Although the grants were made to the several States, they were in all cases, as speedily as possible, transferred to railroad companies, chartered by them to construct lines upon the general route specified in the act of Congress, and usually without any other conditions than those imposed in such act, the most important of which related to the time in which the roads should be built. The following is a statement showing the date at which the several grants were made; the companies to which they have been conveyed; the number of acres called for by each grant, and the number of acres certified to each Company up to June 30, 1869: * Grants to Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana, under acts of May 17, June 3 and August 11, 1856, having expired, application will be made to Congress to extend the time for the completion of the railroads in said States. + Pamphlet Laws. RECAPITULATION. Statement Exhibiting the Amount of Lands Granted to the States named for the Construction of Railroads, and the Number of Acres Certified thereto up to July 1, 1869: In addition to the above, extensive grants of land have been made by the General Government in aid of what are termed PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANIES, which have been made directly to the Companies having the several enterprises in hand, viz. : to the Union and Central Pacific Railroad Companies, with the branches provided for in the original act, 35,000,000 acres, being 20 sections, or 12,800 acres to the mile. Of this grant only 164,801.48 acres have yet been certified. The grant to the Northern Pacific Railroad calls for 47,000,000, or 25,800 acres to the mile. No portion of this grant has been certified to the Company. The grant to the Atlantic and Pacific calls for 42,000,000, or 25,600 acres to the mile No portion of this grant has been certified. The grants to the three Pacific Railroads call for 124,000,000 acres, or about 200,000 square miles. The Government has also at former periods granted lands to the extent of 4,405,986 acres to aid in the construction of canals, and, more recently, 3,782,213.27 acres to aid in the construction of wagon roads, making the total number of acres granted to aid works of internal improvements, 190,296,780.67 acres, or about 300,000 square miles—an area exceeding in extent that of the six New England States, with New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois combined. But it must by no means be supposed that such an immense extent of territory can be availed of by companies to which the grants have been made. In Iowa, for example, the grants made call for 7,331,207.98 acres. Of these only 3,215,669.46 acres have been certified, there not having been an amount of Government lands, of odd sections, within the limits of the grants at the time they were made, equaling the nominal amounts of the same. Two companies in the State named will not receive one-half the number of acres to which their grant entitled them. The amount of the certifications yet to be made in the several States will probably reach 35,000,000 or 40,000,000 of acres. The certifications hereafter to be made to the Pacific Railroads will, for similar reasons, fall far short of the nominal amounts of the grants to them, though perhaps not in so great an extent as in the grants made to the States. The influence of land grants in promoting the construction of railroads has been truly wonderful. They have been a powerful, and, in many cases, the chief inducement toward the construction of nearly 10,000 miles of line, including the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads. The greater portion of this immense extent of mileage would not have been constructed for a long time to come, at least, but for such grants. Upon the land-grant roads $300,000,000 at least have been expended. These roads are earning at least $60,000,000, and are transporting at least 10,000,000 tons of freight annually. They have increased the population of the country immensely and its wealth almost beyond computation. It may be safely estimated that the grants that have been made, have been or will be instrumental in the construction of 15,000 miles of line. The laws making the grants provided in all cases, we believe, that the even numbered sections retained by the Government within the limits of the several grants should not be sold at less than $2 50 per acre, or twice the price at which they were previously held the theory being that, in this way, the Government would lose nothing by making the grants, while it would be greatly benefited by the construction of the railroads which the grants would secure. The results have proved the entire correctness of these assumptions. As soon as it was seen that a land-grant road was likely to be built, the Government sections were immediately taken up at the advanced (double) rate. Settlers both upon the lands of the railroad and upon those of the Government, within the limits of the grant, can better afford to pay $10 per acre than to have lands distant from means of transportation given to them. Population, whether rich or poor, always follows the line of a railroad. If we were to compare the advantage accruing from these grants, we should say that the Government, as representatives of the whole nation, was most largely benefited by them; that the farmer and pioneer come next in order; and that the railroad companies, the direct beneficiaries, the last. No policy ever adopted by this or any other Government was more beneficial in its results or has tended so powerfully to the development of our resources by the conversion of vast wastes to all the uses of civilized life. CUMBERLAND VALLEY RAILROAD. Line of Road.