238 EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 



determined by the Government explorers are lighter on this route than on either of the 

 others; second, because, if we have a railroad at all, we ought to have one which 

 would be available without intermission the whole year around; and, in order to 

 this, it should be beyond the contingency of obstructions from snow, which could not 

 be the case with the others higher north. 



In regard to the route proposed by Senator Benton, and to which Colonel Fre- 

 mont was most partial, that in the region of the 38th parallel, the surveys by Captains 

 Gunnison and Beckwith show that, from the high grades it would be necessary to 

 overcome, it is entirely impracticable. 



That proposed by Captains Stanslmry and Beckwith, through Bridger's Pass and 

 by way of Timpanogos, is doubtless far better, in point of grade and practicability, than 

 the one just referred to; but still we think that its cost will never justify its construc- 

 tion, and, if made, that its obstructions by the snows of winter through the high mount- 

 ain-passes would ever make it an uncertain route. 



The route through Minnesota, Nebraska, and Washington Territory, in the region 

 of the 48th parallel of latitude, it might be supposed, from its being still higher north, 

 was out of the question. The facts, however, do not justify such a conclusion. The 

 country, as high as our most northern boundary, and for a number of degrees above 

 it, in British America, has been tried agriculturally, and it is well known that it pro- 

 duces the cereals and all garden vegetables, and some of the succulent fruits in the 

 greatest perfection. The good land, as also the timber regions, approximate on this 

 route nearer than on either of the others. From a map in my possession, copied from 

 one drawn by a Jesuit missionary, the Rev. Peter John De Smet, who kindly loaned 

 it to me for the purpose, I translate the following remark, which applies to the country 

 all along the east foot of the Rocky Mountains, from about the river Maria, a tributary 

 of the Missouri, in latitude 48°.50, to the Saskatchewan River, or latitude 53° — that 

 is, for an extent, following the oblique trend of the mountain range, of for more than 400 

 miles. His notation is, "All the region which lies adjacent to the Rock}' Mountains is 

 agreeably diversified with fertile plains and beautiful forests; lakes and hills give 

 variety to the landscape between the heads and forks of innumerable streams, and wild 

 animals of every kind abound." 



Besides, the reverend gentleman, in pointing out to me this region of country, 

 spoke of it in the most glowing terms. He has been for 12 years a missionary among 

 the Indians of Oregon, Nebraska, and farther north in British America, and is prob- 

 ably as well acquainted with all this region as any man living. He acquired the 

 ability of taking notes of reconnaissance in one of the expeditions of Monsieur 

 Nicollet, and has ever since been in the habit of doing so, and plotting his routes. In 

 this connection, I refer you to an extract, herewith, from quite a sensibly-written 

 article entitled "Fraser River," which I find in the last October number of the KnicJcer- 

 bocker. The remarks of the writer in reference to the track northwestward which is 

 to mark the direction of empire, and where villages, towns, and cities are destined to 

 spring up, I think, are quite just.* 



^FToln an article entitled " Fraser River," in the Knickerbocker of October, 1858. 



Here is the great fact of the northwestern area of this continent. An area not inferior in size to the whole 

 United States , : ly adapted to the fullest occupation by cultivated nations, yet is 



