Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/275

 a greater part of the agricultural products sought market. On the other hand railroads could be constructed to reach every portion of the country; trains could be depended upon to run every day in the year; the transportation was rapid and reliable and it was only a question of time and money when they would extend to every part of the country which produced enough to pay a reasonable interest on the capital required to build and equip a road. These were the chief considerations which, in 1853, influenced the State to abandon an impracticable scheme and convey the unused portion of the great land grant to private parties who were willing to undertake to complete the work to the Raccoon Fork. As soon as O’Reiley had secured his contract with the State, he returned to New York and proceeded to organize the “Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company” which became incorporated under the laws of Iowa on the 9th of May, 1854. On the 9th of June, at the request of O’Reiley, his contract with the State was cancelled and one precisely the same was made between the State and the company which he had organized.

In May, 1856, Congress granted to Iowa public lands to aid in the construction of four trunk lines of railroad across the State from the Mississippi to the Missouri rivers. This grant was made subject to the following proviso:

On the 5th of May, the day this act became a law, the Commissioner of the General Land Office directed the officers of the local land offices in Iowa, to withhold the lands covered by this grant from sale or location until further orders.