Book Description

Excerpt from History of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and Representative Employes: A History of the Growth and Development of One of the Leading Arteries of Transportation in the United States, From Inception to Its Present Mammoth Proportions, Together With the Biographies of Many of the Men Who Have Been and Are Identified With the Va In issuing the History of theIllinois Central Railroad Company, the publishers, according to custom, desire to give expression of a few words of explanation regarding the work. In compiling a history of a railroad we were treading unknown paths which might lead to success or failure as it met with the favor, or the reverse, of the army of operatives to whom we looked for encouragement. We are happy to announce that those to whom we appealed for support have looked with favor upon our enterprise and have accorded us a liberal and hearty support for which we extend our sincere thanks. We are under especial obligations to Mr. William K. Ackerman for his generous permission to use his excellent Sketch of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, which is as complete and authentic as a work of this character can well be. No better commentary on his effort can be made than that appearing in the Railway Age at the time the work was first issued, which says; "Mr. W. K, Ackerman, for many years president of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and for nearly thirty-two years connected with that cor oration in various capacities, has availed himself of his well earned leisure to prepare an extremely interesting brochure which he entitles, Historical Sketch of the Illinois Central Railroad; together with a brief biographical record of its incorporators and some of its early officers. No man living is so competent as Mr. Ackerman to chronicle the early and latter days of this great enterprise, whose inception dates as far back as 1835 An admirable feature of the work is the entire absence of censoriousness or the indication of personal feeling on the part of the writer against any of the numerous officials with whom he was associated during his long career, or of his successors whose administration he might possibly be tempted to criticise. On the other hand, a kindly and appreciative spirit marks the reference to the numerous officers of the company who are specially named, and some of the sketches of persons both living and dead are extremely interesting." We desire to return thanks to the chief officials of the various railway orders for their courtesy in assisting us to compile creditable sketches of the orders over which they preside. E. E. Clark, Grand Chief Conductor of theO. R.C; Mrs. J. H. Moore. Grand President of the L. A. of O. R. C; F. P. Sargent, Grand Master of the B. of L. F.; Mrs. Georgie M. Sargent, Grand President of the L. S. of B. of L. F.; Mrs. Ray Watterson, Grand Mistress of L. A. of B. R. T.; C. H. Salmons, Editor B, of L. E. Monthly Journal; Mrs, W. A. Murdock, Grand President, and Mrs. Harry St. Clair, Grand Secretary of the G. I. A. to B. of, L. E. have given us their hearty cooperation. We desire, too, to extend our thanks to the many officials and army of operatives of the Illinois Central for their generous patronage, without which our efforts would have been in vain. To them is due what credit there may be for the success of the work, for without it only a dismal failure would have ensued. We realize that there are many whose names should a)pear within our pages that do not, but owing to indifference at the time our representative called or absence at repeated endeavors to secure an interview the facts could not be obtained and of necessity must be omitted. We have spared no effort nor expense to make this volume the most superbly illustrated work of its kind ever issued from an American press and have endeavored to raise and hold the biographical section up to the high literary standard set by the historian. Trusting that a g.