REMARKS
ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A
EIEST CLASS DOUBLE TRACK RAILWAY
TO THE
PACIFIC,
AND THE
DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING ITS SOLUTION '
AS A
PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM
BY PBEB. W. LANDER,
CIVIL ENGINEER.
HE
•Lz.
REMARKS
ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF A
FIEST CLASS DOUBLE TEACE EAILWAI
TO THE
PACIFIC,
AND THE
DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING ITS SOLUTION
AS A
PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM.
BY FEED. W. LANDER,
Late locating and estimating engineer of the Northern Pacific Mailroad
Exploration ; chief in charge Fuget Sound öentral Pacific Rail-
road Exploration ; accompanied hy extracts from the reports
0/ F. W. Lander, on the character of the Northern
and Southern routes to Puget Sounds
as instituted hy reconnaissance.
WASHINGTON :
l^^NRY POLKINHORN, PRINTER,
1854.
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L»- '
PACIFIC RAILWAY.
Within a period of ten years, the subject of the construction of a rail¬
road to the Pacific, has passed through the various uncertain phases of a
project, to the important position which it now occupies in the attention
of the American nation.
A general study of the question has arisen throughout the country.
Partisans have appeared in support of the various routes to which local
interests refer. Plans of procedure have been offered by which this great
work may be attempted.
While apprehensions have existed in many quarters that only by the
extension of settlements can so stupendous an undertaking be accom¬
plished, sanguine theorists have not been wanting, to propose the imme¬
diate construction of a first-class double track railway to the Pacific.
During the recent discussion of this question before Congress, it has
even been proposed, to build three first-class grand trunk lines of elabo¬
rated character, to that distant terminus.
It may, therefore, certainly be regretted that an engineering study of
this intricate subject has not yet been presented, by some individual of
long practical experience, who has had opportunity of forming definite
conclusions upon its peculiar merits, by a full study of the question in the
far interior of the American continent. The deduction of the mere
Theorist in railway construction does not afford data for definite
knowledge of the stupendous nature of this national undertaking ; while
the practical individual who, from motives of patriotism or professional
emulation, connects himself with the Pacific railway Explorations, endures
the mortification of seeing the direct convictions—forced upon his mind
by long experience in railroad building and honestly expressed^—either
assailed as unwarrantable, seriously modified, or wholly suppressed by
official parties^ Still it is evident that a very general and patriotic desire
exists, that some well defined and tangible mode of operations may be
devisedj by which this important design may be successfully carried out,
and that such a well-devised plan of operations can only occur by blending
the information to be derived from various sources, and that this informa¬
tion should be presented at the present time, from the fact that a question
so intricate can alone be solved by a full comprehension of every detail,
while the project is embryo.
4
Now, assuming that this project is a practical and scientific problem of
stupendous character, it may still be resolved to its salient points, and by
simplifying and arranging those deductions which tend toward certain
conclusions, may be placed fully within the comprehension of unprofes¬
sional parties, who may then appreciate its peculiar merits.
The whole engineering question resolves itself into obtaining some
rapid and effective means of transportation along the route of the road,
that it may he constructed at all. The pecuniary question to the applica¬
tion of the least amount of cash capital, without reasonable prospect of
immediate return, and the proportioning of means to the end required.
Both presentations of the subject, refer to the rapid extension of a rail¬
road of a character adapted to the carrying trade of Western commerce
through two thousand miles of uncivilized, hostile, and in many instances
uninhabitable country, over mountain ranges, sterile deserts, mighty
rivers, and regions devoid of wood or building materials, all obstacles to
be overcome before connection can occur with a paying terminus.
It is the stupendous nature of these obstacles which renders the project
an engineering problem, while the distance to be passed over ere connec¬
tion can occur with a paying terminus, more particularly affects it as a
pecuniary question.
The engineering problem should have been solved by the application of
the best practical talent in the nation ; the pecuniary question treated with
caution from the experience gained of the late undue expansion of the
credit system of construction under land grants, free charters, and multi¬
plication of lines between non-paying termerni.
