The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-02-02
Northern Paoifio RAILWAY.

This important line is progressing
so fast in financial favor and actual
working order for several hundred
miles, that it becomes duty to those
who are promoting the welfare of
this country to bring before our
readers the future prospect of the
road. The starting poi t of this
railway is at Duluth, a thriving
young city situated on Lake Superl-
or. The route which it thnn ira
verses across the continent is remark
able for mineral wealth and superior
herbage. 1t has great grain produc-
ing qualities and vast woodlands Of
the most valuable kind.
The timber of Puget Sound
(wbere the Northern Pacific termi
nates) hos a world wide celebrity
for its excellence and durability. It
is applicable both for ships and
dwellings, especially the produce of
the fir, which in this region is very
abundant and much harder than the
white oak. We quote from reliable
authority when we state that over
one hundred and eighty millions of
feet of this timber, besides piles and
spars, are exported annually from
Pugut Sound, and doubtless the
Northern Pacific line of railway will
increase this trade to an extent al
most unlimited. The carrying of
this alone will be a source of large
revenue to the company, as we con-
clude from the fact that last year the
trade in timber from Puget Sound
gave employment to no less than
seven hundred and thirty-six vessels
What, then, may it not be when the
improved facilities of railway con-
veyances are brought to bear upon
it? The value of The land through
which the Northern Pacific will
travel in its eighteen hundred miles
of extent we have reason to believe
will stand pre-eminently among the
first in marketable value, with its
Capabilities Of producing crops Of
all kinds. 1t runs through the
Yellowstone, Gallatin, Deer Lodge,
and other valleys, which form sew
eral hundred miles of the road, and
all along over rich and productive
soil. These lands must advancs in
the scale of prices in proportion to
the increased advantages afforded
by the road. Land not only varies
| in valne with its fertility, bat in re-
ference to its situation, whatever
may be its fertility. Land near a
town on railway is, of course, OF
greater value than land equally fer
tile in distant part Of the country,
and without these named advan-
tages-for though it may cost no
more to cultivate the one than the
other, vet still it must always cost
more to/bring the produce of the
distant land to market. Railways,
by diminishing the the expense of
agricultural or other products, put
the land in remote parts of the
country more nearly on level with
that near the town. Railroads,
therefore, are, on this account, es
teemed the greatest of all improve
ments; and we allude TO this on ac-
count of the enormous grant of
land which the United States Gov
ernment has made to the Northern
PAcifc Company. and which covers
no less than an area of FIFTY MIL
LIONS OF ACRES. The bondholders
are made secure by this land-grant,
| which, at the lowest calculation, is
worth treble its liability. The bonds
therefore, safely enjoy the large gold
interest which the company readily
and easily pays on its bonds. They
also await patiently the develop
ment of a future prosperity which
careful men believe no other line in
the world can so easily attain.