Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad.

. :By the Legislature of 1851 this great Illinois railway was incorporated as the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad. The object of the projectors was to connect the Great Lakes with the Mississippi , by way of Chicago and Rock Island , a distance of 181 1/2 miles. This road was completed in the spring of 1854, and at once took rank as one of the great lines of the country. Improved and wild lands contiguous to the city and along the line of the road entered a few months previous with warrants costing the purchaser from 87 1/2 cents per acre, rose to $5 and $ to per acre.

The presence of the locomotive arouses the dor­mant energies and sets on foot enterprises that otherwise might sleep for ages. It changes the face of society and moves the whole world forward. Railroads create business and build up cities that otherwise would never have had existence.

This road passes through some of the finest agricultural country in the State. In 1866 this railroad was consolidated with the Mississippi & Missouri Railway Company, under the name of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company, which name it now bears. In June, 1869, its line was completed to Council Bluffs , where it connected with the then newly completed Union Pacific Railway. From the date of its completion to the Missouri River , it has been a favorite route of the travelers and tourists to the Pacific slope and also to the Territories. Since that time it has expanded, by consolidation with other lines and by building branches into Iowa and Missouri , from 550 miles to a great railway op­erating some 1,400 miles of road, and having for its termini the cities of Chicago, Peoria , Keokuk, Council Bluffs, DesMoines , Atchison , Leavenworth and Kansas city . Its freight now embraces the products of the Eastern and Western States and Territories, as well as that of Europe and "the empires of the Old World . This company has also opened up a new route to the Northwest, known as the " Albert Lea Route , " extending to Minneapolis , where it connects with the Northern Pacific and the St. Paul & Manitoba Railroads.

This route traverses some of the firlest scenery in the country and takes the traveler to many of the most noted resorts for health and pleasure in the United States . The Chicago & Rock fsland Railroad has had a rich country and an extensive com­ merce to support it, and from its first inception it has been prosperous. From the running of the first train up to the present time, the management of this road has been such as to secure and hold the sympathy of its patrons. This has been accomplished by establishing the principle of equal and exact justice to all, and by giving to the people, as far as in human power lay, immunity from dangers incident to travel.

The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway has had an able management. For many years Mr. R. R. Cable has been its President and General Manager and Mr. E. St. John has been its General Ticket and Passenger Agent. This very popular and efficient railroad official—Mr. E. St. John—has been recently promoted to the position of Assistant General Manager, while he still holds his former posi­ tion. So long a continuation of the road under the same management, speaks well for the company and also for its officers.

The personnel of this railroad has been highly commendable. Their agents and conductors have been obliging, their engineers skillful and faithful and their brakemen prompt. The Superintendents have also been scrupulous and exact, training the men under them to correct business habits.

The aim of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company has been to locate its lines and establish its c connectlons so as to reach its objective points with the greatest facility and in the most desirable manner. From the completion of its first track to the Mississippi to the present time, when it operates over 1,400 miles of road, a great portion of which is spanned by double parallel lines of steel, the Rock Island Company has performed its duty to the State, and has been a potential factor in the development and civilization of the great West

 

 

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