REVIEW OF THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ROUTES. 
41 
ticable gorges. In the general grade of the roads, when completed, the preference is with the 
northern; that is, if the descent west from Cadot’s Pass can he accomplished by side-hill loca¬ 
tion, which by great care in adjustment may occur. In sudden changes of direction, and 
sharp rates of curvature, both regular and reversed, the advantage is immeasurably with the 
southern. In practicability of repair, it is entirely with the southern. The danger of demolish- 
ment being witlfthe northern—the latter, very great in its passage of Blackfoot and Bitter 
Root rivers. 
In time of construction, the advantage is entirely with the southern line; immeasurably so, 
in the extension of a preliminary road; fully so, in the completion of a G-rand Trunk line. It 
arises from the occurrence of continual ledge-cuttings upon the northern, where circumstances 
will prevent the employment of large numbers of laborers, and where the character of the work 
is a single face and long haul, and from the greater length of the time required for exca¬ 
vating rock. Both the northern and southern routes to Puget Sound possess an undeniable 
advantage over all other Pacific reads, with the exception of the extreme southern line—at 
least, over all lines encountering the Sierra Nevada mountain range—from the fact that upon 
these routes the line of rail may be extended from both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the 
continent at one and the same time, reducing the season of opening the line of communication 
nearly one-half, and the cost of distributing materials for construction in nearly an equal 
degree. I refer to the passage of the Columbia valley, already reduced to a low grade by the 
action of nature. 
The twenty-five (25) millions difference in cost between the northern and southern lines 
would construct a branch road, of medium character, from the point of junction with the 
California route to Puget Sound. Therefore, this question resolves itself into the following 
presentation: By adopting a line to California located so far north as to admit of the con¬ 
nexion of the branch-road to Puget Sound, the amount required to construct the spur to Puget 
Sound becomes a clear profit. This deduction being obvious if the northern, the line of ex¬ 
treme cost, were to have been adopted to Puget Sound, and a distinct route built to Cali¬ 
fornia. 
The construction of a Pacific railroad by aid to private parties, is alone within the limits of 
a rigid interpretation of the powers of the constitution, when the development of what must 
necessarily appear a project is confined to the mere completion of a road of unelaborated charac¬ 
ter, as a means of military defence, or is confined to such length of route in local sections as to 
remove from it the character of an experiment. But as a means of military defence, a railroad 
should not pass along an exposed frontier, where it would necessarily incur the hazard of 
needing protection by augmentation of the standing army. 
It would seem that the resolution of this project, north of latitude thirty-nine, to the con¬ 
struction of a line of reasonable cost, touching at the important way-station of Salt Lake City, 
with a main trunk extending to California, and a northern branch reaching Puget Sound, 
through the Grand Level Pass of Columbia valley, was the presentation of the question as a 
mere national undertaking in its salient points, as connecting and defending isolated territory 
at minimum cost. Even as an experiment, (if such an experiment is to be made,) by passing 
over the great route of emigration to Salt Lake City, Oregon, and California, developing the . 
Territory of Nebraska, through the great valley of a river entirely unnavigable, admitting an 
important connexion through Kansas, with Westport and St. Louis, while solving the ques¬ 
tion of Indian defence by the transportation of troops and supplies, at a few days’ notice, to the 
far interior, it would seem that the building of the first section of a railway, at the low sum of 
twenty-two thousand five hundred ($22,500) dollars per mile, (see Introduction,) might be 
deemed a warrantable undertaking, were it never to extend beyond the mountains. But should 
this line then pass to the valley of Snake river, and at length reach Puget Sound, transport 
the supplies of western commerce toward the east, grow up commercial emporiums at that 
6 p 
