412 



APPENDIX. 



about 6000 in lat. 47°. Along this range isolated peaks and 

 ridges rise into the limits of perpetual snow, in some instances 

 attaining an elevation of 17,000 feet. The breadth of the 

 Eocky Mountain range varies from 500 to 900 miles. The 

 soir of the greater part of the sterile region is necessarily so 

 from its composition, and where well constituted for fertility, 

 from the absence of rain at certain seasons. The general cha- 

 racter of extreme sterility likewise belongs to the country 

 embraced in the mountain region.* The table subjoined is 

 capable of conveying a very good idea of the great barrier to 

 the westward progress of settlement, which lies between the 

 Mississippi Valley and the Pacific slope of the Eocky Moun- 

 tains. It is extracted from a table showing the lengths, sums 

 of ascents and descents, &c. &c, of the several routes surveyed 

 for a railroad from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and published 

 in the " Exploration and Surveys," before quoted. 





Length 

 of Rail- 

 way. 



No. of 

 miles of 

 route 

 through 

 arable 

 land. 



No. of miles of 

 route through 

 lands generally 

 uncultivable, 

 arable soil being 

 found in small 

 areas. 



No. of sq. miles 

 of sums of areas 

 of largest bodies 

 of arable land in 

 uncultivable re- 

 gions. 





Miles. 









Koute near 47th & 49th parallel . 



1864 



374 



1490 



1000 



„ 41st & 42nd „ . 



2032 



632 



1400 



1100 



„ 38th & 39th „ . 



2080 



620 



1460 



1100 



„ „ 35th „ . 



1892 



416 



1476 



2300 



„ „ 32nd „ . 



1618 



408 



1210 



2300 



This table shows that the least distance of uncultivable land 

 through which a railway from the Mississippi to the Pacific 

 must pass, in the United States territory, exceeds 1200 miles 

 in length, — a barrier sufficient to arrest the general progress 

 of settlement, for very many years to come, in a course due 

 west of the Mississippi. 



The only direction which remains for extensive free soil 

 settlement in and near the United States is northwards, partially 

 along the immediate banks of the Missouri, about the head- 



* Exploration and Surveys for a Eailroad Koute from the Mississippi Kiver to the 

 Pacific Ocean, page 40. 



