Atchison and Nebraska Railroad

Last updated
Atchison and Nebraska Railroad
Locale Kansas and Nebraska (United States)
Dates of operation 18691908
Successor Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
Track gauge 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Atchison and Nebraska Railroad was a railroad company in the states of Kansas and Nebraska, United States.

Kansas State of the United States of America

Kansas is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka and its largest city is Wichita, with its most populated county being Johnson County. Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north; Missouri on the east; Oklahoma on the south; and Colorado on the west. Kansas is named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the (south) wind" although this was probably not the term's original meaning. For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison.

Nebraska State of the United States of America

Nebraska is a state that lies in both the Great Plains and the Midwestern United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwest; and Wyoming to the west. It is the only triply landlocked U.S. state.

United States federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

It was initially chartered on December 8, 1865, as the Atchison and Nebraska City Railroad but "City" was dropped from the name [1] when it was formally organized in 1869. The charter authorized the railroad to be built from Atchison, Kansas, to some point on the Nebraska/Kansas border, not farther west than 25 miles (40 km) from the Missouri River. Work began on the railroad in Atchison in the summer of 1869 and it was completed to the state line, three miles (5 km) north of White Cloud, Kansas, in 1871. On November 3, 1871, the railroad absorbed the Atchison, Lincoln and Columbus Railroad, and completed building the railroad north into Lincoln, Nebraska, by the fall of 1872. [2]

Atchison, Kansas City and County seat in Kansas, United States

Atchison is a city and county seat of Atchison County, Kansas, United States, and situated along the Missouri River. As of the 2010 census, its population was 11,021. The city is named in honor of David Rice Atchison, United States senator from Missouri, and was the original eastern terminus of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Atchison was the birthplace of aviator Amelia Earhart, and the Amelia Earhart Festival is held annually in July. Atchison is also home of Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal-arts college.

Missouri River major river in the central United States, tributary of the Mississippi

The Missouri River is the longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles (3,767 km) before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river takes drainage from a sparsely populated, semi-arid watershed of more than half a million square miles (1,300,000 km2), which includes parts of ten U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world's fourth longest river system.

White Cloud, Kansas City in Kansas, United States

White Cloud is a city in Doniphan County, Kansas, United States. It was named for Francis White Cloud, a son of Chief White Cloud of the Iowa people. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 176. White Cloud is the seat of government for the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska.

On January 24, 1908, a special meeting of stockholders in the A&N was held to discuss the sale of the railroad to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. [3] The A&N property was transferred to the Burlington on February 24, 1908. [4]

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad American railroad from 1855 to 1970

The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and also in New Mexico and Texas through subsidiaries Colorado and Southern Railway, Fort Worth and Denver Railway, and Burlington-Rock Island Railroad. Its primary connections included Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City and Denver. Because of this extensive trackage in the midwest and mountain states, the railroad used the advertising slogans "Everywhere West", "Way of the Zephyrs", and "The Way West".

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Lincoln, Nebraska State capital city in Nebraska, United States

Lincoln is the capital of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers 94.267 square miles (244.150 km2) with a population of 284,736 in 2017. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 71st-largest in the United States. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area in the southeastern part of the state called the Lincoln Metropolitan and Lincoln-Beatrice Combined Statistical Areas. The statistical area is home to 353,120 people, making it the 106th-largest combined statistical area in the United States.

Transcontinental railroad Contiguous network of railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass with terminals at different oceans or continental borders

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Strong City, Kansas City in Kansas, United States

Strong City is a city in Chase County, Kansas, United States. Originally known as Cottonwood Station, in 1881 it was renamed Strong City after William Barstow Strong, then vice-president and general manager, and later president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 485.

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Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad

The Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. state of Kansas. Originally planned as a line from Atchison west into Colorado, and given federal land grants by the Pacific Railway Act of 1862 as one of the branches of the Union Pacific Railroad, it was left with a hanging end at Waterville, Kansas when the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, with which it was to connect, changed its route. The line was acquired by the Union Pacific through a stock purchase by Jay Gould and leased to the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1880. In 1909 the Central Branch was merged into the Missouri Pacific; the latter company came back into the Union Pacific system in 1982. In 1991 the remaining trackage west of Frankfort was leased to the Kyle Railroad.

The Atchison, Lincoln and Columbus Railroad was initially authorized to build from the terminus point of the Atchison and Nebraska Railroad, which was at the Nebraska and Kansas border North of White Cloud, Kansas, to Columbus, Nebraska by way of Lincoln. Work began in 1871 and the Atchison and Nebraska Railroad absorbed the Atchison, Lincoln and Columbus Railroad on November 3, 1871. The railroad reached Lincoln by 1872. In January 1880, the railroad was purchased by the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad which was itself had been purchased Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1872.

Burlington and Missouri River Railroad

The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad (B&MR) was an American railroad company incorporated in Iowa in 1852, with headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. It was developed to build a railroad across the state of Iowa and began operations in 1856. It was acquired by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1872, and kept serving as its subsidiary.

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U.S. Highway 75 is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs for 1,239 miles (1,994 km) from Dallas, Texas to Kittson County, Minnesota where it ends just short of the Canada–United States border. Within the State of Nebraska it is a state highway that enters Nebraska on the Kansas state line about 9 miles (14 km) south of Dawson and travels north across the extreme eastern portion of the state, to the Nebraska–Iowa border in South Sioux City where it crosses the Missouri River along a concurrency with Interstate 129. The northern 210 miles (340 km) of the route generally travels parallel to the Missouri River. The 87.32-mile (140.53 km) section between the I-680 interchange in Omaha and the Interstate 129 interchange is designated the Lewis & Clark Scenic Byway, one of nine scenic byways in the state.

The Mississippi Valley and Western Railway (MV&W) was the name of three different shortline railroads which operated in the U.S. states of Iowa and Missouri. The first company was formed on January 25, 1871, and existed for just five days before merging with a much larger road. On January 20, 1873, two other railroads merged with the MV&W to create a second consolidated company. This last railroad went bankrupt on August 7, 1874, having constructed only a minimal amount of track. The bankrupt firm was sold to the St. Louis, Keokuk and North Western Railway.

John Grant Pegg

John Grant Pegg was a political and civil leader in Omaha, Nebraska. He was a leader in the local African-American community and was the city inspector of weights and measures from 1906 until his death in 1916.

References

  1. "Atchison and Nebraska City Railroad". Atchison Daily Free Press. Atchison, Kansas. January 13, 1868. p. 1 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  2. "Atchison & Nebraska Deal". Omaha Daily Bee. Omaha, Nebraska. October 12, 1890. p. 17 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  3. "(untitled)". Atchison Daily Champion. Atchison, Kansas. January 3, 1908. p. 3 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  4. "News of the Railroads". Nebraska State Journal. Lincoln, Nebraska. February 28, 1908. p. 12 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg