The State Historical Society of Iowa invites you to join author and researcher Cindy Wilson as she shares portions of the adventurous story of an Iowa City native who went on to national acclaim.
Surveyor Charles Wood Irish was tasked with mapping a route for the Chicago & North Western Railroad from Tracy, Minnesota, to Deadwood in Dakota Territory, including the diplomatic task of negotiating access to conduct that survey across the Great Sioux Reservation.
The work was both challenging and rewarding as the crew determined the route that is still in use today. Using photography, historic documents, and drone images, this program will provide background on Irish and his family, then will focus on some highlights from the railroad survey.
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 of 1880-81.