Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska

Company History: The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway (originally Railroad) was formed in 1885 with Marcus Low, a former attorney for the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, as its president. The CRI&P advanced the CK&N about twenty-five million dollars to begin construction in exchange for nearly all of the CK&N's stock. Essentially, this made the CRI&P the owner of the CK&N from the very beginning. The CK&N had put down about 1388 miles of track, mostly in Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Indian Territory, but in 1889 it failed to make its interest payment to the CRI&P. The CRI&P started foreclosure proceedings on the CK&N, eventually fully taking over by June 17, 1891.

Construction Record 1886: Elwood KS - Horton KS, Beatrice NE - Fairbury NE 1887: Horton KS - Beatrice NE, Horton KS - Topeka KS - Herington KS - Caldwell KS, Herington KS - Salina KS, Fairbury KS - Belleville KS - Mankato KS, Belleville KS - MacFarland KS 1888: Mankato KS - Goodland KS - Limon CO - Colorado Springs CO, Herington KS - Liberal KS, purchased Dodge City KS - Bucklin KS 1889: Caldwell KS - El Reno IT 1890: El Reno IT - Minco IT

Successor/Parent History: The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RR) (reporting marks RI, ROCK) was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was better known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end of 1970 it operated 7183 miles of road on 10669 miles of track; that year it reported 20557 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 118 million passenger-miles. (Those totals may or may not include the former Burlington-Rock Island Railroad.)

Its predecessor, the Rock Island and La Salle Railroad Company, was incorporated in Illinois on February 27, 1847, and an amended charter was approved on February 7, 1851, as the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad. Construction began October 1, 1851, in Chicago, and the first train was operated on October 10, 1852, between Chicago and Joliet. Construction continued on through La Salle, and Rock Island was reached on February 22, 1854, becoming the first railroad to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River.

In 1980 Rock Island was liquidated. The railroad's locomotives, rail cars, equipment, tracks, and real estate were sold to other railroads or to scrappers. William Gibbons (the trustee) was able to raise more than $500 million in the liquidation, paying off all the railroad's creditors, bondholders and all other debts in full at face value with interest. Henry Crown was ultimately proven correct, as both he and other bondholders who had purchased Rock Island debt for cents on the dollar during the low ebb in prices did especially well.

Read more on Wikipedia and Rock Island Technical Society.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.