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Show ' rate, $48,000 a mile, on thirty miles of level, or nearly level ground near Sacramento, and at the foothill rate, $32,000 a mile, for many miles of level building in the valley east of the Sierras. . .-.'Abating nothing of admiration," says Mr. Russell, speaking of the ' completion of the road, "for the physical performance, it is time now to reflect that it was also a monstrous triumph of greed, fraud and corruption; that it might have been a blessing instead of a blight to that rich country of which it was esctatically called the Gateway. "How much toll do you think they took "From the day the gate was erected and closed, down to the present year, first Mr. Huntington and his associates and then their successors have taken and divided more than $600,000,000 in unjust tolls, all from the people of the United States, who so kindly erected the gate across their own highway." In the course of his article Mr. Russell describes vividly the race for a junction between the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific, the roads now attempting to merge. "The act of 1864," he says, "had authorized the Central Pacific to build eastward to a junction with the Union Pacific wherever that might be.. At first the four partners had assumed this junction junc-tion would be far to the eastward, allowing them good mileage and many fat bonds, but the swift advance of the Union Pacific began to annoy them, and by 1867 they were thoroughly alarmed. The Union Pacific was approaching the mountains. If it should thread them first, the Central Pacific would lose the fattest part of, its contract with the government; also the best of the joint haul when he roads should be united. "There ensued the maddest chapter in all railroad history. The two roads entered into a race, tearing into the work before them regardless re-gardless of any question of cost, working day and night with relay gangs. "It was the wild romance of railroad building. Winter came on, the terrible Sierra winter with its phenomenal snow falls, but to the world's amazeemnt the work never stopped. In the dead of winter, rails, machinery, cars, even locomotives in pieces, were dragged hundreds of miles on wagons, traversing roads heavy and badly ma-de, threatened with imminent disaster from the snow slidesa and the storms." Talk about the present high cost of living listen to this : 'Food for men and fodder for the horses reached fabulous prices. Oats were sold by the pound at 12 to 15 cents ; hay was $100 i ton and sometimes $180; for teams the contractors paid $12 and $14 a day. "In April, 1869, they were almost within sight of the enemy's lines. Before them was Ogden, the goal of the race, in the great valley between the Rocky and the Sierra Nevada ranges. In tho fury of competition both companies far overshot the mark. The Union Pacific had its graders one hundred miles west of Ogden; the Central Pacific had its advance line forty miles beyond its track layers. Only the iron actually put into position counted in the race. "On the last day, ten miles were laid; on April 28th they stnick the Union Pacific line fifty-three miles west of Ogden ; and May 10th they drove the golden spike that cemented the two roads. Tho Union Pacific had won by fifty-three miles. Subsequently the Central Cen-tral Pacific bought of the Union Pacific at a high price the overlapping over-lapping road." CENTRAL PACIFIC'S EARLY HISTORY. Charles Edward Russell, writing in the April number of Hampton's Hamp-ton's Magazine, reviews the building of the Central Pacific, which he characterizes as the greatest steal ever perpetrated on the United States government, and in support of his charges says: The four projectors of the road, Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker divided among themselves them-selves in stock, land grantsfrom the government, government bonds and bonds which the government guaranteed, and donations from California counties the sum of $149,000,000 for which they did not pay one cent. The total cf the government subsidy which Huntington Hunting-ton by clever lobbying got from congress, Mr. Russell declares, was $60,000,000. How the figures were juggled to turn most of this immense subsidy into the pockets of the four promoters is explained by Mr. Rufsel as follows: The bill provided that the government should issue to the road $1,000 six per cent bonds; for every mile in valley or level land, $16,000 in bonds ; for every mile in the foothills, $32,000 in bonds, and for evei'y mile in tho mountains, $48,000 in bonds. Mr. Russell alleges al-leges that the company charged the government at the mountain |