HISTORY OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY - CHAPTER 38


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Faithful Record of all Important Events, Incidents, and
Circumstances that have Transpired in the Valley of the
Chippewa from its Earliest Settlement by White People,
Indian Treaties, Organization of the Territory and State;
Also of the Counties Embracing the Valley, Senatorial,
Assembly and Congressional Districts, and a Brief
Biographical Sketch of the Most Prominent Persons in the
Settlement of the Valley. BY Thomas E. Randall 1875.  Free
Press Print.  Eau Claire, Wisconsin

CHAPTER 38

So long had the hopes of the people along the line of this
road been deferred, that, in order to encourage capitalists
to invest in the enterprise, a proposition was submitted to
the legislature in 1866, at the time the right of way over
the new route was granted, to authorize the several counties
through which the road wa to pass, to raise certain sums, by
the vote of the electors, as subsidies to the company when
the road should be completed to designed points.

In Dunn County, the question submitted was for the county to
guarantee title to lands required by the road, which was
promptly voted down, but in Eau Claire County the vote was
for a subsidy of fifty thousand dollars in county bonds,
which, according to the returns made at the time, November
1868, was carried by a considerable majority. But when the
conditions had been complied with the enterprising Company,
the County Commissioners refused the applications of the
bonds, on the grounds that a judicial decision just then
rendered in one of the courts of this State, declared the
whole matter of subsiding corporations, by counties,
unconstitutional and void.

The demand has been renewed this year, and it is not at all
improbable that the next application will be to Judge
Hopkins's court for a mandamus to compel the issue.

The lands along the route of the proposed railroad, having
been several years subject to private entry at the time the
grant was made, some of the best locations had been taken by
purchase to preemption, and in order to supply the
deficiency, Congress, on June 5, 1864, made and additional
grant, the selection to be made by some person to be
appointed by the Secretary of State (State Secretary) from
the odd numbered sections ten sections in width along the
new line, the amount to be equal to the deficiency
aforesaid, which accounts for the wide space occupied by the
railroad company's lands.

Whether Mr. Baldwin at any time endeavored to raise funds to
complete the road thus endowed, by placing stock of the
company on the market, does not appear from any records, and
from the fact that quotations of West Wisconsin Railway
stock never appear in financial statements, we may infer
that either from choice of necessity he resorted to the sale
of bonds as the only means of acquiring the necessary
capital and the stock of the company was issued for other
purposes than to cover or represent any considerable share
of the actual investment.

On obtaining title to the lands, as the work progressed,
another difficulty presented himself - they were liable to
taxation, and as capital is always cowardly, it became
dreadfully frightening, and in 1870, being unable to
negotiate further loans on that account, Mr. Baldwin and Mr.
Humbird came before the legislature and declared that the
work, must stop unless the lands were exempted from
taxation.

The road was now completed to Augusta, in Eau Claire County,
and very impatient were the people of this and the St. Croix
Valleys for immediate extension, and their representative
were instructed to support almost any measure that would
insure its completion, and with little opposition, the bill
to exempt for ten years became a law - all the lands being
included except those lying in Pierce County.

The work was now prosecuted with great energy, and in August
following, the welcome sound of the locomotive was heard in
Eau Claire and, following the example of Black River Falls
and Augusta; it was made the occasion of grand ovation. Many
substantial citizens of Milwaukee, Madison, La Crosse,
Hudson, St. Paul, and all the villages along the line,
Chippewa Falls, Durand, and from the surrounding country,
responded to the invitation to help us celebrate the
memorable event. A free dinner was provided for all, and the
Honorable Alexander Meggett welcomed the visitors, and set
forth the industrial and commercial advantages of this
valley in an able and appropriate speech, pointing out many
remarkable incidents in its history and development, and
hailing the railroad as the  harbinger of still grander
achievements. It was responded by John Nazro, of Milwaukee,
in a few pertinent and appreciated remarks, acknowledging
the honor of the visit, and the interest the people of his
city felt in our prosperity, and of the iron bands that now
linked our welfare to theirs 00 eulogizing Mr. Baldwin and
Mr. Humbird very handsomely.

It frequently  happens that those who assume to lead the
public opinion and represent the interests of the community,
have at heart some petty scheme of their own, in which the
great mass of the people do not only have no interest, but
upon whom its success inflicts positive injury. It is
possible that such was the case with the parties who were
instrumental in passing the bill to exempt from taxation the
lands of the Western Wisconsin Railroad Company. Certain it
is that the people residing in the locality most affected by
its provisions, were never consulted - the farmers along the
old line, where the great body of the land lay. But they
soon began to realize it disastrous consequences, and the
next year, 1871, Trempeleau County was excepted from its
provisions, and the assessors forthwith included the
railroad lands in the real estate list.

Regarding the law as a contract between the railroad
company, its creditors, and the people of Wisconsin, the
managers refused to pay the tax, and brought suit restrain
the county officers from the sale and transfer of their
lands under the laws provided for that purpose upon non-
resident and unoccupied lands.

Upon the trial of the case before Judge Bunn, the Honorable
John C. Spooner, attorney for the Road, urged the binding
force and said contract, the illegality of the law of 1871,
which excepted Trempealeau County from its provisions after
having entered into and receiving the benefits of the
contract, said the creditors of the road, when they had
advanced the money to build it, had placed implicit faith in
the people of the State, and that every sense of right,
manhood, and honor , bound the people to shield the company
against the imposition of such a tax.

Honorable A.W. Newman, fro the defense, repelled the idea of
a contract exemption law of 1870; said the people were
sovereign and independent, that if one legislature made bad
laws, it was not only the right but the duty of the next to
repel them; that this law was partial, iniquitous, and
clearly unconstitutional, and its repeal demanded by justice
and the rights of the people. Held that the assessment was
legal, and suit was dismissed with cost. An appeal to the
Supreme Court was of course taken, and, after exhaustive
argument, the judgment affirmed. But the foreign
bondholders, desirous of making this a test case, appealed
to the United States Supreme Court, where the cause is to be
argued on its merits.

In the meantime, a constant struggles is going on to effect
the repeal of the law so obnoxious to the settlers near the
location of those lands, who by the removal of the line of
the road, are so far away as to reap none of its benefits,
and as the exemption from tax enables the company to hold
the lands at a price far above what it would sell it for if
subject to assessment, it is natural that the law should be
very repugnant to them. It is hardships like these that have
brought the whole subject of railroad subsidies and land
grants into public condemnation. The statement recently made
by Mr. Spooner before a legislative committee, in his
argument against the repel of the law, that "two immense
fortunes had been sunk in the undertaking," needs to be
taken with a great many grains of allowance. The assets of
the road are undoubtedly sufficient to pay the principle and
interest of every dollar actually invested, and if roads
like the Green Bay and Mississippi can be built and made
self-sustaining without a land grant or other subsidy, it
must be self-evident that the West Wisconsin, if built
without and Credit-Mobilier steals, and run economically,
will be able to meet all its responsibilities either with or
without the 'Potter' law. It was a ten-mile feeder running
up to Chippewa Falls, built during the past summer, 1874, by
a company organized in that city, with the aid of twenty-
five thousand dollars voted by the citizens, and being
chartered with the title of the Chippewa Falls and Western
Wisconsin Railroad, it may be considered the first division
of an important work to connect this valley with the great
timberless but fertile regions beyond the Mississippi.
Extraordinary pluck and energy were displayed by the
managers in accomplishing such a work at this time.