The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1858-11-09
HTLLsDALE, MICH, TUESDAY. NOV. 8 1858,
Correspondence Of the N. y. Courier and Enquirer.
Overland Mall Route to the Pacific. y
WAsHrsoroN. Oct ia. 1s5e.

Although the California land mail from
California came successfully through on
the frs tiip, IL is not to be taken for grant
cd that the enterprise is successfully .cstab
Iishcd. 10 the first place .he mad by tho
route of the 23d parallel aud the deserta.
accommodates no settlements between the
extrc mes, for there are none; secoddly, the
time really made is fivo or six days loug,r
than that made 10y sea. For when the
mail arrives at st Louis il is still two and
= halt days from Washington and New
York. Tho schedule time is tweuiy.iivs,
days, and the additional time required to
reach with the mail either ilupmtant cen
tire oflinteillgeuce, makes the whole, ne
riod allowed for each trip twenty seven and
half days. 10 Thepay by contraci is $780,
600, but the mount Of mail matter that
can DC carried in, a lpost-cs ach is neccssari-
ly llmite,..i Tho probability is that twenty
pounds was broughtin; the fret stage, and
when it shall be necessary tolsenJ two or
three tons Of letters and newspapers that
the bags will be left by tho vayside. .ee.si,
AS facility or accommodation for tho
conveyance of passengers tho overland mail
by this route, will, / think, BE- foun,l Of
very hulc service. How many men, net
TO speak Of women and children, have the
physical strength to ride twenty five con
tinuous days and nights! OF the thoSs-
ands who might have occasion each year
to mako tho journey, is there one per cent.
capable of enduring its fatigucs and prva.
tionsf .'ra
IIere were six passengers who started
from San Francisco on the iirst trip. Ono
only reached St. Louis, within twenty-five
days, and that one was Mr.. Bailep, The
agent Of the Postoliice Department. Tho
others stopped at the first shingc roof shed
thcy found on the route. -
st Louis and San Francisco are nearly
on the same parallel-of latitude. Yet tho
first seven hundred and Forty-four miles
from San Francisco by this road is nearly
south to Fort Yuma. That distance must,
be recovered after The mail turns north,
this side Of the Rio Grandc. But sup
pose only four hundred miles ut each. end
is superfiuous northing and southing, thcr
500 miles Of travel and transportation are
totally lost But the most fatal objection
TO the route remains. 1t is stated in the
Journal of the first trip. 1t was urged by
myself in frequent communications on this
subject last year. Coming southwa'd and
eastward from San Francisco, the diary
states that at 672 miles from the starting
point they made stage 80 miles "'cithom
water." Let it be remembered that this
is most favorable season Of tho year-cool,
mild, and after the autumn rains begin, if
they fall at ALL Whore there j. no water
there is no grass-no food for man or beast.
Tho next succeeding stage Of twenty-five
"mics was also without water" l have
not before met with any journal of a pas.
sage over this tornado del n'uertos in
which water was found within ninety miles
Of the Colorado. But bv new and cir
cuitous line it seems the jorna1a is re-
duccd 10 fifty.four miles. From Tuezon
eastward We have notes Of six successive or
continuous stages "withort water" making
together distance of 100 miles rs dry as
Zahara. Fifty miles further eastward is
another stretch of fiity-two miles "without
water;" sixty-six miles arc passed and an
other dead mans march of fifty-six miles
presents its dreary waste; hundred miles
farther there lies stretched before the trav-
cler a stage Of seventy miles without wa
ter. BY keeping far enough to the south
ward the staked plain is avoided and the
want of Capt. Popc's artesian wells is not
felt.
BY tic way Of Salt Lake the Dorthcrn
DETECTION from straight line is four de.
grees. But there is water all the way,
and there will soon be settlements at con-
vcnient distances along the whole line
1t may be said thcrc is also snow over the
whole road during half the year. So
there is over every route in the same lati.
tudcs cast of the Mississippi, yet it never
prevented the passage of tho mail. There
is, however, n contract on this limo which
promises tho best results rs scon as proper
protection against Indian dcpredations shall
he furnished. But there is still much
better route than either of thesi. 1t
leaves the northern route east of Fort
Laramie, and crosses tho Rocky Mountains
by plateau, not dass, 100 miles south
east Of Salt Lake City. Tho line should
touch at Provo, but would turn Salt Lake,
in its progress to California, on the sooth.
Capt Marcy crossed this plateau in the
winter or carly spring Of 1858, and found
scarcely any snow, while the passes north
and south were reported blocked UP, Tho
ascent and descent in tho passage of the
mountains a,e so gradual that it is not easy
to perceive when the dividing ridgo has
been crossed. have little doubt that this
route will be adopted for Tho Central Rail.
road.
Although thero appears to be little oc-
casion for any throu5h overland mail line,
since it is certain that mono could be cstab
lished which could compete either in speed
or comfort with the sea lines, yet If money
must be squandered on such enterprises a.
carrying empty mail bag 1000 miles in
post-eoaches, the experiment sEonld be
made on the direct middle route along the
35th parallel, via Albuquerque and Zuni,
and the roads explored and opened by Sit
greaves, Whipplo and Bcale. 'e' y
Tho 5000 900 per annum for year or
two is gone, but care should be taken to
resist appeals that will be Immediately
made to Congress TO waste a correspond
II. U.' . ~. So