Boscobel developed along the Lower Wisconsin River where transportation networks converged. In the 1830s and 1840s, lead mining in southwestern Wisconsin peaked, and mining companies used the Wisconsin River to ship lead to the Atlantic coast via the Great Lakes and to St. Louis on the Mississippi River. When lead prices fell in 1847, river commerce shifted to the lumber industry. Thomas Sanders and Asa Wood first settled Boscobel in 1846 and began cutting and floating logs down the Wisconsin River. After the first successful steamboat trip up the Wisconsin River from the Mississippi River to Portage in 1834, Boscobel became a stopping point for steamers carrying goods and passengers to Sauk City and Portage. Some travelers also arrived by stagecoach, as a system of stagecoach routes linked communities and brought travelers to places like Boscobel, where they continued by other means. In 1849, a ferry service crossing the river near Boscobel was established and ran until the first bridge was built in 1874. In 1857, 192 miles of railroad track opened along much of the Lower Wisconsin River valley, beginning at Madison, crossing the river at Spring Green, Lone Rock, and Woodman, and ending at Prairie du Chien.