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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre film«s k des taux de reduction diff«rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clich*. il est film* A partir de I'angia supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut 9n bas. en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 FIRST EDITIOIV. < < 4 < 4 4 4 THE NORTHWEST COAST, y > y : ► INCLUDING Oregon, Washington and Id^ho, A SERIES OF ARTICLES UPON THE N. P. R. R. IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE f Basins of the Columbia and of Puget's Sound. By rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D. J^i'rs^ Published in The Oregonian. PORTLAND, OREGON: A. G. WALLING, STEAM PRINTER AND BOOKBINDER. 1878. 'ww^'mw w m^wwwww^w w mww^^^w^wmwwwwm'mww^^www^^ww^m^wmwmmMy !^'t^JIU ^ J ,v N A i /* THE NORTHWEST COAST, INCLUDING Oregon, Washington and Idaho, A SERIES OF ARTICLES UPON THE N. P. R. R. IN ITS RELATIONS TO THE Basins of the Columbia and of Pugcf s Sound. By rev. G. H. ATKINSON, D. D. First Published in The Oregonian. PORTLAND, OREGON: A. O. WALLING, STEAM PRINTER AND BOOKBINDER. 1878. a Uu> 1 ord 1 the seel of ( 1 the moi iwes PREFACE. These articles are reproduced in pamphlet form, in their order of time, for convenient reference. The statistical facts collated with other arguments carry I their own force of reason to the thoughtful citizen of this section, and to the broad-minded statesman of every section of cur country. The hope is cherished that they will give some aid to secure I the needed Congressional Legislation, and thus confer a com- mon benefit upon this prospective empire of the Pacific North- west, and upon our country. G. H. ATKINSON. Portland, Oregon, Oct. 25, 1878. 108389 I THE NORTHWEST (OAST. Value ok Lanij Inchkased. fiailroads give actual value to lands. Evon where fares and freights equal the old coach and wagon rates, the linio saved is money to the farmer and the merchant. A trip of six days for a man and team would l)e required to lake a ton of wheat (33 bushels) 100 miles, at a cost of not less than $12, or .'|j!2 per day, which isequal to 36 cents per bushel. The car will put that wlieat into market in half a day, and leave man and team at homo for work. Six days of work on say six acres are worth $12, which sum is added to the value of the ).and, or to other land. This sum is equal to $2 per acre per year, or the interest of $20 per acre. If the land was worth $5 per acre without the railroad, it is worth $25 with it, count- ing merely the time saved. But if the railroad rate is one- half or one-third the wagon rate, as is usually the case, it will save enougli to add a hundred per cent, more to the original value of the land. The Willamette farm lands near the railroad, within a hundred miles of Portland, have risen steadily in about these proportions. The lands in the interior valleys of California have risen to much higher values since their railroads came, although *,he rates of transportation are reported to be very high. But the lands east of the nniontains, far from the river or railroad, have very little value except for stock ranges. The finest wheat lands must lie untilled. Coal fields must remain undeveloped. Even minerals cannot be mined, except the precious metals in rich depos- its, without railroads. Mineral and coal regions to a large extent arc valueless until cheap transportation is alforded. The coal of Wyoming, the copper and the coarser silver ores ot irtah and Nevada waited for the railroad car to give them value. The original Union Pacific Railroad land grant was 12,077,981 91-100 acres. The sales to December 31, 1875, were l,J0a,942 91-100 acres, for $5,330,044 02, at the average price of $4 47 per acre. An equal value surely was given to the same number of acres on the even sections retained by the government. The total value of the original land grant at the minimum rate of •^2 50 per acre was $30,194,952. The coal, iron, copper, silver, gold, marble, lime, cinnal)ar, etc., long bid in the rugged mountains, but now brought into use, will far more than compensate for any poor lands. The original numlaer of acres of the land grant to the C. P. 11. R. and to the California and Oregon Railroad was 13,222,400. If valued at $2 50 per acre, it makes the amount of the grant $33,056,000. It is fair to say that these two roads are giving almost the entire esti- mated value of $63,250,950 to these lands, and an equal sum to government lands lying adjacent to them . I Millions of acres lying outside the limits of these railroad grants DOW have a market value imposHible before the road was built. The Illinois Central railroad added several hundred per cent, to the real worth of the belt of land 60 miles wide along its track, enriching the people an well as the railroad corporation. The route of the N. P. R U. Is through a good belt of country. Its capacities for pasturage, for the cereal, for vegetables and fruits, have been proved. Soil and climate invite settlers. But these pro- ducts cannot be transported to the markets of the world. It is use- less to raise any for export. The lands lie idle, as they have done for a thousand years. The lumber of the mountains falls and decays or is burned up. The coal beds are untouched. The minerals can- not be brought into use. The lands must remain unsold or unsur- veved for want of buyers. Complete the road from the Columbia to the Missouri and this strip, 80 miles wide and 2,000 long, of 160,'JOO square miles, or 102,400,000 acres, will acquire a real worth, atone dollar per acre, of $102,400,000. At two dollars per acre it will be worth isJ04, 800,000. At the government price for even sections, $2 50 per acre, the whole amount will be worth $25(5,000,000, of which the government will receive half, or $128,000,000, and the builders of the road the other half. That new v.ilue will be created by the road, and will become steadily available to the government and people. Without the road it cannot exist; without the road it never will exist FnEiGHTs Savep. Roads built on t^e basis of these land grants nave certain sums in the cost ol govv..nment freights over these routes, which may be fairly added to the land values created by them. Senator Stewart, of Nevada, said that "The cost of the overland service for the whole period from the acquisition of our Pacific coast possessions down to the completion of the Pacific railroad was §8,000,000 per annum, and constantatly increasing." The editor of the Pacific Tourifit adds: "Since the building of that road, say for seven years — 1869 to 1876— the cash paid to railroad companies for one-half charge of transportation per year was about $1,200,000 per annum, or the sum of $8,400,000 for the whole time." The cost to the government of military transportation in 1870 was $S,000,000 per annum, and increasing over $1,000,000 per year. In 1876 it would have been over $14,000,000. The av- erage for seven years, at $10,000,000 per year, would amount to $70,000,000. Thus the total saving in seven years to the United States Government was $61,600,000. This is equal to the creation or earning of $61,600,000 for the government. It is an item worthy of notice that the government paid the in- terest on the Pacific railroad bonds during these seven years, an average of $3,897,129 per ynar, or a total of $27,279,906. Deduct- ing this sum from $61,000,000, there was a net profit over all ex- penses to the United States of $.^14,420,094." It is fair to estimate these savings as so much value added to the bolt of country tra- versed by the road. The writer quoted remarks that "these figures do not include vast amounts of incidental items which would have been of in- calculable trouble, or immense expense to the United States, such as the indemnities constantly being paid by the United States for the destruction of life and private property by Indians; also dep- redil mall war! veil HI entl awal roaJ thinl Til roadi 318,1 overl Tl ated I oxistl I lad grants was built, nit. to the enriching r country, ind fruits, these pro- It i8 use- lave done tid decays leralHcan- or unHur- tlumbia to of 160,'JOO 'th, at one it will be ioHH, $2 60 which the lers of the ' the road, id people, lever will -tain sums hich may Senator id service ific coast railroad " The of that railroad >vas about lie whole tation in 1,000,000 The av- onnt to e United creation the in- i^ears, an Deduct- all ex. I estimate itry tra- include bn of in- tes, such Itates for llso dep- redatinnn of Indiana on property in government service; increased mail facilitieH and deoreaseil mail expenses; prevention of Indian warM; the rapid ^ale of guvernninnt lands, and tlie energetic de- velopment ot the Uiiiiing intorosts of all the Territories." Hon. llffnry Wilson, in a speech before the Senate, thirty-sev- enth CongreHK, boldly Haid: *'I give no grudging vote in giving away either money or land. I would sink $100,000,000 to build the road, and do it most cheerfully, and think I bad done a great thing fr)r my country." The average transfer of through passengers on the Paciflo rail- roads per year, for lour years, was 72,18:1, and of way passengers 318,182. The average transfer of treight for 1872 and 1H75 was over three billions of pounds per year. This power of transportation is a definite commercial value, cre- ated by the railroad. It is a commodity produced where none existed before, as leally as the product of now grain Helds or new manufactories. The only question is, whether s.'ch svc;ilih pro- ducers are needed or are in excess. When the New York '-'ontral Railroad was first proposed, farmers objected to the project as an injury to the freight business by wagons, and, in fact, to the bus- iness of raising horses. The one answer to all such objections is, that two, and perhaps three, broad bells of the continent within our national limits can be traversed by new railroads, and their resources developed by them, and in no other tvay can Una ever be done. A Military Necessity. The N. P. R. R. is as truly a military necessity, in its section as the U. P or C. P. R. Roads were in their section. It will annually save millions of dollars to the government in freights alone. It will quell Indian outbreaks so quickly and effectually that they will be less and less likely to occur. Such outbreaks do not now happen as formerly in Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Ne- vada. Had the N. P. K. R. been completed, the Black Hills war would have been speedily closed, and with less sacrifice of life. The present war with Chief Joseph's band of Nez Perces could have been ni{ ped in the bud if the N. P. R. R. had been built. A National Necessity. The one Pacific railroad is now developing a central tier of states across the continent. More than any other agenuy, it lifted Nevada to this position. Utah would be the next state, but for the antagon- ism of Mormonism. Wyoming hastens to join the rank. Nebraska was ushered into the list while yet the Pacific railroad was making its way through her prairies. Sound Statesmanship Demands the N. P. R. R. The following items show the business of Utah in 1875: The value of imports was in that year $9,150,851 ; the value of farm products, $7,861,772; miscellaneous, $800,384; mineral products (mostly silver bullion), $6,145,211 ; manufactures, $2,805,000; making (exclusive of flour, $1,(503,985) $17,310,000. The valuation of assessable prop- erty, according to the auditor's report in 1875, was $23,289,189. On this property the aggregate taxes assessed in 1875 were $58,- 222 95. To the Pacific railroad a large proportion of this business and wealth is due. 1 8 The assessed value of property in California in 1864-5 when the C. P. R. R. was begun, was 8180,484,940 85. The assessed value five years later, in IStjft, when the Overland railroad was done, was $237,- 483,175 07. A gain of p6,9!)8,225 22, or about 32 per cent., or 6 2-5 per cent, per year. The assessed value in 1874-5, five years later, was $011,495,197 00, a gain of $374,012,021 93, or about 150 per cent, in five years, or 31 3-5 per cent, per year. These values are as well sustained as any values are sustained in any other part of our country. Their vast increase is largely — most- ly due to the Pacific railroad. It is not certain that tiio N. P. R. R. will produce similar results as quielily ; but the resources of the northern route are as vast, as vari- ed and more permanent ; and they will ultimately be as grandly de- veloped. Daliota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon wait for tfiis road. It will stimulate all their energies. It will establish vigorous settlements. It will open new regions. It will unfold the hidden treasures of the soil, the mines, the forests, the river, the lakes and the ocean. It will hasten the immigrations, by giving confidence to the people that their labors and enterprise shall be rewarded. IXCREASK OF POPULATION. "In 1860 the population of the Pacific slope was 619,000. In 1870 it had doubled. In 1876 it had again increased 40 per cent. It is safe to calculate upon six per cent, increase annually on the completion of this road. Grant the present population of Oregon, Washington and Idaho to be 200,000 — ten years at 6 per cent, will add 158,874, or a total of 358,»74. The increase may be douljle that amount, giving over a million of people to these three states, as t!\ey will tiien be, in twenty years. It is the part of good statesmansliip to provide for the futuie wel- fare of our country, it would seem a present duty to establish this tier of states on our nortliern border from tlie lakes to the Pacific. In order to do this every hand and everj' voice ought to lielp on tlie building of this road. The lands granted if sold at §2 50 per acre minumum, will give that sum in value by the construction of tliis overland road. Thus the value of the grant being fairly earned, and in no sense a gift. The government or the people alike make a large profit by the subsidy. The builders do the same. It is like laying out a town site, and giving half the lots to settlers, who will build houses, and on them thus double or quadruple the value of the remaining lots. A Valuable Investment. Land subsidies, for transcontinental railroads are good investments for the people. They make one acre worth two, three and four, or a dozen acres of thv. same quality, which have no railroad faoilities. The cry against such subsidies is absurd and misleading. To pre- vent such grants is to defraud the people. Its encouragement sets the wheels of industry in motion, employs laborers, feeds the hun- gry, opens new avenues for business, and adds largely to the nation- al wealth. The arguments which apply to the Northern P. R. R. apply with equal force to the Southern P. R. R., or Texas P. R. R. Wilderness regions along that belt of country will become rioh states by thus opening the highway of commerce. Sij regi<| will this dot' slian Till l:il)<)ir prisc'l I [len the C. I'alue live was $237,- ., or 6 2-5 aars later, per cent. itained in ly — most- results as it, as vari- andly de- t for tnis I vigorous 16 bidden lakes and tidence to id. , In 1870 ly on the f Oregon, cent, will nillion of years, tuie wel- )lish this acific. In Ip on the vill give Thus gift, by the a town ises, and tg lots. sstments ur, or a 'aoilities. To pre- ent sets le bun- nation- )ly with ne rich 9 Similar reasons urge the building of cross-roads, intersecting new regions, lilio tlio P., D & S. L road, and S. tfe W. W. K. K., which will be oi far more wortli tlism many tniilt in the eastern states. If tiiis increased value is j^ivon to regions traversed by railroads, wliich (l()e> not exist without them, it is lair and wise to give tlie builders a siiaro in the wealth w hieh tliey create. Tlie iron, the eoal, the manufactories, the skilled and the unskilled labor of the coiHitrj^ wait to be employed on such national enter- prises. Its iSociAii anp MohaIj Powkr. In the problem of a nation's life easy intercommunication is found to bo an essenlial factor. Already our nation feels the \ ital force of the Union and Central PrU!ili(\ The heterogeneous popula- tion that presses into new regions, ('specially into those rich in the l)recious metals, and in nnneral and a!j;ri('nll\iral resources as tlio electric chain, needs tluit constant connection with the whole body politic. Interlace the continent with railroads and you ensure the unity of the i)e()ple, by Mio coininunity of interest which must and will be (luickly felt. No power acts with such force now to harmonize the north and the sotuh. the east and the west. This force is needed along the northern and soiitlu;rn belts from the Atlantic to the Pa- cific. Its Economy oi' Fouck as a Puohli;m of Enoineeuino. It is a fixed principle of engineering that it is as easy to draw sev- en loaded ears on a levtd trade seventy feet as to raise them one foot. The wear and tear of machinery of iho track, combined with the strain or force required lo draw such a load show the equivalents to l)e as sevciuty feet in. lcn;rth to one in heiglit. On hearing this principle stated b.v an engineer, as it was new to me and tlie revelation of imi)ortanL results, I stated it to (/Jeneral Til- ton, a well-known engineer of high standing, for explanation and verilication. With the carefulness of a mathematician, he answennl, that it was as lU'arly corn^ct as the (^IcuicMils ofilu; problem in\')lved eoulil be staten loaded cais can be ilrawu oiu^ huiidicd and forty feet on a level track as easy aiul with as little wear and tear and strain as they can bo lifted one foot, but the law ol eqnivait'Uts is not exactly the same for the higher numbers. Do you mean, ngiiii'er, icilic coast cli- refuUy formed lim — our inter- my own mind ise must be ta- i and accurate :!ess will be as- civil engineer report of a re- 1 liake Sui)eri- makes the fol- aud Central taiu'o of 1,775 man summit, feet above the Ijout !);;.") miles about 1,24.") Nevada (only 7,0()'2 ; ,vhilst nous length of feet above the ;her tlian the correspond- e elevation is 1 and Central is about three nion Pacific." for nine hun- r .">,00() feet, and the lowest spot on tliat distance is more tiian I, (>()() foiH above tiie sea ; whereas on the Northern route only about sixty miles, at most, are as high as 4,000 feot; and the corresponding distance of nine liundrcd miles, extending from tiie moutii of the Vollowsione to tiio valley of Clark's river, is, on an av- erage, aliout ;),00() feet iow»!r llian liu; I'nion Pacific line. Tlien al- lowing thai i,00(»feel of (ilevation causes a decrease of temperature of three degrees, tiiore is a suiistantiai reason for the circumstance, now well authenticated, that tin* snows on tlie Xortiiern route are mucli less troui)les()in(i tiian tlmy are on liie I'nion and Central Pa- citic route. .