The Port Gibson herald, and correspondent., 1850-04-26

advantage. Narrow places are presented
where opposite gorges approach each other,
! and wall of some two or three thousand
feet often separates points which may not
be more than quarter or half mile apart
at its base. 1t will also be remembered
that the Great Basin, east Of the Sierra
Nevada, has general elevation Of over
four thousand feet, so that the mountain
would be approached on the east at that
elevation, and on the west the slope is wide,
though descending to near the level Of tide
water.
The foregoing remarks embody all the
general information am now able to give
upon this line. The first section Of it, from
the Missouri fronsier to the head Of the Del
Norte, is explored, and needs no further
reconnaissance. 1t is ready for the loca-
ton Of the road by practical engineer.
The second and third sections require fur
| ther explorations to determine, not upon
practicability, but upon the preference due
to one over the others.
A party Of 300 men, skillfully directed.
| with the assistance Of three or four practi-
cal road engineers, would be sufficient to
lay out the whole routes, and clear and
open common road in the course of the
next spring and summer, 50 as to be pass
able for wagons and carriages, and as ra-
pidly traversed as any of the common roads
in the United States.
The obstacles which | have not men,
toned ara the winter mpediments Of SHOWS.
and the temporary one from the hostile In
dians. The latter can be surmounted by
military stations. sending out military pa
trols to clear and scour the line. The
SHOWS are less formidable than would be
supposed from the great elevation of the.
central part Of the route.
They are dry, and therefore more readi-
ly passed tLrough-are thin in the valleys,
and remain on them only during very
brief winter. The winter Of my last ex-
pedition was one Of unprecedentediy deep
and early SHOWS, yet in the valley Of the
Kansas and Arkansas it was thin; in the
valley Of Hrerfano, none; and in the valley
Of the Del Norte, at tie end Of November,
but few inches deep. Even in this Sc
we're winter, on the 5th Of December, at
the greatest elevation crossed by the cas-
tern section Of the lne-being in the mar
row pass between the Arkansas and Del
Norte, the snow was only three feet deep;
the thermometer at zero near midday.
The weather in these high mountains and
deep valleys is of a character adapted TO
such localities--extreinely cold on the
mountains, while temp crate in the valley
l have seen it storming for days together
on the mountains in way to be destruc-
tive to all animal life exposed to it, while
in the valley there would be pleasant
sunshine. and t Q animals feeding en- nutri-
tious grass. Beyond the Rocky Noun
tains the cold is less and the SHOWS become
a less and more transient obstacle.
| These are my views of a route for the
road or roads, ia common one is first
wanted. from the Mississippi to the Paci-
fc. 1t fulflls, in my opinion, all the con-
ditions of route for national thorough
fare.
First-It is direct. The course is almost
a straight line from end to end. St. Lou
is is between $50, San Francisco is
about the same, the route is between these
parallels, or nearly between them, the
whole way.
Second-It is central to territory. 1t is
through the territorial centre west of the
Mississippi, and its prolongation to the
Atlantic ocean would be central to the
States east Of that river. 1t is also central
to business and population, and unites the
greatest commercial point in the Valley of
the Mississippi with the greatest CONNER
cial point on the coast of the Pacific.
Third-It combines the advantages for
making and preserving the road. wood,
water and soil, for inhabitaton and culti-
, vaton.
Fourth--It is healthy route. No dis
ease Of any kind upon it; and valetudina-
rian might travel in his own vehicle, on
horse, or even on foot, for the mere restor-
alton Of heath and recovery of spirits.
J 1t not only fulills all the conditions of a
national route, but is preferable to any
other. 1t is preferable to the South Pass
) from being near four degrees further
f south. mere free from open plains, and
free from the rising Of great rivers. Its
course is parallel with the rivers. there
$ being but one (the Upper Colorado) d.
f rectly crossing its line. There are passes
at the head of the Arkansas, in the Three
E Parks, and north of them. but none equal
: to this by the Rio del Norte. There is
f no route north of it that is comparable to
4 it; / believe there is no practicable route
E south of it within the United States.
: The disasters which turned me south
: from the head of the Del Norte and sent
i me down the valley of that river, and to
e the mountains Of the Upper Gila, enabled
me 10 satisfy myself en- that point. |
went a middle Foute-a new way-be-
j tween the Gila Ever and the wagon road
. through the Mexican province of Sonora,
: and am satisfied that no route for a road
4 can be had on that line, except going
> through Mexico, then crossing the great
: Colorado Of the West near its mouth, to
: cross the desert to arrive at San Diego,
! where there is no business, and still be
six hundred miles by land and three or
: four hundred by water from the Bay ot
!. San Francisco, which now is and forever
r must be, the great centre of commerce,
! Al al oci