The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1867-04-12
The Great Railroad 10 the
Far West.

.. hrom The Independent, AprirS. ,s
T Few Of US have sufficiently considered the
effect upon the country of the completion of
the railroad to the Pacific. We may i'm
agine the rich streams Of commerce flow
back and forth across our continent, inter-
changing the products of China and the
East Indies with Western Europe, WHICH
now have TO find their way round the South :
ern capes by route four times the distance.
The opening of railroad line between the
Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans will give us
the shortest road round the world, one which
has the advantage of lying within the same
temperate zone. We have the shortest road
and the best road to the East This, how
ever, is the least important benefit to follow
the establishment of the great highway.
An immense population must spring up
along the line Of the road itself Experiences
show that steamroads create their own busi-
ness; they are in fact among the principal
agencies for opening up, civiliziDg, and i'm
| {5rOying the wilderness. OF the l., $50 miles
between the Missouri River and the Western
coast, which, up the the beginning Of the
war, were traversed only by the stsge-cosch
mule team, 400 have been spanned by the
/ iron road on the ist of January last the great
er portion of it during the past year. Now
that the energies and capital of the nation
are somewhat unfettered by the close of tbs
| struggle for the national life, we may expect,
this great national work to make rapid
strides. A full third of our-territory " i'll
thereby be brought within easy access, and
rendered astonishingly productive. Nature
as il in her economy she had determined
that nothing should be altogether useless
has placed in the rugged Western mountain
ranges, and among the arid deserts of the
| interior Western plains, rich seams and veins
os the metals which by. common consent
have become the worlds standards of value
The United States have Eaore Of this min
| eral wealth, as well as more coal and iron
4 than the rest of the world together; and il
needs only the Iacilities Of Bccess, labor,
machinery, and home comforts to render us
four times as productive of gold and silver
as we have been.
The road, as most readers know, is being
built from both ends by two district Com
panies, each striving to build as fsst and IS
far as it can; the Government granting lis
| credit aid to both, according to the progress
and difficulties of the road. The national
subside, which is Practically donation, in
return for the military and commercial ad.
vantsges the road is to confer on the nation
| at large, is ieckoned TO be about half the
cost of building the entire line; the other
half together Yith the cost Of equipment,
will be abundanuy provided for by private
capital, which will seek such an iuvestment.
The roads must be built; the intermediate
territories are languishing for it; the trans
continental trade is waiting for it; and the
half million Of our kipsfolk, and their fam
lilies on this side, are impatient for it, The
necessary means viii no doubt be forthcom-
ing as fast az 1t is needed. because no other
entsrprize of the same magnitude Offers bali
the prospect of immediate prosperity,
The Californians, on their end OF the iine,
have shown great sagacity and determination
Already thew have reached, in the first one
hundred miles, ihe top of the formidable
mountain range, and in Juiy leSt will be
near the great Nevada silver miuipg re-,