LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - JULY 28, 2019 by Lynne Belluscio I like to ask kids when they come through the Jell-O Gallery, “What’s your town famous for?” And usually I’m met with a blank stare, but the truth is, most towns have some claim to fame. This morning, (July 21) I was reading my in- coming email, and Garrison Keillor’s “Writer’s Almanac” noted that today in 1873, the first robbery of a moving train took place in Adair, Iowa when the James gang held up the Rock Island Express. Coinci- dentally, only six days ago, I was riding the Union Pacific “4014” Big Boy along the Rock Island Line into Adair, and the guy sitting across from us – a former Union Pacific execu- tive and now a volunteer with the Union Pacific Museum in Cedar Bluffs, Iowa, - told us about Adair. It’s not a very big town - - less than a thousand people. He mentioned that the train would be climbing up to the summit, which is somewhat of a joke, because there’s not much of an incline, but Adair sits on the ridge that divides the watershed between the Mis- souri and Mississippi Rivers and the train goes through what is known as the “Summit Cut.” As we came into town we all saw Adair’s landmark water tower which is bright yellow with a “happy face.” The town likes to be known as the “hap- piest town in the world.” But Adair’s claim to fame is Jesse James and the train robbery. In 1868, the Rock Island Line was built through Adair. Five years later, Jessie James and his gang came to town with a plan to derail the train that was carrying $75,000 in gold from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Jesse, his brother, and Cole Younger disconnected two rails and pulled out the spikes on a section of track on a curve near Turkey Ridge west of Adair. As the train approached, they pulled a rope which pulled out the rail. The engine plunged into a ditch, and overturned. The engineer was killed, and the fireman so badly injured that he died a few days later. Wearing Ku Klux Klan masks, Jesse and his partners, forced the car doors open and forced the rail employee to open the safe. They found only $3000 ($63,000 today). The shipment of gold had been delayed. The James gang escaped and split up, but continued to rob banks, stage coaches and trains, until Jesse was killed in 1882. Al- though he was often called the Robin Hood of the American west, there is no indication that he ever gave any of the money to the poor, but rather divided it up among his gang. After we left Adair and headed on to Boone, where we were getting off the train, I talked to the wife of the Union Pacific exec and she said that her husband was one of the de- scendants of the founders of the Union Pacific Railroad, Thom- as C. Durant. So, I did a little google search and discovered some other interesting connec- tions. Thomas Durant was in- volved with early railroads and had a wooden railroad bridge built across the Mississippi River in 1856. When a steam- boat hit the bridge, the boat owners sued to have the bridge torn down. Durant hired attor- neyAbraham Lincoln to defend the bridge. Later, in 1862, now President Lincoln, selected Durant’s company, the Union Pacific in Council Bluffs, Iowa to build the Transcontinental Railroad. Durant, Vice Presi- dent of the Union Pacific, was at Promontory Point Utah on May 10, 1869, when the golden spike was driven, connecting the Union Pacific and the Cen- tral Pacific Railroads. But he was already in deep financial trouble, and he was fired from the Union Pacific. In 1878, he was in the Adirondacks build- ing the Adirondack Railroad from Saratoga to North Creek. He promoted the Great Camps and his son built Camp Saga- more. Lake Durant is named for the family. Thomas Durant died in North Creek in 1885. While I was putting this article together, I visited the Adair website and discovered another connection. Adair has a three-arch open spandrel bridge on the National Reg- ister. It was built in 1923 and is a viaduct over the railroad line. And I think we may have gone under it on the Big Boy 4014. The old Lehigh Railroad bridge over Buttermilk Falls is an open spandrel bridge, but I’m still trying to find out when in was built. Before we left Boone to return to Omaha, Mr. Durant gave me the card of Al Weber, the president of the National Railway Historical Society and suggested that I contact him to see if he might have suggestions about learn- ing about our bridge in LeRoy. As we parted, I said to his wife, if you ever have a chance to get to Niagara Falls, stop by and visit LeRoy - - the birthplace of Jell-O. I’m the director of the museum. Local History – Adair, Iowa