Railroads continue, but belong mostly to past age

Before rotary snowplows, trains on occasion were bogged down in the cuts. Here workers dig out an engine from the old Stanley, Merrill and Phillips line at Bellinger Pass near the Clark-Taylor County line. Men with shovels were often hired to help trains get through.	Trains didn't always stay on the tracks years ago, either. This derailment was on the Chicago and Northwestern Line between Augusta and Fall Creek, June 7, 1909.

     The arrival of the first train Aug. 1, 1870 in Eau Claire was a monumental occasion in the community.
     The newspaper report estimated a crowd of 10,000 gathered for the celebration. The festivities brought Gov. Lucius Fairchild and other state and local dignitaries to the newly constructed depot. The day's program included speeches and an open air meal for 2,800 diners.
     That first railroad was the West Wisconsin, successor to the Tomah and St. Croix Railway Co. which had surveyed the route in 1864-65.
     The line was to run from Warrens, near Tomah, to St. Paul. Its northwesterly route across Eau Claire County connected the communities of Fairchild, Augusta, Rodell, Fall Creek and Eau Claire.

Was Western terminus

     Eau Claire was the railroad's western terminus from 1870 until October 1870. The Chippewa River bridge was completed in October and tracks were laid to Menomonie Junction by the end of 1870. Railroad property in Eau Claire included the new depot, roundhouse and repair shops located in the area of the current Omaha yards.
     In 1883 new roundhouse and repair facilities were built in Altoona and the Eau Claire buildings were abandoned. The line, built as the West Wisconsin, became part of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway Co. The "Omaha" eventually was absorbed by the Chicago and Northwestern, although the name "Omaha" lingers with railroaders and railfans.

Two largest lines

     Presently the Soo Line, which runs through Chippewa Falls and Northwestern are the biggest and most successful routes in the area. Because these lines pass through the Chippewa Valley and connect with the large Midwest metropolitan areas, they are more successful than the branch lines which serve only small communities. if current trends continue, eventually, only the larger two lines will serve the area.
     Accompanying map and charts illustrate track construction and abandonment. The several branch lines illustrated were products of local promoters serving primarily the logging and lumber industry.
     Construction companies built many of these lines with the immediate goal of selling out quickly after building was completed.
     Listed are names of many of these construction companies. Chippewa Valley and Superior Railway Co. illustrates the building and selling pattern.
     This company build the line from Red Wing, Minn., to Eau Claire, with a branch from Red Cedar Junction to Cedar Falls via Menomonie (see map). Incorporations took place in 1881, construction was completed in 1882 and the company was sold in the same year to the Milwaukee Road, the current operator.
     A leading promoter and investor in the construction company was Eau Claire lumberman, O.H. Ingram.

Another rail example

     Another example is the line from Fairchild to Mondovi, recently abandoned and torn out. It was build as the Sault Ste. Marie and Southwestern Railway between 1887-1890 by N.C. Foster, Fairchild lumberman, and bought in 1893 by the Omaha. Although circumstances were different regarding each company, the point remains that larger lines usually purchased, rather than constructed branch lines.
     Based primarily on the transportation needs of the logging industry, branch lines found survival difficult as logging operations ceased. Even as railroad construction reached out to Hughey in 1903 when the Omaha built lines east of Holcombe the inevitable abandonment had already begun elsewhere in the valley on the Cedar Falls to Menomonie line in 1902. It was only a matter of time for abandonment to occur elsewhere along the branch lines.

No economic adjustment

For larger image, click here!

     No economic adjustment occurred to sustain service. Population decline in the logging towns, and the rise of the automobile killed passenger service quickly. Trucks took much remaining freight business and the railroad was doomed.
     Not even Eau Claire escaped the decline of passenger service. First the Milwaukee Road discontinued passenger service, then in 1941 so the Soo Line discontinued its shuttle between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls.
     The Northwestern lasted the longest, continuing service until 1963. An eleventh hour attempt to stimulate business with streamliner service on the mainline began in 1939. Revival efforts were continued in November 1941 when railroad executives and local dignitaries turned out for the dedication of the remodeled Northwestern depot.
     Built in 1893, the passenger depot was modernized and six more streamlined passenger trains were put in service on the Twin Cities/Chicago run.
     Although not as glamorous as the 1870 event, it still promoted extensive newspaper coverage. Various railroad promotional groups were featured, particularly the 28 voice "400" Glee Club and the Great Northern Quartet.

Despite efforts it failed

Holcombe depot aroun 1890	Old Chippewa Depot
Holcombe depot today	Eau Claire passenger depot

     Despite all efforts the luxurious streamliners could not survive. Increased use of the automobile decreased demand for interurban passenger service. Trains disappeared as patronage declined.
     The last "400" passed through Eau Claire in 1963. Since then only Bronson LaFollett's campaign train and two or three Burlington Zephyrs, rerouted by spring floods on the Mississippi, have passed through Eau Claire.
     They will not return. Amtrak, the government run passenger service, will have little effect around Eau Claire. The presence of the auto and the lack of a safe right-of-way for high speed passenger trains probably will prevent the revival of railway passenger service.
     Besides, Amtrak already joins Chicago and Milwaukee with the Twin Cities via La Cross on the Milwaukee Road.

Railroads are in retreat

     Railroads are in retreat in the Chippewa Valley. Branch lines will continue to disappear as the inevitable result of economic change. Declining freight volume has caused, and will continue to cause abandonment.
     Last year the Northwestern line from Fairchild to Mondovi and Milwaukee Road from Red Cedar Junction to Menomonie were abandoned and torn up. The future of two remaining branch lines must also be questioned. They are the Northwestern line out of Chippewa Falls to Cornell and the Milwaukee branch from Red Wing to Eau Claire.

Golden age is past

     The "golden age" of railroading, the time when the depot was the most important place in town, is past. Great steam engines and trailing coaches are just many memories and pictures.
     The needs and dreams that put ribbons of steel across the landscape and into many small or forgotten towns are gone. Each year more rail is pulled up and ties pushed aside, victims of a changing economy.
     Railroads are a part of our present and our future, but mostly a part of our past.

-- William O'Gara,
E. C. Memorial history teacher

Extracted from the Eau Claire Leader Telegram
Special Publication, Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond', published 1976
Used with permission.