t 2763 - RAILROAD TO THE PACIFIC BY THOS. PRENTICE KETTELL, ESQ. UMHJT (From the Democratic. Review, for September, 1849.) RAILROAD TO THE PACIFIC. THE necessity of a direct internal communication between the Valley of the Mississippi and the Pacific states of the Union, is apparently uni- versally admitted. None, not even those whose political intrigues induce them to trifle with the best interests of Western America, and hazard by insolent neglect, in the furtherance of party schemes, the welfare of the Pacific states, doubt the ultimate necessity of a railroad communica- tion. Since the breaking up of the great Roman Empire, there has never been embraced under a single government so great an extent of continuous territory peopled by an active, intelligent people as is now subject to the laws of the federal government. The immense territory, which, subjected by the Roman legions, gradually fell under the sway of the " eternal city," was cemented and held in subjection only by the prompt construction of those wonderful highways, whose firmness has withstood the efforts of fifteen centuries. From the wall of Antoninus in Scotland, through England, France, Italy, Byzantium, to Jerusalem, a distance of 3,740 English miles, the solid structure perforated mountains, bridged on bold arches the broadest and most rapid streams, connecting all the chief cities of the empire with the Roman Forum. At every five miles of this distance existed a station-house, supplied with forty horses, by means of which the route could be travelled at the rate of 100 miles per day, for the conveyance of intelligence. As soon as a territory was annexed to the empire, the prolongation of this road was at once effected to facili- tate the march of the legions, and consolidate the imperial power. These roads were the arteries that gave vitality to the government; and if in those days, they were important to facilitate the movement of troops which were the instruments of territorial aggrandizement how much more so are they in our country in the 19th century, when industrial en- terprise is the agent of annexation, and commercial intercourse the means of consolidation ? The necessity has been universally recognized, and works of proximate importance have, from time to time, been perfected by individual, state, and national enterprise. Multitudes of turnpikes and railroads testify to the first. The noble canals of New-York, Pennsyl- vania, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, are examples of the second, while the Cumberland road is not altogether an insignificant imitation of the Roman highways. On the opening of the north-west territory to settle- ment, it was determined to procure the construction, by Congress, of a national road, running from east to west, in order to make accessible the interior of those states to the eastern markets ; the natural outlet down the Mississippi then being in the hostile hands of Spain. For this ob- ject Congress, in 1S06, passed a law to construct a national road from Cumberland, in Maryland, to Ohio. This was opposed by many, on the ground that the federal constitution conferred no power on Congress to spend the public money for works of improvement. Certain it is, that if Congress possesses such a power in an unlimited degree, in connection with the right to borrow money for such purposes, it is the most danger- ous prerogative which can exist in our country. After debate, the mat- 4 Railroad to the Pacific. ter was compromised by a provision in the law, requiring the assent of' Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, through parts of which states the road must pass, for its construction. This was merely an evasion ; for if Congress did not possess the power, the assent of these states would not confer it ; and if it did possess the power, the assent was unnecessary. Public opinion is now apparently settled down to the strict construction of the constitution, which confers no power on Congress to undertake works of internal improvement. It may well be supposed that tne ex- penditure, by Congress, of a considerable sum of money in a new state, was far too desirable to the people and landholders of that state, to suffer the matter to slumber ; and some forty different acts have prolonged the road from Cumberland, through Pennsylvania, part of Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and across Illinois, running from Wheeling nearly parallel to the Hiver Ohio, to Alton, on the Mississippi River. The amounts appropriated by Congress have been, from the commencement of the road in 1806 to 1838, east of the Ohio River, $1,901,041; in Ohio, $2,081,008; in Indiana, $1,135,000; in Illinois, 8746,000, making a total of $5,863 ; 049, until the stoppage of the road, in 1838. Of the whole sum expended by Congress, a portion was to be reimbursed by the new states, from the per centage of public lands sold within the states, allowed to each on its admission into the Union. It has been the custom, on the admission of a new state into the Union, for Con- gress to make to it a grant from the public lands, for schools, a seminary, a seat of government, &/c., and to allow to it 5 per cent, of the proceeds of lands sold within its border, after paying expenses, for the construction of roads and canals. Of this sum of 5 per cent., 3 per cent, is paid over to the state, to be expended under its direction, and