m 
REVENUE AND INCOME. 
mie to the Tehuantepec railroad. To the present time no coal 
mines of importance have been opened or worked on any part 
of the Pacific coast contiguous to San Francisco, so as to be 
available for the supply of steamers. It therefore follows, as a 
matter of course, that until these rumored coal deposits are 
mined and proven adequate to the demand, supplies of this 
article must be drawn from the Atlantic side. But the question 
arises, How is it to be sent % The answer will be found by an 
examination of the facilities for shipping coal down the Missis- 
sippi to New Orleans, and thence by sea 960 miles to the Coat- 
zacoalcos River — from whence it can be transported to the 
shores of the Pacific by railroad on the day of its arrival from 
the United States. At a glance this item of coal may appear 
insignificant. Suppose, however, that on the completion of the 
Tehuantepec railroad, there should be 50 steamers in the Pa- 
cific, which burn an average of 30 tons per diem. Now allow- 
ing these steamers to consume each 4000 tons in a year, this 
fleet would require, at the least calculation, 200,000 tons of coal, 
which may be shipped from Pittsburg to the Pacific, via the 
Mississippi and Tehuantepec, in less than three weeks. 
Another source of revenue would be the tolls received from 
the United States government for the speedy transportation of 
supplies for the naval and military service in the Pacific and 
the China and India seas — for it is not to be supposed that the 
government would not avail itself of the saving which could be 
effected by transporting its supplies across the Isthmus of 
Tehuantepec, in preference to sending them around the southern 
capes — a voyage which often destroys provisions necessary for 
the use of the naval service, such as bread, flour, pork, beef, &c. 
This subject engaged the attention of the United States govern- 
ment during the war with Mexico. It will be recollected that 
when a treaty of peace was proposed with that republic, the 
security of a right of way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 
for the purpose of forming a communication between the two 
oceans, was almost made a sine qua non. Indeed, so much im- 
pressed was the administration, of Mr. Polk at that day, with 
the importance of securing this route to the United States, that 
Mr. Trist, who was sent to Mexico with the view of negotiating 
