Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
FURROW, LONGEST CONTINUOUS
FURROW, LONGEST CONTINUOUS. Travelers on the prairie, where there were few landmarks, often lost their way. Determined to help them, Dubuque merchant Lyman DILLON hitched his five oxen to a heavy plow and plowed a deep straight furrow all the way to Iowa City. Although it never made its way into the Guiness record books, it is considered to have been the longest continuous furrow ever plowed--stretching the 89 miles between the two communities. Soon the tracks of wagons produced a well defined road, beside the furrow, and later Highway 1 followed almost the same route.