In the 1850's every RR in the midwest was anxious to cross the
Mississippi with the Rock being the 1st to do so (& shortly thereafter
giving their hired atty a big political boost when he won a case for
them vs. a steamboat firm that rammed their bridge - a fellow named Abe
Lincoln). Anyway, CB&Q predecessors, IC, C&NW, etc. were all looking
for crossings and Camanche at the time was as prosperous as nearby
Clinton. Thus it's not surprising that investors there would have
helped finance a line further east with hopes it would eventually come
west & cross the mighty Mississippi. Of course it never did get that
far and C&NW crossed a couple miles north making Clinton a bigger town
than Comanche. The Q of course did get across at Dubuque, then the 2nd
largest city on the Mississippi (to St. Louis) via IC trackage rights
and ultimately went north to St. Paul as the CB&N but as Paul Harvey
would say, come to the annual meet in Dubuque to hear the rest of the
story! Gerald
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
CBQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|