LETTER
TO THE
noi. ¥M. M.
IN RELATION TO THE
RAILROAD TO THE PACIFIC
BY THE
TIIIRTY-FIFTH AND THIRTY-SECOND PARALLELS.
AVashington, D. C., April 15, 1858.
Sir : The communication aLldressod to you by "a Citizen
of Arkansas" respecting the two routes for a railroad to the-
Pacific by the 35th and 32d parallels, contains extraordinary
misrepresentations of the official repoids upon these routes.
To expose some of the most prominent, and to show how un¬
reliable that communication is, I send you the enclosed
criticism upon it. To follow the writer through all his mis¬
apprehensions and misstatements would lengthen the paper
beyond reasonable limits.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
A. A. HUAIPHREYS,
H
Captain Topographical Engineers.
Hon. AVm. M. Gwin,
Chairman Senate Committee on Pacific Railroad.
REMAKKS
Upon the pamphlet of " a Citizen of Arkansas."
There have been of late numerous articles in relation to
the most eligible route for a railroad to the Paciiic, most of
them advocating that of the 35th parallel, or, as it is some¬
times called, the Albuquerque route. These effusions have
generally been confined to misrepresentations of the route
of the 32d parallel, which the Secretary of War reported
(in accordance with the law appropriating money for making
explorations to determine the question of practicability) as
the most favorable one of those examined within our terri-
tor}-. Each of these writers admits the correctness of the
official report in regard to those routes, which are repre¬
sented as less favorable than the one in which he is especially
interested, but they all combine to attack the route of the
82d parallel, which is shown to be the best one examined.
In these attacks the fairness of the Secretary of War and
of those officers who aided him has been questioned; and
they have in some instances been accused, and the attempt
has been made to prove them guilty, of wilful misrepresen¬
tation and perversion of the facts determined by the late ex¬
plorations. Where the record of these explorations could not
be distorted to support these charges, the authority of state¬
ments made by irresponsible cattle-drivers and express-riders
have been brought into requisition, though it was especially
the object of Congress, in directing the examination of the
routes tobe made under the direction of the War Department,
to place the subject on a more reliable basis than such infor¬
mation afibrded. lipon the reports of mountain men and
hunters, the late Col. Benton (and no one was possessed
of more information from this source than he) believed that
the Coochecope Pass route was the most favorable of all, and
3
yet it is remarkable that of all the routes examined, it is the
only one which the official reports show to be positively
impracticable.
That the facts in relation to the different routes detei'-
mined by the official surveys and reports, should prove un¬
palatable to certain sectional interests, is not surprising;
but that attempts should be made to represent the War De¬
partment as having had a partizan interest in the route of
the 32d parallel, merely for giving reasons to support its
determination, was not to be anticipated, at any rate from
men of sound judgment. In truth, most of the charges
come from sources scarcely deserving of notice, and betray
such weakness of understanding that the only object tbeir
authors could have, seems to be to gain notoriety by calling
forth a reply from those they abuse. It is hoped that a
notice of one of these writers will be sufficient.
A most remarkable instance of misrepresentation of
facts, and inexcusable ignorance in regard to them, is ex¬
hibited in a pamphlet by "a citizen of Arkansas," and it is
hardly necessary to go beyond his prefatory letter to show
its worthlessness.
" The following pages," he says, "were written in the
fall of 1857, for the purpose of calling the attention of the
people of Arkans^as to the superior advantages of the route
from Fort Smith, by Avay of Albuquerque, for the transpor¬
tation of the overland mail to San Francisco, and were left
unfinished on account of unavoidable delay in procuring
the material essential to a proper view of the subject in its
full bearings. They have been printed in their present
fragmentary state, under an impression that some at least
of the facts which they contain are not generally known,
and that those facts, though collected with special reference
to a route for mail stages, may prove useful in considering
the selection of a route for a railroad."
Now, would any one imagine that notes in pelation to a
4
route for ''onaü stages," addressed to tlie interests of "í7¿e
people of Arkansas," 'Sprinted in their present fragmentary
state," would be found arraigning the War Department for
its determinations, made for the whole United States, in re¬
lation to a route for a railroad?
It would seem that every person must see the great dif¬
ference between the two kinds of roads, and that the prob¬
lem of a practicable route for mail stages is not only unlike
that for a railroad, but is much simpler. And yet admit¬
ting, as this Citizen of Arkansas does, that he had not suffi¬
cient material for treating of a route for mail stages "in its
full bearings," he must print his notes " in their present
fragmentar}' state" to decide the question of a railroad route.
