Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-02-12

Inc bIOOhuSIu NhO.) Argus prints
the following "reminiscences of the
Burlington road and the men who have
risen to fame in its employ:
The passing OF the Chicago, Burling-
ton & Quincy, the greatest railway
system in the middle west, in many
respects, from the Forbes interests
into the Hill interests, has within the
past decade brought an evolution in
men and measures. so to speak.
Daniel Willard. now the president Of
the Baltimore & Ohio railway system,
had hardly gotten away from the Bur
lington, of which he had been second
vice president for so long a time, and
a pronounced success as its operating
head. before there was a report to the
effect that the system IS to lose an
other of its officials. George B. Harris.
president of the Burlington, is soon
10 retire, and it seems 10 be the uni
versal belief among railroad men. that
First Vice President Darius Miller is
to be MS successor, in compliance with
the desires of James J. Hill. the domi-
mating spirit
Like The Last of the Nohfcans."
Harris is the last Of the old Forbes
crowd that built the c.. B. q Q.-the
foundation for The combination of
railways now known as the Burlington
route. One by one the old Boston
crowd have died or retired since J. J.
Hill. the railroad wizard Of the west
secured control OF the stock and even
tuallE the management Of the road
itself. With the retirement Of Harris
it viii be strictly a Hil system H.u
management Hin methods, Hin Off
Gals
Remember beginning.
It is not 50 many years ago and
there are many in Hannibal Quincy
and BrooEGeId Who remember when
and how the c., p. & Q. had it's be
ginning. It was the Forbes people of
Boston who conceived the idea Of
building a road from Chicago westward
through what was then comparatively
new country. It took time to build
the road and the extension westward
was slow. But once across the
Mississippi river on its own bridge at
Burlington, Iowa, it was not long
before the old p. &, NJ. road was alb
sorbed; then the Northern Cross. now
the Quincy branch. and the Peoria
and OqUawka road, now the Cales1urg- .
Peoria branch. In fact. very nearly.
if not all of the branch lines now part
of the Burlington system were built as
Independent lines and gradually alb
sOrbed by the Old c.. 3. & Q. Among /.
the roads absorbed by the system in .
later years are the Hannibal & ST
Joseph, and the O.. o. & X. So. be- /
sides several smaller lines in Missouri
also the Jacksonville & Eastern, in .
Illinois, which is the most recent ac-
QUESTION. The Illinois line from 81.
Louis to Galesburg, north to Rock
Island and up to St. Paul was obtain
en- in the same way. The original
Forbes road was about as big and i'm
pOrtant as the branch lines it later alb
5Orbed, but the hackers had the cash
and the hight kind of men in their
employ to push it along, and so it got
an i08nnendent line to GaIesburg.
then the line to Burlington and il was
only short time until it was recog-
niZed as one of +H- '09ding roads OF
the west. The road grew, absorbing
more lines until it was converted into
one big system. Then il caught Hills
eye, and in time, the Hill interests OBJ
tanned enough stock to get control.
The Forbes people gradually lost out
until now, the last one is soon to step
down.
Helped Good Men.
Tho Eyo-boc hrC-bor- Wv, ro~+.-, &