PUGET SOUND, AND ITS RELATION TO THE TRADE OF ASIA. 115 
distance is . From New York to Shanghai, by way of the proposed railroad and Puget 
sound, the distance will be 7,800 to 8,000 miles—a saving over the sailing routes either of 
Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, which must carry a great part of the Asiatic trade with 
our Atlantic cities across the continent. But the Atlantic cities cannot be considered the true 
points of departure for the Asiatic trade. There must be points in the great interior between 
the Rocky mountains and the Alleghanies. From St. Paul, on the Mississippi river, to Shanghai, 
the distance will be less than 7,000 miles; and the inhabitants of the great interior, where the 
mass of our population will hereafter be situated in their consumption of Asiatic teas, silks 
and spices, will save the transportation from the seaboard. 
In predicting the future course of Asiatic trade, it is presumed that lines of steamships will be 
established between Shanghai and our Pacific possessions. The coal at Puget sound, lying on 
the route from San Francisco to Shanghai, will furnish the necessary combustible. It is also 
presumed that the difficulty of carrying freight, together with the quantity of coal requisite for so 
long a voyage, will be greatly overcome by the increased size of vessels—steamships of even 
10,000 tons burden being now in the course of construction—and also by mechanical inventions 
and improvements in motive power, which will diminish the quantity of fuel required. It may 
be safely assumed that, by the time the proposed road is completed, the average time on the 
Pacific, so much more favorable for steam voyages than the Atlantic, will exceed fifteen miles 
per hour. 
When an uninterrupted line of steam communication is established, a portion of the European 
trade, and nearly all the travel to Asia, must take its course across our continent, and on the 
northern road, as the shortest route. The present sailing distance from Liverpool to Shanghai is 
14,400 miles. By way of Puget sound the distance will be 10,800 miles; a difference equal 
to a voyage across the Atlantic. From England to Jeddo, in Japan, the sailing distance is 15,660 
miles. By way of Puget sound the distance will be 9,500 miles. 
The course of travel is determined by the shortest time. The saving of time will carry Euro- 
pean travel and mails even as far as Calcutta, and much more to places farther east and 
nearer our Pacific possessions, by the proposed route. The average time required to carry 
the mails from Calcutta to England, on the overland route, is forty-eight days; from Shanghai 
to England, sixty days. The distance from Calcutta to Puget sound is 8,450 miles, which dis- 
tance would be performed by steam-vessels, at fifteen miles an hour, in twenty-three days; the 
2,800 miles from Puget sound to New York will be run over by passenger trains, moving at 
thirty miles an hour, in four days; from New York to England, the average time is twelve days ; 
making, in all, thirty-nine days, and a saving in time of nine days from England to Calcutta, 
and of thirty-three days in the time from New York to Calcutta by way of England. The travel 
from Shanghai to New York would be performed in eighteen days; from Shanghai to England in 
thirty days; being a saving of fifty-four days from New York, and thirty days from England. 
It may be more doubtful if merchandise will bear the heavy expense of transportation by rail 
and steam-vessels. It would be hardly safe at present to fix the limits of economical transporta- 
tion of merchandise, as other elements than mere cost are to be considered. The saving of time 
is an important element, as is evinced by the high freights paid to clipper-ships, and the higher 
rates paid for transportation by rail on lines parallel to canals and rivers. 
Notwithstanding an increased cost of transportation, all merchandise which is deteriorated by 
exposure to a tropical climate will take the northern route across the continent. The British 
sailing route, and our own, cross the equator twice. ‘Teas, as well as other animal and vegetable 
substances designed for human sustenance, are heated and greatly injured by exposure to a 
continued high temperature. It is believed that the delicate flavor of tea transported overland 
from China to St. Petersburg will be preserved in that article trausported by sea, when the 
present tropical exposure is avoided. 
A short route to China is of the utmost importance to this country to facilitate the exportation 
