Electric Interurban Lines of Northern Illinois; Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railway among list

Electric Interurban Lines in Northern Illinois

While a map of Northern Illinois showing the electric interurban lines does not by any means present such a network as similar maps of Ohio or Southeastern Michigan, it discloses the beginning of a healthy growth. Perhaps one reason the accompanying map of Northern Illinois does not show a greater network as compared with some maps that have been published of other States is that it shows only the roads actually in operation or under construction, or so far along in organization as to be practically in the beginning of the construction period and hence almost assured. A map of all the proposed electric interurban lines in Indiana, Illinois and lowa would be almost as complex as a map of the present steam roads in these States, because they have been a most active field of labor for the electric interurban promoter for the last twelve months.

Looking at the accompanying map of Northern Illinois we see that the only region which has anything near approaching a network of electric interurban lines is that just west of Chicago. Strange as it may seem, the building of interurban and suburban lines has never progressed as rapidly in the neighborhood of Chicago as around several much smaller Ohio cities. A number of local conditions have been responsible for this. The companies already in the field in the city of Chicago have not seen fit to extend their operations far outside of the city limits. The steam road suburban service in various directions from Chicago has also been excellent and has tended to discourage electric competition until very recently. Further than this, it is necessary to go about 40 miles in any direction from Chicago before reaching any manufacturing towns large enough to tempt capital into electric interurban railways. Franchises in the neighborhood of such a large city were naturally more difficult to obtain upon reasonable terms than around smaller cities, and purchased rights of way were expensive. Steam roads doing a suburban business, and hence opposing any new lines, and village councils put-ting excessive values on franchises, have been discouraging elements. Recently, however, the lack of interurban lines near Chicago is being rapidly filled in.

The most notable of these roads, as well as the latest to be constructed, is the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railway (No. 10 on the map), a complete map of which was given in the STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL of Feb. 1, 1902. This road, which is almost ready to begin operation, will probably be the finest example of high-speed electric interurban service to be found in the world. Something like 40 miles an hour average schedule speed, including stops, is expected, and the running time from Aurora, 39 miles, to Chicago, using the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railway for entrance to the city, will probably be one hour and fifteen minutes. This is about the time in which the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad's fastest trains deliver passengers at the Union Depot, Chicago, which is some distance from the heart of the city. From Wheaton to Chicago this line is double-tracked and will serve a good line of suburban towns, paralleling two steam roads. The Pomeroy-Mandlebaum Syndicate at Cleveland is behind this enterprise, Will Christy, of Akron, Ohio, being general manager, and, with his assistant, W. E. Davis, responsible for the many excellent engineering features incorporated in this road. The population of cities and towns which will be served by this system, according to the census of 1900 (from which all the population figures given in this article are obtained), is as follows: Chicago, 1,698,575; Oak Park, 7500; River Forest, 1539; Maywood, 4532; Melrose Park, 2592; Elmhurst, 1728; Lombard, 590; Glen-ellyn, 793; Wheaton, 2345. The population of the Fox River towns forming the western terminals of this road is given in the following paragraph under the Elgin, Aurora & Southern Traction Company, which will operate its system in conjunction with the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railway, as it is controlled by the same capitalists. The same power house will also supply both systems.

The Elgin, Aurora & Southern Traction Company (11) connects a number of good manufacturing towns located up and down the Fox River Valley for a distance of about40 miles. The present system is a consolidation of several roads. This populous Fox River Valley was among the first in Illinois to enjoy the benefits of an electric interurban system. Beginning at the northern end of the line there is Carpentersville, with a population of 1002; Dundee, 2765; Elgin, 22,433 St. Charles, 2675; Geneva, 2446; Batavia, 3871; Aurora, 24,147; Oswego, 618; Yorkville, 840, and Bristol, 427. These lines up and down the Fox River have done a good business for a number of years. With such a large population scattered along the river within a comparatively few miles it was natural that the first extensive interurban building in Illinois should be done in this locality.

The first interurbans of any kind in the State were, of course, short. That from Champaign to Urbana (1) was of this class. This could hardly be called a true interurban railway, however, because the cities of Champaign and Urbana were joined so as to make practically one town. This line is operated by the Urbana& Champaign Railway, Gas & Electric Company, of which W. B. McKinley, of Champaign, is the head. He is also interested in many other street and interurban railway projects. Operation is in charge of H. J. Pepper. The population of Champaign in 1900 was 9098, that of Urbana 5728.

