REVIEW OP THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ROUTES. 
39 
struction, operations should "be commenced by which, the fertile country in the vicinity should 
be made susceptible of improvement in this respect. 
The mere suspension of the prairie fires will tend to the object; hut well-instituted experi¬ 
ments have demonstrated that several varieties of timber are readily grown from the seed upon 
the western prairies, and that a period of ten years is sufficient to make their results available. 
In connexion with the estimate of the northern route, I have been compelled to propose the 
planting of twenty-four thousand (24,000) acres of surface, for the mere purpose of making 
steam, with an additional surface of ten thousand (10,000) acres for fires in depot buildings. 
If such tedious operations are to be attempted, the location, climate, soil, &c., are abundantly 
preferable for the purpose upon the present line. 
The coal-beds of western Iowa, and of the whole great section near the base of the moun¬ 
tains, with the existing probability of abundant supplies beneath the intervening surface, are 
of great importance in sustaining the character of the present route, by removing all absolute 
necessity of planting timber for the mere purposes of fuel. 
The reduction of coal to coke for the use of locomotives may be readily attempted at those 
points where the raw material is abundant in deposit. The yield of the present variety would 
average about two-thirds of the weight of coal. 
The erection of coke ovens in the vicinity of the coal district will reduce cost of transporta¬ 
tion ; and the reduction of coal to coke, which is peculiarly adapted to making steam, will prove 
the better economy. 
The use of coke is not common in America, from the abundance of wood at the numerous way 
stations of all inland lines. 
Experiments have been conducted upon several of the best eastern roads on the use of coal in 
locomotive furnaces. Engines have been constructed for the purpose of carrying out the results 
thus obtained;. but, although demonstrated as practicable, the burning of coal for the purpose 
of making steam has not hitherto been thought an economical procedure. Any direct need or 
necessity of such an application would undoubtedly lead to its immediate accomplishment.* 
A favorable bridge-crossing of the Missouri occurs at a point a few miles north of the mouth 
of Platte river, at the old ferry of the Indian trading-post, and adjacent to the present Omaha 
Indian Mission. Other crossings of the Missouri are practicable, both north and south of that 
point. A Grand Trunk line, assuming the most direct route from the first pass of the Sweet¬ 
water to the present bridge-crossing of the Mississippi, can procure a position farther north ; 
and that of a route avoiding the great eastern bend of the Platte can readily be adjusted far¬ 
ther south. 
The whole subject will be fully solved by the numerous surveys of private lines seeking con¬ 
nexion with the great road to the Pacific; and, in this respect, the eastern terminus of the 
route, which the present report embraces, might properly be located at the head of Grand 
Island, near Fort Kearney, where all roads of local character can make connexion with it. 
“REVIEW 0E NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ROUTES TO PUGET SOUND. 
As I have passed over both the northern and the southern routes to Puget Sound, a brief 
review -of their relative characteristics is not out of place. As connecting with eastern lines now 
* “Coal vs. Wood in Locomotives.— The Boston and Lowell Railroad Company have lately been making a trial with one 
of their locomotives of the relative value of wood and coal for fuel. The result of the trial is reported as follows: The 
whole distance run was 2,366 miles, of which 1,868 miles were with freight, using one cord of wood in 26 miles, or 68 
cords, at $7—amounting to $476 ; and 598 miles, with passengers, using one cord of wood in 30 miles—amounting to 
$199 51. Total expense of working hy the use of wood, $615 51. The expense of running the same distance with coal, 
at the rate of $6 50 per ton, (the cost in Boston,) amounted to $265 46 ; being a saving in favor of coal of $350 05, or 
above one-half. This is quite an item .”—Lowell News, 1855. 
Since the completion of this report, experiments made on the Illinois Central Railroad the present year (1856) have 
solved this question ; coal is proved more economical than wood, and will now come into general use as fuel for locomotives. 
