HISTORY OF ASTORIA RAILROAD 229
had already exceeded the available funds of the Northern Pacific by $14,000,000 and a crash was soon to break over his head. He finished the Northern Pacific from Portland to Goble within 58 miles of Astoria, but at this time no exten- sion to Astoria was proposed.
Then ensued a piece of folly at Astoria. Citizens of that town were incensed by the long- lethargy of Holladay and Vil- lard; they bethought them to spur action or take reprisal by repeal of the unused land grant. This they believed would bring Villard up with a round turn, and force him to build quickly. They memorialized Congress for the repeal (Ore- gonian, December 6, 1883), and Oregon's Representative in Congress, M. C. George, introduced the repealing measure. The Legislature of Oregon memorialized Congress in 1882, urging the repeal. The bill passed a year later, in January, 1885. Loss of this bonus delayed the Astoria railroad by a decade. Unaided thereafter by the Government, Astoria citi- zens had to make up a bounty out of their own pockets. Ac- cordingly, in 1887 they offered a bonus of $150,000. This marked the beginning of the new and finally successful period of the Astoria project.
II.
Now at last Astoria citizens resolved to do for themselves; they had leaned on Holladay and Villard and got unfulfilled promises. Portland was the meeting point of the transcon- tinental Northern Pacific and Union Pacific and the ocean- going ships of the Columbia River since 1883-4; now (1887) the Astoria men made up their minds they would bring that meeting point nearer the sea to Astoria in their view, the logical place.
They could not build the 100-mile railroad themselves ; they had not the $2,000,000 for that. But they could put up one- tenth that sum as a cash bounty, although such money meant to them big sacrifice; it was a large sum and Astoria was a small town. Furthermore, they would form their own com- pany, give it a start and hand it over to capitalists who could carry it through.
