HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
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points, including Chicago, Aurora, Galesburg, Quincy, Peoria, Streator, Sterling, Mendota, Fulton, Lewistown, Rushville, Geneva, Keithsburg, Rock Island, Beardstown, Alton, etc. The entire capitalization of the line (including stock, bonds and floating debt) amounted, in 1898, to $234,884,-600, which was equivalent to about $83,000 per mile. The total earnings of the road in Illinois, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, amounted to $8,724,997, and the total disbursements of the Company within the State, during the same period, to $7,469,456. Taxes paid in 1898, $377,968.-(HISTORY). The first section of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad was constructed under a charter granted, in 1849, to the Aurora Branch Railroad Company, the name being changed in 1852 to the Chicago & Aurora Railroad Company. The line was completed in 1853, from the junction with the old Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, 30 miles west of Chicago, to Aurora, later being extended to Mendota. In 1855 the name of the Company was changed by act of the Legislature to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. The section between Mendota and Galesburg (80 miles) was built under a charter granted in 1851 to the Central Military Tract Railroad Company, and completed in 1854. July 9, 1856, the two companies were consolidated under the name of the former. Previous to this consolidation the Company had extended aid to the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad (from Peoria to the Mississippi River, nearly opposite Burlington, Iowa), and to the Northern Cross Railroad from 'Quincy to Galesburg, both of which were completed in 1855 and operated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. In 1857 the name of the Northern Cross was changed to the Quincy & Chicago Railroad. In 1860 the latter was sold under foreclosure to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and, in 1863, the Peoria & Oquawka was acquired in the same way-the former constituting the Quincy branch of the main line and the latter giving it its Burlington connection. Up to 1863, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy used the track of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad to enter the city of Chicago, but that year began the construction of its line from Aurora to Chicago, which was completed in 1864. In 1872 it acquired control, by perpetual lease, of the Burlington & Missouri River Road in Iowa, and, in 1880, extended this line into Nebraska, now reaching Billings, Mont., with a lateral branch to Deadwood, So. Dak. Other branches in Illinois, built or acquired by this corporation, include the Peoria & Hannibal; Carthage & Burlington ; Quincy & "Warsaw; Ottawa, Chicago & Fox River Valley; Quincy, Alton