Macon County, Missouri - Chapter 6, 1910

Chapter 6

Eaniy Srare Roaps ix Missovni - Ena or THE Stace Coacu - Poxy River in Macon County - Wuen BrLooMiNGTON was A STAGE Division - A RAILROAD CONVENTION - QUEER Opposition To Rarroans - 'Bos'? Srewart - Georce H. Davis - I. N. Wirser - W. C. Brown - P. H. Hovragax - A Fast Mam Run - THE Pony Express - RAILROADING iN War Tinz - First GREAT DISASTER ON THE **JogE' - Brock Houses - Essineer Jim MeIwrosu - Tug Norru Missourr Roan - THE Arcnison, ToPEKA-AND Santa Fe - A Bic Surr Over Harppan - Great Inea or Two Young RarroaD MEN.

In the spring of 1849 an ox train left Hannibal for California, making the journey in ten months and four days. A recent newspaper sketch tells of railw rvice from New York to the Pacific coast, the schedule being twenty-üve minutes less than four days.

'These comparisons illustrate the remarkable development of transportation in the west within the life of men who made the trip to the far west in '49. First, the ox team, then the stage coach, next the Pony Express, and, finally, the modern passenger train, luxuriously fitted, averaging a speed of forty miles an hour.

Macon county has been the highway for all these different methods of transportation serviee. In the days of remote settlements the routes of travel were along the ridges, which were high and dry, and generally smooth. County courts of later years have advocated the laying out of new roads along ridges for the same reasons given by the pioneers, and Macon county yet has many of such roads in commission, smooth and hard as a pike.

Before the days of bridges across the streams the method was to grade the roads down to the bank, seeking a shallow place to eross. Frequently, fords were eonstructed of rock. At the Chariton there were rope ferries, where a tariff of 5 cents per man was charged, o cents for team, wagon and driver. Stock was 5 cents a head. Sometimes the cattle man would risk his stock making the swim rather than pay the tariff. A drover was removing 800 head of eattle from Livingston to Macon county, and on reaching William Sear's ferry, west of Bloomington on the Chariton river, stopped to dicker with the ferryman. Before they came to terms the impatient cattle dashed into the stream, and the whole herd reached the opposite bank safely, saving the owner expense of ferryage.

One of these primitive ferry boats was in operation in Macon county, at Peggy's Ford, near Mercyville, as late as 1886-7, and was frequently used by the engineers and surveyors of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, then under construetion through Macon county.

A pony rider transported the mail from Hannibal, through Bloomington to Milan. He ran on no schedule, just getting over the road the best he could. The only way of sending money then was to enclose the bill. No receipt was given the sender. A Virginia man, knowing there was no guarantee that the mail man was honest, made a $50 remittance to a western eorrespondent by slieing the bill in half. One part of the bill went out on one mail and the other was held several days. 1t happened this partieular pony rider was dishonest. The first half of the bill went through safely, but the mail carrier detected the second half, and held it to await the coming of the balance of the bill. The man who reeeived the first half of the bill, knowing the other section was due soon, waited a while and then started an investigation that resulted in the eonvietion of the dishonest carrier. Such occurrences, however, were extremely rare in the service.

The earliest state road was authorized in Missouri in 1808. It was from St. Louis to St. Genevieve and New Madrid. Later, a state road was established from Glasgow to Huntsville, and when Bloomington eame on the map was extended to that place. There was also a state road from Hannibal to St. Joe, by way of Shelbyville, Shelby county; Bloomington, Maeon eounty, and Linneus, Linn county.

Before the railroads came the stage coach handled the passengers and mail, superseding the pony rider for the latter service. The coaches were run daily where the traffie was heavy, and semi- or tri-weekly in less thickly settled communities. From two to four horses were used. The lines operated on a schedule would run day and night, with frequent relays of horses. Ben Holliday, famous as the operator of the overland stage coach system from the Missouri river to California, was a native of Missouri.

A well-appointed stage line had stations at regular intervals, in charge of agents. Fresh horses were always at the station in readiness for the arriving coach.

nibal, Kirksville, Paris and Glasgow in the afternoon. People within a radius of twenty miles would gather at the county seat to get their mail, which was delivered on payment of the postage. Bad roads would often delay the arrival of the coaches until long after nightfall, but those expecting letters would patiently wait.

** When all the coaches on the various lines were in, the old town was quite lively with the travelers, drivers and bustling hostlers. You see, the eoaches didn't arrive every day then. They only eame in twice a week from Hannibal and St. Joseph, and from the other places once or three times a week. John Lear operated the line across the state, and drove one of the coaches himself. "The fare from Bloomington to Hannibal, about 75 miles, was, as I recolleet, $5.

"The coaches would all be assembled on the square Wednesday morning, each headed towards its respective destination, the lordly driver walking about, gloved and grand, eritically inspecting his team, and occasionally favoring some townsman with an observation, which would make him happy all day long. About the entire town would turn out as the hour of departure drew near. "There were hurried talks and hundreds of messages entrusted to those happy mortals who were going to travel, joking backward and forward among the coach erews and the hostlers and a general air of animation and good-nature.

**Old Bloomington saw its rise and fall with the stage coach. When it was a division point for the various lines, the county seat and most advanced town in the county, it looked like nothing could stop it from becoming an important city. In the stage coach days congressmen, senators, governors, and everybody knew Bloomington. But a few years after the railroads shied off from it the star of the old town fell, and it had nothing left but a splendid history."

In its issue of November 6, 1846, the St. Joseph Gazette sounded the note that announced the dawn of the railroad era in Northern Missouri :

"Our country is destined to suffer much and is now suffering, from the difficulty of navigation and the extremely high rates the boats now charge. Our farmers may caleulate that they will get much less for produce and will be compelled to pay much more for their goods than heretofore, and this will certainly always be the ease when the Missouri river shall be as low as it now is. The chances are fearfully against having any considerable work bestowed in improving the river, and until it is improved by artificial means, the navigation of it to this point must always be dangerous and very uncertain.

ourselves, we like the idea of a railroad to one of the latter places suggested, for this course would place us nearer to the eastern eities, and make our road thither a direet one; we like this road, too, because it would so much relieve the intermediate country which is now suffering and must always suffer so much for transportation facilities in the absence of such an enterprise.'"

The writer of the above was a prophet. The agitation thus begun bore early fruit. Prominent men were interested all the way across the state and **An Act to Incorporate the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company" was approved by the General Assembly February 16, 1847. The stockholders named were Joseph Robidoux, John Corby and Robert J. Boyd, of St. Joseph; Samuel J. Harrison, Zachariah G. Draper and Erasmus M. Moffett, of Hannibal; Alexander MeMurty, Shelby county; George A. Shortridge and Thomas Sharp, Macon county ; Wesley Halliburton, Linn county; John Graves, Livingston county; Robert Wilson, Daviess county, and George W. Smith, Caldwell county.

