RAILROADS. 



299 



United States. The railroads undertaken with the 

 aid given by Congress were the most important of the 

 period, or. more properly, the most important enter- 

 prises of the kind in the country's history. It was due 

 to their undertaking that such an unprecedented stim- 

 ulus was given to railroad construction ; and the panic 

 of 1873 resulted from the same cause as much as from 

 any other special incident. 



THE PACIFIC RAILROADS. 



The project of a railroad to the Pacific Coast was first 

 brought to the attention of Congress by Asa Whitney, 

 of New York, in 1846 (antedating by two years the dis- 

 covery of gold in California), in a memorial asking gov- 

 ernment aid for the building of a railroad from Lake 

 Michigan to Portland, Oregon. It is a remarkable fact 

 that this proposed route was substantially that followed 

 by Lewis and Clarke's expedition to the Pacific, which 

 was dispatched overland by Pres. Jefferson to examine 

 and report upon the newly acquired Northwest Terri- 

 tory, shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and 

 that which was later practically adopted by the incor- 

 porators of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. 

 Whitney's proposition to Congress was for aid in the 

 form of a grant of land on both sides of the proposed 

 road. He asked no subsidy or pecuniary guarantees 

 of any kind, relying upon his ability to dispose of the 

 land to provide the means necessary for the successful 

 prosecution of the work. His proposition was dis- 

 cussed in committee and in Congress, but his persistent 

 efforts met with no reward beyond these respectful 

 considerations. 



Renewed interest was given to the scheme by the gold 

 discoveries, yet all efforts to further the project were 

 unavailing owing to the widespread prejudices of that 

 time against granting his petition. For 2000 miles 

 this proposed route lay through the public domain. 

 According to a prevailing construction of the Constitu- 

 tion the nation was incapable of aiding such works or 

 of even granting charters for their construction. Con- 

 Iniwi-ver, yielded to the popular demands so far 

 as to appoint commissions to survey other routes for 

 national highways to the Pacific. The project continued 

 to be a prominent subject of discussion until by I860 

 public interest had been so thoroughly enlisted in it 

 that both political parties at their national conventions 

 in that year adopted resolutions in favor of granting 

 government aid to an enterprise of this character. But 

 the events immediately following the election of I860 

 forbade the consideration at that time of any enter- 

 prise involving so large an outlay of money. The out- 

 break of the rebellion established emphatically the 

 positive need of such a road as a war measure if for 

 no other purpose. The Pacific Slope was loyal and 

 the North, then in control of the government, deter- 

 mined to render that loyalty a matter of interest as 

 well o.s S(!ntimriit. 



On July 1, 18)2, Congress passed an act chartering 

 the Union Pacific Railroad Company, with authority 

 to construct and operate a railroad and telegraph line 

 from tin! Missouri River in the direction of San Fran- 

 cisco, or to a junction with the railroad of the Central 

 Pacific of California, a company already chartered and 

 organised under the laws of that State, and authorized 

 by the same act to construct a railroad through the 

 Territorial of the United States, so as to form, in con- 

 nection with the Union Pacific, a continuous line from 

 the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. The route 

 thus selected was one of those which had been sur- 

 vcyi-.l by direction of Congress. The act provided for 

 grants to both companies of right of way 2(M) feet wide, 

 over the public domain ; of alternate sections of land 

 within 20 miles of the lines of the two roads ; and of 

 the bonds of the United States bearing interest at the 

 rate of 6 per cent., payable in 30 years, and secured by 

 a first mortgage on the roads, the bonds to be issued in 

 ratio to the cost of construction of the several portions 

 of the two lines ; the amount finally issued being 



$27,236,512 to the Union, and $27,855,680 to the Cen- 

 tral Pacific. In consideration of these grants the two 

 companies were to complete their roads by July 1, 

 1876 : to transport troops, munitions of war, etc., for 

 the United States at rates as favorable as those charged 

 to individuals ; to allow the use of its telegraph on 

 similar terms ; to pay into the treasury of the United 

 States 5 per cent, of the net earnings of their respec- 

 tive roaus, and allow the government to retain the 

 whole of the charges for transportation on its account 

 the two sums so provided to be applied to the pay- 

 ment of the principal and interest as it accrued of the 

 government bonds. At the maturity of these bonds 

 the companies were to pay them, with such balance 

 of interest as might then be due. 



The act of 1862 did not secure its objects. The 

 Union Pacific Company was organized as provided, but 

 no one was to be found, as matters stood, to venture 

 money in the construction of this road. Upon such 

 representation. Congress, on July 2, 1864, amended 

 the act of 1862, by making provisions more favorable 

 to the companies, the chief of these being preference, 

 by way of security, to an amount of bonds to be issued 

 by both companies equal to those to be issued to them 

 by the United States, and providing that the govern- 

 ment should pay over to them one-half of the charges 

 for services on its account. Under such provisions the 

 two companies entered energetically upon the work of 

 construction, and united their lines May 10, 1869, an- 

 ticipating by more than seven years the time required 

 by Congress therefor ; the Union Pacific constructing 

 1 1 134. and the Central Pacific, beginning at Sacramento, 

 743 miles. 



The following statement shows the number of miles 

 constructed annually by each company, and the total 

 mileage for each year : 



Totals... 1,034 



743 



1,777 



The road of the Central Pacific was subsequently 

 extendt d from Sacramento to San Francisco, a distance 

 of 140 miles; the total length of line from the Mis- 

 souri River to that city being 1917 miles ; and from the 

 harbor of New York, 3322 miles. Its general direction 

 is almost exactly east and west, very nearly upon the par- 

 allel of 40, or that of New York, Chicago, Salt Lake 

 City, and San Francisco. 



A connection with the eastern system of railroads 

 had been provided in 1866 by the completion in that 

 year of the second line of railroad between the Missis- 

 sippi and Missouri Rivers, made up of the ChicagOj 

 Iowa, and Nebraska, and the Cedar Rapids and Missouri 

 River Railroad, which completed the connection be- 

 tween Clinton, Iowa (the western terminus of the 

 Galena and Chicago Union), and Council Bluffs, Iowa, 

 opposite Omaha (the initial point in the Union Pa- 

 cific line). 



The Northern Pacific Railroad Company, whose line 

 follows what is known as the Northern or 47th parallel 

 route, was the second company chartered by Congress 

 to build a transcontinental railroad. The charter was 

 granted July 2, 1864, and the company was authorized 

 to construct a railroad from Lake Superior to Puget 

 Sound, a distance of about 1800 miles, with a branch 

 from Puget Sound to the Oregon River, \ distance of 

 about 200 miles. By the act of incorporation the com- 

 pany was to receive the odd sections of government 

 lands lying within forty miles of each side of the line 

 of its road. With deductions for previous sales, water, 

 Indian reservations, i tc., etc., the grant, as estimated 

 by the Land UepaJtuient at Washington, equalled 



