The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-06-23

Of them. running through free terri
tory. Eould give the free section o.
the country an advantage In the At
traction 81 settlers over the slave sec
ton. ard thus add 10 the preponder-
ance which the former had already
gained Most OF the South favored
the selection Of Memphis as the Mis-
sissippi Valleys terminus for the pro
posed road. and wanted Il 20 run
through Arkansas and Texas. the lat
ter state being annexed In iS45. few
months after whifney'z first memoir
al vas presented 20 Congress The
slavery Issue touched nearly every
great question which came up in Con
gress in those days
Then. too. there vas rivalry be
tween most q the important cities
on the Atlantic coast for the adran-
tzge which would come through d.
rect connection with the proposed
road. Boston. Mex York. Philadelphia
Baltimore and Charleston being in
/ this contest Charleston had the sup
/ port OF most Of the Representatives
/ from the Southern states Moreover
there was a difference OF view re-
garding the plan on which the road
should be built Whitney'E original
proposition was that he should get
from the government thirty miles OF
/ the public lands on each side of the
road. or a strip sixty miles in width in
/ all. and that from the sales Of this
land which was Ia be disposed Of al
a stipulated low price. he should pay
for the building OF the road. the road
I -. - l. -
/ az the end 10 belong 10 him and his
heirs forever Benton and major
| fly OF the other advocates of a Pa
| cifc ROAD Of that day proposed that
the government should build the road
Benton actively opposed the Whitney
! project when. in 1s4S. il seemed 10 be
near adoption BY that time. through
the treaty OF Guadalupe Hidalgo. OF
February 2. 1S4S. which brought the
Mexican war to an end. California
had been annexed. Benton introduc-
cd a bill OF his own on February Z.
lS4e. melted largely by the gold dis
covery in California twelve months
earlier and the thrush OF immigrants
To that locality from all over the
globe. but this also failed
As an amendment to the army APP
preparation bin signed by Fillmore
on the last day of his service in 1858.
there was a provision authorizing sur
veys by the governments engineers
Of the various routes suggested. The
work was done under the general
direction Of jefferson Davis. Pierce's
Secretary of War. and reports wee
made by the engineers showing that
al 4s.ssf D L,
! but though both the Democratic and
the Republican parties. in their ma
tional platforms OF 1856 and 1860,
| advocated the construction of a Pa
cific road. local and sectional jeal-
ousies defeated il until the civil war
made its construction imperative as
military measure. The absence Of
the South from representation in
Congress at that time. and the neees-
sity that the most direct line between
the thicklv settled portion of the LOYAL
states and California should be cho-
sen. dictated the selection of the more
central route Before this time Ben
ton WAS dead and Whitney after
spending all his fortune in his prose
lvting work. had abandoned his
dream Of a Pacific Railway. though.
as he lived till 1872. he saw the road
built by other hands
One day in 1861 Theodore D. Judah
IA local engineer who had done
much serveving for routes in Cali
formal Leland Stanford. Coils P.
Huntington. Mark Hopkins. Charles
Croker and a few others met in the
st. Charles Hotel in Sacramento and
gave practical direction to the in
fiuences which led TO the legislation
= year later, and to the creation of
the Union and Central Pacific Rail
road Companies. by which the CONT
nent was spanned California's rep
resentatives-esp especially Latham and
McDougall in the Senate and Sargent
in the House-took a leading part in
the passage of an act signed by Presi-
dent Lincoln on July 1. 1862. under
which. with some additional legisla-
ton particularly an act signed July
:, 1864. the first transcontinental road
was built
The government granted a subsidy
TO the two comprehensive Union Pa.
cific building the eastern end of the
line and the Central the western end
lin s per cent gold bonds at the rate
of $4,000 for each mile OF road be
tween the Missouri River and the
Rocky Mountains. $4,000 q mile for
soc miles through the Rockies and
the Sierra Nevada Mountain 15o
miles IN each range). $50. 600 a mile
between the two mountain systems.
and SIG geo q mile from the western
base of the Sierra Nevadas 10 the
roads western extremity. In addition
each company received 12. 500 acres OF
land for each mile OF road. or about
q. eco o00 acres for the 1917 miles OF
tine between Omaha and San Fran
cisco. Rails began to be laid az both
ends-from Omaha westward by the
Union Pacific. and from Sacramento
eastward (afterward connected with
San Francisco By the Central Pa
cific--in 1855. and the end came in
1858 That year viii ever remain q
landmark in American railroad his
tory.
Jnst one American achievement,
since the government establishment
under the constitution. and one only
the preservation OF the Union and
It's accompanying extirpation Of slav
erv-trAnseeuds in importance the
building Of the first franscontinental
railway Time and conditions in isss