ANNUAL KEPORT—COMMERCE. 
71 
long deferred and important enterprise will now be carried for¬ 
ward without further unnecessary delay. The charter is one 
of the most liberal that the legislature has ever granted to any 
corporation. One of its provisions authorizes the cities, towns 
and counties on the line of the road to give it such aid as they 
may deem necessary to secure its construction, and as the peo¬ 
ple of the eastern part of the state are thoroughly aroused to 
the importance of the road to them, and its unquestionable val¬ 
ue as a great channel of commerce, and have repeatedly ex¬ 
pressed in the most emphatic manner their desire to aid it 
with their influence and money, there is no doubt the road can 
be built without any material foreign assistance. It is the in¬ 
tention to organize the company and commence work as soon 
as the necessary preliminaries can be accomplished. 
“ This road will be a most important addition to the great 
net-work of railroads radiating from Milwaukee, extending, as 
it does, through a productive and populous region, almost to¬ 
tally unsupplied with railroad facilities, and forming a much 
shorter line to the Fox riVer and lake Superior than any other 
route, existing or prospective. It will shorten the distance be¬ 
tween Chicago and Gihen Bay eighty to ninety miles compared 
with the Northwestern.” 
'‘’‘Milwaukee and Northern Illinois Railroad .—The subject of 
a southwestern railroad has long been a favorite project with 
our citizens, and while the acquisition of the Western Union 
Eailroad and its connection with the old Prairie du Chien 
road, by the construction of a track from Elkhorn to Eagle, 
will, within a few months open a new line of railroad from 
Milwaukee through the productive counties of southern Wis¬ 
consin and northern Illinois to Savanna and Rock Island, our 
attention is now called to an equally important line of commu- ■ 
nication in a more easterly direction. An energetic effort has 
been made to awaken sufficient interest in the matter, to se¬ 
cure the construction of the Milwaukee and Northern Illinois 
Railroad, upon the grading of which, about one hundred 
thousand dollars were expended some years ago; and in view 
