In 1858 a body of enterprising young men had built the steamer "Cedar Rapids" at Beaver, Pennsylvania, at a cost of $20,000, the stockholders being Wm. and George Greene, J. F. Ely, H. G. Angle, L. Daniels & Co., and W. W. Smith. This steamer ran during much of the spring and summer and late into the fall, and did a big business. But within two years in an accident on the Mississippi river the "Cedar Rapids" ran into another steamer, litigation ensued, and the owners lost everything they had made as well as the steamer.
Thus ended the first big adventure of the Cedar Rapids spirit. In the same year another steamer, the "Black Hawk," was built to run up the river to Waterloo and for a time did fair business. This was owned by W. D. Watrous, J. J. Snouffer, W. W. Smith, J. Stanley, and several others. This steamboat was sold to the government during the war and used as a supply steamer on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. At one time N. B. Brown was the owner of the boat. Just as the people were demanding that another company be formed to invest in another steamer enterprise the railways came, and now these daring business men centered their efforts in developing railroads and won out, but not until after many struggles, and after many failures. The people of Linn county surveyed, planned, and talked about several lines before they could realize the benefits of any.
The Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska Railway was organized in what is now Clinton on January 26, 1856, the first officers being Charles Walker, of Chicago, president, James Purdy, of Mansfield, Ohio, vice president, T. T. Davis, of Syracuse, New York, treasurer, R. H. Norton, secretary, and Milo Smith, of Clinton county, engineer. Many Cedar Rapids residents put up money and notes to have the road come through the city. Most of the necessary means were put up by eastern capitalists and especially by John I. Blair, one of the most enterprising of the early railroad promoters in America. Mr. Blair was born in New Jersey in 1802 and passed away in 1892, one of the most noted men of this country. He was at least in an early day the owner of more miles of railways than any other man in the world, and had laid out more town sites and villages in Iowa and Nebraska than any other person in the west. It was John I. Blair who first saw the opportunity of making Cedar Rapids a center on account of its progressive people, the water power, and other advantages which this practical, wide-awake railway man saw here, and which were lacking in other localities. In June, 1859, the road was completed to Cedar Rapids. Its coming was the most important event in the history of the city. It was the beginning of the end in the unique struggle for railways in Linn county, and marks an epoch in the history of the city.
The road was extended west, and by 1862 the trains were running as far as Marshalltown. By 1867 the road was completed to the Missouri river. Both the Iowa and Nebraska and the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River railways have for many years been under one management and are now known as the Chicago and Northwestern Railway, which owns and operates nearly 8,000 miles of road with a capital stock of $130,121,838.
BIRDSEYE VIEW Of CEDAR RAPIDS IN 1889
In 1865 D. W. C. Rowley began grading for the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway, which was organized in Cedar Rapids. A separate company, known as the Cedar Valley Construction Company, was organized to build this line to Waterloo. This company was composed of such men as Dr. J. F. Ely, president, William Greene, superintendent, D. W. C. Rowley, secretary. In December, 1866, another road was incorporated, running to Burlington south via Iowa City. The men connected with this enterprise were J. H. Gear, Burlington, president, J. E. Putnam, Burlington, secretary, directors Dr. S. D. Carpenter, of Cedar Rapids, E. Clark and Peter A. Dey, of Iowa City, and John Bird, Louisa county.
This southern branch did not progress rapidly and there was more or less of a hitch with the plans, and a question as to how the road should run. The articles were changed, leaving out Iowa City, and the board increased to fifteen members, among whom may be mentioned N. B. Brown, George Greene, and Charles Weare, who were added from Linn county. George Greene was elected president and Charles Mason, vice president. By June, 1868, the two roads were united under one name, the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern, Greene becoming president, and D. W. C. Rowley secretary. By January 1, 1871, trains were running between Cedar Rapids and Burlington, and early the following year they reached to St. Paul, thus making one of the first great north and south roads in Iowa. For many years C. J. Ives was president of the road till it was absorbed by the Rock Island system, when the headquarters were transferred to Chicago, the Cedar Rapids office becoming merely a division point.