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Shelby County
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CHAPTER XII.
TRAVEL, TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION.

RAILROADS.


It must be remembered that long before the first main railroad had pushed its line across the state of Iowa the pioneers of Shelby county had built and were living in rude log cabins. They were growing products for which there was practically no market, except at Kanesville, now Council Bluffs. To that place the pioneers brought at the end of a wearisome journey always, and often in winter a dangerous one, lasting several days, the products they had to sell--dressed hogs, beeves, corn, wheat, etc.--and here they purchased with careful economy the necessaries of life, including flour and corn meal, coffee, salt, clothing, etc., although usually they exchanged wheat and corn for flour and meal at the pioneer mills at which they were often obliged to wait long for their grists to be ground.

Therefore, to Shelby county people Council Bluffs will always have a special significance as their pioneer trading point long before railroads came or public highways were laid out or worked or anything but the most primitive bridges built; when the ridge road trailed its tortuous way over the wild prairie.

To this trading point merchandise for Shelby county pioneers came from St. Louis and St. Joseph on Missouri river steamboats. It appears from the Council Bluffs Nonpareil of April 7, 1859, there were then thirty-five packets navigating the Missouri, employed in the trade between St. Louis and St. Joseph and Nebraska City, Council Bluffs. Omaha, Sioux City and intermediate points. Among these packets were the "Florida," "Immigrant," "Asa Wilgus," "Hannibal," "Morning Star," "E. M. Ryland" and others. By 1802 there were United States mail routes leading out of Council Bluffs to Sioux City, Fort Dodge, Omaha, Oskaloosa, St. Joseph and Fort Kearney.

On May 15, 1856, President Pierce approved an act of Congress whereby grants of land to aid in railroad building were made to the state of Iowa, for the purpose of assisting the following companies and railroads, the act being herewith quoted in part, as follows:

"In May, 1856, the National Congress made its first grant of land in aid of railroad building in this state. That act was approved by President Pierce the 15th day of that month. It made grants to four roads as follows: 'Section I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled, that there be and is hereby granted to the state of Towa for the purpose of aiding in the construction of railroads from Burlington on the Mississippi river to a point on the Missouri river near the mouth of the Platte river, from the city of Davenport via Iowa City and Ft. Des Moines to Council Bluffs, from Lyons City northwestwardly to a point of intersection with the main line of the Iowa Central Air Line Railroad near Maquoketa, thence on said main line of the Iowa Central Air Line as near as practicable to the forty-second parallel across the state of Iowa to the Missouri river, from the city of Dubuque to a point on the Missouri river near Sioux City, with a branch from the Tete des Mortes to the nearest point on said main line, to be completed as soon as the line is completed to that point, every alternate section of land designated by odd numbers for six sections in width on each side of said road.' "

Other grants of land followed this first grant. Under these several land grant acts roads in Iowa, received the number of acres of land, respectively, as follows:

Burlington & Missouri River (now the C. B. & Q.) ----------287,095.24
Mississippi & Missouri River (now the C, R. I. & P.) -------550,193.57
Iowa Central Air Line (now the C. & N. W.) ------------------775,454.19
Dubuque & Pacific (now the Illinois Central) ----------------1,226,558.32
McGregor & Missouri (now the C. M. & St. Paul) -----------372,293.27
Sioux City & St. Paul ----------------------------------------------407,879.31
Des Moines River Improvement Company -------------------1,105,967.88

As the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Company began to push its main line west from Davenport, and even before that time, the people of western Iowa were exceedingly anxious to secure railroads. The railroads, indeed, meant very much to these settlers; without them the country could never hope to be adequately developed; it could never expect, of course, to have local markets with fair prices for local products, nor to have local stores with supplies of goods such as people were beginning to need and the procuring of which entailed the expenditure of so much time and energy, the enduring of great privation.

It it, therefore, of local interest to know that at a meeting which called itself the "Missouri & Mississippi State Aid Railroad Convention" held at Council Bluffs, Iowa, on December 15, 1858, the following Shelby county delegates were present: George Harrington, W. Gray, J. M. Long, C. W. Oden, H. C. Holcomb, L. W. Woodruff. L G. Tubbs, George Benjamin, A. T. Ault and Isaac P. Wyland (father of O. P. Wyland and William Wyland of Harlan). At that meeting resolutions were passed favoring state aid to railroads and asking the governor of Iowa to call an extra session of the Legislature for the purpose of providing such state aid for the construction of railroads.

