ng construction rr 1911 photos

Something interesting to share. Discovered this interesting photo collection on the web
site of the Wisconsin Historical Society.





These are views of the power dam construction site on the Wisconsin river at Prairie du Sac
in 1911 -1914. Appears that they had a neat little (less than 2 miles total) 3 ft gauge
railway/tramway set up across the river. Near as I can perceive, they hauled construction
materials and concrete from both banks out to points along the dam. From the west bank
they connected with a spur of the early Milwaukee Road.





There is a puzzle here. On a number of the photographs, the cars are referred to as 'electric cars'.
And the ng is referred to as the 'electric railroad'. However,no motive power is visible, except for work crews.
And throughout the ng photographs a third center rail is visible. So in what sense is this an electric railroad?
Could be as simple as the fact that the dam construction was for the power company. I am not sure how to
interpret all of this,but it is fascinating.





here's the search page:
www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/advancedSearch.asp


If the link is troublesome, search for images with Eberhart the photographer.

There are many more photos available. Some time I
will get over to the historical society and dig into
this further.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2007 08:44AM by gallon.