Why Didn't Illinois Central Build Further Into Minnesota?

Hey all ~

When I was a kid, I remember my uncle saying something about Illinois Central being denied by the state of Minnesota to build further north than Albert Lea, MN. Though my memory is hazy, the reason had to do with an event during the Civil War in which the IC was given the job of transporting a group of Union soldiers from Minnesota further to the fighting areas. IC, having large interests in the American South, intentionally left the cars of soldiers on a siding in the middle of nowhere (and if this is true, that location is also unknown). Later when IC was expanding westerly through a largely clean slate of empty prairie, they intended to build into Minnesota but were denied by the state because of this incident.

Does anyone have insight on this? Or was there another reason Illinois Central never built past Albert Lea? I'm aware that IC in the earlier years had a close relationship with the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway and likely used them as its arm into the Twin Cities, transferring freight at Albert Lea. Also at Albert Lea was the Rock Island who, I believe, used the M&StL to reach the Twin Cities before building their own line north to St. Paul. I'm also aware that the IC line from Cherokee, Iowa to Sioux Falls, South Dakota skimmed the Iowa-Minnesota border and was located on the north side for a few miles. I assume this is largely irrelevant.

What do you guys know about this?

I can't speak to whether that story is true. I could see it having happened, but more likely as an unintentional event or a snub by a low-level manager.

Whether or not there was a state-level snub based on Minnesota's soldiers being treated poorly, I would point to strong Minnesota-based railroad leaders (Hill, the Washburns, et al) as the reason why an Illinois-based firm didn't get a warm invitation to build. Besides, most of the good routes were already staked out by competing routes (the CM&StP, the CStPM&O and C&NW, the MNW/CGW, and the M&StL) by the 1880s. It's a wonder the Rock managed to acquire the route it did, and that no one else had previously plopped a branch down between Owatonna and Albert Lea. If opposition on the state level had lifted, the Illinois Central still would have found it difficult at best to access the major markets in the Twin Cities on its own, or even through the Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern.

I think the real question is "why didn't the IC purchase the M&StL when it had the chance in 1901?" Either before or after the Louie Line bought the Iowa Central, the Illinois Central could have pruned competing M&StL or IC branches in South Dakota and Iowa. The combined company also would have had three of the shortest Omaha - Minneapolis routes (via Mason City, Fort Dodge, or Storm Lake), would have had a reasonably direct Minneapolis - St. Louis route via Peoria, and would have gained access to southern Iowa. The M&StL was also perennially weak, but accessed a great deal of productive land in Minnesota and Iowa. Seems that for a relatively low price, the M&StL could have been a productive part of the IC system.

Both the IC and the RI were very old railroads that could have built more extensively in Minnesota in the early days. IC needed its own line into the Twin Cities. Maybe it could have purchased the MNS (Dan Patch Lines originally). This railroad ran from Minneapolis to Northfield, and was projected to run to Rochester and Dubuque.

It was planned as a freight-hauling interurban. I believe IC was using electrically-hauled commuter trains in Chicago about that time, so may have been open to the electric concept.

The CGW might have been a merger partner for IC back then. Both the CGW and RI had their primary freight yards in South Saint Paul. I think the CGW was a great little railroad that had a lot of potential with a very diversified traffic base for a grainger. RI could have helped IC with access into western Minnesota and Eastern South Dakota. Both had main lines across northern Iowa.

Les
Former Member Winona, Goodview and Western Model Railroad Club (Why Go West?)

THe only thing I can think is the IC was busy building the line from Chicago to Freeport, then extending north into Madison WI. Perhaps the IC thought it could find a better route into Minnesota & the north country of WI. It may have been a good thing once the Hill lines had control of the CB&Q.

Whatever IC did, they did right - as the MILW and Rock failed, IC did pretty well. They finished the 60's strong and had some quiet (but not life threatening) years a decade later. Perhaps it had to do with their lack of branches and focus on high speed long haul service.

Tadman wrote:Whatever IC did, they did right - as the MILW and Rock failed, IC did pretty well. They finished the 60's strong and had some quiet (but not life threatening) years a decade later. Perhaps it had to do with their lack of branches and focus on high speed long haul service.

Maybe into the 60's the IC still had a good southern IL coal hauling business, take over the Peabody. not sure how much IC coal ended on C&IM rails to be shipped to Chicago for Com Edison. At least they kept it off the old Alton /GM&O rails.

Tadman wrote:Whatever IC did, they did right - as the MILW and Rock failed, IC did pretty well. They finished the 60's strong and had some quiet (but not life threatening) years a decade later. Perhaps it had to do with their lack of branches and focus on high speed long haul service.

The IC decided not to (or couldn't) build a main line to Minnesota like the CNW, the MILW, or the CB&Q back in the 1870s or 1880s. Through the turn of the century and into the Depression, IC couldn't make or maintain investments in the CGW, Soo*, or M&StL. Finally, by the 1970s the IC was too busy chewing up and spitting out the GM&O/Alton to merge with... I suppose the CNW?, nor could they grab the Rock Spine in 1980 or the Milwaukee Pioneer Line (Mason City - St. Paul) in 1985.**


* I don't think the IC ever had major investments in the Soo, which was majority-owned by Canadian Pacific interests from the 1890s onward. That said, the IC used to interchange with the CGW and Soo via its Forest Park branch. If that branch had stayed intact, CN (WC)/IC would have had full interconnection in Chicago today without having to purchase the EJ&E or use trackage over CSX B&OCT.


** Come to think of it, I wonder if the IC spinoff of the CC&P was directly related to IC not getting the rump Milwaukee.

