All aboard! This nation is headin’ West

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Missouri got smart. As the country argued where the national western terminus, or the jumping off point, of the proposed transcontinental railroad should be, the state made a move.

In 1847, the Missouri legislature guaranteed $3 million in bond money to build a rail line across northern Missouri, hoping to help the federal government decide. It would become the Hannibal-St. Joseph Railroad, making St. Joseph, Missouri, the farthest city in the west to be connected by rail.

The line was completed in February of 1859.

The national argument about where the railway should be located further divided an already contentious country over the demand by the southern states to expand slavery into the new territories.

Northerners were vehemently opposed to the proposed southern route: Ft. Smith, Arkansas, through Santa Fe and on to San Francisco. It would not receive the congressional support needed for federal backing.

Whereas just as forcibly, southerners would not stand for the St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, or Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Sacramento, California, right of way.

Pressing on slowly, it took 12 years for Missouri to plan, fund and build the rail line, but they got it done. In 1849, state Sen. Robert M. Stewart spearheaded the effort, hiring St. Joseph land engineer Simeon Kemper to survey the most favorable route.

Stewart was a colorful character in Missouri history. He made his money speculating on Platte Purchase land, cashing in as the area became part of the State in 1836. As the Hannibal — St. Joseph Railroad was being built, Stewart became Governor of Missouri. Having lived in St. Joseph, the now governor had accumulated quite an unadmirable reputation.

In the 1860 census St. Joseph had over 10,000 citizens, with thousands coming through the city annually to head west, joining wagon trains. St. Jo was a wide open town with a reported 129 saloons. It seemed younger Gov. Stewart visited most of them.

In those days if you had money, there were no drinking guardrails. People would go on “benders” that lasted days if not weeks. Many died of alcohol poisoning, but others like Bob Stewart continued on leaving a disheveled legacy. Whiskey or “Redeye,” was his elixir of choice.

There were several recorded instances of his behavior, but here’s one of my favorites. At the Gala Grand Opening of the Patee House Hotel on Nov. 26, 1859, this was written by a visiting Kansas reporter.

“Gov. Bob Stewart was toasted and the band struck up. Having never met the governor before, I watched him carefully. Standing on a chair this tall man, middle age whose appearance was that of a bar-room loafer, rather than that of a man of ability. He was drunk, most decidedly, and disheveled, looking like he hadn’t been sober for a long period ... haggard eyes, hair uncombed, dirty beard. He stood on the chair as the band played, contorting his body ... he tried speaking, hiccupping at every other word. As the band ceased, he grabbed the tenor drum and started ratting on it! A most disgraceful picture for a man of his office.”

My friend Gary Chilcote, of the Patee House Museum, does not mince words, “he was the town drunk!”

This is not the only social function where the lifelong bachelor is documented making a fool of himself.

As governor, he drunkenly rode a horse into his mansion through a “State soirée,” disrupting the buffet line … desert anyone?

Stewart went on to meet the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII. The King was quoted as saying “of all the people he met in America, Governor Stewert made the biggest impression.”

Whether meeting the governor was that of a good experience or not by the King, no one is sure, but at least Stewart was remembered.

The governor’s inability to control his consumption of alcohol would no doubt be looked on differently today. In another article of the period it’s stated the Governor was “a slave to the drink.”

He died at 56, a victim of his own making, but a man who is credited with putting Missouri on the national rail map.

Winds of war were felt throughout the country. Dialogs had turned physical as states began to arm themselves. The question of locating the transcontinental railroad would be determined by the national politicians in power as the country began battling itself.

In 1862, President Lincoln, despite his nation being in an all out conflict, pressed on with the need to build a transcontinental rail. Linking the past with the country’s destiny. The importance of planning for the future in connecting the shores made others think positively even as the Union struggled to hold its own on the battlefield.

Congress set aside an estimated $60 million dollars and committed to two rail companies in fulfilling dream of connecting the East with the West. Out of Omaha, the Union Pacific would build westward, using many Irish immigrants, while the Central Pacific Railroad headed East with its Chinese laborers, it was grueling work.

Construction took seven long years. Finally, in 1869 each directional effort met one another in Utah, at Promontory Summit where the “Golden Spike” was pounded into place, changing America forever.

This modern connection allowed travelers to traverse the country in days not months. The new tie was not just for people and products but ideas, America grew up.

Six months after that success in the United States, the Suez Canal opened, making the world itself even smaller.

President Lincoln dismissed the advantages of Missouri building the furthest west rail line of the day because of safety, Union control and political influence, deciding on a northern route laid out to him personally years earlier by engineer Granville Dodge. The track west paralleled much of the Pony Express route.

History can take unforeseen twists and turns that change a city’s course. St. Joseph it seems, by Lincoln moving the location of the railroad, just missed an opportunity to become a major cultural and rail transportation hub where the South met the North and the East headed West.

To learn more of St. Joseph’s part in the development of our country, visit the Patee House Museum, home of a Hannibal — St Joseph steam engine with all the surrounding stories.