First
Railroad Built Through Monroe City in 1857
The
first railroad to enter Monroe County was also the first railroad
built across Missouri. This was the Hannibal & St. Joseph
Railroad, on which the first train made a run entirely across the
state on February 14, 1859. The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad
later became a part of the present Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Railroad Company, one of the greatest railroad systems of the present
day.
It
was about 1846 that a public meeting was held in the office of John
1W. Clemens, the father of Mark Twain, at the old Union hotel in
Hannibal. mc people of Hannibal wanted a railroad from Hannibal to
Glasgow on the Missouri River and the proposed route of the new line
was laid out at this meeting. It was to pass through Palmyra,
Shelbyville, Bloomington, Linneus, Chillicothe and Gallatin, and on to
the Missouri River at St. Joseph. The people of St. Joseph wanted
the railroad also and that town had a coterie of very strong public
men, among them R. R. Stewart, afterwards Governor of the State. The
Hannibal & St. Joseph corporation of railroad promoters joined
forces and the enterprise launched in Hannibal was soon converted into
a project line from Hannibal to St. Joseph.
On
February 16, 1847 the Missouri legislature chartered the Hannibal
& St. Joseph Railroad Company. The incorparators from Hannibal
were: Samuel J. Harrison, Zachariah G. Draper and Erasmus M. Moffett;
from St. Joseph, Joseph Robidoux, John Corby and Robert J. Boyd;
Shelby County, Alexander Murtry; Macon County, George A. Shortridge
and Thomas Sharp; Linn County, Wesley Halliburton; Livingston County,
John Graves; Caldwell County, Robert Wilson.
In
1852 a bill was introduced in Congress to give the road a grant, which
was nearly defeated by Quincy, but was finally passed upon a promise
to build a line from Quincy to Palmyra. The grant was for 600,000
acres of land and assured the building of the new road. In August
1852, a contract was made with Duff & Leaman of New York to build
the entire line for $23,000 per mile. The road was located by Major
James M. Bucklin. In 1852 ground was formally broken for the Hannibal
& St. Joe railroad.
On
November 5, 1885, twenty-five miles of the grade was completed and
ready for the iron; June 1, 1857 the track was laid via Palmyra
through Monroe City to Hunnewell, 37 miles west of Hannibal; September
9, 1857, to Clarence, 59 miles west of Hannibal; May 11, 1858 to
Bevier, 75 miles west of Hannibal; November 29, 1858, 100 miles west
of Hannibal. On Christmas day, 1858 the track was laid 107 miles west
of Hannibal and by January 20, 1859, extended 114 miles west of
Hannibal.
Construction
commenced at St. Joseph some time prior to 1857. The construction
force from Hannibal on the east and St. Joseph on the west met at a
point near Cream Ridge, Mo., at 7:00 o’clock in the morning of
February 13, 1859, and the connection was made which completed the
Hannibal and St. Joe Railroad across the State of Missouri. The
location is now designated by a concrete monument with a brass plate
which reads:
“Construction
forces from Hannibal on the east and St. Joe on the west, met at this
point at 7:00 a in., February 13, 1859, and made the connection which
completed the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad, across the State of
Missouri.
On
June 10, 1856, the first train made the run from Hannibal to Palmyra.
Gradually the building crew pushed the line farther across the state
and on February 14, 1859, the first through train for St. Joseph left
Hannibal.
In
August, 1859, Abraham Lincoln rode over the line on his way to Council
Bluffs, Ia.
On
April 3, 1860, with Engineer Ad Clark, the famous Pony Express run was
made. Up until this time the mail was hauled by boat to St. Joseph and
distributed by pony through the west. The distance of 206 miles was
covered by this train in slightly over four hours, averaging better
than 50 miles an hour for the entire trip and running tA times, as
fast as 65 miles an hour.
Just
when prospects were rosiest, the dread calamity of the Civil War burst
npon the land, and for the next four years the right of way was
literally transformed into a battle field. Trains were wrecked,
bridges burned, and colonization brought to a halt.
With
the aid of federal troops the line was kept open and despite the
hazards of war the road made one innovation of lasting importance. In
July, 1862, an alert clerk in the St. Joseph post office converted a
baggage car into a mail sorting car so that distribution could be made
in transit, thereby expediting delivery to the famed Pony Express at
St. Joseph. The result was the forerunner of today’s nationwide
railway post office service.
The
history of the Burlington dates back to 1849, when a charter to build
a 12-mile line providing a rail connection into Chicago was secured by
a group of citizens of Aurora, Illinois.
By
1856, through amalgamation with other small Illinois lines, it had
reached the Mississippi River at Burlington, Iowa, and Quincy,
Illinois; and had taken the name “Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Railroad.” Later the line spanned Iowa, and during the ‘SOs
extended to the foot of the Rockies at Denver, and to the Twin Cities
of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Today
the Burlington serves 14 midwestern states with nearly 11,000 miles
of line, reaching almost every important commercial center in the
Middle West from the Great Lakes to the Rockies. Through connections
with its subsidiary, the Colorado & Southern, and with the Great
Northern and Northern Pacific Railways at Billings, the Burlington
also provides a tidewater to tidewater line from the Gulf Atlantic to
the Puget Sound Pacific.
Among
the many noteworthy pioneering achievements studding the Burlington’s
history are the following:
The
Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, in addition to completing the
first rail line to the Missouri River, operated the first railroad car
in which mail was sorted in transit, forerunner to today’s nationwide
railway postal service.
Burlington
rails reached Denver in May, 1882, forming the first railroad under
single management to provide through service between Chicago and
Denver.
The
‘Burlington inaugurated the use of fluorescent lighting in passenger
trains, and was the first railroad to employ disc-type brakes. It also
was the first railroad to use stainless steel in its passenger car
fleet.
In
1934, the Burlington introduced America’s first Diesel-powered
streamlined train, the Pioneer Zephyr, now pulling through Monroe
City, graoddaddy of the hundreds of Diesel-powered freight and
passenger trains operated throughout the country today.
In
1945, the Burlington originated the first Vista-Dome car, and in 1949,
together with the Rio Grande and Western Pacific railroads,
inaugurated the California Zephyr, the first trans-continental
Vista-Dome service.
The
latest Burlington innovation, introduced with the inauguration of
the new Vista-Dome Denver Zephyr trains late in 1956, was the Slumber
coach, providing low-cost private room facilities to coach
travelers.
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