direction of its rivers, and its capacity to produce, in boundless
plenty, all that can minister to the comfort, wealth, and power
of man I should still confidently believe that the greatest city
upon the continent must be established within that span's length
upon the map.
* % % ::- * * ;: *
" Consider the country through which the road is to pass. It
abounds in all the menns necessary for the support and comfort
of a dense population. Its rich soil produces in abundance all
the plants that belong to the climate, and its most barren hills
serve but to contain its unmeasured stores of mineral treasures.
" But whither does it tend ? When you have constructed the
road to the frontier of Missouri, what power can stop it there?
Beyond lie the extended plains of the Missouri and the Arkan-
sas, New Mexico, Utah, California, Oregon, the Pacific, and the
old Eastern World. My mind recoils from the magnitude of
the contemplation, and I leave the incalculable results to mingle
with the future glories of our country's name."
In the absence of the Governor of the State, Hon.
Austin A. King, who was detained at home by ill-
ness, Hon. Luther M. Kennett was called upon by
the president of the company, Mr. Allen, to perform
the ceremony of raising the first sod in the com-
mencement of the work of grading the road. On
receiving the spade which Mr. Allen presented for
that purpose, Mr. Kennett made a brief address,
closing with the statement that he would proceed to
use the spade " to make the first cut in the line of
the Pacific Railway."
At the conclusion of Mr. Kennett's speech, the
procession again formed, and while the band played
the " Governor's March," the assemblage proceeded
to the line of the road, near the shore of Chouteau's
Pond. The mayor here shoveled a few spadefuls of
earth into the pond, and was followed by the presi-
dent, Mr. Allen, and several other members of the
Pacific Railroad Company. Enthusiastic cheers
greeted this proceeding, with which the ceremonies
closed.
The first section of the First Division (from St. Louis
to Franklin), the construction of which was thus in-
augurated, extended from Seventh to Fourteenth
Street, St. Louis, and included the filling in of Chou-
teau's Pond. The work of grading was fully com-
menced on the 2d of August, 1851. The contracts
on the first divisions were let when labor was cheap,
and with little or no experience by contractors in
doing work in Missouri, and labor increased in price
from seventy-five cents to one dollar and twenty-five
cents per day. A great deal of sickness prevailed
upon the line most of the time. The cholera made
its appearance nearly every year on almost every sec-
tion. Provisions of all kinds rose to very high prices.
Material was found more difficult of excavation than
any one could have supposed. All these difficulties
combined increased the cost much over original esti-
mates. A large portion of the work when the cars
commenced running to Franklin was in an unfinished
condition, and required a great deal of labor with
gravel trains, in widening embankments and taking
down slopes in cuts. Most of the ballasting was done
by the company', material being procured from the
bluffs upon the Maramec River.
The second division extended from Franklin to
Jefferson City. 1
As the work progressed it was soon discovered that
more money would be needed, and on the 6th of Sep-
tember, 1851, an election was held to test the sense
of the people of St. Louis County on the expediency of
subscribing an additional one hundred thousand dollars
to the stock of the company, which resulted in favor
of the proposition. Strenuous efforts were also made
to swell the resources of the company by procuring
grants of land from the general government. In
June, 1852, as heretofore stated, Congress passed an
act approved June 10th, which granted the right of
way to the State of Missouri and a portion of the
public lands to aid in the construction of railroads.
The provision of the act relating to the sale of these
lands was as follows :
"That a quantity of land not exceeding one hundred and
twenty sections on each road, and included within a continuous
length of twenty miles of said road, may be sold ; and when the
Governor of said State shall certify to the Secretary of the Inte-
rior that said twenty miles of said road is completed, then an-
1 Sections 16 and 17 were the heaviest on the First Division,
covering very deep rock excavations and two tunnels, one about
six hundred and the other about four hundred and fifty feet long.
During the progress of this work the cholera appeared and drove,
at several periods, the entire force from the sections. Great num-
bers died, and for a while it was impossible to induce men to go
upon the work. Finally the contractors succeeded in procuring
a large force, but there was a good deal of trouble between Sec-
tions 17 and 18, which finally resulted, in January, 1853, in a
general riot in which two laborers of Section 17, John Flood and
James Carroll, were killed and a number of others badly injured.
