Source: https://www.kshs.org/index.php?url=p/kansas-historical-quarterly-the-building-of-the-first-kansas-railroad/13060
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 10:10:26+00:00

Document:
The locomotive making this pioneer southward Kaw river crossing was the "Ottawa."  It belonged to the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston, which, by destroying its bridge behind it  became probably the only Kansas railroad that ever operated the greater part of two years minus a terminus with a direct rail or ferry connection.
But ample credit and cash for railroad building was not forth-coming alone from promised county stock subscriptions to be paid for by a future bond issue. Outside capital was needed. The Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston railroad had received a land grant but title could not be obtained to any of the lands until a portion of the line was in operation.  The bond proposition of Douglas county was termed impracticable for railroad financing by James F. Joy,  president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and Michi-gan Central railroads, and a director of the New York Central,  because the proceeds could not be used until certain work was al-ready completed. He said upon a visit to Lawrence that the amount of Douglas county bonds voted could finance the grading and tieing of the road to the Franklin county line, and then rail and iron could otherwise be obtained.
These efforts finally resulted in definitely enlisting the interest of Chicago and New York capitalists in the projected road early in November, 1866.  Then followed a series of moves that led to the establishment of a deadline for the completion of the road to Ottawa, if county stock subscriptions were to be made through issuance of bonds, and the ensuing construction race.
By September factors in the construction race for the county bonds were taking more definite shape.
Still no means had been procured for crossing railroad equipment over the Kaw and less than four months remained to bridge the river, finish construction of the roadbed and lay the rail to Ottawa by January 1.
"Three car loads of iron have arrived at the Lawrence depot for the Galveston railroad. It will keep coming," was the announcement of the Kansas Daily Tribune of Lawrence, October 1.
There is no shadow of doubt of the speedy completion of the road to Ottawa. The iron horse can be watered in the Marais des Cygnes on New Year's day, and our Franklin county friends can get up a grand celebration and barbecue, if they want to.
The first raid on Southern Kansas by a railroad train was made yesterday. A locomotive was brought down from Leavenworth, and in the afternoon, with five carloads of iron, successfully crossed the Kaw, being the first train that ever made its appearance on Southern Kansas soil. A truck loaded with iron was first detached at the upper part of the grade on the north side of the river, to make the experiment trip to test the bridge, its own weight giving it sufficient impetus to carry it across in beautiful style, checking its speed only when the brakes were applied. The locomotive with its five cars and a large number of persons aboard then backed slowly across, and on reaching the south side awoke the echoes of Southern Kansas with its shrill whistle of triumph. The bridge bore the immense weight without giving in the least. It appears to be very solid and strong, capable of sustaining any weight that may be placed on it. A large crowd gathered on the wagon bridge and river banks to witness the crossing.
After the unloading of the iron was completed, Col. Vliet invited the citizens to a ride across the river and back. Several hundred persons availed them-selves of the privilege, and the cars were speedily filled to their utmost capa-city with gentlemen, ladies and children. The train ran over to the junction and back, the passengers enjoying it hugely, judging from the general hilarity. As soon as the train arrived back at the starting point, Mayor Kimball pro-posed three cheers for the Galveston railroad, which were given with will, fol-lowed by three more for Mr. Sturges, three for Maj. Henning and three for Col. Vliet.
The train took down iron for eighteen hundred and sixty feet of road, and from the moment that the cars were stopped till it was unloaded, laid down, well spiked, and the train run over it, was precisely an hour, and this done with a single set of track-layers-being a third of a mile and one hundred feet. . . .
The bridge is located a short distance below the wagon bridge, and angles across the river to allow the cars to run alongside the high bank, on the south side. Five substantial log cribs, filled with stone, have been con-structed on the south side, on a rock bottom, with the exception of the last, which rests on sand. For the rest of the way piles were driven into the sand to a depth of twelve feet, and standing high enough to give the bridge an altitude of eight feet above low-water mark. Dirt embankments are thrown up at each end to the water's edge. The work is of a very substantial character, and will doubtless serve the purpose until a permanent bridge can be erected. The cost will not exceed twelve or fifteen hundred dollars.
HAROLD J. HENDERSON is research director of the Kansas Historical Society.
1. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, November 2, 1867.