By the bills as at present before Congress, it is proposed to construct
a road of first class character from the outset ; to use the road, to build
the road, and by connection with wagon and stage coach transportation,-
to open the line of communication and develop national territory at once.
This would lead to over handling^ the costs and evils of which are well
understood by every practiaal individual and resulting from even a break
of guage on railways have been fully demonstrated both in Great Britain
and America.
From the distance to be passed over, and the speed and amount of
traiisportation required, neither wagon or plank roads are applicable to
the necessity^ which is the moving of weighty materials along the whole
route of the road during the progress of its construction over the hum
dreds of miles from where existing in natural deposit, they may be sup¬
plied to the sections deficient.
Now it is a clear engineering proposition, and will not be disputed, that
the use of the rail, as that method of transportation perfected by human
ingenuity to the best practicable result for moving weighty material at
high rates of speed and low cost, transcends all other modes of land
locomotion. But the use of the rail for the mere purpose of moving sup¬
plies and materials of construction for the completion of a grand trunk
railroad, need not involve the eleborate completion of such a road, to
wear out and decay during the process of its construction, and of a
character to which no remuneration can ensue until its connection with a
paying terminus, or in other words the mere use of the road to build the
road, and the extension of a line of first class character from the outset,
5
is a chimera and would never be presented by an individual of reasonable
comprehension of the stringent liabilities of the construction, decay and
depreciation of railroads.
Over many portions of that broad division of the continent reaching
from Missouri river to the Pacific, the mountainous, broken, and undulating
country bears a very small proportion to the extent of elevated plateaux
either level or of slight inclination to the horizon. These elevated plateauxs
offer substrata of sand or gravel, easily excavated, slightly affected by the
action of frost, and by nominal reduction of surface, affording a road bed
of perfect drainage, and of superior quality, for the preservation of super¬
structure and machine, and also favoring those simple manual operations
deemed sufficient to keep American railway lines in working order.
The ease with which a line of superstructure and turnouts can be
extended over this plateau surface, warrants my proposing the exten¬
sion of a rough American rail way, of first class superstructure, but of
medium equipment, as the first step to be taken toward the completion of
a grand trunk line to the Pacific, since a rough American railway can
necessarily perform, at low cost, all that a grand trunk line can possibly
perform until its connection with the terminus, and as a direct exponent
of proportioning means to the end required, would absolutely exist as
an effective solution of the Pacific railway problem, by procuring the
earliest practicable connection with a paying business at low cost.
The insurmountable obstacles attending the elaborate construction of a
line of first class character from the outset, is, as before stated, the diffi¬
culty of transporting supplies, materials, and appliances of construction
along the route of the road. Long sections of the route are devoid of
all available means of construction, and broad divisions appear not sus¬
ceptible of development by settlements, while from the nature of the in¬
terests involved, this great project cannot await the extension of settle¬
ments for its development, neither can these stupendous operations of en¬
tire construction be attempted without some visible means of completing
the work.
No estimate has ever been presented of the cost of renewal of super¬
structure and rolling stock during the period of construction of a Pacific
Railroad. The whole question has been resolved into the immediate
completion of an elaborated first-class road by the extension of settle¬
ments along the route of the line. Sanguine theorists have proposed the
completion of the road within a period of years, during which the mere
ballasting and laying of a double line of superstructure from the East to
the Pacifiée, attempted by any amount of manual labor, but only aided by
minor means of transportation, could not occur.
The cost of transportation for the mere building of a grand trunk
road cannot be estimated as less than $50,000,000. The renewal of su¬
perstructure and rolling stock during the period of construction cannot
rule less than $50,000,000. But the chief misfortune to be apprehended
is the long period which must elapse before an overland communication
would occur with the Pacific possessions. The insurmountable obstacle
attending the ready completion of a first-cfess road elaborated from the
outset is the difficulty of transporting supplies ^d materials along the
route of the line ; the long sections devoid of appliances of construction ^
6
the broad divisions not susceptible of development ; the fact that neither
wagon nor plank roads are suited to the imperative necessity of an abun¬
dant and rapid means of transportation. The character of the interests
involved, and the knowledge that a stupendous system of construction
cannot be attempted without some visible means of completing the work,
should teach all individuals of reasonable comprehension that this great
project is not of a character to be cursorily treated, and modify all at¬
tempts at its solution in a discursive and inconclusive manner.
