The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-02-09

Last evening was devoted by the
! Minnesota Historical society to review
ing the early newspaper history and
the first railroad building operations
| in Minnesota. -
An interesting feature of the even
| ing programme was the reading by
/ Secretary Warren Upham Of a paper
prepared by Col. William Crooks, now
| of Portland, Or, but for many years a
| resident of st. Paul. Col. Crooks was
a particularly active factor in the
! building of the first railroad line in the
upper Mississippi, which constituted
! the real beginning of the Great North
| ern system He thus describes the en-
| terprise:
The first railroad building in this upper
| Mississippi region was done under the
| charter of the Minnesota & Pacific Rail
road company, which was succeeded by
| the St Paul & Pacific Railroad company,
| and afterwards passed under control of
| the st. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba
! Railway company. The St Paul 81 Pacific
company also controlled a line from ST.
! Paul to Winona, in the valley of the Mis-
| SisSippi.
| A land grant was made by the United
| States government to aid the construction
| of this railroad, and by ruling of the
interior department at Washington. the
! company, under the grant to Minnesota,
was declared entitled to 120 sections OF
! land, in advance of construction.
In 1857 the line of railway was located
| from Saltwater by way of st. Paul ana
st. Anthony falls, to a point near Big
i Stone lake, on the western boundary of
/ the state, and was also located from the
! falls of st. Anthony to Crow Wing by the
| way of st. Cloud.
In 1858. under a contract with Selah
! Chamberlain, of Cleveland, Ohio, sixty
/ two and one-half miles of the road from
| st. Paul north were graded and bridged.
and the cross ties for a large portion of
| the line Were delivered. The right of way
| was. in the main, secured by the COM
| pany. The work. however, was suspended
| owing to a battle made by interested or
| badly disposed people against the faith
and credit of the state of Minnesota rem
| dering powerless the grantees of the
states credit, who held its bonds under
the provision of the $5 900, 600 loan bill, SO
| called
Matters remained in a condition of I'M
certainty as to the prosecution of the
work upon this and other lines of railroad
in the state, until the people, having lost
| faith, were turning their faces eastward
in abandonment Of their instituted settle
ment. 1t appeared necessary at such q
| time to make an appeal to the legislature
in order to keep alive the franchise of the
! company by providing against forfeiture
| or merger of it's privileges The COM
pany took this appeal in the winter of
| 186O-61, and the legislature granted to it
! an extension of time. Meantime, negotia-
| tons had been conducted by the Hon.
Edmund Rice, who was the head and
| front, and the heart and soul, of every eff
| fort put forth to rescue the state from a
/ condition which simply meant ruin to all
/ Mr.. Crooks then reviews negotiations
| for capitalization of the proposed roads,
which on the eve of successful con-.
| summation were interrupted by the
| breaking OUT If the Civil war. Then he
| continues:
Just at this time, however, I made the
acquaintance, in New York, quite acct
| dentally, of Messrs. Winters, Harshman
| and Drake, residents of Ohio. These gen
| tlemen, with the exception Of Mr. Drake
| We're bankers and capitalists and were in
New York looking for some investment.
| On account of a long acquaintance with
| Col DE Graft they were negotiating with
| him in reference to building the Winona
& st. Peter railroad; but, as the colonel
| informed me that they had not money
| enough to accomplish all that was neces-
| sary in the case of this road. he intro
| duced them to me-. believing that 1 could
| interest, them in the construction of the
| St. Paul & Pacific railroad between ST.
| Paul and st. Anthony Falls.
After consulting with Mr.. Rice and
| having had conferences with the geptle-
| men aforesaid, an agreement was reached
| whereby they were to furnish means of
building the railroad from st. Paul to the
i Falls of st. Anthony. They We're to visit
! st. Paul at an early date and, if an ex-
| animation of the whole business proved
| to be as good and fair as had been rep
| resented, they We're to enter into
| formal contract and. if disappointed in the
| examination, we obligated ourselves to re-
| imburse them for their time and expense
| in visiting Minnesota
In due time the gentlemen arrived and
| made careful examination of the line
| OF the road, its legal status, ETC., and
| were willing to state that we had not told
| one-haf of what We might have stated
! with entire Veracity, and thereupon they
| proceeded to deposit with the governor of
/ the state, as required by law $4,000. and
entered into contract with the railroad
| company, as heretofore stated
| IneN were to receive for tha wOrIz Of
| completing the grade track and the fur
| nShlng Of rolling stock, first mortgage
gold PONDS, drawing per cent interest
ana running twenty years, at the rate of
| $lZO00 per mile, making an aggregate of
| $I20,O0O in bonds, and they were further
TO receive all the lands to which at that
| tline the company could make title ae-
| gregating 76,S00 acres, which body of land
| commenced in the county of Hennepin and
| extended northwesterly through what is
I0day properly the garden of Minnesota
| Ihere Were difficulties encountered in car
| rylng this agreement into effect because
| OF some right of way which had not been
! secured IN the city of ST. Paul This
| caused delay of nearly a year from the
time the work was commenced in the fail
OF 1861; but further legislation during the
| winter OF 1861-1S62 ena bled the cornnan1,
| to proceed, and the line was finished and
put into operation between st. Paul and
the Falls of St. Anthony in the early
| days of July, 1862
Under the provisions of this contract
two locomotives and some passenger and
| freight cars were furnished This line was
| laid With iron rails of forty-fiv pounds to
| the yard, steel rails being unknown at
| that time. The locomotives were of only
| twenty-five tons capacity. wood burners
| The first locomotive engine was named
| after myself and the second after Mr.
| edmund Rice. These engines were the
first that turned a wheel in the state Of
| Minnesota %
Discusses Early journalism.
The principal paper of the evening
was by D. S. B. Johnston, being the
third of series on pioneer newspapers.
| The title was: Minnesota Journalism
! at the Close of the Territorial Period. !"
Mr.. Johnston said in part:
| .Ihe old-time editor was a thorough
pioneer. He helped lay the foundations of
minnesota deep and strong. and was as
honorable in his calling as the early mer-
chant doctor lawyer or business man.
| Po4tlcaly he was a partisan, and a firm
and honest believer in the adage: a"To
the victor belong the spoils' TO keen
pody and soul in touch he needed the in
frequent dofes of the mail, letting adyer-
tlsements and state county printing of
territorial times to supplement- his at
| tenuated returns from subscriptions ad-
Vertlslng and job work, and when his