Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railway Company records held by legal counsel in Topeka, Kan.

Restrictions: Unrestricted.

Abstract: Records documenting contractual and other relationships with subsidiary and other railroads in the region, probably entrusted to attorneys in Topeka, Kan., handling company affairs. Included are articles of agreement & consolidation; resolutions; certificates; and charters, mortgages, deeds & leases. Files are primarily from the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. and its affiliate, The Chicago Kansas & Nebraska Railway Co., 1880-1927. Other railroads include the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad; Chicago, Rock Island & Gulf Railway; Chicago, Rock Island & Mexico Railway; The Chicago, Caldwell & Southern Railway; The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad; Kansas City & Topeka Railway; and The St. Joseph & Iowa Railroad. The added records consist of materials relating to Rock Island's bankruptcy and reorganization [ca. 1979-ca. 1982].

Summary: Contents List

These records are organized into ten file units, each representing a railroad:

File no. 1 (box 1, folder 1): Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Co. Records. 1905-1926. 5 items.

File no. 2 (box 1, folder 2): Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway Co. Records. May 14, 1902, and undated. 2 items.

File no. 3 (box 1, folder 3): Chicago, Rock Island & Mexico Railway Co. Mortgage. July 2, 1902. 37p

File no. 4 (box 1, folder 4): The Chicago, Caldwell and Southern Railway Co. Records. Sept. 1886–Aug. 1887. 4 items.

File no. 5: The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway Co. Records. 1886-1891. 6 folders (4 in.)
box 1, folder 5: Articles of Agreement. Oct.-Dec. 1889. 2 items.
box 1, folder 6: Charter. March 19, 1886. 3 items.
box 1, folder 7: Contract. May 15, 1886. 6p.
box 1, folder 8: Leases. 1886-1888. 3 items.
box 1, folder 9: Mortgage. 1886-1891. 2 items.
box 1, folder 10: Resolutions, 1886-1891. 7 items.

File no. 6: Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Co. Records. 1880-1931. 5 folders (1 in.)
box 1, folder 11: Articles of Agreement. 1885-1909. 4 items.
box 1, folder 12: Articles of Consolidation. 1880-1889. 5 items.
box 1, folder 13: Certificates. 1902-1931. 3 items.
box 1, folder 14: Deed. June 25, 1917. 16p.
box 1, folder 15: Resolutions. 1888-1927. 10 items.

File no. 7 (box 2, folder 1): The Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Co. Records. Dec. 4, 1879. 3 items.

File no. 8 (box 2, folder 2): Kansas City and Topeka Railway Co. Records. Jan. 1-7, 1889. 3 items.

File no. 9 (box 2, folder 3): The St. Joseph & Iowa Railroad Co. Records. 1886-1893. 9 items.

File no. 10 (box 2, folder 4): Miscellaneous. 1894-1933. 21 items.

Administrative History:

The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company was founded in 1847 as the Rock Island and La Salle Rail Road Company. In 1851 the firm was reincorporated as the Chicago and Rock Island Rail Road Company. The rails of the Chicago and Rock Island reached Morris, Illinois, from Joliet in 1853 and later entered Ottawa.

At about the same time, another railroad, the Mississippi and Missouri, was chartered in Iowa. It wasn't until 1854, however, that the first rail on the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad was laid. The Mississippi and Missouri operations by the end of 1865 were in a state of ruin. Its only salvation seemed to be in its acquisition by its strong connection, the Chicago and Rock Island. Arrangements were made for its sale to the Rock Island, which was consummated in 1866. At that time the company was renamed the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company.

From 1873 to 1882 the expansion of the system continued in Iowa through the building of more branch lines and into Missouri to Kansas City. Entrance to Kansas City was effected in 1879, through an operating agreement with The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad which connected with the Rock Island at Cameron Junction, Missouri.

In 1880 the firm was reorganized under the name Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company, and by January, 1883, a line had been extended almost to the southern boundary of Kansas.

Nearly all of the mileage owned by Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company in Kansas was built by The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway Company, a subsidiary, during the period 1885 - 1888.

In 1888 the Rock Island system under the name of the Kansas City and Topeka Railway Company built two and a half miles of track, extending from Wyoming Street in Kansas City, Missouri, to Armourdale, Kansas (now part of Kansas City), to make connection with the Union Pacific main line.

The Rock Island obtained authorization to do business in Kansas under its own name in 1889. Seven Kansas - chartered predecessors operated in the State prior to that time: the Kansas City and Topeka Railway; The Fort Leavenworth Rail Road Company; The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway Company (1886) and its 1888 successor with the same name; The Atchison, Saint Joseph and Northern Railroad Company; The Chicago, Caldwell and Southern Railway Company; and The Arkansas, Kansas & Colorado Railway Company.

An act of Congress in 1887 granted the charter right-of-way across Indian Territory through Texas to Galveston, and also for another line from Liberal, Kansas, across Indian Territory, Texas, and New Mexico Territory to El Paso. The line to and including Yarnell, Texas, was officially opened in 1902. The Choctaw, Oklahoma and Texas Railroad was sold to the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway Company in 1903.

The Rock Island system in the period between 1923 and 1929 enjoyed its share of the general prosperity. The freight line between Amarillo, Texas, and Liberal Kansas, was a major project in new construction. It was began in 1926 and completed in 1929, opening up a rich grain country as a source of additional revenue.

The railroad industry and business in general continued at fair levels through 1930 but in the following years, 1931 to 1935, economic collapse took its toll. The general economic depression and the repeated crop failures in its territory combined to weaken the system financially.

On March 17, 1975, the railway entered its third and final bankruptcy. On January 24, 1980, it was determined that the railway could not be successfully reorganized and was ordered to be liquidated and sold.

