The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-04-16
THE MINNESOTA EMIeRAHrs.
CAMPBELL, MINI, April Q, 1881.

oro,r friends in Ottawa and vicinity pro
pose 20 give briei account OF our trip 20 'h's
nlaoe thrSu ch your valuable paper.
Before leaving Ottawa We had' AS We sup
posed, made arrangements with The =, D. "
O. and the c., NJ. & st. p. RAILROADS to run Us
from Ottawa to Campbell, Mum, by specIai
rain, and wlthou, delay, or, as was promised
AT a spsed of II miles per hour, upon Clear
tracy The train to consist OF - lrelghl cars
and two passenger coaches. Or, /! lOund me-
eessary, the traIa should be run III TWO sec
tons, I'VE TO ten minutes apart passenger
= coach to each section.
One of the prime features Of the agreement
was that the train should not leave o''a"a ul'
Ill there was an absolute certainty mat tue en-
tire route WAS tree Of distractions oh We"
ncsday. tho Goth ult., Mr.. Marvin, the agent OF
the G., Is. d q road at Ottawa, assured US tha'
the route we lad elected TO 50 on WAS all clear
and that we could with safety load Thursday
M and move out that J.. ~ We were To lie
taken by the c., B. d q road via Aurora 70
Davis Junction ana from there by the g., Nj,
& ST y. road to ST. Paul and from there over
the 81. L. NJ. & NJ. road 70 Campbell lhe
utmost length of time named for making the
tip by Mr.. Ripley, OF the e., Is x z and Mr..
Capron, Of the c., q ~. T., WAS A. 10 90 hours.
Everything being now ready, loading was
pushed with all possible speed, and by the
time epeCited all were ready. On thursday
morning, however, we had rome misglvlnss
about the quarrel gotten up 10y the T., NJ "
st. i. road With the g. ~ !. road AZ DAVIS
Junction, with which the Chicago morning
papers we're filled, but Mr.. Marvin assured US
tha, he had lust received word from Mr.. Alex
aader, division superintendent of his road at
Aurora, that everything was clear and tor the
train TO pull out ct II 20 =. Nj An engine Was
there and promptly on time, Ne babe auleu 10
Ottawa and friends and under Il good head OF
steam glded swiftly up the Fox river valley
all feeling cheerful and III high spr.ts. We
reached Aurora ut 1880 T.. NJ. Alter hail AL
hours delay there We were informed that the
Davis Junction route would have To he aban
,loned on account of the steal the Milwaukee,
road was attempting OF the {. IL. W. road !;
that the track at The Junction WAS torn up hnu
mob was preventing ali passage oi trains
that way; that our only alternative was To 80
by way of Rock Island Knowing lhe hazard
OF this route on account of the deep SHOWS
west of Mendoza We vainly protested against go
ing thai way and requested to Ike sent by way
of Chicago This request WAS absolutely re.
fused aud the Rock Island route given Us ~
our only alternative. On asking Mr.. AleAan.
der why he had allowed the tram to leave OF
tawa when he knew the road was obstructcd
"A, Davis Junction, be had the impudenCe "
tell US that he was nU aware Ol II until alter
the tram had moved out. We knew he was
living when he told us SO, Dut being IN his
clutches with all our stock, We were helpless
and had to submit.
About 8 30 we we're again put IN motion.
We got along very we'll over the main line to
Mendoza Here we were switched Oft on to
=, lad ha m n branch A
most miserable road-over which never more
than two trains per day are run and which has
been abandoned for u large part OF the winter
on account OF being showed under and not
worth digging out Two old riCkety engines
were hitched to the train and again We were
nut 10 motion. We were going al the rate OF
about miles An hOur-tbe dangerous Condl.
ton Of the track not admitting higher rate
OF speed After several hours of hard scratch
inx we reached La Noble some time in the
night; about nine miles west OF Mendoza, and
little further Yves, Of there we ran into Elk
feet snow drift and got stalled The conduc-
TOR swore the DRIFT was 10 feet deep and said 1t
would be impossible to proceed; that one oi
the engines WAS disabled and The other was
liltle better off So he showed us back to La
Noble, where we were held until Friday noon
walIng tor q snow pillow to come from Mendo
IA and an extra engine 10 get us on, OF the
drift About II O'Clock the snow ploW and
engine arrived, and after taking on good
supply Of coal and water skipped out over the
road as easily rs IT 1t had been creased. ToI
our great delight We were again put IN mo
ton at Il to q mile gait-thls speed was con
sldered safe. We reached Rock Island by
dark, where we unoaded our jaded stock after
over 40 hours in the cars. We found good
stabling here at moderate charges and our
stock WAS we'll cared tor during the night
None OF the horses, | believe, had sustained
any serious injury. The snow from Mendoza
ives, is wonderful. The DRIFTS are everywhere
as high ~ the fences and the ditch plowed out
along the railroad is from B TO 10 feet deep
most of the way from Mendoza to Prophetstown.
For weeks this line had been abandoned and
but iew trains had been risked over 1t before
ours. There was light snow fail during
Thursday night, all of which along this line
was dr!fted into the cuts And rs the wind
WAS high and the cold threatening we did
not blame the conductor for his pTecaution IN
not proceeding beyond La Noble with the
miserable motive power the company had fur
nishcd hun.
From Rock Island To Savannah | know OF
no better way OF describing the trip than byi
saying that II was repetition of the day be-
tore, with the exception of not being snow
uound, the valley OF the Misslssippi being al
most free of snow. The road Is II miserable
one-rough and dangerous and should be in
dic,ed rs q nuisance. think the G., Is. Il q
control it M they still had charge of our tram.
would advise anybody and everybody who
has no suicidal inclinalOns to go afoo, rather
than risk his life on q train over this road.
At Savannah we were TO be turned over 10
the g.. VI. & ~. Paul road Then everything
was to be lovely. No more delays. A splen.
did track-all steel, (stcal)--20 miles an hour
If we wanted it, and no grumbling. But alas
promises are easily made and lies are easily
told The road from Savannah tO La Crosse
Is even worse than from Rock lslasd To Saw
annsh II Ia the worst kind Of a mud road
bed. Several broken rails were encountered
over which nothing bu, the hand of kind
providence could carry a tram without ditch.
NC II Part Of the WAY We Anre converted