Of a similar nature was the early extension of the Bloomington city lines built between Bloomington and Normal. This company is now known as the Bloomington & Normal Street Railway Company (2), of which John Eddy is the manager. The population of Bloomington is 23,286 and that of Normal 3795. The State Normal Institute at Normal helps to swell the traffic between the two towns.

Rock Island and Moline have been a part of the Tri-City Railway Company system (18) for many years. This company operates in and between Davenport, Ia., Rock Island and Moline, Ill.

These short lines just enumerated were, however, so short that it may be truly said that the first real extensive interurban building in the State was that between Aurora and Elgin, in the Fox River Valley, before mentioned.

After the Fox River roads, the next long line to begin operation was the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway (5), which occupies a magnificent territory along the shore of Lake Michigan north of Chicago between Evanston, the first suburb beyond the Chicago city limits, and Waukegan. The name, Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway Company, so far represents only the ambitions of the promoters. An electric line has been built from Milwaukee south as far as Racine, Wis., but the gap between Waukegan, Ill., and Racine, Wis., has not as yet been filled. From Racine to Waukegan progress has been blocked for several years by franchise difficulties in Kenosha, but as this matter has recently been straightened out there is prospect that the connecting link between Waukegan and Racine will soon be built by a company of which B. J. Arnold, of Chicago, is resident. One can then ride by electric car the 86 miles from Chicago to Milwaukee. The present lines, however, are not built for very high speed, but are suited only to local travel and passengers from suburban towns to whom time is no great object. The road fills an important place as to local transportation, however, as will be explained later. It is not unlikely that some day a high-speed frequent-service electric railway between Chicago and Milwaukee and the principal intermediate cities will be constructed. The only thing that could prevent such a line being built would be the adoption of electric traction by the two steam roads which now run several fast trains daily between the two cities, but which would surely have to yield the cream of traffic to an electric road offering fast and more frequent train service and freedom from soot and cinders.

One notable thing about the present electric road from Evanston along the north shore to Waukegan is that while it is not a high-speed line (the maximum speed of cars being 24 miles per hour on the level) it captures not only a large part of the local business between suburbs, but also many of those passengers who are bound for Chicago and who take the electric road to Evanston or some other convenient steam-road station at which the train service is more frequent than at other stations along the line of the steam road. The trouble of changing cars at Evanston is met by the cheaper fare on the electric road and the fact that the cars stop for passengers at any street crossing, while the steam road depot may be a mile or more distant. From Lake Bluff, on this road, a branch road (6) 6 miles long to Libertyville is being built this summer to get the lake-resort traffic from the inland lakes from that region.

The populations of the towns traversed by the Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway are as follows: Evanston, 19,259; Winnetka, 1833; Wilmette, 2300; Glencoe, 1020; Ravinia, 75; Highland Park, 2806; Highwood, 750; Fort Sheridan, 1575; Lake Foust [sic] Forest, 2215; Lake Bluff, 490; North Chicago, 1150; Waukegan, 9426.

The larger towns in Northern Illinois are found scattered almose [sic] almost entirely along the valleys of certain larger rivers. These towns were originally started because of small water powers to be found along these rivers at the points where the various towns were located. It is therefore natural that some of the important interurbans should follow these river valleys, not for civil engineering reasons, but because the population of the towns justify the location of the interurbans. Next after the Fox River Valley in importance as an interurban center the present prospects are that the Rock and Illinois Rivers will come next. Rockford is destined to be the most important interurban town in the northern central part of Illinois.

The Rockford & Belvidere Railway (13) has been built by the same interests that control the Rockford Railway Light & Power Company, of which R. N. Baylies, of Chicago, is president, and T. M. Ellis, of Rockford, is manager. The same people have surveyed a line from Rockford to Freeport (20). The population of Rockford, which is called the "Lowell of the West" on account of its extensive factories, is 31,051, and that of Belvidere is 6937.

