Part 47 (1/2)

This company, while a Nebraska corporation, soon after its organization and up to 1884 kept its general offices and accounting department in the Blair building in Cedar Rapids. It was organized at Fremont, Nebraska, in January, 1869, to construct a line of railroad up the Elkhorn Valley, in Nebraska, and obtained a land grant from the state of Nebraska amounting to about 100,000 acres, also some county bonds from Dodge and c.u.ming counties, Nebraska. In 1869 John I. Blair and his a.s.sociates in the Sioux City and Pacific, and the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River enterprises obtained control of the company, and undertook the construction of the railroad. Ten miles of track north from Fremont were laid late in the season of 1869. In 1870 the road was finished to West Point, and leased to the Sioux City and Pacific Company, which company from that time on continued to operate (under said lease) the several extensions of the Elkhorn road up to August, 1884. In 1871 the road was extended to Wisner, a distance of fifty-one miles from Fremont, where the terminus remained until 1879, in which year the main line was built to Oakdale, and six miles of track laid on the Creighton branch north from Norfolk. In 1880 the main line was extended from Oakdale to Neligh, and the Creighton branch finished to Plainview. In 1881 the main line was extended to Long Pine, and the Creighton branch finished to Creighton. In 1882 the main line was extended to Thatcher, and in 1883 to Valentine. In August, 1884--at the time of the purchase of the Iowa roads by the Chicago & Northwestern--this last named company acquired all the stock in the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad, and thereafter the work of extension was pushed vigorously.

In the two succeeding years a line was built into the Black Hills country and the main line of the road extended to the eastern boundary of the state of Wyoming. Between 1884 and 1888 several lines of railroad in the south Platte country of Nebraska were constructed by the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Company. L. Burnett, was engineer in charge of location and construction until the road was completed to Wisner. From 1879 to 1889--during which period the main line from Wisner to the west line of the state, the Black Hills branch as far as Whitewood, and the South Platte lines were built--P. E. Hall was superintendent of construction and J. E. Ainsworth chief engineer.

John I. Blair was the president from 1869 to 1872, Prince S. Crowell, of East Dennis, Ma.s.sachusetts, from 1872 to 1876, and James Blair, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, from 1876 to 1883, when he was succeeded by Horace Williams, who remained the president of the company until the control was taken by the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company in 1884.

THE MAPLE RIVER RAILROAD

The major portion of the land grant to the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad--transferred to The Iowa Rail Road Land Company--was situated north of the main line of the Cedar Rapids & Missouri River Railroad. In 1876 a large portion of several counties was vacant and still the property of the land company, so the stockholders interested in the Cedar Rapids & Missouri River Railroad and The Iowa Rail Road Land Company decided to build branch lines north from the main line to the end that purchasers might be found for the land and thus settle up the country, and furnish business for the main line. The Maple River Railroad Company was organized in that year to build these lines. The money for the building of the same was furnished by the stockholders in the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River, and Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska companies, they taking the stock and bonds of the Maple River Railroad Company issued for construction. The road was leased to the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company in advance of construction. Work was begun in the fall of 1876, and in 1877 the line was completed from Maple River Junction to Mapleton, a distance of about sixty miles.

In 1879 a branch was built from Wall Lake Junction to Sac City. This Sac City branch was extended to Holstein in 1882, and in 1883 to Kingsley. The building of the above lines was under control of P. E.

Hall, vice president. J. E. Ainsworth was the chief engineer. In 1884 when the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River, Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska, and Sioux City and Pacific roads were purchased by the Chicago & North-Western, the Maple River Railroad was included in the sale, and from that time on became a part of the Chicago & North-Western Railway, which company has since extended the branch line from Kingsley to Sargeants Bluffs, thus making another through line from the east into Sioux City, and also extended the main line from Mapleton to Onawa.

THE MISSOURI VALLEY AND BLAIR RAILWAY & BRIDGE COMPANY

In 1882 congress granted to the Sioux City & Pacific Railroad Company the right to build a bridge across the Missouri river to connect the Iowa and Nebraska portions of its railway at the point where the line crosses the river between Missouri Valley, Iowa, and Blair, Nebraska.