the remaining 2 per cent, is expended under the direction of Congress. This 2 per cent, fund has supplied part of the sum expended by Congress. Since the Cumberland road was undertaken, the purchase of Louisiana by Congress has taken place, mainly for the purpose of opening the naviga- tion of the father of waters to the sea, in order that the west might have an avenue to market. That is to say, it was the purchase rather than the construction of a great highway. What the situation of the country west of the Alleghanies was, in relation to the Atlantic states, before the construction of the national road, and the purchase of the delta of the Mississippi, is that of Oregon and California now to the Valley of the Mississippi. Immense mineral and agricultural wealth, with vast commercial advantages, are held in abeyance, for the want of available avenues to market. That an avenue will be constructed by and through which the immense natural wealth of the Valley of the Mississippi, and the Pacific states, shall be mutually exchanged, has been carried, as it were, by general consent, and the question is narrowed down to the manner of construction. So important and popular a work has, of course, not escaped the at- tention of the trading politicians; and many projects have been put for- ward to throw the work either directly or indirectly into the hands of the federal government, in order that the huge expenditure and great pa- tronage it will involve as the leading measure of a vast series of similar works in the back ground may strengthen the power of the executive, and consolidate the strength of party. One of these plans proposes that a company shall be chartered by Congress, with a capital of $100,000,000, Railroad to the Pacific. 5 to be aided by 898,000,000 of United States stock, besides a grant of a strip of land, ten miles wide, throughout its whole extent. So exagge- rated a proposition requires no comment. Another plan, is for the work to be constructed directly by government, with funds derived from all the proceeds of sales of lands on the line of the road, and half of those of all other public lands. This, of course, opens the door to the most limitless extravagance and corruption is antagonistic to all the principles heretofore recognized by the democratic, party in relation to the powers of Congress upon the subject, and as ratified repeatedly by the great body of the people at the general elections. It recognizes, however, one principle which is sound, and the right application of which, free from political objections, will form the mode by which the object may be realized. The public lands, which constitute the domain of the United States, present the means of constructing the road. Those lands are of vast extent, and valuable according to fertility and situa- tion. Where nature, by means of a river, has formed a highway, on which produce, with little expense, may be transported to market, the contiguous lands have a value superior to that of soil of similar quality remote from an highway, and subjected to inordinate expense of land carriage. For all practical purposes, a railway has an effect upon land similar to that of a river. It will attract settlers along its borders, and will deliver produce from farms hundreds of miles from its terminus, on terms more favorable to the producer than can be afforded by land car- riage for a comparatively trifling distance. Hence, a railroad gives value to the soil through which it penetrates, and equalizes the price of lands through the whole range of its operation. From the shores of Lake Michigan to the borders of the Pacific, the ownership rests with Con- gress ; but the land is of variable value. As the traveller proceeds from the Valley of the Mississippi, the fertility of the soil fades into arid and sterile tracts, hundreds of miles in breadth, until the chain of rocky mountains being penetrated, the renewed verdure of the eastern slopes rewards the enterprize of the pioneer. Based on these facts, the project of Mr. Whitney proposes, that Congress sell to him a tract 60 miles wide, and in length equal to the route from Lake Michigan, to some favorable point on the Pacific, at 10 cents per acre. This land to be so disposed of, that the good lands shall be made to produce sufficient to defray the cost of the road through their own extent, and also through the barren waste, where the agricultural value of the soil will be of little account ; whatever of land should remain, after the whole road is put in successful operation, to become the property of Mr. Whitney, and his assigns, as a reward for the work. The road to remain in possession of government as security for its progress, and Congress always to regulate tolls, so that the revenue shall never exceed the accruing expenses, and wear and tear. The process would be thus : as soon as 100 miles of road should be located, Mr. Whitney would provide funds for the complete construc- tion of 10 miles; when the commissioner appointed by Congress should be satisfied that the work was efficiently done, he should issue to Mr. Whitney patents for 5 miles, by 60 wide, of land, or 192,000 acres, which would realize sufficient to pay for the 10 miles of road ; the other 5 miles, or 192,000 acres, remaining untouched, in possession of the government, in addition to the 10 miles of road, as security. When the poor lands are approached, this