Hartland Village (part 2 of 2)

Wisconsin Railroads

The territory of Wisconsin offered great advantages to emigrants. Explorers had published accounts of the wonderful fertility of its soil, the wealth of its broad prairies and forest openings, and the beauty of its lakes and rivers. Being reached from the older states by way of the lakes and easily accessible by a long line of lake coast, the hardships incident to weeks of land travel were avoided. Previous to 1836 but few settlements had been made in that part of the then territory of Michigan, that year organized into the territory of Wisconsin, except as mining camps in the southwestern part, and scattered settlers in the vicinity of the trading posts and military stations. From that time on, with the hope of improving their condition, thousands of the enterprising yeomanry of New England, New York and Ohio started for the land of promise. Germans, Scandinavians and other nationalities, attracted by the glowing accounts sent abroad, crossed the ocean on their way to the new world ; steamers and sail-craft laden with families and their household goods left Buffalo and other lake ports, all bound for the new Eldorado. It may be doubted if in the history of the world any country was ever peopled with the rapidity of southern and eastern Wisconsin. Its population in 1840 was 30,749; in 1850,304,756; in i860, 773,693; in 1870, 1,051,351; in 1875, 1,236,729. With the development of the agricultural resources of the new territory, grain raising became the most prominent interest, and as the settlements extended back from the lake shore the difficulties of transportation of the products of the soil were seriously felt. The expense incurred in moving a load of produce seventy or eighty miles to a market town on the lake shore frequently exceeded the gross sura obtained for the same. All goods, wares and merchandise, and most of the lumber used must also be hauled by from Lake Michigan. Many of our early settlers still retain vivid recollections of trying experiences in the Milwaukee woods and other sections bordering on the lake shore, from the south line of the state to Manitowoc and Sheboygan. To meet the great want - better facilities for transportation - a valuable land grant was obtained from congress, in 1838, to aid in building a canal from Milwaukee to Rock river The company which was organized to construct it, built a dam across Milwaukee river and a short section of the canal ; then the work stopped and the plan was finally abandoned. It was early seen that to satisfy the requirements of the people, railroads, as the most feasable means of communication within their reach, were an indispensable necessity.

' Between the years^i838 and 1841, the territorial legislature of Wisconsin chartered several railroad companies, but with the exception of the " Milwaukee & Waukesha Railroad Company,'' incorporated in 1847, none of the corporations thus created took any particular shape. The commissioners named in its charter met November 23, 1847, and elected a president, Dr. L. W. Weeks, and a secretary, A. W. Randall (afterward governor of Wisconsin). On the first Monday of February, 1848, they opened books of subscription. The charter of the company provided that f 100,000 should be subscribed and five percent, thereof paid in before the company should fully organize as a corporation, ''The country was new. There were plenty of active, energetic men, but money to build railroads was scarqe, and not until April 5, 1849, was the necessary subscription raised and percentage paid. A board of directors was elected on the ipth day of May, and Byron Kilbourn chosen president. The charter had been previously amended, in 1848, authorizing the company to build a road to the Mississippi river, in Grant county, and in 1850, its na:me was changed to the " Milwaukee & Mississippi Ra,ilroad Company." After the company was fully organized, active measures were taken to push the enterprise forward to completion. The city of Milwaukee loaned its credit, and in 185 1 the pioneer Wisconsin railroad rsached Waukesha, twenty miles out from Milwaukee. In the spring of 1852, Edward H. Broadhead, a prominent engineer, from from the state of New York, was put in charge of the work as chief engineer and superintendent. Under his able and energetic administration the road was pushed forward in 1852 to Milton, in 1853 to Stoughton, in 1854 to^ Madison, and in 1856 to the Mississippi river, at Prairie du Chien. In 185 1 John Catlin of Madison, was elected president in place of Kilbourn.

