The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-04 00:00:00

SAN FRANC :S
E 1 -)E CC '0 AND THE TEHUAH-
-2 .7 ROUTE.

(From the 1)OW j :Vett:B' Correspondent.)
f4AN FRANCISCO, Nov. 19.
On my arrival at Acapulco I found the steamer
Oregon (the pioneer boat on the Pacific side of the
Tehuantepec route) already waiting sixty hours
there for the up-mail, boat from Panama to take on
her passengers, ana. carrying seven days' later
European and. Am( ;Aeon news. Successful as the
first trip has been, there is no doubt whatever but
that it will be eclip 3ed for the future when the orga-
nisation along the r pute is completed. In fact it was
merely a trial tri made in anticipation of the
reonlar opening f the line, and the long delays
wilich occurred at the different stages of the
journey will be most materially curtailed when the
contemplated =al igements are all carried into
effect. The opening of this route is hailed here as
an established practical and most gratifying fact,
and one that must recommend itself to every
settler or dweller on the Northern Pacific coast,
whether living under the protection of the stars
and stripes, the union jack, or the Russian eagle
—for it not only will be the speediest mail
route, but will afford the most expeditious line of
transit for passengers. As to the transit of mer-
chandise, however, I fear the shoal and open nature
of the harbours on the one side and the other will
debar it from being employed in that respect, save
for those classes of valuable and portable goods which
can bear the imposition of heavy freights. Passen-
gers for California or British Columbia can leave
New Orleans five days after the sailing of the mail
steamer from New York for Panama, and catch the
connecting boat on the Pacific side at Acapulco ;
but when the Tehuantepec Company get their own
boats round their will also achieve a further gain in
time thence to San Francisco or Victoria of three
days more, making.together a total of eight days,
or about one-third the contract time by the present
United States mail route. Under these circum-
stances, of course, the British mails for British
Columbia, instead of going down to Panama, will
be carried by the intercolonial boat of the Royal
Mail. Steam Packet Company's service taking
Havannah, Vera Cruz, and Tampico line, when,
. with a very inconsiderable extension of her trip,
she can touch at the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos
River (the entrance of the Tehuantepec route), de-
liver her bags there, and thus come in for all the
advantages of the new route. One of the passengers
who joined us at Acapulco, a man of exceeding
intelligence, gave a most alluring description of the
Isthmus trip, describing the country as most pie.
teiresque and inconceivably rich in agricultural
resources. The British consul at Acapulco, who
went down to Manatitlan (twenty miles up the
river) to witness the inauguration of the line,
received English news there only sixteen days old,
it having been telegraphed down to New Orleans
after the arrival of the Cunard steamer at New
York. The Tehuantepec Company are about lay-
ing wires across that Isthmus ; and in order to
protect them from the hostile interference of the
natives—who are all Roman Catholics—they intend
having all the posts made in imitation of a cross, an
experiment which vas found to answer admirably
in the southern portion of the Californian state,
-where the jealous and inimical Mexican inhabitants
would have otherwise torn them all down ; but not
only did the device protect the telegraph, but it
tended to spread about an improved idea and opin-
ion of the forms of Christianity entertained by the
ruthless American invader, who was previously re-
garded as little better than a mere heathen barba-
rian. The time, under all the disadvantages in the
experimental trip, was as follows :
New Orleans to Manatitlan (20 miles up the
Coatzacoalcos)
Manatitlan to Suehil (at the head of tho
river navigation)
Suehil to Ventosa (the harbour on the Pacific) 55 ),

147 „
but when coal is supplied for the river steamer in-
stead of green wood, it is estimated that the trip
up can be easily made in 12 hours, and the down
one in seven, while the overland space can be
readily compassed in 24 hours as soon as the road
is sufficiently graded for carriage travel, a consum-
mation which may be looked for in a few months ' •
but when the contemplated railway is constructed,
space and time will be proportionately annihilated.
This communication will go by the new route. Such
was the feeling in favour of it in this city imme-
diately on the arrival of the late mail, that all the
places the agent could venture to dispose of were
secured in a few hours. I send you an extract, which
clearly exhibits in facts and figures the relative
and respective merits of the various competing
lines which can be relied on, and will no doubt be
of interest in the present and prospective state of
our relations with the Northern Pacific, both on its
eastern and western shores. As to telegraphic com-
munication, less than 12 months will bring San
Francisco and Victoria within 24 hours of Europe,
for within that period the wires will have been laid
across the plains, and it is to be hoped we shall ere
then have the Atlantic cable of a permanent and
utilitarian character at full and constant work.
" The table shows various distances correctly
estimated on the shortest lines, i.e., great circles of
the globe, or when land intzrvenes from Cape to
Cape on the coasts. The whole is expressed in nau-
tical miles, and the distances on the Atlantic side
include also the land travel across either isthmus
quite to the Pacific shore, and account is also taken
of the distance down the Mississippi from New
Orleans.
" The day's run of a steamer is taken at 230
miles,. and in estimating the time, allowance is
made for coaling on the long voyages, and for
transhipment at either Isthmus, according to its
advantages, when the plan of improvement is
completed.
" With these explanations, the table is herewith
given, and following the table, some remarks on the
present condition and use, and projected improve-
ments of the three great lines, and their capacity
for improvement, not only by the works of each
Isthmus itself, but. in the approaches to it :

