But the State found itself again disappointed, and two years later the General Assembly for the third and last time resumed its grant and then conferred it upon the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company upon the express conditions that it complete the road to Spencer on or before the first day of January, 1879, and to Sheldon within a year thereafter, and that the road should at all times be subject to State control. The road was completed to Sheldon without delay, and on the 30th of November, 1878, the Governor of the State certified to the Secretary of the Interior that the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company had completed its road from Algona to Sheldon in compliance with the conditions of the original grant and the laws of the State. It thus took over twenty years to complete this road. Ten years after its construction had commenced it had only reached Calmar in Winneshiek County. In 1869 the road was completed to Clear Lake and in 1870 to Algona. This point remained its terminus until it passed into the hands of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company. The State of Iowa has not derived that benefit from the large land grants made to its railroads which her people had a right to expect. In spite of these grants roads were built only when there was reason to believe that they would be immediately profitable to their owners. The land grants enriched the promoters of these enterprises much more than they did the State in whose interest the grants were presumed to be made. As a rule they enabled scheming men to hold the selected territory until a railroad through it promised to be a safe and profitable investment, and to avoid the payment of taxes on their millions of acres of land, which in the meantime became very valuable. Other roads were built at an early day without Government aid. They were pushed forward by the current of immigration until the threatened competition of roads favored by these grants checked their progress. The Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska road may be cited as a fair illustration. It was projected on the 26th of January, 1856, in the town of Clinton, to be built from Clinton to the Missouri River via Cedar Rapids. It was opened to De Witt in 1858 and completed to Cedar Rapids the following year. The road was 82-1/2 miles long and was built entirely with private means, receiving neither legislative aid nor local subsidy. It is more than probable that this road would at an early day have been completed to the Missouri River, had it not feared the rivalry of the subsidized Cedar Rapids and Missouri road.