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Missouri, Kansas and Texas and the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroads. Man is so constituted that in order to make any appreciable progress in prosperity and intelligence he must live in a state of civil society. One's wants are so diverse and innumerable, and the physical conditions of the country in which he lives so varied, that he can not possibly supply his needs, either by his individual exertions or from the products of any one district of country. Hence, trade and commerce become necessities. 'One, with given talents and aptitudes, in certain territorial conditions, produces to the best advantage a particular class of commodities in excess of what he needs, whilst he is able to produce only at great disadvantage, or not at all, other commodities quite as needful to him as the first; another produces these needed commodities in excess of what he personally requires, but none of those which the industry of his neighbor yields. Thus springs up trade between the two, an to the advantage of both. As with individuals, so with communities and peoples. Nations can not live and prosper independent of each other any more than families can live independent of their neighbors and prosper. So that, as prosperity constitutes the foundation of human progress and civilization, and mince this can not be attained except by means of trade and commerce, these become the indispensable conditions to advancement in material affairs and in intelligence. But neither trade nor commerce can flourish without practicable, efficient means of transportation. Products must be carried to the place of demand at a cost that will leave the producer just compensation for his toil after they are delivered and sold and the cost of carriage paid. Hence, an adequate means of transportation - means sufficiently cheap and expeditious -becomes a matter of the first importance. Without some such system communities can not be built up or be made to flourish. So we see that in earlier times, and even yet, where regions of country were and are not thus favored, they have been and still are either uninhabited or peopled by semi-civilized or barbarous populations. Take the map of the Old World and scan it; it more than justifies what is here said. In the past most, and, indeed, all of the more advanced nations inhabited regions of country washed by the seas, or drained by navigable rivers or other inland waters. Navigation afforded and still affords to such countries, to a measurable degree, at least, the means of transportation required for their prosperity and advancement. But the interior, or regions far removed from navigation, remained either unpeopled, or in a savage or tribal state. So such regions, not penetrated by railways, remain to-day, as, for instance, the non-navigable districts of India and Russia and other countries. The problem of meeting this desideratunz of transportation into non-navigable regions, which constitute a large portion of the best lands of the globe, came to be looked upon in early times as, and continued up to our own time, one of the greatest with which mankind had to deal. In every country were vast regions with every other advantage for supporting prosperous and enlightened communities which, on account of their want of transportation facilities, were valueless, or worse than valueless - the homes of wild and warlike tribes. As more enlightened and progressive peoples sought to extend themselves into those regions, the effort was made to supply their want of transportation facilities by means of canals, which were constructed on quite an extensive scale in some, and, indeed, in most of the leading countries of Europe. But the districts of country through which canals could be constructed were, of course, comparatively small, and the great problem of interior transportation so far as non-navigable regions were concerned, continued open and to attract the thought and experiment of the best minds of all countries and of every age. At last Stephens' experiment, in 1825, solved the great problem. It is beyond question that no invention of the present century, and perhaps of all time, has proved so beneficial to, and mighty in its influence upon the material affairs of mankind, if not for the general progress of the human race, as that of land transportation by steam, as represented in our present railway system. An eminent French writer has said that "the railway trebled the area of the inhabitable globe." It has not only brought and is bringing vast regions hitherto valueless under the dominion of civilized man, but has quickened and is quickening every movement of humanity in the onward march of civilization. Wonderful as have been its results in the development and civilization of our own continent, results at which the world stands struck with astonishment and admiration; wonderful as have been its results elsewhere, and wherever it has penetrated, its achievements in the past, compared to what it is destined to accomplish in the future, are as the dust that floats in the air to the suns that people the infinity of space. The railway has been chiefly instrumental in transforming the wilds of this country into great and prosperous States, and in placing the American Union in the front rank of the great nations of the earth. Speaking of this, in an article in the February number (1884) of the Nineteenth Century, in which he strongly urges the establishment of an extensive railway system in India, as the surest means of developing the natural resources of that magnificent country, Hon. William Fowler, Member of Parliament for Cambridge, says: " But if encouragement be needed, it is well to consider what has been done on the other side of the Atlantic. Before the railway came to Illinois, it was little more than a prairie. In a very few years its produce doubled, and now it stands as one of the first producing States of the Union, and can point to Chicago as an evidence of its progress. It is difficult to imagine what would have been its present condition had not the railway come to its aid. Missouri had much facility of water carriage, but its progress was very slow until railways traversed it. Nebraska, now a most flourishing young State, has been created by the railway. Its vast agricultural wealth must have been locked up indefinitely but for the locomotive. The same remark applies to Kansas, now advancing with rapid strides.

" Shareholders may grumble at competition in America, and bondholders may tremble, but the producer flourishes in low rates of carriage, and no economical facts are so wonderful as those presented by the progress of the United States since the development of the railway system. The experience of Canada is hardly less remarkable, for I am informed by Mr. Macpherson, of Ottawa, that during last year 25,000,000 acres of land were allotted by the Dominion Government to settlers or companies. The great temptation of those who settle in that severe climate is the excellence of the wheat land, but it is obvious that without cheap carriage no such settlement would be possible, for the produce would be unsalable." Thus, the railway is rapidly peopling and developing this continent. What it is doing here, it can do elsewhere--in India, Australia, Interior Russia, South America,, and everywhere, where the physical conditions of territory and climate render possible the abode of man. It is the great civilizer of modern times, and wherever the headlight of its locomotive gleams out, or the shrill echo of its whistle is heard, barbarism falls back as the darkness of ignorance before the light of knowledge. By the railway communities and States, separated from each other by thousands of miles, are made neighbors and the populations of whole continents are not only enabled to intermingle and thus benefit by association and interchange of ideas, but trade and commerce between them, the life-blood of all prosperity and advancement, are reduced to a perfect system and to the minimum of expense. Under its influence the nations of Europe have been brought more nearly under the government of common interests and ideas -in fact, are nearer one people, -than the shires and manors of England were under the feudal system. And its influence in this direction, as in all others for the betterment of the condition of mankind, will go on and on, as the ages roll away, until ultimately the dream of the noblest philosophers who have conned the affairs of men shall have been realized - the universal brotherhood of man. By the railway space is already practically obliterated. To illustrate this, a fact or two will suffice: The present rate on a bushel of wheat from Huntsville, Missouri, to St. Louis is about 81/2 cents; the rate on to New York is 101/2; and from New York to Liverpool, or Glasgow, 4 cents - thus making the rate from Huntsville to Great Britain about 22 cents per bushel, or about $7.25 per ton. This is but little more than it cost, before the era of railroads, to haul the same amount of wheat from Randolph county to Glasgow, Missouri; so that, practically, the market at Glasgow, Scotland, and, indeed, the markets of the whole world have been brought nearly as close to the farmers of this county as the market at Glasgow, on the Missouri river, only twenty or thirty miles away, was in former times. What is true of wheat is true, in a greater or less measure, of other products and of merchandise, and of everything that ministers to the comfort and happiness of man.

