Remembering the Railroads

Compiled by Betty Jane Wilson, society president

From the Valley Falls Historical Society files, excerpts from a collection of railroad tales and quotes composed by the late Lorene Catron for the historial society — 1981.

"The first railroads built in the USA were started about 1829. It was 1859 before the railroad system reached this area, which was St. Joseph, Mo.

"Trains ran on wood — coal — water — and mutton tallow until 1859 when a conductor on the New Haven Railroad dug a 60-foot oil well at Titusville, Pa. This was a breakthrough.

"Another great advancement was the use of windmills, which were introduced by the railroads. Union Pacific had 70 large windmills they used for pumping water for use on the locomotives. One of the largest towers was 72 ft. high with a wheel 25 ft. across.

"The railroads were not welcomed by the boat people, especially in the south. They fought them all, going so far as to sabotage the bridges across riverways. Besides boat and bridge shippers, rival railroad crews would sabotage each other in order to hold their territory . . .

"Americans were enchanted with the Iron Horse! In 10 years, railroad promoters had taken 33 million acres across the peoples' land. In planning the railroads, Indian rights were ignored and 31 million buffalo were slaughtered in Kansas alone . . . The railroads west and south intercepting thousands of cattle grazing grounds . . . Even with free land, it took capital to build a railroad. Counties voted money, towns voted land and cash for terminals, individuals invested $400 and $500 each.

"Business would boom, real estate prices soared, farms started, and everybody won.

"The Santa Fe was late getting started, but in 1871 work started from both ends — Topeka to Atchison. It was completed in 1872.

"At that time, trains ran by smoke and headlights. The crews kept Winchester rifles handy. Drunken cowboys shot out the headlights, raided lonely depots, and Indians and prairie fire plagued the new railroads.

"The trains had no vestibule on their passenger cars. Conductors and brakemen leaped from car to car. There were no lavatories. Coal stoves heated the cars in winter.

"Before the railroad moved in, only a few thousand people were in the territory. In a few short weeks, with a railroad, the population doubled and tripled.

"The 'work train,' which laid out the railroad, was a 'town on wheels.' Laying of the rails was like a military operation. There were surveyors, locaters, graders, bridge builders, men placing ties, laying track, spiking down the rails, ballasting and completing the road.

"Work camps looked like a town. Another camp would be established 140 miles or so west. Then a new camp would follow on wagons with the the knocked down buildings, tents, wooden siding, and entire roofs. The vilest of men and women, gamblers, and desperadoes made up these settlements. Herds of cattle were driven each day alongside the work train to have fresh beef to eat. It cost $20 to $30 thousand to build a mile of railroad. Even then much of the work was shoddy and had to be replaced.

"The telegraph lines replaced the Pony Express. Each train carried a telegrapher as a member of the crew. He also served as a baggage man. Engineers and firemen were paid $60 a month. The brakeman had the most dangerous job of all and was paid $40 a month. He had to stand between the cars to couple them together. Many had missing fingers and hands. He also had to ride on top of cars in all kinds of weather to use the hand brakes. It took 15 or 20 years before railroads put in automatic couplers and air brakes."

Passenger rail service in Valley Falls ended in 1958.

The society's museum will be open at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 21.