NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
The statesman, the political economist, or any man who wishes
to cast the horoscope of the future of this country, must take
into consideration the great lakes, and their connection with the
Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Columbia Rivers, and those portions
of the continent drained by these water-ways.
Communities do not grow by chance, but by the operation of physical
laws. Position, climate, mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, arable
lands, coal, wood, iron, silver, and gold are predestinating forces
in a nation's history, decreeing occupation, character, power, and
influence.
Lakes and navigable streams are natural highways for trade and traffic;
valleys are natural avenues; mountains are toll-gates set up by nature.
He who passes over them must pay down in sweat and labor.
Humboldt discussed the question a third of a century ago. "The natural
highways of nations," said he, "will usually be along the great
watercourses."
It impressed me deeply, as long ago as 1846, when the present enormous
railway system of the continent had hardly begun to be developed.
Spreading out a map of the Western Hemisphere, I then saw that from
Cape Horn to Behring's Strait there was only one river-system that
could be made available to commerce on the Pacific coast. In South
America there is not a stream as large as the Merrimac flowing into the
Pacific. The waves of the ocean break everywhere against the rocky wall
of the Andes.
In North America the Colorado rises on the pinnacle of the continent,
but it flows through a country upheaved by volcanic fires during the
primeval years. Its chasms and cañons are the most stupendous on the
globe. The course of the stream is southwest to the Gulf of California,
out of the line of direction for commerce.
The only other great stream of the Pacific coast is the Columbia, whose
head-waters are in a line with those of the Missouri, the Mississippi,
the Red River of the North, and Lake Superior.
This one feature of the physical geography of the continent was
sufficient to show me that the most feasible route for a great
continental highway between the Atlantic and the Pacific must be from
Lake Superior to the valley of the Columbia.
In childhood I had read the travels of Lewis and Clark over and over
again, till I could almost repeat the entire volume, and, remembering
their glowing accounts of the country,--the fertility of the valley
of the Yellowstone, the easy passage from the Jefferson fork of the
Missouri to the Columbia, and the mildness of the winters on the
Western slope, the conviction was deepened that the best route for
a railway from the lakes to the Pacific would be through one of the
passes of the Rocky Mountains at the head-waters of the Missouri.
Doubtless, many others observant of the physical geography of the
continent had arrived at the same natural conclusion. Seven years
later the government surveys were made along several of the parallels,
that from Lake Superior to the Columbia being under the direction of
Governor I. I. Stevens. Jeff Davis was then Secretary of War, and his
report set forth the northern route as being virtually impracticable.
It was, according to his representation, incapable of sustaining
population. A careful study of Governor Stevens's Report, and a
comparison with the reports along the more southern lines, showed that
the Secretary of War had deliberately falsified the statements of
Governor Stevens and his assistants. While the surveys were being made,
Mr. Edwin F. Johnson, of Middletown, Conn., the present chief engineer
of the Pacific Railroad, published a pamphlet which set forth in a
clear and forcible manner the natural advantages of the route by the
Missouri.
In 1856 the British government sent out an exploring expedition
under Captain Palliser, whose report upon the attractions of British
America, the richness of the soil, the ease with which a road could be
constructed to the Pacific through British territory, created great
interest in Parliament.
"The accomplishment of such a scheme," said Mr. Roebuck, "would unite
England with Vancouver Island and with China, and they would be enabled
widely to extend the civilization of England, and he would boldly
assert that the civilization of England was greater than that of
America."
"Already," said the Colonial Secretary, Lord Lytton, better known to
American readers as Bulwer, "in the large territory which extends west
of the Rocky Mountains, from the American frontier and up to the skirts
of the Russian dominions, we are laying the foundations of what may
become hereafter a magnificent abode of the human race."
There was a tone about these speeches that stirred my blood, and I
prepared a pamphlet for circulation entitled "The Great Commercial
Prize," which was published in 1858. It was a plea for the immediate
construction of a railway up the valley of the Missouri, and down the
Columbia to Puget Sound, over the natural highway, giving facts and
figures in regard to its feasibility; but I was laughed at for my
pains, and set down as a visionary by the press.
It is gratifying to have our good dreams come to pass. That which
was a dream of mine in 1846 is in process of fulfilment in 1870. The
discovery of gold in California and the building up of a great city
demanded the construction of a railroad to San Francisco, which was
chartered in 1862, and which has been constructed with unparalleled
rapidity, and is of incalculable service to the nation.
The charter of the Northern Pacific was granted, in 1864, and approved
by President Lincoln on the 2d of July of that year. Government granted
no subsidy of bonds, but gave ten alternate sections per mile on each
side of the road in the States and twenty on each side of the line in
the Territories through which it might pass.
Though the franchise was accompanied by this liberal land-grant, it
has been found impossible to undertake a work of such magnitude till
the present time. Nearly every individual named as corporators in
the charter, with the exception of Governor J. G. Smith, its present
President, Judge R. D. Rice, the Vice-President, and a few others,
abandoned it under the many difficulties and discouragements that beset
the enterprise. The few gentlemen who held on studied the geography
of the country, and their faith in the future of the Northwest was
strengthened. A year ago they were fortunate enough to find other men
as enthusiastic as themselves over the resources and capabilities
of the region between Lake Superior and the Pacific,--Messrs. Jay
Cooke & Co., the well-known bankers of Philadelphia, whose names
are indissolubly connected with the history of the country as its
successful financial agents at a time when the needs of the nation
were greatest; Messrs. Edgar Thompson and Thomas A. Scott, of the
Pennsylvania Central Railroad; Mr. G. W. Cass, of the Pittsburg and
Fort Wayne; Mr. B. P. Cheney, of Wells, Fargo, & Co.; Mr. William B.
