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- My Dad, Joseph Raymond Tripp, brought up to me many times about the John William Tripp that founded Liscomb and built the railroad there. Dad was always facinated with the story and wondered if he was any relation to him. I have finally found the full story and discovered that John William Tripp of Liscomb was fourth cousin four times removed of Dad. He would have been pleased! John William Tripp was the son of Stephen Tripp, son of Gideon Tripp, son of Robert Tripp, son of James Tripp, son of John Tripp the Founder. Following is the full story as printed in the TIMES REPUBLICAN on October 5, 1928 for some kind of centennial. The Times Republican is still in print. JOHN TRIPP'S DREAM OF MIDWEST METROPOLIS ________ -------- WOODEN-RAIL NARROW GUAGE RAILWAY EXPECTED TO MAKE LISCOMB GREAT CENTER OF INDUSTRY --------------------------------------------------------- The low grassy ridge of the grade of the old "Narrow Gauge" railroad, seen in many places between Bangor and Liscomb, and on the prairies from Liscomb east to Conrad and Beaman, and the depressions that mark the site of the old well, turntable, shops and general offices of the Farmer's Union Railroad, in the little three-cornered pasture owned by Mrs. Cora Bixby in the south edge of Liscomb, on the west side of the old state road, are all that remain of the dream of John W. Tripp the founder of Liscomb and the president of the road, to build a great trans-contintental trunk line, that would make Liscomb a midwest metropolis and trade center, and a distributing point for the products of the middlewest from the north and the south, to the east and the west. While the history of the "Narrow Gauge" railroad is an incident in the early life and the growth and development of the town of Liscomb, it would not be complete without a biography of John W. Tripp, who was a prominent figure in the story of the old wooden-rail railway, in fact, he WAS the "Narrow Gauge" railway, as well as the founder of the town itself. CAME BY "OX EXPRESS" John W. Tripp was born in Fabius, N. Y., and with his brother, Stephen, came to Iowa, "with a printing press, by ox express," as told in an old song which was sung at the "Narrow Gauge" jublilee, that marked the turning of the first ground for the road. They settled in the early '50s in Albion, then LaFayette, where they published the first newspaper in Marshall county, and where, they had a hardware store, coming to what is now Liscomb, in about 1862. Stephen settled down in "Happy Holler", west of the old Thatcher place, where he operated a saw mill and sawed the notches in the ties to hold the wooden rails for the "Narrow Gauge," and sawed the ties from native oak timber, bought from "Timber John" Hauser, for the track from the saw mill to Liscomb. There was also a brick yard near the saw mill, which was operated by Dave Kinsey and here the bricks for the John W. Tripp house now the Linamon home which was built in 1869 were burned. The Edgar Marshall family also lived at the brickyard, Mrs. Marshall being a niece of the first Mrs John Tripp. t TRIPPS EARLY SETTLERS David Tripp, who came to Liscomb in 1869, father of Ed,"Paddy" and Harry, who are well known to the present Liscomb residents, was a nephew of John W. Tripp. David Tripp built the first frame house in the village, now the Parker place, and here the first child in the village, Harriet Tripp, was born. Here also occurred the first death, John H., a little son of Mr. and Mrs. David Tripp. choked on a button, and was buried in the yard. The body was never moved. John W. Tripp built his cabin, part frame and part logs, which served as a hotel and stage station, near what is now the William Trease residence, and the stage horses were kept in Tripp's barn. This stage line was between Iowa Falls and Marshalltown and horses were changed at the barn and the drivers boarded at Tripp's. Later Mr. Tripp traded this "hotel" to Nelson Fields for forty acres of land, where Mrs. Cora Bixby now lives, and where Fields had been conducting the Norris Postoffice from 1866 to 1869, when the name of the office was changed to Liscomb, and John Loucks became postmaster, moving the postoffice equpment to his little grocery store, where Jim Gould's house now stands, in an old carpet bag.???? THE ETERNAL TRIANGLE Even in the early days of the village, the eternal triangle made its appearance, and the home of the big man of the town was not immune. The first Mrs. John Tripp was Elizabeth Auringer, and in the early '70's Mr. Tripp was poisoned with strychnine, which almost cause his death. He recovered and had his wife and George Reed, one of the stage drivers, arrested. They were not convicted, but it was proved at the trial that Reed had purchased strychnine, as he said to poison cranes. Reed and Mrs. Tripp left shortly afterwards, and John Tripp married Mrs. Betsy Yale Susmilch, a widow with five children, a sister of Mrs. Daniel Barber. John Tripp had no children of his own. TINNER AND LAWYER John W. Tripp was a tinner by trade and had studied law. He was a cripple and used a crutch, having one leg withered from the knee down caused by cutting it with a hatchet when he was a boy. He was justice of the peace for many years and was generaly liked and respected and was considered a man of good and solid judgement until he got the railroad bug. When the Tripp home was completed in 1869 it was the show place of the community and John W. Tripp wanted it to overlook the Mainstreet