The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-17
STOLE A RAILROAD LINE
CARRIED AWAY EVERYTHING Elk
CEPT THE RIGHT OF WAY,
WHICH WAS MIMOVABIE8
EARLY WISCONSIN HISTORY
Oontractor Who Had Worked on
the odd Central Couldn't Get
HIS Pay, so He Took
Other Means.
Evening WISCONSIN.

Evening Wisconsin.
DID you ever hear of a man stealing
and carrying away a railroad, or did you
ever know that q railroad In Wisconsin
was once stolen and carried away? asked
Edward Barber, an early-day railroad
man OF Wisconsin, and now the well
known real estate dealer of Milwaukee
Never heard of novel case like that,
en- Well, was very much Of an In
terested spectator OF the stealing OF a
railroad in Wisconsin in the early DAYS
or struggling railroad enterprises, and as
enc of the officials OF the fated road I
was compelled to stand alongside the
right OF way and see our railroad picked
up and hauled away-a genuine case Of
stealing-and 1t was all done before the
company could get out any legal papers
TO stop 1t. because the road was stolen
on a Sunday
Mr.. Barber then proceeded to give the
details. which are Of particular interest
just now In view OF the semi-centennial
OF the Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul
road.
1t. was along IN 1853 that the railway
enterprise known as the wisconsin Cen
trail Railway company mot related, or In
any way connected with the present road
OF the same nane) had It's beginning in
illinois and Wisconsin. Its projectors
were capitalists interested In both states,
and the plan was to construct and oper-
ate line Of railroad from Elgin, Ill, to.
Lake Geneva, and from the latter point
to Whitewater and Jefferson, Wis The
original projectors secured, and paid for,
the right-of-way from Elgin to the Wis
cons1n state line and from the boundary
to Jefferson, and later up as far as Co
lumbus, In this state. The road, con-
structed OF 'strap-iron," placed on
scantling run lengthwise, like the orig
inal tramways In England, was complet-
ed and operated from Elgin to Lake
Geneva. No attempt was made at ex-
tension for some time, but later the en-
terpr1se was taken hold of by New
York capitalists. headed by Euclid Chad
sey and others, and an effort was at
once made to conStruct the road to JEFF
erson and Whitewater, from Geneva
The new promoters issued 81, 00OO0O In
ponds, which were in addition to the
farm and town bonds already Issued and
sold for the benefit of the enterprise A
contract was then made with the Canadi-
an railway construction firm of George
+. Harris & Co. Harris Immediately
came to Wisconsin from Canada. bring
Ing with him large outfit. consisting OF
steam shovels, experienced workmen.
etc.. and started in dead earnest. He Sc
cured w H. Bradford, now well known
NASANOAA
vate secretary.
About the same time the new owners
ordered 200 tons Of English ''T'' rail. to
be delivered in Milwaukee. These rails
were finally unloaded at the dock at Mil
waukee, in bond, and the secretary of
the road, Edward Barber was called
upon by Collector of Customs Gotleib
Weiss to plank down $4,000 in gold as
duty on the foreign iron" Harris went
to work grading the road from Geneva
north and did some heavy cutting
through the Whitewater bluffs and on
through to Jefferson, where he put in
bridge over the Rock river, to connect
the road with the Northwestern line
J Inc English rails were taken TO White
water and laid for distance of about
| two miles, making a spur from the NIL
| Waukee and Mississippi road.
Then runiors OF war depressed business
capitalists became tinid and hard times
set In and the Companies with completed
roads found it very hard to make both
ENDS meet, to say nothing Of the PROS
pect for new enterprises. The bonds Of
the Central would not sell, and it's funds
got low. Harris had a big bill due on
work faithfully performed. The COM
pany met and decided to give him the
bonds to see what he could do with
them lie could do nothing. Of course.
and the company is still in HIS debt. Ha
wanted his money, and his men were
ciamoring for their pay.
one bright Sunday morning some one
reported to the chief engineer of tha
new road. Frederick Starin. that long
train of fiat cars had arrived at White
water .hsnction and that the trainmen
Lad bsoken the switchlocks on the track
connecting the Milwaukee and Mississippi
and the Wisconsin Central's two miles
OF spur. starin got the secretary, Ed
ward Barber, and both fastened to the
scene to learn just what was up They
found their contractor, Harris, in charge
Of the train and he had big crew of
his men with him. He ran his Special
UP to the far end Of the road. two miles
beyond the junction, and there on that
beautiful Sunday morning. when courts
were not in session and injunction could
not be- had, his gang proceeded sys-
tematically to load the Wisconsin Cen
trail railroad on his special train-ties.
rails and all. The men would take up
and place section on the fiat cars and
the train would then retreat far enough
TO give the men a chance to work on
the next section, thus taking up the
track in the wake of the train until all
OF the two miles Of railroad were on
board. Then Contractor Conductor Har-
ris gave the signal and his train with its
load of English rails pulled out on the
main line of the Milwaukee and Missis-
sippi and disappeared around a curve
What did we DOR exclaimed Score
tary Barber. well, what could we dor
Harris had our road aboard his train:
it was Sunday, and besides he had a
big gang OF Ir1shmen with him, and we
decided, under the circumstances, to let
him steal the road. We knew he could
not get his money and we did not blame
him much. As his train passed us with
our railroad on board. he smiled gracI-
ously at US and waved q goodby We
never saw Harris after that The re-
mainder Of our railroad in Illinois grad
ualiy disappeared, also; we never knew
how or where. But the right-of-ways Is
still there, paid for. In later years Ed
win H Abbot and George Esterly, of
Whitewater, the inventor of the Esterly
reaper and header. made an effort to
revive the project, but without success.
and 1t was never built Had It gone
through, It would undoubtedly be the
Central road of Wisconsin today. as the
right-of-way ran directly through the
central part of the state"