On February 19, 1859, a railroad convention was held at the pioneer village of Magnolia, in Harrison county, to consider the expediency of the construction of railroads running east and west through Harrison and Shelby counties to intersect with the Mississippi & Missouri railroad at Harlan and running through Magnolia to the Missouri River, west on the most feasible route to the north bend of the Platte river, in Nebraska. This convention resulted in the adoption of articles of incorporation of the company, styled the Harlan Junction, Magnolia & Platte Valley Railroad Company, and persons were appointed to open stock books for the sale of stock in this corporation.

The Chicago & Northwestern Railroad first crossed the state, completing its line to Council Bluffs in 1867. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, the first railroad to enter Shelby county, reached Council Bluffs in 1869. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad also completed its line to Council Bluffs in 1869. In view of the wonderful railroad building and development in the state of Iowa occurring since that time it seems almost incredible that the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company, afterwards the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, on May 25, 1861, was advertising in the Council Bluffs Nonpareil that the extension of the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad was open to Marengo in Iowa county; that passenger and express trains left Marengo daily at 1:30 p. m., and that they arrived in Chicago at five o'clock the next morning.

It might prove interesting to the reader to take up his map of Iowa and examine the location of Shelby and Iowa counties and note the distance over which the pioneers of Shelby county were then obliged to go in order to take a train for the East.

On Tuesday evening, December 8, 1874, at Harlan, there was a meeting of business men to discuss the question of railroads for Harlan. Frank Reynolds was chairman of the meeting. The meeting was addressed by Platt Wicks, W. J. Davis, J. B. Swain, Washington Wyland, Thomas Wood, J. H. Louis and others. A motion favoring an outlet to the Northwestern at Denison was carried by a vote of seventeen for Denison and six for connecting at Avoca. A broad-gauge road was favored. A committee was appointed to correspond with the different companies. The committee was, Platt Wicks, chairman; W. J. Davis, Washington Wyland. J. W. DeSilva, and Dr. R. M. Smith.

This agitation for a branch road for Harlan was kept up more or less continuously from 1874, but without practical results until 1878. In July and August, of that year, elections were held in the townships of Harlan, Westphalia, Jefferson, Greeley, Polk, Douglas and Lincoln, for the purpose of voting a tax to aid in the construction of a branch of the Rock Island railroad from Avoca to Harlan. The proposition to vote a tax carried in the townships of Westphalia, Harlan, Greeley, Douglas and Lincoln, but was defeated in Jefferson and Polk, the voters of those townships apparently thinking Harlan too far away to benefit them much as a shipping point.

When the news of these election results came to the citizens of Harlan, bells were rung, guns fired, and there were whoops and yells and large bonfires. A Harlan paper says: "Four anvils were used to do duty in the absence of cannon, the band came out and played, sky rockets were fired, shot guns, revolvers and fire crackers and everything that would make a noise were used." The newspaper further said, "We would not swear that the front end of the Sabbath morning was not dented a little." Monday following the vote, Thomas McDonald and C. J. Wyland started for Chicago to make necessary arrangements to have the work commenced at once.

The proposed extension of the Rock Island was known as the Avoca, Harlan & Northern Railway. In the summer of 1878, the Avoca, Harlan & Northern Railway Company was organized for the purpose of constructing a road-bed for a railroad connecting Harlan with the main line of the Rock Island Railroad on the south. The following officers constituted this company: President, Thomas McDonald; secretary, Platt Wicks; treasurer, C. J. Wyland; directors, D. M. Wyland and J. M. Long.

Early in September, 1878, several engineers were at work setting the grade stakes on the new branch road.

The first construction train arrived in Harlan November 27, 1878, Ed Fisher, engineer; and D. Daley, conductor. This train has continued to make daily trips since. Hoyt Sherman, Jr., of Des Moines, was the first station agent and Frank D. Remick his assistant. Frank Smith, of Avoca, was express messenger on the train. The first freight that arrived was a carload of lumber for Ledwich & Long. November 30. The first grain shipped from here was a carload of wheat by Murray on December 3; next, a carload of corn on December 4. The first live stock shipped from here was a carload of hogs on December 6; on the 9th, T. D. Pratt shipped the first carload of cattle. For the first week ending December 9, the receipts were twenty-one cars lumber, nine cars of coal, and enough freight to make several carloads. T. J. Caldwell sent out five carloads of hogs one day during the first week in December. The sale of passenger tickets commenced on December 9.