There is no way to account for this strange conclusion of
his. It reminds one of the negro who sold his dog for a
good coon dog, and afterwards gave as a reason for think¬
ing he was good for coons, that he knew he was good
for nothing else. Those who examine this writer's notes
will find them very much like the dog. The "Citizen's"
remarks seem to indicate him to be the veritable individual
who was accosted by the "Arkansas traveller" about
which road he should take, and was told by him that "it
made no difference ; before he got through either, he would
wish he had taken the other." For he having become
helplessly benighted on the subject of a "route for mail
stages," takes up that of a railroad with no better success.
This " Citizen" does not anywhere in his notes refer at
all to the exploration of Captain Sitgreaves, Topographical
Engineers, made in 1851, the report of which was published
in 1853, and, at the end of his notes, says that when they
were written "he knew nothing of Lieut. Beall's late expe¬
dition from Hew Mexico to California, and had not seen
cither of the volumes containing Captain Whipples's re¬
port." How, the difficult portion of the 35th parallel and
5
that on which , its comparative practicability depends, lies
between the Znñi and the Mojave rivers, and of this por¬
tion his only authorities who had seen the country are Mr.
liichard Campbell, Mr. Joseph Walker and Mr. F. X.
Aubrey. It is remarkable that he omitted Captain Sit-
i^reaves repoi't in his researches, for in the ^senceof Capt.
Whipple's report, it is the most valuable contribution to our
knowledge of the difficult portion of the 35th parallel ever
made, and the diary of this expedition especially deserves
the attention of this " Citizen." Had he availed himself of
it he might have been saved a great deal of misapprehen¬
sion. What do his authorities amount to ? (See pp. 8 and
9.) They are—
1st. "Mr. Richard Campbell, of Santa Eé, who travelled
in 1827, with pack mules, from Xew Orleans to San Diego
by way of Zuñi, found no difficulty throughout the whole
distance; and that a good wagon road, with wood, water and
grass, can be found in this direction, both to San Diego and
to the Pueblo de los Angeles.
2d. " In the summer of 1852 an anonymous letter ap¬
peared in the Xew York Herald, dated Santa Fé, July 1,
1852, stating that Captain Joseph Walker'' (not of the
army) "had recently discovered a new route to the Pacific,
having passed from Monterey to Albuquerque, leisurely
with pack mules, in twenty-five days, by a route directly
west, abounding in pasture and water, and as practicable
for wagons and carriages as that between Santa Fé and
Missouri.
3d. " Mr. F. X. Aubrey came in from San Francisco by
way of Tejon Pass, crossing the Colorado a little below the
38th parallel, and passing from thence to the Zuñi village,
by what line of travel does not very clearly appear. It
seems to have been regarded by the Albuquerque papers at
the time as bearing too far south. But his account of this
trip is particularly valuable, because he says : ' I set out upon
6
this journey simply to gratify my own curiosity as to the prac¬
ticability of the much-talked of routes for the Atlantic and
Pacific railroad. Having previously travelled the Gila
route, I felt anxious to compare it with the Albuquerque or
middle route.' ^ lie had taken sheep and wagons to Califor¬
nia by the Gila river the year before, and was about to re¬
turn that way with sheep. Upon the middle route, he says:
'I encountered many hardships and dangers, and met with
serious pecuniaiy loss, yet I say it is the best for a railroad,
and would he excellent for ordinary travelling but for the
Indians.'
" This seems to have been the first dii-ect confirmation of
the various accounts of Lieutenant Simpson, Captain Ord,
Mr. Carson, and Col. Miles." (ISTeither of these persons
have been over the difficult sections of this route.) " It
comes from no ordinary source. Mr. Aubrey's reputation
as an intrepid explorer and a careful and accurate observer,
was not surpassed either in Hew Mexico or California.
Some of his trips between Santa Fé and San Francisco were
made in the shortest time on record. His ride from Santa
Feto Independence, 775 miles, in five days and sixteen
hours, including stoppages of every kind—for sleep, meals,
swimming streams, &c., was probably never surpassed in
this country or any other ; the actual travelling time being
four days and a half, or one hundred and seventy-two miles
per da}', twenty miles of which he travelled on foot."
