Explorations and Surveys for the Pacific Railroad. 95 



temperate character of the summer over nearly the whole route ; 

 in no tunnels being required on the Kocky Mountain passes, and 

 none on the route to San Francisco by the Tah-ee-chay-pah 

 Pass ; in the probability of the existence of coal-fields in the 

 middle of the route ; and in the assistance that the population of 

 New Mexico and the Mexican provinces of Chihuahua and Sonora 

 may give in constructing and supporting the road. 



The disadvantages are — its greater length from the Mississippi 

 to the Pacific than the route south of it ; the apparently rough 

 and broken character of the country through which much of it 

 lies ; its greater cost, and the greater number of ascents and 

 descents, the sum of which is the greatest of the four routes, and 

 which would become seriously objectionable should the full 

 working power of the road be developed. 



[The subsequent Keport of Captain Humphreys, as already 

 stated, reduces somewhat the objectionable features.] 



5. Route near the thirty-second parallel. — Its advantages are — • 

 the short distance from the eastern terminus to a Pacific port 

 (1,618 miles ;) the small cost of the road, it being to a Pacific 

 port less than two thirds of the cost of the cheapest of the other 

 routes, [excepting the route along the thirty -fifth parallel] and 

 to San Francisco $20,000,000 less than the least of the others, 

 (the cheapness of construction being due to the location of the 

 route upon more than 1,000 miles of table-lands and plains ;) 

 in the open and otherwise favorable features of the mountain 

 passes ; the lowness of their summits ; in their natural slopes 

 admitting of use without extensive and costly preparation ; in 

 the mild winters and temperate summers of all the route except 

 that portion of the Gila and Colorado desert where, for 350 miles, 

 labor in the open air must be suspended for three months of the 

 year ; in there being no reason to apprehend difficulties, impedi- 

 ments, delays, and danger from snow and ice ; in the coal-fields 

 of the Brazos ; and in the aid that the population of New Mexico 

 and the provinces of Chihuahua and Sonora may give in con- 

 structing and supporting the road. 



Its disadvantages are — the cost of construction of a portion 

 between the Pecos and Eio Grande ; the circuitous route to San 

 Francisco from the plains of Los Angeles, which, unless farther 

 explorations determine a more direct route, requires a second 

 crossing of the coast range, and a passage through the Sierra 

 Nevada; in the sum of ascents and descents being the next 

 largest after that of the 35th parallel, the extent of which ob- 

 jection depends upon the amount of business to be done on the 

 road ; and, finally, in the scanty supply of water and fuel on the 

 route. 



[The Eeports also treat particularly of the north-and-south 

 routes west of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Kange, which por- 

 tion is not here cited.] 



