Annandale - The
Coming of the Railroad and the Early Years
Presentation to
the Annandale History Club
Timelines Early
Employees Railroad
Structures in Annandale
March,
2011
Alton Chermak
ANNANDALE The Coming of the Railroad and the Early Years
These
remarks examine the coming of the railroad to Annandale in 1886, how it
led to the creation of the village, and its commercial development
through the end of the 19th century. As we go along, I
welcome any comments and insights that you may have.
As you are aware, during the pioneer days railroads offered a vastly
improved means for traveling, delivering goods from the cities,
transporting the farmer's harvest to market, and helped open areas for
additional settlement and economic growth. In Wright County, the St.
Paul & Pacific, later known as the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba (and
still later named, the Great Northern Railway) in 1869 built a rail line
to the south of here along what is now highway 12, and in 1882 the same
company built a line through Monticello to St. Cloud. At that time
consideration appears to have been given to building a branch line from
just west of Monticello, following a line roughly along the border
between Silver Creek and Corinna townships, through Fair Haven and Maine
Prairie. We can speculate that had that line been built, Annandale, as
we know it, might not have been called into existence.
If there's one person who can be credited for creating Annandale, it
would be William D. Washburn, of Minneapolis. The Washburns were a
notable family that established a legacy in politics, lumber and flour
milling, and building railroads. Three of the brothers were elected to
U.S. House of Representatives, one became a governor, another Secretary
of State, and William himself later became a U. S. Senator. His older
brother Cadwallader Washburn was one of the early prominent lumber and
flour millers of Minneapolis, and the Washburn-Crosby Company, most
notably, was the forerunner of what became General Mills. The Washburn
legacy also includes the name of a high school and the call letters for
radio/television station WCCO. It might be well to note here that there
is no known connection between this Washburn family, and any of the
Washburns that resided in Wright County.
The flour milling producers of Minneapolis were largely
independent-minded former New Englanders who were dependent on
Chicago-based railroads, which set not only freight rates but also
favored the Milwaukee and Chicago markets. An independent
locally-controlled railroad is what the Minneapolis millers felt was
needed and they started the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway, with W. D.
Washburn playing a major role and eventually becoming president of the
line. The M. & St. L. achieved only limited success and by the early
1880s it came under the control of another of the Chicago-based
railroads. In 1883, Washburn put together a group of flour millers and
organized the Minneapolis, Sault Ste. Marie & Atlantic Railway to build
east, making a connection with the Canadian Pacific at Sault Ste. Marie,
in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, for furtherance to the cities of Boston
and Portland. This line would be completed at the end of 1887, and it
gave the Minneapolis Millers direct access to the New England states and
the export market to Europe.
Although flour milling was expanding in Minneapolis, many millers feared
diversion of an increasing amount of the wheat crop, particularly over
James J. Hill's rail lines to Duluth-Superior, and thence over the Great
Lakes to Buffalo. Energetic and always taking on new projects, Washburn
again pulls together his colleagues and with the aim of securing a
portion of the wheat harvest for the Minneapolis milling interests,
organizes the Minneapolis & Pacific Railway Company in late 1884 to
build west into Dakota Territory. The route they selected ran roughly
between the two parallel railroad lines of the Manitoba (Great Northern)
and itself was to be later closely followed by today's Highway 55. Only
a handful of communities already existed along this line: Rockford,
Buffalo, Fair Haven, Paynesville, Glenwood and Elbow Lake. Even then,
the M. & P. skirted these places by a mile or two. As discreetly as
possible, a preliminary survey was conducted during the fall of 1884,
but few details are known about these surveys. A survey crew would
typically consist of about ten men and would have located most of the
route, determining the elevations, where bridges or trestles would need
to be constructed, and possibly estimating how much excavation and fill
would be required. The crossing of the Clearwater and Crow Rivers,
presented challenges and the exact route in a few areas wasn't settled
until early 1886.
