It established stations which would grow into a string of cities and towns between Stevens Point and Ashland, including Marshfield and Medford, and it connected these places to Chicago and St. Paul.

Much of the north, however, remained wilderness, including swaths of virgin timber[1] and deposits of iron ore. Treaties with Native Americans had placed most of this land in the hands of the federal government.

Logging of the white pine had begun along the rivers, where the product could be floated out, but some stretches of timber stood far from large enough streams for river-logging.

The British Province of Canada lay just across Lake Superior, and the War Department wanted the ability to move troops and supplies to the border.

[3] However, these stump-choked wagon roads would have transported war materials very slowly, so in 1864 the U.S. Congress offered similar land grants to encourage several proposed railroad-building projects from Portage up through the center of the state to Superior.

[8] None of these early railroad companies laid track, but their mergers provided corporate structure to move forward.

As corporate consolidation proceeded, Reed planned to build the first leg of the Wisconsin Central from Menasha to Stevens Point.

Interested in Wisconsin timber and iron ore, he could arrange the financing that Judge Reed's group needed.

However, Colby didn't know anything about building a railroad, so he brought in Elijah B. Phillips, president of the Lake Shore and Northern Indiana Railway.

That stretch from Menasha to Stevens Point was already somewhat settled, and Reed traveled up and down it raising support from the young towns that stood to profit from a rail connection.

The arrangement with Colby was that locally raised money would buy the right of way, clear and grade it, put in culverts and bridges, and provide ties.

Reed persuaded Menasha, Neenah, and Waupaca to each give $50,000 to the project, Stevens Point $30,000, Ashland $20,000, and other towns smaller amounts.

Beyond Stevens Point, the route passed through a wilderness of forests and swamps, with occasional camps of Native Americans, timber cruisers, and pioneer settlers.

This time, the Hooper, Boyle and Seymour Construction Company organized the road-building work, beginning March 18.

At the Wisconsin River just west of Stevens Point, a bridge-building contractor constructed a three-span Howe truss railroad bridge.

The railroad had originally planned for Bayfield, an existing town, to be the terminal on Lake Superior, but then decided Ashland was more suitable.

The general contractor on this stretch was Stoughton Brothers of Winona and supplies had to be shipped in through the Soo Locks to the new dock in Ashland, then up the track as it was built.

Captain Rich was in charge of this northern division of the railroad and his orders were to pay off the workers and help transport anyone who wanted to leave.

The city ended up calling in the Bayfield militia, which marched across the bay on the ice and put Ashland under martial law for ten days.

[20] Then, with 194 miles of track built, construction stopped again, leaving a 57-mile stretch of wilderness blocking the way to Lake Superior and the land grant money.