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79-482: The Wabash Railroad line used by the trail was first built in 1855, and service continued until 1969. The Norfolk Southern Railway then purchased it. The rails were finally abandoned in 1990. Local enthusiasts developed the idea of creating a public recreational trail and utility corridor. On March 24, 1994, the corridor was purchased from Norfolk Southern. The name Wabash Cannonball stems from an 1882 American folk song about an imaginary train . No train actually had

158-562: A 7-mile stretch of track that ran from Grand Ave (through a rail yard near Vandeventer Avenue), through University City (at Delmar Station) to a junction at Redmond Ave. in Ferguson, where the Ferguson station (now an ice cream parlor) was at North Florissant and Carson Ave., and where it met up with the current Norfolk Southern mainline. After passenger service was discontinued, trains on this stretch were reduced to one westbound symbol freight and one local per day. Norfolk Southern, who took over

237-477: A large area, including track in the states of Ohio , Indiana , Illinois , Iowa , Michigan , and Missouri and the province of Ontario . Its primary connections included Chicago , Illinois ; Kansas City, Missouri ; Detroit , Michigan ; Buffalo, New York ; St. Louis, Missouri ; and Toledo, Ohio . The Wabash's major freight traffic advantage was the direct line from Kansas City to Detroit, without going through St. Louis or Chicago. Despite being merged into

316-462: A maze-like quality in the first seventeen-mile (27 km) stretch as it enters Indiana. At mile forty-five, the river becomes straighter with few sharp bends. An additional seventeen tributaries raise the depth of the river considerably, making it navigable for larger vessels. At mile fifty-nine, the river passes through Ouabache State Park , where it begins to widen and become more shallow. The white limestone river bottom can sometimes be seen in

395-589: A new shop site was needed to handle the increased demand for repairs. Seventy-eight acres of land were purchased on the east side of Decatur, Illinois , which became the primary back shops until the end of steam. By the 1920s the East Decatur Shops employed 1,500 workers, with an additional 1,000 employed in the adjacent yard and offices. In 1904, the Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal Railway was formed and acquired control of

474-462: A panhandle between the river and Posey County . From the tail southward there are several cut-offs from the river, resulting in several natural exclaves between Indiana and Illinois, the largest of which is at Grayville . A flood caused the river to change course, disconnecting a two-mile (3 km) long stretch of the river and creating a lake entirely on the Illinois side. Between these exclaves

553-509: A resurgence in business in the late 1970s and into the 1980s – so much so that NS largely re-built the line with newer, heavier steel and continuous welded rail in the mid-1980s. The Moberly-to-Des Moines line had few local industries shipping on it in the 1980s in either northern Missouri or southern Iowa, however, and served primarily as a "bridge" to get the NS to the Des Moines market. During

632-786: A shorter route. This caused the abandonment of the west side of the Toledo Terminal Railroad . This line covers the 3rd (Montpelier-Detroit) and 4th (Montpelier-Clarke Jct.–B&OCT+SC&S–State Line–C&WI) Districts of the Wabash. The Wabash was part of the Union Belt of Detroit, a joint switching operation started with the Pere Marquette and later the PRR joined. Detroit-Saint Louis passenger trains: Detroit-Chicago passenger Trains: The Montpelier-Chicago line

711-471: A state boundary line with Indiana for the remainder of its course. At Darwin , a farmer's cooperative operates the Wabash's only ferry service. It is used to take heavy farm equipment across the river. South of Darwin, beginning at mile 410 a large bluff gradually rises, eventually towering two-hundred feet over the river. The area is one of the most remote of the river, and it generally gives onto open land. The area becomes more densely populated as it nears

790-747: Is a 503-mile-long (810 km) river that drains most of the state of Indiana , and a significant part of Illinois , in the United States . It flows from the headwaters in Ohio , near the Indiana border, then southwest across northern Indiana turning south near the Illinois border, where the southern portion forms the Indiana-Illinois border before flowing into the Ohio River . It

869-756: Is abandoned between Council Bluffs and Blanchard and was converted for use as the Wabash Trace Trail . A 93-mile portion of the Council Bluffs–St. Louis line in Missouri between Blanchard, Iowa , and Lock Springs was sold to the Northern Missouri Railroad and began operations on February 13, 1984. Operations on that line were discontinued in June 1986. The Wabash Railroad ran their passenger trains that came into St. Louis on

