Year: 1862

Horse Railroads in Northern Iowa.


Mesers Editors In the summer OF
1860 for the first time Iascended McGregor
hill, bound to the Cedar valley. If my
memory serves me right counted over 15O
dusty teamsters in the first Is miles. l
then thought if would get stock taken for
railroad, I would stand at the foot of
McGregor hill with my stock book No. l,
and in by the side of sundry stones and
broken wagons with Nos. 2 and 8.


In the fall following I secured the services
of Col. Richard Morgan to 60 over the
route with me and made cursory survey,
and estimate for horse railroad, with iron
track and McAdamized road bed. Also to
give me an estimate of cost per mile from
McGregor to Cedar river. Mr.. Morgan has
been known in Chicago and upon the Hud-
son River railroad as one Of the most ex-
perienccd, careful civil engineers, having
acted in such capacity upon the Chicago &
Galena, and as engineer and builder of the
Teolla q oquaka TallToau.


The estimate given me by him was S. 900
per mile, and this included station houses,
one car to the mile, wells, &C., all ready for
the receipt of freight, and this was endorsed
by an offer upon his part to contract and
build the same at these estimates; and |
would here state that in his estimate, no
portion was set apart for the purchase OF
right Of way, as he dare not presume that
there was man upon the route who wo' d
not consider the benefits more than an
equivalent to the damages.


But my object is not to write a narrative -
leave that to Wilkie Collins" and refer
you to his ''women in white" But that l
may answer why have been silent these
IS months. Mr.. Dwight, ct al, have had a
free and open field in which to try their
strength. hoped they would succeed, but
the fact stands before us that we have no
railroad. We would send to your market
one and one half million bushels of old
wheat now in store, and reserve sufficient
seed to SOW so acres where we sowed 4O
last year; but we dare not SOW unless we
can have some better facilities for forward.
ing to market


Our plan for a road is this Upon the
most feasible route from McGregor upon
the dividing ridge to Postville % miles,
thence westward towards the Cedar valley,
with such branches as the community may
require or demand, such demand being also
in the form of paid stock. The road to be
graded same as for any other railroads, six
foot guage with inverted rail of about 20
pound weight (the Dubuque Western r. r.
now run 25 ton locomotive upon a SO
pound raiD to the yard-ties similar to a
steam road but not 50 frequent all
to be McAdamized between the tracks
good station houses to be erected as often
as localities shall dictate, each station to
cover platform scales for the weighing Of
cars and loads. Also provided with good
and commodious office room, dining room,
and kitchen, upen first floor; second floor
for sleeping apartments, &c.


Rolling stock to consist of cars of ca
pacity Of 1875 bushels each, being about 16
feet long, feet inches wide, with wheels
4 feet in diameter, of wood, with three inch
tire made in every way similar to com.
mon wagon wheel with aange. The car
will weigh 1000 pounds, its capacity in
weight four to five tons. Our object in
using large wheel is to make them light
as possible and more practical in every re-
spect. The flangc for guiding wheel is de-
tached from the four wheels by one lever
at option Of driver so that they may be run
upon the common streets when desirable as
loading heavy goods from store, levec, &c.
Our road being six foot guage gives good
and ample room for span of horses abreast.


Capacity of horse drawing car upon
an iron track which is level-car and load
to weigh four and one half tons and horse
walking at a velocity Of three miles per
hour is equal to raising 112 pounds over a
single pulley at the same velocity. Draw
ing the same load at the same velocity up
on an ascending grade Of fifty feet to the
mile would equal the raising of 224 lbs. over
a pulley at the same velocity or equiya.
lent to drawing a buggy which with load
weighs $50 lbs. at velocity of seven and a
half miles per hour upon a McAdamized
or plank road.


Therefore span of horses drawing four
cars upon level iron track carrying 500
bushels Of wheat, Gears and wheat weighing
Is tons), travelling three miles per hour,
would be working against 224 lbs, upon
fifty feet grade same load and same speed
44s lbs. These are not my figures or my
computing. My author is Nicholos Wood,
Of Manchester, England, whom the British
government had in their service for several
years, and whom they gave every facility
desired to ascertain by practical experiment
the relative advantages, if any, of steam
power over the horse, as they had been for
some years running their coal and iron
cars out of Birmingham by the horse and