ON TIIE ATLANTIC SIDE.

Miles. Days.

From New Orleans across Isthmus of Tehu-

antepec to Ventosa
From New Orleans across Isthmus of .Nica-

ragua to San Juan del Sad 1,430 71
From New Orleans across the Isthmus of
Panama to Panama 1,453 -61
From Now York via Tehuantepec to Ventosa 2,053 91
From New York via Nicaragua to San Juan
del Snd
From New York via Panama to Panama

ON THE PACIFIC SIDE

Frdrn Ventosa, Isthmus of Tehuantepec, to
San Francisco
From San Juan dcl Sud, Isthmus of Nica-
ragua, to San Francisco
From Panama; Isthmus of Panama, to San
Fancisco 3,210 14
" From the above table we can combine distances
of the Atlantic and Pacific routes, and thus obtain
distances and times between the Atlantic and Pacific
stations named, by way of either Isthmus. We will
give some of the most important. • •
FROM NEW YORK. Miles. Days.
To San Francisco, via Tehuantepec 4,168 18§
To San Francisco, via Nicaragua 4,852 22
To San Francisco, via Pantur a 5,255 23

FROM NEW ORLEANS.
To San Francisco, via Tehuantepec 3,071 14
To San Francisco, via Nicaragua 4,100 19
To San Francisco,' via Panama

.._._
FROM LAND'S END, ENGLAND
To San Francisco, via Tehuantepec 6,808 30
To San Francisco, via Nicaragua ' 7,252 32
To San Francisco, via Panama

" The crossing of the Isthmus, on the Panama
route is made by a railroad which has been several
years in use, and no material improvement can be
made by which to shorten the time, either on the
Isthmus itself, or in aid of the voyages by which it
is approached.
" On the Tehuantepec route the ocean steamers
run up the Coatzacoalcos river 25 miles to Mana-
titian. Here the transit be"ins by steamboat and
coaches to Ventosa, on the Pacific, the time of tran-
sit being, as at Nicaragua, about two days. Pas-
sengers pass directly from the ocean steamer to the
river boat and from that to the coaches, the distance
on the river being 79 miles, and by land 113, the
whole through a fine healthy country. The pre-
sent mode of transit, however, is regarded but as
the forerunner of a railroad which the charter re-
quires to be begun promptly, and which, when com-
pleted, will reduce the time of transit to six hours.
route has the peculiar advantage of lying
directly. in the line of benefit of all improve-
ments in the United States which have a
southern connexion. For instance, we may travel
by railroad now from New York to New Orleans in
four days (soon to he reduced to three and a half),
whence to the Isthmus requires but three and a
half more, a saving of over two days in the time re-
quired in sailing to the Isthmus directly from New
York. All our interior railroad lines west of the
Alleghnnies may be considered as feeders to the
Tehuantepec route; for instance, when the Missis-
sippi Central Railroad is complet:, which it will be
within a year, it will, in connexion with the Illinois
Central Railroad, give a complete line all down the
Mississippi Valley from the northern boundary of
t is United States. For sea voyages, either from New
York or from England, the completion of the rail-
road across Florida, now building, will save 300
miles of navie•ation ; and it may he remarked here
that vessels from England for Tehuantepec find
their shortest route in crossing the banks of New-
foundland, and thence all down the American coast,
caring parallel to it, and at no great distance, so
th .t they can touch with little loss of time, instead
of stopping at Jamaica as they now do on their way
to Panama- —the route from England to that isthmus
being in mid-ocean or but little north of the Azores.
it may be said further in favour of the Tehuantepec