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948-480: Is the historic town of New Harmony , a settlement created by Utopians during the 1810s. It is joined by the Black River on the Indiana side. At mile 460, the river again splits into several channels. The area features sandy beaches and the largest islands in the river, some a mile in length. The Little Wabash River , another major tributary, joins at mile 482 on the Illinois side, near New Haven . At mile 491

1027-621: Is the largest topographical feature in Allen County, Indiana . When the ice melted completely from the region, new outlets for Lake Maumee's water opened up at elevations lower than the Wabash-Erie Channel. While the St. Joseph and St. Marys Rivers continued to flow through the channel, Lake Maumee no longer did. Now a low-lying, probably marshy bit of terrain lay in between. It is not known for certain when, but at some point in

1106-571: Is the largest northern tributary of the Ohio River and third largest overall, behind the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. From the dam near Huntington, Indiana , to its terminus at the Ohio River, the Wabash flows freely for 411 miles (661 km) The Tippecanoe River , White River , Embarras River and Little Wabash River are major tributaries. The river's name comes from a Miami word meaning "water over white stones", as its bottom

1185-556: Is white limestone, now obscured by mud. The Wabash is the state river of Indiana , and subject of the state song " On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away " by Paul Dresser . Two counties (in Indiana and Illinois ); eight townships in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio; one Illinois precinct , one city , one town , two colleges , one high school , one canal , one former class I railroad , several bridges and avenues are all named for

1264-628: The Attack on Fort Recovery (1794), the Battle of Tippecanoe (1811), and the Siege of Fort Harrison (1812). Several different conflicts have been referred to as the " Battle of the Wabash ". A 329-acre (133 ha) remnant of the old-growth forests that once bordered the Wabash can be found at Beall Woods State Park , near Mount Carmel, Illinois . In the mid-19th century, the Wabash and Erie Canal , one of

1343-508: The Chillicothe-Brunswick Rail Maintenance Authority (CBRM) on July 24, 1987. On April 1, 1990, the line was leased to the Wabash and Grand River Railway (WGR). The WGR's lease was terminated on December 1, 1993, due to severe flood damage on the line, and the line reverted to CBRM. In 2003, during a dispute caused by inter-community rivalries and jealousies over industrial development along

1422-602: The Gulf of Mexico via the Wabash; it served as a vital trade route for North American-French trade and was the river they knew best. In the 18th century, the profitable 8-mile portage between the Maumee River and the Wabash was controlled by the Miami people at Kekionga . The United States has fought five colonial and frontier-era battles on or near the river: the Battle of Vincennes (1779), St. Clair's Defeat (1791),

1501-610: The Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) in 1964, the Wabash company continued to exist on paper until the N&;W merged into the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) in 1982. At the end of 1960 Wabash operated 2,423 miles of road on 4,311 miles of track, not including Ann Arbor and NJI&I ; that year it reported 6,407 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 164 million passenger-miles. The source of

1580-585: The St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers. Their combined discharge was probably the primary source of water for the proglacial Wabash River system. As the Erie Lobe of the glacier continued to retreat, its meltwater was temporarily trapped between the ice front to the east and the Fort Wayne Moraine to the west, and formed pro glacial Lake Maumee , the ancestor of modern Lake Erie . Around 11,000 years ago

1659-662: The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad , giving the Wabash access to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , as the final step in an attempt to break the near-monopoly of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and New York Central Railroad for traffic to the east. However, the Wabash had overextended itself, and the WPT went bankrupt in 1908; it would later become part of the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway . The Wabash Railroad itself

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1738-620: The White River at Mount Carmel, Illinois , significantly increasing its size, to over 750 feet wide. Roughly a mile downstream, near the Gibson Generating Station , another large tributary, the Patoka River , also joins. During low water, there are rapids at the confluence, caused by an old canal lock that was abandoned after flooding. Further downstream, the river zig-zags, creating the "tail" of Gibson County,

