No. 5. 1844. ANNUAL REPORT Of the Board of Internal Improvement. OFFICE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT, Detroit, December 15, 1843. To the Honorable, the Legislature of the State of Michigan:" The undersigned Commissioners of Internal Improvement have the honor respectfully to submit their annual report. During the present year the public works in the course of construction, have steadily progressed, but not with the rapidity that the public or the commissioners have desired. The low state of the credit of the warrants with which payments are made prevented the contractors from carrying on the works as rapidly as anticipated, until the public lands were subject to entry. Since that time the credit of the warrants have improved so much as to enable the contractors to go on with their work with more rapidity, and they have since that time been progressing with energy. With the [appropriation made by the last legislature, the Southern railroad has been completed to Hillsdale, beyond which point no appropriation had been made. The Central railroad will be completed to Marshall in the spring, and will be prepared for the laying of the superstructure as far as Kalamazoo in June next. To complete the road to that point, a further appropriation of seventy-five thousand dollars, will be necessary to prepare the road for the iron, and an appropriation for the purpose of procuring the iron and spike that will be required. Proposals were advertised for, and received, for the purpose of bringing the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal into operation, but the proposals were higher than the estimates of the engineers, and under the act making the appropriation, the commissioners were prohibited from letting contracts at a price beyond the estimates. The price of warrants have advanced so much as to make them desirable to contractors, and men can now be found in abundance, who will work for them, for the purpose of buying the state lands. If the restrictions should be taken off from the appropriation, the work can be completed for the amount appropriated, and a small amount in addition to cover the expense, consequent upon the increased injury which the work sustained by the last spring freshets. This work is rapidly decaying, and it is hoped that the legislature will adopt the proper means for placing it in operation, so that the portion of the work now nearly completed, may be preserved from ruin, and the inhabitants of that portion of the state, through which it runs, be relieved from the mortification of seeing a work on which such a large amount has been expended, entirely neglected and deteriorating in value every year, more than it will cost to place it in a situation that will at least preserve it from decay, and probably render it of some value to the state. The unusual high stage of water in the St. Joseph river during most of the year prevented the expenditure of the appropriation made for that work. The commissioners were unable to do any thing more than to have a plan prepared for its improvement which they believe can be completed during the next season, and which in their opinion. will be of great benefit to the navigation of that river. The continued increase of the receipts of our rail roads, notwithstanding the disadvantages under which they have been conducted, from the want of funds necessary to place machinery and cars upon them so as to do all the business that offers to advantage, is evidence that their value has not as yet been fully estimated. A large portion of the stock on the roads, has been procured from their receipts, and as a large proportion of those receipts has been in state scrip, which could not be used to advantage for that purpose, the roads have, at no time been furnished with stock sufficient to develope their full resour ces, but this difficulty is now nearly obviated, and the roads will for the future, give an income that, it is believed, will relieve the state from the liabilities incurred for their construction. The works on which the board have now any authority to make any further contracts, are for the extension of the central railroad to Kalamazoo, for the purpose of placing in operation that portion of the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal now nearly completed, and for the improvement of the St. Joseph river. If the legislature should think proper to give the board the necessary authority, these works can all be completed, (as far as the legislature of last winter contemplated) and put in operation in 1845.And as the interest of the public debt is to be paid in January 1846 from the receipts of the public works, it is of great importance to have them completed, so far at least as already authorized as speedily as possible. That the central railroad when completed to Kalamazoo, will itself pay the interest on the state debt is now almost certain. That object being so very desirable, should induce its accomplishment as soon as practicable. These works being the only ones now in course of construction, the commissioners believing it to be important to have them completed as soon as the resources of the state will permit, with great deference to the judgment of the legislature, earnestly recommend the necessary appropriations for that purpose. While the board deem it their duty to present such reasons for the completion of works given them in charge as appear to them to be correct, they do not feel at liberty to ask for appropriations for the extension of any of the works, although they are of the opinion that the interest of the state requires their extension and that they will eventually be completed; but until our resources are more ample, the commissioners are of opinion, that their extension will be more rapid if too much is not attempted at once. Under authority of an appropriation made by the last legislature, arrangements were made for the purchase of iron and spike sufficient to complete the southern road to Hillsdale and the central road to Marshall. A portion of this iron was purchased of Messrs Bigelow and Mattison, being part of a parcel of iron imported by the State of Illinois some years since. It was purchased at $48 per ton of 2000 lbs. delivered in Michigan. A contract for the balance required was made with the Great Western Iron Company; the iron to be manufactured by them and to be delivered at Beaver, Pa., at $60 per ton of 2240 lbs. Before any of the iron was delivered under this contract the company failed and the iron passed into the hands of their creditors, who delivered the iron then manufactured on the same terms, and are now completing the balance of the amount required, the whole of which, will, without doubt, be delivered in April. All the iron received is of a superior quality, and fifty per cent heavier than that previously used. It will add much to the strength of the road on which it is placed. The tariff of 1842 placed a cash duty of twenty-five dollars per ton on railroad iron, which prevented the commissioners from importing it, as they were unable to make payment of so large a proportion of the cost of the iron on its arrival in this country. The low price of iron in Englund would have enabled them to have imported it to great advantage had it not been for the heavy duty placed upon it, for the first time, by the act of 1842. This duty is a serious obstacle to the extension of our rail roads, and the commissioners would respectfully suggest to the legislature the propriety of endeavoring to have the tariff act so modified, as to allow its importation free of duty, as heretofore, particularly for roads which had been commenced while such permission was allowed. Central Rail Road. There has been received from this road for the year ending Nov. 30, 1843, For transportation of 30,643 passengers, $52,698 85 5,000 00 324 00 $58,022 85 |