ANOTHER HEARING ON
ELVINS DEPOT HELD
Published by THE LEAD BELT NEWS,
Flat River, St. Francois Co. MO,
Fri. Jan. 29, 1943.
Another hearing was held before the State Public Service
Commission in Jefferson City Friday regarding the closing of the Missouri-Illinois
Railroad Company depot at Elvins. Judge Taylor Smith of Farmington, attorney for the City
of Elvins, filed a motion for the second hearing and was granted it. Among the witnesses
for the city were James Rolens, Jesse Howell and Rev. D. D. Seger. A witness for the
company gave different testimony to that given by another important witness for the
company in the first hearing.
It seems that the railroad company wants to do away with all
stations except Rivermines, Flat River, Bonne Terre and Herculaneum. The company has made
a barrel of money in recent years. Besides being run over with freight car loadings, they
struck oil on the right of way in Illinois and according to reports, that item alone fixed
them up pretty well. The road is controlled by the Missouri Pacific Lines and was obtained
by the Missouri Pacific thru deals involving the sale of the Rivermines Power Plant by St.
Joseph Lead Co., to Union Electric and the building of the Bagnell Dam Power Plant by
Union Electric which supplies St. Joseph Lead Co., and this entire territory with the
greater part of its electric energy.
The rail line from Riverside to Doe Run and the branch to
Leadwood was originally the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railway, a subsidiary of
St. Joseph Lead Co. According to information considered reliable, that particular road was
the best paying line in the country on a basis of track mileage and capital investment.
For years there were three round trip passenger trains operated between Doe Run and St.
Louis and excursion trains were always operated on the Fourth of July and Labor Day to the
tune of one every hour each way.
The track from Derby Junction to Doe Run was abandoned some
time ago after the company was authorized to discontinue train service beyond Derby. The
track and steel bridges have all been torn up.
When the matter came up some time ago about taking the
passenger service off, there were some, tho very few, who have always been against labor,
who sanctioned the scheme. The service then rendered was better than none. The trains to
and from St. Louis have always been fairly well patronized when schedules were reasonable.
In other words, so passengers could come and go in a day. Now since the transportation
problem is a serious matter, autos, tires and gasoline would be saved if people had a way
to travel when travel is necessary. In order to finally get rid of the passenger train the
company operated it on such an unreasonable schedule that the train men did not like to
ride it. It left the lead belt around three in the afternoon, arriving in St. Louis about
5:40, returning the next day about eleven.
For years three passenger trains were operated each way to and
from St. Louis with connection at Bonne Terre for Leadwood. In addition to that a Bull
Moose was operated from Bonne Terre to Elvins, making two round trips a day. When the bus
business began to interfere the Missouri Pacific bought the franchise of the Brown Bus Co.
of Festus and several other smaller concerns. It was not until trucks began delivering
freight on a big scale that the railroad company inaugurated store door delivery on
freight hauled by them.
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