Railroads in Kansas 

After the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act and the 1862 Homestead Act were implemented, early pioneers began to move into Kansas Territory. As westward expansion continued, the need for railroad service connecting from east to west became a need for survival of early towns. Although the Transcontinental Railroad did not connect through Kansas, railroad construction in the state began in 1863. 

By the summer of 1866, the western end of the Kansas Pacific Railroad was approaching Manhattan, and soon the tracks reached the eastern shore of the Big Blue River. The original Manhattan train station was built in 1866, and in 1902, a new and modern station was constructed. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the present Union Pacific depot on the campaign trail. 

Trains were the primary carriers of commerce and mail for over a century, and railway service rapidly developed after the Civil War. The mileage of track laid in Kansas increased from 71 miles in 1865 to 8,763 by 1890. Mail delivery by train began in 1832, and by 1868, mail trains began stopping in Manhattan at the Union Pacific depot to deliver mail to Manhattan residents. In 1917, there were 1,500 U.S. railroads that operated around 254,000 miles. After the Great Depression, strong government regulations, the popularity of automobiles and commercial aviation, and the loss of mail service aided in the decline of railroads. The decline of railroads in Riley County helped aid in the depopulation and decline of smaller communities in the farther regions of the area such as Bala. 

The current Linear Trail bridge over Wildcat Creek was built in the fall of 1905, with the main span of the bridge possibly being completed in 1910. The bridge style, Warren Through Truss, was a common design for railroad bridges throughout the Midwest. 

” The construction force of the Union Pacific road are driving additional piles for the support of the present bridge across Wildcat creek, in order to make it safe while excavations are being made preparatory to laying the foundation of stone piers on each side of the creek, on which will rest the new steel bridge to be put in this fall. The bridge will continue in use during the whole course of this work.” (The Manhattan Republic, October 16, 1896).