New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-06-12
THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.
Report I'm the House of Representatives from
the Committee on Roads and Canals.

Scientific and physical lars ia faccr Of w. WIT
ney's ptaH, and against Others.
Among the ADVANTAGES OF Mr.. Whtney's route
might be mentioned, that il affords better secu-
rity against the impedincnts Of Winter than q
more southern one.. At lrst sight, this would seem
absurd; nevertheless & is easily proved. 10 the
first place. it is well ascertaihened fact that, in
passing from East 70 West on the line Of Mr..
Whtney's route tina weather grows less and less
severe TO the Pacific, as ID the case from the At
laptic TO Lake Michigan, on the same latit1des.-
Next the falling weather on this lice is distributed
throughout the year whereas, in approaching the
more southern regions, where the alternate dry
and rainy seasons prevail. al the falling weather
of the year occurs in Winter, and on the higher
grounds of the continent t is perpetual snow,
which often falls 10 an immense depth Witness
the SHOWS and extreme cold encountered BY Co'onel
Fremont and bis party ia the Winter OF 1913 and
ls49 in north latitude about 81 or between 81 and
%, as your Committee ere informed. These deep
tnows are liable to lay over the more southern
routes which have been marked out as Tor instance
Colonel Benton's, which, az described on Mr..
Loughboroughs map, is found, in the longitude Of
santa Fe, on the 30 n degree Of North latitude,
still making its ways south, and for some hundreds
OF miles is not far from the seth degree. In sll
these regions the Slows Of Winter must be an in.
superabe obstacle in passing over the higher Gle
yations OF the road, which are some 1000 feet
greater than on Mr.. Whitncy's route Bot, from
time immemorisl, those engaged In tae service
Of the far companies have never been impeded,
either by the SHOWS or frosss Of Winter, on either
Of the routes proposed BY Mr.. Whitney, as they
pass the Rocky Mountains. The climate there is
more mild by considerable than in the lower parts
Of New. England, where, as Is well known Winter
rarely stops or deranges the working Of railroads
besides, the instruments for removing these I'M
pedims Dts are being improved every year so that
70 one now scarcely thinks Of being incoInnoded
by them.
Mr. Thornton, speaking Of the SHOWS on the
Sierra Nevada, says 4" II Is avery remarkable fact
that the snow at this point, 3so a. North latitade,
is us ualy much deeper than it Is on mountains Of
cores ondng elevation further north" From
Colonel Emory's report il appears tina. the Their
mometer fen quite as lows at the same season of
the year on the Gila about $50 North as It did ON
Colonel Fremonts route 10 the Columbia, from
1919 to i6e North. Mr. Fitzpatrick, with the aa-
fhority Of many years experience, says; At Fort
Laramie" 42lS North latitude, same as South
Pass, "there is very little snow and il rarely lies
on the ground. As you come 10 Fort
Hail." west Of the mountains, 43o North, bat some
hundreds Of mica further west than Fort Laramie,
"no snow. From the Blue Range no snow or
Winter TO the Pacific
X. Campbell, Esq Of 81. Louis, who spent tnree
Winters in TIE mountains from the South rinn