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AfPA HAtiNE County
,- It is sometimes said of a profligate
young man With wealthy and indulgent parents, that "he- was born with
a silver spoon in his mouth." It
might be said of you, or most of you,
who read these words, that you were
born with a railroad in your home
town: and not a railroad alone, but a
multitude of other conveniences of
olvilization, which have been developed to their present state of perfection at a staggering cost of labor and
sacrifice and of blood and treasure,
And the implication in the first statement that the young man did not
know the value of money, carries with
equal force in the second, for few
people there are today who appreciate the obligation of public service
that, residence in Racine and citizenship in America with its guaranty of
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, imposes on the person so favored; in other words, there is a lack of
public spirit; not in Racine alone,
but in most American cities, and it is
the conviction of the writer that if
the rising generation can in some way
be made thoroughly familiar with the
history of their home town, that that
lack will disappear, and a real public
spirit, be developed, the like of which
has not been seen or even dreamed
of as yet. The study of national and
state history has fostered the growth
of American patriotism, and of state
pride and loyalty, but there has been
little or no orderly, systematic effort
to promote the study of the historw
of smaller political units. Is it no?
possible that therein lies the foundation of an effective, true and perma-
, nent public spirit in city and county?
First Rails Laid  in Wisconsin.
TVk-  :d.'3t  railroad  built  in  Wisconsin  was  the  Milwaukee  and Waukesha  railroad,  which was  chartered  in
1347, and a year later called the Milwaukee & Mississippi.    The first rails |
laid in Wisconsin were  put down  by [
this road  in  1851.    It was  completed i,
to Waukesha (twenty miles) the same !
year,   and   a   train   run   to   that   town I
amid   popular   rejoicing.      In   1854   it j
reached  Madison,  and the  Mississippi ;
at   Prairie   du   Chien   in   1857.     This ;
road was the progenitor of the C, M. '
&   St.   P.   system.//) (Bwia   Th waited
Wioeonnjm.) . ■■'
The first train to Madison over the i
Milwaukee & Mississippi, was run on !
Thursday, May 25, 1854. A big celebration was staged at the capital city
on the Tuesday preceding, w'th A. A. '
Bird, the "oldest inhabitant," as pres- I
ident of the day. A line of stages had !
been established to connect with j
Portage City. The earnings of the I,
road for June, 1854, a/! reported in (
the Milwaukee Sentinel, and -copied j1
in the Daily Morning Advocate, Ra- |
cine, were as follows:
Passengers     $17,241.50
Freight        27,346.33
Total        44,587.83      I
First Racine Project.
The first railroad prp.iect in Racine |
county chartered by the state, was the l
Root  River  railroad,   in  183 8,  the  in- j
corporators  being   Norman   Clark,   M. j
M.   Strong,   Gilbert   Knapp;   Henry   P. j
Cox and  Elias Smith,     all    Of    them j
founders of Racine.    It was proposed
to   build   this   road   to   the   rapids   of
Root river, and to points beyond—not
to  exceed  ten  miles   altogether.     The
capital   stock   was   $10,000.     In   those
days Root river, for a mile or two  of
its  course  below  the  present  dam  at
the   rapids,    provided   an   abundance Ij
of water power,  and as early as  183 8 J:
several   saw   mills,   and   at   least   one I,
grist   mill,   were   in   operation   along jj
its banks.    It is likely also that these J
men foresaw the development  of the
lime, atone quarries, and the manufac-.J !
ture   of   lime; : the   desirability   of   a j.
short   rail   line   to   bring   lumber  and
stone into  the village, and to tap the    i
farming    country    within    ten    miles, j
was undisputed;  but for some reason j
it was not built.
Combination Rail and Wagon Road, j
Two other rail projects with Racine1
as a terminal,  were chartered  by  the
state in pioneer days and did not get !
beyond   the   paper   stage.     When   the ■
town was but three years old—in 1838
—a  railroad  was projected from  Ra- I
cine   to   Janesville,     and     a     charter j
granted to the Racine and Rock River ,
Railroad company, with the following
incorporators\    Lorenzo   Janes,   B.   B. [
Cary,    Elias   Smith,    Consider   Heath,
Eugene Gillespie, H. D. Wood, Charles j
Leet  and   Henry   Janes.     The   capital
stock  of this  road  was  $500,000,  and
it was intended for the- use of horse-
drawn vehicles as well as steam-propelled    cars.      The    following   schedule of tolls for teams, and for freight
and passenger rates was fixed in the
charter:   One  and  one-half  cents  per
mile per ton for tolls; five cents per
mile   per  ton  for  transportation,  and :
three  cents   per mile  for  passengers. ;
It was an interesting scheme, but did j
not  materialize.
Another paper road, that secured
a charter in 1853, was the Racine & j
Portage City Railroad Co., ' with a
capital stock of $2,5-00,000, the incorporators being Sage, Waterman,
Doolittle, Tuckerman, Lathrop, Dutton, Raymond, Spafford, Norton, Ela,
Chapman and a dozen others. The
Racine, Janesville & Mississippi had
begun building at that time, and
there was hardly room for two big
projects in the little town.
Fox River Valley Road.
The   Fox   River. Valley   Rail   Road j
Co.  was incorporated in March,  1853,!
with  a  capital stock  of   $800,000.     It i
was  projected  to  run  front  the   Illi- j
nois state  line  at  the point where it j
was crossed by the Fox river, through j
the  -western   part   of   Racine   county
to  Waukesha,   With, a  branch  line  to
Milwaukee.     The   right   of   way   Was
secured   and  the   greater   part  of  the
construction work on it in the- way of
grading, culverts, etc., completed, but
no   track   wis   laid.     The   towns,  of
western  Racine  county  bought  stock
in   the   company—Burlington, to   tht-
amount of $35,000—and issued bonds
to pay for it.    In the,case of Burlington,   the town .refused  to   pay  for  a
railroad that was not built, and after
much time spent in litigation,, $30,000
of the bonds were declared by Judge
Drummond  to  be   Outlawed,  and  the
remaining  $5,000  with accrued  interest  was   compromised   at   $6,000   and
the right of way reverted to the original owners. •   The  Milwaukee  electric
line   to   Burlington   now   follows   the
grade of the old Fox River-valley line.
The incorporators were the following:
Preston   Den-ton,  Andrew  E,   Elmore.
Winch ell D. Bacon, Chas. K. Watkins,
Wm.   K.   Wilson,   Pliny >M.   Perkins,
Peter  Forbes,   Richard  E.   Ela,   Philo
Belden,   James  K.   McKesson,  Arthur
McArthur,  Wm.  S.  Hawkins, Wm.  A.
Barstow,   Wm.  A.   Vanderpool,   H.   H.
Camp,    Stephen    Sayles,     and    A.    V.
Pratt.     Philo  Belden,  grandfather  or
Judge E.  B. Belden, was president of
the company.
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