The "Lime Special" train of 1928 was a response to the growing concern that Kansas soil was becoming increasingly sour - the college's agricultural experts urged the addition of limestone to the soil as restorative. Indeed, more than seventy-five percent of the soil in the Kansas growing area was found to be acidic to a significant degree. Those knowledgeable about soil demonstrated that over the past fifty years soil deterioration had caused the per-acre yield of crops in eastern Kansas to drop between thirty and fifty percent. The Santa Fe realized that not only would the railroad benefit by improved productivity from better soil, it would also gain by hauling all that limestone. It was decided to avoid the Fourth of July and start the train's run on July 9. Since the run was scheduled for nineteen days, this would still be well ahead of wheat meetings scheduled in early August in both Kansas and Missouri.
The "Lime Special," under the supervision of E. B. Wells, KSAC associate professor in soils, proved to be a great success, partly because Frank Jarrell had been given an assistant, Charles Lane. This public relations team, the first of its kind for the Santa Fe, corresponded frequently as they went about the state setting up the advanced publicity. They planned for the "Lime Special" to visit some fifty-eight towns in eastern Kansas. Agricultural commissioner George W. Catts made a point of communicating his enthusiasm for the project to an official of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He pointed out to Gov. W. J. Bailey that the importance of maintaining soil fertility would be emphasized, as well as the importance of growing alfalfa, sweet clover, soybeans, and other leguminous crops.(50)
Catts proclaimed, "the train will be equipped with a loudspeaker which makes it possible for lectures to be heard at a great distance from the train. The train is being well advertised and with favorable weather conditions there should be large crowds and much interest.(51) The specific involvement of the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce as a cooperating agency in putting on the train was a reflection of spontaneous support given previous trains by local chambers of commerce. At each stop it was planned that the program would start with a general agricultural talk by some recognized authority (not necessarily from the college), such as W. J. Bailey.
Organizing the "Lime Special" was not without incident. Arkansas City, upon learning that it was not on the itinerary, enlisted the help of the Cowley County Farm Bureau as well as the Winfield Chamber of Commerce in its effort to be added to the schedule. The Arkansas City boosters were told the town would be on the itinerary for the next two demonstration trains scheduled to run as part of the five-year program - an alfalfa special in 1929 and a dairy special in 1930. Dissatisfied with this response, a special committee was formed to press the town's case with the Santa Fe; committee members threatened to come to Topeka if a favorable reply was not forthcoming. Finally, newspaper publisher Oscar Stauffer intervened, persuading Arkansas City proponents to wait for the next train since there was not enough time for a meaningful stop even if the town was added to the schedule.
Final statistic for the "Lime Special" demonstrate its success - in spite of being a strictly scientific train (meaning no Wheat Queen razzle-dazzle). Actually, it did have an attractive young lady on board, Marie Antrim from the town of Spivey in Kingman County. She was the 4-H "girl health champion" of the nation. She certainly did not hurt the attendance figures: 97,099 for the fifty-seven stops in twenty-six counties, an average of 1,707 per stop. This time, perhaps because of its more scientific approach, the train drew fewer townspeople and attracted many more farmers. This greatly pleased the faculty, for they were sure that "a group of farmers in every locality visited [would] . put the soil improvement program advocated into effect at once .(52)
Jarrel and Lane saw to it that the Santa Fe freight traffic department was advised of the newly created demand for agricultural limestone in the territory traversed by the "Lime Special". (53) The Portland Cement Association had been heavily involved in promoting the train, with an obvious eye to shipping limestone to farmers. In recognition of this support, the Santa Fe authorized its agents to grant temporary leases for storage of limestone on the railroad's right-of-way. Advertisements placed in eighty-six newspapers urging readers to "build prosperity on a lime foundation" were reinforced by editors such as William Allen White, who wrote Jarrell "whatever you want for your soil building train the gazette will give you. Shoot it along.(54)
In August of 1927 Jarrell received clearance from F. B. Houghhton with Santa Fe in Chicago to reaffirm to Dean Umberger the railroad's continued support of the five-year program. Santa Fe promised to operate a demonstration train each year for the next three years. There is no documentation in the records that they did so, but it is more than likely that they honored their commitment. Local newspaper records for the period would no doubt verify this reasonable presumption.
This article was originally published in Volume 10 Spring 1987 Number 1 Kansas History. It is republished here with the permission of Constance Libbey Menninger and the Kansas State Historical Society. You may visit the Kansas State Historical Society for more information about Kansas History Transcribed in altered form for the web by Russell Crump.
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