The  suit  was  set- 
tled in  August,  1876,  when  the  court  upheld  the  foreclosure. 
The  Rock  Island  purchased  the  property  and  conveyed  its 
equity  to  the  Iowa  Southern  and  Minnesota  Northern. 

Another  line  now  operated  by  Riddle  was  the  Des  Moines, 
Winterset  and  Southwestern  which  had  been  incorporated  in 
1871  to  build  a  line  from  Summerset,  on  the  Indianola  branch, 
to  Winterset,  in  Madison  County. 

In  order  to  tap  what  appeared  to  be  a  coming  industrial 
section  in  the  Chicago  area,  Riddle  investigated  the  holdings 
of  a  company  that  had  planned  a  line  from  South  Chicago  "in 
a  westerly  direction."  The  capital  stock  and  the  right-of-way 
on  which  it  was  proposed  to  build  this  road  were  owned  by 
the  Calumet  and  Chicago  Canal  and  Dock  Company.  Riddle 
negotiated  a  deal  in  1874  and  the  Rock  Island  acquired  the 
right-of-way  and  built  the  South  Chicago  branch,  extending 
from  South  Englewood  to  the  harbor  of  South  Chicago— seven 
and  a  half  miles  of  railroad  that  in  the  years  to  come  was  to 
prove  one  of  the  system's  most  valuable  acquisitions. 

The  middle  1870's  saw  an  ever-increasing  demand  for  better 
and  more  convenient  passenger  schedules  and  service,  and  one 
of  the  phases  of  long-distance  travel  that  irritated  the  passen- 
gers was  the  necessity  for  meal  stops.  It  was  the  general  prac- 
tice to  lay  out  a  schedule  so  that  at  the  accepted  time  of  day 
for  dinner  and  supper  the  trains  would  arrive  at  some  central 
point  where  restaurant  facilities  at  the  depot  were  provided. 
There  a  stop  would  be  made  for  twenty  minutes  to  a  half  an 
hour,  and  the  passengers  who  had  failed  to  provide  themselves 
with  a  box  lunch  before  leaving  home  would  pile  off  and  rush 
the  lunch  counters. 

The  food  served  wasn't  too  good,  and  there  were  many 
complaints.  Railroads  in  the  east  had  begun  to  experiment 
with  what  they  called  restaurant  cars,  and  Riddle  believed  that 


92  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

the  Rock  Island  might  get  the  jump  on  the  Western  hnes  by 
doing  some  experimenting  now. 

Tracy  was  not  against  the  idea  when  Riddle  brought  it  up. 
Tracy  liked  to  feel  that  his  railroad  was  the  best  in  the  United 
States  and  that  it  stood  above  all  else  for  progress.  Accordingly, 
the  Rock  Island's  general  passenger  agent,  A.  M.  Smith,  was 
assigned  to  investigate  the  possibilities. 

On  the  basis  of  Smith's  report  and  recommendations  after 
looking  over  some  of  the  restaurant-car  equipment  on  the 
Eastern  roads,  the  Rock  Island  ordered  four  restaurant  cars 
of  its  own  design  from  the  builders. 

They  were  beautiful  to  behold,  inside  and  out.  Rich  panel- 
ing filled  the  space  between  the  windows,  brass  hanging  lamps 
were  provided  for  oil  illumination,  and  benches  with  curved 
backs  were  provided  for  seating.  The  exterior  was  done  in 
forest  green  and  beneath  the  windows  at  the  center  of  the  car 
hand-painted  decorations  around  a  splendid  cornucopia  gave 
colorful  promise  of  the  elegance  one  would  find  inside. 

Smith  bought  the  best  quality  in  table  linens.  He  hand- 
picked  the  men  to  man  these  cars.  It  was  a  radical  departure 
from  anything  yet  offered  the  traveler  in  the  West,  and  the 
Rock  Island  was  going  to  take  full  advantage  of  the  innova- 
tion. Not  only  would  there  be  the  most  superb  food  prepared 
by  the  best  of  chefs,  but  there  would  be  fine  wines  and  liquors 
available  at  reasonable  prices. 

Plans  were  laid  to  launch  this  new  service  early  in  May  of 
1877.  Tracy  would  play  host  to  an  invited  group  of  prominent 
people  to  feast  on  the  food  and  drink.  Members  of  the  press 
would  be  included. 

John  Tracy  never  gave  the  party.  He  knew,  in  his  silent 
heart,  that  he  stood  on  the  threshold  of  disaster.  He  saw  it 
coming.  Hugh  Riddle  saw  it  coming  and  could  do  nothing 
about  it.  Tracy,  early  in  the  year,  was  worth  a  million  dollars 
on  paper.  He  had  been  lured  into  a  pool  operation  in  stock 
speculation  by  a  group  of  his  New  York  associates.  On  the 
morning  of  April  11  he  was  summoned  to  New  York.  The 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  93 

pool  was  in  trouble.  There  might  be  a  way  of  working  out  of 
it.  Tracy  didn't  know. 

April  13  was  his  tragic  day.  His  financial  house  collapsed. 
He  lost  more  than  $600,000— every  cent  he  had,  everything  he 
had  worked  for  and  had  contrived  to  make. 

On  the  following  day,  his  face  drawn  and  his  cheeks  sunken 
—visibly  a  physical  and  mental  wreck— he  submitted  his  res- 
ignation as  Rock  Island's  president. 

Then  Tracy,  without  a  backward  look,  turned  o\'er  to  Hugh 
Riddle  a  system  which  had  grown  from  452  miles  when  he 
had  become  president,  to  1,003  niiles  of  sound,  prosperous, 
and  vigorous  railroad.  He  had  seen  gross  revenues  grow  from 
$3,574,000  as  of  March  31,  1867— his  first  year- to  $7,854,000 
at  the  end  of  his  tenth  year  in  office.  He  had  given  unsparingly 
of  his  great  genius  and  his  indomitable  courage,  and  now  it 
was  Hugh  Riddle's  turn  to  carry  on. 


0©  On  to  Kansas  City 


Hugh  Riddle  was  55  years  old  when  he  assumed  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Rock  Island.  Even  then  he  was  designated  in 
biographical  sketches  as  "a  conspicuous  character  in  railroad 
history  ...  of  unswerving  integrity,  stern  but  always  just." 
He  was  exceedingly  conscious  of  the  importance  of  good 
public  relations  and  of  the  necessit}'  to  keep  officers  and  em- 
ployees informed  of  every  move  designed  to  further  the  prog- 
ress of  the  railroad.  This  was  evidenced  in  the  meticulous 


94  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

care  with  which  he  prepared  his  annual  reports.  Long  ago  he 
had  taken  over  this  chore  for  John  Tracy,  and  the  informative 
nature  of  those  reports  had  attracted  widespread  attention. 

The  dining-car  service  was  launched  under  his  direction. 
Overnight  it  became  vastly  popular  with  the  railroad's  patrons. 
Officers  of  competing  lines  watched  the  experiment  with 
tongue  in  cheek.  Some  thought  it  would  never  work.  Others 
grudgingly  admitted  that  sooner  or  later  they  would  have  to 
follow  suit. 

General  Passenger  Agent  Smith,  at  Riddle's  direction,  as- 
sumed the  duties  of  dining  car  superintendent.  He  appointed 
Frank  M.  Stewart  as  the  first  steward.  The  dining-car  policy 
was  set  forth  in  a  letter  of  instructions  from  Smith  to  Stewart 
which  said: 

"You  will  have  entire  charge  of  the  car  and  help,  and  will 
be  held  directly  responsible  for  the  reputation  of  the  car.  You 
will  feed  no  dead-heads  (officers  and  employees  traveling  on 
passes)  other  than  provided  for  as  below. 

"The  price  of  meals  will  be  75^;  children,  at  your  discre- 
tion, half  price.  You  will  understand  that  no  liquor  (by  the 
drink)  is  to  be  retailed  on  the  car  when  on  the  road  or  when 
laying  over  at  either  end.  Our  packages  are  so  small  and  cheap 
that  anyone  wanting  to  buy  liquor  must  buy  the  bottle  or 
flask,  and  you  will  not,  under  any  circumstances,  sell  liquor 
to  trainmen. 

"You  will  dead-head  Mr.  Riddle,  Kimball,  Manvel,  and 
Royce;  and  anyone  bearing  a  request  from  Mr.  Riddle,  Kim- 
ball, or  Manvel  for  free  meals  will  be  honored. 

"Butter,  eggs,  milk,  cream,  vegetables,  and  anything  that  is 
needed  in  the  car,  that  we  do  not  send  from  here,  you  will 
purchase,  having,  so  far  as  possible,  bills  made,  and  present 
same  to  Mr.  Stearns  for  payment.  We  will  send  you  from 
here  tenderloins,  fish,  hams,  bacon,  oysters  and  groceries, 
liquor  and  cigars,  and  anything  else  that  you  find  you  need. 

"Your  pay  will  be  $75  per  month;  cook,  $65;  waiters,  $20. 
You  will  enclose  your  report  of  each  day's  trip  on  No.  2  of 


THE    LINKS    AND    THE    FORGE  95 

the  same  day,  enclosing  report  and  money  in  U.S.  envelope, 
and  send  it  by  express. 

"I  have  an  ice  box  made  to  send  your  meats,  etc.,  in  before 
you  are  out  of  meats,  so  telegraph  me  and  I  will  always  send 
the  box  on  No.  i.  When  the  box  is  received,  empty  and  re- 
turn it  on  the  next  train.  A  waybill  will  be  sent  with  everything, 
which  sign  and  return  at  once.  All  other  meats  like  mutton, 
pork  chops,  sausage,  etc.,  you  will  buy  in  your  own  market. 

"Trainmen  and  others  attached  to  the  train  only  will  be 
fed  for  35^,  you  using  your  own  discretion  about  feeding  them; 
a  good  fair  meal  will  be  served,  but  not  made  up  of  quail, 
plover,  etc.  If  at  any  time  the  trainmen  or  express  or  mail 
officials  demur  to  the  substantial  meal  that  you  give  them,  in- 
form them  that  it  is  their  privilege  to  eat  somewhere  else, 
the  cars  are  not  run  for  their  benefit.  You  will  see  that  your 
help  keep  neat,  clean  and  tidy.  You  will  find  that  the  range 
needs  a  good  deal  of  attention;  the  soot  and  ashes  accumulate 
quickly  around  the  oven  which  will  prevent  its  heating  quick. 
We  have  an  extra  key  to  the  meat  box.  We  will  send  you,  in 
the  Australia  (the  name  of  one  of  the  four  diners)  when  it 
comes,  the  last  of  the  week,  some  wines." 

With  the  four  palace  dining  cars,  the  Australia,  Overland, 
Oriental,  and  Occidental,  the  Rock  Island's  passenger  equip- 
ment was  second  to  none.  The  road  owned  1 5  sleeping  cars, 
the  first  of  which  had  been  acquired  in  1863.  These  cars  were 
ornate  and  highly  comfortable  in  their  accommodations. 

With  the  inauguration  of  the  dining-car  service.  Riddle 
assigned  to  the  Western  Bank  Note  and  Engraving  Company 
the  job  of  making  up  the  menu.  The  engravers  etched  an 
ornate  steel  plate  such  as  they  would  prepare  for  stock  and 
bond  issues  and  from  this  plate  was  struck  the  menu  covers. 
The  inside  was  printed.  The  dinner  and  supper  menus  were 
most  elaborate.  Wild  game  in  season  appeared  in  great  variety 
on  the  75-cent  meal  which  was  complete  from  soups  and  ap- 
petizers to  fancy  desserts.  The  meals  consisted  of  seven  courses 
and  the  passenger  could  order  all  he  could  consume. 

Everitte  St.  John,  advertising  agent,  created  the  slogan 


96  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  Great  Rock  Island  Route,  in  the  early  1870's,  and  it  was 
about  the  time  of  the  launching  of  the  diners  that  this  slogan 
came  into  use  in  all  the  railroad's  publicity  and  advertising. 

Certainly  Hugh  Riddle  drove  hard  to  live  up  to  the  slogan. 
He  became  the  first  in  the  line  of  Rock  Island  chief  execu- 
tives to  give  serious  thought  to  industrial  development  on 
the  railroad.  Having  come  from  the  East,  where  the  impor- 
tance of  locating  plants  and  factories  on  the  line,  from  which 
additional  traffic  could  be  derived,  had  been  fully  demon- 
strated. Riddle  realized  that  such  a  program  of  development 
on  the  Rock  Island  was  greatly  needed. 

Until  Riddle  had  developed  the  idea  and  built  the  South 
Chicago  Branch,  the  railroad's  industrial  facilities  brought 
about  by  its  own  efforts  consisted  mainly  of  stockyards  at 
various  cattle-shipping  points,  and  a  few  "grain  houses." 
These  were  storage  facilities,  but  not  grain  elevators.  The 
elevator  was  to  come  into  being  at  a  later  date. 

Hugh  Riddle's  feeling  about  industrial  development  may  be 
summed  up  in  his  written  opinion  of  the  South  Chicago  area. 

"The  growing  importance  of  this  new  town,"  he  said, 
"manifested  in  the  various  manufacturing  enterprises  started, 
the  improvement  of  the  harbor,  the  grading  of  streets,  and 
erection  of  new  buildings,  give  promise  of  a  large  business  at 
no  distant  day. 

"Already  several  large  deposits  of  lumber  have  been  made 
on  its  docks.  Iron  works  have  been  established;  new  and  ex- 
tensive mills  projected;  and  the  attention  of  the  capitalist,  as 
well  as  the  manufacturer,  has  been  attracted  to  South  Chi- 
cago, likely  soon  to  become  one  of  the  most  important  and 
busy  of  Chicago's  many  suburban  towns.  Believing  that  the 
time  will  soon  come  when  the  possession  of  this  branch  will 
prove  of  great  value  to  the  company,  your  managers  felt  justi- 
fied in  incurring  the  comparatively  small  outlay  necessary  to 
secure  a  permanent  location  to  this  promising  suburb  and  its 
harbor." 

In  his  annual  report  after  his  first  year  as  president  (the  re- 
port of  1877)  Riddle  said,  of  South  Chicago,  "an  addition 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  97 

of  nearly  three  miles  of  track  has  been  made  to  the  South 
Chicago  Branch  road  to  reach  the  Joseph  H.  Brown  Steel 
and  Iron  Works  and  the  various  new  lumber  yards  .  .  ,  The 
growth  and  development  of  new  enterprises  in  the  vicinity  of 
South  Chicago,  taken  in  connection  with  the  traffic  already 
secured,  gives  assurances  that  this  branch  of  your  railroad  will 
prove  a  valuable  acquisition  in  the  future." 

Riddle's  interest  in  South  Chicago,  great  as  it  was,  did  not 
blind  him  to  other  possibilities  for  his  system.  Ever  since  the 
Leavenworth  line  had  been  completed  Riddle  had  kept  his 
eye  on  another  Missouri  town,  which  in  recent  years  had 
given  every  indication  that  it  would  boom  into  a  real  metropo- 
lis. That  was  Kansas  City. 

Connecting  with  the  Rock  Island  main  line  at  Cameron, 
Missouri,  was  the  Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph  railroad.  If  the 
Rock  Island  could  effect  a  contract  with  that  line,  it  would  be 
possible  to  operate  into  Kansas  City. 

Accordingly,  Riddle  entered  into  negotiations  with  the 
Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph,  and  on  December  4,  1879,  signed  an 
agreement  which  gave  the  Rock  Island  the  right  for  a  term 
of  25  years  "to  run  its  passenger  and  freight  trains  from 
Cameron,  Missouri,  to  Kansas  City,  together  with  the  right 
to  use  jointly  the  freight  depot,  tracks,  and  other  facilities  of 
the  said  Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph  Railroad  Company  in  Kansas 
City." 

Under  the  terms  of  the  contract  the  Rock  Island  had  to 
pay  the  Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph  7  percent  interest  on  one-half 
of  the  valuation  of  the  section  of  the  road  used  and  part  of 
the  cost  of  maintenance  based  on  train  mileage. 

A  further  contract  was  made  with  the  Union  Passenger 
Depot  Company  in  Kansas  City  by  which  the  Rock  Island 
would  participate  in  the  use  of  the  passenger  terminal  facilities 
on  the  same  basis  as  the  eight  other  railroads  that  ran  into 
the  station. 

Through  passenger  and  freight  service  between  Chicago 
and  Kansas  City  was  inaugurated  on  January  5,  1880— a  big 
milestone  in  Riddle's  administration. 


98  IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


W  The  consolidation  of  1880 


The  rapid  growth  and  the  increasing  prosperity  of  the  Rock 
Island  Lines  during  the  years  of  John  Tracy's  leadership  and 
now  under  the  administration  of  Hugh  Riddle  served  as  in- 
spiration to  many  promoters  and  builders,  mainly  in  Iowa, 
to  get  into  the  expanding  railroad  picture.  Some  of  these 
schemes  were  foredoomed  to  failure  and  others,  while  finan- 
cially weak  at  the  inception,  gave  promise  of  future  economic 
soundness. 

An  example  was  the  first  railroad  ever  to  enter  the  city  of 
Des  Moines.  It  was  incorporated  in  1853  as  the  Keokuk,  Fort 
Des  Moines  and  Minnesota  Rail  Road  Company.  The  pur- 
pose, simply  stated  in  the  charter,  was  to  construct  and 
operate  a  railroad  from  Keokuk,  Iowa,  to  the  northern  bound- 
ary of  the  state. 

Construction  was  begun  in  the  spring  of  1856  after  the  usual 
problems  of  raising  sufficient  funds  had  been  overcome,  and 
by  the  following  year  the  railroad,  building  in  a  northwesterly 
line  toward  Des  Moines,  reached  the  town  of  Bentonsport, 
38  miles  from  its  starting  point. 

The  survey  for  the  line  was  meanwhile  extended  beyond 
Des  Moines  to  Fort  Dodge,  and  the  company,  in  March  of 
1858,  through  an  act  of  the  Iowa  Legislature,  was  granted 
468,000  acres  of  land  contiguous  to  the  proposed  Des 
Moines  -  Fort  Dodge  route. 

The  building  continued  toward  the  Iowa  capital,  and  by 
1861  the  road  reached  Eddyville.  There  it  remained  until 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War.  Meanwhile,  the  company  con- 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE  99 

centrated  on  the  sale  of  land  north  of  Des  Moines  and  had 
little  or  no  trouble  in  realizing  considerable  money. 

On  June  i,  1864,  the  corporate  name  was  changed  to  the 
Des  Moines  Valley  Rail  Road  Company. 

Construction  from  Eddyville  was  resumed  in  1865  and  the 
last  rail  into  Des  Moines  was  spiked  down  in  August  1866. 
On  the  29th  of  that  month  Des  Moines  saw  its  first  passenger 
train  steam  in  from  the  south.  The  excursion  was  accorded  a 
great  welcome. 

This  occurred  just  a  few  weeks  after  the  Rock  Island  had 
taken  over  the  mileage  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  profit- 
ing by  all  the  ill-feeling  that  had  been  generated  by  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Missouri's  failure  to  reach  the  capital  from  the 
east. 

The  Des  Moines  Valley  railroad  ran  its  construction  north 
from  Des  Moines  to  Tara  in  1868-70  and  secured  trackage 
rights  over  five  miles  of  the  Illinois  Central  to  enter  Fort 
Dodge. 

By  late  in  1873  the  net  receipts  from  the  sale  of  the  lands 
granted  to  the  Des  Moines  Valley  totaled  $2,587,052.  An 
additional  $32,341  represented  profit  realized  from  the  retire- 
ment of  land-grant  bonds.  After  paying  out  $50,130  for  the 
redemption  of  interest  coupons,  the  company  had  a  net  of 
$2,569,263,  all  of  which  went  into  the  construction  program. 

But  despite  the  land  sales,  the  line,  in  1873,  was  in  financial 
trouble.  On  October  17,  that  portion  of  the  road  between 
Keokuk  and  Des  Moines  was  foreclosed  and  sold  to  a  pur- 
chasing committee  representing  first-mortgage  bondholders. 
On  the  same  day  at  Des  Moines,  in  another  foreclosure  sale, 
the  portion  of  the  line  from  Des  Moines  to  Fort  Dodge  was 
sold  to  a  committee  representing  first-  and  second-mortgage 
and  land-grant  convertible  bondholders. 

The  Keokuk  and  Des  Moines  Railway  Company  was  in- 
corporated January  6,  1874,  to  acquire  "that  portion  of  the 
Des  Moines  Valley  Rail  Road  Company  between  Keokuk 
and  Des  Moines."  The  purchasing  committee  which  had 
taken  over  this  part  of  the  defunct  Des  Moines  Valley  at  the 


1 00        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

foreclosure  sale  deeded  its  holdings  to  the  new  corporation. 

One  month  later  the  Des  Moines  and  Fort  Dodge  Railroad 
Company  was  incorporated  under  Iowa  law  and  the  foreclosed 
property  of  the  Des  Moines  Valley  between  these  cities  was 
conveyed  to  the  new  corporation. 

On  May  14,  1878,  with  an  eye  to  the  future  importance  of 
the  Keokuk -Des  Moines  Territory,  Hugh  Riddle,  on  behalf 
of  the  Rock  Island,  entered  into  an  agreement  with  the  Keo- 
kuk and  Des  Moines  to  lease  the  line.  The  contract  provided 
that  the  Rock  Island  should  acquire  a  majority  of  the  com- 
mon and  preferred  stock  of  the  Keokuk  line  at  50  cents  per 
share  for  the  common  and  $1  for  the  preferred.  The  Rock 
Island  further  agreed  to  pay  25  percent  of  the  gross  earnings 
to  the  Keokuk  line  as  rental,  with  a  stipulation  that  in  no 
case  should  the  annual  payments  be  less  than  $137,500,  this 
sum  representing  the  expense  of  maintaining  the  corporate 
organization  of  the  Keokuk  line. 

By  the  dawn  of  the  year  1880  it  was  apparent  to  Hugh  Rid- 
dle and  the  directors  of  the  Rock  Island  that  a  consolidation 
of  the  expanding  mileage,  including  leased  lines  and  lines 
under  separate  corporate  structure  which  the  Rock  Island  had 
financed,  should  be  effected.  It  would  be  vastly  more  eco- 
nomical to  bring  these  properties  into  one  corporate  struc- 
ture, and  such  a  move  would  result  in  more  efficient  operation. 

Thus  another  great  milepost  in  Rock  Island  history  was 
reached. 

The  articles  of  consolidation  were  filed  with  the  secretary 
of  state  of  Illinois  on  June  2,  1880,  and  with  the  secretary  of 
state  of  Iowa  on  June  3.  The  corporate  name  was  changed  to 
The  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railway  Company, 
known  thereafter  in  financial  circles  as  Pacific  No.  3. 

At  the  time  of  the  consolidation  the  properties  brought  into 
the  new  structure  were  as  follows: 

OWNED  LINES 

The  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
main  line  from  Chicago  to  Council  Bluffs. 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE         101 

The  South  Chicago  Branch  from  Englewood  to  South  Chi- 
cago. 

Washington  (Iowa)  and  Oskaloosa  Branches  from  Wilton  to 
Muscatine  and  Washington;  Oskaloosa  to  Knoxville. 

Main  line  of  the  Iowa  Southern  and  Missouri  Northern  (origi- 
nally the  Chicago  and  Southwestern)  from  Washington 
to  Leavenworth, 

The  Atchison  Branch  from  Edgerton  Junction  to  Winthrop, 
Missouri,  opposite  the  city  of  Atchison,  Kansas. 

The  Iowa  Southern  and  Missouri  Northern  branch  lines  from 
Des  Moines  to  Indianola  (originally  the  Des  Moines,  In- 
dianola  and  Missouri  Railroad);  Des  Moines  to  Win- 
terset  (formerly  Des  Moines,  Winterset and  Southwestern 
Railroad  Company). 

The  Newton  and  Monroe  Railroad. 

Atlantic  Southern  Railroad,  from  Atlantic  to  Griswold. 

The  Avoca,  Macedonia  and  Southwestern  Railroad,  from 
Avoca  to  Carson. 

Atlantic  and  Audubon  Railroad. 

LEASED  LINES 

Peoria  and  Bureau  Valley  Railroad,  from  Bureau  Junction 
(Illinois)  to  Peoria. 

Keokuk  and  Des  Moines  Railroad, 

The  Fort  Leavenworth  Railroad,  extending  from  the  Mis- 
souri River  Bridge  to  Leavenworth,  Kansas. 

Avoca,  Harlan  and  Northern  Railroad  from  Avoca  to  Harlan, 
Iowa. 

Guthrie  and  Northwestern  Railroad,  from  Menlo  to  Guthrie 
Center,  Iowa. 

The  Keosauqua  and  Southwestern  Railroad,  from  Mount  Zion 
to  Keosauqua,  Iowa, 

The  articles  of  consolidation  provided  that  the  lines  in- 
volved "merge  their  capital  stocks,  corporate  and  other  fran- 
chises, rights,  privileges  and  property  of  every  nature  and 
description  and  create  one  consolidated  corporation  to  be 


1 02        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

known  by  the  corporate  name  of  The  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
AND  Pacific  Railway  Company." 

It  was  further  provided  that  the  new  company  "own,  com- 
plete, extend,  improve,  maintain  and  operate  these  railroads; 
use  and  enjoy  all  of  the  corporate  and  other  franchises,  rights 
and  privileges,  immunities  and  property  which  form  a  part  of 
or  are  appurtenant  to  said  railroads  and  .  .  .  construct  or 
acquire  by  purchase  or  lease,  railroads  laterally  to  any  of  the 
several  lines  consolidated." 

The  plan  provided  for  the  issuance  of  stock  of  the  consoli- 
dated company  of  the  same  par  value  as  that  issued  by  the 
separate  companies  and  outstanding  as  of  June  2,  1880, 

A  great  new  system  of  railroad  stood  on  the  threshold  of 
another  chapter  in  its  progressive  career.  Already  Riddle  had 
his  eye  on  the  future  of  Kansas.  Beyond  the  high  plains  was 
Colorado  with  its  rich  gold  and  silver  strikes.  Southward  was 
the  Oklahoma  Territory  and  the  vast  empire  of  Texas.  In  all 
that  territory  there  was  room  for  the  Rock  Island,  room  for 
hordes  of  settlers  to  take  over  the  treeless  prairies  and  turn 
the  land  to  the  production  of  grain  and  livestock. 

At  the  top  of  Rock  Island's  official  family,  as  of  the  con- 
solidation of  1880,  were,  next  to  Hugh  Riddle,  David  Dows, 
of  New  York,  vice-president,  representing  Eastern  financial 
interests  who  had  heavy  holdings  in  the  property;  and  Ransom 
R.  Cable,  of  Rock  Island,  Illinois,  second  vice-president,  who 
in  1877  had  become  a  director  and  in  1879  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  Riddle  to  the  newly  created  post  as  assistant  to 
the  president. 

Ransom  Cable  was  the  man  to  watch.  Riddle  knew  it  and 
the  directors  knew  it.  He  was  aggressive  and,  in  a  very  large 
sense,  a  lone  wolf.  It  was  not  in  his  nature  to  consult  with 
his  associates  when  he  saw  a  move  that  he  thought  should 
be  made.  He  made  his  decisions  quickly,  and  he  carried  them 
out. 

Cable  was  born  in  Athens  County,  Ohio,  September  23, 
1834.  His  father,  a  shrewd  businessman,  had  various  interests, 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE         103 

including  coal  mining.  Young  Cable  received  a  good  educa- 
tion in  school  and  in  business. 

He  had  an  uncle  in  the  mining  business  in  the  Coal  Valley 
district,  south  of  Rock  Island,  Illinois.  In  1857  Ransom  Cable 
came  to  Rock  Island  to  visit  his  relatives,  decided  he  liked 
the  people  and  the  country,  and  chose  to  remain.  He  joined 
his  uncle  in  that  gentleman's  various  enterprises,  including 
the  struggling  railroad  property  that  had  started  out  as  the 
Rock  Island  and  Peoria  Rail  Road  Company.  It  had  been 
chartered  in  1855,  and  its  purpose  was  to  build  a  line  from 
"the  City  of  Rock  Island  in  a  southeasterly  direction  to 
Peoria." 

When  young  Cable  reached  the  scene  the  railroad  had  built 
12  miles  down  into  the  Coal  Valley  and  it  was  operating 
under  control  of  the  Coal  Valley  Mining  Company.  The 
mines  were  doing  a  profitable  business  and  the  owners  were 
inclined  to  let  outside  interests  do  the  job  of  finishing  the 
railroad. 

A  new  company  was  formed  for  this  purpose  in  March  1867 
under  the  name  of  the  Peoria  and  Rock  Island  Railway  Com- 
pany, and  its  charter  provided  for  building  from  Peoria  to 
Rock  Island,  and  extending  the  line  from  Peoria  to  a  connec- 
tion with  the  St.  Louis,  Jacksonville  and  Chicago  Railroad 
in  Tazewell  County,  Illinois.  An  amendment  to  the  charter 
in  March  1869  gave  authority  to  build  a  branch  to  extend  to 
the  Mississippi  River  in  the  vicinity  of  Muscatine,  Iowa.  By 
prearrangement  between  the  two  existing  companies,  the 
Peoria  and  Rock  Island  was  to  build  from  Peoria  to  connect 
at  Coal  Valley  with  the  completed  trackage  of  the  Rock 
Island  and  Peoria.  Surveys  were  made,  rights-of-way  were  ob- 
tained, and  most  of  the  grading  had  been  done  on  the  new 
line  when  in  September  of  1869  the  two  companies  con- 
solidated to  form  the  Peoria  and  Rock  Island  Railway  Co. 
This  latter  organization  completed  the  railroad  and  placed 
it  in  operation  on  January  1,  1872. 

On  August  1,  1874,  the  property  went  into  receivership, 
under  which  it  operated  until  December  12,  1877,  when  it 


1 04        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

was  bought  at  a  foreclosure  sale  by  Ransom  Cable.  Cable 
organized  a  fourth  company  under  the  name  of  Rock  Island 
and  Peoria  Railway  Company  and  transferred  his  certificate  of 
purchase  as  trustee  of  the  first  mortgage  to  that  corporation. 

Cable's  interest  in  railroads  had  begun  before  his  departure 
from  his  Ohio  home.  After  settling  in  Rock  Island  and  watch- 
ing the  progress  of  the  Rock  Island  system,  his  interest  be- 
came more  and  more  intense. 

During  his  business  progress  he  branched  out  to  open  a 
real  estate  and  investment  firm.  Interest  rates  were  from  7  to 
10  percent,  and  because  of  the  ever-expanding  business  and 
farm  development  there  was  an  enormous  demand  for  money. 
Well-placed  loans  on  good  farm  land  and  industrial  and 
residential  property,  with  these  high  interest  rates,  made  for 
exceedingly  sound  and  profitable  investments. 

There  seemed  to  be  no  limit  to  Cable's  credit.  He  had  de- 
veloped strong  banking  connections  in  the  East  and  appeared 
to  be  able  to  secure  large  sums  of  money  without  the  slightest 
difficulty  whenever  some  new  project  attracted  his  attention. 

In  1870  he  became  president  of  the  Rockford,  Rock  Island 
and  St.  Louis  Railroad  Company,  part  of  which  line  later 
was  taken  over  by  the  Burlington. 

Recognized  as  an  outstanding  leader  in  the  civic  and  busi- 
ness life  of  Rock  Island  and  an  important  factor  in  the  area's 
industrial  progress  and  development.  Cable  was  elected  to 
the  Rock  Island  Railroad's  Board  of  Directors  on  June  4, 1877. 

From  that  time  on  he  was  determined  to  have  an  active 
hand  in  the  company's  management  in  a  top-level  job,  and 
this  goal  was  achieved  when  the  office  of  assistant  to  the  presi- 
dent was  created  on  June  4,  1879. 

Ransom  Cable  was  not  cut  out  to  be  assistant  to  anyone. 
That  was  apparent  right  from  the  start.  It  caused  Riddle  no 
little  concern,  but  Riddle  was  in  no  position  to  say  much 
about  it.  Cable  was  a  director  and  a  member  of  the  executive 
committee,  and  on  the  board  he  had  many  close  friends  who, 
to  all  appearances,  had  Cable's  future  in  mind. 

The  job  of  assistant  to  the  president  ended  with  the  con- 


THE    LINKS   AND    THE    FORGE         105 

solidation  of  June  2,  1880.  Cable  was  elected  second  vice- 
president,  and  in  this  capacity  took  over  the  operating  and 
traffic  departments. 

Riddle,  whose  aim  was  industrial  development  on  the  line 
and  the  greater  expansion  of  terminal  facilities,  found  his 
next-in-command  with  no  sympathy  for  that  phase  of  rail- 
roading. Riddle,  with  his  eye  on  the  territory  west  of  Mis- 
souri, found  Cable  of  the  opinion  that  such  an  expansion  was 
wholly  unnecessary.  The  big  line  west  of  the  Missouri  was  the 
Union  Pacific.  Cable  felt  that  a  traffic  arrangement  could  be 
worked  out  with  that  road  which  would  redound  to  the  bene- 
fit of  the  Rock  Island. 

Cable's  views  apparently  had  the  backing  of  the  majority 
of  the  members  of  the  board,  including  such  powerful  New 
York  figures  as  Jay  Gould  and  Sidney  Dillon.  On  June  1, 
1881,  Cable  had  his  title  changed  to  vice-president  and  general 
manager. 

At  the  annual  meeting  on  June  6,  1883,  when  the  business 
of  the  election  of  officers  was  reached,  Hugh  Riddle  decided 
he  had  had  enough.  He  declined  re-election  to  the  presidency. 
He  would  remain  as  a  member  of  the  board. 

Thus  the  way  was  cleared  for  the  election  of  Ransom  R. 
Cable  to  succeed  Riddle.  The  title  of  president  wasn't  enough 
for  Cable.  He  tacked  onto  it  the  words  "general  manager." 
He  wanted  the  world  to  know  that  he  was  the  whole  Rock 
Island  road— the  supreme  boss. 

Riddle  could  retire  with  the  knowledge  that  he  had  done 
his  job  well.  The  system,  under  his  administration,  had  grown 
to  1,381  miles.  Among  important  building  projects  he  had 
fathered  was  the  new  line  from  Davenport  along  the  Missis- 
sippi River  to  Muscatine,  thus  eliminating  Wilton  Junction 
on  the  route  to  Leavenworth  and  Kansas  City.  This  section 
was  completed  and  opened  for  traffic  in  1881. 

Riddle  had  seen  annual  revenues  climb  above  the  $13,000,- 
000  mark.  From  here  on  it  would  be  Cable's  chore. 


PART    THREE 


Beyond  the  Missouri 


Q®®l»Q<S)®tl 


,(D  Branching  out  in  Iowa 


Cable's  first  chore,  as  it  eventually  turned  out,  proved  to  be 
a  sad  one  indeed  for  the  Rock  Island  system. 

It  revolved  around  that  business  of  expansion  west  of  the 
Missouri,  Several  of  the  Rock  Island's  competitors  had  already 
branched  into  that  territory  and  were  enjoying  an  increasing 
amount  of  traffic  eastward  to  Chicago,  and  beyond,  that  the 
Rock  Island  couldn't  touch.  For  the  Rock  Island  to  consider 
opening  up  in  Nebraska  and  Kansas  an  enormous  amount  of 
money  for  new  construction  would  have  to  be  raised  and 
Cable  couldn't  see  such  a  project. 

He  thought  the  next  best  thing  would  be  to  sit  down  with 
officers  of  the  Milwaukee  on  the  east  of  the  Missouri  and  the 
Union  Pacific  on  the  west  and  work  out  a  deal. 

On  December  5,  1883,  the  three  lines  came  up  with  what 
was  then  called  the  tripartite  agreement.  Under  the  terms  of 
the  agreement  it  was  decided  "to  establish  and  maintain  a 
closer  alliance  between  said  systems"  that  there  might  "be 
secured  to  each,  the  friendly  assistance  and  cooperation  of 
all  the  others  in  all  reasonable  and  lawful  ways,  in  developing 
and  protecting  traffic  over  through  lines  composed  of  portions 
of  the  Union  Pacific  and  portions  of  the  railways  of  one  or 
more  of  the  other  parties"  thereto;  "in  reducing  the  expenses 
attending  such  development  and  protection  and  the  manage- 
ment and  operation  of  their  several  lines." 

It  was  further  declared  that  "such  an  alliance  can  be  made 
most  effective  and  the  interests  of  the  pubhc  best  promoted 

109 


MU        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

by  an  arrangement  which  will  make  the  railway  systems  of  the 
other  parties  substantially  a  part  of  the  system  of  the  Union 
Pacific,  as  to  eastbound  traffic  which  would  pass  through 
Council  Bluffs,"  and  the  Union  Pacific,  "a  part  of  the  railway 
of  each  of  the  other  parties  as  to  westbound  traffic"  through 
Council  Bluffs. 

The  contract  incorporated  these  declared  intentions,  and 
the  result  should  have  been  to  extend  the  Union  Pacific  right 
into  Chicago  over  the  Milwaukee  and  Rock  Island,  and  to  ex- 
tend these  two  roads  to  each  terminus  on  the  Union  Pacific's 
main  line  and  branches. 

Up  to  that  point  it  sounded  like  a  pretty  fair  proposition 
for  all  concerned.  But  there  were  a  couple  of  other  railroads 
terminating  at  Council  Bluffs,  too.  They  wanted  to  get  into 
the  act.  They  were  vociferous  about  it.  So,  by  December  29 
the  Wabash,  St.  Louis  and  Pacific  Railway  Company  and  the 
Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railway  Company  were  made  par- 
ties to  the  agreement. 

Still  another  railroad,  the  Burlington  and  Missouri  River  in 
Nebraska,  which  was  competitive  with  the  Union  Pacific  at 
several  points,  and  with  the  Eastern  members  of  the  agree- 
ment at  Council  Bluffs,  didn't  like  the  deal  at  all.  It  used 
every  means  available  to  it  to  prevent  the  contract  from 
becoming  effective  insofar  as  performance  by  the  Union 
Pacific  was  concerned. 

Then  the  Union  Pacific  got  into  financial  difficulties,  and, 
before  the  year  1884  was  half  over.  Ransom  Cable  had  to 
agree  that  the  only  way  by  which  the  Rock  Island  could  pro- 
tect its  interests  in  traffic  originating  in  or  destined  to  the 
territory  beyond  the  Missouri  was  to  build  its  own  railroad. 
Certainly,  while  the  Eastern  lines  tried  to  live  up  to  the  agree- 
ment the  Union  Pacific  was  not  performing  in  any  sense  of 
the  word. 

While  Cable  turned  over  to  his  law  department  and  his 
engineering  staff  the  job  of  working  out  the  possibilities  of 
certain  proposals  that  had  been  submitted  for  westward  ex- 
tensions he  turned  his  attention  to  another  Iowa  property 


BEYOND    THE    MISSO  U  RI         I  I  I 

which  should  have  been,  from  the  very  beginning,  a  part  of 
the  Rock  Island  system. 

This  was  the  Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern  Rail- 
way Company. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  when  the  Mississippi  and  Mis- 
souri was  organized  in  1853  an  amendment  was  secured  to 
the  charter  to  provide  for  building  a  line  north  through  Cedar 
Rapids  and  right  up  the  Cedar  Valley— a  proposal  that  soon 
was  lost  to  sight  in  the  bitter  struggles  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri  had  in  building  anything  like  a  railroad  at  all. 

But  on  October  2,  1865,  a  group  of  promoters  incorporated, 
under  the  laws  of  Iowa,  the  Cedar  Rapids  and  St.  Paul  Rail- 
way Companv.  The  purpose  was  to  build  a  line  northwestward 
from  Cedar  Rapids  through  the  Cedar  Valley.  Two  years  later 
—October  7,  1867— another  project,  the  Cedar  Rapids  and 
Burlington  Railroad  Company,  was  incorporated  to  build  and 
operate  a  line  from  Cedar  Rapids  through  Iowa  City  to  Bur- 
lington and  thence  via  Keokuk  to  St.  Louis. 

Neither  of  these  companies  did  much  more  than  make 
surveys,  obtain  rights-of-way,  and  grade  short  stretches  of  the 
proposed  route. 

The  two  companies  got  together  and  on  June  30,  1868, 
formed  the  Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Minnesota  Railway 
Company.  Construction  began  in  earnest  in  1869,  and  by 
1873  there  was  in  operation  368  miles  of  main  and  branch 
lines.  The  main  line  extended  all  the  way  from  Burlington 
through  West  Libert}^  Iowa  (where  it  crossed  the  Rock  Island 
main  line  to  Omaha),  Cedar  Rapids,  and  Cedar  Falls  to 
Plymouth  just  short  of  the  Minnesota  boundar}^ 

Branches  extended  from  Linn  to  Postville,  Iowa;  from 
Muscatine  to  Riverside;  and  from  Vinton  westward  to  Traer. 

At  last  the  Cedar  Valley  had  been  tapped,  but  the  Burling- 
ton, Cedar  Rapids  and  Minnesota  defaulted  on  its  bonds,  and 
on  May  19,  1875,  W.  W.  Walker  was  appointed  provisional 
receiver.  His  tenure  of  office  was  ended  on  the  following  July 
21  when,  at  the  request  of  the  bondholders.  General  E.  F. 
Winslow  was  appointed  to  succeed  him. 


112        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  reorganization  plan  for  the  defunct  road  provided  for 
the  sale  of  the  property  under  foreclosure  of  the  first  mort- 
gage and  its  purchase  by  committees  appointed  for  that  pur- 
pose. The  Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern  Railway 
Company  was  formed,  and  the  purchasing  committees  as- 
signed to  this  corporation  their  interests.  The  deeds  were  con- 
veyed by  the  Master  Commissioner  on  June  27,  1876. 

Under  its  new  corporate  structure  the  Burlington,  Cedar 
Rapids  and  Northern,  in  June  1880,  backed  the  formation  of 
the  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa  Falls  and  Northwestern  Railway, 
which  was  a  construction  and  holding  company.  This  com- 
pany, from  1880  through  1884,  built  327  miles  of  main  line, 
extending  from  Holland,  Iowa,  where  it  connected  with  the 
Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern  main  line,  to  Water- 
town,  South  Dakota.  It  also  built  branches  from  Lake  Park, 
Iowa,  to  Worthington,  Minnesota— a  distance  of  17  miles— 
and  from  Dows  to  Hayfield,  Iowa,  a  distance  of  41  miles.  The 
Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern,  under  lease,  operated 
this  mileage  from  the  very  beginning. 

Thus,  as  of  1885,  the  Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  North- 
ern, with  its  subsidiaries,  controlled  and  operated  approxi- 
mately 850  miles  of  substantial  railroad  with  good  earning 
prospects  for  the  future. 

Because  of  the  line's  growing  importance  and  economic 
promise.  Ransom  Cable,  with  the  approval  of  the  Rock  Island 
board,  brought  about  the  acquisition  of  the  majority  of  the 
capital  stock  in  the  Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern 
and  thereby  assumed  complete  control. 

While  he  was  in  the  mood  for  further  expansion.  Cable 
took  a  good  look  at  another  line  of  railroad,  called  the  St. 
Joseph  and  Iowa,  which  was  designed  to  connect  with  the  Rock 
Island  at  Altamont,  Missouri,  and  which  would  provide  en- 
trance to  the  thriving  city  of  St.  Joseph.  Cable  purchased  in 
July  1885  all  the  capital  stock  of  this  road  and  entered  into 
a  traffic  agreement,  the  purpose  of  which  was  declared  to  be 
"to  establish  and  operate  through  lines  of  railway,  which  shall 
connect,  when  the  same  can  be  done  with  reasonable  direct- 


BEYOND   THE    MISSOURI         113 

ness,  all  points  on  the  main  line  of  both  parties,  treating  all 
railroads  with  which  each  party  shall  have  a  traffic  or  running 
arrangement,  or  interest,  as  a  part  of  the  line  of  the  party  .  .  . 
with  which  it  is  so  related;  and  to  secure  the  operation  of  all 
said  lines,  as  to  through  traffic,  as  they  should  be  operated  if 
all  were  owned  by  one  corporation." 

Cable  could  sit  back  now  and  glow  with  pardonable  pride. 
Only  two  years  in  office  as  president  and  general  manager  and 
he  could  look  at  a  railroad  that  crisscrossed  the  map  of  Iowa 
to  tap  every  important  industrial  and  agricultural  center— a 
railroad  that  more  and  more  was  taking  shape  as  one  of  the 
great  systems  of  the  Nation.  The  Great  Rock  Island  Route. 
Yes,  that's  what  they  called  it,  that  is  what  it  was  known  as, 
both  in  trade  and  financial  circles. 

Well,  with  things  getting  ready  to  start  over  there  in  Ne- 
braska and  Kansas  and  beyond,  it  would  be  still  greater.  And 
he,  Ransom  R.  Cable,  would  be  greater.  He  liked  to  feel  that 
greatness.  He  loved  the  adulation  of  his  associates. 


[^  Kansas— a  record  in  building 


Once  Ransom  R.  Cable  made  up  his  mind  to  extend  his  lines 
west  of  the  Missouri  he  showed  his  ability  as  a  gambler,  along 
with  his  faith  in  the  future  of  the  territory  that  Hugh  Riddle 
had  felt  was  so  important.  Cable,  on  July  4,  1884,  laid  the 
groundwork  for  the  expansion  by  executing  a  mortgage  to  the 
United  States  Trust  Company  of  New  York.  In  legal  Ian- 


114        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

guage,  it  was  a  long  and  highly  involved  document.  Boiled 
down  to  language  the  layman  could  understand,  the  terms  of 
the  mortgage  were  such  as  to  risk  the  whole  system  as  it 
stood  on  that  date  together  with  all  main  and  branch  lines  it 
might  in  the  future  construct,  lease,  or  purchase.  You 
couldn't  build  1,500  miles  more  of  railroad  without  plenty 
of  money  and  through  this  mortgage  the  Rock  Island  got  the 
money. 

Thus,  early  in  the  year  1866,  things  began  to  happen.  The 
St.  Joseph  and  Iowa  Railroad  Company,  a  wholly  owned  sub- 
sidiary of  The  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railway,  com- 
pleted its  line  from  Altamont  to  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  and  from 
St.  Joseph  to  Rushville.  Here  it  made  a  junction  with  the 
Atchison  branch  to  provide  a  service  to  that  city.  The  charter 
of  the  St.  Joseph  line  was  amended  to  permit  it  to  cross  the 
western  boundary  of  Missouri  into  Kansas,  and  the  northern 
boundary  into  Iowa. 

The  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Railroad  Company  was 
incorporated  under  the  general  laws  of  Kansas  on  December 
30,  1885.  The  charter  gave  the  company  the  right  to  build 
and  operate  from  the  town  of  Larkin,  in  Atchison  County, 
in  a  southwesterly  direction  through  Jackson,  Shawnee,  Wao- 
baunsee,  Davis,  Morris,  Harvey,  Marion,  Butler,  and  Sedgwick 
counties  to  Wichita.  It  further  provided  for  the  construction 
of  a  railroad  from  a  given  point  in  Morris  County  through 
Marion,  McPherson,  and  Reno  counties  to  the  city  of  Hutch- 
inson. There  were  other  provisions  for  building  to  connect 
the  proposed  routes  with  Atchison  and  a  point  opposite  St. 
Joseph.  A  total  of  700  miles  of  projected  line  was  involved. 

This  company  did  no  construction,  but  it  acquired  valuable 
franchise  rights,  some  rights-of-way  and  other  property.  All  its 
rights  and  holdings  were  then  conveyed  by  deed  of  sale  to  the 
Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Railway  Company  which  was 
incorporated  in  Kansas  in  March  1886.  Shortly  thereafter  a 
company  with  virtually  the  same  name  was  incorporated  in 
the  state  of  Nebraska  to  build  from  the  southwest  corner  of 


Beyond  the  Missouri        I  I  5 

Richardson  County  through  Pawnee,  Gage,  Jefferson,  Thayer, 
Nuckolls,  Webster,  Adams,  Kearney,  and  Buffalo  counties  to 
the  city  of  Kearney.  This  represented  valuable  territory  in  the 
expansion  program. 

Ransom  Cable  had  to  have  a  man  in  charge  of  this  west- 
ward expansion  in  whom  he  could  have  the  utmost  faith. 
In  setting  up  these  various  companies  to  obtain  franchises, 
right-of-way,  and  other  properties,  it  would  be  impossible  for 
the  Rock  Island  president  personally  to  look  after  the  details, 
and  details  annoyed  Cable  no  end. 

The  man  for  the  job,  Cable  decided,  was  Marcus  A.  Low, 
then  of  Trenton,  Missouri,  division  solicitor  for  the  Rock 
Island.  Low  had  fathered  the  idea  of  building  west  of  the 
Missouri  in  the  first  place.  Low's  fine  legal  background,  his 
record  for  accomplishment,  his  closeness  to  men  in  high 
political  ofEce,  his  ability  to  get  along  with  people,  and  his 
dynamic  drive  all  were  factors  in  Low's  character  that  pleased 
Cable.  That's  why  Cable  had  made  Low  president  of  the  St. 
Joseph  and  Iowa  line  when  he'd  bought  control. 

"Here's  the  map,  Mark,"  Cable  said.  A  stubby  finger  traced 
over  the  lines  that  the  engineers  had  drawn.  "You  set  up  the 
proper  corporate  structure,  file  the  necessary  papers,  and  get 
the  contractors.  I'm  leaving  it  up  to  you." 

"Just  so  that  I  have  a  free  hand,"  Low  said.  "That's  wide- 
open  country  out  there,  and  I've  been  over  a  lot  of  it.  I've 
talked  to  the  governor  of  Kansas  and  to  many  members  of  the 
state  legislature.  We've  already  made  friends  in  that  territory." 

"All  right,"  Cable  agreed.  "Let's  see  what  you  can  do 
with  it." 

Low  set  up  the  corporate  structure  of  the  Chicago,  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  Railway  Company.  He  was  elected  president  of 
this  organization.  He  then  caused  the  sister  corporation  that 
had  been  organized  under  the  laws  of  Nebraska  to  be  taken 
into  the  Kansas  company,  and  he  was  ready  to  go. 

Like  others  of  his  predecessors  in  Rock  Island  history, 
Marcus  A.  Low  was  a  native  New  Englander.  He  was  born 
August  1,  1842,  at  Guilford,  Maine.  His  parents  migrated  to 


116        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Belvidere,  in  Boone  County,  Illinois,  when  Low  was  four. 

His  father  was  a  successful  farmer  and  did  very  well  at 
Belvidere  until  he  decided  to  improve  the  family  fortunes  by 
moving  to  Hamilton,  Missouri.  Young  Low  meanwhile  had  re- 
ceived his  public  school  education  at  Belvidere,  and  at  the  age 
of  1 5  was  sent  to  a  small  academy  at  Auburn,  Maine,  to  com- 
plete his  education.  This  ambition  was  thwarted  by  illness 
which,  in  1863,  brought  about  his  move  to  California. 

Low  took  up  residence  at  Folsom  City,  in  that  state,  and 
became  principal  of  the  schools.  At  the  same  time  in  nearby 
Sacramento  he  engaged  in  the  study  of  law  where  he  con- 
tinued that  pursuit  until  the  fall  of  1866.  He  returned  to 
Belvidere  where  he  became  affiliated  with  Attorney  Ira  M. 
Moore.  He  studied  with  Moore  and  the  following  year  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  Immediately  after  that  he  went  to  Ann 
Arbor  and  entered  the  senior  class  in  the  law  school  of  the 
University  of  Michigan. 

After  his  family's  move  to  Hamilton,  Missouri,  Low  estab- 
lished himself  in  that  city  in  the  practice  of  law  and  made 
rapid  advancement.  The  Rock  Island  hired  him  in  1873  as 
local  attorney.  Three  years  later  he  was  made  division  solicitor 
and  sent  to  Trenton,  Missouri.  He  was  active  in  bringing 
about  the  Rock  Island's  control  of  the  St.  Joseph  and  Iowa 
railroad,  of  which  he  was  made  president,  and  Cable  became 
very  much  impressed  by  the  way  Low  took  hold  of  that  prop- 
erty, completed  it  and  put  it  into  operation. 

Yes,  in  Cable's  opinion,  here  was  the  man  to  turn  loose  in 
the  Kansas,  Nebraska  and  Colorado  extension  of  the  Rock 
Island  Lines. 

Low's  first  move,  after  setting  up  the  Chicago,  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  of  Kansas  and  the  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  of 
Nebraska,  was  to  establish  headquarters  at  Atchison,  Kansas. 
He  later  tied  these  two  corporations  into  one  and  then  brought 
about  the  lease  of  the  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Railway 
Company  to  the  St.  Joseph  and  Iowa.  In  order  to  get  his 
Western  lines  started  he  made  a  lease  agreement  with  the  St. 
Joseph  and  Grand  Island  to  connect  with  that  road's  tracks 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         117 

in  St.  Joseph  and  to  use  the  Missouri  River  bridge  for  access 
to  Elwood,  Kansas,  at  the  west  end  of  the  bridge. 

Once  he  was  ready  to  move,  in  the  middle  of  1886,  Low 
lost  no  time.  The  grading  from  Elwood,  Kansas,  was  begun 
on  July  1  in  the  direction  of  Horton.  The  construction  gangs, 
aided  by  the  fair  Kansas  weather  and  by  ideal  terrain,  were 
caught  up  in  a  wildly  enthusiastic  spirit  of  challenge.  They 
threw  up  the  fill,  bridged  the  streams  and  had  things  ready 
for  the  tracklayers  over  the  entire  43-mile  stretch  of  that  first 
segment  by  late  September. 

The  trackmen  followed  on  the  first  of  October  and  reached 
Horton  before  the  snow  began  to  drift  across  the  Kansas  fields. 

Next  was  Topeka,  reached  early  in  1887,  and  it  was  to 
Topeka  that  Low  moved  his  offices  and  the  headquarters  of 
his  operation.  Topeka  was  the  capital  of  the  state.  Help  from 
the  legislature  might  be  necessary  at  any  moment,  and  close 
contact  with  the  political  forces  of  the  state  was  valuable. 

Hilon  A.  Parker,  Low's  chief  engineer,  and  a  man  who  had 
made  a  great  reputation  in  railroad  locating  and  construction 
work,  moved  in  with  Low  so  that  they  might  work  more 
closely  together  on  this  enormous  project.  Everybody  was 
encouraged  by  the  rapidity  with  which  things  were  moving, 
and  it  was  Low's  aim  to  complete  all  this  Kansas  and  Col- 
orado mileage  at  the  earliest  possible  date. 

Building  beyond  Caldwell,  Kansas,  do\Mi  in  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  state,  was  dependent  on  an  act  of  Congress  since 
the  proposed  route  would  be  over  Government-owned  lands 
in  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territory.  Low  had  long  ago  set  the 
machinen^  in  motion  for  such  legislation  and  had  been  as- 
sured there  would  be  no  hitch. 

On  March  2,  1887,  Congress  approved  the  act  and  thereby 
was  granted  the  charter  right  to  cross  through  the  Cherokee 
Strip  and  Indian  Territory  into  Texas  and  thence  to  Galves- 
ton. Another  line  was  provided  for  to  extend  west  and  south- 
west from  Liberal,  Kansas,  across  the  Indian  Territor\-  into 
Texas  and  New  Mexico  with  El  Paso  as  the  goal. 

Under  the  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  charter  for  build- 


118        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

ing  through  Kansas  it  was  specified  that  the  main  line  from 
Topeka  through  Wichita  to  Caldwell  would  pass  through  a 
point  in  Marion  County  called  Lost  Springs.  From  this  point 
the  line  west  toward  Hutchinson  and  Liberal  would  take  off. 

On  a  bright  spring  day  in  1887  a  lone  ranchman  riding  the 
range  saw  the  railroad  surveyors  driving  their  stakes  down 
through  Marion  County.  He  rode  up  to  the  engineers  and 
began  to  ask  questions.  The  engineers  showed  him  how  the 
route  had  been  laid  out  on  the  map. 

"You  mean  you're  not  building  this  line  through  Hering- 
ton?" 

"Herington?"  one  surveyor  asked.  "No  such  place  on  the 
map  I've  got." 

"Who's  the  man  in  charge?" 

"Marcus  Low,  in  Topeka,"  the  rancher  was  told, 

"Where'll  I  find  him?"  the  rider  asked. 

"You'll  find  him  at  the  Copeland  Hotel." 

The  man  who  entered  the  Copeland  Hotel  a  few  days  later 
was  tall,  lean,  burned  from  wind  and  sun,  and  wore  a  kind  of 
Van  Dyke  beard.  He  was  shown  to  Low's  room.  He  took  the 
chair  the  builder  indicated  and  pushed  back  his  broad- 
brimmed  white  Stetson  hat. 

"It's  about  my  town,"  the  bearded  man  said.  "The  town  of 
Herington.  It's  not  very  big  now— just  a  village— but  the  way 
you  got  your  railroad  routed  you're  going  to  miss  it." 

"Where  is  it  in  relation  to  Lost  Springs?"  Low  asked. 

"Seven  miles  north,"  the  bearded  man  answered.  "Here,  let 
me  show  you." 

He  pointed  to  Low's  map.  "The  way  you  got  your  line 
routed  you  sort  of  make  an  elbow  around  me  down  to  Lost 
Springs,  and  then  cut  west  and  south  from  there.  Straighten 
this  line  and  you  hit  my  town." 

"You  mean  if  we  build  into  Herington,"  Low  said,  "and 
then  down  to  Lost  Springs—" 

"I  mean  if  you  build  into  Herington  you  can  strike  straight 
west  from  there  toward  McPherson  and  Hutchinson,  and  Lost 
Springs  still  will  be  on  the  line  to  Wichita.  You  route  it  like 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         I  19 

I  say  and  I'll  present  you  with  a  free  deed  through  Herington 
for  your  right-of-way,  and  through  my  township." 

Low  stared  at  the  stranger. 

''Just  who  are  you?"  Low  asked. 

"I'm  M.  D.  Herington,  and  Herington  is  my  town.  I  own 
all  that  land  down  in  that  part  of  Kansas.  In  fact,  I'm  the  whole 
thing  down  there." 

"That  sounds  like  the  best  proposition  of  any  I've  heard," 
Low  said. 

"I'll  even  make  it  better,"  Herington  promised.  "I  have  a 
little  influence  with  my  neighbors.  Make  it  a  deal  and  I'll 
see  that  you  get  every  concession  possible  in  the  neighboring 
counties.  You'll  get  fine  treatment." 

Low  made  it  a  deal  and  he  got  fine  treatment. 

By  midsummer  Herington  became  a  railroad  center,  and 
there  was  laid  the  foundation  for  what  in  time  was  to  be- 
come one  of  the  big  division  points  on  the  Rock  Island  system. 

On  south  from  Herington  the  ties  and  rails  went  down  and 
the  border  town  of  Caldwell  was  reached  in  December.  Cald- 
well's first  train  arrived  to  the  usual  fanfare,  and  the  frontier 
town,  last  outpost  of  the  "white  man's  country,"  took  on  new 
character.  Here  the  Rock  Island  paused  briefly  at  the  gateway 
to  the  Indian  domains  of  Oklahoma. 

Meanwhile  Low's  forces  were  busy  in  other  directions.  One 
hundred  and  three  miles  of  railroad  was  built  during  that  year 
of  1887  from  McFarland,  on  the  southwest  line,  in  a  north- 
westerly direction  to  Belleville,  Kansas.  From  Herington  to 
Salina  48  miles  was  constructed,  and  from  Fairbury,  Nebraska 
to  Nelson  another  stretch  of  51  miles  went  into  the  records. 

Following  roughly  the  old  Chisholm  Trail  the  construction 
down  into  the  land  of  the  Indians  across  the  Kansas  border 
progressed  through  the  first  half  of  the  following  year.  Pond 
Creek  was  reached  on  July  15,  1888,  and  the  grading  was  al- 
most finished  beyond  to  Skeleton  and  Hennessey. 

To  the  north  a  line  from  Horton,  Kansas  through  Fairbury, 
Nebraska,  stretched  its  lonesome  length  to  Roswell  (Colorado 
Springs)    Colorado.  South  westward  from  Herington,  down 


120        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

through  Hutchinson  and  Pratt  the  rails  went  into  the  frontier 
town  of  Liberal.  Nothing  in  all  railroad  construction  history 
had  ever  before  equaled  the  Rock  Island  expansion  in  rapidity. 
The  entire  mileage  from  Horton,  Kansas,  to  Liberal  was 
placed  in  service  on  February  26,  1888,  and  to  Pond  Creek 
on  July  15.  The  first  train  traversed  the  564  miles  from  Hor- 
ton  to  Colorado  Springs  on  November  5.  It  had  taken  just 
two  years,  four  months,  and  four  days  to  build  and  place 
in  operation  1,113  n^iles  of  railroad. 


The  farmers  find  a  friend 


During  the  early  days  of  extending  railroads  west  from  the 
Mississippi  River  and  later  beyond  the  Missouri,  railroad 
management  was  ever  cognizant  of  the  importance  of  doing 
all  it  could  to  promote  the  settlement  of  the  vast  lands  that 
offered  promise  to  the  farmers. 

The  Rock  Island  was  among  the  leaders  in  this  phase  of 
activity.  As  its  lines  opened  up  Iowa,  the  business  of  advertis- 
ing the  possibilities  of  new  towns  for  industry  and  the  agri- 
cultural reaches  for  farm  settlement  grew  steadily.  The  pas- 
senger traffic  department  was  assigned  this  job  of  promotion. 
Special  rates  were  set  up  for  homeseekers  and  homesteaders. 

