Rail travel from Dakota Territory to El Paso, Texas c. 1880's
My great-great grandfather Ludwig Josef "Louis" Stoltz was born in Delano, Wright County, Minnesota in 1866. A family story tells the story of him suddenly leaving the family homestead in the Dakota Territory at the age of 16 and striking out on his own. The last record of him in either North Dakota (near Casselton, Cass County) or St. Paul, Minnesota was in 1880.
The next known record of Louis was his marriage to Apolonia Lujan in 1895 in El Paso, Texas.
What railroad route, why and when did Louis most likely move to El Paso? he had no family there and his roots and connections were in St. Paul.
I know the Southern Pacific was the first railroad to arrive in El Paso in 1881. And ideas as to how he got from either Casselton or St. Paul to El Paso?
—Eric Stoltz, Los Angeles
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 9:15 AM
3 Comments:
To get an idea of possible rail routes that had been completed, see this 1883 railroad map, and then you can check the 1910 Official Rail Guide for further information about each portion of the route.
From: "Eric Stoltz" eric@ericstoltz.com
Thanks! Wow, that would have taken quite a bit of planning on his part even to figure out how to get to El Paso from St. Paul, so it was not likely a whim. He must have read something about it.
—Eric
If you want more date specific information, you can obtain from Tap Lines the 1881 version of the Official Rail Guide.
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