The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-11-01

Crnncll. OF Michigan.
William r. Coolnugh. Lucius n. Lang
worthy. Hugh r. Reid, Hoyt sherman. L.
man Cook. Samuel R. Curtis. Lewis A.
Thomas, Plat Smith. Of Iowa.
William b, Ogden, Charles 9. Hammond,
Henry Farnum. Amos c. Babcock. W. Sell
don Gale Nehemiah Bushnell and Lorenzo
Bull. OF Illinois.
William H. Swift. Samuel +. Dana, John
Bertram, Franklin S. Stevens, Edward II.
Tinker. Of Massachusetts
Franklin CORN. Laban J. Bradford and
John +. Lewis, of Kentucky.
James Dunnlng. John NJ. Wood. Edwin
Noyes, Joseph Easton, OF Maine,
Henry H. Baxter George w. Collamer,
Henry Keyes. Thos. H. Canneld. Of Yer
mont.
william S. Ladd. A. NJ. Berry, BENJAMIN
F. Harding. Of Oregon
William Bum. Jr., John Catlin, Levi
Sterling. John Thompson, Eiihu l.. Phil
lips. Walter u. Mclndoe, T. B. Stoddard,
Il. II. Brodhead, A. H. Virgin. OF wiscon-
sin.
Charles Paine, Thomas A. Norris David
G. Branham. Samuel Hanna Joseph vo-
taw. Jesse l.. Williams. Isaac c. Eiston.
Of Indiana.
Thomas Swan. Chauncey Brooks, Edward
Wilkins. OF Maryland.
Francis R. T.. Cornell David Blakeley.
A. D. Seward, Henry A. Swift. Dwight
Woodbury.. John McKusick, John r. Jones,
OF Minnesota.
Joseph A. Gilmore, chas. W. woodman.
OF New Hampshire.
W. II. Grimes. j. G. Stone, Chester
Thomas. John Kerr, werter r. Davis,
Luther G. Challiss, Josiah Miller, OF kan
sas City.
Gilbert G. Mcneil. Augustus Kountz, 4.
NJ Marquette. William H. Taylor, Alvin
Saunders, of Nebraska.
John Evans OF Colorado
After a little agitation ii became evil
| dent that the road would not be built on
the terms offered by the act of 1862. The
war was In progress; iron rails. which,
| in 1889. were $50 per ton, were. in 1862,
$3.50 per ton-five or six times what steel
rails cost new: no railway came within 150
miles OF Omaha, the initial point OF the
| road, so men and material must be trans
| ported either by team or by the dangerous
and costly Missouri river boats; the coun-
try along the eastern part OF the road
| yielded no timber. except little cotton-
wood, and hardwood ties had to be brought
| In from Ohio, Pennsylvania and even from
| New York
| So the act Of 1862 proved failure
| Congress then made a new offer by the
amendatory act Of 1854 practically doubling
| the resources OF the railway companies
The land grant was made twenty sections
| to the mile. CT about 33 900, 600 acres In all
| thc coiuptuies, were authorized TO Issue ara
sell first mortgage bonds equal In amount
| to the Omitted States subsidy bonds, and
| to run the same period Thus the first
| mortgage stipulated IN the act OF 1862 be-
came a second mortgage.
| How much OF the main line should be
! built by the Union Pacific and how much
| by the Central Pacific was left undeter,nin-
ate, and the competition between the two
companies each desiring TO make it's mile
| age as great as possible, so as to secure
| as much as possible of the subsidy, has
| tened very materially the completion OF the
| task. From Sioux City n branch was to
| be built to connect with the main line rot
west of the Tooth meridian. From Kansas
| City another branch was TO be built north
| west also to connect with the main line
not west of the Tooth meidian short
spur from Leavenworth was to join the
Kansas City branch From st. Joseph, via
Atchison, still another branch was to run
westward and connect with the Kansas City
branch Thus all the Missouri river
points" were to have the benefits OF con-
nection with the Pacific railway.
| With the passage OF Che act OF 1864 began
the most romantic period OF railway con-
struction which the world has ever seen,
| We whose ideas of such work have been
gained in the we'll settled parts OF our
country can scarcely picture to ourselves
| the conditions under which this first trans
continental railway was built. Omaha was
an outpost OF civilization. struggling
frontier town. Beyond it lay 1000 miles OF
desert. First the dreary, NOR otonous,
treeless plains, then the rugged mountains
"a country which had In the past served
| no purpose except IS breeding groun A
| for interminable Indian wars and which
then gave but little promise OF better things
for the future. But beyond lay California,
| the land of gold. because of which the road
Was being built.
| Materials were rushed to the ground with
all possible speed The Western road es-
| tablshed n purchasing agency In New
York, whence engines. rails and other ma
terials were sent by sailing vessels around
Cape Horn TO san Francisco--a voyage of
| $4,000 miles, with its ends $500 miles apart.
At one time thirty vessels loaded with
Central Pacific materials We're taking this
| voyage.
| When once construction had been begun
on the Pneific railways, 1t vas necessary to
continue the work with all the speed pos
sible. Practically no local traffic could be
hoped for for years, and until the road was
| completed II could get no income from the
| profitable transcontinental traffic which
awaited It. The interest charges on the
investment we're 50 heavy as TO make It
imperative that an income be secured to
balance them Just as soon as possible. so
| haste was the order of tho day. And this
haste vas the costlest item in the con-
| struItion OF the road. War prices were
paid for labor, for materials, for every
thing. Winter was not allowed to interrupt
construction, and part of the time $3.50 per
cubic yard was paid for excavating earth.
(which. being frozen. had to be blasted like
rock. The track which was laid in the
winter or frozen ground was, OF course,
| exceedingly unsafe when the spring thuws
came, and sometimes cars, engine track
and all would slide off the enIbankment
! into ditch.
The law required that before the sub
sidy could be paid on the completed por-
| tons Of the road commissioner appointed
| by the president must certify that the re-
qulremerts OF the chartering acts had been
complied With At one time one OF the
companies had n long stretch Of road nm
tshed. but 1t lay beyond a tunnel which
was still incomplete. The law said that only
consecutive sections could be accepted.
But the company needed money and II
eyaded the law in this way: The train
bearing the commissioner was brought up
to the vicinity OF the tunnel AMI stopped
| for the right While the commissioner
slept the train was moved on over he tenn
porary track TO position Beyond the tun-
Ina NeI tp Of 1t,rx x,tft hi