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Construction of the Illinois Central
Joshua Morris Building the Illinois Central Railroad was one of the most amazing feats of its time. It involved laying over seven hundred miles of track along virgin terrifory that had to be surveyed and prepared by thousands of laborers. Construction occurred before modern machinery was available and thus was carried out by the manual labor of many working long hours while living in crude conditions. This, combined with the low population density in Illinois, forced contractors to look to the newest sons of America, emigrants from far-away lands, to construct the vast lines at the lowest possible cost. This mix of ethnic labor and wage disputes resulted in conflict during the six years of construction. Through much toil, sweat, and blood the Illinois Central, however, was completed in 1858. The land-grant legislation of 1850 marked the first time that public lands from the national government were used to help private construction of a major rail line. This led to the chartering of the Illinois Central Railroad Company on February 10, 1851. This land grant became a precedent influencing nearly all railroad construction in the west for the next few decades. It also allowed for the building and operation of a railroad 705 miles in length, the longest on the American continent at that time. Construction began in Cairo and Chicago, the northern and southern points of the railroad, on December 23, 1851.
The greatest challenge to the company was to provide an adequate work force to complete the enormous project. "Thousands of men were needed to dig cuts, raise embankments, lay rails, and pound spikes in order to push the railroad across the marshy lowlands, rolling prairies, and gentle hills of interior Illinois," wrote the historian of labor on the Illinois Central. More men were needed than could be provided in Illinois alone; thus, contractors were forced to seek laborers elsewhere. Small numbers came from Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and New England. The majority, however, came across the Atlantic from countries like Poland, Ireland, and Germany. Deals were made with New York agents to acquire the workers as soon as they arrived in the country and, in many cases, earlier. One agent went so far as to bring one thousand Irishmen directly from their homeland. Irish and German workers composed a large part of railroad crews and played a large part in the story of Illinois Central construction. Once a source for laborers had been found, contractors were faced with the task of satisfying the workers' needs in order to prevent them from finding employment elsewhere. Disgruntled workers could easily find work as farm hands or on any of the numerous other railroad projects. Many immigrants, particularly Germans, worked only long enough to acquire money to buy their own land. Soon, contractors on different parts of the line were competing against each other for workers. Wages went from $1.00 a day to $1.25 and up. Poor health conditions in southern Illinois made it necessary for contractors to pay even higher wages there.
Labor conditions on the Illinois Central were tough. Long work days, injury, and sickness took their toll on the laborers. All work was done almost entirely by hand with shovels, hammers, and axes. The men labored for up to twelve hours a day, exerting great strength, with little time for rest. The threat of injury and even death was ever present. Gunpowder mishaps, train collisions, and cave-ins were among the causes of death and injury. Disease among workers also proved to be a significant threat. A work gang near Peru, Illinois, lost 130 men to cholera in just two days, and similar cases were common. Malaria, ague, and other illnesses plagued railroad workers. Wet weather contributed to outbreaks of chills and fevers among men who were unable to work further and thus were confined to sleep in drafty shanties, sometimes not much drier than the open air. The sick and injured who could not work were dropped from the payroll and replaced. Although no more than 12,000 workers were employed at one time, it is estimated that a total of about 100,000 workers were recruited at different times to work on the Illinois Central. Besides the hazards of accidents and disease, there were deadly rivalries among the work crews. Crews even turned on contractors with violence over pay cuts and other issues. Some of the worst cases of violence were the result of conflicts between Irish and German or Irish and local groups. Other cases involved Irishmen from different parts of Ireland. In LaSalle, a contractor was killed by a mob for announcing a pay cut. The armed citizens of LaSalle rounded up the Irishmen for sentencing. Many of these disagreements were caused by whiskey and so the transporting of liquor in any form was banned on the Illinois Central. Other cases were examples of employee reaction to mistreatment. Construction of the Illinois Central Railroad was an amazing feat of labor. Through all of the difficulty, the workers persevered. "Large numbers of these men remained to purchase farms or establish homes in the growing cities of Illinois, becoming solid and influential citizens, the grandfathers and great-grandfathers of present-day Illinoisans," according to the railroad's historian. To these laborers are owed the establishment of the Illinois Central Railroad, the backbone and support of early Illinois.—[From Roger D. Bridges and R. O. Davis, Illinois; Carlton J. Corliss, Main Line of Mid-America; Walter Havighurst, The Heartland: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois; D. L. Lightner, Labor on the Illinois Central Railroad 1852-1900; John F. Stover, History of the Illinois Central Railroad.]
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