All of which is respectfully submitted and signed.
H. W. Sheetz,
G. L. Otis,
J. J. Cruttenden,
Committee.
LAND GRANTS, RAILROAD SURVEYS AND CONSTRUCTION.
In May, 1857, Congress gave to Minnesota, then a territory, a magnificent grant of about 9,000,000 acres of land, to aid in the construction of several projected trunk roads through her bounds. The roads specified were: From Stillwater, by way of St. Paul and St. Anthony Falls, to a point between the foot of Big Stone lake and the mouth of the Sioux Wood river, with a branch via St. Cloud and Crow Wing to the navigable waters of the Red River of the North; from St. Paul and St. Anthony via Minneapolis to a convenient point of junction west of the Mississippi to the southern boundary of the Territory in the direction of the mouth of the Big Sioux river, with a branch via Faribault to the north line of the state of Iowa, west of range 16; from Winona to a point on the Big Sioux river south of the forty-fifth parallel of north latitude; also from La Crescent via Target lake, up the valley of Root river, to a point of junction with the last mentioned road, east of range 17, every alternate section of land designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of said road and branches. It was enacted that the lands granted were to be subject to the disposal of the legislature.
An extra session of the legislature was convened in June, 1857, to accept the grant and devise means to build the road.
The financial crisis of 1857 and unwise legislation in 1858, notably the attempt to issue $5,000,000 in bonds to aid in building the roads, served to delay the various enterprises projected, and for many years but little work was done, notwithstanding persistent effort at every state legislature to effect favorable changes in the condition of affairs.
A few of the $5,000,000 bonds were issued, but the general dissatisfaction, and feeling that they were not issued on a legal or rational basis, depreciated their value, and they were sold at a sacrifice and afterward redeemed by the State.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
The idea of a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific was openly discussed as early as 1837, in which year Dr. Hartwell Carver memorialized Congress on the subject and promulgated his views through the press and by pamphlets. In 1845 Asa Whitney evolved a plan for the northern route, and awakened considerable popular enthusiasm, but by many the project was considered as a swindling scheme, or at best a visionary enterprise. Mr. Whitney made a preliminary survey from Prairie du Chien as far as the Rocky mountains. Mr. Josiah Perham, afterward the first president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in 1857 projected a road from Maine to Puget Sound, to be known as the People's Pacific Railway, and obtained a charter from the Maine legislature, but on bringing his scheme to the attention of Congress was prevailed upon by Thaddeus Stevens to abandon this scheme for another, agreeing to aid him in the passage of a bill for the construction of the present Northern Pacific route. The bill passed both houses and was signed by President Lincoln, July 2, 1864. The first permanent officers were: Josiah Perham, president; Willard Sear, vice president; Abiel Abbott, secretary; J. S. Withington, treasurer.