Jackson County, Missouri - Chapter 9: The Inception of Our Railroads, 1881

Chapter 9: The Inception of Our Railroads

Kansas City Takes the Lead in Efforts to Secure Railroad Facilities - Her Efforts Start a Fever in Railroad Enterprises in Western Missouri and Kansas - The Inception of Her Own System - The Hostility of Kansas - The First Efforts in Behalf of Trans- Continental Railroad - Kansas City in the Struggle, -with Both the Slave and Anti-Slave Sections for the Road - The Enthusiasm of the Period - Beginning of Railroad Work - The Real Founders of Kansas City - Their Trials and Triumphs.

The agitation of the construction of railroads began in some parts of Missouri in 1849, a convention of that kind having been held in St. Louis in that year. Railroads then began to reach toward St. Louis, and approach the Mississippi from the east at other points. The country had become settled and productive to an extent that some method of transportation better thkn wagons had become necessary ; yet this was the only means, except near the navigable rivers. The Missouri River, by steamboat, was the only method of reaching the central and western parts of the State. The Pacific Railroad, from St. Louis to the western line of the State, was chartered in 1852, and the Hannibal & St. Joseph, through the influence of R. M. Stewart, afterward Governor, some time before that.

Kansas City, by reason of being situated at the great angle of the Missouri River, which made her the nearest river point for the New Mexican plain; and Indian trade, was beginning to attract attention on account of her commerces and her people, appreciating the advantage her situation gave her, but knowing that railroads would make a great commercial center wherever they concentrated on the western border, and take all the plains trade to that point, saw that their future depended upon getting the railroads. One had been chartered already to St. Joseph, and another from St. Louis to the western border. She feared the effect of the one, and the possible location of the other. She began to make efforis to secure the Pacific, and to tap the Hannibal & St. Joseph, so that she would enjoy equal advantages with the latter named place. Thus, in 1855, there arose an activity in railroad schemes rarely equaled in any community, and the work done was, for a town of less than a thousand people, enormous. The agitation of this class of enterprises at Kansas City, at this time, can be best represented by an account of events in the order in which they occurred.

On the first of December, 1855, news was received from Jefferson City that the Legislature had- passed a bill, giving State aid to certain railroads, among which was the Pacific. This gave great satisfaction here, as it was expected that the road would be immediately pushed through, and Kansas City was sanguine of success in securing its terminus.

In December, 1855, ^'^ 8°' ^ ^^^' passed by the Missouri Legislature, incorporating the Kansas City, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, the object of which was to build a road to the nearest point on the Hannibal & St. Joseph. The incorporators were Dr. B. Troost, W. H. Chick, M. J*. Payne, A. J. Martin, Thos. Swope, Joel Walker, H. J. Richards, J. Riddlesbarger, Alex. Gilham, Gainus Jenkins, W. J. Jarboe, Jos. C. Ranson, J. W. Ammons, S. W. Bouton, Dr. J. Lykins, Dr. T. B. Lester, D. K. Abeel, J. W. Summers, J. A. Fenley, and WilHam A. Strong. Governor Price vetoed the bill, but it was passed over his veto. This was the inception of the road to Cameron.

The discussion of this project started the agitation in Western Missouri, and all the towns began to hold meetings, and project railroads. Among others projected was the Parkville & Grand River, the Canton & Western, and the St. Joseph & Burlington. Meetings were held in almost every town in Western Missouri, and some kind of a project originated. The fever spread to Kansas, and Leavenworth, Lawrence and Atchison soon had their projects.

The first Legislature of Kansas chartered the Kansas Valley Railroad, from Kansas City to Fort Riley, on the south side of the Kaw. This was the beginning of the agitation of a road in that valley, where we now have two.

The prominence Kansas City had already attained as the headquarters of the trade of the plains, led to the projection of several roads to her ; among which was the Kansas City & St. Joseph Railroad, which was chartered some time prior to 1855. This was the inception of our present Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad.

A Railroad to Galveston Bay began to be agitated in 1855. The road now known as the Texas Central, or a road occupying substantially the same route had been chartered and its construction begun.

In the latter part of 1856 a company was organized in Arkansas and started a project called the Napoleon & Kansas City Railroad, which was to run from Napoleon, on the Mississippi River, via Fort Smith to Kansas City. Dr. Lee was president of this enterprise, and Capt. Lloyd Tighlman engineer, and part of the survey was made. It was looked upon with so much favor that some of the Missouri counties were urged to give it aid. Napoleon was then a place of more importance than since the war.

In discussing the Galveston Railroad project it was soon discovered that the country northward of Kansas City took an interest in it, and would like to have it extended through their section. Hence, in February, 1857, a company was organized here, taking the name of the Kansas City, Galveston & Lake Superior Railroad Company, the purpose of which was to procure the building of a road from Lake Superior to Galveston through Kansas City. Dr. Lykins, Jos. C. Ranson, R. T. Van Horn, Robert J. Lawrence, S. W. Bouton, were the first directors. Dr. Lykins was elected president, R. T. Van Horn, secretary, and Kersey Coates, treasurer.

January 12, 1856, books were opened for subscriptions to the stock of the Kansas City, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad It was then expected that the road could be located by March and constructed in two years, and that it would prove the most important line for the city, because more practicable for immigrants to Kansas. Four days afterward a meeting of the people appointed J. Riddlesbarger, Jos. C. Ranson and J. C. McCoy to correspond with E. M. Samuels, of Clay county, relative to the survey of the road. Clay county had already proposed to pay half the expense if this city would pay the other. This proposition was promptly accepted.

January 27th the Kansas Valley Railroad Company was organized with E. F. Perry, W. H. R. Lykins, J. C. Ranson, William A. Hopkins, J. M. Ashburn, Kersey Coates, Dr. J. Lykins, David Hood and Thos. H. Swope as directors. Dr. Lykins was elected president and Kersey Coates secretary and treasurer. The purpose of the company was to build a road on the south side of Kaw River to Fort Riley. Three 'hundred shares of the stock were subscribed at the meeting at which the organization was effected.

On the 5th of July, 1856, the directors of the Kansas City, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad engaged Robert J. Lawrence to survey and locate the line. The work was begun the next week, and an agent accompanied Mr. Lawrence to solicit subscriptions to the stock.

The day previous to this appointment, July 4, Gol. E. M. Samuels, of Clay county, addressed the people of Liberty in behalf of extending the line to Keokuk, and on the 9th he addressed the people of Kansas City on the same subject.

On the 19th of July, 1856, was the first mention in Kansas City of the Napoleon & Kansas City Railroad, in a letter from Dr. F. A. Rice, of Keysburg, Ky.

On the 19th of July the survey of route of the Kansas City, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad was finished by Mr. Lawrence to Fishing Creek, and on the 26th, Joseph C. Ranson made the first call upon subscribers to the expense of the survey.

On the 4th of October, 1858, the directors of this road resolved to organize under the general incorporation law of the State, as the Keokuk & Kansas City Railroad, and asked the people to assemble and memorialize the city council to order an election to vote $150,000 stock in it.

The election occurred on the 14th, and the proposition was carried almost unanimously. At that time Keokuk had voted $45,000, and it was estimated that $900,000 more could be procured along the hne, besides $50,000 of individual subscription in Kansas City and an equal amount in Clay county. A convention in the interest of this road was called to meet at Linneus, November 20, 1856; accordingly a public meeting was held in Kansas City on the loth, and the incorporators of the Kansas City, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad were requested to attend. The report of the survey, made by Robert J. Lawrence, was made November 15th, and the line was regarded as exceptionally favorable. This survey extended only to the line of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. At the railroad convention at Linneus, November 20th, there were delegates from Keokuk, Kansas City and from Scotland, Lewis, Adair, Linn, Livingston and Clay counties. Dr. W. A. Hopkins, Kersey Coates, Jos. C. Ranson, T. M. James, S. W. Bouton, Robt. J. Lawrence, M. B Hedges and R. T. Van Horn attended from Kansas City, and Col. Van Horn was elected secretary. This convention resolved that the road was necessary and must be built, and raised a committee to obtain a charter from the Missouri Legislature. That committee was Col. E. M. Samuels of Clay county, and Kersey Coates and R. T. Van Horn of Kansas City. W. Y. Slack, of Chillicothe, was appointed agent, and an assessment of three thousand dollars was made to pay for a preliminary survey, to he made by the Kansas City, Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company. This convention was followed with many enthusiastic meetings along the proposed line, and subscriptions of stock by most of the counties.