The preliminary surveys were probably concluded in early 1885 and year
was taken up with planning and preparation. The M. & P. was privately
financed; bonds, income certificates and loans would be primary means of
paying for constructing and equipping the railroad, and Washburn began
negotiating for these with New York financial houses. Finally, in
February, 1886 an important agreement was made with the Northern Pacific
for access and use of that company's terminal facilities (the yard
tracks and roundhouse) in Minneapolis.
Imagine this. In late 1884 they incorporate and begin the field
engineering surveys. There's no application to any governmental agency
for a certificate of need or authority to build a railroad across
Minnesota and into Dakota Territory. There are no regulatory hearings,
no environmental impact studies, and no lobbying for governmental
aid. Only in Minneapolis was a building permit needed for the
depot. Two years later, at the end of 1886, over two hundred miles of
railroad have been constructed and the trains are running.
In early 1886 the surveyors were back in the field, this time putting
down the grading stakes while the railroad's agents were actively
working with the landowners to obtain the real estate for the
right-of-way, often asking for donation of the land, and if that failed,
making an offer, and if they could not come to terms securing the land
through the eminent domain process and having three commissioners
appointed by the county to determine the amount to be compensated. Out
in the country, the right-of-way for the line was generally a 100 foot
wide strip of land. The M. & P. relied on the services of local
residents as right-of-way agents to handle the real estate transactions
and in Wright County, attorney J. H. Wendell, of Buffalo, was one of
these right-of-way agents. Messrs. Ames, Covart and Young were
appointed commissioners in Wright County to resolve any landowner
claims.
The coming of the railroad was generally greeted with much
enthusiasm. Farmers would have a shorter distance to take their crop to
market, their land values could be expected to increase, and the
development of nearby towns would bring merchants closer to
them. Although land speculation may not have been a problem in this
area, some land owners held out for a premium on their land, and it is
to be imagined that some simply did not want the railroad cutting across
their land. The eastern part of Wright County seems to have had a
large number of claims handled by the county commissioners, and there
were also later a few lawsuits filed.
The grading of the line, the preparation of the road bed, was performed
primarily during May, June and July. The general contractor, R. B.
Langdon & Company, was well known in railroad circles and sublet
sections of the line that varied from a mile to several miles. These
subcontractors employed workers that handled teams of horses pulling
scrapers and wagons with dump boards, as well as the labor for any
shovel work needed. In Wright County there likely would have been a
fair amount of grubbing required. Some of the nearby farmers
participated in this work, and farm houses often provided room and board
for many of the workers, while the remaining workers camped in a tent
city, reminiscent of scenes from the Civil War.
The planning for stations along the new line probably took place as soon
as the route had been determined. A station is a designated place where
business is conducted, and they would be spaced roughly five to eight
miles apart. The station grounds required a section of land about 300
feet wide and nearly 2000 feet in length. Annandale was an ideal
location for a station, being six miles from Maple Lake and five miles
from South Haven, and the M. & P. obtained the land on part of section
30 of Township 127 Range 27 from James M. Pratt and others for the
station grounds. Annandale's station grounds were typical, with the
main line routed the center, and the sides divided into private lots
which were leased by grain elevators and other rail served businesses.
At about the same time it is likely that Mr. Pratt also entered into a
personal agreement and partnered with W. D. Washburn, as co-owners and
proprietors of the townsite adjoining the railroad station
grounds. Here, Washburn is acting in a personal capacity, apart from
the railroad. I have not examined the recorded property transfer, but a
typical arrangement would have been for W. D. Washburn and his wife,
Lizzie, to acquire half-interest in the townsite for $1 and have P. M.
Dahl, a civil engineer from Minneapolis, survey it. That was likely
done during the summer or autumn of 1886, the maps drawn and documents
finalized that winter, with the plat for Annandale being filed in Wright
County in March, 1887. Once assured that the railroad was being built,
the creation of a new station and townsite was an opportunity for
merchants and other businesses to locate; general stores, blacksmith
shops, hotels, livery stables, saloons, were attracted, and in
mid-November 1886 the Delano Eagle reported that several business
houses were going in. Washburn and Pratt shared the proceeds from the
sale of lots, and this arrangement continued until late 1887, when
Washburn's remaining interest in the townsites was assigned to the
Pacific Land Company, which was a new corporation formed by many of the
same principal stockholders of the railroad. James Pratt appears to
have been the local contact for land sales but he met an untimely death
in 1891.
