Everywhere West
Chronicling the processing progress of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company records, featuring images and items from the collection. This project is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Preservation and Access.
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Category Archives: Labor History
A study in empire building
One of the most substantial and comprehensive research aspects of the CB&Q records is the development and transformation of the company over its century-plus existence: how it organized, expanded, evolved. And according to a recent New York Times article, these … Continue reading
Posted in Labor History, Railroad Operations
Tagged business history, empire building
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Abandonment issues
In 1938 the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad filed an application for abandonment with the Interstate Commerce Commission. The Q.O.&K.C., known as the “O.K.” for short, ran for 250 miles between Quincy, Illinois to Kansas City, Missouri. Two boxes … Continue reading
Perkins opines on employee benefits
As if the Interstate Commerce Commission wasn’t enough of a thorn in C.E. Perkins’ side, meddling in railroad affairs and trying to ensure fair business practices (see previous posts here and here), now they wanted to get involved in employee … Continue reading
Keeping tabs on organized labor
In 1885, CB&Q officials learned some of their employees might be affiliated with the Knights of Labor, an organization which came to prominence with their inclusive, non-violent ideology and successful strikes against the Union Pacific and Wabash Railroads. By June … Continue reading
Material Specifications
The railroad industry relied heavily on the standardization of time, materials, and policies to operate efficiently, and today’s post aims to give readers a glimpse into some of the details behind CB&Q material specifications. Etan’s post from yesterday dealt with … Continue reading
Posted in Labor History, Machinery, Railroad Operations
Tagged Boiler Tubes, Material Specifications, Painting
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Business as Usual?
The development of the railroad industry in North America was a pivotal event that opened quicker routes of transportation and trade across the continent. While much is owed to this influential form of transportation it should be noted that railroad … Continue reading
Posted in Labor History, Railroad Operations
Tagged Employees, intemperance, strikes
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Westward migration – delinquent land contracts
by Etan Heller, Modern Manuscripts Intern One of the reasons why the CB&Q was so important to the development of the western and midwestern United States in the 19th century was the company’s Land Department. The CB&Q wasn’t simply in … Continue reading
American Express, before the credit card
by Etan Heller, Modern Manuscripts Intern At its beginning in 1850, the American Express Company, known today as one of the largest multinational credit card corporations in the world, was simply an express mail and freight company, founded by William … Continue reading
Blacklisted
The CB&Q offices retained a large collection of circulars that can be found in Record Group 32.8. Because the railroad was constantly expanding geographically, the officials made a substantial effort to keep workers, along the line and across great distances, … Continue reading
Posted in Labor History, News and Announcements, Processing, Railroad Operations
Tagged blacklists, circulars, Employees, Strike
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Sandbagging
by Etan Heller, Modern Manuscripts Intern You can probably already guess that railroads such as the CB&Q were pretty chummy with politicians on the city, state, and federal level. The Correspondence files for any given “higher-up” employee of the CB&Q … Continue reading
Posted in Labor History, Politics
Tagged blackmail, corruption, extortion, Goddard, Harris, legislator, Roberts, sandbagging, The Chicago Mail
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