The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-08-07
ST. CRoIx AND SUPERIOR LAND
-. - GRANT.II d n q a I

Of COuSLI q AolAAOAA AAOAA GhO Ii 10
sissippi and St. Croix Rivers to superior
and Bayfield,. This grant has been and
is now in danger of reverting to the GOV
eminent, or Of being diverted from it
purpose There was a powerful gcffor
made last winter by diffeEept Railroad
companies to obtain the grant, the Mil
waukee and St. Paul .beiesg successful
But after being successful in the contes
the company came to the conclusion not
to construct the roads in compliance Will
the law passed in accordance with their
implied if not expressed desirsf
WISCONSIN RAILROAD COMPANY.
Not long after the Milwaukee and ST.
Paul Railroad declined to accept the
grant and construct the roads new com
pany-Wsconsin Railroad Company
was formed with the ayoTed purpose OF
accepting the grant and constructing the
roads. But it soon Lecame evident that
this company would not give the bonds
required by law for the construction of
the roads and that they would not and
did not intend to construct the roads as
Che law required. The bess The company
would do, as thus far developed, would
be to accept The grant get possession OF
the lands and rely upon the Legislature
for an extension Of time FOR the construc-
tion of the roads. These developments
have made manifest the wisdom of Gov.
ernor Washburn In requiring bonds for
the construction of the roads. n
DANGER OF REvERsIoN OR DIVERSION
One of the reasons assigned by the
Milwaukee, amidst. Paul Company flor
not accepting The grant and constructing
the roads was the uncertainty of the State
title to the lands. The title to the lands
was as we'll known to the com pany before
as after the passage of the law comforting
the grant and aul horizing the construc
tion of the roads and if the title was not
good the company should have kept out
of the contest to obtain the grant. But if
the title is now good, if the State persist :
emily ne2lects to construct the roads by
comforting it upon companies which neg
lect or refuse to construct them the lands
may, if they have not already, revert to
the Government. Delays are dangerous.
The grant has lain too long without the
State constructing the roads in accord.
ance with the grant. 1t has lain 50 long
that even if there is no danger of its re.
version there is danger of its being di-
verted from the purpose FIR which it was
granted. 1t was granted for the construc.
ton of railroad from or near Prescott on
the Mississippi river to- Superior and
Bayfield,, and for these purposes it should
long ago have been applied Had it been
applied when il should have been Supe.
rior would pfobably now be a place Of,
five or ten thousand Inhabitants and bust.
ness in proportion, and Duluth would
have bcen'a place of not more than as
many hundred or perhaps not have been.
And Bayfield, too might have quadrupled
the number of lis inhabitants and the
amount of its business Bat in place of
this railroad has been constructed in
Minnesota from st. Paulfto Duluth, and
Duluth, without natural advantages any,
thing near equal to Superior,has become
the place of thousands -ofinhabitants and
business in proportion. In time, there
will be city orcities at the head of Lake
Superior of one hundred thousand inhabi-
taats-perhaps several hundred thousand
and the people of Wisconsin have 1me
interest in where that city shalfbe. They
certainly should have interest enough
even at this late day not to allow it to be
tax en- from Wisconsin and built up in
Minnesota without an effort to retain it
where it belongs. And the effort to re-
tain it, on the part Of the State, will con-
sist largely in the speedy construction of
the railroad from the Mississippi to, -Su-
perior and Bayfield, in accordance with
the Superior and st. Croix Land Grant
And there should be no diversion of the
grant for the construction of any other
roads till these roads are constructed and
equipped. Then and not till then,lf there
is anything Of the grant left it will
be time to apply it for the construction