ROUTE NEAR THE FORTY FIRST AND FORTY-SECOND PARALLELS. 15 



first rapid. A cut is proposed at the summit, 120 feet deep, running out to the surface at 

 either end, making a length of four miles, and a grade of 124 feet to the mile for 2.4 miles. 

 It may be preferable to tunnel or to cut only one-half the depth proposed. The open plain 

 of Bound valley, on the Sacramento, is reached 15 miles from the summit, (difference of eleva 

 tion 1,300 feet,) located for one-half that distance on the mountain side, which is broken by 

 ravines. 



The route now lies over the smooth plain of Bound valley for 15 miles, to the head of the 

 first cafion on the Sacramento. This canon is a formidable obstacle to be overcome. Its entire 

 length is nearly 14 miles, succeeded by an open valley of similar extent, which is followed 

 by a second canon, nine miles in length, of the same character as the first. From the mouth 

 of Canoe creek, four miles below the foot of the second cafion, for the space of 96 miles the 

 course of the Sacramento lies entirely through heavily-timbered mountains, which rise precipi 

 tously from the river-banks to the height of from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the stream. Its 

 course is very sinuous, with all varieties of curves greater than a right-angle, and is seldom 

 entirely straight for two miles consecutively. The construction of this portion of the route, 136 

 miles in length, would be one of no ordinary difficulty or expense under the most favorable 

 circumstances of dense population, and the facilities of railroad construction which it would 

 afford. It is impossible, with the data presented, to form a reliable opinion of its probable 

 cost. 



Seventeen miles above Fort Beading the open valley of the Sacramento is attained, over 

 which a railroad may be carried to the bay of San Francisco, 250 or 300 miles distant. 



The distance from Fort Bridger to Fort Beading by the line of Lieutenant Beckwith s profile 

 is 1,012 miles ; from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Bridger, 1,072 miles making the whole 

 distance from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Beading, on the Sacramento, 2,084 miles, and to 

 Benicia 2,264 miles. 



The distance from Council Bluffs to Benicia by the above route is 2,134 miles. 



Using the line along which the route can be located in the Great Basin, about 103 miles 

 shorter than that travelled, the distances become, from Fort Bridger to Fort Beading, 909 

 miles; from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Beading, 1,980 miles ; and to Benicia, 2,161 miles. 



The distance from Council Bluffs to Benicia becomes 2,031 miles. 



The points of supply for ties, lumber, &c., are at distances apart of 500, 300, 200, and 

 YOO miles, as timber is only found at the eastern extremity of the route, on the Black Hills, 

 Wind Biver mountains, the Uinta and Wahsatch mountains, and on the western slopes of 

 the Sierra Nevada. The scattered growth of cedar upon the Basiu mountains may, perhaps, 

 be found available for ties. 



Should the coal-beds of Green river prove to be of such quality and extent as to admit of 

 being profitably mined, the points of supply of fuel the same as those just designated for 

 lumber will be importantly increased. Coal may then be had for nearly the cost of mining 

 it at the eastern terminus of the road, for cost of mining near its middle, and at its western 

 terminus for the cost of mining, and freight to that point from Puget sound. 



Fuel for working-parties will generally be found contiguous to the route. 



The winter climate is known to be severe on the plains east of the Bocky mountains in 

 this latitude. That it is more severe, and of long duration, upon the great table-land of 

 the Bocky mountains, is to be inferred. Lieut. BeckAvith found the sun had not yet begun 

 to melt the snow upon the terrace divide on the western border of the plateau, and about 

 1,000 feet above it, when he crossed the former, on the 10th April. The snow was here from 

 twelve to sixteen inches deep, and had accumulated in deep drifts on the northeast slopes of 

 the hills and ravines. Captain Stansbury found the Uinta mountains covered with snow for a 

 considerable distance from their summits on the 19th August. The quantity of snow that 

 falls upon the great undulating plain between Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger is not exactly 

 known. It is probable that no unusual difficulty may be apprehended from it on this plain, 



