Originally written by John Bower, as a two-part article on the L.T. & SW Railroad, this article was published in the Jefferson County Historical Society Newsletters of August and September 1982.
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It is not my
purpose to write a complete history of the Leavenworth, Topeka and Southwestern Railway (in my time [Mr. Bower’s time] it was called the Leavenworth and Topeka, the L&T,
the Southwestern or “Old Jerky”). This is the story from a Jefferson County
perspective – its construction, its struggle to
survive, and its part in opening up a rich rural region.
Principal
source for the early history is The
Oskaloosa Independent, published for 100 years in Oskaloosa by the Roberts
family (to be cited as IND, or simply by the date of issue where the source is
indicated by the text). [John Wesley Roberts was the Independent editor at the time of the L.T. & SW Railroad bond
issues and construction. His son F.H. Roberts took over as editor in July 1882.]
Jefferson
County had railroad fever in 1881. Nine years after the Kansas Central built through
Winchester and Valley Falls, Oskaloosa was still without a railroad. Dependence
on horse transportation meant isolation and business stagnation.
“Two railroad companies are preparing to build
roads to this place as soon as wind and weather permit... “ (IND 1/8/1881) “Parties in the interest of the Kansas City, Oskaloosa and Northern
Railroad were here yesterday, and left for Valley Falls in the evening... our Topeka
and Leavenworth neighbors will have to hurry up or they will get left.”
With federal
grants for railroad building no longer available in the 1870s and ’80s, promoters
turned to local areas for funds to build the roads to serve them. The key to
getting a railroad was the approval of bonds by the cities and townships
benefitted.
Petitions for
bonds for the Leavenworth, Topeka and Southwestern were being circulated in
Jefferson County in January 1881 (IND 1/22/1881). Election notices appeared
February 12; Oskaloosa Township proposed $29,000. Osawkee Township $25,000, and
Rock Creek Township $16,000. These were 30 year bonds, bearing six per cent
interest. They were to be exchanged dollar for dollar for stock in the
railroad. Each proposition gave an approximate location for a depot within the
township. The line must be operating within the township within one year to
qualify.
The Independent had opposed Jefferson County
bonds for the Kansas Central (6/16/1871). But Roberts threw his full support
behind the proposal to build a railroad from Leavenworth through Oskaloosa to
Topeka and beyond. Announcing a meeting for the purpose of “consulting in reference to the best railroad interests of the county at
this time,” the Independent
urged, “Go to the railroad meeting at the court
house this Saturday.” (1/22/1881)
“As a mere matter of speculation,” said the Independent on March 5, “it will be paying investment to the
townships, and will render a rich return for the outlay... If the citizens of Rock
Creek and Osawkee Townships fail to carry the propositions submitted to them to
vote aid in the cost of the proposed railroad through their territory, they
will throw away the only probable opportunity they will ever have to advance
their interests in this direction.”
Editorials on
March 5 and 19 laid out the main arguments. To objections of some that they didn’t like the method of financing, or didn’t want it on their farm, Roberts argued that it would enhance
the value of real estate, bringing in new people and businesses. He saw cheaper
prices at the stores, higher prices for farm produce, good wages, more demand
for labor.
Since the new
railroad would pay taxes, it would pay a considerable part of the debt incurred
in its favor. Roberts calculated potential tax benefits at Oskaloosa to show
the bonds were a bargain. This benefit would continue after the bonds were paid
off. If the line made money, townships would profit from the stock they held.
Roberts did
not stop with logical arguments. “The probabilities are that this is the last
call, the acceptable time, the day of salvation,” he intoned with Old Testament fervor. “Then do not remain straddle of the fence longer... but act
promptly, do your duty by voting for the railroad and look forward for and
expect a better day.”
“Next Monday is the day set for voting aid to
the railroad in this township.” (IND Mar. 19) “We learn
there are some citizens so far behind the times they propose to vote against it.
They are to be pitied for their lack of enterprise and sagacity. Deal with them
gently. If they never grow wiser they will die so far behind the times it will
take them a hundred years on the other side to see the first glimmer of
progressive daylight.”
Oskaloosa approved the bonds 335 to 18 (Mar. 26). Rock Creek Township carried by 104. Osawkee by 113. “Hurrah for the railroad!” said the Independent.
Petition for a
vote on $15,000 in bonds in Union Township, signed by O. Hosford, J.F. Willits
and 83 others, was reported March 5. The election would be Tuesday, April 19.
