Among the early locomotives that have survived is the _Pioneer_ (figure
46), the first to have steamed out of Chicago, this having occurred on
October 25, 1848, at the opening of the Galena and Chicago Union Rail
Road. Built early in 1836, the _Pioneer_ was the 37th constructed by
Matthias W. Baldwin and is the oldest Baldwin locomotive now in
existence.
It was originally sold to the Utica and Schenectady Rail Road, in New
York’s Mohawk Valley, and was their locomotive _No. 7_. Later it was
sold to the Michigan Central Railroad, by whom it was reportedly renamed
the _Alert_, a name that is open to question. From the latter road the
Galena and Chicago Union obtained it in 1848.
In order to get the locomotive to Chicago, it had to be shipped by boat
across Lake Michigan from Michigan City, Ind., and hauled by teams to
the tracks. The little Baldwin locomotive at this time was given the
name _Pioneer_. Its new owner, the Galena and Chicago Union, later, in
1864, was merged into the then 5-year-old Chicago and North Western
Railway Co.
[Illustration: Figure 46.—Chicago and North Western’s _Pioneer_,
built in 1836 and oldest Baldwin locomotive in existence, as
repainted for Chicago Railroad Fair of 1948.]
[Illustration: Figure 47.—Earliest known photo of _Pioneer_, showing
it at work in bridge construction at Rockford, Ill., in 1869.]
The _Pioneer_ had a full and active life, for it was in operation 12
years prior to its acquisition by the Galena road and 26 years after
(figure 47). It was at one time temporarily lent to the new Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy line, until that company was able to buy an engine
of its own, and was finally retired by the Chicago and North Western in
1874.
The _Pioneer_ is a typical Baldwin design of the period. A wood burner,
it weighs 10 tons, has slightly inclined cylinders 11 by 18 inches in
size, one pair of 54-inch driving wheels at the rear, and a 4-wheeled
swiveling truck at the front. The cylinder bore was originally 10
inches, but in 1872 the Chicago and North Western changed it to the
present slightly larger dimension.
While owned by the Michigan Central, it had been altered in several
ways, the principal change being in the valve motion. The locomotive
originally had a single fixed eccentric for each cylinder, with two arms
extending backward. These arms were fitted with drop hooks to engage
with a pin on a rocker arm that actuated the valve rod. The new motion,
installed by the Michigan Central, uses double eccentrics with V-hooks
for each cylinder. The cab and the cowcatcher, not applied to the
locomotive when it was constructed in 1836, are of a slightly later
period according to an article in “Baldwin Locomotives” (vol. 10, No. 2,
October 1931, pp. 3, 4).
In common with many of the other surviving old locomotives, the
_Pioneer_ has been on exhibition at many places, including the
Exposition of Railway Appliances at Chicago in 1883, the World’s
Columbian Exposition held there 10 years later, the Louisiana Purchase
Exposition at St. Louis in 1904, the Chicago World’s Fair 30 years
later, and the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948 and 1949. At the latter
fair it operated under its own power every day each summer, requiring
only the replacement of the old boiler flues with new ones of sturdier
construction to make it again serviceable. In recent years it has been
exhibited at the Museum of Science and Industry at Chicago, but is now
stored in that city in one of the shops of the Chicago and North
Western.
Not a great deal is known of the early history of the _Mississippi_
(figure 48), which is now exhibited at the Museum of Science and
Industry at Chicago. Originally it was used on a pioneering railroad
operating east out of Natchez in the late 1830’s. Some writers have
contended that it was imported from England. Others, including Angus
Sinclair, the railroad historian, have stated that it was probably built
by the New York firm of H. R. Dunham and Co.
[Illustration: Figure 48.—_Mississippi_, probably built in the
1830’s, with tender of a later period. Photo may have been taken
after locomotive was rebuilt for exhibition at World’s Columbian
Exposition at Chicago, in 1893.]
The _Mississippi_, however, has none of the characteristics of English
locomotives of its period, and it is well known that a representative of
Dunham took several locomotives from New York to Natchez in late 1836.
It is most probable that the _Mississippi_ is a Dunham-built locomotive
of the middle 1830’s.
Its first recorded service began in April 1837, between Natchez and
Hamburg, Miss., a distance of about 19 miles. A violent storm lashed
Natchez on May 7, 1840, and destroyed considerable railroad property.
From this and subsequent financial blows the little railroad shortly
succumbed, and the _Mississippi_ passed to other owners. Among these
were the Grand Gulf and Port Gibson Railroad, the Mississippi Valley and
Ship Island Railroad, and the Meridian, Brookhaven and Natchez Railroad.
The latter road was acquired in 1891 by the Illinois Central Railroad
Co.
In the spring of 1893 the locomotive was rebuilt at the McComb, Miss.,
shops of the Illinois Central and then was taken under its own power
from McComb to Chicago, a distance of 815 miles. There it was exhibited
at the World’s Columbian Exposition. It has since been seen in many
places, including the old Field Museum at Chicago, the Louisiana
Purchase Exposition in 1904, the Semicentennial of Wheeling, W. Va.,
held in June 1913, and the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933 and 1934. The
tender usually seen with the locomotive and marked “Natchez & Hamburg R.
R.” is not the original one, but is of a considerably later period.
The _Mississippi_ is a wood burner, weighs 7 tons, has wheels 43 inches
in diameter, and, according to Sinclair, has cylinders with a bore and
stroke of 9½ and 16 inches. Its tractive force is said to be 4,821
pounds.