On the 2d of January, 1857, Gen. J. W. Reid, of this city, introduced into the Missouri Legislature a bill to incorporate this company, and it passed on the 6th, though not without some opposition, as several members were afraid that if the road were built it would become a conveyance for runaway slaves, because it termiuated in a free State. As soon as this charter received the signature of the Governor, the company opened books in Kansas City, and two hundred and fifty shares of stock were immediately subscribed by the people.

In January, 1857, the Missouri Legislature, also chartered the Kansas City & Galveston road. This road was to extend northward to Lake Superior, and John J. Shoemaker commenced the survey from Kansas City, north through Platte and Clinton counties, and enthusiastic meetings were held at Plattsburg, Smithville and Barry.

In December preceding (1856) Gen. Duff and party bought up the entire stock of the Kansas City & St. Joseph Railroad, and March 3d a bill was introduced by Gen. Reid into the Missouri Legislature which was passed and signed, appropriating $75,000 for it, under the name of the Platte County Road, by which it was afterward known. One-half the sum was to be expended between Kansas City and St. Joseph, and the other half in extending the line to Iowa. In March, 1857, the Louisiana Legislature passed the bill to incorporate the

New Orleans, Shreveport & Kansas City Railroad, the line to touch the points named and run along the line between Arkansas and the Indian Territory, and Kansas and Missouri. Among the incorporators named in the bill were Kersey Coates and Dr. Lykins, of this city, and E. M. Samuels, of Clay county.

On the second of June, 1857, Mr. McPherson, president of the Pacific Railroad, visited Jackson county, and promised to complete the road to Kansas City in eighteen months, if Kansas City would give it $150,000 and Independence $50,000, and it was promptly voted.

The Kansas City and Keokuk Railroad company completed its organization July 6th, by electing Kersey Coates, president, Joseph C. Ranson vice-president, S. W. Bouton secretary and Robert J. Lawrence engineer.

The survey of the Kansas City, Galveston and Lake Superior road was completed to the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road by Mr. Shoemaker, July ti, and the cost of construction was estimated at $22 000 per mile.

These, with a contemplated but unorganized road to the Pacific Ocean, and one to Santa Fe, was, in brief, the railroad system mapped out at that early day. It was grand in its conception, grand in the audacity with which it was presented by a frontier town with less than a thousand population and no railroad within two hundred miles of her. The struggle for its realization was a grand struggle, and resulted in the grandest of all - its substantially complete fulfillment.

Before anything further could be done in way of the roads, which then seemed to be progressing so finely, the financial crash of 1857 came, sweeping away not only credit but the currency as well, and all enterprise, not only in Kansas City, but elsewhere stopped. Kansas City did not suffer much otherwise, as she maintained her fine trade on the plains and with Kansas and Kansas immigrants. But there was no further efforts made in the building of railroads until the following spring, though her favorite enterprises were held in warm remembrance, and much discussed by the people.

The Spirit Of The Times

The spirit and enthusiasm and hopes of that period cannot be better shown than in the following speech by Col. Van Horn at a merchants' supper, Christmas, 1857, in response to the toast - " Railroads and the Press - Twin Brothers in American Progress and Development." He said : "The meeting had imposed upon him a task, a response to which might necessarily involve somewhat of egotism, for as regarded the press, he felt that it was speaking somewhat of self, when he touched upon the habit of his life ; but in regard to railroads no such deUcacy existed.

" It might seem strange to some gentlemen who had not yet waked up from the effects of the sedatives their mothers administered to their infant necessities, that any one should attempt to speak of Kansas City railroads, when not a mile has yet been built leading from its boundaries. It is true as yet we have only charters, but there never was a railroad built without a charter - so we have at least taken the first step. But we have taken a second step. We have made very thorough surveys of two routes, and have made large subscriptions of stock. The intellect of the city has mapped out a railroad chart for Kansas, covered it with charters, and secured them advantages beyond the power of any interest to cut off. We have not a charter of the seven roads entering here that is not secured forever by the vested rights of their stockholders - there is no city or town in American history that has done so much within the short space of two years.

' ' Railroads involve a philosophy in the progress of the world that is fruitful in study. We, living in this rushing age, lashed to the car of progress and borne ahead by the whirl of events, are too apt to forget what the world once was, in the days of pack horses, Connestoga wagons, broad horn river craft - and what it now is in those countries where primitive modes of transport still exist, and where the camel and the ass are the "ships of the desert," and the broad horns of the valleys of the old world - and where even men are bred and trained for the transport of merchandise between distant cities. In those old countries courts built cities, and the decrease of despotic rulers oblige whole empires to pay tribute to their licentious capitals. There it was that Nineveh, Bagdad, Constantinople and the ancient seats of commerce and wealth rose to eminence. Th.t people establish their own commercial capitals, and the seats of our Republican courts are enlivened only at intervals by the representatives of her commercial marts and rural plains, who seek the quiet and seclusion of her civil halls for consultation upon common interest. Washington, Columbus, Springfield, Jefferson City, and Baton Rouge are the ' capitals of our rulers - New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans are the metropolitan cities of our people. God has marked out by topography the lines of commerce, and by the ranges of mountains and courses of rivers has fixed its centers and marts - and it is by studying these great tracings of the Almighty's finger that the pioneer of trade and the herald of civilization has selected the site of these gigantic cities of the Republic, and which has fixed upon the rock-bound bay of the Missouri and Kansas as the last great seat of wealth, trade, and population in the westward march of commerce toward the mountain basins of the Mississippi and Pacific. If men will only study topography the problem is solved.

" Since the days of Columbus commerce and enterprise have been seeking the west - west, west, has ever been the watchword - over the Atlantic, up the Potomac, across the Alleghanies, down the Ohio, over the Missisippi, up the Missouri. It is found at last. Kansas City stands on the extreme point of western navigation - it is the west of commerce ; beyond ws the west must come to us overland. I say again - the west af last is found. (Enthusiastic and prolonged applause.)

" We are now passing through the ordeal of early St. Louis. Surrounded by rivajs that control public sentiment to a great degree, and with the legislation of the country against us, we are still outstripping all precedents, and surely and swiftly rising to metropolitan proportions and power. We are in the central parallel of population and production, and as sure as the sun in his course imparts to our valleys and plains the richest of his fructifying rays, just so sure will our fortune be great and certain. Without intending to touch upon political topics, I must be permitted to say that Robert J- Walker, in what he said of the isothermal line, uttered a greater truth and exhibited greater wisdom than in anything else he said in Kansas. It is upon that line that population must center. It now contains two-thirds of the population and four-fifths of the cereals of the world. Thus the law of population itself will bring the great Pacific Railroad up the Kansas valley, for through that valley will flow three-fourths of the emigration westward - and this is one of our chartered roads ; another leading to Galveston on the south, bringing us nearer to tide-water than are St. Louis, Chicago and Cincinnati, and shortening our present distance fifteen hundred miles ; the Platte country road and the Keokuk road, reaching the northwest and northeast ; the Pacific road east, now half completed to the valleys of the Ohio and the basin of the great lakes ; and the Memphis road penetrating the cotton regions of the sunny South - these roads will, when all opened - as they will be - open up to Kansas City a mine of wealth unsurpassed by any city in the world - bringing within seventy hours of each other the cotton, sugar and stock of Texas, the , robes and furs of the plains and mountains, the manufactures of the east, and the lumber and copper of the Mississippi and Lake Superior.

" But I am asked by a certain class where is the money to come from ? I will answer that twelve years ago Chicago had a population less than our's now is, and was without a mile of railroad. Now she has a population of one hundred and thirty thousand, and over ten thousand miles of railroad radiating from her wharves in every direction - and all this has been accomplished without the expenditure of a single dollar of her business capital. Let the world know of us as it did of Chicago, that here is the commercial center, fixed by the laws of nature herself, and the capital of the world will stretch out its iron arms for our commerce - the. roads will be built. Let us work westward - that is the word for Kansas City - and the first snort of the iron horse as he bounds away for the headwaters of the Kansas will be the herald of the swift completion of the iron highways of commerce with the East." (Enthusiastic cheering.)

