Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/567

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 507 between the two lead companies, the St. Joseph Lead Company paying two-thirds and the DesLoge one-third. The business of the lead companies increased very greatly so that the narrow-guage railway no longer provided sufficient facilities for transportation. It was determined to construct another road, and in 1888 a charter was granted to the Missis- sippi River & Bonne Terre Railway Com- pany. It was to extend from Riverside, on the Mississippi river twenty-five miles below St. Louis, to Bonne Terre and later to Des- Loge. The line was completed in March, 1890, and the Summit railway was aban- doned. The road was changed to standard guage in 1894. Later an extension was built from Bonne Terre to Doe Run, crossing the Belmont branch of the Iron Mountain at Doe Run Jimction. The road is at present forty- seven miles in length, and while it is an in- dependent line, having no connection with other roads, its road-bed and equipment are equal to most trimk lines, and it carries an enormous business considering the length of the road. In 1894, the HoUiday-Klotz Land and Lumber Company, a corporation owning vast bodies of timber and operating exten- sive mills in WajTie coimty, luidertook the construction of a railroad from the Iron Mountain at Williamsville to Greenville, the coimty seat of Wayne county and the site of their mills. The road was a costly one as the coimtry is very hilly. It was built, how- ever, and served the purpose for which it was constructed. Upon the practical exhaus- tion of the pine timber about Greenville, the mills were closed down there and the road extended further into the county to open new bodies of timber. The present terminus is Cascade, thirty-five miles from Williams- ville. The road serves a large part of Wayne county. The St. Louis, Kennett & Southeastern was built in 1906 from Campbell, on the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad in Dunklin coimty, to the county seat, Kennett. Later Piggott, Arkansas, was made the northern terminus. The road was built by a group of Dunklin county capitalists. Among them were R. H. Jones, Virgil McKay, J. B. Blake- more, W. D. Lasswell and D. B. Banker. It was built to develop large bodies of timber lands owned by these and other men. The land when stripped of its timber is very valuable farming land and the road aids in opening it up for settlement. Railroad bridges have been constructed across Varner and St. Francois rivers and the road is being put into condition to handle the large traffic originating in its territory. In 1911 a road was completed from Mar- ston, in New Madrid county, to New Madrid, the county seat. It was built principally by capitalists of the latter place under the leadership of E. S. McCarthy, a well-known railroad promoter and builder. Among the men interested were L. A. Lewis, Mr. Garan- flo, A. B. and Lee Hunter and Murray Phillips. It provides a connection for New Madrid with the 'Frisco main line. Formerly the town had depended entirely upon the St. Louis Southwestern system which has a branch from Lilbourn. The new road is called the St. Louis & Missouri Southern. It ii eight miles in length and is one of the best built roads in this part of the state. It operates what is probably the only parlor car in the state for which no extra charge is made. The unusual character of the road leads to the belief that it is meant to form a