Logan County, Illinois - Transportational, 1911

Transportational

Railroading is comparatively a new industry. Six thousand years have added their contributions to literature, science and art - yet during eighty years only have railroads been known. The accumulated wisdom of centuries has furnished a store house of instruction in the realm of economics, sociology and the study of life - yet railroads are things of today. Our fathers died after welcoming their birth and yet, brief as their span of time has been, what mighty levers they have become in the world's advancement. Archimedes said, "Give me a fulcrum and I will move the world." Railroads have found the fulcrum. They have reached forth their mighty lever arms and moved the earth. The first railroad was built in the United States in 1826, at Quincy, Massachusetts. It ran from quarry to wharf and was three miles long. Its motor power were horses until 1829. The first passenger train traversed the B. & O., in 1830. The first track laid in Illinois was from Meredosia east, a distance of eight miles, and the first locomotive that ever turned a wheel in the Mississippi Valley, traversed these eight miles, November 8, 1838. Now long lines of gleaming rails gridiron the state; the iron horse, feeding on pitchy fragments, bounds, with tireless tread over its far-reaching track, dragging after it the products of distant climes; population has come in fast-increasing throngs; magnificent cities have arisen like magic on every hand; the East is linked with the West; and Illinois leads them all.

Chicago & Alton R. R.

On the 27th of February, 1847, the legislature of Illinois passed an act "to construct a railroad from Alton, in Madison County, to Springfield, in Sangamon County." The first section provided that Robert Ferguson, Simeon Ryder, Benjamin Godfrey, Thomas Clifford, Robert Dunlap and William Martin, their associates, successors and assigns, were to be a body corporate and politic, for the term of thirty years, under the name and style of "The Alton and Sangamon Railroad Company." The said Company was authorized to locate and construct a railroad from Alton, by way of Carlinville, in Macoupin County, and New Berlin, in Sangamon County, to Springfield, Illinois, seventy-two miles long. The capital stock was $500,000, with right to increase to a million. The commissioners above named organized in Alton in March, 1847. Books were opened in Springfield in 1849. The road was commenced in 1849 and completed in 1852, with the proceeds of. local subscriptions to stock, under the management of a local board of directors. At the session of the legislature in 1851, John T. Stuart had introduced a bill extending the road to Bloomington, which bill passed and became a law February 11, 1851. As soon as the road was therefore completed to Springfield, in 1852, work began at once to push the road farther north. In the meantime the name of the road was changed to the Chicago & Mississippi Railroad.

By August, 1853, the road reached Lincoln and construction trains were run from Springfield to Lincoln that month. At Lincoln, the company built a wood-shed and tank. In the end of the shed was a depot. A stage company, Frink & Company, had their stables at Lincoln at that time, and passengers coming on the construction trains to Lincoln would be taken by stage to Bloomington, there to connect with the Illinois Central to La Salle and from there, by the Chicago & Rock Island road, to Chicago. An advertisement in the Sangamo Journal, of July 8, 1853, reads as follows: "Chicago & Mississippi Railroad! Three days from St. Louis to New York! This route passes through the interior of Illinois, via the cities of Alton, Springfield, Bloomington and La Salle, connecting with the Illinois Central at La Salle (except sixty miles of staging from Springfield to Bloomington, in Frink & Co.'s stages, over one of the most beautiful prairies in Illinois)."" The sale of lots in the new town of Lincoln occurred August 29, 1853, and a special construction train was put on that day, from Springfield, to bring prospective buyers to the new town. Among the passengers was Abraham Lincoln, later President of the United States.