But without this system of railway transportation the present vast products of agriculture in the interior would have been impossible, and population would still have been compelled to hug closely to the coasts of seas and to the shores of inland navigable waters. " Had one been asked ten years ago," says Mr. E. Atkinson, of Boston, in his paper, in 1880, on " The Railroads of the United States and their effects on Farming Production," " ' Can 150,000,000 bushels of grain be removed from the prairies of the West 5,000 miles in a single season, to feed the suffering millions of Europe, and prevent almost a famine amongst the nations?' he who answered ' Yes, it is only necessary to apply the inventions already made to accomplish that,' would have been deemed visionary. It has been accomplished." And, illustrating the same point, a writer, under the caption " The Railroad and the Farmer," in the American Agricultural Review for August, 1882, speaking for Oregon, says: " Our export of wheat to Europe had hardly begun ten years ago for lack of cheap transportation to the ship. * * * Before the advent of railroads the nominal price of farm land was from $5 to $10 per acre, yet its average productiveness was from 25 to 30 bushels of wheat per acre. * * * When railroads were built, or since 1873, improved farm land sells readily at from $15 to $100 per acre. Wheat has become the principal product. The export of wheat and flour, mostly to Europe, has risen from zero to about 5,000,000 bushels per annum, with regular yearly increase." It is this means of getting the products of the interior to market that renders the land of non-navigable regions valuable, and indeed inhabitable, by civilized man. Ten years ago Oregon exported no wheat, for want of railway facilities of transportation. In 1880 she exported $5,000,000 worth, and her exports will continue to increase until her vast wheat lands, hardly touched yet with the plow, are covered with rich harvests, and all her territory is filled with a prosperous and enlightened population. Who can be found, then, bold enough to say that the great Commonwealth will not owe its greatness more directly to the railway than to any other and all other physical causes combined? What is true of Oregon is true of all the States of the West, and, in only a less measure, of the other States of the Union. Missouri, though essentially a river State, has been built up almost alone by the railway since the war. Her vast area of grain and stock lands and her other resources have been opened up by the railway to industrial development, for by it the markets of the world have been brought to her very door. So of Kansas and Nebraska, and of Arkansas and Texas. Texas, although with a vast extent of sea-coast, has been developed by railway transportation, and there is hardly a parallel, even in the history of the Great West, to the wonderful progress that State has made in material development, and in population, and in wealth and in intelligence. No people under the sun have shown the enterprise, even by comparison, shown by the people of this country in railroad building, and no people have increased in population and in every measure of advancement in a ratio even approaching the progress made by the

United States. But for railroads this could not, of course, have been done, for the regions accessible by navigable waters would long since have been taken up and overcrowded. This country, or rather, the people of the country, saw at a glance the importance of railway transportation to their material prosperity and general interests. Every community, wherever settled, turned its attention to railroad building in order to open up the territory tributary to it. The result was that railroads were pushed in all directions, and are still being extended, so that the whole land is rapidly being warped and woofed with a perfect labyrinth of railway tracks. Speaking of this, a recent English writer says: " The American, confident of the future, pushes forward the railway into the wilderness, certain that the unoccupied land will be settled, and that he will get his reward in the increased value of this land, as well as in the traffic on his railway." At first, in order to make his road self-sustaining, on account of the sparseness of population (indeed, there is often no population at all in large regions through which his road passes), and the consequent lightness of business, he is compelled to charge high rates of traffic and of travel, and often these rates do not save him, for it is the experience of most roads through new States and Territories that in their early years they pass into the hands of a receiver. But soon the country tributary to them settles up and the volume of business increases, so that they become prosperous enterprises. And it is a remarkable fact that, although railroads in this country have had more to contend against and more to discourage them than those in any other, they have shown a degree of public spirit and a regard for the interests of the communities through which they pass unequaled by any other roads on the globe. To those who get their information from the average politician, anxious for an office or solicitous to retain one, and who has been refused a pass, this statement may sound strange. To begin with, the rates of traffic on railroads were higher here than those on the roads of any country in Europe, as it would seem they ought to be, for wages and everything else are higher, and in most of this country traffic is much lighter than it is in Europe. But to-day railway freight rates in the United States are lower than the rates in any other country. And it is this fact that has proved the salvation of the American farmer, and, therefore, of the prosperity of the whole country. But for the high railway rates in India and Russia and in Australia, American wheat would long since have been driven from the markets of Europe. "It costs considerably more, " says a recent writer, "to carry a ton of wheat 600 miles over the Great Indian Peninsula Railway than it does to carry the same quantity 1,000 miles over an American line. " There labor is incomparably cheaper than it is in this country, the lands are quite as fertile and cheap, and the ship rates to Europe are nearly or quite as favorable as ours. But here wheat can be carried from Iowa to New York by rail so cheap that the Indian grower, with his present railway rates, can not compete to advantage with the American farmer in European markets. In the United States rates have been reduced to less than one-fourth of what they were in 1865. This reduction is still going on, and with the improvements constantly being made in the railway system, it will doubtless continue to go on until rates are far below what they are to-day.

