Year: 1867

4 he Ge00t RaslfOoo 20 the 4f w Test.


Few OF us have sufficiently consider
ed the effect upon the country of the
I completion of the railroad to the Pacific.
: We may imagine the rich streams o!


commerce flowing back and forth across


our continent, interchanging the pro
ducts of China and East Indies with
Western Europe, which now have to


find their way round the southern capes


by route four times the distance. The
" opening Of railroad line between the


Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans will


give US the shortest road round the


world, one which has the advantage OF


lying within the same temperate zone.


We have the shortest road and the best
y road to the East. This, however, is the


tablishment of the great highway. An


immense population must spring up


along the line of the road itself Ex-


perience shows that steam roads create


their own business !; they are, in fact,
among the principal agencies for open


ing up, civilizing, and improving the


wilderness. OF the 1850 miles between


the Missouri River and the Western coast


which, up to the beginning of the war,


were traversed only by the stage coach


ana mule team. 400 had been spanned


by the iron road on the 1st of January
last, the greater portion of it during the
past year. Now that the energies and
capital of the nation are somewhat un-
fettered by the close Of the struggle for
the national life, we may expect this
great national work to make rapid strides.
A full third Of our territory will hereby
be brought within easy access, and rem
dered astonishingly productive. Nature,
as if in her..economy she had determined
nothing should be altogether useless,
has placed in the rugged Western noun
tain ranges, and among the arid deserts
of the interior Western plains, rich
seams and veins of the metals which by
common consent have become the
worlds standards of value The United
States have more Of this mineral wealth. |
as well as more coal and iron than the |
rest of the world together; and it needs |
only the facilities of access, labor, ma
chinery, and home comforts to render
US four times as productive of gold and |
silver as we have been.


The road as most readers know, is be-
ing built from both ends by two drstinct
each striving uufIu as laSt
and as far as it can the Government
granting its credit and aid to both, ac-
cording to the progress and difficulties
Of the road The national subsidy,
which is practically a donation, in return
for the military and co nmercial advan-
tages the road is to confer on the nation
at large, is reckoned to be about half
the cost of building the entire line; the
other half, together with the cost of
equipment, will be abundantly provided
for by private capial, which will seek
such an investment. The road must be
built the intermediate territories are
langushing for it; and half million of
our kinsfolk, and their families on this
side, are impatient for it. The neces-
sary means will no doubt be forth com
ing as fast as it is needed, because no |
otler enterprise of the same magnitude
offers half the prospects Of immediate
prosperity


The Californians, on their end of the |
line. have shown great sagacity and de-
termination. Already they have reach |
ed, in the first one hundred miles, the /
top Of the formidable mountain range, |
and in July next will be near the great
Nevada silver mining regions. The To-
cal traffic already existing upon this in
completed fragment is astonishingly lu |
crative. During the three Autumn
months of 1866, when the freight could |
be forwarded across the mountains, the |
earnings were at the rate of 81 100000
q year in gold; and it is reasonable to
assume that when the whole mountain
district is crossed { l56 miles. J the gross
earnings viii be over S., 100000 year.
of which, according to past experience,
co-tAirds uW Be net earnings, applicable
to the payment of interests upon its
bonded debt and for further construction
The former, by reason of the munif
cent Government and State aid, is ex-
tremely light in proportion TO its re-
sources. The interest dues incurred by
the Company in bnilding aud equiping
the l56 miles to .he California State Line
will be but s545, 100; or about y per
cent. upon its cost, and on the remain
ing six hundred miles across the plains
the ratio will not be larger. OF course,
With such present and prospective re-
turns, added to the fact that most of its
obstacles have been overcome, no doubt
remains Of its speedy completion. and
of the stability of the Company'se Sc
curities now in the market, The pres