His authorities have been quoted at length in relation to
the middle route, for it is wished that he may have the full
advantage of them; no comment thereon seems called for.
He says: "finally, in 1853, it" (the 'middle route') "was sur¬
veyed by Lieutenant "Whipple. The substance of his report
is given in the 1st vol. P. E. E. E., pages 20 and 22 and
74-78."
Admitting as he docs that the substance of Lt. Whipple's
report, is given in the reports of the Secretary of War and
7
of Capt. Humphreys, we find him making use of his own
astonishing misapprehensions as official statements, quoting
from it only for the most feasible portions of the route of the
35th pai'allel, omitting nearly all mention of its difficult
sections, and pursuing the verj' opposite course in regard
to the 32d parallel.
It is almost a waste of time to follow him through the
tangled web of his remarks ; yet some of his grossest and
most obvious mistakes or perversions will be pointed out,
in order that no one may take them for facts, and in doing
this, questions of railroad practicability alone, will receive
attention.
In the second division of his pamphlet we find the
" Citizen"' endeavoring to prove, in spite of surveys to the
contrary, that a railroad route from Fort Smith, on the Ar¬
kansas river, in latitude 35° 28', to Los Angeles, on the
Pacific, in latitude 34° 03', must be shorter than a railroad
route from Fulton, on Red river, in latitude 33° 35', to Los
Angeles. To do this, he states that the first route proceeds
without important bends directly to Los Angeles, while the
second bends far to the south, and then returns to about the
same latitude as at the starting point.
How any one with the map that accompanied the Sec¬
retary of War's report before him, (which, from a remark in
a subsequent part of the'pamphlet, the Citizen appears to
have had,) will perceive this statement to be erroneous.
Any one can measure for himself, and find that while the
route of the 32d parallel makes bends, whose sums do not
exceed 5J degrees of latitude of northing and southing
between the two termini, that of the 35th parallel makes at
least a sum of 7| degrees of latitude of northing and south¬
ing between these termini. Further ; his statements that the
country between Fort Smith and Albuquerque admits of a
road almost mathematically straight, and that the route of
the 35th parallel has no great bends, is in direct contradic-
8
tion to every official map and report, if by road ha means
railroad, vffiicli is the subject under consideration.
The " Citizen " next proceeds to state, that in each of the
three divisions of the route of the 32d parallel vast ranges
exist, over which the engineers have run theoretical air line
railroad routes, and that the distances over these spaces are
neither measured distances nor reliable, legitimately dedu¬
ced distances.
Taking them in the natural order, the first of the instan¬
ces adduced by him is the line across the Llano Estacado ;
and to support his statements in regard to it, he mentions
that Capt. Pope first sent a small party to explore the route
across the plain, and then a second to survey it, both of
which parties executed the task assigned to them ; and the
distance across the Llano Estacado, found in the official re-
Ijorts, is the distance across it by Lieut. Garrard's survey.
To such proof that the railroad line across the Llano Esta¬
cado, as exhibited in the official reports, is a theoretical air
line not measured, I think nothing need be added ; a Citi¬
zen thinks differently however, and nothing but admeasure¬
ment by Capt. Pope's own hand will satisfy him.
The second instance adduced by him, is on Lieut. Parke's
line, between the Eio Grande and the Gila, where he
'affirms that the railroad line for a space of ninety miles was
not passed over by Lieut. Parke ; and to prove this, quotes
from Lieut. Parke's diary, wherein it is stated that the
party did not take the direct course to th^ Eio Grande pre¬
scribed by his instructions, along which the railroad line is
drawn, but followed the emigrant road into Mesilla. This
may appear to be conclusive upon that head, but had the
citizen quoted from Lieut. Parke's diary some three pages
further on in the printed report, his readers would perhaps
liave been surprised to learn that Lieut. Parke there states :
that having obtained fresh animals at Port Fillmore, he re¬
turned upon the route, and carried his survey over the direct
9
course indicated in his instructions, and along which the
railroad is drawn, which a citizen states is a theoretical air
railroad line.
Whatever excuse or explanation "A Citizen" may offer for
such misrepresentations of official reports, his readers, at
least, will know what degree of reliance to place upon
his statements.
