Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1850-1854, 1850-04-05
THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.

/ The \. Y. Tribune of the ODD March has lons
and very able article upon the importance of con
structing, and with the least possible DELAY, th.
road, or rather Of the roads so long talked Of
from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific. The
following article is mainly an abstract of the one
we speak Of in the Tribune.
The idea of the road in question is no mere ere
alton Of fancy or dream of romance-it is a matter
of practical and vastly important reality. 1t is
work which must be accomplished, and which can
not be accomplished too soon. 1t is wanted as .
great iron band Of union between that portion o.
the Continent east and the portion west of the
Rocky Mountains.
The Pacific Empire is moving with unex-
amped rush towards an extraordinary greatness
and importance. We can hardly entertain sober
calculation of what another twenty years to
become reality there, and not grow dizzy in the
contemplation of it, A population growing ten
fold in a single year; population whose origin.
language, institutions and sympathes are thorough
ly American a population occupying the richest
mineral country ever known, and commercial
position which is prospectiyey at least, o. great
Importance as any that can be pointed out upon
the map of either hemisphere, is which it is
well worth while to fasten in attachment to our
selves and to bring closely to us as practicable,
ald that without amy unnecessary delay.
San Francisco and New York City can be
brought within ten days of each other, aud they
ought to be. From New York, by way of the
Isthmus, is more than 5000 miles 1t is a distance
more than 1900 miles greater than that between
New York and LIVERPOOL and the time required
to make the passage is more than double what is
required to make the passage to Liverpool The
route occupies two oceans and the Mexican Gulf,
besides $50 miles through the territory Of foreign
country. 1t crosses and re-croSses some thirty de-
grees of latitude, and exposes the commerce which
makes it a thoroughfare to the disadvantage of Pc
riodcal winds and the dangers of tropical storms.
The plan of a Railroad offers an economy of time
not less than twenty days, for all the travel and
business between the principal commercial points
on the Atlantic seaboard, and those on the Pacific
And this economy of time is to apply to the chief
stream of commerce for the world.
The countries Of southern and eastern Asia cen
tain full half the entire population of the Globe.
The commerce of these countries monOpolized by
Great Britain during the last century, has made
that country commercially the mistress of the
world. Itls commerce rapidly growing in amount
and Importance. As Asia and the world of islands
east and south OF il take OH the modern civilization
Of Earope and America, their commercial import
ance will be tenfod greater than ii has been dur
ing the period in which Great Britain has mainly
1t. And this commerce, together with
that of the Pacific coast Of our own continent, from
Cape Horn to Behring's Straits, would for the
most part, take the Railroad for its channel
commerce 50 prodisous in amount, passing