Ogden, of the Chicago and Northwestern Road; Mr. Stinson, of Chicago;
and other gentlemen, most of whom are practical railroad men of large
experience and far-reaching views.
Mr. Cooke became the financial agent of the company, and from that hour
the advancement of the enterprise may be dated. It required but a few
days to raise a subscription of $5,600,000 among the capitalists of the
country to insure the building of the road from Lake Superior to the
Red River, to which place it is now under construction. The year 1871
will probably see it constructed to the Missouri River, thus opening
easy communication with Montana. The gentlemen who have taken hold of
the work contemplate its completion to the Pacific in three years.
The line laid down upon the accompanying map only indicates the general
direction of the road. It is the intention of the company to find
the best route across the continent,--direct in course, with easy
grades,--and this can only be ascertained by a thorough exploration of
the valley of the Yellowstone, the passes at the head-waters of the
Missouri, the valley of the Columbia, and the shores and harbors of
Puget Sound.
The engineers are setting their stakes from Lake Superior to the
Red River, and laborers with spade and shovel are following them.
Imagination bounds onward over the prairies, across the mountains, down
the valley of the Columbia, and beholds the last rail laid, the last
spike driven, and a new highway completed across the continent.
I think of myself as being upon the locomotive, for a run from the
lakes to the western ocean.
Our starting-point on the lake is 600 feet above the sea. We gain the
height of land between the lake and the Mississippi by a gentle ascent.
Thirty-one miles out from Duluth we find the waters trickling westward
to the Mississippi. There we are 558 feet above Lake Superior. It is
almost a dead level, as the engineers say, from that point to the
Mississippi, which is 552 feet above the lake at Crow Wing, or 1,152
feet above tide-water. The distance between the lake and Crow Wing is
about a hundred miles, and the country is so level that it would be
an easy matter to dig a canal and turn the Mississippi above Crow Wing
eastward into the waters that reach the sea through the St. Lawrence.
The Leaf Hills are 267 feet higher than the Mississippi, and the ascent
is only seven feet to the mile,--so slight that the engineers on the
locomotive reckon it as level grade. These hills form the divide
between the Mississippi and the Red River. Straight on, over the level
valley of the Red River, westward to the summit of the rolling prairies
between the Red River and the Missouri, the locomotive speeds its way.
Gradually we rise till we are 2,400 feet above tide-water,--the same
elevation that is reached on the Union Pacific 250 miles west of Omaha.
A descent of 400 feet carries us to the Missouri. We wind up its
fertile valley to the richer bottom-lands of the Yellowstone, over a
route so level that at the mouth of the Big Horn we are only 2,500
feet above tide-water. The Yellowstone flows with a swifter current
above the Big Horn. We are approaching the mountains, and must pass the
ridge of land that separates the Yellowstone from the upper waters of
the Missouri. It lies 950 miles west of Lake Superior, and the summit
is 4,500 feet above the sea. Through the entire distance, thus far,
there have been no grades greater than those of the Illinois Central
and other prairie railroads of the West. Crossing the Missouri we are
at the back-bone of the continent, depressed here like the vertebra of
a hollow-backed horse. We may glide through the Deer Lodge Pass by a
grade of fifty feet, at an altitude of only 5,000 feet above tide-water.
Mr. Milnor Roberts, civil engineer, approached it from the west, and
this is his description of the Pass:--
"Considered as a railroad route, this valley is remarkably favorable,
the rise from Deer Lodge City to the pass or divide between the waters
of the Pacific and Atlantic being quite gentle, and even on the last
few miles, the summit, about 5,000 feet above the sea, may be attained
without employing a gradient exceeding fifty feet to the mile, with
a moderate cut. The whole forty miles from Deer Lodge City to the
summit of the Rocky Mountains by this route can be built as cheaply
as roads are built through prairie countries generally. A little more
work will be required in passing to the east side from this side,
down Divide Creek to Wisdom or Big Hole River; but the line will be
highly favorable on an average all the way to the Jefferson Fork of
the Missouri River. This favorable pass comes into connection more
particularly with the Yellowstone Valley route to the main Missouri
Valley. A remarkable circumstance connected with this pass will
convey a very clear view of its peculiarly favorable character.
Private parties engaged in gold mining, in the gold-fields which exist
abundantly on both sides of the Rocky Mountains, have dug a ditch
across this summit which is only eighteen feet deep at the apex of
the divide, through which they carry the waters of 'Divide Creek,' a
tributary of the Missouri, across to the Pacific side, where it is used
in gold-washing, and the waste water passes into the Pacific Ocean.
This has been justly termed highway robbery."
There are half a dozen passes nearly as low,--Mullan's, Blackfoot,
Lewis and Clark's, Cadotte's, and the Marias.
Going through the Deer Lodge Pass, we find that the stream changes its
name very often before reaching the Pacific. The little brook on the
summit of the divide, turbid with the washings of the gold-mines, is
called the Deer Lodge Creek. Twenty-five miles farther on it is joined
by a small stream that trickles from the summit of Mullan's Pass, near
Helena, and the two form the Hell Gate, just as the Pemigewasset and
Winnipesaukee form the Merrimac in New Hampshire, receiving its name
from the many Indian fights that have taken place in its valley, where
the Blackfeet and Nez Perces have had many a battle. The stream bears
the name of Hell Gate for about eighty miles before being joined by the
Blackfoot, which flows from the mountains in the vicinity of Cadotte's
and Lewis and Clark's Passes.
A little below the junction it empties into the Bitter Root, which,
after a winding course of a hundred miles, is joined by the Flathead,
that comes down from Flathead Lake and the country around Marias Pass.
