Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1882-10-26
No. 49,.
A BIT OF HISTORY.
iGlobe-Denlocrat.

lGlobe- Democrat
The common idea that Benton first sug-
gested railroad across the continent to the
Pacific was shown to be a tallacy by ex-Sena-
tor Armstrong at recent meeting of the His
torical Society in this city. AS a matter Of
fact, the records show that he opposed such
project even after it had gone so far as the
: calling of Convention at ST. Louis It was
arranged that Stephen A. Douglas should
preside over said Convention, and Benton did
all he could to embarass the proceedings un-
til it became evident that the Convention
was going to recommend Il line by the way
Of Albuquerque-sinc practically adopted
by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Road
when he suddenly changed his views and
made vigorous speech in favor Of the South
Pass route, which he argued to be the nat
ural and most feasible route as demonstrated
by the pathway of the buffalo, and by the
explorations of Col Fremont.
The credit of the first serious proposition
for a railroad to the Pacific really belongs to
Asa Whitney, New York merchant, whose
name is rarely mentioned in connection with
the matter. He was at one time worth about
$70O,00O, but the great New York fire Of
1885 destroyed nearly all his possessions, and
soon afterward he went to China as a super
cargo, and then to England and other parts
of Europe. During this journey he made
systematic study of the problem of transpor-
tation and the commercial relations OF the
United States to China, India, the islands of
the ocean and the various European coun-
tries and it was while returning home
across the Atlantic that he evolved the
scheme of great national railway from Lake
Michigan to the Pacific, which he had con-
yinced himself was the comprehensive expe-
dient that would enable his country to avail
itself of it's manifest advantages, and secure a
vast and enriching foreign trade, while at the
same time developing its own resources and
promoting the general welfare.
So profoundly was Whitney impressed by
this far-reaching conception that he went
promptly to work at giving it practical shape,
spending both time and money in efforts to
justify his theory and enlist public sympathy
with it. At his own expense he made a sur
vey of some seven hundred miles of the pro-
posed route, crossing the Mississippi near
Prairie du Chen and penetrating a consid-
erable distance westward and also descend
ing the Missouri in canoe, to study the to-
biography of the country. Then ne prepared
a memorial to Congress, praying that grant
of land sixty miles in width, from Lake
Michigan to the Pacific, be made and the
sale thereof authorized, through commission
ers appointed by the President, to furnish
! the means for constructing railroad through
said Territory, on the latitude of the South
Pass No bonds were asked for, and no guar
antees of interest. The sale of the lands
alone, it was urged, would meet the whole
outlay, estimated at about $5OOO0,OOO, with
probably $15,OOO,OOO more to operate the
oh o;,>:,~
basis.
The memorial went on to show by a
strong array Of figures and differences, that
the construction of such road would bring
to our doors the commerce of 7OO,OOO,OO0
people, worth at least $40, 100000 year, 9TH
erwise out of our reach by reason of circuit
Gus sea voyages and other natural hindrances.
An argument since grown familiar as the
multiplication table-tO the effect that the
building of the road would attract immigra-
ton and make market for the lands-was
dwelt upon at some length, with the added
suggestion that settlers could pay fair share
of the price of their farms by working on the
road. That other argument, and the one
which finally insured Pacific railroad, was
also employed, to-Wit: the political import
ance of such medium of communication be-
tween widely separated portions of the coun-
try The trip from coast to coast, then re-
quiring six months, could be shortened, the
memorial pointed out, to eight days, as has
since been verified. "a cargo of tea from
China" it proceeded, "may then be delivered
in any of our Atlantic cities in thirty days,
and in London or Liverpool in less than
fOrty-fve days" And finally, Mr.. Whitney
insisted, the road must revolutionize the
entire commerce of the world, placing us in
no of oil ho <1n
morally, of civilizing and Christianizing all
mankind"
In the light of things now accomplished,
Mr.. Whitney's madness does not appear so
very unmethodical but we may be sure that
when his memorial was read in the Senate
in 1S45, that was-the statesman of the
period listened with little other than an
amused interest, with possibly touch of pity
for the dizzy enthusiast who proposed an un-
dertaking that must have been looked upon
at that time about as We should now regard
a proposition to build railroad to the moon.
We had then only 2OOOO,OOO inhabitants.
and but 5000 miles of railroad all told, not
mile of it west of the Alleghanies, and the
telegraph was just coming into operation
The whole wheat and corn product Of the
country was not greater than is now furnish
ed by the two States OF Missouri and Kansas.
the one OF which was then considered the
jumping off place of civilization, and the
other was not taken into account at all ex-
cept as an incumbrance and an obstacle.
They courteously referred Mr. Whitney's
memorials to the Committee ON Public
Lands, however, of which Sidney Breese of
illinois was Chairman, and Tom Corwin and
Jesse d. Bright were members; and there it
remained. Poor Whitney besought action
upon it until his means were exhausted, and
then gave up in despair. A friend in former
days whom he had aided in similar extremi-
ty, helped him to employment, and after
time he secured a small farm near what is
now the Soldiers Home, in the neighbor-
hood OF Washington, where he died at last
in obscurity and forgotten of the world, an
Did man of rs years. -. ~. .,,.4 j.. a...--.
r't3 Ifsi91 Bonds Called. 4"i
= WASHINGTON, October 18.-A call has
been issued for about twenty million con-
inped ] nue. SIS The call is the 11Sth for the re-
.f fhnS