The surveying and building of the Des Moines - Ft. Dodge railroad through the Dallas Center area was an important factor in the early settlement of the town.  Contracts were given to men to build a specified ten miles or more of railroad grade.  Each contractor hired a crew of men with mules and slip scrapers to do the job.  We are told that the pay for a man and team was 50 cents a day.  Money was scarce but necessary and men were needed, thus more families came to seek employment.  Some came to Des Moines by train or stagecoach and walked to Dallas Center following the stakes placed there by the railroad surveyors.  The winter of 1868-1869, was a difficult time for these workers and their families.  As yet there was no corner grocery store.  Weather prevented the men from working, supplies became low and the nearest trading post was Des Moines.  Thus it was necessary for the able-bodied men to walk to Des Moines one day and return the next, each one carrying a 49 pound sack of flour and other staples.  On the day of their return, the women and children stationed themselves along the railroad grade.  As soon as the first one saw the men returning, the signal was relayed to the next person on up the grade.  Thus the message got to the women who built the fires so they could bake bread as soon as the flour arrived.

          There being no lumberyard as yet, many of the early settlers secured the needed lumber for building by going to Boone with teams and wagons one day and returning the next. 

(click on photo for larger view)

          The first train came rolling across the plains through the village of Dallas Center on July 19, 1869.  It was a very real thrill for the early settlers of that day when they saw the smoke of the steam engine and heard the whistle of that first train.

          The first depot was built in the summer of 1869, and for several years, before any churches were built in Dallas Center, it served as a meeting place and schoolroom as well as a depot.  The first station agent was C. S. Kirtland who served eight years.  He was followed by  George W. Ogilvie,  John F. Humphryes,  Miles Ridle,  Bill Hunt,  J. P. Martensen,  Joe Junger  and  Charles F. Beard who came in 1914.  Since Mr. Beard's retirement in 1963,  J. F. Benson has served as station agent.

THIS PAGE SPONSORED BY

11

Alfred E. Keltner, Plumbing & Heating

Whitacre Texaco Service - Over 25 Years at 10th & Sugar Grove