\t tlie same time it sliouhl not be claimed tiiat there will be no trouble from snow on the Nortliern lino. * * * "The impression I would wisli to cioate is tliis: That a line can be •so located botwien tiie valley of the Missouri and the mouth of the Columbia river, and to Puget Sound, tliat for the greater portion of the distamre it will not encounter any serious trouble from snow; and that in tlio passage of the l)elL range, l)etween the Yellowstone and the IpfHU" Miss(jiui, and the crossing of the Ro(!ky mountains at Deer Lodge pass, no gn'iiter obstacles from snow are likely to bu met with tiian have already been encountered and overcome on roads in New England states and in the state of New York. Tiie grades beyond the Missouri, along the valley of the Yellow- stone, to near the B()/(unan pass, like those east, will undulate with- in tlie general limit of about lorty feet i>er mile, altliough it may be deemed advisable, at a few points, for short distances, to run to a maximum of lifty-three feet per mile. The height cf tlie country upon which me line is ti'aced, maybe approximately stated thus beginning at I^ake Superior, going west- ward: MilCH. To Dakota valley MOO Yellowstone river ;U)0 Along Yellowstone 400 Flathead valley :'.00 Lewis or Snake river liOO Puget Sound 500 Lake Superior to I'uget Sound, via Portland, 2.000 miles ; direct \i\\{\ 1,775 miles. The ditl'erencc between direct and Columbia river route, 225 miles, is more than made up by its lower grades. Compare this with the profits of the tinished Ime of the Union and Central Pacific roads. Properly, the ('omparison sh.ould be made from Chicago, the terminus on Lake Michigan, of the Omaha line. There are on that route, ap- proximately, as fohows : Milcis. From Chicago to Omaha 500 Near Cheyenne 51(J Coopers 87 Promontory Point 482 Humboldt."^ 40G Reno i;50 Auburn 45 Sacramento 39 San Francisco 135 Chicago to San Francisco 2,410 > Av. Iligid above Sea. 1,200 feet. 2,200 2,000 3,500 3,000 400 Av. Iliylil above Sea. 1,000 feet. 3,300 7,300 (),200 4,750 4,000 4,400 300 50 12 H^ .:!■ ( I- 95 i i On tlio Nortliern rucifKi lino there need bo bui two principal suni- niits, wliilst on the otlitr there are four, the lowest ol which is about a thousand feet hif^iier than tiio highest on tlio nortliern route. If, therefore, the roads were tlie same length between the Pacific waters and the great lakes and navigable rivers eastoftlie Kocky mount- ains, the advantage would be largely in favor of llie northern route; but this actual distance is Ud miles less, and the equated distances for ascents and descents in its fa\ or will be very considerable in ad- dition." This last icnuvrk of the engineer, Mr. Koberts, doubtless, applies to the gain of force and econonjy ot low grades, wiiich is equivalent, in the engineer's mathematical estimate, to a delinito number of miles. Engineer Johnson estimated l!00 miles of such gain for the whole route. As an attesting fact, it is reported from one of the directors of the Central Pacific railroad that the cost of wear and tear of tlieir rail- road iiOO miles over the Nevadas, including macliinery and in(!rease of force demanded is c(iual to the expense on 1,1(10 nnles of iho rest of their road t)ii lower grades. As anotlier attesting fact, it is reported that the Heading railroad, of four tracks for transporting coal 41 miles to nnirket, was tirst con- structed along the side of a hill, requiring a great fon^e to carry the trains over such an elevation. On the estimate of their engineer, they found that the road-bed could be lowered about •"."i teet, and the four tracks relaid at a cost of about 8-, 000, 000, and that the economy of force and wear and ttnir thus saveil would be annually the interest on .Si ,000,000 above this extra cost. They decided to abandon the old roail-bed and build the new one. Th(! facts and principles thus far adduced from the highest author- ity of engineers, show that the Nt)rtliern Pacillc railroad route runs through a series of valleys that extend with but little interruption across the continent, of the remarkable pass at Deer Lodge, well named the Oate of the Mountains, Mr. Roberts says: <'Tho whole 40 miles from Deer Lodge ("ity to the summit of the Rocky mount- ains, by this route, can bo built as cheaply as roads aro built through prairie countries generally. *«A remarkable circumstance coimec^cd with this pass will convej' a clear view of its peculiarly favorable character. Privjite parties en- gaged in gold mining in a gold field which exists abundantly on both sides of the Rock.y mouiuains, have dug a ditch across this summit whi(;h is only eighteen feet deep at the apex of the divide, through whicii they carry the water ot '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 Paeitic ocean. This has justly been termed highway robbery." The N. p. R. R. Routk B'ixkd By Nature. These i)rinciplos and facts must control the western end of the road. Its course down the valley of the ('olumbia is by a natural law as fixed a.s the flow of the waters that cut this channel to the o'^can . It is the natural route for the transportation of freights. If not built there at first, .^competition will ultimately compel it to this line, as the great transcontinental route for the I'aeilic and Asiatic traflic. 13 print'ipal suin- wliicli is about liorn route. If, I) PaoUic waters .. Kocky mount- iiorthorn route ; uated ilistanees - sidorable in ad- I ubtlcss, applies } h is equivalont, iiite numl)er of ■ till gain for the Ij directors of the iar of their rail- ly and incu-ease niles (if iho rest ■adiufi; railroad, it, was tirst con- mo to carry the their engineer, ■V2 teot, and the lat the economy aUy the interest to abandon the highest author- road route runs tie interruption eer J.odge, well "The whole Rocky mount- built through ass will convej- ale parties en- bundantly on ■h across this of the divide, ■k.' a tributarj- used in gold- c ocean. This J HE. rn end of the by a natural channel to the •eights. If not it to this lino, (Vsiatio traftlc. Thk Cltmaik Favors It. This tcin j)o:ate climate conserves the goods in transit. While tor- rid Ileal" destroy ■"> percent, of the value of teas in transit through them, this route through a belt of such cool and even temperature keeps all such goods in perfection. This is also true of fruits, nieiit.s, lish, giuin, Hour and doubtless of many other articles of inor- chanilise. It is destined to be tuomost regular rapid route for freight and passage across the continent, as it has the easiest and lowest grades and the fewest dangers of interruption from snows and slorins. Tin; Law of I'om.mkuce DicrATKs this Route. 'J'he denuvnds of its (iommorce, like that of all railroads, will direct its route through tlie most prolific part of the basin of the t'olumbia* The countries that lla^ e the laigest annual harvests, or power of har- vests, will naturally traversed on its way to the sea. .fudging from the contour of this upper basin of tlu! Columbia, coming on its sur- veyed roiUe by Peiid d'Oieille liuke to near the mouth of the Lewis or Snake river it will cross that narrow stream ; then skirt the foot hills around to the l)all')0 miles of ciinij)!cled road, and ijs lands earned by their construction must be divided among its (rrctlitors, and that the enterprise must be given up as a failure. Already the sliorilf was waiting in Now York — hat in hand — ti» levy on the property and force the sale. ]5ut an inspection of their franchise and their rights under their charter led the ])iudent and hopeful members of tlie Hoard of J)irec- tors to resist doing this great wrong to their creditors. One plan was to exchange bon at St. I'aul, Minnesota; and ;5l miles connecting its western terminus witU the vaat coal fieldr of the Puyallup valley. 4 of its iinmoili- ly legal course woro its bond- I first i)roposed, iiwyors, that its l)ut that its r,it() lir c'onsfniction eriirise must be g in Now York sale. lUs timlov their Board of J)irec- irs. One plan sh would satisfy s done, to sf>nie forced transfer, le property, the le corporate life rec'itors. They :>1 their charter, y :U, 1870), ex- 'acilic Railroad and e<[uipuient II its pro[)erty of d, including its iistrued to mean ts property and and by him to k holders of the stockholders to r. le Directors was absolute anni- This was to he d and the own properly Lbout $24,00,000 millions were \i, yet provision iiii/r. OS and earne'l IS the 105 miles (S. nllt 03 miles ol th the railroa(l> ester n terminus 15 Its Ownkrship. The whole lino is owned by its present stockholders. It is free from debt, and is payinj^ no intert!.-st — unles.-. it be on the sections built this 3'ear —while Us earnings are increasing annually. What thk Road a.^ks of Conoress. As the time of its franchise expires soon by limitation, it earnestly asks an extension o!" time to complete the through line. Tin: Road not Rksi-oxsiule fou tiik Delay. The railroad was not responsible for the failure of Messrs. .1. Cook iV: Co, its financial agents. It has not beee responsible for the panic and the business failures tliat have swept over the United States and l<]uropo like a hurricane during the last four years. It is not responsible for tlie unsettled conilition of politicrs or of the cur- rency. It has done nothing to (;oni((licate the lal)or question, or lay unjust burdens on poor working men. It has earnestly desired the opportunity to go forward and etnploy thousands of the unemi)loyed in completing its line from the Missouri to the Columbia and the Paeilic, If Ghaxtki), TirK Govkunmk.n r and Pp:ople WiLXi he (tainers. It asks no additional subsidy. It is content with the lands granted, most ot which have yen no value, but to which its construc- tion will give value. It expects to give the same value to an equal amount of contiguous governnu'ut land; wliich has now no appreci- able value in any market of the world. It is ax Invesemiont to cueate Vames where none exist now. The road expects to earn its subsidy as itgo.es along, mile b\' mile and se'-tion by section. Tills is trii(M)f every railroad tiirougli an unsetfled country. It thus does not claim or ask the sub:^idy as a gift, but only as an opportunity to confer an etjual and even greater value upon the governmoiU, lor the trust thus long put in its koopiug. The Road has Deen a Sri fereu. It shared its measure of loss and sulVering and delay on account of the grt^at lailuro, and the greater liuancial disasters tiial ensued, and the general disturbiuic*^ of public alVairs. All those things were un- foreseen and beyond its control. They have ciuised the road an unavoidable loss of money and of time. The nioncr'^ (run bo (sarned again by the completed road for its creditors, if (_' .igioss will merely grant an extension of time to do it. This priviijge will not cost the government a dollar. A;- a business [u-inciple it is not withheld but promptly given by man to man in all the circles ,>f commercial en- terprise To refuse it is like the old law of putting a poor delitor in jail in order to compel him to pay liis debts. It is ji domand for the ^'(/le monrj/ or the i»>i(ii(l<)/ fl<:sk/^ When undiustood, men will not do this unkindness. VVe must hope and believe that Congress, urged by the voice of the [teople, will grant tlu> North Tai-ifitr Railroad an extension of time to complete its road under its charter. Its Plan of Co.Mei.ioriox. A plan I'Ms been proposed and eariu!stly advocated by several of its Directors to hasten this completion Ijy commencing next year on the Missouri, working westward, and on the Columbia near the i w^ 18 . irouth of the Snake river, working eastward as rapidly as possible until the two sections meet in Montana. In order to do this it is pro- posed llmt tiie conipjuiy sell thoir lands iit the K'^vornment land oHl- ces. gel the niinnnmn price of S'^ 'A) per aero, give titles to pur- chasers, use the proceeds, with the prospective earnings of the roads, to build the line east and west, and also to give credit and a good sale to new bonds which may be issued to perfect the sclieine. The object of the Directors is ostensibly to build the road and not to spec- ulate in tlie lands. For this object the subsidy is entrusted to them. They want settlements and steady ])usiness along the wiiolo lino. This plan to put their lands in th(» cotnuion niarko- with the oven sections hold by the government, will, no doubt, satisfy all the de- mands of sfitiers and win a just commendation from all the people. It is to he hoped that it will meet the approbation of the eniiro Board, and be placed on their records and in the provisions of the bill for extension of time. Bran'ch Road to Puokt Sound. Some objection has been made to their retention of the subsidy for the l)ranch road from the Snake river through the Yakima \ alley to Puget Soimd. It is evident tliatsiich a branch is neeJed. The sur- ve.vs sliow easj- grades. The main valle.y and its alHueiits are rich in resources, and if allowed time there is little doubl but that the N. P. R. R. will ultimately build this road. But if not, let some other cou)pany do it. IXTERCOMMUNTCATION ESSENTIAL. Rev. Dr. Field, a recent observer in Greece, where he is still, re- marks that the interior of tiiat country is less advancev(rt^ coimiiiinicafion. "(Treeee is a country niade b.y nature for commerce and agri(!«ilture, and if a few short railroads were oi)oned to connect tlio inland valleys with the sea, so that the farmers and peasants could send their produce to market, the exports nf the country niiglii be doubled. A line of one hundred miles would connect them with the railroad system of Fu- rojjc. Such a road would give them uo,\v life." Dr. Field here rtjveals the secret also of their historic provincial- ism. It is intercommunication which makes a people one in interesi and thought. The lack of the former defeats the lait(^r. Hy quick and free intercommunication we become one people. Without it we are only a company of provinces, feebly lioiind together, ajjt to be jealous, and without ent(;rprise. Every argument urges the com- l)leti()n of this direct means of intercourse and this bond of connec- tion with the great body of our nation. ViKw.s OF THE Directors. In a conversation with ("apt. .1. O. Ainsworth, one of the I)irectors of the N. P. R. R., he saysdisiinctl,v that it is the judgment and the purpose of some of the Directors of the Northern Pacific Railroad, with whom he fully agrees in the plan to urge the sale of their lands in the government land ollices, at the minimum price fixed of $2 .")() per acre, and to use the i)rocecds with other funds at once to connect the Columbia and Missouri rivers by railroad, and thence to extend' the road westward, on the south side of the Columbia to Port- land on the Willamette, and thence to Paget Sound. - I 'V'li thi wli «;ar I''"' '■A\h' r:ii iiil (n It tiie bini tiol the 17 dly as possible lo this it is i»r«>- inmit land otli- titlo-t to jxir- Ss of the roiids, lit and a good 5 scheme. The tid not to si)e(!- •tisted to them, le wiiolo lino. w'itli tiio even isfy all the de- all thn people. 10 eiiiiro iioard. of tlic bill for the subsidy for kinia \ alley to led. Tlio sur- uents are rich doubt but that f not, let some he is still, re- inced than the timi. "(iroece Iture, and if a 1 valleys with oil- i)roduco to A lino of one system of Ku- ic provincial- one in intoresi r. Hyq nick Without it we her, apt to be rgos the com- tid of connec- the I)irectors rniont and the itic Railroad, of their lands ixod of $2 .')() CO to connect nee to extend" ibia to Port- fllK COLU.MIUA RiVKIt ANK ITS Tllinr lAUIES— CoMM KP.Cl Al, STATUS AM> iMl'i.KrAMK. It is a maxim of commerre, i)olli ti rrouc and marine, thai the <^viigitn must, iiu'vt thcuhip fttul the .ship the if(i;/o,i. Facis illustrate this axiom from earliest times to the present in all countries, u lietlu-r >:;o(iil.-; liavc in'cu moved to the sea by llie lonii caravan of camels, as iu .\>ia, or by ilie slow wains of central and norlhern lOu- V(>[>v and America, leachiu'^ lii^t the rivers and shallower bays, thence on li^rlit boats and bar^'es to the ^!lip; cw wlietlusr, as in recent times, tln^ vast and vaiied products of liu* country reach tliosoa by the swifter railroad trains. 