Running north from Rockford is the Rockford, Beloit & Janesville Railway (19) soon to be in operation from Beloit, Wis., to Rockford, Ill. Its northern terminus is to be Janesville, Wis. This is a road in which the Pomeroy-Mandelbaum Syndicate, of Cleveland, is interested, and of which Will Christy is president. The construction is under the immediate charge of G. W. Knox, consulting engineer, of Chicago. It is likely that before many years there will be a continuous chain of electric interurban lines from Chicago to Joliet, and thence through Morris, Marseilles, Ottawa, LaSalle, Peru to Princeton, thus joining Chicago with an important set of towns along the Illinois River.

From Chicago to Joliet, the Joliet Electric Railway (8) has now been giving service for over a year. This road in the main follows the highway, and the route of the famous Chicago drainage canal. Unfortunately this company's terminal connections in Chicago at present are such that a large part of the time between Chicago and Joliet is taken up within the city limits of Chicago. This company is controlled by the American Railways Company, of Philadelphia, F. E. Fisher, of Joliet, being general manager. The population of Joliet is 29,353. The population of the intermediate towns is as follows: Lockport, 2659; Romeo, 113; Lemont 2449; Willow Springs, 163; Summit, 547.

The Illinois Valley Railroad Company (15) of Ottawa is building a line 6 miles between Ottawa (population 10,588) and Marseilles (population 2559). Weston Bros., of Chicago, are engineering and supervising this work. The officers of this company are men interested in the Ottawa Railway, Light & Power Company, of which L. W. Hess is general manager.

Further down the Illinois Valley is the Peoria & Pekin Terminal Railway (16), giving an electric service between Peoria and Pekin, and also operating a number of miles of steam road around these two cities. L. E. Myers, of Chicago, is the general manager of the road. The population of Peoria is 56,100; that of Pekin 8420.

The People's Traction Company (17), of Galesburg, is considering a line from Galesburg south to Abington. Galesburg has a population of 18,607, and Abington 2022. The Chicago, Harvard & Lake Geneva Lake Railway (14) has a line 102 miles long from Harvard, Ill., north to Lake Geneva, Wis. Further details of this road were given in the STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL of June 7, 1902. H. T. Windsor, of Walworth, Wis., is general manager. Its chief business is that of taking passengers from Harvard on the Chicago & Northwestern road to the southern shore of Lake Geneva, in Wisconsin, and a freight business in which it exchanges cars with steam roads.

The Chicago Consolidated Traction Company (9) reaches as far north as Evanston , and as far west as Melrose Park, with its regular street railway service, which covers all the outlying parts of the north and west sides of the city.

On the south side of Chicago, the South Chicago City Railway (3 ) operates the Hammond, Whiting & East Chicago Railway, which reaches down just across the Stateline to Hammond, Ind.

The Chicago Electric Traction Company (4) is another line operating in the city of Chicago which reaches Morgan Park (population 2329), Blue Island (6114) and Harvey (5395), to the southwest.

The Suburban Railroad Company (7), in connection with the West Side Elevated roads of Chicago, gives electric service to LaGrange and intermediate points along the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. This, together with the competition of elevated and surface lines, has caused the taking off of quite a number of the Chicago, Bulington [sic] Burlington & Quincy suburban trains.

A short line is under construction, 6 miles, from DeKalb to Sycamore. This is the DeKalb, Sycamore Electric Company (12), of which W. B. Ullmann is president; L. Chaldecott, secretary and treasurer; John W. Glidden, superintendent. The population of DeKalb is 5904, and that of Sycamore 3653.

The Aurora, DeKalb & Rockford Traction Company(21) is preparing to build from Aurora, northwest through Kaneville, DeKalb and Kirkland to Rockford. That between Aurora and DeKalb will be built first. W. D. Ball, of Chicago, is consulting engineer. The company is backed by a syndicate composed of V. A. Watkins and William George, of Aurora; R. S. Vivian and G. B Shaw, of the American Trust & Savings Bank, of Chicago.

An important road joining the Illinois valley chain of cities is the Illinois Valley Traction Company (22), which is building from Ottawa (population 10,588) west, throughUtica (1150), LaSalle (10,446), Peru (6863), Spring Valley (6214), Ladd (1324), Seatonville (909), and Holloway (207), to Princeton (4023). This is one of the Portland Syndicate roads, of which W. B. McKinley, of Champaign, Ill., is president.