Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-11-27
Prom the st. Pnnl (Minnesols) Adyertssr.l
Direct transportation from Superior 70
aiI io1 Liveruool


'm Aol Liverpool.
An article from the European Times re-
cites the arrival at Liverpool, direct from
Chicago Of the Dean Richmond whose
departure we announced some three months
age. In this simple announcement is con-
tanned the initial fact of a new era In CON-
mercial history and issues of startling and
Overwhelming significance crowd upon the
calmest view of its relations with the future
of the West.
It seems to us-we know not if we appre-
hend its bearings correctly-that the results
of this experiment must be an eventual rev.
olution of the internal traffic of the Western
States 1t virtually makes our inland lakes
the Mediterranean Sea of North America,
and Chicago becomes the Alexsndris Of mod
ern times. 1t peels of the littoral rind of the
New World at stroke-and splits the ripe
apple Of the continent TO Is core. Ocean
commerce will follow that entering wedge.
Direct transportation will inevitably super
cede the expensive and complicated machi-
merry employed in conveying western grain
through its present chsnnels-which besides
Involving several expensive trsnshipments is
attended with an important diminution Of
bulk. The Atlantic-the far Bosphorus, the
Baltic, and the hundred seas Of the old hem
isphere will flow in through the rent torn by
the keel of the Dean Richmond" and the
majestic Commerce Of the OCEAN overlapping
the huge complications of human ingenuit
| passing 10 triumph past the monuments {
Clinton's genius, past Railroads and Canals
through rivers and lakes-20O0 miles into
the interior will plant its sea worn flag upon
the shores of Lake Michigan. and sit in royal
state like another Queen of Sheba on the
throne that western industry shall build for
her in the chief city Of the interior plain of
North Ametica. Nobody can doubt that the
demonstrated prscticability of direct ship
ment from Chicago to Europe will eventual
| ly transfer the business OF transportation to
this channel An inevitable consequence Of
this viii be the enlargement of the Welland
ship canal, the ring bolt IN the chain of COM
munication from the ocean to the lakes, to
capacity sufficient for ship Of any required
size. The application Of steam will overcome
the delays of navigation and the path opened
by the "Dean Richmond" viii be thronged
with the flags of every nation. But this is
not all What is true Of Lake Michigan is
true Of Lake Superior What is possible by
the welland canal is equally possible with
the Sault Ste. Marie. The splendid chain Of
inland navigation does not end with Chicago.
1t is complete to the extreme Western end Of
Lake Superior.
Here, at the uttermost limit Of ship navi-
CATION, the town of Superior, some two
years old, and containing not more than 800
Inhabitants, is slowly rising on the shores of
the Queen lake, from the sombre woods that
surround it to meet the majestic destiny that
is creeping with slow pace up the st. Law
renee and through the lakes towards her, to
cast the commerce of the ocean at her feet,
and crown her with a disdem Of ocean
pearls.
Nor is this all. The ocean highway ex-
tending from the mouth of the St. Lawrence
to the extremity of Lake Superior, will be
the basis of the whole system Of Western
, Railroads. A Northern Pacific Railroad. with
terminus at Superior is the necessary sup
plement Of the navigsble highway We have
; described. The western terminus Of that
J highway will be the eastern terminus Of the
> first Pacific Railroad ever built The argu-
ments in its favor ara irresistible, unanswer-
able. 1t is logical deduction from the
whole law Of railroads.
The paramount purpose of the Pacific
Railroad, we take to be, to facilitate the COM
/ mercial intercourse between the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts, in other words, to facilitate
transportation. Now, transportation is inn
PEELED by an irresistible impulse in the
cheapest route. Hence gravitation itself is
, scarcely more law than the tendency of
railroads TO the nearest watercourse in the di-
rection of their destination. They break off
at ence by sort of physical necessity as
transportation agencies, at the nearest navi-
} gable water communication. One always
q ends where the other begins. The CONNER
cial apparatus Of the country is full of in
stances pertinent to this. By this long chain
. of inland lakes covering nearly half of the
6 distance between the Atlantic and Pacific
; coasts, nature seems TO point with the force
of divine decree to a sup Elementary rail-
road route to the Pacific, to connect at its
nearest span the ocean navigation of the op-
posite sides of the continent, and there can
! be no doubt that other things being equal in
! feasibility Of the route west Of the Missis-
sippi, the first road to the Pacific will abut
On the shore of Superior.