The first Mexican boundary line that was marked, runs
within a few miles of this portion of the railroad line for a
hundred miles west of the Bio Grande ; and probably every
mile of the route in that distance is distinctly visible from
the boundary, for it passes over a great plain where there
is scarcely a perceptible undulation. This portion of the
railroad route of the 32d parallel was carefully gone over
by Lieut. Parke in 1855, in connection with the question
of the practicability of Artesian wells.
We come now to the third and last instance of theoreti¬
cal air-line railroads, according to the statements of "A
Citizen," namely, that portion of the 32d parallel route
across the Colorado desert. Those who have read even
one report upon the exploration of the region between the
99th meridian west of Greenwich and the Pacific slopes of
the Sierra llevada, must have perceived, that not only the
success of the expedition, but sometimes even the lives of the
party, depended upon the judicious management of the ani¬
mals ; and that the movements of the main party were con¬
trolled by the necessity of adhering to the watering places
known to the guide. It was for this reason that Lieut.
Williamson, instead of crossing in a direct line from the foot
of the San Gorgonio pass to Ft. Yuma, following the middle
or eastern side of the Colorado desert, kept along the foot of
the mountains bordering it on the west, where the localities
of springs and the supplies of water were known to his guide.
Had he passed over the desert, he might have been obliged
to dig for every drop of water the party consumed, though
10
he might have found even better and more numerous water¬
ing places than along the route he followed. One was
uncertain, the other certain, and there was no necessity for
his running the risk of the uncertain route, because, from the
San Gorgonio pass to the crossing of the desert, the whole
of that great f)lain was distinctly visible twenty or thirty
miles to the eastward, level as a sheet of water, correspond¬
ing precisely in character with that portion of it crossed
by the wagon road from San Diego to Ft. Yuma. In the
dry atmosphere of those interior regions, minute objects
are clearly seen many miles otf, which, in our more moist
climate, are only perceptible when close at hand. Had this
part of the route been in a mountainous, hilly, or even
moderately broken or undulating country, or if any obstruc¬
tion whatever had been seen, surmised, or imagined, to the
construction of a railroad over it, the party of Lt. "William¬
son would have passed over every foot.of the line. But in
reality, no one at all familiar with the Colorado desert, or
the reports of those who have examined it, questions the
practicability of the easy construction of a railroad over it
in the general direction and with the length stated in the
official reports ; and no explorer, engineer, or other person
qualified to pronounce an opinion upon it, will say that the
railroad line projected across it in the official reports and
maps, is not a reliable and legitimately deduced line.
It is not necessary to pursue this subject further than to
remark, that the route travelled by Lieut. Williamson from
Los Angeles to the San Gorgonio pass had reference rather
to the convenience of his movements than the railroad
line : he was making a reconnoissance, not a line of loca¬
tion, and his data and maps afforded him the means of giv¬
ing the approximate length of a practicable railroad line
between the points named. Hone of the parties were in¬
structed to make surveys for railroads, where, from the well-
known character of the country, no one doubted their prac-
11
ticability, but wherever the difficult or mountain region was
entered, there the railroad lines adhere strictly to the care¬
fully laid lines of survey. A portion of the railroad route
of the 35th parallel, leading to San Francisco, passes in
precisely the same manner over a great extent of desert
plain, yet " A Citizen " makes no objection to it on that
account.
On page eighteen of his pamphlet there appears to be an
intention to impute unfairness to the review and comparison
of the railroad routes made in the "War Department. I
would again remark, that there is a singular confusion of
ideas in "A Citizen's" mind in regard to railroad and wagon
routes. In one part of a sentence the official reports of the
War Department are represented by him as discussing and
presenting projects of wagon roads; in another part of the
same sentence the same facts and figures are represented by
him as having emanated from the War Department, upon
the subject of railroad routes : to the latter alone, it is per¬
haps needless to remark, do they apply. If it is intended
by him, on page eighteen, to state or imply that when the
official review and the report of the Secretary of War, of
February, 1855, were made, that it was known either to the
Secretary of War, or to any one in the Pacific railroad
office, or to Lieut. Whipple, or to any other officer or em¬
ployé of the Department, or to any one else, that there
was another line or route on the 35th parallel beside that
presented in the official reports which was ascertained to be
practicable for a railroad, it is, to xise the mildest phrase
applicable, a most extraordinary misapprehension, and mis¬
representation of plain statements.
