Railroad Promotion of the Iowa Great Lakes Area
1975; University of Iowa; Volume: 42; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês
10.17077/0003-4827.11229
ISSN2473-9006
Autores Tópico(s)American Environmental and Regional History
ResumoLouis lolliet and Jacques Marquette were the first men of European descent to cast their eyes upon the land which eventually became the state of Iowa.This noteworthy event occurred during the early summer of 1673.White invasion of the region followed, but only haltingly.It was nearly three-quarters of a century after the War for Independence-in 1846-that it gained statehood.Even then the northwestern quarter of Iowa was sparcely settled; the Spirit Lake Massacre took place as late as 1857.After the Civil War, however, prospects for the area brightened.This resulted primarily from congressional grants of land to the McGregor & Western Rail Road-building westward from the Mississippi River across the top of the state-and the Sioux City & St. Paul Rail Road-designed to link the cities of its corporate namesake.Together these enterprises offered the promise of a strong rail grid for the area and they simultaneously served to draw a wave of settlers to it.Even before the SC&StP was completed in 1872 and before the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul (successor to the McGregor company) reached as far west as Spencer in 1878, people from the surrounding counties used the lakes of Dickinson County for fishing purposes and they freely predicted that Spirit Lake country eventually would become famous as a summer resort.'
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