Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/344

326 of four railroad companies, only one of which took any steps toward carrying out the declared intentions of the company. In the case of the Willamette Valley Railroad Company, the commissioners held one meeting at Thorp's mills, in Polk county, and appointed days for receiving subscriptions in each of the counties. But the time was not yet ripe for railroads, and this temporary enthusiasm seems to have been aroused by the Pacific railroad survey, then in progress in the north-west territory of the United States.

The success of the Oregon delegates in securing appropriations led the assembly to ask for money from the general government for "every conceivable purpose," as their mentor, the Statesman, reminded them, and for which it reproved them. Yet the greater part of these applications found favor with congress, either through their own merits or the address of the