The proposed length of this article will not admit of any detailed statement of the trials, struggles and triumphs of the men who projected, and finally carried across the state, from the lake to the river, this first Wisconsin railroad. Mitchell, Kilbourn, Holton, Tweedy, Catlin, Walker, Broadhead, Crocker and many others, deserve to be remembered by our people as benefactors of the state. In 1859 and i860, the company defaulted in the payment of the interest on its bonds. A foreclosure was made and a new company, called the " Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien," took its place, succeeding to all its rights and propertyi

The "Southern Wisconsin Railway Company" was chartered in 1852, and authorized to build a road from Milton to the Mississippi river. When the Milwaukee and Mississippi road reached Milton in 1852, it was not authorized by its charter to go to Janesville, but, under the pharter of the Southern Wisconsin, a company was organized that built the eight miles to Janesville in 1853. Under a subsequent amendment to the charter, the Milwaukee and Mississippi company was authorized to build from Milton to the Mississippi river. The Janesville branch was then purchased and extended to Monroe, a distance of about thirty-four miles, or forty-two miles wesr of Milton. Surveys were made and a line located west of Monroe to the river. ' The people of La Fayette and Grant counties have often been encouraged to expect a direct railroad communication with the. city of Milwaukee, Other and more important interests, at least so considered by the railroad company, have delayed the execution of the original plan, and the road through the counties mentioned still remains unbuilt.

The " LaCrosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company" was chartered in 1852, to construct a road from LaCrosse to Milwaukee. During the year in which the charter was obtained, the company was organized, and the first meeting of the commissioners held at LaCrosse. Among its projectors were Byron Kilbourn and Moses M. Strong. Kilbourn was elected its first president. No work was done upon this line until after its consolidation with the " Milwaukee, Fond du Lac & Green Bay Railroad Company" in 1854. The latter company was chartered in 1853, to build a road from Milwaukee via West Bend to Fond du Lac and Green Bay. It organized in the spring of 1853, and at once commenced active operations under the supervision of James Kneeland, its first president. The city of Milwaukee loaned its credit for $200,000, and gave city bonds. The company secured depot grounds in Milwaukee, and did considerable grading for the first twentyfive miles ouf. Becoming embarrassed in January, 1854, the Milwaukee, Fond du Lac & Green Bay consolidated with the LaCrosse & Milwaukee company. Work was at once resumed on the partially graded line. In 1855 the road was completed to Horicon, fifty miles.

Wisconsin Railroabs

The Milwaukee & Watertown company was chartered in 1851, to build from Milwaukee to Watertown. It soon organized, and began the construction of its line from Brookfield, fourteen miles west of Milwaukee, and a point on the Milwaukee & Mississippi road leading through Oconoraowoc to Watertown. The charter contained a provision that the company might extend its road by way of Portage to La Crosse. It reached Watertown in 1856, and was consolidated with the LaCrosse & Milwaukee road in the autumn of the same year.

In the spring of 1856 congress made a grant of land to the state of Wisconsin, to aid in the building of a railroad from Madison, or Columbus, via Portage City, to the St. Croix river or lake, between townships 25 and 31. and from thence to the west end of Lake Superior, and to Bayfield. An adjourned session of the Wisconsin legislature met on September 3 of that year, to dispose of the grant. The disposal of this grant had been generally discussed by the press, and the public sentiment of the state seemed to tend toward its bestowal upon a new company. There is little doubt but that this was also the sentiment of a large majority of the members of both houses when the session commenced. When a new company was proposed a joint committee of twenty from the senate and assembly was appointed to prepare a bill, conferring the grant upon a company to be created by the bill itself. The work of the committee proceeded harmoniously until the question of who should be corporators was to be acted upon, when a difference of opinion was found to exist, and one that proved difficult to harmonize. In the meantime the LaCrosse and Watertown companies had consolidated, and a sufficient number of the members of both houses were "propitiated" by "pecuniary compliments" to induce them to pass the bill, conferring the so called St. Croix grant upon the LaCrosse & Milwaukee railroad company. The vote in the assembly in the passage of the bill was, ayes 62, noes 7. In the senate it stood, ayes 17, noes 7.

