e of 7.18 miles
east of Sacramento, of $48,000 a mile for 150 miles through the Sierra
Nevada, and of $32,000 a mile for the distance from the eastern base of
that mountain range to its junction with the Union Pacific. The charters
of the two companies provided that, to secure the repayment to the
United States of the amount of those bonds, they should _ipso facto_
constitute a first mortgage on the entire lines of the road, together
with their rolling stock, fixtures and other property. The franchises
and donations thus granted by Congress were most valuable; in fact, the
latter were alone sufficient to build and equip the roads. In spite,
however, of the liberal grants and in spite of the urgent necessity of
the roads in those years of national trial, both of these enterprises
made very slow progress. Their promoters were men of small means, and
the capitalists to whom they appealed for help failed to realize the
value of the franchises. No doubt when these men first engaged in their
cause they expected to encounter serious obstacles in Congress,
supposing that that august body would consider the proposed measure with
much deliberation and to act upon it with still more circumspection.
Their success greatly surprised them. They made the discovery that
members of Congress could be imposed upon as easily as private
citizens, and when they fully realized how readily their demands had
been granted, they were greatly provoked at themselves because they had
not asked for more.

According to a story told by my old friend Mr. J. O. Crosby, an
experienced member of the brotherhood of tramps late one afternoon
chanced to stroll into the city of Alton. Having no visible means of
support, he was picked up by the police and brought before the Mayor to
give an account of himself and to be dealt with as that dignitary might
see fit. The tramp, a printer by profession, and by no means a tyro in
meeting such emergencies, so managed to impress the Mayor with his
superior accomplishments that the latter concluded it would be a good
investment, both for himself and the city over which he presided, to
offer the genial stranger a contribution to his traveling fund, upon the
condition that he would no longer than absolutely necessary molest the
city with his presence. He accordingly told the intercepted tourist that
while it had been for years the policy of the city and its officials to
entertain all tramps found within the limits of Alton