Last week I took ya'll back to a busy time in our community, the construction of the White River Railway from Carthage, Missouri, to Diaz, Arkansas. The track laying portion was completed on December 29, 1905. There was still a massive amount of work to complete in a little over twenty days. Railroad officials had set January 21, 1906, as the target date to begin passenger service.
With the line being 239 miles in length, Cotter, Arkansas, was considered the halfway point on the line. For passenger service to function properly, train 206 would be the morning passenger train to depart from Carthage at 8:40 a.m., where it would arrive at Cotter around mid-day, and be spun the opposite direction on a turntable where it would make the afternoon run back to Carthage. The northbound train would be train 207. The same circumstances worked for the Diaz side—a morning train bound for Cotter would be flipped and head back to Diaz on the afternoon run. This allowed for passengers to leave Joplin, Missouri, and arrive in Memphis, Tennessee.
As I've looked through massive amounts of area newspaper coverage from December 1905 and January 1906, it amazes me the amount of work that needed to be completed. For instance, the construction of passenger stations would take several years. Hollister began with a depot that was nothing more than a used box car. Garber had the same setup when they were given a retired box car in 1909. Another priority was completion of water tanks. Telegraph offices along the way were necessary with many beginning in temporary structures until a specific station/depot was completed.
As the inauguration day of January 21, 1906, neared, there were many issues as the new roadbed settled. Rock slides and cave-ins in the tunnels were a frequent circumstance. Crews still went with the January 2 plan, even though it really should have been delayed another month. As we all know, winter weather in the Ozarks can be a mess.
Because of the roadbed being new, trains were restricted to 25 mph, and while crossing bridges and trestles, the speed was lowered to 12 mph. The speed inside tunnels was reduced to 18 mph. This speed restriction would last into the 1930s.
On the evening of Saturday, January 20, 1906, our area of Missouri and northwestern Arkansas experienced an amount of rainfall that by Sunday evening had turned into a horrible blizzard, especially for the area from Galena to Carthage. Sunday morning, the train departed from Carthage on time and arrived in Branson on time at 11:43 a.m. as advertised.
The Branson Echo newspaper reported, "Notwithstanding the rain, many of the citizens of Branson were out to welcome the passenger train while several were on it, returning on the northbound train."
Well, there was a bit of a delay when 206 arrived in Cotter. The northbound train that was coming up from Diaz was five hours behind schedule due to a rock slide 45 miles north of Batesville. The locomotive struck a large rock on the track. The fireman was seriously injured, but everyone else in the crew including all passengers were okay. After the cleanup and repair to the rails, the engine was reset and headed onward arriving in Cotter.
Another massive rock slide would occur preventing both trains from leaving Cotter, so all passengers were crowded into the Tremain Hotel and on Monday morning January 22, train 207 was finally bound northward for Carthage.
The blizzard conditions brought measurable snow; drifts were several feet deep. The train encountered another rock slide about a mile from Aurora with the locomotive seriously damaged and injuries to another fireman. Once a relief train was able to get to Aurora, the passengers were returned to Carthage exactly 24 hours late. Unbelievable.
So out of all of this, three engines were damaged from slightly to severely and two firemen were injured. A bunch of disgruntled passengers and a massive hotel and catering bill was dealt with. H.D. Routzong, the editor of the Cotter Courier' newspaper summed it all up perfectly by saying, "The inauguration of through service over the White River Route was anything but a success. Heavy rains and snow, cave-ins, a washout and what not made a sorry mess of the first trip over the line."
Setbacks would almost always be an issue. As the years went by there would be more rock and dirt slides, flooding, burned out bridges, and so on. Once in a while there would be labor problems. In 1949, there was a system-wide strike that lasted 45 days.
Passenger service on the line would survive all the way to March of 1960. Times had changed in the 54 years of service. Highways and the success of automobiles by the 1930s had caused a significant drop in passenger numbers. Passenger numbers had dropped off even more in the late 1950s to the point that the railroad was operating at a loss.
Going into 1960 the Missouri Pacific Railroad claimed a $175,000 annual deficit in running passengers on the line, so both passenger trains were dropped from service. The final day of passenger operation was set for March 21, 1960. And just like January 21, 1906, this particular March day was also cold with snow and ice from Carthage down to near Yellville, Arkansas. Historically, the train was very crowded as it was locomotive 4620 and just two passenger cars. But at least it was on time and didn't take two days!
Next week I'll give ya'll a part three on this discussion and introduce you to the big guy over the Missouri Pacific, Mr. Jay Gould, one of the wealthiest railroad individuals and a truly legendary figure.
Happy trails, everyone.
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