William Crooks (locomotive)

The ''William Crooks'' is a 4-4-0 steam locomotive that was the first locomotive to operate in the State of Minnesota, beginning in 1861. It was named after William Crooks, the Chief Mechanical Engineer for the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. He served as a colonel and commander of the 6th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Crooks laid the initial track between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the ''William Crooks'' was the first locomotive to run on the line.

History

1861–1900

Constructed in 1861 for the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad as their number 1,Keyes & Middleton (1980). p.40 The ''William Crooks'' first provided service a year later, in 1862, for the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (into which the M&P had been reorganized). After completion, the locomotive traveled by rail to La Crosse, Wisconsin, then the nearest rail point to St. Paul. From there, it was loaded onto a Mississippi River barge bound for St. Paul. Though it arrived in St. Paul on September 9, 1861, it was not until June 28, 1862, that the passenger equipment arrived and of track could be laid. The ''William Crooks'' carried its first train load of passengers on the same day. The trip began at 2:30 PM from St. Paul with the train and its passengers returning from their trip to St. Anthony (now Minneapolis) at 6 PM.(PDF) Though the governor of Minnesota, the founder of the railroad, and other dignitaries were the train's first passengers, the train moved into regular service four days later.

The locomotive was originally a wood-burner with a tender that held just two cords of wood. Often the tender's wood was used before the train could reach a wood pile, forcing the crew to make use of the wooden right-of-way fences to keep the train moving. Later the locomotive was converted into a coal-burner. As built, the engine had a straight boiler (not tapered from a larger diameter at the firebox end to a smaller diameter at the smokebox end), had the balloon stack typical of wood burning engines, and three domes—the center of which was for sanding the rails to improve traction when needed. As the engine aged and parts replaced, the engine's appearance changed. The engine received a diamond stack for burning coal, its boiler replaced with a tapered design, and was reduced to a two dome configuration.

In 1868, a fire partially destroyed the ''William Crooks''. Albion B. Smith was tasked with restoring the locomotive and became the locomotive's engineer once it returned to service. He became a personal friend to James J. Hill through his works and service with the ''William Crooks''. The old locomotive had served almost 50 years and had eventually been assigned to runs in Montana and Washington. The ''William Crooks'' was in passenger service until September 30, 1897, after which it was retired, and by the turn of the century was sitting decommissioned in a corner of the Great Northern yard in St. Paul. The locomotive was restored to operation for Hill's 70th birthday in 1908, as he had insisted when informed of its condition. Smith, who worked a regular schedule for the Great Northern Railway, would be reassigned to duty with the ''William Crooks'' for special events such as this and, later, the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition. After he received word that the ''William Crooks'' was to be scrapped, it was Smith who spoke to Hill about it, with Hill declaring, "Not as long as I live". After Hill's death in 1916, the Great Northern continued to exhibit the train at special events. The railroad gave the engine a balloon stack similar in appearance to its original, but internally designed to be suitable for coal as well as wood.

1900–present

In 1924, the locomotive went on an exhibition tour from Chicago to Seattle. For this event, the railroad rebuilt the engine to further resemble its original form, restoring it to the original three-dome configuration, though it retained the tapered boiler. The ''William Crooks'' was displayed at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's "Fair of the Iron Horse" in 1927, then at the 1939 New York World's Fair, and finally at the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948 as part of the "Wheels A-Rolling" pageant, traveling to and from all three events under its own power. Though the locomotive had been converted from burning wood to burning coal as fuel, its headlight remained lit by kerosene; this restricted the ''William Crooks travel to daylight hours only.

On the way to the 1939 World's Fair, the locomotive made a stop in Paterson, New Jersey

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