CHAPTER XIV

TRANSPORTATION

INDIAN TRAILS AND BEE TRACES—FIRST RAILROAD IN 1869-FIRST STREET RAIL

WAY THE TROLLEY SYSTEM-INTERURBANS.

It should be kept in mind that when Appanoose county was thrown open for settlement it was one vast wilderness and rarely had been trodden by the foot of man. As has been before stated, when the first settlers came in the only signs of a road were the trail of a company of dragoons that had traversed a section of the county and "bee traces," made by venturesome bee hunters from over the border line.

One of the first necessities of the pioneer, after building his cabin and preparing a patch of ground for seed, was an outlet to the closest trading point. If his claim happened to be "back in the timber," he had to cut his way out, by felling trees and underbrush and removing them to one side. On more than one occasion the pioneer was compelled to clear away the trees in the forests in order to get to his claim with teams and wagons; and this took time and much hard labor.

By perusing the minute book of the court of county commissioners, the reader will find that a great amount of space is taken up in recording the petitions of settlers for the viewing and building of roads. Viewers were appointed to select the direction and locality of the new thoroughfares and their reports to the board are quite voluminous. The making of roads was imperative and many of them, now crisscrossing the county, were laid out in the early days of its history.

These highways answered the purpose for which they were built and do today; but, as the country grew in population and the products of its farms increased, a more rapid means of transportation became necessary. A wider and greater market was demanded and the people desired closer and more speedy communication with the outer world. Then came the railroads.

THE WABASH

The St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroad Company, successor to the bankrupt North Missouri Railroad Company, engaged in the years 1867-8 in railroad building in Missouri. Tempting offers had been made by the people of Ottumwa and other communities in Iowa to extend the stem from Macon, Missouri, northward, and the work of construction began. It was understood by the people of Centerville that the line would reach this point, but it was.

diverted from its anticipated course by the people of Davis county. The North Missouri Company, however, laid about two miles of its line into Appanoose county in 1869, at which time the town of Moulton, which had only been platted a few months, became a station. From here the line took a long curve eastward to Bloomfield, in Davis county, and thence to Ottumwa, with the ultimate object of reaching Cedar Rapids. But in this the company was disappointed, having in the meantime become bankrupt. That part of the road constructed passed into the hands of the Wabash Railroad Company and is now part of that great system.

CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC

When the project of building the Chicago & Southwestern railroad was first inaugurated, the route as determined, was to pass through Moulton and the southern townships of the county, but the people of Centerville and the central portion of the county by a vigorous effort, the still more powerful means of a contribution of $125,000, and a donation of the right of way, secured the diversion of the route to Centerville by way of Unionville. By taking this course and securing the change of routes, bad feeling was engendered between the people of the two sections of the county, which soon passed away, however, after the change was effected. The construction of the road was rapid, as it had strong financial backing in the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific corporation. The road was completed to Centerville, February 16, 1871, and from that on Centerville took a marked change for the better. Business increased rapidly and its population was doubled in numbers in a short time. The road is now a part of the great trans-continental system of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company.

THE CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & QUINCY SYSTEM

The Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad Company was organized March 26, 1870, and its road was built the following year from Keokuk to Centerville. The incorporators were of the old Iowa Southern Company, which was organized August 3, 1866. They were F. M. Drake, James Jordan, S. W. McAtee, Andrew Coliver, William McK. Findley, H. H. Trimble, J. B. Glenn, William Bradley, T. J. Rogers, Jacob Shaw, Nathan Udell, J. D. Baker, B. Bowen, Harvey Tannehill and R. N. Glenn.

The road was mainly secured by the efforts of people living along its line in Missouri and in Appanoose county, the contributions and local aid amounting to about $700,000. The object of the incorporators was to build a line with two branches to Bloomfield, thence west by way of Centerville to the Missouri river. One of the branches it was decided should commence at a point on the Des Moines Valley railroad, running thence to Bloomfield, the other branch to commence at a point on the state line of Missouri and Iowa, where the Alexandria & Bloomfield railroad terminates, running thence to Bloomfield, there forming a branch with the branch first above named and then running west by way of Centerville through the southern tier of counties in Iowa to a point on the Missouri river. The Bloomfield program was abandoned and a consolidation