A railroad convention was held at Chillicothe on June 2, 1847, attended by delegates from all the counties through which the Hannibal and St. Joseph road was to pass. The delegates from Macon county were George A. Shortridge, A. L. Gilstrap and Benjamin Sharp.

The main subject for discussion was the procurement of means to build the road. A committee consisting of one member from each county was appointed to draft a plan. A. L. Gilstrap was the committeeman from Macon county.

"3. That the company procure a subscription to the stock by eastern eapitalists, and, should the foregoing means prove inadequate, we then recommend that the Legislature pass an act authorizing the company to issue bonds, to be indorsed by the governor or seeretary of state for the residue; the eompany to give a mortgage on the whole work to the state for the liquidation of the bonds."'

"That whereas this convention has adopted a resolution authorizing a memorial to Congress for donation of alternate sections of land to aid in the construction of the contemplated railroad, also authorizing a memorial to the Legislature for sueh aid in the undertaking as can be afforded consistently with the rights of other portions of the state; therefore, we, the delegates, pledge ourselves to support no man for Congress who will not pledge himself to the support of the proposition aforesaid, nor will we support any man for governor, lieutenant-governor or member of the Legislature who will not pledge himself to give such aid in the eonstruetion of the said railroad as may be consistent with the rights of other portions of the state as contemplated by the resolution aforesaid."

It appears the convention was not very sanguine of an early operation of the railroad, as the following resolution relative to a stage route, offered by Mr. Sharp, of Macon, was adopted:

** Whereas, It is not only extremely important to the agricultural and commereial interests of the immediate country that a good wagon road be opened from St. Joseph to Hannibal, but the United States mail stages eannot be put in motion on said route until said road shall be opened; and

** Whereas, It is of the utmost importance, as well to the whole intermediate country as to the two extremes, that mail facilities be speedily obtained in stages through said country; therefore

**Resolved by this convention, That it be recommended to each county through which said road may pass, immediately to open, bridge, and put in good repair the said road, in order that mail stages may be immediately started, according to the aet of Congress establishing said route."

** Also to petition Congress that, should any of the alternate sections on the road or within six miles on either side thereof be sold at any time subsequent to the 16th day of February, 1847, and before the aetion of Congress in relation to these lands, other lands be granted as nearly contiguous as possible in lieu thereof."

There was an energetic campaign in all the counties, and, looking at it from this era, it seems strange that opposition was encountered on the ground that a railroad through this country would be unwise and impractical. Tt is stated that in Linn county a member of the Legis- lature took the stump against the railroad because it would be an inducement for negro slaves to desert. Others asserted that it would be impossible to make a roadbed that would stand in rainy weather; that ox and mule teams were the surer power, and there was no danger of them blowing up and killing a lot of people. Many of the residents in the sections eampaigned had never seen a railroad train, and could not understand the utility of sueh a method. What the country needed, they said, was good highways for stages and freight wagons to the river, where the boats would take care of the traffic.

Robert M. Stewart, who afterwards became governor of the state, was the leading promoter of the enterprise. The road's charter was obtained mainly through his efforts, and he never ceased his labors until the road was completed from river to river, and in successful operation.

From the date of the Chillicothe eonvention the men at the head of the enterprise never suffered the interest to flag. Stewart, accompanied by an enthusiastie retinue of energetie men, traveled backwards and forwards, making speeches and friends everywhere.

The eampaign continuel until 1852, when material aid was secured. By this time the people were pretty well educated on the subject of railroads, and were eager to have one in their vicinity. Through the efforts of Congressman Willard P. Hall, of Missouri, chairman of the committee on publie lands, a bill was passed granting 600,000 acres of land to the Hannibal and St. Joseph road, and this immense concession swept away all initial troubles, and put the enterprise solidly on its feet.

The construetion work was started on the east end in 1856. In the spring of 1857 they began building out of St. Joseph. The road was completed February 13, 1859, connection being made with the rails from the east and west on that day near Chillicothe.

Because of his eternal optimism for the road, there are many who think that "Mark Twain" took his character of ** Colonel Sellers" from "Bob Stewart." It is stated, but without any partieular authority, that a railroad enthusiast of the fifties started an ox team at Hannibal and plowed a furrow clear across the state, and that Stewart, who assisted in the survey of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road, followed this primitive survey almost exactly. For fifty years following the road's construction the inhabitants of northern Missouri have spoken of this ox team survey and its wonderful practicability. Truth is, it was originally intended to run the road through Shelbyville, Bloomington and Linneus, and Bloomington made a large donation on the strength of an agreement to strike that town. Afterwards the line was moved southward and Bloomington's money was refunded.

Robert Morris Stewart, to whose untiring energy and faith the building of the Hannibal St. Joseph road is ascribed, was born at Truxton, Courtland county, New York, March 12, 1815, and died at Si. Joseph, Mo., September 21, 1871, a poor man. He was never married. His remains rested in an unmarked grave in Mt. Mora Cemetery, until 1908, when the state had erected a handsome and imposing monument to his memory.

In his early life Stewart taught school and studied law in his native state. He came to Missouri in 1839 and located at St. Joseph. Stewart served as prosecuting attorney of Buchanan county and two terms in the Legislature, once in each branch. In 1848 he was appointed registrar of the land office at Savannah, which position he resigned in order to engage in the preliminary survey of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad. He superintended the entire work, in spite of the fact that a part of the time he was compelled to go about on crutches as a result of an injury. His earnest and indomitable energy overcame all the embarrassing obstacles confronting the enterprise. Shortly after the completion of the survey Stewart went to the National Capital and Secured the land grant referred to in the report of the Chillieothe convention.

Stewart served as president of the road after its completion, and labored incessantly to make it a popular means of travel. It is related that a baby was disturbing the sleep of the passengers one night. The weary mother was unable to quiet the little one. Finally, President Stewart, who was on the coach, took in the situation. He walked over to the mother and remarked:

Not knowing whether he was going to throw the child out of the window or otherwise murder it, yet fearing to disobey the ''president of the road," the frightened mother handed her infant over. Stewart, who never had a child of his own, elumsily took the little passenger in his arms and walked as steadily as he could up and down the swaying aisle. The compound motion seemed to be just what the youngster wanted and it fell asleep in the president's arms. Then it was handed back to the mother, with the admonition to send for the president if it kicked up any more fuss.

Stewart aided in the construction of the St. Joseph and Denver railroad and projected the St. Louis and St. Joseph road. He was the author of the **Omnibus Bill," under which the railroad system of the

In politics Stewart was always actively interested. This campaign is characteristic of the man: Trusten Polk (Democrat), of St. Louis, was eleeted governor at the election in 1856. Soon after his inauguration Polk was elected United States senator to succeed Henry $. Geyer, deceased. He accepted the senatorship and resigned as governor. A special eleetion was held in August to fill the gubernatorial vacancy. Stewart beeame the anti-Benton Demoeratie eandidate. James S. Rollins, known as 'the father of the State University," was the Whig nominee.

