NaWiPoMo: Indiana Northern Railroad

The Indiana Northern Railroad was a railroad line established in the Confederation of Indiana before or during the Rocky Mountain War.

Patrick Gallivan became president of the Indiana Northern in 1861. Gallivan was an Irish immigrant who came to the Confederation of North America soon after the war, and found work in Michigan City as a yardman at the railroad. Gallivan proved to have a talent for and interest in railroads, as well as a fine native intelligence. These, along with a good deal of luck, allowed him to rise quickly at the railroad.

With the help of two lawyers, Martin Kelsony and Abraham Lincoln, Gallivan was able to extend the Indiana Northern into Manitoba to the northwest, and to Southern Vandalia after that confederation was created in 1877. The Indiana Northern was the first North American railroad to join with the Mexican lines when the Southern Vandalia line was extended south to join with the Jefferson & California Railroad. By the end of his life, Gallivan was as much the king of the C.N.A.'s western railroads as Thomas Scott and Andrew Carnegie were in the east.