Skip to main content

Oliver Ames and Oakes Ames to Orville Hickman Browning, 23 December 1868

Image 1

Image 2

December 23, 1868. Hon. O. H. Browning, Secretary of the Interior. Sir: We understand that the result of the examination into the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, and of the deliberations upon the subject, is, to require from that Company as a guarantee of the completion of the structure of the Road, according to the just expectations of the Government, that the lands given to the Company are to remain without taking out patents therefor, until the completion of the road, and that a deposit shall be made by the Company of their first mortgage bonds with the Government to the amount of $3,000,000, in the aggregate in parcels equal in amount to one half of the Bonds of the United States, which the company is to receive on the completion of the successive sections of the road. In assenting to this arrangement on the part of the Company, and in anticipation of the completion of the formal instrument to carry it into effect, to be prepared by the Attorney General, we desire now to say that we hold ourselves responsible for the deposit of the first mortgage Bonds of the Company, corresponding under the above arrangement, to the amount of Bonds of the United States we are presently to receive on two completed sections of the road, as soon as the necessary formalities on the part of the Company, in the preparation and deposit of the Bonds, can be gone through with. Oliver Ames, President. Oakes Ames, Secretary.
See p.330 ante
Back to top