Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1852-03-23


ted by the Legislature, intended to meet the
wants of the Inhabitants of the section of coun-
try in question, but the financial embarrass-
ments Of the State prevented the prosecution
of the work at the time, and the projected road
was subsequently abandoned. Meanwhile, how
ever, the Detroit and Pontiac Railroad, under
chartered grant, to private company, was push
ed forward with energy and perseverance to
completion, between the two points named and
to that extent, penetrating the Northern coun-
ties, on the line of the route formerly proposed
and abandoned. Here the matter has thus far
rested, while the rapidly and immensely ncreas-
ing agricultural and commercial interests OF the
region beyond, have been, year after year, suf-
fering for the want of an outlet for the vast
products of the numerous and industrious pop
ulation, who have gone into and settled the tier
of counties stretching across the State, from
the County of Oakland to the county of Otta-
wa, lying on the extreme Western border Of
our peninsula.
Z" Some year or two since, the indications of
public opinion were so strongly in favor of the
continuance of the line from Pontiac, West,
that charter was granted 10y the Legislature,
under the name and style Of the Oakland and
Ottawa Railroad Company, with power to con-
struct road from the village of Pontiac, on a
route passing through the counties Of Oakland,
Genessee, Shiawasse, Clinton, Ingham lin which
it reaches Lansing, the capital of the State.
Eaton, lona, Kent and Ottawa to its terminus
at Grand Haven, at the mouth Of Grand River
on Lake Michigan. This route, considered by
all conversant with the country to be benefited,
to be the most feasible and practicable, and
eventually the most profitable, has already been
surveyed and operations will be begun upon it
so soon as the necessary means are secured, to
justify a commencement.
"That the anticipations of its friends as to
its usefulness to the public, and its productive
ness as profitable investment, will be abund-
antly realized, it needs only glance at the pop
uaton and products of the territory which it is
to traverse, to convince the most skeptical. BY
the last census returns, the country mention
ed, contained within u small fraction of l00,-
600 inhabitants, and produced in l849 near o.
100000 bushels of wheat, 100000 bbls. -four
and some 100000 bushels of corn, aside from
the various other articles of which an abundance
is always raised in a farming country. These
products will of course be increased in proper
ton to the constant increase of the population
OF the section referred to.
"With such claims and prospects, the Oak
land and Ottawa Road presents itself before
! Congress, for grant of land to aid in the con-
struction Of this great enterprise. The Cen
|
been the recipients of government benefactions,
and the Northern route asks only the extension
of similar favor The people Of Michigan
also unite in the application, and their wishes
will, we trust, be favorably responded to by the
national representatives The public press of
our State, we are glad to notice, are urging the
claims of the road to the favorable regards of
the public as well as the favorable action of
Congress- and, we believe, with good pros
pect of success.
"The unanmty Of the press in favor of the
enterprise, may be taken fair exponent of
its intrinsic merits, and Of the justice of the
claims put forth in its behalf. To these we can
do no better service than by quoting the con-
Guiding paragraphs of an able article upon the
subject, from our contemporary the Advertiser"
The entire length of this line of Road has
been settled within a few years by settlers who
have been invited thither by the excellence ofthe
SOIL abundance Of timber and water, and the
healthy and nvigorating character of the climate,
and its settlement has progressed, therefore, up
on the intrinsic claims of the country itself, and
not by aid Of the first dollar expended for its
benefit, except what was indirectly done by the
location Of the seat Of Government at Lansing
During ten years past while the process of set
Element has been going on in the counties west
of Oakland the hardy and industrious pioneers
have struggled with all the disadvantages hard
ships and dangers peculiar to such enterprises.
They have been visited by sickness, which is the
inevitable concomant of clearing land and fell
ing forests-they have been compelled to trans
port their provisions, stores, furniture, &C., thro'
the woods without practicable roads, and they
have been without market for that which they
have been at length enabled to raise, because
the expense of transportation thereto has eaten
up the product And now, after so many years
of trial and hardshps, through which they have
been sustained by the implied trust that legisla-
ton would at length come to their aid, and open
to them as it had for other portions of the State,
an avenue to the great commercial thoro' fares,
and by so doing, raise the value of the lands over
which they had so long toiled in pain and depr-
walton to n remunerating value; they present
themselves before Congress and respectfully ask
not that dollars be given them from the Treas
ury, but that Government will, by devoting q
portion of its surplus lands to the object desir-
ed, see fit to enhance and Quadruple the value
of the remainder, and thus accomplish the OBJ
ject necessary to their prosperity, without inju-
ry to any.
"It is no wilderness through which this road
is asked, but it is through blooming and fer
tile country, capable in two years after the road
shall be built, of sustaining it, and Of making it