Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1848-07-19
Dubuque and Keokuk Rail Road.

House OF REPS. WAsH1NGroS,
May 10th lS48.
To the Hon. Mr.. Collan4er,
Chairman Com. on Public Lands,
SIR: Permit me again to call your at
tention to a memorial of the General As
sembly of the State Of Iowa, asking
grant Of land to aid in the construction of
a Railroad from Dubuque: via Cascade,
Marion. Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Wash
ington and Mt. Pleasant, to keokuk, on
the Mississippi river. This memorial
was passed by the Legislature at its late
session, by a unanimous rote--was enclos-
ed to me as one of the Representatives Of
the State, and Immediately on its reception
presented to the House and referred to
your committee.
The business Of your committee is, |
am well aware, pressing and laborous,
but | earnestly hope that you will find
time to give this subject that deliberate
consideration which its Importance de-
rnands, and which the people of my State
so anxieusly expect.
do not wish in this communication to
enter into any argument in favor of the
measure proposed in the memorial. That
will be more appropriate at another time;
yet cannot forego the opportunity to
state briefly some facts which may be of
advantage to the committee in its delibera-
tons.
A glance at the map of the State cannot
fail to satisfy the committee Of the entire
practibility, as well as the great inpor-
lance of the proposed improvement, and
all experience teaches that the Geaeral
Government is amply remunerated for
judlcious grants for such purposes, in the
enhanced value of her unsold lands, and
the facilitation Of their sale and settlement.
This, | feel warranted in saying, will be
especially true of the case now under
consideration, should Congress see fit to
make the grant asked for. The route Of
the proposed railroad will connect two of
the strongest points in the State-Dubu-
que and keokuk-and lies in its entire
length through one of the most fertile re-
gions in the Mississippi valley, capable
of sustaining as dense population as any
other portion of the United States. Con-
Meeting the agricultural districts ofthe i'll
terror, and the rich and inexhaustable
mineral districts in the northern portion
of the State, with the Mississippi below
the natural instructions to the navigation
OF that river, presented in the two chains
OF rapids between Keokuk and Dubuque.
and thus forming cheap and expeditions
outlet to market for the surplus produce
and mineral wealth of the country, the adj
vantages resulting to the country from
the proposed railroad cannot easily be es-
tlmated. For the want of such a con-
Meeting link of communication, large bod
les Of very rich land must necessarily
remain unoccupied for a long series Of
years; the main, if not the only obstacle
to the rapid sale and settlement of the
public lands in that region, being the
great difficulty and heavy expense attend
ing the transmission of the surplus pro-
dsIce to market.
by devoting moiety of the public
lands within given limits to the improve
ment under consideration, the balance
would readily sell for at least as large a
sum IN the aggregate as the government
will ever, without such an Improvement,
realize from the whole of them. In sup
port of this proposition, it is only ncces-
sary to allude to the fact that the farmers
Of certain counties and neighborhoods,
assembled in public meetings, have DELHI
erately, by resolutions, declared their
Willingness to subscribe to the amount of
half the assessed value of their farms for
the purpose of securing so valuable an i'm
provement, sensible that it would proper
tionably enhance the value of their prop
erty. Shall the General Government be
less liberal and less wise in her policy
with regard to her vast domain lying with
in the borders of an infant state, than the
hardy pioneers of the West, looking to
their own individual interests in the de-
velopment Of the resources of the coun-
try? 1n