Railroading gave the first impetus toward Babcock’s settlement as Remington, on the west bank of the Yellow River, was abandoned in favor of this site when the railroad made Babcock a division point and two lines merged just west of the river. Babcock reached national prominence on August 11, 1910, when this junction became the site of a wreck involving a circus train and a passenger train as both vied for the junction; the circus train got there first, but the passenger train ran into it, demolishing several circus cars, killing and injuring several circus animals, and letting other exotic animals escape in what became an elephant hunt, while several of the animals were buried nearby. Babcock is also noted as the site of the last known natural sighting of a passenger pigeon, an extinct game bird whose migratory flights in the 1800’s darkened the sky for several minutes as the birds passed over; the last passenger pigeon was killed here in 1899. After the passenger pigeon’s demise, prairie chickens flourished, and the area became noted for its abundance of these birds, drawing special trains of hunters, including Wisconsin’s Governor J.J. Blaine, who once chartered a special train. Cranberry processing later replaced railroading, deer hunting became more popular than bird hunting, and Babcock remained a small, stubborn community that refused to pass into oblivion.