These are the general averages of rates of Western roads, the different classes and the relative amounts of each class considered, and both through and local rates computed. Similar estimates for Eastern roads would of course show much lower rates, as would estimates of through rates from the West to the East, as, for instance, grain was being shipped in April, 1884, from St. Louis to New York at 171 cents per 100 pounds, and from Chicago to New York at 15 cents. These are the present pool rates, which show a ton-rate per mile of about .33 of a cent, instead of .89, as given above Surely, when a ton of grain can be hauled three miles for a cent, rates ought to be satisfactory to the producer. It is not, therefore, surprising that American farmers are the most prosperous class of agriculturists on the globe. If, on account of the cheapness, fertility and 'abundance of land they can raise produce at a comparatively nominal cost, and, by the cheapness of transportation rates, they are placed almost as near the markets of Europe as the farmer of France, England or Germany, why should they not prosper.? The saving to the producer and consumer in this country in a single year from the reductions of freight rates made between 1865 and 1879, according to Mr. Poor, an American statistician recognized as authority in both America and Europe, amounted to over $35,000,000. During the same period the rates from Chicago to New York were reduced over $13.50 on the 'on. Nor does it follow that because these reductions have been made, freights could have been carried at lower rates than were previously charged. As has been said, the increase of population and traffic and the improvements made in the railway system have made these reductions possible. Freights can now be carried at little more than, if indeed not half the rates charged ten years ago. Explaining this, a prominent Eastern railroad official recently said: "The economies that are being introduced in the management of the railroads of this country are very poorly appreciated. by the public. With the introduction of steel rails, with which all the leading lines are now equipped, the improved condition of rolling stock, the enormous increase in the strength and power of the locomotives and the solidity of 'road-beds, that can only be attained after many years' use, together with a multitude of economies that can not be learned without many years' practical experience, where so many men are employed as are required to handle one of our trunk lines, the actual cost of transportation has been reduced far below the point at which a few years ago the most sanguine advocate of railroad transportation, as the economical successor of all other means of moving freight, did not dream." 

The people of the country are rapidly coming to understand and appreciate the importance the railway is to their highest and best interests. The old prejudice against railroads is rapidly dying out. States and communities, - counties, towns and townships, -and the National Government showed commendable public spirit in assisting in the construction of railroads in the infancy of the development of our railway system, and because the roads, when constructed, were compelled for a tie t o charge what seemed high rates of traffic, much wrath was visited upon the railway, or rather upon railway management. But whether these rates were necessary is shown by the result. More men of means have been bankrupted by railway investments,-not from mismanagement of the roads, only in exceptional cases, but because, by the best management they could not be made to pay at the rates charged, -than by any other class of investments. More roads have gone into the hands of receivers than any other enterprises have in the country, numbers and importance considered, and fewer fortunes have been made by railway investments. True, a few great fortunes have been accumulated, for the interests involved were of the greatest magnitude, so that, if one fails, he fails as Villard did, but it he succeeds, he succeeds as Gould has. But, however much railways have cost the public generally, who is there to question that they have been of greater public benefit than their cost, a thousandfold? Missouri's railways cost her in State and municipal bonds (county, city, etc.), about $29,000,000. In one year alone, 1883, her taxable wealth increased $63,349,625, not including the increase in the value of railway property; and the increase of the present year will probably carry the aggregate up to $800,000,000. No one will claim that this would have been possible without the railway, for Missouri is an agricultural State and to her, efficient practicable transportation is everything. So far as the railroads are concerned, they are of far greater benefit and profit to the public at large, and especially to the farmer and business man, than to their owners. A fact or two will illustrate this: The net earnings of Missouri railroads in 1882, after deducting operating expenses, were in round numbers $11,000,000, which was about $2,444 a mile, or less than four per cent. on the capital they represent. This is a fair average of the profits of the roads generally throughout the country. Where is the farmer or business man whose profits are no more than these who would not feel outraged if his customers were to denounce him for extortion or overcharges? The more one looks for the reasons of the late outcry against railroads, the more unreasonable he finds it to have been. Whilst, in common with all human enterprises and institutions, it can not be claimed that railways have always been an unmixed blessing, it may be safely said of them that they have been productive of less harm to humanity and have resulted in less injury in proportion to the good that they have done than any other influence in material affairs. They have done more to develop the wealth and resources, to stimulate the industry, to reward the labor, and to promote the general comfort and prosperity of the country than any other, and perhaps all other, mere physical causes combined. They scatter the productions of the press and literature broadcast through the country with amazing rapidity. There is scarcely a want, wish or aspiration they do not in some measure help to gratify. They promote the pleasures of social life and of friendship ; they bring the skilled physician swiftly from a distance to attend the sick, and enable a friend to be at the bedside of the dying. They have more than realized the fabulous conception of the Eastern imagination, which pictured the genii as transporting inhabited palaces through the air. They take whole trains of inhabited palaces from the Atlantic coast, and with marvelous swiftness deposit them on the shores that are washed by the Pacific seas. In war they transport armies and supplies of Government with the utmost celerity, and carry forward on the wings of the wind, as it were, relief and comfort to those who are stretched bleeding and wounded on the field of battle. As a means of inland transportation the locomotive has exceeded the expectations of even those most sanguine of its usefulness. Since its introduction canals have been practically abandoned and river transportation has become a matter of comparative unimportance. Missouri has a river outlet to the sea, but only an insignificant percentage of her products transported to the Atlantic is carried down the river. While a few large shippers of heavy freights in the cities, here and there, and the politicians are agitating interior water transportation, the vast body of the people are shipping by the railroad. In this age time is money," and the time occupied by freight shipped by river is generally of more consequence to those interested, than the small difference of rates between river and railway charges; and in most instances this alleged difference is more imaginary than real. The railroads from St. Louis make the same rates on freights for New Orleans that are charged by the steamers, and the difference of rates from St. Louis to the latter city, and from the former to New York, are merely nominal. By the railway the shipper, informed what the prices are at the wholesale markets to-day, may have his products delivered at those markets in 12, 24, or 36 hours, and thus feel reasonably safe in the estimates of the prices he expects to get. And by abolishing space and uniting the communities of a whole continent in one confederacy of trade and interests, regularity and stability are given to prices, for the supply of one section, if that of another fails, tends to regulate the general demand. This fall the farmer may sow his wheat and this winter fatten his stock with an intelligent and safe estimate of the approximate returns he is to receive the succeeding year. Nor does a rich harvest in one State glut the markets and depreciate the prices to ruinous figures, for the markets of the whole world are almost equally accessible, so far as the cost of carriage is concerned. The farmer of Missouri is practically as near to London, England, to-day as was the farmer in the vicinity of Cambridge less than half a century ago, and all Christendom is reduced to narrower limits, so far as time of transit is concerned, than the limits of this country prior to the era of railroads. Galveston, Texas, is nearer to New York by railroad travel to-day than Kansas City was to Huntsville a few years ago. In making Texas a neighbor to New York State and Missouri to Massachusetts, in penetrating the great West, the railways have opened up this mighty region to the flood-tides of immigration from the East and all the world which have poured into and are still pouring in, establishing here the greatest and most prosperous commonwealths in the Union.