In order to suppress these disturbances and restore order, the
St. Louis Grays, Capt. Knapp, and the Missouri Artillery, Capt.
Almstedt, were dispatched to the scene and accomplished that
object. After this outbreak a police force was stationed upon
Section 18, which had become known as the " Bloody Eigh-
teenth," to preserve order.
1156
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
other like quantity of land hereby granted may be sold, and
so from time to time until said road is completed; and if said
road be not completed within ten years, no further sales shall
be made, and the lands unsold shall revert to the United States."
The State of Missouri also extended liberal assist-
ance to the road. The first legislation on the subject,
as we have seen, was the act of March 12, 1849,
which required the company to complete the road
within ten years from the date of its commencement,
and reserved to the State the right to purchase the
road at the expiration of fifty years, two years' notice
of the intention so to do having been given, its value
to be ascertained by appraisers mutually chosen. The
General Assembly afterwards passed an act, approved
Feb. 22, 1851, granting to the Pacific Railroad Com-
pany a loan of the credit of the State to the amount
of two millions of dollars, in special bonds of the
State, bearing interest at the rate of six per centum
per annum from the date of the respective issues
thereof, payable twenty years thereafter, to be deliv-
ered to the company in sums of fifty thousand dollars,
after satisfactory evidence that an equal sum, derived j
from the other moneys of the company, had been ex-
pended on the work prior to the original and each
successive issue. The act provided further that as a
condition precedent to the delivery of the first install-
ment of bonds, a bona fide subscription to the capital
stock of the company of one million and a half of dol-
lars should be made; required the company to provide
for the payment of the accruing interest and the prin-
cipal of the bonds, and provided that the acceptance
of the successive issues of bonds, filed in the office of
the Secretary of State, should operate as a mortgage
of the entire property of the company to the State, to
secure the payment of principal and interest, to be
foreclosed for the benefit of the State upon failure to
make such payment, with the further condition that
none of the bonds should be disposed of at less than
their par value.
During the same session an act was passed entitled
" An Act to amend the act entitled 'An Act to incor-
porate the Pacific Railroad/ " approved March 1,
1851, and accepted by the stockholders of the com-
pany, as required by the act, on the 2d of December,
1851, enlarging and defining the powers granted by
the original act of incorporation, removing the con-
ditions therein contained that the city of Jefferson
should be made a point on the line of the road, and
that it should intersect the western line of Van Buren
County, and authorizing the company to select any
route from St. Louis to the western line of the State
deemed mo^t advantageous. The act authorized the
company to borrow money for the purpose of com-
pleting and operating the road (to any amount not
exceeding the unsubscribed capital), and to issue
bonds therefor, secured by mortgage on their prop-
erty, subject, however, to the prior lien of the State.
On the 13th of December, 1852, the president
and directors of the Pacific Railroad Company ad-
dressed a memorial to the General Assembly, setting
forth their willingness in view of the fact that that
part of the grant of land made to the State by the
act of Congress, approved June 10, 1852, and
applicable to a railroad from St. Louis to the western
boundary of the State, would, if the lands were selected
with reference to the then proposed line of the road from
St. Louis to the western boundary of the State, yield
so small a quantity of land in view of the conditions
coupled with the grant, as to be of comparatively little
value to the railroad to undertake the construction
of a branch road, diverging from the trunk line of
the Pacific Railroad, and terminating on the western
boundary of the State, south of the Osage River, and
seeking, if the views of the memorialists should be
adopted, a further loan of the credit of the State in aid
of the construction of the proposed branch road, and
also, in view of the proposed diversion of the land grant
from the main trunk of the Pacific Railroad, praying
for an additional loan of the State credit to secure its
completion. The memorialists further proposed to con-
struct a branch of the Pacific Railroad southwardly
to the Iron Mountain and Pilot Knob, if the aid of
the State by a loan of her credit should be given.
At the first session of the seventeenth General As-
sembly an act was passed entitled " An Act to accept
a grant of land made to the State of Missouri by the
Congress of the United States, approved June 10,
A.D. 1852, to aid in the construction of certain rail-
roads in this State, and to apply a portion thereof to
the Pacific Railroad," approved Dec. 25, 1852, and
accepted by the Pacific Railroad Company, as re-
quired in the act, on the 21st of January, 1853.
