Grass Valley telegraph., 1856-03-18
Railroads in tIae United states--The
Pacific Railroad.

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miles of railroad has been. constructed within
the limits of the United States, and each year
is adding from two to three thousand miles
to this grand total +! the cost of these roads
lions of dollars.
> At the present moment New York city is
connected with the capital of the State of
Iowa by an unbroken line of Railroad, and
theswork isalready progressing to extend
this road westward to Council Bluffs, a dis
). tance Of about two hundred miles further. -
This work will be speedily completed, and
we shall then have direct, unbroken rail
road communication from Augusta, the capi-
tai of the State Of Maine to Council Bluffs,
on the Missouri, distance of nearly 100
f miles, and about half the distance from the
I. Atlantic to the Pacific, over the Central Pa
!; cifs Railroad route Thus is the iron track
slowly pnt surely progressing westward. =
While politicians are planning and making
speeches, the people are acting and aking
cars! And bye and bye, perhaps before the
deriag9gues at Washington have ceased their
i anFYssectional quagrels, as to what route the
roafsliaH take and how it shall be built, the
4 a vlsaHa. low AlAtinnn the wake
iofcivilization in its westward travel, until it
shall awake it's echoes amid the distant gorges
i lIof the Rocky Mountains, and perhaps come
Ethundering down the western slope of our
own sSierras!
This is no fancy sketch. A glance at the
mapiwill satisfy the most casual observer
that the line of this road, from New York to
Council Bluffs, must be the one over which
will pass the future overland traffic between
San Francisco and New York.
From New York city to Council Bluffs is
distance of 1900 miles. The difference of
latitude between the two points is only about
forty miles, and nowhere in the whole dis
tance of 1900 miles from the extreme points
does the road deviate over sixty-five or sew
enty miles from direct line. From Council
Bluffs to the South Pass, which is about one
Bluffs, the line will be equally direct, there
being only about one hundred miles differ
ence in latitude between those two places.
The tide of emigration is already pouring
into the Platte Valley, and ere many months
shall elapse. Nebraska will be ranked among
the States of the Union, with her western
borders close upon the South Pass, and the
fertilizing waters of the Platte winding their
sluggish way through the entire length of the
State from west to east. As civilization is
no where without the iron rail, the people of
this new State, who. will be concentrated
along the valley of that river, will meet the
State of Iowa at Council Bluffs, and in her
own sovereign State capacity will continue
the track westward along the valley Of the
Platte, some 500 miles to her western border,
at or neaI. the South Pass. Thus far-thernad
will pay its way and become valuable pro-
perty for way business alone as fast as it can
be built.
The PEOPLE aoiH build the road and haze
the cars running to the summit Of the Rocky
Nountains IN LESS THAN TEN YEARS! And
thus, while politicians are talking to less
than no purpose at all, the people, by aOOrk
ing, will quietly and practically solve the
problem as to which is the most practicable
route.
Is there man-an American-who doubts
that the energy which in less than fifteen
years has pushed forward this great work from
New York 1900 miles westward, will fail to
add 500 miles further to its length in 10 years
more? If there is, that man is not up to the
times, and should emigrate to some slower
country. Gen. Dix, President of the Com
pany which is now organized for constructing
theroad through the State of Iowa to Council
Bluffs, in a speech at the completion of the
same to Iowa City, on the Sd of January, ex-
pressed himself decidedly of the opinion that
the first finished railroad to the Pacific ocean
will pass through Iowa to Council Bluffs
This is the only feasible central route He
examines the natural advantages of this route
from New York city westward along the line
already constructed, and concludes that it
affords the greatest facility for cheap and ex.
peditious transportation by railroad as well
as the most bountiful country naturally for
sustaining the works which traverse it. OF
the country west of theaState line of Iowa, he
| says for the frstthirty miles in Nebraska, it
is easily crossed by a railroad, and. capable
Of producing abundantly and all the exam
nations show that the valley Of the Platte
river for hundreds of miles. almosttto the
base of the Rocky Mountains, is highly favor
ablefor acontinuaton of the road.
Cen Dix says "What the country needs is
an Uninterrupted communication by railroad
between the two great comm ercial depots Of
the two oceans. These are the cities of New
York and San Francisco !. they have been fix
ed by natdre-by the laws of physical geo
graphy and no arrangement or contrivances
of men can change them.p He puts down
the chief advantages Of this, which he calls
the central route, as