The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-04-15

when these points are 10 be referred to Tn
Executive, and when the bill directs these We
ry surveys and explorations to be made az
basis for his decision. It obviously has n,
ioTce. have already, in opposing the a
mendment Of the honorable Senator from
Pennsylvania, Mr.. BEoDHEAD,l stated full,
my objections to surveys and estimates in de
tail OF all the various routes, and Of the modi
hcations Of each route with q view TO Gonna
rlson, and an accurate and precise calculation
on their economy or cheapness. say, ifthii
| Is to be done, there is not u Senator in thi.
chamber who will live to see the day whey
Tue WORK is commenced. | maintain, more
over, that such fullness and precision Of sur
Vey and OF estimates is wholly unnecessary
In such vast undertaking, one or two mil
lions the one way or the other is of no i'm
'portance, and II would be folly in the extreme
10 waste ten millions in order TO save one OF
two. With respect to the practicability ol
the work, much is already known. We need
Tor example, no survey, to satisfy US that we
can construct road to the South Pass, and
from thence to the eastern base Of the Sierra
Nevada. The ascent from the Missouri TO
the pass is so very gradual as rot to be per-
ceptbIe to the traveller; but when he comes
to test the elevation by the barometer, he
hnds himself.ifl 90 not misrecolect the figures
from six to seven thousand feet above tide
water.
Every one admits we can build railroad
from the Missouri to the Sierra Nevada. but
whether we can get over what mountain is
matter of doubt. The Sierra would have 70
be explored through several degrees of ltitud.
ana all the passes carefully examined. This
would be the o1ly point on that route of SER
lous difficulty. On the southern route several
points would require examination. 1t would
be necessary to examine the ridge between
the waters of the Mississippi or its tributaries
and those OF the Rio Grande; also the ridge
between the waters OF the Rio Granle and
those of the Colorado, and also the rfjre be-
tween the waters of the Colorado and those
OF the San joaquin. This would involve an
exploration of all the mountain passes. Pro-
badly the grades would have to be ascertain
ed at all the difficult points on each route g.
then the question, whether of practicablity
or economy, must be decided either by Com
gress, or, as proposed in this bill, by the Ey-
Rcutive. | believe all the information re.
qulSte to proper disposition of the subject
could be obtained in single season, and then
we can commence the construction of the
road at an early day. Having determined on
me point OF departure and the general course
ot The road, the surveys and estimates in de-
TAIL can then be made with economy,
and dispatch. You will need no detachments
0: the Army to protect your surveyors. Larre
bodies of men will be employed on the road,
who will hold in check and probably keep at
distance the savages of those reuiuns. 1t
will be necessary ordinarily to survey only
one or two hundred miles in advance of the
road as it progresses, and then the road itself
will facilitate the passage of the surveyors to
and fro, and the transportation of their sup.
plies, and this will greatly reduce the ex-
penses of the operation. Indeed il is, in nv
Judgment, indispensable that surveys and con-
structlon should go forward at the same time,
and in no other way could the former be ac-
complished without an enormous OUTLAY. Ey-
cry one must see at glance that the cpnstru-
ton OF the road in part will greatly facilitate
surveys III ADVANCE.
II, for example, the Presi dent were 10 de-
eide that the point Of departure should be at
or near independence, Missouri, aud if we
commence The construction, and carry the
road forward, say four hundred miles, it il
obvious that this would aid essentially sur
'eyS for the next one hundred miles. Pro-
Jabysthe cost Of such survey would not be
'ne tenth part what it would be were the
work undertaken without the aid of the road.
The combination, therefore, of the two opera
ions to some extent, is indispensable to
il not Practicabiity. And what is
more, on the plan here advocated. the parties
who make the contract will have to be at all
he expense of these surveys and estimates in
ietail. They need not cost this Government
me penny. All, therefore, we should provide
or, are such explorations and surveys as
"osld enable the Executive to fix the termini
md general course of the road, and precise
estimates and calculations, such as are ordi-
narily laid before our State Legislatures in
cases of this sort, are impracticable and un-
,ttainabe. The case is peculiar one; tie
object is to connect the two sides of vast
jOHtlilcbt, anu tHe intermediate space Is
wilderness thronged with savages. Explora-
ions and surveys are alike difficult and dan
yerous, and to apply to such case the rules
'rd narly observed by our State Legislatures,
S absurd and ridiculous, The necessities Of
IN undertaking SO novel and unexampled, will
urnish laws by which we should regulate our
conduct.
wish now, Mr.. President, to assign briefly
he reasons by which, as ! conceive, the
,olicy Of this bill can be vndicated. 1t is no,
pretended that either private citizens, or the
Of the States through which the
Dad must run in part, can undertake its con-
truction. The States have no power to act
n the Territories, and have not, moreover, re-
ources adequate to an enterprise of such vas,
magnitude. The work, therefore, must be ex-
cuted by the authority of Congress, g. at the
expense of tie National Treasury, at least in
'art, if it is to be executed at all.
have then to say, Mr.. President, in the
irst place, that the construction of this road
viii tend powerfully to develop the internal
esources of the country. twill open vast
'readth Of the public lands, now inaccessible,
o speedy settlement 1t will also bring with