The only line ascertained hy Lieut. Whipple to be prac¬
ticable for a railroad, and so stated by him in the report,
which, with his maps and profiles, formed the basis of the
official review and the report of the Secretary of War, of
Fehruary, 1855, was that along or close to his wagon trail ;
12
in some allowable instances it deviated from it. But by
the latter part of November, 1855, Capt. "Whipple had re¬
duced, plotted, and studied car-efully the maps, observations,
and notes, taken by his party in the field, and presented late
in November, 1855, as the result of this, the lengths, eleva¬
tions, &c., (fee., reported from the ofiice in the annual report
to the Secretary of War, of November 29th, 1855, together
with the explanations given by Capt. Whipple of the man¬
ner in which the changes had been made. The lengths, ex¬
planations, and statements respecting the route of the 35th
parallel contained in this annual report of 1855, were not
presented as those of the office, but as Capt. Whipple's.
His report was not then in condition for examination and
review. When it was finally completed and given to the
office, it was examined, and thè official review of it is to
be found in volume VIL, P. K. R. report. The substance
of this review appeared in the Union of July 18th, 1857,
in explanation of some erroneous statements in regard
to the route of the 85th parallel, purporting to have been
taken from the official reports upon that route.
The distances of 1618 and 1692 miles were presented in
the reports of 1855 as the shortest ascertained lengths of
practicable railroad lines on the routes of the 32d and 35th
pai'allels, and every fact and circumstance connected with
the ascertainment of these lengths, as well as of all others
given in the reports, were as fully and clearly stated in the
official reports as the circumstances under which they were
prepared admitted; and no fact, no condition, nothing
whatever relative to the subject at that time known to the
authors of the various reports, was omitted. And, to close
the subject here, no substitution of wagon-trail for railroad
distance was made in any official statement emanating from
the War Department. There is nothing whatever in any
report or document emanating from that source to justify
or excuse a statement that such a substitution was made.
13
Further: The statement of "A Citizen" that the dis¬
tance from El Molino to Ft. Fillmore is left out of the whole
length of the route of the 82d parallel, in the "War DeparÇ
ment reports, is incorrect. It was not omitted, hut forms a
part of the length of the line, as any one may see who ex¬
amines the printed profile of the route. The " various
errors" in the distances in the El Paso route, which "A
Citizen" says are to be found in the official reports, have no
other (existence) than in his pwn misapprehension.
lie ought to be able to find from those reports of 1855—
for the information is there given—that the distances upon
which the estimated cost of the El Paso route is based, are,
by a railroad route, ascertained to be practicable by the
official surveys, as follows :
From Fulton to the Rio Grande, near El Paso 787 miles.
do. near El paso to Ft. Fillmore 37J do.
do. Ft. Fillmore to the Gila River 350J do.
Thence to Ft. yuma 188 do.
do. to summit of San Gorgouio's Pass.. 155 do.
do. to San Pedro 100 do.
Making a sum total of. 1618 miles
"A Citizen" lays great stress upon finding it stated in
the official report that the distance between Fulton and
Preston was 183 miles instead of 153, which he claims that
it is. If that error was committed, the distance was not
used in making out the sum total ; and it was, therefore, an
immaterial error that might well escape notice in preparing
a report, which required the examination of a great mass
of figures. The distance used was 147, not 133 miles.
It is quite probable that the error of "A Citizen " in at¬
tributing the omission of the distance between El Molino
and Ft. Fillmore arose from the official statement that the
length of the Gila river from its mouth to a point seven
miles above the Pimos villages was 223 miles ; hut as he
appears to have had a map of the routes prepared in the
14
War Department, he should have seen that the railroad line
does not follow the great Lend of the river, but follows
Emory's route across the bend. When it is recollected how
pressing the demand of Congress was for the results of the
expeditions after the return of the parties from the field, how
great the extent of country explored — more than 6,000
miles of routes — in what a brief period, under this pres¬
sure, the maps and reports of the parties, and the official
review of them, were prepared and printed, it should be
matter of surprise if no error entered into them. Yet the
only one as yet discovered by such lynx-eyed examiners as
"A Citizen " is a numerical one that did not enter into the
total distance, was not used in the estimate of the cost, and
having no hearing upon any part of the question of practi¬
cability positive or comparative, must be considered by
every candid person as trifling in its character.
"A Citizen" proceeds, in pages 21 and 22, to give va¬
rious distances, for the correctness of which he vouches,
"if the (his) preceding statements are correct," hut as they
are not correct, his figures on those pages are erroneous.
