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

success soon led 10 the commencement
Of two others, one on the northern route
beginning at Lake Superior-the North
ern Pacific MISUNDERSTANDING the de
preston Of the continent "a nearly uni
form plnin as far as the mountains)
occupied by the Upper Missouri and
'Columbia rivers, and ending on Puget
sound, and in November last its work.
had reached Terrino; the other, called
the Southern Pacific, now projected,
commencing in Northeastern TEXAS, and
ending on the Pacific coast at San Diego;
each when finished will be about 1900
miles long. The former has as the
southern terminus of its Lake Superior
and Mississippi division at st. Paul,
Minnesota, the other terminus being
Duluth; the tcrmini Of the Duluth,
Brainerd and Red River division being
Duluth and Morehead, town on the
cast bank of the Red river. The con.
.truction Of the Kansas Pacific railway
was authorized in 1864, the road to be-
gin at the mouth of the Kansas river,
and extend to Fort Riley, at the mouth
of the Republican fork, up the fork to a
point abreast of Fort Kearney, thence tc
proceed till junction was made with
the Union Pacific railroad in the valley
Of the Platte at the 100ih meridian. An
amendment to the original act afterwards
authorized the company to change the
line Of it, road westwardly from Fort
Riley, building it up the Smoky Hill
fork of the Kansas river to Denver, in
Colorado, making a junction with the
Union Pacific at Cheyenne, one hundred
and six miles north of the main line,
and here the junction is now made. The
line was thus not only shortened, but
made to traverse a country of good soil
with plenty of water, instead of the des'
olate Platte plains covered with nothing
but buffalo grass. Early in last yeai
the Kansas Pacific Railway Company
purchased controlling interest in the
Denver Pacific railway. With its trib
utarics as projected, the Lawrence, Leav
enworth and Galveston road-a link ii
the great chain of railroads from Michi
gan 10 the Indian Territory, and ulti
mately to Galveston bay-anothcr lead
ing southeasterly from Junction City tC
Emporil, where junction will be made
with another running from Topeka
leading southwesterly; with another
from Carson or Ellis down into the re
gion of New Mexico, and with other
which doubtless will he built, an enor
nous area of country will be drained Of
its products and be brought into a stat,
of cultivation which will make it a gar
den spot and home for people who find
it so difficult to live in the crowded East
ern States. The continuation of the
Lawrence, Leavenworth and Galveston
road was made to fit II to compete for
the Texas cattle trade, and for this it i.
specially equipped. But Abilene, on
the main line of the Kansas Pacific, is
the great cattle depot, to which from all
that vast cattle-breeding country the
beasts are driven which supply our East,
em markets. To extend the railroad
system in the State a great number Of
other roads have been projected, many
abandoned, and some now building Yhe
Wakarusa Valley railroad would con.
meet Lawrence with the coal districts in
Usage and other places whence the black
diamonds may be brought for the facto-
ries which shall be built; it was also in
tended to connect with the Atchison,
Topeka and Santa Fe railroad, running
south from Topeka by way of Burlin-
game and Emporia to the central and
southwestern parts of the State. An
other would run to the northern bound
AIRY of Butler county, with a branch
along the Walnut river to its junction
with the Arkansas, near the State line,
and the projectors of this scheme would
divest all the trade of the rich South
west from Topeka and Atchison to Leav-
enworth and Lawrence. As it would
strike the State line seventy miles west
of Parker, it would seem to be the great
cattle-carrying road, as the cattle of
Texas are chiefly in the western part of
that State, and should it go on to the
Red river of Texas it would find It's ter,
minus in the very heart of the cattle
region. What work railroads have to
do in Kansas may be seen from the fact
that Of its rivers the Kansas is the only
one available for purposes of navigation.
What is needed here, as in all the great
Southwest, is means Of transportation.
Its eastern portion is one long succession
of rich prairies, grassy hills, and fertile
valleys, with timber along the shores of
its broad and shallow streams. The
middle part is, il is true. but thinly
wooded and partly occupied by the vast
desert which extends into New Mexico.
Still the term desert" is a misnomer, as
the land thus designated is constantly
encroached upon by man. The western
part is one of the finest grazing countries
in the world, and here roam innumerable
herds Of cattle, and there are Gne tracts Of
forest. its population. which in 1860
numbered but lO7, ,2O6 souls, in 1870
was S6i,3 ..t
With these great roads. the Northern