a brief history TEE IL AgEgg mmunsuuttunuccomulmem El 3 • • a 30 -.1;tIS 1 THIS BRIEF HISTORY of the Milwaukee Road was prepared to meet the frequent requests sent to us by students, hobbyists and others who, for one reason or another, want information about the history and growth of our railroad. It is not intended to be complete, but rather to present only the more meaningful developments of a period that now extends well over a century. As we were preparing this history, it occurred to us that there are interesting parallels between the early days of railroad- ing and things which are happening today. The 1860's and 1870's were a period when small railroads were being consolidated into larger, more efficient systems—when new ideas and new methods were coming at a rapid pace—when railroads were in an ex- tended period of growth, change and im- provement. Many of these same things are happening in the 1960's, and will be happen- ing in the 1970's and other years ahead. The Milwaukee Road is a leader in these developments, whether in the past, present or coming years. We hope that this history will be both interesting and useful to you. ,/•Zsr—•; PRESIDENT VELVED,.14 11-1111-11/s-tlintintintrAuntintIntyntyntrAttntynitnot\ tynlyntinlyn THE LOOK OF THE EARLY DAYS on the itlitwat,' (de of the train crews, in this photo taken at Waukesht, ,ine between 1863-1874. new wood-burning lo- comotive, hurtling down five miles of newly-built track at 25 mph, pulling two open freight cars loaded with dignitaries and railroad officials, all holding their hats and hanging on for dear life—this marked the beginning of railroading in Wisconsin. This same test run also marked the beginning of what was to be- come the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, known more informally as the Milwaukee Road. Today, this is one of our major railroads, stretching more than 10,000 miles as it reaches from Chicago and Indiana on the east to Omaha and Kansas City on the western end and to Seattle and Tacoma in the northwest. Today, the money represented in just one double-deck commuter coach (or two or three of the large new specialized freight cars) would equal the total capital involved in the original founding company when it built those first few miles of track. In reporting the history of this railroad, let's begin by sketching in the background so you can see why THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE to run in Wisconsin is shown as it looked sometime after 1874, it came to be at the time it did, and when it was No. 71. Built in 1848, scrapped in 1883, it was a 4-4-0 with 60" drivers. why it was so important in the de- 2 THE ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN was a major event, as when this wood-burning 4 4 0 was at Kilbourn, Wis., in 1875. Kilbourn now is known as the Wisconsin Dells. THE MILWAUKEE STATION, (CENTER) huge, Ornate, with stately tower is shown as it looked in 1887, the year after it was opened. It was remodeled in 1943 and in 1953 before being torn down in 1966, after the opening of a new station in 1965. THE RAW, EMPTY LOOK OF THE PRAIRIES comes through in this view of New Eng- land, N. D., as it looked less than two years after the railroad reached there in 1910. Even so, about 11/2-million bushels of grain moved from there in the 1912 season. velopment of Wisconsin and much crop came to be the second largest of the midwest. in the nation, rising from a total of In the early 1800's, fur trading four million bushels in 1849 to mul- was about the only business done in tiply in volume seven times over the the region that now is Wisconsin, next seven years, then remaining until lead mining began to grow in fairly constant at 28 million bushels the southwestern part of the area, annually through 1860. not far from Galena, Ill. This cul- Lumbering also began to be- minated in a lead "rush" beginning come a significant industry, starting in 1825, which in turn brought in up in the 1830's along the Chippewa, a number of settlers. Black and St. Croix rivers. Before 1800, there were prob- But despite booming popula- ably only about 200 non-Indian tion, rapidly growing volume of residents of the Wisconsin region, crops, huge amounts of lead mined but lead mining was to bring popu- and increasing size of cities,territorial lation growth to some 3,200 in transportation was almost literally 1830 and then 11,000 by 1836. still in the Dark Ages. Shipping or It was in 1836 that the "Territory traveling was by lake or river routes, of