History of the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

About this book

In 1859 Cyrus K. Holliday envisioned a railroad that would run from Kansas to the Pacific increasing the commerce and prosperity of the nation. With farsighted investors and shrewd management the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad grew from Hollidays idea into a model of the modern rapid and efficient railroad. There were many growing pains. Rustlers thieves and desperadoes were as thick as the cattle in Kansas when the first rails were laid. When a conductor toting a pistol asked a grizzled prospector where he was heading the old man replied "Hell." "Thats 65 and get off at Dodge " the weary conductor declared. Once built with rails from Wales laid on ties of oak and walnut the railroad survived the economic and climatic hardships of the late nineteenth century and eventually extended from Chicago to San Francisco with over 12 000 miles of track and substantial holdings in oil fields timber land uranium mines pipe lines and real estate.