1817-636: The former Great Western Railway between Windsor and Buffalo, which was amalgamated with the Grand Trunk in 1882. Charles M. Hays, president of the Grand Trunk and former president of the Wabash, secures a trackage rights agreement to give the Wabash operating rights in Canada. Its Canadian headquarters are located in St. Thomas because it is roughly equidistant between Detroit and Niagara Falls. The Toledo to Hannibal Line

1896-558: The 1904 revision of an 1882 song about the "Great Rock Island Route." Yet the name was never borne by a real train until the Wabash Railroad christened its Detroit-St. Louis day train as the Wabash Cannon Ball in 1949. The train survived until the creation of Amtrak in 1971, when it was discontinued. On October 26 and 27, 2013, Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society's Nickel Plate Road 765 , in conjunction with

1975-617: The 1968 merger into Penn Central Transportation . Because it was only leased, as opposed to merged outright, the Wabash Railroad continued to trade its stock on the New York Stock Exchange. The N&W and the Southern Railway merged in 1982, although the Wabash continued to exist on paper. NS formally merged the Wabash into the N&W in November 1991. In 1897 the Wabash leases the eastern lines of

2054-649: The Fort Wayne Outlet into the Maumee River since it was at a lower elevation than that of the sluiceway. This meant that when the flood waters receded, the sluiceway was permanently abandoned by the two rivers. As a result of capturing them both, the Maumee was converted from a minor creek to a large river. Once again, river waters flowed through the Fort Wayne Outlet, but now they flowed eastward, toward Lake Erie, instead of westward. Following this event,

2133-498: The French name for the river, Ouabache . French traders named the river after the native Miami tribe 's word for the river. The Wabash Railroad resulted from numerous mergers or acquisitions as shown by this table: The name Wabash Railroad or Wabash Railway may refer to various corporate entities formed over the years using one or the other of these two names. The first railroad to use only Wabash and no other city in its name

2212-594: The Indiana-Ohio border. The water source is farmland drainage. A half mile downstream (i.e. east), at a roadside park on Ohio 49 at the Mercer County line, is a historical marker that announces the river's start. This land is also the portage for headwaters of the Mississinewa River , Stillwater River and West Fork of the White River , which lie just a few miles away. Between the start of

2291-574: The Norfolk Southern Railway's " 21st Century Steam " program, pulled a 225-mile (362-km) round-trip excursion, retracing the Cannon Ball's former route between Fort Wayne and Lafayette, Indiana. As a part of Norfolk Southern's 30th anniversary in 2012, the company painted 20 new locomotives into predecessor schemes. NS #1070, an EMD SD70ACe locomotive, was painted into the Wabash "Blue Bird" paint scheme. Several portions of

2370-682: The Ohio portion October 8. The Wabash and Western Railroad was chartered on September 27 and acquired the Indiana portion on October 5. On December 15, the two companies merged as the Toledo and Wabash Railway . That company merged with the Great Western Railway of Illinois , the Illinois and Southern Iowa Railroad , the Quincy and Toledo Railroad and the Warsaw and Peoria Railroad to form

2449-657: The Wabash System. The first repair shops were located in Springfield, Illinois along South 9th Street. These were the primary back shops from the mid-1800s to 1905. In 1873, the former shops of the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern (formerly the North Missouri Railroad ) at Moberly, Missouri were inherited, which employed about 1,200 and built most of the system's freight and passenger cars. However, in 1902 President J. Ramsey Jr. announced that

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2528-538: The Wabash at this point. Because of the dams on the Wabash, the Little River often carries more water than the Wabash. Additional minor tributaries raise the water level between Huntington and the city of Wabash . As the river passes Wabash and moves toward Peru , it splits, creating a series of islands; sandbars are common in the stretch. The river returns to a single channel at Peru, and flows through one of its most gentle stretches until reaching Logansport . Here

2607-553: The Wabash flows into the Ohio River near Hovey Lake . The Wabash is the 24th largest by discharge volume and 38th longest river in the United States. The major tributaries of the Wabash River include: right tributaries left tributaries The Wabash River supports an abundant and diverse wildlife population. At least 150 species of birds have been sighted around the river. The waterfowl are most dependent on