In most of the new towns, Washburn also established a branch of his
lumber firm, the Washburn Mill Company, to distribute and sell building
materials. There is no indication that Annandale had one of these
branches, and L. Cofield, recently from Cokato, and W. H. McDonald from
Howard Lake, were the early lumber merchants.
There are a few things in life that should have a little mystery to
them, and one is the naming of Annandale. It is recorded in a newspaper
account that Abbyville was to have been the name of the post office, but
that name was rejected by postal authorities. W. D. Washburn either
personally named or approved of the name of the new railroad
stations. In a 1926 dated letter, Frederick. D. Underwood, who was
general manager of the Minneapolis & Pacific in 1886, stated that
Washburn named the station and townsite for Lizzie Annandale, an
operatic singer. Washburn may also have been acquainted with Annandale,
Virginia, when he served in the U. S. House of Representatives, and
coincidentally Lizzie was also the name of Washburn's wife. The
Minneapolis & Pacific filed its maps with the Minnesota Land Office and
there is one for Wright County having a legend date of June 24,
1886. Annandale is on the map, and if those details are correct this
may be one of the earliest maps showing Annandale.
Building northwesterly from Minneapolis, the M. & P. construction train
and track layers reached Annandale about mid-November, 1886, and
continued west to the Clearwater River building the main line of track
and the accompanying telegraph pole line. On the station grounds at
Annandale, a second track of about 1600 feet, called a house track, was
laid in an arc on the north side of where the depot was to be
constructed. Lumber and other building materials were shipped in box
cars for the building of the railroad structures, which included a 20x48
foot depot, a 12,000 bushel capacity grain warehouse, and an 8x9 foot
hand car house for the section crew. A crew of carpenters came in and
constructed them before the end of 1886, although it's possible the
depot wasn't completely finished until January. A small stockyard was
added in late 1887 and a trackside unloading platform (for buggies, farm
machinery etc.) years later. That would be the extent of the railroad
owned structures at Annandale. They were built to standard plans and
over the years were expanded or rebuilt.
The railroad employed a station agent/operator at depot, a section crew
of three to maintain the track from Annandale down to Maple Lake, and a
seasonal grain buyer at the railroad owned flat warehouse. The station
agent was the key representative of the railroad in the community, with
a variety of duties that ranged from selling tickets for the passenger
trains, handling small freight and express (money, valuable merchandise,
small shipments of poultry, beer, etc), mail, telegrams, receiving
telegraph messages from the train dispatchers and handing them to the
crews of passing trains, ordering and billing out carload freight
shipments, cleaning the depot, looking out for the interests of the
company, seemingly at all hours of the day and seven days a week. Once
the railroad was built, it transported almost all the merchandise and
materials that were shipped into and out of Annandale, and the depot
became a focal point in the community. The names of some of the early
railroad employees at Annandale have been listed separately, along with
a time line of key events.
The first passenger train over the new line began running daily between
Minneapolis and Glenwood on December 9, 1886. It left Minneapolis
around 9 a.m. going west, and made all stops along the line, reaching
Annandale about noon, and going east the train came through about 3
p.m. Just before the end of the year this set of trains was extended to
the end of the line at Lidgerwood, 218 miles west of Minneapolis in
Dakota Territory. The information available is sketchy and we may not
be able to peg the exact date when first passenger train stopped at
Annandale, but it is likely business was being conducted in
December. In March of 1887, these trains began hauling the mail under a
contract with the post office. The passenger trains added a dash of
color to the countryside, and were pulled by a diminutive coal burning
steam locomotive, painted in colors of chocolate and red, accented by a
shiny brass bell, boiler bands, and valve heads. The regular passenger
train probably consisted of a combination baggage/mail/express car and
one or two coach cars, making stops at all stations for passengers and
express shipments. This was an age of wood and the passenger cars were
wood bodied; during hours of darkness they were lighted by oil lamps and
during cold weather each car had its own stove for heating. Three cents
a mile between stations was the charge for a ticket, and the passenger
trains were permitted to run at 30 miles per hour.
