St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1868-01-17
Our First Pacific RailrOad.
BY ALBERT u. RICHARDSON.


BY ALBERT u. RICHARDSON.
l say our ''first' road, because chill
dren now living will see four or five rail
ways completed from the Mississippi TO
the Pacific.
THREE BELTS OF STATES.
Our new states west of the Great
River, naturally divide themselves into
three belts or tiers. The northern en-
braces Minnesota, Dacotah, Montana,
Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
The southern includes the Indian Ter
ritory, New Mexico and Arizona.
The central belt, comprises Iowa and
Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas, Colora-
do, Nevada, Utah and California. 1t is
far more populous than the other two
combined. Along it used to be the track
of the tutfaloes, and the Indians. Along
it were beaten the first trails of ciNiliza-
ton 10y Mormon and California emf
grants. Here nature has established the
centers of population, the routes OF travel,
the lines OF commercial, the pathway OF
empire.
IOWA AND MISSOURI.
Iowa. nearly prairie, i< well watcrcI
and timbered, rich in soil, and ho, 4
population of three quarters of = mil
lion
Missouri. half as large as the 'ni;ri
Kingdom of Great Britain and ireland
with a pleasant climate and most fertile
soil; with more land adapted to the
grape than the aggregate vineyards of
France; with boundIess treasures ot
timbsr, marble, iron and Leads the
Empire State of the interior-inleed OF
the whole Union, with the possible cN-
ception OF California. Her population Is
about million and three quarters.
KANSAS, NEBRASKA AND CuLuEApo.
Kansas, though poorer in timber and
minerals. is the richest and iairc-t OF our
pruule states. Twelve wears of free la
Dor. have converted her from solitude,
into great commonwealth with quar-
ter of million of people.
Nebraska, also all prairie though hard
ly 50 rich in soil, is an excellent agrcnl-
tural state. Her population Is forty or
fifty thousand.
In Western Kansas and Nebraska. the
prairie. soil becomes more and more sandy
until near the borders of Colorado, it
merges into one vast sand desert. From
this point to the Pacific, there is little
agriculture without irrigation. But
where water is once turned on, the seem
Inglv sterile earth yields with surprising
abundance.
In central Colorado, the Rocky Noun
tains rise right up like a wall, from gent
ly rolling deserts to the hight Ct two or
three thousand feet. The mountain view
from Denver is probably finer than from
any other considerable town in the
world.
Colorado, begun, in 1859, has rich
treasures of gold, and impatiently wait,
the Pacific Railway to develop them. Its
population is twenty-five thousand.
UTAH AND NEN ADA.
Utah has hundred thousand people
ninety-nine one hundredths Of them Nor.
mons. 1t is made up of snowy noun.
tains with rich valleys and basins be-
tween, admirably adapted to agriculture
and to fruit. The great Salt Lake, l3t
miles long, is SO dense that at low water
three gallons will produce one gallon o
pure salt Salt Lake city, with popu
ation of nearly twenty thousand, is til,
largest town between Lcavenworth an,
San Francisco. 1t consists OF low adob,
sun-dried-brick houses covered with tree
and vines Rllls of clear water threat
the streets, and in the distance greer
meadows, with shining lakelets and brook
stretch off toward the all encirclin!
mountains.
Nevada is dreariest and barrenest o
all our states, except Idaho. 1t is com
posed of mountains, and ashen hills, an,
deserts, without tree, shrub, or any greer
thing, save in few of the valleys. Bu
though it had no white inhabitants min
years ago, its great mineral vein, known
as the Comstock Lode, though only fiv
miles long, has already yielded sixty mil
lions of dollars in silver
THE SIERRA NEVADAS AND CALIFORNIA
In Western Nevada, rise the gram
Sierra Nevadas-by far the most strik
: ing mountains on our continent. Upo
: their summit glitters Tabor, a wonderful
= little lake, more than mile above Sc
level. 1t is so perfectly transparent, tina
f the bottom is seen with distinctness a
3 the depth Of nearly hundred feet.
f is far grander and lovelier than LAX
4 George. Already, two large hotels ar
e built near it, and it is favorite summe
V resort for the Californians. The stat
line between Nevada and Calitorni
e crosses it.
e California, what can say of it in
single paragraph? The great metropo
: lis, more like New York than any othe
+ American city, which has sprung up O
: barren sand hills, in eighteen years, in
n climate so genial, that thin clothing
e never worn, though roses bloom in d.
/ cember, and grapes are fresh On tt
r tables for six months of the year IL
r kindly air, where fig, orange and pom
# granate grow side by side with appl
st pear and cherry; the great vineyard whic
+; yet will supply the whole world; tt