Arizona miner., 1866-02-14


 yelopment.
 THE PRACTICABLE PACIFIC RAIL
 ROAD.
 The nation has undertaken the construc- ton of the Pacific Railroad, the most impor- tant internal improvement that has ever claimed its attention Teeming with energy and resources and fully alive to the vital i'm portance of the work, the people have hastily entered upon the building Of the first line that has been proposed or advocated. Those who live in this region and know anything of the Sierra Ncyadas and Wasatch Mountains. or have ever heard of the waterless, treeless, grassless, worthless deserts of Nevada and Utah, arc amazed that such a rash and unfor- tunate choice should have been made. It may we'll be asked why has this intelligent people made such a choice7 Simply because we, the dwellers on this route, have not ex- erted ourselves to make it's merits known to our fellow countrymen in the East New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California should have put forth every exertion to assert the superior claims of the thirty-fith paral- Tel route and to keep its manifold advantages constantly before the people and their repre- sentatiyes. A bill has already been intro duced in Congress, to grant a charter to what is called The Southern Pacific Ra;lroad.n connecting Kansas City, Albuquerque, Mohave and San Diego, with branch to San Fran cisco. The apathy hitherto displayed by Arizonians and New Mexicans on this subject seems to indicate that they are unacquainted with the marked superiority of this heir route over all others.
 In order to call the attention of our fellow citizens more clearly to this subject, descrip- tion of this route, prepared by Colonel An derson formerly commanding the military district of Arizona) and originally published in the Aita C1iyaia, is reprinted in this issue. That article however gives a mere outline of the route In order that this may be better understood by those who have lately arrived . in this vicinity, a more detailed description will be attempted. After leaving San Fran cisco Springs, Whipple's route passes to the 1. north of Bill Williams Mountain, and then enters the Val de China. This is the name given tO the open valley extending north west from Postie's Ranch. The high mssa north of the toll gate on the Mohave road was named Aztec Mountain This has since been called Juniper Mountain. Would it not be far better to retain the original appel lation, and give the name of "Juniper Noun tain' to the small conical peak immediately north of Aztec pass2 After crossing the Val de China the road ascends the valley of Pu- eblo Greek, now called Walnut Greek, ! crosses the range by "Aztec Pass" and tray erses the open country to Fort Rock Spring The creek on which the Cottonwoods and | Willows are situated was called White Cliff Creek. Instead of descending this, the road. as recommended by WhippIe, crosses the hills to the west, by gap further north named Cactus Pass From this point great cutoff may be made on Whippie's road. Tine latter descended the valley of Bill Williams Fork to its mouth, aud then ascended the Colorado to the upper7pont of the Needles. A much shorter route could be made by keeping di- rectly west past the point of HuaIapai Noun tain and Railroad Spring to the open valley on this side of Union Pass, and descending this to the river above the Needles. From this point to the bend of the MohaTe no bet ter route than Whipple's has as yet been described.
 recent editorial in the Saerameato Union describes the branch road to San Francisco as leaving this one at Fort Yuma. This cer tainly looks like an attempt to conceal from the public the true course of the proposed road. Any one who will take map of the United States and trace out the two roads will see that this is at least as short A route from Kansas to San Francisco as that oia Salt Lake, etc. It is not to the interest of peo pie near the latter line that such compari son should ever be made between the two routes and they may we'll therefore, resort tO every artifice to prevent the relative mcr its of the two routes from being canyassed. No one who will give this matter careful, fair examination, can fail Co be struck at the great superiority of our route in every desirable quality. Every mile of road that S built by the nation on the northern route Is waste Of time and money. This may seeiA Ike a rash assertion, but the position is by no Tseans an untenablc one 1t is our duty as nation 10 construct this road in the shortest possible time, and over the best route. ln arier Co effect this the effort cf