6 
EXTRACTS FROM [PRELIMINARY] REPORT. 
pose, in this hasty portion of my report, to give merely a brief sketch of our explorations, con¬ 
fining myself quite strictly to matter relating to the project for a railway. 
CHAPTER III. 
GENERAL DKSCR PTION OF THE ROUTE TRAVERSED FROM THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER TO THE RIO DEL NORTE.—ADVANTAGES AFFORDED BY 
NEW MEXICO 
Our barometric observations were commenced at Napoleon, which, situated at the junction of 
the Arkansas river with the Mississippi, is hut slightly elevated above high-water mark. The 
observations, properly reduced, give for the height of this place eighty-two feet above mean 
tide of the Gulf of Mexico. The river Arkansas presents low banks and forests of timber, 
densely matted with.vines. An unvarying evenness of surface extends ninety-eight miles to Pine 
Bluff. This is a town of some importance, pleasantly situated upon a plateau, about ten feet 
above the previous level of the river’s bank. This plateau extends several miles, and, bearing 
pines, exhibits a soil more porous and less luxuriant in vegetation than the lower bottoms; hence, 
doubtless, a more healthy location. Twenty miles beyond appeared another ridge, somewhat 
higher than the last, covered with plantations. Passing this, we returned to low banks, with 
moss-covered trees and tangled vines, with here and there a venturesome plantation creating a 
pleasant break in the monotonous wilderness. 
The beauty of Little Rock, one hundred and forty-eight miles by land from Napoleon, created 
an agreeable surprise. Situated fifty feet above the river, upon the first swell of a metamorphic 
ridge that extends southwest beyond the limits of the State, its location is at once picturesque, 
and free from the pestilential vapors that infest the low lands. The town itself is laid out with 
charming taste, nearly every house occupying a square, ornamented with shade trees, shrubbery, 
and flowers. By observation the height of Little Rock was found to be three hundred and ten 
feet above the sea. Supposing Memphis ninety-six feet above tide-water, the difference of level 
between it and Little Rock is two hundred and fourteen feet, and the distance one hundred and 
fifty-five miles, giving an average grade of 1.4 foot per mile. From information that seems 
reliable, it appears that from the point opposite Memphis to the river St. Francis, thirty-nine 
miles, is an extensive marsh, subject to annual overflow. The present travelled road is said to 
be raised from ten to fifteen feet above the general level of the country. For a railway, there¬ 
fore, this portion of the route would require an expensive embankment. Thence to Little Rock, 
one hundred and sixteen miles, a slightly undulating prairie presents a favorable location for 
a railway. 
Above Little Rock we find the banks still luxuriant in vegetation, and finely timbered. Leaving 
the granite ridge, we enter the lower carboniferous formation, soon passing into coal measures, 
where at numerous places veins of coal of excellent quality crop out. Few villages or planta¬ 
tions occupy the immediate banks of the river. Healthier locations are found upon high lands 
a few miles inland. 
The “ LaFourche” and “Petit Jean” are the first mountain ranges that impinge upon the 
river. These are said to extend southwest twenty or thirty miles, where they slope into a plain. 
There, it is supposed, the railroad from Little Rock to Fort Smith will pass without obstruction, 
and nearly in a straight line. The “Petit Jean” is said to be nine hundred and fifty feet high. 
Passing the Dardanelle Rock, a precipice apparently one hundred and fifty feet high, we pro¬ 
ceed along banks still covered with forests of cotton wood, with pines upon the hill-tops. The 
Magazin, a finely timbered mountain, eleven hundred feet in height, approaches within three 
or four miles of the river. 
In the vicinity of Piney river—so called from its abundant supply of pine timber—coal is 
