Back in the 1800s when towns that got RRs thrived and towns that got bypassed withered, did any towns build their own tracks connecting to nearby lines?
Well, the town with its own railroad had to have the long-haul RR’s permission before it could join its track to theirs. So I’m not sure the original RR was bound to accept them; open access was probably a controversial issue even back then. After all these were the exact lines that bypassed the little towns. Probably the (line-joining) happened back then, but not too often. At the height of railroad-building frenzy in the 1880s, railroad companies were the “dot coms” – the highest tech – and I can think of a couple of cases where the towns, having been bypassed by the first l-d lie, were able to lure a different or new line their way. The more I learn about the alleged cutrhroat capitalism of 19th-Century railroading, the more I hear of exceptions, such as state-owned RR companies with a mandate to support that state’s industry and transportation as opposed to l-d transregional concerns (Chicago - LA on the Santa Fe, for example.)
Others will know better than I about relationships between such ambitious little burgs and the cold-hearted bureaucracy of RR’s, or when the stereotypes didn’t hold. I can tell you that many towns actively promoted for a railroad headed their way to choose them as a stop or, even better, a water tank (hence the term “jerkwater town”) or even division point. Some of the inducements with which the towns tried to seduce the railroads sound surprisingly modern relative to today’s corporation-hunting towns: tax relief, for example.
I can think of one case in which the town gov’t more or less lost its town to the railroad. Appamattox Court House, where Lee surrendered to Grant at the end of the Civil War, is just that–a court house and grounds. A great place to liti
At least one did, the City of Prineville, Oregon, which built a 19-mile short line to connect itself to the Oregon Trunk when it bypassed Prineville in 1917. The railway is a city department and is still owned and operated by the city.
In a similar vein is the CNO&TP, built by the City of Cincinnati to assure its position as a gateway to the south, and still owned by the city (and operated by NS).
RWM
I think it also worked out that the town simply petered out in favor of one that was on the railroad if they failed to make a connection. To take an example, the Close brothers founded a town in Plymouth County, Iowa, in 1876 and called it Quorn. By 1882 it had a general store, two drug stores, a saloon, a blacksmith shop, a grain mill, a post office and perhaps 400 people. A couple of years later another developer named Blair laid out a townsite 2 miles to the southeast and named it Kingsley. He pursuaded a railroad to build through there on its way to a connection with the “Omaha Line” south of Sioux City.
The businesses that had been located in Quorn relocated to Kingsley. Quorn finally relinquished its city charter about 1920 and the only thing that remains today is the Quorn cemetery. Although Kingsley lost its railroad (the CNW) in the 1960’s it remains a thriving farm community,
Another good example is the former town of Medary, South Dakota. It was on a wagon road and they assumed the RR would be built in their direction. The C&NW instead built 7 miles north through Brookings, which was barely a town. Within a few years the whole town of Medary, buildings and all, moved to Brookings. All that remains of Medary is a historical marker, and the fact that one of the main north-south streets in Brookings is named Medary.
Particularly in the early days of railroading, when railroads often had names that amounted to the “This Town & Next Town”, towns often contributed heavily (both individuals and the local governments themselves) toward the building of a railroad to their locale. That’s one reason the Northeast was so overbuilt with railroads early on. Of course, in most cases the serial shortlines were melded into longer lines - NYC is the example I’m familiar with.
That’s also why there was so much paring when all of the lines got merged with PC and especially CR.
Many spur lines died when the automobile arrived and provided the same (or sometimes better) options for travel and shipping.
I think more commonly, the towns would form booster clubs to attract railroads, and offer the railroads a bucket-O-money. Typically, you’ll read it in the town’s history book. It’s usually a white-washed version of : “Sioux Falls business club boosters, short of actually bribing someone personally, have offered free land for a station and yard to the first railroad into the bustling ,new city. Also, $75,000 in green cash money will be awarded to help cover costs of the railroad”. The more forsighted of these towns also seemed to ofer incentives to bring a second or third, competeing line into the town. Their Mamas didn’t raise no fools.
I’ve also seen the same thing, about a town named Minnelousa (?), out near Belle Fourche. Historical maps show the town, and the 7 (!) rail lines that served it. Trouble was, some of the railroads noted didn’t even exist, and the others weren’t within hundreds of miles. The closest line was 5 to 10 miles away. The town went bust. Go figure. Years later, CNW has a spur line towards the town, to a spot called Jolly Dump.
