As it turned out, Gilman went to Madison with 
hotelier William Greenwood, storekeeper John B. 
Hill and Arkdale's John Sullivan. They reported 
that the North Western would not correct its 
deviation from the 1893 survey and bring its main 
line to Friendship. However, "Vice-President 
Gardner...on the stand before the commission 
promised that the company would run a spur from 
the line a mile south of town into the village limits 
anywhere that a committee of citizens might 
designate." He also promised to build a siding in 
Strong's Prairie, "not over three miles from the 
village of Arkdale." 
Construction contracts totalling $10 million 
were signed in February since "building activities 
will commence with a rush with the opening of 
spring." In the Adams County Press, Harry Pierce 
declared that, "the appearance of the village will be 
materially changed...much more will be done than 
is now thought of...a boom will strike the town 
unprecedented in its history." 
The long-awaited boom was about to begin. 
However, before recounting the story of the 
railroad's arrival and the birth of the 
city of Adams, attention should be 
paid to the first question of Adams 
County history. 
Why did the railroad not come to 
Friendship? As every newcomer is 
told, the railroad did not build to 
Friendship because "speculators" in 
and near the village demanded too 
high a price for their property. Friend- 
ship attorney John Purves and the 
village's leading merchants, John 
Gunning, John Hill and his brother 
Albert Hill, have been singled out for 
blame. 
Sons of the first storekeeper in 
Friendship and proprietors of the 
largest general store in the county, 
John and Albert Hill did own acreage 
on the old North Western survey. 
Attorney Purves had worked as local 
spokesman for several other railroads 
and would sign on to purchase right- 
of-way for the North Western. John 
Gunning owned land on the old survey     , 
 
Street where the "Princeton" line wanted to locate 
its depot in 1901. So, if raising the price of land 
could keep the railroad out of Friendship, Hill, 
Purves and Gunning were well-positioned to do it. 
On its part, the railroad was not managed by 
choir boys. It paid no more than necessary for right 
of way. For example, David and Emma McChesney 
were paid $90 and "the location of a station" for 
the 300 foot wide strip of property that became the 
heart of Grand Marsh. Chris Holm did better. He 
got $90 for a 200-foot strip where the Holmsville 
siding was built. Edwin and Mary Huber were 
more accommodating. They sold the 300 foot strip 
that became Brooks for, "$1 plus location of a 
station on the land." 
So maybe Hill and Gunning merely tried to 
strike a better-- but not exorbitant--deal for 
themselves than the country folk did, and what they 
asked was still too much for the railroad. 
Maybe price had nothing to do with the sale of 
land to the railroad. In 1907, Gunning had built the 
largest and arguably the finest house in Friendship 
on the old survey at the end of Belfast Street. 
 
The store of 
John and Albert 
Hill in Friend- 
ship, about 
1910. The Hill 
Brothers were 
suspected as two 
of the landown- 
ers who at- 
tempted to gouge 
the railroad on 
land sales, so the 
C & NW steered 
away from 
Friendship. 
 
as well as the site at the end of Belfast 
 
91