In July 1881 the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad built a branch line connecting Mazomanie with Sauk City and Prairie du Sac. It was completed in six months at a cost of $180,749, and by December 11 the first train on the west side of the Wisconsin River entered Sauk City. Typical service consisted of one coach, one baggage car, and several freight cars, and the train made the eighteen-mile round trip twice daily. In Prairie du Sac it became known as "Uncle Jake's Teakettle," named for Jacob Pugh, a local engineer, who drove the first train into Mazomanie in 1856 and who was later assigned to the branch line. In 1942 the line was extended from Prairie du Sac into the Badger Ammunition Plant north of that village, and a wye was added at Mazomanie so that trains approaching from east or west could go directly onto the branch line. The roadbed was rebuilt by the Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission in 1992 at a cost of 4.2 million dollars.