An exciting contest followed the lining-up of the rival candidates. Rollins was well known as a campaign orator of power. He was alert, quick to see a point and take advantage of it, and of attractive personality.

Stewart, less skilled in oratory, had considerable ability. The rivals met in joint debate several times. On such occasions there were large and tumultuous crowds. The dynamic subject of slavery was up, with all its direful portent. State enterprises, various internal improvements, ete., were the less sinister issues trailing along with that of the black man. The battle waged fierce. After a meeting some said Rollins had the better of it; others insisted Stewart had flattened his opponent out. At times bloodshed between the heated partisans was narrowly averted. At Gallatin a personal encounter occurred between Rollins and Stewart on the platform. This came near precipitating a riot among the shouting multitudes, but quiet was finally restored, and nobody was carried home on a stretcher.

The contest was marked by biting sarcasm, withering denunciation and dramatic defiance. Whenever the candidates were billed to appear it was no trouble to get out a crowd. An edict of the mayor wouldn't have kept the people at home.

Rollins was beaten by 334 votes in a total of 96,640. Stewart was inaugurated in January, 1858. His first official act was to pardon William Langston out of the penitentiary, where he had been sent for complieity in a brutal murder. Langston had at one time nursed Stewart through a long and serious illness. Stewart was never the man to forget anyone who had done him a kindness.

Not long after he became governor of Missouri, Rollins went to Jefferson City and registered at the Madison House. Governor Stewart met his old antagonist, extended a friendly hand and invited him to be his guest at the executive mansion while in town. Rollins accepted,

In the fall of 1858 Governor Stewart issued the first Missouri proclamation for a day of fasting and prayer in recognition of the Divine blessings to the state and its people.

J. K. Hayward, general superintendent; George H. Nettleton, auditor and chief engineer; John L. Lathrop, treasurer; H. H. Courtright, general freight agent; Peter B. Groat, general ticket agent; G. O. Bishop, superintendent bridges; - - - Farley, master mechanic; Thomas D. Price, paymaster; James Carr, general attorney; Josiah Hunt, general land commissioner; Henry Starring, general baggage master.

George H. Davis of Quincy, Illinois, is the only man now connected with the road who was with it during the construetion period. Beginning as a workman on construetion, he was appointed roadmaster of of the western division when they started operating trains and served in that capacity during the troublous times of the Civil war. He is now claim agent, fairly strong and active, and still intensely interested in railroading. Mr. Davis was born in New Hampshire seventy-six years ago. He has been in the railroad business since he was eighteen.

Another notable personage connected with the construction of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road, and who served it for fifty years thereafter is Isaac N. Wilber, now a resident of Brookfield, the Missouri division headquarters. Mr. Wilber was born in Dutchess county, New York, February 24, 1836. He came to Missouri December 1, 1857, and entered the service of the road, named as a chopper, at a point in Kansas near St. Joseph. From that time on he served as tie chopper, carpenter, night watchman, brakeman, conductor, fireman, engineer, machinist, roundhouse foreman, general foreman, division master mechanie and, finally, master mechanic of the great railroad shops at Hannibal. He resigned January 1, 1908, at the completion of fifty years' service with the road. On that occasion Mr. Wilber received from the successor to the Hannibal and St. Joseph road officials the following pleasant recognition of his long and efficient service: its appreciation of his loyal and devoted service through an unbroken period of fifty years and its sineere hope for his continued happiness and prosperity."

"The first locomotives. In the early days the locomotives were named instead of numbered, and were as well known as the cities and prominent people of that day. The residents along the line all had some one engine they considered their favorite and great were the diseussions around the stations and country taverns as to the speed, qualifications, etc., of the respective engines. The following is a list of the locomotives identified with the early history of the road and the development of Missouri. In 1857 there were thirteen engines - wood burners, with 16-inch cylinders. They carried the following names: Missouri, Albany, R. M. Stewart, Hannibal, St. Joseph, Gov. Polk, Marion, Shelby, Macon Linn, Livingston, Caldwell and Buchanan. In 1859 fifteen more were purchased and named for the Indian tribes: Cherokee, Chippewa, Mohegan, Ottawa, Chickasaw, Oneida, Comanche, Seneea, Miami, Apache, Omaha, Ontario, ete.; then, later, six more were purchased and named for territories: the Idaho, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Montana and Utah.

" 'Gov. Polk' changed to Gen. Lyon.' Soon after the battle of Wilson's ereek, in August, 1861, the Gov. Polk was changed to the Gen. Lyon, as a compliment to the dead hero and a rebuke to Gov. Polk for his position on the slavery question. (The management of the road at the time was strongly in sympathy with the north.)

** Tn 1863 I was given my first engine to run, and continued in such a eapaeity during the war. Those were trying times for railroad men in Missouri. Many of the locomotives had cabs constructed of boiler steel to proteet the enginemen from the bullets of the much-feared bushwhackers.

"Col. U. S. Grant at Salt River. I was pulling a west-bound passenger train in the summer of *63 or '64 - I am not sure as to the year - and when we reached Salt river in Shelby county we found the confederates had burned the bridge (Bill Anderson's gang, I think) and I saw for the first time Col. U. S. Grant and his regiment transferring their wagons and munitions of war across the river.

"Soldier and Engineer. During the war we railroad boys performed double serviee. When we came in off the road at the end of our trip we were plaeed on guard duty or drilled by Captain Loomis, our assistant superintendent, and our work as soldiers eonsisted largely of guarding company property. The only active service we had was when we were sent to Shrinkey to capture Tom Harris and his band, who were terrorizing the community, but after being locked up in the old seminary at Monroe for two days, and nearly being captured ourselves by the redoubtable Tom, we got back to work, and I, for one, thought I was more of a success as a railroad man than as a soldier.

"Coal ticket as a train order. In the early sixties we were on a westbound train and had an order to meet an eastbound train at Bevier, ihe great coal town of Macon county, and likewise of the state. At midnight, on reaching the station, we found the train had not arrived. It was a beautiful summer night and my fireman and I got on top of the cab and laid down to take a nap in the moonlight. It appeared the conductor and brakeman were also taking a rest on top of the way car (caboose). At daybreak the conductor woke up and came over to the engine to wake up the sleepy crew. When we all got stretched out and thoroughly awake we decided to proceed. But one thing bothered us - had we met our train. Bevier was not a telegraph office in those days. In our quandary we walked over to the coal shed and made a search through the eoal tickets. As we found one bearing the name of the engine we were to meet we decided it was safe to proceed. We reached the division at Brookfield four hours late. We were asked no questions and had no statements to give out, and I don't suppose the superintendent or the dispateher on duty ever discovered it, for every fellow worked out his own salvation in those days the best he could."

One of the younger generation of railroad men prominently connected with the operation of the Hannibal & St. Joseph road for a long time was P. H. Houlahan, now general manager of the Chicago & Alton and the **Clover Leaf" roads, with headquarters at Chicago.

