The weekly Arizona miner., 1880-09-24
GREAT RAILROAD SPEECH
HON. C. C. BEAN.

TEE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:-The present ''overnor of this Territory, Genl. John C.
 Fremont. obtained the passage Of an Act by
 Congress, which the President of the United States approved July 27th, lS66, creating a corporation known as the Atlantic X Pacific
 R. K. Com pany, winch said Act granted 10
 said Company valuable franchises, among
 them the right to build railroad and tele-
 graph from Springfield. m the State Of Mis-
 souri, through the southwest part Of that
 State and through the Indian Territory and
 the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, along the line of the 3jth parallel To the east ern boundary of California, where the said corporation was authorized to connect with
 a company legally empowered to build a
 railway in the State of California westward
 10 the Pacific ocean, and they had d further 1 franchise of full and complete right of way in the public lands of the Uniled Sta.es and
 herewith the right to use in the construction
 of its railway and telegraph any materials, stone, timber, etc, which might be found upon the public lands along its route, and
 moreover, by virture of said Act, the said
 com pany is entitled 10 have and possess in
  is completed, in sections of twenty five miles, forty square miles, which is to say 25,Go0
 acres of the public lands in the Territories
 of the United States, in alternate sections, on
 either side of its railway line, for each lineal
 mile of railway so completed in sections as aforesaid, and ten square miles, which is tO
 say T., 500 acres for each lineal mile Of rail-
 way built in any State, and inasnuch as
 such grant of the use and ownership of pub
 lands might be decreed to establish 10 cer-
 tain ends trust on the part of the managers
 of said company for the due ana upright eN-
 ercise of thecompany's franchises and prlvi- | leges, there is reserved to Congress in ex- press terms. in said Act, the power al any time to amend and alter and even 10 repeal the same.
 The Government ofth United States fur ther undertook 10 extinguiSh the Indian
 title to the lands in the Indian Territory granted in the charter, and the Atlantic X
 Pacific R. R. Company commenced the con-
 struc!ion Of their railroad and telegraph, and built It from Springfield, in the State of
 Missouri, southwesterly in said State to a
 point in the Indian Territory called Vinitia,
 lG2 miles, when they were prohibited by the
 Indians from proceeding further. and from that day 10 this the rel man has resolu,ely
 refused to give up or sell to the 4. ,S P. E.
 E. Co.,, the right of way or to part with
 his title tO the lands in the Indian Territory,
 but has uttered his edici to the locomotive,
 .'hthertO shalt thou come and no further" The Indian then with his bare feet or mocas-
 sin track makes trail, and is content; the white man makes rail, and i, not content;
 he marries the wheel to Inc rail, and in all
 human history there has sprung no more | benefcient results 10 the family of maL than | have leaped into being al this scientific we'd | lock of invention. Here at one bound is the measure of distance between civilization
 and barbarism, for il is seen al last that the
 railroad has it's mission certain as the sunshine and rain or as seed time and har- yes: have their mission.
 ! The Atlantic d Pacific road then being
 stopped after it had reached point some
 ten miles inside the Indian Territory, turned 1 backward. so to speak, aud bought what
 was known as the southwest bra nch of the | Missouri Pacific, 205 miles in extent, from a place called Pacific, g miles west Of the cIty | of s. Lo.rs tu Springfield. in MissOHri,
 wh. nee they originally started, and giving them in all a line of 3Z7 miles in extent.
 l Without endeavoring tO follow up the lapse
 of this franchise or the corporate changes
 which have taken place, shall merely state that although for awhile it was supposed the failure of the company to proceed had
 worked a forfeiture of the land grant, vet the IL f,.r md d ss- | 1t is in full force. and the three powerful companies known as the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway O., the AtchISon, To- peka .S santa Fe R. k. Co, and the Atlantic
 S Pacific k. R Co. have combined tO buiid this road, and this enormous and valuable land grant is the basis of the enterprise, and having obtained route into New Mexico, north of the Indian Territory yla the Aichi- son. Topeka X santa Fe k. +. nothing can
 prevent their securing the lands along the 3jth parallel. provided they build the road. IL is conceded and believed that the failure
 of the government 10 enable them to pass through the Indian Territory will not and
 should not deprive them of the right and
 privileges of this franchise through New Mexico, Arizona aud Californi, and nothing except a repeal of the Act by Congress would accomplish this purpose, and in my opinion this will not occur.
 lis prouer 10 mention here that Missouri. through her Legislature, was the fret state 10 move in the construction of national or continental railway. The legislature of that
 state granted a charter under which was in- corporateti ,av-..ssoui. an,. ac,Hc RailrOsu Co, who were To build road diversing al Franklin. southwest via Rollo. Springfield, Seo,ho flht, Iialena district and along the line of me 35.h parallel tO santa Fe, New Mexico. From santa Fe Co san Francisco DreIiniuarv surveys had been made ami had 1t not been for the rebellion tnis road would undo -LIediy have been the nr-t one built across the COutlnen; the best aujhou- ties having fixed it's limit of construction for the year lS64. bu; after the ~ar broke out the .overument would not aid IT its construction and the work was suspended, while tbe gov erunent gave Us ald iO the Union and tCn- tral Pacific. the route of which lay through territory not hostile to the United >a;es.
 The inauguration of land grants by the general government to aid Tn tine ccnSJruc- tion of railways occurred in 1850, when a tract about as large as the Staie Of C0nnecti- cut. containing two and a half millions of
 acres was given by the general government
 to the Staie of Illinois, and was portion of
 a tract which the United states had offered
 in market for fifteen years at l-1.cts an acre
 and nobody would buy. say il was given
 bv the general government tu the state of
 Illinois 10 aid in cor structing the the Illinois
 Central Railroad, but the State of Illinois
 was so poor she could not build ii. and she
 too in turn made over the land toa company
 on condition that th5y wOuld build the road,
 and the announcement by this company
 that they would construct raIlrOadthrOugh
 thls tract and expend twenty-five millions of dollars and employ ten thousand men m
 building il provoked speculation and made