As  early  as  the  year  1856  when  the  Rock  Island  was  still 
short  by  300  miles  from  the  Kansas  border,  the  road  adver- 
tised extensively  'The  Shortest,  Quickest  and  Safest  Route" 
to  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  The  New  England  Emigrant  Aid 


BEYOND   THE    MISSOURI         121 

Society  located  a  major  outfitting  station  at  Iowa  City  to 
help  the  migratory  hordes  whose  goal  was  the  land  west  of 
the  Missouri. 

When  the  advertising  spoke  of  the  Rock  Island  being  the 
safe  route  the  inference  was  that  Northern  settlers,  moving 
via  Iowa  City  and  Council  Bluffs,  through  part  of  Nebraska 
to  Kansas,  ran  less  risk  from  attack  by  Southern  sympathizers 
who,  even  before  the  Civil  War,  had  engaged  in  border  skir- 
mishes with  their  neighbors  who  felt  that  the  South  was  wrong. 

The  population  of  Kansas,  in  i860,  was  107,206.  After  the 
Civil  War,  during  the  period  of  recovery,  the  population  in- 
creased to  257,193.  From  1870  to  1880  the  growth  of  popu- 
lation was  the  greatest  in  any  10-year  period  in  the  state's 
histor}',  reaching  631,697. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  the  Mennonites  from  the 
Crimea,  of  Russia,  moved  into  the  territory  and  brought  with 
them  the  Turkey  red  hard  winter  wheat,  a  new  variety  that 
had  done  well  in  Russia,  and  should  do  exceedingly  well  in 
this  new  land.  How  well  this  wheat  did  is  attested  to  by  the 
fact  that  in  the  first  year  the  Mennonites  introduced  it,  1872, 
the  State  produced  2,139,000  bushels,  and  six  years  later  the 
yield  topped  27,280,000  bushels. 

When  the  first  inkling  that  the  Rock  Island  would  open 
up  vast  new  sections  of  Kansas  was  spread  among  homeseek- 
ers  in  the  middle  i88o's,  the  rush  for  the  lands  became  enor- 
mous. Thousands  of  new  settlers  rushed  in  ahead  of  the 
railroad,  and  other  thousands  followed  the  course  of  the  build- 
ing. The  big  advertising  and  colonization  program  paid  off. 

And  now  in  the  year  1889  the  boom  was  on  in  Oklahoma. 
The  Cherokee  Strip  was  not  yet  open  to  settlers  but  the  land 
to  the  north  and  south  of  it  was. 

Rock  Island's  building  was  proceeding  along  the  Chisholm 
Trail,  long  in  use  by  the  cattle  herds  coming  northward.  Hilon 
Parker's  construction  forces  learned  early  that  it  would  be  up 
to  them  to  bring  in  addition  to  the  railroad  a  little  something 
in  the  way  of  culture  to  this  sparsely  peopled  land. 

There  was,  for  instance,  some  eight  miles  south  of  Cald- 


122        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

well,  an  outpost  that  went  by  the  name  of  Polecat.  The 
builders  put  up  a  box  car  for  a  station  when  they  reached  that 
point,  but  the  name  Polecat  on  the  station  just  didn't  do  a 
thing  for  the  railroad. 

The  name  that  went  on  the  signboard  was  Renfrew.  Twenty 
miles  further  it  wasn't  so  bad.  The  place  was  called  Pond 
Creek.  That  had  color  and  romance  to  it.  The  name  stayed. 

From  Pond  Creek  southward  to  Skeleton  the  clang  of  maul 
on  spike  as  the  rails  went  down,  the  shrill  of  the  work-train's 
wildcat  whistle,  the  chant  of  the  sweating  crews  played  the 
symphony  of  progress. 

The  lay  of  the  land  at  Skeleton,  deep  in  the  Cherokee  Strip, 
gave  promise  of  a  good  townsite,  and  Hilon  Parker  marked  it 
down.  The  railroad  had  land  from  the  Government,  granted 
in  its  charter  to  build,  and  a  development  company  such  as 
had  already  been  established  at  Pond  Creek  could  lay  out 
streets  and  building  sites  for  business  and  residence.  Yes, 
Skeleton,  too,  would  be  a  good  point  to  develop. 

The  railroad  reached  Hennessey  just  beyond  the  south  end 
of  the  Cherokee  Strip  in  1889.  The  first  agent  to  open  the  sta- 
tion there,  S.  R.  Overton,  left  a  record  of  his  coming.  He  told 
how  he  had  been  deputized  as  U.S.  marshal  at  Topeka  and 
then  had  proceeded  by  train  to  Pond  Creek. 

Pond  Creek  was  headquarters  for  "Cannon  Ball"  Green's 
stagecoach  line. 

Agent  Overton  departed  from  Pond  Creek  on  July  2.  He 
wrote,  "Cannon  Ball  Green  drove  the  stage  drawn  by  four 
teams  of  horses  strung  out."  As  Overton  put  it,  the  load  con- 
sisted of  "six  white  men  and  one  lady,  and  on  top  of  the  stage 
were  six  negroes."  Among  the  passengers  was  Dr.  Cook,  Rock 
Island  surgeon. 

The  stage  overturned  the  first  time  near  the  site  of  what  is 
now  Kremlin,  and  the  second  time  near  Bison.  Dr.  Cook  was 
the  only  casualty,  suffering  a  severe  sprained  ankle,  and  the 
lady  was  "an  angel  of  mercy,"  because  she  was  the  only  one 
aboard  with  a  flask,  and  its  contents  revived  the  doctor. 

The  first  train  reached  Hennessey  in  October  and  Overton 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         123 

described  it  as  quite  an  event.  With  the  train  came  the  set- 
tlers. 

"I  dehvered  household  goods  from  fifteen  to  twenty  mer- 
chandise cars  a  day,"  Overton  wrote,  "and  checked  out  goods 
for  Kingfisher,  Columbia,  Skeleton,  and  many  other  inland 
towns." 

A  year  later  the  railroad  was  to  finance  the  settlers  by  bring- 
ing in  12  carloads  of  seed  wheat  which  was  apportioned  out 
in  5-  to  20-bushel  lots  with  no  cash  down— only  the  promise 
of  the  farmer  to  pay. 

The  harvest  brought  in  120,000  bushels,  which  the  railroad 
bought,  and  of  all  settlers  who  had  signed  notes  for  the  seed 
wheat,  only  three  defaulted. 

Overton's  personal  account  of  what  happened  in  agricul- 
tural aid  to  the  new  settlers  in  the  Hennessey  territory  is  an 
isolated  incident  in  a  program  that  was  conceived  by  Marcus 
Low  when  he  saw  the  plight  of  the  new  settlers  back  in  1889. 

Turning  new  ground  into  farm  lands  under  climatic  condi- 
tions strange  to  the  settler  was  always  a  major  problem.  Be- 
set by  drought  conditions  and  a  new  breed  of  insect  pests, 
the  Oklahoma  settler  in  1889-90  had  to  have  help.  Low's  con- 
cern for  these  people  moved  him  from  community  to  commu- 
nit}%  and  he  learned  that  a  major  cause  of  failure  was  the  poor 
quality  of  the  seed  wheat.  He  went  to  Chicago  and  told  Ran- 
som Cable  about  it. 

This  new  country  had  great  promise.  Low  explained,  but 
the  farmers  were  deeply  discouraged.  They  had  no  money  now 
to  buy  good  seed  wheat,  and,  unless  conditions  were  changed 
and  some  help  could  be  provided,  these  farmers  would  have 
to  leave  the  country. 

In  answer  to  a  question  Cable  put  to  him.  Low  explained 
that  he  had  been  all  through  the  Oklahoma  farm  country,  had 
made  a  thorough  investigation  of  crop  possibilities,  of  soil  and 
climate.  He  had  experienced  the  same  difficulties  in  Kansas 
as  were  now  prevalent  in  Oklahoma.  And,  he  said,  the  land 
in  Oklahoma  was  every  bit  as  good  for  wheat  as  that  in  Kansas, 
and,  that  while  the  farmers  in  time  might  lose  a  crop  or  two, 


124        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

they  could,  with  the  proper  help  and  encouragement,  make 
their  way  and  prosper. 

Low  left  the  meeting  in  Chicago  with  a  free  hand  to  do 
whatever  he  deemed  necessary.  At  Topeka  he  stopped  long 
enough  to  make  arrangements  to  secure  the  best  seed  wheat 
Kansas  had  available  from  sections  where  climate  and  soil 
were  reasonably  close  to  those  in  Oklahoma. 

He  prepared  the  simplest  form  of  promissory  note,  issued 
instructions  that  no  endorsement  or  security  would  be  re- 
quired, and  sent  the  note  forms  to  each  local  freight  agent  in 
the  territory. 

Believing  in  the  soundness  of  personal  contact  with  his 
patrons.  Low  went  into  these  towns,  appeared  before  meetings 
with  the  farmers,  told  them  what  the  railroad  had  decided  to 
do  and  promised  them  the  very  best  seed  wheat  would  be 
brought  right  to  their  depots.  All  they  had  to  do  was  make 
their  needs  known  to  the  agent,  sign  the  note,  and  go  raise  a 
crop.  Low  acquainted  local  merchants  and  other  businessmen 
with  the  Rock  Island's  program  so  that  they,  too,  might  be 
helpful  in  extending  to  the  farmers  needed  credit  and  other 
aid. 

The  effect  of  the  program  was  amazing.  It  inspired  new  con- 
fidence not  only  in  the  farmers  but  in  the  businessmen  as 
well.  The  project  got  under  way  in  full  blast  in  1891  after  the 
drought  of  i8go.  Thus  was  established  the  principle  of  a  greater 
agricultural  aid  program  that  in  years  to  come  was  to  pay  off 
handsomely  in  increasing  prosperity  to  the  communities,  and 
in  ever-growing  traffic  for  the  railroad. 


BEYOND   THE    MISSOURI         125 


Outcast  in  Omaha 


Marcus  Low's  railroad  in  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Colorado,  and 
Oklahoma,  with  its  great  building  record  behind  it,  and  its 
inspirational  chapter  in  agricultural  aid  fresh  on  the  pages  of 
its  histor)',  was  in  trouble. 

Settlement  with  the  parent  company,  the  Chicago,  Rock 
Island  and  Pacific,  had  been  made  by  the  Chicago,  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  for  the  line  as  far  as  Pond  Creek.  The  building 
southward  from  that  point  to  El  Reno  was  completed  in  1889 
and  the  extension  to  Minco,  Indian  Territory,  was  finished 
early  in  1890.  This  part  of  the  route  was  completed  with 
$1,143,000  advanced  by  the  Rock  Island. 

On  failure  of  the  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  to  deliver 
stocks  and  bonds  of  its  corporation  to  cover  the  advanced 
funds,  suit  was  instituted  to  bring  about  foreclosure.  On  June 
3,  1890,  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  for  the  district  of 
Kansas,  in  a  preliminary  decree,  found  that  the  Chicago,  Kan- 
sas and  Nebraska  had  failed  to  deliver  securities  to  cover  its 
building  of  97.5  miles  with  the  money  advanced  by  the  Rock 
Island  and  ordered  the  sale  of  all  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska property,  whether  in  Oklahoma  or  elsewhere,  to  settle 
the  claim. 

In  the  middle  of  the  tangle  in  financial  affairs  between  the 
parent  company  and  the  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  it  was 
feared  that  should  the  suit  continue  for  any  length  of  time, 
the  lands  and  rights  granted  under  the  Congressional  Act  of 


126        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

March  19,  1886,  and  the  completion  of  the  hnes  called  for 
in  that  bill,  might  be  jeopardized. 

Accordingly,  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on  Congress  and 
a  new  act  was  approved  on  July  27,  1890.  This  legislation 
granted  the  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  the  power  "to  sell 
and  convey  to  The  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railway 
Company  ...  all  railway  propertv,  rights  and  franchises 
.  .  ."  It  also  authorized  the  Rock  Island  to  "purchase,  hold, 
maintain  and  operate  the  railway  heretofore  constructed"  by 
the  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  under  the  provisions  of 
the  Act  of  1886,  and  to  complete  all  lines  mentioned  in  that 
act  but  not  yet  built. 

The  Oklahoma  part  of  the  line  shortly  thereafter  was  con- 
veyed by  deed  to  the  Rock  Island  on  March  10,  1891.  On  June 
10  all  the  remainder  of  the  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
property— the  lines  in  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Colorado— were 
conveyed,  upon  the  payment  of  $1,000,000,  to  the  Chicago, 
Rock  Island  and  Pacific.  The  deed  of  sale  was  approved  by 
the  court  on  June  17. 

Thus  passed  into  history  the  corporate  existence  of  the  Chi- 
cago, Kansas  and  Nebraska.  As  the  line  had  progressed  the 
Rock  Island  had  taken  over  the  stocks  and  bonds  of  the 
Kansas  Company  in  return  for  cash  advances  to  underwrite 
construction. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  building  the  Rock  Island  had 
advanced  $29,399,882.  Against  the  collateral  provided  by  the 
Kansas  Company's  securities,  the  Rock  Island  issued  its  own 
bonds  in  the  amount  of  $25,149,000,  all  of  which  were  even- 
tually paid  off.  The  Rock  Island  also  received  from  the  Chi- 
cago, Kansas  and  Nebraska  $2,643,571  from  the  proceeds  of 
local  aid  such  as  that  given  by  individuals  and  municipalities 
to  assist  in  construction.  While  no  collateral  had  been  put  up 
by  the  Kansas  company  for  the  $1,143,692  that  was  advanced 
for  the  Pond  Creek  to  Minco  mileage,  the  Rock  Island  got 
the  railroad  in  the  final  settlement. 

While,  in  the  tangled  financial  manipulations,  the  Rock 
Island  sustained  some  loss  in  dollars,  the  road  certainly  saw  it 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         127 

offset  in  the  increase  in  traffic  that  resulted  from  new  towns 
and  more  settlers. 

As  of  July  1,  1891,  Ransom  Cable  found  his  railroad  a  great 
and  sprawhng  web  over  the  heart  of  the  nation's  most  promis- 
ing country.  It  served,  together  with  the  lines  it  controlled 
such  as  the  Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern,  eight 
states  and  territories.  It  had  entered  into  an  agreement  with 
the  Union  Pacific  for  trackage  rights  from  Kansas  City,  Kan- 
sas, to  Topeka,  thus  enabling  it  to  perform  through  service 
from  Chicago,  via  its  Kansas  City  route,  to  its  western  ex- 
tremities. It  had  secured  its  Colorado  mileage  through  the  for- 
mation of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Colorado  Railway 
Company  which  had  been  incorporated  January  31,  1888,  and 
which  had  been  merged  with  the  Chicago,  Kansas  and  Ne- 
braska in  June  of  that  year.  Its  Colorado  company  had  made 
a  contract  with  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  for  the  use  jointly 
of  that  company's  railroad  between  Denver,  Colorado  Springs, 
and  Pueblo.  Direct  entrance  to  Denver  had  been  secured 
through  a  contract  with  the  Union  Pacific,  in  April  of  i88g, 
to  use  that  railroad  from  Limon  Junction,  on  the  main  line 
to  Colorado  Springs,  to  the  Colorado  capital. 

As  of  July  1,  1891,  the  Rock  Island's  mileage  operated  over 
lines  o\^ned,  over  lines  controlled,  and  by  trackage  rights  was 
just  a  little  under  4,000. 

By  this  time,  too,  a  major  headache  had  developed  in  Ne- 
braska—a headache  that  was  to  get  a  lot  worse  before  it  got 
any  better. 

It  concerned  Rock  Island's  route  from  Chicago  to  Colorado 
via  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  and  its  attempt  to  get  a  line  through 
Omaha.  The  line  from  St.  Joseph  through  Horton,  thence  to 
Jansen,  Nebraska,  and  Fairbury— where  it  straightened  on  its 
Colorado  course— was  a  good  25  miles  longer  than  a  direct 
line  through  Omaha  would  have  been. 

Cable  knew  even  before  the  service  through  St.  Joseph  was 
inaugurated  that  this  route  had  been  a  mistake.  The  innu- 
merable cur\'es  between  Columbus  Junction,  Iowa,  and  Tren- 
ton, Missouri,  kept  the  schedules  slow,  and  the  many  stiff 


128        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

grades  kept  the  freight  trains  hmited  in  tonnage.  This  route 
was  congested  with  the  bulk  of  Western  traffic  while  the 
Council  Bluffs  line  was  light. 

As  early  as  1887  Cable  had  begun  negotiations  with  the 
Union  Pacific  to  use  that  railroad's  bridge  for  crossing  the 
Missouri  from  Council  Bluffs  into  Omaha,  and  Union  Pacific 
tracks  and  facilities  in  and  through  Omaha.  With  a  view  to 
building  his  own  line  from  Omaha  to  Fairbury  via  Jansen, 
Cable  had  set  up  in  November  of  1889  the  Iowa  and  Nebraska 
Railway  Company.  Under  a  charter  amendment  obtained  in 
January  1890,  the  name  had  been  changed  to  the  Iowa  and 
Nebraska  Western.  This  was  an  Iowa  corporation  and  it  had 
as  its  immediate  purpose  the  building  of  a  bridge  from  Coun- 
cil Bluffs  to  Omaha.  Cable  had  resorted  to  this  method  of 
entering  Omaha  in  the  event  he  could  get  nowhere  with  the 
Union  Pacific. 

Congress  passed  a  bill  authorizing  the  construction  of  a 
bridge.  The  act  was  approved  February  21,  1890,  and  provided 
that  the  bridge  work  be  started  within  one  year  and  completed 
within  three  years.  The  Rock  Island  then  filed  with  the  Ne- 
braska secretary  of  state  the  necessary  papers  to  give  it  the 
status  of  a  domestic  corporation. 

The  management  of  the  Union  Pacific,  seeing  that  the 
Rock  Island  was  determined  to  get  into  Omaha,  and  build 
beyond  that  point,  and  that  the  Rock  Island  had  already  en- 
tered into  an  agreement  with  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St. 
Paul  to  allow  that  company  to  use  its  bridge,  began  negotia- 
tions with  both  the  Rock  Island  and  Milwaukee  to  use  Union 
Pacific  facilities.  This  included  the  bridge  over  the  Missouri, 
the  main  and  passing  tracks  in  Omaha  and  South  Omaha. 

The  contract  was  dated  May  1,  1890.  Under  its  terms  the 
Rock  Island  made  a  deal  with  the  Union  Pacific  whereby  that 
railroad  would  use  the  main  line  of  the  Chicago,  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  for  Union  Pacific  trains  between  McPherson  and 
Hutchinson,  Kansas.  At  the  same  time  the  Union  Pacific 
would  allow  the  Rock  Island  to  use  its  property  between  Lin- 
coln and  Beatrice,  Nebraska. 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         129 

The  Milwaukee  began  its  use  of  the  Union  Pacific  bridge 
and  tracks  into  Omaha  in  July  1890.  The  Union  Pacific  began 
service  over  the  McPherson-Hutchinson  segment  of  the  Rock 
Island  just  a  little  ahead  of  that. 

Meanwhile  the  Rock  Island  went  ahead  at  top  speed  with 
building  its  railroad  from  South  Omaha  to  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 
The  line  was  completed  in  December,  just  a  couple  of  weeks 
after  the  management  of  the  Union  Pacific  suddenly  changed 
hands. 

It  was  this  change  of  management  that  made  the  big  head- 
ache for  Cable.  The  change  came  about  through  the  manipu- 
lation of  Jay  Gould  and  Russell  Sage  for  control  of  the  Union 
Pacific.  The  railroad,  in  1890,  wasn't  in  any  too  good  shape 
financially.  Gould,  like  others  before  and  after  him,  had  ideas 
of  gathering  under  control  of  one  management  sufficient  rail- 
road properties  to  set  up  one  gigantic  system  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific.  Gould  had  been  a  director  of  the  Rock  Island, 
and  in  his  seizure  of  the  Union  Pacific  one  might  think  that 
the  Rock  Island  would  be  given  consideration. 

Gould  replaced  Charles  Francis  Adams,  president  of  the 
Union  Pacific,  with  another  Rock  Island  director— Sidney 
Dillon,  of  New  York. 

Instead  of  helping  anybody,  friend  or  no  friend,  Gould  and 
Dillon  immediately  upon  securing  Union  Pacific  control  de- 
clared the  contract  \^^th  the  Rock  Island  and  Milwaukee  rail- 
roads null  and  void.  They  said  that  the  Union  Pacific  had 
never  had  the  powers  to  negotiate  and  enter  into  such  con- 
tracts. 

The  Rock  Island  had  not  as  yet  entered  its  engines  and 
cars  on  Union  Pacific  properb;%  but  the  Milwaukee  had.  The 
Milwaukee  defied  Dillon's  order  to  quit  using  the  bridge  and 
terminal.  Dillon  ordered  his  men  to  use  force.  Milwaukee  cars 
and  engines  were  overturned.  Track  connections  of  both  the 
Rock  Island  and  Milwaukee  were  torn  up— the  Rock  Island's 
rails  suffered  at  Council  Bluffs,  South  Omaha,  Lincoln,  and 
Beatrice.  It  was  mob  war,  in  some  instances,  and  it  wrote  a 
dirty  page  in  history. 


130        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Cable  went  before  Judge  Elmer  S.  Dundy,  in  the  United 
States  District  Court  of  Nebraska,  and  pleaded  for  the  validity 
of  the  contract.  The  Milwaukee  also  filed  suit  on  its  own 
behalf. 

The  Union  Pacific  promptly  had  the  case  moved  to  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  in  Omaha.  The  implication  was 
that  the  Union  Pacific  wanted  no  part  of  Judge  Dundy,  who 
had  a  reputation  for  being  a  contentious  gentleman  rather 
than  a  great  legal  mind. 

The  case  was  heard  in  May  i8gi,  by  Justice  David  J.  Brewer 
of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  sitting  as  Circuit  Court 
judge.  The  arguments  were  elaborate  and  forceful,  projected 
by  the  best  legal  talent  on  both  sides. 

Justice  Brewer  handed  down  his  opinion  in  July,  and  en- 
tered a  decree  adjudging  the  contracts  valid  in  all  respects, 
and  ordered  their  specific  performance  by  all  the  parties.  He 
allowed  an  appeal  but  refused  a  supersedeas.  At  the  same 
time  Judge  Dundy  submitted  a  dissenting  opinion  upholding 
practically  every  contention  made  by  the  Union  Pacific— an 
opinion  which  could  result  in  nothing  more  than  making  some 
Union  Pacific  official's  face  awfully  red  for  ever  having  caused 
the  transfer  of  the  case  in  the  beginning. 

The  Rock  Island  began  operation  of  its  service  between  Chi- 
cago and  Colorado  Springs  and  Denver  through  the  Omaha 
gateway  via  Lincoln  and  Beatrice  on  August  16,  1891.  The 
next  job  would  be  the  completion  of  that  stretch  of  railroad 
between  Lincoln  and  Jansen,  Nebraska,  which  would  elimi- 
nate the  dip  over  Union  Pacific  tracks  from  Lincoln  down  to 
Beatrice. 

Cable  could  now  relax,  but  not  for  long.  Down  in  the  Okla- 
homa country  a  war  between  the  settlers  and  the  railroad  was 
on  its  way. 


BEYOND   THE    MISSOURI         131 


,4^  Gunfire  on  "the  strip" 


Of  all  the  states  in  which  the  Rock  Island  Lines  was  destined 
to  become  a  major  part  of  the  transportation  economy  as  it 
built  and  grew,  none  had  such  a  colorful  background  as  that 
of  Oklahoma.  And  if,  in  its  early  history,  the  Rock  Island 
pioneers  thought  that  they  had  had  troubles  with  the  people 
of  Illinois,  with  the  steamboat  interests  on  the  crossing  of  the 
Mississippi,  with  the  citizens  of  Iowa  for  the  failures  of  the 
Mississippi  and  Missouri,  and  with  the  Dillon  management 
of  the  Union  Pacific  in  its  fight  to  validate  the  contract  to  use 
Union  Pacific  facilities  at  Omaha,  these  were  minor  indeed 
to  what  was  waiting  for  them  at  Pond  Creek  and  at  the  new 
town  of  Enid,  on  the  railroad's  Oklahoma  extension. 

Enid,  nee  Skeleton,  had  come  by  its  name  after  the  Rock 
Island  had  built  its  depot  in  the  center  of  what  was  hoped 
would  be  a  townsite  development.  Again  culture  had  come 
with  the  ties  and  rails.  Certainly  Skeleton  wouldn't  look  very 
civilized  as  a  name  on  a  railroad  station.  Enid  sounded  ex- 
ceedingly lovely.  While  there  are  many  stories  as  to  how  that 
name  happened  to  be  selected,  probably  the  authentic  one  is 
that  it  was  taken  from  the  book.  Idylls  of  the  King,  by  some 
construction  engineer  who  read  literature  in  his  spare  time. 

All  of  Oklahoma,  as  it  now  exists,  was  originally  called  In- 
dian Territory.  That  was  its  name  when  the  surveys  were  run 
down  the  Chisholm  Trail,  and  Rock  Island's  subsidiary,  the 
Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  built  southward  from  Cald- 
well to  Minco. 

Congress,  on  May  2,  i8go,  made  a  division  of  that  vast 


132        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

empire.  Under  the  act  Oklahoma  Territory  was  estabhshed. 
This  area  took  in  vast  agricultural  lands  from  which  the  vari- 
ous Indian  tribes  had  been  removed  after  the  negotiations  of 
new  treaties.  Roughly  the  boundary  was  a  line  beginning  oppo- 
site Caney,  Kansas,  and  extending  south  in  an  irregular  course 
to  the  south  bank  of  the  South  Fork  of  the  Canadian  River, 
near  Holdenville;  thence  west  to  El  Reno,  thence  straight 
south  along  the  west  border  of  the  Rock  Island  line  to  the 
Oklahoma-Texas  boundary.  Everything  east  and  south  of  this 
line  was  Indian  Territory;  north  and  west  was  Oklahoma. 

Opening  of  this  Oklahoma  acreage  to  settlers  had  long  been 
advocated  by  various  groups  in  various  sections  of  the  country. 
The  main  contention  came  from  Captain  David  L.  Payne,  of 
Kansas.  Payne  had  been  an  officer  of  the  Union  forces  during 
the  Civil  War,  a  member  of  the  Kansas  legislature,  and^  an 
employee  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  Washington, 
D.  C. 

There  he  had  heard  much  private  talk  by  congressmen  re- 
garding these  "unassigned"  lands  which,  by  virtue  of  the  fact 
that  they  no  longer  were  property  of  the  Indians,  must  be 
public  domain  and  available  for  homesteading. 

Operating  on  this  theory,  Payne  formed  what  became 
known  as  the  Oklahoma  Colony.  Into  the  organization  was 
gathered  hundreds  of  men,  with  families,  who  were  deter- 
mined to  open  up  that  country  south  of  the  Kansas  border, 
by  force,  if  necessary.  Payne's  followers  were  given  the  name 
"boomers,"  because  of  the  drive  in  booming  the  idea  of  set- 
tling the  territory. 

Payne  first  assembled  his  men  at  Arkansas  City,  Kansas,  for 
a  plunge  over  the  border.  His  company  numbered  600,  and 
these  men  had  with  them  twice  that  number  of  women  and 
children  and  a  large  aggregation  of  covered  wagons. 

The  United  States  Army,  under  Colonel  Copinger,  met 
Payne  at  Arkansas  City  and  told  him  that  any  move  of  Payne's 
people  to  cross  the  border  would  be  resisted  by  armed  force. 

Payne  led  his  followers  westward  along  the  border  on  the 
Kansas  side  to  Caldwell,  and  there  was  joined  by  hundreds  of 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         133 

others.  At  the  same  time  Colonel  Copinger  marched  along 
on  the  Oklahoma  side  and  when  Payne  tried  to  go  over  the 
border  he  was  arrested  and  his  followers  were  dispersed. 

The  Oklahoma  Colony,  however,  was  a  determined  group. 
From  their  first  failure  in  1880  until  1884  they  tried  four  other 
forcible  entries  into  the  Oklahoma  country  and  each  wound 
up  with  the  Army  driving  the  boomers  out. 

On  his  last  try  Payne,  with  500  people  and  250  wagons, 
marched  to  Stillwater  and  began  to  set  up  his  colony.  He  and 
his  chief  aids  were  arrested  and  taken  to  Fort  Smith,  while 
the  Army  escorted  the  remainder  of  his  followers  back  across 
the  border  to  Kansas.  The  Fort  Smith  judge  deferred  a  ruling 
on  the  Payne  case  and  Payne  and  his  lieutenants  were  released 
on  bail. 

Payne  went  into  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States 
at  Topeka,  and  the  court  ruled  that  he  was  guilty  of  no  crime. 
The  opinion  handed  down  asserted  that  these  unassigned 
lands  were  public  lands,  and  therefore  could  be  settled  peace- 
ably by  homesteaders. 

Payne  might  have  succeeded  in  bringing  the  subject  to  a 
successful  conclusion  had  it  not  been  for  his  sudden  death  at 
Wellington,  Kansas,  on  November  28,  1884.  He  had  partici- 
pated the  night  before  in  a  public  meeting  as  a  preliminary 
to  reorganizing  his  Oklahoma  Colony  and  taking  new  and 
forceful  action  as  the  result  of  the  Topeka  court's  ruling.  He 
was  buried  with  a  great  public  ceremony  in  Wellington. 

Less  than  five  years  later  Congress  gave  in  to  the  pressures 
and  passed  a  law  setting  up  the  machinery  for  the  opening  of 
certain  of  the  former  Indian  lands  under  the  Homestead  Law. 
It  provided  that  each  opening  had  to  be  preceded  by  a  proc- 
lamation of  the  President  of  the  United  States  which  would 
set  the  opening  date,  the  area  to  be  settled,  and  the  conditions 
for  acquiring  the  land.  The  act  was  dated  March  2,  1889. 

Three  weeks  later,  on  March  23,  the  President  proclaimed 
the  official  opening  of  what  was  called  the  Oklahoma  Lands, 
1,887,640  acres  covering  most  of  what  is  now  the  counties 
of  Canadian,  Oklahoma,  Cleveland,  Kingfisher,  Logan,  and 


134        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Payne.  The  proclamation  fixed  the  opening  date  at  12  noon, 
April  22.  A  total  of  11,797  homesteads  would  be  available. 

One  of  the  conditions  imposed  upon  the  landseekers  was 
that  they  might  assemble  at  any  point  on  the  border  of  the 
area  to  be  opened,  provided  the  Indians  occupying  the  adjoin- 
ing lands  were  agreeable.  No  one  was  to  enter  the  area  until 
the  firing  of  a  gun  marked  the  beginning  of  the  race  for  land. 
After  the  gun  was  fired  it  would  be  a  veritable  horse-race  be- 
cause thousands  of  the  homeseekers  prepared  for  the  event  by 
assembling  the  fastest  horses  possible.  Some  even  bought  race 
horses  to  make  sure  that  they'd  break  out  in  front  of  the  pack 
and  lead  the  rush.  Thousands  of  others  had  to  depend  on  the 
horses  hitched  to  their  covered  wagons  which  provided  not 
only  transportation  but  also  living  quarters  for  the  families. 

Even  as  now,  there  were  chiselers  in  those  days— men  who 
played  the  angles,  so  to  speak.  These  men  sneaked  into  the 
promised  lands  under  cover  of  darkness,  sought  out  the  lands 
they  wanted,  hid  in  the  sagebrush  and  the  creek  willows,  and 
after  the  race  for  the  lands  was  started,  suddenly  came  out  and 
drove  their  stakes.  To  these  people  was  given  the  name  of 
"sooners." 

On  that  first  big  opening  it  was  estimated  that  there  were 
some  30,000  assembled  at  Arkansas  City;  between  10,000  and 
15,000  at  Caldwell,  Kansas;  10,000  west  of  Kingfisher;  10,000 
at  Purcell;  and  thousands  of  others  at  first  one  gateway  and 
then  another.  Those  who  came  by  train  jammed  the  Santa  Fe, 
which  at  the  time  was  the  only  railroad  in  Oklahoma  travers- 
ing the  area  from  north  to  south.  The  Rock  Island  brought 
capacity  loads  to  the  end  of  track  at  Pond  Creek. 

Not  ever)'One  in  this  vast  company  was  a  homestead  seeker. 
Hundreds  of  businessmen  had  come  in  from  various  sections 
of  the  country  to  buy  up  lots  for  the  establishment  of  com- 
mercial enterprises.  The  way  the  Government  worked  that 
particular  phase  of  settling  was  through  dividing  the  land  at 
townsites  into  business  and  residential  lots.  These  lots  were 
sold  to  individuals  at  very  low  figures.  One  stipulation  was 
that  one  person  could  buy  only  one  lot.  Nothing,  however, 


BEYOND   THE    MISSOURI         135 

could  prevent  a  businessman  from  buying  out  another  indi- 
vidual after  he  had  bought  his  original  lot  from  the  Govern- 
ment. 

The  settlement  that  later  became  Oklahoma  City  brought 
in  a  record  number  of  lot  purchasers.  They  felt  that  because 
of  the  site's  location  at  virtually  the  geographic  center  of  the 
territory  it  would  eventually  become  the  capital. 

These  businessmen  didn't  find  much  on  their  arrival— the 
Santa  Fe  railroad  station,  a  few  houses,  a  hastily  built  post 
office,  and  a  company  of  soldiers  from  Fort  Sill  who  had  been 
sent  in  to  preserve  order  for  the  opening  of  the  land. 

With  15,000  people  rushing  in  and  setting  up  camps  the 
settlement  of  Oklahoma  City  was  a  nightmare.  As  soon  as 
one  rugged  pioneer  would  leave  the  lot  he  staked  out  to  go  to 
the  Government  office  and  make  the  proper  settlement  some- 
one else  would  jump  the  lot  and  try  to  hold  it. 

An  attempt  to  set  up  a  local  government  failed  when  the 
leaders  of  the  new  settlement  found  that  there  was  no  legal 
authority  for  such  a  procedure.  The  Army  commander  seemed 
to  be  the  real  power,  and  he  and  his  soldiers  had  their  hands 
full  in  an  attempt  to  keep  things  under  control. 

This,  then,  was  the  established  pattern  for  the  settling  of 
the  land  and  the  founding  of  townsites  when  the  President 
of  the  United  States  issued  the  proclamation  to  provide  for 
the  opening  of  the  Cherokee  Strip. 

The  records  are  silent  as  to  the  identity  of  the  bright  intel- 
lect in  the  Rock  Island  management  that  laid  the  groundwork 
for  the  skulduggery  that,  with  the  cooperation  of  a  group  of 
Indian  leaders,  would  assure  the  townsite  booms  at  Pond 
Creek  and  Enid,  with  the  railroad's  depots  right  in  the  very 
center  of  them  and  the  railroad  in  absolute  control. 

Skulduggery  it  evidently  was.  But  it  backfired  with  a  ter- 
rific bang.  It  laid  the  groundwork  for  what  the  old-timers  still 
refer  to  as  the  Great  Railroad  War. 

Hoke  Smith,  of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  decided 
in  midsummer  of  1893  to  throw  open  the  Cherokee  Strip. 
This  was  the  section  south  of  the  Kansas  border  extending 


136        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

some  57  miles  north  and  south,  and  more  than  200  miles  east 
and  west.  Hoke  Smith  decided  to  center  the  townsite  devel- 
opment around  the  railroad  stations  already  erected  and  in 
service  at  Pond  Creek  and  Enid. 

White  Feather,  Cherokee  Chief,  held  out  on  signing  the 
necessary  treaty  to  make  the  opening  possible  until  the  Gov- 
ernment granted  him  and  66  other  tribe  leaders  the  right  to 
select  first  their  allotments— 160  acres  each  for  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  in  their  families.  The  department  agreed 
and  the  necessary  steps  were  taken  to  set  the  opening  of  the 
Strip  for  high  noon  on  September  16,  1893. 

Now  the  points  where  townsites  would  be  established  had 
always  been  kept  a  deep,  dark  secret  in  the  Interior  Depart- 
ment until  the  day  of  the  opening.  Somewhere  this  informa- 
tion had  leaked  out  in  advance.  The  Indian  leaders  knew  all 
about  what  the  Government  had  in  mind  at  Pond  Creek  and 
Enid,  and  so  did  the  railroad  officers.  It  was  soon  learned  in 
Washington  that  Rock  Island  officers  had  entered  into  a  deal 
with  the  Cherokee  tribal  chiefs.  The  deal  was  that  the  Indians 
would  file  their  claims  around  the  railroad  property  adjacent 
to  the  station,  and  then  sell  out  to  the  Rock  Island  for  a  nom- 
inal sum.  The  railroad  then  could  drive  a  bargain  with  the 
settlers. 

Upon  learning  of  this  bit  of  masterminding  on  the  part  of 
the  railroad,  the  Government,  on  the  eve  of  the  opening  of 
the  Cherokee  Strip,  announced  that  the  townsites  would,  in 
each  instance,  be  located  three  miles  south  of  the  depots. 

The  story  of  the  opening  of  the  Cherokee  Strip  is  a  great 
history  in  itself.  From  north,  east,  south,  and  west  the  settlers 
had  come— they  and  their  families,  their  horses  and  their  cov- 
ered wagons.  Again  on  that  September  16,  Caldwell  to  the 
north  and  Hennessey  to  the  south  were  scenes  of  wild  disorder. 
Thousands  were  camped  in  tents  along  the  railroad  right-of- 
way.  Other  thousands  waited  for  the  trains  to  take  them  in. 
Men  fought  for  a  position  on  the  boundary  lines  so  that  at 
the  firing  of  a  gun  they  could  make  a  quick  break  to  reach  the 
choicest  sections  first. 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         137 

The  settlers  at  Caldwell  had  their  eyes  on  the  townsite  at 
Pond  Creek.  The  riders  at  Hennessey  would  dash  up  the  Chis- 
holm  Trail  for  Enid.  It  was  estimated  that  at  the  various  gate- 
ways to  the  Strip  100,000  people  had  assembled.  At  12  noon 
that  September  16,  Pond  Creek  could  boast  only  of  the  rail- 
road station,  a  post  office,  some  railroaders'  shacks  and  a  small 
garrison  of  troops.  The  same  was  true  of  Enid,  19  miles  to 
the  south.  It  was  generally  felt  that  the  latter  town  would 
develop  into  the  town  in  that  territory. 

Someone  fooling  around  with  a  rifle  caused  the  false  start 
at  Hennessey.  Everybody  was  set  and  poised  as  the  hour  of 
noon  approached.  Then,  prematurely,  a  gun  went  off  at  11:55, 
and  the  race  was  on. 

Within  a  week  these  two  towns  had  been  transformed  from 
mere  outposts  to  teeming  cities.  But  they  weren't  teeming 
around  the  Rock  Island  stations.  Each  town  was  being  laid 
out  three  miles  south  of  the  depot. 

Lumber  and  other  building  materials  had  to  be  hauled  in 
by  team  and  wagon  from  the  station  to  the  townsite.  Streets 
were  surveyed  and  staked  out  and  buildings  began  going  up 
—mostly  rough  structures  at  the  start  with  walls,  a  roof,  and 
a  few  windows.  Nothing  in  the  way  of  planned  architecture. 
The  walls  were  unpainted.  People  lived  in  tents  and  wagons 
and  dreamed  of  the  future,  of  developing  a  thriving  business 
or  putting  down  the  roots  for  a  permanent  home. 

It  was  raw,  and  rough  and  tough.  Guns  barked  to  settle 
disputes,  and  no  one  asked  any  questions.  Saloons  and  dance 
halls  went  up  overnight.  Then  civil  government  was  estab- 
lished and  shortly  out  of  chaos  came  order. 

Then  became  obvious  the  economic  necessity  for  having  a 
railroad  station  in  the  towns.  People  simply  couldn't  travel 
such  distances  to  the  Pond  Creek  and  Enid  depots.  Meeting 
trains,  removing  goods  from  cars,  draying  it  three  miles  over 
rough  and  indifferent  roads  just  didn't  make  sense. 

When  the  civic  leaders  in  both  Enid  and  Pond  Creek  met 
and  decided  to  ask  the  Rock  Island  to  put  their  stations  right 
down  in  the  towns,  no  one  suspected  trouble.  It  seemed  a 


138        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

reasonable  request.  Weren't  the  people  of  these  towns  provid- 
ing a  lot  of  new  traffie  for  the  railroad?  Weren't  they  depend- 
ing on  the  railroad  for  service?  Committees  were  appointed 
to  go  to  Herington,  Kansas,  and  talk  to  Rock  Island  officials. 

''We'll  just  tell  'em  what  we're  up  against,"  one  merchant 
blustered. 

''What  the  hell,"  another  chimed  in.  "It  don't  make  sense 
for  me  to  have  to  make  three  or  four  round  trips  a  day  from 
my  store  three  miles  to  that  depot  to  get  my  stuff,  and  to  ship 
things  out." 

The  committees  were  in  for  a  surprise.  Those  were  the  days 
when  railroad  public  relations,  with  the  impetus  given  by  the 
attitudes  of  Jim  Fiske,  Jay  Gould,  and  others  like  them,  con- 
sisted of  the  single-purpose  policy  of  "the  public  be  damned." 
A  far  cry  from  the  apparent  helpful  attitude  of  the  railroad 
toward  its  patrons  that  had  been  demonstrated  just  a  few  years 
before  by  Marcus  Low. 

On  the  memorable  visit  of  the  town  leaders  of  Pond  Creek 
and  Enid  to  present  their  case  to  the  Rock  Island  officers,  the 
answer  they  got  was  quick. 

"No  depots,"  said  the  railroad.  "You  got  depots  north  of 
you  three  miles.  That's  what  you'll  use.  We're  not  spending 
any  money  to  build  new  stations  at  your  new  townsites." 

No  sooner  had  the  committees  reported  back  to  their  re- 
spective towns  than  the  Great  Railroad  War  began. 

The  citizens  were  incensed.  What  did  the  railroad  mean? 
The  tracks  ran  right  through  the  heart  of  the  new  towns.  Why, 
the  railroad  could  move  their  present  stations  right  down 
to  the  middle  of  these  teeming,  growing  cities.  But  the  rail- 
road wouldn't.  All  right,  the  citizenry  would  use  direct  means. 

There  was  nothing  so  direct  as  a  slug  from  a  Winchester 
rifle  or  a  blast  from  a  shotgun  shell.  Just  sort  of  aimed  at  a 
passing  train.  Not  meaning  to  hit  anybody,  of  course.  Just  a 
few  shots  in  the  air.  Let  those  railroaders  know  the  people 
meant  business. 

That's  how  it  started.  It  happened  that  way  at  both  Pond 
Creek  and  Enid.  But  the  railroad  defied  the  marksmen.  The 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         139 

trains  hit  these  towns  wide  open,  swiding  the  cinders  and  dust 
into  a  cloud  with  the  speed  of  their  passing. 

Pond  Creek  passed  a  city  ordinance  hmiting  Rock  Island 
trains  to  eight  miles  per  hour  through  the  town.  Enid  followed 
suit. 

The  crews,  on  instructions  from  headquarters,  ignored  the 
ordinance.  They  ran  as  fast  as  ever.  The  gunfire  became  more 
serious,  the  riflemen  more  in  earnest.  So  much  so  that  passen- 
gers were  warned  before  the  southbound  trains  left  Enid  sta- 
tion to  keep  down  on  the  floor  out  of  sight  of  the  windows. 

The  bullets  and  the  buckshot  shattered  windows  and  pock- 
marked the  sides  of  the  cars.  The  enginemen  with  throttle 
wide  open,  would  crouch  on  the  cab  floor  until  they  were 
safely  by  the  danger  points. 

C.  O.  Royer,  a  prominent  Pond  Creek  lawyer,  was  sent  to 
Washington  to  appeal  to  Congress.  He  got  nowhere. 

Throughout  the  winter  of  1893-94  feeling  grew  intense. 
At  Pond  Creek  in  May  a  meeting  was  held  and  drastic  steps 
were  decided  on.  City  Marshal  Charlie  Curran  said  he'd  en- 
force the  speed  law  and  arrest  the  lawbreakers,  and  there  was 
one  way  to  do  it.  The  women  previously  had  helped  their  men 
folk  by  pouring  soft  soap  from  coffeepots  onto  the  rails,  but 
the  railroad  had  put  sandboxes  on  the  engine  and  the  sand 
nullified  the  soap's  deterrent  action.  So  now  there  was  one 
thing  left.  These  locomotives  couldn't  run  except  on  rails. 
You  could  stop  them  by  taking  the  railroad  away.  Just  tear 
up  the  track,  then  you  can  get  to  the  crews  and  arrest  them. 

They  tore  up  the  track— 950  feet  of  it.  Then  sent  riders  in 
each  direction  to  flag  down  the  trains.  There  was  a  north- 
bound stock  train  of  30  cars  swinging  up  the  railroad.  The 
engine  crew  ignored  the  riders. 

The  engine  hit  the  tom-up  roadbed  and  plowed  into  the 
dirt.  It  didn't  turn  over,  but  the  cattle  cars  did.  They  piled 
up,  one  on  top  of  another,  and  broke  open.  Marshal  Curran 
arrested  the  crew  and  the  members  went  to  jail.  The  next  day 
a  railroad  attorney  got  them  out  on  bail. 

What  would  be  the  railroad's  move  now?  Pond  Creek  didn't 


1 40        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

have  to  wait  long.  Down  from  Kansas  came  a  deputy  U.S. 
marshal  with  50  men.  They  were  armed  to  the  teeth  with 
Winchesters  and  revolvers.  They  arrested  60  of  the  leaders  of 
Pond  Creek  and  took  them  to  Kingfisher  where  the  sheriff 
refused  to  put  the  prisoners  in  jail.  The  men  had  been  arrested 
without  warrants. 

The  prisoners  were  marched  over  to  the  Kingfisher  hotel 
and  were  left  under  one  guard  at  the  door  while  the  U.S.  mar- 
shal went  to  see  about  getting  the  proper  warrants.  The  pris- 
oners soon  kidded  the  guard  out  of  doing  anything  about  their 
detention,  and,  led  by  City  Marshal  Curran  of  Pond  Creek, 
they  all  went  out  on  the  town.  That  night  they  returned  to 
their  hotel  prison,  much  to  the  surprise  of  the  U.S.  deputy. 
Meanwhile  the  telegraph  wires  were  kept  busy  between  King- 
fisher and  Herington,  and  finally  the  railroad  lawyers  in- 
structed the  U.S.  marshal  to  take  his  prisoners  back  to  their 
home  county,  secure  the  necessary  warrants,  and  line  them  up 
before  a  Pond  Creek  magistrate. 

A  special  train  was  brought  to  Kingfisher  and  two  bands 
with  a  great  parade  of  citizens  accompanied  the  Pond  Creek 
prisoners  to  the  station.  The  trial  which  followed  at  Pond 
Creek  was  a  farce,  and  the  whole  group  was  discharged  for 
lack  of  evidence. 

The  Rock  Island,  meanwhile,  placed  armed  guards  along 
the  track  to  prevent  any  recurrence  of  the  previous  episode  of 
tearing  up  ties  and  rails.  But  the  burning  of  bridges  followed, 
and  many  other  acts  of  violence,  until  a  group  of  outlaws  called 
the  Pitts  gang  came  into  the  area  and  held  up  a  train. 

For  Pond  Creek  that  was  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the 
Railroad  War. 

The  Pitts  gang  waved  the  train  to  a  stop  by  using  a  red 
lantern.  The  spot  was  just  outside  the  southern  edge  of  the 
town.  A  plucky  express  messenger  surprised  the  outlaws'  plan 
of  attack  by  whamming  away  with  a  Colt  .45  and  shooting 
Charlie  Pitts,  the  leader,  in  the  head.  The  rest  of  the  gang 
took  to  their  horses  and  thence  to  the  brush.  The  Pond  Creek- 
ers  went  after  them.  Capture  was  effected  after  a  gunfight  of 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI  141 

several  hours  and  the  railroad  united  with  Pond  Creek  to 
bring  the  bandits  to  justice.  The  express  messenger  became  a 
hero. 

A  short  time  later,  in  August  1894,  ^  railroad  lawyer  called 
on  the  mayor  of  Pond  Creek  and  in  a  few  words  told  that 
dignitary  that  the  Rock  Island  was  now  ready  to  build  a  depot 
in  his  town.  The  mayor  took  a  minute  to  get  over  his  open- 
mouthed  surprise.  Then  he  sputtered: 

"Why  in  the  name  of  hell  did  you  take  so  long?  You 
couldVe  done  it  a  long  time  ago  and  saved  all  this  trouble." 

The  attorney  said  stifHy,  "I  have  no  authority  to  discuss 
that  matter,  but  if  you  will  kindly  drive  a  stake  on  our  right- 
of-way  showing  where  you  want  the  depot  we  will  build  it 
just  as  soon  as  the  material  can  be  moved  in." 

It  was  much  the  same  story  concurrently  at  Enid.  One  act 
of  property  destruction  after  another  didn't  seem  to  have  any 
effect.  At  one  point  in  the  war  the  Enid  citizenry  moved  a 
four-room  house  onto  the  track. 

The  engineer  on  a  southbound  freight  train,  seeing  it  from 
a  distance,  figured  no  one  would  be  so  stupid  as  to  stay  in 
that  house.  He  got  a  firmer  hold  on  his  cud  of  tobacco,  braced 
his  feet  against  the  bulkhead  of  the  boiler,  hooked  his  Johnson 
bar  on  center  and  latched  his  throttle  out  as  far  as  it  would  go. 

It  was  a  sight  to  behold  when  he  plowed  into  the  structure. 
The  engineer  and  fireman  had  got  down  on  the  floor  to  be  out 
of  the  way  of  flying  timbers.  Anyone  remembering  the  old 
Mack  Sennett  comedies  may  have  a  pretty  good  idea  of  what 
the  wreck  was  like.  Timbers  filled  the  air— timbers  and  splin- 
ters, glass  fragments  and  dust.  But  the  Rock  Island  kept  right 
on  going. 

The  finale  came  with  the  sawing  of  the  timbers  on  the 
bridge  over  Boggy  Creek.  They  were  sawed  under  the  cover 
of  darkness  so  that  the  cut  just  missed  going  all  the  way 
through.  Then  the  irate  mob  went  back  to  town  square  to 
await  results.  They  left  a  youngster  to  watch  the  bridge. 

The  results  were  something  to  behold.  Engine  and  tank  got 
across,  but  the  bridge  buckled  under  the  trailing  cars,  and  the 


1 42        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

engine  and  tender  were  jerked  down  into  the  wreckage.  Two 
cars  of  bright  seed-wheat  broke  open  and  the  wheat  spilled 
over  the  dry  bed  of  the  creek.  The  lookout  made  his  report  at 
the  square  and  the  citizens  grabbed  bags  and  baskets  and  tubs 
and  came  down  to  help  themselves  to  the  grain. 

The  engineer  coming  up  from  the  depths  told  the  towns- 
folk: 

"Yuh  done  a  damn  good  job  of  sawing  that  trestle." 
Enid,  too,  got  its  railroad  station,  right  where  it  wanted  it. 


"The  best  laid  plans..." 


Just  how  much  President  Ransom  Cable  had  to  do  with  the 
determination  of  his  officers  in  Oklahoma  to  fight  their  war 
with  the  new  settlers  does  not  appear  in  the  records  of  the 
Rock  Island.  Cable's  annual  reports  during  the  years  of  his 
administration  left  much  to  be  desired  when  it  came  to  details 
about  the  company's  involved  affairs.  In  the  report  covering 
the  summer  of  1894,  when  the  Great  Railroad  War  came  to 
an  end,  there  is  but  a  brief  mention,  under  the  caption  New 
Buildings,  that  depots  were  built  at  Round  Pond  and  South 
Enid,  Oklahoma.  Even  in  capitulation  to  the  demands  of  the 
settlers  Cable  refused  to  recognize  the  official  townsites  of 
these  two  communities  under  the  names  the  Government 
records  gave  them.  So  far  as  Cable  was  concerned  Pond  Creek 
was  three  miles  north  of  the  real  Pond  Creek,  and  Enid  was 
three  miles  north  of  the  growing  city  that  really  was  Enid. 


BEYOND   THE    MISSOURI         143 

That  Marcus  Low,  now  general  attorney  for  the  Rock  Island 
system  at  Topeka— and  still  top  man  insofar  as  the  lines  west 
of  the  Missouri  were  concerned— gave  his  sanction  to  the  de- 
fiance of  the  settlers  at  Enid  and  Pond  Creek  is  a  foregone 
conclusion.  Nor  in  the  final  analysis  was  it  exactly  a  reversal 
of  character  when  compared  to  what  he  had  done  to  help  the 
farmers.  He  was,  first  and  last,  a  shrewd  politician,  and  not  at 
all  averse  to  turning  a  fast  dollar.  The  general  belief  is  that  he 
himself  was  responsible  for  fostering  and  furthering  the  deal 
with  the  Indians,  and  for  the  loss  and  destruction  that  resulted 
from  the  antagonism  of  the  townspeople. 

Cable,  at  the  annual  meeting  in  June  i8g8,  stepped  out  of 
the  presidency  of  the  Rock  Island  to  assume  the  newly  created 
post  of  chairman  of  the  board.  W.  G.  Purdy,  who  had  come 
up  through  the  accounting  department,  and  had  long  served 
as  second  vice-president,  secretary  and  treasurer,  was  elected 
to  succeed  Cable  as  the  road's  president. 

Besides  the  expansion  in  Kansas  and  Oklahoma,  during  his 
administration,  he  had  seen  the  railroad  extend  into  Texas 
through  the  creation  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Texas 
Railway  Company.  This  line  picked  up  the  rails  that  had  been 
laid  down  from  Minco  to  Terral,  on  the  Oklahoma  -  Texas 
border.  The  Texas  company  was  incorporated  under  the  laws 
of  that  State  in  1892,  and  was  opened  for  traffic  to  Fort  Worth, 
July  30,  1893. 

Earlier  in  that  year  the  final  dressing  had  been  put  on  the 
52-mile  segment  of  the  Omaha  -  Colorado  main  line  between 
Lincoln  and  Jansen,  Nebraska,  and  over  it  through  operations 
from  Chicago  to  Colorado  Springs  and  Denver  had  begun, 
eliminating  the  use  of  the  Union  Pacific  between  Lincoln  and 
Beatrice  and  shortening  the  route  by  11  miles. 

Because  of  the  development  of  suburban  towns  along  the 
Rock  Island  in  the  Chicago  area,  during  the  Cable  regime,  a 
switching  line  that  had  been  started  northward  out  of  Blue 
Island  in  1883  had  developed  into  what  today  is  the  suburban 
line  between  Gresham  Junction  and  Blue  Island,  serving  the 
Brainerd  -  Beverly  -  Morgan  Park  District. 


1 44        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

In  1894,  as  the  result  of  a  city  ordinance,  Cable  embarked 
upon  one  of  the  great  improvement  projects  of  the  era— the 
elevation  of  the  railroad  between  Sixteenth  Street,  Chicago, 
and  Englewood.  The  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern, 
joint  owner  of  these  facilities,  would  pay  half  the  cost. 

Another  milestone  in  Cable's  administration  was  the  re- 
building of  the  Government  bridge  at  Rock  Island.  As  early 
as  i8go  Cable  saw  that  the  single-track  structure  would  soon 
be  wholly  inadequate.  He  got  help  from  Congress  to  authorize 
a  complete  remodeling,  using  steel  as  well  as  iron  in  the  struc- 
ture. When  difficulties  arose  Cable  parked  himself  in  Wash- 
ington and  stayed  on  the  job  until  he  got  what  he  wanted. 

The  work  on  the  bridge  moved  speedily  through  the  year 
1895  and  was  completed  and  carrying  double-track  traffic  in 
December  1896. 

Mileage  in  Iowa  was  further  increased  during  the  late  i88o's 
and  the  early  1890's  through  extension  of  the  Burlington, 
Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern,  and  through  the  building  of 
additional  branch  lines. 

When  Cable  took  office  in  June,  1883,  he  took  over  a  rail- 
road comprised  of  1,381  miles  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Missouri  and 
Kansas.  As  of  that  period  the  rolling  stock  was  made  up  of  309 
locomotives,  some  of  which  were  wood-burners  and  others 
coal-burners  (the  wood-burners  were  on  their  way  to  retire- 
ment); 19  sleeping  cars;  127  coaches  of  all  classes;  41  baggage, 
mail,  and  express  cars;  8  railway  postal  cars;  6  dining  cars;  and 
2  official  cars— a  total  of  203  in  passenger  service.  The  com- 
pany owned  and  operated  7,489  freight  cars  of  various  classes, 
of  which  4,454  were  box  cars,  1,021  livestock  cars,  1,825  plat- 
form and  coal  cars,  and  189  caboose,  drover,  and  other  cars. 

Virtually  all  the  railroad  had  been  re-laid  with  steel  rails 
to  replace  the  iron  ones— an  innovation  that  John  Tracy  had 
introduced  back  in  1866  with  an  experiment  in  Chicago. 

As  of  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  March  31,  1883,  gross  reve- 
nues totaled  $12,189,902. 

When  Cable  left  the  presidency  to  Warren  Purdy,  he 
turned  over  a  railroad  that  had  expanded  into  3,568  miles 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         145 

of  lines  owned  and  leased,  and  that  traversed  or  entered  the 
states  of  Illinois,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Colo- 
rado, and  Oklahoma  and  Indian  Territories.  The  Texas  mile- 
age of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Texas,  totaling  94,  was 
not  shown  as  part  of  the  Rock  Island  ownership. 

Gross  revenues  had  built  up  to  $19,548,583— a  rise  of  almost 
$2,250,000  over  the  same  period  (April  1  to  March  31)  in 

1897,  ^^^  previous  year. 

Cable,  during  his  1 5  years  as  president,  saw  his  equipment 
increase  to  564  locomotives,  456  passenger  cars  of  all  types, 
and  16,388  freight  cars. 

It  was  a  strong  and  healthy  railroad  he  turned  over  to 
Warren  G.  Purdy,  with  two  exceptions.  The  property  was  far 
behind  its  competitors  in  the  development  of  industr}^  along 
its  lines,  and  it  was  woefully  weak  in  terminal  facilities. 

Despite  Cable's  highly  respected  business  judgment  and  his 
highly  vaunted  vision,  he  still  insisted  that  his  railroad  should 
emphasize  more  and  more  "through  freight"— loads  from  and 
to  connections  with  the  Rock  Island  serving  as  merely  a  bridge 
line  over  which  the  trafEc  could  move  fast.  The  railroad  should 
own  only  such  real  estate  as  might  be  necessary  to  accommo- 
date shops  and  yards.  Nothing  at  all  for  lease  to  industrial 
projects  or  to  sell  to  businesses  that  might  want  to  build  fac- 
tories or  warehouses.  It  was  all  right  with  Cable  if  the  other 
railroads  ^^•anted  to  go  in  for  that.  Let  the  others  have  the 
plants  and  they  could  switch  the  cars  to  the  Rock  Island  for 
road  movement.  That  might  have  been  all  right  if  it  had 
worked  that  way.  But  it  never  did,  much  to  the  Rock  Island's 
despair  in  later  years. 

Another  point  in  Cable's  administration  not  to  be  over- 
looked was  his  tendency  to  cut  corners  in  construction  by 
leasing  all  or  parts  of  other  lines,  or  by  contracting  for  track- 
age rights,  when  building  his  own  mileage  would  have  been 
much  sounder.  Of  the  3,568  miles  operated  on  March  31, 

1898,  only  2,877  w^^  owned.  The  leased  mileage  totaled  352.70 
and  trackage  rights  extended  across  338.05  miles  of  somebody 
else's  railroad.  Rock  Island  could  perform  no  local  senace  over 


1 46        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

many  miles  of  these  properties  and  therefore  could  earn  noth- 
ing from  traffic  originating  at  or  destined  to  points  on  these 
lines. 

Out  of  the  March  31,  1898,  gross  of  $19,500,000  the  com- 
pany had  to  pay  in  rents  and  for  trackage  and  bridge  rights 
$789,562  for  the  fiscal  year— a  very  high  price,  at  best,  con- 
sidering the  size  of  the  railroad,  its  earning  power,  and  the 
territory  it  served. 

Warren  G.  Purdy  had  different  ideas  as  to  how  to  run  a 
railroad.  That  was  evident  from  the  very  start  of  his  admin- 
istration. It  will  be  remembered  that  he  had  started  with  the 
Rock  Island  under  John  Tracy.  He  had  begun  his  career  in 
the  financial  department,  and  was  local  cashier  at  Chicago  in 
the  days  of  the  disastrous  fire  of  1871.  It  was  he  who  had  raced 
against  the  flames  to  make  sure  that  every  corporate  record, 
all  stocks  and  bonds,  and  all  cash  v/ere  securely  locked  in  the 
vaults  before  he  left  the  Loop  ahead  of  the  devastation  that 
befell  the  Chicago  station. 

Purdy  was  local  treasurer  when  Hugh  Riddle  ran  the  Rock 
Island,  and  he  admired  Riddle's  intensity  of  purpose  to  speed 
industrial  development.  Purdy  was  well  aware  of  the  opposi- 
tion Riddle  had  met  in  this  endeavor,  and  from  his  position 
of  secretary  and  treasurer  under  Ransom  Cable  he  had  had 
many  opportunities  to  see  the  weaknesses  in  some  of  Cable's 
policies. 

The  new  president  resolved  to  make  the  Rock  Island  second 
to  none  in  every  department,  A  long-range  improvement  pro- 
gram would  be  the  first  order  of  business.  The  growth  in  traffic 
had  been  steady  and  strong.  But  there  were  some  things  in  the 
growth  of  the  railroad  that  had  not  kept  abreast  of  business 
increases. 

