being left without connection, as its bond subsidy was limited to 100 miles. The Kansas Pacific was 638 miles long as constructed; but, as the original grant to the Eastern Division had been for a distance of 393.9 miles, only that extent, or about half, of the road as constructed was subsidized.* The main trunk between Sacramento and San Jose, in California, was built by the Western Pacific, but in 1870 this part was consolidated with the Central Pacific: the Central Pacific also built the main line eastward to Ogden, and was thus more important than originally planned. In 1880 the Union Pacific railway swallowed the Kansas Pacific and Denver Pacific (Denver to Cheyenne) lines, and after that date the Union Pacific system is to be distinguished from the Union Pacific railway. The passage of the Pacific railway bills in 1862 and 1864 was but the beginning of the Pacific railway trouble. There remained the administration of the grants and subsidies and the enforcement of the conditions imposed; for the acts to some extent resembled a contract in that assistance was given on condition of certain services and concessions to be made by the railways. THE ROADS COMPLETED; FURTHER ENCOURAGEMENT BEING GIVEN The act of 1862 had proved insufficiently attractive to capital, and for some time after the more generous act of 1864 progress was but slow. The Union Pacific constructed but 38 miles in 1864 and 68 miles the following year, and during the same years the Central Pacific built some 54 miles only. The unsettled condition accompanying the war and the untried magnitude of the project retarded. 2 See map II. About 1866, however, a change occurred, as is indicated by the table of miles constructed each year: Conditions industrial had become more settled and the future of the Pacific railways brighter. The opportunity to make great gain through floating speculative securities and the device. of the construction company were seized upon by capitalists, and the roads were pushed forward rapidly. In 1865 and 1866, too, amendments to the Pacific railway acts which made more favorable terms were passed by Congress. The companies were authorized to issue their bonds to the extent of one hundred miles in advance of a continuous completed line, and the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, was empowered to determine its own route and to make its connection with the Union Pacific as far west as a point fifty miles west of Denver,but to receive no greater amount of bonds. Moreover, the Union and Central Pacific railways were authorized to advance construction until they met, with the provision that neither should begin work over three hundred miles ahead of its completed line. An attempt to exclude bridges and tunnels from the designation, "continuous and unbroken line," failed. In 1866, the right of way through military reservations 100 ft. in width was granted to the Union Pacific and branches, and a small grant made for a depot and other purposes. Finally, by joint resolution, the time for completing the Union Pacific, East * Including Kansas Pacific, etc.. 13 Statutes at Large, 304. See Cong. Globe, 1865-66, pp. 259, 3181, 3224, 3430. A ern Division (and the Northern Pacific) was extended." similar favor was granted the Western Pacific with regard to its first section.8 Just when the Pacific railways were completed is disputed,' but for practical purposes the date at which the last section of each was accepted and bonds issued and lands ordered approved to the companies may be taken. In the case of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific roads, this date was July 15, 1869.10 The Central Branch Union Pacific was completed January 20, 1868; the Kansas Pacific, in October, 1872. THE REACTION AGAINST THE PACIFIC RAILWAYS: 1868 When, about the year 1867, the golden future of the Pacific railways was realized, their construction became a fruitful field for all manner of stock jobbery and corruption. Rumors of these things caught the public ear, which, it should be observed, was already struck with the first sounds preliminary to the Granger agitation. Then, as now, there were many to take advantage of the chance to make political capital by fanning a reaction. And the reaction, against government liberality in subsidizing railways, came,-came at about the same time the western states were entering upon a regulatory campaign against. the railways. Furthermore, public finances were beginning to seek a more normal course after the war disturbance. "In the midst of war, when the blood of the nation was up, it was compara tively easy to pass financial bills and raise millions of money;' but in the fall of 1865 the national debt reached its highest point, and a large part of the many millions of short term notes was due before 1868. The great question of resumption of specie payment was up. Naturally, then, more care was exercised in putting any further drain upon the treasury, and not only was a halt called to land grants and bond subsidies, but there was a 7 Ibid., pp. 2305, 2380, 2415. Ibid., pp. 2050, 2723. See below, p. 89. 10 See Rep. of Com., 1875-76, no. 440, p. 10. For information concerning stockholders, surveys, early operating statistics, etc., see Exec. Docs., 1871-72, no. 213 a valuable document for the early history. tendency to construe past acts more closely than would otherwise have been the case. Hostility to the Pacific railways was heightened by the extortionate rates charged.11 Premonitions of the reaction appear as early as 1866. A' bill for granting land for a southern branch of the Union Pacific being up, the committee on Pacific railways, through Mr. Howard (Mich.), asked to be discharged of its further consideration on the ground that they thought no further pecuniary obligations ought to be assumed by the government in constructing branches of the Union Pacific.1 12 The same man introduced a bill hostile to the Sioux City and Pacific Co., the roundabout route of which appears on the above map, charging it with extending its line 95 miles in order to advance five miles westward thus getting increased subsidies.13 There is hostility in the resolutions calling for a statement of the amount of bonds issued to the Union Pacific, interest paid, and other information, which were agreed to in 1867.1 Demands for reports and investigation began to appear. This changed attitude found both negative and positive expression as regards legislation. In January, 1869, for example, Congress refused a much urged bill to further assist the Central Branch Union Pacific;15 and in 1868 an act relative to filing reports of railroad companies provided for suspending issues of bonds and land patents in case of failure to make reports as required by law. 16 Most notable in this connection was the joint resolution for the protection of the interests of the United States, passed in 1869. THE JOINT RESOLUTION OF 1869 There were three main features in this resolution. In the first place it provided that Boston should be the place of the next stockholders' meeting, and authorized the establishment of general offices at any point in the United States. Secondly, 11 See below, p. 108. 12 Cong. Globe, 1865-66, p. 2050. 13 Ibid., p. 1954. 14 Ibid., 1867-68, p. 196, see also p. 98. 15 Ibid., 1868-69, pp. 547, 633, 664. 18 Statutes at Large, 15: 79. |