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The Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri was edited by Howard L. Conard and published by the Southern History Company, of New York, Louisville, and St. Louis, in 1901.
The University of Missouri Library has made avilable the entire contents of the 6 volume set on its website as part of the Virtually Missouri project. The books are in a section called Missouri: Its History, Geology and Culture.
[Encyclopedia of Missouri Main Page] [TACnet's History Page] [TACnet Home]
Chicago & Alton Railway. The history of this railroad, like that of many others, affords an interesting example of the changed conditions brought about by railroads themselves, without ever intending or thinking of them. It might be supposed that the road was conceived and built for the purpose of connecting the two great cities of Chicago and St. Louis, with Alton as a way station, but it was not. When it was conceived the connection between Chicago and St. Louis did not exist. The two places scarcely knew one another. St. Louis was only a brisk, prosperous little river city, and Chicago was smaller still, with a population half as great as that of one of its wards at the present time .It was in 1847 that the road had its beginning in the Alton & Sangamon Railroad Company, chartered to build a railroad from Alton to Springfield - the cities of Chicago and St. being so little taken into account in the conception that their names, even, were not included in the name of the road. Alton was one of the most important and enterprising towns in the State, and Springfield, in Sangamon County, was the capital - and it was though advisable to have a railroad between the two. The Legislature of Illinois did not contemplate the extension of its to St. Louis, and if such a thing had been hinted at it would not have granted the charter, for an extension to a point opposite St. Louis would have been considered hostile to the most ambitious and thriving river town in Illinois, and the doctrine of "State policy," much talked of in those days, peremptorily forbade any public measure that would facilitate the transfer of business to the cities of other States. Not until 1852, six years after the charter was granted, that the road was built to Springfield. Two years later it was extended to Bloomington, and a year later still to Joliet. The Chicago & Mississippi Railroad met it at Bloomington, and this gave unbroken connection between Chicago and Alton. As the Legislature of Illinois still refused to allow the road to be extended to a point opposite St. Louis, the connection between Alton and that city was by fast packets, the passenger packet making two trips a day. The road gave to St. Louis its first rail connection with the East, for several years all travel between St. Louis and New York went over it. In 1857 the road was reorganized as the St. Louis, Alton & Chicago Railroad, but it was not until 1863 that it was extended to St. Louis and assumed its real character. In 1862 the road from Godfrey to Milton was opened, and became part of the Jacksonville line, and a branch was built from Roodhouse, Illinois to Louisiana, Missouri. In 1872 it extended its system into Missouri by building the road from Louisiana through Mexico to cedar City, opposite Jefferson City, on the Missouri, and in 1879 to Kansas City, by securing control of the Kansas City, St. Louis & Chicago Railroad. In 1879 the Chicago * Illinois Railroad was bought, and became the Coal City Branch. Occupying such an advantageous geographical position, running through some of the most fertile lands and prosperous cities of Illinois and Missouri, and linking together the three great cities, Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City, the road naturally attracted the attention of capitalists, who saw in it a most desirable, if not an absolutely necessary, piece of property, for them to control in order to round out their plans and to protect their other railroad investment, aside from the dividends which the Alton property could be relied upon to supply on its own account. Therefore, during the year 1898 the bulk of the common and preferred shares of the Chicago & Alton Railway were purchased from the owners, who had held them as a permanent investment for an uninterrupted term of twenty-five years or more, the preferred shares having paid annual dividends of 7 per cent, and the common shares average annual dividends of over 8 per cent. The prices [paid by the purchasers, generally known as the "Harriman Syndicate" were $200 for the preferred and $175 for the common stock, the nominal value of each share being $100. The original owners of Chicago & Alton stock, it will be seen, were exceedingly and unusually fortunate with respect to continuous and handsome dividends for more than a quarter of a century, and excellent prices for their shares when they decided to part with them,
Now that is has passed into other hands, it is pleasant to note the faith of its new owners in the property on which they are spending millions in development. Grades are being cut down and curves are being eliminated. Large number of old bridges are being replaced with new ones. Extensions of double track are being made, and additional side tracks are being provided. New engines, new passenger cars, and new freight equipment have been added, and orders for more have been placed. Always a first-class line, the new management believe that it is capable of development beyond anything that was conceived for it by its builders. under the conspicuously able management of President Felton, the faith of the new owners in the possibilities of this splendid property is already being justified and demonstrated in large increased traffic receipts.