2686-755: The Wabash in Iowa to the Missouri state line between Council Bluffs and Blanchard, Iowa . On August 22, 1988, the line was cut back to serve only Council Bluffs. In August 1990 the remaining Iowa Southern line in Council Bluffs was sold to the Council Bluffs & Ottumwa Railroad . In May 1991 the CBOA was sold to the Council Bluffs Railway , an OmniTrax subsidiary. Iowa Interstate Railroad purchased CBR on July 1, 2006. The 66-mile route

2765-532: The Wabash name was the Wabash River , a 475-mile (764 km)-long river in the eastern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery , across northern Indiana to Illinois where it forms the southern portion of the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River , of which it is the largest northern tributary. The name Wabash is an anglicization of

2844-539: The Wabash's Ann Arbor on December 31, 1962. On October 16, 1964, the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway , and the N&W leased the Wabash and Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railway . On March 31, 1970, the Pennsylvania Company exchanged its last Wabash shares for N&W common stock; that stock was later divested as a condition of

2923-451: The area, whereas it is not visible due to pollution elsewhere downstream. As the river exits the park and flows toward the city of Bluffton near mile sixty-six, it widens further, becoming more shallow; only a narrow channel is navigable by larger vessels. The river remains shallow and somewhat rocky with minor rapids until mile seventy-one near the community of Murray . There the river becomes calm and deeper until mile eighty-one, due to

3002-487: The branch of the Wabash River that originates along the Wabash Moraine near Bluffton became the system's main course and source. For part of its course, the Wabash follows the path of the pre-glacial Teays River . The river has shifted course several times along the Indiana and Illinois border, creating cutoffs where parts of the river are entirely in either Indiana or Illinois. However, both states generally regard

3081-400: The city council had voted to buy back the right of way previously sold to Montoff Transportation, paying $ 10 to acquire the 100' wide by 29-mile long corridor. The stated intention was to gradually develop a trail. The report further stated that, though Montoff had the right as part of salvaging the rails to remove the bridges along the right of way, the cost to do so had been excessive. Instead,

3160-472: The city of Covington , the river begins flowing due south. The river is deep at this point, but there are several gravel bars between Covington and Terre Haute . Terre Haute, beginning at mile 300, is among the largest cities in Indiana. Although navigable by large ships in the past, the remainder of the river becomes shallow in places due to erosion and silt . The river gradually widens moving south. It borders Illinois beginning at mile 316, and serves as

3239-562: The city of Vincennes at mile 441. Founded by the French about 1720, Vincennes is the oldest European settlement in Indiana, and among the oldest in the American Midwest . The city is sited on a strategic bend in the river that allowed it to control river traffic. Four miles west, as the river turns southward, another major tributary, the Embarras River joins. Past Vincennes, the Wabash is joined by its largest tributary,

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3318-566: The city of Chillicothe sold the majority, about 30 miles (48 km), of the railroad to Seattle-based Montoff Transportation, LLC for $ 976,000. The part of the railroad that was sold had been embargoed since 2004. The city still owns the railroad to the city's industrial park and to a location just east of Chillicothe, where future development is planned. Today, the part of the railroad south of Norville has been abandoned and dismantled. On January 29, 2008, The Chillicothe City Press reported that

3397-632: The clarity of the river in Huntington County, Indiana , where the river bottom is limestone . As the Laurentide Ice Sheet began to retreat from present-day Northern Indiana and Northwest Ohio between 14,000 and 15,000 years ago, it receded into three distinct lobes. The eastern or Erie Lobe sat atop and behind the Fort Wayne Moraine . Meltwater from the glacier fed into two ice-marginal streams, which became

3476-535: The control was for investment only and did not violate the act. The Wabash Railway again entered receivership on December 1, 1931. The Wabash Railroad, controlled by the PRR, was organized in July 1941 and bought the Wabash Railway on December 1. In fall of 1960, the PRR agreed to a lease of the Wabash by the Norfolk and Western Railway . The PRR's Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad assumed control of

3555-401: The dam and levee at the town of Markle . The lock that was formerly at the site is abandoned and a narrow washout is the only means to bypass the dam. In the rocky washout the river level drops four feet, making it one of the most dangerous points on the river. Boaters are advised to exit the river and reembark on the other side of the dam rather than traverse the washout. At mile eighty-nine,