I think the CC&P spinoff was due to it not being a core business. It was about last place at a UP connection in Council Bluffs. The UP's closer and closer ties to Northwestern, leading to the merger, made it even less appealing. IC's bread and butter continues to be Chicago to New Orleans.

I could see a merger with Great Western, or MM.&St.L., but why enter a market which was already saturated?

mtuandrew wrote:I don't think the IC ever had major investments in the Soo, which was majority-owned by Canadian Pacific interests from the 1890s onward. That said, the IC used to interchange with the CGW and Soo via its Forest Park branch. If that branch had stayed intact, CN (WC)/IC would have had full interconnection in Chicago today without having to purchase the EJ&E or use trackage over CSX B&OCT.

** Come to think of it, I wonder if the IC spinoff of the CC&P was directly related to IC not getting the rump Milwaukee.

How did the Illinois Central mainline to New Orleans connect with the CC&P in Chicago? Was there a ever direct connection between the two? If the branch survived, how would CN (WC)/IC have had full interconnection in Chicago without the use of trackage over the B&OCT? Did the GTW connect with CC&P directly anywhere in Chicago?

CPF363 wrote:

mtuandrew wrote:I don't think the IC ever had major investments in the Soo, which was majority-owned by Canadian Pacific interests from the 1890s onward. That said, the IC used to interchange with the CGW and Soo via its Forest Park branch. If that branch had stayed intact, CN (WC)/IC would have had full interconnection in Chicago today without having to purchase the EJ&E or use trackage over CSX B&OCT.

** Come to think of it, I wonder if the IC spinoff of the CC&P was directly related to IC not getting the rump Milwaukee.

How did the Illinois Central mainline to New Orleans connect with the CC&P in Chicago? Was there a ever direct connection between the two? If the branch survived, how would CN (WC)/IC have had full interconnection in Chicago without the use of trackage over the B&OCT? Did the GTW connect with CC&P directly anywhere in Chicago?

The original IC ran from East Dubuque to Cairo, through Freeport, Bloomington, and Centralia. To get to Chicago from Galena via IC in 1855, you would have had to go all the way south to Centralia to connect with the Chicago branch. Otherwise, you'd need to connect to the Galena & Chicago Union (later the C&NW) at Freeport.

When IC finally got around to building its own line from Freeport to Chicago around 1886, it connected to the IC mainline in downtown Chicago via the St. Charles Air Line, which the IC owned equally with the Michigan Central, the Burlington, and the C&NW.

I don't think the GTW ever connected directly to the CC&P, only through other railroads.

At Forest Park Junction, four railroads came together: the Wisconsin Central, the Chicago Great Western, the B&O Chicago Terminal, and the Illinois Central's Forest Park Branch (completed later.) I don't know whether the IC directly connected to the WC and CGW without using an inch of the BOCT, but it came darn close.

mtuandrew wrote:When IC finally got around to building its own line from Freeport to Chicago around 1886, it connected to the IC mainline in downtown Chicago via the St. Charles Air Line, which the IC owned equally with the Michigan Central, the Burlington, and the C&NW.

At Forest Park Junction, four railroads came together: the Wisconsin Central, the Chicago Great Western, the B&O Chicago Terminal, and the Illinois Central's Forest Park Branch (completed later.) I don't know whether the IC directly connected to the WC and CGW without using an inch of the BOCT, but it came darn close.

Would you have a map of the St. Charles Air Line or point to one online showing all of the connections.

CPF363 wrote:Would you have a map of the St. Charles Air Line or point to one online showing all of the connections.

http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2 ... d.html?m=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nothing to do with Minnesota at this point.

mtuandrew wrote:

CPF363 wrote:Would you have a map of the St. Charles Air Line or point to one online showing all of the connections.

http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2 ... d.html?m=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nothing to do with Minnesota at this point.

Here's something about Minnesota... does anyone know where in the Twin Cities did MSTL operate? Minneapolis obviously but did they have any significant yards or anything still standing after all the years?

I only ask because that's likely where IC would've gotten their feet in the Twin Cities. I could definitely have seen IC acquiring either MSTL or CGW.

Long story short, Jmusolf:

It began in the Minneapolis milling district (north of Washington Ave.), then took a 90 degree turn southwest paralleling the GN (BNSF) to Cedar Lake. Its major engine facility was next to Cedar Lake in the Kenwood neighborhood, but that's all gone now. Follow the modern TC&W to Hopkins - the M&StL had the northern track, the MILW the southern - then follow the LRT Trails.

The north LRT Trail goes out to Norwood Young America, where it meets the Minnesota Prairie Line which extends out to Hanley Falls, MN. BNSF owns the remainder of the extant Aberdeen/Leola M&StL line past Dawson. At Winthrop there was a junction with the railroad's line through New Ulm toward Storm Lake, Iowa, but that is entirely abandoned.

The Southwest LRT Trail was the Louie Line's main. It went southwest from Hopkins through Chaska, crossed the Minnesota River (that bridge is out of service and abandoned, though it is still in place I think), and continues in active service to New Prague. It's abandoned from there to Waterton, in active service from there to Albert Lea split between DME/CP and UP, and from there to Mason City it is part of the Spine Line.

I think I have most of the M&StL system in Minnesota, minus odd bits like the Minneapolis & Duluth and Minnesota Western (Luce Line) but for more info look into Don Hofsommer's books on the Minneapolis and St. Louis and the Iowa Central.

While Illinois Central didn't go any further than Albert Lea, Minnesota, they did try to acquire the Minneapolis & St. Louis on multiple occasions. After all: why build a new route when you can simply buy one that already exists?