'The contract for extending the road to Bloomington was awarded to a Mr. Godfrey, of Alton, (for whom the town of Godfrey was named), who later retired from his connection with the enterprise and assigned his interest to Henry Dwight, of New York, (for whom the town of Dwight was named). The road was completed to Normal, October 18, 1853, whereupon Mr. Dwight conceived the idea of extending the road to Joliet, and making connection at that point for Chicago and the East. By legislative act of February 14, 1855, the road was reorganized as the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis railroad, the original line was extended to Joliet, the same being completed in 1856, and the line of the Joliet and Chicago railroad, constructed in 18s 5, was leased, in perpetuity, by the reorganized company, making a through line from Alton to Chicago. By Act of June 21, 1857, the name of the road was again changed to the St. Louis, Alton and Chicago; again, .February 19, 1859, it was changed to the Alton, Chicago & St. Louis. February 18, 1861, a company with the present name, Chicago & Alton Railroad, was organized. For some time, connection was had between Alton and St. Louis, by steam packet boats, running in connection with the railroad, but later over the line of the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railroad, and finally, by the Company's own line, which was constructed in 1864, and formally opened January 1, 1865. :

Several branch lines have since been acquired, by purchase or lease, the most important, in the state, being the line from Bloomington to St. Louis, by way of Jacksonville. This was chartered in 1851, under the name of the St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago railroad, was opened for business in 1868, and having been diverted from the route, upon which it was originally projected, was completed to Bloomington, and leased to the Chicago & Alton in 1868; later in 1884, this branch was absorbed by the main line. About one mile of this branch passes through the extreme northwest section of Prairie Creek township, running in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction and passing through the town of San Jose. In 1879, another branch of the Chicago and Alton Railroad was begun through the western part of Logan County, said branch connecting Peoria and Springfield. The first half mile of track was laid in 1879, at San Jose, at the crossing of the Jacksonville branch before mentioned. The Peoria and Springfield branch, or as it is officially known, the St. Louis, Peoria and Northern branch, enters the county at San Jose and runs from thence due south, within a half mile of the western boundary line of the county, through Prairie Creek, Sheridan and Corwin townships. The stations on the line in Logan County are San Jose, Harness, New Holland and Middletown. It has over fifteen miles of main track and over two miles of siding; the assessed value of track, right of way and improvements in the county being $236,597. The main line of the Chicago & Alton railroad enters Logan County in Atlanta, and passes through Eminence, East Lincoln, West Lincoln, Broadwell, Elkhart and Hurlbut townships. The stations in the county, on the main line, are Atlanta, Lawndale, Lincoln, Broadwell and Elkhart. The main line has over twenty-eight miles of main track and over twenty miles of siding. Its assessed value in the county is as follows: Assessed value on main track, including right of way and improvements, but excluding buildings, $342,545; assessed value of buildings, $3,818; equalized value of railroad property in the county, $575,- 532.

University Of Illino

catur and Evansville road, and now the Peoria and Evansville branch of the Illinois Central, and the attendant issue caused by the issuance of county bonds, to provide for popular subscriptions, voted in aid of the said road, furnished to the citizens of Logan County, a bone of contention for a period of many years and in a measure and for a time, affected the politics, the social and business relations of the county, as no other event had ever done before.

The Peoria, Lincoln and Decatur Railroad was incorporated by Act of General Assembly, approved February 22, 1867. Said act authorized the construction of a railroad from Pekin, through Lincoln, to Decatur; provided for a capital stock of three millions of dollars; empowered the counties of Tazewell, Logan and Macon to subscribe to the capital stock of the company, upon certain limitations, after the legal voters of said counties, at an election regularly held, had, by a majority vote, declared in favor of such subscription, the limitation as to Logan County being that the subscription should not be less than $250,000 nor more than $350,000; that such an election should be called by the Board of Supervisors, upon the application of the Board of Directors of the company; that if at such election, a majority voted against making such subscription, upon a further request signed by two hundred legal voters of the county, the proposition was to be submitted a second time by the Board; that in the event of a favorable action at either election, the Board of Supervisors was to subscribe, on behalf of the county, on the request of the company, for the shares of capital stock, to the amount voted by the county, and issue and deliver to the company, bonds of the county to the amount of the shares so subscribed payable within twenty years, with interest at not less than ten per cent.