It will require a period of twenty years to extend a grand line of first-
class character to a Pacific terminus by ordinary methods of construction.
During this period the superstructure and rolling stock would thrice need
renewal, as worn out or decayed.
In the extension of a first-class line, elaborated from the outset, the
first renewal of superstructure and rolling stock would occur at the period
of its reaching the mountain sections, the rock cuttings, tunnels, main
and minor summits of which would necessarily exist for many years as a
terminus to the road.
The wear and tear of rolling stock and equipment upon American rail¬
ways of single track is estimated at $1,300 per mile per year. Of the
$500,000,000 invested in American roads, $125,000,000, or twenty-five
per cent has proved total loss to their projectors.
Within the period of (20) years required to extend a road of first-class
character to the Pacific, such improvements will have occurred in railway
locomotion as to have fully modified any plan of construction first
adopted. Although the provisions of the present bill limits the comple¬
tion of a grand trunk road to ten years, a road cannot thus be legislated
to its terminus ; contingencies will occur ; the question of transportation
is beyond control, and the needful supply of labor along the route of the
road beyond the limits of practical application. The mistake of the
nation has hitherto been in the construction of roads of too elaborated
character, the multiplication of lines between terminii, and the giving up
of favorable projects to the interested operations of private parties seek¬
ing early remuneration to capital by monetary transactions of disastrous
character to the business relations of the country.
The application of this experience to the present question should de¬
monstrate that like evils may be apprehended in an attempt at the con¬
struction of three great lines by a system of land grants, as creating the
danger of an immense paper issue by flooding the stock market with the
hypothecated scrip of mammoth companies and the non-paying mortgages
of unfinished roads.
It is therefore not warrantable to submit this question as a project to
all the fluctuations of funds, labor, public appreciation, and the operations
of interested speculators, merely to procure the purposes of a nominal
way transportation, every need of which may be readily secured by the
rapid extension of a rough preliminary road.
Therefore I present the following clear engineering proposition, that
the whole question of the construction of a first-claiss railroad to the Pacific,
resolves itself into the prior construction of a railroad to the Pacific of less
elaborated character. That in attempting the construction of a first-class
road from the outset, without a paying business, reaching its Pacific terminus
T
at an indefinite period of time, and subject to the liabilities of specula¬
tions by private parties, to the depreciation of superstructure and rolling
stock, and only aided by the gradual extension of settlements, this pro¬
ject is a chimera, and an attempt at its solution by the extension of three
great roads of like elaborated character, will lead to the most disastrous
consequences.
Inexperienced parties have slight knowledge of what may be performed
with the rail and locomotive engine. The mere theorist in railway con¬
struction is often led astray, and forms conclusions neither suited to the
country or the question, by the study of foreign sources of information.
If there has been a leading mistake in American railway engineering, it
has occurred from the laudable desire of erecting works of a character
bearing favorable comparison with those of older and more densely popu¬
lated countries. But the needs of a practical moving people in the thinly
settled regions of the West have led to the extension of lines of less elab¬
orated character. The ability of individuals of real genius has within a
few years given the proper direction to the inquiries of the practical and
scientific engineers of America, and the proportioning of means to the
end required, and the restrictions applied by the prospect of real remuner¬
ative returns, is daily becoming better understood by parties employed
by private companies in the building of roads.
