The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1853-02-08


vent men from voting for a. confess that think the
bill Of the select committee accompshes that object IL
may require amendment in some OF Ills features. may
70 oe' 1o ,bsS VIII Be- ameed%ens n ag ~
the measure, and shall insist upon none which will
hazard its success.
am free to say to you, sir that believe it il the first
and the highest duty OF this nation TO that this road
made believe thai the integrity OF the Union itself de-
ponds upon It's construction When have connected
the Atlantic and the Pacific by railroad aud there is no
power earth, and question which is in existence
or which be brought into existence which can sever
The bonds Of The Union believe il necessary, also 10
iafnlsh adequate protection TO the distant parts OF the
country believe, above all, the making OF this road is
necessary 10 enable America the position to
whch sne IS now enlied OF the hrst power on earth
upon the lace OF the globe the moment this road is
completed
Then, how are 10 do itl Some say with land ;
sonae say with money. This bill says by combination
OF both Then come in gentlemen who say, !" Il is all
right; we are for the road but let have survey first"
Sir we have been at that for three years. and when
bring up bill for road il is said we must have sur
vey; when get up bills providing for a survey il is
SAID we must have the road immediately And thus al
ernaeiy one proposition or the other has received the
go-by. The proposition made TO have survey is
simply posiponement OF tue building OF the road, and is
TO result in doing nothing ] do not mean to say that
gentlemen mean that's but say that such will be the re-
suit.
The senator from Georgia says that individual, no
nation no Sale undertook work of this magn-
Jude withoa survey They never did, either with or
without a survey; Tor never has a road OF this magn
| tude been proposed, much less executed anywhere
Works oil less magnitude have been devised and executed
without surveys. You objected 10 me two three years
ago, because was asking grant OF land without
vey Tor railroad from Chicago to Mobile. You made
the grant, although there had been no survey por
ton OF the line for four hundred miles But have now
the pleasure OF telling you that the road is under contract
Ii is more than hall done and IT will be finished in two
years although you gave US ten years within which TO 30
IT, The senator from Georgia Then told us that
squandering the public auss for the purpose of
aging railroads in Stale | told him, in reply that
the government had had in the market for lorly-wo
years al 81 25 lands which upon the line OF
the proposed road and they could be sold because of
the absence OF timber and their distance from mar
ke but that II you would give alternate sections, we
whole originally and enable you TO sell them at 81 50
an acre. He shook his head, and doubted my argument
lie said It was very good IN theory but The result would
not turn out as predicted and that If he thought would
he would vote for the bill | have now the pleasure OF
informing HIM that the alternate sections reserved TO the
government have, of them, been brought into
ke at public auction, and more OF them have been sold
within the last lew months since they have been brought
INTO Market al ~ 80 an acre. than were sold Tor
previously al 81 25. They have readily sold at from
81 so TO 80 25 per acre at auction The average price
which they have brought is 81 81 per while you do
not ask, at the double price, more than w 50. That de
mous.rales that all apprehensions upon The subject OF
grant OF lands for roads through wilderness country
where settlements have penetrated vanish the
dew before the rising sun, when there IS an Involvement
Tor opening these lands and means OF COMMUNICATION
by a railroad TO be constructed.
Now sir, what has been done through the State OF H.
nOis by means OF llat grant may be done IN
other OF the States where there public lands and
across that vast wilderness country, OF which gentlemen
speak, lying between the Mississippi and the Pacific
ocean. we put more money into the treasury BY that
grant OF land to Illinois than you could have got there
through any other mode, and more than you asked Tor
| the lands that you had.
But ii objected then that that was being done
without survey. | did not deem it necessary 10 wait
for survey, because knew that The route was prac
cable A survey would be necessary before you laid
down the track order find what precise spot or
precise line best adapted TO The purpose. SO il
from the Mississippi river 10 the Pacific ocean.
Wel-inoTmed men, in regard to The geography and to-
biography OF that county, know that railroad route
from the Mississippi TO the Pacific is practicable uh-
derlake To say that well-Inorned know there
more than twenty i've lines through twenty five different
passes IN the mountains which Practicable Sir, in
stead OF having difficulty IN selecting engineer that
ind practicable route think The engineer will mmor-
alize himself who find route in our own territory
which is not practicable. These mountains are full
OF passes-practlcabie passes Some better than
others ~ respect to climate, respect TO the SOIL timber
aud coal yet there routes enough in which you
ind toleTably good so--not what call good soil in
the Mississippi valley but what | inform my friend
from Rhode Island, Mr.. CLARKE,] who sits near me ;,
would be called admirable soil in New England Cen
temen talk about the great deserts that lie there, impas
sable and uninhablla6le. There lands there that
who live IN the valley OF the Mississippi and in the
great West would call deserts. There sections OF
country there which not much better, upon the
age than the State OF Georgia the various States of
New England. There are such tracts which no.
very large, but quite considerable and extensve but
undertake TO say that there is continuous line which
Is not susceptible OF higher degree OF cultivation and
greater yield OF product than the line from here 10 New
Orleans The line from here 10 Portland, in Maine By
saying tbs do moi 10 underrae the section OF
try on the lines 10 which refer only mean 10 say thai
some parts OF this continent have richer lands upon them
than others.
1t must be remembered that those who have crossed
these plains, aud the emgrants who have written back
such terrible accounts OF their desoaiioN. persons
who went from the Mississippi valley, where every acre
OF land capable OF producing an almost incredible pro-
duct OF any OF the ordinary grains crops raised in this
country. Such would be very apt To compare the
land upon the plains with the land that he bad left the
valley from which be came. He would compare the val
veys OF the Platte the ella, the Colorado or the
Snake Fork OF The Columbia, wherever else he might
be- with the Illinois, or the Wabash the Miami, or
OF those other tracts where he had happened TO live
and perhaps he would describe it desolse because he
might find desolaon such an extent that you could
not produce than forty fifty bushels OF corn TO
the acre, than fifteen twenty bushels OF wheat
TO the Why have SEEN 10 OF the old States,
where there such horror of the desoation OF these
deserts Of the West, places where If they got twenty-five
or fifteen bushels of TO the acre. they would
feel themselves fortunate
Again in travelling across that couRtry, man pro-
ceeds along the valleys of the streamshe goes from
country where the valleys OF the always rich
and fertile, although the hills may be comparatively bar
rem. When he goes up the valley of the Colorado and
the Sweet Fork, and through the Salt Lake and goes
round by Humbods ryer no doubt he finds desert wastes
all along the banks of these great streams and be will be
apt to say, Who ever did OF such desoaon as
This, where the valleys Of the streams do not pro-
duce grass with which to feed horses! lie would not