'I'lie exelianuc of the products of the sea must <^n inland |jy tiu'sc letiirn train.-,. This iseomnu'rce. Thi.s is Ifir jirnltliini)/ (r(iii'r/ii/inii. 'this is the krv to tlie busy hum of seaport cities. It is the factor wiiicli, more than any other, excites slocks. It is now tiio motive ot railioad and steamshij) lines, as it was a few years tsince of canals ami river steamlioat comiianies. It is the chief (pu's- tion tliat enters into the nuMvliant's estinuitc of his prolils, and into the laruicr's account ot' h.s iui-ouu'. Tino l.Mi'ouiANci: ok riiis Hioiiway. For e.\am])le, wliou wheat sells iu San J-'rancisco at §- 3.") j)er cen- tal, and only at .*-J It) per cental iu Portland or Astoria, the dilfer- ePiCe is 1.') cents per bushel against tin' farmer of < >fe;;()n or Wash- iuijton. His loss is l"! iiorcent. as ratitl by the ijuslxl, or 2.") percent. ])er luo ll).s. On li.n bushels he loses si."); on 1,(m)0, ,-;ir)(»; on 10,000, ^l,r)(ii); on ion, 111)0, .si.-,,ooi; on l.doo.uoo ini^hels the comnnmity of farmers lose ,-^l'>0.0O(i, and on rt,(iiMi,oi»o bushels, the estimated ex- jiort of wheat the present year, their loss is S7.J0,O00. The commis- sion nu'rchants of the Stale lose a larae percent, of |)rolit. in the translV'r oT tlu! luisine-s lo the markei below. Ve!: tin* fact is estab- lished that ships can ce,ts, which are kindly furnished frouj the ollicial records: 1st — extoit of siirvci/ — From I'ape Disappointment northward to Yoke Point lighthouse, 'l(j]-> miles of coast line and aljout 13 miles out tf) .'^ea. Fron> Cape Disapiioininu'ut southward to False Tillamook Head, • 31,'j miles of coast line and Vi miles out to sea. Total square miles surseyed, M2. liinos of soundiuiis were I'- miles apart b.y slrp. Lines of sound- ings were traversed in to It feet by boats. SOUTUKHN SHKET. 2d — Untiij i)/ (itcrcasr of ihplh lo distance o_[f' shore. Off north channel, due we.~t line, it is live fathoms to the mile. Olf Point Ailams, due west line, it is .") fathoms to tlio mile. Oil IJen lioUaday's, due west hue, it is 4 fathoms to the mile. OllTillauiook Head, duo west line, it is ,")':, fathoms to the mile. OlV False Tillamook Iliad, due west line, it is 5)4 fathoms to the mile. 18 NOUTICEUN SHKKT. Off Stout's houMO, duo west line, it is 4 iiitlioiiis por milo. Off point rnidwiiy iiotwren t'lipo Disjippoliitnioiit liHlitiiouso and FiCadl)ottor'M point, is .'{'■j i'lUlionis por milo. Off liOiidhotlcrVs point, '.i liithonis por milo. 3d — [noreaso of doi)tli to seaward in a direclion oil" the south chan- nol (main ship channel), it is i.'a I'athoiiis toono milo. Jth — Licrcd.sc itf ilcjiUi to Kuidhininl. At 2 miles to seaward from Point Adams, west, is found r»,'i I'atliums, At '1 miles to seaward from (irimos's house, west. Is found 11 fathoms. At 2 miles to seaward from Tillamook Head, west, is found ;!o fathoms. At '1 miles to seaward from midway between Tillamook and False Ttllamook Head, west, 20 fathoms. At- 2 miles to seaward from False Tillamook Head, west, is found 32 fathoms. (Jl'llUKNTS. oth — Ontsidr of 4 or (i miles aro eoast currents parallel to the shore line, to the southward in suntmer and nortliward in winter, whoso velocities aro very dependent on local winds, which, when stronjj;, often reverse tlie current. iK.siifc of .') or a miles, the currents seem to be j^overned Ijy the outlhjw and inllow of the Columbia river (south of Cape Disappoint- ment). North of Capo Disiippoiulment .'Shoal water bay aifects the current in shore more than the Columljia river, Shoa'v. ater bay beinf^ of larj^e area and almost dry and bare at low watf^r. The inflow eausrs a stront;; set close in shore to the northwaiil almost alwaj's; the outllow apparently not running down in shore, but Joinint; the coast (!urrent further ontside. This is apparently due to the conform- ation of the land about tiie entianco to .*5hoalwater bay. I) I SCO no I tin) Watku. (Uh — The distance outside of the bar at which discolored water may be seen varies with circumstances. (Jood sijjfus to the navi<^ator are the strouf? tide rips met with oil the Ixir, and to the northward and southwaril of it — sometimes as far as 10 and !;"> miles, but rarely more than five or six miles to seaward of the bar. l'iiia'Ai:TioN. 7th — Vessels in doubt as to position would do well to keep outside of 2o fathoms in bad weather, loj;-, etc. The Ijoats of the survej' de- veloped deep water between 'J'illamook rock and the Head, and prob- ably larjie vesscils may pass through in ease of necessity or to avoid otlier dangers, though the passage /.s not rcco)i)vie)uled. InI'KUENCE. The Columbia river has prol)abIy cut a channel througli this vast bed. These official .statements assure the navigator approaching the bar of his mode of .safety, and furnish him many hints to find his posi- tion by the lead and by the currents, evenif tlie land marks are hid- den. If they are .seen, his course is plain. th in m k. 19 ar mile. t liylithonso and thniiis i»L'r milo. fJJi I'ttthoinH pel" [' tho south c'haii- lo. ■it, is found a.'ij vest, is found 11 .'ost, is found ;!o iinook and False 1, west, is found ^ parallel to tlio iward in winter, Is, wliicli, Wiien jovornod by tho 'ape Disappoint- ' bay iillbets tlio Shoa'v. ator I)ay ;it(M-, 'I'ho inflow almost ahvaj's; I but joiiiin.ii tlio to tho conform- y- lored water may 10 navifijator are northward and but rarely more to keep outside tho survey' de- lload. and prob- sity or to avoid ^li this A'ast bed. )achiiig the bar Lo find his posi- marks are hid- Channei,, The sontli oliannol avoraf^os a lialf niilo in width, and '20'; foot at mean low water, and live fathoms in liiKh water; with smootli, hard , sand bottom, free from roelxs, well buoytd and mainly hip's conr.-c into the river ciiannel. The slijtiiiiij; .sands nhieii loim ( latsop Spit and Point A. Tides ri.se from tl to lo feet on the bar, and from i'> to 10 feet at Astoria, and from 1 to 'J. feet at roitiand, I'Jo tiiilos inland. IJiN Kl! ANO llAintOl! 1 M IMtOVIC.M KNTS. The Initod States, iu aecfordance witli its liberal policy, has kept ollicieiit superintendents of survey and of linlithou-sos and luioys, and furnished these luaterials and erected these strueturos for the l)eiielit ol Coniuierci' foi- several _\('ars jkisi. of late d rod, L^ers Iiavo boon addi.-d, and IVesli parties have been kept at work on coast and river. Charts have been made with more niinuto and accurate! meiisuionicnts. 'i'ho rivor and adjacent ocean lied aro iKH'omiiiL!; perfectly ploUeil, so ihal when these maps and charts shall all be issued lo inai'iners from the t;o\('rnnient ollic<\ tho safety of naviiiation, with ordinary care, will 1)0 assured more," definitely. It is also nvisonablo lo expect liirp.>r f^overnmont outlays and increased ellicioncy^ to observe chanties, to jilant more buoys and shore signals, and lo onipio;)- drodf^ers of more power anil capac- ' ity, thus lurninn' the vast body of rivor water into the deeper and thus deepening channel. We have no reason to think that tho Columbia i'i\(>r will ever have less ca!>acity f)f cominerce, as fur- nished by nature, but more, as guided by slcillful engineers, anthori/od and snpjiorted iiy tlie government. DiSASTEU.S ox TJIK JJaR. The facts of navigation above considered affect «!onnnercial insu- rance, l)ut absolute wreck at the ontranco of harbors is a greater terror to underwriters than the perils of the liigh .seas, IJeport of such disaster renders the insurer timid and stamps a bad fame upon tlio entrance to liarbor or river mouth, 'i'ho evil reputation increases as it beoomes (uirrent. An article iiublished in the Alfa California. ^Nlaivh lit, IS7:5, from tho pen of ('apt. Wm. Tlohenor, of Port Orford, and written iu February, 1872, remarlcs: "On the northwest coast of the I'nitod States, between the Bay of San Francisco and Fugot Sound, a distance measured by more than ten degrees of latitude, there is no harbor a vessel can enter in heavy southern weather." 20 IIo »1(1(1h: "Tho Columbia rlvor. latltudt- i(\° 12\ lonptltiulo 1240 oo\ liiiH a l)iirrt'il liiubnr. Miiiiy tlisiistt'iH, ami soiiio ot a t'carl'iil cliar- atrtor, luivu ociMirnd upon tlm bar. Amtmvr ollicrs I now rci-ol- loc't till) loss of tliti (I'liiiral Waritu, Captain Thomijsmi, willi .'I'J liorsoiis; liio Dinxii'tat, of Now York, (apt. Collins, wjtli !i; tbc \'i)\r/iniii, ('apt. Ilird, \villi 10; and tlio lii'histri/, with most ot tho oIllcciN and crow. Cninmodoio Hudson, of iho siooj) of war Vinci'iiuf,^, told me, I think in \f<'<2, that lui had visited most ol tho ports on tiio Kb'bc, and tiiat nono jircstMitcd suidi terrors to liini as liitMMitranco of tlio ('olumi)ia river. He lost tho sloop of war I'cKC'fL thi-ro in, I bcli(i\i«, bshi. L''"'.v l**, IS|1, is tiie eor- reel date] Cajtt. Hudson iiad no pilot. The .S'A'O/, was lost at tho same time. "Tho dread in whleh it was held l),v mariners in earlier years has, In a ^reai measure disappeared, tinder tiie inlluene(* of a l)et- ter aef|uaintanec with it, and l>y I ho aid of the tiioroiiuii and edlei- c'ient i)ilots enujatied upon it. Iliii it i-» not one of those danL;i'rs tiio familiarity willi which will ever breed contempt. 'I'liere is not mueh detention in jiettin;;? to sea in the summer months, but durin;; the heavy pales of winttu* vessels dare n<>t aiiproaeh tiiol)ar, and are comix'lled to lie oil and f>n somcitiiiH^s for wecl\s, wailing' for the sea to run down.*' "l'"roin Islii to |>«r)l the Hudson I?iiy Com- pany had navigated tluf Columbia. Some of tlieir pilots had. in 18.')1, been in their employ on tiie l)ar and river lor over ihirty years." The op iiiil se-urc bay, and has u thousand miles ot channel suitable for navii:ation by larjio rivor steamers. We say that improvement is an impos.sil)ility — nt least it is impi'obable. 'file lireakers are so tierce, and i\u: sands at the bottom of the entrance so treacherous, that no breakwater eoidd stand." To com; letr- this uloomy pi> tiire the Alt'i publisheii a list of disasters ixirth of iSmi l-'roncisvo, from the pen of T. ]{. Shannon, t.'ollector at San l<"raneiseo, under tlie direction of the United Slates Treasury l>ep!Utm<'nt, Iron .bmnary J, ISill, to l)e- cembor 151, lS(i!t — nine .Acars. Vet in this list of 1!)S disasters, IKi wore small coastinu,' schooners, plyiiiLv along shore, and only thri'e oecurred on tho ("olumbia rivi'r bar, viz; //fJV.V. In May, ISdl, brig H'rc/r/y'rcA'/' stranded .'^ .•>i),oi)(i In Mareii, 180.'). bark JiK/ir.sfn/ wre(d,(MI(i In May, ISdT, bark II". Jl. Srinn'mi wrecked' 22ri,000 Total amount s:i;U),noo This is a relative loss of only ouo and a half per ei;nt. in niiK; years, or of one-sixth of one per cent, for one year, Hut the impression made by such statements, massed togotiier, is to damage tho reputation of tlu* Columbia river liar. Hon. D. C. Ireland, Clerk of the lloard of I'ilot Commissioners, attests that only nine vessels havo been wrecked at or near tho Columbia rivor bar in tho last Iwonty-livo .years. Five of those wore coming in without a j>ilot, and the loss of tlio others was due to tho loss of wind and tho lack of a tug. Since tho tugs havo been put on there has been no loss, except tho Architect, coming in without a pilot. Those nine disasters, in about 12,500 Croi oiuj if ')ias| CJ \vas| tranl \Mrl •v\ fa'hf has tlde,| mill Td 21 Kltildo l'J4° 00\ IV ft'iirl'iil clmr- N 1 now icfol- iltstiii, Willi ."i:: », Willi St; the Willi most III sloop of war visiied most ot ■iucli torrors to St llio sloop oi •ill, is tlif cor- u-lc WHS lost at 1 t'liflior years IIOIKH* of n liot- iiuli iiiul odlci- tllosu rliiliiicls ;. 'riicic is not lis, 1)11! dmin;.' Ii(! bar, and arc kiiiliii;;' for llic on I5ay Coni- pilots liad. in tor over iliirly ^;>rcl!cd that it iliinibia rivor. I>;iy. and lias liy hir;;i> rivrjr lility — at loast I lli, ()(»() 225,00(1 s;i;5(),noo (;nt. in nin(« I'd logotlior, li-. |iiniissionors, or noiir tlio I'lvo of those others was n(ro tho tiius lio Architect, ]bout 12,500 brosslnKs of tho bar, duHnpr twonty-flve years, Is about 7-100 of Oiif |>fr ccnl. lion. Wni. Hold, Hoorotiiry of tho Hoard ot Triulo of Portland, liiis coiiipili'd aiiionu; others tho folio\vin^ Ti;sri>ro\Y ok Mahinkrs. Capt. MiiKinn, when President of the Now York Board of Pilots, >vas iiistrnete(l to report his opinion as to tho merits of the «n- tranee to th(> ("oiunibia river conipared with tho entrance to Now \ork. lie says; Tiiere is d('e|» w iter on the bar, il liaving fonr and ono-half fa'liiiiiis witliont (lie aildition of llio tide, wliilo New York liarlior bas on tiie l>ar but four lathoiiis, wiliiont tho nddilion of the tide, wliieli is six feel. 'I'lie bar in tho Cdiiinbia is al.'oiit half a niile aeross. wliile tliat of New York is tlirvo-iinarters of a mile. 'I'bn t'hannei of llio bar at llie month of tho Columbia is about 6,d reirnlar and stiMdy, while the winds at New York are entirely varialile, and Oaiiin I br ealeiilaleil upon by the mariner for any time, 'llio mouth of tho (.'olumbia is free from ieo and ^j;rtat heal. Tlio San Franeiseo ('"niiiirrciiil //crutil of May 2ist, IS74, says: "'llio bur at the month of tho Colnml»ia rivor, <>roni)n, has been iriaile the m'oiiud of a very unjust and unreasonable diserimina- tion of rales ot' insuraneo on vessels bound into tlio ri\in'. Tho number of easnalties tliat have oeemred there is j'rirrr th'Oi Unit <>/ ail,'/ I't/icr liiin'cil I'icrc kiioini to citm iiicrcc.^' Ol'IMoNS OF GoVI,I!XM1;NT Onii'IALS AND MaSTKKS oi- VKSSEFiS. Tlie Commissioner of tho (ii^noral Land Oirnro at Washington, in his annual report to ('ongress for lx7n, at pane; 15(), "Hy iho nso of a steam liej; in crossing ilie Columbia liar, the entrance to tho harbor is rondensd as sale as that of ilie ( Joldoii (ialo or the Straits Of I'liea." , Cajjt. «l. W. ilarris, of tho U. S. Kevenne Service (who has crossed ttie bar .-onie thirty times), says; "The crossing of the bar at the nnouth ot the (,'ohimliia rivor, with llu; onlinary i)re(!autioiis, is as sale as the entrance to any bay or liaibor in the I'niled States." Capt. Ilnghes, masioroftho ilriiish ship Motilf/ontcn/ CaS75, .says: "It is absurd to say that the (Columbia rivor bar is a very dangerous en- trance." ^1 22 Capt. Francis Connor, now commanding the steamship G. W. FA- flrr, lias crossrd the Columbia bar more than 07ir thonsdiid tivv'y durinf,' tlio last foiutcoii years, without a serious accident, Pri:sknt extent of the Columbia I1ivi;h Commerce, ah shown nv the vr-KET oe Ta\. > Years. The report of the I?oard ol' Pilot Commissioners to the Legislativr Assembly, at the ninth rciiiilar session— lS7(i, gives: T'c.s«('/.s, Toiiiiag,. Total arrivals and tonnage ISTI-T'). u I' «' ls7")-7'). Acgregate arrivals and tonnage lor two years were... Total exports lor 1^74-7.") were 1 iS,l;31 " " '• is7r)-7t) \Mre li):J,s;;o 233 241 4 1 ItU,;");!'.' 1 n2,7;"ii 474 3o4,2S:' ]'iiliir. :'.rt2,272 -1 ,453,318 ii; Aggregate for two full years. .;!10,!l()l S1].!S15,5!H) 2: Proportion Ai;RiviN(i ix Bam.ast. Tho number of vessels arriving in ballast in 1874-7") was 71, aii' in lS7r)-7ti it was 7.") — a lolal of 1 !ii. or about 33 per cent. The Avf;RAGE Duait or N'esset.s.. The draft of incomng vessels varied from a small coasting sohooni> ot 4 feet to au ocean st(>arier of 17 feet. The average draft of 47 vessels arriving was 12 feel. The draft of the cutirtUleot of vessel' departing from the Coluiuliia varied IVom (1 to 2:5 I'eet. 'J'he avei'a;^ draft of 471 vessels on departure was 14', leeL. The average drai of tho whole grain lieet to Imuoi' ■ on dei>:irtuie was 18 feet. Th. averege draft of (iO of that IkeL loaded w..-; 1'.),'^ feet. This draft <•; loadeil \essulsis deelariMl hy tfic largest J''iiropean sliipiKjrs to imii- eate tlie lonna:_o of the m()•^: prohlalile ships for ;4eii( ral commerce ;r tiie present time. For example, the JJru.sii grain lleet going to tii Black sea is comi)osod of thiscla^s of vessels, regi-iteriug from !»no i< l,l(M) long tons, and drawing from 1 t to 1!) feet. Tt is found Ihattli larger el.isses of sliips built 2'> years :v,'o, and carrying immeu-i cargoes, liavi.' long delays in loading, wiiii larger risks of naviga- tion and more dillieulti'-- to lind markets. These facts of prae'.ical ex]H;rienee both lest and settle the qnestioi of the pi'VDi'inntt rrnniDrn- nf t/ir Vulinabin rircr. It has been suji posed tiiat tll(^ larger and deeper dratt vessels were esseiuial to tlv most proiitaiile comnieri-e. e>pecially for long \()yages liiie tiioso t' Kuropc!. It ha^ been often said that when a larger jjopulation aii' more capital can\e to our Northwest, and productions beeamo quad rupled for export, llie Columbia river coinmerce must seek Siii 1-ranciseoon small vessels anil lie transferred to larger ones to In borne to its Kuropean markets, or else be transported by railroad i' Puget Sound for the same pur[)ose. !*!an Francisco shippers and merchants nourish this sentiment, aiv make a strong pressure to r'o»/rrii' the largo and rapidly inereasiiu exports of the Columbia river. T/ir nvi>:l tilisiiril jnirf of t/u'.s sc/inn is that the same classes of vessels will transi)ort this produce Iron the Golden Gate or Do Fuea ^straits to Europe that now transport- it from the Columbia river to Eorope. This double shipment — mw (bei l»p< a la Whi our •dd kcl If n otlu sou I of e( ert; a ho pri\ /or. mai the i Ohea best busi coin I 23 nship G. W. FA- ■ thonMiud timvs cidont. -:rce, as SHo^v.^ » the Legislativ; cs.^ds. Toiivar/i. nil ]\)2,7:>' -i74 :io4,2Sv !? 