Iowa and St. Louis Railway
The Iowa and St. Louis Railway was a project envisioned by several Burlington Route employees in 1900 to take advantage of the development of coal mining investments in northern Missouri and southern Iowa. The Iowa and St. Louis project had humble beginnings, resulting in the construction of a branch line of railroad southward in Iowa from a point on the Rock Island called "Summit" (near present-day Centerville, Iowa) southward into Missouri toward locations such as Connelsville and Novinger. There, the Iowa and St. Louis Construction crews came into conflict with managers of the east to west line running through Novinger, then (1900) known as the "Omaha, Kansas City & Eastern Railway" ( an affiliate of the Kansas City, Pittsburgh & Gulf Railroad).
Eventually, the Omaha, Kansas City & Eastern investors took note of the business potential of the Iowa & St. Louis and began to purchase financial interests in the company, taking control in 1901. The Gates-Keefe-Lambert Syndicate of St. Louis and Chicago were controlling interests in the Iowa & St. Louis (1901–1903). Thereafter, the railroad was sold to the Burlington System (1903) shortly after the Omaha-Kansas City line was declared bankrupt.
The Iowa and St. Louis was eventually brought into the Burlington system in 1903, and was operated as an off-branch of the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City railroad Co. The line was eventually extended south of Novinger into more coal fields in Adair County, Mo. The line construction stopped at Mercyville, Mo., a few thousand feet short of intersecting the Sante Fe Mainline through northern Missouri. The line was built predominantly of 66 lbs. rail or lighter, and was operated by small steam engines.
Freight on the line was always mostly coal, coming from underground mines at Connelsville, Mendota, Yarrow, and Youngstown in Missouri, and in the Coal City and Exline area in southern Iowa. Other business included a cucumber pickling plant at Worthington, Missouri, and farm shipments from Livonia, Worthington, and from the Elmer, Mo. area. Passenger service was also available on the line into the 1930s. One off-branch from the line existed, called "the Adair County Railroad", the local name for this line was "the Spur Up Billy's Creek".
The decline of the Iowa and St. Louis Railway was rapid. As public subsidies for highways and buses/trucks became substantial in the 1920s, the freight and passenger business were quickly drained away from the Iowa & St. Louis. Coal mines became difficult to operate in the area due to mine flooding and the costs of pumping excessive water, and due to thin seams of coal. Higher labor costs were a product of mine unionization activity, but in fairness to the miners, the jobs were dirty, hazardous and under-paid when one considers the lengthy hours worked and the accident rates.
On September 23, 1936 the Interstate Commerce Commission gave approval for the Iowa & St. Louis to cease operations south of South Gifford, Missouri.[1] Just over a decade later, in 1947, the Iowa & St. Louis ceased all operations and the tracks were removed.[1] A few of the former depots survive to this day, some being converted for other uses. An example of this is a private home in Yarrow, Missouri. The South Gifford depot still stands but is in very poor condition. Despite decades of overgrowth, aerial images still reveal some segments of the former Iowa & St. Louis track bed.