CHICAGO, BURLINGTON AND QUINCY RAIL ROAD COMPANY, incorporated on Feb. 12, 1849, under the laws of Illinois as the Aurora Branch Railroad, changed its title in 1852 to Chicago and Aurora Railroad, and adopted its present cor porate name on Feb. 14, 1855. The company, since then, has ac quired numerous other roads, until to-day it owns and operates a system aggregating about 9,30o m., and extending from Chicago to Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha and Denver, and thence through Wyoming to Billings, Mont., where connection is made with the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern. It owns an interest in the Chicago Union Station Company and various other union depot, terminal and bridge properties, and owns 71% of the stock of the Colorado and Southern Railway Company, which, with its subsidiary lines, the Fort Worth and Denver City and Wichita Valley Railway companies, operates from Wendover, Wyo., to Teague, Texas, with various branches, and in turn owns one-half interest in The Burlington-Rock Island Railroad (for merly the Trinity and Brazos Valley Ry.), extending from Teague to Galveston, Texas. The parent company itself is controlled jointly by the Northern Pacific and Great Northern railways which own in equal parts over 97% of the capital stock.
The present company, excluding its interest in subsidiary com panies, has an investment in railway operating property of about 600 million dollars, and has 220 million dollars of bonds and 171 million dollars par value capital stock outstanding. The railroad handles upwards of 25 million tons of commercial freight each year, of which approximately 4o% is mine products, 21% agri cultural products, 8% live stock and animal products, 4% lumber and forest products and 27% manufactures and miscellaneous freight. It carried during 1934, 2,806,297 passengers, besides a heavy commutation traffic in Chicago suburban territory.
(R. Bu.)