The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1871-04-08
From the New York IndeI sndent.
The Northern Pacific Railroad.

MidNay across the continental 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 magnificently en-
dowed by the Government, is already
being pushed rapidly westward, under
its energetic controllers; and before the
snow flies next Fall, it will be complet-
ed to the western line of Minnesota, |
where it crosses the Red River of the
North-which runs northward to Lake
Winnepeg-ando ne-eighth of its dis
lance to the Pacific Ocean will have been
accomplished. Commencing, too, this
season on its western line, the work will
be prosecuted from both directions, and
long before the nation celebrates It's
Centennial Anniversary of Independ-
ence, the Lakes will be united by iron
bands with that Mediterranean OF our
Northwest, Puget Sound.
OF the suspicious influence of this
enterprise, which but few years ago
would have been considered so daring,
the most sanguine of its friends have
scarcely vet a full realization. Even
taking Chicago as a starting point, it
will be (ui0 st. Paul, where an arm of
the Northern Pacific Railroad is reach
ed two hundred miles less to Puget
Sound than 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
any one testing this by string on
globe will be surprised at the result, if
they have not previously studied the eff
| feet of the rotundity of the earth, and It's
diminished protuberance as you go
northward 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 traf-
fic of Asia with our Atlantic states, or
that portion of it which will pass over
the soil of this nation on its road to Eu-
rope.
Nor is this ALL Development is the
great duty of the Republic, after all It's
recent trials. Resources are the gift of
the Creator Developing them de-
ponds on the work of man. Along the
line of the Northern Pacific Railroad,
as it follows 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
plough, with climate almost exactly
the same as that of New York, except
that, with less snow, cattle, I'D the
larger portion of it, can Subsist on the
} open range in winter. Here, if climate
and fertility of soil produce their nat
ural result, when railroad facilities
open this now issolated region to settle
ment, will soon be seen waving grain
fields, and happy homes, and growing
towns while ultimately Gordon of
prosperous states, teeming with popu-
lation, and rich in industry and conse-
} qucnt wealth, viii occupy that now
undeveloped and almost inaccessible
) portion of our continental 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 central
line, and the overcoming of which re-
fiected 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 it's way through
that mighty range, the Andes of North
, America, which in California is known
as the Sierras, but which in Oregon
changes it name to the Cascades. Ma
ture has thus provided a pathway for
the Northern Pacific Road through
!, these mountains. the scaling of which,
on the other line, at al elevation of
over seven thousand feet & most won
derful triumph of engineering cost
! the Central Pacific company millions
of dollars, and compelled them, for
seventy miles, to maintain grade of
! over one hundred feet to the mile
) twice the maximum of the Northern
Pacific at the most difficult point in it's
entire route.
1t is fortunate, also, in it's terminus
} on the Pacific coast. No one who has
not been there can realize the beauty
of Puget Sound and it's surroundings.
One hundred miles long. but SO full of
inlets and straits that its navigable
shore-llne measures seventeen hundred
and sixty miles. dotted with lovely
lslets, with gigantic trees almost to the
waters edge, with safe anchorage every
where, and stretcl ing southwark, with
out shoals or bars, from the Straits of
Fuca to the capital and center of Wash
ington Territory, it will be magnifi-
cent entrepot for the commerce of the
grandest ocean of the world, the Pa
cific. The Land Grant of
the United States, exceeding Fifty
Millions of acres in the winter-wheat
region of our nation ten times AS large
IS the area of Massachusetts,, is doubt
less 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 it's
final contamination, carrying the
| blessings of settlement, development.