The Portland daily press., 1868-01-24

PORI'LAND.
Friday Morning, January "a, 1858.


The Northern Pacific Railrsad.
Portland, Oregon, and Portland, Maine, are
nearer Asia and Europe respectively, than
any cities having safe and commOdious har-
bors on the shores of the Atlantic and Pa
cifc, within the limits Of the United States.
Portland, Oregon, which estimated but short
distance from tho mouth Of Columbia river,
will probably be the extreme western termi-
nus Of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The
main line, however, will probably have lis
terminus at Seattle, on Puget Sound, the
Portland branch uniting with the trunk road
on the Columbia river, some 200 miles above
Portland. The head of Pnge. Sound, at Se-
attle, Is almost five hundred miles nearer
Shanghai than San Francisco, and still nearer
Japan and the mouth of the. Amoor river in
Aslatic Russia When the Northern Pacific
road is completed the estimated time of tran
sit from New York TO Shanghai Is only % Or
23 days, allowing four days in which to cross
the continent; from london or Paris 10 China,
S2 days. Europeans will thus reach Eastern
Asia more quickly than by any other route,
and from this consideration alone 1t is not
improbable that the great highway Of nations
will ultimately be across the northern part of
the Unitod States. .is.l .s ~ 80 1l..j'-sg ~.
The Union Pacific and the Central Pacific
roads which start, the one from Sacramento,
California. and the other from Omaha, Ne
bfaska, and meet near Salt Lake City, are be-
ing 50 rapidly pushed toward completion, that
they engross public attention for the time,
and divert it from the enterprise which Is
really the more important one for New Eng
land and especially for Maine. BY the terms
OF the charter for the Northern Pacific road,
granted by Congress in 1864, it must be built
wholly in the latitude Of this State, so that
when schemes for the improvement Of our
western railroad connection, now engaging
the attention of our capitalists and business
men, are carried out, the building of the
road in question win open to Maine direct
route to the Pacific. a-
Though the commencement of this great
enterprise has been long delayed, there has
not been so much as thought of its aban-
donment. The company promptly organized
under their charter by the choice of j. Greg
ory Smith as President, and the selection of
an able board Of directors, among whom are
Judge Rice, President of the Portland & Ken
nebec Railroad, and Hon. l.. ID. M. Sweat of
this city. The preliminary surveys for the
location of the road have been made by ex-
perienced engineers under the supervision of
Edwin +. johnson, whose report as engineer
in-chief has just come to hand. 1Ta seI.
Much greater progress would have been
made If the government had treated this
company with the same liberality that it has
shown toward the great central route.
Alternate sections of land are granted to the
Northern Pacific, but it cannot tempt capi-
tasts to invest their money without being
able to offer them the security of United
States bonds and their own bonds secured by
mortgages having priority Of the claims OF
the government, as the Central and Union
Pacific are able to do. A bill is now pending
before Congress, granting the road more
liberal subsidy, which, if passed, will give
the roads already begun formidable rival in
the competition for the glory of first estab-
fishing steam communication with the Pacific
coast. In no other sense can they ever be
rivals, for though parallel, five degrees Of
latitude between them win give each sphere
of its own. If the grading of the Northern
Pacific were to be commenced during the en-
suing spring, the whole line Of railroad
could not be completed till long after the
southern road had been in operation, but it
isnevertheless true that by judiciously filing
the gaps between the navigable rivers be-
along its route before building other parts of
the road, steam communication across the
continent could be opened before the locomo-
tlyes from Sacramento and Omaha meet
at Salt Lake City in 1870. The number
and length Of these intervals between
navigable waters is surprisingly small.
Starting from the western end of Lake Supe-
rior, at some point in Wisconsin or Minnesota,
the building OF 4S5 miles OF road would bring
it to the waters of Missouri, which are navi-
gable to the Great Falls, a distance OF 500
miles; thence the rail must be continued 200
miles further to connect the Missouri with
Flathead and Clark rivers, which are nayiga-
BILE 175 miles; 40 miles Of additional road,
making In all S25, bring US to the Columbia
river, which is nayiggble to the sea. 1t is per-
fectly clear that the comparatively short dis
lance OF S25 miles can be completed before
the southern road spans the immense basin
between the Rocky and Sierra Nevada noun
tains. The length of the Northern Pacific
wnen the rail is laid along its whole course
will be LIS miles. 4saae. fae z4od- sssIs7s
There are many interesting points connect
ed with the road at which we can only glance:
the comparative nearness OF Its western term
mus to our new possessions, acquired from
Russia; the wonderful trend OF the lsother-
mad lines toward the North, showing that
neither the construction nor the operation of
the road win he interrupted by snow or the
severity OF the climate; the Influence of the
contiguity of the road to the Hudson Bay
COmpanys possessions and British Columbia
upon the inhabitants of those regions, as
tending to incline them more and more
toward aonexation; the wonderful resources
of the country through which the road pass
es; the extent Of territory, north and south,
rendered easily accessible; and the advan-
tages to be derived by the government from
the road, in either peace or war. These and
many other considerations, to which we can
not here refer, point Enthusiastically to the
fact that the Northern Pacific is to be the
Pacific railroad. a9f 1924
e.. #Ef e w.