BELMONT AND DUBUQUE RAILROAD COMPANY

BELMONT AND DUBUQUE RAILROAD COMPANY. By Act 25 of December 7, 1836, the Belmont & Dubuque Railroad Company was incorporated in Belmont, Wisconsin. Two of the commissioners were John Foley and Francis K. O'FERRALL, of Dubuque County. (1)

The act incorporating the Belmont and Dubuque Railroad Company authorized it to construct a single or double track from Belmont to the most eligible point on the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. (2)

            “The road to be operated by the power and force of 
            steam or animals, or any mechanical or other power.” 

The company was prohibited from holding or speculating in any lands in the Territory other than those upon which the road should run—or that might be necessary to operate the same. It was further provided that the company should not charge to exceed six cents per mile for carrying passengers, nor more than fifteen cents per ton per mile for transporting any species of property. (3)

In 1837 a group of investors including John PLUMBE, Jr. formed the "Louisiana Company" and for $15,000 purchased eighty acres of land along the MISSISSIPPI RIVER in Wisconsin from Payton Vaughn. Town lots were surveyed and the place was called Sinipee for the name of the hollow in which it was located. The investors expected that Sinipee would be chosen as the point at which the railroad would eventually cross the river. (4) It was Plumbe's plan to connect a rail line from Milwaukee to Sinipee, cross the river to Dubuque, and continue westward to the Oregon Territory. In February, 1837, books for subscriptions to the stock of this road were opened in Dubuque.

During the latter part of 1838 the route between Milwaukee and Sinipee was surveyed following a Congressional appropriation of $2,000. (5) A land boom occurred. Lots remote from the crossing were sold at between $500 and $1,000. In their first year, the investors sold new land owners $30,000 worth of supplies. In rapid time a brick yard, warehouse, shoe and cabinet shop, tin smith and school were established. As many as five steamers docked at the landing at one time. The prosperity of the community, however, ended quickly with "an epidemic of fever," Many homes were moved across the ice to Dubuque and by 1840 nothing remained on the town. (6)

Its provisions may be of interest as a matter of history, although the road was not built. (7)

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Source:

1. 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

2. Preston, Ruth Irish. "The Lyons and Iowa Central Railroad," The Annals of Iowa, State Historical Society of Iowa, Vol. 9, No. 4, p. 284

3. Gue, Benjamin F. History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Online: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/History_of_Iowa_From_the_Earliest_Times_to_the_Beginning_of_the_Twentieth_Century/1/15

4. "Two Old Rivals of City of Dubuque," Telegraph Herald, August 8, 1915, p. 18

5. Miller, Jim. "Dubuque Settler Plumbe 'Screams to be Recognized,' Telegraph Herald, September 29, 1974, p. 48

6. "Two Old Rivals..."

7. Ibid.