The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1866-11-28
McGREGOR, IOWA, WEDNESDAY, NOV. %, 1856
The II. n. Excursion. 4.

. The II. n. Excursion.
Our notice in last weeks TINES was ne,
essarily brief. We have now before u
the Milwaukee Sentinel of Thursday, COZ
tanning reasonably full report of the E,
cursion.
Howard County is IS miles west of Nj
GREcoR-it has recently been connected b
Rail with the River, CREsco being tn
present terminus-the word is from tn
Latin Creces and means to increase O
grow Let it grow! The managers of tn
McGregor Western, Nv. B. Strong, ESQ
Supt.) thought it would be nice thing t
get up "cotillion" between Howard Co
and the river towns. While the CITY o
McGREcoR through its active business citi
Gems, cheered by the ladies and backed u,
by everybody, resolved to make what tn,
Frenchman called ''von grandc demonstra
tion," and they did it. Some leading r.,
and business men of Milwaukee and othe
points, were invited and attended. Mr.
Chamberlain, the suave and most excellen
reporter Of the Sentinel, gave us the names
of the 30 or 40 gentlemen, but the socia
collision then and there was so pleasan,
that the list of names ran away from u.s.
, Mitchell, Prentiss, Merrill, Spencer, Dutch.
er, Jervis, wilkins and Hubbell were
among the number, Gen. Dousman, from
p. du Chien-well, the company from Wis.
consin, was one Of the most agreeable and
intelligent of the State. Prairie du Chen
and the johnson Railway House was
reached at A. NJ; the Alamakee steam
Ferry boat was boarded-the river was be.
ing crossed and the reporter thus dis.
courseth ....-.- ..
The trip across the Mississippi, among
the many romantic islands which stud the
stream, would have been delightful one,
were it not such a bleak morning and ii
we were not doing up this excursion with
such railroad haste, my pen would linger q
little to describe the many objects of inter.
est on which the eye rests as one stands
upon the hurricane deck of the steamer
and gazes at the historic town Of Prairie
du Chien-interesting both in its past and
in its feature. Among these objects are
the splendid new hotel built by the rail-
way corporation: the elegant residence OF
Col. Hercules Dousman, pioneer of forty
years residence, and now one the halest,
hcartiest and public spiritedest of the citi-
zens the remains of old Fort Crawford,
with its stone barracks still standing, and
the house which General (then Colonel)
Zach. Taylor lived in from 1929 to 1886 !;
where jeff. Davis courted his daughter.
Let me say here, on the authority of Col.
Dousman, who used to know all the par
ties intimately, that Lieut. Davis did not
run a~ay from Ft. Crawford with Miss
Taylor, as is sometimes asserted. He paid
her much attention while there, and solic-
tied her hand in marriage but old Zach,
had already one daughter married in the
army, and looked for civilian for this
ones husband. The young people were
persistent, however; the lady was sent to
Kentucky to get her out of the way ofJeff:
and this plucky young officer and future
head Of the rebel Confederacy followed her
thither and ultimately married her. All
parties were afterwards reconciled, and the
two lived happily, for aught that gossip
says, until the death of the lady, after
which Davis married his present wife. y
So much en- parenthese. -.
NORTH A'GEEGoR.
This station is built up by the railroad.
which finds here its only chance to worm
its way from the great Mississippi back in
to the praried interior of Iowa. 1t is un-
fortunate for McGregor that it, as well as
Prairie du Chen, is divided into two
towns. Thus we have four towns; an Up.
per and u Lower McGregor, and IN Upper
and a Lower Prairie du Chen, whereas,
there ought to be only one town, with a
suburb of elevators, ETC., on the other side
of the stream. The united population of
oil these Upper and Lower towns to-day
reaches near 10000 people, and is bound
to increase and concentrate rapidly in the
next ten years.
North McGregor has an elevator built
by MIR. Lawler, and capable of holding
about 100, 900 bushels of grain. 1t has al.
so considerable number of stores and
cottages slowed under the bluffs like so
many pee-scees' nests under bridge. II
has its churches, and mill or two, impel-
led by the waters of the Bloody Run or
Giard Creek, with good reservoir to back
them. Up this little stream the railroad
holds its tortuous way for fourteen miles
into the open prairie country beyond. In
u dozen of these miles the road climbs a
height of between 600 and 700 feet cuts
through some dozen bluffs of solid lime
stone, circumscribes hundred others, and
crosses poor Bloody Run no less than
t,centy-seren times. Who says there is
nothing interesting about such rides as
this?
THE M'GREGoR WESTERN RAILWAY
Has been in existence, on paper or 9TH
erwise, since 1858, at which time few
miles were graded in tolerably substan-
tial manner and abandoned for lack of
funds. Afterwards one Dwight undertook
to build road and operate it by horses
instead of steam. To this end, assisted by
some capital which he had succeeded in
raising out Of the farmers in the interior he
laid q shallow, unsubstantial road-bed
along the Run, steering clear of all bluffs
and doubling itself up many times. No
wonder the thing got lost in the woods
the remains oft can be traced all along
the present route.
In 1861, the road was surveyed under a
land grant, and work was commenced in
the following year. 1t was now under the
management of Judge Greene & Bro. of
Cedar Falls, active and pcrsevering men.
Under this administration it was complet-
ed to Monona, fourteen miles, in 1868,
where it stopped awhile, the war having
suspended all railroad building operations.
On the lst of April, 1865, the Milwaukee
and Prairie du Chen Railway Company
took lease of the entire stock and inter
est of the road, and it is now progressing
finely under their administration. Their
lease is perpetual one, or practically so,
lasting 999 years. They have finished the
road to C1esco, in Howard county, Is
r;loo from, Mc(,rerOr This town is