The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-19 00:00:00

RAILWAYS TO THE PACIFIC.

Lieut.-Coloael J. H. Simpson, of the United
States Engineer Corps, has made a report to the
Interior Department in reference to the Pacific rail-
roads now in process of construction. In compli-
ance with the act of Congress of July 1, 1862, and
the several amendatory acts thereof, six companies
have accepted the provisions of the law, and have
organised to build the roads and branches. The
Union Pacific Company is authorised to build a
road from the 100th meridian to the western boun-
dary of Nevada territory, and also from the west-
ern boundary of lowa to the 100th meridian. W.
B. Ogden, of the Illinois Central, is President of
the Board of Commissioners, and Gen. John A. Dix
of the Road.

The construction began at Omaha, and the grad-
ing of 100 miles has been completed. It was expected
that 60 miles of the road would be completed by the
latter part of last month, and 100 miles by July.
The eastern division of this road has also built 60
miles of road, but it does not seem to have satisfied
the demands of the Interior Department. Some
difficulty seems to have arisen between its manage-
ment and the road under Gen. Dix. The Board of
Commissioners reported that the portion of the road
completed was not perfect, and its President has
promised to reform it. In case it should reach the
100th meridian before the Union Pacific, it may
continue its track until it meets the Central Pacific.
No bonds will be issued until this meridian is
reached. The Central Pacific road runs east from
Sacramento and will meet the Union branch at or
near Salt Lake City. The engineering on this
work will be stupendous. On leaving Sacramento
it will cross the Sierra Nevadas. The first 50 miles
after leaving Sacramento to carry it up to the
western slope of the Sierra Nevadas, attaining an
elevation of 2,300 feet, and including some of the
heaviest and most expensive grading of the whole
line. In some places, between Colfax and New-
castle, the cuttings are about 70 feet deep and from
800 to 1,200 feet long, through hard rock or cement.
The number of labourers now at work is 10,000.
Daring the present year the company hopes to
reach a point called the Tuchee River, 120 miles
from Sacramento, 7,000 feet above tide-water. Two
tunnels are being built near the summit of the
Sierras, one 1,600 feet long, the other 900 feetlong.
The labourers are working night and day. The
Atchison branch is about to complete the first sec-
tion of 20 miles, and promise to build the road in
the most substantial manner. The Sioux City and
Pacific Railroad is authorised to build a road from
Sioux City to connect with the main line of the
Union Pacific. The Burlington and Missouri Com-
pany is authorised to run from the Missouri River
to some branch on the Union Pacific, this side of
the 100th meridian. Lands, but no bonds, will be
given by Congress. The Northern Pacific road has
been organised. It proposes to run from Lake
Superior, near the 45th parallel, to Puget's Sound,
with a branch by way of Columbia River to Port-
land, Oregon, the latter to join the main line not
more than 300 miles from the western terminus.
The whole road must be built by July, 1876, and
50 miles within the first two years.
It will thus be seen that the great work of build-
ing a railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific is
rapidly progressing. We presume the first con-
nection will be made at Salt Lake City. The Union
Line, which seems to be making the most headway,
will connect the eastern cities with the western by
means of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway
at St. Louis—which will thus be in railroad impor-
tance the main city in America. Its friends indulge
the hope that it will be finished in four or five
years. The Northern line will probably be
finished in ten years. This will be important
in the fact that it will absorb the British
American trade. The project of a Southern
branch seems to have been abandoned for the pre-
sent; but after the South has become pacified, and
order has been restored in Mexico, we may hope to
have a line from New Orleans through Texas, New
Mexico, and Arizona, controlling the vast silver
countries. In time we shall have them all, and
when that time comes, New York-10 days from
London by sea and 10 days from San Francisco by
steam—will command the commerce of the East and
the West—of Europe, America, and Asia.
The articles of incorporation of a new railroad
company called the " La Crescent, Rochester, and
Yankton Railroad Company," had been filed with
the Minnesota Secretary of State. The object, as
the name indicates, is to construct a railroad from
the Mississippi river through the southern tier of
Minnesota counties to the Missouri river. The
route of the road is described through Houston,
Fillmore, Olmsted, Mower, Freeborn, Faribault,
Martin, Jackson, Noble, and Rock counties, and
the main line is designed to run through the flour-
ishing young cities of La Crescent, Chatfield, High
Forest, Austin, Albert Lea, and Blue Earth City,
thence to Yankton, on the Missouri, with a branch
line from High Forest to Rochester. The capital
of the company is to be $10,000,000.
Governor Lincoln, of Massachusetts, in 1828,
sent a message to the Legislature of that State upon
the subject of the construction of a, railroad from
Boston to Providence. In that message he esti-
mated the number of passengers per annum at
50,000 ; last year they amounted to over 2,000,000.
The receipts he estimated would reach $84,000 per
annum. Last year they reached $1,221,104. The
annual expenses he put down at $15,400, while last
year they footed up $854,770, and the net income
$68,000 to $366,000. The venerable ex-Governor
must.not be a little interested in comparing the es-
timates which he then submitted with the actual
results, as stated above.

Letters received in New York from Charleston,
S. C., represent that there are still 2,000,000 bales of cot-
ton in the South. They also state that there is great ac-
tivity hi the sale of this product, and that, notwithstanding
the impression generally prevalent as to its scarcity, it is
steadily being brought into the market. The prospect of
securing a fair yield of cotton in the interior of the State
is encouraging, and the freedmen are generally industrious
and self-supporting.