Many have been the rumors of the coming of railroads and many surveys have been made across different parts of Shelby county. For instance, the Shelby County Record of October 22, 1874, contains this bit of local news:

"We understand that the surveyors are at work in the northern part of Shelby and Audubon counties, running the line for a proposed railroad. From what we learned in the matter, this is probably the Sioux City & Des Moines Railroad, being carried on under the auspices of the Rock Island Company. The surveyor strikes Casey, and continues on through Guthrie and Audubon counties, to the Fast Botna, and after following this stream some distance, strikes one corner of Shelby county, in Polk township, and so on up to the Northwestern crossing east of Denison. Whether this is the final survey, preparatory to the opening of work on the new road, is a question of some doubt. The impression has gained ground with the best men of Audubon county, that it is simply a ruse of the company to dispose of their lands. However, that may be, it matters not whether the road goes through or not, so far as the greater portion of Shelby county is concerned. Those people immediately adjoining the line might be benefited; but if any influence were to be felt by Harlan, it would be one of indirect damage. Unless Harlan should be so fortunate as to receive the benefits arising from being the main point on a road passing through this county, she would prefer being no nearer to a railroad than she now is."

During 1881 it was thought that the Wabash road would build a line through Harlan and the enterprising citizens of the town raised enough money to pay for a survey for the proposed branch. In 1881 it was believed that the Rock Island would extend its branch from Harlan to Kirkman and that the Northwestern would finally terminate at Kirkman.

In June, 1881, Harlan citizens were active in trying to secure a railroad from a point in Mills county to some northern point. A local company organized at Harlan under the corporate name of Silver Creek, Harlan & Northern Railway Company. The incorporators were Thomas McDonald, C. J. Wyland, D. M. Wyland, Robert Percival and J. M. Long. It was proposed to build a railroad near and through Silver City in Mills county or Minneola in Pottawattamie county on the main line of the Wabash road in a northeasterly direction up the Silver Creek valley to the town of Shelby, then leading northeast to section 23, running diagonally across it and section 13, entering Fairview township at the southwest comer of section 7, crossing the ridge on the farm formerly owned by J. B. Gibson on the line between Shelby and Fairview townships, then following Foss creek to "Corley Station," thence to parallel the Rock Island to Harlan, crossing the Dodge Survey on the ridge on Foss's place.

By 1881 the leading railway companies had begun to appreciate the advisability of encouraging the development of the natural resources of Shelby county by building lines therein. In that year the Chicago & Northwestern, through the Iowa Southwestern Railway, extended its line to Kirkman, and in 1899 from Kirkman to Harlan. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul purchased its right of way through the county in the months of May, June and July, 1881, and did grading during the fall and winter of that year, finishing its work of equipping the road-bed the next spring, so that in July, 1882, the line was completed and open for traffic to Council Bluffs.

In 1894 the Harlan, Sioux City & Northern Railway Company was incorporated by O. P. Wyland, L. C. Lewis, John Coenen, George Paup and G. W. Cullison. The purpose of this corporation was to secure an outlet from Harlan to Sioux City and Chicago by means of connection with some road to the north of Harlan. The soliciting committee was composed of George Eokars, J. T. Jack, VV. L. Baughn, E. M. Hertert and O. P. Wyland.

What is now known as the Chicago Great Western Railway was, under the name of the Mason City & Ft. Dodge Railroad, constructed and put in operation through Shelby county in November, 1903. The last railroad to come into the county was the Atlantic Northern & Southern, which was constructed and in operation in the latter part of 1908. The construction of this road was aided by a tax of five per cent on the assessed valuation of the property in Clay township, this tax having been carried on March 12, 1907, by a vote of one hundred and seventy-three for to seventy-eight against. This line gave Elk Horn and vicinity railway facilities which had been long needed.


Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, February, 2024 from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, by Edward S. White, P.A., LL. B.,Volume 1, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1915, pp. 292-298.

 
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