HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
499
ST. LOUIS, ALTON & CHICAGO RAILROAD.
(See Chicago & Alton Railroad.}
ST. LOUIS, ALTON & SPRINGFIELD RAILROAD. (See St. Louis, Chicago & St. Paul Railroad.)
ST. LOUIS, ALTON & TERRE HAUTE RAILOAD, a corporation formerly operating an extensive system of railroads in Illinois. The Terre Haute & Alton Railroad Company (the original corporation) was chartered in January, 1851, work begun in 1852, and the main line from Terre Haute to Alton (172.5 miles) completed, March 1, 1856. The Belleville & Illinoistown branch (from Belleville to East St. Louis) was chartered in 1852, and completed between the points named in the title, in the fall of 1854. This corporation secured authority to construct an extension from Illinoistown (now East St. Louis) to Alton, which was completed in October, 1856, giving the first railroad connection between Alton & St. Louis. Simultaneously with this, these two roads (the Terre Haute & Alton and the Belleville & Illinoistown) were consolidated under a single charter by special act of the Legislature in February, 1854, the consolidated line taking the name of the Terre Haute, Alton & St. Louis Railroad. Subsequently the road became financially embarassed, was sold under foreclosure and reorganized, in 1862, under the name of the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad. June 1, 1867, the main line (from Terre Haute to St. Louis) was leased for ninety-nine years to the Indianapolis & St. Louis Railway Company (an Indiana corporation) guaranteed by certain other lines, but the lease was subsequently broken by the insolvency of the lessee and some of the guarantors. The Indianapolis & St. Louis went into the hands of a receiver in 1882, and was sold under foreclosure, in July of the same year, its interest being absorbed by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, by which the main line is now operated. The properties officially reported as remaining in the hands of the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad, June 30, 1895, beside the Belleville Branch (14.40 miles), included the following leased and subsidiary lines: Belleville & Southern Illinois-"Cairo Short Line" (56.40 miles); Belleville & Eldorado, (50.20 miles); Belleville & Carondelet (17.30 miles); St. Louis Southern and branches (47.27 miles), and Chicago, St. Loui
