Excerpt from History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The history of the settlement of the west can in many aspects be attributed to the coming of a railroad. To the first settlers the railroads provided the opportunities to link up with markets across the nation without having to travel far from their farms. The lines brought hope and change, but also brought crime and corruption. The story of almost every town west of the Mississippi can in some way be linked to the story of the railroad that serviced the area. These towns grew over the years in size and economic wealth as the amounts of trade and transport transformed the line into a funnel for economic progress. Though the railroads would eventually be challenged by trucking companies and personal automobiles, the business the railroads had help establish lead the community into the wealth they have today. In the northern Iowa county of Winneshiek, each town holds the perfect example of railroad successes and failures. Each town holds their own heritage, which can uniquely be associated with many other towns across the west. The heritage left by the railroads can be directly linked to the heritage of the western United States. To look at the history of us, we need to look into the founding of the railroads.