Mr. Houlahan was born at Ottawa, Illinois, Mareh 13, 1855. He entered the railroad service in 1867 as water boy and track hand on the construction of the Ottawa and Fox railway, and the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney road. From 1870 to 1875 he was track hand, check clerk, station baggage man and ticket agent. From 1875 to 1880 he was brakeman and eonduetor on the Fox river branch, Burlington system. In July, 1884, he was appointed trainmaster of the St. Louis division, same system; in 1886 he was made master of transportation of the Missouri and Kansas division of the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas railroad; from November, 1886, to April, 1890, he was trainmaster of the Hannibal & St. Joseph road; in 1890 he was appointed assistant superintendent, and in June, 1892, was honored with the superintendency of the entire western division.

It was while Mr. Houlahan was trainmaster that the fast service between Chicago and Kansas City was inaugurated. He saw to it that the line between Kansas City and Quincy held up its end of the schedule, and to determine how the locomotives and their erews stood the strain he went over his entire division and back in the engine eabs. Following is the schedule of this first run of the regular fast service:

Eastbound

The fast Chicago-Kansas City train became known to the general publie as the ** Eli." On the time card the eastbound train is designated as No. 56 and the westbound as No. 55. From the date of its commission in 1887 until the publieation of this volume it has held its own as the "erackerjack'' train of the Missouri system.

"I believe in men more than in machines. It is the human judgment that averts the crisis, not the safety appliance. Use all the appliances of proven practicability, but first of all get men - men who think clearly and rightly.

"The personnel of a railroad system is built up by the same gradual process it requires to raise an army to its highest degree of efiiciency.

"The method of instilling a feeling of personal responsibility into each man is to form a nucleus of cool-headed spirits, with judgment, like a military staff, and these men coming in daily contact with every department of the service will instinctively impress upon every employe something of their own high code of executive ability.

"T am not one of those who believe that men should be retired from active service when they have left forty or forty-five behind," Mr. Houlahan went on. "It requires from thirty-five to forty years to ripen those intelleets to perfect judgment. The man of forty has generally been tried by fire, and thereafter he avoids the flame. Like the veteran general on the battlefield, he knows what's best to do."

William C. Brown, now president of the New York Central system, is another of the ''Joe'' boys. Mr. Brown came from the farm, and refers with pride to his knowledge of agrieulture by actual contaet with the soil. He was born in Herkimer county, New York, in 1853. A saw and ax were the primary tools used by Mr. Brown in aequiring his railroad education. Engineers on the Chieago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, when they stopped at Brown's woodpile, would jeer him and ask how he liked being a ''railroader.''

From wood chopper Mr. Brown climbed to section man and then foreman. While in that labor he studied telegraphy at night. One day an operator didn't show up and young Brown was given the vacant key. At 19 he was appointed train dispatcher on the Illinois Central, and never lost an hour's time or made a blunder.

In 1881, when he was chief train dispatcher of the Chicago, Burlington & Quiney, Mr. Brown was promoted to trainmaster, and by 1890 had elimbed to the position of superintendent.

During the six years following 1890 Mr. Brown was general manager of the Hannibal and St. Joseph, and the Kansas City, St. Joseph and Couneil Bluffs lines of the Burlington system, and he managed, somehow, to find time to fill the office of general manager of a couple of other lines.

In 1902 he became vice-president of the New York Central, and his wonderful energy in reorganizing and rehabilitating the system resulted in his being made president of New York's greatest railroad.

There was a spectacular event in connection with the early operation of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road. On April 3, 1860, a fast mail run was made from Hannibal to St. Joseph, 206 miles, to connect with the Pony Express at the latter town. The officials of the road were tremendously interested in the test run. Add Clark, a capable engineer, was honored with this order from headquarters: engine, '" The Missouri," the best on the road, tender and a mail car produced in the Hannibal shops, constituted the fast mail train. In the car were Joshua Gentry, who was then president; Superintendent J. T. K. Hayward, Assistant Superintendent O. N. Cutler, Trainmaster G. H. Davis, Conductor Jaek Harris and the precious mail destined for the far west.

*! [n those days all engines were wood burners. On that day I was at Macon with my wood-sawing outfit. There were about 2,000 cords of wood piled four ranks deep and eight feet high on the railroad bank opposite Weed street, and also opposite Joe Jaeger's small tin and repair shop, and Captain Barnes' general store. The late Ed. F. Bennett handed me a telegram from the general fuel agent to wood the tender in the quiekest possible time. I at once erected a platform the height of the tender. I then seeured all the help that could stand on the platform and when the train came in sight every man loaded his arms as full of selected wood as he could hold. As the train slowed up in front of the platform, each man dropped his load of wood into the tender, and the train pulled out without the loss of 15 seconds. I had barely time to look into the car and see the oceupants clutching the seats with both hands to keep from being tossed all around the car. The engine was the 'Missouri,' Addison Clark, engineer. Attached was one coach, the finest then on the road. It would not be used for a smoker today. The president of the road, Joshua Gentry, was 'elegantly' attired in a home-made suit of blue jeans, trimmed with velvet cuffs and collar.

"T thought that the train would surely be ditched before reaching St. Joseph, but it kept the track, and the small mail pouch was delivered in four minutes on the west bank of the Missouri river to William Cody (Buffalo Bill) and from him to others, and was carried across the plains and mountains to San Francisco, the ponies being driven hard under whip and spur all the way."

Engineer Clark, in an interview in the Springfield (Mass.) Register, says his train averaged forty-three miles an hour that day, making the 206 miles in four hours and fifty minutes.

aster could have been worse that day than a failure to make the time, and they were willing to share the risk they required of the train erew.

At each town through which the little train swept were immense erowds assembled. They cheered, and the men in the mail ear responded by waving their hats and fluttering handkerchiefs. The sweating men in the cab had no time to notice things outside the slender lines ahead. As a precaution to insure the safety of the train, Trainmaster Davis directed that all switches be spiked from end to end of the run, and no other train be allowed on the main line within an hour of the fast mail.

This brings us to the Pony Express, the flesh and blood connection with the far west. If the men of the railroad were wrought up over their part of the venture, what must have been the anxiety of William H. Russell and his associates as they waited tidings of the long and hazardous fiight through the mountain wilderness and across the sands, every mile of whieh presented a new problem to horse and rider!

The Pony Express was put in operation to meet the insistent call of the western miner for better mail service from back home. Hitherto his letters had traveled in sailing vessels around by way of the Isthmus, or on the overland stage, which took twenty-one days to make the 2,000-mile journey from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento.

It was a revolutionary epoch. The Atlantie cable had but recently been laid by Cyrus W. Field, and the people of the United States were calling Europeans their neighbors. The great west was being peopled by a steady flood of immigration, men of brawn and brain, who were dreaming dreams of the greatest country on the earth, and were working out those dreams. In January, 1860, a Wall street syndicate made a proposition to transport the United States mail from New York to San Francisco for $5,000,000 per year and to exceed any time that had ever been made with the mail sack across the continent. William H. Russell, a freighter of the plains and of the mountains, staggered the government with a proposition to handle the mail by Pony Express from St. Joseph to Saeramento - 1950 miles - in eight days by the watch! Russell, it is said, had the support of Secretary of War Floyd. A bond of 4200,000 was put up to guarantee the performance of something which was regarded by many as impossible.

