28 ROUTE NEAR THE THIRTY-SECOND PARALLEL. 



The natural slopes of the three passes just considered are within the power of a 30-ton engine 

 with a load of 200 passengers, each with 100 pounds of haggage. 



Supposing 20-ton engines used, and that they carried the maximum loads adapted to the other 

 portions of the road, where the greatest grades are 40 feet to the mile, it would be necessary 

 to divide this load into three parts to pass a grade of 150 feet per mile; and the grades being 

 brought to that, its disadvantage consists in the expense of two additional engines worked 

 through the passes. 



From the head of the Tulares valley, the navigable waters of the Bay of San Francisco may 

 be reached in several ways. 



The eastern side of the Tulares and San Joaquin valleys is intersected by numerous streams 

 from the Sierra Nevada. The western is bounded by the Coast chain, and has few streams. 

 That part of the Tulares valley between Kern and San Joaquin rivers, a space of 150 miles, 

 having a soft alluvial soil, is, at certain seasons, miry; a road, therefore, extending through it, 

 should keep near the foot-slopes of the mountains. From the Tah-ee-chay-pah Pass to the best 

 point of crossing Kern river, 21^ miles, the route passes over a dry, dusty plain, destitute 

 of water and fuel, the soil of which is not well constituted for fertility. 



From the crossing of Kern river to the second crossing of the San Joaquin, near Grayson s, 

 the numerous river-beds or bottoms should be crossed on piles, the spaces varying from 50 to 

 300 feet the greatest width to be spanned not exceeding 100 feet. From Tah-ee-chay-pah Pass 

 to the Straits of Martinez, the location distance would be 288 miles. The most direct route 

 to San Francisco from the Tah-ee-chay-pah Pass will be found through one of the passes known 

 to exist in the mountain range separating the Tulares and San Joaquin valleys from those of 

 the Salinas and San Jose rivers. The distance through it is about 10 miles ; the elevation 

 of the passes about 600 feet. From Tah-ee-chay-pah Pass the route should cross to the western 

 side of the Tulares valley, around the head of the lakes, and enter the Salinas valley as soon as 

 practicable. 



The soil of the Tulares valley, north of Kern river, and of the San Joaquin valley, is well 

 constituted for fertility, and needs merely the proper amount of water to be highly productive. 

 Sufficient water and fuel for working parties can be found at convenient distances on this section, 

 (excepting where it crosses the Great Basin, and approaching Kern river; the amount of 

 deficiency on these portions having been already given.) Lumber and good building-stone 

 are found at various points in the mountains, accessible from their foot-slopes. For fuel for 

 locomotives, the coal of Puget sound and Vancouver s island must probably be depended upon. 



The topographical features of this extension of the route are, with the exception of the mount 

 ains, favorable to cheap construction. The mountain passes are likewise of a favorable character, 

 their only objectionable feature being their high grades. The nature and extent of this objection 

 has been already stated, and, it is seen, is not serious. 



From Fulton to San Francisco the distance is 2,039 miles ; the sum of the ascents and descents 

 42,008 feet, which is equivalent to 795 miles; and the equated length of the road is 2,834 

 miles; the estimated cost is $93,120,000. 



To Lieut. Williamson, assisted by Lieut. Parke, was intrusted the survey of a route from 

 the Bay of San Francisco to the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers, connecting with the 

 ports of San Pedro arid San Diego on the one side, and on the other with the most practicable 

 mountain passes. His work has been thoroughly and handsomely executed, presenting much 

 new and valuable information of the mountain passes on the southern portion of the Sierra 

 Nevada and Coast range. The geological examination, made under his orders, is highly 

 creditable and instructive. 



The examination of the middle section of the route of the 32d parallel, by Lieut. Parke, 

 was very thorough, and highly creditable, though executed with small means ; and his report 

 very satisfactorily exhibits the character and essential features of the country over which he 

 passed. The scientific labors of the boundary survey, which had been previously performed in 



