Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-09-01
Successful Financial Operations and
Rapid Construction.
THE GREAT RAILWAY COMPLETED
Some Of the Famous Men Connected
With Its History.
RETROSPECTIVE.
FORTH Years 400.

was disputed in Oregon and Washington
Except at few coast stations the only
recognized authority on the Pacific side
OF the great mountains was that which was
exercised in the north by British and
American fur companies, and in the south
by Spanish missionaries and proprietors.
Daring explorers had here and there locat-
ed the mountains and their passes and had
traced the courses of the Oregon and its
large tributaries, while adventurous sailors
had surveyed and mapped the sea cost. But
little was known of the interior, yet it was
asserted that the mountains, having gen.
orally north and south range, were in
fact three parallel ranges, the eastern ter
minating in the north at what is now
known as the Black Hills of Dakota;
the central and main range
extending to the Arctic seas; and the west
ern, broken by the Oregon or Columbia
river, extending to the sea coast in what is
now known as British Columbia. On
some of the maps of that time there was
depicted a great river, flowing from out
the main range in a southwesterly course
to the Bay of San Francisco. This river
was called the Buena Ventura, and when
Gen. John c. Fremont in 1854 penetrated
to Fort Vancouver, then Hudson's Bay
company post on the Columbia, DR.. Nc
Laughlin, tho governor of the post,
sketched the course of this imaginary
river for Fremont. who also believed in its
existence, and the latter in seeking the
UpllpU for his min
himself and party to dangers and suffer
ing such as they had never contemplated
from which he only rescued them by
leading them for twenty days over snow
covered mountains where Indians and
trappers dare not venture in winter
time, On all of the maps of that
time most of the plains and prairie
lands between the Mississippi and the
Rocky Mountains were included within
the carelessly drawn outlines of the "Great
American Desert" which was supposed to
extend from near the Rio Grande on the
south to the Arctic river region on the
north. The political delusion of the day
was claim that the United States title to
Oregon included the Pacific coast up to
81 degrees 40 minutes north latitude, the
southern point of the Russian fur compa-
ny's territory as granted by the Emperor
Paula claim, the extent of which may be
judged from the fact that it would
the boun dairy being extended east on that
line to the longitude of the then settled
boundary-have included the most of
British Columbia and the Northwest Terri
tory, as we'll as all of Western Manitoba,
lakes Manitoba and Winnipeg. A presi-
dent of the United States was elected on
that extravaganza and unsustained claim
bat he wisely escaped the dilemma his
party had placed him in by obtaining the
advice of the senate to accept the British
proposition to,fx the boundary at the for
ty-ninth parallel on Puget sound, leaving
Vancouver's island a British possession.
About this time, however, British influences
were still at work to secure the CALIFORNIA;
for Great Britain.
THIRTY YEARS AGO.
In 1853 California, Arizona, New Mexico
and Texas had been acquired by the
United States; gold and silver had been dis
covered in the newly-acquired mountain
regions, and the golden sands of California
were frightening some of the conservative
fnanciers of Europe into fear that they
would yield so much as to make gold too
cheap for the commercial worlds repre-
sentative of value. There had been an
immense overland migration, and nearly
all the passes of the mountains had been
explored and located. The limits of the
"Great American DESERT we're narrowed
on the maps to insignificant proportions,
though it was still held on high scientific
authority that most of the upland
plains and prairies lacked rain and could
never be cultivated except by expensive
irrigating works in the vicinity of monn-
tain streams and the principal rivers.
An overland mail had been established,
from the Missouri river to the Bay of San
Francisco, and the pony express was a
weekly wonder for the decreasing time in
which it conveyed news across the western
half of the continent. The need of bind
ing the country together by railways con-
Meeting the Atlantic and Pacific states had
been urgently advocated from about the
time the northwestern boundary was set
tied and congress had provided for pre-
liminary surveys to determine the best
route for transcontinental railway. At
this time there were no railways west of
the Mississippi river or reaching it from
the east, though several were projected and
st. Louis was rejoicing over the prospec
tive coming of the Ohio & Mississippi
and over the beginning of work on the
Missouri Pacific. st. Paul, Min
neapolis, and Saltwater were
small frontier villages with very
large expectations. West of the
Mississippi, the country now included in
Minnesota and all west of this state was
still in possession of the original proprie-
tors-the Indians.
TWENTY YEARS AGO.
In 1868 it had been conceded that the
opening of railway communication with
the Pacific states and territories was a
national and military necessity. Congress
had made large loans of government bonds
to hasten the building Of the Union and