DIY History | Transcribe | Building the Transcontinental Railroad | Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad correspondence regarding connection with the Union Pacific Railroad, 1864-1865

Transcribe
Translate

Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad correspondence regarding connection with the Union Pacific Railroad, 1864-1865

Page 01

Washington Feb'y 18th 1864
Thos. C. Durant Esq
Dear Sir, Your letter of this date is before me.
I think it indicates a sincere desire to unite in a joint Trunk line, upon a fair & equal basis for our two respective roads, & yet I think it is open to the same objections which obliged us to decline the proposition of Mr Cook to unite in the Bill proposed by him, except the line from Des Moines, should be determined by the interest of the Cedar Rapids road co.
There is on the part of this Co. a necessity for this requirement, which you have not quite seemed to appreciate. The objective point, or one to which both lines must go, is the North Bend of the Platt river. In reaching this common point of connection, our co. is untrammeled - the law permits us, to reach that common point, on the cheapest & shortest line, while it obliges you to go via Omaha.
The North Bend of the Platt is nearer & cheaper for our co. than Omaha, & yet it is more than forty miles from Omaha to

Saving...

Washington Feb'y 18th 1864 Thos. C. Durant Esq Dear Sir, Your letter of this date is before me. I think it indicates a sincere desire to unite in a joint Trunk line, upon a fair & equal basis for our two respective roads, & yet I think it is open to the same objections which obliged us to decline the proposition of Mr Cook to unite in the Bill proposed by him, except the line from Des Moines, should be determined by the interest of the Cedar Rapids road co. There is on the part of this Co. a necessity for this requirement, which you have not quite seemed to appreciate. The objective point, or one to which both lines must go, is the North Bend of the Platt river. In reaching this common point of connection, our co. is untrammeled - the law permits us, to reach that common point, on the cheapest & shortest line, while it obliges you to go via Omaha. The North Bend of the Platt is nearer & cheaper for our co. than Omaha, & yet it is more than forty miles from Omaha to