36 EXPLANATORY EEMARKS UPON THE TABLE OF LENGTHS, ETC. 



Htream is taken at $45,000 per mile, one-tliird at $65,000, and one-third at $90,000 per mile 

 along the Colorado at $45,000 per mile. With the exceptions indicated, the estimate in the 

 table is that of Captain Whipple. 



In the topographical description of the country, Captain Whipple states, in reference to the 

 cut-oif line from the Big Sandy to the Colorado, "the distance for a railroad by that line would 

 be about 70 miles." Adopting this as the length of the cut-off, the length of the route of the 

 thirty-fifth parallel, from Fort Smith to San Francisco, may possibly become 2,006 miles, with a 

 cost under estimated at $100,000,000, and the distance from the Mississippi river to San Fran- 

 cisco 2,270 miles. So far as yet demonstrated, the length and cost of a railroad by the route of 

 the thirty-fifth parallel, from Fort Smith to San Francisco, cannot be less than 2,096 miles, and 

 $106,000,000 ; nor the distance from the Mississippi river to San Francisco, by the same route, 

 be less than 2,360 miles. 



The distance from Fort Smith to San Pedro, (route of thirty-fifth parallel,) so far as yet 

 demonstrated, is at least 1,820 miles, the estimated cost not less than $92,000,000. The dis- 

 tance from the Mississippi river to San Pedro, by this route, 2,090 miles. Should the cut-off be 

 found practicable, the first may become 1,730 miles, the cost not less than $86,000,000, and the 

 second distance 2,000 miles. 



The construction of the wagon road from Fort Defiance to the Colorado river will probably 

 solve the question of the railroad practicability of the line from the Big Sandy to the Colorado. 