Aside  from  the  faults  of  inadequate  terminal  facilities  and 
virtually  no  industrial  development,  a  portion  of  the  motive 
power  was  obsolete.  Cable  still,  after  1 5  years,  had  been  hang- 
ing on  to  the  old  wood-burners  that  should  have  been  retired 
and  scrapped. 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI  147 


,<i>  Enter:  the  Reid-Moore 
syndicate 


Warren  Purdy  lost  no  time  in  calling  in  his  trafEc  chiefs,  his 
engineers  and  others  for  consultation.  Ever)thing  that  Hugh 
Riddle,  during  his  term  of  ofEce,  had  said  about  the  South 
Chicago  line  and  its  development  had  come  to  pass.  That 
branch,  with  ever-expanding  industry  along  its  rails,  was  a  rich 
source  of  trafEc.  But  why  not  more  land  for  dock  and  terminal 
facihties? 

Purdy's  officers  agreed  with  him,  and  immediately  a  plan 
was  set  up  for  the  acquisition  of  the  necessary  property. 

Now  what  about  this  motive  power?  Yes,  the  railroad  had 
some  modem  locomotives,  but  not  enough.  Cable  had  hung 
on  to  outmoded  powder  too  long,  and  engines,  on  which  an 
attempt  at  modernization  had  been  made  in  the  road's  own 
shops,  were  not  capable  of  doing  things  that  the  newer  power 
could  do. 

Taking  the  system  map,  Purdy  stuck  a  pencil  point  on 
Peoria.  Here  again  the  line  was  woefully  weak  in  terminal 
facilities— and  what  was  true  of  Peoria  was  true  of  Rock  Island, 
Davenport,  Des  Moines,  Kansas  City,  Missouri;  Armourdale 
(Kansas  City,  Kansas);  McFarland,  Kansas. 

Down  in  Oklahoma  new  towns  were  going  up  in  rich  agri- 
cultural territory  off  the  line.  Feeder  branches  would  be  prof- 
itable. 


1 48        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Purdy  dreamed  of  great  things  for  his  railroad.  No  one  knew 
its  strong  points  and  its  weaknesses  as  well  as  he  knew  them. 
There  was  a  healthy  surplus  in  the  treasury.  The  road  had 
never  missed  a  dividend,  had  never  failed  to  earn  a  comfortable 
net.  But  competition  was  getting  tougher.  Other  lines  were 
doing  progressive  things  and  the  Rock  Island  just  had  to  keep 
pace. 

While  Purdy  held  long  conferences  with  Hilon  Parker, 
his  first  vice-president  and  general  manager— the  same  Hilon 
Parker  who  under  Marcus  Low's  supervision  had  made  such 
an  admirable  record  in  building  the  lines  west  of  the  Missouri 
just  lo  years  ago— a  group  of  gentlemen  sat  around  a  board- 
room table  in  a  Chicago  office  building  with  new  dreams  of 
empire. 

Purdy,  like  everyone  else,  had  read  and  heard  much  about 
William  B.  Leeds  and  his  three  associates— Daniel  G.  Reid, 
called  "Czar,"  and  the  Moore  brothers,  William  H.  and  James 
Hobart.  Bill  Moore  was  known  as  "Judge."  Not  that  he  ever 
sat  on  a  bench  but  because  of  his  suave  and  ponderous  bearing. 
He  and  his  brother  Jim,  a  very  persuasive  gentleman,  had 
already  gained  considerable  notoriety  in  both  financial  and 
political  circles  for  the  way  they  had  put  together  two  com- 
bines that  had  formed  National  Biscuit  and  Diamond  Match. 

Bill  Leeds,  known  as  the  Tin  Plate  King,  and  Dan  Reid, 
his  companion  since  boyhood,  had  joined  up  with  the  Moores 
in  putting  together  a  group  of  tin  plate  and  tin  can  companies 
to  form  American  Can. 

Collectively  this  quartet  had  gained  the  name  of  "The  Big 
Four  of  the  Prairies."  They  were  firm  believers  in  and  had 
aptly  demonstrated  the  accuracy  of  Barnum's  theory  as  to  the 
birth  rate  of  gullible  and  trusting  souls.  In  the  light  of  their 
experiences  it  might  be  said  that  they  thought  Barnum  had 
been  slightly  on  the  conservative  side.  Separately  and  collec- 
tively they  could,  as  one  writer  put  it,  "have  charmed  a  bird 
out  of  its  nest,  sucked  the  eggs,  and  made  the  bird  like  it." 

Bill  Leeds,  through  various  engineering  jobs  on  the  Penn- 
sylvania system,  and  while  a  division  superintendent  at  Rich- 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         1 49 

mond,  Indiana,  had  long  dreamed  of  being  not  just  a  railroad 
president,  but  president  of  the  biggest  railroad  in  the  world. 
He  got  into  tin  plate  in  1890  along  with  Dan  Reid  who,  as  a 
cashier  in  a  Richmond  bank,  saw  an  opportunity  to  make 
some  real  money  without  too  much  investment.  Together 
these  two  bought  some  shares  in  the  American  Tin  Plate 
Company  at  Elwood,  Indiana, 

Sometime  in  1894  Leeds  concluded  that  the  Pennsylvania 
wasn't  going  to  do  very  much  about  elevating  him,  and  his 
$1,800  a  year  salary  was  peanuts  compared  to  what  his  tin 
plate  holdings  were  making.  He  left  the  railroad  and  took 
over  as  president  of  the  Elwood  firm,  and  Reid  went  along 
as  treasurer. 

Having  watched  the  Moore  brothers  perform,  Leeds  and 
Reid  teamed  up  with  them,  and  conceived  the  idea  of  build- 
ing a  lot  of  small  competitive  companies  into  one  great  big 
corporation.  The  Moore  brothers  had  definitely  established 
the  feasibility  of  using  little  or  none  of  their  own  money  in  these 
schemes,  while  being  very  free  with  other  people's  cash. 

This  procedure  appealed  to  Leeds  and  Reid,  and  since 
Judge  Moore,  early  in  1898,  was  temporarily  without  funds, 
he  was  happy  to  have  the  association  of  these  two  tin  plate 
manipulators. 

They  all  got  together  and  sent  out  a  feeler  to  various  com- 
petitors to  see  what  these  people  wanted  for  their  stock. 
When  they  received  enough  replies  the  Big  Four  held  a 
meeting  in  Chicago.  Each  used  his  persuasiveness  to  convince 
the  representatives  of  the  various  firms  that  they  should  all 
come  into  the  as  yet  nonexistent  big  company  that  the  Big 
Four  was  about  to  incorporate. 

The  build-up  by  Judge  Moore  and  Leeds  carried  such  con- 
viction that  before  the  meeting  was  over  each  manufacturer 
there  had  agreed  to  turn  over  his  company  for  preferred 
stock  and  a  bonus  of  an  equal  amount  of  common  in  the 
company  the  Big  Four  would  set  up.  No  cash  output  by  the 
syndicate  was  involved.  As  an  example,  the  La  Belle  Com- 
pany, of  Wheeling-  West  Virginia,  asked  $500,000  for  its 


150        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

tin  plating  plant,  which  was  twice  what  it  cost;  the  earning 
capacity  of  the  plant  was  $70,000  a  year.  Instead  of  a  half 
million  in  cash,  as  La  Belle  had  expected,  its  management 
surrendered  the  company  for  $500,000  preferred  stock  of  the 
as  yet  unnamed  buying  corporation,  and  another  $500,000 
of  that  company's  common  stock. 

The  Big  Four  scattered  stocks  around  with  a  very  free  hand 
and  kept  $10,000,000  of  the  common  stock  for  themselves 
for  promotion  expense.  Once  the  big  company  was  incor- 
porated at  a  capitalization  far  in  excess  of  the  combined 
worth  of  the  various  component  parts  that  went  to  make  up 
the  whole,  the  syndicate  cashed  in  and  got  out  with  their 
pockets  loaded  and  their  hearts  light  and  gay. 

No  sooner  had  Judge  Moore  and  his  companions  unloaded 
on  tin  plate  and  cans  until  they  began  on  steel.  They  used 
the  same  methods  exactly  to  get  together  independent  bar 
mills,  and  formed  National  Steel  Company.  They  went  after 
the  sheet-steel  producers  and  formed  the  American  Sheet 
Steel  Company.  They  cornered  the  hoop  manufacturers  and 
came  up  with  the  American  Steel  Hoop  Company. 

And  they  had  their  calculating  eyes  on  railroads  for  their 
next  big  coup.  Specifically  they  had  their  eyes  on  Rock  Island. 

Warren  Purdy  didn't  know  it  then,  but  his  days  were  num- 
bered. Purdy,  blissfully  unaware  of  the  groping  tentacles  of 
the  Big  Four,  went  on  re-laying  rail,  re-ballasting,  and  build- 
ing new  stations,  permanent  bridges,  and  larger  shops  and 
roundhouses. 

Under  Purdy's  drive  the  Mangum  branch  from  Chickasha, 
Oklahoma,  was  begun  in  1898;  it  got  as  far  as  Mountain  View 
that  vear  and  was  completed  to  Mangum  in  1899.  Purdy 
organized  the  Guthrie  and  Kingfisher  Railway  Company  in 
December  1899  to  gain  entrance  to  the  then  capital  of  Ok- 
lahoma Territory.  Rock  Island  advanced  the  money  for  con- 
struction, and  the  road  was  built  eastward  from  Kino;fisher  to 
Cashion  where  it  connected  with  the  Santa  Fe.  This  was 
finished  in  1900  and  trackage  rights  from  Cashion  to  Guthrie 
over  the  Santa  Fe  were  secured. 


BEYOND    TH  E    M  ISSO  U  R  I  151 

Another  Oklahoma  branch  from  Enid  to  Bilhngs,  about 
27  miles  long,  was  built  and  put  into  operation  about  this 
time,  and  by  its  existence  the  entrance,  years  later,  into  Ponca 
City  oil  fields  was  made  possible. 

Purdy  long  had  considered  the  southwest  line  that  ran  from 
Herington  to  Liberal,  Kansas,  as  of  little  value  unless  it  was 
extended,  as  originally  planned,  in  the  direction  of  El  Paso. 
At  a  directors'  meeting  on  December  7,  1900,  the  board  gave 
Purdy  the  authority  to  build  from  Liberal  "to  a  point"  on 
the  boundar}'  line  between  Oklahoma  Territory  and  the  State 
of  Texas.  Two  new  companies  were  set  up  to  provide  for 
building  across  the  Texas  Panhandle  into  New  Mexico.  Con- 
tracts were  let,  and  Liberal  overnight  became  the  center  of  a 
vast  activity.  For  12  years  the  railroad  had  rested  there,  and 
now  track  gangs,  horses,  shovels,  work  equipment  all  moved 
in  to  transform  the  tranquil  town. 

Plans  were  completed  for  new  branch-line  extension  from 
Enid  to  Greenfield  Junction  in  Oklahoma  Territory  and 
from  a  point  near  the  town  of  Geary  to  Anadarko,  and  from 
Anadarko  on  the  Mangum  Branch  to  Fort  Sill  and  Lawton. 

Construction  of  these  projects  was  under  way  early  in  1901, 
when,  with  almost  no  warning  at  all,  Warren  Purdy  sensed 
trouble— deep  trouble. 

The  Reid-Moore  Syndicate— the  Big  Four  of  the  Prairies- 
was  moving  into  the  Rock  Island  picture. 

First  there  were  the  rumors  in  the  financial  pages,  then 
came  the  confirmation.  Bill  Leeds,  Czar  Reid,  Judge  Moore, 
and  his  brother  J.  Hobart  were  buying  up  Rock  Island  com- 
mon on  the  stock  exchange  or  wherever  large  blocks  could 
be  secured. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  June  5,  1901,  Vice-President  and 
General  Manager  Hilon  Parker  was  dumped  from  the  Rock 
Island  Board  of  Directors  to  make  room  for  Reid,  and  an- 
other member  was  eased  out  to  make  room  for  Judge  Moore. 
A  further  change  was  brought  about  on  July  31,  when  the  tin 
plate  king,  Leeds,  was  elected  to  the  Rock  Island  directorate. 

It  was  then  announced  that  the  Reid-Moore  S^•ndicate  had 


152        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

obtained  complete  control  of  the  property  through  the  pur- 
chase of  $20,690,775  of  Rock  Island  common  stock,  and 
would  take  over  the  management  of  the  property  on  January 
1,  1902.  Purdy  could  stay  on  until  that  date,  but  he  would 
take  orders  from  the  syndicate. 

Ransom  Cable  remained  as  chairman  of  the  board  and  of 
the  executive  committee,  but  if  he  had  any  interest  in  stem- 
ming the  tide  that  was  sweeping  Purdy  under,  he  gave  no 
evidence  of  it.  Cable  was  approaching  seventy.  He  was  still 
a  big  power  in  his  home  town  of  Rock  Island  in  business 
and  finance,  and  he  hoped  to  remain  a  power  on  the  railroad, 
but  he  had  to  reckon  with  Reid-Moore.  The  syndicate  was 
in  the  saddle  now  and  Cable  would  have  to  go  along  with  the 
new  management  if  he  wanted  to  stay  with  the  system. 

Purdy,  on  December  31,  1901,  gave  up  the  presidency,  and 
William  B.  Leeds  was  elected  to  succeed  him.  Purdy's  resig- 
nation gave  ill  health  as  his  reason  for  getting  out.  Thus 
ended  his  three  years  and  six  months  in  the  administration 
of  Rock  Island  affairs— a  very  bright  and  progressive  period 
in  Rock  Island's  almost  50  years  of  existence.  And  thus  began 
the  realization  of  a  dream  Bill  Leeds  had  long  entertained. 

Purdy  had  introduced  the  high-speed  Atlantic  type  pas- 
senger engines  for  the  main-line  runs;  he  had  invested  in 
bigger  and  more  powerful  Consolidation  type  freight  engines 
to  replace  the  little  10-wheelers;  he  had  purchased  almost 
4,000  new  box  cars  of  the  most  modern  design  and  of  maxi- 
mum carrying  capacity. 

Up  in  Iowa  Purdy  had  built  from  Cowrie,  a  point  on  the 
Des  Moines  and  Fort  Dodge  Railroad,  109  miles  to  Sibley. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  the  Des  Moines  and  Fort  Dodge  came 
into  being  back  in  1873  when  the  Des  Moines  Valley  Rail- 
road, which  built  the  line  north  from  Des  Moines  to  Tara, 
was  foreclosed  and  dismembered.  The  Rock  Island  had  taken 
over  the  Des  Moines  and  Fort  Dodge  through  lease  in  March 
1887.  So,  when  Purdy  built  the  Sibley  line  in  1900,  he  had  in 
mind  the  purchase  of  the  Des  Moines  and  Fort  Dodge  for 
incorporation  into  the  system. 


BEYOND    THE    MISSOURI         153 

This  was  a  bit  of  unfinished  business  he  could  leave  in 
the  hands  of  Tin  Plate  Leeds,  just  as  he  had  to  leave  the  hopes 
and  dreams  he  had  long  entertained  for  a  stronger  and  more 
pou^erful  Midwest  system. 

Certainly  Warren  Purdy  was  leaving  the  syndicate  a  well- 
filled  treasury.  And  even  before  the  ink  on  Purdy's  resignation 
was  quite  dr}-,  Leeds  and  his  associates  had  an  eye  on  the 
cash  box  and  one  hand  in  the  till.  Messrs.  Leeds  and  Reid 
and  the  Moore  boys  had  great  plans  for  this  system.  It  would 
be  the  nucleus  of  a  railroad  that  would  reach  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Pacific  under  Mr.  Leeds'  master  hand.  It  would 
be  the  first  great  transcontinental  route  extending  from  ocean 
to  ocean  in  one  unbroken  line. 

Of  course,  to  accomplish  this,  a  lot  of  money  would  be 
necessary.  With  Rock  Island's  treasury,  and  its  common  stock 
as  a  basis,  the  syndicate  already  knew  just  exactly  how  it  would 
proceed. 


PART     FOUR 


Pattern  for  Disaster 


a<S)®a"ai> 


,^  Big  men— big  dreams 


William  B.  Leeds  took  office  as  president  of  the  Rock  Is- 
land with  the  machinery  well  set  up  to  get  things  done  the 
syndicate's  way.  The  first  step  had  been  to  amend  the  articles 
of  the  1880  consolidation  to  permit  the  increase  in  member- 
ship of  the  executive  committee  from  five  to  seven.  The 
action  had  been  taken  and  the  amendment  approved  at  a 
special  meeting  of  the  stockholders  in  October,  1901,  Next, 
at  the  December  12  meeting  of  the  board,  Purdy's  resignation 
as  president,  and  as  a  member  of  the  board  and  of  the  execu- 
tive committee,  had  paved  the  way  for  Leeds'  election  to  the 
presidency  and  James  H.  Moore's  election  to  the  board  and 
his  appointment  to  the  executive  committee. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  directors  under  the  Leeds  ad- 
ministration, held  on  January  30,  1902,  in  the  company's  New 
York  offices,  three  more  of  the  directors  submitted  their  resig- 
nations. F.  H.  Griggs,  of  Davenport,  Iowa,  long  associated 
with  the  affairs  of  the  company,  dropped  out  of  the  running. 
So  did  Tracy  Dows,  prominent  New  Yorker.  The  reason  for 
their  resignations  was  not  given  expressly  by  themselves,  but 
was  graphically  set  forth  in  the  letter  of  resignation  written 
by  H.  R.  Bishop  and  also  submitted  that  same  day. 

"On  account  of  the  great  changes,"  wrote  Mr.  Bishop,  "that 
have  taken  place  in  the  ownership  of  the  stock  of  this  com- 
pany, and  the  probability  that  the  gentlemen  now  in  control 
may  wish  to  place  on  the  board  of  management,  directors  of 
their  own  selection,  I  tender  my  resignation  as  a  director  to 
take  effect  at  the  convenience  of  the  board  of  directors." 

157 


158        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  syndicate's  convenience  was  right  now.  George  G. 
McMurtry,  F.  L.  Hine,  and  F.  S.  Wheeler,  all  of  New  York, 
immediately  were  elected  to  the  vacancies. 

The  executive  committee  was  made  up  of  the  entire  syndi- 
cate quartet— Leeds,  Reid,  and  the  Moore  brothers— with 
Cable  still  chairman,  and  with  Marshall  Field  and  A.  G. 
Flower,  survivors  of  the  old  board,  still  holding  on. 

An  outstanding  characteristic  of  the  Reid-Moore  combine 
was  its  ability  to  move  fast.  Almost  before  anyone  was  aware 
of  what  was  happening,  the  syndicate  came  up  with  a  contract 
to  buy  the  majority  of  the  outstanding  common  and  pre- 
ferred stocks  of  a  600-mile  main  line  of  railroad  that  stretched 
westward  from  Memphis,  Tennessee,  through  Little  Rock 
and  Oklahoma  City  to  Elk  City,  Oklahoma  Territory.  The 
property,  known  as  the  Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Gulf  Rail- 
road Company,  had  been  incorporated  in  1894  by  a  group 
of  Philadelphia  capitalists,  to  take  over  some  existing  lines 
and  to  build  certain  mileage  to  complete  what  its  predecessors 
had  started. 

As  of  January  1,  1902,  the  outstanding  capital  stock  of  the 
Rock  Island  was  599,558  shares  at  $100  par  value.  The  bonded 
debt  was  $12,500,000  in  6  percent  mortgage  bonds  and 
$58,581,000  in  4  percent  general  mortgage  bonds— a  total  of 
$71,081,000,  or  just  a  little  under  $18,000  per  mile.  A  very 
sound  structure,  based  on  business  as  it  was  in  those  days. 

The  syndicate  didn't  let  it  stay  that  way  very  long.  The 
board  acted  on  March  27  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  stock- 
holders for  the  purpose  of  approving  a  board  resolution  to 
increase  the  capital  stock  from  the  company's  authorized 
600,000  shares  to  750,000  at  $100  par  value.  The  resolution 
provided  that  the  150,000  additional  shares  "shall  be  issued 
and  disposed  of  for  corporate  purposes  at  such  times  and  on 
such  terms  and  conditions  as  the  Board  of  Directors  or  the 
Executive  Committee  shall  determine." 

The  Reid-Moore  executive  committee  worked  out  the  de- 
tails of  the  purchase  of  the  Choctaw,  executed  a  trust  agree- 
ment, and,  according  to  procedure  in  former  financial  deals. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         159 

was  generous  in  its  treatment  of  the  seller.  The  Choctaw  was 
capitalized  at  $16,000,000.  The  stock  was  divided  into  320,000 
shares  with  a  par  value  of  $50.  One  hundred  and  twenty  thou- 
sand shares  were  5  percent  cumulative  preferred  stock,  all 
outstanding,  and  the  common  shares  numbered  200,000,  with 
196,550  outstanding. 

The  syndicate  agreed  to  pay  $60  a  share  for  all  the  preferred 
and  $80  a  share  for  the  common.  To  do  this  $23,000,000  was 
added  to  the  Rock  Island's  debt  by  the  issuance  of  that 
amount  of  4  percent  gold  bonds.  As  the  stock  of  the  Choc- 
taw came  in  it  was  to  be  pledged  with  the  Central  Trust 
Company  in  New  York  which  in  turn  would  issue  the  equiva- 
lent in  bonds  to  the  Choctaw  bankers,  Speyer  and  Company, 
of  Philadelphia.  Speyer  would  then  sell  the  bonds  and  turn 
the  cash  over  to  the  Choctaw  owners. 

The  whole  deal  was  wrapped  up  by  the  Rock  Island  board 
on  May  6,  1902,  when  the  directors  approved  all  agreements 
pertaining  to  the  purchase.  On  that  same  day,  by  prearrange- 
ment,  the  entire  board  of  the  Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Gulf 
resigned,  and  the  Reid-Moore  Syndicate  elected  its  own.  men. 

The  records  do  not  indicate  who,  if  anyone  other  than  the 
Choctaw  promoters,  placed  the  value  of  that  property  at  the 
price  the  syndicate  agreed  to  pay.  Facts  indicate  that  what 
the  Rock  Island  brought  into  its  expansion  program  was  a 
very  poor  property,  indeed.  It  was  essentially  a  coal-carrying 
road  through  sparsely  settled  territory.  Its  roadbed  was  in 
none  too  good  condition,  its  power  was  outmoded,  its  rolling 
stock  was  in  bad  repair,  and  the  history  of  the  predecessor 
companies  that  had  been  brought  together  to  make  the  Choc- 
taw was  one  of  financial  weakness  and  failure. 

On  the  bright  side  was  the  promise  of  the  growing  cities 
of  Little  Rock  and  Oklahoma  City,  and  the  eventual  com- 
pletion of  the  railroad  into  Amarillo,  Texas.  Its  one  physical 
connection  with  the  Rock  Island  system  was  at  El  Reno, 
Oklahoma,  where  it  crossed  the  parent  road's  north-south 
main  line. 

Of  the  properties  that  went  to  make  up  the  Choctaw,  the 


160        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Memphis  and  Little  Rock  Railroad  Company  was  the  oldest. 
It  came  into  being  on  January  ii,  1853,  by  a  special  act  of  the 
Arkansas  General  Assembly.  A  group  of  Memphis  business 
leaders  was  behind  the  project  and  the  city  of  Memphis  issued 
$350,000  of  its  bonds  to  spur  the  builders  to  quick  action. 

It  took  most  of  the  year  1854  to  complete  the  surveys,  but 
by  the  end  of  that  year  construction  had  begun.  The  line  was 
completed  to  Madison,  Arkansas,  45  miles  west  of  Memphis, 
in  1858.  At  the  same  time  another  segment  between  DeVall's 
Bluff  and  North  Little  Rock  was  made  ready  for  trafhc.  That 
left  a  40-mile  gap  between  Madison  and  DeVall's  Bluff,  which, 
with  swamps  and  rivers  and  other  physical  conditions  to  be 
overcome,  was  a  long  way  from  even  being  graded.  Service 
between  Memphis  and  Little  Rock,  however,  was  begun  in 
1859,  but  it  was  rugged  to  say  the  least.  The  passenger  rode 
the  "steam  cars"  from  Memphis  to  Madison,  changed  to  a 
stagecoach  for  the  journey  to  Clarendon,  then  again  changed 
to  river  boat  from  Clarendon  to  DeVall's  Bluff.  From  there 
it  was  back  on  the  railroad  again  to  North  Little  Rock,  and 
the  trip  ended  with  a  ferry  ride  across  the  river  into  Little 
Rock. 

The  Civil  War  stopped  all  efforts  to  close  the  center  gap 
in  the  railroad,  and  the  Confederate  Army  even  confiscated 
a  lot  of  the  railroad  that  had  been  laid.  After  the  war,  under 
the  leadership  of  General  Robert  C.  Brinkley,  of  Memphis, 
the  entire  line  was  finally  completed.  The  engineers  had  a  lot 
of  trouble  with  high  water  across  some  of  the  territory  and 
had  to  resort  to  chains  and  cables  to  hold  the  railroad  in  place. 
The  55-pound  iron  rails  weren't  heavy  enough  to  hold  the 
ties  to  the  roadbed  when  the  water  came  up  over  the  fills, 
and  there  were  many  instances  where  whole  sections  would 
float  away.  The  cables  and  chains  were  used  to  anchor  the 
track  to  the  trees. 

Through  service  was  established— railroad  all  the  way— in 
1871.  By  1887  the  Memphis  and  Little  Rock,  due  to  financial 
difficulties,  had  changed  hands  and  names  four  different  times. 
In  1 898  when  the  Choctaw  bought  the  property  it  was  known 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         161 

as  the  Little  Rock  and  Memphis.  The  deal  was  made  as  part 
of  an  expansion  plan  which  included  building  west  from  Little 
Rock  to  the  Indian  Territory  (now  Oklahoma)  border— a 
project  of  151  miles,  which  was  completed  in  igoo. 

Over  to  the  west  another  predecessor  of  the  Choctaw, 
Oklahoma  and  Gulf  was  a  greatly  harassed  and  struggling  line 
that  had  been  incorporated  in  1887  in  Minnesota  as  the  Choc- 
taw Coal  and  Railway  Company.  This  road  was  built  west- 
ward from  Wister,  through  the  heart  of  the  coal-mining 
region,  to  McAlester  for  a  connection  with  the  Missouri, 
Kansas  and  Texas.  Another  section  was  surveyed  from  El 
Reno  eastward  to  and  through  the  townsite  of  Oklahoma  City, 
with  McAlester  as  its  goal. 

The  El  Reno  -  Oklahoma  City  line  was  set  for  a  formal 
opening  in  April  1889.  But,  like  many  other  things  for  which 
big  plans  were  laid  in  that  period  of  the  territory's  troubled 
history,  the  building  of  the  line  ran  into  difficulty. 

When  the  line  originally  was  sur\'eyed  between  McAlester 
and  El  Reno  a  crossing  with  the  Santa  Fe's  north-south  line 
was  designated  on  the  map  at  the  site  where  Oklahoma  City 
would  be  built.  The  owners  of  the  proposed  railroad  com- 
plied with  all  regulations  dealing  with  the  crossing  of  Gov- 
ernment lands,  and  the  right-of-way  had  been  carefully  staked 
out. 

The  Government  set  April  22,  1889,  as  the  official  opening 
of  the  Oklahoma  City  townsite.  As  previously  chronicled  in 
this  record,  the  place  became  bedlam  overnight.  Thousands 
upon  thousands  of  settlers  swarmed  in,  determined  to  secure 
Government  lots,  and  the  carefully  placed  stakes  that  marked 
the  railroad's  claims  were  trampled  down  or  completely  re- 
moved. The  settlers  took  over,  and  the  Choctaw  Coal  and 
Railway  Company  was  in  a  helpless  situation. 

The  railroad  took  what  steps  it  could  to  reclaim  its  property. 
Its  claim  was  filed  in  the  land  office  at  Guthrie,  was  approved 
and  forwarded  to  Washington.  There  again  it  was  approved 
and  the  railroad  could  very  well  expel  from  the  property  the 
people  who  had  moved  in  on  it,  but  by  the  time  the  Govern- 


1 62        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

ment  red  tape  had  completely  unwound  itself  the  settlers  had 
erected  homes  and  stores  on  the  right-of-way. 

Because  Oklahoma  City  wanted  that  railroad  built  and 
completed,  a  compromise  was  finally  reached  whereby  the 
city  paid  the  settlers  for  portions  of  the  right-of-way  and 
cleared  the  land  so  that  eventually  the  railroad  received  a 
loo-foot  right-of-way  instead  of  the  200-foot  swath  it  was 
entitled  to.  The  line  was  completed  into  Oklahoma  City  in 
February,  1892,  and  there  it  remained  until  the  Choctaw, 
Oklahoma  and  Gulf  took  over  on  a  foreclosure. 

The  Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Gulf  completed  the  line 
between  Oklahoma  City  and  McAlester  toward  the  end  of 
1895,  ^^^^^  ^^^"^  ^^  Reno  west  to  Weatherford  in  1898,  and 
completed  the  extension  from  Weatherford  to  Elk  City  in 
1901.  The  further  extension  westward  from  Elk  City  to  the 
Oklahoma  -Texas  state  line  was  almost  ready  for  operations 
when  the  Rock  Island  bought  the  Choctaw.  In  addition  to 
the  Memphis  to  Elk  City  main  line,  the  acquisition  included 
several  important  branch  lines  which  the  Choctaw  had  built 
through  subsidiaries  and  then  had  purchased  to  bring  the 
branches  into  the  parent  property. 

While  the  Choctaw  deal  was  nearing  its  consummation  the 
syndicate  reached  over  into  Missouri  for  a  distraught  and  piti- 
fully poor  little  piece  of  railroad  that,  someday,  would  be  an 
important  main  line  from  St.  Louis  to  Kansas  City.  It  was 
known  as  the  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City  and  Colorado  Railroad 
Company  and  it  was  in  the  hands  of  two  gentlemen  named 
John  Scullin  and  David  R.  Francis,  receivers. 

It  had  started  out,  30  years  before,  by  incorporation  in 
May  1870,  as  the  St.  Louis  and  Fort  Scott.  A  year  later  it 
became  the  Missouri  Central  Railway  Company.  Its  original 
purpose  was  to  build  from  St.  Louis  to  a  point  in  Vernon 
County,  Missouri,  opposite  Fort  Scott,  Kansas,  an  estimated 
200  miles.  Under  these  names  some  survey  work  was  done  but 
nothing  was  built.  Then,  in  June,  1881,  the  Central  Railway 
of  Missouri  was  formed  and  took  over  the  rights  and  fran- 
chises of  its  predecessors  and  rigged  the  charter  to  permit 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         163 

building  from  St.  Louis  to  Creve  Coeur  Lake,  thence  to 
Tavern  Rock  and  along  the  south  bank  of  the  Missouri  River 
to  a  connection  with  the  Missouri  Pacific. 

Again  no  construction  resulted,  and  a  new  company  called 
the  St.  Louis  and  Central  Missouri  Railway  was  incorporated 
in  June  1883. 

Meanwhile,  the  Forest  Park  and  Central  Railroad  Com- 
pany, incorporated  in  October,  1877,  ^^^  built  a  commuter 
line  from  Forsythe  Junction,  in  St.  Louis,  to  Creve  Coeur. 
The  16-mile  property  had  started  out  as  a  narrow-gauge  road 
and  had  changed  to  standard  gauge  in  1881. 

The  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City  and  Colorado  Railroad  Com- 
pany was  incorporated  in  December,  1884,  and  immediately 
acquired  the  Forest  Park  and  Central.  Two  years  later,  in 
November,  1886,  it  also  took  over  the  St.  Louis  and  Central 
Missouri,  which  still  hadn't  built  anything,  but  which  pos- 
sessed valuable  rights. 

The  new  corporation  did  little  more  than  maintain  and 
improve  the  16  miles  of  railroad  it  owned  until  August,  1887, 
when  the  Santa  Fe  moved  in  and  put  up  $3,346,000  to  com- 
plete the  line  to  Belle.  The  first  39  miles  from  Creve  Coeur 
to  Union  went  into  operation  a  year  later,  and  another  seg- 
ment of  45  miles  from  Union  to  Belle  was  not  completed  until 
1901. 

But  long  before  that  date  the  Santa  Fe  had  had  enough. 
With  the  railroad  still  far  short  of  Belle,  Missouri,  and  still 
more  than  200  miles  from  its  Kansas  City  goal  in  December, 
1899,  the  Santa  Fe  sold  out  to  Scullin  and  Francis  for  $425,000 
—a  terrific  loss. 

So  when  William  B.  Leeds,  acting  for  the  syndicate-con- 
trolled Rock  Island,  announced  the  purchase  of  the  St.  Louis 
line  from  the  receivers,  he  promised  that  the  railroad  would  be 
brought  to  rapid  completion.  The  Reid-Moore  board  sum- 
marily approved  issuance  of  $2,000,000  worth  of  Rock  Island 
common  to  buy  up  all  the  stocks  and  bonds  of  the  St.  Louis, 
Kansas  Cit}'  and  Colorado  held  by  the  receivers,  but  that  was 
of  little  matter  at  the  moment. 


1 64        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  next  big  story  was  the  announcement  on  June  i,  1902, 
that  the  Rock  Island  had  taken  over  the  now  1,289  n^iles  of 
the  Burhngton,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern  under  a  999-year 
lease.  The  Rock  Island  had  long  owned  that  company's  con- 
trolling stock,  but  now  it  would  be  operated  as  part  of  the 
Rock  Island  system.  Of  the  increased  Rock  Island  shares, 
33,812  were  set  aside  to  exchange  share  for  share  with  holders 
of  the  Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern  stock  still  out- 
standing. Through  this  deal  the  Rock  Island  gained  entrance 
into  Minnesota  and  entered  into  arrangements  with  the  Mil- 
waukee to  get  into  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis— a  through  serv- 
ice which  was  destined  to  become  a  reality  in  November  of 
that  year. 

Down  in  the  southwest  the  construction  from  Liberal 
through  Dalhart,  Texas,  to  Santa  Rosa,  New  Mexico,  for  a 
connection  with  the  El  Paso  and  Northeastern,  progressed  at 
a  rapid  rate.  By  the  late  summer  the  Rock  Island  management 
was  ready  to  announce  plans  for  through  passenger  service 
from  Chicago  to  Los  Angeles,  via  El  Paso  and  Tucson. 

The  finest  of  modem  equipment  was  already  on  order  for 
the  inauguration  of  the  Golden  State  Limited,  heralded  as 
the  most  luxurious  train  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 

The  Golden  State,  its  coaches  and  sleeping  cars  olive  green 
and  gold-striped  behind  the  flashing  rods  of  a  high-wheeled 
Atlantic  type  locomotive,  was  launched  on  its  maiden  run 
November  2  as  a  fitting  observance  of  the  railroad's  fiftieth 
birthday. 

The  Rock  Island  could  claim,  on  its  Golden  Anniversary, 
6,351  miles  of  railroad  in  13  states,  and  terminal  facilities  in 
Memphis,  making  up  the  14  states  that  it  serves  today.  Rich 
and  prosperous  as  it  was,  however,  at  the  end  of  1902  it  was 
already  headed,  slowly  but  surely,  for  disaster. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER  165 


M  To  have  and  to  hold 


The  Reid-Moore  Syndicate,  having  succeeded  in  boosting  the 
authorized  capitahzation  from  $60,000,000  to  $75,000,000, 
decided  that  the  $20,000,000  in  shares  it  owned  still  was  not 
enough  to  make  absolutely  sure  of  complete  and  permanent 
control  of  the  company.  Bill  Leeds  and  Judge  Moore  could  not 
be  sure  when  some  smart  shareholder  might  get  hold  of 
enough  proxies  to  stop  their  free  spending  and  their  ques- 
tionable expansion. 

Already,  through  the  former  Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Gulf 
owners,  they  had  their  fingers  on  the  Lehigh  Valley.  That 
property  would  give  them  the  Eastern  seaboard  line  they 
needed  for  one  link  in  the  transcontinental  chain  they  hoped 
to  forge.  Then  there  was  the  Lake  Erie  and  Western  that  with 
the  Lehigh  Valley  would  form  a  segment  of  the  New  York  - 
to  -  Chicago  part  of  the  empire.  Along  \^'ith  the  solid  Rock 
Island,  the  syndicate  wanted  the  Chicago  and  Alton  and  the 
Frisco.  Control  of  these  would  be  followed  by  acquisition  of 
the  Southern  Pacific,  the  most  ambitious  part  of  their  over-all 
program. 

All  this  was  charted  on  paper  in  July,  1902,  when  the  syn- 
dicate set  up  two  holding  companies  of  what  is  called,  in 
financial  circles,  the  superimposed  type.  The  first  was  the  Rock 
Island  Company  of  New  Jersey,  incorporated  on  July  30,  and 
the  second  was  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railroad 
Company  (of  Iowa).  The  first  objective  was  to  get  hold  of 
all  the  outstanding  stock  of  the  Rock  Island  railroad  without 
having  to  put  out  any  money  for  it,  so  that  forever  after  the 


166        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Big  Four  of  the  Prairies  would  at  all  times  be  in  complete 
control  of  the  company's  destinies. 

[To  avoid  confusion  between  the  railroad  property,  the  Chi- 
cago, Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railway  Company  (Pacific  No. 
3)  of  the  1880  consolidation,  and  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
and  Pacific  Railroad  Company  (of  Iowa),  the  latter  will  here- 
after be  referred  to  in  this  record  as  the  Iowa  holding  com- 
pany, a  corporation  which  simply  existed  on  paper,  as  did  the 
Rock  Island  Company  of  New  Jersey,  owning  no  physical 
property  and  operating  no  railroad.] 

Following  their  procedure  of  being  very  generous  in  their 
treatment  of  the  sucker  as  long  as  it  didn't  cost  them  anything, 
the  members  of  the  syndicate  set  up  a  package  in  August, 
1902,  which  they  offered  to  the  holders  of  the  solid  and  here- 
tofore safe  dividend-paying  shares  of  the  Rock  Island  Rail- 
road. The  package  consisted  of  one  share  of  Rock  Island  of 
New  Jersey  common,  $100  par  value,  one  share  of  Rock  Island 
of  New  Jersey  preferred,  par  value  $70,  and  $100  worth  of 
100-year  4  percent  collateral  bonds  of  the  Iowa  holding  com- 
pany—a total  of  $270  worth  of  the  two  holding  company 
securities— for  each  share  of  Rock  Island  common  stock  of- 
fered. 

A  trust  agreement  was  entered  into  with  the  Central  Trust 
Company  of  New  York  to  receive  the  offered  shares  of  Rock 
Island  common.  The  entire  capital  stock  of  the  Iowa  holding 
company  was  issued  to  the  New  Jersey  Company,  and  the 
capital  stock  of  the  Rock  Island  Company  of  New  Jersey 
was  issued  to  the  Central  Trust  Company. 

The  procedure  under  the  trust  agreement  was  that  the  com- 
mon shares  of  the  Rock  Island  Railroad  would  serve  as  col- 
lateral for  the  Iowa  holding  company's  4  percent  bonds.  Thus, 
as  each  Rock  Island  shareholder  swallowed  the  syndicate's 
bait  and  turned  in  his  shares,  the  Central  Trust  Company 
took  them  as  pledged  collateral  and  in  turn  issued  to  the 
Rock  Island  stockholder  the  equivalent  in  the  Iowa  holding 
company's  bonds  plus  common  and  preferred  stock  of  the 
New  Jersey  holding  company. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         167 

What  the  Rock  Island  shareholder  neither  knew  nor  re- 
alized was  that  the  entire  income  of  these  two  holding  compa- 
nies would  consist  solely  of  the  dividends  that  his  surrendered 
Rock  Island  Railroad  shares  would  pay,  and  that  the  interest 
he  would  get  on  the  4  percent  bonds  and  any  dividends  he 
might  collect  on  his  Rock  Island  of  New  Jersey  common  and 
preferred  would  represent  only  a  portion  of  the  money  that 
those  shares  earned,  and  nothing  more.  In  other  words,  each 
shareholder  who  turned  in  his  railroad  common  bought  noth- 
ing but  a  pig  in  a  poke,  and  a  pretty  slipper)^  pig  at  that. 

Again  the  Messrs.  Leeds  and  Reid  and  the  suave  Moore 
brothers  demonstrated  the  infallibility  of  Mr.  Barnum's  his- 
toric appraisal  of  the  human  race.  The  lure  of  offering  what 
seemed  much  for  just  a  little  had  its  immediate  results.  Rock 
Island's  common  stockholders  couldn't  surrender  their  shares 
fast  enough.  The  offering  seemed  too  good  to  be  true— and, 
of  course,  it  was. 

Owners  of  the  railroad's  common  shares  representing  hold- 
ings totaling  $71,353,100,  or  approximately  g^  percent  of 
the  outstanding  stock,  exchanged  their  holdings  for  the  syn- 
dicate's package.  The  other  5  percent  were  either  sagacious  or 
contrary.  That  made  little  or  no  difference  to  the  syndicate. 
Through  the  shares  in  the  vaults  of  the  Central  Trust  Com- 
pany the  Rock  Island  Railroad  belonged  to  it,  ballast,  rail, 
and  good  high  revenue. 

The  next  move  in  the  syndicate's  bid  for  empire  centered 
on  the  St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco  Railroad  Company.  The 
syndicate  set  up  a  new  package  to  lure  Frisco  stockholders  by 
working  through  the  Iowa  holding  company.  This  package 
consisted  of  $60  worth  of  Rock  Island  of  New  Jersey  and  $60 
worth  of  a  new  bond  issue  of  the  Iowa  holding  company 
called  the  10-year  5-percent  bonds  of  1913—3  total  of  $120 
in  holding  company  securities  for  each  $100  par  value  share 
of  Frisco  common.  The  procedure  was  the  same  as  in  the 
Rock  Island  exchange  scheme— the  Frisco  shares  were  de- 
posited with  the  Central  Trust  of  New  York  as  collateral 
for  the  Iowa  holding  company's  bonds. 


168        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

On  May  7,  1903,  the  two  holding  companies  signed  an 
agreement  whereby  the  Iowa  holding  company  would  begin 
to  negotiate  for  the  purchase  in  the  name  of  the  Rock  Island 
Company  of  New  Jersey  one-half  of  the  capital  stock  of  the 
Southern  Pacific's  lines  in  Texas.  A  second  agreement  specified 
that  the  New  Jersey  company  issue  the  necessary  common 
stock  for  acquisition  of  the  Frisco  shares,  and  that  it  then 
issue  all  its  remaining  authorized  common  and  preferred 
stock  to  be  used  in  acquiring  controlling  stock  of  the  Southern 
Pacific. 

Shortly  after  the  formation  of  the  two  holding  companies 
the  officers  and  directors  of  both  the  Iowa  company  and  the 
New  Jersey  company  were  the  same  as  the  officers  and  direc- 
tors of  the  Rock  Island  Railroad. 

Thus,  by  May  of  1903,  the  Reid-Moore  dream  of  empire 
became  the  pattern  for  disaster— a  pattern  that  in  the  next  few 
years  was  to  wTcak  havoc  with  the  railroad  that  for  more  than 
50  years  had  grown  progressively,  had  developed  soundly  and 
vigorously,  and  had  experienced,  in  more  or  less  degree,  some 
prettv  good  management. 

By  October  of  1903,  with  the  Frisco  ownership  in  the  hands 
of  the  syndicate,  B.  F.  Yoakum,  another  financial  giant  in 
railroad  manipulations,  came  to  the  Rock  Island  board  to 
succeed  A.  R.  Flower.  In  fact,  because  of  Yoakum's  personal 
interest  in  the  Frisco  deal,  Flower  had  to  resign  to  make  room 
for  him. 

Yoakum  brought  with  him  the  Frisco's  vice-president  and 
general  manager,  Benjamin  L.  Winchell,  who  was  imme- 
diately elected  by  the  Rock  Island  board  to  the  position  of 
third  vice-president.  This  office  had  supervision  over  freight 
and  passenger  traffic  departments.  Winchell's  entire  previous 
experience  had  been  in  operating  capacities  on  various  lines 
that  eventually  had  gone  into  the  Frisco  system,  and  prior  to 
becoming  the  Frisco's  vice-president  and  general  manager  he 
had  been  president  of  the  Kansas  City,  Fort  Scott  and  Mem- 
phis, one  of  the  Frisco's  principal  subsidiaries.  He  laid  no 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         169 

claim  to  being  a  financial  genius,  but  when  it  came  to  operat- 
ing a  railroad  he  knew  the  score. 

All  during  the  year  1903  construction  on  various  parts  of 
the  Rock  Island  system  continued,  and  the  syndicate's  ex- 
pansion plans  moved  smoothly.  Through  the  New  Jersey  hold- 
ing company,  the  syndicate  had  caused  to  be  incorporated 
another  subsidiary  called  the  Rock  Island  Improvement  Com- 
pany. It  was  set  up  under  the  laws  of  New  Jersey,  and  its 
charter  granted  it  the  right  to  engage  in  almost  every  conceiv- 
able kind  of  business  except  such  as  required  the  right  of 
eminent  domain  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey.  Its  entire  capital 
stock  was  acquired  by  the  Rock  Island  Company  of  New 
Jersey. 

The  primary  function  of  the  Improvement  Company  was 
to  take  title  to  all  sorts  of  property  and  equipment  that  the 
railroad  operating  company  would  use,  and  thereby  remove 
such  property  and  equipment  from  falling  under  liens  of  the 
railway  company's  mortgages.  Tlie  Improvement  Company 
would  tap  the  railroad's  treasury  for  advances  to  acquire  lands, 
shops,  industrial  sites,  motive  power  and  rolling  stock,  and  for 
the  money  advanced  issue  to  the  railroad  certain  bonds. 

It  must  be  stated  here  that  through  all  the  complicated 
manipulations  that  were  to  follow  virtually  every  scheme  was 
cooked  up  in  New  York  where  the  syndicate  maintained  its 
offices.  The  syndicate  was  in  position  to  vote  virtually  all  the 
shares  of  the  railway  company,  the  two  holding  companies, 
and  the  Improvement  Company  in  one  breath  so  that  execu- 
tive committee  meetings,  board  meetings,  and  annual  meet- 
ings of  stockholders  were  simply  formalities. 

As  an  example,  a  special  meeting  of  the  stockholders  was 
called  for  March  21,  1904,  for  the  purpose  of  authorizing  an 
increase  of  the  railway  company's  bonded  debt.  The  syndi- 
cate set  the  new  ceiling  at  $275,000,000.  It  specified  that  this 
debt  would  be  exclusive  of  bonds  to  be  issued  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  additional  railways  or  property  which  would  be  secured 
by  the  mortgages  or  pledges  of  such  railways  or  properties.  The 
vote  was  taken  in  just  the  amount  of  time  it  took  the  secretary 


I  70        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

to  word  it  properly  and  place  on  the  minutes  the  amount  of 
shares  voting. 

One  big  reason  for  the  increase  in  debt  was  the  necessity 
to  peddle  enough  bonds  to  place  in  the  railway  company's 
treasury  the  several  million  dollars  that  would  have  to  be  ad- 
vanced to  the  Improvement  Company  so  that  it  could  buy 
up  property  in  Cedar  Rapids,  Peoria,  Blue  Island,  Silvis,  Lit- 
tle Rock,  and  other  points,  to  say  nothing  of  engines  and  cars 
of  every  description. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  burdens  of  the  president's  office 
were  having  a  telling  effect  on  the  health  of  William  B.  Leeds. 
The  Tin  Plate  King,  who  had  all  his  life  dreamed  of  being 
president  of  the  biggest  railroad  in  the  world,  found  that  being 
president  of  just  a  moderate-sized  property  wasn't  at  all  to  his 
liking.  He  resigned  the  presidency  on  March  26,  five  days  after 
the  1904  stockholders'  special  meeting,  and  Yoakum's  man 
from  the  Frisco,  Ben  Winchell,  was  elected  to  succeed  him. 


,^  All  this  and  Texas  too 


Ben  Winchell,  by  virtue  of  his  training  and  background,  be- 
lieved that  a  railroad  president  had  to  keep  in  close  touch  with 
the  property  instead  of  sitting  in  an  office  in  New  York,  a 
thousand  miles  away  from  the  railroad.  In  the  few  months 
he  had  been  on  the  Rock  Island,  Winchell  had  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  travel  its  far-flung  mileage,  meet  its  officers  and  em- 
ployees, and  get  a  pretty  good  picture  of  what  the  railroad 
needed. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         171 

It  needed  a  great  deal  of  everything  in  the  way  of  improved 
power  and  rolhng  stock,  better  ballast  and  heavier  steel  over 
many  sections  of  it,  improved  shops  and  terminal  facilities, 
better  bridges  and  better  signaling. 

Winchell  wasn't  much  concerned  about  the  ways  and 
means  the  syndicate  had  contrived  to  ring  in  the  Rock  Island 
Improvement  Company  on  the  purchasing  of  rolling  stock  and 
other  facilities.  His  concern  was  getting  what  he  needed. 

The  Rock  Island's  Choctaw  line  across  Arkansas  and  Okla- 
homa was  now  completed  into  the  city  of  Amarillo,  Texas, 
and  construction  on  the  113  miles  between  Amarillo  and 
Tucumcari,  New  Mexico,  had  begun.  The  building  from  the 
Oklahoma  State  line  into  Amarillo  had  first  been  undertaken 
by  the  Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Texas  Railroad  Company,  a 
Texas  corporation  set  up  in  June,  1901.  In  November,  1902, 
the  charter  had  been  amended  to  provide  for  the  extension  of 
the  line  from  Amarillo  westward  to  the  Texas  -  New  Mexico 
border.  The  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Gulf  Railway  Com- 
pany, another  Texas  corporation  set  up  by  the  syndicate,  took 
over  the  rights,  franchises,  and  property  of  the  Choctaw,  Ok- 
lahoma and  Texas  on  December  1,  1903,  and  thereafter  com- 
pleted the  line  to  Amarillo. 

The  syndicate  incorporated  on  January  26,  1903,  the  Chi- 
cago, Rock  Island  and  Choctaw  Railway  Company,  to  build 
from  Tucumcari  eastward  to  connect  with  the  Amarillo  ex- 
tension at  the  New  Mexico  -  Texas  boundary.  Contracts  were 
let  and  most  of  the  grading  was  completed  by  midsummer, 
when  work  was  ordered  discontinued.  Immediately  thereafter 
this  railroad  was  conveyed  by  deed  to  the  Chicago,  Rock 
Island  and  El  Paso  Railway  Company.  But  the  latter  company 
did  nothing  to  further  the  project. 

Meanwhile  in  December,  1903,  the  important  Texas  mile- 
age between  Fort  Worth  and  Dallas  was  placed  in  operation 
by  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Gulf. 

Further  expansion  in  Arkansas  came  in  the  spring  of  1904 
at  about  the  time  the  Rock  Island  finally  secured  the  last  of 
the  outstanding  capital  stock  of  the  Choctaw,  leased  the  prop- 


1 72        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

erty,  and  began  its  operation  as  part  of  the  Rock  Island  system. 
Among  the  railroads  of  short  mileage  that  were  purchased  by 
the  Rock  Island  were  the  Searcy  and  Des  Arc  Railroad  Com- 
pany, approximately  24  miles  long,  and  the  Hazen  and  North- 
ern Railroad  Company  which  was  partially  completed  between 
Des  Arc  and  Mesa,  Arkansas. 

As  of  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year,  June  30,  1904,  the  mileage 
operated  in  the  Rock  Island  system  was  shown  as  7,258.92. 
Gross  operating  revenues  for  the  same  period  totaled  $44,969,- 
491. 

It  was  during  1905  that  the  Arkansas  expansion  was  pushed 
to  the  limit.  Thirty-two  separate  and  distinct  railroad  com- 
panies, including  the  Little  Rock  and  Memphis  and  the  Choc- 
taw, formed,  in  one  way  or  another,  the  network  of  lines  that 
comprises  the  Rock  Island's  holdings  of  today  in  Arkansas. 

The  most  fascinating  story  in  the  railway  development  of 
Arkansas  is  that  of  the  Little  Rock  -  Hot  Springs  line. 

Back  in  1874,  the  Cairo  and  Fulton,  a  predecessor  of  the 
Missouri  Pacific,  built  southwestward  from  Little  Rock 
through  Malvern,  Arkansas,  with  Texas  as  its  destination. 
Hot  Springs,  in  1832,  had  been  made  a  national  reservation 
by  the  United  States  Government  and  had  early  become  a 
health  resort.  Those  who  sought  the  benefits  of  the  healing 
waters  of  the  Springs  had  to  reach  the  place  via  stagecoach 
from  the  railroad  station  at  Malvern. 

The  stage  trip  was  one  to  be  long  remembered.  It  was  ex- 
ceedingly rough.  But,  despite  the  awful  jarring  the  passengers, 
many  of  them  in  ill  health,  had  to  take,  the  line  was  a  thriving 
one. 

A  regular  visitor  at  the  Hot  Springs  resort  was  Joseph  Rey- 
nolds, of  Chicago,  a  steamboat  operator.  He  had  long  been  a 
familiar  figure  in  the  river  cities,  and  his  sobriquet  "Diamond 
Jo"  had  been  acquired  possibly  from  his  display  of  diamonds 
on  his  person  and  the  trademark  that  gave  his  steamboat  line 
the  same  name. 

Diamond  Jo,  after  the  railroad  reached  Malvern,  became  so 
disgusted  with  the  stage  journey  that  he  decided  to  build  a 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         173 

railroad  himself.  He  incorporated  in  1870  the  Hot  Springs 
Railroad  Company.  Construction  got  under  way  in  1875  and 
the  railroad  was  ready  for  service  a  year  later.  Starting  as  a 
narrow-gauge  line,  it  was  converted  to  standard  gauge  in  1889. 

It  became  nationally  known  for  the  elegance  of  its  equip- 
ment, both  its  motive  power  and  its  decorative  coaches,  and 
it  was  a  money-maker.  It  provided,  for  25  years,  the  only  rail 
service  into  the  Springs. 

The  Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Gulf,  around  the  turn  of  the 
century,  saw  an  opportunity  to  create  traffic  through  the 
Memphis  gateway  via  Little  Rock  into  Hot  Springs  and  ac- 
quired the  Diamond  }o  line.  It  then  built  new  mileage  from 
Butterfield  to  Benton  to  connect  with  a  small  line  called  the 
Little  Rock  and  Hot  Springs  Western.  The  Choctaw  leased 
26  miles  of  this  company's  track  to  gain  the  connection  with 
its  main  line  at  Little  Rock  and  the  service  from  Memphis 
was  set  up. 

To  further  its  Arkansas  expansion,  the  Reid-Moore  Syndi- 
cate incorporated,  in  1905,  the  Rock  Island,  Arkansas  and 
Louisiana  Railroad  Company.  The  general  idea  was  to  open 
up  a  direct  route  from  Little  Rock  to  New  Orleans. 

Into  this  new  company  was  consolidated  the  Little  Rock 
and  Southern,  the  Arkansas  Southern,  the  Alexandria,  Junc- 
tion City  and  Shreveport,  and  the  Arkansas  Southern  Exten- 
sion Railwav.  This  consolidation  resulted  in  putting  together 
a  total  of  108  miles  of  railroad.  To  supply  the  missing  links 
that  would  extend  the  line  entirely  from  Little  Rock  to 
Eunice,  Louisiana,  it  would  be  necessary  to  buy  22  miles  more 
and  build  200  miles. 

The  Little  Rock  and  Southern,  at  the  time  of  consolidation, 
had  done  a  lot  of  grading,  but  had  completed  no  track  from 
Haskell  to  El  Dorado.  The  Arkansas  Southern  extended  from 
El  Dorado  to  Winnfield,  Louisiana,  98  miles,  and  the  Arkan- 
sas Southern  Extension  Railway  was  a  10-mile  stretch  from 
Winnfield  to  Packton. 

The  new  construction  consisted  of  100  miles  from  Haskell 
to  El  Dorado;  45  miles  from  Tinsman  to  Crossett;  56  miles 


I  74         IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

from  Alcxiindria  to  Eunice;  and  i  mile  of  station  track  at 
Camden.  Arkansas. 

\Mnlc  all  this  was  not  completed  and  opened  for  service 
until  Januarv,  looS.  the  Rock  Island.  Louisiana  and  Arkansas 
was  leased  to  the  Rock  Island  system  for  999  years  in  January, 
1906. 

Meanwhile  the  St.  Louis  -  Kansas  Citv  Line,  which  at  the 
time  the  Rock  Island  had  taken  over  had  extended  from  St. 
Louis  onlv  to  Bland.  Missouri,  a  distance  of  104  miles,  was 
completed  and  put  into  operation.  The  section  from  Bland 
to  Eldon  was  opened  for  traffic  in  iqo:;.  and  from  Eldon  to 
Lladsell  in  1Q04.  The  ^-^-mile  stretch  between  Iladscll  and 
Kansas  Citv  was  built  bv  a  subsidian-  called  the  Kansas  City 
Rock  Island  Raih\av  Compau\-  which  was  incorporated  for 
that  purpose  in  1002.  On  Januarv  1.  loo^  the  entire  St.  Louis, 
Kansas  Citv  and  Colorado  property  was  con\eved  by  deed  to 
the  Kansas  City'  Rock  Island  Company  and  on  the  same  day 
this  corporation  conveved  the  St.  Louis,  Kansas  Cit\'  and  Colo- 
rado to  the  Rock  Island  svstem. 

Tlie  St.  Louis  -  Kansas  Citv  line.  zqS.z  miles  in  length, 
although  not  fullv  completed,  had  been  opened  for  through 
traffic  on  July  1.  1Q04.  Up  to  June  :;o  of  that  year  the  Rock 
Island  trcasur\-  had  been  tapped  for  almost  $17,000,000  for 
construction  costs.  During  the  following  vear  another  $1,711,- 
8qi  was  expended,  which  completed  the  Rock  Island's  in- 
vestment in  that  piece  of  propertv. 

\\'ith  the  Rock  Island  solidly  established  to  Dallas.  Texas, 
Winchell  saw  in  1906  a  further  chance  for  a  profitable  expan- 
sion bv  acquiring  a  half  interest  in  the  Trinity  and  Brazos 
\''allev  Railwav  Companv,  the  stocks  and  bonds  of  which 
were  owned  bv  the  Colorado  and  Southern,  a  Burlington 
subsidiar\-.  The  Colorado  and  Southern  had  bought  up  the 
control  of  the  railroad  that  had  been  organized  in  iqoz  by 
a  group  of  Texas  citizens  whose  desire  was  to  establish  a 
short  route  from  Dallas  through  Houston  to  Galveston.  Rock 
Island's  acquisition  of  half  the  propert)^  assured  its  entn-  into 
the  growing  Texas  ports. 


PATTER  rJ     FOR    DISASTER  175 

With  operations  direct  to  St.  T.onis  now  established,  the 
syndicate,  controlHng  both  tlie  Roc):  hJand  and  Frisco  svs- 
tems,  set  up  on  April  9,  i^o'G,  the  Roc):  Island  -  Frisco  Ter- 
minal Railway  Company,  which  irnrnediatelv  proceeded  to 
provide  freight  depots  and  yards  and  other  terminal  facilities 
for  the  two  lines. 

WTjile  all  the  expansion  in  Arkansas  and  Missouri  was  tak- 
ing place,  the  syndicate  management,  for  some  reason  never 
explained  in  the  records,  relinquished  its  lease  of  the  Des 
Moines  and  Fort  Dodge  Railroad,  in  Iowa,  and  therebv  cut 
itself  off  from  its  ov/n  Gov/rie-Siblc/  line.  The  -o-rnile  piece 
of  railroad  between  Des  Moines  and  Go\\Tie  had  been  oper- 
ated \-irtLially  as  part  of  the  Rock  Island  svstem  ever  since 
1887,  and  the  important  ] 09-mile  line  from  Gov.-rie  to  Sibley 
had  been  built  as  an  extension  of  this  propertv. 

As  soon  as  the  Des  Moines  and  Fort  Dodge  lease  was 
dropped,  the  Minneapolis  and  St.  Louis  moved  in  and  took 
over,  and  thereafter  the  Rock  Island  had  to  pav  for  trackage 
riehts  to  get  from  Des  Moines  to  its  own  properb.'  at  Gov.Tie. 
TFiis  move  not  onlv  deprived  the  Rock  Island  of  ever-increas- 
ing revenue  on  traffic  that  originated  on  the  Des  Moines  and 
Fort  Dodge,  but  increased  the  Rock  Island's  operating  ex- 
penses. 

While  this  major  mistake  in  the  syndicate's  management 
—or  mismanagement— of  the  Rock  Island  v.-as  shaping  up,  the 
syndicate  issued  Sicoccocc  of  Rock  Island  first  and  refund- 
ing 4  percent  bonds  to  acquire  187,900  .shares  of  the  capital 
stock  of  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Railroad  Companv.  Along 
with  this  acquisition  went  control  of  the  Chicago  and  Eastern 
Illinois. 

Ransom  R.  Cable,  finding  it  more  and  more  difficult,  due 
to  his  health  and  his  advancing  age,  to  travel  back  and  forth 
to  New  York  for  meetings,  stepped  down  from  the  chairman- 
ship of  the  Rock  Island  board  and  Czar  Reid  took  over  that 
post. 

By  February,  1906,  Bill  Leeds  gave  up  on  the  railroad  busi- 


176         IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

ness  and  resigned  from  the  executive  committee  and  from  the 
directorate. 

