FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   >>  
sidies would, in time, together with the demand for this additional highway across the continent, enlist men of resolute character and ample means,--yet, withal, every new and great undertaking has somewhere a correspondingly great spirit, impelling self and co-workers to the contest and achievement of the desired ends, and we recognize in this vast enterprise the hand of this indefatigable man. Of course the able and influential associates in the board of directors must share in the honor of this national work, and their names will go down in history as among the benefactors of the country in which they lived.[E] How lightly we speak now of continental roads since one is a veritable fact. Novelties, to Americans, pass rapidly away. How few realized, in 1860, that the coming decade would witness the completion of one and the beginning of another iron road across the continent. Ah! those brief years brought revolution in many things. The social fabric of half the Union was not less overturned in this brief period than were the accustomed avenues along which ran the world's trade and commerce. The Northern Pacific Railroad was chartered by Congress in 1864, and was approved by President Lincoln on the second of July of that year. It has no government aid beyond a right of way and cession of the public lands along its line; each alternate section for a width of twenty miles in the States and forty miles in the territories. This, as is estimated, will give, according to the survey of Gen. W.M. Roberts, about fifty millions of acres,[F] large portions of which are known to be very fertile, while much will lie in the rich mining districts of Montana Territory. This generous donation of public lands by the people is well deserved by this second great national enterprise. It is the only method whereby the isolated and distant portions of the interior can become utilized. The value of the remaining lands of the government will become tenfold what the whole would be if left to time and private enterprise for their development. The work was actively begun in 1870 on the Duluth end of this road; and it is expected that the present year (1871) will see it completed to the Red River, a distance of about two hundred and thirty-three miles from the above-named city. Quite a number of miles of iron had been laid at the time of our late visit, and as many more miles graded; with half a thousand men actively engaged in forwarding
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   >>  



Top keywords:
enterprise
 

national

 

portions

 

actively

 

public

 
government
 
continent
 

fertile

 
demand
 

additional


Territory

 

generous

 
donation
 

Montana

 
deserved
 

mining

 
districts
 
people
 

section

 

twenty


States

 

alternate

 

cession

 

enlist

 

territories

 

estimated

 

Roberts

 

highway

 

method

 

millions


survey

 
isolated
 

thirty

 

distance

 

hundred

 
number
 

graded

 
thousand
 

engaged

 
forwarding

completed
 

tenfold

 
remaining
 
utilized
 

distant

 

interior

 
private
 

expected

 
sidies
 

present