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JUST A MEMORY
By Dr. R. C. Leinbach (date unknown) With the completion of the work of the Hyman-Michaels Company of Chicago, the Leavenworth Western branch of the Union Pacific Railroad is no more and various towns along the line of this abandoned railroad are now without railroad facilities. In looking backward over the many years that the railroad was in operation, we cannot retrain from mentioning the important part that it performed in the settlement, development, and prosperity of the territory it supplied. Construction of this line of railroad which was originally the Kansas Central Railroad Company, began in the year of 1872, and was completed in that year as far as Holton. It was promoted by Leavenworth people, among whom were Paul E. Havens, D. R. Anthony, Sr., George T. Anthony, who afterwards became governor of our state, and Leonard Smith, whose first name is the name of the main street of our city today. In the year 1877, construction work ws begun west of Holton and the road was built into Onaga to Blaine in the year 1879, from Blaine to Garrison in 1880, and to Clay Center and on to Miltonvale in 1881, total mileage of which was 166.4 miles. After being operated many years by the Kansas Central Railroad Company, it went into the hands of a receiver and was purchased at a receiver's sale by Thomas R. Marks, Kansas City, who reorganized it as the Leavenworth, Kansas and Western Railroad Company and shortly after this reorganization the control of the road was acquired by the Union Pacific. At the time the road was built, the pioneers who had settled the territory through which the road was built had no reairoad facilities and the construction of this line was heralded by them as one great development in the future of their country. When those early homesteaders emigrated from the eastern states and took claims or bought land in this locality, built log huts and sod shanties in which to live, they expected that it would be their lot to endure the hardships and vicissitudes of the life of the homesteader their entire lifetimes. They did not expect, nor did they even hope, that they would ever have railroad facilities and other conveniences which they were accustomed to in the states thhat they left behind. But in the hope that they could acquire land and homes that they could own, primitive as they were, they would willingly endure and undergo the privations and hardships of pioneer life for the privilege of having land that was their own. They traveled many miles over land to obtain their supplies and transport the farm commodities which they produced to a market miles away. Therefore, it is not to be wondered at that when these pioneers first learned that the construction of a railroad was contemplated, it brought joy to their hearts because it meant so much to them. This line of railroad which has now been abandoned, entered into the lives of these hardy pioneers as a part of their joys and their sorrows and its removal caused a feeling of regret, in the hearts of what few of these people are living today and was looked at, by them, as the loss of an old friend. Economic conditions have changed in the 50 years that have gone by since this railroad was built, so that the operation of the railroad was no longer profitable and, of course, it cannot be expected that the U.P.R.R. Company should be required to operate a railroad whose gross income was not large enought to pay the taxes on the property. About two years ago, application was made to the Interstate Commerce Commission for permission to abandon this line, and after various hearings, permission was granted by the I.C.C. to abandon this line. Operations ceased in January of 1935, and last week the Hyman-Michaels Company completed their work of removing the track and all improvements so that the line of railroad known to all of us as the L.K.&W. is now just a memory. Onaga Herald, November 14, 1935, By Eli Pinet - When the Topeka Northwestern crossed the Leavenworth, Kansas and Western tracks at Onaga, the town became a sort of railroad subdivision point. Although the L.K.&W. continued to run the passenger train from Leavenworth to Milton, the freight trains were made to run Leavenworth to Onaga and return, and Onaga to Miltonvale and return. They were called mixed trains because they included a coach for passengers. Rather a slow, rough ride because the train stopped at every town (some of which were only six or seven miles apart), set off a car, picked up another and unloaded merchandise; but it was an added service and welcome in those days before the auto. The time was about 1911. The westbound freight crew lived in Onaga. engineer Olson and Fireman Peterson owned homes on Clifton Street. Conductor John Phillips owned a home on West 2nd. A roundhouse was built on the north end of the T.& N. W. yards to house a locomotive that needed repair. The building was not round, but got its hame because at the entrance was a roundtable. This device was in a circular pit about six feet deep and 30 feet in diameter. It was used to turn the engines around and head them east or west for the return run. Two arms extended over the side and two men, one on eadch arm, revolved the engine. It took a lot of pushing. the two-man crew began work at 6 p.m. and worked until 6 a.m. For the 12 hours they were paid $1.54. There was always a waiting list for thejob because it was steady work. The section men were paid $1.35 per day. The roundhouse crew was responsible for getting the locomotive ready for the return run and filling the tender with coal. A coal car ws placed alongside some large buckets holding a ton or more. The crewmen shoveled coal into the bucket and they were hoisted over the side and dumped into the tender. The buckets must be left full. ; In addition, they cleaned the fire box and the cinder pit. Two large section gangs maintained the trackage, a pump man kept the water tank filled. A station agent, three telegraphers and a helper ran the depot. there was a yard master, and a road master and his clert. Also, there was a large ice house for re-icing refrigerator cars. Of course, the railroad payroll was a great asset to the city of Onaga. It was a good time to be a teenager. On second thought, anytime is a good time to be a teenager. |