Foremost among the railway systems of the West, and, indeed, the greatest combination of railway systems on the globe, is that of Gould's Western System, which includes the Missouri Pacific, or South-Western system, the Wabash, and the Union Pacific systems, aggregating, in all, over 15,000 miles of main track. The lines of these systems penetrate every State of the West and nearly every Territory, and aggregate more miles of track than are laid in any country in Europe except Germany, France and Great Britain, each of which they closely approach in mileage. These three systems are run in harmony with each other, and the last two, the South-Western and the Wabash, are practically under one management, or, in other words, constitute virtually one system of railways. Together they aggregate over 10,000 miles of road, and include lines of travel in 12 of the great States of the Union and in the Indian Territory. The South-Western and Wabash systems constitute one of the most valuable and prosperous combinations of railroads in the United States. They were built up of many independent lines in the different States, and the Missouri Pacific proper and the old Wabash were taken for the basis of the systems. The original roads, of which these systems were finally formed, were in many instances in financial and business embarrassment, and some of them were in the hands of receivers. Largely by the genius of one man, through the assistance of the able men he drew around him, they were gathered up, one by one, and were united and made to prosper, so that we have seen built up in a few years the greatest combination of railroads of the age, a work that has been accomplished with such success that one can not but view it with mingled admiration and surprise. We can not go into the details of the history of these roads at this time, but must confine ourselves to an outline of the South-Western System.

THE SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY SYSTEM.

This system includes and operates 5,983 miles of railroad, which lie in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, Louisiana and Texas, and is composed "of the old Missouri Pacific proper, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern, the International and Great Northern, the Central Branch of the Union Pacific, and the Texas and Pacific. The following table shows the miles of each division in operation -

MILEAGE.

Missouri Pacific Division - 990

Missouri, Kansas and Texas Division ..1386

International and Great Northern Division .826

St. Louis and Iron Mountain Division .906

Central Branch of the Union Pacific Division 388

Texas and Pacific Division . .1487

5,983 ... . .... . . Total

As has been said, the Missouri Pacific forms the basis of this system. The charter for this road, or, rather, of its predecessor, the pacific Railroad Company, was granted by the Missouri Legislature by act approved March 12, 1849. The Pacific Company was authorized to build two lines of road from St. Louis, one, the main line, to Jefferson and on to the western boundary of the State, and the other, a branch, to the south-western part of the State. The capital stock of the company was fixed at $10,000,000, and the road received aid from the State to the amount of $7,000,000. To aid in the construction of the Southwest Branch, as the branch was called, Congress also made a grant to the company of 3,840 acres of land to the mile, which amounted in all to 1,161,204 acres. Construction of the main line was commenced July 4, 1851, but its progress was slow. It reached Jefferson City in 1856 and Sedalia in 1861, but was not completed to Kansas City until the fall of 1865. The construction of the Southwest Branch was even slower, but was finally completed to the State line by way of Springfield. In 1866, however, the Southwest Branch was taken possession of by the State for non-payment of interest on the State subsidy and, with its lands, was sold to the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company, which company, in 1872, leased the lines of the old company, or Kansas City trunk road. The two roads were then operated under one management until 1876, when the Pacific was sold under foreclosure and conveyed by the purchasers to the present Missouri Pacific Company. This company, with a capital of $3,000,000, was incorporated October 21, 1876. In the meantime, in 1868, $5,000,000 of the State subsidy had been back-paid to the State. The amount of indebtedness the new Missouri Pacific assumed when it bought the road was $13,700,000. Since the completion of the road to Kansas City, it has successfully competed with all its rivals for the traffic of the Great West and, besides its numerous tributary lines, its connections with other roads are such that cars run to and from St. Louis to every point in the West and South-west without break of freight-bulk. Its career since it became the property of its present owners has been one of unparalled success, and it has grown from a single line across Missouri to one of the most important trunk lines in the Union, with its thousands of miles of feeders extending in every direction west of St. Louis and in the South-west. In 1880 the St. Louis and Lexington, the Kansas City and Eastern, the Lexington and Southern, the St. Louis, Kansas City and Arizona, the Missouri River and the Leavenworth and North-Western were consolidated with it. This was on the 11th of August, and the authorized share-capital of the consolidated company was fixed at $30,000,000. The amount issued to carry out the consolidation was $12,419,800. The debt of the company after this consolidation was $19,259;000.

MISSOURI, KANSAS AND TEXAS.

