Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-04-20
From the New York independent
The Northern Pacific Railroad.

BY SCHUYLER COLFAX, 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 Of st.
Louis or Galena--is the young city of
Duluth, the initial point Of the Northern
Pacific Railroad. That great work, so
magnifcently endowed by the Govern
ment, is already being pushed rapidly
westward, under its energetic controllers;
and before the snow flies next fall, 1t will
be completed to the western line Of Min
nesota, where it crosses the Red River OF
the North-which runs northward to Lake
Winnipeg-and one eighth of its distance
to the Pacific Ocean will have been &C
complished. Commencing, too, this sea
son on its western line, the work will be
prosecuted from both directions, and long
before the nation celebrates It's Centennial
Anniversary of Independence, the Lakes
viii be united by iron bands with that
Mediterranean Of our Northwest, Puget
Sound.
OF the suspicious influence of this en-
terprise, which but few years ago, would
have been considered so daring, the most
sanguine of its friends have scarcely yet
full realization. Even taking Chicago as
a starting point, it will be (oia st. Paul,
where an arm of the Northern Pacific
Railroad is reachedD two hundred miles
less 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 straight line; and
anyone testing this by string on globe
will be surprised at the result, if they
have NOT previously studied the effect Of
the rotundity Of the earth and its
diminished protuberance as you go north.
ward towards the Pole. Hence, when they
have sailed eight hundred miles from San
Francisco they are only one hundred miles
from the entrance to Puget Sound; and
this striking fact shows the advantages
this route will have in commanding the
through traffic Of Asia with our Atlantic
States, or 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 re-
cent trials. Resources are the gift OF the
Creator. Developing them depends on
the work of man. Along the line Of the
NOrLncTu fdClHC hdlli odu, as ~ ioiipWe
up the water courses, the Missouri and
the Yellowstone on this side, and descends
by the valley of the Columbia on the
other, vast body Of agricultural land is
waiting for the pillow, with climate al
most exactly the same as that of New
York, except that, with less snow, cattle,
in the larger portion Of it, can subset on
the open range In winter. Here, If eli
mate and fertility Of soil produce their
natural result, when railroad facilities open
this now isolated region to settlement,
will soon be seen waving grain fields, and
happy homes, and growing towns; while
ultimately Q Gordon of prosperous States,
teeming with population, and rich in in
dustry snd consequent wealth, will occupy
that now undeveloped and almost mac
cessible portion Of our continental area
But this road is fortunate also in Its
pathway across the two ranges OF noun
tains which tested 80 severely the Pacific
Railroads built on the central line, and
the overcoming Of which reflected such
well deserved honor on their energetic
builders. At the Deer Lodge Pass, in
Montana, where 1t crosses the Rocky
Mountains, its altitude above the sea is
{, 500 feet less than the Union Pacific Rail
road at Sherman, which IL said TO be the
highest point at which locomotive can
be found in the world And on tbs Pa