The united streams below the junction take the name of Clark's River,
which has a circuitous course northward, running for a little distance
into British America, then back again through a wide plain till joined
by the Snake, and the two become the Columbia, pouring a mighty flood
westward to the ocean. The line of the road does not follow the river
to the boundary between the United States and the British Possessions,
but strikes across the plain of the Columbia.
The characteristics of Clark's River and the surrounding country are
thus described by Mr. Roberts:--
"Clark's River has a flow in low water at least six times greater
than the low-water flow of the Ohio River between Pittsburg and
Wheeling; and while its fall is slight, considered with reference to
railroad grades, it is so considerable as to afford a great number of
water-powers, whose future value must be very great,--an average of
eleven feet per mile.
"Around Lake Pend d'Oreille, and for some miles westward, and all
along Clark's River above the lake as far as we traversed it, there is
a magnificent region of pine, cypress, hemlock, tamarack, and cedar
timber, many of the trees of prodigious size. I measured one which
was thirty-four feet in circumference, and a number that were over
twenty-seven feet, and saw hundreds, as we passed along, that were from
twenty to twenty-five feet in circumference, and from two hundred to
two hundred and fifty feet high. A number of valleys containing large
bodies of this character of timber enter Clark's River from both sides,
and the soil of these valleys is very rich. Clark's River Valley itself
is for much of the distance confined by very high hills approaching
near to the stream in many places; but there are sufficient sites for
cities and farms adjacent to water-powers of the first class, and not
many years can elapse after the opening of a railroad through this
valley till it will exhibit a combination of industries and population
analogous to those which now mark the Lehigh, the Schuylkill, the
Susquehanna, and the Pomroy region of the Ohio River. Passing along its
quiet scenes of to-day, we can see in the near future the vast change
which the enterprise of man will bring. That which was once the work of
half a century is now the product of three or four years. Indeed, in a
single year after the route of this Northern Pacific Railroad shall
have been determined, and the work fairly begun, all this region, now
so calm and undisturbed, will be teeming with life instilled into it by
hardy pioneers from the Atlantic and from the Pacific.
"Passing along the Flathead River for a short distance, we entered the
valley of the Jocko River. The same general remarks concerning Clark's
River Valley are applicable to the Flathead and Bitter Root Valleys.
The climate, the valleys, the timber, the soil, the water-powers, all
are here, awaiting only the presence of the industrious white man
to render to mankind the benefits implanted in them by a beneficent
Creator."
The entire distance from Lake Superior by the Yellowstone Valley to
the tide-waters of the Pacific below the cascades of the Columbia will
be about eighteen hundred miles. It is nearly the same distance to
Seattle, on Puget Sound, by the Snoqualmie Pass of the Cascade Range.
The Union Pacific line has had no serious obstruction from snow
since its completion. It has suffered no more than other roads of
the country, and its trains have arrived as regularly at Omaha
and Sacramento as the trains of the New York Central at Buffalo
or Albany. That the Northern Pacific road will be quite as free
from snow-blockades will be manifest by a perusal of the following
paragraphs from the report of Mr. Roberts:--
"There is evidence enough to show that the line of road on the
general route herein described will, in ordinary winters, be much
less encumbered with snow where it crosses the mountains than are
the passes at more southerly points, which are much more elevated
above the sea. The difference of five or six degrees of latitude is
more than compensated by the reduced elevation above the sea-level,
and the climatic effect of the warm ocean-currents from the equator,
already referred to, ameliorating the seasons from the Pacific to the
Rocky Mountains. An examination of the profile of the Union Pacific
and Central Pacific lines between Omaha, on the Missouri River, and
Sacramento, California, a distance of 1,775 miles, shows that there are
four main summits,--Sherman Summit, on the Black Hills, about 550 miles
from Omaha, 8,235 feet above the sea; one on the Rocky Mountains, at
Aspen Summit, about 935 miles from Omaha, 7,463 feet; one at Humboldt
Mountain, about 1,245 miles from Omaha, 6,076 feet; and another on the
Sierra Nevada, only 105 miles from the western terminus at Sacramento,
7,062 feet; whilst from a point west of Cheyenne, 520 miles from Omaha,
to Wasatch, 970 miles from Omaha, a continuous length of 450 miles,
every portion of the graded road is more than 6,000 feet above the
sea, being about 1,000 feet on this long distance higher than the
highest summit grade on the Northern Pacific Railroad route; whilst for
the corresponding distance on the Northern Pacific line the average
elevation is under 3,000 feet, or _three thousand feet_ lower than the
Sherman Summit on the Pacific line.
"On the Union Pacific road the profile also shows that for 900
continuous miles, from Sidney westward, the road has an average height
of over 5,000 feet, and the lowest spot on that distance is more than
4,000 feet above the sea, whereas on the Northern route only about
sixty miles at most are as high as 4,000 feet, and the corresponding
distance of 900 miles, extending from the mouth of the Yellowstone to
the valley of Clark's River, is, on an average, about 3,000 feet lower
than the Union Pacific line. Allowing that 1,000 feet of elevation
causes a decrease of temperature of three degrees, this would be a
difference of nine degrees. There is, therefore, a substantial reason
for the circumstance, now well authenticated, that the snows on the
Northern route are much less troublesome than they are on the Union
Pacific and Central Pacific routes" (Report, p. 43).
That the Northern Pacific can be economically worked is demonstrated by
a comparison of its grades with those of the line already constructed.
