The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-03-19
Communicative
HEADoUARrsRs DEPARTMENT on OREGos.
Fort Vancouver. w. T., Jan. 4, 1859.

hptN fuhNVuNcit VI vi Vous ~ iop'-
Sir l have the honor to acknowledge the receipt Of
your communication of the 9th of December last, trans
hitting a copy of the resolutions of the legislative as
sembly of the Territory of Washington relative TO the
establishment of military posts along the %emigrant road
from the Missouri river to Fort Walla-Walla, in com
pliance with the request of the assembly.
For this act of courtesy and consideration on the part
OF the assembly, and for the confidence extended to my
self, expressed in its resolutions, l tender my warmest
thanks.
This generous welcome which has greeted me on my
arrival in this distant portion of our great republic
arouses feelings and thoughts that are well Swallowed
forth in the object for which the resolutions were framed,
viz the difficulties existing in communicating with the
States Of the East.
/ concur with the assembly as to the urgent necessity
of opening a practicable and easy route from the Missouri
river TO Fort Walla- Walla. Not only should this be
done, but a road from Fort Walla- Walla or the Dalles
should be opened and established to Great Salt Lake
City, connecting at the same time with the road TO Fort
Laramie and Missouri. This suggestion has already been
submitted to the consideration of the government, and l
am satisfied its construction will be directed.
1t has been my fortune, at different periods of my life,
to pass over the greater part of the country through
which these routes should be established, and | do not
believe that in any other portions of our country such
good natural roads for the same distance could be laid.
The establishment of every facility of communication
between the different sections of our country is essentially
a military question, apart from the vital social interests
depending upon it. | therefore do not hesitate to pre-
sent my views at this time ON the subject of connecting
our Pacific slope with that of the Atlantic, by a net work
of roads.
AS the social and political interests of a State increase,
the necessity for the defense and protection of those in
terests becomes more imperative. / may say with pro-
priety that no portion of our citizens are more deeply in
terested in a safe, rapid and certain communication with
the East and West, than those of the army they Will
not only be obliged to use it, but to protect and secure it,
and they will always be found, as the pioneers of civiliza-
ton, grateful for every suggestion tending to shorten and
improve the distance.
The vast and multiplying interests of commerce, de.
handing a direct and certain communication, are becom-
ing familiar to the public mind, but none can realize
them to their fullest extent who have never visited our
Pacific coast.
Ten years ago when California sprang into existence
among nations, like a phoenix from the ashes of decay,
the world marveled and wondered. The mind of man,
prone to judge of consequences by their immediate action
on himself, concluded the cause to be the gold in the
soil, forgetting for the moment that countries in which
only the precious metals abound, have ever been noted by
decay and degradation.
Let us suppose for a moment that the same amount of
gold had been discovered at the North Pole ten years
ago, would the country at the North Pole present now
the appearance, energy, and enterprise of California
of Oregon and Washington Territories /! This question
is easily answered and clearly indicated it was not the
gold which has caused the United States to be so proud
of her Pacific possessions, it was the unrivalled advant-
ages of soil and climate-the unbounded resources in the
animal, vegetable, and mineral Kingdoms and still
above these, that talisman of earthly greatness-the first
geographical position in the world for commerce.
These were the causes which excited in the public mind
that eager desire to grapple the Pacific States with links
of steel, and which is soon to become n national passion.
These States, resting on that ocean which connects the
two grandest continents of the Univcrse-Asia and Amer
ica-must receive tribute from the west by every breeze
that blows-from Japan, from Russia, from China, and
from all parts of Asia.
The present commerce of the world will sink into in.
significance in comparison with that traffic which is to be
inaugurated by the labors of five hundred millions of the
most industrious people of the earth, who are hereafter
to be known among men. The very winds of Heaven,
on the Pacific ocean, mark out the course which this
trade must take in its movement through the world
and the natural harbois and magnificent forests tell us
that this coast must be, in future times, the Queen of
Commerce.
When such facts as these present themselves to the
mind of the American people, let me ask, is there any ele-
ment of that restless determined energy which character
ICES their nature to deter them from making the great
preparations necessary for such events
Did they hesitate to establish n national road between
the eastern and western States, when the interests of the
country required il and were not the difficulties of ao-
complishment at that time as great, in connection with
that road, as any of the difficulties now existing on any
of the proposed Pacific routes 2
Have they ever permitted the most trying circum-
stances, or the most adverse difficulties to weigh a mo-
ment in the scale, when the honor, interest, and reputa-
ton of our common country was concerned
1t is this faith in the desire of our countrymen to see
our national greatness increase, that oonvinces me the
brilliant prospects of California, Oregon, and Washing
ton Territories, will be fully realizcd-that the time is
not far distant when the browning work of steam will
be VIGOROUSLY accomplished ; when engines Of such size
and power will be SO constructed as to condensc days into
hours, miles into inches and when the passage from one
ocean to the other, on our own soil, will only occupy from
one day of rest to another.
i am in favor of multiplying the number of roads be-
tween the Mississippi river and the Pacific States, and of
opening railroads on each and all, when the location and
interests warrants so doing.
In connexion with this subject, an important question
must be answered Who are to people the immense
plains and arid wastes between the confines of Missouri
and the Sierra Nevada mountains of California 2 Who
are to build up the system of roads and railroads through
that country we require 7
The American and the European leave behind them
those wastes, and hurry to the fertile and weIl-watered
shores of the Pacific. The destiny of the Indian is writ
ten in the setting sun. From whence, then, are the peo-
pie TO come who will be willing and who can make a
garden of a desertg
In the dispcnsation of Divine Providence does it not
appear that the great and powerful nation now being es.
tablished on this continent was not to receive its origin
or its destiny from any one of the races of men But
that each and all contributing their intellect, their en-
crgy, and their labor, to the stupenduous work of ON.
nipotent design, would unconsciously create a fabric OF
such glorious and transcendent structure as to become n
monument of His power and goodness.
As Europe and Africa have built the railroads. dug the
canals, and planted the fields to the east of the MISSISSIPPI
p, does it not seem but natural that Asia, with her sur
plus population, should do the same for the country west
Of that riveri Does it not appear that there exists but
one people whose history and whose labors show that
they are qualified for the duty of regeuerating the Rocky
mountains la people who remained n mystery for thou
sands of years-whose number, patience, industry, and
economy have achieved the most remarkable deeds
where labor and privation were required-and where
quiet, inoffensive, and peaceful habits became q neccssi-
ty IA people who, 20 secure themselves from q warlike
neighbor, built n wall, TO intervene between them. of
such dimensions, of such length, and over such noun
tains, plains and rivers, in one unbroken chain, as TO