In 1888, the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railroad bought the right-of-way to the land between the Clifton Inn and the Mississippi River, and soon a track was laid along the base of the bluffs from Alton to Grafton as the Bluff Line Railroad. Many local residents rode the Dinky, a small trolley car, to vacation spots at Clifton Terrace, Elsah, and Chautauqua. Before Lock and Dam #26 was completed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the 1930s, the Mississippi River at Clifton Terrace was narrower and faster than it is today, and Scotch Jimmy Island stretched from upstream of Clifton Terrace downstream to Youngblood Hollow at the east end of Clifton Terrace Park. Construction of Lock and Dam #26 for navigation created Alton Lake, and raising Pool #26 inundated the lower part of the island and widened the river there to nearly one mile across. The Great River Road was completed in 1944 from Alton to Riehl Landing, one mile upstream from Clifton Terrace, and in 1966 the rest of the road to Grafton was finished. This section was built as a scenic highway largely through the inspiration of John D. McAdams and was dedicated in his honor as McAdams Highway. The present Vadalabene Bicycle Trail occupies the right-of-way where the Bluff Line Railroad once operated and was built by the Illinois Department of Transportation in 1976 as a Demonstration Bicycle Trail for the State of Illinois.