Congress Moves to Forfeit Railroad Land Grants
A House committee prepares to claw back millions of acres from the Central Pacific Railroad, citing failed construction promises.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Tomorrow or next day Henley, of California, will report the bill from the House Committee on Public Lands declaring forfeited the land grants under the act of July 1866, to aid in the construction of the California & Oregon Railroad. This will be followed with another bill to forfeit the grant of the Oregon & California Railroad. The report states that only 158 miles of the California & Oregon road have been built, and the act required it to be all completed in 1880. The original grant was 4,000,000 acres. The committee cannot but conclude that the Central Pacific company has had enough aid from government, and should be held to the strict letter of the law in this case. The committee recommend restoring the land grant to the public domain.
“The committee cannot but conclude that the Central Pacific company has had enough aid from government, and should be held to the strict letter of the law in this case.”
This reflects the long-standing tension between the federal government, land-hungry corporations, and the public interest in western development. The fight over 'forfeited' land grants was a foundational civic argument in the Pacific Northwest, defining how land was held and by whom.
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