Walter knew how to put the harness on the team and hitch the draft horses to the freight wagon. His father Abraham had taught him.
Abraham picked up hauling jobs to supplement his farm income. Walt, and his younger brother Roy, were junior teamsters as the calendar declared it was a new century. The two boys had not reached their teens yet, but Abe and Arilla Richter’s eight sons began to work at an early age on the farm.
Walt and Roy were the oldest of the sons. Uncle Walt worked willingly in his youth on the farm, but he had no intention of becoming a farmer. “After I saw my first train, all I wanted to do was work on the railroad,” he told me.
The C&EI Railroad had built a spur line a short distance east of the farmstead in Oakwood Township where he lived. He remembered well the first time he saw a train. He also recalled walking down the tracks to the trestle bridge that was built to carry trains across the Salt Fork River. He remarked, “Roy and I were all over those bridge timbers when we were boys.”
In 1900, Walt was 11 years old and Vermilion County’s population had more than doubled in the past 30 years. The spur line he was enchanted with opened in 1893 and ran from Rossville to Sidell. It was just a small part of the C&EI holdings in the county; the railroad also had repair shops in Danville.
Danville was becoming quite a city in the first decade of the new century. The Danville Street Railway and Light Company had several miles of electric street car lines in the city. The line was owned by William P. and Joseph. G Cannon.
On July 18, 1900, the Cannon brothers sold their company to William McKinley of Champaign. In 1903, developer McKinley opened a line between Danville and Champaign-Urbana. It followed the P&E rail line.
Industry was also progressing in the county. Frank Butterworth’s Western Brick Company on Danville’s west side was well on its way to becoming the largest brick maker in the world.
The Hegeler Zinc Company was also established during the decade by brothers Julius and Herman Hegeler. It would grow into a major industry and employer in the county. Hegelers were drawn to the county because abundant coal was available and there was excellent rail transportation.
Rail traffic was increasing through Danville in the early 1900s and the passenger stations were busy with travelers. Danville Junction was owned by Hiram Beckwith, a man who had taken the law exam from Abraham Lincoln. The Junction served several railroads. Travelers could dine while at the Junction and relax as they waited between trains. The Wabash leased the Junction from Beckwith, who also owned the adjoining Annex Hotel. He died in 1903.
Coal mining remained a major industry in the county as the 20th century began with Vermilion County leading the state in coal production in 1897 and 1899. More than two million tons were produced annually by thousands of miners. The mine workers had now arrived in the county from numerous foreign nations.
In Oakwood Township, a railroad tower had been built at Bronson where the C&EI crossed the rails of the Peoria and Eastern Railroad (originally the IBW). The brick structure was a popular place for locals to gather and visit with the railroad men working there.
My Uncle Roy recalled he and Uncle Walt spent quite a bit of time with the railroad agents at Bronson. He remembered he was watching the trains and Uncle Walt was watching the men working the telegraph key, learning the trade. Learn it he did, and he went to work as an agent in Bronson in 1908 when he was 19 years old. He and his wife Nellie, and five children would have long careers in railroading.
Roy Richter was left as the senior member of the junior teamsters operating the freight wagon for their father. He recalled his younger twin brothers, one of them my father, threatened to run the freight wagon “over the hill” more than once, but they never did. The freight business died when the boys left home, but the two old draft horses had found a place in the family’s heart and they lived out their lives there on the Salt Fork River.
Uncle Roy was impressed with the new horseless carriages that were beginning to test the dirt roads of the county. He was a born mechanic and welcomed any new invention that came along. He owned the first motorcycle in his community. He remembered the majority of people made fun of the rare autos that invaded the countryside when he was young, but he welcomed them. A German made Benz auto had visited Danville in 1896 and had attracted a large crowd of viewers.
It was during that first decade of the 20th century Uncle Joe Cannon put Danville and Vermilion County on the map for people. He brought what is now the Veterans Administration facility to the city the previous decade. He became Speaker of the House in 1903 and ruled it with an iron hand until the rules were changed in 1910. He became so well-known that letters from across the nation with the simple address “Uncle Joe’s Town” reached Danville. His spacious home on North Vermilion Street in Danville was a popular visiting place for dignitaries. When a suggestion was made he run for vice president, Uncle Joe replied he would rather go back to “hoeing potatoes.”
Cartoons depicted Uncle Joe with running the nation during his career as Speaker. He was beloved by many and referred to as a tyrant by some people. Uncle Joe was an unapologetic conservative who was about to witness great changes in Congress and the nation.