ROADS RECENTLY CONSTRUCTED. The new roads have been examined with much interest and considerable satisfaction. The Wisconsin Central, Green Bay and Minnesota, Lake Shore and Western, Northwestern Union, West Wisconsin, Wisconsin Valley and North Wisconsin, though among the cheapest that have been built, are among the best in construction. As a general thing, they are ironed with rail of light weight, but in respect of road-bed, tying, bridging, etc., they are quite equal to the best of new western roads. Financially speaking, they are all of them constructions in advance of the paying point. Probably few of them now pay their expenses out of their earnings, and still have enough to pay the interest on their indebtedness, saying nothing of dividends on stock. On the other hand, it cannot be urged that they were built out of time. They were a necessity to the sections of state accommodated by them, and are also an advantage to the whole state; some of them opening new channels of traffic for competing companies, and others penetrating entirely new portions of the state, thus ensuring their early settlement, and making their extensive resources available for the more rapid advancement of the whole commonwealth. CONSTRUCTION DURING 1874. Notwithstanding the stringency of the times, and the extraordinary depression felt by the railroad interest, the past year has made record of the following new constructions in Wisconsin: Wisconsin Valley extension to Wausau.. Miles. 30 26 Chippewa Valley Railway between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls. 11 Galena and Southern Wisconsin, State Line to Platteville.... 20 Total miles new road.... $7 The Wisconsin Valley extension was completed and opened in December. Besides giving the people of Marathon county an outlet long needed, it has given the company a very important advantage by securing to it a large lumber traffic over the whole of its line, and become the channel of a considerable business in the way of shipping goods and supplies of various kinds to the lumbering region tributary to Wausau. The road is built in a creditable manner, and appears to be managed with efficiency and economy. The North Wisconsin has been vigorously pushed through, in fulfilment of the conditions imposed by the last legislature, and now has its northern terminus in section 7, town 33, range 14 west. From New Richmond north, it lies for the greater part of the distance in a timbered region; the terminus itself in a quite dense primeval forest of hard wood, mixed with pine. It is of course impossible that this road should earn enough for some time to pay the expenses of operating it. But the valuable lands through which the line is projected, will insure its early extension by sections of twenty miles, and its completion through to Bayfield at no very remote day. The road bears evidence of having been honestly built. The engineering was well done, in the first place, and the road-bed is one of the best in the state. Like the Wisconsin Valley, it is ironed with rail of 50-pound weight. It is the declared policy of the company to offer their lands at low prices and on terms that will, as far as possible, lead to their purchase by actual settlers who will develope the country along the line of the road. The Chippewa Falls and Western Railroad Company completed the section of their road, connecting Eau Claire with Chippewa Falls, on the last day of December; the first through train running over it on the 1st day of January, 1875. It gives railroad communication with the rest of the world to one of the most enterprising manufacturing towns in the state, and must prove a great advantage to a large area of country around and beyond Chippewa Falls. The stock was taken by the people on the line, and the road was built at a cost of a little over $16,000 per mile, unequipped. The Galena and Southern Wisconsin Railroad is building under an old charter, and on the 1st day of this month (January), was opened through to Platteville. It is the first narrow-gauge road built in Wisconsin. Length of whole line, about thirty miles; length in Wisconsin, twenty miles. Capital stock, $650,000. Cost of road equipped, about $14,000 per mile. Amount of mortgage bonds, $10,000 per mile, or $300,000. The cost of building was considerably enhanced by the tightness of the money market, which made it necessary to sell the securities at a heavy discount. The Prairie du Chien and McGregor Railroad Transfer Company deserve mention in this connection as having, during the year, completed what is considered the most remarkable and successful pon toon railway bridge now in use in this or any country. There is no other pontoon in the world that opens so wide a passage or that is so completely under command. The expense of operating it, in the event of boats or rafts requiring to pass, is but slight, and the economy of its use, as compared with the former means of transfer, is as one dollar to five dollars per car transferred. An interesting communication on the subject of this bridge, from Gen. John Lawler, patentee and builder, will be found on pages 37 and 38. RAILROADS IN CONSTRUCTION. Of railroads in actual construction, no portion of which is yet opened for use, there are two-the Chicago and Tomah Railroad, and the The Chicago and Tomah Road is now in progress in the valley of the Kickapoo. Work commenced at or near Wauzeka, on the Wisconsin river, in Crawford county. The objective point is Tomah. Thirty and a half miles are now under construction; the funds being wholly furnished