Land Grants to Railroads. Letter from the Auditor of Railroad Accounts
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University of Oklahoma College of Law University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons American Indian and Alaskan Native Documents in the Congressional Serial Set: 1817-1899 2-7-1881 Land grants to railroads. Letter from the auditor of railroad accounts, relative to land grants made by the United States to aid in the construction of the Pacific air lroads Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/indianserialset Part of the Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons Recommended Citation H.R. Misc. Doc. No. 10, 46th Cong., 3rd Sess. (1881) This House Miscellaneous Document is brought to you for free and open access by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in American Indian and Alaskan Native Documents in the Congressional Serial Set: 1817-1899 by an authorized administrator of University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 46TH CONGRESS, } HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. { MIS. Doo. 3d Session. No. 10. LAND GRANTS TO RAILROADS. LETTER FROM THE AUDITOR OF RAILROAD ACCOUNTS, (TO RON. ROBERT M. McLANE, OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES), RELATIVE TO Land grants made by the United States to aid in the construction of the Pacific Railroads. FEBRUARY 7, 1881.-0rdered to be printed. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF AUDITOR OF RAILROAD ACCOUNTS, Washington, D. G, February 3, 1881. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a report prepared in this office, in compliance with your request of June 18, 1880, indorsed on a draft of a resolution which the Committee on Pacific Railroads author ized you to report to the llouse at its last session, but which, in the press of other bu ine s, was not reached before adjournment. As the design of the resolution proposed was to ascertain, as accu rately as possible, all facts connected with the land grants made by the United States to aid in the construction of the Pacific Railroads, special inquiry has been made in erder to obtain the fullest information. The report has been shaped so as to take up separately each one of the four great transcontinental routes or railroads located on the forty seventh, fortieth, thirty-fifth, and thirty-second parallels of north lati tude, giving details as to each main and branch line, with a general recapitulation showing the whole result. Very respectfully, THEO'S FRENCH, Auditor. lion. RoBER'r M. McLANE, Chairman G01mnittee on Pacific Railroads, House of Representatives. 2 LAND GRANTS TO RAILROADS. REPORT ON THE QUANTITY AND VALUE OF PUBLIC LANDS GRANTED BY CONGRESS TO AID IN TilE CO~ STRUCTION OF THE PACIFIC RAILROADS. DEP ARTl\fENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF AUDITOR OF RAILROAD ACCOUNTS, Washington, IJ. 0., Jawuary 26, 1881. The proposed resolution in regard to the matters embraced in this re port is as follows : Resolred, tj·l•., That the Comn.ittee on the Pacific Railroads: by subcommittee, be authorized to sit during the recess for the purpose of ascertaining the qnantity and value of the public lands heretofore granted by Congress to aid in the construction of the Pacific Railroads which have not vested in said roads by the terms of the several laws granting such lands, and the quantity and vaJue of the said lands 'i'i'hich have vested in said roads, how the same have been disposed of, at what price, and also how the proceeds of the same have been disposed of; also, the cost, in detail, of the con struction of completed road and the estimated cost, in detail, of the construction of road necessary to be built in order to complete the sai<l railroads in accordance with the requirements of law; also, to ascertain the cost, or estimated cost, of construction of any and all railroads built or proposed to be built parallel or adjacent to the said railroads whether or not the same are located on the line or lands reserved by mw of the said grantin!? acts of Congress; with authority to employ a clerk during that time, to obtain the ass1stance of the Auditor of Railroad Accounts, and to send for persons and papers or examine the same at the principal offices of said railroads; and all ex penses necessarily incurred in the execution of this resolution shall be paid out of the contingent fund of the House. For the purpose of this report the Pacific railroads ltave been classi- fied as follows, viz: · 1. Northern, or route on forty-seventh parallel of latitude. 2. Union Central, or route on fortieth parallel of latitude. 3. New Mexico Southern, or route on thirty-fifth parallel of latitude. 