3634-631: The deteriorated decks, which were sufficient for light duty use such as a trail, were being left. The Moberly-to-Des Moines line consisted of the 15th & 16th Districts of the Moberly Division, with the dividing point between the two districts being Moulton , Iowa. The line had a good traffic base up until the early 1970s, when traffic began to fall off precipitously. Freight traffic included coal mined in Iowa (prior to 1960), agricultural goods, farm machinery, and paper products. A change of personnel in customer service at Des Moines brought about

3713-408: The distant past the St. Joseph and St. Marys Rivers jumped their banks and flooded the marshy ground of the Fort Wayne Outlet. The discharge of this unusual flood was enough to cut across the outlet and come into contact with the headwaters of the Maumee River. Once this happened, the flood waters rushed to the east into the Maumee River, and their erosive force was enough that the new channel cut across

3792-627: The early 1990s, NS began to look for ways to save on track outlays and maintenance, and a deal was hammered out with the Burlington Northern (BN) to share access to Des Moines over the old Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CBQ) "K Line" which paralleled the Mississippi River from Hannibal, Mo. north to Burlington, Iowa. From there, haulage rights were secured to Des Moines over the BN mainline to Albia, then northward to Des Moines on

3871-412: The final Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway . It was this group of railroads that formed the beginning of the Wabash System with the rename in 1877. Later mergers and reorganizations formed the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway on November 7, 1879, and Wabash Railroad on August 1, 1889. Financier John Whitfield Bunn was one of several capitalists who were instrumental in the consolidation of

3950-408: The large Huntington Dam blocks the river. Built by the Army Corps of Engineers to make a reservoir, the dam creates the J. Edward Roush Lake . The lake is surrounded by park land and recreation areas and is about five miles (8 km) in length and a mile wide at its widest point. The mile-long stretch after the Huntington Dam is rarely navigable. No lock connects the two sections of the river, and

4029-441: The late 19th century, erosion due to farming and runoff made the Wabash impassable to such ships. Dredging could have resolved the problem, but was not undertaken because railroads had become the preferred form of transport. The 200-mile stretch south of Terre Haute includes several inoperable swing bridges . The Wabash River rises 4 miles south of Fort Recovery, Ohio , very near the Darke-Mercer County line about 1.5 miles east of

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4108-403: The line after the merger, abandoned the stretch in 1988. The Bi-State Development Agency purchased the line, which is now operated by MetroLink . MetroLink light rail trains run on the portion from north of the University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL) to Grand Ave, while the north portion is now the Ted Jones Trail, which runs from Florissant Road at UMSL up to Redmond Ave., where the old junction

4187-427: The line, the owner, Green Hills Rural Development, Inc. "sold" the railroad to the City of Chillicothe, MO, (all real estate, rails, tools, rolling stock and locomotives) for $ 32,500. Thereafter, the line was immediately appraised for $ 1.53 million, not including rolling stock or other tools or equipment and inventory of the short line railroad. On December 8, 2006, the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune reported that

4266-421: The longest canals in the world, was built along much of the river. Portions are still accessible in modern times, but most of the abandoned canal no longer exists. Its contribution to transportation was surpassed by construction of competing railroads. The Wabash River between Terre Haute and the Ohio River was navigable by large ships during much of the 19th century, and was a regular stop for steamships. By

4345-414: The middle of the river as the state border. The Wabash was first mapped by French explorers to the Mississippi in the latter half of the 17th century, including the sections now known as the Ohio River . The Wabash is considered a tributary of the Ohio River. Until the mid-18th century, however, the Ohio was considered a tributary of the Wabash. French traders had traveled north and south from Canada to

4424-416: The name until 1949, when the Wabash Railroad actually named its Detroit-St. Louis day train the Cannon Ball . Other rail-to-trail conversions of the Wabash Railroad in the Midwestern region include the Kiwanis Trail in Adrian, Michigan , the Wabash Heritage Trail in West Lafayette, Indiana , and the Wabash Trail in Sangamon County, Illinois . Download coordinates as: The northern section of

