Vermilion County, Illinois - Chapter 35: Transportation in Vermilion County, 1911

Chapter 35: Transportation in Vermilion County

Earliest means of travel through the county was by way of the stage-coach. These lines were established to accommodate passengers from one point to the other, who otherwise would have to go on horseback, as well as to carry the United States mail. These stage-coach lines followed the state roads north and south and east and west. The mails were carried three times a week and, previous to the established stage-coach lines, were taken on horseback. The old Fort Clark road, or as it had been later by its changed direction, become the Danville and Urbana road, was the course of the east and west line of stage-coaches. The north and south line was on the old Chicago and Vincennes highway, which was changed from its original course in 1849. This relocation was made beginning at the south side of North Fork at Gilbert's ford, according to the following field notes of the surveyor: (i) S. 20 E. 1,750 to Coon's Corner; (2) S. 8 E. 2,000 to Messick's Corner; (3) south 6,500 on line to road. John Demerst and Alvan Gilbert were road viewers at that time. It was in 1832 that a postal route was established from Chicago via Danville to Vincennes, and four years later the one from Danville to Springfield by way of Decattir. This same year, 1836, the third postal route, the one from Danville to Ottawa, was opened. This was the year that shows greatest interest in postal routes, since it records not only the one from Danville to Springfield, the one from Danville to Ottawa, but yet another, the one from Indianapolis by way of Danville (Indiana) Rockville, Montezuma, and Newport to Danville, Illinois.

A few years later another mail route from Springfield to La Fayette was established by way of Danville. These routes were used by the people of Vermilion County to not only send and receive their mail, but along which they went when occasion demanded, and these were the roads which were used by newcomers into this part of the new west. It was along these roads that all communication with the outside world was made. The eastern limits of the county was several miles from the Wabash river, and when travel along the waterways was made, these intervening miles had to be covered either by horseback, in a wagon, or by foot.

There was a line of boats from Cincinnati direct to Perrysville and Covington, and which could, in high water, hope to reach La Fayette, in Indiana; but those living in Vermilion County were obliged to take their products to these river towns and haul all merchandise and other commodities back. The whole country as far west as the Sangamon was thus made tributary to, and wholly dependent upon La Fayette, Attica, Covington, Perrysville and Eugene for their supplies. It was not until the railroads were built that this section was released from dependence upon the Wabash river and the canal which ran alongside of it, that Vermilion County had a chance to develop, equal if not superior, to these river towns. To overcome this handicap of being back from the Wabash river, the people of Vermilion County tried to slack-water the Vermilion river and make it navigable to its mouth. Failing in this, they, in company with citizens of other counties, petitioned congress as early as 1831 to grant a strip of land from Vincennes to Chicago, on which to construct a railway.

The outcome of this was the charter secured in 1835 for the Chicago & Vincennes Railway. Among the charter members of this, appear the names of Gurdon S. Hubbard (who had a few years before this taken up his residence in Chicago), John H. Murphy, and Isaac R. Moore, of Danville. This "was the first attempt at building a rival to the stage-coach, and it was, for the time being, a failure.

The first competition the stage-coach line had was in the completion of the Wabash Railroad, in 1856. Even then, however, the coach was not abandoned, for the steam car covered but a comparatively small portion of the territory to which the United States mail was carried. The Wabash Railroad was the first steam motor for crossing Vermilion County and now, so extensive has become the railroad in this section, that there is not a township out of the seventeen, that is not touched by one, and in several there are two or three. The county is almost fifty miles long and twenty-five miles wide, and in view of the immense territory it covers, it is remarkable and fortunate that every township should be traversed by a steam highway

Pilot, Blount and Jamaica townships have the poorest railroad accommodations, the Rossville-Sidell branch of the C. & E. I. merely clipping off the northwest corner of the former, and the southeast corner of the latter, leaving the greater body of these townships without railroad facilities ; yet the towns in Jamaica, in Blount, and Collison in Pilot, are thriving little villages, and are good grain and stock points, thus giving the farmers of these townships fair outlets for their produce. Beginning with Butler township, in the extreme northwest part of the county, there are two railroads ; they being the L. E. & W., and the Chicago-St. Louis division of the "Frisco." Both of these pass almost through the heart of the township - one east and west, and the other northeast and southwest. Grant township has three railroads : the main line of the C. & E. L, the Chicago Southern, and the L. E. & W.

