Door County, Wisconsin - Chapter 21: The Railroad and Telegraph, 1917

On December 30, 1869, the first meeting was held in Sturgeon Bay for the purpose of seeking an outlet by a railroad. A form of a charter was presented and approved. The following were named as incorporators from Door County: A. W. Lawrence, John McKinney, D. A. Reed, Geo. Pinney, John Garland, H. Harris, W. K. Dresser, R. M. Wright, C. L. Harris, G. W. Allen and L. D. Ramsay. A bill to incorporate this company, known as the Sturgeon Bay and Fond du Lac Railway Company, was introduced by Col. C. L. Harris in the assembly, January 19, 1870. Upon the passage of this bill, D. H. Rice and G. W. Allen were appointed commissioners to solicit subscriptions. They started in a buckboard to visit the men of Clay Banks April 19, 1870. As practically the only men in Clay Banks at that time were the timber operators who owned their own piers and vessels and therefore did not need a railway and as it was not intended to have the railway go within ten miles of their places of business the subscription commissioners did not obtain enough to pay for the feed of the horse on the journey. This poor beginning threw such a damper on the project that it was buried and forgotten by common consent.

'Two years later Hon. Joseph Harris, Sr., began to work for a telegraph line. He appealed to the business men of Sturgeon Bay and was able to secure $800 by August 15, 1872. This was sufficient and the telegraph was extended to Sturgeon Bay from 'Two Rivers.

On May 31, 1881, a Mr. D. M. Kelly, who was the chief promoter of the Wisconsin Peninsula Railway Company, offered to build a railroad from Green Bay to some point in Liberty Grove provided the county would subscribe a bond issue for $50,000, one-half of which was to be delivered when the cars were running into Sturgeon Bay and the other half to be delivered when the cars were running to Liberty Grove. This was at the height of the timber industry and it was Mr. Kelly's plan to tap the vast interior forests of Door County which were then beginning to be cut out. The plan was entirely practicable and if this small bond issue had been voted it is probable that a railroad would have been built to the end of the peninsula and Door County's deferred prosperity would have come many years earlier. However, the vessel interests and pier owners were opposed to this and through the Advocate managed to create a general local opposition to a bond issue. It was luridly set forth that this (paltry) bond issue would plunge the county into inextricable debt which the taxpayers would groan under for generations to come. On the other hand it was temptingly told how convenient and cheap was water transportations. The following extracts give an idea of the reception prepared by the Advocate for the railroad project:

"He said that the people are utterly discouraged and anxious to get out of the county. A wealthy citizen of Green Bay told us, last summer, that he could rent a house for less money than the taxes on his property. Trade is demoralized. Commercial integrity has been undermined and a recent refugee from the city assures us that it is impossible for an honest man to do business in the city. Farmers tell us that they have hawked their produce around the streets of that city by the day, and in some instances have to take it home again. The railroad would give them only 75 cents a cord for wood - not enough to pay a chopper starvation wages, and so on through the whole dreary chapter.

"And yet our esteemed contemporary would have us believe that railways have been an unmixed benefit to Brown County. If to grow poorer year by year; if to sit in desolation throwing ashes on her head; if to lose her most enterprising citizens as fast as they are able to persuade some verdant outsider to buy their property; if to be crushed to earth by taxation be a benefit, then indeed has Brown County much reason for rejoicing. But Door County is not desirous of purchasing prosperity at such a price." - The Advocate, May 26, 1881.

"A railway running into Green Bay would interest and benefit our people about as much as though it ran into the middle of Lake Michigan. We might use it occasionally when we wanted to attend a circus or a lawsuit, but as far as regular travel or freight shipments are concerned we would as soon think of going to New York by way of the Sandwich Islands." - The Advocate, June 9, 1881.

As a result, when the county board received the petition of the Wisconsin Peninsula Railway Company that an election be held on the bond issue, the lords of the county board did not even consider it worth while to submit the question to the voters. The petition was denied by a vote of 3 to 11 as follows:

Two other railroad companies, the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western and the Fond du Lac, Portage and Sturgeon Bay Railway Company, had also made surveys down the peninsula at the same time and were ready to build upon the receipt of the customary aid. Seeing, however, the hostile attitude of the county, they dropped the project.

In 1882 an attempt was made to extend the telegraph line to Baileys Harbor. 'The people of Sturgeon Bay were apathetic toward the effort and the subscription failed. Horn & Joseph had previously built a private telegraph line from Algoma to Horn's Pier in the northeastern corner of Clay Banks. When the projected telegraph failed this firm voluntarily built a telegraph line along the lake shore from Horn's Pier to Lily Bay, Whitefish Bay, Jacksonport and Baileys Harbor. This telegraph line was in use until 1887.

An attempt was made in 1884 by the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western to extend its track from Two Rivers to Sturgeon Bay. A preliminary survey was made but finding that the hostility against railroads continued the project was dropped.

June 4, 1885, articles of incorporation were filed with the secretary of state by a new corporation known as the Wisconsin Railway and Navigation Company. The object of the corporation is given to construct and maintain a railway from a point in Brown County, near where the Fox River empties into Green Bay, in an easterly direction through the Town of Casco in Kewaunee County, thence to Sturgeon Bay - a distance of forty-five miles; also a branch from a point on the main line in Kewaunee County east to the City of Kewaunee, and another branch from a point on the main line into Kewaunee County east to Ahnapee (Algoma) in Kewaunee County, each about fifteen miles in length. The company is also privileged to own and operate water craft.

The capital stock is $1,500,000, divided into 15,000 shares and the incorporators as well as the directors are given as Wm. O. Wright and M. H. Wilcoxson, of Freeport, Ill.; P. L. Spooner, Jr., and F.

