Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-07-17
ROCK ISLAND NOW HAS
1000 MILES OF LINE

Says the Railway Age: The ''Rock
Island System is hereafter to re-
place the Greater Rock Island
Route" as the official trade mark for
the aggregation of corporations
which the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific Railway company now domfn-
ates and includes. The announce
ment is another illustration of the
progress of railway evolution in
these days, under which railroad
consisting a generation ago of $50
miles of i'll laid track, lying i'll a sim
gle state. has grown into n system
of 1000 miles, multiplied into lines
innumerable, radiating into more
than dozen states and territories.
1t was first the Chicago q Rock
Island Railroad company, chartered
in 1851. whose single track 1S5 miles
long reached the Mississippi in July,
1854, As years ago, and connected a
little city on Lake Michigan with a
little village on the great river. The
Mississippi, broad and unbridged
then in all its course, at first bound
ed the ambitions of the projectors of
tnis pioneer line. But in 1856. the
then wonderful work of bridging the
Father of Waters being accomplished
and the westward extension having
been commenced under the name of
the Mississippi d Missouri Railroad
company, the two roads were consol-
idated under the title of the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific railroad, and in
1869 the Missouri river was reached
at Council Bluffs. Then there was
"One more river to cross" After an
interval of years the Chicago, Kansas
& Nebraska Railway company took
up the work of extension beyond the
Missouri into Kansas and beyond,
and was absorbed into the parent
company in 1891, the combined roads
having developed by this time into
the Great Rock Island Route" Still
later the Chicago. Rock Island &5
Texas gave title to a long extension
to southwestern points, and the Chi
cago. Rock Island & Mexico and sub
ordinate companies have but recent
ly carried the line on to the Mexican
border, straight distance of 1,465
miles from Chicago. Meantime the
growth has been going on west, north
and south, by construction and pur-
chase, until the old tap root from
Chicago to Rock Island has spread
out into many lines, reaching from
Illinois into Iowa, Missouri, Kansas,
Nebraska, Oklahoma, Indian Terri
tory, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado,
Minnesota, South Dakota, Arkansas.
and Tennessee. The city of
Rock Island, which formed the ter
minus of the original line, is now a
station through which pours the
traffic of 1000 miles of road, but is
still honored and advertised to the
Island SYSTEM" to whose growth no
bounds now seem to be set. The lit
tie Rock Island road of $50 miles in
1854, which had increased to 1900
miles at the beginning of the present
year, has within a few weeks added
nearly 2,70O miles more, and the ag
gregation now foots up as follows:
Miles
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific,
east of the Missouri river ....1, ZOO |
West of the Missouri river ....2,597 |
Recent additions
Oklahoma & Gulf .....1 ,2S7 |
Cedar Rapids &
Northern ,2S7
Rock Island & Peoria ..... 119
St. Louis, Kansas City & Colo
RADIO .......... .....-....... 1o9
Total Rock Island System -. -6,979 |
1t was the Great Rock Island |
Route" when the mileage was small |
to that of neighboring sys-
tens; now that it has leaped to a
place among the greatest, with great
plans of extension and absorption
vet to be fulfilled, it has dropped /
adjectives and risen to the dignity of
the simplest possible designation
''Rock Island System" Orders have
been issued that the new title shall |
succeed to the old on all cars, signs, |
stationery, maps, folders, tickets, |
and other forms of official reading |
matter, and the dozen or more cor
porate titles that must maintain a |
legal existence will disappear from |
the public eye, replaced for all prac-
teal purposes by the two words, Rock |
Island. which told the destination of |
the road as it commenced its growth |
4s years ago.