Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1871-04-19
(From the New York Independent.
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
BY. SCHUYLER COLFAX.
yIcr.PREsIDfSr or THE UNIFIED STATES.

Midway across the continent at the
head of twelve hundred miles Of Lake
navigation-a thonsand miles from Buf-
falo, 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, go magni6cently endowed by
the Government, is already being pushed
rapidly westward, under its energetic
controllers; and before the SHOWS flies
next Fall. it will be completed to the
western line of Minnesota, where it
crosses the Red River of the North -
which runs nOrthward to Lake Winni.
peg-and one eight of its distance to the
Pacific Ocean will have been accomplished
Commencing. too, this season on its west
ern line. the work will be prosecuted
from both directions. and long befoae the
nation celebrates its Centennial Anni-
versary of Independence. the Lakes will
be united by iron bands with that Med
iterranean' of our Northwest. Puget
Sound.
Of the aupicious influence of this en-
terprise, which but a few years sgo
would have been considered so daring.
the most sanguine of its friends have
scarcely yet full realization. Then
taking Chicago as the starting point, it
will be (via 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 on what is called the grand
circle, instead of in straight line; and
any one testing this by string on a
globe will be surprised at the result. if
they have not previously studied the ef.
fact of the rotundity of the earth, and
its diminished protuberance as you 60
northward towards the Pole. Hence,
when they have rallied 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 it's 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 flows
up the water courses, the Missouri and
the Yellowstone on this side, and de-
scends by the valley of the Columbia
on the other. a 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 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 Cpen this now isolated region to
settlement, will soon be seen waving
grain-felds, and happy homes, and grow
ing towns: while ultimately Gordon of
prosperous States, teeming with popula-
tion, and rich in industry and consequent
wealth. will 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 noun
tains which tested so 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 it crosses the Rocky
Mountains, its altitude above the sea is
$500 feet less than the Union Pacific
Railroad at Sherman, which is said to be
the highest 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
Artic Circle the Columbia is the only
river which has torn its way through
that mighty range, the Andes of North
America. which in California is known
as the Sierras, but which in Oregon
changes its name to the Cascades Ma
ture has thus provided pathway for the
Northern Pacific Road through these
mountains. the scaling Of which. on the
other line, at an elevation of over seven
thousand feet Ia most wonderful triumph
of engineering) cost the Central Pacific
company millions of dollars and com.
PEELED them for seventy miles to main
tain a grade of over one hundred feet
to the mile-twice the maximum of the
Northern Pacific at the most difficult
point on its entire route.
1t is fortunate, also, in its terminus on
the Pacific coast. No one who has not
been there can realize the beauty of
Puget Sound and its surroun lings. One