A mere per centage of the amount of money already expended by Con¬
gress in attempts at the solution of this intricate question, if applied in a
definite appeal, to real sources of information or to the practical experi¬
ence which has shown such admirable results in the extension of lines at
low cost, through thinly populated regions, would have led to a direct pre¬
sentation of the merits of the present problem. The principle of early
communication, however, cannot be waived or ignored, because it has not
yet been presented before Congress, or appeared in the provisions of a
bill, providing for the gradual extension of a grand trunk road towards
the Pacific. As before stated a road cannot be legislated to its Pacific termi¬
nus by the will of its well-wishers and under an uncomprehensive view of the
difficulties attending its extension. The insurmountable obstacles to which
I have referred will certainly occur, and must eventually be overcome by
the means which attempted at the outset would prevent all evil conse¬
quences. To those of slight experience in the various classes of railways
the extension of a rough preliminary Railroad to the Pacific may seem
impracticable or absurd, but to the experienced railroad builder, who has
seen the working locomotive and material train made the great vehicle of
transportation over unfinished lines, and upon every variety of surface,
this mode of transit will at once sustain its important character, in rela¬
tion to the peculiar exigencies of the present case.
Passing over a level or slightly inclined surface of a gravel or sand
substratum, superseding all necessity of ballasting, procuring prac¬
ticable passage of favorable mountain passes by detour, and without break¬
ing bulk, overhanding, or costly mechanical appliances, or stationary
engines, and needing only a few unimportant changing stations in elevated
regions, such a road would thence extend toward the Pacific, over the
broad plains of the interior. The chief desideratum, (which is readily
secured,) being an abundant supply of pure water for the use of locomo-
8
tîves, and the principle necessity, the passage of long planes of surface of
slight inclination to the horizon.
Such a line, would as far transcend all means of transportation by plank
or wagon roads as possible to conceive. It would admit a speed of thirty
miles per hour, with loaded trains, over the greater portion of its distance,
and at least the passage of loaded trains over all portions of its distance.
It would appear as a direct exemplification of capital reserved. The
whole amount of its cost would have been expended in the mere needs of
transportation for the purpose of building a grand trunk road. Attempted
without its aid, the construction of the grand trunk road may be regarded
a chimera, and even if eventually completed, the mere depreciation and
renewal of its superstructure and rolling stock, the loss of interest on
dormant capital and the disastrous results attending its consummation,
would thrice exceed the entire cost of a preliminary road.
The mere development of territory would remunerate the cost of con¬
structing a road, only attempting in every stage of its completion a char¬
acter or medium adapted to the simplest requirements of necessity ; while
no such minor sources of revenue would warrant the construction of a
first class line or road assuming an elaborated character from the outset.
Reverting to the causes of the present crisis in the railway manias of
the country, we may remark that it has been produced by an unhealthy
spirit of speculation, not only unrestricted by wholesome legislation, but
in a measure urged forward by an indiscriminate patronage by the be¬
stowal of border land grants to aid the large monetary operations of pri¬
vate companies.
Under such contingencies, should it not seem a study to the strict con¬
structionist of the Constitution, whether Congress possesses the power to
aid the extension of several grand lines, or of even a single grand trunk
line of elaborated character from the outset, by donating the public
domain to private individuals, and thus eventually bearing the liabilities
of their hazardous speculations, or at least whether this result should
occur without due study of the peculiar merits of such an important
national question.
The flooding of the stock market with the hypothecated land scrip of
three great lines, all unfinished, and in different stages of construction,
slowly verging toward that distant terminus from which remuneration
can alone accrue, would undoubtedly produce a monetary crisis of disas¬
trous character.
The national requisition is a Railroad to the Pacific : this, public neces¬
sity requires—but the desideratum involved, is not the aggrandisement
of private speculations in border lands, or the augmentation of local in¬
terests ; not how a land grant bill is to be pushed through both houses
of Congress, but how this important line of communication is tobe pushed
across the American continent. If the completion of one line cannot
await the gradual extension of settlements or the completion of the pon¬
derous operations of entire construction, why should it be attempted upon
three ? Why attempted at all unless by systematic effort, and as liable to be
achieved within the ordinary lifetime of a healthy man ?
