San Andreas independent., 1858-02-20
The Contract for the Overland Mail.

requested to read the following communl-
cation, says the S. f. Chronicle, in rela-
tlon to the Overland Mail The writer is
a practical man, well acquainted with the
route, has thorough knowledge of the
requirements necessary for establishing
the line, and it is more than probable that
the conclusions he arrives at, in relation
to the contractors performing their agree
ments, are correct.
We believe our amiable and much
lauded Senator, Gwin, was instrumentalin
getting up that contract; and as it appears
the Government is likely to be swindled
out of several hundred thousand dollars,
and the people are to be cheated out of
the mail, it is one well worthy his pecu-
liar talents
Extract from letter to the San Diego Herald" dated
FL Paso, (Texas,) December 2Othl
'sWith reference to the contractors for the
six hundred thousand dollars semi weekly
mail, no one in this section of the country has
heard from them; they have sent no agents
here to make stations, nor to buy corn or ami
mails; no one has appeared here to induce set
tiers to go Oh TO the road to make stations !
am informed by men who have come from the
east and others from the west, that were it not
for the newspaper putting of their ability,
(Which branch Of the business perhaps they do
attend to- along the whole line of their pro-
posed road no man would ever know they were
III existence as contractors. Please consider
the immensely of their contract. 1t calls for
a service eight times month each way from
San Francisco to Memphis and ST. Louis, to
be performed in twenty-five days to be con-
! cd Icrbr fhax
next September, nine months after your read
ers are perusing this. There is to my mind
only one inference from the facts have stated,
which is, that they do not intend to commence
the service at contract time, nor with contract
speed Their want of action goes plainly to
show they never intended complying with the
contract, Notwithstanding the putting of them
in the newspapers of New York city, where
they have their headquarters, and whose edi-
tors must be purposly kept in ignorance of
their real intention Therefore | say let the
Postmaster General pursue the plain policy he
has inaugurated of first demonstrating by a
semi-monthly mail, the chances of success, and
then giving his present overland mails increas-
ing speed after he has taught them to walk.
mo doubt while we here are specializing on
why the great mail don't come, resting salts
fed with the facilities we always have, the
them ten days more time in which to perform
their service, and years more time in which
to prepare to do it. doubt if they dare ask
any more pay than the $600,0O0 until the Con-
gress of l659-'59. Perhaps they can exhibit
a large expenditure already made for the lne
by making schedule of all the express wag-
! ons and horses they use, and swearing they
were bought for staging over the prairies
stock bought years ago, in anticipation of some
day getting the contract. If Congress refuse
| these contractors for the semi-weekly $780,
600 mail, the help they must ask. as practical
men say, their service never can be performed
by any man or set of men, according to their
contract, then let Congress use the money in
increasing the Salt Lake and Sacramento, and
San Antonio and San Diego mails; then the
country on a whole would be benefited"
1t is about time the people of Califor-
MIA awoke to the trickery and humbug of
the 100000 business, as the people of
Texas appear to be doing. The contract
was let last June, and four months nearly
passed before the contractors signed it.
1 Why? What were they doing during
that time? Nothing. They had not sent
man or wheel over the road. They
were staving off, time.
4 Well,-the contract signed, three more
months elapse before any action is taken.
''Staving off " again. In December two
wagons and ten men are sent to explore
the route, which, as they must travel only
by day and with no relays, will take GER
tainly four months more say to the mid
die of March. Meantime there has not
been station built, well dug, or even a
hoof bought or wheel built to carry their
great mail, which is to start next Sept
The contractors, depend on it, will run to
Washington-not to San Francisco
The line, as laid out for these contract
ors, is, with its branches to Memphis and
St. Louis, not less than 5000 miles long.
With fifteen mile stations (Which is five
miles longer than they should be) there
would be required for semi-weekly line,
one stage each way, sixteen animals, max
ing 5000 animals, all told. Does any
practical man think this immense number
of animals can be purchased and located
at proper points in six months The
thing Is an absurdity.
Then comes the feeding of the animals.
At the start, at least three months supply
of corn and fodder must be laid down at
each station, which will at very moder-
ate calculation amount to twenty-eight
hundred tons to be hauled on the road
This will require an army of animals,
which in their turn must draw their own
feed, as well as the surplus for the vari-
Gus stations. Then there are two hundred
stations to be built, two hundred corrals
to be enclosed, forges and wagon-makers'
shops to be erected, and the rations of
men, drivers, helpers, teamsters, hostlers,
blacksmiths, guards, etc., laid down-all
in six months! and in some cases Gas ex.
or. the llano estacado in Texas over des-
erts four and five hundred miles long,
without a drop of water or stick of timber
large enough to mend an axle. Will this
all be done and the line running by next
September? opine not.
What then will be done? As the cor
respondent of the San Diego Herald says,
a show of work will be made The "ten
men and two wagons" will be magnifed
into an efficient exploring party, engaged
in making stations, etc. A census will