The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-08-18
WISCONSIN RAILROADS
Nine Lines Across the State to the
mississippi.
$50 ROADS ORGANIZED SINCE 1S47.


Ten New High Schools, Thanks to In
creased appropriation - Taxing 1900
Corporations Under the New Law-Wis-
coDsin seventh in Iron Ore Production
| Growing List of Gubernatorial Candi-
| dates.
Madison, Aug. 15.-The report of
Railroad Commissioner Rice contains
some historical matter that makes it
of more than usual value; in fact, the
| activity of the department at present
| merits praise. There was talk Of a rail-
| road in Wisconsin in territorial days,
but there was much opposition, people
| inclining TO state wagon roads. In
! 1847 a charter was granted to the Mil
| Waukee and Waukesha railroad by a
! majority of one vote. In 1848 the
| charter was amended extending the
line to the Father of Waters" and
| in 1850 ten miles Of road were COM
! pleted. This branch was the begin
ming of the Chicago, Milwaukee and
st. Paul system.
! From 1S47 up to 1860, period of
thirteen years, the mileage was $50;
from 1851 to 1870 were added 06miles;
| from 1871 to 1880 were added 1884
miles; from 1881 to 1890 were added
| 1851 miles; from 1891 to 1899 were
added S31 miles. Since 1S47 more than
| $50 railroads have been organized in
! Wisconsin.
There are in Wisconsin today forty
| six lines of railroads making reports,
embraced in forty-two systems. The
| business of the state is done on the
seven great systems as follows: Chi
! cago, Milwaukee and st. Paul, with
1850 miles; Chicago and Northwest
| ern, 1923 miles; Wisconsin Central
lines, SIT miles; Chicago, st. Paul, Min
neapo,is and Omaha, $40 miles; 500
lines, 271 miles; Green Bay and West
ern, 225 miles; Chicago, Burlington
and Northern, 222 miles; leaving thir-
| ty five small roads with total mileage
of S56.
! Railroads Worth $3OO.OOO,OO0.
| The value of the railroad property
in the state is, about $500, 600, but
the commissioner thinks 1925, 900, 900
would build it, Indeed, the roads cost
no more than that sum.
In 1867 the mileage was about one
seventh of what it is today, and sur
vey of the railroad map at this time is
| interesting. The work of railroad con-
struction had been confined entirely to
| the southern portion of the state. The
most northern point reached was
! Green Bay, on the extreme east OF the
! state and Tomah on the west, less than
| one-fourth the area. From 1S6S-1873,
| the year of Jay Cookies crash resulted
in the building and equipment of 1928
miles of road. The most of this was
extensions in the northern part of the
state, all pointing to the Wisconsin
! lake ports, Ashland and Superior.
The hard times of 1S74-5-6 and z
! caused a halt, and only 1923 miles were
completed From 1873 to 1889, inclu-
! sive, 1855 miles were added, an aver
age of $40 miles per year. From 1889
| to the present time mileage has been
| added at the rate of from seventy
| five to 200 miles each year, and today
Wisconsin has in all 1000 miles of
main line railroads, and one may start
from Lake Michigan and reach the Mis-
sissippi river by going over any one of
| the nine routes across the state from
east to west. One wishing to go north
may choose from any of the eight
routes.
| Wisconsin Seventh in Ores.
What a richly endowed land this
old Wisconsin Of ours is No hogs
and corn" to the exclusion of all else:
| no eternal rolling prairie to weary the
eye; no tedious, endless mountain
! country: no allmanufacture, nor all
| farming, nor all-mining, but glori
! Gus diversity. Some part of almost
| every industry is ours. All sorts of
| things to do and to enjoy. The sum-
mer resort state Of a dozen less favored
states; the biggest bodies Of fresh wa
ter on earth ripping against our
! coasts; the Father of Waters" trick
! ling down one side; gridiron Of other
rivers fertilizing the vast tract, the
whole fiecked with lakes that delight
| thousands, feed great numbers and
! give rise to a large output of bad poet
| ry.
! Grand old Wisconsin! No strike in
, one industry or depression in another
| can affect more then part of the
! people. The grasshOppers or the San
( Jose scale may distress a few coun-
ties, but the factories of our LoWells
| and Manchesters-Mi Milwaukee, Racine,
Beloit-run merrily on. If hard times
affect these, thousands of men may find
work in her forests Cattle are on her
thousand hillsides, and now the feder-
al geological survey reports that Wis
consin stands seventh in output of
ores, almost as much as Virginia and
Tennessee, and yielding 5O9,645 tons,
against IT'S, 082 tons in Pennsylvania.
What western state can compare to
! Wisconsin in resources, in people, in
homes! Happy they who possess this
] paradise.
Punishment at Waupun.
The new trained warden at Waupun,
Mr.. McLaughrey has introduced some
innovations, among them the ''string
ms up Of obstreperous cOnyicts. He
| says that the punishments in vogue at
the prison are SO mild as to be value
less. His plan of giving every pris-
oner a hearing before he is punished
cannot but meet with general approval.
My reading indicates that the tor
! ture methods of punishments are go
ing by the boards in advanced pencil
ogy, a substitution being self-acting