Johnny Trains
December 22nd, 2002, 07:09 PM
Last evening I popped outside the building to have a smoke.
When I was walking out the doorman told me he had a package for me.
When he handed it to me, I was surprised to see that it was an envelope from an old friend in Pocahontas, Iowa. She found this item in an "Old store in a tiny river town, called Marquette, IA".
In the envelope was an old booklet from the BURLINGTON!
It's a perfectly preserved souvenir booklet from the Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago, 1933!
Inside it has wonderful old RR photos and Chicago photos and a neat description of how Chicago came about. 1933, was Chicago's 100th birthday!
One thing that caught my attention (haven't finishd the whole book yet) was the fact that you could buy "swampy" land for $1.25 an acre in 1833. In other words, you could buy 100 acres for $125.00! By 1844, that land was now worth 12 million dollars!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't wait to see what else they consider "progress"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By the way, here are a couple of the names of some of the execs that were running the RR back then:
RALPH BUDD, PRESIDENT
A. COTSWORTH, PASSENGER TRAFFIC MANAGER
GEORGE MORTON, FREIGHT TRAFFIC MANAGER
FRED L. TAYLOR, LIVE STOCK AGENT
And of course, many more.............
note: Fred was the kinda guy who took the bull by the horns. He wouldn't steer ya wrong. He hated delays and liked to moo things right along. Seriously though, he must have ranked (phew) right up there with the president of the railroad. Chicago had more cattle than people!!!!!!!!!! Quite a job to keep them going.
When I was walking out the doorman told me he had a package for me.
When he handed it to me, I was surprised to see that it was an envelope from an old friend in Pocahontas, Iowa. She found this item in an "Old store in a tiny river town, called Marquette, IA".
In the envelope was an old booklet from the BURLINGTON!
It's a perfectly preserved souvenir booklet from the Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago, 1933!
Inside it has wonderful old RR photos and Chicago photos and a neat description of how Chicago came about. 1933, was Chicago's 100th birthday!
One thing that caught my attention (haven't finishd the whole book yet) was the fact that you could buy "swampy" land for $1.25 an acre in 1833. In other words, you could buy 100 acres for $125.00! By 1844, that land was now worth 12 million dollars!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't wait to see what else they consider "progress"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By the way, here are a couple of the names of some of the execs that were running the RR back then:
RALPH BUDD, PRESIDENT
A. COTSWORTH, PASSENGER TRAFFIC MANAGER
GEORGE MORTON, FREIGHT TRAFFIC MANAGER
FRED L. TAYLOR, LIVE STOCK AGENT
And of course, many more.............
note: Fred was the kinda guy who took the bull by the horns. He wouldn't steer ya wrong. He hated delays and liked to moo things right along. Seriously though, he must have ranked (phew) right up there with the president of the railroad. Chicago had more cattle than people!!!!!!!!!! Quite a job to keep them going.