The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-03-30
From the N Y Independently
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
BY sCHYLER CoLFAx,

By Sill LEX NOLfAA,
Vice President of the United States.
Midway across the continent-at
the head of twelve hundred miles of
Lake navigation-a thousand miles
from Buffalo, the western terminus of
the Erie Canal, and as near to it by
water as Chicago hundred miles
west of the longitude or St. Louis or
Galena-is the young city of Duluth,
the initial point of the Northern Pa
ciffc Railroad. That great work, so
magnificently endowed by the Gov
ernment, is already being pushed rap
idly westward, under its energetic
controllers and before the snow flies
next Fall. it will be completed to the
western line of Minnesota, where it
crosses the Red River of, the North
which runs northWard TO Lake Win
nipeg-and one-eighth of its distance
to the Pacific Ocean will have been
accomplished. Commencing, too, this
season on its western line, the work
will be prosecuted from both direc-
lions, and long before the nation cele-
brates its Centennial Anniversary of
Independence, the Lakes will be uni
ten by iron bands with that Mediter-
ranean of our Northwest, Puget
Sound.
Of the auspicious influence of this
enterprise, which but a few years ago
would have been considered so daring
the most sanguine of its friends have
scarcely yet full realization. Even
taking Chicago as the starting point,
it viii be (rid st. Paul, where an arm
of the Northern Pacific Railroad is
reached) two hundred miles less dis
tance to Puget Sound than TO San
Francisco. Besides this, vessels from
the Golden Gate to China sail on what
is called the grand circle, instead of in
a straight line; and any one testing
this by a string on globe will be sur
prised at the result, if they have not
previously studied the effect of the
rotundity of the earth, and its dimin-
ished protuberance as you 90 north
ward toward the Pole. Hence, when
they have sailed eight hundred miles
from San Francisco, they are only one
hundred miles from the entrance of
Puget Sound and this striking fact
shows the advantages this route will
have in commanding the through traf-
fic of Asia with our Atlantic States,
OF that portion of it which will pass
over the soil of this nation on its road
to Europe.
Nor is this all. Development is the
great duty of the Republic, after all
its recent trials. Resources are the
gift of the Creator. Developing them
depends on the work of man. Along
the line of the Northern Pacific Rail-
road, as it follows up the water-cours-
es, the Missouri and the Yellowstone
on this side and descends by the val
ley of the Columbia on the other,
vast body of agricultural land is wait
ing for the plough, with a climate al
most exactly the same as that of New
York, except that, with less snow,
cattle, in the larger portion of it, can
subsist on. the open range in winter.
Here, if climate and fertility of soil
produce their natural result, when
railroad facilities open this now isola-
ted region to settlement, will soon be
seen waving grain-fields, and happy
homes, and growing towns; while ul-
timately Gordon of prosperous States
teeming with population, aud rich in
industry and cosequent wealth, will
occupy that now undeveloped and al
most inaccessible portion of our con-
tinental area.
But this road is fortunate also in its
pathway across the two ranges of
mountains which tested so severely
the Pacific Railroads built on the CEN
trail line, and tie overcoming Of which
reflected such well deserved honor on
their energetic builders. AT the Deer
Lodge Pass, in Montana, where it
crosses the Rocky Mountains, its alti..
tude above the sea is $500 feet less
than the Union Pacific Railroad at
Sherman, which is said to be the high
est point at which locomotive can
be found in the world, And on the
Pacific side of the Continent it is even
more fortunate. From Arizona up to
the Arctic circle the Columbia is the
only river which has torn its way
through that mighty range, the Andes
of North America, which in Califor-
MIA, IS known as the Sierras but which
in Oregon changes its name to the
Cascades. Nature has thus provided
pathway for the Northern Pacifi G
Road through these mountains, the
scaling of which, on the other line,
at All elevation of over seven thousand
feet Ga most wonderful triumph of en-
gineering). cost the Central Pacific
Company millions of dollars, and
compelled them, for seventy miles, to
maintain grade of over one hundred
feet 10 the mile-twice the maximum
of the Northern Pacific at the most
difficult point of is entire route.
It is fortunate, slso, in its terminus
on the Pacific coast. No one who has
not been there can realize the beauty
of Puget Sound and its surroundings.
One hundred miles long, but so full of
inlets and straits that its navigable |
shore-line measures seventeen hun
dred and sixty miles, dotted with |
lovely inlets, with gigantic trees al
most to the waters edge, with safe an
chorage everywhere, and stretching
southwark, without shoals or bars,
from the Straits of Fuca to the capital
and center of Washington Territory,
it will be magnificent e2atg'epot for
the commerce of that grandest ocean
of the world, the Pacific.
The Land Grant of the United
States, exceeding Fifty Millions of
acres in the Winter-wheat region of
our nation (ten times as large as the
area of Massachusetts,, is doubtless
sufficient for the completion of the
Road; but, besides this, millions of
private means are already invested in
it. The bonds based ON the Land
Grant, and mortgage on the Road
itself in addition, are being sold as
rapidly as the money is needed and,
as an investment, yielding about eight
per cent. per year in currency, rank
already with the best class of railroad
securities. And thus the good work
will go on with unchecked step to its
final consummation, carrying the bless
ings of settlement, development, civ
its progress, and literally causing the
to blossom as the rose.