the passes at the head-waters of the Missouri,
which have an altitude of six thousand feet. The South Pass has an
altitude of seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine feet. The
passes of the Wasatch Range, on the route to California, are higher by
three thousand feet than those at the head-waters of the Missouri, and,
not being swept by a stream of hot air, are filled with snows during the
winter months. The passes at the head-waters of the Saskatchawan, in the
British possessions, though a few hundred feet lower than those at the
head-waters of the Missouri, are not reached by the heated Wind River,
and are impassable in winter. Even Cadotte's Pass, through which
Governor Stevens located the line of the proposed road, is outside of
the heat stream, so sharp and perpendicular are its walls.

Captain Mullan says: "From whatsoever cause it arises, it exists as a
fact that must for all time enter as an element worthy of every
attention in lines of travel and communication from the Eastern plains
to the North Pacific."[O]

DISTANCES.

That this line is the natural highway of the continent is evident from
other considerations. The distances between the centres of trade and San
Francisco, and with Puget Sound, will appear from the following tabular
statement:--

APPROXIMATE DISTANCES.

| to San Francisco | to Puget Sound | Difference
|------------------|----------------|-----------
Chicago | 2,448 miles[P] | 1,906 miles | 542 miles
St. Louis | 2,345 " | 1,981 " | 364 "
Cincinnati | 2,685 " | 2,200 " | 486 "
New York | 3,417 " | 2,892 " | 525 "
Boston | 3,484 " | 2,942 " | 542 "

The line to Puget Sound will require no tunnel in the pass of the Rocky
Mountains. The approaches of the Big Hole and Deer Lodge in both
directions are eminently feasible, requiring little rock excavation, and
with no grades exceeding eighty feet per mile.

All of the places east of the latitude of Chicago, and north of the Ohio
River, are from three hundred to five hundred and fifty miles nearer the
Pacific at Puget Sound than at San Francisco,--due to greater directness
of the route and the shortening of longitude. These on both lines are
the approximate distances. The distance from Puget Sound to St. Louis is
estimated--via Desmoines--on the supposition that the time will come
when that line of ra