PORTIONS OF THE COMMISSIONERS' CORRESPONDENCE. LEASE OF OSHKOSH AND MISSISSIPPI R. R. TO THE MILWAUKEE AND ST. PAUL R. R. CO. General Manager S. S. Merrill to the Commissioners. OFFICE CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL R. R. Co., MILWAUKEE, January 21, 1875. DEAR SIR:-Enclosed you will find a copy of the lease which this company holds of the Oshkosh & Mississippi Railroad, which is sent in conformity to your request of December 31, to Hon. Alex. Mitchell. Regarding the lease of our road between Schwartzburg and Milwaukee to the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company which you allude to and request a copy of, I would say, the road is not leased at all. It is still operated by this company, and the Wisconsin Central Company are allowed to run their trains over it in connection with ours, under a business contract of which, I take it, you do not desire a copy. Yours, truly, S. S. MERRILL, H. A. TENNEY, Secretary Board of R. R. Commissioners. Copy of Lease of Oshkosh & Mississippi Railroad Company to Milwaukee & St. Paul Pailway Company and other papers pertaining thereto. Resolved. That the president and secretary of this company be and they are hereby authorized to execute an agreement between this company and the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company, and affix thereto the corporate seal of this company, in the words and figures following, to-wit: This indenture made this 29th day of August, A. D., 1871, between the Oshkosh and Mississippi River Railroad Company of the one part, and the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company of the other part, witnesseth: The said Oshkosh and Mississippi River Railroad Company, in consideration of the agreements and undertakings hereinafter contained, agrees to build and fully complete its railroad from the city of Ripon, in the county of Fond du Lac, to the city of Oshkosh, in the county of Winnebago, within sixty days from the date thereof, or as soon thereafter as practicable, ready for operation, including the bridge over the Fox River in said city of Oshkosh; also to procoure the right of way and sufficient depot grounds for all stations including depot grounds in the city of Oshkosh; to build a suitable round-house and freight and passenger depots in the city of Oshkosh, and fence said railroad; all under the supervision and according to the directions of the engineers of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, and deliver the same free and clear of all incumbrances of every name and nature, except the mortgage hereinafter named, to the Milwaukee & St, Paul Railway Company, to be operated as hereinafter provided. Second. The said Oshkosh and Mississippi River Railroad Company further agree to make a mortgage on said railroad from Oshkosh to Ripon, covering and including all its property, appurtenances, depots and franchises, to Russell Sage, as trustee, to secure the payment of two hundred and forty thousand dollars of bonds, due in twenty years from the first day of July, A. D., 1871, with interest at eight per centum per annum, payable semi-annually; and it further agrees to make, create or suffer no other lien or incumbrance whatever on said railroad during the term of this agreement. Third. The said Oshkosh and Mississippi River Railroad Company hereby demises and leases said railroad from the said city of Oshkosh to said city of Ripon, together with all its property, buildings, depots, fixtures, appurtenances, and franchises to the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, from the time of its completion as aforesaid, to the first day of January, A. D. 1892, to be operated and used by said Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company in connection with and as a part of the railway of said Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, for the rent hereinafter reserved. Fourth. The Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company agree to accept the demise and lease of said railroad from said Oshkosh to Ripon, to equip the same with suitable and sufficient rolling-stock and to operate the same for the said lease in connection with and as a part of its railroad, and keep the same in good repair and condition during the whole term of said lease. Fifth. The Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway company are to pay to the Oshkosh & Mississippi River Railroad Company as rent, thirty-five per cent. of the gross earnings of said Oshkosh & Mississippi River Railroad in the manner following: So much thereof as may be necessary is to be paid by taking up and cancelling the coupons attached to said two hundred and forty thousand dollars of bonds above mentioned, and the balance of said thirty-five per cent. of gross earnings after paying said coupons, if any, is to be paid to said Oshkosh & Mississippi River Railroad Company annually, on the first day of February, in each year, and yearly statements, said gross earnings and of said per centage are to be furnished to the said Oshkosh & Mississippi Railroad Company by said Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. Sixth.