._.wl$aac 
 
 X. , 
 

 PACIFIC RAILROAD. 
 
 THE NORTHERN ROUTE, 
 
 ISAAC I. STEVENS. 
 
 
PACIFIC RAILROAD— NORTHERN ROUTE. 
 
 LETTER 
 
 HON. ISAAC I. STEVENS, 
 
 DELEGATE FROM WASHINGTON TERRITORY, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 |ki(roab (bonkntion of Masjnngton anb #rigon, 
 
 % 
 
 CALLED TO MEET AT 
 
 VANCOUVER, W. T., MAY 20, 1860. 
 
 WASHINGTON : 
 
 THOMAS McGILL, PRINTER. 
 1860. 
 

 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 
 
# ■ h*-c/h. i 3. % • 
 
 
 LETTER. 
 
 Washington City, April 8, 1860. 
 
 To the President of the Railroad Convention called 
 
 to meet in Vancouver , IT. 3P., May 20, 1860: 
 
 # Sir : I propose in this communication to present some general 
 views in regard to the Pacific railroad, and especially to set 
 forth the character of the northern route. It has become now 
 fixed in the public mind, that the national defence, the develop- 
 ment of our interior, the availing ourselves of our geographical 
 position in order to control the trade of Asia and the Pacific, 
 require that early and prompt measures should be taken to estab- 
 lish communication by railroads from the Mississippi to the 
 Pacific ocean, lhe entire aspect of the interior is most rapidly 
 changing. The progress of that interior within the last two 
 years has been greater than its whole previous progress. The 
 successful accomplishment of the overland mail on the southern 
 route is now throwing a population upon that route. Pike’s 
 Peak and the silver mines of Nevada, in connection with Utah, 
 are settling large areas in the very heart of the central route. 
 The interior of the northern route, the Walla Walla, Spokane, 
 and Colville country, have already large settlements, which 
 this very year will number many thousand souls. The opening 
 of the navigation of the Missouri to Fort Benton, and of the 
 Columbia and Snake rivers, to Priest’s Rapids, and the mouth of 
 the Palouse, in connection with the overland wagon road from 
 Fort Benton to the Walla Walla, have established an easy and 
 practicable communication via the northern route. In consider- 
 ing this question I shall not look to the present capacities of the 
 country to support an overland communication, but shall con- 
 sider what all know will be the condition of the country when these 
 communications are completed, and the roads are put in opera- 
 tion. The building of a Pacific railroad will probably be a work 
 of some years, say ten years. It is not to be doubted that in 
 ten years not only will the population on the Pacific seaboard be 
 trebled or quadrupled, but that there will be a very large popu- 
 lation along the line of any route that may be selected for the 
 location of a railroad. It must also be borne in mind that in the 
 case of more than one road, there will be no antagonism between 
 the roads in reference to way travel. Each road will drain a 
 very wide extent of country bordering upon it — a country at least 
 
 5 
 
4 
 
 three hundred miles in width; so that if the intermediate popula- 
 tion is simply a pastoral one, the country will, when thus set- 
 tled, afford a population to the running mile of road greater 
 than the way population of any road in the United States. The 
 Pacific railroad, like all other roads, must have a great depend- 
 ence on its way travel ; and it can hardly be doubted that when 
 a road is completed, the way travel will be very large. It must 
 be borne in mind also, that the extraordinary progress of the in- 
 terior within the last two years, has been made with no imme- 
 diate prospect of a Pacific railroad, and with none of the aids of 
 excitement which the starting and commencing of such an enter- 
 prise would furnish. If Congress should adopt a system, and if 
 a road or roads should be commenced, it will throw a vast number 
 of laborers on the several routes, and will lead at once to a very 
 much heavier movement of our people upon them. I desire to 
 urge the project of building three roads to the Pacific Ocean. 
 It is manifest that one route is unequal to the public exigencies, 
 and would be unjust to the people of the country. If three 
 roads are built, the government will be under the same necessity 
 of using the three roads as it would be if using but a single road. 
 Over each road it must carry the mails, and must transport 
 troops, supplies, and munitions of war. If but one road is built, 
 to wit, over the central route, the government would still be 
 obliged to provide for the transportation of its mails over the 
 southern route and the northern route, and it would have to 
 transport troops over each of these two routes. Any argument, 
 therefore, based upon the defence of the country, applies with 
 equal force to three as to one route. 
 
 With these preliminary observations, I will address myself to 
 the immediate object of this communication. I contend that 
 the northern route is eminently deserving of the encourage- 
 ment and the support of the government. It is not a fiction, the 
 great vision of Columbus. It is a fact, that if we stand firmly 
 on oar geographical position, and show a wise forecast in the 
 measures looking to the development of our country, we will 
 have the means of diverting a large portion of the trade of Asia, 
 and causing it to flow through our own land. The experience of 
 railroads within the last few years has demonstrated the fact 
 that much freight will go on railroads, which could with equal 
 safety and without deterioration go by water, when time can be 
 saved. Much of the cotton for the New England factories passes 
 up the Mississippi, and is transported thence by railroad, in 
 order to gain time and save the interest on money. This course 
 enables the consumer to purchase from day to day, as he wants 
 the article, and he is not required to keep so large supplies on 
 hand as by the former mode of doing the business. Such will 
 
be the case with a vast quantity of Asiatic products. All their 
 costly articles, as silks, the higher priced furniture, spices, 
 furs, &c., instead of making the circuitous voyage around either 
 cape, will be taken by steamer to some one of our Pacific ports, 
 thence overland on the proposed Pacific railroad, and thence to 
 Europe. This will especially be the case with teas, which de- 
 teriorate by crossing the tropics, and then being kept long on 
 shipboard. The teas of Russia, which are famed for their su- 
 perior flavor, are taken overland, through Siberia, at a vast ex- 
 pense, and have been taken in that w T ay for many years. We 
 will then assume, what w T e think experience has demonstrated, 
 that a Pacific railroad through our borders will have a large way 
 population to sustain it, and will have an immense business in 
 the way of freights in the merchandise of Asia. It will also be 
 the line of movement of population between Asia and Europe, 
 as well as between these continents and our own interior. As the 
 channels of commerce are established, and greater liberality pre- 
 vails in the management of the affairs of China and the other 
 nations of Asia, it cannot be doubted that this movement of 
 population, which will be hastened all the time the road is being 
 constructed, will become a very great movement by the time the 
 road is in operation. 
 
