New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-10-18
SiS.52,7i3

ISL. 81, 592,7i3
The returns for the last two years and the first
three quarters of the present are not before US;
but they sre known to have varied little from the
rate Of $50 GOO 600 per aunum, making the total
.mount entered at the Custom House of San Fran
cisco a. shipped st that port up to this d,ts rather
over Fire Hundred Millions Of Dollars. How
mapy more Millions have been brought away In
the trunks or belts Of returning emsrsnts or mer-
CATTLE passengers, we will nor attempt to guess;
but the amount i. certainly large Ga our recent
trip homewsrd, one of the steerage passengers W"
currently reported as having $50 900 n gold in his
carpet. bag, which be kept in bis hands or under
bis head others were said to have their thousands
each, TO very large ssgreeats amount Mali
testify, the export Of gold from Csifprna, the cur
rent produce Of her mines, has exceeded Fifty MI
lions of Dollars per aDnun, while considerable
amount is retained in the country.
Now all this Gold is sen. away to pay for Goods
many Of them very costly in proportion to their
bulk and weght-SIlks and other dear Textile
Fabrics, Jewelry; rare Wines; expensive Wares;
Drugs, Spices, &c. Experience has amply proved
that all such products take the quickest rather than
the chespest route We believe that $50 900, 900
OF costly or perishable merchandise would annually
seek California overland if there we're CONTIGUOUS
line of railway from the Atlantic TO the Pacific
seaboard; and that this amount would steadily aud
rapidly increase. When the Erie Railroad earns
over $3,000000 per annum BY freight, il certainly
must be moderate to hope that Sl0000,CO0 would
al Ia itsa ant r.
thi, ,ide to the Pacific by railroad and that the
larger share of this freight must DO earned BY aud
paid 10 the Pacific Road.
Now LET us see how far the Government would
necessarily patronize such road:
The Post Office Department is now paying at
least One Million and Quarter for the conveyance
of Mails between the Atlantic and Gulf States and
California, and was recently paying One Mllion
and Half For this it gets semi monthly mail
BY way of the Isthmus 5000 miles, or more than
double the distance direct, and semi.weehly msil
by the Butter6eld route (aso very citcultous),
which carries letters only. There are two or
three slow mails on other routes, but they cannot
be sMd 10 add anything of moment TO the facili-
ties enjoyed by California and the older States for
the Interchange of messages or ideas.
As TO Military transportation, We canno. say
what is its amount, nor no far single line Of Rail
way could reduce its proper cost We believe,
however, that the Government is now paying al
least Six Millions of Dollars for the transportation
of men, munitions and provisions to our various
Military posts between Kansas proper and Cali
forna, and that fully half of this would neces-
sarily be saved or earned By Railroad to the
Pacific.
Utah is now receiving accessons Of population
(mainy fiom Europe) over the Plains, though very
much of their household stuff has to be sacrificed
to the ex gences of the long, hard tedious journey
in wagons drawn by weary, thirsty, furnishing cat
tie Her people generally live poorly, yet they
have to eat and drink, while most Of them like to
smoke or chew also At present, most Of them
abstain from the use of Tes Coffee, &c, because
these are very dear while the Saints are mostly
poor If there we're good railroad through Utah
from Missouri to California, we believe tue Ssints
would pstrOnze it 10 the amount OF at least Half
Million per annum and that th, amount would
rapidly grow to One Million. 1t would of course
not stop there The Rocky Mountain Gold Mines
are no longer matter Speculation. They just as
surely exist We live; and We believe they are
destined to Increase in DportaDce aud productive
ness. We advi.e no man to dig gold or start for
Pixies Peak" We presume ten Of those who
go thither will come back ragged aud penrlless
for every one that they make rich. We expect to
hear many times yet that the Kansas Gold Mines
are ahumbug-that they have exploded-thst every
one has left or is leaving them, &c, &c.-snd We
expect further TO hear of new discoveries ia this
direction or in that, and to record the receipt of
Millions thence in each Of the years from 1861 to
ISL inclusive. Meantime, those who prospect or
mine there must live-a poIut to which eating is
rather essential in that keen mountain air. Every
thing that can be eaten or drank is selling 10 the
Kansas Mines at far more than California prices.
railroad from the Missouri to the heads of the
Platte or Arkansas would reduce, in those mines
the average cost of Food at least half, and would
thereby diminish sensiby the cost and increase the
profit of digging Gold. If One Hundred Thousand
persons can manage to live in the Rocky Mountain
Gold Region as it stands, Three Hundred Thousand
could do better there with railroad up from the
Missouri. And that number, il located there,
could not supply less than S3,OO0,OOO per annum
of travel and transportation 70 Pacific Railroad.
Let us sum up, now, and see what clements
Of support for .uch Z Railroad may be presumed to
already exist:
!. Fifty thousand passengers from the
Missouri 10 California and thirty
thousand the other way, half hrst-
clsss at 500 aud the residue
second class a. SO each: Total
passsge.mOney. ST, OK, 900
II. FIFTY Millions of Gold brought