-The Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company further agree, that in case said thirty-five per cent. of gross earnings shall at any time be insufficient to pay said coupons, then that said Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company shall advance the balance of the money that may be necessary to take up said coupons as they become due and payable, and take them up; and it is expressly ageed by and between the parties to these presents, that for all sums so advanced the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company shall hold said coupons as a lien, and the same is hereby made and constituted a lien on all the property hereby demised and leased prior and superior to all other liens except the said mortgage, until the same shall be fully reimbursed with interest at seven per centum per annum out of said thirty-five per centum of said gross earnings, or otherwise, by the said Oshkosh & Mississippi River Railroad Company. Seventh. It is mutually agreed and understood that the gross earnings of said railroad, shall be all the earnings for business done over the same between Oshkosh and Ripon, and intermediate points, and a fair pro rata share of all other business transacted partly on said railroad and partly on the railroad of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. Eighth. It is mutually agreed that the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company shall ballast the said railroad from Oshkosh to Ripon after taking possession under this lease and charge the same againt the rent reserved in this lease. Ninth. It is further mutually agreed that the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company will not charge a higher rate for carrying agricultural products from Ripon to Oshkosh than they charge for carrying the same from a like distance out of Milwaukee to the city of Milwaukee. In whitness whereof, the parties to these presents have caused the same to be subscribed by their respective presidents and attested by their respective secretaries, and have caused their respective corporate seals to be hereunto affixed the day and year first above written. THE O. & M. RIVER R. R. CO., By JAMES JENKINS, Its President. [SEAL.] Sealed and delivered in presence of G. W. Washburn, Orville Beach. 15 R R C-II (Doc. 15) As to signatures and execution by the Oshkosh & Mississippi River Railroad Company. Attest: GEO. GARY, Secretary. THE M. & ST. PAUL R'Y CO., By ALEX. MITCHELL, Its President. [SEAL.] Sealed and delivered in presence of J. P. C. Cottrell, A. L. Cary. As to the signatures and execution by the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. Be it remembered, that on this 31st day of August, A. D. 1871, before me personally appeared James Jenkins and George Gary, to me known to be the president and secretary, respectively, of the Oshkosh & Mississippi River Railroad Company, and known to me to be two of the persons who executed the foregoing agreement, and that they severally acknowledged the same and the execution thereof to be their free act and deed, and the free act and deed of the Oshkosh and Mississippi River Railroad Company, for the uses and purposes therein mentioned. And I further certify that the seal thereto annexed is the seal of the said Oshkosh and Mississippi River Railroad Company. G. W. WASHBURN, Notary Public. Be it remembered, that on this 27th day of September, A. D. 1871, before me personally appeared Alexander Mitchell, and R. D. Jennings, to me known to be the president and secretary, respectively, of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, and known to me to be two of the persons who executed the foregoing agreement, and that they severally acknowledged the same and the execution thereof to be their free act and deed, and the free act and deed of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, for the uses and purposes therein mentioned. And I further certify that the seal thereto annexed is the seal of the said Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. J. P. C. COTTRELL, Notary Public. Revenue stamp, cancelled. Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company and other Papers pertain ing thereto. OFFICE OF THE OSHKOSH AND MISSISSIPPI RIVER R. R. Co. OSHKOSH, WIS., August 31, 1871. I, George Gary, Secretary of the Oshkosh and Mississippi River Railroad Company, do hereby certify that I have compared the foregoing copy of resolution hereto attached with the original resolution adopted by the Board of Directors of said company at a meeting of said board, held at the office of the company in the city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on the 31st day of August, A. D. 1871, and now of record in the minutes of the proceedings of said board, and that said copy is a correct transcript from such original resolution, and of the whole thereof. In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand and affixed the seal of said company at Oshkosh, aforesaid, this 31st day [SEAL.] of August, A. D., 1871. GEORGE GARY, Secretary. INQUIRIES. APPLICATION OF AMENDED LAW TO "B" ROADS. [Telegrams.] Sup't W. G. Swan to the Commissioners. To the RAILROAD COMMISSIONERS: ' HUDSON, March, 8, 1875. I understand that our company has been relieved from the limitation prescribed for roads in Class A., and that we are entitled to rate of four cents per mile on passengers. Also that we are limited in freight rates by our tariff current on the first day of June, 1873. Am I right? An early answer by wire will oblige me. W. G. SWAN, General Superintendent. HUDSON, March 9, 1875. To J. W. HOYT, Commissioner: Would like much to receive your interpretation of the effects of the amendment of March 4, on the amendment of March 2. It looks to me as if all roads in the State were now subject to same restrictions as the Chicago & Northwestern and Milwaukee & St. |