Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/387

OREGON AND CALIFORNIA RAILROAD 345 it could not have been printed until after June 29, 1865. He refers to the act of the Oregon Legislature in 1864 granting aid as being last year, so we can establish the date of the survey as being 1865. The Barry survey, however, was made in 1864 and was printed for the session of Congress 1864-5, so the ques- tion immediately arises, did Elliott complete a survey to the Columbia river or did he merely make use of the Barry survey? Undoubtedly some of the facts which he utilizes for his report were taken from the pamphlet by Gaston on the Wealth and Resources of Oregon which was appended to the Barry survey. This would indicate that for the latter part of his report, Elliott did depend upon Barry's report. On the other hand, contemporary accounts show that he did not depend upon Barry for the survey itself. The Oregon Statesman for October 26, 1863, contained the following item: "The survey of the route for the pro- posed railroad is nearly completed. The operations of the surveying party have been under the superintendence of Mr. S . G . Ellott, an engineer competent to ascertain and detail all the conditions of the route as is sufficiently evidenced by the adoption of his survey of the Pacific Railroad route over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He is, besides this, fully endorsed by the California press. It would not be necessary to state these facts, only that our people may be satisfied that Mr. Elliott is not a speculative adventurer. His statements we believe to be entitled to credence and the candid consideration of our people." Then follows in brief the estimates of the cost of construction as given in Elliott's report. On Jan. 30, 1864, in an editorial entitled "Jackson- ville and the Telegraph," in the Oregon Intelligencer we find the following: "A railroad line from Marysville to Portland has been surveyed and located through our town." Barry did not complete his survey until October, 1864, so this could not have been the Barry survey.