If it be thought, however, that such was not the intention of the legislators who framed the statutes, consolation can be found in the construction given to the clause inserted in every grant, substantially as follows: “And the said road shall remain a public highway for the use of the Government, free from toll or other charge upon the transportation of troops or other property of the United States.”

It is declared by the Supreme Court that the purpose of that clause was to allow the Government the right to place its locomotive engines and cars upon the railroad tracks, and to use such tracks as a public highway. The court say: “We are of opinion that the reservation in question secures to the Government only a free use of the railroads concerned; and that it does not entitle the Government to have troops or property transported by the companies over their respective roads free of charge for transporting the same.”

The section providing for the disposal of the lands, recited in full in the Missouri grant of 1852, has been construed as vesting in the State the right to sell one hundred and twenty sections of land, contained within a continuous length of twenty miles at any place along the grant, even though the road contemplated was never built; and the title acquired by purchase from the State is valid. And the clause with which the section referred to ends, to the effect that if the road be not completed within a certain time the lands shall revert to the United States, has been declared inoperative without further action by the Government, either legislative or judicial, looking to an enforcement of the reserved right.

Fears have been awakened as to the power to ultimately control these corporations, on account of the enormous extent to which they have expanded; but, as has been said by an able writer, “this evil, however, if it be such, will probably work its own cure.”

Be that as it may, their influences have been felt by all, and their benefits have extended to the remotest sections of our country. They have proved a bond between the eastern and western States—anxiously sought for by Washington when the lateral limits of the United States were less than half what they are at this time. They have united the Pacific with the Atlantic, and the Rocky Mountains of the west with the Alleghanies of the east. They have dispelled all ideas looking to the removal of the seat of Government, for they have put in direct communication the people of Oregon with the people of Maine. From ocean to ocean requires but days, where only a few years ago it required weeks.

In the past, long lines of moving wagons groaned beneath their loads of adventurous families, who at night, within the corral, seated themselves around the blazing camp fire, fearful of the dangers to which they were exposed. But the present has forgotten them. In their stead the ponderous wheels of frequent trains, moving with a speed surpassing that of the deer, traversing the valley and mountain, carry forward their loads of living freight; and, in place of dangerous encampments, provide means of sleep and refreshment, and afford the comforts of luxurious homes. The railway has brought to our doors the harvest of our fields; handed to our mints the vast resources of our mines, and opened to us direct communication with the older worlds. Its arms have extended into a hundred vales and over a hundred mountains, grasping in their embrace manifold evidences of civilization and prosperity.

INDEX.