4,;'.92,'J7l! i^< 7,45;i,:}!8 (i; sii.Mio.rjilO i:: r. 4-75 Mils 71, ail' I'OIlt. ?oastinji' soliooni^ njjc draft of 47 j-o flofit oi' vesscN 't. Tho averau he avi'rajj;c drul ;is IS foot. Tib t. Tliis draft o; hippors to iiuli- ral coiiuiiorco ii: cot };'<)ing to tli' riiit; from '.tOO i' found tliatth ryi!i:;' iiuiuon>i risks uf iiaviiiii- ttlo tho (luostioi It has boon siiji ssoiuial to til- PS 11 ko those I' jiopidation aii' s hooaiiio quad Miust sook S;ii ii'L^or Olios to In l)y railroad t' sontiniont, an liidly incroasjii: mi of t/ii.s scfit'iii Is i)roduce fron |iio\v transport- shipment — nov .rtly in process — ot produoo from our ports to San Francisco, and _ eiico to I'airope and Asia, is a loss in freight which falls chiellly njion our farinors, of s.')(»(i,()0() to 87')0,0OO annually now. It is also a larg(> loss to our business conimunity, and thus to the enterprises which invite and enco'iragc iininiOr DiVKltSE. Some divs'v.'i of seniimont has existed and has boon fostered, as if the (;ity is a foe to the country, and that the country must watch and tlofeiid ilsolf against uuM'cantile frauds and overgrown monopo- lies. Thos(> pii-Judicos contusi trade by di\(Hting it from its natural ohauncls. Tlioy also taint and pervert legislation. We try various methods of relief. Atone tiiiK* wo work hard for railroads as the sure iiioans of ironeral iirosperit}'. Next wo try schemes of Immigra- tion, liut tlu! former do not conu! on call, and the latter lind little certainty of prolitaljje busuifss for tlieir welcome, and so many turn back in disappointment and disgust. <)ui{ I'i'.KSKNT Nkkd. Both the home liorn and t!h; stranger want tho solution of the com- mercial priililom of the Columbia valley and its trii)utaries. Is it or is it not an inviting homo ? Can wo and our children and many thousands and hu'Hlreds of thousands nn)re of intelligent and indus- trious people abide I'ere, or come and make good homes hero? Is all we make and all we bring destined annually to be drained off to pay for imports, or shall a fair part of our income circulate like healthy blooil through our own l)ody politic? In other words, have we a sure future in our vast Columbia basin, enclosing, as it does, tho most of Oregon, \Vashini4ton and Idaho, and a part ef Mon- tana — an area, accoi'dinu to tho census, drained by tlie Columbia river ot 2.'>().()i)o to .">(io,ilO() square miles, or four times tho area of all Ibe New iMigland States, whoso products will drift as naturally' to tbe western seaboard as its waters (low to the Pacific ! Wo know that the natural resources are as valuable aiul as various as its area is \asi and adapt(Ml to multiplied industries and nuntes of living. We know that its climate is health-giving and harvest-giving, hav- ing been attested bj' manyof us for thirty years past without failure. We learn that immigrants, merchants, mechanics and farmer.s 24 from Great Britain i-iul France, both the almost exact analogue ol our northwestern coast in climate and productions, discover tlic home-like similarity and take enlarged views of its present and pros- pective developniont of resources and settlements. British ca|iUal conies liere IVeoly and conlidently. British fleets rapidly absorb our trommerce, and we are glad to see them come. British insurance companies already control the maritime part ol this business, and mucli of that pertaining to lire risks. Already they have reduced the price of marine insurance to our ports to the same rate astotlie port ot San Francisco, except the frac tion of one-fourtli of one per cent, extra charge on wlicat shipment. Cargoes of iiour and salmon are are now insured at the same rates in British otlices. British wool-growers are moving from Australia and New /ealaml to Eastern Oregon and Washington as tlie best countrj^ for tlu> business. British woolen, llax, iron and leather manul'acturers are sure to fol- low and produce the goods here instead of wasting a rich margin ui profit in the double transportation of the raw material home and he gooils back. Facts and reasoning evince the certainty that the homes of indus- try, tlirifl and intelligence must and will be established all through the basin of the Columbia and its tributary valleys. Interchanvik of Pkooicts. The union of all citizens in city and country to increase the mean- of cheap and easy intercommunication in order to set all the wheels of business in motion, and to give all hands work in village shop and on country farm, on land, on river and on bay, will do much to in. spire heart and hopes. Whatever State or National legislation is needed to imi)rovo riv- ers, build railroads or canals, or redeem waste lands, and incirease the number and value of the iiomes of tlie people, by putting a valiu upon iiroducts that will induce production, ought, of course, to In. secured by united votes and elForts, instead of being lost by partisan strife or sellish chicanery. JNIuch has been done already by men intrusted witli legislative power. More can be done on land and river. If the cost of invilinL' commerce to our river be bN' a merely nominal jjrice of pilotage ami towage, at the cost of tiie .Stale, it might bo a saving of tlirce-fourtli- of wliat Me now waste on double Ireights and commissions. If a few hundred thousaiuls (jf dollars would clear out the shoal- from the Columbia, Cowlitz, ChehaliSj Willamette, dake, Clear water, Yakima, Sjiokane, Clark's Foik, and build needed i)ortagi- or canals, the prolit of one or two harvests would pay tlie costs, Ix- sides inviting tliou.sandsof settlers into tiieso vast regions, and brinu' ing those there now out of their exile into fellowship with all oIIk sections. In the wide regions that railroads must do the business of tran^ portation, united ei/ort without delay could soon give us these facili ties on a scale equal to local wants and transcontinental needs, fret ing us from tribute to distant and hostile cori orations. Prospkcts or tiik Inciu:ase of ouu Commkrck. The average annual gain in the report of breadstull's from tii Columbia to all ports, by seasons, from 18(i(S to 1877, is 'SS}4 yx 25 saot aiifilogiie ol lis, discover tho present and pro,'^- r. Britisli fleets e them come, inariliiiiti part ol ks. iiisuraneo to our , except the tVac- whcat shipineiU. ,t tlie same ratus iid New /ealaml country'' for thi> rs are :sure to I'ol. a ]Mch margin oi iterial home and liomes of indus- shed all througii urease tho mean- ;et all tho \vheel> village shop and 11 do much to in- to improve riv- and increase tiu- putting a valiu of course, to In lost by partisan with legislative cost of invitiiii; of pilotage and of three-fourth- issious. r out tho sliocil- dake, (.Ileal' needed porta.m- ti}' tho costs, bi.'- !,ions, and brinu' ) with all otlu: isiuess of trans e us these facili- Ual needs, free MKUCE. stulls from lii 877, is M]4 f' P9iit., counting olglii seasons of shipment from tho basis. of amount 0Kported in ISHS-dd. It is reasonaiile to estimate the addition to Uie i)opulation of the Oohunbia ba^in this year at 1^5, U(Mi, a nund)er e(]nal to oiu-sixtli of l^e i)resent inliabitants. It is fair to count the gain to commerce «ne-sixth. At this rate the state Board ot Pilot (-omnussionors Ipay bo able to report to the next Legislature in 187S the arrival Of ofiO vessels, with a tonnage of 410,000 tons, and an export of 860,000 tons, valued at ,S1 4,(100,000, as the business of their two Oflicial years. The gain this year indicates more instead of less than those figures. The gain in the upper Columbia business — as per O. 8, N. Co., apparent exhibit of growth, is a large per cent, in two years. Their plans witli others promise more rapid and wider means of river commence. We venture no estimate of tho amount, but the drift of 200,000 or more l)nshels of wheat to the western ocean per year, fmm the upper Columljia, will not surprise tiioso wlio watch tho progress of tiie plow and reaper there. It is hardly needi'iil to say, yet it is wrong to forgot, that this problem of our coMiiiieriie has factors, wliich enter into every home of tiie pei)[)le; into every factory and store; into every .social question; into every school and ivory church of our wide-reach- ing settlements. Tl torn lies us ilaily, alone or in the crowd, in the routine of business and on journeys. It inspires hope and shapes our plans. Tt is worthy of our thought, while its successes com- mands our gratitude. Confidence in this railroad revives. It is known that the company turned its assets over to the bondholders at the least cost and delay, giving them the full benefit of their mortgage. Tho act shows a de- sire and purpose to comidele the road. It stands now in the hands of the new or proferreil stockholders— or former bondholders — free from debt, with HoO miles of road linished and furnisheil wiih roll, tng stock, machine shops, depots, and other means of work and i)ro- gress. The Pairitic? division has paid all its running expenses, tiie salaries of its otViceis, and $}0,000 of old debts, without calling for help from the East. Tho Eastern division has paid the running expenses and §30,000 or more overplus. The (!omi)any have also nearly the entire land fttbsidy for the whole distance t!oinploted. With such assets on Wliicli to etfct new loans, then> is hope to raise the funds and extend the road. Besides these elements there are now factors in the problem. When the Ciiioii antl Central Pacific was jiroposed, it was counted a wild scheme to build that long road over a liackless desert. The prob loni of fuel was not solved. It was not deemed solvable The supply of water was supposed to depend upon artesian wells. The eminent Slate G(M)logist of C'alifornia at that time, said: "I know tiio limited supply of wood and timber on the Sierra Novadas, and the road must oarry this more than a thousand miles for daily use. It is liable to W6ar out the tra(^k and the stock supplying its daily trains with power to run." His tiiought or fear was that the transcoMtiiiental road could not bo a success. Many other intelligent and thoughtful men shared his fears. A graver factor in the iiroblein was, how to get wa.v business, which is known to be the most important element in the succes.s of every railroad. As the road progresed every one of these ditFiculties were removed. Tne Rocky Mountain coal fields "^■ iiiiil 26 along and under the very track of the road furnished the best of fuel for tlio present, and for the indelinito demands of the future. Streams and wells .sui)pl}'- water abundantly. Wyoming, Utaii and Nevada have unfolded 'marvelous mines of the precious metals, and un- told riches of agricultural and pastoral lands. The united road pays larger dividends, probably, than any other lines of equal length in the world. Similar lactors are already solving some ele. ments of the problem oi the North Pacific Railroad. Hardly had the Pacific division connected the waters of the Columbia witii those of Pugot Sound, when the remarkable coal fields of the Puyal- 1 lip, 12') miles from Tacoma, wore discovered. The coal has been tested by A. Campbell, Eaq., of Seattle, and by several blacksmiths of Portland, and by others in Washington Territory. Oregon and California, and pronounced by them all equal to the Cumberland and Blossburg coals for all the uses of their shops. One of them pronounces it the hcst for welding steel of any he has ever tried in thirty years' experience. President G. F. Whitv.'orth, of the Washington Territory Univor. sity, Jias examined the fields, and found the veins very numerous- scores of them — from one foot to three live, and even seventeen foot in thickness. They are cut tiu-ough by several mountain streams, whicli permit a series of .s'('.'/-(/>v((vt/»^ shafts to be run at different levels into every vein, all above the shutes, while these are above the natural railro;id cut or bod which the streams have made. The Puyallup valley — a garden in itself — is level for twentv miles, leav- ing only from five to eight miles of sleeper gradients into the niomi. tains. Several engineers of the North Pacific corps have declared the route easv to make, and capable of an immense trafic. The out- let for coal into shutes on tlie blutf at Taeoma, permits its ship- ment without rehandling. Prof. NVhitworth finds it a choice cookinj; coal, with a Irage per cent, of fixed carbon, hard, compact, and not easily broken by handling, or disintegrated l)y the weather. Four hundred and ninety pounds of this coal, as tested by the Portland Gas Works, produced 2,2r)0 feet of superior gas, and 400 pounds of coke. The best tost of Nanaimo coal gave 2,000 feet of gas from 500 pounds of coal. Besides the fact that Tacoma bay is n, safe and extensive harbor, inviting the largest vessels and fleets from all the ports of the Paci- fic and of the world, so that every product of the region can at onco be put into the currents of commerce, these vast beds of choicest coal, which are in so great demand for steam and mechanical purpo- ses, will at once assure business at this northwestern terminus of the road. Good and abundant coal is a factor which will ensure any rail- road that terminates on tide water. These coal fields invite the com- pletion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, at the earliest possible mo- ment. It will save the immense transportation of Sydney and other foreign coals to our coast and growing interior. It will save the great cost of transporting the Pennsylvania and Maryland coals to this coast. It will develop the iron industry, in foundries and furnaces, preventing the costly importation and transportation of this product. It will employ artisans and laborers, and build up the homes of an industrious population, and by reaction stimulate the fisheries, the shipbuilding, the agricultural and pastoral pursuits. Another factor in the problem of the Northern Pacific Railroad is the food supply of this northern region through which its survey Is made. It is a known fact that the most productive and enduring "% I the best of fuel future. Stroauis tah iind Novuda inotais, and uii- The united road lines of equal olving some ele- d. Hardly had Columbia witli Ids of the Puyal- > coal has beoii eral blacksmiths ory. Oregon and -ho Cumberland One of them las ever tried in erritory Univor. ery numerous— n seventeen feot >untain streams, run at difl'orent these arc above ivp made. Tiio sntv miles, Icav- s into tiie nioiin- )s have declared ratio. The out - rmits its ship- i choice cookinji mpact, and not weather. Four y I he Portland I 400 pounds of ofii^as from 50C tensive harbor, rts of the Paci- ?ion can at once eds of choicest lihanical purpo- terminus of tlie snsure any rail- invite the coni- st possible mo- dney and other 1 save the great coals to this s and furnaces, of this product, e homes of an e tisheries, the fie Railroad is ih its survey Is ) and enduring 27 wheat lands of our continent lie betweeen the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains. Tlioy liave the largest proportions of the potash and pliosi)liatcs wiiich nourish the cereals. Tt has been stated by a vvoll- known geologst, that during- the six distinctly noted volcanic over- flows thci>sli(3s, whicii Nvoro carried largely i)y tlie prevailing winds eastward nito tlie bays and lakes which formerly occupied tlie great Interior basin, mingled with other sediment to form the deep depos- its wiiich now constitute the soils of those valleys and high prairie lands. It is easy to infer that the excess of alkali in s|)ots results from tlie drainage of this substance from the hills. Rut the wheat harvests of Walla Walla, Whitman, rmatilla and Baker counties prove the wonderl'id fertility of this region. Every year tiie crops seem to increase in value and amount. The hills and dry sage-brush plains Iiave rewarded the iiillivator. It is known that every acre touched by water becomes luxuriant witli cereals and fruits. The • drippings and overllows of that long miners' ditcli constructed by the Chi(;ago Company through IJaker county, lias producred many oasis in the hitherto dry jilains. It is known that an ocean of aerial moisture lloats over these regions from the vast western ocean. It heeds only a cooler to deposit the dews. F-very field or blade of grass or grain a(rt.s as a cooler. The fields of winter grain, started l>y early rains or melting snow.s, provide the vegetation, which in summer deposits enough of this aerial moisture to perlect their growth until the harvest. The dcei) plowing loosens the soil so as to absorb the air loaded with moisture, whicli grows cool enough to leave its? moisture al)out the roots of the plant. Thus tlie lands that have for ages abounded in the bunch grass, which is now wasting away belorethe increase of flocdvs and herds, can ha restored by the i)low, and the choice cere- als, wheat, oats, barley and corn, with orchards about every farm house. Thirty live, forty, and even sixty-five bushels per acre of wlieat are said to be frequently harvested in the counties named. Their need is not food but transportatii u to market. Their cattle and sheep, and wheat and corn abound far l)eyond all the wants of their present i)opuIation. It is claimed that two or three of those coun- ties can produce as large a suriilus for foreign markets as the whole Willamette valley. This factor enters into the problem of the N. P. R. R, It opens a vast business of transportation from the interior toihe ocean, and from our forests and coal tields a large return to supply the tre(>less interior. I'3ver.y year also gives steadiness and surety t(f the mining of gold and silver and other inetal-s in the Blue Mountains, as well as to those of