The Sioux City & Pacific Company not being financially able to undertake the work, a.s.signed its rights under said act to the Missouri Valley and Blair Railway & Bridge Company, which company was organized in 1882 for the purpose of building the bridge and its approaches. The capital stock of the bridge company was subscribed for by the several railroad companies whose roads made up the through line from Fremont to Chicago, viz: the Sioux City and Pacific, Cedar Rapids and Missouri River, Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska, and the Chicago & North-Western companies, each taking stock in proportion to its mileage in the through line between Fremont and Chicago. The money for the construction of the bridge was raised princ.i.p.ally by the sale of bonds, which bonds were guaranteed--both princ.i.p.al and interest--by the several railroad companies who were stockholders in the bridge company.

Work was begun early in the summer of 1882 and the bridge completed and opened for traffic in November, 1883.

When the bridge was opened for business it had cost about $1,300,000, of which $400,000 was for the bridge proper across the channel of the river and the other $900,000 for the approaches and protection work.

Several hundred thousand dollars have since been expended in protecting the river banks so as to hold the channel of the river under the bridge. After its completion the bridge was operated by the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad Company under a contract.

Horace Williams was the president of the bridge company from the date of organization to the time when the control pa.s.sed to the Chicago & North-Western Railway. P. E. Hall was vice president and in general charge of construction. George S. Morrison was the engineer who made the plans and directed the building of the bridge. When the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company took over the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River and the other roads in 1884, it became the owner of the entire capital stock of the bridge company and moved the accounting offices away from Cedar Rapids.

The total grants of lands to these companies by the United States, the state of Nebraska, and several counties in Iowa, amounted in the aggregate to about one million, nine hundred and ninety thousand acres.

As the several railroads were projected it was the policy of the companies to acquire land around the stations and plat and sell town lots. For convenience in distribution of the proceeds to the stockholders, and in handling the real estate, land and town lot companies were organized from time to time to take over and dispose of not only the land grant lands but of the purchased lands and town lots.

THE IOWA RAIL ROAD LAND COMPANY

This company was organized in 1869 and its capital stock distributed pro rata among the stockholders of the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad. The land grant of that railroad company was conveyed to the land company on September 15, 1869. In 1887 the Iowa Rail Road Land Company bought from the Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad Company for cash, all of its remaining unsold lands and the bills receivable, and other a.s.sets resulting from previous sales.

From time to time thereafter, through consolidation and purchase, all of the remaining real estate and bills receivable of these several land and town lot companies and of the Moingona Coal Company, which were under common control, pa.s.sed to the owners.h.i.+p of The Iowa Rail Road Land Company.

The Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad was finished in 1867, and the land grant completely earned then. From that time on the officers of the railroad company and of its successor, the land company, for thirty-five years persistently and continuously worked to have this land grant finally adjusted so that the tracts actually granted might be definitely known and the companies receive evidence of t.i.tle thereto. Their efforts were finally successful in 1902.

John I. Blair was the first president of this company. Horace Williams was president from 1871 to 1872. In 1872 J. Van Deventer, then of Clinton, Iowa, and later of Knoxville, Tennessee, was elected president and remained so until 1889, since which time P. E. Hall has been the president of this company.

Henry V. Ferguson, now vice president of this company, came into the employ of these companies in 1868, and has been continuously in their service since that time. P. E. Hall has been an officer of The Iowa Rail Road Land Company since 1871.

THE TOWN LOT COMPANIES

The Blair Town Lot and Land Company was organized in June, 1871, and took over the unsold town lots and purchased lands along the line of the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad, and also the avails from previous sales. It was consolidated with The Iowa Rail Road Land Company in 1888.

The Sioux City and Iowa Falls Town Lot and Land Company, organized in 1871 to dispose of the town lots and purchased lands along the Iowa Falls and Sioux City railroad between Iowa Falls and Sioux City, was consolidated with The Iowa Rail Road Land Company in 1888.