The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-04-13
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAIL.
ROAD.
From the New York Independent. I
BY SCHUYLER coLFAx.

From the New. Y or,1 Independent.
Midway across the continental the
head OF twelve hundred miles of Lake
navlgatlon--a thousand miles from Buff
falo, the. western terminus of the Erie
Canal, and as near to it by water as
i Chicago--a hundred miles west Of the
Longitude OF ST. Louis or Galena-is the
young ciCy of Duluth, the initial point of
i the Northern Pacific Railroad That
! great work, SO magnifeently endowed by
the Government is already being pushed
rapidly westward, under its energetic
controllers and before the snow flies
next Fall, it will be completed to the
western line of Minnesota, where IL
grasses 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 accomplish
ed. Commencing too, this season on it's
western line, the work will be prosecuted
| from both directions, and long before the
nation celebrates its Centennial Anniver-
sitrg OF Independence, the Lakes will be
united by IRON bands with that Med
I9terranoan nj our Northwest, Puget
Sound. ll 81 8 8h3 80
OF the auspicious influence Of this
enterprise, which but few years ago
would have been considered so daring,
the most sanguine of its friends have
scarcely yet full realization. Even TAX
ing Chicago as the starting point, it will
be (0a@ ST. Paul, where an arm of the
Northern Pacific Railroad is reached)
two hundred miles less distance to Puget
Sound than to San Francisco. Besides
this vessels from the Golden Gate to
China sail OF what is called the grand
circle, instead Off straight line and
any enc testing this by string on a
| globe will be surprised at the result, if
they have not previously studied the
effect of Uhe rotundity of the earth, and
its diminished protuberance Slas YOU 90
northWard toWarCls 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 tins striking fact
shows the advantages this route will
have in commanding the through traffic
of Astr with our Atlantic States, or that
portion of 1t which will pass over the
soil of this nation on its road to En-
rope. a u
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 ofman. 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
J land is 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 facilities open this
now isolated region to sett] nment. will
soon be seen waving grain-felds, and
: happy homes and growing towns while
} ultimately Gordon of prosperous States
) teeming with population, and ricn in in
dustry and consequent wealth, will oc
cupy that now undeveloped and almos,
3 inaccessible portion of our continental
area
/ But this Road is fortunate also in it,
pathway across the two ranges of noun
talns which tested SO severely the Pacific
Railroads built on The central line. ano
} the overcoming of which reflected such
, well deserved honor on their enerpe ii,
: builders At the Deer Lodge Pass. If
: Montana, where lit crosses the Rocky
Mountains, its altitude above the sea (
$500 feet less than the Union Pacfif
/ Railroad at Sherman, which is said to be
the highest point at which a Locomotive
can be found IN the world. And on the
Pacific side of the Continent it is ever
more fortunate. From Arizona up to the
Arctic Circle the Columbia is the onl,
river which has torn its way through
} that mighty range, the Andes of NORTH
America, which in California is known a,
f the Sierras, but which in Oregon change,
: its name to the Cascades Nature ha,
: thus provided a pathway for the North
crn Pacific Road through these mountain,
the scaling of which, on the other line al
) an elevation of over seven thousand feet
8 "a most wonderful triumph of engineer
: ing), cost the Central Pacific connan,
millions of dollars, and compelled them
for seventy miles, to maintain grade O.
| over one hundred feet to a mile-twicf
the maximum of the Northern Pacific
at the most difficult point on its entir,
route.
: 1t is fortunate, also, in its terminus on
| the Pacific coast. No one who mas moi
been there can realize the beauty of Puget
| Sound and its surroundings. One hundr
cd miles long, but so full of lnlets and
straits that its navigable shore lin.
measures seventeen. hundred and sixt,
miles, dotted with lovely islets, witt
gigantic trees almost to the waters EDGE
with safe anchorage everywhere, anc
stretching southwark, without shoals OF
|, bars, from the Straits of Fuca to the
: capital and centre of Washington Terri