At the session of the legislature of 1858 a committee was raised to investigate the matter, and their report demonstrated that bonds were set apart for all who voted for the LaCrosse bill ; to members of assembly $5,000 each, and members of senate fio,ooo each. A few months after the close of the legislative sesssion of 1856 the land grant bonds of the LaCrosse road became worthless. Neither the LaCrosse company nor its successors ever received any portion of the lands granted to the state. During the year 1857 the LaCrosse company completed its line of road through Portage City to LaCrosse, and its Watertown line to Columbus.

The "Milwaukee & Horicon Railroad Company" was chartered in 1852. Between the years 1855 and 1857 it built through Waupun and Ripon to Berlin, a distance of forty-two miles. It was, in effect, controlled by the LaCrosse & Milwaukee company, although built as a separate branch. This line was subsequently merged in the LaCrosse company, and is now a part of the northern division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway.

The '' Madison, Fond du Lac & Lake Michigan Railroad Company" was chartered in 1855, to build a road from Madison w/a Fond du Lac to Lake Michigan. In 1857 it bought of the LaCrosse company that portion of its road acquired by consolidation with the Milwaukee & Watertown company. Its name was then changed to " Milwaukee & Western Railroad Company." It owned a line of road from Brookfield to Watertown, and branches from the latter place to Columbus and Sun Prairie, in all about eighty miles in length.

In 1858 and 1859 the La Crosse & Milwaukee and the Milwaukee & Horicon companies defaulted in the payment of the interest on their bonded debts. In the same years the bondholders of the two companies instituted foreclosure proceedings on the different trust deeds given to secure their bonds. Other suits to enforce the payment of their floating debts were also commenced. Protracted litigation in both the state and federal courts resulted in a final settlement in 1868, by a decision of the supreme court of the United States. In the meantime, in 1862 and

1863, both roads were sold, and purchased by an association of the bondholders, who organized the " Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. " The new company succeeded to all the rights of both the La Crosse and Horicon companies, and soon afterward, in 1863, purchased the property of the Milwaukee & Western company, thus getting control of the roads from Milwaukee to La Crosse, from Horicon to Berlin, from Brookfield to Watertown, and the branches to Columbus and Sun Prairie. In 1864 it built from Columbus to Portage, from Brookfield to Milwaukee, and subsequently extended the Sun Prairie branch to Madison, in 1869. It also purchased the Ripon & Wolf River road, which had been built fifteen miles in length, from Ripon to Omro, on the Fox river, and extended it to Winneconne on the Wolf river, five miles farther, and twenty miles from Ripon. In 1867 the Milwaukee & St. Paul railway company obtained control of the Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien railroad. The legislature of 1857 had passed an act, authorizing all stock-holders in all incorporated companies to vote on shares of stock owned by them. The directors of the Milwaukee & St. Paul company had secured a majority of the common stock, and, at the election of 1867, elected themselves a board of directors for the Prairie du Chien company. All the rights, property and interests of the latter company came under the ownership and control of the former.

In 1865, Alexander Mitchell, of Milwaukee, was elected president, and S. S. Merrill general manager of the Milwaukee & St. Paul railway company. They were retained in their respective positions by the new organization, and still continue to hold these offices, a fact largely owing to the able and efficient manner that has characterized their management "of the company's affairs. The company operates eight hundred and thirty-four miles of road in Wisconsin, and in all two thousand two hundred and seven miles. Its lines extend to St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota, and to Algona in Iowa, and over the Western Union to Savanna and Rock Island in the State of Illinois.

The "Oshkosh & Mississippi Railroad Company" was chartered in 1866 to build a road from the city of Oshkosh to the Mississippi river. Its construction to Ripon in 1872 was a move on the part of citizens of Oshkosh to connect their town with the Milwaukee & St. Paul road. It is twenty miles in length and leased to the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul company.

