The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-05-27
From the Chicago POST
The Northern PacIic Railway.

In 1864 Congress granted to the
Northern Pacific Railway Company,
land equal to forty miles in width
along the whole road. Estimating
the length of the road at l, 600 miles,
the whole grant was equal to Al, $780,
900 acres. In addition to this, was
the roadway. 100 feet wide, and the
free use of the stone, timber, coal, or
any other material found on the pub
lie lands. The same company, after
holding this grant Eve years, endeav-
ored to obtain an additional subsidy
of twenty thousand dollars per
mile in bonds, or in a government
guarantee of their own bonds.
Failing in this they have applied
for an additional land grant, which
has passed the Senate, and which pro-
vides that the Company may locate
and construct a branch road from
"some convenient point" on its main
trunk line to Puget's Sound, and for
this the Company is granted the same
amount of land per mile that it re-
ceiVes for the main line. There is no
limit to the length of this branch,
nor any point designated from which
it shall start. 1t is an indefinite
grant, which may count up anywhere
| from 100000 to 10000, 600 acres of
land, in addition to the first grant.
In the debate, during the struggle to
pass this bill without amendment or
discussion, Mr.. FarnsWorth thus de-
scribed it:
'sI wish to say that, as a member of this
House, L voted for the passage of the orig
inal bill, granting lands to aid in the con-
| structton % the y Orthern Pacific Railroad.
| I am in favor of such road, and do not
| wish to retract the vote which then gave.
Four years ago, when this company came
here, and proposed to give the Govern
ment lien upon one.half of the lands
which we had granted then, provided
bonds TO enable them to build the road, 1
opposed that proposition, regarding it as
impudent in the extreme.
"They come here now and ask for an sd
ditionaI, an indefinite grant OF lands II
is as indefinite as the lateral road this
| joint resolution authorizes; they can make
the road longer or shorter, as they please.
They may build parallel road he whole
distance. They ask that we shall give
| them authority to mortgage this immense
grant of lands, large enough for an en-
pire: to make absolute mortgage to money
| lenders OF this land, and allow It to be sold
out before the road is built. When they
ask this they ask too much for my stom-
/ ach. Why, sir, four years ago when they
own estimate of the value ofthe grant was
s64 900 per mile"
The bill permits the company to
mortgage the whole of the lands be-
fore it constructs a mile of the road,
It further provides that, at the end of
FIVE years after the completion of the
road, any of the lands not sold, and
not remaining under mortgage, may
be taken by settlers at 81 so per acre.
But if the mortgage be foreclosed at
any time. the lands shall be sold to
the highest bidder. The permission
to mortgage the land, and the author
ity to sell the same at any time, under
the mortgage, is a total exclusion of
the right of actual settlers to occupy
any of the land, except at such price
as the company may exact therefor.
There is perhaps, nobody In the
United States Except, possibly, those
pecuniarily interested in the Union
and Central Pacific Railways), who is
| opposed to the Northern Pacific Rail-
; way, or who desires to see any proper
legislation Withheld from them. We
are certainly very much in favor OF
the proposed road. The interests OF
Chicago would be vastly promoted by
its construction. But the company
Rave made it apparent that they will
not build the road until they have
first exhausted every means to get
more property out of the government.
If the alternative were presented to
them of building it with the present
grants or forfeiting their right to
build it at all, they would disappear
from Washington in less than twenty
four hours, and it would require a
searchwarrant to find their lobby in
any part of the United States.