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nine thousand square miles, with the centre axis of which the proposed 

 line is not far from coinciding. The value of this amount of mineral 

 fuel must be very great, especially ia a State covered to a large extent 

 with sparsely timbered "openings" and prairies, and of which the 

 small lakes, constituting such a remarkable feature in the suj)erficial for- 

 mation of this Peninsula, cover about one fortieth part. This buried 

 wealth lies useless, on account of the non-existence of proper internal 

 communications. Its extent and capabilities have not been fully inves- 

 tigated, but that the construction of this line would open out a vast 

 field for mining enterprise, and thereby create for itself a constantly in- ' 

 creasing traffic, by carrying this now dormant source of wealth to mar- 

 ket, there can be no doubt. 



The manufacture of salt early engaged the attention ©f capitalists in 

 this State, and an appropriation has been made by the Legislature for 

 the purpose of promoting and encouraging this branch of productive 

 industry. Individual efforts on an extensive scale, to reach the richest 

 brine springs, have not been wanting, and they were successful so far 

 as to tap springs which yielded a brine furnishing a bushel of salt to 

 eighty-two gallons of the natural water. Though in all probability 

 much richer veins would have been reached by extending the borings 

 to a greater depth, these enterprises have been abandoned avowedly 

 through the want of the means of carrying the material when manu- 

 factured to a remunerative market. 



From the foregoing brief statement of facts, showing the advantages 

 which the proposed line will possess in a local point of view, developing 

 the great resources of the country through which it will pass, and more 

 generally by the important connections it will make with other lines of 

 railways and steamboats, and the certainty of doing a large share of 

 the immense traffic which is so rapidly increasing between the eastern, 

 western, and southern Stales and Canada, as well as the vast resrions 

 bordering on Lake Superior, which contain more elements of real wealth 

 than the gold mines of California, it must, I think, appear evident to 

 every one who reflects on the subject, that the road will do a large and 

 profitable business. 



Tlie owners of real estate along the line of the proposed work, are 

 deeply interested in its construction, and will, I have no doubt, co-ope- 

 rate with the parties who design to embark in the enterprise. 

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