The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-03-26
CHI ARIES TON.
FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 26, 1869.
Road to the Pacific.

article to description of the route trav-
ersed by the Memp his, Ell Paso and Pacific
Railroad, and of the resources and charac-
ter of the country through which it will
pass. This is the road in favor of which
resolutions have been adopted by the
Legislature of the State.
We do not know what may be the personal
interests of the members of Congress from
South Carolina, and whether the Northern
or the Southern route, or either, will have
their support; but We are sure that no
measure can be found whose adoption by
Congress will be more advantageous to the
whole South and to this State than the rail
road of which we speak. Apart from the
intrinsic merits of the project, which alone
should secure its success, it must be re-
membered that the South has q right to de-
mand some consideration at the hands of
Congress. This consideration we may
claim, not as matter of love or favor, but
because Southern cotton is the main prop
of the whole financial system Of the United
States; because the cotton bale alone stands
between the United States and something
very like bankruptcy. We may not be in
position to obtain at this moment all that
we require, and content ourselves now with
urging Congress to pass the bill for the
construction of the Memphis, Ell Paso and
Pacific Railroad-which strikes the Pacific
coast at about the same latitude as Charles
ton or savannah on the Atlantic.
The Tribune says:
sA Pacific railway that asks no money from
Congress, that encounters no great mountains
in it's route and is liable to no interruptions
from SHOWS, is q thing so different from our
previous experiences in that line as to de-
serve the most respectful consideration. That
any practical Pacific railway deserves what.
ever enco uragcment we can afford is gonarally
believed. That the success of this one would
be of special value in opening up vast tracts OF
fertile land, not less than in knitting together
remote regions of the republic, seems to us
plain. And when it comes before Congress,
asking little beyond the continuation of its old
privileges and the right fway, the advantages
to be gained so far outweigh what is asked in
.alrsn GA .,ro.s,.,L e, -
1.-The proposed road is no new thing. 1t was
incorporated by the State Of T exss prior to
1851, and endowed with eight and one-third
million acres of land. a hundred and fifty
miles Of it were under contract before the war !;
si1ty-fve miles were ready for the rails; for
fifty miles the iron had been purchased; mil
lion and half in ali had been expended, when
the var stopped everything at the South but
raising food and fighting. Now it is proposed
to save that million and half, resume opera
rations as soon as Congress will aseure the
right of way, and press forward the road. Its
comparatively short route Lies along the south
ern border of the western half Of our terrific
ry-stretching from the northeast corner of
Texas, through the whole breadth OF that en-
pire in itself, resting midway between it's op-
posite termini at Ell Paso, near the northwest
ern corner of Texas, on the Rio Grande del
Norte, and thence finding it's easy passage
through Southern Arizona and California to
the bay Of San Diego. It thus strikes the
Pacific coast at about the same latitude as
Charleston or Savannah on the Atlantic, and
connects it with the Red River and the Missis-
sippi by route that opens the richest OF our
cotton growing regions, and that never leaves
a climate where flowers can be found growing
in every month in the year.
ga little over one-half Of the entire length Of
the road lies within the State of Texas. At
Jefferson, the head of navigation on the Red
River, it connects through Shreveport and
vicksburg, and through Little Rock and Mem
phis, with our whole railroad system. From
Jefferson to Ell Paso, on the west side Of Texas,
the length OF its route is eight hundred miles;
from Ell Paso through Arizona to the Pacific is
only six hundred aud fifty more. The first half
of this route is through country OF surprising
fertility. Those rich plains of Northern Texas
are capable of putting 50,0O0,0OC bushels Of
wheat into market month ahead of the
supply from any other State 10 the Union, or
of producing four times the amount of cotton
hitherto furnished by the whole cotton grow
ing region OF the United States. Immense
beds of coal, iron and copper are found along
this part of the line, and lead and silver Of
great richness are coming to light in the west
ern counties. Ell Paso, which is to be the mid
way station on the line, is the objective point for
the Mexican railroads already chartered, and
is destined to be an important interior city.
From E Paso, through strip of New Mexico
and Arizona to Fort Yuma at the mouth of the
Gia, the road keeps for the whole distance
within the ordinary working grade of eighty
feet, and within only q hundred feet when it
passes the summit elevations, for short dis
tauce, between Fort Yuma and San Diego. OF
this part of tho lue the Commissioner of the
General Land Office, in his report for 1858,
says that ''throushout this whole extent of
country the remains of tormer cultivation
'and evidences Of civilization are to be found,
'ruins Of ancient cities. and cathcdrals existing
SIN many places, while traces OF f,rmer irriga-
sting canals occur in every direction, extend
sing even into the dcnsost part Of tho forest"
The valleys produce wheat, corn, cotton and
grapes, and along tho southern line arc now
highly cultivated fields of grain and sugar cane,
with apples, peaches, apricots, pomegranates,
hgs, grapes lemons aud oranges, in the same
garden. Westward from Ell Paso to the 112th
meridian, the soil of the levels and the hills is
everywhere good, and everywhere covered with
a luxuriant growth Of nutritious grass.