The Unity And Movements Of The People

Owing to the severe struggle of border and Kansas towns for commercial supremacy, the people of Kansas City .became closely united as early as 1855, and continued so until the unity was broken by political animosity at the begmning of the war. During that period the whole city moved as one man, or as a corporation in which there was no faction. The summer was the business season, and the winter, when there was little trade, enterprises were discussed, organized and set in motion. There was great activity in all directions, but in none more than in railroad projects. , A brief statement of events and movements in their chronological order will best illustrate the activity, earnestness and devotion of those times.

In May, 1858, there was a revival of interest in the Platte county enterprise, and meetings were held at Kansas City and along the line of the road. An engineer was put on and the survey completed between St. Joseph and Kansas City, by way of Platte City, that summer.

The same month the new directory of the Pacific caused it to be located between Pleasant Hill and Kansas City. This road, from the time its line reached Jefferson City, coquetted with the people along the proposed line for aid and made no location until it had made the counties bid up on each other until the last dollar had been secured. Then it gave the road to the highest bidder. As its terminus on the western State line was not fixed, Cass and Jackson counties became contestants for it. After getting them to put. up their last dollar it accepted the aid of both, located the hne to Kansas City via Pleasant Hill, in Cass county, and thus filled the contract with both. It has since been extended beyond Kansas City and a line has been built westward from Pleasant Hill, and thus Cass and Jackson have been deprived of what they thought they were to get^-the western terminus of the road.

A Road To The Pacific Ocean

The idea of a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, which seems to have been first suggested by Fremont, and gained formal and popular shape by the great railroad convention at St. Louis in 1849, was much discussed in Kansas City up to this time. It was held that justice to the trade of the country and the treasury dictated the Kaw Valley route. It was held that by this route half the trans continental line was already completed - from the Atlantic seaboard to St. Louis - and that thence westward there was available a succession of rich valleys like those through which passed the Baltimore & Ohio and Ohio & Mississippi Railroads ; that the route was the most central, the easiest of construction, and embraced the lowest and most available passes through the mountains. Kansas City made a strong effort to get this route recognized by the estabhshment of an overland mail, which was being discussed in Congress in 1856 7-8.

Her sectional [position, however, was not favorable, for Congress was then under the dominance of the South, which could not comprehend that there was anything north of the slave States worth considering, and held a route to be cen- tral must be central to the country south of Mason & Dixon's line. St. Louis even favored this view, and lent her influence to a route by the way of Memphis and Little Rock, and thence across the arid Llano Estacado. At the same time the northern members of Congress, equally sectional as the southern, wanted the Pacific Railroad to start from a point on the frontier, west of Chicago.

Kansas City, undaunted, undertook the task alone, and in July, 1858, her Chamber of Commerce sent Col. Van Horn to Washington with a memorial to Congress on the central route, which was a most thorough, exhaustive and unanswerable presentation of its advantages, which, on account of its historical value, is here presented.

Memorial

"Your Memorialists, the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Kansas, State of Missouri, would most respectfully represelit that we are deeply interested in the question of the construction of a railway to the Pacific Ocean. We are situated upon the central geographical line of the continent, as well as of the Union, and believe that such line is best adapted for the construction of a railway. We adopt the premises, that facilities for construction being equal, it is the duty of the Government to construct said road on the most central route, as by so doing all parts of the Union would receive more equal benefits. Believing this to be not only the duty, but the inclination of the Government, it will be our purpose to show that the central route, or, more definitely, the route by the valley of the Kansas River, is not only as practical as any other projected route, but that it is the only route that possesses all the requisites for constructing, maintaining and operating a railway across the continent of North America. In order to present this subject iil all its elements, it will be proper to consider it in the order of its geographical position, climate, capacity to support a population and its topographical adaptation for railway construction. We shall then consider, first,

Its Geographical Location

" The Lake of the Woods, on the 49th parallel, and Galveston, near the 29th parallel, may be taken as the extreme northern and southern boundaries of tlie central portion of the Republic. This would make the 39th parallel the central line, upon which parallel is the valley of the Kansas River, and an air line drawn from Galveston to the Lake of the Woods cuts the delta of the river. From New York to the mouth of the Kansas River is 1,316 miles ; from Philadelphia, 1,285 miles; from Baltimore, 1,198 miles; from Charleston, i,oio miles; from New Orleans, 980 miles. These distances are calculated by the most direct railway connections, completed and in progress.- By air lines the distances from the mouth of the Kansas River are, to New Orleans 654 miles, to Charleston 900 miles, to Baltimore 936 miles, to Philadelphia 1,012 miles, and to New York 1,012 miles. It will be thus seen that most of our principal seaboard cities on the Atlantic coast can reach the mouth of the Kansas River by routes nearly equal in length; thus maintaining, in regard to the trade of the Pacific, the same relative positions, advantages and disadvantages now possessed or afforded them by natural position, climate and facilities for ocean and interior commerce. It would place the Government in no position obnoxious to the charge of favoritism, but like the favors of Providence, its work would fall alike upon all, leaving to individual enterprise and the laws of trade to determine, if any, the points of commercial supremacy. Indeed, if within the province of a memorial, we would suggest that political considerations alone ought to deter Congress from giving to any one section of country undue facilities for controlling the trade and moneyed interests of this great Republic, as all such concentrations and monopolies are destructive of public morality, and that equitable adjustment of interest so essential to the harmony, protection and development of the whole.

" In considering this question, it is proper that we should keep before us one great object in the construction of such railway - that is, to. connect the two oceans, aiid afford a military road, accessible from all portions of the Union, for the protection of all its posts. In a strategetical view, your memorialists cannot perceive how the country is to be advantaged by the construction of such a road upon the 48th parallel, its whole length skirted by the possessions of a foreign power; or by taking the 3 2d parallel, on the borders of a State with which we have been at war, and with which only a quasi peace is now, or has been maintained, for the past twenty years, thus subjecting it to inroads of hostile forces, for half its length, on either route. Again, on either of the above routes it would run entirely outside the forts of the Government, away from the Indian tribes, away from theroutes of travel, and away from all the interests of the country needing protection.

"The central route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans seems to be marked out by the topography of the country; and should at least be considered before the question of routes is determined. By reference to maps it will be seen that we have three systems of mountains running north and south ; this gives us six systems of rivers running east and west, which rivers occupy the series of central valleys dividing the continent from east to west. These are : the valleys of the Potomac, the Ohio, the Missouri, the Kansas and the Rio Colorado.

"This latter valley is turned from its course by the chain of Wahsatch mountains, where it deflects to the southwest, entering the Gulf of California in latitude 32°. But nature seems to have provided for the result by the valley of the Nicolet whose waters run east of the Wasatch range and divide it by a natural channel precisely on the 39th parallel, by which we have an easy route to the spurs of the Sierra Nevada, near the 119th meridian of longitude, where the route strikes the western stream of the Great Basin, and following which by either of the valleys of the Carson or Walker River to the valley of the Sacramento, or bearing south by Owen's River to the valley of the San Joaquin, via Stockton, to San Francisco.

"These maybe denominated the central valleys of the continent, upon which the locomotive is now running for a distance of about 1,223, niiles, 150" of which are west of the Mississippi, and is being prosecuted by the State of Missouri, as rapidly as the work will admit, to the mouth of the Kansas. Within two years there will be a continuous line of railway from tide water, by these central valleys, to the mouth of the Kansas River. Already has a company been chartered to continue this road up the valley of the Kansas to Fort Riley, which, when completed, will make near 1,400 miles of this route already constructed by the unaided energies of the people inhabiting these central valleys - or one-half of the railroad.

"By the routes named, or by any other route wherever started, the people would have to go back over a country where population has neither demanded or constructed railways, and rebuild nearly five hundred miles of road already constructed or in progress, before the locomotive could reach its present western station in the wake of population and trade.

