1833-1883—Chicago’s First Half Century, The Inter Ocean, 1883
The First Track Laid.
In this city, where railroads center with enough track to twice belt the globe, it is not only wonderful and instructive but it is also amusing to look back to the time when the people were disposed to look with doubt upon these great agents of civilization, and were afraid they would destroy the trade of Chicago.
It was always a superstition with the people of olden time that every new invention or idea had its origin with the devil, and the people who had the courage to push forward such new ideas and inventions were persecuted as witches, or persons of unclean spirits possessed of devils. This was no more fallacious than the idea that took possession of the the retail merchants of Chicago, when they bent their energies to defeat the first railroad scheme for fear is would destroy their trade.
Afraid of the Spirits of Wind and Water.
The old superstition of the Chinese, who were afraid to offend the spirits of wind and water by building a railroad, was not more ridiculous than the fear of early Chicagoans that the building of a railroad from here to Galena would take away their retail trade, which was then the only boast of the town.
Instead of taking from Chicago her retail trade the railroads have made the place the great center of the wholesale trade in the West, and have given her that prominence over all other places, to which she never could have attained without the miles of iron track, reaching out like so many arteries from the heart, over which course tne pulses of trade, as measured by the metropolis. With only the marine advantages of the lake it is doubtful if Chicago could have outstripped her rivals St. Louis and Cincinnati on their magnificent river routes, but with the railroad systems of the Northwest, all beginning here, and connecting with the trunk lines to the East, there was no longer any question as to where would be located the trade center.
Railroad Prophesy.
It is curious to note that the first prophesy of Chicago as a railroad center was by a young soldier stationed at Fort Dearborn in 1830, and his prophesy was for a road over a line which has become one of the most important in linking the West and the East together.
This railroad prophet was Lieutenant John G. Furman, of the Fifth Infantry, United States army. He was at Fort Dearborn for several years, and enjoyed the hunting on the prairies and the fishing in the lake and river so much that, June 13, 1830, he wrote to a magazine published in Baltimore, urging the editor, who was his friend, to come out and join him. In that year there was only twenty-three miles of railroad in the country, and not a rail laid west of the Alleghany Mountains, The few miles in the East was only an experiment, and yet the young soldier who believed in Chicago spoke of his friend coming West as though the Baltimore and Ohio Road hud already been built through to Chicago, and only awaited a formal opening. He said: “When the railroad is finished between Baltimore and the Rock River perhaps you may be induced to come out and take a week’s sport with us, or if you cannot spare the time we must try and pack up some of our good things in ice and send on a locomotive steam-propelling car.”
It Is Fulfilled.
Lieutenant Furman’s prophecy has long ago been fulfilled, and now there is nothing easier than to pack up good things in ice in Chicago and send them to suffering humanity down in Baltimore.
But one of the most curious things in Chicago’s railroad history is that it was a beginning point, rather than a terminal, and yet it was not considered so important as the little mining town way up in the northwestern corner of the State, which was the terminal point. When the charter for the old Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was granted by the Legislature, Jan. 16, 1836 before Chicago was yet incorporated as a city there was so little thought of Chicago’s chances to become a great city that, while backed by Chicago capital and pushed by Chicago men, influence enough could not be brought to bear upon the Legislature to induce it to grant the charter until the name had been switched around with the engine in tte rear, and, instead of the Chicago and Galena Road, it had to be called the Galena and Chicago Road.
Wise Men Made Fools.
The wise men who controlled the destinies of the State of Illinois in those days were so possessed with the Western idea that they went to the furthermost point of their territory to find the railroad Mecca, and believed that Galena was of much more importance than Chicago. It might have been then, with its lead mines and its river route, but the change was out another of the Chicago surprises -which have played important part in her history.
The primary incentive to the incorporation of this road was the advancement of real stock estate prices in Chicasro. Its capital was $100,000. with power to increase it to $1,000,000. It was optional with the company to make portions of it with branches of the same toll-road, to be operated either with horse or steam power. William Bennett, Thomas Drummond (now Judge of the United States Circuit Court), J. C. Goodhue, Peter Semple, J. M. Turner, and J. B. Thompson, Jr. , were authorized as commissioners to receive subscriptions to the stock. Their charter allowed three years from its date as the limit of the time in which work on it should be commenced, to comply with which provision the company commenced the questionable enterprise in 1838.
