500 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI Texas Railroad Company, which consisted of a line from Cairo to Sikeston. The company then proceeded to rebuild this line and ex- tend it to Poplar Bluff, a distance of 70 miles. Acting under the charter granted to the Cairo & Fulton Railroad Company and ac- quired by the Iron Mountain, the latter com- pany constructed a line from Moak through Arkansas to the Texas line at Fulton, Ark. These two companies were consolidated under the name of the St. Louis, Iron Moun- tain & Southern Railroad Company in June, 1874. This line from St. Louis to Fulton, Arkansas, a distance of 681 miles, became the main line of the company and the line from Bismarck to Belmont became Imown as the Belmont branch. In 1883 a company was organized, Iniown as the Jackson Branch Railroad Company, to build a line from Allenville, on the Bel- mont branch, to the ^Mississippi river, at Grand Tower, by way of Jackson, the county seat of Cape Girardeau county. This line was constructed by the Iron Moimtain as far as Jackson and was later consolidated with the Iron Mountain System. Later a branch was constructed from Mineral Point to Po- tosi, in "Washington county, to provide trans- portation for the mineral products of that region. The Iron iMountain company later con- structed a line from Poplar Bluff to Doni- phan, in Ripley county, by way of Naylor, m the same coiunty. This road is now oper- ated as a part of the Cairo branch, through trains being run from Bird's Point to Doni- phan. Close relations have always existed be- tween the Iron JMountain System and the St. Louis Southwestern, or Cotton Belt, as they are both owned in large part by members of the Gould family. The Iron Mountain Sys- tem, about 1900, constructed a line called the Valley line, from East St. Louis to Gale, Illinois, opposite Gray's Point, the northern terminus of the Cotton Belt. On the con- struction of the Thebes bridge these roads formed a continuous line from Texas and Arkansas points to St. Louis. It also pro- vided connection with the main line and branches of the Iron Mountain. The Cotton Belt connects with the Belmont branch at Delta, with the Cairo branch at Dexter, and with the main line of the Iron Moimtain at Paragould, Arkansas. A traffic agreement was entered into between these roads by which Cotton Belt trains entered St. Louis over the tracks of the Valley line, and Iron Mountain trains used the tracks of the Cot- ton Belt from Dexter to Thebes. This last arrangement was made because the Cotton Belt and Valley lines afford what is prac- tically a water-level route to St. Louis, while the Iron Mountain above Poplar Bluff passes through a hilly country. Much of the freight from Arkansas and Texas is diverted at Pop- lar Bluff over the Cairo branch to Dexter, then by way of the Cotton Belt and Valley lines to St. Louis. The immen.se importance of the Thebes bridge is made apparent by this arrangement. Plans are under way at this time provid- ing for the double tracking of much of the main lines of the St. Louis, Iron IMountain & Southern and the St. Louis Southwestern. The Iron Mountain continiies to be, as it has been since its construction, one of the most important factors in the development of .southeast IMissouri. Its main line provides unrivaled transportation facilities for the western tier of counties and its various branches serve much of the remainder of the territorv.
