The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1871-03-30
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4
BY SCHUYLER coITAxs
VICE PRESIDENT OF TIE UNITED STATES
Midway across the continent-at the
head Of twelve hundred miles Of Lake
navigation-a thousand miles from Bur
falo. the western terminus OF the Enc
Canal, and as near to it by water as Chi
cago-a hundred miles west OF the longl-
-tude Of st. Louis or Galena-ls the young
: -oity of-Daluth,~ the initial point % ths
Nor4hern Pacific Railroad. That great
work 40 maQnifcently endowed by the
0overnment. Is already being pushed rap
;dIv westward. under It's energetic control
lars: and before the snow flies next Fall
il will be completed 10 the western hne OF
Minnesota, where it crosses the Red River
Of the North which runs inorthward 10
Lake Wmnipeg-and one-eighth Of its
vi distance to the Pacific Ocean will have
been accomplished. Commencing, too,
this season on its western line, the work
will be- prosecuted from both directions,
and long before the nation celebrates its
Centennial Anniversary of Independence,
the Lakes win be united by IRON bands
with that Mediterranean OF our North
west. Puget Sound.
OF The auspicious influence of this en-
b. terprise, which but a few years ago would
have been considered so daring, the most
sanruine4of its friends have scarcely yet q
full realization. Even taking Chicago rs
the starting point, it will be (viG st. Paul,
where an arm of the Northern Pacihc
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 circles instead Of ma straight
line and any one testing this by astring
on a globe will Be surprised at the result,
if they have not previously studied the
effect Of the ~rotundlty Of the earth and its
diminished protuberance as you 60 north
ward towards the Pole. Hence when
they have sailed eight hundred miles from
San Francisco, they areNonly one hundred
miles from the entrance to Puget Sound;
and this striking fact shows the advanta-
80 ges this route VIII ave In commanding
the through traffic Of Asia with our At
lantic 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 itfollows
up the water-courses, the Missouri and the
Yellowstone on this side, and descends by
the valley Of the Columbia on the other,
q vast body Of agricultural landis waiting
for the plough, with q climate almost ex-
actly the same as that of New York, ex-
cept that, with less snow, cattle, cattle, in
the larger PARTON of it, can subsist on the
open range in winter. Here, If climate
and fertility of soil procuce their natural
result, when railroad facilities open this
now isolated region to settlement, will
soon be seen waving grain-felds, and hap
homes, and growing towns; while ulti-
mately q Gordon of prosperous States,
tseming with population, and rich in in
dustry and consequent wealth, will occupy
that now u~ndeveloped and a-lmostinaooes-
.g4ha aible 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 Rail
road at Sherman, which IS said to be the
highest point at which a locomotive can
be- found in the world. And on the Pa
cifc side Of the Continent it is even more
fortunate. From Arizona up to the Arc
tic Circle the Columbia is the only rivel
which has torn its way through that
mighty range, the Andes Of North Amer
lea, which IN California is known as the
Slerras, but which in Oregon changes its
name to the Cascades. Nature has thus
provided q pathway for the Northern
Pacific Road through these mountains, the
scaling Of which, on the other line, at an
elevation Of over seven thousand ieet (s
most wonderful triumph of engineering)
cost the Central Pacific Company millions
Of dollars, and compelled them for seventy
miles. to maintain a grade of over ono
hundred feet to the mile-twice the max
imum 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 surroundings. One humid.
red miles long, but so full Of inlets and
straits that its navigable shore-hne meas.
nres seventeen hundred and sixty miles
dotted with lovely islets, with gagantiC
trees almost to the waters edge, with safe
anchorage everywhere, and stretching
southword, without shoals or bars, from
the Straits of Fuca to the capital and cen.
tire OF Washington Territory, it will be
magnificent entrepot for the o
that grandest ocean of the world, the
Pacific.
= y Tho Land Grant of the United
States, exceeding Fifty Millions of acre:
In the winter-wheat region Of our natioI
(ten times as large as the area Of Massa
chusettsl is doubtless sufficient for thl
complexion OF the hoadi but, besides this
millions Of private means are already in
vested in it. The bonds based on th,
Land Grant. and a mortgage on the RoaC
itself in addition, are being sold as rapidly
as the money is needed and, as sn invest
ment, yielding about eight per cent. pc
year in currency, rank already with th,
best class of railroad securities. And thu
the good work will go on with unchecke,
step to its final contamination, carrying
the hlaooTnno IF oofflar0a-k
civilization, and Christianity with it in it
progress, and literally causing the wilder
ness to blossom as the rose.