A long time ago, I heard someone say: “They’ve been here since there was dirt.” Really? How long has dirt been around? I checked with geologists (people who study rocks, gravel, sand, and dirt) in hopes of getting a good answer. The first answer is easy: “Since ever!” It didn’t take much time for me to realize that the study of geology was way too deep to explain here. I did, however, learn that what we call gravel is “man-made gravel” not the gravel that the Earth makes all by itself. Earth does it by various means: earthquakes, volcanos, droughts, oceans, and winds. What we see in these big holes in the ground is gravel made by mechanically crushing big rocks into little rocks. Smart nerdy brainiacs years ago found that crushed rocks and water can be mixed to make very strong, non-flammable building materials. 

The kind of rock that is nearest the surface in our area is primarily granite and rhyolitic igneous rock that came from volcanic action. Both types are rich in silica which is in almost every kind of rock from boulders to riverbed sand. This makes the rock useable in the construction industry as material to make concrete, bricks, and mortar and cement (invented in 1824) as well as many other applications, even in the food industry. But what about the gravel pits around Chillicothe?

The railroad industry is the primary source of the gravel mining in Chillicothe. The railroads spread across the country like earthworms exposed during plowing. Railroad tracks had to be stable. Gravel was able to provide that stability. Bridge pylons for train trestles had to rest on stable bed rock. When the California Santa Fe and Chicago Railway (CS&C Rwy.) was building their route from near Ft. Madison, Iowa to Chicago, many elevations and water crossings had to be engineered to make their track stable and relatively level. That required huge amounts of fill dirt/rock and concrete for road ballast and trestles.    

Those engineers searched for the most stable terrains and surveyed the lands that suited their needs based upon geological base. Their original planned route was to cross the Illinois near Lacon or Henry, but the bedrock wasn’t at the depth they wanted, but it was at Chillicothe. With that decision made, the CS&C Rwy. came to our area, about three quarters of a mile north of growing Chillicothe. Land purchasing began in 1887 and by late 1888 the first track was in place.

The railroad’s Santa Fe Land Company platted a new village south of the Right of Way (ROW) which was incorporated as the Village of North Chillicothe by 1890. The first gravel pit was opened by CS&C Rwy. in 1889 and was soon supplying gravel products for the railroad. The first pit was on the north side of the railyard directly in line of the extension of Santa Fe Avenue, which was a dead end at the south line of the ROW, as it is today. As some know, the California Santa Fe and Chicago was the Illinois arm of the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe railroad (ATSF RR). 

Watch for Part 2 in next month’s issue of the Hometown Voice.