During  all  this  time  Rock  Island  Improvement  Company 
went  along  in  great  style  on  money  the  Rock  Island  Railroad 
advanced  for  Improvement  Company  operations.  The  first 
big  deal  was  the  advance  by  the  railroad  of  $1,815,467  to  the 
Improvement  Company  for  the  acquisition  of  land  and  erec- 
tion of  shops  at  Silvis,  Illinois.  In  return  the  Improvement 
Company  issued  $2,700,000  par  value  of  its  4  percent  bonds, 
secured  by  the  property. 

This  pattern  was  followed  at  many  other  points. 

Purchase  of  equipment  by  the  Improvement  Company  was 
another  master  stroke  of  syndicate  genius.  As  an  example,  on 
January  3,  1905,  the  Improvement  Company  entered  into  an 
equipment  trust  agreement  with  the  Bankers  Trust  Company 
of  New  York  to  acquire  certain  rolling  stock.  In  the  acquisi- 
tion of  this  equipment  the  Improvement  Company  issued 
$4,500,000  of  its  4^2  percent  equipment  trust  bonds,  series 
A,  to  the  Bankers  Trust  Company  and  paid  $17,136  in  cash. 
The  Rock  Island  Railroad  advanced  this  amount. 

Rebates  from  the  builders  and  from  specialties  used  on  the 
equipment  amounted  to  $73,352.  This  sum  went  to  the  rail- 
road and  was  carried  on  the  books  for  the  account  of  the 
Improvement  Company. 

The  Improvement  Company  granted  to  the  railroad  the 
right  to  use  the  equipment,  and  for  this  privilege  the  railroad 
had  to  make  all  the  interest  payments  on  the  equipment  trust 
bonds.  In  addition,  the  railroad  agreed  to  make  cash  payments 
on  the  equipment,  and  pay  off  the  equity  trust  bonds  as  they 
matured  serially.  The  deal  provided  for  the  conveyance  of  the 
equipment  to  the  railroad  by  the  Improvement  Company 
after  the  last  of  the  bonds  had  been  retired. 

Despite  the  complexity  of  the  Reid-Moore  financing  and 
corporate  manipulations.  President  Ben  Winchell  made  some 
progress  out  on  the  railroad.  By  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year, 
June  30,  1909,  the  Rock  Island's  operated  mileage  had  grown 
to  8,026.  Winchell's  annual  reports,  a  vast  improvement  over 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         177 

those  during  the  Leeds  regime,  proudly  pointed  to  a  slow  but 
steady  improvement  in  the  location  of  industries  along  the 
railroad. 

Earnings  for  the  1909  fiscal  year  showed  an  increase  in  gross 
from  the  $44,969,000  when  Winchell  took  over  in  1904,  to 
$61,184,886.  If  Winchell  suffered  any  anxiety  over  the  steadily 
increasing  debt  structure  against  the  property  he  didn't  show  it. 

But  by  that  midsummer  of  1909  the  syndicate  leaders  sensed 
trouble.  For  six  years  now  they  had  been  paying  interest  on 
the  10-year  bonds  that  had  been  issued  as  a  lure  to  Frisco 
stockholders  for  the  acquisition  of  the  Frisco  common.  And 
not  once  in  this  period  had  the  Frisco  common  the  syndicate 
held  earned  one  dime  in  dividends.  Of  course  no  dividends 
could  be  paid  to  the  former  Frisco  shareholders  on  the  Rock 
Island  of  New  Jersey  shares  that  had  gone  to  them  along  with 
the  Iowa  holding  company's  bonds. 

Part  of  the  Chicago  and  Alton  stock  and  the  bonds  of  that 
company  the  syndicate  had  acquired  had  been  traded  for 
bonds  of  the  Toledo,  St.  Louis  and  Western  (the  Cloverleaf 
Route).  The  Cloverleaf  was  a  shaky  property;  its  earnings 
were  depressed,  its  traffic  was  light. 

All  this  marked  another  figure  in  the  pattern  for  disaster. 


;(D  Broken  dream  of  empire 


Ominous  clouds  shadowed  the  operations  of  the  Reid-Moore 
Syndicate  in  the  late  summer  and  the  fall  of  1909.  No  one 
knew  better  than  Judge  Moore  and  Czar  Reid  how  burden- 


178        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

some  their  acquisition  of  the  Frisco  common  stock  had  be- 
come. For  six  years,  ever  since  it  had  been  gathered  in  by 
their  Iowa  holding  company  with  an  exchange  of  holding 
company  bonds  and  stocks,  the  Frisco  common  had  failed 
to  pay  dividends.  Thus  the  dividends  voted  on  the  Rock 
Island  common,  reposing  in  the  vaults  of  the  Central  Trust 
Company  in  New  York,  not  only  had  to  furnish  the  interest 
on  the  loo-year  bonds  of  the  Iowa  company  in  the  hands  of 
the  former  Rock  Island  owners,  but  had  to  pay  the  interest 
on  the  shorter  term  bonds  that  had  been  issued  to  Frisco 
shareholders. 

B.  F.  Yoakum,  one  of  the  cagiest  of  them  all,  saw  an 
opportunity  to  put  the  squeeze  on  his  associates  in  the  syndi- 
cate inner  sanctum,  and  thereby  gather  in  the  Frisco  for  him- 
self. He  quietly  went  about  organizing  a  syndicate  of  his  own. 
When  he  knew  he  had  the  cash  back  of  him  he  went  before 
the  Rock  Island  board  and  laid  his  cards  on  the  tabic. 

He  and  his  associates  would  gladly  take  the  Frisco  off  the 
hands  of  the  Reid-Moore  Syndicate  for  $37.50  per  common 
share  of  $100  par  value.  He  would  pay  $10,852,612  for  the 
whole  lot  of  it.  This  would  leave  the  syndicate  with  a  nice 
unhealthy  loss— with  the  problem  of  retiring  the  Iowa  holding 
company  bonds  for  which  the  stock  was  the  collateral. 

The  syndicate  was  helpless  and  Yoakum  knew  it.  Judge 
Moore  and  Czar  Reid  implied  an  ugly  word— blackmail. 
Yoakum  merely  told  them  they  could  take  his  offer  or  leave 
it.  How  about  the  $7,314,660  it  would  take  to  retire  those 
short-term  collateral  bonds?  The  Rock  Island  treasury,  of 
course.  There  was  plenty  in  the  cash  drawer,  and  why  should 
the  syndicate  hesitate  to  reach  into  the  till  and  satisfy  the 
bondholders?  They'd  been  reaching  into  Rock  Island's  earn- 
ings for  everything  else  in  their  operations. 

Ransom  R.  Cable,  at  the  age  of  75,  came  to  the  end  of  his 
time  before  the  deal  could  be  completed.  This  grand  old  man 
of  the  Rock  Island,  still  a  member  of  its  board,  passed  away 
on  November  12,  1909.  His  death  came  as  a  blow  to  those 
few  shareholders  who  had  long  held  out  against  the  syndicate. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         179 

They  had  always  hoped  that  Cable  would  live  to  see  the  end 
of  the  syndicate  control  and  a  return  to  the  kind  of  manage- 
ment that  had,  for  almost  50  years,  from  the  railroad's  hum- 
ble beginning,  guided  the  company's  growth  conservatively 
yet  progressively. 

Cable  could  recall,  in  the  closing  days  of  his  life,  a  career 
devoted  to  high  principles.  He  had  not  always  been  right,  and 
no  one  knew  that  better  than  he.  He  had  made  mistakes  in 
judgment,  but  they  had  been  honest  mistakes.  He  could  recall 
Warren  Purdy's  plea,  in  the  fall  of  1901,  to  strike  out  and 
fight  the  Reid-Moore  control,  and  Purdy's  bitter  disappoint- 
ment when  Cable  had  pointed  out  the  hopelessness  of  it. 
Purdy  then  had  been  an  ailing  man,  but  vigorous  mentally. 
And  Purdy  had  not  forgiven  him.  Now  Purdy  was  old  and 
bitter  and  crippled  hopelessly. 

Cable  could  look  back  over  the  last  seven  years  and  feel 
that  he  had  done  his  best  in  counseling  against  some  of  the 
Reid-Moore  projects.  The  Rock  Island  Railroad  had  been  his 
very  life,  and  his  love  for  it  was  deep.  He  had  hoped  for 
better  things  for  it  in  its  progress.  He  had  given  his  best 
toward  such  an  accomplishment. 

At  the  December,  1909,  meeting  of  the  Rock  Island  board 
the  members  bowed  their  heads  and  voted  a  resolution  to 
the  memory  of  Ransom  R.  Cable.  They  put  it  on  the  min- 
utes and  in  it  they  said  a  great  man  had  passed,  and  that 
his  sage  advice  and  his  wise  counsel  would  be  sorely  missed. 

Then  they  turned  around,  accepted  Yoakum's  deal  for  the 
Frisco  stock,  and  voted  an  advance  of  money  from  the  Rock 
Island  treasury  in  the  amount  of  $7,314,660  so  the  Iowa 
holding  company  could  retire  its  bonds.  In  return  for  the 
cash  the  Iowa  holding  company  issued  to  the  Rock  Island 
$7,500,000  par  value  of  5  percent  temporary  bonds  due  Sep- 
tember 1,  1913. 

With  that  little  matter  of  business  completed,  Yoakum  re- 
signed from  the  board  and  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Rock  Island  and  the  holding  companies,  and  Ben  Winchell's 


180        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

resignation  as  president  of  the  Rock  Island  Railroad  was 
speedily  requested  and  received. 

The  next  order  of  business  was  the  election  of  a  president, 
and  the  man  in  line  for  this  promotion  was  the  operating 
vice-president,  Henry  U.  Mudge.  Mudge  had  been  brought 
into  the  Rock  Island  picture  from  the  Santa  Fe  back  in  1905, 
and,  under  Winchell,  had  demonstrated  a  fine  ability  to 
spend  money  right  and  left  in  full  accord  with  the  syndicate's 
general  policy. 

Mudge  certainly  had  a  railroader's  background,  combined 
with  a  passion  for  golf  and  a  bent  for  sociability.  He  was  a 
native  of  Minden,  Iowa,  where  he  was  born  June  g,  1856. 
A  few  grades  in  grammar  school  comprised  his  early  book- 
learning  and  his  formal  education  came  as  first  a  water-boy 
on  the  Santa  Fe,  then  a  station  helper,  and  eventually  a  tele- 
graph operator.  From  1872,  when  he  first  took  up  his  bucket 
and  dipper,  to  1896,  he  rose  through  the  positions  of  road- 
master,  trainmaster,  and  division  superintendent,  to  the  post 
of  general  superintendent.  In  1900,  E.  P.  Ripley,  Santa  Fe's 
president,  made  him  general  manager  at  Topeka.  That's 
where  he  was  when  Winchell  brought  him  to  the  Rock  Island. 

From  the  day  of  his  election  to  the  Rock  Island  presidency 
Mudge  knew  that  something  drastic  would  have  to  be  accom- 
plished if  Rock  Island's  earnings  could  hope  to  keep  pace 
with  its  ever-mounting  funded  debt.  Office  detail  wasn't  much 
to  his  liking  and  he  wanted  a  man  in  the  organization  to  help 
him  in  this  respect.  That  man  was  over  on  the  Santa  Fe. 

Mudge  asked  the  board  to  elect  James  E.  Gorman  to  the 
position  of  first  vice-president.  This  was  the  freight  traffic 
department.  Gorman,  on  the  Santa  Fe,  was  the  freight  traffic 
manager.  He  was  known  throughout  the  railroad  industry  as 
an  affable  gentleman  with  a  hearty  handshake  and  an  in- 
numerable number  of  friends  throughout  the  United  States. 
The  fact  that  Gorman's  technical  knowledge  of  down-to- 
earth  railroad  operations  was  merely  academic  and  that  his 
interest  in  this  phase  of  railroading  was  something  less  than 
passing  made  little  difference  to  Mudge. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         181 

If  Gorman  could  get  out  and  get  the  business,  shake  the 
traffic  department  into  greater  production,  and  give  a  hand 
with  executive  matters,  Mudge  would  look  after  the  acquisi- 
tion of  bigger  power  and  more  terminal  facilities,  and  have  a 
little  time  to  improve  his  golf  and  throw  a  party  now  and  then. 

His  syndicate  bosses  gave  President  Mudge  a  free  hand. 
He  spent  staggering  sums  acquiring  new  property  at  Little 
Rock,  Memphis,  Omaha,  and  other  points;  in  increasing  his 
locomotive  ownership  with  bigger  and  better  power  and  in 
making  some  improvement  to  roadbed  and  bridges.  He  com- 
pleted on  May  9,  1910,  the  New  Mexico  mileage  that  hooked 
up  Amarillo,  Texas,  with  Tucumcari,  New  Mexico,  thus  giving 
the  Choctaw  a  through  route  from  Memphis  to  California. 

During  his  administration  the  major  acquisition  of  addi- 
tional mileage  was  the  leasing  in  November  of  1913  of  the 
St.  Paul  and  Kansas  City  Short  Line  Railroad  Company.  This 
company  was  incorporated  February  18,  1911,  for  the  purpose 
of  constructing  "or  acquiring  and  maintaining"  a  line  be- 
tween Allerton  and  Mason  Citv,  Iowa.  The  real  reason  for 
the  incorporation  was  the  purchase  of  existing  lines  and  the 
construction  of  such  new  mileage  as  might  be  necessary  to 
provide  the  shortest  possible  rail  route  between  the  Twin 
Cities  and  Kansas  City,  Missouri. 

At  the  time  the  Short  Line  was  incorporated  the  entire 
mileage  between  Minneapolis  -  St.  Paul  and  Des  Moines,  in- 
cluding short  stretches  over  which  trackage  rights  had  been 
secured,  was  in  full  operation.  South  of  Des  Moines  a  nine- 
mile  segment  had  been  constructed  to  the  town  of  Carlisle. 
This  left  a  stretch  of  67  miles  to  be  built  to  bring  the  line 
from  Carlisle  to  Allerton  for  a  connection  with  the  Rock 
Island  main  line  into  Kansas  City. 

Mudge  let  the  contracts  for  this  new  construction  and  it 
was  completed  partly  bv  contractors'  crews  and  partly  by  the 
regular  track  forces  of  the  Rock  Island  in  1913.  Through  pas- 
senger and  freight  sen'ice  between  the  Twin  Cities  and  Kansas 
Citv  was  inaugurated  on  September  14  in  that  year.  The  ac- 
quisition of  the  Short  Line  was  accomplished  through  the 


182        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

advance  of  more  than  $11,500,000  by  the  Rock  Island.  This 
money  went  for  the  assumption  of  the  Short  Line's  outstand- 
ing obhgations,  for  new  construction,  and  for  additions  and 
betterments  and  for  other  corporate  purposes. 

That  it  was  a  valuable  addition  to  the  Rock  Island  system 
was  stressed  in  Mudge's  annual  report  for  the  fiscal  year  end- 
ing June  30,  1914,  when  he  wrote:  "The  intermediate  con- 
nections with  your  company  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  and  at 
Iowa  Falls,  afford  an  excellent  outlet  for  trafBc  to  and  from 
the  East  and  West,  as  well  as  the  advantage  of  interchanging 
traffic  with  several  other  trunk-line  systems  at  the  above 
points." 

But  long  before  that  report  was  written,  the  crisis  faced  by 
the  Reid-Moore  Syndicate  was  acute.  Early  in  1914,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  railroad's  more  than  61  years  of  history,  the  board 
looked  at  the  income  account  and  the  balance  sheet,  and 
the  figures  were  desperately  red.  There  was  no  money  for 
dividends. 

By  March  11,  the  holders  of  the  Iowa  holding  company's 
collateral  bonds  and  the  owners  of  the  common  and  pre- 
ferred stocks  of  the  Rock  Island  Company  of  New  Jersey 
appointed  protective  committees.  With  no  dividends  from 
the  Rock  Island  common  held  by  the  Central  Trust  Com- 
pany, the  bondholders  could  receive  no  interest.  The  Rock 
Island  common  had  been  pledged  as  collateral  for  those 
bonds,  and  now  that  the  bonds  were  in  default  the  Central 
Trust  had  to  take  steps  to  see  that  the  bondholders  were 
protected. 

The  news  of  the  impending  collapse  of  the  syndicate's  op- 
erations made  headlines.  Top  financial  writers  and  columnists 
from  coast  to  coast  excoriated  the  Reid-Moore  management. 
They  attacked  the  syndicate's  method  of  pyramiding  the  rail- 
road company's  debt.  Public  confidence  in  the  property  was 
shaken  to  its  very  depths. 

Executives  and  officers  of  competing  railroads,  and  mem- 
bers of  the  railroad  industry  generally,  watched  with  avid 
interest.  Wherever  they  gathered  they  asked  the  questions: 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         183 

How  long  could  the  sprawling  Rock  Island  last?  How  long 
before  the  century's  greatest  dream  of  empire  would  dis- 
mally collapse? 

Mudge,  grim  in  his  determination  to  refute  the  stories  in 
the  press,  and  the  backroom  gossip  and  rumors,  made  note  of 
the  attacks  in  that  June  30,  1914,  report  and  set  about  to 
justify  his  railroad's  activities. 

Mudge  set  forth  a  12-year  review  of  the  company's  growth 
and  progress  from  June  30,  1902,  to  June  30,  1914.  He  pointed 
to  an  increase  in  operated  mileage  from  4,094  to  8,328.  In 
1902,  3,403  miles  was  owned  as  compared  to  7,407  as  of  the 
1914  date.  In  1902,  353  miles  was  under  lease.  That  had  de- 
creased to  272.  The  trackage  rights  in  1902  covered  338  miles 
—in  1914,  this  mileage  was  649.  Yards  and  sidings  in  1902 
made  up  842  miles,  and  by  1914  had  increased  to  2,300  miles. 

The  heaviest  rail  in  1902  was  80-pound  steel  on  938  miles, 
and  70-pound  and  under  on  the  rest  of  the  system.  By  1914 
there  was  276  miles  of  100-pound  rail,  143  of  90-pound  rail, 
1,526  miles  of  85-pound  steel,  and  4,357  miles  re-laid  with 
80-pound  rail.  That  left  3,618  miles  still  with  the  70-pound 
rail. 

The  review  covered  the  progress  in  ties  and  ballast  and 
bridges.  Mudge  pointed  out  that  in  1902,  2,018  miles  of  the 
railroad  was  ballasted  with  either  rock,  burnt  clay,  or  cinders, 
and  the  balance  with  dirt.  As  of  the  1914  date,  rock  ballast 
covered  1,466  miles,  burnt  clay  681  miles,  gravel  2,606  miles, 
and  cinders  686  miles,  leaving  less  than  3,000  miles  still  with 
dirt. 

Mudge  reported  that  whereas  in  1902  there  was  but  19.61 
miles  of  automatic  block  signals,  in  1914  this  facility  covered 
the  main  lines  from  Chicago  via  Kansas  City  to  Herington, 
Kansas;  from  Davenport  to  Omaha  and  on  the  northern  line 
from  West  Liberty  to  Vinton,  Iowa— a  total  of  1,256  miles. 

"In  1902,"  the  review  said,  "your  property  was  greatly  de- 
ficient in  the  matter  of  terminal  facilities  and  repair  shops. 
Since  that  time  a  complete  new  shop  plant  has  been  con- 
structed at  Silvis,  Illinois,  which  is  equal  in  capacity  and  mod- 


I  84        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

em  conveniences  to  any  locomotive  repair  shop  in  the  west 
.  .  .  On  account  of  the  operation  of  the  1 6-hour  law  on 
trainmen  and  enginemen  it  was  necessary  to  put  in  new 
terminals,  in  order  to  reduce  the  length  of  the  run,  at  Manly, 
Iowa;  El  Reno,  and  Waurika,  Oklahoma,  and  at  Pratt  and 
Liberal,  Kansas." 

Covering  the  locomotive  situation,  Mudge  reported  that  in 
1902  the  company  owned  661  engines  with  an  average  tractive 
power  of  18,015  pounds  per  locomotive.  In  1914  the  owner- 
ship had  grown  to  1,678  locomotives  with  a  total  tractive 
effort  of  49,241,511  pounds,  or  an  average  of  29,345  pounds 
each. 

Freight  cars  had  increased  in  the  12-year  period  from  19,893 
wooden  cars  to  17,531  steel  and  steel-underframe  cars  and 
28,143  wooden  cars— a  total  of  45,674.  He  pointed  out  that 
the  average  capacity  per  car  had  increased  from  24.5  tons  to 
36.9  tons.  As  to  passenger  cars,  the  1902  ownership  was  475 
wooden  cars  of  all  types.  In  1914  there  were  346  all-steel  pas- 
senger-train cars  and  817  of  wooden  structure— a  total  of  1,163. 

Mudge  wound  up  his  review  by  saying,  "It  will  be  seen  at 
a  glance  that  your  property  not  only  has  been  well  maintained 
but  has  been  greatly  improved  since  1902  .  .  .  Vigorous  ef- 
forts have  been  made  by  your  management  to  increase  the 
operating  efEciency,  the  commercial  freight  train  load  having 
increased  from  183  tons  in  1902  to  306  tons  in  1914  .  .  .  The 
large  absorption  of  mileage  of  light  trafhc  had  the  effect  of 
reducing  the  average  operating  revenue  per  mile  from  $7,288 
in  1902  to  $6,091  in  1905.  Since  that  time,  notwithstanding 
the  steady  decrease  in  rates,  it  increased  to  $8,867  in  1913, 
falling  back  to  $8,313  per  mile  in  1914." 

It  was  a  good  report  up  to  a  point.  But  improvements  and 
increased  efRciencies  weren't  enough.  Labor  costs  since  the 
enactment  of  the  16-hour  law  for  train  and  engine  crews,  and 
the  9-hour  law  for  telegraphers,  had  added  greatly  to  the  com- 
pany's increasing  financial  burden.  Materials  and  supplies  also 
had  increased.  But  nothing  could  compare  with  the  enormous 
increase  in  the  company's  funded  debt. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         185 

Prior  to  the  advent  of  the  Reid-Moore  Syndicate  the  debt 
stood  at  $67,081,000.  As  the  year  1914  drew  to  a  close  it  stood 
at  $287,852,370.  Annual  interest  had  increased  from  $3,055,- 
313  to  $12,136,425. 

The  picture  was  indeed  dark  and  gloomy  on  that  fateful 
October  8,  1914,  when  the  annual  meeting  of  the  stockholders 
was  opened  for  business  in  Chicago.  The  syndicate-controlled 
board  sat  glumly  at  the  table.  No  longer  could  Reid  and  Judge 
Moore  cause  the  96  percent  of  the  Rock  Island  common  to 
be  voted  en  bloc  as  they  willed. 

In  the  United  States  District  Court  for  the  Southern  Dis- 
trict of  New  York,  a  suit  for  foreclosure  against  the  Iowa 
holding  company  was  being  fought.  The  plaintiffs  were  the 
protective  committees.  Until  a  decision  could  be  rendered, 
the  railway  stock,  underlying  the  holding  company  bonds, 
could  not  be  voted  by  the  syndicate. 

At  the  October  14  meeting,  Arthur  Dryenforth,  represent- 
ing the  Central  Trust  Company,  held  the  proxies.  He  moved 
at  once  for  adjournment  of  the  meeting  until  a  date  in  early 
November. 

When  the  adjourned  meeting  was  called  it  was  adjourned 
again,  and  then  again,  always  until  a  later  date. 

Finally,  on  December  21,  1914,  following  agreement  be- 
tween the  various  protective  committees  of  the  Iowa  com- 
pany's bondholders,  the  court  ordered  the  sale  of  the  collateral 
securities— the  $71,353,000  par  value  of  the  Rock  Island's 
common  stock.  The  order  provided  that  the  stock  be  sold  all 
at  one  time  to  one  purchaser. 

Special  Master  Winthrop  brought  about  the  sale  on  De- 
cember 22,  to  J.  N.  Wallace,  president  of  the  Central  Trust 
and  chairman  of  the  protective  committee  group.  The  one 
and  only  bid  was  for  $7,135,350— just  10  percent  of  the  par 
value  of  the  stock. 

On  January  6,  1915,  Judge  Mayer,  in  the  Federal  court, 
confirmed  the  sale.  Immediately  thereafter  the  bondholders 
agreed  among  themselves  to  exchange  their  bonds  on  the 
basis  of  par  value  of  bonds  for  par  value  of  shares.  The  pro- 


186        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

tective  committee  levied  a  $4  charge  per  $1,000  in  bonds  for 
committee  expenses,  and  succeeded  in  making  the  exchange 
for  about  86  percent  of  the  bonds  outstanding.  To  those  bond- 
holders who  wanted  cash,  the  committee  paid  $98.50  for  each 
$1,000  bond. 

The  New  York  Federal  judge  appointed  Walter  C.  Noyes 
receiver  for  the  Iowa  company  on  January  18,  and  his  action 
was  followed  by  the  U.S.  District  Court  of  the  Southern 
District  of  Iowa,  naming  Noyes  ancillary  receiver  of  all  the 
property  and  assets  of  the  company  within  that  court's  juris- 
diction. 

On  February  3,  1915,  with  the  annual  meeting  still  in  an 
adjourned  state,  Daniel  G.  Reid,  the  czar,  resigned  from  the 
Rock  Island  board.  The  handwriting  on  the  wall  was  large 
and  ominous.  The  syndicate  was  breaking  up. 

Behind  the  scenes,  Charles  Hayden,  president  of  the  bank- 
ing house  of  Hayden,  Stone  and  Company,  was  setting  up 
the  machinery  to  oust  the  syndicate  from  the  company's 
management.  So  was  Bostonian  Nathan  L.  Amster  with  a 
committee  opposing  J.  Horace  Harding,  stockbroker,  who  was 
pushing  for  Hayden. 

Judge  Moore,  however,  was  as  tough  a  fighter  as  he  was  a 
suave  operator.  He  wasn't  going  to  let  things  get  away  from 
him  if  he  had  to  move  hell  on  a  set  of  flat-wheeled  trucks  to 
prevent  it.  He  had  rigged  the  deal  to  establish  President  Wal- 
lace of  the  Central  Trust  Company  as  chairman  of  a  bond- 
holders' protective  committee  that  Czar  Reid  had  dreamed 
up.  As  much  as  five  months  before  the  court  decision  which 
ordered  the  sale  of  the  bonds  of  the  Iowa  holding  company, 
Wallace  had  advertised  for  the  bonds,  asking  the  holders  to 
deposit  them  in  trust.  It  was  the  syndicate's  idea,  through  this 
device,  to  get  the  majority  of  the  bonds  in  so  that  it  would 
still  be  able  to  control  them.  What  Wallace  and  the  syndicate 
hadn't  foreseen  was  the  smallness  in  number  of  holders  who 
would  fall  for  this  bait. 

Just  prior  to  the  court's  order,  setting  the  terms  for  the 
sale  of  the  Rock  Island  Railroad's  stock  to  protect  the  bond- 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         187 

holders,  the  Wallace  committee  had  gathered  in  only  $23,000,- 
000  of  the  $75,000,000  bonds  outstanding. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  Nathan  Amster,  a  minority  stock- 
holder, dropped  the  boom  by  going  to  the  Circuit  Court  of 
Appeals  which  gave  him  permission  to  intervene.  The  court 
order  then  had  been  held  up,  and  when  Amster  finally  got 
through  with  his  chore  of  getting  proxies  to  control  future 
activities  of  the  railway  board,  he  had  the  syndicate  in  a 
squeeze. 

With  the  annual  meeting  of  the  railroad's  stockholders  still 
in  adjournment,  the  syndicate  board  met  on  March  26,  1915, 
to  face  the  problem  of  getting  money  to  meet  more  than 
$2,500,000  of  principal  and  interest  that  would  mature  on 
April  1. 

It  was  at  this  session  of  the  inner  circle  that  Judge  Moore 
decided  to  rig  another  deal.  He  told  Roberts  Walker,  his  chief 
counsel,  to  scout  around  and  find  some  substantial  creditor 
of  the  railroad  who  could  be  used  to  throw  the  Rock  Island 
into  receivership.  It  was  Moore's  suggestion  that  Walker  find 
an  outside  lawyer,  draw  up  a  bill  of  complaint,  leave  the 
plaintiff's  name  blank,  and  then  have  the  outside  lawyer  make 
the  proper  approach  to  the  creditor.  Moore,  Walker,  and  the 
two  or  three  other  syndicate  members  who  were  in  on  the 
deal  pledged  themselves  to  secrecy. 

Walker  reported  back  to  Moore  on  March  29  that  every- 
thing was  in  order  for  the  presentation  of  the  complaint.  All 
he  needed  was  the  nod  from  Moore.  Walker,  through  Attor- 
ney Silas  Strawn,  had  picked  as  the  complainant  the  American 
Steel  Foundries  Company  to  which  the  Rock  Island  owed  a 
bill  of  $16,000— a  sum  that  could  easily  have  been  paid  at  any 
time.  R.  P.  Lamont,  the  president,  later  testified  at  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  investigation  of  the  Reid-Moore 
scandal,  that  the  attorney  who  approached  him  had  assured 
him  that  this  complaint  was  to  be  considered  a  friendly  act 
to  the  railway  company,  that  it  would  cost  the  American 
Steel  Foundries  nothing  in  the  way  of  attorneys'  fees  and 
court  costs. 


188        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  adjourned  meeting  of  the  stockholders  was  called  on 
April  12,  at  11  a.m.  in  Chicago.  That  it  was  a  bitter  and 
stormy  session  is  attested  to  by  the  fact  that  it  continued 
until  9  o'clock  that  night. 

The  syndicate  immediately  moved  for  another  adjourn- 
ment, but  Nathan  Amster  and  the  committee  supporting 
Hayden  had  the  proxies  to  vote  the  Moore  group  down.  The 
vote  was  more  than  2  to  i. 

An  important  order  of  business  was  the  election  of  directors 
to  fill  the  expired  terms  of  Roberts  Walker;  Edward  S.  Moore, 
the  son  of  Judge  Moore;  John  J.  Mitchell,  Chicago  banker 
who  had  never  attended  a  meeting  since  his  election;  and  J. 
J.  Quinlan,  financial  vice-president  of  the  railway  company 
and  president  of  the  New  Jersey  holding  company. 

The  Amster  and  Hayden  groups  moved  in  with  a  substitute 
slate.  Amster  offered  his  own  name  and  three  others.  The  so- 
called  Sheldon  committee  put  up  Hayden  and  the  names  of 
William  J.  Matheson  and  W.  Emlen  Roosevelt.  These  direc- 
tors together  with  Amster  were  elected  after  a  bitter  fight. 

Another  deep  wedge  was  driven  into  the  syndicate's  front. 
But  Judge  Moore  still  wasn't  finished.  He  sat  by  serenely, 
along  with  Walker,  his  deposed  director,  and  his  son,  and 
said  nothing  at  all  about  the  plans  for  throwing  the  com- 
pany into  receivership.  That  was  still  a  dark  secret  when  that 
fateful  meeting  broke  up. 

Amster  rode  back  from  Chicago  to  New  York  with  Roberts 
Walker  and  was  given  no  hint  of  what  was  to  happen  just  a 
little  more  than  a  week  later. 

That  Amster  suspected  something  is  indicated  by  the  fact 
that  he  was  amazed  that  no  apparent  effort  was  being  made  by 
the  directors  to  get  together  some  $6,000,000  needed  to  take 
care  of  approaching  maturities  and  to  tide  the  company  over 
into  the  summer.  In  fact,  he  set  about  on  his  own  to  get  the 
money,  and  on  April  16  met  and  conferred  with  Board  Chair- 
man Schumacher  and  two  others.  They  said  they  thought 
highly  of  the  plan  by  which  he  proposed  to  get  that  money 
himself.  Amster  then  talked  to  some  Boston  bankers  and  after 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         189 

he  had  been  assured  of  help,  returned  to  New  York  to  give 
the  board  the  glad  tidings. 

Amster  arrived  in  New  York  on  the  morning  of  April  20. 
He  went  directly  to  the  Rock  Island  offices. 

''When  I  got  there  I  was  amazed,"  he  later  testified.  "I 
could  not  find  anybody  there  who  would  say  anything.  Just  a 
lot  of  people  moving  back  and  forth.  I  left  the  office  and  found 
on  the  ticker  tape  that  the  Rock  Island  had  been  put  in  the 
hands  of  a  receiver." 

The  company's  stock  which,  when  the  syndicate  had  taken 
control  in  1901,  had  been  selling  as  high  as  $200  a  share,  took 
a  sharp  drop  on  the  market.  Over  the  years  the  stock  had 
gone  down  and  down  until,  on  March  22  of  1915,  it  was 
on  the  board  at  21^2.  On  the  day  Roberts  Walker  completed 
his  bill  of  complaint  for  use  by  the  American  Steel  Foundries 
the  stock  became  suddenly  active  and  was  largely  dealt  in. 
It  jumped  from  $20  to  $39  a  share.  It  then  dropped  back 
to  $20  on  news  of  the  receivership.  The  total  of  shares  ex- 
changing hands  in  the  30  days  preceding  receivership  was 
1,019,584— more  than  one  and  one-third  times  the  total  cap- 
italization of  the  railroad. 

Roberts  Walker,  Moore,  and  other  insiders,  fully  aware  of 
what  they  would  do  to  the  railroad,  unloaded  their  stock  at 
the  top  market  price— a  farewell  grab  at  profits  as  the  dream  of 
empire  broke  and  faded. 


1 90        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


•O  Easy  come,  easy  go 


Judge  George  A.  Carpenter,  in  the  United  States  District 
Court  for  the  District  of  Northern  IlHnois,  heard  the  trumped- 
up  complaint  of  the  American  Steel  Foundries  and  appointed 
Judge  Jacob  M.  Dickinson  and  Henry  U.  Mudge  receivers  for 
the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railway  Company. 

Dickinson,  who  had  once  been  president  of  the  American 
Bar  Association,  Secretary  of  War  in  the  cabinet  of  President 
William  Howard  Taft,  and  who  had  distinguished  himself 
in  other  public  services,  was  no  stooge  for  Judge  Moore  or 
any  of  his  associates.  In  fact,  during  the  months  to  come, 
Judge  Dickinson  was  to  give  these  promoters  many  sleepless 
nights.  Mudge,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  syndicate  tool. 
Which  was  one  reason  why  he  didn't  last  very  long  after 
that  fateful  April  20. 

The  court,  unwittingly,  saddled  Dickinson  at  the  outset, 
with  Roberts  Walker,  as  general  counsel  for  the  receivers. 

Dickinson  immediately  got  into  the  tangled  affairs  in  which 
the  syndicate  had  involved  this  once-prosperous  railroad,  and 
the  stench  was  rank.  He  knew  he  would  have  to  work  a 
miracle  if  he  could  save  the  property  from  the  already  rising 
clamor  for  dismemberment  of  the  system. 

Meanwhile,  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  which 
had  held  preliminary  hearings  in  the  previous  October,  at  the 
request  of  the  Committee  on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Com- 
merce of  the  House  of  Representatives,  was  uncovering  more 
and  more  of  the  scandal. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         191 

The  testimony  brought  out  that  it  was  impossible  to  de- 
termine the  profits  made  by  the  two  Moores,  Reid  and  Leeds, 
in  their  various  manipulations  and  their  involvements.  It  was 
shown  that  a  book  surplus  claimed  on  June  30,  1904,  of 
$22,300,000  had  dropped  to  a  fictitious  $6,100,000  by  June 
30,  1914.  The  premise  of  this  fictitious  figure  was  that  the  syn- 
dicate carried  as  assets  a  lot  of  their  worthless  investments, 
some  of  which  were  in  companies  that  had  "no  existence, 
except  on  paper." 

Actually,  according  to  the  testimony  the  Commission 
brought  out,  the  Rock  Island  was  more  than  $11,000,000  in 
the  red  at  the  time  Mudge  prepared  his  1914  annual  report 
with  its  glowing  12-year  review. 

In  questioning  Czar  Reid  on  the  matter  of  personal  prof- 
its, Reid  promptly  told  the  Commission  that  he  couldn't  say 
how  much  he  made  out  of  the  Rock  Island  entanglements. 
"I  burn  my  books  at  the  end  of  each  month,"  he  explained. 

The  name  of  L.  F.  Loree,  one-time  president  of  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio,  was  brought  into  the  testimony.  Loree  had 
served  as  chairman  of  the  syndicate's  executive  committee 
for  10  months  in  1904.  In  order  to  get  him  into  the  Rock 
Island  picture  the  syndicate  had  offered  him  a  contract  for 
a  salary  of  $75,000  a  year  for  five  years,  and  a  payment  of 
$500,000  in  cash  at  the  termination  of  that  period.  The  Frisco 
was  to  pay  half  of  the  salary  and  bonus.  When  at  the  end  of 
10  months  the  syndicate  decided  it  wasn't  happy  with  Loree, 
Judge  Moore  and  Czar  Reid  put  $450,000  par  value  of  Rock 
Island  bonds  in  his  hands  as  an  inducement  to  get  him  to 
resign.  Walker  tried  to  explain  this  away  as  an  obligation  of 
the  company  in  lieu  of  the  promised  half  million  in  cash 
Loree  was  supposed  to  get,  but  the  truth  finally  was  drawn  out 
of  him  that  Reid  made  the  deal  to  get  Loree  to  resign.  Loree 
testified  that  Reid  had  told  him  it  was  a  question  of  Loree 
getting  out  or  other  officers  walking  off  the  job. 

Other  startling  disclosures  the  Commission  brought  out 
concerning  the  handy  way  the  syndicate  had  of  dipping  into 
the  railroad's  treasury  at  will  showed  that  even  the  payroll 


192        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

figures  as  related  to  the  officers  were  false.  As  an  example  Jim 
Gorman,  Mudge's  right-hand  man,  was  carried  on  the  payroll 
at  $25,000  a  year.  He  was  secretly  paid  $18,750  a  year  addi- 
tional, in  advance  in  one  lump  sum,  making  an  actual  salary 
of  $43,750. 

Even  the  sainted  Ransom  Cable  was  shown  to  have  partici- 
pated in  the  syndicate's  rewards  for  deals  well  done.  The 
testimony  brought  out  that  Cable  was  given  securities  valued 
at  $24,500  from  the  Rock  Island  treasury  and  $85,000  in  cash 
from  the  treasury  of  the  Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  North- 
ern for  services  in  connection  with  the  acquisition  of  that 
railroad.  All  the  time  he  received  an  annual  salary  of  $32,000 
as  a  member  of  the  board.  Bill  Leeds,  during  his  term  as 
president,  also  made  it  possible  for  Cable  to  get  $368,300  of 
Rock  Island  securities  for  a  cash  price  of  $200,000.  Other 
officials  of  the  railroad— including  Robert  Mather,  in  the  legal 
department;  H.  A.  Parker,  when  he  was  first  vice-president; 
George  Boggs,  dummy  director  and  secretary,  and  syndicate 
front  man;  C.  H.  Warren,  one-time  assistant  to  the  president 
and  at  another  time  vice-president— together  shared  in  this 
largess  to  the  extent  of  more  than  a  million  dollars  over  and 
above  their  salaries. 

R.  A.  Jackson,  general  solicitor  for  the  railroad,  besides  get- 
ting a  salary  of  $50,000  a  year,  was  paid  by  the  syndicate  a 
$10,000  fee  for  rigging  up  the  incorporation  papers  that  gave 
birth  to  the  Consolidated  Indiana  Coal  company— another 
syndicate  deal  that  eventually  resulted  in  heavy  losses  to  the 
Rock  Island  treasury.  He  finally  was  fired  by  Reid  and  given 
$100,000  to  get  a  job  elsewhere. 

More  than  $20,000,000  in  losses  accrued  to  the  Rock  Island 
in  its  support  of  syndicate  transactions— including  the  ex- 
penses in  incorporating,  maintaining,  and  housing  the  holding 
companies;  the  Frisco  and  Alton  catastrophes;  the  Trinity 
and  Brazos  Valley  Railway  deal;  the  Consolidated  Indiana 
and  Bering  Coal  Company  manipulations;  contributions  and 
gratuities  to  officers  and  directors;  and  various  other  miscel- 
laneous and  unexplained  expenditures. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         193 

The  testimony  of  officers  and  directors  brought  out  a  firm 
conviction  on  their  part  that  it  was  none  of  the  pubhc's  busi- 
ness what  they  did  with  the  funds  of  the  railroad  company 
so  long  as  rates  remained  reasonable.  The  questioning  of 
George  Boggs  emphasized  this  highly  questionable  disregard 
of  the  public  interest  in  the  following  from  the  transcript: 

Q:  Do  you  consider  that  the  directors  of  a  railway  company, 
a  public  service  corporation,  have  the  right  to  do  whatever 
they  please  with  the  money  of  the  railwa}'  company? 

A;  As  in  their  judgment  seemed  right,  yes. 

Q:  Did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that  the  money  in  the  treasury'  of 
the  railway  company  was  the  result  of  taxation  of  the  pub- 
lic in  passenger  and  freight  tariffs,  and  that  the  public  had 
an  interest  in  funds  in  the  treasury? 

A:  I  don't  know  that  I  ever  thought  of  it,  particularly. 

Q:  And  that  the  public  had  a  concern  in  the  funds  of  the 
railway  company  not  being  dissipated  in  order  that  they 
might  be  applied  to  improvements  and  betterments  and 
to  proper  purposes? 

A:  I  never  considered  that  they  were  dissipated. 

Q:  And  did  it  ever  occur  to  you  that  in  taking  money  from 
the  treasury  of  the  railway  company,  a  public  service  cor- 
poration, an  additional  burden  was  placed  upon  the  pas- 
senger and  freight  traffic  in  order  to  make  good  the  loss? 

A;  No,  I  never  thought  of  it  in  that  light. 

Q:  You  don't  believe  it  now,  do  you? 

A:  No. 

F.  L.  Hine,  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  New 
York,  a  syndicate  director,  acknowledged  under  questioning 
that  he  had  never  paid  much  attention  to  the  operations  of  the 
Reid-Moore  group.  Yes,  he  had  attended  a  few  board  meet- 
ings. Yes,  he  could  recall  that  some  of  their  strange  transac- 
tions had  been  brought  up  for  approval.  But,  said  Mr.  Hine, 


1 94        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

he  trusted  Moore's  judgment.  He  trusted  Reid.  He  assumed 
they  were  men  who  knew  what  was  best  for  the  company. 
So  he  went  along  with  them. 

Other  directors  testified  pretty  much  the  same  way. 

The  Commission  disclosed  the  fact  that  in  addition  to  the 
$20,000,000  loss  the  Commission  accountants  could  put  their 
hands  on— the  result  of  the  railroad  treasury  being  tapped  to 
support  the  various  syndicate  enterprises— the  railroad  had 
paid  out  to  financial  houses  some  $1,600,000  for  commissions, 
and  had  suffered  discounts  of  more  than  $17,700,000  in  con- 
nection with  bond  issues. 

On  July  31,  1915,  the  Commission  issued  its  report.  It 
sharply  criticized  the  syndicate,  the  officers,  and  the  directors 
for  gross  mismanagement  of  what  had  once  been  a  very  fine 
piece  of  railroad  property. 

Pointing  to  the  receivership  deal,  and  the  sudden  turnover 
of  the  railroad's  common  stocks  in  the  open  market  with  the 
syndicate-rigged  receivership  imminent,  the  Commission  said: 

"It  is  a  forceful  commentary  on  the  methods  by  which  a 
great  railway  may  be  manipulated  into  a  receivership  when 
it  is  noted  that  the  general  counsel,  after  drawing  the  bill  for 
receivership,  sold  his  stock,  and  the  local  counsel,  who  rep- 
resented the  railway  company  in  the  receivership  proceedings, 
owned  no  stock  in  the  railway  company,  and  that  none  of 
those  directly  participating  in  the  receivership  proceedings 
had  any  financial  interest  in  the  railway  company.  The  real 
owners  of  the  railway,  the  stockholders,  the  security  holders, 
and  the  directors,  except  those  composing  the  syndicate  and 
in  its  confidence,  were  in  ignorance  of  the  receivership  applica- 
tion. Mr.  Mudge,  former  president  of  the  railway  company, 
is  one  of  the  receivers. 

"The  general  counsel,  who  planned  the  receivership  in 
obedience  to  the  will  of  the  syndicate,  is  now  counsel  for  the 
receivers. 

"The  property  of  the  railway  company  will  be  called  upon 
for  many  years  to  make  up  the  drain  upon  its  resources  re- 
sulting from  transactions  outside  the  proper  sphere  in  which 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         195 

stockholders  had  the  right  to  suppose  their  moneys  were  in- 
vested. This  record  emphasizes  the  need  for  raihvay  directors 
who  actually  direct.  There  are  too  many  passive  directors  who 
acquiesce  in  what  is  being  done  without  knowledge  and  with- 
out investigation.  A  director  of  a  railroad  is  a  quasi  public 
official  who  occupies  a  position  of  trust.  A  director  who  sub- 
mits blindly  to  the  exploitation  of  his  companv  is  a  partv  to 
its  undoing  and  he  should  be  held  responsible  to  the  same 
extent  as  if  he  had  been  a  principal  instead  of  an  accessory 
before  the  fact.  The  greater  his  prominence  the  greater  his 
responsibilitv,  and  the  greater  his  dereliction  .  .  . 

"It  should  be  just  as  grave  an  offense  for  an  official  of  a  rail- 
way to  be  faithless  to  his  trust  for  financial  gain  as  it  is  for  an 
elected  official  of  the  Government  to  betrav  his  trust  for 
money  reward." 

There  it  was— and  the  stench  reeked.  Nor  did  Mudge,  Gor- 
man, and  other  officers  escape  the  invective  of  editorialists 
who  seized  upon  the  Commission's  report. 

One  of  them  was  reported  saying  in  his  defense,  "Hell,  I  just 
worked  here." 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  stockholders  was  coming  up  in 
October.  The  board  met  on  September  30  to  plan  for  it. 
Judge  Moore  would  be  coming  up  for  re-election  as  a  director. 
He  was  still  on  the  executive  committee.  Others  of  the  old 
board  whose  terms  would  expire  included  Hine,  Ogden  Mills, 
Chairman  Schumacher,  and  James  R.  McLean. 

With  the  Havden  people  in  control  of  the  votes,  Mudge, 
who  was  alreadv  out  as  co-receiver,  and  George  H.  Crosby 
were  instructed  to  cast  the  majoritv  stockholders'  \-ote  at  the 
annual  meeting,  for  Edmund  D.  Hulbert,  vice-president  of  the 
Merchants  Loan  and  Savings  Bank,  Chicago;  Charles  G. 
Dawes,  president  of  the  Central  Trust  Companv,  Chicago; 
John  G.  Shedd  of  Marshall  Field  and  Companv;  John  R. 
Morron,  president  of  the  Atlas  Portland  Cement  Company; 
Judge  Nathaniel  French,  of  Davenport;  William  B.  Thomp- 
son, director  of  the  Federal  Reser\'e  Bank,  New  York;  and  Joel 
A.  Burdick,  president  of  the  West  Penn  Steel  Company. 


196         IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

McLean  resigned.  George  McMurtry  had  died,  leaving  a 
vacancy  as  yet  unfilled  on  the  board. 

The  October  annual  meeting  v^ent  as  scheduled,  and  the 
syndicate  was  completely  out  after  the  vote  for  the  directors 
was  cast.  Judge  Moore  wanted  to  make  a  fight  of  it,  but  his 
son  Edward  talked  him  out  of  it. 

The  board  got  together  on  November  5,  and  that  was  the 
end  of  Mudge.  His  resignation  was  accepted  as  president  of 
the  corporation  in  receivership.  Shedd  was  elected  chairman 
of  the  board,  and  the  executive  committee  was  made  up  of 
Nathan  Amster,  as  chairman;  Edward  F.  Carry,  who  was 
elected  to  the  board  to  succeed  Mudge;  and  Dawes,  French, 
Hayden,  Hulbert,  and  Shedd. 

A  resolution  was  passed  that  hereafter  all  meetings  of  the 
board  and  the  executive  committee  would  be  held  in  Chicago. 
Another  resolution  provided  that,  pending  the  developments 
of  the  receivership  and  until  such  time  as  the  board  deemed 
appropriate,  the  office  of  president  would  be  held  open. 

Charlie  Hayden  was  now  moving  into  control  and  he  would 
pull  the  strings  so  far  as  the  corporation  was  concerned.  He 
would  wait  to  see  what  luck  Judge  Dickinson  might  have  in 
making  the  property  whole. 


Out  of  the  frying  pan 


What  Judge  Jacob  Dickinson  did  to  return  the  Rock  Island 
system  whole  to  the  stockholders  was  almost  more  than  a 
miracle. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         197 

Judge  Carpenter,  upon  the  discharge  of  the  receiver,  said: 

'The  able  administration  of  this  property  by  Judge  Dickin- 
son .  .  .  has  made  this  extraordinary  proceeding  possible. 
This  is  a  reorganization  without  a  sale,  the  property  returning 
to  the  original  company,  and  in  this  the  proceeding  is  histori- 
cal among  receiverships. 

"I  can't  say  too  strongly  how  much  credit  is  due  to  Judge 
Dickinson  and  the  fine  cooperation  he  has  met  with  from  the 
stockholders.  The  Rock  Island  will  pay  its  debts  and  it  has 
plenty  of  money  with  which  to  pay  them." 

Judge  Dickinson's  job  was  a  tough  one  from  the  very  out- 
set. It  was  necessary  to  see  what  could  be  salvaged,  and  one  of 
the  first  things  he  turned  his  attention  to  was  the  Rock  Island 
Improvement  Company,  the  stock  of  which  was  owned  by 
the  holding  company,  the  Rock  Island  of  New  Jersey.  As 
will  be  remembered,  this  company  was  formed  by  the  Reid- 
Moore  Syndicate  to  buy  and  own  property  and  equipment 
which  would  be  used  by  the  railroad,  but  which  would  not 
be  under  the  railway's  mortgage.  When  the  receiver  got  into 
the  matter  he  found  the  worst  tangle  of  bookkeeping  imagi- 
nable. The  New  Jersey  company  was  the  last  to  go  into  re- 
ceivership and  Dickinson  made  a  deal  with  the  Jersey  receiver 
to  take  over  the  Rock  Island  Improvement  Company  by  ac- 
quiring its  capital  stock  on  behalf  of  the  Rock  Island  Rail- 
road. This  would  give  the  railroad  title  to  terminal  property, 
buildings,  shops,  locomotives,  and  cars  for  which  the  railroad 
was  responsible  as  to  payments. 

The  deal  was  consummated  by  the  receiver  by  paying  the 
Jersey  holding  company  $20,000  in  cash  and  returning  a  de- 
mand note  held  by  the  railway  in  the  amount  of  $15,000.  For 
this  Dickinson  got  the  entire  capital  stock  of  the  Rock  Island 
Improvement  Company— 1,030  shares— and  a  clear  title  to 
everything  that  the  improvement  company  held  in  its  name. 
In  addition,  Dickinson  received  250  shares  of  Rock  Island 
Coal  Company,  par  value  $25,000;  125  shares  of  Galveston 
Terminal  Railway  Company,  par  value  $12,500;  30  shares  of 
the  capital  stock  of  the  Union  Terminal  Railway  Company 


198        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

of  Dallas,  par  value  $3,000;  and  31V2  shares  of  the  Houston 
Belt  and  Terminal  Railway  Company,  par  value  $3,125. 

Dickinson  got  permission  of  the  court  to  enter  into  litiga- 
tion against  Dan  Reid,  Judge  Moore,  his  brother  J.  H.  Moore, 
and  Ogden  Mills  to  make  the  best  recovery  he  could  of  the 
company's  money  that  had  been  squandered  in  some  of  their 
deals.  Certain  stockholders  also  sued.  A  settlement  out  of 
court  was  approved  by  which  the  receiver  collected  $500,000 
in  cash  and  another  $5,000,000  which  would  apply  to  the 
purchase  of  the  new  6  percent  preferred  stock  if  and  when 
issued. 

Dickinson's  biggest  job,  however,  was  the  working  out  of  a 
plan  with  the  stockholders  to  keep  the  company  from  going 
through  the  wringer.  What  made  it  doubly  tough  and  doubly 
important  to  Dickinson  was  the  clamor  of  the  bondholders, 
represented  by  powerful  committees,  to  force  a  sale. 

Rock  Island's  competitors  had  a  hand  in  that  feature.  One 
railroad  after  another  sought  certain  choice  sections  of  the 
Rock  Island,  and  would  pay  a  liberal  price  for  the  property. 
Other  sections  nobody  wanted  and  these  could  be  abandoned. 
Judge  Dickinson  knew  that  this  could  easily  happen  unless 
something  could  be  worked  out  to  keep  the  property  in  its 
corporate  hands  and  enable  it  to  satisfy  all  creditors. 

The  problem  was  solved  when  99  percent  of  the  stockhold- 
ers and  more  than  80  percent  of  the  creditors  agreed  to  the 
issuance  of  two  new  classes  of  preferred  stock  on  the  follow- 
ing basis: 

Seven  percent  preferred  in  the  amount  of  294,221.89  shares 
at  $100  par  value  would  be  turned  over  to  the  shareholders  of 
the  common.  For  each  share  of  common  held  the  owner 
would  be  assessed  $40  cash,  and  for  this  would  get  four-tenths 
of  a  share  of  the  7  percent  preferred. 

New  6  percent  preferred  in  the  amount  of  251,273  shares 
at  $100  par  would  be  issued  for  cash  and  for  other  purposes. 

When  the  receiver  was  discharged  at  midnight,  June  24, 
1917,  the  new  capitalization  took  effect.  A  total  of  $29,422,189 
realized  on  the  7  percent  preferred  went  into  the  treasury. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER         199 

With  this  money  the  company  was  able  to  pay  off  $7,500,- 
000  of  2-year  collateral  trust  notes;  $4,100,000  in  loans  made 
by  the  Central  Trust  Company  and  by  Hayden,  Stone  &  Co.; 
$8,500,000  in  receiver's  certificates;  and  $11,200,000  to  wipe 
out  claims  and  liabilities  and  pay  all  the  reorganization  costs 
and  expenses. 

The  company  sold  for  cash  $5,000,000  of  the  6  percent  pre- 
ferred and  issued  more  than  $20,000,000  to  the  holders  of  the 
railway's  gold  debentures  on  the  basis  of  10  shares  for  each 
$1,000  bond.  Thus  on  the  emergence  from  the  receivership 
the  capital  structure  of  The  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railway  Company  was  increased  from  the  original  $75,000,000 
in  common  stock  to  a  total  capitalization  of  $129,530,289, 
including  the  two  classes  of  preferred. 

Many  pressing  obligations  were  paid  off,  many  new  and  im- 
portant stockholders  came  into  the  picture,  and,  above  all, 
credit  was  restored  so  that  in  the  event  of  necessity  the  com- 
pany could  now  market  a  goodly  amount  of  new  bonds. 

With  the  war  in  Europe  having  its  effect  on  the  rise  in  traf- 
fic in  the  United  States,  which  by  now  had  declared  war  on 
Germany  and  its  allies,  the  increasing  revenues  gave  the  rail- 
road bright  promise  once  again. 

It  was  into  this  picture  that,  on  June  22,  1917,  the  day  after 
the  receiver  was  discharged,  James  E.  Gorman  came  to  assume 
the  presidency  of  the  railroad.  Other  staff  officers  of  the  system 
had  plumed  themselves  for  this  honor,  and  one  or  two  of 
them  had  more  or  less  secretly  campaigned  for  the  election  to 
the  presidency,  but  Charlie  Hayden  had  made  up  his  mind. 
The  board  of  directors  was  more  or  less  under  his  control  in 
that  a  majority  of  them  were  men  of  his  picking.  And  Charlie 
Hayden  thought  that  Gorman,  with  his  vast  traffic  connec- 
tions, could  do  a  better  job.  Hayden  also  had  found  that 
Gorman  was  good  at  taking  directions,  a  quality  that  3^ears 
later  was  to  lead  the  Rock  Island  into  more  trouble. 

In  fact,  one  of  Jim  Gorman's  closest  friends  over  a  long 
period  of  years  and  one  of  his  closest  associates,  quoted  Gor- 
man as  once  saying,  "Whatever  the  boss  asks  for,  that's  what 


200        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

he  gets.  I  never  say  no  to  the  boss."  The  boss  in  the  first  part 
of  Gorman's  service  as  president  v^as  Hayden.  Later  it  was  to 
be  another  New  Yorker  by  the  name  of  E.  N.  Brown. 

In  1917,  as  the  result  of  new  accounting  procedures  intro- 
duced by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  the  railroad 
went  on  a  calendar  basis  in  its  reporting.  Through  the  new 
setup  the  funded  debt  came  into  critical  focus  and  the  board 
was  able  to  bring  about  a  reduction  of  more  than  $44,000,000. 
The  business  of  improving  terminal  facilities  at  Lonoke  (Ar- 
kansas), Fort  Sill  (Oklahoma),  Des  Moines  (Iowa),  and 
Memphis  (Tennessee) ,  got  prompt  attention  with  an  expendi- 
ture of  more  than  a  million  dollars. 

Over  in  Iowa,  during  the  receivership.  Judge  Dickinson  had 
disaffirmed  the  Rock  Island's  lease  on  the  Keokuk  and  Des 
Moines  Valley  Railway  Company— a  lease  which  had  been  in 
effect  since  May,  1878.  The  receiver  had  stopped  all  payments 
and  had  ordered  the  road  to  be  operated  separately  in  order 
to  determine  just  what  the  proper  rental  should  be.  He  had 
been  convinced  that  the  price  the  railroad  had  been  paying 
was  entirely  too  high. 

High  or  not,  Gorman  reinstated  the  lease  for  its  full  term  at 
the  full  original  rental,  and  paid  the  company  what  it  had  been 
deprived  of  during  the  term  of  receivership.  The  Rock  Island,  of 
course,  owned  a  substantial  amount  of  the  Keokuk  and  Des 
Moines  stocks  and  bonds,  and  Gorman  felt  that  the  long 
affiliation  should  be  continued  inasmuch  as  the  line  was  a 
valuable  feeder. 

Gorman's  job  as  president  ended  on  July  10,  1Q18,  when 
the  United  States  Government  stepped  into  the  railroad  busi- 
ness and,  under  the  guise  of  war  necessity,  took  over  the  na- 
tion's railway  systems.  Gorman  was  appointed  federal  manager 
of  the  Rock  Island  and  certain  neighboring  roads  under  the 
United  States  Railroad  Administration  group  setup. 

The  Rock  Island  board  then  elected  Charles  Hayden  to 
serve  as  president  of  the  corporation. 

Before  the  seizure  of  the  railroads  by  the  Government, 
however,  Gorman  had  exerted  a  hand  in  clearing  up  the 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        201 

Rock  Island's  share  in  the  distraught  affairs  of  the  Trinity  and 
Brazos  Valley  between  Fort  Worth,  Houston,  and  Galveston 
(Texas).  The  Rock  Island's  contracts  as  related  to  this  prop- 
erty, and  entered  into  by  the  Reid-Moore  Syndicate,  had  been 
disaffirmed  by  the  receiver.  Thereupon  the  Colorado  &  South- 
em,  with  which  the  contracts  for  half  interest  in  the  line 
were  made,  went  to  the  courts.  The  disaffirmation  was  throv^n 
out  and  the  railroad  was  ordered  to  pay  the  Colorado  and 
Southern  more  than  $6,600,000  in  6  percent  preferred  stock, 
and  $176,354  in  cash,  the  amount  due  on  certain  bond  and 
note  guaranties. 

The  Rock  Island  made  a  deal  with  the  Colorado  &  Southern 
to  pay,  in  lieu  of  preferred  stock,  60  percent  of  the  amount 
in  cash.  This  settlement  was  agreeable,  and  the  Rock  Island 
raised  the  funds  by  selling  $4,500,000  3-year  6-percent  gold 
notes.  The  Colorado  &  Southern  turned  over  to  the  Rock 
Island  $4,300,000  Trinity  and  Brazos  Valley  first  mortgage 
bonds  and  $152,000  face  amount  of  capital  stock— exactly 
half  of  the  Texas  line's  entire  bond  and  stock  issue. 

Any  attempt  at  detailed  accounts  of  the  operation  of  any 
railroad  during  the  period  when  the  United  States  Railroad 
Administration  was  in  control  would  serve  to  confuse  rather 
than  enlighten. 

As  an  example  the  following  is  a  quotation  from  the  rail- 
road's annual  report  for  the  year  ending  1918: 

"In  addition  to  the  30  new  locomotives  purchased  by  your 
directors  in  1917,  and  delivered  in  May  1918,  the  Director 
General  of  the  United  States  Railroad  Administration  has 
allocated  to  your  company  20  road  locomotives  and  10  switch- 
ing locomotives  at  a  total  cost  of  approximately  $1,132,670. 
Your  directors  have  protested  against  this  allocation,  believing 
that  the  additional  locomotives  were  not  necessary  at  this 
time.  At  the  date  our  objections  were  filed  ...  23  Rock  Is- 
land locomotives,  including  15  of  the  30  that  had  just  been 
purchased,  were  being  used  on  foreign  lines,  so  we  felt  that 
it  was  not  fair  to  the  Rock  Island  to  buy  new  power  for  it 
when  the  power  it  already  had  was  not  being  used  on  its  own 


202        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

road.  At  this  time  there  are  approximately  90  idle  locomotives 
on  the  system,  so  this  protest  is  even  more  meritorious  now 
than  when  it  was  first  made  .  .  . 

