Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/557

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 497 was the survey from St. Louis to Irou Jloim- tain made in 1852 by J. H. Morley. Tlie object of the promoters of this scheme was to make available the great quantities of iron ore then supposed to be contained in Iron ]Ioiuitain. Iron had been mined in consider- able quantities in the vicinity of Iron Jloun- tain for a number of years. In fact the first record we have of the working of iron mines in Iron county is prior to 1820, but during all of these years the work of digging out the ore and developing these mines was very greatly handicapped bj' the lack of proper transportation facilities. It was necessary to transport the ore overland from the mines to the river. The ore was carried on horse- back or in carts and wagons and the transpor- tation cost was very great. It was to provide better means for shipping the product of these mines that this tirst railroad in South- east Missouri was projected. This fir.st sur- vey, in 18.52, resulted in very little being done. In Januar.y, 1853, there was chosen for the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Company a board of directors. This board imme- diately ordered the making of a new survey for the road. After many delays the road was finally built as far as Pilot Knob, in Iron county. The state of Missouri had provided that any railroad company in the state might re- ceive state aid. This aid was given in the form of lands, or in the form of the credit of the state itself. The credit of the state was loaned to these railroad enterprises through the device of guaranteeing the bonds of the railroad. A bill which became law, provided that the state should grant two dollars in bonds for every dollar expended by any railroad company, not to exceed .$400,- 000.00. The Iron Moimtain Railway Com- pany received both grants of lands and guar- antee of the large amount of its bonds. This, however, did not meet the expectation of its promoters and they soon fell into financial difficulties. The road became unable to pay the interest on its bonds, and on September 22d, 1866, the railroad was sold at public auction, and was purchased for the state itself. It w-as operated by three commissioners ap- pointed by the governor until January 12th, 1867, when it was again sold, and was pur- chased this time by McKay, Simmons & Vogel. They later transferred it to the man who more than any other was instrumental in providing for the people of this section of the state their first railroad, Thomas Allen. Under his management the road was extended and was put upon a paying basis. The first extension south was that which came to be known as the Belmont branch. This particular line of railroad was built from both ends tow-ard the middle and it was completed August 14th, 1869, the last rail being laid in the middle of the timnel in Bollinger county. On February 9th, 1853, the President of the United States approved an act of Con- gress which granted to the states of Missouri and Arkansas the right of way and lands to aid in the construction of the railroad from a point on the Mississippi river opposite the mouth of the Ohio by way of Little Rock to the Texas boundary near Fulton, Arkansas. Not only was the right of way granted through all government lands, but every alternate section of land designated by even numbers contained in a strip six miles in width on each side of the track was also con- veyed. The act carried'with it a proviso that it should expire by limitation within ten years. The people of Southeast Missouri were, J.