In the later part of the year 1899 that part of the St. Louis, Peoria & Northern Railway lying between Springfield and Peoria passed into the control of the Chicago & Alton Railway Company, and is now a part of that system. The Chicago & Alton - or the "Alton" as it is popularly called - is now a compact system, operating on both sides of the Mississippi in the States of Illinois and Missouri, with Chicago, St., Louis, Kansas City, and Peoria as its chief terminals, and it is recognized as one of the most efficient and useful of the St. Louis systems.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. This system, familiarly known as the "Burlington, " is one of the largest in the country, having over 8,000 miles of road - 910 miles of which are in the State of Missouri - and extending into and over eleven States. Like many other great institution, it had an humble origin - the humblest of all the great railway systems of the West. There was a railroad from Chicago to Galena, called the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, and south of it, at a distance of thirty miles West of Chicago, was an ambitious little town called Aurora, which, in 1852, desired a branch to connect it with the main line at Turner Station. This branch, thirteen miles in length, was built by the Aurora Branch Railroad, which ran its trains over the main line into Chicago. In a little while it was extended to Mendota, forty-six miles, and the company took the more dignified and pretentious name of Chicago & Aurora Railroad Company, and three years later, in 1855, it took the name of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, which it has borne ever since, and under which it has achieved its greatness. In 1856 it was consolidated with the Military Tract Railroad Company, by which it secured an extension to Galesburg, giving it a length of 139 miles in the direction of Burlington, Iowa, on the Mississippi River. Shortly afterwards it was extended to Burlington, and also to Quincy, securing at the latter point, in 1859, the ferryboats plying between Quincy and Hannibal, a distance of twelve miles, in connection with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad of Missouri. At that time Iowa had a population of only about 600,000 and Missouri of about 1,100,000, and beyond them there was little besides Indians and buffalo; but the "Burlington" management discerned the imperial future of that vast region, and entering Iowa at Burlington, and Missouri at Hannibal, began its career of development West of the Mississippi. Its field of operations in Missouri was secured by getting control, first, of the Hannibal & St. Joseph, next, of the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern; next, of the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs; and last, of the Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City - these lines given it almost undisputed possession of the larger part of north Missouri. The Hannibal & St. Joseph, the first completed line built in Missouri, was itself made up of three different roads. The original Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company was incorporated as early as 1847. Two years later the preliminary surveys were made. In 1851 the final location was begun, and in August, 1852, a contract was made and work begun at both ends. On the 13th of February, 1859, the last rail was laid connecting the eastern and western sections, near Chillicothe, and two days after the first through train passed over the road from Hannibal to St. Joseph, - 207 miles. Subsequently, in 1872 , a branch was built from St. Joseph to Winthrop, opposite Atchison, Kansas, a distance of twenty miles. In 1867 the Hannibal & St. Joseph Company consolidated with the Quincy & Palmyra Railroad Company, and in 1870, with the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad Company. The road from Hannibal to Palmyra - thirteen miles - was opened in 1860, and the road from Cameron to Kansas City - fifty-four miles - in 1867. Two years later the bridge over the Missouri River at Kansas City was built and opened. This completed the Hannibal & St. Joseph connections, a mileage of 297 miles, with the Kansas City bridge. The next acquisition of the "Burlington" in Missouri, was the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern, which was itself the product of consolidations and reorganizations of eleven companies - the Canton & Bloomfield, the Alexandria, Canton, Lagrange & West Quincy, the Mississippi & Missouri Air Line, the Mississippi Valley, the Clarksville & Western, the Mississippi Valley & Western, the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern, the Keokuk, Iowa City & Minnesota, the Keokuk, Mt. Pleasant & Northern, and the Mt. Pleasant & Keokuk. The Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council bluffs, next absorbed, composed of eight roads - the Platte Country, the Atchison & St. Joseph, the Weston & Atchison, the Missouri valley, the St. Joseph & Council Bluffs, the Council Bluffs & St. Joseph, the Nodaway Valley, and the Tarkio - giving a mileage of 309 miles. The Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City Railway Company, which was next to pass into control of the "Burlington," to complete the Missouri part of its system, was made up of the Burlington & Southwestern, the Iowa & Missouri State Line, the Ft. Madison, Farmington & Western, the St. Joseph & Iowa, the Lexington, Lake & Gulf, the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Burlington, and the Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City - having a mileage of 221 miles. These several acquisitions by the "Burlington" in Missouri, although valuable and important, left its system in the State incomplete, because they left it without an entrance of its own into St. Louis. From St. Peter's, on the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern, it was dependent upon connection with the Wabash for getting into that city, and as this dependence grew more and more irksome, with the increase of its traffic, the enterprise of securing a way of its own into St. Louis engage the attention and efforts of its management. It was determined to construct an extension from a point ten miles north of St. Peters to the Missouri River at Bellefontaine Bluffs, crossing the river there, and coming into the city from the north; and in 1892 work was begun on both side s of the river, and also construction of the bridge at Bellefontaine Bluffs. The first train crossed the bridge on the 3d of December, 1893, less than a year and a half from the day it was begun, and on the 4th of March, 1894, the extension was opened and the "Burlington" began to conduct its traffic into and out of St. Louis on its own property. In 1900 the Burlington system operated 8,063 miles of owned, controlled and leased lines, 4,313 of which are east of, and 3,750 miles west of, the Missouri River. The eastern terminals are St. Paul, Chicago, Peoria, and St. Louis and the western terminals are Denver, Colorado; Cheyenne and Guernsey, Wyoming; Billings, Montana; and Deadwood, South Dakota.
But while these arrangements took care of freight, there was no accomodation for passengers in St. Louis, and it became necessary to organize another company for the building of a Union depot. This was done and the Union Depot Company of St. Louis, with a capital of one million, was formed. This company proceeded at once to erect the (old) passenger station at Twelfth and Poplar Streets, and opened the same for regular traffic on June 1, 1875. Up to that date passengers were taken across the bridge by omnibuses.
In 1880 the capital of the Union Railway & Transit Companies of St. Louis and East St. Louis had become exhausted and as the traffic had increased to large dimensions and more ground was needed for expansion of terminals, two new auxiliary companies were formed, the "Terminal Railroad Companies of St. Louis and East St. Louis," on precisely the same terms and prinicples are their predecessors. Their joint capital amounted to about one million dollars.
Thus where were five auxiliary companies, each with its own corporate organization, board of directors, officers and stockholders, but all five operated under the direction of the parent company, the St. Louis Bridge Company, which practially paid interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum for the use of the capital which these auxiliary companies furnished.
This lasted ten years (the limit of the lease), and in 1886 Mr. Jay Gould, whose road, the Missouri Pacific, of which he was president, had in the meanwhile become the lessee of the bridge, advanced the money to redeem the stock of these several companies, amounting in the aggregate to over #3,500,000. He further advanced whatever addiitional money was needed for real estate and for the yard and track extensions with the increased business necessitated.
As early as 1882, Dr. William Taussig, the general manager of the Bridge Company and all of the above auxiliary companies, conceived the idea of consolidating all these properties under one ownership, and to have this ownership vested in an association composed of the most important East and West trunk lines. This was effected in 1889, and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis was formed by the following lines, seven in all: Ohio & Mississippi; Cleveland, Cincinati, Chicago & St. Louis (Big Four), Louisville & Nashville; Vandalia; Missouri Pacific, and Wabash Railways. At the last minute, after the contracts had been printed and agreed upon, the Vandalia (Pennsyvlania R. R.), which had been the most ardent promoter of the scheme, refused to sign, having, while trading with the St. Louis Bridge people, entered into what it conceived to be more profitable arrangements with the Merchants' Bridge. As a result of the formation of this company, with its vast capital and energetic movements, St. Louis may boast to-day of having the largest, most compact and complete terminal system of any city in the country, under one management. If afford the means of ingress and egress to twenty-two railroads; it owns, for the common, joint use of thse railroads, the lasgest and finest Union passenger station existing, and it furnishes freight facilities, storage yards and warehouses for all the vast tonnage that these twenty-two roads bring into and out of St. Louis. It owns in St. Louis, in fee or under lease, 95.17 acres, and in East St. Louis 83.40 acres of ground, operates in St. Louis thirty miles, and in East St. Louis twenty-eight miles of track, with thirty two engines of the latest and heaviest type. Its number of employees is over 3,000, and all its appliances and appurtenances are of the most advanced and modern type. The system of its tracks, yards, connections, station and approaches has become a model which many other roads in the country have copied.