Paxson—Early Railways of the Old Northwest. 267 
ville, Cairo, Illinoistown, Alton, Quincy, Warsaw, Burlington, 
Rock Island, Dunleith, Prairie du Chien, and La, Crosse. In 
less than fifteen years modern life had ripened to maturity 
within the Old Northwest. 
TABLES ILLUSTRATING THE RAILWAYS OE THE 
OLD NORTHWEST BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR. 
There are two reasons why entire accuracy cannot he attained 
in preparing schedules of annual railway construction. In the 
first place, the terminal points for the several years cannot al¬ 
ways he determined. Statements that a line is in operation 
may mean that (a) a track is huilt, (h) that a construction 
train has run over it, (c) that a pleasure trip has been taken 
in the cars, (d) that a construction train carries occasional pas¬ 
sengers and freight, or that the line (e) is operated regularly 
on a fixed schedule. In the following tables the last meaning 
has been regarded as the test, and followed wherever possible ; 
but in a few cases there is uncertainty whether a given sec¬ 
tion should be placed in one year or the next. In the second 
place, distances between terminal points are only approximate. 
The railroads in their own reports occasionally give varying 
distances between the same points. Present distances cannot 
be trusted because nearly every road has straightened out and 
shortened its line since 1860. These tables rely chiefly on the 
distances given in time-tables and travelers’ maps, but since 
the time-tables often give, on the same page, varying distances, 
editing has been necessary. It is believed that these are more 
nearly accurate than any other tables now in print, but they 
must be regarded as subject to changes in detail. In general, 
the totals are very nearly correct. Corporate names were 
changed so frequently that it has been impracticable to follow 
them in all cases. 
