Historian and train enthusiast Dr. Rudolph Daniels presents the history of Iowa’s railways in full conductor regalia at Riverbend Retirement Community.
Historian and train enthusiast Dr. Rudolph Daniels presents the history of Iowa’s railways in full conductor regalia at Riverbend Retirement Community.
Dr. Rudolf Daniels recounted Iowa’s crucial role in the history of America’s railroad industry in a presentation at Riverbend Retirement Community, July 14. The program was brought to Cascade by the Cascade Public Library and Humanities of Iowa.
A history professor who has taught in colleges around America and Germany, he began his teaching and presentation career focusing on Russia and Soviet Union history. Over the years, his boyhood fascination with trains merged with his historical work.
“I grew up within a couple of blocks of a railroad station and had a childhood fascination with trains. I was a history professor for many years and it got to be a hobby. It became more than a hobby because many people, including railroad companies, would call me wanting to know about railroad history because they’d discarded a lot of their history. I became serious about trains across Iowa.”
During the presentation, Daniels recounted how the growth of the railroads was tied to Iowa’s growth as a state. According the Daniels, railroad construction became necessary to populate Iowa and encourage farmers to settle land that wasn’t located next to a river. This was important, as the farmers’ livelihood depended on transporting their crops for sale, and rivers had long been the only available transportation.
After Iowa became a state, it sponsored the railroad companies to construct enough track and depots to attract farmers to the deeper parts of the state. By the 1870s, railroads crisscrossed Iowa. By the 1880s, the state population had doubled, and would double again in the 1890s and 1900s. Daniels said Iowa residents could now order whatever equipment and supplies they needed. News was able to travel quickly thanks to telegraphs and post offices located at the railroad depots, which helped local newspapers grow.
“The railroads built this country,” said Daniels. “If you look at all the major cities today, beyond the immediate east coast, all of them were established by railroads. They were important for establishment and growth, particularly when you get west of the Mississippi River to California, all these towns grew up with the railroad. It was the only way for them to get products and information in and out.”
Daniels also recounted historical railroad moments in Iowa history, such as the first train robbery by Jessie James and the subsequent contribution to the birth of the term “Private Eye” as America’s first major private detective agency, Allen Pinkerton, investigated crimes committed on the railroad. Iowa also was the birthplace of major train safety innovations like couplings and steam brakes, both of which saved the lives of many railroad workers.
Daniels is the author of several books and articles on railroad history, including “Trains Across the Continent, a complete history of U.S and Canadian Railroads,” “Sioux City Railroads,” and “The Great Railroad War.”
