Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1870-01-08
Northern Pacific Railroad.
[From the Philadelphia Inquirer !

Dlc lanu grant OF nearly ntty MllIOnS Oh
acres, stretching in belt thirty miles wide
from Lake Superior to Puget Sound, which
is considered ample security for all the
bonds offered
1t may be proper to state that among
the directors of the company arc John I'D
gar Thomson, President of the Pcnnsylva-
MIA Railroad, aud Geo. W. Cass, President
of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago
Railroad. from which it will be seen that
tho line is under favorable auspices for u.s.
The route bcgius at a place called Duluth,
at the western end of Lake Superior, and
runs thence to Seattle, on Puget Sound, a
distance of l774 miles, making, ria Chi
cago, the shortest Of all possible routes be-
tween the Pacific ocean and Philadelphia.
From the Pacific, at San Francisco, to the
lake, at Chicago. ria rail, it is 2423 miles !;
while from the Pacific, at Seattle, to Chi.
cago, ria rail and lake, it is 2l40 miles,
and to the sca-board the difference is still
greater. 1t is to be presumed that the
line would be connected with Chicago by
rail, hut it is also specially designed as a
lake trade route, and be worked in connec-
ton with the Philadelphia and Erie as
through line by lake from Erie to Duluth.
Ground will be broken for the road next
spring, and operations will be pushed for
ward with all possible speed, the parties
concerned being the ablest and most cxpc-
ricnccd railroad men in the country. Tn
der the inspiration of the vast enterprise
Duluth has suddenly become poiat ofrc.
markablc interest, to which people are
rushing in the style they used to start for
new gold placer, and by this time next
year we shall be receiving marvellous stor-
les of its sudden growth and wonderful
progress. 1t is, of course, destined to BE-
come great lake port, like Chicago, for
most probably immense quantities of mate
rials and vast numbers Of laborers will be
shipped from Eric to Duluth during the
next five years to engage in this work, so
that the basis of reliable growth is there
for speculation and enterprise to build up.
| All who wants to strike streak Of luck
are setting their faces for Duluth, and
many are there already putting ur houses
and making preparations for the spring
rush. There is no gress work about all
this. 1t is matter of dead certainty, for
it is in the hands of men who know how to
do it. The plan differs materially from
that of the Union line in its operation
Having no government subsidy, there will
be no government supervision or directors
to satisfy, the company having only to suit
their stockholders There will, also, be
an extensive bureau of emigration organ
izel. with agents in all the countries in
northern Europe, to encourage and facilitate
emigration, the inducemcnt being the en-
ployment offered by the company, and the
prospect of becoming ultimately farmers
without trouble. This supplies. it will be
| seen, the basis of population and business,
for as the emigration will be continual, the
aborcrs will only be employed on particu-
lar sections, where they are expected to
settle, so that fresh laborcrs will constantly
go forward.
by this remarkable and ingenious plan
it is believed that the whole line can be
settled within the time specified, five years.
1t will thus be seen that Duluth is really
sure of a future at once beyond the dreams
even of western progress. Unless We arc
very greatly mistaken, it will bound for
ward suddenly in style that will make pco-
pie rub their eyes. Thus the long looked
for, much talked of, great city at the head
of lake Superior is founded at last. Our own
lake port, Erie, is all agog with the news,
and expects to do something in earnest
when the icy fetters of next spring shall
have been removed and the lake naviga-
tion opened.
We have seen line built, as by magic,
across the continent, through the wilder.
ness, but the desert and the savage are
there yet We are now to see new Won
dcr-a line built, and carrying its popula-
! ton with it as it goes across the continent
There are no deserts Of any kind along this
route. 1t is veil timbercd and watered
along the entire line. FroI: Lake Superb
or to the mountains of Montana is seven
hundred miles of the best timbered or farm
ing land desirable, the very home of the
lumbermen and the wheat farmer Through
Montana it will have excellent reliance in
the gold mining ofthat country. 1t passes
the Rocky Mountains on an elevated plain,
the same as the Union Pacific, and thence
traverse, the fertile valley of the Columbia
river and through the Cascades range to
Seattle. The highest point in the line is
only 1000 feet, while the highest on tho
existing railroad is 1852 feet Not more
than $50 miles of the new route will have
an elevation above 5000 feet, while 1900
miles of the present road have an altitude
of more than 900 feet, and over 500 miles
have an altitude Of 1900 feet. Under
such circumstances there will be less trou-
BILE with snow than on the other line.
The first bold strike will be from Du.
luth to Montana, but under the plan pro-
posed by the company Of populating the
route as the road is built, there will bo no
hot haste, although we may reach Monta-
ma within two years from the time of be-
gining. The company will most probably
set their emigrants to doing something more
than merely build the road, they being