Neil gives me a lift to nearby Naperville Amtrak station where I catch the California Zephyr destined for Emeryville, California. In the sections below the numbers to the right of the location represent the distance from the last station to the point of interest in question. The first is if travelling West and the second if travelling East. It is read like this: Aurora (105 Min/10 Min) is 105 min after Naperville and 10 min after Princeton if travelling East. It is a very inexact way of notation due to frequent stops and delays. Since there are mile posts along the track, it seems it would be more logical to use those, but who am I to question?
2:34pm - Depart Naperville, Illinois
NAPERVILLE This is the station for Chicago's western suburbs. RTA commuter trains provide connections to Aurora, LaGrange, Brookfield and other points. This attractive suburb is a high-tech industrial center and is known for its Riverwalk, a restored historic village, and an example of Frank Lloyd Write's architecture.
Aurora (105 Min/10 Min) This was a transfer station for statecoaches in the 1830s. It was also the birthplace of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1849. Transportation has always played a large role in Aurora. A large bulldozer factory can be seen to the left.
3:44pm - Station stop at Princeton Illinois. A station stop is only to take on or drop off passengers. We cannot detrain at a station stop.
PRINCETON (50 Min/65 Min) One of the founders of the Republican Party, John Bryant, made his home in Princeton. It was settled by New Englanders in 1833. It is the "Pig Capital of the World." The small red and brown A-frame houses in the fields are what the pigs call home.
Kewanee (25 Min/90 Min) The small industrial city of Kewanee was settled alongside the Spoon River in 1836 by New Englanders.
Galva (20 Min/95 Min) "Bishop's Hill" was a Swedish utopian society of religious dissidents that settled in Galva until the Civil War. It is now a historic landmark.
4:38 pm - Galesburg, Illinois. Station stop. Notable people who have called Galesburg home are: Ronald Reagan, George Reeves (TV's Superman and victim of the Black Dahlia), Carl Sandburg (American poet), Charles Walgreen (founder of Walgreen's), and George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr (Inventor of the Ferris wheel and person for whom they named the town.) And you thought Matthew Broderick invented the Ferris wheel.
GALESBURG Popcorn was invented in Galesburg by Olmstead Ferris. (NOTE: This factoid is debatable as there is evidence that Native Americans consumed popcorn over 500 years ago). This was also the home of Carl Sandburg, writer and historian. Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated at Knox College in the building with the copper spire to the left of the train. This was also a key station in the Underground Railroad of the Civil War. Notice, on the left, Burlington's famous 4-6-4 "Hudson" passenger locomotive used in the 1930s. Galesburg is the home of the Annual Galesburg Railroad Days.
Monmouth (30 Min/20 Min) This town is where the western hero Marshal Wyatt Earp was born. Monmouth College was founded in 1856. Monmouth's industry includes a marketing center for corn and feeder cattle. Wyatt Earp was born in Monmouth and Ronald Reagan lived here as a child.
Mississippi River (2 Min/45 Min) The train crosses the Mississippi River, the greatest of the U.S. waterways. The river travels 2,350 miles on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. The river is the state line between Iowa, the "Land Beyond" and Illinois. Notice the marshy bottom lands beneath the bridge at Bonnet and the valley of Cedar Creek.
5:25 pm - Burlington, Iowa. Station stop. We've just crossed the Missisippi River
BURLINGTON Flint in the nearby Shoquoquon Hills provided tools and weapons for the Indians, and they considered this area "neutral ground." Zebulon Pike established a fort here in 1805, and Abe Lincoln fought here as a captain in the Black Hawk Wars. Before the first railroad bridge was built in 1868, passengers and freight crossed the Mississippi in ferry boats. In winter they had to brave the ice on foot. In 1887, George Westinghouse developed the air brake on West Burlington Hill.
Danville (15 Min/15 Min) was the site of a Pony Express and stage stop.
5:39 pm - Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Station stop
MT. PLEASANT The oldest college west of the Mississippi was established in 1842 as Iowa Wesleyan College, to the left of the train. The first American coed, Lucy Kilpatrick, graduated from there in 1859. The city had the first plank toll roads leading to Burlington in 1851. And the first Iowan courthouse was built here in 1839.
6:53 pm - Ottumwa, Iowa. Station stop
OTTUMWA This town rises on terraces above the Des Moines River. It was the home of General Joseph M. Street, Indian agent, who built a trading post in 1838. It was also the hometown of the fictional character "Radar O'Reilly" from the television show MASH.
8:09 pm - Osceola (Des Moines) Iowa. Station stop
OSCEOLA A carved wooden bust of the Seminole chief, Osceola, can be seen to the right of the train just past I-35, west of the station. Settlers in the 1800s found the first Delicioius apple tree here, thirty miles to the north.
8:41 pm - Creston, Iowa Station stop
CRESTON The train crosses the summit of the ridge between the Des Moines and Missouri River Valleys, the highest point east of the Missouri on the train's route. The town's depot is now a national landmark. The tall cement silos of the Farmers Cooperative on the left offer a ride to the top for a bird's eye-view of Creston.
Stanton (64 Min/50 Min) This homestead of Sweedish settlers was also the home of the famous TV coffee lady, Mrs. Olson. So, the town's water tower, on the left, is in the shape of a coffee pot.
Missouri River (25 Min/87 Min) The magnificent Missouri River was called "mini-souri" by the Indians. Its headwaters are in Montana where Gallatin, Jefferson and Madison Rivers come together. In the 1800s, steamboats plied the Missouri all the way from Omaha to St. Louis, where it flows into the Mississippi. Crossing the Missouri, the train also crosses between Nebraska and Iowa.
Offutt Air Force Base (10 Min/90 Min) The Strategic Air Command has its headquarters here at Offutt Air Force Base, to the right of the train, as does the 55th Strategic Reconnaisance WIng, which conducts global reconnaisance missions. Offutt is the home to the National Airborne Command Post, used by the President in times of crisis (look for military versions of the Boeing 747 on the field). This is also the site of the SAC Museum. The train follows the Missouri, on the left.
10:29 pm - Omaha, Nebraska. We can detrain here and roam and just generally get the blood flowing again. We have 10 minutes in which to do this then it's back on train and probably off to sleep.
OMAHA was a Missouri River crossing for west-bound pioneers. Omaha has always been a large transportation center, supporting as many as nine railroads. The Union Stockyards were established here in 1884. President Gerald Ford, Henry Fonda, Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando and Malcolm X were born here. Boys Town, a refuge for homeless and underprivileged boys is west of town.
We end this day somewhere between Omaha and Lincoln, our first stop of day 4.
