The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-08-18
A Step TO the Pacific.

Line agents OF tne Kansas racine Railway
present, in another column, an enterprise pos
sessing features which seem to merit special
comment. Having built their road from Kan
sas city to Sheridan, and found it profitable
and promising investment, the managers now
propose to continue it to Denver, and THIS
| open up the trade to the Rocky Mountains
That much, it is hoped, wi be completed by
June next; and its agents, Messrs. Dabney,
| Morgan s. Co., and NJ. K. Jessup & Co., bank
ers and merchants Of high reputation, now
| tender, though our columns, a loan of Sc, $780,
| 900 for this purpose.
These gentlemen state with clearness the
reasons which have induced them to give this
loan their endorsement The Kansas Pacific
Railway now runs through the centre of Kan
sas, and is in successful and profitable opera
ton for over four hundred miles. We remem-
Der the country through which it passes as a
wide, open plain, apparently as boundless and
rolling as the sea, known only to few tribes
of Wild rowing Indians, and occasionally to a
venturesome squad of stage-guards and herds
men, who ministered primitive hospitality
every fifteen or twenty miles, Topeka, Sail
ma, and Manhattan were little more than the
geographical designations OF towns that hoped
to be- Hays, Ellsworth, Sheridan, and the
twenty stopping places now upon its time ia
BILE, did not exist, even in the imagination of
the pioneers. Denver was mere cluster of
mining cabins and Indian huts. The Chey-
ennes and Arrapahoes held solemn council or
high revelry in its ways. There was no law,
but great deal of rude, summary Justice,
which grieved sober believers in habeas cor
pss and tried by jury. Now, Denver is as
neat, well built, and comfortable as Hartford,
with schools and churches, rows of brick
stores, hotels, and tasteful dwellings, which re-
call the luxury and comfort of the East. Ma
ture has trimmed and fringed it with the noble
Rocky Mountains, whose hills glisten in snow,
while their sides are clothed with deep and
rich midsummer greenery.
1t is now proposed to unite this city with
the East by an extension of the Kansas Pacif.
ic Railway. To do this, it will be necessary to
build 220 miles of road. The managers are
wise not to defer it, in the vain hope of being
able to induce Congress to vote them large
subsidies. The government has built one road
to the Pacific at great expense. Private cit
liens are quite ready and willing to build an
OtucT, especially WIEN LuOSo VINO ask Uuelr Alu
can show as good balance sheet as the Kan
sas Managers. st. Louis is on the natural
route from New York to the Rocky Mountains
and San Francisco. It is the metropolis of
tbs mighty valley of Mississippi; and the
extension of this road is a new and impor-
tant step in the great highway between st.
Louis and San Francisco. The Union Pacific
(Omaha) road has as much business as it can
manage; and we have grave doubts whether
it Will be able to keep open through route
amid the midwinter snow and ice of the Sierra
Nevadas. A through road must finally tray
erse the warm countries of New Mexico and
Arizona, along the thirty-fifth parallel or be-
low it. General Palmer has surveyed route
where snow rarely falls-every mia of which
opens rich mining deposits. 1t embraces the
Oldest towns on the Continent The country
demands such road, and this extension is a
step toward completing it.
1t is interesting to note the progress of a
railway which draws its business from coun-
try ten years ago conceded to the buffalo and
the aborigines. In April the Kansas road
earned, in gross income, Ss217 ,914 40, of which
$93,291 81 were balanced by expenses, leaving
net profit of $l24, 622 SO. In May the earn
ings were 1920, 1853 46; the expenses $1O7, 9S7 "
leaving profit of $114,175 &c. Two months
aggregate, $685. 81. There are few roads in
our older aid ripper States that would not be
content with as good a result. But the truth
is, these new countries have much growth in
them. We have but to touch our Western
prairies and hills with an iron wand, and cit
les spring up; towns cluster along the streams
and highways, and broad plains blossom with
wheat corn, and barley; school-houses and
churches take the place of the block-house
and the fort, and the great rivers are disturbed
by steam and water-wheel. So our civiliza-
ton has marched over the prairies, is advanc-
ing over the plains, and in few months we
shall have the vast treasures of Colorado and
the gold countries under contribution. The
President, in his last Inaugural, pointed to
those hills as the "strong box" whose treas
ures would pay the National debt. This rail-
road is the key to open it. We, therefore, look
with pleasure upon this effort of private citi-
zens to carry another road to the Pacific. We
must have at least three railways across the
Continent. We must enable the Northern
and Southern and Middle States respectively
to reach the furthest West by the most con-
venient way. We look upon the State of
Kansas with an interest not far removed from
affection. This child of tears, and blood, and
agony, now marches to the dignity and gran
ueur OF an empire, and well deserves the
ptoou, 1ond name of "the Massachusetts of
Tue west To this road she owes much of
her prosperity; and, now that its owners pro-
pose to carry it to Denver and wed the Rocky |