4:. Texas Southern, or route on thirty-second parallel of latitude. The first or northern line is known as Northern Pacific, and extends from the Montreal River in 'Viscomdn to Pnget's Sound, Washington Territory. Branch roads are intended to be built to Portland, Oreg., and to other points as may be deemed advisable. The main line and the branch to Portland only have land grants. The second or Union Central line embraces the roads heretofore known as Union Pacific, Central Pacific, Kansas Pacific, Central Branch Union Pacific, and Sioux City and Pacific, all of which are subsidized with bonds as well as lands. It also embraces in its system the Denver Pacific, and the Burlington and Missouri River Railroafl in Nebraska, which are subsidized with lands only. The third or New Mexico Southern line extends from J\Iissouri and Arkansas through the Indian Territory to California and the Pacific Ocean, and has a subsidy of lands only. The fourth or Texas Southern line extends from Louisiana through Texas to connect with the Southern Pacific at Yuma on the Colorado River, thus obtaining a through line to San Francisco, Cal. This line has a subsidy of lands only. NORTHERN, OR ROUTE ON FORTY·SEVENTII PARALLEL. The No'rthern Pacific Railroad Oompany.-This compan~y was chartered by an act of Congress approved July 2, 1864, entitled "An act granting lands to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from Lake Superior to Pugct's Sound, on the Pacific coast, by the northern route" (13 Stat., 365). (Report of Auditor ofHailroad Accounts, 1880, p. 152.) . LAND GRANTS TO RAILROADS. 3 Section 1 designates the route as follows, viz: "Beginning at a point on Lake Superior, in the State of Minnesota or Wisconsin; thence west erly by the most eligible railroad route, as shall be determined by said company, within the territory of the United States, on a line north of the forty-fifth degree of latitude to some point on Puget's Sound, with a branch, via the valley of the Columbia River, to a point at or near Portland, in the State of Oregon, leaving the main trunk line at the most suitable place not more than three hundred miles from its western terminus." Section 2 grants to the company the right of way through the public lauds to the extent of "two hundred feet in width on each side of said railroad, including all necessary ground for station buildings, workshops, depots, machine-shops, switches, side tracks, turn-tables, and water stations." Section 3 grants to the company ''every alternate section of public land, not mineral, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of twenty alternate ~ections per mile on each side of said railroad line, as said company may adopt, through the Territories of the United States, and ten alternate sections of land per mile on each side of said railroad whenever it passes through any State, and whenever on the line thPreof the United States have full title, not reserved, sold, granted or other wise appropriated, and free from pre-emption, or other claims or rights, at the time the line of said railroad is definitely fixed, and a plat thereof filed in the office of the Commissioner of the General Land Office." Section 6 enacts "that the President of the Uuited States shall cause the lands to be sun~ eyed for forty miles in width on both sides of the entire line of said road, after the general route shall be fixed, and as fast as may be required by the construction of said railroad; and the odd sections of land hereby granted shall not be liable to sale, or entry or pre-emption before or after they are surveyed~ except by said com pany, as provided in this act; but the provisions of the act of Septem ber, eighteen hundred and forty-one, granting pre-emption rights, and the acts amendatory thereof, and of the act entitled 'An act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain,' approved May twenty, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, shall be, and the same are hereby, extended to all other lands on the line of said road, when sur veyed, excepting those hereby granted to said company. And there served alternate sect.ion shall not be sold by the government at a price less than two dollars and fifty cents per acre, when offered for sale." Sections 8 a.nd 9 give the conditions attached to the grant as follows, viz: "That each and every grant, right, and privilege herein are so made and given to, and accepted by, said Northern Pacific Railroad Company upon and subject to the following conditions, namely: That the said company shall commence the work on said road within two years from the approval of this act by the President, and shall complete not less Jhan fifty miles per year after the second year, and shall con struct, equip, furnish, and complete the whole road by the fourth day of July, anno Domini eighteen hundred and seventy-six"; and "That the United States make the se,~ eral conditioned grants herein, and that the said Northern Pacific Railroa<l company accept the same, upon the fur ther condition that if the said company make any breach of the condi tions hereof, and allow the same to continue for upwards of one year, then, in such case, at any time hereafter, the United States, by its Con gress, may do any and all acts and things which may be needful and necessary to insure a speedy completion of the said road." Section 10 enacts that" no mortgage or construction bonds shall ever 4 LAND GRANTS TO RAILROAD~.