During this time, Mr. Hallett, who was expecting to gain control of the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad and
wanting no rival line, caused himself to become elected as the director in the Parkville & Grand River Railroad
and thus gained control of it. This road had almost as much work done to it as the Kansas City & Cameron line
and ran from Parkville, eight miles above Kansas City to Cameron. All of this had occupied the time until July,
1864 and the directors of the Kansas City & Cameron appointed July 28th as the day to sign the necessary
paperwork for the transfer to Mr. Hallett, but before he could make the trip to Kansas City, Mr. Hallett was
murdered by one of his engineers, Orlando G. Talcott. In April, 1865 interest was renewed in the Kansas City &
Cameron road by the election of W. C. Ransom as President of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. Once the
directors were set in place, they summoned the original contractor for the road, Mr. Quealy and renewed his
contract for the completion of the road to Kansas City. Mr. Quealy was originally contracted for the Kansas
City, Galveston & Lake Superior road, which was discussed prior in this article. They also engaged John A. J.
Chapman for surveying the Missouri River at Kansas City for the construction of a bridge spanning the river.
Work resumed on the Kansas City & Cameron road in December, 1865. In February of 1866, Robert T. Van Horn
who was now a Congressman, introduced a bill, H. R. 721, which authorized Kansas City to build the first bridge
spanning the Missouri river and also making it a post road and a port of entry. However there was a bit of
treachery going on inside the Hannibal & St. Joseph Company, Mr. J. T. K. Hayward who at the time was
Superintendent of the Hannibal & St. Joseph road had secretly made a deal by misrepresenting himself as a
director of the company and procured a contract with the Leavenworth line to build the road from Leavenworth
to Kansas City. On June 01, 1865 the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad sent two agents, John W. Reid and
Theodore S. Case to the Hannibal & St Joseph Company in Boston to secure a contract. Kersey Coates headed
to Boston on Saturday, June 03 and found the contract with the Leavenworth people had been agreed upon and
was to be executed that Monday. On the claim of a prior contract he got a stay of proceedings until he and the
other two agents could meet with the Hannibal & St. Joseph and Leavenworth delegates. After seeing the prior
contract of the Kansas City, Lake Superior & Galveston Railroad, which was changed to the Kansas City &
Cameron Railroad on March 12, 1864, they referred the matter to James F. Joy, the General Manager of the
Western Division for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. After much delegation Mr. Joy agreed the old
contract should be revived, providing Kansas City procured the bill for the bridge spanning the river at Kansas
City. That Monday morning the bill, H. R. 721 was to be reported to the committee on post offices and post
roads with the amendment for the bridge at Kansas City. Robert T. Van Horn went to the Chairman of the
Committee and got him to agree to admit the amendment. The next morning as soon as the House opened up and
the previous minutes read, the bill was called upon. Col Van Horn offered his amendment, it was accepted and
the chairman then moved the next previous question. While this was being done the Honorable Sidney Clarke of
Kansas came in with great haste and drew up an amendment for a bridge spanning the river at Leavenworth but
he was too late. The previous question had been seconded and his amendment could not be attached. The bill
passed and within twenty for hours of the agreement with Mr. Joy, they had secured a deal with the Hannibal &
St. Joseph line. On August 19th a party of engineers under the guidance of Colonel Octave Chanute commenced
a new survey for a bridge at the Missouri river. On November 01, 1866 work was commenced on the first
bridge to span the Missouri river at Kansas City, Missouri.
In January of 1867, Colonel Kearney and others went to Chicago to market $100,000 of Kansas City bonds to
raise enough capital to finish the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad. They were unsuccessful in their attempts so
in February of that same year they procured authority from the Missouri Legislature to mortgage the road and
were able to do so through the Hannibal & St Joseph Railroad and the Chicago Burlington & Quincy line.
This however did not raise enough money to release them from the additional $30, 000 that the people of
Kansas City and the surrounding area had defeated in the previous bond election. So the matter was put before
the people of Jackson County once again on March 19,1867 and it was soundly defeated. Seeing that this could
be the one thing that would stop the completion of the road, James F. Joy came forward with a proposition, he
would take the road off their hands if they would release all subscribed bonds to him, which was about $60,000
and if both Clay and Jackson counties release all stock to him they had invested in the company. If this was
agreeable he would guarantee the road would be completed by November 31, 1867. All stocks and bonds were
transferred to Mr. Joy in July of 1867 and work accelerated rapidly on the line. On November 22, 1867 the
last spike to the line was driven at the base of the bridge in Kansas City by Colonel Kearney and William Gillis.
The last stone for the Kansas City Bridge was laid on May 05, 1869 when the completion of Pier #4 finished the
masonry of the bridge. The draw was swung on the 15th day of June, 1869, with the first engine crossing the
span on the 25th and the bridge was publicly opened on Saturday, July 03, 1869.
On February 21, 1870 the road was consolidated with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad and soon thereafter
became the main line for that road.
In June of 1882 the company issued $3, 000,000 of consolidated mortgage bonds, which were a part of a
larger $8,000,000 portion. Three million dollars was paid to the State of Missouri but the state claimed that
it was owed an additional sum for maturity interest on those bonds. The company refused to pay the additional
$476,409 in interest due as ordered by the U. S. Circuit Court and the State defaulted on the loan.
Controlling interest in the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad was acquired on June 18, 1883 by the Chicago
Burlington & Quincy railroad with the purchase of 87,100 shares of common stock and 46,500 shares of
preferred stock. The Burlington line has agreed to pay par price for the common stock and $43.66 per share on
the preferred stock on the 5 per cent bonds of the company.
The company is now part of the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad.
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