On the 1st of December, 1880, the Missouri Pacific leased the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway for a period of 99 years, the consideration paid being the net earnings of the road. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas was organized April 7, 1870, by consolidation of the Southern branch of the Union Pacific, the Tebo and Neosho, the Labette and Sedalia, and the Neosho Valley and Holden. The St. Louis and Sante Fe Railroad from Holden, Missouri, to Paola, Kansas, was purchased by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas in 1872, and the Hannibal and Central Missouri, from Hannibal to Moberly, was purchased in 1874. This is the division of the road which passes through Randolph county and is about 20 miles in length. It was chartered February 13, 1865. The line of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas was opened from Junction City to the southern boundary of Kansas in 1870, and from Sedalia to Parsons in 1871. From the southern boundary of Kansas to Denison it was opened January 1, 1873, and from Hannibal to Sedalia, in September of the same year, thus completing a continuous line from Hannibal, Missouri, to Denison, Texas.

The Missouri, Kansas and Texas' received large grants of land under act of Congress, both in Kansas and in the Indian Territory, and also important grants from the State of Kansas. The lands in the Indian Territory, however, are subject to the extinguishment of the Indian title, and have not therefore become available to the company. This road has been mainly instrumental in settling up and developing South-west Missouri and Southern Kansas. By it, also, Texas was given an outlet to the North, and over its line a perfect stream of trade and commerce and of travel, flowed to and from that great State. Probably no road on the continent has been of so much value and importance to a State or section of country, as the Missouri, Kansas and Texas has been and still is to Texas. Over it population has pushed into the State and settled up all of its northern counties, a section of country nearly as large as the entire State of Missouri. Hundreds of thousands of people have been added to its population, and millions of property have augmented its wealth. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas has been to Texas what the Missouri river was in pre-railroad days to Central Missouri--the main artery of its population and wealth, and of its general advancement and prosperity.

In 1882 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas acquired the International

and Great Northern by the exchange of two shares of its own stock

for one share of the latter. This exchange increased the share-capital

of the company by $16,470,000. By the International and Great

Northern, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas also acquired a land grant

in Texas of about 5,000,000 acres. With the acquisition of the

International and Great Northern and other tributary lines, a continuous

route was given from Hannibal and St. Louis to Galveston,

Texas, and to Laredo, on the Rio Grande. At Laredo connection

is made with the Mexican National, which will lead into the city of

Mexico, when the present gap in its line shall have been filled up.

1 The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad was completed through Monroe county

in 1871. This road passes through the entire length of the county.

254 HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.

However by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas a through rail route is

already opened to Mexico, by connection with the Texas Pacific and

the Mexican Central, which latter is completed to the capital city of

the Montezumas.

Official record of the result of the railroad election held in Monroe

county on the 18th day of April, 1868, and upon which is based the

subscription of $250,000 stock by said county in the Hannibal and

Central Missouri Railroad.

On the 19th of May, 1873, at a meeting of the county court (a

special term), at which the propositions made by the Missouri, Kansas

and Texas Railroad Company was considered, the court appointed

Abram B. Baylis agent for and in behalf of Monroe county to assign

and transfer the stock of said county in the Hannibal and Central

Missouri Railroad Company to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad

Company.

Hon. A. W. Lamb, of Hannibal, Mo., was appointed by the court

agent and proxy for Monroe county to vote the stock of said county

on any proposition which might be brought before the meeting of the

stockholders of the Hannibal and Central Missouri Railroad Company,

having for its object the consolidation of said railroad with the Missouri,

Kansas and Texas Railroad.

The following are the general officers of the Missouri Pacific Railway:

GENERAL OFFICERS.

Jay Gould, President, New York City.

R. S. Hayes, First Vice-President, St. Louis, Mo.

A. L. Hopkins, Second Vice-President, New York City.

H. M. Hoxie, Third Vice-President, St. Louis, Mo.

D. S. H. Smith, Fourth Vice-President, Assistant Secretary and

Local Treasurer, St. Louis, Mo,

A. H..Calef, Secretary and Treasurer, New York City.

John C. Brown, General Solicitor, St. Louis, Mo.

C. G. Warner, General Auditor, St. Louis, Mo.

George Olds, General Traffic Manager, St. Louis, Mo.

W. H. Newman, Traffic Manager Lines South of Texarkana and

Denison, Galveston, Texas.

G. W. Lilley, General Freight Agent, St. Louis, Mo.

H. C. Townsend, General Passenger and Ticket Agent Lines North

H. A. Fisher, Assistant General Passenger and Ticket Agent, St.

B. W. McCullough, General Passenger and Ticket Agent, Lines

of Texarkana and Denison, St. Louis, Mo.

Louis, Mo.

South of Texarkana and Denison, Galveston, Texas.

LOCAL AGENTS.

G. Meslier, Special Passenger and Land Agent, 102 North Fourth

Street, St. Louis, Mo.

W. H. Morton, Land and Passenger Agent, Union Depot, St.

Louis, Mo.

256 HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.

S. W. Elliott, Ticket Agent, 102 North Fourth Street, St. Louis, Mo.

H. Lihou, Ticket Agent, Union Depot, St. Louis, Mo.

M. Griffin, City Passenger Agent, 102 North Fourth Street, St.

Louis, Mo.

J. C. Nicholas, General Baggage Agent, St. Louis, Mo.

MR. JAY GOULD,

the well known president of the South-Western System, is

certainly one of the most remarkable men of this or any other age.

A New York farmer's son, self-educated, and starting out in life for

himself without a dollar, by dint of his own exertions and character

he has risen to the position of the first railroad manager on the globe.

A great deal has been said for and against Mr. Gould. A great deal

has been said for and against every man who has made a distinguished

success in life. It is one of the conditions of success to be criticised

and slandered as well as honored and esteemed. But if men are to be

judged according to the general results of their lives, Mr. Gould has

nothing to fear for his reputation in history. He has given to the

country the finest systems of railway and telegraph the world ever

saw, and if the people do not seem to appreciate

" What manner of man is passing by their doors,"

the time will come when his services and character will receive the

homage which is their due. Mr. Gould became the President of the

Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific on the organization of the company in

1879. Personally, however, he does not direct the affairs of the

road, but is directly represented in its management, as he is in the

management of all his other Western roads, by Capt. R. S. Hayes.