of the village, which was platted that year. The old Central Railway of Iowa, now the M & St L. which was built thru Liscomb that year, had planned to come up from the river and cross Dodd creek a half mile east of the present crossing, and follow that natural draw north and east of the town of Liscomb. But thru the influence of John W. Tripp and his gift of land for the depot, yards and right of way thru the town, and the grading of one mile of track, south from Boyd's south line, the railroad was built on its present location a much harder route as the other way would have become the easy natural grade. It would have put the road east of his place and if a town had been located it would not have been on Tripp's land. He had the idea of a big metropolis, with factories and mills and that is why he worked so hard for a crossroad at liscomb, which he thougt was necessary for the great upbuilding of the town. WORKED FOR THE B.C.R. & N With this idea in mind, Tripp tried to get the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad Company, which was building from Cedar Rapids thru north Iowa to Sioux City, to change its route, and come thru Liscomb, going so far as to make a preliminary survey and get the right of way from Traer west to Badger Hill. To make a showing to the company a 5 per cent tax was voted in Clay township to aid in the building of the road. Vienna township was also asked to vote a tax to help build the road, but the proposal was defeated thru efforts of a wealthy noney lender. Failing in his project to get the B.C.R. & N. to build thru Liscomb, Tripp decided to organize the Farmers Union Railroad Company, capitalized at $1,000, 000. The organization was completed in 1874, and it was planned to build a narrow gauge, wooden track railroad east and west from Liscomb crossing the Mississippi at McGreger, and the Missouri at Omaha. John W. Tripp was president of the road: Joe C. Wilits, vice president: William Battin, secretary, and S. A. Emery, treasurer. S. S. Beaman and J. W. Conrad, pioneers of Beaman and Conrad, and Joe Howard of Banger, were among the directors. F. N. Soule was general superintendent, a man by the name of Scott was the first engineer in locating the road, and Frank Williams was the civil engineer during the construcion period. WORK BEGUN IN 1875 Stock was sold to farmers and business men along the proposed right of way, many farmers working out their stock in the grading. A man from Wisconsin took $60,000 worth of stock and furnished hard maple rails. Edwards, the man who did the grading with a big grader drawn by a team of twelve to sixteen mules, took stock for his pay, and the man who built the bridges was also paid in stock. An old stock certificate has been found in Liscomb. The date is 1875 and the rate of interest 10 percent. Early in April, 1875, John W. Tripp threw the first shovelful of dirt that marked the beginning of work on the new road. It was a great day for Liscomb. The settlers had gathered from many miles around and there was an immense throng of people in the little village. all felt that the whole community was entering on an era of great prosperity. Good beer could be purchased for 5 cents a glass and that helped to add to the general hilarity of the occasion. B. A. Beeson directed the old Liscomb band of twenty-three pieces that furnished the music for the celebration. There were speeches by J. B. Jennings, of the Liscomb schools, and "Tama Jim" Wilson, at that time congressman from the district. "TAMA JIM" DUMPS DIRT When Mr. Tripp filled the wheel barrow with dirt, "Tama Jim" Wilson grabbed it and ran and emptied it, saying: "You can't trust a congressman, they'll steal anything they can get their hands on." A quartet sang a parody on "The Whistle and the Hoe," which had been written for the occasion by "By" Beeson, The words follow: There's a man walks over this town with a crutch And labors all thru the long day, There's nothing but railroads trouble him much. And they're narrow gauge roads, they say. (Chorus) Then hurrah for the road, the "Narrow gauge" road, To lessen the tariff you know, The tariff, you know, to the big Chicago. The tariff to our Chicago. His name is Tripp, John W. Tripp, And he came in an early day, With a printing press, by ox express, To open up Ioway. (Chorus) Then hurrah for the road, the "Narrow gauge" road, To Lessen the tariff you know, The tariff, you know, to the big Chicago. The tariff to our Chicago. Long live this wide awake railroad man, And all his labors repay: God bless him while he leads the van. In the project before us today. (Chorus) The road, the road, the "Narrow Gauge" road: God bless John Tripp and the "Narrow Gauge" road. RAILS BOLTED TOGETHER. The construction work was rushed, and by the time the little engine and several box cars and flat cars arrived, the road was graded and the wooden track laid from Liscomb, over a mile west to the mill, and a short distance east of Liscomb. The wooden rails were 3 1\2 inches by 5 inches and were of all lengths, from 10 to 16 feet. The ends of the rails were sawed wedge shaped so that they would lap, and were bolted together. The ties were laid on the earth embankment and the rails were held in the notches in the ties with wooden wedges driven from the outside. The engine had two 8-inch cylinders and did not have power enough to start the train on the wooden rails. A pair of 10-inch cylinders were ordered, but even then it did not have enough power, and had to be started with a pinch bar, or