Topics in Kansas History: Transportation

At the center of the nation, Kansas has served as a crossroads to the West. Trails traversed the area long before Santa Fe Trail provided a commerce route from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe. Opened in 1821, the largest portion of the trail passed through Kansas. In the late 1840s, emigrants traveled west along the Oregon-California Trail, passing through the northeast portion of the state. The state's railroad history began in 1866 with the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, opening between Topeka and Leavenworth. By 1872 the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe track reached the western Kansas border. Aviation travel began in 1911 with the first successful test flight over Topeka.

Railroads

Cyrus K. Holliday and a group of businessmen from Topeka and Atchison secured incorporation of a railroad in 1859. Because of the disruption of the Civil War, however, construction did not begin until 1868. It took four years to complete the line to the Colorado border. From there it was extended on across southeastern Colorado and into New Mexico. Eventually the railroad became one of the most important links between Chicago and Los Angeles.

In September of 1860, a small group of entrepreneurs, including Cyrus K. Holliday, met in Luther Challis's law office in Atchison.

Cyrus K. Holliday

One of the founders of Topeka, Holliday devoted much of his life to the economic development of the city. Perhaps his most important effort was the organization of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in 1863. For the next five years Holliday and his fellow supporters of the company scoured the eastern United States for funds to build a railroad southwestward across Kansas toward California. Late in 1868 the first tracks were laid in Topeka.

Great celebrations greeted railroad officials and construction crews as the tracks reached more and more distant towns. Often a town's survival depended on whether or not it was serviced by a railroad line.

The Santa Fe, like all of the major railroads in Kansas, received thousands of acres of land from the U.S. government. This was sold to produce direct revenue for the railroad and to increase the number of potential customers in the railroad's service area.

In order to stimulate settlement on its Kansas lands, the Santa Fe Railroad offered free or reduced rate transportation to potential buyers.

Many settlers on railroad land, especially those from overseas, could bring all of their household goods at the company's expense. Others were often given very low freight rates.

When built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1880, No. 132 was one of the largest locomotives in the world. It was designed to haul heavy trains over Raton Pass in New Mexico, the highest point on the Santa Fe line. The locomotive now stands restored in the Kansas Museum of History.

Steam locomotives used great quantities of fuel and water so were forced to stop every few miles to be resupplied.

The largest type of steam locomotive ever built in the Santa Fe shops was the mallet. Two smaller engines were joined to make this monster. Despite their huge size, the Santa Fe mallets never proved to be effective.

As early as 1910, Santa Fe was experimenting with gasoline-powered streamlined motorcars on its line from Chanute to Pittsburg. The McKeen cars were very reliable as branch-line equipment.

By the 1930s, most of the passenger traffic on the Santa Fe branch lines was being carried by "Doodlebugs," multi-purpose cars powered by self-generated electricity.

Early passenger coaches were beautifully finished in wood and brass. Comfort for the passenger increased as sleeper cars evolved to offer a good night's rest.

Fred Harvey

Harvey was an Englishman who gained fame for the lunchrooms, restaurants, and hotels that he established along the Santa Fe line. In 1876 he assumed the management of the lunchroom in the Topeka depot and so impressed officials of the Santa Fe Railroad that they eventually contracted with him to operate all of their dining facilities. The Harvey Houses became well known for their good food and fast service, qualities often lacking in railroad eateries.

By the late nineteenth century, dining cars had become standard fixtures on first-class Santa Fe passenger trains. Fred Harvey continued to offer the same fine food and service that he had developed in his restaurants.

Freight hauling was one of the most important services of the railroads. Refrigerator cars, packed with ice, protected perishable cargo during a long journey.

Tracks required continual maintenance to remain safe. Section crews were responsible for the upkeep of six to eight-mile stretches of track. This was the hardest work done for the railroads and often only new immigrants were willing to take the job.

Railroad yards ranged from tiny fueling stations to huge industrial complexes at major centers like Topeka. Nearly every type of locomotive used by the Santa Fe was built in the Topeka shops during the steam era. The great flood of 1903 left Santa Fe facilities along the Kansas River either washed out or buried under a layer of mud.

The Santa Fe developed a distinctive style of depot, usually of frame construction with brackets supporting the eves.

Railroad employees were cared for in hospitals at such railroad centers as LaJunta, Colorado, and Ottawa, Kansas. Later a large hospital was built at Topeka. Other facilities for employees included YMCAs and reading rooms.

The Santa Fe often furnished special cars. Celebrities, especially politicians like Teddy Roosevelt, caused a sensation when their special trains stopped in a community for them to speak to the gathering crowd.

Union Pacific Railroad

The Union Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Division, was organized in 1863. Some construction work immediately began near Wyandotte. However, only after later generous grants from the U.S. government did track laying get underway in earnest.

The railroad received 6 million acres of land plus substantial sums of money to support construction.

In September 1870, the line reached Denver, Colorado Territory. Shortly afterward it was connected with the main transcontinental route, the Union Pacific, at Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory.

The name of the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, was changed to Kansas Pacific in 1868. The railroad was reorganized in 1879 because of persistent financial difficulties. The next year it was merged with its major competitor, the Union Pacific.

