Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1871-06-17
A New Pacific Railroad.

~'S'
With Central Pacific six per cent bonds |
selling at 102, and those Of the Union Paciic |
not far below par, and a steady demand for
them, Pacific railroads, as an investment. stand |
fair before the people The old arguments
which took the form of propccy when the en-
terprise was young, have proved to be false ;
and the new argument that in building other
lines we are simply sub-dvi1ing traffic
which is only larGe enough for one, can be
shown to be no less mistaken. Tbs two roads |
will not be in any sense rivals for the same
local trade, as they will be $50 miles apart at
their nearest approach. Surprising as ii may
seem to those who recollect the character of
the country traversed by the Union Pacific
line, and the series of mountain ranges scaled
by the Central, it is nevertheless fact that Of
the fourteen millions of dollars earned by
these two roads during 1870, a proposition
amounting TO sixty-fve per cent was earned
from locaL traffic. And this proportion Will in
crease with every year, for population, settle
ments industry, have never yet filled to follow
close upon the locomotives trail, and Is
these which make up commerce. Such is the
principle which is founded upon the general
experience of nations ever since railways were
devised, and such is the basis upon which the
Baltimore & Ohio, the Pennsyvan ia Central,
the Illinois Central, and all the great railroads
which have played SO large part in tile de-
yelopement of the country, were originally
planned and constructed.
1t is we'll to invite the peoples attention to
this principle, and the facts upon which it is
foHndcd and it is a fitting preliminary to
mention Of the Northern Pacific Railroad
now building across the continent along our
northern belt of Territories. 1t is the tem-
porary misfortune of this enterprise that it
opens up portion Of the country which TO
greater degree probably than in the case Of
any other is unknown to the American public,
whose climate, soil, and geographical features
have not been fully known and appreciated,
and about which there is a lingering suspicion
in the minds of many that ii is ON familiar
terms with the Arctic Zone Yet in this New
Northwest, through the heart Of which the
Northern Pacific Railroad will run, it is proved
beyond question that the climate is as mild
and equable, and the soil as productive, as in
most of our Western States that the general
elevation across the continent averages lower
than at any other point north of Mexico /; and
that no equally extensive portion of our terri
tory can excel ii in the production of the pre-.
cious metals, the minerals, cereals, fruits veg
etablcs, and all the agencies of commercial
prosperity.
Such Il country will soon be filled with
population when agreat railway system brings
| it into connection with the rest of the
world opening its productive acres to a con-
venient market; but already it has popua.
ton more numerous by one hundred thousand
than that reached by the Union Pacific at the
start. The immense wheat crops of Western
Minnesota and the Red River Valley, the
mining business of Montana and Idaho, the
stock raisers of the Plains, the lumber trade of
Puget sound, the transportation of suppl s
for the twenty-seven northwestern military
posts, the Hudson Bay Company, and the
whole adjacent Fertile Belt" of the British
possessions, will all contribute to the business
of The road.
The future Of tile Northern Pacific among
the highways across the continent, may be in
ierred from the fact that it Is 600 miles shorter
than any other route to the Pacific, that il has
an advantage of 400 miles between New
York and japanese ports, that it lies directly
in the line of the vast commerce across the
Pacific.
Neither Of the other lines can surpass II in
competing for the through traffic though in
that future TO which we are looking, there
will be enough and more than enough, for all
The growth on the Pacific slope since the
completion Of the Central road is an indica
tTon of what will be the progress of the whole
f "Far West" when all the roads are built
Population, industry, commerce and eiviliza
tion will follow in their lraeb across the con
tnent.- Cleveland Herald