"The  Director  General  has  also  allocated  to  your  company 
1,000  box  cars  and  1,000  coal  cars  at  a  total  cost  of  approxi- 
mately $5,610,000.  Your  directors  have  protested  against  this 
allocation  ...  on  the  ground  that  the  acquisition  by  the 
Receiver  of  4,000  new  box  cars  and  the  rebuilding  of  3,000  old 
cars  rendered  the  purchase  of  new  equipment  at  this  time 
unnecessary  .  .  ." 

Hayden,  in  this  report,  pointed  out  that  a  prime  factor  in 
the  objection  was  that  the  railroad  would  have  to  pay  about 
$2,850  per  car  at  inflated  wartime  prices  as  compared  with 
$850  a  car  paid  by  the  Receiver  in  1915. 

What  happened  to  the  protests?  The  Director  General 
overruled  the  Rock  Island  board. 

The  whole  thing  turned  out  to  be  a  blessing  in  disguise, 
however.  Nor  was  the  end  result  due  to  any  farsightedness  of 
the  bureaucrats  who  decreed  such  things. 

The  new  cars  were  found  to  be  needed  because  in  a  large 
measure  the  operations  under  the  Government,  of  the  Eastern 
railroads  especially,  found  tens  of  thousands  of  cars  backed  up 
at  ports,  on  sidings,  loaded  with  supplies  and  materials  waiting 
to  be  shipped.  Embargoes  were  out  at  terminals  all  over  the 
Nation,  and  thousands  of  other  loaded  cars  stood  in  passing 
tracks  and  spurs  along  dreary  miles  of  main  lines  as  storage 
facilities  for  whatever  cargo  they  were  carrying. 

Payrolls  were  increased  step  by  step  by  a  beneficent  Govern- 
ment; wages  went  up  on  the  inflationary  spiral;  inefficiency 
was  to  be  found  everj/where.  Power  facilities  and  rolling  stock 
were  subjected  to  excessive  wear  and  tear  as  were  roadbed, 
rails,  and  structures.  And  all  through  the  period  the  undermain- 
tenance  of  these  items  was  a  staggering  problem. 

At  the  beginning  of  Federal  control  Rock  Island  employees 
numbered  40,326  and  the  monthly  payroll  was  $3,500,000. 
At  the  end  of  the  Government's  control  the  employees  to- 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        203 

taled  45,950  and  the  monthly  payroll  had  grown  to  almost 
$6,000,000. 

The  war  with  Germany  ended  on  November  11,  iqi8.  It 
was  not,  however,  until  February  29,  1920,  that  the  Govern- 
ment returned  the  Nation's  railroads  to  private  ownership. 
And  a  sorry  mess  of  propertv  it  was. 

Jim  Gorman  was  returned  to  the  presidencv  of  the  Rock 
Island  on  March  1,  1920.  Serious  problems  faced  the  rail- 
road's management,  prominent  among  which  were  negotia- 
tions for  settlement  of  all  wartime  claims  between  the  com- 
pany and  the  Government,  and  a  whole  new  batch  of  labor 
negotiations.  Under  Government  operation  labor  had  made 
great  gains  both  as  to  wages  and  working  conditions;  the 
railway  clerks,  as  an  example,  prior  to  the  United  States  ad- 
ministration had  been  the  smallest  and  weakest  of  the  organ- 
izations. It  was  now  a  solid  power  with  a  huge  membership 
and  strong  contracts. 

The  policy  of  the  Government  in  raising  wages  without 
giving  any  consideration  to  upping  freight  rates  and  passenger 
fares  gave  Gorman  great  concern. 

That  the  management  made  considerable  progress  in  get- 
ting the  railroad  back  to  somewhat  reasonable  operations  after 
the  relinquishment  of  Government  control  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  on  Febmar\'  28,  1921— just  exactly  one  year  after  the 
management  had  taken  over— the  number  of  employees  had 
been  reduced  from  45,950  to  34,531.  The  pa}Toll,  however, 
failed  to  show  a  relative  cut.  This  decreased  only  from  $5,800,- 
000  to  $5,100,000  monthly. 

Early  in  1921  the  first  oil  well  was  brought  in  at  El  Dorado, 
on  the  company's  Arkansas  lines,  to  mark  the  beginning  of  a 
new  boom  in  traffic,  at  least  in  that  commodity.  By  the  year's 
end  3,800,000  barrels  had  moved  by  rail  with  the  Rock  Island 
taking  almost  90  percent  of  the  tonnage.  At  the  same  time, 
oil  became  a  big  factor  in  the  vicinitv  of  Duncan  and  Walters, 
Oklahoma,  and  at  Mexia,  Texas.  This  latter  strike  gave  new 
hope  for  the  eventual  success  of  the  Trinity  and  Brazos  Val- 
ley venture. 


204        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Gross  revenues  which  reached  the  company's  all-time  high 
of  $142,000,000  in  1920  dropped  off  only  slightly  through  the 
calendar  year  1921  when  the  railroad  wound  up  the  year  with 
$139,000,000. 

Business  continued  good  the  first  half  of  1922.  Then,  with- 
out warning,  11,000  employees  in  the  shop  crafts  joined  their 
fellows  on  all  the  other  railroads  and  walked  off  the  job  on 
July  1.  The  strike  wasn't  directly  against  the  carriers  but  was 
brought  about  by  the  organization  leaders  because  of  dissatis- 
faction with  a  decision  of  the  United  States  Labor  Board 
in  which  were  fixed  their  wages  and  working  conditions. 

The  walkout  had  serious  effects  on  the  operation  of  the  rail- 
road and  proved  disastrous  not  only  to  the  company  but  also 
to  the  employees  for  the  length  of  time  it  lasted.  It  was,  from 
the  outset,  a  lost  cause  for  the  strikers.  New  men  were  hired 
to  man  the  shops  and  the  strikers  found  themselves  shut  out. 
By  September  most  of  them  were  willing  to  call  it  quits  and 
come  back  to  work.  But  those  for  whom  jobs  could  be  found 
had  to  fall  in  behind  the  new  workers  insofar  as  seniority 
was  concerned. 

Settlement  with  the  Government  was  completed  on  the 
wartime  operations  on  "all  matters  arising  out  of  Federal  Con- 
trol." According  to  Gorman,  in  his  annual  report,  the  items 
included  not  only  United  States  Railroad  Administration 
operations  for  the  total  period  of  control  but  also  "the  so- 
called  guaranty  period  of  six  months"  following  February  29, 
1920. 

"Their  balance  of  accounts,"  the  report  said,  "between  the 
company  and  the  Director  General  of  Railroads,  which  related 
only  to  the  Federal  Control  period,  showed  that  we  were 
indebted  to  the  Government  ...  in  the  sum  of  approxi- 
mately $7,900,000.  After  much  negotiation  and  consideration 
of  our  claims  for  undermaintenance,  the  Director  General 
agreed  to  reduce  this  amount  to  $2,500,000  and  accept  in  set- 
tlement our  8-year  6-percent  collateral  trust  note,  due  March 
1,  1930  .  .  . 

"Under  the  funding  provisions  of  the  Transportation  Act, 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        205 

we  were  allowed  to  fund  certain  of  the  expenditures  made  by 
the  Railroad  Administration  for  additions  and  betterments 
...  By  conference  with  the  Director  General  this  amount 
was  fixed  at  $5,500,000,  which  we  borrowed  from  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  under  the  provisions  of  the  Transporta- 
tion Act,  giving  our  8-year,  6-percent  collateral  trust  notes 
therefor. 

"After  much  discussion  of  the  amount  necessary  to  make 
good  the  Government's  guaranty  for  the  six-month  period 
ending  August  31,  1920,  we  agreed  to  accept  approximately 
$2,000,000  in  full  settlement  of  the  balance  due  us  .  .  .  With 
approval  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  we  sold  in 
September,  1922,  $5,500,000  first  and  refunding  bonds.  The 
proceeds  .  .  .  amounted  to  $4,673,760. 

"On  the  other  side  of  the  ledger  we  paid  in  full  our  notes 
to  the  War  Finance  Corporation,  aggregating  $10,430,000, 
covering  indebtedness  originating  during  Federal  control." 

Gorman  wound  up  the  year  1922  by  celebrating,  on  October 
10,  the  70th  anniversary  of  the  company's  operations.  Just  why 
he  and  his  officers  picked  the  70th  year  instead  of  say  the  75th, 
which  would  have  been  the  Diamond  Anniversary,  has  never 
been  logically  explained. 

It  was  a  celebration,  however,  befitting  even  a  centennial. 
A  special  train  was  run  from  Chicago  to  Joliet  to  re-enact 
the  running  of  the  original  Rocket  of  October  10,  1852.  Fifty- 
four  commercial  clubs  and  employee  clubs  located  at  various 
points  on  the  system  took  part.  One  hundred  and  two  me- 
morial trees  were  planted  along  the  company's  line,  each  with 
a  bronze  plaque  mounted  on  a  stone  to  honor  past  officers 
and  employees  who  had  distinguished  themselves  in  the  rail- 
road's service. 

"It  was  a  great  occasion,"  Gorman  said  in  his  annual  re- 
port, "and  we  feel  that  the  celebration  helped  to  cement  the 
friendly  feeling  which  we  are  inculcating  between  the  com- 
pany and  its  employees  on  the  one  hand,  and  its  patrons  on 
the  other." 


206        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


Under  two  masters 


By  the  dawn  of  1924  conditions  on  the  Rock  Island  system 
had  progressed  to  the  point  where  even  the  most  conserva- 
tive analyst  could  be  highly  optimistic  of  the  railroad's  future. 
From  every  point  of  view  the  plan  that  Receiver  Dickinson 
had  evolved  to  keep  the  property  in  the  hands  of  its  stock- 
holders seemed  highly  justified. 

But  backstage  in  the  inner  councils  of  the  management  a 
new  chapter  in  the  railroad's  drama  for  survival  was  taking 
shape. 

Back  in  1918  when  the  Government  was  running  the  Na- 
tion's rail  systems,  Charlie  Hayden  reached  over  to  the  Sea- 
board Air  Line,  in  which  he  also  had  a  stake,  and  hired  away 
that  line's  general  manager,  Louis  C.  Fritch,  He  made  Fritch, 
a  man  with  a  long  engineering  background,  the  corporation's 
vice-president  and  chief  engineer.  Fritch's  duties  were  to  keep 
an  eye  on  the  maintenance  problems  developed  by  Govern- 
ment control  and  to  build  up  the  Rock  Island's  claims  against 
the  Government  for  presentation  at  such  time  as  the  Govern- 
ment should  relinquish  the  property. 

While  this  transaction  came  about,  Jim  Gorman's  former 
general  manager,  Thomas  H.  Beacom,  was  acting  for  the 
United  States  Railroad  Administration  as  Federal  manager  of 
the  Rock  Island  Lines.  Beacom  had  a  long  background  of 
operating  know-how,  having  started  his  career  as  a  brakeman. 
He  had  since  1902  worked  his  way  up  on  the  Rock  Island 
through  the  ranks  to  positions  of  trainmaster,  superintendent, 
general  superintendent,  and  assistant  general  manager. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        207 

Beacom  was  a  big,  powerful  man,  almost  a  head  taller  than 
Fritch,  and  pretty  positive  in  his  ideas  as  to  how  a  railroad 
should  be  run. 

The  conflict  between  Beacom  and  Fritch  grew  apace  after 
the  end  of  Government  control.  At  that  time  Hayden  had 
Fritch  made  vice-president  in  charge  of  maintenance,  con- 
struction, and  capital  expenditures,  and  President  Gorman 
succeeded  in  having  his  man,  Beacom,  named  vice-president 
and  general  manager,  Fritch  nominally  reported  to  Gorman, 
but  more  often  than  not  went  over  Gorman's  head  directly 
to  Hayden.  Definite  factions  began  to  form— the  Fritch  fac- 
tion and  the  Beacom  faction— and  Gorman  found  himself 
attempting  to  act  in  the  role  of  arbiter. 

The  conflict  got  so  bad  by  the  middle  of  March,  1923, 
that  Beacom  was  fired.  Hayden  "immediately  moved  Fritch 
into  the  job  of  running  the  operating  department,  and  Gor- 
man couldn't  open  his  mouth.  Beacom  went  on  to  become 
receiver  for  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande,  and  to  build  for 
himself  an  enviable  name  in  railroad  histor}'  in  the  rehabilita- 
tion of  that  line. 

Fritch  went  on  to  help  Hayden  start  the  prospering  Rock 
Island  on  the  road  to  doom. 

Hayden  was  now  chairman  of  Rock  Island's  executive  com- 
mittee in  addition  to  heading  up  the  finance  committee.  It 
was  the  executive  committee  that  cracked  the  whip. 

How  Havden  could  devote  so  much  time  to  Rock  Island 
affairs  is  still  somewhat  of  a  mystery.  He  concurrently  was  a 
director  in  58  other  companies.  He  collected  directorships 
very  much  in  the  same  manner  as  people  collect  rare  coins, 
or  postage  stamps,  or  old  prints.  He  was  a  man  of  small 
stature,  a  confirmed  bachelor,  and  brilliant  when  it  came  to 
financial  affairs.  He  owned  a  priceless  collection  of  old  jade 
which  filled  cabinets  in  his  apartment. 

How  he  used  his  directorships  to  good  advantage  is  illus- 
trated by  the  case  of  the  American  Locomotive  Company. 
He  was  chairman  of  its  finance  committee  in  the  mid-twenties 
when  that  company  faced  financial  difficulties.  It  was  very 


208        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

necessary  to  get  its  plants  into  production  before  something 
serious  should  happen.  Hayden  looked  at  the  Rock  Island's 
good  cash  position  and  ordered  Gorman  to  buy  65  locomotives 
which,  at  that  particular  time,  he  needed  just  about  as  much 
as  he  needed  a  cavernous  hole  blown  through  his  right-of-way. 

Under  the  Hayden  rule  the  Rock  Island  recovered  from  the 
1922  postwar  dip  in  revenues— $125,000,000— to  $130,400,000 
in  1923.  After  the  preferred  dividends  were  taken  care  of  and 
fixed  charges  were  met  the  common  had  earned  $1.22  a  share. 

A  further  increase  in  the  gross  in  1924  to  $130,800,000, 
coupled  with  a  drop  in  operating  expenses,  brought  the  com- 
mon stock  earnings  to  $4.36  per  share.  How  could  this  in- 
creased share  earning  be  possible  with  the  gross  just  a  little 
above  the  previous  year?  The  answer  is  found  in  the  main- 
tenance program. 

The  Hayden-directed  policy  called  for  Gorman  and  Fritch 
to  get  that  net  up  to  where  common  dividends  would  be 
possible.  Lopping  off  a  little  here  and  a  little  there  would  do 
the  trick.  The  Oklahoma  line  was  an  example— especially  the 
line  between  El  Reno  and  Fort  Worth.  The  chief  engineer 
had  reported  that  a  lot  of  critical  bridge  work  was  needed. 
This  bigger  power  that  was  coming  to  the  railroad  couldn't 
operate  in  that  territory  unless  some  money  was  spent.  Not 
only  did  bridges  have  to  be  made  stronger,  but  banks  had  to 
be  widened.  There  were  many  other  problems. 

But  you  couldn't  spend  money  like  that  and  make  a  divi- 
dend possible.  Hayden  wanted  to  see  that  net  operating  in- 
come boosted. 

Over  on  the  Frisco  system,  at  about  this  time,  a  very  astute 
group  of  gentlemen  headed  by  Edward  N.  Brown,  of  New 
York,  had  been  watching  the  Rock  Island  operation  and  had, 
among  themselves,  worked  out  a  deal  which,  if  it  could  be 
carried  through,  might  very  well  help  to  shore  up  the  Frisco's 
shaky  structure. 

In  his  position  as  Frisco's  board  chairman  and  chairman 
of  its  executive  committee.  Brown  could  look  back  upon  a 
vivid  career  that  took  him  from  his  Barbour  County,  Alabama, 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        209 

birthplace,  through  Auburn  College,  with  an  engineering  de- 
gree, a  variety  of  jobs  on  the  National  Railways  of  Mexico, 
and  finally  to  the  presidency  of  that  property  in  1901.  He 
left  Mexico,  in  1914,  set  up  a  New  York  ofEce,  developed  his 
banking  connections  to  a  high  degree  and  finally  moved  into 
the  Frisco  picture  in  1919  to  take  over  active  management  of 
the  railroad. 

Now,  possessed  with  as  sharp  an  eye  for  a  fast  dollar  as 
could  ever  have  been  claimed  by  any  member  of  the  late  Reid- 
Moore  group,  the  Rock  Island  to  Brown  looked  exceedingly 
good.  Where  he  differed  from  the  pirates  who  first  boarded 
the  ship  in  1902  was  in  his  vast  experience  as  a  practical  rail- 
road man.  Certainly  if  he  should  succeed  in  getting  into  the 
Rock  Island  management,  what  happened  with  Reid-Moore 
would  never  happen  with  him. 

Only  Brown  and  the  New  York  bankers  who  controlled  the 
Frisco  were  acutely  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  common  stock 
of  their  railroad  was,  in  the  middle  of  1924,  so  badly  watered 
that  it  stood  in  imminent  danger  of  floating  completely  out 
from  under  them. 

Brown's  move  was  to  get  hold  of  enough  Rock  Island  stock 
so  that  he  could  move  into  that  picture.  Rock  Island  dividends 
were  needed  to  put  some  money  behind  the  Frisco. 

The  Brown  group  got  hold  of  183,000  Rock  Island  shares 
in  1925  and  with  the  consent  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  in  1926  walked  into  Hayden's  little  empire  and 
took  their  seats  on  Mr.  Hayden's  board. 

What  possessed  the  Commission,  designed  to  protect  the 
public  interest,  ever  to  consent  to  this  manipulation  is  com- 
pletely beyond  the  realm  of  understanding.  Commissioner 
Joseph  B.  Eastman  alone  dissented. 

Hayden  had  to  provide  a  place  on  the  executive  committee 
of  the  Rock  Island's  board  for  Brown  and  his  New  York 
banking  house  associate,  Jesse  Hirschman.  Another  associate, 
J.  M.  Kurn,  of  St.  Louis,  the  Frisco's  popular  president,  took 
his  place  on  the  Rock  Island  finance  committee. 

Jim  Gorman  suddenly  was  faced  with  the  problem  of  serv- 


210        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

ing  two  masters,  because  it  wasn't  very  long  until  Brown 
moved  Hayden  out  of  the  chairmanship  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee and  proceeded  to  do  a  lion's  share  toward  running  the 
railroad. 

Just  prior  to  the  advent  of  the  Frisco  interests,  Gorman 
had  made  a  friendly  deal  with  the  St.  Louis  -  Southwestern 
(Cotton  Belt)  owners  to  acquire  a  minority  stock  interest  in 
that  railroad.  President  Gorman  saw  a  chance  to  make  traffic 
from  Texas  points  through  the  St.  Louis  gateway  an  additional 
source  of  Rock  Island  revenue.  Now  the  Cotton  Belt  was  a 
very  active  competitor  of  the  Frisco  between  St.  Louis  and  the 
Southwestern  territory. 

Certainly  this  alliance  between  the  Rock  Island  and  the 
Cotton  Belt  was  not  to  E.  N.  Brown's  liking,  and  the  fact 
that  shortly  after  the  Frisco  group  moved  into  the  Rock 
Island  management  this  stock  was  suddenly  sold  to  the  Kansas 
City  Southern  Railway  at  a  profit  of  $2,400,000  is  evidence  of 
Brown's  master  hand.  The  sale  was  consummated  before  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  which  had  held  hearings  on 
the  proposal,  had  had  time  to  render  a  decision  on  the  Rock 
Island's  petition  to  become  active  in  the  Cotton  Belt  manage- 
ment. Rock  Island's  stockholders  had  every  reason  to  believe 
the  Commission  would  place  its  stamp  of  approval  on  the  Cot- 
ton Belt  deal. 

Gorman's  1925  annual  report  said  the  stock  was  purchased 
from  the  owner,  who  was  Edwin  Gould,  without  commissions 
of  any  kind,  and  was  sold  to  the  purchasers  directly  without 
any  commissions  or  charges.  He  pointed  out  that  the  profit 
would  not  appear  in  the  1925  earnings,  but  would  show  up 
in  the  1926  surplus  account. 

Gross  revenues  in  1926  climbed  to  $137,900,000,  and  the 
management  claimed,  in  the  annual  report  for  that  year,  that 
"the  maintenance  is  fully  up  to  the  standard  of  roads  similarly 
situated,  and  the  road  is  in  shape  to  handle  a  large  increase 
in  its  traffic  without  greatly  increased  expenses." 

The  mention  of  maintenance  in  that  document  was  not 
without  purpose.  Vice-President  Fritch  knew  the  maintenance 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        211 

was  not  keeping  pace  with  requirements,  and  so  did  the  chief 
engineer.  The  latter,  however,  was  powerless  to  make  his 
voice  heard.  Fritch  and  Gorman  knew  what  the  Hayden- 
Brown  combine  wanted  the  figures  to  show. 

The  figures  for  1927,  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  banker- 
controlled  inner  council,  were  sublime.  The  gross  hit  $140,- 
000,000,  and  after  all  interest  and  fixed  charges  and  dividends 
on  the  preferred  stock  there  was  a  net  of  $12,500,000.  The 
common  had  earned  $12.10  a  share  and  the  board  declared 
on  this  a  dividend  of  5  percent. 

The  dividends  the  Brown-controlled  Frisco  was  collecting 
on  its  holdings  in  the  Brown-controlled  Rock  Island  certainly 
were  giving  the  Frisco  a  beautiful  shot  in  the  arm. 


i4^  Dividends  or  bust 


Brown,  while  sitting  high  in  the  saddle  in  P^ock  Island  man- 
agement, had  his  own  great  dream  of  empire.  It  was  his  desire  to 
merge  the  Rock  Island  into  the  Frisco,  under  his  absolute 
control.  With  this  in  the  back  of  his  mind  he  constantly  kept 
one  eye  out  for  every  opportunity  to  do  the  Frisco  a  favor  if 
it  could  put  the  Frisco  in  a  more  advantageous  position. 

A  ver}^  excellent  chance  came  in  Oklahoma  City  in  1928. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Rock  Island's  predecessor— 
the  Choctaw— had  great  difficulty  in  getting  into  Oklahoma 
City  at  all  when  the  settlers  poured  in  and  jumped  the  right- 
of-way  claims,  with  the  result  that  some  few  years  later  in 


212        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

a  settlement  that  was  made  the  railroad  had  only  a  loo-foot 
right-of-way  instead  of  its  original  200-foot  grant. 

As  the  city  grew  through  the  1920's,  the  Rock  Island  loca- 
tion became  a  trouble  spot.  The  passenger  depot  was  small 
and  the  railroad  owned  too  little  ground  to  make  any  con- 
siderable improvements.  Its  location  was  right  downtown  in 
the  heart  of  things,  and  along  its  narrow  strip  of  property 
some  small  plants  had  located.  In  the  eyes  of  the  civic-minded 
citizens  the  whole  thing  was  an  eyesore. 

The  city  urged  the  local  railroads  to  elevate  their  tracks,  and 
the  Santa  Fe  immediately  assented.  The  Rock  Island,  under 
the  Hayden-Brown  rule,  deferred  making  any  pledges,  but 
ofEcers  of  the  company  held  intermittent  conferences  with 
city  authorities  to  determine  what,  if  anything,  could  be  done 
to  get  the  Rock  Island  out  of  the  heart  of  town. 

Brown,  aboard  a  special  Frisco  inspection  train,  stopped  in 
Oklahoma  City  early  in  1928  and  made  a  call  on  the  civic 
leaders.  The  Rock  Island  location  became  an  urgent  subject 
of  discussion  and  Brown  agreed  to  take  a  tour  of  the  Rock 
Island  facilities  with  a  view  to  seeing  what  could  be  done. 

He  agreed  with  the  authorities  that  the  whole  thing  was 
"intolerable,"  and  wound  up  the  meeting  by  saying,  "I  give 
you  positive  assurance  that  it  will  be  corrected  shortly." 

Brown  told  Gorman  to  send  the  engineers  and  operating 
officers  down  to  Oklahoma  City  and  make  a  deal.  He,  in  fact, 
directed  what  kind  of  deal  should  be  made.  The  result  was 
that  before  the  conferences  were  over  the  Rock  Island  was  out 
of  its  downtown  location. 

The  problem  could  have  been  worked  out,  and  the  Rock 
Island's  location  retained,  with  an  expenditure  of  about 
$3,000,000.  As  it  happened,  the  Rock  Island,  under  Brown's 
direction,  agreed  to  abandon  three-quarters  of  a  mile  of  main 
track  and  sidings  in  the  downtown  area,  retain  the  outlying 
line  for  industrial  purposes,  and  build  six  miles  of  new  rail- 
road around  the  south  end  of  the  city  to  a  new  station  which 
it  would  use  jointly  with  the  Frisco.  The  cost  would  come  to 
more  than  $2,300,000. 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        213 

It  was  in  all  respects,  as  time  was  to  prove,  a  costly  mistake 
for  the  Rock  Island.  It  resulted  in  losses  in  passenger  revenues 
and  in  a  serious  dislocation  of  freight  business  that  took 
years  to  recover.  It  increased  the  cost  of  switching  on  the  dis- 
connected lines  two  to  three  times. 

Despite  the  glowing  accounts  in  Gorman's  annual  reports 
of  the  progress  and  the  advantage  of  the  new  station  facilities, 
the  fact  remained  that  the  joint  passenger  station  was  built 
in  the  worst  sort  of  location— out  on  the  south  edge  of  the 
citv  with  no  local  transportation,  other  than  taxicabs,  to  the 
downto^vn  area.  The  net  result,  finally,  was  to  place  the  Rock 
Island  at  a  distinct  disadvantage. 

Meanwhile  the  Rock  Island  was  adding  to  its  mileage  across 
the  Oklahoma  and  Texas  Panhandle  through  a  growing  wheat- 
producing  country.  It  was  completing  a  line  between  Liberal, 
Kansas,  and  Amarillo,  Texas,  and  on  the  blueprints  in  the 
engineering  department  was  projected  another  short  stretch 
from  Dalhart.  Texas,  on  the  southwest  main  line,  to  Morse, 
a  point  on  the  new  153-mile  Liberal  -  Amarillo  link  between 
the  Golden  State  route  and  the  Memphis  -Tucumcari  line. 

On  the  strength  of  earning  Si 2.81  a  share  on  the  common 
stock  in  1928  the  dividends  on  these  shares  were  upped  to 
6  percent.  It  was,  on  paper,  a  rosv  and  prosperous  picture.  The 
annual  report  called  attention  to  the  income  account.  "The 
outstanding  feature,"  the  report  said,  "is  the  fact  that  trafEc 
representing  an  increase  of  over  $3,500,000  in  gross  freight 
revenue  was  handled  with  a  reduction  of  over  $400,000  in 
transportation  expenses,  due  principallv  to  economies  in  op- 
eration produced  bv  improvements  to  facilities,  and  improved 
condition  of  equipment."  Attention  was  called  to  wage  in- 
creases in  the  amount  of  $1,095,700,  "otherwise  transportation 
expenses  would  have  shown  a  decrease  of  $1,496,885  under 
the  previous  year." 

On  certain  sections  of  the  system  there  was  still  much  to  be 
done  toward  building  up  the  roadbed,  but  this  was  kept  a 
secret.  There  would  be  time  to  get  to  these  things.  The  im- 


214        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

portant  matter  now  was  to  keep  that  net  income  on  the 
upgrade.  Keep  those  dividends  safe. 

The  world  turned  upside  down  in  November  of  1929! 

The  stock  market  crashed,  fortunes  were  lost  overnight,  one 
company  after  another  failed  outright! 

In  the  New  York  oflBces  of  Hayden  and  Brown  hardly  an 
eyelid  flickered. 

The  Rock  Island  was  closing  out  a  record-breaking  revenue 
year. 

The  gross  topped  $147,721,000.  The  setback  to  business 
generally  would  be  brief.  Just  a  period  of  readjustment.  If  the 
management  had  to  cut  corners  the  cutting  would  be  done 
all  in  good  time.  The  thing  was  to  show  the  world  how  pros- 
perous this  property  was.  On  the  strength  of  the  good  show- 
ing for  the  year,  with  the  common  stock  earning  $14.04  a 
share,  this  was  the  time  to  declare  a  dividend  of  7  percent. 
Why  give  a  thought  to  conserving  the  surplus  funds,  to  tak- 
ing a  good  long  look  at  that  railroad  and  making  sure  that 
it  was  physically  able  to  withstand  any  emergency? 

The  dividend  was  declared  and  everybody  was  happy  ex- 
cept the  employees.  They  began  to  feel  the  pressure  before 
the  year  of  1930  had  gotten  well  under  way.  Business  fell  off 
substantially  and  maintenance  was  cut  to  the  bone. 

Herbert  Hoover,  President  of  the  United  States,  appealed 
to  business  and  industry  to  bolster  the  wobbling  economy  by 
spending  money  on  plants  and  equipment. 

The  Rock  Island  board  approved  the  expenditure  of 
$34,600,000  for,  among  other  things,  41  new  locomotives, 
5,000  freight  cars,  and  19  passenger  cars.  To  offset  this,  the 
maintenance  of  road  and  equipment  again  suffered. 

The  Brown-Hayden  combination  was  aware  that  the  1930 
earnings  would  fall  short  of  meeting  many  items  of  expense. 
It  got  permission  from  the  Commission  to  float  an  issue  of 
$32,228,000  of  4y^-percent  30-year  convertible  gold  bonds. 
It  charged  to  profit  and  loss  the  discount  and  expense  of  the 
bond  sales. 

The  Dalhart  -  Morse  line  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  $1,500,- 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        215 

000  and  a  new  line  was  under  construction  between  Trenton, 
Missouri,  and  Birmingham,  Missouri,  to  straighten  out  the 
Chicago  -  Kansas  City  main  hne.  The  total  involved  was  bet- 
ter than  $12,000,000. 

Part  of  the  money  derived  from  the  convertible  bond  sales 
went  into  this  picture. 

In  order  to  make  those  convertibles  look  good,  the  board, 
under  Brown's  direction  and  with  Hayden's  consent,  de- 
clared its  regular  dividends  on  the  two  issues  of  preferred 
stock,  and  although  the  common  at  the  year's  end  had 
dropped  in  earnings  to  $5.56  a  share,  another  dividend  of 
7  percent  was  paid.  This  came  out  of  the  profit-and-loss  sur- 
plus account. 

At  the  annual  meeting,  in  May  that  year,  the  controlling 
powers  brought  about  certain  changes  in  the  corporate  struc- 
ture. They  upped  the  authorized  capital  stock  of  the  company 
from  $140,000,000  to  $170,000,000.  The  increase  was  all  in 
common  stock,  and  the  directors  explained  that  this  move  was 
necessary  to  protect  the  conversion  privilege  of  the  new  30-year 
convertibles.  None  of  the  new  stock  was  issued. 

The  membership  of  the  board  was  increased  from  13  to  15. 

The  debt  limit  on  the  property  of  $275,000,000,  fixed  by 
the  Reid-Moore  Syndicate,  was  wholly  repealed  with  the  ex- 
planation that  since  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
had  complete  jurisdiction  over  securities  issued  by  common 
carriers,  this  limitation  was  no  longer  necessary. 

This  move  was  necessary  to  get  the  30-year  convertibles 
issued,  since,  as  of  the  close  of  1929,  the  funded  debt,  in  the 
hands  of  the  public,  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railway  Company  stood  at  $263,503,000.  The  convertibles 
and  an  issuance  of  $900,000  of  first  and  refunding  mortgage 
gold  bonds  brought  the  debt  up  to  $296,631,000  as  of  De- 
cember 31,  1930.  With  the  addition  of  the  debt  on  the  Bur- 
lington, Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern,  the  Choctaw  and  the 
Rock  Island,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana,  coupled  with  equipment 
trusts,  the  grand  total  of  the  funded  debt  stood  at  $389,064,- 


216        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

235.  The  annual  interest  that  had  to  be  met  thus  took  more 
than  $13,800,000. 

That  the  whole  thing  put  together  presented  somewhat  of 
a  frightening  picture,  especially  in  view  of  the  general  trend 
of  busiiiess  all  over  the  Nation,  seemed  to  have  no  effect  on 
the  Brown-Hayden  policies.  Both  Hayden  and  Brown  seemed 
imbued  with  the  idea  that  so  long  as  you  trimmed  all  the 
corners  and  could  find  a  little  money  in  the  surplus  account 
with  which  to  pay  dividends,  it  made  little  difference  what 
might  be  happening  to  the  property  physically,  or  what  might 
be  happening  to  the  world  in  general. 

Words  were  cheap,  and  Gorman  and  Hayden  used  them 
in  that  1930  annual  report  to  salve  their  respective  consciences. 

"Anticipating  the  reduction  in  gross  revenues  that  would 
inevitably  follow  a  general  decline  from  the  remarkable  indus- 
trial activities  of  the  previous  year,"  the  report  said,  "measures 
were  promptly  taken  to  minimize  the  effect  of  the  reduced 
transportation  receipts  on  the  net  results  from  operation,  by 
reducing,  as  far  as  possible,  consistent  with  proper  main- 
tenance and  satisfactory  service  to  the  public,  the  operating 
costs  of  performing  the  service  .  .  . 

"While  substantial  reductions  were  made  in  maintenance 
expenditures,  the  excellent  condition  in  which  the  property 
has  been  maintained  for  several  years  last  past  enabled  us  to 
make  the  reductions  without  seriously  impairing  the  physical 
condition  of  roadway  or  equipment,  and  the  property  is  now 
in  adequate  condition  to  handle  the  expected  return  of  normal 
traffic." 

They  talked  of  substantial  reductions  in  maintenance;  they 
said  the  property  was  in  shape  for  a  return  of  normal  traffic. 

What  they  didn't  tell  the  unsuspecting  stockholders  was  the 
scandalous,  hush-hush  story  of  the  acquisition  of  25,000  shares 
of  Frisco  stock  between  October  and  the  early  part  of  Decem- 
ber, using  $1,752,872  from  funds  on  deposit  to  the  Rock  Is- 
land's credit  in  the  coffers  of  the  Speyer  banking  firm  in  New 
York. 

They  didn't  tell  the  stockholders  how  Edward  N.  Brown, 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        217 

without  any  formal  authorization  from  the  executive  com- 
mittee, developed  this  idea  on  his  own,  spoke  privately  to 
close  associates  on  the  committee,  pledged  them  to  secrecy, 
and  told  them  he  was  going  to  get  the  stock  on  the  New  York 
exchange  through  Spe^er  and  Companv,  and  when  this  was 
accomplished  he  \\-ould  bring  it  before  the  executive  com- 
mittee and  the  board. 

When  the  lid  blew  off  much  later  and  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  investigated  Brown's  operations  and  his 
use  of  both  Frisco  and  Rock  Island  money  in  these  undercover 
deals,  Jim  Gorman  was  to  testifv  that,  without  anv  thought  as 
to  the  wisdom  of  the  acquisition,  he  assured  Brown  that 
Brown  had  his  vote  and  that  he  would  discuss  the  deal  with 
no  one. 

The  deal  was  revealed  on  December  lo,  1930,  to  the  Rock 
Island  directors,  and  before  they  voted  to  approve  Brown's 
actions,  they  engaged  in  a  heated  discussion.  At  least  one 
director  threatened  to  resign  should  anything  like  that  ever 
happen  again. 

Brown  took  the  attitude  that  if  he  had  mentioned  it  in 
the  executive  committee  or  to  the  board  before  the  stock  was 
bought,  word  of  the  proposed  purchase  would  have  leaked 
out  and  the  price  of  the  stock  would  have  risen  to  the  point 
that  would  have  defeated  his  purpose  in  getting  the  shares  at 
a  nominal  figure.  He  paid  on  an  average  $70  a  share,  and  at  the 
time  the  board  ratified  his  scheme  Frisco  stock  had  dropped 
to  $46  and  was  still  going  down. 

Brown  later  told  the  Commission  that  he  had  no  personal 
interest  in  the  transaction.  He  brought  it  about  because  he 
thought  it  advantageous  to  the  dream  of  merger  he  had  so 
long  entertained.  There  were  183,000  shares  of  Rock  Island 
in  the  Frisco  investment  accounts,  and  now  there  were  25,000 
shares  of  Frisco  in  the  Rock  Island  vaults. 

At  the  end  of  1930  anyone  with  half  a  brain  cell  could  see 
that  the  Frisco  was  rocking  on  its  heels,  and  the  Rock  Island 
wasn't  much  better  off  than  the  Frisco. 

Without  a  doubt,  the  million  and  three-quarters  that  went 


218         IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

out  of  the  Rock  Island  treasury  for  the  Frisco  purchase  could 
have  been  put  into  the  property  or  could  have  been  held  to 
build  up  a  cash  reserve;  and  by  the  same  token  that  7  percent 
cash  dividend  declared  on  Rock  Island  common  against  an 
earning  of  only  httle  more  than  $5  a  share  could  have  been 
deferred  and  the  cash  used  as  a  backlog  against  what  was  to 
come. 

Such  display  of  plain  horse-sense  apparently  was  too  much 
to  expect  from  the  controlling  interests. 


Broke  again 


Through  the  first  half  of  1931  the  Rock  Island  wheezed  and 
rocked  and  staggered;  trailing  behind  it  was  its  devastating 
load  of  debt.  Januar\'  of  that  year  should  have  been  enough, 
revenue-wise,  to  indicate  to  the  board  of  directors  that  any 
further  dividends  were  out  of  the  question.  The  danger  sig- 
nals were  obviously  ominous. 

Apparentlv  the  men  in  control  didn't  believe  in  signs.  They 
dipped  into  the  dwindling  surplus,  slightly  enhanced  by  pro- 
ceeds from  that  convertible  bond  issue,  and  declared  a  divi- 
dend of  1V4  percent  on  the  common  stock. 

Thev  declared  another  dividend  of  1  percent  on  the  com- 
mon, payable  June  30,  and  a  3^2  percent  dividend  on  the 
7  percent  preferred,  and  a  3  percent  dividend  on  the  6  percent 
preferred,  all  pavable  on  the  same  date.  Altogether  this  took 
$3,356,637  out  of  the  treasury,  and  at  the  same  time  the  gross 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        219 

revenue  dropped  more  than  $12,000,000  off  the  hke  period 
for  the  preceding  year. 

Where  were  the  voices  of  Gorman,  Vice-President  Fritch, 
and  the  other  executive  officers  of  the  property  while  this 
piracy  went  on? 

Those  voices,  for  the  most  part,  were  either  silent  or  at  least 
ineffectual.  The  truth  is,  Jim  Gorman  was  desperately  afraid 
of  his  job,  and  he  was  afraid  of  Fritch  who,  for  years,  seemed 
to  have  the  inside  track  with  Charlie  Hayden,  and  who  could 
do  a  beautiful  job  of  yessing  E.  N.  Brown. 

Employee  relations,  which  in  one  annual  report  after  an- 
other Gorman  had  pointed  to  as  being  highly  harmonious, 
were  by  the  middle  of  1931  anything  but  that.  The  employees 
couldn't  understand  what  was  going  on,  and  nobody  in  the 
high  councils  dared  tell  them.  They  couldn't  understand  the 
layoffs,  the  talk  of  salary  reductions  and  wage  cuts— and  the  lust 
for  dividends. 

All  along  the  lines  of  that  great  system,  rolling  stock  was 
stored  in  side-tracks,  the  paint  scaling  from  the  onslaughts  of 
sun  and  rain.  Rust  was  gathering  over  the  rails  that  led  to 
closed-down  industries.  Locomotives  were  stored  on  weed- 
grown  spurs  at  division  points. 

By  mid-October  the  railroad  was  going  to  the  banks  for  time 
loans.  These  totaled,  by  December  31,  $8,750,000.  And,  when 
the  figures  were  all  in  for  the  year  the  gross  revenue  was 
slightly  over  $99,000,000.  The  deficit,  after  taxes  and  interest, 
was  $386,544,  a  startling  red  figure.  It  was  the  lowest  gross 
since  1917,  and  from  the  steady  decline  in  business  during 
the  last  half  of  the  year  the  indications  were  that  things  would 
get  a  lot  worse  before  there  could  be  any  sign  of  a  leveling  off. 

The  management  went  to  the  Reconstruction  Finance 
Corporation  in  the  middle  of  1932  to  borrow  money  with 
which  to  meet  maturities.  The  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission approved  borrowing  up  to  $10,000,000.  At  the  same 
time  negotiations  with  the  labor  organizations  representing 
virtually  all  employees  on  the  system  resulted  in  the  workers 
taking  a  10  percent  cut. 


220         IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Officers  and  employees  not  covered  by  the  agreements  suf- 
fered greater  reductions.  Stations  were  closed  down  and  agents 
and  operators  were  cut  off.  Maintenance-of-way  forces  were 
slashed  right  and  left.  All  work  was  at  a  standstill,  with  addi- 
tions and  betterments  wiped  out  of  the  budget.  Those  em- 
ployees remaining  in  service  contributed  heavily  to  a  relief 
fund  that  had  been  established  in  1930  to  assist  Rock  Island 
men  who  could  find  work  nowhere  else,  and  their  families. 

To  complete  the  dismal  picture  came  the  wheat  crop  fail- 
ure and  the  devastating  dust-storms  in  the  Southwest.  Rev- 
enues fell  off  rapidly.  The  year  ended  with  $70,700,000,  the 
lowest  gross  since  1914.  The  operating  losses  totaled  $9,956,- 
800. 

The  General  American  Tank  Car  Company  bought  the 
Rock  Island's  1,243  <^^^  refrigerator  cars  for  $3,454,454,  which 
put  some  cash  in  the  treasury,  but  many  times  more  than  that 
would  be  needed  before  the  sinking  ship  could  be  brought 
about  to  face  the  swelling  sea. 

If  borrowing  could  do  the  job  the  Messrs.  Brown  and  Hay- 
den  should  have  won  some  sort  of  award  for  effort,  at  least. 

They  went  back  to  the  Commission  in  the  early  part  of  j 
1933  and  made  another  plea  to  touch  the  Reconstruction 
Finance  Corporation  for  $1,181,872.  The  Commission  was 
in  a  considerate  mood,  and  the  treasurer  dug  up  securities  to 
cover  the  loan.  Jesse  Jones,  the  famous  Texan,  who  headed 
up  the  Government's  lending  agency,  wrote  out  a  check. 

But  no  sooner  was  this  money  in  the  management's  hands 
than  they  had  to  go  back  for  $2,536,828  in  addition.  This 
brought  the  total  owed  to  the  Reconstruction  Finance  Cor- 
poration up  to  $13,718,700.  Gorman,  in  his  annual  report, 
explained  that  this  took  all  the  company's  available  collateral. 

In  May  the  railroad  went  back  to  the  Commission  with  a 
new  plea  for  borrowing,  and  a  joint  session  was  held  with  the 
Reconstruction  Finance  Corporation.  This  time  it  was  no 
good. 

This,  for  the  Messrs.  Gorman,  Hayden,  and  Brown,  was  the 
beginning  of  the  end.  They  looked  at  the  income  account  for 


PATTERN    FOR    DISASTER        221 

the  first  four  months  of  the  year  and  the  situation  was  hope- 
less. They  faced  maturities  in  1934  of  more  than  $144,000,000, 
and  with  borrowing  power  at  an  end,  so  was  this  management 
that,  with  the  assist  from  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion during  better  times,  rode  hell-bent  on  the  pursuance  of 
the  fantastic  dividend  policy  that  shaped  up  the  new  pattern 
for  destruction. 

The  May  meeting  of  the  board  brought  the  resolution  to 
seek  protection  of  the  courts. 

On  June  7,  in  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for 
the  Northern  District  of  Illinois,  the  Rock  Island  filed  a 
petition  before  Judge  James  H.  Wilkerson  under  the  newly 
enacted  section  77  of  the  Bankruptcy  Act. 

For  the  second  time  in  31  years  of  almost  continual  bad 
management,  a  cycle  that  had  its  beginning  with  the  advent 
of  the  infamous  Reid-Moore  Syndicate,  the  sprawling  Rock 
Island  lay  desperately  ailing  in  weeds  and  dust  and  cinders. 

Out  of  the  whole  sorry  record  one  thing  should  have  been 
patently  clear,  not  only  to  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission but  also  to  railroad  officers  and  owners  everywhere— 
no  railroad  could  survive  Eastern  banker  management  when 
those  in  control  had  no  interest  in  the  physical  property,  the 
territory,  or  the  people  the  railroad  served— no  interest  what- 
ever in  anything  except  the  dividends  that  could  be  derived 
from  their  holdings. 


PART     FIVE 


Re-birth 


and  Regeneration 


Qi)gg-a^ 


(^  Spring  of  hope 


Judge  Wilkerson's  order  approving  the  petition  for  protection 
of  the  property  under  section  77  of  the  Bankruptcy  Act  was 
promptly  issued,  and  the  officers  of  the  raihoad  were  in- 
structed to  continue  its  operation. 

The  directors  appointed  the  firms  of  Hayden,  Stone  &  Com- 
pany, and  Dillon,  Reed  &  Company,  together  with  the  Chase 
National  Bank  of  New  York,  to  act  as  reorganization  man- 
agers. Any  plan  of  reorganization  under  section  77  would 
have  to  have  the  tentative  approval  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  after  a  public  hearing.  The  next  step 
would  be  to  submit  the  plan  to  the  creditors  and  the  stock- 
holders. If  two-thirds  of  the  holders  of  all  classes  of  bonds 
and  stocks  gave  their  written  approval,  the  plan  then  would 
need  the  final  approval  of  the  Commission.  After  action  by 
the  Commission  on  the  result  of  the  vote,  the  Commission 
then  would  recommend  the  plan  to  the  court. 

The  procedure  sounded  simple  enough,  but  putting  it  into 
effect  was  quite  another  thing,  as  the  passage  of  time  was 
to  demonstrate. 

The  Rock  Island,  in  this  period  of  tribulation,  had  a  good 
deal  of  companionship.  Several  other  major  lines  either  had 
gone  under  or  were  about  to  do  so.  Included  in  the  list  were 
the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande,  the  Cotton  Belt,  the  Chicago 
and  Northwestern.  If  misen,-  lo\-ed  company  there  was  plenty 
of  it  around. 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  Bankruptcy  Act  as  it  applied  to 
railroads  it  was  necessary  for  the  Commission  to  approve  a 
panel  of  names  from  which  the  court  could  make  its  selection 

225 


226        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

of  trustees.  This  panel,  submitted  to  the  Commission  by  the 
raikoad,  naturally  contained  the  name  of  James  E.  Gorman. 
Whatever  else  might  be  said  of  Gorman  and  his  ability 
as  an  administrator,  he  nevertheless  was  still  an  outstanding 
traffic  man.  And  if  the  Rock  Island  was  to  get  out  of  this  mess 
it  would  have  to  have  the  confidence  and  the  help  of  shippers 
ever5/where.  Gorman  had  the  contacts  and  the  acquaintances, 
and  if  there  was  additional  traffic  to  be  had  to  bring  up  reve- 
nues Gorman  appeared  to  be  the  one  man  who  could  perform. 
Despite  his  many  failures  in  the  capacity  of  the  chief  execu- 
tive officer  of  this  forlorn  property,  Gorman  had  inaugurated, 
over  the  years,  certain  departmental  activities  that  proved  to 
be  very  much  in  the  right  direction. 

It  was  under  Gorman's  administration  that  the  industrial 
development  department  was  set  up  as  a  separate  unit  report- 
ing directly  to  Gorman,  with  instructions  to  go  out  and  locate 
plants  and  elevators  and  warehouses  on  the  system's  rails. 

Gorman  took  an  active  part  in  the  greater  expansion  of  the 
agriculture  department.  He  authorized  special  trains  equipped 
with  motion  pictures,  displays,  and  other  material  to  aid  and 
encourage  the  farmers  served  by  the  railroad  to  greater  crops 
and  a  wide  diversification  of  production. 

Until  1923  the  railroad  had  had  no  public  relations  or  em- 
ployee relations  program.  Gorman  set  up  this  department 
with  a  view  to  the  restoration  of  public  confidence  in  the  rail- 
road and  a  more  harmonious  relationship  between  the  man- 
agement and  the  employees. 

He  took  the  leadership  in  encouraging  the  national  4-H 
Club  movement  and  gave  the  railroad's  support  to  the  eflForts 
of  youngsters  on  farms  to  achieve  outstanding  results.  He  pro- 
ceeded on  the  theory  that  this  activity  along  with  indus- 
trial development  would  certainly  produce  more  and  more 
traffic  on  the  rails. 

Judge  Wilkerson  got  around  to  the  appointment  of  the 
trustees  on  November  22,  1933.  He  named  Gorman,  Joseph 
B.  Fleming,  a  prominent  Chicago  lawyer,  and  Frank  O.  Low- 
den,  the  ex-governor  of  Illinois. 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        227 

It  was  now  up  to  these  three,  who  officially  assumed  their 
duties  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  on  December  i,  to 
manage  the  property. 

Protective  committees  representing  the  holders  of  the  vari- 
ous classes  of  bonds  not  only  of  the  Rock  Island  proper,  but 
also  of  its  several  subsidiaries,  were  formed.  The  groups  would 
have  a  great  deal  to  say  about  any  reorganization  plan  that 
might  be  developed. 

From  the  1933  gross  revenue  of  $64,848,448,  it  was  plain 
to  be  seen  that  not  even  the  semblance  of  a  plan  could  be 
then  anticipated.  This  decrease  was  almost  $6,000,000  below 
the  1932  revenues,  and  the  deficit  amounted  to  more  than 
$11,000,000. 

Gorman,  in  his  annual  report  for  1933,  sounded  a  hopeful 
note,  however,  when  he  said,  "The  present  capitalization  of 
the  company  is  not  large.  The  funded  debt  including  equip- 
ment trust  notes  is  $40,102  per  mile;  the  capital  stock  is 
$16,647  P^'^  mile;  or  a  total  capitalization  outstanding  in  the 
hands  of  the  public  of  only  $56,749  per  mile.  It  is  apparent 
that,  with  a  moderate  increase  in  traffic,  the  Rock  Island 
should  have  no  difficulty  in  earning  its  present  fixed  charges." 
The  fixed  charges  then  were  more  than  $14,000,000. 

"We  are  happy  to  say,"  he  concluded,  "that  business  ap- 
pears to  be  improving;  and  are  confident  that  with  the  early 
upturn  of  prosperity  a  reorganization  plan  can  be  prepared 
which  will  meet  the  approval  of  all  interests." 

One  big  money-saving  project  that  Gorman  had  hoped  to 
bring  about  in  his  anticipation  of  new  financing  in  1934  was 
the  unification  of  the  system.  This  plan  had  been  advanced 
to  bring  into  the  parent  company  all  the  subsidiaries.  It  went 
before  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  and  that  body 
on  August  9  gave  its  approval  but  attached  a  string  to  the  deal. 
The  Commission  told  the  Rock  Island  that  it  would  have  to 
agree  to  acquire,  at  commercial  value,  in  the  event  the  Com- 
mission so  found,  the  Wichita  Northwestern  Railway.  This 
line,  about  a  hundred  miles  long,  connected  with  the  Rock 
Island's  Golden  State  Route  at  Pratt,  Kansas.  It  had  been  a 


228        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

prodigious  money-loser  for  more  than  lo  years;  it  owed  the 
Government  for  loans  about  $650,000,  and  was  in  debt  to  the 
State  of  Kansas  for  $100,000  in  back  taxes.  Charlie  Hayden 
decided  that  to  accept  the  indefinite  obligation  imposed  by 
the  Commission's  ruling  might  be  detrimental  to  any  reorgan- 
ization plan  whatever.  Thus  the  unification  scheme  died. 

The  protective  committees  of  the  bondholders,  representing 
the  Rock  Island,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana;  the  Choctaw;  the 
St.  Paul  and  Kansas  City  Short  Line,  and  the  Rock  Island's 
4/2  percent  convertibles,  engaged  H.  G.  Moulton,  of  New 
York,  a  consulting  engineer,  to  make  a  study  of  the  property 
and  a  report.  The  idea  of  this  was  to  give  some  factual  basis  for 
a  reorganization  plan. 

Moulton  wisely  recommended  against  any  reorganization 
while  the  property  was  at  low  ebb  in  its  depressed  earnings. 
He  suggested  that  a  good  deal  of  study  be  given  to  the  pos- 
sibility of  taking  the  Choctaw  out  of  the  system  and  arranging 
for  its  development  by  some  strong  Southeastern  or  Southern 
line  and  an  equally  strong  Western  line.  He  mentioned  the 
possibility  that  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  or  the  Southern 
Railway,  on  the  Memphis  side,  and  the  Santa  Fe,  on  the 
west,  might  be  sold  on  the  idea  of  taking  over  this  part  of  the 
Rock  Island  property.  Another  recommendation  covered 
the  Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern.  Moulton  brought 
out  the  possibility  of  a  study  of  this  network  with  a  view  to 
holding  part  of  it  to  the  Rock  Island  and  abandoning  large 
sections  of  it  extending  into  various  Iowa  communities. 

That  the  report  was  superficial  at  best  is  indicated  by 
Moulton's  summation  in  which  he  said  that  none  of  the  Rock 
Island's  difficulties,  either  before  the  1915  collapse  or  the 
present  failure,  was  due  to  any  fault  of  management,  but 
rather  to  the  general  business  conditions  and  the  crop  fail- 
ures. He  pointed  out  that  if  business  recovered  to  the  extent 
that  the  railroad  could  gross  on  an  average  of  $120,000,000 
a  year  it  could  support  its  fixed  charges  of  more  than  $14,000,- 
000  annually. 

Once  again  there  was  talk  of  dismemberment.  This,  of 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        229 

course,  was  not  popular  with  Messrs.  Hayden  and  Brown. 
They  wanted  a  reorganization  plan  that  would  keep  the  sys- 
tem, as  it  now  stood,  completely  together. 

However,  the  railroad  was  still  falling  apart  as  the  gloomy 
year  1934  went  into  histor}^  There  was  another  deficit  of 
$12,100,000  to  add  to  the  $11,000,000  of  the  year  before, 
although  the  gross  showed  a  slight  upturn  to  $66,000,000  as 
compared  to  193 3's  $64,900,000. 

The  Moulton  report  had  pointed  out  that  great  sections  of 
the  main  lines  and  branch  lines  needed  tie  and  rail  replace- 
ments, new  ballasting,  a  lot  of  work  on  bridges,  and  several 
other  necessar}'  remedies  if  the  deterioration  was  to  be  brought 
under  control. 

Thus,  when  it  was  definitely  apparent,  by  the  summer  of 
1935,  that  the  railroad  was  still  far  from  improving  in  its  earn- 
ing power,  the  protective  committees,  the  banking  interests, 
and  the  Reconstruction  Finance  Corporation  brought  pres- 
sure to  bear  on  the  trustees  to  get  new  management.  The 
influence  of  Jesse  Jones  on  this  problem  cannot  be  under- 
estimated. His  stake  in  the  Rock  Island— the  $13,500,000  the 
road  owed  the  Reconstruction  Finance  Corporation— was 
small,  but  his  recommendations  carried  enormous  weight. 

Aging  Jim  Gorman,  still  president  of  the  now  inactive  cor- 
porate body,  still  struggling  to  give  his  best  as  a  trustee,  knew 
he  was  finished.  Nothing  in  his  jovial  bearing  indicated  his 
realization  of  this  fact  which  was  so  graphically  brought  home 
to  him  when  the  question  of  bringing  to  the  railroad  a  chief 
executive  officer  was  put  before  the  trustees. 

High  on  the  list  of  prospective  candidates— all  of  whom 
were  known  to  be  outstanding  railroad  men— was  the  name 
of  Edward  M.  Durham,  Jr.,  senior  vice-president  of  the  Mis- 
souri Pacific  system. 

Durham,  powerful  and  dynamic,  had  behind  him  an  out- 
standing career.  Born  in  Memphis,  Tennessee,  he  graduated 
from  the  Memphis  Military  Academy  in  1891  and  went  on 
to  Lehigh  University  to  obtain  his  degree  in  engineering. 
After  service  with  the  War  Department  in  hydrological  sur- 


230        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

veys  he  joined  the  engineering  staff  of  the  Chicago  and  North- 
western in  1899.  A  year  later  he  went  to  the  Southern  Railway 
and  progressed  through  various  engineering  capacities  to  the 
position  of  assistant  chief  engineer  for  the  system.  He  was 
appointed  chief  engineer  of  the  Atlanta,  Birmingham  and 
Coast  Railway,  and  executive  general  agent  of  the  Southern 
where  he  served  until  1919.  In  that  year  he  went  to  the  United 
States  Railroad  Administration  as  manager  of  the  Department 
of  Ways  and  Structures.  He  became  director  of  the  Division 
of  Liquidation,  where,  in  settlements  of  claims  of  the  various 
carriers  that  resulted  from  Government  control  of  the  rail- 
roads, he  made  an  outstanding  record. 

The  late  Louis  W.  Baldwin,  president  of  the  Missouri 
Pacific,  brought  Durham  to  that  property  as  assistant  to  the 
president  in  1924.  Two  years  later  he  was  elected  a  vice-presi- 
dent, and  in  1927  was  made  senior  vice-president. 

Known  to  his  friends  as  Ned,  Durham  was  rated  as  a 
railroader  not  only  with  a  vast  grasp  of  engineering  and 
operational  problems  but  also  with  outstanding  administrative 
ability.  He  had  a  reputation  for  knowing  how  to  pick  top 
men  for  departmental  supervision  and  how  to  delegate  to  his 
staff  full  authority. 

The  Rock  Island's  trustees  took  the  recommendation  of  the 
various  creditor  interests  that  Durham  could  do  the  job  if  any 
man  could,  and  the  trustees  offered  Durham  the  post. 

Durham  was  then  60  years  old— sharp  and  vigorous. 

Financially,  the  Rock  Island  job  had  little  appeal.  But  here 
was  a  definite  challenge.  Here  was  an  opportunity  to  put  into 
practice  everything  he  had  ever  learned  about  men  and  ma- 
chines, rails  and  ties  and  ballast.  Here  was  a  railroad  in  such 
shape  that  it  either  had  to  show  under  proper  management 
a  turn  for  the  better  or  it  had  to  perish.  And  Durham  was 
pretty  well  convinced  in  his  own  mind  that  there  was,  at  least, 
a  long  chance  that  he  could  save  it. 

The  patient  was  in  a  sorry  mess,  but  if  the  doctor  had 
nerve— 

That's  what  Ned  Durham  had  plenty  of.  He  told  the  trus' 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        231 

tees  he  was  their  man.  He  shook  hands  with  his  Missouri 
Pacific  boss,  Louie  Baldwin,  and  Baldwin  wished  him  luck. 
On  a  bleak  December  day  in  1935  he  headed  for  Chicago 
and  a  new  adventure. 


1^  The  long  chance 


Ned  Durham's  arrival  in  Chicago,  as  later  events  were  to 
prove,  marked  the  first  great  turning  point  in  the  fretted  for- 
tunes of  this  84-year-old  storm-battered  railroad.  He  strode 
into  the  executive  offices  in  La  Salle  Street  Station  where 
33  years  ago  William  B.  Leeds,  the  tin  plate  king,  arrived 
in  high  silk  hat  and  faultless  frock  coat  with  a  great  dream 
of  empire.  Stretching  out  from  the  train  shed  below  him 
were  the  rails  that  extended  the  course  of  empire  to  the  far 
reaches  of  the  prairie  states,  to  snow-blown  Minnesota,  the 
Colorado  Rockies  and  to  the  sun-washed  sands  of  the  Texas 
gulf  shore. 

There  was  the  big  map  on  the  wall  with  the  black  lines 
denoting  the  system,  transversing  the  great  rich  heart  of  the 
continent. 

Ned  Durham  looked  at  the  map.  It  was  his  railroad  now. 
He  felt  a  deep  flush  of  pride  in  the  opportunity  that  lay  before 
him.  Whatever  had  gone  before  was  history— good  or  bad— 
and  to  hell  with  that!  He,  E.  M.  Durham,  Jr.,  was  now  chief 
executive  officer  of  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Rail- 
way under  the  trustees.  If  he  should  be  successful  in  aiding  a 
sound  reorganization  he  stood  in  line  to  be  president.  It 


232        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

was  his  railroad.  It  had  been  great  once  and,  by  God,  it  could 
be  great  again. 

Durham  knew  that  he  would  have  to  get  along  with  a  lot 
of  conflicting  interests  insofar  as  the  reorganization  was  con- 
cerned. Even  now,  as  he  turned  from  the  map  to  sit  behind 
the  broad  table,  a  movement  was  afoot  to  strip  the  system 
of  its  Louisiana  and  southern  Arkansas  lines  through  a  sale  to 
the  Louisiana  and  Arkansas  Railroad.  Durham  knew  he  would 
have  to  move  cautiously,  but  he  would  have  to  be  firm. 

Meanwhile  he  had  to  take  a  thorough  look  at  this  property, 
cover  every  mile  of  its  lines,  inspect  its  equipment,  check  the 
service  it  performed,  listen  to  shippers  and  patrons— in  other 
words  take  inventory  as  it  had  never  been  taken  before. 

He  started  out  in  January  of  1936  in  blustering,  frigid 
weather.  He  headed  west  in  the  business  car  that  had  been 
provided  for  him.  He  talked  to  trackmen  and  to  trainmen. 
He  sat  down  with  mechanics  and  master  mechanics.  He  asked 
pertinent  questions  and  he  made  sure  he  got  straight  answers. 
He  had  a  way  of  making  his  men  understand  that  he  wanted 
their  confidence  and  that  he  would  respect  it. 

