Peeking Into Lake City's Past
Lake City- a railroad boomtown

This is a Railroad story about Lake City during a time in our history when citizens romanticized many ways the huge iron horse touched their lives. Yes, we sang about Casey Jones the engineer, the Wabash Cannonball, I've been workin' on the railroad and many others. Even church going citizens sang about "Life's Railway to Heaven," the lyrics in part saying: "Life is like a mountain railway with an engineer that's brave, you must make the run successful from the cradle to the grave. Be ye mindful of obstructions, never falter, never fail, keep your hand upon the throttle and your eye upon the rail."

During the growing up period in the history of our community, the railroad was perhaps the greatest contributor (outside of agricultural production) to our local fame and fortune. In the writer's opinion, national downgrading of railroads and destruction of certain roadways constitutes a grave error in our national economical judgments, where the welfare of the American people are concerned.

Most of us who grew up during the railroad heyday possess a nostalgic understanding of what railroad services can mean to our national economy. Let us allow our minds to wander and imagine coal-fired engines still transporting most U.S freight. Because there is less friction between steel wheels running on steel rails, transportation costs would be less than trucks and just maybe we would not be dependent on Middle East oil at rip-off prices, firing up the destructive inflation that plagues our nation today.

History tells us the first practical railroad in the USA was a short line (about nine miles) connecting the city of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania with some coal mines. In the construction of this road, wooden rails with strap iron nailed on top were used for track. The steam locomotive was about the size of a 20th century steam thrashing engine. Cars for hauling coal were only about 5 ton capacity.

Early financiers saw an opportunity to capitalize on the new method of transportation, and within a few years railroads were projected for passenger travel as well as freighting coal.

It seems incredible that any intelligent person should ever have opposed building the railroad, yet, believe it or not, in 1828 some young men in Lancaster, Ohio organized a debating society and when they requested the school board let them use the school house as a place to discuss the question of whether or not railroads were feasible as a method of transportation, they received a surprising answer. To this request the school board replied:" We are willing for you to use the school facility to debate any and all proper questions, however, we regard the discussion of railroads as improper and a subject of rank infidelity. Furthermore, if God had intended his creatures to travel over the face of his country at the frightful speed of 15 miles per hour, He would have clearly foretold it through his Holy Prophets. We must inform you that the railroad is a device of Satan to lead immortal souls down to Hell, therefore you shall not be privileged to use the school."

This was the way some people felt 154 years ago, which was only 36 years before Ebenezer Comstock built his lonely cabin on the west side of what is now Lake City. From a humble beginning in Pennsylvania, railroad technology improved. Solid steel rails were forged, locomotive engines were built better and faster and freight cars became larger and stronger.

As early as 1836(18 years before Comstock) the Illinois legislature granted a charter to the Galena & Chicago Union Ry. Co. which was authorized to build a railroad from Chicago to the lead mines near Dubuque on the Mississippi river. The very first train to leave Chicago for the west was on this road. The date? October 24, 1848, just six years before Comstock built his cabin. This early train was drawn by a diminutive engine called the Pioneer, which is now in a railroad museum.

On June 15, 1859, the Toledo & Northwestern RR Co. was organized under the laws of Iowa to construct a line from Toledo, Iowa to Sioux City, on the Missouri river. In the spring of 1880 it was completed to Gifford and during the summer, on the Hubbard. The management then sent their representatives to the various townships on the route to induce residents to vote a tax on themselves to help pay construction cost. P.R. Carmichael, J. C. Tomkins and S. H. Richardson, trustees in Calhoun township, ordered an election for June 9, 1880 for the purpose of voting a 5 percent tax for railroad construction, subject to the following conditions: "½ payable when the RR is completed to within ½ mile of the Lake City public square and a depot built. The balance due and payable one year thereafter provided the whole of said road be completed to the Missouri river on or before December 31, 1881." The bond issue passed 104 to 4. The new road was pushed rapidly through Jewell, Dayton and Gowrie and before the end of the year it was completed.

