| This thesis describes the development of transportation facilities in the upper Mississippi River valley in the pre-railroad era, approximately 1815 to 1860, and how the transportation history of this region differs from that of other areas during this period. This thesis examines the settlement pattern which developed in the upper river area stimulated by a lead mining boom in northwestern Illinois, southwestern Wisconsin and eastern Iowa. It reviews contemporary advances in transportation technology in the United States and the ways in which that technology affected this region. The study reviews the history of lead mining as it attracted settlement to the area and provided capital and freight which encouraged transportation development. It discusses the expansion of steamboating on the upper river and the demands for federal engineering and financial aid to improve navigation and remove hazards at the Des Moines River and Rock Island rapids. It demonstrates that for political and constitutional reasons that aid was sporadic and inadequate in this era.;In summary the study described how this region developed a distinctive transportation system based on its own physical setting, settlement pattern, natural and capital resources, applications of technology, and political climate in the pre-railroad era.;The thesis describes the financing and building of canals and artificial waterways to link the upper river with the Great Lakes basin, efforts which had only limited success. It describes federal roadbuilding activities in each of the four upper valley states, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, during their territorial periods. It shows how these federal efforts, deemed inadequate by settlers, always ended with the granting of statehood. The study details the efforts each territory and state made to provide a legislative framework for a network of common roads to serve internal transportation needs and connect settlers to markets and shipping points. It demonstrates how these networks had to depend on local resources since legislators provided little or no territorial or state money for road construction and maintenance. |
