The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1883-09-20

land grants, or issuing bonds pcrhRInn
idea was that sioo,0OO.N0 OF tho stock OF
popular subscriptions
Tho first set OF Directors was elected
Doc u, 1864, and on tho following day or
Hanized by the election OF Josiah pcrhain,
PRESIDENT Mr. perhain and his associates
were not mon of practical experience. Ihey
proposed to raise si0O.OOo,0oO by the sub
sciption OF million Individuals whom
they believed could he found willing to t.,ko
one share of stock o:lch at pnf, and thus
build the road. The scheme of course,
failed, and In December, lSf5, Mr. Perham
turned over the franchise TO syndicate OF
New England cal italists for barely enough
TO pay lis debts, and did not 1.-Two to scc tho
first spadcful OF earth turned In the prose.
CntiOn OF the enterprise for which he hnu
obtained from Congress grant OF land
greater In extent than many OF tho king
doms Of Europe. Hc died Mt Boston In 1865.
The next set OF Directors, headed by j.
Gregory Smith ns President, memorinlizcd
Congress to tho effect that the land grant,
being mainly located remote from tho then
settled portions Of the country, md little
known TO the public, had, with the many
other favorable provisions OF the charter,
proved insufficient to induce capitalists TO
embark III tho enterprise, moro pa ticttlatlv
SO because other roads To the Pacific were
able 10 offer not only Their land grant So
curits. but also the bonds OF the United
States. The memorialists collected similar
nil for the Northern Pacific In Government
bonds Congress finally failed to adopt leg
islation authorizing aid IN Government Is
sncs, and in Nav, ls6l, and in January, 1870,
the Northern Pacific Company, then con-
trolled and directed hy acombinltion 81 tho
best railroad experience and general ability
und wealth in this country, made n contract
with Jay Cooke 4 Co, then become eminent
In finance by their success In negotiating
the war bonds OF the Government to act as
the fiscal agents Of the Nor,hcl u Pacific.
Jay Cooke obtained legislation In Ma .hing-
ton authorizing the issue OF bonds ana
changing the main line Of the road, so that
1t should run down the Columbia river to
Portland, and thence north to Puget sound.
instead OF across the tremendous barrier OF
the Cascade mountains Cooke first pro-
posed to place the n, rthern Pacifce loan
In Europe. but his plans to this end were
defeated by the breaking out OF the Franco
German war.
lie then put the bonds upon tho Ameri-
can market using the same means to popu-
larize them which he had successfully en-
ploycd in selling the great war loans OF the
United States Government. In two years
time, beginning in the spring of 1870. he
sold about $50. .osN, 600 of bonds In 1870,
with the means supplied by him. the CON-
pany begaa to build its line, commencing
work at Thompson Junction, twenty three
miles west of Duluth jay Cooke was then
building line from st Paul to Duluth, and
the Northern Pacific bought half interest
In tho twenty three miles from it's junction
to Duluth Duluth was an obscure
hamlet in the forest, inhabited by
perhaps a hundred people II had no
harbor. but good one was obtained
| by cutting canal across long, narrow
| sand incsosing tho BAY Of Superior.
Const .uction was also begun, In the same
| year, on tho extreme Western division of
tho read, running from the Columbia r.yer
Mt kalamo northward to Puget sound In
| 1871 the road was finished across Minnesota
| to tho Red River Of the Nor and i'll ls'a-'
| 1t was built as fur is the Missouri river,
where town was lail out and named Bis
marck On the Pacific side lO1 miles of road,
| lciw cen the columbia river anI Puget
sound, We're completed by the fall ~ lSsi,
and a terminal city laid out in dense III
| forest, OH the sound. and named Tacoma
During tho same period there were COM
pleted and put III operation :aa miles of road
viz. The Minnesota division, from lhomp-
| son junction To Fargo, 80 miles. the Dako-
tn division, from Fargo to rismarck, IN
miles; OF the Pacific division loa miles, from
kaiama to Tacoma; also. jointly With the ST
Paul and Duluth railroad, the line from
Thompson to Duluth - miles
4 In September, l~sS the house or Jay
Cooke Nto suspendcd-a memorable event,
which rrecirita,ed a general financial resul-
| sion, a sudden and enormous contraction ot
/
! period OF extravaganza AMI imitation ongGn.