Passenger train schedules were constantly being changed and by December,
1890 the primary passenger left Minneapolis in the late afternoon,
stopping in Annandale at 6:13 p.m. The east bound was scheduled to
arrive at 9:05 a.m. A second set of trains had been added in early
1887, running to Paynesville initially and later as far as
Glenwood/Lowry, to handle the local traffic, but with the changing
fortunes of business conditions this passenger train was an on again off
again operation during the first decade. To provide additional service
the railroad often placed a passenger coach on the local freight train,
making it what was termed an accommodation or mixed train.
The local freight train, which operated between Minneapolis and
Glenwood/Lowry, was an interesting operation and equally important to
the communities along the line. Not only did it set out and pick up
freight cars at the elevators and other trackside businesses, but it
brought in the smaller miscellaneous freight items. In the early days
the cabooses had side doors, from which they unloaded a small volume of
freight or express, but usually one or two box cars were needed for the
small freight shipments, which would have been loaded or unloaded at the
depot platform and later stored in the freight room end of the
depot. If there was a large amount of freight coming out of Minneapolis
destined for Annandale, it is likely a separate car would be loaded and
spotted at the backside of the depot for unloading later. Certain days
of the week, such as Tuesdays, were designated for shipping livestock,
although arrangements could made to ship carloads of cattle and hogs
other days of the week as well, and often the livestock shipper would go
on the train to South St. Paul or even Chicago. On certain days of the
week a refrigerator car would be on the local freight to handle butter,
eggs, meat and other perishables. Operating Monday through Saturday,
this daytime freight train periodically included a coach car to
accommodate passengers.
Freight cars back in 1886 were comparatively small, being about 34 feet
in length, and able to carry only 20 or 25 tons of freight. In
practice, many of the cars were lightly loaded and trains were
relatively short. The cars were joined together by the notorious
link-and-pin coupling system and manual brakes were often used to assist
stopping the cars or the train. The brakemen had a particularly
dangerous job as they had to walk the roofs of the cars to apply and
release the hand brakes. A freight train consisting of twenty cars
would probably be a good sized train for the Soo in 1887, and back then
the speed probably didn't exceed 15 miles per hour. It wasn't until
the 1890s that the automatic coupler and air brakes were adopted for
freight cars, and freight cars constructed with steel carbodies became
popular decades later.
Annandale was assured of being a trading point during the winter of
1886-1887 and began a slow but steady growth, the Delano Eagle reporting
in January of 1887 that 26 lots had been sold. Cofield & McDonald built
the second flat grain warehouse (dba Annandale Elevator Co.) by the end
of 1886 or 1887, and lumber yards were an essential early business, with
Cofield & McDonald also operating perhaps the first such yard, and H.
and W. S. Huntington starting a second lumber yard in 1891. By 1888
there was an excelsior mill (Dean & Salisbury, later Dean & McKerron
proprietors) and it's a safe bet this mill gave its name to Excelsior
Avenue. The Annandale Roller Mill (Klatt Bros., props.) commenced flour
milling operations in 1891 but was not located trackside, although it
was likely some carloads of flour were shipped out. About a mile and
one-half east of Annandale a spur was constructed to serve a brickyard
(Boudel and Holliday props.), which was in operation until at least
1888, and between Annandale and South Haven was another spur for loading
cordwood.
The Annandale Post indicated in late 1893 that Annandale shipped
out 700 cars of wood, 200 cars of grain and 50 carloads of stock during
the current year. The hardwood forests around Annandale contributed
significantly to the local economy in the early years and at times the
depot area was described as being surrounded by cordwood, which was
shipped not only to Minneapolis, but was also an important fuel for
communities and farmers in the treeless prairies of western Minnesota
and Dakota Territory. A newspaper report indicates 19 flat cars of wood
were shipped out in one day in 1893. Logs were also shipped by rail
from Annandale to a lumber mill at Buffalo.
