The original Wisconsin Central Railroad Company was a major early railroad that operated throughout northern Wisconsin. It built lines up through the forested wilderness, and opened large tracts to lo
Wisconson Central Railway 1883 ad cropped
Wisconsin Central Railroad lands in 1881
Newspaper advertisement from 1883
The Wisconsin Central Railway Company was created in 1897 when the Wisconsin Central Railroad was reorganized from bankruptcy. In 1954, it reverted to the name Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. The
Wisconsin Central Railroad (1871–1899)
…and was bankrupt by 1879. It was leased to the Northern Pacific Railway from 1889 to 1893, and was finally reorganized from bankruptcy in 1897 as the Wisconsin Central Railway. By the time of the Civil War, the southern half of Wisconsin was somewhat settled. Much of the north, however, remained wilderness, including swaths…
Sheep are unloaded from the upper level of a Wisconsin Central stock car in Chicago in 1904.