The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-03-13


We cannot undertake to return rejected Communica
Letters to be addressed sTo THE DAILY EXCHANGE
Baltimore, Maryland u
During several previous sessions various inef-
fectual efforts have been made to induce Congress
TO take action with regard to the construc-
ton of a Railway from some point upon the Mis-
sissppi or the Missouri river to the Pacific Ocean.
Exploring parties were long since charged with
the especial duty of ascertaing, by actual survey,
the best route for this great th0Dughhre, and the
results of their explorations have benin the
the language of Secretary FLoYD-''elaboratel
"set forth in eight large volumes" 1t was as
sumed, at the time when these volumes pub
lished, that there could be no longer any contro-
versy as to the most eligible route for constructing
what President BUCHANAN, with precision of Ian
guage which was intended to remove any consti-
tutional objections that might be urged against it,
was pleased to call ia military railroad to the Pa
'cifc." Both the PRESIDENT and the SECRETARY
of WAR were of opinion that the Ell Paso or Ari-
route, the sd parallel of north latitude,
between the western boundary of Texas on the
Rio Grande and the eastern boundary of California
on the Colorado river, was the best of all others
''frst," says President BUCHANAN, 'because it is
''much the shortest, and also because the face of
''the country is in the main favorable" Secretary
FLOYD, who advocated the same route much more
heartily claimed for it many other and every de-
''cided advantages" He remarks in his Report
for 1878, "that the route from Ell Paso to the
Colorado is not merely the shortest but the
grades are also lower, the climate milder and
''the distance across the desert region, common to
call the routes, is less upon this" He admits,
however, that the consumma1ion of the project,
freed from all other difficulties ''would require
Immense sums Of money and great length of
''time,' and that a strong and urgent necessity
would still remain for maintaining and keeping
open 1.-TWO of the other routes that had been sur
veyed, ''for the passage Of emigrants and the
Transportation of military stores 10 vast regions
''of our country, accessible only by these routes"
In other words, the SECRETARY expresses himself
in favor of opening up these routes across the
tinent 10 the Pacific upon the southernmost of
which, communication was to be facilitated by
railway transportation, whilst the Central and
Northern routes were to be simply common roads
upon which emigrants might travel, and the mails
be carried, protected from Indian incursons by
Southern Railway route more palatable to
the Northern and Eastern States, an economical
view of the matter was taken by the PRESIDENT.
"The distance" he tells us in his first annual
Message, 'between the western boundary of Texas
Sand the eastern boundary of California does not
''exceed four hundred and seventy miles; " but he
omts to state, that between the western boundary
of Texas, and the nearest system of railways east
of the Mississippi, there lie nearly thousand
miles of almost unbroken wilderness; that the
distance to be overcome between the Colorado and
the port of San Diego on the Pacific, would require
the construction of some two hundred miles of ad-
ditonal railway, and that passengers and mer-
chandise will then have five hundred miles of
water carriage before reaching San Francisco
These are but rough calculations, in which the
extent of the route is certainly not exaggerated,
while of the many disadvantages it presents we
have not yet spoken at all. The chief of these
are-an utter absence of wood and water along a
considerable portion of the line, and the entire I'M
fitness for settlement of large extent of country
through which the proposed railway would pass.
There is, moreover, one other objection
to the choice of this route, as a means
of direct communication with our possessions
on the Pacifc-it does not fulfil its purpose.
route to be perfect for the uses for which it is de-
signed, must not only run entirely through our
own territories, but must be one which will do
away with the necessity for water carriage for
any part of the distance-aS, under such circum-
stances, it would prove Of no more real value
than either of the Isthmus routes and, like them,
twould be closed against us in the event of
iwar with naval power so much stronger than
f'our own as to enable it to blockade the port at
(Which it terminated" But assuming that the
railway, to which the PRESIDENT, like DEsDEMoNA,
"most seriously inclines," and which the SEcRE-
TARY of WAR most strongly favors, leaves the
32d parallel of nth latitude somewhere not far
distant from the junction of the ella with the
Colorado, and takes enthusiastically course
towards San Francisco; then, even in that case,
and taking it for granted that there are no physi-
cal obstacles in the way to be overcome, it is still
evident that the line is located too far to the
southwark to accommodate the stream of travel
and traffic from the Northwestern States, and
from the great business centres of the Atlantic
sea-board But while these objections may
be urged against the adoption of the
Texas and Arizona route, there Gre equally cogent
reasons why neither the most northerly route
should be chosen, which traverses Nebraska terri
tory and crosses the Rocky Mountains by the
South Pass; nor the Kansas route, which inter-
sects the latter at Salt Lake City. Apart from the
engineering difficulties in the way-and they are
confcssedly immense-the region of the Great
Desert, like that of the Staked Plains on the
Southern line, is wholly untitled for settlement;
the winter SHOWS would frequently render the
road impossible, while the length of either of
these routes is far greater than that of any other
To fulfil the conditions required of Railroad
to the Pacific, over our own territories, it should
he centrally situated it should pass for the great
er part of the distance, through region OF coun-
try sufficiently fertil. and inviting for settlement
wood and water should be al undant and conve-
nient along the line of route the climate, even in
winter, should offer no impediment to the regular
movement of trains upon the road; the engineer
ing difficulties should be comparatively few, and
the gradients light All these advantages are
claimed, and believe with strict justice, for the
route advocated by Lieut. BEALL. Commencing
at st. Louis, the proposed road takes southwest
wardy course until it touches at some point in
New Mexico upon the 35th parallel of north lati-
tude-proceeding thence, that parallel,
to the Colorado river, which forms, as we have
already stated, the Eastern boundary of Califor-
MIA, and debouching upon the Pacific coast by the
TETON pass. 1t is stated that the gradients on this
route, as estimated by the barometrical observa-
tons of Lieut.. BEALL, will in no case exceed
thiryseven feet to the mle and if all the material
facts which we have briefly mentioned should be
confirmed by subsequent exploration and survey,
there cannot be any doubt whatever that this
route presents q combination of advantages
which ought 10 give it precedence over all Others
THE DEPARTURE OF MINISTER McLANE.-It was
prematurely announced, fortnight ago, that Min
lister McLane had left w ashington for New York
TO take passage in the steamer Brooklyn from that
port Tor Vera Cruz. 1t is stated that the order
was given but countermanded by the President for
the purpose of learning more of the condition of
AFFAIRS In Mexico, and also for the purpose of pre-
pairing further instructions for the Minister All
the arrangements nv hain