Editorial from Neenah or Menasha local newspaper (probably 1850s) decrying the sad state of affairs regarding a decent route from the Neenah-Menasha area to points north and east. With the advent of the railroads along the western shore of Lake Winnebago and LLBDM during the 1860s, this became more of a non-issue. But for this early period, when water travel was THE way to go due to the wretched condition of overland routes, a bridge connecting Neenah and Menasha was surely a necessity.
This article is a bit confusing if you don't understand Neenah and Menasha in the 1840s or 1850s. Reed's Dam is now called the Menasha Dam, which is located on the "northern outlet of the lake." Today, we'd call this the northern branch of the Fox River on the north side of Doty Island in Menasha. The "southern outlet of the lake" is what we'd call the southern branch of the Fox River on the south side of Doty Isalnd in Neenah. Notice that there is no mention of the Lawson (or Government) Canal, which implies that it hadn't been dug yet. By the way, it's difficult to imagine, but it took a while for somebody to build a reasonably good, reliable North-South road across Doty Island to connect Menasha with Neenah.
ReplyDeleteOshkosh True Democrat Jan. 11, 1850. I would have bet a lot of money that was from the 1840's.
ReplyDeleteDon Nussbaum
Oh, and the Aug. 25, 1851 Democratic State Register says the bridge was completed, linking Neenah and Menasha.
ReplyDeleteDN