One day of the week was designated for shipping livestock and the
newspaper detailed the weekly shipments of J. B. Dally, Lewis Brothers,
and later Martin Andersen. Annandale's merchants appreciated the
additional trade on those shipping days. Although grain dominated early
crop production, with diversification potatoes, sugar beets, and
cucumbers and hay supplemented the farmer's income from grain. The
dairy herds provided the milk for the products of the local creameries
and eggs were also marketed. The shipment of these agricultural
products provided considerable revenue to the railroad, and ice cream,
butter and cheese from Annandale, South Haven, Kimball Prairie and
Paynesville found their way to the menus on the Soo Line's dining
cars.
Standard Oil located a petroleum distribution plant here in 1896,
establishing bulk delivery of gasoline and kerosene, as well as packaged
lubricants. Coal from eastern locales and North Dakota eventually
supplanted wood as a heating fuel, although that probably happened later
in Annandale than at other places not blessed with hardwoods. In the
late fall local merchants brought in a carload of apples, sometimes from
Missouri, Michigan or New England, and much of the tree fruit was sold
trackside. Dolbow & Co. was one of the early farm implement dealers
and was succeeded by Yaiser & Patterson. During 1897 two new grain
elevators, the Atlantic and Osborne & McMillan, were constructed and the
Cofield elevator expanded by 1900, giving Annandale three separate
elevator companies to compete for the grain crop. The Farmer's
Co-operative Equity was formed later and built a replacement elevator
for one destroyed by fire in 1919.
Impressive as those business activities were, Annandale might have been
just another station, except for its location by the lakes. This
attraction led to development of hotels, cottages and resorts that
catered to fishermen, boaters, picnickers, and others lured by the
lakes. Annandale was one of four communities (the others being Buffalo,
Paynesville and Glenwood) west of Minneapolis that the railroad promoted
for these vacation and recreational activities. The company published
advertisements, guides and brochures, and railroad officials
occasionally sponsored and personally conducted excursions of newspaper
editors, prominent citizens and other influential groups to Annandale to
promote the resorts and sporting activities.
Annandale, of course, was quite capable of attracting scores of visitors
on its own, which was evident during the Fourth of July celebration in
1889, when about 450 people arrived on a special train from Rockford,
Buffalo and Maple Lake. Thereafter, special excursion trains were
periodically run to Annandale, and by the 1890s a growing number of
Minneapolis residents were coming up on weekend fishing trips. In 1905,
the Soo Line put on a special summer train to bring fishermen out to
Buffalo, Annandale and Paynesville on late Saturday afternoons and early
Monday morning brought them back to Minneapolis with their catch. The
Soo Line's general office and shop employees occasionally held their
summer picnics in Annandale, coming out in a special train, with perhaps
the last one occurring in 1957.
The railroad created a transportation corridor that linked the
communities along the line. People traveled up and down the line for
business and social reasons, sometimes resettling, and the railroad
bonded these communities together, just as Highway 55 has done now for
decades.
The Minneapolis & Pacific was consolidated into the Minneapolis, St.
Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway in 1888. Commonly known as the Soo
Line, the extension of the western end of-the-line to the Canadian
border at Portal, North Dakota in late 1893 resulted in Annandale being
placed on a transcontinental route to the Pacific Northwest. Passenger
train service to Vancouver was soon established, initially the Pacific
Limited, with connecting service to Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco
advertised. Many Wright county residents traveled to those distant
places, beginning their trip over the Soo Line.
While the railroad certainly accelerated the growth of the area, created
better opportunities for personal travel, provided the means for the
produce of the area to be transported to market and brought in the
manufactured goods, there were also a few downsides to the presence of a
railroad. Sparks from passing trains sometimes set fires to buildings
and hay stacks that were close to the tracks, and the hissing and shrill
whistles of locomotives could easily frighten horses into bolting
away. There is always the need to exercise caution at street crossings
and collisions with teams and buggies were known; some of the young men
were not careful and played around railroad tracks, sometimes trying to
hitch rides on the moving trains. Those encounters often ended
tragically. Then there were the vagabonds and tramps that arrived on
the freight trains; many of them were menacing, and engaged in crime,
drunkenness and disorderly conduct. There were a number of dangers
inherent in railroading, and Dr. Ridgway attended to injured trainmen
and passengers. There were a few fatalities at the road crossings, but
Annandale was spared from any serious train wrecks and collisions until
1922.