2. Ibid., November 26, 1867.
3. Douglas county, board of commissioners, "Commissioners' Record," v. "B," pp. 133, 134; "Special Election" notice in Kansas Weekly Tribune, Lawrence; January 17, 1867; Kan-sas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, February 8, 1867; "Special Election' notice in Western Home Journal, Ottawa, September 4, 1867, election returns in September 26, 1867, issue.
4. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, December 29, 1867.
5. Ibid., January 1, 1868.
6. Western Home Journal, Ottawa, November 7, 14, 1867.
7. Ibid., January 15, 18, 1868. Four western tributaries to the north and west of the Kaw had been bridged on the north side of the stream but a railroad span had never been erected across the Kansas river except from west to east after the river's bend northward near the state line to empty into the Missouri river.
The Blue river was spanned near Manhattan in the summer of 1866 and the first passenger train crossed on August 20. -- Manhattan Independent, August 25, 1866; Kansas Daily Tribune, August 29, 1866. The Republican river was bridged near its mouth in the fall of the same year and the first passenger train entered Junction City, November 10. -- Junction City Union, October 27, November 17, 1866. The Union Pacific also bridged the Solomon in March, 1867, and the Saline river on April 16, 1867. -- Ibid., March 30, April 20, 1867.
Driving of piles for the Union Pacific's first Kaw river bridge and trestle near the state line was in progress by October, 1863, and regular service across the Kansas river east to the state line was established in December, 1864. -- Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, October 10, 1863, December 31, 1864, see advertisements of train schedules; Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, December 23, 1864.
8. Ibid., November 27, 1864.
9. The Kansas City (Mo.) Daily Journal of Commerce, September 21, 1865; Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, September 23, 30, 1865; R. E. Riegel, "The Missouri Pacific Railroad To 1879," in The Missouri Historical Review, Columbia, v. 18, pp. 11, 18.
10. Wyandotte Commercial Gazette, February 13, 1864. The first load of iron and first locomotive for the Union Pacific, Eastern division, were delivered by the steamboat Majors at the Wyandotte levee in February, 1864. A mention of the Majors is made in Kansas Historical Collections, v. 9, p. 306.
11. State of Kansas, auditor of state, First Biennial Report (Topeka, 1878), table of "Municipal Debt," Johnson and Leavenworth counties, pp. 234-236.
12. "Election Notice" in Leavenworth Daily Bulletin, January 3, 23, 1865, "Election Proclamation," June 27, 1865; Leavenworth Daily Times, June 13, 1865; Leavenworth Daily Conservative, July 1, 1865; Olathe Mirror, September 5, 1867.
13. Leavenworth Daily Bulletin, August 23, 1865.
14. State of Kansas, board of railroad commissioners, First Annual Report (Topeka, 1884), p. 152.
15. Leavenworth Daily Times, June 13, 1865; Leavenworth Daily Bulletin, June 15, 1865; Leavenworth "Daily Conservative, December 13, 1865. The $250,000 in stock of the Union Pacific Railroad Company acquired by Leavenworth county in issuing bonds for the construction of the Leavenworth branch, was voted to the Kansas Central railroad under proposals approved at a special election on August 15, 1871. -- Leavenworth Daily Commercial, July 15, August 18, 1871. Construction of the main line of the Union Pacific up the Kaw valley had been financed with the aid of United States bonds and land grants. This was also true in the building of the first 100 miles of the Central Branch Union Pacific railroad (Missouri Pacific). -- State of Kansas, board of railroad commissioners, First Annual Report, pp. 811; 171.
16. Kansas City (Mo.) Daily Journal of Commerce, November 9, 1865.
17. State of Kansas, board of railroad commissioners, First Annual Report, pp. 143,149, Sixth Annual Report, p. 300: H. V. & H. W. Poor, Poor's Manual of the Railroads of the United States, 1902 (New York, 1902), pp. 751, 752.
18. Olathe Mirror, September 5, October 24, 1867, Johnson county commissioners' proceedings; State of Kansas, auditor of state, First Biennial Report, p. 234; Weekly Journal of Commerce, Kansas City, Mo., December 19, 1868.
19. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, December 31, 1867; Weekly Journal of Commerce, December 19, 1868. Construction trains were operating from Kansas City to Olathe as early as December 8, 1868, but regular service was not inaugurated until December 11, 1868. -- Ibid., December 12, 19, 1868.
20. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, October 15, November 2, 1867.
21. Ibid., March 18, 1869; Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Time Table No.2 , p. 2.
22. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, June 7, 1865.
