Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-11-14
FRO BE CONTINUED. ]

make with Bob Stokes, but snapped him
up well, when he came along, and said good
morning.
iFW TO BE CONTINUED.
The Union Pacific Railroad Five Hum
drcd Miles Completed.
Tho click of the telegraph tells us that five
hundred miles of this magnificent work arc
now completed, and that the whistle of the
locomotive can be heard on the Rocky Noun
tains. Ther. very base, at Cheyenne, is but
seventeen miles further, and in another week,
the track will be at this embryo city on the
western boundary of the great plains. 1t is
but thirty-one miles more to the highest
summit OF the line between the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans, and TO this point, the road
bed is nearly ready for the rails 1t may be
quite possible for you, reader, to travel by a
,first-class car all the way, and cat your
Chrisimas dinner among the peaks of the
Black Hills, eight thousand feet above tide
water. A thousand laborers are on their
western slopes, and other thousands are
joining them. ALI winter long, the gorges
and defiles Of these grand old mountains
will resound with the miners blast and the
crash of the tumbling rocks, as they are
thrown out of their beds, where they have
laid since the world began. Ten thousand
Cinnamon, under American engineers, have
already dug and pounded their way over and
through the great Sierra Nevadas of Cali
fornia, and are rapidly pushing forward to
meet the great army of builders from the
east, and we are told that in 1870, the traveller
may see the sun rise out of the Atlantic on
Monday morning, and set in the golden
glories of the Pacific on Saturday night.
The locomotive is coming! Clear the
track, Messrs. Holein-the-day,' Crying
Wolf,' Dancing Grizzly Jump-off-a-log,
Spotted-tail,' Whitc-man-k killer and all
your ragged race. 1t is your manifest destiny
to stop scalping white folks, and you must
either be absorbed by the new tide of civiliza-
ton or be drowned in it. Messrs. Antelope,
Buffalo and Beaver you have been very use
ful animals in your way, and have done the
world service in your day; but really now
we quite regret it--but we must have a
| few more farms out there in your direction,
and will trouble you to move on, or off, as
you find it most convenient. The logic of
events is not to be resisted the race of bar
barism is drawing TO an end the world
moves, and the people thereof-and general
ly westward.
But really, the public have known very
little of the gigantic proportions of this Pa
cific Railroad, To build it eighteen hundred
miles through wilderness, and over the
highest mountains on the North American
Continent, was something, the like OF which
had never been attempted. The Appian
Way of Rome was nothing to it,and modern
engineering furnished no precedents for it.
| The certain profits Of the immense business
between the two grand divisions OF the con-
tinent were great prize to capitalists; but
no Company could he formed that would
dare venture more than hundred millions
OF money to secure it. But necessary as the
road was to individuals and to commerce
generally, the people as government-as a
nation-needed it more. The United States
Treasury was annually taxed to an immense
amount to pay for transporting troops and
supplies to its mountain forts, to keep the
peace among Indian tribes, that nothing but
advancing civilization could keep perma-
nently quiet The Pacific states and terri
4
ready discussed new plan of disunion in a
future Pacific Empire. The government
lands of vast region were worthless, be-
cause they could not be reached; and only
the richest pockets of the great gold field
were opened, because of the impossbility Of
profitable transit, And here, Congress acted
wisely in lending the Pacific Railroad Com
panies fifty millions in its six per cent. bonds,
apportioned out as the work progresses, to
secure the speedy construction of the line,
for they more than pay the interest in the
services they render. No other internal i'm
provement by the general government has
ever promised to add so much to the wealth
of the country. 1t will be the means OF
opening vast region to population that
we shall be only too happy to welcome to the
national tax-list; and besides, in the event
of future wars, it would be very well TO have
our neighbors so convenient, that they could
do their share of the fighting.
Just now, when our California relatives
are anxious 20 come home to thanksgiving,
it is pleasant to know, that more than one
third of the work on this Pacific Railroad is
done; that more than one-third OF the whole
line is in running order but, accustomed
as we are to large figures, it seems a little
surprising to know, that over forty million
dollars in money have already been expend-
ed upon it. The Union Pacific Company's
contracts for the first Oh miles running wcst
from Omaha, amount to sixty-two million
dollars but this is only sixty eight thousand
dollars per mile, including equipments of al
kinds. We can sec no reason why this
, Union Pacific Railroad should not be finish
ed within two or three years. The govern
ment aid, in bonds and lands, is munficent
The Company's own first mortgage bonds
have ready market, and the stockholders
, freely invest their millions, so that ample
means are not lacking. The business of thu
completed road will be enormous. Probably
, nothing like it will have been known in the
history of railway traffic. All the pass
\ engers, mails, and treasure OF the Pacifl'
: States and Territories, and most of thu
freights of the great mining regions OF thu
l Rocky Mountains, must go over 1t, and TO
r many years to come it can have no rival
! The twenty-seven thousand 'sparirie schoon
. ers, as the white-topped OK wagons wer'
u called that once trayersed the great plains
o are already laid up, or have gone to NOR
q remote points, and their burdens are trans
) 2 lerred to the railway trains. Indeed, tn
y local traffic of this Union Pacific Railroad
k remarkable, and its business increases as TIL
q mining districts are approached. Its earn
ings for the quarter ending July 3lst, wer
officially reported TO be at over million; an
, after all expenses were paid, net sum re
5 manned which proves that the road Woul
q be profitable if not another mile should b
2 built. "The way they do things out West
10 has always been a synonym OF energy, br
,r this last Illustration of it is certainly th
t, most impressive of all.
We would add that the Union Pacific Raj
road is built under the supervision OF fiy
y Directors appointed by the U. s. Govern
it ment, whose duty it is to see that all IL
,g Company's affairs are prudently conducted
80 and three Government Commissioners VII
W inspect the road in sections of twenty mile
le as it is built. Government Bonds and Il
ne Company's own First Mortgage Bonds al
~ issued only as these sections are accepte
!, and pronounced to be thoroughly built an
~ fully equipped. These First Mortga!
ng Bonds pay six per cent interest per annu
as in gold, and are offered at ninety cents {
to the dollar. We can see no reason why th'
7 arc not a thoroughly sound and safe secul
ty. We know of no other Company in whit
et the Government takes such care of the i
as terests of private investors, and there is &C
INF tainly none but Pacific Railroad Compai
in which it takes second mortgage to s
cure its own money