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 OREGON AND CALIFORNIA RAILROAD 257 the two companies and showed that the East Side road had the best prospects and recommended that the East Side Company be designated the company to receive the grant. 35 When on October 19, two days after the above reports, the House received a communication to the effect that S. J. R. No. 16 had been passed and was referred to the House for concurrence, the question again came into prominence. An attempt was made to refer it to a com- mittee of five, but this was voted down. An amendment was offered by Mr. Gazley of Douglas county, that the directors should give bonds amounting to a hundred thousand dollars to insure that the road would go through Umpqua, Jacksonville and Ashland, but this was also turned down. The resolution was then considered and passed by a vote of twenty-eight to eighteen. The motive behind the members of the legislature in thus designating the East Side Company is seen by a con- sideration of the vote. The vote reflected in a large de- gree the counties represented and their interests. Those representatives who were from counties which would gain more from the East Side railroad than from the West Side turned their influence toward passing the res- olution, while those representatives who were from counties which would gain more from the West Side sup- ported it. 36 The East Side Company by this designation had a greater claim to the land. But even yet the grant was not won. Congress had said that assent to the Act must be filed within one year. The West Side Company had filed assent within the time and had been accepted. It was now too late for the East Side Company to file assent so it was necessary to get Congress to amend the Act and extend the time for filing assent. Congress had amended Section 6 of the Act on June 25, 1868, providing that, 35 House Journal, 1868, p. 306 ff. 36 The individual vote is given in Appendix F. i mi I NIL ill