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