Eor the actual length of the railroad routes from the Mis-
sippi river to the Pacific ocean, ascertained by the ofiicial
explorations to be practicable, reference must be made to the
table at the conclusion of the official review, in vol. vii. Pa¬
cific R. E. reports.
The reference made by "A Citizen" to the official review,
as "admitting this" and "conceding that," may betray his
want of candor, but the intention is too palpable to impose
upon any one the belief that a partizan spirit is to be found
in that official paper. ' »
On page 41 "A Citizen" refers to the official review as
stating that one of the chief advantages of the route of the
32d parallel is its level and low grades, and thereupon de¬
votes a page and a half to contrasting some of the steep
grades proposed on the route of the 32d parallel with those
15
of the 35th parallel. Now, it is no where stated in the
oíñcial review, nor anywhere else, that level grades and low
grades characterize the route of the 82d parallel, nor is any
reference whatever made to its grades except those of a
steep order. But it is stated in the oíñcial review that one
of the great advantages and characteristics of the route of
the 32d parallel is its passage over numerous and extensive
level plains, whose smooth unbroken surfaces allow the
formation of a road-bed, the most costly item of construc¬
tion, to be dispensed with. This is a totally different ques¬
tion from that of grade ; and, in fact, a railroad may have a
nearly level grade, and yet its construction be enormously
expensive, as witness the Hudson river railroad.
Again: the subject of steep grades was discussed in con¬
nection with the route of the 82d parallel, for the pur¬
pose of showing that even through the mountain passes,
where the most difficult and costly road-bed formation wa:*
to be found, the natural slopes of the passes might be used
without resorting to side location, with cutting and filling,
and deep summit cuts. But the estimated cost of the route
was based upon the side-hill location, summit-cutting, and
all other final and permanent conditions, and not upon the
temporary steep grade suppositions. This description of
the steepest grades that might be used, came in properly in
connection with the route of the 32d parallel, because it
was the last route reviewed, and the reports, maps, and
profiles upon it, were sufficiently complete to admit of the
discussion. Those of the 85th parallel, at that time, did not
admit of it.
The " Citizen," in concluding his list of authorities—Mr.
Richard Campbell, Mr. Joseph "Walker, and Mr. F. X. Au-
bry—thinks the opinion of the latter particularly valuable,
as he had been over both routes ; on that of the 82d paral¬
lel with sheep, and on that of the 35th for pleasure, during
which latter journey he met with heavy pecuniary loss and
16
many hardships. In opposition to this opinion is that of
Mr. A. II. Camphell, Civil Engineer, as given lately in a com¬
munication to the Hon. Guy M. Bryan, of Texas. lie says :
" In the year 1853-'4 I accompanied the expedition under
Capt. A. W. Whipple, United States Topographical Engi¬
neers, from Fort Smith, via Albuquerque, to San Pedro, Cal¬
ifornia ; and in the year 1854-55 I accompanied the ex-
ptedition under Lieut. J. G. Parke, United States Topo¬
graphical Engineers, from San Francisco hay to Los An¬
geles ; thence to San Diego ; and thence, by the Gila river,
to El Paso ; and from El Paso to San Antonio, Texas.
The whole country adjacent to these routes was examined
critically by me under the direction of these ofhcers, with
reference to the practicability of constructing a railroad
along from the Mississippi valley to the Pacific." * * *
" The conclusion to which my mind has led me in favor
«of the El Paso route, are based on personal observatioii,
and careful study of the country, and are in no way af¬
fected by either sectional prejudice or personal interest ;
and I will state in the outset, that, as both are Southern
lines, I should be satisfied with the Albuquerque line on
that score, if that was the best ; and I will further state —
for it is customary to accuse every man who advocates this
route of an interest in "bought Texas lands"—that I
have no pecuniary or landed interest in the El Paso route,
and consequently have no motive for my preference except
an honest conviction, derived from personal ohseiwation ;
that it is emphatically the most practicable, cheap)est, and
shortest route between the Mississipjpi river and the Pacific
ocean ; and the country through which it passes, as a whole,
will compare favorably with any other route in agriculture
and pastoral resources, and in mineral wealth, and that it is
the only route that can he successfully ivorhcd during the entire
year."
W. n. Müültiä, Pi inï.