26 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



a load, whilst man himself cannot climb a slope of 35° 

 unless he ascend by steps. 



Having mentioned the principal passable Euro- 

 pean mountain ranges with which Englishmen 

 are most familiar, I am reminded that America 

 possesses a range of mountains over which there is 

 a great and rapidly increasing traffic. The Rocky 

 Mountains are the most elevated portion of the 

 northern half of the Western Hemisphere. They 

 form, as it were, the backbone of the North American 

 continent, through which they stretch from north to 

 south for 3000 miles below the parallel of 30°. The 

 passes over the Rocky Mountains are not narrow 

 defiles, like those that traverse the mountains of the 

 Old World, but consist of broad arid plains. Between 

 the thirty-third and forty-second parallels there is no 

 route across the mountains capable of being easily 

 traversed ; but to north of 42° there are many 

 practicable passes. The two principal of these, which 

 lie within the territory of the United States, are dis- 

 tinguished as the North and South Passes. Both of 

 these are at an altitude of 7000 feet above the sea. 

 Within the British territory — that is, the north of the 

 forty-ninth parallel — the passes over the mountains are 

 of considerably less elevation. The Union Pacific 

 Railway now passes over the Rocky Mountains, and 

 one cannot but feel astonished at the engineering skill 

 which has carried a railway successfully at such an 

 elevation. Rising from the eastern plains, the scenery 

 is very grand until the coast is reached. Ascending 

 from Truckee, for fifteen miles the line passes through 

 long lines of snow - sheds, until Summit Station 

 (7042 feet) is reached. From the summit to Colfax, 

 on the western side, which comprises a distance of 



