No. 37. MAIL ROUTE. JOINT RESOLUTION for a mail route from Tipton, in Cedar county, to the county seat of Benton county. Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa: That our Representatives in Congress be requested, and our Senators instructed, to procure, if possible, the establishment of a mail route from Tipton, in Cedar county, via St. Marys and Marion, in Linn county, to the county [195] seat of Benton county, so as to establish a direct route from Bloomington, in Muscatine county, to the county seat of Benton county. Resolved, That the Secretary of State is hereby requested to forward a copy of these resolutions to our Representatives and a copy to our Senators in Congress. Approved, January 15, 1849. No. 38. FIVE PER CENT. FUND. Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa: That our delegation in Congress be requested to call on the proper department at Washington City, to ascertain upon what basis the computation of the five per cent. of the sale of public lands is made, due the State of Iowa, and to ascertain whether five per cent. on the value of lands taken up by military land warrants enters into the computation; if not, that they be, and hereby are, requested to procure the passage of such an act of Congress as to enable the proper department to make the computation upon such a basis as to include, not only five per cent. of the moneys received from the sale of lands in this State, but also upon the value of the lands that may be taken by land warrants. Resolved, That the Secretary of State be requested to send a copy of this joint resolution to each of our delegates in Congress. Approved, January 15, 1849. No. 39. CAPTAIN B. S. ROBERTS. JOINT RESOLUTION presenting a sword to Captain B. S. Roberts. Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa: That the Treasurer of State be authorized to procure a finely wrought sword and scabbard, not to exceed in cost the sum of one hundred dollars, with the proper inscriptions, to be presented by the Governor to Captain Benjamin S. Roberts, of the Rifle Regiment, as a memento of the pride [196] of his fellow citizens of this State in the soldier-like patriotism and deeds of valor performed by him in the late war with Mexico. Approved, January 15, 1849. No. 40. MILITARY ROAD. PREAMBLE AND JOINT RESOLUTION asking congress for a donation of land to construct a military road from the Mississippi to the Missouri river. Influenced by proper considerations in relation to the general welfare and facilities required by our constituents, and the wants, wishes, and prosperity of a growing population, the General Assembly of the State of Iowa respectfully solicit of the general government a donation of one hundred thousand acres of land for the purpose of constructing a great western thoroughfare and mail route from Keokuk, on the Mississippi river, to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri river, leading through the Des Moines valley until it reaches Keosauqua, thence taking the nearest and most direct route through the southern counties of this State to the Missouri river. The termination of the proposed public highway and mail route, will be opposit the commencement of the great national highway and mail route reported at the last session of Congress, by the committee on military affairs, making an appropriation for a line of stockade and blockhouse forts along the valley of Platte river to Oregon Territory. The improvement of such a road is not within the ability of this State at present, and the essential public accommodation it would afford to the intercourse, trade, and agricultural interests of this State, and its proposed terminations at the commencement of the military and mail route to Oregon, clearly brings an appropriation to improve it within the prescribed constitutional power delegated to Congress. A glance over the map of the country through which this road will pass. must satisfy any person that it will at no distant day be the great avenue upon which a large majority of the emigrants to Oregon and California are destined to travel, and upon which the mail to the Pacific Ocean must and will be conveyed. In adition to this it will pass nearly central through the late purchase of land from the Pottawattamie Indians in the western part of Iowa, a country that will soon fill [197] up with an enterprising population that will be greatly benefited by such an improvement. Resolved, That the Secretary of State be requested to forward one copy of this preamble and joint resolution to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress. Approved, January 15, 1849. MEMORIAL No. 1. DESMOINES RIVER GRANT. MEMORIAL to congress for their construction of the act appropriating lands for the improvement of the Desmoines river, and to grant additional lands. To the Hon. the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: Your memorialists, the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, would respectfully represent: That by your act past in August, A. D. 1846, every alternate section of land not otherwise appropriated within five miles of the Desmoines river was donated to the state (then Ter.) of Iowa, for the improvement of said river from its mouth to the forks. Said lands to be selected within said Territory of Iowa. In accordance with, and for the purpose of carrying out the spirit and design of said act of appropriation, We the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, proceed to enact laws providing for the election and organization of a Board of Public Works whose duty it was made to dispose of said lands and apply the proceeds in the construction of the improvement of said Desmoines river in accordance with the grant. After the organization of the Board there arose some doubts as to the limits of the grant, to-wit: Whether it extends to the boundary of the Territory of Iowa as it existed at the time of the passage of the act of appropriation, or was confined within the limits of the State, the line of which crosses said river many miles below the point where the Territorial line crossed. It was therefore deemed proper to get the construction of the proper department at Washington upon that subject-application being made through the Hon. Wm. Thompson to his Honor Richard M. Young, Commissioner of the General Land Office for his opinion and construction, it was given by letter to the Board bearing date Feb. 23, [198] 1848, in which he confines the appropriation