The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-02-01

NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY.-Thls
important line is progressing SO fast
in financial favor and actual working
order for several hundred miles, that
it becomes q duty to those who are
promoting the welfare of this country
to bring before our readers the future
prospects of the road. The starting
point of this railroad is atzDuluth, a
thriving young city situated on Lake
Superior. The route which it then
trayeases across the continent is re-
markable for mineral wealth and su-
perior herbage. 1t has grain predue-
ing qualities and vast woodlands of
the most valuable kind.
The timber of Puget Sound (Where
the Northern Pacifc4erminates has
world wide celebrity for its excel
1ence and durability. 1t is applicable
both for ships and dwellings, espe-
cially 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 mil
lions of feet of this timber, besides
piles and spars, are exported annual
from Puget Sound, and doubtless the
Northern Pacific Line ofrailway will
increase this trade to- an extent al
most unlimited. The carrying of this
alone will be a source of large reve-
nue. to the company, as We conclude
from the fact that last year the trade
in timber from Puget Sound gave en-
.ployment to no less than seven hun
dred and thirty-sixs vessels. What,
then, may it not be when the improv-
ed facilities of railway conveyance
are are brought to bear upon it The
yalueEof the land through which the
Northern Pacific win travel in its
eighteen hundred miles of extent we
have reason to believe will stand pre-
eminently among the first in markets.
BILE value, with its capabilities of pro-
1ducing crops of all kinds. x 1t runs
through the Z Yellowstone, Gallatin,
Deer Lodge, and other valleys, which
form several hundred miles of the road
and all over a rich and productive
soil. q These lands must advance in
the scale of prices iu proportion to
the Increased advantages afforded by
the road. Land not only varies i'll
value with its fertility, but in refer
ence to its situation, whatever may be
its fertility Land near q railway is,
of course, of greater value than land
equally fertile in a distant part of the
country, and without these named ad-
Yantages--for though it may cost no
more to cultivate the one than othe
the other, yet stilllit must alwayscost
more to bring the produce of the dis
stant land to market. Railways, by
diminishing the expense of carriage 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, esteemed the greatest
Of all improvements and we allude
to this on. account of the enormous
grant of land which the United States
| Government have made to the North
ern Pacific Company, and which Gov
ters no less than an area of Fifty Mill
ions of Acres. The bondhoiders are
made secure by this land grant, which
at the lowest calculation, is worth tre-
| Bile its liability p The bonds, there
fore, safely enjoy the large gold inter.
estswhich the company, readily and
heasily pays ON its bonds. They also
wait patiently the development of q
future prosperity which careful men
believe no other line in the world can
so easily attain. no fsdW 7<uaI