The Portland daily press., 1865-01-31

Maine Jury. He can vindcate both by deeds.
Take our advice, Bro. Adams, and be more re-
gardful Of private reputation in making up
your own columns, and show that you are
truly loyal by works meet for generous pa
triotism.
The Collaborating Regions Of the Great
West.
Many circumstances combine, Just at pres
ent, to direct attention toward those magnif.
cent gold and silver belts which encircle and
traverse the western half of this continent
The immense mineral treasures which the ac-
QUESTION of California opened to the enterprise
of our people, are measurably well under
stood; but of the vast riches of Colorado, Ne
vada, Idaho and Montana, few of us have any
adequate idea. The great plateau of North
America is 1900 miles in length, from south
east to northwest; its area is 100000 square
miles, and its altitude 5000 feet above the sea-
One-third of this vast area is within the pres
emit limits of the United States. It can fur
nish space enough for the ceaseless tide of
our foreign immigration to pour itself out,
and swell into half score of first class states,
or empires, il that be preferred, and there is
gold and silver enough in the mountains that
wall 1t in, to supply the most liberal excheq-
uers.
1t requires no extraordinary amount of
prescience to perceive that In the necessary
course of events, this vast region must be-
come the field for developing those surplus
energies of our people which have constant
tendency to overflow toward the west. The
position of the plateau, its structure, climate
and lavish abundance in everything which ex-
cites the desires or stimulates the energies of
man, all conspire to designate it as the future
centre of mighty activities and a splendid
civilization.
Its climate is peculiar, but uniform. The
atmosphere is tonic, clear and brilliant, and SO
dry that it converts the grasses into hay and
gives food to grazing animals the year round.
The sides Of the mountains are clothed with
forests, the mountain meadows furnish nu-
tritious grasses. The streams and lakes are
full of fish; waterfowl and native poultry
abound; the forests TEEN with game. Some
few spots of sandy desert are found, but
their extent is Insignificant compared with
the whole area, and even these contain placers
of gold. The whole region is full OF Gold
Silver is almost equally abundant. The noun
tains and plains also furnish other mineral
treasures of inestimable value. OF coal, lime,
marble, precious stones, basalt, granite, obsid-
ian, salt, sand and alkalies for the making of
glass, petroleum, thermal and mineral springs,
the variety is endless, and the supply seem
ingly infinite. A clever writer in recent
number of the New York Herald, dilates
largely on the wealth and promise of this
new region, and especially on, that part of it
within the limits Of Colorado. he says: 4
In short, the plateau presents itself prepar-
ed and equipped by nature In all departments,
at every point, and throughout its whole
length, for the immediate entrance and occu-
patton Of organized society and the densest
population. u ss--rs-re.
Through the entire centre Of Colorado.
from north TO south, and tapping up against
the indented base of the mountains, are de-
posits of the primeval ocean-all CHASING In
the geographical series of secondary" rocks
The contact here of the secondary rocks with
the primeval mountains brings into juxtapo-
sition an immense variety of metals, rocks,
earths andsalts. Above these, in the noun
tains, we find precious metals and lumber
Astounding in infinite profusion. Pastoral ag-
riculture there occupies the whole face of ma
ture. From the GROWING summit of the
Snowy Cordillera, turreted by the stupendous
towers of Longs and Pixies Peaks, descend,
towards the two great oceans-the Atlantic
and the Pacifc-the eastern and western
slopes OF the American continent. On the
east is seen the smooth and gently descending
area of the Great Plains, interlaced by rivers.
On the west we see the prodigious system of
mountains, extending to the Pacific sea, chan
nelled and drained by immense rivers, which
bear off its surplus waters. Surrounding the
central barrier of the continent, like the sad
die upon the back of horse, Colorado Terri
tory is pre- eminently the keystone of our con-
tinental arc. As in the East the boundaries
of the State of Pennsylvania bestride and
neutraize the barriers OF the Alleghanies, fus-
ing the Atlantic sea with the Mississippi basin
the same on the West, in the sublime prospec-
tive expansion OF our immense interior, on
ward to the great mountains and beyond to
the Pacific sea, is accomplished by the SUI
preme and browning geographical position Of
Colorado. s3ss.oa 3 fesl. .lT.s'..,. ~ q
The idea of embracing within the bounda.
ries of states and nations massive chains of
mountains, instead OF causing them to form
limits of separation, is here demonstrated in
two instances on the American continent. Is
it wise to perpetuate the profound biunders Of
antiquity, which have made for thousands of
years the Pyrenees. the Alps ana the Caucus
es bulwarks to crush afiilation and make eter-
nal social isolation; or shall we conffne these
barriers where social unity and energy shall
obliterate them as barriers against the fusion
of mankind into the grand scheme of civiliza-
ton and Christianity?
Though mining is likely to be the chief in
terest of this Territory, the facilities for agri
culture are great. All the cereals and fruits
known to European nations, and all our do.
nestle animals thrive there. Everything rails
ed in the States Of New York and Pennsyl-
vania can be produced with ease. Luscious
white and purple grapes, grow in profusion,
and wine is already made in considerable guam
titles. &ss}@4 y a. : = fANN sAE
Such advantages as these, added to the
charms of a vernal temperature, brilliant
sky, and pure, exhilarating air, must give to
this region in the future an Importance which
cannot be estimated. When the completion
OF the Pacific Railway shall afford more ad-
equate means of communication and trans.
portatlon, and when the return of peace, now
happily among the promises of the near fu-
ture, shall set free the immense energies at
present absorbed by the war, we may look to |
see the tide OF activity and enterprise surging |