within the limits of the present State boundaries. The Board of Public Works presuming that construction to be decisive and unalterable, proceeded accordingly-by putting under contract a large amount of said improvement, to wit: near one hundred miles which is now in active and successful progress of construction. The cost of which will not exceed the amount of the appropriation under the construction of his Honor Mr. Young. But lo! a short time time since we find that a large portion of the lands embraced in that construction and said grant, has been ordered to be, and sold at the Land Office of the United States, in the district of Iowa City contrary to the spirit and language of said act of appropriation, and the decision of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, which if not rectified, will defeat the design of said act of appropriation-and leave insufficient available means to complete that portion of said improvement now under contract, and hereby render useless a large expenditure already made. Therefore, Resolved, That our Senators and Representatives in the Congress of the United States be instructed to use their best exertion to procure the passage of an act giving to the said act of appropriation such construction as the language therein contained warrants-and as has been given it by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and also authority to the Board of Public Works of the State of Iowa to cause to be selected other public lands within said State in lieu of such portions of odd sections within five miles of said river as has been disposed of by the United States, prior and since the passage of said act of appropriation. Resolved, That the Secretary of State be instructed to forward to each of our Senators and members of the House of Representatives in the Congress of the United States, a copy of this Memorial and Resolution. Approved, Dec. 16, 1848. MEMORIAL No. 2. IOWA RIVER. To the Hon. the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: Your memorialists, the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, beg [199] leave to ask the attention of Congress to the improvement of the navigation of the Iowa river, and to represent that, in their opinion, the appropriation of a portion of the vacant public lands in the valley of the river, to the construction of a canal from the seat of government of the State to the mouth of the Iowa, would be incalculable benefit to the State as well as to the general government. The construction of such a work would bring to a speedy sale the entire public domain along the route, and secure to the interior of the State what its exigencies most seriously require, facilities for transporting to market its annually increasing surplus produce. The length of the proposed route is fifty-five miles, and it is believed that a similiar appropriation to that made a year or two since for the improvement of the navigation of the Des Moines river, would be nearly, if not quite, sufficient to construct it. Your memorialists therefore respectfully ask an appropriation of lands to aid in the construction of a canal from Iowa City to the mouth of the Iowa river, equal to five sections for each mile of said river, to be located in alternate sections five miles an [on] each side of said river, or land adjacent thereto as the same may be conveniently obtained. Resolved, That the Secretary of State be requested to forward one copy of this memorial to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress. Approved, December 16, 1848. MEMORIAL No. 3. INCREASE OF PENSION. To the Hon. the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress Assembled: Your memorialists the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, would respectfully represent to your honorable body that one of our respectable and worthy citizens, Isaac W. Griffith, while in the service of his country, in Mexico, at the battle of Churubusco, lost his right arm, thereby rendering him incompetent of procuring a living for himself and family, his being in low circumstances in life, and without aid and assistance of the general government, he and his family must inevitably suffer. We, your memorialists, would therefore ask your honorable body to pass a law raising his pension to such an amount as will give him and [200] his family a comfortable living. And your memorialists, will ever pray, etc. Resolved, That the Secretary of State be requested to forward a copy of the foregoing Memorial to the President of the Senate, also one copy to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, also one copy to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress. Approved. Dec. 23, 1848. MEMORIAL No. 4. MARINE HOSPITAL. To the Hon. the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: Your memorialists, the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, represent that they regard the legislation of Congress as indicating an intention to establish Marine Hospitals for sick seamen, at such points on the Sea and Lake coasts, and along the principal rivers, as the wants of our commerce shall require, several of these have been already put in operation, others are in progress of preparation and locations have been made, and sites purchased for others at considerable expense to the nation, but no provision has yet been made for the upper valley of the Mississippi. The basin drained by that river and is tributaries above the Missouri is of Immense extent and of great fertility and salubrity, and is already occupied by one entire State and parts of two others, whilst still additional States are contemplated, and so rapid is the increase of population and commerce, that the want of such an institution is already felt and is becoming more necessary every day. Your memorialists represent that Rock Island in the Mississippi river is believed to be the most eligible locaton for such institution. It is a centra point in the upper valley, being about midway between St. Louis, the highest point on the river at which a hospital has been located and the head of navigation in that river, and will accommodate the commerce of the main stream, and all its navigable tributaries-it lies at the foot of the upper rapids and is the resort of boats and boatmen for purpose of lying by during the winter season. It is also on account of its salubrity and scenery the resort of invalids and others during the summer months-it is the terminus of the Railroad |