Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-03-30
From the New York independently
THE NORTHERN PACIFIC
sRAfL
BY scnUYLsx coLrAx.

al
;.lilal and Us near to it by water as
tnica5o-a hundred miles west of the
Jngitude of st. Louis or Galei,u-is the
'ouns city OF Ddiutn, the initial point of
lie Northern Pacific Railroad. That
great WORK, SO hiasniicently endowed
~ the eGovernmelr, Is already being
dashed rapidly westward, under its
:nergetic controllers; and before the
iaow falls next Fall, it will be coniplet-
II to the westera line of Minnesota,
fnere it crosses the Red River of the
NJrth-which runs north ward to Lake
Winnipeg and one-eighth of its dis
tnce to the Pacific Ocean will have been
accom- plished. Commencing, too, this
season on its western line, t he work will
Oe prosecuted from both directions, and
long before the nation celebrates its
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 yet a full realizations. Even
taking Chicago it5 the starting point, it
will be (ria st. Paul, where an arm of
the Northern Pacific Railroad is reach
|ed) 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 Ofin a straight line;
and any one testing this byastring on a
globe will be surprised at the result, if
they have not previously studied 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 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 oft 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 allits
recent trials. Resources are the gift of
the Creator. Developing then depends
on the work of man. Along the line of
the Northern Pacific Railroad, as it fol-
lows up the water-courses, the Missouri
and the Yellowstone on this side, and
lescends by the valley of the Columbia
Jn the other, vast body of agricultural
land is waiting for the plough, with a
climate almost exactly the sameas that
of New York, except that, with less
snow, cattle, i'll the larger portion of it,
can subSist ON the open rangein winter.
Here if climate and fertility of soil pro-
lace their natural result, when railroad
facilities open this now isolated region
to settlement, will soon be seen waving
5rain-fieldS, and happy homes, and
growing towns; while ultimately a cor
Ion of prosperous States, teelnins with
population, and rich in industry anu
consequent wealth, will occupy that now
ELnIeveloped and almost Inaccessible
portion of our c0ltinentll area.
But this Road is fortunate .iisO in its
pathway across the twOran ge5 of noun
taIns which tested so severely the Pa
ciic Railroads built on the central line,
and the overcoming of which reflected
getic builders. AT the Deer Lodge Pass,
in Montana, where crosses the ROcHy
Mountains, its altitude above the sea il
800 feet less than the Union Pacific
Railroad ut Sherman, which is said T.
be the highest point at which a loco
motive 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 i:
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 Cas-
cades. Nature has thus provided &
pathway for the Northern Pacific Roa6
through these mountains, the scaling O
which, on the other line, atan elevation
of over seven thousand feet "a mos
wonderful triumph ofengineering), cos
the Central Paciic Company millions o1
dollars, and compelled them, for seven
ty miles, to maintain grade, of Ovel
lone hundred feet to the mile-twice the
maximum of the Northern Pacific a
the most difficult point. on its entire
route.
1t is fortunate, also, in its terminus OF
the Pacific coast. No one who has no
been there can realize the beauty O
4 Puget Sound and its surroundings
One hundred miles long, but so full 0
inlets and straits that its navigablt
shOre-line measures seventeen hundred
and sixty miles, dotted with lovely
islets, with gigantic trees almost to th'
waters edge, with safe anchorage every
where, and stretching southwark, with
out shoals or bars, from the Straits o.
Guca to the capital and centre of Wash
lington Territory, it will be magnificen
| for 70 O rao of thof uv.o nd
est ocean of the world the Pacific.
States, exceeding Fifty Millions of acre
in the winter-wheat region ofour natior
(ten times as large as the area of Massa
chusetts), is doubtless sufficient for th'
Icompletion of the Road; but, beside
this, millions of private means are al
ready invested in it. The bonds baset
!. on the Land Grant, and u mortgage OF
the Road itself in addition, are being
sold as rapidly as the money is needed
and, as an Investment, yielding abOq
.1eight per cent. per year in currency
rank already with the best class of rail
road securities. And thus the goOG
work will go on with unchecked stel
to its final consummatiOn, carrying the
blessings of settlement, development
Icivilization, and Christianity with it il
! its progress, and literally causing thu
wilderness to blossom as the rose.
ISAvED FROM THB GALLOWs
i From tue Cleveland Hera Il.
A remarkable case shrwing the dan
Iger Of trusting implicitly to oiroumstan
tial evidence has just been concluded
In Toledo. Nearly three years agt
Robert Sharp was found dead with sho1
land slugs through his brain. A mar
named Harrington, who had been OF
intimate terms with the deceased, wa.
ARRESTED for the murder. The testimO
ny was wholly circumstantial, but 81
sKillfully worked up by the detective:
that Harrington was convicted and