'.' Is it just- thus to re-tax the energies of the people to the extent of $20, 000,- 000 or $30,000,000 to secure commercial facilities that they have already provided? By the selection of either of these routes, it would force upon the country the task of reconstructing their whole system of roads, or of doubling their extent in order to reach the great channel of continental commerce and transportation.

Climate And Population

" In considering this part of the subject, we do not conceive it necessary to lose sight of the object under consideration by a multiphcity of details or barometrical observations. It will sufifice to state that within the 32d and 44th parallels is embraced California, one-half of Oregan, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, onehalf of Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South CaroHna, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and the larger portions of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Vermont, and from within these parallels comes nine-tenths of the representatives on the floor of Congress. These facts abundantly prove its adaptability to support a dense population, so far as tested, from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The settlement of Kansas Territory within the past three years, is suiificient evidence of the capacity of the eastern slope of the mountains, when we state the fact that the act erecting Minnesota into a Territory bears date in the year 1849, and the act creating a territorial gov ernment in Kansas bears date 1854, and she is now applying for admission, side by side with Minnesota, as one of the sovereign States of the Confederacy, while Nebraska on the north, with three times her territory, and New Mexico on the south, twice her size and with a settlement that dates back to the time of the Spanish Conquest, are yet dependencies upon the bounty of the Federal treasury.

' 'You have also before you the petition of the people of Carson Valley for a territorial government, and the statistics of its population, which discloses the fact that a powerful nucleus for a State is already in existence, in a locality where previous to their petition, such facts were unknown to a greater portion of the people of the United States, so rapid has been the tide of settlement. Already have the people of California begun to consider the question of building a railway to this valley. East of this, upon the eastern vein of the Great Basin, is the City of the Great Salt Lake, which, with its tributary country, is already dense enough in population for a State government. These Mormon settlements extend throughout the valleys of the Great Basin, in a country unsurpassed for the mildness and salubrity of its climate, and for the production of all the cereals necessary for the support of man. We state what our annual experience and annual trade demonstrates, upon our counting-house books, that there are not seventy-five miles of country between the thirty-seventh and fortieth parallels that is not now the habitation of the white man, and where settlement has not penetrated and fixed its never-relaxing grasp upon the soil. These facts we conceive to be of the first importance in a great enterprise like that of the Pacific Railway. We know that through this whole extent of the country, from the waters of the Sierra Nevada, are to be fuund white men living; that along it cluster the great Indian tribes of the American continent ; that here is to be found the buffalo, the antelope, the horse, and all descriptions of game and fish, upon which ' the Indian subsists.

"It is on this route his permanent villages are fixed, for it is here he finds his food, fuel to prepare it, water to drink, timber to shelter him from the blasts of winter and from the hot suns of summer, and grass for his stock. These do not exist to the south, on the burning sands and wastes of the great deserts, and there the Indian is never found, except in roving bands, in search of plunder on the more southern valley of Mexico. There are not twenty miles on the "whole route that the iron horse cannot drink from living streams of the purest water. In proof of this, we can only cite the fact, that our ox teams traverse it annually, without loss, taking out our wares, and bringing back in return the robes, furs and skins, obtained from the wild tribes of the Sierra Nevada and the trappers and hunters of the Great Basin. Where we can employ the ox in commerce, science and engineering can employ the iron horse ; and where the ox finds water and subsistence, surely the locomtive can subsist. We wish not to decry other routes, but we merely ask a comparison between this fact and that stated by Lieutenant Beale, in his recent report. When speaking of the capacities of the camel for endurance, he says : " They carried the water for the mules for six days, without tasting a drop, and were in good condition at the end of that time." Yet, the opponents of the central route point triumphantly to the last exploration of Lieut. Beale, as conclusive in favor of their route. They seem to forget that Beale had two objects to attain - a railway route and the success of the camel experiment. But, unfortunately for them, his railway notes and his camel enlogiums are based upon entirely different data. The country that suited a railway did not develop the camel, and we have its topography in glowing colors - but the country in which the camel exhibited his peculiar powers of abstinence and wonderful endurance, was not the route of the iron horse ; and we have, instead of curvatures, gradients, and equated distances, the field notes of the dromedary, and his ability to subsist upon the hardest, bitterest, and scarcest shrubs, that a torrid sun and drifting sand clouds could produce.

"Another consideration in connection with this portion of the subject, seems to have been lost sight of by the advocates of the southern, or thirty-second parallel route. Their deductions are drawn from the fact that a railway may be operated over this desert route, with intervals of water of seventy-five to one hundred miles, by sinking wells to supply the engines. But they seem to overlook the fact that a railroad must be built before it can be operated ; and how thousands of laborers are to be concentrated on these desert wastes, without water, or dependant upon such prospects as Lieut. Beale holds out, in his wellboring experiments, is a question worthy of consideration, before the Government commits itself to such a project. We assert, without hesitation, and appeal to any authority, from the most scientific to that of the sub-contractor, and the laborer himself, if the idea of building i,ooo miles of railway - 500 of which are arid wastes, where camels travel six days without water - by the manual labor of human beings, is not one of the most stupendous schemes of folly ever undertaken in the history of the world. It might be done in a long series of years, and after the sacrifice of thousands of lives and millions of treasure ; but is it in consonance with the obligations to the American people to attempt such a sacrifice of treasure, life and time, upon such a route, when there is a route of the same character, in cUmate, soil and production, on the part to be constructed, as that upon which the portion already in operation is built. Can men labor, not for an hour, but for days, weeks, and months, on a naked plain, in an atmosphere so hot and dry that ' the nicely seasoned and well finished cases of the English instruments of Lieutenant Whipple, made many years since, had so shrunk, from the aridity of the air, as not to admit of their original contents ; and when the horn, incasing the reading lens of his micrometer, snapped and flew into three pieces, from the excessive dryness of the atmosphere?' How are dirt carts, picks, spades, and the thousand and one articles attached to a railroad construction party, to be operated in a climate like this, and who are to operate them, if it were possible ?

" Settlement, population and production are requisites that enter into and control all railway enterprises, and furnish, after they are built, the business which sustains them, and keeps them in operation. We will now examine this branch of our subject, before we dismiss this division, and enter upon the topographical arguments of this memorial. We have shown that the population of the Union, in the proportion of nine-tenths, is already crowded between the parallels 23-44, and that it has extended westward almost to the base of the Rocky Mountain chain, on 37-40. We have also shown that it has commenced on the Pacific Coast, and followed the same parallels east, to meet the tide from this side, as far as Carson

Valley. We have also shown that the necessities of Mormon prosperity have already peopled the eastern vein of the Great Basin, leaving only a narrow strip, .of what is said on the map to be "unexplored" lands, between the two veins of the Basin. But, although " unexplored" by government parties, it is familiar to many of our hardy and enterprising people, who have, for the last thirty years, made the great interior of the continent their homes, and carried their traffic from the possessions of the Hudson Bay Company to the Gulf of California; and it is from these men, our neighbors, our associates in business, and from personal observations, that we speak; to them we fearlessly appeal for the correctness of all herein stated. But to return to the subject: Lying west of Kansas, is the large extent of country drained by the Grand and Green Rivers, affluents of the Rio Colorado of the West, extending north and south 300 miles, by 270 east and west, sufficient for a State as large as New York, of a climate and soil well adapted to the wants of civilization. The country lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Wahsatch Range, and has, in the opinion of even government explorers, uninterrupted navigation to the Gulf of Cahfornia.

"West of this, and east of the Sierra Nevada, is Carson Valley, of which it is unnecessary for us to again speak in this connection. Thus we find that on the south of the 39th parallel, we have a continuous line of grain producing country, of temperate climate, abundant water, and timber in greater quantities than any other route south, and greater than any route north, until we reach the 49th parallel, which skirts the sources of all our mighty rivers, in the cold arid inhospitable pineries of the north; a region of country adapted to all the pursuits of civilized life, and where population is now seeking and opening up homes for our people; a route upon which can be built powerful and populous States; and which will furnish protection and businef-s to the road when built. These considerations alone, in the opinion of your memorialists, should decide the Government in the selection of the route for the great Pacific Railway. But, knowing as we do, that notwithstanding all these facts, this route is put down in the report of the Secretary of VVar, for 1855, as "impracticable," from its topography, we deem it proper to show that prejudice in consequence, is not only unfounded, but that the reports upon which he so declared it do not warrant this sweeping and gratuitous assertion. We ask a still further hearing upon the topography of the coimtry on the 39th parallel route, as well as an exposure of the fallacies of government explorations as indices, for guidance, in a work of such magnitude as the construction of a railway to the Pacific. We desire, in this connection, to ask on other test than an engineering one, because we cannot permit the Central Route to be abandoned, when we know it presents no greater engineering obstacles than the State of Missouri has already overcome on the part of her Pacific Railroad already constructed, and nothing like such engineering difficulties as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad has surmounted, in its passage of the Alleghanies.