The First Road.
This was a road from the West Side, and, as the whole broad prairie, now occupied by the most populous division of Chicago, was then a great slough, and in the which spring of the year a veritable lake, on one might row from the river to Oak Park a place better fitted for steamboat travel than for railroading the first problem was how to get a foundation for a road. There was a popular superstition with the people that this slough had no bottom, or, at least, none that could be reached with any practicable length of support for tressle. Piles were resorted to with longitudinal stringers to secure support from one to another.
In this way the work of building the road was begun along Madison street. It did not progress far, however, and was abandoned, and no more attempts made until 1846, when William B. Ogden, John Turner, and Stephen F. Gale purchased the charter from Messrs. Townsend and Mather, of NewYork, who, up to this time, held it with the assets of the company. They were to pay $10,000 in stock down, and $10,000 on the completion of the road to the Fox River. A preliminarv survey was made, and the work put in charge of Richard P. Morgan. It was at this juncture that the opposition made its appearance, because of the fear that the road would injure the retail trade of Chicago. It was feared that by quick and easy transfers the farmers would find their goods delivered to them nearer home, and Chicago would cease to be a trade center, as it was fast becoming.
New Life and the Result.
But through the efforts of Benjamin W. Raymond and John B. Turner in negotiating loans in New York, and the reluctant home subscriptions to the stock, the road was a distance finally completed to Cottage Hill, of sixteen miles, in December, 1849. The road-bed was not good, and the track consisted of wooden stringers faced with strap iron. It was Chicago’s first railroad, and its opening was an important event, despite the fact tbat the company had to bring old and worn-out rolling stock from the East. The engine was one of the first pattern, and the cars were of the most primitive order. It was not until three years later, May 21, 1852, that Chicago had any Eastern railway connection. The Michigan Southern Road, begun in 1837, and the Michigan Central, begun in 1842, were sharp rivals in the enterprise of reaching Chicago, and work pushed with all the rapidity possible oy both roads. The cars of the Michigan Central ran into Chicago May 21, and those of the Michigan Southern the day following. Both were greeted with shouts of welcome by the people, who had then learned to look upon the railroad in its proper light, as a stimulant of prosperity.
The Rome of the Railroads.
The other railroads now centering in Chicago followed in a few years after these first efforts, and to-day it is appropriately called the Rome of Railroads. In place of the rickety strap-iron Galena and Chicago Road, we have the great Chicago and Northwestern with its nearly 5,000 miles of track threading all parts of the Northwestern States and Territories, and instead of the old wornout rolling-stock brought from the East for the first road, there are mammoth locomotives and solid trains of magnificent parlor, sleeping, and dining cars, while one might as well attempt to number the cattle on the plains as to count freight cars that the carry the great wealth of products from the garden of the Nation to the store-house of the world.
As its great rival for this Northwestern trade comes the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Road, with 4,400 miles of iron binding the States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Dakota to Chicago as their metropolis. To the West reaches the 4,000 miles of the Chicago. Burlington and Quincy, and almost as many miles of the Chicago, Rock Island andPacific, laying out the States of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and the Territories beyond in garden in a firm plats, and the Southwest is held grasp by the 6,000 miles of the Wabash system, and St. Louis made a suburban station.
Secret of National Reconstruction.
The South is more firmly united to the North by the band of steel from Chicago to New Orleans, which forms the Illinois Central system, than by the laws that force her to remain in the Union.
Instead of Chicago belonging to Hoosierdom or the Old Dominion, as was once boasted, these localities now belong to Chicago by the right of her furnishing a market for their hooppoles and rye whisky, as well as all other products, and transportation over the Monon route, the Eastern Illinois, Western Indiana, and Panhandle Roads. To New York Chicago is a twin sister, as inseparably united by the iron ligament of the eight trunk lines of railroads as were the Siamese twins by their natural bond of conjunction.
Of the total 122,813 miles of railroad in the United States to-day (1883), there are roads representing 40,792 centering in Chicago, fully one-third, and making it the greatest railroad center in the world.
THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL.
To the Sunny South.