Wiskonsan" was organized, in- over mud roads not much better cluding what now is Wisconsin, than forest trails, on a few plank Iowa, Minnesota and part of the roads or military roads—and all of Dakotas. these were generally unusable dur- Population continued to grow, ing parts of the year. jumping to nearly 31,000 in 1840, The moving of freight was slow, to 44,000 in 1842, to more than irregular, very expensive and some- 155,000 in 1846, and then it more times hazardous under these condi- than doubled in the decade of the tions. Existing transportation fre- 1850's. quently couldn't handle the volume During this growth, lead min- of shipping. ing reached its peak in about 1847 During this time, the cities were and then began to decline. As lead beginning their growth, and begin- declined, agriculture took its place, ning to compete to see which would particularly wheat farming. have the largest share of industry, In that era, Wisconsin's wheat commerce, shipping and trade. It 3 was already clear that the city with only 23 miles of railroad track; it As Kilbourn and his associates who also were involved in the canal the best transportation would grow was to have 2,800 miles by 1840 looked over the need for better proposal, had been formed in 1836 fastest. The two earliest cities were and about 9,000 miles of track by transportation to serve a rapidly de- to propose a railroad, this being Prairie du Chien and Green Bay. 1850. veloping region, they first thought the one that eventually was built. Then Milwaukee began to boom, its One man aware of the interest in terms of building a canal between Kilbourn and his associates, population starting to grow from in railroads was Byron Kilbourn, Milwaukee and the Rock River. after dropping the idea of the canal, 1 835 onward, reaching about who was one of the three men who Some surveying was done and about then obtained a charter in 1847 that 10,000 people in 1845, and then virtually owned Milwaukee in the two miles of canal were dug before granted them rights to build a rail- almost unbelievably jumping from mid-1 830's. Kilbourn had settled the whole idea was abandoned. road over the 20 miles between 21,000 to 46,000 from 1850 to there in 1835 after having worked The earliest proposals to build Milwaukee and Waukesha. Later 1851. the preceding year in surveying the railroads in the territory came in the charter was amended so that the People had begun to think in territory. Earlier he had been an 1836, the year the territory was railroad could be extended to the terms of railroads even by the early engineer on some canal building organized. In its 12 years of exis- Mississippi River. On May 19, 1830's, despite the prominence of projects. Kilbourn, an important tence, the territorial government 1849, Kilbourn was elected presi- canal-building in that era, and even and well-educated man for that time, chartered several railroads, only one dent of the railroad company, which though the country's first locomotive was the son of an Ohio congressman of which was ever built. A com- had authorized capital of $100,000. had run a few years before, in 1825. and the son-in-law of John Fitch, mittee of Milwaukee citizens, in- It first was named the Milwaukee By 1830, the United States had an early inventor of the steamboat. cluding Kilbourn and some others & Waukesha Railroad Company, 4 THE OMAHA FREIGHT AND TICKET OFFICE (FAR LEFT) in an uncertain year—probably in the 1890's. THE MINNEAPOLIS TICKET OFFICE (CENTER) gleams with varnished voodwork in an unknown, bygone year. A NEW TRAIN IN TOWN drew crowds. ( Al LEIF! ) Here the OLYMPIAN is shown on its first trip, in Deer Lodge, Mont., on May 30, 1911, a time soon alter the Milwaukee's lines were extended to the Pacific North- west region. then in 1850 the name was changed a while when cash—not something city of Milwaukee had to issue bonds guests could take a trial ride over to the Milwaukee & Mississippi to trade—was needed for getting that were used in helping finance five miles of track reaching out from Railroad Company. iron rails. This problem seemed the railroad's cash needs. Milwaukee. One of the first problems was solved when the mayor of Milton About ten years later, the mort- Pulling the two open freight how to raise money in a region that stood up at a meeting, offered to gage idea was to kick back on the cars was a locomotive that had been Indians had given up title to only mortgage his farm to help raise cash, M&M and other railroads, because shipped in by lake boat.