St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-03-07

Iowa and her Railways.

No inland State in the Union pos
srsscs better natural commercial ad-
vantagrs than Iowa. The two great
rivers Of the continent wash its east
crn and western shores, add to this
fact the wise and rapidly developing
railroad system Of that State, assist
cd by muniicent land grants, which
system, when completed, will place
every farm at furthcst within twenty
miles of a railroad or navigable river,
and we cannot but admire the wis
dom of its Legislators, and congratu-
late the fortunate possessors of its fer
tile domain Whenever the public
fully appreciates the early and COM
plete development of Iowa by her
railroads, emigration will again swarm
upon her prairies, and sit down on her
rivers sides. The second hegira of
emigration is to be composed of those
who seek to be within sound of the To-
connective whistles as well as the
church bell. Iowa, lying in direct
line of travel and traffic from New
York to the South Pass, has projected
four parallel lines from the Mississippi
to the Missouri, about forty miles
apart. OF these the Burlington and
Missouri River Railroad is the mos,
southern route--termini, Burlington
on the Mississippi, and mouth of the
Platte, on the Missouri. This road i;
completed and running to Ottumwa
sevcnty-iive miles, reaching the Des
Moincs river. 1t has land grant OF
$4,000 acres. No work beyond the
Dcs Moincs has been done the com
pleted line runs through the most pop
ulous part of the State, and the uniin-
ished portion beyond the river stretch
es into one of the best agricultural re-
gions of the country. The Missis'
sippi and Missouri Railroad has for
its tcrmini: on the east, Davenport
and Muscatinc on the west, Council
Bluffs. On the line of this road are
Iowa City and Dcs Moincs, the capital
of the State. The road is completed
and running to Marengo, about one
hundred miles, and will early the en-
suing Spring reach Grinnell, twenty
five miles to the westward, with a
good prospect Of reaching Dcs MoIncs
one year thereafter. Dcs MoIncs is
centrally located, and has popula-
ton of 5000. This road has grant
of 100000 acres, lying chiefly west
of Dcs Moincs. The Iowa and Ne
braska Railroad, from Clinton, on the
Mississippi, to Cedar Rapids a dis
lance of eighty miles, has been in op-
Grafton ncarl v two years. The Cedar
Rapids and Missouri River Railroad,
from Cedar Rapids to Decatur, on the
Missouri River Gan extension of the
Iowa and Ncbraska,) We learn, will
show evidence Of vitality the coming
Spring length $40 miles land
grant, 100000 acres Of the finest
lands in the West. The line crosses
the Iowa river at Marshalltown, the
Des Moncs at Boonsboro, at both
points touching some of the largest
coal beds in the State.
The Dubuque and Sioux City Rail,
road has for It's tcrmni on the east,
Dubuque, and Sioux City, on the Mis-
souri, at the west length, 325 miles ;
land grant, 2,05l goo acres road
completed and running 100 miles TO
Cedar Falls. Principal points on this
road are Independence, Cedar Falls
and Fort Dodge the latter on the
Dcs Moines. and probably, CONNER
cially considered, the most important
inland town in the State, having mex
haustibe coal formations, the largest
gypsum beds in the United States,
abundance Of kaolin and limestone,
and, as far as geological formations
indicate, saline springs may be found
by boring, all Of which must be de-
velopcd by the building Of the Du-
buquc and Sioux City Railroad, and
the road up the valley of the Dcs
Mones. That these roads will eli
deavor to reach Fort Dodge early can
be safely conjectured.