COMPARISON OP THE ROUTES. 
105 
lion. With a full equipment and heavy freight business, the sum of ascents and descents 
becomes important. 
The advantages and disadvantages of the several routes may be briefly recapitulated, as 
follows: 
I. ROUTE NEAR THE FORTY-SEVENTH AND FORTY-NINTH PARALLELS. 
The advantages of this route are—its low profile, which is important in relation to climate; its 
easy grades, and small amount of ascents and descents, both important if the road should be 
developed to its full working power; the great extension west of the prairie lands; in the supplies 
of timber over the western half of the route; the facilities which the Columbia river and its 
tributaries, and the Missouri, will afford to the construction of the road; in the short distance 
from the Mississippi to a seaport of the Pacific, (1,804 miles to Vancouver;) in the western 
terminus of the road on Puget Sound being nearer to the ports of Asia than the termini of the 
other routes; in the proximity of the eastern terminus to Lake Superior, from which a continuous 
navigation for seagoing vessels extends to the Atlantic ocean ; and in the existence of coal on 
Puget Sound. 
Its disadvantages are—the difficult and costly construction, including a long tunnel, through a 
mountain region of 550 miles, (comprising 90 miles on the Columbia river ;) the delay in construc¬ 
tion, and the liabilities of the road to great injury and destruction through a large part of this region 
from the high freshets on the Bitter Root, Flathead, Clark’s fork, and Columbia rivers ; in the 
severe and long winters on the prairies east of the Rocky mountains, and on the greater portion 
of the route suspending labor in the open air for such a large part of the year, and impeding the 
working of the road when built; in the distance of its western terminus from that port, (San Fran¬ 
cisco,) which will give the only large travel, and business which may be counted upon with 
certaint} r ; and, finally, its proximity throughout to the frontier of a powerful foreign sovereignty. 
II. ROUTE NEAR THE FORTY-FIRST AND FORTY-SECOND PARALLELS. 
Its advantages are—comparatively cheap construction, due to the favorable features of the 
Rocky mountain system in this latitude, and those of the Great Basin, both of which result in a 
low sum of ascents and descents, which would be a favorable element, should the full working 
power of the road be developed; in the mountains being passed without tunnels ; the probability 
of its possessing extensive coal-fields in the middle of the route; and in the aid which its con¬ 
struction would receive from the population of Utah. 
Its disadvantages are—the very difficult and costly construction along the Sacramento river for 
136 miles; the construction through the canon of the Timpanogos; the costly construction through 
the Black Hills to the South Pass, for nearly 300 miles, (the route by the Cheyenne Pass appar¬ 
ently giving an equally costly road;) in the great elevation of the summits in the Rocky mountain 
system; and in the great elevation of its plain, and the long and severe winters on it, and the prai¬ 
ries east of the Rocky mountains, suspending labor for several months of the year, and impeding 
the working of the road when completed, by their severity, and the snows on the prairies and in 
the mountain ravines and gorges. 
III. ROUTE NEAR THE THIRTY-EIGHTH AND THIRTY-NINTH PARALLELS. 
No peculiar advantage was developed in the exploration of this route, except the probability 
of the existence of extensive coal-fields in the valleys of the Grand and Green rivers. 
The extraordinary difficulties to be overcome from the Coo-che-to-pa Pass to the Great Basin 
(500 miles) render the route impracticable. The elevations of the passes in the Rocky mountains 
are the greatest found, being 9,200 and 10,000 feet, the latter, the Coo-che-to-pa Pass, requiring a 
tunnel at an elevation of 9,500 feet. 
14 a 
