The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1873-08-28
The wisconsin central Railway.
We copy the following with pleasur,

-
We copy the following with pleasure
from an interesting communication II
the Milaoaukee Journal of Commerce
''The train comprised a superfine
CUISINES" car, where Mr.. Reyes, the
Governor and others did their business,
a postal car to which the excursionists
resorted from time to time to admire the
administrative genius of Mr.. Superinten-
dent Harris, dining car, and two pass
enger cars that were only ordinarily su-
perb. There were half dozen smok-
ing cars on this model train. I suppose
[ may as well state here that The Wiscon-
sin Central has now in use fifteen splen-
did engines, all built for the transporta-
ton of the heaviest lumber trains. thir-
teen coaches, finished with a degree of
soidity and elegance that would do credit
to the oldest and richest railroad in the
country, one hundred box cars, and two
hundred flat cars. I noticed that the
passenger cars had the admirable patent
platform and coupling, and that the plat
form cars had series of heavy wrought
iron straps across them, which added
much to their appearance of complete
ness and strength. Mr.. Harris informed
me that he proposed to introduce the air
brake, that GROWING improvement of
railway economy, before the road shall
have experienced it's first accident Mr..
Harris must be a gentleman of wonder
Jul executive power. He has not dnring
the construction and the operation of
135 miles of new road had a single seri-
Gus accident, hardly I believe a car off
the track. His genius is worthy coun-
terpart OF that of Mr.. George Reed,
whose organizing faculty, whose faith and
whose indomitable energy, have made
the Wisconsin Central one of the most
magnificent railway enterprises of the
time, have carried it now very nearly to
successful conclusion, and have over
come obstacles almost unparalleled. He
is doubtless to be regarded as instrument
ally the greatest benefactor within the
domain of this commonwealth. If there
are great rewards to be derived from the
Wisconsin Central Railway-and there
surely ought to BEL hope that Mr..
George Reed will get his share.
People at a distance from the : aatre
of his operations can have no adequate
sense of their proportions or results
The Wisconsin Central has been built
very largely by the capital of Mr.. Gard
ner Colby, of Boston, who is its presi-
ly but superbly. 1t stretches through
an immensely productive region of this
State which has been hitherto almost
unused and unexplored. It has had to
hew its wonderful way through an I'M
broken wilderness of mighty trees, to
provide all things and to carry along its
supplies, to create the traffic along it's
line that is to be, help repay the cost of
the enterprise, to create even the ganglia
OF commerce which usually do not de-
rive Life from railroad enterprises, but
give life to them.
Mr.. ID. b. Phillips, the president of
the Wisconsin Central Construction Co.,
is also entitled to great credit for his eff
hc1ency IN the execution of this great
work. To keep over 1000 men at work
at the best advantage, to compel all OBJ
stacles, to order the forces and to con-
quer the forces that are involved in this
undertaking, shows generalship as fine
as any displayed on the field of battle.
Theirs Is the genius of courage and judg-
ment in the disposition of capital This
is the genius of Gardiner Colby and of
the men associated with him. Their is
genius in the tact and the magnetic in
fuence which George Reed exercises
over men. There's is the executive genius
of Mr.. Harris and Mr.. Phillips. This
IS the combination of the forces that is
to make the untrodden solitudes of Wis
consin soon blossom, not exactly as the
rose, but with saw mills, with factories,
with furnaces and mining settlements,
with homesteads and farms, villages and
towns.
1t is not easy within the limits of an
article to do justice to the subject in
hand. We are constrained, however, to
afford the builders of this road our GER
tifcate that they have built three sec
lions above Stevens Point and that they
have builded better than we knew and
better than many citizens of the State
have conceived. The plain facts are
these: The road is finished to Chippe-
wa county, a distance of 134 miles from
Menasha, and n miles from Stevens
Point, the land grant portion of the line.
1t is also building from Ashland south
ward, and is advancing in either direction
at the rate of about mile day. By
the close of the year, it is expected, that
a gap of not more than 40 INLET will re-
main between the two ends of the line.
The road, as [ have said, is well built
1T has ties of II inches more than the
standard length and one third more of
the fsh-plate with an improved contriY-
ance to keep the nut-heads from iolting
off. Its rails are very heavy and of a
lea ling American manufacture. At the
northern end there are some expensive
iron bridges, one of which is 100 feet
high and 1,500 feet long, another 10
feet high and 900 feet long. Its equip
ment in every respect is ample and every
thing has been made expressly for this
company and in the most thorough man
her. The road already derives large
trade In supplying Portage county with
merchandise and in bringing away lum-
Der. Messrs. Spaulding & Van Husen
have erected on the Big Eau Plaine river,
fortysix miles ftom Stevens Point, a
saw mill that is one of the wonders of
the age. A village hasalready sprung
up around it. It will soon be ready
to ship 20 car loads day. All
along the line Of this road, popula-
ton is moving in. The soil abounds in
all the hard woods as well as pine, as far
as l25 miles above Stevens Point, and
when cleared will make excellent farms.
When the line shall have reached the
Penoka iron range, the furnaces, present
and prospective, of Milwaukee will doubt
less afford it much business. The Wis
consin Central has independent commu-
nication with Milwaukee by 80 years
lease of the Manitowoc, Sheboygan &
Lake Shore road. 1t has somewhat di-
recter communication by the Milwaukee
& Northern.
SEVENTY miles of the Wisconsin Cen.
trail R'y. north of Stevens Point are
completed. The trains run from Menasha
to the end of the track, $50 miles.