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But, the public was not yet ready to accept the scheme as feasible and laughed
at the idea of a railroad across the continent. In fact, many people looked upon
steam railroads as impracticable and an innovation unworthy of adoption by any
civilized community. In 1828, only nine years before Carver wrote the article
mentioned, the school board of Lancaster, Ohio, replied as follows to some young
men who asked for the use of the school house in which they desired to debate
the railroad problem:
"You are welcome to the use of the school house to debate all proper questions,
but such things as railroads and telegraphs are impossibilities and rank
infidelity. There is nothing in the Word of God about them. If God had designed
that His intelligent creatures should travel at the frightful speed of 15 miles
an hour, by steam, He would clearly have foretold it through His holy prophets.
It is a device of Satan to lead immortal souls down to hell."
Notwithstanding the attitude of opposition, Dr. Carver went to Washington to try
to interest Congress in the subject of a trans-continental railway. There, he
met Asa Whitney, a New York merchant who had a large trade with China, and who
was desirous of finding a shorter route to the Orient. But Congress was not yet
ready to act on a proposition of such magnitude. Again in 1845, Whitney
presented a memorial to Congress asking for a donation of a tract of land 60
miles wide from the west shore of Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean, through
the corner of which he and his associates would build a railroad and remunerate
themselves through the sale of the lands on either side. Whitney was regarded as
a speculator, but he continued his efforts to awaken the people to the
importance of his project, and even influenced the legislatures of twenty states
to endorse his plans. From 1853 to 1861 exploring surveys were made under the
direction of General G. M. Dodge, who said in his report:
"The first private survey and exploration of the Pacific Railroad was caused by
the failure of the Mississippi & Missouri (later the the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific) to complete its project. The men who put their money into that
enterprise conceived the idea of working up a scheme west of Iowa that would be
an inducement to capital to invest in carrying. their project across Iowa to the
Missouri River. They also wished to determine at what point on the Missouri
River the Pacific railroad would start, so as to terminate their road at that
point. The explorers adopted Council Bluffs, Iowa, as that point."
On July 1, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill authorizing the
construction of a Pacific Railroad. One feature of the bill was that it
empowered the president to designate the eastern terminus of the road, and after
consultation with General Dodge, Lincoln named Council Bluffs. While this bill
did not directly affect Kansas, it
marked the beginning of a great railroad system that in 1912, operated over
1,000 miles within the state.
|
|
 The
Union Pacific Company was organized at
Chicago on
September 2, 1862, and by an act of March 3, 1863, the government granted to the
company alternate sections of land for 10 miles on each side of the road --
about 3,000,000 acres in all -- and authorized an issue of bonds payable in 30
years to the amount of $16,000 per mile to aid in the construction of the road.
As late as 1857, there was but one line of railroad west of the Mississippi
River, extending from
St. Louis
to Jefferson City,
Missouri, a
distance of 125 miles. In the meantime, however, the territorial authorities of
Kansas
had not been idle in their efforts to secure the building of railroad lines in
the territory. The first legislature of 1855 granted charters to five railroad
companies: The Kansas Central; the Southern Kansas; the Leavenworth, Pawnee &
Western; the Leavenworth & Lecompton; and the Kansas Valley Railroad. Among the
incorporators of the Kansas Central were
John Calhoun,
Samuel D. Lecompte , A. S.
White and John Duff. The capital stock of the company was fixed at $1,000,000,
and it was authorized to build a road "from any point on the
Missouri River to any point on the western
boundary." The capital stock of the Southern Kansas was fixed at $3,000,000, and
the company was given a franchise to build a road "from the
Missouri
state line due west of
Springfield
to the west line of
Kansas
Territory." A. J. Dorn, William J. Godfroy, James M. Linn, Joseph C. Anderson
and others were named as the incorporators, and the act stipulated that work was
to begin on the road within nine years. Some of the leading projectors of the
Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western were W. H. Russell, J. M. Alexander,
Samuel D. Lecompte, E. H.
Dennis and C. H. Grover. The authorized capital stock of the company was
$5,000,000, and the road was to run "from the west bank of the Missouri River in
Leavenworth
to the town of Pawnee, or to some point feasible and next to the government
reservation for
Fort Riley
, with the privilege of extending the same to the western boundary of the
territory." H. D. McMeekin,
John A. Halderman, R. R. Russell,
Daniel Woodson,
Samuel D. Lecompte and C. H.
Grover were among the incorporators of the Leavenworth & Lecompton road, which
was to run between the points named. The capital stock was $3,000;000 and the
company was authorized to take stock in the Lecompton Bridge Company in order to
assure an entrance to the territorial capital. Work was to begin on the road
within five years. The first board of directors of the Kansas Valley Company
were Thomas Johnson, H. J. Strickler, A. J. Isaacs, Rush Elmore, John P. Wood,
Johnston Lykins, Andrew McDonald, Thomas N. Stinson and Cyprian Chouteau. The
capital stock was fixed at $5,000,000 and the charter provided for the
construction of a line of railroad "from the western boundary line of the State
of
Missouri,
on the south side of the Kansas River, commencing at the western terminus of the
Pacific Railroad, near the mouth of the Kansas River, running up the valley of
said river on the south bank thereof, by way of
Lawrence,
Benicia, Douglass, Lecompton, Tecumseh, and terminating at or near the town of
Pawnee."
Continued Next Page |
LEGENDS
OF KANSAS
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