The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1870-07-14

II Is eblIUldleu LudL TIC luCI6dhO
during the next five years will reach
5000 miles a year. The probability
is that it will exceed this estimate, at
least during the present and succeed
ing year. Railroad construction was
never before SO active. Almost every
town in the West and Northwest is
taking steps to complete some missing
links, and in the South the progress
is fully as rapid as the available re-
sources and capital of the respective
States will admit.
The completion of the Pacific Rail-
road has impaired an immense stim-
ulus to railroad enterprise along its
entire route. All the leading CONNER
cial centres in Kansas, Missouri, Min
nesota, and the entire West, are maxi
ing ezertions to establish branch lines
with the main arteries Of travel The
construction of the Northern Pacific
Railroad, which is by this time fairly
commenced, and which is to be push
ed. forward with all speed, will also
exert prodigiOus influence in the de-
velOpment Of country about which
little is known beyond the fact that
it is the finest and most fertile wheat
region in the world. Ground has
been already broken near Duluth, and
the first division, extending from that
point 10 the Red River of the North,
has been placed under contract. The
North Pacific line of railroad COM
mences at the head of Lake Superior
and traverses Minnesota, DaCotah,
Montana, Idaho and Washington Ter
ritOry, till it reaches Puget's Sound,
on the Pacific. The route is through
a country new to civilization, but rich
in natural resources. The Importance
OfrailrOads in creating commerce is
only beginning to be understood. In
ten years time the vast belt Of country
lying along the main route Of the
Northern Pacific Railroad will, Un-
dOubtedly, be populated by millions
of persons. Fhe influence Of the Cen
tral Pacific Railroad is felt all over
the world, and is leading to results,
the importance of which can hardly
be calculated. The Northern Pacific
Railroad will tend to foster and
strengthen this growing influence,
and bring rs into new and permanent
commercial relations with that part
of Asia fronting the Pacific Slope,
which now numbers nearly one
half the human family.
Mr.. Poor estimates the aggregate
net railroad tonnage of the United
States at 72,0OO,OOO tons, averaging
$3.50 per ton, and amounting to the
enormous total of $40, SOC, 600, ,000-Or
more than three times the amount
of the United States debt. The an
nual railroad commerce of the United
States amounts to six times the Origi-
nal cost of the railroads. The gross
tonnage per head according to OpOpula-
tion is 6 $40 pounds, valued al s282 to
each person in the United States. Ac-
cording to these returns, the value Of
the 7,745 miles of new railroad c0h-
structed in 1859, when the roads get
fairly in operation, amounts to no less
than $3.50, ,0D0, 600. All this amazing
development is Of recent origin. In
1851 the railroad tonnage Of the
United States was only 5,O00,0OO,
the earnings of which amounted to
$40, 0,192,104. The value of the tom
mage was S75O,OOO,OOU. In 1869 the
value of the tonnage had increased,
as stated, to $40 SO0, 900, ,OOO-or four
teen times greater than eighteen years
before. The average annual increase
of tonnage since 1851 is 6.273,86l
tons, and the average annual increase
of value is S556, ,666, 666. In other
words, the railroad tonnage increases
annually at the rate of about one
fourth of the amount of the funded
debt of the United States.