The _Philadelphia Ledger's_ Washington correspondent says
that Mr. Whitney, of New York, contemplates the construction
of a railroad from the western shore of Lake Michigan, in a
direct line through to the Columbia River, covering the
distance of some 2,100 miles, which shall be the point of
debarkation to China.
The cost of the road, when completed, is estimated at fifty
millions of dollars, and twenty-five years would be required
to perfect the scheme. Eight days would be about the
traveling time from New York City to the terminus of the
road, and if [steamship?] facilities were employed, some
twenty-five more would convey one to Amoy, in China, so that
by this short cut, a journey across the globe might be
accomplished within the narrow limit of a single month.
By the establishment of this means of communication, we
should be enabled to command the Chinese market, and to
extend our commerce with South America, Mexico, India, and
other parts.
And, in addition to the vast results that would necessarily
ensue from this work by the force of circumstances, we should
secure the transportation of the English trade on account of
the great shortening of time.
All the coöperation and assistance that Mr. Whitney asks the
government is a grant of sixty miles wide of the public
land, from one terminus of the contemplated road to the
other, for which a full consideration would be given in
carrying the mails, and transporting ammunition stores,
soldiers, and all public matters free of cost.
* * * * *
From the _Weston Journal_, March 15, 1845.