Montana. Unknown resources are as likely to appear along tlu? N. P. R. R. line in its progress, as along tlu! Union Pacitic. The delay of conslriieiion has caused the intelli- gent to study tlie piol)lein more inteiith', and to feel sure that liome interests demand it more >lian over. Worthless regions will have known values wlien it comes, and the finest visions promise to be realized bj' it. FvjAj Tioxt of tfik IIousr Rir.L As Reported iiy the Comjiit- TKK ON Pacific Railhoads. In the house of representatives, February 5, 187S; read twice, recom- mitted ami ordoreil to be printed. n. R. ;{0(5() Reiiort No. I'io A bill to extend the time to construct and coinploto the Northern Pacific railroad, 28 Mr. William W. Kice, from tho Committeo on Pacillo Railroads, reported the following IjIU : lie it ciKtctcd hi/ t/ic firaatr and House nf Ileprcnentaliven of fin the Ihiifcil S/iitc.s of Aiiirrica in (hni/r<'M anseiabh'd, That the grants, rights, privileges, corporalo powers, and IVaiK-hises, iiieludiiig the Iranchise to bo a corporation eonlerrcd upon the Northern raeilic II. H, and conditions prescribed bj' said charter and joint resohitions, ex- cept as chanijed by this act; proridcd, lioici'vcr, and said extension ol time is granted upon the following express conditions, namely: First— Tho said company shall, within one year after the passaaf of this act, commence the work of constructing its main line at 01 near Umatilla, in the state of Oregon, or some sniial.)lo point between there and the mouth of Snake river, as the said company shall deter- mine, and shall complete not less than twenty-tive miles of its road eastwardly per year tiiereafter, and shall complete, in addition to the road already completed, at least one hundred miles of its main line witiiin two years after the passage of this act, and at least ono hun- dred miles of said main line each year thereafter, including in each said ono hundred miles the twenty-livo to bo completed per year eastwardly as aforesaid. Second — The main line of said railroad between Portland and a point as far east as Umatilla, in tho state of Oregon, shall bo located and constructed on the south side of the Columbia river. Third — Actual settlers on unsurveyed agricultural lands within tho limits of tho grant to said company, if said lands, when tho gov- ortmient surveys shall be extended over them, shall bo found to be embraced in said grant; and actual settlers on any agricultural lands within the limits of said grant, who shall have settled thereon at a tlistance of ono hundred miles or more beyond the completed portion of said road at either end; and actual settlers on any agricultural lands within tho limits of said grant remaining unsold at the expira- tion of eight years from tho completion and acceptance of the section of the road op[)osito thereto, if said last mentioned lands shall W then surveyed by tho government, and if not, then within eight years after the government surveys shall be extended over the sumo, shall be entitled each to purchase from said company one quarter section, or a legal subdivision thereof, on which they shall have settled, al the prices of two dollars and fifty cents per acre, oxceiHing coal ami iron lands within the right of way for said railroad ; Pfovidcd, /tuir- I'rcr, That this section shall not apply to tho funds already earned by said com[)any. Sec. U. That all the lands heretofore withdrawn for tho branch line of said road, be, and the same are hereby, restored to tho public domain, to be disposed of as otlier public lauds, except for the dis- tance of twenty miles north of the portion of said branch now con- structed from Tacoma to Wilkeson, in Washington Territory. And the said company shall receive patents for a (juantity of land equal to twenty sections per mile on each side of said constructed jiortion of said branch, such land to be selected from tho oild-numberod sec- tions on each side ot said constructed branch, bui on tho north side, not Rel (lai( gra ^Li oitic Railroads, t'lilntivrs of tlt< 'hilt llie ^niiUs, iiieliuling the BIT) PiKMlii; 11.15, OILS of congresv id tho sail 10 arc I Northoni Pa- oars' time from ,iiy for tlio coii- i all tho tGrin> resolntioiis, ox- id exlonsion ol I, namely: 'Ksr tho passage lain lino at ur > point botweeii my sliail deter- lilos of its road addition to tiii' )f its main liiic loasi ono hnn- ■luding in oarii )loted per year Portland and a ■shall bo located [or. land« within wiion the gov- bo found to bo ioultural lands I thereon at a iplotod portion y agricultural at the oxpira- of tho section lands shall bi' bin eight years ho sume, shall uartor section, lave settled, at )ting coal and Proi'uled, /ton- 1 ready earned or tho branch I to tho public )t for the dis- nch now con- ritory. And of land equal 'ucted jiortioM umbered sec- he north side, 29 not farther than twenty miles therefrom; but the said company may ieloct and rcci'ive patents for hviids to make up any deficioncj' In iaid (piantily from any of tho public lands within the limits of tho grant for tlm muin line. Sec. ;•. That where pro-em|)tion or homestead claims were initia- ted, or private entries or locations were allowed, upon lands em- braced in the grant to said comjiany, ]>rior to the receipt of tho or- ders of withdrawal at the respective district land oflices, tho lands embraced in >iii"di entry or location shall b(« imtented to tlie partie.s entitled to the same, as if said grant had not been made, and, in case of abandonment by them, shall be open to settlement by i)ro-emp- tion or homestead only ; but the said company shall bo entitled to Iiulemnity therefor, as now provided by law. Se(!. I. That entries remaining; unadjusted and suspended in tho general land oflice, on account of an increase of price of the even sec- ti«>ns within the limits of said grant, where the same wore made or based upon settlement prior to the receipt of tho orders of withdraw- al of said lands at the district latul olbces, shall bo relieved from 8U(!li suspc^nsion and carried into patent; Imt nothing in this act shall bo construed to allect existing adjustments, or to authorize tho re- funding of any moneys received for such lands under existing laws. Sec. ."). That tho said company be, and it is herobj', authori/ed to issue its bonds from time lo time, to aiil in the construction and equipment of its road, and to secure the same by mortgages on tho whole or any part or parts of its railroad and proj)erty and rights of property of all kinds and descriptions, witli the rights, i)rivi]eges.and franchises thereto apptu'taining, including the franchise to bo a cor- poration ; and as ])r()ol and notice of their legal execution and effect- ual delivery, sucli mortgages shall be filed and recorded in the de- partment of the interior. Sec. (). That in case any of the lands heretofore granted by con- gress to aid in the construction of said railroad shall l)econie forfeited to the United Slates, and l»e restored to the publi<; domain, by reason of the failure of said company to perform the conditions herein set forth, or any of them, the actual settlers on such of said granted lands as shall not then have been earned by said company, who ■hall have settled thereon under the provisions of this act, or by li- cense from said company, shall each have the right to obtain title to Such lands, not exceeding one quarter section, under the homestead or pre-emption laws, as if said grant had not been made. Sec. 7. Thill wlien said company shall sell, or contract to sell, or Sball convey, except by way of mortgage or deed of trust to aid in the construction of its railroad, any of said granted lands, the lands 80 sold, contracted or conveyed shall be subject to taxation, accord- ing to tlu* laws of tho state or territory within which the same may be situated. Sec. 8. That this act shall not bo construed to affect existing pri- vate riglils, except as hereinbefore expressly provided; and congress Bttay at jTiy time, having duo regard for the riglits of said Northern l^cific Kailroad Company, add to, alter, amend, or repeal this act, or iblie charter or resolutions hereinbefore referred to, and miiy provide by law against unjust discriminations and excessive charges wher- ever the same shall bo made by said company. USec. 9. That tho said Northern I'acitic Railroad Company sliall file with the secretiiry of the interior, within six months from tho date hereof, its i*Hsent to, and acceptance of, the provisions of this act, T ■ ■'•v.. liil; I 30 or be forever debarred Troni t.iking or receiving any benefit from or under the same. Rkpokt Accompanying the Bill. The Norllioni Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated by ae of congress; approved July '2, 1S(54. By section !S of that act it was recjuired to complete its road by .Tii ly 4, ISTfJ. Joint resolution of tlio senate and house of representatives, approv- ed Maj' 7, 1S7G, extended the time for the completion of the road twi years. Joint resolution, approved July 1, 18(58. and entitled "joint resolu tlon extending the time for the completion of the Nortliern Pacili railroad," amended section (S of the original act by changing the tini for the completion of the road to July 4, IST". The company claims that joint resolution of May 7, 1S06, applies t^ section s of the act of July '2. ISiU, as amended by joint resolution o; July 1, isijx ; and, consequently, tliat its time for completing tlit road does not expire until July 4, 1S7!>. Oh the otiier hand, it is claimed that joint resolution of July 1, IStlS although by its title '-.itvudiug the time for completing the road, ii; ellei-t lUinlnishes tliat time, and that it really expired at the date fixeii by that resolution, to-wit, July 4, IS77. The department of the interior is reported to have adopted tlif more liljeral construction, and to have assumed thai the company has the longer time for tlie completion of its road. Equily and generous dealing seem to justify this conclusion, anii in view of tlie impossibility of the completion of the road even with in the lo)tyer time, we do not deem it necessary to express an opinion as to the technical elVect of the foregoing resolutions. At all events, further time must be granted, or this great enterprise, as at preseii: organized, must be abandoned. Up to 187;), the company was not in default. It had constructeii its main line to Bismarck, in the territory of Dakota, a distance <■: 450 miles, and on the Pacific coast from Kalama, on the Columbia river, northerl\- to Tacoma, on Puget Sound, a distance of 10") milo'< The financial disasters of 1873 suspended its operations, frustrated il- rosourees, and forced it into bankruptcy. By joint resolution apjiroved May 31, 1S70, congress had author!/ od the company to issue its Ijonds, and to secure tliem by a inortga^' of its property. Under this authoritj' the company had issued boiul- to the anjoiMit of $29,119,400, and had secured the same by a fir> mortgage on all its propertj-, including its franchises. In 1^7;") this mortgage, the company being in dei'ault, was foro- closed, and all the proper*^' of the company passed into the hands n: a committee appointed by the bondholders, and for their benefit. In tiie summer of 1.S75, the bondholders, all concurrmg, either actively or tacitly, adopted a plan for reorganizing the company : preferred stock was issued in exchange for the bonds, and in 8ei'- tenibor of that year a board of directors was chosen, which was pu in possession of the property of the old company covered by tin mortgage. The stockholders in the company thus reorganized are betweoi. eight and nine thousand in numljer, and are scattered through mon than half the states of the union. Their money made the ijroperty they now seek to save and enhance. They ask no subsidy, no addi- Uon plo ' bonofit from or 3orporatetl by ai te its roaii by Jii- intatives, approv n of tho road twi ied "joint resolu Nortliern Pacili hanging tho tini r, 1806, applies tn [jint resolution i>; • completing thi n of July 1, ISiiS. ting the road, ii: at the date fixed ave adoptod tin laL the compaiiv conclusion, an: road even witli [press an opinior At all events, se, as at pi'esen; had constructeii ta, a distance oi n the Col uni bill 100 of 10) inilo< ns, frustrated it- ss had author]/ 1 1)3'^ a mortgiiLt ad issued boml- same by a fir~; fault, was foro- ito the hands ii'd by causes over wiii<'li they had no con- li^)l, and wliicli occurrod by no tault or omission of theirs. The question lor the consideration ot the committee is, whether tho jUiblic interests require the comjtletion of this road, on the route and lirms provided in the act of 1S()4, in the same or in a greater degree than at tlu; time of its passage; and if so, whether additional time ■houlil be granted to the company now engaged in tlie enterprise for Us completion. The arguments, proand con, on the subject of national encourage- ment to traiisfontineutal railroads are too familiar to require recapit- ulation, 'i'his discussion was ably and stoutly maintained on either side by statesmen whose intellertual strength and comprehension of the suljject have left little or nothing to be added. The result was in ftivor of promoting, by imblic aid, the construction of northern, cen- tral and southern roads from the Mississippi valley to the Pacific ocean. In pursuanee of this policy, thirteen years ago 47,000,000 acres of the public lands were granted for tiie eonstruction of the northern road. Its route lies through a fertile country, rich in all the physi- cal cliaraeterislics necessary for the siipjjort of a vast and prosperous population. Its grades are easier tliaii on most of the roads in the eastern states, and where the line diverges from a straight course, to avoid impassable mountain ranges, it opens to settlement the fertile valleys of the rivers whoso l)anks it follows. Settlers have piocecded in the faith of its construction, and pros- perous territori(;s all along its route .are only waiting for the addition- al population wliicli its completion would speedily bring to claim their jilaces among the states. The committee an; of opinion that a due regard to tho interests of these territories, and of the hardy pioneers who have settled them, deiuands liberal action on the i)art of congress to com; lete this road, to wliicii, in a measure, the public faith was pledged ; that the lands originally granted are held, as it were, in trust fV)r the benefit of those Settlers; and that, even if, .- piaclicable, owing to the ditliculty of crossing the Cascade mouiil- ains, which divide the territory, running nurtherlj' and southerly across almost its entire vvidtl;. Tlio representatives of Wasliingtoii territoiy oppose tho continuation of tlio grant lor the construction o! this branch as keeping tho lands tieil up against settlement, and tin cummittoe, in deieronce to their wishes, report in favor of the restora- tion of the land withdrawn on that branch to tho public domain, ex- cepting about "!•■'?, 000 acres earned by tho construction of a road ex- tending thirty-one miles oasterl}' from Tacoma. By thi.^ change of location, more than (J, 000, 000 of acres of land iii Washington territory, covered by tho original locations, will be re- stored to tho public domain. A proposition was considered by thocommittoo to decilare forfeited by the Northern Pacific company all lands in Washington territory withdrawn for its branch line, and to grant an e(iual amount to tlir Portland, Salt Lake and Soutli Pass company, a corporation of the state of Oregon, organized to construct a railroad from Portland, through the Columbia valley, to Umalilla, and thence by a souther- ly route through Eastern Oregon, souio -loO miles to tlio Union Pa- cific and Central Paiiilic at Ogdon. This seems to your committee to bo a schomo to obtain from Con- gress an endowment for a new, indepeiulent road, and one which, if (;onstru('ted, would bo a rival road to that of the Northern Pacitic. These reasons, without passing upon its merits, seem suHicient m the committtee to prevent its incorporation in a bill to promote and encourage the compleiion of tlie Northern Pacitic ioad, and tliey leave the lands restored to the public domain by the discontiuuann of the brancli unincumbered by any new ai)propriiition. While reporting in favor of extending the imo vnthin which tlu company may linish thuir road, the committee are greatly impressed by the necessity of withdrawing, as far as possible, all obstacles tii the settlement of the lands covered by the grants to this company. The marketable value of the lands will, ef course, be enhanced a> the work of construction progresses, and tho company should bo al- lowed some control of that enhancement, and some advantage there- from. At the same time, the public advantage to be derived from the early setilement of these lands should not besacriticed. Tl tuni trol •nd firon A To i as ircumstnncoM, tin ol' coiijiruNs, itiiil ubio lo liniisli tli( iiipaiiy it wns nii- Washington tci-. and tlio lower a- revorsod, so Ihni Oreillo to tlio Co- river to I'ortianti, r tlio road slionld l)ia river, and the anoh line to oiu e new location is Cascade nioiiiu- 3' and southerly j.s of VVashinj^toii construction o: ;tlenient, and tin or ol' the restoni- biie domain, ox- ion of a road ex- f acres of land in Lions, will be ic- de(!lare forfeited lington tcrrilorv il amount to tiic rporalion of tlio from Portlaiui, ce by a .soutlior- tlio Union I'a- btain froni Coii- ivnd one which, lortlierii Pacific. 