" In considering the topography of the 39th parallel route, it is not within the purpose of this memorial to enter into minute details, but to present facts known to exist, leaving to demonstrated experience the question of practicability. From the mouth of the Kansas to the Rocky Mountains, it is everywhere admitted, and by every test demonstrated, that for seven hundred miles there is not an equal line of eligible railway track on the globe - without a hill, without a marsh or swamp, without a large stream to cross, without an obstacle of any description that an ordinary wagon cannot surmount - with wood, water, grass, coal, iron, lead, gypsum, salt and stone all along its course ; covered with buffalo, elk, antelope, grouse and horses; inhabited by Indians, traders, white men and mixed races engaged in cultivation, grazing, hunting, trapping, war and traffic - a country over which from our own city annually go trains of wagons, carrying

"Where can such an argument - such a demonstration - be urged in favor of any other seven hundred mile line on the surface of. the earth ? From this city alone, along this line, covering, as it does, almost two degrees of latitude, is transported a commerce of $7,000,000 annually. This constitutes the first division of the road.

" The second division lies within the mountain ranges and spurs, and is known as " The Parks," and the valleys of every size that intersect this portion of the country in all directions. It is this region which is held up by the opponents of the true central route, and by the Secretary of War in his report of 1855, as " impracticable." But instead of being this formidable obstruction, it is, in reality, the finest portion of the whole route in all the elements necessary to population, climate, soilj wood, water and vegetation, and contains in greater profusion the elements necessary for the sustenance of animal life and civiHzed habitation than any other division between the Mississippi and the Pacific. There is no mountain region yet known that can equal, or that can bear any comparison with it for salubrity and fruitfulness. Instead of the Rocky Mountains, on this parallel, being a barrier to be dreaded, or an obstacle to be surmounted in the shortest possible time, they are hailed by our trains, droves of stock and emigrants as a resting place for man and a recruiting ground for animals ; for here is found corn and food for man, and the rich, luxuriant and nutritious grass of these natural meadows, upon which stock will travel and fatten. This region extends north and south from the 37th to the 41st degrees of latitude, and embraces from east to west the whole mountain range. We have the testimony of Beale, Fremont and Gunnison of the entire practicability of this region for railroad construction, and find it more abundant in timber, water and stone than any other portion of the range. We refer to these authorities simply to show that other evidence besides our own knowledge of the country exists, as corroborative of what our commercial intercourse with this region proves to us.

"The third division embraces the valley of the Upper Colorado, between the base of the Rocky Mountains and the Wahsatch range, 150 miles east and west, by 300 or 400 north and south. This valley is open to the construction of any description of road, and bears the usual features of the country, alternated with timber and prairie ; and the simple fact of its being surrounded on three sides with ranges of mountains, covered with perpetual snow, is sufficient to demonstrate its ample supply of water.

" Those who have wintered in this valley speak of it as almost destitute of snow. Coal abounds in this valley in all directions, and can almost be quarried from the banks of the streams. As to soil, this division is inferior to the first two, but it is equal to the second in wood and water, and superior to both. It is annually traversed by droves of stock, mules, cattle and sheep, and from the accounts of drovers, whom we know personally, who traverse it every year, and from citizens living among us, affords wood, water and grass in abundance for the daily wants of the largest herds driving ten, fifteen and twenty miles per day.

" The fourth division, through which the great and true central route will pass, extends from the Wahsatch range to the Sierra Navada, and embraces a country less known to the Government by explorations than almost any part of the continent.

"But, strange as it may seem, it is doubtless one of the richest portions of the American continent in all the elements that make up a desirable country for development by civilization ; coal, iron, timber, rock-salt in almost fabulous abundance in the mountain ranges, and soil, water, grass and wood in the valleys, and already settled throughout the whole region - farms under cultivation, towns and villages built, grist and saw mills in operation, smelting furnaces and ' forges erected, coal mines opened, and all the wants of the country in iron ore and agricultural implements supplied by the mechanics of this region itself. Startling as this information may seem, it is nevertheless true, and there now exists in this " unexplored region" the nucleus of a powerful and self-sustaining State, larger than many of the ruling States of Europe. Regular communication is kept up through this region between Great Salt Lake and Lower California, and while Congress has sent out party after party by the 48th, 41st, 35th and 32d parallel routes, this great interior region has been neglected until our overland traffic with the Pacific has become endangered by the fact of settlement itself; and we are this season debarred from our California trade in apprehension that Mormon hostility may cut off our herds and trains on this portion of the route which they have so silently appropriated.

"The mountains of this region are no obstruction, being isolated spurs, with no regular ranges, and traversed in all directions by valleys of luxuriant vegetation. The country can be traveled freely, in all directions, with the utmost facihty, as far west as the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada. Of the route west of this range to the Pacific, it is not our purpose to speak ; as, happily, the energy of the American people in the development of California has relieved your memorialists of the task of showing its practicability.

" We have thus sketched, rapidly, the features of these separate divisions of the true central route, relying more upon our own knowledge of its character, gained from long acquaintance with it in trade and commerce, rather than from authorities which might be cited, but which would swell this memorial beyond its original intent. We know the route because we use it ; and we know its eminent advantages, for we have found its profit.

The Mountain Division And Passes

"The mountain ranges between Missouri and California are, in the estimation of many, a wild, desolate, terra incognita, unexplored and incapable of exploration ; covered with perpetual snows, and forming midway between the Mississippi and Pacific, a cordon not to be surmounted, and holdmg in their fast solitudes secrets never to be revealed by science. This idea owes its existence to several causes, one of which is, that all of our explorations were first made in the higher northern latitudes, by Lewis and Clarke, and the American Fur Company's traders and voyageurs. We had then no possessions south of Astoria, and no trade with what is now our Golden State, and with the northern States of Mexico to draw our citizens to th? southward. But within the past twenty years, since the settlement of western Missouri, a trade has gradually grown up between Missouri and the valleys of New Mexico, which trade has produced among us a class of men who have been the pioneers of modern exploration and discovery. Aubry, Carson and Leroux, are men educated by the trade to which we allude. We use their names, because more notoriety has been attached to them than others, from the fact of their being employed by the Government as guides. But it must not be supposed that they constitute all of their class. We have among us hundreds of men who are as intimately acquainted with the great interior of our country as any named, and as regards the central portions, much better; for it is with the mountaineers, as with all other men, they know the country in which their lives have been passed, and no more. These men, whom the Government so well know, are unacquainted with any portion of the mountains except those parts and those routes over which their traffic has been carried on.

"The Mormons, when their exodus from Missouri and Illinois was made, passed along the route of the Fur Company, as the only route then known, to the headwaters of the Platte, and by the South Pass, to their present locality. This route was known because it was at a latitude, and was in the country of the beaver and other fur bearing animals, which are hot to be found to the southward. It was not that the South Pass was the only pass in the mountains, but because it was in the fur region, and by the pursuit of that traffic was discovered. When 'California was opened up, the overland emigration took that route simply because it was known, and not because it was preferable. The necessity of a better, shorter and more congenial route, directed our attention further south, and instead of finding the mountains the impassable barriers which had been supposed, we find them to be, in many respects, the best and most desirable portions of the route to California ; cut up in all directions with valleys, and supplied in fabulous abundance with grass, water and 'timber.

