86 Exploitations and Surveys for the Pacific Railroad. 



It would appear that the Sangre de Cristo and Coo-che-to-pa 

 Passes are practicable in grade ; but the construction of the road 

 through the Coo-che-to-pa Pass, and the western approach to it, 

 would be costly under favorable circumstances of population, 

 &c, not only on account of the tunnel, but of the numerous ra- 

 vines that are crossed west of the pass, and the canon that follows. 

 * * * * * 



The difficulties of engineering and the cost of construction of 



this portion of the route from the Coo-che-to-pa Pass to Sevier 



river, in the Great Basin, a distance of about 500 miles, would 



be so great that it may be pronounced impracticable ; and it is 



evident, from the report of Lieutenant Beckwith, that, to use his 



own language, " no other line exists, in the immediate vicinity of 



this, worthy of any attention in connexion with the construction 



of a railroad from the Mississippi river to the Great Basin." 

 •x- -x- % % * 



Route near the thirty-fifth parallel of north latitude.* — Commenc- 

 ing at Fort Smith, on the Arkansas river, about 270 miles from 

 the Mississippi at Memphis, the route, as far as the Antelope 

 Hills on the Canadian, a distance of 400 miles, may follow either 

 the valleys of the Arkansas and Canadian, or a shorter line per- 

 haps, but over more ground, south of the Canadian, this latter 

 route branching again, and following either the valley of the 

 Washita, or the dividing ridge between it and the Canadian. 



From the Antelope Hills the route continues along the bottom 

 of the Canadian, on the right bank, to the mouth of Tucumcari 

 creek, about 250 miles, and ascends by the valley of Tucumcari, 

 or by that of Pajarito creek, to the dividing ridge between the 

 Canadian and the Pecos rivers, elevation about 5,543 feet, and 

 enters the valley of the latter. It follows this valley until, by 

 means of a tributary, it rises to the high table-land, or basin, 

 lying east of the Eocky mountains, elevation about 7,000 feet, 

 crosses the elevated Salinas basin, 30 miles wide, the lowest 

 point being 6,471 feet, and gains the divide in the Eocky moun- 

 tains, elevation about 7,000 feet ; from which point it descends 

 to Albuquerque, or Isleta, on the Eio Grande, through the San 

 Pedro Pass ; or it may descend to the Eio Grande by the valley 

 of the Galisteo river, north of Sandia mountain. A third route 

 is indicated along the valley of the Pecos to its headwaters ; 

 thence to an affluent of the Galisteo ; and thence, as before, to 

 the Eio Grande. 



Isleta, on the Eio Grande, is 854 miles from Fort Smith, and 

 4,945 feet above the sea. 



Crossing the ridge separating the Eio Grande from the Puerco, 

 the route follows the valley of its tributary, the San Jose, to 

 one of its sources in a pass of the Sierra Madre, called the 

 Camino del Obispo ; at the summit, (elevation 8,250 feet,) a tun- 



