By the census of 1870, the population of Idaho was given as 20,588. The census of 1880 gives the Territory a population of nearly 40,000 (including Indians)—an increase of nearly 100 per cent. in ten years. Judging from the present outlook, it is not unreasonable to expect that, before the end of the decade upon which we have just entered, Idaho will have a population sufficient to entitle it to admission into the sisterhood of States. RAILROADS. For There is at present but one railroad in the Territory, the Utah and Northern-a very lively protégé of the Union Pacific Railway Company. The road is a narrow-guage, but a first-class one in every respect. a new line the road-bed is in splendid condition, and there is no railroad in the country, unless it is the parent line, excelling it in equipment, rolling stock, station-houses, &c. The Pullman sleepers run upon this road are models of beauty, elegance, and comfort. Other lines have been projected to various points in the Territory, the most important of which is the proposed line from Ogden, Utah, to some point on the Pacific coast in the State of Oregon. The engineers of the Union Pacific Railway Company are now engaged in making a working survey for the purpose of demonstrating the practicability of the proposed route. This line, if built, will pass through or near Boise City, the capital of Idaho, and will not only open up an immense region to settlement and traffic, but will also bring New York City several hundred miles nearer Yokohama than the present route. STAGE LINES. The Utah, Idaho and Oregon Stage Company run daily stages from Boise City, Idaho, to Kelton and Winnemucca, on the Central Pacific Railroad, connecting at those points with through trains east and west. The same company runs a daily line from Boise City to Walla Walla, the Dalles, and other points in Oregon and Washington Territory. The coaches, stock, and "home stations" of the company are excellent, and every attention is paid by its agents and employés to the comfort of passengers. There is also a first-class stage line from Blackfoot, on the Utah and Northern, into the Wood River country, connecting with a line from Rocky Bar to Boise City. It is not possible to mention all the stage lines, but, as most of the travel in the Territory is by stages, good lines have been established wherever there is necessity for them. DESERT LANDS. As has been elsewhere stated in this report, at least one-half of the land in Idaho suitable for agriculture cannot be made available in its present state. There are large tracts lying along the Snake River which can be reclaimed by means of canals taken from that stream. The expense attending an undertaking of that nature is too considerable to admit or insure of its being done by individuals. The amount of land one person may enter under existing laws is insufficient to induce investments in irrigation schemes on a large scale. Nor can it be expected that an enterprise which will not pay one man to undertake alone will prove more attractive to a number. The amount of land a company composed of ten or twelve persons could secure under present laws would not excite the envy of the most rampant communist. The desert-land act should be amended so as to permit the disposal of this class of lands in unlimited quantities, at a small price, to individuals or corporations who will pledge themselves to the building of canals for their reclamation. Proper restrictions should be made prohibiting the withdrawal of the lands from the market, and the maximum price at which they might be sold should also be fixed. These features, if incorporated in the act, would preclude the possibility of monopolies growing out of the sale of large tracts to one person or company. A much more simple method of bringing these lands into market would be for Congress to make the necessary appropriations for building canals. The lands could then be disposed of to actual settlers under existing laws. If these lands were situated in any one of the Nates, Congress could easily be prevailed upon to appropriate millio for their reclamation. I very earnestly suggest that some plan, other than the doubtful expedient of artesian wells, be early adopted for reclaiming and bringing into market the desert lands of the West. PUBLIC SCHOOLS. The total number of school children in the Territory between the ages of five and twenty-one years is about six thousand. The annual revenue for school purposes raised by taxes, fines, &c., in the several counties, is about $25,000. Under the laws of the Territory each county has the exclusive benefit of its own educational resources and receives no aid from the Territory. The only source of Territorial revenue available for school purposes is the money which might come from escheated estates, which is too small to enter as an item in the account. The 16th and 36th sections in each township given for school purposes, under the general laws of the United States, are unavailable for the Territories, as by these laws the proceeds of such lands were set apart as an irreducible fund to be kept until the Territory becomes a State. The duty of providing for schools in the Territories has often been urged upon Congress, and bills containing provisions looking to this end have been introduced from time to time, but as yet with no tangible result. As a matter of justice, Congress should give to the Territories portions of the public lands other than the 16th and 36th sections, which are unavailable, or should make