The comparison is thus presented by Mr. Roberts:--
"The grades on the route across through the State of Minnesota and
Territory of Dakota to the Missouri River will not be materially
dissimilar to those on the other finished railroads south of it,
passing from Chicago to Sioux City, Council Bluffs, etc.; namely,
undulating within the general limit of about forty feet per mile,
although it may be deemed advisable, at a few points for short
distances, to run to a maximum of one foot per hundred or fifty-three
feet per mile. There is sufficient knowledge of this portion of the
route to warrant this assumption. And beyond the Missouri, along the
valley of the Yellowstone, to near the Bozeman Pass, there is no known
reason for assuming any higher limits. In passing Bozeman Summit of the
Belt Range, and in going up the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, it
may be found advisable to adopt a somewhat higher gradient for a few
miles in overcoming those summits. This, however, can only be finally
determined after careful surveys.
"The highest ground encountered between Lake Superior and the Missouri
River, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, is only 2,300 feet above the
sea; the low summit of the Rocky Mountains is but little over 5,000
feet, and the Bozeman Pass, through the Belt Range, is assumed to
be about 500 feet lower. The height of the country upon which the
line is traced, and upon which my estimate of cost is based, may be
approximately stated thus, beginning at Lake Superior, going westward:--
Miles. Average height
above the sea.
To Dakota Valley, 300 1,200 feet.
Yellowstone River, 300 2,200 "
Along Yellowstone, 400 2,500 "
Flathead Valley, 300 3,500 "
Lewis or Snake River, 200 3,000 "
Puget Sound, 500 400 "
-----
2,000
"Compare this with the profiles of the finished line of the Union and
Central Pacific roads. Properly, the comparison should be made from
Chicago, the eastern water terminus of Lake Michigan, of the Omaha
line. There are, on that route, approximately, as follows:--
Miles. Average height
above the sea.
From Chicago to Omaha, 500 1,000 feet.
Near Cheyenne, 500 3,300 "
Cooper's, 100 7,300 "
Promontory Point, 485 6,200 "
Humboldt, 406 4,750 "
Reno, 130 4,000 "
Auburn, 118 4,400 "
Sacramento, 36 300 "
San Francisco, 100 50 "
-----
Chicago to San Francisco 2,375
"On the Northern Pacific line there need be but two principal summits,
whilst on the other there are four, the lowest of which is about a
thousand feet higher than the highest on the northern route. If,
therefore, the roads were the same length between the Pacific waters
and the great lakes and navigable rivers east of the Rocky Mountains,
the advantage would be largely in favor of the Northern route; but this
actual distance is three hundred and seventy-five miles less, and the
equated distance for ascents and descents in its favor will be very
considerable" (Report, p. 45).
From the explorations and surveys already made by the engineers, it is
believed that there need be no gradient exceeding sixty feet per mile
between Lake Superior and the Pacific Ocean. If such be the fact, it
will enable the company to transport freight much more cheaply than the
central line can carry it, where the grades are one hundred and sixteen
feet to the mile, over the Sierra Nevada Range. To those who never have
had time to examine the subject, the following tabular statement in
regard to the power of a thirty-ton engine on different grades will be
interesting. An engine weighing thirty tons will draw loaded cars on
different grades as follows:--
On a level 94 cars
10 feet per mile ascending 56 "
20 " " " " 40 "
30 " " " " 30-1/2 "
40 " " " " 25 "
50 " " " " 20-1/2 "
60 " " " " 17 "
70 " " " " 15 "
80 " " " " 13 "
90 " " " " 11-1/2 "
100 " " " " 10 "
110 " " " " 8-1/2 "
120 " " " " 6 "
A full car-load is reckoned at seven tons. It has been found in the
operation of railroads that an engine which will move one hundred and
seventeen tons on a grade sixty feet per mile will move only about
fifty tons on a grade of one hundred and sixteen feet. A second glance
at the diagram (p. 48) shows us that the sum of ascents and descents on
the line already constructed must be vastly greater than that now under
construction; and inasmuch as it is impossible to carry a load up or
down hill without costing something, it follows that this road can be
operated more economically than a line crossing four mountain-ranges,
and the ultimate result will be a cheapening of transportation across
the continent, and a great development of the Asiatic trade.
Throughout the entire distance between Lake Superior and the Pacific
Ocean along the line, the husbandman may turn the sod with his plough,
the herdsman fatten his flocks, the lumberman reap the harvest of the
forests, or the miner gather golden ore.
A Bureau of Emigration is to be established by the company, which will
be of invaluable service to the emigrant.
Many persons in the Eastern and Middle States are desirous of moving to
the Northwest, but it is hard to cut loose from old associations, to
leave home and friends and strike out alone upon the prairie; they want
company. The human race is gregarious. There are not many who care to
be hermits, and most of us prefer society to solitude.
This feature of human nature is to be kept in view, and it will be
the aim of the Bureau of Emigration to offer every facility to those
seeking new homes to take their friends with them.
Upon the completion of every twenty-five miles of road, the company
will be put in possession of forty sections of land per mile. The
government will hold the even-numbered sections, and the company those
bearing the odd numbers.
The land will be surveyed, plotted, and the distinctive features of
each section described. Emigration offices are to be established in our
own country as well as abroad, where maps, plans, and specifications
will be found.
One great drawback to the settlement of the prairie lands of Illinois
and Iowa has been the want of timber for the construction of houses.
Persons with limited means, having only their own hands, found it hard
to get started on a treeless prairie. Their first work is to obtain
a house. The Bureau propose to help the man who is anxious to help
himself on in the world, by putting up a portable house for him on
the land that he may select. The houses will be small, but they will
serve till the settler can get his farm fenced in, his ground ploughed,
and two or three crops of wheat to market. The abundance of timber in
Minnesota will enable the company to carry out this new feature of
emigration.
