Storm Lake Times Pilot

The railroad comes to Buena Vista County



Illinois Central Engine 1870.

After the Civil War, four railroad companies competed to lay track across Iowa as part of a plan to build the first coast-to-coast rail line. The latest, and most northerly of these, the Dubuque and Sioux City RR, organized in 1860, headed west from Dubuque towards the least populated northwest corner of the state. It reached Cedar Falls (population 1,600) in 1861, being met with great celebration by this community.

In 1867, this line reached Iowa Falls and a year later, the company was leased to the Illinois Central (IC) railroad, with the most energetic and successful railroad builder, John Insley Blair, as chief. This gentleman later platted out Storm Lake, fortunately preserving our city lakefront. Such was the unparalleled rate of rail construction that Fort Dodge was reached in 1869, and the line completed all the way to Sioux City in 1870; at a point two miles west of Storm Lake. This year marks the founding of the town. Amazingly, the railroad bridge across the Mississippi at Dubuque serving this line was only completed in 1868!

Passenger service in Storm Lake began in late 1870. A two-story 104’ X 30’ wooden depot was built with three rooms on the ground floor. Separate ladies and gentlemen waiting rooms were at the sides and a ticket office serving both in the middle. The second floor had living quarters for the station agent and his family. Before the end of the year, Mrs. J. D. Eddy, wife of the first agent, and her family, arrived by train and moved in.

Milwaukee Depot, Storm Lake.

Passenger service in Storm Lake and other local towns on the IC line ended April 30, 1971, with a train traveling eastbound from Sioux City to Fort Dodge, carrying over 600 passengers. This was met here by a large crowd and music played by the Zauer Kraut Band. Other festivities occurred both in town and along the line. Still operating as part of the Illinois Central RR, this railroad, now going on east to Chicago, was the most successful one operating in BV County, and still carries freight service (operated by Canadian National RR since the late 1990s).

The peak of railroad activity here occurred about 1920, with no less than five railroads operating in our county: three of them in Storm Lake, which had three depots. Both Sioux Rapids and Marathon had two. Every small community, with the exception of Hanover, had a rail line. Indeed, many small towns only came into existence because of the arrival of trains. Passenger service, though vital for the growth of our area, was not the driving force behind railroad development. Shipping out agricultural products was of major importance, and remains so today.

In earlier times, shipping in coal, lumber and other construction materials was the other major money maker in the days before automobiles, and even later when most roads outside of towns were unpaved. As an example of business in a very small community, it was reported in 1932 that Mrs. K. L. Anderson, station agent in Sulphur Springs, had shipped out 132 carloads of livestock and grain the previous year, and shipped in 45 carloads of livestock and other goods.

After 1870, the next major local railroad development was the completion of the Chicago Northwestern line in 1882. This passed through the northern part of our county, going west from Sioux Rapids to Linn Grove, Le Mars and beyond, and heading east to Marathon, to which it gave birth. This line continued on to Webster City, where it joined the IC track. An 1894 timetable for Marathon shows two freight trains and two passenger trains going in each direction daily. In 1896, Sioux Rapids had a similar service, but with one more train going east.

Minneapolis & St. Louis train crossing the Little Sioux River.

The turn of the 20th century was one of the most important years in BV County railroad history. Two additional companies came onto the scene and there was much political fighting about right-of-way issues through towns already partly settled. Albert City, incorporated that year, benefited greatly when the Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad put in a line through town, joining Spirit Lake, already a popular tourist spot, to Spencer, Marathon, Fonda and Rockwell City, going on to Des Moines. The same year, this company completed a branch line from Storm Lake to Sac City and on to Rockwell City. This gave Storm Lake direct rail access to our state capital. A depot, for what later became known as the Milwaukee Road was built at the northeast corner of the intersection of Lake and Milwaukee avenues. In 1982, the depot was moved north out of town in order to build Godfather’s Pizza, recently rebuilt as the new Central Bank building.

In 1900, Storm Lake became a second rail terminus, this time for the Minneapolis & St. Louis railroad, which put in a line going north from town through Truesdale, Rembrandt and Sioux Rapids, and on to Spencer and the Twin Cities. The Storm Lake depot was built on the north side of East Fifth Street and the track required clearing five city blocks between Seneca and Oneida streets. The marginal profitability of this route was not helped by the need to maintain long trestle bridges on both sides of a steel bridge crossing the Little Sioux River.

In 1936, the money-losing line closed and the bridge was dismantled. The plain but well-built M & St. L depot in town was later used for a variety of different purposes, latterly belonging to Mike’s Lawn Service. In 2013 it was demolished. After 1936, Milwaukee Road took over the line to Rembrandt and train service there lasted throughout the war years. Passenger service on the Milwaukee branch line to Rockwell City from Storm Lake was also not highly profitable and was replaced in 1929 by a twice-daily bus service with stops at Juniata, Nemaha, Sac City and Lytton on the way.

Railroad timetables can be found online for several towns in the county. All three railroads serving Storm Lake posted times in local newspapers as late as 1927. That year the Illinois Central had three passenger trains each going east and west daily. The M & St. L had two passenger trains headed north each day and freight service arriving and leaving three days a week. Until 1929 the Milwaukee Road had two passenger arrivals and departures per day, before switching to bus service.

1928 railroad map showing Milwaukee Road going south, IC going east and west, and the M & St. L heading north.

Station agents were respected citizens in former times and railroad depots were important community assets for reasons other than transportation. They provided a meeting place, a source of accurate timekeeping and telegraph, and later telephone service when this was not widely available.

Today, depots are interesting historic survivors of the many, often closed, rail lines. Alta’s IC depot was moved in 1974 and reopened as a restaurant. The Aurelia IC depot came to Storm Lake in 1983 and became the “Trackside West” eatery, now “Smokin’ Hereford BBQ.” Railroad enthusiast Dean Maiden acquired the Pocahontas Rock Island depot in 1985; first moving it to Sioux Rapids as part of a museum there. Later Dean moved it to his original hometown of Marathon. Incidentally, the Rock Island railroad had a small section of track in the far northeast corner of BV County, but without any depots there.

Depots held mail and other valuables and were subject to frequent robberies. The Newell depot was robbed in 1919 by thieves who stole whisky, beer and five sacks of mail. It was robbed again by a tramp in 1930. This earned him $4 and 10 years in a state penitentiary. In 1901, the Albert City Milwaukee depot was the scene of a major gun battle between three robbers and a Marshal’s posse. The robbers were planning merely to eat at the lunch counter, after robbing a bank at Greenville. Word of their misdeeds arrived in town faster than they expected, and after the law took action, they retreated behind a big stove in the depot and exchanged gunfire with the posse. Sixty-four cases of 0.38 shells were fired and two lawmen and one robber died in the incident. The depot was moved in 1978 to be part of the Albert City Historical Museum, and remains today, bullet holes included.

The arrival of the last Illinois Central passenger train in 1971.

Depot fires were also not uncommon. In Thanksgiving 1917, during Storm Lake’s worst ever fire, embers from the burning Masonic Lodge and adjacent buildings caused the roof of the Milwaukee depot to burn, even though it was three blocks away.

While passenger train service on BV County trains was likely often quite spartan, one train, the Illinois Central Hawkeye Limited deserves mention as an example of superior service the railroad could offer. From the 1930s powerful locomotives made the 400+ mile journey to Chicago in 11 hours, including stops. The overnight train had Pullman sleeper cars and 2-3 mail cars with mail clerks sorting mail onboard the train. Top speed was in excess of 75 mph. The last train to arrive at Storm Lake in 1971 was of this type.