appropriations of money for the purpose. Under present circumstances there is not a county in the Territory that can raise by taxation a sum sufficient to keep up the public schools during the year, and in some of the counties the money from this source is totally inadequate even for a few months in each year. All the money raised for school purposes is strictly and economically applied to the maintenance of schools in accordance with the laws, no portion of it being allowed to be paid either to the Territorial or county superintendents. The Territorial controller is ex officio superintendent of public instruetion, but for this service he is paid nothing, and his sources of information with regard to the condition of the public schools are restricted to the reports of the county auditors, which are generally meager and unsatisfactory, for the reason that these officers all act, so far as schools are concerned, in an ex officio capacity, and without pay for this anch of their service. With an appropriation of Congress these defects in the present system could be cured, and, besides promoting the cause of education in the Territories, provision could be made for the collection of statistics and information concerning schools, a want which at present it is impossible to meet. CONCLUSION. In drawing this report to a close I am painfully aware of its imperfections; still, enough has been stated to show that the affairs of the Territory are in a highly satisfactory condition. Good health has prevailed during the year; agriculture, stock-raising, and mining have prospered, and all are in a more flourishing condition to-day than ever before. In no material interest has there been any retrograde movement in the Territory. It is gratifying to note improvement in the public schools. The increased interest manifested by the people in the schools is a sure indication that they are recognized as important factors in building up a community of law-abiding, liberty-loving, intelligent citizens. The administration of justice has been good, and the interest of the government and Territory cared for with economy and fidelity. Crime is not more common than in the older communities of the East, and with one exception, infractions of the law meet with as sure and speedy punishment. The one exception noted is the utter failure, or inability, of the officers of the law in two counties of the Territory to punish violations of the anti-polygamy law passed by Congress in 1862. Bear Lake County is populated almost exclusively by Mormons, and in Oneida County this sect claims to have a majority. I am imformed that in those counties many persons are living in open, undisguised violation of the anti-polygamy law, and that polygamous marriages are by no means infrequent. Unless it be the intention of Congress to hand over to priestly domination the Territories of Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, with perhaps one or two of the States of the Pacific slope, and permit the setting up in those Territories and States of a system that prevails nowhere else in the civilized world, then the law of 1862 should be amended so as to make it effectual; otherwise, it should be repealed, and full license given this "peculiar people" to practice their barn-yard system. A residence of some years in Utah has convinced me that kindness and leniency are wasted in dealing with this question, and that the practices in the Territories under the guise of religion which disgrace us as a nation can be eliminated only by adopting the most radical and rigorous measures. I am indebted to the following gentlemen for valuable information compiled in these pages: Hon. J. B. Miller, Hon. M. Kelly, and Hon. Jos. Perrault, of Boise City; Hon. T. F. Singiser, of Oxford; Col. G. L. Shoup, of Salmon City; Messrs. Colvin and Viar, of Challis; Hon. A. Walters, superintendent of the assay office, and to Judge W. F. Anderson, of Bonanza City, whose valuable map of Idaho supplies a want long felt. Hon. CARL SCHURZ, Secretary of the Interior. JNO. B. NEIL, REPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT DIRECTORS OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY. WASHINGTON, December 16, 1880. Hon. CARL SCHURZ, Secretary of the Interior: SIR: The Union Pacific Railroad Company entered into articles of union and consolidation of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, the Kansas Pacific Railway Company, and the Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company, January 24, 1880. Since which time a deed of conveyance, as of the same date, has been made by each of the respective companies, to the consolidated company, viz, Union Pacific Railway Company, which has been spread upon its records, and ordered to be sent for registration in the different counties of the States and Territories, in which the real estate of the company is situated. This deed conveys the entire "lines of railway and telegraph, with all their appurtenances, including right of way, station-houses, rolling stock, and all other property of every kind, connected therewith; also all the lands severally owned by the respective companies, and all that said companies may be entitled to by acts of Congress, or in any other way, intending to convey all lands wherever situated, and all rights of land of whatever kind or nature, legal or equitable, also all property rights, choses in action, and every other matter or thing described in article No. 8 of the articles of union and consolidation; also all other rights, privileges, and