"We have been thus explicit in this portion of our memorial, in order that the theory of interior discovery might be properly understood. Because all the discoveries of any merit that have been achieved, since the time of Lewis and Clarke, have been made by and through the necessities of the commercial operations of the interior. It is true, government explorations have given us a more technical topographic knowledge of the country shown by 'guides'; but that any 'discoveries' have been made, or any new country added, to what was before known, we must frankly say nothing of the kind has been done, if we except Fremont and Beale, whose explorations were made, in part, as private expeditions.

"It was thus that the various 'passes' were discovered and became celebrated, and this brings us to the consideration of this part of the railway question - one which elicited more controversy than all others connected with the topographic portion of the question, and one to which, in the opinion of your memorialists, an undue importance has been attached, and which promises to work more prejudice to the location of a Pacific Railway than all other questions combined.

" In order to present this subject properly we must be allowed to go back of the term itself for its explanation, and give its fixed and technical meaning, for, to western men, engaged in overland traffic, a 'pass' has a peculiar and restricted significance which must be understood.

" Our commerce is carried on principally by heavy wagons, carrying from two and a half to three tons each, and drawn by ten or twelve mules or oxen. This, too, is over a country where a road has never been constructed, a bridge built, or a hillside cut down to afford a track ; and these wagons have not only to traverse plains thus, but they have also to cross the mountains thus. In order to cross our wagons, we are not solicitous as regards the greatest depressions in those mountain ranges ; what we desire is a practicable wagon way, not cut up by deep ravines crossing those depressions, or interlocking in the gorges, but an unbroken ascent, that carries with it over the mountain the features of the plain below - and when this is found it is a 'pass.' This peculiar formation is always at greater altitudes than that of the watercourses, over whose abrupt chasms our oxen and wagons cannot pass, but which, in many instances, can be crossed by bridges of from ten to twenty feet span. There are numberless depressions of this latter character of no serious obstructions to the locomotive, much shorter and lower in grade than any 'pass' known to be practicable for the passage of wagons, and can be found in all parts of the Rocky Mountains, and on any parallel.

" We ask a comparison of the commerce of the western with the commerce of the eastern mountains, before the construction of roads. ' Where, in the Alleghany country, was ever such a spectacle presented in its natural state, as wagons carrying three tons, performing a journey of two thousand miles, without cutting a stick or digging a road way for their passage, and crossing that range of mountains on their route ? The fact that this has been done, and is now accom- plished every year in this far western region, presents a topographical argument in favor of the country, of more significance and value than any theory connected with barometrical readings or mountain elevations.

"The most celebrated 'Passes' are the South Pass, Coochatope, and the passes lying west of Auton Chico, near the 42d, 39th and 35th parallels. The South Pass and its discovery we have given. Those west of Auton Chico lie contiguous to the old Spanish settlements of Northern Mexico, and have been known for a longer period than the South Pass. Coochatope became celebrated by the disastrous expedition of Fremont, in 1848-9. Since that time it has been set down as impracticable, notwithstanding Fremont, in 1853, ^"d Gunnison, in 18154, have since proved that the disaster was owing to the false information of a pretended guide, and that the pass is not only practicable, but eligible. But even in its vicinity are several depressions much lower than the ' Pass ' itself, and which Gunnison explicitly refers to in his exploration. But there are other passes north of this, and far south of the South Pass, that are better than any of those named, and which our traders and drovers have used for years, and through which annually go and come our trains and caravans, to the Great Basin and California. One, particularly, which we know as Goodale's Pass, is not a mere wagon road of great elevation, or a depression in the chest of the mountain range, but a wide opening in the mountain, with water courses flowing gently through its rich meadows, and that is crossed without a knowledge of the fact, save from observation of the direction of the streams. This is our route of traffic, and which we fearlessly challenge exploration and investigation to establish.

"We conceive we have just cause of complaint that this country has not met with that attention from Congress, which its great merits, as a practicable route, demands, leaving out entirely its geographical superiority. There is no question as to the practicability of the eastern slope, in any direction from the mouth of the Kansas, either by the Laramie Plains, the South Fork of the Platte, the Smoky Hill Fork of the Kansas, and the Huerfano by the way of Santa Fe.

"This latter route is the best wagon road, of equal length, in the world; from the mouth of the Kansas to Santa Fe, 760 miles, over which, from this city, go annually from 6,000 to 10,000 heavily laden wagons, and over which the U. S. mail is carried with more regularity than between Boston and Washington, having failed but twice to arrive at schedule time, winter or summer, for eight years, as the records of the Postoffice Department will show. Yet the Government has expended hundreds of thousands of dollars on military roads in other localities, but has never expended a dollar on this great route of travel and commerce ; and its present excellence is owing to the road making power of the wheels that pass over it. We have thus, in the face of government explorations and the 'impracticable' verdicts of officials, worn a road superior to any yet constructed or discovered. Still we are told, by men who never saw the plains, that this route, too, is ' impracticable. '

" But there is, in the opinion of your memorialists, a reason for this that Congress should understand. The system of explorations pursued by the Government has been for practical results in discovery, greatly restricted by the system of instructions. Thus, a company of engineers is sent out to explore, having their course marked out by instructions, from which they are not at liberty to deviate. Cardinal points, in these instructions, are the ' passes ' of which we have spoken.

"This, in the expedition of Capt. Gunnison, when he crossed the mountains on the 38th parallel, instead of following that line west, through the country we have described in this memorial, was by his instructions, carried almost directly north, to the 41st parallel, which resulted in setting down the 39th as ' impracticable,' a rocky, barren, woodless, waterless desert; when weannually drive sheep and cattle over it, which we calculate on fattening on the route, and which we do fatten, by providing them with grass and water in abundance every night ; and sheep only travel ten miles per day. It is not tangent Hnes of exploration that can discover the practicable crossings of the mountains, but lateral surveys along either base, and following the valleys and water courses, which, on every parallel, divide and break those unknown ranges; and never until this is done, in the opinion of this chamber, can the question of the most eligible passage of the mountains be made satisfactory to Congress. For now, that the question of construction is seriously entertained, it is time the ' pass ' feature should be reduced to its legitimate topographical importance. Instead of controlling the location of so great a national work as a Pacific Railway, by diverting it from four to seven degrees of latitude from its true course, the fact of their superior elevation to water courses should be known ; for we confidently assert that a few short bridges, even culverts, and a few cuts, that are nothing in railway engineering, will pass the mountains, at several points, at a lower grade, than by any ' pass ' known to public explorers.

"We assert what we know to be the truth, that in the Pacific Railroad al-. ready constructed by the State of Missouri, have as formidable obstacles been overcome as are to be met with on the central or 39th parallel route, from the border of Missouri to California.

"We have shown that the Rocky Mountains are less an obstruction than the AUeghanies, and it only remains for us to speak of the Sierra Nevada. They can be crossed by the Carson Valley, or, bearing north, by the Sacramento, or south by the San Joaquin, through the route passed by Fremont in 1853.

"The fact of a railway being already talked of between California and Carson Valley, is sufficient to establish its practicability in the minds of the people who know the route.

"Through the Sacramento valley pours annually the tide of trade and travel by the south pass, and by Walker's lake and San Joaquin go, each season, our herds of cattle and sheep, and which find open valley to the southward into the southern portions of California. But even did not these exist, would the Government of the United States be justified in locating the railroad from the Pacific from 300 to 500 miles south or north of the true line to avoid an obstacle less than the State of Massachusetts is now removing by her Hbosic tunnel, in order to shorten her connections by a few miles. This, even on the showing of the opponents of the Kansas Valley route, is all that is to be done - one tunnel and its approaches, by deep cuttings, in all only two miles, will overcome the only obstacle on a line of 2,000 miles of railway - and yet men are to be found who talk of 'impracticability' of country of this extent, of which its bitterest enemies can say nothing worse.

" We can not believe that the location of the Pacific Railroad can be consummated on either of the extreme routes in the face of these facts, especially when their verification is so easily attainable. But resting upon the geographical justness of the route by the Kansas Valley - its equity to the whole country - its connection 500 miles farther west with railways already built and in progress - the fact of its being but an extension of all the great lines of railway already constructed - in view of any other route, forcing upon the country the reconstruction or doubling of their present lines, its great agricultural advantages, its woods, water, coal and stone, as well as its latitude, the most favorable on the continent for the working of railway machinery. We submit this memorial to the consideration of Congress. "

Trusten Polk, senator from Missouri, and John S. Phelps, member of the house, opposed this central route and sought to have it located from Memphis, Tennessee, and up the valley of the Canadian River. James S. Green, the other Missouri senator favored Missouri's interests.

to get its favorite route, and finally, in January, 1861, the House passed a bill amended by motion of Gen. James Craig, of the St. Joseph district of Missouri, creating two branches, one from Kansas City and one from St. Joseph, which were to unite one hundred miles west and proceed by the most favorable route. This idea was substantially followed in the bill that finally became a law in 1862.

