Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-02-05

Naerc5aI necessity Tor . road, Is the only
kind of necessity that will ever lead to its
construction" This commercial necessity
we can create for the Northern Route, simply
because we have the right Kind Of country
to base the creative operations upon-while
science and observation and exploration is
developing the contrary fact, that Nature has
really placed an almost perpetual inhibition Of
Pacific Railroad over the mountains and
across the deserts through and over which lie
the Middle and Southern Routes. To prove
this, we find additional evidence in the just
published remarks of Professor Henry Of the
Smithsonian Institute, made before the U. s..
Agricultural Society, at Washington recently,
in regard to the tract of country crossed by
the Southern and Middle Routes to the Pa
cific: '- l~iiia -s#ai"- Ieo, 81,
winds blowing across the Pacific Ocean. reach
our western shores laden with moisture and heat
Coming in contact with the several ranges of
mountains on the Pacific slope, this moisture is
given up on the westerly sides and makes them
FERTILE while the easterly slopes not getting these
advantages, are sterile. =
Having passed the last of the ranges, or what
| we call the Rocky Mountains the winds robbed of
| all their life-giving moisture and now hot and
parching descend upon the plains, and render them
entirely unfit for agricultural purposes.
Long and patient investigations made at the ex-
pense of the institution by DR.. Cooper, have pla-
ced most startling facts in our hands which seri-
| ously affect the nation.
DR.. Cooper's researches prove that what theory
| suggested is berne out by actual fact.
| The Wh0Le district of country from the borders
of California easta0ard to tie one Aundredth naeri-
Il Ia ~ InIr - IL. ID
tie United States, is Comparatively useless 70 tie
farmer. THE effect Of tile hot aoinds IS such tAes
vegetation cannot be regularly maintGsned-the
soil becoming intensely hot and all sOater courses
dried. -
This line of sterility touches upon the Gulf Of
Mexico, nearly at the mouth of the Rio Grande,
and comprises a region of the Great West, about
which SO much patriotic twaddle is annually made.
cal observations in the United States show that the
isothermal lines, or lines of average equal tenn
perature, do not cross the continent in straight
lines, but make curious dips and reflections. For
| instance the summer climate of New York, ave-
raging 70 deg, traversing the country by way OF
Southern Michigan, and Lakes Huron and Erie,
suddenly crosses the 45th parallel of latitude and
when it leaves the Rocky mountains. is as high W
as49 deg. north"
It is not alone the superior and more tilla.
bic character of the country over which the
Northern Pacific Roilroad would pass-no,
its being the shortest-that gives it a position
and practical advantage over the rival routes
but it has the advantage in every particular
The Trade Of India and China is one object
which a Pacific Railroad seeks to grasp in its
scope. This purpose, the Northern Route
infinitely achieves beyond competition by the
more Southern routes. According to the
statement of Professor MAURY in the letter
we recently published, the shortest curve fol
sailing ships, and the same is true Of steam
ships, from China and Japan to our western
shores, is directly to Puget's Sound. Now, il
is well known that the value of our trade
with China and the East Indies, is almost en-
tirely in the return cagoes, consisting Of teas
silks, spices, &C., articles not comparatively
bulky, that will admit of railroad transporta
ton. A Railroad therefore from st. Paul t.
Pugets Sound, would have the preference fo1
the trade of Asia both from it's shorter sea
line and its shorter land line.
These are few of the considerations which
hastily occur to us, making us resigned to thu
present defeat of the Pacific Railroad project
in the hope of future action, under more
enlightned auspices, more favorable to oul
Northern Railroad Route to the Pacific