3111 suMicient u> to i)romoto and ioad, and thcv discontiniianci ion. itliin which tlu •eatly impres.sed , all ob.stacles tn his company. be enhanced a> ly should be al- dvantage there- srived from the ed. Tlio coinniitff'c have, tlusroforc, cnlarjifd the righls and opportii- tnnilics of actual .M'ttlors, while rcscrx iny to the company the con- tlQ^l over tlio land already earned on the line of the tinished road, l^'d over the surveyed lands within the limits of one hundred miles froni tlu) progress of its c((ii>tru('tii>ii. All of which is nspecttully submitted. N'li.ws Ol riiK MiNoniTY To accompany llie report of llie ('oimniltee on the riu-idc I'iiilroad, on the bill e.sli'iidinu I lie time to cdiist nict and complete the North- ern I'acitii! Kailroad: The uiulersigned di ameo lo the reimrf of the committee, and op- pOHO the passagenfii bill for ii icih w;il olthe grant of lands made by it, which is ill substance and priii'','ie a //«•'( y the lublic jiiilgment. \Vm. K. Moiiiu.soN, J. K. LlTlKKMi, (ji. M. liANDKItS. Two telegrams and their resol.ilions tV'/in one of tlie Directors, and the w<)>:l of anotiier, who was ai their meeting April :Jr)th, declare that 111 ej- caiinol biiilii the road under the provisions of the bill, which passed tliti senate April li:>d. It has beiMi hoped thatllieJIon.se would amend this bill, and that the Senate would concur, and thns aasiire the road. But this hojio is faliaeious. This bill cannot bo reached in the House, and tin- jiroper Hou.-e bill, if reached, is likely to be compli- cated and defeated by this >Sen,'te bill. J?ut the point of chief tronble is that for four months tlie originU Senate liill was luild in the bands of their railroad committee in ordc- to enforce restri(!tions which the company could not accejit. Mr, IMii'-hell said in the discussion of this bill in the Senate, .April -l-liX; "Ai.d bet-auso I have during the past four months contemled with all the zeal and energy 1 could com- mand for terms tl'.at would induce, or, if you please, compel, the Northern l'a(;itic Kailroad Company to concede in this jirojiosed leg- itilation (iondiiions which, as one of the representatives of the Slate of Oregon and tlie great Paeilic northwest, I regarded as but just to that section of our common conntr,y, and which conditions I did not tHen and do not now regard as materially embarrassing to tliut com- pany, etc." Mr. M. assumes >vitii obvious propriety to represent in this (piestion "the State of (.)regon,'" "the great Pacific Is'orlhwc^st," i^d "that section of our common country." lie was thus liolden by his peers in the Senate to the argument upon that high and eoni- pi^Iutiisive trust. His just ami eloiiuenl exordinm upon this -'great Itifeartery of the conlinuiit," was calculated to inspire further confi- dence in his zeal and his purpose to secure the early completion of the road. The progress of the discussion shows that Senators were ready to sdd the enterprise. Restrictions. What conditions did ho as chairman of the railroad committeo try to enforce upon the Northern Pacific llaiiroad Coinjian^' during four long months? On page 5 of his speches, April 22d and 2:}, he says: First — "Such provisions as would compel at an early day the ni « 34 biilldinj? of HO iimch of tlioir roiul nM would bo nocoMMiiry to opon i, tlio monopolv-bouiKJ Columbia river to froc iiiivip;utioii." •"■ '" II) nil \' Mr. M. profossos riiondship for i!io N. 1*. II. 11., hh a niitioi:, ^j,^ j,,",, trniisL'ontinontiil niiid, sliortcM- uud of boltor ^nulo.s Hum others: „Qjai| road noc'dcd for ititftiior <'omiii('i(;(t, lU'odod to chock tho Hpirit of in ^|^QJ^^^. liopoly of th« I'liioii and Ccntnil riudlic" coiiipiiidcs; iioodt'il l)y ll j||,. MtiiitriiliiiW I'uopio of the I'atMlK! Slates and Torritorics; iiuodod I ina,j,| tho conmiereo belweon Asia and Polynosia; needed for tho sii: f^rowth of Iho great Northwest, ote. llo sees and doelaros tho neci *' slty of this national road as othors seo it. Hois not in tho fo>,' i He 1 any poini. lie claims to roi)resont its broad interests. Ho knows tl own ai orifj;iiial purpose of tho govornmont in tlio survey of this route an to buil( its ))lan in tlui large urant of land to indu(;o capital to budd tho roa origina lie knows tiiaL ;^3U,(Mi(>,(iO() have l>eon invested in it by 'on thousaii uotnpl honest, conliding men and women, from twenty States, on thoir fait they u In this govermnent subsidy. IIo knows that a general bankrupti\ for which tiiey wore not rt>sponsible. has com[)oUed thoso crecliiui to take the property of tho unfinished road and become its stock Mr. holders, lie knows thoy aro com|)t'lled to ask nioro time to comi)lt'i WaHhii the road, and tiiat this is all they ask. ilo knows that they must n month' itto secure more funds. IIo knows tliat the measure as stated by M. nunure Lamar — i)ago II — "is domanded alike by Justice, i)ro|)riety and pn 1*"" In icy," and that, as Mr. L. says, "there is objortion to loading this liil aspor j^ with other conditions than thoso which provide for a simple extc:;^' **"*' sion of relief." R. R. IIo knows that their claim for more time was equitable, and tiii'^'' *"'" their investmentfi on tho previous pledges of tho govcrnmont ii;i^* j® ^ given them vested rights in tho whole original land grant for lli f®*''*'"' road. '«"^5 « Ho knows that no act of thoso creditors has vitiated these vestc ^''^ ' rights, and that Congress cannot Justly; and that probably it iuis ii •"***" ^^''' disposition to compel thoso people who have received little or ii' interest on their investment, to make a new and harder bargain. Oreir Ho knows that they have never surrendered their franchises; tlm - -^ 271 no7«o wnmDilo writ has been issued against them; and that by i'0"i;hev ar< mon law ''the privileges and immunities, the. estates and l)ossossioib'j,jj^^j,. of tho corporation, when once vof-ted in thom, will bo forever vescoiryQyi^ ., without any new conveyance to now succesions." ions to llo knows that Iho pioneer settlors from the groat lakes to the I'a ip^jg ^^ citic ocean, along this northoni route, have also made large i»vosi j^ggjjj ments on the pledges of the national government in their origuia jjj|Hy„j contract with the Northern Taiilic Kailaoad Company. jjg pj-o. He knows that these investments of the hardy, solf-sacrificiiingQQUj, founders of new Territories and States have in equity rights of tli' nature of contracts, which on their part are in i)rocoss of fultillment and that they wait with intense anxiety along tho whole line for tin The i government to fulfill its [)art. ' U80,00( Ho knows that tho whole nation will gain largely by this invest ;237,48i' ment of its lands, which now havo no value, but which will at oiicisseisec sell for cash if tho road is assured, lie knows that government ex.;374,01i pauses alongthe route will diminish and government receipts will in )er yea; crease millions annually il tho road is completed. If OOf IIo knows that many millions ($oO,000,()00 or ?!i)0,000,00()) must bfeventy borrowed by the N.P. R. 11. Company on thoir seouritios to proceeilf the o to finish their enterprise, and that capitalists in our own country, Ive yet and more so now in Europe, are shy of American railroad bonds, ears —i <« iMHiiry to opoii I, K., as a nation 3.S tliiiu otlioiN: tliu Hpirit 1)1' III m; iiootlt'tl hy II )rios; nco'lod I lod for tlio mi: iclaros tho nci'i )t in llio ioix I i, Ilo knows tl >1' tiiis route; iiii to l)Uil(J tho roa 86 And tliat it will !)(> iiard to piin'o now lionds ot'tlrst-cla>4s railroiidsovon in ati y ruarlvct of tiio world; and thai it will ho iinpossildo to plaoo th9 h'liids of, my raih'oiid that is ciil down in iis land tranchisrw, atid not allowed to soli itsown lands- w inn canicd— at niarUoi laUis, and whose lands aro sjuidod hy tho indolinilo claims of oMicrs. Mr. Mitclii'U iias a d^'ar mind and a sliarp sight of Ihu nmiii issuo in A qnuHlion. govornniont Iim uul grant for lli Cash to C'omim.kte tiik Uo.\ i> rirK kiiist (iukat Nkkd. He has hcon awaio, and lio is now conscious, us ap|>c'ars hy his own aii;iiim'nt, that tlin cliief ohjoi-t of llio company Is to got funds to build tho road. I'oiiliis they ask an cxionsion of time on tho original conlracl. 'I'hu hankers to wliom tlu'V apply ilomand timo to . hy 'on tliousaii uomplcto thocniorpriso, and put it in oondilioiilo pay intorost hoforo tos, on thoir fail they will opon iheir vaults and i.Nsuo cash on llio lionds. oral hankrupt^^ 1^^,^^^,,^ ,^^. „^.j ^^. 1 those creditiM oconie its .stock Mr. Mitolicll knows that tho jiioneors in Dakota, Montana, I(hvho, timo to compU'; Washington and Oregon snlVer great inconvcniciicu and loss hy ovory hat thev must li month's delay of the roal, and that its (;oniplction will add from ono I as stated hy Mi hundred to throe hundred per cent, lo iho cash value of ovory aero of roiiriotv and pn l»"i' i" Iheso Slates. Tliu Union and Central Pacilic railroads havo, ) loading this Im ftspOJ* statistics, a l,l!t:},!tlJ !ll-l()0 acres, iiitable and tli.^*"" '^''''^''''^^* O'J. at the average price of S4 17 per aoro. An etiinil value surely was tiiven to the same nnniher of acres on tho oven sections rolulned hy the goveriimeiu. 'Pheaverago price per acre of lands granted to and sold by tne ( '. 1'. U. II. Co., was si .")S to Janu- ted tho.so vosti' *''y '^'^' ''^'i^'''" Maiiy of theso lands had no (uvsh value Ijeforo tho robably itliasi,'-oad^^«'*'"i'lt- sivod little or ii' ardor bargain. Oregon, •Iranchises; Miii-j^q^27i s(piare miles, which amoiini to ;54lt,(ii:i,l40 acres. Suppo.se /^'^''y"**^ y *^?"'Jiey are worth one o'^sossioih j.jjjyjjjj.j^.j,!^ which would traverse and tap tiiein in all diroetions, JO lorever vesteii^QPjjj .j,j,j ,j,m ,jonar to every acre, or throe hundred and lifty mil- ion« to iho whole, lakes to the 1 a rpjig average valiio added by tho other transcontinental lino is four uido large hivesi jj^^^jj^^ much, wliich in this case would amounl to fonrloiMi hundred 111 their origiiiii niiUons. No one doubts that tho \. V. 11. W. would add this sum to 'y* he properlv if not to Mio land of these .states within live years after , solf-saorifieiiiHgQ<,mj,iyij'„„_ itv rights of tip \iHo( fultilhneiit ^ '*^"^''- hole line for tin The assessed value of iiroportj' in California alone rose from U80,000,(iOf) In isiil-;"). when the C. I'. II. R. was begun, to ' Ijy this invest 337,483, 17.") 07 in lisiis), when the overland railroad was done. Tho liieh will at oik issewed value in 1874-5 live years later, was ,si>ll,4!J5,l!t7, a gain of government ex.;374,012 43, or about 150 per cent, in live years; or 34 3-5 per cent. It receipts will in )er year. If one state gained in assessed property value three h ndrod and ,000,000) must 1)1 eventy-ibur million.s of dollars in live 3'ear.s after the LTUipletion irities to proeeoilif the overland road to it, and tifty-seveii millions in the previous ir own country, ive years, while waiting for its completion — S431, 000,000 in ten railroad bonds, ears —ii is fnir to assume that the live northern States, if traver:»ed r.ossFCs HY Ukstuiotino thr N. p. R. H. Washington, Idaho Montana and Dakota contain 36 by the N. P. R. R., which contain three times the area of Califor- nia, will f^ain three times that sum of assessed property value, which would innouiit to twelve hunilred and ninoty-lhroo uiillioiis of dol- lars. This sHui L/fass(T5.M>d v.vl nation falls short of the ])roviously estimated land or property valuation only one hundred millions. We knww that assessments fall below real values more than one dollar in fourteen, which is the rate in this case. The Pubmc Knowt^kgk of thkse Facts. Senator Mitchell has reason to know and to keep in mind all these facts as the watchful and sworn guardian of these great national in- terests, and the special representative, according to his o vn confes- sion, of this *'great Pacific Northwest." It in the burden of his other duties he ha° not had time to make these simple calculations, or evci to read and note the pub- lished statements of them, j^et the great and intenely anxious public, whoso -^ye has been tixed upon )iim as their representaiivo in his place, at the head of the Senate Railroad Comniictee, has read them again and again, and weighed and measured them, hav- ing confidence in their Senator, have invested their nomos and their money on tlie assurances of this overland road. The People o:>ly want what is Just and Fair. As reasonable men, the people along this whole route would far ratlier grant an extension of time to the company on the original franchise and contract, as the bill for extension of Mine passed the Senate; in the session of 187'j-7 — Senator Mitchell himself then favoring it — than to lose this overland road, or than hinder it by restrictions that kill it. Reasonable settlers prefer to buy their lands of the company at their market rates, varying with the quality and the location, rather than get those lands as homo- steads and be deprived of this transcontinental railroad. Tliey can alford to buy and pay for the lands with the real. They can not alford to take them and hold them as hoinesteadi far on the route without the road. In this case most of the whole reg'on must remain pasture ground. The Issue. ■ In the face of all these facts, and the untold collateral interests of the vast . action of our common country which he ropresoits, Sena- tor Mitchell, as lie says, tried for four months, in his p'ace at th^ head of the railroad connniltee, 'to t ,nipel the N. P. R. J.. Company to build so much of their road as would be necessary to open up the monopoly-bound Columbia river to free navigation." In other words, they must agree to borrow §400,000, or perhaps $000,000, as engineers estimate, mortgaging their completed road, in ouler to build 20 miles of portage road to compete with a local yet rich portage transportation company. In other words, they must lose the entire grant for the overland road unless they will tight what he styles a local monopoly. Mr. Mitchell admits, page 9, that "there are obstructions to navigation at these two portages, which cannot be overcome except by the construction of a canal and locks; and that tl e general i^overnment has commenced these at the Cas- cades, though u work of this character will require considerable time." He kn ws that the O. 8. N. Co. can afford to lake freight across their portages free, or so low as to break an opposition rail- 37 of Califor- oluc, wluch Diis of dol- l)roviously illions. We 1 one dollar id all these national in- ) vn confos- lad time to )to the pul>- ilj' anxious preseiitaiivo iinittee, has them, hav- uomos and AIR, ,e would far the orifiinal ■ passed the linself then linder it by 1 buy their ^ with the as homo- \d. They They can far on the hole reg'on interests oC 50. its, Sena- ace at tli^ Company ijten up the or perhaps cd road, in a local yet they must will tight >ay of his apeeches, April 22 and 28, upon this senate bill, and I have felt at liberty to note what have seemed to ine Mie fatal rostrictions upon the enterprise. Siiaring the painofth's defeat with iai'i;e numbei.!i of ,l:e pioneers of Oregon and Washington, who have waited long in hope of this overlanr' road, 1 submit these views, with the more cheerful ones of past months, to the public. The Labor Mahkiot. The bankruptcies from 1873 to 1878, stopped many home indus- tries and crippled others. Laborers have been tiirown out of em- ployment y.nd compelled to use up their savings. Many oit of work a id out of funds have sutfered. Families have been suddenly re- duced to want and some to beggary or starvation. No woiufer that industrious men ask for work. They may not ail see tliat tl ». civl war compelled the issue of two thousand millions of government notes and bonds, which were called money and taken as coin — 38 i I though at a discount — and that this great increase of what seemed to be money, caused prices of goods, food, lands, floclis, herds, niunu- factorios and ships lo go up ; which in tui-n bred excessive specula- tion, tiiat has ended in banltruptcies and the stopping of worii. Sucli lias been the fact. He may not see that these things always follow great wars. A few get rich, but the multitude get poor by war. Yet our country is rich in resources. It recovers rapdily. The govern- ment can and it will pay its debts. Laboreus Have Just Claims. Government owes a debt to its own laborers. It it was a duty to protect the nation for the sake of the people, it is no less a duty to protect the people for the sake of the nation. If it is fair — and it is — to pay the government bonds, according to contract, whether held at home or abroad, it is also fair to help the industries of the people, who must earn the money by their toil to redeem those bonds. Legislation Apt to be Partial instead of National. After tbe war, the reconstruction raised new and grave questions, very difficult of solution. The passions of the hour, gave occasion for amoitious partisans to mount the rostrum, and secure the conii- denoe and suffrages of the people on the specious plea of overflowing patriotism. When in power thn partisan sacrifices the public inter- ests to his private ambition. While the state and national legislatures have done many noble things to harmonize conflictinletion. Large landholders there have gained the wealth of princes, without effort on their part, simply by the completion of that railroad. San Francisco has more than doubled its population and Its property valuation by the same cause. .Saci-amento has lifted itself np out of the swamps, dyked itself with high and solid lines of embankment against the floods, and laid itself out with inviting homes for its increasing population of industrious artisans and mer- chants from the impulse given by the completion of this road. San .Jose, Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, Marysville, Chico, and many other cities thrive and grow from the life imparted by tins overland road and its branches. Gain to States and Territories, Other States through which this road passes have gained a large per cent, by its completion. They have received millions from this enterprise without investing one dollar in it. The productions of Utah, mineral, agricultural and miscellaneous, in 1875, amounted to $17,314,337. Tlie increase of land cultivated in 1875 over 1874 was 00,250 acres. The Surveyor General reported land .sold in the year 1875 4!), 5)50 acres. The imports and exports of Utah during 1875 were 39,1 50,8,')! . The large business of that interior Territory is due almost entirelj' to the completion of the overland railroad. Such facts apply to all the States and Territories on the line and adjacent to the line of the completed road Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri and Illinois have received like increase of real property values. The unsold millions of acres of government land on the line, and for hundreds of miles on either side, have been made sale- able by that finished road. Prodx^cts made Available. The miscellaneous products of Utah consist ol pig iron, iron ore, coal, coke, fire clay, granite, ice, wool, tallow, hides, pelts, which in IS75 amounted to 3,27(),4!)9 tons, worth 8800,384. They represent similar classes of producis developed in other States and Territories by the U. P. and C. P. railroads. , These freights were moved and these goods were made marketable by means of the overland railroad and its connections. Such an in- terior commerce was impossible until that highway was opened. 