It will be an easy matter for a family from Lowell, another from
Methuen, a third from Andover, a fourth from Reading, a fifth from
Haverhill, to select their land in a body and start a Massachusetts
colony in the Seat of Empire.
Far better this method than for each family to go out by itself. Going
as a colony they will carry the moral atmosphere of their old homes
with them. They will have a school in operation the week after their
arrival. And on Sabbath morning, swelling upward on the summer air,
sweeter than the lay of lark amid the flowers, will ascend the songs
of the Sunday school established in their new home. Looking forward
with ardent hope to prosperous years, they will still look beyond the
earthly to the heavenly, and sing,--
"My heavenly home is bright and fair,
Nor pain nor death shall enter there."
This is no fancy sketch; it is but a description of what has been
done over and over again in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and all
the Western States. The Northern Pacific Railroad Company want their
lands settled by an industrious, thrifty, energetic people, who prize
everything that goes to make up the highest grade of civilization, and
they are ready to render such help as no colonies have yet had.
The land will be sold to actual settlers at low rates, and on liberal
terms of payment. The portable houses will be sold at cost, transported
on the cars, and set up for the colonists if they desire it.
The Bureau will be put in operation as soon as it can be systematically
organized, and I doubt not that thousands will avail themselves of its
advantages to establish their future homes near a railroad which will
give the shortest line across the continent, marked by low gradients,
running through the lowest passes of the Rocky Mountains, through
a country capable of cultivation all the way from the lakes to the
Pacific.
Am I dreaming?
Across this belt of land between Lake Superior and the Pacific lies the
world's great future highway. The physical features of this portion of
the continent are favorable for the development of every element of a
high civilization.
Take one more look at the map, and observe the situation of the
St. Lawrence and the lakes, furnishing water-carriage for freight
half-way from ocean to ocean,--the prairies extending to the base of
the Rocky Mountains,--the one summit to be crossed,--the bays, inlets,
and harbors of the Pacific shore laved by ocean currents and warmed
by winds wafted from the equator to the Arctic Sea. Observe also the
shortest lines of latitude.
The geographical position is in the main axial line of the world's
grand commercial movement. San Francisco and Puget Sound are the two
western gateways of the continent. Rapid as has been the advancement of
civilization around the Golden Gate, magnificent as its future may be,
yet equally grand and majestic will be the northern portal of the great
Republic. Not only will it be on the shortest possible route between
England and Asia, but it will be in the direct line between England and
the Asiatic dominions of Russia.
While we are building our railroads westward from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, the Emperor of Russia is extending his from the Ural Mountains
eastward, down the valley of the Amoor, to open communication with
China and Japan. The shortest route of travel round the world a few
years hence will lie through the northern section of this continent and
through Siberia. The Himalaya Range of mountains and the deserts of
Central Asia will be impassible barriers to railroads between India
and China, or Central Europe and the East; but the valley of the Amoor
is fertile, and there is no fairer section of the Czar's dominions than
Siberia. From Puget Sound straight across the Pacific will be found, a
few years hence, the shortest route around the world.
Farm-houses dot the landscape, roses climb by cottage-doors, bees fill
the air with their humming, bringing home to their hives the sweets
gathered from far-off prairie-flowers; the prattle of children's voices
floats upon the air, the verdant waste becomes an Eden, villages,
towns, and cities spring into existence. A great metropolis rises upon
the Pacific shore, where the winter air is laden with the perfume of
ever-blooming flowers.
The ships of all nations lie at anchor in the land-locked bays, or
shake out their sails for a voyage to the Orient. Steamships come and
go, laden with the teas of China and Japan, the coffee of Java, the
spices of Sumatra. I hear the humming of saws, the pounding of hammers,
the flying of shuttles, the click and clatter of machinery. By every
mill-stream springs up a town. The slopes are golden with ripening
grain. The forest, the field, the mine, the river, alike yield their
abundance to the ever-growing multitude.
Such is the outlook towards the future. Will the intellectual and
moral development keep pace with the physical growth? If those are
wanting, the advancement will be towards Sodom. The future man of
the Northwest will have American, Norse, Celtic, and Saxon blood in
his veins. His countenance, in the pure, dry, electric air, will be
as fresh as the morning. His muscles will be iron, his nerves steel.
Vigor will characterize his every action,--for climate gives quality to
the blood, strength to the muscles, power to the brain. Indolence is
characteristic of people living in the tropics, and energy of those in
temperate zones.
The citizen of the Northwest will be a freeman. No shackles will bind
him, nor will he wear a lock upon his lips. To the emigrant from the
Old World the crossing of the ocean is an act of emancipation; it is
like the Marseillaise,--it fires him with new hopes and aspirations.
"Here the free spirit of mankind at length
Throws its last fetters off, and who shall place
A limit to the giant's unchained strength,
Or curb his swiftness in the forward race?
For like the comet's way through infinite space,
Stretches the long untravelled path of light
Into the depth of ages; we may trace,
Distant, the brightening glory of its flight,
Till the receding rays are lost to human sight."
I do not look with desponding eyes into the future. The nations
everywhere,--in Europe and Asia,--the new and the old, are moving
onward and upward as never before, and America leads them. Railroads,
steamships, school-houses, printing-presses, free platforms and
pulpits, an open Bible, are the propelling forces of the nineteenth
century. It remains only for the Christian men and women of this
country to give the Bible, the Sunday and the common school to the
coming millions, to insure a greatness and grandeur to America far
surpassing anything in human history.
It will not be for America alone; for, under the energizing powers of
this age the entire human race is moving on towards a destiny unseen
except to the eye of faith, but unmistakably grand and glorious.