the end of the track raised until the engine got under way. PRIMITIVE RAILWAY METHODS. The engine house, depot, turntable, general offices, blacksmith shop and well were located in Mrs. Cora Bixby's field, near the old Central tracks, just west of the state road, a hunchback swede was hired to pump the water into the tank which supplied the engine. The men working on the road often left their dinner pails in the building and the Swede would swipe their pie. Finally Fred de Groat, of Albion, filled his pie with cayenne pepper and the Swede confided to the section boss. "Ay lak not dam American cooking. Put so dam much soda in da pie." "Old Man" Brown--no one seems to remember his first name--was the master mechanic of the road, and his son, "Herb" Brown, was the first engineer. Vet Hauser was fireman, and "Billy" Olds was the first conductor and agent at both ends of the line and "Paddy" Tripp was brakeman. John Stahl was blacksmith, Fred George was section boss, and "Gib" Haas was transfer man, transferring freight between the "Narrow Gauge" and the Central. When Olds quit as conductor, "Paddy" tripp was promoted to the job, Lew Smith became brakeman, and John Stahl succeeded Vet Hause as fireman. Frank Middleton later was the agent at Beaman. After that the company had no official blacksmith and each man did his own blacksmithing, or let it go undone. EARLY FINACIAL TROUBLES. Even in the early days of the construction work, the company experienced financial difficulties. One Saturday there were several carloads of ties and rails on the Central tracks which, it was rumored, were to be attached for freight charges the next week. On Saturday night the "Narrow Gauge" crew received orders to work all night, all day Sunday, and Sunday night to move the property to the Farmers' Union tracks, where they could not be attached. The headlight was being held in the Central depot for freight charges, also, and Lew Smith, with a lighted lantern, was to stand on the headlight stand and supply the light for the night work. It proved too much of an endurance test for Smith who went to sleep and fell off the engine. The lantern was run over and smashed and the work continued by moonlight. FIRST TRIP CHRISTMAS NIGHT. In spite of all discouragements, the road was completed into Beaman and the first official train was run over the line on Christmas night, 1875. Box cars had been fitted up with board seats along the side, and Sunday excursions to Beaman were very popular, a charge of 50 cents being made for the round trip. Often the engine refused to start, and the excursion would be postponed until the next Sunday. Jim Boyd, of Liscomb, has an excursion ticket which failed to be used, because of engine trouble. At first the tickets were punched by the conductor--with his jack knife, and not a potato masher as was given out in early accounts, but later they were collected and resold. Freight was transferred from the Central at Liscomb to Beaman: coal, lumber, flour and groceries, and loads of hogs were shipped back to be transferred to the Central. The train stopped any place along the line to receive passengers, except on the up grades. The little engine was only able to pull three loaded cars, a car and a half of standard size. Of course the way car was always taken along, this was a box car which had been fitted up as a caboose, and which had several old arm chairs and was heated with a stove. SPEED CAUSES WRECK The road experienced one serious wreck. Usually one trip a day--some days --was made between Liscomb and Beaman. But on this day there was coal to be transferred and it was necessary to make three trips. The bellringers were giving a show in Liscomb that night and the crew were hurrying to get back for the show. "Old Man" Brown had given orders never to exceed ten miles an hour any place on the track, but in the haste, the train was allowed to exceed the speed limit coming down the hill near the old John Conrad farm at 15 miles an hour. The engine left the tracks, lit on its side, and the engine, coal cars and way car slid down the hill, which was greasy with a winter thaw. The conductor, "Paddy" Tripp, climbed out of the way car, where he had been sitting with his feet propped on the stove, reading "Gulliver's Travels." and the engineer climbed out from the engine cab, saying disgustedly, "There's your damned old wooden railway." The trip of ten miles back to Liscomb and the delights of the bellringers was made on foot, the master mechanic and other officials of the road coming out on the hand car to see what had caused the delay. TRAIN ONLY WEEK LATE. The next day two 12-inch jacks were taken out to pick up the engine and the wreck, the coal was sold out to farmers and it took three days to get the company's "rolling stock" back on its feet. The track was taken up and laid over under the engine, water was carried from the creek to get up steam to get back on the main line, and everthing was ready for the trip back to Liscomb, the wrecking crew had been boarding at John Conrad's, which was evidently a good place to eat and "Old Man" Brown decided to stay another night and go back to Liscomb in the morning. That night there was a big snow storm. The road drifted full and the "crew" had to walk to Liscomb and get a team and all the available men in the village to shovel the train out and open the road back to town where the train arrived only a week late. HERBIE "GAVE HER HELL." The only cattle guards along the line were where the "Narrow Gauge" crossed