Upon the incorporation of the company, the incorporators met at the court house in Lincoln, April 23, 1867. W. A. Barnes, of Decatur, presided, and Colby Knapp was secretary. The following persons were elected directors: B.S. Prettyman of Pekin, President; R. B. Latham, of Lincoln, Vice President; A. M. Miller, of Lincoln, Secretary; J. F. D. Elliott, of Lincoln, Treasurer; A. Mayfield and S. C. Beam of Logan County; Teis Smith, of Tazewell County, and L. Burrows and H. B. Durfee of Macon County. Books were opened for subscriptions and subscriptions were received from Logan County, to the amount of $14,500 ($6,400 of which came from Mt. Pulaski), from Tazewell County to the amount of $10,000, and from Macon County $500, On application of the company, the Board of Supervisors of Logan County ordered a special election for June 25, 1867, to determine whether the county would subscribe $300,000 to the capital stock of the company and issue bonds therefor at ten per cent interest. Considerable Opposition was aroused against the proposition. It was opposed on the ground that the bonds were to be issued before the road was built; that there was no assurance that, even if the bonds were issued, that the road would be built; that the $300,000 would not more than build the road through Logan County alone; that the road had not yet been surveyed, no right of way had been obtained, no estimates of cost made, no provision made for equipment, no assurance that any capitalists or railroad company would carry the project through and that the whole proposition was too uncertain and was without safeguards or assurances to the people. The election resulted in a defeat for the proposition by an adverse majority of seventeen. For the proposition, there was 1,375 votes and against it, 1,393 votes. East and West Lincoln townships, Mt. Pulaski, Lake Fork, Chester, Orvil, Laenna and Prairie Creek-townships, through which the road was to run, voted for the proposition, the rest of the townships voted against it. Oran voted unanimously against it, and Atlanta and Hurlbut townships had each but a single favorable vote.

Subsequently at the September session, 1867, of the Board of Supervisors, the company directors presented to the Board a petition of 200 persons, for the re-submission of the proposition, as provided for by law, at the ensuing general election in November, 1867; but the Board, on presentation of the petition, refused to submit the proposition again. The Company thereupon sued out a writ of mandamus, to compel the Board to resubmit the question, and after the matter had been fought through the Supreme Court (45 Ill. 164), that tribunal held that under the franchise of the company, approved February 22, 1867, it was mandatory on the Board to submit the proposition a second time. The proposition was thereupon voted on November 5, 1867. In answer to the previous objections, the directors came out in an open statement, that they would guarantee that the bonds, if voted, would not be called for until the contract for building the road had been let to some responsible company, to be built and completed within two years. To this the opponents of the proposition answered, that such a guarantee, even if good, as to present directors, would not bind future ones. The proposition again lost, by an increased majority of 525, those voting for numbering 1,559, those voting against numbering 2,084. The same townships which voted favorably before, voted favorably again, and those townships against the proposition before, still remained against.

To meet the objections made, the directors applied to the Legislature for an amendment of the company's incorporation act. This amendatory act passed March 10, 1869, and provided that another election should be had upon the question of subscribing to the stock and issuing bonds; that the County Clerk, upon application of the Board of Directors of the company, should call such an election; that if, at such election, a majority of the legal voters of the county voted for the proposition, the Board of Supervisors was to subscribe for the stock and issue and deliver the bonds as follows: One-third of said bonds to be issued and delivered when ten miles of the road had been completed in Logan County, and ready to receive rolling stock; another third to be issued and delivered when fifteen miles of road, additional, had been completed in the county, and the last third issued and delivered when the entire road was completed in the county, interest not to exceed ten per cent. These conditions seemed to have proved more satisfactory, for at a special election, called by the County Clerk, under the amended charter, and held April 27, 1869, the $300,000 aid was voted by a majority of 246, those voting in favor numbering 2,124, those voting against numbering 1,878. The townships voting for the proposition and the majorities given were as follows: Chester, 160, only one vote against; East Lincoln, 619; Laenna, 57; Lake Fork, 14; Mt. Pulaski, 436; Prairie Creek, 57; West Lincoln, 439. The townships voting against the propositions, with majorities added, were as follows: Aetna, 52; Atlanta, unanimously against; Broadwell, 93; Corwin, 174; Elkhart, 120; Eminence, 231, only one vote for; Hurlbut, 90; Oran, 130, only one vote for; Orvil, 6; Sheridan, 121, only one vote for.

