Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
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| Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad | |
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| Reporting marks | CRIP, RI, ROCK |
| Locale | Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas |
| Dates of operation | October 10, 1852–March 31, 1980 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RR) (AAR reporting marks RI) was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock.
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[edit] History
[edit] Incorporation
Its ancestor, the Rock Island and La Salle Railroad Company, was incorporated in Illinois on February 27, 1847, and an amended charter was approved on February 7, 1851 as the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad. Construction began October 1, 1851 in Chicago, and the first train was operated on October 10, 1852 between Chicago and Joliet. Construction continued on through La Salle, and Rock Island was reached on February 22, 1854, becoming the first railroad to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River.
In Iowa, the C&RI's incorporators created (February 5, 1853) the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Company, to run from Davenport to Council Bluffs, and on November 20, 1855, the first train to operate in Iowa steamed from Davenport to Muscatine. The Mississippi river bridge between Rock Island and Davenport was completed on April 22, 1856.[1]
In 1857, Abraham Lincoln represented the Rock Island in an important lawsuit regarding bridges over navigable rivers. The suit had been brought by the owner of a steamboat which was destroyed by fire after running into the Mississippi river bridge. Lincoln argued that not only was the steamboat at fault in striking the bridge but that bridges across navigable rivers were to the advantage of the country.[2]
The M&M was acquired by the C&RI on July 9, 1866 to form the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company. The railroad expanded through construction and acquisitions in the following decades.[3]
[edit] Territory
The Rock Island stretched across Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The easternmost reach of the system was Chicago, and the system also reached Memphis, Tennessee; 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.[4] Major lines included Minneapolis to Kansas City, Missouri, via Des Moines, Iowa; St. Louis, Missouri, to Santa Rosa via Kansas City; Herington, Kansas, to Galveston, Texas, via Fort Worth, Texas, and Dallas, Texas; and Santa Rosa to Memphis. The heaviest traffic was on the Chicago-to-Rock Island and Rock Island-to-Muscatine lines.
[edit] Passenger train service
The Rock Island jointly operated the Golden State Limited (Chicago—Kansas City—Tucumcari—El Paso—Los Angeles) with the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) from 1902–1968. The name was shortened to the Golden State after 1948's modernization. Another joint venture with the SP, the Golden Rocket, was planned to enter service in 1948 but instead became "the train that never was," after SP withdrew from the joint train operating agreement. The Golden Rocket's uniquely-colored consist was placed in Golden State service instead.
The railroad operated a number of trains known as Rockets serving the Midwest, including the Rocky Mountain Rocket (Chicago—Omaha—Lincoln—Denver—Colorado Springs), the Corn Belt Rocket (Chicago—Des Moines—Omaha), the Twin Star Rocket (Minneapolis—St. Paul—Des Moines—Kansas City—Oklahoma City—Fort Worth—Dallas—Houston), the Zephyr Rocket (Minneapolis—St. Paul—Burlington—St. Louis) and the Choctaw Rocket (Memphis—Little Rock—Oklahoma City—Amarillo—Tucumcari).
The Rock Island did not join Amtrak on its formation in 1971, and continued to operate its own passenger trains. After concluding that the cost of joining would be the same as operating the two remaining intercity roundtrips (the Chicago-Peoria Peoria Rocket and the Chicago-Rock Island Quad Cities Rocket), the railroad decided to "perform a public service for the state of Illinois" and continue intercity passenger operations. Both trains were discontinued on December 31, 1978.
