A pair of SD40-2s (BN 7882 and 7819) and a C30-7 (BN 5052) – typical coal train power at the time - lead a loaded coal train through the Sandhills of Nebraska. About fifteen miles (24 km) east of Alliance, Antioch was a small town that saw a huge boom in the latter part of the 20th Century’s second decade.
Before the US became involved in World War I, the town of Antioch had only one schoolhouse, a church, and a store. In 1917, scientists introduced a method of distilling potash from the water of alkali lakes which dotted the Sandhills. This allowed the US to create its own potash rather than purchase it from the increasingly hostile Germany. German potash had sold for around $8 to $10 per ton, but scarcity during the war drove the price of potash to $150 a ton.
Antioch's proximity to several major alkali lakes made it the logical home of five potash reduction factories, which became major suppliers of potash during World War I. With the factories came work and, by spring of 1918, Antioch had grown into a small city with a population of over 5,000 people. The potash from Antioch was used during the war in the production of fertilizer, Epsom Salts, soda, and other products.
When Germany and France resumed trade with the United States in 1921, the domestic potash trade was decimated. German and French potash was cheaper to produce than Nebraska potash and thus destroyed the market for American-made potash, causing the factories to immediately close and be scrapped. With only the foundations of the factories and of some of the larger houses remaining, Antioch became a ghost town. By the time this eastbound coal train passed by, Antioch had only a handful of houses, fewer than 25 residents … and a trash dump. And a constant parade of coal trains passing by all day. (Antioch, Nebraska – July 8, 1995)
