Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-11-02

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The charter Of the Northern Pacific
vas approved July 2. 1854. and sas lob
bisd shro0zh Congress b the persaste1t
efforts OF Josiah Perham and . few
other Boston syecnlators- IL was given
. grant 81 txenty sections Of Land Per
mile through the States and forty Sec
lions per mile through the Territories,
estimated al 4s.35100a acres, or "a co
square rnises. an area greater than 10
embraced ia the six Sev England States
and the state Of Nev Jersey combined.
The act IL Incorporation named Richard
ID. Rice. j. A. Pooxe, 5. r. Strickland. b
@. Fessendsn asd 40 others coznmis-
sioners 70 organize the company. not
one- fourth Of wEnm ever took any part
ID the matter. The nrss meeting. rs pre-
yided BY charter, was he'd IN Boston on
September /, 1864, attended by only
thlrty-three of the commissioners. The
Board organized, elected josiah Perham
president, and opened stock bSoks- The
Law required that 10000 shares Of stock
should be subscribed and 10 per cent.
paid IN before choosing directors AID
siectinq officers. Thirty-fwo Bostoni-
ans subscribed 20, LIS shares, and nomi-
naIIy paid sol, $50 in.0 the treasury.
thus f0Iiy completing the organization.
the advance thus made was afterwards
returned 20 the subscribers under . res
olusion OF the Board authorizing the
payment of the Gusts and expenses in
Cured in procuring the company char
ter This organization was Perfected
December 6, 1864. Perharn and his
Board did not intend to lay out any
money In the construction OF the road
Their object was wild cat specalation.
| About one year after permanent organ
izasion they sold their franchise to a
new company, headed by John Gregory
| Smith, for $4,000 worth Of stock sub
scrlptl0n and $780, COO worth OF stock 10
be issued by the new Board. OF which
Governor smith was elected President.
| Il was not the lntention of the new oil
rectors 70 advance any money for
the enterprise. They appealed TO Gem
gress for heip. They failed, except
TO Get nn extension of two years time
for commencing and completing the
road. This was done by joint res0lu-
ton, passed May n. lS66--aiinost two
years after the charter WAS granted.
The next twelve months were spent IN
industriously working Congress for aid,
| without any result. In January, 1867,
the Original Interest Agreement was
formed, which divided the enterprise
into twelve shares, assessable 10 the
limit of $12,500 share, each share
emitting It's holder TO a dictatorship 10
the board. These twelve stockholders
| were j. Gregory Smith. w. b. Ogden
Robert III. Burdell, A. N. Barney, w. g
Fargo, g. W. Carr, Edgar Thompson
and Edward Riley, together with L IL
Garfield and X. ID. Rice, who held theii
interests in the name of Governor
Smith. These men then became the
Directors and sole owners of the fran
ahises and stock of the Northern Pa
ciiie Railroad. Edwin X. johnson wa
appointed Engineer in Chief, and In
siructed to make survey OF the road
On this coast parties we're placed nndel
charge of General James Tllton, whs
was particularly instructed to survey
the most practicable passes in the Gas
cade Mountains. He surveyed the Cow
litz, the Snoqualmie and the Skagit, al
being considered eligible, but the Sno
qualnie Pass was demonstrated 30 b.
by far the most practicable. He named
two other passes as ineligible, viz ths
Yakima (now the Stampede). LOGO feet
and the Natchess, 1850 fest In altitude
abeve the Snoquaimie Pass. Mr.. Iii
toms opinion of the Snoqualmie ovel
all other passes has been concurred In
by Stevens, Mcclellan, Tinkham, Mul
Ian, johnson and L. b. Morris, each ont
of whom pronounce II as the best defils
in the Cascades. Soon after this al
field work was abandoned, and n,
meetings of the board were held from
February, 1868, TO February, 1870
During the interval lobby
had been established at Washington
and all available influence masset
at the National Capital for material aid
Congress passed an act extending tn,
time for commencing work on the roae
until July I'd, 1870; and provided that /
must be completed by July 18th, 1877
Six years were spent in bartering with
its charter between spectators, and IL
begging the Government for more aid
In 1863, the manipnlators of the enter
prise came TO the conclusion III 1t il was
folly to longer besiege Congress fol
"aid,n and began to consider the feast
hility of constructing the road as bust
ness enterprise. Jay Cooke was prof
fered the financial management. Hs
accepted, and contract was closed will
him on January LIST. 1870. This coRtrac
provided for the issue of bonds to th,
amount of $I00, 0C0, 009, bearing an an
nuaI interest at the rate of seven ant
three-tenths in gold. The banking firm
credited the railroad with eighty leigh
cents on the dollar for tie bonds il
sold, and as il disposed of them at par
its margin was very liberal one; bu
the contract did moie-it gave the bank
ing house 500 of the stock of the com
pany for every $1,000 of bonds sold
which would have amounted, for tn,
completed road. to about $4,000, 600
and one half of the remainder of tn,
81 ,000,OC0 of stock authorized by tn,
barter. The twelve original Interest,"
which owned the stock were doubled
and one half of them assigned to ia,
Cooke Il Co. A considerable amount o.
stock was given by the banking firm Il
subscribers to the bonds; bat an ire
vocable power of attorney was taken, 81
that the firm, hsving purchased thir
teenth interest, controlled the manage
tnent of the eompany's affairs. Othe
clauses in the contract made th,
tirm the only financial agents o
the railroad company and the sole de
poeitory Of its funds provided for tins
conversion of the $500 0J0 of stock out
standing into bonuses of fifty cents OF
the dollar: created land company Il
manage the town sites and bound sh,
firm Co raise $5.OO0O00 within shirtl
DAYS from January =, 1870. Jay Cooks
4 10. raised the $500, 600 BY forning
pool in Philadelphia, the members oI
which took the bonds at par and wers
given the twelve proprietary interests
IN stock at $4,000 each. The profit Il
the firm arising from this great iransac,
ton. was $6u,0ou on the bonds fol
which it paid ~ cents. and $500,
coo Tan the stock, which cost it nothing
ttt,i of $i.aO,000 The i've milllon.
of bonds carrieS With them total al
S4i 90. COO OF stock each of the twelv.
proprietary shares was entitled TO $93,
40 nominal of the preliminary issue al
stock, and IN addition $SS.33t nominal
IN stock for the 10 per csnt. stock com.
mission on the sale of boeds provides
for IN the contract between the bankers
and the company. Under this contract,
the profits of jay Cooke 4 Co., on tht
complexion of the road, would amoans
to 3s0.0N0.O0 commission bonds sold