In 1871 and 1872 the "Wisconsin Union Railroad Company," of which John W. Cary was president, built a road from Milwaukee to the state Hne between Wisconsin and IlHnois, to connect with a road built from Chicago to the state line of Illinois. This new line between Milwaukee and Chicago was built in the interest of, and in fact by, the Milwaukee & St. Paul company to afford a connection between its Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota system of roads, and the eastern trunk lines centering in Chicago. It runs parallel with the shore of Lake Michigan and from three to six miles from it, and is eighty-five miles in length.

The territorial legislature of 1848 chartered the " Madison & Beloit Railroad Company " with authority to build a railroad from Beloit to Madison only. In 1850, by an act of the legislature, the company was authorized to extend the road to the Wisconsin river and La CrOsse, and to a point on the Mississippi river near St. Paul, and also from Janesville to Fond du Lac. Its name was changed, under legislative authority, to the "Rock River Valley Union Railroad Company." In 1851, the line from Janesville north not being pushed as the people expected, the legislature of Illinois chartered the " Illinois & Wisconsin Railroad Company " with authority to consolidate with any road in Wisconsin. In 1855, an act of the Wisconsin legislature consolidated the Illinois and Wisconsin companies with the " Rock River Valley Union Railroad Company," and the new organization took the name of the " Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Rail- road Company." In 1854, and previous to the oonsdlidation, the company had failed and passed into the hands of the bondholders, who foreclosed and took stock for their bonds. The old management of A. Hyatt Smith and John B. Macy was superseded, and Wm. B. Ogden was made' president. Chicago was all along deeply interested in reaching the rich grain fields of the Rock river valley, as well as the inexhaustible timber and mineral wealth of the northern part -of Wisconsin and that part of Michigan bordering on Lake Superior, called the Peninsula. It also sought a connection with the upper Mississippi region, then being rapidly peopled, by a line of railroad to run through Madison to St. Paul, in Minnesota. Its favorite road was started from Chicago on the wide (six feet) gauge, and so constructed seventy miles to Sharon on the Wisconsin state line. This was changed to the usual (four feet, eight and one-half inches) width, and the work was vigorously pushed, reaching Janesville in 1855 and Fond du Lac in 1858. The Rock River Valley Union railroad company had, however, built about thirty miles from Fond du Lac south toward Minnesota Junction before the consolidation took place. The partially graded line on a direct route between Janesville and Madison was abandoned. In 1852 a new charter had been obtained, and the " Beloit & Madison Railroad Company " had been organized to build a road from Beloit via Janesville to Madison. A subsequent amendment to this charter had left out Janesville as a point, and the Beloit branch was pushed through to Madison, reaching that city in 1864.

The " Galena and Chicago Union Railroad Company" had built a branch of the Galena line from Belvedere to Beloit previous to 1854. In that year, it leased the Beloit & Madison road, and from r856 operated it in connection with the Milwaukee & Mississippi, reaching Janesville by way of Hanover Junction, a station on its Southern Wisconsin branch, eight miles west of Janesville. The consolidation of the Galena & Chicago Union and the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac companies was effected and approved by legislative enactment in 1855, and a new organization called the "Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company " took their place.

The "Green Bay, Milwaukee & Chicago Railroad Company " was chartered in 185 1 to build a road from Milwaukee to the state line of Illinois to connect with a road from Chicago, called the Chicago & Milwaukee railroad. Both roads were completed in 1855, and run in connection until 1863, when they were consolidated under the name of the "Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad Company." To prevent its falling into the hands of the Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chicago & Northwestern secured it by perpetual lease, May 2, i866, and it is now operated as its Chicago division.