-Harrisburg, Pa., to Hagerstown, Md............. Extension (in progress): Hagerstown, Md., to Powell's Bend... .84 miles. Total length of road completed and in progress.. Sidings, etc., 11.15 miles. Gauge, 4 feet 84 in. Rail-iron, 50, steel, 56 lbs. to yard. [The Company have also an interest to the extent of $200,000 in the railroad (16 miles, from ore mines to Carlisle) of the South Mountain Iron Company. This loan draws 6 per cent., free of tax, and is secured by a mortgage on the railroad and 22,000 acres of land. Two other railroads aided by this Company are also in progress—one from Chambersburg to Mont Alto, 12 miles, and the other from Marion Station, 6 miles above Chambersburg, to the South Pennsylvania Iron and Railroad Company's mines near London, in Franklin County.] Rolling Stock (October 1, 1869).—Locomotives, 16. Cars-passenger, 14; baggage, mail and express, 6; freight, 249-total, 269 cars. Operations for the year ending September 30, 1869.—Trains run—passenger, 133,530; freight, 93,016, and construction, 16,384-242,960 miles. Passengers carried -east, 154,488, and west, 156,725-308,213. Freight moved, 244,532 tons. Gross earnings-passenger, $191,831 76; freight, $321,268 43; mail, $6,107 24; express, $4,785 42; other, $15,776 39-$539,769 24. Current expenses, including taxes and charges on earnings, $347,076 64. Nett earnings, $192,692 60. Interest, $27,557 10. Dividends, 8 per cent., $94,438 53. General Balances (October 1, 1869).-Capital stock-common, $832,000; 1st preferred, $241,900; and 2d preferred, $243,000-$1,316,900; funded debt-mortgage 8 p. c. bonds, due 1904, 1st, $161,000; 2d, $109,500; and 6 p. c. bonds, $81,800$351,300; due for dividends, $52,786 54, and for interest, $14,401 40; profit and loss, $407,883 65. Per contra: Cost of road, etc., $1,492,204 82; materials, $55,137 53; sinking fund, $432,640; balances, $28,240 45; cash, $136,048 79.... Total, $2,144,271 59. Directors (elected October 4, 1869).-Frederick Watts, Carlisle, Pa.; Thomas A. Biddle, Thomas A. Scott, Washington Butcher, Wistar Morris and H. T. Lombaert, Philadelphia, Pa.; Daniel O. Gehr and Thomas B. Kennedy, Chambersburg, Pa.; Edmund Smith, Josiah Bacon and T. Edgar Thomson, Philadelphia, Pa. FREDERICK WATTS-President.... .... Carlisle, Pa. Sec. & Treas.-Ed. M. Biddle.. Chambersburg, Pa. | Mast. Mach'y-A. S. Hull......Chambersburg, Pa. 66 66 PRINCIPAL OFFICE AND ADDRESS....... ..Chambersburg, Franklin Co., På. LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLEE RAILROAD. Main Line.-Louisville, Ky., to Nashville, Tenn....... Branches: 185.00 miles. Junction (19 m. S. Louisville), Ky., to Bardstown, Ky...... 17.30 Total length of road owned and operated June 30, 1869..........381.22 miles. Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville RR. (since February 17, 1868, operated for receiver)............ 82.60 Memphis and Ohio RR. (leased from September 1, 1867, for 10 years)....130.30 .594.12 miles. Total length of road owned, leased and operated..... Sidings (main stem and branches), 36.45 miles. Gauge, 5 ft. Rail, 56 to 60 lbs. to yd. The track of the Knoxville Branch (so called) is now in operation to Big Rockcastle River, at Gresham's Ferry, eleven miles south of Mount Vernon, making the total length of the branch 110.46 miles. Construction on the sections from Gresham's Ferry to the State line of Tennessee, via London, sixty-two miles, has been delayed in consequence of the suspension of work on the Knoxville and Kentucky Railroad since March, 1869. The cost of this portion is estimated at $1,710,000. The accounts of the leased lines in Tennessee are kept separately, and in the following statement those of the Louisville and Nashville lines proper alone are given, except that the rolling stock of the lessees is in use on all the lines operated. The main line was opened through to Nashville, November 1, 1859. The Bardstown branch (built by the Bardstown and Louisville RR. Company and operated by this Company under a contract made February 24, 1860, under which the nett earnings were divided) was purchased in 1865. The Lebanon branch was opened in November, 1857, and the Memphis branch in September, 1860. The extension of the Lebanon branch toward Knoxville, Tenn., was completed to Crab Orchard in July, 1866; to Brodhead in January, 1868; to Mount Vernon in November, 1868; and to Rockcastle River late in 1869. The Richmond branch was completed and opened for traffic in November, 1868. Rolling Stock.-Locomotive engines, 66. Cars-passenger, 45; baggage, 15; postal, 3; express, 8; and freight (box, 402; rack, 110; gondola, 44; flat, 148; and stone, 83), 787-total, 858 revenue cars. Also, 12 boarding cars and one wrecking car. Operations for the year ending June 30, 1869 : Trains run-passenger, 481,741; freight, 505,181; and other, 71,581-total 1,058,503 miles. Passengers carried-north, 197,340; and south, 194,487-total, 391,827; carried one mile-north, 11,465,729; and south, 11,095,688-total, 22,561,417. Freight moved, 317,208 tons; moved one mile-north, 23,380,857; and south, 17,432,858-total, 40,813,713. |