The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1864-06-22

A week or more ago we had the pleasure
of meeting on the Ferry Mr.. j. II. Hinton,
travelling correspondent of the Milwaukee
Sentinel. He had been over the line of the
McGregor Western and was returning to
Milwaukee; promising us that his next
trip htherward should include McGREGoR
proper, we pardoned him for the apparent
incivility with which our town was treated.
Below is very interesting letter from him
descriptive of this new but important Road
which already is attracting the attention of
Capital Let US gently whisper that the
McGregor Western, in five years, will be
power little dreamed of now. 1t will drain
better country and more of it than the
Almighty has put into any other portion Of
the globe. No one but he who has travel
ed one or two hundred miles west and
northwest knows anything about Northern
Iowa and Southern Minnesota. There are
no sand beds as in Wisconsin to run track
through-the land is all good. The
"Scotchmen" referred to, Alex. McGregor
now deceased) and James McGregor Jr.
(residing here) were born in New York.
But here is the letter:
ut was bold enterprise on the part of
the Scotchmen, who founded the two towns
opposite Prairie du Chen that bear their
names. 1t was q much bolder act to under
take the construction Of railroad through
the rocky gullies from the shore Of the
Mississippi out to the fertile prairies of
Iowa. Two attempts had been made and
the projects given up. On one of these
earlier surveyed routes, several miles were
graded, but the work was abandoned, the
enterprise not being deemed practicable.
After crossing that celebrated river. "the
Father Of waters" for which Dickens re.
turned "thanks that it had no children"
arrived at North McGregor, and stepped
aboard the cars Of the McGregor Western
Railway. after an introduction to the con-
ductor z. H, Sherwin, for several years the
Captain Of the ferry boat, and to whom
am under great obligation for his kindness.
The train soon started, when at once the
character of the labor performed in the build
ing of this road began to show itself. The
road is commenced on rock, quarried or
blasted from the towering hillside, looming
up hundreds Of feet above the track. For
miles the road runs its serpentine course
through the mountain gorges, with scenery
an either hand, above and around it, sur.
passingly fine. Out of the rocky -terraced
and steep hill.sides, covered with rich
| growth Of small trees, now in full foliage,
huge rocks, streaked with deep green moss,
in other places stark and bare, jut out from
amidst the vegetation. At the base of the
hills good growth of fair sized timber,
with small brooks of clear water gurgling
through tho bottoms, in which fish are said
to be abundant, is the kind of rugged land
scape scenery through which the road for
the first few miles struggles hard to reach
the rich prairies beyond. The line is one
Of steep ascent, for at least fifteen miles; in
some parts, it is said, from seventy 10
eighty feet to the mile, and in one or two
| places was told it exceeded that grade
The only possible route for track Law
alongside or through the winding or zigzag
gullies, over and into which, in many places,
the rocky hills projected. These rocks in
one or two places are Of soft stone, but are
mostly of a very hard. flinty character, and
as frequently cuts had to be made through
solid rock of this hard kind-so hard it
could. only with the greatest difficulty, be
dr,lled-and these deep cuts occur at al.
most every mile until the gorges are passed,
some idea may be formed Of the amount of
labor required, and Of the corresponding
expense ofthe work. Many of these cuts
are from thirty to forty, and one, was in.
formed, was upwards Of sixty feet high.
The rock in the last mentioned one is Il
the fiinty kind, with dashes Of brilliant
white quartz, like hyerogliphics in pearl,
and as it was clear day, with bright sun.
shine, the brief reflection Of the SUMS rays
on the sparkling quartz, in the rocky hill
sides, heightened by the other fine scenery
appeared like the entrance to some fairy
land. In distance Of few miles small
stream, called Bloody Rum" is crossed a
least fifteen times, the track, at some points