4 
PREFACE. 
more closely together as a nation, promise likewise to give us in return 
for their opening all the varied treasures of the Eastern World. A few 
years only will elapse ere we shall witness every part of the Pacific 
whitened by the sails of our ships, and every wave in its broad expanse 
bearing to distant lands, hitherto unknown to us, except by name, the 
people and the commodities of our country. That this publication, set- 
ting forth as it does the advantages of one of those great inter-oceanic 
routes, must contribute in no small degree to such results, I cannot 
doubt ; and in returning the work to you after a careful examination, 
it affords me pleasure to lighten, if I can, the burden of your responsi- 
bility, by giving it my unqualified approval as a faithful record of 
operations, to which all of us, I am sure, must look back with feelings 
of pride and mutual congratulation. 
Under other circumstances than these, such expressions might well 
be considered out of place ; but when I reflect on the difficulties that 
assailed us in the offset of our work, and find in the end that it is one of 
those rare cases wherein the most sanguine hopes have been changed to 
realities, my privilege to congratulate can hardly be questioned. 
If I may be permitted to judge by the amount of labor executed dur- 
ing the limited time of the survey, it would not be difficult to imagine 
how much more it might have been extended, but for the termination 
put to it by the Mexican authorities. Nevertheless, with the existence 
of good harbors at each terminus, and the survey of an entire length 
of line, favorable in its character, and of facile grades (although we 
have reason to believe that further explorations would give other lines 
much more advantageous and preferable for permanent location, which 
might supersede the one already run), sufficient is established to de- 
monstrate beyond all doubt the practicability of the project in a com- 
plete and satisfactory manner — a result to which the liberality and 
active co-operation of the Managing Committee of New Orleans has 
contributed greatly. And while it is to be regretted that Mexico, 
through an unwise course of policy, has thwarted the designs of those 
who, in the pursuit of their interests (based upon her plighted faith 
and invited by her passports), would have aided her tottering gov- 
ernment, and extended the influence of her people ; yet it is a satisfac- 
tion that so much has been accomplished by the surveying party in so 
short a time. 
I am, dear sir, very truly yours, 
J. G. Barnard, Chief Engineer, 
J. J. Williams, Esq., Prin. Ass't Engineer. 
