Chapter 22
The Railroads

How the railroads help

     Transportation has always been one of the big problems for the State of Iowa. Hence all the requests upon Congress for aid to the territory and later the State to build roads, bridges, locks and to deepen rivers and to construct railroads. Without rapid means of transportation, the Iowa farmers would have difficulties in marketing their products and this again would make difficulties for them in paying for their farms and in making improvements; also wholesaling and manufacturing would be less profitable. Growth of railroads amid the cheers of the people

     For inland traffic, the railroads are the best means of communication -- though busses and airplanes have of late become strong competitors. The men who built the locomotive, therefore, were true benefactors of Iowa. Before there could be railroads, the steam engine had to be invented, and it had to be adapted to moving vehicles. James Watt, an Englishman, greatly improved the older steam...,

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....engine, which could be used for little else than pumping water. George Stephenson, a Scot, adapted Watt's improved engine to moving a wagon, that is, he built the first locomotive. Railroads could then be built, but the first trains only had a speed of four miles an hour. In other words, they did not move faster than a man can walk. When a speed of 15 miles an hour had been attained, great improvements were thought to have been made in railroading. The first railroads were built in England, more than a century ago, and not long after railroading was begun in Eastern United States. The early settlers in Iowa had seen railroads in the East and were convinced of their value for Iowa. They frequently discussed rapid transportation in the thirties and forties, and they asked Congress to give them land to aid railroad companies. The organization of the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Company occurred in 1853. This company proposed to build a railroad from Davenport to Council Bluffs, a distance of 311 miles.

First locomotive in Iowa, named in honor of Antoine Le Claire

    Grading of the track began in September, 1853. "As Mr. Le Claire, who was selected to perform the ceremony of removing the first ground, came forward, pulling off his coat and taking the wheel barrow and spade, he was greeted by a most tremendous and hearty cheer." Antoine Le Claire, a man of Indian and French decent, had been an Indian interpreter. He became one of the ....

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....wealthiest men in early Iowa. He built the first house in Davenport. This became the deport when trains began to run on the new railroad. The first locomotive used in Iowa was ferried across the Mississippi to Davenport in 1854. It was christened Antoine Le Claire.

The first trains in Iowa City and Council Bluffs

    By January 1, 1856 grading had been finished and the track laid as far west as Iowa City. Two days later the Iowa Citians turned out to celebrate the great event, the coming of the iron horse.

    But progress from Iowa City west was slow. The later fifties were difficult years for the railroad builders because of the business panic of 1857 and crop failures in Iowa. The Civil War began in 1861. By 1865 the first railroad in Iowa had only reached as far west as Kellogg, 40 miles east of Des Moines. The same year the company building it, failed. But the property was purchased by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company which built the road to Council Bluffs.

    The first train on the completed road entered Council Bluffs on May 12, 1869, amid cheers of its citizens who came out in large numbers to the grounds where a temporary depot had been built, accompanied by representatives of civil societies, a band, and an artillery squad with a cannon. The railroad which now crossed Iowa was connected with the Union Pacific Railroad and formed a part of a continuous railroad from New York City to San Francisco.

    Meanwhile other lines had been built across the State and the Mississippi had been bridged.

    After the Civil War railroad building was pushed vigorously, so that the State by 1870 had a total mileage of 3,000. There were four east and west line - the Burlington, the Rock Island, the Northwestern, and the Illinois Central, The north and south lines were built more slowly, but in 1880 three such lines may be distinguished. Between 1890 and 1904 the railroad mileage of the State doubled, and interior railroad centers such as Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Oskaloosa, Fort Dodge, and Waterloo, became prominent.

    In 1893 every county in the State was spanned by railroads. Of the 99 county seats, only one was without a railroad.

    In 1915 there were 22 steam railroad companies operating within the State with a total mileage of 10,493, besides a number of electric interurban lines with several hundred miles of track.

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Gifts to the railroads

     The people of Iowa were so anxious to have railroads built that the General Assembly repeatedly urges Congress to give tracts of government land for railroad construction. Congress responded favorably in 1856 and in 1864. The land was given to the State by Congress, and by the State to the railroads on the condition that the roads were to be built within a definite time, and in a way subject to government regulation. The total amount of land given to the railroads in Iowa was 4,069,942 acres or one-ninth of all the land in the State. In addition to the government land grants, the railroads also received large gifts of money (bonds) from townships, counties, cities and individuals.

    In the late fifties the cost of building a mile of railroad track was about $15,000. Probably it cost more where the ground was hilly and where bridges had to be built.

Not all wanted railroads

     There was some opposition at first to the construction of railroads in the State. A Muscatine lawyer admitted that railroads might be successfully operated in some places, but not in Iowa, because Iowa would always be a farming state and livestock could not be carried on railroads the long distance to Eastern markets. Neither did he think flour could be carried so far on shaky trains, unless it were packed in barrels as strong as pork barrels, but they would be so expensive that the transportation of flour in railroad trains would be unprofitable. Then too, the stage drivers were against railroads because they threw them out of employment. And some farmers thought railroads would deprive them of markets for their surplus horses.

Improvements in safety and comfort.

     The growth of the railways system was not only marked by the extension of tracks and the multiplication of cars and locomotives, but also by devices for the safety and comfort of crews and passengers. Steel and concrete bridges have replaced the older wooden bridges.Firmer roads beds were constructed. Some lines were double tracked. Steel passenger coaches replaced the older wooden ones. Air brakes and improved systems of signaling were introduced.

A brave girl

     In Iowa railroad history the name of Kate Shelly shines and will continue to shine with undiminished luster. In 1881, when she....

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....was 15 years old, she was living with her widowed mother near Moingona in Boone County. Her father had been killed in a railroad accident. On the night of July 6, there was a terrible rain storm. Honey Creek near which the Shelley�s were living, became a raging torrent and tore down the railroad bridge not far from Shelly's cabin. The storm had awakened the mother and daughter. They knew that it would soon be time for a freight train to pass. In a little while they heard it crash into the creek where the bridge was out.

    Kate lit a lantern and went outside. She saw the engineer clinging to a tree on the opposite side of the creek, He assured her of his safety and begged her to hurry on to Moingona to warn the on-coming passenger train. In order to do that, she had to cross the bridge over the Des Moines River, 400 feet long and 50 feet high. The light in her lantern blew out, but Kate faced the wind and the rain and walked through a mile of woods to the bridge, which she crossed crawling on her hands and knees.

    When she reached the Moingona telegraph office, she roused the operator who flashed the warning to the coming train. When it had pulled up to the depot, the passengers crowded around the little heroine to thank her for their lives.

    The General Assembly at its next session voted her a gold medal and $200 in money. And in 1901 when a new bridge was built at this point across the Des Moines River, it was named the Kate Shelly Bridge in her honor.

Questions and Exercises: What did James Watt and George Stephenson do for Iowa? How fast did the early trains run? What tools were used for grading road beds in 1853? Now? Why is the year 1869 important in Iowa history? How were the railroads financed? What were some objections to the railroads? How were the railroads improved? Explain the origin of the name - Kate Shelley Bridge. Locate places named.