The establishment of steam communication for the summer season made the “territorians” of Minnesota feel the more keenly the isolation in the long winters. Governor Gorman in his first message (January 11, 1854) said: “To get out from here during the winter ... is far above and beyond any other consideration to the people of Minnesota. To accomplish this you must concentrate all the energies of the people on one or two roads, and NO MORE for the present. I have but little doubt that Congress will grant us land sufficient to unlock our ice-bound home, if we confine our request to one point.” This wise counsel had its effect on the legislature. On February 20 Joseph R. Brown introduced into the council a bill to incorporate the “Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad Company,” which was presently passed by that body, but by no large majority. In the house lively opposition sprung up, and dilatory proceedings delayed passage till the last night of the session (March 3). Governor Gorman gave it a reluctant approval because he had been allowed but sixty-five minutes before the expiration of the session to examine its provisions. It is quite remarkable that a bill of such importance, the talk of the town, had escaped his notice. The act authorized the chartered company to build and operate a railroad from the head of Lake Superior via St. Paul to Dubuque, Iowa, within a specified term of years. The franchise was to be void unless the first board of directors should be organized on or before the first day of July following. The real ground of opposition in the legislature, and of Governor Gorman’s reluctance, lay in a provision, “that any lands granted to the said territory to aid in the construction of said railroad shall be and the same are hereby granted in fee simple, absolute, without further act or deed,” to said company. There was ambiguity in the paragraph relating to the northern terminus, leaving it in doubt whether that might not be located outside of Minnesota. It was suspected that the intention was to place it at Bayfield, Wisconsin, where influential persons had made purchases of real estate. It remained to secure from Congress the much needed and hoped for land grant. A bill to grant even number sections of public lands for six sections in width on both sides of the proposed railroad line, so drawn as to allow the grant to pass to the company chartered by the Minnesota territorial legislature, was introduced in the House on March 7. The Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, warmly recommended its passage because of the service the road would render in transporting troops, munitions of war, and mail.