Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-05-26
THE MEMPHIS AND Ed PASO
Pacific RAHROAD.

panies, steamboat owners, capitalists
and cit ems generally, shall at once,
WITHHOLD delay, make the necessary
-preparations to besiege Congress at
its next session for aid and right Of
way for the Memphis and FL Paso
Railroad. 1t is necessary that the
movement be initiated at an
early day here, where, by common
consent, the initial point of the grand
enterprise has been fixed. Once start
ed, u prayer will not be long in
gathering an increased volume of pc
titioners whose interest in the Mem
phis Pacific Road is hardly less than
our own. On this side of the Missis-
sippi all the States South of the Ohio
will add their influence, as all are
directly interested in the construction
of a railroad to the Pacific that shall
supply to the country a permanent
and unobstructed highway in place of
that which, passing through the snow
belt, will be closed through at least
three months of the year. But not
alone these-the States and Territories
west Of the Mississippi are also direct
ly interested in the early construction
of our Pacific railroad, and will add
their influence.
Whoever will read the Califor-
mia papers carefully will be
startled by the appalling and
insurmOuntable difficulties which win
and have already, rendered the Union
and Central Pacific Railroads abortive
for the purposes for which they were
built. 1t was well known tothe project
ors and leading owners of these roads
before attempting its construction, that
these obstacles, encounteredla last winter,
existed and would always exist to pre-
vent the fullest utilization of their
roadway; but, taking advantage OF
the war, and having another and ute
rior object in view, they pushed the
work on despite the objections of the
press and the warnings of capable and
intelligent contractors and engineers.
They wanted to complete the Credit
MObilier as well as a Pacific highway,
and the bonds of the Government were
as necessary to the one as the other.
The surveys for a Pacific Railroad, or
dered by Mr.. BUCHANAN, were in ex-
istence to guide Congress in granting
a franchise to this great company and
giant monopoly, so that ignorance can
not be pleaded when that body is ar
raigned for squandering the public do
main and the public credit for the con-
struction of a railroad along an i'm
practicable route. They can only
plead the Impotence of the public to
have a Pacific Railroad, and the ex-
istence of the war to prevent its con-
structiOn on the 35th or 32d parallel,
as recommended by the di~sinterested
and intelligent army engineers en-
plOyed by Mr.. BUCHANAN to survey
the rival routes. While these gentle
men ignored the Northern route as
out Of the question, for the reasons ex-
p~erienced last winter, they were n
thusiastic in their descriptions Of the
country through which the road we
want and are to build will run. They
described the country lying between
the Arkansas line and Fort Chad
bourne as remarkably fertile, well
watered, and the finest wheat-growing
country in all the South, if not in all
the West, while it isalso highly favor
able to the production of cotton and
tobacco. The lands are high, rolling
prairieS, with a black soil like those
Of Illinois, the climate temperate and
the healthiest in the world. Streams
interSperse the country, and the bot
tom lands nOurish fine timber. GRAY
in his report says:
/" For pastoral and agricultural purposes
the country about Fort Chadbourne is
believed by those who have passed
through it to have no superior. Springs
and streams of fine water are everywhere
found, and the quality of the soil is very
excellent; whilst lime and sandstone
Quarries are abundant. Though lust after
a heavy noTther. in January, the bright
buffalo and mezquit grasses waving in the
sunlight and glistening from every valley
and hill-slope, presented the appearance
of vast cultivated fields; whilst the pictu-
oak groves resembling orchards,
and the gardens of settlers about the gar
rison, furnish indisputable evidence of
productiveneSs and geniality Of climate"
This is an official report, and yet
the picture is as beautiful as a scene of
the imagination.
Surgeon Ephraim Swift. L. :. Army.
kept a meteorological journal, which
shows the following result at Fort Chad
The greatest heat during the
years 80 and 50, was SO twice in August, |
a 3 O'Clock pm. The greatest cold %
above zero.
Gray says also:
" I~nexhaustible beds of excellent coal.
ron and other mineral deposits. render ii |
n varied and valuable resources a remark
able country"
He says Of the Llama E'stacado, or
9tOhNA Adln bClNGtu IbTt Anau- /
and the river Peeos:
II shy No means q desert or barren
waste, for, with exceptions Of narrow belts
prepossessing, there are vast fields Of
Inc grazing lands, where deer, antelope
md other game are seldom out of sight.
Is true that no timber is seen, except |
and there a stnnted mezquit, and 40
dow over i, but in the defectionl
made by us tothe s~and-hills, f-Hsxhaustible
quantities of the purest water was found.
md, from close personal observation. am
.atlshed that it may be had anywhere, not
ar below the surface. Rich and exuber-
mt grasses most of the way. but |
There the soili is sandy it is coarse and less
The arid portions being limi-
offer no impeachment TO the construc-
ION or travel Of any kind Of road. but its
undulating surface. unbroken and
rec nom ehasms or rocky cliffs to cut
hrough, present great advantages. The
ALLEY of Peeos IS about three miles in +
width, and might be made highly produe-
i've, having a rich and fertile soil. From
he Pecos to the Rio Grande. the country
) Of about the same character as from
Mustang Springs to the Peeos.
The Rio Grande, near the sd mar
llel, has been frequently called the