I have been an observer of the civilization of Europe, and have seen
the kindlings of new life, at the hands of England and the United
States, in India and China; and through the drifting haze of the future
I behold nations rising from the darkness of ancient barbarism into
the light of modern civilization, and the radiant cross once reared on
Calvary throwing its peaceful beams afar,--over ocean, valley, lake,
river, and mountain, illuming all the earth.
Situated where the great stream of human life will pour its mightiest
flood from ocean to ocean, beneficently endowed with nature's riches,
and illumed by such a light, there will be no portion of all earth's
wide domain surpassing in glory and grandeur this future Seat of Empire.
Cambridge: Printed by Welch, Bigelow, and Company.
GREAT CENTRAL ROUTE
via Niagara Falls.
MICHIGAN CENTRAL & GREAT WESTERN
RAILROADS.
From Boston and New York to Chicago, connecting
there with all the great Railways,
North, South, and West.
=Four Trains Daily.=
Pullman's Palace, Hotel, Drawing-Room, and
Sleeping Cars on Express Trains.
FREIGHT TRAINS.
Freight taken through by the "=BLUE LINE="
without breaking bulk, and in as short
time as by any other line.
PASSENGER AGENTS.
P. K. RANDALL, Boston.
CHARLES E. NOBLE, New York.
HENRY C. WENTWORTH, Chicago.
* * * * *
THE FIRST DIVISION OF THE
St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company.
LAND DEPARTMENT.
THE COMPANY NOW OFFERS FOR SALE
=1,000,000 Acres of Land=,
Located along their two Railroad Lines, viz.: From St. Paul, via St.
Anthony, Anoka, St. Cloud, and Sauk Rapids, to Watab; and from St.
Anthony, via Minneapolis, Wayzata, Crow River,
Waverly, and Forest City, to the Western
Boundary of the State.
=THESE LANDS COMPRISE TIMBER, MEADOW,
AND PRAIRIE LANDS,=
And are all within easy distance of the Railroad, in the midst of
considerable Settlements, convenient to Churches and Schools.
Inducement to Settlers.
The attention of persons whose limited means forbid the purchase of
a homestead in the older States, is particularly invited to these
lands. The farms are sold in tracts of 40 or 80 acres and upwards, at
prices ranging from $5.00 to $10.00 per acre. Cash sales are always One
Dollar per acre less than Credit sales. In the latter case 10 years are
granted if required.
EXAMPLE.--80 acres at $8.00 per acre, on long credit,--$640.00. A part
payment on the principal is always desired; but in case the means
of the settler are very limited, the Company allows him to pay only
One Year's Interest down, dividing the principal in ten equal annual
payments, with seven per cent interest each year on the unpaid balance:
Int. Prin.
1st payment $44.80
2d " 40.32 $64
3d " 35.84 64
4th " 31.36 64
5th " 26.28 64
6th " 22.40 64
7th " 17.92 64
8th " 13.44 64
9th " 8.96 64
10th " 4.48 64
11th " 64
The purchaser has the privilege to pay up any time within the 10 years,
thereby saving the payment of interest.
The same land may be purchased for $560.00 cash. Any other information
will be furnished on application in person, or by letter, in English,
French or German, addressed to
=LAND COMMISSIONER,
First Division St. Paul & Pacific R. R. Co.,
SAINT PAUL. MINN.=
* * * * *
LAKE SHORE AND MICHIGAN
Southern Railway.
THE GREAT SOUTH SHORE LINE BETWEEN
=BUFFALO AND CHICAGO.=
All trains on the New York Central Hudson River Railroad, and all
trains on the Erie Railway, form sure and reliable connections at
Buffalo with the
GREAT LAKE SHORE LINE
All the great railways in the Northwest and Southwest connect at
Chicago, Toledo, or Cleveland with this Line.
Palace, Drawing-Room, Sleeping Coaches daily between New York and
Chicago, through WITHOUT CHANGE.
FAST FREIGHT LINES.
The following lines transport freight between Boston, New York, and
principal points in New England to Cleveland, Toledo, Chicago, and
principal points in the Southwest and Northwest, _without break of bulk
or transfer_.
RED LINE, WHITE LINE,
SOUTH SHORE LINE, EMPIRE LINE,
COMMERCIAL LINE FROM BALTIMORE.
Passengers or shippers of freight will find it to their interest to
call on the Agents of these Lines.
F. E. MORSE,
_Gen'l Western Pass'r Ag't_,
Chicago, Ill.
CHS. F. HATCH,
_Gen'l Superintendent_,
Cleveland, O.
J. A. BURCH,
_Gen'l Eastern Pass'r Ag't_,
Buffalo, N. Y.
* * * * *
VERMONT CENTRAL
R. R. Line.
The =GREAT Northern line= and =most direct= route from =BOSTON= and
=ALL POINTS= in =New England= to the =CANADAS, DETROIT, CHICAGO=,
AND
=All points West, Northwest, & Southwest=.
NEW SLEEPING-CARS,
the most elegant from =Boston=, and =SPLENDID DRAWING-ROOM CARS= run on
every express train, connecting on the =Grand Trunk Railway= with
=Pullman's Palace, Hotel, and Sleeping Cars=;
this being the =only line= affording such comfort and luxury to the
passenger between the East and West.
TIME FREIGHT
VIA
National Despatch Line.
=Freight= taken for =Chicago=, =St. Louis=, and =all points West
without breaking bulk or transfer=, in as =short time= as any other
line.
--> For full information relating to time contracts, Tickets, &c., &c.,
please address or call at
=No. 65 Washington Street (Sears Building), Boston.
