Ie

671231-164

Soon after the Lawrence to Carbondale branch was completed, the railroad

ran out of funds and subsequently halted any other planned forms of construction

.or expansion that it had. The StLL&D was forced to rely on the passage of bonds

in each respective county and township that it passed through to continue ex-
panding and was at a considerable disadvantage to railroads such as the Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe who had in the past, and could continue to rely on federal.”
land grants to speed the growth of the railroad along with easing the economic
burden. In 1874, the railroad's name was changed to the St. Louis, Lawrence

and Western. The StLL&W also proved to be a non-viable railroad and was offerred
up for sale in 1875. At this time, preparations were made to dispose of the
Lawrence-Carbondale branch which had experianced decreasing profits as the coal
mines on Carbon Hill were gradually played out. At this time, a Carbondale law-
yer by the name of S.B. Bradford secured an injunction against the tearing up

of the track and the road was again put into operation.

The Union Pacific purchased from the StLL&W the Carbondale to Lawrence
segment later that year. Following it's purchase by the Union Pacific, it was
operated as the.Lawrence and Southwestern, then, under the name "Carbondale
Branch" and finally as the Lawrence and Emporia after July 19, 1881. This seems
to indicate that the Union Pacific had expansion ideas of it's own, probably
through the towns of Burlingame and Osage City to the southwest. At this time,

a line was graded for such an expansion possibility, to Osage City, but was never
built. In any event, the existing line did a moderate passenger and freight
business for a few years thereafter. A total of 1,511 passengers were carried
dwing the year ending June 30, 1883 and the traffic increased thereafter to a
grand total of over 17,000 passenger-freight miles in 1886. The following year,
however, only mixed train service was offered, and the number of passengers car-
ried fell back to 1,054. Perhaps an insignificant growth of economic develop-

ment along the line was to blame, but the Lawrence and Emporia suffered a rapid