Everywhere  he  went,  over  division  after  division,  Durham 
found  the  morale  of  officers  and  employees  shot  to  pieces. 
In  fact,  morale  was  almost  nonexistent.  The  trainmasters  and 
superintendents,  for  the  most  part,  were  old  men— weary  and 
defeated.  They  were  men  who  had  tried  their  best  under  in- 
creasingly difficult  circumstances.  They  were  uncertain  and 
insecure. 

The  new  chief  executive  officer  inspected  shops  and  yards 
and  other  facilities.  He  studied  the  roadbed.  No  wonder 
passenger  trains  could  not  make  the  time. 

Rail  replacements  were  badly  needed.  Ties  had  to  be  re- 
placed in  vast  quantities.  Buildings  needed  paint  and  repairs. 

Durham  interspersed  his  road  inspections  with  quick  trips 
to  New  York  to  confer  with  the  creditor  interests  and  with 
Hayden  and  Brown.  The  1935  earnings  were  all  in,  and  the 
figures  might  have  completely  discouraged  a  less  courageous 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        233 

man.  The  gross  revenues  had  not  improved,  and  the  deficit 
had  jumped  from  1934's  $12,100,000  to  $15,000,000. 

The  figures,  coupled  with  what  Durham  had  to  report  to 
the  protective  committees  concerning  the  state  of  the  raihoad, 
certainly  were  not  conducive  to  optimism.  Those  groups,  how- 
ever, had  confidence  that  Durham  somehow  could  turn  the 
tide. 

By  early  spring  Durham  was  convinced  that  before  he  could 
do  very  much  toward  bringing  a  turn  for  the  better  in  the 
patient's  condition,  he  would  have  to  do  something  drastic 
about  the  whole  nervous  system— the  operating  department. 
It  would  take  a  job  of  major  surgery,  and  the  place  to  begin 
was  at  the  top. 

L.  C.  Fritch,  with  the  title  of  operating  officer,  was  not, 
Durham  was  definitely  convinced,  the  man  for  the  job.  A 
younger  man  was  needed— one  who  would  have  the  ability  to 
make  one  Rock  Island  dollar  do  the  work  of  two,  whose  in- 
testinal fortitude  would  match  or  excel  that  of  the  chief 
executive,  and  who  could  take  the  authority  that  would  be 
delegated  to  him  and  do  a  complete  overhaul,  not  only  of  the 
operating  department  but  also  of  the  8,330  miles  of  railroad. 

Durham  talked  to  the  creditor  groups,  to  Jesse  Jones,  and 
to  the  trustees.  The  names  of  several  outstanding  young  op- 
erating men  came  under  discussion.  The  one  Durham  knew 
the  most  about  was  down  in  Fort  Worth,  Texas,  a  45-year-old 
dynamo  with  a  big  iron  jaw,  an  inexhaustible  drive,  and  a 
demonstrated  ability  to  get  the  ultimate  in  service  and  per- 
formance for  every  buck  in  his  budget. 

This  candidate  was  John  D.  (for  Dow)  Farrington,  Bur- 
lington-trained general  manager  of  the  Burlington's  Fort 
Worth  and  Denver  City  subsidiary.  Right  at  this  particular 
time  Farrington  was  much  in  the  minds  of  the  big  financial 
groups  as  a  result  of  the  exhaustive  report  he  had  only  re- 
cently completed  on  the  Missouri  Pacific  and  its  subsidiaries. 
The  survey  had  been  undertaken  for  the  bondholders  of  that 
property,  represented  by  the  Prudential  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany, which  had  large  holdings. 


234        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  Rock  Island  trustees  went  after  Farrington  in  May, 
and  Ned  Durham  called  in  Operating  Officer  Fritch  to  advise 
him  that  he  was  being  pensioned.  Fritch  immediately  boarded 
a  train  for  New  York  to  seek  audience  with  Charlie  Hayden. 
He  was  not  going  to  take  this  dismissal  by  the  chief  executive 
officer  without  a  battle. 

Hayden  quietly  explained  to  Louie  Fritch  that  there  was 
nothing  Hayden  could  do  about  it. 

"This  property  is  in  the  hands  of  the  trustees,"  Hayden  said. 
"The  chief  executive  officer  under  the  trustees  has  full  author- 
ity. The  corporation  is  inactive.  It  has,  for  the  time  being, 
no  control  over  the  property,  its  officers,  or  its  assets." 

It  was  at  a  subsequent  meeting  between  Hayden  and  Dur- 
ham that  Hayden  refuted  the  long-accepted  behef  that  Fritch 
was  "his  man"  on  the  railroad— a  very  surprising  thing  to  Jim 
Gorman,  who  could  remember  the  countless  instances  from 
which  no  other  conclusion  could  be  drawn. 

Farrington,  on  the  receipt  of  the  offer  from  the  Rock  Island 
trustees,  had  the  normal  reaction.  Here  he  was  in  a  good  job 
on  a  live  and  progressive  property,  confronted  with  another 
job  that  could  lead  to  the  very  top,  or  that  could  result  in 
oblivion.  He  could  stay  with  the  sound  and  vigorous  Burlington 
and  rely  on  the  record  he  had  behind  him  to  put  him  in  line 
eventually  for  the  operating  vice-presidency,  or  he  could  cast 
his  lot  with  Ned  Durham  and  the  Burlington's  sick  com- 
petitor, and  take  his  chances  on  making  railroad  history. 

Farrington  could  look  back  over  his  service  with  the  Fort 
Worth  and  Denver  with  justifiable  pride.  He  had  rehabilitated 
the  Texas  main  line,  had  built  important  branches.  He  was 
in  the  middle  of  an  area  that  stood  on  the  threshold  of  vast 
development.  Who  knew  what  opportunities  this  new  empire 
held? 

These  Texans  liked  Farrington.  In  four  and  a  half  years  it 
was  as  if  he  had  become  an  integral  part  of  them.  Bankers, 
oil  men,  cattle  men,  industrial  chiefs— Farrington  talked  their 
language.  They  wouldn't  want  to  see  him  go. 

But  the  decision  was  his  and  not  theirs.  The  Rock  Island, 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        235 

too,  had  a  stake  in  Texas.  Not  a  very  prominent  one  right 
then,  to  be  sure,  but  with  the  proper  kind  of  attention  to 
developing  that  raikoad's  possibihties,  something  important 
could  be  made  of  it. 

Something  important  could  be  made  of  the  whole  Rock 
Island  system  if  a  man  had  a  little  money  to  spend.  A  little 
money? 

Engineer  Moulton  in  his  report  to  the  protective  commit- 
tees had  estimated  that  in  the  event  of  early  reorganization,  at 
least  $30,000,000  would  be  needed  to  put  the  Rock  Island 
back  on  its  feet— to  take  care  of  emergency  requirements  and 
to  make  up  the  deferred  maintenance  of  roadway  and  equip- 
ment. 

That  was  a  lot  of  money,  but  Farrington  knew  that  $30,000,- 
000  would  be  but  a  starter. 

Farrington  took  one  last  look  at  his  Texas  domain  and 
plunged.  He  accepted  the  Rock  Island  offer. 


I©  First  signs  of  recovery 


John  Farrington  moved  into  La  Salle  Street  Station  on  May 
16,  1936.  To  the  general  office  people  it  was  just  another  day 
on  the  calendar— the  beginning  of  the  second  pay  period  for 
the  month.  It  was  a  hot,  sunny  day,  with  high,  thin  clouds 
and  almost  no  wind.  Just  another  day  in  May. 

To  the  Rock  Island  Railroad,  to  the  far-flung  communities 
it  served,  to  the  thousands  of  its  employees  on  and  off  line, 
it  was  in  a  very  real  sense  quite  a  day  of  destiny.  It  was  a  day 


236        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

that  was  to  mark  the  beginning  of  a  rebuilding  and  revitahz- 
ing  program  which,  in  years  to  come,  was  to  be  called  by  rail- 
road analysts  "nothing  short  of  miraculous." 

The  man  with  the  iron  jaw,  the  piercing  blue  eyes,  and  the 
photographic  mind  that  caught  details  with  sharp  clarity  was 
born  in  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  January  27,  1891.  His  father,  the 
financial  vice-president  of  the  Great  Northern,  was  a  close 
friend  of  empire  builder  James  J.  Hill.  As  a  youngster  John 
Farrington  became  steeped  in  the  intricacies  of  railroading. 
His  eyes  were  on  the  far  stretches  of  the  Hill  main  lines  even 
as  he  went  to  St.  Paul's  Central  High,  and  later  to  St.  Paul 
Academy. 

He  went  as  a  rawboned  youth  into  the  Montana  and  Idaho 
country  with  Great  Northern  surveying  crews  and  thus  got  his 
first  taste  of  the  romance  and  drama  of  railroad  building. 

At  the  age  of  19  Farrington  left  home  and  cast  his  lot  with 
the  Burlington.  If  it  was  in  him  to  make  the  grade  in  railroading 
he  wanted  to  do  it  on  his  own.  He  didn't  want  his  fellow 
workmen  ever  to  point  a  finger  at  him  and  say  that  he  had 
"pull."  He  was  assigned  to  a  track  gang  as  a  timekeeper. 
Within  a  comparatively  short  time  he  was  an  assistant  fore- 
man, and  by  the  time  he  was  21  he  was  bossing  a  crew.  Dur- 
ing the  ensuing  five  years— up  to  World  War  I— he  served 
first  as  roadmaster  then  as  assistant  trainmaster  and  train- 
master. 

He  entered  the  Army  as  a  lieutenant,  went  overseas  with 
an  engineering  outfit  and  served  with  distinction.  When,  in 
1919,  with  the  war  behind  him,  he  was  mustered  out,  he 
held  the  rank  of  major.  He  returned  to  the  Burlington  as  an 
assistant  superintendent.  In  1920  he  became  superintendent 
of  the  Quincy,  Omaha  and  Kansas  City  line,  moved  to  the 
St.  Joseph  Division  in  the  same  capacity  in  1922,  and  a  year 
later  took  over  the  Aurora  Division.  In  January,  1930,  he  was 
promoted  to  general  superintendent,  first  of  the  Missouri 
District  and  then  of  the  combined  Iowa  and  Missouri  Dis- 
tricts. Everywhere  he  went  he  set  new  records  in  operating 
economies,  in  increased  efficiency.  Thus  it  was  that  in  No- 


REBIRTH   AND    REGENERATION        237 

vember,  1931,  he  became  general  manager  of  the  Burhngton's 
Texas  hnes. 

Now  here  he  was  in  La  Salle  Street  Station,  Chicago,  poised 
on  the  threshold  of  a  whole  new  career. 

Farrington  got  a  general  briefing  from  Ned  Durham  on  all 
the  things  that  Durham  had  uncovered  and  observed.  Dur- 
ham told  Farrington  that  from  here  on  out  the  details  for  the 
development  of  this  property,  and  its  return  to  the  status  of 
a  great  and  important  railroad,  were  in  his  lap. 

"We'll  go  to  the  trustees  and  the  court  for  the  things  we 
need,"  Durham  said.  "Until  these  earnings  increase  we  won't 
have  much  cash.  You  see  what  you  can  do." 

The  best  way  to  see  what  he  could  do,  Farrington  reasoned, 
was  to  get  out  on  the  system  and  take  a  close-up  view  of  what 
he  had  to  work  with.  A  close-up  view  could  be  obtained  in 
no  better  way  than  from  the  ground  up,  and  the  division 
inspection  cars  would  get  him  around. 

These  cars  were,  for  the  most  part,  old  Fords  wdth  flanged 
wheels  for  rail  travel  instead  of  rubber  tires.  If  your  railroad 
was  any  good  you  could  run  the  Ford  up  to  40  or  50  miles  an 
hour  on  the  tangents  without  too  much  fear  of  derailment.  If 
your  track  was  very  much  below  par  you  had  to  creep  along. 

Farrington  crept.  He  loaded  in  with  him  the  superintendent, 
the  division  engineers,  the  roadmasters,  and  various  other  of- 
ficers. He  poked  into  the  weeds  and  walked  over  the  ballast. 
He  made  a  close  inspection  of  the  rolling  stock  and  the  power. 
When  he  came  to  a  bridge  he  wanted  to  see  its  timbers  and 
trusses.  He  never  missed  a  tie  or  a  switch  or  a  signal. 

Forlorn  men  in  overalls  stood  by  silently  while  Farrington 
walked  through  shops  and  roundhouses,  asked  questions  and 
made  notes.  Classification  yards  at  the  various  terminals  came 
under  his  watchful  observation.  The  farther  he  went  the  more 
grim  became  the  thin  line  of  his  mouth,  the  more  determined 
the  jut  of  his  big  chin. 

Challenge?  Farrington  hadn't,  prior  to  this  tour,  guessed 
at  the  half  of  it. 

Meanwhile  the  corporate  officers  submitted  to  the  Inter- 


238        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

State  Commerce  Commission  their  proposed  plan  for  reor- 
ganization. The  plan  was  designed  to  protect  the  holders  of 
all  classes  of  stocks  and  bonds  through  a  new  capitalization 
and  the  issuance  of  new  bonds  of  the  income,  noncumulative 
type.  Capital  stock  consisting  of  two  classes  of  new  4  percent 
noncumulative  preferred  and  new  common  would  total 
$206,593,216.  The  new  bonds  would  amount  to  $159,000,000, 
and  to  this  would  be  added  equipment  trusts,  collateral  loans, 
etc.,  for  a  total  funded  debt  of  $227,430,578.  The  proposed 
total  capitalization  would  be  $434,026,797  as  compared  with 
the  company's  present  capitalization  of  $457,698,173.  A  vot- 
ing trust  would  be  set  up  to  represent  the  various  security- 
holders in  the  management  until  such  time  as  the  earnings 
returned  to  the  point  where  interest  on  the  bonds  would  be 
paid  for  two  consecutive  years. 

This  plan,  filed  by  E.  N.  Brown  on  behalf  of  the  debtor 
corporation,  was  set  down  for  immediate  hearings,  and  it  was 
Brown's  hope  that  a  plan  previously  presented  by  the  Rock 
Island,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  bondholders  would  thereby 
lose  some  of  its  appeal.  The  latter  plan  provided  for  the 
elimination  of  the  common  stock  of  the  R.  I.  A.  &  L.  and  the 
purchase  of  its  property  by  the  Louisiana  and  Arkansas  road. 
Brown  wanted  no  part  of  this  proposal,  since  the  Rock  Is- 
land, Arkansas  and  Louisiana  common  was  owned  outright 
by  the  Rock  Island. 

Brown  now  became  chairman  of  the  debtor  company  board, 
succeeding  Charles  Hayden  whose  interest  in  the  reorganiza- 
tion was  waning,  and  whose  health  was  fading. 

Brown's  reorganization  plan  had  no  sooner  been  made  pub- 
lic than  committees  for  the  various  creditor  groups  began  to 
lay  their  plans  to  fight  it. 

While  all  this  was  transpiring  John  Farrington  found  him- 
self facing  a  new  role  in  railroad  operations.  He  was  about  to 
become  a  master  junk  dealer  with  interests  in  fourteen  States 
—probably  the  best-mannered,  best-dressed  junkman  in  the 
Country. 

Things  were  beginning  to  look  a  little  better  for  the  Rock 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        239 

Island.  Freight  traffic  was  showing  definite  signs  of  being  on 
the  increase  by  late  summer  of  1936.  If  Farrington  could  make 
better  use  of  the  company's  biggest  locomotives  to  get  longer 
and  heavier  freight  movements  with  a  decrease  in  operating 
costs  he  would  have  to  have  a  railroad  that  could  use  these 
engines.  The  company  owned  65  of  the  4-8-4  variety  and, 
with  a  little  modernization  of  this  power,  he  could  show  some 
satisfactory  results. 

The  chief  operating  officer  explained  his  scrap-drive  pro- 
gram to  Durham.  It  was  the  beginning  of  what  Farrington 
was  to  publicize  nationallv  as  a  program  of  planned  progress. 
Until  the  road  should  show  definite  signs  of  steadily  increas- 
ing earning  power,  Farrington  would  have  to  get  money  for 
roadway  and  structures  without  much  help  from  borrowing, 
and  the  scrap  drive  was  the  solution.  He  had  seen  from  his 
inspection  of  the  propertv  that  millions  could  be  realized 
from  this  source.  He  sent  out  the  word:  "Get  everything  on 
the  system  that  possiblv  can  be  converted  to  scrap  under 
the  hammer  and  torch.  Get  everything  that  can  be  salvaged 
in  the  way  of  steel  and  timber  sorted  and  classified  so  that 
this  material  can  be  put  to  good  use." 

This  marked  the  beginning  of  the  rebuilding  program.  The 
money  derived  from  the  sale  of  scrap  bought  more  new  and 
second-hand  rail.  Farrington  directed  the  rail  relay  program 
to  sections  where  it  was  immediately  needed.  The  Bridges 
&  Buildings  forces  got  after  the  bridges.  New  and  salvaged 
materials  went  into  the  strengthening  of  these  structures  and 
in  many  instances  the  replacement  of  old  structures  with  new. 

"Sa-a-ay!  Things're  happeninM  This  new  operatin'  boss- 
he's  doin'  things!" 

The  men  on  the  line  looked  at  one  another  and  spoke  with 
a  new  note  in  their  voices.  They  felt  the  spark  of  new  life. 
For  the  first  time  in  years  they  began  to  feel  the  inner  glow 
of  excitement  about  their  railroad  and  their  jobs. 

This  was  the  situation  early  in  1937  when  the  word  went 
out  that  streamlined  trains  were  coming  to  the  Rock  Island. 


240        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Already  the  Burlington  had  made  headlines  by  its  experiment 
with  this  new  diesel-powered  transportation. 

Farrington  had  it  all  figured  out.  Durham  concurred  heart- 
ily. 

"I  had  Rock  Island's  reputation  to  overcome/'  Farrington 
said  later.  "It  was  a  very  bad  reputation  as  to  service— both 
freight  and  passenger.  Public  confidence  in  the  property  did 
not  exist.  The  newspapers  continued  to  print  stories  about  the 
reorganization  plans,  and  the  proposed  plans  for  dismember- 
ment. That  didn't  help  employee  morale  one  bit.  Our  pas- 
senger business  was  at  an  all-time  low  and  it  seemed  to  me 
that  a  radical  departure  with  the  introduction  of  the  stream- 
liner would  have  the  desired  effect." 

Farrington,  in  1937,  used  cash  and  equipment  trusts  to  get 
6  passenger  diesels  and  10  diesel  switchers.  In  addition  he 
purchased  20  stainless-steel  streamlined  passenger  cars  of 
various  classes. 

The  name  Rocket  was  chosen  for  these  new  trains.  The 
Rock  Island  Rockets.  This  sounded  good  to  the  ear,  and  put- 
ting it  into  type  looked  good  to  the  eyes.  And  what  could  be 
more  fitting  in  a  name  since  it  was  that  same  name  which, 
in  gold  letters,  decorated  the  first  locomotive  ever  to  pull  a 
train  over  the  railroad— the  memorable  little  4-4-0  of  October 
10,  1852. 

The  first  streamlined  Rocket  was  inaugurated  on  the  Chi- 
cago-Peoria  run.  It  was  a  bright  and  beautiful  thing  to  behold. 
And  it  soared  into  prominence  overnight. 

What  was  happening  to  this  dilapidated  Rock  Island? 
Why,  said  the  residents  along  the  line,  it's  hard  to  remember 
when  we  had  an  on-time  schedule,  to  say  nothing  of  clean 
and  comfortable  cars  to  ride  in.  Now,  look  at  this! 

The  people  could  hardly  believe  it.  In  fact  there  was  some 
question  as  to  the  sanity  of  Messrs.  Durham  and  Farrington. 
This  railroad  was  broke,  and  yet  here  were  these  guys  coming 
out,  in  the  face  of  generally  declining  passenger  earnings,  with 
this  sort  of  thing. 

From  the  day  the  Peoria  Rocket  first  flashed  its  bright  sleek 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        241 

sides  through  the  wash  of  the  morning  sunhght  over  newly 
reballasted  and  improved  rail  on  its  flight  downstate,  the  pas- 
senger revenues  of  the  Rock  Island  turned  upward. 

As  the  year  1937  came  to  a  close  Durham  could  look  at 
Farrington  with  a  satisfied  grin  and  say,  "Looks  like  we're 
going  somewhere,  John." 

The  year  closed  with  a  $3,500,000  increase  in  gross  rev- 
enues, with  freight  up  $2,700,000  and  passenger  up  $750,000, 
for  a  total  of  $81,643,250.  The  patient  was  showing  definite 
signs  of  life. 

The  program  of  planned  progress  was  gaining  ground.  On 
the  drawing  boards  were  plans  for  major  line  relocations  that 
would  be  started  just  as  soon  as  funds  could  be  found.  It 
would  be  necessary  to  eliminate  curves  and  grades  at  many 
points  on  the  Chicago  -  Kansas  City  -  Tucumcari  line.  Besides 
the  modernization  of  motive  power  and  the  acquisition  of  new 
rolling  stock,  shops  would  have  to  be  brought  up  to  date  with 
modem  machinery  and  other  facilities.  Engine  runs  were  to 
be  lengthened  and  certain  shops  on  the  system  could  thereby 
be  eliminated. 

The  laying  of  112-pound  rail  as  standard  for  main  lines  and 
the  continuation  of  the  bridge  program  would  have  to  be 
pushed  at  a  rapid  pace.  The  tie  replacement  schedule  could 
not  be  allowed  to  falter,  nor  could  the  reballasting  be  de- 
ferred. More  diesels  would  have  to  be  purchased. 

Automatic  block  signals,  which  covered  less  than  1,500 
miles  of  the  railroad,  were  entirely  inadequate.  Additional  mile- 
age of  these  signals  would  have  to  be  added  along  with  central- 
ized traffic  control. 

All  these  things  would  be  necessary  to  bring  this  railroad 
to  the  point  where  it  could  take  its  rightful  place  in  its  com- 
petitive territory. 

Could  Durham  and  Farrington  make  these  things  come 
true?  Both  men  realized  that  anything  could  happen  in  the 
battle  to  get  the  corporate  structure  through  its  reorganiza- 
tion. The  debtor  company's  plan  was  still  before  the  Com- 
mission. Many  objections  to  it  had  been  filed. 


242        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Edward  N.  Brown  was  now  in  complete  control  of  the 
corporate  activities.  Charles  Hayden  had  passed  away  early 
in  1937,  and  Brown,  now  chairman  of  the  board,  had  put 
Trustee  Jim  Gorman  in  as  chairman  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee. Brown  naturally  was  concerned  with  saving  the  equity 
of  the  preferred  and  common  stockholders  in  any  reorganiza- 
tion plan  that  might  be  offered,  which  meant  that  he  was 
ready  to  oppose  to  the  last  ditch  any  and  all  plans  of  the 
creditor  groups  in  which  such  equity  might  be  drastically  re- 
duced or  completely  eliminated.  From  the  progress  made  thus 
far  reorganization  seemed  a  long  way  off. 


>^  Samson  of  the  Cimarron— 
a  symbol 


The  1937  upturn  in  general  business  over  the  Nation,  and  in 
the  fortunes  of  the  Rock  Island,  failed  to  hold  through  1938. 
But  despite  a  drop  back  to  lower  earnings,  the  railroad  pur- 
sued its  policy  of  re-laying  rail  and  spreading  new  ballast.  The 
Des  Moines  Rocket,  second  of  the  streamliners,  was  in  service 
between  Chicago  and  the  Iowa  capital,  and  Farrington  was 
turning  over  in  his  mind  the  advisability  of  inaugurating  a 
new  streamliner  between  Chicago  and  Colorado  to  replace  the 
Rocky  Mountain  Limited.  He  knew,  of  course,  that  he  would 
run  into  opposition  on  such  a  move  because  the  Colorado 
line,  aside  from  being  longer  than  the  Burlington  and  the 
Northwestern  -  Union  Pacific  routes  to  Denver,  wasn't  in  too 
good  a  physical  condition. 

More  work  on  the  roadway  would  help  a  lot.  But  first,  for 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        243 

immediate  consideration,  was  the  southwest  hne— the  Golden 
State  Route.  Aside  from  the  curves  and  grades  through  South- 
ern Iowa  and  Missouri  between  Davenport  and  Kansas  City, 
there  was  the  granddaddy  of  all  bottlenecks  out  in  Kansas 
across  the  Cimarron  River. 

In  the  vicinity  of  that  crossing  the  railroad  wandered  all 
over  the  plains,  crooked  as  a  snake  on  both  approaches  to 
the  stream.  The  old  bridge  was  a  decadent  thing  at  best  and 
susceptible  to  the  violence  of  Nature  when  that  country  ex- 
perienced the  mad  freshets  that  made  the  Cimarron  a  thing 
to  fear. 

Farrington,  in  working  out  his  personnel  problems,  had 
carefully  evaluated  ofHcers  on  the  operating  staff,  and  had 
made  numerous  changes.  Older  men  had  been  retired  and 
replaced  with  men  brought  in  from  the  Burlington,  the  Mis- 
souri Pacific,  and  other  lines  to  take  over  key  posts.  He  had 
made  some  promotions. 

For  aid  on  the  rebuilding  program  he  had  brought  into  the 
Rock  Island  picture  a  top-flight  maintenance  man  from  the 
Burlington,  and  had  put  him  in  charge  of  the  system  main- 
tenance-of-way  program.  This  man  was  William  H.  Hillis. 

Hillis,  a  native  of  Colona,  Illinois,  had  joined  the  engineer- 
ing forces  of  the  Burlington  in  1906  and  had  worked  up 
through  various  capacities  to  the  position  of  superintendent 
of  construction  on  the  Texas  lines  where  Farrington  was  then 
general  manager.  Hillis  was  assistant  superintendent  of  the 
Burlington's  La  Crosse  Division  when  Farrington  brought  him 
to  the  Rock  Island. 

Durham  agreed  with  Farrington  that  the  rehabilitation  of 
the  southwest  main  line  should  not  be  deferred.  Farrington 
took  Hillis  with  him  and  the  two  men  made  an  on-the-ground 
study  of  the  Cimarron  problem.  Farrington  decided  on  the 
course  he  wanted  to  follow,  but  again  he  was  faced  with  the 
problem  of  money. 

The  only  answer  was  more  scrap.  It  was  estimated  that  the 
bridge  together  with  the  grading  and  track  for  the  new  ap- 
proaches would  cost  in  the  neighborhood  of  $1,500,000.  If 


244        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

another  good  healthy  scrap  drive  was  staged,  Farrington  was 
sure  he  could  find  the  money. 

Farrington  saw  his  way  clear  to  get  the  grading  started  by 
late  September. 

Meanwhile  he  had  under  way  an  $8,000,000  program  of 
locomotive  modernization  and  rebuilding  of  freight  cars. 
Three  hundred  miles  of  main  track  was  being  re-laid  with  new 
112-pound  rail  and  with  second-hand  rail.  Fences  were  being 
replaced  and  the  paint  gangs  were  going  full  blast.  The  drop 
in  traffic  might  be  felt  in  the  number  of  loads  and  empties 
hauled,  but,  from  the  ballast  up,  it  was  a  railroad  buzzing 
with  activity.  It  was  a  property  being  readied  for  plenty  of 
business  once  this  depression  had  been  overcome. 

Durham  and  his  new  team  took  the  $3,800,000  dip  in  the 
1938  revenues  in  their  stride.  The  deficit  was  $11,300,000  as 
compared  with  1937's  $9,500,000,  but  the  investment  in  ad- 
ditions and  betterments  would  result  in  savings  if  the  railroad 
could  survive  the  reorganization  battles. 

Farrington  was  making  his  dollars  stretch  to  a  remarkable 
degree.  He  and  Durham  convinced  the  trustees  that  additional 
diesel  switchers  would  result  in  greater  operating  economies, 
and  thereupon  the  trustees  got  the  court's  permission  to  ac- 
quire 26  more  for  yard  service.  This  brought  the  diesel-electric 
fleet  up  to  43,  including  the  6  passenger  locomotives.  The 
Rock  Island,  in  1938,  became  the  first  Western  railroad  to 
place  an  order  for  diesel  power  in  such  quantity. 

The  program  of  planned  progress  steamed  into  1939  with 
a  wide-open  throttle.  All  eyes  were  on  the  Cimarron  bridge 
project.  The  grading,  which  had  continued  through  the  win- 
ter, was  pretty  well  completed  by  the  end  of  March.  Three 
million  cubic  yards  of  earth  and  gravel  had  to  be  moved  to 
make  the  fill  for  the  long  approaches.  The  project  extended 
approximately  from  the  depot  at  Kismet,  east  of  the  river,  to 
the  station  at  Hayne,  to  the  west. 

The  distance  via  the  old  line  was  12  twisting  miles.  The 
new  line  would  cover  the  route  in  8.423  miles  straight  as  an 
arrow. 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        245 

After  completion  of  the  masonry,  the  deck  truss  spans— five 
in  all— were  swung  into  place.  It  was  an  engineering  marvel, 
1,269  ^^^^  ^^  length,  and  the  superstructure  was  erected  in 
85  days. 

They  called  it  the  Samson  of  the  Cimarron.  They  opened 
it  for  operations  on  July  8,  1939. 

John  Farrington  could  look  proudly  at  the  lofty  web  across 
the  dr}'  flats  and  the  trickle  of  water  that  was  the  unpredictable 
river,  and  feel  that  somehow  this  structure  stood  against  the 
blue  of  the  Kansas  sky  as  a  symbol  of  the  reborn  railroad. 

However,  Farrington  wasn't  pausing  for  anything.  He  knew 
his  bridge  would  be  there,  95  feet  above  the  stream,  long  after 
he  was  gone.  He  had  taken  out  353  degrees  of  curvature  with 
the  building  of  the  new  line,  and  he  had  eliminated  113  feet 
of  rise  and  fall.  So  much  for  that.  Let  history  record  its  worth. 
There  were  other  things  to  be  done. 

He  had  decided  to  go  ahead  with  a  new  streamlined  Rocky 
Mountain  Rocket.  Other  railroad  men  told  him  he  wasn't 
quite  bright.  How  could  he  ever  equal  the  time  of  the  Bur- 
lington Zephyrs  and  the  Northwestern  -  Union  Pacific  City 
of  Denver? 

Well,  maybe  he  wouldn't  come  close  to  the  time,  but  he'd 
have  a  train  second  to  none  and  he  would  offer  to  the  public 
the  only  main-line  hot-shot  between  Chicago  and  Colorado 
Springs.  He  would  split  the  Rocket  at  Limon  and  send  half 
of  it  to  Denver  and  the  other  half  to  the  foot  of  Pikes  Peak. 
Vacationists  heading  for  the  Pikes  Peak  area  and  the  dude 
ranches  beyond  would  no  longer  have  to  change  trains  at 
Denver  to  get  to  their  destination. 

Farrington  was  heartened  in  his  decision  by  his  own  ex- 
perience. Besides  the  Peoria  and  Des  Moines  Rockets,  he  had 
now  in  operation  trains  of  this  type  between  Kansas  Cit}'  and 
Fort  Worth  -  Dallas,  between  Kansas  City  and  Minneapolis, 
and,  jointly  with  the  Burlington,  between  Forth  Worth  and 
Houston.  Rocket  trains  were  paying  for  themselves  and  were 
attracting  patronage.  He  wasn't  afraid  to  plunge  into  the 
Colorado  operation. 


246        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  Rocky  Mountain  Rocket  was  inaugurated  on  Novem- 
ber 12, 1939.  Before  it  had  been  in  service  30  days,  Farrington's 
vision  and  faith  appeared  fully  justified. 

During  these  developments  in  America's  Midwest  the  sit- 
uation in  Europe  became  inflammable.  Hitler  marched  into 
Poland  and  world  conflict  was  in  the  making.  The  American 
economy  rocked  unevenly. 

In  Washington  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  had 
before  it  three  plans  for  the  reorganization  of  the  railroad. 
One  was  the  Brown  plan  of  the  debtor  company,  another  was 
the  Rock  Island,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  bondholders'  separa- 
tion deal,  and  a  third  had  been  proposed  by  the  protective 
committee  for  the  first  and  refunding  mortgage  4  percent  and 
secured  4V2  percent  bonds. 

On  September  22  the  examiner  for  the  Commission  sub- 
mitted his  report,  after  the  long  hearings  on  the  various  pro- 
posals, and  recommended  a  plan  which  would  cut  the  then 
existing  capitalization  of  the  debtor  company  from  $458,000,- 
000  to  $306,000,000.  This  plan  would  eliminate  completely  all 
equity  of  the  stockholders. 

The  creditors,  secured  and  general,  filed  exceptions  and  the 
corporate  officers  protested  vigorously.  Briefs  were  submitted 
and  oral  arguments  were  heard  on  December  7  and  8,  after 
which  the  Commission  took  the  whole  subject  under  advise- 
ment. 

Branch-line  abandonment  along  the  Rock  Island  progressed 
to  the  point  where  now  since  1936  approximately  265  miles 
of  unprofitable  operations  had  been  discontinued,  with  the 
approval  of  both  the  Commission  and  the  Court.  Farrington, 
shortly  after  coming  to  the  railroad,  had  set  up  a  committee 
to  study  the  branch  lines  and  to  make  reports  so  that  proper 
consideration  could  be  given  to  abandonment.  Thus,  after 
two  and  a  half  years,  this  feature  of  his  planning  for  progress 
was  making  acceptable  headway. 

The  railroad  was  beginning  to  look  good.  But  it  still  had  a 
long  way  to  go. 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        247 


<^(D  Into  the  black 


The  Japanese  air  squadrons  came  out  of  the  morning  sky  on 
Sunday,  December  7,  1941,  to  blast  the  Nation's  Pacific  fleet 
out  of  the  water  at  Pearl  Harbor.  War  had  come  to  the 
United  States,  and  overnight  every  resource  of  the  country 
was  being  readied  to  meet  the  emergency. 

The  first  line  of  national  defense  was  the  Nation's  railroads. 
The  Rock  Island  system,  now  showing  the  results  of  Farring- 
ton's  five  years  of  progressive  improvement  to  roadbed  and 
equipment,  was  rounding  into  first-class  physical  shape.  Major 
line  relocations  between  Davenport  and  Kansas  City  were  on 
the  drawing  boards,  and  one  important  line  change  was  under 
construction. 

As  of  the  moment,  however,  the  main-line  rail  relay  and  the 
bridge  rebuilding  projects  were  beginning  to  pay  off.  A  better 
use  of  the  road's  big  engines  was  resulting  in  heavier  freight 
trains  and  much  swifter  movement.  People  in  railroad  circles 
and  those  closely  allied  with  transportation  were  beginning  to 
say:  "Watch  this  Rock  Island.  Watch  this  Farrington." 

During  1940  industrial  activity  in  the  United  States  had 
increased  with  so-called  defense  needs.  Rock  Island's  revenues 
had  crossed  the  $80,000,000  mark  and  the  deficit  had  dropped 
to  $5,600,000.  The  close  of  1941  saw  a  $16,000,000  increase 
in  gross  income  to  put  the  figure  at  $96,900,000— the  highest 
in  the  10  years  of  the  road's  bitter  struggle  for  survival.  The 
road  earned  its  heavy  interest  charges  and  showed  a  black 
figure  of  $4,600,000— the  first  since  1930  when  Brown  and 


248        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Hayden  had  paid  out  $8,800,000  in  dividends  with  only 
$7,700,000  earnings  after  fixed  charges. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  different  Rock  Island. 

Its  reorganization,  however,  was  bogged  down.  The  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission,  on  October  31,  1940,  had  come 
out  with  a  modified  plan  in  which  was  prescribed  a  maximum 
capitalization  of  $351,180,912.  This  plan,  too,  eliminated  any 
equity  of  the  stockholders.  Again  the  usual  objections  were 
filed  and  the  Commission  took  them  under  advisement  as  the 
year  closed. 

Jim  Gorman,  as  president  of  the  debtor  corporation,  re- 
viewed the  proceedings  in  his  1940  annual  report  with  a  bitter 
attack  on  the  Commission's  reasoning.  In  defense  of  the 
debtor  company's  plan  which  had  been  proposed  with  its  ef- 
fective date  stipulated  at  January  1,  1937,  Gorman  pointed 
out  that,  at  the  time,  $44,000,000  in  interest  had  been  ac- 
cumulated. 

"The  Commission's  plan,"  Gorman  wrote,  "proposes  an 
effective  date  of  January  1,  1941,  which  choice  of  date  alone 
adds  some  $53,000,000  to  the  amount  of  claims  for  unpaid 
interest  which  must  be  dealt  with  in  the  plan.  The  date  pro- 
posed by  the  First  and  Refunding  Committee  was  January  1, 
1939,  at  which  time  the  amount  of  unpaid  interest  was  ap- 
proximately $69,000,000." 

Gorman  pointed  out  that  by  the  Commission's  own  records 
the  actual  investment  in  the  property  as  of  December  31, 
1937,  was  more  than  $504,000,000.  The  present  capitalization, 
exclusive  of  unpaid  interest,  was  approximately  $458,000,000. 

"The  Commission,"  Gorman  said,  "apparently  has  adopted 
the  policy  of  reducing  capitalization  arbitrarily  to  accord  with 
its  own  estimates  of  what  the  future  earning  power  of  the 
carrier  will  be.  In  the  case  of  your  company  the  Commission 
estimated  a  normal  year's  earnings  in  the  future  at  $11,000,000 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  for  10  years  prior  to  the  early  1930's 
depression  the  average  available  for  interest  was  $27,047,129. 
This  is  a  disastrous  policy  for  the  roads  undergoing  reorganiza- 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        249 

tion,  and  involves  a  great  danger  to  the  secorities  of  now  sol- 
vent roads  .  .  . 

"One  of  the  tragic  features  of  it  is  that  the  destruction  is 
permanent.  The  stockholders'  equity  is  gone  forever.  It  is 
possible  that  the  Country  some  day  may  emerge  from  the 
fog  that  enshrouds  it;  but  no  amount  of  returning  prosperity 
will  resurrect  the  stockholders'  investment." 

Gorman  pledged  that  the  company  would  fight  the  plan 
before  the  court. 

By  now  there  was  a  new  judge  on  the  bench.  Michael  L. 
Igoe  had  succeeded  Judge  Wilkerson  upon  the  latter's  re- 
tirement. Perhaps  Igoe  would  see  the  justice  in  the  position 
of  the  debtor  corporation. 

The  Commission  certified  to  Judge  Igoe,  in  August  1941, 
a  modified  plan  with  a  supplemental  report.  The  new  plan 
upped  the  proposed  capitalization  to  $386,127,410,  and  pro- 
posed January  1,  1942,  as  the  effective  date.  Again  no  pro- 
vision was  made  for  the  stockholders. 

Igoe  held  hearings  from  October  13  to  17.  The  first  and  re- 
funding group,  the  Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Gulf  committee 
and  the  Reconstruction  Finance  Corporation  all  voiced  their 
support  of  the  plan,  but  the  preferred  stock  groups  and  others 
entered  their  objections. 

Shortly  after  the  court  took  the  case  under  advisement  two 
circuit  courts  of  appeals  upset  the  orders  of  lower  courts  ap- 
proving the  reorganization  plans  of  the  Western  Pacific  and 
the  Milwaukee.  In  both  cases  the  appellate  courts  held  that 
the  Commission  had  not  made  findings  adequate  to  justify 
its  orders.  Applications  immediately  were  made  to  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  for  certiorari.  The  Rock  Island  case 
would  not  be  decided  until  the  Supreme  Court  acted. 

The  Supreme  Court  decisions  in  the  Western  Pacific  and 
Milwaukee  proceedings  were  handed  down  on  March  15, 
1942.  The  plans  as  certified  by  the  lower  courts  were  upheld. 
The  Commission's  valuation  of  the  companies  and  the  cap- 
italization as  proposed  got  the  Supreme  Court's  sanction. 
Changed  circumstances  brought  about  by  wartime  earnings 


250        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

were  not  sufficient,  the  Supreme  Court  held,  to  upset  the 
judgment  of  the  Commission  as  to  proper  capitahzation. 

It  was  a  blow  to  the  hopes  of  the  Rock  Island's  debtor 
corporation. 

Ten  days  later,  on  March  25,  1942,  James  E.  Gorman  died 
at  the  age  of  78.  High  tribute  was  paid  by  his  associates  on  the 
Rock  Island  Board  to  his  "amazing  knowledge  of  traffic  and 
transportation  matters."  He  was  praised  for  his  "patience, 
courtesy  and  kindliness."  His  friends  in  transportation,  in- 
dustry, and  commerce,  numbered  literally  in  the  thousands, 
mourned  his  passing. 

Judge  Igoe  decided  not  to  name  a  trustee  to  replace  Gor- 
man. Durham  had  now  only  Joe  Fleming  and  Frank  Lowden 
to  work  with  under  the  direction  of  the  court.  Lowden  was 
81  years  old  and  was  failing. 

With  the  death  of  Gorman,  Edward  N.  Brown  took  over 
the  post  as  president  of  the  debtor  corporation  in  addition  to 
his  duties  as  chairman  of  the  board.  He  was  determined  to 
keep  fighting  to  the  last  ditch  to  protect  the  equity  of  the 
stockholders  in  the  Rock  Island  reorganization,  no  matter 
how  many  years  it  might  take. 

As  summer  approached  and  the  war-actuated  pace  of  com- 
merce and  industry  quickened,  the  Rock  Island  appeared  to 
be  in  for  a  good  year.  There  was  an  optimistic  feeling  in  some 
quarters  about  the  reorganization,  and  the  possibility  that 
before  the  year's  end  the  termination  of  the  bankruptcy  would 
be  in  sight. 

Ned  Durham  didn't  share  this  view.  He  knew  how  these 
things  worked,  and  how  court  delays  could  pile  month  upon 
month  and  year  upon  year. 

Durham  wasn't  satisfied  with  his  progress.  It  wasn't  easy  to 
deal  with  court  appointees  who  had  not  the  faintest  idea  of 
what  it  took  to  make  a  railroad  run.  Tliere  had  been  differ- 
ences of  opinion  with  the  trustees  both  as  to  expenditures  and 
procedures.  Durham  was  now  65.  For  many  years  he  had  laid 
plans  to  retire  at  that  age.  He  was  financially  independent, 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        251 

and  he  wanted  to  play  golf  and  do  a  little  gardening  and  sort 
of  let  down. 

He  had  accomplished,  in  his  tenure  of  ofhce  on  the  Rock 
Island,  far  more  than  he  had  dreamed  possible.  Much  of  it 
had  been  done  under  extreme  difficulties.  John  Farrington 
could  carry  it  on. 

Durham  decided  to  take  his  retirement.  His  resignation 
was  accepted,  effective  July  i,  and  Farrington  was  picked  to 
step  into  the  post  as  chief  executive  officer. 

Farrington  immediately  moved  Bill  Hillis  into  the  top  op- 
erating spot,  made  a  few  other  shifts  in  the  official  family 
and  took  over  complete  executive  authority  with  much  con- 
fidence but  some  qualms. 

The  monthly  increases  in  earnings  as  a  result  of  the  war 
traffic  meant  to  Farrington  that  he'd  at  last  have  cash  to  pur- 
sue his  modernization  program.  He  had  to  get  the  work  on 
the  southern  Iowa  sector  under  way  just  as  soon  as  possible. 
The  line  between  Ainsworth  and  Trenton,  Missouri,  with  its 
grades  and  curves,  simply  had  to  be  straightened  out  if  the 
Rock  Island  hoped  to  perform  at  its  best  in  the  movement  of 
the  increasing  war  freight  traffic. 

True,  the  first  segment  of  the  four-segment  line  relocation 
program  had  been  completed.  This  involved  the  building  of 
15.1  miles  of  new  railroad  between  Mercer  and  Mill  Grove, 
Missouri,  on  that  section  of  the  railroad  between  Allerton, 
Iowa,  and  Kansas  City.  Here  the  density  of  traffic  was  much 
greater  than  on  the  Chicago  line  east  of  Allerton  in  that  the 
traffic  from  and  to  the  Twin  Cities  in  addition  to  the  Chicago  - 
Kansas  City  traffic  used  this  portion  of  the  railroad. 

To  complete  the  other  three  sections  Farrington  would  need 
considerable  money,  a  lot  of  rail,  ties  and  ballast,  and  new 
signaling. 

The  deterrent  factor  in  accomplishing  what  the  Rock  Is- 
land boss  had  in  mind  lay  in  Washington.  As  the  result  of 
the  Nation's  entry  into  war,  Washington  had  already  mush- 
roomed into  a  vast  bureaucracy.  Under  President  Franklin  D. 
Roosevelt's  series  of  executive  orders  numerous  agencies  had 


252        IRONROADTOEMPIRE 

been  established  to  control  the  national  economy,  to  conserve 
the  Country's  resources,  to  restrict  and  price  the  output  and 
sale  of  consumer  goods,  and  to  designate  what  industries 
would  be  favored  with  the  allocation  of  steel  and  other  mate- 
rials essential  to  the  war  effort. 

Railroads,  in  1942,  failed  to  come  under  the  classification 
of  essential  industries,  and  the  procurement  of  rail,  steel  for 
cars  and  locomotives,  and  many  other  materials  necessary  to 
keep  wheels  turning  got  involved  in  a  wide  variety  of  Gov- 
ernment red  tape. 

Farrington  got  a  taste  of  what  Washington  was  like  when 
the  railroad  had  to  go  before  one  branch  of  the  War  Produc- 
tion Board  to  get  authorization  for  the  continuation  of  its  line 
relocation  work.  The  Rock  Island  was  accused  by  one  bureau- 
crat of  seeking  to  use  its  war  profits  to  improve  its  property 
at  the  expense  of  the  war  effort. 

The  Office  of  Defense  Transportation,  under  the  direction 
of  Commissioner  Joseph  B.  Eastman,  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission,  turned  out  a  little  better  than  most  of 
the  other  agencies  with  which  the  railroads  had  to  deal  be- 
cause Eastman  insisted  on  getting,  in  his  key  jobs,  top-caliber 
talent  to  deal  with  rail  transportation  problems. 

For  John  Farrington  and  the  Rock  Island  the  going  wasn't 
too  rough  until  Frank  Lowden  died  on  March  20,  1943.  The 
infirmities  of  his  advanced  years  had  caught  up  with  the  one- 
time governor  of  Illinois  at  his  wintering  place  at  Chandler, 
Arizona.  During  the  last  months  of  his  life  he  had  been  un- 
able to  travel,  and  it  had  been  necessary  for  the  trustees'  meet- 
ings to  be  held  at  Lowden's  Arizona  retreat. 

Joe  Fleming  was  now  alone  in  his  administration  of  Rock 
Island  affairs  and  the  Rock  Island's  chief  executive  had  no 
trouble  in  getting  along  with  this  very  shrewd  and  successful 
attorney  at  law.  Over  the  period  of  time  since  Farrington  first 
rolled  up  his  sleeves  in  the  La  Salle  Street  Station  he  had 
inspired  the  complete  confidence  of  the  trustees  and  by  now 
they  had  learned  that  the  man  they  had  in  the  driver's  seat 
knew  exactly  how  to  drive. 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        253 

Judge  Mike  Igoe,  in  the  District  Federal  Court,  announced 
on  April  19  the  appointment  of  Aaron  Colnon,  Chicago  real 
estate  operator  and  president  of  the  Fort  Dearborn  Mortgage 
Company,  as  Rock  Island  trustee  to  succeed  Lowden.  It  was 
necessary  for  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to  ratify 
this  selection. 

Pending  the  ratification  Colnon  entered  the  Rock  Island 
picture  on  May  4  to  attend  the  trustees'  meeting  and  to  shake 
hands  with  the  chief  executive  officer.  It  was  a  sort  of  get- 
acquainted  call.  Colnon  right  then  could  take  no  official  part 
in  the  matters  under  discussion. 

The  Commission's  ratification  of  Colnon's  appointment 
was  made  on  May  20,  and  the  court  order  that  made  the  ap- 
pointment final  was  entered  five  days  later.  Colnon  began 
his  official  duties  as  co-trustee  with  Joe  Fleming  at  the  May 
28  meeting  of  the  trustees,  and  that  date  marked  a  new  mile- 
stone in  Rock  Island's  hectic  history. 

Fanington  didn't  realize  it  then,  but  he  was  about  to  enter 
upon  the  roughest,  toughest  road  he  would  ever  have  to  follow. 


4iO  Big  traffic— big  trouble 


Aaron  Colnon  had  a  dominant  presence,  a  certain  charm  that 
he  could  turn  on  at  will,  a  disturbing  arrogance,  and  an  un- 
bridled determination  to  be  the  one  big  duck  on  the  pond  and 
all  the  other  ducks  had  better  understand  it. 

It  didn't  take  him  long  to  get  his  feet  thoroughly  planted 


254        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

on  the  property.  What  he  saw  was  enough  to  imbue  him  with 
a  variety  of  grandiose  ideas  that,  but  for  the  dogged  stub- 
bornness of  John  Farrington,  coupled  with  his  waiting  out 
the  unpredictable  turns  of  circumstances,  might  have  gone  a 
long  way  to  wreck  every  constructive  thing  Farrington  and 
Ned  Durham  had  accomplished. 

That  Colnon  firmly  believed  he  stood  hand  in  glove  with 
Judge  Igoe  was  demonstrated  repeatedly  in  episode  after  epi- 
sode. It  wasn't  long  before  Colnon  made  it  quite  plain  to  Trus- 
tee Joe  Fleming  that  he,  Aaron  Colnon,  was  running  the  show, 
and  that  Fleming  could  object  to  Colnon's  ideas  until  he  was 
blue  in  the  face  but  it  would  do  Fleming  no  good.  Igoe,  Col- 
non implied,  would  approve  whatever  Colnon  brought  up  in 
the  administration  of  the  railroad's  affairs— an  implication  that 
the  judge  undoubtedly  would  have  vigorously  disaffirmed. 

Before  the  end  of  1943  Farrington  had  Colnon's  measure. 
By  that  time,  too,  leaders  of  the  protective  committees  of  the 
various  creditor  groups  in  the  reorganization  proceedings  had 
generally  sized  up  the  new  trustee  and  privately  expressed 
themselves  as  not  being  too  happy  about  him.  Colnon  might 
claim  to  be  the  Federal  judge's  man  in  this  picture,  but  Farring- 
ton had  the  support  of  the  powerful  creditor  committees.  If 
Colnon  had  any  idea  that  he'd  like  to  dump  Farrington  he  was 
bright  enough  to  know  that  the  bondholders  would  appeal  the 
action  to  the  Circuit  Court  and  Farrington  would  land  right 
back  in  his  lap. 

The  next  best  thing  Colnon  could  do  to  make  things  un- 
comfortable for  the  railroad's  chief  executive  officer  was  to 
resort  to  invective  and  personal  abuse.  Maybe  Farrington 
would  get  a  bellyful  and  quit  of  his  own  accord. 

Farrington  just  wasn't  that  soft.  He  wasn't  going  to  throw 
away  seven  years  of  unbelievable  accomplishments  and  leave 
the  Rock  Island  system  to  be  manipulated  for  the  personal 
glory,  and  indirectly  for  the  private  profit,  of  any  new  set  of 
pirates.  All  he  had  to  do  was  turn  back  the  pages  of  the  rail- 
road's history  to  refresh  his  memory  of  what  had  happened 
as  the  result  of  previous  manipulator  control. 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        255 

Shortly  after  Colnon  took  office,  Judge  Igoe  entered  an  or- 
der approving  generally  the  plan  of  reorganization  which 
previously  had  been  certified  by  the  Commission.  However, 
there  were  a  couple  of  features  he  didn't  like  about  it.  He  sent 
it  back  to  the  Commission  with  a  request  for  certain  changes 
—changes  that  were  to  have  far-reaching  repercussions.  What 
the  judge  asked  for  was  authority  to  approve  or  reject  the 
reorganization  managers  who  might  be  proposed  by  the  va- 
rious creditor  groups. 

E.  N.  Brown,  representing  the  debtor  company,  promptly 
filed  objections  to  the  court's  approval  and  asked  the  Com- 
mission for  reconsideration  of  the  stockholders  who,  under 
the  plan,  were  completely  eliminated. 

The  year  1943  passed  into  the  records  on  a  rising  note  of 
tension  inside  the  trustees'  meeting  room.  From  the  operating 
and  earning  viewpoint,  John  Farrington  could  be  happy.  His 
new  and  rerolled  rail  now  extending  over  vast  stretches  of 
the  property,  his  deeper  and  heavier  ballast,  his  growing  fleet 
of  diesel  power,  his  new  car  deliveries,  all  combined  had  en- 
abled the  system  to  meet  the  increasing  demands  of  war  traffic 
and  troop  movements. 

Gross  revenues  set  a  new  record  for  the  railroad  at  $176,644,- 
685.  Military  travel  was  reflected  in  a  $15,000,000  jump  in 
passenger  revenues  over  1942's  high  of  $24,700,000.  The  short- 
age of  manpower  was  felt  seriously  in  certain  branches  of  the 
service  and  the  bars  of  maximum  age  limits  for  hiring,  that 
had  formerly  prevailed,  were  let  down. 

How  Farrington's  increased  operating  efficiencies  were  work- 
ing out  was  graphically  attested  to  by  the  fact  that  he  was 
moving,  with  a  total  of  836  locomotives  and  29,983  freight 
cars  of  all  classes,  1 5  billion  ton-miles  of  freight  as  compared 
with  1929's  record  year  of  10  billion  ton-miles  when  the  road 
operated  1,453  locomotives  and  owned  43,093  freight  cars  of 
all  types. 

The  diesel  fleet  had  now  grown  to  19  of  the  most  modern 
passenger  locomotives  and  82  switchers,  and  their  economy  of 
operation  spurred  the  chief  executive  to  planning  further  in- 


256        IRONROADTOEMPIRE 

creases  in  this  type  of  power.  He  planned  for  the  day  when 
the  diesel  would  supplant  steam  entirely,  but  that  would  be 
long  in  the  future. 

The  way  was  cleared  for  the  line-shortening  project  be- 
tween Perlee  and  Eldon,  Iowa.  Here  the  ground  was  broken 
for  construction  of  20.74  n^i^^s  of  new  railroad  that  would 
shorten  the  present  line  by  almost  4  miles,  reduce  the  ruling 
grade  of  1.6  percent  to  0.6  percent,  and  eliminate  560  degrees 
of  time-consuming,  tonnage-restricting  curves. 

Farrington  could  do  nothing  to  add  to  his  streamlined  pas- 
senger equipment  which,  as  of  the  end  of  1942,  stood  at  52 
cars  of  various  classes.  The  OfSce  of  Defense  Transportation 
had  cracked  down  on  the  allocation  of  steel  for  cars  of  this 
type.  There  was  now  in  service  in  addition  to  the  Peoria,  Des 
Moines,  Rocky  Mountain,  Twin  Cities,  and  Texas  Rocket 
runs,  the  Choctaw  Rocket  between  Memphis  and  Amarillo, 
and  the  Zephyr  Rocket  between  St.  Louis  and  the  Twin 
Cities  in  connection  with  the  Burlington. 

Any  further  extension  of  streamlined  passenger  service 
would  have  to  be  deferred  until  after  the  war  unless  the  Gov- 
ernment had  a  change  of  heart  on  the  equipment  restrictions. 

There  was  nothing,  however,  to  prevent  the  Rock  Island's 
chief  executive  from  turning  his  attention  to  dieselizing  his 
principal  main-line  freight  runs.  Accordingly,  he  got  the  agree- 
ment of  the  trustees  in  May,  1944,  to  go  to  the  court  for  an 
order  authorizing  the  purchase  of  nine  diesel  freight  locomo- 
tives and  10  modern  4-8-4  steam  locomotives.  These  together 
with  an  order  for  500  new  steel  box  cars  would  cost  $5,900,000 
and  would  be  handled  with  cash  and  equipment  trust  notes. 

The  whole  program  of  planned  progress  by  now  had  become 
a  subject  of  national  interest.  Most  interested  was  Henry 
Luce's  Fortune  magazine.  The  editorial  board  decided  that  in 
the  revived  Rock  Island  there  must  be  one  whale  of  a  story. 
Accordingly,  Gilbert  Burck,  one  of  Luce's  top  writers  and 
editors,  was  assigned  to  cover  the  Rock  Island  property,  inter- 
view Farrington,  dig  into  the  history,  and  see  what  he  could 
make  of  it. 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        257 

The  story  "Rock  Island  Revived"  broke  in  the  December, 
1944,  issue  of  Fortune,  and  created  nothing  short  of  a  sensa- 
tion among  railroad  analysts,  investors,  banking  houses,  in- 
dustrialists, and  employees. 

However,  the  publicity  didn't  help  Farrington  in  the 
growing  rift  between  him  and  Trustee  Aaron  Colnon. 

But  Colnon  by  now  had  developed  certain  ideas  of  his  own, 
which,  if  they  worked,  would  eventually  cut  Farrington  down 
to  the  size  that  Colnon  thought  he  should  be.  Colnon's 
schemes  were  worked  around  the  Commission's  reorganiza- 
tion plan. 

This  plan,  modified  as  Judge  Igoe  had  insisted,  was  again 
certified  to  the  court,  and  Igoe  held  the  final  hearings  on  it  on 
June  23,  1944,  after  which  he  took  it  under  further  advise- 
ment. 

The  plan  stipulated  in  its  revised  form  that  the  names  of 
the  reorganization  managers  proposed  by  the  various  creditor 
groups  would  be  subject  to  ratification  by  the  court.  Igoe 
thereby  could  reject  any  person  the  creditors  proposed  if  he 
so  desired,  even  though  he  himself  could  not  actually  name 
the  managers. 

This  provision  was  enough  for  Colnon.  He  was  determined 
that  the  names  proposed  would  first  of  all  be  acceptable  to 
himself— and  the  best  way  to  accomplish  this  would  be  to  con- 
fer with  the  creditor  committees  and  "suggest"  certain  persons 
as  their  nominees,  persons  known  to  him  as  more  than  likely 
being  acceptable  to  the  judge.  Colnon's  reasoning  was  simple. 
If  he  could  get  the  reorganization  managers  he  personally 
wanted  to  see  on  the  job,  he  could  dictate  procedures.  This 
board  of  managers  would  have  the  say  as  to  the  selection  of 
a  board  of  directors.  The  directors  would  then  meet  and  elect 
officers.  It  was  no  secret  that  Colnon  wanted  to  be  either 
chairman  of  the  board,  or  president,  and  he  had  men  picked 
for  other  jobs  on  the  executive  level.  John  Farrington's  name 
was  nowhere  in  the  picture. 

Colnon  went  so  far  as  to  approach  his  co-trustee,  Joe  Flem- 
ing, with  the  suggestion  that  Fleming  could  be  vice-president 


258        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

and  general  counsel  if  he  wanted  to  cooperate  with  Colnon. 

Colnon  spent  the  fall  and  early  winter  of  1944  turning  his 
charm  on  the  protective  committee  members.  He  later  denied 
that  he  had  actually  put  certain  names  before  the  committees 
as  reorganization  managers.  But  when  the  names  came  out  and 
four  of  them  were  known  close  personal  friends  of  either  Col- 
non or  the  judge,  the  Chicago  Sun  in  one  of  a  series  of  articles 
on  the  Rock  Island  case  reported  that  an  influential  member 
of  one  of  the  large  creditor  committees  told  the  Sun,  "the 
names  of  prospective  reorganization  managers  actually  were 
forced  upon  us  in  one  of  the  most  high-handed  procedures  in 
the  history  of  railroad  reorganization." 

The  Sun,  further  quoting  an  unnamed  spokesman,  said, 
"The  obvious  inference  was  that  the  reorganization  plan 
would  not  be  approved  unless  we  agreed  in  advance  to  a  hand- 
picked  list  of  reorganization  managers  acceptable  to  the  court, 
without  the  privilege  of  exercising  our  lawful  rights  to  make 
voluntary  appointments.  The  associations  of  some  of  the  ap- 
pointees for  the  reorganization  board  with  Mr.  Colnon  or 
with  Judge  Igoe  leave  tell-tale  tracks." 

Farrington  got  through  1944  with  new  revenue  and  trafEc 
records.  The  reborn  Rock  Island  piled  up  $190,000,000  in 
gross,  of  which  $131,000,000  was  freight  and  $44,500,000  was 
passenger.  His  Perlee  -  Eldon  line  change  was  completed,  and 
across  the  muddy  Missouri,  work  was  pushing  ahead  on  a  new 
bridge  that,  with  certain  minor  operational  changes,  would 
give  the  Rock  Island  a  completely  new  entrance  into  Kansas 
City  and  enable  it  to  cut  a  full  hour  out  of  through  schedules. 
The  bridge  was  being  built  jointly  by  the  Rock  Island  and  the 
Milwaukee. 

The  big  question  that  confronted  Farrington  now  was  what 
was  going  to  happen  to  the  reorganization.  He  was  becoming 
more  and  more  impatient  with  this  long  delay. 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        259 


4^^  Widows  and  orphans 


Judge  Igoe,  after  almost  a  year  during  which  Colnon  was 
active  in  conferring  with  the  protective  committees  and  hning 
up  his  slate  of  "acceptable"  reorganization  managers,  finally 
announced  on  May  14,  1945,  his  formal  order  of  approval. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  it  was  on  June  23  of  the  previous 
year  that  he  had  held  the  last  hearings. 

Of  course,  the  first  thing  Edward  N.  Brown,  chairman  of 
the  debtor  corporation  did  was  file  an  appeal  in  the  Circuit 
Court  to  set  aside  Igoe's  approval  of  the  plan.  He  was  aided 
in  this  move  by  the  preferred-stock  committee. 

