Full Steam Ahead
When I came across two Plat maps, 1873 and 1890, at a flea market, it seemed that the story they told was a natural for an article about Springdale's past. Studying them, it became clear that there had been a lot of change in those seventeen years. The biggest change was the inclusion of the railroad. During this time Riley, Pine Bluff, (later Klevenville) grew up and for many years were hubs of activity in the area.
This got me thinking about change, and how outside forces can modify a community. In the case of the railroad, it changed the way the people in our township traveled, received goods, and transported products.
It made me wonder how new highways and increased population demands will transform our township in the years to come. Furthermore do we need to let the inevitable changes control us, or could we help to direct them and keep our rural identity? "Today" is tomorrow's history. Let us sincerely hope that the choices we make now will not adversely affect future generations in our township.
Also I would like to give special thanks to Marc Deneen, Helen (Riphahn) Gerber and the Mt. Horeb Historical Society for their help on this project.
Tim White
A Railroad through Springdale
In 1876 the owners of The Chicago and Tomah Railroad company proposed the construction of a narrow gage railroad between Galena, Illinois and Madison, Wisconsin. This plan was abandoned because the property owners along the route would not cooperate in giving the railroad company land for the rail right of way. The next year, 1877, another rail company, the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, proposed standard gage rail service, sixty-one miles from Madison, to Lancaster, Wisconsin, that would join a completed section of rail between Monfort Jct. South to Galena. Originally the rail would have gone through the Mt. Vernon area. Instead, perhaps because of the topography, it was decided to take the route north, and so ended up traversing the northern section of our township. Work on the railroad through Springdale began in 1880.
William Dunn from the Riley area wrote:"I worked on the road for three weeks with a team and earned about $50. John Emery, a neighbor, worked for two days with me and drove a team, and he or I pulled the first scraper full of dirt out of Riley. When the railroad went through Terrance Donahue had two teams working on it, He boarded railroad men and got $1000 out of it."
The first engine steamed over the route in the fall of 1881 and among the passengers on the first run were the directors of the C.N.W. Railroad Company. Towns sprang up along the rail road. The town of "New Pine Bluff Station," later named Klevenville, and Riley's Station were both established. The railroad owned the land 50 feet each way from the center of the track and owned more land in towns for access to the rails, and built depots in the towns. In Springdale, depots were built in both Klevenville, and Riley.
In Riley's, the depot was not only a place for boarding passengers, and loading freight, it was also an important watering stop. It was there that the steam engines would "refuel" so to speak before starting the long steep grade to Mt. Horeb. Riley was known to be the best watering station along the route. But Sometimes, even with a full head of steam, the larger loads couldn't make it. Then the train would have to "double the hill," That is to say the train would have to back down the hill and unhitch some of the cars to await the engines return after delivering its contents to Mt. Horeb. Another way to make the grade with a large load was to add an extra engine to provide the extra power needed. Freight trains could handle 600 tons, loaded in up to 40 to 50 cars. In New Pine Bluff Station, Iver Kleven a prosperous businessman, donated the land for the site of the depot, as well as the railroad yards, and right of way. Later on April 27, 1891, the town took on his name and became known as Klevenville.
Local farmers used rail service to transport livestock to market. Stockyards were established in both Riley's and Klevenville. Local farmers would drive their stock to the yard to wait for the rail service to transport them to market. Joe Kliner moved to Riley in 1900 and bought stock from local farmers. His first purchase was a load of hogs bought from James Farrell, purchased for 2 1/2 ¢ per lb. During his 15 years in Riley, he shipped four loads of stock a week to market.
Commerce was directly influenced by the railroad businesses naturally located near the railroad for easy access. Besides the stock and slaughter yard, seven cheese factories were established within 3 miles of Riley. A blacksmith shop, a hotel, a tavern, a garage and gas station. For entertainment and social events the place to be was the Riley Dance Hall.
In Klevenville, businesses included several stores, a blacksmith shop, and a lumber yard. Later a quarry for the removal off silicon sand was established near Klevenville.
By 1907, four passenger trains daily traveled the rails going west, and two trains traveled east along the route. This was a period in our history in which travel was difficult, consisting of a horse and buggy, wagon, or in the winter a cutter on rough roads. The passenger trains saved many hours in what would be a long and arduous journey. In the early 1880's the otherwise all day trip from Monfort to Madison took just three hours. It was now practical for people to travel long distances to visit relatives or shop for goods. Communications were greatly improved, and emergencies could be better dealt with.
Train travel was not without its social benefits. The depots along the route became gathering places to converse. Unlike today when most commuters travel alone from place to place, train travel was a vehicle for socializing. The passenger trains must have been comfortable as well. Marc Deneen remembers an article saying that President McKinley took the train through our township on his way to a speaking engagement in Madison.
The railroad brought employment to the towns it traveled through. A station master kept track of the books, a section master looked after the upkeep of the rails, bridge crews were often sent for repairs to the line, and a drayman was hired to deliver freight once brought to the station.
The following are memories of Melchoir Koch whose father was a section hand for the railroad:
"My father was employed by the railroad in the days when the railroad repairmen were called section hands. Truly, those were the days when a day laborer meant just that. From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. it meant grueling work of real iron men to keep the tracks in ship shape. Each so-called section boss vied with each other to lay the most ties in a day and groom the good graces of the superintendent when he made his routine inspection. "Working on the Railroad" was never a song inspired by men who work on the section from seven to six for the sum of $ 1.25 per day, and two weeks of each month in the winter time."
Travel by rail was a relatively safe way to travel. The only fatality Marc Deneen could remember hearing about was long before his time when a train from Mineral Point crossed the C.N.W line at Witson Jct. located between Edmond and Cobb. The crew of the Mineral Point and Northern did not think that Freight from the C.N.W. ran on Sunday and did not see the train in the fog. The engineer and crew of the M.P&N. were killed. Several derailments happened throughout the years but they were always at low speeds when rail travel had declined in the area.
In part two of this series we'll examine the relationship between the postal service and the railroad. The decline and eventual abandonment of the railroad will also be discussed. Until then...
"Full steam ahead and stay on the track."