Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/364



such a line. The proposed route passed through Iowa and the citizens of our State felt a deep interest in the project and some of the far-seeing men believed that the benefits of this commercial highway might be secured to Iowa by prompt action in obtaining a valuable land grant for a railroad to the Missouri River.

In 1838 George W. Jones, Delegate in Congress for Wisconsin, secured an appropriation of $10,000, which was expended in making a survey from Lake Michigan through southern Wisconsin for a railroad from the great lakes to the Mississippi River. In 1839 a memorial was prepared and circulated by Samuel R. Curtis, then living in Ohio, asking for a grant of lands to aid in building a railroad to the Pacific Ocean. It was presented by John Quincy Adams. The Legislature, in 1844, memorialized Congress to make a grant of public lands to the State to aid in the construction of a railroad from Dubuque to Keokuk; the grant to consist of alternate sections, extending five miles in width on each side of the road, or its equivalent in adjacent government lands. During the following winter a convention was held at Iowa City, representing various sections of the State, for the purpose of procuring grants of public land to aid in building other lines of railroad east and west. One of the proposed lines was to run from Davenport west to Iowa City, Monroe City, Raccoon Fork of the Des Moines River, to a point on the Missouri River near Council Bluffs. The first grant of public lands in Iowa for transportation lines was that made in 1846 to aid in the improvement of the navigation of the Des Moines River.

The Legislature of Iowa, by joint resolution, approved January 9, 1847, accepted the grant. A Board of Public Works chosen at the next election met and organized on the 22d of September, 1847 and proceeded with the improvement. Agents appointed by the Governor selected the unsold alternate sections designated by odd numbers, for a width of five miles on each side of the river from