Some time during the 1880’s, some of my ancestors came from Norway. They left from the port of Stavanger,Norway,processed through Ellis Island, and settled in northwest Nebraska, near Rushville. I can see that they probably rode on CNW, or a predecessor(?) into town. Any guess on the rest of the route that new immigrants would have taken from point A to point B?
O-Kay…Does anybody know if CNW did anything to promote immigrants moving to western Nebraska in the 1880’s? Was the “Cowboy Line” a land grant route?
Your folks would have come West, probably over the NYC - but there are several choices here, to Chicago and then continued on to “Omaha” (the environs there-of) to and/or over a predecessor of the CNW. I don’t think the CNW, as we know it in the last half of the 1900’s, existed then. The “Omaha Road” and the CGW come immediately to mind. I don’t know who originally built the Cowboy.
Thanks to Dale’s post, which vanished(![:O]), I see that my ancestors would have ridden to Rushville on the Fremont and Elkhorn Valley Railroad(?).
I know that western railroads pushed hard to get people, especially European immigrants to move out onto land the railroads owned. Did the western railroads work exclusively with any of the eastern lines, to get the immigrants from the ports to Chicago?
Murphy S.;
During the railroad building boom of the later 19th Century; Most all the “Western” lines actively recruited immigrants to come west to settle along their specific line to populate new on-line communities. In particluar, the Ellis Island Center in New York harbor was a major center for recruiting immigrants to go West.
Also, do not discount the migratory path through Canada, down the St Lawrence. Wisconsin and Minnesota have large populations of Norwegian/ and other Scandanavian extractions. The immigrants tended to stick together, somewhat in the nature of supporting groups from the same country or the same town.
[There was also a migratory route from Philadelphia/Baltimore areas, across the Potomic R. into the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, down the Eastern most ‘Ohio’ River system (Youngaheny/Monogoheala) Into the Pittsburgh area, and then down the Ohio to Cincinati,{ or continue on down the Ohio into the Mississippi, around Cairo,Il} across the Whitewater Canal/Wabash R into Southern Ill, across to the Keokuk Area on the Mississippi and into SE Iowa, and NW Missour/NE Kansas. To add another route.]
Good Luck on your search!
No doubt it is in the electronic equivalent of a shackle boxcar.
The B&O was active in recruiting immigrants, and even though the journey would have started out on several other railroads before reaching the B&O, that may have been the route to Chicago, despite the quicker journey and shorter mileage on any of the other routes. Only the New York Central directly served NY, with all other railroads to Chicago starting from the Jersey side of the Hudson.
Boy it’s hard to say, in the 1880’s many western lines were still either being built or still in the future. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the “Cowboy Line” extension came about until later. It could be they only got so far by rail and had to use other transport the rest of the way. You’d probably have to look up historical maps of the area covered to see what was actually in place then.
<> BTW my Norwegian anscestors came to MN about the same time, 1880’s to 1900. My great-grandfather worked on ships during that time going between Europe and America to help the Norwegian immigrants coming over (not sure if he worked for the US gov’t or Norway or??). He was born in Norway, and he would help make sure the immigrant’s had all their paperwork was in order, and that they knew where they were going etc. Maybe he met your folks when they came over??
Interesting. Who, or where was B&O recruiting immigrants for?
Since Ellis Island is on the Jersey side of the Hudson as well, I suspect that many westbound immigrants never set foot in NYC.
dd
Are you saying that immigrants landing at Ellis Island would have been normally ferried over to New Jersey first, and possibly take a train departing from there? That would seem to open up a few possibilities.
Regarding immigration at NY. Prior to 1892 all immigration was procesed at Castle Clinton on Manhattans lower side. From here the new arrivals could walk to the ferry terminals. CNJ terminal was located at Liberty Street. Erie Railroad terminal was located at Chambers. Daily emigrant trains departed around 700pm. The CNJ offerred a short cut west to the PRR at Harrisburg via Allentown. The Erie provided service west to Buffalo, Cleveland and Cincinnati.
tom
Lake Woebegone, MN is supposed to have a statue to the lost Norwegian. Truth surpassing fiction, Lake Mills, IA has erected a bronze monument with four life size figures honoring the Norwegian immigrants who arrived after the Civil War. It is about 15 miles west of I-35 not far from the Minnesota border along what is now UP tracks.
I would put in a picture, but can not figure out how to do so.
Richard Overton did an entire book on the Burlington Route’s efforts to colonize the prairies. I have not read it, but have read it is an excellent bit of scholarship. The Burlington actively recruited immigrants. The C. B. & Q. even erected a dormitory in Burlington IA. for newly arrived immigrants.
The immigrants were given study material on available lands to the west for settlement and prepared for what awaited. The C.B. & Q. tended to draw Swedes, my great grand parents included.
Let’s not forget the role Chicago’s C&NW station played in getting immigrants on the right trains to the Plains States and even Manitoba. I am told that Chicago established its first Travelers’ and Immigrants’ Aid Association in the old C&NW terminal – imagine the plight of immigrants who spoke no English and ran out of money because nothing in their experience had prepared them for the several days’ transit Ellis - Chgo - Points West.
TIAA is still a vitally necessary charity, but the days have long since passed since they maintained a bureau in any local rail station. As most of you know, CNW station is gone, too–the tracks remain for three good-sized commuter lines but practically all the rest was torn down in favor of a 34-story skyscraper. Even so, the new moniker “Ogilvie Transportation Center” is catching on very slowly, and a lot of us still refer to the (extinct) “See In Dubya” station. There’s a food court downstairs, but other than ticketing and info kiosks, and a minuscule waiting area, what’s left is basically just a small second lobby for the building.