CHAPTER VIII

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RAILROADS

    The Chicago, Burlingotn & Quincy Railroad is the only one within the borders of Montgomery county at this date~~1905. The main line of this road traverses the county from east to west, while branches extend north and south from Red Oak and south from Villisca. The main line of the road reached the borders of the county in 1869 and in the latter part of that year the first trains ran into Red Oak. At the same time that the main line was projected, the Nebraska City branch was also planned and it was this fact that attached the word "Junction" to the city of Red Oak for many years until it was finally dropped by popular vote. It was first planned to build this branch by way of Sidney, but finally a more direct route by way of Hamburg was chosen, and the road was opened for traffic in July, 1870.

    Railroad building progressed pretty rapidly in those days, when little heavy grading was done, and cheap, quickly built wooden bridges prevailed. The Nodaway valley branch, which connects Villisca and Clarinda in Page county, was completed in September, 1872. There is only a little over two miles of this road in Montgomery county. The north branch, extending from REd Oak to Griswold, was built by the railroad company to head off a local project which contemplated building a railroad from Atlantic throught Red Oak to St. Louis. A tax for this purpose had been voted by a large majority of the city of Red Oak and the various townships through which the proposed road was to run. As the Wabash and one or two other railroads were behind this project, it would undoubtedly

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have succeeded had it not been for the prompt action of the Burlington in building the north branch and the Rock Island in meeting the same at Griswold. The outcome of this was undoubtedly an unfortunate thing for the city of Red Oak and for the county generally, as it precluded many advantages that would have come from a competing railroad.

    It may be of interest in connection with the history of Montgomery County to outline a few o fthe difficulties which the pioneer railroad builders met, especially in the south-western section of the state.

    The railroads in Iowa have been built almost wholy by private enterprise with the expectation of a reasonable return for the money invested. With the object of opening up a new territory for settlement, the United States Government granted subsidies of the public land. These lands, afterwards sold to settlers at greatly enhanced values, were in many instances worth more than the cost of construction of the railroad. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, once a part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad system, was granted a liberal subsidy to aid in its construction. A certain number of sections were given upon the completion of each twenty miles of road. Of lands in Montgomery County, the Burlington System originally received about ninety-five thousand acres, ro about one-third of the area of the county.

    Notwithstanding the assistance given, it becomes a serious problem whether it would pay the projectors to extend the road further than Chillicothe, a little to the west of Ottumwa. C. E. Perkins of Burlington, a former president of the Burlington System, gives an account of the pioneer railroad builders in Iowa. In an article in the Des Moines Capital in 1904 he said:

    "The general impression is that railroads have been great money-makers, without much, if any risk, and that their rates are too high and their taxes too low. The truth is, men who bought land west of Des Moines river forty years ago have made

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more profit than men who put their money into railroads.

    I had made my first journey across Iowa in the winter of 1862, under the auspices of Col. E. F. Hooker, going by stage from Eddyville, via Des Moines, to Council Bluffs, passing through what seemed to me like a great wilderness. After the war, our Boston people were persuaded to uondertake and extension of the Burlington & Missouri River railroad to Chariton, fifty-six miles from Ottumwa, and in August, 1866, I made my second trip across the state with James F. Joy, of Detroit, then president of the company. The end of the track was a few miles west of Chillicothe, say ten miles beyond Ottumwa, where we left the railroad and took a carriage and pair, with Peter G. Ballingall to drive. After six or seven days, stopping briefly at the county seats, we landed at Plattsmouth.

    The result of this expedition was that Mr. Joy definitely decided against an extension to the Missouri river, and he doubted the wisdom of going even as far as Chariton. He told me he did not believe a road througoh the counties of Clarke, Union, Adams, Montgomery and Mills, could be made to pay in thirty years, and that he should advise his eastern friends not to take the risk of building. He acted on this conviciton, and a year or so later resigned the presidency, because his view did not prevail.

    Mr. Joy's wide experience as a successful railroad pioneer in Michigan, and in Illinois, necessarily gave great weight to his opinion, but, fortunately, as it turned out, John M. Forbes and John W. Brooks, of Boston, and James W. Grimes, of Iowa, did not agree with him, and the road was built in spite of very hard sledding financially, and with serious doubt about the result for several years."

