The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1878-05-25
The Northern Pacific Railroad.

The Northern Pacific Railroad.
From a very able speech recently
delivered in Congress by Senator
Window, of Minnesota, on the
Northern Pacific extension bill, we
make the following extracts:
This enterprise has frequently
been charged with large share of
responsibility for the financial revul-
sion of 1873, whereas, it was, in
fact, one of the prominent victims
of an unsound financial condition
which pervaded all kinds of bust
ness, and would have reached its
natural and inevitable elimination
about that time, if no Northern Pa
cific Railroad had ever been heard
of.
Since his failure, it has been quite
fashionable in certain quarters to
denounce Jay Cooke, and to reflect
upon his honor and business integ-
rity because of the glowing terms in
which he advertised this road and
the country along its line. In my
Judgment nothing could be more
unjust. 1t is true he was man of
sanguine temperament. What he
believed at all, he believed with
his whole heart. He sent his trust
ed agents over the proposed line of
this road, from enc end to the 9th.
er, before undertaking the sale of
its bonds. They saw it's wealth of
soil, Of timber, and precious metals,
and partly approaching its bound
less possibilities reported their con-
illusions to Mr.. Cooke. He did
what everybody else has done who
has investigated the subject, at
once became a firm believer in the
enterprise, and threw himself into it
with all the ardor Of his enthusiast
tie nature, 1t failed, not from any
lack of intrinsic merit, but because
the times were ripe for failure, and
now men who never possessed a
1.-THE of his honesty or ability en-
deavor to show their own wisdom
and integrity by sneering at him
and his bubble, as they sometimes
call it.
MIR. President, the portion of road
now in operation has already pro-
duced results which fully justify me
in saying, that the time is not dis
tant, when this great work will
more than confirm all that has ever
been said of it by Mr.. Cooke, or
any Of its most ardent advocates.
Let me briefly mention a few
facts illustr alive Of the charact-
er and qualities of this enterprise,
in its development of our national
resources, and in its economic rela-
tions to the people and to the Treas
ury of the United States.
When completed it will connect
the eastern system of navigable wa
tiers. via the great lakes, with the
Pacific Ocean by line six hundred
and twenty-six miles shorter than
from San Francisco to Chicago, and
the distance from New York to
Chicago or Puget Sound by this
route will be less by three hundred
and seyenty-eight miles than by the
Union Pacific and Central Pacific
Railroads. To these savings in dis
lance must be added at least one
hundred and twenty miles more,
representing the advantages of the
northern routein gradients. Freights
can come east from San Francisco
to Duluth via the Pacific Ocean
and the Northern Pacific Railroad
with less distance than to Chicago
by the present route. The effect of
this shorter line upon transconti-
mental business must be apparent.
Let US now consider for a mo-
ment the results 1t has already &C.
complished in
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERIOR
OF THE CONTINENT.
Scarcely half decade has elapsed
since the Northern Pacific road was
regarded by many as wild and
visionary scheme, and the country
traversed by it was silent wilder
ness, generally believed to be a
"bleak, inhospitable, and uninhabit-
able DESERT"
Less than eight years ago in COM
pany with = party of gentlemen, 1
Travelled over portion of this coun-
try in Western Minnesota and
Eastern Dakota. We had heard
rumors OF rich and beautiful coun-
try, and the party was organized
for the purpose of exploration. To
avoid losing our way over the un-
travelled prairies, We employed tho