Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-06

cling and transported on this route" This
was sneered at and ridiculed at the time,
in his place, by an honorable member
from Haywood, as an absurd and ridicu-
lous extravaganza. On the same occasion
/ frequently said to those who were slow
to believe that railroads could be built in
the South and West as well as elsewhere,
that although did not expect to live to
the age of Methuselah, yet expected to
live TO see railroads extended to the
Mississippi river, and, in the vista
of time, / saw them extended beyond
the Mississippi river, across the continent
to the Pacific ocean. This generally pro-
duced a roar of laughter, and | mention
the fact en- PEASANT, to show how much
more rapidly than the anticipations of the
most sanguine, these works are progress
ing throughout our country. Though not
near as old as the antediluvian patriarch,
| might, ere this good day, have taken a
ride on the railroad across the continent
to the Pacific ocean.
In the language of my first resolution,
'the material interests of the whole
country, commercial and political, impera-
lively demand the construction of South
ern line of railway from the Mississippi
river to the Pacific ocean" Since the
failure, now apparent, of the line Just
completed, it is presumed that none will
contend that the now incalculable and rap
idly increasing commercial interests and
business of this vast country, and / may
saw of the whole world, viii be ade-
quately subserved and accommodated by
this lame and impotent construction. 1t
is simply impossible; and another line,
free from the principal objections to this
Northern route, becomes an indispensable
necessity.
Then, as q political measure, the estab-
fishing of the Southern railway to the
Pacific, is a matter of the greatest I'M
portance. If the spirit of unjust, sectional
and class legislation, which has governed
for so many years the action of the do
minant majority, which brought ruin
upon our whole country and all our woes;
if the North shall ever cease her grasping,
mOnopolizing and oppressive policy, and
shall not continue to treat the Southern
States with more harshness and injustice
than the NOUerc0 iHjuSt0, as described
by the ancient poet; if, instead of playing
the harsh stepmother, she will extend to
us the soothing, patronizing hand OF
if she will foster and aid en-
terprises of improvement in our impover-
ished section, as has been done at the
North in short, if the Congress will en-
our great undertaking, the South
ern Pacific Railroad, by liberal subsidies
and privileges, as in the other section, we
shall be drawn together by stronger ties
than those iron bars which will bind
together the different parts of our beauti-
full country.
The question arises, where shall be the
starting point and what the route on
which to construct the great national
work? In my opinion, with due defer
ence to that of others, the best answer to
this question is the second resolution
which l offer for the consideration of the
The city of Cairo, or the
west bank of the Mississippi river, oppo-
site to it, being the initial point, let us ex-
anime some of the advantages of the pro-
posed route. In the first place, it lies
through q mild, genial climate, extending
from the 37th to the 29d degree of lati-
tude, in which snow and ice are rarely
seen, and in no part will the road be OBJ
or trains be impeded by them.
In the next place, it passes, in IFS
whole length, through one of the
most beautiful and most productive
regions of the whole continent,
adapted to the production of all cereals
and grasses, fruits and vines of the temper
ate zone, as well as cotton and great va
riety of tropical products, and is, in great
part, the best natural grazing region of the
whole continent, where herds increase
and more rapidly multiply, and at less cost,
than in any other region; having great
over any other proposed route
in nearly all these respects.
In the third place, it is the shortest
possible route for railway to the Pacific
from all the Northwestern, Northern, East
ern, and Atlantic cities, as win be readily
seen by reference to the maps. The
whole coast of the Continent trending east
of southeast from the head of the Gulf OF
California to the Isthmus of Panama. The
port of Mazatlan, the terminus, having an
excellent harbOr, with ready access to the
ocean without doubling the cape at the
southern promontory of Lower California.
In the next place, this route will, through
out its entire length, be of easier construc-
ton and have lighter grades than are to be
found on any other line, which is an i'm
portant consideration for railway that is
expected to do so large q business.
In the next place, all the cities and
sections, by rivers and railroads already
built, or soon to be built, can have more
ready connection with the starting point
of this road and with different portions of
this line than with any other.
As a sort of corOllary from the fOrego-
ing premises and demonstrations, ! offer
the third resolution for the consideration
and acceptance of the Convention, with
the assurance that the route proposed in
the second resolution for the Great In
ter-oceanic, International Railroad to the
Pacific, from Cairo, via Little Rock,
Fulton, on Red River, through Texas to
the Rio Grande, and thence through Mex
lean territory to Mazatlan on the Pacific,
is exactly the same as that contained IN
the bill which was before Congress at
last session, reported on favOrably, with
great unanimity, by the Committee OF the
Senate, but postponed until next session,
and is the only route that will probably
receive the favorable consideration OF
majority of both Houses of Congress
On this subject permit me to say that l
speak advisedly, and in my Judgment this
Convention will do well to aim at what IS
practical and attainable, rather than at
what might appear 10 some to be more
desirable.
The road can be built on the line pro
posed in my resolution, for many mil
ions less cost, will have very easy grades
throughout, except at the pass OF the
Coast Range or COrdilleras, which IS
known TO be more practicable than those
further North, and that portion which
lies in Mexican territory passes through
the richest mining region of the whole
American continent.
On former occasion, at convention
in this city, ! advocated a route for a
railroad to the Pacific, extending from
Memphis via Little Rock, Fort Smith, up
the South Fork of the Canadian, over the
Llano Estacado or Staked Plain tC
Albuquerque, on the Rio Grande,
and thence by the Zuni pass and the
Lesser and Great Colorado, or by the
valley of the ella to San Diego and to San
Francisco, in preference to that on which
the road is now being completed, or that
directly west from st. Louis, through Kan
sas to Denver, etc, the route so strenu
ously advocated by the late Col. Benton
| still deem the line on or near the 35tl
parallel as far more practicable andprefer
able, in every respect, to any more northern
route. Later and more accurate infOr
nation convinces me that line from
Memphis, via Little Rock, Fulton on Rec
river, Ell Paso, near the 32d parallel, t.
San Diego or San Pedro on the Pacific
would be preferable to that along the 35tl