St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1857-07-23
For the St. Charles Republican Intelligencer.
The McGregOr Railroad.

The McGregOr Railroad.
MEssRs. Ep1roRs The subject of the
construction Of the McGregor, st. Pc
ters & Missouri River Railroad is now
assuming degree of Importance
which demands of us our careful con
sideration. The Board of Directors OF
this company have secured the servi
ces of E D. Clinton, Esq, Of Wiscon-
sin--have made him the Acting Direc
tor of the company, and sent him into
the country fully empowered to re-
ceive subscriptions to the capital stock
of the company, and to represent .Ae
interests fully before the peore along
the line.
The company i~ Low organized with
GOOD uo.,lhg Board of Directors
and oe,uers, made up of the best and
..,st reliable business men of our own
State and the States of Wisconsin and
New York, one of their number, the
Hon. John o. Wright, of Schenectady,
being prominent among the most up
right business men of New York. As
basis Of action, the Board of Direc-
tors have passed the subjoined resolu.
tion:
Whreas, This Boardregards it of vi
tai Importance to the interests of the
road that the best possible line from
McGregor be selected, therefore
Resolred, That the engineers be in
structed to examine with care and
minuteness the projected northern,
southern and middle routes, to some
common point west, and report to this
lent"
This resolution, it will be seen, pro-
vides for the immediate survey of these
routes, west from McGregor to COM
mon point somewhere west of the
bluffs of the Turkey river the north
ern route running through the country
at or near Fort Atkinson the middle
route striking Turkey river at some
point at or near Clermont, and from
thence up that river to the mouth of
Crane Creek and southern route
striking Turkey river below Clermont
and running up "Otter Greek" to West
Union, thence west to some common
point from which the survey can be
carried in line west to the Missouri
river. 1t is expressly understood, and
such are the conditions of all subscrip-
IONS to the stock of the company, that
nsst III n~ king the location of the line
Wesl, S. 'ne "mount of subscriptions at
inherent poiii'. is to be taken into
Consideration, togoher with the busi-
ness tributary to the .,ad as we'll AS
directness and feasibility or ~onstrnc.
tion. The country west of the n.-nth
of Crane Creek is such as seems u
present no serious obstacle to the
cheap construction of road to almost
any desirable point.
In the adoption of a policy for the
building Of this road, it seems to me
the Board of Directors have been sin
gularly fortunate in the connection
herewith of their so called "Land
Scheme" The project has been adopt
ed for the accomplishment of two pur-
poses, Of the highest Importance that
Of insuring more speedy construc-
tion, and making it the more certain to
pay largely to the stockholders.
The scheme is substantially this !:
The company propose to Congress to
withhold for limited time, from mar
ket, a certain amount of lands along
the line of their road, subject to selec-
ton and entry, by the company, at
government price, such quantity as
they may wish to complete their road
to the Missouri river One-half the
money subscribed to the stock of the
company, and paid in, to be used in the
purchase of these lands which are to
be held until the road is completed to
them, and then sold at the advanced
price consequent upon the building of
the road, for the benefit of the stock
holders of the company,--each stock
holder sharing in the profits of the sale
in proportion to the amount of stock
he holds. The remaining half Of the
money received on subscriptions to
stock is to be used in the construction
of the road.
Pending, however, the action of Cen
gress upon this matter, it is proposed
to purchase for stock, low priced farm
ing lands along the line of the road,
to be held and sold in the same manner
as above
In considering this matter, the ques-
ton naturally enough arises to the
mind of every one, will this road pa::
Among the multiplicity of psJss p;S ns
pressed upon our notice, w. .,,r ;a.a,o.. .s ue
the best one? and is j. '"i oui '"'eieS'
to hui build this rossss ro.ssss of all the railroad
Inc eeApSssest is, that all east and
,"s.. 'on "haioads. well located and con-
'@S6cted with good economy, are pay
ang roads-the stock, aside from the
collateral benefits and advantages
accruing from the rise of real-estate,
the facilities Of a market, &c, which
are OF no inconsiderable moment, is
good investment but when those col
lateral advantages are made to ac-
crue directly to the company, will not