Beginning in the 1830s the Mississippi River was the main transportation route along the upper Mississippi River. La Crosse was no stranger to this practice. Low draft steam boats sail up and down the Mississippi transporting agricultural products, people, and more important the majority of goods required by the towns along the river. In 1840 boat traffic on the Mississippi accounted for more than 50 percent of the nations registered tonnage. (A, 43) However, the success of the river was short lived. As railroads began to intersect the nation they subpanted riverboat traffic as the largest and cheapest freight carrier in the Untied States. In early 1871 La Crosse was connected to the railway system. By the 1880s, railroads were dominant mode of transportation in and out of the coulee region. In order to combat the death of transportation on the Mississippi Congress commissioned the construction of a 5 foot channel from the Ohio River to Minneapolis. (B, 38)