New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-03-06
UarE NE A pACImC RAIARoAD'

Tho hooks of the Register Of the treasury
testify that we have. The Issue of Government
bonds TO the Union Pacific Railroad. to an
amount exceeding twenty millions OF dollars
pretty sharply suggests the existence Oh suon
n highway. The holders OF the millions VI
mortgage bonds issued by the Union facilc
Road are certain that that line Is not mytn
But what is a railroadf An anger that can
bore il not an anger, but scrap-ir0n Drluge
that can't be crossed does not connect the
onposite banks of a river, and is not oridGe'
A railroad which cannot be used is not rail-
road but only the probability, or possibility or
SUGGESTION of n railroad The American, Euro
moan and in mart the Asiatic idea OF Pacific
Railroad il. that il is q highway of commerce,
travel. and mail transportation that can DC
| used three hundred and siXty-fivc days In the
! wear. That certainly is what the world wants
ont of n line of American trans-contincntal
| railway. and that, certainly. is what the Ameri-
| can people expected to get, and, in effect,
contracted to have out Of the Union Pacific
line when they so lavishly endowed it by act
of Congress. But they have not got 1t.
On Saturday last the Postmaster-G General re-
cciyed telegram from d. Il. Ball, special
agent, dated at Laramie City, stating that
for fifteen days the Union Pacific Railroad had
been blocked BY snow for distance OF two
hundred miles west of Cheyenne, and that be-
tween thirty thousand and forty thousand
pounds of mail matter were detained upon the
line. On Monday the Post -Ofice Department
directed Postmaster Kelly Of this city
to send all mails for California and
the Pacific coast by the lsthmus OF
N y.f, oil mr.
the Pacific coast after that shipment. for the
Aspinwall steamers Of the 18th and 2lst OF
March. Adviccs received from the West on
Monday afternoon stated that the Union Pa
cifc Road WAS not yet ofcn, and that 1t was
impossible to say when the mails detained in
it's snow bound trains would he gotten through.
Tho Report of the majority of the Senate
Committee on the Pacific Railroad, made
twelve days ago, predicted the very condition
of things that now exists. Speaking OF the
necessity Of two additional trunk lines to the
Pacific, in order to have uninterrupted cOmmu-
nication, the majority of the Committee say:
.'It Ia an undetermined problem II the Union Pacific
Railroad between Omaha and Sacramento can be Opcr
ated Throughout the year or inc elcmcnth 10 solVe @
question there are: fst Tho known effects OF drifting
npon the railway lines OF central Illinois ana oil the
billy districts Of New ngand aud Pennsylvania. Second
The known depths To which falls aud packs In pOr
ordinary hight OF the grades and sharpness 81 the curves
Ia the passage OF the Sierra Nevada. Trains In Illinois
have often been showed under ana travel aud traffic In
aud out Of Chicago have been completely embar
coed Railroad communication In MASSACHUSETTS, New
York and Pennsylvania, Is often suspended III Wlhtor
These yiCsitudes take place IN states Whee labor Is
abundant where tho stations the lines are very near
together where fuel ana food draught animals and tools
are plentiful and accessible. But the line between Omaha
aud Sacramento Is ut present almost continuous viii
dernessportlons OF never VIII be settled Population
Is scarce-help In trouble cannot DO had outside Of the
trai-the stock Of accessible fuel be limited TO the
supply the III the deep cungs aud In some OF the
is well known drift chOck full 20 tho top aud To pack
hard. The depth Of snow In places Travelled by The over
To- 20 feet and II WINS not melted IN lime Granting the
efficacy Of roofing, granting the adequacy OF
machinery to accomplish as much on tho Union
Paclhc's line an the Chicago and Northwestern,
or Albany aud Boston, there remains rsk which
must be constant with the recurrence ~ Winter that tho
operations OF this Pacific road may experience long and
serious Interruptions, accompanied occasionally with
shocking misforiunes n such Interruptions should take
the United States would be- very damaging They
would characterize the route as not 10 DO relied
by Internal commerce. But there Is doubt that
railroad the 35t parallel OF latitude could be operated
san Francisco JG5 days IN the y0ar Nor IA there any
doubt that line between Pngets Sound and Lake Snpc'
rlor could be operated without serious obstruction y
snow Its grades through tue mountains are all com.
paratlvely low and It's line Il within the sothermal line
OF mean annual temperature Oh % degrees"
The complaint that the Government aid TO
the Union Pacific Road has been pockctcd by
its constructors, while they built the line out
of the proceeds of its first mortgage bonds, is
general and sore. If there is TO be added TO
this grievance the inevitable result of mis-
take in locating the road on the snOw-line of
the continent, that its use is to be annually
interrupted for long periods of time, the legis-
latiOn which underlies this enterprise will prove
to be reproach and shame to our country.