Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-01-16
CASH WAS SCARCE
JOHN S. WOLFE TELLS OF THE
BUILDING OF NORTHWEST
ERN INTO CEDAR RAPIDS
First Railroad to Enter That City -
Pioneer Contractor Was for Many
Years Resident of ottunawa Has
Built Railroads in Many States.

Years Resident of ottun1wa Has
Built Railroads in Many States.
John s Wolfe, the pioneer railroad
contractor of Iowa and for many years
highly esteemed resident OF Ottum
wa, in letter to the editor of the Ce-
dar Rapids Gazette, gives an interest
ing account of the difficulties attend
ing the building of the Northwestern,
the first railroad into Cedar Rapids.
Mr.. Wolfe is now sc years of age and
since the death of his wife last March
has resided with his daughter in Colo
RADIO Springs, Colo. Mr.. and Mrs.
Wolfe celebrated their siXty-second
wedding anniversary in 1904 Mr..
Wolfe for over fifty years was engaged
: in railroad building and has built
roads in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missis-
sippi, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Min
nesota, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and
Kentucky Following is his account
of work on the Northwestern:
ITO the Editor of The Gazette: l
read in the Gezette that Cedar Rapids
was to have a semi-centennial cele-
bration and read with much pleasure
neers, the men who laid the foundation
of the progress the city now enjoys,
and as l note the many railroads
running in and out of your city my
memory goes back to the great difficult
ties that attended the building of the
first railroad into Cedar Rapids.
II was the constructing contractor of
the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska (now
the Chicago and Northwestern) from
Clinton to Cedar Rapids. l came to
Cedar Rapids November "a, 1856. l
had shipped twenty teams of horses,
wagons and tools, with large number
Of men, overland from Ohio, where
had built twenty-five miles of road
from StrAtenville to Newark, which is
part of the Panhandle route. l had
also built forty miles of the Hudson
and Ohio.
81 reached Cedar Rapids before the
men and teams and had the shanties
for the men and stables for the stock
ready when they arrived.
Began Grading Contract.
"The first ground we broke on my
contract was on December 5, 1856, east
of Cedar Rapids Twenty-Five of the
business men turned out to see the
first shovelful of earth moved; a
speech was made by Judge Green and
all felt it was big day for Cedar
Rapids.
THE next thing Of Importance was to
get feed for nay stock WintepG coming
on and corn and hay were Scarce. /
drove around the country buying up
all I could find and whsa here was no
J hek,gst was vet
Slid haV got so scarce that
haul straw from Upton to
!, the stock, and after putting in
$1,000 in cash we had the work well
started and I went back to Ohio to
bring my family and twenty more head
of horses, one of which was the cele-
brated Tom Hire a thoroughbred.
rive came by rail to Iowa City and
staged 1t from there to Cedar Rapids
1t was in March and the frost was then
coming out Of the ground and it took
two days to come from Iowa City to
Cedar Rapids. We reached Scion the
nrstSday toward evening. There were
several big sloughs to drive through.
1t took four horses and several men,
each with stout fence rail, and after
much pushing and pulling finally got
the stage through to Scion. At noon
the second day we got to Prairie
creek 1t was raging, but stage from
Cedar Rapids was on the opposite side
and took my family over in a row
boat 10 the stage, arriving in Cedar
Rapids March, 1857 My family con-
sisted of my wife and eight children,
two servants and two pet dogs of the
children We settled in Greene's no
tel until could find suitable house.
Greene's hotel stood where Rudolph's
and Hoomans stores now stand.
when got back found everything
In good shape, but cash was getting
scarce. My contract with the COM
pany was for cash every thirty days,
June came, no cash. July came but
no cash, August and September, no
cash, but the men had to be paid and
stock fed. / had ten thousand dollars
in cash which l brought from Ohio, so
/ put that all in. That was gone and
as men and stock couldn't live on
promises the time had come when
something must be done.
81 called a meeting of the directors,
Judge Greene, Sampson G. Bever, N.
B. Brown, John Weare, Dr. Ely and
others, whose names now slip by mem
DRY. After a great deal of talk about
hard times and no cash, for the panic
OF on was on anu no money could be
raised, Judge Greene finally said the
work must stop; that the directors had
done all they could. AS the case was
desperate one with me said:
Now gentlemen, this kind of talk
will do inside of the walls but won't
do outside I have put every dollar
Of my money in the work. Besides
The work of twenty-five teams; l have
o00 mon IN tho limo and cto,,
The work. Something must be DONE
I went to Clinton to Supt. Milo
Smith and the chief engineer and
made arrangements to get the list of
subscribers who had agreed to pay
when the road was oradad to Cadar