Another election of officers for the road on May 24, 1869, resulted as follows: President, R. B. Latham; Vice President, Teis Smith; Secretary, A. M. Miller; Treasurer, William M. Dustin. An executive committee was appointed and authorized to let a contract for building the road, as soon as possible. The contract was let for the building of the road from Pekin to Decatur, to the Pekin Construction Company, which thereupon changed its name to the P. L. and D. Construction Company. The officers of the company were C. R. Cummings, President; G. R. Cobleigh, Secretary and Superintendent, and Peter Weyrich, Treasurer. The actual work of grading was begun in November, 1869. The contract for bridge building was let to Mason & Broughton. Work was suspended for the winter but resumed in the spring of 1870. Four briges were built at the Mackinaw, aggregating over 1,800 feet. The road was completed to Lincoln July 4, 1871, and to Decatur in October. On December 24, 1870, the road was leased to the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad Company, and Dietrich C. Smith was made director of the Company, in place of Teis Smith, deceased.

On July 15, 1871, more than ten miles of the road having been constructed in Logan County, the company applied to the Board of Supervisors for an issuance and delivery, to said company, of $100,000 of said bonds. The Board thereupon conferred with Leonard Swett, of Bloomington, who gave them a legal opinion that the bonds were due and should be issued. Not being satisfied with this opinion, they conferred with the firm of Hay, Greene & Littler, of Springfield, who advised against the issuance of the bonds, and in case of contest agreed to conduct the case for the county for $3,000, and $6,500 more, if the county was successful in the litigation. The Board thereupon refused to subscribe for the stock of the company or issue or deliver the company any bonds of the county. The Company then began proceedings to obtain mandamus, to compel the Board to act and entered into contract with Hay, Greene & Littler as above stated. The case went to the Supreme Court, where respondents alleged as reasons why the bonds should not be issued that there were gross frauds and irregularities in the election; that in reality there was a majority of votes cast against the proposition to issue bonds; that the company violated its franchise in leasing the road to the Toledo, Wabash and Western Company, and that $800,000 of stock was issued, as alleged payment for constructing the road, but in reality to place the majority of the stock in other hands, to take the power of control from Logan County, besides numerous other objections.

The Court held that the P. L. & D. Company had no right to issue the $800,000 of stock and that if the election was illegal, the county had a right to show the same, and if proved, the Board would have no authority to issue the bonds. The Board thereupon decided to try the question of legality of the election and appropriated $5,000 to defray the legal expenses. A bill of injunction was then applied for, on the part of tax payers, against the expenditure of such a sum, on the ground that the Board was contracting with individuals to pay them so much for every vote proven to have been illegally cast in the bond election. This injunction was dismissed in the lower court, but on appeal, was reversed above. After constant litigation, which cost the county over $20,000, and the company much more, after recriminations and unpleasant feelings which left their scars for years to come, after repeated attempts to show illegal votes cast both for and against the issue of the bonds, after frequent propositions for compromise offered and refused, a final compromise was made and accepted on both sides, in March of 1873, by which the county paid to the company $160,000 in bonds, all pending litigation to cease, each party paying its own costs. The bonds were to be due in twenty years, but payable at any time after five years. The debt so incurred has long since been paid.