The Illinois Central Railroad has been one of the most important factors in the development of Chicago and the West It was one of the first roads built, and has been the commercial backbone of Illinois, making its products marketable, and increasing its growth and wealth. It now covers fifteen degrees of latitude, and connects Chicago with the Missouri River and the Gulf of Mexico.
It is the only road that has an unbroken, direct line to the South, and makes a journey to the land of perpetual summer agreeable, safe and speedy. Through cars of the most luxurious pattern run to all the desirable resorts sought by winter tourists, and the journey offers attractions that cannot be found elsewhere.
The completion of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railway gives a through line from Chicago to Jacksonville, Fla., by way of New Orleans, and permits the tourist to visit all of the popular resorts on the Gulf coast. The advantages of this line to invalids cannot be overestimated. The connections for Texas and California are such as to offer the best winter route, the line being always free from snow and ice and cold, and the fare is as low as by any other road. By going this way the traveler has the opportunity of visiting New Orleans, Galveston, and other Southern cities, and is within easy reach of the charming city of Monterey, the most famous and popular watering place in Old Mexico. When this resort, with its magnificent hotels and medicinal hot springs becomes better known in the North, it will be as fashionable a residence in winter as Sarasota is in summer.
San Antonio, Austin. Galveston, and Houston, Texas, are made the objective points for no less than twelve routes, via New Orleans going, and via either the Missouri Pacific or Iron Mountain routes and St. Louis returning, or vice versa Havana, Cuba, and Hot Springs and Eureka Spring’s, Ark., are also excursion points.
Exceedingly low rates are given on round trip tickets to Chicago and all the above points, good to return until June 1.
During 1883 extensive improvements have been made in the Illinois Central plant. The motive power has been substantially increased; the passenger and freight equipments have received handsome additions; new double-track iron bridges have been placed across the Calumet and Chicago Rivers. New passenger and freight depots have been built at South Chicago, Seventy-ninth street, Jeffery avenue, and in Jackson. Winona, and Wesson. Miss. A double-track branch to South Chicago, four and a half miles long, has been completed; the middle division has been extended from Colfax to Bloomington, twenty miles; and spur lines, aggregating 130 miles in length, leading into the timber and farms land of Mississippi, are rapidly approaching completion, a portion of the distance being already open for traffic.
The Illinois Central was the first railroad to introduce suburban trains, having commenced running them as early as 1856. To its management is due the development and growth of the beautiful suburbs south of the city, as its frequent trains made them even more accessible than some of the resident portions of Chicago that are reached only by the street cars. Upward of three million people are carried annually upon these sub- urban trains, and the number that go to South Park and Pullman sometimes reaches thousands per day.
THE “MONON ROUTE.”
The Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway the Great Southern Route.
Scarcely two years have elapsed since the opening of the Monon Route—officially known as the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway—into Chicago, connecting the great Northwest with Louisville and the South and Southeast. Recalling the exorbitant rates, slow time, vexatious delays, and numerous changes in dingy coaches that attended a trip to Louisville and the South of a few years ago, the business man and tourists alike appreciated the advantages of the Monon Route, with its solid trains and Pullman palace sleepers, its reasonable rates, its fast time, its smooth tracks, and its courteous officials. Being the only line to Louisville from Chicago under one management, it offered to its patrons accomodations that no other line could and gained the good-will of the public at the start by its low and reasonable rates. Gaining friends daily by service and splendid equipment, supplemented by fair dealing, the Monon Route to-day is one of the most popular lines, both with the tourist whose journey South is attended with every pleasure and comfort possible, and the merchant who finds that by this road only can he ship his wares to the Ohio River without change or delay. The traveling man, knowing the
Comforts of a Solid Train and Pullman Buffett Sleepers—
and the finest only are run via Monon will take no other line to Louisville. To the Monon Route belongs the credit of introducing the first and only Pullman sleeping-car line through from Chicago to Jacksonville without change, and is still the only route by which Pullman car service is secured via Louisville to Florida. Therouteis characteristicallyatouristline,leadingfrom the South to the cool resorts of the Northwest in summer, and from the chilly blasts of the North to the balmy breezes of a mild South in winter. The time was, and not two years ago, when a trip from Chicago to Florida or the Gulf resorts was a slow and tedious under- taking, attended by so many annoyances tfiat few had the courage to make it. Now, thanks to the Monon Route, a trip to Southern resorts is a pleasure in itself. It is a specialty with the route, whose line of single and round-trip tickets includes every resort in the South or Northwest. Their system of through checking is perfect, the baggage going on the same train with passengers to destination. The main line of the Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway extends from Louisville to Michigan City, a distance of 288 miles, passing through some of the oldest settled and