Survey parties, such as this one, laid out the route of the railroad across Kansas. The soldiers from the Thirty-eighth U.S. Infantry protected the surveyors against bands of renegade whites and Indians.

Most of the construction materials had to be hauled from distant points. Sometimes wood and stone were available locally, but the iron rails were brought from as far away as Europe.

Surveyors chose the flattest possible route in order to minimize construction costs, but gullies still had to be bridged and some hills had to be graded down.

Like other railroads, the Kansas Pacific relied on the American type, or 4-4-0, locomotive to pull its flatland trains until near the end of the 19th century.

Train wrecks were common, even after steel rails and better equipment made rail travel safer. Repair shops were scattered along the entire route.

Steam locomotives used great quantities of fuel and water, and were forced to stop every ten miles or so to be resupplied.

Businesses, such as grain elevators, that shipped or received heavy goods grew up in convenient locations near the railroad lines.

Depots were vital features of most rail yards. They served as communication centers, with their telegraph stations, and handled both passenger traffic and light freight.

The agent had responsibility for all of the many activities in the depot. At small stations he personally performed all of the duties. In a larger depot, like this one, he would have telegraphers, ticket sellers, and others to assist him.

Thousands of buffalo were shot merely for sport, the carcasses being left to rot. This action sped up the destruction of a vital source of food for the Plains Indians.

Hauling cattle was one of the most profitable activities of the Kansas Pacific during the late 1860s and early 1870s. Long trail drives brought huge herds from Texas to such shipping points as Abilene and Ellsworth.

Train crewmembers, scattered passengers, and drovers rode in the caboose at the end of a freight train. The conductor could keep an eye on the cars ahead of him and drovers were ready to care for their cows that were being transported on the train.

Trainmen and passengers alike frequented the hotels and restaurants along the line. Bed and board were usually plain, but adequate.

In 1875, Fred Harvey operated a lunchroom in Wallace on the Kansas Pacific. The next year he moved to greener pastures with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, eventually contracting to provide all of the railroad's food service. Thus, the Kansas Pacific lost one of the great innovators in the American fast-food industry.

Like the Santa Fe Railroad, the Union Pacific helped provide health care to its employees through a series of company-assisted hospitals. Railroading was among the most dangerous of occupations so such care was often needed.

Other Railroads

The Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston was organized in 1864 to build a line southward from Lawrence toward the Gulf of Mexico. In 1867, the temporary bridge in this picture was built across the Kansas River to carry materials for the construction of the tracks. The line reached Coffeyville in 1871, but problems with the purchase of Indian lands prevented its extension. Operation of the LL&G was assumed by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in 1882.

Popularly known as the "Katy," the Missouri, Kansas & Texas (MKT) grew out of the earlier Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch. In 1867, construction began at Junction City, extending southeastward along the Neosho River valley. As the first railroad line to reach the southern border of Kansas, the Katy was given exclusive rights to build through Indian Territory (Oklahoma) toward the Gulf. This gave the company a great, but temporary, advantage over its competitors.

Chartered in 1885, the Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern operated independently until it was purchased by the Missouri Pacific in 1910.

Construction of the Missouri Pacific (MOP) line in Kansas began in 1865 at Kansas City. The first tracks were built up the Missouri River to Leavenworth and Atchison. Other branches were extended westward across the state as it developed.

Agents at small depots performed a great variety of duties, from keeping records to cleaning up the office. At larger depots, job assignments were more specialized.

Continual repair was necessary to keep the tracks in safe condition.The great flood of 1903 extensively damaged railroad property in eastern Kansas.

Many railroads participated in local festivals as a means of maintaining a good relationship with the communities along their routes.

In 1882, the CRIP, or Rock Island, had only two miles of track in Kansas. By 1918, it had built three lines across the state and was a major transporter of Kansas passengers and products.

Section crews were responsible for the upkeep of six to eight-mile stretches of track. This was the hardest work done for the railroad and often only new immigrants were willing to take the job.

The Atlantic & Pacific Railroad ran through the southern part of Kansas and later became part of the St. Louis & San Francisco, or Frisco, system.

Many small railroads operated independently for a few years and then were swallowed up by larger companies. The Manhattan, Alma & Burlingame was completed in 1879, but soon was taken over as a joint operation by the Union Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.

Great dreams were shattered during the struggle to build profitable railroads. The Kansas City, Mexico & Orient projected a route southwestward across the United States and Mexico from Kansas City to Topolobampo on the Pacific Ocean. This city was expected to rival Los Angeles and San Francisco as a port for ships carrying goods to Asia. However, adequate trade never developed, the line was never completed, and its northern sections were purchased by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe in 1928.

Depots

The depot served as the transportation and communication center of most Kansas towns.

Passengers studied schedules, bought tickets, and waited for trains there. News, personal messages, and train orders passed in and out over the telegraph wires that led there. Freight was loaded and unloaded in the nearby railroad yards, and often the paperwork was processed there.

Agents at small depots performed a great variety of duties, from keeping records to cleaning up the office. At larger depots, job assignments were more specialized.

