Amount received, being one half of office charges, $1,131 80

Unexpended appropriations for sus

taining the supremacy of laws,

Militia,

$2,179 77

Balance on hand, Nov. 30, 1839,

Transfer from general fund,

Dec. 3, 1839. Amount received from

M. L. Gage, deposited

in State bank,

78 62

$3,316 17

$83 33

83 33

Amount received from Bank of Ypsilanti, deposited by Thomas Clarke, collector, and placed in the hands of P. Morey, attorney general, for collection,

Protested draft of Ypsilanti and Tecumseh railroad,

River Raisin bank notes,

Counterfeit bank notes,

Detroit city bank notes, and cash items,

$10,000 00

1,530 00 7 00

73 50

168 01

Part of H. Howard, auditor general's warrant, in favor of D. V. Bell,

182 79

C. H. Stewart's receipt as receiver of Bank of
Ypsilanti,

303 00

Certificate of deposit of Bank of River Raisin,

227 45

do

Michigan state bank,

449 75

$12,941 50

[No. 4.]

Annual report of the board of internal improvement.

OFFICE OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT,

Detroit, December 24, 1841.

To the honorable the legislature of the state of Michigan:

}

The undersigned, members of the board of internal improvement of the state of Michigan, appointed in pursuance of the act entitled "An act for the regulation of internal improvement," approved March 25, 1840, have the honor respectfully to report:

That the undersigned met at the city of Detroit, on the 31st of March last, and organized temporarily, by continuing in

their respective situations, all the subordinate officers appointed by their immediate predecessors.

That on the 1st of April last, Messrs. Rix Robinson, Levi S. Humphrey and William R. Thompson, members of the late board of internal improvement, presented to the undersigned their claims to a seat and voice in the deliberations of the present board; also, expressing a doubt as to the constitutionality and legality of their removal from said office of commissioners of internal improvement, and asking the opinion and action of the undersigned on the point, whether the said Robinson, Humphrey and Thompson are, or are not, members of the present board of internal improvement?

In accordance with their request, and after a careful investigation of the law creating the present board, the undersigned unanimously adopted the following resolution:

"Resolved, (as the opinion of this board, acting under the authority of the act last mentioned,) That it cannot regard either of the first mentioned board of commissioners, as commissioners now in authority, or entitled to a voice in the deliberations of the board of internal improvement of this state.

That on the last mentioned date, the board, for the purpose of enabling themselves to comply with the 23d section of the act by which they were appointed, by resolution, called upon the agents of the state, (appointed by the late board,) to furnish them with a schedule of public property on hand, and under their charge respectively. Under this requisition, the board obtained statements of the same from the engineers, superintendents and agents on the Central and Northern railroads, Clinton and Saginaw canals, from Rix Robinson, the commissioner lately having charge of the river improvements, and, after much delay, (as the undersigned are induced to believe,) an incomplete and imperfect statement from the engineer on the Southern railroad. And the board would beg leave to state here, that up to the present time, they have not received the field books, contracts and other important papers under his charge, and necessary to the construction of the work, the want of which has left the undersigned, and their agents, without information with regard to the amount of work which had previously been estimated by him, and the prices to which contractors were entitled, for work done subsequent to his leaving the employ of the state.

The board, at meetings held on the 8th, 9th, 18th and 21st of April, and the 15th of May last, made the following appointments, viz: John M. Berrien, principal engineer under the board; Alvin Turner, principal engineer on the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal; Ludwick Wesolowski, assistant engineer on the same, and Alexander H. Adams, secretary and book keeper

to board, with each a salary not exceeding the amount prescribed by law.

They also at the same dates, appointed Benjamin Briscoe superintendent of car and machine shops of the Central railroad, with a salary at the rate of eight hundred dollars per annum; Gerge Byrd, collector of tolls on same, with a salary of seven hundred dollars per annum; Samuel D. Woodworth, assistant collector of tolls on same, with a salary of six hundred dollars per annum; Henry Willis, superintendent of repairs and of wood and water stations on same, with a salary of seven hundred dollars per annum; A. H. Adams, weighmaster at Detroit, on same, with a salary of two hundred dollars per annum, and George H. Brodhead, receiver of tolls on same, with a salary of five hundred dollars per annum.

