St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1857-05-07
NUMBER "a.

cago, ria Lake Shore Railroad, ana 49,
in the course Of next year, to nave q
connection across Lake Michigan TO
Grand Haven which is directly east OF
Milwaukee Railroad, with the New
York Central and Erie Railroads, ana
with the Grand Canada Trunk Rail-
These routes, for at least nine months
of the year, are the shortest, cheapest
and quickest from the principal East
ern cities and from New England,
through the Grand Trunk Railroad,
through Milwaukee, and over the Mil
waukee and Mississippi Railroad, to
the great Northwest
From the two connections above
mentioned, the Milwaukee and Missis-
sippi Road is to receive an amount OF
through business which will have
scarcely parallel in the West, ana
which, added to our already large To-
cal business (Which up to this time has
been our only business), must fully
establish the position l started with,
that the NJ. and NJ. Railroad would be
the best paying road west of Lake
Michigan.
Mr.. Brodhead, who was their En-
gineer and Superintendent, but has
since been elected President, reports
"At the beginning Of the year just
closed we had only a small amount of
grading done between Madison and
Prairie du Chen, a distance of ninety
miles, and but few materials delivered,
of any kind, for this entire work.
As soon in the spring Of $50 as the
weather and grading would permit,
the track-laying was commenced, and
was continued through the year, until
it was arrested in part by the severity
IF the weather, and in part by the want
of the completion of the last bridge
over the Wisconsin river. We have
therefore during the year graded near
ly the entire distance from Madison to
the Mississippi, and laid seventy-three
miles Of superstructure besides build
ing two bridges across the Wisconsin,
in length equal to $500 feet. We
have also built about one hundred miles
of fence west Of Madison, and about
thirty east, making in all about one
hundred and thirty miles of fencing.
About all the materials used in the
construction Of the road, except the
bridge timber, have been hauled from
Milwaukee, to-wit:
Iron Rail ........... $500 tons,
Chairs and Spikes " 262 d"
Total tonnage. hauled an av- -----------
erage Of $50 miles $500. 1892 tons
sAbout 100000 ties have been haul
ed an average of seventy miles, and
! ,430, 900 feet, board measure, Of FEM
cling, and 81, 900 fence posts, an aver
age of one hundred and twenty miles.
The work of construction, in addi-
ton to the gravelling Of the road bed,
has occupied from two to three trains
the whole season.
We have run no less than two pas
senger and from three to four frei ight
trains each way per day. We have
also had from one to two wood trains
per day, hauling wood to supply the
stations.
Notwithstanding this complication
of passenger, freight, construction and
wood trains, all the while moving in
both directions, along the entire length
of the road, l am enabled to say that
it has been without accident"
Since the publication of this report
the road has been opened to Prairie
du Chen (as already announced in
our paper) and a perfect food of busi-
ness is being poured upon it. To
Northern Iowa the advantages of this
great thoroughfare are incalculable.--
Nor are they to stop here. The march
of Improvement is still onward, and
soon will the snort Of the Iron Horse
wake up the siumpering energies, and
cause to be developed the vast re-
sources Of the Cedar Valley country.
Westward the Of empire takes its way"