    Many miles of the road already built proved unprofitable to the owners. It passed through a receiver's hands and was finally bought at a greatly depreciated value and put into the Burlington System. Then came a period of conflict of interests and

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misunderstandings, with much adverse legilation, and as a consequence, railroad building in the state was suspended for ten years.

    Nothing can obsure the fact that wonderful progress in the development o fthe leading industries of the people, has been largely brought about by the railroad. Its advent into our country marked a new era in our history. It gave impetus to various new enterprises and the people rejoiced that so great a boon had come to them. It was determined at first to build a first-class road across the state, with a maximum grade of forty feet to the mile, but when built, the grade in some places was nearly twice as much; now since the double track has been built, it has been reduced to a maximum of thirty-five feet.

    Col. Alfred Hebard of Red Oak was empolyed to find the most feasible route from the Des Moines to the Missouri River, the route, from Burlington to Ottumwa having already been determined upon. He set out upon this undertaking in the fall of 1853 and, without setting compass or stretching a chain, took observations without the toil of measuring obstacles that were apparent at a glance. After a tedious trip, he arrived at Council Bluffs. Summing up his observations and notes, he found a difficult task before him, as related by himself in a newspaper contribution:

    The first day out from Ottulmwa took us into chasms and gorges along Soap Creek that would require something like the pyramids of Egypt for bridging. We abandoned the route as fast as we could leave it, satisfied, however, to the north we should find a drainage favorable to our line. It proved so on our return. We followed the trail fo the Mormons to Mt. Pisgah, in Union county, a station on their line of travel in their exodus from Nauvoo. From this point onward the rough country on the head branches of Grand river, the Nodaway, and other streams that had their sources in this region, forbid anything like a feasible line through to the Bluffs, and to this circumstance we are

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indebted for a more southerly location, where we have it today.

    "Iowa is a great uneven plain, without mountain, elevation or hill even, except relatively to adjacent valleys; highest in the north and northwest, with a southerly dip or decline sufficient to give direction to her drainage, and a somewhat rapid current to her streams especially in time of floods. The action of these waters during a long period of years, on a loose and porous soil, has eroded valleys broad and deep, separated from each other by stretches of land that rise between them to the level of the general plane of the state. Between the water plane of the Missouri and the West Botna the elevation at some points is about three hundred feet, from East Botna to Nodaway somewhat less, but still very high. The necessity of crossing these broad valleys and the intervening high divides put an end to our fancied idea of a grade limited to 40 feet to the mile. Unfortunately, too, for the business capacity of a road is largely governed by its rate and amount of grades. The valleys were so broad that they could not be crossed by an delevated track and our only way to relieve grades was to hunt out the lowest points in the divide and run our line of levels through them, availing ourselves of every kind of ravine or lateral drainage to reach and leave these summits.

   "It is not worth while to go into every detail of our daily progress. It was simply crossing valleys—ascending and descending divides most of the way back to Ottumwa—carefully measuring and leveling the entire lilne, so that the company might have reliable data for future consideration. I did not have any great confidence in our line at that time. I knew I had left some hard points for subsequent solution, but, as a whole seasons were spent in surveys afterward, and the road finally was located and built on the route indicated in this first survey. I am led to believe that the effort was not entirely a useless one.

    "I wish to add that the line of our first survey did not pass through Villisca, but crossed the Nodaway some five or six

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miles to the north, the only change that I know of. Our whole work was a very quick and hurried affair but I know that I put in some five weeks of the hardest work I ever did. I will not name my compensation further than to say it owuld correspond very well with the price of oats at the present time. Population was more than scarce—one squatter in Adams county and one man by the name of Starr engaged in commerce in Union county. He had a cabin near where Afton now is—a kind of half-way station on the 'Mormon trail.' His stock in trade consisted of a keg of whiskey and plug tabacco. Weary travellers could halt and refresh and then stock up for the balance of their jouorney."

    Mr. Hebard's report was a masterpiece of practical foresight, sound judgment and scientific skill, though the work was not utilized for more than fifteen years.