 Looking to all these elements of business — looking to the pub- 
 lic necessities, and especially the business which the government 
 will have to transact, we will now consider some of the leading- 
 facts touching the geographical position and the natural advan- 
 tages of the northern route. This route, as has been frequently 
 observed, seems to be pointed out by nature, connecting the great 
 inland sea of Puget Sound with the great basin of the St. Law- 
 rence, which furnish a water line stretching more than half-way 
 across the continent. It has been called the extreme northern 
 route ; but looking to this great basin of the St. Lawrence, to 
 the extensive country between it and the Rocky Mountains, 
 watered by the Upper Mississippi, the Missouri, the Red River 
 of the North, the Saskatchawan, and their several tributaries, 
 and to the rapidly-developing communities of British Columbia 
 and Vancouver’s Island north of our parallel, and of the State of 
 Oregon and the Territory of Washington south of the parallel, — 
 it is a route central to a vast scope of country fitted to be the 
 abode of civilized man, and which is most rapidly rising in im- 
 portance. Puget Sound, by which designation is included the 
 whole body of waters flowing into the ocean at the Straits de 
 Fuca, is an inland sea equal in extent and length of shore line 
 to the Mediterranean, — infinitely surpasses the Mediterranean 
 in the safety of its navigation, in the number, capacity, and 
 security of its harbors, and, equally with the Mediterranean, hav- 
 
6 
 
 ing obstructions neither from ice nor from dense and dangerous 
 fogs. These waters, in connection with those of the Columbia 
 and the main coast of the Pacific ocean north of the Columbia, 
 and the adjacent country, are a second New England, having 
 all the elements for a great variety of pursuits, and for a large 
 and extensive commerce. On the coast there are cod fisheries 
 equal to the best fisheries on the northeast coast ; there is the 
 greatest abundance of salmon and halibut ; the whaling business 
 could also be prosecuted with great success from these regions. 
 There is coal on Puget Sound acknowledged now to be the best 
 on the coast, and which will probably be suitable for the purposes 
 of ocean navigation by steamers. But our lumber business ad- 
 mits of a development greater than that of any other portion of the 
 country or of the known world. On the sound alone, we now 
 manufacture one hundred millions a year, and we send more than 
 half of this to foreign ports. We have a large business in spars 
 and piles ; we manufacture shingles and laths ; and this business 
 must very rapidly increase. We have foundries and ship-yards; 
 we are building steamers and sailing vessels of considerable size, 
 and craft of all descriptions, down to the ordinary sailing, or row 
 boat. We have large manufacturing advantages. Our country 
 is a most excellent grazing and agricultural country. With all 
 these various advantages, therefore, west of the Cascade moun- 
 tains — commercial, manufacturing, agricultural, &c. — we shall 
 have to seek the markets of the Pacific in order to give proper 
 scope to our enterprise and industry. If w~e consider the inte- 
 rior of Washington and Oregon, we find that experience has demon- 
 strated what has heretofore been confidently predicted, that 
 there is a very great extent not only of fine grazing but fine 
 arable land ; and the settlements which have sprung up within 
 the last year in the Walla Walla, the Spokane, and the Colville 
 country, to which allusion has already been made, and the excel- 
 lent character of the intermediate country, must satisfy all per- 
 sons that a large population will occupy that region, even before 
 the necessary surveys could be made to locate a Pacific railroad 
 through it. 
 
 British Columbia has become a fixed fact. The products of 
 its mines are steadily increasing. Roads and communications 
 are being established, connecting the interior of British Colum-. 
 bia with the coast. Even during the past winter, the yield of 
 gold has been steadily going on. 
 
 It has been ascertained by exploration, that there is a very 
 extensive gold region east of the Cascades, in Washington Terri- 
 tory, and exceedingly rich deposits have been actually worked 
 on the Similkaraeen and are known to exist in other localities. 
 The prospecting operations of the present year will unquestion- 
 
i 
 
 ably develop the capacity of the country in its remunerating 
 gold mines, and the survey of the boundary will also furnish some 
 accurate information in regard to the silver, copper, quicksilver, 
 platinum, lead, and sulphur known to exist along and south of the 
 49th parallel. The formation of this portion of the territory is 
 similar to that of British Columbia, and the development of 
 their mineral wealth will go on together. 
 
 Thus we find on the northwest a great inland sea, unsurpassed 
 on the shores of all the oceans for the purposes of commerce, 
 lending itself to the development both of these United States 
 and of British America. What is the position of this great in- 
 land sea to Asia ? If we look on the map, we will ascertain 
 that it is the nearest point on our whole Pacific coast to the ports 
 of Asia ; but looking to the prevailing winds, it will be seen 
 that it is nearer than San Francisco by the entire distance coast- 
 ward between San Francisco and Puget Sound; for the pre- 
 vailing winds are such, that vessels coming from Asia have to 
 make our coast near the entrance of the Straits de Fuca, and 
 proceed thence to San Francisco. Is it objected, or is it urged 
 that San Francisco is the great commercial centre, and must for 
 all time to come be the great commercial entrepot of the Pacific, 
 and that having the start of Puget Sound, no point on its 
 waters can ever rise into importance ? What is the history of 
 that Mediterranean to which we have compared it ? How many 
 cities on its shores have risen and fallen, and given place to other 
 cities, for century after century ! And after the cities of the 
 olden time had fallen into decay, people of enterprise founded a 
 great city in a marsh, and made it the commercial mistress of the 
 world ; and that city has now in its turn given place to other 
 cities. What is the experience of our own Atlantic seaboard ? 
 Was New York always the great metropolis of the Atlantic? 
 Time was when Newport, in Rhode Island, was the commercial 
 mistress of our thirteen colonies ; and New York did not become 
 first until after a struggle of more than a hundred years. But 
 have we simply New York on our Atlantic seaboard? Where 
 are Portland, and Boston, and Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and 
 Norfolk, and Charleston, and Savannah — all commercial centres, 
 and more than half of them larger at this present day than the 
 city of San Francisco ? Show me a spot that Nature has pointed 
 % out as fitted for the seat of commerce, and I will show you a 
 point where the enterprise of the American people will found a 
 great city, and establish a great commerce. It is simply a ques- 
 tion of time. It is true that San Francisco occupies a more cen- 
 tral position in regard to our territorial domain on the Pacific 
 coast than Puget Sound. It is true that San Francisco is the 
 centre of a much greater local population at the present time ; 
 
8 
 
 but as regards the great carrying trade across the continent — 
 one of the largest elements in maintaining a Pacific railroad — I 
 am prepared to show that Puget Sound presents the greatest 
 advantages, and is the most central. The following table* will 
 show the distances from Puget Sound to the head of Lake 
 Superior, to St. Paul, and to the principal cities on the Atlantic 
 and Gulf coasts ; and also the distances of these same points 
 from San Francisco by the central route : 
 
 
 Seattle, via 
 
 [Benicia, via 
 
 Differences 
 
 
 St. Paul. 
 
 1 St. Louis. 
 
 in favor of 
 
 
 
 
 nor’n route. 
 
 St. Paul 
 
 1.764 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
 Lake Superior __ _ _ - 
 
 1,750 
 
 
 
 Chicago — 
 
 2,164/ 
 
 2,738 
 2,481 a 
 
 317 
 
 Portland- ------- - - - - 
 
 8,249 1 
 
 3,831 
 
 582 
 
 Boston- - - - . -- . 
 
 3,352 
 
 3,696 
 
 344 
 
 New York - __ — 
 
 3,126 
 
 3,546 
 
 420 
 
 Philadelphia - - 
 
 2,988 
 
 3,454 
 
 466 
 
 Baltimore - - - — - 
 
 2,966 
 
 3,355 
 
 389 
 
 Washington-- - — - 
 
 3,004 
 
 3,375 
 
 371 
 
 Charleston -. - 
 
 3,328 
 
 3,445 
 
 117 
 
 Savannah - - - - - 
 
 3,313 
 
 3,430 
 
 117 
 
 Mobile — - - - 
 
 3,030 
 
 3,147 
 
 117 
 
 New Orleans- 
 
 3,115 
 
 3,232 
 
 117 
 
 Averages — — 
 
 3,131.1 
 
 3,453.1 
 
 
 a Via Rock Island. 
 
