100 years ago: Heavy new rails laid on new railroad line through O’Fallon
100 years ago, Aug. 13, 1925
Work of laying new and heavier steel rails on the St. Louis & Illinois Belt railroad, a branch of the St. Louis, Troy and Eastern recently acquired by the Illinois Power & Light Corporation which is to be linked with O’Fallon, will start within the next few weeks, according to an announcement made last week.
The first three cars of new steel are already on the ground and were distributed last week along the line between Edwardsville and Formosa. The new rails weigh 90 pounds to the foot and will replace those now being used which weigh only 70 pounds. About twenty-five cars of the new rails will be required to lay the stretch of four and one-half miles. The old rails taken up will be used in the future for switches.
A new telephone system will also be built along the line. Poles have already been placed for this purpose between Edwardsville and Alton and others will be distributed soon between Edwardsville and Formosa. The system will have all new wires when completed.
The belt line, as mentioned in the Progress several weeks ago, will eventually be an extension from Formosa to this city, at a point west of Troy. Just what the plans of the new owners are has not been specifically announced but it is understood that the old property of the Troy and Eastern was acquired for the purpose of securing an entrance into East St. Louis for the McKinley Traction System of which the power company is now the owner.
Another object is to extend the line to O’Fallon to connect with the coal belt in this district. This has been tentatively planned for a number of years but was never successfully carried out until the present company acquired the old railroad property at Formosa.
With a line from this city to connect with the McKinley system the terminal at East St. Louis would be avoided, offering better shipping facilities at lower rates for coal to be shipped into the Chicago market, which is considered a far better coal center than St. Louis.
This would become part of the Illinois Terminal Railroad System that ultimately reached St. Ellen coal mine in O’Fallon. Much of it has now been converted to bike/walking trails.
75 years ago, Aug. 10, 1950
Drilling operations on a test well in search of oil, which had been under way for two weeks on the Frailey-Poole Stock Farm, two miles north of this city, were abandoned after the rotary drill reached a depth of 2,350 feet.
Orders to abandon the project came at 10 p.m. Sunday when operations ceased after the drill had passed through the Trenton sand. This level, where oil is generally evident, was reached at a depth of 2,232 feet but the promoters decided to continue through the strats before closing down the venture.
Reports are that at no time during the drilling operations any traces of oil were evident. The equipment was immediately dismantled and moved from the site.
Promoters of the venture were Ray K. Frailey, Robert Poole, Frank Metz and Ben Hess. This test for oil on the Frailey-Poole farm was one of many promoted from time to time in the O’Fallon area in the past 40 years. This latest try, however, was the deepest well ever drilled here, most of those in the past being abandoned after going down from 1900 to 2000 feet.
50 years ago, Aug. 14, 1975
Gas prices are on a constant rise across the country and service station owners are trying to find ways to attract customers. Some stations are offering mini service prices which reduce the price of the gas when little or no additional services are performed by the station attendants.
Fred’s Standard Station on U.S. 50 and Lincoln, advertises his mini-service gas price at 59.9 cents for regular. The regular price of regular is 64.9 cents.
“The mini service helps from tying my men up. If the customer wants oil or a check under the hood then we’ll have to charge the extra couple of pennies,” Fred Medler said.
However, some customers in the area have complained that stations offering the mini price only show the mini price in large letters when the price on the pump is higher. The best advice for those who stop at the mini service station is to read the fine print.