[Newspaper]
Publication: Sacramento Daily Union
Sacramento, CA, United States
vol. 16, no. 2342, p. 2, col. 4
Certificate of Incorporation of "The Placerville and the Humboldt Telegraph Company.”
Be It known to all persons whom it may concern, that in virtue and ln pursuance of the provisions of an Act of Assembly of the legislature of the State of California, of April 22d, A. D. 1850, concerning corporations, chapter six, we, the undersigned citizens of Placerville, El Dorado county, in the State aforesaid, who have signed and acknowledged this certificate of Incorporation, to wit: Frederick A. Bee, Peter Lovell and Edgar Bogardus, have associated ourselves, and our successors together, for the purpose of constructing, extending and putting in good working order, and of keeping the same in such order and operation, a line or lines of Electro-Magnetic Telegraph wires, Including the usual Insulators fixtures, materials, stations, electric fluids, and other things necessary and proper to conduct and keep the same Telegraph line in successful operation for the transmission of telegrams In the usual way by such line or lines of wires aforesaid.
NAME ASSUMED.
We have associated ourselves by the corporate name style and association of "The Placerville and the Humboldt Telegraph Company," assumed by us to distinguish Its dealings, and to enable us and our successors by such name, as an association and a corporation, to sue and to be sued, and to transact, manage, and to conduct all the business matters pertaining to said association and corporation, for the purposes aforesaid.
GENERAL ROUTE.
The same Telegraph line or lines of wires to commence ln the city of Placerville, In El Dorado county, on Main street of said city, this being the beginning and the first point, and stretching and extending from thence alone with, or as near to as is practicable, the Stage Road now used by the stages conveying passengers and the United States mails from Placerville to Genoa, in Carson Valley; and from thence to Great Salt Lake City, in Utah Territory, crossing the eastern line or boundary of the State of California at the point in Lake Valley, or near thereto, in El Dorado county of same State, where the said Stage Road crosses and runs Into Carson Valley aforesaid; and extending and stretching from thence along with or as near said road as practicable, to the town of Genoa, in said Utah Territory; and extending from same Genoa along with or near to said Stage Road to Great Salt Lake City, which ls intended to be the termination of said Telegraph line; and at Salt Lake City an office Is designed to be established, and a connection is designed from thence to the said city of Placerville via Genoa, and the point aforesaid in Lake Valley on the same boundary line of this State.
CAPITAL STOCK.
The capital stock of this Association and Corporation Is fifteen thousand dollars, divided Into one hundred and fifty shares, valued at one hundred dollars per share to be increased to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars by a vote of two-thirds of the stockholders of the Company.
PERIOD OF THE DURATION OF THIS COMPANY AND CORPORATION
This Association and Corporation shall commence from and after the first day of September, A. D. 1858, and extend to and expire on the first day of September, In the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eight being a period of fifty years.
Having completed nearly thirty miles of this line and overcome obstacles which have heretofore been considered as great drawbacks to the successful construction of a line of Telegraph across the Sierras, and believing that the cost of the line as far as completed will be a safe criterion by which to estimate the cost for the next two hundred miles, I herewith submit for the consideration of all who have and wish to forward this great work, a brief statement of the cost per mile as far as completed. Sufficient stock having been taken to put up the first section from Placerville to Genoa, assessments have been paid amounting to sixty per cent on $5,000, for which material has been purchased sufficient to reach the latter point, and delivered along the line. Estimated distance sixty-five miles; cost of each mile of wire delivered, $45; cost of labor in stretching the wire, $12 per mile; brackets, Insulators, etc. per mile, $7; or full outlay for each mile, $64, making the line cost In connecting California with Utah, $4,160, and can be set down safely at $5,000. This entire labor is cutting through the underbrush and trimming trees evenly offsets pole offsets pole settling. Those who have the best means of knowing, are confident that no very great additional expense will be required in the next two hundred miles beyond the eastern slope. Lumber can be obtained on the line, at a reasonable distance, for $30 per thousand. The Company incurs no indebtedness, and consequently owes nothing but what can be paid on presentation.
The capital stock can be increased to $150,000 should the stockholders so desire. The assessments are twenty per cent.
The workmen (citizens of Placerville) do not receive other than stock for constructing the line, receiving the usual rates paid good hand and no more. The teamsters who haul the wire from this city into the mountains, do so at cash prices – $0.0125 per pound – and take stock at par.
In stating this much of the private affairs of the Company, I do so for the purpose of showing the confidence that is daily becoming more general that this Overland Telegraph Line is about to become a fixed fact.
In reference to the Directors of this Company (the Board not being yet complete), (I can refer with pride to the mass of the citizens of El Dorado county.
In conclusion, I refer the citizens of Sacramento to our business agent here, Mr. James Queen, who is duly authorized to receive subscriptions and receipt for the same in furtherance of this great work.
F. A. Bee President of P. and H. Tel. Co.
