Wisconsin Railfans: Old Wisconsin Railroad Maps from Library of Congress

[CMStPnP]

https://www.loc.gov/collections/railroad-maps-1828-to-1900/?fa=subject:wisconsin

On the map titled: Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac.     Check out the "Southern Wisconsin Railroad" that enters Dubuque,Iowa from the North.    I never even knew this railroad existed.    The line ends now in Monroe, WI and is part of Wisconsin and Southern railway..........I knew at one point it extended up to Mineral Point but had no clue on the Western Extension to Iowa.       Also the line between Watertown, Wi and Brookfield Junction (now town of Brookfield) is the Watertown Plank Road.    It is not a railroad (note the lack of cross hatchings).    At this point in time the Milwaukee Road was the Milwaukee and Mississippi and headed to Waukesha (later Prarie Du Chien) from Brookfield on what became a branch line and is now a Wisconsin and Southern line from Waukesha to Prarie Du Chien.    Milwaukee Road would later acquire the Milwaukee and La Crosse Railroad that is shown still under construction on this map.

Look at the seperate Milwaukee and LaCrosse Map and how it shows the completed line that the Milwaukee Road would later merge with and build a Brookfield, WI to Portage, WI connection...........which is now the CP Mainline.    Note the cross the Lake Michigan connection with the Grand Rapids to Port Huron, C&O line (now CSX)........kind of interesting.

 

 

[zardoz]

Thanks so much for posting! The link that you provided is both interesting and helpful.

[MidlandMike]

The extension connecting Mineral Point to Dubuque would have been handy to connect the lead mining district to Dubuque and the Misissippi Valley where lead shot towers and other facilities were set up.  A famous one was at Dubuque:

https://www.cityofdubuque.org/712/Shot-Tower

 

[CMStPnP]

MidlandMike

The extension connecting Mineral Point to Dubuque would have been handy to connect the lead mining district to Dubuque and the Misissippi Valley where lead shot towers and other facilities were set up. A famous one was at Dubuque:

Well what I came up with is this:

1. Mineral Point Railroad builds from Mineral Point, WI to Warren, IL connection to Illinois Central Line.

2. Mineral Point Acquires or builds branch from Calamine, WI to Platteville, WI

3. Milwaukee Road acquires Mineral Point Railroad and branch and doesn't necessarily like the traffic outflow on the IC at Warren and extends from Monroe, WI to Gratiot, WI and connects with Mineral Point Railroad thus having a connection all the way to Plateville, WI.

4. Galena and Southern Wisconsin builds a narrow gauge line from Galena, IL North into Wisconsin and eventually connects with Platteville.    C&NW buys the Galena and Southern Wisconsin and standard guages the entire line and extends it further North to Montefort, WI to connect with C&NW.

So somewhere I am guessing Milwaukee connects with the C&NW line in either Platteville, WI or East of the city.    Hence thats how they end up with that drawing on the map.    I cannot find any trace of the Southern Wisconsin otherwise.

Some of the lines were torn up in the 1920's.

Gratiot, WI to Warren, IL - IC connection for Mineral Point Line was abandoned and torn up in the 1920's.    Likewise most of the C&NW line north of Galena, IL was torn up in the 1920's or 1930's.    So apparently traffic fell off after 1920.    Milwaukee maintained it's Mineral Point to Monroe, WI connection well into the 1980's.    I don't know when it abandoned the line to Platteville, WI from Calamine though.........I see pictures of it operating into the 1970's

Here is a 1909 map of the C&NW showing the Galena Line:

https://www.cnwhs.org/images/map1909.jpg

Here is the text of the Mineral Point Line construction:

http://mprs.org/history/

 

Pictures of the Milwaukee on their Mineral Point and Monroe to Platteville

http://www.wsor.rrpicturearchives.net/archiveThumbs.aspx?id=115848

Galena and Southern Wisconsin Railroad:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galena_and_Southern_Wisconsin_Railroad

It's interesting that both the C&NW and the Mineral Point and Northern called it quits on the region in the 1920's and 1930's but the Milwaukee held onto it's lines for almost 50 more years........which is probably another reason they went under.

 

 

 

[desertdog]

Your last paragraph is so true: "It's interesting that both the C&NW and the Mineral Point and Northern called it quits on the region in the 1920's and 1930's but the Milwaukee held onto it's lines for almost 50 more years........which is probably another reason they went under."

The Milwaukee retained not only a lot of low-density branch lines, but also kept much unused spur trackage. Fond du Lac, Oshkosh and Milwaukee all come to mind. Track that hadn't seen a train in years was still connected and in place long after the industries they once served had closed.

John Timm

 

[MidlandMike]

C&NW's map in my Oct. 1970 Official Guide shows the line segment north of Galena to Cuba City was gone, and also Woodman to Fennimore was no longer there, but the majority of the lines west of Monroe were still there.