The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-09-11
Editorial Correspondence.

Editorial Correspondence.
ST. Louis, Mo-, Sept. 9, 1869.
| During the hasty run which l de-
sign to make through the States and
Territories along the Pacific Rail
roads on my present trip, l will make
such notes by the way as it is
hoped will be of interest to the read
ers of the JOURNAL. So much has
been written quite recently from and
concerning these regions, that 1 am
fully conscious I will not be able to
add anything new or important; and
yet an oft told story is read with pa
thence by those who are deeply inter
ested in the subject. There is no
other part of our country attracting a
| 1.-THE of tho attention which is now
! given by all our people to the Great
| West and the Pacific Slope; so fruit
full In its mineral aud agricultural
| products, so marvellous In its growth,
and so full of promise In its future
| development.
There has been a sharp rivalry for
a few years past between st. Louis
and Chicago, for the trade and COM
merce of the Western Territories.
| Nature had done all that was possible
in favor of st. Louis commanding the
navigation Of the two great rivers of
the Continent, the Mississippi and
Missouri and their tributaries, ira
versing thousands of miles of the most
| fertile of its vallies. But to-day Chi
eago, by its railroads, its capital and
/ ho n
both nature and the slow moving citi
zens of st. Louis, and now controls all
| the vast region to the North and North
west, and is even reaching. out into
Kansas and Colorado, directly west of
this city. The signal triumph of the
Union Pacific (Omaha) Railroad over
the Kansas Pacific, and the junction
of the former with the Central Pacific,
/ gives Chicago apparently fast hold
upon the Rocky Mountain Terri
tories and tho Pacific States, and
| points it out as the great Gateway
to the Ear West. And yet st. Louis
IS not going to give up the contest
without further struggle. The Mis-
souri, Pacific, and Kansas Pacific
Railways now form an unbroken line
of road to the western boundary of
Kansas, 200 miles; and the road is
now being rapidly extended to Den
yer City, the capital of Colorado, and
| thence to Cheyenne, where it inter
seets the main trunk Of the California
| Railroad. Col. Moore, the energetic
Superintendent of the Missouri Pa
cifc, informed me to day that he was
now sending forward the iron for go
miles of the road, and that he was
confident 1T would be completed next
year.
St. Louis can do much yet to regain
the trade of the West, which Chicago
has been rapidly taking away from her,
1t her public men and capitalists
will bestir themselves. But too
many of them lack the char
acteristics which have done so much
for Extraordinarily and enter
prise. The old lesson (rather a
missioner, for it does not tuork) of
pro slavery inactivity, which held
back the city before the war, Is still
seen and felt among the public men
and merchants. And during the re-
bellion, the restrictio of war worked
disadvantageously to st. Louis, and
Chicago was not slow to profit by it.
But with all these hindrances St.
Louis should yet be the great city of
the West. She may have an equal
chance yet with Chicago for the trade
OF the West and Northwest, combin
ing her river and railroad advantages.
She should have no rival for the trade
Of the Southwest, with the uninter-
rupted navigation of the Lower Mis-
sissippi, with the railroads which are
projected in that direction. The ter
ritory of an hundred thousand square
miles surrounding the city is without
rival for fertility, and backed up by
the State Of Missouri, boundless in
its mineral resources, and its agricul-
tural capacity almost boundless.