tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post759160992524700049..comments2024-03-28T23:07:57.649-05:00Comments on Industrial History: C&IW: Chicago and Illinois Western OverviewDennis DeBrulerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13992361354510209661noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-51379531031020861112023-07-09T22:33:21.329-05:002023-07-09T22:33:21.329-05:00Some links
United States Geological Maps for the ...Some links<br /><br />United States Geological Maps for the whole country are here: (https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#4/40.00/-100.00)<br /> A 1918 (appealed 1928) ICC valuation of the C&IW on pages 219-243 is here: (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435063988489&view=1up&seq=9).<br />"Google 2023" is Google Maps satellite view, not the map view. "Google Earth Pro", a free download, has fifty different views between 1998 and 2022 with location and date marked. You need a computer with a desktop. <br /> Industrial History's Stickney treatment plant is here: (https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2016/06/mwrds-stickney-water-reclamation-plant.html).<br />Industrial History's Crawford plant is here: (https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2014/05/midwest-generation-power-plants.html).<br />Sammy D IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06166526632522920096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-37567992186720638072023-07-09T22:29:16.194-05:002023-07-09T22:29:16.194-05:00Back East to the Panhandle
Now to the line east f...Back East to the Panhandle<br /><br />Now to the line east from Hawthorne to the "Panhandle", a north/south route of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (a Pennsylvania RR company) just west of Western Ave. The C&IW needed to go thru Chicago to get there so they had to deal with the City Council, but it took a long time anyway. It opened in 1914, making the line north of the ICRR a branch.<br /><br />On the USGS Englewood Quad, going north along Cicero Ave., instead of going straight (north) over the ICRR the C&IW curved right (east), crossed the Belt Ry., and ran along the south side of the ICRR. This turned out to be handy in 1924, when Commonwealth Edison opened the Crawford plant (Pulaski Ave. was Crawford until 1952). It's all trucking terminals now, satellites show the last building being torn down in October 2020.<br /><br />Just east the C&IW crossed the Illinois Northern Railroad at grade and crossed the ICRR to the north side (in 2023 there is a ghost south of the junkyard). They split and crossed Kedzie Ave. on separate viaducts, then the ICRR curved right and crossed the Sanitary Canal while the C&IW curved left and ran east-northeast on the north side of it. In 2023 Google shows the Kedzie Ave. viaduct is still there and the ICRR is still using theirs. The C&IW kept going and crossed the Collateral Channel on the Rall bridge (shown above).<br /><br />The Collateral Channel interests me. The South Fork of the South Branch of the Chicago River is "Bubbly Creek", but there was a West Fork, too. It's on the 1929 map (note the west part is channelized as the Ogden Ditch). When the Sanitary Canal was finished they wanted a slow fill from the side, not a flood from the end, so they dug the Collateral Channel to connect the West Fork with the canal (it took fifteen days to fill it). The channel's just an unused slip now, the West Fork's long gone.<br /><br />Just east of the channel, the branch on the north that goes to the county complex, looks like the last service east of the ICRR. A customer on the very bottom looked good until 2010, when the track was paved over and the ICRR connection was cut.<br /><br />Next east is a viaduct over California Ave. and then that curving bridge over 31st. St. (shown above) to the northbound Panhandle. The C&IW had 3.65 miles of trackage rights on the Panhandle to the Milwaukee Road Railroad (now METRA?) and the Panhandle had trackage rights all the way to Hodgkins. <br /><br />In winter 2018 (with no undergrowth) the rails went just east of California Ave., there is no sign of anything farther since 2000. The Panhandle itself is gone, someone else uses some of the corridor.<br />Sammy D IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06166526632522920096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-19028069281149427042023-07-09T22:28:22.552-05:002023-07-09T22:28:22.552-05:00Southwest to Hodgkins
As built the C&IW ran n...Southwest to Hodgkins<br /><br />As built the C&IW ran north/south along the western side of the Belt Ry., from the Burlington on the north to the ICRR. The tracks just north of 31st St. were to private customers, north of that was Western Electric's telephone pole yard and the Manufacturers' Junction Ry. The C&IW keeps going north and curves west into the Burlington's Cicero/Clyde/(maybe Hawthorne?) yard.<br /><br />Going south to "Gary" from the quarry there's a connection west to the ICRR's Hawthorne yard (looks like the only connection used in 2023). But the main drag went south, crossing the ICRR at grade, then veering west slightly to parallel Cicero Ave. by Hawthorne Race Track (a good landmark). Then it hits the sanitary canal and heads southwest to Hodgkins.<br /><br />Now to the USGS Berwyn Quad, right center. The C&IW is right along the north side of the sanitary canal. Above it you can see the western half of Hawthorne track. The buildings (and tanks) between them (on Laramie Ave.) are Koopers, still there in 2023. Just west of there is the Stickney sewage plant with its own railroad. They interchange but otherwise don't use each other's tracks.<br /><br />In Forest View the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe RR (BNSF now) crosses to the north side of the canal and the Sanitary District's RR crosses both of them. From there west the C&IW was built just north of the Santa Fe. There is also a siding to a Com Ed substation. It was used in early 2022 but looks blocked in 2023. There is a boxcar-red multi-truck drop-well flatcar (the ends of the drop are white) there now, is it stranded?<br /><br />The two lines cross Harlem and then the Des Plaines River, the C&IW on a five-pier bridge. There were several customers on the north side, in 2023 only the Ele company still has service. The tracks go far enough west to switch it, but that's the end of the line now. Short of Lawndale Ave.