A preliminary railroad survey in Wisconsin, 1857

Drawing on the author's diary, this narrative chronicles Andrew McFarland Davis's experiences as a member of an 1857 surveying expedition for a projected line of the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad from Portage, Wisconsin, to Lake Pepin. Davis himself was in charge of the expedition's level. From the camp near Silver Lake where it set out at the end of March, the team proceeded through Marquette, Waushara, Adams, Wood, Clark, Eau Claire, Chippewa, and Dunn Counties, changing the terminus for the proposed line as it went, and reconnoitering along the headwaters of the Red Cedar River with another survey team working from the other end of the line. On Tuesday, August 4, Davis's team took a keelboat from Eau Claire to Reed's Landing, and from there, a steamer to Prairie du Chien. The expedition reached its final destination on August 7, after more than four months of work. Davis describes the changing terrain as well as some of the journey's mishaps and discomforts, such as encounters with mosquitoes and gnats that seriously impeded his work. The book includes a map tracing the expedition's route.