This act vested the lands granted by act of Congress
in the Pacific Railroad Company, to be by it se-
lected, and located along the line of a road to be con-
structed by that company identical with the main line
of the Pacific Railroad to the point of divergence, and
diverging from the main trunk line of the road at a
point east of the Osage River, and striking the west-
ern boundary of the State south of the Osage River, at
any point selected by the company. This act granted a
loan of the credit of the State in aid of the construction
of the Southwest Branch Road to the amount of one
million of dollars, on the condition that no part of the
credit thus granted should be used until a bona fide
subscription of five hundred thousand dollars to the
RAILROADS.
1157
capital stock of the company, applicable to the con-
struction of the Southwest Branch, should be made,
and on terms and under limitations similar to those
which had attended the former grants of the credit of
the State. The act further provided that the main
trunk of the Pacific Road should be located from St.
Louis to Jefferson City ; thence by the best inland
route through Johnson County, terminating at any
point designated by the company in Jackson County,
conditioned that the counties west of Jefferson City
should subscribe four hundred thousand dollars to the
capital stock of the company, in addition to the amount
already subscribed ; in default of which the company
should be at liberty to select for the road any location
deemed expedient. An additional grant of the credit
of the State to the amount of one million dollars, ap-
plicable to the construction of the main trunk of the
Pacific Railroad, was made by this act, on the same
terms and conditions as prescribed in the act of Feb.
22, 1851, with the requirement that the road
should be completed to its terminus in Jackson
County and in operation within five years from the
date of the passage of the act. Power was granted to
the company for the purpose of raising money from
time to time, for the completion and construction of
the Branch Road, to sell the land in the manner pro-
vided in the act of Congress of June 10, 1852, and
to issue bonds bearing a rate of interest not greater
than seven per cent, per annum, secured by mortgage
of the lands, subject to the terms of the act of Con-
gress, for the redemption of which bonds the faith of
the State should in nowise be pledged.
In the winter of 1853 an act was passed entitled
" An Act to authorize the formation of railroad asso-
ciations, and to regulate the same, approved Feb. 24,
1853, which provided that the gauge of track or
width between the rails of all railroads in this State
should be five feet six inches," the gauge adopted and
brought into use prior to that time by the Pacific
Railroad Company.
An act was also passed at the same session amend-
atory of the original act of incorporation, approved
Feb. 24, 1853, authorizing the Pacific Railroad Com-
pany to extend, construct, and operate the road to any
point west of the boundary of the State, and to enter
into contracts for that purpose.
At the first session of the Eighteenth General As-
sembly an act was passed entitled " An Act for the
benefit of the Pacific and other railroad companies,"
approved Feb. 10, 1855. This act provided for the
loan to the Pacific Railroad Company of the sum of two
hundred thousand dollars. The act so amended former
laws as to require the Governor to deliver to the several
74
railroad companies in the State who were entitled to a
further issue of State bonds the whole amount within
the limits of the grants to them respectively to which
they were entitled by virtue of showing an equiva-
lent amount of actual expenditure upon their roads,
respectively, of funds derived from other sources,
without regard to the limit of such disbursement,
before fixed at fifty thousand dollars ; and, further,
by authorizing the several companies to sell the
bonds issued to them at their market value, even
though they should fall below par, and by authorizing
the hypothecation of the bonds, if desired, to carry
on the operations of the roads.
At the same session an act was passed entitled
" An Act to aid the construction of the Pacific Rail-
road," approved March 3, 1855, granting a further
loan of the State credit to the amount of three hun-
dred thousand dollars, on the same terms and condi-
tions which governed the loans formerly made, and
providing for the appointment of a Board of Public
Works to examine into the affairs of the company
and its management. This act provided that unless
accepted by the Pacific Railroad Company within six
months after its passage it should be inoperative, and
not having been accepted by the company it expired
by its own limitation. A supplemental act passed at
the same session was approved March 3, 1855, pro-
viding for the protection of innocent settlers on lands
included in the land-grant to the Pacific Railroad
Company.
