While it may have been charged at times that Iowa was slow in getting in touch with railway builders, it must be borne in mind that the first railroad to be built in the United States upon which a steam engine was used was constructed in 1829; but very little was done until about 1833-34. By 1835 there were not over 100 miles of road in active operation within the confines of the entire country. Up to 1841 not a mile of track had been laid in any of the following states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan. By the end of 1848 there were only twenty-two miles of tracks laid in Illinois, eighty-six in Indiana, and none in Wisconsin or Missouri. Traffic so far had been exclusively by river, lake, canal, or in wagons. Much money had been expended in opening up rivers for steamboat traffic and more or less had been voted to build roads and dig canals. But over such a large stretch of country it was impossible for the nation to do much. As early as 1837 many citizens of Iowa and others began to agitate for a transcontinental line of railroad to run from the Atlantic states to the Pacific, and for a grant of land by congress for this purpose. Asa Whitney, of New York, an able and public spirited man, had written much in the papers proposing such a project. There was of course at that time more or less speculation as to just where such proposed railroad might pass. The southern senators proposed a road through St. Louis and across Missouri to Kansas. There was a spirit of rivalry at this time. When Chicago began to get its growth the far-sighted people of that city saw that it would be in the interests of Chicago to have the line go directly west and through Iowa, and thus cut out a dangerous rival. The Chicago press henceforth always favored a direct route through Iowa. As early as 1838 G. W. Jones, then delegate in congress from Wisconsin, secured an appropriation of $10,000, which was expended in making a survey from Lake Michigan through southern Wisconsin. Now the people of Iowa became active. They wanted a railroad from the lakes west, and this could only be secured by public or state aid. The legislature of 1844 joined in a petition to congress asking a grant of public land to the Territory of Iowa to aid in the construction of a railroad from Dubuque to Keokuk. The grant was to consist of alternate sections extending five miles in width on each of the proposed roads or its equivalent in adjacent government lands. During the winter of 1844-45 a convention was held at Iowa City where nearly all the counties of the territory were represented by wide-awake young men in the interest of this railway promotion. Several proposed lines were agitated and as some of these lines did not start at any place and went to no place many of these projects failed.