There  the  matter  stood,  insofar  as  the  reorganization  was 
concerned,  through  the  remainder  of  1945.  But  on  August 
28,  Colnon,  just  to  show  the  creditors  that  he  was  on  their 
side,  and  that  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  having  gone  along 
with  him  in  the  matter  of  reorganization  managers,  petitioned 
the  court  for  authority  to  pay,  out  of  treasury  cash,  $34,279,- 
750  to  the  bondholders.  The  distribution  of  this  sum  was 
provided  for  in  the  reorganization  plan,  but  only  at  the  time 
of  consummation.  What  Colnon  asked  for,  and  got,  was  the 
authority  to  jump  the  gun  in  a  grandstand  play  to  make  the 
distribution  in  advance. 

The  new  bridge  across  the  Missouri  and  4.42  miles  of  new 
line  from  Birmingham  across  the  bridge  to  a  connection  with 
the  Kansas  City  Terminal  Railway  were  completed  in  June. 
It  was  named  after  Harry  S.  Truman,  who  had  succeeded  the 
deceased  F,  D.  R.  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  The 


260        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

span  was  constructed  at  a  total  cost  of  $3,500,000,  of  which 
the  Rock  Island  shared  half  with  the  Milwaukee. 

The  bridge  was  another  engineering  triumph  for  John  Far- 
rington.  It  meant  that  no  more  would  Rock  Island's  passenger 
trains  have  to  be  turned  completely  in  the  Kansas  City  termi- 
nal to  get  into  or  out  of  that  Union  Station. 

Impatient  with  waiting  until  new  equipment  could  be  or- 
dered to  make  up  another  topnotch  Rocket  train  for  through 
Twin  Cities -Texas  service,  Farrington  pieced  together  such 
cars  as  he  could— some  streamlined  and  some  conventional  with 
new  dress,  and  inaugurated  the  now-famous  Twin  Star  Rocket 
between  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul,  and  Houston. 

A  new  rail  re-laying  policy  was  adopted  by  which  131-pound 
rail  would  be  put  down  in  areas  of  the  greatest  density  of 
traffic.  With  the  launching  of  this  program  the  use  of  112- 
pound  steel  in  main  lines  generally  continued  and  another 
229  miles  of  this  new  steel  went  into  the  1945  re-lays. 

Not  to  be  overlooked  in  Farrington's  progressive  planning 
was  the  ever-increasing  mileage  of  automatic  block  signals  and 
centralized  trafhc  control.  At  the  time  Farrington  first  came 
to  the  property,  this  particular  improvement  had  been  sadly 
neglected.  There  was  but  191.20  miles  of  CTC  on  the  railroad 
and  the  block  signals  covered  but  1,266.48  miles.  Now  the 
block  signaling  system  extended  over  2,061  miles  of  main  line 
and  the  highly  efficient  centralized  trafBc  control  was  in  serv- 
ice on  both  double-  and  single-track  operations  to  the  extent 
of  428.5  miles. 

The  chief  executive,  in  his  planning,  had  overlooked  noth- 
ing in  the  way  of  up-to-the-minute  technological  advances  to 
make  this  railroad  second  to  none  in  its  territory,  and  cer- 
tainly on  a  par  with  any  major  system  in  the  United  States. 

But  there  were  many  things  beyond  his  control— things  that 
the  trustee  Colnon,  with  the  approval  of  the  court,  made  the 
most  of.  Colnon  was  not  only  taking  a  lead  in  the  reorganiza- 
tion plans— a  function  which  as  a  trustee  he  had  no  business 
assuming— but  in  taking  the  purchase  of  materials  and  sup- 
plies out  of  the  railroad's  long-established  policy  of  competi- 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        261 

tive  bidding,  and  awarding  juicy  contracts  to  his  personal 
friends. 

As  an  example,  Colnon  arbitrarily  took  the  railroad's  in- 
surance contract  away  from  the  Baltimore  firm  of  Alexander 
and  Alexander,  which  had  won  it  on  competitive  bidding  over 
a  period  of  years,  and  appointed  the  Chicago  firm  of  Marsh 
and  McLennon  as  sole  agent  for  the  Rock  Island's  insurance 
business.  Colnon  acknowledged  that  the  head  of  the  firm 
was  a  close  personal  friend  of  his  and  had  solicited  the  busi- 
ness shortly  after  Colnon  was  appointed  a  trustee.  Another 
friend,  Ivo  Buddeke,  according  to  Colnon,  solicited  him  at 
the  same  time,  but  Colnon  felt  Buddeke's  organization  would 
be  unable  to  handle  the  contract. 

"As  the  court  record  shows,"  Colnon  told  the  Chicago  Sun, 
"I  got  an  order  from  Judge  Igoe  appointing  Marsh  and  Mc- 
Lennon sole  agent  for  Rock  Island  insurance  and  I  fixed  it 
with  them  to  give  Buddeke  part  of  the  commissions  as  a  per- 
sonal favor  to  me  because  of  my  friendship  with  Buddeke. 
I  don't  know  whether  he  does  anything  for  Marsh  and  Mc- 
Lennon in  connection  with  Rock  Island  insurance,  but  I 
know  they  give  him  only  a  small  cut  out  of  their  commissions." 

Colnon  pooh-poohed  the  idea  of  competitive  bidding  inso- 
far as  insurance  was  concerned  and  called  such  a  procedure 
outmoded.  His  procedure  added  about  $25,000  to  Rock  Is- 
land's 1945  insurance  costs. 

This  trustee's  high-handed  distribution  of  patronage  ex- 
tended into  several  important  railway-supply  fields  and  Colnon 
crassly  demanded  to  know  why  he  should  not  favor  his  friends 
wherever  he  could.  He  insisted  that  he  favored  no  one  unless 
the  price  of  the  commodity  in  question  was  right. 

All  through  the  transportation  industr}^  as  Rock  Island 
reached  new  earning  heights  at  the  close  of  1945,  the  dissen- 
sion inside  the  trustee  situation  on  the  Rock  Island  was  a 
subject  of  much  discussion.  Trustee  Joe  Fleming  stood  by 
Farrington,  and  Colnon  sneered  at  them  both.  The  question 
was,  how  long  can  John  Farrington  run  his  railroad  and  still 
take  that  abuse? 


262        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Rock  Island's  $192,000,000  gross  for  1945,  a  new  high,  re- 
flected a  $3,500,000  increase  in  freight  revenue. 

Victory  over  Germany,  and  then  VJ  Day's  wild  climax  saw 
the  end  of  the  shooting  war,  and  almost  at  once  passenger 
revenues  suffered  from  the  sharp  cutback  in  military  move- 
ments. 

Now,  as  1946  dawned,  Farrington  should  be  able  to  turn  his 
attention  to  the  property,  determine  what  effects  the  bang  and 
rattle,  and  the  wear  and  tear,  occasioned  by  the  extraordinary 
demands,  war  trafhc  had  made  on  road  and  equipment.  He 
was  thinking  of  postwar  progress.  He  was  tense  and  on  edge 
over  the  delays  to  the  property's  reorganization. 

Then,  as  if  he  didn't  have  troubles  enough,  something  grim 
and  ominous  was  taking  shape  in  Washington  that,  if  success- 
ful, might  keep  this  railroad  and  other  bankrupt  properties 
in  the  hands  of  the  courts  forever. 

It  had  started  in  a  previous  session  of  Congress  when  a 
charming  and  lovable  old  ex-judge,  Sam  Hobbs,  who  for  years 
had  represented  the  Fourth  Congressional  District  of  Alabama, 
and  who  on  more  than  one  occasion  had  shown  himself  to  be 
friendly  to  the  railroads,  began  to  worry  audibly  about  widows 
and  orphans.  Somebody  implanted  in  Sam's  mind  the  idea  that 
stocks  in  bankrupt  railroads  were  held  mainly  by  forlorn  and 
bereaved  old  ladies,  or  parentless  children,  whose  very  bread 
and  butter  and  book  learning  depended  solely  upon  the  divi- 
dends paid. 

Sam  tried  to  save  these  unfortunate  people  from  a  sad  fate 
by  drawing  up  a  bill  that  would  change  the  application  of  the 
bankruptcy  laws  insofar  as  railroads  were  concerned.  Sam's 
bill,  while  not  very  strong  or  clear  in  itself,  was  a  sort  of  trial 
balloon.  If  enough  legislators  started  to  worry  about  the 
widows  and  orphans  something  really  concrete  might  be  done 
with  legislation  that  would  take  these  bankrupt  railroads  out 
of  Section  77's  provisions. 

The  concrete  was  poured  by  Burton  K.  Wheeler,  then 
Democratic  senior  senator  from  the  great  and  good  state  of 
Montana.  Wheeler  late  in  1945  dumped  a  bill  into  the  hop- 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION         263 

per  designated  as  S.1253.  The  purpose  of  the  legislation  was 
to  nullify  pending  plans  of  reorganization  of  bankrupt  rail- 
roads, as  developed  by  the  Commission,  return  these  proper- 
ties to  the  stockholders,  put  the  functions  of  management 
back  in  the  hands  of  the  debtor  corporations,  and  allow  the 
stockholders  under  court  supen-ision  to  work  out  their  own 
reorganization  with  the  various  creditor  groups. 

War  earnings  on  most  railroads  now  in  the  hands  of  the 
Federal  courts,  Wheeler  reasoned,  had  proved  sufficient  to 
give  the  stock  issues,  declared  without  cquit\-  bv  the  Commis- 
sion, full  reinstatement. 

WTieeler,  chairman  in  the  79th  Congress  of  the  Senate 
Interstate  Commerce  Committee,  scheduled  hearings  on  the 
bill  in  the  spring  of  1046.  The  hue  and  crv  went  around 
Capitol  Hill  that  ever\thing  must  be  done  for  the  widov.-s  and 
orphans. 

During  the  hearings  it  developed  that  the  main  widow  and 
orphan  in  the  picture  were  Robert  R.  Young  and  his  Alleghanv 
Corporation.  Young,  who  in  1932  had  outsmarted  the  Morgan 
banking  firm  and  the  Guarantv  Trust  Companv,  of  New  York, 
to  gain  control  of  Alleghanv,  had  gathered  in  with  the  other 
cats  and  dogs  in  the  package  the  majoritv  of  the  Missouri 
Pacific's  common  stock.  Since  Young  had  picked  up  Alleghany 
v.ith  an  investment  of  onlv  slightlv  more  than  83,500,000  it 
was  prettv  certain  that  the  apportionment  of  this  outlav  to 
Missouri  Pacific  common  represented  no  more  than  a  few 
cents  a  share. 

Young  appeared  personallv  to  testifv  and  so  did  Alleghan\-'s 
general  counsel.  Witnesses  were  gathered  up  from  all  over  the 
countrv,  most  of  them  pleading  for  widows  and  orphans  who 
didn't  exist. 

Senator  Clvde  Reed,  Republican  of  Kansas,  was  the  ranking 
minorit\-  member  of  the  Senate  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mittee and  "^at  in  on  most  of  the  hearings.  He  wasn't  too  much 
in  favor  of  S.1253  because  it  would  upset  the  reorganization 
of  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  which,  at  that  time,  seemed  to 
be  about  readv  to  come  out  of  the  wringer.  Senator  Ed  C. 


264        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

Johnson,  of  Colorado,  an  astute  Democrat,  held  the  same 
views. 

Wheeler  saw  that  unless  he  made  a  deal  with  Reed  and 
Johnson  to  get  an  amendment  into  the  bill  that  would  elimi- 
nate the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande,  these  two  gentlemen  would 
make  a  lot  of  trouble  on  the  Senate  floor. 

Attorneys  representing  a  wide  variety  of  railroad  creditors 
appeared  against  the  measure. 

While  the  hearings  progressed  in  Washington,  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  in  Chicago,  on  May  23,  1946, 
aErmed  Judge  Igoe's  approval  of  the  Commission's  reorgan- 
ization plan.  Immediately  the  debtor  corporation  applied  to 
the  Supreme  Court  for  a  writ  of  certorari.  This  was  promptly 
denied. 

During  the  period  in  which  the  plan  was  before  the  Appel- 
late Court,  a  ballot  was  taken  among  all  classes  of  Rock  Island 
creditors.  When  the  results  were  tabulated  it  was  shown  that 
all  groups,  with  the  exception  of  the  holders  of  the  convertibles 
and  the  Hot  Springs  and  Western  (subsidiary)  bonds,  were  in 
favor  of  the  confirmation  of  the  plan. 

Igoe  held  hearings  to  determine  whether  the  plan  should 
be  allowed  to  go  through,  despite  the  two  groups  that  opposed 
it,  and  counsel  for  the  debtor  made  a  strong  plea  against  con- 
firmation. 

Before  Igoe  rendered  a  decision,  the  Senate,  on  June  15, 
1946,  passed  on  a  voice  vote  the  Wheeler  Bill.  Ed  Johnson 
got  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  exempted  from  its  provisions 
and  the  bill  promptly  went  to  the  House. 

Less  than  two  weeks  later— on  June  28— while  the  Wheeler 
Bill  and  the  House  version  of  this  legislation  awaited  the 
House  action,  Igoe  did  a  turn-about-face  and  signed  the  order 
proposed  by  the  debtor  corporation  denying  confirmation  of 
the  reorganization  plan.  He  referred  it  back  to  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  for  reconsideration  in  the  light  of 
recent  earnings. 

The  Commission  told  the  various  Rock  Island  groups  that 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        265 

they  would  have  until  September  14  to  file  new  plans,  and 
hearings  would  start  on  September  24. 

The  senior  bondholders  went  once  more  to  the  Court  of 
Appeals  to  have  Igoe's  most  recent  ruling  set  aside,  and  the 
plan  ordered  confirmed. 

The  House,  in  Washington,  passed  a  conference  com- 
promise of  the  Wheeler  Bill  in  July  and  it  went  to  the  Presi- 
dent for  signature.  The  legislation  came  in  the  last  minute 
rush  to  close  up  the  79th  Congress  so  that  its  members  could 
get  back  to  the  bushes  for  campaigning. 

When  President  Truman  got  around  to  consideration  of 
Burt  Wheeler's  railroad  reorganization  bill,  early  in  August, 
1946,  John  Snyder,  his  Secretar}^  of  the  Treasur}',  advised  him 
against  signing  on  the  grounds  that  the  impact  of  such  a  law 
on  railroad  credit  would  be  extremely  serious.  The  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  also  advised  in  favor  of  a  veto. 

But  the  death  knell  was  sounded  by  Representative  Francis 
Walter,  Democrat  of  Pennsylvania,  who  had  been  bitterly 
opposed  to  such  legislation.  Walter  called  the  President  by 
telephone,  called  the  bill  scandalous,  and  purportedly  told 
Truman  that  if  it  were  made  into  law  by  his  signature  it 
might  very  well  cause  an  investigation  of  Democratic  con- 
gressmen—and the  party,  at  this  time,  with  a  new  congress 
to  be  elected  in  the  fall,  certainly  couldn't  stand  another 
national  scandal. 

Truman  vetoed  the  bill.  The  President  said  he  wasn't  op- 
posed to  the  basic  principle  of  the  legislation  but,  in  its  present 
form,  he  didn't  like  the  "limitations  and  discriminations"  it 
contained.  He  made  it  clear  that  he  did  not  necessarily  favor 
any  of  the  reorganization  plans  of  the  various  bankrupt  rail- 
roads as  projected  by  the  Commission.  He  told  the  bill's 
proponents  that  he  hoped  they  would  work  out  a  better  bill 
in  the  next  session. 

With  Igoe's  action  in  returning  the  proposed  plan  for  the 
Rock  Island  to  the  Commission,  and  in  view  of  further  pos- 
sible legislative  action,  the  creditor  groups  who  had  gone  along 
with  the  trustee  Colnon  on  his  proposed  board  of  reorganiza- 


266         IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

tion  managers  now  revoked  the  nominations.  If  and  when 
this  plan  might  final)/  get  confirmation  the  board  of  managers 
would  certainly  be  a  quite  different  group— a  group  of  the 
creditors'  own  choosing, 

Colnon,  meanwhile,  became  more  and  more  interested  in 
the  future  of  legislative  activity.  He  apparently  figured  that 
Young's  Alleghany  Corporation  would  be  a  good  ally  in  the 
event  a  bill  similar  to  Burt  Wheeler's  work  of  art  could  be 
drawn— one  that  would  have  Truman's  sanction.  Colnon 
would  move  heaven  and  earth  to  keep  a  spot  for  himself  in 
the  Rock  Island's  future  affairs  where  he  could  hold  a  whip 
hand.  He  considered  the  Commission's  plan,  formerly  ap- 
proved by  Igoe  and  then  returned  to  the  Commission,  com- 
pletely dead  despite  the  fact  that  the  Court  of  Appeals  had 
made  no  ruling  on  the  judge's  refusal  to  confirm  the  plan. 

Thus,  while  a  decision  was  pending  in  the  Circuit  Court, 
Colnon  filed  with  Judge  Igoe,  on  September  30,  1946,  a  plan 
of  his  own.  Under  his  proposal  he  would  retire  divisional 
mortgages  by  using  cash  in  the  treasury  to  buy  in  the  St.  Paul 
and  Kansas  City  Short  Line  bonds  at  $635  per  $1,000  bond; 
the  Rock  Island,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  bonds  at  $740;  Bur- 
lington, Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern  at  $580;  and  Choctaw  at 
full  $1,000  value.  His  way  of  dividing  up  $32,000,000  of 
treasury  cash  for  these  issues  meant  that  he  would  ofiFer  for 
them  from  $220  to  $335  per  $1,000  bond  more  than  they 
were  selling  for  in  the  market,  which  apparently  made  some 
sort  of  sense  to  Colnon  although  it  made  no  sense  to  any- 
body else. 

Colnon  said  he  was  offering  his  plan  "as  an  aid  to  the  In- 
terstate Commerce  Commission  in  formulating  whatever  new 
plan"  it  might  have  in  mind. 

When  Colnon  went  before  the  Court  on  November  1  to 
argue  for  his  proposal  he  found  Attorneys  Wilkie  Bushby  and 
Edward  Bourne,  of  New  York,  representing  the  principal 
creditor  groups,  all  lined  up  to  fight  him. 

Others  in  the  argument  were  the  preferred  stockholders 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        267 

and  the  debtor  corporation.  They  each  had  their  plans  which 
they  pleaded  should  be  given  further  consideration. 

Bushby  and  Bourne  argued  that  Igoe  had  no  authority  to 
consider  Colnon's  plan  or  any  other  proposals.  They  stood  on 
the  ground  that  Igoe's  order  of  June  28  returning  the  once- 
approved  plan  to  the  Commission  had  been  appealed  to  the 
Circuit  Court  and  that  until  such  appeal  should  be  decided 
nothing  in  the  way  of  a  new  plan  had  any  right  to  be  con- 
sidered. 

Colnon  denied  that  his  proposal  actually  was  a  new  re- 
organization plan,  insisting  it  was  merely  a  set  of  suggestions 
to  guide  the  Commission.  He  wanted  authority  from  Igoe  to 
submit  his  proposal  to  the  creditors  for  a  vote.  He  charged 
that  the  groups  represented  by  Bushby  and  Bourne  had  one 
interest  only,  and  that  was  getting  control  of  the  railroad  for 
the  big  insurance  companies  and  savings  banks.  He  accused 
the  creditors  of  bad  faith. 

Bourne  unloaded  on  Colnon  with  the  statement  that  inso- 
far as  the  general  mortgage  bondholders  had  anv  power  to 
designate  reorganization  managers  "the  only  objective  is  to 
have  a  management  that  will  preserve  and  command  respect. 

"If  Colnon  thinks  we  are  concerned  over  his  control  over 
the  Rock  Island,  he  is  entirelv  right!" 

Robert  Purcell,  chief  counsel  for  Robert  Young's  widow  and 
orphan,  the  Alleghany  Corporation,  sided  in  with  Colnon  and 
his  ideas.  As  Judge  Igoe  announced  he  would  take  the  plans 
under  advisement,  Colnon  was  certain  that  he,  with  Alleghany 
support,  was  firmly  and  unassailably  entrenched  in  a  big-league 
operation. 

Meanwhile  what  was  happening  to  the  Rock  Island  rail- 
road? By  the  middle  of  1946  the  postwar  recession  was  being 
acutely  felt.  Freight  revenues  were  dropping  off  steadily  and 
passenger  receipts  were  declining  sharply.  Those  things  were 
to  be  expected. 

With  Government  restrictions  lifted,  Farrington  bought 
10  more  of  the  big  5100-series  freight  locomotives  of  the  4-8-4 
class.  He  bought  7  more  diesel  passenger  engines  and  4  ad- 


268        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

ditional  diesel  freight  haulers.  He  added  24  hghtweight  sleep- 
ing cars  to  his  streamlined  equipment  and  500  additional 
all-steel  box  cars  to  his  freight-car  ownership. 

The  diesel  fleet  had  now  grown  to  137  locomotives,  of 
which  16  were  in  freight  service,  26  in  passenger  service,  and 
95  in  switching  work. 

In  the  big  Iowa  line  relocation  program,  the  year  1945  had 
seen  completed  the  21-mile  segment  between  a  point  east 
of  Paris  westward  to  Center\ille.  This  shortened  the  main 
line  by  3.93  miles  and  reduced  the  grade  from  1  percent  to 
0.50  percent.  This  was  followed  immediately  in  1946  by 
work  on  the  next  segment  east  from  Paris  to  Floris  with  a 
grade  reduction  from  1.40  percent  to  0.50  percent.  Curves 
of  1,204  degrees  were  cut  out  and  the  line  shortened  1.37 
miles.  Construction  got  under  way  on  the  final  section  in  the 
program  between  Brighton  and  Ainsworth. 

With  Farrington  there  was  no  letup  to  the  progressive  im- 
provements. He  knew  that  this  1946  postwar  slump  would  not 
last  long.  Industry  was  busy  re-tooling  to  supply  the  needs  of 
the  consumers  of  the  nation  who  so  long  had  had  to  defer 
such  things  as  new  cars,  refrigerators,  radios,  home  appliances, 
and  other  items  of  both  necessity  and  luxury.  Once  the  peace- 
time economy  got  adjusted,  Farrington  was  sure,  the  Rock 
Island,  along  with  its  neighbors,  would  have  plenty  of  busi- 
ness. He  wanted  his  entire  railroad  in  top  physical  condition 
to  meet  the  flow  of  traffic. 

Before  the  end  of  1946  his  modern  coach  shop  and  yard 
at  47th  Street,  Chicago,  were  completed,  and  the  research 
laborator}'  nearby  was  getting  its  finishing  touches.  This  lat- 
ter facility  was  being  equipped  with  the  last  word  in  all  sorts 
of  testing  machines  that  would  tell  an  accurate  story  on  the 
many  varieties  of  materials  and  devices  that  went  into  modern 
railroad  construction  and  maintenance. 

Freight  business  dropped  13  percent  and  passenger  business 
was  off  30  percent  as  compared  with  1945.  The  drop  in  gross 
from  $192,000,000  to  $159,900,000  didn't  bother  John  Far- 
rington too  much. 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        269 

What  did  bother  him  was  this  business  of  facing  another 
year  of  uncertainties  insofar  as  the  reorganization  was  con- 
cerned. He  was  increasingly  discouraged  over  the  court  delays 
and  certainly  he  was  taking  more  than  seemed  possible  in  the 
nature  of  personal  abuse  from  the  trustee  Colnon. 


^3  Solid  track  at  last 


January,  1947,  ushered  in  for  the  Rock  Island  a  year  of  crises. 

The  new  80th  Congress  met  and  organized  with  Republican 
majorities  in  both  houses.  How  would  this  overturn  in  political 
control  affect  the  railroads  still  in  the  bankruptcy  courts? 
Subsequent  to  the  veto  of  the  Wheeler  Bill,  the  Frisco  and 
the  Seaboard  had  gotten  out  of  the  hands  of  the  courts 
through  final  consummation  of  their  respective  reorganiza- 
tions. 

Of  the  major  properties  left  there  were  the  Rock  Island, 
the  New  Haven,  and  the  Missouri  Pacific.  The  Denver  and 
Rio  Grande  was  on  the  verge  of  getting  out.  Would  pro- 
ponents of  legislation  similar  to  the  Wheeler  Bill  consider 
the  game  had  stakes  high  enough  to  fight  on? 

The  answer  came  quickly.  Robert  R.  Young  and  Orphan 
Alleghany  pulled  the  strings.  Alleghany  now  had  a  sizeable 
amount  of  Rock  Island  bonds  and  how  much  of  the  old  com- 
mon stock  nobody  knew.  It  was  rumored  that  Young  had 
picked  up  a  lot  of  it,  and  that  it  was  being  held  in  blocks 


270        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

by  brokers.  You  couldn't  pin  it  down.  The  rumors  said  he'd 
bought  the  stock  for  as  httle  as  25  cents  a  share. 

The  decisive  defeat  of  Burt  Wheeler  in  the  Montana  elec- 
tions where  the  voters  replaced  him  in  the  Senate  with  Zales 
Ecton,  Republican,  brought  no  solace  to  the  opponents  of 
reorganization  legislation.  Wheeler  promptly  moved  into 
Washington,  opened  a  law  firm  with  his  son,  Eddie,  and  took 
over  representation  of  the  Robert  R.  Young  interests. 

Chauncey  Reed,  Republican  representative  from  West  Chi- 
cago, Illinois,  who  had  steered  the  compromise  version  of  the 
Wheeler  Bill  through  the  House  in  the  closing  days  of  the 
79th  Congress,  began  drafting  a  new  piece  of  legislation  that 
was  to  become  known  as  the  Reed  Bill.  Over  on  the  Senate 
side  he  had  solidly  lined  up  with  him  Clyde  Reed,  of  Kansas; 
Tobey,  of  New  Hampshire;  Tom  Stewart,  Democrat  of  Ten- 
nessee; and  four  other  members  of  that  party  on  the  powerful 
Senate  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce  Committee.  Wal- 
lace White,  of  Maine,  was  the  chairman,  and  noncommittal. 

Reed,  of  Illinois,  high  ranking  on  the  House  Judiciary  Com- 
mittee which,  in  1947,  would  launch  the  bill,  conferred  with 
the  White  House.  He  was  determined  that  before  he  put 
the  bill  in  the  hopper  he  would  be  sure  of  President  Truman's 
support.  Backstage,  Burt  Wheeler  was  wielding  a  mighty 
hand. 

Farrington,  in  Chicago,  had  little  hope  but  that  there  would 
ensue  more  court  delays  in  the  Rock  Island  case,  since  the 
trustee  Colnon  already  was  laying  plans  to  go  to  Washington, 
if  he  got  a  chance,  and  there  to  testify  in  favor  of  whatever 
legislation  Chauncey  Reed  would  concoct. 

The  tension  mounted.  Here  was  a  case  where  the  chief 
executive  officer  of  the  Rock  Island,  determined  to  save  his 
railroad  physically  and  financially,  was  in  sharp  opposition  to 
a  trustee  who  had  pitched  his  lot  with  groups  of  speculators 
in  a  drive  to  control  the  property.  And  speculators,  they  were. 
In  early  1947  less  than  10  percent  of  the  old  stock  of  the 
Rock  Island  was  held  by  the  original  owners.  It  had  sold  in 
lots  of  thousands  for  as  little  as  a  dime  a  share,  according  to 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        271 

experts  in  the  field.  Whatever  widows  and  orphans  there 
might  have  been,  they  long  ago  had  parted  with  their  hold- 
ings. 

In  Chicago,  on  January'  30,  1947,  the  Circuit  Court  of  Ap- 
peals held  hearings  on  the  plea  of  the  senior  creditors  in  the 
Rock  Island  case  to  overturn  Judge  Igoe's  refusal  to  confirm 
the  Commission  plan.  The  Circuit  Court  also  heard  argu- 
ments on  appeals  from  the  Igoe  order  permitting  the  trustee 
Colnon  to  submit  his  own  proposals  to  the  security  holders 
for  a  vote. 

Alleghany's  counsel  asked  permission  to  intervene  as  a 
friend  of  the  court  in  support  of  Igoe's  refusal  to  confirm. 
Again  Edward  Bourne  and  Wilkie  Bushbv  appeared  for  the 
senior  creditors  and  pleaded  that  the  Colnon  plan  violated 
the  Bankruptcy  Act.  Sherman  Minton,  one  of  the  three 
judges  hearing  the  arguments,  commented  that  the  Rock  Is- 
land, along  with  other  lines,  all  were  once  over-capitalized 
and  "full  of  water." 

"Now,"  said  Minton,  "when  we  want  to  take  a  little  of  the 
water  out,  the  fellows  who  own  the  water  want  to  pump  it 
,back  in." 

The  result  of  the  Circuit  Court's  deliberations  came  on 
February  21.  Igoe  was  ordered  to  confirm  immediately  the 
plan  that  he  had  returned  to  the  Commission,  and  to  vacate 
his  order  approving  Aaron  Colnon's  recapitalization  plan. 

Once  again  the  hopes  of  John  Farrington  and  others  in  the 
Rock  Island  official  family  were  raised  somewhat,  although 
Farrington  was  conscious  of  the  many  things  impending  that 
could  bring  about  further  delay. 

Judge  Igoe  took  his  time  about  complying  with  the  Circuit 
Court's  order  to  confirm  "forthwith." 

The  creditor  groups  went  about  the  business  of  naming  a 
new  slate  of  reorganization  managers  and  taking  all  the  steps 
they  could  toward  getting  the  Rock  Island  launched  under  a 
new  corporate  structure. 

However,  it  wasn't  until  May  6,  1947,  that  the  law}'ers  in 
the  case  appeared  in  Igoe's  court  with  motions  to  confirm  the 


272        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

plan  and  to  appoint  the  reorganization  managers.  The  new 
slate  was  made  up  of  Edward  E.  Brown,  chairman  of  the 
board  of  Chicago's  First  National  Bank;  Mark  A.  Brown,  then 
vice-president  of  the  Harris  Trust  and  Savings  Bank,  Chicago; 
James  Norris,  of  Norris  Grain  Company;  and  Roy  C.  Inger- 
soll,  then  president  of  Ingersoll  Steel  and  Disc  Company. 
The  fifth  man  was  to  be  named  by  the  court.  Norris  later 
withdrew  his  name,  and  Charles  D.  Wiman,  president  of 
Deere  and  Co.,  at  Moline,  Illinois,  took  his  place. 

Igoe  blasted  the  New  York  attorneys  for  the  creditors  for 
coming  into  Chicago  and  taking  up  his  time  without  due  prior 
notice.  He  heard  the  junior  creditors  and  stockholders  plead 
for  delay  until  a  writ  of  certiorari  could  be  applied  for  in  the 
Supreme  Court.  He  then  continued  until  May  13  arguments 
on  the  reorganization. 

Meanwhile,  Chauncey  Reed,  in  the  House  in  Washington, 
brought  in  his  reorganization  bill,  designated  as  HR  3237  but 
later  reintroduced  as  HR  3980.  He  immediately  announced 
that  hearings  before  the  House  Judiciary  Committee  would 
begin  on  May  12,  and  thereby  caught  the  railroad  interests 
opposed  to  the  legislation  something  more  than  flatfooted. 

Reed  contended  that  the  committee  should  be  guided  by 
the  voluminous  amount  of  testimony  taken  the  previous  year 
on  the  Wheeler  Bill,  and  gave  every  indication  that  he  in- 
tended to  move  fast  with  his  measure.  He  admitted  that  he 
expected  considerable  opposition  and  was  prepared  to  meet  it. 

What  Representative  Reed  hadn't  figured  on  was  the  ter- 
rific opposition  leadership  that  was  to  come  from  Senator 
Albert  Hawkes,  of  New  Jersey,  from  Representative  Francis 
A.  Walter,  Pennsylvania,  a  member  of  Reed's  committee,  and 
from  Representative  Ross  Rizley,  Oklahoma,  on  the  House 
Rules  Committee. 

As  the  hearings  proceeded,  the  opposition  took  definite 
form.  This  was  intensified  by  the  series  of  events  that  built 
up  in  Judge  Igoe's  court  and  through  the  trustee  Colnon's 
activities.  Congressman  Walter  kept  a  sharp  eye  on  the  Rock 
Island  reorganization  proceedings. 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        273 

The  flame  in  Congress  grew  high  on  May  22  when  Judge 
Igoe  tossed  new  fuel  onto  the  glowing  embers.  On  that  day  the 
lawyers  for  the  creditors  appeared  in  the  Chicago  District 
Court  to  hear  the  judge  announce  that  he  was  confirming  the 
Rock  Island  plan,  but— it  would  be  strictly  on  his  terms.  He 
was  taking  unto  himself  the  right  to  appoint  three  of  the  five 
reorganization  managers.  He  told  the  law}'ers  that  the  creditors 
would  have  until  May  27  to  withdraw  the  names  of  their  nomi- 
nees, and  he  would  hold  the  next  hearing  on  May  28.  Igoe  came 
out  with  a  nine-page  opinion  attached  to  his  six-page  confirma- 
tion order. 

The  fight  started.  Ed  Bourne,  of  New  York,  blew  the  lid  off 
with  the  accusation  that  Igoe  "is  directly  interested  in  con- 
trolling the  reorganization." 

"What  you  have  said  is  untrue,"  Igoe  stormed  back  from 
the  bench.  He  then  held  Bourne  in  contempt  and  taxed  him 
with  a  hundred-dollar  fine.  Arguments  were  held  up  while 
Bourne  took  up  a  collection  in  the  courtroom  from  his  friends. 
Then  he  continued  with  his  statements. 

Igoe,  in  handing  down  his  opinion  said  the  reorganization 
managers  would  stand  in  a  fiduciary  relationship  to  all  parties 
and  should  therefore  "be  free  from  any  special  allegiance  to 
any  single  class  or  group  of  creditors." 

He  blasted  Harry  Haggerty,  vice-president  of  the  Metro- 
politan Life  Insurance  Company,  as  the  man  behind  the 
appointments  of  the  reorganization  managers  who  had  been 
proposed  by  the  creditors,  and  declared  that  the  present  nomi- 
nees would  be  serving  special  interests  rather  than  the  bond- 
holder committees  and  the  public. 

It  was  then  that  Bourne  brought  out  the  allegation  that  the 
trustee  Colnon  had  only  recently  been  in  New  York  soliciting 
a  number  of  brokerage  firms  to  join  in  the  formation  of  a  new 
bondholders'  protective  committee. 

Senator  Hawkes  followed  the  story.  He  passed  it  on  to 
others.  Francis  Walter,  in  the  House,  discussed  it  with  his 
associates.  Whispers  that  a  full-dress  Congressional  investiga- 
tion of  Judge  Igoe's  court  and  his  method  of  handling  bank- 


274        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

ruptcy  cases  was  contemplated  were  beginning  to  be  heard. 

While  the  House  Judiciary  Committee  continued  to  hear 
witnesses  on  the  Reed  Bill,  the  attorneys  for  the  Rock  Island 
creditors  stopped  Igoe  from  appointing  three  reorganization 
managers  of  his  own  choice.  On  May  27  Bourne  and  his  col- 
leagues appeared  before  the  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  and 
asked  for  a  writ  of  mandamus,  ordering  full  approval  of  the 
plan  without  Igoe's  qualifications. 

Igoe  was  ordered  by  Judge  Otto  Kerner  to  appear  before 
the  Circuit  Court  on  the  following  day  to  show  cause  why 
the  writ  should  not  be  granted. 

Meanwhile,  in  Washington,  another  fire  in  the  Rock  Is- 
land case  had  broken  out  with  the  appearance  of  the  trustee 
Colnon  before  the  House  Judiciary  Committee  in  support  of 
the  Reed  Bill.  After  more  than  two  hours  of  testimony,  Con- 
gressman Albert  Reeves,  of  Missouri,  expressed  himself  as  be- 
ing entirely  amazed  that  this  trustee  could  have  taken  upon 
himself  this  task  without  Judge  Igoe's  knowledge  and  consent. 

Reeves  and  others  summed  up  Colnon's  presentation  of 
the  Rock  Island  story  as  "confused"  and  ostensibly  filled  with 
"half  truths  or  complete  misstatements  of  the  facts."  Colnon 
used  the  personal  pronoun  "I"  as  if  no  one  else  on  the  Rock 
Island  had  any  say  in  the  management  of  the  property,  or 
had  ever  had  any  part  in  the  financial  and  operational  activi- 
ties of  the  road.  The  general  opinion  among  Chauncey  Reed's 
supporters  was  that  Colnon's  appearance  contributed  nothing 
to  aid  the  legislation,  but  a  great  deal  to  harm  it. 

The  hearings  moved  over  to  the  Senate,  and  while  they 
gathered  momentum  there.  Judge  Evan  A.  Evans,  of  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  of  Appeals,  had  before  him  a  petition  from  the 
Rock  Island  bondholders  asking  him  to  remove  Igoe  from 
the  Rock  Island  case.  Igoe,  at  the  same  time,  asked  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Senior  Judges  of  the  District 
Court  to  take  him  off  the  proceedings,  which,  after  a  brief 
discussion,  the  committee  refused  to  do. 

On  June  5,  in  Washington,  Haggerty,  of  Metropolitan,  and 
Lawyer  Bourne  were  two  chief  witnesses  against  the  Reed  Bill 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        275 

before  Senator  Reed  and  his  Senate  Interstate  and  Foreign 
Commerce  Committee.  Haggerty  spared  no  language  in  his 
charge  before  the  group  that  Igoe  and  Colnon  sought  to  con- 
trol the  Rock  Island  on  its  emergence  from  trusteeship,  and 
alleged  that  Igoe,  by  setting  himself  up  to  appoint  the  major- 
ity of  the  reorganization  managers  could,  through  Colnon, 
dictate  the  selection  of  a  board  of  directors  and  the  officers 
who  would  be  elected  to  manage  the  property. 

Nor  did  Haggerty  spare  Colnon  for  his  testimony  before 
the  House  Committee  in  support  of  this  legislation.  He  seri- 
ously questioned  the  propriety  of  a  man  appointed  by  the 
court  to  conserve  the  estate,  playing  footsie  with  supporters 
of  this  legislation. 

"In  fact,"  Haggerty  told  the  committee,  "Igoe  and  Colnon 
are  urging  legislation  to  defeat  a  plan  which  Judge  Igoe  had 
approved  and  later  refused  to  confirm  until  ordered  to  do 
so  by  the  Appeals  Court." 

Haggerty  excoriated  Robert  R.  Young  and  the  Alleghany 
Corporation  for  their  part  in  the  affair. 

"I  am  sick  and  tired,"  Haggerty  said,  "of  reading  and  listen- 
ing to  rabble-rousing  attacks,  particularly  by  Robert  Young 
and  his  associates.  We  do  not  need  Robert  Young  or  any  other 
self-appointed  guardian  to  take  care  of  the  interests  of  our 
policy-holders." 

Edward  Bourne  told  the  committee  that  "during  more  than 
25  years  of  practice  I  have  never  known  such  important  pro- 
ceedings in  any  court  in  which  there  was  such  complete  dis- 
regard of  the  law  as  there  was  in  connection  with  the  initiation 
of  Mr.  Colnon's  plan  and  its  approval  by  Judge  Igoe." 

He  charged  that  Alleghany's  principal  interest  in  Missouri 
Pacific,  Central  of  Georgia,  and  Rock  Island  reorganization 
plans  "is  to  increase  the  power  of  Alleghany  Corporation  as  a 
holding  company,  and  of  those  who  dominate  it." 

In  an  attack  on  Burton  K.  Wheeler,  the  defeated  Montana 
senator.  Bourne  pointed  to  Alleghany's  employment  of 
Wheeler's  son  in  1946  to  plug  for  the  Wheeler  Bill  at  the 
time  the  ex-senator  was  working  to  get  the  legislation  passed. 


276        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  in  Chicago  issued  its  writ  of 
mandamus  in  June,  directing  that  Igoe  confirm  the  Rock 
Island  plan  as  originally  certified  by  the  Commission.  This 
meant  that  Igoe  now  could  no  longer  delay,  nor  could  he 
have  his  say  in  appointing  the  majority  of  the  reorganization 
managers. 

As  to  the  appeal  before  Judge  Evans  in  the  Circuit  Court 
to  remove  Igoe  from  the  case,  Evans  refused.  He  said  he  did 
not  agree  that  Igoe  had  arbitrarily  delayed  the  completion  of 
the  case,  but,  about  the  trustee  Aaron  Colnon,  Judge  Evans 
said  he  "was  not  so  sure." 

"Trustee  Colnon,"  Judge  Evans  said,  "has  said  and  done 
things  which  would  justify  a  conclusion  that  he  has  been  bent 
upon  delaying  the  execution  of  the  plan  and  changing  it  to 
the  interests  of  the  junior  creditors.  Statements  of  Colnon 
which  appear  in  the  record  .  .  .  indicate  he  has  misconceived 
his  duties  and  entertained  magnified  ideas  about  the  part  he 
is  to  play  in  this  reorganization." 

Judge  Evans  criticized  certain  creditor  groups  in  which  he 
included  Alleghany  Corporation,  and  the  stockholders,  when 
he  said,  "I  received  the  impression  that  (they)  are  not  seek- 
ing to  cany  out  the  plan  of  reorganization,  but  that  they 
applaud  Trustee  Colnon  because  he  is  blocking  it  and  doing 
all  he  can  to  prevent  its  execution.  I  do  not  respect  their 
action  or  their  motive."  He  asked  the  bondholders  again  to 
urge  Judge  Igoe  to  ratify  their  appointment  of  four  of  the 
five  reorganization  managers. 

Igoe  confirmed  the  plan  in  accordance  with  the  mandamus 
on  June  26,  1947.  Immediately  thereafter  the  reorganization 
managers  took  over  their  duties  and  it  looked  as  if,  at  long 
last,  the  Rock  Island  was  on  its  way  out  of  its  tangle. 

There  was  still  the  threat  of  the  Reed  Bill,  but  most  of  its 
questionable  import  was  removed  when,  on  July  1 5,  the  House 
Judiciary  Committee  voted  12  to  11  to  report  the  bill  out 
favorably. 

Led  by  Representative  Walter,  the  minority  report  was 
written  all  through  the  hours  of  a  hot  sticky  night.  It  was 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        277 

delivered  by  Walter  to  the  printer  the  following  morning 
and  became  part  of  the  whole  committee  report  in  the  nick 
of  time. 

The  members  of  the  committee  who  had  so  doggedly  fought 
approval  of  the  bill  tried  to  assure  their  railroad  friends  that 
with  such  a  big  minority  signing  the  report  there  was  little 
chance,  if  any,  that  the  bill  would  ever  get  to  the  floor  of  the 
House. 

The  Senate  approval  came  on  July  3,  and  eight  days  later 
Senator  Hawkes  turned  in  the  Senate  Committee's  minority 
report.  Hawkes  had  6  of  the  1 3  members,  so  again  the  minority 
was  strong  against  bringing  the  bill  up  for  Senate  considera- 
tion. 

Would  it  get  to  the  floor  of  either  house?  The  first  session 
of  the  80th  Congress  was  droning  to  a  close  in  that  July  of 
1947,  and  each  day  was  a  day  of  suspense.  Finally  with  but  a 
few  days  to  go  before  the  set  day  for  adjournment,  Chauncey 
Reed,  of  Illinois,  went  before  the  House  Rules  Committee 
to  clear  the  wav  for  his  bill  to  get  to  the  floor.  Walter,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, led  the  opposition. 

No  vote  was  ever  announced.  One  member  said  that  the 
Rules  Committee  decided  to  defer  the  granting  of  a  rule. 
What  did  that  mean?  It  was  the  kiss  of  death  to  Chauncey 
Reed's  HR  3980.  Almost  at  the  same  time  the  Senate  policy 
group  decided  that  the  companion  legislation  in  the  Senate 
would  not  be  brought  to  the  floor. 

The  legislation  was  properlv  buried  on  the  early  evening 
of  July  27  when  the  first  session  of  the  80th  Congress  passed 
into  histor}^ 

Chauncey  Reed  took  the  defeat  with  a  grin.  But  not  Senator 
Clyde  Reed,  of  Kansas.  He  later  issued  a  blast  against  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  and  threatened  a  full-dress 
investigation  of  that  body. 

Meanwhile  the  application  of  the  debtor  corporation  and 
the  junior  creditors  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  a  writ  of  cer- 
tiorari was  on  the  docket.  Again  the  anxiety  began  to  mount. 
By  this  time  not  only  the  Rock  Island  officers  were  praying 


278        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

to  get  this  business  over  with,  but  the  employees  were  begin- 
ning to  wonder.  They  had  read  enough  and  heard  enough 
about  the  court  delays  and  the  congressional  maneuvers  to 
become  greatly  concerned. 

Then,  on  October  14,  a  strange  thing  happened.  With  the 
petition  for  certiorari  before  the  Supreme  Court  under  active 
consideration,  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  wrote  a 
letter  to  Supreme  Court  Justice  Vinson  in  which  it  said,  in 
effect,  that  if  it  were  the  Court's  pleasure  to  overrule  the 
Court  of  Appeals  and  reopen  the  Rock  Island  case  the  Com- 
mission would  immediately  set  it  down  for  hearings. 

It  was,  in  the  opinion  of  congressmen,  lawyers,  and  railroad 
leaders,  the  most  amazing  switch  in  the  history  of  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission.  It  was  unprecedented.  The  idea 
that  a  Government  agency  should  write  such  a  letter  to  the 
Nation's  highest  court  at  such  a  time  was  regarded  as  a  back- 
handed attempt  to  influence  a  judicial  decision.  The  Com- 
mission was  criticized  by  editorials  in  many  large  dailies  as 
having  gotten  scared  by  the  threat  of  Senator  Reed  to  in- 
vestigate it. 

The  Supreme  Court,  on  October  20,  denied  the  petition 
for  a  writ,  and  that  was  the  end  of  it  insofar  as  the  old  debtor 
corporation  was  concerned. 

John  Farrington,  guiding  the  destinies  of  the  Rock  Island 
from  his  Chicago  office,  could  now  breathe  a  little  easier. 
With  the  reorganization  managers  at  work,  all  the  legal  tech- 
nicalities should  be  completed  before  the  end  of  November 
so  that,  by  December  1,  the  new  corporation  could  take  over 
the  property. 

Things  appeared  to  be  going  more  or  less  on  schedule,  when, 
on  October  29,  the  reorganization  managers  presented  to 
Judge  Igoe  their  request  for  the  order  that  would  grant 
authority  to  file  with  the  Commission  their  application  for 
approval  of  the  new  charter,  the  mortgages,  and  all  other 
things  within  the  structure  of  the  plan.  They  also  asked  the 
Court's  approval  of  the  charter  and  by-laws  of  the  new  cor- 
poration. 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        279 

The  managers  had  filed  with  the  judge,  five  days  before, 
copies  of  all  these  documents,  so  they  expected  that  immediate 
issuance  of  the  proper  orders  would  be  but  a  mere  formality. 

The  judge  dropped  a  large  bucket  of  cold  water  on  the 
whole  proceedings  by  announcing  that  he  had  before  him  a 
telegram  from  the  Attorney  General  of  Texas,  asking  to  be 
heard  for  the  purpose  of  intervening  against  the  plan's  con- 
summation. 

Instead  of  complying  with  the  petition  of  the  managers. 
Judge  Igoe  announced  that  he  would  continue  the  case  two 
weeks  to  give  the  Texas  Attorney  General  a  chance  to  be 
heard. 

Counsel  for  the  managers  exploded.  The  thing  was  impos- 
sible. They  argued  that  the  Texas  Attorney  General  had  no 
standing  in  the  plan  to  be  heard  on  any  question.  The  judge 
wasn't  moved.  He  set  November  12  for  the  new  hearing. 

The  Assistant  Attorney  General  for  the  Lone  Star  State 
showed  up  in  court  on  the  appointed  date  and  the  matter  of 
intervention  was  argued  lustily  by  both  sides.  The  lawyers  for 
the  reorganization  managers  made  a  strong  case  that  the 
Texas  objections  had  to  do  with  matters  that  already  were 
in  the  plan  and  that  any  recognition  of  the  Texas  contentions 
would  have  the  effect  of  altering  the  plan.  Under  the  law,  the 
court  had  no  power  to  make  such  alteration. 

Despite  the  facts  in  law.  Judge  Igoe  gave  the  Texas  attorney 
10  days  in  which  to  file  a  brief,  and  the  managers  5  days  in 
which  to  answer.  The  delay  made  tempers  short.  The  whole 
thing  seemed  incredibly  preposterous. 

When,  eventually,  on  December  30,  Judge  Igoe  ruled  out 
the  position  of  the  representative  of  the  Texas  Attorney  Gen- 
eral, and  signed  the  order  consummating  the  Rock  Island 
plan,  that  gentleman  promptly  petitioned  the  Circuit  Court 
of  Appeals  for  an  order  to  stay  the  signing  over  of  the  Rock 
Island  property  to  the  new  corporation  until  such  time  as  he 
could  argue  the  merits  of  his  position. 

Tlie  machinery  had  been  set  up  to  convey  the  property  on 
January  1,  1948,  and  this  latest  move  looked  like  another 


280        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

monkey  wrench  that  without  the  least  doubt  might  have  seri- 
ous effects. 

The  suspense  was  again  at  fever  pitch  on  December  31, 
1947,  when  the  Circuit  Court,  with  three  judges  sitting,  heard 
the  arguments  on  the  Texas  position. 

Finally,  at  3  o'clock  on  that  dreary  afternoon,  the  final  break 
came.  The  circuit  judges  denied  the  Texas  request  for  a  stay. 
The  last  legal  obstacle  had  been  removed. 

The  embattled  Rock  Island,  after  15  years,  6  months  and  23 
days  in  the  hands  of  the  Federal  court  and  under  the  trying 
reorganization  proceedings,  was  at  last  on  sound  financial 
ground— was  at  last  free  to  take  its  place  as  a  solvent,  highly 
progressive  railroad  system  under  as  strong  a  management  as 
any  railroad  could  ever  know. 

The  blasting  of  whistles  and  the  ringing  of  bells  that  New 
Year's  Eve  marked  the  close  of  one  of  the  darkest  and  the 
opening  of  one  of  the  brightest  periods  in  the  system's  95 
years  of  life. 


4^4^  Bright  dawn— bright  hope 


The  Rock  Island  was  in  all  respects  a  vastly  different  railroad 
on  New  Year's  morning,  1948,  compared  with  the  property 
that  sought  the  protection  of  the  bankruptcy  court  in  that 
long-ago  June  of  1933. 

John  Farrington  took  over  as  president,  a  fitting  reward  in- 
deed for  the  long  and  sometimes  seemingly  futile  battle  he 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        281 

had  fought.  Making  up  his  board  of  directors  was  a  powerful 
group  of  business  leaders,  not  representative  of  Eastern  bank- 
ing interests  as  Judge  Igoe  had  predicted  they  would  be.  With 
the  exception  of  one,  all  had  business  interests  in  cities  located 
on  the  Rock  Island  system. 

Farrington,  as  the  new  president,  also  was  chairman  of  the 
board.  The  reorganization  managers— Edward  E.  Brown,  chair- 
man of  the  First  National  Bank,  Chicago;  Roy  Ingersoll, 
president  of  Ingersoll  Steel  Disc  Division  of  Borg- Warner, 
Chicago;  Charles  D.  Wiman,  president  of  Deere  and  Co., 
Moline;  Mark  Brown,  executive  vice-president  of  Harris  Trust 
and  Savings  Bank,  Chicago;  and  William  E.  Fay,  president 
of  the  Champion  Machiner}^  Company,  Joliet— took  their 
places  as  directors.  The  remainder  of  the  board  was  made  up 
of  Henry  Crown,  chairman  of  Material  Service  Corporation, 
Chicago;  Harry  Darby,  chairman  of  the  board,  the  Darby 
Corporation,  Kansas  City,  Kansas;  Herbert  L.  Horton,  board 
chairman  of  the  Iowa  -  Des  Moines  National  Bank  and  Trust 
Companv,  Des  Moines;  Frederick  M.  Mayer,  president.  Con- 
tinental Supply  Company,  Dallas;  Robert  McKinney,  then  a 
rancher  and  investor  of  Tucumcari,  New  Mexico;  Louis  B. 
Neumiller,  president.  Caterpillar  Tractor  Company,  Peoria; 
James  Norris,  president  of  Norris  Grain  Companv,  Chicago; 
William  F.  Peter,  vice-president  and  general  counsel  of  the 
Rock  Island;  Dudley  Swim,  of  Pebble  Beach,  California. 

Fay  had  been  the  appointee  of  the  court  as  a  reorganization 
manager,  and  McKinney  and  Swim  represented  the  holdings 
of  the  Robert  R.  Young  interests. 

Farrington,  with  the  full  confidence  of  his  board,  could 
look  over  the  new  Rock  Island  with  justifiable  pride.  In  its  last 
year  in  trusteeship  it  had  continued  its  progress.  The  final 
segment  of  the  big  Iowa  line  change  had  been  completed  so 
that  now  he  could  point  to  a  total  of  120  miles  of  line  reloca- 
tions at  various  points  on  the  system  that  had  eliminated 
3,800  degrees  of  curvature  and  1,200  feet  of  rise  and  fall. 
He  had  abandoned  650  miles  of  unprofitable  branch  lines 
since  he  had  taken  over  in  1936. 


282        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  rail  relay  now  added  up  to  a  total  of  3,951  miles  of 
which  2,401  miles  was  in  new  steel  and  the  remainder  rerolled 
rail.  The  1,463  miles  of  automatic  block  signals  in  operation 
in  1936  had  grown  to  3,261  miles,  of  which  592  miles  was 
centralized  traffic  control. 

Through  the  modern  reclamation  plant  and  general  scrap 
dock  at  Silvis  the  sales  of  scrap  now  stood  at  $12,900,000. 

During  these  12  years  Farrington  had  added  6,285  modern 
freight  cars  of  all  classes  to  Rock  Island  ownership,  and  with 
the  continued  increase  in  the  use  of  diesel  power  the  number 
of  locomotives  in  service  had  decreased  from  1,160  in  1936, 
to  632.  With  this  power  the  road  in  1947  had  handled  73.58 
percent  more  gross  ton-miles  of  freight  and  148.92  percent 
more  passengers  one  mile  than  had  been  handled  in  1936. 

Industrial  development  had  brought  to  the  system  during 
the  past  12  years  2,084  ^^^  industries  producing  an  estimated 
$22,800,000  annually  in  freight  revenues.  At  Dallas,  on  Rock 
Island  tracks,  the  Alford  refrigerator  warehouse,  largest  in  the 
world,  was  opened  for  business. 

Altogether  the  Rock  Island  had  spent  $130,800,000  in  this 
gigantic  rehabilitation  program,  of  which  $69,800,000  had 
gone  into  the  road,  and  $61,000,000  into  the  modernization, 
building,  and  purchase  of  equipment. 

The  reorganization  had  pared  down  annual  fixed  charges 
for  interest  on  the  funded  debt  from  $13,000,000  to  $1,700,- 
000.  The  new  capitalization  stood  at  $324,667,932  as  com- 
pared with  the  old  company's  $431,575,282.  The  new  pre- 
ferred stock  issue  was  $70,538,193,  and  the  common  was 
$140,934,649  of  no  par  value,  but  stated  at  $100  per  share. 

Under  the  reorganization  plan  the  subsidiaries  had  been 
consolidated  into  the  corporate  structure  of  the  new  Chicago, 
Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railroad  Company. 

The  gross  earnings  of  1947  totaling  $178,000,000  had  shown 
a  comfortable  increase  over  the  $159,900,000  of  the  previous 
year.  With  the  hope  that  these  revenues  would  continue  to 
improve  with  the  upward  trend  in  the  general  economy,  Far- 
rington and  the  Rock  Island  could  now  face  the  future  with 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        283 

a  renewed  faith  in  the  ever-growing  importance  of  the  system 
to  the  territory  it  served,  to  its  patrons,  and  to  its  neighbors 
on  the  farms  and  in  the  cities  and  towns  along  its  busthng 
right-of-way. 

Great  though  its  gains  had  been  during  these  past  12  years, 
there  would  be  no  halt  to  the  railroad's  progressive  expansion. 
As  a  prelude  of  what  was  to  come,  the  Rock  Island's  big 
name  train— the  Golden  State— modernized  and  diesel-pow- 
ered,  was  set  up  on  a  45-hour  schedule  between  Chicago  and 
Los  Angeles  and  took  its  place  among  the  nation's  extra-fare 
luxury  runs.  Delivery  of  the  last  of  57  lightweight  streamlined 
chair  and  sleeping  cars,  on  order  since  1945,  would  enable 
the  road  to  improve  its  entire  Rocket  fleet  with  the  finest  in 
comfort,  color,  and  design. 

While  further  grade-reduction  programs  continued,  along 
with  the  renewing  and  rebuilding  of  bridges,  ground  was 
broken  at  Armourdale  Yard,  Kansas  City,  Kansas  for  the  in- 
stallation of  the  railroad's  first  hump-retarder  facility.  The  plan 
called  for  40  classification  tracks  on  which  could  be  expedited 
the  handling  of  4,000  freight  cars  daily.  The  yard  would  be 
equipped  with  radio  communication  between  office  and  en- 
gines and  talk-back  stations  at  strategic  points.  The  railroad 
had  been  among  the  first  to  experiment  with  radio  and  elec- 
tronics, and  this  modem  technological  development  was  meet- 
ing with  success. 

Farrington  had  notified  the  stockholders  in  the  new  com- 
pany that  only  after  a  complete  study  by  the  directors  would 
a  decision  be  made  on  what  the  dividend  policy  of  the  com- 
pany should  be. 

The  first  announcement  came  at  the  June  meeting  of  the 
board  at  which  was  declared  a  mid-year  dividend  of  $2.50 
per  share  on  the  preferred.  This  was  followed  in  July  by  a 
dividend  of  75  cents  a  share  on  the  common  stock.  It  was  the 
intention  to  place  the  common  on  an  annual  $3.00  basis  to- 
gether with  the  $5.00  yearly  dividend  on  the  preferred.  Re- 
duction of  debt  in  the  hands  of  the  public  received  serious 
attention. 


284        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

The  first  year  out  of  the  trusteeship  saw  Farrington's  fleet 
of  diesels  increased  to  a  total  of  163  locomotives.  His  program 
looking  toward  complete  dieselization  was  rapidly  stepped  up. 

A  new  departure  in  acquainting  the  public  with  the  railroad, 
its  equipment,  and  its  vast  progress  was  brought  about  through 
Rock  Island's  participation  in  the  Chicago  Railroad  Fair,  the 
first  of  its  kind  in  history.  Among  the  40  major  railroads  par- 
ticipating, Rock  Island's  Rocket  Village,  in  the  middle  of 
the  35-acre  area,  featured  a  variety  of  entertainment,  includ- 
ing dining  on  the  colorful  Fiesta  car  from  the  Golden  State, 
and  a  preview  of  the  last  word  in  observation-lounge  cars. 

That  first  year  out  of  trusteeship  set  a  record  for  gross 
revenues.  The  year  ended  with  earnings  of  $197,404,990.  Only 
the  heavy  tax  bill  kept  the  net  railway  operating  income  of 
$21,800,000  from  reaching  a  record  peak.  The  dividend  policy 
was  firmly  established. 

Rock  Island  was  roaring  its  way  to  new  achievements  with 
a  wide-open  throttle  and  the  signal  lights  all  green. 


^^  Test  and  triumph 


John  Farrington,  in  his  second  year  as  Rock  Island's  president, 
was  a  good  deal  like  a  general  in  the  field,  in  the  manner  in 
which  he  planned  the  future  of  his  railroad.  With  the  ex- 
periences of  the  past  still  fresh  in  his  mind— the  policies  and 
circumstances  that  led  to  the  1933  debacle— Farrington  was 
determined  to  use  a  strategy  that  would  guarantee  against  any- 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        285 

thing  like  that  in  the  future,  no  matter  what  the  general 
economy  might  have  to  stagger  through. 

Never  again  would  the  Rock  Island  railroad  be  called  a 
"granger"  line,  dependent  for  more  than  half  its  income  from 
agriculture  and  thereby  subject  to  wide  fluctuations  in  earn- 
ings, depending  on  crop  conditions.  And  never  again  would 
there  be  a  mounting  debt  in  the  hands  of  the  public  with 
ever-increasing  interest  charges. 

The  continued  placing  of  more  and  more  industries  along 
the  rails  was  one  strengthening  phase  that  was  forging  ahead 
in  an  aggressive  manner.  The  other  was  the  debt-reduction 
program. 

This  project  gained  momentum  from  its  inception  in  1948. 
As  1949  neared  its  close  the  $100,853,150  in  first  mortgage  and 
general  mortgage  bonds  in  the  hands  of  the  public  January  1, 
1948,  had  been  reduced  to  $59,404,500.  The  board  of  directors 
was  convinced  that  this  would  be  an  opportune  time  to  issue 
new  first-mortgage  bonds  in  the  amount  of  $55,000,000.  With 
the  money  derived  from  the  sales  of  these  securities,  plus  some 
additional  cash  from  the  treasury,  what  remained  of  the  old 
issues  could  be  completely  wiped  out.  The  stockholders  ap- 
proved, and  by  January  1,  1950,  the  buying  in  of  the  first- 
mortgage  and  general-mortgage  issues  was  well  under  way. 
Halsey,  Stuart  &  Co.,  Inc.,  was  awarded  the  bid  on  the  new 
issue,  and  the  interest  rate  of  2%  percent  was  highly  favor- 
able. The  former  first-mortgage  bonds  carried  interest  at  4 
percent,  and  the  general-mortgage  bonds  earned  ^Vi  percent. 

