A portion of Wilbur Siebert's famous 1898 underground railroad map
WIUGRR "routes" show prominently in this map, including northeast from Quincy through the Military Tract counties to Princeton, the location of prominent operator Owen Lovejoy. The famous UGRR historian Wilbur Siebert produced this map by sending thousands of circular letters throughout the North, soliciting recollections of names, routes, and incidents. The research created a valuable historical archive, including five volumes of documents, now microfilmed, on Illinois. But Siebert's portrayal of a "widespread system" or "chain of stations" from the South to Canada, like an interstate highway or train network, is false. The underground railroad depended on local conditions, and lacked widespread support.
