Daily Richmond times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1849-1850, 1849-10-23
THE PACIFIC RAILWAY.

of South Carolina, to the invitation committee OF the
Memphis Railroad Convention He begins by re-
marking upon the past and extraordinary perform
ances of the railway system, and in this generaiza-
ton, goes a bow-shot beyond the limits of fact
For example:
at has annimated macadamized and turnpike roads
highways; it rapidly supersedng canals avaing itself
OF their beds for the graduation oft tracks, and in the
flights fits locomotive, it threatening to rival the
lightning OF the telegraph.
We have often heard the statement made in
loose terms that railroads were literally taking the
place of canals, the tracks being laid along their
beds, but never before from any person whose nor-
nation on such subjects might be supposed to be
accurate. We do not believe there is a single ex-
ample in this country of such substitution; and if
there be any in England it is in the case where an
unimportant canal was bought up by railway COM
pany, in order that its injurious rvalship might be
stopped. Facts recently published, in the most
thentic manner have made the disclosure that far
from superseding the English canals, the English
railways have proved lamentaby Improbable, whilst
the canals have fully maintained their dividends and
the value of their stocks. According TO Herapath's
Railway Journal the whole capital invested in rail-
cent; and the six principal canals between London
and Manchester, competing with the great line of
the London and Northwestern Railway Welded
in 1916, dividends varying from to 80 per cent
These remarkable results are stated in very able
and interesting article of the North British Review,
in the number for August last, reviewing the rail-
way system of Great Britain; and we are the more
III ~
which we have commented, because his letter shows
that he had read that article with peculiar attention;
quoting one passage from it, and adopting, with a
slightly different application the following striking
Scrptural illusions:
The prophet Daniel predicted the time when many
shall to and fro and knowledge shall be ncreased and
Isaiah to have foreshadowed great railroad from
the Atlantic to the Pacific in that sublime exclamation
Make straight the desert highway for God Every
valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall
be made low and the crooked shall be made straight and
the rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed"
The Review says:
The had formed no conception OF its he rail
ways nature Poets and philosophers had not deserted
it, even in the far distance and anticipated ALL
by the far seeing eye of pophetica inspiration
Make straight in the desert, says Isaiah "a highway for
our God Every valley shall be exalted, and every noun
tain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be
OF the Lord shall be revealed and Daniel looks for
ward to the time Of the end aohen many shall run 10 md
fro, and knowledge shall be increased"
The former passage, the reviewer says in note,
sis supposed by some commentators to refer to the
great highway which Semirams formed by cutting
and filling up hollows on her march to Ecbatana"
But passing by the exalted part of Col. Gadsden's
letter. which, to use the Unions language about Mr.
proper to add that he concludes with some sugges-
tons of practical character, which are we'll entitled
to serious consideration:
Tbs grose. is too grand is desgns too e mpasSans
sectional and local conflicts routes each party more
emulous of the improvement Of their State city than in
accomplishing the greater object OF extending the social,
commercial and political relations OF the Atlantic with
the Pacific States OF the Union.
Ihe only action, il seems to me- therefore, fruitful of
favorable results which can be had your respective
ventions would be joint memorial to Congress or tho
rough scientific exploration OF all the practical routes OF
railroads from the Mississippi the Pacific. Scientific
reconnaissance the theodole, the level and the chain,
can alone shed light the comparative value and produce
tveness OF the country through which the road pass
OF the inequalities of the ground and the mountain eleva
tons which erpose obstacles cheap construction and
OF the distances which will have to be overcome Impair
tal comparison after careful examination and survey
alone decide the merits OF each route And whether that
decision be the most favorable to the lake. the middle
easouthern let science and knowledge be the abies
20 conciliae conflicting interests in united action the
direction OF railway which will most certainly accom-
Dlsh all the objects OF union between the frontiers
OF the Atlantic and Pacific"
1t is an amusing circumstance, that those who
have most actively advocated the project of rail-
road to the Pacific, have heretofore said scarcely
anything of one of the most obvious and most in
dispensable prerequisites, namely an accurate know
ledge of the physical difficulties to be surmounted
We must confess although the age is one in which
such confession is little short of Quxotism, that
we cannot help having doubts whether the proposed
railroad by any route, will be practicable for many
years, and whether if once constructed, its traffic
would be sufficient to maintain it. If Isaiah and
Daniel really ioresaw people running to and fro on
railroad, through the vast deserts that border the
Rocky Mountains, the railway experience of the
world does not justify the Interpretation that what
they foresaw must come to pass at this particular
time. Here is an opinion on the subject from
intelligent officer who travelled to California with
General kearny, by the way of the ella, and re-
turned with the same General by the famous "South
Pass
AS the subject ofa railroad to Oregon" says Quarter
master Thomas Swords III official report the Quar-
termaster General dated October 8th lS47 s now ex-
citing some attention. it may perhaps be improper TO
state that consider such an undertaking chimerca and
altogether impossible at least for many years to come
The country, throughout nearly its whole extent is an alb
solue desert except the almost impossible mountains
without stick large enough for riding switch should
the rails be laid they would be destroyed by the In
dams fast as laid down.. See documents accompany
ing the late Presidents Message of December l84S page
235.l
1t is worthy of remark that the same officers es-
innate of the distance to California by either of the
routes he travelled, makes it much greater than it
As loosely reekoned by the advocates of the railroad.
Lieut. Maury, for instance, has assumed the length
of the road, beginning at either Memphis st.
Louis, to be 1900 miles. Quartermaster Swords
makes the distance from Fort Learenaoorlh (Which
is hundreds of miles West of the Mississippi rver)
via Santa Fe and the Gia, to San Diego, in Cafor-
MA 1923 miles and the distance from Fort I.eayen-
worth, via the South Pass, to Monterey, 2l27 miles.
IL