With the vote
approaching, the Independent observed
(Apr. 9), “we take it the people of Union Township are
too intelligent and progressive to require any words from us to vote for the bonds.”
When the
election carried by only 16 votes, Roberts commented (Apr. 23), “There are more men behind the times in Union than there ought to be...” One can surmise the proposal to locate the railroad depot
more than two miles from Dimon, largest settlement in the township, [actually
on the Leavenworth County border] may have had some influence on the vote.
The same issue
reported that Topeka had approved bonds for the railroad by over 500 votes. Bonds
for a railroad, apparently the L.T. &. SW, passed in three of four
townships in Morris County. Alexandria Township in Leavenworth County was to
take a vote. Leavenworth voted $50,000 for the railroad by a margin of 796
votes. (Aug. 20)
Surveyors were
reported “between here and Topeka”
on May 14. A May 28
editorial belittled the ignorance of The
Kansas City Journal for saying the new railroad would have no local
traffic, asserting that is on the same level as the fear of being scalped by
Indians in Kansas City.
Engineers were
reported locating the actual line of the road on August 6. They were expected
to reach the west line of Leavenworth County “this
week.” (Aug. 20)
Signing of the
construction contract was reported August 27. This conflicts with a 1925 report
of the Interstate Commerce Commission, which says the contract was let
September 3. (Docket 601, Interstate commerce Commission, Sept. 24, 1925)
September 3
the Independent was reassuring people
of Osawkee and Rock Creek that nobody at Oskaloosa was trying to change the
route of the railroad. The following week arrangements were reported complete
for building the entire line from Leavenworth “into Lincoln County.”
Iron for 240
miles was said to have been purchased, and the contractors expected to have the
first 40 miles completed by November. (Sept. 17) Some people around
Thompsonville wanted part of the new road, and there was talk of dividing
Kentucky Township.
The proposed
route across the middle of Leavenworth and Jefferson Counties was not an easy
place to build a railroad. When the farthest reach of Kansan glacier dumped its
accumulated load, it left a high prairie whose highest point at McLouth is
nearly 400 feet above the Kansas and Missouri rivers which skirt it on the
south and east. This prairie is deeply etched by streams flowing to the Kansas
River, forming a series of valleys and highlands across the path of the new
railroad.
In 46.5 miles
from Leavenworth to Meriden, the line crossed four major streams and many lesser
ones. Construction required a rather heavy 33,000 cubic yards of excavation per
mile. There were four iron bridges from 57 to 120 feet long, and 49 pile and
frame trestles. Construction cost was more than $20,000 per mile. (Docket 601,
ICC op. cit.)
Some older
towns suffered from their high location. The line entered Jefferson County following
the divide between Fall and Tonganoxie Creeks, more than a mile north of the pioneer
village of Dimon. Residents there blamed Amos McLouth, probably not without reason,
for diverting the railroad to cross McLouth’s farm, where he promptly started a new town.
But the valley of Tonganoxie Creek would have been a serious obstacle to
reaching Dimon from the northeast.
Continuing
toward Oskaloosa, the line crossed present K-16 highway a mile west of McLouth
and followed the divide between Buck and Slough creeks. This ridge led into Oskaloosa
from the southeast, but beyond was Slough Creek, 150 feet lower than the courthouse
and little more than a mile away. Engineers made the descent by bypassing Oskaloosa
on the south and west, going down the draw where the city lakes now are [in 1982].
Oskaloosa
depot was in the valley west of town, inside the sharp curve where K-92 highway
turns northwest to follow the old railroad line. The steep, rocky road running
up the hill northeast from that spot was for more than 40 years the road from
Oskaloosa to the depot. The Independent
bitterly protested this location of the depot. Farmers complained it was the
most inaccessible spot around Oskaloosa, requiring useless travel over a bad
road, and threatened to go to Winchester or Perry instead. They blamed
Oskaloosa citizens for not making more protest against it. (Nov. 26)
It was
reported the man who made the first survey was in the employ of the Santa Fe,
and deliberately “ran a most ridiculously crooked route,
apparently for the purpose of showing that a straight line could not be
secured... Why the line should be run over the highest ground in this region
when a route 50 to 60 feet lower can be found and requiring nearly a mile less to
make the ascent or descent is a conundrum which people of common sense cannot answer.” (Dec. 10)
The route
selected required a cut 1,000 feet long and 30 feet deep east of present U.S.
59 highway south of Oskaloosa (the Independent
dubbed it “the engineer’s folly”), while the depot was located “out-of-sight of the world where it would be the least possible
value to the city and the township.”