The belief that private parties will seek ^ \e earliest practicable connec¬
tion with teqpinus^ will prove % fertile soiirce of error, Although abund-
9
sources of revenue are therewith connected, other sources of revenue
can be earlier made available. Millions of dollars can be more profitably
expended by local parties in extending a line towards the mountains,
claiming the distinctive term of Pacific Railroad, and by individuals holding
the outlets of such roads to the furtherance of gigantic border specula¬
tion, than a single million can be applied to the reduction of those great
obstacles, only reached at a distance of one thousand miles from civiliza¬
tion.
By the proposed method of extending a line of first class character, in
sections of one hundred miles each, ten years will elapse ere the actual
operations of construction can occur at the most difficult portions of the
road.
The cost of a preliminary railroad rapidly extended and properly
equipped and furnished, would not rule less than $50,000,000. The
difference between the cost of a grand trunk road, built by the aid fur¬
nished by a preliminary road and its gradual construction by the exten¬
sion of settlements, $100,000,000. The difference in result to the nation
impossible to conceive; the one ranging over a period of twenty years,
and attended by operations of disastrous character ; the other, of ready
consummation and carrying out the requirements of a direct national
necessity. But such a line must necessarily adopt a peculiar location or
take advantage of those broad plateaux extending from the western fron¬
tiers of Iowa and Missouri to the Rocky mountains. But if the develop¬
ment of this project is to rest on the basis of a system of land grants, then
any circumstance which tends to restrict its consummation within reason¬
able limits, may be deemed a national benefit. The commencement of
three great lines. Northern Central and Southern, would undoubtedly lead
to a monetary crisis by flooding the stock market with the land scrip of
the regions traversed by such costly and unfinished works. Neither can
it be believed that the practical good sense of the community will confine
the development of the project to an attempt at constructing but one
great road. The nature of the first thousand miles contiguous to the
States will have a greater effect (under a liberal system of land grants) in
urging the attempt at construction, than any knowledge of insuperable
difficulties existing upon the route in advance, will effect in restraining it.
But by the nature of the exigences involved, this subject is resolved
into the completion of a single line, within a reasonable space of time, at
the lowest practicable cost, and without invidious selection of a route by
Congress from the mere circumstance that over the peculiar location of
the central sections of the continent broad plateaux of slight inclination
to the horizon warrant the immediate extension of a road of less elabo¬
rated character than could be attempted through broken, ledgy and un¬
dulating country.
A railroad of central position, readily constructed at low cost, say
50,000,000 dollars, extended through the Mormon settlements, and be¬
sides gaining an abundant and paying business by early connexion with
San Francisco, occupying a location which admits of feasible connexion
with the great North Western terminus of Puget Sound, is the expo¬
nent of a direct and plain construction of the limited powers of the Con¬
stitution. It is at such a distance from the frontier, as to be secure from
2
10
molestation in event of war. It can be rapidly extended over a gravel
plateau at the lowest practicable cost. It solves the Mormon question
without legislation. It does not destroy the hunting grounds of the In¬
dian, since it crosses territory where the yearly transit of the Pacific emi¬
gration has already driven the wild game of the prairies to more isolated
localities. It is fully within the limits of construction by aid of legisla¬
tion, and by land grants, under that power of the Constitution which
admits of the completion of means of military defence, and to a rigid in¬
terpretation of the meaning of that instrument, it must seem a very open
question whether, when a road of $50,000,000 cost, occupying a central
position, a cheap location, touching at important local points, and devel¬
oping the whole pacific coast by northern and southern branches, will
solve this necessity, whether the power bestowed by the Constitution, would
warrant the additional extension of Northern and Southern roads of more
elaborated character, built on exposed frontiers, and needing thorough
defence in time of war.
A railroad is not a Chinese wall or line of fortifications, but a struc¬
ture peculiarly pregnable to the most insignificant means of attack, and
must occupy a location at a distance from the frontier, or incur the
hazard of needing protection by augmentation of the standing army.