4503-400: The old Albia joint trackage. A portion of the line north of Moulton was saved in order to provide access to the national rail system by the Appanoose County Community Railroad (APNC) . The last carded NS train on the Moberly-Des Moines line ran in 1994. The Moberly-to-Moulton segment in Iowa was used extensively in 1993 during the Midwestern Floods of that year, as many observers noted that it

4582-478: The old Wabash Railroad right-of-way have been converted to recreational use , including the Wabash Cannonball Trail in northwest Ohio , the Wabash Trail and Wauponsee Glacial Trail in Illinois and the Wabash Trace Nature Trail in Iowa. http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/Wabash/Wabash%20System%20Map%2010-1907.pdf Wabash Railroad System map 1907 Wabash River The Wabash River / ˈ w ɔː b æ ʃ / ( French : Ouabache )

4661-411: The river again splits into multiple channels, divided by islands. Some of the channels are narrow and rocky, while the larger channels are navigable. Between Logansport and Delphi , at mile 176, is one of the few remaining stretches of the Wabash and Erie canal. It can be accessed at Delphi. Just past Delphi, the Wabash's second major tributary, the Tippecanoe River , joins the river. The confluence of

4740-422: The river and Fort Recovery, the current is swift and the water remains very shallow and follows a poorly defined channel. The shallow depth and low bridge clearances make the section nearly impassable by boat except in the most ideal conditions. At mile seven and mile nine, two tributaries give the river a significant boost in volume, and at mile eleven the river flows past Fort Recovery. Two more tributaries add to

4819-497: The river itself while four US Navy warships are either named for the river or the numerous battles that took place on or near it. The name Wabash is an English transliteration spelling of the French name for the river, Ouabache . French traders had adopted the Miami-Illinois word for the river, waapaahšiiki , meaning 'it shines white', 'pure white', or 'water over white stones', and attempted to spell it according to their own phonetic system. The Miami name expressed

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4898-404: The river's volume between Fort Recovery and Macedon at mile eighteen, making the river navigable for the remainder of its course. The river continues to flow northward passing the community of Wabash at mile twenty-three and then cutting sharply west, crossing into Indiana at mile twenty-eight. Upon entering Indiana, the river has many sharp turns; these regularly lead to log jams that can block

4977-402: The river. Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned night heron , and merlin inhabit the area. Several species of shorebirds build nest on or near the banks of the river. The river is home to many species of fish including species of bass , sunfish , crappie , catfish , carp , and others. Aquatic reptiles including snakes and turtles also occur in the river. A number of amphibians occur throughout

5056-429: The river. Because of the many turns in the river, during the 1830s, the state created several separate canal channels to shorten the journey between the state line and Fort Wayne as part of the Wabash and Erie Canal project. The canals were abandoned after competing railroads took over; this allowed the river to shift courses several times, resulting in the formation of many cut-offs and coves with no outlet. The river has

5135-414: The trail are counted or not. Some sources say the north fork is 43 miles (69 km) (not counting missing sections), others say 45 miles (72 km) (counting the missing sections), and still others 47 miles (76 km) (counting detour mileage). Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad ( reporting mark WAB ) was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served

5214-400: The trail in Lucas County are paved. A 2-mile (3.2 km) section of the trail in Fulton County , owned by the city of Wauseon , also is paved. The remainder of the North Fork in Fulton and Williams counties are unpaved, as is the South Fork in Henry County . Note that distance information about the trail differs slightly from one source to another based on whether missing sections of

5293-429: The trail roughly parallels both the Ohio Turnpike I-80/90 and US Route 20A for about 43 miles (69 km) starting in Maumee , and extending through Monclova , Wauseon , and West Unity , ending at its western trailhead near Montpelier, Ohio . An additional 18-mile (29 km) spur runs from Maumee southwest to near Liberty Center, Ohio. That trailhead has a parking area near Whitehouse, Ohio . All portions of

5372-413: The two rivers is part of Prophetstown State Park , the site of the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe . The flow of the Tippecanoe into the Wabash raises its level dramatically. At this point, most large power boats can easily navigate the river at cruising speed. The river passes the city of Lafayette at mile 210 and gradually begins to end its westward flow, beginning a wide turn to the south. At mile 241, at

