Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-02-26
ONE MEANS of oHEAPENIEG TRANS
P0RTATI0N.


P0RTATI0N.
What Judge wiIiiam.' Narrow Gsuge Railroad
mas dune Tor tt-eIf and It's section.
As the great question of cheap trans
portatIon is one Of general and vita
concern to everybody, our readers
will doubtless be interested in a re
sumo OF the history and success of the
Iowa Eastern railroad better known
from its energetic and indomitable
founder, as Judge Williams Narrow
Gauge Railroad" which we condense
from communication in the Chicago
Tribune of the 23d inst. An addi
tlonal and unusual interest attaches
thereto from the fact that this is the
first narrow gauge road ever con
structed in this region. The road is
Of three feet gauge and is now finish
ed from Beulah, ten miles west of
McGregor, an Iowa Division of the
Milwaukee and st. Paul railroads
sixteen miles III south westerly iii
rection, TO within II miles of Elkader
The road was constructed under many
difficulties, financially SO that WREN
Judge Villa rs commenced operating
and vet unfinished road, his rolling
stock consisted of two locomotives,
two passenger cars two ba gage cars
aLdiwenty five platform (coustructlon)
cars-but no station buIIllng, engine
house, water tank, turn table, nor
money. The station at Beulah was
one of the baggage cars; the station
at the south end Of the road was a
cloth t mt. Carpenters were engaged
TO put box tops onto the platform cars,
thus transforming them into passable
box cars. Maj. w. D. Crooke, a very
efficient aud re liable man, was made
Superintendent of the road. In the
face of the greatest difficulties, the
road was Ike in operation during the
winter Of 1872 IS, all the freight at
Beulah having to be transhipped by
hand, without facilities of any kind
all the grain having TO be handled in
sacks. In December, 1872, 100 mar
row gauge car loads Of freight were
deli. cred by the mario gauge to the
Milwaukee Road. The Milwaukee &
ST. Paul Road made very liberal ar.
rangement with the little road for a
tair share of the profits Of tranSporta.
ton on freight delivered BY the narrow
gauge ''teeder." During 1873, the
road was extended one mile toward
Elkader; station building and grain
Warehouse were built at the terminus;
a water tank, turn table, and side
track put in; and station buildings
"rected at st. Olaf, Farmer>burg,
Bismarck, and Froelich The Nil
waukee Road built commod ous
station house at Beuah, and also am
pie side tracks; and the "Iowa East
trn" put in at that point an engine
house, turn table, and side tracks; the
track "f the narr.,w.gauge road was
elevated above the other road for pur-
poses of traaAh.yMent 40 Mat now
grain is handled III bulk, being spoutpd
from the narrow gauge into the broad
gauge cars,-from five to eight minu-
tes being the time required to unload
a small car One hundred and fifty
bushels of wheat made a load for a
na'row-gauge car; and two of these
made \ load for the large car, in
December, 1873 I53 broad gauge cars
were loaded from the narrow gauge,
being over three times the amount
Of business done in December, 1872
The faith of Judge Williams in the
narrow gauge, even in its most i'm
pecunious hours, is II tilted by the
tact, that by the close of January,
1871, it will have earned enough to
pay for all improvements so far. The
cost OF the road has been but Little
more than half than that of broad
gauge road over the same route The
sixteen miles now in operation has
cost in cash not far from $4,000
mile. The road is graded and bridges
built to Elk ,der, 4 miles by its line
farther than it is now operated; and
some 10000 ties on hand applicable
to construction further on The iron
used weighs 80 pounds per meal yard,
and is coupled with fishplntc joints
and bolts The iron. during the fifteen
moEths it has been used shows hardly
any wear The engines are light and
do not abrade or crush the track
From eight to twelve toaded cars are
considered load for the present
engines; but with Fairle engines,
weighing II or Is tons, more than
double the load could be hauled. A
move is on foot which promises to
secure the finishing OF the road to
EIkader. The correspondent con.
cludes by remarking: CATER having
seen the working Of roads OF three
feet gauge, have no doubt that a
road of two-feet gauge, which could
be built, say, for SO 900 per mile
wonld be capable of doing the bust
ness Of almost any neighborhood.'