United States v. Stanford

• Decision Date: 29 June 1895
• Docket Number: 12,053.
• Citation: 69 F. 25
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. STANFORD.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California

69 F. 25

UNITED STATES v. STANFORD.

No. 12,053.

United States Circuit Court, N.D. California.

June 29, 1895

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

H. S Foote, U.S. Atty., and L. D. McKisick, Special Asst. U.S Atty., for the United States.

Russel J. Wilson, Mountford S. Wilson, John Garber, and F. E. Spencer, for respondent.

ROSS Circuit Judge.

The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California was incorporated June 28, 1861, under and by virtue of the laws of the state of California, with a capital stock of $8,500,000, divided into shares of the par value of $100 each, for the purpose of building a railroad estimated to be 115 miles in length, from the city of Sacramento, through Sacramento, Placer and Nevada counties, to the eastern boundary of the state of California.

July 1, 1862, congress passed an act (12 Stat. 489) by which it created the Union Pacific Railroad Company, and authorized and empowered that company to locate, construct, furnish, maintain, and enjoy a continuous railroad and telegraph, with the appurtenances, from a point on the 100th meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, between the south margin of the valley of the Republican river and the north margin of the valley of the Platte river, in the then territory of Nebraska, at a point to be fixed by the president of the United States after actual surveys; thence running westerly, upon the most direct, central, and practicable route, through the then territories of the United States to the western boundary of the then territory of Nevada, there to meet and connect with the line of the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California.

By section 2 of the act of 1862, congress granted to the Union Pacific Railroad Company a right of way through the public lands for the construction of the railroad and telegraph line it was authorized to build, together with all necessary grounds for stations, buildings, workshops, depots, machine shops, switches, sidetracks, turntables, and water stations, and the right to take, from the public lands adjacent to the line of its road, earth, stone, timber, and other material for its construction. To further aid in its construction, congress, by section 3 of the act, granted to the corporation it then created five alternate sections of the public lands on each side of the road, with certain reservations and exceptions, not important to be mentioned, which lands, it was provided by section 4 of the act, should be patented to the company as fast as the company should complete 40 consecutive miles of any portion of the railroad and telegraph line, properly equipped and ready for the service contemplated by the act, to be shown by the certificate of commissioners authorized to be appointed by the president. And by section 5 it was enacted that, upon the certificate in writing of the commissioners so appointed of the completion and equipment of 40 consecutive miles of the railroad and telegraph line the Union Pacific Railroad Company was by the act authorized to construct, the secretary of the interior should issue to the company bonds of the United States of $1,000 each, payable in 30 years after date, bearing 6 per centum per annum interest, interest payable semiannually, to the amount of 16 of such bonds per mile for such section of 40 miles; 'and,' proceeds the statute, 'to secure the repayment to the United States, as hereinafter provided, of the amount of said bonds so issued and delivered to said company, together with all interest thereon which shall have been paid by the United States, the issue of said bonds and delivery to the company shall ipso facto constitute a first mortgage on the whole line of the railroad and telegraph, together with the rolling stock, fixtures, and property of every kind and description, and in consideration of which said bonds may be issued; and on the refusal or failure of said company to redeem said bonds, or any part of them, when required so to do by the secretary of the treasury, in accordance with the provisions of this act, the said road, with all the rights, functions, immunities and appurtenances thereunto belonging, and also all lands granted to the said company by the United States, which, at the time of said default, shall remain in the ownership of the said company, may be taken possession of by the secretary of the treasury, for the use and benefit of the United States: provided, this section shall not apply to that part of any road now constructed.

The next section of the act of 1862 is as follows:

'Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, that the grants aforesaid are made upon condition that said company shall pay said bonds at maturity and shall keep said railroad and telegraph line in repair and use, and shall at all times transmit dispatches over said telegraph line, and transport mails, troops and munitions of war, supplies and public stores upon said railroad for the government whenever required to do so by any department thereof, and that the government shall at all times have the preference in the use of the same for all the purposes aforesaid (at fair and reasonable rates of compensation, not to exceed the amounts paid by private parties for the same kind of service); and all compensation for services rendered for the government shall be applied to the payment of said bonds and interest until the whole amount is fully paid. Said company may also pay the United States, wholly or in part, in the same or other bonds, treasury notes or other evidences of debt against the United States, to be allowed at par; and after said road is completed, until said bonds and interest are paid, at least 5 per centum of the net earnings of said road shall also be annually applied to the payment thereof.'

By section 7 the Union Pacific Company was required to file its assent to the provisions of the act, and to complete its road, within a certain designated date.

By section 9, the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western Railroad of Kansas was authorized to construct a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river, at the mouth of the Kansas river, on the south side thereof, so as to connect with the Pacific Railroad of Missouri, to the aforesaid point on the 100th meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, upon the same terms and conditions as were provided in the act for the construction of the Union Pacific railroad and telegraph line, and there to connect with the Union Pacific Company, and with certain provisions for connections with railroads from Missouri and Iowa, also provided for by the act. And section 9 of the act of 1862 contained this further provision:

'The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, a corporation existing under the laws of the state of California, are hereby authorized to construct a railroad and telegraph line from the Pacific coast, at or near San Francisco, or the navigable waters of the Sacramento river, to the eastern boundary of California, upon the same terms and conditions, in all respects, as are contained in this act for the construction of said railroad and telegraph line first mentioned (namely, the Union Pacific Railroad Company), and to meet and connect with the first-mentioned railroad and telegraph line on the eastern boundary of California.'

Both the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California and the Kansas Company mentioned were by the act required to file their assent to its provisions, and to complete their respective roads within certain specified dates. And the act of 1862, in section 10, proceeded to provide that those companies, or either of them, after completing their respective roads--

'May unite upon equal terms with the first named company (the Union Pacific Railroad Company) in constructing so much of said railroad and telegraph line, and branch railroads and telegraph lines, in this act hereinafter mentioned, through the territories from the state of California to the Missouri river, as shall then remain to be constructed, on the same terms and conditions as provided in this act in relation to the said Union Pacific Railroad Company. And the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, the Pacific Railroad Company of Missouri, and the first-named company (the Union Pacific Railroad Company), or either of them, on filing their assent to this act, as aforesaid, may unite upon equal terms, under this act, with the said Kansas Company, in constructing said railroad and telegraph, to said meridian of longitude, with the consent of the said state of Kansas; and in case said first-named company (the Union Pacific Railroad Company) shall complete their line to the eastern boundary of California before it is completed across said state by the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, said first-named company (the Union Pacific Railroad Company) is hereby authorized to continue in constructing the same through California, with the consent of said state, upon the terms mentioned in this act, until said roads shall meet and connect, and the whole line of said railroad and telegraph is completed; and the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, after completing its road across said state, is authorized to continue the construction of said railroad and telegraph through the territories of the United States to the Missouri river, including the branch roads specified in this act, upon the routes hereinbefore and hereinafter indicated, on the terms and conditions provided in this act in relation to the said Union Pacific Railroad Company, until said roads shall meet and connect, and the whole line of said railroad and branches and telegraph is completed.'

By section 11, additional aid was provided for those portions of the road most mountainous and difficult of construction; and by section 12 provision was made in respect...