LANSING MILLIS, General Agent.=
(=Montreal Office, No. 30 Great St. James St.=)
(=New York Office, No. 9 Astor House.=)
* * * * *
Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad.
The line of this road is from St. Paul, the head of navigation on the
Mississippi River, to the head of Lake Superior, a distance of 140
miles. It connects at St. Paul with each of the long lines of railroad
traversing the vast and fertile regions of Minnesota in all directions,
and converging at St. Paul.
It connects the commerce and business of the Mississippi and Minnesota
Rivers, the California Central Railroad, and the Northern Pacific
Railroad, with Lake Superior and the commercial system of the great
lakes, and makes the outlet or commercial track to the lakes, over
which must pass the commerce of a region of country second to none on
the American continent in capacity for production.
The land grant made by the government of the United States and by the
State of Minnesota, in aid of the construction of this road, is the
largest in quantity and most valuable in kind ever made in aid of any
railway in either of the American States.
This grant amounts to seventeen square miles or sections [10,880
acres] of land for each mile of the road, and in the aggregate to =One
Million, Six Hundred and Thirty-two Thousand Acres of Land=.
These lands are for the most part well timbered with pine, butternut,
white oak, sugar maple, and other valuable timber, and are perhaps
better adapted to the raising of stock, winter wheat, corn, oats, and
most kinds of agricultural
These lands are well watered with running streams and innumerable
lakes, and within the limits of the land belonging to the Company there
is an abundance of water-power for manufacturing purposes.
A glance at the map, and an intelligent comprehension of the course of
trade, and way to the markets of the Eastern cities and to Europe, for
the products of this section of the Northwest, will at once satisfy
any one who examines the question that the lands of this Company,
by reason of the low freights at which their products reach market,
have a value--independent of that which arises from their superior
quality--which can hardly be over-estimated.
Twenty cents saved in sending a bushel of wheat to market adds four
dollars to the yearly product of an acre of wheat land, and what
is true of this will apply to all other articles of farm produce
transported to market, and demonstrates that the value of lands depends
largely on the price at which their products can be carried to market.
=THE LANDS OF THIS COMPANY ARE
NOW OFFERED TO=
~Immigrants and Settlers~
=at the most favorable rates, as to time and terms of payment=.
=W. L. BANNING,
President and Land Commissioner, Saint Paul, Minnesota.=
"CARLETON'S" WORKS.
[Illustration: OUR NAGPORE COACH.]
OUR NEW WAY ROUND THE WORLD;
OR,
=WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO SEE=.
By CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN. Containing several full-page Maps, showing
steamship lines and routes of travel, and profusely illustrated with
more than 100 engravings, reproduced from photographs and original
sketches. Crown octavo. Morocco Cloth, $3.00; Half Calf, $5.50; Library
Edition, $3.50.
"In Mr. Charles C. Coffin we have a traveller after the latest
and best transatlantic pattern. He has thrown himself thoroughly
into the spirit of his age and race; yet, while loyal to the
backbone, and indorsing to the full his country's claims to
present grandeur and future pre-eminence, he has a corner in his
soul for the merits of other lands, and is open to the lessons
of Old-World wisdom. Rapid as was his flight, and superficial as
was his purview of the multitudinous objects that daily crowded
his path, his powers of observation are, we are bound to say,
keen and vigorous, and his judgments upon men and things both
shrewd and impartial. Be it the aspects of nature, the historical
monuments, the national traits, or the social idiosyncrasies that
come before him, we find him invariably alive to what is most
beautiful or august or original or piquant, as the case may be.
He is at all times happy in hitting off the salient features, or
picking out the weak spots, in local life and manners.... The
history of British rule in India, and the tokens of material and
social advancement everywhere beside his path, are themes after
the American's own heart. We have never seen a more graphic or
telling sketch of Anglo-Indian life and characteristics within
anything like the compass of Mr. Coffin's flying experiences....
Mr. Coffin's studies of life in China are eminently piquant and
original. Nothing is too old or too new to escape his notice....
The wood-cuts interspersed among his pages deserve a word of
commendation. They are drawn with vigor and truth, often showing
touches of quaint and quiet humor. Altogether, if there is nothing
new under the sun, Our New Way Round the World shows there may
be much novelty and freshness in the mode of telling even a
thrice-told tale."--_Saturday Review (London)._
"The author of this interesting and valuable tour of the globe
starts from New York, visits every city of note in Europe, sails
from Marseilles to Alexandria, thence to Cairo, and Suez Canal,
India, China, and Japan, returning by the way of California.
Through this wide field for observation and research, his keen
habits of characterization, and his vivid powers of description
make him an exceedingly agreeable travelling companion. Mr. Coffin
has the very happy faculty of giving to a really thrice-told
tale of travel a freshness that carries the reader to the end of
the volume with unabated interest. His tour in the interior of
the British possessions in India is full of interest,--and his
elaborate pictures of China at the present time are valuable,
showing the actual character of the people; the tenacity of their
prejudices, which appear to resist all innovation from 'outside
barbarians,' is most graphically depicted, and is worthy the
attention of our politicians and speculative philanthropists. The
book on the whole is a valuable addition to our native literature,
written as it is from a distinctive American stand-point view
of foreign nations. Numerous spirited designs, illustrative
of habits and manners, adorn the work, together with maps in
abundance."--_N. Y. Express._
"A model record of travel, over fields comparatively unknown.
It combines, in a remarkable degree, skill and judgment in the
selection of facts and points, with clearness, accuracy, and
proportion in their statement: a natural ease and grace of
expression, with a genial spirit, and a broad, true sympathy
with everything human. A very large amount of instructive and
attractive matter is compressed in its pages. The illustrations,
too, are numerous, and all in admirable keeping with the
narrative. In these, and in the clear, fair, readable type, the
publishers have well done their part.