Sycamore, IL built a line to connect with the CNW main line. During the mid 1800’s Sycamore was backing a different RR and wouldn’t back CNW also so they built about 5 miles south and in the process pretty much created DeKalb and Cortland. Eventually the RR Sycamore was backing folded and they were left without a RR, which would likely mean death of the city. So the city built it’s own RR due south to connect with the CNW main at Cortland, DeKalb was already fast growing and Sycamore didn’t want to give it another connection to further gow with. The line the “Sycamore & Cortland” was eventually bought by the CNW and abandoned in favor of the CNW and CGW lines between Sycamore and DeKalb.
Didn’t Brigham Young build a railroad north from Salt Lake City to meet the UP near Ogden? Or was that built as part of UP?
The town of Warrenton, NC (just south of the NC/Va line) did not want the Raleigh & Gaston to come through Warrenton as they thought the trains would scare the local populace, this being about 1834-5. So the R&G went four miles to the north through Norlina. This became the first part of the Seaboard Air Line that went from Raleigh NC to Portsmouth Va. Eventually the town saw its mistake and built the Warrenton Railroad, 4 miles north to Norlina. Of course the main north south stem of the Seaboard was routed through Norlina which was the top of the funnel for the busy section of the Seaboard that was between Norlina and Hamlet. There are still five spokes out of Hamlet, one north, two south, and then the east/west spokes. Now the line from Norlina to both Richmond and Portsmouth are trunciated at Norlina due to CSX stupidy however the SE high speed route will re-install the part to Richmond.
This brought up a few memories as back in the early 70’s I sought out, but have since lost the photographs I took of the Warrenton . They had a small GE or Plymouth critter at the time.
John
Murphy,
Yes the first line between Salt Lake City and Ogden was the Utah Central, a narrow gauge built by Brigam Young/the Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter Day Saints. The latter Utah Northern to Butte, and Utah Southern were also related to the Utah Central, to the church, and to the UP. Young’s dealings with the UP got to be very tangled, since the UP did not pay the bills it owed to Young. UP’s dealings were far from honest as, and for a while after, they completed their line in 1869. I have never seen any book that closely examines the Utah undertakings.
Mac
If a town felt left out, it somehow found a way to build a railroad to the nearest junction…often local businessmen or factory or mine might do it. Most common was towns which subscribed to railroad bonds to attract the rails to their political bounderies. Some got main lines, others got branch lines or stub ends of branch lines. Many often got bankrupt. In some NY towns, bonds were still being paid off in the mid 1900’s although tracks had been ripped out for decades. O&W followed the money: Syracuse said no to bond subscription so the railroad went east and north of the city. Some towns offered at least to build a station for the railroad. But if they didn’t, the railroad didn’t go there; Huntington and Huntington Sta. on Long Island is an example.
Mac, this subject is detailed in several books:
- Great Basin Kingdom, Leonard Arrington
- History of Idaho (3 volumes), Merle Wells
- Union Pacific Country, Robert Athearn
- Union Pacific’s Salt Lake Route, Mark Hemphill
UP paid in kind for the grading contracts with materials (iron rail and jewelry) to build the Utah Central and Utah & Southern, through John Sharp, an official in the Mormon Church, a tireless advocate of railway development, and a member of the UP Board of Directors. Sharp did more to develop railways in Utah than the next ten most active men combined. I’m not sure I would classify the dealings as dishonest which requires intent to defraud, but more of “negotiated on the fly.”
RWM
I read Boyd’s original question as being about “completely separate” projects in which the big railroad took no direct financial stake. The Utah Central very much had UP participation in its financing. Similarly, the Denver Pacific, which connected the UP main to Denver for identical reasons, had UP participation.
RWM
The Iron Mountain bypassed Augusta, Arkansas, so the Augusta Railroad was built to connect the county seat with New Augusta. The current AAA atlas shows Augusta, but not New Augusta.
Johnny
Was UP involved in Utah Central from the start? I know that the idea for it must have come up, once the citizens of Salt Lake City realized UP was going to be bi-passed by UP. I seem to recal the Utah Central, the grading of the UP, and The Mormon construction crews all being somewhat tied together in the same story.
Absolutely it was involved! Discussions between the UP and the Church began before the main line even entered the state. Bishop Sharp was deeply involved in the finance and construction of the UP and close with Brigham Young. The UP was very interested in where its traffic was going to come from, and the designs of other railroads, both to know their potential contribution as well as to know if they were competition or tools of competitors. The UP did not want the CP building the Utah Central or being in partnership with it.
RWM
If railroads were the dot-coms of the late 19th Century, then I guess we could say that UP was the Microsoft of its day.
No, that would be the Pennsy and the NYC. The western transcons were pipsqueaks compared to those two behemoths.
RWM