New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1857-01-20
Z, sc n, Pacific RAILROAD.

r1psr aSyr AL REPORT or BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
We are in possession of copy of the First Annual
Report ii the Board of Directors of the Southern Pa
cic Railroad Company, and as it is matter of gen
eral public interest," we have made the following bret
synopsis of it:
This company was created in 1852 and it was char
tered by Tie State Of Texas under the style of the
Texas Western Railroad Company y which was
afterwards changed by an amendatory act to the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company Its charter
authorizes it to commence railroad "at suitable
point on the eastern boundary iine'' of the State
:" and thence running by such course assad company
shall decree and determine to be most suitable to Ell
Paso on the Rio Grande.s
The prices of transportation for passengers and
freight are not to exceed five cents per mile for the
former and ten cents per ton per mile for the latter
The State grants eight sections Of land for every
mile of railway completed to which the company be-
come entitled wheneyera section of five miles
shall be placed in running order. and this, in 1854,
was increased to sixteen sections 5s r #.
The 18th and Goth sections require that twenty
miles Of the road be completed by the 10th of Febru
ary 1885, and grant roadway of the publicland 200
feet wide, and as much more may be necessary for
stations, depots etc. also providing that whenever
the road or its branches shall pass through the public
lands said lands to the distance Of three miles from
the extension line of the track on each side shall be
reserved for the State, from and after the time the
track snail be surveyed. s
By an act of the Legislature in 1856, the company
became entitled to loan of Sc 900 per mile for every
| mile constructed when ten miles shall have been
| finished and ten more graded. The loan is for ten
years at six per cent interest payable annually, and
secured by Il lien upon the road and its equipments.
| 1t is taken from the permanent School Fund, thus
uniting the interests of railroad improvements with
| those of education. Eg,c79a
No railroad enterprise in the country has been Of
fered by any State government the Inducements that
are offered by Texas for the prosecution of this work
large portion of the grading Of the first ten miles
has been done, and it is expected that it will be fin
ished and the crosstes put by the LIST of February
There is no danger Of the non-fment o. the terms
of the charter, as the means are already provided
for the construction OF the first % miles, be paid
the estimates of the engineer fast required for
vigorous prosecution of the work.
The report proceeds to speak of the causes which
have induced Texas to offer such liberal encourage
ment to railroad enterprise within her borels the
principal of which are the necessity of creating
markets and means of transportation for her produce
and the commanding commercial position which the
completion of this great work through her territory
and its connection with the railways extending from
the Gulf coast will give her. The report says:
By reference railroad will be that the rail
lines he eastern border Of Texss II appears Il wont Cong
cert or agreement but impelei as il were by in
companies He Western and southern States have given
iempiated national tloroughfare through Texas
The is apg Ct he @ of
Meeting the and Western states and consequently of The
sfat IN e
aa. bs1s vii s e 9 Se to no and Of
railroad Which, eomieneig at one Of the best ports The
Company al lie city q Masa and thence to Fulton thus
uniting the Southern Pacific RAILROAD with the railroads
leading to the Atlantic cities in the Sorsheastern sa;es
The commerce of New Mexico, now conducted
through Missouri is estimated at five millions and it
is expected by the company that when this road shall
be completed it will Immediately become the channel
of this trade The length of the road from the eastern
boundary of the State to FL Paso will be 1888 miles,
and the report also confidently predicts that the
travel and the mails to and from California must pars
over it. 1t states that the journey from New York to
San Francisco-when the Vicksburg and Shreveport
railroad shall have been completed might be per
formed over this route the Island of Tiburon and
across the peninsula of Lower California, in about
twelve days. at cost of about 1925. The lowest
j. ay,aI
this, with the transportation of the mails at $500
per mile, would afford the road yearly revenue OF
i $4,l49,900. sa ~
When the road reaches FL Paso it opens COMMUNE
cation with Chihuahua, one of the richest of the
Mexican States in popu laton and mineral wealth.
The report estimates that its commerce and passen-
ger traffic will quadrupe that of New Mexico, reach
ing $1,951500 Coal exists all along the line Of the
route in great abundance and perfection; it is easy of
access, and is found in conjunction with limestone
and iron Of the best quality and in inexhanstble
quantities In boring for water on the Llano Esta-
cado, deposits of the richest mari and gypsum have
been discovered, and these minerals are expected to
form the bases of extensive traffic over the road
To sum up, the report estimates the aggregate
amount Of traffic which may be looked to as source
of revenue on the completion of the road to Ell Paso
at SO Ills, SIT, on an estimated expenditure of $l4-
6sl, l3s Deducting one!illt this gross income for
superintendent ana REPAIRS. and there remain
$4,556,93S so as the net earnings of the road per
annum, or revenue Of mere than 50 per cent
Valuing the land grant of S,0l7 600 acres for 1888
miles of road at S. per acre, and it produces of
$4O0s9G00, surplus, after paying for the road, of
$25,45S, 462.
The report then proceeds to consider the immense
results likely to follow the establishment of so superior
transit route from the Atlantic to the Pacific
shores The surveyed route Of the road passes nearly
through the centre of the Gadsden purchase, and
approaches the richest silver mines in the world,
proved so by ncontestibe evidence. The opening of
this road will afford facilities which must give very
great impulse to mining and all other pursuits in
Chihuahua and New Mexico. Its extension to Sonor,
says the report, will undoubtedly produce an effect
on all the industrial pursuits of the people Of the
United States, and on the commerce of the world,
quite equal to that which followed the discovery of
gold in California.
The necessity for rapid and easy communication
between Great Britain and her valuable possessions in
Australia will this route to be &!itued by her
for all others. The length of the voyage from Liver
pool to Sidney by the British screw steamers is ex-
peced to be IS days. The report says it be made
over this route via San Diego in 50 days and makes
,oln ,1,tin tl,,,c