Year: 1869

THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.
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What the English Press have 10 Say Con-
| - eerning II.


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Tfie london Ae,rs of the nth con-
cludes a long article as follows:


OF the political, commercial and So


ciaI results of this new cOmmunica-
| ton between the two great oceans
which eneircle the world, it is, per
haps, as yet, premature to say much.


The Americans expect great things
from their great undertaking, and
some enthusiastic New Workers have
already marked out their city as the
center Of the worlds commerce and
its future metropolis. Their reckon
ing Is that a good part of the traffic to
the East viii now 90 westward, and
that the way from Europe to Austria
| lia, China and Japan will lie across
the continent of America. What is
far more certain is, however, that the
Pacific will now be opened to COM
merce as it has never been opened vet,
and that the development Of the Won
derful resources of the whole western
side Of the American continent must


be wonderfully accelerated. Nor will
the effect be less upon the central
plains Of the United States. The great
American wilderness lies open now
TO be occupied and subdued. In that
immense region lie vast mineral treas
ures, which will alone be enough to at
tract population, and it has been found
that under the arid and barren surface
are abundant supplies of water. An
arteSian well sunk TO a considerable
depth on the most arid part of the
route, IS said to have struck an under
ground river, the water of which
rushed up to the surface in a torrent
as soon as the tube had reached it.
There is, therefore, very little doubt
that this vast area is not only practi-
cally added to cultivation, but opened
to agriculture and commerce. The
political consequences will simply be
the greater consolidation Of the Fede-
raj Union and the increasing influence
Of the West in Union politics. The
NforInOns, who have made the valley
of the Salt Lake cultivated garden,
and held it as an outpost of civiliZa-
ton, will now be brought into contact
with the outer world, and must either
give up pOlygamy or make another
exodus to Mexico. They will proba-
bly, decide in favor of removal, but
they will leave the groundwork of
great State behind them. Thus the
whole of this formless wilderness will
be subdued to mans occupancy and
use. Instead of dying like a dead
mass in the bosom of the republic, il
will become instinct with life, the iron
nerves of civilization will grew all
through it from the great central back
bone now formed, and the vast re-
sOurGa of the republic will not only
be Tnatle more available by c0ncentra-
ton and communication, but will un-
dergo indefinite increase.


The London Times of the day pre-
viOus has the following comment:


4" IF we inquire into the probable
results ofthis achievement we shall be
led into many curious speculatiOns.
The effects, indeed, will be felt
throughout the whole Union. Cali
fornia, as our readers know, is State
of exceptional character and impOr-
tance. 1t is the gOld-bearing State
the country which supplies the Amer
leans with the precious metal. Gen.
Grant, in his inaugural speech, refer
red to it as the national 'strong box
the safe in which those treasures
were boarded which would one day
enable the Union to pay off its public
debt-and he spoke of the opening of
this Pacific Railway 2s an event tend
ing 10 accelerate the conSummation in
view. Then, it cannot be doubted,
that the Pacific States will receive an
impulse from the new line, and he
rapidly developed in political as well
as commercial importance. All the
territory, too, now traversed, win be
brought more within the reach and
under the dominion of man; new set
Elements viii be facilitated, and new
States more quickly formed. At the
same time the Indians will be more
severely punished, and the Mormons
brought into 4 contact with their
felloW-citizens which may not impos-
sibly end in q collision. Probably
nothing but the remOteness and isOla-
lation of their settlements has hitherto
preserved them and their institutions
from interference, and now that iSOla-
ton is lost. In whatever light, how
ever, we choose to regard the work,
we must recognize it not only as a
monument of national enterprise, but
as a proofof public wisdom. All that
the Government has spent in subven-
tions was well bestowed. Itwas worth
many vote of money and many a
grant of land to connect by an easy in
ternal communication the two great
sections of the republic, and to bring
territories as large as those of all the
settled States together within reach of
the Government and the people, If
the present year should also witness
the completion of the Suez Canal it
will indeed be singular coincidence,
but even the cutting of the Isthmus is
a less wonderful exploit than this Pa
serve infinite credit for his perseve-
rance and success, but the American
engineers who bridged with iron rails
desert as broad as the Atlantic at
the rate of six miles day may GER
tainly advance their own claims to the
surprise and admiration of mankind.


The London Standard speaks in
these terms on the success of the Pa
cific Railroad:


The telegraph announces that the
last rail connecting the Union Pacific
with the Central Pacific Railway, and
thus completing the line between Sa-
cramento, the capital of California,
and New York, is about to be laid,
probably with some ceremonies in APP
propriate glorifcation Of the event.
It IS not many years since Col. Fre-
mont earned perpetual renown In
America as a traveller and explorer by
accomplishing that tremendous jour