It takes about an hour these days to navigate the highways linking Chariton and Des Moines, but prior to 1879 the trip could spoil the greater part of a day.
Until 1868, the only practical way to get there was on horseback (or in a horse-drawn vehicle). The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad began to operate trains east-west from Chariton to Burlington and back during July of 1867 and, in 1868, the Chicago Burlington & Quincy constructed a spur line connecting Albia, Knoxville and Des Moines.
For the next 10 years, Chariton residents who wanted to travel in comfort to the capital city caught a train first to Albia, then changed trains there for the trip northwest.
So there was considerable rejoicing during February of 1879 when the brand new Chariton, Des Moines & Southern line connecting Chariton and Indianola was completed, reducing the time required to reach Des Moines to about three hours. The Chariton Patriot of Feb. 26 reported the new line's opening this way:
"Open for Business: On Monday of this week, regular trains were put on the new Chariton, Des Moines & Southern Railroad, and close connections are made at Indianola with the Winterset Branch of the Rock Island. Trains going north leave Chariton at 6:55 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., arriving at Indianola at 9:35 a.m. and 4:35 p.m. Leaving Indianola at 10:45 p.m. and 5 p.m., trains arrive in Chariton at 12:45 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. This will be a great convenience to all points in this part of the country. People can now go to Des Moines and back the same day, and can come from Des Moines here and get back to Des Moines the same day, having nearly two hours in Chariton."
On the Wednesday following, according to the Des Moines State Leader, "... the first train from Chariton to Indianola delivered her passengers to Des Moines, having connected closely at Warren county's metropolis with the Rock Island Branch. Messrs. S.H. Mallory and Joel Jacoby came up to see Superintendent Royce to arrange for connecting trains on the Indianola and Winterset branch. The whole trip was made in a little less than three hours. The train started from Chariton about eight o'clock and the passengers were in Des Moines at eleven."
Jacoby, of Indianola, and Mallory, of Chariton, were the principal players in development of the Chariton, Des Moines & Southern, a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and also were responsible for the planting two new towns along the route --- Oakley, in Lucas County, too close to Chariton to thrive, and Milo, in Warren County, which continues to thrive.
The northbound trains departed the C.B.&Q. Depot in Chariton and followed the main line a couple of miles west to Indianola Junction, where the new tracks branched off and continued on to Oakley, Lacona, Milo and Ackworth before making a westerly turn into Indianola.
Also during 1879, the C.B.&Q.-owned Des Moines, Osceola and Southern branch line opened for business, too --- and along with the Chariton, Des Moines & Southern, helped to open south central Iowa to parts of the state to the north. Chariton already was connected by rail with Leon via Derby, Humeston and Garden Grove --- a connection established during the fall of 1872 --- and the new Osceola line ended at Leon, too.
Passenger and freight service continued on the Chariton, Des Moines & Southern until December of 1961. Not long thereafter, the line was abandoned. The old rail route that once linked Chariton to Humeston is now the Cinder Path, frequented by hikers, joggers and bikers rather than trains. The east-west line, now Burlington Northern & Santa Fe, is one of the nation's busiest stretches of railroad; the north-south Union Pacific (built as Rock Island in 1913) continues to carry a significant amount of freight, too.
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