Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-10-05
A RIVAL TO THE PACIFIC RAIL
ROAD.

hOo0
The building of the Pacific Railroad
is going forward with so much regular
ity, and at such a high rate OF speed,
that until lately other nations have naa
no time to do anything else than 70 eA-
press wonder at the remarkable e1hioi-
ton of energy. They have scarcely
been able to imagine yet what the result
NAV be, and they are just beginning 10
s~peculate as to the consequences OF
GREAT revolution in commerce, which
they yet imperfectly understand. ABOUT
the time that they come to some settled
conclusion upon the subject, the ra'i'
road will be finished; and then, let
them do what they can, they will not be
able TO escape from the supremacy
which the United States must assume
and keep over the commerce which iows
between Europe and Asia. The only
nation that might compete with US in
this matter, is Great Britain, and John
Bull has not yet got his eyes open as to
the importance Of the great stake which
now exists, and which the United States
are about to carry off. Until lately no
reference to the quiet consequences of
the action of the United States has been
made in England. A short time ago
n of those scientific men who arc
ahead of men of business in some things,
read o paper before the British Asso-
citation for the Advancement Of Sci.
ence," upon, "An Overland Route,
through British territory, from the At
lautic to the Pacific"
The author Of the paper seems to be
we'll acquainted with his subject, and
he understands exactly how British
commercial supremacy on this continent
will be o%verthrown by the successful
completion of the Pacific Railroad.
Hence, he argues that it is the duty Of
Great Britain, in order to circumvent
the detestable Yankee schemes, to en-.
courage the building Of a railroad
through the British possessions in Can
ada and Columbia. He AYERS that some
thing Of the sort is absolutely necessary,
otherwise the United States will
get possession Of the entire carrying
trade between Asia and Europe, n
most disastrous thing, which might
overthrow the British commercial
supremacy. He estimated that q
road.from one ocean to another might
cos. Ell, 200, 900, or Sl35,ooo, 900 in
gold. But inasmuch rs the country be-
tween the settled parts Of Canada and
British Columbia has never been prop
erly explored, it is manifest that these
computations have been based upon
guess work, and may prove upon further
inquiry to be illusory. But upon this
point, taking his own estimate into con-
sideration, the philosopher is quite en-
thusiastic. He says:
We shall DO told that such an outlay is far
too great to be thought Of. But what we
have to consider is not merely the amount,
but the object to be attained, and whether
that is commensurate with the outlay: IL
the commercial supremacy Of England is at
stake-and that has been pretty clearly
~shown-what are seven and twenty millions
compared with the sad downfall which must
inevitably follow such a loss, and the decay
and ruin Of our country! Never was so
large 4 sum Of money more usefully, more
wisely applied ; and IN rain might we ran.
sack the history Of our national debt to find a
parallel.
The brilliant Briton is no doubt cor
rect in his differences that the Pacific
Railroad over the territory Of the United
States will give to this country the COM
mand of the trade between Asia and
Europe. Perhaps he is not so wise in
his calculations of the advantage Of n
competing road. The British railroad
to the Pacific would be carried through
an inhospitable, bleak region, in which
travelling would be for n very consider
able portion of the year almost impos-
sible, in consequence of the immense
SHOWS peculiar to the climate. Travel
ing upon that road 10 the winter months
would be uncomfortable, hazardous and
expensive. In addition, the greater
portion of the country through which
the railroad would pass is the territory
of the Hudson's Bay Company, and n
wilderness and waste, without popu-
latiou to sustain the road BY local
travel, or to assist in its working and
management. The clear road to the
Pacific is in the United States. No rail-
road At o high latitude can compete
with it, and although the essay Of our
British friend may be highly scientific,
his scheme is evidently not practical.