History of Saginaw county, Michigan; together with ... portraits ... and biographies ... History of Michigan ...

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY.

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association were Hon. H. L. Miller, of Saginaw City, and M. L.
Gage, Esq., of East Saginaw.
The first meeting of stockholders was held at Albion, June 3,
1857, at which A. L. Williams, M. Hannahs, W. W. Murphey,
Geo. C. Munroe, H. B. Shank, D. W. Gould. H. Smith, T. D.
Dewey, R. E. Aldrich, G. W. Bullock, W. L. P. Little, E. O.
Grosvenor and J. K. Lockwood were elected directors. A. M.
Williams was soon after chosen president, which office he continued to hold as long as the corporation continued in business.
The financial crash of 1857 followed soon after this stockholders'
meeting, and before the work of constructing the road was con —
menced, and consequently nothing was done until 1859. At this
time it was deemed of the first importance to build the part of the
road between Albion and Owosso, thus connecting Lansing with
the D. & M. R'y at Owosso, and the M. C. R. R. at Aibion.
Work was commenced on this part of the line, and the first iron
was laid from Owosso south. Twenty miles was completed and
accepted by the Governor Dec. 28, 1860.
The compatly became embarrassed and the work progressed very
slowly; it was not until Sept. 17, 1863, that the road was completed
to Michigan avenue in Lansing, a distance of 9 miles farther. The
work of grading some 30 miles of the line south of Lansing had
been done at that time, but the company was unable to procure
the iroti, and never performed any further work on the line.
Dec. 22, 1863, a company was organized for the construction of
a railroad from Lansing to Jackson, a distance of 39 miles, under
the name of the Lansing & Jackson R. R. Co., with a capital of
$300,000, of which H. A. Hayden was president.
By the beginning of 1865 it became apparent that the A., L. &
T. B. R. R. Co. did not possess the ability to construct more road,
and that the grant would revert to the United States, and the lands
be lost to the State unless some new corporation should assume thework. Feb. 3 of that year the articles of association of the Lansing
& Jackson company were amended by changing the name of then
corporation to Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw R. R. Co. by increasing its capital to $1,500,000, and by designating Saginaw as its
northern terminus. During the winter following, efforts were
made to get an extension of the time for completing the road, and
on July 3, 1866, an act of Congress was passed extending the time'
for seven years, and providing that if the A., L. & T. B. R. R. Co.
should fail to complete the road between Owosso and Saginaw City
within a limited time, the Legislature might confer the grant on
some other company. The grant was so disposed of by the Legislature at its session in 1867, upon the J. L. & S. R. R. Co. This
company now proceeded with the work of completing the road with
such energy, that on the 11th of October of that year it was completed to St. Charles, and on the 7th of January following, to
Wenona, a distance of 50 miles from Owosso.
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