CHAPTER VIII. 
General summary of the line explored for the Pacific railroad near the thirty-eighth 
parallel of north latitude, from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to the Sevier lake, Utah. 
Character and fertility of the Plains: timber, grass, rain.—Approach to El Sangre de Cristo Pass of the Rocky mountains.— 
Soil, cultivation, grazing, and water.—Mountain valleys.—Valley of San Luis.—Coochetopa Pass and surrounding country.— 
Grand River valley lands.—Roan mountains, and the country between Grand and Green rivers.—From Green river to the 
Wahsatch mountains.—Summit of the Wahsatch mountains.—Valley of the Sevier river and Sevier lake : its sterility.— 
Ingredients in the soil injurious to vegetation over large spaces.—Aqueous depositions unfavorably distributed and very 
limited.—Capacity of the country to contribute to the support of a railroad.—Railroad stations and posts.—Permanent water 
on the line.—Great scarcity of timber on the line.—Coal, where found.—Building stone.—Railroad practicability of the line.— 
Elevations, grades, sections, passes.—San Luis valley.—Coochetopa Pass and tunnel.—Altitudes and grades.—Pass and 
Coochetopa creeks.—Grand river section.—Blue to Green river.—Miry soil.—Stone for sub-structure.—Grades and bridges.— 
Rocky district west of Green river.—Grades from Green river to Akanaquint spring, White river, Clever creek, San Rafael 
river, &c., to the Wahsatch Pass.—Wahsatch Pass and tunnel.—Salt Creek canon, grades, and character.—Sevier River valley, 
and passage through the Un-kuk-oo-ap mountains to Sevier Lake valley.—Further surveys, and existence of other lines near 
this.—Duties performed by scientific gentlemen of the party.—Climate.—Indian hostilities in Utah.—Further surveys will be 
made. 
The general character of the country traversed and explored, briefly recapitulated, is as 
follows: 
For six hundred miles west of the western line of the State of Missouri the country is a 
rolling prairie, gradually rising towards the Rocky mountains. For two hundred miles it is 
very closely assimilated to the soil and character of that State. West of that point it gradually 
changes its character, becomes more arid and sandy, and much less fertile; and at a point 
between Walnut creek and Pawnee fork it has entirely changed. Timber almost entirely dis¬ 
appears—it is very scarce east of this—and the short, curly buffalo-grass takes the place of the 
coarse tall grass of the east; the soil is hard and dry clay intermixed with sand, with a surface 
sheet of an inch or two in thickness, intermixed with vegetable mould. Rain falls but seldom, 
and the cool mountain wind sweeps down at night, affording in summer an agreeable relief from 
the shadeless heat of the day. The country preserves this character west to the Cimmaron 
crossing of the Arkansas river. Beyond this the variety of artemisia known as sage, first begins 
to appear in quantity; and grass and water, away from the main water-courses, become scarce. 
In July, or early in August, the buffalo-grass of the Plains becomes entirely dry, although it is still 
very nutritious, and is fine grazing for buffalo and sheep; but in this short, curly form, this grass 
is not large enough for draught cattle. They will subsist on it for some time, but invariably fall 
away when marching and feeding on it. West of the Big Timbers of the Arkansas river, it 
becomes an important inquiry early in the day, at what point grass can be found for a camp; 
and the march must be lengthened or shortened to suit the locality of this important plant, which 
is found alone on the narrow river bottom, the hills being very dry and barren. Leaving the 
Arkansas river for El Sangre de Cristo Pass of the Sierra Blanca—the eastern range of the 
Rocky mountains—the country becomes more broken and rises more rapidly; its soil is very 
light, formed from sandstone, shales and slate; but it is much more abundantly supplied with 
grass than the preceding hundred miles of the Arkansas bottom, and of a superior quality, but 
it is still scattered and thin. And no part of the surrounding country will compare favorably 
with the inhabited parts of any of the States. It is alone suited for grazing ranges—not farms, 
unless they are so extensive as to embrace several miles. It is tiue, the cultivation of grains 
and of roots, to some extent, on the narrow borders of the streams where water can be com- 
