The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-08 00:00:00

THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.

The following is Mr. Benton's Bill to provide for
the location and construction of a central national
highway from the Mississippi River, at St. Louis, to
the Bay of San Francisco, en the Pacific Ocean :
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen-
tatives of the United States of America in Congress as-
sembled, That a district of territory one hundred miles
wide, and entending from the western frontier of Mis-
souri to the Pacific Ocean, and corresponding as nearly
as may be to the central.latitudes of the United States,
together with the revenue from lands and customs
in California, Oregon, Mexico, and Utah, so far as not
required for expenditure therein, shall be set apart
and reserved for opening communications with Ca-
lifornia, Oregon, New Mexico, and Utah, by
means of a central national highway from St. Louis
to the bay of San Francisco, to connect the
ocean navigation in that bay with a branch of said
highway to Santa Fe, in New Mexico, and a branch
to the tidewater region of the Columbia river, so as to
connect the ocean navigation at that point, and also a
branch to the city of the Great Salt Lake, if said
central highway should not in its proper course pass
that city, and a breadth of fifty miles shall be set
apart and reserved for the location and construction of
said branch roads respectively.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said
central national highway shall consist of a system of
parallel roads, adapted to different modes of travel
and transportation, and a margin for lines of electro-
telegraphic wires, whereof one common road and
one iron railroad shall be immediately opened and
constructed, and such other roads shall be here-
after opened and constructed as Congress from time
to time may authorise ; and in order that the said
national central highway may be constructed on a
scale commensurate to its importance, and adapted to
the wants of present and future time, and in order
to allow convenient space for all the parallel
lines of road which commerce and travel may
require thereon, a breadth of one mile shall
be allowed through the reserve of one hun-
dred miles, and the said branch roads shall
equally consist of a common road and a railway, and
such other roads as Congress may from time to time
authorize and direct, with a margin for a line of elec-
tric telegraph wires, and a breadth of 1,000 feet shall
be allowed through the reserve of fifty miles for such
branch roads each, respectively ; and each track for a
road shall be entitled to a space of 100 feet wide,
and the telegraph line to a space of 100 feet wide.
and when finished the said iron railway, or ways,
shall never be subject to any toll or tax beyond that
which may be necessary to provide repairs, and the
said common roads shall be forever free from any toll
or tax, alp shall be kept in travelling order by the
care and expense of the Federal Government, or the
local Governments, if surrendered to them.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Presi-
dent be authorised and requested to cause all the au-
thentic information in possession of the Government,
or in its power to procure, necessary to show the
practicability of a route for said central highway, to
be collected and digested into brief memoirs, illus-
trated by topographical and profile maps to be laid
before Congress as soon as possible ; also that he be
authorised and requested to cause further surveys
and examinations to be made, and the results to be
laid before Congress as soon as possible, and for that
purpose to employ as many citizen civil engineers as
may be necessary.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That as soon as
Congress shall fix upon the route for the said central
highway and branches, the President shall be, and
hereby is, authorised and requested to cause the In-
dian title to be extinguished upon a breadth of 100
miles, to cover the route of said central highway, and
also to extinguish the Indian title upon suitable
breadths covering the said branch roads; and the
location and construction of the central highway shall
immediately be commenced, both fur the common
road and the railway, and with a force calculated to
finish the common road in one year, so as to be pas-
sable for waggons and carriages, and the railway in
ten years.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That as soon as
the said common road is finished, the same shall be a
post road, and a daily mail carried thereon in wag
gons, or coaches, or sleighs, when necessary, at the
rate of at least 100 miles in 24 hours, and a daily
horse mail for light letters and printed slips, at the
rate of at least 200 miles in 24 hours.

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That as soon as
said railway, or any sufficient part thereof, shall be
completed and fit for use, the use thereof shall be
granted, for a limited time, to such individuals or
companies as shall, by contract with the Government,
agree.to transport persons, mails, munitions of war,
and freights of all kinds, public and private, in vehicles
furnished by themselves, over the same, at such rea-
sonable rates as shall be agreed upon. Provided,
that if other roads shall hereafter be constructed on
the ground reserved for roads by this Act, the same
company or persons shall not be allowed to have the
contract for transportation, or any interest in more
than one road at the same time.

Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That military
stations shall be established on the line of the central
highway and its branches, at such places as the Pre-
sident shall direct.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That donations
of land, to the extent of 160 acres, shall be made to
each head of a family, widow, or single man over
eighteen years of age, who shall be settled on the line
of said central highway and branches, and within the
bounds of the extinguished Indian claim, within
twelve months after the time of such extinction of
title ; and pre-emption rights, to the same extent,
shall be allowed to all similar settlers after twelve
months, and the residue of said reserved districts, ex-
cept gold mines and placers, and private claims or do-
nations of pre-emption rights, shall be sold, and the
proceeds applied to the construction of the roads.
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That the sum of
300,000 dollars, out of any money in the Treasury
not otherwise appropriated, shall be and the same
hereby is appropriated, and placed at the disposition
of the President, to defray the expenses of carrying
into effect the third and fourth sections of this Act,
for the collection and preparation of information and
the extinction of Indian titles necessary to the selec-
tion and location of the route for said central national
highway and branches.
Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That it shall
and may be lawful for the President of the United
States to contract with the Mississippi and Pacific
Railway Company for their interest in so much of the
said road as shall be within the state of Missouri, and
to purchase the same at a price not exceeding their
actual expenditure, the said purchase to be subject to
the ratification of Congress.
The Bill was read a first and second time by its
title, and referred to the Committee on Roads and
Canals, and ordered to be printed.