"We confess to a deeper, and consciously healthier interest in the
perusal than in the reading of any similar volume. Very heartily,
therefore, do we commend the book to the winter-evening family
circle, sure that it will instruct and charm alike both young and
old."--_N. Y. Christian World._
"The book has many excellent illustrations, and is written with
all the loveliness and instructiveness for which 'Carleton' became
famous during the war, as a war correspondent of the Boston
Journal. The book is gossipy and entertaining in a high degree,
and will interest young and old."--_New York Evening Post._
*** _For sale by all booksellers, or sent, post-paid, to any address,
by the Publishers_,
=FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO.,
124 Tremont Street, Boston.=
[Illustration]
FOUR YEARS OF FIGHTING.
A volume of Personal Observation with the Army and Navy, from the first
Battle of Bull Run to the Fall of Richmond. 1 vol. 8vo. With Steel
Portrait of the Author, and numerous Illustrations. Cloth, $3.50;
Sheep, $4.50.
=From Senator Yates, of Illinois.=
...From the accuracy with which you relate those incidents which
fell under my personal observation, I am persuaded that the whole
volume forms a very valuable addition to the historic literature
of the heroic age of the Republic.
I am, sir, your obliged friend,
=RICH'D YATES=
*** _For sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price
by the Publishers_,
=FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO., Boston.=
[Illustration]
MY DAYS AND NIGHTS ON THE BATTLE-FIELD.
A Book for Boys. By "CARLETON." 1 vol. 16mo. Illustrated. $1.50.
"It is written by one of the best of the war correspondents,
'Carleton,' of the _Boston Journal_, whose opportunities for
observing all the celebrated battles of the war were unsurpassed.
The book is really a history of the first year of the war, and
describes the principal battles of that period,--Bull Run, Fort
Henry, Fort Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, Columbus, New Madrid,
Island No. 10, and Memphis, in part of which the writer was, and
all of which he saw."--_Buffalo Express._
*** _For sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price
by the Publishers_,
=FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO., Boston.=
[Illustration]
FOLLOWING THE FLAG.
From August, 1861, to November, 1862, with the Army of the Potomac. By
"CARLETON." 1 vol. 16mo. Illustrated. $1.50.
"'Carleton' is by all odds the best writer for boys on the war.
His 'Days and Nights on the Battle-Field' made him famous among
the young folks. To read his books is equal in interest to a
bivouac or a battle, and is free from the hard couch and harder
bread of the one, and the jeopardizing bullets of the other. To
be entertained and informed, we would rather peruse 'Following
the Flag' than study a dozen octavo volumes written by a
world-renowned historian."--_Indianapolis Journal._
*** _For sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price
by the Publishers_.
=FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO., Boston.=
WINNING HIS WAY.
BY "CARLETON."
1 vol. 16mo. Illustrated. $1.25.
CLEMENT, CLINTON CO., ILLINOIS.
MR. CARLETON.
_Dear Sir,_--Is "Winning His Way" a true story?
Is the story published in book form?
Where does Paul live?
I am very much interested in the story, but my father thinks it is
all fiction as he calls it.
If you will answer this you will oblige a boy ten years old, who has
read it four times, and who means to read it again when I go over to
Aunt Leach's.
Paul's ardent admirer,
JOHN W. SCOTT.
April 16, 1870.
BOSTON, May 7, 1870.
JOHN W. SCOTT.
_My Dear Young Friend,_--I am very much gratified to hear that
you are so much interested in "Winning His Way," which has been
published in book form by Messrs. Fields, Osgood, & Co.
You ask if it is a true story. I will tell you about it: I knew a
brave boy who went into the army and fought just as Paul fought,
who was left on the field for dead, and who was taken to a rebel
prison, and I had him in mind all the time I was writing the story.
That is all true about painting the pigs, and shutting the
school-house door, and tying the hay in front of the old horse's
nose.
So you can tell your father that the things did not happen just in
the order they are given in the book, but that I tried to make the
story true to life.
Your friend,
CARLETON.
"A story of a poor Western boy who, with true American grit in
his composition, worked his way into a position of honorable
independence, and who was among the first to rally round the flag
when the day of his country's peril came. There is a sound, manly
tone about the book, a freedom from nam-by-pambyism, worthy of all
commendation."--_Sunday School Times._
"One of the best of stories for boys."--_Hartford Courant._
*** _For sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt of price
by the Publishers_,
=FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO., Boston.=
Transcriber's Note
Footnotes have been moved to the end of the paragraphs to which they
refer. Illustrations have been moved near the relevant section of the
text.
"=" is used in the text to indicate bolded text, and "~" is used to
indicate a fancy font.
On Page 255, "-->" is used to denote a hand with the finger pointing
right.
In the advertisements at the end of the book, "***" is used to denote
an inverted asterism. I have separated the ads by asterisks.
Inconsistencies have been retained in spelling, hyphenation,
punctuation, and grammar, except where indicated in the list below:
- Page number added to Table of Contents on Page v
- Dash added after "Mud-Wagon." on Page vi
- Dash added after "Railroad." on Page vii
- Period moved from before to after bracket on Page 96
- "timber" changed to "Timber" on Page 96
- "spot" changed to "sport" on Page 121
- "offer" changed to "offers" on Page 168
- Quotation mark added before "The" on Page 222
- Quotation mark added before "Compare" on Page 223
- "agricul tural" changed to "agricultural" on Page 237
- Single quote added after "Carleton" on Page 242
End of Project Gutenberg's The Seat of Empire, by Charles Carleton Coffin