 The distance from Benicia to St. Louis is 2,482 miles. 
 
 Thus the average distance from Seattle, via St. Paul, to the 
 principal ports of the Atlantic and gulf, is 316 miles less than 
 the average from Benicia via St. Louis to the same points. This 
 saving of distance via St. Paul ranges from 117 miles, as in 
 the case of New Orleans, to 582 miles, as in the case of Portland. 
 
 The following table* shows that the distances from San Fran- 
 cisco to Atlantic ports are much greater on the central than on 
 the southern route : 
 
 * Roads either constructed or in process of construction have been used to 
 construct these tables. See Appendix to Address on the Northwest for the 
 distances in detail. 
 
9 
 
 ATLANTIC PORTS. 
 
 Central route. 
 Benecia -via 
 St. Louis. 
 
 SoutlVn route. 
 San Francis- 
 co via 32d 
 parallel. 
 
 Differences in 
 favor of sou’n 
 route. 
 
 Portland 
 
 3,831 
 
 3,696 
 
 3,516 
 
 3,454 
 
 3,355 
 
 3,375 
 
 3,445 
 
 3,430 
 
 3,661 
 
 3,554 
 
 3,359 
 
 3,272 
 
 3,174 
 
 3,136 
 
 2,974 
 
 2,959 
 
 170 
 
 Boston 
 
 142 
 
 New York 
 
 187 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 182 
 
 Baltimore 
 
 181 
 
 Washington 
 
 239 
 
 Charleston 
 
 471 
 
 Sa.vanna.h 
 
 471 
 
 
 Thus, the distances to Atlantic ports via the southern route, 
 are 142 to 471 miles less than by the central route. The dis- 
 tances on the northern route average ninety miles less than on 
 the southern route. 
 
 If equated distances are compared, the differences in favor of 
 the northern over the central route will be increased 137 miles, 
 and over the southern route 31 0 miles. And the average dis- 
 tance via the northern route to Atlantic ports will be 483 miles 
 less than by the central route, and 400 miles less than by the 
 southern route. 
 
 These water lines of the Gulf of Mexico and the great lakes 
 are controlling facts in the location of a continental railroad. 
 Both the northern and southern routes combine the advan- 
 tages of a much shorter railroad connection with the great ports 
 of the Atlantic and Gulf, and of striking their respective water 
 lines at much less distances than the central route. Thus, the 
 great lakes are struck on the northern route at more than seven 
 hundred miles less distance than by the central route. Thus, 
 whether the transportation from the Pacific to Atlantic ports be 
 entirely by rail, or wdiether partly by water and partly by rail, 
 (and it will unquestionably go both ways,) or whether the over- 
 land transportation to Europe strikes these water lines at once, 
 and thence is had on shipboard direct to Europe, or, using the 
 rail the whole distance to some Atlantic port, the shipment is 
 thence made to Europe, in all the cases the advantage in the way 
 of freight is invariably against the central route. 
 
 These facts show that not only is Puget Sound nearer to Asia 
 than is San Francisco, but that the overland distances to the 
 principal cities on the Atlantic coast, and especially the great lakes, 
 is much less than the distances from San Francisco to these same 
 points either by the central or southern route. Then it is obvious 
 
10 
 
 that the whole trade of Asia which passes over our continent to 
 Europe must go by the northern route. But this is not the full 
 extent of the superiority of the northern route. On that route the 
 grades are easier than on ally other route ; and the grade is one 
 of the controlling elements in the cost of carrying freight. The 
 cost of carrying freight on railroads varies from one-lialf a cent 
 to two and a-half cents per ton per mile. Where a heavy business 
 is done, and the grades are light, the cost has been as low as 
 one-half a cent per ton per mile ; but where grades are high, the 
 cost will very rapidly increase, even in some cases as high as 2J 
 cents per ton per mile. 
 
 Nearly the whole of the country on the northern route is 
 susceptible of continuous occupancy by our people. There is 
 no such thing as as a desert, properly so speaking, on the 
 entire route. There are gaps or intervals, where it is simply 
 a grazing country. There are portions of the country occu- 
 pied by mountain ranges, which would not admit of profitable 
 cultivation ; but as a whole, the country is fitted for settle- 
 ment and occupation, and must be settled and occupied at an 
 early day. Or, to go more into details : From Breckenridge, on 
 the Red river of the north, to the Divide of the Rocky moun- 
 tains, the route passes through strictly a cultivable country, 
 capable of continuous settlement except for about 150 miles, in 
 three several sections of about equal lengths. On this portion 
 you can plant agricultural settlements, at points sufficient for 
 railroad or mail stations. From near the Divide of the Rocky 
 mountains, the country is capable of continuous settlement to within 
 twenty miles of the Divide of the Bitter Root mountains. The 
 eastern half of the great plain of the Columbia, the northern and 
 the southern portions, consist of rich river valleys and fertile table- 
 lands. A portion of the western half will not furnish arable land 
 for continuous settlements. Between the Columbia and the Cas- 
 cade mountains, the line is flanked on the south by a large body 
 of fertile land, and passes immediately through a fine grass 
 country, and for at least half the distance through an excellent 
 cultivable country. From the Cascade mountains to the Sound, 
 the line passes through a continuously cultivable country. The 
 whole intermediate country between the headwaters of the Mis- 
 souri and the great plain of the Columbia admits of continuous 
 settlement, except about forty miles on the highest part of the 
 Rocky mountains, and thirty miles in the highest part of the 
 Bitter Root mountains. 
 
 The railroad line could be laid over the great plain of the Co- 
 lumbia so as to pass over a continuous cultivable country to the 
 Columbia, except for a few miles ; but to cross north of the mouth 
 of the Snake river, which is desirable to avoid detour, it will pass 
 
11 
 
 over about fifty miles of country not adapted to continuous cul- 
 tivation. There are about fifty miles of uncultivable country be- 
 tween the main Columbia and Puget’s Sound. Thus, in the 
 whole distance from Breckenridge to Seattle, a distance of 
 1,541- miles, the route passes through only about 820 miles of 
 uncultivable country. East of Breckenridge, to St. Paul and 
 Lake Superior, the country is exceedingly rich, and inviting to 
 the settler. 
 
