nd business naturally came the need of
greater transportation facilities, and the men to furnish them were not
wanting. John C. Burbank of St. Paul may be said to have been the
pioneer in that line, although several minor lines of stages and
ventures in the livery business preceded his efforts. Willoughby &
Powers, Allen & Chase, M. O. Walker & Company of Chicago, and others,
were early engaged in this work. In 1854 the Northwestern Express
Company was organized by Burbank & Whitney, and in 1856 Captain Russell
Blakeley succeeded Mr. Whitney, and the express business became well
established in Minnesota. In 1858-59 Mr. Burbank got the mail contract
down the river, and established an express line from St. Paul to Galena,
in connection with the American Express Company, whose lines extended to
Galena as its western terminus. Steamboats were used in summer and
stages in winter. In the fall of 1859 the Minnesota Stage Company was
formed by a consolidation of the Burbank interests with those of Allen &
Chase, and the line extended up the Mississippi to St. Anthony and Crow
Wing. Other lines and interests were purchased and united, and in the
spring of 1860 Col. John L. Merriam became a member of the firm, and
for more than seven years Messrs. Burbank, Blakeley & Merriam
constituted the firm and carried on the express and stage business in
Minnesota. This business increased rapidly, and in 1865 this firm worked
over seven hundred horses, and employed two hundred men.

During this staging period the railroads from the East centered in
Chicago, and gradually reached the Mississippi river from that point;
first at Rock Island, next at Dunleith, opposite Dubuque, then at
Prairie du Chien, next at Prairie La Crosse,--each advance carrying them
nearer Minnesota. The Prairie du Chien extension was continued across
the river at McGregor in Iowa, and thence up through Iowa and Southern
Minnesota to Minneapolis and St. Paul. In 1872 the St. Paul & Chicago
Railroad was finished from St. Paul down the west bank of the
Mississippi to Winona and was purchased by the Milwaukee & St. Paul
Company, and by that company was, in 1873, extended still further down
the river to La Crescent, opposite to La Crosse, which completed the
connection with the eastern trains. This road was popularly known as the
"River Road." Various other railroads were soon completed, covering the
needs of the settled part of the state, and the principal stage lines
eith