Angus, Iowa
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ANGUS, IOWA - A RAILROAD TOWN
Angus, Iowa was a railroad town. Few people today have even heard the name and you will not find it on any map. In 1878 coal was discovered in the area and it immediatley grew into a boom town named " Coal Town" and with over 7000 residents. In 1881 it was renamed "Angus" after Richard Angus of the Manitoba & Gulf railroad fame.
There were nine separate coal companies in Angus with numerous mines over a three mile radius and Angus became the leading coal producing center in the State of Iowa. The Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad owned the Eagle Coal Company and mined coal for their own power needs. Climax Coal Company had three different mines and shipped 80 carloads of coal a day. With that number in mind and considering the fact that there were eight other companies it is easy to see why Angus was such a rail center in it's day.
By 1880 the MSTL Railroad had reached Coal Town ( Angus) by way of Ft. Dodge, Kalo, Otho, Dayton, Odgen, and Berkley and crossed over the Des Moines and Ft. Dodge RR with plans to extend beyond Angus to a connection with the Rock Island at Stuart, Iowa. Grading was done for a considerable distance south of Angus and pilings were driven to construct a bridge over the north fork of the Raccoon River. But this was never done. Angus became the southern terminus of their railroad and they constructed a roundhouse, turn table, depot, storage yards for loads and empties, and a huge coal dock to fuel their own fleet of engines. At that time both the MSTL and the Des Moines & Ft. Dodge RR headquartered their road crews at this location.
On friday July 13, 1894 MSTL engine #13 sparked a fire that burned down the Union Depot but it was quickly rebuilt and in operation later that same fall.
In 1905 a miners strike turned violent and the State of Iowa sent their militia to squelch the uprising. This was done but it caused the demise of the mining industry at that location and both the MSTL and the DMFD closed their facilities except for the depot. In 1936 the MSTL abandoned their line from Ft. Dodge south to Berkley, Iowa and two years later closed the remainder of the line between Berkley and Angus. The agency was closed in 1933. Axel Berglund had been the depot agent there for many years.
During the time that Angus was a booming town the MSTL had aquired operating rights over the line south of Angus to Perry and Des Moines. This particular section of track had many different names through the years. I have an 1896 county map showing that line as the Ft. Dodge Northern and Western RR. It also was known as the Des Moines Valley Lines. Later it became a part of the Rock Island lines and remained Rock Island until the CNW take over in 1960.
During the period 1905 to 1920 the MSTL ran four passenger trains daily through Angus. Two of these I am told ran between St. Paul and Des Moines handling four coaches and a sleeper. When I was a young lad I can only recall one train a day each direction and we refered to it as the DoodleBug.
Up until the time that the CNW abandoned this line there was still a grain elevator at Angus. Even now that the rail is gone the elevator still continues to operate but the town has dwindled to a handfull of houses hemmed in by cornfields.
Larry Whelchel 5/16/2003
As a child going to grade school in Angus, Iowa I can recall watching the MSTL steam engines switch cars just east of the old school house. As I recall back then the main line split at Angus and a branch line ran northeast to a town called Berkley. This would have been about 1937....
If anyone has pictures of the railroad in Angus I would appreciate getting in touch with them. Although the roundhouse, turn tables, depot, and other buildings were gone by then, I understand that Angus was a very large coal mining center in the State of Iowa.
The MSTL also ran a gas powered passenger train several times a day in both directions. I used to ride it from Angus to Perry, Iowa and return for 10 cents. This train also handled the local mail and was met by the local postmaster whenever it went thru town.
Larry Whelchel Railman51@kc.rr.com 5/12/2003
I succeeded Axel Berglund as Agent at Rippey in May of 1955. Angus by that time was a blind siding, and the business there, which was by then just that of the elevator, was administered out of Rippey.
One small correction to Larry's data - it is true that the line from Angus south to Perry and on to West Des Moines was at one time a part of the Rock Island. However, some time around WW 1 it became a part of the M&StL, and was still M&StL when the C&NW took over on Nov. 1, 1960.
Paul Green 7/14/2003
My Great-Great grandfather, George William Benshoof along with his 2nd wife, Emma relocated to Angus from Scott County, Iowa sometime after the Civil War. George died in 1883 and is buried in Angus. Emma died in 1905 and is buried in DesMoines. Two of George's sons, George William the 2nd (my Great-grandfather) and Francis worked in the mines as young men. George the 2nd had enough of mining and moved to South Dakota in 1902. Barton A. Benshoof b.benshoof@att.net
| Former M.& St. L. employees who worked in this town. | ||
| Name | Job Title | Dates worked |
| Sample Name | Section Foreman | 1942-1944 |
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