Ross township has practically five railroads. They are the main line of the C. & E. I., the Rossville-Sidell and Judyville branches of the road,' the Chicago Southern, and the West Lebanon-Leroy branch of the Illinois Central. The east side of the township, which runs along the border of Indiana, is also tributary to the Chicago, Indiana & Southern, a division of the Big

Four. Thus it will be seen that this township is especially favored with railroads. Newell township is also well favored with railroads, being penetrated by the main line of the C. & E. L, the Walsh road, the Chicago, Indiana & Southern and the Wabash. There is also a freight road running from Bismarck to Brewer, this being a branch of the C. & E. I.

Middle Fork township has two railroads, the West Lebanon branch of the Central, and the Chicago-St. Louis division of the "Frisco." Oakwood township has two railroads, and the main line of the Illinois Traction system. The Peoria division of the Big Four passes through the township from east to west, as does the traction line, while the Rossville-Sidell branch of the C. & E. I. runs through north and south. Vance township has two roads - the^Wabash and the Rossville-Sidell branch of the C. & E. I. The latter road 'splitting the line between Vance and Catlin, can be claimed by both.

Catlin township has three railroads, counting the road from Rossville to Sidell, and the trolley line. The Wabash angles through the township from the northeast to the south and west, while the Danville-Villa Grove division of the C. & E. I. cuts off the southeast corner. Carroll township has the Danville- Villa 'Grove division of the C. & E. I., and is also touched by the Rossville- Sidell branch of the same line, making it tributary to two roads. Sidell township has three railroads, counting both divisions of the C. & E. I. and the Sidell and Olney branch of the C. H. & D.

Georgetown township has two steam and one trolley line. The Cairo division of the Big Four passes through the heart of the township, and the Danville-Villa Grove division cuts off the northeast corner of the same. Elwood township has the Cairo division of the Big Four, the Clover Leaf, and the Illinois Traction System's lines. Love township, in the extreme southeast corner of the county, has the Clover Leaf, which passes through the center of it.

As every one of these railroads center in Danville, with the exception of the Clover Leaf, in the extreme south end of the county, the Lake Erie Western, in the extreme north end of the county, the West Lebanon-Leroy branch of the Illinois Central, the Rossville-Sidell branch of the C. & E. I., and the Chicago-St. Louis division of the C. & E. L, it will be seen that Danville township is literally a network of railroads. Although the first railroad chartered in the limits of Vermilion County was the Chicago & Vincennes Railway, this road was never built, and it was not until 1871 that there was a railroad connection' through the county with Chicago.

In 1835, the same year that the charter was secured for the Chicago & Viricennes Railway, one was projected from Quincy, on the Mississippi river across the state of Illinois, to the Indiana state line in the direction of La Fayette. This road was to be built through Springfield, Decatur and Danville, and was to be known as the Northern Cross Railroad. It is the road afterward known as the Wabash.

This plan to build a railroad across the state was but a part of the great internal improvement scheme which bankrupted the state of Illinois, and before it could possibly be carried out had, of necessity, to be abandoned. The craze for internal improvements, marking these years, seems almost incredible, and has gone down in history as without parallel. It has been estimated that the expense involved for all the proposed improvements was $10,000,000. but many writers state that that sum does not nearly cover the real expenses.

Dr. Fithian was the representative from Vermilion County in the legislature at this time, and he was a man of rare ability. He frankly predicted the financial ruin that would surely overwhelm the state if the legislature persisted in its wild scheme of general internal improvements. When he saw that he could not prevent the plan from being carried into effect, and that the public money was going to be wasted anyway, he turned the matter so that his county might profit by the conditions, and managed that work should begin at once on that part of the Northern Cross Railroad which ran through Vermilion County.

Accordingly, a large portion of the $1,800,000 appropriated for the Northern Cross Railroad was expended in 1837. 38 and 39, in grading the roadbed from the Champaign County line east to the Vermilion, and in the heavy cuts and fills adjacent to that stream, and in erecting the three large abutments of piers standing in or near the river itself. Thus the heaviest and most expensive part of the road, east of the Sangamon was practically finished before the crash came, which put an end to the "system." The road remained in this shape until in 1853, when the plan to extend it from Decatur east across the state was formed. The heavy work previously done in Vermilion County was too valuable to be thrown away. Another fact helped develop the road. Another corporation was building a line up the Maumee and down the Wabash rivers. The projectors had originally intended keeping down the east side of the Wabash through Covington, making their connection with St. Louis by way of Paris. The people of the towns along the Wabash river, had, at the time of the first planning of the Northern Cross railroad, or rather the Great Western railroad as it was later called, been very much encouraged with a prospect of having this road extended into Indiana to reach this important waterway. James Alexander, of Paris, succeeded in having a bill passed, the Indiana legislature of 1838 - authorizing the extension of the road into that state. This was no sooner done than a fight arose to secure the road to Covington and to Perrysville. Thanks to the prompt action of Dr. Hamilton of Covington, aided by secret information given him by Mr. Alexander, a rival town on the west side of the river was not located even though the much desired railroad did not come in that direction.