Most Prosperous Portions of Indiana,
among the towns being noted Salem. Orleans, Mitchell, Bedford, Bloomington, Gosport, Greencastle, Crawfordsvilie, and La- fayette. The scenery along the route is pleasing and interesting, soothing with its constant and easy changes rather than startling with its suddenness and abruptness. In the midst of the hills about Orleans are found several delightful springs, notably West Baden and French Lick Springs, which, on account of the curative waters, picturesque location, and fine hotels, have become popular resorts. The Air Line Division of the road extends from Chicago to Indianapolis, and is eleven miles shorter than any other to the Hoosier capital, the distance from Chicago being 183miles. The Monon Route proper is via the Air Line to Monon and thence to Louisville, the through trains running that way. Similar trains with
Through Coaches For Louisville
run from Michigan City to Indianapolis via Monon. The Air Line was not formally opened from Chicago to Indianapolis till last October, when two daily trains were put on. Six weeks later an arrangement was made with the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad and the Air Line trains now run solid to Cincinnati through Indianapolis. Like the Louisville line, parlor cars are attached to the day trains and Pullman palace sleepers to the night trains. Monon, where the main and Air Lines cross, is eighty-five miles from Chicago. The name is derived from “Melamonon,” an Indian title of a stream near by, which in olden times was no doubt a swift-running river, as the meaning of the word is “waters running swift.” Very properly the word Monon was adopted for the route, and it is a
Swift-Running Route.
By the opening of this Cincinnati line, the Monon Route now offers its patrons a choice of routes to Florida and the South via Louisville, Cincinnati, or Indianapolis, direct connections being made with all through routes below the Ohio River. Briefly, there is not a point of interest in the South or Southeast which cannot be reached by the Monon Route, and only by that route can passengers get Pullman car service via Louisville or Cincinnati.
The general offices of the company are at Louisville, the “Capital of Hospitality,” as designated by a well-known writer. It is not surprising then that this company should display the same liberal spirit in its management, and that it should win popularity thereby. Colonel E. B. Stahlman, Vice-President of the company, has, by his rare executive ability as Traffic Manger, been a valuable aid to Colonel Bennett H. Young, the President and General Manager. At the head of the passenger department, Mr. Murray Keller has won a national reputation as a successful General Passenger and Ticket Agent In fact, the
Popularity of the Monon Route
may, in a large measure, be attributed to him. Colonel Sidney B. Jones, the General Traveling Passenger Agent, whose headquarters are in Chicago, is a thoroughly experienced railroad man and a perfect gentleman. His assistant, Captain J. L. Whelan, is a graduate from The Inter Ocean reportorial ranks, and as Northwestern Passenger Agent maintains his reputation. Mr. E. O. McCormick. City Ticket Agent, 122 Randolph street, has the routes and rates at his fingers’ ends, and, like the others, has a store of information of the South which he distributes freely. For maps, time-tables, books on Florida and the South call on or address any of the above at 122 Randolph street and receive that prompt attention for which the Monon Route is noted. No other route makes such time, and offers such rates and accommodations as the Monon Route to the South.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R.R. and Intersecting Lines, 1883
CHICAGO, BURLINGTON AND QUINCY.
Stretching Over the Great West.
Like all large Western institutions of magnitude, the extensive railroad system known as the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Road had a small beginning, but grew with, or more properly caused to grow with it, the West Its origin is found in two roads, now considered small by comparison, but at the time their charters were granted then regarded as vast and important.
On Feb. 12, 1849, a railroad company was organized in Illinois under the name of the Aurora Branch Railway Company. In June, 1852, the Chicago and Aurora Railroad Company obtained its charter and immediately proceeded to lay its track between Chicago and Aurora. The Central Military Tract Railroad Company owned the road between Mendota and Galesburg, and in 1856, just after the Chicago and Aurora Company had completed its line of track, these two roads consolidated. The company thus formed adopted the name of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company.