With the extension of the main passenger run all the way out to
Vancouver, the passenger trains from the west would often be several
hours late, particularly during the winter, frustrating those seeking to
get to Minneapolis. Those trains might be not only hours late, but on
occasion a full day late. Then there were the economic downturns which
resulted in some of the passenger trains being eliminated and the
schedules of the remaining trains changed, with the station stops
sometimes scheduled at inconvenient times. This irregularity in train
service was a great disappointment and gave the Soo a poor reputation
during those early years.
A golden age of railway service dawned after 1900 and the Soo Line
expanded with additional branch lines and did well financially. New
rail was laid west of Minneapolis, steel bridges replaced many of the
older wooden trestles, and in some areas several miles of the line were
relocated. What this meant for Annandale was an increasing number of
trains. In 1904, a fast overnight train to Winnipeg was begun. Then,
in 1907, the first of the classic luxury trains was inaugurated, the
Spokane-Portland Train De Luxe, with elegant sleeping, dining and
observation cars, which were well appointed with mahogany and black
leather upholstery. This train was terminated in 1914, but in 1923 The
Mountaineer was introduced, running between Chicago and Vancouver, and
was a summer-only all-sleeping car train. Although the premier trains
did not stop in Annandale, they did accommodate a few celebrities,
including the Duke (Edward VIII) and Duchess of Windsor, and the King of
Siam (Thailand). There's no credible evidence, however, that Al Capone
passed through Annandale on the Mountaineer. In 1912 there were ten
daily passenger trains, and six of these made station stops in
Annandale. Depot had been lengthened in 1908 to 20x72 feet with the
addition of a separate women's waiting room, and it had been modernized
a little in 1950 with an indoor toilet replacing the outdoor privy, and
the exterior covered with an asphalt-based imitation brick siding. The
automobile and improved highways gradually reduced the demand for rail
service, and the number of trains declined. The last passenger train
scheduled to stop in Annandale, the St. Paul-Enderlin, North Dakota
local, was eliminated in 1959. The last through train, the Winnipeger,
running between St. Paul and Winnipeg, made its last run through
Annandale in March, 1967.
Similarly, with improved highways trucks began to make inroads into the
freight business, in the 1930s capturing most of the cattle shipments
and increasingly much of the miscellaneous small freight shipments. A
new stockyard had been built in 1904 with an additional pen added in
1907, making a 64x96 foot facility. In 1940 it was reduced to a single
pen. With the decreased carload activity and changes in communication
technology, the Soo Line phased out its local agents in favor of a
traveling freight agent that worked several adjoining stations and the
Annandale depot was closed as an agency in 1971. With additional
research we'll learn when what was left of the stockyard, the unloading
platform and a few of the other trackside businesses were removed. The
Economy Gas spur was installed in 1973 and is periodically used for
inbound shipments of propane by Ferrelgas, but the little used siding
and the west end of the house track were removed in 1988. The landmark
grain elevators were taken down in 2000 or 2001 but the preservation of
the 1886-built Annandale depot and the 1884-vintage caboose in the
Pioneer Park date the coming of the railroad and serve as reminders of a
different time, when the railroad was the focal point of the community.
I'll conclude with a few anecdotal incidents reported primarily in the
Annandale Post:
In 1892, the U. S. Weather Service through its signal office provided
weather conditions and the forecast for next 24 hours by displaying
various flags atop the Rennie Building. The forecast was telegraphed
in, probably to the Soo depot, and relayed to the custodian who
maintained the flag display. (Buffalo Gazette)
In 1894, the Annandale House (hotel) and a few other businesses burned
down. A telegram was sent to the Maple Lake fire department for
assistance, and they loaded their apparatus on a flat car to be attached
to the morning passenger, but the fire was brought under control before
the train left and they were telegraphed not to come. Some of the
firemen were already in the coaches and unaware of the cancellation
ended up coming to Annandale.
