Interesting snippets about the Early Milwaukee Road from a letter to the editor to the Milwaulee Sentinal in the 1890's. Milwaukee and Mississipi was the first line built between Milwaukee and Brookfield Jct. Then West from there via Waukesha to Prarie Du Chien. Next was the Milwaukee to LaCrosse Line which is predominantly the subject matter of this letter and how it was buit and financed. Apparently in two sections, from Portage West to La Crosse. From Portage East to Horicon and then South via North Milwaukee into Milwaukee. This second portion of the mainline was relegated to secondary line status as the porttion from Brookfield Jct to Columbus then to Portage was constructed. Very interesting reading as I never knew it was built in that order. And the letters seemed to indicate that Watertown to Sun Prarie was built before Columbus to Portage. Also, did not know that a portion of the first Milwaukee and La Crosse was largely financed via mortgages on Farmers property along the line which the author of the article says were cleared in the first bankruptcy and the farmers land was auctioned off....driving them further West as settlers to start all over again with clean title to new land.
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963788&dsRecordDetails=R:BA10239
The original Milwaukee Depot was in the Menonminee River Valley somewhere, saw a picture of it was all timber with only one passenger train a day initially between Milwaukee and Waukesha as that is all the traffic the line would support but then the population grew and so did the rail mileage. Curious where the first depot was located, my suspicion is in the far Southwestern corner of the Menonminee River Valley and a ways away from downtown. Just a guess though.
According to "The Milwaukee Road in Milwaukee", a special publication of the Milwaukee Road Historical Association in October 2000, the original depot of the Milwaukee & Mississippi was built at the foot of what is now North Second Street, near the east side of the current main post office in Milwaukee.
CMStPnP Interesting snippets about the Early Milwaukee Road from a letter to the editor to the Milwaulee Sentinal in the 1890's. Milwaukee and Mississipi was the first line built between Milwaukee and Brookfield Jct. Then West from there via Waukesha to Prarie Du Chien. Next was the Milwaukee to LaCrosse Line which is predominantly the subject matter of this letter and how it was buit and financed. Apparently in two sections, from Portage West to La Crosse. From Portage East to Horicon and then South via North Milwaukee into Milwaukee. This second portion of the mainline was relegated to secondary line status as the porttion from Brookfield Jct to Columbus then to Portage was constructed. Very interesting reading as I never knew it was built in that order. And the letters seemed to indicate that Watertown to Sun Prarie was built before Columbus to Portage. Also, did not know that a portion of the first Milwaukee and La Crosse was largely financed via mortgages on Farmers property along the line which the author of the article says were cleared in the first bankruptcy and the farmers land was auctioned off....driving them further West as settlers to start all over again with clean title to new land. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Content.aspx?dsNav=N:4294963828-4294963788&dsRecordDetails=R:BA10239 The original Milwaukee Depot was in the Menonminee River Valley somewhere, saw a picture of it was all timber with only one passenger train a day initially between Milwaukee and Waukesha as that is all the traffic the line would support but then the population grew and so did the rail mileage. Curious where the first depot was located, my suspicion is in the far Southwestern corner of the Menonminee River Valley and a ways away from downtown. Just a guess though.
The map collection at the University of Chicago shows the original line of what ultimately became the CMSt.P&P extending westward from Racine as a challenge to the original Chicago & Galena Union (later C&NW and now UP). The CN&W history from the 1930s also mentions this line as a "rival." Quickly it devoled into a branch line. Still, cool to see the early maps with only two western lines from Lake Michigan.
UChicagoMattThe map collection at the University of Chicago shows the original line of what ultimately became the CMSt.P&P extending westward from Racine as a challenge to the original Chicago & Galena Union (later C&NW and now UP). The CN&W history from the 1930s also mentions this line as a "rival." Quickly it devoled into a branch line. Still, cool to see the early maps with only two western lines from Lake Michigan.
You might want to check the respective rail histories as to dates, ownership.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
The line from Racine through Sturdevant eventually became MILW. It is a predecessor railroad, not unlike the Milwaukee itself through several reorganizations.
Still, the original line constructed west from Lake Michigan within the State of Wisconsin was the Milwaukee & Waukesha, later named the Milwaukee & Mississippi. Construction began in October 1849, and the first excursion passenger train was run between the original depot in Milwaukee and Wauwatosa, a distance of five miles, in November 1850. See Lorenzsonn, "Steam and Cinders: The Advent of Railroads in Wisconsin" (Wisconsin Historical Society Press 2009) 82, 102-03.
The Racine, Janesville & Mississippi didn't begin grading work until the fall of 1853. id. 176. The Galena & Chicago Union, building west from Chicago, reached Beloit, Wisconsin in November 1853. id. 177.
The Milwaukee acquired a controlling interest in the Racine & Mississippi through stock purchase during the winter of 1868-69, "and by the end of 1869, the Milwaukee and St. Paul controlled every through route in Wisconsin from the lake shore to the Mississippi, finally fulfilling the dream of the directors of the old Milwaukee & Mississippi." Derleth, "The Milwaukee Road: Its First Hundred Years" (Creative Age Press 1949) 94.
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