Author Cindy Wilson Presents: Tales from a Railroad Survey 1879-1881 at the Old Courthouse Museum

Author Cindy Wilson will present Tales from a Railroad Survey 1879-1881 based off of her book We Suffered Much: Charles Wood Irish and the Dakota Territory Railroad Survey 1879-1881 at the Old Courthouse Museum. Her book We Suffered Much puts context on why the Ingalls family left Minnesota and came to De Smet, South Dakota.
Surveyor Charles Wood Irish was tasked with mapping a route for the Chicago & North Western Railroad from Tracy, Minnesota to Deadwood in Dakota Territory. The work was both challenging and rewarding as the crew determined the route that is still in use today. Using photographs, historic documents, and drone images, this talk will delve into several vignettes from the two-and-a-half year project, including negotiations to obtain permission to survey across the Great Sioux Reservation. The talk finishes with a particular research odyssey involving the campsite where the men were caught by the October 1880 blizzard that kicked off the historic Hard Winter.