From the reorganization to 1879 very little was done in the way of new construction, owing to the general financial depression. Efforts to get the time allowed for completing the road extended failed, however, and it became necessary to resume in order to keep Congress contented and to avoid a forfeiture of the land grant. In 1878 a small loan was placed, and the following year one for a somewhat larger amount; and with the funds so secured construction was vigorously pushed. More liberal provision was made in 1880–1, when successful negotiations were carried through for the sale to a syndicate of $40,000,000 general mortgage 6 per cent railroad and land-grant bonds, to be issued at the rate of $25,000 per mile of finished road only, and to be secured by a mortgage on the entire property of the company except the lands east of the Missouri River, which were pledged for the redemption of the preferred stock. Provision was made for a reserve of these bonds sufficient to retire the prior issues before mentioned.[556] Under the agreement the syndicate took $10,000,000 at once and had an option of taking $10,000,000 per year in each of the next three years. The reported price was 90 for the first $10,000,000 and 92½ for the rest. As a matter of fact, the whole $40,000,000 had been turned over by the end of 1883, and though the effect on the company is seen in the increase in its bonded indebtedness from $3,881,884 in 1880 to $39,522,200 in 1883, and in its fixed charges from $334,482 to $2,478,939, it was meanwhile supplied with cash, and was enabled to advance toward the completion of the 1000 miles of line which remained unbuilt. The financial embarrassment which was felt in 1882, in spite of the syndicate contract, was due to an unforeseen cause. According to the statements of the company, it was felt necessary, in order to avoid waste of time and money, to build simultaneously from both ends of the line, and to start all the heavy work on the entire route at once. “This involved the shipment of millions of dollars’ worth of track material, motive power, and rolling stock to the Pacific coast many months before their actual use on the road; and on the line east of the Rocky Mountains very large expenditures of cash a long time before the works resulting from them could become parts of finished road.”[557] The expenses were immediate;—the delivery of bonds to the syndicate could take place by the terms of the contract only after the completion of finished sections of road, so that great stringency easily occurred between. The trouble was only temporary, and was tided over with the help of the syndicate and of the Oregon & Transcontinental Company, a corporation of which we shall presently speak.