HANNIBAL AND ST. JOSEPH RAILROAD.

The Hannibal and Joseph Railroadl was completed to Monroe City

from Hannibal in 1858, and to St. Joseph in 1859. Along this railroad,

for 12 miles on each side of the road, the company was granted

alternate sections of land by the United States Government in 1852.

As early as August 11, 1851, we find the following proceedings

had by the county court in reference to the Hannibal and St. Joseph

Railroad Company:-

Now, at this day, came R. Stewart, president, and makes a motion for the board of directors of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Only about four miles of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad passes through Monroe county. that Macon county take as much as 100 shares of stock in said road by authorizing the judges of said court to subscribe the same. Whereupon, it is ordered by the court that the county of Macon take 100 shares of stock il said road, and that the president of said stock subscribe the same, provided said road runs through the county, and not prejudicial to the county seat of said Macon county. In our history of Buchanan county, we gave some facts in reference to the early history and completion of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad to St. Joseph, and as they will not be out of place here we will reproduce them. The people of St. Joseph early awoke to a sense of the importance and necessity of railroad communication with the East. About the first reference to this matter we find in the Gazette of Friday, November 6, 1846:-

"Our country is destined to suffer much, and is now suffering, from the difficulty of navigation and the extremely high rates the boats now charge. Our farmers may calculate that they will get much less for produce and will be compelled to pay much. more for their goods than heretofore, and this will certainly always be the case when the Missouri river shall be as low as it now is. The chances are fearfully against having any considerable work bestowed in improving the river, and until it is improved by artificial means, the navigation of it to this point must always be dangerous and very uncertain.

" The prospects for this fall and winter are well calculated to make the people look about to see if there is no way to remedy this inconvenience, if there can be any plan suggested whereby our people can be placed more nearly upon terms of equality with the good citizens of other parts of our land. " We suggest the propriety of a railroad from St. Joseph to some point on the Mississippi-either St. Louis, Hannibal or Quincy. For ourselves, we like the idea of a railroad to one of the latter places suggested, for this course would place us nearer to the eastern cities and make our road thither a direct one; we like this road, too, because it would so much relieve the intermediate country which is now suffering and must always suffer so much for transporting facilities in the absence of such an enterprise. " If this be the favorite route, we must expect opposition from the southern portion of the State, as well as all the river counties below this. For the present, we mean merely to throw out the suggestion with the view of awaking public opinion and eliciting a discussion of the subject. In some future number we propose presenting more advantages of such a road, and will likewise propose and enforce by argument the ways and means of accomplishing the object." The suggestions thus offered of the necessity of a railroad seemed to have been universally popular, and through the vigorous action of the friends of the enterprise, we find, thus early, a charter granted by the Legislature, as follows :

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE HANNIBAL AND ST. JOSEPH RAILROAD COMPANY.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows: - 

SECTION 1. That Joseph Robidoux, John Corby and Robert J. Boyd, of St. Joseph, in Buchanan county; Samuel J. Harrison. Zachariah G. Draper and Erasmus M. Moffett, of the City of Hannibal; Alexander McMurtry, of Shelby county; George A. Shortridge and Thomas Sharp, of Macon county; Wesley Halliburton, of Linn county; John Graves, of Livingston county; Robert Wilson, of Davies county, and George W. Smith, of Caldwell county, and all such persons as may hereafter become stockholders in the said company, shall be and they are hereby created a body corporate and politic in fact and in name, by the name and style of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company, and the same title, the stockholders shall be in perpetual succession, and be able to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded in all courts of record and elsewhere, and to purchase, receive, have, hold and enjoy to them and their successors lands, tenements and hereditaments, goods, chattels and all estates, real, personal and mixed of what kind or quality soever, and the same from time to time to sell, mortgage, grant, alien and convey, and to make dividends of such portion of the profits as they may deem proper, and, also, to make and have a common seal, and the same to alter or renew at pleasure, and also to ordain, establish and put in execution such bylaws, ordinances and regulations as shall appear necessary and convenient for the government of such corporation, and not being contrary or repugnant to the Constitution and laws of the United States or of the State of Missouri, and generally to do all and singular the matters and things which to them it shall lawfully appertain to do for the well being of the said corporation and the due management and ordering of the affairs of the same: Provided, always, that it shall not be lawful for the said corporation to deal, or use or employ any part of the stock, funds or money, in buying or selling any wares or merchandise in the way of traffic, or in banking or broking operations. 

SEC. 2. That the capital stock of said corporation shall be $2,000,000, divided into 20,000 shares of $100 each, and it shall be lawful for said corporation, when and so soon as in the opinion of the individuals named in the foregoing section a sufficient amount of stock shall have been taken for that purpose,, to commence and carry on their said proper business and railroad operations under the privileges and conditions herein granted.

SEC. 3. That the said company is hereby authorized and empowered to cause books for the subscription stock to be opened at such times and places as they may deem most conducive to the attainment of the stock required.

SEC. 4. The said company [shall] have power to view, lay out and construct a railroad from St. Joseph, in Buchanan county, to Palmyra, in Marion county, and thence to Hannibal, in said county of Marion, and shall, in all things, be subject to the same restrictions and entitled to all the privileges, rights and immunities which were granted to the Louisiana and Columbia Railroad Company by an act entitled " An act to incorporate the Louisiana and Columbia Railroad Company," passed at the session of the General Assembly in 1836 and 1837, and approved January 27, 1837, so far as the same are applicable to the company hereby created, as fully and completely as if the same were herein enacted.

SEC. 5. Nothing in this act, nor in that to which it refers, shall be construed so as to allow said company to hold or purchase any more real estate than may be necessary and proper for the use of the road and the business transacted thereon. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Approved February 16, 1847. The following were the PROCEEDINGS OF THE RAILROAD CONVENTION, held at Chillicothe, Mo., June 2, 1847.

