The Midland Continental Railroad is a defunct shortline railroad which operated in the U.S. state of North Dakota between 1906 and 1966. The railroad was envisioned as a trunk line running from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Galveston, Texas. Financing problems led to the completion of only two segments totalling .
History Proposal The vision of creating a mid-continent north-south railroad line between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico was first promulgated by Herbert Sydney Duncombe, a Chicago lawyer, and Frank K. Bull, president of the J.I. Case Threshing Machine Company of Racine, Wisconsin. In March 1906 they organized a group of investors to incorporate a company under the laws of South Dakota,Strouse, L. G: Interstate Commerce Commission Reports Vol. 119 1927 p. 317ff and with it also incorporated the Midland Construction Company to construct the railroad. The distance traversed by the proposed trunk line was 1 800 miles (2900 km),US Department of Interior National Register of Historic Places: Railroads in North Dakota 1872-1956 p. 61 although the actual track length was estimated at 2 500 miles (4 000 km).
Authorised share capital was $70 000 000. The construction company entered into an agreement with the MICO to build the line in exchange for securities, at the rate of $75 000 per mile. A third of these were to be common stock, a third preferred stock, and a third in corporate bonds. Hence, the construction company's directors bore the burden of finding monies for construction.
Surveying on the first phase of the project was in 1907, from Pembina, North Dakota to Wheeler, South Dakota. The latter was the county seat of Charles Mix County before it was flooded when the Missouri River was dammed to form Lake Francis Case.Encyclopædia Britannica 1912, article on North Dakota, map The following segment, south from Wheeler, would require a major bridge over the river -but no action was ever taken on this.
In 1908, a survey was done from Pembina to Winnipeg, although a Canadian subsidiary was not established, and the immediate intention was to connect with the Canadian Northern Railway at Pembina and acquire trackage rights to Winnipeg.State Historical Society of North Dakota: North Dakota History 1976 p. 30
First phase After detailed surveying was completed, construction commenced in North Dakota on 12 August 1909. The first segment ran from Edgeley to Jamestown. This was an extension of a line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad running from Aberdeen, South Dakota and terminating at Edgeley.
The company had not attracted any substantial investment, hence lacked the funds for this short length of line -32.7 miles (52.6 km). Certain of its investors set up the Midland Townsite Company in October 1909 to speculate in land at four future railroad town sites on the route: Franklin, Nortonville, Sydney and Millarton. Even so, money was so tight that the line was only finished on 1 November 1912 and had taken over three years to build.
Second phase Because of the financial difficulties, a new Midland Continental Railroad Company was established in August 1910 under the laws of North Dakota, and the original company of that name had its name changed to Midland Continental Railroad Company of South Dakota. The latter transferred the unfinished line to the former in October 1910. The new MICO was chartered to build from Pembina to Forbes on the South Dakota border, and the MICO(SD) was to take it on from there to St. Lawrence, South Dakota where interchange would have been made with the Chicago and North Western Railroad . This latter section appeared in publicity material, but otherwise vanished into oblivion.Edson, W. D: Railroad Names privately published 1999 p. 155
Frank Seiberling, president of the Goodyear Tire Company became involved in the project in 1912, when he advanced $400,000 cash in exchange for a mortgage on the construction company. This injection of funds allowed the beginning of the second phase, running north-east of Jamestown.
The new line had to cross the transcontinental trunk line of the Northern Pacific Railway in that town. This was too dangerous to do at grade, and the MICO couldn't afford the bridgework or approach fills. It was forced to build around the east side of the city from a wye south of the terminal station, leaving the latter on a stub, crossing the NP main line where the latter was on a fill which could be easily bored through to create a narrow bridge. The end of this new extension was Wimbledon where a connection was made with the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad . The actual terminus in Wimbledon was to be just beyond downtown to the north-east.
Durkee, Johnson, Clementsville and Durupt were platted as towns on this route, in the same way as those of the Edgeley line, except that the associated company here was the Dakota Land and Mortgage Company.
The original plan was that the trunk line would run from downtown Jamestown to Courtenay which is the next city on the Soo Line north-west of Wimbledon. Hence, this new extension was not on the planned route. It was finished in October 1913, apart from a very short extension of 0.3 miles (0.5 km) to a location called Frazier north of the Wimbledon station to serve a grain elevator. This was opened in December. The Wimbledon passenger station was east of downtown, on 17th Street SE.
Frazier was the site of an abortive town project sponsored by the North Dakota Nonpartisan League, and was named after a prominent member Lynn Frazier (later state governor).
End of the dream After completing the two segments from Edgeley to Jamestown to Wimbledon, funds ran out and additional investors were solicited. Finding no new investors in the United States, Frank K. Bull the original promoter headed to Britain in 1914. He found that J. Bruce Ismay, former chairman of the White Star Line and Titanic survivor, was interested in buying all of a new bond issue to finance further extension. This issue comprised $6 000 000 gold bonds at 5%, authorised in 1910. Before the deal could be signed, WWI started in Europe and Ismay withdrew his offer. The bond issue was cancelled.
