ROUTE NEAR THE THIRTY-SECOND PARALLEL. 
89 
The next the Tah-ee-chay-pah Pass, elevation of summit 4,020 feet; ascending to it from the 
Tulares valley in 15J miles with natural slopes, varying through 153, 176, 192, (for l£ mile,) 
119, and 157 feet, and eight feet per mile, and descending towards the Great Basin nine miles, 
at SO feet per mile, the remaining distance being with gentle grades. 
Walker's Pass, elevation of summit 5,302 feet, requires a tunnel of four miles, has a slope in 
ascending to the summit from the Great Basin of 265 feet per mile for six miles, of 272 feet per 
mile descending for 6J miles; and just before the Kern river debouches into the Tulares valley, 
there is an' impracticable canon of five miles. 
It is very evident that the most favorable of these passes is the Tah-ee-chay-pah. From the 
summit to the Tulares valley a side location in earth-cutting can be made, giving an average 
grade of 144 feet per mile for 17 miles. The steep grade can be extended four miles further, 
entering the Tulares valley at a lower elevation than that of 1,489 feet. The New Pass and Tah- 
ee-chay-pah Pass may be connected by an almost horizontal grade around the border of the Great 
Basin, keeping along the foot of the eastern slopes for about 25 miles, where supplies of water 
can be had either from springs, small streams, or common w r ells or artesian wells; then crossing 
in a nearly straight line to the entrance of the Tah-ee-chay-pah Pass, descending to a fine spring 
of water, elevation 2,668 feet, and ascending to the entrance, elevation 3,300 feet, and at a dis¬ 
tance from New Pass of about 60 miles. The whole of this surface is prepared by nature to 
receive the superstructure of a railroad. It has two intervals of 13 and 17 miles where there is 
no water; but it can be supplied either by hauling or by digging or boring wells. Fuel, ties, 
lumber, stone, &c., over this distance of 60 miles, as well as for an additional distance at both 
ends, must come from the adjoining mountains, where it is abundant. The working parties over 
this part will be small. 
Having entered the pass at an elevation of 3,300 feet, there will be 12 miles of grade at the 
rate of 22 feet per mile; then, as before stated, nine miles at SO feet per mile. The ground 
admits of these grades being arranged to suit those descending to the Tulares valley, which 
commence after a nearly horizontal grade at the summit for 7-^ miles. From the manner in 
which these two passes are connected by an almost horizontal line after descending about 500 
feet from the summit of New Pass, they have, combined, the disadvantages attending only one 
pass, with a summit elevation of 4,300 feet; and after descending the Pacific slopes through 
the San Gorgonio Pass to an elevation of 1,118 feet, we have reached the Tulares valley by 
ascending 3,900 feet; and descending again to an elevation of about 1,500 feet above the mean 
level of the ocean. From the head of the Tulares valley, the waters of the Bay of San Francisco, 
navigable for sea-going vessels of large draught, may be attained in several ways. 
The eastern side of the Tulares and San Joaquin valleys is intersected by numerous streams 
from the Sierra Nevada. The western is bounded by the coast chain, and has few streams. 
That part of the Tulares valley between Kern and San Joaquin rivers, a space of 150 miles 
having a soft alluvial soil, is at certain seasons miry. A road, therefore, extending though it, 
should keep near the foot-slopes of the mountains. From the Tah-ee-chay-pah Pass to the best 
point of crossing Kern river, 2l£ miles, the route passes over a dry dusty plain, destitute of 
water and fuel, the soil of which is not well constituted for fertility. The elevation at the 
crossing being about 500 feet, the general grade will be, for the first ten miles, 78 feet per mile, 
and for the remaining eleven and a hall miles, IS feet per mile. 
From the crossing of Kern river to the second crossing of the San Joaquin, at or near Gray¬ 
son’s, the distance is (the route keeping near the foot of the mountains) 258 or 260 miles—the 
general descending grade two and a third feet per mile. The numerous river-beds or bottoms 
should be crossed on piles, the spaces varying from 50 to 300 feet, the greatest width of the 
portions to be spanned not exceeding 100 feet. This is not proposed as the route for a railroad, 
but merely to give a general idea of the distance and character of country which separates the 
head of the Tulares valley from the navigable waters of the Bay of San Francisco. The total 
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