A line extending westward from the mouth of Kansas or La Platte
river through the great South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, can thenee
reach the level plains of the Great Basin, and the broad plateaux of
the great Columbia river, by the passage of a single summit of country.
The consummation of this project, by a line of reasonable cost, touch¬
ing at the important way station of Salt Lake City, with a main trunk
extending to California, and a northern branch reaching Puget Sound
through the grand level pass of Columbia valley, is \the resolution of a
national question to its salient points as developing and defending inso-
lated territory at minimum cost.
The following extract from reports of the difiiculties attending the
construction of the Northern route to Puget Sound, will explain the
reason of the route, by Salt Lake City, and the South Pass to Mississippi
river, having been examined under the unanimous action of the Legisla¬
ture of Washington Territory.
" Gov. S. T. Stevens,
" Sir: The result of the reconnaisance for the location of a northern
railroad to Puget Sound, has demonstrated its jpracticalility as a railroad
line, although the route of the road is not so well decided upon. A
detour from the present line appears necessary, to avoid the severe valley
of the Bitter Root river, which is nearly impracticable. This detour
should be attempted through some southern pass of the mountain as tend¬
ing more directly toward the great valley of Columbia river. The valley
of the Columbia, as the only natural pass through the whole Pacific coast
range of mountains, admitting a close approximation to level grade,
being entitled to the serious attention of this survey.
" If the detour south cannot be made without losing the character of
the whole northern route by deflection, then the examination of a line
from the southern sbor§ of Lafee Michigan and by the valley of the Platte
11
through the South Pass to the valley of the Columbia becomes important,
since the superior and distinctive feature of a northern route to Puget
Sound, which is the short distance between Lake Superior and the Pacific,
must be surrendered to procure location, and regarding an eastern con¬
nection and the uniting of important and conflicting interests, by becoming
to the South Pass a portion of the main trunk to California, the latter line
would present advantages the northern route does not possess.
''The examination of the line by the South Pass can be confined to that
portion of country between the South Pass and the waters of the Colum¬
bia. Other examinations more discursive, are important, but appear in
detour so far toward the south as to destroy their connection with tho
subject of the present report. This route by the South Pass as located
farther south, will present a better character regarding the effects of
severe frosts on superstructure and machine. It would become the direct
continuation of the great eastern lines toward the Pacific, and upon that
parallel of latitude teeming with population. It would secure a naviga¬
tion on Lake Michigan not so liable to obstruction from ice. Regarding
the growth of the new State in the valley of the Salt Lake, it would
afford direct communication with that singular people, not subordinate to
any other consideration, when their peculiar institutions, and isolated posi¬
tion in the heart of the American continent are considered. And the
construction of a Pacific Railroad is so stupendous an undertaking, and
will require such immense returns from transportation to afford remunera¬
tion to investments, that should divided interests be united in its construc¬
tion and different sources of revenues combine in its support, the result
would indeed be important. This whole subject must be studied hj futurë
reconnaissance made upon the Northern route by a system of southern
detour, and continued to the Southern, from the due consideration of the
question of detour upon the Northern route, having caused the abandon¬
ment of the actual line of direction^ and the examination of a distinct
line presenting paramount and still more apparent claims for considera¬
tion,''
In the above review of a question of detour, to avoid nearly impractica¬
ble country in seeking location for the Northern route to Puget Sound, it
w^as first suggested to attempt a descent in better direction from some
more southern pass of the Rocky mountains, than that first adopted for
the passage of the northern line, thus securing an intermediate route to
the grand pass of Columbia valley between the great Northern and South¬
ern passes of the Rocky mountains.
The second step in the premises, was to waive all claims of the extreme
northern route to notice, until a route between Puget Sound and the
southern waters of Lake Michigan was examined—that a comparison be¬
tween the two routes might "be instituted, and in the meantime to dis*
tinctly state to the nation that the primary object of the Northern Explo¬
ration, which was the seeking of a facile and favorable railroad route of
minimum distance between eastern navigable waters and Puget Sound^
had in a measure failed, having been surrendered to procure location.