The Kansas Pacific Railroad built in Victoria a combined depot, hotel, and temporary residence for George Grant, the founder of Victoria. It also served as short-term housing for Volga-Germans as they came into the area after the mid-1870s and bought land from the railroad.

By the 1880s, the larger towns could boast of impressive railroad depots, usually built of stone or brick. Pity the poor railroad official who proposed to build a depot that was smaller or plainer than a town's citizens thought was proper.

Most of the heavy freight that was hauled into or out of Kansas after 1870 was carried by rail.

Lunchrooms, restaurants, or hotels clustered in and around depots to serve the needs of passengers. Dining and sleeping cars reduced the necessity for such facilities after the beginning of the 20th century.

Aviation

Walter H. Beech, E. M. Laird, J. M. Moellendick, Lloyd Stearman, and Clyde Cessna, are regarded as founders of the aircraft industry in Wichita. A native of Tennessee, Beech began flying in 1914. After serving in the army air corps during World War I, he spent three years barnstorming over the central states. In 1921, Beech settled in Wichita to work for a local aircraft manufacturer. Four years later, he founded his own company, Travel Air Manufacturing Company. The Great Depression forced the closing of this company but in 1932 he opened his new business, the Beech Aircraft Company. His aircraft set standards considered unattainable by others. Walter Beech died in 1950 but his company continues to be a major producer of aircraft for personal, business, and military use.

In 1912, L. Philip Billard learned to fly from Topeka aviator and aircraft builder, Albin. K. Longren. His flights around the capital city were frequently mentioned in Topeka papers. This attention was due to the public's fascination with this new invention and to the fact that Philip Billard was the son of Topeka mayor, J. B. Billard. His father was quoted in 1912 as being "opposed to his son purchasing the racing biplane, because of the dangers of flying, but Phil wanted something that was faster than an auto."

His father's concerns about the dangers of flying were well founded. Many pilots had accidents in these early aircraft. Tragically, in 1918, Philip lost his life in a plane crash in France. While serving as a test pilot and instructor during World War I, he was killed when his plane disintegrated.

Clyde V. Cessna was born in Iowa in 1879. Cessna came to Kansas the following year when his family settled in Kingman County. His interest in flying supposedly developed from attending a traveling "air circus" in Enid, Oklahoma, in 1910. He immediately abandoned his job as an automobile salesman and went to work for an aircraft company in New York. In 1911, Cessna quit to build his own plane. It crashed on an early flight but he was not discouraged.

During the winter of 1916-1917, Cessna moved his operations to Wichita where he continued to improve his design skills. In 1925 he became a partner of Stearman and Beech in the Travel Air Company. A disagreement over whether to build monoplanes or biplanes ended the arrangement two years later. Cessna was determined to build a high-performance, single-wing plane. He succeeded in this task in 1927 with the production of model AW. Cessna retired in 1936 to return to farming. He died in 1954 at the age of 74. The company that still bears his name is today one of the leading manufacturers of small aircraft in the world.

Amelia Earhart, one of the nation's most famous women flyers, was born in Atchison in 1897. Earhart's love of flying began in her youth. She gained national prominence in 1928 by being the first woman to cross the Atlantic. Not content with only having been a passenger on that flight, Earhart piloted herself across the ocean in 1932, the first woman to fly the Atlantic alone. Over the next five years, she set aviation records, wrote books and articles, and taught at Purdue University. In 1937, while attempting an historic around-the-world flight, she mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific.

Albin K. Longren's brief flight in his pusher-type biplane on September 2, 1911 marked the beginning of a new era in Kansas aviation history. The "Topeka I" is considered the first Kansas aircraft to actually fly.

Born on a farm near Leonardville, Longren spent his life working in the field of aviation. As a young man, he barnstormed throughout the Midwest from 1911 - 1914. His numerous flights earned him the nickname "Birdman."

In these early years, money was often an incentive for young aviators. At one event, Longren was guaranteed $5,000 if he could get his plane airborne. After waiting all day for the wind to die down, he took off. His plane managed to get only a few feet off the ground before crashing into a riverbank. Longren was reported to be uninjured, and it is unknown whether he was able to collect his prize money.

Longren invested much of his income from barnstorming into his Topeka factory. This was the first successful aircraft-manufacturing firm in Kansas. Eventually forced to close his plant in 1926, Longren spent the next 20 years as a consultant for other manufacturing companies. Longren died in California at the age of 68. The only surviving example of his work is a pusher-type biplane built in 1914. Fellow Topeka aviator, Philip Billard, once owned it. The plane is now on permanent exhibit at the Kansas Museum of History.

Born in Iowa in 1886, Glenn Martin spent his childhood in Liberal and Salina. Even as a boy, Martin was fascinated with flying and experimented with biplane-type kites on the windy Kansas prairie. In 1905 the Martin family moved to California. It was there that Martin's first aircraft was built and flown in 1909. Two years later he returned to Kansas for a series of barnstorming flights. Martin went on to become a world famous aircraft manufacturer. Martin Marietta was the corporate successor to the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company.

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