The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-01-19

on which the Wabash road is now built-tor
in the internal improvement bill the points
named for this road were Quincy, NJ Slcr'lhE'
Mcredosa jacksonville, Springfield, Decatur
Danvl!c, and thence to the state line
The contract for building that part OF lhc
road from Mercdosia to Springheld was ie' 10
Thomas r. january, James Dunlap -h'Io4
Leslie and Charles Collins, II was sUIEVytu
by James Bucklin, assisted by George W. lI'ii,
and John Van Horn. The proille "' ne "oIN
WAS drawn by P"lc named Edward Nehogc'
lowski. noble by birth, who left Poland Oh
account Of some O.. The rc6cllons or i'4'''"
tons there. lie wasa man Of fine att"IhlhcHH
and hich character After his survey anu TO-
cation. the division Of the road beginning al
the Illinois river at hi, place and eNlchaih9
TO Van Gundy's the trst station east oi lere-
about n mile east Of where Bluif OIty now
stands-was subcontracted to }. {. and ;. T.
Thompson. j. < j. +. Waldo, and Henry
Duncan.
When everything was ready to begin "orN,
it naturally anpcarrd that so important al
enterprise should be !naugurateu WIN some
formal ceremony. Tive day for beginning ar
rived late in the autumn OF 1891, ana lhc SUP
contractors took their men accompanied oy II
large number of citizens, to the point whence
the road was to start on the bank on the river
There Mr.. J. +. Waldo, now living III New
Orleans, and DR.. Owen NJ. Long, now consul
Panama, were chosen speakers Tor inc oc'
casion The toast.maStcr Of the day was sam
ueI Manage, noted character Of that period,
The day was given up experimenting, Joli!-
tication and hilariy, and it would be very
interesting at this distance if one could report
some of the wonderful Orations delivered one
Of the toasts is distinctly recalled thus: our
friend, I. T. January-a man with colu name
but a warm heart Mr. January is still nv
ing, and is wholesale trader in IT. Louis Mr.,
ID, Waldo now the postmaster here, beng the
oldest man rs well AS the Oldest citizen OF the
place, was designated to dig the trs, spadeiuI
of dirt. The labor he performed WAS all the
work done on the road that day.
The work of grading went on all winter,
and was finished in April The track was laid
by putting down il piece OF square timber
called mudsill, on the top OF which cross
ties were laid. On these II wooden ran was
laid, and flat bars were spiked on top OF the
rail. The bars were two and one-half inches
wide and one inch thick. 1t is not now dis
tinctly remembered whether this iron was of
foreign or domestic manufacture, but it was
brought by way of New Orleans to II. Louis,
and there delivered from the steamer NandaIla
to the steamer Quincy, then run by j. IL ana
f. Lusll between St Louis and this place.
The first locomotive that ever turlcd a wheel
in the Mississippi valley was brought here in
pieces and set up to operate this earliest lii
nois railroad Il was made by Rogers, GroSve-
nor Il ketchum Oi Newark, n. j., and was
landed here from the steamer Quincy in the
autumn of 1898, soon after the iron hau been
laid on the road. 1t was a curious little con-
trivance and, as compared with the more mod
crn construction OF locomotives, was aconsum-
mate piece Of clumsincss, The driving
were about two and one half feet in diameter,
and, in every other respect, it comparcd equally
well with the locomotives of today.
A man by the name of Fields came out
with the engine to set it up, and, on the day ne
got it on its feet the jollticalion ran so high
that he got off his feet and had to be carried to
the hotel for repairs. On the way he protested
that they were heaping undeServed honor up
on him, and begged 10 he treated as man of
no distinction or cmincnce. lie was the first
engineer on the road, and ran the little engine
which was called the ROgcrs-tor about
month. Afterwards 4 man by the name of
Higgins run it; but he melted out some of the
tiucs and at last rot discharged for dissipation.
Finally two young men BY the name of Greg
Ory were put in charge of il, and after while
they succeeded in running the engine Oft the
track between New Berlin and Springfield.
Thcy seem to have been unable to replace it
ON the track, for it lay ont on the prairie for "A
wear and a half, and was then sold to General
Sample, who practically bankruptcd himself
in various futile efforts to reconstruct it into
some sort Of rO2d-engiup for hauling freight
across the country rom Alton to Springfield,
in competition with the railroad. There was
another engine put on the road, but it never
set the river on fire. A citizen now living at
jacksonville tells how he started from Spring
field one day with his horses and wagon just
as the thing they called "the train started,
and he determined to run a race with it to
jacksonville. He kept ahead readily, and
when, about Il mile from his destination, it
seemed to be gaining on him, he whipped up
little and won the race. This story, otcourSc,
is to be taken ''Ht gsiS0 s''iS Tor the favor of
the joke.
At last mules were substituted for the en-.
ginc, and were used till the road passed out of
the hands of the state Tor the consideration Of
100000 in state Indebtedness, it, original cost
to the state havirr been 81 100000 Thus the
state learned at q cost of T9OOOO0, that it lack
ed somewhcr" IN the matter of capacity for
the successful conduct of railroad enterprise.
The charter of the Iuau was amended in 1858
and 1t then took the name of the Great West
era. 1t went into new hands. I rails were
introduced and everything relating Ia the first
railroad in Illinois was swept away by the tide
of modern railroad Improvements.
The vintage ot 1911 has now acquired a pc
culiar celebrity and the good wine produced
a., al ILL.,