182 LANDS OF THE ARID REGION OF THE UNITED STATES. 
expanded; but, as has been said by an able writer, “this evil, however, if 
it be such, will probably work its own cure.” 
Be that as it may, their influences have been felt by all, and their 
benefits have extended to the remotest sections of our country. They have 
proved a bond between the eastern and western States 
anxiously sought 
for by Washington when the lateral limits of the United States were less 
than half what they are at this time. They have united the Pacifie with 
the Atlantic, and the Rocky Mountains of the west with the Alleghanies of 
the east. They have dispelled all ideas looking to the removal of the seat 
of Government, for they have put in direct communication the people of 
Oregon with the people of Maine. From ocean to ocean requires but 
days, where only a few years ago it required weeks. 
In the past, long lines of moving wagons groaned beneath their loads 
of adventurous families, who at night, within the corral, seated themselves 
around the blazing camp fire, fearful of the dangers to which they were 
exposed. But the present has forgotten them. In their stead the ponderous 
wheels of frequent trains, moving with a speed surpassing that of the deer, 
0 
to) 
traversing the valley and mountain, carry forward their loads of living 
freight; and, in place of dangerous encampments, provide means of sleep 
and refreshment, and afford the comforts of luxurious homes. The railway 
has brought to our doors the harvest of our fields; lianded to our mints the 
vast resources of our mines, and opened to us direct communication with 
the older worlds. Its arms have extended into a hundred vales and over 
a hundred mountains, grasping in their embrace manifold evidences of 
civilization and prosperity. 