<br /><br />Lawndale Ave. used to be a big deal but was replaced by the 1st Ave. bypass (Ill. 171) just west of it during Stevenson Expressway (Interstate 55) construction. If you care the USGS 1929 map has details. The southernmost flooded quarry was D&S's.<br /><br />On the north side the the C&IW had trackage rights to Material Service's (now Hanson's) quarry on Ogden Ave. (US 34) in Lyons. They also have 1.5 miles of trackage rights on the Elgin Joliet and Eastern Ry. between McCook and Gary. Could both be DHKE's Lyons Belt (https://casr.dhke.com/casr484.htm)? That line evolved into Ramon Rhodes' map above.<br /><br />Next comes the Indiana Harbor Belt. The C&IW had a yard east of it and 2.5 miles of trackage rights on it north to LaGrange (that would be about the Burlington).<br /><br />West of the IHB there were two quarries, Vulcan bought both and combined them. You can see the ghost left between them along the section line. The northern quarry was owned by Consumers' and had a crusher on the North side. The southern was Dolese & Shepards's Gary pit ("Gary" was a town name before it was incorporated as the Village of Hodgkins in 1896). The crusher and all sorts of loading tracks were on the South side. This is where the line was built to go. The USGS 1929 map shows detail here, too. There were Santa Fe and sometimes C&IW yards in Hodgkins, it must all be Sante Fe now?<br /><br />Th C&IW tried Willow Springs a couple of times, first time they cut back by 1918. In 1953 the Fisher Body plant (now part of a monster UPS terminal) was built as a jet engine factory (you can still see test stands in 2023), so they went back. Sante Fe now?<br />Sammy D IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06166526632522920096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-88539339291621218372023-07-09T22:27:22.998-05:002023-07-09T22:27:22.998-05:00Introduction to a map blurb
The Chicago and Illin...Introduction to a map blurb<br /><br />The Chicago and Illinois Western RR (C&IW) is shown on many maps, but I don't think most are very clear. I'm going to go into detail with United States Geological Survey (USGS) maps. The C&IW starts on the Englewood Quad and runs into the Berwyn Quad. (https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#13/41.8283/-87.7555). Click on the right half for Englewood and the left half for Berwyn. They start as Chicago and Riverside, scroll down. I'm going to use 1963 revised in 1980 edition. They are older maps clearly revised and labeled, including the C&IW. I'm going to start in the middle, go southwest, then east, because that's how they built it.<br /><br />On the USGS Englewood Quad, from the middle-left side, the Sanitary Canal slashes East-Northeast, a huge landmark. North and parallel, the red street is Ogden Ave. (US 34), right below that is the Burlington (BNSF now). The north/south red street along the left side is Cicero Ave. (Ill. 50). The railroad corridor just east of Cicero Ave. is the Belt Railway of Chicago (it's also the Chicago city limits). The Illinois Central RR (ICRR)(now CN) runs east/west.<br /><br />Right in the middle of them is a "Drive-in Theater", north of the ICRR. That was Dolese & Shepard's (D&S's) Hawthorne quarry, in 1905 there was a crusher and a yard with buildings on the north side. That's who built the C&IW and from where. But they were gone before the 1930s, when the quarry was filled with garbage. In 1955 a new drive-in theater was built, somehow/sometime the garbage was opened and rats got in. In 2023 the property has been covered (remediated 2008-2009?).<br />Sammy D IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06166526632522920096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-25398439357008099962023-06-17T20:36:01.229-05:002023-06-17T20:36:01.229-05:00Correction: D&S's Gary quarry was in Hodgk...Correction: D&S's Gary quarry was in HodgkinsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7577633936396294153.post-12443815782942367652023-06-09T10:16:17.482-05:002023-06-09T10:16:17.482-05:00The Chicago and Illinois Western was incorporated ...The Chicago and Illinois Western was incorporated in 1903 by the Dolese & Shepard Company (usually "&" instead of "and", even in legal documents). They were a major Chicagoland limestone supplier between 1872, when John Dolese and Jason H. Shepard shook hands, and 1967, when they were sold to Vulcan Materials. Limestone is pretty handy stuff to build with, and the area built a lot, especially streets, so D&S made a bunch of money.<br /><br />Things went sour for a while in 1897. Inside man (and junior partner) Shepard starting locking up the books and not letting the outside man Dolese see them. To cover up the 150 grand he had stolen. Bankruptcy, Shepard was cut out and a new company was incorporated. They kept "Shepard" in the name for whatever reason. They also merged with the Chicago and Naperville Stone Co., who they already had connections with. At that time both John and his son John were involved, that changed. In 1902 John Senior's four sons started Dolese Brothers, who started here as contractors and evolved west to Oklahoma (Territory then). Dolese Bros. is big in stone and concrete in the Southwest today.<br /><br />In 1907, when the C&IW opened, D&S was mining at least four quarries. There was the "Hawthorne" one, one near Summit, one in Naperville, and their new one at "Gary" (in McCook bordering Hodgkins). Now Hawthorne is an environmental mess, Summit is a trucking terminal, Naperville is a park, and Gary, still open, undermined "the Mother Road", Route 66. D&S bought another quarry south of Joliet in 1957.<br /><br />The 1960s changed the business around Chicago. A number of companies (10% of market) were merged into or bought by Vulcan Materials. At the same time Henry Crown bought D&S (2% of market) to openly crush the value of his company, Material Services (26% of market), so he could buy back control (he did). In 1967 he sold D&S to Vulcan, but I don't know if that was part of the scheme or if he dumped it afterwards. Today Vulcan owns all of McCook and a bunch of other quarries, Material Services was sold (renamed?) to Hanson, and nobody remembers Dolese and Shepard.<br /><br />Most of this is from the Chicago Tribune or C&IW sources, but there is some local history and a tiny bit of geology, too.<br />Sammy D IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06166526632522920096noreply@blogger.com