The favored railroad reached Janesville.

The evidence

• “Its favorite road was started from Chicago on the wide (six feet) gauge, and so constructed seventy miles to Sharon on the Wisconsin state line. This was changed to the usual (four feet, eight and one-half inches) width, and the work was vigorously pushed, reaching Janesville in 1855 and Fond du Lac in 1858. The Rock River Valley Union railroad company had, however, built about thirty miles from Fond du Lac south toward Minnesota Junction before the consolidation took place.”

  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