Roberts
favored a route down “Newell Creek” on the east side of town, with the depot perhaps
near the present site of the county shops. “It
is all non-sense,” he said, “to talk of this place being inaccessible.”
December 17: “We say
once more to the managers of the railroad that they are standing in their own
light and working against their own interests in not seeking a more
satisfactory location of the road and depot at this place... If the company
should faithfully try to secure a route for their road through the corporate
limit of the town and fail, the citizens will pay the expense of the survey.”
But, when the
engineers stuck to their decision, leaving Oskaloosa one of the few Kansas county
seats without a railroad through town, the Independent
never wavered in its support. December 31, 1881: “Col.
Snow informs us that they
have commenced laying track on the railroad at Leavenworth, and have two
engines there for service. They will have the cars running to Oskaloosa by the
first of March. Whoop it up, Colonel.”
January 7,
1882: the Independent featured a long
letter, signed by “I” (probably John N. Insley, civil war
veteran and leading citizen of Oskaloosa, according to Bill Leech), counseling
the community to stop quarreling with the location of the railroad depot and
build a first class road from the square down to it. A survey for such a road
was reported February 18, and again June 24. Why they waited 40 years to build
it is not clear.
February 4,
1882: “Mr. McLouth has laid out a townsite of
135 lots where the Leavenworth, Topeka and Southwestern Railway crosses the
county road on the west line of his farm, and will have George Davis sell the
lots at auction this Saturday.”
February 11: “Track is being laid on the L.T. and SW Railroad at the rate of a
mile and a half a day. The county line will be reached before the first of
March, we are told.” Completion of the line into the county was reported
March 4.
March 25: The
cars will be running to McLouth in a few days. “This
is the first use we have seen of the name ‘McLouth’ to designate the new town.”
Many of the workers
were reported leaving the railroad construction crews because of the shameful
manner in which they were paid. (Apr. 8) Roberts thought contractors who cheated
their men ought to be in the penitentiary, “along with other thieves.”
Two adjacent
sections of road-bed east of McLouth were said to have been laid out with jump-off
of three feet in elevation, requiring regrading before track could be laid. “No
wonder such scientific and skilled engineers could not find a route through this
city!” Roberts snorted. (Apr. 22)
Meanwhile,
work was progressing west of Oskaloosa, between Slough Creek and Osawkee, the
most rugged part of the route. Slough
Creek Times, March 11, reported, “There is one cut one fourth mile in length and
ranging from six to 21 feet deep. Half the depth is hard limestone rock, which
has to be blasted out with powder. West of this cut is a small mountain sloping
up from Little Slough Creek to a height of 300 feet. The road passes halfway
down the slope. There are two fills ranging from 30 to 34 feet in depth and 300
feet long... ”
“One of the Rice Brothers” was preparing to make a blast in this cut when blasting caps
exploded in his pocket, injuring him severely. He was recovering at St. John’s hotel. Rice Brothers had a construction contract on the
railroad. (Aug. 5)
Freight was
coming to Oskaloosa by the new railroad line by May 6. “Our people
all go (to Leavenworth) by the new railroad now. “A
hack from Lohman and Sprague’s met the train at the end of track three miles east of town.”
Roberts took
his first ride on the new railroad the week of May 20, and was surprised how smooth
it was. He said the new depot building at McLouth “is in
good style and taste, and creditable to the railroad where it is located.” The river bridge at Osawkee was finished. The first “excursion” on the new line was reported, and the first timetable
appeared in the paper. Fare to Leavenworth was $1.15; from McLouth, $1.00.
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| The Oskaloosa Independent, June 3, 1882 |
The first
train wreck was reported June 3. An engine and tender jumped the track east of McLouth,
blocking the line for a day.
There was a
big celebration in Oskaloosa June 2. (June 10) Between 500 and 600 people came
from Leavenworth. Farmers and townspeople helped bring people from the end of track
south of town. The Barry Cadets drill team “drilled
in a masterly manner.” Oskaloosa Glee Club sang and the band played. About 2,500
people were there from over the county. Completion of the line through
Oskaloosa Township was reported June 24. Mail was going to Leavenworth by
train, with much better service. (July 8) There was a new post office at McLouth,
and the Independent had a growing
club of subscribers there getting the paper by train.