the Central tracks, and farmers along the line objected seriously to the cattle roaming thru their fields, as the right of way was not fenced, but the road paid no attention to their complaints. One day, as the train was speeding along towards Beaman, it was found that "Old Tone" Rosencrantz (father of Horace) had set a post on either side of the track and closed it with bars. The train slowed down, the bars were put on a load of coal and taken on to Beaman. When the train was backing back to Liscomb on the return trip, it was found that Rosencrantz had built a fence, setting a post in the middle of the track. "Old Man" Brown got out to reconnoiter, and decided it was not necessary to stop for the obstrucion. "Give her Hell, Herbie," he shouted. "Give her hell." and Herbie gave her hell. As the train neared the post, "Old Man" Brown got scared. "Stop her, Herbie, for God sake, stop her." But Herbie was too busy giving her "hell" to obey the new order. The train struck the post and passed safely on, with no other damage than several broken ties. REMOVABLE CROSSINGS. At the crossing of the Central tracks the wooden rails were laid stationary, two inches higher than the Central tracks. Short rails of hard wood 3 by 4 with pins to keep them from slipping, were laid across the tracks, and taken up after the "Narrow Gauge" train had passed over. Even the frog at the switch was made of wood, but it had an iron point. There was nothing done towards putting a bridge across the Iowa river except driving some pilings on the east side. The line, after crossing the river, bore to the southwest, crossing the northwest corner of what was the Elam Jessup place, crossing Honey creek just north of the Jessup bridge, thence around the bottom til it struck Mud creek, and northwest along the right hand side of Mud creek. Most of the farmers along the line had subscribed aid to the road, and they were allowed to work, in lieu of paying the money, and they worked as near home as possible. For this rason the grading was done in patches and the openings left were never finished. The farthest grading west was on what was the old "Walter Whinery" place, now the Dave Norman farm, just west of the grove, a mile and a half northwest of Bangor. Signs of the grade can be seen there yet, on either side of the highway. DOOMED TO FAILURE It became evident that the little road was doomed to failure, even tho President Tripp and the men in the company did everything in their power to make it a success, even exhausting their private resources in an effort to tide over the financial difficulties. Mr. Tripp gave the men orders on Moses Stern, of Marshalltown, for clothing, and M. H. Green formerly of Bangor, but now of this city, received the last clothing order, a suit and overcoat for $45 in payment for labor. Every effort was made to raise money, and the road could have undoubtedly been sold to the Chicago & Northwestern railroad if iron rails had been used in the construction. Eastern capitalists came to Liscomb to look at the road but refused a loan because of the wooden rails. Creditors of the company became suspicious that they would lose their money, and the road was junked, as well as several of the principal stockholders at Liscomb and Beaman, and the engine and cars were loaded on flat cars and taken over to the Des Moines and Ames "Narrow Gauge" railway. HORSE-POWER SUPPLANTS STEAM After the steam cars were taken off, B. Fields and Ed Woods planked the bridges and operated the road with horse-drawn "dinky" cars, three horses to a car, hitched tandem. The cars were built by Sam Eggleston, and had trucks under each end, with eight wheels. The promoters did not operate the road in winter when the snows were deep, and made more money transferring freight and coal and lumber from the Central to Conrad and Beaman than when the steam cars were in operation. The ties and rails were finally stolen by many people who had never invested a cent in the road, and were used in buildings, for posts and for wood, and the road was abandoned. John W.Tripp mortgaged everything he had to build the "Narrow Gauge" road, and lost his home, his money, his land and everything he had, dying at last in Gowrie, Webster county, a heart-broken man, an object of his wife's charity. Looking back, from this distance of time, it seems to have been so obviously a mistake to build not only a narrow gauge road, but a wooden railway. For even at that time narrow gauge as well as wide gauge railways were considered impractical and out-of date. The standard gauge roads were generally conceded to be the only practical and economical roads to build, for reason that the cars of such roads were interchangeable, thus avoiding the expense of loading and unloading cars in transferring from one road to another. The narrow gauge roads, even at that time, were used only for short hauls from mines or from some almost inaccessible places. So completely did the "Narrow Gauge" fade out that not even the date of the last train is known, but it is believed that the last of the horse-car trips was made in 1878. With his railroad went Tripp's dream of a shining future for the town he had founded. He lost his money, his land and even his home in trying to make that dream a reality and, supported by his wife finally died penniless at Gowrie, Iowa. He lived 69 years 1 month and 19 days. Herman William Tripp--Remembering----
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Tripp Families of North America
1824 - 1883 (59 years)