In 1895, a 200 pound hog belonging to Mr. Dally escaped during a stop at
Buffalo and a group of stock shippers and train crew recaptured the pig
and loaded him back on the stock car.
In 1897, the Soo reportedly granted the use of part of its station
grounds for use as a baseball field, and about $100 in work had been
expended before the Soo decided to lease part of the grounds to a
company which built a new grain elevator on it.
Alton Chermak
Revised March, 2011
References and Acknowledgments:
Soo Line Historical and Technical Society Archives (structures book,
station maps, AFE's, field engineering notes, drawings, The Soo
magazine)
Mr. Stuart J. Nelson
Wright County Historical Society and the Wright County Governmental
Center
Minnesota Historical Society, State Land Office Archives and the Soo
Line collection
Annandale Post 1891-1899, Annandale Advocate-Post 1900-1903, Annandale
Advocate 1897-1899, 1904-1908
Buffalo Gazette 1891-1896
Buffalo Journal 1888-1900
Delano Eagle 1885-1897
Saga of The Soo, Three Generations West, John Gjevre, Agassiz
Publications, 1995
Memories of Annandale, Lotus Williams, Annandale Advocate,
1883
Annandale Centennial booklet Community With Spirit, 1888-1988
Thank you for this invitation. By way of background, I have no direct
connection with Annandale, other than that my formative years were spent
in Alexandria, where the railroad tracks of the Soo Line also passed
through, and my working career would be in the rail industry, including
ten years with the Soo Line.
Over the past several years, I've been researching and drafting a
history of the Minneapolis & Pacific Railway, the rail line that was
built between Minneapolis, through Annandale, and out into Dakota
Territory in 1886-1887. It's an obscure subject, which explains why
virtually nothing of a comprehensive nature has been published.
Few original records from the railroad have been retained. There are
some the old Interstate Commerce Commission required valuation studies
back in 1915-1916, requiring all railroads to detail their level of
investment for the purposes of regulating the freight and passenger
rates that railroads sought to charge. That valuation study meant that
the railroads, including the Soo Line, had to go back and document what
they spent building the line, including the structures on it.
---------------cutting room--------
The starting point was a handful of pictures of depots that I took
about 1970. After spreading them out, noticed they all looked alike,
and thus began an inquiry to learn what the depots in the other
communities along the line looked like, and the horizon kept
expanding, There is no way that you can separate the coming of the
railroad and the development of the communities along it. It became
apparent that the development of the rail line, and most of the
communities along it were intertwined. At present, much of my focus has
been to research newspapers from the 1884-1900 time frame.
ANNANDALE TIMELINES Railway and Businesses
Sep 1884. Minneapolis & Pacific Railway Company organized by W. D.
Washburn and others.
Nov 1884 to Jan 1885. Preliminary locating survey for the Minneapolis
& Pacific.
Early 1886. Final locating survey and land acquisition for the
Minneapolis & Pacific begun. Grading of the roadbed performed during
the spring and summer.
Summer or fall 1886. P. M. Dahl
of Minneapolis surveys Annandale townsite for W. D. Washburn.
Nov 1886. Track layed through Section 30, Town
of Corinna. Construction train arrives mid-November. Main line track
and house track (aka industry, team, side, or elevator track) probably
constructed that month.
Nov 1886 to Jan 1887. Depot, hand car house and grain warehouse
constructed. Stockyard constructed early 1887. These are all railroad
owned facilities.
Dec 8, 1886. First through train run Minneapolis to Glenwood.
Dec 9, 1886. First regular daily passenger train run Minneapolis to
Glenwood. This run was extended to Lidgerwood, Dakota Territory, on Dec
28.
Late 1886. Second grain house built by Cofield & McDonald, doing
business as Annandale Elev. Co.
Mar 3, 1887. Plat of Annandale filed in Wright County, James Pratt and
W. D. Washburn and wife are owners/proprietors.
Mar 1887. Mail first carried on the M. & P. passenger trains.
Sep 1887. The Pacific Land Company was formed. In late December, W. D.
Washburn's interest in the townsites including Annandale was transferred
to the Pacific Land Company.