In 1876, on August Ist, the management representing the bond holders took possession of the road, from the Toledo, Wabash and Western Company, to which it had been leased and which had defaulted in payment of the interest. The re-purchase price of the road was $1,650,000. The road was then reorganized again, as the Pekin, Lincoln and Decatur Railroad, with the following incorporators: C. R. Cummings, John B. Cohrs, R. B. Latham, George D. Boyden, David T. Littler, Henry S. Greene. C. R. Cummings was elected President; R. B. Latham, Vice President; John B. Cohrs, Secretary; John S. Cook, Superintendent; C. R. Cummings, Edward Richards, H. W. Hippen,

R. B. Latham, George D. Boyden, S. C. Beam, K. Norwood, John T. Martin, George I. Sevey, Directors. In 1878, the road leased ten miles of track between Peoria and Pekin, at $3,000 per month, then known as the Peoria & Springfield road.

In 1879, the Pekin, Lincoln and Decatur road was consolidated with what was known as the Decatur, Sullivan and Mattoon Railway and the Grayville and Mattoon Railway, under the name of the Peoria, Decatur and Evansville Railway Company, thus placing the entire line, from Peoria to Grayville, in the hands of one corporation. A line, under the name of the Evansville and Peoria Railroad, was chartered in Indiana in 1880, was also consolidated the same year with the P. D. & E., and a line built from Grayville to Evansville, Indiana, in 1882, making a continuous line from Peoria to Evansville of 331 miles, 273 miles being in Illinois. Later the P. D. & E. Company bought a onefourth interest in the Peoria and Pekin Union Railway. In 1894, the property and franchise of the entire line passed into the hands of receivers, by whom it was managed for a number of years, passing finally into the control of the Illinois Central corporation, who now operate and manage it as the Peoria and Evansville branch of the Illinois Central Railroad. This branch of the Illinois Central has thirty-three miles of main track in Logan County, and its assessed value of track, right of way and improvements in the county, are $203,924. It has nearly six miles of side tracks in the county, with an assessed value of $22,817 additional. It passes through Prairie Creek, Orvil, West Lincoln, East Lincoln, Chester, Mt. Pulaski and Laenna townships, in a northwesterly and southeasterly direction, and the stations in the county are Emden, Hartsburg, Bell Station, Lincoln, Mt. Pulaski, Narita Station and Latham.

Champaign And Havana Line

The Champaign and Havana branch of the Illinois Central Railroad, was incorporated in 1869 as the Havana, Mason City and Eastern railroad. The incorporators met at the Court House in Lincoln, on August 4, 1869, and elected Thomas Snell, President; Lyman Lacey, Secretary ; Silas Beason, Vice President; H. T. Strawn, Treasurer. Mr. Beason was appointed attorney for the road. On the same day a large and enthusiastic meeting was held at the Court House, to discuss the advisability of voting aid to the proposed road. At that meeting, a resolution was passed, that it was the sense of the meeting, that each and every township, through which the proposed road was to pass, should subscribe for bonds, at the rate of $10,000 for each mile of road to be built in the said township. On January 4, 1870, a meeting of the directors was again held in Lincoln, at which it was announced that certain concerns stood ready to construct the proposed road, even if but $8,000 per mile be voted. On May 31, 1870, therefore, a vote was taken in Oran, East Lincoln, West Lincoln and Sheridan townships, these being the townships through which the road was to run, upon the proposition of subscribing to the stock of the new road and bonding the townships to pay for the same. At this election, East Lincoln voted to issue bonds for this purpose to the amount of $60,000, West Lincoln to the amount of $50,000, Oran $25,000, and Sheridan $20,000.

