The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1871-02-25
THE WORLDS HIGHWAY.

THE WORLDS HIGHWAY. I..r
1t IS no exaggefaton whatever TO say that the
Northern Pacific Railroad wilf prove 20 be the grandest
commercial highway the world has eyer seen, ever
shall 1t is the best possible between Europe
and the Indies and By ts ee2struetioR viii
question that has sexed The world for hundreds OF
year5;0& question that sent De Cana around the Cape
of Good Hope, Columbus across the Atlantic and
Magellan around Cape Horn; that ured Sir John
Franklin to seek uortlsest passage and others
daring, to attempt the discovery of norteast pssage
by cold Spitzbergen, and through norS Of Siberia
itself The same question has sought answer BY
tempting a canal through the ~thrus Of Darien
and has in fact cut canal through the sthaus of
Bat no route by the Arctic extremities, or torril
centres of the two continents for instant COM
pare with the Northern Pacific Railroad as satisfae-
tory reply to the query ages and generations W
is the best route between Western Europe and Eastern
Asia?psaE ea.r r.. lrs,sz-.--s...-. 40. -A
The Northern Pacific is this route without a rival
OF all land routes it sthe shortest The Onion Pa
cfc is longer; the Southern Pacific longer Yet, and
any possible continental railway ia the old world is
not to be mentioned in comparison. All mere water
routes between Europe and the Orient are OF course
still longer, but that nothing ifthey were without
other great hindrances, as water carfiaguis much
cheaper than transportation overland
But wind and water currents, storms, and cold, and
heat tend to nufy the advantages Of all existing or
possible routes between Europe and the East.
Arctic routes are of course to be spoken Of The
far famed canal of NJ de Lesseps connecting the Medi-
terranean and the Red Sea was thought, until actual
triad, to be the true path of the worlds commerce
But the ntolerable heat experienced by steamers
raversng the Red Sea, together with its fierce head
winds and intricate navigation, have overtlrowr all
hopes built on that route The passage around the
capes is battling hazardous and measurably uncertain
besides requiring vessels the torrid twice
each way. .s
Given then a direct ropae between Europe and Asia
in Tie temperate with only .7FJ miles of railway
in the 900 miles Of distance between the antpodes
thus connected and we have route shortest swiftest
cheapest best Everything that needs or seeks swift
conveyance viii come via the Northern Pacific ylilw ~.
Everything that heat would harm will take this rou e.
Everything that cold or storm, snow would hinder
viii take the same path The worlds trade wiz nat
uraliy and inevitably be trbutaryin literal sense to
this chief enterprise of the ages. r.,..f.. s.-.
Bat have not spoken of the immense trade it will
deyeope the American continent alone. Popuous
and powerful VIII spring up along line Such
soil forests, and mines the world has rarely known
waiting the coming of this road draw haf Europe
to America. Tnunerabe branch tines will be thrust
out at4raly and serve as adIltlP31 feeders of tits
majestic highway Of nations, The commerce of the
Northern Pacific Will pour along Ike some mighty
river orgmf stream of traffic, increasing and doubling
and treBhg flows till it reaches the Great Lake
with volume that will require third of the tonnage
Of the globe to bear it away,
Wihin twenty years four lines OF steel railways, side
by side will be required accommodate national
and international commerce of which form
but Slight conception
And all this tremendous trade win demand vast port
for its transhpment Lake Superior At the west
terminus of the Northern Pacific the broad Puget
Sound and all the connected Herewith re
quired for its The company controls two hun
dred and fifty miles in straits bays and sounds along
the shores Of the most available Cor the purposes
OF commerce on the western coast of North america,
and il III be impossible for the company to carry on
its gigantic business at its l. rminls Lake
Superior without utilizing every foot of river and har
Dor Improvement that has been reserved for centuries
for the uses of this New Route to the Indies