Oskaloosa
depot was built with a second story, with rooms upstairs for the agent’s family (July 22). E.T. Albert was the first agent. (Aug. 19)
Grading and
bridges had been completed to Meriden by July 22, but work was still being done
on “expensive trestlework this side of Osawkee.” One trestle was 700 feet long. Another, 400 feet long, was
being filled-in with earth. (Aug. 26)
Apparently
difficult areas were bridged by trestle, then filled in, with fill material
probably hauled in railroad cars. One of these trestles was still in existence
in 1981, hidden by brush and trees on a hillside above Little Slough Creek
about four miles east of Osawkee, according to Roger Coleman, Jefferson County
Soil Conservationist.
While they
were building through this rough country time ran out on the bonds voted by Osawkee
and Rock Creek Townships, and the original bonds and matching railroad stock were
destroyed by the county commissioners. (July 15) A spirited campaign was waged
at Osawkee to renew their $25,000 commitment, but it lost by a narrow vote.
(Aug. 19)
The Independent deplored this unfairness to
the railroad which had kept its promise to give them a road, but many people
probably felt no need to pay for something they were going to get anyway. There
was no mention of any second vote in Rock Creek Township. Delay had cost the
promoters $41,000.
Announcement
the following week that the L.T. & SW had been purchased by the Santa Fe
railway brought a dramatic change in the situation. It was to be completed to
Meriden and operated as other branches of the Santa Fe system. The Independent approved, for this guaranteed
the line would be completed.
Shortly
thereafter, the construction camp was moved to Meriden (Sept. 23). The line was
to be finished from that end.
While grading
had been largely completed to Topeka (traces of the old grade can still be seen
along Meriden Road in Shawnee County), rails were never laid beyond Meriden. L.T.
& SW trains went on into Topeka on the Santa Fe tracks. (ICC Docket 601, op
cit.)
The first
train from Leavenworth to Topeka via Oskaloosa —
a locomotive and one car — went
through Tuesday, October 10. (Oct. 14) “There was not much noise about it,” the
Independent said, “but it
was an important event anyhow, marking the opening and completion of a line of
road through the center of one of the oldest and last counties of this state,
and giving the county seat direct connection with Topeka and Leavenworth —
something she has waited for lo! these many years.”
Another
important event was recorded in the same issue; the telegraph line was
completed as far as Oskaloosa. The first message was sent Wednesday afternoon.
Now news of the outside world was only minutes away. The line was built through
McLouth October 6. (Oct. 7)
The first
section gang at Oskaloosa was established, with Thomas Coffey foreman. (Oct. 21)
N. Glenn bought the first ticket from Oskaloosa to Meriden. (Meriden Items,
Oct. 28). Construction of the new railroad opened up a rich agricultural area
in Leavenworth and Jefferson Counties. It became one of the best “feeder” lines in the state (Topeka
State Journal, Jan. 12, 1918), bringing livestock and farm produce to the
then considerable food processing industry in Topeka.
Economic
growth was stimulated. Oskaloosa had a sawmill (IND Aug. 19) and a new brick plant.
(Aug. 12) Coal from Leavenworth was only $4.30 per ton by the carload. (Aug.
28) Oskaloosa schools would save $45 over previous year on the winter’s fuel supply.
“Since the beginning of the railroad agitation,”
the Independent reported July 22, “some 43 new business houses and residences have been built in Oskaloosa.” That is a remarkable growth for an already established small
town.
New towns and
shipping facilities were springing up. McLouth grew rapidly, establishing itself
as an important trade center. Others, like McIntosh (two and one half miles
southeast of Oskaloosa — half a mile south of Robbins Auto
Salvage), and Ackerland in Leavenworth County, disappeared with the railroad. A
few houses still remain of Spring Valley, laid out near Oskaloosa depot in the
fall of 1882 by N. Macomber. (Oct. 14)
Thus the hope
of local citizens who bonded themselves to secure the benefits of railroad transportation,
probably were realized. But the hope of promoters to reach far away places and
reap big profits were not. The L.T. & SW did not make money.
Possibly
foreseeing this, the Independent
editorialized August 23, “It is a good deal better for Oskaloosa that
the Santa Fe has the road than that an independent company should run it.” Topeka
interest did not agree. They thought it would stifle competition. (Sept. 2)
It soon became
known (Sept. 16) that the Union Pacific had become joint owner with the Santa
Fe. They did not integrate the line into either of the parent roads, operating
it as a subsidiary, with its own officers and headquarters in Topeka. For 35
years the parent lines absorbed its losses. (ICC Docket 601, op. cit.)
Thus history
would confirm both viewpoints, but that is another story.
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| John D. Bower |
TO BE
CONTINUED
This story
appeared in “Yesteryears” in October 2014.
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