Work was commenced on the road in 1871 and finished in January, 1873. The work of construction was done by the Indiana, Bloomington & Western Railroad Company, who bought out the road and opened it as its western extension in 1873. The first train left Havana, January 9, 1873. When it reached Lincoln, the court adjourned in honor of the event, and court, bar, jury and many citizens boarded the train and went to Urbana, where a banquet was held. When the time came to issue the township bonds, the fervor had somewhat cooled, the road being built. At first, the township supervisors refused to issue the bonds. East Lincoln, West Lincoln and Oran, however, issued and delivered the bonds for the amount, for which they had voted to subscribe. Sheridan, on the other hand, did not issue or deliver their bonds, and although a mandamus suit was begun against the supervisor of that township, it was subsequently dropped. While the bonds were duly issued for East and West Lincoln and Oran townships, still, when the interest became due on the bonds, these townships refused to pay the same. Later, the State Auditor certified a levy, for the payment of the interest for the first year, but a writ of injunction was obtained. For the next six years, there was constant friction and litigation, but still no interest was paid. Finally, in 1879, the County Clerk was served with a mandamus to extend the tax to pay the interest on the bonds A combined effort was made to resist the payment of this tax. Various expedients were used. A general method was to neglect to pay the taxes and to prevent the selling of property levied upon as delinquent, by overawing any who might wish to bid. At these sales, no one ever made an effort to bid and hence there was no sale. In some instances, sureties on the bonds of tax collectors withdrew from the bonds, leaving collectors powerless to collect or receive the tax. When the County Treasurer undertook to enforce payment, an injunction was applied for, enjoining him from collecting the tax. The matter, however, was finally compromised in 1881. By this compromise, East Lincoln township saved over $33,000, West Lincoln township $28,000 and Oran township $54,000.

The Indiana, Bloomington & Western Railroad Company operated the road until January, 1879, when, being financially involved, and in litigation, it went into the hands of a receiver and its interest in the road was sold, by decree of court. It was then operated by the purchasers for a few months, when in September, 1879, it was reorganized, as the Champaign, Havana & Western Railroad Company. It was so operated until July 31, 1880, when it was purchased by and became part of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific System, under the management of Jay Gould. When this system went to pieces, the Champaign and Havana line was taken possession of by the mortgage trustees, and these in September, 1886, sold the road under foreclosure to its present owner, the Illinois Central Railroad Company, who now operate it as a feeder to their main line. This branch has twenty-four miles of main track in the county, and three miles of siding. Its assessed value, in the county, is $128,535, and the stations are New Holland, Burton View, Lincoln, Skelton and Beason.

Gilman, Clinton And Springfield Line

The Gilman, Clinton & Springfield Railroad, now the Springfield Division of the Illinois Central System, was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly, March 4, 1867. The incorporators were George E. King, A. S. Palmer, J. C. Moore, Alexander Fisher, John D. Gillett, H. C. St. Clair, John Williams and James Matheny. The incorporation act provided that the road should pass within a half mile of the public square at Mt. Pulaski and the capital stock was fixed at two million dollars. The incorporators organized at Bloomington, November 20, 1867. H. St. Clair was made Chairman and William M. Allen Secretary; books were opened for the subscription of stock and $60,000 were pledged at the meeting. Mt. Pulaski was represented at the meeting by Joshua Day, David Vanhise and William M. Allen. Another meeting was held at Clinton, in February, 1868, at which 400 delegates were present. John Williams was there elected President and William M. Allen Secretary. Every township in Logan County, through which the proposed line was to run, subscribed to the capital stock. Grading was commenced near Clinton, July 4, 1870, and from that time on, until the close of the working season, from fifteen to eighteen hundred men were employed along the line. Track laying commenced in time to extemporize an excursion train at Springfield, Saturday evening, October 21, 1871, to visit the ruins of the Chicago fire, but the road was not regularly opened for business until December 3, 1871. It was built by the Pennsylvania Central Company. The road passed into the hands of a receiver in 1873. During the receivership, the road became of little value as a carrier of passengers and freights. Passenger trains were withdrawn; only accommodation trains were run; it took two hours to run to Springfield and thirteen hours to Chicago; trains were nine and ten hours late, and much dissatisfaction resulted. The road was finally sold, under foreclosure, in 1876 and in 1878 passed into the hands of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. Since then, the road has been quite successfully managed and through trains are run upon the same, from Springfield to Chicago. The line has seventeen miles of main track in the county, and three miles of siding. Its assessed value in the county is $173,167. It enters the county in Aetna township, passes through Aetna, Laenna, Mt. Pulaski and Elkhart townships and its stations in the county are Chestnut, Mt. Pulaski, Lake Fork and Cornland.