On the 1st of June, 1853, a mortgage was executed
by the company for ten million dollars, which included
the lands granted by the General Assembly to the Pa-
cific Railroad and the entire property of the company
on the main and branch line, subject to the prior lien
of the State. No bonds were sold under this mort-
gage, and it was subsequently canceled.
The estimates of cost furnished to the Legislature
Dec. 1, 1852, were:
St. Louis to Kansas $7,858,043
Southwest Branch 8,157,000
Total, exclusive of interest $16,015,043
Estimates submitted Jan. 1, 1855 :
Full expenditures required, with interest,
etc., from St. Louis to Kansas, with roll-
ing stock $10,300,000
Southwest Branch to State line 9,900,000
Total estimate, Jan. 1,1855 $20,000,000
The total of stock subscriptions and State bonds
devoted to the purposes of the company up to No-
vember, 1855, amounted to $6,734,400. Of this
sum the individual subscriptions amounted to $864,400,
of which $140,000 was applicable west of Jefferson
1158
HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.
City. The subscriptions made by the city and county
of St. Louis, payable in bonds, were :
City of St. Louis $500, 000
County of St. Louis 5UO,UOO
County of St. Louis subscribed in cash,
at one, two, three, and four years,
$1,200.000, but anticipated by the
county's bonds to the amount of 875,000
The first railroad iron for the Pacific Road was re-
ceived in St. Louis in April, 1852. There were in
all 42t>7 bars, the aggregate cost of which was
$16,595.30. The government duty amounted to
64978.50. The iron was imported from England.
On Nov. 12, 1852, the first locomotive, the " Pacific,"
manufactured at Taunton, Mass., was placed upon the
track at the machine-shop erected by the company,
and run out to the Manchester road.
"Yesterday evening," said the Republican of Dec. 2, 1852,
" we visited the depot station of the Pacific Railroad Company
to see the first car started, and listen to the first whistle of the
iron horse on this side of the Mississippi. We were disap-
pointed in seeing the car start, but we had, in company with a
number of persons, the pleasure of seeing the first car, the
' Pacific, No. 3,' placed on the track, and this morning at seven
o'clock we expect to hear the first whistle. Owing to unavoid-
able circumstance.*, the car and tender could not be placed upon
the track as early as was expected. It is there now, and the
fact mny be announced that the first car for the Pacific was
placed on the track yesterday evening."
On the following day, as anticipated, the first
trial was made. The locomotive, with the tender, had
been backed down nearly to Fourteenth Street, and
three heavily-laden cars of iron and ties were attached.
Thomas Allen, president of the company, T. S. O'Sul-
livan, engineer, Mr. Copp, the secretary, and a num-
ber of other gentlemen were present. William II.
Kingsley, the resident engineer, having charge of the
construction of the First Division, had the track in
complete working order. Everything being ready, and
the word given, "All aboard," Charles Williams, the
chief machinist of the company, took charge of the
engine, and at seven o'clock the whistle sounded, and
O *
the (rain was in motion. To Mr. Williams belongs
the credit of having run the first engine west of the
Mississippi going towards the Pacific. The train was
run successfully to the terminus of the track, a dis-
tance of several miles.
A few days later the road was completed to Sulphur
Springs, or Cheltenham, five miles from St. Louis,
and an experimental trip was made to that point on
the 9th of December, 1852. 1
i "The president, Thomas Allen, in commemoration of the
event, had invited the directors of the company, the members
of the Legislature from St. Louis and other counties, then on
their way to Jefferson City, and a few early friends of the en-
terprise to a collation at the Sulphur Springs, or Cheltenham.
At one o'clock the train was off. There were two beautiful and
During this year (1852) Mr. Kirkwood, chief en-
gineer, resigned, and was succeeded by Thomas S.
O'Sullivan.
On the 6th of May, 1853, the directors decided
that the road should be opened for travel to Kirkwood,
fourteen miles from the city, and that for the accom-
modation of way business the train should stop at Rock
Spring, two and a half miles from the city ; " Chelten-
ham, about five miles; the River des Peres, a little
beyond Sutton's ; and Webster's College, which is two
and a half miles this side of Kirkwood."
By resolution of the boar.d " the fare for passengers
from this time forth is not to exceed three cents per
mile, with proper and liberal deduction for in and out
passengers."