along the line. It is the purpose of the company to lay maple rail at first, leaving the purchase of iron until the increase of traffic renders it necessary. [See pages 35-36.] PAPERS AND DOCUMENTS ACCOMPANYING THIS REPORT. Assuming this to be but the beginning of an investigation of the whole subject of railway transportation, and hence realizing the importance to the legislature and the public of all the data that can be furnished in aid of just conclusions, the commissioners have spared no pains either in collecting facts for their own use, or in collating and preparing for publication such of them as will need to be accessible in the future. OFFICIAL PAPERS OF THE COMMISSION. Under this head are published a number of the circulars, blanks and written inquiries sent out during the season, with the answers thereto; also, a few of the complaints made of violations of chapter 273 of the laws of 1874, since the injunction granted to the state by the Supreme Court took effect, and was publicly and officially acquiesced in by the companies who were parties to that suit, together with portions of the correspondence relating thereto. This division of the report likewise contains the form of a report such as the Railroad Commissioners of Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin have agreed in conference should be made by the railroad companies in each of these three states. GENERAL STATISTICS. For their own convenience, as well as for the information of the public, they have prepared for publication, in addition to the statistics of cost, earnings and indebtedness of railway companies, a number of statements and tables of general interest-such as comparative statistics of the mileage and cost of the United States and all other countries; statistics of congressional, municipal and farm-mortgage aid granted in aid of railroad construction in Wisconsin; tables illustrating the bearing of the present law upon the cost of transportation on our railways, and comparative showings of "Potter Law" rates, and the rates on other railroads of the country, cast and west. Had time and space permitted, many other statistics of much interest and value would have been added. DIGEST OF RAILWAY LAWS, REVISION AND CODIFICATION. Owing to the great number of the laws relating to railroads which have been enacted by the territorial and state legislatures, the frequent occasion for reference thereto, and the labor involved in making searches for them in more than a score of volumes, the commissioners have added to their necessary labors the very considerable one of abstracting or digesting and arranging in chronological order, under head of the railways concerned, the numerous laws creating railway corporations and defining their powers. In performing this task, some laws have been found which should be repealed. A repeal of all acts of incorporation not presently accepted and in force, and a revision and codification of the remainder, during the ensuing year, would tend to simplify and equalize legislation, and is respectfully recommended. Your attention is called particularly to the provisions of chapter 48, laws of 1871. In effect, this chapter authorizes subscriptions of stock by towns and cities, at the ultimate cost of the state. It is not possible to presume that the present legislature desires to perpetuate this method of depreciating the receipts of the state treasury. THE APPENDIX TO THE REPORT. In order that there might be preserved a history of the import ant proceedings of the state authorities for the enforcement of the provisions of chapter 273, the commissioners have published in their proper order each of the several official documents issued in pursuance of such action, including the official letters of Presidents. Mitchell and Keep, the proclamation and address of the Governor, the opinion of the Attorney General, and the decisions made by the State and United States courts. And to these we have added copies of the decrees of the United States courts, confirming sales of railroads under foreclosure, and of all such articles of association, and of acts of consolidation, agreements, etc. of railway companies as were found recorded and on file in the office of Secretary of State, or as could be obtained from other sources; not doubting that such compilation of important documents elsewhere inaccessible to the public, would promote the convenience of all state officials and private citizens interested in the engrossing subject of railway transportation and railway management. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Before concluding this portion of their report, your commissioners feel it their duty, as it is also their pleasure, to make acknowledgment of the prompt and cordial manner in which the honorable, the Attorney General, has responded to their demands for legal advice; of the uniform courtesy they have received from all railway officials with whom they have had relations in the discharge of their duties, some of whom have cheerfully undertaken expensive labors at the request of the board; and finally of the laborious and faithful service rendered them by the Hon. Horace A. Tenney, secretary to the commission. PART II. GENERAL INVESTIGATIONS. In view of the great importance of an early and judicious settlement of the grave questions that divide the railroad corporations and the public, your commissioners have deemed it proper, in addition to the other duties they have endeavored to perform, to institute as thorough an investigation as their time and opportunities |