HISTORIES: "The Coming of the Railroads" to Barron, Barron County, WI ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Linda Mott 25 June 2000 ==================================================================== The Coming of the Railroads An old saying declares; "Twenty miles from a railroad civilization goes back one hundred years". No doubt this saying was true up to forty years ago. The coming of automobiles and trucks along with good roads have made this saying obsolete. In 1882 the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha railroad built their tracks through Cameron and northward to Rice Lake and Spooner. Later this railroad reached Superior and Duluth. Barron was then only six miles from a railroad. One day, about the third week in July, way back in 1884 there was much celebration and rejoicing in Barron. On that day, track laying crews working east from Turtle Lake reached Barron. This "Soo" railroad gave Barron rail connections with St. Paul and Minneapolis and later on with points to the East. The first depot was built on 7th Street. In those early days a railroad was of tremendous value to a community. It meant that vital supplies could be bought in quickly and cheaply. On the other hand whatever products a community might have for sale could be shipped out to markets where these products were needed. No wonder that states, counties and settled communities offered inducements of great value to railroad companies in an effort to get them to build railroads where they were so desperately needed. In 1900 the Menomonie, Dallas and Rice Lake Railroad laid tracks from Barron to Ridgeland. This railroad known for years as the "Blueberry", is a branch of the "Soo" railroad. It was especially important to the villages, Hillsdale, Dallas and Ridgeland, to the south ofBarron. About 1908 the substantial Soo depot which is located along the tracks east of N. Third Street, was built. A few weeks ago the last passenger train passed through Barron. Automobiles and buses have made the passenger business on hundreds of trains a losing proposition, for many years. A sawmill cannot be operated without logs, --passenger trains cannot be run without passengers. Today, railroads may seem far less important than they were some fifty years ago. This is no doubt true. However, we must never forget the tremendous part they played during the development and growth of this nation of ours. The incredible and amazing achievements, in this state and nation during the past one hundred years, would not have been possible without railroads. --From the Souvenir Historical Album of the Barron Centennial-1960 (used by permission)