This was the plainest and most definite view in the question.
The superior nnd distinctive feature of an extreme northern route to
the Pacific was the apparent short distance between eastern navigable
12
waters and Puget Sound. This distinctive feature was seriously modified
by the fact that the harbors of Lake Superior are frozen or obstructed
by ice during a large portion of the year ; and that during that period
a railway terminating so far to the north would debouch directly into
foreign or Canadian roads, and being therefore more particularly the re¬
quirement of a foreign than a national interest, might more properly
exist as developed by the investment of foreign, rather than of American
capital. This presumption was guarded against by the sudden or abrupt
deflection of the Northern route toward the south, and its connection
with the Mississippi river at St. Paul, Minnesota, and by communication
with railroads already constructed through Central American Territory,
at the southernmost point of Lake Michigan. The waters of the Upper
Mississippi at Lake Pepin being also obstructed by ice during a large
portion of the year, the legitimate terminus of a northern railroad from
Puget Sound appeared to be at the southern point of Lake Michigan. But
the distinctive feature of the northern route to Puget Sound, which was the
shortest distance between terminii, having been surrendered to procure
location, the distance between the southern shore of Lake Michigan and
the western terminus is no greater upon the southern or South Pass line
than upon the northern route to Puget Sound.
It would not then appear a warrantable procedure to extend a railway
over the extreme northern route to Puget Sound, and so near an exposed
frontier, unless it oifered superior facilities for developing national terri¬
tory, or for ready railway construction^ But a line passing along the
frontier is not in a position to develope territory, and regarding railway
construction, nearly impracticable obstacles had already directed exami¬
nations farther south.
The last presentation of the problem was the engineering feature, and
to this requisition the examination of the new route from Puget Sound to
Lake Michigan was distinctly referred. In the development of this en¬
gineering requirement, the opportunity of a connection with the great
Central railroad to California was disclosed. When this consideration
came into the study, it concluded argument upon the subject, since it re¬
duced the completion of a railroad to Puget Sound to the mere construc¬
tion of a spur line from the vicinity of the South Pass to Puget Sound.
Under these liabilities the citizens of the Northwestern Territories urge a
national claim that the great Pacific route to California may occupy a
central position, mor^ especially is this claim instituted, since the recent
exploration conducted under a unanimous vote of the Territorial legisla¬
ture of Washington, has demonstrated the highly favorable character of
the route.
It will therefore appear that this whole question of a railroad to
Puget Sound has changed in its character and no longer presenting a single
claim to notice, as arising from the short distance between Lake Superior
and Puget Sound, is affected by interests in no degree subordinate, as
engineering and national considerations are brought to bear upon it. It
is no longer under the contingency of a terminus upon Lake Superior,
but becomes distinctly referable to the location of a railroad to California.
In comparison of these two routes as railroad lines, the Southern ex¬
tends over an open country traversed by the great Indian trails and
18
buffalo paths leading north and south, offering every opportunity for con^
structing spur roads, and thus extending the benefits of railway develop¬
ment to distant localities.
The Northern is shut in by lofty mountains and passes for that portion
of its distance beyond the first Rocky Mountain chain, through a very
difficult and almost impracticable country. The difference in cost of
construction between these lines, of 2,000 miles each, will not rule less
$30,000,000 in favor of the South Pass route. From the facility with
which a rough preliminary road can be extended over the latter route,
and the absolute necessity of first resolving this Pacific question to the
construction of such a simple and effective means of transportation, I can
perceive no comparison between the routes as railway lines, under the
remarkable exigences involved in the development of this peculiar
question.
In reference to this Southern route to Pugejî Sound, or more particu¬
larly this Central, route to California, with its branch of 800 miles to
Puget Sound, I would especially refer to the imperative and striking
feature that it would become, in its artificial reiationsy to Nebraska,
Kansas and Utah, what the great rivers of our country have been in their
natural advantages to the sections east of the Missouri.