Jan 1888. Atlantic Elevator Co. formed and assumes ownership of the
Minneapolis & Pacific elevators.
Jun 11, 1888. Minneapolis & Pacific consolidated into the Minneapolis,
St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Rwy. Annandale Post continues to refer to
the railroad as the M. & P. through 1894.
1888. First local use of refrigerator cars, initially once a week in
each direction. Heated cars in the 1890s
By 1888 there was an excelsior mill and a mile or two east
of Annandale there was a brickyard and spur.
Jul 4, 1889. Special train to Annandale brings over
400 Rockford, Buffalo and Maple Lake residents to the Fourth of July
celebration.
Sep 1893. Western end of track completed to Canadian boundary at
Portal, ND (NWT), forming a transcontinental line. Through passenger
train service to Vancouvercommenced late September.
1896. Standard Oil distribution plant located.
1897. Passing track was constructed, and further lengthened in 1903 and
1906.
1897. Two new elevators built, Atlantic and Klatt Bros Elev. built
(later Osborne & McMillan)
1900. New Annandale (Cofield) Elev built (later Farmer's Co-op Elev)
and in 1919 new Farmer's Elev blt.
1904. Line to Winnipeg from Glenwood completed, Winnipeger (originally
called the Manitoba Express) passenger train begun.
1908. Depot lengthened to 20x72 feet, with provision made for separate
waiting rooms for men and women.
By 1922. Gedney Pickle Co. plant located.
1922. Collision of passenger train with fuel truck at Oak
Street crossing, ten fatalities.
1923. Inauguration of The Mountaineer, a summer-only Chicago-Vancouver
passenger train, all sleeping-cars. Discontinued 1963.
1950. Alterations made to depot. Insul-Brick siding applied to
exterior and indoor restroom installed.
May 2, 1959. Last passenger train to stop for passengers
in Annandale. (St. Paul-Enderlin, ND local)
Mar 25, 1967. Last passenger train, The Winnipeger, passes
through Annandale
1971. Depot closed, ending local agency services.
1973. Economy Gas (later Ferrellgas) spur constructed.
1975. Annandale depot and caboose 101 preserved at Pioneer Park.
1988. Derailment in town and evacuation of Annandale residents owing to
release of hazardous materials. Passing track and west end of house
track removed.
1990. The Canadian Pacific obtains full ownership of the Soo Line.
2001. Centra-Sota grain elevators torn down.
Alton Chermak
Rev January, 2011
Early Railroad Employees at Annandale
Station Agent/Operators
The agent/operator position at Annandale was compensated at the rate of
$45/month in 1887
When business and train traffic warranted, a night operator would be
assigned
Elevator Agent/Grain Buyers
E. P. Wood, 1886-1887 harvest/shipping season
Jno. Crosby, 1887-1888 harvest/shipping season
The elevator agent/grain buyer position at Annandale was compensated at
the rate of $50/month in 1887
Day laborers were hired when needed to assist with handling the volume
of grain
In 1888, the M & P grain warehouse was sold to the Atlantic Elevator
Company
Section Crews (track maintenance at Annandale and east to Maple Lake)
Thomas Morgan was Foreman in Feb, 1887, along with Thomas Jude, Charles
Jude and Charles Sullivan, laborers.
Patrick Clausen was Foreman in Nov, 1887; D. Dolan in June 1892: Dennis
Kennedy in Aug, 1898
John Haggerty, brother of W. L. Haggerty, was Foreman for several years
starting in Apr, 1893
The section foreman position at Annandale was compensated at the rate of
$45/month in 1887
Additional laborers were hired for summer track gangs and winter snow
removal.
Miscellaneous (a few trainmen residing in Annandale, worked along the
line)
Chas. H. Mathews, of Minneapolis, passenger train conductor, maintained
a cottage in the 1890s
C. V. Sterling, brakeman, resident in 1898
Compiled by Alton Chermak
Rev. February, 2011
Summary of Railroad Structures at Annandale
Businesses Located on Station Grounds
Other Structures Not on Station Grounds
See MORE on
the Soo Line from the Minnesota Encyclopedia www.mnopedia.org