The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1873-01-31

altogether a. race, and the whole cOun-
try will belong to the white man. The
wonderful growth Of the West il one Of
the most stupcndous monuments of the
genius and hafdihood of man, and the
rapidity with which il has grown Of late
years Is mainly due to the multiplication
Of railroads in it. a country may be
fertile or rich in minerals or any sort of
material wealth, yet il means Of cOmmu-
nication with markets where its products
are needed he not at hand, il must r.
main undevcloped, and no moro will be
raised upon its soil or dug from beneath
it than will supply the wants Of its in
habitants. IT, for instance, n corn or
whoat-bcaring section bc certain dis.
tancc from lis market, the grain will not
bear transportation. The cost Of trans
porting Indian corn over ordinary high
ways is twenty cents per ton per mile /;
nnd thus, when the market price is
sevcrty-fiye cents per bushcl, il can only
afford to 20 one hundred and twenty-five
miles, and wheat, at market price Of
one dollar and half per bushel, can
afford to go only two hundred and fifty
miles. Railroads rednce the price Of
transportation to one and fourth cents
per ton per mile, and hence the circle
within which corn and wheat at the
prices named. will have n marketable
value will be drawn on radii Of 900
and 5000 miles respectively, giving
areas Of 49,OS7 aud s.O52, 400 square
miles respectively. And the West il
tie cranary Of the country; how was it,
with all its possibilities Of wealth to be
opened to the Eat with the Alleghanies
and the Rocky mountains in the way and
bu, the old means Of transportation. As
pioneers from the East went into it, they
lcfl their market behind them, and hence
the main line of travel and settlements
was alongshc navigabic water-coures
by whichfsoduct, could he sent down in
boat ~ bn RATS, but when they got
beyoiA The Alleghanics the want Of inn
proved modes of communication was
sorcly felt There was the fertile into
rior Of the country vhost better high.
ways were needed, but 'tiiey were not to
be had, f1r, improve a read as one may,
90 long rs horse, mules, and oxen are
the locomotive power. but little can be
done. The frst attempt 10 improve this
state Of affair was the building OF canals,
aud under the impetus Of this thought
four grca, lines were projected and be-
gun in New York. Maryland, Pcnnsyl-
vania, and Virginia, the object being to
connect nayirahlc tide-vators with
branches of the Mississippi or the great
hkes. For a time all talk WAS Of canals,
but the advcut Of the railroad Ms u power
which would work put a stop to all but
one of those great undertakings all but
the Eric canal being abandoned.
The frst railway Was built in this
country in the year 1880. when twenty
three miles Of the Baltimore and OHIO
road were opened, and for two years only
horsepower WAS employed it was not
till 1882 that a steam locomotive engine
WIS used, and then such an impetus was
given in this direction that speculation
rose to an enormous height and ended in
the commercial crash of 1887. Espe-
chilly in the Western and Southwestern
States vast sums were expended on roads
mostly short passenger ines-whlch
were soon abandoned, and notwthstand-
ing the great excitement on the subject
only 1895 miles Of railroad were laid in
all the United States between 1880 and
ls49. Afler the crisis public works
were generally abandoned, and it was
not till the discovery Of gold in Califor-
mia in 1913 that disposition was shown
to resume them. From this year dates
the construction Of railroads in the
United States. --
In ls47 Captain John G. Fremont,
with a few companions, traversed the
desert to the Rocky mountains, and
found passes through them as well as
through the Sierra Nevada. lie reached
California just as We were taking posses
sion of it. Soon gold was discovered.
The news spread like wildfre, and adj
venturers followed in the train of the
great Pathfinder. Many died ON the
journey, and il was not till after six
months had passed that the lean and
hungry survivors reached their Eldorado.
The way was long and Indians were in
il TO molest the white gold-seekers. |
Then other bands set out, and by degrees
the danger of the journey diminished,
but the distance could not be passed over
but in a long time. To obviate this
difficulty regular overland mail was
which went between San
Francisco and st. Joseph, distance of
two thousand miles, in three weeks. In
1860 Ben Holiday established "Pony
Express" by which strange being, half
miner and half devil, mounted on a mus
tang pony and covered with a sombrero,
rode lickity-cut through storm and rain,
and red devils if necessary, and by
means of relays, much shortened the
lime of carrying the mails. Those who
would travel thither went in stages over
and through infinite trouble and time to
eek their fortunes in the Land Of