 These views of the country, and which I have presented in 
 my official reports, are being amply confirmed by experience ; 
 and the analyses of the soils procured by the recent geological 
 examination of this country by Dr. Evans have demonstrated 
 that it has all the elements required for crops. Indeed, generally 
 speaking, there is an unusual quantity of fertilizing materials in 
 the soil. On the upper waters of Snake river the formation is 
 trap and basalt, and the soil is sterile and unfit for cultivation ; 
 but north of Snake river, in the parallels of the region whose 
 waters flow into Clarke’s Fork, there is limestone on both sides 
 of the Rocky mountains, and westward, nearly to the great bend 
 of the Columbia. The general character of the Flathead coun- 
 try, and the extraordinary change which takes place in passing 
 from the northern route to Snake river, some two hundred miles 
 distant, is shown in the -following extracts from Lieut. Mullan’s 
 report : 
 
 “ The valley and mountain slopes are well timbered with an excellent growth 
 of pine, which is equal in every respect to the well known and noted pine of 
 •Oregon. The advantages, therefore, possessed by this section, are of great 
 importance, and offer peculiar inducements to the settler. Its valley is not only 
 capable of grazing immense bands of stock of every kind, but is also capable of 
 supporting a dense population. The mountain slopes on either side of the 
 valley and the land along the base of the mountains afford at all seasons, even 
 during the most severe winters, grazing ground in abundance, while the moun- 
 tains are covered with a beautiful growth of pine. The provisions of nature 
 here are, therefore, on no small scale, and of no small importance ; and let 
 those who have imagined — and some have been so bold as to say it — that there 
 exists only one immense bed of mountains from the head waters of the Missouri 
 to the Cascade range, turn their attention to this section, and let them contem- 
 plate its advantages and resources, and ask themselves, since these things exist, 
 can it be long before public attention shall be attracted and fastened upon this 
 hitherto unknown and neglected region ? Can it be that we should have so 
 near our Pacific coast a section of country of hundreds of thousands of acres 
 that will remain forever untilled, uncultivated, totally neglected? It cannot be. 
 But let a connexion, and that the most direct, be made between the main chain 
 of the Rocky mountains and the Pacific — and it can be done — and soon will 
 these advantages necessarily thrust themselves upon public attention, and open 
 to the industrious and persevering avenues to wealth and power. Again, this 
 section connects with another of equal, if not superior, importance, that of the 
 Ccenr d’Alene country, which again connects directly, by a beautiful section, 
 with the country at and near Walla Walla; thus showing that from the main 
 chain of the Rocky mountains to the mouth of the Columbia, we possess a rich, 
 fertile, and productive area, that needs but the proper means and measures to 
 be put forth, and manfully employed, to be turned to private and public bene- 
 fit.” * * * ***** * 
 
“Looking back upon our route, we saw we had followed Bitter Root river to 
 its head, which we found from its mouth to be ninety five miles long, flowing 
 through a wide and beautiful valley, whose soil is fertile and productive, well 
 timbered with the pine and cotton-wood, but, whose chief characteristic and 
 capability is that of grazing large herds of cattle, and affording excellent mill 
 sites along the numerous streams flowing from the mountains. The country 
 thence is watered by tributaries to the Missouri and its forks, to the range of 
 mountains separating these waters from those of the Snake river, or the south 
 branch of Lewis’ fork of the Columbia, and is also fertile, but its characteristic 
 feature is the great scarcity of timber for any purpose, the willow and wild 
 sage being used for fuel along the whole route. The geological formation of 
 this section belongs to the tertiary period. The capability of this broad area, 
 however, for grazing, is excellent. It is a great resort at present for all Indi- 
 ans in the mountains, the mountains and valleys affording a great abundance of 
 game, consisting of elk, bear, deer, and antelope, while the numerous rivers 
 and streams abound in fish and beaver. The latter are still caught in large 
 numbers on the head waters and tributaries of the Missouri, but are not so 
 anxiously sought after as years back, owing to the great depreciation of value 
 in the market east. The whole country is formed of a series of beds of moun- 
 tainous ranges or ridges, with their intervening valleys, all of which are well 
 defined and marked, the decomposition and washings of the rocks of the moun- 
 tains giving character to the soil of the valleys, which may be termed, as a 
 general thing, fertile. The geological formations along the Jefferson fork and 
 its principal tributaries are limestone and conglomerate rock. From the range 
 called the Snake River divide, the whole character of the country is completely 
 changed. Here the geological formation is basaltic and volcanic principally. 
 None of the numerous streams and rivulets flowing from the mountains along 
 the route we traveled emptied into the Snake river, but either sunk into the 
 ground, or formed small lakes in the broad valley of Snake river. The ground 
 in most places is formed principally of sand ; and where large beds of basalt 
 are not found, the ground is of a dry, absorbing nature, through which the 
 water sinks, at times bursting out again. It was somewhat singular, that for 
 sixty miles above Fort Hall, along the main stream of Snake river, we did not 
 cross but one tributary, and that coming in from the south, while none came in 
 from the north; all of the streams, as before mentioned, either forming lakes 
 or sinking into the ground. This section is also noted for the great scarcity of 
 timber, and the immense plains of wild sage; which is so abundant, that it 
 merits the name of the sage desert of the mountains. It extends for many 
 miles in length and breadth, forming an immense ocean of prairie whose same- 
 ness is only broken by the ‘ Three Buttes’ of the valley, which rise like islands 
 in the sea in this broad and barren area. Its whole character might be in- 
 cluded in the word sterility.” 
 
 Experience, moreover, has shown that there is moisture enough 
 for profitable tillage. The crops that have been raised about 
 the Dalles, at the Walla Walla, in the Nez Perces country, on 
 the Spokane, at Colville, in the Bitter Root valley, on the Jocko, 
 on Sun river, at Fort Benton, and at Fort Union, show that 
 there is ample rain for moisture to insure a certain crop. I will 
 refer gentlemen interested in this matter to my report for a mi- 
 nute description of this country in this respect, and especially 
 to the forthcoming report of Dr. Evans, which will be found to 
 be exceedingly interesting and instructive : but, before leaving 
 this subject, I desire to say that Northern Nebraska is fully 
 equal, and Washington Territory is much superior, to certain 
 provinces in Southern Russia, with which they may be com- 
 
13 
 
 pared. These provinces, or governments, are Bessarabia, Kher- 
 son, Ekatherinoslaw, Taurido, (Crimea,) Stavropol, (Caucasia,) 
 Astrakhan, and the country of the Don Cossacks, and they ex- 
 tend from the mouth of the Danube along the shores of the Black 
 sea, the sea of Asov, and across the lower parts of the Don, 
 the Volga, and the Ural into the plains of Central Asia. These 
 all lie between latitude 49° and the Black sea, excepting Stav- 
 ropol and Astrakhan, which extend south between it and the 
 Caspian sea, latitude, 44°. 
 
 In 1851, including the government of Koursk, which lies 
 north of latitude 49°, the population of this region, containing 
 an area of 262,000 square miles, ranged from 98 souls to the 
 square mile as in the government of Koursk, through the inter- 
 mediate numbers of 4.98, (Bessarabia,) 38.8, (Ekatherinoslaw',) 
 32, (Kherson,) 26.6, (Taurido,) 17.6, (Stavropol,) 17.6, (Don Cos- 
 sacks,) down to 8.8 in the government of Astrakhan. Five of 
 these provinces produce more grain than they consume — the 
 export of wheat being 18,000,000 bushels, — two sufficient for 
 home consumption, and Astrakhan only imports it. The average 
 return for the same province is six times the amount of seed 
 sow T n, while for the w 7 hole empire it is only four. 
 
