Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-02-25
THE NARROW GAUGE.
Paul Locke Again Heard From-Ga-
lena Offers Inducements-Two
Projected Routes from the
Lake Westward.
ANOTHER LETTER FROM porosI.
THE sBACK BONE RAILROAD.

hastily written and may he its points,
as well as its chirography, should have
been made palmer. We would like a
railroad from Lancaster through 20
tosi to connect with roads running to
other great centres. But would that
and nothing more snake us happy"
and would it pay? The exciting cause
of our present railroad fever was the
completion of the narrow gauge to
Platteville. The road was finished
and an engine ran into Platteville
few trips. Something happened, trips
are suspended and many employees
put out of work "until spring"
| There is little arm of road over on
the other side of the Mississippi, up
Turkey river, in similar predica-
ment. The Davenport and st. Paul
road has s'branch' from Davenport
to Maquoketa. The other day its on :
ly engine was blocked in snowbank,
five miles from postoffice. The
mail agent took his mails on his back,
walked the five miles with them, and
| then went on a substantial road back
to Davenport. If there were now
little patch of road from Dubuque
to Lancaster, wouldn't its engine also
be in winter quarters? Hence, | would
look for something better. 1t seems
to me that Dubuque is good starting
point and that the back bone of Wis
consin, from atlas to coccyx-from
northern to southern extremities, is a
| line for one of the most successful
railroads yet projected. AT present,
in my estimation, the lumber interest
would be the greatest source of profit,
but it would grow less while greater
feeders would take its place. Very
probably you, Mr.. Editor, have sta
| tistics at hand from which you could
1 estimate the lumber value to such q
railroad project. / have not. Such
observations as were named in my
last are the ground work on which
my estimates are based. / observe
that Chicago has for years been the
greatest lumber mart of the Union,
and that vast proportions of its sales
90 into and across Iowa. | look at
the map and see plainly that lumber
could be taken to these western con-
sumers much quicker and cheaper by
the proposed route than to schooner
it down Lake Michigan to Chicago
and then re-ship westward by rail. /
observe at Clinton, sixty miles below
Dubuque, the largest sawmill in the
United States, in which a half dozen
three foot logs may be ripped into
inch boards in five minutes, and around
it and at other towns, mills that cut
out other untold millions, nearly all of
which go west, and | calculate
that if the facilities were as propose
they should be, the lumber could be
sawed in the pineries and carried to
it's western destination for about what
it costs to take it out of the water and
transport it from these Mississippi
towns. The cost of rafting logs
would be saved There is a railroad
up through Iowa into the lumber dis
tricts of Minnesota, but, although
those districts are west of the Wis.
consin and Michigan pineries, they
are farther from the great fields Of
consumption. The route to the west
are circuitous. Lumber is not brought
by that route to Chicago and to con-
sumers in Wisconsin and Illinois at all.
The extent of the pine regions should
be considered. 1t embraces nearly
all northern Wisconsin and Michigan,
and the road could be so located that
it would all contribute to this road.
On its western boundary are Mime
apols and ST. Anthony, reached by
| the Iowa road referred to above. AS
long ago as 1867 the mills of those
two towns marketed over one hun
dred million feet of boards in the
year. In 1870 Wisconsin had $4,000
persons employed in sawmills; Michi-
gan 10000 Yet nearly all the lum-
Der brought from those regions is
brought down in the log. IF this road
were running through the pineries the
/ log business would nearly be abolish
ed In a year or two Wisconsin
would have five mills where she now
has one.
And what would all this be to Du-
buque? 1t would bring two-thirds of
Wisconsin to that city. Dubuque can
now furnish southern products, and
such importions as may come up the
Mississippi, below Chicago prices.
Pittsburg nails and iron, and St. Lou
is stoves, the best in the world, are
landed there cheaper than at Chicago
Sugar, rice, coffee, can all come there
for less than at Chicago; and isn't
China tea coming over by way of
San Francisco? AS for cotton, wool
en-, and leather goods arn't we going
| to have our own manufactures soon?
| If Wisconsin's north end had been
west and its south end east it would
ere this be betted by two or three
such roads as the one here contemplate
ed, but the day is fast approaching
when there will be as much call for
| north and south roads as there has
been for east and west. Spring pill
grimages from Louisiana to Lake Su-
perior and autumn refugees from the
north to the Gulf will be more the
rage than Cape May baths and Sara
topa drinks. The road from Chicago
to Galena was once said to be the best
paying road in the United States. 1t
strikes me that this Back Bone pro-
iect promises better than that ever
did. PAUL LOCKE.
Potosi, February %.
GALgNA OFFERS A HELPING HAND.