An old gentleman by the name of David Miller told the writer back in 1937 that he was the engineer privileged to drive the first passenger train through Lake city on the new rails. In January 1882 a depot was built and a man by the name of W. C. Hugerford was the first agent. Mr. Hungerford was the father of Mrs. Helen Hungerford Short, a well know citizen and lifetime resident of Lake City. Mrs. Short was the pipe organist at Woodlawn Christian Church for more than 55 years.

On January 6, 1880, the road was sold by the builders to the Chicago & Northwestern RY.Co. making Calhoun county a link between Des Moines and Sioux City. The new owners expanded the operation and made Lake City an operational division point for executive management offices, plus repair and maintenance shops. My neighbor, Mr. Charles Button, a retired senior citizen of Lake City, like his father, Frank Button, were executive employees of the C & NW RR. Mr. Button furnished the writer some of the information in this article from his memory of life experiences. Charles Button started with the railroad over 65 years ago, the C & NW was his life. Mr. Button remembers the maintenance (round house) shops to be a building about 300 feet long and 10ft. wide built on a circular pattern with a turntable in front so locomotives could be driven into the shop for repairs, backed out onto the turntable, turned around and headed for the main tracks for duty. The maintenance building had ceilings 18 ft high. The building was located just south of the depot. Mr. Button says the round house contained 12 stalls for servicing engines and a well equipped machine shop where some needed parts were manufactured when they were not quickly available. The building was heated by a huge boiler that consumed about 1000 tons of Iowa coal annually. It was lighted by kerosene lamps which required 250 gallons of kerosene and about 36 replacement lamp chimneys every month to keep them operating.

Other railroad structures along the Lake city right of way included a 400 ton ice house to cool refrigerated cars hauling perishable foodstuffs, a huge elevated coal bin with a loading chute for fueling engines, a good well, pump house and water tower for servicing engines. These were located on the south side of the tracks across from the Co-op elevators. A large brick building for executive offices was located about 200 ft. north of the depot.

Oh, I must not forget, there was a large, modern hotel just a few feet from the depot where passengers could leave a train and check in for the night after a bountiful evening meal. The first depot was destroyed by fire, they moved the executive office building from its original location to the depot site, remodeling it for use as a depot. Mr. Button also told me that during the peak railroad years they employed over 200 local people. This figure includes their executive management staff, maintenance employees, and trainmen.

After the management and maintenance division was moved to Sioux City, Lake city lost about 150 families and needless to say, causing many economic hardships for the community. Just imagine what 150 vacant houses would do to our economy today. This economic jolt followed by the great depression tested the stamina of Lake City people. Property values were so low you could buy a house for a song and sing it yourself. But, lest we forget, Lake City endured the hardships and by placing all our dependency on agriculture and self sufficiency our community returned to prosperity.

Railroad prosperity was great while it lasted and it lasted for more than 30 years during which time Lake City's population expanded from only 320 in 1880, just before the RR came, to a total of 2,703 by the turn of the century. The increase was nearly 8 times in 20 years. During the rapid growth period, several additions were added to the original town. Many new homes and business buildings were constructed. The business square took on a completely new look when wood frame buildings were replaced with beautiful brick structures and many new buildings were added to the business district by new people opening business and professional offices in Lake City, to serve the expanding population in town and new farmers in the country.

During my early years in Lake City, some old timers told me you could hear train whistles blowing throughout the night and that a train would pass through Lake City nearly every hour around the clock. During this period, Lake City had six modern, large hotels. Before improved roads and automobiles, all but local travel was by rail. Lake City needed six large hotels. I have read historical accounts of special excursion trains running from Jewell to Sioux City offering special excursion rates, subsidized by Sioux City business people, making it possible for a shopper to board at 7 a.m. in Lake City and return at 9:30 p.m. the same day, thereby patronizing Sioux City merchants. It seems local business always had big city competition.

After the railroad moved it's management and maintenance division to Sioux City, numerous houses were purchased by farmers and moved to the country. In those days, farmers provided housing for their hired help. When the Watters family came to Lake City there were still numerous vacant houses and many were occupied by county welfare recipients. For many years there was not a single home built in Lake City and our streets were dotted by vacant lots where houses once stood.

Let us be thankful that we live in a community where historically, we would not accept defeat. We have been equal to catastrophic situations in our past and we shall be equal to economic catastrophes in the future.