5451-405: The water is often very shallow. A second smaller dam at mile ninety-one presents a dangerous hazard, and the section between it and the Huntington Dam has been closed to boaters. At mile ninety-three the river is joined by its first major tributary, the Little River . The city of Huntington developed at the confluence of the two rivers. The tributary dramatically increases the volume of water in

5530-409: The waters of Lake Maumee became deep enough that it breached a " sag " or weak spot in the Fort Wayne Moraine. This caused a catastrophic draining of the lake, which in turn scoured a 1 to 2 mi (1.6 to 3.2 km) wide valley known as the Wabash-Erie Channel or "sluiceway". The Little (Wabash) River flows through this channel. U.S. 24 traverses it between Fort Wayne and Huntington. The valley

5609-481: The western border of Ohio is operated by a shortline railroad. The abandoned section was converted for use as the south fork of the Wabash Cannonball Trail . The Maumee- Montpelier, Ohio , section was abandoned by NS in 1990, and makes up the North fork of the Wabash Cannonball Trail. It is the longest rail trail in Ohio. After the breakup of Conrail in 1998, NS connected the small remaining segment from Maumee to its Chicago Main , allowing it to access Maumee via

5688-418: Was abandoned by NS, for rights on CN (IC). Passenger trains: This line has the highest point on the Wabash at Dumfries, Iowa (1242' above sea level). Most of the line was abandoned by N&W in 1984. The Wabash trackage between Brunswick and Council Bluffs comprised the 18th and 19th Districts, with the dividing point being Stanberry, Missouri . The Iowa Southern Railroad (ISR) took over 61.5 miles of

5767-399: Was chartered in Indiana on August 19 to continue the line west through Wabash into Illinois towards St. Louis, Missouri , and the two companies merged August 4, 1856, to form the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railroad with a total length of 243 miles. The company soon went bankrupt and was sold at foreclosure . The Toledo and Wabash Railroad was chartered October 7, 1858, and acquired

5846-470: Was constructed in 1855. The line out of the Illinois River valley from Griggsville to Baylis had the steepest ruling grade on the Wabash, almost 2%, which required helpers in steam era. After World War II, the line was relocated to ease the grade. In 1955, passenger service was discontinued, and by 1989, the line from Maumee to Liberty Center, Ohio , was abandoned. The portion from Liberty Center to

5925-535: Was located. Norfolk & Western abandoned the track between Lock Springs and Chillicothe in 1983, and salvaged this portion of the line in 1985. Thirty-seven miles of track between Chillicothe and Brunswick was sold to the Green Hills Rural Development, Inc., a Missouri economic development group organized as a non-profit corporation, in 1985. The line was leased, by order of the ICC, to

6004-587: Was one of the few north–south through routes that were "above sea level" during the flooding. Unfortunately, this was not a factor that could have been used to save the line. Today the line's right-of-way has not been preserved, and as of 1997 the line was completely dismantled and is quickly being consumed by other land uses. The Wabash had a fleet of passenger trains, including several streamliners and domeliners: The first passenger trains to be dieselised used EMD E7 locomotives, and later ALCO PAs and EMD E8s . The name of this legendary train became famous with

6083-639: Was sold at foreclosure July 21, 1915, and reorganized October 22 as the Wabash Railway. The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired loose control of the Wabash in 1927 by buying stock through its Pennsylvania Company . In 1929 the Interstate Commerce Commission charged the PRR with violating the Clayton Antitrust Act . The ruling was appealed, and in 1933 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that

6162-676: Was started in the early 1890s, allowing the Wabash to give up trackage rights over the Erie (Chicago and Atlantic). Completed in 1880 from Bement to Chicago, using the Chicago & Western Indiana as a terminal line. The Wabash became a joint owner of the C&;WI along with founder Chicago & Eastern Illinois and other railroads. It comprises the 6th, 7th and 8th Districts of the Decatur Division. Trackage between Manhattan and Gibson City

6241-581: Was the Wabash Railway in January 1877 which was a rename of the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway formed on July 1, 1865. The earliest predecessor of the Wabash System was the Northern Cross Railroad , which was the first railroad built in Illinois. The Toledo and Illinois Railroad was chartered April 20, 1853, in Ohio to build from Toledo on Lake Erie west to the Indiana state line. The Lake Erie, Wabash and St. Louis Railroad

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