During the summer a survey was made by the engineers of this company from Sturgeon Bay southward. The survey did not turn westward to Green Bay, however, as was the original intention, but continued in a southwesterly direction, terminating at Forest Junction in Calumet County.

At the November meeting (1885) of the county board of supervisors a petition was presented asking that a special election be held for the purpose of ascertaining whether the people of Door County were willing to bond the county for the sum of $38,000 in aid of the railroad projected by the Wisconsin Railway and Navigation Company. The petition was granted and the date of election was set at December 29, 1885.

During the intervening weeks there was great excitement in the county over the proposition. The Advocate opposed the aid asked for by the railroad company with all the energy and talent at its disposal and was assisted by men from Liberty Grove, Baileys Harbor, Union and other towns lying far from the route of the proposed railway. The day before the election the Advocate mailed to its rural readers a circular setting forth that the railroad company expected to carry the City of Sturgeon Bay by a large majority and that it expected the rural population which was opposed to it to remain at home. The circular closed with an urgent admonition to get out the full rural vote. The resultant vote showed that the Advocate's admonition was well heeded. While the City of Sturgeon Bay went almost unanimously in favor of the aid, some of the rural towns were even more unanimously against it. Liberty Grove polled a total vote of 267 votes, of which only ten were in favor of the railway project! Union voted 105 to 1 against the bonds. Following is the vote in detail:

'Towns For Against NaSeWaupee 2555.28.95 De Be ue 14 113 NEVASLODOL) «qussxosSss osos 25 60 Sturgeon Bay City ......... 283 "i Sturgeon Bay Town . 70 76 UNION osvvesiessa dus v 105 M'ashington. «usns ecole agave 1 71

At this time Door County had two newspapers, the Advocate which had been leading the opposition against all railroad projects and the Expositor which had been neutral. Disgusted with this continued opposition to what was believed to be the most necessary factor in the development of the county a group of Sturgeon Bay business men now bought the Expositor and changed its name to the Independent in order largely to get a newspaper favorable to the construction of a railroad. 'This action soon bore fruit. In 1887 the Wisconsin Midland Railway Company began a campaign for the purpose of securing the necessary aid to build a railroad from Green Bay to Sturgeon Bay. Profiting by the experience of former companies the promoters of this company adopted different tactics. They sent agents around through every town in the county to explain their project to the individual taxpayer and secure his signature to a petition asking for an issue of bonds. This compaign received the hearty support of the Independent while the Advocate chose to remain silent. The campaign was successful and at the November meeting the county board voted to issue county bonds payable in twenty years to the amount of $35,000 to be paid to the Wisconsin Midland Railway Company upon its completion of a railroad to Sturgeon Bay. The city voted to give an additional bonus of $5,000. On December 27. 1887, Charles Scofield, mayor of Sturgeon Bay, and George Nelson and M. McDonald, chairman and clerk respectively of the county board, drove to Green Bay and deposited a total of $40,000 in bonds with the Kellogg National Bank.

Unfortunately the Wisconsin Midland Railway Company was unable to carry out its plans of building a railroad to Sturgeon Bay. At the expiration of the time limit provided for in the bond issue the bonds were returned to the city and county.

county clerk a proposition in writing signed by the president, Edward Decker, and by the secretary, C. G. Boalt, of this company. The proposition was that the company would build and operate a railway to Sturgeon Bay, provided the county would issue bonds to the amount of $60,000 payable in twenty years or on the first day of October of any year before maturity after the year 1896. 'The proposition provided that the railway company was to receive $50,000 if the railroad was built and in operation to Bay View (Sawyer) within two years and $10,000 additional if it was in operation to the City of Sturgeon Bay (north side of the bay) within the same time. The company thereupon circulated petitions throughout the county asking the county board to issue the bonds. 'The total number of resident taxpayers in the county at that time was 2,871. Of these 2,080 signed the petition. As the statutes provided that a majority signing such a petition was sufficient to authorize the bond issue, the county board adopted the resolution prepared by the railway company and the bond issue was ordered.

In addition to the $60,000 in aid provided by the county the City of Sturgeon Bay voted $16,000. The Ahnapee & Western Railway Company now proceeded to build the railway which was completed into the city in 1894 when regular train service was begun July 23d. A grand celebration in honor of the opening of the railway was held August 9, 1894. Three thousand special invitations were sent out and the day was celebrated with speeches, feasting and dancing. The Company received its $76,000 and the county at last had an outlet in winter as well as in summer. This outlet could have been had just ten years earlier for less than one-third of the aid given ($25,000) if it had not been for the opposition of the vessel interests.

In 1899 a bill was introduced in the Legislature by Hon. Henry Overbeck, representative from Door County, authorizing Door County to borrow $60,000 at 314, per cent from the state trust funds in order to enable the county to redeem the railway bonds which were drawing 6 per cent. This bill was passed. This proposition was considered by the county board in two special sessions the same year and the money was borrowed. Since then one-twentieth ($3,000) of the principal with interest has been paid annually.

In 1913 the E. E. Galle Co. of Minneapolis, a promoting company, came into Door County and began a vigorous campaign to raise funds for the purpose of building a railway to Newport in Liberty Grove. They asked no support from the county but sold stock to individuals. The route was surveyed, a large tract of land at Newport was purchased and a mass of excellent advertising matter was issued. While the City of Sturgeon Bay in the opening of the campaign seemed indifferent to the project its citizens later responded in a substantial manner. About seventy-five thousand dollars' worth of stock was sold in the northern part of the county and the enterprise looked decidedly hopeful, when suddenly in the midst of the campaign the European war broke out July 29, 1914. Immediately there was such a stringency in the money market that the promoters were obliged to give up the project with great loss to themselves. The many thousand dollars paid in by the investors were returned to them with the exception of a fee of 5 per cent to which the promoters were entitled by agreement.