Although Joseph Thompson Dodge resided in Wisconsin for a quarter century (1853-1863 and 1888-1904), and seems to have considered Wisconsin his home, his profession of civil engineering took him away from the state for long periods of time, and his papers pertain on their engineering side more to Minnesota and Montana than to Wisconsin.
Mr. Dodge's technical training was received at Dartmouth and the University of Vermont. At his graduation from Vermont in 1845, he obtained a position with a local railroad. He came west in 1849, and after being employed with the Illinois Central Railroad and in other engineering capacities, he became assistant to E. H. Brodhead of Milwaukee.
He later became engineer of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad, the line of which had been constructed as far as Milton in Rock County, Wisconsin. Under his supervision, the line was extended from Stoughton to Madison. In the summer of 1854, he assisted in locating the line from Madison to Prairie du Chien. In 1855, he located the line from Janesville to Monroe, and in 1856 and 1857, he had charge of the building of the road. (See E. B. Usher, Wisconsin, Its Story and Biography, VI, 1399-1400.) It is while the building of this road is in process that the first of the letterbooks begins.
