PACIFIC RAILWAY. 109 



CHAPTER XI. 



Pacific railway — impracticability of crossing the "llano estacado" — - 



route from fort smith to santa fe return route from dona ana — its 



connections with the mississippi and the pacific. 



The very lively interest that has been manifested in a project of such 

 importance as that of uniting the Atlantic with the Pacific by a single 

 span of railroad over the continent of North America, and the prevail- 

 ing dearth of reliable information regarding a great portion of that vast 

 territory lying west of the Mississippi, induce me to add a few remarks 

 upon this subject, which I trust will not be wholly devoid of interest or 

 utility at this particular period. 



Whether this road should be national, and its administration under 

 the direction of the general government, or whether it should be 

 intrusted to individual States or corporate companies, are questions the 

 discussion of which it does not become me to attempt, and upon which 

 I shall not presume to hazard an opinion. I propose, in what I have 

 to say, merely to give a brief detail of such facts connected with this 

 subject as are suggested after an examination of a district of country 

 over which it may be found desirable to construct the road. 



Although the appropriation made by the last Congress for prelimi- 

 nary surveys, indicates a disposition on the part of our national legisla- 

 ture to give aid in the initiatory steps, and although great benefits 

 would undoubtedly result from bringing our distant possessions in the 

 west into closer proximity with the eastern States, by a means of transit 

 much more expeditious than any which nature offers, thereby facilitating 

 the transmission of troops and munitions of war, the value of the project, 

 in a commercial aspect, appears to be of sufficient magnitude to denote 

 a reasonable guarantee for its speedy execution. 



The importance, and indeed the necessity, of this road, are very gen- 

 erally admitted. It is the will of a people controlling a great share of 

 the commerce of the world that it should be made ; and possessing, as 

 they do, ample and pecuniary resources, and stimulated by the ambitious 

 but laudable prospect of turning and monopolizing the channel of 

 Asiatic trade, with the almost certain anticipation of profit, it is easy to 

 predict the result. The financial demonstration recently made in New 

 York city, whereby an amount of stock almost sufficient to carry out 



