The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-08-03

HELD POWER
Eminent Domain Of a Railroad and !
Water Power Project confiIcted
But the Matter is Now
Settled.


As noted in the report Of the coun-
Gil meeting OF last evening. the water
power proposition was given fur
Their boost in rather peculiar way
and another obstacle which had arisen
was removed when the council agreed
to lease to the railway company a
small piece of land en- the river front
south OF Bank street.
That the railway company can
block the whole water power project
il it SO desired, was told at the coun-
Gil meeting last evening and it was
fully explained how and why this
could be done.
The building of the dam will food
the tracks Of the company from Keo-
kuk to Montrose and unless the rail-
way company agrees to permit this
to be done, there is no power to force
them. The water power interests
cannot buy out the railroad, nor can
it enjoy the eminent domain law,
build the dam and settle with the
railway later. for the reason that the
railway tracks are located where
they are by virtue OF. eminent domain
in the first place. and therefore sec
ond enterprise cannot GUST them.
The railway company therefore oc-
cupies a supreme petition in regard
to the overflow of property and holds
the water company BY the neck II It
should so desire.
But from the past history, the rail-
way company has no desire to stand
in the way of the protector, or to do
any dog in the manager act Several
years ago Mr.. Cooper and the railway
company came to most amicable
agreement, the company agreeing to
/ its tracks being overfiowed and NOV
ed The cost of reconstructing the
tracks was figured at over 100000,
which sum the water power company
must pay when the time comes.
The railway company agreed and
signed a contract to move the tracks
for 100000 less than the engineers
estimate which shows desire on its
ipartsto be more than fair in the mat
ter. nj
The railroad contract has expired,
was renewed and has again expired,
so that at the present time the water
power company and railway company
are not agreed upon this feature Of the
project.
ss
Freeman Was Blocked.
/ The capitalists for whom Engineer
y. H. Freeman made a recent investi.
Igration of the water power, have just
bumped into this feature of the case
and when they saw the railway offic.
ials in the east and attempted to get a
new contract, they met stone wall
The railway refused to sign any
water power contract. The Freeman
syndicate found out just where the
sticking point was.
| 1t. was this. The city of Keokuk
| had refused to lease the railway com.
pany the strip Of ground on the levee.
| The railway officials argued that II
| Keokuk would not favor them with
| this lease, they would not favor the
city in the water power matter.
This is the way the situation was
explained at the council meeting OF
last evening. letter had been re-
ceived from Mr.. Cooper explaining the
situation and in the evening tele-
gram came from him in which he
stated that the Freeman syndicate
could do nothing whatever until this
railway matter was settled.
Judge VIM. Logan, A. E. tombstone
and Wells M. Irwin were present at
the council meeting, representing the