The Dan Patch Railroad
In 1907, a year after Dan Patch paced his 1:55 mile, M. W. Savage was approached by a man named William P. Mason in regards to starting a railroad. Savage saw both the publicity angle and potential for profit and after a short period of deliberation, began incorporation under the name Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Rochester, and Dubuque Electric Traction Company with Savage as President and Treasurer and Mason as Vice President. The "Dan Patch Line" was born. Savage decided that the railroad would carry passengers only. His dream was "to give fast, frequent passenger service with gas electric coaches - not trolleys" according to a 1943 article in Railroad Magazine.
Savage and partners are shown inspecting land in Richfield for the railroad line in the photo above. My guess is that the photo was taken near Augsburg pond in Richfield, though that is only a guess. The railroad tracks run through Richfield along Pleasant Ave. not far from Augsburg, and the pond there is the only body of water near the line that I know of.
To raise capital for the railroad, Savage sold $25 shares that wealthy and common folk alike could afford. Many area farmers invested, believing that they would profit well from the "First Gas-electric Railroad in the World" as Savage's letterhead proudly boasted. Linton K. Levin states in a 1969 Master's research paper that
Found in the Bloomington Historical Society was a letter dated December 9, 1907, listing the citizens of Bloomington who contributed a total of $900 for assistance in purchasing the right-of-way through this town. Most of the contributions were twenty-five dollars per person. A total of thirty people subscribed to this venture. Their names are commonplace to residents of Bloomington today in that streets, parks, playgrounds, and schools are named for these yesteryear neighbors. Some of the names found were: Moir, Pond, Chadwick, Baillif, Nesbitt, and Kell.
The paper goes on to quote a pioneer Bloomington resident, Minnie Tapping, who writes in Eighty Years at the Gopher Hole (New York Exposition Press 1958, p. 53)
I can't remember the time when there were not rumors of a railroad coming through our country. But before we began to wonder too much about it, we had a railroad all our own. Right-of-way had been secured, the rails laid, and soon we were riding to Minneapolis in comfort--in style, in fact. Mr. Savage had given us a readymade outfit and surprised us by sending over the road beautiful cars luxurious with paint and hangings, and we as country dwellers had not asked any such lavishness. A depot was built at the intersection of the line and bridge toward the Auto Club, and at an early date our sons and daughters were going to school by train. Since the railroad was gas-electric, it was easy of locomotion and soon became an important part of the country scene. Many of our citizens chose this easy way of getting about and were thankful for it.
The 1910 ad above right is one that Savage ran to try to drum up some investors to help him expand the railroad to run from St. Paul to Rochester. Below left is an ad promoting the buying of stock in the line, heralding "The great age of electricity is making wonderful money making changes" "Buy stock in the Dan Patch Air Line". Apparently, people did just that. There were reportedly more than 8,500 shareholders at one point in time.
1908 saw construction begin on the main line from Minneapolis to the Savage farm. The work was all done by hand labor, teams and scrapers - much of it by local farmers (and reportedly even their children) who, for the most part, welcomed the railroad, believing that it would not only provide easy transportation to Minneapolis, but also attract people to their communities.
The rails that Savage had laid were heavy duty 80 and 100 pound-per-yard rails - much more than his light rail line would have needed. The bridges, cattle passes and culverts were made of reinforced concrete and were wide enough for double tracks. Perhaps he had some sort of vision of a future that was to see many tons of freight roll on those rails.
The photo above shows the $50,000 steel swing bridge which carried the Dan Patch Line over the Minnesota River between Savage and Bloomington as it looks today. (Note: I would appreciate a "vintage" picture of it if anybody has one.)
The Minneapolis end of the Dan Patch Line connected to the south end of the city's streetcar system at 54th and Nicollet. From there, it headed southwest through Richfield and Bloomington, crossing the Minnesota River on a combination rail and wagon/auto swing bridge, passing along side of the International 1:55 Stock Food Farm in Savage, and heading southeast through Lakeville and on to Northfield. He eventually hoped to expand the line through Rochester and on south to Dubuque, Iowa where he had founded his International Stock Food Company, but the citizens of Faribault would not give him the right-of-way.
The photo above shows a portion of the tracks as they look today, approaching the Savage Bridge from the south.
In 1915, Mr. Savage built another 15 miles of track north of the Auto Club junction in Bloomington in order to facilitate passenger and freight service to the Minneapolis loop area. These tracks go through the western suburbs of Minneapolis, including West Bloomington, Edina, St. Louis Park, and Golden Valley. The Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern railway ran a lucrative freight business on the line from 1918 to as late as the end of the 1960's. Levin states in his research paper
More by accident than by design the Dan Patch Line builders had managed to create a virtual belt line, which intersected no less than six major trunk lines radiating west and south from Minneapolis. The connecting of these trunk lines brings the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railroad a handsome income yearly.
The research paper goes on to quote a 1969 Minneapolis Star article
They [the Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railroad] handle about 85,000 such cars a year for the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Soo Line, Chicago Great Western, Milwaukee and the Rock Island.
According to a February 1968 article in Hoofbeats magazine
The Dan Patch Line's first pieces of rolling stock were a pair of second-hand gas-electric cars, veterans of the recently electrified Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway. The larger of the two cars, the Irene, had an all steel body with a rounded nose and open observation platform at the rear. Her luxurious appointments included stained glass window arches and an interior of carved, inlaid vermilion wood.
In addition to carrying 40 passengers, the Irene, powered by a 150-horsepower engine, could also pull up to three 75-passenger trailing coaches. A set of storage batteries started the engine and also provided extra juice for acceleration and steep grades. The second car purchased, the Augerita, was smaller than the Irene and less luxurious.