From this grew the road which covers so extensive an area. Small at the start, it now runs and controls over 4,000 miles of track distributed throughout Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. About one-half of this mileage is in Illinois and Iowa. It is happy in the possession of five routes. The most important is its own through line via Pacific Junction and Plattsmouth to Denver. The other routes are: Through Omaha via Cheyenne, over the Union Pacific; through Quincy, to Kansas City or Atchison, via the Hannibal and St Joe, thence resuming the Burlington route proper; through Kansas City, via Topeka, over the Union Pacific, and through either Atchison or Kansas City, via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. whose cars run via Pueblo, and thence over the Denver and Rio Grande.
Passengers have choice of above routes in going to San Francisco, or may go via the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific line, or via El Paso over the Gould roads and the Southern Pacific.
Other favorite lines of the connections are as follows: St Louis, Rock Island, and St. Paul; St Louis, Burlington, and St. Paul; Chicago, Freeport, Dubuque, and Sioux City; Chicago, Hannibal, and Texas; Chicago and Des Moines.
The completion of the Denver and Rio Grande Road from Denver to Ogden during the past year further extends and makes more complete lines of travel offered by the Burlington. This arrangement gives the Burlington what is practically its own line to Ogden, the road from Denver winding through the finest scenery of the West.
The equipment of the road is elegant, and comfort is combined with safety and rapid travel.
CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND AND PACIFIC.
The Model Line.
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Road, which was the first to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River, thus making more accessible the thriving cities along the Father of Waters, was begun in 1852. In 1847 a company was formed under the name of the Rock Island and LaSalle Railroad Company, and procured its charter in the same year. Good management has been characteristic of the road since its opening, and the alert managers have been in continual readiness to make every extension and acquisition.
In 1851, of the Legislature, the name was changed to the Bock Island Company, and it was under that name that the road was constructed between Chicago and Rock Island. In 1866 the road consolidated with another in Iowa called the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Road, and as its termini and connections were such as to warrant the managers in adopting the name of the road with which it consolidated, this was done. It has been known by that name ever since. At the time the charter was granted Illinois was a border State, Iowa being a territory, but since the border line has been moved further West, and the territories are now States whose products find an accessible outlet in Chicago.
The causes which produced the changes of the past thirty years are numerous, but probably none figures more prominently than the railroad in one of the pioneer roads of the West. It has contributed vastly to the development of both Illinois and Iowa. Its reward has been a world-wide reputation and bountiful earnings. There is probably no railway in the West which earns a greater revenue in proportion to its mileage. It is the great central line from Chicago to the West, passing through the most fertile portions of Illinois and Iowa, and forming connections which make it a through line to the Pacific coast. It reaches the most thriving of the cities in Iowa and Kansas.
A few years ago the management, not content with business coming over the road extending to the West, opened up what is known as the Albert Lea Route. This route, which is quite a favorite with tourists, and which does an extensive freight business, extends through the great Red River Valley, and the great Northern Pacific country in Minnesota and Dakota. It reaches to Minneapolis and St. Paul, and renders accessible the beautiful scenery of Minnesota and the Upper Mississippi. It is also used as a means of transporting a large percentage of the traffic between the East and Manitoba. The year which closed yesterday has witnessed the beginning of the new Board of Trade Building, just opposite the depot of the road in this city, which, it is claimed, will result in an increase in the already large suburban travel. The road is well equipped throughout, and by means of its coaches, sleeping, and dining cars, supplies all the comforts known to travel.
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
1879
CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN.
Four Great Trunk Lines.
The history of the Chicago and Northwestern Road is one of consolidation, and for the most part combined in that of the old Galena and Chicago Union Road, which is the real pioneer line. The old Galena and Chicago Union Road was chartered in 1836. A panic followed in the footsteps of the charter, which delayed further operations until 1847, eleven years later, when the first rail was put down. This was done on what is known as the Galena Division, or the Freeport line. In 1853 the line from Chicago to distance of 121 miles, was completed, and there are many people now residing in Stephenson County who remember with what pleasure the completion of the line hailed, as previous to that time a trip to Chicago and return, lasting frequently for two weeks, was necessary in order to dispose of products. The Illinois Central Road, which passes through Freeport to Galena, enabled the road to extend its operations to the lead mines at Galena, This road was absorbed by the Chicago and North western Road in 1864.
