Train of Thought

With only a casual look, one can find a lot of interesting material about the railroads in the area. For instance, the Northern Pacific reached Sheldon on November 4, 1882 whereas the Soo Line arrived in Enderlin sometime in the fall of 1891. 

I’ve read that it takes about 3200 wooden ties per each mile of railroad track and that a mature oak tree yields four ties, therefore a little over 800 trees must fall to the axe for each mile of rails. Other trees like the softer cottonwood or pine could be used, too. They treated those ties with a solution of zinc chloride to prevent wood decay. Not just ties needed that wood. Consider the huge bridges like the original and large Gassman Coulee Bridge west of Minot, the towns and farmsteads built as the rails stretched onward, and the wood used for fuel and heating. 

 It boggles my mind to think how we have any forests left at all, but conservation measures must have the harvest under control since we never hear much about a shortage. There was a time though when business tycoons gave no thought to the idea of forest conservation. Only when the U.S. Forest Service came into being was it slowly brought under control.

It would have been interesting to soar like an eagle and watch crews setting the rails. One writer watched the transcontinental railroad’s construction and observed, “Five men to the 500-pound rail, 28 or 30 spikes to the rail, three blows to the spike, two pairs of rails to the minute, 400 rails to the mile…” 

Track laying was about the last step in the process. First the surveyors walked across the land and sized up the terrain looking for the best route to follow. When it was chosen, graders came in to form the roadbed. Cuts needed to be made to lower hilltops while fills leveled depressions. Mechanized machines were not yet available. Shovels and picks and wheelbarrows moved the soil where they wanted it. 

Population in the countryside was sparse. Not much manpower came forward to work on construction. Therefore work crews were imported. Greeks, Italians, Chinese, Irish, and others came to work, send money home, and return home when the work was through. Men in the Owego settlement worked building the bridge across the Red River and weren’t present during one of the Indian scares. The women fled to safety elsewhere.

The suspicions aroused when a surveyor noticed an erratic compass reading probably caused the gold fever in the Lisbon area. The surveyor returned the next year to see just what caused it. When word spread about his activity with a shovel and crucible, the rush was on.

Sometimes the construction crews met resistance. Indians made their resentment known in the early days. While they probably didn’t pose much threat in this area, battles did occur. The Soo Line crew encountered some real opposition at Hankinson, and it wasn’t Indians. It seems that whenever rail lines crossed, the first company to reach that point earned the right-of-way to pass through it in the future without stopping.  

As the Soo Line crew and the Great Northern crew drew near to each other, they realized either side could cross first. The Soo crew was a few hours ahead so the Great Northern resorted to the dirty trick of placing roadblocks in the Soo’s path to slow them down. Then they armed themselves with firearms and extra manpower to emphasize their stance, but when the sun rose next morning they found they had been outplayed. The Soo crew had worked all night and  crossed the coveted point first. The Great Northern acknowledged their loss and work continued.

The rail lines connected North Dakota wheat fields to the mills in Minneapolis, but it also connected cattlemen to their markets. Long trains of cattle cars rolled down the Soo Line filled with western beef. Because of the time and distance involved, Enderlin provided a midway stopover for feeding and watering. A nice picture of those large stockyards can be found in the centennial book. An article in the Independent relates how workmen sometimes had to work all night to get them fed, watered and reloaded.

The ranchers had the privilege of riding along with their cattle if they wished. My father-in-law who ranched west of the Missouri River told of doing just that when he and neighboring ranchers pooled together to ship them to Sioux City. His wife packed lunch for him, but  the accompanying ranchers never seemed to have any. One can guess how closely they watched each bite taken by my father-in-law. My wife and her siblings always looked forward to his return and the sack of candy he usually brought home for them.

Construction crews required hearty meals. Herds of cattle accompanied the work crews and butchers kept busy supplying fresh meat to the cooks. This was nothing new since cattle herds often accompanied large groups of men on the move. Both Sibley and Custer trailed cattle right along with their expeditions.

Railroad companies have adapted to economic demands. Long trains haul freight in bulk quantities. Local grain companies benefit from their modernization. Easy to load and unload unit trains now service elevators built to accommodate them. A new facility has been built in Sheldon with a siding track for trains to sidle up beside. It provides a large capacity storage area for grain handling in the most efficient manner.

The country has benefitted from railroads in different ways. It certainly aided in settlement of the West. Emigrant cars brought families, livestock, and machinery to their new farms;  employment opportunities arose, on the railroad and with new businesses that started up; new towns appeared to provide markets; and they generally tied the country together.