Our Local Roads Again

But to return to local enterprises. A delegation of the Missouri Pacific company came to Kansas City August nth, 1859, to ask a change in the form of the subscriptions of Jackson county, and Independence and Kansas City, so as to make it immediately available for the construction of the road, and promising to have it finished the following spring. This promise aroused the greatest enthusiasm in Kansas City.

The Hannibal & St. Joseph road had been completed and put in operation March ist, to St. Joseph, which was, therefore, that much ahead, and the effect was feared. The County Court was induced to submit the proposition. There was opposition to it in the county, and there ensued a lively campaign. The election occurred on the 2d of September, and the night before there was a meeting in Kansas City, which best expressed the feelings of the community at the time. As soon as it was dark, a large portion of the buildings on Main street were illuminated, the greatest display being made in the vicinity of the place appointed for the meeting. Conspicuous over all were the flags and banners of the Metropoliian office, suspended over the street. In front of the building was a full railroad train, of locomotive, tender and two passenger cars, which were handsomely illuminated, while the smoke from the engine stack poured forth in a. constant cloud; on the "cow catcher" was a poor old fogy, who, being unable to "get out of the way," had been mercilessly impaled upon the car of progress.

But the grand feature of the evening was the procession from McGee's Addition. That live locality never made a failure. At half past seven o'clock the procession was seen turning the bend of the street at the Union Hotel, headed by the consolidated bands of the city, led by Professors Banta and Jenny, torches blazing and transparencies dispersed at intervals in the long line of enthusiastic voters. At this point it was met by the procession from the north part of the city, when the combined delegations under the direction of Capt. Boarman, chief marshal, aided by Messrs. Francis Foster and S. Thompson, moved down Main street to the levee.

Just as the procession had passed out of sight from the square, the music to the south announced the coming of the Westport delegation, headed by the splendid band of Prof. Hunter, under the charge of Sam Justice, in the Westport. 'bus, followed by a procession of carriages and horsemen. As they filed into the square where the meeting was to be held, they were hailed with cheer upon cheer, which being caught up by the hundreds there assembled, made the welkin ring.

At the election the next day the proposition was carried by a vote of 2,142 for, to 860 against, every precinct, except Kansas City and Westport, giving a majority against it.

A Great Railroad Convention

On the 22nd and 23d of November, 1858, a great railroad convention was held at Kansas City for the purpose of uniting the people of the adjacent country on the lines proposed by this city, and so concentrating interest as to further their construction. It was attended by delegates from Independence, Westport, Wyandotte, Osawatomie, Paola, Shawnee, Olathe, Lawrence, Lecompton, Manhattan, Kansapolis, Mandovi, St. George and Delaware crossing.

0. C. Brown, of Osawatomie, was President ; E. C. McCarty, of Kansas City, J. A. J. Chapman, of St. George, W. Roy, of Shawnee, N. Scarritt, of Westport, Wm. Chick, of Westport, Wm. Gilpin, of Independence, B. F. Simpson, of Paola, J. T. Barton, of Olathe, J. B. Chapman, of Maudovi ; J. P. Roote, of Wyandotte, and J. H. Young, of Manhattan, were Vice-Presidents. The committee on resolutions was composed of J. C. Groom, F. W. Crane, K. Coates, J. P. Root, John McCarty, R. T. Van Horn, J. A. J. Chapman, Dr. Johnston Lykins, W. C. Claiborne, W. Chestnut, J. B. Chapman, W. Heberton, and Thos. A. Smart.

The following resolutions proposed by Col. Van Horn, were adopted : Whereas, We believe the time to have arrived when measures for the immediate construction of a great Continental Railway, uniting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, should be inaugurated by the Congress of tl^e United States ; and Whereas, The valley of the Kansas River is situated on the central geographical line of the continent and the Union, we are in favor of the route by the valley - and in support of our position we urge the following reasons :

1. We adopt the premises that facilities for construction being equal, it is the duty of the Government to construct said road upon the most central route, as by so doing all parts of the Union would receive more equal benefit.

2. The Lake of the Woods, on the 49th parallel, and Galveston, on the 29th parallel, may, be taken as the extreme northern and southern boundaries of the central portion of the Republic, thus making the 39th parallel the center, on which parallel is the valley of the Kansas River.

3. The route for the Continental Railway seems to be marked out by nature - and embraces a series of central valleys traversing the continent, viz : the valleys of the Potomac, the Ohio, the Missouri, the Kansas, the Colorado, the Nicolett and San Joaquin.

4. That on this route there are already constructed 1,238 miles of railroad, upon which the locomotives are now running; 175 miles of which are west of the Mississippi, and is being prosecuted as rapidly as the work will admit, by the State of Missouri, to the mouth of the Kansas River, making 1,315 miles of the great Continental Railway, built by the unaided energies of the people inhabiting these central valleys - or one-half the road.

5. The construction of said railroad by this route would disturb none of the existing centers of trade, but leave the great maritime cities of the Union in the same relative positions which they now occupy, as the following will show : From the mouth of the Kansas River to New York it is 1,316 miles; to Philadelphia, 1,285 miles; to Baltimore, 1,108 miles; to Charleston, 1,010 miles; to New Orleans, 980. It will thus be seen that most of our principal seaboad cities can reach the mouth of the Kansas River by lines nearly equal in length ; thus maintaining in regard to the trade of the Pacific, the same relative positions, advantages and disadvantages now possessed or afforded them by natural position, climate and facilities for ocean and interior commerce.

6. That we can see no propriety in the construction of said road on the 48th parallel, its whole length skirted by the possessions of a foreign power; or on the 32d parallel, on the borders of a State with which we have been at war, and with which only a quasi peace has been maintained for the past twenty years. But that the great object in the construction of such railway shoulcf be to connect the two oceans, and afford a military road accessible from all portions of the Union for the protection of all its parts.

7. A railway on either of the extreme routes named, would run entirely outside of the government forts, away from the Indian tribes, and away from the

8. By any other route the people would have to go back over a country where population has neither demanded nor constructed railways, and rebuild over five hundred miles of railway, already constructed, and in progress, before the locomotive could reach its present western station in the wake of population and trade.

9. It is unjust thus to re tax the means and energies of the people to the extent of 30,000,000 to 50,000,000, to secure commercial facilities that they have already provided. By the selection of another route, it would force upon the country the reconstruction of their entire railway system, or of doubling its extent in order to reach the great channel of continental commerce and transportation. Therefore,

Resolved, That it is the deliberate judgment of this convention, representing the interests of western Missouri and the Territory of Kansas, that justice to the whole country, as well as the advantages of the General Government, requires and demands the construction of the Continental Railway by the central or thirtyninth parallel route - the route of the Kansas Valley.

Resolved, That we call upon our representatives in both houses of Congress, to urge the location of said railroad upon this great central route, as just to the country, in unison with the demaiids of the great centers of population and commerce, and in a still farther development of the commercial facilities already provided by the people themselves. And,

Whereas, We deem it a fitting period in the progress of the country, for the people of the west, to take measures for the control of their own commerce, and to provide :

2. That, as our nearest seaport by present lines of transportation is more than 1,290 miles, subject to suspension, by ice, snow, and traverse of long lines of rivers, lakes, and railroads, and interrupted by numerous interests controlled by competing corporations, that,

4. That it being but 600 miles to the ocean at the Port of Galveston, from the mouth of the Kansas River, that a railroad connecting these points would aid in developing one of the richest portions of the American continent, now denied an outlet to the markets of the world - therefore.

