Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/561

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 501 lu 1859 the Cape Girardeau, Pilot Ivnob & IJelinont Railroad Company was organized to uonstruc't a road from Pilot Knob to Bel- mont, by way of Cape Girardeau. William C. Ranney was made president of the com- pany, arrangements were perfected and a large private subscription obtained for the stock of the company. The county of Cape Girardeau voted to take two himdred thou- sand dollars worth of the company- 's stock. It seemed that the railroad would be built and it probably would have been but for the breaking out of the Civil war. Nothing was done during that period, but after the close of the war the matter was taken up again. A company was organized, known as the Cape Girardeau & State Line Railroad Com- pany, with intention to build a road from Cape Girardeau to some point on the Ar- kansas line. The company was organized April 27th, 1869, with the following direc- tors: G. C. Thilenius. John Albert, T. J. Rod- ney, Robert Sturdivant, John Ivers, A. B. Dorman, M. Dittlinger, L. P. Klostermann, William Woeleke, P. Hanny, II. M. Kimmell, A. D. Leech, H. Bader, C. Hirseh, AVilliam Regenhardt, William Hamilton, J. Vaster- ling and Casper Uhl. G. C. Thilenius was made president, John Ivers, vice-president, and S. G. Kitchen, manager. The company started off with very flatter- ing prospects, there was a large private sub- scription to the bonds and the city of Cape Girardeau voted to take a hundred and fift.y thousand dollars worth and the township of Cape Girardeau the same amount. The bonds were sold and with the money the work of construction was begun. Through bad management, however, the funds were ex- hausted before a single mile of the road was finished. It was then determined to build the road by contract. Accordingly an agree- ment was entered into with Governor Pletcher and his associates to build the road, and for their services they were to receive a deed to the roadbed, provided they completed twenty-tive miles by December 1, 1871. Governor Pletcher then proceeded to or- ganize a companj- known as the Illinois. Mis- souri & Texas Railway Company and issued bonds to the amoimt of $1,500,000 secured by mortgage on the property of both com- panies. The bonds foimd no sale however, and it became impossible to secure funds. The project of building the road was aban- doned for ten years. A considerable amount of work had been done in building bridges and in laying ties and throwing up a road- bed; all these suffered very materially dur- ing the years when nothing was done, the wood work decayed and the roadbed was washed away by the rain and grew up in brush. In 1880 a man became interested in the railroad whose name is associated with most of the successful railroads built in Southeast Missouri, Louis liouek. He entered into a contract with the Cape Girardeau & State Line Company, which still controlled the old roadbed, by the terms of which he was to complete the road from Cape Girardeau to Delta by January 1, 1881, and was then to receive a title to all the property of the old company. He was successful in carrying out his agreement and the Cape Girardeau & State Line Company transferred to him the title to the road. By August, 1881, he had exterided the road to Lakeville, in Stoddard county, and in 1882 it reached Brownwood. In this year the name of the company was changed to the Cape Girardeau & South- western Railway Company. In 1883 it was built to Idlewild; in 1884 it reached Wappa-