Local railroad history subject of upcoming Lee County Historical Society program

DIXON – Historian Mike McBride will lead a program on local railroad history and the Cherry Mine Disaster at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, at the Lee County Historical and Genealogical Society, 113 S. Hennepin Ave.

Admission to the program is free.

McBride’s program will focus on the La Salle and Bureau County Railroad, one of the last of the steam-era short lines in the area.

The railroad was built in the 1870s to connect a zinc mill in La Salle with nearby mainline railroads. During that time, La Salle had the largest zinc mill in the country.

The railroad survived after the mill closed by serving a few industries via a series of bizarre interchanges with five other railroads, an arrangement that lasted into the 1970s.

Prior to the Great Depression, some of the interchange traffic was from area mines, including the Cherry Mine.

The building is handicapped accessible; available parking is located nearby.

For information, call 815-284-1134.