The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-07-01

nave an interview Win Mr.. Day ana Mr.. Goddart,
both of whom are familiar with the topography
of the country in the vicinity of the proposed
line, and would be glad to aid you in your in
quiries. Yours, very respectfully,
WILLIAM J. LEWIS.
Colonel John c. Fremont
Upon this letter Of Lewis, and the map
Of Sherman Day which accompanies it,
and which I hold in my hand, Colonel
Fremont, in letter dated New York,
February %, 1858, says it shows:
i" That at the first place in the Sierra Nevada
wnere the necessities of the settlement require
communications, good wagon road was easily
round, and that this wagon road survey shows
also that railroad is entirely practicable in the
same place; that this is in the line of the pro-
posed central road, between the thirty-eighth
and thirty ninth parallels, that any line coming
across the Great Basin would reach San Fran
cisco Bay by very considerable saving in dis
lance and expense, compared with any other and
less olrect line running more to the northward
For instance, the surveyed line with which Lewis
institutes his comparison, and which line in
coming from the eastward very nearly Joins
Lewis's, (both | believe being then upon the
Salmon Trout or Truckee river as it is generally
called.) Take notice that the Rocky Mountains
and the Sierra Nevada are great mountain chains,
and that there are two passes through them,
SHERMAN Days road pass and the Cochetope,)
and almost exactly in the same latitude, both
being between the thirty eighth and thirty ninth
parallels Remember, too, in regard to this line
of Sherman Days, that the information which it
gives US is the accidental result of the first sur
vey which the necessities of population required
to be made. Can we not with certainty expect
much better, when the Sierra Nevada comes to
be surveyed with the direct purpose of building
a railroad across it"
Again, speaking of the two passes in
the two great chains and the country be-
tween, he says: y;
Myjudgment is, unhesitatingly, that the coun-
try between these points is entirely practicable
for railroad. And does it not Appear upon its
face absurd to say, when the TIVE great chains
OF the continent are practicable, the intervening
country is not so? When droves of cattle of ali
kinds by thousands, wagons, and caravans, are
passing constantly over it in its natural state,
that the railroad science of this day cannot get
across? A mans ignorance must be audacious
when he can undertake to publish i in maintain
ing such an assertion"
1t will thus be seen that the central
route, running for its whole length be-
tween the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth
parallels of latitude, is firmly and con-
clusively established. Upon this line
stands the capital of the nation, on the
Atlantic slope Of our conenent; fixed
here because it was central % the North
and South. 1t is the line sdf the Ohio
river in almost its whole length the line
upon which stands st. LOUIS, the great
central city Of the Mississippi, valley the
line of the Missouri river fc three hum
dred miles beyond TO where it defects
abruptly to the north the linz of the Kan
sas river, which is navigable. for near one
hundred miles due west, thence stretching
up the Arkansas river, and tae Huerfano,
and crossing the mountains, and striking
the Colorado river upon the Tame parallel,
at its true junction with Grand river, and
to which it was supposed by Colonel FIRE.
mont to be navigable from tie sea. The
suppostion has since proven to be true,
by. the survey Of Lieutenatt Ives; and
thence through the Great Basin by Paro-
wan and Cedar City, and the Great iron
mountains, to Carson's valley; and thence
in the same parallel, by the ro.lte indicated
by Mr.. Lewis, to San Francisco, on the
thirty-eighth parallel. A route cutivable
and inf.abitable throughout its whole ex-
tent, with water, grass, wood, coal, and
iron, and capable of supporting pspuIa-
ton for the construction and maintenance
of the road when built. This route fol-
lows the lines of commerce, the centre of
population, and Of our territories upon
both oceans. In all these respects it full
fills the conditions Of national work, and
should be constructed by the nation.
have spoken of the persistent efforts
nf hn 4
the central route, and force the construc-
ton of a railroad upon remote southern
route; but there are also efforts from other
quarters equally hostile, and somewhat
more insidious. shall, hope, be par
doned for brief notice of one of these,
since those who have made themselves
prominent in the affair have sought to
cover themselves by taking the name of
the central route for southern one.
One of my colleagues Mr.. PHELPS
has favored me with a pamphlet copy of
a letter which bears his name, and is adj
dressed to certain citizens of the State of |
Arkansas. Upon reading the letter, |
have been struck with the propriety which |
dictated its address to the citizens Of that |
State, and am constrained to say that it |
would have been in all respects appropri-
ate, if it had emanated from an Arkansas
member. | will read some of the passages
which seem to me the most striking. He |
is arguing that the route is best, even for
the few lowland Gulf counties Of Georgia,
Alabama, and Mississippi, and says:
"My answer is, that the road from vicksburg
should go directly to Shreveport, and to Preston
on the Red river, and thence northwest up the |
False Washita river, and intersect the Charles
ton, Memphis, and Albuquerque road in the beau |
tiful valley of the Canadian river at or near the
one hundredth degree of longitude, some FIVE |
hundred and fifty miles from Vicksburg That |
in my humble opinion, is the true Vicksburg |
route, and for two reasons: it is the best and |
shortest route, and it would develop fertile and |
unsettled country of vast importance to the trade
and strength of the South"
1t is "the trade and strength Of the |
South" to which this road is of such vast
importance. He goes on in the same
strain:
"The route from yicksburg up the Red and |
False Washita rivers u.s. therefore, las is easily |
observable from map the shortest and the best.
Not only so, but second, this rigbt-hand route |
along the Red and False Washita rivers would
develop fertile and unsettled country of vast
importance to the trade and strength of the |
South. 1t is country filled with rivers and |
Arkansas, the Red, the False Wash
ita, the Verdgis the Canadian, the Red Fork,
the Salt Fork the Neosho, and many others of
great value 1t is admirably suited for the cul-
tivation of cotton, and the higher portions of it
for hemp, tobacco, and grains. Settled and cul-
tivated, it would enrich the South and strengthen
it. Texas is developed and is secure This
country should be. Delay will not prevent its
settlement, nor benefit The South"