40 ROUTE NEAR THE FORTY-SEVENTH AND FORTY-NINTH PARALLELS. 



sissippi. The road passes successively through a wooded and fertile prairie country, and crosses 

 the tributaries of the Minnesota river at their sources. From the Mississippi to the Bois des 

 Sioux the distance is 110 miles ; the rise is about 750 feet; the grades generally ten feet per 

 mile, though occasionally thirty feet. Lumber and stone are to be supplied from the Mississippi 

 and west of it ; the excavation and embankments are light, 



The line passes for 40 miles over the almost absolute plain of the Bois des Sioux, leaving 

 its western edge near and north of Dead Colt Hillock, here entering the rolling prairie, keep 

 ing south of the Shayenne river, whose valley is 150 to 200 feet below the general level of 

 the prairie, and along the dividing ridge between it and the Kiviere a Jacques ; then crossing 

 the latter river at a width of 120 feet, it is directed towards the valley of Mouse river, bounded 

 on the south by the high plateau of the Coteau du Missouri. Keeping along the base of the 

 coteau, to avoid the deep coulees of Mouse river,* and its tributary, Kiviere des Lacs, the coteau 

 is turned, near the head of the latter river, by the Grande Coulee, and with a grade not exceed 

 ing 40 feet per mile, the line passes to the bottom lands of the Missouri, near the mouth of 

 Big Muddy river, about 30 miles west of Fort Union. Steamboats of two-feet draught can 

 at all times, when not obstructed by ice, ascend the Missouri to Fort Union, the trip up from 

 St. Louis occupying 42 days, and back 17 days. The total rise in this distance (about 400 

 miles) from the prairie of the Bois des Sioux to the Missouri is 700 feet. From Dead Colt 

 Hillock to the valley of Mouse river, 200 miles, the country is in part undulating, rising 

 gradually. 



The earth-work from the Mississippi to the Missouri will be neither heavy nor expensive, and 

 no rock excavation, except in crossing the &quot;divide into the valley of the Missouri. Tho 

 grades need not exceed 30 feet per mile, and will rarely be so great.&quot; 



For 400 miles of this portion of the route, wood for building and fuel (if wood be used for 

 it) must be obtained from the Eed Eiver of the North, and from the bottom lands of Mouse 

 river. But little stone for masonry is needed. Excellent sandstone can be obtained in the 

 vicinity of the Butte de Maison du Chien, near which the line enters the valley of Mouse river. 

 Materials for good bricks are to be obtained on Red, Bois des Sioux, Shayenne, and Mouse 

 rivers. From Camp Guthrie, on the Shayenne, to the Mouse Eiver valley, (about 150 miles,) 

 nearly one-half the small ponds and lakes are brackish and salt. The fresh-water ponds are, 

 however, constantly interspersed and more abundant, and &quot; occur quite as often as is desirable 

 either for travelling or railroad purposes. With this abundant supply, no unusual construc 

 tion or expense will be required in establishing watering places.&quot; Governor Stevens s report. 



Mr. Lander, the estimating engineer, says, &quot;the portion extending through the salt-water 

 region the one under consideration will need particular attention regarding a supply of 

 pure water for the use of engines. The proper mode of overcoming this difficulty will be by 

 extending an aqueduct along the line of the road from the lakes upon the Grand Coteau 

 du Missouri.&quot; An estimate for this purpose is made, and, including the cost of planting 

 640 acres of trees every 20 miles over miles of the route, amounts to $2,000,000. 



Should supplies of water be needed at points where it could not be furnished by the usual 

 means, because of the small quantity of rain that falls, artesian wells might prove more 

 economical, if the geological formations indicate their feasibility. 



The position of the northern part of the Grande Coulee, by which the route leaves the 

 valley of Eiviere des Lacs and enters that of the Missouri, has been determined from an 

 estimated distance of twenty miles from the odometer line. As represented upon the map, 

 it approaches so close to the 49th parallel (about two miles from it) that, without more 

 accurate determination, it cannot be known whether the route, as here projected, may not pass 

 over British territory. 



* Mouse river, next to the Red River of the North, is the most important river on the route between the Mississippi and 

 Missouri. It flows in a deep, wide valley 200 feet below the prairie-level, with a wooded bottom from one-half to two miles 

 wide, its high and steep banks being cut by deep coulees extending ten and fifteen miles into the prairie. 



