Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1851-09-11

GENTLEMEN: did not receive your invita-,
ton to be present at the commencement of your
great work in time to answer it for the day. To
attend could not, even if the time had been
longer, as reasons CONNECTED With thu ztHt3' Of
Mrs. Bcnton's health, and an occupation Of my
own, put it out of my power to return to St.
Louis before September.
take great interest in the success of the
road of which you make beginning. 1t is the
central route, and every national consideration
requires it to be made, and with the aid of the
National Government. st. Louis, San Francis
co. and the city of Washington are on ne
and that line is through the heart and centre of
the Union, and the eyes of the Federal Govern
ment should be fixed upon it. Unhuppily, they
seem to be fixed upon Southern sectional
route, hardly within the limits of the United
States. | send 10 the address of the President
and Directors of your Company dozen copies
Of document just printed being a report of
seven different recconnossances for Southern
FL Paso route to San Francsco-beng the
seven explored within the last year by as many
different officers, and exclusive of those previ-
ously made, and also exclusive of the survey
which the Mexican Boundary Commission is to
make on the Gila river, as a continuation of the
Ell Paso route; and of which the amputation Of
the Ell Paso from New Mexico, and giving it to
Texas was also an auxiliary measure. This
document should open the eyes of the people Of
Missouri to the danger which the central rou ute
has to encounter and the forced adoption of an
other condemned by every national consdera-
ton. 1t is true that bifurcation' (which
believe signifies fork,) Of this FL Paso route is
intended to be conducted to st. Louis, which, il
done, will be favor lost as no man in Missouri
would any more think of going to San Francis
co by that route than of coming to Washington
city by way of East Florida. The central route
is the only national one, and the only obstacle is
the Rocky Mountains, and that is no obstacle at
all, as the country rises gradually and imper-
ceptbly 1000 to 5000 feet before their base is
reached, and there are then many passes be-
tween the head of the Del Norte and the South
Pass--between 80 and 42 degrees-very prac,
ticabe, and already marked out by the buffalo
trails. In speech which | made on this route
at the last session of Congress, l pointed out
these animals as the original and most unerring
Of typographical engineers, the first finders Of
all good routes, and the safest guides to all road
makers, and gave instances. did not know
then that the great Humboldt had previously
written the same thing, and, in fact, given the
same instances, but have since seen that he did
and now add what he wrote, for the sake O.
convincing those who yield to authority the con
viction which they refuse to reason He says
at is worthy of remark that the American
buffalo has exerted an influence in the progress
of geography in trackless mountainous regions
"These animals wander in the winter il
search of milder climate, in herds of severa
thousands to the south of the Arkansas river
In these migrations their size and unwieldines
make it difficult for them to pass over higl
mountains When, therefore, well troddel
buffalo path is met with, it is advisable to follow
it, as being sure to conduct to the most conven
lent path across the mountains. The best route
through the Cumberland Mountains, in tn
southwest part Of Virginia and Kentucky, in tn
Rocky Mountains, between the sources of tn
Yellow Stone and the Platte, and between tn
southern branch of the Columbia and the Ri
Colorado of California, were thus marked ou
beforehand by buffalo puths.-.Aspects of Nattu
page 62.
This is all true, and the mountain men ca
show these roads and passes in as little time as
horse can travel to them. There are, therefor
plenty of good passes for the central route an
as for the snow, it is dry, and but little imped
ment to a locomotive and besides, where deope
it is in ravines and gorges, where the road
raised and the wind blows off the dry snow.
is thus that the railroad from Moscow to S
Petersburgh IS made-a raised road and dl
, snow which presents but little obstacle, an
, which the wind blows away, There is no dill
r Guilty in finding practicable pass IN the Rock
} Mountains about the latitude 80 and 80 that
| to say, on the straight line between st. Lou
/, and San Francisco, Ihave no doubt the whol
| road will be eventually made, because believ
. great object which concerns the welfare
Q millions will succeed over all opposition.
y not made by the Federal Government, as
| should be, it will be made piece-meal, by compt
d MES and communities. Thus, you have begu
n three hundred miles of it at one end the peop
G of California propose beginning at the other en-
: and the Mormons propose to make it from III
Salt Lake to the Sierra Nevada. But the Go
e enment should take the whole upon itsel
: compensating companies for what they ha,
: done, and make it free road, save the repair
s The public lands have long been considered
}. proper fund for making national roads; and no
e that they are squandered by the hundred mil
y ions of acres IN bounties, which go to specul
# tors, the only way to save them from spoIIatio
and to make them available for present and f
|. ture public good, is to apply them in mass
d this land other) great national objects. Wi
3 you success within your State further than tn
n you do not go. The Government should
v pressed without cessation, and first to make
= common road from the frontiers of Missouri
California, which would be summers work {
n a hundred men, under practical country ro
is maker, with some mountain men to show d
s. buffalo trails and passes,