In 1854, ten years prior to this consolidation, the Chicago and Northwestern Road constructed the line which connects Chicago and Milwaukee. While this road enters Chicago upon three distinct lines of rail, it may be said to have five principal lines all terminating in Chicago, the first of which is the one extending to Milwaukee. This line skirts the lake shore, and now reaches the Michigan peninsula.
The second extends in a northwesterly direction, and touching Beloit, Madison, and Elroy, reaches St. Paul and Minneapolis. The third line extends west from Elroy, crosses the Mississippi at Winona, Minn., and extends across Minnesota and Dakota on a direct line to the Black Hills. From Tracy the road ectends further on the Watertown and Redfield. From Huron, on the main line, a branch extends north up the James River Valley to Columbia, D. T. The fourth line runs from Chicago directly west across Illinois and Iowa, terminating at Council Bluffs. The fifth line begins at Tama, 142 miles west of the Missouri River, and extends in a general northwesterly direction to Hawarden, on the Big Sioux. During the year just ended a bridge has been placed over the river and the road extended into Dakota to a junction with the Dakota Central. In addition to these main lines there are a number of profitable branches. By connection with the Chicago, Minneapolis and Omaha Road it has the advantage of two important lines to Lake Superior ports and tapping the pine region of Upper Wisconsin. The mileage of the Northwestern system, including the Omaha line, aggregates about 5,000 miles.
Chicago & Northwestern Railway
1887
ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC RAILROAD.
All-The-Year-Around Route To California.
Last September was opened a new line to California, which was dubbed the “All-the-year-around” route, and which, when travelers find out its attractions, will have a popularity that none of the transcontinental roads have ever achieved, and be preferred to any other for many reason. It is the Atlantic and Pacific Railway, which connects with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Road at Albuquerque, and is the only line running Pullman sleeping-cars from St. Louis and Kansas City to San Francisco without change.
The road is located upon the thirty-fifth parallel of latitude, and passengers thus avoid the snow blockades and alkali plains of the North, and the barren and dusty deserts of the South. It is and always will be the favorite route to the Pacific coast for the invalid, the tourist, the sportsman, and all to whom speed, comfort, safety, delightful climate, and wonderful scenery are attractions. It is the shortest and the best route to San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other Pacific coast points. Prescott, and the mining camps of Northern, Central, and Western Arizona are now reached direct by this line without long and tedious staging.
The most remarkable scenery in the world is along the line of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. It crosses the Colorado River at the foot of the Grand Canyon, which has been the subject of several descriptive letters in The Inter Ocean, and is acknowledged to be the grandest and most sublime natural spectacle on the face of the globe. The canyon is reached by stage from Leach Springs, after a ride of eighteen miles, and the tourist will find admirable accommodations for his entertainment.
The ancient and curious Indian villages of Zuni, Moquis, Acoma, and Laguna are reached by this road, the trains passing within a stone’s throw of the latter place, which is many centuries old, and inhabited by the descendants of the Aztecs. Remarkable ruins of the cave and cliff dwellers are found near Flagstaff Station, and possess a deep interest not only to the scientific world, but to all who visit these abodes of half-civilized nations extinct for centuries. The Atlantic and Pacific is the most attractive route to the Yosemite Valley, and the big trees of Mariposa County, California.
The company has 20,000,000 acres of the finest grazing land in the world for sale, in New Mexico and Arizona. For maps, rates, and other information apply to F. W. Smith, General Superintendent; C. R. Williams, General Freight and Passenger Agent; or J. A. Williamson, Land Commissioner, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad
1883
Inter Ocean, March 25, 1888
THE ROME OF RAILROADS.
All roads once led to Rome. T0-day all railroads in the United States lead to Chicago. And one of the best evidences of Chicago’s growth in commercial importance is her railroads and the territory these open to her commercial interests. In 1871 there were twelve railroads with 10,700 miles of track centering in Chicago. Seventy-five trains left the city daily, and the aggregate earnings of all the railroad companies was $82,776,934.
