Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1871-04-06
[From the New York independently
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAIL
ROAD.
By SCHUYLER coLFAx, wCE-pREsIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES.


Midway across the continental the
head Of twelve hundred miles of Lake
navigation--a thousand miles from Bnf
talo, the western terminus of the Erie
Canal, and as near to it by water as
Chicago-a hundred miles west of the
longitude of St. Louis or Gacna-is the
young city Of Duluth, the initial point
of the Northern Pacific Railroad. That
great work, so magnifcently endowed
by the Government, is already beng
pushed rapidly westward, under its en-,
crgetic controllers aud before the snow
flies next Fall, it will be completed to
the western line of Minnesota, where il
crosses the Red River of the North
which runs uorthward to Lake Winni.
peg-and one-eighth its distance to the
Pacific Ocean, will have been accomp-
ished Commencing too. this season on
its western line, the work will be prose
cute1 from both directions, and long be-
fore the nation celebrates its Centennial
Anniversary of Independence, the Lakes
will be united by iron bands with that
Mediterranean of our Northwest, Puget
Sound.
Of the auspicious influence of this en-.
terprise, which but a few years ago
would have been considered so daring,
the most sangune of its friends have
scarcely yet full realization, Even
taking Chicago as the starting point, it
will be (via St. Paul, where an arm OF
the Northern Pacific Railroad is rcached)
two hundred miles less distance to Pu-
get Sound than to San Francisco. Be,
sides this, vessels from the Golden
Gate to China sail on what is called the
grand circle, instead Of in q straight
line; aud any one testing this by a
string On q globe will be surprised at the
result, if they have not previously stud,
led the effect of the rotundity of the
earth, and its diminished protuberance
as You go northward towards the Pole.
Hence, when they have sailed eight hun.
dred miles from San Francisco, they are
only one hundred miles from the en-.
trance to Puget Sound and this strik-
ing 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
recent trials, Resources are the gift Of
the Creator. Developing them depends
on the work of man. Along the line of
the Northern Pacific Railroad, as it fol-
lows up the watercourses, the Missouri
and the Yellowstone on this side, and
descends by the valley of the Columbia
on the other, vast body Of agricultural
land in waiting for the plough, with a
climate almost 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 pro.
duce their natural result, when railroad
facilities open this now isolated region
to settlement, will soon be seen waving
grain fields, and happy homes, and grow
ing towns while ultimately a Gordon
OF prosperous States, teemiug with pop
ulation, and rich in industry and conse-
quent wealth, will now occupy that now
undeveloped and almost inaccessible por.
tlon OF our continental area.
Bnt this road is fortunate also in its