Delegates from the various counties of North Missouri assembled at Chillicothe, Mo., on June 2, 1847, according to previous notice. The convention was organized in the court-house at 11 o'clock, by calling Judge A. A. King, of Ray county, to the chair, and electing Dr. John Craven, of Davies county, and Alexander McMurtry, of Shelby county, vice-presidents, and H. D. La Cossitt, of Marion county, and Charles J. Hughes, of Caldwell county, secretaries. It was moved that the delegates in attendance report themselves to the secretaries, whereupon the following gentlemen gave in their names and took their seats:-

B. F. Loan and Lawrence Archer, from Buchanan county; Absalom Karnes, from DeKalb; Robert Wilson, John B. Connor, Volney E. Bragg, William Peniston, James Turley, Thomas T. Frame, Jacob S. Rogers, M. F. Greene, John Mann, Woody Manson and John Craven, fiom Davies county; George Smith, Patrick Smith, Jesse Baxter, A. B. Davis and C. J. Hughes, from Caldwell county; A A. King from Ray county; John Craven, Thomas B. Bryan, Elisha Manford, John Harper, F. Preston, F. L. Willard, John L. Johnson, S. Munser, John Bryan, B. F. Tarr, Thomas Jennings, William Hudgens, William Hicklin, William L. Black, James H. Darlington, Robert Mitchell, John Austin, James Austin and F. Preston, from Livingston county; Dr. Livingston, from Grundy county; W. B. Woodruff, James C. Moore, James Lintell, John J. Flora, Jeremiah Phillips and W. Halliburton, Linn county; George Shortridge, A. L. Gilstrap and Benjamin Sharp, from Macon county; Alexander McMurtry, from Shelby county; Z. G. Draper, James Waugh, Henry Collins, H. D. La Cossitt and William P. Samuel, from Marion county. On motion of Col. Peniston, it was resolved that a committee consisting f one member from each county represented in the convention be appointed for the purpose of reporting upon what subjects this convention shall act. The president appointed Robert Wilson, L. Archer, A. Karnes, G. Smith, F. L. Willard, Dr. Livingston, W. B. Woodruff, George Shortridge and Z. G. Draper. On motion, it was resolved that a committee, consisting of one member from each county here represented, be appointed to report a basis upon which to vote in this convention. The president appointed A. L. Gilstrap, B. F. Loan, William P. Peniston, Thomas Butts, Thomas R. Bryan, Dr. Livingston, W. Halliburton and James Waugh. George Smith, of Caldwell, presented the following propositions for the consideration of the convention, and moved to lay the same upon the table, which was done: -

WHEREAS, The people of Northern Missouri are in favor of the project of a railroad from Hannibal to St. Joseph; therefore, Resolved, By the delegates (their representatives) that we recommend the following as the best method to procure the means for the construction of the same:- First. A liberal subscription by the citizens of the State to the capital stock of said company. Second. That Congress be petitioned for a grant of alternate sections and parts of sections of all vacant lands 10 miles on each side of said road, when located. Third. That the company procure a subscription to the stock by Eastern capitalists, and, should the foregoing means prove inadequate, we then recommend that the Legislature pass an act authorizing the 1 Austin A. King, who presided over this convention, was Judge of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, of which Ray county was a part, from 1837 to 1848, when he was elected Governor of Missouri. company to issue bonds, to be indorsed by the Governor or Secretary of State, for the residue; the company to give a mortgage on the whole work to the State, for the liquidation of said bonds. The convention then adjourned till afternoon. At the opening of the afternoon session, it was resolved that the rules for the government of the House of Representatives, of Missouri, be adopted for the government of this convention. A report was adopted, by which the basis of voting in the convention was fixed as follows: that each county represented in the convention be entitled to one vote for every 100 votes therein, by which rule the county of Marion was allowed 15 votes; Shelby, 7; Macon, 9; Linn, 7; Livingston, 8; Grundy, 6; Davies, 9; Caldwell, 4; Ray, 15; DeKalb, 3; and Buchanan, 22. The committee to whom was referred the duty of submitting subjects for action of this convention reported.

1. To appoint a committee of three members to draft an address in the name of this convention to the people of Western Missouri, setting forth the advantages to be derived from the contemplated railroad from St. Joseph to Hannibal.

2. To appoint a committee of three, whose duty it shall be to petition the Legislature of Missouri for such aid in the undertaking as can be afforded consistently with the rights of other sections of the State.

3. To appoint a committee of three to petition Congress for a donation of alternate sections of lands within six miles on each side of said road when located.

4. To appoint a committee whose duty it shall be to superintend the publication and distribution of the proceedings of this convention, together with the charter of the road, and the address to the people of Northern Missouri.

5. Said committees to be appointed by the president and the members of each committee as nearly contiguous as practicable. The convention then adjourned till the following morning, when on reassembling, the five above mentioned resolutions were unanimously adopted, with the exception of the fifth, which was adopted with an amendment striking out all after the word president. Among other resolutions offered at this session of the convention, the following by Judge King, of Ray, was unanimously adopted by way of amendment to a similar one offered by Dr. Grundy, of Livingston Resolved, That, whereas, this convention has adopted a resolution authorizing a memorial to Congress for donation of alternate sections of land to aid in the construction of the contemplated railroad, also authorizing a memorial to the Legislature for such aid in the undertaking as can be afforded consistently with the rights of other portions of the State; therefore, we, the delegates, pledge ourselves to support no man for Congress who will not pledge himself to the support of the proposition aforesaid, nor will we support any man for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, or member of the Legislature who will not pledge himself to give such aid in the construction of the said railroad consistent with the rights of other portions of the State as contemplated by the resolution aforesaid. Mr. George Smith, of Caldwell, offered the following resolution, which was read and adopted:- Resolved, That the committee appointed to petition the Legislature be instructed to ask for an amendment to the fourth section of the act incorporating the Louisiana and Columbia Railroad Company (being the law by which the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company are to be governed), so as to give the power to the president and directors of the last mentioned company to call in an amount not exceeding 10 per cent every 60 days, and change the notice from 60 to 30 days.