franchises, property of every kind, nature, and. description." A copy of the articles of union and consolidation has been filed in your department by the Union Pacific Railway Company, but the government directors, that you may have consecutive information, herewith attach a copy of same to their report. After the consolidation the question arose as to the jurisdiction of the government directors over the consolidated property, and at a meeting of the board of directors of the Union Pacific Railway Company, held in New York January 26, 1880, the following record was made: "President Dillon stated that a question had been made as to the legal effect of the consolidation upon the status of the government directors in the new company. He was not prepared to decide this question; the law fixed it one way or the other, and this could not be changed by any action of the company, and he recommended that the question be postponed until the annual meeting, and that meantime our counsel be instructed to give his opinion on the subject. The recommendation of the president was unanimously adopted." Upon the raising of this question you were communicated with by Government Director Niles, who asked you if you were not entirely clear in your own opinion as to the extended jurisdiction of the government directors over the consolidated company to refer the matters to the Attorney-General, for his opinion, and upon such reference the gov ernment directors understood the opinion of the Attorney-General to be favorable as to their extended jurisdiction over the consolidated company. No official notice was given by the Union Pacific Railway Company to the government directors to attend the meeting of its board, held in New York March 9, 1880; but as that was about the usual time for holding the annual meeting of the board of directors of the Union Pacific Rail road Company, the government directors met by their own appointment on the 8th of March, in the city of New York, and ascertained by telegraphic communication with the railway company's office in Boston no meeting of the board was to be held there, but that a meeting of the Union Pacific Railway Company's board was to be held in New York on the 9th, which meeting the government directors attended, and the following record was made: President Dillon remarked that he had conferred with the company's counsel in regard to the status of the government directors, and that it had been decided to admit them to the direction of the company under protest, a protest not of hostility, but merely of protection formally expressed, in order that the action of the company might be right in the premises. Since which time, the government directors have been duly notified to attend the meetings of the board of directors, and no farther question of jurisdiction has been raised, until, in an interview with President Dillon the latter part of July, preparatory to the inspection of the road, transportation was asked for over the consolidated roads, when the jurisdiction of the government directors was again denied and official transportation respectfully refused over any part of the consolidated roads, except the former Union Pacific Railroad, from Omaha to Ogden, thus making an issue with the government that calls for judicial settlement. This report will therefore be confined principally to the line of railroad from Omaha to Ogden, that being the only part of the line of road the government directors have inspected this year. References will be made to the executive and operative management of the consolidated roads, so far as the government directors have had opportunity of examining same; also to the stock basis upon which the consolidation was made, and all other items of interest that have come under their observation. The consolidated company is operated in two divisions. The Union Division, comprising the road from Omaha to Ogden, formerly known as the Union Pacific Railroad; and the road from Kansas City to Denver, formerly known as the Kansas Pacific, with the Leavenworth branch, and the road from Cheyenne to Denver, formerly known as the Denver Pacific. The two roads comprising the Kansas Division. The executive and general operative management of the company comprehends both the Union and Kansas divisions, and is extended over some of the branch lines of railway owned by and in the interest of the consolidated company; the expense of which is distributed on a mileage basis, or on the basis of the earnings of the divisions or branches. This is an equitable distribution. In all other respects the roads are managed as independent lines of railway, each division paying all its obligations incurred in its purchase and use of materials, and in its operation; and the earnings of each division are kept separate. The branch lines of railroad, aside from the mileage, estimated to them, in their favor to foster them, of one and a half miles to one mile of the main line of the road, in making up their prorate, of a rate charged, for business given to or received from the main line, are operated and managed as distinct lines of railroad. This branch system of railways now comprises the Omaha and Republican Valley Railroad, length.. Omaha, Niobrara and Black Hills Railroad, length. Saint Joseph and Western Railroad, length. Marysville and Blue Valley Railroad, length.. Colorado Central Railroad, length.. Summit County Railroad, length.. Wyandotte and Enterprise spurs, length Fort Russell and Almy spurs, length.. Miles. 145 48 2552 |