In 1916, the MICO managed a short half-mile extension from its junction with the NP east of Jamestown, to a new downtown terminus nearer to the NP's main line station. A roundhouse, passenger station and freight depot were built there, and were ready by 1917. The company headquarters were established here. Also, the railroad laid a spur to the North Dakota State Hospital.
Maps of the period show that the company intended to extend from Wimbledon due north to Sutton on the Great Northern Railway instead of in the direction of Cooperstown as previously intended.The Commercial Atlas of America Rand McNally and Co. 1914, ND map
In 1916, the Midland Construction Company defaulted on its bonds. Seiberling filed a foreclosure suit, and took over control of the MICO to safeguard his investment. The construction company was wound up, resulting in the end of the dream of a trunk line. Seiberling announced originally that he wished to extend the line to Grand Forks instead. Meanwhile, in early 1917 he ordered improvement to depot and station facilities, especially to the road access for some of them. Although mule carts could cope with dirt tracks in wet weather, the newly developing motor vehicles could not.
However, the US entered WWI in 1917. From then until 1920 the railroad was under government control. All thoughts of extension were abandoned after that.
In 1920, immediately on getting its railroad back, the company moved its Wimbledon passenger station downtown from its former location on the city's eastern outskirts. A site was chosen on the corner of Railway Street and 4th Avenue, opposite the Soo main line station, and a short spur built to it from the western junction curve to the Soo Line. The station building was moved to its new location. This was the last construction that the railroad achieved.
Short line The railroad's subsequent history was primarily as a short line serving local agriculture and its service industries. Its major claim to fame was that the singer Peggy Lee, who was born in 1920, had a father who was an employee of the MICO from 1916 to 1944. He was in charge at Nortonville station when it burned down in 1930, and of Wimbledon station from 1934 to 1937 where she was resident as a teenager -and helped out with station duties when he was too drunk to cope.
Despite its minor status, under the presidency of Seiberling the railroad made strenuous efforts to promote itself also as a bridge line between the three major railroads with which it connected -the Soo Line, Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road. To this end, it advertised itself as The Mid-Land Route.Official Guide February 1926 p. 1253
In 1937, the railroad received permission to discontinue timetable freight and passenger services from Jamestown to Wimbledon and to operate on call and demand, meaning that carload freight customers would contact MICO Control at Jamestown to arrange pickup and delivery. Passenger service continued, but on an irregular basis and would have involved a so-called mixed train consisting of a passenger car attached to a string of freight cars. The former would have been used for LCL (less than-car-load) freight items as well. The same arrangement was allowed for Jamestown to Edgeley in 1950. The last passenger was recorded as travelling in 1965.
The company continued to be owned privately by the Seiberling family until it was purchased jointly in 1966 by the Northern Pacific and Soo Line railroads.
Closure Closure mostly occurred in 1969, after serious flood damage that spring. Formal abandonment took place on 31 October 1970.
A stub from Jamestown south to Kloze remained until 1976, and formally abandoned in 1979. Also the Soo Line took on a stub at Wimbledon, from Frazier to Clementsville, and this survived until 1982.North Dakota State Rail Plan 2002 p. 78
Remains Only two portions of the system survived to date (2020). One was the spur to the North Dakota State Hospital, which was operated by the BNSF Railway until taken on by the Red River Valley and Western Railroad. This includes the original interchange junction wye at Jamestown, together with a short stub track running in the direction of the original terminus and terminating at 12th Avenue SE north of 7th Street SE.
The RRVW railroad also took over the former Milwaukee Road depot at Edgeley, along with a short length of MICO track from the junction curve with the former Northern Pacific line to Streeter.Walker, M: SPV's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America - Dakotas and Minnesota 2005 p. 40 Tracks were still in place at both locations in 2020, the latter being the freight terminal for Edgeley.
The surviving former station building in Wimbledon, at 401 Railway Street, is now the Midland Continental Depot Transportation Museum opened in 2012.
Proposed routes North Dakota trunk line The trunk line route as originally proposed ran from Winnipeg to Pembina, then through North Dakota to Forbes. Pembina to Forbes was the only section of the entire project, the construction of which was actively undertaken.
The route was, with intended railroad connections: Pembina, Carlisle, Hamilton GN, Crystal GN, Park River GN, Fordville SOO, Niagara GN, Moraine, Aneta GN, Cooperstown NP, Helena GN (the GN called its station here Revere), Courtenay NP (not Wimbledon), Jamestown SOO, Edgeley NP MILW, Merricourt SOO (a ghost town) and Forbes GN.
South Dakota trunk line The route was surveyed ready for construction from Forbes to St Lawrence, and outline surveyed to Wheeler (on the Missouri River, now drowned). Connections were to have been Leola Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway , Craven MILW, Cresbard MSTL, Rockham CNW and St Lawrence CNW.
Southwards