A clause in the contract required that the letters be written on the thinnest of tissue paper. The tariff on each letter was $5. Tuesday, April 3, 1860, at 7:15 p. m., the first Pony Rider started out from St. Joseph on the trail to the west. The journey was covered in less than the schedule time and Russell's firm was awarded the contraet to carry the mail with the Pony Express. But it was a hard contract. A defect in any of the links along the bleak stretch of desert and mountain would threaten the bond and mean a tremendous financial loss to the men who had put their all in the enterprise.

"I, - - - - - , do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement and while I am in the employ of Russell, Majors & Waddle, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxieating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employe of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties and so direct all my actions as to win the confidence of all my employers. So help me, God.''

In ** Roughing It," the book which made him famous, '' Mark Twain' (Samuel L. Clemens), gives a graphie pieture of the Pony Rider, as good a piece of descriptive work as ean be found in any of his large number of books :

"In a little while all interest was taken up in stretching our necks and watching for the Pony Rider - the fleet messenger who sped across the continent from St. Joseph to Sacramento, carrying letters 1,900 miles in eight days. Think of that for perishable horse and human flesh and blood to do! No matter what time of the day or night his watch came on, and no matter whether it was winter or summer, raining, snowing, hailing or sleeting, or whether his beat was a level straight road, or a erazy trail over mountain erags and preeipices, or whether it led through peaceful regions or regions that swarmed with hostile Indians, he must be always ready to leap into the saddle and be off like the wind! There was no idling time for a Pony Rider on duty. He rode fifty miles without stopping, by daylight, moonlight, starlight, or through the blaekness of darkness - just as it happened.

** He rode a splendid horse that was born for a racer and fed and lodged like a gentleman; kept him at his utmost speed for ten miles, and then, as he came crashing up to the station where stood two men holding fast a fresh, impatient steed, the transfer or rider and mail bags was made in the twinkling of an eye, and away flew the eager pair and were out of sight before the speetator could hardly get the ghost of a look.

"There were about eighty Pony Riders in the saddle all the time, night and day, stretching in a long, scattering procession from Missouri to California, forty flying eastward, and forty westward, and among

**We had a consuming desire, from the beginning, to see a Pony Rider, but somehow or other all that passed us and all that met us managed to streak by in the night and so we heard only a whiz and a hail, and the swift phantom of the desert was gone before we could get our heads out of the window. But now we were expecting one along every moment, and would see him in broad daylight. Presently the driver exelaims:

"Every neck is stretched further, and every eye strained wider. Away across the endless dead level of the prairie a black speck appears against the sky, and it is plain that it moves. Well, I should think so! In a second or two it becomes a horse and rider, rising and falling, rising and falling - sweeping toward us nearer and nearer - growing more and more distinct, more and more sharply defined - nearer and still nearer, and the flutter of the hoofs comes faintly to our ear - another instant a whoop 2nd a hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider's hand, but no reply and man and horse burst past our excited faces, and go winging away like a belated fragment of a storm !'*

The Pony Express' life was short but busy. When the Pacifie railroad was completed to California, in the early years of the Civil war, it put the Pony Rider out of a job. There is now a large elaim in the hands of Macon attorneys (R. S. Matthews & Sons), brought by the heirs of Russell against the government for a large amount of property of the Pony Rider service, taken as a military necessity.

In the first year or two of its existence the Hannibal and St. Joe made enough history to fill a big book. "The war eame on and developed that wild and picturesque character that became so widely known and dreaded - the **bushwhaeker.'" He looked at the railroad as his legitimate prey, and it was rarely that a train journeyed aeross the state without carrying into the terminal marks of his attention. His work was especially in evidence at the big bridges. The worst disaster that ever occurred on the road was a result of his handiwork. A train loaded with people was wrecked on Platte River bridge, September 3, 1861, killing sixteen and injuring over sixty. The New York Herald of September 7 contained this account of the occurrence:

"Terrible Road Catastrophe - Diabolical Outrage on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad - Seventeen lives lost and a large number wounded," ete. It recites through correspondence with St. Louis papers, the wrecking of a passenger train, bound west, September 3.

The timber of the Little Platte river bridge, nine miles east of St. Joseph, had been burned nearly through, and the entire train went down. Bushwhaekers are blamed for the outrage.

Abe Hager, baggage-master of the railroad, furnished a graphic story of the wreck. The passenger cars were completely smashed, and he was the only one to escape unhurt. He came to St. Joseph, got an engine, physieians and necessities for the wounded, hurrying back to the scene of the wreck. He is quoted as saying: "The greatest excitement prevails in St. Joseph in regard to this inhuman outrage."

An additional aecount says that the train carried from eighty-five to one hundred passengers. The fire had been extinguished before entirely destroying the bridge, which was a substantial work of 100 feet span, leaving it a mere shell. But three persons, J. W. Parker, superintendent of the United States express, Maii Agent Mars and Hager, were able to afford assistance, the others who were not killed outright being so disabled as to be helpless.

Hager walked five miles out of the way back to St. Joseph, making the remainder of the trip on a handear. He found a heavy oak tie bound across the track 200 yards from the bridge, and two miles further on he found the trestle work over a small stream was on fire.

'Though the wreek oeeurred on September 3, and the story was printed four days later, there is no complete list of the killed or injured. The names of several victims are given, but there seems to have been great difficulty in getting the details of the wreck.

Trainmaster George H. Davis immediately organized a wrecking crew and surgeons' staff, and took charge of the train going to the relief of the vietims. Some of the men who had caused the disaster were still standing about, viewing their deadly work. They recognized Mr. Davis as the leader of the rescue party and told him they would get him next time. Mr. Davis said to them:

Directly following the disaster the government, which depended largely on the road to transport men and supplies, established a system of block houses at all the large bridges across the state. There were thirteen of these altogether. These were garrisoned by Federal troops. Time has obliterated all these curious houseforts, the one on the Chariton river, in Macon county, being the last to go. Having long outlived its usefulness as a war expedient, not much attention was paid to it, and one day a spark from a passing engine set fire to the roof and soon the

Chariton Block House

In an interesting little volume, entitled **Missions in Missouri," by the Rev. Bishop Hogan, is found a description of the Hannibal and St. Joseph block houses, and some of the exciting episodes that occurred near them during the Civil war. The Rev. Mr. Hogan, it seems, was engaged along in the fifties in establishing mission posts between Shelbina and Kansas City.

"The subject of our sketch is the only one left of a half-dozen of the old landmarks whieh were built as a means of defense to the government's interest and the protection of her loyal citizens.