This feature of local and domestic utility cannot be deemed subordi¬
nate to any oth^r, and combined with its former important characteristics,
gives the location of the Central line such importance, that to aid its con¬
struction would be national, and to achieve it patriotic.
Those great navigable rivers of the West, which have rendered the
growth of the central sections of the union, unparallelled in the history of
nations, cease at the Missouri, and the net work of steamboat navigation,
transporting the appliances of civilization and the means of growing up
populous communities in the wilderness, there finds its limit. For Min¬
nesota, and that narrow strip of national territory far to the north, and
between the British frontier and the upper Missouri, such facilities may
exist by the waters of the Mississippi, St. Peters, and Missouri, but for
the broad territory extending over the central portions of the continent to
the far Pacific, they must be supplied by the triumphs of human inge¬
nuity. And since the genius of Fulton first propelled his rude craft against
the current of the Hudson, what changes have not occurred in the history
of nations, in the different phases of human progress, in arts, mechanics^
and the achievments of civilization? Even throughout the mighty West,
the rapid growth of which must forever remain a monumemt of his genius,
the shriek and rattle of the locomotive engine is heard, contending with
the plash of the steamboat paddle, along the lake and by the mighty river,
as the masterly energy of America wrestles for the great result—Pros¬
perity.
Therefore it is within the power of man to supply the greatest defi¬
ciencies of nature, and even west of the Missouri, by the mere choice of
location, in carrying out the more direct requirements of national neces¬
sity, to place a great railroad line in its passage to the Pacific, where full
of important connexions, like the branches of a river, its arms extending
upon either side, it may develope the important region which it traverses,
and become to the Western portion of the American continent whgbt the
Ohio and the Mississippi have been to the Eastern.-
14
By the proper location of a branch road, northern Minnesota may be
drained of its rich lumber upon the line of this central road, aid in its
construction and find a market for^a valuable home product, absolutely
needed in Nebraska, Kansas, and Utah. British interest will eventually
attempt the construction of an extreme northern route, and a like market
will be afforded for such products.
It is more expedient to build a Minesotian American railway, to tap
the carrying trade of a British Pacific road, than to build an American
road over nearly impracticable mountain ranges to be drained of its
business on reaching level country, by a British line.
Finishing, then, the comparison of these two great routes to Puget
sound, I will conclude by remarking that, while the impracticable nature
of the western mountains shut the Northern route from the Pacific termi¬
nus—it was the very facility of connection with the Pacific that first gave
character to the Southern. While the one passes along exposed frontier
for a distance of fifteen hundred miles, and in direct vicinity of a great
navigable river—the other becomes, for over half its length, the main
trunk of a more important road, through central American territory.
The one has been reduced to a local, the other is still a national require¬
ment. Upon the one, facilities for communication can only exist by arti¬
ficial means—upon the other, they are already abundant by the act of
nature, The lumber of the North is needed in the Soutà. Connection
with the West is claimed by the East. The Northern route affords neither,
and the Southern route offers both. I claim, then, the question for the
southern.
Note.—The question of guage of a Pacific railroad should not be agitated at the present
time, neither should legislation now fix the width of guage from the following reasons .
The guage of the three tracks, Northern, Central, and Southern, should correspond with
the grand trunk lines of the east, into which they severally debouch during early con¬
struction, and in the extension of a preliminary railroad, to prevent the evil consequences
of a " break of guage " In some portions of the union, a majority of these eastern lines
are of the narrow guage. The narrow guage is preferable to the intermediate, or that
of 53^ feet, in the passage of a rough superstructure in frost country. Although the lower¬
ing of the centre of gravity in the machine, arising from the extension of the base by adopt¬
ing a wider guage, is a desideratum in the passage of a rough undulating surface, it is un¬
warrantable to attempt it by lengthening the axle. The guage eventually adopted on the
elaborated grand trunk line, hereafter to exist, should be governed in application by ex¬
perience gained from those improvements in transportation which inevitably occur, and
which, during the period of years over which the process of constructing a grand trunk
line must necessarily extend, will seriously modify all present conclusions on the subject.
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