St. Paul and Pacific No. 1 "William Crooks"

The St. Paul and Pacific was the first railroad in Minnesota, and the William Crooks was the first steam locomotive to run in the state. Eventually, the St. Paul and Pacific became the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba in 1879, and in 1890 part of the Great Northern Railway. The locomotive was constructed in 1861 by Smith and Jackson of the New Jersey Locomotive and Machine Company of Paterson, NJ. The locomotive was named for William Crooks, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the St. Paul and Pacific, and Colonel of the Sixth Regiment, MN Volunteers, in the Civil War. The William Crooks arrived in St. Paul by steamboat on September 9, 1861. On June 28, 1862, the locomotive hauled the historic first trainload of passengers in Minnesota a distance of 10 miles between St. Paul and St. Anthony (now Minneapolis). Regular service between St. Paul and St. Anthony began on July 2, 1862.

One of the few remaining locomotives of the Civil War period, the Crooks was retired from active service around the turn of the century. In its heyday, the locomotive handled “Empire Builder,” James J. Hill’s private trains, as well as regular passenger trains of the period. It also played an active role in War Bond Drives during World War II.

Most of the early steam locomotives had cowcatchers on the front of them. This is because there were open ranges at the time, and cows and other animals wandered all over. If an animal got on the tracks and refused to move after bells were rung and whistles blown, the locomotive would use the cowcatcher to push the animal off the tracks. It might get hurt or even killed, but the cowcatcher prevented the animal from getting underneath the wheels of the train and derailing it. The headlight is a kerosene lantern, and the dome marked #1 is a sand dome. If the rails were slippery, the engineer pulled a lever and sand went down the tube and was dropped off in front of the drive wheel, providing better traction for the locomotive. A screen covers the top of the smokestack to curtail the sparks created from burning wood. These sparks might otherwise start fires along the tracks. The boiler is the long green part and was filled with water. A hot fire was built in the firebox of the locomotive cab. It heated all of the water in the boiler and turned it into steam. The steam went into the pistons and made the side rods go back and forth, which made the wheels go around. This is basically how a steam engine works. All of the extra water and fuel (in this case, wood) were kept in the tender until needed.

On a steam engine, generally, though not always, the size of the drive wheel compared to the rest of the engine usually told what kind of work it did. Large wheels like on the Crooks meant the engine could travel very quickly but could not pull a heavy load, so this engine was used for passenger service. An engine with small drive wheels meant it had to travel very slowly, but it could pull a very heavy load. These engines were used as freight engines.

The engine weighs 28 tons (51 tons with tender), and is 50 feet, 8 ¼ inches in length. The Crooks was built as a wood burner. In recent times, it traveled under its own steam to the Chicago and New York Worlds Fairs. Its last trip under steam was to the railroad fair in Chicago during 1948. The William Crooks owes its longevity to the insistence of James J. Hill, who was President of the St. Paul and Pacific during its heyday. The Crooks had become his favorite locomotive. Whenever the “Empire Builder,” as Mr. Hill became known, was to travel, the Crooks was chosen to pull his train. When the time had come for the railroads to upgrade their trains, and it became known that the William Crooks was to be scrapped, along with cohorts of its vintage, it was Mr. Hill who intervened. Thus, today we can still view one of the contributors to our nation’s history. The locomotive was donated to the Minnesota Historical Society by the Great Northern Railway, and has been on custodial loan to the Museum since May of 1975.