The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1857-05-23
The ssOmnibus,, Arrangement.

place in me to throw out a few suggestion
relative to the proposition to load all the r
NJ. charters in the Territory with the con
struction of Railroad along the Western
bank of the Mississippi. In the first place
believe such road if built, would severely
interfere with the growth and prosperity o.
the up river towns. And in the second
place, instead of being benefit to tue towns
below st. PAUL on the river, the experiment
would actually prove detriment, and | Of
! fer the following reasons in support of my
premises, and invite those interested to take
them at their "current value"
1st. A railroad running parallel with the
river, while with other competing and more
direct routes to market, in winter, would
not add any advantage to the Upper Missis-
sippi towns, would, in the summer season
absorb such share of business as to etfcc-
tually " choke off" great share of the
river traffic, and the number of steamboats,
that now visit us would be greatly dimn-
ished, and our river commerce would be
principally confined to second-class freight
boats. To keep up the river commerce,
boatmen must have no parallel, contiguous
competitor. In support of this, let me re-
fer to the great chain Of lakes, and contrast
the |" regular lines =" of first class boats a
few years ago, with the present craft that
now q at upon those lakes. The character
and quality have entirely changed. The
iron horse has made great havoc with the
Lake commerce, and has driven travel and
light freights through other channels, almost
exclusively. We freely admit, that while the
Lake towns are sufferers from this change,
the interior towns have, to great extent.
been the gamers. Yet, in our case the T.
luStration becomes imperative and void
in one respect; for while the great interests
Of both the East and West demanded more
ready and permanent access to each extreme
than the Lakes afforded, we experience no
snch necessity here. The travel for this lat
itude must ever be mainly East and UsSt,
and while our lateral roads will furnish every
needed facility for North and South travel, in
connection with the Mississippi, there is no
apparent necessity for road leading direct
y down its banks, nearly parallel with
another, leading to eastern marts, much
nearer the point of destination.
I'd. 1t strikes me as demonstrate fact
by analogy with parallel cases, that a rail-
road traversing the margin of the river
| would be seriously injurious to the very
towns it is proposed to benefit-ior this rea
son: Those towns Immediately on the river
bank owe much, if not all of their growth
present and future prospects-to the river
travel and commerce. The almost hourly
arrival and departure Of steamboats, keeps
up a life and activity that can never be ex-
perienced by cars merely passing through a
town and stopping for few moments to
wood and water" and still contiguous
railroad would so divide up the business that
all the first-class boats would be compelled
to seek other quarters for business, as in the
case of the Lake steamers.
would say to the citizens of the rirer
towns, obtain all the lateral roads you can,
with tcrmini at your doors but, if you
would preserve your river commerce, seek
not to destroy it by means which you can
accomplish just as well in another direction.
I inf, hat no., /,f
class boats float upon the upper Ohio river
to-day than several years ago, before rail-
roads diverted the travel, and still there is
no line of roads Immediately along the banks
Of that noble river for any considerable dis
lance. This change in the travel and COM
merce of that river, has seriously affected
all those towns along its banks that have no
terminus of lateral roads. The same may
be said of the Illinois r.vcr towns. The OH
ly exception remember on this point is re-
lative to the North River towns but these
two facts must be taken into the account:
lst. These towns all had just about reach.
ed their maximum positions before the
change took place.
I'd. The competition between the river
and the road is so great, that the stock of
the Hudson River road is almost worthless.
There, the commerce is SO great that road
as competitor scarcely makes any other i'm
preston than TO drive off large share Of
the first-class boats. No one, however, pre-
tends that the Hudson River Railroad has
been Of any peculiar benefit to any of the
towns along its eastern bank, but in many
instances has diminished the number of
steamboat arrivals and their consequent be-
ncfits.
Now, if there was no other route for our
sister towns along the river, to reach the
eastern market by rail, then it would be
quite different thing but in almost every
instance they have a route as near and di-
rect, and in most cases much nearer. And
! besides all this, to make river road availa-
able, both winter and summer, they must
have draw bridge crossing, somewhere this
side of Dubuque. This, while it would af-
ford the facilities to cross the Mississippi al
all times in the winter. would be seriou:
check to the navigation in the summer.
have thus far discussed the inutility o
such road, and permit me to drop few
hints relative to its practicability. LIST, to be
a river road, it must follow the circumben
dibus" channel of the river, for to attempt
anything like general straight line, by cut
ting across the bluffs, would be an impos
sibility, while to strike back to avoid thu
bluffs and deep ravines that precpitate
into the river bottom would destroy TIT
plan proposed. a. e ..,4 a..
The only alternative then, is to closely hu
the bluffs along the bank-to excavate soil
rock of great height, for miles, and to fill u
t innumerable ravines, all of which would re
t quire heavy masonry, for the constructio
1 | of culyerts &c Cd this road then in add