William Strong

“ It is no answer to this to urge that Congress could not have intended to invade a State by chartering a company to build a railroad in part within the State limits. The stubborn fact remains, that Congress did authorize the building of a railroad bridge on land within the territorial limits of the State, and, as necessarily incidental to that, a railroad upon the necessary approaches to the bridge. So, also, Congress authorized building a railroad from Sioux City, in Iowa, across the Missouri River westward. ”

“ Unless the Iowa branch of the Union Pacific was intended to commence on the Iowa shore of the Missouri River, its connection with the Iowa railroads would have been impossible. Those roads could not be extended to the Nebraska shore; for the State of Iowa was without power to authorize the erection of a bridge over the river, or even the establishment of a ferry. We do not propose to enter upon a consideration of the question, whether Congress had power to authorize the construction of railroads within a State: it is not necessary for the present case. ”

“ There is no intimation in it of a distinct bridge franchise. It grants no power to build a bridge. Its main purpose manifestly was to give the company additional means and privileges for the completion of a structure already authorized, not to enable them to construct a new and independent road. To hold that the bridge is not a part of the road would defeat the plain object Congress had in view in 1862 and 1864,-a continuous line for connection with the Iowa roads. ”