42 Such productions are impossible from the vast interior of our conti- nent without such trans-continental roads. i; T A H M I N i: I ; A r. I'uo I ) u cTs , 1875. Base bullion, tons 1<3,3:}0 at 8250 Lead bullion, tons 44 at 100 Silver lead ore, tons 312 at 100 Copper bullion, tons 349 at 250 Copper ore, tons 284 at 50 Silver bars Gold dust Ore on-dumps at mine, smellers' tons 10,000 $4,082,500 4,400 5.32,000 87,949 14,200 .35.800 750,000 Tons 27,319 .^6,145,211 These mineral values were in fact mostly created by the railroad, which transports the crude ores and base bullion to the smellers and thus to market. The ores of Idaho, Montana, Dakota, Arizona and New Mexico lie buried and useless, waiting for the railroad cars and engines to put them into the life currents of business. Utah Manufacturks in 1875. Railroad ties, 200,000 at 50c $ 100,000 Lumber, M 8,000 at 315 3(i0,000 Foundry works, boiler, &c 175,000 Boots and shoes 75,000 Leather 5,000 Lime, bushels, 100,000 at 40 c 40,000 Soap 3,000 Flour, pounds, 40,000.000 at 3c 1,200,000 Charcoal, bushels, 400,000 at 22c 88,000 Fire biiek, M 500 at SOc 40,000 Building brick, 155,000 at lOn 1.55,000 Ale, porter and beer barrels, 15,914 at 15c 238,710 Cigars, M 375 at 8(35 24,375 Woolen goods 300,000 Total §2,803,985 These products were mostly created by the influence of the over- land railroad. They represent like products in ten other interior States and Territories, which must depend mostly on trans-continen- tal railroadis for their development. Of these SL'Vonteon millions of Utah productions in 1875 it is fair to scl ten millions as the ellect of the overland railroad. Multipl}' that gain by ten other such States and you have one hundred millions of yearly products waiting for such railroads. The rise in value of lands and other real property exceeds three hundred per cent, in ten years, as per the census tables in California. Count the gain one dollar per aci-e in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Dakota, and the proposed Territory of Lincoln, as the re- sult of the completed N. P. R. R., and count it as much in Western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in case of the completed Texas and Southern Paeitic Railroad — the whole making an are of five hun- dred million acres — and that sum will at once be added to the per- manent value of those States and of the nation. Unless both roads are built those values cannot be created. This argument is effective now. In view of it the C. P. R. R. have pushed the construction o/ the Southern Pacific Railroad. nr contl. 1,082,500 4,400 532,000 87,1)49 14,200 35,800 750,000 ;6,145,211 railroad, 'ller.s anil r,ona and cars and 100,000 3(J0,00U 175,000 75,000 5,000 40,000 3,000 1,200,000 88,000 40,000 155,000 238,710 24,375 300,000 K>,803,985 [he over- interior mtinon- ilions of ellect of \\\ States [ting for Is thi'ec lifornia. Idaho, I the re- ^estern kas and ]e hun- |he per- This )ushed 43 The S. P. R. II. Co. lias Authorized capital stock S '.10,000,000 First mortgage bonds authorized 4(>.0()o|ooo 12,000,000 acres land grant value at $ 50 \ or acre ;)t>,U00,(»0() Total Slt)f),(i00,(i00 This iniinoivso propaiatiou and outlay imply faitli in a completed southern overland railroad. Tlie 500 miles built from San Francisco to Fort Yuma on the Colorado, on the western end, and about 450 miles westv;ard through Texas on the eastern end, are prools of a set purpose to (;omi)lolo that entire lino. Tlio strife ol the two companies to secure special grants and advantages from congress adds tlie evi- dence of their intense desire to vin the greatest benefits from the en- terprise. In fact, that transcontinental railroad has been a loregono conclusion for many months past in the minds of thinking observers of the facts. The Signs of Hope fou the N. P. K. R. Its del'eat in congress this year was evidently due to its restric- tions. But the public in the great north west, from the lakes to the Pacific, has become aroused to its importance and its danger, Tlie press of Chicago and New York is awake on the subject. The plot- tings of its foes in and out of congress are wat(;hed and exposed. The merits of its claims and the injustice of neglecting or denying them are seen and lelt by larger numbers in the house and senate. Busi- ness men and capitalists in city and country in the north, and many in the south, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are believed to favor the enterprise as an act of justice to its creditors and of necessity to the unity and welfare of ilie whole country. Its certainty and value to Oregon are assured by the present nar- row gauge railroads built and in process and plan of construction to transport the products of tlie smaller valleys of the interior Co- lumbia basin to the river. Tliese branch lines anticipate not only water carriage to tiie sea, but a trunk line of railroad to tide water. Otherwise tiiey would be idle three or four months every j'car while the upper Columbia is blocked with ice. Every railroad branch sys- tem implies a trunk line. A Cr-EAHER Sign. The increase of yearly business on its 000 miles of road ; the quick sales of its lands in Dakota and Minnesota; the growth of settlements along its proposed route ; the proofs of its vast resources of choice coal, lime and iron mines, and timber torests on and near i'ugot Sound, besides its agricultural lands, furnish evidence that it will pay expenaes and the interest on the capital needed to finish it. Its Need. More than all it needs friends from Oregon and Washington in the house and senate. Faith, hope, courage and diligence in a man who sees and feels its absolute necessity to our region can win the case. An open, earnest, broad-minded, hearty plea in private and in pub- lic, with untiring zeal, will secure the simple cxtfUMum of (iinc to the N. P. R. R. Co. to finish their road. Dividec counsels, partisan ef- forts and doubtful restrictions will defeat it ii. the future as in the past. The late Oregon election hinged upon this question. Oregon has instructed her representatives in the legislature to .send her ablest, 44 truest and most faithful oiti/on to the senate to work for the comple- tion of the N. P. K. H. as a national enterprise; and as an act of jus- tice to Ut,()()0 creditors who invested :|;{0, 000,000 in its good faith 8 years aj^o, and who liavo received no interest on tlioir investment, as an absolute necessity to the welfare of this great northwest, and to thousands of hardy pioneer settlers, who have, vvitii faith in the gov- ernmetit pjodj^es to the road, invested themselves and their property in homes on this exposed trontierj and as a most efticient means of |)rotection from Indian wars along tiiis northern belt of our country. The voice and vote of Oregon emphasize every one of those reasons at this moment. The Basin or tiik Columuia. The upper country gives signs of becoming a vast area of grain fields. The stock ranges, rich in bunch grass, are fast changing into far richer fields of wheat, which check the hills and valleys like a carpet. It is a marvel that the high hills produce all the cereals as abundantly as the plains. Its solution is due to a two-fold fact. First, the soil of this whole interior of higli prairies was once the bod of a sj'stem of lakes, as appears from the lectures of Professor Con- don, and illustrated by many fossils of former lacustrine and tropical life found embedded therein. It is also attested by the wonderful system of drainage carried on for ages by the (,'olumbia river and its affluents. Those waters have not onlj' cleaved dykes of basalt, miles in length and scores, and even hundreds of feet high, as with a knife, but they have cut through the Cascade mountains from their summit, 3,500 feet, down to tide water. Uncounted numbers of ravines, in all directions, indicate the extent and magnitude of the drainage, which has left its records on tiio rounded hills and deep canyons. The vol- canic overflows, tradable in the Cascade mountains, that formed on cooling their basalt dykes and cliffs with their peculiar columnar crystallizations, added much to the mineral elements of the soil. Immense quantities of volcanic ashes doubtless were blown by winds or carried by streams into those ancient lakes, giving like valuable deposits. Some of our rivers, as the Sandy flowing from Mount Hood, and the Nis tl.e f>i-o- six and four tlnfh T*:''^"^ «*" "»e sau?e with^l'*"''^' 0«^« require cent. ; that la It .? ' '" P"""')" 3.5, silieio «Zf 1 ,7', '"'"''' »' Iro" 7 one-tenth ofsili,.; „„i^ ^.P^*" "^^"t- of oxidp r,V ■• " "^® Propor- ■skeleton dSes"o tT«7 v"*"'^-''' «"fJ stJenSlwo Fu''^'^'' ^^ i« ""« l^oluble sita in t e scJl'TL"^' «"'"'-'«• I^ there t a Tr"^' "^ ">« break down or lodge ?''' ''^^ ^'•"'" ^'^^^ wil, he welk andT ".7 "' "i^emaysunnosel V. -.1 • ^''"K* and liable to While those oleme.,1, , " °"°""<»" "-alysis rlgMiy fields of wheat nnf.. i ■ ^ ^^ "as moved nn M.« i.jm • , ' ^"^ '« "'• ^' '^P-'-'* tlae light porous sod 46 to the air, which entorH it froeoly and parts witli its hoat and its nioisturo at tho saiuo moinont to nourisli the phints. Tlio liinhiir tl>o hill tiio quiclxor tiio cooling process ocunii-s in still air, so that tlio night dews and niisls water tlio plants there best every evening wh(^n the wind dies away. Some persons have tried to explain the growth of grain on the nj)- per i>laiiis l)y a sort of cai)illary attraction, drawing up the nioisturo. It has also been explained by electrical changes, caused by the 'ele- graph. Thit whenever the plow isfroolj' used, and tho seed planted, though scores of miles away from tho telegraph, tho growth of grain and vegotablos becomes luxuriant. Orchards, groves and fields increase tho cooling surfaces, giving more moisture and uKtre summer showers in all that region, that lad been rainless. The practical benefit already is a larger vari- ety of productions and a grand harvest of cereals for homo and foreign markets. Granting that those two facts are true of the Tapper Columbia basin; that the soil abounds in the constituents to furnish va'-ious and most valuable harvests, and that the climate is favorable to their production, it is reasonable to expect a wider area of culti- vation every year. The day of doubt is passed. The experiment has been made. T'ho plow, the reaper and tlie wagon of this sea- son must lie duplicated the next, and so on while markets de- mand supplies. Forecasting the future, tho country that can possibly be thus cultivated stretches from one range of mountains to the other, east and west, and from the high plains of Nevada into the British iiossessions. It is reasonable to expect more springs from the hill sides and larger streams in the valleys with the increase of population. In- stead of stock ranches and settlers' cabins widely separated, we may look for farming communities and thriving villages in sight and not far from each other. Such is tho process now in LTmatilla, Walla Walla, Columbia and Stevens counties. The facilities for transportation furnished by the O. S. N. Co. and by the railway from Wallula to Walla Walla, completed by the skill and energy of Dr. D. S. Baker, will perhaps stimulate the early completion of a railroad from Umatilla to La Grande, and one from Dayton to the mouth of the Tucannon, on the There is need of lumber and fuel all over that re- completion of the N. P. II. R. to waters, that the exchange of the commodities on the coast may be made at all seasons with those of the interior. Invisible Vapor. Air absorbs and retains a certain amount of moisture, at a given temperature. Heat it one degree and it will hold more Cool it a degree and it will retain loss and deposits dew. A glass of ice water in summer will cool the surrounding air and form drops outside the glass. It has simply reduced the power of tho air to suspend the vapor. Let the glass stand a few minutes and the drops will evaporate. Warmer air carries them olf. Traditional Farming. The custom to hoe corn in New England three times rested on a soientilic principle, but our fathers did not tell us boys 40 years Snake river gion. Every reason urges the the Columbia, and tho ocean Our air feet squa oi' water; Ions. A < pounds, c Pends 141. "«■♦' what it 47 „„■''','" ""'-■■'■ .M.,„ „ '""■ "'° '."""m ,,'f' : ™.n,„„„ Jies of ,», ''"o ta «ion ^^^'■« oolu r'- "^'^'"^ J 7 i7.-;^f^"'«f0d air at 3"' ^ ^' Pounds, or ^'3 p"m,u'! "•"'"' le«-tlwi,S^" '■"'«'. ''Oils 0> , -°'"""' '«" Itol '*'■■ ""'^ -p ^C°?r;i,°;,;."'i "SC." v'S ^rz^' 48 Uppfk CoLVMniA Rabin. Wo aro !iot ablo to fiOt tlio avorngo tonniomtiiro tor tlio tour wasons ill lOaiUoni (»rc'K<>" and \\'ashiiigtt)n, as tlio V. H. Signal MU'vico \h not yot oxt(;iul('(l tiiillior, as it needs to bo. AsHUining' 70'^ as tho Huninior average of tho upper Colunjbia Hasin, and asHUininK that tho air, blowing constantly IVoin tho ocean by day, is woll saturated with moisture, — whicdi every one feels as ho stands facing those sea winds — it holds 8.01 grains of watery va- j>or. A column of it 10 feet sfpiaro and 1,000 foot high siispotids ll'U'.j pounds, or V.i').i gallons. The same column, r>,oui) leet high, or aljout the height of the white clouds that hover near Mount Jlood in summer, suspends 572 pounds, or (10 gallons of water, Snoh a column covering an iwro, 1,000 feet high, suspetids 40,80 1 pounds, or 5,0«a gallons. At 5,000 feet high it suspends •Jli),3'J0 pounds, or :J!>,Ob') gallons. Cool that air to 50° — which is done usually every night, all over Oregon and Washington — and it loses 3.01 grains per cubic foot, or almost one-half its vapor. Vegetation drinks it. Heavy dews cover the grass. Soils deeply plowed and broken up into tine tilth absorb it and give abundant food to plants. Prof. Hrock- lesby remarks: "The air over the ocean is always saturated, and upon tho coasts, in equal latitudes, contains the greatest possible amount of vapor; but the quantity dccrea.ses as we advance inland, for the atmosphere of tlie plains of Oronoco, tho steppes of Siloria and the interior of New Holland, is naturally dry." But tho interior of Oregon, to the Rocky Mountains, cannot be called very dry, as Its vapor comes fresh with every summer sea breeze. Ocean of Invisihlk Vapoe Over us. There is such an ocean of vapor covering all of Eastern Oregon and W^ashington, from the Humboldt to tho Frazer river valleys, and extending westward to the Pacific, 5,000 feet deep from the bed of the Columbia, enclosing an area of over 300,000 square miles. Feaus of Lack of Moistuiie. The climate oast of the Ca.scades has been called dry and tl\e land arid. Thoque-stion of assured moisturo in summer is often discussed and weighed by comparing seasons. The last was better than .