Subsequent to their appointments, Messrs. Brodhead and Willis resigned the situations to which they were appointed; whereupon William S. Driggs was appointed to the place lately occupied by the former, and Daniel B. Brown to that of the latter, with the same compensation allowed the former. It also being deemed advisable, about the first of August last, to suspend the running of one train of cars on this road, the services of Mr. Byrd, the collector thereon, were necessarily dispensed with, and in consequence of the whole duty of collection of tolls devolving upon Mr. Woodworth, the collector on the other train, his compensation was increased from six to eight hundred dollars per annum, during the time when one train of cars should run upon the road.

By a resolution of the board, adopted on the 18th of April last, Robert Stuart, Esq., a member thereof, was empowered to make all the necessary arrangements for the receiving and delivering the railroad iron contracted for by Levi S. Humphrey, agent of the state, which was then lying in the cities. of New York and Buffalo. After much detention, and final recourse to legal measures, he has succeeded in delivering to this city, one hundred and thirteen tons five hundred and seventy-five pounds, (113% tons,) being only that portion which was lying in the city of Buffalo, The quantity remaining in the city of New York, is detained there until a claim, alledged by Messrs, Hicks & Co., to be due them, is liquidated; of the amount or justness of this claim, the board are wholly unadvised, as no contracts or papers are filed in their office, showing the amount of iron contracted for, the price per ton, or the cost of transporting the same to this place. By reference to the annual report of the late board, it will be seen that the sum of eighty thousand dollars is there given as the amount due on the contracts for said iron, and as no sum of this magnitude appears to have been paid since the date of that re

port, it is probable the amount due is nearly the amount given therein.

By a resolution of the board, adopted April 21st, last, the acting commissioner was authorized to place a train of cars, for the transportation of freight and passengers, on the Southern railroad, whenever the same should be completed from Monroe to Adrian. To enable him to carry out the intentions of the board, and in the absence of the necessary means for that purpose, it was deemed advisable by him, in conjunction with the other members of the board, to transfer from the Central railroad such machinery and cars as were necessary to effect the object, and to continue the train in operation, if, on a fair trial, it should be found to pay the expenses of running the same. To enable him still further to carry out this object, an arrangement was made with the Bank of Michigan, for an advance of one thousand dollars, to pay the expenses of fitting up a work shop and providing the necessary implements for furnishing the same.

The cars commenced running regularly on this road on the 23d day of November last, from Monroe to Adrian; but as the road from the former place to La Plaisance bay, (a distance of four miles, and the only point for the transhipment of property conveyed on the Southern road,) in consequence of the repairs now being made upon it, is not in a condition to use; the result thus far could not be considered a fair test of its utility.

On entering upon their duties, the board found that contracts had been entered into, on the Southern and Central railroads, and the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal, to an extent exceeding the amount of appropriations on each of said works, and as the existing law, from which their powers are derived, prohi bits the making of any contract, except in strict accordance with appropriations previously made, their duties in relation to these works, were entirely limited to a supervision of the work done under existing contracts.

On the Southern railroad the contracts extended to the laying down the iron as far as Adrian, a distance of thirty-four miles from Monroe, and the grading, bridging and superstructure, from Adrian to Hillsdale, a distance of thirty-two miles, The estimates allowed and signed by the acting commissioner for work done and materials delivered, on this road, under the above mentioned contracts since March 31st, last, is $56,981 47. The amount paid by the commissioner under the late board, on this work, from December 1, 1839, to March 31, 1840, as appears by vouchers filed in this office, and audited since the first mentioned date, is $120,793 39.

On the Central road, contracts had been entered into for the completion of the grading, bridges and timber for the super