"There is, however, an old schoolhouse near Macon City, which, at one time, was used by the Union soldiers as a fort, and today there remains a hole shot into it by a cannon ball more than a third of a century ago.

"There were several block houses built along the line of road at the various bridges, but the one at the Chariton is the only one which remains standing, a third of a century after the close of the war.

** About the earliest reliable information was furnished us by Capt. Chas. P. Brown, of Ottumwa, Iowa, who, with his company D, 3d Towa Tnfantry, was ordered into northern Missouri. Captain Brown says:

** * At about 10 a. m., July 12, 1861, we reached the Chariton bridge and Company F was detached to guard it. An incident had occurred here just before our arrival, not a little exciting.

"<A detachment of a dozen men from the 21st Iowa Infantry had come from the west to guard the bridge, arriving early in the morning, they went to a log cabin near by to get breakfast, when a guerilla party + suddenly appeared and prepared to burn the bridge. The boys sprang to their guns and attacked the guerillas, scattering them in all directions. The leader, who was a young man teaching school in the vicinity, hid in the tall grass near by, but being about to be discovered held up his hands. Unfortunately for him, they were covered with the tar used in setting fire to the bridge.. This evidence of guilt so exasperated one of the soldiers, that in the heat of the moment he shot the young man through the head, killing him instantly. The dead school teacher was buried by the company and a few days later some Union people from Callao came and removed the body, placing it in the hands of friends.

**G. H. Davis, who was twice appointed captain of a railroad military company, for the purpose of protecting the line of road, which has now passed into the hands of the government so far as operations were concerned, tells of a block house being built in North river, Medicine creek and Platte river. The old relies of war times have long since been destroyed. The Chariton block house still stands in a fairly good state of preservation.

"The first attempt at burning the bridge took place in the spring of 1861. A neighbor called at our house and reported that the guerillas were about to burn the bridge. I walked from my place to Lingo to apprise Section Foreman Reynolds, who telegraphed to Macon for help. Recruits came towards evening, and the spies finding the bridge guarded passed quietly by and applied the torch at Brush creek. Later on this bridge was the scene of the hanging of a man by guerrillas, who left their victim swinging to the bridge.

** 'The following morning the soldiers returned to Macon, and a few soldiers came down from Callao and were preparing breakfast when they noticed black smoke curling skyward from the bridge, and rushing out saw the ''rebels'' fleeing in all directions.

** "The soldiers opened fire on them and killed one of the crowd, a young man by the name of Malone, living near old Bloomington. A veport says that later on a man by the name of Fox was captured and shot for being implicated in the plot to burn the bridge. After the killing of Malone the soldiers sueceeded in extinguishing the fire and saving the bridge.

** * A second plan was formed near the close of 1862 to burn the bridge. In the dead hour of night, when all was in peaceful repose, the torch was applied and the bridge destroyed. This greatly embarrassed the government in the transportation of soldiers, supplies and munitions of war to the west."

"With the opening of 1863 the bridge was rebuilt and a man by the name of Turner, in charge of a company of negroes, was sent there to guard the bridge and to ereet the block house for its proteetion. The summer was spent in hewing the logs and shaping the structure. Many of the citizens now living in Macon county can testify as to the services afforded by the block house in protecting the road from the raiders.

Jackson was returning from one of his famous raids through southern Iowa Mr. Baldwin's mother caught sight of the Jackson crowd coming over a hill and notified her sons. The young men slipped out of the back door and erawled through the brush, making their way to a place of safety, just as the guerrillas rode up on the other side of the house. The rough riders of Jackson fed their horses and ordered supper for the gang, which eonsisted of thirteen men. Mrs. Baldwin, gratified at ilie escape of her sons, went about and prepared a good meal for her unwelcome guests."

Captain James G. McIntosh, long a resident of Macon, adds an interesting chapter to the early railroad days from the standpoint of a practical engineer. Captain McIntosh was one of the first men who entered a cab on the Hannibal St. Joseph. That was in 1859, the year the road was completed. The approaching war was in the atmosphere and excitement was high. The qualifieations of an engineer, as indicated by Mr. Wilber, were varied. He not only had to handle his engine well, but he had to exercise considerable judgment in order to keep the train out of trouble by bushwhackers and roving bands. Captain McIn-

** Most of the engines were wood burners, using the old bonnet stack," said Mr. McIntosh, "but ours used coal as an experiment on economy. I was the fireman and 'Deacon' Manly, a seven-foot Yankee from Vermont, was my engineer. He was a hard taskmaster. Not content with attending to his own important duties, he exercised a guardianship over mine to the smallest detail. Every shovelful of coul had to be nicely spread put on the 'deck' at the mouth of the furnace before my chief would permit me to toss it into the fire. He would examine it like a man searching for gold. Now and then he would pick out a lump eontaining sulphur and toss it out on the right-of-way. Not only did the 'Deacon' assume the responsibility for my professional duties, but he would take me to task regarding my spiritual obligations as well. He gravely told me that liars and blasphemers could never hope to pass the pearly gates, and said that if T didn't quit tobaceo and swearing I would one day reach a much hotter fire than was my duty daily to keep up on his engine.

"T grew to cordially dislike the old man and longed to get away from his dominion. I thought his puritanical teachings indicated weakness and dotage. An incident taught me that I did him a great injustice.

sheep, the mortal dread of an engineman. Isaw what was ahead of us and jumped off the cab. But the 'Deacon' held on to the levers, a sort of a second Jim Bludso, and went with the engine into the ditch. His loyalty saved the train from a fearful wreck, because if he hadn't hung on and tried to stop, the ears would have been smashed into kindling wood. I pulled him out of the cab. He was bruised up considerably, but still alive. He said he was sorry for the sheep!

"The engines at that period had a pump which only worked while the drive-wheels were in motion. When a long wait on a siding eaused the water to run low in the boilers, you would have to uncouple your engine and run up and down the main track to replenish the boiler. There were no inspirators, injectors, or glass gauges. The valves of the steam chest were oiled by hand from the running board.

"Tn the fall of 1861 I was given command of the 'Chickasaw,' as engineer. The 'Chickasaw' was one of the best machines on the road. 'The *General Lyon? was another good engine which later on made a war record. Engines were all named just like steam-boats and the passengers had favorites among them. It was common to hear them say : 'We'll get in on time today because the ** Chickasaw" is pulling us."

"There were no through trains except the specials. We stopped at every station. If we were informed in time that parties were anxious to get away on the train but hadn't quite got their trunks packed, why, we would wait for them. It was the duty of the employees to be obliging.