 In 1847, over two million bushels of potatoes were raised in 
 the five provinces bordering on the Black sea. Beet root sugar 
 is an important product. Large quantities of wine are manu- 
 factured, and large quantities of fruit are produced. Tobacco 
 is grown to a considerable extent. In this region are over two 
 millions of horses, and nearly five millions of cattle and twelve 
 millions of sheep. 
 
 These provinces are in fact the most productive portion of 
 Russia in Europe. Yet Nebraska will compare favorably with 
 them in temperature, amount of moisture precipitated, the con- 
 stituents of the soil, and general geographical position. Both 
 regions are mainly regions of prairie, and large portions of each 
 are destitute of wood. The comparison, how r ever, in all these 
 respects is in favor of Nebraska, and yet the population of the 
 province Koursh is much denser than that of any of our best 
 agricultural States of the Mississippi valley, and the average 
 of the six provinces exceed the average of the Mississippi river 
 States, and the population is rapidly increasing by immigration 
 from the more northern regions of Russia. 
 
 But the comparison between southern Russia and Washington 
 Territory is greatly in favor of the latter. The climate is much 
 milder than in Southern Russia, and more moisture is deposited. 
 Indeed, the climate of Washington is superior to that of any part 
 of western New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, or Minnesota. The 
 greater part of eastern and northern central Washington is 
 
14 
 
 wooded, the forest growth being large, with frequently a luxu- 
 rious undergrowth. 
 
 I beg leave to quote the following from Lewis and Clarke’s 
 narrative, as descriptive of the country lying under and to the 
 westward of the Bitter-Root Mountains. 1 have passed over 
 this country in several directions, and know their description to- 
 be accurate: 
 
 When encamped in the Kookooskja valley on May IT, 1805, 
 they say : 
 
 “ The country along the Rocky mountains for several hundred miles in length, 
 and about fifty wide, is a high level plain, in all its parts extremely fertile, 
 and in many places covered with a growth of tall, long-leaved pine. This plain 
 is chiefly interrupted near the streams of water, where the hills are steep and 
 lofty, but the soil is good, being unincumbered by much stone, and possesses 
 more timber than the level country. Under shelter of these hills the bottom 
 lands skirt the margin of the rivers, and though narrow and confined, are still 
 fertile and rarely inundated. Nearly the whole of this wide-spread tract is 
 covered with a profusion of grass and plants which are at this time as high as 
 the knees. Among these are a variety of esculent roots, acquired without much 
 difficulty, and yielding not only a nutritious, but a very agreeable food. The 
 air is pure and dry, the climate quite as mild if not milder than the same par- 
 allel of latitude in the Atlantic States, and must be equally healthy, for all the 
 disorders which we have witnessed may fairly be imputed more to the nature of 
 the diet than to any intemperance of climate.” 
 
 Proceeding eastward they reached one of the Kamas prairies 
 on the Kookooskia, within the spurs of the Bitter Root moun- 
 tains. There they encamped in a point of woods bordering the 
 extensive level and beautiful prairie; and as the kamas was in 
 blossom, it being the 10th of June, the surface presented a per- 
 fect resemblance to a lake of clear blue water. The country, 
 though hilly around them, "was generally free from stone, ex- 
 tremely fertile, and well supplied with timber, consisting of 
 several species of fir, pine, and birch. 
 
 Another advantage of the northern route is, that it can be 
 worked in a greater number of sections than any other route. In 
 my railroad report of 1854, I gave a scheme, and presented a 
 programme for building this road, which proposed making use of 
 the waters of the Columbia and Missouri, for transporting the 
 workmen, and tools, and materials of all kinds, and organizing 
 the work in corresponding divisions. One would be from Puget 
 Sound and from Vancouver to the point where the railroad line 
 crosses the Columbia, another from this point to the head of 
 navigation at Fort Benton, a third from Fort Benton to Fort 
 Union, another to St. Paul, and the western end of Lake Su- 
 perior. 
 
 Thus the route can be thrown into four divisions, on each of 
 which the work can be commenced at both ends, so that eight 
 sections may be worked at a time, affording extraordinary facili- 
 
15 
 
 ties to hasten the construction of the road. The most difficult 
 of these divisions, the one between the Colufnbia and Missouri, 
 could be attacked almost as soon, within two or three months, as 
 those lying on the Pacific or great lakes. It is not necessary to 
 wait till the tunneling is done on the route, as, to establish a 
 thorough communication for the nonce, the system of zigzags, 
 by which the Alleghanies are scaled in Pennsylvania, can be 
 adopted. 
 
 It is objected to the northern route that it involves excessive 
 tunneling. This is not necessarily the case. The northern road 
 can be located with little or no tunneling, but at a very great 
 increase of distance. 
 
 Lieut. Mullan reports that, by his wagon pass (Mullan’s or 
 Little Blackfeet Pass) a railroad can be laid across the Rocky 
 mountains with only a cut one hundred feet deep through the 
 Divide, which is but half a measured mile from base to base, and 
 that no excessive grades will be required on the eastern approach. 
 The descent down the valley of the Little Blackfeet and Hell- 
 Gate is exceedingly favorable. Thus, a line can be laid down from 
 the Mississippi to Olympia, on Puget Sound, with but short and 
 few tunnels, but which will be two hundred and seventy-six miles 
 longer than the route by Cadotte’s, the Ooeur d’Aldne or Stevens’ 
 and the Snoqualmoo Passes to Seattle. We cross the Rocky 
 mountains by the northern Little Blackfoot or Mullan’s Pass, 
 then follow down the Little Blackfoot and Hell-Gate valleys, 
 cross over the Jocko divide to Hell-Gate, follow down Clark’s 
 fork to below* the Pend d’Oreille lake, cross over to the Spokane, 
 and, finally, after passing over the great plain of the Columbia, 
 follow down the Columbia valley to near the mouth of the Cow- 
 litz, and reach the Sound by the easy and practicable line of the 
 Cowlitz and intermediate country. If, instead of a cut of half a 
 mile through Mullan’s Pass, this distance should have to be tun- 
 neled, the only remaining tunnels wfill be at the Cabinet, three 
 hundred yards in length, fifty per cent, in basaltic trap, and 
 Cape Horn, seven hundred feet in length. By this route the 
 distance to Olympia from St. Paul will be two thousand and 
 forty miles, against one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four 
 miles, the distance to Seattle by the route of the .tunnels. 
 
 From the great plain of the Columbia, the distance, via the 
 Snoqualmoo Pass to Seattle, is 155 miles less than by the Co- 
 lumbia and Cowlitz rivers. 
 
 In both my preliminary report of 1854 and my final report 
 of 1859, I recommended that from some point in the general 
 vicinity of the mouth of Snake river there should be two 
 branches — one to Seattle, on Puget Sound, across the Snoqualmoo 
 Pass, and the other down the Columbia river to Vancouver. In 
 
16 
 
 justice to myself, I will state that, in my reports to the War 
 Department, at Fort Benton, in September, 1853, I took it for 
 granted that the route down the Columbia river was practicable, 
 and that after making a personal examination of it myself, I ac- 
 tually reported it as practicable on the 19th of December, 1853. 
 I considered it probably practicable before I left the city of Wash- 
 ington to commence the survey of the northern route. 
 
