Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1850-12-21

the way Kentucky discovered In more than an
hundred years better have been found
and science makes her improved roads exactly where
the buaos foot first marked the way and the hunters
foot Afterwards followed him. So all Kentucky and the
West and 30 in the Rocky Mountains The famous Souh
Pass scientific discovery Some people think Fremont
discovered it. 1t had been discovered forty years BEFORE He
only described H. and confirmed what the hunters and traders
had reported II dscoyeredor rather first by white
Peope-n 1908, two years after the return of Lewis and
Clark and by the first company of hunters and traders that
went out after their report laid open the prospect the fur
trade in the Rocky Mountains.
An enteprising Spanard of ST. Louis Manuel Lisa, sent
OUT he party an acquaintance and old end of the Sena-
,or nom Wisconsin, who sits on my left, (Gen Henry
lodge led the party-his name Andrew Henry He was
me nrs' white man that that pass and he found it in
OF his business that Of hunter and trader
ana p following the and the road which they had made
ana na Is me way all found But these traders do
not Write books and make maps but they enable other people
do There are plenty Of these the Great West
IN the rivers every spot fl for cultivation and the best and
shortest way from any point anoherwho know eyev
buffalo road and every Indian TRAIL between the Mississippi
ana tne racine these men go and mark out
road from the frontier of Missouri to the Bay Of San Francisco
as fast horse ro And they cut out TOAD
Passabe for wagons and carriages with the aid Of some
and some pckaxes 10 the course Of summer and upon
the parallels which have mentioned with occasional ght
reflections There good route for the system of rosds
which should constitute the national central highway from
the Mississippi to the Bay Of San Francisco-a good way and
better way than any one not central be found
in the United States Il up the main branch Of the Kansas
along the Upper Arkansas along the Huerano river out at
the head Of the Del Nor and thence the valley Of the
Upper Colorado and through the Great Basin crossing the
Sierra Nevada near its middle, turning it the south
the whole way nearly free from distractions great part of
erte with wood and water fit for inhabaton and brush
the present settlements Of New Mexico and Utah. have
the map and the description the country, but cannot use
because the author ID not here II will cross the Rocky
Mountains between three and four degrees south Of the South
Pass CHOW misnomer and be travelled earlier in the
spring. later IN the fall account Of grass and easier all the
winter This route, besides fulfilling all the requisites of
national highway, fufs another condition of high national
and treaty obligation II the ground which the
protection and defence of the country requires to be gar
rsonedha country which lies about the heads Of the Ark
ansas and Del Nortethe hunting ground and ground
of the Utahs Arapahoes Navahoe and other tribes which
make war upon New Mexico and upon u.s. We are bound
by treaty stpuaons protect Mexico against these Indians
and are bound by duty to protect people against
them line of military posts il necessary through their
country and this bill provides for part the road sys
tenn, and also provides for the settlements which sup
port them "
have demonstrated the nationality Of this wor-is prac-
cablityand the in hands for making it do
not e1patiate upon its importance. When finished it will be
the American road Asia and will the Asatc
OF Europe through the heart of America will make
US the mistress Of that haderch at home and powerful
abroadand rsvvng line Of oriental and almost fabulous
cities to stretch coninentTyres Sdons Palmy-
Babecs. Dove need any stimulus for the undertaking
Any other nation would so for the right Of making it.
unoOrn generauonS complexion. we have II
without war, without tax, without treaty with any Power;
and when make it all nations must travel wh our per-
msson-and behave themselves to receive permission Be-
sides riches and power, will give hold upon the good
behavior of nations by the possession which will give of
the safe, short, and cheap road to India
The work great but nothing compared to and
to the magnitude Of the object to what done by the
ncas Of Peru before the world discovered Their
two roads from Quito to Cuzco Ito say nothing of many
shorter ones) each nearly long, both diff
cult ground equal in amount Of labor required and
modous than the proposed system Of roads from the Mss
sppi to the Pacific ocean, One Of classic historians
(Prescott) thus describes them ..t
There many Of these roads raversng different parts
of the kingdom but the considerable the
which extended from Quito Cuzco and, again dvergng
from the capital continued in southern direction towards
Chill One of these roads passed the grand plateau, and
the other along the lowands the borders Of the The
former the difficult achievement the cha
Of the country conducted painless serras
buried in galleries cut for leagues through the
living rock crossed by of bridges that
swung suspended in the air precpices scaled by stair
hewn of the native bed avlnes Of hdeous depth
were filed up with solid masonry in short all the Difficult
ties that beset wild and region and which might
appa the most engineers OF modern times were
and successfully overcome The length Of the
estimated, from fifteen hundred thousand miles and
pillars in the manner of European milesones,
erected stated intervals OF somewhat more than league all
along Its breadth scarcely exceeded twenty feet
1t built of heavy flags Of eesone and in parts at
least covered with bumnous cement which time has made
harder than the stone ITSELF In places where the ra
had been filled with masonry, the mountain torrents
wearing for ages have gradually eaten through the
base and left the superintendent masssuch is the cohesion
Of the materiasl spanning the valley like arch Over
of the boldest necessary to construct
pension bridges they termed made Of the tough fbres
Of the maguey, the oer of the country which has
extraordinary degree of tenacy and strength These osiers
into cables of the thickness mans body The
huge ropes then stretched the water conducted
through holes in immense mattresses of stone rails
ed the opposite banks Of the river and there secured to
heavy pieces of timber Several OF these cables
bound together formed bridge which, covered with plank
well secured and defended by railing OF the same osier ma
terals the Sides afforded safe passage tor the traveller
he other road of the Inca lay through the level coun
different manner demanded the nature OF the ground
which for the most part low, and much OF II SANDY ne
raised high OF earth and de-
Tended on either side by parape or wall OF clay and trees
and odorerous shrubs planted along the Margin
ing the sense Of traveller with their perfumes and refes
ing him BY their shades grateful under the burning sky Of
the tropics All along these highways caravanseres were
erected the twelve miles tor the
dation travellers mary constructed tor security and
supplied with brought in aqueducts when not found at
red dispatches the whole Of these long the
rate hundred and fifty miles day and besides des
patches from the distant ocean, and fruits and
game from hot regions the be served fresh
at the Inca's table in the imperial capitals"
The Baron Humboldt, the Nestor of Scientific 1|areL
rs thus speaks Of the remains of the roads from his
own personal observation
s'As leading heavily-ad mules with great
difficulty through the marshy ground the elevated plain del
Pual eyes meanwhile continually dwelling on the
grand remains Of the ncas road which, with breadth OF
twenty English feet there remaining by side 1t
had deep and with well cut blocks
Of backsh trappophyry Nothing that bad OF the re-
of Roman roads Italy, the South Of France and in
SPAIN than those works OF the ancient