Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1868-04-18
DAVENPORT AND st. PAJI
RAlI.EOAD9

DAVENPORT AND Ut. PAUL
RAlI.ROADI
Ciaisens' Meeting -Csnsiderabl bls
Intercst Esanifesfed - Delegates
Appointed.
In accordance With the call for meeting
Of those interested 10 he building Of .
thfeosh line froo Dsssapost q. Paul. .
large number Of our mort active businsss
men, merchants. manuiasturers and mon
eyed men. assembled Al the City Hall. and
came to order by appointing Mayor Doaa-
hue. chairman, and Jshn L. Swits. Sscrs-
tsry.
II seems that the subject had been psst-
~ thoroughly canvassed, previous 10 the
meeting, and thst the business Of The even
ing was more for the interchange Of opinions
than the advancing Of any new ideas. All
we're most thoroughly impressed with the
Importance Of securing this communication
North, and were confident that this city
could be made the Southern terminus Of the
road.
His Honor. on taking the chair, stated
briefly the sbjsct Of the meeting. and re-
viewed the action Of tho previous meetings
held in the interest Of road from Daven-
port to Maquoke,a. He further spoke Of
the importance Of action on the part Of our
citiz ms, for assistance in building this road,
sni how that the company. already formed,
had the assurances Of e7oo,00O private
subscription from FsYstt., and ad-
joining counties north, and that they
were disposed to give our city
the lsadiag officers ~ we'll % 70 locate the
principal office in this city. All can see At
q glance the incalculabls value this wosld
be to the pace, in attracting business and
business men from all poiuts, and make it
in measure, the controlling city Of the
northern aud western part Of the State, a.
we'll IS the south and west Of Minnesota.
in that il will tap all the east and west
roads and bring the business Ct those reads
to this city, and thence east ria the Peoria
& Rock Island. Columbus, Indiana polls and
Pennsylvania Central roads 10 the Eastern
cities; thus making great through route,
having less diversity OF interests, and more
direct than any other line.
John L. Davies was Of the opinion that il
was not advisable to do anything in the
way Of subscription until after the cosven-
tion st Hopkinton on the 9th u Nay ns1t;
and that the meeting should send delegates
to that convention to see what the pros
poets were, and report at another meeting
full condition Of affair. He further referred
to the importance Of the route, its advan.
tages over other proposed northern routes.
For one he Was ready to put his shoulder
to the wheel and push the work along
He had seen the Chicago / Rock Islaud
road succeed under more dificult cireum-
stances with fewer friends and darker pros
poets. and was csnfidsnti that this road
could be got fairly under way within .
twelve month.
Mr.. Butler. one of the delegates to the
Maquoketa Convention, gave brief review
Of the action Of that meeting, aud showed
that the action Of the Maquokets and Clin-
ton delegates, in securing the road from Ma
quoksta to CLIFTON, instesd Of to Dsvsnport.
had resulted in this new project on the part
Of the northern delegates. to form = new
line from st. Paul to Fayette county. thence
to this city, aud that, in this. they were On
couraged BY the Davenport delegation. He
also further referred to the probabilities Of
thc proposed road paying from the flrst.
A discussion here arose on tho matter Of
subscriptions by Townships, in which
Messrs. Butler. Swits, Davies, French, May
or Donahue and others participated. The
conclusion WAS that, under the recent act
Of tho Legislature, enough could be raised
to build the road to the Wspsie.
Eco. Ii. French, one Of the Directors Of
the Peoria 4 Rock Island road, being called
upon. gave the meeting . brief review Of
the work Of his Company and their desire
to have the road built, that they might have
Nor;heru ontlet--further adding, that
such would be tho wish Of the Pennsylva-
MA Central, should they rcaoh Daven-
port by way of the Peoria L Rock Island
road.
After some further discussion on the inat-
ter tf subscriptions, the following dele
gates, to the IIopkinton Convention were
appointed: John l.. Swits, John l.. Davies,
II Rutlor w n Vcl,ras n Dnnshue
L. c. Desssius, Edwin Smith and Geo. II.
Ffench.
On motion Of J. S. Drake. the following
resolution was unanimously adopted, and
the meeting adiournd to meet nt the cell Of
Executive Committee
Resalrsd, That the dale gates b. ins ruct-
cd TO state I, tho Convention ut IIopkin
ton. that the influence Of the individual
members OF this u,ses;ng will be used to
secure township subscriptions from all the
townships in this county, on the route OF
the proposed railroad from Davenport 10
St Paul.
Youso MES's CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
Tue relief Committee Of the Association
has been doing good work during she
past ~intsr. The following items prepared
in the rooms Of the Association will un-
dosbssdly prove intsrsssing to many.
The number Of familiss visited between
the datss Of Dee. 1st, 1867, and April lst,
le0s, vss SlS the numbss of persons con-
veresd with On personal seligieo. We 23o;