Railroads - The Lifeblood Of A Community*

Early in the 1880s two railroad lines began surveying and purchasing rights-of-way in Little Blue Township. Thus, the town of Pauline came into being. The Kansas City & Omaha was the first to arrive, with the town of Pauline being platted by that company's employees. John M. Ragan ofA panoramic view of Pauline's east elevator, with railroad cars and depot in lower right corner. In the distance can be seen Pauline's main street. The wood-frame schoolhouse is at the extreme left, dating this photo to before 1923. Photo is from the Bennie Leighfield collection, courtesy of Doris Evans Alexander. Hastings, general attorney for the Burlington railroad, was responsible for securing the rights-of-way for feeder lines such as the K .C. & O. The townsite platted by K. C. & O. took shape on the east half of the northwest quarter of Section Nine. Ragan named it Pauline, in honor of his wife. The K.C. & O. purchased rights-of-way through the homesteads of James McCleery and Dan Olmstead, while another line, The Missouri Pacific, purchased rights-of-way through the Jonas Goding, James Dean and James McCleery homesteads. Located at the junction of the two railroads on the James McCleery homestead, Pauline owed its establishment and subsequent existence to the two railroads.

Many of the early Pauline residents helped build both railroads. Wages for labor and money acquired from the sale of land rights-of-way enabled the settlers to improve their homesteads or farms. Jonas Goding, for example, replaced his sod house with a frame structure. Railroads were the lifeline of the new country, bringing goods in and taking produce out.

The railroads were completed in 1888 and began service that year. Beginning at neighboring Fairfield, the K.C. & O. ran west to Minden, southwest to Alma, and connected with the main line of the Burlington. The Missouri Pacific started at Concordia, Kansas and ran northwest to Prosser, crossing the K.C. & O. at Pauline.

The K.C. & O. built a depot one-half mile west of the junction of the two roads, as well as a nearby water tank, with a pumping station on the river one-fourth mile north. lt was well taken care of, featuring a lawn with a fountain. Water was piped to stockyards located one-quarter mile east. During the same period, Pauline's west elevator was erected near those stockyards, owned by William Townsend. Power to elevate the grain consisted of two blind horses and a circular power plant. The first agent on the K.C. & O. was a Miss Berry. She later married Silas Coffman of Leroy.

The Missouri Pacific rail bridge is nearly inundated with water in this early 1900s photo. Pauline's east elevator can be seen in the distance, to the left of the tracks. Photo is from the Bennie Leighfield collection, courtesy of Doris Evans Alexander.The Missouri Pacific depot was built one-fourth mile east of Pauline and also used the river for water supply. The water tank and pump station were constructed one-quarter mile north of the railroad junction near the bridge. The company also built a stockyard and a section house. The Missouri Pacific didn't have an elevator until 1898, but a buyer bought grain on the track. Dow Black was the buyer at the time; he loaded cars by hand-shoveling. He also handled coal. The first agent for the Missouri Pacific was believed to be Joseph Blair. Agents for the two lines stayed at the Goding boarding house in about 1892.

For a short time, the two railroad lines combined and shared an agent. The depot was then located at the junction between the tracks of the two railroads. About two years later, this depot was destroyed after it was struck by lightning. The K.C. & O. station at neighboring Leroy was moved to Pauline, near the elevator and stockyards west of town. The Missouri Pacific then reopened their original station and hired an agent.

Until 1903, both railroads ran mixed trains - freight, passenger accommodation, and mail. Beginning in 1903, due to the St. Louis World's Fair, each rail line put on special passenger trains and continued the service for several years, giving Pauline four trains daily besides the freight trains.

The K.C. & O. was eventually purchased by Burlington, and the trains connected with main lines at Sutton, Minden and Alma. Because of its outstanding service, the line was used to move large volumes of livestock, grain, and passengers. The amount of train traffic through Pauline from the 1890's up to as late as 1930 was an astounding four to six trains daily.

Recollections Of The Rail

The late Philip Smidt recalled the Burlington running two passenger trains as well as a mixed freight-and-passenger train during the 1920s and '30s.This undated photo of Pauline's east elevator is provided courtesy of Doris Evans Alexander. Trains featured a large, bell-shaped smokestack and three big drive wheels, he said. In addition, Smidt said, a motorized passenger car ran daily, morning and evenings. Local folks dubbed it the "Doodle Bug".  One of his early teachers at rural District 26 came from Hastings on the Doodle Bug at the beginning of each week, boarded with a nearby family, then waited at the rail crossing Friday evenings, where the train stopped for her on its return to Hastings.