Resolved, That a railroad from the mouth of the Kansas River, running south to Galveston, in the State of Texas, would add greatly to the wealth and power of the Union, by opening up to the markets of the world, the rich valleys of the Osage, Neosho, Arkansas and Red Rivers, and of the great State of Texas, by affording an outlet to the productions of this vast region, and a direct line to supply our central region with the groceries of the Gulf of Mexico.

Resolved, That in. the opinion of this convention, a grant of lands should be made by Congress for this purpose, which grant would be the means of opening a market by short lines of transit between the productions of the northern and southern portions of the interior of the Republic - nOw denied them.-

Resolved, That we call upon our representatives in Congress to ask and urge upon that body a compliance with the just demands of the people in this regard - by granting lajjds sufficient to secure the construction of the great line of railroad. And,

Whereas, A connection with the system of railroads centering at, and diverging from Chicago, to the east, by a shorter line than at present, requires a connection north from the mouth of the Kansas River - therefore,

Resolved, That a road connection with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, is of the first importance to the country represented in this convention.

Resolved, That in the attainment of objects contemplated by this convention, the only guarantee of success is in combined and harmonious action ; and, therefore, it is most earnestly recommended to the citizens of the towns and districts in Kansas and Missouri, having a common interest in the construction of one or more of the railroads designated in the foregoing resolutions, to render active and efficient co-operation and aid, with a view of obtainining from Congress a grant or grants of land to aid in the building of such road or roads.

Other Interests

In May, 1839, a convention at Richmond, Ray county, proposed a road from some point in North Missouri to Kansas City, which has since been realized in what is now the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific.

July 26, 1856, at Osawatomie, a company was organized to procure the construction of a road from Kansas City to Galveston, under a charter granted by the State of Kansas, February, 1858. On the 9th of September, the Wyandotte and Osawatomie Railroad Company was organized, and later in the season, the Kansas City, Galveston and Lake Superior project was agitated again in a series of meetings.

At the session of the Missouri Legislature in 1859-60, the Missouri Pacific, Iron Mountain and North Missouri Roads were all in a condition that they could not go forward without further State aid. The Legislature labored with it all the session but finally adjourned without doing anything. Kansas City felt this to be a most calamitous blow. Indignation meetings were held here, and Governor Stewart was urged to recall the Legislature. Other sections similarly situated took like action, and Governor Stewart recalled the Legislature to meet February 27, i860.

During the agitation pending these proceedings Kansas City organized the Kansas City and Gallatin company to build a road to a connection with the Hannibal & St. Joe at the latter named place, but it waited the action of the Legislature in regard to the Pacific. Soon after meeting the Legislature passed a bill giving the required aid. Kansas City had come so near the evils of a long . delay in the building of the Pacific that this action proved most exciting to the people. Meetings were held, torchlight processions had, and for a few days the town was almost wild with joy. Wyandotte and Olathe caught the infection and held meetings also. R. M. Stewart, the father of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road, was Governor, having been elected as a railroad candidate, and by railroad advocates. The bill was just about what he had asked the Legislature to pass, hence the people had good reason to feel that all was secured. It was but a few days, however, until outgivings from the executive office portended a veto. The people were astonished, pubUc enterprise held its breath in suspense. It was not long, however until the blow struck ; the veto came, based upon somfe technicalities; the Legislature immediately adjourned, and railroad prospects were again plunged in gloom. " The people felt that they had been betrayed by their Governor; they" had been kept so long oscillating between hope and fear - success and disappointment - that they were thoroughly aroused. The flood of public excitement was turned upon Gov. Stewart, and he was denounced in unmeasured terms. He tried to explain his action through the public press, but to no effect. That veto was his political death.

Kansas City And The Cameron Road

At a meeting of indignation in this city, Dr. Johnson Lykins offered a resolution, which was adopted, creating an executive committee to foster our railroad interests, and to correspond with other places to that end. It at once opened a correspondence with the people of Clay county relative to this road, and to the Hannibal and St. Joseph. The result was that in a few days a company was organized called the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad Company. Meetings were held, and thus an interest awakened along the line. On the 27th of April this city voted it $200,000, and Clay county voted it $200,000, June 12th. The survey was begun April 27th. In July, Mayor Maughs, of this city, E. M. Samuels and Michael Andrews, of Clay county went to Boston and effected a contract with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, August 7tb, to build the road. The contract for the work was let to W.J. Quealy, August i6lh, and work begun October 8th. In the following January (1861) the work was one-third done. There were about six hundred men employed, and it was expected to have two-thirds done by April and the cars running by June. The virar, however, stopped the work, and the road was not finished until its close.

Meantime the Pacific Company, having failed to get State aid, effected a shift by which it was able to command the necessary means, and went on with its road. Ground was broken at Kansas City July 25, i860, and the work was progressing rapidly, with every prospect of completion in 1861, when it, too, was stopped by the war.

Kansas Hostility

A territoral railroad convention was held at Topeka, October 17, i860, which seems to have been the outgrowth of a feeling on the part of several towns in Kansas, hostile to Kansas City. These places had used every effort since the convention in this city in November, 1858, to prevent Kansas people from taking an interest in railroads centering at Kansas City, and to concentrate the interest on railroads running to other places. This spirit was shown in the resolutions adopted, which were as follows :

Resolved, That a memorial be presented to Congress asking an appropriation of public lands to aid in construction of the following named railroads in Kansas:

1. A railroad from the western boundary of the State of Missouri, where the Osage Valley & Southern Kansas Railroad terminates, westwardly by way of Emporia, Fremont and Council Grove to the Fort Riley military reservation.

2. A railroad from the city of Wyandotte (connecting with the Parkville & Grand River Railroad, and the Pacific Railroad), up the Kansas Valley by way of Lawrence, Lecompton, Tecumseh, Topeka, Manhattan and the Fort Riley military reservation, to the western boundary of the Territory.

The Osage & Southern Kansas Railroad referred to in the first section of . this resolution, was a road then chartered to start at the mouth of the Osage River, in Missouri, and follow the valley of that river to the Kansas line. It has never been built.

The Parkville & Grand River road, referred to in the second section, was a road partly constructed between Parkville, in Platte county, Missouri, to Cameron, on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, and the Pacific referred to in the same section, was the Missouri Pacific, which at that time had decided to make its terminus on the west line of the State, opposite Wyandotte. This section meant opposition to Kansas City's connection with the Hannibal & St. Joe, and to remove the connecting point to Wyandotte for both that road and the Missouri Pacific. There was a great effort made about this time to concentrate interest in the road south from Lawrence, as opposed to the projected road south from Kan-

The idea of a railroad from Kansas City to Santa Fe was sought to be overshadowed by a request upon Congress for a grant of lands for such a road by way of Topeka. Hostile to Kansas City as was this action, it was not strong enough for the Leavenworth delegates, so they withdrew, taking some others with them, and held a convention of their own. Two railroad projects were started at that Topeka convention which have since been realized - the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern - but the main lines of both run to this city.

In the spring of 1861 there was a revival of the agitation of a road to the southwest into Kansas. The people of Kansas, under the influence of her cities, had become well imbued with a feeling of State pride in the building of towns and railroads. The people of the southern part of the State understood the commanding advantages of the point at the mouth of the Kaw, but wanted to make the town on the north side of that stream. Hence they got two companies chartered - the Wyandotte and Osawatomie, and the Wyandotte and Minneola. These occupied the same route to Olathe, and thence deployed much as do the Fort Scott and Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern roads now. In the spring of 1861 there was an effort made to consolidate these companies, as the existing roads are now consolidated, and put them under way, and to that end Kansas City voted $100,000 at the same time it voted aid to the Cameron road. But the war cloud was gathering and it soon engulfed this enterprise also.

The Men Of The Period

The men of this period, many of whose names appear in this chapter, were the real founders of Kansas City. They laid broad and deep the foundations of her present and future supremacy, and though but few of them appeared after the war to build the superstructure, that few, efficiently aided by other hands, have built it as they planned, and the proud city which was to them a fond dream only is to us a grand reality. Whoever has succeeded or may succeed them, will never exhibit more comprehensive enterprise, courageously undertake more ambitious schemes, or be called upon to be more vigilant, or undergo severer trials for the attainment of grand objects. Their trials and services can never be adequately rewarded by succeeding generations.