    The first incorporated company which built a line across the state was the Burlington & Missouri River R. R. Co., organized January 15th, 1852. The survey commenced in the fall of 1853 and the grading the next spring, in May 1854. The road now known as the Rock Island was incorporated in October 1852. Peter A. Dey was its chief engineer, and under his direction, General A. M. Dodge started from Davenport, a small town, for Iowa City, the capitol. The country was unsettled excepting at rare intervals and that chiefly along the streams, where rude habitations might be seen. Genral Dodge followed up Clear Creek and then along the waters of the Iowa River, finding small settlements at Amanda and Marengo.

    In Audubon County, north of Ballard's Grove, his survey passed the present cities of Grinnell, Newton, Des Moines, and Boone, intersecting the east Nishnabotna near the present town of Exira. General Dodge says, "The country was very beautiful to look upon, and full of elk and deer. There were no settlers, no roads, no trails through it. The valley of the Nishnabotna impressed the whole party as one of the most

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beautiful that they had ever seen." They passed on to the West Nishnabotna, crossing it where Harlan now stands. "At this point, Mr. Dey overtook us, having in charge a son of Rev. Dr. Bacon of New Haven, Conn. They had expected to meet us at East Botna. FAiling to do so, and it being very difficult for them to cross the streams, they left their wagon in the valley of iNdian Creek and undertook to find us on horseback. They made the fork of the Indian that night and camped there. My party being further advanced than Mr. Dey expected, and Bacon not being used to riding a horse bareback, he left him to rest there and to follow the wagon trail to our camp. Mr. Dey reached our camp on the West Botna at Cuppey's Grove. Cuppey and a minister named Johnson being the only settlers on the West Botna anywhere near our line. Bacon not reaching camp that evening, I started east on horseback to find him, and just before I reached Indian Creek, I ran into a band of Indians who had been south into Missouri stealing, and had their ponies packed with plunder. It was a clear, moonlight night, and both of us were surprised and alarmed. The Indians thought that probably a posse of Missourians was following them, whilst I was astonished to find Indians in that part of the country. Both of us lit out in different directions with great speed. I found Bacon on the divide between Indian Creek and the West Botna, drifting south, in a very weak condition, both mentally and physically."

    From the West Botna, the course taken was nearly due west till they struck Keg Creek; then they followed the creek until they reached Council Bluffs. They passed through several Mormon settlements, on their way. The General says, "In this trip across the state, the beauty of the landscape, the fertility of the soil, the clear streams dotted here and there with groves, were very attractive, not only to me but to all the party. It was so far superior to what we had seen in Illinois that we wre all enraptured with the country. In my own mind, I then determined to make Council Bluffs my home, and when I returned to

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Iowa City, I so informed Mr. Dey." Grading was commenced on this road east from Council Bluffs in 1857. This attracted settlers to the valley of the Missouri slope. Time has vindicated the judgement of General Dodge, one of the greatest of Iowa soldiers and one of the most successful leaders of American enterprise and business.

    The progress made by the Burlington Railroad has been phenomenal. There are two hundred and sevety-seven miles of main line and one thousand and eighty-two miles of branch lines in Iowa. The valuation per mile is $67,500.00 on the main line and $20,465.00 per mile on the branch roads—the average being $30,060.00. In 1858 there were two trains daily each way from Burlington to Fairfield. There are today eighty-one passenger trains, exclusive of mail trains, on the Burlington road and its branches.

    In connection with the history of the Burlington road in the county, the great enterprise of double tracking the main line can not be overlooked. This was undertaken in 1903 and the work in the county extended over a period of nearly two years. The grades on the old line had been unusually heavy, in some places approaching eight feet to the mile. This made the hauling of heavy freight trains a difficult problem and in rebuilding the track it was determined that no grade of more than thirty feet to the mile should be established and that the numerous sharp curves over the road should be eliminated. This made it an exceedingly laborious and expensive task, in some places the cost of construction reaching a total of not far from $100,000 a mile. The ocnstruction throughout was of the most approved type. All of the bridges were built of iron and concrete and the river bridges of the most approved steel construction. Level grade crossings were practically abolished, thus removing the possiblity of repeating numerous fatal accidents which occurred on the old line. The old right of way has been abandoned by the road and, under the law, reverts to the state after two years.