23. Douglas county, board of commissioners, "Commissioners' Record," v. "B," pp. 40, 41; Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, August 17, September 20, 1865.
24. Western Home Journal, Ottawa, October 11, November 15, 1864.
25. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, September 17, 1865.
26. Ibid., October 10, November 17, 29, 1865.
27. State of Kansas, Session Laws of 1864, ch. 70.
28. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, August 19, 1866.
29. Henry V. Poor, Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1869-70 (New York, 1869), pp. 21, 64, 206. Joy was also chairman of the board of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad. -- Ibid., p. 414.
30. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, August 19, October 80, November 14, 1866.
32. Ibid., November 10, 1866.
33. Ibid., December 1, 22, 1866, January 19, 1867.
34. Kansas Weekly Tribune, Lawrence, January 17, 1867, "Special Election Notice"; Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, February 8, 1867.
35. Ibid., February 22, March 26, April 28, 1867.
36. Ibid., May 25, 1867.
37. Ibid., July 17, 21, 1867.
38. Ibid., July 17, 1867; Western Home Journal, Ottawa, August 15,1867.
39. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, August 14, 1867.
40. Kansas Weekly Tribune, Lawrence, January 17, 1867; Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, February 8, 1867.
41. Western Home Journal, Ottawa, October 11, 1866.
42. Ibid., September 4, 1867.
43. Ibid., September 4, 26, 1867.
44. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, September 7, 11,14, 1867.
45. Ibid., September 15, 1867.
46. The cornerstone of the Quincy bridge was laid on September 25, 1867, and it was completed the following year. --Leavenworth Daily Conservative. October 1, 1867; Murray, Williamson & Phelps, pub., The History of Adams County, Illinois (Chicago, 1879), pp. 490, 491.
47. Work on the first Leavenworth railroad bridge approaches was started July 20, 1869, and on the superstructure in July, 1871. Opening of the bridge was celebrated on April 18, 1872, after an official test earlier that month. -- Leavenworth Daily Commercial, April 18, 1872.
48. See schedule of Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad boat under "Railroad Time Table" in Leavenworth Daily Conservative, August 15, 1867. The Missouri Valley railroad WAS running trains to East Leavenworth. -- Ibid., September 1, 1867.
49. George A. Root, "Ferries in Kansas," in Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 2, p. 285.
50. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, October 10, 1867.
51. Ibid., October 15, 1887.
52. Ibid,. October 17, 20, 23, 24, 30, 1867.
53. Ibid., November 2, 1867; Western Home Journal, Ottawa, November 7, 1867.
54. Lawrence State Journal, reprinted in Western Home Journal, Ottawa, November 14, 1867.
55. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, November 14, 22, 1867.
56. Ibid., November 20, 22, 26, 1867.
57. Ibid., November 26, December 22, 1867.
58. Ibid., November 27, 1867.
59. Ibid., December 8, 1867.
60. Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Time Table No. 3 , p. 2; Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, November 2, December 8, 1867.
61. Western Home Journal, Ottawa, December 12, 1867; Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, December 8, 1867.
62. Ibid., December 17, 18, 21, 1867.
63. Ibid., December 21, 1867; March 18, 1869.
64. Ibid., December 22, 24, 25, 1867.
65. Leavenworth Daily Conservative, December 28, 1867; Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, November 26, December 29, 1867.
66. Ibid., January 1, 1868.
68. Ibid., January 1, 8, 4, 1868.
69. Ibid., January 15, 17, 1868.
70. Ibid., August 8, 1869.
71. Ibid., February 12, 18, 1869.
72. Ibid., May 12-14, 1869; Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1869-70, p. 407.
73. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, June 11, 26, July 22, 1869.
74. Ibid., July 3, 18, 1869; Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1869-70, p. 407.
75. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, August 25, 1869.
76. Ibid., September 9, October 2, 1869.
77. Ibid,. October 26, November 2, 1869.
78. Ibid., November 26, 1869, January 1, 22, 1870.
79. Ibid., February 25, 1870; Report of the Directors of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Company (Chicago, 1871), pp. 19, 20.
80. Kansas Weekly Tribune. Lawrence, April 27, May 18, 1871.
81. Report of the Directors of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Company (1871), p. 21.
82. Kansas Daily Tribune, Lawrence, May 7, 1871.
83. Ibid., September 28, 1871; January 9, 31; March 15, 17, 1872.
84. Session Laws, 1864, ch. 70; Kansas Daily Tribune, March 5, 11, 1873.

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