** Fate didn't permit me to enjoy my career as boss of the * Chiekasaw?' very long. The incident which caused me to abandon railroading oceurred in Buchanan county in 1862. The 'Chickasaw' was pulling a special containing officers of the road into St. Joseph. Much trouble had oeeurred of late through the activity of bushwhackers and we were keeping a sharp lookout. The 'Chickasaw,' with safety valve popping off, was rolling smoothly along, making good time, when we came in sight of the Platte river bridge. An instant later I saw a man step on the bridge and signal us to stop. About the same time we noticed greatvolumes of smoke rolling up from the bridge. There were two guesses as to the motive of the man who was waving his hands at us. He might be a seetion hand warning us against danger or he might be a bandit intending to hold us up. I adopted the latter view of the dilemma and pulled the throttle wide open. The conductor, who had been looking out from the cars, took issue with me and signaled for me to stop. 1 felt n bit like a mutineer on the high seas, but as I knew the conductor's objeet as well as mine was to get the train through safely, I put my judgment against his. As we swept on to the bridge a gang of longhaired fellows rose up out of the brush and fired into us. The conductor, in the meanwhile, had erossed the tender and eome into the cab, laid flat on the deck with us and the train thundered safely aeross the bridge. The fire had been started too late to weaken the timbers. The only damage done was the shattering of glass in the car windows. There was considerable money on the train, and doubtless the bandits had learned of this. After getting a safe distance we slowed up and looked back. The bridge was entirely in flames.

**When we pulled into St. Joseph, Master Mechanie H. A. Rowley came up and congratulated us for the nerve he thought we had displayed in pulling the train out of danger. I told him for my part that I was much obliged, but I resigned my job as engineer right then and there, and soon afterwards joined the 9th Missouri Cavalry, under Colonel Odin Guitar. -I slept easy of nights after that."

The North Missouri Railroad Company was organized in 1853-4. Its construction was effected by city, county and private subseriptions, aided by bonds loaned by the state, amounting to about $6,000,000. St. Louis, by a vote, took a large amount of stock, and all the counties on the line, except Macon, took stock. According to the charter, the location was to be ''along the ridge dividing the waters of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, or as near as may be."

When the road was completed to Mexico, strong efforts were made to have Macon county subscribe stock. Randolph county took $175,000 worth of stock, Adair also voted for stock and it was confidently supposed that Macon would follow suit.

Public meetings were held in the eastern and southeastern portions of the county in favor of submitting the matter to a vote. Major James T. Rollins of Boone county and Isaac Sturgeon of St. Louis addressed the citizens of Macon county at Bloomington, urging upon them the immense advantages the road would be to them. At a public meeting held at Bloomington, Dr. A. L. Knight of Macon was chosen chairman and J. M. Love secretary. The meeting passed a resolution requesting the County Court to submit a proposition subseribing $100,000 to secure the location and construction of the road through Macon county.

The resolution was presented to the County Court, and the court ordered an eleetion. "There were several propositions, mostly conditional. One was that the line should be loeated through Bloomington. The condition of the charter, **on the dividing ridge, or as near as may be," satisfied many that it could not legally be located through Bloomington, and the proposition was voted down at the election.

For some time after this the managers of the road talked of running it through Shelby and Monroe counties, leaving Macon out in the cold. Perhaps this would have been done but for the mandate conveyed in the words of the charter. The road was finished to Macon in February,1859. It curved up to the Hannibal and St. Joseph track and for some years there was a Union depot at Macon to serve both roads. Macon was the northern terminal. Later on the line was extended to Kansas City, the western division starting out at Moberly. The northern division was continued on to Des Moines, Towa.

The construction of the North Missouri railroad to Macon gave that town, perhaps, the greatest boom it ever had. An auction sale of lots occurred in the presence of several thousand people. The bidding was lively and good prices realized for the property. This feature of Macon is treated in another chapter.

What was called the Alexandria and Bloomington road was surveyed from the Mississippi river to Bloomington in 1862. The purpose was to build another road across the state. The project was abandoned because of the war.

The last trunk line to go through Macon county was the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe. This was constructed in 1887, by the Chicago, Santa Fe and California Railway Company of Iowa. Construction eontracts were let in December, 1886, and the first train was run over the road on the first day of January, 1888. The work was pushed very rapidly, beeause the engineers of the system were in a hurry to get a through line into Chicago. The road runs twenty-six miles through the western and northern portions of Macon county. During the first construction the permanent work on the roadbed was planned so as to admit of a double track, an improvement which has recently been made. The Santa Fe is the only double track system passing through Macon county. Following the building of this road many important towns sprang up in the north and west part of the county, and the large town of La Plata was given a decided commercial impetus.

One of the largest contractors' suits ever before a Missouri court developed ont of the construction of the Santa Fe railroad in this section. After the work approached its completion it became evident that the engineers for the railroad and those employed by the contractors, Benezette, Williams Co., of Chicago, would never agree on the amount due on the final estimates. The section in dispute started at the Grand river in Chariton county, and ran a short ways northeast of Ethel in Macon county, a distance of forty miles. The main contention was as to the character of the earth, which the contraetors insisted was hardpan, and should be classified as such. "The method of classifying the material, allowances made for hauling and the alleged arbitrary change of grade at the Wabash road and also a change in the line, were among the points in dispute.

The plaintiffs claimed a balance due them on final estimates of $188,311.74. The railway engineers figured the balance due the contractors was only $20,399.06.

The parties appeared in court for the first time in September, 1889. The road introdueed in evidence the eontraet signed by all the parties, according to which the measurements made by the railway engineers were to govern. The plaintiffs contended that while they had signed the "contract in good faith, yet they had a right to set it aside if they could show fraud or eapriciousness on the part of the railway engineers. Judge Ellison sustained the contract, refused to pass on the quantum meruit and the contractors appealed to the Supreme Court of Missouri. The Supreme Court reversed the case and remanded it for a hearing on the quantum meruit. This meant an inquiry into all the matters raised by the contractors.

F. L. Schofield, a distinguished attorney of Hannibal, was agreed upon as referee. The taking of testimony was begun in the United States court room at Hannibal in February, 1894. The plaintiffs were represented by John E. MeKeighan of St. Louis and George A. Mahan of Hannibal. Gardiner Lathrop, of Kansas City, and Ben Eli Guthrie, of Macon, appeared for the railroad company.

The evidence was voluminous. The witnesses went over the road by foot and then down into the earth. At one time there was an adjournment to take the evidence of B. F. Booker, then living at Mexico, in the Republie of Mexieo. Booker had been assistant chief engineer for the railway company during the construction period. At the time the court adjourned to Mexieo to take his deposition, Booker was dying with consumption. He passed away soon afterwards. The Santa Fe road furnished a special car for the court, lawyers. stenographers and interested parties to make the entire trip. Another journey was made to New Orleans to take the deposition of E. E. Earl, who was the division engineer on the western end of the construction. One of the witnesses

The record consisted of about 10,000 typewritten pages. It was prepared by Mrs. E. L. Treat of Hannibal and Edgar White, of Macon, who attended as official stenographers.

The case was argued before the referee in February, 1895. The referee devoted nearly all of his time to his report. It was an immense task to go through such a large amount of evidence, to examine the books, profiles and various paraphernalia connected with railroad construction. He found a balance due the contractors of $83,505.77 over the amount allowed them by the final estimates of the engineers. The defendant railroad, as a matter of course, filed exceptions to this report of the referee. There was an argument on the exceptions before Judge Ellison, which lasted two weeks. Judge Ellison handed down a written opinion in April, 1896.

