, 1858-07-30

: high mountain ranges rose up, and vast
deserts came to view. The genius Of Amer,
! lean liberty breathed again, and the noun
tain crests were bowed down, and the des-
: ert places disappeared the dry bones be-
: came living men, and the deserts green pas.
lures by flowing waters.
7 Now, we will consider the tendencies Of
, population and communications from our
line Of frontier States westward and the
time which will be required for an unnter-
, rupted line of settlements 10 the shores Of
. the western ocean. 1t is estimated that
the frontier is moving westward at the
rate of one hundred miles a year some
estimates put it at seventy. Nine years
ago the distance between the frontier set
Elements of the Mississippi valley and the
shores of the Pacific was about two thou
sand miles The frontier advanced west
ward from the Mississippi and eastward
from the Pacific, and the distance from
frontier to frontier has now dwinded down
to about one thousand miles Even this
interior Of one thousand miles, by scattered
settlements, has bSen gradually preparing
for the movements which will soon cause
the whole of it to be occupied and devel-
Oped. Settlements are now moving west
ward on an unbroken front, extending from
the forty-ninth parallel to the Mexican
gulf. They have struck the.Red River Of
the North and have moved westward upon
its Cheyenne tributary They are moving
up the Missouri and its tributaries in Ne
braska and Kansas We find it moving
through Texas aud thus, in nine or ten
years, have our hardy American people re-
duced the intermediate unsettled distance
one half, reducing it from two thousand to
one thousand miles. This movement is not
looking to particular pass of the noun
tains, to q southern pass, or to northern
pass, or to a central pass but backed up
by all these States, it is moving upon them
ALL These are obvious facts which have
only to be mentioned to be assented to.
How is it with onr communications
Congress has yet done nothing in regard to
the special measure of Pacific Railroad :;
but, under the auspices of Congress, it has
been working out its own success for years.
Congress has made grants of lands to
States and Territories aud with these
grants the genius Of our country, as en-
bodied in its railroad enterprise, has been
pushing the roads into the interior, and
toward that western slope. Are these
roads looking to a southern pass, or a
northern pass, or central pass, or are
they marching upon all the practicable
passes Of the mountains and looking be-
yond those mountains to the ports Of the
Pacific coast This statement will receive
the assent Of every man. 1t will receive
not enly the assent Of this committee, bat
the assent Of every well Informed man 10
this country. Whether we come from the
Atlantic or the Pacific coast, we are all
proud of this movement of our country.
Why, sir, Minnesota is not content with
one road westward she must have three
to her western frontier, striking it at Penn
bina, at the Bios de Sioux, and on her
southern line Iowa has seven /; Missouri
several Arkansas three Texas at least
one and Nebraska now is asking Con-
gress for grants for some three roads.
Whilst we see this great spectacle, roads
in all the States moving westward, we, as
nation, are doubling whether we shall
simply direct these tendencies in such a
way that they shall be consummated as
they have begun. We are doubling wheth-
er we shall do that, or simply fix on some
one route, a northern, central, or a south
ern route, and that, too, as have said,
when no State or Territory is content With
one road looking westward. Congress has
endorsed this action OF constructing those
several roads in the States and Territories,
by making grants Of land for that purpose,
showing what was its idea of the duty of
the Government, as prudent proprietor,
in the way Of bringing its own lands into
market, and as a business operator in car
rying the mails aud Transporting troops
and supplies. 1 take it that the principle
upon which oil these grants have rested
looks to the dnty Of the Government as a
landed proprietor, and business operator.
It made grants of land for railroad pur-
poses, because by so doing 1t brought the
remainder Of the land into market, and de-
rived from it q larger revenue than it 9TH
erwise would have got from the whole :;
aud besides that, when constructed, these
railroads have answered to carry the mails
aud the troops aud the munitions Of war Of
the Government.
have glanced in the briefest manner at
these tendencies, both Of population and Of
communication from our western States,
and it seems to me obvious, that in looking
to this great question Of Pacific railroad,
it would be wise and prudent for the Gov
ernment to adopt policy which will carry
out those tendencies to their full fruition.
Therefore l would not carve our way to
the Pacific by single route. 1t would
not satisfy the country. 1t is not for its
peace and harmony politically. 1t could
not do the business Of the country. 1t is
not up to the exigencies Of the occasion.
But carve your way to the western ocean
with at least three roads. The tendency
of railroads westward is rather to three
roads. Those iu Minnesota, and certain
roads in Iowa, look to the northern route.
The greater portion of the railroads 10
| Toua q nortiou Of tho railroads in Misaouri