Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1921-10-15
ROCK ISLAND PLANS
REPLICA Of FIRST
TRAIN OVER LINES
"OLD TIMER" WILL TRAVE
ROUTE OF CHICAGO-LA SALE
DIVISION ON ROADS SEVEN
TlETH BIRTHDAY - OTTAWA
ASKED TO CELEBRATE ANNi.
VERSARY.

Resident of Ottawa who are in the
city on Oct %, 1922 may see a Rock
Island train that is an exact duplicate
of the first locomotive ever to steam
into Ottawa. Unless the plans of the
railroad men go astray al the living
passengers who rode on the first train
will be invited onto this car.
The proposed plan is to rebuild ar
exact duplicate of this train, it to be
a feature Of the seventeen anniyef-
sary CT the operation of the Rock
Island railroad. The first passenger
train over the line was run betweeI.
| Twenty-second street, Chicago, and
Joliet Oct 10, 1852 The road was
completed on to ottawa and the first
passenger train reached this city over
the new line Feb. IA, 1853.
The day was one of excitement,
which was never forgotten in the lives
of Ottawa citizens The whole town,
including the Ottawa military com
pany, turned out at the station to
watch the wonderful fire horse with
its stream Of shiny cars go through,
The company suffered the engine to
reach the depot first, hut they arrived
a few seconds later, and made up fof
their lost time with the round of sa-
lutes they fired
Business in the local hotels and IN
the city generally picked up imme-
diately after that date The first
train to go through Ottawa ran to
Peru on March 81, 1853. In that town
a al lnhp g,ts
was a big street parade, and all the
railroad officials were guests of honor
at municipal dinner.
The Rock Island people experienced
all kinds of difficulty in getting
through Ottawa The canal commits,
sioners, believing tha railroad would
put them out of business, sought an
injunction, claiming that the state
could not authorize the building Of L
road on lands given for canal pul-
poses.
The people of La Sale became
angry when they heard that the road
intended building below the bluff The
council passed a resolution calling fO >
every able bodied man to forcibly re-
sist the laying OF rails except
through the city proper Prepara-
tons were made for war, but the
railroad company changed their plans
and built their road through the city
Incidentally, it is suggested that the
celebration of the Rock Island $
birthday" be combined with a cele-
hration of the fiftieth anniversary OF
the opening of the present Mississippi
iiK hriI of l-1l
structure having been completed in
October, 1872 The original brldge.
which gave way to the steel structure
of 1872, was the first bridge across
the Mississippi river. and was opened
in April, 1856 Abraham Lincoln fig
ured actively in the history Of this
first bridge having represented the
Rock Island in a legal capacity in tho
conflict between the river and railroad
interests of those early days,
Thus the Rock Island Is locked
upon as having taken the lead in the
development of the middle West, the
lines now extending into fourteen
states of the Mississippi and Missouri
valley regions. Few railroads of the
United States have as interesting a
history as the Rock Island, and it is
hoped in the proposed celebration to
revive many of the historical Incl
dents OF early railroad days
The Rock Island and La Sale Rail
road company was incorporated Feb.
q. 1S47. only a few years after the
appearance of the first locomotive III
the United States and when the total
railroad mileage in this country was
less than 5000 miles Those were the
days of the wood burning engines.
The original Rock Island charter
granted by special act Cf the Illinois
state Legislature, provided for the con
struction of a railroad from RccN
Island. ILL.,. to the Illinois and Michi.
gan canal near La Sale, Ill. On Feb.
II, 1851, the name was changed to the