The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-01-16
NO. 26.

Fare raised nrich abundance" He DE-
seribes the Bitter Root Valley as on
Of "perennial spring." and "not onl
capable Of grazing immense bands r
stock Of every kind, but also capable r
supporting dense population" Alop
the Sun river "a stiff clay soil is alread
cultivated to advantage" He "wa
struck with the richness of the soil
south Of Bird Tail Rock and in various
other places, and he declares ssther,
are enough statistics of growth from
actual cultivation along the line to show
that the many areas herein referred t(
will grow abundant crops" i
"Abundant building material and waite,
are at hand, and mill sites can be had
on nearly every water.course. Mr.,
Tinkham, an engineer who assisted in
Gov. stevene' exploration of 1863.
says: 4The general valley of Flat
head river and lake, including the val
ley where the Hudson's Bay Company's 5
small trading post is, consider as one
OF the most desirable for settlement
having much fertile soil and wooded
lands, with all the other desriabilities
OF good wood and timber, pure water
and air, and agreeable locations. Resi-.
dences on the lake will be most agreea-
bly, situated for attractive scenery, and
advantages of. water communication
are Of considerable extent. The river
abounds with fish, mostly SALMON and
trout" Singular enough, "there are
many agreeable and promising locations
for farming" in He'll Gate Valley; the
Inducements being "sufdciently attrac-
tive to throng the mountain valleys. at
no distant day, with central popula-
ton Of vast importance" Mr.. Lam
bert another OF Gen. Stevens party.
passed through "a picturesque dedle to
an extensive and fertile prairie on
Jocko river, where numbers of wild
horses were scen," and he remarks that
the "available country in the valleys
and prairies can be rcckoned-it is not
too m uchto say-by thousands of square
miles,"
These passages. selected almost at
random, relate to land near the pro-
po&cd route in idaho and Montana.
Passing on into Washington Territory,
the lumber trade is found important.
The Surveyor-General of that Territory
in his report for 1889, says: 'The
magnificent fir and cedar forests of this
region give employment to some twenty
saw-mills, some OF which employ four
hundred men, and furnish cargoes of
sawn lumber for some forty vessels, en-
ployed in transporting this article of
commerce to India, California, South
America, and the islands of the Paci-
ic."
+ Over considerable of this route nou
are daily stages; and during the past
season three steamers were plying the
Pend d. Oreill Lake and Clark's Fork.
Already agriculture is there laying the
foundation Of her empire. The great
expanse Of fertile territory lying north
OF the route in the Hudson's Bay ter
ritory and stretching from the Red
River to the Rocky Mountains will also
be tributary to the Northern Pacific
Railroad.
The cost of transportation from St.
Louis to Helena is $500 per ton, an
expense which applies to provisions and
tools, and as Gen. Meigs we'll says, to
books and periodicals : and is neces-
sarlly a great drawback to the develope-
ment of that region, which the railroad
will remedy.
: Emigration, taking advantage Of the
cheap and convenient route of the St.
Lawrence and the lakes, would natur-
ally follow up the building Of the rail-
road. The northern route is several
hundred miles shorter than either of the
other routes-the direct distance from
Lake Superior to Seattle, on Puget
Sound; being l ,427 miles. The latter
place is 500 miles nearer the great mar
kets Of China than is San Francisco.
If the ,oad were in operation, the
merchant by means Of it could go from
London to China in half the time now
required on the Red Sea route:
WHY THE CO. vEnxMExr SHOULD AID THE ROAD
1t is estimated that the average cost
of constructing the road with double
track, and putting it in complete ope-
ration, will not be far from $50, 900
per mile. The estimated cost of the
main. line is $40, ,377 800. Ordinary
railroad corporations can build roads
for a few hundred miles in wealthy and
populous districts, but they cannot be
expected to alone accomplish such a
great undertaking as q road to the Pa
cific.. Stockholders want prompt re-
turns. The Northern Pacific Railroad
Company, therefore, in addition to their
land grant, ask Congress for loan in
bonds similar 10 what was granted the
Union Pacific Railroad, namely, SIG, 900
per mile, to be doubled or trebled over
the mountains. This would average
only about one.third of tho cost per
mile Of the road.
Such an undertaking is but little, if
any, moro onerous, on the part Of the
United States, all things considered,
than were the appropriations forty
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