The " Kenosha & Beloit Railroad Company " was incorporated in 1853 tb build a road from Kenosha to Beloit, and was organized soon after its charteriwas obtained. Its name was afterward changed to the "Kenosha, Rockford & Rock Island Railroad Company," and its route changed to run to Rockford instead of Beloit. The line starts at Kenosha, and runs through the county of Kenosha and crosses the state line near the village of Genoa in the county of Walworth, a distance of thirty miles in the state of Wisconsin, and there connects with a road in Illinois running to Rockford, and with which it consolidated. Kenosha and its citizens were the principal subscribers to its capital stock. The company issued its bonds, secured by the usual mortgage on its franchises and property. Failing to pay its interest, the mortgage was foreclosed, and the road was sold to the Chicago & Northwestern company in 1863, and is now operated by it as the Kenosha division. The line was constructed from Kenosha to Genoa in 1862.

The "Northwestern Union Railway Company " was organized in 1872, under the general railroad law of the state, to build a line of road from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac, with a branch to Lodi. The road was constructed during the years 1872 and 1873 from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac. The Chicago & Northwestern company were principally interested in its being built, to

The " Baraboo Air-Line Railroad Company" was' incorporated in 1876, to build a road from Madison, Columbus, or Waterloo via Baraboo, to La Crosse, or any point on the Mississippi river. It organized in the interest of the Chicago & Northwestern, with which company it consolidated, and the work of building a connecting line between Madison and Winona Junction Was vigorously pushed forward; Lodi was reached in 1870, Baraboo in 1871, and Winona Junction in 1874. The ridges between Elroy and Sparta were tunneled at great expense and with much difficulty. In 1874 the company reported an expenditure for its three tunnels of ^476,743.32, and for the 129 i-io miles between Madison and Winona Junction of $5,342,169.96, and a large expenditure yet required to be made on it. In 1867 the Chicago & Northwestern company bought of ,D. N. Barney & Co. their interest in the Winona & St. Peters railway, a line being built westerly from Winona in Minnesota, and of which one hundred and five miles had been built. It also bought of the same parties their interest in the La Crosse, Trempealeau & Prescott railway, a line being built from Winona Junction, three miles east of La Crosse, to Winona, Minn. The latter line was put in operation in 1870, and is twenty-nine miles long. With the completion of its Madison branch to Winona junction, in 1873,11 had in operation a line from Chicago, via Madison and Winona, to Lake Kampeska, Minn., a distance of six: hundred and twenty-three miles.

In the year 1856 a valuable grant of land was made by congress to the state of Wisconsin to aid in the construction of railroads. The Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac company claimed that the grant was obtained through itsvefforts, and that of right it should havef the northeastern grant, so-called. At the adjourned session of the legislature of 1856, a contest over the disposition of the grant resulted in conferring it upon the " Wisconsin & Superior Railroad Company," a corporation chartered for the express purpose of giving it this grant. It was generally believed at the time that the new company was organized in the interest of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac company, and at the subsequent session, in the following year, it was authorized to Consolidate with the new company, which it did in the spring of that year, and thus obtained the grant of 3,840 acres per mile along its entire line, from Fond du Lac northerly to the state line between Wisconsin and Michigan. It extended its road to Oshkosh in 1859,10 Appleton in t86i, and in 1862 to Fort Howard, forming a line two hundred and forty-two miles long. The line from Fort Howard to Escanaba, one hundred and fourteen miles long, was opened in December, 1872, and made a connection with the peninsular railroad of Michigan. It now became a part of the Chicago & Northwestern, extending from Escanaba to the iron mines, and thence to Lake Superior at Marquette. Albert Keep, of Chicago, is president, and Marvin Hughitt, a gentleman of great railroad experience, is general superintendent. The company operates five hundred and sixty-seven miles of road in Wisconsin, and in all sixteen hundred and sixteen miles. Its lines extend into five different states. Over these lines its equipment is run in common, or transferred from place to place, as the changes in business may temporarily require.

The " Milwaukee & Northern Railway Company " was incorporated in 1870, to build a road from Milwaukee to some point on the Fox river below Winnebago lake, and thence to Lake Superior, with branches. It completed its road to Menasha, one hundred and two miles from Milwaukee, with a branch from Hilbert to Green Bay, twenty-seven miles, in 1873, and in that vear leased its line to the " Wisconsin Central Railroad Company," which is still operating it. In