1854
The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad leased the Beloit & Madison road, which was built to Footville and placed in operation to Afton
The evidence
“The "Galena and Chicago Union Railroad Company" had built a branch of the Galena line from Belvedere to Beloit previous to 1854. In that year, it leased the Beloit & Madison road, and from 1856 operated it in connection with the Milwaukee & Mississippi, reaching Janesville by way of Hanover Junction, a station on its Southern Wisconsin branch, eight miles west of Janesville.”
1879-history-of-rock-county/04-wisconsin-railroads-commerce-health-statistics.md, PDF p. 173
Butterfield, C. W., et al. The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc. Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879. Cornell University Library via the Internet Archive, archive.org/details/cu31924028871585.
Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources
On the printed page (PDF p. 173) · open the whole page “A good man and team got from $1.25 to $1.50 a day and board yourself. The Beloit & Madison railroad was graded in 1854 to Footville. I put on that road 20,000 ties between Beloit and Afton.”
1908-brown-rock-county/06-history-of-beloit.md, Vol. 1, PDF p. 166 / book p. 150
Brown, William Fiske, editor. Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date. Chicago: C. F. Cooper & Co., 1908. 2 vols. archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon01brow, archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon02brow.
Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources
On the printed page (Vol. 1, PDF p. 166 / book p. 150) · open the whole page
