Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-04-09

our Senators in Congress for oppos-
81 10 hill pending in the Senate to make a
=, Of lands to the Lake Superior and Mis-
..,i Railroad Company in the State of
sofa. - to aid in the construction of the
r.I-oad Of said Company from St. Paul to
Lie superior.
n. had intended ere this to give some quo
I'm. from the debate'on the subject, as re-
- in the Globe, to show the position of
senator's from this State. The Sentinel
INC anticipated us in this we avail our
.,rres Ofits summary.
The bill in question cOntemplates the en-
,,rment of a company said to be created by
!. legislature OF. Minnesota, with an amount
- lands stated by Senator Ramsay of that
s,,,e 10 be about 1000 acres, and by Sem
..,r Howe Of this State to be quantity, per
ale greater than Congress has ever made
a. anv private company, for the purpose of
sling in the construction of the road referr-
40. The motion pending on which the de-
s.re took place, was that of Senator Doolit-
il that the bill be recommitted to the COM
.ttee on public lands.
Sen. HOWE thought there were important
.Bestions in connection whit which the CON-
ri,tee had not considered, one of the first of
shich was whether teere was any such COM
j ,,nv in existence as the one to which it was
p-opOsed to give the lands. A company of
-Est name and nature had been created un-
isr the territorial government which had for
sited its privileges by non-user, and the
cate government was prohibited by its con-
eitution from making any special laws for
! .-ch objects. The friends of the measure
s5wever averred that there was such a COM
rlnv with legal existence, but did not, new
srtheIess. make it appear very clearly that
| ..eh was the fact.
senator's HOWE and DOOLITTLE both, how
syer. opposed the bill on broader and higher
/ rounds A grant of land had already been
I -4Ie by Congress for the construction of a
ra3 from Hudson to Lake Superior, with ter
-iri at Superior and Bayfield,. 1t was COM
-,sined that Wisconsin had done nothing with
He grant Said Senator HOWE:
Vow, need not remind the Senate what
FHculties have lain in the way of building
4 NV roads since 1856. We have have had
4 Sc prOtracted season of great commercial
Z Disaster, followed by pretty big specimen of
rar. and we have not had much time to build
rslroads. The railroad is not completed.
bive heard it said here, / think carelessly
aid. that it has not been commenced. That
5s. not been said upon the authority of the
Uumittee that reported this bill. | am in
srmed that il has been commenced. | am
-t0rmed that individuals have put large sums
81 money into the construction of that road.
! I'D informed that twenty miles of the road
i lave been graded. l am informed that the
les have been purchased for forty miles of
5- road, and that iron enough to lay twenty
niles of rail has been purchased and is to be
ieiiVered in the coming spring"
Tie Senator then proceeded to show that
lis proposed grant contemplated road par
/ lsl and but few miles distant from that
l-ready established by the Wisconsin grant,
iii that it was actually no farther to Lake
,lperior TO connect st. Paul with Hudson,
E de southern terminus of the Wisconsin grant,
! 3 a road some fifteen or twenty miles long,
tlan it was by the proposed route directly
from ST. Paul, and that consequently they
Ee1e proposing TO inaugurate a rival parallel
pad without even shortening the distance
etween the points from which they proposed
70 start and to terminate the road. Said the
senator:
Mr. President, l hope my friends who rep
resent Minnesota will do me the justice to
! i,knOwledge that / am advocating no narrow
interest here. | simply find an enterprise
already on foot, endowed by the liberality of
/ Tie Congress of the United States, and through
Tie influence of that endowment the capital
Of men invested in it to build road running
isht through the section of country through
Fhich this road is designed to go. | say to
he Justice of Congress, Keep your hands of
hat The Senators from Minnesota say, DO
LOT DO it, but on the contrary send into the
market an endowment exceeding that made
% the Hudson and Superior road by four see
lions of land to the mile outbid in the mar
| zet Of the world the enterprise which you
lave already set on foot
Senator HOWE continued:
Now, in anticipation of a remark which
Las been made aside repeatedly, that we are
lther iliiberal, when Congress has endowed
road running through Wisconsin TO oppose
road running through Minnesota, beg to
az that think the State of Minnesota is, or
lie contrary, a little too ambitious. She ha:
1 right to ask great deal. | am ordinarily
1clined TO give her everything she does ash
Or but in this particular instance she moi
MY asks that we shall agree to grant which
Ell kill a road already In construction through
s-r State, but that we shall consent to tho
,ession of part of our State in order to give
tem terminus on Lake Superior within
.leir own State. They really ask of WiscOn
n to stand silent while a grant is being made
sill this road already in construction
Trough our own limits, and then to consen
grant to Minnesota the northern terminus
G the road, the town of Superior and the ad
scent country, in order that Minnesota may
AVE the road run through her own limits ant
ierminate within her own limits. Sir, con
.eve that this is asking a great deal of tn,
12gnanimity of Wisconsin. Wisconsin claims
% be magnanimous, generous, bountiful; bu
she really cannot afford to sit still and be
lcked to pieces after that fashion. hope
his demand will be surrendered by my friend
tom Minnesota"
Senator DOOLITTLE urged similar argument
Il regard to the building parallel lines o
;oad from st. Paul to Lake Superior, wheI
here was no necessity for more than one
ae continued:
4 desire to state another fact, to which
Eish to call the attention of the Senate. /
admitted that shortly after this grant Il
tie State of Wisconsin there came on thu