Bismarck tribune., 1883-09-14
oxnat;ate on the substantial

expatiate on the substantial 49,:
TIME-ENDURING GLORY J e...
which would rebound to our nation, should
it engage in this steupendous undertaking." DR..
Parker, distinguished missionary to the Ore
eon Indians, who had repeatedly traversed the
route. in 1888 to 1885, asserted that therewas no
more difficulty in such railroad than in one
between Boston and Albany, and prophesied
that the time was not distant when tours would
be made ACROSS the continent as they were then
made to Niagara. Willis Gaylord Clark, in 1873,
in an eloquent exposition of the subject in
leading magazine, asseverated that "the reader is
now living who will make railroad trip across
this vast continent" Penetrated with this feel
ing, the missionary, Whitman, in l842, started
on winter journey to Washington across the
Rocky mountains, to awaken the state depart
ment to the movements going on in British in
terests, to ALLEVIATE from US our Oregon posses
sions Under this impulse diplomatic negoti-
ations were pushed and guided till the treaty of
1886 drew the boundary line between the two
nations, and terminated the jsint possession.
his transcontinential connect ion fastened them
selves upon this northern route. The
spread Of knowledge and zeal in the
minds and hearts of our countrymen
had to do with this project and no other.
But, the acquisition of California, the dis
covery of its till then hidden gold, the absorp-
ton Of people and government in the terrible
struggles between freedom and slavery for the
occupation of our new domain and finally the
civil war aroused new motives and new argu-
ments which urged irresistibly
TRANsCoNT1NENTAL CONNECTION,
but delivered the first compliance with
the political, military and popular exi-
gencies from the northern to the southern and
central routes. Thus once more in human af-
fairs, the last was made first, and the first last.
During this period, however, the agitations Of
the subject before congress and in public meet
ings by Asa Whitney, the convention at Chicago
in the spring of 1847, and at st. Louis in the
fall of that year, the vehement and persistent
propagandism of Josiah Perham, all had to do
with this northern route, and the feeling and
interest thus awakened and developed, with this
object, were no doubt, easily transferred to the
service Of the other routes, when paramount
motives gave them the precedence. In 1853
congress made appropriations for the explora-
ton and survey of all the proposed routes, anda
valuable and adeq uate exposition of the north
ern pathway across the mountains was secured.
The survey from the east under
and from the west conducted by
Captain Mcclellan, met near the point where We
now stand, and these surveys have furnished the
basis upon which the calculations and combina-
tions, corporate and financial, ever afterwards
proceeded, till the point was reached when ac-
tual construction needed to be provided for.
THE BILL SIGNED BY LINCOLN.
On the I'd of July, 1864, the bill for the con-
struction of the North Pacific railroad was sgned
~ Abraham Lincoln. The enthusiasm of Per-
men that would bring, if need be, a million
subscribers for 800 of the stock apiece induced
the insertion of clause in the act prohibiting
either the issue Of bonds or the creation of
mortgage in aid of the construction. This inan-
cial folly, and much time and labor spent in try
ing to obtain from congress a very moderate aid
by the government, in the shape of guaranty
of interest for a limited period, held the whole
enterprise in allegiance till, in 1870, the obnox-
ious section was expunged from the act, and
some other beneficial provisions inserted, and
the company took the resolution to build the
road on the faith that capital would show in the
enterprise itself, and in the prospective value of
the government land grant should the construc-
tionibe carried through.
JAY GOULD TO THE RESCUE.
Perham's popular subscription having proved
wholly abortive, his organization Of the COM
pany was transferred to one made up in New
England in December, 1865, of which Governor
J. Gregory Smith, of Vermont, became the pres
ident. The financial agency of the enterprise
was offered to, and after careful examination
and new survey, accepted by the eminent
bankers, Jay Cooke & Co., then in the highest
repute from their wonderful administration of
the immense treasury transactions in the issue
and distribution of the bonds of the United
States.
The wisdom of the selection Of this eminent
financial agency and the immense enginery at
its command were quickly demonstrated. During
be years 1870 and 1871 the company received
nearly $3O.000,000 from tie sale of its bonds
conducted by Jay Cooke & Co., and the money
was rapidly applied to the actual building of
the road. The source Of supply, however,
proved not to be perennial nor inexhaustible, ard
the company was pressed for funds in the sum
mer of 1872. A change then took place in the
presidency. The financial outlook for the en-
terprise became less and less encouraging till
this glo,m spread over all our affairs, and the
general panic of 1873 swallowed up the company
and it's financial agents in the common insolv-
ency. But this brief period Of plenty and pros
perity was we'll employed. Never was the pru-
dence OF making hay while the sun shines
more clearly illustrated. In this period the
road was built from the east to the Missouri
river and IN the west between the Columbia
river to Puget's sound. Upon this firm basis
as the pou sto of Archimedes, the skillful en-
gineers of the company's present prosperity
have lifted the heavy globe from the cataclysm
in which it was engulfed, till now it blazes upon
our eyes, "totus in seipso, teres, atque rotun-
dus."