The Fairmount and Veblen Railway (F&V) was a short line railroad which operated in Richland County, North Dakota; Roberts County, South Dakota; and Marshall County, South Dakota.
The railroad was established in 1913 with the help and financial backing of Julius Rosholt, of Minneapolis, MN, and that year constructed trackage from Fairmount, North Dakota southward to the town of Rosholt, then westward to Claire City, and Veblen, South Dakota. The line was extended southward the following year, from Veblen to the South Dakota towns of Roslyn and then eastward to Grenville. A steam locomotive acquired from the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway (“Soo Line”) was used on the railroad.
The first meeting to discuss the possibility of such a line was held Feb. 4, 1913 at Winans Hall in Harmon Township. Construction began in April, 1913, and on Nev. 12, 1913, the first train came through Rosholt. "(Rosholt) proposed that farmers along the right-of-way for the distance of roughly eight to ten miles on each side contribute $200 for each quarter section of land, either owned or farmed. The money was to be in the form of a loan, with the notes secured by a mortgage in the new railroad. By this means, Mr. Rosholt hoped to raise one-half the cost of building the railroad, with himself to furnish the balance." (Orlando Bjork, 1988 Rosholt-Victor History Book)
The town of Rosholt was named for Julius Rosholt, builder of the F&V, in appreciation for his fair dealings.
In 1915 the F&V was acquired by the Soo Line, and its trackage operated as a branch line by that railroad. The portion of the line between Veblen and Grenville was abandoned in 1971, and in 2000 the trackage between Rosholt and Veblen was sold to the newly-formed Sunflour Railroad. Trackage north of Rosholt remains in use in 2006, operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Soo Line's corporate successor.
Famous quotes containing the word railway:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)