Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/367

Rh merchants of Crescent City, California, that the inhabitants of Josephine and Jackson Counties had in a single year paid out as freight money alone on one thousand eight hundred tons of merchandise imported the sum of $179,700. The report mentions the fact that among the principal incorporators were a number of representative citizens of the state, and that the proposed measure would give comparatively small, but necessary, aid to the new corporation. It was urged in argument that the increase in value of the assessable property by reason of the construction of the road would more than offset the annual sum of $60,000 proposed to be paid. The bill passed the house with thirty-three votes in its favor, and eight votes in the negative. These negative votes were cast by J. J. Dempsey, of Polk; W. C. Hindman, of Baker and Union; J. D. Garrett and J. D. Locey, of Clackamas; G R. Helm and J. R. South, of Linn; John Whiteaker and J. E. P. Withers, of Lane. In the senate, thirteen senators voted in the affirmative and four in the negative. Those voting nay were: Donnell, of Wasco; Ford, of Umatilla; Stearns, of Grant; and Cornelius, of Washington. The act as framed proposed to loan the credit of the state to the Oregon Central Railroad Company by requiring the state treasurer to pay the annual coupons upon the bonds issued by the company at the rate of seven per cent, per annum, and bonds at the rate of $10,000 per mile for each mile of road completed, until the whole number of bonds upon which the state was to pay interest should not exceed one thousand, of the aggregate nominal value of $1,000,000.

On October 17, 1868, Senator Miller, of Jackson County, offered Senate Joint Resolution No. 16, reciting the passage of House Joint Resolution No. 13, and reciting that at the time of its adoption no such company as the Oregon Central Railroad Company was organized or