The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1870-10-24

trans portation Of their products to market.
I'm the next place, the rosd -, OF al tine
great roads, by far the easiest ana cheapest
| to build.
| II has water carriage at both ends. Lake
Suner;or and the Pacific. Its grades are
remarkable good. A Commissioner vii
son SAYS in his report, Comparatively q
very small proportion of its line runs
through an elevated region" Again he tells
US that it crosses the Rocky Mountains At q
level which may be made at pass 1t least
two thousand feet lower than that of the
Union Pacific; and the Cascade
Mountains in Oregon at a level nearly four
thousand feet below that at which the
Central Pacific crosses the Sierra Nevada
into California.
With all these advantages-with land
grant twice as large as that given to any OF
the other great roads, and more than hve
times as valuable, with = route infinitely
easier and cbeaper-what wonder II We ma
that the chief engineer of the company atter
a survey of the whole route, msoe under the
law as it stood before the last session OF
congress- reports she original land grant, as
mora than sufficient to construct and com
| plete the road
In the face of oil this we find the Com
many again in congress demanding more
lands Other mill ions Of acres
This WAS covered up under pretence OF q
bill 10 allow the company to rsise money
upon "a mortgage of all it's property and
rights of property, and to make up defcien
cies for lands taken up by young settlers
While appearing to do only this, the bill in
fact enabled the company to extend the
length of one of its branch lines from three
hundred miles--the length limited by the
original act Of 1864 to any length it might
choose, five handred or one Thousand miles.
or even more. Also to build q new road
between the terminus at Portland and that
on Puget's Sound, which, in a direct line.
might be two hundred miles long. For all
this new line of road, FIVE hundred or twelve
hundred miles in ell, or more, as the com
psny may choose, the bill gives the same
enormous land grants as in the origina
bill.
So artfully was the bill drawn, doubtless
int ntionally, of it's edect of it in granting TO
the company these great extensions of It's
lines and land grants was not known to
many or most of the members of of the
Senate when the bill first came up-until II
had been several days under discussion.
The dishonesty Of this was so gross thai
of itself it should have defeated the bill
Il does not seen, TO hare lost the bill one rotei
although it was thoroughly exposed in both
As if this was not enough the bill had two
other enormous features. There was q
pretence set up BY the conpsny's advocates
in CONFESS that during the six years since
1864. while the company delayed fling in
the Land Office the location of its route
large quantities of land w,his the grant OF
1864 had been taken up BY settlers
There was no proof of this. Not 8
word wss produced by the company
that such WAS the fast. Even if it were
true the company WAS wholly in fault. Under
this pretext the company was allowed new
limit of twenty miles on each side OF It's road
within which TO select lands in lieu of those
taken by settlers. This was in addition TO
the limit of forty miles under the original
act of 1864. The same provision was e1'
tended to the new lines of road
created BY the bill. As already
shown. that these lines give to the company
at It's choice, the right to build anywhere
| from two hundred 10 twelve hundred add
tionsl miles of road, or even more depend
| ing wholly upon where the company nigh
see fit to strike off with its branch from it,
| main line of seventeen hundred miles long
from Lake Superior to the Pacific.
Assume that it commences this branch
about halt way, or eight hundred and fifty
miles add for the new line from Portland
to Puget Sound, say two hundred making
in all one thousand and fifty miles OF new
road. There is nothing TO proven, this if the
lands are rich enough and We have seen
that the road runs through the richest large
body of land on the continent.
Under the original act of 1864, the road
was estimated by the {. S. General Land
Office at two thousand and twenty FIVE miles;
add for new extended lines one thousand
and fifty miles, calling for the same land
grants In limit of sixty miles wide on each
side, and you have most astounding result
Of the new bill OF 1870. You have three
thousand and seventv-fve miles OF railroad
endowed with the unheerd of grant of OreJ
serenty millions Of acres. to be selected out
of belt of country one hundred and twenty
miles wide, all the way from Lake Superior
to the Pacifc
Let us consider What is belt of ,075
N lies long by l20 miles wide? II is a gresr
tract of country containing nearly $4,000
square miles. 1t ia nearly twice as large a,
the aggregate area OF New York, Virginia
| Psnnsy lvaula and North Carolina. 1t j,
more than one halt larger than the entire
territory of Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana
| Ohio and Illinois.
| OF this great territorial empire, nearly
one third is granted in perpetual property st
| The railroad company. The whole remain:
open to it as q field for selection. 1t lie
practically almost closed against all the
world besides. It is closed against all i'm
provement and ompetition of other railroad
companies except at this one company's
i'll.
The high cost of the companys lands,
given it now tor nothing. will itself shut out
al com petlng lines of railroad, or even cross
tines, tor years. Ii this company cannot
Guild now unless it gets its lands as gift,
when will any future company be able to
buy lands Of this company, and contend be
sides against it's powerful competition
Worst of all, this mighty domain, the
future seat OF q great belt OF states, in the
totsl, sir times as large as all Ncsc England,
is largely closed against the settler. Ii Ii
closed against him because the company
holds near one third of it at its own prices,
while the two-thirds remaining to the United
States are raised TO the double minimum
price of 81 so per acre, though much the
greater part of 1t must be from twenty to
,i1ty miles away from the railroad. All
rnese evils become worse AMI worse after we
enter upon the vast triangle of territory
which the company is allowed to shut up
between it's three lines, commencing from
the point of junction between its branch and
main line, wherever that may be and hsv
ing as it's base the new line along the shore
Of the Pacific and Puget Sound, connecting
the terminus of its branch and main line.
Washington Territory with its whole coast
on the Pacific and Puget Sound, and its
interior, are given Up to the railroad com
papy. In other words future state of the
Union is handed over in irons TO railroad
company for indefinite period. What
else is it when you have this company en-
closing, in it's enormous three lines, each
With belt OF 800 miles wide ? The territory
is but two hundred miles wide from north to
,outh What Incomes of II torId ironpd y