The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1870-02-10
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAI1-
WAY IT'S PROSPECTS.

A. 10 tue care1ul perusal OF our readers
as We are fully convinced that in les
than i've years from now our own city O
Manitowoc will be IN direct unbroker
connection with Puget Sound, on the
Pacific.
1t says. but for the inordinate greed
OF the managers, the Northern Pacific
Hallway might now be half built. They
had all the Government aid in land
promised as much as three years ago,
which they are likely ever to obtain, ard
as much as ought in decency to be de-
manded tor such an enterprise. Land
did not satisfy them. and they wrecked
eaeir prospects temporarily by insisting
on money and bonds. These they will
not secure, nor should they, or anv 9th
Or company. 1t is hard necessity in
the construction of tho Interstate
thorougfares, that the Government is
measurably forced to allow their build-
ers to withdraw from purchase at the
minimum price such vast tracts of land
and to tolerate set of private or cor
porate land Offices. which are badly
damaging the prospects of immigrants
and settlers. We assume that tn.
Northern Pacific Railway Company will
this Winter make all its land grants
complete. and in the Spring be ready to
push the road ahead with that vigor
characteristic of the people of Chicago
and the capitalists of New York and
Boston, who have it in hand So far
as the capabilities Of the country are
concerned. this northern route is doubt
less the best for a railway, though its
high latitude causes some doubts as to
Its complete success for Winter traffic.
The present plan of the Northern Pacific
trunk railway contemplates making its
eastern terminus at the town ofDuLuth,
On st. Louis bay, a, the extreme wes-
tern point of Lake Superior, and its
western terminus at Steilacoom, or some
sther place near it, on the most easterly
waters of Puget Sound that can be reach.
ed by ships of the greatest draught
Du Luth is quite new town. A year
or two ago it had not a population e1
ceeding fifty. Within the past year Jaw
Cook is reported to hare bought the
site, and the population is now over five
hundred and rapidly growing under the
inspiration of the railway in prospect.
1t IS the center of the great timber re-
glen on which Chicago and the West
must depend for lumber supplies when
the nearer pine forests of Michigan and
Wisconsin shall have become exhausted.
1t is In latitude 40, longitude go. By
any railway connection it is over six
hundred and fifty miles from Chicago ::
by water fully twice as far. ASS dis
tributor of produce coming to or going
from Puget Sound and Asia, it will clear
ly have great advantages over Chicago,
as the reader will presently see. As
distributor oe the grain. breadstufs and
lumber Of Dacota, Montana, Northern
Minnesota and Wisconsin. it will almost
surely supercede Chicago. Steilacoom
ia in latitude 40. longitude 1921. The
length of degree of longitude on the
47th parallel closely approximates thir-
ty-flve miles. The distance, therefore.
IN straight line from Du Luth to Stella
COON would be about one thousand and
seventy miles. In q straight line the
distance from Sacramento to Omaha i
probably short of fourteen hundred miles.
The divergences of the line increase the
railway distance to seventeen hundred
and seventy miles. Making an equal al
iowance for divergences on the Du Lnth
ana Stcllacoom route, the road would be
about thirteen hundred miles long. or
four hundred and seventy less than
from here to Omaha. Considering that
all necessary material for the construc-
ton OF a railway is more abundant and
cheaper along the forty seventh parallel
than on the route from Omaha TO Sac
Eamento, the northern road ought to cost
less per mile than either the Central or
Union Pacific. IF so, its total cost should
not much exceed that of the Union Pa
chic. Moreover. we think the diyergen-
ces from straight line east and vest
Will be IN less proportion to the straight
line distances of the termini ,from each
other than on this route The natural
lay of the land invites the survey all
the way nearly on the forty-seventh par
allel. That will be is starting poiut:
1t will carry it through Clares Pass of
the Rocky Mountains, down into the
valley of Clarke's fork of the Columbia.
and through the most practicable pass of
the Cascade range, landing it at Stella
COON. The entire line east ofthe Rocky
Mountains will be fed by country very
rich in agricultural resources, and offer
ing temptations for branch roads north
and south that would tap the future
trade which may grow up in the valleys
Of the Saskatchewan and the upper Red
river, and also the trade of the southern
affiuents of the Missouri, where there is
much good land. West of the Rocky |
Mountains the line goes through the
grandest of pine forests for several hun |
dred miles, and all the way timber of the |
best quality is abundant down to the
waters edge on Puget Sound.
There Is no use in attempting to con- /