Peoria, Atlanta And Decatur Line

The Peoria, Atlanta and Decatur Railroad Company was incorporated by act of the General Assembly, March 1, 1869. The incorporators were William R. Hamilton, Valentine Dewein, John T. Lindsay, Robert G. Ingersoll, Seth Talbott, A. N. Dills, H. Armington, W. S. Dunham, J. C. Prescott, Thomas Smith, F. N. Ewing, James Millikin and J. J. Peddecord. The capital stock was fixed at $100,000. A meeting was held in Atlanta, April 17, 1869, to consider ways and means to advance the proposed road. Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, of Peoria, who was attorney for the road, addressed the meeting. It was the sense of the meeting that Atlanta township should subscribe to the capital stock, to the amount of $50,000 and bonds be issued therefor. The proposition was submitted to the voters of the township, June 16, 1869, and the $50,000 bonds were voted, by a vote of 265 to 29. Work began on the road in 1870, but was not completed until the summer of 1874. The Atlanta township bonds were issued and delivered to the company, but when the time came for the payment of taxes thereon, the company was met with a refusal to pay. It was claimed that the company had not complied with its part of the contract, that work on the road at that time had ceased, that the company did not intend to complete the road, that the act of incorporation was illegally passed, and that bonds had been taken, by the company, without the consent of the supervisor. All this the company strenuously denied. In 1874, an injunction was applied for, to restrain the collector from collecting taxes to pay interest on the bonds. On trial, this injunction was dissolved. Finally, a compromise proposition, by which the township was to pay the bond holders $62,000, for principal and interest of the bonds, was endorsed by the voters, at an election held in April, 1882, by a vote of 228 for and 72 oe and accepted by the bondholders and the matter was thus settled.

On November 4, 1874, the Peoria, Atlanta & Decatur Company consolidated its line with that of the Paris & Decatur and the Paris & Terre Haute Railroad Companies, forming a continuous line from Peoria to Terre Haute, Ind., and the consolidated lines assumed the name of the Illinois Midland. In 1886, the Illinois Midland was sold under fore- closure to a syndicate of Indianapolis capitalists, and was reorganized as the Terre Haute & Peoria Railroad. In 1892, it was leased for ninety-nine years to the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad and is now operated as a part of the "Vandalia System." It has eleven miles of main trackage in the county and its assessed value in the county is $74,374. It traverses the two townships of Eminence and Atlanta and its stations in the county are Mt. Joy Station and Atlanta.

Illinois Traction System

The year 1896 marked the beginning of interurban railroads in Illinois. The first one ever built in the state and the first entry of William B. McKinley, the father of the interurban in Illinois, in the interurban field was built from Joliet north and was eleven miles long. It was then the intention of Mr. McKinley to build into Chicago, but he afterwards disposed of his property. With the purchase of the car lines in Danville, in 1900, the present McKinley System really began. Two spur lines from Danville to Westville and Catlin, neither over seven miles long resulted in the construction of a line from Danville to Champaign. Later, Mr. McKinley made arrangements with a group of Canadian capitalists to push interurban work in Illinois, and in ten years the little six mile track in Danville had grown into the Illinois Traction System, operating 500 miles of track. These lines extend from Danville, through Urbana, Champaign, Decatur, Bloomington, Lincoln, Peoria, Springfield to East St. Louis; the largest electric bridge in the world has been completed over the Mississippi River, and the terminus of the road in St. Louis is marked by twenty-three miles of freight yards and tracks in that city, a twelve story terminal station, train sheds within a block of the Jefferson Hotel, a $65,000 bridge station at the river's front, freight receiving depots occupying an entire block, and a 20,000 horse power electric plant on the Illinois side.

