Year: 1871

| THE NORTHERN CONTINENTAL RAILWAY.
The following is the substance of the remarks of Mr.
Jay Cooke at recent meeting in Brooklyn of over tw
hundred of the leading capitalists and solid men o
New York city and Brooklyn:


Mr.. Cooke commenced by saying that as long ago
1915, it believed that the route chosen by th
Northern Pacific Railroad would be the ultimate popu
lar road to the Pacific coast the principle that h
highways of nations follow the water courses As earl
as 1888 Mr.. Coffin, the weknown newspaper CORE
spondent, under the de plume of Carleton, pub
lished pamphlet the subject which attracted mucl
attention. He commenced at the head of Lake Supe
rior, ard traced the route from thence to the Rec
River thence down the valleys of the Missouri and the
Yellow Stone route which could be easily graded, anC
which led through country rich in mineral wealth o
coal iron, and limestone


The passes thence 20 Gallatin through .one o.
the most favored portions of the country for stock
raising and also through the goldmining region OF
Montana. The route then followed the valley of the
Columbia to the Pacific coast. When it compile
ted New York Tor, he should say Brooklyn, as he
perhaps addressing that locality would be
500 miles the Pacific. The distance from
Brooklyn to Puget Sound would be about 5000 miles
and express train running the rate of 80 miles
hour would traverse the distance in about four days
The grades of the whole would be easy and would
nowhere exceed fifty feet to the mile 1t not a


frozen region that the road traversed the speaker
proceeded to show by several comparisons No snow
sheds would be required and there would not be a
tunnel on the entire route.


He explained in detail the vastness of the great
Northwestern country, well its unbounded re-
sources water power, forests, and mineral wealth.
Along the entire Of the Northern Pacific there
region of coal which the substratum OF all
mineral wealth. The country fertile, the temper
ature mild and the region capable of enormous deve
opment 1t intersects and drains navgabe streams
along the entire At present the lumber trade
of Puget Sound alone required 1876 sail for transporta
ton.


The Northern Pacific Company is now building west
ward from Lake Superior. Enough money has been
paid in by the stockholders and equip the
first division of the road-trom Lake Superior
Minnesota to the Red River of the North-223 miles
The money for this branch-S6,0 O,00o-has been
paid in and the work is being rapidly pushed to
pletion


Arrangements are also being made for commencing
the building of the road TIE western terminus,
Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean. This work will
commence in the spring, and in little time the road
will be in the process Of building each end He de
sired to be understood however that as the financial
agents Of the compan, the firm which he represented
did no. propose to make any promises which could not
be fulfilled. They regarded the bonds the safest and
soundest securities in the market. they did not they
would never lend their the enterprise Bat
he not prepared 10 state the time of the
completion of the road If he was asked for his per
sonal opinion however, he would say that within four
years he expected that the trade of the Indies would
be carried over this route.





acres OF land which would undoubtedly sell for much
larger d10ut than the of bonds it would be
necessary issue No stock has yet issued and
when it is issued nothing he paid it. The
road be build upon its bonds and the sale OF its
land Mr. Cooke then proceeded to show the value OF
these bonds perfect security, being first mortgage
issue railroad over thousand miles in extent,
together with the rolling stock buildings all other
equipments, and also land grant OF more than fifty


million of land embracing an amount of territory
pt,u tD Ne HamDShirn Vermont
cut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island Connecticut, Massa
chuSetts Rhode Island Long Island, New Jersey, and
Delaware. lie then went into a very interesting des
cription of the. currents which governed the
course of trade


A vessel leaving China and Japan for San Francisco
is obliged to sail within eighty miles of Puget
Sound. Thence it has to traverse six hundred miles
to reach its port of destination When the Northern
Pacific Railroad is completed and the proposed tele-
graphs are constructed the cargo of this vessel will be
landed at New York and the announcement of its sale
elcgraphed to its shippers than the vessel
now be signalled off the Golden Gate. 1t might be
asked Mr. Cooke said in conclusion If this pos
sesScd all these advantages, why it selected in
the first place the highway the Pacific? He had
asked this question himself. But it is easy to explain
when we inquire into the subject. The Mormons, in
selecting Salt Lake their site, did with the nen-
ton of being removed from communication with the
rest of the world. They hoped never to be troubled


With the worlds people But they left their track be
hind them, and when Fremont sent out to quiet
the Indians he naturally selected the same route.
Then the Government obliged to send large force
to California to take possession of that country
part of our payment for the expenses of the with
Mexico. Soon after the gold fever broke out, and of
course, the people in their rush by the beaten
track. But the of the Northern Pacific has the
Saints with it. Laughter All along the proposed
road are villages and streams named after patron
Saint. 1t along this track, with its delightful
climate, that the original emigrants sought their
abode, and there hundreds of Catholic settlements
already established.