Railroads Create Change
Women railroad wipers
Women railroad wipers
Removing Snow From Tracks, Forest City, 1936
Train on Snow Covered Tracks, Forest City, 1936
Train on Trestle, Preston 
Train Crosses Viaduct at Boone
Passenger Train
Train Routes of Iowa, 2005
Loading Grain Onto Train, 2004
Steam Train Crossing Bridge 2004
Stagecoach Travel
Steam Train
Railroad Tracks Across Iowa
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Railroad Tracks Across Iowa
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Time Frame: 1856
Railroad tracks were laid from Council Bluffs to Iowa City in 1856. Four railroad companies created train lines that spanned the state of Iowa from the Mississippi to the Missouri rivers.
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Transcript
In 1856 the United States Congress gave the railroads almost 4 million acres of Iowa land, about 1/9th of the states area. The race was on. It was felt the first line to hook up with the Union Pacific in Council Bluffs would capture a large share of the national freight and passenger service. The first line to reach Council Bluffs was the North Western road in 1867. Two years later the Rock Island line reached the Missouri River; shortly after the Burlington came in third; finally the Illinois Central.
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