Scope and content:

This collection contains one series of records of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company, 1879-1933, documenting contractual and other relationships with subsidiary and other railroads in the region. The records - some of them original manuscripts, others typewritten and printed copies - were probably entrusted to a succession of staff or outside attorneys in Topeka, Kansas, handling the Rock Island’s affairs in the area. The files are primarily from the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company and its close affiliate, The Chicago Kansas and Nebraska Railway Company, ranging from 1880 to 1927. Smaller amounts of material dating from 1879 to 1926 are associated with other railway companies: the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad; Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway; Chicago, Rock Island and Mexico Railway; The Chicago, Caldwell and Southern Railway; The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad; Kansas City and Topeka Railway; and The St. Joseph and Iowa Railroad. The records are organized into ten file units, each representing a railroad.

The type of business records contained in this collection are broad and varied: booklets of articles of agreement and articles of consolidation between the various railway companies; resolutions from boards of directors and stockholders; certificates; and charters, mortgages, deeds and leases. Most of the folders contain typewritten copies of each of the documents. There is one folder of miscellaneous material consisting of drafts, agreements and contracts between the railroad companies along with a substantial amount of unrelated letters concerning the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company. Researchers tracing the development of the Rock Island and particularly the merging of the Chicago and Rock Island with other railroads will find these records of interest.

The added records consist of materials relating to Rock Island's bankruptcy and reorganization. Included is correspondence between H. J. Briscoe, General Manager of the Eastern Lines of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, and the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC); and ICC Emergency Directed Service Order 1398. Other records include a 1982 phone directory, a 1980 organization listing showing officers, locations, and salaries, a Rock Island map, and system time table.

Contents: Box 1. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company records, 1905-1926 (file 1) ; Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway Company records, May 14, 1902 & undated (file 2) ; Chicago, Rock Island and Mexico Railway Company mortgage, July 2, 1902 (file 3) ; Chicago, Caldwell and Southern Railway Co. records, Sept. 1886-Aug. 1887 (file 4) ; Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway records, 1886-1891 (file 5) ; Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company records, 1880-1931 (file 6) -- box 2. Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company records, Dec. 4, 1879 (file 7) ; Kansas City and Topeka Railway Company records, Jan. 1-7, 1889 (file 8) ; The St. Joseph & Iowa Railroad Co. records, 1886-1893 (file 9) ; miscellaneous, 1894-1933 (file 10) -- box 3. Additional Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway materials [ca. 1979-ca. 1982].

Other Finding Aid/Index: Finding aid available at the Kansas Historical Society (Topeka) and on its website, http://www.kshs.org/p/chicago-rock-island-and-pacific-railway-company-records-held-by-legal-counsel-in-topeka-kansas-1879/13753

Related materials:

• Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company collection, http://www.kshs.org/archives/218358 , partial finding aids available


• Lela Barnes Railroad collection; 3 microfilm rolls, MS-1312, 1313A-B; available through inter-library loan; finding aid on the microfilm or available separately: http://www.kshs.org/p/barnes-railroad-collection/13976


• Ross Burns/Howel Jones collection, no. 227, partially on microfilm, http://www.kshs.org/archives/45936


• Hiram Price Dillon collection, no. 329: http://www.kshs.org/research/collections/documents/personalpapers/findingaids/dillon_hiram_price_papers.pdf


• Charles Goebel collection, no. 176, finding aid available: http://www.kshs.org/research/collections/documents/personalpapers/findingaids/goebel_charles_rr.pdf


• Kansas Town & Land Company collection, no. 130; partially on microfilm, MS 1024-36, http://www.kshs.org/archives/40130, more detailed finding aid also available


• Leavenworth Depot and Railroad Company collection, no. 104, finding aid available: http://www.kshs.org/p/leavenworth-depot-and-railroad-company-records/13781


• Railroads history collection, no. 632; http://www.kshs.org/archives/40632


• Rivers history collection, no. 635; http://www.kshs.org/archives/40635

Finding Aid Bibliography:

Barnes, Lela (Elmendorf), comp. . . . Railroad Collection (1855-1959), 1961- [ca. 1971]. Kansas Historical Society microfilm MS 1312-1313B.

“1852-1952: 100 Years of Progress,” Rock Island Lines News Digest, October 1952, 3-15. (Kansas Historical Society Library call number K 388.3 W84)

Restrictions: Unrestricted.

Use and reproduction:

Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (title 17, U.S. Code). The user is cautioned that the publication of the contents of this microfilm may be construed as constituting a violation of literary property rights. These rights derive from the principle of common law, affirmed in the copyright law of 1976 as amended, that the writer of an unpublished letter or other manuscript has the sole right to publish the contents thereof unless he or she affirmatively parts with that right; the right descends to his or her legal heirs regardless of the ownership of the physical manuscript itself. It is the responsibility of a user or his or her publisher to secure the permission of the owner of literary property rights in unpublished writing.

The Kansas State Historical Society does not own literary property rights to these records. According to the donor, the Legal Department of the Chicago Pacific Corporation, holder of copyright at the time of donation, approved of their donation to the society, but literary rights were not transferred.

Ownership/Custodial Hist.: Records from the legal files of the donors, formerly attorneys for railroads in Topeka, Kan.

Cite as: [identification of individual item and/or file unit]; Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Co.; Records Held by Legal Counsel in Topeka, Kans.; ms. collection no. 754; Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka.

Action note: Jason Schmidt, volunteer, arranged the collection and wrote the history and scope and content notes, 1996; container list and other descriptions by Robert L. Knecht, 1998.

Holder of originals: Kansas State Historical Society (Topeka)

General Note: Title supplied by processor.