St. Paul to Elroy (Eastern Division) The
West Wisconsin Railway was authorized in 1876 to build from St. Paul to the Chicago and North Western Railway at
Elroy, Wisconsin. It went bankrupt and was acquired in 1878 by the
Chicago, St. Paul, and Minneapolis Railway. Its main line from the junction with the
Great Northern Railway at St. Paul to Elroy, along with branches from it, became known as the C. St. P. M.'s Eastern Division.
St. Paul to Sioux City (Western Division) The Land Grant Act of Congress approved March 3, 1857, when Minnesota was still a
Territory and not a state, conferred on the then called
Southern Minnesota Railroad Company "lands, interests, rights, powers and privileges" for the proposed line of railroad from St. Paul via
Mankato, Minnesota, and other points named to the southern boundary of the state in the direction of the mouth of the
Big Sioux river. The
Minnesota Valley Railroad Company was organized in 1864 under an act of the Minnesota Legislature approved March 4, 1864. This granted to the new company the Southern Minnesota Railroad grant. , Minnesota, 1923 In 1869, the Minnesota Valley Railroad and Minnesota Central Railroad Company built a bridge across the Mississippi between Mendota and St. Paul at
Pickerel Lake. It was the predecessor of today's
Omaha Road Bridge Number 15. A freight house was constructed in St. Paul at the foot of Robert Street. The name of the company changed on April 7, 1869, to the
St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad. The railroad had reached Mankato at the bend of the Minnesota river, and left the river valley to reach
Lake Crystal, Minnesota. On October 1, 1872, the railroad was in regular operation from St. Paul through to Sioux City. This main line from Mendota to Le Mars became the St. Paul and Sioux City division, and eventually the Western Division. The C. St. P. M. & O. then purchased the St. Paul and Sioux City in 1881. The Omaha would go on to acquire the Menomonie Railway, the Sault Ste Marie and Southwestern Railway, the Superior Short Line Railway, the Watonwan Valley Railway, the Des Moines Valley Railway, the Chippewa Valley and Northwestern Railway, and Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, and Northeastern Railway.
Chicago and North Western In November 1883, control passed to the Chicago and North Western Railway Company. Union Pacific mainly uses the reporting mark on covered hoppers and coal hoppers.
Derailment The
Pikes Creek Tragedy was a derailment that occurred on October 2, 1884, on the Bayfield branch roughly midway between the towns of Bayfield and Washburn, Wisconsin costing the lives of 10 men and injuring several others. ==Disposition of lines==