36 
EXPLANATORY REMARKS UPON THE TABLE OP LENGTHS, ETC. 
stream is taken at $45,000 per mile, one-third at $65,000, and one-third at $90,000 per mile 
along the Colorado at $45,000 per mile. With the exceptions indicated, the estimate in the 
table is that of Captain Whipple. 
In the topographical description of the country, Captain Whipple states, in reference to the 
cut-off line from the Big Sandy to the Colorado, “the distance for a railroad hy that line would 
he about 10 miles.” Adopting this as the length of the cut-off, the length of the route of the 
thirty-fifth parallel, from Fort Smith to San Francisco, may possibly become 2,006 miles, with a 
cost under estimated at $100,000,000, and the distance from the Mississippi river to San Fran¬ 
cisco 2,270 miles. So far as yet demonstrated, the length and cost of a railroad hy {he route of 
the thirty-fifth parallel, from Fort Smith to San Francisco, cannot he less than 2,096 miles, and 
$106,000,000 ; nor the distance from the Mississippi river to San Francisco, hy the same route, 
he less than 2,360 miles. 
The distance from Fort Smith to San Pedro, (route of thirty-fifth parallel,) so far as yet 
demonstrated, is at least 1,820 miles, the estimated cost not less than $92,000,000. The dis¬ 
tance from the Mississippi river to San Pedro, hy this route, 2,090 miles. Should the cut-off he 
found practicable, the first may become 1,730 miles, the cost not less than $86,000,000, and the 
second distance 2,000 miles. 
The construction of the wagon road from Fort Defiance to the Colorado river will probably 
solve the question of the railroad practicability of the line from the Big Sandy to the Colorado. 
