The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1875-01-08
Whether the exact result shall prove

line. Whether the exact result shall prove
to be somewhat greater or less than this es-
timate-here, in single item, is a benefit,
inevitable, tangible and oyershadowing,
which must inure to the nation from the
completion of the Northern Pacific Road,
and which neither practical taxpayers nor
practical statesmen will ignore.
AS samples of the abundant official proof
to substantiate these conclusions: The vet
eran and distinguished Quartermaster-
General of the Army, Ma. Gen. NJ. 9.
Melggs, in an able report written in 1866
ON the Importance to the government oil
building the Northern Pacific Railroad,
said:
No means of improving the great nation
al domain, of increasing by it's products the
national revenue and prosperity, can COM
pare in cheapness aud efficacy with the
opening of rapid communication by railway
with these distant, healthful and productive
regions. :. The enterprise is one
worthy of the nation. AS military meas
ure, contributing to national security and
defence alone, it is worthy the cost OF Ell
fectual assistance from the Governments
For the mode in which aid can
best be granted to the construction OF tins
road, none appears to me SO efteetual and
speedy, none to impose SO lighta burden on
the treasury, as the guaranty of sufficient
rate of interest upon portion at least OF
the actual cost of construction.
The above mentioned report of General
Meies was endorsed as follows by the then
Lieutenant-Ge
Headquarters Armies of the Q. S.,
April Goth, 1866.
The construction OF railroad by the
proposed route would be of very great ad-
vantage to the government pecunlarily, by
saving in the cost of transportation to sup
ply troops, whose presence in the country
through which it is proposed to pass is made
necessary by the great amount OF emlgra-
grafton to the gold bearing regions OF the
Rocky Mountains. In my opinion, too, the
United States would receive an additional
peclniary benefit in the construction OF this
road, by the settlement it would induce
along the line of the road, and consequently
the less number of troops necessary to Sc
cure order and safety. How far these ben
efits should be compensated by the general
government beyond the grant OF land al
ready awarded by congress, l would not
pretend to say. | would merely give it as
my opinion that the enterprise of construc-
ting the Northern Pacific Railroad is one
well worth fostering by the general govern
ment. and that such aid could well be af-
forded would insure the early prosecution
of the work. U. 5. GRANT.
Lieutenant-G General.
Under the Same date Brevet Major-Gen-
eral Rufus Ingalls,, .. S. A. wrote:
NV long residence on the Pacific Coast,
as Quartermaster of the Department OF
Oregon, has enabled me to become well ac-
quainted with the country, and leads me to
take especial interest in the success of the
enterprise. No country offers greater III
ducement for emigration and settlement
than that traversed by the line Of the Nor
thern Pacific Railroad, and, without rail-
road, none more inaccessible
Government, by the immediate construction
of this road would be benefited by the
great reduction Of the cost of sending
troops to that country and in the supplies
as also in the saving Of time, which is oi
the utmost Importance in military opera,
tions. -. In my opinion, from an
experience Of many years in the Quarter
masters Department in the west and north
west. it is Of the utmost importance to the
nation that this rood should be constructed
at the earliest moment possible. s..
Brevet Major-General G. A Custer, U.
s. A., whose intelligent and successful ser
vice as commander of the cavalr,
forces in the northwest, during the pas
three years, gives special weight to his
opinion in this connection, writes as follows
under date of Fort Abraham Lincoln, Da-
kota, April 8, 1864, showing that the rea-
sons that rendered the building of the Nor
thern Pacific Railroad vitally important
eight years ago hold good to-day.
So far as the Northern Pacific Railroa,
is to be regarded as a mighty instrument t
be used in the development of this countr.
so far am anxious that it should succeed
Whether it succeeds at present. or not i
the gigantic undertaking with which it
projectors have manfully grappled, an,
which extraneous conditions have magnife'
and embarrassed, it is bound ultimately
| and at no distant period, to realize all tina
it's friends and promoters have hoped o
| claimed for it, The beneficial influenc
which the Northern Pacific railroad, il com
pleted would exercise in the final and peace
| able solution Of the Indian question, whicl
| in this very region assumes its most seriou
aspect, might well warrant the general gov
ernment in considering this enterprise on
of national Importance, and in giving to
at least hearty encouragement.
VII. The Northern Pacific Railroad
necessary to prevent serious and imminen
increase Of the Indian difficulty in tn
| northwest. Not only would failure t
| complete this road prolong indefinitely tn
| present chronic Indian warfare, and th
attendant decentralization and large govern
ment expenditure, but such failnre Woul
go far to render that warfare more bitter
| more costly and more disastrous. Th
| building of the Canada Pacific Railroa
from Lake Winnipeg westward will driv
the game from all that belt of country; th
Indians of British America, following th
game on which they depend for sustenanee
will pass southwark across the border ant
congregate on our unprotected frontiers in
Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, and Wash
ington. Added to the tribes already ther
this fresh incursion of savages will unques
tionably render necessary one of two thing
either the abandonment of the eountr.
by it's white population (Which is not to b
thought of, or such q permanent inereas
of troops and forts in the northwest as vii
cost the government many million dollars
in excess of the present outlay.
Thus, so Ear from its being true that tn
country cannot afford . to encourage th
completion of this road, the country canno
afford to take any other course. To en-
courage its completion on the basis propos
ed will cost the nation nothing-to refns
such encouragement will cost the govern
ment millions yearly. To attempt to STAN
still, while others are moving, is to g
backward-to decline present action by til
inexpensive and peaceful methods proposes
is to incur the certain necessity of doin!
tenfold more at enormous cost with IN