The railroad, which ran right by his family's home, was one of Smidt's favorite places to play, despite warnings to the contrary from his mother. Youth of the day liked to fill themselves with water from the Missouri Pacific pump. He recalled his uncle John Smidt using a gravity-hinged pump to fill the Missouri Pacific tower full of water which would then be dumped into the steam engines. Another uncle, Dick Smidt, was riding on the fenders of a steam engine when the firebox blew up, throwing him some distance from the train. A second man was killed in the incident, Philip Smidt said.

Diminishing Train Traffic*

In the 1930's, train traffic started to diminish. The motor service on the Missouri Pacific line was discontinued in November of 1931. On March 1, 1932, the Missouri Pacific freight commenced carrying mail, and track maintenance began to be phased out. After the passenger service was discontinued, all mail was carried over the Burlington line. The Pauline track maintenance section of the Missouri Pacific was closed the last week of March, 1933. Section foreman at that time was Joseph Chenoweth. He'd begun his stint in Pauline as a section foreman with a man-operated handcar. In November of 1933, the railroad bridge on the Burlington just east of town caught fire and was destroyed. No mail came from the east that day, as it was rerouted through Hastings.

Some of the section foremen for the Burlington line were Everett Laird, Nels Lofquist, Henry Bott, Ross Fisk, Charles B. Smith, Paul Breithaupt and John Schuyler. In about 1934, Loren Slonecker came to Pauline as foreman. He stayed until approximately 1938. After Slonecker, Louis Gates was foreman until the track was removed in 1940. Bill Grogan was depot agent at the Burlington line through the 1930s until 1939 when he moved to Hastings. Pete and Greta Irelan moved into the depot, and Pete was a relief agent for a time. Others besides Chenoweth employed with the Missouri Pacific were Klogget, Gene Kelly, Bill Hanson, F.E. Riggins and Willis Jacobs.

By 1940 the Burlington tracks were taken up between Spring Ranch and Pauline. A wrecking crew from Hastings purchased and removed theThe Missouri Pacific railroad tracks lead to the original structure of Pauline's east elevator. Stockyards and a water tower once occupied the area behind the grain bins. This beautiful slide photo was taken Dec. 31, 1976 by area resident Dorothy Kosmacek. stockyards from the right-of-way. The west elevator was torn down when the railroad was taken up. Following a failed effort to turn the depot into a community center, the building was sold to William Moss who dismantled it and used the lumber for a brooder house and chicken coop on his farm west of town. A number of years later the east depot along the Missouri Pacific line was sold to Art Sime, who moved it to main street, where he used it to store oil for his service station. lt was later sold to Merl Brown. Eventually, the depot was again sold and moved to Deweese. It is no longer in existence.

The Missouri Pacific began legal proceedings to abandon the 85-mile line from Hastings to Concordia, Kansas, on November 10, 1983. On March 2, 1985, the last train rolled through Pauline. The following year the tracks through Pauline were removed, thus ending a century of railroad history.

Elevators*

The first elevator to be built in Pauline (the west elevator) was erected by Charles Furer on the Kansas City & Omaha (later Burlington) rail line. It was successively owned by William Townsend, W.H. Ferguson and the Updike Brothers. John McCleery managed the business under the Updikes and bought it in 1909.  Located on the west edge of town, the elevator was a wooden structure, said area resident Philip Smidt. During the 1930s he and his father hauled grain from their farm to the elevator by horse and wagon. Farmers contracted their grain, selling it on the board - a new concept at that time, he noted. Also on the premises were baseball fields, Burlington-owned stockyards and a water tower to the east of the elevator, Smidt said. "When the railroad went out, that was the end of it," he said.

Pauline's east elevator traces its beginnings to 1888, when Clyde Gaunt erected a shovel house on the Missouri Pacific Railroad line. Dow Black purchased the business from Gaunt and later sold it to T.T. Jones and Ben Sherman. They later sold it to the Farmers Grain & Supply Co.  This elevator has been successively owned by business partners Pete Gartner and Fred Mohlman; Pete Gartner, Goffee-Carkener Grain Co., Glen  Hewitt, William Stanley and Ayr  Grain Co. Garvey Elevators owned the facility during the 1980s. Although the railroad line has been taken out, the elevator continues in operation by AGP Grain Marketing. The original elevator building, seen in the photos on this page, was taken down in the late 1970s. 

*A portion of this information is taken from "Pauline and Community, 1887-1987, 'A Trail in Time' "

More Scenes From Yesteryear

Pauline's east elevator, Dec. 31, 1976. Courtesy of Dorothy Kosmacek.    Pauline's east elevator, Dec. 31, 1976. Courtesy of Dorothy Kosmacek.

 The board of directors at Pauline's east elevator are shown in 1912. Pictured are R.J. Harrenstein, T.W. Jones, Ben Sherman, Frank Sherman, Ernie May, James Sherman, web editor's great-grandfather Barney Post, Frank McCormick and Joe Fouts. Photo is courtesy of Kathy Post Seeman.