DUBUQUE AND KEOKUK RAILROAD

DUBUQUE AND KEOKUK RAILROAD. George GREENE was a railroad enthusiast who occasionally had potential lines surveyed and sometimes graded but never constructed. (1)

One of these was the Dubuque and Keokuk Railroad, often called the "Ram's Head" because of its proposed odd shape. The line was to proceed from Dubuque southwestward to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and then easterly to Keokuk. (2)

In 1848 Congress passed an act donating alternate sections of land to the Dubuque & Keokuk Railway; this was the first Dubuque county land thus granted. It became known in Dubuque that monopolies to keep the prices at up-river points high existed at St. Louis and that the boat lines were in collusion with St. Louis to extort large revenues from Dubuque and other up-river points. During the late 1840s many railway projects were considered by large and enthusiastic mass meetings and conventions. (3)

In 1880 discussions were again held of a Dubuque-Keokuk connection. It was believed that topography would allow a fifty-car loaded train to be pulled north and south as easily as a thirty-car loaded train moving east and west. This would, if correct, lessen the cost of transportation and make reaching seacoast terminals quicker. A railway would also make accessing the coastal regions easier as the shallow water of the Mississippi south of New Orleans could be avoided. (4)

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Source:

1. Donovan, Frank P. Jr. Iowa Railroads Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, p. 183

2. Ibid.

3. Oldt, Franklin T. History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Online: http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/franklin-t-oldt/history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl/page-27-history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl.shtml

4. Ibid.

5. "Track Topics," Dubuque Herald, February 1, 1880, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18800201&printsec=frontpage&hl=en