The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-03-08
STEALING a BAIL ROAD.
How an Unpaid Contractor''Lev -
ied'' on the Original Wis
conoin Central.


Did you ever hear Of man stealing
and carrying away railroad, or did you
ever know that a railroad in Wisconsin
was once stolen and carried away 81
asked Edward Barber, an early-day rail-
road man Of Wisconsin,, and now the,
we'll known real estate. dealer Of Milwau-
kee. =@.z ..ss. y i & IN =<zS ~ :
'sNever heard ,of a novel case like that,
Ell? Well, was very much Of an in
terested spectator of the stealing OF
railroad in Wisconsin in the early days
Of struggling railroad enterprises, and as
one 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 it was all done before the
company could get out any legal papers
a Sunday" n.
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. =" -.-.'
The Original Wisconsin Central.
1t was along in 1859 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 name) had its beginning in
were capitalists interested in both states,
and the plan was to construct and Oper-
ate a 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
consin 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 scant-
ling run leugthwise, like the original
tramways in England. was completed
and operated from Elgin to Lake Gene
for some time. but later the enterprise
was taken hold Of by New York capital
lists, headed by Euclid Chadsey and 9th
ers, and an effort was at once made to
construct the road to Jefferson and
SE9%esrs aeSn GS6STs The bo ndw
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 Canadian rail-
way construction firm of George f. Har-
ris & Co. Harris immediately came to
Wisconsin from Canada, bringing with
shovels, experienced workmen, etc., and
started in dead earnest. He secured w.
H. Bradford, now a well-known retired
citizen of Milwaukee, as his private Sec
rotary.
Paid $4,000 Duty:on Rails.
About the same time the new owners
ordered 1900 tons Of English '1e' rail,
to be delivered in Milwaukee,. These
rails were finally unloaded at the dock at
setsry Of the G soa i Edwa 5ae BsS
Der, 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 North Western
line. The English rails were taken to
Whitewater and laid for distance of
about two miles, making spur from
the Milwaukee & Mississippi road.
Then rumors of war depressed busi-
times set in and the companies with CON-
pleted roads found it very hard to- make
both ends meet, to say nothing of the
prospect for new enterprises. The bonds
ROT the Central would not sell, and its
funds got low. Harris had big bill
due on work faithfully performed The
company met and decided to give him
|
them. He could do nothing, of course,
and the company is still in his debt
He wanted his money, and his men were
clamoring for their pay.
| Began to Pull Up the Track.
One bright Sunday morning someone
reported to the chief engineer of the new
road, Frederick Starin, that long train
Of fatcars had arrived at Whitewater
Junction and that the trainmen had brok-
en- the switchlocks on the track connect
ing the Milwaukee & Mississippi and the
Wisconsin Centrals two miles of spur.
Starin got the secretary, Edward Barber
and both fastened to the scene to learn
just what sWas sup. They found their
contractor, Harris, in charge of the train
and he had a Big crew of his men with
him. He ran his Especial up to the far
end of the road, two miles beyond the
junction, and there, on that beautiful
in session and injunctions could not be
| had, his gang proceeded Systematically
| to load the Wisconsin Central railroad
| on his special train-tles, rails and all.
The men would take up and place a Sec
ton of the railroad on the fiat cars and
the train would then retreat far enough
to give the men 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 Harris gave
the signal and his train with it's load
Of English rails pulled out on the main
line of the Milwaukee & Mississippi and
disappeared around a curve.
Never Saw Harris Afterward.
what did we DOR exclaimed Secre.
tary Barber. well, what could we
do? Harris had our road aboard his
train; it was Sunday, and besides he had
big gang Of Irishmen 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
graciously at us and waved goodby.
We never saw Harris after that Tie
remainder of our railroad in Illinois
gradually disappeared, also. we never
knew how or where. But the right-of-
way is still there, paid for. In later
years Edwin H. Abbot and George Es-
terly of Whitewater. the inventor Of the
Ester]y reaper and header, made an eff
fort to revive the project, bnt without
success. and it 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
tho confPa1 narf NJ tho afn 70 Ss-Evn,,snD