100 
ROUTE NEAR THE THIRTY SECOND PARALLEL. 
The number of passengers to and from California is now 50,000 yearly. It will not be extrav¬ 
agant to assume that the road will double this number at once. This, at $200 per passenger 
from Fulton to San Francisco, 2,000 mdes, will give $20,000,000, or, at $150 per passenger, will 
give $15,000,000, of which two-thirds may be assumed as profit. It is doubtful whether the 
present overland emigration can be counted upon as furnishing business for the road. 
The light freight which is now carried by the Isthmus route, costing $394 per ton, and which, 
when the Isthmus railroad is completed, is to cost $169 per ton, would take the Pacific railroad 
route, since, allowing five cents per ton per mile for this road, the cost per ton from Fulton to 
San Francisco will be $105, and thence to New Orleans or Memphis, by railroad, $10 per ton 
additional. 
Fifty millions of dollars in gold are sent annually to the Atlantic States from California. It 
is doubtful, owing to the nature of the risks, if the per-centage on this would accrue to the road. 
Two per cent., the present cost of transportation, is $1,000,000, three-fourths of which would, 
if carried, be the earnings of the Pacific road, $750,000. 
The transportation of the mails may be set down at from $500,000 to $1,000,000. 
In the year 1852-’53, 22,320,417 pounds of tea were imported into the United States, valued 
at $8,174,670, at a freight cost probably of $15 per ton measurement, (one-half ton weight of 
tea.) To supply the country west of the Mississippi we have an interior transportation, by rail¬ 
road, canal, or river, of at least 1,000 miles. Freight from China to San Francisco may be 
assumed not to exceed $10 per ton. From San Francisco to the Mississippi river the freight on 
tea would be $50 per ton measurement, and the total cost of transportation would be $60 per 
ton measurement, against $30, brought from the eastern ports, (freight from China to Boston $15 
per ton;) this, in the first instance, is six cents per pound, and in the second three cents per 
pound. The tea imported into the United States is of inferior quality, and, in the opinion of those 
familiar with the trade, would not be less injured by transportation by the railroad route than by 
that now used ; nor would the more delicate teas, should there be a demand for them. The earn¬ 
ings Horn this source, supposing it carried 22,000,000 pounds, would be $1,000,000. 
Imports of silks from China in 1852 were valued at $1,567,912. 
With the same rates of transportation as cattle are carried on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, 
it would cost $36 per head to transport cattle, and $40 per head to transport horses and mules, 
from Fulton to San Francisco. This mode of taking cattle, horses, and mules across the con¬ 
tinent would be only partially resorted to, and for those portions where the grazing is not good, 
say 500 or 600 miles, or about one fourth of the distance. Cattle driven to New Mexico or Cali¬ 
fornia are sold for about double the cost in Missouri and Texas, costing about $36 per head and 
selling-for $72 per head. 
To transport a barrel of Hour from Fulton to San Francisco would cost from $8 to $10 per 
barrel, or from four to five cents per pound, (about double the cost now paid by sea to San Fran¬ 
cisco ;) and a barrel of pork from $12 to $15, or from six to seven and a half cents per pound, 
and the same for provisions generally. 
In the war of 1812 the transportation of all supplies cost from 50 cents to $1 per ton per mile 
from Albany to the frontier, say 300 miles, or from $150 to $300 per ton—the average being $225 
j )er ^ on — an d required from 15 to 30 days for the journey. We would be nearer therefore to our 
California coast, in time, by from 7 to 20 days, and at less than half the cost, were this railroad 
built, than we were to our northern frontier in 1S12-T4. 
The transportation of troops to California by the isthmus route has cost $225 for each com¬ 
missioned officer and $150 for each enlisted soldier, &c., with 100 pounds of baggage each, 
except across the isthmus, where 25 pounds are allowed—the excess being paid for at 15 cents 
per pound. At present the price is $300 for each officer and $150 for each enlisted soldier. 
The cost to the railroad of transporting troops from Fulton to San Francisco would be about 
$60 per man. 
