The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1855-05-19
nline,s Central Railroad Among the Prsph

nineis Central Railread.saul Among the Prsph-
Ever since the magnificent turn table,
bridge of the Illinois Central Railroad was
finished across Fevre rive at Galena, the
prophets of that city-and there are several
there resident-haye been predicting that the
Central Company would be bankrupt snow in
few days" These wise-acres know great
deal more about the affairs of the Central than
do Mr.. Griswold, the active and energetic
President of the Company Morris Ketchum,
the financial colossus of the directory or COL
Mason, the builder of the road and the Eng-
neer King Of the American Railway SYSTEM
These prophetic gentlemen are of a class to be
found in all communities where interest pulls
In one direction, and any one we'll concerted
and successful plan of improvement in the 9TH
Or. All these Galena prophets, when sounded,
are found to be "sore-headed," on account OF
the utter failure and subsequent death and bur
ial of the noted "Air Line" project, which fig
ures so prominently in the celebrated "investi-
cations" of a committee of the House Of Rep
resentatives at Washington, raised some nine
months since at the instigation of the worthy
member of the House from Galena. Had that
much-talked of $4,000 draft of Billings been
paid, perhaps the honorable member, and his
friend, Alvah Hunt, of the "Air Line" would
have had no cause of compl amt. 1t is posi-
bic, under that contingency, that the "Air
Line" might have been built, as far as Galena
at least, even if it had never entered the flaws
ofdeath '-Tete des Morts-on its way around
Dubuque to st. Paul. But the draft of Billings
went by the board !; the Air Line is as dead as
an old rusty mackerel; and whenever the Ga
lena Stockholders and dry nurses ofthe Moon
shine Air Line think of this sad historical fact,
they are beset with spirit of evil and fal ;e
prophesy against the Central Company, the
predictions of which are trumpeted forth 10
the world in the earnest and Jealous manner
we are taught by Holy Writ to expect in these
latter days.
These gentlemen are apparently honest, we'll
meaning men, and no doubt many of them are
They are at least sufficiently "smart" to catch
sucker" occasionally in the shape of live
editor from some important point abroad They
pitched into" us some three or four weeks since
the whole squad of them-in about five min
utes after we set foot upon their landing, and
tried hard to give convincing evidence of the
faith that was in them in regard to the speedy
failure Of the Central Company. We thought
them rather greedy set of monopolists, see
ing that they had a faithful organist already in
st. Paul-the Times-to be thus striving to
subsidize another of the presses of our six year
old city-which, by the way, contains larger
population than Galena ITSELF Finally. we
were compelled to tell an old and good-natured
Galena friend of ours that he had mistaken
tnepartlcular St.Paul editor in his purpose in re-
gard to this matter-that Newson, of the Times
was his man; and if he happened down that
way, just let him know all about the critical
condition of the Central Company, and he
would give the "cUssed monopoly" the finish
ing stroke.
1t appears we were not mistaken as we knew
we would not be. Neighbor Newson has Jour
neyed as far as Galena-perhaps to get his re-
ward Tor faithfully advocating Galena interests
the past year, to the detriment of st. Paul.
and under date of May 10th, he writes from
that busy little city to his paper as follows:
"The cars on the Illinois Central Railroad
passed over the new bridge for the first time
on Tuesday, for the purpose of TESTING it's
strength. The bridge appears to answer the
purposes for which it was designed"
OF course, the passage of the first train over
the bridge on the way to Dunleith, would set
the Galena prophets freshly agog. They doubt
less essayed to speak aloud at that particular
moment; and the spirit also entered into New
son, and brought forth the following audible
rappings:
"By the way, great deal has been said about
the wealth of the Illinois Railroad COMPANY
We have heard it surmised that this Company
ore not now, nor have they been paying their
expenses for some time past. AS soon as this
fact known and it must be made known soon,
as Tue st0ckhoiders are getting uneasy, the
stock will depreciate. What then becomes of
our magnificent bubble of a Railroad? Stand
rom under, you who have been duped into the
bellef that men who commit and sanction fraud
will build you railroad-w say stand from
under, for the whole gigantic swindle will vet
tumble to the ground There is q God in Is
raelr"
Tremble, oh Wall Street! The mighty Times
ofSt Paul has spoken! The great Illinois
Central Railroad, which is not yet finished, has
not paid expenses "for some time" Its seven
hundred miles of iron track is about to "bustu
the iron will be beaten into horse-shocs and
ten-penny nails, and its $780, acres of as
good farming lands as are spread forth in the
broad West-now selling rapidly at the aver
age rate of twelve dollars per acre, and going
OF in parcels amounting in the aggregate to
100000 acres per month-are to be shove
overheard" we suppose, into the middle Of
tne facihc Ocean. Dire calamity. that, when
tne Stockholders-who are the directors and
scarcely nobody else-come to learn from the
81. raul Times the condition of the cornora-
tion. Stand from under, Wall Street. We
telegraph you in advance, that the Times Of
May 18th will reach New York in due course Of
Mail, and in that Times-horrible to relate
the immaculate Newson knocks the Illinois
Central clear beyond all the space of time that
is to happen betwixt now and eternity. We
shall keep an eye to the stock market with un-
eeaslng anxiety until the arrival of the crisis.
r Seventeen thousand boxes of oranges
srrived in Boston last week. Since last Sen.
TENDER, 10000 boxes oranges, 10000 boxes le-
mons, and nearly 10000 drums of figs have ar
rived.