The Tracks Come Through
There is quite a bit to learn about the Railroads... and the years leading up to when the first tracks passed through Eldon.
Rock Island Railroad Circa 1880 Photo Credit Wikipedia
According to Miller County Museum
When the Rock Island Railroad came to Eldon in 1901-1902, R. S. Harvey gave all of the right-of-way for the railroad and he gave generously to the construction of the Railroad’s round house (photo 14).
Rock Island Round House: Photo Credit Miller County Museum
As a result, the Rock Island line became a major stop and station between St. Louis and Kansas City in Eldon
Territory According to Wikipedia
The Rock Island stretched across Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas. The easternmost reach of the system was Chicago, and the system also reached Memphis, Tennessee. To the west, it reached Denver, Colorado, and Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Southernmost reaches were to Galveston, Texas, and Eunice, Louisiana, while in a northerly direction, the Rock Island got as far as Minneapolis, Minnesota.[5] Major lines included Minneapolis to Kansas City, Missouri, via Des Moines, Iowa; St. Louis, Missouri Meta, Missouri, to Santa Rosa via Kansas City; Herington, Kansas, to Galveston, Texas, via Fort Worth, Texas, and Dallas, Texas; and Santa Rosa to Memphis.
After 10 years of hearings and tens of thousands of pages of testimony and exhibits produced, Klitenic, now an administrative law judge, approved the Rock Island-Union Pacific merger as part of a larger plan for rail service throughout the West. During most of the ensuing merger process, Rock Island operated at a financial loss. In 1965, Rock Island earned its last profit.
With the merger with Union Pacific seemingly so close, the Rock Island cut expenses to conserve cash. Expenditures on track maintenance were cut, passenger service was reduced as fast as the ICC would allow, and locomotives received only basic maintenance to keep them running. The Rock Island began to take on a ramshackle appearance and derailments occurred with increasing frequency.
As a result, by 1974, the Rock Island was no longer the attractive prospect it had once been in the 1950s. The cost-cutting measures enacted to conserve cash for the merger left the Rock Island property in such a state that the Union Pacific viewed the expense of bringing it back to viable operating condition to be severely prohibitive.
Legacy according to Wikipedia
Iowa Interstate's ES44AC #513 in "Rock Island" heritage colors rolls through the "Y" at Bureau Junction, IL, hauling coal from Peoria, IL, to Cedar Rapids, IA
Iowa Northern Railway engine 678 at Coralville, Iowa, painted in Rock Island livery as a memorial
The railroad's locomotives, rail cars, equipment, tracks, and real estate were sold to other railroads or to scrappers. Gibbons was able to raise more than $500 million in the liquidation, paying off all the railroad's creditors, bondholders and all other debts in full at face value with interest. Henry Crown was ultimately proven correct, as both he and other bondholders who had purchased Rock Island debt for cents on the dollar during the low ebb in prices did especially well.
Photo Credit Wikipedia
A spur of the Rock Island Railroad that ran beside a small hotel in Eldon, Missouri, owned by the grandmother of Mrs. Paul (Ruth) Henning also inspired the popular television show "Petticoat Junction" in the early 1960s. Ruth Henning is listed as a co-creator of the show, along with her husband Paul, who also created "The Beverly Hillbillies" and executive produced Jay Sommers's "Green Acres."
Research Citations: Rock Island Railroad
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