The following resolution by Mr. Sharp, of Macon, was adopted: WHEREAS, It is not only extremely important to the agricultural and commercial interests of the immediate country that a good wagon road be opened from St. Joseph to Hannibal, but the United States mail stages can not be put in motion on said route until said road shall be opened. And WHEREAS, It is of the utmost importance, as well to the whole intermediate country as to the two extremes, that mail facilities be speedily obtained in stages through said country. Therefore, Resolved, by this Convention, That it be recommended to each county through which said road may pass, immediately to open, bridge, and put in good repair the said road, in order that mail stages may be immediately started, according to the act of Congress establishing said road. Mr. Tarr, of Livingston, moved to reconsider the vote adopting the third proposition reported by the committee on business, which was agreed to. He then offered the following amendment to said third proposition Adding to third proposition by the committee on business, as follows, "Also to petition Congress that should any of the alternate sections on the road, or within six miles on either side thereof to be sold at any time subsequent to the 16th day of February, 1847, and before the action of Congress in relation to these lands, that other lands be granted as nearly contiguous as possible in lieu thereof."

This was agreed to, and the third proposition as amended was then adopted. Dr. Livingston, of Grundy, offered the following resolution, which was adopted: -

Resolved, That the proceedings of this convention be signed by the president, vice-presidents and secretaries, and that the president be requested to transmit a copy thereof to each of our representatives in Congress, requesting them to use their utmost endeavors to obtain from Congress the grant of land contemplated by the proceedings of this convention. The president then announced the following committees : 

1. To address the people of Northern Missouri -Archer, Bragg, and La Cossitt. 

2. To petition Congress, in accordance with the resolution of the convention -- Cravens, Halliburton and Shortridge.

3. To petition the Legislature -Tarr, George Smith, of Caldwell, and Dr. Livingston.

On motion, it was resolved that the thanks of the delegates and constituents are due the officers of this convention for the able manner in which they have discharged their duties in this convention. The convention then adjourned sine die. The charter of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad was secured mainly by the exertion of Robert M. Stewart, afterwards Governor of the State, and at the time of its issuance, a member of the State Senate, and of Gen. James Craig, and Judge J. B. Gardenhire, who represented Buchanan county in the Legislature. (Gen. Craig was afterward president of this road, with two brief intervals, for the period of 11 years, from 1861). With all the enthusiasm on the part of the people, material aid was lacking, as it was not until 1852 that the building of the road became a definite fact. At that period, Hon. Willard P. Hall represented a district of Missouri in Congress, and was chairman of the committee of public lands. By his efforts the passage of a bill was secured granting six hundred thousand acres of land to the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Company, and the success of that long cherished enterprise was finally assured. The preliminary survey had been made by Simeon Kemper and Col. M. F. Tiernan, accompanied by Robert M. Stewart, whose indefatigable efforts in behalf of the interests of the road, contributed as much if not more than those of any other man to their ultimate accomplishment. Stewart became afterwards the first president of the company. The building of the road commenced at the east end.

About the spring of 1857 work was begun on the west end, and by March of that year, the track extended out from St. Joseph a distance of seven miles. The first 'fire under the first engine that started out of St. Joseph on the Hannibal and St. Joseph. Railroad, was kindled by M. Jefferson Thompson. This was several years before the arrival of the first through train in February, 1859. (Sometime in the early part of 1857). The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was completed February 13, 1859. On Monday, February 14, 1859, the first through passenger train ran out of St. Joseph. Of this train E. Sleppy, now (1881), master mechanic of the St. Joseph and Western machine shops, in Elwood, was engineer, and Benjamin H. Colt, conductor. The first to run a train into St. Joseph was Geo. Thompson, who ran first a construction and then a freight train. The first master mechanic of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad shops in St. Joseph was C. F. Shivel. These shops were established in 1857. In the following year Mr. Shivel put up the first car ever built in the city. On the 22d of February, 1859, occurred in St. Joseph the celebration of the completion of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Road. This was, beyond doubt, the grandest display ever witnessed in the city up to that period. M. Jefferson Thompson, at that time mayor of the city, presided over the ceremonies and festivities of this brilliant occasion. The city was wild with enthusiasm and the most profuse and unbounded hospitality prevailed. A grand banquet was held in the spacious apartments of the Odd Fellows' Hall, which then stood on the corner of Fifth and Felix Streets. Not less than 600 invited guests were feasted here; and it was estimated that several thousand ate during the day at this hospitable board. Broaddus Thompson, Esq., a brother of Gen. M. Jefferson Thompson, made the grand speech of the occasion, and performed the ceremony of mingling the waters of the two mighty streams thus linked by a double band of iron. The completion of the road constituted an era in the history of St. Joseph, and from that period dawned the light of a new prosperity. In the five succeeding years the population of the city was quadrupled, and her name heralded to the remotest East as the rising emporium of the West.

MONROE COUNTY BONDED DEBT.

In the summer of 1872, the managers of this road commenced the building of a branch southward from St. Joseph, 21 miles, to the city of Atchison. This was completed in October of the same year. $178,000 00 30 ten per cent.- bonds of $500 each, issued December 15, 1869, to aid in the construction of the Hannibal & Central Missouri Railroad, now the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, interest payable 15th of January and July, at National Park Bank, New York . .$15,000 200 six per cent. 5 year bonds of $100 each, issued May 15, 1880, 40 do. 6 year bonds of $500 each, 40 do. 7 year, 40 do. 8 year, 40 do. 9 year, 20 do. 13 year of $1,000 each, 20 do. 14 year, and 23 do. 15 year, issued May 15, 1880, under Chap. 83, Revised Statutes, in compromise and redemption of bonds issued to the Hannibal & Central Missouri Railroad, now the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, interest payable annually May 15, at National Park Bank, New York ..Interest promptly paid; interest tax on $100 valuation 50 cents. Taxable wealth $5,118,788.