To-day Chicago has twenty-four roads centering in the city, and the combined mileage of their systems is 42,755 miles, or more than one-third of all the tracks in the United States. This makes Chicago the greatest railroad center in the world. There are more lines and more mileage center here than in New York or London. More than 1,000 trains pass in and out of the Chicago depots every day in the year. These include regular passenger, suburban and regular freight trains but not the extra trains, both passenger and freight, nor does it take into account the freight trains switched from one road tp another in the outskirts of the by means of the Belt Railway. To include these, and to count the engines constantly at wotk about the depots, it would
Surpass London’s Railway Traffic
including her metropolitan railway system. There are nearly 300 suburban trains running into and out of the city every day to carry the population of the smaller towns surrounding Chicago whose business requires them to make daily visits to Chicago. These trains carry more than 50,000 people daily. The regular passenger trains number more than 200 and carry from the city, to all parts of the country, between 40,000 and 50,000 people daily. Had Rome in her grandest days had one-tenth of this travel, well might she have claimed to be the Mecca of the world.
The Chicago roads reach to every point of the country, and open to the trade of the city directly twelve of the richest States in the Union, with 941,401 square miles of territory and more than 15,000,000 of the population. In addition to this they bring indirectly tributary twenty-four other States and Territories, with an area of 2,435,625 square miles and 22,000,000 of population, without mentioning the Eastern or East Central States, throughout which Chicago roads pass, and bring in a measure tributary to the metropolis of the West.
The States Made Directly Tributary
to Chicago because of its being the depot for their trade and the gateway to the East and the old world are Illinois, with $75,000,000 worth of corn and a $25,000,000 worth of oats, to say nothing of wheat and other products; Indiana, with $38,278,260 worth of corn; Iowa, with $58,000,000 of corn and $58,000,000 of cattle; Kansas, with $38,141,600 of corn and $34,000,000 of cattle; Michigan with $7,300,000 worth of copper and $52,449,928 of limber; Wisconsin with $41,000,000 worth of grain, $13,000,000 of hay and $3,000,000 of tobacco; Minnesota with $24,000,000 worth of wheat; Nebraska with $72,000,000 worth of wheat, corn and cattle; Dakota with $60,000,000 worth of corn, wheat and cattle; Montana with $16,000,000 worth of cattle and $13,000,000 of gold and silver; Wyoming with her great cattle and horse ranches; Kansas with $72,000,000 worth of corn and cattle, and Tennessee with $13,000,000 worth of cotton and her developing iron mines.
The States and Territories indirectly tributary to Chicago are Kentucky with $8,000,000 worth of whisky; Louisiana with $20,000,000 worth of cotton and 550,000 hogsheads of sugar and molasses; Mississippi with $42,000,000 worth of cotton; Missouri with thousands of Democrats and $32,000,000 worth of flour; Alabama with $32,000,000 worth of cotton; Florida with 500,000 boxes of oranges; Georgia with $40,000,000 worth of cotton; North and South Carolina with $55,000,000 worth of cotton; Texas with $$54,000,000 worth of cotton; Nevada with $9,000,000 in gold and silver; Oregon with $3,000,000 worth of salmon; Ohio with $35,000,000 worth of corn; West Virginia, New Mexico, Utah, Indian Territory, Arizona, Washington, Colorado, California and Alaska with the prospect of a bridge across the strait to Asia, to tap the Orient and reverse the routes of travel.
In addition to the railroads, Chicago has the lake route, which has constantly grown in importance until last year the clearances in the Chicago were 480 more than the combined clearances of Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia, and only 800 less than those of New York.
RAILROAD STATIONS
By Station.
Dearborn Station
1884
Dearborn Station Polk and S. Dearborn streets. 1885-Present
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway
Chicago & Erie Railroad
Chicago & Western Indiana R. R.,
Grand Trunk Railway
Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway (Monon Route)
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Road
Wabash Railroad
Grand Central Station W. Harrison Street and S. Fifth Avenue 1890-1971
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad
Chicago, Great Western Raliway (Maple Leaf Route)
Maple Leaf Route (C. Gt. Western Ry.)
