The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-03-31
The Northern Pacific Railroad.
BY SCHUYLER CoLFAx, vICE-PREsIDENT o
THE UNITED STATES.

From the New York Independent.
Midway across the continental the
head of twelve hundred miles of Lake
navigation-a thousand miles from Buff
falo, 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 Galena-is the
young city of Duluth, the initial point
of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The
great work, so magnificently endowed
by the Government, is already being
pushed rapidly westward, under its en-
ergetic controllers and before the snow
flies next Fall, it Will be completed to
the western line of Minnesota, where it
crosses the Red River of the North
which runs northwrrd TO Lake Winni-
peg-and one-eighth Of its distance to the
Pacific Ocean will have been accom-
plished. Commencing, too, this season
on its western line, the work will be
prosecuted from both directions, and
long before..th nation celebrates its Cen
tennial Anniversary of Independence,
the Lakes will be united by iron bands
with that Mediterranean Of our North.
west, Puget Sound.
OF the suspicious influence of this
enterprise, which but a few years ago
would have been considered so daring,
the most sanguine of its friends have
scarcely yet a full realization. Even
taking Chicago as a starting point, it
will be (via St. Paul. where an arm of
the Northern Pacific Railroad is reach
ed two hundred miles less 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 a straight line;
and anyone testing this by string on
globe will be surprised at the result,
if they have not previously studied the
effect of the rotudity of the earth, and
its diminished protuberance rs 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 of it which will pass over
the soil of this nation on its road 10 Eu-
rope.
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 de-
ponds on the work of man. 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 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, il climate
and fertility Of soil produce their nat
ural result. when railroad facilities
open this now isolated region TO settle
ment, will soon be seen waving grain
fields and happy homes, and growing
towns; while ultimately Il Gordon of
prosperous States teemlng with popu-
lation, and rich in industry and conse-
quent wealth, will occupy that now UNI
developed and almost inaccessible por-
ton 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 il crosses the Rocky
Mountains. its altitude above the seq is
$500 feet less than the Union Pacific
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 even
more fortunate. From Arizona up to
the Arctic 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
Nature 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 Ca most Won
derful triumph of engineering), cost
the Central Pacific Company millions of
dollars, and compelled them, for sew
enty miles, to maintain grade of over
one hundred feet to the mile-twice the
maximum of the Northern Pacific at
VIC IllO9V uiihCult polhl III us ehlilc
route.
1t is fortunate, also, in its terminus
on the Pacific coast No one vino has
not been there can realize the beauty of
Puget Sound and its surroundings
One hundred miles long. but so full of
inlets and straits that its navigable
shore-line measures seventeen hundred
and sixty miles, dotted with lovely
islets, with gigantic trees almost 10 the
waters edge, with safe anchorage every.
where, and stretching southwark with
out shoals or bars. from the Straits of
Fuca to the capital and center of Wash
ington Territory, it will be magnificent
e,,trepot for the commerce of the grand
est ocean of the world, the Pacific.
The Land Grant of the United
States, exceeding Fifty Millions of acres
in the winter.wheat region of our nation
ten times as large as the area of Mas
sachusetts), is doubtless sufficient for
the completion of the road; but, be-
sides this, millions of private means are