 To make the route a cheap and practicable freight route, it is 
 essential to diminish both the length of the line and the gra- 
 dients as much as possible. To effect this, a very considerable 
 increase of expense might be incurred, provided the interest on 
 the increased cost did not exceed the saving in the expense of 
 running the line. 
 
 For this reason especially, I have urged a direct connexion 
 with Puget Sound via the Snoqualmoo Pass ; for the superiority 
 of the route within our own borders over that in the British pos- 
 sessions may be lost if Puget Sound be reached by the circuitous 
 route of the Columbia and Cowlitz rivers. 
 
 This plan will accommodate both Oregon and Washington, 
 and will insure an extension of the Columbia river branch via 
 the Willamette and Sacramento valleys to San Francisco. The 
 connexion, moreover, with the several railroad systems of the 
 States, not included in the St. Lawence Basin, and the great navi- 
 gable rivers of the Mississippi valley, will be as short as a connec- 
 tion by the Snake river route. For the distance from Seattle and 
 Vancouver to Chicago by the northern route, is 2,154 and 2,147 
 miles against 2,364 miles, the distance from Vancouver to Chicago 
 by the South Pass and Bock Island, and against 2,182 miles, the 
 distance from Vancouver to Rock Island. But if the equated 
 distances be compared, the result will be still more in favor of 
 the northern route. A ton of freight can be delivered at Chicago 
 by the northern route for a less sum than it can be delivered at 
 Rock Island, on the Mississippi river, by the South Pass route. 
 Indeed, a comparison of the equated distances, the practical com- 
 parison invariably instituted by practical men, shows that a ton 
 of freight can be taken either from Seattle or Vancouver, over the 
 northern route to St. Paul, be placed on a steamer and delivered 
 not only at Rock Island or St. Louis at less cost than it can be 
 delivered at either of these points by the route of the South Pass, 
 but it can descend the Mississippi and be delivered at any point 
 thence to New Orleans, at less cost than a ton of freight from 
 San Francisco, either by the central or southern route. 
 
 It has also been objected to the northern route that snow and 
 the excessive cold weather would be an obstruction, both to the 
 building and the running of the road. The following brief sum- 
 mary of information with regard to this matter is presented to 
 show conclusively that these objections are utterly untenable. 
 
17 
 
 The passes of the Rocky mountains, Hell Gate, Northern 
 Little Blackfoot, and Cadot’s Pass were crossed by parties em- 
 ployed in the exploration of the northern route in the months of 
 December, January, February and March, in the years 1853-’4, 
 and in no one of these passes did they find more than fifteen 
 inches of snow. In the winter of 1854-5, the Flathead Indians 
 passed through these passes in January, February, and March ; 
 whole tribes, with their women and children, and their pack ani- 
 mals laden down with furs and meat. Victor, head chief of the 
 Flathead nation, states that since the memory of the Indian, 
 they had passed these mountains year after year through the 
 winter months. That same winter, the party that crossed the 
 Rocky mountains in January, went down Clark’s Fork in Feb- 
 ruary ; they went on horseback, the sole trouble being that there 
 were some places where the snow was deep enough to cover up 
 the grass ; but in these cases it was in the wooded portions, and 
 2J feet was the greatest depth. 
 
 When they left the wooded region where it was 2J feet deep, 
 and came to the open prairie, the snow had entirely disappeared. 
 In the crossing of the Cascade mountains to Puget sound, made 
 by Mr. Tinkham, in January, 1854, the snow was but six feet 
 for a short distance. At Fort Benton and Fort Campbell, on 
 the Upper Missouri, ever since they were established some 
 twenty-five years since, the fur companies have taken their goods 
 to their winter trading posts, on the Milk and Marias rivers, in 
 wagons, there not being snow enough for sleds. 
 
 It is obvious there can be no serious difficulty on the northern 
 route from snow. Will there be difficulty from excessive cold 
 weather ? 
 
 There are now'great lines of railroad in operation over tracts 
 of country as cold, and even colder, than the route from Fort 
 Benton to the shores of the Pacific. The mean winter tempera- 
 ture at Fort Benton, in 1853-54, was 25°. 38 above zero. The 
 average at Montreal, on the Grand Trunk railroad, for the same 
 year, was 13°. 22, and for a mean of ten years 17°. 80, above 
 zero. At Quebec, it was, in 1853-54, 11°. 03 above zero, and 
 for a mean of ten years 13°. 30 above zero. On the great Rus- 
 sian railroad, from St. Petersburg to Moscow, the comparison is 
 very similar. The mean winter temperature for a series of twen- 
 ty-one years, at Moscow, is 15°. 20, and at St. Petersburg, for a 
 mean of twenty-five years, 18°. 10 above zero. 
 
 At Fort Snelling, on the great lines through Minnesota from 
 St. Paul to Pembina, and from St. Paul to Breckenridge, now 
 actually in process of construction, the mean winter tempera- 
 ture of 1853-’54 was 11°. 64, and the mean of thirty-five winters 
 16°. 10 above zero. Thus in the winter of 1853-’54, an unu- 
 
18 
 
 sually cold winter, Fort Benton -was 15° warmer than Mon- 
 treal, 14° warmer than Quebec, 11° warmer than Fort Snel- 
 ling, 10° warmer than Moscow, and 7° warmer than St. Peters- 
 burg. Looking to the Bitter Root valley, its average tempera- 
 ture in the winter of 1853-’54 was 24°. 90, and in 1854-’55, 
 30°. 30 above zero, making it for the two winters respectively 10° 
 and 15° warmer than at Moscow, and 7° and 12° warmer than at 
 St. Petersburg. In 1853-’54 it was 12° warmer than at Mon- 
 treal, and 14° warmer than at Quebec. The greatest cold in 
 the winter of 1853-’54 was 29° below zero at Cantonment Ste- 
 vens. At Fort Snelling it was 36°, at Montreal 34°, and at 
 Quebec 29° below zero, from which it is seen that on this route, 
 the greatest cold is not equal to the greatest cold on the route of 
 the Grand Trunk railroad of Canada. The same fact is unques- 
 tionably true of the great artery of Russia from Moscow to St. 
 Petersburg. The average temperature was below zero twelve 
 days at Fort Benton, ten days at Cantonment Stevens, eighteen 
 days at Fort Snelling, eighteen days at Montreal, and twenty- 
 three days at Quebec. Thus there were more cold days on the 
 line of the Great Trunk railroad, and of the roads in Minnesota, 
 than on this northern route. Moreover, at Fort Benton the ther- 
 mometer was forty-three out of ninety days, and at Cantonment 
 Stevens thirty-two out of ninety days above the freezing point, 
 against only six days out of ninety at Fort Snelling, five days 
 out of ninety at Quebec, eight days out of ninety at Montreal, 
 and eighteen days out of ninety at Albany — all in the winter of 
 
 1853-54. 
 