*ormor years. Showers wore common in Walla Walla and other low val- leys. But will showers increase and extend with cultivation ? Will springs break out on tho hill sides as tho high prairies are plowed and tilled? An Example of Rain Without Cloud. Standing in Dayton, Columbia county, near the Touchet, July 12, 1877, at 5 o'clock A. M,, asthesuuro.se before me I noticed a fine rain falling from a cloudless sky and wotting the grass in Mr, Matz- gar'.s garden. Mr. M. had noticed tho same fact often. Its solution was that tho trees and grass and garden had cooled and compressed the column of air and deposited part of its vapor. As tho sun rose higher in the clear sky tho same moisturo was re-absorbed by the re-expanding air, as a sponge takes up water and gives it our on pressure and re-absorbs it *vhen the pressure is off. Cooling tho air acts like pressing the sponge. Heat expands it and increases its ca- pacitj' to hold vapor. Prof. B. attests several instances of showers occurring when the sky was clear. This phenomena was several times observed by Humboldt; and Kaemtz says it happens in Ger- many twice or thrice a year. I I at de ce Sii I/, I api 3° I wit, thai the drai real.' dion troa." On whea bund wheal soil h thus foods. Tho brokoi set wit night, to forn moistu Rota be left increa.s( crops o If wh Walla ^ every tii twice in The se Albany, This pro grain thj 49 Ult bUv I us va- mlH ood mis, vo»y iiiins 4H il. n up rock- , and ssible land, ilorla terior ry, as )regon illeys, no bed BS. land cussed 'oiinor iw val- Will ilowed uly 1-2, I rt fine Matz- liressed lin rose jy the lour on I the air Jits ca- lliovvers Iseveral In Ger- P I Natukk'm Ihuioation. Grant tliat an ucrn of air at 70° and 1,000 foot hia;h susi)oiuls oO.sS Mialions of wiilor, and wluiii rodiicod to .')0<^ on a still ni^hl ^ivos out about ono-liiilf its supply, or li.lKM) gallons, sprinklinK it in (luost d«\v over ovory inch of tiio laud, and you havo an irrigating pro. coss superior to any muidjer of streams or system of artesian wells. .Suppose the cohnnn .'i.ooo foot liigh, the deposit at 50° may be II -win ,,..11 f . I I 1,500 gallons. OnJKf'TION. Do you nb)oot that a far loss amount sooms to bo deposited J Only api)roximatos can bo kIvou. Air cools 1° ovory 24.'i feet higii— about 3° per l,0(tO foot. This rodu-.-os tho vapor. Kvory degree of heat, with iho asconding sun, re-absorbs tho inoist\ire until all is gone that was iioL drank l)y loaves and grass or by tho soil, and very soon tho soil gives back what it rocoivod, unless its web of rootlets have drank it up. If tho soil is baked, never jilowodi and never set in oe- reals or shrubs or in^os, it gots very little good from its mighty dienching, and at tlio earliest sunrise tho blessing flies away to its troasurv in the skies. Good Cur/nvArioN Gauneiis the Plant Roots. Vai'ob abott the On tho high hills of Columbia county, Washington Terrltorj', wheat grow luxuriantly in July, 1H77, while four feet distant the bunch grass was drying up. This was the first plowing for the wheat, while the other land had never been plowed. That upland .soil has a fine mixture of the mineral elements and alkalies, and thus a spongy lightness, which easily absorbs vapor and the gaseous foods. Hence its marvelous productive powers. It Needs the Plough, the Seed and the Tree. Those high prairies that now seein so dry in summer need to be broken up, sown, set with shrubs and trees. The soil once open and set with wheat will absorb its full supply of moisture every cool night, which will carry its load of nutriment to rootlets or drip away to form springs. Trees and shrubs also become coolers and deposit moisture. Fallow Groxtno an Injury. Rotate crops, as in Great Britain, for best results. No fields need be left fallow for many years. Sown or planted and tilled they will increase the deposit of moisture and thus as.sure the coolness and crops on other fields. Wheat in Rows liiKE Corn. If wheat or oats become too dry, as happens in the lower Walla Walla valley, run the light plow or cultivator through the grain every three or four feet, leaving it in rows like corn. Do it once or twice in the summer. The section harrow and clod crusher made by Messrs. Carter, in Albany, will make a fine, light tilth, that will absorb moisture. This process will give a larger product of wheat from the rows of grain than from the entire field left crusted and dry. 50 Examples. A gentleman raised a fine field of corn 2}4 miles from Walla V/al- la, ton years ago. witiiout a drop of rain. He simply plowed tlie land, planted the seed and used the plow or cultivator between tl»e rows. Two yearu ago, another farmer raised over 40 bushels per acre, of corn, back of The Dalles, without a drop of rain. His plow kept the ground loose and spongy, and it r.bsorbed all needed moisture from the air. In 1«77, L. Patterson, of Hillsboro, planted three rows of new kinds of wheat in his garden 2H foet apart, dropping the seeds about S indies apart in each row. From 30 to (50 stalks grew from each kernel, carrying as many heads, which had from 50 to 100 grains each. The ground was kept light and spongy, and was always moist a half inch below the surface. The wide spaces gave room for the plants to feed and grow well. Tlie stalks sprouted from the center stalk like a currant bush. This proves that every wheat plant must have room and a tine tilth to give the largest products. Mr. L. thmks four quarts enough to plant an acre. His field ot Aviioat a few rods distant looked fair, but it was crusted over and dry and imper- vious to moisture, and thus in part a failure, as every field of grain sowed b.'oadcast and left to crust over must be. Rev. O. Dickinson liad a field of wlioat near Salem last year, which became so foul with wild oats that he ran the plow through every three feet to kill the oats, leaving rows ot wheat three fcot apart. The result was a larger ?rop of Miieat than the entire field would have given. This year he proposes to cultivate some land on this plan, using the Carter Excelsior combined section harrow to break the clods and reduce the tilth between the rows. This Plan is Applicable to Flat Prairies. The yellow patches of grain on some of the flat prairies of Marion, Linn and Lane couiiMes are an eyesore. It is stated that Linn coun- ty raised only lialf a croj) in 1877, owing to late excessive rains, fol- lowed by hot, dry montlis. The ground baked and the plants were chocked and stinted. Mad farmers run their ijIows through the fields about two or three feet apart in June, as the sf il began to crust over, and then followed in July with the cull'vator or section har- row and clod crusher between the rows, the evidence is that they would have liad a much larger crop. Tlio plan is worth trying tliis year, as the continued rains may keep those lands soaked till late. The Plan Applies to Vineyards. Tlie vineyard connected with the San Gabriel Mission, near Ijos Angeles — I am told— is cultivated of late entirely without irrigation. The plow, spade and hoe prove entirely sufficient to keep the ground moist and give an abundant crop. It Applies to Dby Lands Elsewhere. A gentleman has raised fine fields of corn ten miles i ^h of Los Angeles without a drop of rain, simply using the plow anu cultivator freely. A Baker county farmer, I am told, plowed up the sagw brush out- side of an old field, and raised 70 bushels of oats p^r acre, without rain. The soil is mineral, light and spongy. Onc< open, it absorb- ed moisture enough for fine growth and product. Tl as a have pare Re a sid( only miles have 'Sup on tht drillei duce s and th ing up from tl Doul of the ( it of in( fields ai Valleys, interior find dvv( Dkou A trav Jeseribi^ for Ilia, notliing Ijai; k as hiiJs gre •store hoM fcfiji repo a droj) of absorb th wiu.it in at-'i'o. It is Probabl t'le poppj Hindosfan provinces by using J Shallow cu of tJiose hij tlie air, but Tile protect visible vap^ The Thi« not- ing to the . wonder of n coal, lime. I 51 The plains of Kan«;aB Rev. C. E„l,» -Z fT7 ™ ''"""""■^ «-"■■'"«• S..I>po« ■ e ■ elt,;;; If" "-"'' o-i^.J'-, l:",.e""'=" ■*'"•■•'= ""> "ills ''ng upon oostlv ,.f • '"^"' >>eoomo a cortainf^T '''''"* -''"^^ «'>nib.s "" ca water supply I>o..btle„ the mrJ^l" "" '''"' «'«ka>is. ond .iwelli,,,,; T^i'tl ''''S'""' "".ill bo clou ", t ' ''"=" ""» " ""I" fornia. One I o. 5 '\"**'^' .J'>"rnev n,>r iTuVm ^''''P''''' '''^'^^ vear, "otm-ng to note b u Ih' '''' '^'^^^^'^ -^^'^^''^ed Y 1^^^^^^^^^^^ bar.k as many feJ Veo^,^'^^'^"'^ "fa iull ubo.u 1 50 ntV m"* ^'^•' ^"""^ •store lionso of u-.,f o..V ! ^'^ '''t'e. TJuit fn..- i, . ^ P^'^^ns and a tlrop of rain • Ijnf ^" f .^^^^'^''^ <^nvl,eat in tl.e i d.m ' '"""''•^'-■o ^ul- of tliose liigl, „|.],,, I'",,'.'"" 'i"lo cooling suifnco t„ h . "I'-iJoa. .on, IX uit,,vool,, staves, hoops 52 furniture and furniture woods-, water pipe and pump stocks, ship knees and spars, and the products of several other new industries, already glide thi'ough thotje ample water ways to the ocoivn and the world marts. Freights are cheaper from Pnget Sound to Liverpool than from Lake Micliigan to Liverpool. Tlie harvests now annually gathered from the forests and mines, from fields and orchards, from rivers and sea waters, all are mere signs of vastly greater and more varied har- vests yet to be gathered. Lumber — Mills. The great mills are improving and increasing their macliinery, us- ing late inventions to economize torce and perfect their lumber for the demands of builders and shipwrights, and other wood workers, while adding twenty to eighty per cent, to their average daily pro- duct. This draws more ships to their wharves, loads them quicker and oftener, and sends them in search of new markets. Coal. The Seattle mines of coal are a type of a vast series of veins which enriches this entire basin. These extena in sections northward into British America, and southwarrl to the Columbia river, and along the foot hills and spurs to the Cascade and Coa^t mountains into Califor- nia. The Seattle Coal Company will export over a hundred thou- sand tons the present year of very good domestic which is sold read- ily in San Francisco. The Seatco mines are sending an equally good domestic coal to Olympia, at lower rates on the O. & T. narrow gauge railroad. A short side track from the N. P. R. R. can put the same coal cheap into the Portland markets. The Tacoma coal mine; have begun to furnish fine grades of grate coal, and also of steam and gas and blacksmith, and of furnace coals. The steamer Alaska tested forty tons on her last trip, and her en- gineer, Mr. Stewart, pronounces it the best coal yet produced on the coast. She will now use it. The new railroad survej"^ of the N. P. R. R. Co., via the Cowlitz Pass, reveals veins of true anthracite which give promise of ample supplies of smelting coals. LiMK. The San Juan and Orcas Island lime have already become known as choice brands in our markets, displacing those from Santa Cruz, as the latter did the Oahu lime 15 years ago. The Puyallup lime beds now bid fair to rival those of San Juan, as their hops do those of more southern climes. Ikon. Coal, lime and iron "jeds near together and near the sea, make blast furnaces and rolling mills and machine shops both possible and profitable. The same vegetation which produced the coal veins, also formed the deposits of iron ore. Their common laboratory was in the vast morasses of the carbonaceous period. Finding the coal out- croppings, you may expoct to find the iron ores near by, and inob- ably the lime rocks in some form. All these mines are found near Tacoma. The branch N. P. R. R., up the Puyallup valley, now! opens the coal !i"d lime to market, and touches the outcio;;pings of j iron ore that indJcato both the quality and quantity needec' for home! use and export. Once developed, the savings in freights alone will] a a P C( a m de be; r jus \va T ish j ran and fur T kin, bey( freqi Ti deed on ]( Tl al Ej Jlis valle trend lands 100 bi Ith 53 up es, the om •red and har- , us- V for kers, r pro- licker which rd into )ns the ;;alitor- 1 thou- ,d read- ly good ,v gauge lie same of grate ■e coals. her en- Id on the Ihe N. P- iithracite le known Cruz, as lime beds those of » lake blast Isible aui^ leins, also ly was in ] coal ont- Lnd V'ob- bund near liley, now l>-:pingH ot I for home i Ivlone will furnish a larj^e margin of profit for this home industry and a chance for export al.so to ttie vast marts of the Pacific coast, worthy tlie at- tention of the prudent capitalist and manufacturer. Lumber. During twenty-five years the mill companies of Puget Sound have been exporting their products of fir and cedar to all the markets of the Pacific, while many cargoes of their spars and ship knees have gone to the maritime ports of France and England. Their annual export now exceeds two hundred millions of feet of sawed lumber. "Yet they have only penetrated the forests from one to three miles from the shores of the bays and rivers, and only culled the timber so far. Single trees often make from 12,000 to 15,000 ft. Their aver- age as estimated is 10,000 per tree and 50 trees, or 500,000 feet per acre. When cut close as in eastern forests, this amount in many places will be doubled. In the valleys curly maple, alder, ash, cedar and some other furniture and fine cabinet woods are found for a growing market. Fish. The waters of Puget Sound are the home of the salmon and sal- mon trout, the halibut, the herring, the rock and torn cod, the floun- der, the sea perch and the smelt, with other varieties of food fish, besides extensive clam beds and oyster beds. The dogfish and others are taken for oil. The fisheries have only just begun to enlist attention and capital, but they promise a large re- ward to enterprise. Fruit, The apple, pear, cherry, plum, and even the Isabella grape fiour. ish on the shores and islands of this archipelago ; while the cur- rants, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries gi-ow luxuriantly, and give large and delicious harvests for the reward of every faith- fu' gardener. Vegetables. The potato, turnip, tomato, beet, carrot, parsnip, ^'luaslI, pump- kin, cabbage, cauliflower, celery and onion are rai-sud oasily and beyond the home market demands. Nearness to the sea oilers a frequent profitable market for their exports. The Grasses. Timothy, red and white clover and orchard grass, blue grass, in- deed every variety tested, thrives in this soil and climate, whether on lowliand or highland. • The Cereat.s. The specimens of these were shown by Mr, Bush at the Centenni- al Exposition, for which he received a well deserved medal ( f honor. His fine exhibit can be matched by any careful farmer in any of the valleys of the Puget Sound basin, and on ail the wooded plains that trend toward the hills and mountains, and on the islands and dyke lands of the Skagit and Swinomish tlats. These latter often yield 100 bushels of oats or barley per acre. The Soils. It hds been thought at the first glance that the only good lands are 54 the river-bottoms and tide flats, and tiiat tlie lighter and more sandy blutfs and slopes and forest-covered hills will be worthless to the farmer after the lumbermen have culled their grand treasures of timber. But look at the grass plots and gardens and orchards of Olympia, and the farms near by ; or of Seattle, or Port Madison, or Port Gamble, or Port Ludlow, or Port Townsend, or Dungeness, or Coupeville, or Seabec, or any spot in Whatcomb, or Snohomish, or Island, or Mason, or R;tsap, or King counties, and you will see a luxuriant vegetation, a strength of tube and stock, a breadth of leal", a deep rich coloring of flower, that give token of a soil and climate remarkably rich in all the mineral, vcT^Btable, gaseous and vapor elements needed for garden and field, as well as forest. The diflfioulty of clearing is more than matched by the cost of transportation from the distant though rich plains of the interior. The gain o? nearness to the sea is found in the greater variety of produces for use and export. The lack of alluvium and the deep black mold of the low valleys is more tliau compensated by the richer measure of the mineral, alkaline aud ^illecious deposits in these upland soils. They will last longer, make better and stronger tubes, holding up the grain heads flrujly, proof against rust, and storm, and probably a surety against insect foes. This soil, opened deeply by the plow, and often stirred deep in the summer afternoons, will absorb the air saturated with vapors, and furnish the finest irrigation to all sorts of plants, and yield the largest harvests. Near every city, village and hamlet of the Puget Sound basin are open doors to abounding resources from the Creator's hand. The need is of thought, toil, patience and economy to enrich that whole region with homes and farms abounding in comforts, health, luxuries and wealth. TRANSI'ORATION. When the N. P. R. R. R. shall be completed, opening the vast grain fields and pastui'es of the interior to the sea, and carrying inland the lumber, coal, iron, and ocean commerce; and when the narrow- gauge railroads, like the S. & W. W. R. R., and the O. & T. R. R., shall extend the exports and imports through all the valleys, there will be ample ociasion Ibr an increase of enterprises on land and sea. Western Oregon and Washington. — Climate Average. Winter ;^i) degrees, Farenheit, Spring 52 '« " Summer 67 " " Fall 53 • •• i o cj to a o .a O u » C u Q a a CD -2 OS a o 'S 56 Kind of Cahgo. Ac. ^ The weather since leaving ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^Ij^r^ draft leaving ^i'^"'";^"' J^^^"*^*^ The coar received at Tacoma has consisting Prjn«'P^"y^2t°Gr for months, which nevertheless has been exposed o the leather for mom i would rec- done good work ^<''F^l^,^,^^'^I^^JZ ?ar^e corporations, to give it a ommend all Steamship C^on^P*"}®^' ,^ mm necessarv to have a good ?air trial and test I ^BraaS.? I wou d Ser ise this coal, from Grate surface and good Draught. ^ wouiu ^.^^ .^ what I have seen of it. than *"y ^^.^l^^^r and I ar^ positive it will new, yet, and coal not at ^^/.f^^f J^t mine I have tried all other improve rapidly a^^hej f° mto Uie ^^'^-.^f^^med from good au- kinds of coal, except S-iatUe, ^na that' i »m j puyallupcoal makes thority, is very «ooty; whi e on ^ '« "^^f^^,^ ^1,^' is n^ecessary. I llZ'^^yTlu-^T^yT^^^ rwilSsta^ntiate my statement. Very respectfully, [Signed,] John Stewart, Chief Engineer. \ \ f.:^ '^ J ip'8 irgo has tias rec- it a ;ood rom ae is will )tlier au- akes neer. I i. # /