[edit] Rock Island's Demise
Once an acquisition target of the Union Pacific Railroad, Rock Island was victim to the longest and most complicated railroad merger proceedings in the history of the Interstate Commerce Commission. After a decade of hearings and studies, the ICC eventually approved the acquisition of Rock Island by Union Pacific, subject to many other conditions. Rock Island's track conditions had deteriorated greatly while merger proceedings were underway, and Union Pacific declined to pursue the merger plans. In 1975, Rock Island entered receivership for its third and final bankruptcy. Attempts to reorganize failed, in part due to the US Department of Transportation's reluctance to fund another railroad bailout like Penn Central-Conrail. In August 1979, the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks (BRAC) walked out on strike against the Rock Island in a dispute over retroactive wages. When no resolution of the strike seemed possible, the ICC ordered the Kansas City Terminal Railway to take over operations of the Rock Island in September 1979. In mid-January 1980, the bankruptcy court ruled that the Rock Island could not be successfully reorganized and ordered its liquidation. Kansas City Terminal began the process of embargoing inbound shipments in late February, and Rock Island common carrier railroad operations ceased by March 31, 1980. Segments of the Rock Island continued to be operated by other railroads, under ICC directed service orders, while Rock Island trustee William Gibbons began the process of selling or dismantling the railroad in what was the largest such liquidation in U.S. railroad history.[citation needed] Rock Island's holding company, the Chicago Pacific Corporation, continued on as its railroad/transportation subsidiary was liquidated.
[edit] Company officers
Presidents of the Rock Island Railroad included:
- James W. Grant, 1850-11-27 - 1851-12-22.
- John Bloomfield Jervis, 1851-12-22 - December 1854.
- Henry Farnam, December 1854 - June 1863.
- Charles W. Durant, June 1863 - August 1866.
- John F. Tracy, August 1866 - 1877-04-14.
- Hugh Riddle, 1877-04-14 - 1883-06-06.
- Ransom Reed Cable, 1883-06-06 - June 1898.
- Warren G. Purdy, June 1898 - 1901-12-31.
- William Bateman Leeds, 1901-12-31 - 1904-03-26.
- Benjamin L. Winchell, 1904-03-26 - December 1909.
- Henry U. Mudge, December 1909 - 1915-04-20.
- Jacob McGavock Dickinson appointed receiver trustee during bankruptcy, 1915-04-20 - 1917-06-21.
- James E. Gorman, 1917-06-22 - 1933-06-07.
- Joseph B. Fleming, Frank Orren Lowden and James E. Gorman (until his death on 1942-03-25) appointed receiver trustees during bankruptcy, 1933-06-07 - 1947-12-31. Aaron Colnon replaced Frank O. Lowden as receiver trustee on 1942-04-19.
- John Dow Farrington, 1948-01-01 - 1955.
- Downing B. Jenks, 1956-1961.
- R. Ellis Johnson, 1961-1964.
- Jervis Langdon, Jr., 1965-1970.
- William J. Dixon, 1970-1974.
- John W. Ingram, 1974 - 1975-03-17.
- William J. Gibbons appointed receiver trustee during bankruptcy, 1975-03-17 - 1984-06-01.
[edit] In popular culture
- A song called "Rock Island Line", written and originally performed by blues legend Leadbelly, memorializes the railroad.
- Main article: Rock Island Line (song)
- The opening 'railroad train' number in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man (1957) is entitled "Rock Island", and suggests by the title and context that the train is indeed a Rock Island train crossing from Rock Island to Davenport, Iowa, also known as "River City".
- William Munny is reputed to have dynamited the "Rock Island and Pacific" in 1869, killing "women and children" in the film Unforgiven.
- "The Rock Island Trail"[1], starring Forrest Tucker is a Republic Studios production pertaining to the building of the Rock Island Railroad across the Mississippi River across Iowa and Illinois. The world premier of this movie took place on April 27th, 1950 in the Quad Cities. Republic stars including John Wayne, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans took part in a pre-show parade which extended from Silvis, Illinois through Rock Island, Illinois.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ From an introductory section to the Yard Clerical Manual, issued by the company circa 1970, a copy of which was retrieved 2007-09-27 from Simpson College (Iowa).
- ^ Donald, David Herbert. (1999) Lincoln. ISBN 0-684-82535-X. p.157
- ^ Yard Clerical Manual
- ^ Handy Railroad Atlas of the United States. (1973) Rand McNally & Co. p.53
