Building a Railroad: 1850s Irish Immigrant Labor in Central Illinois

by Mike Matejka

The McLean County Historical Society published a 76-page book in 2000 entitled Irish Immigrants in McLean County, Illinois which features almost 20 pages about Irish workers on the railroad. This book is available for purchase from the McLean County Museum of History, 200 North Main Street, Bloomington, Illinois 61701 for $12.00 which includes tax, shipping and handling.

A section of the book written by Mike Matejka, Building a Railroad: 1850s Irish Immigrant Labor in Central Illinois, discusses the building of the Alton and Sangamon Railroad which was incorporated in 1847. Matejka is a member of the Laborers' Union and Director of the North Central Illinois Laborers' and Employers' Cooperation and Trust. Long an award-winning writer, Matejka recently completed a Master's Degree in Labor Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

This is Part Two of the reprint of this section of the book. Part One was printed in the November/December 2000 issue of the BMWE JOURNAL and Parts Three and Four will appear in future issues.

Railroad Construction

Railroad work proceeded in a number of stages. First the right-of-way was surveyed and land acquired. The actual roadbed was then graded and established, including the construction of bridges, earthen fills and excavations. Finally, the ties were laid with the iron rail spiked to them, at a rate of approximately one mile per day. If the construction was being done properly, a layer of rock or sand ballast completed the line. Although horse and oxen teams could aid in the grading and transportation of dirt and the newly completed railroad would transport material to the end of track, much of the work was back-breaking hand labor.

The actual roadbed was hand dug, along with any excavations or fills. Workers labored in creeks or waterways to establish bridges and crossings. Once the heavy cross ties were placed, the iron rails were hand carried and connected to the previous rail. They were hand-bolted to the adjoining rail and the spikes were hand-driven. Ballast or fill was then hand-shoveled into the rails, while workers leaning on heavy metal track bars helped align the track.

In July 1851 the Daily Journal reported in detail the construction technical specifics, the A&S's second building season. The paper praised the new line's first actual ten miles of rail from Alton:

...at the present time there are twenty-eight miles graded and nineteen miles in addition nearly completed; over ten miles of the track is permanently laid; and from one and a half to two miles is being laid weekly. The ties and iron for over one half of the road are upon ground; and the balance of the ties and iron are being received—(the ties from Cumberland River, and the iron from New Orleans, where they are in readiness for shipment). The ties are all of red cedar, except every seventh or ‘spike tie,' is of white or post oak, and of double size. The ties are acknowledged by all to be the finest ever laid. The iron is the H rail, weighing a fraction over fifty-six pounds per yard. The ties are laid thirty inches from centre to centre. The masonry thus far has been of the best character, and has attracted the attention of everyone who has visited the work.

As Springfield residents eagerly awaited the railroad's fall 1852 arrival, grading commenced northward toward Bloomington. The northern survey was completed by July 1851 and the following summer the now named "Chicago and Mississippi Railroad" was advertising for contractors to grade and bridge the extension from Springfield to Bloomington, divided into two mile sections per contract. The contracts called for all but the actual track laying, asking "Rail- Road Contractors" to bid, for cash payment, for the "grading, masonry, bridging and cross-ties of that division of this road extending from Springfield to Bloomington." That spring the Illinois Central was building southward from LaSalle to Bloomington. Bloomington's David Davis reported that 25 workers were already at work with another 250 expected shortly.

Meanwhile, the quest for labor continued. The Springfield paper quoted the Alton Telegraph in October 1852 that 4,000-6,000 laborers arrived in St. Louis, recruited from Buffalo, New York at a transportation cost of $5 each, to aid in constructing Illinois and Missouri railroads.

As Springfield had awaited the line the previous summer, 1853 was Bloomington's turn to anxiously watch the construction progress. By August 1853 the line reached Lincoln, after long delays in constructing a Sangamon River bridge. The Springfield paper's correspondent rode along on the daily supply train, ferrying material north to the rail head, marveling at the changed landscape the new line wrought; he also noted the mechanics maintaining the locomotives at Springfield's roundhouse, characterizing them as from the eastern U.S. and worth a visit from the capitol city's "fair damsels;" on the new line he found:

We shall not fail to mark the more recent indications of our new rail road, the long cuts; the forests strewn as if by the breath of a tornado; the new bridges; high water tanks; well places dug; shantees ‘to let'; relics of ‘auld dacency'; corn fields invaded; the ambitious weeds; fences not up; ‘Pat' taking a rest; and herds in a fright, as the steam horse is screaming and rushing on over its iron path.

Despite severe weather in 1852-53, grading continued throughout the winter months. Construction of a branch to Peoria from Bloomington was contemplated. As track was laid, grading crews continued northward from Bloomington to Wilmington, already at work on the next extension. Bloomington anticipated the railroad and its promised prosperity throughout 1852. Writing in the Bloomington Intelligencer, Jesse Fell promoted the line's importance:

...it becomes emphatically the road of the State. This, we are happy to know, has become the general, if not unanimous opinion, of intelligent observers, not only of the West, but of the whole country. How can it be otherwise when we reflect that Chicago on the one hand, and St. Louis on the other, are the great commercial centers of this part, if not indeed of the whole Mississippi Valley; and that this road will constitute the nearest practicable connection between those two great cities? Looking at if from this point of view alone...the Chicago & Alton road assumes an importance that does not attach to any other road.

By the fall of 1853 the A&S reached Bloomington, which the Illinois Central reached the previous spring. The Intelligencer rhapsodized about the new rail connection. It praised the Alton road's engineer O.H. Lee, contrasting that firm's demeanor in comparison to the Illinois Central, which the paper accused of being "controlled by land sharks and town-lot speculators." With the two rail lines meeting in Bloomington, a rail trip was possible between Chicago and St. Louis, though it was laborious. The passenger would leave Chicago on the Chicago and Rock Island; disembark at LaSalle and switch to the Illinois Central for Bloomington; after a carriage ride across Bloomington the passenger would board the new A&S to Alton; and from there a Mississippi River packet boat would complete the journey to St. Louis. The Intelligencercelebrated not only the Chicago-St. Louis connection through Bloomington, but the new access to the east coast afforded through Chicago:

The connexion is had! The work is consumated! For the first time in the world's history, a continuous track is opened up for the Iron Horse, between the great commercial cities of the East and the mighty Father of Waters! —Starting on the eastern shore of that majestic river, in fifty hours thereafter he can slake his thirst in the great Atlantic! What a mighty achievement! How striking the commentary on the age we live in! In what bold relief does it present the genius and indomitable energy of the American people!

Even before the line's completion into Bloomington, the State Register was marking new economic activity along the new line: "In anticipation of the opening of the improvements, immigrants are flocking to all points contiguous to the road. Lands are advancing in price, villages are growing, and universal prosperity prevails."

On October 19, as the newspaper was celebrating the road's opening, a fatal derailment marred the celebratory air. The train hit two cows on the tracks, derailing the locomotive and throwing it and the train 15 feet down an embankment. The engineer, Mr. Bramwell, suffered numerous broken bones and the fireman, George Smith, was scalded to death by the steam. A second, unnamed fireman was decapitated in the accident. No passengers were injured. By August of the following year, the rails were extended from Bloomington to Joliet, where a connection was made into Chicago.