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

ing table shows the rate Of increase.
Av lncrcaa
Nile. adi,,I. Total niie, rcr year
1880 iO....... 2,sls ISIS 23l.s
isi0-5o...".". 0,2os a,O2i COOS
slg-G0......... 2i,Gli 3o,GSj 2,lGli
1850 7O........ 22,76i $500 2,21dI
The road to be Travelled over in stages
between St. Joseph and San Francisco
was diminished to sixteen hundred miles,
aud the mail could be carried in six days.
Then the telegraph was laid all the way
across the continent, and what was
needed was not 30 much means Of com
munica.ion as Of travel. What had
been done in the East in getting west
ward was this: In 1851 the Erie railroad
from the Hudson river to Lake Erie was
completed; in the succeeding year the
Michigan Central and Michigan Southern
were fully laid, carrying the railroad
system as far west as Chicago. The
year 1854 brought the Chicago and Rock
Island railroad to conclusion, and carried
the system to the Mississippi river; in
1886 the Illinois Central was laid from
Chicago to Cairo, and 1859 saw the con
clu-ion of the Hannibal and st. Joseph,
extending from the Mississippi to 81.
Joseph in Missouri, whence towards Cal
ifornia travel must be done by stage, and
il was a long distance and across the
mountains. In 1862 President Lincoln
signed the act Of Congress for the incor-
poration Of the Union Pacific Railroad
Company.
Long before this, however, and "a
early as 1916, wise man had agitated
the scheme Of building a line of railroad
which should connect the Mississippi
and the Pacific coast, commencing at
Prairie du Chen, crossing the Rocky
mountains at the South Pass, and having
ITS principal Pacific terminus on Van
couver's sound, with branch from some
point west Of the mountains to san
Francisco. The main purpose Of Mr..
Asa Whitney, the propounder Of this
scheme, was to render America the route
Of Asiatic commerce. In eastern Asia,
fronting our Pacific coast, were hundreds
Of millions Of people taking part in the
commerce of the world, and destined 10
take yet greater share in it when
means of communication should be
opened, aud should there be practicable
route for trade between China, Japan,
and the Pacific coast of America, vast
fertile tracts and areas rich in mineral
wealth, which had hitherto been inacces-
sible would be reached. The feasibility
of this plan was urged upon State Legis-
latures in addresses aud before popular
audiences. II was advocated in the
Senate by Mr.. Benton, and in 1853
Congress voted sl50,0O0 to dcfray the
expenses Of necessary surveys, and in
the same year six parties were organized
by the War Department and sent out on
their tramps. In 1854 Congress appro-
priated $50, 900 more for the same pur-
pose, and three additional parties were
organized. Reports were made and ten
different routes proposed, but for one
reason or another the main project was
not carried into execution. In the year
1862, when the act of incorporation of
the Union Pacific Railroad Company
was signed, there had been great excite
ment among the miners in California and
throughout the West. The gold mines
of the Cariboo region in British Colum-
bia, and those of the Salmon river, the
Nez Perces, and the John Day and Pow
der rivers in Washington Territory and
Oregon, and the yield in the mines on
the Colorado river in Arizona again
brought attention to the mineral resour-
ces of the West. There was silver in
Nevada and gold in Dakota, and an en-
igration towards these various places Sc,
in. Demands were made for the con-
struction Of the new road. Besides
treasure, California was exporting wheat
and -four. The Chinese had begun to
arrive in numbers, and il was evident for
these and other reasons that the new
road must be constructed. The work
was begun in 1868, although not much
was done till two years afterwards. In
1865 100 miles were built in 1866 500
more; in 1867 about the same number
in 1868, 500; and in 1869 800, the dis
tance from the Missouri to Sacramento
being 1,776 miles-a number which
lanciful mind might be inclined to con-
meet mysteriously with the date of the
independence of the Republic. The
Union Pacific railroad was completed on
the 10th of May, 1869, by the junction
Of the Central Pacific and the Union
Pacific railroads at Promontory Summit,
in Utah, and on the 10th of the same
month through trains began to run regu-
Iarly. There was now clear line across
The continent from the Atlantic 10 the
Pacific a distanca Of 2 2OO n,iles