Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-03-24
The Proposed Minnesota Land Grant for Rail-
road from st. Paal TO Lake superior-Aeton
=. OF tie WISCONSIN Senator's,

B OIL tas WISCONSIN, Senators, ID
A violent partlzan newspaper in this Stat,
attacks our Senator'S in Congress for oppos
g the bill pending in the Senate to make
graut of lands to the Lake Superior and Mis-
sissippi Railroad Company in the State O
Minnesota, to aid in the construction of the
Railroad Of said Company from St Paul tc
Lake Superior
We had intended ere this to give some quo
tatlons from the debate'on the subject, as re-
ported in the Globe, to show the position OF
the Senators from this State. The Sentinel
having anticipated US in this we avail our
selves ofits summary.
The bill in question contemplates the en-
dowment of a company said to be created by
the Legislature of. Minnesota, with an amount
of lands stated by Senator Ramsay of that
State to be about 100000 acres, and by Sen
ator Howe of this State to be a quantity, per
mile, greater than Congress has ever made
Tor any private company, for the purpose of
aiding in the construction of the road referr-
ed to- The motion pending on which the de.
bate took place, was that of Senator DooIit-
tie that the bill be recommitted to the COM
mittee on public lands.
Sen. HOWE thought there were important
questions in connection whit which the com
mittee had not considered, one of the first of
which was whether teere was any such com
pany in existence as the one to which it was
proposed to give the lands. A company of
that name and nature had been created I'M
der the territorial government which had for
feited its privileges by non-user and the
State government was prohibited by its con
stitution from making any special laws for
such objects. The friends of the measure
however ayerred that there was such com
pany with a legal existence, but did not, nev-
ertheless, make it appear very clearly that
such was the fact.
Senators HOWE and DooLrTTLE both, how.
ever, opposed the bill on broader and higher
grounds. A grant of land had already been
made by Congress for the construction of q
road from Hudson to Lake Superior, with ter
mini at Superior and Bayfield,. 1t was com
planned that Wisconsin had done nothing with
the grant. Said Senator HOWE:
"Now, | need not remind the Senate what
difficulties have lain III the way of building
new roads since 1856. We have have had
one protracted season of great commercial
disaster, followed by pretty big specimen of
war, and we have not had much time to build
railroads. The railroad is not completed.
have heard it said here, l think carelessly
said, that it has not been commenced That
has not been said upon the authority of the
committee that reported this bill. | am in
formed that it has been commenced. | am
informed that individuals have put large sums
OF money into the construction of that road.
| am informed that twenty miles of the road
have been graded. l am informed that the
ties have been purchased for forty miles of
the road and that iron enough to lay twenty
miles of rail has been purchased and is to be
delivered in the coming spring"
The Senator then proceeded to show that
this proposed grant contemplated a road par
allel and but few miles distant from that
already established by the Wisconsin grant,
aud that 1t was actually no farther to Lake
Superior to connect St. Paul with Hudson,
the southern terminus of the Wisconsin grant,
by road some fifteen or twenty miles long,
than 1t was by the proposed route directly
from St. Paul, and that consequently they
were proposing to inaugurate rival parallel
road without even shortening the. distance
between the points from which they proposed
to start and to terminate the road. Said the
Senator:
Mr.. President, hope my friends who rep
resent Minnesota will do me the Justice tC
acknowledge that | am advocating no narrow
interest here. | simply find an enterprise
already on foot, endowed by the liberalty Of
the Congress of the United States, and through
the influence of that endowment the capital
of men invested in 1t to build a road running
right through the section of country through
which this road is designed to 90. [ say tc
the justice Of Congress, Keep your hands of
that The Senators from Minnesota say, dc
not do it, but on the contrary send into the
market an endowment exceeding that made
to the Hudson and Superior road by four sec
tions of land to the mile outbid in the mar
ket of the world the enterprise which yor
have already set on foot"
Senator HOWE continued:
Now, in anticipation of remark which
has been made aside repeatedly, that we are
rather iiiiberal when Congress has endowed
a road running through Wisconsin to oppose
q road running through Minnesota, / beg tC
say that think the State of Minnesota is, OF
the contrary, a little too ambitious. She has
. right to ask a great deal. | am ordinarily
inclined to give her everything she does ask
for; but in this particular instance she not
ok hat W. 40 10 n mt hin al
will kill road already in construction through
our State, but that we shall consent to the
cession of part of our State in order to give
them n terminus on Lake Superior within
their own State. They really ask of Wiscon
sin to stand silent while a grant is being made
to kill this road already in construction
through our own limits, and then to consent
TO grant to Minnesota the northern terminus
of the road, the town of Superior and the adj
jacent country, in order that Minnesota may
have the road run through her own limits anc
terminate within her own limits. Sir, | con
celve that this is asking a great deal of the
magnanimity of Wisconsin. Wisconsin claims
TO be magnanlmous, generous, bountitul; but
she really cannot afford to sit still and be
picked to pieces after that fashion, hope
this demand will be surrendered by my friends
from Minnesota"
Senator DooLmrLE urged similar arguments
IN regard to tie building parallel lines OF
road from St. Paul to Lake Superior, when
there was no necessity for more than one
He continued:
| desire to state another fact, to which l
wish to call the attention of the Senate. 1t
IS admitted that shortly after this grant to
the State OF Wisconsin there came on the
tremendous commercial reyulsion, from which
thew did NOT ST fl al in, +ba4 So,