The first talk of an interurban in Logan County occurred in 1903, when well known citizens of Lincoln, Bloomington, Atlanta, Peoria, Springfield and intervening cities and towns, began to consider the question of joining together, by an interurban road, these various points. Among those who were first interested in the movement in Logan County were W. H. Evans and D. H. Harts of Lincoln and J. W. Hoblit of Atlanta. The former, W. H. Evans, has been interested in the road from its first inception down to the present time. He secured a large portion of its right of way, is now Industrial Agent of the road and to him, more than any other individual in Logan County, is due the present existence of the line in the county. The first incorporation was secured March 7, 1904, for what was known as the Springfield, Lincoln, Bloomington, Pekin and Peoria Electric Railway Company, for a line from Springfield, through Lincoln to Bloomington. The incorporators were LaFayette Funk, of Shirley, D. H. Harts, of Lincoln, A. G. Kingman, of Peoria, J. T. Prather, of Williamsville, F. W. Aldrich, of Bloomington, and Logan Hay, of Springfield. The stockholders met at Bloomington, April 14, 1904, (46 being present), and elected the following directors: Lafayette Funk, Shirley; W. H. Evans and D. H. Harts, Lincoln; Robert Johnson and F. W. Aldrich, Bloomington; S. E. Prather, Springfield; J. E. Mowrey, Delavan; A. G. Kingman, Peoria, and J. W. Hoblit, Atlanta. The directors elected Lafayette Funk, President, and F. W. Aldrich, Secretary and Treasurer. O. A. Farrar, of Flint, Mich., was ordered to make a preliminary survey and efforts were directed toward securing a right of way, beginning south of Lincoln. On June 20, 1904, the capital stock was increased to $300,- 000, and on December 6, 1904, it was increased to $900,000, and the name changed to the Springfield and Northeastern Railway Company. Work was begun on the road in October of 1904, the starting point being north of Springfield. The road was so far completed that, by December 15, 1906, a first car was run from Starne, north of Springfield, to the southern corporate limits of Lincoln. The trip was made in about two hours, the line being then unballasted, for substantially this whole distance.

During the early part of 1906, the company had been negotiating with W. B. McKinley, of the McKinley Traction System, with a view to his taking over the proposition and incorporating it in his general system. These negotiations being successful, all the acquired rights of the company passed into the McKinley control, and the road was thereupon built and completed from Springfield to Lincoln. Subsequently, the direction of the road, as originally intended, was materially changed and from Lincoln the right of way was secured and the line surveyed and built, due north to Mackinaw Junction, connecting there with the line from Peoria to Bloomington, about half way between the two cities. The first car on this end was operated New Year's Day, 1908. The Illinois Traction System now has a total of twenty-eight and one-half miles in Logan County. It enters the county at the south line of Hurlbut township, with the Chicago & Alton railroad, which it parallels to Lincoln, passing through Hurlbut, Broadwell, West Lincoln and East Lincoln townships. Leaving the city of Lincoln, at its northern limits, it passes due north, through East Lincoln and Eminence townships, into Tazewell County.

North of Lincoln, on the line of the interurban, three towns have been started, namely, Union, Mindale and Richmond, and grain elevators have been constructed at these and other points, where grain is being handled and shipped to St. Louis and Chicago. Sub-stations, of a unique and handsome design, have been erected at Union, Mindale and Elkhart, and a cement block depot at Lincoln. The interurban cars are geared to a speed of fifty miles an hour and are driven by four one hundred horse power motors. The coal and grain cars are interchangeable. Sleeping cars, designed by Vice President Chubbuck and Mechanical Expert Rosenbury, have been introduced on the line. They are distinctive in having windows in the upper berth, and in having longer berths. This sleeper service is from Peoria to St. Louis, by way of Lincoln.