The First Division, thirty-nine miles, from St. Louis
to Franklin, was opened on the 19th of July, 1853,
and the event was signalized by an excursion to the
then terminus of the road. At eleven o'clock on that
day. twelve large passenger-cars, drawn by the loco-
motive " St. Louis," and carrying between six and
seven hundred invited guests, including the St. Louis
Grays, with Jackson's Band of the Sixth United
States Infantry, started for Franklin Station, in Frank-
lin County, which was then situated in a forest of large
timber, with no other improvements than a large and
handsome depot, extending several hundred feet.
Here the train was greeted by several hundred per-
sons from the surrounding country, including many
ladies. In all there were fully fifteen hundred per-
sons present.
commodious passenger-cars attached to the powerful locomotive.
A few minutes brought the company to the mansion of Mr.
llawley, at the Sulphur Springs, and they sat down to a most
bountiful repast.
"After discussing the viands the meeting was entertained by
addresses fn>ui Mayor Kennett, the president of the railroad
company, Mr. Allen, Dr. Shelby, the then Speaker of the
llou.-e of Representatives of the Stale, the Hon. Edward Bates,
James II. Lucas, Esq., Mr. Halliburton, member of the House
of Representatives from Linn, Mr. Tarvcr, Mr. O'Sullivan, the
then enginrer of the road, who commenced the work in con-
nection with Mr. Kirkwood, the first, engineer, and who was
most flatteringly toasted by the company. The health of Mr.
Williams, who ran the first locomotive, was also received with
cheers. Mr. La,l>eauine gave 'the Governor of the State and
the aid he has given this and other internal improvement en-
terprises,' and expressed the hope that his successor would prove
ns favorable to their consummation. This sentiment was re-
ceived with much enthusiasm. Mr. Loughborough and many
other early friends of this road were toasted.
"The day was remarkably fine, and at the appointed time
(railroad tiaie) the company, with several hundred who had
come out on the second train, returned to the ciiy. Everything
worked well, and for a new road, we say advisedly that there is
not a better built road in the Union." Hi-publican, Dec. 10,
1852.
RAILROADS.
1159
" Much of the latter part of the road," says a con-
temporary account, " had not been used before,
in fact, some of the rails had not been laid until that
morning, and still we arrived at Franklin before two
P.M. The actual running time, as kept by some of
the passengers, was one hour and fifty-one minutes,
a fair speed for a new, partially unballasted and untried
road."
A collation was served, after which Charles D.
Drake proposed the health of the president of the
company, Thomas Allen. In Mr. Allen's absence,
Hon. L. M. Kennett responded in an address highly
eulogistic of Mr. Allen's services in behalf of the en-
terprise. In the course of his address Mr. Kennett
congratulated his hearers on the fact that the cars were
of St. Louis manufacture, " drawn by a locomotive
made in St. Louis, and by St. Louis mechanics, Messrs.
Palm & Robertson, to whose enterprise and public spirit
the company, and the citizens of St. Louis generally,
are indebted for so important a movement towards
our city's advancement to wealth and prosperity."
The actual cost of the division was set down by
Mr. Kennett as being " a trifle over one million six
hundred thousand dollars." At this time the two
divisions of the main stem, towards Kansas, had been
located, and were under construction as far as Jeifer- :
son City, eighty-eight miles from Franklin.
Addresses were also made by Hon. John How,
mayor of St. Louis, Hon. Edward Bates, J. D. Ste-
venson, R. S. Elliott, William Palm (of the firm of
Palm & Robertson, who built the first locomotive in
St. Louis), A. S. Mitchell, P. B. Garesche, William
L. Williams, James Conran, Henry Cobb, Charles
S. Rannals, and others.
The president, Mr. Allen, who had devoted his
time and energies to the starting of the enterprise, the
first year without pay, and during the last at a salary
of fifteen hundred dollars per annum, willing still to
make sacrifices for the cause, and desirous of attract-
ing public attention at once to the necessities of the
case and to propitiate all opposition, if any, on the
score of long continuance in office, tendered his resig-
nation, which was accepted at a meeting of the board of
directors on April 30, 1854, which at the same time