Pere Marquette Railroad
Great Central Depot Adams Street and Michigan Avenue 1856-1893
Central Station E. 12th Street and Park Row. 1893-1974
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (Big Four)
Illinois Central Railroad
Michigan Central Railroad
Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Station
After 1887 Addition
Michigan Southern Depot SW corner of LaSalle and Van Buren Streets 1866-1871
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Station S. La Salle and W. Van Buren streets. 1873-1903
La Salle Street Station S. La Salle and W. Van Buren streets. 1903-1981
Chicago, Indiana & Southern
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway
Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad
Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway (Monon Route)
New York, Chicago & St. Louis Rallroad (Nickel Plate)
Nickel Plate (N. Y., C. & St. L. R. R.)
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway
Chicago & Northwestern Passenger Depot
1882
Chicago & North Western Wells Street Depot W. Kinzie and Wells streets. 1881-1910
Chicago & North Western Depot W. Madison and N. Canal streets. 1911-1984
Chicago & North Western Railway
Union Depot in 1883
Union Depot W. Adams and Canal streets. 1881-1925
Union Station W. Adams and Canal streets. 1925-Present
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway
Chicago, Mliwaukee & St. Paul Railway
Chicago & Alton Rallway
Pan Handle (Pennsylvania Co.)
Pennsylvania Co. (Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Ry.)
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati. Chicago & St. Louis Rallway . (Pan Handle)
RAILROAD STATIONS
By Road.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, Dearborn Station, Polk and S. Dearborn streets.
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, Grand Central Station, W. Harrison Street and S. Fifth Avenue.
Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad, Grand Central Station, W. Harrison Street and S. Fifth Avenue.
Big Four Route (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway), E. Twelfth Street and Park Row.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway, Union Depot, W. Adams and Canal streets.
Chicago, Cincinnati & Louisvllle, Central Station, E. 12th Street and Park Row.
Chicago, Great Western Railway (Maple Leaf Route), Grand Central Station, W. Harrison Street and S. Fifth Avenue.
Chicago, Indiana & Southern, La Salle Street Station, S. La Salle and W. Van Buren streets.
Chicago, Mliwaukee & St. Paul Railway, Union Depot, W. Adams and Canal streets.
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway (Model Route), La Salle Street Station, W. Van Buren and S. La Salle streets.
Chicago & Alton Rallway, Union Depot, W. Adams and Canal streets.
Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, La Salle Street Station, W. Van Buren and S. La Salle streets.
Chicago & Erie Railroad, Dearborn Station, Polk and S. Dearborn streets.
Chicago & North Western Railway, North Western Depot, W. Madison and N. Canal streets.
Chicago & Western Indiana R. R., Dearborn Street Station, Polk and S. Dearborn streets.
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway (Big Four), Central Station, E. Twelfth Street and Park Row.
Grand Trunk Rallway, Dearborn Station, Polk and S. Dearborn streets.
Illinois Central Railroad, Central Station, E. Twelfth Street and Park Row.
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, La Salle Street Station, W. Van Buren and S. La Salle streets.
Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway (Monon Route), Dearborn Station, Polk and S. Dearborn streets.
Maple Leaf Route (C. Gt. Western Ry.), Grand Central Station, W. Harrison Street and S. Fifth Avenue.
Michigan Central Railroad, Central Station, E. Twelfth Street and Park Row.
Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie, Central Station, E Twelfth Street and Park Row.
Monon Route (Louisville, New Albany and Chicago Railway), Dearborn Station, Polk and S. Dearborn streets.
New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate), La Salle Street Station, W. Van Buren and S. La Salle streets.
Nickel Plate (N. Y., C, & St. L. R. R.), La Salle Street Station, W. Van Buren and S. La Salle streets.
Pan Handle (Pennsylvania Co.), Union Depot, W. Adams and S. Canal streets.
Pennsylvania Co. (Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Ry.), Union Depot, W. Adams and S. Canal streets.
Pere Marquette Railroad, Grand Central Station, W. Harrison Street and S. Fifth Avenue.
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati. Chicago & St. Louis Railway . (Pan Handle), Union Depot, W. Adams and S. Canal streets.
Wabash Railroad, Dearborn Station, Polk and S. Dearborn streets.
Leave a Reply