He disallowed every item which the referee had credited to the plaintiffs. He found that the evidence had shown no fraud or misconstruction of the contract by the railway engineers.

The main ground for each allowance by the referee was on hardpan. That amount allowance he figured at $50,000. Judge Ellison held that the elaim for hardpan having been called to the attention of the engineers during the construction, and they having passed upon the material, had decided that it was not hardpan, and the decision could not now be set aside ''and substitute therefor a shadowy memory and recollection of eight years ago."

"The result seems conclusive to my mind that defendant's engineers fairly passed upon all material and determined this was not hardpan, with just the same emphasis that a verdict for the plaintiff means that it is against the defendant. I therefore set aside the referee's report and finding as to hardpan and disallow the increase of $50,350.41."

The defendant railway's exceptions to the referee's report were all sustained by Judge Ellison, except as to the lien and interest, which were overruled and judgment ordered for plaintiffs for $36,785.92.

The tender of the railroad in the first place had heen $30,399.06. The contractors appealed to the Supreme Court, which affirmed the finding of Judge Ellison in 1900. That terminated the case.

The Iowa & St. Louis is the latest railroad to enter Macon county. It starts at Sedan, where it connects with the Keokuk & Western, and extends through the heart of the Chariton valley southward into Macon county, terminating at Elmer. Most of the right-of-way has been secured on to Macon, to which place the road has been chartered. All along it has been the strong hope of the people of Macon county that the road would soon be completed to the main line at Macon, thus affording an important outlet for passenger and freight traffic. The road now has an excellent bed, and its rolling stock is first class. It has regular daily passenger and freight service, except on Sunday. The road is operated by the management of the Quincy, Omaha Kansas City line, an important line of the Burlington system.

In the early part of May, 1901, W. S. MeCaull, then claim agent for the Quiney, Omaha & Kansas City railroad, while sitting in a country hotel in Adair county, overheard a conversation between a railroad official, now high in the Hawley syndicate, and a coal operator and promoter. They were discussing the practicability of the building of a railroud from Centerville, Iowa, down the Chariton river for the purpose of developing the rich eoal fields of the Chariton valley and its immense agricultural resources.

Mr. MeCaull was thoroughly familiar with the region the two men were dise g. Being a railroad man of experience, he was quick to see the importance of the idea, and rapidly formed a plan to build the railroad himself, with the aid of some friends, Next day he consulted with H. F. Reddig, then chief clerk to the general manager of the Q., O. & K. C., and H. H. Kendrick, auditor for the same company.

Articles of incorporation for the Iowa & St. Louis Railway Company were exeeuted on the 11th day of May, 1901, within less than a week after MeCaull overheard the conversation referred to. On the 18th of May, articles were filed in the office of the Secretary of State at Jefferson City. The Iowa & St. Louis Railway Company had a eorporate existence.

The authorized capital stock was $50,000. The company was organized to build a railroad five miles in length in "a generally northern direction" along the bottoms of the Chariton river from a point on the Q., O. & K. C. R. R., at or near the town of Novinger, to a place near Shibley's Point. There was a clause in the artieles of incorporation expressing an intention of the company, some time in the future, when its eapital stock should have been increased sufficiently, to construct and maintain a standard gauge railroad in "a generally northern direction" to a point at or near the town of Centerville, Iowa.

With the incorporation, H. F. Reddig was elected president; W. S. MeCaull, vice-president and general attorney, and H. H. Kendrick, secretary and auditor. At that time the three hopeful railroad men could not, by eombining all their assets and credit, have secured money enough to build a mile of the right-of-way. But that didn't worry them a bit. They set to work with energy, procuring mining leases upon several thousand aeres of good coal land, opened up prospect holes which showed coal in fair quantities, and in some way, unknown even to themselves, they built between four and five miles of track, forming connections with the Kansas City Midland Coal Company's spur, which connected with the Q., O. & K. C., near Novinger.

The development of coal land gave the young railroad syndicate an asset which they carried to the market. Before the first year of the road's life the Gates-Lambert-Keefe syndieate (barbed wire men), of Chicago, became interested in the coal projeet and bought the stock of the railroad company. "Their first move was to reorganize the latter. They retained Reddig as president and Kendrick as secretary and auditor; McCaull, the originator of the enterprise, was let out.

Plans were immediately formed for building from Des Moines, Towa, to Macon, Missouri, under the name of the Iowa & St. Louis Railway Company. A charter was also obtained for building from Macon to St. Louis, under the name of the Iowa & Missouri Railway Company. Construction on the Iowa & St. Louis Railway Company was begun at Centerville, Iowa, southward and northward from Connellsville, a coal town just north of Novinger. The Iowa & St. Louis tracks were cheaply laid, the bridges were fragile and the spring floods along the river easily washed them away, together with many miles of the roadbed. The periodical flood of the valley seems to have been a problem which had not entered into the heads of the early promoters. To make the roadbed safe from the waters it required an immense amount of money for embankments and bridges. It is probable that the idea had been to start a railroad and then to sell out at a large figure to some system already operating in the territory. It is reported that the Iowa & St. Louis people finally made a deal which gave them a large profit on their investments. There was another rumor to the effect that they were glad to make a sale which let them out even. At any rate, on March 23, 1903, the road passed into the control of the Q., O. & K. C., the stock of which company had been bought by the Burlington.

Although some trains had been run from Novinger to Centerville, the new owners did not deem it wise to operate the road regularly until the roadbed had been put in better condition. All trains were withdrawn and the work of rebuilding and strengthening the roadbed and bridges was pushed rapidly. About June, 1903, regular service was installed from Sedan, Iowa, to Novinger, Missouri. Later, the seven

During 1903 the track was extended to Elmer, which is yet the southern terminal of the road. Since the Burlington acquired the control, the improvement work was constant until the road was put in as good condition as any of the trunk lines now operating through the state.

The managing offices are at Kansas City. Division headquarters are at Novinger. The shops, where the rolling stock is repaired, are at Milan, about thirty miles west of Novinger. The completion of the Iowa & St. Louis would make a most important business asset for Macon. The road runs tlirough the heart of the most productive agrieultural regions in northern Missouri. There are numerous enterprising towns on the line, and it is a fine territory for wholesale trade. With its completion to Maeon wholesale houses, factories, and other enterprises would eertainly spring up in that town. It would also be of immense benefit in the north and west, enabling people to reach the eounty seat and return the same day. The ditehing enterprises now being rapidly pushed in the valley will greatly relieve the road from the embarrassment of floods.

Mr. MeCaull, although squeezed out as one of the officials of the road he projected, is now its claim agent, with headquarters at Kansas City. He also acts as claim agent for the Q., O. & K. C. road. J. G. Trimble, of Kansas City, is the general attorney for both roads.