Eight years before the last stage pulled out of Atchison the agitation for a railroad began. The first charter provided for the construction of a railroad from Atchison to St. Joseph. As appeared in an earlier chapter, the city council of Atchison at its first meeting called an election March 15, 1858, to vote on a proposition to subscribe for $100,000 in stock. The election was held in the store of the Burnes Brothers, and S. H. Petefish, Charles E. Woolfolk and Dr. C. A. Logan were judges of election. The proposition carried almost unanimously, and, in addition to the stock subscribed for by the city, the citizens of the town subscribed for $100,000 in stock individually. The following May the contract for the construction of the road was awarded to Butcher, Auld & Dean at $3,700 per mile. There were fourteen other bidders. The members of the firm which made the successful bid were: Ephraim Butcher, David Auld, James Auld and William Dean. Work of construction was started May 12, 1858, but was not finished until February 22, 1860. The completion of this road to Atchison was of very far reaching importance. The town was wild with excitement, for the new railroad gave the town its first direct rail connection with the east. Its terminus at Winthrop (East Atchison) was the first western point east of the Rocky mountains reached by a railroad at that time in the United States, save one. The first railroad built between the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers was the Hannibal & St. Joseph, which was completed to St. Joseph February 23, 1859, and the new railroad from Atchison connected with the Hannibal & St. Joseph at the latter point.