4 dercd by the war debt aud / o paper issues
OF the Government The failure ofJay Cooke
Co. involved the speedy bankruptcy Of
the Northern Pacific.
Two years were required to complete Til,
readlnstmcnt OF the eompanys affairs Iht
| foreclosure OF It's mort gaze Was initiated ny
tho Trustees, with the concurrence of par
/ ties in in crest, April III, issa and areeeisel
appointed by the court Later, during thu
sumo year, the entire property was solo
under decree of foreclosure, and purchased
| BY u committee OF the hundholdCrs The
reorganization was perfected and new
Board of Directors elected Sept ~ ls.a
The directory Was organized by the election
OF Charles II. Wright, President, George
Stark, Vice President Samuel Wilkcson, Soc.
retuy, and by the choice also Of Treasurer
| AMI general counsel. In May, lSsa Mr.
! Wright, fer reasons et health, resigned the
Presidency of tho Northern Pacific, which hs
! had held for more than three wears, an,
was succeeded hy Frederick Billings. Dur
ing the incumhency ef Mr. Wright IN III,
office Of President the general tinancicl con
4 aition ef the country and tho difficulties op
posed t. extension into Montana by con
tlnucd Indian hostiltics, had long rcnderet
| the Recommending OF construction aero
the continent imrractiahle Important re
newals, improvements and lctterments II
road-hod track, and equipment Of the .op
/
a branch line had been built sixty-fou
miles frem Hraincrd to a connection viii
the cities of ST raul and Minneapolis a
Sauk Eapids, and thiriy-one miles had beer
added from Tacoma to Wilkesan, on tn
Pacific coash
In 1871 the company had $, far iccovcre,
its credit that ii MAS able IL borrow money 4
resume construction operations on iare,
scale II began To hui!l from the Mlssoa
river westward, and iiom the Colamba
river, in Easte. II Washing on Territory. nca
the junction OF the Sn8ke river, northeast
Marily toward Lake Pend dOrcllle, Il
Northern Idaho, The company did not fec
strong enough TO put fur,h any itnancia
| scheme for completing the entire road hu
only asked Tor money enough 10 build tw,
divisions, which II moft.agod separately
with the land gran attaching to them. II
i>sst after Mr. Billings had succecdedto th
| Pre- adency, negotiations we're complete,
| With syndicate Of bankers, including tn
New York houses OF Ninsluw, l.anicr 4 TO
nreNel, Morgan y "a and August Gelmon
4 Co, and the London hons OF J, = Morgan
L Co, hs which a loan Of ssu.NoNoa va
paced during that AID the two 10 low i'm
wears, and money thus seeured for com
plc ing the road Il ross Montana and illin'
the gap III the track, Which then amounts,
t. over $40 miles.
In 1881 very Important change tool
place In the management OF tho Nartheil
paelnCs affairs. Henry Willard. Iei MAJ
hs firth, wha came To this ceun r. at the sg
of Is, and who Won considerable reputatiol
rs n newspaper correspondent during an,
after the civil war. and who had become in
terestcd in railroad management. in kanSa
and Oregon as the representative Of larg
financial interests. hal gradually nhta'nel
control, during the six wears following tn
panic OF 1878, of the transportation lines h,
Iaii, river, AMI sea IN the State of ares II
These lines h had consolidated and gfeatl'
extended, 80 that they Z, resented what, ta
a new country, was a rema, kahly-c.sicien
transportation system In $50 Mr. Nillar,
determined, if possible, 10 secure harm N,
ol Interests ard control between his uregoi
lire and the Northern Pacific line. as 1
make the former the western extension
and feeders OF the latter In ISL h,
oigapixcd what was known n tht
"hnnd nojr In New York, and ohtatns
within IA few weeks from subscription
over s~.eol,t o. ot money. without diselos nj
the use which he meant To make OF th,
large sum, and withaat giving any other se
carlty than lis personal ree ipts With thi
money and OH = means of his own he anie;
II purchased a controlling interest in tn
stock IT the Northern Pacific Company nm