Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-06-19
THE p1AoERv11IE RAILROAD.

THE PLACERV1LLE RAILhOAO1
By this title is commonly called an9
understood the projected railway froh
Sacramento to the border and the GENITAL
portion of this State-passing through She
city Of Placerville. In 1864 q survey was
made from Placerville to the NevadaS State
line, near Lake Tahoe; the most complete
instrumental survey ever made across the
Sierras, and the only n deserving the
name Of o thorough examination OF o
route for a railroad between Nevada
and California. The grand map and pro-
files Of this survey were laid before the
Legislature of this State, in the winter OF
'65, at the special request Of the members.
It will be remembered that our Senate
and Assembly of that year passed a series
of resolutions asking Congress to offer ten
million Of United States bonds to the first
company that would succeed in construct
ing a railroad from navigable tide water
in California to the base OF the eastern
slope of the Sierra Nevada, and instruct
ing our Senators to propose and urge such
q proposition. Although our Senators
refused to conform to these instructions,
and though they have been, as advisory
articles, superseded BY subsequent Legis-
ladye Recommendations. o few brief quo
,ations from the debates of the session Of
'65 on this important subject will be de-
cidedly worth re-reading now, and in view
Of certain developments to which we shall
allude by and by. The Dutch Flat Com
pany fought the $1,000 900 bonus to the
first constructed road with great bitter
ness, though they claimed that they were
certain to be the only corporation that
could ever make the trip across the Sierras
with a locomotive. Tho absurd position
which their agents thus assumed was
neatly ridiculed by Assemblyman Rigby,
from this county. He said
After proving to US and the "rest of
mankind" there is no possibility Of any
other road being completed as 500 as the
| Central Pacific Road will be. and the con-
sequent certainty of their getting the ten
millions, they come here to-day and tell
us, these ten millions are but the assassin's
dagger dripping trih Dutch Fiat blood,
which is now oozing from the fatal wound
made in their bonds! They have eluci-
dated as clearly as mud, that these bonds
| will depreciate rapidly in the Eastern
market, when it is known they are secured
by these ten millions from the General
Government.
or all men upon the face Of Gods earth, I
think the Central Pacific Company have
the least right to complain Of competition.
They have received the most muni6cent
donations and subsidies ever bestowed by
any Nation upon any private enterprise
millions more than they ever expected or
asked f%or-enongh to build every mile Of
their road, and leave them an estate worth
at an estimate far below their own-at
leas. one hundred millions Of dollars. And
yet my Honorable colleague gets quite in
disnant because members propose by these
resolutions to ask Congress to hang up a
purse Of ten millions, to encourage another
company, without one, dollar Of Govern!
ment aid, to enter the list and run a race
with this pampered company for the
stakes.
Sir, can Nevada afford to remain idle while
this great work is going on? Shall we
gain strength by inaction Think you,
sir, we shall be satisfied, Ave years hence,
with u action to-day, if We discourage
and defeat this other great enterprise, in
which we can alone have any hope of a
competitor to prevent the other becoming
a crushing monopolys Will the people
Of Nevada find much satisfaction in secur-
ing the wealth Of the Indies flowing over
this road to enrich the States Of the East,
whilst an incubus hangs upon them that
will crush out their last spark Of vital en-
ergyi Shall we, as legislators, exercise
no ~forethought upon this great question :
Shall we wait for the demonstration of a
fatal certaintys Do we not know that
one road will be wholly inadequate to
perform the labor required Of it by Nevada
and the Nation at large: Then why
should we pursue this suicidal policy OF
building up the most mammoth monopoly
the world ever saw Sir. / am not op-
posed to the Central Pacific road, but /
do know that the very salration of Merada
depends upon securing a competition to
that road. Then, sir, let us advocate en-
c~ouragement, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. much or
little-to secure the completion of both
roads ; for I tell you that competition is
the only key that can ever unlock these
ten thousand mountain vaults wherein
nature has stored her grandest deposits Of
the mineral wealth Of the earth. =
II we elect to bow down before this Jug
gernaus monopoly-rendered so by our
own acts-then' will we be surely crushed
down in our poverty, and have reason to
regret in the future, the narrow, contracted
policy we pursue to-day.
Upon these same resolutions, Hon. II.
D. Brown, Assemblyman from Humboldt
county, said:
What, sir, do these resolutions proposes
1 Simply that we shall ask Congress to
offer a bonus Of $4,000, 900 to the COM
pany (be it whom it may) that shall first
complete a line Of railway from the tide
waters OF the fdCluC u tue eue'etu oose Va
the Sierra Nevadas.
Sir, the advocates Of this company dutch
Fla,] have sought to convey the impression
that they have the most feasible route for
a road, and are the only company that can
or will build a road. II that is true, /
ask them, why are they here opposing
these resolutions-ifthat is true, these res
| olutions cannot hurt them. But, sir, it is
not true. There Is not less than three
passes through these mountains, mot
counting the johnson Pass,) lower in
point Of altitude and more feasible for q
railroad than the pass they have selected
and, sir, IL these resolutions pass, lin my
judgment,) we will find more than one
company competing with the Central!Pa-
cAc, for the bonus OF $40. 900, 900, and the
carrying trade Of Nevada.
The above extracts have almost as lit
eral application and quite as emphatic
force in favor Of the Bill in aid Of the
Placerville road, now before Congress, and
said to be opposed by u Representative,
as they had pertinency to the particular
proposition before the Assembly.
Hon. r. p. Sine, Of Lander county,