The daily gazette., 1881-05-10
THE FIRST STAR ROUTE.
Governor GiIpin Tells q Story Com
cerning the Original Overland
Mall Line.

VI bhO OhtJCo ob0bCb ln OA
self" said ex Governor Gilpin to a
party of gentlemen standing with him
in the Windsor rotunda yesterday.
"But it is not the first time that have
known the Senate to descend into
elownishness and to spend weeks and
months over nothing. 1t was as bad
in 1845 ADJUST as bad, as have rea-
son to know, as was interested in the
proceedings to some extent. That is
to say, was there and came in for a
share of the Senate's consideration
myself 1t was the Texas Oregon
question which was then claiming at
tention and which soon afterwards led
to the war with Mexico. There were
no less than forty-two public men on
the floor of Congress who were Presi-
dental aspirants, and all of whom have
dug their own graves In the sands
along the Atlantic"
"But you spoke of having had some
connection with the discussion-what
was it ?" interrupted some one.
ooh, simply this : 1t was about
mail route-a great transcontinental
mail service, concerning what you may
call the original Star route. 1t was in
the days of the giants, of Benton, Clay,
Calhoun, Randolph, Dallas and Web
ster. knew them all. l had been
across the continent as a lieutenant in
the army, aud had returned with rec.
ommendation that mail route should
be established overland from Inde~
pendence, Mo.-then the extreme
western point of civilization in the
United States--to the mouth of the
Columbia, some three thousand miles
across plains and mountains. Senator
Niles, of Connecticut, an old friend
and an old time Democrat, was chair
man of the Post Office Committee, land
had asked me TO write a paper to be
submitted with the eeommittee's s report.
did SO. told them Of the vast, the
limitless domain which stretched out
to the westward from the great Mis-
sissippi River or its great plains,
great mountain ranges, big forests !;
limited at the mineral resources calcu-
lated for them the number of wild ami
mails ; buffaloes /; foretold that the
COT ntry would some day be covered
with network of railroads, and sug-
gested that ere the lapse Of century
the travel and the mails to Eastern
ASA Australia would pass through this
section.
Laughed atf Yes, / was. was
riduculed. The Boston Irdveller, the
Herald and the Baltimore american
denounced the scheme as wild and
visionary. But that made no differ
ence. The people wanted the in
formation. Well, the matter came up
in the Senate. My report had been
printed and sent In with The COM
mittee's recommendations The mos
ton was to print 10, 900 copies of my
report. l saw that there was o hur-
ried consultation between several
Senators, including Calhoun, Webster,
Dayton and others, and soon had the
conference explained by a motion by
Dayton-the most powerful of them
all in use of iIony-to expunge the en-
tire matter ss irrelevant and unworthy
the dignity of the Senate. He made a
speech of some length, in which this
now fair section Of country was treat
ed in a most disrespectful manner.
Dayton was followed by Benton, who
took the other side"
"Were the proceedings reported ?"
''No, sir. Some of the Senators
took it upon themselves to go to the
reporter and represent that the matter
was unworthy of record and / will
show you some of these days where in
the report such an entry was made and
where it is stated in great, glaring, big
letters that never before in the history
of the Senate had such merriment been
INDUCED in-that grave Senators ac-
tually shook their sides with laughter
at the preposterousness of the PROPOSE
tion.' And they did. 1t was jolly
time In the Senate, sure enough"
"But did Calhoun speak P''
"Yes. was sitting just behind
him when he arose, looking a perfect
thunder storm. lie had addressed the
presiding officer and continued for
fully half an hour to pour the vials of
his wrath upon the proposition and
upon me. He looked as stiff as if a
ramrod had been thrust down him
denounced me in open terms as
visionary, and was terribly severe upon
my presumption in venturing to come
into the Senate with a report which
had, he declared, been surreptitiously
introduced. There was, a young
man, almost beardless, willing to
throw OFF my lieutenant's epaulettes
and take q seat among the gravest and
greatest of the men Of the nation in
the Senate"
'sAnd Websterf"
"Yes, Webster spoke, too; rose in his
usual austere manner, and began delib-
erately with denunclation OF the mea-
sure, closing with few gratuitous re-
marks concerning The country at large.
What do we want, he exclaimed, with
this vast worthless area? This region
OF savages and wild beasta-of deserts
and shifting sands and whirlwinds of
dust-of cactus and prairie dogs? To
what use could we ever hope to put
these great deserts or those endless
mountain ranges, impenetrable aud
covered TO their very base with eternal
snow? What car we ever nope 10 do
with the Western coast-a coast of 3 200
miles, rock k-bounk, cheerless, uninviting
and NOT a harbor on II? What use have
we for this country?e The young man
should be- sent home at once
These were tue opinions of the leading
minds of the country less than forty years
ago concerning section Of the Union
now inhabited by 10000 900 pepple
lions of gold and silver since that time,
as well as other products, to the worlds
wealth-W has grown Into populari-
arity and developed as II under the in
tiuence of an universal magician's wand.
A 10 ri tifuiun fn asth that fha unnfinn