half would no longer be sufficient for 6 Railroad to the Pacific. the construction of the 10 miles ; and it would become necessary to recur to the remaining alternate reserved half to carry on the work, un- til good lands should be again reached across the desert. Thus, accord- ing to the bill, Congress sets apart and sells to Mr. Whitney 60 miles wide of the public land, from the lake to the Pacific, and an equal num- ber of acres for any already sold on the tract ; and, as before stated, the good lands, which extend 800 miles, must be made to produce means to construct 1,600 mile^ of road, (800 miles through poor lands,) or one mile by 60, being 38,400 acres, must furnish means for two miles of road. He would, immediately after the bill becomes a law, survey and locate the route for 200 or 300 miles, so as to secure the lands ; then make a contract for the grading of 100 or 200 miles of the road, and make all arrangements and preparations, with machinery, to go on with the work ; and when, having completed 10 miles of road, as the bill provides, on the best plan of construction of railroads of the present day, on a guage of not less than six feet wtde, and with an iron rail of not less than sixty- four pounds to the yard all to the full satisfaction of the commissioner and government; then he would, under the certificate of the commis- sioner, be allowed to sell 5 miles by 60, the one-half through which the road had been completed, or 192,000 acres; which, at the present price, (72 cents per acre,) for soldiers' bounties, and which must be the price of the best lands until some 16,000,000 of acres are disposed of, would amount to 8138,240. Now, such a road as the bill calls for, cannot be built short of $20,000 per mile, and the 10 miles would cost $200,000; for which outlay, he would receive lands which can now be purchased for $138,240, or $61,760 less than the actual outlay the government holding the other half, (five miles by 60,) 192,000, through which the road had been builtj and also holding the road. Now, if he could not make this 192,000 acres produce enough to return the $200,000 expend- ed on the 10 miles of road, then the work could not be continued, and the government would not allow him to take one acre of land, and the $200,000, and as much more as had been expended in the experiment would have been lost. But if, from the results of his energies, efforts, and labor, the 192,000 acres should be raised from its present value, to or beyond the $200,000 expended, then the work could be continued, and the 192,000 acres, the other- half held by the government, would experience an equal increase in value from the same causes. Such would be the mode of proceeding for 800 miles through the good or avail- able lands, or so far as the 5 miles by 60, or 192,090 acres, would fur- nish means to construct the 10 miles of road, the government always holding one-half, (alternate 5 miles by 60,) of all the lands, and also hold- ing the road as security for all ; each and every ten miles of road being always completed in advance of the sale of lands, and the road with the alternate settlements imparting benefits to, and enhancing the half held by the government, far exceeding the value of the first sales. In this plan, there are avoided the great evils of extending the patronage of the government of creating a gigantic debt, or of giv- ing life to a corporation of dangerous magnitude. On the other hand, the work creates for itself the "meat on which it feeds." Lands, which are now 100 miles in the interior of a prairie, are of no comparative value, because inacessible to market ; but as soon as penetrated by the road, and brought within five hours of its terminus, they become at once Railroad to the Pacific. 7 of great value, and will command prices superior to those, which less fertile soils on the borders of western streams might sell for. As the favorable localities on the natural avenues become crowded with settlers, the rare advantage offered by the new avenue, through hitherto untouched soil of surpassing richness, will be eagerly sought for ; and western mi- gration will receive a new impulse, while the great work will derive new strength from the population pressing on its track. This proposition affords, therefore, the most feasible mode of perfect- ing the stupendous work, and grasping as it were, with an iron arm, not only the natural wealth of those wonderful states springing upon the Pa- cific, but of nationalising their trade and creating a point of attraction for the commerce of Asia, as well as a direct home market for the pro- duce of our fisheries, which, for want of such a facility, are in danger of being altogether denationalised. That California is to yield, annually, a large quantity of gold as a staple production, is now no longer problematical. Almost (if not quite exhaust- less quantities of the precious metals) are known to exist, and they are to reward the hardy toil of the persevering miner in such increasing volume as materially to affect the currency of the world. They are to impart to commerce a material accession of monied capital ; and the in- crease of this wealth must manifest itself in a rise of prices. That prices are always higher in that country which is the richest, is but ano- ther mode of stating that money being there more abundant is of less relative value. If the gold of California is