Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1872.djvu/24

20 year ended June 30, 1872, shows that $16,400,000 of stock has been subscribed, and that $16,375,000 has been paid in. The company has completed, since the date of its last annual report, the road from Prairie City, in the Indian Territory, to Vinita, in same Territory, a distance of 21¼ miles. The road and telegraph from Pacific, Missouri, to Vinita,a distance of 32¼ miles, has been completed. Parties have been, during the last year, surveying for the road in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The total cost of surveys to June 30, 1872, was $162,173, and the amount received during the year ending on that date, from passengers, was $325,607.87, and for freight, $790,030.43. The cost of railroad and fixtures up to the same time was $31,608,044.54. The total indebtedness to that date (including assumed debt of $7,191,050 of South Pacific Company, whose road from Pacific, Missouri, to Springfield, it has obtained by purchase) was $15,013,999.53. The mortgages of the company were received and recorded by the Department, as required by law, in November and December, 1871. One hundred and twenty-five miles of this road and its telegraph line have been accepted, of which fifty were accepted by you on the 6th of December last.

Stock of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company has been subscribed to the amount of $100,000,000, and certificates for 165,336 shares, of $100 each, have been issued. The cost of surveys up to July 1, 1872, (so far as reports have been received by the company,) was $454,689.79. The accounts, &c., are not yet in a condition to render an accurate report of the amounts received from passengers and freight during the year. The expenses of the road and fixtures have been $11,481,467.70. The indebtedness of the company is reported to be $20,442,245.49. On the 20th February last a map of preliminary route from the crossing of the Red River of the North, at Fargo, in Dakota, to a point opposite the mouth of the Walla-Walla River, Washington Territory, a distance of about 1,448 miles, was received by the Department. On the 1st instant, commissioners were ordered to examine and report upon the completed portion "from the junction with the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad, near Thomson, Minnesota, to the Red River of the North," a distance of about 228 miles. Their report has not yet been received. The company report that, on the 30th ultimo, cars passed over the track for a distance of 113 miles west of the Red River. Track has recently been laid at the rate of 2¼ miles a day. The report states that, at the present rate of construction, the road would be completed to the Missouri River by the 3d proximo. The character of the soil in Dakota, through which the road passes, is reported very good, adapted to grain and grazing, of an average excellence equal to Illinois lands. Water is abundant. Timber is scarce. The construction of buildings for depots, engine-houses, and water-stations, is progressing rapidly. The work of the company in establishing and preparing for construction the line of route to the Yellowstone River and up that stream was resumed during