96 
ROUTE NEAR THE THIRTY-SECOND PARALLEL. 
TIES-LUMBER. 
Let us assume the most unfavorable case for supplies of ties and lumber over that portion 
of the route between the eastern limit of the Llano Estacado and the summit of the San Gorgonio 
Pass, 1,052 miles—that is, that they must be brought from either end of the road, say 300 miles 
from the eastern limit of the Llano Estacado and from the port of San Pedro on the Pacific, 
.100 miles from the summit of the San Gorgonio Pass, making the points of supply 1,400 miles 
apart: the greatest distance to which they must be transported fiom each end is, therefore, 700 
miles by the road, the point of junction of supplies from the east and west being about 110 miles 
west of the Rio Grande. Lumber can, undoubtedly, be procured in the Red River district 
for $30 per 1,000 feet. The additional cost for transportation to the Llano, 300 miles by 
the railroad, at three cents per ton per mile, (double the usual cost on eastern railroads) is 
$13L and its cost there $43£ per 1,000 feet; the cost per 1,000 feet for 450 miles additional 
transportation is $20, and hence the cost per 1,000 feet at this extreme point will be $63£. The 
mean cost over these 400 or 450 miles from the eastern limit of the Llano Estacado will be 
$52£ per 1,000 feet. From Fulton to the Llano it is unnecessary to estimate its cost. 
Lumber may be delivered at San Pedro or San Diego from Oregon for $30 per 1,000 feet. 
Abundance of it can be got out from the San Bernardino and other mountains near the line of 
the road at that cost, and it may be assumed, therefore, to be supplied at San Pedro or San 
Diego at that price, and at a mean cost over the road (the road supplying itself, as it must do, 
sections of 40 or 50 miles being built at a time) of $46 per 1,000 feet. The ties should be 
sawed to the smallest dimensions, if they must be transported to the distances stated. The 
dimensions may be six inches by eight inches, and their mean cost over these 1,200 miles will be 
about $34 per 1,000 feet, or the cost of ties per mile $1,760. R may be found desirable to return 
to the use of stone chairs, or to resort to cast-iron ties over this portion of the route. The latter 
would cost at eastern prices about $2 per tie. 
The mean cost of rails, iron, &c., over this route will not exceed, if it equals, $30 per ton more 
than their usual cost in the eastern States. Haulage from temporary termini of railroad to 
unfinished line of road will be about double that in the eastern States; and, indeed, this appears 
to be about the mean proportion of increase on these great table-lands. 
The worst case having been discussed, it remains to be said, that good ties and lumber can be 
obtained from the Guadalupe and Hueco mountains, from the headwaters of the Rio Mimbres, 
from the Pinal Lleno, Salinas river and headwaters of the San Francisco, and from the San 
Bernardino mountains of the Sierra Nevada or Coast range, which sources of supply may be 
found to materially obviate the necessity of transporting lumber from the two ends of the road. 
FUEL. 
Bituminous coal is abundant on the Brazos. The coal of Vancouver’s island, and also of Puge 
sound, is excellent. Last summer a cargo was brought to San Francisco from Puget sound at 
a cost of $11 per ton; $4 per ton being for freight, and $7 per ton for mining and handling. R 
costs at present prices $5 per ton to mine it. This at no distant period will, doubtless, be reduced 
to $1 or $2 per ton, and it can be delivered at San Pedro or San Diego at $7 per ton. On the 
Brazos it can be mined and prepared for transportation at $1 per ton. From the Brazos to San 
Pedro is 1,400 miles. At three cents per ton per mile, (double the usual cost,) we have it at 
the foot of the Llano at $7 per ton, and the mean cost per ton over the 1,200 miles, $16. 
In regard to transporting wood for fuel for locomotives, as 1,300 pounds of coal make as much 
steam as 4,500 pounds of pine wood, coal can be transported three and a half times as far as 
wood, other things being equal. 
The cost of fuel on railroads is about one-fifth of the yearly expense of maintaining and work¬ 
ing the road. 