The  road  in  1949  put  under  construction  its  second  great 
hump-retarder  yard  at  Silvis,  near  East  Moline,  Illinois.  This 
50-track  facility  would  be  larger  than  the  40-track  layout  at 
Kansas  City,  Kansas,  and  it  would  handle  the  reclassification 
of  freight  cars  for  the  North,  West,  and  Southwest. 

Here  again  the  installation  of  radio  communications  was 
technological  development  at  its  best.  And  while  the  com- 
munications forces  were  at  work  on  this,  the  Rock  Island 
launched  the  first  microwave  experiment  ever  to  be  conducted 
on  any  railroad.  The  engineers  picked  the  high,  open  plains 


286        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

country  of  northwest  Kansas  to  erect  their  towers  and  re- 
flectors and  their  concrete  relay  housing  on  the  loo-mile  sec- 
tion of  the  Colorado  main  line  between  Norton  and  Goodland. 
This  was  an  area  where  the  sweeping  storms  of  snow,  ice,  and 
high  winds  too  frequently  disrupted  wire  communications.  If 
the  microwave  could  be  made  to  work,  its  use  stood  an  ex- 
cellent chance  of  opening  up  a  whole  new  era  of  railroad 
dispatching  and  message  transmission. 

The  Rock  Island  scored  another  first  with  the  receipt  from 
the  builders  of  new  lightweight  streamlined  suburban  cars. 
There  were  20  of  these,  8  of  them  air-conditioned  for  the 
longer  express  runs.  They  were  especially  designed  with  coil- 
spring  trucks  and  shock-absorbing  devices  for  smooth  riding 
and  operation.  Their  double  doors,  pneumatically  controlled, 
were  in  the  sides  instead  of  the  ends  of  the  cars.  Roller  bear- 
ings, high-speed  electric  brakes,  and  tight-lock  couplers  com- 
bined to  make  these  100-passenger-capacity  cars  something 
no  Chicago  suburbanite  had  ever  seen  before.  Even  in  this 
branch  of  service,  a  prodigious  money-loser  at  best,  Farrington 
took  the  view  that  everything  possible  should  be  done  to 
modernize  it,  to  provide  comfort,  convenience,  and  economi- 
cal transportation  for  the  suburban  patrons. 

The  Rock  Island  closed  another  successful  100  days  of  par- 
ticipation in  the  second  year  of  the  Chicago  Railroad  Fair, 
and  while  more  hundreds  of  thousands  of  visitors  were  seeing 
railroad  history  at  first  hand  along  Chicago's  lake  front.  Re- 
public Pictures,  down  in  Oklahoma,  was  making  a  de  luxe 
color  feature  on  the  early  days  of  the  railroad's  building.  This 
would  be  something  for  millions  of  people  to  see  in  theaters 
all  over  the  land. 

During  the  eventful  year  of  1949  the  acquisition  of  46  new 
diesels  brought  the  road's  ownership  of  this  type  of  power  to 
209  locomotives.  Forty-five  of  these  were  now  in  passenger 
service,  44  hauling  main-line  Rocket  freights  and  120  assigned 
to  the  switching  chores.  Retirement  of  67  more  steam  loco- 
motives left  in  service  502  of  this  fading  fleet. 

The  1949  earnings  dipped  6.5  percent  from  1948's  high  of 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        287 

$197,400,000  to  $184,656,845— not  too  serious  in  view  of  the 
national  average  of  the  Class  I  carriers  which  experienced  an 
11.3  percent  drop.  The  inauguration  of  the  40-hour  week 
for  the  vast  majority  of  the  company's  employees  and  the  wage 
increases  for  both  operating  and  nonoperating  people  had  their 
impact  to  hold  down  the  year's  net  to  $19,800,000. 

Purchase  of  the  Pullman  Railroad,  an  important  switching 
line  on  Chicago's  south  side,  along  with  364  acres  of  land  for 
industrial  development,  marked  further  progress  in  this  par- 
ticular field.  Over  in  Denver  the  industrial  department  ac- 
quired 355  acres  for  new  development,  and  at  Colorado 
Springs  70  acres  was  bought  and  made  ready  for  the  installa- 
tion of  new  factories.  The  Denver  program  was  part  of  the 
new  line-building  project  that  would  be  called  the  Denver 
Cutoff  and  would  take  Rock  Island  freight  trains  from  a 
junction  east  of  the  city  directly  to  new  North  Yard  which  was 
used  jointly  with  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande. 

Planned  progress,  to  John  Farrington,  was  real  and  vital— 
not  just  a  play  on  words  in  the  company's  advertising  cam- 
paign. Everywhere  you  looked  over  the  8,000-mile  system  you 
saw  the  evidence.  You  saw  the  men  in  a  hurry  to  complete 
first  one  project,  then  another.  You  saw  the  spirit  of  progress 
in  the  morale;  the  spark  of  new  pride,  the  glow  of  accom- 
plishment. 

As  the  road  drove  through  the  first  half  of  1950  it  seemed 
as  if  nothing  could  stop  this  great  momentum  of  improvement 
and  growth. 

However,  the  system's  switchmen  stopped  it,  head  on.  At 
6  o'clock  in  the  morning,  on  June  25,  the  Rock  Island  for  the 
first  time  in  its  98  years  of  historic  struggle  completely  ceased 
all  operations. 

The  switchmen's  organization  had  been  negotiating  for  a 
40-hour  week  and  certain  wage  increases  on  a  number  of  rail- 
roads where  its  membership  had  the  bargaining  rights.  The 
dispute  finally  went  to  the  Presidential  Fact-Finding  Board, 
provided  under  the  Railway  Labor  Act.  This  board  granted  the 
40-hour  week  and  an  18-cent  increase.  This  finding  was  ac- 


288        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

cepted  by  the  Rock  Island  and  all  the  other  railroads.  The 
union  refused  to  entertain  the  decision  and  called  the  strike. 

Attempts  at  negotiation  and  settlement  were  continued, 
but  for  two  weeks  not  a  wheel  turned.  President  Truman 
pleaded  with  the  union  leadership  and  insisted  the  men  return 
to  work.  He  called  the  strike  wholly  unjustified.  His  pleas 
were  ignored. 

Finally,  on  Saturday,  July  8,  Truman  ordered  the  U.S.  Army 
to  take  over,  and  the  Attorney  General  went  into  the  United 
States  District  Court  to  obtain  a  restraining  order  against  the 
Switchmens  Union  of  North  America, 

The  following  day  the  Rock  Island  resumed  operations.  A 
settlement  eventually  was  accepted  by  the  union  that  gave  its 
members  the  40-hour  week,  an  increase  of  18  cents  an  hour 
as  recommended  by  the  fact-finding  board,  plus  an  additional 
5  cents  suggested  by  the  Government.  The  new  contract  pro- 
vided a  cost-of-living  formula  for  certain  subsequent  increases 
in  return  for  a  three-year  moratorium  on  changes  in  rules 
and  rates  of  pay. 

The  ill-advised  14-day  strike  was  a  costly  one.  It  took  months 
to  recover  the  road's  full  volume  of  business.  Otherwise,  from 
the  viewpoint  of  earnings,  it  undoubtedly  would  have  been  a 
very  good  year.  The  gross  was  $179,652,325,  a  decrease  of  2.7 
percent.  The  cut  in  operating  expenses  from  1949's  $135,300,- 
000  to  $130,700,000  marked  an  outstanding  achievement  de- 
spite the  cost  of  the  strike  and  the  fact  that  1950  was  the  first 
full  year  in  which  the  road  could  feel  the  full  effects  of  the 
40-hour  week  and  the  previously  awarded  wage  grants. 

The  vast  progress  the  Rock  Island  had  made  under  John 
Farrington's  planning  to  get  away  from  too  much  dependence 
on  agriculture  as  the  main  source  of  its  revenue  met  its  full 
test  in  the  middle  of  1951. 

The  crop  failure  in  the  Southwest  in  1950  had  its  impact, 
but  that  wasn't  too  serious  compared  to  the  labor  troubles 
and  the  wage  increases.  The  spring  of  1951,  however,  gave 
cause  for  great  concern.  The  rains  in  Kansas  and  Oklahoma 
came  early.  Vast  sections  were  aflFected  by  rising  waters.  Here 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        289 

and  there  a  bridge  would  wash  out.  Quick  repairs  followed  at 
jErst  one  point  and  then  another. 

In  the  light  of  events  that  were  to  follow,  Farrington's  new 
operating  vice-president  was  in  for  a  grand-scale  baptism.  His 
name  was  Downing  B.  Jenks.  He  had  come  from  the  post  of 
operating  vice-president  on  the  Chicago  and  Eastern  Illinois, 
in  the  previous  December,  as  assistant  operating  chief  of  the 
Rock  Island  under  Bill  Hillis.  On  July  i,  the  elevation  of  Hillis 
to  the  newly  created  office  of  senior  vice-president  was  an- 
nounced, and  Jenks  succeeded  to  the  top  operating  spot. 

Jenks,  a  native  of  Portland,  Oregon,  had  seen  plenty  of  serv- 
ice on  various  divisions  of  the  Great  Northern,  where  he,  in  a 
manner  of  speaking,  had  cut  his  teeth  on  an  air-hose  gasket. 
After  graduating  from  Yale's  Engineering  School  he  had  worked 
his  way  through  the  jobs  of  trainmaster  and  division  superin- 
tendent from  Minnesota  to  Washington  before  being  called 
to  the  Army.  He  had  battled  sleet  and  mud  and  snow.  But  all 
this  water— he  hadn't  seen  so  much  since  he'd  crossed  the 
Atlantic  aboard  a  troopship. 

He  walked  into  the  flood  problems  with  a  lot  of  determina- 
tion to  keep  the  railroad  open.  If  he  found  something  that 
puzzled  him  he  had  Hillis  to  call  on  for  counsel. 

The  weeks  of  rain  finally  culminated  in  the  great  flood  of 
the  Kansas  River.  The  crisis  set  in  at  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  on 
the  early  morning  of  July  12.  The  Rock  Island's  bridge  at 
Topeka,  after  day  and  night  battling  to  save  it,  had  gone  under 
the  swirling  waters  as  they  rose  on  their  eastward  course. 

The  Government  engineers  at  the  junction  of  the  Kansas 
and  Missouri  Rivers  had  said  there  would  be  no  danger  to  the 
Rock  Island's  still-new  facilities  at  Armourdale  Yard  in  Kansas 
City,  Kansas. 

But  a  yard  clerk,  on  his  way  to  work  over  the  viaduct  at  the 
east  end  of  Armourdale,  looked  back  over  his  shoulder  as  the 
water  began  to  flow  in.  He  hurried  to  reach  the  yard  office  and 
spread  the  warning. 

However,  time  was  too  short.  The  yard  men  got  the  diesel 
engines  to  high  ground.  But  in  the  path  of  the  flood  stood 


290        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

hundreds  of  loaded  freight  cars  and  other  hundreds  of  empties. 
They  couldn't  be  saved. 

By  the  night  of  July  12  the  Armourdale  Yard  was  completely 
submerged.  The  water  washed  over  the  tops  of  the  heavily 
loaded  cars  that  held  on  the  tracks.  Other  cars  were  toppled 
over  and  floated  off  their  trucks.  By  noon  of  July  13  it  was  a 
scene  of  vast  devastation. 

It  took  several  days  for  the  water  to  recede,  and  John  Far- 
rington,  together  with  Jenks  and  his  operating  officers,  was  on 
the  ground  to  witness  the  worst  physical  disaster  in  the  Rock 
Island's  99  years.  Not  only  did  the  road  face  the  loss  to  its  facili- 
ties, but  hundreds  of  its  workmen  who  lived  nearby  had  been 
made  homeless. 

Through  superhuman  efforts  the  work  of  rehabilitation  was 
begun.  Switchmen,  firemen,  clerks,  and  mechanics  joined 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  maintenance  men  to  swing  shovels 
and  dig  through  the  muck.  Heroic  were  their  efforts,  and  the 
railroad's  directors  voted  a  resolution  expressing  their  ap- 
preciation of  the  fine  demonstration  of  loyalty. 

Operations  through  the  stricken  area  were  resumed  in  rec- 
ord time.  The  cost  in  physical  damage  neared  the  $5,500,000 
mark  and  was  charged  out  currently  to  operating  expenses. 
Farrington  estimated  that  the  loss  in  traffic  that  had  to  be 
diverted  to  other  roads  aggregated  more  than  $9,000,000. 

Piled  on  to  the  flood  losses  was  another  crop  failure  in  the 
Texas  and  Oklahoma  Panhandle  and  in  southwest  Kansas. 

Still,  Farrington  could  pridefully  point  out  in  his  annual  re- 
port, commenting  on  flood  losses  and  crop  failures: 

'This  unprecedented  situation,  together  with  the  impact  of 
the  inflationary  spiral  of  wages,  materials,  and  supplies,  re- 
sulted in  increasing  our  operating  expenses  from  $130,700,000 
in  1950  to  $150,900,000  in  1951,  an  increase  of  15.5  percent. 
Included  therein  is  an  increase  in  wages  alone  of  $8,749,000. 
Our  net  income  for  the  year  totaled  $15,419,099,  a  decrease 
of  13.8  percent— a  disappointing  figure  and  yet  one  which 
compares  favorably  with  the  majority  of  Western  railroads 
which  were  unaffected  by  the  great  flood.  The  fact  that  your 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        291 

railroad,  in  the  face  of  these  major  economic  disturbances, 
was  able  to  absorb  currently  the  costs  involved  and  still  make 
a  creditable  showing  in  earnings,  is  strongly  indicative  of  its 
vitality  and  the  soundness  of  its  financial  position." 

Yes,  with  1951's  gross  reaching  a  new  high  of  $198,500,000, 
this  showing  could  not  have  been  made  were  it  not  for  the 
vast  diversification  in  traffic  that  had  been  brought  about 
through  increased  industrial  development  over  the  years,  the 
stepped-up  operating  efficiencies  that  had  been  achieved 
through  the  enormous  sums  spent  in  additions  and  better- 
ments, and  the  \\ise  reduction  in  funded  debt. 

The  crises  faced  in  1951  proved,  beyond  all  doubt,  that 
Farrington  had  built  a  railroad  that  could  withstand  virtually 
anything  short  of  complete  demolition.  He  felt  now  that  he 
could  face  the  system's  centennial  year,  1952,  with  optimism. 


4}(S  End  of  a  century  and  of 
an  era 


The  Rock  Island,  with  John  Farrington's  hard  hand  at  the 
controls,  rocketed  into  its  hundredth  year  with  the  high  iron 
singing  under  the  spinning  brightness  of  its  rolling  wheels. 
Up  and  dovm  the  railroad  civic  leaders  in  cities  and  tovms 
and  villages  worked  with  Rock  Island  men  from  the  right- 
of-way  and  from  cabs  and  cabooses,  from  offices,  yards  and 
shops,  to  devise  wavs  and  means  of  paying  fitting  tribute  to 
the  iron  road  that  had  been  their  friend  and  neighbor.  It 
would  be  a  birthday  party  that  would  draw  them  all  closer 


292        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

together,  that  would  give  them  a  deeper  insight  into  the  rail- 
road, past  and  present,  and  it  would  give  the  railroad  an  op- 
portunity to  tell  its  friends  and  patrons  the  depth  of  its 
appreciation  for  the  contributions  of  industry,  agriculture,  and 
commerce  to  its  own  success. 

The  wheels  of  progress  rolled  on.  At  Council  BluflFs  the 
new  East  Yard  was  completed.  East  of  that  point  work  was 
progressing  on  the  last  big  line  change  in  Farrington's  plans 
—the  Atlantic  Cutoff.  This  involved  the  building  of  nearly 
35  miles  of  new  railroad  between  Atlantic,  Iowa,  and  the 
Missouri  River.  It  was  designed  to  shorten  the  old  line  by 
some  10  miles  and  give  new  competitive  strength  to  the 
Chicago-Colorado  main  line  through  the  elimination  of  1,629 
degrees  of  curvature  and  the  abandonment  of  a  very  poor  and 
broken  grade  line.  It,  of  course,  would  not  be  completed  until 
perhaps  the  late  summer  of  1953,  so  there  would  be  nothing 
to  focus  upon  there  in  the  nature  of  a  centennial  celebration. 

The  program  of  dieselization  was  the  thing  that  occupied 
Farrington  as  the  year  advanced.  The  orders  had  all  been 
placed  for  the  units  that  would  bring  about  the  completion  of 
his  diesel  planning. 

At  Silvis  the  new  diesel  shop  was  completed,  a  conversion 
of  the  big  locomotive  facility  that  was  built  originally  to 
service  the  steam  power. 

All  through  the  spring  and  summer  the  centennial  fever 
increased.  It  spread  to  117  towns  and  cities  where  civic  clubs, 
fraternal  organizations,  chambers  of  commerce,  and  mayors 
and  city  councils  perfected  their  plans. 

The  celebrations— whether  they  were  simply  a  Rotary  or 
Kiwanis  or  Lions  Club  observing  Rock  Island  Day  with  an 
appropriate  speaker  to  tell  the  Rock  Island  Centennial  story, 
or  whether  they  centered  around  an  all-day  outing  with  pa- 
rades, picnics,  and  other  festivities— were  scheduled  to  take 
place  for  the  most  part  in  the  week  between  October  5  and  12. 

The  focal  point  of  all  the  observances  was  at  Rock  Island, 
Illinois,  with  Davenport,  Moline,  and  East  Moline  joining  in. 
It  was  at  Rock  Island  that  the  idea  of  this  railroad  was  con- 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        293 

ceived,  and  it  was  at  Rock  Island  where  the  plans  for  its  first 
charter  were  drawn. 

Chicago's  South  Side  suburban  area  staged  the  first  big  cele- 
bration. It  came  on  September  9  when  the  publisher  of  the 
Southtown  Economist  staged  a  party  attended  by  more  than 
600  men  and  women,  leaders  in  the  area's  civic  and  business 
life.  The  railroad  provided  an  eight-car  suburban  train  on 
which  the  party  traveled  over  suburban  and  industrial  sections 
of  the  railroad.  Many  were  in  the  costumes  of  a  hundred  years 
ago,  and  school  bands  along  the  way  serenaded  the  special. 

On  October  9,  the  eve  of  the  system's  birthday,  a  marker 
was  unveiled  on  the  courthouse  lawn  at  Joliet  to  commemorate 
the  anniversary  and  to  honor  Joliet  pioneer  Nelson  D.  El- 
wood,  one  of  the  founding  fathers  of  the  road.  The  cham- 
pionship Joliet  high  school  band  furnished  the  music,  and 
immediately  afterward  the  combined  civic  clubs  tendered  a 
luncheon  to  the  Rock  Island  president  and  his  official  staff. 

The  climax  came  on  the  following  day  when  Farrington 
and  the  company's  officers  and  directors  arrived  at  Rock  Is- 
land aboard  a  special  train,  accompanied  by  many  of  Chi- 
cago's foremost  businessmen.  For  months  the  plans  had  been 
in  the  making  and  now  the  day  was  here. 

The  weather  was  made  to  order— clear  October  sky,  deep 
blue,  and  bright  sunshine.  Huge  crowds  met  the  special  and 
the  visitors  were  escorted  by  an  old-time  German  band  to  the 
Masonic  Temple.  There  600  of  the  leading  service  club  mem- 
bers from  the  Quad  Cities  paid  tribute  to  the  railroad  and  its 
past  with  a  luncheon. 

Fanington  told  the  audience  briefly  of  the  railroad's  long 
struggle  and  of  its  modern  achievements.  Other  speakers  gave 
some  of  the  historical  background. 

The  high  schools  of  Davenport,  Rock  Island,  Moline,  and 
East  Moline  assembled  their  bands,  and  banks  and  industries 
joined  with  Rock  Island  employees  to  provide  floats  for  a 
two-hour  long  parade  on  the  theme  of  a  Centur\'  of  Service. 
Old-timers  said  it  was  the  city's  biggest  turnout. 

The  ceremonies  were  finished  off  with  the  dedication  of  a 


294        IRONROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

monument  at  the  newly  modernized  Rock  Island  passenger 
station.  Over  the  loudspeakers,  and  over  a  radio  hookup, 
Farrington  paid  tribute  to  the  countless  employees  and  officers 
of  the  railroad,  past  and  present,  for  their  contribution  to  its 
progress  and  success.  He  received  as  a  gift  in  memory  of  the 
occasion,  a  gavel  made  from  the  wood  of  the  first  bridge  to 
span  the  Mississippi. 

Outside  observers,  familiar  with  the  vast  extent  of  the  sys- 
tem-wide ceremonies,  expressed  themselves  as  somewhat 
amazed  that  in  the  majority  of  instances  the  citizens  of  the 
communities  gave  the  party  to  the  railroad  instead  of  it  being 
the  other  way  round. 

The  trade  magazines.  Railway  Age  and  Modem  Railroads, 
devoted,  in  October,  full  issues  to  the  many  facets  of  the  Rock 
Island's  march  of  progress.  It  was  in  all  respects  a  centennial 
birthday  that  would  be  long  remembered. 

But  more  to  make  its  mark  in  history  was  the  railroad's  full 
performance  as  its  hundredth  year  drew  to  a  close. 

If  Farrington  had  hoped  that  this  1952  would  be  a  very 
good  year,  he  saw  that  hope  realized  as  the  curtain  came  down 
on  December  31.  He  saw  a  new  all-time  record  set  for  gross 
income— $213,938,266.  With  no  untoward  operating  emer- 
gencies such  as  had  stricken  his  railroad  in  1950  and  1951, 
he  saw  his  net  income  top  $22,600,000  for  earnings  of  $32.43 
per  share  on  the  preferred  and  $13.57  ^^  ^^^  common. 

He  could  write  in  his  annual  report  that  his  diesel  pro- 
gram now  was  finished  with  the  delivery  through  November 
and  December  of  the  last  of  88  additional  locomotives.  When 
the  figures  were  all  added,  he  had  a  total  of  413  diesels  in 
service.  Seventy-seven  were  assigned  to  the  Rockets  and  other 
passenger  runs,  168  were  hauling  all  the  freight  trains  on  the 
system  proper,  and  168  were  doing  the  yard  work.  Only  119 
steam  locomotives  remained,  and  these  were  being  kept  in 
shape  for  stand-by  service.  With  the  passing  of  a  century,  it 
was  to  the  Rock  Island  also  the  passing  of  the  great  iron  horse. 
Soon  now  the  kids  at  the  Main  Street  crossing  or  down  in  the 
corner  of  the  pasture  fence  could  no  longer  stand  in  awe  at  the 


REBIRTH    AND    REGENERATION        295 

swirling  blur  of  the  main  rods  flashing  in  the  prairie  sun,  nor 
watch  the  trailing  smoke  plume  drift  across  the  fields.  It  was 
the  end  of  an  era. 

John  Farrington  could  look  back  over  sixteen  and  a  half 
bright  and  bitter  years— the  hardest  and  most  rewarding  of 
his  life— and  feel  the  inner  glow  that  comes  with  the  realiza- 
tion of  a  Job  well  done.  He  could  do  that,  but  he  wouldn't. 
There  would  never  be  a  time  when  he  could  shake  off  the 
feeling  that,  in  one  way  or  another,  he  might  have  done  it 
better. 

But  the  record  stands  for  itself— the  record  of  the  hustling, 
bustling  and  sometimes  discouraging  years  in  which  this 
beaten  and  dying  giant  of  a  railroad  was  brought  back  com- 
pletely to  a  new  and  highly  useful  and  eminently  successful 
life. 

From  the  first  scrap  drive  through  the  rust  and  the  weeds 
in  1936  to  the  unveiling  of  the  Centennial  Monument  at  Rock 
Island,  the  story  of  the  revival,  the  recovery  and  the  rebuild- 
ing of  this  8,000-mile  railway  system  was  deeply  etched  in  the 
records— the  story  of  the  vision,  the  courage  and  the  drive  of 
John  Dow  Farrington. 

When,  before  the  arrival  of  Ned  Durham  and  Farrington 
on  the  scene.  Engineer  Moulton  reported  to  the  bondholders 
that  it  would  take  $30,000,000  to  put  this  railroad  in  shape 
to  hold  up  its  head  competitively,  outsiders  thought  the 
estimate  too  high. 

Now,  at  the  close  of  the  sixteen-and-a-half-year  chapter  of 
Farrington's  progress,  the  cost  was  all  down  on  paper.  From 
the  day  the  first  cash  had  been  realized  from  scrap  sales  to  the 
end  of  1952,  the  railroad  had  paid  out  for  roadway  and  struc- 
tures, and  for  new  and  rebuilt  equipment,  $236,221,740.  This 
huge  expenditure  was  accomplished  at  the  same  time  the 
funded  debt  was  being  reduced  to  where  it  now  stood  at  less 
than  $51,000,000. 

Farrington  had  to  show  for  it  a  thoroughly  modern  railroad 
that  ranked  second  to  none  among  the  leaders  of  the  Nation. 
In  addition  to  his  dieselization,  his  succession  of  line  reloca- 


296        IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 

tions  and  line  shortening,  and  his  more  than  5,000  miles  of 
rail  relays,  he  had  built  or  bought  through  those  years  16,400 
new  freight  cars  of  all  classes— more  than  half  his  ownership. 
His  automatic  block  signals  and  centralized  traffic  control  now 
served  3,615  track  miles.  Besides  his  testing  laboratory,  his 
hump-retarder  yards,  modern  mechanized  freight  houses,  icing 
docks  and  numerous  other  facilities  all  designed  to  speed  traf- 
fic and  result  in  higher  operating  efficiencies,  he  had  seen  the 
growth  of  industry  on  the  system's  lines  achieve  a  remarkable 
expansion. 

From  January  1,  1937,  to  the  close  of  1952,  more  than  3,300 
plants  of  various  types  had  located  along  the  Rock  Island. 
This  represented  the  investment  of  private  capital  reaching 
$732,500,000.  Freight  revenue  derived  from  tonnage  into  and 
out  of  these  plants  was  estimated  at  more  than  $70,000,000 
annually. 

Little  wonder  that  the  experts  and  the  analysts  in  commerce 
and  finance,  in  their  evaluation  of  Farrington's  progressive 
planning  and  achievements,  have  called  the  Rock  Island's  ac- 
complishments nothing  short  of  miraculous.  And  the  record, 
according  to  these  observers,  will  long  stand  as  a  historic 
monument  not  only  to  the  man  who  was  responsible,  but  to 
the  American  system  of  free  enterprise. 

The  first  hundred  years  are  the  hardest! 

The  firm  mouth  set  above  Farrington's  big  stubborn  chin 
twists  into  a  crooked  smile  when  he  thinks  of  this  homely 
adage  and  wonders  if  it  hadn't  long  ago  originated  with  some 
cracker-barrel  philosopher  who  knew  the  Rock  Island  well. 


Bibliography 


BOOKS: 

Burrows,  J.  M.  D.,  Fifty  Years  in  Iowa.  Davenport,  Glass  &  Co., 
1888. 

Crosby,  George  H.,  Corporate  History  of  the  Rock  Island.  Chi- 
cago, privately  printed,  1902. 

Farnum,  Henry,  Henry  Farnum.  New  Haven,  privately  printed, 
1889. 

Foreman,  Grant,  A  History  of  Oklahoma.  Norman,  Okla.,  Uni- 
versity of  Oklahoma  Press,  1942. 

Cue,  Benjamin  F,,  History  of  Iowa  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the 
Beginning  of  the  20th  Century.  New  York,  Century  History  Co., 
1903. 

James,  Marquis,  Cherokee  Strip.  New  York,  Viking  Press,  1945. 

Leonard,  Levi  O.  and  Johnson,  Jack  T.,  A  Railroad  to  the  Sea. 
Iowa  City,  Midland  House,  1939. 

May,  Earl  Chapin,  Principio  to  Wheeling.  New  York,  Harper  & 
Bros.,  1945. 

Meyer,  Balthasar  Henry,  History  of  Transportation  in  the  United 
States  before  i860.  Washington,  Carnegie  Institution  of  Wash- 
ington, 1948.  Reprinted  by  permission  of  Peter  Smith. 

Riegel,  Robert  Edgar,  Ph.D.,  The  Story  of  the  Western  Railroads. 
New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1926. 

Spencer,  J.  W.,  Reminiscences  of  Pioneer  Life  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  Davenport,  Griggs,  Watson  &  Day,  1872. 

Starr,  John  W.,  Jr.,  Lincoln  and  the  Railroads.  New  York,  Dodd, 
Mead  &  Co.,  1927. 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railway  System  and  Representa- 
tive Employees,  Chicago,  Biographical  Publishing  Co.,  1900. 

297 


298        BIBLIOGRAPHY 

By  the  'Sgers,  Oklahoma,  The  Beautiful  Land.  Oklahoma  City, 
Times-Journal  Publishing  Co.,  1943. 

OfEcial  state  histories  of  each  of  the  fourteen  states  served  by  the 
Rock  Island  Lines  and  also  of  Arizona,  California  and  Utah,  have 
been  consulted. 

PERIODICALS: 

Chicago  Tribune 

Chicago  Sun 

Chicago  Journal  of  Commerce 

Wall  Street  Journal,  New  York 

Fortune  Magazine 

Congressional  Record 

The  Railway  Gazette 

(Predecessor  of  the  Railway  Age) 
The  Railway  Age 
Modern  Railroads 
The  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle,  New  York 

OTHER  data: 

Interstate  Commerce  Commission  transcripts  of  various  hear- 
ings 
Transcripts  of  Senate  and  House  Committee  hearings 
Annual  reports  of  the  Rock  Island  Railroad  (complete) 
OfEcial  records  of  the  Rock  Island  Railroad 
The  Rock  Island  Employees'  Magazine 
The  Rock  Island  Lines  News-Digest 


Index 


Adams,  Charles  Francis,  129 
Agricultural  aid  policy  of  railroad  (see 

dZso  Marcus  Low),  123,  124 
Alexander  and  Alexander,  Insurance, 

261 
Alexandria,  Junction  City,  and  Shreve- 

port  railroad,  173 
Alleghany   Corporation    (see  Young, 

Robert) 
Allen,  J.  N.,  12 
America,  silver  locomotive,  built  by 

Grant  Works  of  Paterson,  Nevi' 

Jersey.    (See   also   locomotives), 

57,78 
American  Can,  148 
American  Steel  Foundries  Company, 

187,  189 
Amster,  Nathen  L.,  186  ff.,  196 
Andrews,  Lemuel,  4,  5,  8, 12 
Anthony,  Col.  Daniel  R.,  78 
Antoine  Le  Claire  (locomotive,  1855), 

57 
Arkansas    Southern    Extension    Rail- 
road, 173 
Arkansas  and  Southern  railroad,  173 
Association  for   the  Organization  of 

the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  65 
Atkinson,  Charles,  5,  12 
Atlantic  and  Audubon  Railroad,  101 
Atlantic  Southern  Railroad,  101 
Atlantic  type  passenger  engines,  1 52 
Avoca,  Harlan  and  Northern  Railroad, 

101 
Avoca,  Macedonia  and  Southwestern 
Railroad,  101 

Babcock,  James  F.,  32 
Bailey,  William,  14 
Baldwin,  Louis  W.,  230,  231 
Bancroft,  George,  3 1 
Beacom,  Thomas  H.,  206,  207 
Beardsley,  J.  J.,  29 


Beauregard,  General  P.  G.  T.,  78 

Belcher,  Nathanial,  9 

"Big  Four  of  the  Prairies,"  148,  149, 

150,  157  ff. 
Bishop,  H.  R.,  157 
Boggs,  George,  192,  193 
Bolmer,  James  G.,  9 
Bolton,  W.  E.,  xiii 
Boone,  Mayor,  38 
Bourne,  Edward,  266,  267,  271,  273, 

274,  275 
Bloomer,  Mayor  D.  C,  57 
Brewer,  Justice  David  J.,  130 
Brewster,  L.  D.,  12 
Brown,  Edward  E.,  272 
Brown,  Edward  N.,  208  ff.,  238,  255, 

259 

Brown,  Mark,  272,  281 

Brunot,  F.  R.,  9 

Bryant,  Cyrus,  9 

Buford,  N.  B.,  9,  12,  14,  29 

Buller,  Lt.  W.  P.,  72 

Burdick,  Joel,  195 

Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Minne- 
sota Railway  Company  (1868- 
1875),  111, 112 

Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  North- 
ern Railway  Company  (1876), 
111,  112, 144,  164, 192 

Burlington  and  Missouri  River  rail- 
road, no 

Burrows,  J.  M.  D.,  34,  49 

Burrows'  Store,  1,  3 

Burrows  and  Prettyman,  34,  49 

Bushby,  Wilkie,  266,  267,  271 

Butler,  Charles,  16 

Cable,  Ransom  R.,  102-104,  ^Oyd., 
1275.,  142  ff.,  144-146,  152, 
175,  178,  179,  192 

Calumet  and  Chicago  Canal  and  Dock 
Company,  91 

299 


300 


IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


Canals 

Calumet  and  Chicago  Canal  and 

Dock  Company,  91 
Illinois  and   Michigan   Canal,    14, 
15,  16,  17 

Carpenter,  Judge  George  A.,  190,  197 

Carry,  Edward  F.,  196 

Cedar  Rapids  and  Burlington  Rail- 
road Company  (1865-1868),  111 

Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa  Falls  and  North- 
western Railroad  (construction 
and  holding  company)  ,112 

Cedar  Rapids  and  Missouri  railroad 
(see  also  Mississippi  and  Mis- 
souri), 63 

Cedar  Rapids  and  St.  Paul  Railway 
Company  (1865-1868),  111 

Central  Railway  Company  of  Mis- 
souri, 162 

Central  Trust  Company,  182 

Chase  National  Bank  of  N.  Y.,  225 

Cherokee  Strip,  117,  121,  122,  135, 
136 

Chicago  fire,  82-84 

Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Rail- 
way Company,    114,    116,   125, 
126 

Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railway 
Company,  65,  75  ff.,  110 

Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Rail  Road, 
16 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Choctaw 
Railway  Company  (1903),  171, 
180,  181 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Gulf  Rail- 
way Company  (of  Texas),  170 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Rail- 
road Company,  53  fl.,  74  ff-, 
125  ff.,  151  ff.,  164,  172,  176- 
177,  186,  197  ff.,  227  ff.,  241, 
247,  255,  262,  282,  290,  295 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Rail- 
road Company  in  Iowa  {see  Pa- 
cific No.  1 ) 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railroad  Company  (of  Iowa), 
[holding  CO.  incorporated  1902] 
{see  also  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
and  Pacific  Railroad),  165,  166 

Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Rail  Road 
Company  {see  also  Rock  Island 
and  La  Salle  Rail  Road,  and 
Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pa- 
cific railroad),  16,  25,  52 

Chicago  and  Southwestern  Railway 
Company,  73 

Chicago  and  South  Western  Railway 
Company  in  Iowa,  75 


Chisholm  Trail,  119,  121 

Choctaw  Coal  and  Railway  Company, 
161, 162 

Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Gulf  Rail- 
road Company,  158,  159,  165 

Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Texas  rail- 
road, 170 

Cimmaron  River  Bridge,  243,  244, 
245 

Clark,  William  P.,  39 

Cleveland  and  Pittsburgh  railroad,  6 

Cloverleaf  Route  (Toledo,  St.  Louis 
and  Western),  177 

Colnon,  Aaron,  253,  257,  258,  259, 
261,  266,  267,  269,  271,  274,  275 

Colorado  and  Southern  railroad,  201 

Consolidated  Indiana  Coal  Company, 
192 

Consolidation  type  freight  engines, 
152 

Cook,  Dr.,  122 

Cook,  Ebenezer,  4,  5,  ii,  23,  25 

Cook,  Isaac,  18 

Cook  and  Sargent  (banking  firm),  12, 

49 

Copinger,  Col.,  132 

Cotton  Belt  line  (St.  Louis-South- 
western railroad),  210 

Council  Bluffs  Iowa,  54,  56,  57,  67,  70 

Courtright,  Milton,  77 

Crosby,  George  H.,  195 

Crown,  Henry,  281 

Crummy's  Tavern  (Iowa  City) ,  40 

Curran,  Marshal  Charles,  139, 140 

Curtis,  67 

Cushman,  William  H.  W.,  10 

Dana,  Charles  A.,  31 

Darby,  Harry,  281 

Davenport,  Col.  George,  4  flF.,  7,  8 

Davenport,  Iowa,  5,  15,  26,  27,  34,  35, 
44,45,  53,293 

Davenport  (locomotive,  1855),  37, 
38 

Dawes,  Charles  G.,  195, 196 

Des  Moines  and  Fort  Dodge  Railroad, 
152 

Des  Moines,  Indiola  and  Missouri 
railroad,  101 

Des  Moines  (locomotive),  45 

Des  Moines  Valley  Rail  Road  Com- 
pany, 98,  99 

Des  Moines,  Winterset  and  Southern 
Railroad  Company,  101 

Des  Moines,  Winterset  and  South- 
western, 91 

Dey,  Peter  A.,  63,  64,  66 

Diamond  Jo  route,  173 


INDEX 


30 


Diamond  Match,  148 

Dickenson,  Judge  Jacob  M.,  190,  196, 

197,  198,  20Q 
Diesel   locomotives,    239,    240,    244, 

255,   267,  268,   282,   284,  286, 

292, 294 
Dillon,  Reed  &  Company,  225 
Dillon,  Sidney,  129 
Dining    cars    of    Rock    Island    line 

(1877),     Australia,      Overland, 

Oriental,  Occidental,  92,  94,  95 
Dix,  John  A.,  24,  51,  52,  63,  64,  67, 

68 
Dodge,  General  Grenville  M.,  63,  64, 

66 
Dows,  David,  102 
Dows,  Tracy,  157 
Dryenforth,  Arthur,  185 
Dundy,  Judge  Elmer  S.,  1 30 
Durant,  Charles  W.,  51,  67,  69 
Durant,  Dr.  Thomas  Clark,  24,  25,  49, 

63  ff.,  69 
Durham,  Edward  M.,  Jr.,  foreword, 

229-231  flf.,    237,    241,    243  ff., 

250,  251 
Dwinell,  Bruce,  xiii 

Eastman,  Joseph  B.,  252 

Effie  Afton,  wreck  of  the  (see  also, 
Rock  Island;  Abraham  Lincoln; 
Davenport;  Mississippi  River 
Bridge;  Hurd  et  al  vs.  Railroad 
Bridge  Company) ,  47,  48 

Elwood,  Nelson  D.,  5,  i8,  293 

Enid,  Oklahoma  [previously  Skeleton] 
{see  also  "Great  Railway  War"), 
131,  135,  136,  137-142 

Evan,  Judge  Evan  A.,  274,  276 

Farnam,  Henry  [see  also  Sheffield), 
12,   13,  14,  18  ff.,  23  ff.,   29  ff., 

33,  35,  39,  40,  43,  44,  49-50, 
51,64 

Farnam  and  Sheffield  Contract 
(1851)  {see  also  Farnam,  Hen- 
ry), 17,  18,22,33 

Farnam-Durant,  constructors  {see  also 
Sheffield,  Farnam),  25  ff.,  37,  49 

Farrington,  John  Dow,  233,  234- 
236  ff.,  239  ff.,  251  ff.,  257  ff., 
261  ff.,  267,  271,  278  ff.,  284, 
290  ff.,  294-96 

Fay,  William  E.,  281 

Field,  Marshall,  158 

Fillmore,  President  Millard,  31 

Fisher,  Sam  (Sam  Fisher's  Store),  8 

Flagg,A.C.,  18,  25 


Fleming,  Joseph   B.,   foreword,   226, 

253,  254,257,261 
Flower,A.  G.,  158 
Fort  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  73,  74,  78 
Forest    Park    and    Central    Railroad 

Company,  163 
Fort  Leavenworth  Railroad,  101 
Fort  Worth  and  Denver  railroad,  234 
Fortune  magazine,  256 
Francis,  David  R.,  162,  163 
French,  Judge  Nathanial,  195,  196 
Frisco  (St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco 

Railroad  Company),  167,  177  ff-, 

208,  209,  211,  216,  217,  269 
Fritch,  Louis  C,  206,  207,  211,  219, 

233, 234 
Fulton,A.  C.,  6,  23 

Galveston  Terminal  Railway  Com- 
pany, 197 

Gilmore,  Addison  R.,  20 

Golden  State  Limited  (coach  train 
1901), 164, 283 

Golden  State  Route,  243 

Gorman,  James  E.,  180  ff.,  i95, 
199  ff.,  205  ff.,  217  ff.,  220  ff., 
226,  227,  229,  248,  249,  250 

Gould,  Jay,  129 

Grant,  James,  3  ff.,  9,  n  ff- 

Grant,  President  Ulysses  S.,  78,  79 

Grant  Works  of  Paterson,  N.  J. 
(builders  of  locomotive  Amer- 
ica), 57    *  , 

"Great  Railway  War,'  135,  136,  137- 
142 

Green  of  the  "Cannon  Ball"  Stage- 
coach, 122,  123 

Griggs,  F.  H.,  1 57 

Guthrie  and  Northwestern  Railroad, 
101 

Haggerty,  Harry,  273,  274 

Harding,  J.  Horace,  186 

Harper,  Joshua,  9 

Hawkes,  Senator  Albert,  272,  273,  277 

Hayden,  Charles,  186,  188,  195,  196, 

199,  200,  206,  207-208,  214  ff., 

234,  238,  242 
Hayden,   Stone  and  Company,    186, 

225 
Henry,  John  E.,  25,42 
Herington,  Kansas,  118,  119 
Herington,  M.  D.,  118,  119 
Hillis,  William  H.,  xiii,  243,  251 
Hine,  F.  L.,  158,  193,  195 
Hirschman,  Jesse,  209 
Hobbs,  Representative  Sam,  262 
Hoover,  Herbert,  214 
Horr,J.  v.,  10 


302 


IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


Horton,  Herbert  L.,  281 
Houston    Belt   and    Terminal   Com- 
pany, 198 
Hoxie,  H.  M.,  68 
Hubbel,  George  E.,  47 
Hulbert,  Edmund  D.,  195,  196 
Hurd  et  al  vs.  Railroad  Bridge  Com- 
pany (see  also  Effie  Afton;  Mis- 
sissippi River  Bridge ) ,  47-49 

Igoe,  Judge  Michael  L.,  249  ff., 
257  ff.,  265  flF.,  271,  276,  279 

Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  14,  15, 
16,  17 

Ingersoll,  Roy  C,  272,  281 

Interstate  Commerce  Commission, 
190,  194,  195,  200,  209,  210, 
215,  217,  219,  221,  227,  238, 
246,  248,  249,  252  ff.,  265,  278 

Iowa  City,  36,  37,  39-43 

Iowa  and  Nebraska  Railway  Com- 
pany, 128 

Iowa  and  Nebraska  Western  railroad, 
128 

Iowa  Southern  railroad,  101 

Jackson,  R.  A.,  192 
James,  Jesse,  87,  88,  89 
Jenks,  Downing  B.,  xiii,  289 
Jervis,  John  B.,  16,  18,  20,  25 
Johnson,  Senator  Ed  C.,  264 
Jones,  Jesse,  220,  229,  233 
Judd,  Norman,  47 

Kansas  and  Oklahoma  floods  of  1951, 
289, 290 

Keokuk,  Fort  Des  Moines  and  Minne- 
sota Rail  Road  Company,  98,  175 

Keokuk  and  Des  Moines  Railway 
Company,  99,  100 

Keokuk  and  Des  Moines  Railroad,  101 

Keokuk  and  Des  Moines  Valley  Rail- 
way Company,  200 

Keosauqua  and  Southwestern  Rail- 
road, 101 

Kerner,  Judge  Otto,  274 

Kingfisher,  Oklahoma,  140 

Knox,  Joseph,  9 

Kum,  J,  M.,  209 

La  Salle,  City  of,  23,  24 

Large,  Arthur  W.,  xiii 

Le  Claire,  Antoine,  5,  7,  23 

Leeds,  William  B.,  148,  149  ff.,  151, 

157  ff.,  170,  175,  192 
Liberal,  Kansas,  117,  120 
Lendabarker,  James,  21 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  47,  48 
Litchfield,  ElihuC,  16 


Little  Rock  and  Southern  railroad,  173 
Locomotives,  diesel,  239,   240,   244, 
255,   267,   268,  282,   284,   286, 
292,   294 
Locomotives,  steam 

America,  57,  78 

Antoine  Le  Claire,  37 

Davenport,  37 

Des  Moines,  45 

Muscatine,  37 
Loree,  L.  F.,  191 
Love,  Judge,  48 
Low,    Marcus   A.,    115-116,    iiSff., 

123  ff.,  143 
Lowden,  Frank  O.,  226,  250,  252 

MacLean,  Judge  John,  47, 48 
Manvel,  Allen,  57 
Mather,  Robert,  192 
Matheson,  William  J.,  188 
Matteson,  Governor,  30 
Mayer,  Frederick  M.,  281 
Mayer,  Judge,  185 
McLean,  James  R.,  195, 196 
McKinney,  Robert,  281 
McMurtry,  George  G.,  158,  196 
Memphis  and  Little  Rock  Railroad 

Company,  160 
Michigan  Southern  railroad,  13 
Milliken,  Mayor  Isaac  L.,  32 
Mills,  Ogden,  195,  198 
Minneapolis  and  St.  Louis  railroad, 

175 
Mississippi     and     Missouri     railroad 

(1853-1865),  23,  25,  30,  35  ff., 

49-53,  62  ff. 
Mississippi  River  bridges,   26  ff.,   34, 

35,  44,  45-49,  52,  70,  71,  72,  77, 
86 
Missouri  Central  Railway  Company, 

162 
Missouri  Northern  railroad,  101 
Missouri  River  Bridges  (see  also  Mis- 
sissippi River  Bridge),  117,  128, 

259 
Mitchell,  John  J.,  188 
Modern  Railroads  magazine,  294 
Moore,  Edward,  188 
Moore,  James  H.,  148, 157, 198 
Moore,  "Judge"  William  Hobart,  148, 

149,   177,   187,   188,   189,   191, 

194,  195,  198 
Morgan,  Richard,  5,  6,  1 1 
Morron,  John  R.,  195 
Moulton,  H.  G.,  228 
Mudge,  Henry  U.,  180  ff.,  190,  191 
Muscatine,  Iowa,  36,  37,  38,  39 
Muscatine  (locomotive,  1855),  37,  38 


INDEX 


303 


National  Biscuit,  148 
Neumiller,  Louis  B.,  281 
New  York  Central  railroad,  19 
Newton  and  Monroe  Railroad,  101 
Northern  Indiana  railroad,  19 
Noyes,  Walter  C,  186 
Nyquist,  Carl,  xii 

Office  of  Defense  Transportation,  252 
Ogden,  William  B.,  24,  25,  63,  64,  65, 

67 
Oklahoma,  131-135 
Osborne,  M.  B.,  12 
Overton,  S.  R.,  122,  123 

Pacific  No.  1,  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
and  Pacific  Railroad  Company  in 
Iowa,  incorporated  1866,  53 

Pacific  No.  2,  Chicago  and  Rock 
Island  in  Illinois,  consohdation 
with  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and 
Pacific  in  Iowa,  incorporated 
1866  as  Chicago  Rock  Island  and 
Pacific  (see  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
and  Pacific) 

Pacific  No.  3,  1880  consolidation  (see 
also  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and 
Pacific  Railway  Company),  101 

Parker,  Hilon  A.,  117,  148,  151,  192 

Payne,  Captain  David  L.,  132,  133 

Peoria  and  Bureau  Valley  Railroad, 
24,  35,  101 

Peoria  and  Rock  Island  Railway  Com- 
pany, 103 

Peter,  William  F.,  xiii,  281 

Pitts  Gang,  140 

Platte  City  and  Fort  Des  Moines  Rail- 
way Company,  73 

Platte  County  and  Fort  Des  Moines 
Railway  Company,  73 

Polk,  President  James  K.,  10 

Pond  Creek,  Oklahoma,  131,  135, 
136,  137-142 

Porter,  Henry  H.,  70,  75-77 

Price,  Hiram,  30,  31 

Prime,W.  C,  31 

Pullman  Railroad,  287 

Purcell,  Robert,  267 

Purdy,  Warren  G.,  84,  145  ff-,  150, 
151,  152,  179 

Quinlan,J.J.,  188 

Rafferty,  Engineer,  88,  89 
Railroads 

Alexander,      Junction      City     and 

Shreveport,  173 
Arkansas  Southern  Extension  Rail- 
road, 173 


Arkansas  and  Southern,  173 

Atlantic  and  Audubon  Railroad, 
101 

Atlantic  Southern  Railroad,  101 

Avoca,  Harlan  and  Northern  Rail- 
road, 101 

Avoca,  Macedonia  and  Southwest- 
ern Railroad,  101 

Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and 
Minnesota  railroad  (1868-1875), 
111,  112 

Burlington  and  Missouri  River  rail- 
road, 110 

Cedar  Rapids  and  Burhngton  Rail- 
road Company,  1867-1868,  111 

Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa  Falls  and  North- 
western Railroad  (construction 
and  holding  company),  112 

Cedar  Rapids  and  Missouri  (see  also 
Mississippi  and  Missouri ) ,  63 

Cedar  Rapids  and  St.  Paul  Railway 
Company  (1865-1868),  111 

Central  Railway  Company  of  Mis- 
souri, 162 

Chicago,  Kansas  and  Nebraska  Rail- 
way Company,  114,  116,  125, 
126 

Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railway 
Company,  65,  75  ff.,  1 10 

Chicago  and  Rock  Island  Rail  Road 
Company  (see  also  Rock  Island 
and  La  Salle  RR,  and  Chicago, 
Rock  Island  and  Pacific  RR),  16, 

25,  52 

Chicago,  Rock  Island,  and  Gulf 
Railway  Company  (of  Texas), 
170 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Choctaw 
Railway  Company  (1903),  171, 
181 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railroad  Company,  53  ff.,  74  ff., 
125  ff.,  151  ff-,  164,  172,  176- 
177,  186,  197  ff.,  227  ff.,  241, 
247,  255,  262,  282,  290,  295 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railroad  Company  in  Iowa 
(1866)  (see  Pacific  No.  1) 

Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railroad  Company  (of  Iowa), 
[holding  Co.,  1902],  (see  also, 
Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railroad),  165,  166 

Chicago  and  South  Western  Rail- 
way Company  in  Iowa,  73,  75 

Choctaw  Coal  and  Railway  Com- 
pany, 161,  162 


304 


RON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Gulf  Rail- 
road Company,  158,  159,  165 

Choctaw,  Oklahoma  and  Texas  rail- 
road, 170 

Cimmaron  River  Bridge,  243,  244, 
245 

Cleveland  and  Pittsburgh  railroad,  6 

Cloverleaf  Route  (Toledo,  St.  Louis 
and  Western),  177 

Colorado  and  Southern,  201 

Cotton  Belt  (St.  Louis-Southwest- 
ern), 210 

Des  Moines  and  Fort  Dodge  Rail- 
road, 152 

Des  Moines,  Indiola  and  Missouri 
Railroad,  101 

Des  Moines  Valley  Rail  Road  Com- 
pany, 98,  99 

Des  Moines,  Winterset  and  South- 
western, 91,  101 

Diamond  Jo  route,  173 

Forest  Park  and  Central  Railroad 
Company,  163 

Fort  Leavenworth  Railroad,  101 

Fort  Worth  and  Denver,  234 

Frisco  (St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco 
Railroad  Company),  167,  177  ff., 
208  fF.,  216,  217,  269 

Golden  State  Route,  243 

Guthrie  and  Northwestern  Rail- 
road, 101 

Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph  railroad, 

97 

Iowa  and  Nebraska  Railway  Com- 
pany, 128 

Iowa  and  Nebraska  Western  rail- 
road, 128 

Iowa  Southern  railroad,  101 

Keokuk,  Fort  Des  Moines  and 
Minnesota  Rail  Road  Company, 

98,  175 

Keokuk  and  Des  Moines  Railway 
Company,  99,  100,  101 

Keokuk  and  Des  Moines  Valley 
Railway  Company,  200 

Keosauqua  and  Southwestern  Rail- 
road, 101 

Little  Rock  and  Southern,  173 

Memphis  and  Little  Rock  Railroad 
Company,  160 

Michigan  Southern,  13 

Minneapolis  and  St.  Louis,  175 

Mississippi  and  Missouri  railroad, 
1853-1865,  23,  25,  30,  35  ff.,  49- 
53,62ff. 

Missouri  Central  Railway  Com- 
pany, 162 

Missouri  Northern  railroad,  101 

New  York  Central,  19 


Newton  and  Monroe  Railroad,  101 

Northern  Indiana  railroad,  18 

Pacific  No.  1,  Chicago,  Rock  Is- 
land and  Pacific  Railroad  Com- 
pany in  Iowa  (incorporated 
1866),  53 

Pacific  No.  2,  Chicago  and  Rock 
Island  in  Illinois,  consolidated 
with  Chicago  Rock  Island  and 
Pacific  in  Iowa,  1866  (see  Chi- 
cago Rock  Island  and  Pacific) 

Pacific  No.  3,  1880  consolidation 
{see  also  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
and  Pacific  Railway  Company), 
101 

Peoria  and  Bureau  Valley  railroad, 
24,35,101 

Peoria  and  Rock  Island  Railway 
Company  (1855-1867),  103 

Platte  City  and  Fort  Des  Moines 
Railway  Company,  73 

Platte  County  and  Fort  Des  Moines 
Railway  Company,  73 

Pullman  Railroad,  287 

Rock  Island,  Arkansas  and  Louisi- 
ana Railroad  Company,  173 

Rock  Island  Company  of  New  Jer- 
sey (holding  company,  incorpo- 
rated 1902),  165,  166,  168,  169, 
177 

Rock  Island  and  La  Salle  Railroad 
Company  1847-1851  (see  also 
Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railroad  Company),  9  ff.,  16 

Rock  Island  and  Peoria  Rail  Road 
(1869),  103 

Rock  Island  and  Peoria  Railway 
Company  (1869-1872),  103, 
104 

Rockford,  Rock  Island  and  St.  Louis 
Railroad  Company,  104 

Rock  Island  Railroad  (see  Rock  Is- 
land and  La  Salle  Railroad  Com- 
pany; Chicago  and  Rock  Island 
Rail  Road;  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
and  Pacific  Railway  Company) 

St.  Louis  and  Central  Missouri  Rail- 
way, 162 

St.  Louis  and  Fort  Scott  railroad, 
162 

St.  Louis,  Jacksonville  and  Chicago 
Railroad,  103 

St.  Louis-Kansas  City  Line,  174 

St.  Louis,  Kansas  City  and  Colo- 
rado Railroad  Company,  162, 
163 

St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco  Rail- 
way Company  (see  Frisco) 


INDEX 


305 


St.  Louis  Southwestern  (see  Cotton 

Belt  line) 
St.  Joseph  and  Grand  Island,  116 
St.  Joseph  and  Iowa,  112,  114 
St.  Paul  and  Kansas  City  Short  Line 
Railroad    Company,    181,    182, 
228 
Santa  Fe  railroad,  163 
South  Chicago  Branch  from  Engle- 

wood  to  South  Chicago,  101 
Toledo  St.  Louis  and  Western  (see 

Cloverleaf  Route) 
Trinity  and  Brazos  Valley,  201,  203 
Union  Pacific  railroad,  62-68,  77, 

105,  109,  110,  128,  129,  130 
Wabash,  St.  Louis  and  Pacific  Rail- 
way Company,  110 
Wichita     Northwestern     Railway, 
227,  228 
Railway  Age  magazine,  294 
Reconstruction  Finance  Corporation, 

219, 220, 229, 249 
Reed,  Senator  Clyde,  263 
Reed,  Samuel  B.,  42,  63 
Reid,   Daniel    G.    ("Czar"),    148  ff., 

175,  186,  191,  198 
Reid-Moore  Syndicate  (see  also  "Big 
Four  of  the  Prairies"),  147-152, 
157  ff-,  182  ff.,  188-193,  195  ffv 
214 
Reynolds,    Joseph     (Diamond    Joe), 

172, 173 
Riddle,  Hugh,  81,  90  ff.,   102,   105, 

146 
Rigg,  E.,  foreword 
Rizley,  Representative  Ross,  272 
Rock  Island,  Illinois,  25  ff.,  45-47,  293 
Rock  Island  City,  Illinois,  4,  5,  9,  34 
Rock  Island,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana 

Railroad  Company,  173 
Rock  Island  Coal  Company,  197 
Rock  Island  Company  of  New  Jersey 
(holding  company,  incorporated 
1902),  165,  166,  168,  169,  177 
Rock  Island  Improvement  Company 
(owned   by   Rock   Island   Com- 
pany of  New  Jersey),  169,  176, 
197 
Rock  Island  and   La   Salle  Railroad 
Company   1847-1881    (see  also 
Chicago,  Rock  Island  and  Pacific 
Railroad),  9  ff.,  16 
Rock  Island  of  New  Jersey  Co.,  177 
Rock  Island  and  Peoria  Rail  Road,  103 
Rock    Island    and    Peoria    Railroad 

Company,  104 
Rock  Island  Railroad  (see  Rock  Island 
and  La  Salle  Railroad  Company; 
Chicago  and  Rock   Island  Rail 


Road;  Chicago,  Rock  Island  and 

Pacific  Railway  Company) 
Rock    Island    Rockets     (streamlined 

diesel  locomotives,    1937),   240, 

244,  245,  256 
Rocket  (locomotive)  (see  also  Rogers 

works),  20,  21,  205 
"Rocket  \^illage,"   Chicago  Railroad 

Fair,  2  84 
Rockford,  Rock  Island  and  St.  Louis 

Railroad,  104 
Rogers  Works  (builders  of  American 

4-4-0    type    locomotive    Rocket, 

1852),  20 
Roosevelt,  W.  Emlen,  188 
Royer,  C.  O.,  139 

Sage,  Russell,  129 

St.  John,  Everitte,  95,  96 

St.  Joseph  and  Grand  Island    railroad, 

116 
St.  Joseph  and  Iowa  railroad,  112,  114 
St.  Louis  and  Central  Missouri  Rail- 
way, 162 
St.  Louis  and  Fort  Scott  railroad,  162 
St.   Louis,   Jacksonville  and   Chicago 

Railroad,  103 
St.  Louis,  Kansas  City  and  Colorado 

Railroad  Company,  162, 163,  174 
St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco  Railway 

Company  (see  Frisco) 
St.  Louis  Southwestern   (see  Cotton 

Belt  Line) 
St.  Paul  and  Kansas  City  Short  Line 

Railroad  Company,  181,  182,  228 
Sanford,  J.  H.,  31 
Santa  Fe  railroad,  163 
Schumacher,  188,  189,  195 
Scott,  W.  L.,  77 
Scullin,  John,  162,  163 
Shedd,  John  G.,  195,  196 
Sheffield,  Joseph  E.  (see  also  Famam, 

Farnam  and  Sheffield ) ,  16,  1 8  ff ., 

22ff.,  31,  33,  35,  36 
Skeleton,  Oklahoma  (see  also  Enid), 

122 
Smith,  A.M.,  92,94,  95 
Smith,  Hoke,  135 
South   Chicago  Branch   from  Englc- 

wood  to  South  Chicago,  101 
Southtown  Economist,  293 
Spalding,  Jesse,  76 
Strawn,  Silas,  187 
Stevens,  John,  12 
Stevens,  Justus,  9,  12 
Stewart,  Frank  M.,  94 
Stickles,  Charles,  engineer,  43 
Stone  and   Boower,  contractors    (see 

also  Mississippi  Bridge),  45 


306 


IRON    ROAD    TO    EMPIRE 


Stryker,  John,  16 
Supreme  Court,  48,  49 
Swim,  Dudley,  281 

Templeton,  R.  T.,  9 

Thompson,  Wilham  B.,  195 

Toledo,  St.  Louis  and  Western  (see 

Cloverleaf  Route) 
Tracy,  John  F.,  44,  54-92,  144 
Trinity  and   Brazos   Valley   railroad, 

201,  203 

Union  Pacific  railroad,  62-68,  77,  105, 

109, 110, 128, 129, 130 
Union  Passenger  Depot  Company  of 

Kansas  City,  97 
Union  of  Railway  Switchmen,  strike 

of  June  25, 1950,  287,  288 
Union  Terminal  Railway  Company  of 

Dallas,  197 
United  States  Government  operation 

of  railroads,  200,  201,  202,  203, 

204,  205,  206 
United  States  Trust  Company  of  New 

York,  113 

Vandever,  William,  9 

Wabash,  St.  Louis  and  Pacific  Rail- 
way Company,  110 


Walcott,  William,  25 

Walker,W.W.,  Ill 

Wallace,  Mayor  J.  H.,  38 

Walker,  Roberts,  187,  188,  189,  190, 

191 
Wallace,J.N.,  185, 187 
Walter,  Representative  Francis,  265, 

272,273,  276,277 
Ward,  James,  48 
Warren,  C.  H.,  192 
Washington  (locomotive,  1858),  72 
Washington,  Iowa,  72,  73,  75 
Wheeler,  Burton  K.,  262  ff.,  270 
Wheeler,  F.S.,  158 
White  Feather,  Cherokee  chief,  136 
White,  Wallace,  270 
Whittaker,  5 
Wichita  Northwestern  Railway,  227, 

228 
Wilkinson,  Judge  James  H.,  221,  222, 

226 
Wiman,  Charles  D.,  272,  281 
Winchell,  Benjamin  L.,  i68, 170, 173, 

176,  177,  179,  180 
Winslow,  General  E.  F.,  1 1 1 
World  War  II,  247 

Yoakum,  B.  F.,  168,  178,  179 
Young,  Robert  R.,  263,  266,  269,  270