4 holders, particularly when they realize the splendid condition at present of the track, road-bed, and equipment of the road. The present officers are as follows: T. B. Blackstone, President; Robt. Hale, General Superintendent; W. M. Larrabee, Secretary and Trea surer. THE TOLEDO, WABASH, AND WESTERN RAILROAD. —This is one of the greatest railroads in the western country. It is composed of the Toledo and Wabash Railroad, the Great Western Railroad, the Quincy and Toledo Railroad, and the Illinois and Southern Iowa Railroad, which were consolidated and merged into one, July 1st, 1865. The present Company is operating a great, direct, through line of railroad commencing at Toledo, in Ohio, and terminating at Quincy, Illinois, with branches to Naples and Keokuk, making the entire length of road operated, five hundred and twenty miles. The capital stock of the Company amounts to twenty millions of dollars. The entire revenues of the road, for the eighteen months ending Dec. 31, 1866, amount to five million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and the operating expenses to four million two hundred and ninety-eight thousand dollars; leaving the net earnings during this period to be nearly a million and a half of dollars (namely, $1,451,971). The number of locomotives in use upon the road is one hundred and two, number of passenger cars forty-seven, number of freight cars, one thousand and forty. The Company is at present engaged in the construc tion of an iron railroad bridge across the Mississippi River at Quincy. It is expected that this bridge will be ready for the passage of trains before the close of the year 1867. The Company have also contracted for the construction of another railroad bridge across the Mississippi River, at Keokuk. The President says, in his report: "The accomplishment of this important undertaking, the success of which is already quite assured, places our line without competition or rivalry in direct railway connection with the Des Moines Valley Railroad, thereby affording us easy and favorable access to the vast grain and stock busi ness of Central and Northern Iowa, one of the most productive" and greatest wheat growing regions of the west. During the past year, the Company have expended three millions of dollars in improving their road and in adding to its equipment. Sixty-one miles of entirely new track have been laid, twenty-one new firstclass locomotives have been purchased, and six elegant passenger coaches have been built, at the Company's shops. Four new passenger depots have been built, and three large freight buildings. Several new bridges have been built, besides those over the Mississippi River; among them is a wrought iron bridge over the Wea River, west of Lafayette, in Indiana, at a cost of fifty thousand dollars. The President's Report says: "The Elevators used by our Company at Toledo, with a storage capacity of one million four hundred and fifty-two thousand bushels, are now in good repair and efficient working condition, and their present manage ment seems to secure the entire confidence and approbation of all doing business with them. Upon the completion of the track now in process of building through Elevator 'No. 3,' the unloading facilities will be fully equal to two hundred and fifty cars daily, which, in emergencies, can be increased to four hundred daily, thus assuring us against delays and detentions in times of a great pressure of business." The machine shops of the Company at Toledo are very extensive, and are admirably managed. All the necessary repairs to cars and locomotives are done here, and the shops turn out, besides, two new freight cars daily. Four new and elegantly arranged sleeping cars were put upon the route in the spring of 1867. The officers of the Company are Azariah Boody, President; Warren Colburn, Vice-President; E. A. Chapin, General Superintendent; John N. Drummond, Secretary and Treasurer. CHAPTER XXXII. CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND, AND PACIFIC RAILROAD. THE CHICAGO AND ROCK ISLAND RAILROAD was one of the earliest roads completed from Chicago to the west. It extends from Chicago to Rock Island on the Mississippi River, which it crosses on a fine bridge. The distance is one hundred and eighty-two miles. It owes its construction, and the success of its early management, particularly up to the year 1860, to the energy, enterprise, and liberality of Henry Farnum, Esq., the former President of the Company. The road is constructed in the best possible manner, and its equipment and rolling stock are not surpassed by that of any road in the western country. The passenger depot of the Company, at Chicago, is at the corner of Van Buren and Sherman Streets, and is one of the finest railroad buildings in the country. The Chicago and Rock Island Railroad was virtually completed as early as the year 1854, and was in full operation in 1855. It runs through a very rich and fertile portion of the State of Illinois, passing through the flourishing towns of Joliet, La Salle, and Bureau. These were all small villages at the time the road was laid out, but their growth was very rapid immediately after the road went into operation. Many other settle ments also sprung up along the line of the road, and have since grown to be large and flourishing towns. But it was in the improvement of the country along the route of the road, that the change was most marked and gratifying. Much of the land, especially between La Salle and Rock Island, was still uncultivated at the time when the road was completed. But it no longer remained so. Hundreds of industrious and enterprising men at once settled themselves on farms near the line of the road, where the land, although cheap, was of unsurpassed fertility, and at once devoted all their energies to the raising of wheat and cattle. In a short time every farm along the line of the road, and for miles on each side of it, was under a high state of cultivation. The result of this state of things was soon apparent in the increased business of the railroad. From the year 1856 to the year 1861, the receipts of wheat at Chicago, over this road, continued to increase rapidly, and finally became enormous in amount. By the year 1857, the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad, beginning at Davenport, opposite Rock Island, had been extended to Iowa City. It has since been completed to Fort Des Moines, on the Des Moines River, one hundred and fifty miles west of the Mississippi River. The whole of this road is in progress to the Missouri River, and will probably be completed to Council Bluffs in a few months. The road will be run and worked by the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Company, in pursuance of a contract to that effect. The latter Company recently advanced half a million of dollars to the Mississippi and Missouri Company, to |