When the Wabash railroad, as the new project was called, planned to go down on the east side of the Wabash river below Attica to make the crossing, there was another hope for a railroad going to this, at that time, important town. But when the projectors of the new road from the east learned of the speedy completion of the Great Western road from Decatur to Danville, they changed their plans. They crossed the Wabash river at Attica, and made Danville its terminal point. They operated the section between Danville and the state line for a time, but at last withdrew and compelled the Great Western to follow them to that point. This was after the two corporations had a disagreement about some trivial thing. Matters remained in this shape for eight years, until the consolidation of the two roads in 1865 when Danville once more became the end of a running division. The first engine that ever ran into

Danville was called the Pioneer. It crossed the bridge over the Vermilion river in the latter part of October, 1856. The second railroad crossing Vermilion County was the Danville, Urbana, Bloomington & Pekin, and it was compkted in January, 1870. Trains ran from Danville to Pekin for nine months, before the gap between Crawfordsville and Danville was closed by the extention of the Indianapolis, Crawfordsville & Danville, and made a road east and west through the county. This I. C. & D. road was extended as far west as Crawfordsville, late in the year 1869. The connection of the rails was made on the prairie some eight miles east of Danville in September, 1870, and through trains were put on the road shortly afterward.

The C. & E. I. railroad was built and trains running in 1871. The leading citizens of Vermilion county had long felt the necessity of a direct connection for travel and commercial purposes with Chicago, and to this end, in 1868, secured a bill from the legislature authorizing the townships through which it was to run, to vote bonds in aid of its construction. Among the prominent ones in Vermilion County interested in this project, were John L. Tincher, H. W. Beckwith, and Alvan Gilbert. It was through Mr. Tincher's influence that the charter was obtained. The people generally in the eastern part of the county, at least, were anxious for the success of the enterprise. Danville township voted $72,000 for the construction of the road, and $75,000 for the erection of the car shops, which are located at Danville. Ross township voted $24,000 and Grant township voted $18,000. J. E. Young of Chicago, was the contractor, and built the road. The road was originally bonded for $5,000,000 which represents the supposed value at that time. In 1874, the company failed, and the property was placed in the hands of a receiver, in the person of Gen. A. Anderson, who continued to manage the affairs of the line until 1877. On the seventeenth of April, 1877, the road was sold to a new corporation for $1,450,000. In 1872 a branch of the road was built from Bismarck in Newell township, to Brazil, Indiana. The machine shops of the road were built in the northeast part of Danville, and remained there until they went into new and more saisfactory quarters further east in the later suburb called Oaklawn.

In November, 1871, the route from the Ohio river at Evansville to Lake Michigan, at Chicago, was established by the completion of the Evansville & Terre Haute railroad, as well as the Chicago, Danville & Vincennes lines. In 1872, the LaFayette, Bloomington & Muncie railroad was extended across the northern part of Vermilion County, connecting that part of the county with an eastern outlet for their products. The L. E. & W. railroad was built almost entirely by the unaided efforts of Mr. Gifford and the Penfield Bros., of Rantoul, and extends the entire width of the county. The P. & D. railroad, that project of John C. Short and others, is now known as a part of the Cairo division of die New York Central lines, was built largely by the aid of local subscriptions, and it gave the southern part of the county long needed facilities.

The Illinois Traction Company

The Illinois Traction Company operates three interurban lines into Danille each day. These lines connect Danville with every part of the county except the northeast and the north. There are cars which run every twenty to fifty minutes that will take passengers from Danville to Georgetown, Vermilion Grove, Catlin, all points on the line between Danville and the western line of the county. The Illinois Traction Company runs 72 Interurban cars into Danville each day. This line accommodates both passenger and freight transportation. The passenger service is of the best and the line is patronized freely, particularly in the warm weather when the loss of dust compensates for the possible loss of a short time. This is true in the longer trips from Danville to Decatur and to Springfield.