CHICAGO, INDIANAPOLIS AND LOUISVILLE RAILWAY. The company which built the first portion of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railway was the New Albany & Salem Railroad Company, chartered 8 July 1847, to build a railway between the points named in its title, a distance of 35 miles. Work was begun in 1849 and the road was completed and opened to traffic in January 1850. Amendments to its charter empowered the Com pany to extend the road to any place within the State, and work was begun on an extension to Michigan City in 1850, and was completed and opened to the public in 1854. The section from Crawfordsville to Lafayette was built by the Crawfordsville & Wabash Railroad Com pany, completed in 1852, and was purchased by the New Albany & Salem Railroad Company. The company did not prosper and in 1857 it defaulted interest on its bonds, and in 1858 was turned over to D. D. Williamson, of New York, as trustee, and operated by him until October 1868, when a suit for foreclosure was brought and the road went into the hands of a receiver, passing the next year, under foreclosure sale, to the first and second mortgage bondholders, who organized a new company under the name of the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Rail way Company. Various law suits kept the road in the courts for several years from this date, but in May 1:•:1 a consolidation was effected with the Chicago & Indianapolis Air Line Rail way.
In January 1882 the northern extension of the line was completed to a point near Ham mond, where a junction was made with the Chicago & Atlantic Railroad, thus giving a line into Chicago. Work was completed on the southern extension to a point four miles north of Indianapolis in October 1882 and, using the tracks of the Lake Erie & Western for these four miles, in May 1883 trains were run through from Chicago to Indianapolis. Subsequently the unfinished portions of the road were completed and the company used its own tracks for the entire distance. In 1889 the company took a 30 years' lease from the Louisville Southern Railroad for its line from Louisville to Burgin, Ky., and another for its Lexington extension. In March 1890, during disputes growing out of the action of newly-elected directors of the lessee road, the Louisville Southern Com pany tookpossession of both of the leased branches of its road by force, and a very stormy period of litigation followed.
On 1 March 1886 the Company bought the Orleans, West Baden & French Lick Springs Railway and completed the construction of its lines within one year. On 1 April 1886, the Company bought all of the stock of the Bedford & Bloomfield Railroad Company, amounting to $600,000. Both of these lines are now merged in the present company.
In June 1879 the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad Company was organized for the pur pose of affording a Chicago terminal to several different companies desirous of entering the city, and the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago became a fifth owner in the concern. In No vember 1882 the Belt Railway Company of Chi cago was formed for the purpose of connecting the, various railroad terminals, warehouses and other facilities in the city. The five companies that formed the Chicago & Western Indiana Railway Company became the stockholders in this new corporation, In August 1896 a receiver for the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railroad was appointed at the instance of its creditors. In October of that year the consolidated mortgage interest was defaulted, and a reorganization plan was proposed. On 1 July 1897 the purchasing com mittee under the plan of reorganization deliv ered the road to a company organized under the name of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louis ville Railway Company. On 15 March 1899 the capital account showed a stock issue of $5,000,000 preferred and $10,500 000 common stock, and a bonded debt of $13,177,000.
In September 1899 the company began the operation of the Indian Stone Railway, extend ing from Clear Creek to Harrodsburg, a dis tance of 10 miles, which was constructed under contract with the company in 1898-99.
In May 1902 control of the Chicago, Indian apolis & Louisville Railroad passed to the Louis ville & Nashville Railroad Company and the Southern Railway Company, these two com panies having acquired 51 per cent of the cap ital shares of the first named company. In September 1902 a contract was entered into with the Illinois Central Railroad Company for the joint use of 10 miles of their road west from Switz City, for a period of 25 years, thus giving the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railway an entrance into valuable coal fields. A similar contract was made in May 1903 with the Pennsylvania Company for the joint use of that part of its track between Switz City and Gosport Junction.
Equipment and Earnings.— On 30 June 1915 the company owned 508.79 miles of main track, 275.62 miles of siding and used under contract 113.62 miles of track, making a total of line operated 622.41 miles. The equipment comprises 147 engines, 6,743 freight cars, 120 passenger cars and 155 com any 'service cars.
J For the fiscal year ended 30 June 1915 the total earnings were $6,559,664.95 and the operating expenses were $4,678,021.14, leaving a net rev enue from railway operations of $1,881,643.81. The gross income was $1,794,814.45; the total deductions from gross income were $1,555,040.99, leaving a net income of $239,773.46.