by prompt means of com- munication poured into the lap of the United States, and gradually swells the volume of the circulating coin as it passes in new and shining pieces from the mint and its branches, a gradual increase in the distributive wealth of the whole Union must manifest itself in a rise in values, and enhanced ease in the discharge of obligations and taxes. That a portion of this golden product will flow off as a staple export of the United States, in conjunction with corn and cotton, for the purchase of more desirable descriptions of wealth, will be both necessary and inevitable. But that it should flow into and through the channels of internal commerce by means of an interior avenue from the mines to the mints and merchants, is of infinite importance to the general right of participation in so na- tional a product. It is highly probable that the influence of the rail- road in guiding the precious stream from the mines into the heart of the Union, will be productive of more real wealth than several times the cost of the work. The road which transports mineral wealth and Asiatic merchandise from the borders of the Pacific to the bosom of the great lakes, will re- turn in almost limitless quantities the swelling produce of the Mississippi valley to minister to the wants of the pioneers, as well as to the necessi- ties and growing demands of the over-populated countries of Asia. Under the supposition that the appropriation of the proceeds of the lands to the construction of the road would divert some 2 to three millions of revenue now derived from that source to the federal treasury, the outlay would be judicious on the part of the government merely as a financial measure, inasmuch as the influence of the road in finding an Asiatic market for the produce of the valley of the Mississippi, and facili- tating the general exports of this country, in return for which, .should the 8 Rarlroad to the Pacific. system of indirect taxes be continued, the revenues from the returns of those produce sales would more than equal the present revenue from the lands. It has been urged 'that a railway of such extent could not carry freight in competition with sailing vessels to the Isthmus, even when tranship, ment takes place at Panama. Now we are to reflect th?t the China com- merce coming west in the sphere of the great circle, will always approach the Western side of the continent at a point near the proposed terminus of the road ; from that point to New-York, via Panama, the distance is in round numbers 6,000 miles, while the length of the railroad in round numbers is 2,000 miles to lake Michigan, or 3,000 to the Atlantic. That is to say, the Panama route is an arc of 6,000 miles, of which the rail- road route is the chord. Now, in relation to the comparative abilities of rail cars and vessels, we have one great practical example worth myriads of theories. The Hudson river, running 150 miles from Albany to New- York, has facilities for steam freighting unsurpassed on any water-course in the world. Notwithstanding this, a company of the most sagacious and successful merchants of New-York have undertaken to compete with that stream and its advantages, by the construction of a railroad through the rocky border of the river, at an expense of probably $12,000,000, or one- fifth of the whole estimated cost of the Pacific railroad on the plan pro- posed. Without saving one mile of distance, they have, guided by their own practical shrewdness, entered into this outlay, depending solely upont the superior advantages of a railway over steam or sailing navi- gation, under the most favorable circumstances. If this view is true on the Hudson, in how much greater a degree must the advantages of a railroad entirely in our own country, manifest themselves over a sailing route of triple distance, to be transhipped in a disturbed, and sickly and foreign country, subject to the adverse influences of hostile powers ? For all those supplies which the great West require, the facilities will be still greater ; as thus, under the supposition that the road not being built, the China trade takes the Panama route, a chest of tea coming from China will then go 6,000 miles from the Pacific coast to New-York, thence 1,000 miles by inland freight For consumption in the Mississippi valley, making 7,000 miles, whereas by railroad it would come from the Pacific in 2,000 miles to the great valley. The same distance would be saved in the transport of corn and other produce from the West for Asiatic consumption. ;^P There is no doubt but that many of the counter-projects for the guid- ^**nce of the China trade into other channels, have arisen from a desire to benefit sections and localities, no matter at what expense of the general welfare. Such schemes never' succeed. The instinct of commerce is unerring in finding out and following the most direct and cheapest chan- nels. As infallibly as that the bee, when loaded, takes the shortest road to the hive, so will merchandise in motion make a " bee-line" to its desti- nation, and efforts to divert it, for sectional benefit, can nly result in ultimate loss. The necessity for immediate action in the matter is obvious, when we reflect that the feasibility of the plan depends upon the posses- sion of the good lands east of the Mississippi. If delayed until these are occupied by settlers, the whole project becomes impracticable.