 Indeed, I doubt not that the blinding sand storms on the 
 southern route would be a much greater obstacle to the running 
 of the cars than the snow storms or the cold on the northern 
 route. Now, the British government are looking to an overland 
 communication with the Pacific. They have redeemed British 
 Columbia from the vassalage of the Hudson’s Bay rule, and are 
 about redeeming the Saskatchawan country. All our informa- 
 tion goes to establish the fact that there is a very large scope of 
 arable country through the Saskatchawan region, and we know 
 that the development of the mineral wealth of British Columbia 
 will also tend to develop its agricultural resources. The British 
 government have had surveys made of the whole country, and 
 British capitalists — and especially those of the Canadas — are 
 filled with the importance of establishing their overland com- 
 munication, and doing it by railroad ; and yet the British gov- 
 ernment is not in the condition to start the enterprise within 
 their borders that we are to do it within ours. We are in ad- 
 vance of them in the way of communications. We have run 
 steamers both up the Missouri to Fort Benton, and up the Co- 
 
19 
 
 lumbia and Snake rivers to the mouth of the Palouse — the dis- 
 tance from point to point being less than five hundred miles on 
 the railroad line. The wagon road in charge of Lieut. Mullan, 
 now in process of construction between these two points, will be 
 completed during the present season. Moreover, the more de- 
 tailed surveys, and especially the line of spirit levels run by 
 Lieut. Mullan over the Coeur d’Alene or Stevens’ Pass, has veri- 
 fied the information previously gained and reported upon by me 
 as to its entire practicability. Our railroads are stretching 
 through Minnesota ; whereas in the Canadas their railroads have 
 only reached Lake Huron and the St. Clair river. They are 
 now connecting these with our roads running through Michigan, 
 Illinois, and Wisconsin. They cannot go north of Lake Su- 
 perior ; the country has been examined, and has been found to 
 be impracticable. Their only alternative is to make use of our 
 roads until they reach Pembina on the frontier, between the Red 
 river settlement and Minnesota, and then connect them with a 
 system of their own. Will they take this course, if our own 
 government, taking time by the forelock, shall determine to give 
 the necessary aid to a road crossing the 47th parallel, and reach- 
 ing the waters of the Pacific at Puget sound ? On the contrary, 
 will they not help us ? Will we not have the whole force of the 
 railroad capital and enterprise of the Canadas, backed up by the 
 British government, to assist us in establishing this communica- 
 tion ? Will not this road accommodate British Columbia? By 
 branches from the great plain of the Columbia, the country can 
 be reached on Thompson’s and Frazer’s river. Our route is 
 more feasible than theirs ; the distance is shorter, the mountain 
 passes more open, the agricultural value of the country (at least 
 west of the Rocky mountains) very much superior ; and this is 
 known to be the precise feeling, I am credibly informed, of all 
 the great railroad men of the Canadas, to whose enterprise and 
 forecast we owe the Grand Trunk road. They are ready, if our 
 people start the movement, to join hands with us ; and thus this 
 route, so far from being an extreme northern route, is the cen- 
 tral route of a vast scope of country having natural outlets both 
 on the Pacific and on the Atlantic, and is the central route of a 
 vast system of railroads having invested in them more than one- 
 half of the railroad capital of this continent. Is it wise — is it 
 just — is it having a proper regard for the future, to ignore this 
 northern route, and to throw into British hands, and to yield to 
 British enterprise the great commercial development of the 
 northwest ? . 
 
 But let us take a somewhat larger view of the question of 
 national defence than the view already presented. Lo we not 
 require, as an element of national defence, that the development 
 
20 
 
 of the northwest should be our development — that the rising city 
 of the northwest coast should be in our borders, south of the 
 49th parallel ? Do we not want to hold in our hands the key of 
 the trade of Asia ? Is it not our interest to develope the fishe- 
 ries and the lumber business, the coal, the mines, and the com- 
 merce of that northwest? Do we not need the nursery of sea- 
 men growing out of such development ? Will we not thus get 
 the seeds of a great navy upon that coast ? Will we not have 
 the means of building vessels of the largest class, to make that 
 coast self-sustaining in all the means and facilities of a commer- 
 cial and naval marine? These are the interests involved in the 
 great overland communication by the northern route ; and this 
 is, emphatically, a question of the national defence, of commercial 
 superiority, of America having her proper position among the 
 families of the earth. Or, shall we fall back upon the old selfish 
 apothegm, “Posterity will do nothing for us, and therefore we 
 will do nothing for posterity ?” I therefore hold it to be the 
 duty of the people of Oregon and Washington to insist that their 
 commercial advantages and position shall be respected by the 
 Congress of the United States, in any system which it may 
 adopt of an overland communication with the Pacific. I do pro- 
 test against Congress, when we ask for bread, giving us a stone. 
 I protest against the injustice of our being called upon utterly to 
 abandon our great route, — utterly to abandon all idea of the 
 commercial supremacy which our country owes it to itself to es- 
 tablish upon this northwest coast, and to accept instead of this, 
 the boon of a branch communication. It is my deliberate judg- 
 ment that it will be vastly more difficult for us to establish the 
 branch communication provided for in certain bills, than to es- 
 tablish this great overland communication connecting us directly 
 with the Mississippi river, with the great lakes, and with the vast 
 rail road system of the St. Lawrence basin. What shall be the 
 nature of the branch ? 
 
 Senator Wigfall’s bill proposes a southern and a central 
 route, with a branch to the Columbia river or Puget Sound, from 
 the nearest practicable point on that route. Now it is altogether 
 probable that the central route will go through the Pike’s Peak 
 country. The people of Salt Lake and Pike’s Peak urge it ; the 
 whole population of that portion of the interior, and the people 
 of Nevada will be satisfied with it. Its distance will be two hun- 
 dred miles shorter than by the South Pass. If there be no en- 
 gineering difficulties in the way, it must go through Pikes’ Peak ; 
 and our branch will be a branch, not from the south pass, but via 
 the Sacramento and the Willamette rivers ; but in either event 
 it will be purely a local affair. There will be no great interest 
 to assist us. We will have to build it with our own means, and 
 
21 
 
 with little or no assistance from others. The whole energies of 
 the people of California will be strained to establish their own 
 communication. But the northern route will be a national route. 
 We will have not merely our own feeble force, but in addition, that 
 of the vast communities of our northern states and of the Cana- 
 das, and of the many hundreds of millions of railroad capital 
 there invested. We will have aid from Europe. There will be 
 the strongest influence to push the road through ; and if the ob- 
 ject be to get a branch connecting with San Francisco, we will 
 find the key to its solution in the northern route. 
 
 ESTIMATE OF COST. 
 
 The estimate of cost of road is not given for the distance east 
 from Breckinridge, on the western boundary of Minnesota, to 
 which point the Minnesota and Pacific Railroad Company have 
 located a road under the recent grants of Congress. Their route 
 crosses the Mississippi near the falls of St. Anthony, does not 
 deflect more than 27 miles at any point from an air line, and 
 saves 20 miles in distance over my surveyed routes. Moreover, 
 with means at hand, it can be built for less than my estimate of 
 $25,000 per mile, viz: for about $21,000 or $22,000 per mile. 
 
 Estimate of cost of road from Breckenridge to Seattle , via Fort 
 Union , Fort Benton , Cadotte s Pass, Coeur d'Alene or Stevens 
 Pass , Coeur d'Alene Mission , north of the Coeur dAlene Lake , 
 and the Snoqualmoo Pass , using the long tunnel. Entire dis- 
 tance , , 1, £>44.51 miles. 
 
