Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1897-09-11
A TOWN WITH PLUCK.
REFUSED 70 DIE WHEN A RAILROAD
PASSED 1T BY.

PASSED 1T BY.
In Spite of Disadvantages 1t Grew and
Prospered-Triumphed Over Ats Rival.
Hard Fight For. a Road-Reward of
Perseverance,.
The village of Cambridge, Dane
/ county, Wis, is a paradox. When the
Northwestern railroad built its line
from Milwaukee to Madison, II Or 1S
years ago, passing three miles to the
north of the old stagecoach village of
Cambridge, in the natural order Of
things the place ought to have dried up
and died, but it did nothing of the kind.
The new village of London on the rail
road has never grown beyond the dozen
houses erected in the first few years of
its existence, has never become any
thing more than port of entry for
Cambridge. Elevators and warehouses
it has in plenty, almost as many as it
has dwelling houses, but the merchants,
the grain and stock dealers who use
these warehouses, live 81 miles away
everything that is distributed in the
surrounding region is first hauled over
land to Cambridge, and almost every
thing that is exported is collected or
paid for i'll Cambridge.
Everywhere else along this branch of
the Chicago and Northwestern are to be
found new towns on the railroad, with
little dead and dying towns a few miles
away, in most instances the new towns
having taken not only the prosperity
but the very names of the old towns,
which have humbly chosen new appel
lations, but undaunted cambridge has
retained its name unchanged and in
creased its prosperity in spite Of the
railroad. From little village it has
become a prosperous town, tobacco,
stock and grain exporting center,
milling and wagon making town and
summer resort. New houses, new blocks
are going up all the time despite the
passage of the Northwestern three miles
to the north, despite the inactivity and
temporary failure of the Cambridge
railroad.
Although the town early proved its
ability to live, and not only to live, but
to grow, in the face of adversely, the
citizens long ago determined that they
must have railroah communication
with the outside world. The Cambridge
railroad became and has been for years
the principal topic of conversation with
the townspeople. Something like ten
/ years ago citizens meetings to discuss
ways and means first began to be held,
and they have been held at regular in
tervals ever since. The spirit was will
ing ten years ago, but the money was
not forthcoming. With each succeeding
year prospects grew brighter as the as
sessable population of the town in
creased, and at last the first y miles
of the Chicago and Lake Superior Air
| line was an accomplished fact The 81
miles of the Cambridge railway were to
| he the beginning of Il road destined to
rival the Wisconsin divisions of the
! Chicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul and
the Chicago and Northwestern.
The road was to go from Cambridge
| to Fort Atkinson, which has insufficient
! railway connections, thence to Lake
| Geneva, some 40 miles in all This was
to content the company at first, but sub
sequently it was the intention to push
/ on to Chicago in one direction and to
| Ashland in the other Surrounding
towns were ready with bonuses, the old
/ surveys and the old embankments of the
( air line were to be used, and every thing
! looked promising when it transpired
that the construction company owed
its employees unpaid wages. The back
/ ing from some outside road had failed
to materialize. All idea of pushing the
road beyond Cambridge was abandoned,
and a suit for wages was begun. The
! company represented no money, and
! when the suit was on it was seen that
| there was no money to be had.
i The creditors, representing practi-
cally the whole town of Cambridge,
! took the road in the winter of 1896.
/ One train had been run over it. A mass
| of weeds and brush now hid it from the
/ eye. Rains had quilted the embank-
ments. 1t was sold for So, 500 to a fam
| lily OF capitalists, represented by
! father and several SONS, controlling
banks, mills and other enterprises in
! three OF four towns of the county. The
| purchase price was less than the cost of
the right of way less than the cost of
the depot grounds in the town, to say
nothing of the cost of construction, but
the citizens knew the new owners would
run the road, and that was what they
wanted. A dummy has been purchased,
and the Cambridge railroad will be
/ opened to traffic some time this sum-
mer. More than this, the old air line
has been reincorporated by number of
/ men who really stand for abundant
capital, and there is a good prospect
that the road will be completed to Lake
/ Geneva, tapping the heart of Wiscon-
sins tobacco region, passing through
dozen rich townships now well off the
railroad.
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The Proposal of the Future.