LA CROSSE COUNTY HISTORICAL SKETCHES freight, combined with such attrac- tions as speed, good food and amusements which would draw trade were the weapons used. In 1858 to protect themselves from competition the various com- panies formed a joint stock com- pany and arranged a regular sched- ule. This company was known as the Northern Line company, and also as the Galena and Minnesota Packet company. The opening of the Galena and Chicago railroad gave a great im- petus to steamboat travel. Previ- ously it was necessary to travel by horseback, stage coach, on foot or down the Ohio to the Mississippi. Now people could get on a train, ride to Galena, Ill., take a packet boat from there to any point on the Mississippi to which they wish- ed to go. In 1856 the increasing amount of business made the need of an ade- quate wharf at La Crosse felt. A German from the Rhine country, Valentine Dedinger, built the "Wil- low Wharf" which furnished the first and the best dock above, St. Louis. It had a 130 foot front and was 160 feet wide and 12 feet high. The German method of dock building was used. Bundles of wil- low twigs were woven together in such a manner as to keep the sand in and the water out. Each bundle contained about 100 small sprouts, and about 50,000 bundles were used. The willows were expected to take root and grow. The construction of railroads to Prairie du Chien and La Crosse fur- ther increased the traffic on the up- per Mississippi because of the re- sulting increased westward immi- gration. As the railroads all ended at the Mississippi it was necessary to change to steamboats there. The increased population also brought about a great amount of freight shipped, and, of course, more busi- ness. When the La Crosse and Mil- waukee railroad was completed in 1854 La Crosse became an increas- ingly more important factor in the packet business. Before that many passengers landed here from points elsewhere on the river, but few got on the boats. La Crosse now han- dled much of the up-stream pas-- senger and freight traffic from Chi- cago and other eastern points which had previously gone to Du- buque or Prairie du Chien. La Crosse had early been a steamboat point for all territory ranging from 50 to 70 miles east and west. Sup- plies were landed here and traded to the inhabitants of the surround- ing country. The coming of the railroad greatly increased this traf- fic, and the transfer of incoming passengers and freight from rail- roads to boat and the trans-ship- ment of grain from boat to rail- road made La Crosse for many years an important port. In 1859 the first of the Davidson companies was organized with headquarters in La Crosse. The company ran boats from La Crosse to St. Paul in connection with the La Crosse and Milwaukee railroad with which it had a contract. All of the Davidson lines were com- monly called the "White Collar" line because of the white band around the smoke stacks. A supply store, dock yards and sawmills were also run by the Da- vidsons. In 1876 the Davidsons be- came the sole owners of the boat yards and supplemented the build- ing and repair of boats with the manufacture of lumber. These were maintained after the steam- boat business had become chiefly rafting. DURING 1860-61 the Northern Line company was running in competition with the La Crosse and St. Paul line between this city and the Twin Cities. About the same time the Gelan river began to fill up with sediment, preventing steam- boats from running up to Galena in moderately low water. The North- ern Line then moved to Dubuque because the Davidsons had a mon- opoly on the passengers and freight from the La Crosse and Milwaukee railroad, which took a great deal of trade from the river south of La Crosse, making the Northern Line unable to compete successfully with the La Crosse and St. Paul line. Then, too, the water fell to so low a stage at times that the larger boats found it necessary to break cargo at La Crosse. Consequently, the two companies were merged, and the stock divided between them. In 1863 the La Crosse and Min- -32-