 Breckenridge to crossing of Milk river 
 
 Crossing of Milk river to point of departure 
 
 from Box Elder 
 
 Thence to Fort Benton 
 
 Fort Benton to entrance to tunnel 
 
 Short tunnel, 5,640 feet, at $120 per foot 
 
 Tunnel, 22,123 feet, at $130 per foot 
 
 Thence to crossing of Hell-Gate 
 
 Thence to crossing of Bitter Root 
 
 Thence 1o entrance into tunnel 
 
 Tunnel, 1.6 miles, at $130 per foot 
 
 West end of tunnel to Coeur dAlene Mis’n 
 Thence to point beyond cross’g of Spokane 
 
 Thence to fork of line to Vancouver 
 
 Thence to crossing of Columbia 
 
 Thence to entrance to long tunnel 
 
 Long tunnel, 11,840 yards, or 6f miles, 
 
 about $140 per ft. or $420 per yard 
 
 Thence to Seattle 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Per mile. 
 
 
 712 
 
 $40,000 
 
 $28,480,000 
 
 30 
 
 40,000 
 
 1,200,000 
 
 514 
 
 80,000 
 
 4,120,000 
 
 102.2 
 
 70,000 
 
 7,154,000 
 
 316,800 
 
 4.190 
 
 
 2,875,990 
 
 91.86 
 
 60,000 
 
 5,511,600 
 
 65 
 
 50,000 
 
 3,250,000 
 
 35 
 
 60,000 
 
 2,100,000 
 
 1.6 
 
 1,098,240 
 
 484 
 
 60,000 
 
 2.910.000 
 
 4.230.000 
 
 704 
 
 60,000 
 
 91.25 
 
 45,000 
 
 4,106,250 
 
 20 
 
 45,000 
 
 900,000 
 
 138.25 
 
 50,000 
 
 6,912,500 
 
 6.75 
 
 
 6,000,000 
 
 75 
 
 60,000 
 
 4,500,000 
 
 543.60 
 
 
 $84,665,380 
 
 1,500,000 
 
 Total length in miles 
 
 Steamers on the Missouri and Columbia 
 
22 
 
 Reservoirs, aqueducts, &c 2,000,000 
 
 Depots and permanent fixtures 1,750,000 
 
 Engineering and contingencies 5,000,000 
 
 §94,915,380 
 
 The cost of the short tunnel will be, 4,000 yards, 
 
 or 2.247 miles, at $390 per yard $1,560,000 
 
 Add 4^ miles of road and difficult work, at $100,000 450,000 
 
 $ 2 , 010,000 
 
 Total cost of short tunnel 2,990,000 
 
 $91,925,380 
 
 Estimate of cost of road from Breckinridge to Vancouver , via 
 Fort Union , Fort Benton . Cadotte s Pass , Coeur d'Alene or 
 Stevens’ Pass , Coeur d’ AlSne Mission, north of the Coeur 
 d’ Alene Lake, and the Dalles. Entire distance , 1,526.60 miles. 
 
 From Breckinridge to fork of line to Van- 
 couver, as by A 
 
 Thence to crossing of Columbia 
 
 Thence to Dalles 
 
 Thence to Vancouver 
 
 Steamers on the Missouri and Columbia, 
 
 Reservoirs, aqueducts, &c 
 
 Depots and permanent fixtures 
 
 Engineering and contingencies 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Per mile. 
 
 
 1,303.60 
 
 
 $67,352,880 
 
 20 
 
 $45,000 
 
 900 000 
 
 113 
 
 60,000 
 
 6,780.000 
 
 90 
 
 100,000 
 
 9,000,000 
 
 $84,032,880 
 
 1.500.000 
 2,000,000 
 
 1.750.000 
 5,000,000 
 
 1,526.60 
 
 $94,282,880 
 
 Estimate of cost of branch road from Vancouver to Seattle. 
 
 From Vancouver to Seattle, 172 miles, at $50,000 per mile $8,600,000 
 
 Depots 150,000 
 
 Total cost of road $8,750,000 
 
 Recapitulation of cost of road from Breckinridge to Seattle, with 
 a branch road to Vancouver , and a branch road from Van- 
 couver to Seattle. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 From Breckinridge to Seattle 1.543.60 
 
 Branch to Vancouver 223.00 
 
 Branch from Vancouver to Seattle 172.00 
 
 $94,915,380 
 
 16,930,000 
 
 8,750,000 
 
 $120,595,380 
 
In this paper I have preferred not to encumber it with tables 
 showing in detail the advantages as to distance of the northern 
 route over any route in the British possessions, and that by the 
 South Pass, and the greater nearness of its termini both to Asiatic 
 and European ports. These tables are given in my address on 
 the northwest which accompanies this communication, and also 
 tables showing in much detail the significant facts of the several 
 routes, as distances, both lineal and equated, summit levels eleva- 
 tions above the sea, sum of ascents and descents, cost, &c. It 
 will be seen, that the sum of ascents and descents is much the 
 smallest on the northern route. 
 
 It must constantly be borne in mind that an enterprise of the 
 magnitude and character of the Pacific railroad, cannot be really 
 taken in hand and the work of construction commenced, except 
 upon the most accurate and minute information. The surveys 
 thus far have been for the most part reconnaissances. It is not 
 certain that on any route the best passes have been ascertained. 
 This fact appears very clearly in the proceedings of the railroad 
 convention at San Francisco as regards the passes of the Sierra 
 Nevada which come into competition on the central route. So 
 on the northern route. The explorations of the mountain regions 
 would have to be extended and comparative reconnaissances 
 made of the several passes to ascertain the most favorable one — 
 which done, the intermediate connections could be established 
 and the work of location commenced. In my judgment, full two 
 years would be required to execute properly this work of recon- 
 naissance and location, and to attain that exact information re- 
 quired to make a detailed estimate of the cost. The engineer 
 must know the cubic yards of excavation in rock and earth, 
 the cubic yards of earth embankment, of masonry of the seve- 
 ral kinds, of culverts, bridges, aqueducts, clearing through tim- 
 ber, drainage, the precise localities from which materials can 
 be procured to the best advantage, the cost of delivery of the 
 same, &c., before he is able to arrive at just conclusions as to the 
 probable cost of the road. 
 
 In this connexion it may not be improper to observe that the 
 Pacific railroad is being worked out by the agencies now in 
 operation. Local roads are advancing, and diminishing the dis- 
 tance to be overcome. With protection to our citizens from In- 
 dian disturbances, with opening communications, and the over- 
 land mail, every day is rapidly preparing facilities to undertake, 
 and the business to render remunerative, the Pacific railroad. 
 If two years could now be devoted to a thorough examination of 
 the several routes to locate roads, and ascertain the actual cost, 
 it would afford Congress and the people of the country informa- 
 tion on which intelligent action could be had. 
 
24 
 
 In conclusion, I will express the hope that the convention 
 may be well attended, and that its proceedings may show that 
 the people of Oregon and Washington are not unmindful of their 
 true interests and the exigencies of the country, in their con- 
 sideration of the greatest practical enterprise of the age, the 
 Pacific Railroad. 
 
 Very respectfully. 
 
 ISAAC I. STEVENS. 
 
 i 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 3 0112112480865